By RankoSaotome
Disclaimer: Ranma Saotome and the Nerima Wrecking Crew are copyright of Rumiko Takahashi. I, in no way, shape, or form, own any of the characters used in this art of fandom.
Author's Notes: I live... apparently...
- - - - - - -
Part 9
- - - - - - -
Going with the silver flow;
Of river wide and current deep and slow;
I rest my wings made to soar;
But can I fly anymore?
The river, it goes ever on;
Can heart keep pace;
Rushing swollen till dawn;
Now, I shake off weariness;
And go to meet what I can't guess
The heart has;
These secret currents deep and without guide;
To find out;
Where they will lead I take the plunge eyes wide
I like to know where you're from;
And where you are going to want to travel on
Now I stretch out my wings again;
And take back what I have said
The heart has;
These secret currents deep and without guide;
To find out;
Where they will lead I take the plunge eyes wide
"Current"
Opening Song to Suikogaiden, Volume 1
- - - - - - -
The Tadauri Shrine, a place that had given the young woman hope some days before, some clarity, and a little bit of joy. Before, it was nothing special to the young woman previously known as Saotome Ranma. But now, it was her home, her sanctuary. No longer did she need to live in the Nekohanten, though she would have preferred if she was allowed to, but she was elated when Tadauri-san allowed Mousse to accompany her and stay with her.
She had returned the day before to ask for apprenticehood. At the time, she had assumed it would take some scraping to get in, but was pleasantly shocked when the man accepted her as his apprentice right away.
This morning was her first day in training, and she couldn't be more excited. Not for the training, as it was of a mental kind that she had a vast lack thereof, and not for the thought of helping other people. Not yet, at least. She was excited because as soon as she began her training, she would have a purpose again. Now that she was no longer part of Clan Saotome, martial arts were almost lost to her.
As if she cared now, though. The martial arts had brought her nothing but pain all her life. If it had not been for being a martial artist, she would have never been cursed. If not for martial arts, she'd never have met Ryoga. If not for martial arts, she'd never have been raped.
But also, if not for martial arts, she would never have been cursed. And if she never had been cursed, she'd have never fought Shampoo. And if she'd never fought Shampoo, she'd have never met Mousse. And if she'd never met Mousse, she'd never have fallen in love with him.
In some ways, martial arts were the cause of all her heartaches, while in others, martial arts were the reason she had what she did now. Love.
Looking back, she looked at her beloved on the bed, snoozing. They'd spent the night talking and cuddling, nothing more no matter how much they wanted to. She couldn't help but smile, admiring him from in front of the mirror before returning her attention to the reflective glass.
She was wearing the standard shrine priestess robes of red and white, but also with some clothing on underneath just in case it got cold. The robes were not all that warm in the winter, but that also meant they weren't too heavy for summer either. So, she merely wore some warm clothing underneath.
Before moving, though, she fussed once more over her hair. She had noticed she'd been doing this more often since the incident that left her locked forever, but she refrained from fighting it anymore. She no longer had to carry the man-amongst-men mantle of Saotome Ranma on her shoulders and was free to express herself as she saw fit now.
But she sure was going to have a fit if she didn't do something with this hair! The pigtail needed to go. That was the preferred hairstyle of Saotome Ranma, who she no longer was. So, at first, she only unbraided it to think about it. In the end, she merely wound up leaving it loose, though she did put a white hair clip in the back in a sort of raise fashion. At least then the hairstyle wasn't all plain...
That done, she left the room, moving to the meditation room that Tadauri-san had shown her the day before, after accepting her as his apprentice. Today, she would learn the best she could. Nothing less would be tolerated.
She entered the room silently, and the training began.
- - - - - - -
It was approaching evening when Ranma stumbled away from the meditation room at last. The training had left her exhausted, and she was quite eager to simply go to sleep. They had all eaten dinner, prepared by Mousse since herself and Tadauri-sensei were training all day.
Staggering into her room, Ranma barely could summon enough energy to remove her clothes after closing the door. She wound up lacking the energy to put on her night clothes, which varied from pajamas to nightgowns, to even some lingerie that Mousse had bought her. She had refused to keep any clothing she'd had when she was still Saotome Ranma.
