Memoirs, Chapter 5: The silence of Mother and Child
A harsh rap on a door awoke me. I kept my eyes shut, in fear of what I might see. I was afraid that my tormentors were still there, and that they would want more of my soul than they had already taken.
"Is she okay?" A voice queried to the silent room. The voice was soft, but at the same time weathered. It was as if the speaker had been through years of pain, and was still hiding that pain - but there was also love in the voice, and hope.
"I don't know, Ukyo. Cologne said it could be a while before we know. I'm scared." From this voice I felt the same love, the same hope, and in almost the same measure. It was a voice that, though it only exuded love at this point, could harbor anger. It was so much less stable than the other, but at the same time it was so much more to me.
"I'm scared too, Akane. I want Ranchan to be okay, and though it's obvious her body survived the treatment, I'm more worried about her soul."
A soft hand took mine.
I chose this time to open my eyes, and found that I was in the bed that Akane and I shared.
"Did you miss me?" I was surprised at the voice that came out. It was so weak. Was this really me?
Akane hugged me tightly, no longer satisfied with my hand.
"What's the big deal, Akane? I'm fine! I may even start to grow up, if I'm lucky." I offered my best smile to the girls, hoping to cheer them up.
"Herb stopped by yesterday, Ranma." I noticed that Akane had switched back to my former name, but I let it be, not knowing what she was leading up to.
"He left this for you." Ukyo handed me an ornate letter, not unlike the first two I had received.
"To the honorable Saotome,
I am honored to be the first to tell you that I have retrieved the Chisuiton, and that, oddly enough, it is still pulling. This only draws me to one conclusion, and that is that the Kaisui-Fuu must still be intact. As you are currently unable to leave Japan, and I still consider my life-debt unfulfilled, I shall journey to find the Kaisui-Fu. I would be honored to call you my friend when this is over, Saotome, for, having survived this ordeal thus far, you are surely a man among men.
-Herb."
I dropped the letter to the floor in surprise. Akane and Ukyo looked worried until they saw my elation.
"Have you read this? This is great news! I may be able to turn back!"
As smiles dawned on Ukyo and Akane's faces I got up and began to get dressed.
Ukyo suddenly stopped. "But, Ranchan..."
I gave her a look and noticed the worry on her face.
"If you can go back...would you want to? I mean of course you'd want to, but what if you can't?"
I stopped dead. "I have to take the chance, Ucchan. If I can gain my identity back this will all be like a bad dream. I can regain all I lost in a matter of days."
"But what about all you've gained, Ranchan?"
"Gained?"
Ukyo gently put her hands around my shoulders.
"You've learned so much! In the last month alone you've been able to admit that you love Akane, you've gotten to the point where you don't say something stupid every time you open your mouth, and you've improved as an artist as well. Would you really want to go back to being your old self?"
I shrugged out of my best friend's grip. "I have to be me, Ukyo. I'm not female, no matter how many years you stick me in this body for. My real body is still aging, and I want it back. Think how your life would be if you were given a male body for half the time at age sixteen, and then been banished permanently to that body at age eighteen, could you imagine the agony?"
Ukyo remained silent and shook her head, causing her long, brown hair to flow over her shoulders.
"Do whatever you want, Ranchan. I'm behind you the entire way, but please think about Akane during this. The reason we can't understand what you've been through is that you've never told us, and we're afraid to ask."
"You should be, Ukyo. You should be."
* * *
Not knowing how to react to the information that Herb had supplied me with, I went to school the next day as normal. Apparently normalcy was not fated, as Yoiko and Yuriko knew something was up.
As I approached the Furinkan building I received a tap on my shoulder, which nearly scared me out of my wits.
"What's up, Ranko? I've been following you for about six blocks! Did you stay up too late or something?" Yuriko hopped in front of me and began to walk backwards.
I shook my head. "A lot happened last night. I'm just brooding."
"Well you'd better hurry. Two more minutes and we'll be late for Western Poetry."
I nodded and began to sprint towards my classroom.
Yuriko began to run as well, and neither of us noticed the pack of boys that were lined up to date us, luckily for them.
We arrived in the second-story classroom but a moment before the bell rang.
"Welcome, Saotome Ranko, to Western Poetry. You seem to have the same tendency as your brother to be late, but I warn you now that I shall not tolerate such tardiness in my class."
"My brother? I mean...gomen ne, Sensei." I bowed to Kuno and took my seat.
"Okay. Welcome to Western Poetry. I shall first read an excerpt from a poem by one William Shakespeare, a renowned Western Playwright and poet."
"Hearts remote and yet not asunder
Distance and no space was seen
'Twixt the turtle and his queen
But in them it were a wonder"
"Is there a problem, miss Saotome?"
