Chapter 3, A Mother's Odyssey
I don't own these characters. Please don't sue me, kill me or give me the Rage Virus.
The cries of a mother losing a child were the most horrifying sound anyone could ever hear. Pain, agony, and the sum total of human suffering could be felt by the listener in those wails that came incessantly from a household in the Nerima ward of Tokyo. Releasing the emotions she had held in her heart for over ten long, lonely years, Nodoka Saotome lay crumpled just inside the front entryway of her tiny home.
It took a decade to pen up the pain that filled her soul and an hour for her to release it. Over and over again, she cried out for her son, the boy she had thought she was to never see again and now may never will. Lying next to her, wrapped in a cotton cloth, was the Saotome honor blade. A sword she had grown attached to in honor of the pact she had made long ago with her husband and son. Had she found Ranma wanting, it befell on her to take the duty of kaishaku, the second, and watch over her son and husband as they honored the contract with their blood spilled with the blade of a tanto and she would mercifully remove their heads and end their lives. Once done, she had resolved herself to follow them to the afterlife by slitting her own throat with the same blade.
After her sobs softened to a point where she could regain her composure, she lifted herself from her pool of tears and looked outside of her open front door to see if her son had returned. Her walkway was empty, as was her spirit, and she slid the front door shut. On the quiet street outside, life went on as usual, but inside, her world had come to an abrupt end. She took a deep breath and slowly walked to her bedroom, there, she shut the door and pulled out a kimono from the closet and quickly replaced the tear-stained one she was wearing with one with a pink floral pattern; a happy look that contradicted how she truly felt.
The fabric's pattern reminded her of better times. Times where she would be cooking ramen for her husband while she waited for him to come home from whatever he did when he went out with his friend Soun, or that horrible little man. Despite all of Genma's faults, she loved him dearly for he gave her the most precious gift any woman could ever receive, a child.
She lay down on her simple futon and thought about the day she lost her child the first time. Genma had run into the house in a big hurry, which wasn't surprising since he did that often. What was different that evening was after he ran around the house gathering his belongings, he made the proclamation that he was going on a long training journey and he was going to take Ranma, who was only six years old at the time, with him. That too wasn't unusual, since Genma had already begun to train Ranma in the ways of the family's school of martial arts, but that day was different: he was claiming that her motherly nurturing was interfering with his growth and his future was in jeopardy. He had to take their son on a long training journey and he packed almost everything he and Ranma owned into a giant backpack. It was obvious that he wasn't coming back anytime soon, if at all, and if he was to have Ranma go with him, the idea of not being with her son for that long terrified her. So she argued with him. He grew belligerent and grabbed her precious little boy and the backpack and as he was about to leave, she struck him with shoes, a wash bucket and even the coffee table to get him to stop. That was when he made the oath.
Nodoka, exhausted from her sorrow, slowly turned from place in bed and moved over to look at a vanity on the other side of the bedroom. Inside the top drawer sat a tube and in that, was the document that sealed her family's fate.
Ranma will become a man among men. If we fail, we will commit seppuku.
Signed Genma Saotome, Ranma Saotome.
Covering the letter were the handprints of a child, her child. The child, whose future she entrusted to a man she hadn't seen in over ten years.
She rolled back on her bed and stared at the ceiling in a daze. Was what she saw an hour ago, real? Was that really her son standing among all of the Sailor Senshi? That red-haired girl, Ranko, was one of them? He and Ranko were one and the same? Her intuition had hinted to the possibility, but common sense said that was impossible. Many times before, she had visited the Tendo household and thought she heard the voice of her son and instead had found this beautiful young red-haired girl named Ranko Tendo, a distant cousin to the Tendo family. Thinking back, the girl felt familiar, like she was part of the Saotome family, not the Tendos. Once, Kasumi had commented on how Ranko looked like Mrs. Saotome and Nabiki had agreed with her, and at the time, she thought it was a cute thing for them to say. Now, she as put the pieces together, she understood how they were trying to tell her who Ranko really was.
She closed her eyes and cursed the newsreaders, the journalists and all the press who had prejudiced her against her son, all without knowing who they were talking about. Sailor Sun, dishonorable indeed! An hour ago, she had the entire team of Sailor Senshi give her a personal visit, all in honor of her son, who, by what means she had no idea, somehow had become one of them, a Sailor Suited Warrior of Love and Justice.
My son, was an honored Sailor Senshi? The very concept boggled her mind, yet it did explain some things, but not everything. Sailor Sun had only been in the news for a few months and at first she was more in the sidelines than in the front of battle. Occasionally, the news would film the end of a fight and it was Sailor Sun who was the first to leave and the newsreaders, always in search of controversy, made rude statements about how dedicated this new Sailor Senshi was to her duties.
Nodoka remembered all those nights, home alone, she would watch the news, each day hoping some miracle would occur and they would report on a heroic deed that her son would be found responsible for, and instead found the usual depressing state of human affairs waiting for her. Once the word came that strange happenings were occurring near the heart of Tokyo, her intuition told her that her son was there, making things right by doing good.
