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The FFML Refugee List
I originally posted this to the original FFML around the middle of
January but I've rewritten much of it since then.
One note I forgot to mention in the original copy, the main portion of
the series diverges after manga volume 36. The Jusendo story arc won't
happen. The assumption I'm going to make is that Plum was unable to
escape the Phoenix tribe and they got the map. This chapter takes place
several months after Ranma goes to Jusenkyo.
This chapter and all those after it are archived at
http://www.geocities.com/LightHawk19/TDG.html
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I make no
claim to her characters. Dreamweaver (the story this one is modifying)
was originally written by my friend Casey, who was kind enough to let me
have it.
----------
The guardians were standing around two glowing orbs in a room full of
nothingness. No objects, no color, just nothing. Contained within each
orb was the image of a young person, one male and one female. It was
over these two people that the guardians were debating.
"I still think he would be a better choice than the girl. His
potential is so much higher."
"Yes, he does have great potential. But she would be a better choice.
Her reasoning skills are better than his. We do need someone who can
think."
"Well, I don't thing either one are good choices at the moment. They
are both so young. Let's not forget what happened the last time we
recruited someone so young."
"But that one was different. He simply made a mistake. It had nothing
to do with his age. It was a lack of experience."
"I'll grant you that. But I think we should hold off a bit. Neither
one is strong enough now to handle this. They need to get stronger."
"Well, they are 'equal but opposite.' If they were to meet, they would
both grow much stronger just being around each other."
"NO! It is because they are Yin and Yang that those two must not
meet. That would be just what THEY want. It's too dangerous."
"I agree. We all know the laws of Yin and Yang. Because of the
empathy bond. If one was to be lured away, it would be too easy to get
the other. Then everything we've bee working for would be for nothing."
"Listen. None of us like the idea of recruiting one so young. But the
HIGHERUPs made the decision to recruit one of these two and it is up to
us to determine which one."
"Fine. But which one do we choose? Are they supposed to meet? And do
we choose before or after they meet?"
"Well, I say that they should meet. Watching the two interact will
help us determine which one to choose."
Despite grumbling from most of the guardians present, no one could
argue about the matter any further. A quick vote made the decision that
they would wait until the two have met and settled down before choosing
which one they wanted.
"So, how do we get them to meet? Do we go through the boy, the girl,
or both."
"The girl. She's still wandering around on her journey. He's getting
settled into his new home and will be unlikely to go off on a journey."
Everyone looked at the visage of the young girl in one of the orbs. A
girl named Ryuki Kansaki, whose life was about to be drastically
changed.
"Mom, why is it we have to walk though the middle of nowhere to get to
this place? Aren't there other training grounds closer to cities,
towns, or villages? Come on, a hut or something would be welcome,"
complained a young girl of about sixteen. She was short and petite with
long, silky black hair pulled back into a simple ponytail and tied with
a blue ribbon. Her piercing green eyes glared at an older woman.
"A young man told me about this place many years ago. Said he wanted
to take his son there when he was old enough. I read up a little about
it and ever since I've always wanted to take you. Anyway, I think
you're ready now. Besides what could possibly go wrong?" The woman was
half a head taller than her daughter with short blue/black hair with her
bangs held back with a headband. Her gi was old and threadbare but it
was well mended and clean.
Ryuki was wearing a brand new blue kung fu suit that they had bought a
few weeks before. "What could go wrong, she says," the girl muttered
out loud. "Why is it every time she says that something does go wrong.
Is it just me or what?"
"Nonsense girl, what about that time in Kansai?"
"You mean the time when you were showing off on that log and fell and
broke your leg. Is that the time you mean?"
"Uh yeah, what about up in northern Hokkaido?"
"Yes, you tried to kick me and ended up causing an avalanche when you
hit the mountain instead. I remember it took a whole day to dig out of
that one."
Her mother began to sweat a little. "Umm, Okinawa?"
Ryuki gave her mother a sharp look. "Don't even go there. I still
have nightmares over that!"
"Ok, I see your point. But that was then and this is now. We're
smarter now and we won't make such mistakes. It's just a simple
training exercise after all."
"Whatever you say, Mom. Whatever you say." Ryuki sighed as she
followed her mother along the overgrown trail.
After three days of hard walking, with sporadic training thrown in, the
two found what they were searching for. The training ground was in a
large valley with many pools of various sizes with a lot of bamboo poles
sticking out of the ground.
"Jusenkyo," Ryuki's mother breathed. "What a perfect place for a
training ground! We could train here for days!" Her excitement was
palpable and even Ryuki was not immune to it.
