Hey, Ranma-Tenchi crossover fans! Here's a little snack.
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Hearts' Healing 2 - The Paths of Honor
A Ranma 1/2 - Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki FanFiction
By
D.F. Roeder
This and other fanfictions can be found at:
http://www.flash.net/~dfroeder/index.html
C&C very welcome. Respond to FFML or privately to:
dfroeder@flash.net
----- Continuity -----
This is a Ranma divergence fic, the divergence occurring at the
beginning of the Ranma storyline, the day before the fateful trip
to Jusenkyo at the end of the 10-year training trip.
This is also a continuation of the TM! OAV storyline, although
the concentration will be on one character, with the remaining
cast coming in as appropriate.
You will also have to have read "Hearts' Healing" and "Hearts'
Healing Interlude - Wedding" for the events in this story to make
much sense.
----- Acknowledgments -----
Many thanks and deep bows to Vince Seifert, without whose input
the bulk of my work would be far poorer.
----- Disclaimers -----
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the property of Takahashi
Rumiko, Shonen Sunday comics, Shogakukan, and Kitty TV (Japan)
and Viz Communications (USA).
Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki is the property of Kajishima Masaki and
AIC/Pioneer LDC.
This work of fiction is for free entertainment purposes only. No
compensation has been or will be received.
====================
Part 1 - Storm Fronts
====================
[April 10, 1993]
Tendou Akane jerked awake as the train pulled into the station
nearest her home. Her first year of college had been grueling,
thus far, and she was only now getting the rhythm of studying,
assignments, and classes into her system. After her one Saturday
class this morning, she'd boarded the train and promptly dozed
off. The frequent stops, however, kept her from going completely
under and sleeping through her own stop. She wearily rose from
her seat and debarked with a handful of other passengers,
starting the twenty-minute walk to her house.
After about ten minutes, her head began to droop, and she fell
into a light, trance-like state as she continued down the lane, a
trance she was knocked out of as she ran into someone standing in
the middle of the sidewalk. Akane backed up and blinked at the
strange figure turning around in front of her.
"Hello. Could you help me find the Nerima clinic?"
Akane eyeballed the stranger. He wore leather shoes with very
long laces that crisscrossed his shins over black pants. A faded
and dusty yellow tunic, a black and yellow bandanna headband, a
large pack, and a red umbrella completed his attire and gear.
<What a weirdo,> Akane thought before she answered. "The clinic's
been closed for almost a year and a half. Gomen."
The stranger lowered his head, squeezed his eyes shut, clenched
his fists, and shook. Akane backed up, and she eeped when the
stranger whirled around and punched a hole through the stone
wall. A sheet of water came down and drenched the stranger, and
Akane looked up to see the resident blinking down at them.
"Gomen ne!" the resident called before disappearing from view.
Akane turned her attention back to the weird stranger only to
find him gone, except for his clothes and his gear. Akane blink-
blinked, but then noticed the clothes moving around. She backed
up another step as the head of a black-furred animal poked out of
the pile of clothes.
<How did THAT get there?> The animal pulled the rest of its body
out of the clothing and sat down on its haunches. It raised a paw
and licked it, then turned its head questioningly to Akane.
"Meowr?"
<What a cute cat! And someone's put a cute black and yellow
bandanna around... its... neck?> "Oh, my god! The water!!"
Memories of a similar scene with different results flashed
through her mind. Akane backed up a few steps and then turned and
ran as fast as she could to her home and, hopefully, safety.
The large black tomcat hung its head as it wandered off, looking
for a source of warmer water.
~~~~~~~
The front door to the Tendou residence was slapped open and then
slammed shut with a report like a gunshot. Everyone in the house
ran into the foyer to see Akane with her back against the door,
one hand on her chest, and huffing and puffing, a wild look in
her eyes.
Kasumi stepped up and began fussing over her little sister.
"Akane-chan?" Soun asked. "Are you all right?"
Akane nodded twice in quick jerks.
"Something happen?" Kasumi asked.
Akane took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then said, "I...
I just saw something really strange, and... and I guess it scared
me." Genma's broad face and hanky'ed head loomed into her view.
"EEK!!!"
*POW!!!*
Genma twirled in place twice then hit the floor, unconscious.
"Who the HELL is THAT?!?!" Akane screeched.
Soun gathered Akane up in his arms and patted her on the back.
"It's okay, it's okay. That's just an old friend of mine who'll
be staying with us for a while. His name is Saotome Genma."
Akane sniffed. "Oh. I'm sorry, Daddy."
Soun chuckled. "Don't worry about him. He's the other master of
Musabetsu Kakotou, and I'm sure he'll be fine. In fact, he'll
probably be impressed that you were able to put him down."
Akane giggled. "Okay. That'll be nice, for a change." Akane
stepped out of her father's embrace, looking down at their sturdy
guest. "Do you think he'll spar with me?"
"I don't know, Akane-chan," Soun sighed. "He's not himself, these
days. He lost track of his son a couple of years ago and has been
searching ever since."
Akane looked at her father and put a hand up to her mouth. "Oh,
no."
Soun nodded. "His son's name is Ranma, and Genma and I had
arranged a marriage between one of you girls and him. Remember?"
Akane froze. <RANMA?! The *same* Ranma? Married to that...
that...>
"Akane?" Kasumi asked, looking at the fearful recognition on her
little sister's face. "Do you know this Ranma?"
Akane jerked her head in Kasumi's direction. "EH?! NO!! I mean,
of course not. How silly! HAHA! I think I'll get a cup of tea. Do
you have tea, Kasumi? Oh, of course you do. You *always* do.
HAHA!" She staggered down the hall and into the kitchen.
In the foyer, Soun and Kasumi looked at each other and then back
down the hall.
"What was that all about?" Soun wondered aloud.
The front door opened.
"Tadaima!" Tendou Nabiki stopped and looked at the strange man
unconscious on the floor. She also took note of her father and
older sister looking at her blankly and the sound of what must be
Akane banging around in the kitchen.
"Oh, I can't *wait* to hear *this*," she remarked dryly.
~~~~~~~
The wooden duck nameplate on the door cast a long horizontal
shadow from the light at the end of the hall. Kasumi paused and
felt glad that her sisters were home for a day or two, but she
then frowned slightly. A matter of family honor was at stake, and
if Akane knew something, which Kasumi suspected from the way
she'd behaved, then she was going to see that family honor was
satisfied. She knocked on the door.
"Come in!"
Kasumi opened the door, stepped in, and closed it behind her.
Akane was seated at her desk, sipping her tea. She smiled
nervously at her older sister.
"Hi, Oneechan. What can I do for you?"
Kasumi walked over and sat down on the edge of Akane's bed.
"Akane-chan, what do you know of Saotome-san's son?"
Akane started and then quickly took another sip of her tea. "Heh,
nothing, Oneechan. Why do you ask?"
A sigh escaped Kasumi's lips. "Don't lie to me, Akane. I saw your
face downstairs. Feel lucky that Father and Saotome-san aren't
the ones asking you this."
Akane winced and set her tea down. "What you don't know won't
hurt you, Kasumi." She looked at her sister with pleading eyes.
"Can't we leave it at that?"
"It's a matter of family honor, Akane. I can't do that." Kasumi
was being unusually firm, and Akane sighed and stared at her
desktop, remembering. After a couple of moments, she spoke.
"I know this Ranma. He worked for Toufuu-sensei, remember?"
"So. I wondered if that was him. But I thought he was related to
Toufuu. How do you know it's the same person?"
Akane looked at her with surprise. "You know, that hadn't
occurred to me. Akane no baka." She shook her head. "Just as
well. I would never want that freak in our family."
"Akane?!" Kasumi was shocked at her sister's words. "Why would
you say that? I thought he was a very nice young man. A little
uncultured, perhaps, but..." She trailed off at the strange look
in Akane's eyes.