I didn't know why, but some reason tears were in my eyes. Maybe it was the sheer beauty of the poem that Kuno recited, but maybe it was something else. Sure enough, before I knew it my face was in my hands and I was crying uncontrollably as the other girls snickered, Yuriko looked confused, and Kuno looked helpless.
"Yuriko, if you would please, could you please escort Miss Saotome to the Infirmary?"
As Yuriko gently tugged my by the elbow I got to thinking. Was I the Turtle? I knew I loved Akane, but was it true that I was hiding even still? I knew I was. I had receded the minute I left the ward. I was afraid of my love. How could I face her as a woman? Even after we'd had that wonderful night together, I still had my doubts.
"Are you okay, Ranko?" I looked up to see Yoiko.
"Fine, Yoichan." I must have not been disguising my voice very well, because Yoiko immediately sat down next to me, on the nurse's office bed that Yuriko had led me to.
"You can tell me what's wrong, ne?"
I bit my lip. "Remember when I tried to explain my life to you, Yoiko?"
Yoiko nodded, looking as if she was trying to remember way back then.
"Well...remember when I told you I was really a boy?" Another nod came. "I found a way to regain my manhood."
Yoiko blanched, as I expected her to.
"I know it's hard to believe, Yoiko. I want you there with me when I turn back. You need to see who I am."
Yoiko answered with a nod and took my shoulder in her arm.
After a few minutes of me comfortably resting in my friend's arm, she got up.
"How long has it been since you went into that chair, Ranko?"
"Fifteen days, why?"
Yoiko only winked. "I'll tell you in a couple of weeks, maybe sooner."
Yoiko then opened the door, said something to the nurse, and left.
* * *
That night, as I lay in Akane's arms, I gently tightened my wrap around her.
"Akane...are you awake?"
Akane shifted to get in a full view of me and smiled, which caused me to involuntarily blush. "Yes, Ranko...Ranma. I'm here."
"Do you want to know what I went through?"
Akane shifted again and pulled me closer. "If you want to tell me, Ran...chan." She suppressed a giggle.
I nodded and began my tale.
* * *
When I finished, Akane was livid.
"I can see why you did what you did, Ranma. Perhaps not with Happy, but in the Ward. You had to become who you are, or you would have had to spend essentially the rest of your life in there. I'm just relieved that the one I have come to love is still in there, and I have even come to love some of the "new you" as well"
I nodded slowly. "Just remember, Akane, that no matter how many dresses I've worn, no matter how many hairstyles I've been through, no matter what my body looks like, I'll always be the man who loves you."
We then tightened our embrace, two lovers enfolded in one-another, and slept.
* * *
I watched as Ranma embraced Akane. What had he done to her? How had he made her love him? Truly, it must have been through some subversion. He must have threatened her father, or blackmailed her. How could this foul cross-dresser have enticed Akane into showing such love for him?
He had sacrificed his honor. He had compromised her integrity. He had shown me hell through the pig, flaunting the body that he inherited. When I found my cure, he forced his guilt upon me by making his into a permanent situation. Ranma Saotome would die, and he would die by my hand!
But how to do it...
I needed to set him up. The last thing that bastard would see would be my grinning face, triumphant in the annihilation of his evil. Then Akane would love me. Then Akane would realize the spell that had been put on her and rejoice. Then I would finally have the woman I deserve, while Ranma Saotome would get the fate he deserves.
I, Hibiki Ryoga, will come out on top!
* * *
Ranko was sneezing uncontrollably as we ate dinner, so I gently handed her a handkerchief.
She thanked me and went back to eating, silence invading the room once again.
Ranko finally finished her stack of okonomiyaki and sat up.
"So, Akane. Have you talked to your sisters lately." Startled at the seemingly random line of questioning, I nearly dropped my okonomiyaki. Ukyo looked relieved when I saved the large pancake/pizza from falling on our table.
I gave Ranko a level stare. "I haven't talked to them since we left home. I assume that Kasumi's doing well with Tofu, and Nabiki got a scholarship to some prestigious business school in Central Tokyo."
"Okay. So have you considered talking to your father?" I avoided Ranko's gaze and concentrated on my Okonomiyaki for a little while.
"I'm not ready to talk to him yet. I still can't forgive him just letting you go, back then."
Ranko got up and started cleaning her placemat off. "Well...you might consider trying to talk to him. I'm worried about him, and I don't want to have a boss who's crying for most of the day while I'm trying to work."
I didn't believe my ears. "A boss? Are you telling me you went to work for my father?"
Ranko simply nodded. "I need to solidify my identity again, and one good way to do that is by having income, so I'm going to be teaching at Tendo Dojo on weekends." I was beginning to fume, and it was obvious that Ranko noticed this. "Don't worry, Akane. I won't try to push you two together beyond this, but it does pain me to see a family like yours split up. You four used to be so close, now it must have been over a year since you've talked to your sisters, and longer since you've talked to your father."
