here's the second part of chapter one, not much but then again given the circumstances...

Eight years ago, Ranma Saotome heir to the Saotome Anything Goes School of Martial Arts disappeared.  No one knows where he went, why he left or when he was coming back.  He suddenly returned after years of absence with a child in tow and a host of unmentionable creatures on his trail.  And now the ones that know him best want answers.
 
Jiro Maeda presents
A Rumiko Takahashi Ranma � fanfic
Summoner's song

Disclaimer: I hereby verify that I hold no claim over any and all characters, locations, techniques and scenarios appearing in Ranma � that also appear in this fanfic.

Chapter 1b
Calm before the storm

It was small compared to the other rooms, small and ill lit. Eerie shadows roamed around the small space as the pregnant silence that surrounded it was disturbed by a rhythmic whisk-whisking sound of a blade being sharpened and cleaned.  The two lone occupants, a young man in his twenties and a small child who is little more than twelve years of age, were so silent and so still that they effortlessly blended with the surrounding shadows of the room.  Only the quiet breathing of the child who is sleeping and the rhythmic almost Zen-like repetitive stroke of the man sitting beside her belied the fact that they are not decorative statues but actual occupants of the room.  The whisk-whisking ended as the sword was drawn, it's glistening edge catching a passing moonbeam allowing it an almost ethereal glow.  With an almost imperceptible sighing sound, the sword was brought back to it's scabbard, after-images following after like gamboling sprites.  A soft click can be heard as the sword was laid down almost reverently onto the tatami mat, near enough that it's bearer can muster it's hidden strength to his as well as his protectorate's defense.    

Ranma settled himself in a seiza, his mind willing his body to rest while his spirit roamed the area.  Slowly, inch upon inch, he extended his will.  First, throughout the room, then all over the second floor, then the whole house until finally the whole Tendou-ke.  Noting that his wards were still in place he allowed himself to relax to a meditative state, his breathing slowing down to almost sub-human levels.  As he does so, part of his mind wandered and reflected on the events that happened...

...eight years ago

"You're leaving?" Akane asked quietly, her voice almost muffled by the emotions that reflected on her face. her eyes wide and glistening with unshed tears as she watched Ranma place item after item in a small rucksack, not even stopping as she closed the door behind her.  He nodded as he began to tie the strings that hold the bag closed, every move he makes not showing the tension he felt, the doubt that gnawed at the pit of his stomach or the pain that wrenched his heart as he caught glimpses of his fianc�e's anguished face.  "Why?  I thought you liked it here? I thought you l...liked me?" she croaked, her voice shattering as the barely held tears began to flow down her face.   
Ranma clenched his fists at his side, forcing his body from not rushing to Akane's side and kissing her tears away, he steeled himself from hearing her sniffles as she closed the door behind her.  He walked a little bit away from his duffel bag and looked directly upon the wall that stood there.  Without even a whispered kiai, he struck it and his fist went through, creating a hole that was a mute testament to his restraint.  In his mind he heard the voice that compelled him to leave.  

'The price that must be paid is great, Thine sacrifice even greater but the cost of not setting upon this quest is unimaginable.  We feel thy pain yet we must enjoin thee to proceed unto the place of sorrow'

The voice of Jusenkyo's spirits, dwelling in his mind... 

His reminiscing was cut short as he felt a familiar presence nearing the room he and his sister were occupying.  He smiled as his heightened senses registered Akane's scent, the sound of her heartbeat as well as the creaking of the floor boards in her attempt to be quiet. He stepped towards the door, as silent as a stalking cat and opened the door just as Akane was pushing the door open.  He caught her before she fell and helped her stand up.  They stood that way for quite a while staring at each other's eyes and cherishing the moment when an almost cut off giggle ruined it for them.  They turned around with blushes adorning their faces to see a madly giggling Kii-chan hugging her comforter for support.  The little angel then ran towards Akane and hugged her, she tackled Ranma and hugged him a few moments later.  Ranma smiled at the little girl's antics as he untangled himself from her.  "What are you doing up, little sprout?  I thought you were gonna rest up so you'll grow up big and strong like me?" he asked tousling the child's mop of unruly hair.  She in turn gazed at him lovingly and gave him one of the sunniest smiles in the history of humanity.  She pointed towards the bed spreads and beckoned to him and Akane.  In the end they ended up sharing the same futon, crowded together like sardines in a can, slaves to a child's wishes.  Had Yukiko not been there, the situation would have been embarrassing for he and Akane found their limbs entangled with Yukiko all under the comforter.  It was still embarrassing, Ranma mused as he caressed the child's blue-black hair in her sleep, his other hand held tightly by the fianc�e he thought he'd never see again.  It was then that he noted that Akane was speaking to him, making him answer with an unintelligent monosyllabic answer...
     
