Subject: [FFML][R.5]Illuminations, Chapter 18/?[Dark][Lime]
From: "Freemage ." <freemage@hotmail.com>
Date: 11/4/1998, 2:14 AM
To: ffml@fanfic.com

  DiScLaImEr:  Rumiko Takahashi and a bunch of rich corporations own all 
the characters in this fic.  My use of them in no way is meant to
undermine those claims, and suing me would be a huge waste of time.
If, for some reason, you actually think this meager tribute to RT's
genius deserves to be further distributed, you may do so, so long as
you: a) reprint this disclaimer; b) give me credit (blame?) for the
story and; c) don't actually sell it (Yeah, like that's a concern!).
And now, on with the fic.

*****************
* Illuminations *
*****************

**************************
* A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction *
**************************

***************
* By Freemage *
***************

*Author's Note:  This story draws on both the anime and the manga.

 This is a dark story, with several sexually suggestive scenes,
 although no outright Lemon scenes.  If such material offends or
 disturbs you, please consider not reading this story--Unless, of
 course, you like being offended and/or disturbed....

  Thoughts are denoted by {X}, text/Panda signs by [X].*

                       *********************
                       * Chapter Eighteen  *
                       * Pursuit & Capture *
                       *********************

   Akane sped through the night, pushing herself to new extremes
 of speed and balance as she chased the flash of red hair and
 shirt that was the only part of her fiance she could make out
 in the gloom of the streetlamps.

   {Nuh-uh.  No way.  I let you down once, not again.}  This
 litany, with slight variations, had replaced conscious thought
 several minutes prior, when she had realized she was about to
 lose sight of the redhead.

   A whiplike arc of lightning brought a brief illumination to
 the obstacle course that was Ranma's regular stomping grounds.
 Chimneys, TV antennas and power lines were cast in stark relief
 by the harsh, unforgiving light before plunging back into
 darkness.

   Even as the rolling thunder began to fade, Akane felt the
 first drops of what promised to be a bear of a storm, judging by
 the winds that had picked up over the previous half hour.  {Just
 great.  More rain.  Why does the weather around here feel the
 need to punctuate every fucking disaster?!}

   Redoubling her efforts yet again, she pressed onward over the
 Nerima rooftops and fences.

   ***********************************************************

   Soun Tendou moved with all the stealth of a mute ninja in a
 silent movie.  Without so much as the squeak of a hinge, the
 stairwell to the attic unfolded from the ceiling and settled
 noiselessly to the hallway floor.

   With the skill of long experience, he moved up the steps,
 skipping the third, which he knew to be unreliable when it came
 to silent passage.  Clutching his jar of petroleum jelly in one
 hand, he eased himself through the hole in the ceiling which he
 had come to regard as the Gates of Paradise.

   He paused, listening to the sound of the remaining female
 occupants of the house easing themselves into the furo.  Soon,
 very soon now.  As quietly as a cat's padded foot, his hand
 settled to the floor so that he could hoist himself up into the
 gloom of the unlit attic.

   *CRACK!!*  Soun howled with shock and pain as his hand was
 snared by what felt like the maw of a snapping turtle, painfully
 cutting into the knuckles of his first three fingers.

   Thrown off-balance, he tipped over backward, the lower part of
 his back striking the far edge of the attic entrance.  Momentum
 caused him to slam, back first, to the attic floor.  As he
 struck, the impact knocked the wind out of his chest even as it
 knocked the jar from his other hand.

   He retained just enough presence of mind to realize he was
 about to fall off the ledge, and not enough to even consider the
 possibility that that might be preferable to remaining where he
 was.

   With a Herculean effort, he brought his legs up from the hole
 and tucked in a roll to his right.  As he came down on his side,
 *CRACK!!* another vise closed on the fleshy part of his right
 bicep.

   He began to thrash wildly, almost unaware of the subsequent
 attacks by his unseen foes.  It seemed as if dozens of the
 beasts were seizing his garments and his flesh in their steely
 pincers.

