************************
Past & Future
By Verse12
Verse12@hotmail.com
**********************
Disclaimer:
I do not own these characters nor do I claim too, this is a simple fan based homage. Their creators and the companies they work for and with own the characters and all that pertains to them. (I.E. Rumiko Takahashi, Viz, Shougakukan, Harmony Gold, Mainichi Broadcasting, Big West, Naoko Takeuchi, Toei Animation, DiC) This is just fans of the shows expressing their love for it for fun, no profit is involved or expected thank you.
***********************
Chapter One
Ranma
***********************
"Ranma" a ghostly Akane Tendo called out her ethereal image floated in the midst of a blown apart Tendo dojo.
"Akane?" Ranma yelled back as he struggled to get to her but felt invisible hands that seemed to keep him from her.
"Why?" she implored to him, "Why didn't you save us?" At this statement he saw she was not alone, all around her are the bloody wraiths of his loved ones.
"BOY!" a wraithlike Genma roared, "You have failed us! You are not a man!"
"You really owe me for this one Saotome," an eviscerated Nabiki moaned with a feral light in her eyes, "And I intend to collect big time on this one."
"Ranchan why," implored a no longer cute Ukyo, "why didn't you save me, Please."
"Foul sorcerer Saotome, I know thou'st are the despicable fiend at the root of the all the misery of the world and we specters will haunt thee for all of thy days."
The wails of the lost friends and family turned into a roar that pounded him like the ocean until Ranma sat up with a start; his breath came in heaving gasps and sweat poured from his body.
Shaken he swung his feet off the edge of the bed while he put his face in hands and exhaled heavily.
A feminine hand rested on his shoulder as a soft voice asked in a concerned way, "Was it the dream again dear?"
"No actually it wasn't that one, it was the old one about Nerima this time."
This evidently shocked her as her hand drew back for a second before she rested it on his shoulder again. "It's okay Ranma, I understand."
He turned around and grasped her shoulders in his own hands "Kasumi I can't explain it, why this dream again after so many years, cause you know I have a lot more recent horrors that have plagued me."
She smiled and took his hand in hers and said, "of course I understand, after all today is going to be stressful enough as it is, you don't have to worry about me not understanding." After a minute she continued with a faraway look in her eyes, "I still miss them too, I mean it's been over fourteen years since Tokyo was first bombed during the war, but I still think of them."
Then she smiled knowingly at her husband and gave him a light kiss on the lips, "and I know you my wonderful man, you take things as being your responsibility even when they are not."
"I know that and I dealt with those feelings of 'I should have been there' a long time ago." He said with a sigh. "I don't let those things get to me like I used to. And as much as I . . . regret . . . what happened to them all and I wish I could change that. I want you to know that I will NEVER regret making you my wife and that I love you with all my heart."
"Oh Ranma," she said with a loving look before going in and giving him a great big kiss.
After a minute the two of them finished and were just leaning against each other as they sat on the side of the bed. "I wonder how things would have ended up if the war had never came to Japan," Kasumi mused with a melancholy tone.
Ranma closed his eyes and flopped down on the bed as his legs still dangled over the edge. After a moment he looked at her as she laid down next to him and propped herself up on her elbow, "well for one thing, I guess our pops would have kept trying to get me and Akane married," he said.
"And I would have kept on seeing you as just the brash yet well meaning little brother while I still secretly wished I had had the resolve to try to make it more," she finished with a slight smile.
He smiled at that little confession and looked at her, "I'm going to tell you a secret as well, as much as I thought I may have really cared for Akane . . . I always have thought you were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. And I always kind of wished you had been my fiancée. Yet I always thought . . . that you were to good for someone like me, that's why I've always been so thankful that you actually fell I for a baka like me."
"Ranma," she said with a touched expression on her face, "I'm the one who should be thankful to you for loving such a plain woman like me."
"HA," Ranma barked in laughter, "you are the kindest, sweetest, most giving yet still absolutely gorgeous woman that I've ever known."
Of course this deserved a big kiss but after that they just laid in each other's arms as light began to filter through the blinds. Kasumi picked up on the melancholy mood of earlier and asked a musing question, "Do you ever wonder how your life would have been if me and your mother had been at the Dojo with the others instead of at the market?"
