Hey all,
I think that I finally figured out the formatting issue that I've
been having problems with. Please let me know if this comes
through okay for you.
Enjoy!
********
Progeny Chapter Nine
By Jeffrey Vasquez
Disclaimer:
Based on the series Sailor Moon. All characters copyrighted by
Naoko Takeuchi, Toei Animation, and Kodansha.
The characters of Ranma 1/2 are the express property of the most
benevolent queen of comedy, her Highness, the revered Rumiko
Takahashi and Shogokukan. I am in no way claiming, or even
pretending to own these characters.
The rest belong to me.
*********
Tendo Dojo
Nabiki sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the floor. The
excitement of her stay with Mother
and the Clan was finally catching up with her. She had no idea
what day it was, and asking
someone would be more trouble than it was worth. The fact that
she was home, and that Daddy
wasn't wailing that his little girl had returned, was evidence
enough that she hadn't been gone all
that long.
The fact remained though, that the whole episode hadn't been a
dream. She wasn't sure whether
that was a good thing or not. It wasn't every day that you were
kidnapped for no apparent reason,
and told some wild bedtime story about a kingdom on the moon.
If there was one thing that Nabiki hated more than anything, it
was a mystery. Mysteries went
against her grain, leaving things unresolved; and that was
something that Nabiki Tendo couldn't
settle for. She needed answers. Answers gave a person control,
and control meant stability.
She gathered up her bath items and raked her hand through her
mussed hair. It was time to get
to the bottom of the mystery, but the first order of business was
getting freshened up. No one
took you seriously if you stank up the room.
"Yoshitsune! You're back!" Washi's rich voice floated up from
downstairs, causing Nabiki to
freeze at the door. Her hand was outstretched and shaking; her
heart leapt in her chest. The
reaction amazed her. She had never felt this way about any man,
and the whole experience
frightened her. The memory of his gentle arms around her, and
the safety that she had felt in
them, coursed through her. She tried her best to hold them back,
but more images, some safe
and some risqu,, broke free; questing for dominance in her mind's
eye.
She wanted to indulge them; they made her feel warm, and wanted.
But she pushed them down
harshly, even as laughter erupted from the breakfast table. She
knew that she would hear about
this later, but it didn't really matter to her. She would be
near him again.
The whole scenario was so surreal. She never would have thought
that Nabiki Tendo, part time
bookie - part time philanthropist, would ever fall in love. It
was so out of character for her .
Her introspection was shattered by a loud voice.
"Shut up Old Bird!" There was a meaty slap followed by a hearty
splash from the koi pond. It
was strangely nostalgic to Nabiki. Images of Akane and Ranma
reared up, threatening to
overwhelm her. She could just imagine Akane dragging a soaked
and rather beaten Ranma back
into the house, to be doctored. Akane had tried so hard to hide
her feelings; something that
Nabiki desperately wished that she could do now. But how could
you hide anything from a
telepath?
Nabiki growled, and latched onto the door. This was stupid. No
it was worse than that! It was
senseless. She was standing there fantasizing about a man that
had kidnapped her. He hadn't
even issued a challenge or asked for a ransom! She didn't even
know why she had been
kidnapped in the first place! It obviously wasn't for her
womanly charms! The Jerk!
More laughter floated up to her, needling her to action. She
opened her door, and calmly made
her way to the bath. She needed answers. And She wasn't going
to find them sitting up here.
*********
Mizuno Clinic
Ranma winced as he pulled his pants on. Every muscle seemed to
talk to him, which made no
sense whatsoever. The fight hadn't been that bad, from what he
remembered. He'd taken worse
off of Ryouga plenty of times. But there were huge gaps in his
memory from after he had come
out from underneath the wall.
Feh! He hated the Neko-ken! And he hated that stupid old fart,
and his idiotic ideas!
Ranma hunted for his tank top, grumbling about his father the
entire time. A few choice
comments about his mother, and her need to show off his manliness
slipped in there too.
Normally he wouldn't have said them out loud, but the fact that
he had spent a good twenty
minutes looking for his pants had set him on edge. It was one
thing to love his mother, it was
another to accept her "helpful" nature. He grunted as he dug the
offending garment from one of
the room's cabinets.
Why couldn't anything ever be easy? Just once, he wished that
life would deal him a good
solution to a problem, rather than dragging him through the mud.
He knew that he had hurt
Ami, and that ate at him. It wasn't her fault that she looked
like a woman that had been dead for
millennia. It wasn't her fault that she could have been Akane's
twin sister. She was a nice girl,
one that deserved better than a dumb jock like him.