At first I was furious at the effrontery of Ranko's interference into my family's business, then I was touched by the fact that she was showing that she really cared. Through this maelstrom of emotion, I somehow managed to nod.
Ranko stood up and placed her hands on the table. "Good! You, your father, and Kasumi have a lunch date here, tomorrow at half past noon. Don't be late. I'm working on contacting Nabiki, and I think I may have a lead as to where she went, but don't expect any miracles."
Ranko left, leaving Ukyo and I dazed.
I gave the chef, who was behind the counter fixing herself another okonomiyaki, a look. "Did you know she was going to pull this, Ukyo?"
Ukyo shook her head. "I had no idea. I wonder how long she's been planning this for."
I gave Ukyo a nod and went upstairs to plan a long-overdue reunion with my father and my sisters.
* * *
From the dairy of Saotome Ranma: February 19th, 2000.
If I could have picked a day where I would be in my own personal Hell rather than be anywhere with anybody except for Akane, it would have been today.
I woke up, and I was bleeding. bleeding!
I looked around my room, and there were no attackers, no Mousse or Ryoga pestering me. I had no wound, and yet there was a spot of blood on my bed the size of a Five-Yen piece!
If that wasn't bad enough, I felt like somebody had pumped me full of Helium.
I labored to get out of bed to come face-to-face with Akane, who took one look at me, ran out of the room, and returned with a small, nondescript box and a huge smile on her face.
For some reason I was more irritable than usual that day, so I shut the door in her face and went back to bed.
* * *
Ouch...
Even though I knew what was going on, that still really hurt. Then again, having a door slammed in your face is having a door slammed in your face, whether it's done by your loved one or not.
I figured out what had happened to Ranko the moment I came up to announce breakfast and saw our Bedmat and her face. It could only have been one thing. In hindsight, perhaps my elation got the better of me.
I tried entering our room again, this time with a plate full of eggs instead of the box of pads.
"Ranma-Honey, come and have breakfast," I had started using Ukyo's old pet name for Ranma in hopes of comforting her. "I have some good news for you."
"Can't it wait `til tomorrow, Akane-chan?" Ranma's muffled voice from the pillow seemed to be tired and frustrated. "I feel like I'm about to explode."
"That has to do with the good news, Ran-chan."
Ranma unburied herself. "Huh?"
"You're aging!"
* * *
I sprang awake with Akane's news.
"You mean...?"
"That's right, Ranma! You're having your first period!" Akane was so excited that she was almost yelling.
"Care to keep it down, Akane? I have morning customers down there, you know?" Ukyo, looking a little miffed but smiling nonetheless, walked into the room with the same box that Akane had been carrying before. "Here, Ranchan. You'll need these." She tossed me the box, which turned out to say `Maxi Pads' on the side, and rushed back downstairs.
"Um...Akane?" I didn't know how to phrase this gently, so I just asked. "What are these for?"
Akane blushed a deep red and grabbed the box, opening it.
As she took the thick, odd-looking pad out it was my turn to blush. "What are you thinking, Akane? I'm not Three years old! I know how to use the bathroom!"
I heard chuckles from downstairs and immediately ran to shut the door. Perhaps I was yelling a bit too loud.
Akane was near hysterics as she grabbed my shoulder and directed my view to the blood on my bedmat. My blush deepened.
"They're for that, Ranchan!" Akane's voice was a high-pitched squeak as she did her best not to burst out laughing.
As the realization dawned on me, the look on my face must have been too much, because Akane finally burst into a full, hearty laugh.
* * *
As I got to school, silly-looking pad in place, and blush resided to a dull pink, things started going downhill again.
When I arrived, there was a solid wall of slavering boys and angry girls standing there. The boys seemed to be leering at something, and whatever it was, the girls were glaring icily at the same thing.
Realizing something was up, I halted and took stock of the situation, peering behind me to see who they were staring at.
There was nobody behind me.
They were staring at me.
As if I didn't have enough problems...
"Ranko-chan! Go out with me!"
One of the boys from the Sumo Club started charging towards me.
"Oh no..." I finally realized what was going on. "Is this what Akane went through every day?"
I quickly took stock of my opponents and began to plow through the hapless twits that were attacking me.
Three minutes later, two-hundred and fifty bruised, but mostly unharmed boys were lying on Furinkan's front lawn, and I was walking in the front door with Yuriko.
As we walked in the large double-doors I stopped and turned around.
"Just so you know boys! You're not my type! Stay with your girlfriends. They deserve you!" I gave a pointed look at Yuriko's sister and her friends before running the rest of the way to my classroom.
Unfortunately, the day was only going to go downhill from there.
* * *
I kept an eye on Saotome. She was doing quite well, but she was unhappy. I had to give her life a chance to repair. This was my fault.
I took flight from the residence of the Kuonji girl and searched for my next destination. I nearly roared in triumph as the pull from the Chisuiton got stronger, and I finally saw my destination.