"When I said 'freak', I meant it. As in 'circus' or 'sideshow'."
"Akane!"
"Oneechan! He turned into a girl right before my eyes! You have
no idea--"
"Oh, no!"
"Eh?"
"It *is* Saotome-san's son! The curse is REAL?!" Kasumi was wide-
eyed.
"Curse? What curse?" Akane blinked several times.
Kasumi slumped a little and was silent for a few seconds.
"Saotome-san said that Ranma ran off after he fell into a pool at
some kind of cursed training ground. I forget the name. It seems
that when he's doused with cold water, his curse turns him into a
girl. Hot water changes him back." She picked at her dress for a
moment, and Akane went over in her mind what she'd seen; it fit.
"I thought Saotome-san was just delirious or something." Kasumi
looked back up at Akane. "You're sure?"
Akane nodded solemnly. "He was cleaning the steps to the clinic,
and someone kicked his bucket all over him, and he... she..."
"You couldn't have been mistaken?"
"No! Even his hair changed color! It was bright red! And his...
her boobs were bigger than mine, maybe even Nabiki's!"
A hand went to a mouth. "Oh, dear!"
Akane gave her sister a grim look. "Now do you see why I didn't
say anything?"
Kasumi dithered for a moment. "Still, Akane. There is Father's
pledge to--"
"Look, Kasumi." Akane turned in her chair and leaned forward,
putting her elbows on her knees and clasping her hands. "I will
have absolutely nothing to do with an arranged marriage to...
'him'. Nabiki won't care a lick about family honor when it comes
to this. What does that leave us with? You!" Kasumi started.
"Are you willing to marry a man who turns into a girl, maybe
prettier than you... probably at the most awkward of times? Is
family honor worth that?" Akane sat up and leaned back into her
chair. She sighed; Kasumi was obviously upset, but it couldn't be
helped. "Think this through carefully, Oneechan, before you go
talking to Daddy."
"I don't like lying to Father." Kasumi's head was down.
"Argh! Then don't! Like I said before, what he doesn't know isn't
going to hurt him."
Kasumi gave Akane a hurt look. "Well... I don't know..."
"Tell him and you're marrying Ranma." Akane considered and
decided on shock therapy. "Unless your taste runs to boys *and*
girls."
"Akane!! It does not!"
"They'd better... if you decide to tell Daddy. Ranma probably
wouldn't be happy if you didn't want to touch him 'that way' when
he's a girl, and *she'll* be the man in the relationship."
Kasumi started shaking when that realization sank in. Akane's
expression softened. "Don't worry, Oneechan. In this case, family
honor will be better served by keeping this secret." She tipped
her chair back and pounded on the wall she shared with her other
sister. "NE, ONEECHAN?!" The front of her chair hit the floor,
and she smirked at Kasumi.
Kasumi giggled. "You're *awful*, Imouto-chan."
"I just know my sister." Pause. "So?"
"Very well." Kasumi looked relieved and guilty at the same time.
"You've more than made your case." She looked pointedly at Akane
as she stood. "Father stays in the dark." She stepped over to the
wall and rapped on it. "Ne, Nabiki-chan?"
Akane burst into laughter, and Kasumi smiled as she left the
room.
~~~~~~~
Nabiki had jumped when Akane beat on their shared wall, and she
was chagrined when Kasumi knocked on it. She took her headphones
off and laid them in her lap. <Wow! That was a bombshell and a
half!> She tapped her finger against her chin and frowned.
Something about this whole situation reeked of money, but for the
life of her, she couldn't think of any way to profit from it
without putting herself in the hot seat, and she had no desire to
marry such a person. Akane would tear the house down before doing
it. That left Kasumi, and regardless of how she felt about most
people, Nabiki would be damned before putting Kasumi in *that*
situation. In Nabiki's rather draconian sense of fairness, she
*owed* Kasumi in ways that couldn't easily be repaid. She
chuckled as she realized that for once, her naive little sister
had the full measure of something.
____________________
[July 31, 2003]
The room with four desks was largely deserted this early on a
Thursday morning, and only the woman with the copper-colored hair
salted with gray was present, sitting in a visitor's chair while
she waited. She wore a light lavender kimono with an oblong
bundle strapped to her back and stared sadly at the worn wood on
her side of the desktop. An old oscillating fan ticked in the
background as it panned back and forth, doing little to alleviate
the sapping heat of the room.
A man walked in from an adjacent office, the immense folds of his
body pushing at his white shirt.
"Gomen, Saotome-san," he said thickly. "The Saotome registry had
been misplaced, but I scouted around and found it."
"Arigatou, Futotta-san."
The obese Futotta grunted as he sat heavily in the squeaky office
chair. He opened the folder carefully and scanned the contents.
"Very well. How long have your husband and son been missing
without word?"
Saotome Nodoka bowed her head slightly. "Well... I haven't seen
them for twenty-two years, and I stopped receiving postcards
twelve years ago," she said softly.
Futotta looked at her with compassion. "My condolences, Saotome-
san. It cannot have been an easy time."
She smiled at him with little warmth but some gratitude.
He shook himself. "Right. You've gone through the necessary
procedures? Hired a detective first?"
"Hai. They were last known to have been in China."
The clerk nodded knowingly. "I see. China is often uncooperative
in these matters. A pity." He looked down at the last few entries
in the register. "Your husband's name?"
"Genma."
"Yes." He looked up. "What I'm entering is that he is missing and
presumed dead. Does this meet with your approval?"
Nodoka sketched a nod.
"Your son's name?"
"Ranma." Nodoka steeled herself; she would not cry in front of a
relative stranger.
Futotta looked at the list and said nothing for several moments,
and then he flicked a glance at the woman across from him. "Ah...
Saotome-san?"
"What?" she said disinterestedly, still staring at the surface of
the desk.
"It, ah, seems that a Saotome Ranma was removed from the Saotome
registry and transferred to another." He licked his lips; this
could be unpleasant.
The Saotome matriarch blinked at the clerk in confusion. "I beg
your pardon?"
"Heh, ah, on October 11, 1992, a Saotome Ranma was transferred
off of the Saotome register onto the, ah... the, ah... hmmm. It's
not there. Damn sloppy, but it's just not there."
Futotta hadn't been aware as Nodoka slowly rose to her feet and
leaned over the desk at him. He looked up and found himself about
30 centimeters from a wet face with big doe eyes. It scared him
more than any yelling or screaming.
"I... I... Su-surely yo-yo-you're mi-mistaken?" she querulously
stammered.
"Errr, no, I don't think so."
Nodoka's features hardened. "That shouldn't have been allowed
without my or my husband's consent," she said quietly.
The clerk gulped and looked at the date of transfer and Ranma's
date of birth. "Ah, he would've been eighteen at the time. He,
ah, wouldn't have, ah, needed it?" He smiled weakly.
Nodoka leaned a little closer. "I suggest you find out to which
register he was transferred." She then smiled at him sunnily.
"Ne?"
Futotta nodded dumbly and quickly shuffled through the papers.
Not finding what he was looking for, he began to sweat. He went
back through the papers and stopped at a largely blank piece of
paper with a date and a name that he'd passed over before: the
date was the same as that of the transfer. He silently thanked
Kami-sama before speaking.
"I, I really must apologize, Saotome-sama, but there's no listing
of which family register he was transferred to, BUT, er, but, I
did find a dated name that matches the date of the transfer.
Would you like a copy?" <Of course she would, idiot!> He smiled
in utter obsequiousness. This sort of thing cost clerks their
jobs.
Still holding her smile, Nodoka merely widened her eyes
fractionally.
"Ah. Yes." Futotta stood and scurried into the other room, and
the sound of a copy machine briefly came from the doorway. The
clerk scurried back in and handed Nodoka the copy. "I, I
sincerely hope you find him, Saotome-sama."
