I do not own Ranma ½ or any character part or parcel of that great work, nor lay claim to any of the incredible ideas expressed by Rumiko Takahashi, or Viz video. This is just a labor of love from one fan to the rest.
Like Fallen Leaves, the Willow Weeps. A Ying, Yang, Yakuza story (Y3)
Chapter 30: Side story one: The Tale of an Outcast and a Little Bird, Part Seven.
Shiro shook his head as he watched Kotori do yet another little happy spin when she thought that no one had been watching her. His own misgivings and concerns were being wiped away by the sure exuberant joy of his young pupil as they moved towards the massive ice rink. He had not been here for many years, for reasons that he honestly hoped would never again show themselves, but he could hardly deny Kotori when she had expressed her excitement to see it. She had never been to the ones in Tokyo, and this particular one was rather famous in Hokkaido.
It would be fine, he was sure of it.
Shiro was sure that his mother had been responsible for Kotori's sudden desire to try ice skating, but with how taken the two were with each other he could not bring himself to deny Kotori this one request. His little bird needed a family that would accept her, that more than anything else Shiro had become more and more convinced of as time had passed and student and teacher had grown ever closer to each other. No matter how close Tachi and Kotori had grown to each other, there was a closeness that was elusive to them with their relationship as teacher and student. Or at least that is how it felt to Shiro.
Kotori laughed as she glided along. Her training under Mistress Tachi had improved her balance and coordination immensely, and the proof was easily seen in how she moved across the ice. She watched how the others did it, and copied their movements while she incorporated Mistress Tachi's teachings as well.
She couldn't help but smile happily as she lost herself in the freedom and joy of gliding across the ice
Shiro smiled slightly as he watched his little bird fly across the ice. Watching her made him think of happy times of his own at the rink, before so much had happened and his world had changed so much.
A happier time when Shiro had found unexpected joy on the ice.
Of course, the main reason he had found happiness there had also been one of the reasons that his life had shifted so much, and not all of it in good ways.
Sometimes, he couldn't help but blame them for it.
The pair had been lazily skating for a while, as Kotori grew used to the ice, and Shiro had started to find some of the comfort he had found in it during his youth before a small blur flew past Shiro and glomped Kotori with a single name that froze the blood in Shiro's veins, and left Kotori perplexed and stunned.
"Charlotte!" The short young woman cried out as she slammed into Kotori, and latched on like a leech. Or a limpet mine.
Shiro went still as he stared at the young woman who had glomped onto Kotori, before he slowly turned his head to look over the overly handsome man who stood a short distance away.
"My my, imagine seeing you here. It really has been too long, Shiro." The taller man said with a gleam in his eyes.
Shiro wilted a bit inside even as his many years as his true self kept it from showing to the outside world.
"Sanzenin." Shiro ground out in the most neutral tone he could manage.
"Is that any way to treat old fiends, Shiro?" Mikado Sanzenin said with one of his saccharin smiles even as his partner continued to harass Kotori.
Shiro ground his teeth as he fought to remain calm.
The Golden Pair had appeared.
Chika smiled as she looked at the picture that she had been sent. It had been all too rare to see a picture of her son smiling, and the fact that he had been friends with a pair of famous figure skaters? She had been overjoyed when she had heard from them, and had only too happily made the arrangements for their reunion. It was what a Mother did, after all. She would have to get all the details from her son when he returned home.
Kotori blushed as she tried to figure out how to get herself free from the human octopus that had attached herself to the young trans-girl. When she found herself on the receiving end of one of Rei's friendly greetings, Qiang Pu's somewhat less frequent hugs, or the enthusiastic glimpse of Yaayaa it never had made her feel uncomfortable.
She could not say the same for the current situation.
Kotori looked for advice from Shiro, but her Mistress seemed to be engaged in a standoff with the man who had accompanied the octopus that she had been stuck wrestling with. In the past, she would have found him handsome, or even attractive. Now, though, he was being compared to people that made him seem rather plain and unappealing.
