'By Calm Water'
By Krimzonrayne no Akai Kou Hana and Rayne no Akai Hinageshi.
Chapter Two: Four letters words.
The thing about love is that it's infinitely divisible. If you need more love you just share it and it'll never runs out.
Now that I think about it, it's kind of like Chaos actually.
(Note: Bolden and Italics means it's a flashback / memory sequence)
Three months earlier
"Motoko-han!"
The said Motoko blinked once and stood up a little straighter. She tried to shrug off the little shiver she felt tingling down her spine at hearing that voice and looked up into the eyes of the one she'd grown to respect… and fear…
Tsuruko Aoyama, the most skilled and powerful warrior to have graced the Shinmei School in decades, the former candidate to the seat of the head of Shinmei school, the full master swordswoman of the Shinmei School…
Her older sister…
"Oh my, what a pleasant surprise, it's good to see you again, Sister dear." She continued in her pleasant voice. "Although I do wonder, why is it that you have not called ahead? I would have gone and welcome you at the train station."
Motoko opened her mouth and answer but the word didn't come out.
The younger woman took a step back, feeling slightly awed and scared at the same time. She'd known that Tsuruko would be here but it still didn't help her prepare for the encounter any.
It has been almost a year since Motoko had last seen her older sister and her mental image of the ex-heiress continued to grow more and more frightening.
It was an irrational fear but… but…
"H-Hello S-Sister," Motoko clamped her mouth shut and paused to reign in her nerves before opening it again. "I trust you have been well in my absence?"
"I have, Sister dear. Kenjou have been treating me well indeed." Tsuruko answered with her eerily agreeable smile.
Motoko's firm resolved crumbled at the mention of the name Kenjou, the male who'd bewitched her older sister away from her. Her mouth formed a thin line that curved ever so slightly downwards on both ends.
"Will you excuse me, Sister? I need to freshen up before the guests begin to arrive." The kendo girl muttered softly before walking passed her older sister and into house.
Motoko put a hand against her widely beating heart and sighed softly to herself. Her mind wondered off as she slowly made her way deeper into the Aoyama compound.
'Why is it so hard? Why am I so afraid of her? I should hate her, or at least be angry, for what she did, leaving me like that… but I could not, the most I ever did was be irritate at her…. And this fear… this fear…
…why does it keep growing?'
She sighed once again.
It was a good thing that none of the tenants has ever been more than slightly curious about her life. Because if she ever had to try to explain her situation to Naru-sempai or Mitsune, they'd probably conclude on one thing…she's messed up.
Motoko arrived at her old room. She unceremoniously slid the door open before stepping inside and closing it behind here. She placed her travel luggage on the floor and took a look around. The room… it's exactly the same as it was before she'd left.
Over by the corner of her room laid an elfin little paper screening. It depicts a picture of a mountain-side stream and she used to use to get change when she was little. To the right of it were a little tea set and a low table with a set of drawers.
This was where she used to serve tea while she was working on her calligraphy with her older brother and older sister. It was all coming back to her now…learning how to hold a brush… listening to Aniue complaining about the boredom of the pen art… watching him getting thwacked in the head for falling asleep or trying to sneak off…
Motoko felt a small smile forming on her mouth; those were good times indeed
Her eyes suddenly narrowed as she felt a presence sneaking up behind here.
Whirling around, she called forth her 'ki', her internal power and, with a flourish movement of her sword, manifested it in form of blazing wind which she'd sent hurling toward the would-be spy or assassin.
Present
"YOU SCOUNDREL!"
"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!" The skulking figure of a male screamed loudly as he was launched high into the cool afternoon air before falling back down and landing in a crumbling heap on the deck.
Motoko dashed over to where the vile male was lying, he appeared to be slightly charred from her attack. She thrust out her sword and held it threateningly over his throat; for all intent and purposes, she looked exactly like an axe-wielding executioner would.
"YOU!" The kendo girl roared. "You have some nerve! Spying on my while I was training like that!"
