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    Note: This is the sequel to Heart and Soul, which can be found here:

    http://members.tripod.com/lwf58/fan_fiction/durandall/index.html


Progeny and Spirit

Compass Points: Act II

A Ranma 1/2 fanfiction.

Disclaimer: Takahashi owns the paints, I use my own easel.


Progeny: Yang


Mommy showed me a photo of Uncle Ranma. She has a big book of pictures
of Uncle and Auntie. There was a picture of him, sitting on some snow.

The picture looked like he wasn't on a field of snow at all. It was like
he was floating in an endless white space, seemingly couldn't see the
world around him. Mom seemed to get sad just looking at it. I didn't
know what it was. I asked Mom who the boy in the picture was, wearing
the funny old fashioned Chinese clothing.

She made a few faces at that, then said, "That's your Uncle, Saotome
Ranma. You were named after him, you know."

Which is silly. My name isn't Ranma.

***

I managed to sneak into Mommy's room while Mommy was away, and grabbed
the scrapbook to peek into it. She didn't seem to like me looking at it
much, as I got older.

The first thing I noticed was that there were a lot of people that knew
Uncle Ranma, that Mommy and Daddy also hung out with. There was a
picture of Ranma standing next to some boy carrying a wooden sword, and
both of them were looking at the camera, though they looked mad. Uncle
Ranma was in a picture next to Auntie Ukyou, too.

That was funny, but I'd never seen Auntie Ukyou carry that big metal
spatula around, she normally just used smaller ones. There weren't any
pictures of Daddy until the very end, which made me wonder. Then there
was a single picture of Daddy walking next to Uncle Ranma in the snow
somewhere, but Daddy was all bundled up against the cold, and I could
just barely see his face behind his glasses. Uncle Ranma just walked
forward, like he wasn't even worried about the cold.

That confused me, but there were a few people in the pictures that I had
never seen before. There was a pretty lady with purple hair, hugging
Uncle Ranma at some point, though he looked confused... there was the
boy with the wooden sword, and then there was another boy who I didn't
recognize, holding an umbrella. It looked like he was fighting with
Uncle, too.

A lot of the pictures were of Mommy's sister -- the one Auntie Kasumi
told me it was better not to ask about, but Mommy and Daddy just got all
quiet about when I asked them. I think Grandpa mentioned her once or
twice, her name is Akane. There's more pictures, too... there's a girl
who looks kind of like Uncle Ranma only with red hair... I think she's
shorter, but there aren't any pictures of her and Uncle Ranma together.

I heard Mommy coming home, so I had to rush and hide the scrapbook
before she caught me, but I at least got a good look at Uncle Ranma... I
hope I can meet him some day.

***

Now I'm confused. I'm twelve years old, and my parents are still not
telling me what happened to Uncle Ranma.

I really want to know, I mean, if he's dead, then I won't worry, but...
I asked Shinji's parents about Uncle Ranma, because I wanted to know
more, and I remembered there was a picture of the redheaded girl
standing next to Shinji's mom. She wants me to call her Grandmother, but
I don't know her that well.

When I asked her, though, she got all tight-lipped, and stared away,
looking like she was about to cry. Her husband mumbled something about
him 'passing on', and Shinji's Mom -- sorry -- 'Grandmother' dragged him
into the next room and gave him a tongue-lashing.

Shinji whispered to me that he thinks that Ranma is a cousin of his, or
something, because he heard his father say something about a training
trip. Then he said something about his father's condition. I wasn't sure
what he was talking about, but the next thing I know, 'Grandmother'
Nodoka is chasing a panda across the backyard, throwing rocks at it
furiously.

After that, we figured we should probably give them some space, and ask
Mom and Dad if _they_ knew anything.

Mom looked confused, and Dad actually tore himself from his research --
something about healing frostbite -- to look at me. Something in his
eyes said that he wanted to tell me, but Mom cut him off, "Tofu-chan,
she's not ready yet. When she's older..."

Dad looked away, turning back to his computer silently. I really don't
get my parents sometimes. It's like there's some big conspiracy going
around, and they just want to keep me out of it 'cause I'm not old
enough.

Actually, that's exactly what's going on.

Now I _really_ want to know what's going on. Grandpa Soun would know,
but I don't know if Auntie Kasumi would let me talk to him about it,
since I'm positive that it's related to Auntie Akane, somehow. Anyway,
every time I try, Grandpa Soun goes off on this long tirade about how
it's my and Shinji's duty to carry on the schools, or something. I don't
get _that_ at all.

I mean, Shinji? Ew!

