Waters Under Earth

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by Alan Harnum - harnums@hotmail.com

All Ranma characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, first
published by Shogakugan in Japan and brought over to North
America by Viz Communications.

Hi.  This is not my first fanfic, but it is my first attempt at
posting something to the FFML... due to the limitations of
Hotmail, I am unable to subscribe to the FFML, so if any C&C
could please be directed to me privately at my e-mail address,
I'd be grateful.  I'm posting this fic in the hope that I can have
comments on it to help me make it as good as possible before
posting it to RAAC, so any comments are not only encouraged but
very much appreciated.  

Chapter 4 : The Motive of the Deed (2/3)

     "LET HER GO!"

     "Shut up, boy," Cologne said, and she brought the rake close
enough that the tines touched his mother's face without cutting.

     Akane put a hand on his arm, and he realized for the first
time that he was crying, in total silence.  "Ranma... she's
holding all the cards here."

     "You're right, girl," Cologne said.  "Son-in-law, do you
remember the mountain where I showed your friend the Breaking
Point?"

     "Yes," Ranma said, licking his lips, which felt very, very
dry.

     "You will come there before the sun sets tomorrow," Cologne
said.  "I will be waiting with your mother.  If you come later,
you will find her dead.  When you arrive, we will fight a duel
with the conditions I have outlined.  If you attempt to trick me,
you will fail, and she will die.  Bring whomever you wish; I will
want many witnesses to this."

     Ranma nodded slowly.  "Yes."

     Cologne looked at him, cold old eyes in that young,
beautiful face.  "One more thing.  My great-grandaughter knows
nothing of either what I do or even of this branch of our laws.
Whatever harm you may think to do to her in my place, know that I
will do unto your mother twice that.  And if you think to bargain
her life for your mother's, know this.  If she dies, I will visit
such vengeance upon you as you have never seen before.  I will
kill your parents, I will kill your friends, I will kill those
women who seek your love.  I will kill and I will not stop
killing until all you know is dead, and then I will leave you
alive to know what you have brought about."

     "I wouldn't hurt Shampoo," Ranma said.  "This ain't her
style.  I didn't think it was yours either."

     Cologne looked at him and laughed sardonically.  "After
you've lived as long as I have, son-in-law, you'll realize that
you often have to change your style if you're to do what must be
done."

     Cologne stepped forward, still gripping his mother and
holding the weapon to her face.  "We are leaving now.  If you try
to follow us, she will die.  And I will know if you follow me."

     "Mom," Ranma said.  "Mom, I'm sorry, I should have..."

     He squeezed his eyes shut against hot tears.  "Mom, I love
you."

     "I love you, Ranma," his mother said in a weak voice, as the
two of them passed by.  They were the first words she'd spoken
since this nightmare had begun only a few minutes ago.

     Cologne paused at shattered frame of the door and looked
down at Kasumi.  "A pressure point.  The blood is dye.  Your
father's paralysis will fade in a few hours, Ranma.  Your father,
Akane, is simply unconscious."

     She pressed two fingers into his mother's neck, and his
mother slumped unconscious in her grip as if her bones had turned
to jelly.  "Tomorrow before sunset.  Do you understand,
son-in-law?"

     Ranma realized he had his arm around Akane, and that she was
sobbing against his shirt.  "I understand."

     Then Cologne stepped out the door, and he saw the forms of
the two of them blur and vanish from sight.  If he concentrated,
he could just see them walking away out of the gate in the large
stone wall for a second before they vanished again from view.

**********

     Kima strained to follow the flickering black shape ahead of
her.  She had no idea how the raven was moving so fast; Shiso's
wings didn't even seem to flap quickly enough to keep him aloft,
and yet she was barely keeping up with him.

     One second she seemed to be right behind the bird; in the
next, it was as if he were a hundred feet ahead.  Occasionally his
wings seemed to flap in reverse, and he would actually be behind
her for a moment before pulling ahead again.

     It was extremely disconcerting, and with having to fly this
high to avoid being seen, rather nauseating.  The Japanese
countryside rushed by below in a dizzying swirl of green and
brown, with the occasional town or village to break the monotony.
She glanced nervously at the sky, wary as always when flying of
rain; this high up, a small shower would mean certain death.  The
clouds seemed huge this high up, thick grey streamers laden with
moisture.  There was the scent in the air of a storm brewing.