She was up on the veranda practicing and horning her skill with the blade by slicing stray leaves that happen to flutter by. Because the movements were so ingrained into her body, it didn't take long before her mind started to wonder. She was reminiscing about the last time she'd seen her older brother… No! Not her older brother… she doesn't have one… never even had one in the first place…
Whatever the case may be, that was when she caught their new so-called 'manager', Keitaro Urashima, spying on her training… doubtlessly to gain some advantage against her for their inevitable clash…
"No, no! I-I just came here to talk." Keitaro started to explain himself, trying to ignore sharp gleaming steel in his face.
…or perhaps so he could best her in combat in order to corner and do unspeakable deeds to her…
Motoko blushed furiously, oh god, what was she thinking just then?!? Was it just her or has the air became warmer all of the sudden?
"I have no interest in talking with the likes of you!" She yelled at him with an angry shake of her head. Her cheeks were nice shades of crimson but luckily for her the new landlord was for too scared to realize.
"But as the manager, it's my duty to…"
"I have already told you! I DO NOT accept you as our apartment manager!"
Suddenly a flash of heat wave passed through every sinew in her body and her knee began to buckle. She struggled to breath, feeling weaker than you'd been for a long time… so very, very weak…
… for a second her world seemed to have faded away…
"Motoko-chan!" Someone cried out.
Motoko-chan!
Warm… it was warm… where was she? …so warm…
She forced her eyes lid opened and found herself starring into a kind and gentle face… one that remained her of another she'd seen a long time ago…
Slowly the blur focused and she could now make out the glasses that weren't in the face she'd remembered…
This wasn't her brother! This was…
"Keitaro Urashima! HOW DARE YOU!"
And with that, she sent the treacherous conniving male into the air once more… A little higher this time as her 'ki' was fueled by her anger.
He reached the apex of his flight and began falling down, crashing spectacularly into the inclined roof of the main building. His sorry and somewhat smoking form rolled down the tiled roof, smashed through the wooden fence and came to a stop on the veranda near her.
"Is he dead?" Kitsune asked offhandedly, meaning at as a joke of some sort.
"Looks like he's still alive." Naru-sempai commented.
"Oh Urashima-sempai!" Shinobu, the new girl, uttered worriedly, sounding like she'd burst into tears any minutes now.
"Keitaro!" Kaolla chirped in her ever vivacious voice. "Did the earth look blue from up there?"
Motoko just stood there feeling a little nostalgic.
…
"Pull yourself together!" Naru said as she leaned closer to his prone frame. Shinobu began chanting 'Urashima-san, Urashima-san' nervously in the back ground and Kaolla, the dark skinned foreign girl, materialized a stick from thin air and started poking his stilled body with it.
"Keitaro, are you playing dead?" She asked playfully.
A couple of meters away stood Motoko, she was rather confused with her feeling at the moment. That emotion she'd felt… just in that second before she lashed out at him… what was that?
Why does he remind her so much of her dear Aniue and Aneue?
Aneue! Aneue! Why are you leaving? Did I do something wrong? Please tell me, I promise I will never do it again! Please!
Aneue!
No, not you too Aniue! Why do you have to go? Don't leave! You promised!
Aniue!
"What are you doing?! Don't play around like that." Naru-sempai scolded him half-heartedly.
Motoko pulled herself out of her reverie and looked at the scene presented before her. Keitaro was now sitting up, looking slightly worse-for-wear but not as dead as he seemed to be a second ago. Naru-sempai and other tenants were crowding around him, studying him rather carefully. They all had a concerned look on their face.
"Well, I eh…" He began rather sheepishly.
Looking at him, being surrounded by so many girls, the kendo girl began to feel an unfamiliar feeling rising within her.
Was this jealousy?
Motoko gave a little huff and left.
Quickly descending the stairs and leaving the dorm, before she'd noticed it, she was already on the steps leading away from Hinata-sou. Pushing the thought of what she was doing (running away) aside for the moment, she began concentrating on working out the range of feelings and emotions she was going through earlier.
