A Ranma ½ fanfiction By Mercedes (Jennifer De Salme) and Isis' Shadow (Randi Brainard)
matoko_hibiki@excite.com, isis_shadow5@mytalk.com
DISCLAIMER: All characters from the original RANMA ½ (Ryouga, Ranma, Akane, Ukyou, etc.) are not ours, they belong to Rumiko Takahisi. Reijin Saotome belongs to Shadow (Randi); Tetsuo Morobishi (no relation to THAT Morobishi) and Matoko Hibiki belong to Mercedes (Jen). We mean no harm, we only want to share our ideas. :)
Author's Note: This story takes place in the far future, probably around eighteen years after the end of the anime, maybe more. Most everyone is paired up and married off, and their children are now the ones who are running amuck in Nerima. Most, if not all, of the original characters have had their curses cured, but, well, you'll see.
'text' = thoughts, *text* = italics/ sounds, _text_ = underlined
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Ucchan's Okonamiyaki Restaurant 8 p.m.
*clop* *clop* *clop*
The odd noise startled Ukyou out of her daydream as she watched the rain fall. She listened as the sound became louder as it came closer to the restaurant. Placing her teacup on the table in front of her, she stood and walked towards the front door. Just as she reached it, the noise stopped. Frowning, she opened the door. 'What in the world could be making that...'
Her thoughts trailed off as she stared at the sight in front of her restaurant. A familar figure stood outlined in the light coming from the restaurant. A red umbrella kept him dry and hid his face from her above view, though she could see the backpack dangling from his hand.
"Ry-Ryouga?" She ran down the stairs to her husband, ignoring the downpour. His head was lowered, but her lesser height allowed her to simply look up and meet his gaze. He took one look at Ukyou and closed his eyes shamefully. Her face took on a worried expression. "But if you're here, than where's Matoko?"
She heard the clopping noise again, the sound that had brought her to the door. Noticing that it came from behind her husband, she moved to the side and peered into the rain. A long-maned, bay horse stood in the road, facing Ukyou. It took a hesitant step forward and whinned. Seeing the woman's obvious confusion, the mare continued walking towards the couple until it stood a couple feet from her. The brunette woman looked at her husband and then back at the horse.
"I don't understand. What does this have to do with Matoko?" Something velvety brushed her hand softly. She looked up at the horse. Sad, blue eyes stared back at her. 'Blue...?' Ukyou thought. As realization hit her a series of emotions flashed across her face until she settled for one. "Oh, Matoko, honey..."
Ukyou whirled and grabbed her husband's shirt collar, forcing him to meet her burning gaze. His eyes went wide with fear as his furious wife roared at him.
"RYOUGA HIBIKI, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO OUR DAUGHTER?!!"
Somehow, Ukyou managed to get the horse -- no, her daughter -- up the stairs and into the restaurant. Navigating her around the tables was another matter, but she cleared enough space so that the cursed girl could fit her bulk inside the building. The brunette woman closed the door. Once inside, the chef walked around to the front of the horse, dragging Ryouga with her by his bandanna, making sure that he wouldn't try to run off.
"Wait here, Matoko." The woman said softly. The mare bobbed her head in an affirmative and nuzzled Ukyou's shoulder. Ukyou smiled slightly, but her face hardened as she glanced over at the black-haired man standing next to her. "I have to talk to your father for a moment."
Ryouga's eyes widened further at the cold tone of his wife's voice. She walked up the stairs and into their bedroom, and waited for him to enter before shutting the door behind her. She turned and glared him.
"Sit."
He gulped and nodded, lowering himself onto their bed.
"I swear to you that this was a complete accident..." He started.
He was silenced by the menacing expression on his wife's face. She hadn't been this mad at him in years. Then he noticed the giant spatula in her hand. 'Uh, oh...'
With a growl, she swung at him. The large blade barely missed as he dodged out of the way. "Ukyou, stop! Let's talk about this rationally!"
"Rationally?" She snarled. "Our daughter is a HORSE, you jackass!" She swung at him again, this time he ducked under the weapon and grabbed the handle before she could recover from the back swing.
