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Coutuva.




Goodbye Is Not Forever - Part Thirteen
------------------------------------------------------------------




	"You two okay?" Nabiki asked gently as she appeared out
of the darkness.
	"H-hai.  We're okay," Ranma replied quietly, stepping
back out of the mutual embrace she and her daughter had been
holding.
	Kayoko nodded as she wiped at her eyes.
	"We...  Really should get going.  It'll be daylight here
in another hour, and Himiko wants to be out over the ocean by
then."
	"Yeah...  I guess...  I guess we're done here," Ranma
sighed, with a look back at the hasty shrine she and Kayoko had
constructed.  A quiet exchange then passed between herself and
her daughter, after which Kayoko proffered a weak smile - and
a gentle nod.
	Ranma returned the smile, then turned, offered one last
prayer, then stepped up and grazed her hand along the cold
surface of the headstone.
        "Oyasumi nasai...  Kawaii-tousan," she whispered, then
collected Kayoko in her arm and started back toward the car.
Nabiki followed silently alongside.
	No words were spoken until they arrived back at the
house, and Himiko broke the ice.
	"It's just past supper time...  Anyone feel like eating?"
	Ranma and Kayoko looked at each other - then back at her.
	"I'll take that as a yes."
	Nabiki smirked.




	"Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but that
onsen's been calling my name...  Anyone else interested?" Himiko
grinned, after putting away the last of the condiments.
        "Hai...  I've been thinking about that, too," Nabiki
nodded, at which everyone else did the same.
	"Last one in brings the sake!" Himiko teased, already on
her way out of the room.
	Ranma was the unfortunate server by virtue of a missing
sandal, and strode out to the edge of the pool sporting a long
frown, and a loaded tray balanced atop her head.
	She set the tray down on the water amid a chorus of
chuckles, then stood up to remove her robe.  She just managed
to get the garment off her shoulders when she froze.
	"I can't do this!" she blurted, dropping her arms in
exasperation.
	"Nani?  What are you talking about, Ranma?" Himiko
asked, to a round of sniggers.
	Ranma leveled her a look.  "Hot water, Himiko-san."
	Himiko blinked.  "Why is that a problem?  I'm...  Um, it
doesn't bother me."
	"Oh, sure -- like you guys want a naked man in there
with you," she frowned, flipping the robe back up onto her
shoulders and tying it off.
	"Speak for yourselves," Himiko interjected, to a friendly
slap from Kayoko.
	Nabiki rolled her eyes.  "Just wrap a towel around
yourself - none of us mind."
	She lowered an eyebrow.  "You sure...?"
	All of them nodded in unison.
	"Okay..." she sighed, then threw off the robe.  After
wrapping a towel around her midsection, she stepped into the
water.
	A shiver and a quick adjustment later, he looked up at
each of the others.
	Nabiki was indifferent.
	Himiko was trying to be.
	Kayoko was wide-eyed and smiling.  "Wow, Mom!  You're a
hunk!" she blurted, waving at her face.  The others promptly
lost it.
	He slid the girl a look.  "And you're too young to be
noticing," he chided, fighting back a smile.
	When the joke had finally passed, he ended up sitting
between his daughter and Nabiki, and had already noted that his
daughter still sat taller than he did.  He found that somewhat
disconcerting, but tried not to let on.
	"So what's next, Himiko-san?" Nabiki asked, bumping the
tray over to her.
	"I've got to get back home.  I think I'll probably head
out in about an hour," she responded, pausing to awkwardly pour
herself a sipper.
        "That's good - I wanna get this over with, myself,"
Ranma concurred, glad the topic was back to the one he most
wanted.
	Himiko sat up.  "Iya, Ranma.  Your just coming to my
time will cause a paradox - and destroy everything we've
accomplished," she countered, seriously.
	"What?  Then what the hell do you expect me to do?
Just sit back on my butt and let 'em get away with this shit?"
he snapped, his aura shimmering.
	"They won't.  I have...  'Friends' that will make sure
that doesn't happen."
	"Yeah, right.  You guys'll let 'em live."
	Nabiki gasped.  Kayoko smirked.
	"Ranma...  I promise you, we will make them pay - and
pay big.  They won't get out of this - I won't let them."
        "No way - those heartless bastards owe us exactly what
they took from us.  I am *not* gonna let you or anyone else 
stop me from getting it!"
	Himiko remained disconcertingly calm.  "Iya.  I can't
bring you back with me, Ranma.  It's not possible," she
reiterated, meeting his own steely glare.
	He was about to 'restate' his point when he felt a
warm, soft hand on his shoulder.  He turned toward Nabiki still
scowling - until he saw her point at his daughter.  When he
looked at her, his scowl fell away.
	"Kay-chan?"
	The girl didn't respond, other than to rise to a stand,
heedless of her lack of towel.  She was looking off into the
early evening sky, almost as if seeing something nobody else
could.
	He was about to ask when a certain familiar and
heart-sinking sensation washed over him.
	"Kuso..."
	"Damn them," Kayoko snarled, reaching for a nearby towel.
	"Ranma...?"
	"Get in the house, Nabs...  You too, Himiko-san," he
ordered, rising himself.
	"Why, what...?" she countered, until he turned and shot
her a look.
	"Just do it -- now," he commanded, then took to the air.
	"If I were you, I'd listen to her," Kayoko seconded,
jumping from the water and then running up to the deck.  As soon
as she was near the rail, she exploded into the familiar orb
and rocketed out over the yard.
	She and Himiko exchanged wide eyed bewilderment - then
realization.
	"Oh, shit..." they chorussed, then jumped up and ran
for the house.




