Hi all,
It's been a while, huh? Work has been draining my creative energies for
many months now, so my writing productivity has been all but dead. I'll
post the 2nd half in a few days.
Steve
*** Earth 0.000,0.000 (-3,852.73611 Years)
The ever-present sands began to shift and blow once again as the golden
light of the brilliant sun rising from the eastern horizon began to
heat the air, casting its increasing fierceness upon the desiccated
remains of a body. The work of scavengers and vermin had further
ruined the already blasted corpse, and the sun would spend another day
leeching its few remaining fluids. The sand had already partially
consumed it, and the coming storm that could be seen in the distance
would surely finish the job.
A man stood near the corpse, his body swathed in the common fashion of
the desert nomads of this region, his robe billowing slightly in the
gradually rising winds. His deep-set, gray eyes were blind, his pupils
a milky white, but those eyes still held a thoughtful gaze as they
appeared to calmly study the remains, the remainder of his face hidden
behind the hood of his burnoose. What little of his skin that could be
seen had been darkened by the sun to a deep brown, almost an almond
coloring.
Those few who had encountered him spoke of him in the very quietest of
whispers. Most simply called him the Seer, the voice of Fate. He was
not the first to perform that task, and he would certainly not be the
last. He acted as the guide to that undiscovered country known as the
future, warning some he spoke to of its perils and enlightening others
as to its bounties. He spoke equally to both wise men and fools in his
many travels, counseled commoners and kings, solemnly moving among them
all like a thief in the night and vanishing quietly after his words had
been delivered. But he himself remained a riddle wrapped in an enigma.
However, nearly two days past, the Seer had been caught offguard for
the first time in the performance of his duties. The future had gone
through a sudden disjunction, its path forcefully wrenched into new
potential courses previously unknown and unseen. He had never before
experienced such an occurrence, and trepidation had trickled through
him. The future had gone into a sudden turmoil, roiling across his
Sight in a disturbed muddle of possible outcomes.
In a heroic attempt to gain a better perspective on this event and its
potential effects, with great effort he had strained himself past his
normal limits and forcibly expanded the scope of his Sight, allowing
him to behold the infinite sea of Time in nearly its entirety, with the
multitude of parahistories arrayed beyond his own.
For long moments he had been caught up in rapture, feeling something
akin to awe at witnessing the spectacle of timelines as they bifurcated
constantly, each instance giving birth to numerous possibilities that
then further diverged away from each other. Few of these offspring
timelines survived for long, most fading away in some rough equivalent
of biological natural selection, merging with others and yielding up
their energies and possibilities to be subsumed by their surviving
cousins, maintaining a rough sort of semblance of order in this chaotic
maelstrom of warring possibilities.
It was at that moment, as he strained his abilities to their utmost,
that he saw what horrors the future had almost held for him. His own
personal future was normally a blind spot in his Sight, as it was with
all Seers. But this blind spot would allow his once-future aspect to
be captured by Oblivion, a lesser avatar of that ultimate qliphothic
entity, the Solipsist, the Anti-Creator, the sum of all negations in
the multiverse. That aspect's resistance would eventually be utterly
crushed after Oblivion slowly and most painfully rendered him down into
absolute nonexistence and then restored him, inflicting the process
repeatedly until his mind finally broke. In the end, he would become a
willing agent of Oblivion, working behind the scenes to engineer events
in such a way as to result in the end of that timeline's existence, and
in turn feeding it into the impatiently waiting maw of the Solipsist.
With difficulty, he had turned his view away from that horror, hoping
that his successor as Fate's voice in that timeline would find a way to
frustrate his other self, if she even became aware of him. For that
was the one flaw in the Sight's ability. It became impossible to See
with any degree of certainty the outcome of events if sentient beings
actively attempted to be unpredictable. That was the razor's edge that
every Seer walked, the roll of the dice whenever someone was made aware
that the future could be seen and could be changed. That was why he
was circumspect in his revelations, working to delicately adjust events
behind the scenes, choosing his words carefully.
Casting his Sight further towards the future, he was astonished to see
a vast singularity forming, pulling innumerable timelines into itself.
Pain surged within his skull as his Sight beheld just the edge of the
silent darkness within that singularity, as he strained his abilities
farther than he had ever done before. The effort had cost him most
dearly, but he had caught a glimpse of what lurked far in the future,
waiting to consume worlds without end, a power that could devour whole
both gods and mortals alike. The multitude of images were confusing,
an expansive melange of events and individuals that were involved, and
they cast him back before he could see much.
He had walked, blindly, his mortal sight blasted from his eyes, the
price he had paid for his hubris, seeing only by the Sight now. It had
led him here, to the rupture point, less than two days walk from where
he had been when the divergence had first occurred. A morbid sort of
curiosity had compelled him to come. But the entity once known as
Kane, now reborn as the Shogun of the Dark, was long gone, leaving only
the blasted remains at the Seer's feet. Fate, as it always did, would
now struggle with Chance, but the outcome of this contest would be the
very survival of all that is, and all that ever would be.
A ghost of a smile crossed his face.
Despite the stakes, and the price he had already paid, this promised to
be interesting.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Quantum Destinies
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
By Steven Thesken (sthesken@earthlink.net)
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi. This story
is inspired by her works and the stories from some of my fellow fanfic
authors. Among these are D.B. Sommer's "Shampoo 1/2", Jim Bader's "A
Very Scary Thought -aka- Nabiki 1/2", and John Biles' Elseworlds
series. All C&C is welcome.
Other chapters of this story may be found at this website, or you can
email the author for them:
The Quantum Destinies Homepage
http://home.earthlink.net/~sthesken/fanfics/qd.html
The list of worlds reoccurring in this chapter:
Earth 0.000,0.000 - The world of Scholar Ranma (Baseline cluster)
What has gone before in this story (or at least what will help you
understand what is going on):
On a parallel Earth that diverged from the standard Ranma timeline over
five hundred years ago, the Empire of Japan rules almost half the world
and has done so for almost a century. A young scientist named Ranma
Saotome, through a device of his invention, is now possessed of the
skills and memories of a martial artist version of himself. A brief
glimpse of Imperial Earth's distant past was shown, and the divergence
point separating it off from the "Shampoo 1/2" timeline. Gosunkugi has
cast his spell, but the results were not quite what he expected. Ryoko
Masaki told the tale of her family in this altered history, and Ryu
Kumon began to adjust to his new life. Complicating things further,
the Netherworld sent a rather familiar agent to investigate just what
was going on in Nerima.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Chapter 18 - The Dragon's Apprentice
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.
-Ancient Asian Proverb
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
*** Earth 0.000,0.000
For the vast majority of the Empire's citizenry, nighttime was that
period of rest and relaxation from the day's labors. However, for
those select and dedicated individuals toiling on behalf of the Mobius
Institute, the time between dusk and dawn was their busiest time of the
day. And today had been no exception.
