James M. Zema wrote:

Anand Rao wrote:
>
> Heart of the Immortal
> ----------------------
>
> By: Anand Rao
>
> Chapter 6: The Thoughts of a Damaged Woman
> -------------------------------------------
>

"He's looking at some old photographs.  Akane found something >>interesting and ran up to her room with it, and Nabiki. . .  is >>trying to figure out what she should have appraised."

Heh.  Such a precocious little girl ;)

A natural gift, indeed.

>

Ranma rolled his eyes.  "Great.  I wonder what he was thinking when >>he had all that stuff shipped here."

Soun: I must distract Nabiki before she sells the dojo, must distract
Nabiki...

LOL!  Point.

>

Kasumi stepped out of the dojo and Ranma followed after her.  "I'm >>sure that everything you own has its own story, and I'd love to hear >>about them."

>

Ranma barked out a laugh.  "I'd hate to disappoint you, but your >>memory starts to wane after a few hundred years."

Now that's original, an immortal who doesn't have perfect recall :)

Well, that and the fact that there are some secrets he wishes to keep. :)

>

Nabiki waited until Ranma was well into his third serving of food >>before asking her question.  "So. . .  All this stuff Daddy's been >>storing for you; who has been paying the storage costs?"

"Me."  Ranma smiled.  "Nice try, though."

Going for some obscure property laws? :)

Yep!  Any foot hold for some negotiation.

Ranma looked up and smiled briefly.  "Good morning, Akane.  You seem >>to be getting used to waking up this early."  He nodded his head in >>approval.

"I guess anything can become a habit after a while. . ."

How long has Ranma been there by now?

About a month and a half... Maybe two.

Ranma rolled his eyes.  "I see you read the story about Asahi."

"And Eiki, and Banshou, and Kageri, and-"

"Those girls were all martial artists!  They were my father's >>students.  I wasn't 'chasing' after any of them," Ranma replied >>indignantly.

That seems like a lot of girls to have been training in the martial >arts during that time period.  Japan wasn't exactly noted for it's >gender equality, then or now :)  Making a few of them servants or >something might work.

Very true, however, in an anime world, anything is possible. :) Lots of stuff out there about spunky ninja gals.

>

"Aya-san wrote that you flirted with all of them, -and- that you >>spent more time with them than with her," Akane accused.

Ranma laughed in exasperation.  "Akane!  I was -training- with them!  >>Of course I spent a lot of time with them!"  His laughter died down >>and he leaned closer to Akane.  "Why is all this bugging you, anyway?"

Akane blushed and cleared her throat.  "D-do you think I want a >>womanizing scoundrel for a sensei?"

"Scoundrel?"  Ranma threw back his head and laughed.  "You read too >>many romance novels, Akane."

I liked these lines.

Good.  I can't write fight scenes worth a damn, it's nice to know that the dialogue works.  ^^;

Ranma shook his head.  "You misunderstand.  There's a difference >>between womanizing and falling in love."  He looked back at >>Akane.  "I have to devote my heart to a thousand different women, >>Akane."

I have a feeling Ranma is pretty much going to live for eternity,
especially considering the fact that after you've lost one love it's
that much harder to love again.  If you've lost hundreds...?

He *has* to live that long!  Otherwise, how am I gonna cross this over with... er, nevermind.  ^^;

I always wondered about "Blade of the Immortal", cursing him to kill a
thousand men (evil men?) always seemed kind of odd, and fairly easy
actually.  Of course it could be another one of those important
distinctions, like unredeemable, I've never had a chance to actually
read the manga.

Numerical allegory was never my strong point.  :)

people. You actually listen to what people have to say, you help >>them, and you are never arrogant, even when you'd have a right to be."

I don't know about this, I think Akane was pretty proud of her martial
arts abilities, to the extent that she didn't really think anyone was
better than her.  Mind you, this was pretty much blown away later, but
she's still capable of arrogance.  Despite that, this conversation is
pretty good.

Huh.  I never got that impression from reading the manga...  Ranma-chan outclassed her in the first chapter, and Akane wasn't upset, just relieved that she had not lost to a boy.

> "You're just so good at the Art!  Better than anyone I've every seen!  Even
> when you fought Shampoo's great grandmother, you were holding back.  I could
> tell."  Akane sighed.  "I don't think I'll ever be that good."

I need to go back and reread the other parts of this, I've forgotten
half the things which happened, this fight, Ukyou showing up, a few
other things...

^^;  My fault for putting out a chapter every 4-6 months.

"That's what you don't understand!" Akane exclaimed.  "I love the >>Art!  I want to be the best I can be.  I. . . I don't have two >>hundred years to spare."

Ranma closed his eyes and let his head rest against the wall.  "Don't >>start wishing for immortality, Akane, it's not all that great."  He >>felt a pair of fingers gently brush his cheek.  He opened his eyes >>and quickly turned towards Akane.

I could never really understand this particular viewpoint, maybe when
I've lived more than 20 years.

Heh.  I'm 6 years past 20, and not dying looks pretty attractive to me too.  Although, I *do* feel the effects of aging.  I don't recover from hangovers any where near as soon as I used to.  *sigh*

The only real despair and pain I've ever felt so far though has been a >fear of death, it depressed me for months on end until I just tried to >put it behind me and decided to enjoy life to the best of my ability, >despite the limited amount of time I have.  That's probably why >Akane's comment really struck home for me.

Well, from Ranma's point of view, try to imagine that everyone you ever loved, everyone you are ever *going* to love, is going to die while you remain unchanging.

> *******************************
>
> End Chapter Six
>
> Notes:
>
> First off, thanks to D.F. Roeder, Firehawke, and Michelle Thatcher for
> prereading.
>

Folks, this was more of an interlude than anything else, but it was needed.

Even if it wasn't I would have enjoyed it :)  Sometimes these little
interludes of (relative) peace and quiet are nice to read.

I agree.

> I'll be introducing Ryoga in the next chapter and, uh, have to decide what
> story to work on next.  ^^;

*votes for The Chosen Path*

Err... *makes a note*

>
> All forms C&C welcome.
>
> Thanks for reading.

You're welcome :)  Seriously, we should be more grateful to you for
writing, this is a great series, and you've done alot with it.  I'll
look forward to the next chapter.  Of this or most of your other series
:)

Thanks for the insightful and pleasant comments!  I appreciate them!  I should be starting on chapter 7 after I start my new job next week.  ^^;

We shall see.

See you,

Anand

James M. Zema is actually fairly glad he's back at college.
http://gozips.uakron.edu/~zema/ranma.html

Anand Rao
jouve25@hotmail.com
http://www.gsm.uci.edu/~arao02/
ICQ# 10869014

"Sure, a woman can fake an orgasm, but it takes a man to fake a whole relationship."

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