How manly he must have been, was the thought that kept her going as each day passed. She remembered something out of a dream where she was flying in the air on a tower of hot spring water, then falling to Earth, being held in the loving arms of her brave son. But that dream wasn't sweet reality because it was Ranko who had saved her, and not her son. Time and time again, she felt she was close to him, catching glimpses of him, and she was so desperate that she had allowed herself to be fooled by that Ryu Kumon boy who had impersonated her son and stayed at her home for a few days. Even though the boy wasn't her son, the idea of her son being home was a welcome fantasy.
Ranma was a girl? How was this possible? She kept staring, wondering, trying to grasp what had happened. There was no doubt that the boy who was standing on her doorstep was a fine young lad, strong, handsome, manly. Yet, he was Ranko for a few seconds and he changed before her very eyes? How?
Minutes passed, then an hour, as she lay there, numb, hoping for an epiphany to occur that could reconcile what she had seen and heard. The one in the red uniform, Sailor Mars wasn't it? Told her that her son was fighting the demons in their home dimension. Was that what happened? Was everything she had heard on TV had been a lie? What had she done?
The news had been brutal to Sailor Sun. There were several commentators who seized on the fact that she had been waging a one-woman war with the demons and gave little regard to collateral damage. Her attacks were vicious, swift, and she injured people by the shock waves of her wake as she ran at insane speeds to her targets. Some people, who were later discredited for faking their injuries, had claimed that Sun harmed them and were demanding compensation from the Japanese government. Hundreds of people's homes, vehicles and businesses suffered losses from the attacks, and without Sun to defend herself in the public eye, the tabloids pounced.
She took a gulp of air and grabbed her pillow in shame. She believed them! She trusted them, and they lied. When she saw Sailor Sun, she wanted to spit in her eye and tell her she was a coward, a disgrace to the uniform and she should pay for her dishonors. The other Sailor Senshi were always happy to have their pictures taken, especially Mars and Jupiter, and Sailor Moon always had a word of encouragement for the populous at large. But Sailor Sun was always the no-show, as if she had something to hide. The newsreaders argued over what could have been her secret, a jilted boyfriend, a long owed debt, and the most popular; she had killed someone out of incompetence or carelessness.
There were cries in the media for her dismissal, but when Sailor Moon came on TV, she defended her fellow teammate and quashed the rumors. Still, some doubt lingered among the older, more mature crowds. The kids were all excited about Sun's appearance and several young girls were begging to be chosen to join the Sailor Senshi like Sailor Sun, but an overwhelmed Sailor Moon declined all of those pleas.
As she had when she entered the pact, she had done it again. She acted before she knew all the facts. She allowed her husband to make that stupid oath and she believed he be gone for a few weeks, maybe even a year at most. The letters Genma sent her were of little comfort and all the postmarks were from every point in Japan and overseas so Ranma was seeing everything the world had to offer. Now, she saw Sailor Sun, and she judged her a coward despite the recent TV retractions. Finding that Sailor Sun and her son were the same person, a womanly man, a concept she reviled, she judged and too quickly. Absorbing all the words from the Senshi, it boiled down to whom did she trust, the Sailor Senshi as a whole, or television news that flip flopped on who they rooted for every day?
The tanto wasn't enough to atone for her sins. She needed a slow and painful death to pay for her mistake. Something to regain her honor and to show her son that she didn't mean to say those words; they were spoken out of years of sorrow and frustration. She wanted to get to know him, listen to him, be a part of his life, and only after knowing who her son really was, could she honor the pact and declare her son a man or not.
The pact? Was that really worth anything anymore? Had its meaning faded over the years? No, Ranma must uphold the honor of the family as required by tradition. But had he fulfilled it? Yes, she surmised. He had earned the respect and a place amongst the Sailor Senshi and that alone was an honor that any family would consider their daughter a true... Woman among women? But Ranma was a man, wasn't he? There were the times that Nabiki said he was a cross dresser, and there were those times she thought she saw him in women's clothes and those were certainly not the acts of a manly man. What if? What if he had sacrificed his manhood for the greater good? Would becoming a woman be considered a manly act? It was well known that Sailor Senshi were women and men couldn't be one. What if that was the condition? Become a woman, and help the greater good, forsaking himself before all others. Was that the ultimate act that had earned their respect?
What did this all mean? Did she lose a son, and gained a daughter? Was it so terrible to have a daughter, a daughter like Ranko? For a girl, she was certainly a tomboy and her language was crude and unrefined, but she knew her way around a kitchen, and she always tried to please her elders.
Ranko... My daughter? She had always wanted one, but fate decided it wasn't to be. Had fate changed its mind? Did the ancestors decree that she had borne a daughter and not a son and some mystical force had corrected the error?
All of her thoughts didn't comfort her as each answer she deduced brought more questions. But Ranma's last words were the one that mattered the most. To him, the contract didn't matter anymore. Ranma, Ranko, and Sailor Sun had told her in one voice that Akane was worth more to him than the honor of the pact. No matter what she thought, he was going to continue and make Akane his bride.
He was going marry Akane; the motherly woman smiled and finished her chain of thought, how manly. My son has truly grown to be a man.
She reached over and picked the cloth wrapped sword held it close to her chest. It gave her little comfort, but all she could do was wait for absolution, for forgiveness, or final judgment.