Director Kasuga paused and set aside the latest piece of paperwork that
was marked "For Your Eyes Only" that eternally seemed to flow across
his desk, when the intercom on his desk buzzed for his attention. It
was nearing midnight, and he still had so much to do. As he rubbed his
eyes briefly, he wondered if Frost was finally checking in. She had
called into the switchboard on her cellphone a few hours ago, leaving a
terse message that she was investigating the etheric disturbance in the
Nerima region. With a sigh, he activated the intercom unit. "Yes?"
"Sir, Agent Kisaragi is here with her report. Shall I send her in?"
"At once," grunted Director Kasuga gruffly. "And I could use some more
tea myself. See to it."
"Yes, sir."
Moments later, a somewhat bruised and bedraggled Ayaka Kisaragi made
her way into the Director's office. After bowing once, she quickly
slumped down into a chair opposite him with an exhausted-sounding sigh.
The battle drugs she had taken, seemingly an eternity ago, had left her
with an aching weariness that felt like it would require a solid week's
worth of sleep to ever dissipate. Unfortunately for her, she had to be
at the Academy in a few hours, so she was looking forward to keeping
this meeting as brief as possible. At least her head felt clear right
now, despite her body's insistent demands for rest.
"You look like hell, Kisaragi," observed the Director with his usual
ascerbic bluntness. "I assume you delivered the packages?"
"Yes, sir," answered Ayaka with a broad yawn. She forced herself to
sit up straighter in the chair. "The Class Four preternatural entity
identifying herself as Belldandy, as well as Lieutenant Yusaku Godai,
were left at Director Tendo's home without any signs of trouble, per
your instructions." She paused for a moment. It had been eerie to be
in the same room with Belldandy and Director Tendo's eldest daughter.
The two spoke with identical voices, right down to the same timbres and
intonations. It was an extremely odd coincidence, one she felt needful
of further investigation on her part in the near future.
Director Kasuga nodded once, grunting out a gruff "Good." He then sat
back and waited for the rest of Ayaka's report, watching the woman
gathering herself back together. A slight twinkle flickered in his
eyes, belying the professionally-stern expression he wore. Despite his
occasional jibes at how she lived her personal life, he knew her to be
a good woman, not to mention also being one of his best agents. He had
developed a paternal sort of caring for her over their past few years
of working together, and he kept hoping she would finally break herself
free of her self-destructive pattern of falling for a parade of playboy
types, men of handsome exteriors but weak characters, who used her to
satisfy their egos or their lusts. She needed to find herself a more
solid sort of man and finally settle down like other women her age.
Realizing that Director Kasuga was studying her with the usual austere
look he always gave her, she continued on with her report. But, even
as she spoke, a modest portion of her thoughts continued to worry at
the night's earlier events and their aftermath. In her mind, she
examined the possible reasons for not bringing the Belldandy entity
straight into Institute custody or making any efforts at neutralizing
it.
Leaving a rather shaken Lt. Godai at the Tendo household she could sort
of understand, as Soun Tendo's name was well-respected throughout the
various bureaus of Imperial intelligence, and his home did provide an
admittedly acceptable combination of normality and security for close
monitoring of the young lieutenant over the near term. Assistant
Director Tendo had been quite surprisingly kind in agreeing to let
Godai stay at his house, based on what Ayaka had heard about the man's
fearsome reputation as a stone-cold professional.
As to Lt. Godai, he had seemed to be remarkably ordinary for having
attracted the attentions of such an extraordinary being, even if Ayaka
was still a bit troubled by the nature of his wish. If she had read
that entity's power levels correctly, whatever this "Belldandy" was,
she was more than capable of leveling the Imperial capital city if she
but set her mind to it. The sooner she was removed to a more secure
facility, like the heavily-warded vaults beneath the Institute, the
better it would be for everyone.
"How is my grandson, Kisaragi?" the Director interrupted suddenly.
Startled, Ayaka's recitation of her report faltered for a brief moment.
"He's fine, sir. None of the three children were seriously harmed in
the incident. What injuries they did receive were all healed by the
Belldandy entity." She paused a moment, considering her next words.
"Your grandson showed great courage. He shielded myself and the others
and gave us time to recover from the initial attack. I believe he has
a great future ahead of him at the Institute."
"If he can avoid following certain glory-seeking young fools, you
mean," replied the Director gruffly, but there was a twinkle in his
eyes. "The Minami girl, for instance. Reminds me of another young
Ghost Sweeper I once knew, impetuous and foolhardy. Must be something
in the nature of redheads, I suppose."
Gritting her teeth slightly, Ayaka mumbled, "I was never foolhardy."
"Be that as it may," said the Director, apparently not having heard
Ayaka's mutterings. "This incident shows that young Minami needs a
little career guidance and some personal attention for the time being.
The girl obviously needs a mentor. So I'm entrusting you with that
task, Kisaragi."
"Now wait a minute!" Ayaka's exhaustion was forgotten for the moment
as she quickly absorbed the Director's words. "I've already got a job
to do, watching that Saotome kid and the others! There's definitely
something funny going on with him and his associates, and I'm busy
trying to get to the bottom of it. Hell! Even your own grandson has
started associating with that group. I'm not about to drop that to
nursemaid along some young hotshot out to make a name for herself!"
The Director raised an eyebrow. His voice took on a more thoughtful
tone. "Oh? Well, I suppose I could find someone else to do the job.
I understand that young Sakuranbo-san is free for an assignment now.
Perhaps I could assign her to the Academy as a nurse or something."
"Sakura Sakuranbo?" Ayaka out in disbelief. Her right eyebrow began
twitching of its own accord, in almost perfect synchronization with a
small vein that was now visibly pulsing in her forehead. Having that
oh-so-perfect, pompous, know-it-all of a priestess around would just be
the finishing touch on her life lately!
Director Kasuga folded his hands and watched in quiet fascination as
the mere mention of the name of the former director's niece could
elicit such a reaction from the woman in front of him. After all, not
too many years past, Ayaka and Sakura had been assigned together as
partners, one of several such teams that the Institute maintained.
Despite both of them having rather lackluster scholastic records at the
Institute's Academy, they had somehow managed to set standards for
performance and case resolution that still stood to this day.
However, all of their cases seemed to conclude with sometimes quite
significant collateral damage, earning them the nickname 'The Dirty
Pair' among their peers in the international community of mystics and
magic-users. Despite their many successes, their almost constant
bickering had eventually compromised the duo's tactical effectiveness,
and the two had been solo operatives ever since.
"Perhaps you'd like to take a moment and reconsider your position?" He
steepled his fingers together and put a bland look on his face.
"This is blackmail," growled Ayaka. Her headache had suddenly returned
with full force.
"Yes, it is," agreed Director Kasuga mildly.
Ayaka knew she was beaten, but she summoned up what dignity remained to
her. "All right. I'll do it."
"Excellent." Director Kasuga looked Ayaka squarely in the eyes. "I'll
expect regular reports on young Minami's progress at controlling her
youthful impulses, as well as how she and the others are adapting to
life amidst the normals at the Academy. And please keep an eye on my
grandson. As you said, he has a fine future ahead of him, and I will
see it fulfilled. You are dismissed."
