Returning Home
By David Farr
Part 9
Ranma 1/2 is copyrighted by Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan, Inc and
is used here respectfully for the purposes of fanfiction. This story may
be redistributed only if unchanged and no fee is charged.
This story and my other works of fiction may be found at:
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~djfarr/
*****
"So, Blades, what brings you here?" Akane inquired.
The sword-baring skater shrugged and waved her hand in the
direction she had come from only minutes before. "Oh, that girl with
purple hair hiding in the bushes."
Everyone paused for a moment, and then Shampoo burst from the
bushes, her bonbori raised above her head. "DIE, AKANE!"
The reactions were varied.
Sayuri and Yuka took a step backwards, their only option, thanks
to their lack of martial arts. Ukyo, although the attack wasn't aimed at
her, reached for the spatulas on her bandoleer. She would be ready only
moments too late to act. Ranma and Akane, standing side-by-side, leapt
backwards, and in perfect synchronicity, flipped around to face their
foe. Shampoo landed on the ground hard, surprised when she didn't feel
the strike land, Akane hadn't dodged far enough.
The two heads of the bonbori landed on the ground behind her.
"I don't think I like you anymore," Blades murmured, breaking the
resulting silence. All eyes turned, to find her still standing a few
meters from Shampoo. Only now one of the katana she had worn on her back
was held at the end of a swipe.
Shampoo stood and looked at the two wooden handles she held. The
cut was clean, no splintering, no cracks in the wood. She glanced at the
sword girl standing too far away to have made the attack, who was even
now drawing her second blade.
"How did she do that?" Sayuri asked, her voice quieted by wonder.
Blades crossed the swords before her face, and glared at Shampoo
from between the blades. "These are the twin swords Infinity and
Eternity, with them I can cleave existence itself. Be thankful I am sworn
never to use them on another life for petty reasons, or you would now be
dead."
Yuka glanced at Sayuri. "Saving a friend is petty?"
"I don't want to know what she considers important," the other
returned.
"Blades," Ranma growled, "settle down."
Blades spun, lowering her swords to her sides. "She just tried to
kill AKANE!" she exclaimed angrily.
"We DON'T kill, Blades!" Ranma snapped back. 'Didn't I have this
conversation with Ukyo only a few days ago?'
Blades snorted. "Well then, maybe I should just drop her in some
dead-pocket universe. She deserves that much!"
"That would be hard," Ukyo inserted, stepping up beside them.
"Shampoo did a runner." Everyone looked around to find, sure enough,
Shampoo had indeed vanished on them, leaving behind only the four parts
on the bonbori.
"Great," groaned Akane, "now we have to keep an eye out for her."
At that moment the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch and
further conversation.
*****
Genma Saotome sat quietly on the porch of the home he had not
seen in over ten years. The house was peaceful, and well kept, and Genma
was glad to see that his wife had taken such good care of it. In a way,
he supposed, this was her part of their deal; he would take care of their
son, and she would give them somewhere to return to.
He shook his head, clearing it and returning his thoughts to the
reason he had come out there in the first place. Ranma had been right, he
reflected, he needed to tell her a lot. If he didn't, and someone else
told her, things could be much worse.
His mind made up; he stood and walked inside to find Nodoka
sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea. She had just finished
cleaning up after their lunch, a silent affair that had prompted Genma to
start thinking. They spent the night talking, but he had realised she
could tell he was not revealing everything.
"What is it, Genma?" Nodoka asked, looking up at her husband as
he faltered in the door.
Genma took a deep breath, gathered his little used courage and
stepped forward. "I have much to tell you, and I'd like it if you could
stay calm to the end."
Nodoka nodded. "I believe I can do that."
"I'm not so confident, there is a lot I'm not proud of all." He
sat down at the table opposite her, and started doing the bravest thing
he had done; tell the complete truth to his wife.
*****
Shampoo came to a stop, finally, and crumpled to the rooftop,
tears streaming from eyes. Tears of Shame.
Shame. It was becoming too familiar a friend. First Ranma, back
in the village when she was defeated in only a single blow. Then Ranma
again, fooling her with the curse, sending her home with a torn heart.
Her Grandmother, upon her return to the village, had heaped on more, and
included a Jusenkyo curse to add to it.
Now she was stuck in this horrible country, surrounded by weak
women and arrogant men. She had to put up with the comments, the scornful
looks, and it was all supposed to be for Ranma, so that if she couldn't
be the greatest, then she could be second greatest and married to the
greatest. Yet since she'd arrived more and more martial artists were
popping up better than her.
