Secrets of the Saotome Clan
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any related characters in any way, shape or form.
Author's Notes: I don't really know how to explain why I put this idea together, but I think part of it was my dislike for the fact that all of the "Ranma has a special lineage" fanfics make it that Nodoka is the 'keystone'. So, here's one where Genma is the link to a very unusual family.
For the curious, the next chapter of "Chasing The Rainbow" should be ready soon.
Prologue: The Unveiling
Ranma didn't like cemeteries. He'd only ever been in one before, when he'd gone with the Tendos about a week ago to pay his respects to the departed Mrs. Tendo, but he still didn't like them. So how was it he'd ended up in his respectable, all-black clothes and leaving Nerima to go to the next ward over with his old man -who was actually a human and wearing a suit, rather than pulling the cheapskate route and being a panda- to visit another cemetery, this time to attend a funeral service? Then again, it was for his paternal grandmother- as a matter of fact, he hadn't even known his dad's mother was still alive. He certainly didn't recall ever seeing her.
Still, she was family, and if Genma was willing and able to treat this with seriousness, then Ranma would to. So he stood there, the sun just beginning its descent into dusk, his unusually solemn father beside him and a group of strange people standing around them. They were really strange folk too- but they kind of reminded him of the band of weirdos who hung around Nerima with him, which he'd once or twice heard the locals call "The Nerima Wrecking Crew". And rarely in an affectionate tone.
One of them, an American woman in some kind of uniform that he guessed was roughly around his mother's age, had ground out a cigar on her shoulderpad when they had started the ceremony. Visible in a holster on her hip was a particularly large pistol- more of a hand cannon really. Beside her was an elderly man with a long, flowing beard and wearing a traditional wide-brimmed straw hat. He was leaning on a long, crooked staff hung with numerous streamers, upon which were attacked various knick-knacks and gewgaws that rattled and klinked together in the breeze. The third of them, the last person present besides Ranma and Genma, was surprisingly young -maybe half of Genma's age- and dressed in the garb of a traditional Japanese monk, though of a particularly fine cut of cloth. This last stranger looked perhaps the most despondent, and Ranma couldn't help but notice that his father would occasionally give the monk a dirty look. He decided it was better for his sanity not to ask, so he concentrated on looking solemn and watching the ceremony.
Finally, it was all said and done with: the urn containing the deceased Saotome's ashes was interned -whereupon the woman with the gun promptly drew her pistol and fired a shot into the air- and the strangers paid their respects to Ranma's grandmother, drifting away after having placed their offerings at her headstone. Genma and Ranma were the last ones to do so, and to Ranma's surprise Genma actually placed his palms against each other and lowered his head in a silent prayer. Ranma did so as well, as best he could given his complete lack of familiarity with the woman in question, and then he and Genma slowly began to head out of the cemetery- they needed to get back to Nerima. As they did so, the young monk joined them.
"What do you want?" Genma growled. Ranma stared; Genma never sounded this aggressive before, not even when he'd had to spill the beans about Ukyo. The monk simply grinned, a smug, mischievous grin, and spoke.
"Why, nothing at all, my son."
"Don't call me that!" Genma boomed. Ranma was really confused; even if that was something more in line with a Christian priest than a Bhuddist monk, it was still far from offensive. Again, the monk took no sign of having taken offence.
"Now, now, my son, there's no need to get testy. I merely wished to speak to the boy, that's all."
"Whaddya want?" Ranma asked. The monk smiled at him, scrutinizing him intently.
"Oh, my, yes, you are indeed every inch a Saotome. I was… an acquaintance of your dear departed grandmother."
Genma snorted loudly at that. The monk ignored him and continued.
"I know that you never knew your grandmother, but I just wanted to tell you that she knew of you, and that she was proud of the fine young man you've become. Eh, it must be the setting- this sort of sentimentality isn't me. Farewell, my children."
With that the monk turned and walked away, moving out of sight behind some headstones and vanishing. Ranma blinked, then rubbed his eyes- had he really just seen that stranger vanish into thin air? No, he couldn't have… could he?
"Ranma! Come on, boy, time to go home!" Genma boomed, already walking towards the exit. Ranma shook his head and scowled before following him. Stupid old man, would it kill him to wait for once?
A couple of hours later, evening was well and truly falling and he and Genma were back at the Tendos. Nabiki greeted them at the door.
"Hey, Ranma, what's with the delivery?"
"What?"
"Some guys showed up and dumped two chests in your room, and they left this scroll behind as well." She explained, holding out said scroll. Ranma took it, idly noting that it was specifically addressed to him.
"So, your inheritance is here at last."