He had seen the trophies, and knew what they meant.
Ami had a real future; something that he had never really hoped
for before Akane and the
Tendos. Besides, he was engaged to Nabiki now. He couldn't be
unfaithful to her. He knew
that he was doing the right thing; why then did he feel like he
had just stabbed Ami in the back?
None of it made any sense.
Ranma was so lost in thought, that he didn't hear Usagi enter the
room and lock the door behind
her. He simply stared out the window, bare from the waist up.
Usagi had never seen so many
muscles in her life up close and personal that was. And what a
showing it was! She thought
that gym class had been good, but this !
What was she thinking? This was Aramas! Her brother! She
suddenly felt rather queasy and
tried to look away from Ranma's back, when her eyes registered
something odd. His back was
cast in shadows, so it was difficult to make out at first, but as
her eyes adjusted, she recognized
the crisscrossing patterns that decorated the young man's back.
Scars. Hundreds of them! All over lapping like something
clawed him. The more she looked,
the more distinct they became. There was a network of marks that
lay all over his body now that
she looked; all faded from time and healing, but there.
What had happened to him?
She remembered another scene, from a life long dead, in which she
had witnessed a like thing.
****
Princess Serenity was furious. That much was clear. The fact
that she was furious and stomping
down the Hall of Casius clad only in a furred bathrobe, with her
hair still dripping wet and suds
from her bubble bath on her nose, was enough to divert any
questions and smiles for that matter.
Just breathing wrong might send the offender to the headsman, if
the look on the Princess' face
were something to judge by. Which was exactly what she wanted
everyone to think.
He had done it to her again!
Again!
Frogs in her bath! How much longer was she going to have to put
up with this man?
She was going to show him where he could put his frogs!
She was sorely tempted to put them there herself! Her line of
thought was derailed as she
rounded a corner to come face to face with Artemis. The Venusian
was eating a rather large fish
sandwich, which he promptly began to choke on when he got an eye
full of his Princess.
He quickly doubled over and fixed his eyes on the floor, while
his hacking cough echoed up and
down the corridor.
"Where is he?" Her voice was strangely calm, despite the
maelstrom that raged within her. She
hoped that she looked half as nonplussed as her mother did when
she used this tone of voice.
Artemis pointed down the corridor, to the guards' apartments, his
face turning a slight blue from
the lack of oxygen. The Princess nodded once and slapped Artemis
soundly on the back twice.
There was a disgusting splat somewhere near her feet, but she
tried not to think about that.
"You are a faithful subject Artemis, I will make sure to mention
this to Luna when next we
meet."
Artemis looked up at his Princess with a mixed expression. If
Princess Serenity read it correctly,
the Guardian Advisor wasn't sure if he should be grateful or
worried. Luna had a way of
misinterpreting things .
Well, that was something to deal with later.
Her sights were set on something entirely different now, and she
would not be deterred!
Finding Aramas was easy enough. She had "visited" the barracks
so often (no thanks to her
guardian) that she could make this journey blind folded. The
hard part was keeping her anger
hot amidst the flurry of half naked guards that were running
about, or prostrating themselves at
her feet. She knew that she would never be able to look the
captain of her mother's guard in the
eye again at least without laughing. Who thought that a rough
and tumble, tough like Captain
Phenris would wear powder blue silk undergarments?
The only thing that kept her on course at the moment, was the
slimy little frog in her hand. The
thought of the amphibian clutched in her fist, and the fifty or
so family members that he had
brought with him to enjoy her bath, was enough to fan the flames
to new heights again.
The emotion was so intense, that a fully naked figure shot before
her eyes, without so much as
making her blush. Those guards that weren't ducking for cover
mourned for Aramas; knowing
that this time, he had really dug his grave deep.
Princess Serenity arrived at the offender's quarters, and threw
open the door with enough force to
cause it to bounce back and hit her unexpectedly. She groaned
for but a moment, shrugging off
the pain in favor of the naked figure before her. The sight was
enough to make her mouth go
dry.
******
Usagi could see the scars plainly in her mind's eye. Hundreds of
them, of all shapes and sizes
had covered Aramas' back, giving testimony of all the hardship
that he had seen. She
remembered the causal way that he had reached for his pants,
completely undisturbed by her
presence. He had displayed so much self-control, and so much
bravery in light of her intrusion
she knew that had the tables been reversed, she would have been
scrambling for her clothes and
blushing like mad. Not to mention yelling and screaming at the
top of her lungs.
She also remembered that Aramas had been blameless in the whole
frog incident. That had been
Merin's Ahem, Minako's joke. She'd have to remember to get back
at the Senshi of Venus for
embarrassing her in front of so many men.
