Subject: [Fanfict][R1/2] "Black" 1 of 2
From: jpalmer@best.com (Joseph Palmer)
Date: 5/31/1997, 1:51 AM
To: fanfic@fanfic.com

Part 1:  (Split due to mailer limitations)

Here is the last draft of Black, If y'all find anything odd
please let me know.
C&C please.

[A Ranma 1/2 Fanfict]

Black

By Joseph Palmer

	The four stood frozen before the open door of Ranma's
room. Akane was flushed and flustered, and far to surprised
 to say anything. Ranma looked sheepishly at Akane, then
back into his room. Huge drops of sweat soaked through the
fur of the panda, and he began to pant nervously. Nadoka
just smiled sweetly.

	On the floor of Ranma's room were two futons.

	"O- Ofukoro..." Ranma began. [Mother...]
	"Ch- choto ma-te..." Akane added. [Wait a moment...]

	The hall clock clicked off the seconds, it seemed
impossibly loud.

	"I said, off to bed you two!" Nadoka pushed Ranma into
his room. "You too!" she said, and pushed his father-panda
after him. "Akane and I have some girl-talk to do," she
said sliding the door closed behind them. She put her arm
around Akane and led her to the other bedroom.

	Ranma cracked open his door in time to see the door
to his parents room slide closed. The clock ticked off
ten full seconds of silence, then his mother's laughter
pierced the door. He turned to his father-panda. "I suppose
you think that was funny." The panda shrugged and began to
laugh. Ranma bopped him half heartedly on the head.

	Akane's laugh soon joined his mother's. It was a little
nervous at first, but then soon settled into the laugh that
always set his heart racing.

                        -+-+-

	He lay awake late into the night, the whispers and
giggles from the other room just audible over his father's
snoring. Her voice found him again and again, he squeezed
his pillow, hugging and rocking it as if it were her. He
relived the night they had fallen asleep together, her
warmth against his shoulder, the scent of her freshly
washed hair on his pillow. Hearing her now made his chest
ache with longing.

	In the morning they stole a hurried but passionate kiss
while Ranma's mother was in the kitchen.
	"Mmm... What was that for?" Akane asked.
	"No reason." Ranma lied.
	"What are you two up to?" Ranma's mother came in
suddenly.
	"Nothing, really." Akane answered guiltily.
	"Yeah, nothing." Ranma examined a pair of chopsticks
as if he had never seen chopsticks before.
	"Good, then Akane, you can help me with breakfast, and
Ranma, you can get this room ready."
	"Aw mom, but that's girl's work."
	"There's cold water in the bathroom if you need it dear."
Nadoka took a giggling Akane by the arm to the kitchen.
	"Kawaii ku n....."
	"Ranma!" Genma leaned casually against the doorway.
	"What's up pop? 'wana do some training?"
	"That's exactly what I want to do." He sat cross legged
on the floor, pushed up his glasses, the crossed his arms.
"Soutome secret technique, Okasan variation" [Mother's
variation]
	Ranma knelt before him. "Ready"
	"When faced with this sort of situation..." Genma
tilted his head, his glasses filling with light. Ranma
leaned forward in anticipation. "Do what your mother says."

                        -+-+-

	Ranma took his usual place atop the fence, Akane carried
her overnight bag over one shoulder, and a bag of Nadoka's
freshly pickled vegetables in her other hand.
	"What did you two talk about last night?"
	"It was just girl talk."
	"I suppose I have to jump into the creek before you
tell me."
	"Hee hee. Good idea." They walked quietly together
for a time. "Your mother is really special you know."
	"Hmmm?" Ranma jumped to the sidewalk beside her.
	"Last night... Sometimes it was just like talking to one
of my friends, like we were the same age." She giggled. "She
told me a lot of stories about when she was dating your father.
Things weren't really all that different then." She walked
along quietly smiling. "Other times... it was just like having
another sister." She took Ranma's hand. "And sometimes...
sometimes it was like talking to my mother."
	
