Good day to all of you. Team USA wins the gold (as expected) although Spain did give them a run for their money. I guess it was for the best since I was tired of watching blow-outs and the Black Mamba (belated happy birthday to you Mr. Bryant) got to finally show the world why he's considered as the ULTIMATE CLOSER. D-Wade impressed me with his play during the Olympics so I will not refer to him as D-whistle until the start of next year. It's really going to be head to be rooting against a lot of these guys (CP3, D12, etc.) especially after I cheered for them in this Olympics but unless Mitch Kupchak suddenly performs some sort of Jedi Mindtrick on all the other 29 GM's of the league then I doubt that I'll be cheering for them anytime soon. Okay, here's Chapter 14.
CHAPTER 14
White...
Why was everything white..?
It wasn't snow… No… It was more like an endless world of white light bathing him in its warmth…
He could feel himself… floating. He couldn't tell up from down. He didn't even know if his body was parallel to the ground or not.
Everything was quiet… a complete contrast to the irritating shouts and screams that had made his head throb not too long ago. It was such a welcome change from the norm of his chaotic life that he couldn't help but embrace this newfound silence.
He liked this… this feeling of peace. But what he liked the most was the familiar smell that tickled his senses and intoxicated his whole being.
That smell… it was the smell of flowers…
…of lilies.
'So you came…'
"…"
That voice… That sweet voice that he so longed to hear.
'…Even though you're falling apart.'
He suddenly felt a warm and gentle hand touch his forehead, drowning him with a strange feeling of elation.
'I know this'll be a good thing…'
"…"
'Question! Why did you come here?' the voice playfully asked.
"I… I wanted… to meet someone…"
'Meet someone..? Who..?' the voice asked again with an amused giggle.
"…You."
"W-Where… Where am I?" Ranma uttered, his voice nearly inaudible. His eyes started to open as he awoke from that pleasant dream.
He was… inside a room made out of wood. His blue orbs notice the small fluorescent light bulb that hung on the ceiling, bathing the room with its bright light. He tried to get a feel of his surroundings… He was lying in a thick yet soft bed, its silken linen caressing the skin of his body that he now realized was actually shirtless. A very warm blanket covered him from the neck down providing him with added heat. He glanced at the window at the left side of his bed and his deep azure eyes immediately widened at what he saw outside…
"A blizzard..?"
The sight of snow falling from the heavens like rain confused him. The day had started out as such a nice and blissful morn; he just couldn't fathom how this strong blizzard had suddenly come out of nowhere. And the fact that snow was not something that one would expect to see at this time of year didn't help ease his confusion.
His train of thought, however, was suddenly interrupted as he heard a slight creaking sound emanating from his far right. There was an elegantly varnished wooden door located on his right side. The door slightly opened as a little girl with long brown hair that stretched down to her neck and equally brown eyes began to take a peek inside the room.
The girl's eyes quickly lit up as she saw Ranma awake on his bed. She proceeds to enter the room, though the cautious way that she entered made him think that she was either very shy or just afraid of him.
'Bist du wieder in Ordnung? (Are you all right now?)' she spoke.
"Huh?" the young Saotome replied in both shock and confusion. He had no idea what the girl was saying.
'Bist du wieder in Ordnung? (Are you all right now?)' the girl said again. Yet repeating her words didn't help the youth understand what she was actually saying.
"I-I don't understand what you're saying…"
Pulling the warm blanket away from him, he gingerly positions himself to the side of the bed. But as he readied himself to stand up, he started to feel his body stiffen as his legs buckle upon trying to lift his weight. He felt so weak, as if all the energy in his body had been drained away.
He immediately falls face first to the wooden floor as the little girl with horror and shock in her eyes quickly storms out of the room and starts to shout things that Ranma again couldn't understand.
'Schwester, komm schnell!! Es ist ein Notfall!! (Sister, come quickly!! It's an emergency!!)'
Ranma lay on the floor, motionless. His body had frozen up on him; he found it extremely exhausting to try to even move. What happened to him? Why did he suddenly feel so fatigued?
A full minute passes by before he hears two sets of footsteps outside his room. He immediately recognizes the first set of footsteps belonging to the little brown-haired girl from before; but the other one was different. They were much louder and clearly belonged to an adult. And the gentle way that the much older pair of footsteps reverberated on the wooden floor made Ranma guess that whoever was accompanying the little girl was most probably a female herself.