'Now, Akane has Ranma, and Great-Grand-- Cologne supports her,
and I've been defeated again by some white girl with magical swords,' she
sighed, 'what else can go wrong?'
A shadow fell over her, causing Shampoo to look up from where she
was lying, sprawled on the rooftop. At first the shadow made no sense, as
it seemed to just begin suddenly, but then she looked a little further
up, and found a pair of black metal boots hovering a couple of feet off
the roof. She continued looking up.
The boots were worn by a tall man, and they matched the rest of
his ensemble. A black cloak hung about him, open enough at the front to
reveal black metal armour. His face was pail, and Shampoo wasn't sure,
but it looked like it was covered in tiny white scales. His black (of
course) hair was pulled back tight in a ponytail.
His eyes, white balls with soulless black pools, were fixed on
the sobbing amazon. "Yes, you'll do," he stated calmly, as if he was
selecting a slab of meat from the butcher. Not once did his face show any
emotion.
Shampoo found herself dragged off the ground, although the man
had made no move. She tried to struggle, tired to see who was holding her
- although she felt no hands on her - but found herself unable to move.
It was as if she was encased in glass.
Fear lanced through Shampoo, a dread she had never felt before.
Always she had been sure of herself, or at least sure that Ranma would
come to save her. This time, she was helpless, and Ranma would not be
coming, he had Akane. Hatred and rage shot through her, but vanished
quickly into the icy depths of her fear.
For a moment the corners of his mouth curled down, and his eyes
tightened. "Maybe--"
A small flash of silver shot between them, and for a moment a cut
along his check was highlighted in red.
"LET GO OF MY SHAMPOO!"
'Mousse!' Shampoo thrilled in her heart.
The man slowly turned to face the newcomer. For a moment he eyed
the seething Chinese boy, his face betraying no emotion. He raised a hand
to his cheek, and touched the cut.
"You are lucky, boy, that you didn't do more damage," he voice
was infuriatingly calm. "But you didn't so I will just admit that I was
careless. That way I won't have to kill you or the girl."
"LET HER GO!" From somewhere in his white robes Mousse produced a
startling array of swords.
The man's eyes flicked back to Shampoo. "If you want her, have
her." Shampoo was thrown through the air at Mousse, and the pair
collided, Mousse's weapons vanishing just in time to catch the girl. They
fell to the ground in a pile.
"It turns out I had no use for her anyway," the man said calmly.
"Do not expect to see me again." From beneath his robes he produced a
sword that was almost as long as he was tall and half as wide as his
body. He lifted it up before him, and concentrated for a moment. A dark
rift formed between them, blocking him from sight. And when it was gone,
so was he.
Shampoo buried her face in the folds of Mousse's robes, sobbing
her fear out with her tears.
"Shampoo, it's okay," he whispered in mandarin, gently wrapping
her in his arms.
"No Mousse, it's not okay," she sobbed back. "But you'll help me,
won't you?"
"Of course. I'll do anything for you, I promise."
Shampoo's sobbing stopped and, hidden in folds of his robe, she
started smiling. "Good. We'll make them pay. We'll make them ALL pay."
*****
Nodoka closed her eyes as Genma finally stopped talking. In
silence she stood from the kitchen table and walked to the bench, setting
the kettle to boil once she got there. She stood staring out the window,
letting everything sink in.
This man, that she had once loved, and still did, in fact, had
made numerous mistakes raising they're son. She had to ask herself what
kind of person could possibly drop their child into a pit full of hungry
cats. Or use him as barter for food. Or... any number of other things.
Yet all through his story, amidst all the disasters and lies,
there was one theme. He really had meant well. If it wasn't a well
meaning, if ill-planned, new technique for Ranma's education, it was
simply an attempt to feed them both. Lots of stupid mistakes, yes, but
nothing malicious.
The kettle whistled, breaking her out of reverie. Silently she
poured the boiling water into her cup, then dunked her teabag into it a
few times. Once she was sure the brew was strong enough she pulled out
the bag and carefully carried to the rubbish bin before returning to get
her cup.
The whole time she was doing this, Genma watched her anxiously.
He did love her, but also he feared her. Once she made a decision it was
hard to convince her to change her mind.
"Have you asked Ranma for forgiveness?" Nodoka asked.
"The boy has long since forgiven me," Genma assured her.
Nodoka turned away from the window and looked at him. "That is
not what I asked, husband. I wanted to know if you had apologised to
him?" Her hard gaze fixed him. "You have made our son's life much harder
than was necessary, all in pursuit of your dream. You admit that you have
made mistakes, but have looked at him and said you are sorry?"
