Well, after receiving numerous replies to part one I figured I'd better
do this fic or face the consequences. As in: One of these days I'll
start one too many new fics, cry wolf so to speak, and never get a reply
again.
Note: Genma died of perfectly natural circumstances... ie. brain
haemorrhage.
Note 2: A title has been chosen. Part One will actually be revised in
the future to fit this title even more than it does.
PM Productions Presents
A Phillip Masters Fanfic
An Older Woman
Chapter 2
After the discussion with Soun was over, everyone involved
scattered to the winds, except Ranma. He was left standing in the front
hallway alone. After staring at the retreating back of Kasumi, who
seemed rather disconnected, he simply stared at his feet while scuffing
the floor with his toe.
"Are you just going to stand there all day?"
He looked up to see the middle sister, Nabiki staring at him from
the end of the hallway. "I don't have anywhere to go." he admitted.
"How about home?" she asked, as if talking to a four year old.
Ranma blinked. "Home?" He hadn't been home in over a decade. The
memories of his mother were faint and scattered. A flash of a kimono
here, the smell of fresh cherry blossoms there. "I don't know where
home is."
Nabiki stared at him for a moment, as if trying to guage him.
"Alright. I suppose we'll have to ask daddy where your house is.
Follow me."
She walked off and Ranma followed. They passed down the hall into
a dining area. Nabiki slid the backdoor aside and stepped out. He
looked around the yard and was impressed. Someone had gone through a
lot of trouble to keep it looking very traditional and quaint. The dojo
stood before them, looking strong and proud. He found himself amazed
that it was actually to be his someday.
Nabiki slid the door of the dojo open a crack and peered inside.
"Father, can Ranma and I come in?"
Soun turned to see his daughter staring in the room, flanked by
Ranma. He casually wiped the tears from his face and stood up, placing
the picture of Genma he had brought out on the floor in front of the
dojo shrine. "Yes, come in."
Nabiki nodded and opened the door, waving Ranma to follow as she
stepped in. "Daddy, Ranma needs to know where his house is."
Ranma, for his part, was staring at the picture sitting on the
floor next to Soun. His father was in it, looking proud and strong, in
a way he himself couldn't remember ever seeing him. A small wrenching
pulled at his chest. He shook it off. That man had made his life a
living hell! He had ripped him from his mother and proceeded to show
him exactly what living in pain felt like. Everything from beating him,
starving him, even taking him away from all that was dear to him on a
number of occasions.
"Ranma!" Nabiki yelled.
He startled, knocked out of his thoughts. "Huh?"
"Daddy says you don't live all that far from here. About a half
hour away." Nabiki said in a much calmer tone.
He nodded and turned toward the door. Nabiki followed shortly.
Then, Soun spoke up, "Ranma, I would like to speak with you alone."
Ranma turned and looked at the older man. He heard the door shut
behind him as Nabiki exited.
Soun looked at Ranma for a second, then began, "Son, I noticed you
staring at your father a moment ago. I could see a mixture of emotions
in your eyes."
Ranma turned his gaze back on the picture and nodded. He wasn't
particularly good at revealing his feelings, but he felt he needed to
talk to someone. "I... I hated him."
"What?"
"He always hurt me!" Ranma screamed. He glared at Soun, who
stepped back a pace. "Do you know what it's like being beaten everyday?
Played with! Treated like an object?!"
Soun nodded solemnly. "Yes... yes I do." He sighed and put his
face in his hand. "Oh, Genma, why? Why did you have to..." He broke
of and looked up at Ranma again. "I'm sorry, Ranma, I don't pretend to
take any blame from you father for what you went through, but there is a
reason for his actions."
Ranma just looked at him.
"It was our master." Soun explained, "He treated us much the way
you say your father treated you... horribly. Even more so at times by
the sound of it. Did your father ever burn you? Or make you steal
women's undergarments? It may sound amusing, but believe me it was not.
We experienced hell for the Art, and I suppose Genma just assumed that
was the way it had to be done."
Ranma continued to look at him for a few moments, then turned
around. "I have to get home... mother is waiting." He then walked out
the door.
Soun stared at the closed door for a while, then returned to a
kneeling position in front of Genma's picture. As he contemplated his
friend's smiling face tears welled up in his eyes once again.
"Saotome... what happened to us?"
------------------------------
As Ranma followed Nabiki down the unfamiliar street, he tried
initiating small talk. "Where do you go to school?" he asked her back.
She stopped and turned to him. She did not seem happy. "Look,
Ranma, I am doing this to get you away from my house. Don't think I am
your friend, or ever want to be your friend. This "engagement" to
Kasumi will not last, do you understand me?"
Ranma felt hurt. He had never truly felt hurt by any other person
beside his father. "Why?"
Nabiki looked incredulous, "What do you mean, 'why'?"
"Why are you treating me like it's my fault? My father just died,
and I got this stupid cur..." He paused with a grimace, then continued,
"I just came to the only place I knew... the place my father had talked
about during our travels... the Tendou Dojo."
Nabiki glared at him, then her features softened slightly. "Sorry.
I'm just upset. I love my older sister very much, and I will not see
her hurt."
Ranma nodded, "I understand that. But, you people are the only
people I know here... what about when I have to start school? That's
why I asked about you." He smiled a bit and added, "Hey, when I'm at
school I'm not around your sister."
Nabiki couldn't help but let a grin break through. "True." She
shook her head, "Geez, look at me. I'm getting to like you."
Ranma smirked, "Want to be my fiancee?"
Nabiki suddenly looked at him in shock. Noticing the smirk he wore
she let out a small burst of laughter. "That's not funny!" she retorted
as the laughter increased.
Ranma joined in, enjoying the sound of her laugh. It was soft and
melodious. He could remember one like it, but he couldn't remember
where it came from. He did know that it had been far too long in
repeating and he reveled in the feeling.