Nodoka bowed and left the sweating clerk. After she'd gone, he
took in a deep breath. "Damn, she was scary and weird." He opened
the right bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a fresh dress
shirt. "This job just doesn't pay, some days..."
~~~~~~~
Keeping her face immobile, Nodoka managed to get to the ground-
floor ladies' room, enter an unused stall, and sit down. Tears
began rushing down her face, and her expression was a mixture of
anger, relief, and joy. <He's ALIVE!! Ranma's ALIVE! Oh, dear
Kami-sama, thank you!> She tore off some toilet tissue and dabbed
at her face. <Somehow, Genma, you're at the center of this. I
*will* have satisfaction, husband!> After a few minutes, she
looked at the piece of paper the clerk gave her, still in her
hand. <Ono Reiko...>
A half-hour later, composed but hardly calm, she left the
building.
____________________
[August 4, 2003]
Hakubi Ryouko lay on a sofa, desultorily flicking through
channels via the remote control. It was her day off, and she
fully intended to laze it away. She stopped for a moment on a
subtitled foreign soap opera, the drama revolving around the
doctors, nurses, and sundry other persons present in a hospital.
Ryouko grinned as she watched a buxom young nurse corner a
handsome young doctor in an unused patient room. Her cat-like
eyes flashed as clothes began hitting the floor and the screen
faded to black. She thumbed the off switch and lay back on the
sofa.
<THAT will never happen! I've seen to that.> Ryouko stretched out
on the cushions, remembering Ranma's reaction when she'd dropped
her bomb a couple of years back...
"Ranma... Dear... I want to be a nurse."
Ranma's chopsticks spun out of his hand, and he gagged on a piece
of food halfway down his throat. Ryouko, Ranma, and Toufuu were
sitting at dinner, a dinner *she* had cooked, and everyone was
enjoying it. Ranma coughed a couple of times, freeing the
obstruction. Toufuu, having foreknowledge of this talk through
Ryouko's questions, continued eating and watched with no little
amusement.
"Eh?!" *cough, cough*
"You heard me. I said I want to be a nurse. Well, *your* nurse."
Ranma scratched his head and looked at his wife blankly. "Um..."
"You decided to be a family doctor a while back, ne?"
Ranma nods, not sure where this was going.
"Well, you were also talking to Otousan about hiring a nurse when
you start your practice. Well... *I* want to be your nurse!"
Ryouko adamantly crossed her arms.
Ranma looked to Toufuu, but he just calmly ate, occasionally
looking up at the couple. Ranma rubbed his face as he turned back
to his wife.
"Ooo-kaaay. What brought this on? A nursing degree will take at
least two years of school, and that's only if you work hard.
You've never shown much, ah, enthusiasm for school. Remember how
you went on and on when I asked if you wanted to take that
Chinese language course with me?"
Ryouko's eyes were smoldering. "I've seen those little cutesy
student nurses ogling you when you're walking around the campus
or the hospital. AND I've seen what they ogle when you're walking
away from them. They're lucky I don't raze the entire campus to
the ground, and I could, too! THERE-fore, if you think for one
minute I'm going to let you hire some little floozy in a white
smock, you've got--"
"GAH! Ryouko-chan! I can't believe you're gettin' jealous over a
bunch of little, very young, uh, man-crazy, er, um... ...!"
"SEE?! You *men* are all the same." Ryouko sniffed and turned her
head.
Ranma was now building a good head of steam. "I am NOT like
that!"
"Hmph!" Ryouko kept her head turned.
"CHIKUSHO, WOMAN!! I'm half-girl, you know! If you... don't...
believe..." Ranma blink-blinked and then put his face in his
hands. "I can't believe I just said that," he mumbled.
Toufuu spat out his food and started roaring in laughter. The
corners of Ryouko's mouth quivered, and she quickly joined her
father-in-law. Ranma peeked between his fingers and sighed. "My
family's laughing at me. Oh, woe is me!"
That brought on a fresh set of howls from the other two. Ranma
put his hands down to reveal a crooked grin, and he joined in the
merriment.
Ryouko adjusted the cushion behind her head and snickered. Ranma
had thought that it was just a phase she was going through. Was
he ever surprised when she came home fully registered for school.
Washuu had done a little creative record forgery, and Voila!
Instant nursing student.
Ranma had sat her down, then, and told her he was proud of her.
Ryouko hugged herself as she lay in the den, smiling at the
ceiling. Then he told her what she would be doing, and Ryouko's
glow diminished.
The cadavers were the worst. She shivered in memory, and then
dryly chuckled at the irony of it. Here she was, a being that had
killed hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, while under her
master's control, and now the sight of a dead body sent her
reeling. <A kind of justice, after all. Ne, Kagato, you bastard?>
She wrenched her thoughts away from the beast.
After some nervous difficulty, and the cadavers notwithstanding,
she'd found that she enjoyed chatting with patients while taking
their temperature, giving them their pills, or whatever the chart
said to do. Aeka couldn't believe she'd gotten high interpersonal
communication marks. Aeka then laughed when she found out that
her old rival had squeezed a few wrists to black bruises when
first learning to take a pulse rate. <Oh, well. Can't be perfect
all the time,> she smirked to herself.
Ryouko sighed in contemplation. <And now my graduation and the
end of Ranma's residency are only two weeks off-->
The front door opened and slammed shut, and a string of mumbles
preceded the entrance of a petite redhead in a baggy shirt but
relatively dry pants and shoes. She stopped, blinked at Ryouko,
and then threw her hands into the air.
"WHAT is it with little old ladies and LADLES?! ARGH!! They MUST
be part of a school of martial arts water attacks or something!"
Ranma stomped over and plopped down on the couch next to her
wife. Ryouko was snickering, and Ranma crossed her arms under her
breasts and mock-glared. "Oh, hush, you!"
Before Ranma could react, Ryouko had picked her up off the couch
and sat her on her lap. "Ack!" Ranma struggled weakly and in
vain. "Okay! You win, you win!"
Ryouko turned her head to fully look at her, and she leveled a
steamy gaze at the smaller woman. "Who said anything about a
contest?" she purred.
Ranma's eyes grew large and her mouth made a small 'o', an 'o'
Ryouko moved quickly to capitalize on with her lips. They kissed
fervently for a couple of minutes, and then Ryouko started
snaking her hand up Ranma's pant leg.
~~~~~~~
>From his ground-floor study in the back of the house, Ono Toufuu
entered the kitchen of the home he shared with his small family.
As he filled a kettle from the tap, he looked out the window at
the car he'd recently purchased. He smirked as he recalled
another time a rather dented vehicle had sat in the driveway and
the amazing chain of events that had been put into motion on that
night, years ago.
Toufuu put the kettle on the stove and turned on the heat.
Wondering if his adopted son had made it home yet, he strode
towards the entry to the den. He set one foot inside the den,
took a mental snapshot, <"Urk!">, spun on that foot, and returned
to the kitchen.
Sitting at the table and waiting for the kettle to boil, Toufuu
couldn't stop mentally replaying what he'd just seen. His
currently-female son and daughter-in-law were, ah, getting rather
intimate. He tried and failed to immediately dismiss the image of
Ranma-chan moving her lower torso against Ryouko's invading...
<Argh! Nevermind!>
A familiar fluttering sound echoed softly from the den, and
Toufuu rose and looked into the room. They were gone, and he
smiled when he heard the floorboards creak upstairs.
<It's been a little while since Ranma was female during their
'fun'.> He smiled in gladness. Early in their relationship,
Ryouko had somehow managed to convince Ranma that she wanted to
be with him and, perhaps as importantly, desired him, regardless
of his gender. And when he was with her, Ranma let go of all the
masculine nonsense he still tended to demonstrate from time to
time. With Ryouko, he let all that fall away and just was what he
or she was at that precise moment.