Cologne gave a bow of respect to the triumphant warrior in front of her and remained silent as Akane turned around and stormed off. Her posture, her musculature, her use of Amazon techniques all told the elder volumes of what had happened to the son-in-law for the last four months. She passed a quick glance to Shampoo, who was being attended to by Mousse, and resumed her vigil on the retreating Tendo. She focused and saw with other sight Akane's ki signature. Amazing! That woman has increased her abilities four to five fold! Shampoo didn't stand a chance against her. Akane knew it and used that knowledge to hold back her abilities at the onset to lull Shampoo into a false sense of security, a classic Saotome move. Ranma had trained her well.
That brought up another point. The son-in-law wasn't anywhere nearby. She would have sensed him, and that alone warranted investigation. Something had changed between those two, and whatever it was, it didn't bode well for Shampoo's future.
She would have to consult the elders about this new development. Convincing the son-in-law to return to China now was going to be much more difficult than ever before. Nabiki's treachery had done far more damage that the old woman had thought possible. The middle Tendo had to be watched from now on, if she was able to fool Cologne, whom else had she manipulated? Akane and Nabiki were a force to be reckoned with.
"Get up," commanded the elder in a tone that demanded obedience. Seeing no response, she hopped on her cane and landed next to her great-granddaughter and did a quick examination. The purple haired girl's arm was fractured, she had several lumps on her head, and bruises were forming on all the weak spots on her body, yet the face was intact. So, Akane did follow the rules of fighting. She had control over her abilities after all. Perhaps, there was a way to benefit from this.
Mousse patted Shampoo on the foot and stopped, as the texture didn't seem right. He adjusted his glasses, realized his error, and moved over to her hand where he resumed the patting. "Shampoo! Speak to me."
"She will be in no condition to answer for a while. Miss Tendo made sure of that."
"Why, that!" Mousse growled and pulled out a mace and chain. "How dare you harm my darling Shampoo!"
Cologne whispered, "I have to see how she handles this." She pointed at a woman standing near the entrance of the Cat Cafe and in a loud tone commanded, "you there, watch over her. I'll return in a moment." She quickly gave chase after Mousse who had reached Akane in a flash. He swung his chain around and cast it at the Tendo and as it was about to make contact, the girl spun around with a cry of "Bakusai Tenketsu!"
The ball on the end of Mousse's chain instantly exploded at Akane's touch. She ignored the shrapnel and reached forward and grabbed the chain. With a hard yank, she flipped Mousse over her head and he landed with a splash on a bucket of water in front of a small grocery store. Akane dropped the chain and stared at Cologne. The two women paused, waiting for the other to make a move. Mousse the duck emerged from the bucket and pulled a dagger out from under his wing. Quietly, he snuck up on his target, hoping to use the element of surprise. With a kick backward, Akane punted Mousse the duck into the sky without dropping her gaze at the Amazon elder.
The old woman made a grin and gave a hint of a bow of respect. Akane returned the bow, took two steps backward, and then resumed her walk home.
She was indeed worthy of being an Amazon. Cologne mentally remarked as she waited for a moment for Akane to gain some distance before she returned to Shampoo's side. There, the purple-haired girl's bruises were forming and it was going to be a few days before her great-granddaughter was going to be able to move again. Cologne studied the hit patterns from the head to the toe. Other than the arm, none of them were going to leave any sort of lasting problem. The arm? Perhaps it was Akane's way of leaving a reminder that she was defeated.
Cologne's respect for Akane grew immensely. She gently picked up Shampoo and hopped into the Cat Cafe. Once inside, she called out to all of the remaining patrons. "Everyone, we're going to be closed for a few days. I kindly ask you to please leave immediately. For your troubles, your meals are on the house."
Wasting no more time, she zipped to Shampoo's room and laid her down on her bed. "You'll be well in no time. After that..." She contemplated her next move, not sure if the situation was even salvageable anymore. "We're going to talk."
Down the street, Akane kept walking, head held high and exuding with confidence. She kept her ki focused behind her, sensing for any sudden attack from the Amazon elder. She breathed a sigh of relief when the old woman's presence had gone out of range.
Akane turned a corner and walked another block to make sure she wasn't being followed. Finding an American style fast food restaurant, she entered and went to the first empty booth she saw, sat down and relaxed. "How does he do that?"
Letting her guard down, she allowed herself to breathe faster to catch up on the oxygen she had been missing out on. Ranma had taught her that presence in combat was just as important as the combat itself. Despite the fact that Ranma couldn't bluff to save his life in poker, he mastered the art of bluffing during a fight. Akane was certain she could beat Shampoo, Mousse; she wasn't so sure, Cologne, no, she wasn't ready. Her bluff worked thanks to Mousse's attack. The fight with Shampoo was tough, the fight with Mousse wasn't a problem with him being turned into a duck so easily, but the young Tendo barely had any energy left after the battles that a fight with Cologne was out of the question.
The smell of the fries cooking behind the counter made Akane hungry. She got up to go to the counter to buy some when a familiar face approached her.
Sayuri, Akane's friend from Furinkan High school, was standing in the dining area. She waved and called over to the Tendo. "Akane! Long time no see!" Then she gasped, "what happened to your hair?"
Akane covered her head in embarrassment. "Nothing."
Yuka, another former classmate from Furinkan High School came up and she held her hands to her face in fright. "Oh, my gosh! Did Ryoga do that to you?"
Akane shook her head no, while trying to keep her unusually short hair hidden.
