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 Shogakukan in Japan and brought over to North
America by Viz Communications.

Commentary of all sorts, public or private, welcomed.

Homepage at:  http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Bay/9758

Chapter 31 : Totentanz (1 of 4)

     Akane and Ryoga carefully made their way through the slowly
dispersing crowd of Joketsuzoku that ringed the platform.  The 
Phoenix had been taken away now, but, not being fluent in 
Chinese, neither of them were really sure what exactly had 
happened.

     Shampoo spotted them approaching through the crowd, and 
hopped down from the platform onto the trampled grass of the 
meeting field.  Behind her, the older members of the Council 
were dispersing into huddled twos and threes to quietly discuss.  
On the platform, Lang Bei and Fang Shi locked eyes for a moment,
then turned away and went to converse with other Council members.

     "What was that all about, Shampoo?" Akane asked, frowning
slightly as the Joketsuzoku approached.

     Shampoo ran a hand through her damp hair, beading her 
fingers with water droplets.  "Talk later.  Want to get changed
first."  She flicked her eyes to Ryoga.  "Lost boy staring."

     "I was not," Ryoga muttered, going beet red and turning his
eyes away.  The golden robe Shampoo wore was soaked to the skin,
and left very little to the imagination.

     Shampoo grinned and thumped Ryoga on the shoulder.  "Okay to
look.  Just don't get any ideas."  The grin faded as quickly as
it had come, and she glanced back to the Council members.  In the
distance, a large crowd followed the captured Phoenix people back
towards the centre of the village.  "Too many people around to
talk now.  We go back to house."

     "You're the Maiden now, aren't you?" Ryoga asked quietly.
"What you told us about last night?"
     
     Shampoo nodded proudly.  "Yes.  Because of Jusenkyou.  Is
great honour."

     "Congratulations, Shampoo," Akane said.  "You must be 
really happy."

     Shampoo nodded again, but her smile this time was tinged 
with melancholy.  The remainder of the crowd pressed in around 
them now like an eager school of fish, some reaching out to 
touch Shampoo's shoulder and offer what must have been 
congratulations.  They ignored the outsiders completely.  Shampoo 
answered back in Chinese, brushed hands with some, and slowly 
began to edge away.  Akane and Ryoga followed.  So, to their mild
discomfort, did some of the crowd.

     As they made their way back towards the main village from 
the meeting field that skirted the edges, the land rose almost 
imperceptibly, and then ended in a rocky, upthrust wall that 
stretched from left to right as far as the eye could see.  
Stairs, wooden or carved from the face of the small man-high 
cliff, provided a means of ascent.  The Joketsuzoku had built the 
houses of their village on all parts of the uneven land they
occupied, from the large public buildings that rested on the flat 
central portions to the small huts that edged up to the 
mountainous slopes.

     As they entered the village proper, the villagers following
them gradually began to disperse, most waving goodbye or saying
quick farewells to Shampoo.  In the shadow of a small house, a 
group of children sat in a circle on the ground and clapped hands 
with each other, occasionally laughing as some new twist entered 
their game.

     Shampoo stopped to watch them for a moment, and Akane and
Ryoga stopped with her; the villagers who walked the streets
diverted around them, talking in Chinese and occasionally
casting an appraising glance at the outsiders.  

     Ryoga smiled slightly; Akane looked at the children, and 
then at the ground.  The silent pause was broken when a voice 
called out Akane's name, a hint of desperation in it.

     Akane turned.  "Rouge?  What's wrong?"
     
     The older girl hurried up, panting and out of breath.  "I
lost sight of you when the crowd broke up.  There was some
trouble."

     Ryoga gaped.  "What?  Where are..."
     
     Rouge's face twisted as if she'd tasted something 
unpleasant.  "That venomous, horrible, lecherous, peeping--"

     Akane blinked; there was only one person she knew of that 
Rouge would describe like that.  "Tarou?"
     
     "--monstrous, ugly, bullying--"
     
     Ryoga frowned.  "Pantyhose was here?"
     
     "--filthy, degenerate, wormlike--"
     
     Shampoo stepped forward and grabbed Rouge firmly by the
shoulders.  "What Pantyhose boy do?"

