The Lost Boy's Lost Love

Chapter 4: Paranoia

Ranma wasn't sure what time it was when he returned home that evening. It had been dark outside for a while. He barged in the house, limbs sagging with exhaustion, the back of his hand pressed to the slope of his spine. Mousse had landed a good, hard hit there; that was going to hurt for a while.

Mousse had pretty impressive stamina for such a skinny, goofy looking guy. Giving him the slip had been no easy task. He'd managed to escape the wrath of the weapon's master only after a long, involved chase that led them to a busy stretch of Nerima's downtown subway system. The trouble they stirred up down there allowed him to lose his attacker in the chaos, but not without a few battle scars.

"Ugh." Ranma made his way to the sitting room and collapsed belly-first onto the couch. He could smell several different delectable smells in the air - rice, vegetables, the thick scent of cooked meat. The sitting room was empty, so he figured it must have been dinner time. His mouth watered. He was starving, but for the moment, he couldn't gather the will to move.

"So, how'd it go?" he heard Nabiki ask. She came into the room holding a small bowl of vegetables in one hand and a pair of chopsticks in the other.

"I don't really wanna talk about it."

"That bad, huh?" Nabiki smirked and took a bite of her food. Her voice was annoyingly full of amusement. "Well, don't sweat it, Ranma-baby," she said through a full mouth. "I'm sure you'll come up with some other brilliant way to vindicate yourself soon enough." She swallowed. "Ohh, I know - why don't you try throwing money at him next time? Guys really hate that, too, I hear. Loose women and free cash - two things that no man can stand!"

Ranma pressed his face into the couch cushion. "Ha, ha," came the muffled, sarcastic words. "Things just got a little out of control is all. Give me a break, will ya? I'm tired."

"Fine, fine," Nabiki shrugged. "Where's my stuff?"

Ranma was still for a moment, then turned his head and winced. "Shit!" he cursed. "I lost track of it. I don't even remember when."

"You 'lost track of it'?" Nabiki repeated indignantly. "I find the kindness in my heart to let you borrow *MY* things, and you lose them? That was one of my favorite dresses."

"Look, I'll pay you back, alright?"

"You better. I don't care about the wig, but that dress was something like three hundred dollars, Ranma."

"Three hundred - are you serious!? For a dress-?" Ranma rose up in surprise. Sharp pain bit into his back. "Agghh..." He wound up cringing, curling into the sofa. "Let me give you an IOU card, okay?" He grumbled, "I'll pay you back, somehow."

"Are you alright?" Nabiki asked in a manner that wasn't completely unempathetic, but perhaps reluctantly concerned.

"Yeah," Ranma said. "I just got hit pretty hard earlier."

"Oh my god, he didn't lay you out, did he?" Nabiki laughed and took another bite of her dinner. "That's too rich."

"No. Hell no he didn't! This is from Mousse. And he didn't lay me out either, he just caught me when I wasn't expecting it," Ranma insisted. "...Like I said, I don't really wanna talk about it." He glanced over at her to see Nabiki peering at him with a curious smirk, looking like she wanted to ask for more details. Ranma dove for a quick change of subject. "Where's Akane at, anyway?"

"How should I know? She's hasn't come home yet," Nabiki told him.

Ranma craned his neck around to look straight at Nabiki and frown. "Still? What time is it?"

"Like, seven something, I think?" she answered with a shrug. "So she'll probably be back any time now."

"What the heck -" Ranma paused mid-sentence, groaning as he slowly and carefully lifted himself off the couch. "- could she be doing?" He rolled his shoulders back and stretched. "Ow..."

"What am I, her keeper? Go find her yourself if you're so curious."

"She hasn't been back at all day?" he asked.

"Wow, what are you wearing?" Nabiki asked with a laugh as he stood up, eyeing him in Mousse's turtle-necked kimono-thing.

"Nevermind that. I asked you a question."

"Hmm, actually... she did come back for a little while after you left," said Nabiki. "She came home and changed, then went back out again."

Ranma froze in thought. Nabiki didn't actually know anything about the whole 'date thing' at Ukyo's diner - all he'd told her was that he wanted to exact some much overdue revenge on Ryoga, and to teach him a lesson. That, of course, was only half the motive behind his scheme; the other half was putting a stop to this sudden, budding friendship of theirs. Even though his little escapade had wound up going horribly awry, he thought he had done a pretty good job putting those aspirations to rest, at least for the day - but maybe he hadn't been as thorough as he'd believed.

"That's weird," he muttered. There were no school activities this late or anything like that. His jaw clenched shut as he stared into space and calculated the many awful possibilities. Another question popped into his head.

"What're you so worried about? I'm sure she's fine." Nabiki added teasingly, "She's probably just cheating on you or something."

He stopped grinding his teeth and glanced at her. He huffed a breath and shrugged, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"Whatever," he said, eyes rolling to emphasize how very much he didn't care. "What about P-chan - you seen that runt at all today?"

"Um, no," Nabiki gave him a strange look, clearly finding the question rather random. "I haven't. Probably got out again. What's it to you?"

His suspicions bolstered and his jaw went tight again. So Akane was out late, and the little lost piggy hadn't come wandering home yet? He didn't like the implications of that. Not one bit. Damn it - this could mean he'd have done all that he did, endured all that embarrassment and disgust for nothing.

