Broken Alliances
By Skye Silverwing
Chapter 3: Redefined
Disclaimer: Ranma ½ is the property of Rumiko Takahashi
Nine Years before Jusenkyo.
A solemn feel filled the Hikawa Shrine as the Tendos and their dearest friends mourned the loss of Kimiko Tendo. After a long year of fighting it, the woman's body had finally succumbed to the effects of the disease. It had been a wasting sickness; One that gradually drained the Tendo Matriarch of her chi. Ultimately, she had passed happily, in the embrace of her husband and surrounded by her daughters.
The service was simple, only the Tendos, and their family friends, the Kunos and the newly graduated Dr Tofu Ono, as well as a few of Kimiko's friends from her youth in the Xiaolin Temple. The priest of the shrine and his granddaughter officiated and offered their condolences.
Jinnai Kuno's support had proven invaluable to the broken family during the trying time prior to and immediately following Kimiko's death; the Kunos' massive monetary stores had kept food on their table and medical bills paid.
Dr Tofu had developed a friendship with Soun and his family since the day the youngest Tendo charged into his home, begging for his help. He had been happy to assist with all of the girls' minor injuries, and took the time to try to help Soun deal with the emotional impact of his wife's impending death.
In the back of the Shrine, unseen, Nodoka Saotome shed a silent tear for a woman who had been her friend before their honor had forced them apart. She had spoken with Kimiko since the feud had been formed between their families, but their stubborn husbands would not relent.
They all stood silently in memory of Kimiko, her support as a wife, and her love as a mother, her strength as a warrior, and her grace as a woman. She held a place in all of their hearts, and she would be missed greatly.
.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.
In a dark hole somewhere, a fiendish laughter broke the silence.
"You will suffer far worse, boys…"
.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.
In another part of Japan, young Ranma hopped back and fourth, sparring with his new friend. The other boy battled with a large baker's peel, and spatulas that had been sharpened like blades.
Genma and the boy's father watched the fight intently, not speaking, from where they were standing next to the man's okonomiyaki yatti. Both of them waited as the children danced back and forth with deadly fluid grace, waiting for the outcome.
Ranma finished the match by disarming the Baker-Kunoichi of his baker's peel, and all of his spatulas. When the other boy bowed his head in defeat, his father nodded to Genma and produced an Okonomiyaki and handed it to the pigtailed victor.
Ranma smiled broadly at his opponent. "Yer pretty good." He said. "Wanna be friends?" Deep down, the pigtailed boy hoped that he would not loose another friend on this trip.
The young chef looked at his father, who nodded, then replied. "Okay." He said with a smile, "I'm Ukyo Kuonji." He said, "What's your name?"
"My name is Ranma Saotome." He said, "Uk….Uk…Uc-chan?" The boy struggled to pronounce his new friend's name, and finally settled on a slightly simpler nickname.
Ukyo smiled. "You can call me that if I can call you Ran-chan, kay?" he said.
Ranma nodded eagerly. He was so happy to have a friend that wasn't going to hit him with a hammer. He looked at his father who smiled and made gesture saying he could go play.
As the kids ran off, Mr. Kuonji looked at the man standing before him. "That style that your boy was using… It seems to be quick and sudden, more focused on speed and precision then anything else. Is that right?" He inquired, handing the man his own free okonomiyaki.
Genma chuckled. "Not really." He said with a grin, as he ate, "You may figure it out, though, if you keep offering such delicious prizes."
And so it went, day after day for three weeks. The Kids would fight, Ranma would win, and the Saotomes would eat, and all the while, Mr. Kuonji would try to determine the true nature of Anything Goes.
It was not until Mr. Kuonji spotted Ranma using one of his daughter's own moves against her, throwing rocks to counter her thrown spatulas, that he came to the realization. "He is modifying Ukyo's attack to fit his style…" He said, looking at the boy's father, "an adaptive, growing Martial Arts style… Incredible."
Genma grinned. "Indeed, Kuonji, every version of Anything Goes is different because it evolves as its practitioner moves around and encounters other styles."
The chef rubbed his chin. "Then I ask that you take my daughter and marry her to your son." He said, "Teach her this 'Anything Goes,' so that her skills may improve beyond their current level. I will even give you my yatti as her dowry."
Genma thought for a moment. With Tendo out of the way, he could easily accept the new arrangement for the boy and with the yatti they would have a nearly unlimited supply of food. But then, what would Nodoka say? There was no way he could go against his wife like that, and if he agreed to this pact, and had to cancel it later, wouldn't that make him no better then that rat, Tendo?
"I am sorry, friend, but I cannot, in good conscience, force my son and your daughter to pledge to get married at such a young age." He said, "Is it not, after all, love that is most important when choosing a spouse? It would certainly be dishonorable to force the children into a loveless marriage against their will, would it not?"
Mr. Kuonji took a moment to think about it. "You are right, Saotome." He said, frowning. "But I insist that you take my daughter along anyway, you see, my… night job is not the safest for raising children, and I wish to see my daughter into a decent family and kept safe from my enemies. I believe you are a man who can protect her and teach her to protect herself. I will give her the yatti, and you her guardianship."
Genma thought about this for a while. The master would have refused to train the girl, claiming women to be weak, but he was not the master, and he had seen strong women in the past, Nodoka and Kimiko were just the beginning.
He smiled at the man and patted him on the shoulder. "Let me call my wife." He said, "I will see if there is room for your daughter in Clan Saotome."
Kuonji nodded happily. Surely Genma Saotome was a great and honorable man.
.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.
A short time later, Genma and the two children headed away with the yatti.
Ukyo looked confused. "I don't understand, Uncle Saotome, why do I have to leave my Papa?" she said, her eyes filling with tears, "Doesn't he love me anymore?"
Genma looked back at her from where he was pulling the yatti. "He does love you, Ukyo, perhaps too much." He said, "He knows that he has enemies that would harm you if you remained in his care, so he sent you to be raised by me, as my daughter and Ranma's sister."
"Sister?" Ranma asked, "Uc-chan is a girl?"
This drew an incredulous look from the girl. "You didn't know?" she said, putting her hands on her hips and fixing him with an irritated glare.
Genma chuckled when he saw it. Perhaps they would end up married after all.
.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.
A. N. Before anyone asks, no, I have no intention of making this a full-fledged crossover. The presence of "friends from Kimiko's time in the Xiaolin Temple" grants a small amount of back story for the Tendo mother that was as absent in the source material as her name (and goes a long way toward explaining her relationship with Soun).
The fact that the funeral was held in the Hikawa shrine also suggests the presence of some explanations for Kimiko's wasting illness.