	Ranma landed in the middle of the yard, his eyes locked
on the point of light in the western sky.  Just as he sensed
Kayoko sweep past him, he wondered why he was able to feel the
approaching assault so well.
	The answer became apparent a few seconds later, when the
growing flare split into three distinct entities.
        "Masaka - three of them..." he muttered aloud, for the
first time worried.
	"You saw that?" Kayoko asked, as she stepped from her
own flare and walked up beside him.
	"Hai -- this is getting too damned serious," he
confirmed, his fists clenching at his sides.
	Kayoko didn't seem concerned.  "We can handle it.  We're
together," she smiled, then stepped backwards.  "Almost showtime,"
she grinned, then turned and broke into a run.  Half a dozen
strides later, the ball erupted around her, and she took to the
air.
	He had to smile - until he heard the building roar in the
distance.
	"This is it," he huffed, concentrating his Ki into his
hands - but he wasn't able to finish.
	The spheres broke into a pincer formation as they screamed
in over the trees, all three unleashing a barrage of small, rapid
blasts.  He dove aside, only to catch a glimpse of Kayoko's orb
blasting through the formation, scattering the others.
	Her orb then swung to a stop in midair, and inside it, she
she raised an arm, and merely pointed at the sphere closing in 
on her.
	A thundering blast suddenly erupted from Kayoko's orb,
tearing a hole right through the other.  The gutted sphere hung
in the air for a few more seconds, then finally shimmered away to
nothingness.
	"Kuso..." he whispered, as he braced himself against the
shockwave.  "She really must've been pulling her attacks..."
	He didn't have time to dwell on it, however, as the other
two homed in on him.  The lead sphere launched a huge burst
directly at him, followed immediately by another.
	He sprang straight up, riding the wave of energy from the
beam's impact.  The second tried to line up on him while he was in
the air, but Kayoko changed it's plans with a shot of her own.
	Instead, it fired a wild burst while evading the attempt.
The shot missed him, but just the wash was powerful enough to 
throw his intended descent.
	As he watched a crater the size of the Tendou home being 
gouged out beneath him, he twisted into a touchdown beyond it, just
making it back into the air before the second expanded the crater.
	Unfortunately, he leapt right into the path of the first.
It launched another blast, which he wasn't able to avoid
completely.  The wash caught him up, and slammed him to the ground
hard.
	He was barely able to clear the stars before another
impact erupted beside him, throwing him across the entire yard,
and smashing him through the sides of a toolshed.
	"Okaasan!" Kayoko cried, as she watched her mother's abused
form come to rest.  Panicked, she dove to his side as he lay buried
amid the wreckage.
	The nearest sphere, meantime, arced around and began a hail
of small but potent shots.
        Kayoko leapt to her feet.
	"IYAAA!!!" she shouted, lining up on the sphere with both
fists.  A split-second later, a searing shaft of solid energy
exploded away from them, incinerating the sphere in midair.
	But her success came at a price.  The other sphere had
come in behind her, and just as she noticed it, its attack
impacted the ground mere meters from where she stood.
	The horrific assault tore up half the yard, throwing
herself, Ranma, and everything around them tumbling through the 
air.
	She rolled out of the shrapnel storm and into clear air,
immediately lining up on her target.
	"Shi-NE!!" she shrieked, her painful tears almost
ruining her aim.
	Almost.
	The sphere tried to avoid the earth-shaking blast, but
was far too slow.  A heartbeat later, it too vanished in a
blinding, thunderous explosion, leaving an eerie silence hanging
in its wake.
	A silence broken only by heart wrenching sobs.




