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}.*
*********************
* Chapter Three *
* Growing Awareness *
*********************
Akane's scream shattered through the Tendou house, breaking
the silence of the dawn like rock through a plate-glass window.
Ranma was the first to respond. Orienting on the sound, he
dove through his window and landed on one of the large rocks in
the backyard. "Akane, what's the matter?!?"
Akane, still too horrified to speak clearly, just pointed at
the motionless figure floating in the pond. Even as Ranma's
mind went numb with shock, his eyes were taking in little
details that bore into his skull: The portly figure, the
olive-green Mao coat, the red star-and-sickle on the cap.
It was the man he had always thought of as "The Guide";
the man who had taken them all over China; the man who had
explained the Jusenkyou curses; the man who, they had all
planned, would one day show the location of a "Spring of
Drowned Man".
The man who was undeniably dead.
The others came straggling out of the house, each giving a
different reaction. Genma, of course, broke down into a near-
hysterical babbling, pontificating on the cruelties of fate.
Soun followed suit as he realized the meaning of Genma's
rantings.
Nabiki simply withdrew and went to the phone, seeing which
of the local news stations would pay the most for a "hot
tip".
Kasumi's "Oh, my!" seemed jarringly out of place, while
Ryouga just kneeled, eyes glazed and unseeing, at the edge of
the pool.
Akane looked over at Ranma, watching the collage of horror,
confusion and rage pass over his features. As she, too,
realized the true identity of the unfortunate victim, her heart
almost broke. {What will he do now?}
Ranma, overwhelmed by the emotions that washed over his
mind, did the only sensible thing--He fainted.
*************************************************************
Word spread quickly.
*************************************************************
At the Neko-Hanten, Shampoo, Mousse and Cologne sat around,
all trying to fit this latest tragedy into their current
plans.
{At least my son-in-law will not be able to marry the Tendou
girl, now. If I can just find out which pool is the right one,
maybe I can trade that information in exchange for a change in
attitude.}
{If Ranma does not find Drowned Man Spring, how will he
marry poor Shampoo?}
{If the guide is dead, how can I ever hope to escape this
curse and win Shampoo's love? At least Saotome is in the same
boat...}
*************************************************************
Ukyou was stunned.
"So that means there's no way to find out which pool is the
one to reverse the curse?"
"That's right," replied Kasumi. "Everyone is so stressed
that I didn't even feel like cooking. That's why I came by. I
thought maybe you could whip up a large order of okonomiaki?"
"Of course, Kasumi...." Ukyou's voice trailed off. {Poor
Ranma! I don't care if there's no way to break the curse--But
maybe Akane does! This could be my chance!}
Working quickly, she boxed up more than enough for the Tendou
household. "Here you go Kasumi. The one with Ranma's name on
it is for him. A little something to cheer him up."
Kasumi gave her perky smile. "Oh, how nice. I'm sure
he'll appreciate it."
*************************************************************
Happousai sat at the table, listening to Soun and Genma, who
were engaged in their usual game of Shogi while taking
turns telling the Master of the day's events. Soun had just
related Ranma's faint.
"That brought Ryouga out of his shock," Genma added. "He
stood up, shook his head and took the Boy upstairs to lie
down. Then he just wandered off, saying he would return if and
when the time was right."
Soun took up the tale again. "But that was not the
greatest shock. As we dragged the body onto the shore,
the Guide's hat fell off. On his forehead was a strange
tattoo."
Happousai grew more interested. "What was the tattoo of?
What?"
Genma said, "A simple triangle. But inset into the top of
it was an eye."
Happousai was clearly disturbed by this news. "It cannot
be," he whispered to himself. "But I must be sure."
The old man stood up suddenly and walked out the door,
passing Kasumi on her way in.
"Oh, hello Happousai. Will you be staying for dinner?"
"No, my dear, I cannot dally today. I shall return this
evening though, so if you could save me some...?" he finished
hopefully.
"Of course I will. But where are you off to in such a
rush?"
"An ancient evil seems to be on the move again. But I
must not say more, lest I alert the very dragon I hunt."
Kasumi's "Oh, my!" followed Happousai down the street.
*************************************************************
Moving listlessly, Ranma got ready for dinner, listening
only half-heartedly to the radio.
"And now for the News. Our top story tonight, the strange
pattern of destruction that seems to have descended upon the
Nerima District."
Ranma froze in mid-stride, an all-too familiar feeling of
doom already slithering through his innards, like some ice-cold
eel.