"Excuse me? Inheritance?" Nabiki asked, Ranma currently staring in disbelief at his father.
"Naturally. Mother always said I wasn't to be trusted with the family legacy, and as Ranma's the only other living Saotome that means it's his duty to protect them."
Both of the teens were staring at him at this point.
"Has he been replaced with a pod person?" Nabiki whispered.
"Only if they got him last night- and he was fine this morning." Ranma whispered back. Genma ignored them and simply closed one meaty hand on Ranma's shoulder before giving him a not-so-gentle push towards the stairs.
"Time for you to see your inheritance, Ranma."
"Okay, okay, I'm going- quit shoving!"
Like Nabiki had said, there were two large, old-style chests currently sitting in the room he shared with his father- a Western observer would have commented that they looked like the stereotypical chests pirates used to bury their treasure in. Ranma looked at them, wondering if he should open them, then decided it might be best to read the scroll first- after all the weirdness he'd been through, the likelihood of there being something dangerous in one or other of the chests was too great to ignore the instructions. As he unrolled it, something fell from the parchment and clattered onto the floor. Check that, two somethings: a pair of iron keys. Ranma picked these up and tucked them into a pocket before seating himself and beginning to read.
"These are the last words of Chihoko Saotome, of the clan Saotome. If you are reading this, then that can mean only two things. One, I am, obviously, dead as the proverbial doornail. Two, you are my grandson Ranma Saotome- or at least you had better be. If you aren't, then drop this scroll right now and run far, far away. You will be punished. Still reading? Then hello Ranma- I can only say I'm sorry that we never got to meet in person. But, that is something that cannot be adjusted. I write these, my final words, in order to instruct you upon your sacred duty, and the history of the Saotome clan."
"Undoubtedly, by this point you have noticed that 'weirdness' seems to be drawn to you. That, no matter whether you travel or attempt to remain in one place, strange events come to you like iron filings to a magnet. This, my grandson, is the wyrd of the Saotome clan. For over three thousand years, perhaps longer, the Saotomes have been blessed or cursed -and it has been dubbed both- to become a lodestone for the strange and the bizarre. Whether our wanderlust is tied to this wyrd or simply a natural trait of our own is impossible to determine- nor is it truly important."
Ranma was feeling more than a little nonplussed. Having learned that all the weirdness he went through, the multiple fiancées, the crazy fights, the curse, all of that was due to some kind of family legacy of attracting weirdness, wasn't exactly pleasant. Pushing that down for later scrutiny, he resumed reading.
"Your sacred duty is a simple one, as such things go. For all its wanderings, for all its strangeness, the Saotome clan has survived throughout the generations and, as the latest heir to the family legacy, it is your task to safeguard the most precious heirlooms of the Saotomes. With these words came two chests: one contains the family archives, the genealogy and memoirs of all Saotomes for the past three thousand years. It is amazing how well they have survived, given our wanderlust and the continuous upheaval of our individual fates, but that can be attributed to the blessings of our supernatural benefactors. Whether they are drawn to our strangeness, or they are the cause of our strangeness, Saotomes of the past have married a wide variety of mystics and magical beings. Why, I myself took a kitsune for my husband- you may have met him, for he favours the guise of a charming young monk."
"No way… that guy was my granddad?" Ranma murmured to himself. This was getting even weirder than he found usual, but he forced himself to soldier on.
"To return to the point, it is your duty to safeguard the family archives so that they may be passed on to the next generation. As well as to detail your own exploits to incorporate into the archives, so that future generations of Saotomes may take heart that they are not alone in their suffering and learn from your own hard-won experiences. The other chest contains the 'family treasures'- for lack of a better title. You see, the Saotome wanderlust means that we have little need for those things that we cannot pick up and easily carry with us; when we do acquire such momentos, they tend towards rings, bracelets, amulets and the like. The only time a Saotome is likely to progress beyond this is in their old age, when their wanderlust dwindles to the extent of having a number of 'bolt holes' which they idly drift between. Another reason is that our wyrd means our material fortunes tend not to last too long; on more than one occasion a Saotome has been granted a plot of land, only to be forced to abandon it due to continuous plagues, fires, monster attacks and other such disasters."
'So what the heck's in the box then?' Ranma thought to himself.
"The 'family treasures' thus consist of the most valuable and precious things we have discovered: magical items. Some of these are mystical heirlooms created by or for Saotomes and which have been passed down for generations, such as the Star-Chasing Staff of the irrepressible Etsu Saotome. More are items possessed of dark and terrible magics, dangerous or cursed items that we have resolved to seal away from those who would misuse them. It is your duty now to protect them, Ranma Saotome. Serve our family name well."