<A rare thing, although I don't think Ryouko has quite talked him
into letting her use her gender ring,> Toufuu concluded. <Now, if
I can just get a moment to talk to them, I have some news...>
____________________
[August 19, 2003]
The house was not large, but neither was it small. It was built
in the traditional manner, and an artfully landscaped Japanese
garden screened the home from the view of casual passers-by.
Nodoka admired the care that showed in the precision trimming and
immaculate attention to detail. The gardener obviously loved her
work. She gathered herself and continued down the winding walk to
the front door of the dwelling. Firmly knocking twice, she
waited.
The door slid open, and Nodoka blinked and looked down at a
diminutive elderly woman.
"Hai?" <Kami! She looks just like her,> the woman thought.
"Ano... Ono Reiko-san?"
"Hai."
"I am--"
"Ranma's mother, no doubt. Please, come in." The Ono matriarch
stepped aside and allowed a nervous Nodoka into her home. After
shutting the door, she led Nodoka to the tearoom and bade her
sit. Nodoka seated herself, laying her long bundle against the
table, as Reiko fetched tea.
Nodoka looked about the room while her host was in the kitchen,
but pictures of several men and a handful of women on a low
bureau against one wall caught her eye. She spent a moment
studying the photo of a girl, and she marveled at the fiery red
hair. Something nagged at her about the person in the picture,
but she dismissed it. There was another photo of a youngish man
standing next to a teenager, maybe just into adulthood. They wore
matching charcoal-colored gis, and the younger held his hand out
in a victory sign.
"A good-looking family, if I do say so myself."
Nodoka turned to see Ono Reiko watching her. "Yes, very, Ono-
san."
"Please... Reiko." She set the tea tray down and knelt across the
low table from her guest.
Nodoka inclined her head. "Nodoka."
After Reiko had served Nodoka and herself, Nodoka said, "How did
you know I was Ranma's mother?"
Reiko's eyes glinted as she smiled. "The Ono clan is not
overlarge. When a private detective comes around asking certain
kinds of questions, it was fairly easy to put two and two
together." She looked over at her photographs. "Besides, my son
anticipated this, although I expect he said nothing to Ranma
about it."
Nodoka concentrated on keeping herself calm. "I see. Your son?"
"Toufuu." Reiko turned back to Nodoka to gauge her reaction.
"Ranma's adoptive father."
Nodoka noticeably stiffened, but she slowly relaxed.
<She's a cool one,> Reiko thought.
"Ono Ranma," Nodoka whispered.
"At that time, yes."
"Nani?"
Reiko sighed and wondered how much she should say. This was
information that should come from Nodoka's son, but still... She
had no idea how she would've comported herself if Toufuu had gone
missing for so many years.
"How old was Ranma when you last saw him?"
Nodoka lowered her eyes. "Six."
"Oh, my poor dear. And now this. What has your husband to say for
himself?"
Nodoka's eyes hardened to steel. "I have... yet to see my
husband. I had thought him and my son dead twelve years, but
now..." She looked at Reiko. "There is much to answer for." She
gripped her oblong bundle, and the Ono matriarch hazarded a
mental guess as to what it was. She didn't envy Ranma's father
one ounce. Reiko shook her head.
"There is much to Ranma's tale that I do not know, and it's clear
he carries a deep and hidden pain in him." She momentarily
considered her next words. "He is fortunate to have such a loving
wife."
Nodoka started. "A... a... He's married?" she hollowly said.
"For five years, now. Which is why he is no longer 'Ono' Ranma.
He took his wife's name."
Nodoka deflated and stared at the table. <Two names removed. Oh,
Ranma...> She began to quiver lightly. <Oh, no! The arrangement
with the Tendous!> Reiko sadly looked on.
After a brief period, Nodoka regained something of her center.
"What... what's his name, now?"
Reiko's face grew a little grim. "As much as I wish to see you
reconciled with Ranma, there were... *are* some concerns that
your son has and that my son has passed on to me. I don't pretend
to understand their full nature, but I do understand that already
I have probably said more than was desired of me."
"Ono-san!" A deep welling of despair finally shattered Nodoka's
iron hold on her composure, and wet tracks began to form and
widen on her desperate face. "He's my... my... *choke* SON!!
Onegai!"
Reiko closed her eyes and held one hand up, palm out. Surprised,
Nodoka managed to contain her outburst. Reiko put her arm down
and opened her eyes, the look one of extreme sympathy and
compassion.
"I did not say I would obstruct you, but I am not the one to be
discussing this with you. I will send you to my son. He has the
better measure of things and can speak to you of matters which I
cannot."
Nodoka dabbed at her eyes with a kerchief she'd pulled from the
sleeve of her kimono. She bowed to Reiko. "Gomen nasai, Ono-san.
My outburst was rude, and I--"
"Nonsense! That you've held up as well as you have speaks very
well of you. I am just sorry I am not at liberty to help you
more."
Nodoka smiled at her host. "Arigatou, Ono-san." She looked over
at the photographs. "Is one of these gentlemen your son,
perhaps?"
<Clever woman!> Reiko smirked to herself before she rose and
fetched the photo of the two men standing next to each other. She
sat next to Nodoka and pointed to the older man in the picture.
"That's Toufuu."
"And the other?"
Reiko fought to keep from smiling too much. "Mmmm, that's Ranma-
chan."
Nodoka smiled her gratitude and studied the picture. She ran a
finger over his form. "He's quite handsome, isn't he?"
A loud cackle echoed through the house. "You don't know the half
of it, Nodoka-san! Hee-heeeee! Poor Ranma-chan was chased from
one class to another during his first couple of years at
university, then when he married Ryouko-chan, a wail went up from
the young ladies to wake the dead. HAHAHAheeheeeee! Yes, your son
was quite sought-after, and I don't know, but I don't think he
ever went out on more than a handful of dates with other women
before getting married."
Nodoka smiled happily, thankful for even this small window into
her son's life. "This Ryouko must be quite the charmer. Do you
have a picture?"
The Ono matriarch wiped the tears from her eyes, still chuckling.
"Charmer? Tell me, Nodoka-san, do you consider yourself a
traditional woman?"
A little confused at the question, Nodoka nodded.
"Heh! Well, prepare yourself. Ryouko is not." Reiko burst out
into a fresh spate of laughter, but Nodoka frowned ever so
slightly. This wasn't lost on her host.
"Don't get the wrong idea! Ryouko-chan is a lovely child, but she
is, ah, hmmm, quite, er, independently-minded. Heh, I think
that's what attracted Ranma-chan to her in the first place. He
really had no use for most of the girls he met at school. Then he
comes up with this 'wild as a March hare' girl for a wife. Whew!
Heh, heh. Oh, well. She has good hips, for her build. That counts
for something."
Nodoka shook her head. "Do you have a picture of her?"
"HA! Yes, I do, but it'll probably give you the wrong
impression." Reiko opened one of the doors to the bureau and
pulled out a pile of photographs. She shuffled through them
until: "Ah ha! One of my late husband's sister's children, quite
the prankster, caught them a little red-handed when they were
courting. Nothing dirty. Here. Darn kids still haven't sent me a
set of wedding photos. It was lovely."
Nodoka gasped, feeling a little warm. "My... isn't she...
limber?" <Can someone really bend like that? Interesting hair
and... ears. Oh, my.>
____________________
[December 24, 1999]
Kasumi walked into the hall leading to the foyer of the house,
moving to greet the arrival.
"Tadaima!" Nabiki shucked her snow boots and then embraced her
sister.
"It's good to see you, Nabiki," Kasumi said as she hugged back.
"It's good to be home, too."