That was for later though. She was on another mission at the
moment, that was more pressing
than frogs and whatnot. She turned her attention back on the
young man before her, ready to
unleash her fury on him; a punishment that she felt he had
earned.
Ranma was just as cool now, as Aramas had been then. He pulled
his shirt on and slowly
buttoned it up, seemingly oblivious to her presence. She wished
that she was that unshakable!
He finished with his shirt and began tucking it in, preparing to
leave it seemed. It was now or
never. She remembered her mother telling her that someone caught
off guard was vulnerable.
She hoped that the former Queen of the Moon Kingdom was right.
"Aramas." She said at last. Had she been looking at him, rather
than the anatomy poster that
Mizuno-sensei had hung near the door, she would have seen Ranma
cringe and turn. The anger
in his eyes would have made her bolt for the hills, Ami or no
Ami.
He did an amazingly good job of reigning in his rage, but that
didn't mean that Ranma's face was
soft and happy. When Usagi returned her attention back to the
young martial artist, his face was
cold and stony.
"The name's Ranma."
Usagi didn't like the steel that laced Ranma's voice. To be
honest, it scared her. But she had
come here on behalf of her friend, and she wasn't about to back
down now.
"Fine. Ranma then." She tried her best not to feel nervous, but
the way that Ranma stared at her
made her skin crawl. The memory of Ami's tears helped steel her
resolve. "What's going on?
Why did you treat Ami like that?"
Ranma didn't answer immediately, he seemed to look inward for a
long moment, and Usagi
could have sworn that she saw longing pass over his features.
Yes she was sure of it. Longing
and regret.
"It's none of your business." He said plainly, violently shoving
his feet into a pair of slippers,
and then picking up a bag of tattered clothes. He made a move
for the door, but Usagi
intercepted him, blocking his escape.
"I'm making it my business." She said, stubbornly crossing her
arms beneath her breasts.
Ranma had seen Nabiki and Akane take up that immoveable stance
before. He had even come
up with a name for it: The Root of the Mountain. It was a
technique that women everywhere
seemed to know instinctually. There was only one door, and the
window, while large enough to
provide an exit - led to the unknown. He had jumped out of
enough windows to know that it was
better to look before you leaped.
Damn. He hated being trapped.
"Outta my way Usagi. I don't got time for this." He tried
pushing past her, only to find her
moving with him to block his path again. He tried a second time,
and then moved back a couple
of steps when it was evident that she wasn't going to let him
pass. She even locked the door to
prevent anyone from interrupting!
"I'm not budging until you tell me why you made Ami cry?"
Ranma flinched visibly. Guilt swelled in his heart at the
thought of hurting Ami, but he wasn't
about to apologize. She was better off, not getting involved
with him. "Better now than later."
He said coldly, turning his back on her.
It was Usagi's turn to flinch. She had seen the memory. She had
seen Akane's death, and felt his
sorrow. Her reaction was instinctual, reaching out and laying
her hand on his shoulder. "Ranma,
it wasn't your fault "
"What the HELL do you know about it?" He spun around, enraged.
"You weren't there!"
Usagi cringed, biting her lower lip before his anger; she refused
to back down though.
"I know enough!" She said, "I saw it! Just like the others did!
We felt her slip away! We felt
your heart break! We felt your regret!"
Ranma growled and threw his bag onto the bed. "You don't know
nothing."
Perhaps it was the way that Ranma dismissed her, or the fact that
he was denying all the losses
that she herself had suffered; her real mother rather their
mother, her friends in the battle
against Beryl, the millions of people that had once lived in the
Moon Kingdom . So many faces
crept into her mind's eye, that tears began rolling down her
face.
She had been angry before, but the cold righteous fury that
gripped her now made the previous
emotion seem like a candle next to a bonfire. Three steps took
her inside Ranma's guard, and
before he knew what was happening, her full-armed slap took him
across the jaw.
Ranma had survived well over a thousand conflicts, been pummeled
into the ground by men
strong enough to lift cars. But the slap, combined with the
earnest tears in Usagi's eyes, hurt
more than almost any punch that he had ever taken.
"I know enough! You think that you're the only one to lose
anyone close to you? You you you
Jerk!" She pounded on his chest, pushing him backwards beneath
her assault. "I've lost Ami and
the others twice! Twice! I've had my boyfriend brainwashed and
turned against me! I lost an
entire kingdom! People that I had sworn protect!"
Ranma sank heavily into a chair next to the bed and looked up at
Usagi, unable to respond. The
pony-tailed girl wrapped herself in a fierce hug, and sat heavily
on the bed next to Ranma.
