Disclaimer: (Buckling under the pressure.) These characters are not my own. They are the creations of Rumiko Takahashi. I'm merely using them.{Authors voice takes demonic edge while his eyes begin to glow}.Distorting, twisting, changing them at my whim.. dance puppets..DANCE!!! (I obey the letter of the law, not the spirit.)
Drain Bramaged Inc. Presents,
A Mad-Hamlet Production
General Advisory: This fic is...not nice. Dark would be a good term. Yes, we'll go with Dark. I suppose a heavy lime label could also be slapped on it. However as I equate 'lime' as somewhat erotic it wouldn't apply here as some of the goings-on herein are so far from erotic the light from Erotic will never, ever reach it.
Come in From the Cold
Chapter 2
The two girls sat across from each other. On the left one still dressed in her mandatory school uniform, on the right the other in light traveling clothes. The one in the clothes sat with her legs crossed, arms folded over her chest, her back ramrod straight. The light breeze that blew in from the yard played with her Lung, braided hair that swung free. The other girl, with her short, pageboy haircut, sat equally stiff. Her arms were not folded across her chest, instead embracing a third young woman who slept peacefully. The idle wind also teased the hair of the young girl just home from school.
The Dreamer in her lap was ignorant of anything.
The traveler.
The schoolgirl.
The breeze.
The mental war raging between the two seated women; she slept the sleep of the blessed. After having been damned for so Lung, she deserved it.
Akane's fierce gaze met a wall of indifference from the self proclaimed ex-Amazon. By will aLune she tried to convey nearly two years of hurt, tears, betrayal and hatred. She wanted to share her loathing for the girl in front of her, how little she trusted her and how, if the day ever came, she'd dance on the ex-Amazon's corpse and prepare it for burial with an axe and rusty spade.
It didn't work.
With an exasperated sigh Akane spoke first. "Alright, you said we'd talk. We've been sitting her for five minutes Xia-." Akane bit her tongue. She tried again.
"What should I call you?"
The formerly named Shan Pu gave a twitch that could have been interpreted as a shrug.
"Xiaoyu. It good enough for now."
"Fine, whatever, why did Ranma run away?"
Xiaoyu cocked her head to one side. "You sure you is Akane?" She asked.
"What's that supposed to mean?" The anger, which had been banished mere moments before, began to creep back into her Akane's voice.
"What Xiaoyu mean is, she call you pervert, and kitchen destroyer, she even call you stupid. Never think Akane stupid though. Maybe Xiaoyu should reconsider?"
The storm broke. Akane wanted to rise to her feet. To smash and destroy, to let vent her fury upon this hateful bitch before her and annihilate her enemy, utterly, from the face of creation. She shifted her weight, preparing to follow through on those desires. It was fortuitous for all involved that just at that moment Ranma chose to shift a little in her sleep. Her hands instinctively gripped a loose fold of Akane's skirt as she began to mumble.
"Kane...love....knew you...light, finally...light."
Distracted, Akane gazed down at her charge, her features softened and she gently brushed an errant lock of crimson hair from in front of the redhead's face.
"Ranma-no-Baka." She whispered affectionately.
Wherever she was, whatever she was seeing, Ranma must have heard her for, even still asleep, a smile crossed her face.
Xiaoyu watched this exchange of feelings seemingly unmoved, but inside, deep inside the Chinese girl, the wall crumbled.
It had not been the anger of Akane, or the waves of numbing guilt that had assaulted her dreams for over a year. These foes had flung themselves helplessly against her mental fortress, having all the effect a speck of dust has upon a storm. Now the feelings she saw before her were different. They had not attacked her, she, in fact, was simply not a factor. All she had done was get in their way. Knowing that, knowing that she, Xiaoyu, had stood in the way of this love, had nearly prevented this glorious joy, knowing this added to the weight of her existing sins, a thousand by a thousand times.
It broke her.
It shattered her.
It crushed her.
It freed her.
At last she could cry.
Akane glanced up at Xiaoyu. Her posture had not changed; she still sat perfectly still and tall, but where she had appeared cold and aloof a moment before, now tears ran silently down her face.
"Xiaoyu ..is..." Xiaoyu choked out then stopped.
She bowed her head for a moment then raising it up again met Akane's gaze.
"I am very sorry for the pain I have brought on you, your family, and your loved ones."
With that said Xiaoyu, bending only at the waist, bowed before Akane.
