Tears of a Forgotten Yesterday
A Ranma Nibunoichi x-over
by Kitsune Saotome
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma Nibunoichi nor do I own The Legend of Dragoon.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: My aplogies, readers, but Shattered Back Together is on hold for an indeterminate amount of time. I'm afraid I'm going through a rather tough time that has stolen away all traces of my sense of humor, so I've decided to write something a bit more...serious. Enjoy.
-----Prologue: How Fall the Mighty, How Rise the Subdued-----
Pain. That's all Ranma Saotome knew. Pure, unadulterated pain. Clutching his chest, he struggled to stand, barely registering that he was in his own room. Stumbling out the door and into the hallway, he slammed into Akane's door on the way. Before he reached the stairs, the angry young woman threw open her door and glared at Ranma, pointedly ignoring that the boy was in pain.
"RANMA! I'M TRYING TO SLEEP IN HERE, YOU STUPID BAKA!!"
Kasumi, who had noticed that Ranma was in pain when she exited the washroom, was barely in time to sieze the mallet from Akane's hand and point at the pain written on Ranma's face. Akane faltered and sputtered. If she'd hit him, he'd have been killed! She couldn't go to jail! How would that affect her when she had HER dojo? She couldn't bear the thought of that.
Kasumi, while Akane was musing frantically at how she couldn't let the evil lesbian perverts in jail molest her, took Ranma and led him carefully down the stairs, handing the poor boy a glass of water. With a quick gulp, the pigtailed martial artist seemed to gain back a little of his equilibrium.
"Thanks, Kas-chan. Kami-sama, this shit hurts like a-"
"Ranma-kun!"
Ranma blushed sheepishly amidst the pain that still lingered in his chest, and he now realized that he could barely feel his left arm. Kasumi, seeing the worry in Ranma's eyes, spoke up. "Ranma-kun, I think you ought to see Doctor Tofu at the clinic. You haven't been looking like yourself since the failed wedding."
Ranma nodded and limped out of the kitchen, missing Nabiki trying to snap Akane out of her wild gesticulations about prison. Ranma passed his mother on the walkway, and the concerned woman followed behind him silently, wondering at the poor boy's condition. Noting how he was holding his hand to his chest, Nodoka Saotome began to pray for her son's safety as he entered the good doctor's clinic.
One glimpse at Ranma was all Tofu needed to push Ranma to the bed and get his medical bag out. Ranma was gifted with a reprieve from the pain in the form of an anesthetic. But it was brief, and Ranma awoke all too soon to the tearful eyes of Nodoka Saotome hovering over him.
"M...mom? What...what's wrong?"
Nodoka closed her eyes and breathed, grabbing her son's hand. "Ranma, your....your heart was strained too much. Docotr Tofu says you should have been resting for weeks after your battle with Saffron, but with the failed wedding and your constant beatings from that despisable Tendo girl, your heart couldn't handle the constant use of your life energy." Again, the Saotome matriarch closed her eyes against the pain, wishing she had seen through her foolish pride and hopes just once to try and see her son's life.
Ranma nodded, he had figured it would be something like that. Doctor Tofu nodded and picked up the phone, calling all parties who would be concerned at Ranma's health.
A sharp, intense spike of pain entered Ranma's ribcage once more, and the pigtailed martial artist drifted into an uneasy sleep, aided by the good doctor's steady morphine drip.
Ranma awakened to voices, many, many voices, but they were all so hazy. Ranma opened his eyes as best he could, but he he was left with only a smoky gray impression of what should have been ceiling. Until the ceiling moved, craning a long, draconic neck around to swivel one large, golden, blinking eye at the martial artist.
"GREETINGS, RANMA SAOTOME."
Ranma found himself standing, knowing this must have been some sort of dream. He bowed, sensing this giant silver dragon were of importance. Ranma was surprised and thrown off balance by the creature's low, bass chuckle.
"INDEED, RANMA, I AM OF IMPORTANCE. I AM THE DIVINE DRAGON OF A WORLD FAR, FAR FROM YOUR OWN. AND I HAVE NEED OF YOU."
Ranma looked up, unable to speak, yet wanting to know how he could help such a mighty creature.
"I AM MERELY A SPIRIT NOW, RANMA. I NEED YOU TO COME TO MY HOME AND SET THE WORLD FREE! AN EVIL MAN, AN EMPEROR OF A MAGICAL RACE, SEEKS TO ENSLAVE ALL OF THE GREAT TREE OF SOA'S CREATIONS UNDER HIS OWN SPECIES' RULE."
Ranma wondered briefly why the dragon simply didn't eat the man in question and received another chuckle for his musings.
"QUITE THE CHARMER, YOU ARE, RANMA. IN MY WORLD, I AM A MERE DRAGON, ENSPELLED AND ENSLAVED BY THE MAGICKS OF THE MAGICAL RACE CALLED WINGLIES. I CANNOT AWAKEN MY POWERS WITH THEM WATCHING MY EVERY MOVE, YET I CAN SEARCH OUT THOSE THAT CAN HELP ME."
Ranma wasn't quite ready to throw his life away yet. He still had Ukyou, Shampoo, Akane, and the dojo to worry about, not to mention Kasumi. And his mother.
"DO NOT WORRY OVER THEM, RANMA. YOU ARE TO DIE SOON, THOUGH IT MAY YET BE DAYS COMING BEFORE YOUR HEART'S FIRE CONSUMES YOUR BODY. YES, RANMA, YOUR LIFE ENERGY HAS REBOUNDED UPON ITSELF, CREATING A FIERY TEMPEST OF LIFE ENERGY THAT WILL SOON END YOUR EXISTENCE ON THIS PLANE."
Ranma nodded once, kneeling to accept this burden. The dragon merely chuckled and vanished from Ranma's view, allowing the martial artist some form of sleep that evening....
