Subject: Reunion: Mikado & Azusa
From: ejones@nero.FineArts.UVic.CA (Eric Jones)
Date: 5/9/1997, 12:12 AM
To: fanfic@fanfic.com

I am told I should be posting this.  Here is the chronicles of Mikado and 
Azusa within Erin Mills' "Reunion" story line...


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The end
-------

				
A lone street in the district of Kolkhoz.  No one sane walks
these streets at night.  No one that is thinking of what 
they're doing, at least.  One man does walk down these paths,
not watching at all where he's going, or where he's been - 
just moving on.

In his hands is clutched a piece of paper.  That is where
his attention is centred.  His entire being focused on
a dingy scrap of tree.

It would have been wise for him to keep his bearings.  If he
had, he might have seen, or at least noticed, the short girl
following close behind him.  As it was, the man shuffled along
slowly, oblivious as a hammer descended down on him.  

It was a small, tiny wooden hammer, with a pink bow tied 
around it.  It connected solidly on the back of his head, and
the man crumpled to the ground, a cry of "Kawaii!" echoing
through the alleyways.  Windows were shut, drapes were closed,
as the looting began...


------------------

Cire Productions Presents:

                   A Ranma 1/2 story
                       'Reunion'
                originated by Erin Mills

                    Mikado and Azusa
                    'Tarnished Gold'

------------------



Chapter 1: A Wedding
--------------------

After so much delay, defects, arguments, and secondary suitors,
it was finally happening.  Ranma and Akane were getting married.

The news had reached the Golden Pair fairly quickly- it had
spread quickly to everyone.  How such information could reach
people from a completely unrelated school, is a question 
unanswered to this day.  Such things were probably just meant
to happen.

Mikado had actually approached the news with a small amount of
joy.  Those two belonged together.  They'd stayed together, even
after his own attempts to separate the two.  The minute he saw how 
Ranma had foiled his 'couple cleaver', Mikado had realized these 
two to be something special.  

He hadn't wanted to admit it- besides, he had a reputation to maintain.  
Mikado, the man who's name was synonymous with 'one night stand'; the 
infamous anti-matchmaker himself.  

But that had been years ago.  He was older, and, he liked to think,
a bit wiser too.  Time hadn't advanced Azusa much in thinking, but 
Mikado had become far more contemplative.  Ever since the loss to 
Ranma, Mikado came to the conclusion that even he couldn't stand
in the way of true love.  

Which didn't end the Golden Pair, mind you.  But as they gained a
reputation, they began to move more towards actual figure skating,
a far more respected, not to mention lucrative, art.  Even Azusa had
become a bit less violent.  A bit.

And now, the news of the wedding of Saotome and Tendo.  It would be
fitting, pondered Mikado, for him to show up.  After all, he had
made them show the ultimate proof of the solidity of their relationship.
It had certainly took them long enough to admit it.

Mikado couldn't help but smile to himself.  Besides, he never -did-
give Akane his formal greeting...

-=-

Mikado adjusted his bow-tie nervously, glancing about the hall where
the wedding was to take place.  He'd never been to a wedding before,
had shunned the whole idea of them before..  But Ranma and Akane
did belong together, and Mikado was eager to watch the declaration
of their union take place.

They had come in as late as possible, Azusa and himself, sitting 
themselves in the last row of seats.  It had been an entire ten minutes
before Azusa started to get a little edgy.

"San-chann..." she whined, "Why are we even here?  We should be off 
skating!"

"I am here to witness a wedding.  Why you're here, I still have no idea."

Azusa pouted.  "Because my San-chan is here!"

Mikado shuddered a bit at the comment.  As good a partner as Azusa could
be, it couldn't make up for her insane and often illogical behaviour. 
Perhaps she liked beating him over the head, and followed him around 
just so she could get the chance?  Mikado had never figured it out,
or even bothered to.

At any rate, despite Azusa's constant bouncing in her seat, Mikado
managed to watch the wedding (perhaps, to Azusa's chagrin..).  An
absolutely picture-perfect moment it was, a true pair being joined
together in holy matrimony.

As the wedding went on, Mikado spared a quick glance at Azusa.  She had 
managed to calm down- or as well as could be expected from her.  It 
seemed the wedding was bringing out some small hidden piece of normality 
in her personality - a romantic streak.  

Mikado smiled to himself, as he heard the words, "You may kiss the bride."
About time those words were said.

There was barely a dry eye in the house, including Azusa, which surprised 
Mikado somewhat.  She usually only cried over her silly stolen objects.
Azusa stole a quick glance at Mikado, and Mikado quickly looked away.  He 
didn't quite like the look of that smile.  Too...  Affectionate?  
Couldn't be.

