Once upon a time, in a place that may or may not have ever actually
existed outside of my own head, there was a man who had far, far
too much time on his hands, and he was becoming rather bored.
Fortunately, this man commanded a rather large and powerful Fanfic
studio, based in a complex that was almost but not quite a complete
rip-off of the Biles' Story Command Center. And one day he was
surveying a room in his complex. It had a large movie screen that
was readily adaptable for fic viewing, big, comfy plush couches,
snack-filled refridgerators, and two of the man's lackeys were in it
at the time, arguing over which one got the good couch.
The man had just finished watching a certain show featuring two
bickering robots and a human reviewing movies.
Suddenly, he had something to do with his spare time.
And just for the record, HE gets the good couch.
Submitted for your approval....
LST1/2K: Lunatic Science Theatre 500.
Feauring the wacked-out cast of...
Mercutio: Tybalt baiter extraordinaire and chief reviewer.
Mackie Stingray: Hentai-in-Residence.
Hikaru Gosunkugi: Never, EVER ask him about the eyes.
Mercutio: Awright, what's up today?
Mackie: Yet another installment of "Ill Met by Starlight."
Gos: Inin't that the one where the nutball Ranma seemingly murdered
Nabiki in Chapter Nine?
Mercutio: What are you, the narrator?
Completed in fairly good time. Enjoy, and let us know what you think.
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^_- I L L M E T B Y S T A R L I G H T ^_-
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by Susan Doenime and Mike Loader
Based on characters and situations created by Rumiko Takahashi, and used
without knowledge or permission.
We ask that you obtain permission from us before printing, posting, or
storing this story in any form.
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Previous Chapters At: http://www.humbug.org.au/~wendigo/imbs.html
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Chapter 10 - Things Fall Apart
Mercutio: "... the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned..."
Mackie: What is he DOING?
Gos: Completing the quote. Gotta love Yeats.
I'll read to you now, save your eyes
You'll need them; your boat is at sea
Your anchor is gone, you've been swept away
And the greatest of teachers won't hesitate
To leave you here by yourself chained to fate
I alone love you, I alone tempt you, I alone love you
Fear is not the end of this.
- Live
Mackie: Sounds kinda like the Love Boat on acid.
"No heartbeat!"
"Right. One, two, clear!"
"Nothing!"
"One, two, clear!"
^_-
"Akane. Akane, wake up. Please."
Reluctantly, Akane opened her eyes. "Hi Kasu...."
A faint trickle of wrongness filtered through the haze of
sleep. There was a certain hard stiffness in her sister's voice
that was alien to her.
She sat up in bed, sleepily throwing the covers off. Why
was Kasumi waking her up, anyway? It was a school day; her
alarm should have woken her... was she late for class?
"Hurry, Akane." A bundle of clothing was thrust into her
hands, and she looked up in surprise. And saw Kasumi's face.
The sleep vanished.
"Kasumi? Kasumi, what is it? What's..."
The frozen, sick mask on her sister's face twitched. "Get
your clothes on, Akane. We may not have much time."
Mercutio: At least something finally got through the damn 'Happy
happy Kasumi' mask. That alone almost makes it worth it.
Confused, frightened, Akane pulled on the shirt and dress.
Kasumi knelt beside her and pulled on her socks, then shoved
her shoes on her feet as she finished dressing.
Kasumi's hand clamped around her arm and pulled her up.
"Hurry, Akane."
Akane let herself be led out the door by her sister, a sort
of numb panic rising in her. "Kasumi? Please, Kasumi, what's
going on? What's happening?"
Kasumi didn't break her stride. "There's been an accident,
Akane. Nabiki and Ranma are in the hospital."
Mercutio: GUH!?! When did RANMA get hurt? This is weird.
No. Oh, no. "What.. how bad..."
Her legs kept moving, as if they were someone else's, and
she was pulled into the entry hall. Her father stood there, and
he was not crying.
"The cab is here." Soun's voice had all the life of a slab of
granite. A sick feeling began to build in the pit of her stomach.
God, she remembered this. All that was needed was Nabiki,
shrill and angry and confused and scared... not again, not again,
not again...
The front door swung open, and Akane felt herself be
ushered down the garden path towards the yawning door of a
black car. "How bad... please..."
Kasumi's hand tightened painfully around her arm. "We
don't have much time."
There was warm sun and birdsong, and the garden was
green.
Gos: Yuh-huh. No symbolism THERE.
^_-
"Careful. Careful."
"We're losing her."
"Ten ccs of antometaphine."
"We lost her before she was even in the ambulance."
"Careful."
"Suture."
"Is that Jazz?"
"Benny Goodman, yeah."
Mercutio: Paramedics in Japan are allowed to listen to Jazz while
preforming resuciation?
Mackie: Remind me to emigrate sometime soon.
"Another 3 ccs."
"Careful. Watch that.. yes, good. Careful."
"Heissenmann Fork."
"Heartbeat's down."
"Careful."
"We're losing her."
"Clamp."
"Adrenaline, 5 ccs."
"Look at this..."
"Sponge."
"Punctured synamic flow. Careful."
"She's convulsing, hold her down."
Gos: Huh. Maybe Nabiki ISN'T dead. Hmmm.
Mercutio: You sound real concerned.
Gos: I'm more worried about that Hikaru guy Ranma beat up last
Chapter, and whether or not he was supposed to be me.
"Suture."
"What do I do?"
"Damn."
"Arterial graft. Watch me. Scalpel."