-----------------3:00 P.M, Next Day-------------
Akane dropped in on Ranma at the clinic, a strained grin on her face. As she looked at the martial artist's beleaguered breathing, she sat down in a chair next to him, waiting for him to wake up. As she waited, Kasumi entered and lay her head down on Ranma's bed, crying piteously.
"Oh, little brother.....please be alright...."
At this, Akane began to grow angry. How dare Ranma make sweet Kasumi cry! It was all his fault, as usual. As Akane simmered, Ukyou and Shampoo both stopped in, one through the door, the other through the wall. Both stared, goggly-eyed, at the poor convalescent as though he were a sick dog, Shampoo with not a little bit of disdain in her eyes. Amazons didn't like damaged goods, after all.
It was at this point that Mousse decided his presence was required to prevent the "evil Saotome" from deflowering his Shampoo forcefully. His cries of anger echoed through the clinic over the roar of the tumbling rubble of what used to be a wall, and the attention of four girls was riveted firmly on the insensitive Mousse, who calmed quite considerably at seeing the condition Ranma was in. Ranma may have ruffled Mousse's feathers just a bit, he still had a great deal of respect for Ranma as a martial artist and as a person. He was barely in time to stop an angry Ryouga from dealing a deathblow to the patient.
Ryouga had only just entered the room from Betty's closet when he had seen the look of anger on Akane's face, the look of pain on Kasumi's face, and the look of disdain on Shampoo's face. That was all he'd needed for his temper to explode when Mousse stepped in. As Ryouga calmed down, Mousse's chains around his torso, he noticed, as Mousse had, that Ranma's aura was wildly erratic, more so than even Ranma could make it. It was as though his own body was killing itself. Ryouga bowed his head to the sick boy and clapped his hands three times, a sign of respect to the dead.
Kasumi gasped and began to cry. Ryouga giving blessings to the dead when Ranma was still alive meant that he knew Ranma would die, and soon. At the thought of losing the young man she had come to love as a younger brother, she couldn't hold it in. She grasped Ranma's hand and cried into his chest, begging him again and again to stay alive. Ukyou and Shampoo both turned their eyes downward in respect before lifting their eyes and awaiting his death knell
It came too soon. Ryouga and Mousse could see, as Nodoka entered the room at the sound of Kasumi's sobs, that Ranma still had a good hour of suffering before his death fell upon him. But Akane's rage had been steadily building, bit by bit, as she stared at Ranma "hurting her sweet sister". As Kasumi held Ranma's hand and sobbed into his chest, she snapped. It was all she needed as she saw Shampoo and Ukyou lower their eyes and Nodoka enter the room.
"RANMA! STOP FORCING YOURSELF ON KASUMI, YOU DAMNABLE PERVERT!!!!!"
She drew out am exceptionally large mallet, to the shock of everyone in the room, and shoved Kasumi out of the way. Time seemed to slow down. Ranma's eyes opened as Kasumi was wrenched from his chest, Ryouga's eyes widened as his once-beloved attacked a convalescent who in no way could have forced himself on a strong-willed young woman. Mousse, too, gasped at the open display of hatred as Akane brought the mallet down on Ranma's chest. The room lit up a huge fount of burning ki lashed through Ranma's body, releasing a horrifying cry from the dying man's lips as the pain enflamed his every nerve. Akane dropped the mallet as the burning stopped, leaving a body that was hot to the touch and lifeless.
Kasumi grasped the dead one's hand once again and sobbed, as did the young man's mother. As they sobbed, Ryouga repeated the respectful motion of clapping three times and bowing his head. Once he finished this, however, a burst of red light echoed from the remains on the cot, throwing Kasumi and Nodoka back, and the rest of the people present, even the two males, against the far wall.
Where once there was a cot with Ranma's body, there were now six figures, each wearing a complex suit of armor of a different color, and each with a pair of glowing wings springing from said armor. To the far left was a giant of a man hefting a huge axe, his musculature standing out even through his golden armor. Just to his right was a young woman in light blue armor, with lovely blue hair and a sweet smile, though the hammer she carried over her shoulder gave pause to any "cuteness" thoughts. To her right was a young man in green armor, his brunette hair held back in a ponytail as he hefted his silver spear against the glare of his armor. To the far right was a man in violet armor, standing much like a calm martial artist, though it was clear he was more than just that. His black hair and fierce glint in his eyes gave clues to what he really was like. To his left was a tall woman with long black hair in dark blue armor, a single-edged sword glinting in the room's light. Next to her was another young woman with brown hair in white armor, a bow firmly in her grip and a fire burning slowly in her eyes as she stared at the last figure of the entourage. (1)
All eyes turned towards the final figure, an imposing man with an athletic build, his long black hair done in a braid that hung straight to his waist. His sparkling sapphire eyes shone underneath his midnight mane as a broad smile adorned his angular features. Eyes strayed to the long, thick bastard sword he held firmly in his right hand, and all of the Nerimans knew instinctively that he was the leader.
Time seemed to stand still, both parties looking wearily at each other, until Kasumi broke and ran into the arms of the man in red, clutching at his armor and sobbing violently.
"Ranma, oh, Ranma! Don't scare me like that again! Oh, kami-sama....thank the heavens you're alive, oh, kami-sama, you're alive!"
TO BE CONTINUED...
(1) No, they are NOT Dart, Shana, Haschel, Kongol, Meru, and Albert. Their names are;
Red: (You'll find out soon enough)
Dark Blue: Rose
Purple: Kanzas
Blue: Damia
Green: Syuviel
Gold: Belzac
White: Shirley
A/N: Please R&R, I need your opinions on this. Next chapter will start in the Ranmaverse, then we'll see....