Ranma closed his eyes and sighed, "That's one I try not to think about . . . I'd have been all alone. If I you guys hadn't been there after it all happened I don't know what I would have done. When I got the telegram at the base of the dojo being destroyed all I could think of was all of you were gone and that I would be all alone again and this time without even Pop to be with me. I actually hated the JSDF for a while, I thought if I hadn't been drafted the year before I could have done something to save all of them."
"Of course I know now that I just would have died too from that bomb that hit the dojo," he sighed.
"The War cost a lot of people a lot of things, all we can do is hope to pull together what we have and move on," she mused.
Some time passed as they laid in each other's arms and just enjoyed the feel of the love of their life being so close.
Ranma broke the quiet and continued the ruminations that had marked the morning so far. "Of course things changed pretty quickly 4 years later when I lead that team with Commander Folker and Dr. Lang into the crashed SDF-1."
"The world pulled together pretty quick, of course we still had to deal with all the anti-unification nuts," he sighed. "I think the world we helped make for our children was better than we could have hoped. I just hope that tomorrow we have a world to give to them."
"Me too," she sighed and snuggled deeper into his arms while she rested her head on the crook of his arm.
***********************
"MOMMY DADDY" two little voices yelled as two kids burst through the door.
"Hey squirts," Ranma said with a grin as the kids loudly protested being called squirts.
Laughing at the old joke between them Ranma moved over as the kids squeezed in-between the adults and received a big hug from them. "I'm sorry big guy and you too princess."
"Its okay daddy," a little girl around five grinned with her cherubic face.
"Hey pop," a boy about 9 years old loudly exclaimed as kids that age do, "Grandma called on the vid-phone and said she was going to come over for breakfast."
"Well if Nodoka is coming over I had better get started on making breakfast," Kasumi said as she got up and gathered her clothes before she headed into the furo changing room.
After Kasumi had left Ranma hugged his pride and joy, his kids and got up while he straitened his rumpled pajamas. He leaned back against the wall and looked back on the kids as they sat on the bed and he saw that they were nervous over something and he thought he knew what that was.
"What's wrong guys, you know you can tell me anything, right?"
"Pop," the little boy asked tentatively as the little girl actually looked near tears.
"Hey, hey guys what's wrong," Ranma, said sitting on the bed again, he put one arm around the boy as the little girl climbed up into his lap.
"Everybody's sayin that a whole lotta bad guy ships are coming some time today," he paused for a second before he continued, "its jus, I . . ." he trailed off as tears began to gather in his eyes.
Ranma cut off any more of this talk as he hugged them fiercely, "Hey none of that talk. Look at me, Isshin, Ayame" he said to the kids.
"I promised you guys a long time ago I wouldn't lie to you and I wont now, it's going to be a hard fight. But remember this . . . Ranma Saotome NEVER loses," this he said while he tapped the little girl Ayame on the nose with his finger and grinned.
"I will NEVER allow anything to hurt you two or your mother, remember that," he continued while he enveloped them in a comforting hug.
Kasumi smiled at this, she had been watching from the doorway after she got ready for the day, 'he is such a great father,' she thought with a smile. 'I don't think anything will stop him from protecting them, not even Dolza's million ship fleet will stop him,' with this she pushed off of the wall and headed over into the kitchen and began to prepare breakfast and hopefully not for the last time. They were lucky enough to have had as much warning of Dolza's fleet coming as they did.
***********************
After the kids and Ranma got cleaned up and dressed they headed into the dinning room, "lets get the table set guys," Ranma smiled as the family worked together to set out the plates and chopsticks.
Kasumi watched all of this from the kitchen as she put the finishing touches on the meal, 'I love them so much and we are so lucky. I just hope . . . that we can do this . . . tomorrow. NO Kasumi' she thought as shook off these dark fears.
'No matter how much I may be scared I can't let thoughts like that consume me, I have to be strong for Ayame and Isshin,' she reflected determinedly. 'I just want to see my little girl start school next semester,' she prayed silently as she looked at her family.
***********************
A nock at the door told the gathered family that Nodoka had arrived and just as breakfast was finished. "Grandma!" the little ones yelled out in youthful exuberance and dashed for the front door. "No running in the house children!" Kasumi called after them in a chiding tone. Ranma walked after the kids at a more leisurely pace as the children checked to make sure it was Nodoka there and not a stranger. Ranma opened the door for them and let his mother inside with a greeting of "hi mom, how are you doing?"
