Glad I have the time to do a little more:

Silent Onus: Unseen Tears of Heaven

A 'Compass Points' Side-Story

    And a Ranma 1/2 fanfiction

    Disclaimer: Takahashi's paints, my easel.

    ----------------------------------------

    [End]

    "Great-granddaughter, it is not our way to give up. I can't fault
you for your loyalty, your bravery, or your tenacity..."

Shampoo: But Ranma is sort of a block of ice now.

    She turned eyes reddened and puffy from long nights of crying to the
older woman wordlessly.

    "I will, however, fault your idiocy. He was never yours to lose.

Heh. As good a way to put it as any. Everything was decided in the Golden
Pair arc when Ranma declared Akane his fiancee. You can't go back from that.
Everything else was just hard feelings.

 Now

pack your things, and let us be going."

Shampoo: But I don't want to move to Cleveland.

Cologne: We've been exiled to there as punishment, and I can think of no
greater pit of depravity than that. Truly the punishment was harsh.

    A voice, rusty from disuse, and unsteady from heartbreak asked,
"Mama? Will... will Mama still love me?"

Hmm. Interesting reaction.

    The servant nodded, and scurried away.

    "I sense change on the wind, and it is near."

You can say that again

    ***

    The girl grunted wordlessly, shaking her head in negation. "I'm
fine," she said after a moment.

    "Good. We'll reach the village shortly after noon."

    Pausing, the girl made a face. "Something... something feels off
about this."

Probably right about that as well.

    Saffron frowned thoughtfully, unwelcome memories of former
incarnations invading his mind. "What comes next?" he managed, bracing
himself against the throne with both hands until the surge of memories
passed. "Ah," he said before he could be answered. "War. Yes. I see,
now. The world changes, ever so much."

Changes only to remain the same.

    Snorting, Cologne turned to Herb again. "I trust you assembled us
here for something important?"

    "Yes," Herb said, frowning pensively and sitting comfortably. Mint
and Lime, sensing his intend,

intent

    No, she told herself. Something that was never hers to lose anyway.
But she would be hard-pressed to find anyone as... worthy as he was.

    He was a dragon among men, and everyone else was simply... dross in
comparison.

Heh. Cute.

    Saffron snapped out suddenly, "I do not trust them! They are... too
base. We, and you, we're removed from the rest of... humanity? I do not
know the word I seek for. But there is a difference between we and they,
and it is too pronounced, I think, for us to work together."

People fear that which is different.

    Saffron frowned pensively, then said slowly, "They would not act
against you, no... perhaps if you were to take a hostage?"

    "What?" Herb was stunned. This did not bode well for an alliance.

No. Using hostages pretty much negates the whole 'alliance' concept. :)

    "Yes," he nodded decisively, while Kiima's guards led the prone
soldier away. "You will ask them for a hostage. I trust you, and they
trust you. If you hold something they value, they will not risk moving
against us." He glanced at Kiima. "Kiima, draft a letter to the
Joketsuzoku outlining my request. Merely as a measure of trust."

But it's not really trust if you need a hostage. :)

    "And yet," warned Cologne, "I think that's what they expect. We need
to send someone we value, to show that they can trust us, and that we
are willing to trust them."

    "But we aren't willing to trust one of our own with the Musk," the
second complained.

Heh. Now we see the differences between their way of thinking, and how
similar they really are.

    The fourth spoke again, "War. I've heard that the United States of
America has started to war already. I can sense a taint in the winds
that hasn't reached our lands since they attacked Japan with nuclear
missiles."

Hmm. Now what provoked that, I wonder.

    And strong, stronger than any woman he had set eyes on before --
save possibly his own cursed form.

And probably Ranma's

    They seem to focus more on the esoteric arts than we do, but it's
been educational.

    I miss sparring with my spear-sisters, since the Musk are either far
stronger than is safe to challenge, or far too stupid to bother fighting
with.

Probably mostly both.

    Herb is an interesting person. He reminds me of Ranma, sometimes.

Well, there is that whole curse thing going for him. :)

    "He and Herb, yes."

    They both turned to look at Herb, male in the slight rain that began
to sprinkle down. Male because despite his outward calm, his anger was
intense enough to make his aura visible even to the eyes of the
untrained, lambent sheets of ki flame roiling off him in waves,
evaporating the water before it could strike him.

Ouch.

    [Foundlings]

    "We are not beggars to take of any charity that is offered," he said
stiffly.

Then you are fools for charity freely offered can be returned in kind.

    "How is that?"

    "If you accept our library as a dowry..."

My. That happened quickly.

    "What? What? What is this infuriating 'Um...' for?"

    "Who gets the bed? We tied."

I'm sure it was planned that way. :)

    "Oh?" He smirked, an unusual expression for him, and straightened
his robes about him subconsciously. "I suppose someone of my stature is
hard to resist."

    She giggled, pecking him on the cheek, and breathing softly on his
neck, "Tell me, does the sight of my skin still make you angry?"

Heh

Nice work. Cute brief look at the event in China to fill in the gaps. I
liked it.

D.B. Sommer



             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'