Reconcilement

By Richard Palmer and William Pall

Part One: The Letter

"Time for Dinner!" yelled Kasumi.

Everyone rushed into the dinning room. "What the?..." started Soun. On the table was a big pot, full of a thick soup. It had a rather strong spicy odor.

Ranma looked at Akane. "You didn't cook again tonight, did you?"

"No, This one's mine." Ben said. "Felt I should pull some weight around here." Everyone stared at Ben in disbelief. "What, like it's unmanly to cook? For crying out loud I go on these big freakin' training journeys, what am I gonna do, swipe food as I see fit? I ain't no cheapskate!"

At these words Genma and Happosai looked away uncomfortably.

"I should've known it wasn't Akane's cooking, the fumes wouldn't have let us get this close if it were." Ranma was cut off by a sharp jab in the ribs by Akane.

"So, what is it?" said Nabiki.

"Seafood gumbo. My foster mother grew up in southern Louisiana." They all sat down to eat.

"Mmm," remarked Soun, "this is actually pretty good!" Ben nodded at the compliment. All of the sudden there was a knock at the door. Akane got up to answer it. She came back with a puzzled look on her face.

"Who was it?" asked Ranma.

"It's a letter," answered Akane, "for Ben."

"Hmm?" remarked Ben as he took the letter. He opened it up and read it, when he got to the end he went pale. "What?

Who's it from?" said Ranma.

"Huh?" said Ben, a little shook up. "Oh, no one." He got up. "If you'll excuse me."

Later that night, Akane woke up to the sounds of fighting. She went downstairs and saw everyone crowded outside the practice hall. "What is it?" she whispered. She peeked in and saw Ben training.

"He's been at it for hours," Soun said quietly, "whatever it was that was in that letter must have shook him up pretty badly."

"It's something he's been running away from. It's finally caught up with him." muttered Matsusake.

"What's that?" asked Ranma. Matsusake held out his hand.

"Yeah, like I'm gonna pay you anything." Ranma remarked.

"Do you want to know or not?" Matsusake questioned.

"Forget it, Ben'll tell us sooner or later." Ranma said.

The next day Ben was out of the house before anyone was up. He didn't follow Ranma and Akane to school like he normally did. No one saw him until a few hours after school. He showed up at the front walk with a cooler and a backpack fully loaded with camping supplies. He came in and found Ranma.

"So, holmes, how's about a camping trip?"

"What?" said Ranma, a little puzzled.

"It's the weekend, holmes, why not get away from it for a while? I've got food and everything!"

"What's gotten into you? You've been acting strange ever since you got that letter."

Ben winced, as if he had just been hit briefly by a sharp stabbing pain. "Tell you what, holmes, come with me camping I'll let you in on it. Oh and bring Akane too."

That night after they set up camp. Ben started to grill some single serve steaks over the campfire. He pulled a beer out of the cooler, And sat down. "So I'll bet you're both wondering what was in that letter." he paused and took a swig "fair enough, seeing as how she'll be here in a few days."

"Who'll be here in a few days?" asked Akane. Ranma sipped his tea.

"My wife." Ranma almost choked on his drink. "Your WIFE?" he stammered. "you're MARRIED?"

"Don't start with me, holmes. I'm twenty eight, plenty old enough to be married."

"So where is she? Why didn't she come with you to Japan?" asked Akane.

Ben sighed "Right now we're kind of separated." he said, taking another swig from his beer. "She had a hard time dealing with certain things."

"Your transformation?" asked Ranma

"Naw, she stands by me no matter what form I take."

"Well, what was it?" asked Akane.

"It's because I'm a fighter." Ben said, sipping from his beer. "She doesn't mind the stunt work, but she's worried as heck about all the fights I involve myself in, all the tournaments I join to better my martial arts. She's afraid I'm going to get the crap beaten out of me."

"Has she ever seen you fight?" asked Ranma.

