Epiphany

A Ranma 1/2 Fan fiction.
By Tripolar Disorder

We do not own the characters from Ranma, nor do we want them.
We just wish to borrow their likenesses to present another view
on the Ranma story. So please don't sue us.

This is an Alternate Universe Fanfic, so any OOC behavior is
possible and written that way.

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Nodoka was standing in the medical examiners office at the Tokyo
General Hospital. She had received a call that her husband's
body had been found in one of the water drainage canals. She
had been asked to positively identify the body.

She stood solemnly as the short man in the lab coat pulled out
a shelf from the freezer used to store bodies. He pulled back
the sheet to expose the face.

Nodoka nodded. She recognized Genma, even after years of
separation. Pride, realization and shock prevented her from
crying.

The examiner then told her that another body had been found near
Genma's in the canal.

Nodoka's heart stopped. Another body.

She asked to see the other body. She was expecting to see
a teenage boy, her son that she hadn't seen since Genma took
him away from her.

The medical examiner showed her the other. She was surprised
that it was Genma's friend Soun Tendo. She had visited the
Tendos' only a few days earlier hoping for word on her husband
and son, but he had not seen them.

She verified what the examiner had concluded by fingerprint
analysis. The examiner took her statement and allowed her to
leave.

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As she walked down the street toward the Tendo Dojo, Nodoka
could not help but wonder where her son was. Had Soun been
lying to her the entire time, because he too knew the truth?
That Ranma was dead, killed by the thoughtlessness of Genma.

She could not stop herself as tears welled up and began rolling
down her cheeks. Genma was dead, and the location of her only
son had gone to the grave with him.

When she passed the entrance to a park, she saw children
playing. She thought back to the day that Ranma left with his
father. How Genma had slung the boy over his shoulder and she
watched as a crying Ranma stretched out his hand toward her.
She had watched them disappear down the road, a sickening
feeling that she would never see either of them alive again.

As the weeks, months and years passed, without any letters, or
postcards, or any word, she had given up. She had cried herself
to sleep many nights. At first she had tried to be optimistic
about it, but Nodoka assumed that they both had died somewhere,
or gotten killed.

When the rumors of a man fitting Genma's description seen near
the Tendo home, Nodoka had gone to see if maybe Soun knew where
they were. A brief glimmer of hope had sparked within her that
day.

She noted inwardly that Soun was always very jumpy and hesitant
when answering her questions.

<He knew, didn't he. He knew the truth and he was hiding Genma
from me. Oh Kami, what happened to Ranma?>

She cringed inwardly, her thoughts focused on a number of
horrible things that could have happened to Ranma. She imagined
her son's tiny, broken body, hastily buried in some shallow hole
in the ground.

Her train of thought was broken because she realized she was at
the Tendo Dojo. She knocked on the gate, but no one answered.
She opened it and proceeded inside to the house.

Inside she found Ranko and Kasumi trying to comfort Akane. It
was clear that no one had heard her knock, nor did they notice
her standing there. Akane was buried into Kasumi's shoulder,
crying her eyes out. Ranko was trying to hug both girls with
arms outstretched to encompass both of them.

Nodoka sat down near Kasumi. She put her hand on Kasumi's other
shoulder. Kasumi turned toward Nodoka, and each could see the
tears in the others' eyes.

"Auntie Nodoka, what brings you by?" Said Kasumi. She tried to
compose herself.

"I was called down to the coroner's office. I saw your father's
body. I went down there because they found Genma next to Soun.
They were apparently out drinking together."

Kasumi broke down and began crying as well, while still holding
Akane. Ranko, upon hearing Nodoka's statement, stiffened 
slightly. Nodoka noted that Ranko was holding her feelings in
to provide support to her cousins.

Nodoka moved closer to Kasumi, and put her arms around Kasumi so
the eldest Tendo daughter could have some support as well.

She knew that the girls would need support to get them through
the next few days.

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The next morning, Kasumi had managed to pull herself together
enough to make breakfast. But with the mood in the house, the
food seemed to be picked at more than eaten.

Several sets of bloodshot eyes staring downward. A sniffling
noise coming from one side of the table or another every few
seconds.

Nodoka noticed how quiet Ranko was. Although she wasn't a
direct relation to Soun, she seemed very somber yet calm.