     The air rushed past her face, ruffled her hair and stung her
eyes slightly.  She had on her standard flying uniform; the white
one-piece suit left her legs and arms bare and bore only the
minimum decoration required for a woman of her station.  Her
sword was strapped to her hip, bumping occassionally against her
leg as she shifted her direction of flight slightly.

     Up ahead, Shiso suddenly tucked his wings and plunged
downwards, a black arrow aimed at the ground.  She bent at the
waist in the air, stretching out legs and arms to cut wind
resistance, and dived after him, folding her wings behind her as
she did.

     The ground fell towards her, a rocky, hilly area filled with
a few scattered forests.  At the base of the largest hill, almost
a small mountain, a town could be seen.

     The wind screamed by her in a sharp caress as the earth
approached closer.  At this speed, her vision was blurring and
time seemed to slow down.

     White wings unfolded, fanned out to the air in a sweep of
feathered grace, and she shot upright for a moment as her fall
stopped, swooping back up for a few dozen feet before her
momentum slowed and she drifted down towards the ground like a
leaf, booted feet touching down lightly on the rocky landscape.
Shiso called to her from a tree in his racuous, croaking voice.
She turned and began to walk towards him, carefully patting her
hair back into place with one hand.

     "This is the place?" she asked, looking around at the area.
There was a single tall tree growing in the centre of this rocky
plain, with a forest off to one side.  Shiso was perched on one
of the tree's outstretching branches, carefully grooming his
black feathers with his beak.  He looked up at her and nodded.
He seemed like an unusually intelligent bird, even for one of the
ones that inhabited Phoenix Mountain.  Those birds who lived
amongst the people served as messengers and spies for the
mountain in return for their life there.  Shiso apparently
belonged to Samofere, as much as an independent bird such as a
raven could belong to anyone.

     Kima leaned back against tree and crossed her arms over her
chest.  The bark was rough against her wings.  "I guess we'd best
get hidden in the forest."

     "Good idea," the bird croaked.

     Kima looked back at him.  "Didn't know you could talk."

     "Never asked," Shiso said, hopping down from the branch to
stand on the ground beside her.  "Know plan?"

     Kima nodded, a trace of a frown on her features.  "I do not
like it."

     "Don't have to," Shiso.  "Just to follow it."

     Kima nodded again.  "I know.  I..." she said, before
trailing off into silence for a few moments, standing there
against the tree with the raven perched on an outstretched branch
above her head.

     "Let's go," she said abruptly, pushing herself off from
leaning against the tree.  "We'll find a cave or something to
wait in."

     Shiso flapped off the ground and flew lazily ahead of her as
she walked.  "You ready do this?" he called back to her.

     "I should hope so," Kima said slowly with a sigh.  "As ready
as I can hope to be."

     "Child of Phoenix Mountain," someone said, and it took her a
moment to realize that it was still Shiso speaking, because there
was something in the voice that had not been there before.  The
voice of the bird before had been that of a bird that had learned
the rudiments of human speech, with a croaking accent and a harsh
rasp to it, and the words strung together in the wrong ways.

     This voice was very different indeed.  "Do you know why you
do this thing?"

     Kima paused in her walking and closed her eyes for a moment;
they had entered the forest now, and the ground beneath her feet
was thin soil rather than the bare rock of before, and the few
hardy but straggly trees blocked out some of the sun and dappled
shadows on the earth.  "Why?"

     "Yes, why?" the raven asked, and his voice was old and wise.

     She opened her eyes, and was speechless for a moment.  Shiso
hovered before her, wings spread out to the sides and not moving,
though he still hung in mid-air before her.  Her eyes traced the
fluid lines of his beak, until they met his eyes, and saw that
they were like dark, liquid portals into oceans deeper than any
on the earth.

     "Why?"

     "Because I do not want my people to die," Kima heard herself
whisper from very far away.  "Because my people are dying, and
because I have seen the true secret heart of Jusenkyou, and I
have seen the secret heart of myself, and I know that he is our
only hope."