   Finally, after an eternity of pain crammed into a few seconds'
 time, another assault scored, severing a piece off the top of
 his left ear.  Maddened beyond rational thought, the Tendou
 patriarch tumbled frantically to, and then through, the hole
 leading to the relative safety of the upstairs hall.

   He landed poorly, smashing the fold-out staircase to worthless
 kindling, and lay crumpled in a defeated heap.  As he slipped
 into unconsciousness, some dark corner of his mind realized that
 four legs approaching him were very wet, very well-formed and
 very naked.

   "Father!"

   "Tendou-san!"

   ***********************************************************

   It was a cold, driving rain, the kind that bites the flesh
 like a thousand thousand knives, each painful slice leeching the
 life and warmth out of anyone unfortunate to be caught in it.

   The chill night wind ripped at the back of Akane's throat as
 she gulped it down, not so much breathing as devouring the air,
 and yet still she pressed on.

   Sometimes she would close to within mere feet of Ranma, while
 other times she fell back nearly a full city block, but she
 never once lost sight of the fiery red ponytail which drew her
 on, a lighthouse guiding a ship to a safe port during a tempest.

   Suddenly, she did lose sight of her quarry, as the other girl,
 only half a block ahead, whipped around the corner of a
 deserted-looking building without even slowing her breakneck
 pace.

   Fear drew out strength she didn't even know was within her:
 fear that if she failed to catch up, immediately, she would
 never see Ranma again; strength to run with a speed that made
 her previous efforts seem feeble by comparison.

   She dashed around the corner of the building, ready to upturn
 the city if that's what it took.

   It wasn't necessary.

   Ranma was there.

   ***********************************************************

   Pain greeted him as he awoke.  A huge throbbing pain from his
 right hand.  A searing heat from his left ear.  A sharp,
 stabbing pain from the back of his skull.  Dull aches from
 innumerable locations across his entire body.

   Slowly, Soun Tendou forced his eyes open, wincing at the
 sharpness of the rays of light that cut into his eyes like a
 thousand knives.

   The two most beautiful faces he had ever seen hovered over
 him, guardian angels who had obviously been caring for him while
 he slept.  A pity that they had apparently had time to get
 dressed.

   "Father?"  The voice had a subtle, musical quality that
 stirred both the soul and, truth be told, the loins.  "Are you
 all right?  I've made you some tea.  I'm so very sorry."

   "Now, now, Dear, it wasn't your fault."  A second voice;
 gentle, yet firm; sweet, yet substantial; soothing, yet erotic.
 "You were just trying to help."

   "Yes, but if I hadn't--"

   The second voice, interrupting.  "No.  I won't hear of it. 
 Far too much has gone on today for you to be heaping more
 anxiety upon yourself."

   Nodoka turned her attention to the fallen man.  "You see,
 Kasumi explained to me while you were... resting."

   {Ah, Saotome.  I understand now why you married this woman. 
 Her understanding, and compassion, allowing me to keep my pride
 undamaged....  I shall watch over her, as I know you would wish,
 were you still here to say so.}  The thoughts flashed through
 his mind even as he spoke.  "Whatever do you mean, Nodoka-chan?"

   Shifting, as though this sudden familiarity were
 uncomfortable, the matriarch of the recently reduced Saotome
 clan still managed a smile.  "Well, it seems Kasumi has been
 hearing noises in the attic of late, and was concerned it might
 be rats.  So, she took the precaution of laying out a series of
 traps to catch the beasts.  Unfortunately, the whole affair with
 that blasted Panda completely overshadowed any thought of
 informing the rest of us about the arrangement.  Regrettable,
 given the result, but not incomprehensible."

   Soun turned his head to meet his eldest daughter's gaze.  As
 he did so, he realized he had been moved while unconscious to
 his own room.  Mustering his best 'Stern Father' expression, he
 asked her, "Kasumi, is this true?"

   Blushing, she nodded mutely, the faintest hint of a tear
 glistening from her left eye.  Seeing that expression, he could
 no longer maintain the ruse.

   Both women sat back, startled expressions dominating their
 features as Soun laughed aloud.  "Is that all?  Please, Kasumi
 my dear, set it aside.  Think nothing of it.  Honestly, the way
 you were carrying on, I thought you might have gone on an
 axe-murdering spree."

