Permanent
Part 21
The best things for the ones you love...
Ranma sat cross-legged on a mound of dirt, her eyes were closed tightly
as she glowed with a faint blue energy. Ryoga stood nearby with his arms
crossed over his chest standing diligently while keeping watch on the
surrounding area. Tatewaki Kuno approached him slowly taking care not to
step on the grass just outside of the now torn down fence.
"How long will this take?" he asked quietly.
"Not much longer, as you can see a few small animals are starting to
re-appear in the area." The boy pointed upwards and indicated a few
scattered birds flying overhead. Kuno nodded gravely as he saw this.
Since the fateful evening his sister was pulled into the bowels of hell
by the creature she had summoned animals avoided the site completely. The
dark effects had abated some after the house was demolished and the
fences torn down. Still, birds flew around the grounds and dogs and cats
reacted violently to being near them.
He sighed heavily and looked out across the now barren Kuno estate.
"Tell me Hibiki, do you think I will ever be able to return home again?"
"After this you should live in relative peace. Ranma is sealing away all
of the black energy Kodachi and her demon put out, as for the
nightmares..." He paused slightly and turned his gaze away from the boy.
"I'm afraid they will probably continue for the rest of your life; a
little less frequently in time maybe, but you'll never get over seeing
something like that, believe me I know."
"Someone you know?" asked the older boy with his voice remaining quiet
and calm, he had an almost wistful appearance about him now. His wings
fluttered behind his back giving him an almost angelic appearance.
"No," replied the boy with a heavy sigh. "Once while we were in China
Ranma ran across a man who had obtained a book called the Necronomicon
Exmortum; book of the dead or something like that. We didn't make it in
time and I got to see the damn thing suck up his soul, it wasn't pretty."
Kuno nodded and looked away again. "I see..."
"If it's any consolation at all Kuno, your sister got off rather easily.
She isn't dead, when she does go she'll get judged just like everyone
else. That means she can still go the other way," Ryoga looked and saw
absolutely no reaction on his face at all.
"Thank you, that is some help to me," replied the boy almost
mechanically.
Ryoga's mind told the other side of the story that he had kept from the
boy. Kodachi would be kept alive as long as possible by the demonic
hoards, they would do everything in their power to turn her away from
that path, and most likely succeed.
Kuno walked away silently towards the Tendo Dojo with a sort of serene
calm about him. A few birds fluttered onto his head and shoulders giving
him a sort of fantastic unreality about him. Ryoga frowned slightly and
looked up to see Ranma walking towards him slowly, she looked worn out
and very tired.
"It is done," she said as she neared him.
"Kuno will be glad to hear that," replied the boy simply.
"I doubt it, he's gone down a path we will never see," replied Ranma as
she watched the boy disappear into the streets of Nerima.
"Another great Buddha huh?" the former lost boy had a serene looking
smirk on his face.
"Possibly, knowing for certain the existence of heaven and hell can
change a person forever," said the girl as she sat down on the grass to
rest. "I only wish he'd found out another way."
"What about you? Thinking of becoming St. Saotome anytime soon?" She
gave him a small frown and turned away.
"Ryoga, I'm starting to realize that some things may be more important
than my own soul,"
"That's pretty deep, what are you thinking of doing now? Are we going on
another trip?" Ranma caught a small fearful look in his eyes and smiled
to herself.
"No, I think I like it here," she replied simply.
"Back to school then? You know Akane is waiting for you there."
Ranma sighed and stood up slowly. "I know, and don't think I don't know
about you sneaking off to see her. I haven't quite decided what to do
about her, we can't go on as we have been."
Ryoga nodded and smiled slightly. "Forgiven already?"
"It wasn't my life she put in danger Ryoga, it was all of us. I'm not
just going to rush into her arms and tell her she's forgiven. She might
not remember what she learned next time." With that said she started back
towards the Cat Caf�.
Ranma Saotome walked into the gates of Furinkan the next morning flanked
by the two Amazons. Kuno stood silently by his tree with a small book in
his hands ignoring the curious stares and whispers through the crowd as
the students took notice of her return as he read it. She passed nearby
him and he nodded to her in greeting without looking up. She walked by
seeming to not notice him and headed straight for the school building.