Sayuri took a step back, away from Akane. "You didn't do that on purpose did you? Oh, I hope you didn't have to pay them. Whatever salon did that; I'm never going there. I'm so sorry."
Juko, another girl from Furinkan came up to offer her condolences. "I think my big sister's got a wig she can let you borrow. It's pretty close to your hairstyle."
Akane glared at her.
"I mean, the way your hair looked like before it got butchered."
Akane quietly nodded in agreement and thanks. "Yeah, I could use it."
Yuka waved the others to the booth they were sharing. "C'mon, sit with us and tell us who did that."
Juko shook her head, "I'm never going to that place. Look how uneven it is. It's like your stylist took a pair of scissors and cut your hair off, blindfolded."
Akane groaned. This was not a conversation she wanted to have, "no, it's not like that. I was... I... I'm hungry. I'm going to get some fries, okay?" She made a step toward the counter with the idea of running out the door and straight home so she could put a paper bag over her head.
Sayuri held out her fries. "It came with my meal. I'm trying to lose weight, so I was going to toss them."
Mission, failed. Akane begrudgingly accepted the gift and sat down with her friends. "Thanks. Juko, are you serious about getting me a wig?"
"No problem, my sister has a couple of dozen. She lets me borrow them all the time. I'm sure she won't mind."
Akane reflexively ran her fingers through her very short hair. "It's supposed to grow back soon."
"Not soon enough, girl." Juko took out her cell phone and made a call. "Sis? Hey, I got an emergency. Do you still have that dark short wig? You do? You know Akane? Can she use it for a while? Yeah, it's like what her hairstyle is, or was. That's the emergency. Cool! We'll be over in a jiffy!" She closed her phone excitedly, "problem solved."
Akane swallowed the last fry, crumpled up the empty container and tossed it across the restaurant and into a waste receptacle whose opening was only twelve centimeters wide. The other girls stared in amazement.
Yuka stood with her mouth open for a moment before she was able to speak. "Akane, I know you're good in basketball, but wow!"
"Yeah, basketball." Akane replied sheepishly and added silently, I wonder how good I'll do on the court now?
"They must have a great coach in Juuban, have you been on the team long?"
"No. I've been... Busy..."
Sayuri nodded in understanding, "was it the monsters they were talking about on the news?"
Akane shuffled her feet, and motioned toward the door. "Kinda of, but I'd like to..." She pointed at her hair. The trio quickly escorted Akane out the exit. In a little while, the girls got to Juko's home where they all gathered in young girl's bedroom. Juko's sister came in and after the obligatory gasp of fright, gave Akane the wig and a hair net.
Akane took a few attempts before she was able to get the wig on to restore her former hairstyle. "How's it look?"
"Hmm..." Sayuri looked on Juko's vanity for a suitable hair ornament, and sifted through assorted bows, clips and hair-bands and stopped on one that piqued her interest. Holding it out so Akane could decide, Sayuri smiled. "How about this? It will look cool on you."
Akane instantly recognized the red bow as one Sailor Venus usually wore. "Uh, no thank you. Where did you get that?"
Juko snatched it away and exchanged it for a light blue ribbon from the top of her vanity. "Hey, that one's not for her. Have her try this one?" After tossing the blue ribbon to Akane, she quickly slipped her red bow in a drawer and slammed it shut.
"Juko?" Yuka asked, curiosity heightened to the point beyond resistance. "What's in that drawer?"
Acting nonchalant and failing, she moved in front of the drawer and stood with her arms crossed in defiance. "My underwear, what else?"
Yuka and Sayuri exchanged evil glances and charged their friend. Yuka grabbed Juko and held her tight while Sayuri pulled the drawer open before their captive could react. Spotting a hint of orange, the girl's suspicions were confirmed. "I knew it!" Cried out Sayuri in glee. "And you said you didn't care about them!"
Akane was adjusting her wig while her friends playfully scuffled, before a familiar uniform went flying toward her. Without thinking, she raised her hands and was about to form a ball of ki to destroy it before she realized what it was and caught it just before it was to land on her head. She held out the mini-dress with the orange skirt and matching orange Sailor collar and sighed.
"Give that back!" Pleaded Juko and she pulled herself away from a now laughing Yuka. "That cost me a month's allowance!"
Akane tossed it back, shaking her head that her friends were closet Sailor Senshi fans. "You cosplay Sailor Venus?"
Without an answer, she put her uniform on a hangar and hung it proudly in her closet. On the floor, with the rest of her shoes, was a pair of Sailor Venus style pumps. Then she sat on her bed and sulked.
Sayuri stopped laughing and sat next to her embarrassed friend. "What's the matter? I have a Jupiter uniform." She looked up at Yuka. "Yuka?"
"Well..." She stuttered. "I..." Akane's eyes formed a glare, as she understood that her friends were all Sailor Senshi fans. Traitors. "I cosplay Mars."
"You know..." Sayuri looked in Akane's direction, with mischief in her eyes. "You could..."
Akane's battle aura engaged full force and she formed a giant demon's head against her friends. "If you say Sailor Mercury!!"
All of her friends reeled back in terror. Sayuri covered her face in fright. "I'm sorry!"
