Permanent
Part 20
Aftermath
Tatiwaki Kuno stood outside the doors of his home in a thundering
rainstorm. His hair was matted down against his forehead and his wings
ruffled behind him nervously. The mansion was as it had always been a
dark silent landmark in Nerima. He stood before the doors of the house
and felt the cool air escaping the crack just under the front door. He
frowned as he stared at it feeling fear encompass his heart. Without any
real reason he stepped forward under the porch watching the doors without
being certain of the strange fear he felt standing there alone. Slowly
they cracked open the light inside was warm and inviting, he stepped
forward and entered the house looking around and finding it as
comfortable as it had always been.
The hallway was brightly lit and the smell of traditional Japanese
cooking floated softly through the air as he moved by the stairwell and
turned deeper into the home. A flash of lightening crashed outside and
for a moment everything seemed dark again, flashes and visions of that
horrible night could be seen in the hallways as he walked onward towards
his bedroom. Then just as quickly as the flash of light from the
lightening ended it was gone again.
Idly he turned into the dining hall and smiled slightly as the table was
once again set with the expensive china. He brushed his finger across the
table and frowned slightly as it was as flawlessly clean as it always had
been before. Still for some reason it felt wet. Another flash of
lightening revealed blood on his fingertips, he gasped in shock as the
vision finished as the first one did. Stumbling back away from the table
he fell against the floor as another bolt lit up the house and somehow
darkening it again, his eyes widened in terror as Gosunkugi's head
appeared against the doorway staring at him with dead lifeless eyes.
Quickly he rushed from the room and dashed towards the doorway.
Desperately he clutched the doorknob and shook it violently when it would
not give way; he raked his clawed hand against the wooden frame leaving
deep gouges in his terror.
Suddenly he stopped, someone was standing behind him; slowly turning he
held his breath as the footsteps came to his ears, they were soft and
light sounds that almost seemed inviting.
"Tachi?" said a familiar voice sweetly.
Kuno sucked in a breath as he stared at his sister in shock. Her face
was peaceful and pleased. "Dachi?"
"Come, brother dear. I have made dinner for us," said the girl as she
stared at him in confusion. He followed her cautiously back into the
dining room. Before him was a small and modest dinner.
"I cannot eat in here," said the boy as he stood just inside the doorway
glancing around fearfully.
"What do you mean brother dear? We always take our meals in here," she
looked confused, but not unhappy with him.
Kuno gasped as another bolt of lightening struck outside the home
creating the cold darkness again. Standing before him with an empty plate
was a dried out husk, almost a skeleton. He jumped back in shock as the
pleasant scene replaced it once again.
"Come brother dear, we have to eat. I've been worried about you," said
Kodachi as she took him by the arm and pulled him further into the room.
Behind him the plaster on the wall started to swirl. He knew it was
happening, but somehow didn't notice.
"Sister, are you well?" asked the boy.
"Well? Of course brother dear," replied the girl sweetly. At that moment
another bolt of lightening hit outside. The room changed again, this time
swirling plaster took on a pale blue glow. His sister did not turn into a
husk this time, but took the form of a cadaver that had been rotting for
weeks. Flesh hung from her face and her eyes were shriveled and dried;
her cheerful smile had changed into a vicious snarl of blackened and
rotting teeth. "As well as one can be in hell!" Her voice was dry, torn
by venom and anger. "Come won't you join me there!?"
Kuno screamed in terror as a forceful wind pulled at his body lifting
him and his sister into the air. They slowly floated towards the vortex
that had formed out of the wall with Kodachi keeping an iron grip on him.
He struggled desperately to escape clawing and tearing at her body
sending chunks of rotting flesh flying into the porthole. She snarled at
him in what could have been a smile as she vanished into the hole. His
arm vanished into the swirling blue burning an unbelievable pain through
his body. The flames of the tormented seemed to envelop his very soul as
he struggled to escape only to be pulled into the liquid surface even
further. Finally he felt his mouth fill with the fire as his head
submerged, he stared into the cold dead form of his mansion and saw
Sasuke's head laughing at him from the corner with a look of complete
hatred in his eyes.
"You left me to die! Now get what you deserve!" snarled the ninja
angrily.
Akane Tendo was woken from her sleep by a scream of complete terror. She
jumped from her bed and rushed into the hallway only to find Kasumi and
her older sister standing there already with looks of complete concern on
their faces.
Nabiki calmed suddenly with a sad look on her face as she realized what
had happened. "Damn, he hasn't done this for a week, not since you woke
up. Kasumi..."
"I know, I know," said the eldest Tendo with a heavy sigh. She rushed by
them into Ranma's old room and almost immediately the screaming ceased.
"What happened?" asked Akane nervously.
