CRYSTAL TEARS
By: BlackDragon
Disclaimer: I wish I owned Ranma 1/2, but I don't. Just think
of all the money I would make... Unfortunately, they belong to
Rumiko Takahashi. Oh well...
Pre-face
Well, this is my first attempt at writing an 'Alternate Universe'
fic. In this version, there was no Jusendo incident, no Saffron
and such. It pretty much pics up at the end of volume 36 of
the manga. Go easy if it's no good.
I've had the idea for this for some time now, but I write faster
than I type, so it's taken a while. This was inspired by a
challenge. A friend dared me to write this in two weeks, which
seems little, but believe me, the story is very complex and
thus, NOT as easy as it sounds.
Here we go...
*****
Shampoo paced around nervously in the dark room. For the hundreth
time in ten minutes, she was having second doubts.
"Great-grandmother, are you sure this will work as planned?"
(She's speaking in Chinese, thus it sounds better)
"Yes, I'm sure. We have waited long enough. We have failed to
convince Son-in-law, so we must take appropriate actions. The
time to wait is long past."
"But..." she muttered as she bit her lower lip.
"This is what we want child. The law states he must be your husband.
Besides, if everything goes as planned, he will be yours unconditionally.
You must not doddle."
"Yes, I know. But it sounds so forced. I always wanted Ranma to love me for
me."
"...I know, but that, I'm afraid, is impossible with this many obstacles in the
way. We must follow the plan, then, I assure you, he will be yours."
Shampoo's face lit up with a smile. "Yes, then we will live a long and happy
life as husband and wife! Oh Ranma..."
Cologne grinned, going over the plan again in her mind.
"Wait!" said Shampoo, "what about Mousse? He might interfere..."
"The boy will be of no problem to us. Just relax child; come tomorrow, all
will be well."
Shampoo smiled, settled down on the carpet and sighed wistfully.
*****
"Uncute tomboy!"
"Baka!"
Ranma and Akane, as usual, were running, with Ranma on the fence and Akane on the
ground, late for school.
With the school now in sight, they slowed down, bringing their run to a quick
walk.
"Akane! Oh, the day is much brighter now that I have set my eyes on thee!"
Kuno said, emerging from absolutely nowhere and glomping Akane from behind.
Akane screamed and reacted, landing an uppercut that sent Kuno flying.
"Will that guy ever learn!?" she said.
"Seriously, you'd think he'd take a hint..."
"WO AI NI!!"
Ranma pinched the bridge of his nose with his index finger. "On no. Not this."
Akane glared at Ranma, her fists clenching in anger. "How can you keep stringing
that bimbo around!"
His hands came up to defense. "Hey, it's not my fault!"
"Shampoo happy to see husband!" She glomped onto him extra tight, ignoring
the obviously irritated Akane. "Today husband take Shampoo on date, yes?"
Ranma's eyes pleaded with Akane's for help. She, however, dismissed it.
"It's your mess, so you fix it!" With that she marched into the main building.
"Good! Now that violent mallet girl gone, you take Shampoo on date, yes?"
"Shampoo, please! I'm late! Let go!" He valiantly struggled to free himself,
but she had trapped his arms and had little leverage.
Shampoo giggled cutely, but looked to her side. Ranma saw this and reacted
just in time. He ducked under a cane swipe.
Back-fliping into his ready stance, he glared at the old ghoul.
"Hello, son-in-law."
"What do you want, you old bat?"
"Show some respect to your elders boy!" She sighed and looked him in the eye.
"So, have you decided to set a date for your wedding with Shampoo?"
Ranma seemed irritated. "How many time do I have to tell you? I'm. Not.
Gonna marry. Shampoo."
"Yes you will! It is written in our laws. You must marry!"
Cologne launched as fast cane swipe, intent on his legs, which would knock
him down. Used to this, he jumped out of the way, landing several meters away.
He failed to notice where Shampoo had gone.
"Give it up, ghoul. I won't fall for your tricks!"
What he did notice was that Cologne was grinning.
"What are you planning this time?"
Sensing a fighter next to him, he turned, only to see Shampoo, coming towards
him, intent on the 'glomp'.
"Shampoo, I ain't got time for..." He was going to jump away, but a few feet
from him, she stopped and blew a fine blue powder in his face. Unable to react
quickly enough, he inhaled some of it, and began coughing.
"Shampoo, what," he tried moving, but found it impossible. "I can't move!"
His peripheral vision caught sight of Cologne, moving towards him, but
there wasn't much he could do. She also blew a fine, yellow powder at
him. He coughed as he breathed some of it in, suddenly overcome with
the need to sleep. He fell face-first onto the ground.
Shampoo kneeled next to him. "Is he Ok?"
"Yes child," Cologne said. "Now, we must be quick. Everything is set. Carry him,
we must make haste if we are to succede."
Shampoo nodded and picked him up. Soon, they were runnig quickly, failing to
notice they had left his pack behind.
*****
Akane spent most of her morning classes fussing over Ranma. The baka hadn't
shown up for class!