***

Mom had some friends over today. It was the purple haired lady, and her
'husband.' She's a nice enough lady, but someone should tell her that
her husband is a girl.

Her name is Shampoo, which Mom says used to be a bad joke. Apparently
she's some kind of government figure for the Qinghai Confederacy, and
works with Saffron now. I don't remember hearing anything about her in
the news, but I believed her when she said that she knew Saffron
personally.

Herb's not very friendly, though she was polite to me. I guess she just
doesn't like being outside of the Qinghai Confederacy.

***

Dad told me what happened to Uncle Ranma tonight. Said that somehow,
Ranma was such a good martial artist that he could make himself cold --
cold enough to withstand arctic temperatures.

I was kind of confused, till he showed me a picture from another
scrapbook, one of Uncle Ranma and Auntie Akane standing next to each
other at a festival. I guess they were a couple, which makes sense,
since Shampoo, who I thought was Uncle Ranma's boyfriend, wasn't. Dad
said it was more complicated than that, but that he'd explain it some
other time.

Anyway, Dad explained that Ranma knew a technique to make a kind of
tornado, and that part of it was mastering the Soul of Ice. So he
chilled his soul and got to be some kind of super-martial-artist. Dad
showed me another picture, though it was kind of blurry, of Uncle Ranma
talking with a little boy that looked like Saffron.

I asked him about that, and Dad explained that after the Fall, the
regions of Gansu and Qinghai were united into a single country, more or
less under Saffron's rule. Apparently, it was Uncle Ranma's doing,
because Saffron used to have to stay in his mountain and help his people
out, but Uncle Ranma managed to fix things so that he could get out.

I didn't get that, but I remembered watching one of those cheesy
military vids when I was in grade school, and seeing Saffron gesture,
simply annihilating whatever was thrown at him... There was another clip
of him getting caught in the blast of a patriot missile, and emerging
unscathed. Mad, but unscathed.

That vid gave me nightmares for a week, and my dad told me that Uncle
Ranma beat him with his bare hands?

I asked him about it, and he mentioned a pair of magical weapons or
something. I wasn't sure how much to believe, until he explained what
happened to Uncle Ranma, and why some people insist that he and Auntie
Akane aren't dead.

It makes a hell of a lot of sense, actually.

Now I know why Dad spends all of his time studying hypothermia and
frostbite and things like that... I somehow doubt that it would be
enough, since he said that Uncle Ranma got slashed across the chest with
a scythe, but... something tells me that I want to see Uncle Ranma some
day anyway.

If Dad thinks there's a way, I'm gonna try.

Sixteen years old is about the right time to start thinking about what
kind of college I want to get into... Mom said that the Tendo holdings
are enough that I can go to almost any school I want.

***

I hate that dream. It's weird, and it seems like it shouldn't even be,
well, mine.

Something tells me that it's Uncle Ranma and Auntie Akane, though. I
usually can't sleep after a dream like that, so I check my terminal, and
see what my projects have pulled up.

The problem is really technical, and honestly, not interesting... unless
you happen to _want_ to study things like this. When you're chilled,
your body processes generally slow down. Your heart will beat more
slowly, and your brain will go into a mode that conserves oxygen as much
as it can. That's why you can hold your breath for up to fifteen
minutes, or even longer, if you're in really cold water.

Not that I think anyone should actually _try_ it.

Anyway. Being frozen is a lot different from being chilled, and I
seriously doubt that someone could survive for 19 years and still be
alive... that way.

My physics professor demonstrated this to us in class, once. Fruit can
ripen a little _after_ it's picked, and green bananas turn yellow, then
brown, and then, well, Mom throws 'em out once they start getting spots,
actually. Anyway, the teacher took a yellow banana, sliced it in half,
and stuck a pencil in it.

Then he started gesturing, like it was a hammer. I was kind of bored,
but curious at the same time. He stuck the banana into a small container
of liquid nitrogen, then proceeded to hammer a nail into a two-by-four
with it. That was cool enough, and he did some other fun stuff, too, but
what really interested me was the banana. It was frozen for only a few
seconds before it started thawing, but...

When it thawed out it was brown.

Turns out that when something living is frozen, the frozen cells die.

Uncle Ranma and Auntie Saotome are frozen solid, and thus, are medically
dead.

When someone has a heart attack, they can have their hearts restarted
with electricity. But they aren't dead when they're brought back; their
hearts have stopped. The cells of the body are still alive to _be_
revived.

