Subject: [FFML][Ranma][Fanfic] Whispers of the Wicked Past, chapter 1
From: "Kayu-chan" <stroma@globalnet.co.uk>
Date: 9/18/1998, 5:41 PM
To: "FFML" <ffml@fanfic.com>
Reply-to:

Whispers of the Wicked Past
By Kayu-chan

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 characters are copywrited to the ingenius of Rumiko
Takahashi and company. I _own nothing_ on these characters or their 
"unusual" situations. Ranma 1/2 characters used without permission.
This is part sci-fi/ fantasy (I'm unsure of how to classify it at the
moment).

Chapter 1:
Destiny In My Dreams


     "Akane..."
     Who...  Who is that?
     "Akane..."
     "Who are you?"
     "Akane...  Please open your eyes..."
      She looks around but can see nothing but a faint, grey mist trapping
her.  A deep longing burns into her heart, a want so powerful that she
consumes the feeling completely but she doesn't know why.  It feels like a
sad, desperate love unfulfilled.  She's confused by its intensity but
lifted by the high it feeds her soul.  Yet, the nothing that surrounds her
frightens her and the blood drains away from her face in fear.  The sobs
that come without warning rise in her throat and she hopes that the voice
will show her what is going on, will tell her that everything's going to be
all right.  She knows it would never hurt her.  How does she know that?
What... what is happening to her?  What's going on?!
       "Stop it, stop it, stop whatever this is!!"
       "Akane...please stay! Don't go!"  The masculine voice seems so
desperate and passionate.
       "Where are you?! Who are you?!" she cries out, distraught with
emotions tumbling frenetically inside her. Her heart drums wildly away.
       Suddenly the mist disappears and the solidity vanishes under her
feet.  There is nothing beneath her nor above her.  But she's not falling. 
Suspended in nothing, held by nothing, Akane frantically looks about her
but can see only nothing.  A sick taste rises in her throat and her body
trembles with fear; she knows that something bad is happening but what? 
The dark seems ripple around her, dancing and laughing at her anxiety.  A
presence gently touches the edge of her senses.  Something is near her but
it's good, it will protect her, she feels safe, if only it would come
nearer her...
      "I'm here...  Just reach out..." The voice sounds so familiar but she
can't place whoever is speaking, only that he is male.  His voice slowly
grows louder and louder as he speaks, "Oh, Akane... don't be scared... I
won't let anything hurt you!"  His voice wavers slightly, trembling with...
what?  Fear? Why? 
      Akane reaches out her hands, her heart pounding, and says with needy
conviction, "I trust you, I don't know why but I do."  Suddenly she feels
ground beneath her feet and collapses, her legs useless for an unknown
reason.  "Help me!"
      "I can't! You'll just get hurt," the voice answers guiltily, sounding
so much nearer to her than before but still not near enough.  "I should
never have tried this! It's too risky...  Akane!"
      She drags herself forward but suddenly agony and pain wracks her body
from out of nowhere.  "Aaaaahhhh!!" Yet, she continues to drag herself
towards the direction of the male voice.  She wants to believe that he will
stop this pain, this impending fear of something, and will satiate this
longing, this high that only his presence incites.
      "Akane, stop, it's hurting you!"
      "It? Wh-what is going on? Why do I n-need you so much?! What i-is
this pain??!" Akane stutters, every movement killing her but she doesn't
want to stop.  She has never wanted anything so much in her life. 
      "Akane," the regretful voice quietens, still fighting a hidden inner
battle.  "W-wake up, it's for the best! I... I won't let you get hurt for
me."
      "But-," she protests.
      "No! Dammit, wake up! Wake up and leave me!! Now, before you-."
      "But I don't want to leave you, never!" she cries passionately,
screaming with despair as the surroundings fade.  "NEVER!!"
       Waking up crying, she feels her waving, fighting hands being gripped
firmly.  "No, stop! I want to go back; I want to go back to him!!"
      "It's all right, Akane-chan," a soothing voice calms her.  "It was
only a nightmare."  
      She opens her teary eyes to see a tired Kasumi smiling sadly at her,
holding her hands protectively.  Akane's bedroom is dark except for the
light, veiled glow of a small lamp at her desk appealing against the
midnight's pitch-blackness.  Akane looks up at her big sister, the dream
still fresh in her mind.
     "I'm sorry, Kasumi, it's just that I had the strangest dream."  Her
eyes cloud over for a moment, and she shudders as the passion slowly dies
down, leaving traces of fiery emotions with her.  Will this disturbing
emotion stay with her? Will the slithers and shimmers of intense fervency -
that soak her skin with both beautiful pleasure and ugly grief - fade away?
 ...Did she want them to go away?