The old man was truly merciless. I recognized the name on the house I approached. This would truly be taxing, but it would also give me the chance I needed to help repair the life of Saotome, and to repay my debt.
I would not tell Saotome yet. She would want a few more days to sort out her affairs. She would need some time so she went through this ordeal with prudence. She would need a few more days before she was to go home.
* * *
As I sat in my room staring at the pink ceiling, feeling the silk of the pink bedsheets, and wondering why the Ward bothered supplying pink undergarments, there came a knock on my undeniably pink wooden door.
"Saotome-san. There is a...a visitor for you" The gruff voice of the guard seemed to have a tinge of nervousness on it's edge, so, bored out of my mind at the endless tedium of the Ward, I rose to my feet, opened the door, and followed my would-be babysitter to the visitor's room.
As I sunk down into the deep armchair that was supplied for the patient's end of the room, I took notice of a dark silhouette in a corner where there should have been no shadow.
"Do you want to redeem yourself in the eyes of your son, Saotome-san?" The voice was deep, familiar, and undeniably Deadly.
I somehow managed to keep my composure.
"And to whom am I speaking?"
The figure stepped out of shadows to reveal himself as a powerful-looking man, as my son had been.
"Do you want your son to regain his manhood?" I could scarcely believe what I was hearing. This man knew a cure?
The man walked forward and placed a key in my hand. It was the key to my home, the place I left in order to regain my lost honor, my lost hope. Could I return yet?
The dark man gave a curt nod to the orderly who stood behind me and I was given a white ceremonial Kimono.
"It's time to go home, Saotome Nodoka, and to give your son life for the second time."
* * *
When I got home, Ukyo was there at the door, waiting for me.
"Hurry, Ranchan. Something important's come up."
"Ucchan...I've had a very long day. Whatever it is it can wa-"
Ukyo interrupted me, and I looked into her eyes to see that they were slightly bloodshot.
"No, Ranchan. You need to hear this now."
"Have you been crying, Ucchan?"
"There's no time for that." Ukyo quickly looked away and got behind her grill. "Akane's going to be back here with your mother any minute. Go upstairs and get-"
"My mother? What's going on?" I really hated being in the dark like this. "Spit it out, Ucchan!"
"Herb called, saying that Akane was to come pick your mother up from the Kyoto Ward this morning. They're due back in about an hour. He says that your mother knows where your cure is, and that he considers his lifedebt paid."
* * *
I sat across the table from Saotome Nodoka, awaiting her explanation. Why had she returned now of all times?
"Hello, Son."
I bowed my head and mumbled a barely-coherent response, not ready to have this situation thrust upon me.
My mother stood, sighed briefly, and dropped something metallic on the table.
"Six, one, Ninety-nine. That should be the combination of the safe. According to the Dragon, your cure is there. I hope this has redeemed you in my eye, son, for I can do no more."
Nodoka began to walk out, but I stopped her before I knew what I was doing, and embraced my mother with all of my might.
"I can try and forgive you, Mother, and I shall, provided you accompany me, and try and see who I am without hindrance of superficial 'honor.'" She winced at my harshly chosen words, but nodded at their implication.
I gave a glance to Akane and Ukyo, who were sitting at the bar with Ryoga, and we arose as one, ready to face my destiny.
I did a double take.
"Wait a damn minute! What the hell is he doing here!?" I was yelling at the top of my lungs and I didn't care. Ryoga had no business with us, anymore.
As my hands clutched his shirt in preparation for tossing him out the window Ryoga protests weakly, then a hand came onto my shoulder.
"He's offered to help us, in case anything goes wrong, Ranma." Akane's soothing voice drew me out of my anger and I dropped Ryoga on the ground with all of the dignity that he deserved. None.
"Fine, but it won't be ony my head." I got up and headed out of the door, prompting all of my friends, and one who was my enemy, to follow.
* * *
Oh, but it will be on your head.
* * *
After stopping to pick Yoiko up from her apartment, we headed straight to Saotome-ke.
As we entered the dark house, my mother shuddered and I gave her a sidelong glance.
"Something's missing, Ranma. I don't know what, but something's wrong."
Ryoga looked out the front door and glanced into the hallway ahead of us. "It's clear, Ranma. Let's get this over with."
Mother was right, though. Something was seriously wrong.
Not wanting to cause any more nervousness, I ran to catch up with my mother, and stopped cold as I saw her removing that fateful object, an ornately-carved kettle, harboring more power than anything I knew. It was the Kaisui-Fuu: My cure.
Nodoka Saotome, my mother, quietly, ceremoniously walked to a faucet and filled the kettle with hot water as Akane, Yoiko, and Ukyo entered the room behind me and backed against a wall.
I imagined the joy and elation of my male body as the hot water poured over me.