"Hello son, I'm doing as well as can be expected. We should be mostly done with most of the extra preparations to protect the city and the people that we planned," she said giving him a kiss on the cheek before she turned her attention to the kids at her feet. After a few minutes of dealing with exuberant youngsters the two adults herded them back to the dinning room.
Kasumi looked up at the entering family with a smile as she placed the rice server beside her cushion. "Hello mother you look well," Kasumi greeted her mother-in-law with a warm smile. And she really meant it that she did look good, Nodoka had forgone the kimonos of long ago for a stylish yet feminine business suit and a shorter hairstyle that looked very good on her. In fact many did not believe she was the mother of a 34-year-old son and insisted that she herself could not be any older than that.
"Hello Kasumi dear," she smiled and set down her briefcase giving her a short hug. "Do you need any help?"
"No thank you every thing is already done," she said with a warm smile. "Please have a seat."
Once everyone was seated breakfast went by very quickly and things settled into a comfortable rhythm. But the pleasant meal was finished all to quickly and Nodoka had to smile sadly as she stood up, "well I better get on the move everyone."
She smiled at the sad "Aww's" from the kids as she kissed them on the forehead before she gave Ranma a long sad hug.
She stood back and held her little boy at arms length and just looked into his eyes, just in case this was the last chance she had to see him. "I really do have to get to the Mayor's office, we have a lot of last minute things to double check to make sure the city and the people are safe as we can make them. We hope that since we had some notice this time we can have zero loses in the city. As long as the military . . ." she trailed off with a glance at the kids as she realized she didn't want to scare them.
Ranma just nodded; as he understood how important her job was, even though he would much rather have her safe in a shelter long before the battle started. But he knew that she would go to one as soon as she could. As the personal assistant to the Mayor of Macross City she was vital to making sure the Mayor could do her job. (A.N. yes HER job.)
"I'll see you later mom," Ranma said as he left unsaid, that 'their will be a tomorrow' and that he understood her motivations. That she just wanted to see her family one more time . . . just in case.
***********************
After she left Ranma headed into the furo to get ready for the day and get dressed in his uniform. A little while later he came back out dressed in his battle dress uniform the rank identifying him as a Lt. Colonel in the Robotech Special Forces. When he came out he saw that Kasumi had the kids and their small bags all packed for the shelter.
"Admiral Gloval put me in charge of the fall back positions inside the ship and I need to do the final checks on them. But I will keep in touch with you inside the shelter with the radio I gave you, okay?"
At their affirmatives he grew emotional and gathered them into a group hug he held them fiercely. Eventually though he let them go and they got the little suburban house locked down the best they can to protect it during the coming battle.
Ranma made sure to have them settled into the shelter before he headed toward the base to handle his responsibilities. Before he left though he gave them a hug and a kiss he told the kids to mind their mother and he gave a meaningful look to his wife before he headed off to do his duty.
To be continued:
***********************
Endnotes:
"What another story?" You ask? "What about the next chapter of . . ." whatever you are waiting for. Well I'm sorry but this story just wouldn't go away. I have read a bunch of crossovers with Macross/Robotech and I just had a thought of a story idea of my own that I believe has never been done like this will be, this is just the start.
Also I am using a modified Robotech / Macross hybrid for that section of the crossover. Such as I will use the English names, but I will use the Japanese timeline such as no Generation 2 or 3.There are going to be a few other examples of these kinds of things but I wont go into them here. Also as you can probably tell from the disclaimer the presence of some of the Ranma cast, and the Sailor Senshi (although they are all older) will cause some drastic changes to the already hybrid timeline. If anyone doesn't understand a point let me know and I will try to clarify things for you.
I hope you like where I will take this, now don't think I have abandoned my other stories but I just had to get this down.
In fact next on the list is Chapter 11 of 'Only Human', 'Beneath the Surface of the Mind' Chapter 15 and I have a take on making 'Secret Truths' an on going series I should have Chapter 3 of that soon too.
Oh in case you missed it I recently updated the long idle fic 'Love Found?' If you missed it check it out and let me know what you thought.
Thank you all for everything, Later.