"No, she wouldn't be able to stand it." Said Ben finishing off his beer. "So here's the thing, I'm sure you two have been in love..."

"Why would I ever like a jerk like him?" stammered Akane, turning sharply away from Ranma.

"Hey, I feel just the same way about you. I sure as heck didn't ask for no uncute fiancée like..."

"I didn't mean with each other." interrupted Ben. "All I was implying was that you two have been in love with someone at one time or another, even if it was a one way thing, right?"

"Well...yeah." Answered Akane.

"I guess so." Replied Ranma.

"Yeah, well what if you had to give up the only other thing that gave you as much joy as being with that person in order to be with them?" asked Ben. Ranma and Akane sat quietly for awhile. "That's exactly my point! You wouldn't know what to do!" Ben sat up and flipped the steaks over. "Well it looks like I'm going to have to figure out what to do pretty dang quick, cause she's comin' in a few days, and she say's I either give up fighting or I sign the divorce papers."

"Ben... I... I don't know what to say." said Ranma.

"S'okay, holmes, you don't gotta say nothin', it's just something I had to get off my chest." He pulled the steaks off the grille. "Now then, shall we eat?"

When they got back they were all silent. Nobody mentioned what they had talked about until later that night. Akane walked up to Soun and Mr. Saotome and told them about their discussion. Soun burst into tears. "He is the best paying customer I've had in a long time." Soun sobbed.

"He does seem to treat us all as friends. I suppose we should help him out with this." Genma remarked. "But what can we do?"

Part Two: Ben's Wife Comes to Nerima

A taxi pulled up to the Tendo Dojo the next morning. A woman in her late twenties or early thirties got out. She had long brown hair with her sunglasses set on top of her head. She was wearing purple slacks, and a white blouse covered by a purple vest. She got her bags out of the trunk and paid the driver. As he drove off she stepped through the front gate. She knocked on the front door and waited a while before Soun answered.

"Hello, may I help you?" he said.

"Yes, I'm Jennifer Setlin, I was told Ben was staying here?"

"Why, yes! please, come right in!" Soun said as she stepped inside.

She stopped as they entered the dinning room where Ranma, Akane, Ben, and the rest of the Tendo household were eating breakfast. There was an uncomfortable silence as Ben and Jennifer exchanged glances. "So..." Ben said as he got up, "you made it."

"Ben... I've missed you so..."

"You missed me, huh?" Ben was getting rather defensive. "That's funny, seeing as how a divorce would only end up in you missing me even more."

"Now, Ben..." Jennifer began.

"Now don't get me wrong, I missed you too, But what the hell is up with this? A divorce? I didn't think we had this big of a problem going on here!"

"Ben, your friends..." Jennifer said pointing toward the rest of the Tendo household.

Ben suddenly remembered they weren't alone in the room. He turned and looked at the Tendos who had stopped eating as soon as Jennifer had entered the room. "Sorry about this," He said, "This is my wife Jennifer Setlin." He then introduced her to everyone else in the room.

When he was through Kasumi cheerfully offered her some breakfast. "No thanks, I ate on the plane," smiled Jennifer. Then she looked back at Ben "If I could just speak to you for a moment outside." She motioned toward the door.

After they left Nabiki muttered "Trouble in paradise, like we don't see that enough around here." She glanced toward Ranma and Akane.

"It's just an act," Akane said, not noticing the last part of what Nabiki said "you know what a tough guy Ben likes to think he is. The way he spoke about her the other day, you can tell he cares for her."

Ben and Jennifer were out in the back yard out of sight. Jennifer turned to Ben and said "Look, I can't keep this up, the divorce paper bit was a bluff. I just hate living apart, but at the same time I don't want to see you get hurt."

"I'm sorry Jen, but you knew what type of guy I was before you married me, you knew my background and you knew how seriously I took it."

"I know, I know, I guess I just thought I could change all that."