I never imagined the wrenching feeling, or the pain.
This wasn't right.
I looked down to feel something wet and sticky. As I felt my belly, where it hurt, my hand came away red.
This was about when I noticed the look Akane had on her face. It was a look of horror, and it was directed at whatever was right behind me.
Something was horribly wrong.
I turned around to see Hibiki Ryoga, holding the remainder of my family's blade, and had just enough time to dodge so it went into my lung, not my heart. It didn't matter.
I found myself unable to concentrate as I got ready to defend myself and attempted to focus on the elated grin that Hibiki Ryoga sported. The bastard had been planning this all along.
I was dead anyway, so I decided to do what I knew how to do: fight.
In my desperation, in hindsight, I may have overdone it a bit, but it really didn't matter. it was over, and even as I began to systematically break each of my assailant and murderer's bones, one by one, I knew that this was the end.
* * *
My dream had just become a nightmare.
Here was the man...the woman I loved, glowing like some odd star, every muscle writhing in some twisted parody of the neko-ken, two blades sticking out of her like some sort of cannibalistic shish-kabob, and snapping Ryoga's bones, one by one, while keeping him cruelly alive.
Somehow, this isn't what startled me.
Ranma was aging.
I was surprised, because she developed so quickly, outgrowing her seifuku to the end that she bordered on kinky and had gone far beyond vuluptuous.
Her hair grew too, and before I knew it backlash for four years of non-aging had caused Ranma's beautiful red locks to hit the floor, and yet she still fought, and she still extended her cruelty.
The glow finally intensified as the Kaisui-Fuu completed it's work, turning the bloodied, gorgeous twenty-year old woman into a handsome, nearly dead twenty-year old man.
Ranma finally stopped attacking Ryoga and promptly collapsed. His mother hurried to find something to cover his inert body with, but the look in his eyes told that it would be little more than futile.
My love was dying.
"Akane." His voice was a whisper.
I found that I had been crying, and backed away from the man I loved. Before I made that mistake for the second time, though, two hands caught my shoulders.
A Quiet, tearful voice gently admonished me. "He loves you, Hun. He needs you now most of all."
I glanced behind me to see Yoiko nodding as well, agreeing with Ukyo's statement, and found that I needed no more encouragement. I ran to my love, bloodied and broken on the hard, unforgiving floor near the man who had brought about his death, and embraced him as he died, taking my heart with him and speaking one final, emphatic word.
"Live!"
And with that Saotome Ranma left my life for the second time.
* * *
Brightness.
Heaven?
Death?
Peace?
Where am I?
Underwater?
Voices.
Where are they coming from?
So familiar...
"Qipannichuan."
***
Disclaimer:
Rumiko Takahiashi owns everything from Ranma 1/2. Everything else in here is mine.
Special thanx to Breisleach, Figment, Figment, Figment, Tannim, Mai and Rakhal.
Very special thanx to Riyousha.
-Inu (Inu_Ranma@yahoo.com)
A harsh rap on a door awoke me. I kept my eyes shut, in fear of what I might see. I was afraid that my tormentors were still there, and that they would want more of my soul than they had already taken.
"Is she okay?" A voice queried to the silent room. The voice was soft, but at the same time weathered. It was as if the speaker had been through years of pain, and was still hiding that pain - but there was also love in the voice, and hope.
"I don't know, Ukyo. Cologne said it could be a while before we know. I'm scared." From this voice I felt the same love, the same hope, and in almost the same measure. It was a voice that, though it only exuded love at this point, could harbor anger. It was so much less stable than the other, but at the same time it was so much more to me.
"I'm scared too, Akane. I want Ranchan to be okay, and though it's obvious her body survived the treatment, I'm more worried about her soul."
A soft hand took mine.
I chose this time to open my eyes, and found that I was in the bed that Akane and I shared.
"Did you miss me?" I was surprised at the voice that came out. It was so weak. Was this really me?
Akane hugged me tightly, no longer satisfied with my hand.
"What's the big deal, Akane? I'm fine! I may even start to grow up, if I'm lucky." I offered my best smile to the girls, hoping to cheer them up.
"Herb stopped by yesterday, Ranma." I noticed that Akane had switched back to my former name, but I let it be, not knowing what she was leading up to.
"He left this for you." Ukyo handed me an ornate letter, not unlike the first two I had received.
"To the honorable Saotome,
I am honored to be the first to tell you that I have retrieved the Chisuiton, and that, oddly enough, it is still pulling. This only draws me to one conclusion, and that is that the Kaisui-Fuu must still be intact. As you are currently unable to leave Japan, and I still consider my life-debt unfulfilled, I shall journey to find the Kaisui-Fu. I would be honored to call you my friend when this is over, Saotome, for, having survived this ordeal thus far, you are surely a man among men.
-Herb."
I dropped the letter to the floor in surprise. Akane and Ukyo looked worried until they saw my elation.