*He probably went off with that bimbo!* she thought. *Fine! See if ! care!*
The day went by normally, her school mates dismissing Ranma's abssence, since
it wasn't that unusual for him to be caught up in some weird event during the
day.
Finally, the final bell rang, letting all students out for the weekend.
Akane walked slowly, ignoring the speeding students that passed her by.
She was worried.
Normally, Ranma came to class, even after an episode like in the morning.
But he had missed the entire day.
Why?
She nearly jumped as Yuka came up beside her.
"Hey Akane, were you with Ranma this morning?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, I found this right by the back of the building." She handed her the
pack.
Akane's worry intensified as she made sure it belogned to Ranma.
"Are you sure you found it?"
"Yeah. It was just sitting there. I wonder why he left it?"
Yuka looked at Akane, but she seemed terribly worried. "Yuka, I have to get home.
I'll see you on Monday."
"Alright! See ya!" she shouted as Akane sprinted down the street.
*Maybe he went home or something,* she rationalized as she ran.
Upon entering the house, she heard Kasumi call out. "Is that you Akane?
Lunch is ready."
She took off her shoes and made her way into the kitchen, where Kasumi was.
"Hey Kasumi, has Ranma come home yet?"
Kasumi turned to look at her sister, a look of awe on her face.
"Why, no actually. Was he supposed to?"
Akane's mouth opened a little as she looked out the window, which worried Kasumi.
"Akane, is everything alright? Is there a problem?"
Akane looked at her. "No, it's probably just me, onee-chan. Thanks, but I'm
skipping lunch today."
Kasumi felt an odd twinge in her belly as Akane left the kitchen and headed
upstairs. She could sense something was wrong. She wasn't as naive as people
thought she was. She was hoping it had nothing to do with the strand of
purple hair that fell from Ranma's pack as Akane carried it.
Akane dressed in her normal clothes and left the house. Her father and Uncle
Genma weren't home, so she couldn't ask them. Nabiki wasn't home either.
She looked around all the places Ranma usually hung out. Nothing.
She came up to the 'Ucchan', deducing Ranma was there.
*If that baka's pigging out, I swear...*
She stepped inside. The place was packed, as usual, with Ukyo at the grill
and Konatsu tending to the clients. She took a seat at the counter, waiting
for Ukyo to finish serving her customer.
"Hey Akane!" Ukyo said cheerfully. "What can I get you?"
"Nothing, thanks. Ukyo, have you seen Ranma today? Has he been here?"
"No. I haven't seen Ran-chan all day. And he certainly hasn't come in here,
otherwise Konatsu would have told me."
"Oh..." Akane said, her head lowering.
"Is everything alright? Is there a problem?"
"Yes, no. It's just; I can't find Ranma."
"What?"
"I've looked all over for him, but nothing. I haven't found him."
A look of worry passed Ukyo's face, but it was gone quickly. "Don't worry.
I'm sure Ran-chan is ok. This is him were talking about, right."
Akane giggled. "I guess you're right. Well, thanks anyway. Bye!"
"See ya," Ukyo responded as Akane left. She was sure her Ran-chan was just
hanging around somewhere. Quickly, she began to work on the next order.
*Maybe it's just me,* Akane thought. *He's probably fighting Ryoga or
something. I'll go to the Neko-hanten, then I'll call it quits.*
Arriving at Shampoo's cafê, she was surprised to see it empty. Not just that,
but a 'For Sale' sign was hanging on the door.
*What the?*
She stood for a few moments, wondering why the house was for sale. That didn't
make sense. She had seen Shampoo this morning.
thump...
*What was that?* She looked in all directions.
thump...thump...thump...
It was coming from inside the house. She tried the door, and was surprised to find
it open.
thumP...ThuMP...
The sound got louder. It seemed to be coming from upstairs.
Thump...thum...CRASH!
Stopping, she braced herself and slowly opened the door she thought the sound was coming
from. She peeked inside, and saw a cat-sized cage which held a duck with glasses.
"Mousse?" she said as she stepped inside. She saw that Muu-muu-chan's wings and beak
were tied up. She opened the cage, removed the ties and let a frantic duck out.
"I'll get you some hot water."
She went downstairs, found an old kettle in the cup-board, placed water and
heated it. Once it was hot enough, she brought it back up and poured the contents
on the duck, which shifted octaves and became a young man, still dressed in his
clothes.
Mousse let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you Akane. I thought I was going to be stuck
like that."
"What happened?" she asked as she knelt next to him.
"Cologne."
"What? She did that to you?"
"Yes. Her and Shampoo?"
Akane couldn't believe her ears. They had done that to him? They weren't that extreme.
"Where are they then?"
Mousse sighed and looked at Akane. "They took him."
"What?" She felt the blood drain out of her face.
"They took Ranma back to China."
End of Chapter
Author's notes
Well, here we go. My first Alti-verse fic. So far so good. The next chapter or
chapter's(maybe) will be out in two days. Sorry if it leaves you hanging, but
trust me, it will be worth the wait.
BlackDragon