	"He's...  In pretty bad shape," Himiko pronounced, as
she rose from examining the stilled body before her.
	"H-how bad?" Nabiki choked, her hands obsessively fixing
his hair as she cradled his bruised, graying face.
	"I...  I don't know," the girl whispered, but her eyes
told a more certain story.
	Nabiki's face fell in horror.  "Iya...  Iya, iya!  This
can't happen...  It can't!  Not to her!  Not now!" she protested,
her head shaking so vehemently that her tears scattered in the
air.
	"Nabiki-san..." Himiko interrupted, placing a hand on her
shoulder.  "Before it's...  Too late, I...  I want to say goodbye.
It's...  Been a great pleasure to know you, and I wish...  I wish
things would have worked out better," she stated, her shimmering
eyes sadly resigned.
	Nabiki jolted.  "What...  What do you mean?"
        She drew a sigh.  "I mean...  I mean I've failed.  I...
I didn't save him," she explained quietly, her face lowering.
"Gomen...  Gomen nasai."
	"IYA!" Kayoko suddenly cried, storming up to them with
hands ablaze.  "I'm *not* going to let her die - I'm not!"
	Before either of them could react, she wedged through
between them and grabbed Ranma's limp form.  She pulled him 
from Nabiki's lap, buried her face in his shoulder and closed
her eyes.
	In the same instant, the soft yellow glow spread from her
hands to envelop them both.
	"Please...  Please, Mom...  You have to live.  You have
to...  I can't l-lose you now," she implored quietly, the pain
in the quavering behest bringing tears to the other's eyes.
	What seemed an eternity passed as Nabiki and Himiko sat
holding each other's hands, each silently praying in the
illumination of the glow.
	But neither Kayoko nor Ranma moved.
	Nabiki felt her chest starting to heave as panic welled
within her, gradually building on itself until her lip began to
tremble.  She was a heartbeat away from diving into Himiko's
arms - when it happened.
	Ranma's head twitched - and he groaned.