"Have you read this? This is great news! I may be able to turn back!"
As smiles dawned on Ukyo and Akane's faces I got up and began to get dressed.
Ukyo suddenly stopped. "But, Ranchan..."
I gave her a look and noticed the worry on her face.
"If you can go back...would you want to? I mean of course you'd want to, but what if you can't?"
I stopped dead. "I have to take the chance, Ucchan. If I can gain my identity back this will all be like a bad dream. I can regain all I lost in a matter of days."
"But what about all you've gained, Ranchan?"
"Gained?"
Ukyo gently put her hands around my shoulders.
"You've learned so much! In the last month alone you've been able to admit that you love Akane, you've gotten to the point where you don't say something stupid every time you open your mouth, and you've improved as an artist as well. Would you really want to go back to being your old self?"
I shrugged out of my best friend's grip. "I have to be me, Ukyo. I'm not female, no matter how many years you stick me in this body for. My real body is still aging, and I want it back. Think how your life would be if you were given a male body for half the time at age sixteen, and then been banished permanently to that body at age eighteen, could you imagine the agony?"
Ukyo remained silent and shook her head, causing her long, brown hair to flow over her shoulders.
"Do whatever you want, Ranchan. I'm behind you the entire way, but please think about Akane during this. The reason we can't understand what you've been through is that you've never told us, and we're afraid to ask."
"You should be, Ukyo. You should be."
* * *
Not knowing how to react to the information that Herb had supplied me with, I went to school the next day as normal. Apparently normalcy was not fated, as Yoiko and Yuriko knew something was up.
As I approached the Furinkan building I received a tap on my shoulder, which nearly scared me out of my wits.
"What's up, Ranko? I've been following you for about six blocks! Did you stay up too late or something?" Yuriko hopped in front of me and began to walk backwards.
I shook my head. "A lot happened last night. I'm just brooding."
"Well you'd better hurry. Two more minutes and we'll be late for Western Poetry."
I nodded and began to sprint towards my classroom.
Yuriko began to run as well, and neither of us noticed the pack of boys that were lined up to date us, luckily for them.
We arrived in the second-story classroom but a moment before the bell rang.
"Welcome, Saotome Ranko, to Western Poetry. You seem to have the same tendency as your brother to be late, but I warn you now that I shall not tolerate such tardiness in my class."
"My brother? I mean...gomen ne, Sensei." I bowed to Kuno and took my seat.
"Okay. Welcome to Western Poetry. I shall first read an excerpt from a poem by one William Shakespeare, a renowned Western Playwright and poet."
"Hearts remote and yet not asunder
Distance and no space was seen
'Twixt the turtle and his queen
But in them it were a wonder"
"Is there a problem, miss Saotome?"
I didn't know why, but some reason tears were in my eyes. Maybe it was the sheer beauty of the poem that Kuno recited, but maybe it was something else. Sure enough, before I knew it my face was in my hands and I was crying uncontrollably as the other girls snickered, Yuriko looked confused, and Kuno looked helpless.
"Yuriko, if you would please, could you please escort Miss Saotome to the Infirmary?"
As Yuriko gently tugged my by the elbow I got to thinking. Was I the Turtle? I knew I loved Akane, but was it true that I was hiding even still? I knew I was. I had receded the minute I left the ward. I was afraid of my love. How could I face her as a woman? Even after we'd had that wonderful night together, I still had my doubts.
"Are you okay, Ranko?" I looked up to see Yoiko.
"Fine, Yoichan." I must have not been disguising my voice very well, because Yoiko immediately sat down next to me, on the nurse's office bed that Yuriko had led me to.
"You can tell me what's wrong, ne?"
I bit my lip. "Remember when I tried to explain my life to you, Yoiko?"
Yoiko nodded, looking as if she was trying to remember way back then.
"Well...remember when I told you I was really a boy?" Another nod came. "I found a way to regain my manhood."
Yoiko blanched, as I expected her to.
"I know it's hard to believe, Yoiko. I want you there with me when I turn back. You need to see who I am."
Yoiko answered with a nod and took my shoulder in her arm.
After a few minutes of me comfortably resting in my friend's arm, she got up.
"How long has it been since you went into that chair, Ranko?"
"Fifteen days, why?"
Yoiko only winked. "I'll tell you in a couple of weeks, maybe sooner."
Yoiko then opened the door, said something to the nurse, and left.
* * *
That night, as I lay in Akane's arms, I gently tightened my wrap around her.
"Akane...are you awake?"
Akane shifted to get in a full view of me and smiled, which caused me to involuntarily blush. "Yes, Ranko...Ranma. I'm here."
"Do you want to know what I went through?"
Akane shifted again and pulled me closer. "If you want to tell me, Ran...chan." She suppressed a giggle.
I nodded and began my tale.
* * *
When I finished, Akane was livid.