"Heartbeat erratic."
"I don't think she'll live long enough for the graft."
"Sponge."
"It's a good opportunity to show the technique. And she'll
die without it."
"Five ccs Sedaline."
"She'll die with it."
"Watch. An incision here..."
"Oh, careful. Careful."
"Surgical thread."
"Is this still Goodman?"
"We fold the artery like so.."
"Nah, this is Porter."
"Careful."
"Heart rhythm's going all over the place..."
"The tape a mix?"
"6 ccs Dipentathol."
"We cut away this portion of the vessel..."
"Vitals dropping."
"I see... nice technique."
"Yeah, mix tape."
"Oh, damn."
"Messner Tool."
Mackie: Are these ACTUAL medical tools, or are they just throwing
out terms and hoping nobody notices?
"Careful."
"We're losing her."
"And graft the ends like so..."
"Careful."
Mercutio: Damn. That entire section practically SCREAMS "Susan
was Here."
^_-
The waiting area was cramped and crowded, and it still
felt as empty and remote as the dark side of the moon.
They sat on the green plastic seats, and Akane listened
to hospital noises. Doctor So-And-So to here. Nurse This, room
That. Would the owner of the grey compact move his car.
Gos: "Paging Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor
Howard..."
Mercutio: That was in EXTREMELY poor taste.
Gos: Your point?
It was all horribly familar, the noises and the smells and
the way her father and older sister sat like statues, Kasumi's
hand crushing her arm like a steel vise. And the way she
herself sat, lost and confused and afraid. It was all exactly the
same, except little Nabiki wasn't pacing about the room,
asking for a drink and looking upset.
And the terrible thing was that she didn't know. Nabiki
was in the hospital. Ranma was in the hospital. There had been
an accident. It was bad. Bad for who? Were they dead? Dying?
Badly hurt, but going to pull through? No-one knew anything. So
they all sat on the ugly green seats and waited for someone's
words to make Nabiki and Ranma either alive or dead.
Her father said something inaudible. Kasumi tried to
smile at him. The resulting expression made Akane flinch.
They sat, and the clock ticked.
Finally, after what must surely have been either years or
seconds of waiting, someone came to talk to them. He said his
name was Doctor Kieru, and Akane tried not to stare in
fascination at the blood on his scrubs.
He shook Soun's hand, which she felt was a good sign. But
she didn't like the expression on his face.
"I assisted the operation on your daughter," he said, and
Akane wanted to hit him.
"How is Nabiki?" This was from Kasumi, flat and almost
indifferent in tone.
Kieru rubbed his hands. "She was very bad. Punctured
lung, all sorts of broken bones, more internal injuries than..."
He stared at them as if seeing them for the first time. "She
was very bad. I don't know if she'll get through the night. The
chances are against it."
This was worse than she had hoped, and better than she
had feared. Soun just stared at the doctor's shirt like a
sleepwalker.
"But if she makes... she makes it through the night, she'll
be all right?" she heard herself say. "We just have to wait and
see?"
The doctor looked at her with something like pity, and
shook his head. "If she makes it through the night, she'll
almost surely slip away tomorrow." A hand was placed on her
shoulder, and she flinched. "We didn't operate to save your
sister's life, Miss Tendo. It was too late for that even before
the ambulance arrived. We operated because we are doctors,
and must operate. If she does not die in the next few hours, she
will die in the next few days. There's simply too much damage.
I'm sorry."
She didn't know if this was worse than... should she be
glad Nabiki was alive at all... for the moment... oh God...
Kasumi sat down, and looked at something across the
room with a bemused expression. The corners of her mouth
twitched.
Slowly, mechanically, Soun's mouth opened. "The son of a
friend is here as well. I suppose I am his guardian at the
moment."
"Saotome Ranma, yes. Broken collarbone." The doctor
shrugged. "Painful, required minor surgery to set. I imagine he
can go home in a day or two."
He was alive, and would be well. It would be all right. A
wave of relief washed over her, followed by an almost
crippling sense of guilt and anguish. Nabiki would not be well,
and it would never be all right again.
"I made her lunch," said Kasumi absently to the wall.
"How did it happen?" There was a hint of an emotion in
her father's voice. It was not good to hear.
"There's a police officer waiting for you in room five.
The nurse can show you it. I'm very sorry." He faded into the
crowds, still presumably very sorry.
A man in faded blue clothing came, then, and led them
through corridors of antiseptic and salmon-coloured linoleum,
past other people in scrubs and street clothes, down an
unpainted flight of stairs, and finally into a small room done
in muted colors where a man in uniform rose from a sofa.
There was blood on him, too.
"Mr. Tendo?"
"Yes."
The man crossed his arms unhappily. He seemed to know
about there being a time and a place for handshakes. "I'm
Officer Dorobou. I was there when it happened."
Soun nodded impassively. "Tell me."
"I was on Ogawa, by the train station. I remember her
shoving past me, in a hurry... but most people on that street are
in some kind of hurry." Dorobou frowned unhappily. "About a
half minute later I turned, sort of on an impulse, and I saw her
fall into the street right in front of a large car. It looked as
though she had tripped, and the crowd..." He trailed off. Soun
waited.
"She had just enough time to look up, and while she was
doing so I see the kid... Saotome?"
"Yes," Kasumi said, again trying to smile. Akane wished
that she would stop.