     Rouge stopped in her tirade and took a deep breath.  
"Nothing, really.  There was someone else.  An old man who I've
never seen before.  Ranma's father and Rik--" She paused, then
locked eyes with Akane.  "You could have told me who he actually
was, you know."

     Akane pushed at the dirt of the village streets with her
foot.  "I never really got around to..."

     Rouge shook her head vehemently.  "It doesn't matter right
now.  Ranma's father, Happosai and that filthy beast went to look
for him in the mountains."

     "What for?" Ryoga asked.
     
     Rouge touched one hand to her cheek and glanced away from
him.  "I'm not sure.  Happosai tried to talk to the old man after
he immobilized that filth, but... the old man hit him and ran 
away.  Happosai said they might not be back for a while."

     Akane exploded.  "That's just like him and Genma!" she
snarled, clenching her fists at her sides.  "Running off on some 
stupid little errand when we're this close..."

     Ryoga shook his head, and Akane trailed off, looking
suddenly ashamed.  "No," he said.  "You won't ever catch me
saying it to his face, but we wouldn't have gotten here without
Happosai, and he's been the one putting forth most of the ideas.
He wouldn't run off like this unless it was important." 

     Akane looked unconvinced.  

     "Besides," he continued with a weak grin, "I'm sure they'll
be back by tonight."

     "But what about Pantyhose?" Shampoo asked.  "What was he
doing here?"

     "Well, his village is around here," Akane said with a shrug.
"Happosai probably used his name as a bargaining chip."

     The Joketsuzoku nodded, and glanced around.  "This really 
not the place to discuss this.  Especially not in wet clothing.
We go back to house, yes?"

     Leaving wet footprints in the dust, Shampoo turned and     
walked away, not waiting to see if any of the others would
follow.  Akane frowned and glared at the other girl's retreating
back.

     "She does have a point," Ryoga said quietly.  There was a
pause from him.  "And all that wet clothing is really, really..."

     Akane glanced to him; against her will, one corner of her
mouth edged up in a grin.  "Really what?"

     "Distracting," Ryoga muttered, casting his eyes to the
ground.  "Really distracting."

     Unexpectedly, Rouge laughed.  "He's a sweet boy, isn't he
Akane?"

     Akane finally allowed herself a full grin.  "He is, isn't
he?"

     Ryoga scowled.  "You do realize I'm still here, don't you?"
     
     "Stupids!  You coming or not?"
     
     The voice pulled them away, and they ran to catch up with
Shampoo.  Around them, the bustle of the village went on without
interruption.
     
**********

     His hands opened the case carefully, almost reverently.  The
case itself was of a hard, dark wood, dull and unpolished but
sanded until it was smooth as silk.  The clasps were silver, 
without tarnish after all the centuries.

     The sword lay within, scabbardless, resting carefully upon a 
lining of red velvet.  There had been a scabbard, once, a 
decorated thing of black leather, gold thread and jewels.  
Impressive, but he had considered it useless ostentation, and 
discarded it as soon as he was able to do so.

     The sword itself, however, was without such needless
fanciness.  The blade was long and slender, forged from steel
that glistened almost blue in the afternoon sunlight coming
through the window of the room.  The long guards over the hilt
curved slightly upwards, and the hilt itself was the same plain
steel as the blade.

     It was over fourteen centuries old.  It looked as if it had
been forged yesterday.  Wrapping his hand about the sword's 
hilt, the Serpent pulled it forth and rose from his crouch.

     He went through a few slow motions with it.  A weapon was
hardly a necessity for him; his physical strength alone was 
enough against any foe, and that was before even consideration of
his other abilities.  But the sword held a certain nostalgia for 
him, a memory of what he had once been, before he had fully 
awakened to his purpose.  It hummed as he passed it through the 
air.  The metal glistened, so bright it seemed to leave a trail 
of sparks behind as it moved.

     A knock at the door.  He turned, dropping the sword's tip 
until it nearly touched the floor.  Silently, he waited.  If the
door opened and it was not who he expected, he would likely have
to kill them.

     "Are you there?" Fang Shi's voice asked from the other side.
No killing yet.
     