"Don't talk to me about not understanding loss. My whole life
has been surrounded by loss."
A long uncomfortable silence filled the space between the two,
making both feel uncomfortable.
Usagi's tears slowly stopped and Ranma handed her a Kleenex,
which she gratefully accepted.
"Sorry." He said finally.
Usagi shrugged and blew her nose loudly.
********
Nodoka and pretty much the rest of the clinic heard the yelling
voices coming from Ranma's
room. Yuriko and Ami had appeared beside her as she made her way
down the hall, and Ami's
friends that had helped bring Ranma to the clinic weren't far
behind them.
Nodoka noticed that the cute girl with the odango hairstyle
wasn't among them, but a tall,
sharply dressed, green-haired woman was. Nodoka assumed that she
must have been
Chiba-san's girlfriend. She thought that they made a fabulous
couple, and the fact that their
faces looked concerned, causing Nodoka to smile. It was so nice
that Ranma was making so
many friends.
The large group came to the door leading to Ranma's room, and
Yuriko tried opening the door,
only to find it locked. She looked at Nodoka with some
trepidation, before producing a key.
The muffled argument coming from the other side of the door was
escalating.
Dr. Mizuno was about to unlock the door, when the tall green
haired woman laid her hand on her
arm and shook her head. She made a motion for the whole group to
wait, when as if by magic,
the argument on the other side of the door stopped.
********
The silence returned between the two, making the room feel stuffy
and oppressive. Ranma
shifted uncomfortably in his chair, wanting to get up and leave,
but not able to. He couldn't
understand why either. Another few minutes passed before Usagi
finally broke the impasse.
"So are you going to tell me or not?"
Ranma looked up at her, and shook his head. "No."
"Why not?" She demanded.
"Because it's my business! Damnit!"
"I thought that we had already established that I was making it
my business."
Ranma growled and leapt to his feet. "Well, I ain't sharin'!
Got that?" To prove his point he
grabbed up his bag and started to make for the door, Usagi hot on
his heels.
"Awwww, come on Ranma! I'm your sister! You can tell me
anything!"
He stopped so suddenly, that Usagi plowed into him from behind.
For her it was like hitting a
brick wall (and she had met enough to know what she was talking
about), but for Ranma, the
collision barely registered. He thought that he heard something
fall to the floor outside the door,
but he wasn't sure.
********
Nodoka heard voices pick up again after a moment and tried her
best to listen to what was going
on behind the door. She could now tell that Usagi was the one in
the room with Ranma, but she
couldn't tell what was being said. Her frustration must have
been evident on her face, for a very
helpful young woman produced an empty glass for her. The blonde
girl simply smiled and
shrugged, before the raven haired girl smacked her on the back of
her head.
Nodoka knew that it wasn't polite to eavesdrop, but the combined
curiosity, weighed down on
her intensely. The collective expectation of everyone gathered
was irresistible.
Very carefully, intent on making no noise, she put the glass up
against the door, and her ear
against the bottom of the glass.
"So are you going to tell me or not?"
"No."
"Why not?" She demanded.
"Because it's my business! Damnit!"
"I thought that we had already established that I was making it
my business."
Ranma growled and leapt to his feet. "Well, I ain't sharin'!
Got that?" The sounds of shuffling
feet coming toward the door made her nervous, and she quickly
motioned for everyone to make
themselves scarce. She was about to pull the glass away from the
door when Usagi's cheery
voice came through the glass.
"Awwww, come on Ranma! I'm your sister! You can tell me
anything!"
Something happened. Nodoka wasn't sure what, but the room seemed
to spin and fall away.
The last thing that she remembered, was the thought that Genma
Saotome was going to have a
lot of explaining to do.
********
Tendo Dojo
Yoshitsune sat on a rock near the koi pond and sulked. It wasn't
an unnatural sight for those that
knew him; being the butt of everyone's jokes often did that to a
man. But there was something
more ponderous about his scowl than was normally there. Had any
of the Clan taken a moment
to really study him, they would have found a new light to his
eyes, something that the stony
faced warrior had never had before.
This was the root of his foul mood: the gut wrenching, mind
numbing distraction, that had
burrowed its way into his heart.
He had a name for his nemesis, but he was afraid to voice it.
Not that he was afraid of this new
antagonist... not really at any rate. It was that by naming it,
he felt that he was giving her power
over him; power that he knew deep down that she already
possessed.
Denial was a privilege that he could afford to indulge in.
