There are at least seventeen known ways for one person to die without having
another soul know. Of these means, fire is primary, followed by chemical
disposal. Some involve massive amounts of earth and water. One is by
flying out of the atmosphere, but is by far the least popular of the methods.
---
The first thought was, Who am I now?
The second was interrupted by a strangely familiar sensation, which had
associated itself with the letters PAIN. The connection was rather strong,
and she yelped. What came out was a rather sharp bleat.
The next thoughts became flooded with dissembling light, but not before she
caught a glimpse of some familiar faces and was only able to coherently
concoct, Oh, no, not again...
---
There was an unbelievable light in her eyes, he thought. A light he rarely
saw, and remembered mostly in deep dream. The eyes crinkled in a smile that
was frozen - caught, dynamically exploring new and fascinating facets of the
same happiness, much more than the corners of her mouth ever could.
Much to his surprise, it did not disappear when he sidled close, his face
right next to hers.
"She's... she's so pretty..." she murmurred.
"Seems like a pudgy midget," he countered, caressing a minute flailing arm.
"She has your arms, Akane." The finger was jerked back, close into range of
the small gaping mouth.
The sheen was on her cheeks. "And your stomach, Ranma."
"But I think she has my good looks," Tatewaki Kuno whispered, from behind them.
"Tatchi..." Akane murmurred again, and nuzzled the taller man's neck softly.
The trio centered their attentions once more upon the bundle between them,
blind and confused.
"Mom..." a weak voice spoke.
"Now, now, dear," finally Akane settled the baby back into the arms of her
mother, "mustn't strain yourself. Y'know... you were just about as
troublesome a delivery as this little one, here."
"I'm sure, mom." The new mother, Akemi Saotome nee Kuno, gave her
father-in-law a look which asked for location.
"He's outside, dear," Ranma mouthed, "I didn't think he'd be this nervous."
He stood up, and said to the Kunos, "I'll just go fetch Reimi."
The new father was standing and staring at the wall, which was not very
disconcerting to Ranma. He knew what thoughts were passing into his son's
head - responsibility was a large burden when one or two people suddenly
became a family of three. Akemi wanted to go to college - Reimi did not.
The issue of culpability was already a very dead horse.
He stepped close, and they shared a long glance, father to father, father to
son, son to son. Reimi nodded, bravely pushing his spectacles up the bridge
of his nose, took a deep breath, clasped his father on the shoulder and
walked past into the hospital room.
Ranma watched the eighteen-year-old cover years in his stride. He turned
and his thoughts turned to his granddaughter (granddaughter! so many at the
age of 42 should be so lucky!), only wishing that she'd survived the
childbirth, and watched their only son have children of his own. He took so
much after H-
He was almost plowed over.
Recovering quickly, he almost said, "What the-?", then almost said, "Ey,
Ryoga! Where'd you come from?", then amlost said, "Where did you come
from?" all of which died at the expression on Hibiki's face.
"She was right, she was," he said, looking manically at Ranma, then grabbed
him by the shoulders. "You-you know, solve it..."
Before he could mount any cohent retort, Ryoga had dragged him away.
---
It'd been a while, Ranma realized, when he was last at the Tendo-ke. The
house itself was still the pristine house that he could rarely remember in
his youth, full of holes and mallet wounds. The dojo was unkempt, however,
a situation all too familiar, but due now to natural means.
He never formally moved in again. Gods new how the old Tendo and the old
Saotome had forbade him to step into the house, but, by Happosai, he was the
rightful master of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, and so owned
the dojo itself. It had been quite a fight, and the feud of egos left the
building doubly in disuse.
However, with Ryoga and Kasumi living in the house as they had since, the
house was rarely in any spot of disarray. Since the day of little Nuriko's
birth, the Kunos had asked the Hibikis whether or not the new Saotome family
could stay with them. Ranma only needed to be reminded of how empty the
largish house became without his wife to pack his bags up and to lock up the
house.
Now he had the keys to the dojo, and morbid curiosity drove him to inspect
the ghosts that were haunting the old haunts.
He shook his head. That was a poor pun, he thought ruefully.
Kasumi now seemed calm - at least, not in any spurt of motherly chore.
