Hey Everyone!
Alright, its my first post, please, be kind. Any sort of C&C would be
appreciated, but I'd really like plot and pre-reading type feedback, but all
grammar help (you'll notice I'm terrible at it) is great, too!
^*^*^
Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi owns everything. Every last stinkin' one of
the interesting ones, anyway. Yuki-chan and Sanii are of my own creation.
Note: I swear, I swear on Happosai's collection, it's not really a deathfic.
Summary: Twelve years after a death at the hands of honor, the spell is
broken and the curse released ^� Nerima had never been the same after Ranma's
arrival, and it hasn't been the same after his death.
LIME SCENTED
^*^*^
FRAGMENTS
- by Linda
^*^*^
(Excerpt from 'The Storm of Souls', an anonymous collection of stories and
poems)
They'd met in June,
Under blossoms rare,
While the wind whistled,
Like song in the air.
He who was loved and cherished
He who slept and dreamed
He who was wise and childlike
He who was more than he seemed.
She who reached the heavens,
She who shined with spark,
She who loved and lived and laughed,
She who slew the dark.
Wild and pretty youths were they,
Their family's shining pride,
Their minds were swift; their love was deep,
Belonging side by side.
The engagement made,
And the families proud,
Their children were happy,
Content and avowed.
But to live is to err,
And one misplaced step,
Sent the girl tumbling,
Into unknown depth.
The boy tried to save her,
Knowing he'd fail,
And he held her gently,
As her face grew pale.
The families were shamed,
Angry and broken,
Cruel fights were exchanged,
And cruel words spoken.
And a hate was borne,
From the truest of loves,
Like pitch-black ravens,
From floating doves.
^*^*^
The hustle of the street distracted her for just a moment. And in the
length of a second, her brown eyes were drawn to the masses of people that
strolled along the sides of the streets, smiles on their faces, their voices
loud, and hands rapidly pantomiming or hefting packages. She sighed to
herself; it had been too long since she had shared in their carefree life.
She focused herself on her original purpose.
No one could ever claim that Tendo Nabiki lacked willpower.
No, no one had dared to comment as such for the past twelve years of her
life. Ever since she had turned eighteen and headed for college, she'd
shown her true colors. Her minor extortion and cruelty-for-cash attitude
had not changed; it had only escalated to a much grander scale. Which may
have accounted for why Tendo Nabiki, at the tender age of nineteen was the
youngest ever trader ever admitted into the prestigious firm of Morgan
Stanley Dean Witter, or at the very least, the youngest ever hired for their
Tokyo branch.
She'd been deliriously pleased with herself.
She had everything she had ever wanted in life, wealth, influence, her
family was well.
All save for . . .
Initially, after the . . . incident, Nabiki had to admit that she'd been
happy, guiltily so, for her little sister. Akane had always protested her
engagement to the Saotome boy, and he likewise, it was only a matter of time
before one of them did something drastic about their predicament. Nabiki
had been plotting a way to break up the engagement, herself.
The incident could not have come at a better time.
Nabiki winced. 'Of course,' she thought, 'death is never something to
celebrate, but the ends justify the means, baby. Of course Akane mourned,
deep down, those two were friends, whether or not they could admit it, but
it was better for all involved that they never got married.' She was
distracted by a whisper of a voice she had nearly forgotten in her years,
shaking her head, and admonishing herself, she murmured aloud, "Nabiki,
you're dreaming," and even with this, she looked around twice, just to make
sure that she was, satisfied, she finished, "Nabiki no baka."
The sound of the city started to overwhelm her again, and the flashing
lights of the street and neon glitter of a Tokyo nightscape started to blur
together to create an altogether unpleasant confusion that had her feeling
faint.
'Told you to eat breakfast, Na-chan, that's what you get for being too busy
to energize,' she chastised herself. She placed a hand on the side of a
wall, steadying herself, trying to breathe.
She inhaled deeply and held it as the world came back into a somewhat muddy
focus.
It was only then that Nabiki noticed the familiar flash of nearly
incandescent red that filled her vision.
And after the shock filtered away, Tendo Nabiki, known for her killer
instinct on the Tokyo trading floor, started to follow a figment of the
past.
^*^*^
"Tadima!"
The sound of the lilting greeting echoed through the darkened apartment, and
the woman who had called out the words frowned deeply. She kicked off her
stacked heels and shrugged out of her coat, hanging the rich,
midnight-colored clothing onto a hanger in the hall closet.
She wriggled her toes for a moment, delighted to be freed from her
self-imposed torture. She'd never become used to high heels, there was just
something elegantly wicked about them, every time she saw a pair in a store
window, her mind automatically switched into, 'what would they look like on
me' mode, but when she started walking around in them during work, her brain
shifted back to, 'why on earth did I buy these?'.