Akane was a little flustered, first Ranma had returned, scarred terribly, and with a child of all things. Shan Pu had followed after insisting she be called Xiaoyu and now she was speaking perfect Japanese and apologizing! Akane was kind of hoping she'd have been an irritating hussy, then, at least, some things could have been considered 'normal.'
Focusing on Xiaoyu, still bent over at the waist, Akane returned the bow to a lesser extent and formally responded.
"I accept your apologies Xiaoyu but again respectfully ask to the events that lead to Ranma's disappearance and left him in such a state."
Xiaoyu fought back the urge to shudder. The story she had to relate was not going to be pleasant for anyone, the listener or the storyteller. Hopefully she who the story was about would remain asleep and escape having to revisit the memories. She doubted she'd live to complete the tale but she had to fulfill the request, as honor demanded.
"It begins with the fact, Akane," Xiaoyu continued in flawless Japanese. "That Ranma did not run away. He was taken. As you as probably guessed we took him, Ke Lun and myself. You probably thought as much hundreds of times since all of us disappeared twenty months ago. After the disaster at your 'wedding' Ke Lun lost all patience with guile and subtlety. Shan Pu being such a stupid child did exactly as she was told without so much as a whisper of protest. She honestly believed that what she was doing was for the best and even if it wasn't nothing mattered so Lung as she got her 'Airen'."
As she spoke, her mind wandered back to that day, one now she cursed almost above all others.
Ranma marched home. It had been a good day, which was a rarity in his life, though it was happening with a bit more frequency. Even Akane's announcement that she was cooking dinner hadn't failed to sway his good mood. The two had been getting along much better the past few weeks, Akane herself seemed a genuinely happier person.
"Who knows?" Ranma thought to himself. "Maybe it'll finally reflect on her cooking?"
A cheerful "Nihao, Airen" interrupted his musings.
With a mental groan, Ranma turned to the ever-bouncy Amazon.
"Hey, Shampoo." He mumbled.
"Airen come to Nekohanten? Have too too delicious Ramen with wife?"
Shampoo had bounced to a stop directly in front of Ranma. Her fists were bunched under her chin. The happy smile and large, innocent eyes glistening in the sun made her appear a picture of cuteness; if you went for that sort of thing.
Ranma began to reply in the negative when his stomach caught up with his mouth.
"Shampoo's Ramen versus Akane's Cooking." He mused. "Well, Akane's cooking has been getting... more cooperative. But..."
"Well...promise no tricks?" He asked.
With an eager nod Shampoo replied, "Yes, yes, Shampoo promise on honor, no tricks."
His mind ran with that, receiving encouragement from his appetite.
"If I eat Akane's food I'll probably be knocked out, both by the food and Akane. If I eat some ramen with Shampoo at most I'll be knocked out once and won't be too hungry afterwards."
"Okay." Ranma said. "Let's go. Just ramen though."
"Shampoo so happy!" She giggled with a bounce. "Come come, follow Shampoo!"
A few minutes later Shampoo entered into the Nekohanten with Ranma walking through the door a second later. Shampoo vanished into the kitchen, calling back she was getting the "too too delicious meal for her airen."
Ranma idly noticed Mousse standing behind the counter wiping it down with a wet rag.
"Heh," Ranma thought. "The two ladies must have been beatin' on him pretty good for him not to attack me simply for bein' here."
Cologne, hopping on her staff, bounded out of the kitchen a second later to stop in front of Ranma.
"Welcome Son-in-law. Please have a seat." She gestured to one of the nearby tables.
Ranma eyed the matriarch carefully for a moment but slowly sat down.
As Ranma took a seat Cologne hopped onto the table.
"Well, Son-in-law it is fortuitous that you came to us today."
"Oh yeah? How's that?" Ranma replied. "And I ain't your Son-in-law." he shot out as an afterthought.
Ranma glanced around the room. Save for him and the Amazons it was empty.
A slight buzzing began at the back of his mind.
Cologne dismissed Ranma's protests with a wave of her hand. "Your status is neither here nor there right now, it would seem that we need your help, Son-in-law. We have a problem that only you can aid us in."
"I knew it," Ranma thought. "Just ramen, riiiggghhtt."
Still looking about the room Ranma nonchalantly replied, "An' what's the problem then?"
"Man," He thought to himself. "this place is kinda creepy bein' all quiet- Quiet? It's silent in here! Restaurants are never silent, there's always somethin' cookin' or-"
Ranma's eyes locked on Mousse. The Chinese boy was studiously ignoring him seemingly involved in his task of cleaning the countertop. The same spot on the countertop, the same spot he had been cleaning since Ranma had entered. Then Cologne's words registered.