"I can see why you did what you did, Ranma. Perhaps not with Happy, but in the Ward. You had to become who you are, or you would have had to spend essentially the rest of your life in there. I'm just relieved that the one I have come to love is still in there, and I have even come to love some of the "new you" as well"
I nodded slowly. "Just remember, Akane, that no matter how many dresses I've worn, no matter how many hairstyles I've been through, no matter what my body looks like, I'll always be the man who loves you."
We then tightened our embrace, two lovers enfolded in one-another, and slept.
* * *
I watched as Ranma embraced Akane. What had he done to her? How had he made her love him? Truly, it must have been through some subversion. He must have threatened her father, or blackmailed her. How could this foul cross-dresser have enticed Akane into showing such love for him?
He had sacrificed his honor. He had compromised her integrity. He had shown me hell through the pig, flaunting the body that he inherited. When I found my cure, he forced his guilt upon me by making his into a permanent situation. Ranma Saotome would die, and he would die by my hand!
But how to do it...
I needed to set him up. The last thing that bastard would see would be my grinning face, triumphant in the annihilation of his evil. Then Akane would love me. Then Akane would realize the spell that had been put on her and rejoice. Then I would finally have the woman I deserve, while Ranma Saotome would get the fate he deserves.
I, Hibiki Ryoga, will come out on top!
* * *
Ranko was sneezing uncontrollably as we ate dinner, so I gently handed her a handkerchief.
She thanked me and went back to eating, silence invading the room once again.
Ranko finally finished her stack of okonomiyaki and sat up.
"So, Akane. Have you talked to your sisters lately." Startled at the seemingly random line of questioning, I nearly dropped my okonomiyaki. Ukyo looked relieved when I saved the large pancake/pizza from falling on our table.
I gave Ranko a level stare. "I haven't talked to them since we left home. I assume that Kasumi's doing well with Tofu, and Nabiki got a scholarship to some prestigious business school in Central Tokyo."
"Okay. So have you considered talking to your father?" I avoided Ranko's gaze and concentrated on my Okonomiyaki for a little while.
"I'm not ready to talk to him yet. I still can't forgive him just letting you go, back then."
Ranko got up and started cleaning her placemat off. "Well...you might consider trying to talk to him. I'm worried about him, and I don't want to have a boss who's crying for most of the day while I'm trying to work."
I didn't believe my ears. "A boss? Are you telling me you went to work for my father?"
Ranko simply nodded. "I need to solidify my identity again, and one good way to do that is by having income, so I'm going to be teaching at Tendo Dojo on weekends." I was beginning to fume, and it was obvious that Ranko noticed this. "Don't worry, Akane. I won't try to push you two together beyond this, but it does pain me to see a family like yours split up. You four used to be so close, now it must have been over a year since you've talked to your sisters, and longer since you've talked to your father."
At first I was furious at the effrontery of Ranko's interference into my family's business, then I was touched by the fact that she was showing that she really cared. Through this maelstrom of emotion, I somehow managed to nod.
Ranko stood up and placed her hands on the table. "Good! You, your father, and Kasumi have a lunch date here, tomorrow at half past noon. Don't be late. I'm working on contacting Nabiki, and I think I may have a lead as to where she went, but don't expect any miracles."
Ranko left, leaving Ukyo and I dazed.
I gave the chef, who was behind the counter fixing herself another okonomiyaki, a look. "Did you know she was going to pull this, Ukyo?"
Ukyo shook her head. "I had no idea. I wonder how long she's been planning this for."
I gave Ukyo a nod and went upstairs to plan a long-overdue reunion with my father and my sisters.
* * *
From the dairy of Saotome Ranma: February 19th, 2000.
If I could have picked a day where I would be in my own personal Hell rather than be anywhere with anybody except for Akane, it would have been today.
I woke up, and I was bleeding. bleeding!
I looked around my room, and there were no attackers, no Mousse or Ryoga pestering me. I had no wound, and yet there was a spot of blood on my bed the size of a Five-Yen piece!
If that wasn't bad enough, I felt like somebody had pumped me full of Helium.
I labored to get out of bed to come face-to-face with Akane, who took one look at me, ran out of the room, and returned with a small, nondescript box and a huge smile on her face.
For some reason I was more irritable than usual that day, so I shut the door in her face and went back to bed.
* * *
Ouch...
Even though I knew what was going on, that still really hurt. Then again, having a door slammed in your face is having a door slammed in your face, whether it's done by your loved one or not.
I figured out what had happened to Ranko the moment I came up to announce breakfast and saw our Bedmat and her face. It could only have been one thing. In hindsight, perhaps my elation got the better of me.
I tried entering our room again, this time with a plate full of eggs instead of the box of pads.
"Ranma-Honey, come and have breakfast," I had started using Ukyo's old pet name for Ranma in hopes of comforting her. "I have some good news for you."