The two women separated, and Kasumi gave her sister a steady
look. "You should come home more often, you know."
Nabiki winced as she hung her coat on a nearby hook, and she and
Kasumi walked back down the hall to the kitchen.
"I try, but the firm keeps me really busy, Oneechan." She
squeezed Kasumi's hand and smiled. "I'll try harder in future."
"Thank you," Kasumi said and smiled as they entered the kitchen.
"Father misses you and Akane terribly."
Nabiki shook her head as she spied a cup of still-hot tea
apparently waiting for her. She picked it up and sipped. "Is
Akane here, yet?"
"Yes. She's up in her room, putting her things away."
Nabiki nodded while sipping, her eyes becoming distant. "The
three of us need to meet... privately."
Kasumi turned her gaze from the bubbling pot on the stove and
arched an eyebrow. "Oh? What about?"
"An old matter of family honor," Nabiki said quietly.
~~~~~~~
"What's going on, Oneechan?" Akane asked, sitting cross-legged on
the floor of Kasumi's room.
Nabiki smirked inwardly. <Ever the tomboy, Akane?> After their
father and Genma had drunk themselves into a Christmas Eve
stupor, the three Tendou women had gathered in Kasumi's bedroom
to hear what Nabiki had to say. Nabiki set her cup and saucer on
Kasumi's vanity and regarded her siblings.
"I found Saotome-san's son."
The room was very quiet as the other two pondered the
implications of Nabiki's revelation.
"I don't intend for us to act on this information, but since it
*does* concern us, I thought that the two of you would like to
know."
Akane was as still as a statue, memories flashing through her
mind. She had come, over the intervening years, to the conclusion
that her earlier opinion of Ranma was poorly considered. She
couldn't imagine what having such a curse would do to someone.
Pity had taken the place of revulsion as she'd occasionally
considered the young man she'd met when her life had been less
stable and she'd been quicker to judge.
Kasumi had, on the other hand, taken a deep breath and let it out
slowly. "Okay. Tell us."
Nabiki nodded curtly and retrieved her tea for a brief sip.
"After Akane-chan's little revelation some years back--"
"Ah ha! You *were* eavesdropping!"
Nabiki grimaced. "That was another life ago, Sis."
Akane just sat there, looking smug. Nabiki rolled her eyes and
continued.
"Anyway, after that, I started setting some people into motion in
order to do a little discreet poking around. Nothing serious.
More a pastime than anything else.
"I got a hit about two weeks ago. Frankly, I'd completely
forgotten about the whole thing, but one of my old factors called
me up and gave me the info, more for old-times' sake, I guess,
than for any money." She stopped for another sip.
"Why did you quit? Or did it get to be more than you could
handle?" Akane smirked.
Nabiki looked at her humorlessly. "Information is like a drug,
Akane. I was losing myself." She then waved nonchalantly.
"Besides, I don't have time for that kind of thing, anymore, nor
do I need it to make money."
"Gomen ne, Oneechan." Akane hung her head.
"That's okay. I guess I do kinda deserve it... We're getting off
the subject--"
"Yes, we are," Kasumi said with a little impatience. The other
two looked at her in surprise.
"Uh, yeah. Where was I? Oh, I hadn't really started. Ahem, my old
factor called me up. He didn't have much, but it was child's play
once I had a point of departure. It seems that about a year
before Father's friend showed up, a certain Saotome Ranma was
removed from the Saotome family register. I'll bet the old fart
doesn't even know *that*."
Kasumi gasped, and Akane looked concerned and said, "Probably
not. Otherwise..."
"Exactly. Guess which family register he was moved to?"
Akane blinked, but Kasumi nodded. "Ono."
"Right. It seems Toufuu-sensei adopted him as his son."
"Sooner or later someone will have to list him as missing, if
they don't know what has happened to him. It will all come out,
then."
Some teeth showed in Nabiki's smile. "I have... handled that. It
shouldn't be a problem." <*If* anyone goes looking, they'll find
the transfer notice, but not to which family he was
transferred... I hope.>
"Er, how did you do that?" Akane asked.
"Don't ask."
"Oh."
"So where is he now?" Kasumi asked.
"Ah! That's where it gets interesting," Nabiki said. "It seems
Ranma-san is following in his adopted father's footsteps. After a
couple of years of hard tutoring, he entered Okayama City
University for two years of general study, and then medical
school--"
"A doctor! Sugoi!" Kasumi tittered. She had often dreamed of
being a doctor, and knowing that the nice boy who'd worked in
Toufuu's office was doing so well for himself pleased her
immensely.
Akane was simply stunned. "Gosh!" <Maybe I *was* too hard on
him.>
"Oh, and that's not the best part."
"Eh?!" Kasumi and Akane said together.
"This should put your minds at rest. He was married last year."
Nabiki expected the disappointment on Kasumi's face. In spite of
her decision to keep their father in the dark, Kasumi was lonely,
and Nabiki didn't think the relative age of a potential mate (or
a curse) made that much of a difference to her anymore.
The surprise was the wistful look on Akane's face, although
Nabiki knew Akane had problems. Those fights instigated by Kunou-
chan back in high school had damaged Akane's confidence, somehow.
She became far too used to beating up men instead of dating them,
and she'd become extremely reluctant to let anyone of the
opposite sex close. Nabiki had trouble letting people in, as
well, although it was for different reasons. She sighed. The
three of them were quite a set in the romance department.
"Who is she?" Kasumi finally asked.
Nabiki tapped her chin. "Hmmm, this is where it gets weird. I
found the marriage certificate easy enough, but other than that,
the woman doesn't seem to exist. It's damn peculiar. It's almost
like someone had erased her past... or more like she never had
one." She shrugged. "I don't know. It's beyond my resources, at
the moment, and I suppose it would no longer serve any purpose to
look."
"So that's that," Akane said.
"Yes," Kasumi agreed. "If the matter does come to light, though,
the Tendou family honor will be stained."
Nabiki blew air out of her nose, slightly irritated at her
sister's traditional views. "Well, I wouldn't worry. It'd be a
hell of a coincidence if we ran into him while anyone who would
care is still alive."
To that, the others had nothing to say.
____________________
[September 1, 2003]
Toufuu paced in the den of his house. He checked his watch.
<Five minutes to go. Kamisama, I don't think I was this nervous
around Kasumi.>
He walked into the kitchen and took the singing kettle off the
stove, placing it on a divot in the middle of a tea tray. Picking
up the tray, he moved back into the den, setting the tray on the
low table. As he stood, several soft knocks sounded on the door.
Taking a deep breath and letting it out, Toufuu opened the front
door and took a good look at the woman standing there. <Yes,
Mother was right. She looks just like Ranma's girl form in the
face.>
"Saotome-san?"
"Hai. Ono-sensei?"
Toufuu smiled and nodded, stepping back and allowing Nodoka to
enter.
"I thank you for seeing me," Nodoka said.
"Of course."
They took seats, and Toufuu served tea. After a moment, Nodoka
spoke.
"Is... is my son here?"
Toufuu sighed. <The timing of this stinks.> "No, Saotome-san, he
isn't. In fact, he no longer lives here."
Nodoka wilted. "Oh."
"You see," Toufuu smiled warmly, "he's opening his own practice."
She looked at Toufuu in confusion. "Anou, practice?"
This time, Toufuu was confused. "Didn't Mother tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
Toufuu grimaced. <Thanks, Mom!> "Ranma just finished his
residency. He's a fully-licensed physician; a GP, in fact."
Nodoka was stunned into silence.
"Saotome-san?"
She shook her head. "A... a doctor?" she squeaked.
Toufuu nodded. "I'd assumed Mother had said so."
A nervous gulp of tea later, Nodoka said, "It never came up. We
became... distracted over her photographs."
"Oh, yes," he chuckled. "Mother *loves* her photos."
