I do not own Ranma or any of the characters, places, intellectual properties etc therein, they are in the sole ownership of one Rumiko Takahashi. I'm just doing this for world domina... I mean fun :)
'Ding!'
'Click!'
The sound of the scissors slicing together was painfully clear to all four occupants of the otherwise empty church, even through the sounds of the clock striking its chimes for five o'clock. The three integral occupants of the chapel watched with a mixture of dread and fascination as, with one last ethereal glow the red thread binding the couple's pinkie's together faded out of existence at exactly the same moment the scissor's sliced through the spectral string.
The first to recover from the shock of what happened was Xian-Pu. "Aiyah! What stupid pervert girl do!"Akane clenched her fist and her face grew a deep shade of crimson but before she could return a verbal, and maybe physical, beating on the shocked Amazon, a voice nobody could ignore called out.
"That's a very good question great-granddaughter; I myself wonder what the implications of the young Tendo girl's actions might bring." The seriousness of the statement went part way to bringing Akane out of her fury, but being Akane there was always spare fuel for her rages deep inside her.
"Waddya mean implications! All I did was stop your crazy granddaughter from stealing Ranma against his will!"
Ignoring the blatant anger radiating from the young girl and the meekest beginnings of a battle aura Ku-Lon hopped over to the statue-still form of Ranma who, until now, nobody had paid the slightest bit off attention to.
"Future son-in-law, are you okay?" Ranma didn't respond, he just stared vacantly at the spot where he was once bound to Xian-Pu. Ku-Lon gave him a light tap on the head just to be sure. Instead of his usual 'Whadidyoudothatfor!' Ranma's eyes simply rolled back and, he would later deny it ever happening, fainted.
"Airen!" Xian-Pu, still wrapped up in her various wedding attire dropped to the ground at speeds that might have put Happosai to shame and caught Ranma before his head hit the ground, gently laying it down in her lap before thoroughly checking over him. Akane meanwhile had snapped out of seeing Ranma faint and had reverted to her only fall back emotion.
"Now what are you doing! Get away from her Ranma you, you, Per..." The look of absolutely scathing hatred from Xian-Pu's eyes at her caused even her to break off during that last word.
"What wrong with stupid pervert girl, Ranma unconscious, possibly hurt and all you can do is call him names." Her voice didn't raise itself even once during the statement and that alone sent chills through Akane's form before she remembered why she was angry.
"Don't give me that! This is your fault for tying that dumb bit of string around his finger!" A single tear slid from Xian-Pu's eye even before the words were spoken "Yes, and now Airen might be hurt because of us". By now Akane had vented the majority of her anger and could only huff in contempt at what she thought was a victory over the Amazonian warrior. It didn't last; soon she succumbed to her own worries over the unconscious form currently nestled in Xian-Pu's silken lap. However any attempt to go near him was met by more scathing looks of unadulterated hatred.
"At least let me help you Chinese bimbo!"
"Maybe Xian-Pu's fault for tying thread but you no forget who was one to cut it stupid girl!" Her voice was finally hinting at the true anger behind the words. Before, Ku-Lon was watching the display, trying not to come between the two enraged teenagers but she couldn't hold back any longer for fear of what might become of her future son-in-law.
"That's enough you two, Ranma is the main concern here right now, who knows what might have happened thanks to the impromptu cutting of the thread. Cutting it before five o'clock would surely have broken the spell over him and any later would have seen him forever in love with Xian-Pu, but at the exact moment the spell was breaking, who knows?"
That quietened down both girls however Akane still looked at Xian-Pu with loathing and Xian-Pu continued to worry over Ranma's unconscious body. What really worried Ku-Lon was the nature of the boys sleep, she had known him long enough to understand he was anything other than a peaceful sleeper and at the very least he should be snoring.
She hopped on over to his prone form and run a lightning fast check up on his body, mostly through his Ki output and what she could glean from it. There were a few irregularities with the boys Ki that Ku-Lon couldn't make sense of but she supposed she could put that down to any number of things such as his extended Jusenkyo curse or even the Neko-ken training his idiot father put him through. Otherwise she deemed him just as he normally was, simply in a deep state of sleep.
"Don't worry girls, he's merely deep asleep" Satisfied that her cursory check up was enough for now she simply nodded at Xian-Pu, still thoroughly fawning over her fiancée. "Xian-Pu, bring him over to the Nekohanten as soon as possible, I'd like to keep an eye on the boy just in case." Xian-Pu had visibly brightened at the prospect of bringing Ranma over to her home, as well as the news that he wasn't in any immediate danger.
"Okay great Grandmother, Xian-Pu do that now". Meanwhile Akane had continued to silently seethe, irritated at being ignored for so long.
"Excuse me, but don't you think he should come back to the dojo, his home!" Ku-Lon simply regarded Akane as if she were a child asking the most naive of questions.