"It is beautiful and peaceful here and it doesn't seem as dangerous as
all those people said it is. Let's go, Mom!" They then started running
towards the cursed training ground but stopped suddenly when a short
bald man in a green Mao suit blocked their path.
"Welcome to training ground of cursed springs, Jusenkyo. If Miss
Customers come this way, I tell you tragic story."
"That's ok, old man," replied Ryuki's mother. "We can handle it from
here. Come, Girl, let's see how good you really are."
The two jumped over to the middle of the training ground but they did
not land on the poles. Instead, they landed on the soft earth between
the pools. The Jusenkyo guide had never seen such a thing before.
Everyone else used the poles. Well that Mousse boy did not but he was a
special case. No one else fought between them before.
They were good at it, too. Jumping horizontally, they used quick hit
and run attacks as they dodged gracefully around the springs and bamboo
poles. It was not long, however, before Ryuki slipped a little and her
mother got hold of her. She threw her daughter as hard as she could
into one of the springs nearby, making a nice large splash.
The guide hurriedly ran over to that spring just as Ryuki broke the
surface, sputtering. "Oh too bad, you fall into Nannichuan, spring of
drowned boy. Very tragic story of young man who drowned in spring two
thousand year ago. Now whoever fall in spring take body of young man,"
he said.
Ryuki was now feeling her, now his, body, vainly searching for her
breasts. A quick feel and look down south, however, proved to her that
she had indeed taken on a man's body.
"AAAAH!"
Ryuki's mother, completely shocked at what had become of her daughter,
now son, fainted. She would have fallen into a spring herself if the
Jusenkyo guide had not been nearby to catch her.
"You very lucky Miss Customer. You nearly fall in Spring of Drowned
Very Small Thing. Something very small drown there I know not when and
whoever fall in take body of small thing, never seen again." If the
older woman was conscious she probably would have fainted again.
Ryuki, however, was just sitting there in the spring. All he did was
mutter "I'm a man" over and over. It was obvious he was in shock. The
guide, stronger than he looked, picked up Ryuki while carrying his
mother and dragged him back to his hut. Around the time the three made
it back to the camp, Ryuki's mother came around.
"Oh God, I just had the worst nightmare. My daughter became my son,"
she said to the guide, who was heating a kettle.
"No is nightmare, Miss Customer. Daughter is cursed to be boy and is
over there," the man replied while pointing over to Ryuki, who was still
repeating his mantra.
"Ryuki! How dare you do this to your poor mother! What am I going to
do with you now? I have no need of a son! I want you back as a girl
this instant, young lady!" Ryuki was forced back to her sences through
his mother's rant. This was the only good thing about it as far as
Ryuki's mom was concerned. Ryuki, on the other hand, would have
preferred the oblivion of shock because now she was royally pissed and
was growing angrier. His mom took instinctively took a step back at the
sight of her daughter-turned-son.
"You're saying THIS is MY fault, Old Lady! You were the one who threw
me in!" The two were now standing nose to nose, each one trying to
glare the other down. It was rather difficult because Ryuki now towered
over his mother.
"Who else would be at fault for being so careless. A real martial
artist would be able to avoid that pool."
"So, you're saying that you won't fall in if I throw you in a spring.
Let's test your theory!" Ryuki, using the strength of his boy form,
picked up his mother and walked over to a random spring. "Let's see you
avoid this one, Mother!"
"Don't do it, miss customer! It only make things worse if you do
that. Curse no forever. I can make you girl again." The Jusenkyo
guide managed to calm Ryuki enough for her to let her struggling and
desperate mother go. She walked back to the hut muttering about kids
these days and lack of respect for their elders. No one saw the look of
total relief cross the man's features.
Ryuki turned to face the guide after her mother stalked off. "Ok, Old
Man. Tell me how I can be a girl again! If you lied to me, I'll throw
you in a pool myself."
Sweating, the man stuttered through his routine. "I...I no lie to you,
m...miss c...customer. Hot water turn you back to g...girl but cold
water turn you back into boy a...again. That how curse work." Ryuki
let the guide go and ran into the hut where she had seen the guide heat
the kettle. She quickly found the kettle and promptly dumped the
boiling contents over his, now her, head. The newly returned, very red
girl was now running around in circles yelling "HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT!"
Ryuki continued running around like a decapitated chicken until she
spotted a bucket in a corner and proceeded to douse herself with the
cold water, completely forgetting about the curse. She was now looking
at himself, cursing his stupidity. Fortunately, the guide foresaw this
and had a new kettle of warm water ready.
"Thanks, Old Man. Now let's find mom and get out of here." The two
did not have to search long because Ryuki's mother had returned with
their bags. She broke out into a huge grin upon seeing her daughter
back to normal.