     The raven was before her like an ebon icon, and his eyes
were as old as the first night of the world.  "He shall bring
rain to the deserts, and he shall bring fire to the people.  He
will fight, as he has done before, as he will do again, as he has
always done, and all who have known the touch of the waters shall
fight beside him, for to the valley of the waters shall come the
dark, and only he shall be able to stand against it in the end."

     "I know," she heard herself say.

     Then everything snapped back to normal, and for a moment
there was a blurring in front of her eyes as if she was moving
incredibly quickly, and then all was as it had been, and Shiso
was perched a few feet ahead of her on the branch of the tree.

     "What..."

     "Come, hurry," the bird croaked.  Kima shook her head to
clear it, and followed after him a moment later as his dark wings
carried him flapping through the spaces between trees.

**********

     Kneeling by his paralyzed father on the floor of the dining
room, Ranma glanced across to Akane.  She was adjusting the
position of the pillow under her father's head, an unreadable
expression on her face.  Soun was unconscious, and had a lump on
his forehead the size of a small egg.  Kasumi wasn't awake
either, but careful examination had shown Cologne's words to be
true; she was only asleep, and what had looked like blood had
turned out to be a thick red paste that smiled slightly of fruit.

     "Well," Akane said, seeing him glance at her.  "What now?"

     "We wait for Dr. Tofu to show up," Ranma said.  "And then we
go to the Nekohanten."

     "What?"

     "We find out if Shampoo knows anything about this."

     "Cologne said-"

     "Cologne's gone crazy, or that's not Cologne," Ranma said.
"Either one, we can't trust what she says."

     "But she said if you hurt Shampoo..."

     "I'm not gonna hurt Shampoo," Ranma said in a controlled
voice.  "I just wanna talk to her."

     "Do you think Cologne would really hurt your mother?"

     Ranma sighed.  "I don't want to think she would.  But we
don't know what she's capable of in the state she's in.  Hell, we
don't even know if that's really her... Last I remember, Cologne
was a wrinked little thing that not even Happosai woulda
touched..."

     "You're going to fight her, aren't you?"

     "I gotta," Ranma said.  "You were right, Akane.  She's
holding all the cards here."

     "Ranma, you saw her move.  Or maybe you did.  I didn't.
Ranma, you couldn't beat her when she was old, what makes you
think you can beat her when she's young?"

     "Whether I can beat her or not doesn't matter," Ranma said
wearily.  "What matters is that she has my mother and she's
crazy, and if I don't fight her my mother is going to die."

     Akane slowly nodded and closed her eyes.  "If you lose, will
you..."

     "If I lose, I'll be dead," Ranma said.  "Because as long as
there's breath left in my body, I'm gonna be fighting her."

     "NO!" Akane said, and there were tears in her eyes.  "Don't
you dare!  If... if... if it comes down to it, I want you to
surrender to her.  Marry Shampoo, go to China, whatever you want,
but don't you dare... don't you dare..."

     She was across the room before he could have any response,
and her arms were around his waist and she was crying on his
shoulder, as she had this morning, when they both had said they
wanted to keep the engagement, and this horror had been very,
very far away.  He put his arms around her and held her tightly
to him, for despair was upon him like a weight, and he needed to
cling to something.

     They stayed that way for a long time, and finally Akane
whispered words that he barely heard.  "Don't you dare die on me,
you jerk, or I'll never forgive you."

     "I'm not gonna die on you, Akane," Ranma said, words
fighting past the lump in his throat.  "I promise."

     Her head came off his shoulder, leaving his shirt wet with
tears, and she held him even tighter as if she would not ever let
him go, and pressed her cheek to his, mingling their tears
together into one stream.  "I know."

     "What happened?" someone said.  The two broke apart,
blushing furiously and trying to look away from each other and
Dr. Tofu at the same time.

     "Kasumi," the older man said in a shocked voice, kneeling
down beside the still girl on the floor.  "Who..."

     "Cologne," Ranma said tightly.

     "Shampoo's great-grandmother?" Tofu said in a numb voice,
carefully holding his slightly trembling fingers to Kasumi's
neck.

     "Yeah," Ranma said.

     "Why?" Tofu said.

     "I wish I knew," Ranma said wearily, rising up from the
floor.  "Doc, can you take care of them?  Me an' Akane gotta go
to the Nekohanten."

     "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Tofu said as he pressed a
point on Kasumi's neck.  His words were calm, but his face was
tight.