Ryoga stood up from his place in the courtyard and sighed heavily.
"Well, here she is, the big show off." It still bothered him how much of
a show Ranma could make without even trying sometimes. Akane looked up
and gasped as the girl came near them and suddenly became confused when
she walked by without even a glance in her direction.
"Ranma?" she called as she jogged in her direction only to meet the two
Amazon girls head on.
"You no bother Ranma!" said Talcum coolly.
"What? I haven't seen her in weeks!" gasped Akane in shock.
"She doesn't want to see you," replied Ko li adamantly as she held the
girl back.
"Why not?" snarled Akane bitterly as she backed away from the pair.
"You really ask?" snorted Talcum; her face showed a small amount of
pity.
"I need to talk with her!" retorted the Tendo girl angrily. "Do I have
to go through you?"
"No, we can't harm you, our orders are only to tell you to stay away
from her," said Ko li with a heavy sigh.
"Akane talk with Ranma if want to, but she no listen," said Talcum with
a shrug.
"She told you this?" asked the girl as a confused and hurt look crossed
her face.
"Yes, I'd heed the advice to, Ranma could wipe herself from your memory
quite easily. She doesn't want to do that to you," replied the other
Amazon. The girl looked close to tears as she said this.
The golden yellow eye behind Akane's long bangs flared for a moment
before subsiding. "So, she can just order you around? Is that it?"
Talcum nodded. "Ranma is village sorceress now, rank just below elders
in Amazon tribe."
"It's not official of course, but our people will recognize it soon.
Cologne is seeing to that personally." Ko li turned away from the girl
followed by Talcum as they rushed off to catch up with the girl. She was
waiting for them at the doors. Akane caught her eye for a single moment
and received a gaze of pure ice in return. She felt a gentle hand on her
shoulder and turned into Ryoga's waiting arms crying into his chest. He
offered no words of comfort and merely looked at Ranma with an unreadable
gaze.
During the lunch period Akane saw with her two friends, Yuka and Sayuri.
"Wow Akane, that was brutal!" exclaimed Yuka in shock.
"Yea, I don't know though, a man like him might just be worth it
though," replied the other girl with a wistful sigh.
Akane blinked and came out of her depression for a moment. "Huh?"
"Come off it! Ryoga may be cute, but he's hardly worth losing a good
friend over!" retorted the other girl angrily as she smacked her friend
lightly on the back of her head.
Akane stared at the pair in shock. "You think this is over Ryoga? We
aren't even..." she blinked and remembered falling into his arms earlier.
"Are we?"
The pair looked at her in confusion. "I think it was pretty cold of you
to steal him away from her that way! He used to follow her around like a
puppy, and now he does the same thing to you," snapped Sayuri in her best
chiding voice.
Akane merely looked at them and hung her head, they didn't understand,
and if she had her way they never would find out what really happened
between them. "Let them think what they want too."
"Still, it is too late for that now," said Yuka, a long silence passed
between the three and Akane allowed her thoughts to wander.
"Ryoga, and me? I never..." something else passed through her mind. The
gentle kiss Ranma had given her that night just before she left.
"I love you, you stupid tomboy." It was true Ranma felt like a sister to
her; she was almost like a part of her family despite the short time they
had known each other. Sometimes she could still feel that kiss on her
lips and she reached up to touch them lightly as she thought about it.
The thought alone made her feel warm and safe, as if nothing could hurt
her. The bell rang signaling the end of lunch and snapped her out of her
thoughts.
"Come on Akane, we're going to be late!" said Yuka as she shook on her
arm.
"Leave her be, she's probably thinking about Ryoga the way she was
acting a minute ago," replied Sayuri with a small wink in her direction.
Kuno sat at his desk reading his book and oblivious to his surroundings.
Something hit the side of his head and he looked up to see an eraser
clatter to the floor next to him. "Seventeen," he replied simply.
The angry look on the teacher's face faded into confusion. "Yes,
well...very good Kuno."
The class turned to look at him in shock as he pointedly ignored them
completely in favor of his previous task. He flipped the page and noticed
everyone was looking at him expectantly. "What is it?" he asked them.
Everyone turned away and the class continued.