The Tendo dropped her battle aura and calmed down. She sat in the chair next to Juko's desk and buried her head in her hands in shame. "I'm sorry. It's... I've been through a lot." It was then, that Akane did something the trio had never seen before, she cried. "It's... I... You don't..." Tears flowed freely as she remembered those horrible weeks in the desert.
Yuka slowly approached Akane; fearful of triggering another dreaded demon head attack. She stood silently as the seated girl cried and spoke non-coherent syllables. Waiting patiently, the three girls gathered around their friend and waited for all the sadness to come out. After a few minutes, Akane was able to speak again. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get angry at you."
Yuka put a comforting hand on Akane's shoulder and asked in a kind voice, the one of a true friend. "What happened, Akane?"
"I... I don't even know where to begin."
Juko shrugged and asked what was on everyone's mind. "How about telling us what happened to your hair?"
"You're not going to believe it."
"Akane," Sayuri started, shaking her head in disbelief. "You've been kidnapped by a giant blimp, you fought that eight headed orochi and you're engaged to a guy who turns into a girl. I'd believe it if you told me you're Amaterasu's avatar."
"Amaterasu?" Akane blinked at the mention of the name of the Japanese Goddess of the Sun. "For all I know, I'm engaged to her."
Sayuri giggled. "Now, I didn't mean it literally."
While huffing a private insult toward her fiancée, she looked away from her friends and stared out the window. "I don't want to think about that. I've had enough of Sailor Sun and her friends."
All three shouted in unison. "You know Sailor Sun?!"
"Here we go again," she muttered, hoping that the window was actually open wide enough for her to take a flying leap outside and escape.
"What's she like?"
"What powers does she have?"
"Can I get her autograph?"
"Does she have a boyfriend?"
Akane choked at Juko's question and immediately Sayuri patted her back in case she was choking. Akane waved her off, shaking her head slowly. "Sailor Sun? A boyfriend? Hee hee..." She laughed at some inside joke with a punch line that missed her friends by a kilometer. "That'll be the day."
"You mean?" Sayuri asked cautiously. "She's... Uh... Like Sailor Uranus?"
"No, she's nothing like Uranus. None of the Senshi are like R..." She stopped in mid-sentence, and sat back in the chair. "None of them are like her." She smiled cryptically. "Not at all."
"Spill." The three demanded together.
Akane held her breath as she thought about what to say, and none of the stories she could tell were ones she could share with her friends, no matter how much she wanted. She paused, thinking, and sank in her seat in defeat. "I can't."
The three gave the dreaded puppy dog eyes, the same ones banned by the Geneva Convention as a form of inhumane torture. "Please!"
Resistance to eyes, failing, failing, failed... Akane begrudgingly asked, knowing she was going to quickly regret it. "Okay, what do you want to know?"
"Well, is Sailor Sun dating anybody?
"That's something I can answer. No, she's not."
"Is there someone she likes?" Asked Yuka, begging for any sort of gossip on the Sailor Senshi.
Akane dreamily nodded, "yes."
Juko was a bit more observant than the others. "Akane? Is there something going on between you and her?"
The famed Tendo panic response kicked into high gear. She waved her hands all around as she tried to avoid any more questions. "No! No! No! No way! Uh, uh! No!" She then took a step toward the door, and Sayuri blocked the way. Quickly, Akane took the other exit and dropped ten stories down, as she jumped out of Juko's families' apartment window. The Tendo landed in a bush, and ran down the walkway at high speed, into the street and out of sight, leaving a trail of dust in her wake.
The three girls took turns glancing at each other, the window and the fading trail of dust for a minute in silence. Yuka shrugged. "I still say Akane would make a great Sailor Mercury."
Sayuri put a finger to her lip as she pondered something. "You don't suppose?"
"Akane?" All three stared out the window again for a moment. Yuka shook her head. "Couldn't be. Ranma would want to join them first."
"Ranma?" Exclaimed Sayuri in utter shock. "He'd rather jump in front of a train instead of... No, he did wear the cheerleader's uniform against Mariko."
"And he did represent the women's gymnastic team a couple of times."
"There was the martial arts ice skating tournament."
"Didn't he wear a bunny suit to sell okonomiyaki against that Tsubasa girl?"
"Wasn't there that time he actually thought he was a girl?"
Together, they all went, "hmmmmmm..."
Akane ran and kept running, away from her friends, away from her past and toward an uncertain future. "Dummy! Dummy! Dummy!"
She kept berating herself; both for allowing herself to be trapped by her friends and for letting her jealousy get the better of her. For months, all she did was fight a losing battle against her nature and she knew it was going to cost her dearly if she didn't change. She slowed down to a brisk walk, then a slow walk, and then leaned against a familiar wall.
She read the sign next to her, 'Furinkan High School' and rested her back against the wall to take a moment for reflection. Her head itched and she lifted her hand up to scratch only to almost knock her wig off. She jiggled the wig slightly to restore comfort and sighed. The words her friends said were played back over and over again in her mind and with each recollection, they cut deeper into her soul.
My fiancée is a Sailor Senshi, thought Akane as she studied the cracks in the concrete sidewalk. It's not fair.
Akane slid down to the ground and held her hands to her face, holding back the tears. The wig kept reminding her of what else she had lost. Once, her hair was longer than Kasumi's, but hardly a day had passed since Ranma's arrival to her home, that her hair suffered and the short hairstyle she had when she was little was reborn.