The red-headed woman padded softly across the hardwood floors of the large
apartment, not bothering to turn on any of the lights, she headed towards
the kitchen.
The light above the breakfast table was turned onto its dimmest setting, a
used plate, fork, and half-empty can of soda were bathed in its yellow glow.
The woman rolled her eyes and gathered up the dishes, placing them in the
sink, and throwing away the can after emptying it herself.
She rinsed her hands off, staring into the expansive darkness that the open
floor plan allowed her to see. Frustrated, she headed towards the bedroom.
Opening the door to the cozy chamber softly, she muttered, "That baka better
not be late, it's November 14, and he knows what I'll do to him if he misses
this ^�" the woman stopped short as she came upon the sleeping form of the
man in question.
She released an affectionate sigh as she sat down on the bed next to his
prone body. Her blue eyes were soft, and her mouth was pulled into a tender
smile.
"Ai-ya," she whispered to herself, sifting her delicate fingers through his
thick, soft, black hair, "what am I to do with you, Soichi?"
^*^*^
She had to have been seeing things.
Tendo Nabiki decided that in her old age (after all, she was very nearly
thirty-one) that she was slowly, but obviously, very steadily loosing her
mind.
She had to have been seeing things.
Tanakawa Yuki had been blown away more than twelve years ago.
Hence, Tanakawa Yuki could not possibly have just brushed by her in the
street.
Which brought Nabiki back to her original point.
She had to have been seeing things.
But if it was one thing that Nabiki had learned, it was to verify her
suspicions, regardless of how inane or insane they seemed.
Nerima * was * a ward of Tokyo, the craziness quotient could still be
suffering the aftereffects of the Saotomes and all the weirdness that they
had brought.
So Nabiki had watched as the redheaded woman had disappeared into a tall
glass and steel apartment building.
She made a mental note, and called a cab.
Grimacing to herself as she neared her own home, she thought, 'This could
get ugly.'
^*^*^
"Kya!"
Smash, crumble, clink clink clink.
"Akane-chan, do you really think that you should be doing that now?"
Kasumi's soothing voice broke through her haze of anger.
The youngest Tendo girl looked around the partially destroyed dojo and saw
the frightened expressions of seventeen five and six year old beginner
martial artists. She blushed in sudden embarrassment. A quick glance at
the clock revealed that it was ten past eight o'clock, her students must
have trickled into the dojo, and she, in her raging state must not have
noticed.
"Gomen, gomen-nasai, Students," hiding the tears that threatened to spill
from her brown eyes, she took a deep breath, and spoke.
"Students, today we'll be learning the most basic aspect of Martial Arts,"
her voice was measured, "how to fall."
She grinned momentarily at the shocked ripple of whispers that went up
around the room, and several students called out:
"Hey, isn't martial arts about * not * getting hurt and stuff like that?"
"Yeah, since when did martial artists learn how to get hurt anyway?"
"I bet Jackie Chan never did this!"
With a sweep of her hands, Akane silenced them all, "Children, you must
understand, learning to fall is a function of * not * being hurt."
'Yeah,' she added to herself silently, 'you should have learned that lesson,
too, Akane.'
She bit back the wave of bad memories that assaulted her, and began to
teach, as her father had always hoped she would.
^*^*^
"Konbawa, Kimiko-chan," the soft, masculine voice said. Kimiko opened her
blue eyes slowly, adjusting to the dim light of the room, and yawning
widely.
"Konbawa, Soichi-kun," she paused, eyes looking towards the clock on the
nightstand past Soichi, she moaned softly, "Ai-ya, it's 9 o'clock already,
Soichi, why didn't you wake me up earlier?"
Her eyes finally focused.
Soichi, she had to admit, looked good enough to eat.
The man was nearly thirty, but still possessed the lithe sensuality of his
youth. His slate-blue eyes still sparkled with good humor, and his mouth
was still set in a familiar smirk. She grinned to herself and allowed her
fingers to trail along his handsome face, stopping only at the thin, barely
noticeable scare that ran down along the left side of his chin.
Soichi grinned, murmuring, "You looked so beautiful sleeping, Kimiko," she
flushed softly, and he continued, "the drool runnin' down your face and the
snoring was just so attractive."
She wrinkled her nose at him and punched him lightly on the arm, "I don't
snore."
"Trust me, Kimiko-chan, you do," with that said, he pressed his lips against
hers roughly, and in between fevered kisses he said:
"November 14, Kimiko."
Letting out a gasping breath as Soichi's lips moved to spread hot kisses all
over her neck, Kimiko moaned, "Hai, November 14."
And soon, all original plans flew out the window, drowned out by the sound
of heated lovemaking coming from the twenty-second floor of a Tokyo
apartment building.
^*^*^
"Konbawa, Sanii-san, I need a favor."