Nabiki stared at him and frowned. Even after Ranma had changed him the
first time he went into the Blue Thunder spiel after getting an answer
correct in class. Either that or he went on about how superior he was and
how great his intellect that they should ever doubt him. This was a
drastic change; he hadn't spoken at all that day save for the single
answer he had just given.
"What the hell happened that night?" she said to herself with a slight
shiver running through her body. He looked up and glanced at her with his
golden eyes, at first it seemed he was angry with her, but it was more
than that. She could almost see the pity in his eyes as they bored into
her soul. A small note landed on her desk a moment later and she opened
it slowly. Scrawled there was a neatly written proverb.
"Greed is the cornerstone of demons, all great evil is built upon its
foundation." She frowned and looked up to find him staring into the pages
of his book unaware of his surroundings again. The scrawl was carefully
made as if it had been done by a calligrapher, much too neat for him to
have written it without her noticing.
Somewhere in the wilderness of Japan a violent storm raged across a
mountain valley blasting wind across the barren cliff sides. Near the
peak of one such mountain a great boulder stood, as it should have for
eternity. A long Shinto ward was wrapped around it warning away passers
by of the evil sealed within it. Lightening crashed creating booming
thunder through the valley as the first drops of rain landed on the
parched ground. A blast of lightening slammed into the boulder shattering
it completely.
A dark cloud of energy escaped from the hidden cave it had once covered.
A small weary looking figure emerged from the shadows emitting an inhuman
sound as it struggled to freedom at last, it uttered a single word that
was almost lost to the wind despite the force of it's cry. "Akane!"
Another bolt of lightening struck slamming into the creature as it
reveled in its freedom sending it back to the ground once again. It did
not move as the storm raged on around it.
Evening fell and Akane sat in the Tendo Dojo with Ryoga at her side, she
leaned into him slightly and blushed when he made no move to stop her.
Her thoughts quickly returned to the message she had been given by him
that night.
"Ranma is coming here tonight Akane, she said she wants to speak with
you." She had felt a faint glimmer of hope at the words, but his face was
very serious. He could not tell her what it was about just yet and she
had spoken with her father earlier in the day. The man had been silent
and kept giving Ryoga sidelong glances on occasion as he sat with her.
She wasn't sure if it was because he was being protective of her either.
Suddenly the boy stood up and turned towards the door.
"She's here Akane."
The door opened slowly as Ranma entered the house; she was dressed in a
white formal Kimono and had a katana hanging from her side as she stepped
into the home. Glancing at the table everyone save Kasumi left the room
suddenly leaving the pair alone. "Akane."
"Ranma, what is this about?" asked Akane suddenly very wary of the over
the top formality.
"I wanted to speak with you privately concerning us before we get on
with this business," said the girl without her expression wavering in the
slightest.
"Business? What business?" gasped Akane in shock and confusion.
Ranma fell to her knees and embraced her warmly with a soft smile
appearing on her face. "I've missed you."
Everything seemed to melt away as Akane returned the hug. "Ranma I..."
Without letting go the girl's voice changed back into formality again.
"Akane, things cannot be as they were between us. I'm sorry," she sat
back and smiled at her.
Akane was confused and very worried. "What do you mean?"
"Akane, I'd like to be friends with you. Really, but I can't have you
doing things like that anymore. Tell me, why did you do it?" she remained
seated neatly across from the girl and waited patiently.
"It was a matter of honor!" said Akane with a pleading voice.
"Honor? You mean the time she defeated you?" inquired the girl. "The
gymnastics competition?"
"Yes! I had to..." Ranma stopped her cold simply by raising her hand.
"This was a matter of family, a matter of great importance. It did not
concern honor in any way. What you did was foolish, it put not only your
life, but the lives of all involved in great danger." Ranma was calm and
completely immovable.
"But I..." Akane stopped on her own this time and looked away in shame.
"Ranma, I don't want this. You're like a sister to me! I'll do whatever
you say; I won't ever do anything like that again! I swear!"
Ranma smiled again, unable to keep the emotion off of her face. "Akane,
I don't want that. Your spirit is what attracts me the most; I want you
to remain as you are. The world needs people like you. I thought we could
go on like we were forever, unfortunately that can't happen. I'm sorry,
but we can never become that close again, now I must keep secrets. A
great many of them, even more than I already had."