      "I wonder what's causing all these nightmares?  You keep having more
and more of them." Kasumi gazes anxiously at her sister's weary eyes,
shadowed like a sundial.  "Oh, my poor sister, you're just not getting
enough sleep."
      Akane shakes her head, shifting back against the cool, cotton pillow
as she sits up.  "But Kasumi, it wasn't a nightmare - it wasn't like the
other dreams."  She shivers at their remembrance, of the despair and cruel
inevitability of the past dreams...
      "What is different about this dream?"
      "Oh! I... uh..." Akane stammers, pulling herself back from the heady
depression, running hot and cold with scalding emotion.  Clearing her
throat, she put her mind back on track.  "In this dream, there was still
the feeling of terror... but there was also a presence.  It was someone
good and he promised that he wouldn't hurt me, he'd protect me from
whatever had caused me fear and I believed him."
      Kasumi just sat silently, her dark hair tumbling around her
shoulders, messy and harassed with strands peeking out of the mop
haphazardly.  But Kasumi still doesn't flinch, doesn't blink.  Trying to
act calm for her sister when she is really in as bad a state as her hair. 
The conviction of voice Akane usually reserves for martial arts or
denouncing boys holding her attention. 
      "And, Kasumi?"  Akane stares up at her sister expectedly, the lamp's
shadows accentuating the circles under her eyes caused by sleeplessness. 
      "Yes?"
      "What is love?" she wonders naively.  "Because I think I felt it in
the dream when the male presence was near me, talked to me..."
      Her older sister's gentle eyes widen in surprise. Akane was always
declaring how much she hated men and never spoke a good word about them -
apart from Dr. Tofu.  Now, she had feelings for a figment of her
imagination?  "It's perfectly natural for a girl like you, who's
coming-of-age, to feel like this about the opposite sex."
     "But I still hate boys and men in general, it's just the voice in the
dream, I know that I know him so well and yet..." Akane trails off and
scrunches her bed covers in her hands in anger.  "Rrrrgggh!  It's just not
fair, Kasumi!  I'm not supposed to feel this way!!"
      Kasumi takes back hold of her little sister's hands and squeezes them
gently, trying to calm her down.  "You've been under much stress with your
exams coming up.  These dreams mustn't help."
      "You're right," Akane wearily states, feeling down-hearted as the
hungry
passion begins to fade away.  "A whole week with of these weird dreams and
nightmares that feel so real, more real than my life!  It's really getting
to me!!"  She scrunches her fists tight in frustration.  "This can't be
another coincidence. I know that the voice is more than fantasy, I just
know it is. Something strange is going on!" 
      "Are you sure there's nothing else bothering you? Please tell me if
there is."
      "I wish there was but apart from the boys at school fighting me every
morning, I can't think of anything."  A look of sudden determination grabs
Akane's face and her eyes sparkle with new fervour.  "I'm going to find out
what is happening to me, no matter how long it takes! I can't let this
torture go on!!"
      "But, you-"
      "Kasumi? Can't you tell?"  Akane stares at her sister intently. 
"These dreams are more than I am.  These emotions are not me; I've never
felt this sort of fear or love before.  I don't know why I feel this but...
I just know I have to find out what is causing this and stop it."
       Kasumi wonders what to do as her little sister did not sound like
herself, talking of love in a dream, of deep despair and fear.  What could
make her so on edge?  Is it her exams next week?  Is she worried about
them?  "Perhaps a talk with Dr. Tofu would help you, Akane dear.  He might
be able to help you sleep: he might have a cure for these nightmares."
     Usually, at this point, Akane would blush and jump at the excuse to
visit the kindly doctor but since the dreams had first started, her
thoughts of him were less and less of a romantic nature.  After her
passionate experiences in this last dream, her teenage infatuation with
Tofu had slipped away through her hands like sand, leaving nothing but soft
sprinklings of friendship.  But the dark thoughts the nightmares scattered
in her cause a strange sensation to float in her stomach.  She will give
anything to experience the passionate high in the dream, again.  She will
even give her life, if it only will take away this growing dark feeling
that had been slivering around her conscience since the dreams first began.
      "You're right, Kasumi so I'll go tomorrow.  But first I think I'll
just catch some more sleep, I don't have to get up for school
tomorrow.  I just need a few more hours."
      "Should I wake you up for breakfast?"
      "No!  ...I mean, I need the lie-in after these past few nights;  I
need sleep more than anything right now."    