Kasumi would have a fit if she knew, Akane silently thanked her friends for the wig, but she knew it wasn't going to fool her sister. Ranma did his best to try to save her hair, and she was thankful for that.
"That jerk." Akane softly smiled. "He didn't come to watch over my fight." She purred and said the words of her sentence with pride. "My fiancée loves me. My fiancée…"
Akane reached up to brush her very short hair and sighed. With Sun tossing magical fire around like it was going out of style and youma goo being splattered everywhere, her hair ended up being a casualty of war. After weeks of fighting, it was a total loss. She cursed herself for letting Ranma cut it short the previous night, or burned short as the case really was. She felt terrible about her 'new look.'
It was almost as if she didn't have any hair. She growled at how her companion looked, with her gorgeous mane of long red hair, shampooed, clean, shiny and the young Tendo felt pangs of jealousy at how beautiful Sun looked. Akane's clothes were mostly clean from the washing they received yesterday which was after she had her first bath in a while, but now dust and fighting had taken its toll. One knee was exposed through a hole in the right pants leg and the seam of the right shoulder of her red silk shirt was about to come apart. Her black slippers fared the worst, acid from a youma attack had done a fair amount of damage and sheer luck kept the shoes on her feet.
Undaunted, she held her center and focused on her training. A brief moment passed as she collected her ki and she thrust her hands forward rapidly, removing the small stones from a group of rocks glowing red. In a few seconds, all but two pebbles were neatly placed in a small pile in front of her. The ones she had missed fell to the side but were successfully retrieved from the fire.
"Okay, Akane, you're almost there." Sailor Sun stood back, smiling with pride over her student. "A few more tries and I think you've got it down."
Akane shook her hands to relieve the pain from having dozens of micro-burns inflicted on them. "I need a break."
"Five minutes, then it's Breaking Point training." Sun scanned the horizon and walked ten meters away from their campsite, nervous about something. They were near the base of a cliff, over two kilometers from their cave, at one of the many training areas Sailor Sun had set up.
The Tendo gently shook her hands, trying to soften the stinging pain and found little comfort for her efforts. She moved away from the hot stones and found a large rock to sit on. From her vantage point, she could see the desert stretch out for kilometers, filled with dry riverbeds, assorted rocks and small dunes made of rust colored sand. Keeping a vigil, Sailor Sun walked around the area, looking for anything out of the ordinary and displaying an unusual amount of jitteriness. In the many weeks they had been here, they were attacked every other day, but now, the attacks had increased to twice daily, and this worried them both.
Sun returned from her scouting and paused for a moment, sweat beading on her forehead. She glanced left and right as if she was checking if someone was listening, then took a deep breath and gulped. "I... Uh... Gotta ask somethin' that's been on my mind for a while."
"What?" Akane replied, curious at Sun's strange question and even stranger demeanor.
"I... I wanna know... somethin'..." She gently nudged a small rock around with the tip of her red boot.
Akane's eyebrow twitched. "Know what?"
She slowly stuttered. "Will you ma… Uh, I wanna know if you wanna… You know. I…"
Sun kept tapping the small rock until it came into contact with a large stone, and the little one shattered. As if the action was a sign, Sun cheered up and gave her usual cocky grin and held her hands together in anticipation. Uh, are you ready to break some rocks?"
"Ready when you are." Akane nodded and stood up, excited for more training, and dismissed Sun's actions to stress. Living here was stressful to anyone, except for Jadeite and his creations.
The red-skirted girl led Akane to a group of large boulders at the base of a large hill, which were surrounded by basketball-sized stones. Sun went to one of the giant boulders and Akane stood by another. With a cry of "Bakusai Tenketsu," the pair pointed their fingers and poked the nearest stone. Dual thunderclaps shattered the quiet of the area as the boulders exploded into thousands of flying pieces. Akane held her arms up in defense against the onslaught for a moment and repeated the action. For several minutes, both women continued their training, Sun, so when the time came to rescue the trapped people, she could break all of the stasis crystals in a matter of minutes, Akane, for her endurance training.
Akane moved over to another boulder, as the one she was training on had completely disintegrated. Smarting from her injuries, she checked her clothes for more damage. Her left pants leg had formed a small tear on the side showing a small bleeding cut inside. "Now I know why Ryoga's so tough." She resumed her practice and was able to destroy the adjacent boulder when Sun made a soft whistling sound. The dark haired girl froze at the signal, and opened her senses to find where the threat was coming from.
Sun formed a ball of fire in her hands, and stood close to Akane. Wordlessly, she gestured to Akane to look toward the east. The pair held their defense poses as Sun took Pointe and they moved toward the small hill, expecting trouble.
Behind the pair, a portal opened, and a giant youma emerged. It roared at the two, and Sun threw her fireball at it. "Searing Plasma Blast!"
The creature's arm came off, which annoyed it, but didn't slow it down. The towering behemoth stood at eight meters in height, human shaped, orange skin, female, pointed ears, sharp teeth and a very bad attitude. It charged Sun who bounced out of the way. While Sun was mid-air, Akane grabbed a large rock and held it in front of her. She poked the rock away from her face causing it to explode in the direction of the youma, peppering it with tiny projectiles to draw its attention.