She almost felt sorry for this Sanzenin. He was almost painfully out of his league. He reminded her all too much of some of her past clients, when she had still been turning tricks on the streets. The kind of self-absorbed vapid asshole that loved himself first and last, but still needed others to reinforce those thoughts.
Perhaps she had really changed a lot more than she had expected, the more that she thought about it.
Mikado brushed his hand through his hair as he smiled at Shiro. "It is indeed fortunate that we ran into each other today. We haven't seen you in years, Shiro " He said as he reached over and pulled Azusa off of Kotori and dropped her unceremoniously. "Azusa, that was annoying when you were a teenager. Do try and act like an adult, will you?"
Azusa pouted and glared at Mikado. "Azusa wants her Charlotte. Giver her to Azusa "
Shiro grit his teeth then spoke as calmly as he could. "Kotori is not someone or something that you can have, Azusa."
Azusa pouted and glared at Shiro while Mikado moved closer to examine Kotori, who backed off a bit before Shiro stepped between them.
"I just wanted a better look at your pretty little companion, Shiro. No need to be so defensive. I never would have figured her for your type, since you are… Well, you know. Or did you decide to stop pretending that you are something you are clearly not?" Mikado Sanzenin said with a leer before he looked at Kotori. "This old pervert used to dress up in women's clothes. He even called himself… what was it? Oh, that's right .. Sakura. Can you believe it?"
Shiro watched Kotori's reaction, and intervened before she lost her temper. "What, exactly, do you want Mikado?"
"We just wanted to catch up with our old friend, of course. Oh, and perhaps see if you felt like skating with us. I'd love to see if you can still skate, Shiro." Mikado said with a cold smile while his eyes roamed over Kotori
Shiro grit his teeth as he looked Mikado directly in the eyes. "And why would I want to do that?"
"I guess if an old freak like you can't, then they can't." Mikado said with a grin and a shrug. "After all, you're just as much of a fake guy as you were a fake woman."
Shiro glanced at Kotori, and could read the pain in the young trans-girl's eyes. It was at that moment that Shiro decided that enough was enough. "I imagine that you have something in mind more than just us skating together, Sanzenin."
"Like a contest? Oh, that is a wonderful idea! Luckily, there are plenty of people present to judge as well!" He said as he looked over the throngs of their fans that had gathered to watch the pair. Azusa waved to the crowd, and it roared back at her.
Shiro hesitated for a moment, then glanced aside at Kotori dressed in her kimono, and him wearing a haori and hakama and made his decision. "Kotori. We accept "
Kotori stood straight and almost responded with a 'Yes Mistress.' before she caught herself. That was not the man named Shiro that Tachi pretended to be. That was the voice of her teacher and mentor. "But… I don't know anything about figure skating? And… Won't the spins and such be difficult with what we are wearing?" Kotori said uncertainly.
Tachi smiled at her little bird from where she hid behind the facade of Shiro. "It would, if we were going to try to act like them. You have your two fans, correct?"
"I do, but how does that help us?" Kotori asked as she pulled the two fans from the sleeves of her kimono.
Shiro held his hand out, and Kotori's heart skipped a beat as she passed one of them to her teacher. A minute series of movements and Kotori moved almost automatically into the first position of the dance that her Mistress had instructed her to perform. Her heart skipped a beat as Shiro moved to take the other position, and then they started to move to music that only they could hear as the speakers for the rink started to play the tune that Mikado and Azusa must have chosen ahead of time.
Kotori blocked out what was happening around her as she moved through the graceful steps of the dance. Any worries she might have had about wether she could pull this off evaporated with the steady presence of Mistress Tachi at her side. She was not aware of the eyes that moved to watch the pair of teacher and student, surrogate mother and daughter.
For both of them there was only the fluid movements of the dance. Slow, stately and refined. Those were the words that could fit their performance, not to be compared to the energy and execution of impressive acts that the Golden Pair displayed. Two vastly different performances, but each one held its own value. A battle fought with grace, agility and talent.
The crowd was slowly being divided between the two pairs as the performances carried them along like leaves carried on the wind.
Kotori had never felt so free, nor so connected to Tachi as this. It was euphoric and exhilarating. It was almost perfect.