"Jen..." Ben started. She looked at him. "I really did miss you." Ben said. She smiled. They hugged each other.

Off behind the bushes Ranma and Akane were watching. "See, I told you he still cares." she whispered.

That night at dinner, things were a little friendlier between Ben and Jennifer. They told the Tendo's how they had met on the set of one of the movies Ben was acting in, and how Jennifer became his agent shortly afterward. "We've been with each other ever since." Ben went on "In fact after I fell in Nyanniichuan, she was the one who suggested I start doing female roles." he turned to her, "Seems like you can find something positive in almost anything."

Jennifer smiled, then looked at her watch. "Oh dear, if I don't get going soon I may not find a hotel in time."

"Why, there's no need for that," Soun jumped in "you can stay here!" "Are you sure that's not a problem?" Jennifer asked.

"No problem at all, I feel like you're a friend of the family all ready!" Soun remarked.

Later that night, Akane helped Jennifer get her things all set up in her room. "You and Ben really seem to get along really well, why did you guys stay apart so long?" Akane asked.

"Well," Jennifer sighed "despite the business I'm in, I'm really against violence. For on screen purposes it works, otherwise I'd have a much harder time getting paid. When I married Ben I thought maybe he'd settle down and only concentrate on the acting part of his profession." She sighed "But he only seems to be working harder at it, like he has something to prove. I have this feeling eventually he'll bite off more than he can chew and then I'll be visiting him in the Hospital, or worse."

"You've never seen him fight, have you?" "Nothing other than his stuntwork." "Trust me, he's good enough to handle some of the worst. But martial arts isn't all about violence." Jennifer looked at her kindly. "There is a lot of spiritual meaning to a lot of the martial arts styles Ben studies. A lot of people also use martial arts as a form of exercise. And self-defense plays a big part in it as well, I mean considering where Ben grew up he'd know that more than most people."

"I don't know, I mean, I was thinking about it all the way over here, I wonder if I'm just asking him to quit so we'll be able to spend more time together. He always seems to be off on a training journey or something."

"You mean he's not around that often?"

"Barely ever," Jennifer sighed, "when I told him I needed more time apart I was hoping he'd begin to see how I felt. Back when we were dating he was one of the most romantic people I knew, in his own little fashion. I guess I kind of missed that."

Akane walked out toward the backyard. Ranma was all ready out there. "So you had a little talk with Ben's wife, huh?"

"Yeah," Akane sighed, "It seems the fighting isn't what's bothering her."

"What?" Ranma said a little surprised. "She say's that they're hardly together anymore. She misses him." she stared blankly off into the night sky. "He used to be the most romantic person she knew, She wants things to be like that again."

Ranma entered the practice hall where Ben had his stuff stashed. Ben was packing up. "What's going on?" "Ain't it obvious, holmes? I'm leaving."

"Ben, you know you can't keep running from this!"

"I ain't running, I just gotta think." Ben said as he began to walk off.

"It's not the fighting." Ranma said.

"Come again?" Ben looked at Ranma a little puzzled.

"She said the fighting didn't bug her so much, it's that you're always gone." Ben stood motionless for a while. "You talked to her?"

"Well, no, Akane did"

"Huh." Ben said. Then he walked off.

Akane was in her room getting ready for bed, when Ben walked up and knocked on the door. "Who is it?"

"It's Ben, I need to talk to you, it'll only take a sec." Akane opened the door. "You talked to my wife today?" Akane nodded. "What exactly did she say?"

"Uh..." Akane paused.

"Please," Ben said softly, "It's important."

"She said she just wanted to spend more time with you, She said you weren't as romantic as you were when you used to date. You know?"

"Thanks, Akane, I really appreciate it." Ben said, then he walked off.

