I've been asked to repost Returning Home, so I'll do so over the
course of the next week. If you've got any problems with this, you
have my humble apologies.
-----
Returning Home
Part 1
By David Farr
Characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi.
This story and other of my works my be found at:
http://homepage.ihug.co.nz/~djfarr/
*****
The streets of Nerima enjoyed another in a long string of silent days.
Well, not totally silent, people still strode purposefully on errands,
cars still cruised by and bells of bikes still chimed happily. The peace
of these streets was a peace that the town had almost managed to stop
missing after a year of insane martial arts antics involving some of its
youths. Insurance rates were back down, construction charges were once
again reasonable and a few of the lingerie shops were still having sales
after finding themselves overstocked.
It was as if the linchpin in the cycle of madness had gone missing,
sending its components flying to the four corners of the world.
Surprisingly, that wasn't far from the truth.
Only a few of pedestrians, those that were in the know, worried when the
air above the road shimmered and became glassy. It wasn't a heat effect,
no, it really did look like a pane of water hovered about a meter off the
ground. The phenomenon hung there for a few seconds, then twisted itself
into a clear and silent whirlpool hanging space.
There was a strange sound, part pop and part hum, and a young man was
throw from the vortex. He flew through the air, landing on his feet, then
propelling himself into a flip to account for the momentum he had picked
up. Gracefully he landed in a crouch and with intense blue eyes he
scanned the area. Clothed in heavy dark cloth that hugged his form the
young man gave the appearance of a warrior or mercenary from a war movie.
This image was utterly ruined by the small baby strapped in a knapsack on
his back.
Moments passed before the vortex ejected another. This one was a girl,
no more than five, maybe less, wearing clothes similar to the man's. If
it wasn't for her dirty red hair, the girl could have passed for the
man's daughter, if he'd had her when he was still a teenager. She landed
with expert ease behind the man, stabilising herself with a spear at least
twice her height. Her weapon gleamed in the sunlight as the vortex
ejected one final person before snapping shut.
The woman fell into a roll as she struck the ground, coming up next to
the man, facing in the other direction. She was as serious and dangerous
looking as both of her companions, although like the man she carried no
weapons. Her black hair was cropped short and just as grimy as her
clothes.
All three stood and looked around, their soot smeared faces emotionless
as their eyes probed the area. For moments none uttered a word.
"Looks safe," the man spoke in language that none of the locals could
have understood, as it had never before been spoken on that world, let
alone this small town. He turned to find the woman's gaze fixed on a
sign. A sign sitting outside a nearby store had captured her attention.
Obviously it had been closed for some time, but the sign still hung above
it.
"Ucchan's," the girl read. "What's that papa?" She turned expectantly to
the man, whose jaw was currently hanging open.
"We're home," the woman whispered. She turned to the man and
enthusiastically threw her arms around him in a bear hug. "I can't
believe it, we're finally HOME!"
"Careful, the baby," the man croaked, the sound of his joints cracking
almost drowning out his words.
*****
"..... School of Indiscriminate Grappling," the girl read, staring up at
the sign above the gate. The two large doors looked much as the young man
and woman remembered them, although the memories were hazy at best. The
young girl had never stood before them.
"Why do you have to read every sign we see?" asked her father.
The girl gave him a cheeky smile and poked her tongue at him, then
turned to gaze up at her mother. The baby was now cradled protectively in
her arms, sleeping peacefully. "Are we gonna go in?"
Smiling the woman nodded. "Yes, someone might be home."
"Jeez, I hope your old man isn't mad at us." The man unconsciously
shifted his stance so he could play with his pigtail and stand on one
foot. "Don't really want to go through one of his fits."
"He wasn't that bad," the woman stared wistfully at the gate. "It'll be
good to be home, no matter how much time has passed."
"Well, lets go in!" the girl exclaimed. Hopping from foot to foot
excitedly.
"Impatient as always," the man chuckled, and stepped forward to push
lightly at the gate. It swung open, revealing the house beyond.
A woman stood on the porch, dusting away with a broom, as the group
stepped through the gate. She looked mature, wearing a housewife's
outfit, but still her face showed that she was too young for the job. She
looked up and smiled as they approached.
"Hello may I help you?" she inquired, her voice sweet and friendly.
"Sheese, she don't even recognise us," the man complained in fluent
Japanese.
The woman glared at him, almost shooting dangers. "It was been a while
you know, Ranma. You can't blame her for not recognising her own sister."
