The soft chirping of crickets echoed out through the land just outside of the Saotome household. Inside the home, Genma could be seen pacing back and forth, worried as sick as a dog when it came to him losing his meal ticket, er... meal ticket 'slash' son. 'Darn it Ranma! I should have went with you!' Genma thought.

"Oh dear... you should have followed Ranma the moment he ran out that door!" Nodoka exclaimed, clasping her hands together and getting down to her knees, praying to Kami-sama for Ranma and Ryoga's safe return. "My little boys!" Nodoka cried in an anime like fashion, small tears coming out rapidly from her eyes and vanishing as if they were light bulbs magically floating to the sides of her head.

"Pull yourself together, Nodoka!" Genma exclaimed, looking to the mother of the Saotome prodigy. "It's his duty as a man to take of his own issues, this is an ultimate test of manliness, don't deny our son his chance!"

Nodoka found herself speechless, when anything involved being a man, she was sure to support it. "A-are you sure this is a test of manliness...?" Nodoka asked, hoping this would sooth her wicked nerves.

Genma paused momentarily as his glasses fogged, stomping one foot in front of him Genma held one clenched hand out in front of him. "Of course! Have some faith in our child, have faith in his abilities as a man!" Genma exclaimed, noticing Nodoka looking down to the ground and contemplating her feelings over this presented idea.

Genma gulped and felt an anime sweat drop come from the side of his head, 'Ranma you better get back here soon, lying to your mother isn't something I wanna' do too often...' Genma thought.

Ranma's girl voice could heard from a distance, even seething sounds would heard being emitted from her mouth. Genma and Nodoka's eye widened as wide and dinner plates, the two instantly assumed the worst. There were pleasantly surprised to see that Ranma was alright and with Ryoga leaning on her as his eyes were closed.

"Is Ranma tired, dear?" Nodoka asked.

"He shouldn't be so lazy and I can tell he wasn't fighting to get that tired..." Genma stated, crossing his arms and once again entering sensei mode; with his gleamed over glasses.

Ranma sighed and looked to the side, there really wasn't much things for her to say at the moment. All she could think about was the perfect lie for the question she knew they were going to ask.

Genma noticed the distressed look on Ranma's face and assumed that Ryoga must have been involved with that odd tremor from earlier. "Does he have anything to do with happened before you went after him?"

Nodoka's motherly instinct took hold and she shook her head, not her sweet, gentle little Ryoga. "No! It couldn't have been him! Don't even joke like that, dear!" Nodoka exclaimed, turning to Ranma. "Please Ranma, explain to your father."

Ranma leaned her back and looked to the side, squeezing Ryoga's wrist as his arm was snaked over her shoulder. "That old bat from the village was using some skill and Ryoga got caught in it..."

Nodoka paused for a moment, "What was he even doing before she used her skill on him?"

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"I-I don't know!" Ranma blushed, remembering the night's earlier events and what powers Ryoga had over her. "Maybe he went to take care of some business in the bushes or somethin'!" Ranma exclaimed, hoping that would be an acceptable excuse for her to get more time to think of a better lie. 'Sure as hell hope he let's me lie to em' too...' Ranma thought, her mind quoting Ryoga's confession.

"I love you, Ranma Saotome... even if you never love me back."

Ranma lowered her head and blushed, her eyes becoming adorably wide she went past her parents and into the home. There was an awkward air to the situation, seeing as Ranma didn't look all too happy at the moment. They expected him to be entirely relieved that Ryoga was alright, but instead Ranma came back looking confused and uncertain. Her stuttering didn't help ease their suspicions.

Nodoka raised a brow and knew her mother's intuition was telling her to probe, but she reminded herself to hold back a little. Ranma had a very guilty conscious, she would only have to wait until the pressure built on Ranma and then she would execute her nosy mother skills.

"There's something he's keeping from us..." Genma commented, furrowing his brow as he went over to the house. Though he appeared entirely serious, he wasn't going to do anything about Ranma's suspicious behavior, at least not this time of night. He wasn't even sure he wanted to ask the following day, his concern for Ryoga was still very limited.

Ryoga

Sometime had gone by while Ryoga was unconscious, his mind wandering within the very depths of his subconscious. In his mind he was floating in a dark abyss, completely nude. His hair was swaying around as if he was submerged in a pool.

"Where am I...?'"Ryoga's voice whispered, "Or... what am I?" he asked the darkness, which answered with silence as his voice continued to echo throughout the area.

"Am I an animal or am I someone who can really care about anything? Am I as fake as Ranma's girl side? Am I just some pet to the family? Does my life matter? Am I worth anything to anyone? Does Ranma really care about me?"

It was then that another voice enter the bout within Ryoga's head, "I'm not a girl!"

"A boy can't have a boyfriend!"

"But I'm not really a girl!"

"So I can't be your girlfriend..."

"I guess it's because you like me..."

"Look... Ryoga... I just want to be friends,"

The voice assaulted his mind with things he choose to ignore. The more he thought about it maybe he was making Ranma uncomfortable and care less for him, which caused his dream self to grit his teeth and open his mouth, bubbles of air escaping his mouth as he gaspef for air in his dream.

Suddenly Ryoga gasped and awoke on his futon, sweating coming from his head as he held one hand out in front of him. 'It felt so real, like I was really drowning when I was thinking.' Ryoga thought, his breathing coming out shallow and exhaling sharply. Looking around in the room he was currently in, he saw that he was back in Ranma's room, Ranma a short distance away from him.

Ranma appeared to be sprawled out on her futon, her mouth open slightly as he saw that her sheets seemed to be all over the place. Ryoga began crawling over to her, his movements subtle enough to keep him from being noticed. The red headed girl didn't even seem phased by the odd creaking of the floor boards. He crawled over to her and placed his hand on her cheek, using his thumb to wipe the drool from her mouth and staring at her face.

Timidly he leaned his head down and closed his eyes, tears coming from his eyes as he pulled back and remembered every word that Ranma had said before. There was no place for him as Ranma's lover, his place wasn't with Ranma. Though he thought this, he still couldn't deny his feelings towards the red head girl or even the black haired version of him.

"I can't..." he whispered as pulled back and moved away from the red headed angel of his dreams. "I won't forget you, Ranma Saotome..." Ryoga said quietly as he went over to the corner of the room and spotted a backpack from Ranma's old traveling days. Conveniently enough the backpack was being used to store all of Ryoga's clothing.

Outside

Ryoga now stood in front of the Saotome home, his back facing it as he held onto the straps of his backpack. "Ranma... remember me."

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