"Huh?" he said, his eyes more than conveying the confusion that his answer revealed.  Akane sighed and repeated her previously spoken words.  "I said, I can't believe that Jusenkyou would ask you of all people to aid it in doing what it's supposed to do."  He shrugged, not so easy when your limbs are twisted around a full grown woman and a child. "I guess it is destiny.  My falling into the cursed spring was the last step in a whole chain of events leading to now, I guess pop was an unwitting pawn of fate just like me." He said, his face scrunched up in an unreadable expression, part puzzlement, part confusion and a whole lot of something else.  The sight made Akane chuckle.  She hadn't realized how much she missed him until this moment. "What?" he asked, puzzled at her reaction. Akane merely shrugged and said. "Nothing, just that you look funny being serious like that."  She smiled and then carefully moving so as not to shake the little girl awake, she planted a kiss on his pouting lips. "You look cute when you pout." she said needling him some more.  She snuggled closer to his side, shifting Yukiko so as not to crush her between them.  "Tell it to me again, tell me how you found out about Jusenkyo's guardian and about the Summoner." She said as she laid her head on his shoulder.  Her fianc� nodded and began to tell the tale of what started everything...

"I woke up in the middle of the night when I heard an odd voice calling my name, it sounded very far away.  I thought at once that it was a late night challenger, either Mousse or Ryouga, so I scooted near the window where I could see the whole yard and peeped.  It was pitch dark so I reckoned the time to be around 1 am or midnight.  I rubbed my eyes, thinking that I was probably dreaming so I got ready to go to bed again.  As I was shuffling towards my futon, I heard another voice, this one female and very near.  I turned around and saw a smoky outline of what appeared to be a young girl.  When I got closer I saw that the ghostly form resembled my girl side.  I shifted at once to an unassuming defensive stance ready for anything she could throw at me, or so I thought... 
I was most certainly not prepared to see her kneel serenely on the floor and beckon me to the spot beside her,  I found myself compelled to do so, not by magic but by curiosity.  She smiled as if reading my thoughts, her features growing more real in the passage of time.  'Dost thou knowest who I am?' she asked, her voice was a chorus of several voices all talking at the same time.  'I am the embodiment of the spirits that reside in yon accursed spring, Jusenkyou and I have come to tell thee of thy fate.' To say that I was shocked is a definite understatement. She held up a hand to forestall my questions and said that all would be revealed in the proper time.  From that day on they resided in my mind, filling it with the collective memories of people and creatures that drowned in that tragic place, sealed until such time when I would have need of them. The spirits only vanished after I journeyed to Jusenkyou.  It was there that I... " He stopped suddenly, seeing that his beloved is already asleep, he smiled and spent the rest of the night staring at the ceiling until sleep finally overcame him

Meanwhile, above a well known Okonomiyaki shop, a couple were in their bed, snuggling after a late night bout of making love.  Ryouga hugged his wife's naked body closer to him as she placed the tossed about comforter on top of them, nipping his neck in the process.  They had been at it after making sure that little Touga was fast asleep.  He knew that she wasn't really in the mood tonight but gave in just to tell him that she loved him, him and no one else.  "I don't know if I ever told you this but I'm lucky to have married you." He whispered as she snuggled closer to him, pillowing her head on his manly chest.  "You already have Ryou-chan, several times in fact.  Although it doesn't hurt to hear it again.  If you haven't realized it by now, I feel the same way.  So don't be a jackass and become jealous of anyone else alright? You're my number one man, you and no one else. " she murmured, her breath tickling his chest hairs.  He kissed the top of her forehead and promised himself that he would try not to be jealous of Ranma anymore.  Ukyo's right, as always, she's a Hibiki now and will not ever be a Saotome, not even in a million years.  His thoughts were derailed when he felt his wife's hands drifting down his body, he saw her smoldering stare and nodded his head in understanding, once again filling the room with the sounds of their lovemaking.

(Dunno why I wrote the above scene, think of it as some kinda closure to the previous Ukyo/Ryouga scene - Jiro)

To be continued


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