"Of course, any resident of the District can tell you that
the troubles started a little over a year ago, with the
arrival of a strange girl and her pet panda."
Ranma's mouth developed a sudden and erratic tic.
"Since that time, Nerima has been witness to innumerable
martial arts battles, animal attacks and explosions--even
flying ships and animate mailboxes. While this activity has
been upsetting to Nerima's residents, and has inflicted vast
amounts of property damage, residents have managed to adapt. In
large part, this was because despite the violence, no one ever
seemed to be critically injured or killed."
"But of late, that has changed."
"Just last week, a local high school youth died in an odd,
and as yet unexplained accident. He apparently fell against a
curb and bled to death, despite being a martial arts champion
at Furinkan High School."
Ranma was now sitting, attention undivided and dinner
forgotten, in front of the radio. {What's he getting at?}
Ranma wondered.
"And just today, police were called to a local martial
arts dojo--curiously enough, the same one the girl and panda
were asking directions to two and a half years ago--and found
the corpse of a Chinese tourist guide, apparently drowned in
the dojo's pool."
"A source inside the police department has just told us
that they have traced the Guide's movements and found his motel
room. The contents of that room were bizarre, to say the
least."
"Our informant has told us it was full of occult gear.
All sorts of cultures were represented in the glyphs, runes and
wards on the walls and door. Ankhs hung next to crucifixes,
while the floor had an elaborate Hermetic circle surrounding
the bed."
"A Native American `dream catcher' hung over the bed, and
all the entrances, including the air vents, had papers with
Chinese Fire signs."
"'This man was frightened of something,' said the police
source. 'The question is who and why? We don't know yet, but
we intend to find out.'"
Ranma clicked off the radio. {Isn't this ever going to
stop?}
*************************************************************
Despite all the troubles, the family was heartened to hear
Kasumi's announcement that she had brought dinner home from
Ukyou's. Ranma and Genma had just started to try to grab the
same box when Kasumi interrupted: "Oh, no Ranma. Ukyou said
to be sure you got this one."
Ranma blinked, his puzzlement giving Genma an opportunity
to grab the contested box away. Curious, Ranma slid his box
open, and read the noodle-writing set into the dough:
<Darling Ranma,> (it read)
<I know of your recent troubles, and they do not change
for one bit my desire to be your fiancee. If Akane is
not able to react in the same way, perhaps you could see
your way clear to giving me a more thorough
consideration?
Love,
Ucchan>
Ranma face-faulted even as Akane started reading over his
shoulder. "`Darling Ranma'? `Love, Ucchan'? Maybe you
should just eat this over there, you jerk!"
Ranma, sensing the danger present behind him, turned to
look at his fuming fiancee. {Uh, oh. Better think of
something to get out of this....} "Akane, you know it's not
like that! It's not like I'm askin' for her to do this stuff!"
"Yeah, well it's not like you try very hard to stop it,
either! Why don't you just admit it? You like having those
other bimbos fawning all over you, stroking your ego, you
pervert!"
Ranma had spent years training to take advantage of an
opening, and by now it was reflex. With a sly smirk, he said,
in a mocking tone, "'Other bimbos'? Well, does that mean that
now you consider yourse--" *CRUNCH*
In the resulting, and predictable, chaos, no one noticed
when Nabiki slipped out into the early-evening drizzle.
*************************************************************
Nabiki's steps carried her on a random course through the
Nerima District.
{What am I gonna do? If I tell Akane about this, she'll
kill him. Hell, she'll kill both of them. I don't think she
could trust either one after this--Probably ruin her chances of
any kind of real happiness. On the other hand, if I don't
tell, and she finds out I knew, she'll never trust me again,
either.}
Why did life have to be so complicated?
Nabiki was so distracted by these thoughts that she didn't
even notice that her feet had taken her past the Kunou mansion.
But someone else did.
{It's *her*. The one who forced me to--to discipline
Brother Dearest. It's all her fault. Well, hers and one
other's. Which reminds me, break time is over. There will be
time to deal with the Tendou Whore later.}
Kodachi lingered at the window just long enough to be sure
that Nabiki was leaving. Then she turned, carrying her single
trademark black rose, and went back down into the cellar. By
the time she reached the bottom of the stairs, she could hear
the whimpering again, and it brought a smile to her face.
As she entered the old wine storage room, she looked about,
her expression containing equal parts disdain and amusement at
what she saw. Bottles of fine wines, some hundreds of years
old, lay broken, pools of their "lifeblood" spilled onto the
earthen floor. She had a far more important use for the racks,
now.