He looked down into the pond at the reflection of the clouds,
trying to lose himself in a moment
of meditation. His mind went back to the time before he had been
adopted into the Clan. Life
had been so much simpler then, but everything seemed simple to a
ten year old.
He remembered a game that he and his brother used to play while
fishing near their home. They
would lay back and watch the clouds, shaping them with their
imaginations. It had been such a
simple past-time, that had diverted Yoshitsune for hours on end.
Now, every time he looked
heaven ward, he would see a face in the clouds. So beautiful and
mysterious... her eyes hiding
so much pain from the rest of the world.
Nabiki's face.
With a growl of frustration he tossed a pebble into the water.
It had been ages since he had seen
a real woman, well a human woman at any rate. Elves and Kitsune
never counted as far as
Yoshitsune was concerned. All they ever cared about was the
pleasure of the moment or what
their dinner was going to shape up to be. They had wanted him
because he was an oddity; a
curiosity that would divert their boredom long enough to stave
off immortality.
Nabiki was different. She couldn't hide her thoughts, or guard
her dreams. She was this
magnificent book, that lay before Yoshitsune waiting to be read.
It was refreshing to be around
such an open person again. There were no psychic walls and
barriers with her. What you saw
was what you got. And what a priceless jewel she was.
Nabiki had seen much of her world, and the pleasures and pain
associated with it, but despite the
cut throat exterior, had come through relatively unscathed. Her
largest scars were like the rest of
her family's, the loss of mother and sister. Nabiki was truly
brave. It was plain that she was
taking up the role that Kasumi could no longer sustain; being
strong for those that had no more
strength to give.
He admired her for that. He admired her for a great many
things... her eyes, her silky brown
hair, the shape of her...
"You're projecting."
Yoshitsune jumped five feet into the air, angling over the koi
pond in an arc that inevitably
would end his journey with a splash. The koi, maneuvered
themselves with practiced ease out of
the falling man's path. The act was done with such alacrity,
that it seemed a synchronized effort.
The resounding splash was drown out by Nabiki's irreverent
laughter (not to mention the rest of
the Clan's). If his blood could boil, the water around him would
have been churning. His face
alone was giving off enough heat to do the job; whether it was
from anger or embarrassment or
anger, Yoshitsune couldn't decide.
Nabiki's laughter lessened only a little, as the warrior drug
himself from the water. An image of
a water logged Ranma-chan, stomping soggily out of the pond made
Nabiki howl; Washi wasn't
far behind her, pounding on the dining room table and laughing so
hard that tears were rolling
down his face.
"I am not a girl." Yoshitsune growled, misinterpreting the
mental image that Nabiki was
projecting.
The way the loose white silk of his shirt clung to him, Nabiki
had to agree. The direction of her
thoughts began to take in other parts of his wet body as well,
causing the man to blush harder.
"Would you please stop that?" Yoshitsune asked, his eyes half
closed in irritation. Nabiki bit her
lip, and Washi bellowed even harder than before.
"Sorry." She snickered. The laughter in her eyes made his heart
pound in his chest.
"No you're not." He growled, wringing his shirt out.
Nabiki got a slight glimpse of his washboard stomach and nearly
whistled with appreciation.
This guy was more toned than Ranma! And judging by the
coloration of his skin, he liked to
workout without a shirt on.... An impromptu photo shoot seemed
in order.
Toshitsune whirled on her quickly and held up his index finger an
inch away from Nabiki's nose.
"Don't. Even. Think. About. It." The promise of retribution
was plain in his eyes. Washi was
rolling around on the floor, along with some of the other members
of the Clan... including
Father.
Nabiki was beginning to tire of the man's "holier-than-thou"
attitude and propped herself up on
her elbows to glare at him. Just to spite him, and perhaps to
really indulge herself, Nabiki took a
moment and envisioned a particularly steamy scene that stopped
everyone dead in their tracks.
Washi's laughter stopped, and Father's eyes crossed, and several
of the others simply bit their
bottom lips and looked on with deep interest.
Yoshitsune boggled at the scene that was playing out in his mind,
and began to sweat nervously.
He closed his eyes, so that he wouldn't have to look at Nabiki.
It was so hard to reign in his
emotions, and to Nabiki's surprise, the man began to tremble.
"Please. Please Tendo-san, stop." There was a pleading edge to
his voice that pushed the fantasy
out of Nabiki's mind, to the great disappointment of the
eavesdroppers. Hato-chan most of all
groaned in regret, much to the surprise of her siblings.
There was a mumbled "pervert" from behind Nabiki, followed by
someone getting slapped. She
barely noted it however. Her attention was focused on the man
before her. He seemed so
vulnerable in that moment, that all she could think about doing
was embracing him and
apologizing.