-=-

The wedding was over, and the guests were pouring out of the 
chapel.  A line was starting to form leading towards the newlyweds, 
which Mikado quickly nudged his way in to.  He saw no familiar faces 
around him, but that wasn't surprising.  Looking around, Mikado wondered 
whether it was really that good an idea or not to be here.  He could 
notice the stares from all around.  Admittedly, it could be the people 
staring in admiration or jealousy of his good looks, but he doubted it.

Regardless, no one stopped him as he made his way up the line, until he 
was up the pair themselves.  Thinking nothing of it, Mikado walked 
straight up to Akane, leaning over to kiss her, when something stopped him.  A
hand.

"What do you think you're doing?" growled Ranma, who looked none too 
pleased at his unexpected visitor.  Ranma grabbed Mikado by the lapels, 
"You remember what I told you _last_ time you tried that?"

"Ranma, I have no intention of..."

"I said, 'lay a lip on her, and I'll kill you'.  And I meant it, Sanzenin!"

"It's part of the tradition.." Mikado replied meekly.  He was beginning to be
of the opinion this might have not been a good idea.

"Yeah, you know all about those kinds of traditions, don't you?  And you were
really on the guest list too..."

Mikado smiled, hoping to defuse the situation with some humour...  "No 
need to act so uptight, Ranma.  You act like I was trying to kiss -you- or
something..."

His smile didn't last long.  Mikado saw the small fury that took over 
Ranma's face, as he snapped out a kick in Mikado's direction.  

When a person executes a kick, there are three main places to hit - in 
the shin, the knee, or the chest.  In martial skating, the focus is 
usually on the shins.  Unfortunately, Ranma was not a martial skater.  So 
when Mikado leapt up to 'avoid' the kick, it became a shin attack.

Pain was exploding in his leg.  A pain worse than any he'd ever 
experienced.  Yes, it had most definately been a bad idea coming here...

-=-


Chapter 2 - A break from the norm
---------------------------------


"Give it to me straight."

Mikado hated those words, but he had to know.  He was in too much pain
physically to really care much about his ego at this point.  His leg was
on fire.  And it had happened a week ago..

A week.  He'd NEVER been in a hospital that long.  Not even after the
time Azusa found that construction hat cute..  Wearer and all.  But at
least the nurses were cute..  He'd found some ways to pass the time. 
Some of them even okay to do in his condition.

But the doctor did not have a very friendly disposition, nor news.

"Mr. Sanzenin, I'm putting this as nicely as I can.  You've suffered a
severe break to your left shin.  After removing what we hope are all the
shards, we replaced part of the bone structure with a metal plate.."

Mikado nodded politely.  Too much techno-babble for his tastes.  "But the
important thing, doctor.  When'll I be on my feet and able to train again?"

The doctor had a pained look on his face.  "I'm...  Sorry, Mr. Sanzenin. 
But I don't think that's going to happen..."

Silence.  "What?"

"You are missing a significant amount of bone, Mr. Sanzenin.  We did what we
could - you'll be able to stand again, but I'm afraid that putting any kind
of intense pressure on it will cause further damage. Mr. Sanzenin, I would  
-not- recommend you put on a pair of skates again, ever."

-=-

Mikado sat in his bed, numb.  There was no more skating left.  His career
was over, already.  And it wasn't even because of a skating match...
Two times now, that Saotome boy had destroyed him, this time permanently.

Mikado gritted his teeth.  There was -no- way this was going to be over. 
That boy would pay.  He didn't care when, or how...  But he would be held
responsible for his actions...

-=-

The weeks passed, and finally, Mikado was discharged from the hospital.  
On physical therapy, and quite dependant on a cane, he was hardly in peak 
physical condition.  Which was why Azusa leaping up into his arms as 
he left the hospital was so disastrous.

The doctors recommended another weeks stay.  Mikado also made a 
personal recommendation - to never speak to Azusa again.

-=-

In retrospect, it was probably a good thing that Mikado had been in the 
hospital for so long.  Had he not, he would have tried to get his revenge 
as quickly as possible.  This would have only resulted in even worse injury, 
and it was certainly bad enough as it was.  

Mikado could never stay angry anyways.  It took up too much time and energy.  
The flowers and card he'd recieved from the Saotomes helped a bit too.

As it was, Mikado had the time to blow off a little steam.  Albeit in a 
boring manner, but he was a lot calmer now.  In fact, Mikado viewed this 
as the perfect opportunity to pursue another love of his - music.

To pass the long days away, he had tried humming out the tune to a song.  
Nothing he was terribly proud of yet, but without the whining noise of 
Azusa around him, he could actually concentrate.  Goodness knows, he 
might even be able to sing an entire song...  