Now, it would be a simple enough matter to take a few cells from the
bodies -- Dad disagrees, but I haven't seen where they were frozen, yet
-- and then clone them. But then, it'd be a clone, and he says that that
would cause all sorts of trouble. Turns out that Uncle Ranma is Auntie
Ranma, too. I'm not sure how that works, but Grandma Nodoka's husband
demonstrated _his_ curse, so I know it does. But what does this mean to
Ranma and Akane?

Even beyond the fact that their cells are frozen, and thus, they are
medically, and... for all practical purposes, _dead_... They were frozen
solid. If we can rejuvenate the cells, somehow, then they'll come
back... If it's cold _enough_ then we can flash thaw them, rejuvenate
the cells, then kick-start them with a bit of a shock.

I'm not sure how that would work, though. Dad developed a working way to
rejuvenate frozen skin, but what about their internal organs, and most
importantly, their brains?

I do have some hope for that. Once we figure out how to bring back
nerves, the _chemical_ impulses that correspond to the electrical
impulses should be frozen perfectly in place. Just got to figure out a
way to map them, then apply the correct electrical impulses first... And
rejuvenate the rest of the body.

I have a lot of work ahead of me.

***

Well, so far so good. All I need now is and permission from the New
Republic of Xinjiang since Dad says that's where they are. He gave me
the co-ordinates... which puts it pretty close to the western edge...
but I'm expecting some trouble with this, NR Xinjiang doesn't usually
get along with the Qinghai Confederacy. The NR Xinjiang have a problem
with Saffron specifically, but according to the sat-relays I've seen,
Uncle Ranma buried himself underneath a structure of solid ice that
masses at least twenty thousand kilos.

There's no way we're going to get to him without their cooperation, and
since it's pretty far from Qinghai, and any allies, even trying is just
going to piss them off.

So I've got to get their co-operation. Auntie Ukyou found out what I was
up to, and Uncle Ryu insisted that they donate, so we've got a grant set
up.

I feel bad about accepting money from them, but it looks like selling
okonomiyaki makes more money than I had thought... And then she told me
that if I bring Uncle Ranma back, it's her early wedding gift to him.

That threw me off, no one ever told me they weren't married. He must
have been pretty close for Mom and Kasumi to insist that I call him
'uncle', when he hadn't even married Auntie Akane yet.

Anyway, the research grant got some 'mysterious' donations from an
'unknown' and 'unnamable' source. I thanked Shinji for that; turns out
that his girlfriend's loaded. Still, boy's got guts to be dating
Tatewaki's daughter, from what Mom's told me about Kuno as a child.

The biggest donation came, of course, from myself. I took the majority
of my shares in Tendo Heavy, and set aside some... goods... pity,
really. I suspect most of it will end up going for bribes.

Mom said that I should meet with some of the 'old Nerima Wrecking Crew'
before I go, but I don't know many of them. Whoever 'Ryouga' is, I
haven't seen more than pictures, and the only letter I got from him said
that he felt the dead should be left that way.

Still, I don't like the idea of going without someone that Uncle and
Auntie know... I want them to wake up to familiar faces, if I can help
it.

I guess I'm stalling, because I'm worried... damn politics. Oh well,
time for me to go.

Tendo Ranko, signing off.

***

Spirit: Yin


It is cold, and lonely. There is a nearby presence, but it doesn't
detract from the loneliness. I can't go to... him.

He sealed me here for a reason, confining my soul to my body, while his
bled out, freezing around me in a prison.

I wonder about that. I have a lot of time, and wondering is all I can
do; I have no body.

That's not true. I have a body, but it's dead. I wish I hadn't let go of
him when I was frozen. But it's so cold... and so lonely... and I want
to reach out to him, but I can't.

I wish I had a body again... then I could cry. Souls can't shed tears...

I miss Ranma.

***

Progeny: Yin


A request, today. Turns out that someone from Japan wants access to the
glorious New Republic of Xinjiang. She claims that her reason is because
she wants to revive the ice-wraith.

I had to laugh at that, and showed it to my superior before I dismissed
it. He didn't think it was very funny. Apparently, his family was caught
in its path, and the ice-wraith destroyed what meager holdings they
have. I can't imagine that it means that much to him, since the Fall
makes us all equal... roughly... but still.

He said that it bore consideration, but he wanted me to recover as much
detail as I could about the situation before responding.

***

The Tac-7 reports were inconclusive. I ended up going to the site
myself. We don't have the tech that Miss Tendo is claiming, and we
couldn't bring them back... but they are there. Scary, actually.

Thermal scans indicated that the structure was actually colder than the
air around it... and the structures inside were colder still. One of the
men touched the ice, which turned out to be a mistake.