"You're a girl again! See, I told you there was nothing to worry
about. It was only temporary." She had broken into an ear to ear grin
but seeing the young girl shake her head confused her. "What's wrong?"
"The curse is permanent, Mom. Cold water turns me into a guy and hot
water changes me back. Let's just get out of here, ok?"
"I can show you way, Miss Customers. For small fee I can take you to
nearest friendly village."
"That's ok. I think you've done enough to us for one day. Ryuki and I
can find our way from here." Ryuki's mom simply waved him off and
walked away, leaving Ryuki and the guide behind. Ryuki gave the man a
shrug and ran off to catch up with her mother.
"I should tell them that way is Amazon village but they no listen. Why
no one listen to me? And why they blame me when something happen? Oh
well, time to fix Plum lunch."
The next two days were rough for Ryuki and her mother. A brief shower
shortly after the two left Jusenkyo quickly caused its damage and left
almost as soon as it arrived. The shower itself was no problem for the
two martial artists, they had traveled through many of them. The
problem was a complete lack of firewood to start a fire. Thus, Ryuki
had to spend more time as a guy than he would have liked.
The two bickered constantly as they walked, only stopping when they
were asleep or at the end of a hard fight when they were breathless.
The arguments finally ended on the third day when they came upon the
outskirts of a small village. Two women dressed in strange armor walked
over to greet them.
"{Do you think he's here to challenge us, Zhang Liu?} asked the one on
the left with long, green hair.
"{I hope he challenges me then, Feng Zhi. He's really cute,}" replied
the other one, who had blonde hair in the same style.
"{Not today, girls,}" said a short, old woman who had approached behind
the two Amazon guards. "{You know that no outsider is allowed to enter
the village during the summer festival. Turn them away. If they insist
on entering the village, kill them.}"
"{Yes, Elder!}" said the two as the old woman walked away.
They continued over to Ryuki and his mother to turn them away. Barking
orders to them in Chinese proved useless, however, since neither one
could speak or understand it. The blonde guard, however, knew some
Japanese and slowly spoke to them, heavily accented. "You no can
enter. You go away or you die!"
"And why not? All we need is some hot water and some food. Can't you
at least let us have that?" Ryuki's mom was furious. She was tired of
having to deal with Ryuki as a guy and they were also hungry. Those two
thoughts made her advance on the two guards, who had to draw their
weapons to keep her from approaching any futher. "Then I challenge
you! If I win, you give us what we need. If I lose, then we'll leave.
Deal?"
"Is you stupid? If you want fight with Amazon, then you get one.
{I'll take the loudmouth woman, Feng Zhi. You make sure that cute guy
doesn't do anything.}"
Zhang Liu had two bonbori as her weapons. They were the most popular
in the village. Ryuki's mother remained unarmed due to a lack of
weapons and a lack of need for them. The only thing keeping the fight
was Ryuki holding his mother back.
"What do you think you're doing, mother? You don't pick a fight with
people like that? You're actin' stupid."
"Let me go, girl!" his mother barked. "It's not like I'm going to lose
or anything. I'm hungry and you're a guy. We're low on food and have
no hot water. I'm going to get some for us no problem." Despite
Ryuki's strong grip, it was easily broken and his mother jumped into the
fight.
The older woman was not lying, however, when she said that the fight
would be no problem. After ducking under a pair of swings by the Amazon
she hit the girl hard with an uppercut, stunning her momentarily. What
she did not count on, however, was the blonde getting up a few moments
later, wiping the blood off her lip and giving her a kiss on the cheek.
What happened next was something Ryuki would never forget or forgive.
In mere seconds Conditioner drew the sword strapped to her back and
thrusted blade towards her enemy's heart. Fortunately, the older woman
was able to block the sword thrust. However, it cut through her leg,
hitting an artery, instead of her heart at the cost of three of her left
fingers and a merciful death. Ryuki quickly ran over to his faltering
mother. Thinking quickly, he grabbed a nearby stick and tore some cloth
off his mother's pants to make a tourniquet. Seeing the blood flow
slowed, she turned her attention to the Amazons. "Why? Why did you do
that?" His eyes were brimming with tears.
"She beat Conditioner. Conditioner give her kiss of death and
Conditioner kill. Simple, yes?" Conditioner said as matter of factly
as she could despite her heavy accent.
"All we wanted was some hot water and food. Couldn't you have simply
brought some to us?"
"No. Is law. Is you going to give trouble? If you do, then
Conditioner kill."
"No." Ryuki said flatly but her eyes had a look of hard steel in them
as she spoke with more emotion. "I'm going to take care of my mother.