Signed: Verse12
Past & Future
By Verse12
Verse12@hotmail.com
**********************
Disclaimer:
I do not own these characters nor do I claim too, this is a simple fan based homage. Their creators and the companies they work for and with own the characters and all that pertains to them. (I.E. Rumiko Takahashi, Viz, Shougakukan, Harmony Gold, Mainichi Broadcasting, Big West, Naoko Takeuchi, Toei Animation, DiC) This is just fans of the shows expressing their love for it for fun, no profit is involved or expected thank you.
***********************
Chapter One
Ranma
***********************
"Ranma" a ghostly Akane Tendo called out her ethereal image floated in the midst of a blown apart Tendo dojo.
"Akane?" Ranma yelled back as he struggled to get to her but felt invisible hands that seemed to keep him from her.
"Why?" she implored to him, "Why didn't you save us?" At this statement he saw she was not alone, all around her are the bloody wraiths of his loved ones.
"BOY!" a wraithlike Genma roared, "You have failed us! You are not a man!"
"You really owe me for this one Saotome," an eviscerated Nabiki moaned with a feral light in her eyes, "And I intend to collect big time on this one."
"Ranchan why," implored a no longer cute Ukyo, "why didn't you save me, Please."
"Foul sorcerer Saotome, I know thou'st are the despicable fiend at the root of the all the misery of the world and we specters will haunt thee for all of thy days."
The wails of the lost friends and family turned into a roar that pounded him like the ocean until Ranma sat up with a start; his breath came in heaving gasps and sweat poured from his body.
Shaken he swung his feet off the edge of the bed while he put his face in hands and exhaled heavily.
A feminine hand rested on his shoulder as a soft voice asked in a concerned way, "Was it the dream again dear?"
"No actually it wasn't that one, it was the old one about Nerima this time."
This evidently shocked her as her hand drew back for a second before she rested it on his shoulder again. "It's okay Ranma, I understand."
He turned around and grasped her shoulders in his own hands "Kasumi I can't explain it, why this dream again after so many years, cause you know I have a lot more recent horrors that have plagued me."
She smiled and took his hand in hers and said, "of course I understand, after all today is going to be stressful enough as it is, you don't have to worry about me not understanding." After a minute she continued with a faraway look in her eyes, "I still miss them too, I mean it's been over fourteen years since Tokyo was first bombed during the war, but I still think of them."
Then she smiled knowingly at her husband and gave him a light kiss on the lips, "and I know you my wonderful man, you take things as being your responsibility even when they are not."
"I know that and I dealt with those feelings of 'I should have been there' a long time ago." He said with a sigh. "I don't let those things get to me like I used to. And as much as I . . . regret . . . what happened to them all and I wish I could change that. I want you to know that I will NEVER regret making you my wife and that I love you with all my heart."
"Oh Ranma," she said with a loving look before going in and giving him a great big kiss.
After a minute the two of them finished and were just leaning against each other as they sat on the side of the bed. "I wonder how things would have ended up if the war had never came to Japan," Kasumi mused with a melancholy tone.
Ranma closed his eyes and flopped down on the bed as his legs still dangled over the edge. After a moment he looked at her as she laid down next to him and propped herself up on her elbow, "well for one thing, I guess our pops would have kept trying to get me and Akane married," he said.
"And I would have kept on seeing you as just the brash yet well meaning little brother while I still secretly wished I had had the resolve to try to make it more," she finished with a slight smile.
He smiled at that little confession and looked at her, "I'm going to tell you a secret as well, as much as I thought I may have really cared for Akane . . . I always have thought you were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. And I always kind of wished you had been my fiancée. Yet I always thought . . . that you were to good for someone like me, that's why I've always been so thankful that you actually fell I for a baka like me."
"Ranma," she said with a touched expression on her face, "I'm the one who should be thankful to you for loving such a plain woman like me."
"HA," Ranma barked in laughter, "you are the kindest, sweetest, most giving yet still absolutely gorgeous woman that I've ever known."
Of course this deserved a big kiss but after that they just laid in each other's arms as light began to filter through the blinds. Kasumi picked up on the melancholy mood of earlier and asked a musing question, "Do you ever wonder how your life would have been if me and your mother had been at the Dojo with the others instead of at the market?"