'Why? Why is it that just making eye contact with Urashima makes me feel lightheaded and unable to breath?' She asked herself, feeling her hand sliding up to where her chest was bind, tracing it over where her heart lies.
'Just looking at him makes my heart race.'
She came to a step as there were no more steps to walk down. Suddenly, a thought struck her… could it be that she's falling in….
'It can't be!' She protested angrily against herself.
…
'But what other explanation is there?'
Love? Her first love?!?!
"First love…?" She mumbled softly to herself, rolling the words over in her mouth. It did not feel entirely unpleasant at all.
But…
But… she'd never… not again… never again…
"I REFUSE TO ACCEPT IT!!!" Motoko roared, unsheathing her sword in one swift movement.
Elsewhere, a certain Tokyo University aspirant sneezed loudly, feeling a sudden chill.
It could not be love… could it? If not, what could it be though?
"You know, Motoko, people catch colds when they get soaked in rain and swing their swords around when it's chilly outside.
"A cold?" Motoko said in wonderment, feeling a little numb at the revelation. She was current bundled in thick blanket and stuffed into her futon under even more layers of warm, warm blanket.
After her supposed epiphany, the kendo practitioner had tried appealing to Naru once more to see if she could convince her to kick that annoying male out of their dormitory.
Just as she found out that fool Urashima was Grandma Hina's (the previous manager's) grandson, the pervert himself popped in unannounced, as if to peep in or Naru-sempai. She subsequently floored him with her air cleaving sword technique. At first she thought she had miscalculated the amount of 'ki' she'd use in the attack because she collapsed almost right after performing it.
However, it appeared that that was not the case. Instead, it was…
"Yep. It's a cold." Kaolla, Hinata-sou's makeshift doctor, confirmed looking at the thermometer critically. "And a fever too."
"I see…" Motoko mumbled weakly. "So it wasn't love…?"
At this point, she smiled at bit; it was as if that was the first good news she's heard all day.
"Thank goodness it wasn't love…" She amen before closing her eyes and started going to sleep.
….
Then it hit her.
"KEITARO URASHIMA!!!
…you took advantage of my delicate heart while I was taken ill with a fever! How contemptible! What treacherous cruelty!"
Motoko's fist shook angrily as she declared her vengeance to the world.
"Damn you Urashima! How dare you defile my pristine heart with the notion that you might be my first love! You will pay…
YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!!!"
Ignoring Kaollo's surprised gawking, Motoko hopped off the mattress and rushed over to her sword stand. She removed Shishui, her dear sword and companion as well snatched one of the practice swords before she ran out the room, heading for a single male occupant of the building.
Keitaro Urashima…
Prepare to die!!!
…
"URASHIMA!!" Motoko barked at the young man, slamming the door to his room opened.
"C-Can I help you?" Keitaro stuttered out fearfully. He knew whatever it was she wanted with him, it won't be pretty.
"Face me Urashima, I challenge you to a duel!"
"Huh? A duel?" The manager said dumbly to which Motoko snorted at with disgust, it was as if he'd never heard of the word before.
"Spare me your babbling!" The kendo girl yelled at him, once again she was fed up with him and his incompetence. She threw the practice sword over to him and drew out her own sword.
Holding Shishui in a frontal ready position, Motoko began dictating the term of the duel to him.
"If you win this duel, I shall accept you as our apartment manager. However, if I win…"
"I-If you win…?"
"I will become the manager! Then you will no longer be needed here!" At this, she gave him a nasty sneer before finishing her speech. "You will leave at once!"
Without waiting for his response, Motoko raised her sword over her head and charged him at full speed, intending on finishing the fight in one fell swoop.
CLANG!
Keitaro somehow manage brought up the sheathed sword from his side and blocked the first blow. But whether it was survival instinct or sheer luck, we may never know. Motoko stumbled backward, feeling the force of the blow reflected back into her wrists. She moved about almost drunkenly for a second before she was able to once again control her fever-weakened body.