"Yes, sir," Ayaka half-growled as she stood up, angry that she had been
ensnared so very easily. Her grumbling as she left Director Kasuga's
office was interrupted by an involuntary yawn and a wave of weariness.
Unless she wanted to be dead on her feet in the morning, she had to
resort to drastic measures. She had just enough time for at least a
four-hour session under one of the Institute's sleep inducers, and that
should restore her to relatively normal functioning for the day.
A sleep inducer was a relatively simple device whose plans had been
"borrowed" from the Russians a few years ago, consisting of a voltage
regulator and electrodes that were taped to the eyelids and the nape of
the neck, passing a rhythmic current between them. This caused the
brain to enter into a state resembling deep sleep. They weren't very
healthy to use for extended periods of time, but they were excellent
for situations such as this one.
Tomorrow was going to be another busy day, she could just feel it.
******************************
"Hah! Take that, slowpoke!" came the sudden exclamation of a girl's
voice, coming from within a nearby building. It was followed up by the
sounds of two bodies in motion, or, more precisely, fighting.
Ranma blinked and slowly removed his hand from the inner latch of the
gate to the grounds of the Tendo training hall. He could not at first
recall where he was or how he had come to be here as he looked around
briefly, but he was quickly regaining his bearings. He saw that it was
a beautiful spring day, the breeze mildly warm from the sun, with the
air smelling of a recent rain. He shaded his eyes and looked briefly
upwards, seeing clouds moving off and clearing. As he did so, his
thoughts seemed to clear even further, and he knew where he was now.
Lowering his gaze, he saw two very familiar figures moving against each
other, exchanging a rapid series of punches and kicks. But each strike
was then blocked or evaded with great skill by the other. Both were
dressed very similarly, in black gi pants and a Chinese-style tunic.
The girl was in a red tunic, and her opponent was another Ranma, who
was in a blue one. Ranma, himself dressed in a red tunic and black gi
pants, was reminded of the dancing interplay of Yin and Yang, given
human forms. He watched the sight for several moments, as Ranko and
Martial-Ranma dueled.
Martial-Ranma, who had been focussed on his fierce match with Ranko,
briefly caught sight of his doppelganger standing at the gate first,
and he was distracted, for a moment at most. But his somewhat smaller
opponent took quick advantage of that, driving a solid punch across his
jaw, swiftly following it up with a spin kick that impacted against his
shoulder, leaving him off-balance and reeling. And then the fierce
combination attack was finished off as the girl�s other leg delivered a
powerful ax kick that dropped down across his shoulder with sufficient
force to slam him to the dojo floor, where he lay still for several
moments, stunned.
"Victory!" laughed Ranko with a grin, her hand displaying the symbol
for same as she turned to face Ranma, still standing at the gate. She
then casually hopped over the downed Ranma at her feet and headed for
the yard. Her expression had suddenly become thoughtful.
"Ranko," said Ranma, inclining his head for a moment as he watched her
approach.
Ranko said nothing, only walking up to him and stopping a pace away,
her eyes several centimeters below his as she locked gazes with him.
Behind her, the other Ranma sat up with a groan and rubbed his head,
but he watched the two of them with interest.
"Ranma," said the girl in reply, gesturing at him once. "We need to
talk, you and I."
Ranma looked around, and a puzzled expression briefly lit his face. He
turned back to face Ranko and said, "I only see one. Where's the other
Ranma?"
"He's... gone," replied Ranko after a moment, her gaze shadowed as she
looked at him a bit uncomfortably. "That's what I wanted to talk to
you about." She pointed at the other Ranma, still watching them from
within the dojo. "He's the only one here now, other than you and me.
The other one integrated with him towards the end of the last time you
slept."
"The tomboy's right," said Martial-Ranma, rising to his feet.
Ranko's nostrils flared slightly for a moment, but she held her angry
retort within and let him speak.
"It's kinda weird," said Martial-Ranma, walking towards the pair. "Up
until I started sparring with Pop over Jusenkyo's pools, our lives were
the same, near as I can tell. But after that point, I can remember his
life and mine moving down different paths, all 'cause of what happened
with Shampoo in his life. Or was it mine?" Martial-Ranma, not used to
thinking too deeply about such things, paused to try and sort things
out.
While he did so, Ranko turned her gaze back to Ranma and said, "I think
since it was such a recent change in events, they were already pretty
much the same. In a way, it's a relief, since it means that your brain
is still sorting out all the new memories it got saddled with, even on
a subconscious level, and that's a pretty good sign that your psyche is
healing. I'd be a bit more worried if your brain wasn't going through
some sort of integration like this."
"Yeah," agreed Ranma, studying his female counterpart. "It makes sense
and all, but it's still worrisome. When all this is over, how much of
me is going to be left?"
Ranko looked perplexed for a moment and then suddenly began tapping her
index finger against Ranma's chest, angrily punctuating her statements.
"How much of _you_ is going to be left?!" she growled. "What about me?
You think I like the idea that I'm going to become part of some stupid
male version of myself?"
"Stupid?" retorted Ranma, irritated at her words. "Who are you calling
stupid?"
"I'm calling you stupid, stupid," snarled Ranko. She took up a combat
stance, her eyes glittering angrily. "Come on. Show me what you've
got."
Martial-Ranma shook his head, muttered something under his breath about
tomboys, and then he paused, feeling odd. He raised his hand up and
saw that it was fading, first to translucency, then to transparency,
and then to nothingness. The effect quickly spread across his body as
he watched, oddly fascinated by the whole process. He knew what was
happening to him, but he wasn't afraid. After all, showing fear just
wouldn't have been manly.
He smiled briefly, a Cheshire Cat sort of grin, as the last of his self
faded away. And then he was gone. There was a momentary silence, and
then a brief breeze whirled through the space where he had just been
standing, carrying with it a few stray cherry blossoms.
Ranma's attention was still focused on the girl in front of him, and he
was startled by her challenge. It still disturbed him somewhat that he
felt such an eagerness to fight, to test himself in battle against any
who challenged him, even girls. But with an effort, he forced himself
to not respond in kind to her aggressive stance.
"I don't want to fight you, Ranko," he stated flatly.
"Stupid," she muttered. Her eyes began to fill with tears, and she
angrily began brushing them away. "You've been fighting with me since
I became part of you. I'm more like you than those other two idiot
analogs, and you reject me because I'm a girl. You're afraid of me."
Her body began to be wracked with sobbing. "You hate me."
Ranma was stunned by the accusation. "I-I don't hate you, Ranko." He
took a step closer, now near enough to reach out and touch her. He was
at a loss about what to do. How should he respond?
"Those other selves hated having to turn into a girl physically," she
said in accusation. "You have me inside your head, and you hate that
even more." She continued to cry. "Stupid. You're so stupid."
Uncertain what else to do, Ranma enfolded Ranko in his arms in a hug.