"Oh, and I suppose your father, or maybe Genma, or perhaps Nabiki has over three thousand years of Amazon healing techniques just lying around the house, waiting to be used on poor son-in-Law there." The remark had caught Akane off guard and before she could recover and retort Xian-Pu had hefted Ranma into a bridal carrying position and walked out with Ku-Lon hopping along-side.
Xian-Pu stopped momentarily outside, firstly to look puzzled at the unconscious and slightly beaten forms of Ukyo, Mu-Tzu and the two Kuno siblings just outside of the doors to the chapel, each with an arm outstretched as if trying to reach for the handle. Ku-Lon merely smirked when she noticed Xian-Pu's gaze. Secondly she stared with uncomfortable longing at the dozing form, comfortably nestled against her chest.
"What is it Xian-Pu my dear?"
"It's silly really Great Grandmother but I was so hoping that when I walked out of those doors today mine and Ranma's positions would be reversed."
"Don't worry girl, there's always hope for the future." Xian-Pu tried to give a hopeful smile but it came across uncertain more than anything else. Secretly she was thinking 'maybe not, Damn that irritating girl, she might ruin everything'.
Unfortunately Ku-Lon's thoughts weren't that much brighter and both Amazons had much to think about as the hopped from rooftop to rooftop on their way back to their home.
It was dark. That was it, no light. Literally nothing was visible to Ranma. This was no 'closed eyes' dark but a fully fledged shadow world where the very concept of light ceased to exist. Now that he thought about this strange theft of his sense he realised there was no sound either. That was crazy surely? He was listening to his thoughts... right? Again once he thought about it some more he couldn't rationalise away this feeling his very senses had been robbed from him.
For a brief terrifying moment Ranma actually feared that this was death and his only companion for the eternity to come would be himself and the myriad of personalities that might develop in his descent into insanity. It was fleeting however as soon the usual Saotome confidence flooded back to him.
Death. It wasn't so scary, if it had a name it was a thing. If it was a thing then it can be an obstacle and like Shampoo might say 'Obstacle is for killing'. He was Ranma Saotome and he could treat anything as an enemy, he made enough of them by accident as it was. If he really was dead then he would overcome it like everything else life had thrown at him. He laughed briefly at his own pun, failing to realise no sound came from his non-existent mouth.
So busy congratulating himself her very nearly failed to notice the tiniest speck of light flash briefly into existence before fizzling out like some pathetic near-dead candle. He might have passed it off as his mind playing tricks to keep hi sane when it happened again, much brighter, or much closer, one or the other. It lasted almost twice as long this time as well, unfortunately like its predecessor it too faded from existence, if that was what you could call this place.
Ranma waited expectantly for the fledgling light's return and sure enough the speck-turned-blob flared up once more. Now Ranma was certain it was getting closer as he could make out clearly defined colours and patterns swirling in a vortex storm of blinding light. He simply expected it to also bun out after a brief moment of life but the blob, now pane of light surprised him once more by suddenly charging at what he assumed was his 'body' before engulfing his 'form' completely.
He had tried to close his eyes when it happened but in this realm he had none, it was rendered moot anyway as, as soon as the light converged, it receded. However, in its wake it left the swirling colours behind which before him resolved into an image, half-formed and hazy but an image none-the-less. It was of a woman, who exactly he couldn't say, crying as her form retreated from him, no it was the other way around, and he was being taken away from her.
He felt an uncontrollable urge to fight against it but found he couldn't it appeared theses images were out of his control and he soon found another forming before him. This repeated for, he couldn't say how long but to sum it up it was a somewhat hasty recap of his life up to this point. It was as he suspected, the vast majority of it was him training with Pop, some moments with Ukyo, others at the school he and Ryoga both attended and one particularly nasty one of his time in the Neko-ken pit.
The rush of images, sensations and sounds slowed down as he neared their trip to Jusenkyo and the images became better defined, taking on more life. It slowed all the way down into what was basically a living memory, right at the moment he walked through the gates into The Amazon village. Everything was so crisp and clear he felt as though he were actually living it again, so sure of this he was that he tried to actually step in the wrong direction, away from the table mounted with food.
However fate was not designed to be re-written, even in memory and he quickly found himself biting into a juicy piece of meat while looking up at the enraged features of one normally bubbly Amazon. His only coherent thought at this point was 'why this memory in particular?'
Xian-Pu could help but sneak the occasional glance at her Airen as she carried him onwards toward safety which is why she didn't miss a syllable when the unconscious boy in her arms faintly whispered "Shampoo". Ku-Lon may have missed the softest of words but she certainly didn't miss the faintest of Aura's develop around Xian-Pu as the girl took on an ethereal pink hue.
Well that was my first attempt at fanfiction, welcome to flames and reviews, really only doing this for fun, although pointers might be appreciated as I am working on a book and I'll take any help I can. (Also there is sooooooo not enough RanmaxShampoo in the world so I'm doing my part...what about you?)