"Restoring Shan Pu's honor!"
Ranma instinctively pushed at the table trying to flip the chair backwards, away and beneath the blow he knew was coming. He was a heartbeat too slow.
The top of Ke Lun's staff connected with the side of his head just beneath his ear, catapulting him across the restaurant. Even as he flew, even with the pain of the attack coursing across his skull and the bright lights dancing before his vision, Ranma's mind planned.
Tuck.
Roll.
Flip to feet.
Jump out window.
He never got the chance. Mu Se's chain wrapped around his left foot, then, pivoting on his heel, Mousse sent Ranma into the kitchen wall.
Before he could react to the impact they were on top of him.
Shan Pu attacked from the right, Mu Se, now wielding a steel-banded cudgel, from the left.
Ranma saw them. He saw it all. He saw the swirling colors and patterns decorating Shan Pu's bonbori. He saw the thick bands of metal encircling the wooden shaft of Mu Se's cudgel; he even saw the faint shimmer of regret in Shan Pu's eyes.
Then he saw nothing at all.
Akane's jaw was clenched so tightly her teeth threatened to shatter inside her skell.
The words had to be forced out.
"You. Swore. On. Your. Honor. And you attacked him?"
Xiaoyu could only nod. Her lips were pressed tightly together forming a fine line and her eyes, though wet and brimming with tears did not-- were not allowed to cry.
"That," Xiaoyu said in a clipped voice, tightly holding on to her control. "Was the least of my many crimes. It only gets worse."
"Continue." Akane said.
Xiaoyu, recognizing it as a command and not a request, complied.
***
Ranma slowly opened his eyes and instantly wished he hadn't. The light from the dim, ancient bulb directly over head stabbed painfully into the back of his mind. It was just one voice in a chorus of agony though, not much to pay attention to, really.
He tried to sit up but found himself restrained. Glancing at his wrists he saw the metal band securely fastened to the metal plate upon which he was lying. Tilting his head a little he saw his ankles were similarly shackled. He gave an experimental tug on the metal cuff binding his left wrist and was only rewarded with the stinging pain of rough metal cutting into flesh.
He nose wrinkled as a stench attacked it.
"Eyuck." He mumbled. "Smells like rotten fish!"
"It is rotten fish Son-in-law," Ke Lun said bouncing out of the shadows. "Which means, yes, we are on a boat, and yes, it is going to China."
Shan Pu and Mu Se silently stepped out the shadows behind the Matriarch. Shan Pu had a bonbori in one hand while Mu Se was idly fingering a large, curved, blade. Both said nothing to Ranma, merely content to stare at him and continue to play with their weapons.
"Now, Son-in-law, you will swear to me a vow." Ke Lun continued.
"Why would I do somethin' like that, ya old maggot?" Ranma snarled back.
He stifled a curse as Ke Lun's staff cracked him on the head adding to the cacophony already inside.
"While I admit being called a maggot is something new, it is still disrespectful and you will give me respect Son-in-law."
"Earn it!" Ranma snapped.
This earned him another blow to the skell. He didn't know how much more he could take. Already the light was getting dimmer and he was having a hard time hearing things clearly.
"This grows tiresome Son-in-law." Ke Lun sighed. "Now, about that oath."
"I ain't swearin' nothing."
Ke Lun seemed amused by his defiance; she laughed softly.
"Oh yes, you will." Ke Lun pinned him with a ghastly smile.
"Or what? You'll send one'o your Amazons to kill my friends?" Ranma was shouting now. "Big threat, you and I both know that Shampoo is yer' best and if she's the best you got the folks back home would eat em' for lunch."
Ke Lun chuckled. "You're quite right, Son-in-law. No I would not send Shan Pu or Mu Se to harm your friends and loved ones." The amused look vanished from the Matriarch's features like magic and Ranma found himself seeing a Ke Lun he had never seen before. He looked into the twisted features of a beast.
"I would go myself, whelp."
Ke Lun was perched atop her staff and though still short in stature she seemed to tower over his prone form. An aura of menace seemed to spread across the room. Shan Pu involuntarily took a step backwards, her eyes wide. Oddly, Mu Se seemed unaffected; he merely stood behind Ke Lun, still fingering his sword and occasionally muttering to himself.