The door immediately flung open and he suddenly hears the shocked voice of a young woman.
'Meine Güte! Was ist hier passiert? (My goodness! What happened here?!)'
The young Saotome tried to raise his line of sight towards the voice, but his head felt so heavy that he was only able to get a glimpse of the stranger's blue jeans.
'Marlene, hilf mir, ihn wieder auf das Bett zu legen! (Marlene, help me get him back on the bed now!)'
He quickly feels the touch of a pair of feminine hands on his body. The stranger hangs Ranma's left arm over her shoulder as she slowly lifts him up and starts to guide him back to his bed. The little girl from before also tried to help out as well as she supports him from his lower back. His blue eyes notice the strands of golden-brown hair caressing his cheeks. The simple yet refreshing fragrance from the stranger's body calmed his senses a bit.
This person… was most definitely a girl.
As his body was laid on to the bed and his head rest itself on the soft pillow, he looks at the person that had helped him. His azure eyes quickly see the gentle face of a beautiful young woman with long golden-brown hair that reminded him of autumn. Her skin was as delicate and white as a snowflake while certain details on her face gave Ranma the impression that this person who he was staring at was a foreigner. She was wearing a white turtleneck sweater that hugged her delicate figure. The young woman slowly covers the youth's body with the warm blanket as her calm hazel colored eyes lock with his.
'Geht es dir wieder besser? (Are you all right now?)' she spoke in the same undecipherable language that the little girl had used.
"W-Wha… What?"
'Geht es dir wieder besser? (Are you all right?)' she repeated.
"I'm sorry, but… I don't understand a word of what you're saying…"
The young woman's eyes immediately lit up as she heard Ranma speak, it was as if she had suddenly realized something.
'Ich verstehe… (I see…)'
She smiles before she continues on… but this time, to Ranma's surprise, she starts to speak in a more "familiar" language…
'Are you all right now..?'
Ranma's eyes quickly widen in shock.
"Y-You… You know how to speak Japanese!?" he blurted out, his voice almost shouting.
The young woman tried to stifle her giggles. 'Yes. In fact, even though it doesn't look like it, I'm actually half-Japanese myself. My family used to live there as well. Our house was in the Yamagata prefecture if I remember correctly.'
Used to..? What did she mean by that?
Ranma sighed before glancing back at the falling snow outside.
"Where am I..?"
'Well, this is an inn that my family runs for business. Even though it's not as grand as the other inns and hotels, it's still quite popular with the tourist here in Sankt Anton.'
"Sankt… Anton?"
She nodded. 'Sankt Anton am Arlberg… or don't you know the name of the place you're visiting?'
"Wait, what part of Japan is this place?"
'Japan?' this time it was the young woman who looked confused. She placed her palm over the black-haired youth's forehead, as if assessing whether he had come down with some sort of fever. 'Did you hit your head or something?'
"Of course not!" he said defensively. "Well…at least I don't think so."
She looked at him curiously.
'Tell me, what country are you in right now?'
"Japan. Why?
Worry was suddenly etched on to the young woman's face as she heard Ranma's answer. It was as if the young Saotome had said something very wrong.
"What? What did I say?"
'Are you sure you didn't hit your head?'
"I already told you, I don't recall hitting my head on anything."
She sighed.
'Ok… I hope you don't get freaked out by what I'm about to say to you but… you're not in Japan anymore.'
"What..! What the hell are you talking about!?"
'This place… you're in Austria right now.'
"What!!" he shouted, dumbfounded by what her had just heard. "No way! That's… That's impossible! I was at the rooftop of the school when…"
He stopped. Everything was coming back to him now. The annoying shouts of the people around him… their irritating voices nagging at his ear… and then… purple light everywhere… snow as far as the eye could see… and a pair of beast-like hazel brown eyes staring at him from the shadows.
But still the question remained… How in the world did he end up here?
It only took him a couple more seconds before he finally came to a startling conclusion.
"…It was… the materia..!"
His eyes grew wide with horror as he suddenly realized something… His pocket was empty. The materia… it was gone.
He immediately tried to raise himself from the bed. His body was still weak and it ached every time he tried to exert any sort of effort in moving… but he just couldn't lie down here and do nothing. He had to find it.
The young woman tried her best to keep him from straining himself any further but to no avail.