"Umm..." Genma glanced down at the table. "I... no."
"Then you know what you should do."
*****
Ryoga Hibiki was lost. Now this is not a problem for most people,
even when they are lost, they can use landmarks like tall towers or
mountains to direct them. Unfortunately Ryoga's absolutely lack of a
sense of direction, coupled with his habit of not really paying attention
to anything around him, meant that he couldn't use the Tokyo Tower as a
reference to find the Tokyo Tower.
This didn't stop him from asking, well demanding really, people
for directions. So, as he was storming down another unfamiliar road, and
spotted a girl loitering on the sidewalk, he had no qualms about marching
and to her and demanding his usual, "Where is the Tendo dojo?!"
If he had been paying attention - which he wasn't, because he was
too self-adsorbed in blaming Ranma for his troubles - he might have
noticed that she was cleaning a strange pair of headphones with a rag.
The girl, a blonde Caucasian in neon green and black skating clothes
looked up at him, then blathered something in a foreign language while
waving at him.
'Am I in another country?' Ryoga wondered. 'That would be a
first.' He turned and started walking again. 'Maybe I can find someone
who speaks Japanese.'
Meanwhile the girl slipped her headset back on and looked up at
the young man, only to find him gone. She glanced up and down the road,
but saw no sign of him.
"Where'd he go?" Blades inquired of no one in particular, once
more speaking perfect Japanese. "There wasn't a chance we could
understand each other with me not wearing my translator." She turned back
to look at the school just as the end of the day bell rang.
She spent a few minutes, glancing through the streams of students
leaving the building, heading off to after school clubs. Those few in the
"going home early club" wandered past her, eyeing her but making no
comments but the strange gaijin.
"Yeah, Blades!" Ranma waved at her as he, Akane, Ukyo and Nabiki
strolled towards her amongst the crowds.
"Ranma! Akane! Girl who dresses as a boy!" Blades cried and
skated up to them.
"My name is Ukyo."
Ignoring her, Blades skated around the small group, slowing down
as she passed behind Nabiki. "Oh, who's this one? Hmm?"
"Ranma?" Nabiki's voice was low and deadly.
Akane gave a laugh. "Nabiki, this our friend Blades. Blades, this
is my older sister Nabiki."
"Are all the women in your family good looking?" Blades asked,
grinning as she coasted around in front of the group again.
"I think so," Ranma interjected, "but I also think I got the
cutest!" He smiled at Akane.
Nabiki rolled her eyes. "I'm going to throw up."
"But don't wish someone would look at you like that?" Blades
inquired sweetly, batting her eyelids at the middle girl.
"Would you mind?" Nabiki deadpanned.
Ukyo chuckled. "Well, I'll leave you all to deal with Nabiki's
ardent admirer, I have a restaurant to run. Mind if I stop around later
tonight?"
"Go right ahead, Ucchan," Ranma replied. "I'm sure there'll be
something of interest happening no matter what time you show up."
"And I thought I was cynical," Nabiki commented, trying to shake
Blades off without looking like it disturbed her.
Still laughing, Ukyo separated from the group and started off
down the road at a run. In moments she had taken to the rooftops and
vanished, leaving the others to start towards the Tendo dojo.
Blades continued to drift around the trio as they walked home.
Both Akane and Ranma noticed that her gaze seemed to lay on Nabiki more
often than not.
"So, how did you three meet and become such good friends?" Nabiki
inquired, trying hard to ignore the roller-blader.
"Awww, you do care!" Baldes gushed, pausing next to Nabiki and
gazing at her in adoration.
Ranma joined his wife in a chuckle before answering. "It was
while Akane was pregnant with Ryoga. We had stopped on what seemed a
relatively safe world. Sure there were guys running around with powers
beyond belief, but there were also superheroes, just like in the American
comics..."
*****
Saying Ranma Saotome was impatient is like saying that it get
foggy in London. It wasn't so much that he had just spent a long day
running around the city delivering packages so that he could feed his
family. Hell, with his speed and unique paths, it was just another form
of training. And it wasn't that Akane cranky because of her pregnancy, he
had put up worse from her. It wasn't even the three-year-old child
perched on his shoulders twisting and turning to take in the sights.
No, what was annoying him was the damn line at the bank. They had
come down to the bank his paycheque, only to get stuck. 'It feels like we
haven't moved in the last ten minutes.' Ranma checked the clock, and
found that they indeed hadn't moved in ten minutes.