=

      You killed him.
      No, I didn't!
      You let him die.
      I tried to save him!
      Do you want to recall his look of terror as it happened?
      Nononononononoo!
      He trusted you to save him; he believed in you.
      I let him down; I know I let him down! I know I let everyone down!
      Soon, more will know as the time is coming.
      No, she can't know what happened!
      She will hate you.
      I know! She's been through enough! I can't let her be hurt!
      How are you going to stop it? You didn't help him.
      "Noooooooooooo.....!!" A young man screams himself awake, his heart
palpitating as sweaty strands of black hair stick to his feverish forehead.
He gazes with his darkening, hazel eyes around the empty alleyway and up to
the pale moon. No-one was nearby to hear him. No-one missed his
eighteen-year-old existence and that's the way it should be. He thought he
would have moved on with his life after all this time. In the end, it was
too hard and far too painful.

=

      The sunlight gently soaks through the curtains, bathing the room with
filtered mid-day sun.  The hands on the round clock click forward to signal
the beginning of the afternoon.  Akane lies in her bed, cuddling the thin
duvet cover protectively.  The sound of echoing voices in the back garden
rouses her from her sleep and her eyes peek out from under their lids to
meet the soft light.  She sits backs against her pillow and lets her eyes
adjust to the afternoon rays.  Absent-mindedly, she brushes a hand through
her long, black hair, ruffling her thick but bouncy locks.  
     "Mmmm...  What a night," she mumbles sleepily, trying to gather her
thoughts into a coherent order. What a rough night, for sure, what with the
dream- 
     The dream.
     The strange voice.
     The desperate longing.
     The terrifying inevitability.
     Oh, no, not that dream, not those nightmares that felt so real, so
right, so frightening, not them!  No!  It's too nice a day, too contented a
life for them to ruin it!
     Akane's shoulders slump forward as she sighs in uncharacteristic
resignation.  It was already too late to go back to her old life; these
dreams had convinced her that something big is going to happen and she
needs proof, needs help.  But from whom?  The voice?
     Shuffling out of bed, she places her bare feet on the soft carpet and
treads over to her set of drawers to pick out something to wear.  She
mechanically slips her slim figure into a yellow sun-dress - her thoughts
elsewhere.  A feeling of incompleteness and falsity nags at her so much
that it consumes her thoughts.  Reality is beginning to jar and shift like
a
jigsaw piece that suddenly seems out of place, forced and broken and wrong.
 So wrong.  It's all because of those dreams and nightmares trying to tell
her something that she can't reach just yet.
     Standing still, she notices the quiet that is only interrupted by the
talking outside and the occasional moan of a car through the nearby
streets.  For some reason, she knows this peacefulness isn't supposed to
be.  Noise should interrupt it but noise of what?  Animals?  People?
     Akane reaches over to her table for a brush, smoothes out any ragged,
stray hair and fixes it into a ponytail that flows down her back.  "No,
it's not right, just not right." She pulls the ponytail over her shoulder
and fingers it with curiosity as if it has instantly just grown.  But that
can't true, she's had long hair for years now. Oh well... She tosses her 
hair back over her shoulder and sighs wistfully. 
      Life before these dreams had been so much more stable and reliable
but... empty.  Always missing a vital something, a vital spark that she
could never quite place.  A hollowness gently whispered at her during
moments when she was alone, stroking the edge of her mind, just to the
point of awareness but never enough for her to do anything with but
dismiss.  Now the whisper creeps further and further into her mind, gaining
her attention more and more.
     The sound of a light 'scritch-scratch' from outside her door brings a
smile to Akane's face - it is her cat, Ne-chan.  Not the most original name
but that had never mattered to her.  She pads over to the plain, white
door, whose bland colour brightens as the filtered sun rays caress it, and
opens it.  A black kitten trots happily in and brushes his pure black fur
against Akane's bare legs, tickling her.
     "Hello, Ne-chan." She picks the kitten up and cuddles him against her
chest. This action elicits a happy purr from the tomcat.  "I'm glad I have
you, you know that."  She'd always wanted a pet and nearly a year ago Akane
had finally persuaded her dad to let her have one.  It was like a breaking
point and for some reason she'd needed a pet more than ever before. 
Someone to talk to who didn't talk back, someone to cuddle when things got
rough, that's why she'd wanted a pet.  Coming to think of it, why did she
want the cat to be black?  What is so important about that colour?  The
struggling feline in her arms takes her away from her thoughts.
      "Alright already, I'll let you go," Akane says as she loosens her
grip and lets the excited feline jump onto the bed. She smiles sadly,
beginning to wonder if anything would feel right.  If only her sister
Nabiki hadn't gone away to Osaka University then she would know what to do,
she always did.  One year older than Akane but so different from her in so
many ways that it was amazing that they could feel close enough to talk to
each other about their problems.  Though, Nabiki, when she still lived
here, rarely talked about herself but was more than happy to talk about
Akane. 
     'Knock-knock.'
     "Akane, I heard you get up, do you want me to make you something for
breakfast?" Kasumi, on the other side of the door, asks sweetly.
     "Thanks Sis," she replies, torn from her thoughts, "that would be
great."  She listens as her older sister walks down the hall to the stairs.
 Ever since their mother had died nearly eleven years ago, Kasumi had taken
her place in the home. As far as Akane could tell, Kasumi enjoyed mothering
her two younger sisters.
     Ne-chan rolls over playfully on the bed and stretches his legs out
before promptly falling asleep.  Akane frowns with mock hurt.
"Well, it looks like I'm not needed here!"  Leaving the room, she circles
back one more time - her hair flying round with her, bouncing off her
shoulders lightly - and takes one last serious look at the sleeping bundle
of black on her bed. "I promise I'll be back, I promise," she whispers
forcefully then blinks in confusion.  Huh?  What was that all about?  She
is only going downstairs for breakfast?  Putting a finger to her lips
absent-mindedly, the teenage girl ponders her own strange words as she
makes her way slowly down the corridor.
     And stops suddenly.
     Why?  
     Her eyes feel drawn to an open door - the spare room that is used for
extra storage space.  It's filled with a few boxes and spare blankets but
basically bare.  So bare.  So cold.  Tearing herself from the direction of
the wooden stairway, Akane gradually steps forward into the darkly lit room
where the few shadows of the boxes and blankets mock the emptiness with
their small size.  All she wants to do is to stand in the centre of the
room and be swallowed by the shadows.  Just stand in the quiet.  The quiet
that tears at her heart with every second of silence.
      What is it about this room... what?  Why do her eyes fill with tears
and her heart with sadness at this emptiness?  Why does she feel so empty? 
     Her lips taste her unwanted tears as her eyes stare intensely at a
fixed point infront of her - a bare wall, barely visible in the dim light
that swathes the room like a shawl of mist.  She is unable to look down,
afraid that she would only collapse on the floor, crying.  But she doesn't
know what she has to cry for. What is missing?  It can't be her imagination
as the unfathomable sorrow feels so genuine, so engrossing that she can't
dismiss it lightly. 
     Unable - no, unwilling - to move, Akane stands there for a long while,
silently crying, not bothering to wipe the tears from her eyes.  The
droplets quietly tap onto the naked floor, echoing through the room and the
hall.  She listens to the world go by without her, her body trembling with
mysterious emotions.  That last dream has a lot to answer for...

=

     It is so cold here, it is so dark...   
                     Darkness is forever, never light will be seen...
     Never, never, never, never... 
                     Coldness still lies here...
     Coldness of our hearts...
                     Coldness of nobody...
     You need somebody...? 
                     Need just one...
     No, never that one...