Noticing the taller girl, the youma decided to make quick work of her and it grabbed a rock the size of a small car and hurled it at the Tendo, who leapt out of the way as it smashed down where she once stood. Behind the beast, came a taunt, "hey, ugly!" The creature turned around to find Sun holding a powered up version of her spell. "Give my regards to Jed." She hurled her spell at the monster that hit it square in the chest, and it exploded in a massive fireball showering the area with roast beast.
The two girls collapsed from exhaustion, Sun from the overuse of her magic, Akane, she was just tired.
Sun fought to stay focused, and was winning her battle to keep from falling asleep. "Man, that guy's persistent."
"I'll say," gasped Akane between breaths. "How many was that today? Three?"
"Small guy at the farm, small guy over there, and Goliath, yeah, three. But something's not right. That portal wasn't his style. It seems like it's a..."
"Kill them!" Another thing appeared coming over the hill and it charged the girls. Unlike all the other youma that they had encountered so far, this one looked like a giant woman completely covered in gray stones. She wore no clothing, but her rocky surface made having something to wear unnecessary. As Akane and Sailor Sun faced their new opponent, they both sensed something was amiss and jumped out of the way as a giant rock landed where they were standing. Akane pitched and rolled and avoided a barrage of small rocks being fired at her. She did a back flip to avoid another rock and as soon as she landed, she got a good look at her enemies.
They were surrounded. Six stone golems had encircled them and gave them no room for escape. Akane held her hands above her head and called out her attack. "Thunder Hammer Strike!" The bolt of blue energy lashed out and hit the lead creature, causing no damage.
The golem paused only to laugh. "You'll have to do better than that!" It lunged forward, only to have its face meet with Akane's foot. The Tendo lifted herself over the creature and jumped over it. From behind, she gave it another kick, which it wasn't expecting, forcing it forward and it landed on its belly.
Sailor Sun stopped punching the creature she was fighting and jumped backwards onto a pile of rocky rubble. "Back off! She's my fiancée! Searing Plasma Blast!" Sailor Sun launched her attack and it struck the golem in the center of its back, engulfing the thing in fire.
Sun laughed in triumph. "That will teach you to mess with the Saotome School... Of... Martial?" She stopped laughing as the fire subsided and the thing stood up with only a few burn marks on its body for its trouble, otherwise, it was at full strength.
"Kill!" It cried as it charged its new target.
"Uh, oh." Sun got slammed in the face by a stone fist and went flying into the air. As she was falling to the ground, her fiancée caught her.
"Now I get to rescue you, jerk."
Sun smiled. "Thanks, Akane." The two looked down at where they were going to land and both gasped in surprise. All six golems aimed their right arms at the two and their wrists popped up to reveal gun barrels. They fired hundreds of tiny rocks in their direction that only their Breaking Point training had prepared them to survive.
Akane held her arms in front of her body to protect herself as she fell. She rolled up into a cannonball and spun quickly to avoid further injury and it worked by making her a smaller target. Before she hit the ground, she unrolled and landed feet first with her left hand touching the ground and her right hand forming a ball of ki. Only on instinct, she fired at the closest golem. "Thunder Hammer Strike!" As before, the attack did nothing. She jumped back to avoid the creature's punch and glanced over to her fiancée who wasn't doing much better. Sailor Sun threw a fireball at one of the creatures, and the beast recoiled, and then continued its advance.
The dark-haired girl was running out of ideas. She did a kick to the cheek, then to the back of the knees, and finally, she grabbed a handful of sand and in an unsportsmanlike manner, shoved it into the eyes of her opponent and nothing she did fazed it.
She judged that the fight was futile and jumped back to retreat. Once there was some distance between her and the three golems that were attacking her, they once again raised their arms and fired their guns at her. Akane spun to deflect the incoming fire and flipped over a boulder for cover, the same one Sailor Sun was headed for. Both girls landed behind the rock and gave each other a quick glance before Sun peeked around the left side of the rock, and Akane peeked around the right.
Akane saw all six monsters coming toward them slowly. "They're not as fast as the others."
"No surprise there. That armor of theirs is slowin' them down." Sun popped back to strategize. "Magic ain't workin', any luck with you?"
"No, nothing I tried did anything."
"I'm thinkin' I should use Solar Flare, but Mercury warned me that if I do that, I'd be out of magic."
Akane watched, as the golems got closer. "Then we'll fight without it."
"We gotta, 'cause if Jed figures out I'm dry, he'll send more of his goons to finish us off. There's gotta be another way."
"How about the Breaking Point?"
"Nah, it doesn't work against living things. If it did, the ol' ghoul would have killed me when she poked me during training."
"We can't stay here."
"You're right about that." Sun looked behind the pair and for kilometers beyond, laid open desert peppered with small hills, giant rocks and dunes. Judging by the lack of defensive positions, their path of retreat looked bleak. "Can't go that way, we'd never make it."
"Well, I'm going to try." Akane jumped up and landed on top of the boulder.
Sun cried out, "Akane!"
From where she stood, she noticed one of the golems was a little farther than its friends. Smirking, she challenged. "Come and get me!" With that, she jumped into the air, bounced off the ground and jumped high to land of her target's back. Remembering her training, she touched the creature at just the right spot on its back and shouted. "Bakusai Tenketsu!"