"Would you at least let me explain?" The enraged woman attempted to pull her spatula out of his hand, but he kept an iron grip on the handle. After a moment, she sighed heavily and relaxed her stance. He released the weapon and she sheathed it on her back.
"All right, but you had better have one hell of an explanation. I'm going to go close up the shop, so that no one interrupts us." She turned to head out of the room.
"Oh, and Ukyou?"
"Yes?"
"Don't forget to dump some hot water on Matoko."
She stopped in her tracks and turned back to look at him.
"Junsenkyo."
He nodded. With another heavy sigh, she left the bedroom to let Ryouga change out of his travel-worn clothes.
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Matoko Hibiki stood nervously in her family's restaurant, shifted her weight around on each of her four hooves. 'Hooves... dear God, how ever did I get into this?' Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard a man yell upstairs. A couple of ominous *clangs* and a some more shouting later, there was silence. After a few moments, she heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
Ukyou Hibiki stood at the bottom of the stairs for a moment, watching her. Matoko just watched her mother with sad eyes, her ears turned back and drooping slightly. Suddenly, the girl-cursed-as-a-horse sneezed. She shivered slightly, like she was trying to shake something off her coat.
"Oh, Matoko, honey," The sneeze seemed to shake Ukyou out of her stare and she went over to her daughter. "I'm sorry, you must be freezing! Come into the kitchen, we'll get you changed back to normal."
The bay mare followed her mother into the other room, stepping carefully as if she was afraid to damage anything with her large bulk and heavy hooves. Ukyou took the kettle off the burner where she'd left it when she made her tea, and poured the warm water over the horse's head.
Even after seeing one of her closest friends, his father, even her husband, change forms, she was still shocked when the horse's form blurred and shrank, leaving a young woman to stand in its place, shivering and clutching her arms. Her long, wet hair hung past her waist in dripping tendrils which were barely held out of her face by the green bandanna she wore around her forehead.
Ukyou wrapped a robe around her daughter's shoulders. After the girl had slipped her arms in the sleeves and tied the waist, the older woman guided the younger to the living room in the back of the building. She went back into the kitchen to return a moment later with a steaming cup of tea.
"Wait here. I'm going to lock up the restaurant so that no one will disturb us." Matoko nodded silently, clutching the warm teacup in her hands. Her mother left towards the restaurant.
A noise behind her made her turn back to the door. Ryouga walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"You okay?" He asked, concern showing in his voice. He'd seen how miserable she'd been on the trip home, but neither of them could do much about it at the time since the cold spring rain had rendered that impossible.
She smiled slightly, one fang peeking out over her lip. "I'll be fine, Dad, don't worry. I just got the sniffles. I'd be more worried about Mom, if I was you." She patted his hand. "I assume that was you two I heard fighting up there." He grimaced and nodded.
"I don't think your mother's too happy with me at the moment."
"Damn straight." The man and his daughter turned their heads to watch Ukyou enter the room and stand in front of them. She glared at her nervous and ashamed looking husband, arms crossed in front of her chest. "This explanation had better be good, Ryouga."
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Saotome Dojo 8:27 PM
The soft pitter-patter of the rain was like a lullaby to Akane Saotome. What would normally have been a long day for Akane was made to seem even longer because of her daughter's absence. Reijin had gone training with Ryouga and his daughter Matoko a few weeks ago, and knowing Ryouga's sense of direction and his "pattern of flight," Akane figured that the training journey would be back any day. Akane sighed and lifted her hand to brush back a tendril of her dark hair, trying unsuccessfully to put it back into the wrapped braid in the back of her head. Motherhood had softened Akane, and one of the many changes had included growing her hair out. Her cooking had improved as well, and though it was nowhere near her sister Kasumi's gourmet meals, it didn't kill people at first taste either. Ranma heard the front door shut and water falling onto the floor. She knew who was home.
"Akane. Akane, where are you?" Ranma strode from the kitchen into the living room and saw his wife leaning against the door, gazing out into the rain. "Oh, there you are." He walked behind her and put his arms around her midsection, leaning his chin against her shoulder. "Hi. How was your day?"