=

     Clouds start to darken over his head.  He gazes up to the deathly
pastel sky that was once blue.  What happened?  What is going on?  Suddenly
screaming erupts.  People dash past him but why?  He looks to his side and
sees a wave, the size of the building next to him, curl over and envelop
the busy street before him.  Holding back a breath, his eyes fix on the
monstrosity heading straight towards him.  Oh, gods, oh, no!!  No!!  What
is going on?!  The wave is getting so close, so-
      "Ryoga," someone spoke behind him, their voice echoing in the deep,
dark cavern. "He's taken Akane." Recognising his name, Ryoga turns round to
face the face of one he knows so well.  "He won't get away with it!"  Who
won't?  Oh, yes, that's right, him, Saranke: the evil one who caused all
the strange goings-on and had kidnapped his dear Akane!  Now, standing in
front of Ryoga is his rival who looks intent and determined, his eyes
almost burning with passion and anger against that evil one.  "I'm gonna
kill Saranke if he hurts Akane!  You with me, Ryoga?" 
      Without a moment's hesitation, Ryoga takes his rival's outstretched
hand and shakes it firmly.  "Of course I am, to the death!"  For now, their
rivalry is forgotten.
     "To the death!" his rival roars back in agreement.
      ...To the death?
     "I'm so glad you could come, Ryoga," Akane greets him at the door,
smiling.  Oh, that wondrous smile!  "We were worried you wouldn't make it!"
     "I-I would n-never miss your Akane, b-birthday," Ryoga stammers, his
heart pounding madly at the sight of her. She wore a beautiful, long white
dress, beaming with happiness and a sweetness rarely seen.
     "Are you feeling all right?" she asks innocently.  He smiles sadly to
himself; she still doesn't see how much he loves her, probably never will. 
She is in love with someone else, anyhow, and one day she might even admit
it to herself.  Ryoga's inward smile droops further but his outward facade
is one of badly acted happiness.  He hears the blaring party music behind
her and steps into the hallway.     
     "Move along," she says in a masculine tone, "and get off the streets."
     "Huh?"  Ryoga blinks in confusion.   
     "I said... move!" Akane shouts impatiently, her image fading and
warping into a wrinkled, middle-aged old man's face.  The man wears a
police uniform.  Ryoga hears the rain tapping against his sheltering
umbrella, the cold wind shivering and tickling the bare skin of his neck
and hands.  The cold brick wall is sore against his stiff back.  "You were
sleeping, dope, now get moving and find yourself a shelter for the rest of
the day. You'll save us time in rescuing you in case the flood comes!" 
Ryoga unconsciously rubs his eyes with his icy fingers and jerks them back
in shock.  Cold in summer?
     The policeman recognises the bewildered expression and his hardened
expression softens with ironic amusement.  "With the weather we've been
having lately, what did you expect at the beginning of summer: sun?"
     Ryoga grins back slightly, reluctantly, the weight of the dream still
heavy on his mind, and thanks the policeman for waking him.  Slowly
standing up away from the wall, keeping the rain from touching his skin
with his umbrella, he stumbles forward sleepily.  At least he's far away
from everyone he knew, far away from her.  Thank god for that.     
     Tipper, tap, tipper, tap.  The raindrops frantically splash against
the hard pavement as he treads down the empty street.  It was lucky that
the policeman had spotted him before he'd caught pneumonia...  Hang on...  
     The teenager stops suddenly in the middle of the flooding street.  
     The policeman noticed him.  That never happens to him, he always has
to find a way to gain someone's attention as they never come voluntary
these days.  That is one drawback - or advantage - to what happened nearly
a year ago today.  Something must have...
     His hazel eyes seem to darken as his forehead wrinkles into a frown.  
     No, they can't have!  No-one is supposed to know but him!  No-one!    