"Kuno is having nightmares Akane, really bad ones. I overheard him
telling Ranma about them one day. You don't want to hear about it," said
the girl as she pulled her sister by the arm and pushed her back into her
room. "Kasumi is handling it, don't worry."
The girl frowned slightly imagining exactly what Nabiki had meant by
overheard. The look on the elder girl's face told her she wished she
hadn't heard. That was probably why Ranma had let her get away with it.
Akane frowned as she forced her way back out and glared at the room. "Is
Kasumi OK in there?"
Nabiki looked at the girl in shock. "Akane, believe me, that is the last
thing on Kuno's mind right now. You have no idea what he's going
through."
The young girl stared back at her sister and growled slightly. "I think
that I do," she replied.
Nabiki stepped back away from her sister as the yellow eye she had
hidden behind her hair glowed slightly showing through the mass of
tangles that hung over her left eye. "Don't do that Akane, it gives me
the creeps!" Quickly she went back into her own room and shut the door.
Kasumi sat with Kuno's head in her lap gently stroking the boy's head as
he slept. A soft smile crossed her lips as she realized that his dreams
were peaceful once again. "I'll have to thank Ranma for teaching me that
little trick," said the girl as she pushed him gently back onto his
futon.
The next morning Ranma moved about her morning work in the Cat Caf�, she
rushed through the tables cleaning and bustling about with a cheerful
humming. Talcum frowned slightly as she watched the sickening display.
"Elder, she does not disguise her feelings well."
"I imagine not, the events of that night must have been truly horrible.
It is a shame she will not speak of them, such techniques to banish
demons would me most useful," replied Cologne.
Ko li frowned at the old woman slightly as she scrubbed tables nearby.
"If she does not wish to speak of it, she must have a reason."
Ryoga sat nearby leaning against the wall staring off into space. His
mind was wandering lately and it bothered him. "Akane," he sighed to
himself. "Is that what I want? I can't just leave Ranma alone, as much as
she'd tell me otherwise; but still...Akane." His face twisted into
confusion as the memories of the girl wandered in and out of his
consciousness. "Do I love you? Or is it just overflow from Ranma? I can
never be sure about these things with our connection. I'm not even sure I
can feel love anymore after all I've done and seen. I wonder if Ranma
feels that way?" he looked over at her and she continued working
pretending not to notice him.
Cologne turned to face him and was about to hit him over the head, his
break was over now. Suddenly she felt a crack in her hands, after a
moment she looked down and saw a small crack on the side of her teacup.
"Hmm, an ill omen."
Talcum turned away from a table and collapsed onto the ground Ranma
jumped forward and helped her too her feet. The girl looked down at the
broken sandal and narrowed her eyes slightly. With one quick motion she
tossed her apron to Ko li. "Finish this up for me."
The Chinese girl frowned and glared at the cloth in her hands for a
moment, she was about to protest when Cologne's staff nearly struck her
in the face. "Let her go child."
The pigtailed girl stood in front of a small green crystal staring into
one of the flat smooth sides with extreme interest. "Come in Cologne,
this is no secret to you."
The old woman huffed slightly and walked into the room. "Quite
impressive girl."
"Not really, I have this whole room sealed; no one can enter it without
my knowledge," replied the girl.
"What are you doing?" asked the old woman.
"Checking something, it deciphers bad omens. Unfortunately it can be
vague sometimes," Ranma motioned for her to sit next to her and the old
woman complied.
Cologne jumped up in shock as she stared at the rock in front of her.
"That is the emerald of sorrows! How did you come to possess it? It is
one of the most closely guarded secrets of Joketsuko! It should never
have fallen out of our control!"
"But it didn't, it is still in the possession of the tribe," replied
Ranma with a knowing smile.
Cologne looked at her and just stared for a moment. "I suppose so, but
still I must ask you to return it."
"Don't be so na�ve, this is one of three stones, you possess only one of
them. Or should I say two?" Ranma smirked at the old woman and noticed
the look on her face.
"Na�ve indeed," muttered Cologne as she turned her attention back on the
stone. "Tell me child, what do you see?"
"A stone, with a Shinto ward tied around it," replied the girl
mechanically.
"Strange, what does this have to do with us?" asked the old woman, she
wasn't really speaking to anyone in particular.
"There is a violent storm around the stone, it seems to be blocking
something. I cannot see anymore than that," said Ranma with an almost icy
chill to her voice.
"Perhaps it is nothing?" said the old woman hopefully.
"No, something wicked this way comes," said Ranma with a barely
disguised smile.
"Well, all joking aside, how much trouble do you think we have on our
hands?" said the woman.