"But... but what about his Art?"
"Martial arts, you mean? He still practices, and it's still very
important to him, although it's not the center of his life as it
once was. He's quite a formidable martial artist, though."
Nodoka was frowning heavily at her tea.
"Is something wrong, Saotome-san?"
She looked up. "Ranma is the only heir to the Saotome Ryuu of
Musabetsu Kakutou. This is a serious problem."
For the first time, Toufuu truly noticed the odd bundle she'd
been carrying and was now clutching. He sighed as he wearily
leaned back into the couch. "I see that we have much to discuss
about *why* he is where he is in his life and *why* he made
certain decisions."
Nodoka assumed a neutral expression. "I thank you, Ono-sensei. I
would very much like to know why he was diverted from the Art."
He looked at her warily and chose his next words carefully. "I
believe most of the, ah, responsibility lies with... well, with
his father."
Nodoka's neutral expression faltered. "Genma?"
He nodded. "From what I can gather and from reading between the
lines, Ranma suffered greatly under his father, in one way or
another."
"I... see." A sadness settled over Nodoka's features.
"Most of the things he went through, I'll let him explain, if he
will. And there are things only he should speak of. I can,
however, give you a small taste of what it must've been like. Let
me tell you about the Nekoken..."
____________________
[September 14, 2003]
"You've done well in your training, but one of the primary ways
of avoiding being hit first is being able to sense when someone
is sneaking up on you or is hidden from view, waiting, for
example, in ambush."
Ranma, in full martial arts-sensei mode, stopped pacing and faced
his yawning wife. He smirked. "Are we sweepy, Wyouko-chan?"
Ryouko looked at him with bleary eyes. "What's so special about
seven in the morning, especially on a Sunday?" she muttered.
"Aaahhh! Let me tell what it was like on the road in my youth!
Oh," he sang, "I'd get kicked awake every morning at sunrise, and
my old man would try to pound me into the ground. Oh, the joy of
battle at the break of day!"
Ryouko gave her husband the "Yeah, right" look, and Ranma
laughed. "Well... maybe it wasn't *that* much fun, but we do have
lots to do today, so we're gonna do this now and spend the rest
of the day whipping the place into shape."
Ryouko grunted.
"Now close your eyes, count to fifty, and try to reach out with
your senses. I won't try to erase my presence, but I will move
silently to some part of the yard. Try to locate me."
Closing her eyes, Ryouko began to count aloud. Ranma rolled his
eyes. <This isn't "Hide and Seek",> he thought as he smiled.
Ryouko reached fifty and grew very still. She tried to fall into
the necessary mindset, but this spiritual stuff was always
difficult for her. She was far more physically inclined. She
sighed aloud and tried again.
<Wait! Was that...?> Ryouko fluttered in teleport and appeared in
one corner of the yard, making a grab... at nothing.
"Eh?" She turned around and saw Ranma standing where she'd last
seen him. "Oh, you sneak! You circled around on me!"
Ranma sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Ah, well...
Actually, I never moved."
"ARGH!!" Ryouko flew at him, and Ranma hightailed around the
enclosed yard.
"Hey! OWW! HEY!!"
Ryouko was firing little pinpoints of orange energy at Ranma's
derriere, and while they did no damage, they stung like hell.
After a couple of circuits, she chased her husband into the
clinic and tackled him in the waiting room. Or, more likely, he
allowed himself to be safely tackled. They ended up in a heap on
the dusty floor, Ryouko on top.
Ranma smirked up at his wife. "Awake, yet?"
His arms were pinned above his head, but that put Ryouko in an
awkward position, her breasts dangling in Ranma's face. He
playfully bit at them.
"Oi! Your insatiable, you know that?" Ryouko playfully chastised.
"And you're not?"
"Well... Shall we take this upstairs?"
"Hmmm, everything's still covered in dust."
"Rats!"
~~~~~~~
Later that morning, Ryouko was putting away their clothes and
other personal effects after having vacuumed the place. It was
remarkably clean, once the dust was gone. Ryouko hadn't been
looking forward to scrubbing the room down, and she was glad that
it wasn't necessary. She stopped while going through a box of her
husband's clothes.
"Ara?"
Ryouko fingered the rough weave of an old piece of clothing, torn
and abraded and looking very much the worse for wear. She held it
up.
<Looks like it's ready for the trashcan.> She wadded it up and
was about to throw it in a large plastic bag, but reconsidered.
<It had been folded up carefully. Does he want to keep it? Ewww.
Why?>
She walked out of the bedroom and went down the stairs. She
finally found Ranma in the examination room, looking over the
examining table with a critical eye.
"How's it going?"
"Fine. This old table's seen better days, but it'll have to do
until we can afford a new one."
Ryouko looked at the aged fixture of steel and vinyl. "Mom, er,
Washuu might be able to come up something you'd like. You *know*
she thinks you hung the moon." She rolled her eyes in
exasperation.
Ranma straightened up from his examination and laughed, but
Ryouko's bundle caught his eye. "What've ya got, there?"
"Huh? Oh." She held the worn tunic up. "I've never seen this
before. Did you want to keep it?"
Ranma sucked air. "Yes, I do." He gently took the article of
clothing from his wife, also fingering the texture of the rough
weave. "Liu," he said softly.
"As in the old Chinese woman from just after you fell in the
pool?"
"Yeah."
She watched the play of emotions across Ranma's face. First,
there was the distant look of remembrance. Then a sad look took
over, and his eyes became moist. Last was a hard look of abrupt
determination.
"Kamisama! All this time I can't believe I haven't thought to
visit her or to at least let her know I was all right!"
Ranma met Ryouko's eyes.
"We have the time. Call Ryou-ou-ki. We're going on a little trip
tonight."
Ryouko nodded, reaching out to embrace her beloved.
~~~~~~~
Carrying her husband, Ryouko materialized about two kilometers
straight up in the night sky over Nerima. She made three more
two-kilometer jumps until she made visual contact with Ryou-ou-ki
in starship mode.
After phasing in on the command deck, she released Ranma, who was
busy taking in a large lungful of air.
"You okay?"
"The air was starting to get a little thin."
She patted him on the back and then addressed the ship.
"Geosynchronous orbit, Ryou-ou-ki!"
"MIYA!"
There was no sensation as the crystalline ship smoothly rose out
of Earth's atmosphere. Ryouko had been watching Ranma and was
pleased to note no reaction from him at Ryou-ou-ki's cry.
"You're getting better."
"Eh?"
"Ryou-ou-ki."
"Oh. I guess I'm getting to where I can tell her voice from that
of a ca-ca-- feline's."
Ryouko snorted in amusement and turned back to her ship. "Ryou-
ou-ki, display a map of Asia, simulated daylight."
On the main view screen, a photographic representation of the
Asian continent appeared, color and brightness adjusted to the
daytime norm.
"What now?" Ryouko asked.
"Uh... I can't tell where anything is. Where are the country
lines and stuff?"
Ryouko huffed. "Do you have political boundary information, Ryou-
ou-ki?"
"MIYA!" Bright lines outlining the various Asian countries
appeared over the image.
"Oh, that's better. Um... gimme the mountain area just, um, East
of Tibet," Ranma said. The image zoomed in, and Ranma walked up
to the screen and pointed. "This mountain range." Ryou-ou-ki
complied.
"Hmmm..." His eyes locked on a collection of small bluish-gray
dots, and Ranma touched the screen there. "Gimme this area in
detail." The image zoomed in on a collection of small pools, a
little over a hundred or so. Ranma stood there for some time,
looking at the image.
"Ryou-ou-ki," Ryouko said, "give us a better angle and include
any structures."
The image tilted and zoomed in a little closer, showing the
bodies of water from the side with varying numbers of bamboo
poles sticking up and a small building in the foreground.