While he had been growing up, his father had never hugged him, so it
felt slightly odd to hug someone else. He felt her body stiffen in his
embrace in response. Maybe it had been the wrong thing to do here, he
mused. Then he felt her arms tentatively reach around his body as her
sobs continued. She clung to him, hugging him back, and crying into
his shirt.
"I-I'm sorry, Ranko," he said awkwardly, half expecting her to haul off
and punch him in the face. The experiences of his analogs seemed to
indicate that an upset girl usually prefaced violence, more often than
not against his counterparts. But instead of hitting him, Ranko clung
to him a bit more tightly, and her sobs began to quiet a bit. He felt
unsettled at holding a girl in his arms, but it was also pretty nice.
He was unused to the experience, having never really hugged a girl
before this, despite the memories taken from his analogs. The two
stood there for a long time, neither one speaking.
Ranko's crying finally stopped, but she continued to hug Ranma back.
She felt as uneasy as he was with such a display of affection, but it
was also very pleasant to be held like this. She had never had a boy
hug her before. A light blush suddenly rose on her cheeks.
"Ranma?" she said quietly, turning her face to one side.
"Yeah?" He looked down, the top of her head reaching up to just above
his chin.
"This feels nice." Her voice was soft. She moved back slightly and
tipped her face upwards, looking him in the eyes. "Thank you."
"S-sure," he replied, looking down at her. He swallowed in sudden
nervousness. "Uh, I guess you've got every right to be angry."
Breaking eye contact with her, he then looked quickly aside at the
ground. "I-I have been afraid of you."
Ranko felt her heart turn leaden inside her chest. He still rejected
her, despite his earlier promise to her to try and be friends. "I
see," she said very quietly, a gentle quaver in her voice.
Ranma moved his gaze back to meet hers. He could see unshed tears
beginning to well up within her eyes. "I-"
"Is my being a girl that horrifying for you?" she demanded, afraid to
hear his answer. She cursed herself for being so weak. She was Ranko
Saotome! No boy had ever beaten her in a fight, and yet here she was
like some frightened child, fearing that this male version of herself
would reject her once and for all, consigning her off to the depths of
his subconscious, forever locked away in the darkness.
"N-no!" he stated, stammering a little. He could see tears beginning
to roll down her cheeks again as she looked up at him, her eyes wide
open as she waited on his words. He looked into her eyes, uncertain
what he was feeling. Tremors of emotion rolled through him, and his
throat felt tight. "I-I'm sorry."
"This is all I have left, Ranma." She looked at him, feeling a mixture
of confused emotions inside her. She could tell that he was feeling
similar feelings, watching the play of emotions on his features. Like
her, he had an open face that displayed emotions easily. "You and I
are stuck with each other, and I don't want to fight with you." Her
gaze turned softer. "Don't reject me."
Ranma was surprised when Ranko suddenly lifted up on to her toes and
kissed him. It was a tender feeling, just a gentle touching together
of lips-
******************************
Ranma snapped awake.
Bolting upright in his futon, he shook his head and quickly blinked his
eyes, his heart pounding hard in his chest. His eyes darted about, his
gaze rapidly taking in the familiar surroundings of his bedroom, dimly
lit by the silvery moonlight coming in through the window. He began
struggling to calm himself, his breath coming in gasps. His comforter
was all tangled up around him.
"W-what was that all about?" he asked, his voice unsteady. Leaning
forward, he put his face in his hands. "Calm down, Ranma. It was just
a dream. Just a dream."
It had felt so real, like all of his dreams of late. Ranko had felt so
real to him, so warm and feminine-
"Stop it," he muttered to himself. He forced himself to relax, letting
go of the tension in his shoulders. He had experienced erotic dreams
before, like any young man his age would, but nothing like that. To
call it incestuous could not even begin to properly describe it, since
Ranko was really another version of himself, only female.
Even as his breathing calmed, Ranma still found himself wide awake. He
looked at the clock, seeing that he had a couple of hours left before
he needed to get up for school, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to
get back to sleep again. His brain was far too keyed up now. As he
rose up from his futon, he stretched his arms and slowly rotated his
shoulders, and he was relieved to feel no pain. A couple of night's
sleep, even when one had been as short as tonight's was, had restored
him back to full health, healing the remaining bruises and injuries
from his fight with Utena.
A glint of moonlight reflected off the silvery CD-ROM sitting on his
desk, attracting his attention. Since he wasn't going to be getting
any more sleep, he decided to make productive use of the time. He had
been neglecting this particular mystery for too long. He also needed
to finally pick up the files he had managed to obtain from the Security
Directorate. They had been shifting from cache to cache around the
world, mixed in with the normal data traffic.
Ranma sat down at his desk and powered his Navi on, idly watching as
the screen lit up and began running through its internal diagnostics.
In a few moments, the system's desktop was up and running. He swiftly
tapped a few keys with his left hand, his right moving the mouse, as he
hooked up to the Imperial datagrid, cloaking his trace signal with some
rather special software of his own creation.
"First thing is to get those files before somebody stumbles on them,"
he murmured, routing himself out through a pathway that should enable
him to slip under the Security Directorate's radar for long enough to
retrieve his data. After a brief search, he determined which of his
caches was the right one and began retrieving the files, humming softly
as the data began downloading. As it did so, he noted that each of the
files on Jusenkyo had originally come from the Mobius Institute, and it
gave him a secret thrill to have outmaneuvered the spookiest group of
spooks in the Empire's vaunted intelligence bureaus.
Within a few minutes, it was done. Ranma blurred out his electronic
footprints carefully before disconnecting, cleaning up behind himself,
even unplugging his system from its physical connection to the Imperial
datagrid. Then he took out the small slip of paper that had arrived
with the CD-ROM, its words quite obviously meant as a challenge to him:
"Are you smart enough to break the code?"
"I haven't met the datafile yet that I can't crack," he muttered under
his breath. After slipping the CD-ROM into his computer and hearing
the drive spinning up to speed, he began his task by calling up some of
his codebreaking tools that he had created while in Russia, purely as
an intellectual exercise. Some of them he was pretty certain that the
Security Directorate would be very interested in talking to him about,
if they knew he had them. He began humming a German folk tune as he
set to work.
Ranma tapped away at a few keys, allowing the software to start up.
After a few moments, it came back with an analysis of the encryption.
*ENCRYPTION TYPE: UNKNOWN
Ranma sat back and ran his hand across his jaw, thinking. This was a
cipher code that he had never worked with before. He was even more
intrigued now than ever by whatever was in those files, but he could
not ignore the nagging possibility in the back of his mind that this
could be some kind of honeyed trap, one possibly even set for him by
the Security Directorate. He even wondered if Soun Tendo could be
behind this. The man obviously had some sort of an agenda concerning
him, but Ranma was still unable to fathom what the man was up to. But
why would anyone bother setting a trap for him?
The encryption lock on the disc appeared to be a bit more challenging
for him to decrypt than he had initially supposed, but it would not be
impossible. And even as that challenge called to him with a siren
song, he also knew he could not ignore the danger. Did he want to know
badly enough to risk prison or worse? Ranma tapped his finger against
his jaw as he pondered the matter.