'What're you doing!? You have to rest! Your body is still weak; you couldn't even stand up properly a few minutes ago!' she tried to dissuade him but he would have none of it.
"The materia… I have to… Ugh!"
He suddenly feels a slight tinge of pain on his left arm. As his hand moves to hold the pained area, he notices something odd… Something was missing…
His sight turns to his afflicted arm and he soon finds that the pink ribbon which he had tied around his bicep was gone.
"The ribbon..! Where is it?!" he shouts in a panicked tone. "It was just here! Where could it have…"
'Calm down, alright. Everything's going to be fine.'
"You don't understand! That ribbon… that ribbon is important to me!"
Important…
Why was it important..?
Was it because… it reminded him of her…
The little girl, who had been hiding inconspicuously behind the young woman, seemed confused with all the commotion that was happening.
'Schwester, was sagt er? Stimmt etwas nicht? (Sister, what's he saying? Is there something wrong?)'
The young woman glances back at the brown haired little girl as she again speaks in the same foreign dialect.
'Marlene, hast du bei ihm irgendetwas gesehen, das einer Schleife ähnelte, als du ihn gefunden hast? (Marlene, did you see him with anything that resembled a ribbon when you found him?)'
The girl nods as she reaches inside her pocket and pulls out an old and blood-stained pink ribbon. She approaches Ranma and places it on to his waiting hands as the young man sighed in relief.
The little girl, with her cheeks blushing a faint red and a bashful smile on her lips, starts to speak again.
'Als ich dich im Schnee gefunden habe, hast du sie so festgehalten, dass ich dachte, dass sie dir vermutlich sehr wichtig
ist. Also habe ich sie sicher verwahrt bis du aufgewacht bist. (When I found you in the snow you were holding it so tightly so I thought that it was probably very important to you. So I decided to keep it safe for a while until you woke up.)'
The young woman, after hearing what the girl had to say, lets out an amused chuckle.
"What did she say?" Ranma asked curiously.
'She said that she kept that ribbon safe for you since she thought that it was very important.'
The young martial artist smiled a bit, something that he had not done in a while as he held the pink ribbon tightly.
"Yeah… it is."
He stares at the brown-haired little girl and gives her a heart felt smile. Something about her seemed so familiar. It was odd since looking at the girl's brown eyes… he really couldn't help but smile.
He turns to the young woman. "Could you tell her "Thank you" for me, please."
The woman nods as she looks at the little girl who seemed to be wondering what the young Saotome had said.
'Er möchte dir danken, Marlene. Du hast eine gute Tat getan. (He wants to thank you, Marlene. You did a very good thing.)'
The little girl's face lights up with joy as she turns to Ranma and smiles gleefully.
'Oh, we almost forgot to introduce ourselves! My name's Lind.' She then picks up the brown-haired little girl and places her near the side of the bed. '...And this is my younger sister, Marlene. She'll be turning 7 in a couple of months. Isn't that right Marlene?' Lind then proceeds to tickle her helpless sister, much to the enjoyment of the brown-haired little girl.
'Hey Lind, I just noticed…" he said, interrupting the two girl's energetic play. "Doesn't Marlene know how to speak Japanese?"
Lind shook her head.
'Well, not really. Our family moved here when I was 10 years old. Marlene was still a baby at that time so she doesn't know what it's like to live in Japan. And since most of the residents here in Sankt Anton speak German, it's become her preferred dialect. Plus the fact that our father is actually a native of Austria and I constantly have to interact with our guest by speaking German myself, it's really hard for her to pick up on any Japanese words.'
"Is that so…"
He closes his eyes briefly before glancing back at the young woman named Lind.
"Thank you… for helping me."
She gently shakes her head. 'It's Marlene who you should be thanking, not me. She was the one who found you.'
"Marlene…"
Lind started to playfully rub her younger sister's hair. 'She really took me by surprise when she suddenly came rushing through the door, telling me about a group of strangers that were buried under the snow. She said that she was just tidying up the storage room when the "Feuer Wolf" just appeared from out of nowhere and led her to where you guys where,'
"Feuer Wolf?"
