% Once more unto the breach...
******************************
Kyouko sighed softly, and she could tell that she was developing a
headache as she continued listening to her mother on the telephone. If
there was one subject that Ritsuko Chigasi never grew tired of, it was
lecturing her only daughter.
% And some things remain the same in any universe.
Kyouko felt sorrow wash through her at her mother's careless words,
remembering her last few years with her beloved husband. Soichiro had
gotten sick only two years after they were married, spending time in and
out of hospitals while the best care that medical science had to offer
barely kept him alive. She had been forced to watch him fade away from
her, slowly eaten away by cancers that the doctors could only hold so
far at bay.
% Nasty
was quickly coming up on being twenty-seven, still a young woman, but
what man would want to marry a widow her age? Her mother's constant
harping on it for the last year had finally driven her from home, unable
to take being forced into doing something before she was ready.
% Interesting to see her actually worried about being married in this
universe now.
"What about your new employer, Kyouko?" her mother asked, having finally
had enough of Kyouko's silence. "I hear that he's a widower himself,
and not too much older than Soichiro was."
% Hehehehe. I'm not sure what I would make of a Kyoko/Soun paring here.
When the flames were casting a yellowish glow across her face, Nabiki
picked up the small bag of sweet chestnuts
% As opposed to sour chestnuts?
and swiftly cast the contents
into the flame. A few seconds passed as they heated and cooked within
the flames, and Nabiki readied herself. Time slowed as she felt the
glow of her chi rise around her. She knew she would be able to do it on
the first try. She just knew it.
% And with those thoughts, thusly she was doomed.
"Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" she cried, her hands darting into the flames
in an attempt to gather up the sweet chestnuts as fast as she could. I
can do this! I know I can! Then I'll show Ranma who the better martial
artist is!
Seconds later, Nabiki sat blowing on her hands, seeing them both
beginning to redden from the heat, grateful that she had thought ahead
to wear one of her sleeveless tunics.
% Yep. She's shown who's better all right. ^_^
Leaning outwards slightly on the sill of her bedroom window, Akane
watched what Nabiki was doing with extreme fascination. She loved to
watch any sort of thing that had to do with martial arts, her single
greatest passion in life. It looks like some sort of speed training,
she thought with a smile, taking note of everything that Nabiki was
doing.
% I can see someone learning this move eventually.
Nodoka gazed in wide-eyed wonder at the enormous mansion finally coming
into view through the taxi's windows, thrilled at the opportunity to
visit the home of one of the upper nobility like this. I'm certain that
things will go well tonight, she thought, turning to look at her son and
her husband. Ranma looks so handsome in his new clothes.
% He's just like a giant dress up doll. ^_^
Here we go again, Ranma thought to himself, seeing the happy look on his
mother's face when she leaned back from looking out the window. It had
been a bit of a long
% drop 'bit of a' and just go with 'a long day'
The taxi pulled up outside the front door of Kunou Manor, and Nodoka got
out first when one of the servants opened the car door. It was an
impressive sight for her, and she wondered in the back of her mind how
difficult it must be to keep clean.
% She could always ask the servents. ^_^
She took a deep breath, smelling
the sweet scent of cherry blossoms in the air. She simply knew that
tonight was going to be a night that she would never forget.
% Ohhh. You can say that again.
"Remember to be somewhat submissive when meeting your prospective
groom's mother," said Kensaiko. "She is the one that you should strive
to impress the most. Be aware of her impression of you."
"Yes, Mother."
"And sit with your back straight. A lady always has good posture. Not
to mention it accentuates your femininity. So sit up tall, but remember
to be demure." She struck Kodachi lightly across the small of her back
with a hairbrush.
"Yes, Mother."
% Heh. Typical mother.
"They're here," said Kensaiko, looking down from the window of the
dressing room at the rented taxicab. Her gaze narrowed as she studied
the woman who had emerged from the car first. There was something oddly
familiar about her, but Kensaiko simply shook her head a moment later.
Whatever it was, it could not have been that important.
% Oh well. I wouldn't say that. ^_^
Meanwhile, outside....
% This doesn't really work for me. I'd combine it with the paragraph below.
"Stand up straight, Ranma," commanded Nodoka, her voice in full mother-
mode. "I want to make a good impression tonight. You have an excellent
chance to marry a young lady from a noble family, and I don't want you
to do anything to spoil it."