"Awwwwww." The collected sigh from the gathered audience behind
her made her groan.
"Do you mind?" She said turning to the group and leveling them
with her coldest stare.
Washi smiled from were he lay, his head propped in one hand and
his bulbous eyes blinking
exaggeratedly. "Not at all, please continue." Hato-chan hit him
with Genma and Soun's shogi
board, crashing his head into the floor.
"Baka! You ruined the mood!"
Nabiki shook her head, and then turned her attention back to
Yoshitsune in time to see him slip
out the front gate. There was no way that he was going to get
away that easily. He owed her an
explanation for her kidnaping, and she meant to drag it out of
him one way or another. She leapt
to her feet and dashed after him, intent on catching him before
he lost himself in the mid
morning crowds.
Mother, from her vantage point in front of the door of the dojo,
smiled at the thought of yet
another chick leaving the nest. She shook her head, and returned
to her preparations. There was
much to be done before Aramas returned to her. It wasn't
everyday that she got to meet the
future Queen of the Moon either.
Soun and Genma looked at each other in mild confusion, and
shrugged simultaneously. They
were Nabiki's new friends after all, and she would introduce them
soon enough.
"She seems to be adjusting to the chaos quite well Tendo." Genma
beamed.
"Right you are Saotome, right you are." Soun smiled as they
replaced the game pieces on the
small table, that as still embedded in Washi's head. "At this
rate, she'll be ready to marry Ranma
by the end of the month!" The two men did a little dance of joy,
and set back to playing their
game.
The groaning Washi went unnoticed.
********
Mizuno Clinic
Usagi's words swirled in Ranma's mind, calling up a thousand
memories that he wanted nothing
to do with. But denying the emotions that went with them was
harder. He turned to look down
at the bright blue eyes that stared back up at him happily.
He had always wanted to have a little sister; someone that he
could protect, and tease, and just
talk to. The lonely memories of years on the road with his
father loomed beside those of
Aramas, and the Senshi. If he believed them, Usagi really was
his sister. If he didn't everything
remained the same.
All he had to do was accept the fact that he really wasn't a
seventeen year old martial artist
named Ranma Saotome. All he had to do was embrace the idea that
he was a reincarnated
prince from a kingdom long since dust.
Yeah, right.
He growled again and pushed past Usagi, reaching for the door.
He was Ranma Saotome
damnit! No matter what these people said! No matter what his
dreams said! To accept anything
else was to sacrifice his identity! He'd lose his mother again,
and everything that he had suffered
for over the years would have been living a lie.
Especially Akane.
There was no way that he had loved her just because she looked
like Isis! No way! He couldn't
cheapen her death or spit on her memory like that! He had loved
Akane Tendo. Period. Ranma
unlocked the door and threw it open, almost taking out
Mizuno-sensei and two of Ami's friend's
in the process.
>From the guilty looks on their faces he knew that they had been
eavesdropping. He pinned Ami
with a hurt glance and stormed off. She and Usagi called after
him, followed closely by
Mizuno-sensei.
"Let him go." Setsuna's voice was like a wet blanket, coldly
dowsing the passion within the
room. "He needs some time to himself. And we have other
concerns right now." Yuriko looked
down at her unconscious friend and quickly set about checking her
over. She motioned for
Mamoru to help her carry Nodoka into one of the examination
rooms, while Setsuna shepherded
the others back into the foyer. Mamoru soon joined them.
"How's Ranma's mom?" Ami asked, her puffy red eyes looked awful.
"Shaken, with a small bump on her head." Mamoru replied. "Your
mother said that she was
going to monitor her for awhile."
"Good." Leave it to Setsuna to be the cold voice of
practicality. "We have plans to make." Both
Ami and Usagi shot her frigid glances.
"What about Aramas?" Luna asked
"Ranma will be fine." Setsuna made it a point to emphasize the
name, which made Ami scowl.
"But he's hurting Setsuna," Usagi said worriedly. "Someone
should help him."
Setsuna shook her head, despite the fact that she agreed with
Usagi's observation. "He will be
fine."
"But.... "
"You are my Princess," Setsuna cut Usagi off. "... and someday
you will be my Queen. But that
is if, and only IF, you heed my counsel here and now!" Usagi
gulped and looked away from
Setsuna's piercing gaze. "Aramas' father has returned. Broken
free from a prison that should
have been impossible to escape. His only desire when he was
alive, was overthrowing the Moon
Kingdom."
Usagi gulped, and Haruka flexed her fists, cracking her knuckles.