"Argh!" he finally growled. "I gotta know what's on here!" Tapping
some more keys, he called up one more codebreaking tool, one based on
chaos theory that he had tested but had never actually needed to use
before. The algorithms were extremely complex, and he had used some of
them to hack into and set up his private data caches in a number of
secured systems around the world. It had been a game, ghosting in and
out of supposedly 'impenetrable' computer systems. With a sigh, he
unknowingly set it off against the Empire's most secure encryption
method, an Imperial Edict Code, possibly the most secure cipher on the
planet.
*WORKING... PLEASE WAIT...
Ranma sat in his chair and waited, imagining the myriad calculations
whirling through the electronic ether. He smiled as he pictured a tiny
ninja with Ukyo's face, working her way past a legion of the Empire's
best guards to get at the treasure within the castle. He closed his
eyes, enjoying his little fantasy.
After a time, he heard a single beep from his computer. He opened his
eyes, and they widened at what he saw on the screen. He had not been
expecting anything like this.
*PROJECT PHOENIX: IMPERIAL HUMAN ENHANCEMENT EXPERIMENT
*SUBJECT FILE NUMBER 3256: SAOTOME, RANMA (NEWTYPE HUMAN)
"It's about me?" he wondered in a soft voice.
Ranma began quickly scrolling through the preliminary information about
Project Phoenix, starting with a brief description of the project's
ultimate goal: to produce a eugenically-superior breed of human. He
read further, carefully studying the description of something called
the Eucharist, a single-celled lifeform that was first discovered in
the Imperial nature preserve at Ryugenzawa, originally intended to be
used as a bioweapon. Instead, the effort had created the first version
of the symbiotic lifeform later dubbed the Eucharist.
During the initial infection stage, the Eucharist organism gave off an
elaborate enzyme that caused a resequencing of a human being's entire
genetic code, by going through each cell and comparing each pair of
chromosomes in the DNA strands to each other. The enzyme purged any
genes that had no match, essentially editing away any imperfections it
found, such as remnants of viral code or mutated genes. In a sense,
the host was refined on an essential level, and innate traits became
more clearly defined. A person became more of what they already were.
However, it would only do that if it first found a pair of specific
genes on the seventh and ninth chromosomes, ones that caused a certain
protein to be produced in the cells. If it infected anyone who did not
have those particular genes present, the organism was fatal, causing a
quick death from total anaphylactic shock. Assuming the host survived,
once the organism was done with its initial editing, it then quietly
settled in, adding an extra pair of chromosomes to each cell to ensure
that it was carried forward to any future generations of hosts.
Once that initial stage was complete, the symbiote began spreading very
quickly throughout the host in a delicate, fibrous mass, forming a sort
of web within the host's body, but it stopped growing when it reached a
bit over a kilogram. The host's newly-recoded DNA was then locked in
as the basal pattern, and the symbiote would begin to aggressively hunt
down and consume anything that did not match that pattern, such as any
cancerous cells or infectious agents. It basically acted like a model
tenant, one who kept its residence in absolutely perfect working order.
Ranma skimmed through the rest of the overview information, fascinated
but also disturbed by what he was reading. Among the improvements was
at least a thirty percent increase in speed, strength, stamina, and
even intelligence, although the Mark-I subjects apparently did not have
that last enhancement to the same degree as the Mark-II subjects did.
Increased intelligence had been the result of later refinements done to
the Eucharist organism.
Coming across the first mention of the boost, Ranma began reading it
more carefully. As part of its labors, the symbiote created a series
of glands throughout the host's body, but in most subjects they were
dormant for some reason. These glands produced a complex biochemical
serum that would combine with adrenaline and endorphin output to cause
the body to enter into a sort of fugue state, supercharging strength
and speed to the uppermost edge of human capability. The serum even
affected the brain, suppressing all fear and doubt, unleashing the
beast that lies buried within the oldest cells of the human hindbrain,
and turning that person into an almost perfect fighting machine.
However, the boost did not come without great cost. The supercharging
burned up reserves at a prodigious rate, and a human that was pushed
past his limits for too long would die. Ranma shivered for a moment as
he continued to read some of the Project's early case studies that were
referenced in the file. In order to prevent this, a 'limiter' had been
subliminally programmed into the brains of the Mark-II subjects, but it
could be overridden by another subliminal command if needed.
One side effect of the symbiote's presence caught Ranma's attention as
he read, an attraction factor it caused with those of the opposite
gender who also had a symbiote. Apparently, the organism's presence
caused a slight modification in the pheromones given off by the host's
body, igniting a favorable response in those of the opposite gender,
and an unfavorable one in those of the same gender. That revelation
gave Ranma a very cold feeling. That would explain the odd sensations
he had been experiencing when he was around Akane, Kodachi, Nabiki,
Ukyo, and even Utena.
His analogs had not experienced such feelings, and he couldn't recall
responding in such a way when he had been around Kasumi. That could
mean that he wasn't really falling for any of the girls, but that his
body was merely reacting to certain biochemical cues they were giving
off, like some kind of love potion at work. In a sense, his DNA was
calling out to theirs, and vice-versa. That knowledge was a bit of a
relief, but it also left him even more in doubt of his own feelings.
After the overview, he came across the results of a physical exam given
to one Ranma Saotome, age five. An exhaustive battery of tests was
listed, both physical and mental, including a full genetic analysis.
No abnormalities or defects had been found. He had been deemed to be
somewhat above-average, both physiologically and neurologically, but
otherwise a basically normal and healthy boy, suitable for induction
into Project Phoenix. His own father had even approved his admittance,
as well as his mother.
"Damn you, Pop," he whispered hollowly. "Why didn't you ever tell me
about any of this?"
His emotions even more in turmoil now, Ranma absently hit a few keys,
saving the decrypted information. He couldn't bring himself to read
any more of the file right now. But a number of things were starting
to make sense now, like Soun Tendo's interest in him, not to mention
Lord Kuno's. Both fathers must see him as some kind of breeding stud.
Did the girls know? Who could he trust now?
While fretting about all this new information, Ranma sat and stared out
the window quietly as the darkness began fading with the coming dawn.
He stayed like that for a long time.
******************************
Frost awoke suddenly, uncertain for several moments where she was as
cool night air lightly moved across one side of her face. Her body
felt comfortably warm on one side, but it ached a bit when she moved
one hand. Her fingers brushed against cloth and skin that was slightly
cool to the touch. The odd sensations brought her to full wakefulness
and caused her to suddenly remember what had happened before she lost
consciousness.
She had been in a battle.
She had lost.
The pale-haired sorceress lifted her head from where it lay, blinking
her eyes several times as her usual calm quickly restored itself. She
began taking stock of her situation. She found herself half-sprawled
across the unconscious form of Hikaru Gosunkugi, her head resting on
his chest. The window was open behind her, letting in a faint breeze.