"Do you really think that after hearing of your feats on Phoenix Mountain I would allow one such as you to slip from our fingers?" Ke Lun began. "With the blood of your family flowing through our tribe the Amazons future is assured! Even the Chinese government dared not oppose Saffron and if we have the power that destroyed him... The Amazon nation itself could be resurrected. I could not allow an opportunity such as that to simply melt away just because you didn't want to. However I am not foolish enough to think even I can restrain you through force, so that leaves only oaths and threats."
She paused. "If you do not swear to be Shan Pu's loyal and obedient husband I, myself, will return to Nerima!"
Ke Lun's voice dropped low, and her scratchy, cawing, tone melted away into an ominous, soft purr that threaded across the space dividing them promising only absolute truth.
"I will kill Akane,
I will kill Nabiki,
I will kill Kasumi. I'll butcher both those pathetic excuses for fathers and allow your mother to feel the Saotome blade from the other end before she dies! Your friends, your acquaintances too; even your enemies will I slay."
Ke Lun's voice began to grown in pitch and intensity as she went on and on, spitting out a list of blood oaths and death threats. Higher and higher her voice rose, breaking away from the quiet, deadly purr, shattering it as her words began to screech along the listeners' ears.
"Do not think either that because your oath was made under duress it is any less binding, either. Even if you should happen to escape the village you cannot hope to reach Nerima before I. I know my homeland far better than you and would reach Japan first. When you finally returned you would be greeted by a dead world and I..."
Her voice dropped again to that lethal purr. "I would be waiting."
In an instant the sense of danger pervading the room vanished. Ke Lun now stood on her staff, no Lunger a monster, just a tiny, harmless old woman.
"But of course," Ke Lun finished in a normal tone of voice, the very picture of reasonableness. "None of this need to occur. All you have to do is swear." She said it like she was asking to borrow a cup of sugar.
Ranma snarled. "If you touch them I'll KILL you!"
Ke Lun nodded. "Very well. Shan Pu! Instruct the captain we are returning to Japan. Son-in-law has made his choice. Far be it from me to break my promised oath."
"NO!!" Ranma shouted. "I...I..." the words choked in his throat.
"Yes, Son-in-law? You'll what?" Ke Lun peered down at the bound youth.
He was beaten. He may have been able to break free of these bonds but not before the old ghoul did something. Poked something, stopped him somehow and then went to carry through on her threat.
Ranma's head slumped back onto the cold steel.
"I...swear." The whispered response echoed throughout the hull.
"What do you swear Son-in-law?" Ke Lun snapped back.
Beaten, broken, crushed.
Not even allowed that respite.
Curiously enough, he had no trouble now finding the strength to speak in a calm, tone of voice.
"I swear I will be Shan Pu's loyal and obedient husband."
One last chance.
"On the condition that you and your people never return to Japan or threaten my friends and family again."
Ke Lun still looked amused. "Your bargaining posture is highly dubious, Son-in-law, and you seem to be awfully carefree with their lives." She seemed to consider it. "But if it makes you feel any better than it is so agreed."
Ke Lun turned to Shan Pu. "Great-Granddaughter, it would seem your Airen has been hurt. Tend to his wounds and give him these herbs for the pain." She handed Shan Pu a small pouch.
"Come with me Mu Se, we have a matter to discuss."
Shan Pu knelt down beside Ranma. He turned to look at her, his eyes blazing with accusation.
"You swore on your honor, no tricks." He said quietly.
Ke Lun paused in the doorway.
Shan Pu stared back defiantly. She could feel her great-grandmother's gaze on her back. Waiting to hear how she would respond.
"This..." Shan Pu began slowly. "This no trick, Airen. This war."
With a pleased chuckle Ke Lun hopped through the portal, followed by Mu Se.
Shan Pu followed them after giving Ranma the herbal remedy and shut the door to the hold. It slammed shut with an awful, final-sounding crash.
ALune, bound to the cold steel of the floor Ranma's mutter carried across the now empty prison.
"Fine then. It's war."
"It took two days to reach China," Xiaoyu said. "Whenever Shan Pu went to feed Ranma, he didn't even acknowledge her existence. He'd just lay there with his eyes closed. Shan Pu told her great-grandmother of course but she merely said that 'Son-in-law is being stubborn. Do not worry, the Saotome appetite will not be denied.' And it seemed that she was right. A few hours before they made shore he asked Shan Pu for something to eat."
"And then?" Akane demanded.
"And then we returned to the village and Shan Pu escorted Ranma straight into hell."