Terence Fergusson (taf@isla-mia.demon.co.uk)

Ranma 1/2
"Broken Pitfall"

Chapter 1 : "Past Awakening"

Ranma 1/2 is copyright Rumiko Takahashi.  Any material used from
Ranma 1/2 is not of my own creation, and I take no credit for it.
Thank you for not suing me.

Tanya Kiyan is presumably copyright Terence Fergusson aka Me.  This
fanfic - excepting those scenes, characters and other stuff that
belongs to the aforementioned series, in addition to any other anime,
manga or general fiction that has had inferences, references, bits
cut and pasted into, onto and/or within this story - is mine.

Story notes:           /.../  designates thoughts...
                       _..._  designates stressed words...

Any other strange symbols _should_ be self-explanatory.

This, as history must note, was my first idea for a fanfic.  Tanya's
first foray was a script format piece of fiction that had the Ranma
cast at least slightly out of character.  It had a few good ideas,
but it wasn't very good.  Well, not really, anyway.  Needless to say,
it never left the drawing board.

Since then, I have started a great number of other fanfics.  But
every now and then, I would come back to my original idea with Tanya.
I hope it benefited from the attention.

This is a completely revised version of the original; so much so that
it should be unrecognisable from the first draft.  Which is fine,
since only one person saw the original....

Anyway, let's get on with it.  The feature presentation awaits....

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  Fate can be cruel, it is said.  Certainly, none can escape him,
even though many try.  Although Death can be cheated, no one yet has
successfully managed to do the same to Fate.  It's understandable
therefore, that when things beyond our control go wrong, or miracles
beyond our understanding happen, that it must have been Fate's doing.
  Of course, Fate does have an adversary of equal power.  It's once
been said by one very knowledgable in the field, that every living
being has enemies.  However, in this case it's more like a rival.
  For while Fate manipulates things in the long term, moving lovers
together and enemies apart - or vice versa - the impulsive acts of
Lady Luck contrives to ruin Fate's carefully made plans.  It isn't
exactly cheating, since the gods don't cheat.
  But that doesn't mean that they always play fair.  And no one said
that Lady Luck was always good.

  However, even though all of the above is a reality away from the one
this tale is concerned in, the anthropomorphic representations of the
powers we know as Luck and Fate are quite realistic.
  But it is often difficult to differentiate between the two.  Was it
Luck or Fate who saved the soldier from his suicide stand?  Was it
Luck or Fate who caused the accident which named Deadman's Bend?  And
was it Luck or Fate that cursed Ranma with the spring of Nyanniichaun,
and gave him at least four potential fiancees?
  But all that is History.  And it is History that often dictates what
happens next.  The past can never stay buried, and always awakens to
visit those who most dread it.  Genma Saotome, Ranma's father, is one
such who is touched by the past.
  Just as Akane Tendo will be.  And Kodachi Kuno.
  The past can never stay buried for long, and History demands that
consequences be faced.  But it is patient, and it is often many years
before the fruits of one's actions return to haunt them.

  She stood atop a hill overlooking the outskirts of Tokyo.  She
seemed ill-dressed for hiking - a plain white T-shirt with black gym
trousers and a pair of trainers comprised her clothing - but hiking
was what she had been doing.  Her figure was masked by a dark brown
cloak that fell around her, trailing near her ankles, and her head and
face was completely hidden under the hooded cowl.  Over her left
shoulder she carried a medium-sized rucksack, presumably filled with
the essentials needed for a journey of the sort she had undertaken,
and strapped behind it was a long wrapped bundle that lay comfortably
in its resting place.  Sadly, her right arm was in a cast, healing
from a recent injury.  And still she had continued her journey.
  She stopped a moment to look at a letter that she had been entrusted
to deliver.  Of course, she could have just sent it through the mail,
but that was not what had been asked of her.  Admittedly, she had not
been asked to complete her task on foot, yet she felt that it was
better this way, for some yet unknown reason.  Besides, she liked the
solitude.
  It had been a long time since she was last here.  Nearly too long.
Yet she dreaded coming back.
  Even the longest journey is begun by a single step.  And so it
seemed as she tucked the letter away, suppressing a sigh as she hefted
her rucksack, and took her first step into Tokyo.



                             Terence Fergusson
                          -- Student of Advanced Murphodynamics
                          -- Stranded in an Anime-free College