     "No, I'm not," Ranma said.

     "Maybe you should wait until I can-" Tofu began.

     Ranma cut him off.  "There's no time."

     "What about Ukyou?" Akane said.  "I'm sure she'd come with
us."

     Ranma nodded reluctantly.  "Yeah.  Maybe she would.  I wish
we could find Ryoga..."

     "Maybe we will," Akane said with strained hopefulness.
"He's got a way of showing up when we really need him."

     Ranma nodded and weakly smiled.  "Okay.  Let's go to
Ukyou's, then hit the Nekohanten."

     "Good luck," Tofu said softly.

     The two of them walked out, through the remains of the
shattered front door, which seemed to be in better shape than a
lot of other things today.

**********

     Ryoga sighed and rested his chin in the palms of his hands,
his elbows on the wooden counter bordering the sizzling grill of
Ukyou's restaurant.  His backpack lay against the stool next to
him.  The smell of okonomiyaki was in the air, and it was making
him feel slightly nauseous in the state he was in.

     "You haven't touched your food, Ryoga," Ukyou said gently
from where she stood across from him, carefully working on the
preparation of an okonomiyaki.

     Ryoga glanced down at the food on his plate, with no more
than two bites taken out of it.  "I'm sorry, Ukyou.  It's really
good, it's just I'm not..."

     He shook his head.  "Nothing."

     He carefully picked up his knife and fork, sawed off a piece
of okonomiyaki and popped it into his mouth with a weak grin.  It
tasted like sawdust.

     "What's wrong?" Ukyou said.  "You still feeling down?"

     "Aren't you?" Ryoga said quietly.  "How can you be so..."

     "What's the point of moping around?" Ukyou said with false
cheer.  "Might as well make the best of it."

     Her hand trembled, and the okonomiyaki on the end of the
spatula slid off and folded over slightly, already beginning to
scorch.  "Oops."

     She flipped it into the garbage in one smooth motion, and
then yelped as the side of her hand hit the grill.  The spatula
fell from her fingers and clattered on the floor.

     "Are you alright?" Ryoga said, rising up slightly from his
stool.

     "I'll get the first-aid kit," a soft voice said from behind
Ryoga.  He glanced back to see a pretty girl in a kimono, her
hair tied up into a high ponytail.  He started slightly; he
hadn't even heard her approach.

     "It's okay, Konatsu," Ukyou said, putting her hand to her
mouth and sucking on the small red mark.  "It's nothing."

     "Are you sure, Ukyou?" Konatsu said quietly.  "It doesn't
hurt, does it?"

     "I'm fine," Ukyou said.  "Can you go see what our soba
noodle stocks are like?"

     "Of course," Konatsu said, backing silently away.  Ryoga
watched her go for a moment, then turned back to Ukyou.

     "Who's that?"

     "My... waitress," Ukyou said after a moment, a strange smile
on her face.

     "I didn't know you had a waitress," Ryoga said.

     "He started working for me a little while ago.  A few weeks
before you guys went to China," Ukyou said.

     Ryoga blinked.  "Uhh... did you say..."

     "Yeah, he," Ukyou said with a nod.

     "Is he like... Ranma?" Ryoga said.

     Ukyou shook her head.  "No... he's just... that's the way he
is."

     Ryoga's face twisted into a grimace.  "That's..."

     "That's who he is," Ukyou said, cutting Ryoga off.  "He's
had a hard life, and..."

     "We're a little low on soba, Ukyou," Konatsu said from a few
feet away.  As before, Ryoga hadn't even heard him approach.
Neither had Ukyou, apparently, because her face went slightly
red.

     "That's okay.  I'll get some tomorrow," Ukyou said.  "I
don't think we're going to be opening today anyway."

     Konatsu nodded and glided away into the small kitchen of the
restaurant, out of their view.

     "Martial artist, huh?" Ryoga said after a moment.

     Ukyou blinked.  "How can you tell?"

     "The way he moves," Ryoga said.  "Is he good?"

     Ukyou nodded.  "Very."

     "That's what I thought," Ryoga said.  "You don't move that
quietly without some kind of training."

     He realized he'd eaten all of his okonomiyaki, and it had
tasted good.  He smiled slightly at Ukyou.  "Thanks for the
food."