     "Come in, old one," he answered.  The door slid away, and
the shrivelled old Joketsuzoku shuffled in.  Hard, probing eyes
searched at him from under the wiry white twists of her bangs.

     She stared at him for a moment, and then, finding he would
not speak further, spoke herself.  "It is done."

     "It is?" he asked languorously.  
     
     Annoyance showed on her lined face.  "They have been taken
away.  Now what?"

     "Wait and see," he replied.  "Just do what you said you
would."

     "The Council is meeting tonight to decide what to do with
them," she protested.  "There is not enough time for--"

     "I know," he interrupted, "perfectly well what the Council
is going to do.  I have relied upon it, in fact."

     Her eyes narrowed.  "You know more of my people than I would
expect of an outsider, particularly one not even from Asia."
     
     A narrow smile creased his face.  "I get around."
     
     "Who are you?" Fang Shi asked suddenly.  There was suspicion
in the tone.  "I have never heard anything of you from the
Circle."
     
     "And how often does the Circle communicate with you?"
     
     "Not often," the matriarch admitted.  "The last time was
several years ago, when I and the others delivered certain items
to them.  But... I know what they desire.  What is it you 
desire?"

     He hid his amusement, hard though that was.  "What does the 
Circle desire, then?"

     "What all those who would call themselves Joketsuzoku 
should," Fang Shi said.  Her eyes looked away from him, as if
staring into some glorious future.  "That all the world lie under
the domain of the female race.  Inferior man--"

     He raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly.  "Such as I?"
     
     She went on as if she had not heard him.  "--will be treated
as he has treated his wives and daughters and sisters for so many
long centuries.  We shall turn things back to the way they were
before the sky-gods and their priests made women slaves."  She 
broke out of her speech, and was silent for a moment before again 
turning a suspicious gaze to him.  "And where do you fit into 
this?"

     "One of the Phoenix took something from me long ago," he
answered softly.  "I was never properly avenged upon him.  I have 
waited quite a long time for this."

     Fang Shi cupped her chin with one wrinkled hand and mused, 
"It is always helpful for a leader to have an external enemy.  It 
helps to unite the people under her."  The suspicion in her eyes 
had lessened.  Only slightly, but a little.  She seemed to notice 
the sword in his hand for the first time.  "A beautiful weapon 
you have."

     "I suppose," he answered, lifting it slightly.  "It is very
sharp and kills things quite conclusively."

     "Is this plan of the Circle's going to work?" she asked,
unable to entirely disguise her eagerness.  He analysed the
question for a moment; the plan had already been ascribed to the
Circle, not to him.  That was good, as he had wished it to be.

     "It will work," he answered finally.  "By the time the sun 
rises tomorrow, I would guess that nearly all of the Joketsuzoku 
that live will be united behind you."

**********

     Shampoo did up the last tie on her shirt and studied herself
in the mirror.  As she had the first time she'd seen her face in
a mirror after the judgement, and probably would for some time, 
she gritted her teeth as she looked at the new length of her 
hair.  It had taken a literal lifetime to grow it to its former
length; Fang Shi had undone all that in a few minutes.  One more 
thing to pay the old woman back for if she could.

     She carefully ran a brush through the still-damp strands a
few times, and then tossed it away to land on her bed.  At this
length, she grudgingly admitted to herself, it was a lot easier
to manage.  Stepping out into the hall, she took the narrow, long
stairs two at a time to where they exited at the spacious kitchen
of the house.  Her father hummed softly to himself as he 
half-crouched near the stove.  His head turned at her footsteps, 
and he nodded in greeting, a small, hesitant smile coming onto 
his face.  "<Hello, daughter.>"

     "<Father,>" she acknowledged shortly.  
     
     He straightened up and walked over to her, his head 
half-bowed.  "<I am so proud of you, Shampoo,>" he said softly.  
"<Maiden of the Council.>"  He reached out and took one of her 
hands in both of his.  "<Your mother would be proud as well.>"

     Shampoo nodded uncomfortably and slipped her hand out of
his, giving her father a small pat on the shoulder as she stepped
by him.  

     "<Your friends are out back,>" her father said offhandedly,
as he went back to paying all his attention to the stove.