% Like say, 'No. I don't want to marry her.'
graceful and organized. She caught sight of the Kunous standing there
waiting for them, and her eyes paused on the woman standing next to what
must have been Lord Kunou. There was something familiar about her face,
but Nodoka was sure it would come to her in a moment.
% I'm sure it will too. And then the fun can really begin. ^_^
"Of course, Father," Tatewaki replied in low tones, his face a mask
without any emotional content. Inside, he was still contemplating his
sister's words, his mind slowly deciding what to do about Nabiki Tendou.
% It didn't take long for the seeds to take root there, I see.
Kodachi and Ranma caught sight of the other and each managed a shy
smile. Kodachi lowered her eyes demurely, feeling a blush suffuse her
cheeks at the sight of Ranma dressed so finely.
% 'finely' doesn't seem to fit there. Perhaps 'elegently' or something.
Nodoka narrowed her eyes. It couldn't be, she thought.
Kensaiko blinked and hardened her gaze. It's impossible, she thought.
% Of course, even bearing these things in mind, it still is.
"You!" exclaimed Nodoka, pointing at Kensaiko with a look of extreme
shock on her face. After all these years, she did not believe what she
was seeing.
"You!" exclaimed Kensaiko, her eyes wide as she stared at her old arch-
rival. She had all but forgotten how much she hated Nodoka.
% But it didn't take all that long for it to come back now, did it? ^_^
"Mother, do you two know each other?" asked Kodachi tentatively.
% Kensaiko: Not really. We were just passing acquaintences. I probably
didn't try to kill the destable troll more than five or six times. We
weren't even on a first name basis, truth be told.
That timid question shocked Kensaiko out of her brief reverie, out of
remembering the many indignities done to her by her nemesis, all of the
victories stolen from her grasp when Nodoka had proven to be just a
little luckier (NEVER more skilled) in combat.
% Of course not, dear.
"Kensaiko," said Nodoka with false charm in her voice. "I simply had no
idea you were so close all these years. If I had, then I surely would
have visited a long time ago to pay my respects." She stepped forward
and embraced Kensaiko, both of them acting like the oldest of best
friends.
% This is kind of scary, actually.
"Tonight we will pretend to be friends, you sword-swinging she-devil,"
whispered Kensaiko without removing the smile from her face. "But after
tonight, you had best hope that your combat skills are sharp. Agreed?"
"I couldn't agree more, you blue-blooded bitch," whispered Nodoka
pleasantly. "It will be good to see if you're still as hopeless in a
fight as you used to be."
% Ah, they get along as well as my in-laws used to. Well, a little better,
truth be told, but not by much.
"Oh, I haven't seen Nodoka since we were both teenagers, dear," said
Kensaiko with a smile. "Of course, I'd be happy to rip the heart out of
that little...I mean, I'd love to have Nodoka-sama as a fellow in-law.
She's aged surprisingly well for her years,
% Nice barb.
I can still fit into any of my old fighting outfits? She made a mental
note to have them pulled out of mothballs and tailored to fit, grateful
that she had kept to her rigorous training for all these years. Still,
bearing two children had caused changes that no amount of exercise could
restore.
% Well, at least she can admit to that.
The two families followed the servants into the dining room, where a
long table rested, laden with the finest silverware, as well as fragile
cups and bowls of porcelain. There was even a little name card at each
place, so that each person would know their proper seating arrangement.
% Nodoka's face twitched as she saw hers was labeled, 'Sword Wielding Slut'
I can taste my victory over thee, Ranma Saotome, Tatewaki thought as he
sipped at his soup. When my father finally shows me how to perform that
technique, then thou shalt surely fall. No mortal man could possess the
speed or skill to defy me then. A brief image of both Akane and Nabiki
crossed his mind's eye. Then I shall enjoy the fruits of my victory.
% Not likely, but it will be fun to see him try.
Ranma looks so nervous, thought Kodachi with a smile as she began
eating. Perhaps after the formalities are over, he might like to go for
a moonlit stroll with me in the gardens.
% Kodachi: We stumble into the bushes. He ravishes me the way I wish him
to. It will be perfect.
I feel naked without a weapon, thought Nodoka as she ate, glaring at
Kensaiko while trying not to look like she was glaring.
% Ohh. That's almost a paradox.
child, well-mannered and quite properly demure, much like I was as a
young girl. She also appears to have escaped having her mother's worst
aspects, and I can see that she cares for Ranma a great deal. Still,
the thought of having the woman she was currently engaged in a glaring
contest with as an in-law was rather unsettling to her.