'It's an old legend here in Sankt Anton. The people here say that during heavy blizzards, a noble spirit called the Feuer Wolf appears. With its red fur and fiery tail that continues to burn even through the harshest winter, it leads all those who are lost in the snow back to the town thus rescuing them from freezing to death. Personally, I haven't seen the Feuer Wolf with my own two eyes so I'm still a bit of a skeptic. But if Marlene really did see it, then I guess there maybe some truth to the legend.'
Ranma suddenly becomes quiet, his somber mood from before slowly returning.
"Lind… could you ask Marlene if he saw anything that resembled a purple ball when she found me."
'A purple ball..?'
"Yeah… it's also very important to me."
'Oh, okay.' Lind turns to look at her younger sister. 'Marlene, haben Sie etwas sehen, das aussah wie ein lila Ball wann du fand ihn? (Marlene, did you see anything that looked like a purple ball when you found him?)'
Marlene shakes her head in response.
"I see…"
'Well, I'm sure that it'll turn up soon so cheer up.' she said, trying to raise the young man's spirits though by the looks of things she was failing miserably.
As Ranma lay on his bed, still downtrodden because of the fact that he had lost the purple materia, he immediately feels a small hand tugging at his thick blanket as a pair of brown eyes looked at him filled with such great worry. He smiled at the girl named Marlene, wanting to assure her that he was fine, and in return she too gave him a sweet smile of her own.
This girl, though she was a complete stranger to him, gave him such a strange feeling of familiarity. And that name… "Marlene"… he had heard it somewhere before… but where?
"By the way Lind, the people who were with me… are they here too?"
'Yeah, they're still asleep though. We gathered them in two separate rooms, one for the girls and one for the boys.'
"Then why did you give me my own room?" he asked.
'Well, when we found you guys, out of all the rest you were the one who was in really bad shape so we decided to give you a separate room and give you some extra treatment.'
"…Thanks."
'Don't mention it.' she replied, graciously. Anyway, assuming that this is your first time here in this country then let me be the first to say "Willkommen in Österreich" and "Willkommen im Gasthof 7th Heaven"!'
"Uhh… What?"
Lind started to laugh. 'It means: Welcome to Austria and Welcome to the 7th Heaven Inn!'
…Austria.
A small smirk made its way to the young man's lips.
"Austria, huh…"
He made it… He didn't how, but… he had finally made it here.
'You should rest. I'll bring you something to eat later.'
As the two females left the room, a feeling of Euphoria slowly enveloped his being. Though he had lost the materia, he had gained something more.
"I'm finally here… Please, wait for me… Aeris…"
1 week later…
'What a haul!! What a haul!!' shouted the dwarf-like old man named Happosai as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, carrying a giant sack full of lingerie. On the snow-covered streets below him, an angry mob of girls that were of Austrian descent chased him armed with shovels and axes. Some of them were throwing snowballs at the old man, hoping to dislodge him from the safety of the rooftops in order to beat him to a bloody pulp.
'Perverser!! (Pervert!!)'
'Gib uns sofort unsere Unterwäsche zurück, alter Mann! (Give us back our underwear at once, old man!)'
They shouted at him furiously.
Happosai paid them no attention; the old man was too preoccupied by the thought that he would be adding underwear that belonged to beautiful foreigners to his beloved collection. And the fact that he had absolutely no idea what they were saying didn't help the cause of his newest victims.
'Sorry girls but I don't have time to play with you all!' he jeered at them with a perverted smile on his face. 'Anything Goes School of Martial Arts Secret technique: Extra-Dimensional Warp!'
A cold breeze suddenly enveloped Happosai's whole body and in just a blink of an eye he vanished into thin air.
'Was!? Nicht schon wieder!! (What!? Not again!!)'
'Eines Tages werde ich diesen alten Perversen fangen und zu Tode prügeln, das schwöre ich!! (I swear, one day I'm going to catch that perverted old man and beat him to death!!)'
As the mob of angry females pulled back and disappeared from view, a snowman that stood at the side of the street began to shake. As the bits of snow began to chip away from its frame, Happosai quickly emerged from its body. He immediately took out the giant sack that was hidden inside the snowman's base and after seeing that the mob that had chased him was no longer in sight, he quickly made his way to the 7th Heaven Inn.
As he entered the inn, he was quickly greeted by a young female with golden brown hair and hazel colored eyes. She was carrying a big stack of books in her arms.
'Good morning Happosai.'
'Good morning to you to Lind!' the old man replied.
'You're up quite early.'