A few objects and books lay scattered across the floor, mute testimony
to the conclusion of her arcane struggle with him.
A quiet sigh escaped Frost's lips as she began to gently clamber off of
her slumbering companion. She knelt quietly next to him, thinking. In
the dim light coming in from off the street, she appeared as an almost
ethereal figure. Her lips formed a slight frown, and there was a faint
blush upon her cheeks.
Although it had been almost ten years since she had last set foot in
her native village, Frost still considered herself to be a Joketsuzoku
amazon, and that carried with it certain codes of conduct. Among those
were the rules regarding outsiders, among those that if a male defeated
an amazon in combat, then she must make him her husband.
Frost had spent many long years suppressing her feelings, cultivating
within herself an emotionless detachment. Lacking such distractions,
her arcane skills had grown mighty. Until today, none of her peers had
matched her abilities in arcane combat, let alone a mere male. But now
she had been defeated, by a male no less, so she must take this one as
her husband. It was a curious state she found herself in, suddenly
realizing how very lonely she had been from holding herself apart from
others for so long. The blush on her pale cheeks darkened slightly as
long dormant emotions began trickling through her.
Her expression suddenly firmed. Her course was now very clear to her.
Leaning forward, Frost lightly pressed her lips against Hikaru's. It
was her very first kiss, and she found a certain savor in it, even
though her companion remained unconscious and unresponsive during it.
It was an odd sort of sensation she felt, not unpleasant, but it left
her with a seed of curiosity as to what it would be like to kiss her
new husband when he was awake and could respond to her in kind. Such a
thought left the pale sorceress feeling unsettled and a bit uncertain
of herself. This was an area that she had no knowledge or experience
in. She decided to check some of the myriad texts in the library at
the Institute to try and learn more.
Sitting back upright, in her native tongue she softly intoned words she
had never before imagined herself ever speaking. "Wo ai ni."
For a time, Frost simply knelt and gazed in wonder at her new husband,
pondering what it would be like to have him in her life. A rare smile
crossed her lips as she felt an odd contentment whispering through her.
She gracefully gathered herself to her feet as she gestured briefly and
murmured words of power. An invisible force formed beneath Hikaru and
lifted his still unconscious form into the air, from where she guided
it to carry him to his bed and deposit him there gently. He looked a
bit uncomfortable sleeping in his clothing, so she began to undress him
in a matter-of-fact manner, until he was down to just his underwear.
She could see that Hikaru was thin, somewhat pale and wan, with rather
plain facial features, but that description could be used for many of
her sorcerous peers at the Institute, both male and female. She noted
the box of take-out noodles on his desk, wrinkling her nose slightly at
the sight, and she decided that her new husband deserved much better
fare than that. She decided to start cooking his meals as often as her
duties allowed her, thus ensuring that he had proper nutrition. As she
turned back to gaze further at his face, she idly noted that it held a
certain sort of gentleness in repose. Another fragile smile appeared
on her face. She could not remember the last time she had ever felt
like this. Was this what it was to be happy?
Frost herself, an albino as pale as her namesake, possessed a natural
sort of beauty and had a willowy, yet quite clearly feminine, build to
her that she had never made any efforts at enhancing with makeup,
revealing clothing, or any of the many other such fripperies that so
many of her female peers devoted a great deal of time and energy to.
Frankly, she had never seen the point.
A soft sigh escaped her lips. She was tempted to remain and awaken her
new husband as to his new status when the morning arrived, but her
sense of duty compelled her to return to the Institute at once. Frost
decided to keep this encounter to herself for now, until she had a
chance to speak with her new husband. Her powers felt quite drained
from their battle, but she took the time to cast a spell of healing on
both herself and Hikaru, and then she pulled his comforter over him.
Though still a bit unused to having such expressions on it, another
faint ghost of a smile crossed her lips as she gently brushed back his
unruly hair from his face, and she kissed him once more.
Before leaving, Frost tidied the room, giving her an opportunity to
calm herself a bit from these uncertain feelings she was experiencing
and restore herself to a semblance of her usual cool equanimity. She
carefully placed her new husband's removed clothing over the back of
his desk chair, and then she stepped to the window.
Her staff rose to her hand at her gesture, trailing clods of earth as
it ripped itself free from the spot where it had impaled itself. With
a single backwards glance at her new husband, she muttered a spell of
flight and soared up from the window. A gesture backwards closed the
window behind her, and then she flew off towards the Institute.
******************************
"It won't be long now."
Nabiki turned her head, seeing her other self standing there at the
edge of the dojo mat. It came to her suddenly that this was another
dream, one of the strange ones she had been having of late since using
Ranma's device.
"What won't be long?" she asked, rising to her feet. Both of them were
dressed in Chinese-style shirts and black gi pants, tied at the ankles.
Her own shirt was blue, and the other Nabiki's was in green.
Martial-Nabiki smiled at her mysteriously. "When you awaken, you will
challenge Ranma. With the Amaguriken technique, you will defeat him."
There was an absolute certainty in her voice.
"Yeah," Nabiki agreed with her twin. She smiled back. "I'll prove to
Ranma that I'm a better fighter than he is."
Martial-Nabiki turned to look at the sunlight warming the yard. She
could see the breeze flowing across the grass, the trees moving gently
in their places. She heard soft footsteps as her other self joined
her.
"The heir to the Anything-Goes School should be its strongest fighter,"
said Martial-Nabiki thoughtfully. "I've given you the tools to be that
now. What you do from this point on is up to you."
Martial-Nabiki turned to look at her. She smiled once again. "You'll
beat Ranma Saotome and show him who the true heir to the Anything-Goes
School is. I have faith in you." Then she paused, feeling the last
bits of herself slipping away.
"All that I was, all that I knew, is now yours, Nabiki Tendo," she said
softly. "Remember this." And then she stepped forward into her twin
and abruptly vanished, and Nabiki felt herself falling backwards-
******************************
Nabiki woke up abruptly when her body hit the floor of her room, her
limbs all tangled up in her blankets and sheets. Grumbling, she began
unwrapping herself. That fat oaf Genma should have gotten her up for
their morning sparring already. Why had he let her sleep in like this?
Her eyes suddenly went wide as she quickly blinked some more sleep from
them.
"Oh," she murmured sheepishly, feeling very silly all of a sudden. She
hadn't felt this confused about her surroundings since that very first
morning after her experience with Ranma's resonator. Nabiki chuckled
softly as she rubbed her head, still feeling somewhat out of sorts.
Finally getting free of her sheets, she absently scratched at an itch
on her side as she adjusted her T-shirt.
She did some light stretching exercises to wake herself up some more,
keeping her legs straight as she bent forward to grasp her ankles and
then leaning back as far as she could, hearing her spine popping as it
aligned back into proper place. She then rolled forward into a
handstand, scissoring her legs until they were parallel to the floor,
first forward and back, and then to each side, feeling the tendons
protesting a bit. She finished her brief stretching routine by doing a
quick flip and landing back on her feet.