Ranko took hold of her pigtail, fingering it slowly, her gaze
down at the table.

This action interested Nodoka, who stood up and then sat down
behind the redhead. Ranko was starting to shake and seemed to
curl forward.

She took Ranko's pigtail from her hand and removed the braid.
Ranko's hair fell loosely against her back. Nodoka then ran her
fingers through it slowly.

Ranko began to break down and cry. She curled up tighter into
little ball. But when Nodoka tried to comfort the girl, she
jumped away and nearly threw herself into Kasumi's arms.

Nodoka noticed how shocked and confused Akane and Nabiki both
were. Kasumi seemed to be trying to comfort Ranko, rocking her
back and forth.

As Nodoka reached out one hand toward the girl Ranko cried out
pitifully and tried to bury herself deeper within Kasumi grasp.

Kasumi spoke. "Auntie, please. I think you will only upset her
more."

Nodoka assumed why. she didn't say anything for several
minutes, until she could not wait any longer.

"Kasumi, Was your father providing shelter to my husband
lately?"

Kasumi looked down, taking her eyes away from Nodoka. "Yes,
auntie Saotome. For quite some time now."

This upset Nodoka further. Their father had been making them
lie to her about Genma.

"Kasumi, where is my son? Did Genma ever tell you what happened
to Ranma?" A single tear slid down the Saotome matriarch's
face.

"Yes Auntie, I know where Ranma is. Genma told us about the
training trip."

"Where is my son? I wish to know."

Ranko cried out at the last statement and the girls all seemed
to flinch. They sat motionless for several seconds until Kasumi
spoke up.

"Ranma is frightened to meet you auntie. He, We found out about
the seppuku pledge, and because of certain circumstances he does
not feel at this time that you would see him as a man amongst
men."

Nodoka was shocked at this.

"You mean.....My Son, Ranma...... Is still Alive?"

"Yes, but he...."

Kasumi's statement was interrupted as Nodoka broke down and
began to cry again. Akane tried to support her, but was pushed
away. She continued with her face in her hands for several
minutes. Finally she looked up, and saw Ranko's eyes.

The girl was curled up into a ball in Kasumi's lap, staring at
her with wide eyes. Nodoka could clearing see tears streaming
down her cheeks. Like she wanted so badly to say something to
Nodoka, but couldn't.

Nodoka looked up toward Kasumi.

"So, I suppose that you are hiding him from me as well? Why?
What could possibly be so horrible that I would not love my own
son?

As her emotional state became worse, her voice became ragged.

"I will Never, NEVER acknowledge the existence of that contract.
Do you have any idea how many times I have cried over the death
of my son, thinking he was lost forever. That my idiot husband
had taken away from me the only joy I ever had left. He is more
precious to me than anything, and there is nothing, NOTHING that
could have happened to him that make me love him any less."

She hung her head. "Please, I just want to see him again."

After a long period of silence, Nodoka looked up, to lock eyes
with Kasumi. What they feel upon was Ranko's. The girl wasn't
crying as much as she seemed in shock, staring back at her.

As she looked into Ranko's eyes, a feeling washed over her.
Those eyes staring back at her .....

Nodoka's mind flashed back to the day Genma had left with her
son. She stood at the door and watched as his little arm
stretched out toward her over Genma's shoulder, and the tears
streaming from his eyes.

The image had burned itself forever into her mind, and in an
instant she recognized what she was seeing.

Nodoka's eyes widened and her lips parted. After a moment to
stop crying and compose herself she stretched her arms and spoke
softly.

"Ranma, is that really you? I have missed you so."

Kasumi seemed struck by an invisible force as the words
registered and she flinched. Akane was frozen speechless with
wide eyes. Nabiki tried to hold back her emotion, as she too
understood exactly what she was seeing.

Ranma-chan looked at Nodoka. The tears frozen for a moment,
her mind still in shock, didn't fully comprehend what just
occurred but something pushed her to take her mother's hand.

Ranma-chan held out her hand, slowly and warily. Tears once
again streaming down her cheeks.

Nodoka took the initiative, grabbing her out of Kasumi's lap and
wrapped her arms around her. "Mother is here and I won't let
you go again."

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Tripolar