'Well, an old man such as me needs to have his morning exercise so that my body doesn't become too stiff.'
Lind glanced at the big sack that Happosai carried on his back.
'Wow! That's a pretty BIG sack you have there..! So, what's inside?'
'Oh, just a few souvenirs…' Happosai answered. 'Okay then, I'm off!'
He quickly scurried away, leaving the young woman wondering why the old man was in such a hurry.
'Oh, Lind! I was looking all over the place for you!' a blue-haired girl called out to her.
She smiled. 'What is it, Akane?'
'I just wanted to tell you that Rooms 304 and 305 are ready for the guest that'll be arriving at 1:00 P.M. Also, Rooms 201, 202, and 204 need new rugs since we sent the previous ones to the cleaners yesterday.'
'Ok, I'll have Ryoga take out a few new rugs. Oh, and could you tell Kasumi if she could cook some more of those delicious Sushi that she made last night. A lot of the guest really liked it and they've even requested that it be served for lunch.'
'Yup, that's our Kasumi.' Akane smiled.
'Well I guess I'll just see you later then.'
'Hey Lind, wait!' Akane called out to the girl once again.
'Hmm?'
'I just… I umm… I wanted to thank you… for everything.'
'Don't worry about it. It's not that big of a deal anyway.' Lind answered, dismissing the thought.
'That's not true! It's a really big deal… for all of us.'
Thinking about it, Akane couldn't help but be grateful to what this hazel eyed young woman had done for all of them…
After Lind sheltered them in her inn and gave them food and lodgings, all of them decided to pay the young woman back. But since none of them had any money they thought that it would be best for all of them to work in the 7th Heaven Inn as an alternative way of paying off their debt. Lind, kind-hearted as she is, told them that she didn't mind at all and that they could pay off their debt when they were ready. But the group from Nerima, with the exception of Happosai and Genma who were more than willing to agree to the young woman's terms of payment, insisted that they do this for their hazel-eyed hostess.
Akane and Kodachi (who was unwilling, to say the least, to take orders from Lind and would've preferred that she be the one to run things) would help out in cleaning and preparing the rooms for the incoming guest while Soun, Ryoga, and Kuno (who, like her sister, was also less than enthusiastic in performing such "degrading acts of manual labor") would serve as Bellhops and carry the guests luggage.
Genma, on the other hand, would be the one to entertain the guest. The older Saotome was delighted with his appointed job since all he had to do was lay around at the reception area in his Panda form while the tourist watched and gave him bits of chocolate and other sweets to eat.
Nabiki would manage the accounts of the inn and her ideas proved to be quiet profitable to the 7th Heaven.
Kasumi, Cologne, Shampoo, and Ukyo were assigned to Kitchen duty while Mousse served as their errand boy.
The only two persons that were not working was Ranma and Happosai who was able to get off the hook by playing the "I'm a feeble old man" card, much to the chagrin of everyone else.
'We really appreciate everything that you've done for us so we'll do our best for the 7th Heaven!' Akane spoke as she gave a gracious bow to Lind.
'Like I said, don't worry about it.' Lind smiled. 'Actually, it's me who should be thanking you guys. This inn isn't actually run by business tycoons so we don't have that many people working here. That's why having all of you lending a helping hand is a really big plus.'
'Thanks Lind. We'll do our best.'
'Ok! Let's do our best for the 7th Heaven.'
As Lind started to head for the stairs, one of the books that she was carrying fell on the floor.
'Oh! Akane, could you get that for me please.'
'Sure thing.'
As Akane picked up the book on the floor, she noticed that the title on its front was hand written… not to mention, it was inscribed in Japanese.
LEGENDS and FOLKTALES of AUSTRIA
'This book… is it for Ranma..?' Akane asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper.
'Yeah, it is.' Lind replied. 'He's been reading a lot of books for the past four days. He didn't really look like someone who liked to read but I guess you should never judge a book by its cover.'
The young Tendo let out a lifeless chuckle.
Ranma had not spoken to any of them ever since they had arrived in Austria. He never ate with them nor did he bother to greet them during those rare times that they would meet in the halls of the inn. They were like a blind spot to the young man's deep azure eyes. And what was worse was the fact that he even requested Lind to give him a separate room from all of them. He was even interacting more with both Marlene and Lind than any of them, much to the annoyance of Kodachi, Ukyo, and Shampoo. Happosai didn't help ease the tension and actually made it worse after he once commented on how good Ranma and Lind looked together. The old man even went on to say that if he didn't know better, Ranma, Lind, and Marlene looked like one big happy family. Even Akane, as much as she tried to hide it, was a bit jealous of the hazel-eyed girl.