After a few minutes they calmed themselved and Nabiki waved a hand.
"Come on, let's get you home."
-------------------------------------
Nodoka was dusting off a lamp when a knock sounded from the front
door. She wondered if it was Kim returning the measuring cup she had
borrowed yesterday. If it was she needed to borrow a necklace from her
for an interview she had the next day.
She opened the front door and looked at the young man and woman
standing on her front door step. The woman was pretty, with chestnut
brown hair cut short in a modern style. The man...
"Ranma?" she asked, daring it to be true.
He was staring at her, as if seeing something only just remembered.
He nodded, "It's me, mother."
Nodoka instantly stepped out the front door, forgetting about her
other guest, and hugged him for all he was worth. "Oh, it's been so
long! I thought you two had been killed, or forgotten about me!" Tears
ran down her face unbidden and she clutched at the back of her sons
shirt as if it were her very life.
Ranma hugged his mother back, feeling his own eyes moisten. He
hadn't thought he would feel this way seeing someone he had all but lost
to time. However, even as she opened the door, looking curiously out,
it had all come back and squeezed his heart like a vice. "I couldn't
forget, mother." he whispered.
Nabiki stood to the side, patiently watching the scene play out
before her. She constantly checked herself to keep from breaking down
on the spot, and just barily managed. Mostly because of what she knew
was to come.
"Mother, father is dead." Ranma said, staring into the house. His
house. A place he had not seen in too long.
He felt his mother's grip tighten on his shirt. "How?" she
whispered, her voice cracking.
"I don't know."
She pulled away from him and wiped her eyes. "What do you mean?"
she asked curiously, "You weren't there? You didn't find out?"
Ranma shook his head. "I was there. It just happened... he
just... died. I can't say why." He felt helpless again, and he wasn't
getting at all used to it.
"Where is he?" Nodoka inquired after a moment of silence.
"Jusenkyo."
Her brow furrowed slighly, "Where?"
"In China... I forget the province."
"Quinghai (sp?)."
Both Ranma and his mother turned to Nabiki. "How did you know
that?" Ranma asked.
She shrugged, "We learned about it in Chinese class... the folklore
chapter. I just happened to get an A on that test."
"Oh." he replied, "So you know what it does?"
"I know it's something like a land of cursed springs..." she
paused, "something about transformation?"
Ranma nodded, "That's it." He sighed and looked back at his
mother, who seemed thoroughly confused. "I suppose you might as well
see this now, both of you."
He took off his shoes and stepped into the house. He looked around
the living room, noting a few things that tugged at his memory. After a
bit of searched he found the kitchen and filled the kettle on the stove
with water. He turned the burner on and faced his mother and Nabiki.
"Where are the glasses?" he asked his mother.
Nodoka pointed to a cabinet and Ranma pulled a large cup from it.
He filled it with cold water and took a deep breath. Letting it out
slowly he upturned the glass over his head. Instantly he felt a very
small shifting inside him. It happened so fast that it amounted to
being yanked downward about a foot.
He turned to find Nabiki, wide eyed, and holding his unconscious
mother.
He sighed again.
"Wha... What happened?" Nabiki asked, her eyes still unblinking.
"I was cursed at Jusenkyo... Spring of Drowned Girl. Amazingly
tragic story, that's my life alright." He reached over for the kettle,
and feeling it was warm enough poured its contents over his head. After
jutting upward he opened his eyes.
"Wow." he heard Nabiki comment. He looked at her again and
grinned.
"Same thing crossed my mind when it happened."
"You seem to be taking it rather well. I can tell you, if I were
turned into a boy I would *not* be happy."
Ranma shook his head. "Oh, I'm not by any means happy. However,
what am I supposed to do about it? I think maybe my father's death
dulled the shock... I may have to go into therapy or something one of
these days."
"Well," Nabiki said, "you come to school like that and I'll sign
you up myself!" The little yen sign in her head kicked her shin, but
she pushed it aside.
Ranma chuckled. "You know... what you said earlier, about getting
to like me. Well, I think I'm guilty also, of liking you back."
Nabiki felt a jolt go through her as she saw his smile. "That's
nice... um... is there someplace I can lay down your mother. She's
getting heavy."
"Sure... here, I'll do it." He took his mother from her and
carried her into the living room. He placed her on the couch and looked
down at her face.
"She's very beautiful." Nabiki commented.
Ranma nodded slowly, then he looked at Nabiki. "Perhaps you should
get home before it's late. I'd walk you, but I'm not all too sure I can
find my way back here."
"Yeah, I suppose." She walked to the door and opened it.
"Nabiki."
She turned to see the pigtailed boy smiling at her. Another jolt
went through her. She wished her heart would stop that!
"See you at school tomorrow."
"Yeah."
Then, she left.
Ranma stared at the door for a few more moments, then looked down
at his mother. She was resting peacefully, so he went upstairs to get
reaquianted with his room.
He could remember where it was and opened the door. He switched
on the light and, as he suspected, everything was just as he left it.
He winced as he looked at his walls. He couldn't believe he was
*that* into Miyazaki.
END Chapter Two
Well, I hope you liked it. I will hopefully be working on Three soon.
Please send notes of encouragement, criticism, threats, and whatnot to
this address.
Thanks for reading,
PMasters (10-9-98)
"I'm only holding back the rain. So many raindrops, so many pains. I
want to find my train someday. As seasons go past the station." - Tokyo
Babylon OVA 1
/ E-mail at: PhilMasters@webtv.net /
Web page pending use of a computer!
"...has anyone ever used something alive for a coat of arms?" - The
Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea (Mishima Yukio, 1965) /
"You see, what you call a cat, we use as armor." - Rune (El-Hazard,
1994)