=

     Akane still stands, crying, encased in the dimness of the empty room. 
Slowly, the strong aroma of fish touches the tips of her tastebuds on her
tongue and slinks into her nostrils. Mmm, that smells good...  Kasumi must
be making fishcakes for breakfast.  
     She blinks herself out of her deep thoughts and realises that she
totally forgot breakfast.  This room is so compelling to her though, and
she is desperate to know the punchline to its mysterious effect on her. 
     "Akane!" Kasumi's motherly voice calls from downstairs.  "Your
breakfast, uh, lunch is ready!" 
     She reluctantly tears herself from the dim room and narrows her eyes
as natural daylight blinds her.  Unable to stop thinking about anything
else but the room, Akane is only jolted from her daydreams when she sits
down at the table downstairs and breathes in the aroma of Kasumi's
delicious cooking.  It's great to have an older sister like Kasumi.  She's
never really wanted to cook herself, somehow knowing it would be a
disaster. 
     "Hey, dad!" she says to the man currently
hiding behind the morning newspaper.  Just like him, that is.  
     The newspaper flutters down and her father, Soun, shows his sharp,
defined features and thin black moustache.  "How's my little
girl doing this morning?"
     "Daaaaad!  Don't call me that; I'm not little anymore!" Akane replies
with mock shame.  They both grin and start eating the food Kasumi has put
out for them.      
     Kasumi, herself, sits down at the table opposite Akane.  She is a
picture of calm, unlike earlier that morning.  Her long, black hair is tied
neatly by a ponytail that drapes over her shoulder and she still wears the
flowery apron she used to make breakfast.  She starts to eat her food when
she notices Akane staring at her. 
     "What is it, sister?"
     Akane smiles mischievously.  "Kasumi?"
     "Yes, dear? What's wrong?" Kasumi answers back, non-plussed.  
     "You're still wearing your nightie!"  Akane starts giggling away to
herself, glad that the tension in her heart has been lightened... a little.
      Her older sister looks down and realises that underneath her apron
lies a long, patterned white night-dress.  She blushes modestly like a
maiden.  "Oh, my."
     "Don't worry," Akane assures her, "it's only Dad and me here."  Only
Dad... and me... only...  Why did that sound so wrong?  Was it because
Nabiki is away at university?  No, Nabiki was usually quite quiet at the
table and never stayed long, either.  Plus, she has been at university for
a year - there has been enough time to adjust to that.
     "Dad?" she asks, testing a theory.  "When I was younger, did you ever
have any guests stay here for long periods of time?"
     Oblivous to the out-of-the-blue nature of the question, Soun ponders
it deeply.  "Hmmm... I can't think of any.  Perhaps relatives?  But none
stayed for long."  He sighs wistfully.  "It has been a long time since
anyone has visited.  One of these days, I should contact my oldest friend. 
I haven't seen him since his fifth wedding anniversary about how many years
ago? Wellll, it was a long time ago."
     "Oh, yes, that's right," Kasumi remarks.  "You used to talk about the
adventures you two had when you were young."
     "Who are you talking about, dad?"
     "Why, my old friend," Soun replies to Akane.
     "What I meant was," she grumbles, snapping her chopsticks in half,
"what was your friend's name?"    
     "Oh, right." Soun wonders why his daughter seems so mad, she always
had such a temper.  "I think his name is...  Oh, I'm having trouble
remembering."  He strokes his moustache unconsciously, thinking hard.  "I
think his name was... G... G-"
     "-Enma! It was Genma!" Akane gasps in surprise as she finishes the
sentence, dropping the chopsticks with a clatter onto the table.
     "Yes, that was it."  Soun notices Akane's stunned expression.  "Is
something the matter?"   
     Recovering from the flash of instant recognition that had suddenly
happened, Akane's pale face looks at her father. "Do you remember his last
name?"
     "I really can't recall it anymore," Soun says, puzzled by his
forgetfulness.
     Akane suddenly stands up and marches into the hall, towards the door. 
Before Kasumi can ask what is going on, she's at the door, her shoes on.
     "I'm going out!" she shouts loudly with determination through to where
Kasumi and her father are.  "I have things to find out!" She slams the door
behind her.
     There is quiet for a few moments before Soun picks up his paper before
suddenly placing it down again.  "Kasumi, dear?"
     "Yes, father?" 
     "I really should get in contact with my old friend, again."
     "Yes, father."
     "I still have my friend's address, don't I?"
     "Of course.  It's in your address book by the telephone in the hall."
     "I'm glad I put it somewhere safe."

      Meanwhile, outside...
     Akane runs with enthusiasm down the sunny street.  The sun rising high
in the sky and in her heart - she has a lead, a feeling, an instinct that
told her that someone named Genma would help her search.  She just knows
it.  Unfortunately as she zips through the streets, she has no idea where
she's going just that she has somewhere definite to go.  The breeze brushes
gently her hair and the thick, humid air throbbing from the flat streets
catches her breath.  Sweat drips from her forehead as she speeds up even
more, refusing to admit exhaustion.  All the early-morning jogs are finally
paying off!
     Covering her mouth as she moves through the busier streets, polluting
traffic tumbling through the streets like a bustling river, she dodges and
zips through the busy crowds.  Her agility must be improv-
     Thump!
     "Oh, I'm sorry!"  She helps up the surprised woman whom she knocked
over.
      The annoyed woman brushes down her business jacket.  "I should hope
you are! Try not to be so clumsy!"
      Lightning strikes Akane's soul as she reeled back from the last
comment, feeling irrationally furious at it.  "Clumsy?"  Why does that
comment hit her so hard?  "I-I...  Sorry."  She starts to hurtle back down
the street after watching the woman walk away gruffly.  She has to be
careful as she doesn't have his speed and agility.  Screeching to a halt,
her eyes widen and her chest feels lighter in shock.  Huh?  His?  Who's
'his'?  Who was this guy she momentarily thought of?  Concentrating hard
till her head hurt Akane just could not think anymore past that comment. 
It is buried so deep in her mind and as she dug deeper, she hit a large
rock and could not get past it.  Nonono!  Not fair! She was _that_ close 
to remembering!  
       She stomps her feet in frustration and balls her fists in anger at
her stupidity.  She has to get to wherever it is she is going and fast! 
This growing mystery is really pushing what little patience she owns.  
      A few more minutes of running bring her into an emptier area of town
where there is major construction work going on.  She can see buildings
being built started from scratch, scaffolding, dust and grime.  Why the
government felt the need to renovate an upper-class area like this had
always puzzled Akane.  Now, as she wanders through the empty streets, where
new but still empty skyscrapers and other tall buildings were nearly
finished, she wonders where she's going.  She walks past the builders and
the looming cranes, drawn to an area deeper and deeper into it, where the
smell of the sea and the taunts of the gulls lie. 
      In this area there are few workers, much scaffolding, long shadows,
few people and this scares her despite her pride.  It is so empty and her
feet echo with every step down the makeshift pavement. She notices a shadow
appear on the brick wall climbing beside her. Yet, when she turns around
there is no-one there. Huh? What was going on? Suddenly images flit and
flirt with her eyes.  Images of people, clothes ragged and faces bleeding,
edging towards her and fading and broken like a bad TV reception.  One of
the ghosts comes right up to her and she can almost feel his cold breath
upon her and the wrinkles that define his scraggy, rumpled face.  His eyes
are blank but his smile grim.
     "Who are you? What do you want?" she snaps nervously, stepping
slightly away from him.
     "You are in trouble, the wave is coming," he whispers barely and
coughs up a grey liquid as smooth as blood.  It is blood. 
     "What are you?"
     "The wave will take you, it will take all you know."
     "What are you babbling on about?!"  She steps back further only to
bristle at the sensation of insects crawling over her.  Jerking around, she
sees a flickering, grey image of a young girl up against the wall. 
     "It's too late, too late for everyone," the girl announces in a
high-pitched voice.  She then giggles lightly.  "It was too late for me and
my teddy bear."  A ragged, burnt little bear is held up proudly to Akane's
silent, disbelieving face.  "His name is Buttons and he's my favourite
bear. I couldn't leave my little bear behind, could I?"
     Compelled, Akane reaches to touch the bear, only for her hand to fade
and fizzle as it went through the bear.  S-so cold!  She jerks her tingling

