{These characters are not property of me. I would never attempt to claim them as my own. This story may not be used without my permission, and may not be used to make money in any way, shape or form. Characters and certain situations were created by Rumiko Takahashi, so don't try any funny stuff!}
The woman never knew what hit her. She was walking and then things went black permanently.
Kodachi dragged the body, a difficult feat as she was still not at her full potential. In the safety of the bushes, Kodachi acquired a more regular set of clothing along with a hairbrush and some tissues she used to clean herself up with.
Looking mostly presentable, Kodachi stood up quickly, emerging from the bushes. Even in the burgeoning darkness, she couldn't appear too suspicious to anyone who caught sight of her. She had to thank the woman for being kind enough to provide her with some of the necessary supplies for her journey home just before she covered her up with branches and leaves.
Without a last look at the results of the deed she had done, Kodachi bounded off into the night quietly. She had learned a few tricks and there would be no warning when she struck. None until it was already done.
"Hawaii? Why's he been in Hawaii all this time?" Ranma moved left, his body twisting slightly and his fist lashing out.
Tatewaki recovered from his missed strike in time to block Ranma's fist, jabbing quickly at the shorter man's exposed ribs. "I don't know. I can't remember him."
Through sheer willpower, Ranma seemed to get slimmer through the chest and waist, narrowly avoiding the nasty pressure point strike. Knocking Tatewaki's hand away, Ranma released his breath and tried for a quick face and body combination. "That's weird." His hands started to blur as he punched.
Tatewaki kept up his blocking for most of the attacks until he simply couldn't keep any longer. Knowing the fight was lost, he let one of Ranma's punches through so he could reach out and lightly poke Ranma's collar bone.
As each attack connected, the two combatants flew apart. Tatewaki slammed against one wall of the dojo, while Ranma Nearly flipped over backwards as he landed on the floor. There wasn't any movement for a few moments.
Ranma sat up first, his hand rubbing the spot he had been hit. "Man, did ya have ta use the big guns?" he asked, grimacing a little.
Tatewaki shook his head, feeling if his jaw was still in place. "I could ask the same."
The two looked at each other for a few seconds. "We can't just leave it at a tie," Ranma said finally.
"Agreed."
They each stood up and took their places before beginning again.
"Can't remember? Like when I hit my head?" Ranma asked, dodging from side to side.
"No, not so generally. I can remember other things," Tatewaki said, trying to lull Ranma into a rhythm of punches, "just not him."
"Oh." Ranma jumped straight up as the surprise move finally came. "Well that's too bad." He started weaving.
"Yeah, it's a bit frightening." Tatewaki had been waiting for this moment to see if his training had paid off. "I don't even know him and he's living with us." He took a big breath then began to move his hands as quickly as possible.
Ranma's eyes widened with surprise and he hopped back a foot.
Tatewaki moved forward, trying to get Ranma into range.
It wasn't as powerful as the amaguriken, but it wasn't as localized either. Tatewaki's hands were moving in a considerable amount of space in front of him; Ranma thought it was actually pretty neat. Until he felt it.
At first it was like someone poking him in the chest, though he knew he wasn't being hit. Then the poking felt like stinging, then stabbing, and Ranma had to move far enough away from Tatewaki to call a stop to the sparring.
He felt his chest, surprised at how sore it actually was. "Wow. How'd ya do that?"
"Little something I've been working on. I modified one of my old kendo techniques. Guess the hand can be used as a knife, eh?" Tatewaki answered, breathing a bit heavily. The technique took quite a bit out of him.
"Well, I'll definitely say you're getting better."
"And it's only been five years. What progress."
"Heh, ya know it's been 15 for me. Don't give up so easy."
"That's very easy for you to say. You're already good enough to beat anyone."
Ranma's chest puffed out subconsciously. "Well, if ya say so."
Tatewaki playfully jabbed Ranma in the side and suddenly, the entire room was spinning and he had no balance.
Ranma tumbled to the floor. "Hey! Turn that off!" He tried to stand, but his legs just dropped out from underneath him.
It was at that moment that Kasumi called out to the dojo, "There's snacks if you two want them."
"Race you to the kitchen, Ranma," Tatewaki said, grinning, then left.
"Hey!" Ranma could only crawl along, falling over every few feet. "Cheater! Stop this! I can't walk!"
"This might seem pointless to you and pretty stupid, but we can test your memory this way. It's what they use during brain surgery to locate the memory location in an exposed brain."
Tatewaki felt himself turn green for a moment, then swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded.
"I'm just going to hold up pictures of things and you tell me what they are. Simple." The doctor held up a card.
"Cat."
Next card.
"Frog."
Next card.
"Octopus."
Next card.
"Jet."
Next card.
"Banana."
Next card.
"Telephone."
And so it went for at least 15 minutes until the doctor was satisfied.
He set down his stacks of cards. "Well, that was perfect. There's no problem there. Have you been having trouble remembering anything at home? Like where the spare blankets are, or when you're supposed to meet someone, or are you having trouble doing math? Trouble with your finances?"
Tatewaki shook his head. "No. I've never noticed any trouble."
The doctor nodded once. "Then I'm afraid there's not much I can do. It's not much of a comfort, I know, but it seems that only your personal long term memory has been affected."
Tatewaki looked a little confused.
"You remember everything you need to survive, reading, writing, math, things like that. And your short term is perfectly fine from what we did earlier... You won't have any trouble learning new things."
To that, Tatewaki nodded again. That was true now that he thought about it.
"There's just nothing else I can help you with." The doctor shrugged, unsure of what else to say.