"How are you feeling, Father? Ready to begin again?"
"Ch-chil', you don' wanna do this..." The senior Kunou
lifted his head, with its bald and bleeding scalp, to look at
his daughter's mad eyes.
"Oh, but Father, I do. After all, while I may have
finally repaid you for what you did to me so many years ago,
there is still the matter of interest on the debt..."
In response to the look of confused terror that passed over
her father's face, Kodachi raised the tweezers into his line of
vision. "After all, Father, is there not a great deal more
hair besides that which grows on the head?"
As Kodachi slowly and seductively removed his clothes, the
senior Kunou screamed, but no one heard, save for a broken
little girl who didn't care.
*************************************************************
End Chapter Three
**************************
* Chapter Four *
* Controlling the Center *
**************************
Happousai raced down the street, eyes ablaze with a fierce
determination. His worst fears had been confirmed, and he
suspected that, if he did not act soon, it would be too late.
He leapt over the fence surrounding the Tendou household's
back yard. His eyes took in everything. If the Enemy knew that
he was aware of the plot, he was in mortal danger. A lack of
caution would prove fatal.
There were no shadowy forms under the trees. Good. No
outlines of heads peaking over the roof's edge. Also good. No
one crouched behind the clothes flapping off the line. Perfect.
Happousai paused. The clothes? Kasumi was getting
careless. She rarely left the wash out overnight anymore. {The
recent tragedies must have distracted her}, he thought, {Or
perhaps the rain earlier prevented her from drying the wash
until now. No matter the reason, this is too good an
opportunity to pass up.}
Gleefully, he moved toward the undies, white cotton against
black night. Then he pulled himself up short. {What am I
doing? There is a matter of life and death at stake here, not
some meager fetish! I can return later....}
His thoughts slowly ground to a halt as he neared both house
and clothesline. This was not the usual fare offered by the
Tendou household. This was a gift from the gods.
Hanging from the lines were underwear of every description:
sheer lace, red and black leather, clear PVC; chrome studded,
crotchless, padlocked. He could hardly believe his eyes. But
this dream was too wonderful to try to escape. A slight breeze
set the delightful array swaying slightly, filling out to the
point where one could almost imagine them being filled by warm,
soft, yielding bodies.
Happousai never had a chance. He leapt to the nearest of the
delicacies, a black lace pair of crotchless panties. He buried
his face in the delicate fabric, trying to smell past the heavy
detergent so he could tell which of the delightful feminine
forms which blessed the Tendou Dojo had worn it.
Deep he breathed in, and then he felt the sharp jab in his
chest. {My heart...Of course, that detergent scent...Oh, what a
fool...a fool.}
Happousai collapsed to the ground, and began slowly crawling
toward the house. Only twenty feet to go, but it suddenly
looked like twenty miles.
*************************************************************
Soun and Genma-Panda were playing their usual game of Go,
each taking the appropriate opportunity to cheat. Shampoo and
Cologne had come over for a "friendly visit" (Cologne was sure
that this new concoction of hers would work, making everyone
sleep soundly until the two of them had Ranma on a ship to
China.)
Of course, Shampoo had greeted Ranma with her usual
enthusiasm, almost squeezing the breath out of him in the
process. In the ensuing chaos of Akane's actions and Ranma's
somewhat futile efforts to stave off her attack, the elixir had
been spilled prematurely, affecting only Nabiki (who had
returned from her walk), Mousse (who had been following Shampoo)
and Kasumi (who didn't even get through a full, "Oh, my" before
the dust cloud took effect).
As the rest of the household gave Cologne a malevolent
glare, she prepared to pogo out of the room. At that exact
moment, the back door slid open and Happousai stumbled in. He
was in obvious pain, and collapsed to the hardwood floor,
clutching his chest.
Soun was the first one at his side. "Master, are you okay?
Master, say something!" Of course his thoughts were closer to,
{Maybe you would like me to end your suffering right now?}, but
he didn't say it because it would set a bad example.
{Boy, listen to me!} Ranma swirled around, trying to see
who had spoken to him. It had sounded like Happi, but the old
lecher was right there....
{Don't argue! Just listen. I don't have much time...beware
the clothing out back...it has been treated with a powerful
stimulant...you must be very careful...an ancient evil has
awakened, and seems to have chosen you and the others as its
targets...tell Cologne that you face the Illuminated Ones...she
can tell you more...} And then the voice was gone.