hand back in shock and it becomes tangible again. She could see her 
hand in that bear, she could see through the bear, through her hand 
to the wall!  What is this?!  Is she hallucinating?!
      "Maybe you are, maybe you aren't," the girl sings lightly.  "Maybe
it's real, maybe it's fake.  Maybe it's all of the above, maybe it's none. 
What will happen has already been done." 
      "What... what are you talking about?" Akane asks breathily, her
throat tightening up with tense fear.  If she only knew what these things
were: ghosts, souls, hallucinations or what?  If she only knew, then she
might know what to do to escape.
      The young girl giggles and spins round, disappearing into the air as
she follows the fading of the other images.  Another steadier image takes
her place: a teenage girl with long hair wrapped with a pale ribbon.  She
is not ragged or bleeding like the rest, just slightly bruised.  Her eyes
are blank but her voice speaks passionately, "Akane!"
      "How do you know my name?"
      "Akane! You've gotta run!" The girl's hands reach out to shake
Akane's shoulders but go right through her.  Akane notes with horror that
her shoulders melt away at the touch of the image's hands.   "Don't waste
time here! Go! Go!!"  The girl's shrieking gets louder and louder.
      "How?  How do you know my name?!" 
      The pale-ribboned girl's blank eyes form dull tears, she takes her
hands away from Akane's relieved shoulders and her own droop slightly
forward.  "Please," she says quietly.  "There's nothing here. Nothing but
memories.  Maybe you can change the future this time...  Please run!  For
all of us, for..." Akane watches in horror as a faceless image grabs the
pale-ribboned girl around her neck and crushes it. There are no screams, no
sickening, haunting cracks and the faceless image laughs. 
      "Stop it, leave her alone!" Akane cries desperately something strange
holds her back - doubt.  What if she helped and her hand disappears
again... or all of her?  Was this even real?  Bam-bam-bam-bam: her heart
barrels repeatedly against her chest as she watches as the rapidly fading
faceless image throws the girl far into the air.  In the sparkle of the
blinding sun, the ghost girl disappears, a blank expression on her face. 
Akane's face is the same.  
      Her heart beats rapidly still, sweat slivers down her body and the 
sun waves heat to slowly crackle her bare skin. Yet, her eyes are fixed 
on the sky, on where the girl disappeared... or did she? If any of what 
Akane saw did exist, she wishes it hadn't.  
      A flapping sound distracts her thoughts and she looks away from the
glare of the sun.  A piece of paper slowly weaves through the calm air and
she catches it without thought.  As curiosity peeks through her confused
conscience, she examines the strange paper. It's a tattered, faded
newspaper clipping from the Tokyo Times but the misspelt heading cut out is
nothing she's seen before: "Total Choas Reigns In Japnn".  The year is
missing - as if it was forgotten - and the date says 1 June, which is two
weeks from now. When was this written and is it even real?  Perhaps it will
be best to go check it out at her local library.
      But first, she has to keep going farther into this area.  Why?  She
doesn't know why but she knows that it is to do with the piece of paper,
whose ink is slowly bleeding into her tense, tight fist.  It is all she has
to hold onto, to believe in.
     She faces down the street to where the gulls seem to call her and
flips back annoying strands of greasy hair.  Down the street, that's where
she's to go.  Taking a few breaths to calm her increasing restlessness,
Akane stares at the half-built, roadwork-clogged street in front of her. 
It's eerily quiet - shouldn't there be people working on it?  Oh well, few
things were making sense today.  Hunger rumbles in her stomach but a
stronger sensation taunts her curiosity till she gives into the desire. 
"Ready steady...  Now!" 
     Suddenly, she shoots down the hazardous road, dodging and jumping with
abandon across it.  Today, she would get answers!  Today!
     All this running feels like it's taking forever.  The streets seem to
wind on and on, the feeling of reaching somewhere slowly getting stronger. 
Her long hair flapping like parachute in the breeze as she runs to
wherever 'there' is, she knows she's there. 
     Soon she comes to a nameless street, nothing more than a bunch 
of half-built buildings but, again, no construction workers. The harbour 
is in sight and, like a disjointed dream, she suddenly finds herself at 
the edge of the harbour.  No-one else is around.  Shouldn't there be
some activity?  Boats, cargo ships, factories are at the waters edge 
but there is nothing nearby.  In the far distance, she can see life 
but this unusually stark area feels like a ghost town.  After what 
she just saw - or imagined - it feels like one.
      Gazing over the edge at the water bashing gently against the harbour
walls, Akane tenses.  A morbid fear creeps over her and her hands grasp the
iron railings to stop her from falling. "Something... something feels like
it should happen."   
      Her eyes fix on the sea view and a terrible rumbling noise emanates
like thunder from somewhere. Her stomach sways like a boat in a storm.
Something bad, very bad...  But the sea seems so quiet, so peaceful.  Too
peaceful.  Something bad should be emerging from this tranquillity, like in