"What is this place, Ranma?"
Ranma let out the breath he'd been holding. "Jusenkyou."
Ryouko stared. "So that's where..."
"Yeah."
Man and wife were silent for a time, until Ryouko said, "We could
go back there, if you want."
"I want to, but Liu is more important. Let's see her first. Ryou-
ou-ki, back the image up and include, say, three or four roads
out in all directions."
Ryou-ou-ki complied, and Ranma studied the picture carefully.
"There's the entrance. I *think* I jumped the road there, where
it bends, and set off over the ground. Hmmm..." He made a choice
and pointed at a road. "Follow this road north."
The screen centered on the unpaved dirt track and slowly moved in
the indicated direction. After a minute, a village appeared at
the top of the screen, and Ranma looked for any familiar
landmarks.
"Hold here and zoom in on the village."
Ranma searched his memory for details to match the layout of the
village. Eventually, he sighed and turned to his wife. "I can't
make anything out of this. How much better can Ryou-ou-ki see?"
Ryouko smirked. "As good as you want. Ryou-ou-ki, tour the main
road and look from side to side at the fronts of the buildings."
The screen rushed in, and Ranma felt his stomach lurch. The
picture bounced to a stop at normal eye level above the road. The
image panned back and forth as it moved at a normal walking speed
through the town.
"How can she do this?!" Ranma asked, without looking away.
"Um... I think it's got something to do with reflections from a
theoretical plane in subspace... or something."
Ranma spared her a brief, amused glance.
"Hey, ask Washuu," Ryouko said in disgust. "I just use the stuff,
not build it."
"Riiight," Ranma said as he watched the nickel tour of downtown.
"Wait! Stop there!" Ranma gazed hard at one building, but the
angle was bad. He put his finger on the structure in question.
"Front on this one." The screen snapped down the road and a worn,
wooden facade came into view.
"Yatta! That's Long's Ramen Shop! The best, and only, restaurant
in town, heh!"
Excited now, Ranma gave more instructions. "Back the picture up
and move north down the road for about four or five kilometers.
Look for a two-wheel track going off the main road to the right.
There should be a large, off-white stone on one corner of the
intersection."
Ryou-ou-ki's screen moved up the road, stopping occasionally to
examine a side road. She eventually stopped and zoomed in a
particular spot.
"Miya?"
"Side view, please, Ryou-ou-ki," Ryouko asked.
As the image tilted, a beige-colored marker stone stretched from
a circle on the screen into a pillar. Ranma breathed in relief.
"That's it. Follow the track, and the house is on the left." As
the image backed up a little and moved off the main road, Ranma
frowned at the fallow fields.
"Why haven't the fall crops been planted?"
The house quickly came into view and Ranma gasped. The building
had deteriorated considerably, and Ranma was quite afraid he was
too late in coming to check on her. He turned and looked
meaningfully at his wife. She walked over, a concerned look on
her face, and took his hand.
"Take us down, Ryou-ou-ki," she said softly, staring into Ranma's
worried eyes.
"Miya."
~~~~~~~
Ranma and Ryouko shimmered into view about four meters in front
of the dilapidated farmhouse. Ryou-ou-ki began to fold back into
herself, and Ranma watched, having only seen the procedure once
before, on his and Ryouko's honeymoon. Shortly, Ryou-ou-ki
plopped to the ground in cabbit form and leaped up to Ryouko's
shoulder, draping herself over it. Chuckling, Ranma reached over
and scratched her under the chin.
"I'm gonna buy you a giant bag of carrots for your help today."
"MIYA!!" Ryou-ou-ki was, needless to say, ecstatic.
Ranma turned back to the house and shuddered at the lack of care,
but hope sprang up in his heart as he got the subtle impression
that someone still lived there. He clasped Ryouko's hand tightly
and walked up to the door. He hesitated for just a second before
knocking loudly.
After several moments, the sounds of someone moving around inside
could be heard through the rickety door. Steps approached, and
the couple could hear a bolt being drawn. The door creaked open
and a tired old woman looked out, blinking and speaking in
Chinese.
"Yes?"
Ranma's mouth worked as he took in how much she had apparently
aged since he last saw her. There were still hints of the
elderly, but vital, woman he'd known, but times had obviously
been hard. The guilt Ranma had hoped could be washed away with
this visit rose to smother him.
"L-L-Liu-san!"
The old woman started and peered closely at the gentleman at her
doorstep. "Ranma...?" The two simply looked at one another for a
few heartbeats, but tears started running down the old woman's
face, and Ranma's soon followed. Liu hobbled the two steps to her
once son, and she buried her face in his chest, sobbing and
choking. Ryouko looked on quietly, and the trio held the tableau
for as long as they wanted... or needed.
~~~~~~~
Liu led her guests back into the main room, and she hobbled
towards her chair, favoring her left leg. Ranma noticed.
"What wrong, Liu-san? Hurt leg?"
The old woman eased herself down and looked up at Ranma. "About a
year after you left, child. Old Long put me up in his restaurant
while I recovered, and I tried to work the farm after that, but
it was just too hard. I just couldn't get around as well as I
once could. Long sends his grandchildren over to look in on me
from time to time, but ever since that business with the
Nyuuchiezuu, the villagers have been a little shy about
associating with me. Long, of course, doesn't give a damn, and I
owe him and his wife more than I can ever repay-- OOF! Ahhh..."
Liu stretched her game leg out over a threadbare ottoman.
"Let Ranma see," he said.
Liu looked at him strangely. "Why?"
Ranma grinned smugly and pulled a business card out of his
wallet, giving it to Liu. She studied it for a moment, and then
looked up. "Very nice. What does it say?"
He smacked his face with his hand while Ryouko looked on in
confusion. "It say Ranma is doctor. Give place and what can do."
Liu's eyes bugged out. "You're a doctor?!"
"Hai!"
Liu started crying again, and Ranma waved his arms in panic.
"Nani-o, er, what wrong now? Oh, no cry! No cry!"
Grabbing a nearby cane, Liu beaned him on the head. Ranma just
blinked, and Ryouko giggled.
"Silly boy! I'm crying because I'm happy!"
"Oh... Oh! Is good!" Ranma beamed, then looked at her in
amusement. "Now, lift skirt for strange man? No?"
Liu cackled and let Ranma examine her leg, stuffing his business
card away in a pocket. In the meantime, she rested her eyes on
her other guest.
"I'm such a terrible host. My apologies, pretty one."
"Uh... she no speak Han." He turned to Ryouko and said, "Liu
apologizes for being a poor host."
"Oh!" Ryouko smiled at Liu and waved her hands in a dismissive
gesture. Liu smiled and nodded back. Ranma ran his hands over
Liu's left leg, assessing the old damage and what deterioration
had occurred since the initial injury.
"So, Ranma, this your girlfriend?" Liu asked.
Ranma smirked and held up his left hand, showing off the gold
band. "Is wife. Five year. Her name Ryouko."
Liu's eyes lit up. "So you *have* been busy! Any babies, yet?"
Ranma blinked and said, "Uh... no. Not try, yet."
"Well, you've got some time, but don't wait too long."
Ranma nodded and began massaging the large muscles of Liu's leg.
"Ask her to come over here so I can give her a hug."
"Liu wants to give you a hug," Ranma said without looking up from
his work.
Ryouko's eyes bulged for a second. "Um, okay." She hesitantly
walked over and bent down to the old woman. Liu gave her a light
embrace and patted her on the back.
"Tell Ryouko that I expect lots of babies."
Ranma snorted and said, "Liu says she wants us to have lots of
babies."
Ryouko blushed furiously, and Liu noticed and smirked. "Ye-yeah.
Su-sure," Ryouko stuttered. Ranma looked at Liu.
"Turn so right, um, side up." Liu obliged, and Ranma started
lightly poking a few pressure points as he continued to massage.