Dorobou shook his head in admiring disbelief. "Bravest
thing I ever saw. Jumped right out in front of the car, tried to
knock her out of the way. Almost made it." He sighed, mouth
drooping. "He knew he wouldn't, about a second after he
jumped. I could see his face. It's a miracle he wasn't hurt any
worse than he was."
In her mind's eye, Akane could picture the scene with a
cold clarity. Nabiki looking up in horror. Ranma springing from
the curb like he had in their training sessions, knowing he was
going to be too late but not caring... maybe even hoping he
would... realising that it wasn't just too late for him but for
Nabiki as well...
"The car?" Soun's voice again, the flames creeping into it
once more.
Dorobou again shook his head. "The car was going four
miles under the speed limit, and the driver began to brake the
second your daughter fell into the street. He threw up when he
saw what had happened, and the paramedics had to sedate him.
I think he's probably going to need counseling before he's
willing to drive again, and he'll spend the rest of his days
knowing that he ended a young girl's life, however unwillingly."
He unhappily tucked his hands in his pockets. "I'm afraid that
this is a tragedy without a villain, Mr. Tendo. Only victims and
a hero, and him too late to help much."
Mercutio: Ah-AH!!! Now what's THAT suposed to mean? Would'nt
be a metaphor for this story by any chance, would it?
"Yes. Yes. Thank you," mumbled Soun, turning away. Akane
waited for the tears to start. They didn't, and she found that
alarming.
The policeman pressed a piece of paper into her father's
hand. "Here's my office and home number. If I can help in any
way, please call me."
"Yes. Thank you."
Dorobou nodded slightly and left. He did not say that he
was sorry. It really didn't need to be said.
^_-
An odd day, Ukyou thought.
Mercutio: Well, NO SHIT.
^_-
"Akane, why don't you go see Ranma."
She shook her head. "I've got to stay."
Kasumi shook her head, looking horribly tired and old.
"He'd probably feel a lot better if you went and kept him
company, Akane. Being in the hospital isn't nice."
Akane choked back a sob. "But Nabiki..."
Kasumi took her head in her hands and looked directly at
her. "Akane-chan, Nabiki's gone."
She tried to turn away. "No..."
"Akane, you said goodbye. Staying isn't going to help you,
and it isn't going to help Nabiki. Nabiki doesn't need our help
anymore."
"But I love her."
"She knows. And she knows how much it's hurting you to
see her like this, and I think she wants you to feel better.
Akane, go see Ranma. I think you both need each other right
now."
Crying now, Akane made one more try. "I can't just leave
her alone in here. I can't...."
Kasumi's lip trembled. "This is my job, Akane. Yours is to
go to Ranma. I'll see Nabiki off."
"Kasumi..."
"Akane, I did it for Mother. I can do it again. Please don't
stay."
She hugged Kasumi, gave Nabiki's hand a final squeeze,
and slowly walked out of the room. She did not look back.
Ranma's room was in another wing of the hospital, in the
part reserved for the non-serious cases. Akane trudged out of
the critical ward, dabbing away the tears and trying to get a
hold of herself.
It was like trying to wake up from a nightmare. Things
had changed so suddenly, one on top of another. She had gone to
bed last night almost in tears over her own stupid romantic
problem, and when she woke up Nabiki was a living corpse. Not
her insensitive, untrustworthy oneesan, just a thing that lay
there and stared at nothing with eyes like a dead fish.
Do you have any idea how much easier my life would be
without you? Her own words, not even a day old.
The horrible impact of it all hit her like a hammer, guilt
and grief and pain sending her falling to her knees. Curling into
a ball, Akane knelt in the middle of the antiseptic hallway and
bawled like an infant, oblivious of the people who stepped
around her with sympathetic or irritated glances.
Gos: You know, change the names and this could be an episode
of 'ER.' All they're missing is Clooney.
When she had finally cried enough, she pulled herself to
her feet and staggered on.
It took her a while to find the door to his room. All the
hallways looked the same, all the doors were painted the same
pale yellow. But she arrived at last, and straightened her dress
and wiped her face, and went in.
Ranma lay in bed, shirtless, gauze surrounding his left
shoulder. He looked up as the door opened, and managed a wan
smile. "Hi."
Walking over to sit on the side of the bed, Akane tried to
return it. "Does it hurt?"
"A bit. I've been hurt worse." The smile flickered and
vanished. "It was my fault that it happened. I'm sorry, Akane."
She forced a shaky laugh. "You tried to save her, Ranma.
The policeman said...."
He shook his head. "No, listen. We... me and Nabiki... we
had a talk, and it ended badly. She went storming off, and I
went after her, and she quickened her pace and then..." He
trailed off, unable to look her in the eyes. "I'm supposed to be a
martial artist, and I hesitated. I didn't jump soon enough. And
now..."
Mercutio: Interesting how he's able to tell the absolute truth about
what happened, and yet give no indications that he might've been
the one who pushed her.
Akane sighed, and brushed a hand across his chest. "You
jumped in front of a moving car to try to save the life of
someone who I know you don't like very much. You didn't save
her, but you almost killed yourself trying."
"If I had just..."
"Stop it!" she said fiercely, the grief turning to anger. "I
yelled at her last night, Ranma, and now she's dying. Maybe she
slipped away as I walked down here..." The tears welled up
along with the guilt. "My own sister, and I never told her...
Ranma, it was no-one's fault. Not even mine...."
She broke down then, her world crashing apart in pieces
around her. She felt his right arm fold around her, and she
leaned into him, sobbing uncontrollably.