   Now both women joined in with his laughter, although Kasumi
 still had a slight blush giving her cheeks a subtle color.

   "Now that that's settled, I shall partake of a bath myself,
 and clean some of these cuts a bit more."  Soun sat up, stood,
 and fell in a painful-looking heap.

   "Oh, no!"  He wasn't sure which of his companions had uttered
 that exclamation, but he agreed wholeheartedly.

   With a hiss, he explained, "My ankle seems to have twisted
 somewhat in the fall.  Do you two mind helping me to the bath? 
 I hate to impose...."

   Reaching over and moving herself into position to support most
 of the weight on his left side, Nodoka interrupted.  "Nonsense.
 It is no imposition at all.  Really, you men."

   Kasumi simply smiled and took her father's other arm, and the
 trio moved somewhat unevenly down the hall to the bathroom.

   ***********************************************************

   "So."

   "Uh... So."

   "Well?"

   "Well... what?"

   "What.  Do.  You.  Want?"

   Akane frowned.  This conversation was going nothing like she
 had been hoping.  Onna-Ranma was being way too cold for her to
 feel comfortable.  The position the redhead had taken, standing
 on a fence with a streetlight just behind her head, so that she
 seemed like some sort of living shadow, wasn't helping matters.
 {It's almost like she planned that pose....}  Akane dismissed
 the thought as unnecessarily paranoid.

   "I want to talk."

   "So talk."

   Akane swallowed, counting to five in her head before
 responding.  "No.  I want _you_ to talk.  I want to listen. 
 You... you've had a horrible shock.  You need to talk to
 somebody."

   The shadowed figure, so familiar and yet so alien, emitted a
 derisive snort.  "Will wonders never cease?  First my worthless
 fleabag of a father decides to find his honor, and now my
 fiancee is showing signs of actual empathy.  Now all's we need
 is for your father to grow a spine, Kasumi a brain and Nabiki a
 heart, and whole house will actually qualify as members of the
 human race.  Even if my mother is stuck in the feudal era."

   Akane reeled under the litany of anger, as if Ranma's words
 struck her with greater impact because she was below the other
 girl.  "Why are you doing this?" she asked, tearfully.

   "Maybe because I'm tired of it all.  Because I'm tired of
 fiancees, challenge matches and neurotic families.  Or maybe
 because I'm tired of watching the body count around this place
 rack up, wondering when it'll be--when it'll be me that gets
 it."

   "So.  You're just going to leave us here?"

   "You got it.  Whatever's going on, it probably won't be
 striking two different places at the same time.  My best bet is
 to get as far away as possible."

   "I--I don't believe this!  You'll just get out and leave me
 and my family... and--and head for the horizon?  What about your
 mother?  What kind of son leaves his--?"  A sharp, barking
 laughter ended her retort.

   "Son?!  What son?  Take a look, Akane!"  The redhead turned so
 her profile was highlighted by the streetlight.  "I don't see
 any sons here!  As long as I've got these...." She paused, 
 running her hands over her cursed form's ample curves to
 accentuate her point.  "... I'm not anyone's son!  Do I look
 like much of a 'son' to you?"

   Finally, the familiar rage, stung into wakefulness by her
 fiance's hateful words, took hold.  "No.  No, I guess I don't. 
 And I don't think I'd see one even if you had the 'manliest'
 body on Earth."  Tears streaming down her cheeks to mix with the
 rain water, she fled into the darkness.

   Onna-Ranma stared after the fleeing form until the other girl
 was lost to sight.  "Just keep telling yourself:  It had to be
 done."  Turning to the abandoned building with a sigh, she
 placed her hands on her hips.  "Now down to business."

   ***********************************************************

   "Here we are, Father," Kasumi said cheerfully, if somewhat
 unnecessarily.

   "Thank you.  Thank you both."  Carefully he allowed himself to
 be lowered to the stool, still in his robes.

   "We'll be downstairs, making some more tea.  Let us know when
 you are finished, and we shall assist you in returning to your
 bedroom, Tendou-san."