"Are you okay?" Keitaro asked empathetically, sounding as if he was deeply concern for her well being.
Are you okay, Motoko-chan?
Motoko almost let her guards dropped. Almost.
'Fool! What are you doing? Focus! You almost fell for the oldest trick in the book!' The swordswoman mentally berated herself.
"I will not fall for your tricks! You took me for a fool because I avoid men?!" She yelled at him, repositioning her sword for another charge. "How dare you mock me so!"
Keitaro stumbled backward feeling the blade missed him by a hair breadth. Motoko followed through with the swing, cutting the table he was sitting beside earlier in half. She quickly recovered and spun around, only to find that her cockroach like opponent had already scrambled away.
"Urashima!" She yelled and ran after him… or rather, where she'd thought he went. She slid opened the door to each room and as she ran. She could not trust that vile male to fight honorably, no, he'd most assuredly try to hide and strike from the shadow!
Shinobu's room… plusies and animal stuff toys… a bed… a rather confused looking girl… no Keitaro…
Kaolla Su's room… a jungle… no sign of anything else…
She bounded up the stairs and started checking out the next floor.
Kitsune's room… sofa… shelves upon shelves filled with alcoholic beverages… a drunken young woman dozing off on the floor… still no Keitaro…
Naru-sempai's room… a plusie of a yellow animal of some sort… a shelve full of books… Naru-sempai being molested by one lecherous pervert… n…
"Urashima!" Motoko shouted, bringing her sword to bear. "There you are! Do you think you'd be able to trample on the heart of an innocent maiden and get away with it?"
With a loud battle cry, she summoned her 'ki' and launched her secret technique at him. The man tried to get up but he wasn't as lucky as before and took the blast head on and was thrown head over heel out of the room. The swordswoman started to smirk but ended up frowning instead as he scrambled back onto his feet and started running once again.
"Come back here!" She yelled as she sprinted after him.
"OUGI: ZAN KUU SEN!!!"
Damn, she almost got him that time. Almost. The idiot managed to turn away at the very last second. He was indeed like a cockroach, never quite willing to die.
Motoko chased Keitaro up the stairs and finally unto the roof.
'Does he do athletic or something?' The swordswoman mentally grumbled. She had been training since youth in the area of endurance and agility and he's still out running her.
"Hold still!" She shouted after him as she bounded up another set of stairs, this one leading onto the roof.
"HA!" Motoko cried out, sending a flurry of 'ki' blast at him. Again, he managed to save himself from the worse of it and continued to keep on running.
She chased him across the roof and finally cornered him at a dead end.
"You have no where left to run…" She growled menacingly under her breath, just loud enough for him to hear.
"Prepare to die!"
Three months earlier (again)
"OUGI: ZAN KUU SEN!"
The Shinmei School's secret technique roared as it rushed by the would-be stalker, having missed him by mere centimeters. Motoko narrowed her eyes at him and dashed forward with a battle cry.
"How dare you spy on me!
She swung her sword down, intent on cleaving him in half. He somehow managed to hop to the side and dodged her attack once again, his pig tail whipping about audaciously as he did so. Without missing a beat, Motoko spun around, lashing out at him with another slash. This is it was a horizontal cut. Much to her annoyance, he hopped over her strike and jumped over her.
"Stay still!" She yelled, swinging around with another strike to which he dodged almost effortlessly, infuriating her even further. She squared her shoulder, lined up her sword and went into a lunge. She smirked; this move left him no room to maneuver, he's done for!
Apparently the man saw this as well, he leapt back a couple of feet but found himself backed up against her balcony. He's cornered.
Motoko completed her movement, leveling her sword about a hand length away from his nose.
"Surrender!" She commanded him. "You have no where left to run."
The young man spun around and shot a quick glance over the balcony's rail. Motoko sneered at the pale look on his face. It was a back drop; the Aoyama residence is situated upon the top of a mountain and her room is an over hang to a cliff.
She inched the blade of her Shishui closer to him and gave him a glare as if to say 'hurry up'.