	They took the JR out to Nerima, and threaded through the
maze of temporary hallways the construction crew had put up
through the new station.
	"Ahh, shimata!* we came out the wrong way!" Ranma looked
up and down the busy street. (* Shimata can be accurately
translated as "'Doh!")
	"It's no wonder, that place is such a mess inside. Let's
go around this way." She lead him past the tiny shops that
filled the front of the station. They passed under the JR
tracks, and the signal bell began to ring as they crossed
over the surface tracks for the local route. The crossing
arm dropped behind them, and in moments the train appeared.
Something caught Ranma's attention and he stopped to watch
the train.
	"What is it?" Concern showed in Akane's voice. She'd seen
that look before, it usually meant trouble.
	"I don't know, something about the sound the train was
making..."
	The crossing bell stopped ringing, and the warning lights
went out.
	"That's weird, the signal stopped." Akane pointed at the
crossing. The train began to slow, then coasted to a stop in
the crossing.
	"That's not good." Ranma watched as the passengers began
to look around and question each other in the train.
	Akane squeezed Ranma's arm "Do you think they... hit
someone?"
	"No, I don't think so, listen." Ranma looked up and down
the street.
	"I don't hear anything."
	"Right, no fans, no air conditioners, nothing. I think
the power went out."
	"Whew. That explains the train, too." Her grip on his
arm became less urgent, more friendly. She tugged him towards
home. "Good thing we got off that train before it got stuck
somewhere."
	"Aw, they'll get power back in no time." At that moment
the lights flicked on in the hardware shop on their right.
"See, what had I tell you." Then they dimmed and went back out.
	"Well, they tried." Akane shrugged. Shop keepers mixed
into the street with the shoppers to discuss the situation.
Some of the shops were already rolling their doors partly down,
but the yakitoriya was doing a brisk business, the owner
smiled smugly as he worked out the prices on a tiny brass
abacus. He'd never seen the need for a cash register, and his
grill was gas.
	They walked together through the clumps of people,
catching snatches of news and speculation. Up and down the
street streetlights were decorated with springtime decorations
of blue, red and silver foil fireworks, adding to the carnival
feel.
	"Lucky! Hey, Ranma, Akane!" Nabiki waved at them from a
shop. "Ranma, could you carry this?" She lifted a large brown
tub in her arms. He took it from her.
	"Oooh, it's cold! What is this?"
	"Ice cream!" Nabiki was beaming.
	"Nabiki, what are you so excited about? It's only ice
cream."
	"Two words Akane, chocolate and wholesale!"
	"Wholesale? how did you swing that?"
	"Haven't you heard, the power is out."
	"We know."
	"No, It's _really_ out. All the way from here to Tokyo
Station." She waved her hand towards downtown, then patted
the tub. "This one was half empty and anyway it didn't fit in
the shops deep freeze, so it was either sell it or loose it."
She turned back to the shopkeeper, "Thank You, Bye Bye!"
They walked off with Ranma in the middle.
	"Sis, there's a lot if ice cream here..." Akane thumped
the top of the tub.
	"I was a little worried about that, but not anymore now
that Ranma's here."
	"Hey!"
	"Yeah, you're right." Akane agreed with her sister.
	"Jeez."
	"They just announced Narita airport is out." A shop keeper
called out to anyone listening. He held a tiny radio to his
ear.
	"Oh oh." Nabiki lost some enthusiasm. They walked together
towards the doujo. The narrow streets were full of neighbors
talking over fences, and with children playing.

	Kasumi met them at the front door. "It's awful, it's too
dark inside to do any cleaning!"
	"I guess you get the day off, sis." Akane slipped out of
her street shoes.
	"Is it too dark to find any bowls and spoons?" Nabiki
patted the tub.
	"What is it?"
	"Chocolate ice cream!" Nabiki's spirits had returned.
	"For chocolate? I think I'll find something." Kasumi swept
off to the kitchen.
	They found Soun in the living room, listening to a little
portable radio.
	"They have reports from all over, Yokohama is out, it
goes from there all the way around the bay to Makuhari. Tokyo
electric still don't know what started it." The others looked
at Ranma and Akane.
	"You two didn't... you know..." Kasumi entered with bowls
and spoons.
	"NO!" Akane tried to put an end to the speculation.
	Nabiki giggled. "You must admit, a little damage in the
right place could have started this."
	Ranma shook his head, "No way!"
	"Well, they did start the reconstruction of the local JR
station a few years ahead of schedule due to 'damage'." Nabiki
pointed out.
	"But that wasn't my fault! Akane protested.
	"Shh-Shh! Listen!" Soun turned up the radio.

	      ... outage began just before noon in the Ueno
	      district and spread within moments to from there
	      to Tokyo...

	"See, we weren't anywhere near there..." Ranma began.
	"SHHHH!" Soun, Kasumi, Nabiki and Akane shushed him as
one.

	      ... from Tokyo electric likened it to a piece
	      of old cloth, he  said "Once it began to tear
	      there was no stoping it." The exact cause of
	      the outage is still not known, and officials
	      report that power will be restored promptly.