"What's taking so long?!" Akane growled.
"Dunno," Ranma replied, glancing around and reading the posters
yet another time. It was strange how two of the most common languages in
all the worlds were English and Japanese. Just one of those strange
coincidences, he supposed.
Akane opened to mouth to snap back, but was interrupted by a call
from the door. "Excuse me folks, but this is a bank robbery. So, please
lie down on the ground, and things can go pleasantly."
"Excuse me?" muttered the person in line behind the Ranma. "What
kind of nut robs a bank and says 'Excuse me'?"
Everyone turned to look at the door, to see three men standing
just inside. The one in the lead was wearing silver armour with a bullet
shaped-helmet and a large backpack. Two hoses protruded from the backpack
and looped around his side to attack to the back of his gauntlet. The
other two appeared to be wearing silvery jump-suits, and each carried a
rifle with a large canister of goo slung under it.
"Oh, it's the Glue Gun," someone groaned.
"That's Glue Master," the super-villain announced in a pompous
voice. "Now, get to the floor, or you'll find yourself in a very sticky
situation."
Grumbling the bank's customers started to lower themselves onto
the ground. Deciding that it was better not to get involved with so many
innocents, Ranma waved his daughter down and offer his arm to Akane, to
help her.
Unfortunately one of the henchmen decided he wasn't moving fast enough.
The first Ranma knew of this was when the butt of the rifle slammed into
his back. "He said down!"
The Glue Master raised one figure and started waving it like a
scolding teacher. "Now, now, there's no need for viol..." He trailed off
as the henchman shot past him and bounced off the wall. He turned to look
at the young man standing, his hand balled in a fist, glaring at the
remaining henchman and the super-villain.
Now, at this point, it should be noted that the Glue Master was a
not-very-super super-villain. In actual fact the only reason he could
even make a living was that most of the heroes felt him beneath their
notice. Only the novice or very conscientious super-heroes usually
bothered with him if and then only if the cops weren't about.
So it was that when a pissed off Ranma dived forward, his fists
blazing outward while he yelled something about chestnuts and fire, the
Glue Master barely had time to raise his gauntlet. He had no chance to
trigger the pumps that would mix and eject the glue, and even if he had,
the way he folded over the few hundred punches delivered to his abdomen
meant that he'd have simply sprayed it all over himself.
Ranma spun as the Glue Master collapsed to the ground, his eyes
hunting for the last henchman. Instead he found the silver suited man
collapsed on the floor at his daughters feet, the red head grinning
cheekily, now holding her spear upright. It looked like the man had been
the victim of Chibi-Ukyo's newly created spinning spear attack.
With a soft hum the automatic-door slid open, revealing a girl in
a cheap black bandanna mask and a black and green skaters outfit and
pads, posing dramatically with two swords. "Look Glue Guy, let's make
this quick. I drew the short straw, but I've got a date in only an hour."
She looked up, surveying the scene for the first time. "Yeah, that'll
do." Slowly she drifted across the carpeted floor to the fallen villain,
as she travelled she pulled out a small device and pointed it at Ranma.
"Woah, Glue Geek, beaten by civvies, that's a new low for you."
*****
Blades pushed off in front of Nabiki and the two Saotomes,
turning to skate in front of them. "The next part of the story happens a
few days later, and its mine, so I'll tell it." Without even glancing
backwards she hopped over a small crack in the pavement that could have
tripped her.
"I'd talked to Ranma and Akane for a while, and explained things to the
police when they bothered to show up. In thanks they had invited me to
dinner, and we discussed things, and got to be friends. Ranma's abilities
weren't anything spectacular, nothing to sneeze at either, but there were
others who could do similar. What really piqued my interest was that he
didn't register as having superpowers on my hand scanner. And I was about
to find out that I wasn't the only one to make this discovery..."
*****
"Ah... come on, Defender, he could be so useful," Blades begged.
The man she was talking to was the leader of the small band of
superheroes that protected, your typical charismatic leader. In a
universe less worried about copyright infringement he would have been
tall, blonde and blue eyed, wearing the American flag and carrying a
shield. Of course, this man was wearing basic blue with a red cape and
grey visored helmet that looked like something out of the middle ages.
"Blades, if you were talking about a woman, I'd suspect it was an
attempt to get her into bed," Defender stopped his walk around the
metallic briefing room of their super-hero base and waited for Blades to
coast into view. "But that can't be it, so what are you really after."