	"I still can't believe it...  You are amazing, Kayoko-san.
Her colour's back, and she looks like she's just taking a nap,"
Himiko commented, looking down at the cleaned-up, tucked-up,
slumbering redhead.
	Kayoko smiled.  "Hai...  I'm thrilled that it worked.
I...  Didn't know if I could do it, but...  But I wasn't going to
let Mom die.  She's...  She's got too much of a future," she
smiled, her hand gazing Ranma's cheek as she glanced up at 
the knowingly smiling Himiko.
	"Well, it did work, Kay-chan -- her wounds are even 
healed," Nabiki seconded, rising from her spot on the bedside and
walking up to the girl.  "Thank you - for both of us," she smiled,
opening a hug.
	Kayoko rose and accepted it happily.  "Iya, Nabiki-san.
Thank you - for taking such good care of her.  I'm...  I'm happy
knowing you're going to be with her.  It's obvious how much she
needs you, and...  And it makes this...  At least a little easier."
	Nabiki tightened her hug.  "Arigato gozaimashite,
Kay-chan...  I'm honoured," she sniffed, then stepped back and
wiped her eyes.  "Are you sure you don't want to stay any longer?
At least until she wakes up?"
	Kayoko responded with a sad smile and a shake of her head.
"I'd love to...  I'd love to stay forever," she stated, her face
soft.  "I'm going to miss her even more now - but I can't let 
this go on.  It's obvious that if I don't stop them now, Mom will
never have any peace - and her life has already been hard enough,"
she noted, as she sat down again and grazed her hand over Ranma's
quiet face.  
	"And besides...  If she wakes up before I leave, she'll
want to come.  And since I don't have the 'intestinal fortitude'
to say no, I'd have to stay -- because her place is here," she 
sighed, with a brief tiny smile.  "But I don't have that choice.  
I have to make sure that this ends, and ends now," she continued, 
her face sobering as she took hold of Ranma's hand, and drew a 
long, sad sigh.  
	"She...  She gave me more love in these few days than I've
had in my entire life -- and asked nothing in return.  That...
That's what being a family means, and I want...  I want her to be
able to show that...  To others," she half-whispered, her voice
choking off breifly.
	A deep breath later, her face hardened.  "I'm going to 
make sure that those 'people' never bother her again - even if I
have to level that cursed place.  If this is how they treat 
lives - and families - then they don't deserve anything less."
	"Wish I could be there to see it," Nabiki smiled, then
glanced back at Ranma.  "She'll be glad to hear about it, I'm
sure."
	"I swear -- I'll make her proud," Kayoko smiled, then
leaned down to Ranma's face.  "I love you Mom...  And I already
miss you.  I hope...  I hope I can see you again...  Someday," 
she whispered, then kissed Ranma's forehead.  "Genki de ne,
okaasan," she added, then rose amid a stifled sniff and looked
over at Himiko.
	"Yeah...  I know," she responded, with a sad smile.
	A few minutes later, the three of them stood beside the
car, exchanging hugs and wiping streaming eyes.
	"I'm going to miss you guys - we had a hell of an
adventure," Nabiki smiled, stepping from Kayoko's arms and into
Himiko's.
	"I'll miss you, too.  We...  Made a great team," Himiko 
sniffed, her hug a little tighter and even more emotional than 
Kayoko's.
	"Hai -- just wish the game hadn't been so serious," she
remarked, to nods from the others.  "And speaking of teams, 
Himiko-san...  You probably know if -- and who -- Ranma married,
don't you?"
	Himiko broke into a knowing smile.  "A woman," she
quipped, touching the button on her jacket.




	Ranma smiled sadly as she watched the girls step into 
the car, and her hand rose to flatten against the window as 
Nabiki waved them away.
	A sigh escaped her as she felt the emptiness start in her
heart, but this time, it was tempered by the knowledge that she
was enduring it by choice.
	It had been a hard decision -- probably the hardest one
she'd ever have to make, but after hearing Kayoko say she'd have
to stay, she knew it was the only one.
	Kayoko belonged back in her own time, whatever time it 
was, and she belonged right where she was.
	She had things to do.
	She had to smirk, however, as she realized the irony of
what had occurred.  By their attempts to destroy her, her 'enemy'
had in fact freed her -- by bringing to light how unhappy she 
had been with the previous direction of her life.
	For as long as she could recall, she'd been told, shown 
and nearly convinced that feelings and emotions were weaknesses.  
They were something to be controlled, restrained and even ignored.
	But now, thanks to her husband, Nabiki, and most 
especially Kayoko, she knew differently -- and with that knowledge,
felt stronger and more centered than at any point in her life.
	Strong enough, in fact, that she'd decided it was time she
and her own mother had a very serious talk.
        Returning her attention to the car, she watched its 
lights swing out over the trees, and eventually disappear into
the night.
	A wistful, slightly sad smile grew on her face.
	"Wasurerarenai, Kayoko-chan.  I'll make you proud."




====================================================================
END - Goodbye is Not Forever - Part 13  A Ranma1/2 Fanfic by Coutuva

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