They sat like that, each leaning against another, until
Akane's sobs died away. Sitting back, she looked at him and
managed to smile a little. "The only spark of light I've had
today was when they told me you were alive. I don't think I
could have taken it if you hadn't been okay. I need you here."
He gripped her hand. "I'm here."
"Why did you leave last night?" There. She had asked it.
Last night she had gone over and over the question, trying to
figure out why, why... did he not see her as attractive? Was she
only a friend? Did he find her repulsive?
Mackie: Her sisters hovering at death's door, she'd just been
traumatized, her boyfriend is injured, and out of all things in the
world, she asks why they didn't do the ecchi the previous
evening?
Gos: Could it be that Mackie is growing some sensibility?
Mercutio: Maybe...
Mackie: DAMN!!! I LIKE this chick!
Mercutio: ...not.
Ranma stared at her, and again lowered his head. "I was
scared."
She stared at him in shock.
"I didn't... I wanted to. But it was so fast, so sudden... I
was afraid I might hurt you, I was afraid we weren't thinking
clearly, I was afraid you didn't really want to..."
She looked at his sad, confused face, and nodded. It might
or might not be the truth, might or might not be a ploy to spare
her feelings. But she would accept it as truth for now.
"I wanted to," she said, squeezing his hand. "But you're
right. We probably weren't thinking clearly, and we probably
would have regretted it." She gave a sad little smile. "I
thought... I thought you didn't find me attractive. I thought you
didn't want to."
The crooked smile appeared. "You're the most beautiful
woman in the world, and I did want to. But not like that."
She smiled, and tightened her grip on his hand. "We're
going to get through this, together." Nabiki in her hospital bed
swam before her, and she desperately tightened her grip.
"Promise me that you won't leave me again."
"I promise."
His arm reached out and pulled her against him, and she
closed her eyes and put her head on his chest. For a short while
she cried a bit more, the quiet weeping finally dying to
sniffling, and then to breathing. They lay there, the two of
them, and for a time the scent of antiseptic and death seemed
far away.
Ranma ran his hand through her hair, mouth parting in a
horrible expression, and shut his eyes.
^_-
Tsen scowled as he watched the spatula boy lie down on
the guest futon. From his perch in the tree, he could see most
of the house through the windows. The boy appeared to be the
only one home.
Gos: No matter what the continuity, Shamps always refers to Ukyo
as "Spatula _insert gender here_." I like that. Helps to associate with
the normal Ranmaverse.
Mackie: You like being reminded of the world where you constantly
get hit and Akane doesn't even know you're alive?
Gos: Uhh... ummmmmmm....
Why, he asked himself again, was he here? Ranma didn't
seem to be home, and even if he were... no, Tsen was not going
to risk an even fight unless he had to. Akane? Akane was a
definite no. Killing or kidnapping her seemed likely to remove
any vestiges of restraint he has left. Information? That was
the mysterious Azusa's job, and the Hibikis seemed to feel
that their source was reliable. So why on earth was he risking
himself like this?
Because he was curious, he ruefully admitted to himself.
Mercutio: You'd think Shampoo would remember: Curiosity killed
the cat.
Gos: If we had a rimshot, I'd beat you over the head with it.
^_-
Ukyou shut the window, the chuckle turning into a sigh.
The lunatics after Ranma weren't lunatics after all.
Mariko's motivations were pretty easy to understand. The
past few years had taught Ukyou all about the need for
revenge; there was nothing mysterious about what the Hibiki
girl was after. Tsen, on the other hand... he was a cipher. He
professed not to want to kill Ranma, although she got the
feeling that he wouldn't lose any sleep over it either. No, he
said it was a matter of honor. That was something else Ukyou
could understand and respect. Honor wasn't always easy or
pleasant or even good, but without it you got people like
Genma.
Mercutio: Actually, I think Genma is coming off rather well in this
story. He appears to have gained a sense of honor, duty, and
responsibility because of what happened to Ranma.
Gos: We agreed that was the whole neko-ken thing that scarred
him like this, didn't we?
Mercutio: Well, maybe. There's growing doubt about that. And
considering who the authors are... ya' ever read "Poison?"
Gos: Oh... ick. You think...
Mercutio: It's a possibility.
The big question, and the one she wished she had asked,
was why Tsen's honor hinged around killing Ranma. Because
with a little thought, perhaps a loophole could be found.
Ukyou winced. She'd managed to walk into a very ugly
situation, here. There was no room for negotiation or
reconciliation; it wouldn't truly end until either Ranma or his
enemies lay dead.
She didn't want that. Even if Ranma emerged alive, she
had grave doubts about him ever recovering from the
experience. And she liked Tsen. Mariko... Mariko was too much
like her for Ukyou to feel comfortable with, but she understood
the other girl, and knew that she didn't deserve to be killed.
Whichever side won, the cost would be too high.
So what could she do to help?
The obvious thing was to keep Ranma alive. But that, she
glumly realized, was just a holding action. Tsen and Mariko
would keep trying for the rest of their lives, if need be.
The second thing that came to mind was to negotiate a
peace. This was harder. Tsen seemed reasonable; Ukyou had no
doubt that if a loophole could be found, he'd take it. But Mariko
was being driven by hate, and that hate had been building for
so very long... Ukyou knew from experience that reasoning with
her wouldn't help. The only thing that would defuse it would be
to prove that Ranma had not, in fact, killed her brother - and
since he clearly had, that option was out.