"He has a beautiful wife," a musical voice announced from across
the room. The pair turned to find a silver cloaked figure standing not
far away. In fact the cloak was a part of Mercury's body, a simple
creation to hide the fact that she was made entirely of a silvery liquid
much like that she was named for.
"Stealing someone's wife now, Blades?" Defender inquired, looking
at her askance. "I'm shocked."
"Awww, it's nothing like that. She's cute, but she's also
pregnant, and I wanted to do them a favour. I mean, he's working as a
courier, and you know how little he'd make doing that. Still, you've got
to admit, having someone who doesn't show up on most scanners would be
oh, so, useful."
"Maybe, but its the 'most' which makes him useless. We can never
be sure that whoever he's sneaking up on doesn't have a scanner or super
that can detect him."
"This is incorrect," Mercury interjected, still standing exactly
where she had been earlier. "I have encountered Ranma Saotome before,
during his deliveries about the city. His appearance was unexpected, as I
was ten stories up and I hadn't expected anyone's arrival. I registered
no physical or psychic power signature, so suspected he was using magical
means to travel. I requested Sakura to perform a scan, and she also
detected nothing."
"He was standing in front of you and neither of you could detect
anything?" Defender asked incredulously.
"In actual fact we conducted our investigation over the course of
half a kilometre. A distance he covered in two minutes. During this time
all I was capable of detecting was a two point five percent rise of his
bio-energy field."
"And that means?"
"A normal person will experience approximately a five percent
rise in their bio-energy during very a exhausting workout. This young man
was not finding his exercise gruelling. Blades, do you find something
wrong with my analysis?" Mercury looked at the roller-blading
super-heroine who was busy shaking her head.
"Well, you see, I do know how he does it. His bio-energy, as you
call it, increases by a lot more than two point five percent. The thing
is he focuses that extra energy into his muscles, allowing him to perform
superhuman feats." She explained.
"How do you know this?" Mercury asked.
"I asked Ranma." Blades paused. "Of course, he used words like ki
instead of bio-energy, and wasn't as exact in his details."
"So this is some previously unknown ability?" Defender inquired.
"Something he was born with or the result of an experiment?"
"Ranma says he trained for it, and he trained Akane and their
daughter to do the same. A few of their friends can do it too."
"There's no way to detect them?" Defender inquired. "Other than
the fact they can leap tall buildings in a single bound?"
"And deliver a few hundred punches in a second, explode solid
stone by hitting it with their fingers. Ranma has even generated a
hurricane by utilising different temperatures of ki, although that does
require some special circumstances."
Defender nodded. "Okay, okay, invite him to join." He took a seat
at the briefing table. "Why do I get the feeling I'm becoming obsolete?"
"If it's any comfort, he doesn't have your leadership skills,"
Blades offered.
*****
"After that Ranma joined our crew and battled with us to protect
the city, while Akane enjoyed all the care and medical attention a
government funded base can offer." Blades arced back around the group.
"So you come from that super-hero world?" Nabiki inquired.
Blades emerged from behind them again, shaking her head. "Nuh ah.
I'm a world traveller like these two, but by choice. Yah see, I'm sworn
to protect these swords, so I keep hopping worlds, trying to stay ahead
of those that are after them."
"Really, what's so important about them?"
Akane and Ranma shared a groan.
Blades spun in front of them, drawing her swords to pose, even as
she continued to roll backwards. "Forged in the very fires of Universal
creation, their awesome energies can unravel the very threads of the
universe. They are Infinitely and Eternity the swords of all existence!"
As she had spoken the other three had come to a halt, leaving her
to continue down the road the away. When Blades finished her spiel, she
found herself performing to empty air.
"Hey! Why'd you stop?!" she skated back.
"We're home," Akane replied, pointing at the gate.
"Tendo dojo of Anything Goes Martial Arts," Blades read. "Wow, do
you use Anything Goes as a philosophy in life..." she paused
dramatically, "and love." She gazed hopefully at Akane.
"Forget it Blades, Ranma is my only love," Akane replied.
Blades turned to grin at Nabiki. "Oh well, I can hope that you're
not the only practitioner in the family."
Nabiki took a step back from the ardent girl. "Ah... wha?"
Ranma and Akane simply chuckled before pushing open the door,
abandoning poor Nabiki to her fate.
-----
Next time:
Genma confronts Ranma and Akane! Blades and Nabiki get caught together! And
a kindergarten is found for Ukyo.
-----------
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.
"It's sudden, but I'm going to sing."
- Ruri, Mobile Battleship Nadesico.