Ranma closed his eyes and sighed, "That's one I try not to think about . . . I'd have been all alone. If I you guys hadn't been there after it all happened I don't know what I would have done. When I got the telegram at the base of the dojo being destroyed all I could think of was all of you were gone and that I would be all alone again and this time without even Pop to be with me. I actually hated the JSDF for a while, I thought if I hadn't been drafted the year before I could have done something to save all of them."
"Of course I know now that I just would have died too from that bomb that hit the dojo," he sighed.
"The War cost a lot of people a lot of things, all we can do is hope to pull together what we have and move on," she mused.
Some time passed as they laid in each other's arms and just enjoyed the feel of the love of their life being so close.
Ranma broke the quiet and continued the ruminations that had marked the morning so far. "Of course things changed pretty quickly 4 years later when I lead that team with Commander Folker and Dr. Lang into the crashed SDF-1."
"The world pulled together pretty quick, of course we still had to deal with all the anti-unification nuts," he sighed. "I think the world we helped make for our children was better than we could have hoped. I just hope that tomorrow we have a world to give to them."
"Me too," she sighed and snuggled deeper into his arms while she rested her head on the crook of his arm.
***********************
"MOMMY DADDY" two little voices yelled as two kids burst through the door.
"Hey squirts," Ranma said with a grin as the kids loudly protested being called squirts.
Laughing at the old joke between them Ranma moved over as the kids squeezed in-between the adults and received a big hug from them. "I'm sorry big guy and you too princess."
"Its okay daddy," a little girl around five grinned with her cherubic face.
"Hey pop," a boy about 9 years old loudly exclaimed as kids that age do, "Grandma called on the vid-phone and said she was going to come over for breakfast."
"Well if Nodoka is coming over I had better get started on making breakfast," Kasumi said as she got up and gathered her clothes before she headed into the furo changing room.
After Kasumi had left Ranma hugged his pride and joy, his kids and got up while he straitened his rumpled pajamas. He leaned back against the wall and looked back on the kids as they sat on the bed and he saw that they were nervous over something and he thought he knew what that was.
"What's wrong guys, you know you can tell me anything, right?"
"Pop," the little boy asked tentatively as the little girl actually looked near tears.
"Hey, hey guys what's wrong," Ranma, said sitting on the bed again, he put one arm around the boy as the little girl climbed up into his lap.
"Everybody's sayin that a whole lotta bad guy ships are coming some time today," he paused for a second before he continued, "its jus, I . . ." he trailed off as tears began to gather in his eyes.
Ranma cut off any more of this talk as he hugged them fiercely, "Hey none of that talk. Look at me, Isshin, Ayame" he said to the kids.
"I promised you guys a long time ago I wouldn't lie to you and I wont now, it's going to be a hard fight. But remember this . . . Ranma Saotome NEVER loses," this he said while he tapped the little girl Ayame on the nose with his finger and grinned.
"I will NEVER allow anything to hurt you two or your mother, remember that," he continued while he enveloped them in a comforting hug.
Kasumi smiled at this, she had been watching from the doorway after she got ready for the day, 'he is such a great father,' she thought with a smile. 'I don't think anything will stop him from protecting them, not even Dolza's million ship fleet will stop him,' with this she pushed off of the wall and headed over into the kitchen and began to prepare breakfast and hopefully not for the last time. They were lucky enough to have had as much warning of Dolza's fleet coming as they did.
***********************
After the kids and Ranma got cleaned up and dressed they headed into the dinning room, "lets get the table set guys," Ranma smiled as the family worked together to set out the plates and chopsticks.
Kasumi watched all of this from the kitchen as she put the finishing touches on the meal, 'I love them so much and we are so lucky. I just hope . . . that we can do this . . . tomorrow. NO Kasumi' she thought as shook off these dark fears.
'No matter how much I may be scared I can't let thoughts like that consume me, I have to be strong for Ayame and Isshin,' she reflected determinedly. 'I just want to see my little girl start school next semester,' she prayed silently as she looked at her family.
***********************
A nock at the door told the gathered family that Nodoka had arrived and just as breakfast was finished. "Grandma!" the little ones yelled out in youthful exuberance and dashed for the front door. "No running in the house children!" Kasumi called after them in a chiding tone. Ranma walked after the kids at a more leisurely pace as the children checked to make sure it was Nodoka there and not a stranger. Ranma opened the door for them and let his mother inside with a greeting of "hi mom, how are you doing?"