Another poor word choice. He noticed immediately that the lock that heavily
hung on the chains barring the main door of the dojo were glinting sharply,
as were the chains themselves. The floor did not just seem cleaned - they
appeared as though they were varnished, polished to the edge of sheen. He
pulled back - indeed, the whole dojo seemed to glow, although the boards
were obviously rotten and old, moldy in parts.
It was as though she had made her son's place of death an ethereal shrine.
So it did not surprise Ranma, when he finally slid the door open, that the
ghost sat cross-legged in the middle of the hall. What did surprise him was
the nature of the ghost itself.
"Well," his female form, or at least its ghost told him, "about time you
came back."
"Don't tell me that you..." he started. It was not actually possible for
him to hurt her, he knew, but disrupting the coherence of its ki would
definitely be tougher to get out of than she would like.
She raised a translucent, phosphorescent hand. "No. This is not like your
wife." It did not sound contrite, rather factual. "I have no reason to
harm Ryoga and Kasumi's child."
"Why are you here, then?"
She touched the ground lightly with her other hand, bending at the knee to
do so. "We... all of us, are drawn here. There are many spirits inhabiting
this very space - the sword of the Tendo clan, in its shrine; Mrs. Tendo,
who had diligently kept watch over her daughters, and now waits for the
cycle to end; Happosai, watching as he always wanted to." Here she drifted
toward him, sailing around and about. He stood stock still and unappeased.
"Myself, in wait for you..."
"And what of Kuma?" he spoke softly.
She shook her head. "He is not here."
Ranma nodded tightly and grimly. He had always assumed that the young were
absolved of deep personal grudge, and so went on in the natural manner. He
said such.
Again, the redhaired apparition shook its head. "He had left, but he had
departed before. And now he returns."
Some shock. "What reason for someone such as a child to die and return to
the earth?"
"He did not wish to return."
"Then why?"
"He is Hibiki."
Ranma opened his mouth, but closed it in realization. "Good point."
"The spirit wanted release, dissipation," she continued. "But it haunts
still, as it did the first time."
"What do you mean?"
---
The years took their toll, as they often did, but the denizens of the Tendo
residence took their time in strides that took weeks to either side of destiny.
Ryoga concentrated his tour of Honshu for the magazine, stopping by at least
once per week to be with his wife, who felt new joy in raising a sweet
little girl. Akemi was halfway to the law degree she wanted, endorsed by
yet another aunt, while Ranma and Reimi redefined in the way of Anything
Goes, the tenets of Anything Goes Martial Arts.
Their problem was at what age was it proper to teach a girl to carry on the
school. The Chinese franchise endorsed it at the age of puberty, but that
was only because the Amazons themselves were trained at birth, and it was
only at puberty were they allowed to make their own decisions.
In the end, they decided to start the training as soon as they could fashion
a proper curriculum. By the time that was done, Nuriko was already five,
turning six.
The first day was a strange experience.
At first, when Nuriko took a sure-footed step onto the wood, she glowed with
an aura entirely not of battle, but focussed into a clear blue flame as
meditation was finished.
Ranma was impressed. Natural talent was abundant, but the discipline and
calmness of spirit necessary to hone battle aura took years and decades to
perfect. Yet the flame of the little girl's aura was a deep blue, as clear
as a summer midday sky.
"Do you see?" a whisper said.
"Is this your doing?" Ranma said to the spirit which once co-inhabited his
body. Grew out.
"It is he."
"Kuma?" This from Reimi, who was more sensitive than his father - an
influence his mother imbued. His gaping mouth widened as the spirit raised
its head at him.
"No..." Ranma saw Kuma, saw Nuriko, and yet still saw the spirit that lay
within those fixtures.
Dr. Tofu's spectacles glinted softly in the sea of blue. "I know you."
---
Switch
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Nikholas F. Toledo Zu @ WWW: The Entertainment Capital of UP Village
Vector, Switch, Yebah, Rain Man, goo, Pervert, Scruples, Hollie, NomaD,
Blitz, Gee, Datzo, Jewel, elf, Radler, Pinball, Mayhem, Chaos, Father,
Attar, Llewe and Katana @ http://nikholas-f-toledo-zu.webjump.com/ NEW!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------