"Hmmm... Not bad as could be, but still problem. Liu-san need...
no know word." Ranma thought for a second. "Liu-san need work
leg, um, kind of way... 'Chikushou! What is the word for
*therapy*?'"
"I think I know what you mean, child, but I don't get much of
that around here."
Ranma looked at the old woman thoughtfully. "Ranma maybe have
idea. We talk tomorrow." He smirked. "Old womans must sleep."
Liu laughed and made as if to bean him again.
----------
Hsieh Tien listlessly walked down the road toward her village,
occasionally kicking up small clouds of dust that dully shimmered
in the early morning sun. Her eyes narrowed as the marker stone
for old woman Wong's place, who'd caused her so much trouble
eight years ago, came into view. Life for a Nyuuchiezuu
sympathizer was hard enough, but the uproar from the failed
capture of the foreign male had put her in a bad light with her
benefactors and had made her almost an outcast in her own
village. She wished she'd been enough of a warrior to join the
Nyuuchiezuu. She spat on the road in self-disgust.
Her grumbling abruptly stopped as she noticed a strange man
walking around the part of the property near the road. As she
approached, the man looked up and waved.
"Hello," he said in accented Chinese.
Tien was proud of herself for not gasping aloud. "He-Hello. Are
you a friend of Wong Liu's?" <It's the male!>
He nodded.
"Here for long?"
"Two day, maybe."
"I see. Nice meeting you."
"Yes. Good day."
Tien walked off, a new spring in her step and a sly smile playing
with her mouth. Once out of view of the male, she began to trot.
A Nyuuchiezuu runner was due in the village shortly, and if she
hurried...
----------
It was a fine and sparkling morning in Nerima, and Kasumi had
taken the opportunity to enjoy the fine weather with an early
visit to the open markets. Strolling back towards home, she
hummed to herself and happily greeted her neighbors and
acquaintances. All in all, a pleasant scene to warm the cockles
of anyone's heart... or so it appeared.
If one were capable of observing Kasumi's emotions as a tangible
object, one would observe a grayness eating at the periphery of
the woman's joy. It wasn't debilitating, and it rarely showed,
but it was there, nonetheless. If one could discern the differing
levels or shades of the grayness and if one could put a name to
such, one might discover small measures of loneliness,
resignation, sadness, and, maybe, a touch of depression.
Of course, none of this was apparent, even to her family, save
her middle sister, perhaps, who had made a life's study of
reading people and their states of mind. No, only if one had
studied this particular woman in depth would they be capable of
taking note of the slight limpness in certain of her movements
when alone, the fractional delay of her smile, or the
immeasurable dimming of the flicker of the joy of life in her
eyes.
So it was that Kasumi continued down the road to her home,
smiling and greeting people as she happened upon them, carrying
her groceries, and mentally going through a tired and well-worn
routine of deciding on meals for her... no, her father's home.
And it was into this state that something different intruded and,
as it would play out, something that would, in the long run,
improve her life by an order of magnitude. But at this time, as
she read the banner across the front of the long-abandoned Nerima
Clinic, she would only be aware of the future trouble her family
could expect.
"Oh, my! It's reopening! I wonder..." She looked both ways and
crossed the street, her heart suddenly racing as she hoped a
certain doctor she'd entertained notions about had returned.
She stepped up the short stairway leading up to the clinic door
and gasped, the day suddenly turning cooler and a trifle less
bright.
----------
*Back on Wednesday. Clinic will open on Monday, September 22nd,*
the small sign taped to the door read. Nodoka sighed, bowing her
head and laying her hand against the locked entrance. <More
waiting...> Her jaw firmed. <No matter. It's only two more days.>
She looked up at the plaque declaring that the physician for the
clinic was Hakubi Ranma. <Oh, my son. I'm so proud, but... what
will become of our family? Its honor?> She frowned slightly. <And
what is it that's so terrible that even your adopted father was
afraid to speak of it? Danced around it, saying much and telling
nothing?>
She dropped her hand and moved down the short stairway. As she
walked back up the lane, the rippling in the hot air seemed to
swallow her whole.
----------
"Please, Liu-san. Think about?"
"I'm not leaving my home, Ranma. I... I wouldn't know what to do
with myself."
Ranma sighed and looked out the window he'd repaired earlier that
morning, looking at the glorious colors of the sunset. He'd spent
a lot of his day repairing things around the property. It seemed
no one else cared enough to do it.
Ryouko squeezed his hand, and Ranma sighed again.
----------
Some distance away from the Wong farm, a fourteen-hour distance
at a steady lope, other, far more ancient eyes regarded the
setting sun, but with a different emotion. At long last, a minor
stain on her family's honor was about to be removed.
Cologne, Elder and Matriarch of the Nyuuchiezuu, turned from the
display of Nature's artistry and entered the hut she shared with
her great granddaughter.
Shampoo, said great granddaughter, was busy going over last
minute checks to her weapons. Hearing her relative pogoing in on
her staff, she looked up and smiled.
"Eager for the hunt, I see, great granddaughter. Good, good."
Shampoo simply let her teeth show in response before returning to
her weapons. Cologne regarded her for a few moments before
speaking again.
"I think I will come along."
Shampoo's head whipped around in surprise. "Please, great
grandmother! This is my mission, my honor! I must be the one!!"
Cologne smiled and raised a placating hand. "Calm yourself,
child. I will go only as an observer. You are still in charge."
"Thank you," Shampoo said in obvious relief. "I want to be the
one to bring this male in." She clenched her fist in anger. "I
can't believe he eluded me for a month, especially at Jusenkyou,
so near to our home."
"Perhaps he will be good enough for you to marry. You are not
getting any younger, dear, and, as the foreigners would say,
'Your clock is ticking,'" Cologne mused.
A strange expression and a bit of anticipation flashed across her
face, but she swiftly quelled it. "First things first, great
grandmother. Then we shall see."
"Quite."
Cologne walked out of the hut and called, "DOWEL!"
A brutish, mannish woman jogged up, a platform and chair strapped
to her back. With practiced ease, Cologne hopped into the air and
landed lightly in the seat, setting her staff across her knees.
Shampoo exited the hut in all her battle finery, looking every
inch a leader of her tribe. When Cologne had called for Dowel,
the remaining members of their expeditionary force heeded the
call and had already assembled in front of the hut. The Amazons
looked back and forth between Shampoo and Cologne, and Shampoo
frowned as she looked up at the ancient and shrunken woman.
Cologne merely raised an eyebrow at her great granddaughter.
Nodding, Shampoo turned and addressed the group, clearly
demonstrating who was in charge.
"We go."
----------
In a cozy but not too small office building of a major Tokyo
financial concern, the buzzing of the telephone interrupted the
thoughts of one of the firm's employees on the fast track to
success. Nabiki scowled, still not quite alert from a bout with
her periodic insomnia, and picked up the receiver.
"Hai. Tendo desu."
"Nabiki-chan, it's Kasumi."
Nabiki blinked. Kasumi almost never called her at work, unless...
"Hey, Oneechan. What's wrong?"
"Well... I thought you'd like to know that the Clinic is
reopening."
<What the?> "Okay, that's nice. What's so..." Nabiki paused as
several pieces fell into place. "It's not Toufuu-sensei, is it?"
she asked quietly.
"No."
"Damn!" Nabiki rubbed her forehead with her free hand. <This is
going to be ugly.>
----------
Old Long happened to have been looking out the window of his
ramen shop early that morning when a party of Nyuuchiezuu
warriors blew through the center of town, heading north. He'd
heard that Liu's charge had returned for a visit, and he could
easily guess the Amazons' destination.
"Take care, old friend."
____________________
END HEARTS' HEALING 2 - THE PATHS OF HONOR, PART 1