a horror movie.  Calm before the storm, right? But what kind of storm? 
Anxiety shouts at her and her throat tenses.  
      "Air, need air!  C-can't breathe!" she hoarsely gasps, staggering
back.  The sight of the quiet sea screams at her, screaming with every hush
of the cool-headed waves.
      The ground seems to shake and shift and she struggles to keep
balanced - her legs lean unsteadily from side to side.  She steps back and
looks high up into the air, fearing whatever was up there.  Nothing but the
sky curls over the horizon.  Her eyes stare in the air until they protest
with aches.  That doesn't matter as the sky seems to lurch forward.  Akane
leans back unconsciously, till she stumbles to keep her balance. 
Wha-what's going on?!  What is up there?  Nothing, nothing is but it is! 
Isn't it?
     The humidity is pressing against her skin but the sea air... no,
something more, cools her stinging skin, washing over her like... a shower
of water?  ...Water?  Her body feels drenched with icy cold water and she
closes her eyes instinctively.  Opening them soon after, she looks down at
her summer dress, sticky only with sweat and humidity.  She tries to speak
but only gargles and chokes make it through.  Grabbing her neck, she fights
the sensation of something being forced down her throat. So tight. So
forced.  Only one thing left to do: leave.  However irrational and unreal
her fear is, something bad is happening to her and she has to leave.  Run
from this place, away from the calm waters.  Need to leave, now!!
      Spinning around on the spot, Akane tries one last time to shake away
the strange, crushing feelings without success.  Suddenly she hurtles her
tired body through the streets, running literally on adrenaline.  Had to
get away from here, from here, had to get away to safety.  Run, keep on
running. Run faster, run further, dodge, trip, get up, run, run, dodge,
jump, to the side, curve round corner, run, zip, dodge, run, fast, had to
go, run, fast, fast, ru-
     Her body collapses onto the street as she abruptly falls unconscious,
her long hair sprawled all around her.  Legs numb as muscles cramped and
stiffened.  Her heart beats like a drum against the concrete pavement and
the rhythm echoes round her body and up in her throat.  Deep in
psychological nothings, Akane doesn't hear anything as a girlish voice
speaks.
     "Hey!  That looks like...  It is Akane!  Wake up!"
     Silence and darkness.  It's so dark here...  So dark and peaceful... 
C-cold!  Brrrrr!
     "What the-?" Akane sputters as she sits up rigidly, wiping away the
water from her eyes.  Blinking to gain focus, she realises she is sitting
on a futon in the living room with her hair and her face soaked through
with cold, tingling water.  She streaks her hair back with her hands and
shivers as her wet hair touches her neck. The hazy, afternoon sun glides in
through the window. "What's going on?" 
     "I'm sorry but I had to do that, little sister," a feminine voice
sincerely replies from behind her.  Akane shifts round in the futon and
looks up to see Kasumi holding a small bucket.  "You wouldn't wake up." 
      "It's all right...  What happened?" A groggy Akane takes the towel
her older sister offers her.
      "A couple of your friends saw you collapse a few streets away.  You
wouldn't wake up so they brought you here.  I was close to calling Dr.
Tofu." 
      "Mmm, yeah, it's starting to come back to me..." Akane mutters,
yawning and dries her face with the towel, patting her hair also.  "I'm
still pretty tired out from it."  Slowly standing up with some support from
Kasumi, she groans, "Oh, I never thought I'd feel so stiff and sore.  I've
never felt like this before."
     "What did you do today," Kasumi asks curiously as she watches Akane
stumble forward, "that could have made you so tired?"   
      "Oh, just research."
      "Research?"
      "Mm-hmm," Akane mumbles as she stumbles over to Kasumi, looking her
in the eyes.  Kasumi stepped back as she could never get used to Akane
being at her eye-level.  Her younger sister had certainly grown in the last
year.  "Do you know Nabiki's new phone number?  I heard she got a
phone-line installed in her room."
      "It should be in the address book beside our phone."
      "Thanks, I'm just going to call her, `kay?"  Akane starts to walk
towards the hallway
      "Of course you can speak to your sister, dear.  Are you sure that you
don't want something to eat?  You don't look well."
      Akane grabs an apple off the fruit bowl and crunches into it as she
leaves.  "Shokay, I'll manashe."
      Kasumi smiles nervously.  "I see."
      In the hallway, Akane finds Nabiki's number and dials it carefully. 
The phone burrs and hums until it switches to an answering machine: "Tendo
Nabiki here. I'm not in right now but if you have any important business to
discuss with me, leave a message after the beep."
      It's good to hear her sister's voice - even if it is on a machine.
      "Hi Nabiki," Akane greets awkawardly, unsure of the answering
machine. "It's Akane here. I just wanted to talk to you about... something
important and also to see how you're doing.  Try and phone back, tonight.
See you." Putting the phone down, she sighs impatiently. Now she has to
wait for Nabiki to ring back. She may as well look through some old history
books to see if there's anything to do with that strange headline... 