% It would be best to kill Kensaiko at the first opportunity then. ^_^
The boy must take after his father, thought Kensaiko as she ate, even as
she tried to bore a hole through Nodoka with her gaze alone, without
looking like she was trying to do so.
% How much alike these rivals are.
It was a skill mastered at many
court functions, where the art of verbal repartee and the subtle glance
was as important as combat skill on the battlefield. She found it very
hard to believe that such a well-mannered and polite boy could be
Nodoka's child. Still, taking him away from that she-devil and making
him a Kunou would be a delightsome revenge, she mused.
% Well, at least it's nice to see they won't stand in the way of their
children's happiness.
Ah, children grow up so fast, thought Lord Kunou as he slowly ate,
sparing his only daughter fond glances. Dachi-chan seems so taken with
Genma's son. I'm glad. Not only will I be gaining control of another
one of the Project's children, but I'm also giving my daughter the man
she obviously desires. And the next generation of Kunous will be gifted
warriors without a doubt.
% heh. He's still looking at getting a profit of sorts out of this, then.
Eventually, the meal finally ended and
% ended, and
Ranma glanced at Genma and felt himself go pale. They didn't, he
quailed.
% Of course they did.
I'm doomed, Ranma thought.
% Most likely.
Tatewaki came near to yelling out a denial for such a thing to occur,
but one glance from his father stilled that notion. His sense of honor
finished what that glance began. You will never become a Kunou, Ranma
Saotome, he vowed in silence. NEVER!
% Ranma: The Kodachi will simply have to take my name. :P
come up with to get what he needed to retrieve out of his lab. A solemn
Tatewaki followed the couple openly, appearing like a grim angel of
death whenever he managed to catch Ranma's eye.
% Heh. What a pretty picture.
***** Earth +1.612,+1.509
I am in Hell.
Professor Saotome stared at the pretty girl standing before him as that
thought went through his head.
% Nah, Prof. It's par for the course here. It helps to keep things lively.
brought this new annoyance to see him when she had arrived at the
Saotome household and demanded to meet her promised future husband. He
still wasn't sure how she had found them so quickly after their recent
move from the Tendou household.
% Law of Chaos: In order to cause maximum chaos, she has to find you. ^_^
"I am simply trying to explain..."
Genma found himself staring at a wickedly sharp-looking katana made up
entirely of folded paper. He blinked at the unexpected sight.
"As the heir to the Okami School of Origami Martial Arts,"
% Heh. Cute
she growled
slowly, "I demand that you honor your pledge to my beloved father to wed
me to your son. Now, will you or won't you?"
% Genma: I should mention a tragic accident involving a penguin left him a
eunuch
% Girl: Nevermind then.
As tempting as it might have been to point the girl at Ranma to get her
to stop waving her paper weapon at him, Genma did not. It was only
paper, after all. How dangerous could that be?
% And thus, he doomed himself.
boy deal with this' fill him. He was extremely grateful that Nodoka was
not home right now. Explaining this would not be easy.
% Of course it would be:
% Genma: Our boy is so manly, women he's never met before are drawn to him
and try to marry him.
% Nodoka: Oh, Ranma. I'm so proud of you.
% See? Easy.
***** Earth 0.000,0.000
"Another thirty seconds and you'll be thanking me. We're almost there.
This baby is just a little more difficult to work with than most of
those I've practiced on. I'm actually impressed that it's taking me
this long. Besides, you don't see Lady Kunou getting down on her knees
like this for you, do you?"
"I'll leave such tasks to one more suited for it, Miss Tendou."
% Touche.
"I think it would be better to have Kodachi wait in the lab with me,
Nabiki," Ranma interrupted. "She knows something about how my other
self's equipment worked, so I'd feel better having her watch over me
while I'm away. You're the only one who can let us back out, so you
can't come into the lab with me."
% Good thinking.
"Let's get started," said Ranma, removing the dustcovers from off of his
% 'from his' sounds better to me. 'Off of' just feels uneccesary.
There was a soft beep, indicating that the system was ready. Ranma
handed the defective flux coil to Kodachi and sat down on the couch. He
picked up the keyboard and scanned the information on the screen. When
he built his next resonator, he made a mental note to improve the coding
and ease of use for the software interface. It would help if the girls
should feel a need to use it if he wasn't available.
% Now why do I see exactly that happening? ^_^
"I wish I could go instead of you," said Kodachi. She blushed and
looked down at the floor. "I�d feel safe knowing that you were watching
over me."