'Thanks.' Lind said as Akane placed the book back on top of the stack that she was carrying. 'I'll see you later then.'
Meanwhile, inside one of the rooms at the top floor of the Inn, a young man with black hair and blue eyes could be seen sitting in front of a desk that was littered with books. He was currently preoccupied with reading a book that had an old but still descent self-made cover. The book's title, which was handwritten in Japanese, was engraved on its front.
HISTORICAL LANDMARKS of AUSTRIA
After awhile, however, he sighed as he closed the book. There was such a grave look of disappointment in his eyes.
"Nothing…" he groaned as he placed the book on top of a small pile of other books at the corner of his table.
He started to rub his eyes, trying to keep himself awake. He had slept for only three hours last night since he wanted to browse through a few more books, but he felt himself slowly weakening as the lack of sleep was finally starting to take its toll on his body.
As he sat on his chair, deciding to rest his eyes a bit, he suddenly heard someone knocking on his door.
He smiled. Judging by the gentle and tentative way that his visitor had knocked, he had a pretty good idea who this person was.
He turned his head towards the door just in time to see it opening as a brown-haired little girl with equally brown eyes entered the room. She was still in her pajamas as her left arm embraced a small stuffed toy that resembled a bear.
"Good morning Marlene!" he greeted the little girl who was now slowly walking towards him.
The young girl hugged her toy bear closer to her body.
'Grud moring, Ranma oniijan!' Marlene greeted with a shy smile on her lips.
The young man named Ranma tried his best not to laugh too hard.
"No, it's: Good morning, Ranma oniichan!" he corrected.
'Good mor-ning, Ranma o-nii-chan!' she repeated with blushing cheeks.
"Good girl." Ranma praised her as he began to rub Marlene's hair.
'Good morning!' another voice was heard from the door.
"Oh, it's you Lind." Ranma spoke as he glanced back at the entrance of the room. "Good morning!"
Marlene looked at Ranma, her eyes intently staring at the black-haired youth as if asking permission for something. The young Saotome, after noticing the little girl's determined stare, gave her a smile and a small nod.
Marlene glances back at her sister as she began to speak.
'Good mor-ning, O-nee-chan!'
Lind suddenly smiled from ear to ear as she heard Marlene's words. Without even thinking twice, she immediately drops the books in her arms and enthusiastically lifted her younger sister high into the air much to the surprise of the brown-haired little girl.
'Good job, Marlene! That's my little sister!'
Ranma couldn't help but laugh at this amusing sight.
As Lind gently placed Marlene back on the floor, she stared at Ranma's face and noted the look of exhaustion in his blue orbs.
'Let me guess… you only slept for a few hours last night again, didn't you?' she said as she started picking up the books that she had dropped to the floor.
"Is it that obvious?"
'Well, the tired look on your face was kind of a clear giveaway. So, have you found what you're looking for yet?'
Ranma shook his head. "No, not yet. I've browsed through at least a dozen books but I still can't find it."
'Don't lose hope, ok. You're sure to find it if you keep searching.' Lind quickly placed the stack of books that she had been holding in her arms in front of Ranma. 'Here, try to browse through these books.'
"Thanks! You're dad sure owns a LOT of books!"
'Yeah, he really likes to read. Just be sure to handle them with care. My father's going to be back from his trip to Croatia next week and he'll definitely go berserk if he finds even a single scratch on one of them.'
"Got it."
'Do your best!' Lind then turns to her younger sister. 'Kommen auf Marlene, laßt uns gehen Treppen hinab. (Come on Marlene, let's go downstairs.)'
Just as the two girls were about to leave the room…
"Hey Lind, I was wondering…"
'Hmm..?'
"You're dad is from Austria, right?"
'Yes. Why?'
"I was just wondering why he needed to translate all his books from German to Japanese. It's a little weird since he would've understood his books better even if he never translated any of them. Not to mention, translating dozens of books from one language to another is a bit impractical and a lot of work especially since all of them are handwritten."