When I'm done with that, then I'll deal with you. All of you, for doing
this to my mother."
Gently picking up his mother's mercifully unconscious form, Ryuki
slowly walked away from the village into a nearby wood, sparing one more
hard look at Conditioner. In the woods, he knew he would be able to
heat up some water to change back to a girl and find a suitable camp
site.
Conditioner was about to follow him when a withered hand restrained
her. "{Let him go, child. Your honor has been upheld. The woman's
injury is fatal, you should know that. She will not live through the
night.}" The blond looked back at the elder and bowed respectfully,
knowing that she could do nothing from there on.
Ryuki set up camp a few hours later next to a small stream. His mother
had regained consciousness, barely, and he felt that going any further
would cause more harm than good. After he propped her comfortably next
to a rock he built a fire in order to heat some water.
"R...Ryuki," she said weakly.
"Hush, mother. Try not to speak. You'll get better, I promise."
Ryuki was crying but he was desperately trying to be strong.
"No child," she said softly, voice strained. "You need to rest. It is
late... and your are... tired. S...s...sleep. I...I will be fine."
"I have to take care of you. How do you expect me to go to sleep."
Ryuki had moved over to his mother's side in order to put a full bandage
around her leg. Unknown to him, however, was his mother's good hand
coming up behind his back.
"T...there's...s no...nothing y...you can do for m...me now. Rest, my
Ryuki."
The last part was said as she hit the knock out point on the back of
Ryuki's neck, causing him to collapse by his mother's lap.
The dying woman was barely able to move far enough to reach the warm
water. She was able to get it and poured it over her daughter, changing
him back into a girl. "A...At least I...I get to s...see you one
las...st time." With a sad smile, she did one last thing for her
daughter. She wrote her a letter.
The letter was one of apology, saying how sorry she was to leave her
only child like this. She put down her last thoughts, telling Ryuki
what she should do after she woke up, where she should go. She put the
last of her strength into her last words for when she finally put the
pencil down, she drew her final breath as if in a sigh of releaf.
Ryuki's dreams were troubled ones. To her, it felt that every bad
experience she had in life decided to revisit themselves to her one
hundred fold. The training in Okinawa, cursed to turn into a guy, and
the Amazons were foremost in her dreams. Only after she fell into a
deep sleep did Ryuki have, The Dream.
Ryuki was floating. Well, she was not really floating because there
was nothing to float over, under, or around. There was absolutely
nothing around her to refer to but floating was the only way she could
describe her situation. She herself did not seem to exist, she just
was.
"You must find your Yang, Little Dragon." The voice had no sound yet
she heard it just the same. It was neither male nor female, it was
everywhere and nowhere all at the same time. Just like her, it just
was.
"Who are you? What am I doing here?" Ryuki thought, it was all she
could do for she had no powers of speech.
"You will find out in due time, Little Dragon. You must find your Yang
and complete your training," was her reply.
"But where?"
"Japan," was the last thing she heard before she woke up.
Ryuki now found herself sitting up, looking at the morning sum. She
could not remember falling asleep the night before. A quick remembrance
made her rush to check on her mother. Her gasp was barely audible, even
to herself, when she looked upon the pale face of her mother. Tears
came in a torrential downpour. She cursed her mother for dying, leaving
her alone. She also cursed herself for falling asleep when she should
have been taking care of her. In the end, her tears were all for
nothing. All that was left after her cry was a cold, burning hatred. A
hatred of all things Amazon.
Right as she was about to run off to find the one who killed her mother
she noticed a piece of paper laying next to a rock. Picking it up, she
started to read. She was calmed by those written words, more so than
they would have had they been spoken. After she finished the letter,
she sat down to think, what she was taught to do, not running off on
impulse. Reading the letter brought back the vision she had in her
sleep.
Now she had two goals to focus on. She would go where her letter said
for her to go. It would take a while to find it but time had no meaning
to her any longer. She also had to find her Yang, find him. But she
did not know how. Her only clues to find either were a few words on
paper and the mental image of a running horse.
Author's notes:
Many thanks to my prereaders Jeremy Fogelman and Gary Kleppe. You
two were a great help in taking this apart and helping me put it back
together again. If I missed anything, do not hesitate to tell me. C&C
of all forms is welcome but flames will be laughed at.
--
Tomorrow sees undone what happens not today. Indecision brings delays.
Days lost lamenting lost days. -Ryoga Hibiki
Suicidal twin kills sister by mistake! -Unknown
Computer programmers don't byte...they nybble a bit. - Unknown
Email me at LightHawk@nc.rr.com
IM me at LiteHawk99
or
visit my web site at http://www.geocities.com/LightHawk19/Index.html
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