"With the moon Kingdom gone, where do you think his attention
will turn? We are all that is
left, to stand before a mad man and conquest, and you are not
even fully trained yet! If we are to
survive this threat, Ranma will have to tend to himself for a
while." She shook her head. "I
want to help him as much as you do Usagi, but soon enough we will
have our hands full with
Ur."
Usagi slumped into a chair wearily. Nothing ever came easy.
Something, or someone was
always being sacrificed for the sake of the future.
********
Tokyo Harbor
Herb shrugged into his pack easily, adjusting it so that the
magical treasures he carried would
distribute themselves properly. The boat that they had hired
(bought would have been a more
appropriate term) was already returning to gather the next group
to be ferried over.
Lime and Mint stood on either side of their King; but no one was
as close to him as Pepper, who
had taken up a silent vigil that made Herb concerned. The boy
was maturing too quickly. He
had a feverish look that was paranoid. He would jump at shadows,
and brandish his small
knives at the slightest hint of danger.
It was almost enough to crush Herb's spirit. The only thing that
kept him going was the thought
of revenge, and the need of his people.
<So, where do we head from here?> He asked Xian Pu in Chinese, as
the Amazon shrugged into
the harness that would carry her Great-Grandmother's weakened and
still broken body.
<I don't know.> She looked around her, and finally settled on two
of her sisters that had chosen
to accompany them from Hong Kong. <We have properties throughout
Japan, that were bought
long ago for emergencies such as these...> She looked to the
ragged form of Khu Lon and
shrugged. <Great Grandmother knows them all, as do some of the
other Elders. We will choose
one to serve as our base of operations, and then go from there.>
<What about the restaurant in Nerima?> Herb asked. He noticed
the way that Xian Pu winced
and subsequently dismissed the notion.
<We sold the property.> Her voice was terse, and far too
controlled. Saotome must have hurt
her pride deeply for her to be this cold about the issue. <I have
heard Great Grandmother speak
of a house in Azabu Juuban. It is close enough to the harbor and
the house there is larger than
anything that we could afford in Nerima.>
Herb was about to say something more, when Xian Pu walked over to
Khu Lon, and after a brief
conversation, gathered the ancient woman into her arms. Khu Lon
gingerly scrambled into the
harness and allowed her great granddaughter to take up her staff.
With a weak motion she
motioned for the others to follow.
Herb sighed and adjusted his pack again, finally setting out
after the Amazons with his small
retinue.
********
There was something to be said for window shopping. For Nabiki
Tendo, it was a form of
meditation; a time to relax and meander without any real purpose.
Let other people practice
their kata, or hum while surrounded by incense Nabiki could
achieve the same separation from
browsing through a rack of blouses.
And today she needed it.
Not only had her home been invaded by a whole new level of
weirdness, but Ranma wasn't even
there to act as the catalyst. She had lost sight of Yoshitsune
the moment he entered the shopping
district, and had been cursing her luck ever since. She needed
something to take her mind off
the man, and the nagging questions that plagued her.
Shopping seemed the most logical thing in the world when faced
with the chaos that had
suddenly dropped into her lap. Her fingers danced through the
rack of crew shirts absently,
looking for a blue or black ensemble that matched a particular
pair of shoes that she had seen
earlier.
The Clan's presence made absolutely no sense. And getting answers
from any of them verbal or
otherwise was next to impossible. Their body language was so
foreign, and when presented with
a direct question it was like she was talking to a stone. They
would sit and stare at her for a very
long time, but say nothing. They weren't exactly ignoring her;
not really. It seemed as though
they were waiting for something. Maybe for her to put the pieces
together, or something.
She had gone over the facts that she had again, trying to see the
situation from another point of
view; but it did little good. How do you fit the Phoenix in with
a dead Kingdom? The symbolic
connection seemed pretty straight forward; especially after
Mother said that they were coming to
resurrect a dead kingdom. The Phoenix was a symbol of death and
rebirth, so that was the
obvious connection.
But what about the Musk? They had fallen, but weren't lost? How
did Herb fit into all of this?
They hadn't heard from him since Ranma had locked horns with him.
She moved to another rack and picked out a smoky gray for lack
of a better term, body sock.
There were holes cut in appropriate places, and some places that
were not so appropriate. It was
the perfect sort of garment to wear to a club, but fat chance she
would ever enjoy a night out on
the town again. Ranma's idea of fun, if it hadn't died with
Akane, was beating the snot out of
some poor sap stupid enough to issue him a challenge letter.
It was too bad really, she would have liked to have seen his
reaction to this little number.