That was the last of the scroll. Ranma rolled it back up and placed it on the floor beside him before leaning back and trying to absorb all he had learned. Idly, he plucked the keys from his pocket and looked at them. Why hadn't the old man ever told him any of this stuff before? And what was that about wanderlust? True, he had felt kind of empty since coming to Nerima, an emptiness that always seemed to vanish when he left town, but that didn't mean he wanted to roam… did it? Though, if the Saotomes had always attracted strange things, that did mean his own situation made a kind of twisted sense. But what did that mean about his curse? Was he doomed to remain a half-man freak of nature for the rest of his life?
His grandmother had mentioned that all Saotomes wrote down about their lives and included them in the family archives. She'd also mentioned that some of his ancestors had been magic users or magical creatures- who knows, maybe even one or two Saotomes had practised magic themselves. Hmm… maybe one of his ancestors had left behind some information that could help him? If not with the curse, then maybe with coping with the general weirdness of his life? And then there was the fact that he was genuinely curious about his lineage- Genma had never really mentioned anything about their family or their past, and perhaps this explained why. Not eagerly, but certainly not reluctantly, he reached out and pulled the chest designated 'archives' to a comfortable seating spot, cracking the lid open and pulling out the first random scroll.
Some people might recognize this as having come before. After a recent spate of thinking, I've decided that the original format of this fic was not too good- too ambitious, too tangled, too cliché (by my standards). So, I've decided to revise things. This new version of "Secrets of the Saotome Clan" will take inspiration from "Another Rainy Day in Nerima", and orientate itself around various 'oneshot' style chapters, each being a sort of 'day in the life' type look at the life of a random Saotome ancestor. Generally, there will only be one 'chapter' for each ancestor, but if inspiration hits then a particular ancestor may receive subsequent chapters.
It is possible that I may do a spin-off type fanfic looking at the resultant chaos that happens in Nerima after Ranma's family legacy arrives (old enemies/long-lived relatives popping up to visit, heirloom magical items getting passed around, scheming by the other fiancées, etc), but that's only if readers want something like that- and I currently doubt folks would be interested.
Because of the scale of this little project, I am open to reader suggestion, both for potential Saotome ancestors (a name and a gender is all you really need, though I certainly won't turn down more detailed profiles) and 'keystone' events to build a chapter around. For the curious, I do have some conceptual chapters already laid in my head- here are some basic synopsises to determine which one(s) people want me to focus on writing up first.
Yukio Saotome – Betrothal
Yukio Saotome, the Youjutsusha, arrives in the Byankala region of China, on self-imposed exile from Japan. Accidentally wandering into the territory of the Joketsuzoku, he performs a deed that his descendant will unknowingly mimic, so many generations later.
Mitsuka Saotome – I Hate Mondays
Why does a mission received on a Monday never seem to go right? Thus is the complaint of Mitsuka Saotome as she battles her nemesis and Russian-bought goons over a lost artifact that could, potentially, destroy the world.
Yukio Saotome – Acceptance
Set after "Betrothal", Yukio wonders when it was that he stopped minding Sugar's presence at his side… and when it was he began to appreciate her being there.
Kagami Saotome – Reflection
The latest child of the Saotome clan ruminates on a philosophical question; what does it mean to be a Saotome?
Akemi Saotome – Traveling Companions
A Saotome 'adventurer' ponders his allies and the strange twists of fate that bound him with such weirdoes. From the wise-cracking female Awakened monkey warrior-monk (who keeps flirting with him), to the cursed Kabuki actor, the Saotome wyrd has drawn the unusual and the bizarre to his side.
Azami Saotome – Revenge
One should not underestimate the women born to the Saotome clan. Azami's twin brother was murdered by a petty tyrant, and she will have his head for it.
Yuudai Saotome – Poems Amongst The Petals
The recital of poetry when the sakura bloom is a traditional custom, yet for Yuudai, this is more then a pleasant way to spend the afternoon. If he cannot defeat this opponent, then he shall be devoured as the price for his loss.
Isamu Saotome – Demon Slayer
Another day, another bounty, thus is the credo of this daughter of the Saotome clan. When a mountain village finds itself besieged by a terrible rock spider demon, they hire Isamu to save them from it.
Takeshi Saotome – Bride of the Waters
Pride is a common weakness amongst the Saotome, and Takeshi Saotome is faced with a great dilemma because of it. If he cannot defeat this kappa in a bout of unarmed combat, then he cannot cross this river. If he does defeat it, however, then his word binds him to wed the kappa's daughter. To win, or to lose- or is it to lose, or to lose?