     The route to the back door from here led through the living
room and down a narrow rearward hallway of the house.  No one
among the Joketsuzoku really had what could be called a back
yard.  For her family, the closest had always been the small area
at the back of the house where a porch extension had been built
long ago; in beds of earth that ran the perimeters of the porch,
her father kept a vegetable garden.

     Akane, Ryoga and Rouge sat in broad-backed wicker chairs.  
The porch faced off towards the east, providing an unobstructed 
view of the mountain slopes a hundred yards away, due to a dip in 
the uneven land that left the back of the house near a ten-foot 
drop.

     Shampoo pulled the last of the porch chairs into the rough
semi-circle the others had formed, and sat down without saying
anything.  Late afternoon, and the sun was high, but the peaked
roof of the porch left them all in shadow.  

     "The Phoenix were spies," she said after a moment.  "Fang
Shi must have figured out from what I tell her about them."     

     Akane rubbed her arm and stared at the wooden boards of the
porch.  The expression on her face was that of someone 
remembering something they didn't really want to.  "Kima said
that they used Jusenkyou to spy on humans before she..." For a
moment, silence.  "...drowned me," Akane finished at last.

     Shampoo scowled and gripped the arms of her chair with both
hands.  The old wicker creaked, as if upon the point of breaking.
"Should have killed the winged bitch when I have the chance."

     Ryoga looked at her, apparently a bit surprised by her
vehemence.  "Why?"

     "Teach her what it is to make slaves of Joketsuzoku," 
Shampoo snarled in reply.  "Capturing soul and heart not go
unpunished."

     Akane fixed Shampoo with a flat look.  "Oh?  Like, say,
trying to make someone love you by magic?  Is that wrong?"

     "Yes!" Shampoo said before she could stop herself.  The
impact of Akane's words and her own reply struck her a moment
later, and she glared at the other girl and turned her head away
to intently examine the detail on a creeping vine that had wound
its way up some of the porch railings from the garden.

     "What's going to happen to them?" Rouge asked softly.
     
     Shampoo glanced at the older girl for a moment.  "Whatever
Council decide should happen to them."

     Ryoga raised a hand and minutely adjusted the position of 
his bandanna.  "But you're a part of the Council now.  What do 
you think should happen?"

     She opened her mouth, then closed it.  "Don't know," she
admitted grudgingly, shaking her head.  

     "Putting that aside for now," Akane said, "what about
Happosai and Genma?"

     "Wait and see," Ryoga sighed, rubbing his hands together
slowly.  "If they're not back by dinner time..."

     "Ranma father not miss dinner unless he in prison or dead,"
Shampoo quipped.  "And if he in prison, he probably break out."
The joke fell absolutely flat, and even she couldn't bring 
herself to laugh.

     "So when does the Council meet tonight?" asked Ryoga, 
breaking the awkward silence.

     "Few hours after dinner," Shampoo answered.  
     
     Akane stood up from her chair, the wicker creaking 
mournfully with her motion, and went to stand by the porch 
railing.  Resting one hand on it, she stared east towards the
mountains.  "We're running out of time.  We still don't know
where Ranma is, we only have..."

     "We should talk to the Guide," Ryoga interjected.  "Before
Happosai left, he really got me thinking.  It was after Saffron
that Cologne started acting the way she did."  He stood up and
came to stand behind Akane; Shampoo watched, almost jealous, as
he laid a hand capable of crushing boulders upon Akane's shoulder
with the utmost gentleness.  "Even before that, when Kima and her
goons came, she was acting funny.  Why didn't she come to China
with us?"  A glance back caught Shampoo's eyes with his.  "Her
great-granddaughter enslaved, and she stayed behind.  Why?"

     "Maybe Cologne not care for me as much as you think she 
did," Shampoo snapped, surprised even at the bitterness in her 
own voice.

     Ryoga went on.  "The Guide knows as much as anyone we know
about Jusenkyou.  Aside from asking the Phoenix themselves, he's
probably our best bet for anything about Saffron."

     "You're right," Akane said, sidestepping so that his hand
fell away from her shoulder.  "He knew about Jusendo, about the
Kinjakan's purpose..." 
     