She reluctantly put the dress back, and moved to a more formal
section of the boutique. Since
an inherent aspect of window shopping was dreaming, Nabiki felt
that she should indulge
herself. The only real formal wear that she owned, was a black
gown that would have set her
fiancee's blood to boil. It wasn't something that she could see
herself wearing to dinner either.
It was just too drafty.
As she looked through some of the selections, a realization began
to dawn on her.
**Ranma.** His name popped into her mind, light some sort of
lightbulb.
The key was Ranma.
She snorted derisively as she held up a backless, ruby red,
sequined ensemble. Ranma was the
center of everything, but how he fit into this puzzle was beyond
her. She held the dress up to her
and began inspecting its length. As she lifted her gaze to the
mirror across from her, she noticed
Yoshitsune's face behind her shoulder.
"Red suits you." His words were soft, and as Nabiki turned
around she saw that he was walking
quickly out of the shop.
"HEY!" Nabiki tossed the dress up atop the rack, and took off
after the man. As she came out of
the shop she looked around hoping to spot her quarry. Only to
find no sign of his passage.
"Sona'va...." she began mumbling to herself, as she turned and
walked straight into a man, and
was knocked off her feet.
********
Ranma stormed through the crowds of people, his bright blue aura
causing the crowds to give
him a wide birth. He hadn't realized that his trip had taken him
back to Nerima, nor had it
dawned on him that hours had passed since he had left
Mizuno-sensei's clinic. His mind had
latched onto one thing and had been relentless in repeating the
idea over and over again.
**I am Ranma Saotome. Heir to the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu. I am
Ranma Saotome. Heir to
the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu. I am Ranma Saotome. Heir to the
Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu.**
It had become his litany, staving off the memories that continued
to echo in the back of his
mind. He had done a good job so far, and the yearning that he
felt to be near Ami was lessening.
But he knew that there was no way that he could keep it up
indefinitely.
It was little wonder that he didn't see the woman bolt out of the
shop in front of him, or start to
turn towards him for that matter. He did, however, feel her slam
into him; and for the second
time in so many days, he found himself reaching out and wrapping
his arms around a woman
before he knew that she was really there.
"Well, it's about time!"
It took Ranma a full minute to process the voice, and by the time
it took him to finally recognize
Nabiki, she had her trade marked smirk in place and was lounging
comfortably in Ranma's arms.
"Nabiki?"
"Glad to see that you finally noticed. I've been waiting all week
for you to do this."
"Nani?" Ranma looked thoroughly confused, just like normal. It
made Nabiki's smile widen all
the more.
"Ever the astute, ne Ranma-kun?" The bewildered look in his
eyes, made her roll her eyes. She
was about to ask him to put her down, when a shadow fell over
them ominously.
"Put her down, please."
Nabiki groaned and smacked her forehead. Of all the times for
Yoshitsune to show up! Ranma
made no move to let go of Nabiki, instead, he stood smoothly and
turned to face the voice.
Nabiki was glad to note that Ranma clutched her a bit tighter.
"Who the Hell are you?" He growled. But was surprised when
there was no one to face off
against. He looked to his left and then to his right, and then
(at Nabiki's direction) looked down.
There face plastered to the sidewalk, knelt Yoshitsune.
Ranma groaned and counted to ten, while Nabiki looked on in
fascination.
"Uhm, Ranma? Why is he kneeling to you?" Nabiki asked dryly.
Ranma snorted and the looked at Nabiki with a tired smirk of his
own. "Two thousand yen
please."
********
Somewhere in Middle China, at an undisclosed military base
<I'M TELLING YOU THERE'S SOMETHING DOWN HE....> the Chinese
soldier's warning
was drowned out by his dying scream, and then the inevitable
static as the radio's channel died.
Commander Wian Chung had received a dozen such reports in less
than fifteen minutes. Each
had been more terrible than the last, leaving him trembling in
terror. He wanted to vomit each
time he looked at the monitors. Twelve Squadrons had been
dispatched, to investigate the initial
alarm, and only three remained.
There had been reports of demons, and living shadows coming out
of the darkness and ripping
crack troops apart with such brutality, that the bodies had to be
identified by dental records.
That was if the teeth could be found.
The attack pattern was obvious, and Wian Chung knew that there
was nothing that he could do
to stop the advance. But what would demons want with a nuclear
weapon? It made no sense.
That would be the last question that Commander Chung would ever
ask, as the horse headed
shadow took shape behind him.
He had enough time to wonder if his wife and children had escaped
the base, before Savitiri fell
upon the man and devoured his soul along with his flesh.
********
End Chapter Nine