Akane blushed warning lights blared through her head, "Attracts? That
kiss! Did she mean..."
Suddenly Ranma stood. I would like to continue being your friend Akane,
but that means we must remain distant from each other. Do you
understand?"
The girl nodded gravely trying her best to realize exactly what the girl
was talking about. The truth was she didn't want to become quite as close
as she thought Ranma had meant.
"Good, you'll understand in time," said the girl simply as she turned to
Kasumi. Akane noticed her elder sister had tears in her eyes. "You can
bring them back in, and get Kuno inside, that fool will catch cold
roosting on the roof all of the time."
Tatewaki Kuno stood on the roof of the Tendo home staring into the
sunset. He was trying his best not to impose on the family there,
spending most of his time away from them and eating away from the house
when possible. He realized that it probably seemed rude to them, but they
seemed to understand. In the end he found he merely wanted to return
home. "But which home?" he asked himself outside. "The one I left, or the
one I must build?" A small pebble landing near his feet interrupted his
contemplation. Nabiki stood waiting on the ground with a frustrated look
on her face. "It's about time! I've been calling you for ten minutes!
Stop your daydreaming and come inside before you get sick!" He blinked
and fluttered down next to her.
"I did not realize you worried so," a wry smile crossed his face as she
turned away in genuine disgust.
"Relax Kuno baby, Ranma is worried about you. Not me."
He shrugged his shoulders and followed her inside stopping cold as he
saw the girl in question sitting with the Tendo family around the table
in what looked like a meeting of sorts.
He walked over and passed by Ryoga who was standing in the doorway.
"What is going on?"
"Ranma has forgiven Akane," replied the boy simply.
"All this formality for that? Is it some sort of wizard custom or
something?" he turned and looked back at the table in confusion.
"Not that I know of," replied the boy simply. "As far as I know she
could have done it yesterday if she had felt like it."
"Strange, I wonder what this is about?" asked Kuno as he walked towards
the stairs.
"Perhaps she is offering protection for the family? That's a pretty
formal occasion for our kind," Kuno looked at the boy in mild surprise.
"Our kind?"
"I'm her familiar, plus I know a little. Not much, but you don't spend
that much time around a sorceress without learning something." Kuno
nodded and paused again. Ryoga looked at the table, "Even for that it
seems a little much though. Usually the family exchanges something for
the protection. I don't see any money changing hands or anything like
that."
"Money?" asked Kuno in slight disgust; it sounded to him like a Yakuza
practice.
"A coin will do, it's more a formality for the spell to work nowadays,"
the boy shrugged, "but I don't see why Ranma would do something like that
anyway, usually a sorcerer will do that for a particularly helpful family
so they can call on him in time of need. Even after he dies, it's a
pretty rare thing and Ranma isn't as much of a sorceress as she needs to
be to do something like that anyway."
"Ranma, an inadequate sorceress?" Kuno seemed surprised.
"You have no idea," replied the boy simply. "Ranma's actually pretty
specialized. She knows a few tricks and has a good library if she really
needs to do something. Like what she did to you for example. Most of her
spells involve curses, healing, or purification, we were trying to find a
way to fix our condition."
Kuno merely nodded and went up to his room leaving Ryoga to his
thoughts. He was mildly surprised to find Ranma waving him over to her
side. He kneeled behind her on a small pillow placed there for him.
"So, I am to understand that the Saotome line cannot live up to it's end
of the bargain?" said Soun simply continuing the earlier conversation.
"That is correct, not this generation anyway, that is why I am offering
you this," said the girl simply. Everyone but Soun and Ranma seemed
confused thus far.
"I accept," replied the man cheerfully. "After all, it is painfully
obvious."
"I agree, I have not spoken to him of it yet though, I wanted to be sure
you see." Ranma smirked in a way that sent chills down Akane's spine. She
turned back and glanced at Ryoga who merely shrugged his shoulders
indicating that he did not know either.
"Ryoga Hibiki," snapped Ranma as she glanced back at him. I would like
to introduce you to Akane Tendo...your new fianc�e."
The room fell deathly silent.
Woohoo! Nothing like pissing off FFMLers with a great ending!
Next time: Oh, come on! I know you know what's coming next!
Url: Http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/fountain/3203
C&C to Carrotglace@juno.com