=

      Farther north, across the island, across hills and plains and across
a large body of tumbling, wild water, the land of Hokkaido is reached.  A
layer of grey-suited clouds stifles the sky and suffocates the sun's
desperate glare, dominating and controlling the moody landscape.  In one
small, lifeless town where the middle of the day is anti-climactic, there
is not even a peek of sun. 
     Only one person knows why summer is never coming and they're not
telling, just drinking in a quiet pub. Underage but experienced they sit on
a stool, leaning across the counter, dressed in casual black clothes and
sipping the remains of a diluted vodka. Their short, dark hair shows signs
of amateur, careless cutting. Pale but not gaunt, they sit alone like a
living ghost.
      "Another one please," Ryoga asks the bartender loudly, inhibitions
very slowly slipping away. "The same as last time." As the bartender 
obliges, Ryoga notices a woman walking over towards the counter. He 
ignores her just as everyone else is supposed to ignore him - except for
that
policeman...  "Please hurry up with the drink." The curvaceous young woman
who looks to be in her twenties sidles up beside him, slips down on a stool
and examines him. Nervously shifting on his stool, he looks away, hoping
that she will stop looking so that he can forget she's noticed him.
      But she has, hasn't she, Ryoga?
      Shut up, voice, shut up; I'm not in the mood.
      You know what the consequences are.
      Leave me alone.
      The clank of the drink on the wooden counter steals him from thought
and he gulps the alcohol down. The drink doesn't seem to have much effect
on him but he enjoys what little relief it gives him. 
      "I was watching you from over there," the woman starts to speak,
holding a half-empty glass.  Ryoga unsuccessfully tries to tune out her
friendly voice and smiles a fake smile back.  He may be on the edge of
running out to Tokyo to check on _her_ but there's no reason to be rude to
this lady.  She hasn't done anything wrong in talking.  Just talking to him
is the bad part.  "I haven't seen you around here before.  It's so strange
to see someone new in town, especially someone so cute."  He blushes
despite himself and his depression.  "Most people have ditched this
run-down place."
      You know why, don't you?  You know everything.
      And you'll never let me forget it.
      "I'm just travelling," Ryoga replies vaguely with a touch of sadness
hidden barely.  Travelling.  Story of his life.  He was always travelling.
      "Oh, really?  How fascinating!  Where are you from?" 
      Ryoga groans inwardly - why does she have to pay attention to him?
      "Tokyo," he blurts out before he can think of a way of avoiding the
question.  It's partly true as he was born there but it isn't his home now.
 Also his parents aren't his parents, his old friends aren't his old fr- 
......Need to finish the drink.  Nope, didn't work, still thinking.
      "Lucky you," she responded half-jokingly, missing the bitter smirk on
his face.  "I've been stuck in this area for my whole life.  It wasn't
always a dead-end like this... but, ah, what's the point in denial? It is
now and that's what matters."  Sighing, she leans on the counter, her shiny
blond hair flopping forward onto the counter.  "The name's Tora Nanao, by
the way.  What's yours?" 
      Ryoga hesitates, every heartbeat thumping hard in sudden anxiety. 
This is going on for too long and there were too many questions - personal
questions.  Miss Nanao should've lost interest in him by now, at least. 
Something must have happened, someone must be remembering and that would
mean the... the... no!  Perhaps just the... no! Just like that old sage had
told him!  
       A sudden need to be far away from here, to be in Tokyo, grabs him by
throat and jerks him towards the exit.  He doesn't want to face his past
and take his shattered heart back home but he _has_ to go.
      "My name's Ryoga Hibiki, Miss Nanao. I'm sorry, I have to get going."
She doesn't look up at him and just nods wearily as he hands money over to
the bartender. 
      "They all do," she softly sighs, stirring her drink.
      Shifting from his seat, he gathers up his large backpack and
umbrella.  "Thank you, Miss Nanao," he says politely, meaning goodbye.
      "Come back to little Tsokana soon, Hibiki," she says sadly, meaning
she knew he'd never come back.
      Walking to the door, his footsteps thump subtly on the wooden boards
of the old-fashioned building and he leaves the building and then the
small, raining town of Tsokana.  His umbrella stands over his head as
rained lashed down, inflicting coldness on the air that swims around him. 
Tokyo is on the horizon in his mind and it will be a long trip there, a
very long trip.  No choice but to go, no choice always.  Only if he'd
saved... _him_ then he might not be alone, might be able to believe that he
wasn't in a sadistic dream that would last his whole life.  Tokyo and his
long dead past: trapped in a graveyard he pictures graphically forever in
his mind.  There will be no resurrection, no healing for the old him but
oh, how he wishes for it all the time. Tokyo is the opposite: silently
healing scars it doesn't know it has. 
       Why Tokyo?  You knew people in other cities.
       For once, Ryoga ignores the voice, either real or imagined, and
continues on his journey silently.  He knows the answer but refuses to give
the voice the pleasure of his pain and guilt.  It already haunted his
dreams, why should he let it haunt his whole life?
      Who said you had a choice?
      I do.  I have more important things to think of now.
      There is no reply and he's momentarily glad, half-smiling.  He knows
it will come back but for now his mind is his own.  However much of a ruin
of old times it is. 

=
End of chapter 1
Easy cut-and-paste C&C for those who don't have time to spare (inspired by
an author named PHOOsun):
1) I hate this story! It sucks! (because...?) 
2) I couldn't care less what happened either way.
3) I like this story. :) 
4) I like this story but it needs improvement with regard to X (i.e.
characterisation, atmosphere, grammar).
5) I love "WotWP", love it lots! ^_^
6) I think X's characterisation is OOC because...
7) It needs more/ less subtlety regarding the future plot line. 
8) I volunteer to be your pre-reader and don't worry, I'm good at waiting,
_really_ good. 
9) I volunteer to be your pre-reader for grammar and punctuation as I'm
good at that part of C&C.
9) It would go better in past tense, present tense adds nothing.
11) Using present tense is a good idea, it is better than using past tense
12) The colour of Akane's/ Kasumi's eyes are X/Y. (pleeaase!)
13) Hey, you know what would be a really great future plotline..? 
14) _Anything_ else you can think of. ^_^