Tatewaki gave one firm nod to himself then stood up. "I thank you," he said. "I suppose I will just have to... deal with it."
"RIght. If you have any more problems, don't hesitate to call."
"What did the doctor say?"
Tatewaki took Takuma's hand. "That I was fine and there was nothing to worry about."
"That's good. Can we get ice cream now?" Takuma asked happily.
"What is it with you and ice cream?"
"I like ice cream! Chocolate is the best!"
"Yes, I saw how much you liked it all over your shirt the last time we got ice cream." Tatewaki said, thankful he had been out of the line of fire that day.
"Daddy," Takuma said, changing the subject completely, "is Grandpa going to go back to Hawaii?"
That was unexpected. "I don't know. Why do you ask, Kuma-chan?"
"'Cause I don't want him to go. He's funny."
They reached the train station and were waiting for the next one back to Nerima. Takuma tugged on his father's hand as the crowd of people grew around them.
Tatewaki leaned down and lifted Takuma so the child could see above most of the people. They waited like that, not talking until the train arrived, then they began to board along with a sizable group of other people.
She waited nervously among the people. She was just waiting for one of them to recognize her and start screaming. Or the police to show up and try to take her back. Well, she was not going back, no matter what she had to do to prevent that from happening. Suicide was preferable to sitting in that little hole and rotting from the inside out.
As the train came to a stop and people began to pile on board, something that might have been her imagination saw a person. A person carrying a little boy. A person that could have been her brother.
Before she could get a good look at the person, the doors were closing and the train was leaving her behind. She gave a little snarl of frustration as the train left the station. She had been so preoccupied with the person she saw, she forgot to board it. If they hadn't drugged her up so severely in that place, she wouldn't be having these types of problems.
All she could do was wait for the next train to arrive then find a cozy place to sit and wait until the time was right.
"My own?"
"Yes, your own. Just for you."
"Whee!" Takuma began running around the room with the little bokken in his hand.
"Takuma, that is not a toy," Tatewaki said sternly. "That is for you to practice with, not play games."
Takuma had stopped and was standing, looking at the ground. "I'm sorry," he said apologetically.
"That's fine. Just remember, the things I am going to teach you are dangerous if you're not in control of yourself. You wouldn't want to hurt anyone, would you?"
Takuma shook his head.
"Good. Let's get started."
"Can you do it now?" Takuma asked excitedly.
"It's been a while. I don't know if I can."
"Please, please, please!" Takuma was hopping up and down.
"What have I told you about being careful when you are carrying a weapon?"
Takuma's feet suddenly became rooted. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry, just think about what you're doing before you do it." Tatewaki saw the sad look on his son's face. "Don't be like that now. You didn't do anything bad, you just have to be careful."
Takuma nodded, but his look did not change.
Tatewaki got down on one knee in front of him. "Do you know why I keep telling you to be careful?"
Takuma nodded. "So I don't get hurt."
"That's part of it, but also so you don't hurt someone else. Think of it like driving a car. What do we do when we get in a car?"
"Put our seatbelts on."
"Right. We do that so if something happens, we won't be hurt. Now, what if we put our seatbelts on and were safe in the car, but the person driving didn't know how?"
"We would be safe, but..."
"But everyone else could get hurt. That's why you always have to be in control of yourself and be careful. OK?"
Takuma nodded again. "OK."
"Good." Tatewaki ruffled Takuma's hair. "Now, what villainous practice dummy should I take my revenge on?"
Takuma immediately perked up. "That one!" he exclaimed, pointing to a dummy on the far side of the room.
Tatewaki nodded. "Excellent choice. That one is most sturdy. Very well, have at thee!" Tatewaki sprinted the short distance, his own bokken poised to strike, then lashed out.
Takuma clapped when the dummy fell into two cleanly separated halfs. "When can I do that?" he asked, giggling.
"If you work hard and practice you'll be able to. Most people can't do that even with practice. Now you know why I want you to be careful."
Takuma nodded. If he could cut things in half, it would be well worth it to have his father scold him.
There was a light knock on the door. "Yes?"
"Mommy, I don't feel good," came Takuma's voice through the door.
"Come in, Takuma-chan."
The door opened slowly and Takuma poked his head in.
Nabiki set down her book and waved Takuma in.
Takuma came into the room, holding the big, soft bear he normally slept with in bed, and shut the door. He walked over to Nabiki's side of the bed and stood there, looking forlorn.
Nabiki pulled back the cover, scooted over, then patted the bed.
Takuma crawled into the bed and cuddled up beside his mother as she covered them both with the blanket, Tatewaki sleeping already at their backs.
Nabiki reached over and shut off the light, plunging the room into comfortable darkness. "Feel better?"
Takuma nodded as Nabiki's arm covered him, slipping back to sleep. Nabiki soon followed.
The light went off and the house was dark. This could be the time, but it wasn't yet.
That had definitely been her brother with that little boy. That little boy... that could look like HER little brother if she had ever had one. His high pitched voice echoed in her mind, 'Daddy.'
And then she had seen that... that... wench arrive, and she had barely been able to restrain herself. Things just couldn't be happening like this, it had to be a lie. It had to be a lie. After the way that girl treated him...
Kodachi's head started to hurt at the awful possibilities. She stopped herself from screaming, and settled for planning exactly what she would do. What she would do... And just how much destruction it would involve.
Tatewaki woke up early the next morning feeling refreshed. He hadn't slept that well in quite a while. He sat up and looked at the other side of the bed to see Nabiki and Takuma snuggled up together, looking like a pair of angels. Even with the memory problems, he felt like he was one of the luckiest people in the world.