Part Three: The Metal Head Serenade

The next day Ben had disappeared. Jennifer waited around the house hoping he would come back, but there was no sign of him all day. Later that night everyone had gotten back from school, and the entire group was just about to sit down to dinner. Ben walked through the front gate, in a nice black suit and black bow tie, carrying with him a bouquet of flowers. "Jennifer, I've only got a few things to say so I'll be quick. I never stopped loving you, I just thought you'd never want to be a part of any of these training journeys. I didn't realize how bad things had gotten. So as an apology, or at least a start, I got a friend of mine to let us have a private dinner at his restaurant."

"Ben... wow, I mean... this is really unexpected, I don't even have anything to wear!"

"Relax, we'll pick something up on the way there." Jennifer got up, "Just let me get ready!" she said as she went into the other room. Ben turned to the rest of the family. "Thanks." He said "Ranma, Akane, I probably couldn't have done this without you.

Kasumi, Nabiki, Mr. Tendo, thanks for your hospitality. Oh and Mr. Tendo," Ben said to Soun as tears streamed down Soun's cheeks "looks like we'll have to postpone the training for a while. Genma, thanks for your support. Happosai, uh, thanks for showing me what not to do."

"Hey!" yelled Happosai as Jennifer came back into the room.

"Shall we go?" Ben asked. Jennifer nodded and they both strolled out the front gate. Ranma and Akane snuck up to the restaurant. "Geez, Akane they got back together, do we have to spy on them like this?" Ranma whispered.

"I just want to make sure things are really okay." Akane whispered back. They peeked into the restaurant. Ben and Jennifer were finishing up their dinner, Jennifer was wearing a stunning dark blue dress. "Thank you Ben, that was wonderful." Jennifer said as she set down her silverware.

"It ain't done yet!" Ben said as he got up. He got up onto the karaoke stage and grabbed a microphone. "The night's just started!"

"How sweet," Akane thought, "he's going to serenade her."

Heavy metal music began to scream from the speakers. "I've seen some sad times I said, I'd had enough of heartbreak." Ben sang, "I told myself that I'd never fall again. Then sure as fate she came, I, just had to get her and, she gave me all her numbers, gave me all her names." Jennifer smiled. "Cold and lonely without you, don't know if I can make it through, maybe you'll hear this song, you been gone way too long, Too good to let it go, too good to be true." Ranma and Akane were being blown back by the noise of the heavy metal music that must have been up at full blast. "Too good to let it go, too good to be true." Ben sang, then, shortly after, the music stopped.

"Oh, Ben," said Jennifer, as she rushed up to him.

"What the heck was that?" said Ranma, tying to get the ringing out of his ears.

"Oh Ben, It's been ages since you've done anything like that, and singing Motörhead's 'Too Good to Be True' no less!" She hugged him.

"Well, all's well that end well," said Akane to Ranma as they walked off.

"What? That giant cat with the bell?" Ranma said looking around, his ears still ringing.

"What?" said Akane to Ranma looking confused. They both continued back to the Dojo.

Epilogue:

Ben carried the last of his luggage out of the practice hall. "So you're leaving?" said Ranma.

"Yeah, but not too far," Ben pointed off down the road, "I'm practically next door. Jen's getting some of our stuff moved from our house in Montana, we'll buy whatever else we need." He looked at Ranma, "Don't worry holmes, I ain't goin' nowhere 'till I pay you back." He shrugged. "Seems I owe Akane too, now."

"Wait a minute!" said Ranma as Matsusake and Happosai walked by, "What about the 'Money grubber'?"

"He's going to be in the spare room, completely off your hands."

"I'd rather you'd just sent me to Vegas." Matsusake grumbled.

"I owe Ranma, not you." Ben said as he began to walk off "Besides I heard Nabiki say she was going to charge you rent from now on."

"The spare room's fine!" Matsusake said cheerfully, and followed him out the front gate.

The End.

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The Legal Stuff: Ranma 1/2 and the characters therein are the property of Rumiko Takahashi and are used without permission. The song "Too Good to be True" is the property of 'Motörhead' and WTG Records