Akane grinned and put her arms around his, loving the closeness they now shared. They still argued, sometimes sporadically, sometimes frequently. Their love was more apparent now, to themselves as well as others, making their lives richer in ways they'd never deemed possible. "Busy, as usual. How were your students?" Ranma groaned mockingly.
"Oh, they were so horrible, I don't know how I can go back to the dojo tomorrow." Akane laughed.
"Shut up Grandmaster Saotome. If you had to do half the chores I do. Honestly, I admire Kasumi so much more now that I know what she had to deal with when all of us lived here." Ranma laughed.
"Kasumi, unlike you, was born to be a housewife and mother." He giggled again. "Besides, I could never imagine you staying home all the time and just looking over the house. You're a big help at the dojo, especially during the busy season." He hugged her close. "Hey, it's gonna be awhile before we can have take a long bath together without the kids around. Whaddya say, hmm?" He turned her around to face him.
His hair was wet and dripping down to his knees. He'd let his hair grow out, leaving his pig tail at the end of it, but not braiding the newly grown hair, giving him a strange hairstyle according to fashion, but Akane loved his long hair. She grinned and nodded. "Sure." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and walked upstairs towards the bathroom calling out behind him. "I'll get it ready. Come upstairs after you close things up down here."
Akane turned back to the rain, sensing something strange. She didn't know exactly what it was, and she was surprised that Ranma hadn't felt the sensation as well. He'd always had more of a knack for sensing things. Akane stared into the darkness of the night, her back yard illuminated faintly by the bright lamps in the street. Akane sighed and put her hand on the door intending to close it when a growl pierced the night. Akane froze, her hand still on the door, and looked harder into the darkness, trying to see where the growl had come from.
A pair of eyes shone in the darkness, their focus on her. Akane couldn't see the creature, but knew by its growl that it was not a domestic animal. She was a superb martial artist in her own right, but her fear rooted her to the floor, leaving her one option. "Ranma!"
Not more than three seconds later Ranma was flying down the stairs, alerted by Akane's scream. He had gotten as far as taking his shirt off when he'd heard her yell of fright. "Akane! What is it! What's wrong!" He stopped beside her, looking into her face. As she stared into the back yard, her finger lifted and pointed to something he couldn't see.
Ranma squinted but was still unable to make out what had scared Akane so. He grabbed a flashlight from the nearby table and headed into the night, intent on scaring away whatever was frightening Akane so. He walked to the pond, the rain hitting his naked shoulders and making him shiver. He heard a growl and flipped the flashlight on, pointing it directly towards the sound. Ranma froze. He had never seen sucha large..."C...c...c...cat!" He froze, his body going stiff, his eyes glazing over. He'd learned to control the neko-ken, but his fear of cats still lingered slightly.
Akane saw Ranma walk towards the sound, then saw the light land on the object of the noise. A cat. A very, very large black cat sat facing them, on it's haunches, it's head now bowed. "It's a panther." Akane exclaimed. A small tuft of red hair graced it's head and it's long tail twitched. No wonder Ranma froze! Akane thought, he's still scared of cats! I'd probably better go out there and save the dolt...and hopefully the panther won't think I'm dinner. Akane walked towards Ranma, her hand grabbing the flashlight out of his and keeping it trained on the panther, walked her husband backwards to the door. Once he was safely inside she grabbed a bat that had been leaning against the wall and walked back to where Ranma had been standing.
The panther was on the other side of the pond, and it's figure hadn't moved since she'd gotten her husband inside where he could recover. It's head was still bowed, it's ears drooping slightly. Akane lifted the bat threatened, "Get out of here! Get out! I swear I'll knock you over the head if you don't leave!" The panther didn't move, except to lift it's head and look at the woman standing in the rain with a bat above her head.
Akane looked closer at the panther. The streak of red looked familiar, and it's eyes...such a strange color: violet. Akane lifted the bat once more, intending to get the panther out of her lawn, by knock out if necessary, when she saw something jump over the wall from the corner of her eye.
"Akane!" It was Ukyou, dragging her husband along with what looked to be his umbrella hooked to his shirt somehow. "Akane! Don't! It's Reijin!" Akane dropped the bat and looked into the panther's eyes, recognition hitting her. Violet eyes, just like my Reijin. Reality faded away as she hit the ground with a thud.