"Anything, Tendo-san."
Nabiki bit her lip and grasped the receiver tightly in her right hand, eyes
turning towards the evening skyline of the city.
Yuki was out there somewhere.
That couldn't be good.
That meant there was still danger, which meant that Ranma had met a foe that
he couldn't defeat.
And that his death had been a waste after all.
"I need you to run a residential check," she said as calmly as her voice
would allow.
There was a brief silence on the phone, "Tendo-san, I respect you and
everything, you know that, but what's the relevance? I can only get so far
before someone catches me hackin', medical records are harder than ever to-"
"No, Sanii-san," Nabiki said with quiet exasperation, "I wouldn't ask you to
do anything that would get you arrested."
A relieved sigh ran through the phone line, "Hai, Tendo-san, I don't think
my parents would be too hyper about breakin' their eighteen year old out of
jail."
Nabiki allowed herself a chuckle, it was funny really that her best and most
trusted informant was only two thirds of her age.
"Okay, Sanii-san, I need you to get a tenants listing of everyone who lives
in the Sakura Towers apartments, 117 on 45th street. Got it?" she breathed,
her fingers tapping busily on the mahogany top of her massive desk.
"Got it, Tendo-san. I'm faxing it to you as we speak. Pretty long list, if
you ask me."
Nabiki let out a bark of laughter, "That building's got to be at least
twenty stories tall, Sanii-san, I would imagine the list would be long."
"Actually, Tendo-san, it's twenty-five stories."
"Details details, Sanii-san," Nabiki chided, watching her fax machine
suddenly come to life. She pushed the balls of her feet into the lush
carpet of her floor, and wheeled her chair over to it, grabbing the top
corner of the paper hastily, hoping that maybe holding onto it would hurry
the process.
Sanii continued to speak, "I've been to Sakura Towers before, they're luxury
apartments, only the first five floors are like normal apartments, the rest
of the building is made up of floor-sized apartments. Like, eleventh floor,
the Hino residence, twelfth floor, the Sanii Kuzio and Nabiki residence," he
let his voice trial off hopefully.
Nabiki thought about his words, and replied, "You can dream, Sanii, you can
always dream."
"That's all I can ever hope for, Tendo-san, all I can ever hope for.
Goodbye, Tendo-san."
"Arigato, Sanii-san."
^*^*^
Soichi awoke alone in bed, his eyes adjusted to the watery light of the
morning, and stifling a yawn, he rolled out from under the covers.
Grabbing a pair of clean boxers from the pile of fresh laundry he had
forgotten to put away, and some jeans and a t-shirt, he lurched into
bathroom.
He let the water run till it steamed up the entire bathroom, releasing a
sigh, Soichi stepped under the stinging water of the shower, blinding
groping around from a bar of soap, and finding only the chamomile and
lavender body wash that Kimiko always smelled of.
He grinned to himself, opening the top of the bottle and taking a deep
breath of the stuff. The scent of it was intoxicatingly sexy to him, all he
had to do was get a whiff of it from across a room, and the urge to grab her
and amoral things to her was nearly insatiable.
He suspected that she knew, and that his inability to resist it was the only
reason she even bothered to shell out the 1000 extra yen for it at the Bath
and Body store, anyway.
His fingers finally located the bar of soap, lying in its proper place in
the ceramic soap dish on the side of the shower.
Undoubtedly, Kimiko had taken a shower before him, and undoubtedly, she had
almost slipped and died on the soap again, and undoubtedly, she had muttered
curses as she put it back where it belonged.
He scrubbed until he was well lathered and let the hot water sluice down his
body, washing away the last remains of sleep.
Soichi leaned against the side of the shower stall and sighed deeply, an
unhappy frown creasing his face. There was a deep and unpleasant fear that
still lurked in his heart. It had been twelve years, almost thirteen, but
someone * must * have noticed something by now. They couldn't have been *
that * seamless in their escape.
"Soichi, come on, don't you ever get sick of getting stuck in traffic?"
cried a lilting female voice. He saw her curved outline against the steamed
glass of the shower, and with a grin, he slid open the door. With a firm
tug, Kimiko, in all her perfectly pressed and permed glory fell whooping
into his wet, warm arms under the unrelenting water.
"Ai-ya, Soichi-kun! Look what you did! I'm going to be late for work!"
Kimiko protested vainly as he started to unbutton her navy-blue shirt, which
was currently doing a very good impression of being a second skin as a
result of being soaked.
"Aw," Soichi teased, "is Kimiko upset that she's going to be tardy?"
"Yes, I am!"
"I can help you with that," he murmured.
"S-S-Soichi, that's not helping me from being late to work."
As Kimiko melted into his touch, he grinned, "Hai, Kimiko, but it's making
playing hooky seem so much more attractive."