At least, until she was rudely pulled away from it.
Kotori blinked as she found herself swept into the embrace of Mikado, her feet lifted from the ice as he forced her into a waltz across the ice. When she opened her mouth to say something, he dipped her and when he pulled her back up, their lips met.
Shiro finished the next sequence and turned once more to face Kotori, but instead of Kotori, there was Azusa skating backwards in front of him. He quickly scanned the ice, and spotted Kotori being swept along in the arms of Mikado. When he tried to make a move towards them, Azusa moved to block him with a fake smile plastered on her face as she made it seem like just another part of the performance.
That was when he saw Mikado force a kiss on Kotori, and the world seemed to freeze for a moment.
Then things started to happen very, very quickly.
Mikado grinned as their lips met. He loved the sudden stiffness, then how they melted against him. It was that feeling of surrender that truly made his heart race, and always had since his first stolen kiss.
He felt the young woman in the kimono go slowly limp in his arms, then she reached up and undid her hair, letting it cascade down her shoulders and back like a flow of midnight black water. He felt one of her hands resting tightly against his back as she pressed herself against him. Then he felt something hard pressed to his genitals.
Something hard, and very very sharp.
Shiro watched the spectacle that had unfolded before his eyes with a growing sense of dread and outrage, but that turned to an urgent sense of panic when he saw what Kotori had done. And what she planned on doing in response to this unwanted sexual assault.
He just hoped he could get there in time.
Blood was not easy to get off of ice.
Kotori had stiffened at the initial contact, then relaxed since it was the only thing she could do at the moment. He was stronger and larger than her, and had even negated any leverage she could have managed by lifting her feet off the ground.
The kiss was as vile and intrusive as she had figured it would be, but there was little she could do but relax into him, forcing him to carry her dead weight as she lifted her hands up and pulled her hair loose. The sound of the hidden blade sliding free of her hairpin was covered by the ice that was sliced underneath his skates. The fall of her hair hid everyyfrom sight as she pressed her hand tightly against his back, while the one with the blade dropped down to rest the edge against his manhood.
One rule when you worked the streets
You always tried to get your payment, one way or another.
Shiro rushed Azusa, and at the last moment jinked past her. He managed to pull Kotori's blade away before she could exact revenge for what he had done to her. Mikado started to give Shiro a thankful look, but went pale and still at the pure, unadulterated fury that burned in that single eye.
"If you ever so much as look at my student again, Sanzenin, then I will bury you and that little idiot of yours. Do I make myself clear." Shiro said in a voice as cold and sharp as a blade drawn across the throat.
Mikado paled and nodded as he moved away to grab Azusa before they both quickly exited the ice. Shiro turned to look at Kotori who couldn't meet his eyes as she slid the blade back into her hairpin while she kept it hidden between their bodies. She looked up and bit her lip before she spoke softly.
"Are you mad at me?" She said softly, and jerked a little as her face was lifted gently before Shiro gently hugged her.
"How could I be mad at you? What he did was uncalled for, and unacceptable. That was him, not you Kotori. Let's go back to the inn, and you can get a nice bath in. I imagine that you want to get clean and wash the memory of him off of you." Shiro said gently, then slipped his arm around her shoulders and led her off the ice.
After the pair had changed, they made their way back to the inn so that they could do what needed to to make Kotori feel better.
The Golden Pair sat quietly across from each other for a bit as Azusa comforted herself with some random object she had claimed as her own. Mikado laid his head back and let out a long breath.
"That didn't go as I had hoped." Mikado said as he shook his head. "But it seems that our patron's information was correct on them coming back to visit." He said as he sighed. He looked at the message from the patron that was only known as Fuku, the patron that had passed along the information to them.
Fuku used the kanji for 'Happiness' for his handle.
*A/N*
Thank you all for reading and sticking with me so far!
This is one of my most ambitious projects ever. A story told across multiple writings, timelines, and locations with characters in different places in their lives.
I thank you all for following this journey, and the input I get from you!
There is a great deal to go before this story comes to an end, and I look forward to walking this road with all of you!
Stay Frosty!