The only other thing she could think of was for Ranma to
leave Nerima again, to keep moving before the hunters could
catch him. This wasn't much of a solution. She knew Akane
would insist on going with him, and both of them would spend
the rest of their lives moving from place to place, always
wondering when their enemies would catch up... No, this wasn't
an option at all. She didn't think Ranma would be able to deal
with it for long before he snapped.
Mecutio: BEFORE he snapped? That ship has sailed, sister.
So she had a no-win situation here.
^_-
The door rattled.
Akane looked up from the living room TV, and watched as
Kasumi slowly entered from the hall. Her heart clenched into a
ball.
"Oneechan...?"
Kasumi smiled wanly. "Not yet. They wouldn't let me stay
overnight." She shook her head. "Father's staying. I suppose...
he'll let us know."
Akane nodded, oddly relieved. "Ukyou made us dinner.
There's still some left, if you want."
"That was nice of him." She looked absently around.
"Where is Ukyou-kun?"
"He went to sleep. It's late."
Kasumi nodded. "It is. You should be in bed."
"I can't sleep." She had tried, and been unable to, visions
of another bed seeping into her mind. It frustrated her. After
all, she had dozed in the hospital, with Ranma...
"I don't think I can either." Her sister drooped, the last
vestiges of her usual calm energy seeming to slip away. "We'll
stay up together, you and me. Can I sit down?"
Akane obligingly moved over, and Kasumi slowly lowered
herself onto the sofa next to her. "There. Goodness."
On an impulse, Akane leaned against her sister, hugging
her. Kasumi seemed to tense for a second, and then tenderly
wrapped her arms around Akane's waist, cradling her.
They sat there, and the TV flickered in the shadows of
the room.
"Kasumi?"
"Yes, Akane-chan?"
"Are you okay?" She knew it was a stupid question.
Kasumi sat for a while, silent, and then tightened her
embrace slightly. "No, Akane, I'm not. But it will get better,
really it will."
"Was this what it was like when Mother died?"
"I think that for me, it was a lot like you are right now."
Kasumi seemed to tremble a bit, and Akane felt a hand muss
her hair. "It seemed like the end of the world, but it wasn't.
And I still talk to Mother, and she still lives here. You'll see,
Akane. It really will get better for you."
"And you?"
Kasumi sighed. "Oh, goodness, Akane, I expect it will get
better for me as well. It's different. You miss Nabiki, but I
miss what she was going to be."
Akane frowned slightly. "I don't understand."
Her sister laughed sadly. "That's all right. We'll both
miss Nabiki, let's put it like that. But we still have her, and
she has us."
"I love you, Oneechan."
"I love you too, Akane-chan. We will get through this, you
know. We will."
The two clung to each other, and the clock ticked, and
after a time their breathing slowed into the shallow rhythms
of sleep.
Mercutio: I'm noticing a definite shift in the Kasumi charachter.
In earlier Chapters, she was coming off just as nutty as Ranma,
and in fact reffered to Ranma as a complete psychopath. Here,
however, she's acting more like the Kasumi from "Thy Inward Love."
That's really, really odd.
^_-
Ranma's room was at the end of the hall, and as she
walked Ukyou thought on what she would ask him. And on what
she wouldn't.
He sat up in bed when she entered, and waved. "Hi,
Ucchan. How've you been?"
"Better than you, it looks like."
Shrugging - and wincing at the movement - Ranma smiled
crookedly. "Just a small fracture. I'll be almost well by next
week."
Ukyou raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that a tad optimistic?"
"I'm a fast healer. And there are ways of helping the
process along. The martial arts don't just deal with fighting,
you know."
"Yeah." She sat down in the chair by the bed, and fixed
him with a piercing gaze. "So what happened?"
Ranma met the stare, the smile flickering back and forth.
"Didn't Akane tell you?"
"Akane told me some of it. She was too messed up to
really go into details."
The smile died completely. "Yeah. Well, she didn't get the
entire story, anyway."
Ukyou nodded, her throat tightening. "It had something to
do with that talk, didn't it."
He was silent for a moment, eyes seeming to reflect the
empty wall at which he looked. Finally, his face twisted into
an ugly expression of contempt. "She was the one who
engineered the trap at the Ooni Temple. And the one who set up
the thing at the office building. The little bitch. Her own
goddamn sister, and she sold us out. And I was real unhappy, as
you can imagine."
She nodded in horrified fascination, almost not wanting
him to continue.
"So I told her... hell, I implied some pretty unpleasant
things, Ucchan. And she took off running, and I followed, out of
sight. And she tripped and fell, right in front of my eyes... right
in front of me..." His voice choked up, and he turned his head
away. "God, Ucchan, her eyes as she realized, if you had just
seen them... I jumped, I don't know why. Maybe it was guilt,
maybe it was heroics, maybe something in me knew what
Akane's eyes would look like yesterday. Maybe I just wanted to
jump." Closing his eyes, he leaned back in the bed, hands
balling into fists. "I hate her. I couldn't even save her, the
damn little sneak. She didn't deserve that. Akane doesn't
deserve it."
Ukyou shook her head sadly. "No, she doesn't. Did you tell
her..."
"...that the sister who's dying in the next room sold us to
the people trying to kill me? That her loving Oneesan had her
hit on the head and chained naked to a chair in an abandoned
building?" He shook his head. "She'll never know. It's better for
everyone. Let her have her memories."
"She's a wreck, Ranchan."