The broom fell from Kasumi's hands as her face lit up in surprise and
delight. "RANMA, AKANE! YOU"RE BACK!"
The crashing of feet from inside drowned out the clattering of the broom
hitting the ground. It was only moments before the door to the house was
thrown open. A young woman with brown hair and a boyish face lead the
charge, followed by a fat old man wearing glasses and a white gi and a
slightly younger man with a brown moustache.
The rush skidded to a halt as the trio took in the sight before them.
Ranma and Akane were back, but very different, older, much more mature
than they expected. And they had two kids with them. Everyone
started talking at once.
"QUIET!" Ranma yelled, silencing everyone. "Sheesh, what a welcome
home."
"So where've you been Ranma?" Nabiki was the first to break the silence.
Ranma grinned. "Now that's a long story..."
"About five years long," Akane interrupted, "and we'd like a bath before
we even try to start telling it."
"Oh yeah, a bath would be great," Ranma sighed, wistfully staring into
the distance.
"Of course," Kasumi fussed. "You're all wearing enough dirt to cover the
gardens. Off to the furo with you." She waved them into the house.
*****
Kasumi hummed happily as she walked along the corridor towards the bath.
It was good that the two were back, even if there were many unanswered
questions. There was no point in worrying about it all, she would do what
she could and that was all that was needed.
She found a very unhappy looking child standing leaning against the
doorframe to the outer bathroom. The little girl had cleaned up well and
Kasumi could easily see both Ranma and Akane in her. Red hair like that
could only have come from Ranma's female side, but those eyes were
definitely her sister's. Only time would tell which parent the child's
body would mimic. Her weapon, a long pole with a spear head at the top
was held closely within her closed arms, one hand holding it tight.
"Hello," Kasumi greeted the child warmly, smiling one of her most
comforting smiles. "We didn't get properly introduced earlier. I'm
Kasumi, and you are?"
The girl shifted quickly and Kasumi suddenly found herself at the wrong
end of the spear. "I'm Ukyo Saotome of the clan Saotome, and I'm not
going to let you near my parents!"
Kasumi added the child's comments to her long list of questions to be
asked later and held out the bundle she carried. "I was just bringing
them some fresh clothes from upstairs. I thought it might be nice for
them to have something clean to wear." She purposefully ignored the fact
that young Ukyo was wearing a perfectly clean set of the clothes she'd
been wearing before.
"Ummm," Ukyo seemed caught off-guard. "I don't think they need them."
Kasumi increased the brightness of her smile. "Why don't you ask them?"
Ukyo nodded. "Okay," she threw open the door and stuck her head in.
"Mom, dad, there's a woman here who says she has some clothes for you!"
"Is that you Kasumi?" Akane called from beyond the inside door.
"Yes it is! I thought you might like some a change of clothes."
"Thanks, just leave them out there!"
"Okay," Kasumi slipped past the spear-wielding child and placed the two
bundles of folded clothes on the bench. "Shall I take Ukyo into the
kitchen to get her something to eat?" Behind her Ukyo perked up, she had
her father's appetite.
"If you don't mind!"
Inside, Akane held her baby son and smiled across the furo at the man
she loved smiled. "Its nice having someone to care about us again, isn't
it?"
Ranma nodded, and slid further into the warm waters. "I'd almost
forgotten what civilisation felt like."
Akane's expression turned grim. "How do you think Ukyo's going to cope?
She's hardly had a normal upbringing."
"Same as we've always coped, as a family." Ranma closed his eyes and
sighed. "Its not as if either of us had a normal childhood."
"I know, but neither of us were fighting a war for the first four years
of our life."
*****
Nabiki, Soun and Genma knelt around the table as Kasumi lead Ukyo into
the room. She'd failed to convince the child to leave behind the spear
even though it meant the child had to carry her food bowl and cutlery in
one hand. The three about the table fell silent as the pair entered.
Kasumi's smile didn't falter, but her eyes showed her disapproval of
their sudden silence. "Ukyo, these are your Aunt Nabiki, and Grandfathers
Genma and Soun."
Soun immediately burst into tears. "My daughter's had a child!"
"Be serious father," Nabiki drawled. "She can't possibly be Akane's
daughter."
The tip of Ukyo's spear materialised next to Nabiki's head. "TAKE THAT
BACK!"
Gently Nabiki pushed the weapon away. "Point that somewhere else kid,"
she said faltly. "Akane and Ranma haven't been away long enough to have a
baby, let alone a child your age."