'Well… you see, when my mother was still alive, she loved to read books about foreign lands. My father owned dozens of books but they were all written in German so my mother couldn't read any of them. Because of that, my father translated all his books to Japanese; it took him a few years before he finished translating all of them. As for why their all handwritten, it was my father's way of showing my mother how much he loved her. I know it sounds a bit corny but I always thought that it was romantic.'
"Oh… I didn't know your mom was… I'm sorry for bringing it up." he apologized. Until now, he had not asked Lind about her mother so he wasn't aware that she had already passed away.
'It's alright. How about you, Ranma? What's your mother like?'
"I don't really know."
'Oh… so she's…'
"Nah… she's still alive. Pops and I left our home when I was 2 years old so I don't really know much about her."
'So you haven't seen her for years now, huh?'
"Not really, I actually get to see her from time to time. I even get to talk to her as well."
'Wait, I don't understand.'
"Well, the problem isn't that I don't get to see her or talk to her because I can do those things. The problem is that I can't see and talk to her as her son…"
'I'm… a bit confused.'
"I don't blame you." Ranma smirked. "It's really complicated. Anyway, thanks for lending me these books."
'Don't mention it. Oh, before I go I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go to the market with me. Some of our food stocks are low so I wanted to buy more for the upcoming week.'
"Sure, why not."
'Thanks, I'll see you later then.'
Inside the kitchen of the 7th Heaven Inn…
'So Akane, were you able to find Lind?' Ukyo asked the young Tendo as she peeled the skin off a potato with a small knife.
'Yeah, she was carrying a few books that she wanted to lend to Ranma.'
'…I don't like… Not one bit..!' Ukyo suddenly whispered.
'What did you say, Ukyo?' Akane asked, confused by what the Okonomiyaki chef actually meant.
'Shampoo no trust that girl..!' the violet haired Amazon snarled at the corner as she stir fried some rice.
'Me too.' Kodachi spoke as well. 'That girl has been spending too much time with my darling..!'
'You mean Lind?' Akane tried to reason with the three of them. 'Come on guys, don't you think you're all just overreacting a little.'
'Oh please! Akane, don't act like you're not affected at all by how those two have been interacting with each other!' Ukyo blurted out.
'Yes, I know that it's a little unusual, but… Lind was the one who took us in. The least that we could do is trust her.'
'It's not like I don't trust her entirely… It's just that when it comes to Ran-chan; let's just say that I'm a little bit more wary of other girls… especially when they're high up there in the looks department.'
'But still…'
'She's right..!' Kodachi interrupted. 'That girl's becoming too close to Ranma-sama!'
'Shampoo agree with crazy girl!' the young Amazon added. 'Plus, Airen no talk to any of us since we got here!'
'But can you blame him…' Akane spoke again, her voice carrying an aura of guilt and sadness. 'He has been through a lot lately, and we haven't actually been of any help to him. I guess it's only natural for him to spend more time with Lind since she's the one who's doing her best to help him search for her…'
'So what do you want us to do!?' Ukyo angrily retorted. 'Do you want us to help him chase after her!? If that's what you expect from us then I'm sorry Akane, but as much as I love Ran-chan I am NOT going to cheer him on while his obsessing over some girl's grave! And besides, this was all her fault in the first place!!'
'It's just that… it's been so long since… since I've seen him smile at any of us.'
The three girls immediately focused their gaze at the blue-haired Tendo.
'I can barely even remember… what a genuine smile from him looks like…'
'Oh really..?' an old voice was suddenly heard somewhere inside the kitchen.
The four girls' eyes quickly searched their surroundings, trying to find the source of the unwelcome voice, until they finally spot the familiar figure of Happosai sitting on the kitchen table and taking a bite out of a small apple.
'Happosai..!' Akane said, not hiding her dismay at the arrival of the old man. 'Just please keep your mouth shut, alright! We're already having a hard time dealing with all of this!'
'Well, it's just that I heard you talking about Ranma not smiling since we arrived here…'
'So…'
'My dear Akane, I just find what you're saying hard to believe since I just saw Ranma laughing and smiling in his room a little while ago.'
'What… I don't…'
'Who was with him?!' Ukyo suddenly interrupted. 'Tell me, who was with him?!'
'Just the usual suspects…'
'Marlene… and Lind..!'
'Yup. Like I said before, those three looked like one big happy family.'
