Dreams of a Sister
Ranma½ fanficton
By Kittyonnails
Noro braced herself for the inevitable pain as she listened to Ranma carelessly insult that little firecracker Akane, again. Her patience was rewarded with multiple blows to the head and several exclamations of pain from both her and Ranma. She was able to push into a position of control and run away, but as soon as the attack was over, she was thrown back and Ranma was in control once more. From the recesses of Ranma's mind, Noro pouted with her arms folded across her chest. He was so predictable, he would go and practice his fighting again rather than apologize to Akane. Abruptly, Noro decides not to dwell on the violence of the Martial Arts and instead concentrates on healing the body. Upon examination, she discovers three cracks and many other smaller pieces of damage on their skull. While Ranma works out his aggressions, "his" quick healing takes place. Noro pulls off some of Ranma's battle aura and some of her own energies as well and slowly mends the broken skull. Examination of the wounds above the skull shows large bruises and a lot of internal bleeding, carefully, she skims off more aura and heals these injuries too. Exhausted, she curls up in a dark corner and rests ::I wish she would stop hitting us with such heavy things:: she considers before drifting off.
Mentally stretching her arms and looking around, Noro finds that her timing has never been better. Ranma must be asleep, because she is in the middle of a dream world. Ranma's mind, usually a dark Navy blue is suddenly a large grassy field. Not surprisingly, there is no one but Ranma around, also not surprising, he is running through a few more katas. ::He even dreams of martial arts:: she mutters.
"Hey, Ranma!" she calls, waving her arms and trotting into view.
"Hey Noro!" he calls back, stopping his practice and waving back. The setting swirls into the streets of Tokyo,
"Wanna get some ice cream?" he asks, grinning.
"No, Ranma, I'm not here to play now." She snaps her fingers and the setting returns to the field.
"We have to talk." Ranma looks somewhat confused, but he sits at a nearby picnic table and she follows.
"Ranma.." she begins, but he picks up, "I didn't mean it like a date or nothin' just 'cause nobody else talks to me." Noro reaches for his hand,
"It's not that." She assures him. "It's me." Ranma looks up at her, puzzled, "You?"
She nods, "Me. Do you know why no one else talks to you?" She waits for a response, but gets none, "Because you're dreaming."
He nods, "I know. You're my favorite part of my dreams though, you don't hit me like everyone else. You're like my sister. It's too bad you don't exist." Noro gives him a hard look. "I do exist. The reason none of your dream-people talk is because I don't let them. They can talk to you any time you're awake, this is MY time." Ranma holds his head in his free hand, "So you're saying that you're not my imaginary sister, you're a girl living in my head." She nods.
"Why are you living in my head?" He asks. Noro winces, an easy enough question, not such an easy answer.
"I'm not sure, I can't remember much about it, and I don't have the time to explain either. Your alarm will be going off soon, try and open your mind today, so I can talk to you in the day, while your conscious." The table disappeared along with everything else, leaving Noro alone.
They stood up, looked about and they sat back down. Noro watched Ranma close the eyes and listened in astonishment.
::Noro? Noro? Are you really inside my head?:: She brightened immediately.
::You better believe it!::
::What are you doing in my head?::
::First of all, if I'm here, then it's Our head. Second, I have no idea what I'm doing here. I just woke up one day, having no knowledge of anything, I started going over your memories and in no time at all, I had all of your world knowledge. I don't remember much, except that one day I crawled out of your memories and stared out the eyes, watching you running around China away from Xianpu. From then on, I watched the world from your eyes and talked to you in your dreams. I thought I was you for a long time, but one day, you hit your head on a rock and I was thrown into control. You were stuck at the back of your mind, pretty much unconscious. I was left in control. Later, you got control back and I realized that I was someone totally separate. That's how I got my name, I asked you who I was, You said I was your cursed self, and I told you that I wasn't you, so we settled that I was curse. Do you remember that?::
::Yes.:: Noro sensed and impending headache.
::Ranma, we'll be late for school if you don't get going. We can still talk while you're moving around.
::Okay.:: he opened their eyes and headed for the chest of drawers, digging out some clothes. He suddenly froze.
::You're a girl, right?::
::Yes.:: she says, watching him fumble with his shirt.