% Heh. She does try so hard with those subtle little things.
***** Earth +1.612,+1.509
Ranma felt the brief nonexistence of self wash across his awareness as
the resonator took hold, what he had decided to call the "null zone."
% As good a term as any.
Genma winced at the boy's plight, even as he put a bandage on yet
another one of the multitude of thin cuts on his body. None of them had
been very deep, but he was grateful that Shampoo had finally stepped in
to deal with the irate young girl. He told himself that he had just
needed a moment to gather himself, then that paper-wielding maniac would
have been sorry for attacking him. He had just been resting his eyes
for a moment to prepare for his counter-assault.
% Of course he was.
"Uh, yeah," said Ranma, standing up and dusting himself off. He blinked
at the sight of Genma, swathed in bandages. What the hell happened to
him?
% drop the '?'
"<Then just tell me what's been happening back home, Ranma,>" said Genma
gently. "<How are you progressing at finding a way to get me back into
my proper timeline?>"
% Ranma: Does the term, 'shit out of luck' mean anything to you?
"<You haven't mentioned much about your mother to me,>" said Genma
quietly. "<How is she? Has she noticed that I'm not the same?>"
% Ranma: Actually, she seems to be enjoying the sex with the fake a lot.
Genma wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or cry at that. The woman he
loved with all of his heart and soul did not seem to notice that he
wasn't the same man.
% That's not exactly fair. S 1/2 Genny does have full access to QD Genny's
memories.
***** Earth 0.000,0.000
Kodachi glanced at Ranma's comatose form lying on the worn couch and
sighed,
% 'Best to put his pants back on before he returns,' she thought to
herself.
into her hand. It was a white yo-yo with the symbol of the Kunou Family
on either side. She gripped it tightly for a moment, feeling the warmed
ceramic composite alloy against her palm. The rugged material of its
construction, like the long polymer line that connected it to the small
metal ring on her middle finger, was said to be unbreakable. It had
rested in a drawer until very recently, an impulse purchase she had made
shortly after arriving in this world. With the list of her enemies and
rivals growing longer, Kodachi had felt it prudent to add a ranged
attack to her repertoire, so she had started carrying it up one sleeve.
% I rather like this, though I've always had a weakness for Sukeban Deka.
Nice touch.
"Well, that's it," Ranma said quietly, looking a little depressed. "I
told my father everything that's happened." He got up off the couch and
powered down the resonator. He glanced over at Kodachi and smiled.
"Thanks for staying with me."
% "Well, the door was locked,' she pointed out.
"I'm fine," Kodachi said in a slightly unsteady tone of voice. She had
never felt like this around any other boy before,
% Usually she just jumped them on the spot.
They heard the sounds of the door being unlocked. Ranma took the
opportunity to recover his now useless equipment and turned off the
light, just in case it wasn't Nabiki. However, the light from the
hallway revealed the middle Tendou daughter's face,
% Kodachi screeched, "A monster!" and nailed Nabiki in the face with her
yo-yo. After realizing her mistake, Kodachi said, "Well, she looks like a
monster to me."
"You mean it? It's really for me?"
Nabiki smiled as she held out the ticket to tonight's fights at the
Imperial Arena. Getting Akane out of the house while Ranma and his
family came over for the engagement meeting only required the middle
Tendou daughter to take advantage of Akane's passion for fighting.
% Until Akane finds out what happened, and then boy won't she be pissed.
Nabiki continued on in her freestyle fighting kata, a form of meditation
done to the movements of battle, but the peace she sought escaped her.
She felt certain that it would be like this until she finally defeated
Ranma Saotome and proved herself worthy of being the true Heir of the
Anything-Goes School in this timeline. She was better than he was. She
knew it.
% Of course you are, dear.
thought of his wife struck him with how much Nabiki reminded him of
Kimiko at that moment. Each of his daughters had something of his wife
in them: Kasumi had her height, build, and strength; Akane had her hair
and eyes, but also her temperament; and Nabiki wore Kimiko's face, as
well as possessing the same natural insight and innate skill.
% Nice contrast between the girls.
"Yes, Daddy." Nabiki smiled as the memory of her brief meeting with
Nodoka flashed through her mind. Ranma's mother already approves of me,
I can tell, she thought.
% Yes, but Nodoka approves of anything that's female.
And the version of Genma Saotome that was
running through Ranma's father's head right now was probably dead set on
his son marrying a Tendou.
% Something she should be greatful for.
