The Magic Within
By David Farr
Soft rain fell from the sky, striking the puddles on the ground and sending ripples scampering across the surfaces. The streets of Nerima had seem much strangeness, but the girl dashing through the downpour was more unusual than usual. It wasn't the silken Chinese clothes clinging sodeningly to her frame, and even the long blonde hair flowing behind her. No, it was the long pointed ears rising from amidst those lustrous locks.
The girl spun to face her pursuer, a giant panda standing running on its hind legs. "Look, I don't have time for this!" Her voice, despite the harshness, was melodic.
The panda whipped out a sign. [Now is not the time to argue, boy!]
Unconsciously she adopt a stance that accented her thin, if somehwat small form. "I'm going back to China, see if I can find a cure!"
A casual spin changed the sign. [It is your duty!]
The strange girl stamped her foot petulantly. "NO! I'm not going to visit your friend! And I'm not listening to you!" She turned her back on the panda her hair cascading about her.
It turned out to be a bad move as the wooden sign impacted the back of her head only moments later. She collapsed forward, only to be snatched up by the oversized bear.
Much to the panda's surprise the crowd simply turned and went back to shopping, leaving him holding the unconscious elf girl. The citizens of Nerima had seen enough ghosts, imps and gremlins recently to know when not to get involved.
*****
Thick curtains covered the windows, blocking the outside world out. Normally this, along with the absence of any electric lights and candles, would have plunged the room into darkness. Normally.
But today was not an ordinary day at the Tendo dojo. The youngest Tendo daughter was training hard, her sensei standing watching her progress.
Kyoko had spent many days teaching Akane practiced her art. She was a patient woman, had to be, things could get dangerous if you lost you temper. Her serious expression hovered on a face that some would have called pretty otherwise. A slight breeze played through her waist length raven hair. Her shadow, made incredibly long by the only light source, lay black across the floor and stretched up the wall.
Said light source was floating, her legs and arms crossed, about a foot off the ground. Her face was blank, a picture of concentration. Most of her features were hidden in the etheric glow that surrounded her, shining forth from her skin, her hair, even her clothes.
The dojo door rattled slightly as it was thrown open. "Ak-" came a muffled voice, then the curtain covering the door was shoved open. "Akane!" the man there cired urgently. He was middle aged, with a long drawn out face. And he was gone before he could see what he had done.
Her concentration shattered by her father's shout, Akane's light guttered out and she crashed to ground. "DAD!" she yelled angrily at the door.
Kyoko sighed and waved her hand. The curtains covering the windows swept aside, flooding the room with light. "We might as well go see what he wants, or we'll just get interrupted again."
"Yes, Kyoko-sensei," Akane replied bowing.
As the pair stepped out from the dojo, Kyoko pulled a bamboo umbrella from under her cloak. The pair crossed the yard to the main house accompanied by the shoft pitter-patter of rain on the material.
Soun, head of the Tendo family, sat at the dining room table. He was a thin man, yet tall, making him look like the someone who had dieted far too much. Despite his years he still had a good head of black hair, and it surprised no one that he was wearing his brown gi. Martial arts had been his life, and he still clung to his old life, especially now that the Tendo school of Anything Goes was, for the most part, unrepresented.
Soun's other two daughters were already at the table. Nabiki, easily the shrewdist of the three, sat reading a magazine, probably what she'd been doing when her father summoned her. Her mannerisms and hair were conservative, not at all matching the showoff clothing she relaxed in around the house.
The eldest daught, Kasumi, was a calmer woman than either of her sister. After the death of their mother she had taken over caring for her family, especially as her father had not taken the loss well. Of course Akane's problems hadn't made things easier, not as they scared off the last of Soun's students. Without an income the family had been happy to take in a border, especially one with Kyoko's skills.
The last member of the household, the only one not an actual member of the family, slid into a corner to watch. Kyoko had always kept out of family affairs, but at the same time was never too far away, especially if something seemed to be angering Akane.
"So daddy, what's all the tears about?" Nabiki asked, a hint of contempt touching her voice.
Sure enough streams of tears flowed down the man's face, however for once they seemed to be tears of joy. He held out a postcard he clutched tightly in his hand. For a few seconds Nabiki fought a tug-of-war with him before managing to extract it.
"'Returning from China. Bringing Ranma. Genma. Saotome'" she read. "Daddy, who are Ranma and Genma?"
"Well Genma is a very old friend of mine, we trained under the same master, and Ranma is his son," Soun explained. "When Ranma was born we decided to join our two families by marrying him to one of my daughters!"
Even Kyoko's calm slipped at that. Kasumi reacted with a quiet "oh my," Nabiki with a credulous cry and Akane with an angry growl. Further commentary was interrupted by a thumping at the door.
"That must be them!" Soun cried happily, jumping up and dashing into the hall.
Kasumi followed suit. "Oh I hope he's older, immature men bore me."
"That makes sense," Nabiki commented sarcastically, shaking her head, "of course they'd travel at the same speed as the post." She slowly got to her feet with and followed the others. As the three girls stepped out into the hallway, Soun coming running up, terror contorting his face.
"Akane, it's for you," Nabiki joked flatly, watching as a panda bear carrying a struggling bundle ran after her father.