Nabiki smiled wolfishly as she headed for the bathroom to prepare for
her day, knowing she had to hustle. Business had been falling off, and
none of her cronies could explain it. So today she was going to school
early and start making some more pointed interrogations. Somebody was
moving in on her territory. She could feel it. But they were messing
with the wrong girl. She was going to show them that, for she was her
father's daughter.
As for Ranma Saotome, today she would defeat him and finally prove that
she was the superior martial artist, for all the Academy to see.
Life was good.
******************************
Nodoka smiled lovingly as she watched her husband and son eating their
breakfast, serving herself some rice now that she had served them their
first helpings. Ranma and his father had demonstrated much greater
appetites lately, likely due to them both training as hard as they had
been doing. It pleased her to see them enjoying her cooking so much.
This was how a family should be, now that she had instilled some proper
table manners into them both, that is.
Genma had gotten so funny over the past couple of weeks, too. When she
had made an offhand comment about her concerns over Ranma's manliness,
he had cringed so realistically that it made her smile. The poor dear
had seemed absolutely terrified of her remarks, as if she was going to
take the family sword down and make him commit seppuku over Ranma's
lack of success with girls. But she had no worries on that front now.
There were several nice girls in Ranma's life now, and that eased her
mind about her son's prospects for marriage, not to mention producing a
number of grandchildren. In addition to the ones she had found for
him, he had brought home that nice Tenjou girl to meet her. Surely
with so many options available to him, he would be able to pick one to
take as his bride, or maybe even two or three of them. No, that would
be too much to hope for.
Nodoka felt a slight queasiness in her stomach, and she swallowed some
more of the herbal tea she was drinking to settle it. The bruises from
Kenseiko's strike had mostly faded by now, but she knew that she had
been very lucky that they had hit high on her midsection. Lower down,
such a hard blow could have caused her to miscarry, which was why she
was going over to Kuno Manor to speak with her old rival and ask for a
temporary truce, before something happened that endangered her baby.
"Mother?" asked Ranma, intruding on her thoughts. "Are you all right?"
"Just some morning sickness, I'm afraid," she said with a rueful smile,
forgetting that she had not yet told him about her condition.
Ranma stared at his mother in shock, his chopsticks now held frozen in
mid-motion. He then set his rice bowl and chopsticks down, gave Genma
an unreadable look briefly. "H-how long have you been pregnant?"
"Oh, only six weeks or so," said Nodoka pleasantly. "Although your
father has been busy ever since you two came home."
Ranma gave Genma another unreadable look, and then he smiled at Nodoka.
"I see. That's great news, Mother. Congratulations."
"Thank you," Nodoka replied with a smile. "Think of it, Ranma. You're
going to have a little brother or sister before too long."
"Yeah." Ranma smiled back, but his mind was stunned by the news.
Picking up his bowl, he busied himself with his food, consuming the
last of it. Setting it back down, Ranma said, "I've gotta get to
school."
Ranma got up from his place at the table, lightly kissed his mother on
the cheek, and gave Genma a deadly look when Nodoka's back was turned
as she got up to get him his lunch. He held the look steady as Genma
swallowed nervously. He had let himself be distracted for too long.
He had to get rid of this idiot who had taken his father's place, and
send him back where he belonged.
"Have a nice day at school, Ranma," Nodoka said with a smile, turning
around and handing him a boxed lunch. She watched him leave, wondering
why he didn't seem as happy as he sounded. She shrugged her shoulders.
He had just been surprised. That was all there was to it.
"More breakfast, Dearest?" There was a pause. "Why are you sweating?"
******************************
Hitomi Gosunkugi was a devoted mother.
The slender woman bustled about the small kitchen preparing breakfast
with a skill born of years of practice. The scent of fried eggs and
cooked vegetables permeated the room. She briefly glanced upwards at
the hallway, listening for the sounds of her son moving around. She
frowned slightly when she heard nothing. Her beloved little boy had
been staying up very late for the past several nights, leaving him a
little slow to arise in the mornings.
As she waited for signs of life from her son's small bedroom, the front
doorbell rang, startling her. Hitomi lowered the heat on the stove and
hurried to answer the door, absently wiping her hands on the front of
her apron. She heard the sounds of paper crinkling in one of the front
pockets, suddenly remembering that was where she had placed the glossy
pamphlet she had been perusing earlier. She would look at it again
later, after Hikaru had gone to school. Hitomi smoothed down her hair
with one hand before opening the door.
"Good morning," she said warmly, but her bright smile suddenly turned
plastic when she recognized who the figure standing out in the hallway
was. Her rigid smile remained forced-looking as she bowed slightly in
greeting.
"Good morning, Gosunkugi-san," said Minami, somewhat more brusquely
than was considered proper for a girl her age to one of her elders.
She locked eyes for a few moments with the older woman, her greeting
smile turning forced when she saw it wasn't Hikaru answering the door.
Hitomi gritted her teeth behind her fa�ade as she struggled to maintain
it, betraying only a slight hint of her irritation with the young Ghost
Sweeper. Minami was an arrogant, swaggering loudmouth of a girl, and
the older woman was perplexed as to why the redhead kept hanging around
her dear, sweet Hikaru. He was such a gentle boy, quiet, thoughtful,
and introspective, much like his dearly departed father had been before
his untimely loss.
Eyeing the girl's trim figure, Hitomi commented dryly, "You've lost a
bit of weight it seems, Minami-chan. Finally keeping to one of your
diets?"
"It was simply a matter of willpower," replied Minami with a laugh that
set the older woman's teeth even further on edge. "Nothing for a Ghost
Sweeper of my matchless abilities to do once I set my mind to it." She
peeked around Hitomi. "Is Gosunkugi-kun ready to go yet? I thought
I'd give him the great privilege this morning of walking with me to the
Academy."
"He's still getting ready," began Hitomi, stopping abruptly when Minami
suddenly breezed by her and headed in the direction of Hikaru's room.
With a sigh, she closed the door and went back to the kitchen, knowing
that she had lost another round with the young Ghost Sweeper.
"That idiot is going to make us late," Minami muttered under her breath
as she stomped towards her goal. "And after I went to the trouble of
going out of my way to give him the singular honor of walking with me."
In the kitchen, Hitomi's hand felt the rumpled pamphlet in her pocket,
and she pulled it out. Genom's logo was proudly displayed in large
print across the front, as well as their corporate motto: "More Human
Than Human."
A sigh escaped her lips as she contemplated what she was about to do.
It was fairly obvious that most of her son's difficulties with Minami
stemmed from a basic lack of self-confidence and experience with girls.
Well, there was a simple way to fix that, one that offered many other
tangible benefits as well. Giving her son his own Lilith would be like
picking out a bride for him, but one who would never treat him badly or
be unfaithful. The only problem was that she wasn't certain she could
afford one, and she hoped they had financing options. But no matter
the expense, a Lilith was certainly a much better prospect than having
her beloved son marry some bullying shrew like Manami Minami.