The golems friends didn't know how to react as they watched their companion shatter into thousands of pieces. They stood dumbfounded as another one of their rank exploded. Behind its remains, stood Sailor Sun, finger pointed forward and wearing a cocky grin. "Wadda ya know. It works."
Akane wasted no time jumping on the back of another golem and it too became nothing but grey gravel.
The lead golem took a step towards its group. "Keep them away from your backs." In a moment, it stood back to back with its closest ally, while Sun finished off the third.
Sun stood to face one golem, Akane on the opposite side, faced the other. Sun called out, "you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"
"Let's do it."
Together the pair called out, "Breaking Point technique revised, Boot To The Head!" United, the two girls jumped up, and kicked the farther enemy from each other, the one that was facing away from them, and the attack forced the two golems apart. Before the monsters could recover, both golems shattered from the follow up touches to their backs.
The two girls landed, barely able to continue. Akane gasped, "is that all of them?"
Sun also was gasping for air. "I think so."
Both of them fell over for a short break.
A minute passed, and Akane got her wind back, and she sat up. On her left pant leg were several new holes and the bottom of the right pant leg was missing several centimeters of fabric. "Great," she muttered, calculating how much time she had left before she would have to resort to making a bikini out of Ranma's shirt and pants. She deduced that she was changing her style of clothing in less than a week.
Something was different now and Akane tried to put her finger on it. She looked around and saw the remains of golems and they didn't appear to be trying to come back to life. The dust from the giant youma that came out of the portal, the distraction attack, had already disappeared. Then she noticed Sailor Sun.
The Senshi was standing there, with her hands low and her face high. It was the expression on her face that was different. It wasn't the usual cocky smile, or the arrogant manner that she usually carried herself with, no, it was a look that she remembered many years ago on her father's face when she won her first martial arts tournament. It was a look of pride.
Suspicious, Akane got up. "Ranma?"
Sun turned her face away as if she had been slapped. She slowly moved her head back, further angering her fiancée. Akane continued, "What going on?"
Sun nervously twiddled her thumbs. "Will you m..."
"Well?"
"I... You see..."
The Tendo crossed her arms in frustration. "Is that all you got to say?"
"Akane, I.. Uh..."
"What?"
"I... I've been meanin' to ask. But... I..."
Akane stared Sun down, waiting for her to say a complete sentence. "Ask what?"
The Senshi gritted her teeth. Why was it so hard? "When we get out of here... Will... Uh... You know?"
Akane held her head in her hand and massaged her temples to ward off a headache. "Know what? Ranma, we gotta go before they come back, so if you have something to say, SAY IT!"
"W..." Sun stammered, using all of her willpower to say what was on her mind. "It's been hard. I'm so... I... What I'm tryin' to say is... Well, the last couple of weeks, I've been thinkin' about us and I... I... I'd..."
Akane rolled her eyes.
"I..." She closed her eyes and focused. Use the Heart of ice, keep cool Saotome, you can do this. She already knows how I feel. She read the note. She... Opening her eyes, she lowered her head. "I ain't got nothin'. I'm a martial artist, and I know it's not good for much money. I ain't gonna steal like Pops. I... I'm gonna run the dojo some day, and I know it's what I want to do, and I... I... I'd really like it if you'd b…"
Akane listened intently, not knowing what Sailor Sun, Ranma, was talking about. It barely made any sense.
Tears slowly formed under Sun's eyelids as emotion took over. "I... Oh, Akane, when you disappeared, I couldn't imagine a life without you. I was so scared. I did things I ain't proud of because I wanted to tell you I..."
She whispered. "I know." She took a few steps forward to get closer to her fiancé but as she was about to make contact, Sailor Sun held out a hand to stop her. Akane stopped, perplexed.
"You know all the stuff that happens to me." Sun pulled on her sailor collar, "and I have no idea what this is going to do to us, but I do know something. Akane..." Sailor Sun pulled in all her strength, her courage, and her will power and got down on one knee. She was a man and men did it this way. "You know I ain't got no money, and being a Sailor Senshi doesn't pay anything so I don't know if I can ever get you a ring you deserve."
A shiver went down Akane's spine. She's not going too...?
Sun reached out and held Akane's left hand in hers, "I can't think of being with anybody else but you. I want you to know that even though I got nothin', no money. I can give you somethin' else. I can give you my heart. You know, me... What I'm tryin' to say is, Akane." Sun took in a deep breath, closed her eyes and focused harder then she have ever done before. Slowly, Sun opened her blue eyes and looked deep into the brown eyes of her fiancée. "Akane, will you marry me?"
Akane froze. Before her, Sun's eyes glowed with love and respect. The former she knew she had, the latter, she had craved and it was being offered, willingly, without the use of threats, potions or magic. The Tendo girl was speechless, and as the seconds passed, Sun's expression slipped from hope, to rejection. The redhead softened and closed her eyes as if she going to cry.
The Tendo fell to her knees, held Sun's hands tightly and nodded slowly, with a growing smile of joy. "Yes. Yes, you idiot. Yes!"
The pair lunged forward and held each other, and happily cried.
Please review my story. It makes me feel oh so happy and keeps me from rambling on and on about how your whites would be best cleaned with Tide with bleach.