	 Kasumi dished out the softening ice cream while the radio
reminded listeners that the subways and trains cannot run
without power, and that the best thing to do was to stay at
home.
	"Good thing it's Sunday, if this were a working day it
would be a real mess." Soun noted.
	"Oh daddy, it's not like you need power to give lessons."
Nabiki observed.
	"No, I mean all the people who ride into Tokyo to work.
Can you imagine what it would be like to be stuck in town with
a million or two other folks?
	"What if thy can't fix it?" Kasumi asked.
	"Huh? of course they can fix it." Ranma replied
confidently.
	"What if it is like old cloth, and when they try to pick
it up, it just rips again? You've seen all the messy wires
and those yucky big can things on the poles, they all look
so old and messy, what if they break?" The others looked at
Kasumi. There was no denying that the power poles in town
looked like those cartoons where they have 30 plugs attached
to one extension cord. "What if they have to start all over
and put up new wires every where? It could take days!"
	"Try years." Nabiki looked out of the yard to the power
poles across the street.
	"Mah!..., years? really?"
	"That's how long it took the first time."
	"You mean this happened before?"
	"No, when they first put them in."
	Akane finished her ice cream, and put down her bowl.
"Don't worry, Kasumi, they'll just bring it back a little bit
at a time, that's all, when they find a bad area they'll leave
it off until they can fix it."
	Kasumi looked unconvinced, but she nodded to Akane. "I
see, It's more like a quilt than a broad piece of cloth."
	"Yup"
	They listened to the radio a while longer, all of the
greater Tokyo area was out, but most of the rest of the
country was still unaffected. They sat together and talked,
soon forgetting the power and the mess that was the rest of
Tokyo. Kasumi left to make tea just as the front door slid
open.
	"Gomen kudasai!" an old man called into the house. [Pardon
 me]
	"Hai!" Kasumi ran for the door. [Coming]
	"Ah, Kasumi-chan, can I meet with your father?"
	Kasumi covered her mouth and giggled. "Tanaka-san, I
haven't been called that in years!"
	The old man slipped out of his shoes and into guest
slippers. "What's that? but you're just... a... little..." he
pushed up his glasses and looked at her. Kasumi, when did you
grow up?"
	"Hee hee. Please come with me, daddy is just through
here."
	"But you were just this big!" Tanaka held out his hand at
his waist as he followed her into the living room.
	"Ah, Tanaka-san, what a pleasant surprise!" Soun stood
and bowed to his guest. "Please, take a seat, Kasumi is just
making tea."
	"Thank you Tendou-san, tea sounds wonderful. I'm afraid
we have an all electric kitchen at home.
	"You remember my daughters Nabiki and Akane, and this is
her fiance Ranma."
	"Nice seeing you again, nice to meet you, Ranma."
	"I'm pleased to meet you," Ranma replied, his mother's
influence showing.
	"Tendo San," Tanaka began. "You know that I have been part
of the neighborhood fire watch since..." The old man scratched
the back of his head, "...since I can't remember. It was
before you were born, I think. It's been a honorary position
for years now, one week out of the year we get together for
the traditional patrol and calling to put the fires out for
the night."
	"A very welcome tradition." Soun said. Each year the
patrol had come past shouting their admonishments, it was a
powerful and comforting tie to his childhood.
	"Well, tonight it's not just honorary. With the power out
we will need to warn the whole town, people don't use candles
and fires as much as they used to, and they get careless."
Soun nodded in agreement. Kasumi returned from the kitchen
with a thermos for tea. She poured some for the old man, he
took it and sipped quietly. "Thank you Kasumi, the tea is
delicious", he bowed formally to her, she returned the bow,
then poured tea for her father. "Now where was I... Oh yes,
the patrols. Tendou-san, I'm not as young as I once was, and
the little parade we do each year is about as much as these
old legs can handle. My sons and son in law have all moved
away, so I'd like to name you as my successor on the Nerima
patrol, to one day take my place when I can no longer do my
duty, and to substitute for me in emergencies, like tonight."
	Soun bowed deeply. "I am honored, old friend." He sat up,
tears pouring from his eyes.
	Nabiki shook her head at her father.	"Daddy, you don't
need to drown the fires out, just warn people."
	Tanaka smiled and got up to leave. "Thank you Tendou-san.
I'll come by later to walk with you a while to introduce you
to the others, and to show you the ropes." When he reached the
doorway he paused.
	"Oh yes I almost forgot, there was one more thing. The
road is blocked by the local train down by the station, we're
getting some of the merchants together to move the cars out of
the way. Could you and your son in law come down to help?"
	"I'm not..." Ranma began, Akane shot him a glance. He
panicked, looking around. He found the answer before him. "I'm
not through with my tea." He said, then gulped it down. "Okay,
I'm ready to go now."
	Nabiki smiled. "Nice recovery, Ranma."
	"Daddy, I'll come too." Akane volunteered.
	"Okay, it's settled then." Soun rubbed his hands together.
"Let's go move a train."

                        -+-+-

________________________________________________________________________
Joseph Palmer                      "Never join a titanic battle unless
CEO, VideoS2                        you get to be the iceberg." --- J.
Video Storage Systems               Personal Web page:
http://www.VideoS2.com              http://www.best.com/~jpalmer