     "You feelin' a little better, sugar?" Ukyou asked.

     He nodded, and half-closed his eyes.  "Just a little."

     The door to the restaurant slid open, cutting off their
conversation.

     "I'm sorry, we're..." Ukyou began, but the words died in her
throat when Ranma and Akane stepped through the door.

     "How dare you come in here?" she snapped, coming out from
behind the counter and grabbing her big spatula where it hung on
the wall.  "You think you can waltz right into my restaurant as
if nothing's happened?  Well, you've got another..."

     "Ucchan, please," Ranma said wearily.  His face was tired.
"We need to talk to you and Ryoga."

     "I think we did all the talking we needed to do," Ukyou said
in a tight voice.  "Why don't you get out?"

     Ryoga put his hand on her elbow.  "Ukyou, let him talk."

     Ranma gave a grateful look to Ryoga.  "Thanks, man."

     Akane looked at Ryoga and Ukyou.  "Whatever happened this
afternoon... please, just hear us out.  This is important."

     "Alright," Ukyou said.  Her grip on her spatula relaxed
slightly.  "Talk."

     Ranma and Akane stood nervously, not saying anything.  They
looked out of breath, as if they'd run all the way here.

     Ukyou sighed, and consciously forced herself to relax.  "Sit
down and tell us what's going on?"

     After a moment's hesitation, the two did, taking seats at
the counter, with Akane sitting between Ryoga and Ranma.  Ukyou
went back behind the counter and turned off the grill, still
keeping her spatula held loosely in one hand.

     "Cologne's got my mother," Ranma said, closing his eyes and
gulping.  "I have to fight her before the sun sets tomorrow, or
she says she's going to kill her."

     "What?" Ukyou said disbelievingly.  "Your mother..."

     "We think it's Cologne," Akane said.  "She said she was, but
she looks... different.  Much, much younger.  A little older than
us, maybe.  And..."

     "She's crazy, I think," Ranma said, taking over from Akane.
"Whether this is Cologne or not, she's crazy.  And my mother's in
a lot of danger."

     "How did this happen?" Ryoga asked quietly.

     Ranma explained quickly, having to stop occasionally to take
long, shuddering breaths.  When he was finished, Ryoga stood up
and clenched his fist.

     "I'm with you," he growled.  "It's our duty to help your
mother, Ranma.  What do you want us to do?"

     Ukyou nodded in agreement.  "We'll both do whatever we can
to help."

     Ranma smiled with relief.  "Thank you.  We'll... first of
all we'll go to the Nekohanten.  I wanna talk to Shampoo and
Mousse."

     "That Shampoo..." Ukyou snarled, gripping the handle of her
weapon.  "She..."

     "Cologne said she didn't have anything to do with it," Ranma
said.  "And until I know exactly what she knows, she's our
friend, NOT our enemy.  Everybody got that?"

     There was slow agreement among them.  "And after we talk to
them?" Ukyou said finally.

     Ranma sighed.  "I dunno.  Guess we'll just wait and see.
But the way things are now, it looks like I'm gonna have to fight
her."

     Ryoga's face tightened.  "Ranma, that old woman..."

     "I know," Ranma said.  "Dammit, I know.  I know she's got a
century of experience over me, and she's better than ever now
that she's got her youth back.  But what else can I do?  She's
got my..."

     He sucked in a deep breath.  "She's got my mother, Ryoga."

     "I'm sorry, Ranma," Ryoga said.  "I really am."

     "Thanks, buddy," Ranma said.

     "Do you want me to watch the restaurant or come with you?"
Konatsu said softly to Ukyou, having appeared behind her a few
seconds ago.

     "You watch the place.  We'll come back after we go to the
Nekohanten," Ukyou said, grabbing up her bandolier of spatulas
from where it lay under the counter and strapping it on.

     "I guess we'd better get going," Akane said.  She reached
out and touched the back of Ranma's hand.  "Come on, Ranma."

     Nodding his head, Ranma stood up from the stool and bowed
his head.  "Ucchan... Ryoga... thank you."

     "It is nothing," Ryoga said softly.  The four of them
stepped out the door of the restaurant into the streets, and
began to make their way towards the Nekohanten.

-Continued in [Ranma][Fanfic] Waters Under Earth - Chapter 4 (3/3)



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