     "Go after dinner," Shampoo said.  "Is nearly time now.  I
have to prepare for Council meeting, so I not able to come." She
stood up and began to walk down the short flight of steps that
led off the porch.

     "Where are you going?" Akane asked.
     
     "Going for a walk," Shampoo replied.  "Have a lot to think
about."  If anyone said anything else as she walked away from
them, they did not say it loud enough for her to hear.

**********

     Lang Bei opened the door at the first knock.  "<Hello,
Shampoo.>"

     "<Can I see Mousse?>" Shampoo asked softly.
     
     Lang Bei hesitated for a moment.  Then the hard, handsome
lines of her face softened slightly.  "<Come in,>" she said,
stepping aside to let Shampoo enter.

     Mousse was as still as he had been when Shampoo had seen him
earlier, his eyes shut as he lay flat on his back with the sheets
pulled up to his chin.  His arms, out from under the covers, lay
motionless at his sides.

     "<I'll leave you alone with him for a little while,>" Lang
Bei said from the hallway.  Her voice betrayed little emotion; a
moment later, Shampoo heard the door close, and she was alone
with him.

     She pulled a slender wooden chair out from where it stood in
the corner, next to a small wooden chest, and placed it by the
bed.  Sat down, and folded her hands in her lap.

     Mousse drew a breath.  Long, slow, inhalation, exhalation.
After a moment, Shampoo reached out and took one of his hands in
hers.  His flesh was cold, uncomfortably so.  She cupped it in
both of hers, and yet his hand seemed to grow no warmer as the
heat slowly seeped from her body, as if he were taking all of her
and giving nothing back.

     "<How did you get here, you idiot?>" she muttered.  Useless
question, of course.  He would not answer.  She sighed, and
studied his face.  Placid, almost serene in sleep.  Handsome - he 
had always been handsome.  Sometimes, there just is something in 
people that lets you go no further than friendship.

     A chill ran through her, and she let his hand fall back to
the sheets, no warmer than it had been before.  As she stood up,
Mousse drew another breath.  With her hand, she brushed a stray
strand of hair away from his closed eyes.  Blind eyes.

     Guilt, perhaps there was a little of that.  His fault, and
hers as well.  He had wanted what she would not give him.  But
she could not, in retrospect, say that she had not used him at
times.  

     They had been friends in childhood.  And then things had
changed, and his feelings had changed, and hers had stayed the 
same.  Now, it came to this, and he lay blinded.  The question 
still, of course, was how he had come here in the first place.
     
     Not enough time to answer that now.  She leaned down,
somewhat to her own surprise, and gently kissed him on the cheek.
His skin was so cold it seemed almost to burn, and she
straightened up shivering.

     Mousse's eyes were open.  Behind the cloudy veil, the dim
spectres of his pupils seemed to focus on her.  Shampoo held her
breath, and could not speak.

     "<The blood of the innocent one upon the stone will open the 
path to the land of the first ones,>" he said.  "<Beyond the sea,
beyond the sky, where even time has gone to die.>"

     His eyelids flickered.  The cloudiness of his eyes blurred 
and shift, as if upon the verge of disappearing.  The air of
the room seemed thicker suddenly, as if filled with some ethereal
smoke or fog.  "<You will bear the pillar of the heavens in your 
arms,>" he said to her, to her only.  The words echoed through 
her, transfixed her like a fly in amber.  "<It will fall to you 
to hold safe the separator of earth and sky, until the true
wielder shall claim it.>"

     "<What are you talking about, Mousse?>" she asked in a bare
whisper, taking a step back from him.  Involuntarily, she let out
a shriek as she bumped into someone else.

     "<He often says things in his sleep,>" Lang Bei said,
putting a hand on her shoulder.  "<Pay him no mind.>"

     "<How long have you been there?>" Shampoo said as she turned
and faced the other woman.  "<Why did you...>"

     "<I heard him speak,>" Lang Bei answered.  "<I only wanted
to be sure he was alright.>"  She glanced past Shampoo to the
bed.  Mousse was asleep again, and the thickness of the air was
gone.  "<He should rest now.  Would you walk with me for a while,
Shampoo?>"

     They walked; not towards the sprawl of the village, but out
the back door of Lang Bei's house and down the slope of the hill
it was built upon, towards the towering mountains in the
distance.  They walked slowly and in silence for a few moments, 
and then Lang Bei paused and sat down without a word on the lower
slopes of a rocky hill, barely more than a hump amidst the rise 
of the land as it approached the mountains.