We removed him, and there was no permanent damage, but the temperature
of the structure dropped substantially. It was only 32 below, which put
it at about 3 degrees below wind-chill. Now it's holding at about 52.

This is kind of frightening, when you really think about it. This means
that, somehow, something in that structure is generating cold.

Not too improbable, and an interesting study... but it _reacts_ to us.
Thermals indicate that the core temperature is dropping even more, but
only when we get closer.

We managed to get some sonar readings... there are two of them. A man
and... well, a boy and a girl, really. There's also some kind of metal
device near them, underneath the ice... but we're not sure what it is
yet.

Miss Tendo's notes indicate that it's the property of Saffron...
apparently some crude weapon.

***

We've done some more research on the 'ice-wraiths' and gotten the
reports back today. Firstly, the boy is named ' Saotome Ranma.'
Apparently, the girl lost control, somehow, and he froze them both with
his power, locking them in place.

It's interesting, though it truly defies explanation... records indicate
that he was able to produce some kind of 'cold' at will, and apparently
produced localized weather disturbances.

What sketchy intelligence we have indicates that he fought both
Councilman Herb, and Councilwoman Cologne, before she passed away.

It's... an odd thing, to be dealing with people like that.

We've all seen the vids of Saffron's takeover, and forcible unity of the
Qinghai Confederacy... Though it defies logic, we have seen him produce
fire at will, and his servants were able to produce some kind of blade
from air with their wings.

We might have won a ground war against them, were it not for the Musk
and the Joketsuzoku. The amazons could make a tank collapse into pieces
with their bare hands, and it was damn near impossible to attack them
when they could look like they split into nine separate people and
circled around you.

Some of them knew Ranma's localized weather disturbance trick, too.

Herb, on the other hand, was just another Saffron with a lot less
bloodlust, and greater focus. He could fly, without wings, and lob bolts
of energy that simply melted through whatever armor plating was
available. He could even dodge bullets, as could most of the Musk. The
few who couldn't dodge bullets had a nasty habit of not dying from it.

No wonder that the few bloody, decorated heroes of the Qinghai
Confederacy were so feared... but here we had access to someone who had
defeated them.

Miss Tendo's plea held a certain amount of interest to me, at that
point...

***

I've gotten approval from the board. We're going to allow Miss Tendo
access, and use her to revive Ranma. He's got too much potential as a
weapon to ignore. Records indicate that Akane was not stable, so we're
going to have to destroy her beyond revival.

I've been reporting on those two for so long I don't even use full
names... Anyway, we're going to supply some equipment, but Miss Tendo
has a sizable grant backing her up. It's a pity that we need her
expertise on the revival process, but it's best to have a real expert
working on this situation, rather than leave it to our own techs.

Control of the subject is... questionable. We know that it can be
achieved, but we aren't certain which methods will work best. Drugs
might affect his performance, since it appears to be a state of mind
more than any kind of genetic predisposition, unlike Herb and Saffron.

If it's something as simple as training, then it's also possible that we
can train others to be like him. He stopped Akane... I found a vid of
her, actually. She looks distorted when she walks, like Herb and Saffron
do. A reaction from the film, I suppose.

The odd thing is that in the one vid that we do have of her passing
through a populated area, she seemed oblivious to the damage that her
presence caused. We caught a vid of Ranma, at some point. Happenstance,
actually; he was passing through the wake of the ice-wraith's passage,
and a news crew that was reporting several days after the event happened
to spot him, walking through.

I sent a copy of the vid to Miss Tendo, and she sent me back a copy of a
photo of Ranma. His presence doesn't distort the media at all, which
leads me to believe that he does have much better control. I'm pleased
that he's the one we decided to capture, then.

Miss Tendo also told me that her parents were on the vid, following
Ranma. Interesting. I'm curious, and looking forward to meeting her.

***

Spirit: Yang


It's cold, and lonely. I can sense her, nearby... I wish I could reach
her, but I can't. Until she reaches for me, she's not ready.

I wish I didn't have to do what I did.

I want to let us both pass on, but the key hasn't been brought to us
yet.

I love her. I miss her, and it hurts to be like this. 'So close, and
yet, so far.'

That never meant anything to me until this happened.

Akane...

--------------------
Author's Note:

The stage is set.
Thanks to Bjorn for managing to kick my memory enough to grab this thing
and dust it off.
As always, any and all C&C is appreciated.

--
Haiku of my lament:

Forgive my spelling,
my U.S. education,
is the source of blame.


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