Mikado hummed out a new bar.  Yes, that would do just fine.  Life was 
good, or as good as it was going to get, at least.  Instead of whining 
about his condition, Mikado was determined to do something about it.  Hurting
Ranma wouldn't make anything better...

-=-

A short matter of weeks later, and two entire songs were completed.  
Mikado had even devoted some of his significant monetary funds towards 
created an in-house studio.  Soon, very soon, he'd have a fan base once more.

And he could have too, if it weren't for the comment he heard from every 
music label...  

"Mikado, babes, you've got the looks, you've got the sound..  But can you 
dance?"

With looks like his, no one would take Mikado as a serious artist, and 
all pop singers have to have complicated dance routines.  The kids like 
it for the pizazz, right?

And people who require canes to walk just don't make good dancers...

-=-


Chapter 3 - A Queen Dethroned
-----------------------------


Life, Azusa had decided, was REALLY kawaikune.  Everything had been going 
well for a while - all of her little darlings were around her, and she 
loved every single one of them.  She was even getting better at making 
her -favourite- kawaii more relaxed around her.  Finally, everything was 
shiny happy.

But then he went and broke his leg...

-=-

Azusa had never exactly been Ms. Popular around Kolkhoz High.  Sure, 
there was the 'Lovely Azusa Fan Club', but those were the regular 
undersexed boys who needed some public mode of relieving themselves.  
Aside from them, she'd basically been suffered with.  She was an 
excellent skater, the best female paired skater to come along in some time.

However, she'd never really gotten the hang of singles skating.  Which 
was a pity, considering she no longer had her partner.

Normally, Azusa could get her way.  She begged, cajoled, and pleaded 
with the coach to get Mikado back into skating, but he refused.  So, as 
Mikado's skating career ended, so did Azusa's, by proxy.  From there,
everything defused.

-=-

"What do you mean, I'm expelled?"  Azusa cried.  This had been the fifth
visit to the principal's office in as many days, but that had done little 
to deter her energies towards cute objects.  In fact, without Mikado around, 
she had only gotten worse.  Mostly because other people weren't as used to 
her kind of abuse as Mikado was.

The principal leaned back in his chair, peering at the once-gem of his
school's skating club.  In his opinion, this was far too long in the coming. 
 
"Azusa, to be quite frank, you're a constant disturbance.  Today for
instance, when you thought that piece of chalk was cute..."

"But it was!!  It was the most adorable little Nadine I had EVER seen!"

"My point exactly.  Nothing is safe from you, and I think you pose a general
threat to the safety of my school, and it's students.  As of today, your
status as a student of Kolkhoz High is terminated."

-=-

Other schools followed, but none were nearly as accepting as Kolkhoz had
been. That Azusa refused to take a new skating partner didn't help in the 
least.  Half a year and five schools later, Azusa was given a choice: go to 
Furinkan High, or the streets.

Azusa had never gotten over the infamous 'Charlotte/P-chan' incident, and was
NOT willing to become schoolmates of those uncute meanies.  And so, her own
fate was sealed, and Azusa was banished from 'team Shiratori'.

-=-

Off to the streets she went, and with a vengeance.  Her penchant for cute
things - more to the point, her skill at attaining them - actually served 
her well. Soon, she learned well the benefits of being able to part with the 
adorable objects she could get her hands on - it was her only means of 
survival.

Thus began the reign of the 'kawaii criminal' - the infamous thief who has
yet to be caught to this day.
 		
-=-


The beginning
-------------


Azusa examined the piece of paper the man was clutching.  It was curious, it
seemed to be the only thing he'd been carrying.  No wallet, no ID, nothing
aside from this little scrap.

Upon taking a closer look, it began to take importance in Azusa's mind as
well. A few short sentences, but they gave a shape to Azusa's thinking, quite
possibly for the first time in her life.

Dear Mikado, 

     We are holding a reunion for all of our friends from the old days,
and would like it if you could come.  It will be held on June 25 at the
Saotome Dojo.  Please come; we would love to have you here.  

                                   Ranma and Akane

She looked down at the slumped form at her feet, and gasped with recognition. 
Dragging him to the closest alley, she placed Mikado's jacket over his body.   
As an afterthought, she put the piece of paper back in his hand, and kissed him 
on the cheek.

"Don't worry San-chan.  Azusa will get revenge for the both of us..."

The Saotomes.  The destroyers of both her and San-chan's careers.  Perhaps a
second gate-crashing wasn't uncalled for...  

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Ranma 1/2 Reuinion: Tarnished Gold

written by: Eric Jones
'Reuinion' concept by: Erin Mills
special thanks to: Bridget Ellen Engman, Nicholas Leifker, Mike Loader


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Send any comments to:  ejones@butterfly.uvic.ca

I'm not on the FFML, so any comments sent there, I will not get.  :)