     From far away, the sounds of bustle and life in the village
carried to them, faint and dispersed - a snatch of children's
laughter, the single bark of a dog.

     Shampoo settled down next to the old woman and looked back
at the village.  "<Lang Bei?>"

     Lang Bei said nothing, staring up at the sky, her staff 
balanced across her knees and held steady with one hand.  

     "<Lang Bei!>"
     
     She finally glanced back to Shampoo, and smiled wearily.
She looked older than she usually did, the lines of her face more
sunken.  "<Sorry, Shampoo.>"

     "<Did you want to talk to me about something?>"
     
     Lang Bei nodded.  "<It won't take long.  I won't be evasive.
The Maiden can be a powerful presence on the Council, and having
your support would help me greatly in opposing Fang Shi.>"

     Shampoo nodded.  Lang Bei frowned as she continued.  "<The
circumstances of Cologne's departure leave me in a bad position.
She was always the leader of what might be called our faction.
We didn't always share the same views, but we had the same
attitude to the way things should be done.  We were pragmatics,
as opposed to Fang Shi.>"

     "<What does Fang Shi want, really?>" Shampoo asked.  
Cologne had never talked much about Council politics to her.

     "<Fang Shi's dream is for the Joketsuzoku to be rulers
again,>" Lang Bei said after a moment.  "<She wants the other
villages to come to us for protection.  To give us tribute.  And
perhaps beyond even that.>"

     "<And what do you want?>"
     
     Lang Bei smiled bitterly.  "<I want to see the Joketsuzoku
survive.  This modern world is not a fit place for a people such
as us anymore.  Either we will adapt to it, or it will destroy
us.  Fang Shi believes that we can force the world to change to
our desires.  I believe, and your great-grandmother believed, 
that this was folly.>"  She shifted slightly, and brought her 
staff up to lean upon it with both hands, as if it were the only 
thing that kept her sitting upright.  "<I think the old ways are 
fading away, Shampoo, whatever we desire.  We must preserve what 
we can, what is good, but we must not hesitate to discard what is 
no longer useful.>"

     "<The marriage laws, for example?>" Shampoo asked softly.
"<And the Kiss of Death?>"

     Lang Bei's bitter smile almost hurt to see.  "<Commit them
to the flames.>"

     Shampoo stared at her hands.  "<But the laws are...>"
     
     "<The laws are what?>" Lang Bei snapped.  "<What purpose
does the right to give Kiss of Death serve but to isolate us 
from outsiders?>"

     "<It will teach them to respect our strength,>" Shampoo
said sharply in return.  "<The Joketsuzoku are not to be 
humiliated.>"

     Lang Bei's face darkened.  "<Whether you will stand with me 
or not, Shampoo...>"

     "<I will not be Fang Shi's pawn,>" Shampoo interrupted.
"<Or yours.>"

     "<You can still serve her purposes,>" Lang Bei said.  "<When
you chose to give the Kiss to that outsider, do you know what 
kind of example that was to you generation?  How much Fang Shi
must have rejoiced to see you do that?>"

     Shampoo glared, but said nothing.  Her face felt hot, with
embarrassment or anger.  "<Ranma... the girl should not have
challenged me at that time.  I was not...>"

     "<You must not allow personal feelings to interfere in the
decisions you make upon the Council, now or tomorrow,>" Lang Bei
said.  "<Fang Shi returned from the outside world in terror of
how alien it was.  Bi Shou... to her, every outsider male is her
dead husband, and every outsider female little better.>"

     Shampoo blinked.  "<Her husband?>"
     
     "<He defeated her,>" Lang Bei said,  "<before you were born.
He was... not a pleasant man.  There was a child, but it died at
birth.>"  She shook her head.  "<It is not my place to speak of
these things.>"  With a shake of her head, she rose to her feet, 
still leaning on her staff.  "<We should head back.  I've said 
what I had to say.>"

-Continued in section 2


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