He willed himself to calm down. After all, he was probably just jumping to conclusions. Just because neither Akane or Ryoga was here didn't necessarily mean that they were off somewhere together. Surely he was just being paranoid. Akane could've gone out to a friend's house or something simple like that, and Ryoga didn't even live here. Plus, his disappearing was nothing new.

Nibiki blinked as Ranma left the room without saying anything else.

"So then I said to him," Mr. Tendo was saying as he entered the dining area. "That's not a woolly rhino - that's my mother!"

He and Ranma's father shared a fit of boisterous laughter while Kasumi smiled and shook her head. Soun caught a glimpse of Ranma from over his shoulder; the older man turned and grinned at the boy.

"Ah, Ranma! Finally decided to join us." He waved him over. "Have a seat, grab a plate!"

"Oh, yes; before it gets too cold," said Kasumi.

Ranma did so silently and mechanically. There wasn't much food left.

"You look beat, boy. What's that yer wearin'?" Genma asked, leaning forward for a better look. Ranma noted that his father had gotten another pair of glasses from somewhere. He had to wonder at that. How many pairs did the old man have lying around, anyway? "Awful fancy digs. You have a hot date today or somethin'?"

Ranma glanced down at himself in Mousse's clothes. He guessed they did look pretty formal. He shrugged.

"Ohh," Soun said with a note of excitement in his voice. "I noticed Akane was all dressed up earlier before she left, too. You kids go out for a night on the town, eh?"

Genma and Soun both peered at him expectantly. Ranma's blood ran cold.

"...she was?"

"Oh, she looked lovely!" Kasumi interjected. "Her hair was perfect, and she was wearing this adorable dress that I bought her ages ago..."

Ranma started shaking his head. "Well she didn't get dressed up for me, I can tell ya that," he said. "I haven't seen her all day." His eyes darkened and he lowered his gaze to his plate. That was it, then - she had to have gone to meet Ryoga again. Who else could she be with? His heart suddenly felt physically heavy, almost like it was expanding, pushing uncomfortably up against his lungs - it made his breathing uneven. His nostrils flared. Breathe, Ranma, he told himself; breathe.

"Now, that's strange," said Soun. "Where could she be?" Genma shrugged.

"I don't remember her saying anything about where she was going before she left," said Kasumi. "But she seemed to be in a very good mood all day today.

"I don't know," Ranma lied as he stabbed rather violently into one of his steamed vegetables. "But whoever she's with is keeping her out pretty late, don't you think?"

"Well, who's to say she's with anyone?" Soun reasoned, "Seems rather sudden for Akane to take up an interest in dating, I'll say. And without even telling us?"

"Er, well, what else could it be?" Ranma fidgeted. He didn't want the others to know he knew about Ryoga and Akane's date. For one, he didn't want to end up starting a conversation about the subject - and for two, he kind of wanted them to be as mad as he was at Ryoga whenever Akane did get home. It was a little low of him, but hey, it wasn't like he was spreading lies or anything, unlike some people. "Akane don't usually get herself prettied up for nothin', that's for sure," he said.

"Who knows - sometimes a woman just wants to feel beautiful," said Kasumi. "Whatever it is, I'm sure Akane will tell us all about it when she gets home."

Ranma glanced around as the table fell quiet.

"...So... none of you are even worried," Ranma began incredulously, "that it's almost eight o'clock at night, Akane still ain't home, and we have no idea where she's actually at?"

"It's... a little strange, I'll admit," said Soun. "But let's remember: Akane's almost a grown woman. She can take care of herself. I am curious as to what she's up to, though."

"Hello?" Ranma scowled. "I've got how many people out to kill or blackmail me, now? People have tried to get to me through Akane before. She could be in some kind of trouble."

"Ohh-ho-ho, don't be so paranoid, boy," said Genma with a chuckle. "Tell you what - if it gets any later, we'll all go out and look for her. But I bet you she'll be walking in here any minute, now."

Ranma pouted in defeat. Of course he didn't actually think Akane was in any immediate danger; it just irked him that none of them seemed care when, in his opinion, there was good reason to be concerned. Alright, so maybe it wasn't super late at night or anything, but still - she was usually home by now. She was usually home and if she wasn't, they usually had a good idea of where she was or probably was. She may have almost been a grown woman, but even grown women ought to have curfews - especially when multiple martial artists may or may not be out to kidnap them. Fucking Ryoga; wherever they were, he better have been taking good care of her.

A terrible thought sent his stomach churning and turned his focus away from riling up trouble. Ryoga happened to be one of those martial artists out 'to destroy him', after all. What if - ...ah, forget it; there was no way. Ryoga wouldn't do anything to harm Akane. He didn't have the guts.

But the uncertainty was making Ranma sick. He didn't know what bothered him more - the thought of those two becoming 'good friends', or Ryoga pulling some totally uncharacteristic shtick.

"Now, you know what this party needs?" Genma announced as he got to his feet, "Some shnapps!"

"Ohhh," Soun mouthed in eager agreement.

"Lushes," Ranma commented. He pushed his plate away. He didn't feel much like eating anymore. "I'm gonna go change out of this thing real fast," he said. He got up and left, waiting until he was out of their sight to snake an arm behind himself and rub at his aching back. Maybe he'd just lay down for a while and wait for Akane to get home. He'd feel better once he knew where she was at, and could get some details on this whole Ryoga situation.

~~~
RAEDE