"I know." He laughed, the sound bitter and wondering. "You
know, Ucchan, I've been sleepin' badly, and maybe it's only
because of the shoulder. Sometimes Nabiki's face floats by,
with that damn look in her eyes, and it feels like someone
stuck a knife in me. But the worst is when I think of Akane
yesterday. Isn't that the damnedest thing? Nabiki's dead, and
Akane's alive, and it's Akane I feel the worst about."
Ukyou smiled. "Only natural, Ranchan. You love Akane, and
you didn't like Nabiki much at all. I wouldn't like someone who
tried to kill me either."
"Yeah," he said quietly, not looking at her. "But I killed
Nabiki."
She chose her next words carefully, as much for her own
benefit as for his. "Nabiki killed herself, Ranchan. What were
you going to do, just let her try to send you to your death time
and time again? Let her kidnap Akane again, or worse? You
gave her more than she gave you, and when the time came you
put your life at risk to save her."
Mercutio: Dammit! For NINE, count'em, NINE chapters, this was a
simple, clear cut story: Ranma is a nutball. Ranma is evil. Everything
will be cool if Akane finally realizes this and then Ranma dies. But did
that happen? NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Now they have to inject some
HUMANITY into the guy, and we all have to wonder if he's lying like a
or if there's hope for him.
Gos: It's referred to as a 'plot twist.'
Mercutio: There's twisting the plot, and then there's making pretzels with it.
Chuckling slightly, he smiled the damn crooked smile she
had begun to hate. "What would you have done, man?"
That was easy. "I'd have beaten the tar out of her, and
then I'd have let Akane take a turn. You should have gone to her
with this from the beginning, Ranchan."
He smiled, and shook his head. "Maybe."
"No maybes." Ukyou sighed, smiling ruefully. "You have
something real special there, Ranchan. I don't know which of
you got the better of the deal."
Ranma's smile broadened, and actually reached his eyes
for the first time. "I really don't know what it was like before
I had her to focus on, y'know, Ucchan? I didn't even know her a
few months ago, and now she's my direction in life. She'll be
ready, soon."
Gos: Uh-oh. I do NOT like the sound of that.
Ukyou glanced over at him. "Ready?"
He shrugged. "Over this. Ready to get on with life." The
crooked grin reappeared. "How bout you, Ucchan? Got some
lucky girl back home?"
She flushed a bright red. Damn it, why did he have to say
that? Why the hell hadn't she just told him she was a girl from
the beginning? "Not really, no."
"Huh. I'm surprised. You're almost as good-looking as me."
Ukyou laughed. "You know, you haven't changed that much,
Ranchan. You always did think the world revolved around you."
He looked at her in mock astonishment. "You mean it
doesn't?"
They looked at each other, and then burst out laughing,
Ranma wincing slightly as he did. When they caught their
breath, Ukyou stood and offered him her hand. "C'mon. Let's get
you home."
Grinning, Ranma stood. "Thanks, Ucchan. Tell you what,
after all this is over I'll set you up with one of Akane's
friends.
"Er, that's okay, really." She flushed again, furious with
herself. Damnit, she had dealt with come-on lines from women
for years, why was she getting so flustered now?
Ranma nodded, a speculative look in his eye. "Let's go. I
want to check up on Akane."
"Okay."
^_-
Mariko went through her morning exercise routine, one
eye peeled for any love-crazed kendoists that might be
wandering around the park. Actually, she wasn't sure if an
appearance by Kuno would be a good thing or not. The flowers
and poetry were nice, but the revelation that he enjoyed being
beaten to a pulp had somehow taken all the fun out of it. In
fact, it made the thought seem almost dirty.
Mackie: Ohhhhhwaaaa. (Eyes glaze. Drool begins.)
She shuddered. No, she wasn't that desperate. Even if
Tsen had turned out to be a woman. Ick. She still wasn't quite
sure what the deal there was; something having to do with
Chinese curses and magic. Whatever. If she hadn't have seen it
herself...
As she went through a series of thrusts and parries with
her umbrella, she brooded a bit on the subject of Ukyou. A nice
guy. More than that, one who had actually seemed to understand
the situation, if not the true extent of Ranma's evil. That
would hopefully change. If it didn't...
Mariko snarled in frustration, and neatly severed the
limb of a nearby tree with an overhand slash of the umbrella.
If it didn't, she'd be in the unpleasant situation of having to go
through two decent, likable people in order to rid the world of
a monster. She didn't want to do that.
In her mind, she had replayed the fight in the park a
dozen times. Pictured Akane not knocking away the barrel of
the umbrella, pictured the armor-piercing round blasting
through Akane's head in an explosion of crimson, pictured it
slam into Ranma's chest to kill him.
The picture sickened her.
She wanted him dead so badly. She needed him dead. That
was what she had devoted the past few years of her life to,
and she had no doubts as to the justice or necessity of her
cause. But she had been about to kill Akane, who she liked, in
order to take down Ranma. And that scared her a little.
Another slash cut a deep notch in the tree's trunk. It
would have been nice to be Akane's friend. She hadn't had a
friend in a long time.
But Akane was on the wrong side of the line now, and
afterwards... afterwards she didn't think Akane would have
many comradely feelings. She didn't think Akane would do
anything except try to kill her on sight.
"Stupid Akane," she muttered, umbrella slamming into
the tree once more. It would be for her own good. She'd never
see it that way, of course, but it was the only way to keep her
alive and unabused.
And, as if the mention of her name had summoned her,
Akane jogged into the clearing. And froze.