What happened next came as a shock to her.
In a split second, he gave her a smirk and promptly disappeared!
"Wha…?" Motoko muttered in confusion before it hit her.
'It' being a kung fu sandal clad foot.
Her assailant, the young man in Chinese T, has not disappeared at all; he jumped.
He jumped up, landed on her head and flipped over her.
Motoko fell onto her behind and looked up stupidly and he gave her another one of his arrogant smirks that seemed oh so familiar.
…
Then realization dawn on her. She stood up and tightened the grip on her sword angrily, causing it to shake. He. Will. Pay.
"Prepare to die!" She roared and she spun around, ready to skewer him fully this time around.
FLICK!
Motoko froze.
Did he just flick her nose?
"Motoko-chan" He said endearingly, leaning closer and gave her a warm smile at the same time. Up close his luminous blue eyes suddenly seemed much clearer than before. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, it's not like ya to get so worked up like that Motoko-chan. For a second there you kinda remind me of this Tomboy I know."
"…A-Aniue?"
Motoko whispered the word wistfully, feeling a torrent of emotions bubbling beneath her skin. Could it be, after all these years, could it be?
Could this person be her brother?
"Yes, Motoko-chan?"
That tone… that voice… that smile…
Motoko stared at him dumbly. She was about to drop her sword and hug him but then a part of her a part of her called out.
No you fool! What are you doing? How could you let him in, you know he'd leave you and hurt you again!
The girl continued to stare at him, unable to pull her eyes away from his azure orbs.
Don't do it! Remember what he did! Remember how you felt when he left!
SLASH!!!
"Ack! What was that for?" Ranma yelled in surprise, jumping back barely in time to avoid being eviscerated. The girl didn't answer him, she just reverse the sword in her hand and thrust at him once again.
"Hey, cut that out!" The pig tailed boy yelled once again, this time he didn't completely dodged the blade and receive a nasty hole in his sleeve. He could practically feel the cold edge of steel against his skin.
"If you have to ask, Saotome, then you obviously deserve everything I have for you!" Motoko said coolly and dangerously, dashing forward and covering the distance between them in a blink of an eye. Her eyes flashed for a second and she unleashed a 'ki' blast at him at point blank.
"What are you talking about? Stop being all cripti-cryp… confusing like!" Ranma yelled out in frustration, jumping to the side to dodge the attack as he did so.
He didn't even realize…
Overcame with her emotions, Motoko abandoned the flashy 'ki' techniques and started slashing away at him once again.
"How could you! How could you abandon me like that!? You're just like the rest of them! I hate you Ranma Saotome! I. Hate. You."
She punctuated her last three words with three particular vicious slashes, putting all of her strength behind the strikes. On her last attack, she'd over extended, lost balance and was about to fall over.
Seeing this, Ranma hopped forward and caught her in his arms.
"Are you okay, Motoko-chan?"
Motoko blinked. What happened? Where was she? The last thing she remembered was chasing Urashima up to the roof and cornering him then a flash of heat…and then… darkness…
She weakly forced her eyes opened and found herself starring into the clearest blue orbs she'd ever seen.
"…A-Aniue?"
She was pretty sure but she needed a confirmation.
"Are you okay, Mokoto-chan?" Ranma asked, his concern was evidenced in his voice.
Motoko didn't quite know what to do. Would he leaves her alone if she said 'yes'? Would he drop her to go find a doctor if she said 'no'?
'Yes, no, maybe, I do not know… could you repeat the question? Or maybe give me a different one…? Like why are you here, holding me in your arms?'
"A-NI-U-E!!!!!!!!!" The girls screamed loudly as one.
Motoko sighed, at least she did not have to answer that question straight away.
"This is Ranma Saotome." Motoko explained, pointing at the pig tailed boy sitting behind her. "He's my cousin."
"Cousin!" Their audiences gasped in surprise. They were now sitting about in the living room, waiting for her explanation.
"Yes, cousin." The kendo girl dead panned. "He's the son of my aunt, Nodoka."