Hitomi smiled more genuinely as she imagined her beloved son's reaction
to receiving his own personal Lilith. She pocketed the pamphlet again
as she busied herself finishing up breakfast. The day was looking much
brighter.
Her little boy would be so grateful that he had such a devoted mother.
******************************
Hikaru Gosunkugi laughed triumphantly as Ranma Saotome fell before him,
even as he unleashed another barrage of lightning from his fingertips
for good measure. The still-smoking corpse of Kodachi Kuno rested just
behind Ranma, her eyes wide open and unseeing, and her limbs all askew.
Off to one side, both Akane Tendo and Manami Minami watched Gosunkugi
with adoration sparkling in their eyes, bearing loving witness to his
inevitable victory. Both girls were dressed in silky wisps of outfits
that left very little to the imagination.
Ranma convulsed and screamed as the energies ripped through his body,
coughing up some blood. But he managed to lift one arm in a pleading
gesture when the barrage finally ended. "G-Gosunkugi-sama, please-"
Gosunkugi cut him off as he sneered, "Mercy? You seek mercy? After
your pet noblewoman brutalized my precious Akane?" He half-turned from
Ranma to gaze upon his beloved. And Minami. "Shall I give him mercy,
my love?"
Akane's look was cold as she gazed upon Ranma in his weakness. It was
obvious that Hikaru Gosunkugi was the stronger. "Just kill him," she
purred. "He sickens me."
"Yes, Gosunkugi-kun," said Minami breathily, bobbing her head up and
down in an adoring nod as she thrust out her chest in a very appealing
manner. "You're so masterful," she sighed out loud.
"As you wish." Gosunkugi felt the energies gathering once more within
him, more power than he had ever dreamed possible. "How I pity you,
Ranma Saotome. Only at the last moments of your life do you see that
it was I who was always the better man." With that, he unleashed the
lightning into Ranma once again, enjoying the final, lingering screams.
When it was done, the pigtailed boy's twitching corpse collapsed to the
ground, still smoking slightly.
Both girls rushed for Gosunkugi, even as he blew some lingering vapors
from his fingertips. This was how it should be, he mused, feeling both
Akane and Minami hugging him, pressing their nubile bodies against his
own slender frame. But in the back of his mind, he wondered why Minami
was there. His true love was his warrior goddess, Akane Tendo. And to
prove it, he drew Akane in for a deep kiss-
******************************
Minami had been leaning over Gosunkugi's slumbering form, preparing to
slug him on his shoulder with her fist and yell into his ear to wake
him up, when he suddenly sat up and she found herself grabbed into a
hug. Before she could respond, Gosunkugi drew her close and kissed her
quite deeply. Minami's eyes went wide, and she felt her strength seem
to abandon her for a moment. It wasn't her first kiss with a boy, but
it caused the world to take on a hazy, pleasant sort of quality, and
she quickly found herself leaning into the embrace.
"I love you, Akane Tendo," Gosunkugi murmured when his lips finally
released hers.
Minami's awareness snapped back into sudden focus. Akane Tendo? Who
the hell was Akane Tendo? A jealous fury surged up within her, and her
arcane powers swelled to immense proportions within her, fed by the
sudden rush of emotions, unleashing an explosive blast of raw magic.
Fortunately for Gosunkugi's continuing health, the energy was released
in an unfocussed surge throughout his room, most of it blowing out his
windows in a multihued blast of power. Even so, he was still lifted up
and hurled away from his bed and into the wall, landing with a hard
thump and sliding down to the floor.
His clothing still smoldering slightly, Gosunkugi looked confusedly at
Minami. What she was doing in his room? Why did she look so angry?
"W-what did you think you were doing, Hikaru Gosunkugi?" snapped Minami
in decidedly angry tones, her face blushing very brightly. He had
kissed her! Her Hikaru-kun had kissed her, thinking she was another
girl! "H-how dare you-?" She left off, suddenly unable to continue
her tirade.
No longer possessed of the calm arrogance of his dream self, Gosunkugi
was left gaping at the sight of a blushing, stammering Minami. Unsure
what to do, he stood up, babbling protestations of innocence-
-and his clothing disintegrated from the last lingering traces of the
raw magics they had been hit with.
Minami's eyes widened, and she blinked several times in very rapid
succession. Her fading blush surged back up into her face with full
force during those few seconds.
"I-I'm sorry!" stammered Gosunkugi as he quickly grabbed a sheet to
cover his nakedness. "It was an accident!"
"Pervert!" roared Minami. Although she had been trained to calmly deal
with all kinds of demons (and could admit to herself that she had an
odd fascination for those of the naughty tentacle variety), this was
another matter entirely. This was her Hikaru-kun, the boy she had
known since they were both eight years old. She unleashed another bolt
of raw magical force at him and fled from the room, tears flooding from
her eyes.
Regaining his feet after Minami's parting shot, Hikaru surveyed the
blasted wreckage of his room. The day had only begun, and it was
already looking bad. Somehow, he was sure this was all Ranma Saotome's
fault.
******************************
Minami's blind run finally came to a halt some ways away from Hikaru's
apartment building. Storm clouds blew by overhead, reflecting her
mood. Tears still rolled down her face, and she angrily wiped them
away. She felt like such a fool.
"H-how could he t-treat me like that?" she growled, trying to hold back
the tears with anger as she started to head towards the Academy. Her
heart sank further in her chest as her memory kept repeating what had
just happened, the kiss, and then his pronouncement of love for someone
else. Fresh tears began rolling down her cheeks, and she stopped, a
mournful sob escaping her as she leaned heavily against a light pole.
How could he want someone else? How could he love someone else?
Minami felt empty inside. The boy she lov- liked a lot, and he wanted
someone else. He wanted this Akane Tendo girl, not her.
Anger began building up inside her again, and Minami's tears began to
stop. She was not going to give up. She had worked too hard to give
up now. Hikaru Gosunkugi was hers! Whoever this little tramp Akane
Tendo was, she was not going to have her Hikaru-kun!
Minami wiped her eyes, feeling better now that she had decided on a
course of action. First thing, she had to find out who this girl was.
And she had gone to the Imperial Academy long enough to know that there
was one source for information, Nabiki Ten-
Wait. Nabiki Tendo? Akane Tendo? Minami blinked, and then her eyes
narrowed. She had heard Akane's name before, from her new friend
Yohko, that the girl was a violent sort by nature. She had also heard
from the young Devil Hunter that Akane had fairly recently developed a
fixation on the other new annoyance in Minami's life, Ranma Saotome.
Because of that jerk, she huffed, her perfect debut at the Imperial
Academy had been ruined.
An evil smile lit Minami's face. It was all so very clear to her now.
Her initial notion of frying this Akane Tendo bimbo down to bone and
gristle, while a pleasant one, was set aside. Instead, she was going
to become Akane's good friend, and she would help the little thug win
Ranma. That should eliminate her rival for Hikaru's heart, and be a
very wonderful form of revenge on that creep, Saotome.
After laughing in a chilling fashion for a moment, Minami continued her
journey to school.
******************************
(End part 1 of 2)
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