   "Again, thank you."

   As the two women reached the door to the outer room of the
 bath, they heard a sharp intake of breath that bespoke of
 vicious agony.

   "Oh, Father, are you all right?" his eldest daughter asked
 worriedly, as she turned to check on him again.

   He was clutching his arm to his side, his face obviously
 struggling to keep a firm facade of control.  He said, in
 short gasps, "It would seem... that my... leg is not... the only
 thing... I have sprained...."

   Nodoka studied the situation for a moment, then spoke.  "Well,
 I guess it's up to one of us.  Kasumi, do you want to help him
 bathe, or do you trust me to be in here alone with your father?"
 The last was said with a twinkle of humour that the younger
 woman completely missed.   

   "Oh!  I'm sure you would never do anything inappropriate,
 Auntie Saotome.  Still, it might not look totally proper.... 
 Perhaps it would be best if I handled him, and you took care of
 the tea."  Soun was uncertain if it was real or just wishful
 thinking, but he thought he detected a look of disappointment in
 the sultry depths of Nodoka's eyes.

   "Yes, I suppose that would be best."  The elder woman nodded
 and turned to leave.  "Be sure to call if you need any help."

   "I will, Auntie," replied Kasumi, before turning her full
 attention to her father.  "Now, how should we do this...."  Her
 voice trailed off for a moment as she stepped behind her father,
 only to be replaced by the whisper of cloth on skin.

   "Kasumi?  What are you doing?"

   "Well, Father, I can hardly wash your injuries in my
 bathrobe--it would get soaking wet.  Besides," she added with
 obvious humor, "it's not like you haven't seen it all before."  

   Her words had an electric effect on Soun.  Panic at being
 discovered warred with relief at the secret being out and done
 with.  Keeping his voice calm with an iron will, he started to
 phrase his next question.  "You... you mean...."

   "Well, after all," Kasumi interrupted, "you did bathe all of
 us when we were growing up, now didn't you?"

   If Soun didn't think it would have killed him with agony, he
 would have facefaulted.

   ***********************************************************

   A forlorn P-Chan wandered the empty halls of his current
 maze-like prison in confusion and frustration.  He had, at
 first, managed to keep Akane barely in sight, even as she
 pursued her overwhelmed fiancee.

   Then the rains had come.  It had taken no time at all for
 P-Chan, with his short legs, to fall hopelessly behind his
 peers.  And with the course the trio had been following around
 the city, he probably would have been lost even with a normal
 sense of direction.

   So he wandered, lost, confused and frustrated, until he
 managed to slip into an open door and out of the rain.  Now he
 wandered the halls, which always seemed so cavernous in this
 form, trying to find some hot water and slip out unnoticed.

   "Well, there you are!  I was wondering about where you had
 gotten to!"  Ryouga froze at the familiar tones.  It was only
 with great trepidation that he managed to look over his
 shoulder.

   And into the eyes of Nodoka Saotome.

   Panic flooded the piglet, locking his muscles with a paralytic
 fear.  Unable to move, he was helplessly lifted up the mother of
 his greatest rival.

   "I think you should come with me.  We've had enough pets lost
 in this household for one day.  You can sleep with me tonight."

   The mental picture of Ranma's reaction to walking in on _that_
 was enough to break P-Chan's paralysis.  He began squirming,
 desperate to get away, and so ensured his doom.  For his
 struggles, and Nodoka's efforts to contain them, caused her
 bathrobe to slip open, enough to offer a view that Soun had been
 attempting to acquire for days.

   Nodoka carried the fainted piglet back to her room, and lay
 down to sleep.

   ***********************************************************

                          End Chapter 18

Author's Notes:

Gah!  It just gets sicker and sicker, don't it?  It's interesting to see 
how far I can go without actually crossing the line set up by the 
GeoCities regs, you know?

Much of the next chapter is already mapped out, so it should follow in 
less time than it took to bring out this one (I hope).

As always, C&C, MSTs, even some flames fervently requested, either to 
the list or directly to me.  (Okay, you can send it to Hoboken, but it 
won't do a whole lotta good, there.)

--Freemage  


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