"Then why did you…" Kitsune, the silver haired girl began but Motoko cut her off by stating evenly.
"That is because we used close to each other in our childhood. It was but a slip of my tongue"
Ranma winched at bit at the word 'used'. So she obviously hasn't forgiven him for whatever it was he did. This sucked.
"Which brings me to a point," She continued, turning to give a side long glance to Ranma before addressing him coldly. "Why are you here Saotome-san?"
The boy flinched at her tone. Sure, he'd been insulted before by his enemies and fiancées alike, but hearing it from a girl he considered his little sister is another thing.
Hm… what should he say? He can't very well tell her he was here to protect her from the perverted new manager… she'd go ballistic at him like Akane would every time he'd tried giving her a hand. Stupid stubborn tomboys…
"I'm just here to visit ya, Motoko-chan." He answered casually before adding a little bit of teasing. "I can at least do that, can't I?"
"It's 'may' and, no, you may not visit me." The swordswoman said in the same icy tone. "This is a female dormitory. I cannot bend the rule even for a relative. It's bad enough we have make allowance for Urashima here."
At the mention of Urashima, Ranma turned to face the said manager and narrowed his eyes. He'd been keeping an eye on Keitaro since the moment he arrived. And although he hasn't showed any sign of Happosai-like behavior so far, the pig tailed martial artist wasn't quite ready to trust him with his little sister yet.
"Ah come on Motoko-chan…" Ranma pleaded, turning to the darkened sky beyond the window. "It's already dark outside; can't I stay here for just one night?"
He wasn't afraid of the dark. No, that was just an excuse to stay a bit longer. At first he'd thought to just visit Motoko-chan for a bit and goes home but seeing her actually fighting the manager changed that plan somewhat. Right now he wanted to keep an eye on her for a bit longer.
Ranma scanned the room for potential allies and found the two older girls from earlier… Kitsune and that brown haired one. He quickly summoned his irresistible teary eyed long he'd perfected a long time ago and stared at them pleadingly.
Motoko almost snorted when she heard Ranma's excuse for staying. Preposterous, Ranma Saotome may not be much of anything but one thing she'd grudgingly admitted was his skill. He's almost untouchable to her… a feat none has yet to claim apart from her older sister, Tsuruko.
For a martial artist of his caliber to be afraid of walking home late was laughable.
She was about to voice her opinion of his pathetic attempt at an excuse when Naru-sempai and other tenants made a couple of comments which slackened her jaw.
"Why not?" Kitsune commented off handedly. "I don't mind having a stud like him over. He's welcome to stay in my room is he want."
"It's rather cruel isn't Motoko-san" Shinobu said.
"I don't see how it do any harm." Naru-sempai reasoned. "I mean, it's not like your cousin's a pervert or anything is he?"
Motoko shook her head grudgingly.
At this point, Kaolla Su started jumping up and down on the couch. Her smile almost oozed exuberant energy.
"Playmate! Playmate!" She chanted happily.
They all turned to the only person who hasn't spoken yet, Keitaro Urashima, the new manager of Hinata-sou. He gulped nervously, feeling all the attention in the room focused onto his person.
'Wow, I didn't think my opinion would matter.' Keitaro thought, clearing his throat to speak.
"It's only just one night right? What can go wrong?"
Author's note: Famous last words, Keitaro… famous last words…
Muah ha ha ha h Gack, cak, cak.
Damn, I thought I wasn't going to do the whole evil laughing thing anymore. Stupid me…
Anyway, how was that? Did you enjoy it? I really surprise at the amount of response the first chapter garnered really and kinda flattered too, I guess.
This one is a bit Motoko centered… but I think it should be, most of the Ranma ½ fan probably don't know much about her and since she's pretty important in this fic, I kinda figured it was needed. Don't worry though, next chapter will be different.
As always, reviews are welcome and deeply appreciated.
Krimzon and Rayne.
p.s. How many of you reckon this fic should be romantic? I figured it would be more humor and drama driven but who knows… What do you guys think?