She wound up going to bed in only her undergarments, a bra and some panties. Soon after laying down, as her body began to relax for rest and her mind drifted her consciousness into slumber. In her sleep, she dreamed.
- - - - - - -
"Yuriko! Don't run around like that! You'll get hurt!" Ranma heard, making her blink. She knew she was dreaming, what with floating amongst the clouds over a city. A city she did not recognize in the least. Blinking in surprise, she slowly travelled down. She couldn't see all that much, not even the people, from way up here, so she needed to get closer. Though, for whatever reason, she could hear that woman's voice clearly from here.
"Ha ha ha! Can't we lighten up on the parenting for five minutes? We can't tell her she's never to have any fun."
"Ohh!! You cut it out too, father!"
This once more made Ranma blink, as she was getting close enough that she could make out three figures, amongst empty streets. She couldn't see them all that well from here, so she moved ever closer from the sky.
It looked like one, the one out ahead and much smaller than the other two, was running while the two behind were walking. But all she could sense from the three was happiness and joy, so she eliminated the possibility the back two meant harm to the smaller one in front.
"Yuriko really looks like you, you know? I can honestly believe that when she grows up, boys won't leave her alone!"
"Well, she gets her strong spirit from you."
The voices were familiar, Ranma knew, but she couldn't place the voices at that moment. The closer she got though, details started to become available. She couldn't see faces, but she now recognized a man and a woman, with a child. The child was a little girl, apparently named Yuriko.
The man was wearing some strange clothing, looking like a European tunic and breaches, a nobleman outfit. The colors were light and complimenting, speaking of choiceful picking. The woman was wearing an equally old, European designed dress with corset to match. It wasn't one of the overly large gown kinds, just a casual day dress. The woman had nothing other than her dress, though the man also had a longsword attached to his belt. This made Ranma blink once more, wondering what was going on.
The child was also wearing a dress, but hers was much shorter than her mother's, considering she was still an energetic child. Both hers and the woman's hair was red, their faces obscured, while the man's hair was black, his face also obscured.
"What do you wanna be when you grow up, Yuriko?"
Suddenly, the little girl was at the man's side, and Ranma finally identified the two adults as the girl's parents.
"I wanna be just like you, daddy! A knight!"
"Ha ha! Good for you!"
"Really now? Hee hee!"
Ranma moved closer, the group moving hand in hand, the daughter in the middle, and Ranma finally froze when she could see their faces.
"That way I can always be at your side, daddy!"
A little girl... who looked...
"I'm looking forward to it!"
... Just like her...
Slowly, she looked to the mother. And yes, it was as she feared.
Ranma stared at the happy portrayal of herself, wearing an elegant dress while holding the little hand of her daughter. Her redheaded daughter.
A beautiful redheaded... daughter...
- - - - - - -
Slowly, Ranma could feel herself returning to the waking world, and she blinked. It was very early, the sun barely filtering its rays into the room through the window shutters. Blinking to clear the cobwebs, she bolted upright, looking around frantically.
Hers and Mousse's room at the shrine. She sighed in relief. Although...
Ranma gulped nervously as she lowered the sheets to the bed from around her, looking over at her beloved Mousse. She smiled softly, before lowering her hand towards his hair to play with.
His... black... hair...
Suddenly, Ranma flinched and pulled her hand back slowly. She had to know...
Quickly getting dressed, she set out for an errand.
- - - - - - -
"Ranma? What are you doing up so early?"
Mousse had awoken when Ranma had returned, her face pale as a ghost, her body trembling. At first, Mousse thought something bad had happened, and was about to ask what it was when he found something pushed into his hand.
Looking down at it, it took him several long moments to realize what he was holding. And several moments after that for the implications to sink in. "Uh..."
"Mousse... I... I'm pregnant..."
- - - - - - -
To Be Continued...
- - - - - - -
A/N: My excuse for the long wait? Well, my excuse is quite the good one. There were no computer problems, no time factor issues. I started college, and also, I wanted to get the portrayal of this chapter and scene done well. I was not going to upload the chapter if it did not sound good to me. nods sagely
Well, hope you enjoyed! And sorry for the wait!