Under his breath, Ranma muttered, "This better not be one
of your little `training exercises', you old freak."
At that moment, Cologne, carrying a revealing teddy, came in
and held it out for popular examination. "It has been treated
with a very powerful stimulant. In conjunction with the level of
excitement Happousai usually exhibited in the presence of such
items, it would have been easy to trigger a heart attack."
Ranma cleared his throat. "Cologne, do you know anything
about a group called the `Illuminated Ones'?"
Much to everyone's surprise, Cologne fainted.
*************************************************************
Everyone was seated around the room, except for Nabiki, who
had apparently been exposed to too much of the Blissful Slumber
serum, and was sleeping up in her room.
Ranma had finished explaining how Happousai had contacted him
telepathically as he lay dying, and was explaining the contents
of the message.
Cologne sat for a while, then turned to the group. "I can
tell you what little I know of the Illuminati--for that is their
true title--but it will take me a while to dig up any useful
information from my books.
"For now, suffice it to say that the Illuminati is an
ancient organization that seeks to acquire control of the entire
human race. However, instead of conquest, they usually seek to
use manipulation and guile. It is said that many of them are
powerful sorcerers, and can draw energy from the negative
emotions of those around them."
Kasumi interrupted, "You mean, like the Onii?"
Akane glanced at her older sister. {Poor Kasumi, I don't
think she'll ever forgive herself for the "evil" she did under
that thing's control.}
"It is similar, child," Cologne responded, "but there is
more to it than that. The Onii was no more responsible for what
it did than a hurricane--Such creatures are evil by design, and
only fulfill their role in the great scheme of things."
She visibly suppressed a shudder. "The Illuminati are far,
far worse, for they have chosen evil of their own free will, and
will do anything to accomplish their goals. No one is their
match in ruthlessness, guile or power. Look at how well they
learned and used Happousai's one true weakness against him.
"That symbol you described on the head of the murdered
Guide, the eye in the pyramid, is their mark.
"I must go now, and see if I can learn the identity of the
Illuminati here in Nerima." Cologne hopped to the door,
allowing her voice to drop. "It should be no trouble, but there
is one thing that worries me...."
"What that, Grandmother?" asked Shampoo, as they slipped
into the velvet night.
"I should have been able to sense the presence of the
Illuminated Ones on my own by now. For one of my mastery to be
blinded would mean that I, too, am caught in their web, and have
been since my arrival. It is most distressing."
"Great-Grandmother not worry. Shampoo protect Great-
Grandmother."
Cologne studied Shampoo long and hard. {Yes, Child, that is
what I am afraid of...}
*************************************************************
By unspoken agreement, Soun and Genma handled the disposal
of Happousai's lifeless body. There had already been too much
trouble associated with the Anything-Goes School of Martial
Arts, and they had no desire to complicate it with yet another
corpse.
The others stayed at home, in various degrees of silent
thought. Nabiki was holed up in her room, while Kasumi went out
to return a few library books. In the main room, P-Chan slept
next to Akane, while she and Ranma watched TV.
Feeling the need to stretch her legs, Akane got up and
drifted into the kitchen. A few minutes later, she came out
with a small platter of snacks and a hot pot of tea.
"Thanks, Akane." Ranma picked up one of the hors d'oeuvres
and started munching absent-mindedly. All of a sudden, he got a
surprised look on his face.
"Oh, wow. This is even better than Ukyou's usual leftovers,"
he exclaimed.
Akane turned to him, eyes wide. "Uhmmm...Ranma, that isn't
Ukyou's take-out," she said cautiously.
Ranma paused in his chewing, mouth still full. "It isn't?
Then I guess Kasumi left it out when she went to the library.
It's really delicious, try some...." Ranma's voice trailed off
as he looked at Akane's ever-widening eyes. {Wow, those eyes of
hers are like deep pools...}
"Ranma," she said quietly, almost a whisper, "I made that
plate up, myself."
The look in her eyes actually penetrated Ranma's thoughts
enough to warn him that now was not the time for the usual
banter. "It's good, Akane. Really, really good. Guess all
that practice time you've spent in the kitchen has finally
started paying off, huh?" He gave her a smile, much more
tender than his usual smirk.
"I guess so..."
Both a little unnerved, they settled back to watch TV again.
*************************************************************
End Chapter Four
C&C may be sent anywhere you like, but I'll only see it if you
put it on the list or reply directly. MST's are highly desirable.
Thanks for reading!
--Freemage
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