Tonight would see Ranma become hers for
sure. She could almost feel fate pulling them together once again in
this timeline, and this time she knew that there wouldn't be any other
girls engaged to Ranma, complicating matters.
% HAH!
"No, I just wanted you to know that I feel so very proud of you,
Nabiki," said Soun with the barest hint of a smile. "I'm certain that
Ranma's engagement to you will go off without a single difficulty.
% Nostrodamus he ain't.
"You should get ready for classes," said Soun gruffly after looking at
her for several moments. Ah Kimiko,
% Ah, Kimiko
Later that day, Ranma stood with his family outside the gates to the
Tendou demesne,
% Gee, and all this time I thought it was their house, domicile, if you
will.
his mouth. Whatever. At least tonight is the last of these things, and
if I can get through this one without a formal agreement taking place,
then I can finally relax. No fianc�es this time around means less
stress for the handsome boy genius. He smiled wryly.
% He's so clueless sometimes.
Ranma looks less nervous tonight, observed Nodoka with a smile. He must
be looking forward to tonight's meeting with that nice girl, Nabiki. I
never would have thought his tastes might run towards older women
though.
% Oh yeah. That one year age difference and everything. Sure to make the
relationship nearly impossible
Genma walked in first, Nodoka following quickly behind, and Ranma came
in last. The pigtailed boy glanced around the compound, seeing it for
the first time with his own eyes, amazed at the strong similarity to the
ones in those other worlds. The only difference that seemed most
obvious was that the training hall was smaller, designed only for the
use of the family it seemed.
% I hadn't thought of that, but it does makes sense.
view of the events now taking place, as Ranma and his family were made
welcome at the Tendou home. Dressed in the dark garb favored by ninja,
her head covered by cloth save for two holes through which protruded her
cat-like ears, Tiger watched the home of her enemy and frowned.
% This could be interesting.
Standing in for their mother, Kasumi sat on Nabiki's bed and watched her
younger sister admiring herself with an amused smile. She was looking
forward to the events tonight, and a chance to see the boy that had
apparently caught the jaded-seeming attentions of her sister. She
coughed delicately into one fist to get Nabiki's attention.
% When that didn't work, Kasumi bitch slapped her instead.
'Kimiko?' thought Nodoka with startled shock,
% Small world.
When Nabiki demurely walked in,
% the only time you will see her 'demurely' do anything. ^_^
trailed closely by her older sister,
Ranma was astonished at the sight of her. Dressed as she was in
traditional garb, her hair brushed to a glossy perfection, her face made
up with a light hint of cosmetics and bearing a look of serenity at
seeing him, the pigtailed scholar felt his mouth go dry.
% A second later, he realized what he had been suffering from were the
effects of food poisoning. He gasped out, 'It was the salmon mousse,' and
fell over dead a second later.
Hidden in the rafters outside nearby, Tiger cocked one ear slightly to
listen more closely, her hearing picking up everything quite clearly.
Engagement meeting with the Saotomes? What's going on? she wondered.
% Something ole Kinnosuke ain't going to be so happy about.
"I agree," said Soun, nodding solemnly. He had spoken with Genma for a
few moments before the other man had brought his son before him. Ranma
was apparently quite leery and resistant to being forced into an
engagement by his parents, so Genma proposed this bit of subterfuge to
give the boy time to get used to Nabiki in a more casual agreement. The
two fathers knew otherwise, and Soun had confidence that Nabiki would be
able to bring Ranma under control soon enough.
% I shall laugh derisively now.
Tiger blinked. This was startling news, and she was uncertain how
Kinnousuke would take it.
% Try, 'very, very badly.'
Nabiki found herself feeling a little disappointed. She had been
hopeful that a formal engagement would take place, but she would settle
for this for now. At least it gives me more of a claim to Ranma than
that little floozy Kodachi has, she thought with a mental grin. She
would have Ranma for her own, and no other girl was going to take him
away from her.
% Oh how little she truly knows too.
When the door closed behind them, the sounds of shattering glass and
other items breaking began to be heard.
% Actually he took that rather calmly. Ranma's days are now marked, of
course.
"We make them suffer," said Tiger coldly. "And then we make them suffer
some more."
"Yes, Tiger," said Lynx softly, her eyes glittering.
% Yep. That's the way it's done.
% Excellent work. The last of the engagement meetings is now out of the
way. Kinnosuke is about to act. Kunou looks like he's going to start on
Nabiki, as well as actually becoming something of a menace. Looking forward
to even more as soon as possible.
D.B. Sommer