"Hello son, I'm doing as well as can be expected. We should be mostly done with most of the extra preparations to protect the city and the people that we planned," she said giving him a kiss on the cheek before she turned her attention to the kids at her feet. After a few minutes of dealing with exuberant youngsters the two adults herded them back to the dinning room.
Kasumi looked up at the entering family with a smile as she placed the rice server beside her cushion. "Hello mother you look well," Kasumi greeted her mother-in-law with a warm smile. And she really meant it that she did look good, Nodoka had forgone the kimonos of long ago for a stylish yet feminine business suit and a shorter hairstyle that looked very good on her. In fact many did not believe she was the mother of a 34-year-old son and insisted that she herself could not be any older than that.
"Hello Kasumi dear," she smiled and set down her briefcase giving her a short hug. "Do you need any help?"
"No thank you every thing is already done," she said with a warm smile. "Please have a seat."
Once everyone was seated breakfast went by very quickly and things settled into a comfortable rhythm. But the pleasant meal was finished all to quickly and Nodoka had to smile sadly as she stood up, "well I better get on the move everyone."
She smiled at the sad "Aww's" from the kids as she kissed them on the forehead before she gave Ranma a long sad hug.
She stood back and held her little boy at arms length and just looked into his eyes, just in case this was the last chance she had to see him. "I really do have to get to the Mayor's office, we have a lot of last minute things to double check to make sure the city and the people are safe as we can make them. We hope that since we had some notice this time we can have zero loses in the city. As long as the military . . ." she trailed off with a glance at the kids as she realized she didn't want to scare them.
Ranma just nodded; as he understood how important her job was, even though he would much rather have her safe in a shelter long before the battle started. But he knew that she would go to one as soon as she could. As the personal assistant to the Mayor of Macross City she was vital to making sure the Mayor could do her job. (A.N. yes HER job.)
"I'll see you later mom," Ranma said as he left unsaid, that 'their will be a tomorrow' and that he understood her motivations. That she just wanted to see her family one more time . . . just in case.
***********************
After she left Ranma headed into the furo to get ready for the day and get dressed in his uniform. A little while later he came back out dressed in his battle dress uniform the rank identifying him as a Lt. Colonel in the Robotech Special Forces. When he came out he saw that Kasumi had the kids and their small bags all packed for the shelter.
"Admiral Gloval put me in charge of the fall back positions inside the ship and I need to do the final checks on them. But I will keep in touch with you inside the shelter with the radio I gave you, okay?"
At their affirmatives he grew emotional and gathered them into a group hug he held them fiercely. Eventually though he let them go and they got the little suburban house locked down the best they can to protect it during the coming battle.
Ranma made sure to have them settled into the shelter before he headed toward the base to handle his responsibilities. Before he left though he gave them a hug and a kiss he told the kids to mind their mother and he gave a meaningful look to his wife before he headed off to do his duty.
To be continued:
***********************
Endnotes:
"What another story?" You ask? "What about the next chapter of . . ." whatever you are waiting for. Well I'm sorry but this story just wouldn't go away. I have read a bunch of crossovers with Macross/Robotech and I just had a thought of a story idea of my own that I believe has never been done like this will be, this is just the start.
Also I am using a modified Robotech / Macross hybrid for that section of the crossover. Such as I will use the English names, but I will use the Japanese timeline such as no Generation 2 or 3.There are going to be a few other examples of these kinds of things but I wont go into them here. Also as you can probably tell from the disclaimer the presence of some of the Ranma cast, and the Sailor Senshi (although they are all older) will cause some drastic changes to the already hybrid timeline. If anyone doesn't understand a point let me know and I will try to clarify things for you.
I hope you like where I will take this, now don't think I have abandoned my other stories but I just had to get this down.
In fact next on the list is Chapter 11 of 'Only Human', 'Beneath the Surface of the Mind' Chapter 15 and I have a take on making 'Secret Truths' an on going series I should have Chapter 3 of that soon too.
Oh in case you missed it I recently updated the long idle fic 'Love Found?' If you missed it check it out and let me know what you thought.
Thank you all for everything, Later.
Signed: Verse12