Mariko opened her mouth to call a greeting, then noticed
the very unpleasant expression on the other girl's face. "Hey,
Akane, something..?"
She barely had time to throw herself to the side, Akane's
flying kick missing her head by centimeters. Coming up, she
punched the other girl square in the stomach. Akane doubled
over, and Mariko stood up, mildly annoyed. And curious.
Mackie: YES!! Finally, a chickfight!
Mercutio: Haven't we been through this?
"What's...."
A hand clamped around Mariko's calf, lifted her, and
threw her into the tree. Hard.
Her vision swimming, the Hibiki girl blocked the next
punch, kicked Akane's legs out from under her, and reached for
where her umbrella had fallen on the grass. Her hand had just
closed around it when a foot slammed into her back, causing
her to yelp in pain.
Pivoting on one hand, Mariko swung the umbrella in a
wide arc that missed the other girl by centimeters. Still, it
was enough to let her regain her footing.
Her vision swam again, and she shook her head groggily,
still a little stunned by the sheer speed and force of the
attack. Since when had Akane gotten so goddamn good?
Gos: Perhaps THIS is what Ranma meant by 'ready.'
And then a fist slammed towards her face, and there was
no time to think of anything but the fight.
The next few attacks were more subtle, although still
obviously fueled by a very unsubtle rage. A series of straight
punches, a spinning kick, an intricate flurry of legs and arms...
At first, it was all Mariko could do to merely keep the
hail of blows off her. She closed once, expecting to be able to
wrestle the smaller girl to the ground. Akane picked her up
with one hand and slammed her facefirst into the turf.
Then, gradually, the momentum swung the other way.
Akane began to tire, the berserker rage slowly draining her
spirit and energy. Mariko, on the other hand, began to hit her
stride; the second wind coming with a cold rush of adrenaline.
The tan umbrella swung and cut, and the parries began to turn
into jabs and thrusts.
Five minutes later, Akane fell to the ground, Mariko's
umbrella at the ball of her throat. Grinning raggedly, Mariko
waited for her opponent's eyes to regain focus. Her own vision
wasn't doing so hot either.
"What... whew... whatever happened to a simple 'Hello'?"
she asked, smiling wearily. She was going to be stiff and sore
for the rest of the day, she just knew it. Still, she hadn't had
that good a fight in ages.
"Go to hell," Akane managed, her breath coming in gasps.
"And take your brother and your Chinese friends with you. Just
leave us the hell alone."
Mariko frowned. This didn't sound like Akane at all. "I
was just doing my morning exercises, Akane. You're the one
who wanted to play today."
Mackie: Hmmph. "Play." They didn't even tear their clothes. Let's
see some FLESH, dammit!
The rage suddenly seemed to drain from Akane like air
from a punctured balloon. "Damn you. Why can't you just give
this up and leave?"
"We've been over this before," Mariko replied evenly. "You
were a lot more rational about it last time."
Akane's face twisted, a look of remorse mixing with
something else. "Yeah. Sorry. There's been a family tragedy, and
I'm not in a great frame of mind right now. And I really don't
need you trying to kill Ranma on top of everything else."
"I already told you, he's..." Mariko trailed off in horror,
the meaning behind the other girl's words sinking in. "Oh God.
What happened to Nabiki?"
"There was a car accident. She's dead. Dying. God, I don't
know. She's not there anymore."
Mariko felt the blood drain from her face, felt her hands
clench around the haft of her umbrella. She dimly heard Akane
continue, voice somewhere between pain and hate. "And the
person you're trying to kill, the one you were ready to kill me
in order to murder? He almost died trying to save her life. He'll
be fine, though. I'm sure you're real sorry to hear that."
God, poor Nabiki. She had been so damn scared that day,
wearing borrowed clothes. Mariko's clothes. And the girl had
kept going anyway, and look what it had gotten her.
"Yeah," she said dully, removing the umbrella from
Akane's throat. Car accident. Yeah. Right. And Ranma just
happened to be right there. Of course he tried to save poor
Nabiki. Of course he would never even dream of pushing her, or
tossing her in front of the car, or whatever the hell had really
happened.
And she knew that nothing she could say would ever
convince Akane that Ranma had murdered her sister. Nothing.
Akane was completely blind. The only person who had ever had
a chance of showing her Ranma's true nature was dead.
Gos: Well, Kasumi's still about. And with her newfound sanity.
"Mariko?" There was a bit of a questioning tone in
Akane's voice.
Not trusting herself to speak, shaking with a mixture of
rage and grief, Mariko stormed out of the clearing. She was
just glad that she had learned the damnable news after the
fight.
She got lost, of course, but by now the park was filled
with markers. Before long their guidance had led her back to
the lake, and to the stepping stones lying beneath the scummy
water. A balancing pole still lay in the reeds to one side of
them. It wouldn't be needed any more.
Forcibly composing herself, Mariko sighed. There was
now a duty for her to perform, and she was not looking forward
to it at all. Leaping across the stones, she reluctantly walked
into the campsite. "You here, Koji?"
Her brother looked up from beside the fire, a pan of bacon
frying merrily near him. "Hey, Marichan." He frowned, then,
examining her more closely, noticing her less-than-optimal
condition. "Jeez, you look like hell. What happened?"
She hesitated, trying to find the best way to tell him.
Finally, she decided that the direct route would be the easiest
for both of them. "Koji, Nabiki's dead."