"I'm not really sure, I'm not really getting any strong visions. No
death, no large scale destruction. Just an ominous feeling more than
anything else, I also feel a connection with our past, both yours and
more indirectly to mine." Ranma waved her hands and the stone vanished
from its spot on the ground.
"That's an interesting trick," noted Cologne.
"Not really, I just palmed it," replied Ranma as she produced the stone
from her sleeve.
Cologne looked at her for a moment and frowned.
"Not all the magic books I came across had spells in them, I can do a
few interesting tricks as well," said the girl with a shrug.
"Well, if there is no immediate danger..." said Cologne.
"Yes, I know, back to work," Ranma hunched her shoulders and walked out
of the room.
Ryoga met her at the base of the stairs. "Ranma, are we going back to
school?"
"Why do you ask?" said the girl with a look of surprise on her face.
"Well, we can't just hang around here forever, me and the girls are
getting restless," the boy blushed as the two waitresses stood behind
him.
"Oh, so you got elected to speak huh?" said Ranma placing her hands on
her hips.
"Well, he is the only male," Talcum blushed and shrunk back behind Ko
li.
"So go to school, I'm not stopping you," replied the girl as she tied
her apron around her waist casually.
The three looked at her in confusion. "You can't avoid Akane forever you
know, I'm surprised she hasn't come looking for you here yet," said Ryoga
a little bitterly.
"That's because she has a little suggestion in the back of her head too
keep that from happening," said Ranma curtly. "I'm not avoiding her, I'll
go back next week. I've still got to sort through this mess through the
proper channels. If we don't do that people are gonna start asking about
where Kuno's sister is," she turned to face them and frowned at Ryoga.
"I know that, but I can still do the paperwork, the counsel isn't
exactly picky about these things," the boy punched Ranma on the arm
lightly and smiled. "Come on relax a bit will ya?"
Cologne and the two girls just stared at the pair for a moment.
"Counsel?"
Ranma waved her hand and all three of the girls got a glazed look over
their eyes. "You didn't hear anything about a counsel." They all nodded
numbly and went back to their work ignoring the conversation. "I swear, I
almost think you enjoy making me do that to people!"
"It doesn't hurt them, and we need to talk about it! Ranma, have you
even gone to purify that house yet?" the boy looked concerned.
"No, He's gonna have it demolished in a few days, it's better if I wait
until after. The ceremony is much easier. Remember? He's staying with the
Tendos until he takes care of it," Ranma tapped Ryoga on the head and
looked him in the eyes. "You havin some kind of memory problem?"
"No, it's just that, I worry," said the boy half-heartedly.
"Yea, well stop it. I'll start school next week after I purify the
grounds, we'll see Akane then and she'll have time to think some," Ranma
turned and cheerfully continued her work.
The boy stepped towards her again. "Isn't there anything we can do for
her?"
"Oh, what is it now?" snapped Ranma.
"I was just wondering about her face..." Ryoga looked a little
embarrassed.
"What about it?" asked the girl with a slight look of anger.
"I mean, you can't heal it right? Why not just cover it up?" he smiled
weakly.
"You know that's a bad idea Ryoga, Glamoree is addictive. I'm not gonna
do that to her just cause your ideal woman got a little banged up," she
turned away and continued to wash her tables.
"More like your ideal woman," retorted the boy.
"I heard that!" Ranma tossed a wet sponge that slapped him in the back
of the head.
Talcum froze and stared at Ranma in confusion. "What did he mean by
that?"
Hikaru Gosunkugi sighed as he flipped through the pages, he rested
against the side of the desk lazily leaning on the stump where his arm
used to be. Idly he flipped through the pages of the large book Ranma had
lent him, it was a healing arts spell book. He looked at the stump and
frowned slightly, perhaps one day he could become good enough to grow
another one, but as it stood now he would have to do without it for a
time. Ranma had used all her energy up saving Akane Tendo, unfortunately
she only had enough left to seal up the wound to keep him from bleeding
to death. That meant that basically there was nothing wrong with him
anymore, so a healing spell wouldn't work. When he had asked her about it
several days later, after she had calmed down a bit from the whole
mansion episode and Akane Tendo nearly getting herself killed. Her reply
had been a simple smile and a pile of white magic books with the words
"Good luck."
He flipped another page and continued reading, "Man, this is going to
take forever!" Each book was easily as thick as his head was, and he had
to read every spell in the book to find the one he wanted since most
tomes don't contain an index or table of contents.
TBC...
Next Time: Ranma attempts to purify the Kuno estate, not an easy task,
but hardly as difficult as the battle that took place there. After which
she returns to school, which prompts Kuno, Ryoga, and the Amazons to
follow. Find out how everyone reacts to Akane's new condition, and Kuno's
new attitude, which you don't know about either. HA HA HA HA HAA!
C&C to: Carrotglace@juno.com
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