Sparing her sister a disgusted glance Akane stepped forward, drawing in her will in preparation. She was brought up short when, instead of attacking, the panda dumped it's bundled, which turned out to be an elven maiden, on her feet before them.
"Ah-he," the elf girl coughed. "I'm Ranma Saotome, sorry about this."
"Wow Soun," Kyoko's voice came from the living room door. "He is a sidhe."
*****
"... and I break the surface to hear him say something about whoever falling in taking the body of a girl elf," Ranma explained. He was actaully a male, that hadn't taken long to find out. Thanks to his father, the part-time panda, Ranma had ended up with a curse that caused him to transform into the beautiful sidhe whenever doused with cold water and back when hot water was applied.
"Is this true Kyoko?" Soun asked his boarder.
Kyoko had joined the two families at the table, her interest in the boy drawing her in. When Soun asked the question, she'd been scrutinising the boym much to his discomfort, and took a few seconds to answer. "Jusenkyo? I've heard rumors, but never really been interested. Curses and physical transformation go against my ethics. It's more than possible however."
Genma, Ranma's father, a fat balding man who resembled his cursed form greatly, looked between the two other adults. "Ah, Tendo old friend, just who is this delightful woman?"
"Oh, sorry Saotome. This is Kyoko-sensei, she's teaching Akane her art."
Genma blinked in surprise. "Tendo! I'd have thought you'd be teaching Akane Anything-Goes!"
Soun was the picture shame with his head bowed. "Unfortunately it turned out that my children were either uninterested or unsuitable, so I have no heir, old friend."
"Oh daddy," Naboiki sighed.
"Anyway, we still have the engagement to sort out." Soun brightened, a smile coming to his face. "So boy, which one do you want?"
"Oh, I think he wants Akane father," Kasumi announced sweetly. She seemed perfectly sincere.
"Absolutely," Nabiki agreed, nodding enthusiastically, "magic is right up her alley. Think about all problems she's caused."
Caught off guard Akane found herself only able to react to the last statement. "I DID NOT!"
"What about that ghost that haunted poor Yuka after she was asked out by the boy you liked?" Nabiki inquired.
"Or the gremlin that blew up the stove?" Kasumi mused.
Soun sighed. "That little fellow in a green suit that dug up the dojo floor looking for a pot of gold."
"Then there was the time you summoned up the spirits of that barber shop quartet." Kyoko shuddered at the memory. "None of us sleep in three days that to their constant four part harmonising."
"And they only knew one song," added Nabiki.
Not noticing Akane starting to fume, Ranma turned to his father. "You want me to marry this walking disaster area?!"
The vase that slammed into the side of Ranma's head sent Kyoko and the Akane's family scrambling. Leaping to his feet he looked for his attacker, only to get the TV and its table slammed into his back. Turning, Ranma caught sight of an incoming footstool right it struck his side. Finally the table around which they'd been sitting flipped up, crushing the martial artist beneath it.
Akane sat, breathing deeply and quickly, glaring at the groaning pile of furniture.
"Akane dear," Kyoko said, poking her head around the door, "we have to talk about your poltergeist tendancies."
*****
Stars shone down from the sky above, accompanied by the happy chirping of insects and the distant rumble of traffic. Ranma had spent most of his life outside, and his days had become so busy that night was the only time he spent in deep contemplation. And so he found relaxation lying on his back, staring up at the twinkling formations on the velvet blackness.
Except it wasn't black looking up from the roof of the Tendo house. That was the problem, he reflected, with towns. The night sky was lit up and many of the weaker stars he was used to seeing were missing.
A clank from the yard below startled Ranma out of his mood. Curiosity obscured his contemplation and he scrambled to the edge of the roof. Peering over he saw Kyoko setting up what looked like a tube mounted on three legs. As he watched she pointed one end up into the sky and bent down to look at the other end.
Once more curiosity got the better of him and he leapt down.
"Evening Ranma," Kyoko said without looking up. "Nice night isn't it."
"Excuse me Kyoko-sensei, but what are you doing?"
Kyoko pulled herself way from the tube and looked at Ranma, surprise on her face. "You've never seen a telescope before?"
In response Ranma shook his head and bounced over. "Pop was in charge of my education. What's it do?"
"A telescope focuses the light of the stars and planets so as to provide a better image than is available to the naked eye." Kyoko spoke as if quoting. She bent down and looked into the end again, which Ranma could now see had a small eyepiece. "Just a tool for star gazers to get a better look." As she spoke she fiddled with a number of nobs on the outside of the tube.
"You like looking up at the sky too?" Ranma asked.
Kyoko made a little affirmative sound. "It can be interesting, although there's more to see looking at the Moon." She pulled away from the telescope and stepped back. "Want to take a look?"
Ranma brightened. "Thanks!" He hopped over to where she had been standing moments before.
"Just be careful, it's an expensive piece of equipment."
Hands clasped tightly behind his back Ranma bent over and put his eye to the eyepiece. After a few seconds a smile broke out across his face. "This is neat!" He pulled back. "You do this a lot."
"Almost every night, I find it a nice diversion. Now scat, I've got some serious star gazing to do." She waved Ranma away and he leapt up to the roof, returning to his own thoughts.