For a few seconds the only sound in the camp was the
crackle of the cookfire. Mariko watched her brother's face
move from shock to agony to impassive mask, and wished
that watching him didn't hurt so much.
"How?" The tone was flat, emotionless.
"Supposedly a car accident. I don't know the exact
details. But guess who was there? Guess who tried his best to
save her life, guess who didn't quite manage to, guess who the
fucking hero of the hour is?"
Koji laughed, the sound making Mariko wince. "Oh,
Saotome, you bastard. You goddamn sick bastard. You... oh God,
Nabiki..." He buried his head in his hands, voice trailing off.
She sat down next to him. "Did you love her?"
He was silent for a while, then slowly shook his head. "I
only knew her for a few weeks, Marichan. That's not enough
time. But if it had been a month more, two months, a year...
then I would have been helplessly, completely, utterly in love
with her. I suppose that's kind of silly."
Mariko hugged him. "No, it isn't, brother mine. I'm sorry."
He returned the hug. "I'm sorry too. She was a good friend.
And braver than I am."
Reluctantly, she broke the embrace. "There's got to be a
reckoning for this, Koji."
"There will be."
She frowned, irritation beginning to well up. "I mean an
immediate one. We've played the honor game too long. Enough.
To hell with it. I'm just going to blow his head off from a
distance."
Her brother calmly met her glare. "No."
The irritation grew into anger. "Nabiki's dead, Koji.
Really dead. Because Ranma was still alive to kill her. This is
the twentieth century; you kill people with guns. It may not be
the honorable, proper way, but I really don't give a crap. Honor
wasn't worth Nabiki's life, and it isn't worth Akane's either."
The look on her brother's face hurt a lot. Still. It was the
truth, and if they had just done things her way Nabiki would be
alive and ready for that lunch date.
"Honor's not the only reason," Koji finally said. "I agree,
it wasn't worth Nabiki's life. But if you kill him that way, you
can say goodbye to Japan forever."
Mariko blinked. "What?"
"The police are far less forgiving of murder with a
firearm than of a simple death in unarmed combat. You should
know that from all the oh-so-painstaking investigation they
did on Ryouga's murder. If we kill Ranma the usual way... well,
we just leave the country for a few years. There's enough
people after Ranma's head to make guilt hard to prove, and no-
one's going to convict us three years later for following
tradition and avenging our brother's death. Hell, they'll just
blame it on Tsen. But if Ranma dies from a bullet... Akane's
going to go right to the cops with your name. We'll have to race
to get out of the country before they pick us up, and even if we
do make it... that's the end. If we ever return to Japan, we'll be
arrested, convicted, and probably go to prison for years. And if
we settle in another country, well, there's always extradition
and Interpol."
Mercutio: How did he get THAT? It would simply be Akane's word
against their's. If they ditch the weapon, the Tendo's have no case.
All they to do is go "No, it wasn't us. Maybe another one of his
enemies...?" and stick by it. There probably wouldn't even be a trial
for lack of evidence; nobody can PROVE that Mariko ever even
owned a gun.
She listened, the rage slowly being replaced by a sober
reappraisal of her brother. "You're a lot less stupid than I give
you credit for, brother mine. How long have you had this
thought out for?"
"Ever since the failed attempt in the park. I got to
thinking about what went wrong, what we could learn from it.
And I came to the conclusion that Akane might have actually
done us a favor."
Mariko studied her brother, pleasantly surprised at the
side of him she was seeing. "Whatever happened to revenge at
all costs?"
Koji snorted. "Part of my revenge is going to be living a
long and happy life. I'm going to raise a family and enjoy
myself, and know that he never will. I'm going to make his
death a thing of joy for me, not something I'll be paying for the
rest of my life."
"And Nabiki's life?"
He sagged a little. "I think the cops would have picked us
up before we left Japan. But still... I almost wish we had tried
yesterday. Almost. Nabiki knew what the risks were."
"Does that make it any better?"
"No." He sighed. "As horrible as this is going to sound, she
died at a convenient time for our plans."
Mariko scowled. "You're right. That does sound pretty
horrible. Explain."
"With Azusa gone, Ranma will think we've lost our source
of information, our man in the Tendo household. He'll think
we're running blind."
"We are running blind," she pointed out, confused.
Koji smiled.
^_-
Akane arrived home to find a familiar figure waiting on
her doorstep.
She didn't panic. Although she knew she was still tired
from her fight with Mariko, she snapped into a defensive
posture and wordlessly waited for the attack. If it was
careless enough, perhaps she could stun her opponent long
enough to flee.
The expected barrage of strikes never came.
"What do you want?" she finally asked, not lowering her
guard. The attack could still come at any moment.
The weapons dropped from her adversary's hands, landing
with a clatter on the path.
"Has gone too far," said the Amazon. "Shan Pu sorry. Here
to make amends. Will help you and Ranma. On oath as a warrior,
Shan Pu will defend you to best of ability from Tsen and
others."
A cool breeze swept through the garden, bearing with it
a ragged scrap of colored paper. It tumbled into the koi pond as
Akane lowered her guard and stepped forward, and then it
slowly faded and sank.
-< End of Chapter 10 >-
Gos: Well, hot damn. Shamps enters the fray at last. This'll be cool.
Mackie: I'm more interested in how she'll act around Ranma. I don't
expect her to throw around "Wo da Airen's" but Amazon law should
compel her to try something.
11'l be along in under a month. ^_^ C&C is welcomed.
Mercutio: Oo! Can't wait, can't wait!"