"What, you don't think five years is enough, sister dearest?" Ranma
quipped from the doorway.
He and Akane stood there, smiling at the scene before them. Both had
changed into the clothes Kasumi had supplied which, with the clean up,
went some way to restoring the two to their teenage appearance. Still,
there was something about them, in the eyes and the way they stood, that
showed they were no longer the teenagers that had fought almost daily in
the Tendo house.
Nabiki turned to regard Ranma. "It's only been three months Ranma."
Ranma shrugged. "For you maybe, five years for us." He walked over and
dropped into a place at the table, Akane followed him carrying their son
and Ukyo fell place on his other side. She immediately started inhaling
her food.
"What do you mean?" Nabiki inquired patronisingly. It was obvious she
thought Ranma was an idiot, but then she had always thought that.
"Well where we've been time goes faster than it does here, it has to do
with what the prof called trans-tempar... trans-temp..."
Akane looked up from the baby. "Trans-temporal disharmony," she
supplied.
"And that means?" Genma asked, leaning forward.
"That time passes faster in some worlds than others." Akane smiled
cheekily.
"Great circular argument Akane," Nabiki deadpanned.
"So where have you been?" Kasumi asked brightly. Nothing seemed to get
her down. "Father, do stop crying and pay attention," she added to the
side.
Soun sniffled a few times and stopped the waterworks. "Sorry Kasumi."
"Where've we been?" Ranma leant back and stared up at the roof,
scratching the back of his head. "There was that world with all the
robots that hated us 'cause we walked on two legs."
"Or there was that beautiful palatial world where everything sparkled
like diamonds," Akane sighed.
Ranma's brow furrowed. "Wasn't that the one where all the people where
inhabited by demons 'cause they were so decadent."
Akane nodded saddly. "That's right, such a pity, I really loved it
there."
"The candy world! The candy world!" Ukyo cried, jumping up and down,
waving her empty bowl.
Ranma shot his daughter a dirty look. "Trust you to remember that. All I
can remember of that trip is your stomach ache."
Akane smiled at the confused faces of her family. "We got kind of
lost--"
"More so than Ryoga," Ranma interjected, grinning.
"And ended up on this other world that was earth, but at the same time
wasn't." Akane continued. "Anyway, we helped the people there with a
problem they were having with a tyrant. The battle was long and well, we
kind of got close."
Ranma nodded. "Yeah, having to rely so much on each other does that." He
and Akane turned and shared a warm gaze.
"I think I'm going to be sick," Nabiki murmured.
Akane broke off and returned her attention to her family. "Anyway, after
the battle a group of their scientists researched us and our world
travelling. It took them over a year to come up with something, and even
then they couldn't guarantee that we'd get home on the first try. "
"During which time we had this delightful urchin," Ranma mussed his
daughter's hair. "We spent a lot of time discussing whether or not we
wanted to take her with us or stay there and raise her there before
returning.
"Then the professor who'd made the breakthrough told us that time passed
differently in the worlds, and he had no way of telling how long it had
been here. We decided we couldn't risk coming back and finding you all
old, so we spent some time training with Ukyo strapped to our backs, then
jumped."
Akane nodded. "But each jump seemed to take us further from home. We
spent years travelling, hoping that we'd get home. And during that time
we had another child.
Ranma took over the tale again. "Thankfully Ukyo was old enough to help
me defend her mother, not that Akane was helpless, but the extra pair of
hands was appreciated." Ukyo grinned happily at his compliment.
Sighing Akane looked down at the table. "Somehow we always ended up in
worlds where there were problems and battles. Even if we found an Eden
there was always a snake."
The table fell into an awkward silence.
"So what's this one's name?" Kasumi leant over and prodded the baby
Akane was holding. He immediately grabbed hold of her finger causing
Kasumi to wince slightly
Akane's motherly pride took over. "This is Ryoga."
"Oh, how cute." Kasumi cooed.
Nabiki raised one eyebrow. "Yeah, sure he's your's Ranma?" She
immediately found her pierced by twin glares from her sister and her lover.
"How did you come up with the name?" Kasumi was trying unsuccessfully to
get her finger back from the baby.
"No, Ranma suggested it."
Everyone turned to stare at the boy.
Ranma shrugged in answer. "Hey, he was my best enemy and friend. I
needed something to remind me of him."
"Same with Ukyo," Akane sighed. "Where are they anyway? We saw Ucchan's
was closed when we arrived."