::Don't worry, I can only see what you look at.:: she assures him, snickering silently.
The changing scenery arouses Noro slowly, she watches the dark colors change into a tatami room and then watches three kimono-clad girls walk in. She immediately recognizes them as Akane, Ukyou, and Xianpu. Following suit, she changes her yellow jumper and white blouse into a purple and blue formal kimono. Soon, Ranma appears, clad in his usual Chinese outfit. She walks up to him and smiles.
::Is the lesson truly that boring?:: he looks down at her.
::What Lesson?:: he asks innocently.
::You're asleep in school you know.:: she smirks, watching the scenery fall away like sand in the wind.
::Tada, you're awake!:: she throws her arms into the air. At her current state, her own body is all her imagination, but she looks exactly like Onna-Ranma all the time. Their eyes open, and Noro takes a quick peek at the blurry view of the world.
::Pay attention:: she says in her most serious tone.
::But…:: Ranma tries to protest.
::Not to the lesson, to me!:: Noro sits herself down and begins her explanation.
::Now listen carefully, I've been watching you and basically everything that has happened to you has happened to me, with the exception of a few things that happened directly after you've been badly injured. That's basically all I do, I heal the wounds you inflict on our body. Anyway, I've got a plan on how I can get out of here and give you the curse-free life you really want.:: she pauses as a wave of curiosity and quick attention flood through her.
:: You remember that incense that separated your personality, right? Well, have you ever thought about the other uses it may have, like say, the one Happosai intended, Splitting your body? We should try it soon, there will be a full moon and that seems to be the best time for such things. That means we try it tonight. I'm going to rest up, so try to stay awake. Just get that incense and wait for me at bedtime.:: Ranma nodded and sat up. Noro faded her image and herself, resting all of her energies for the night's exercises.
11:45pm, Ranma sits in the dark room, starring at the moon out the window. To his right, a small incense burner is filled with the incense, to the left, a box of matches. He had no trouble getting the incense, Happosai had simply laughed at him when he said that he needed to try it again. He had made him promise not to ask for help if he made a mess of it again. Now the only thing he needed was for Noro to appear and tell him what to do. ::Ranma:: her voice rang in his head, slightly louder than usual.
::Good, you've got all of it. Well, light the burner and close your eyes, I want you to focus on yourself, the boy half of your body, most totally and importantly, focus on your body:: Ranma nodded, the best part of having someone in your head was that you always understood everything perfectly clearly.
::Well, here goes nothing:: he informed her mentally as he lit a match.
12:00pm, Ranma and Noro both sit in one body, focused on themselves alone. They both become conscious of a sharp pain along both shoulders and at the hips. Forcing herself to forget the pain and the healing that demanded her attention Noro allowed the body to open up and allowed the pain to be felt by both in full force as finely built female limbs emerge from the openings, spreading the tears and healing them as they move forward, as more of the body forms.
Ranma focused his mind on his original form, his real self, the self that he though of as Ranma Saotome. The pain startled him at first, but he took it as a good sign, a sign that it was working and he focused even harder.
Noro took a deep breath and felt her lungs fill with air, she opened her eyes and saw that she had full control of the body. Smiling, she took her hands out of her lap and starred at her naked body in amazement. It wasn't until she took another breath that she smelled the stench of the magical incense that they had used to do this. She reached for her foot, and felt a searing pain in her shoulder.
::It's not finished!:: she thought suddenly, as the sensitive skin connecting the two of them tore away and re-formed into Ranma's back, leaving an open wound about an inch wide and a foot long down her spine. She turns towards Ranma despite the pain in her back and he turns likewise. She smiles with more joy than she has ever felt in her short life.
"Hi!" she smiles even though her back hurts.
Ranma looked at her blankly.
"Noro." He says softly. "Curse." She looks away, blushing.
::That's my name, that's what I come from, that's who I am.:: She hugs her naked body, "Congratulations Ranma, You have a sister." She smiles, "And I can't wait to go introduce myself, so get me some clothes, okay?"
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All characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. This work is a form of praise.
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You may have noticed, I'm playing at writing in present tense, the way a lot of Japanese is written. I know I've done a poor job of it, but I promise more grammar-editing is on it's way.