Kimiko didn't have the mental capacity at the moment to protest.
^*^*^
An hour and a half later, Fugikara Soichi bolted into the richly decorated
offices on the twelfth floor of the Ryo Towers, cursing himself softly.
"Ohiyo, Dr. Fugikara," Katimi smiled with a knowing expression. Dr.
Fugikara was one of the most popular people in the building, she made it her
business to know his comings and goings, and she'd noted over the past five
years that he came in to work late at least two days a week, and it didn't
seem to have anything to do with * sleeping * in.
He smiled wryly at her, saying, "Ohiyo, Katimi-san, has anyone called this
morning?"
Katimi picked up a sheaf of 'Someone called to say . . .' sheets, and said:
"Well, first three are from patients wanting to reschedule, two are from
prospective clients who want to meet you, it's on your calendar in your
office by now, and one from Kimiko thanking you for making the reservations
for dinner tonight."
Soichi looked up at Katimi, a startled panic on his face, "Reservations?"
Katimi grinned in kind, "Of course. Just as a note, the reservations I've
made for you are at Catacarina's, it's an Italian place down by the Tokyo
business complex, very high-class, she'll love it," Katimi watched the
relief spread across her boss' face, "Should I arrange a hotel room, too?"
Soichi narrowed his eyes at his secretary as he headed towards his inner
office, "Very funny, Katimi."
She continued, "And bail for when you two don't make it up there and get
arrested for public indecency?"
Her only response was the door closing.
^*^*^
"Tendo-san? I found out something else interesting, of all the tenants that
live in Sakura Towers, only ten apartments have full VIP privileges."
"What do VIP privileges do for someone who lives in Sakura Towers?"
"Hell if I know, but I have a way for you to find out."
"You're too good to me, Sanii-san."
"Only for you, my misguided love, haven't you ever felt the urge to date a
guy energetic enough to go against you?"
"Sanii, you're not even legal."
"Age of consent is twelve in Japan, besides, I'm eighteen, think about it,
Tendo-san."
Nabiki sighed, "Sanii, I think about it too much already."
^*^*^
"Akane-chan, Ryoga-kun is here!"
Akane let out a soft groan.
It was only after Ranma's death that she'd discovered Ryoga's apparent
long-time obsession with her. At first, it had been nice to have someone be
there for her 24/7, well except for the times when he would mysteriously
disappear for months at a time, she had needed a friend desperately. She's
turned to him at her darkest hour, after her fianc�e had died, her friends
had abandoned her, and even P-chan had gone missing.
Regardless of what she had forced herself to believe before, she cared for
Ranma, had perhaps even loved him, and his abrupt passing left her with a
void that needed to be filled by someone, * anyone *.
Which led her to the unfortunate condition she was in now.
She'd been stupid and led Ryoga on. At first it was nice to feel loved and
needed again, eventually, she just didn't want to see him hurt.
For the first time in her life, she was starting to understand why Ranma had
been so wishy-washy with all his fianc�es; unfortunately, it came after it
was too late for her to tell him.
"Hai, Kasumi! I'll be there in a second."
Akane sighed and went out to meet her fianc�e.
^*^*^
"Kimiko-chan, you probably look fine, come on, we're going to be late!"
"Ba-ka, do you want your date to be ugly?"
Soichi sighed and tapped his foot impatiently, and pushing his silver
wire-rim glasses up a little bit, he said, "Kimiko-chan, you couldn't be
ugly if you * tried *. Can we * please * just go?"
"FINE! But if we're not allowed into the restaurant because . . . "
Kimiko's voice trailed off as she saw the expression on Soichi's face.
She had stepped out of their bedroom in a sleeveless, strapless black silk
dress. It clung to her curves and was patterned all over with black,
embroidered dragons. The dress was long, with two matching slits up the
side that exposed generous expanses of leg. Her feet were strapped into a
pair of black, high-heeled sequined sandals, and her hair was unbound and
hanging freely to her uncovered shoulders.
Kimiko reminded herself to take a deep breath as her eyes took in Soichi's
appearance. His handsome features were perfectly complimented by his
glasses, and his dark-colored suit fit him with a loose grace that was
uniquely his. She fought the urge to run her hands through his hair; the
soft, black tendrils that had been bound into a pigtail had been cut short,
and were cropped close at the ears. All in all, Fugikara Soichi had
maintained his delightfully handsome appearances.
"Well," she stuttered softly, regaining her composure after nearly drooling
all over herself, "see, I told you."
As she turned to go back into the bedroom, Soichi caught her hand.
"Beautiful," he murmured, kissing her cheeks, "sexy," he breathed spinning
her around before him.
She blushed bright red, "Liar," she replied.
^*^*^
Alright, there's (duh) more to the story, and please, C&C, tell me if you
want to read more of it. =)
-Linda
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