Nabiki shrugged. "They were all off searching for the two of you last we
heard. We all made a pact, the moment we found anything about you, we'd
tell the others. Which reminds me, I've got some phone calls to make."
"Aww, I don't know if I'm ready for all of that again," Ranma
complained. "We just came through hell, I was hoping for some peace."
Nabiki stood, smiling one her patronising smiles. "Relax Ranma, most of
them are using voice mail. They probably won't receive the message for
days, and even then it'll be a while before they get back here."
"You said most of them," Akane pointed out. "Who isn't?"
Nabiki sighed theatrically. "The Kunos, they're paying for the voice
mailboxes and decided to upgrade their services to a call through
service. They always get any messages immediately. Besides which, we
promised and I'm not going to break this one for anyone."
"I'm sure your getting some sadistic pleasure out of this," Ranma shot
at her.
"Me?" Nabiki innocently asked, closing the door. Ukyo took this chance
to leap to her feet and toddle off to the kitchen.
Ranma sighed. "I suppose it wouldn't be home without them all."
Akane smiled. "That's true, I think we'd better get settled in before
they start arriving."
"Okay, I'll go set up our stuff." He turned to his father. "Pop we're
taking the guest room for us and the kids." He started towards the door.
"Where am I supposed to sleep?" the old man complained.
"Akane's old room," Ranma suggested, standing from the table.
"After I've cleared it out!" Akane snapped.
"But--" he was cut off by the sudden appearance behind him of Ukyo spear
in one hand, glass of water in the other. Giggling the little girl poured
the cold liquid over her grandfather.
"And you were worried about her," Ranma joked to Akane as he vanished
through the doorway.
*****
"Moshi moshi," the voice answered at the other end of the line.
"Nabiki Tendo? It is I, Tatewaki Kuno!" The young man announced.
"Oh, Kuno-baby, I've been waiting for your call. I suppose you've got
your message."
"Certainly. Is it true that my beloved Akane Tendo and the
pig-tailed-goddess have returned?"
"Well, yes, but--"
"Then inform them that I will be there shortly to free them from the
evil enchantments of that vile sorcerer Saotome!"
"Kuno! Listen!" Nabiki cried into the now dead line. "Damn, well I
suppose I'd better warn the lovebirds."
*****
Nabiki stopped at the doorway to the guestroom. Ranma hadn't been
kidding when he said he'd set up their stuff. The place looked like a
cross between a religious temple and a nursery from some science-fiction
show. Wards, statues and symbols adorned the room, and sitting in one
corner was the strangest cot she had ever seen. It was silvery and
metallic and low to the ground with low sides on wither side. Ryoga slept
happily in the cot, floating above the floor.
"Ah, Ranma?" Nabiki looked around the room. Ranma was kneeling next the
futons stuffing something into the pack that had earlier held the baby.
He looked up at her voice. "Yeah Nabiki?"
"Get superstitious all of a sudden?" she waved about the room.
"Seen to much not to believe," he commented. "Five years of running into
trouble Nabiki, it's a lot."
Nabiki nodded, remembering the year Ranma had been around, and trying to
imagine that run together constantly for almost five years. "Surely you
weren't constantly in trouble."
"Aw, naw, we would sometimes settle down somewhere for a few weeks or a
month. Especially when Akane was full term with Ryoga there," he nodded
to the sleeping baby. "But it's still a lot." A smile crept onto his
face. "Akane made it worthwhile though. Being with her is all I wanted,
then the kids came and things just got better."
Nabiki looked at her brother-in-law-to-be in a new light. "You've really
grown up Ranma."
"Thanks Nabs, it's good to hear you say that," he gave her a quirky
smile. "But you didn't come up here to talk about me."
Nabiki blinked in surprise. "Huh? Oh, yeah right. Kuno just called, he
said to tell 'his beloved Akane Tendo and the pig-tailed-goddess that he
come to free them from the vile Saotome,' or words to that effect. You
know how he is."
"You didn't tell him about the kids?" Ranma was frowning.
Nabiki shook her head sadly. "Sorry, he didn't give me a chance. Not
that it'd stop him, he'd just be mad for longer."
"And cooler when he got here," Ranma surmised. "Well, thanks for the
warning anyway."
"Anytime big brother." Nabiki smirked and left the room.
Ranma went back to work for a few seconds before her parting words sunk
in. "BIG BROTHER?!"
-----------
David Farr
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~djfarr/
djfarr@ihug.co.nz katsuhito@planetjurai.com
"Die-cast construction, it's a lost art."
- Optimus Primal, Beast Wars.