Ukyo, Shampoo, and Kodachi began too clench their fist in anger.
'Why that little..!'
'All of you stop it!!' Akane chided. 'Happosai, will you just stop complicating things! And everyone, you should all be ashamed of yourselves! Lind had been a kind hostess to us and its just isn't right to think of her that's way. And besides…' The young Tendo lowered her head, her eyes staring at the floor. She couldn't believe what she was about say next. 'He's in love… with Aeris…'
Those words made all of the girls' stomachs turn. How they wished that they could forget about that one truth. The young Saotome could never fall for the hazel eyed young woman… because his heart already belonged to someone else.
'Yes, you do have a point there, but…' Happosai slowly took another bite from his apple before continuing on. 'The way I see it, there are two possibilities. Scenario A; Ranma, still bearing a grudge against all of you…'
'Don't exclude yourself, old man!' Ukyo reprimanded the old master of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts.
'Ehem! As I was saying; Ranma, still bearing a grudge against all of US, decides to seek comfort from other people. In comes Lind who is a new face in Ranma's life and is willing to help him in his time of need. Because the two spend lots of time together… whether consciously or unconsciously, they start to fall for each other. So if you really think about it… Scenario A is very possible especially since Lind is quite gorgeous herself.'
'What about Scenario B?' Kodachi asked further.
'Well, that's the really interesting Scenario…'
'What do you mean?' Akane questioned.
'Actually, what if Lind was in fact… Aeris.'
'Old man insane!' Shampoo shouted in complete disbelief.
'Just here me out my little pretties…' Happosai said defensively. 'Look at it this way, doesn't any of you find it odd how out of all the inns and hotels here in Austria, this is the place where we found ourselves in? I think that those two lovebirds actually planned all of this. My theory is that Ranma was about to teleport himself to Austria when all of us suddenly butted in and got teleported here as well. Since we're here, Ranma and Lind can't be romantic around each other so they make up an excuse that Ranma is searching for something and Lind is only trying to help him out. He gives us all the "cold shoulder" while they get to spend some quality time together… in his room.'
'That… That's impossible!' Akane protested. 'Lind doesn't look anything like Aeris. And she's already…'
'Dead?' Happosai interrupted. 'Well, now that we're here in Austria, why hasn't he visited her grave yet? And as for their looks, do any of you actually know anything about Aeris except for that painting that Ranma made. Artists have been known to take liberties in their paintings, changing it as they pleased. What if Ranma was actually painting a portrait of Lind but changed a few details of her face, even referring to her by a different name? What do you think about that Ms. I-know-everything.'
'…That…bitch..!' Kodachi whispered, infuriated as her teeth grinded against each other.
'That's it!!' Ukyo suddenly spoke up. 'We're going to keep an eye on those two no matter what! We can make assumptions later; so who's with me?'
Both Kodachi and Shampoo's hand shot to the air. But Akane was still filled with doubt as to whether such an action was truly the right thing to do.
'Akane, are you with us or not?' the Okonomiyaki chef asked the young Tendo, trying to coax a reply form her.
'But…'
'Are you just going to let Ranma slip away from us again? What if the old freak is right? What if that girl ends up taking Ranma away from us? Or worse… what if she really is her? I'm not going to let that happen! I'm never going to let that happen!! So whether you're with us or not, I'm going to go through with this… because I love Ran-chan and I'm not going to lose him again!'
After a full minute of silence, Akane finally gives them her answer…
'Alright… I'm in.'
Just so you know, I have yet to visit Austria myself but I plan to take a trip there someday. Oh, and for those who like to make fanart, could you make one that has Ranma wearing a SOLDIER uniform (I can't draw to save my life!!). I'd really appreciate it. RnR please.
Author's Note: (1)Translation courtesy of "Sephirotho" (MAD PROPS TO YOU SIR!!). (2) To all of you who were wondering, the materia that Vincent gave to Ranma/Cloud is called "Teleportation Materia". You're not going to find it in the game so don't even try to look. I actually got the idea from the Time Mage Class of FFtactics (Cloud actually makes a surprise appearance in that game). (3) There's a reason why I named the little girl "Marlene" but you'll have to figure that one out yourself. And as for Lind, if you're having a hard time picturing what she looks like then try searching for pictures of Belldady from OMG. They basically look the same with the exception of eye color.