"Can't it wait `til tomorrow, Akane-chan?" Ranma's muffled voice from the pillow seemed to be tired and frustrated. "I feel like I'm about to explode."
"That has to do with the good news, Ran-chan."
Ranma unburied herself. "Huh?"
"You're aging!"
* * *
I sprang awake with Akane's news.
"You mean...?"
"That's right, Ranma! You're having your first period!" Akane was so excited that she was almost yelling.
"Care to keep it down, Akane? I have morning customers down there, you know?" Ukyo, looking a little miffed but smiling nonetheless, walked into the room with the same box that Akane had been carrying before. "Here, Ranchan. You'll need these." She tossed me the box, which turned out to say `Maxi Pads' on the side, and rushed back downstairs.
"Um...Akane?" I didn't know how to phrase this gently, so I just asked. "What are these for?"
Akane blushed a deep red and grabbed the box, opening it.
As she took the thick, odd-looking pad out it was my turn to blush. "What are you thinking, Akane? I'm not Three years old! I know how to use the bathroom!"
I heard chuckles from downstairs and immediately ran to shut the door. Perhaps I was yelling a bit too loud.
Akane was near hysterics as she grabbed my shoulder and directed my view to the blood on my bedmat. My blush deepened.
"They're for that, Ranchan!" Akane's voice was a high-pitched squeak as she did her best not to burst out laughing.
As the realization dawned on me, the look on my face must have been too much, because Akane finally burst into a full, hearty laugh.
* * *
As I got to school, silly-looking pad in place, and blush resided to a dull pink, things started going downhill again.
When I arrived, there was a solid wall of slavering boys and angry girls standing there. The boys seemed to be leering at something, and whatever it was, the girls were glaring icily at the same thing.
Realizing something was up, I halted and took stock of the situation, peering behind me to see who they were staring at.
There was nobody behind me.
They were staring at me.
As if I didn't have enough problems...
"Ranko-chan! Go out with me!"
One of the boys from the Sumo Club started charging towards me.
"Oh no..." I finally realized what was going on. "Is this what Akane went through every day?"
I quickly took stock of my opponents and began to plow through the hapless twits that were attacking me.
Three minutes later, two-hundred and fifty bruised, but mostly unharmed boys were lying on Furinkan's front lawn, and I was walking in the front door with Yuriko.
As we walked in the large double-doors I stopped and turned around.
"Just so you know boys! You're not my type! Stay with your girlfriends. They deserve you!" I gave a pointed look at Yuriko's sister and her friends before running the rest of the way to my classroom.
Unfortunately, the day was only going to go downhill from there.
* * *
I kept an eye on Saotome. She was doing quite well, but she was unhappy. I had to give her life a chance to repair. This was my fault.
I took flight from the residence of the Kuonji girl and searched for my next destination. I nearly roared in triumph as the pull from the Chisuiton got stronger, and I finally saw my destination.
The old man was truly merciless. I recognized the name on the house I approached. This would truly be taxing, but it would also give me the chance I needed to help repair the life of Saotome, and to repay my debt.
I would not tell Saotome yet. She would want a few more days to sort out her affairs. She would need some time so she went through this ordeal with prudence. She would need a few more days before she was to go home.
* * *
As I sat in my room staring at the pink ceiling, feeling the silk of the pink bedsheets, and wondering why the Ward bothered supplying pink undergarments, there came a knock on my undeniably pink wooden door.
"Saotome-san. There is a...a visitor for you" The gruff voice of the guard seemed to have a tinge of nervousness on it's edge, so, bored out of my mind at the endless tedium of the Ward, I rose to my feet, opened the door, and followed my would-be babysitter to the visitor's room.
As I sunk down into the deep armchair that was supplied for the patient's end of the room, I took notice of a dark silhouette in a corner where there should have been no shadow.
"Do you want to redeem yourself in the eyes of your son, Saotome-san?" The voice was deep, familiar, and undeniably Deadly.
I somehow managed to keep my composure.
"And to whom am I speaking?"
The figure stepped out of shadows to reveal himself as a powerful-looking man, as my son had been.
"Do you want your son to regain his manhood?" I could scarcely believe what I was hearing. This man knew a cure?
The man walked forward and placed a key in my hand. It was the key to my home, the place I left in order to regain my lost honor, my lost hope. Could I return yet?
The dark man gave a curt nod to the orderly who stood behind me and I was given a white ceremonial Kimono.
"It's time to go home, Saotome Nodoka, and to give your son life for the second time."
* * *
When I got home, Ukyo was there at the door, waiting for me.
"Hurry, Ranchan. Something important's come up."
"Ucchan...I've had a very long day. Whatever it is it can wa-"
Ukyo interrupted me, and I looked into her eyes to see that they were slightly bloodshot.
"No, Ranchan. You need to hear this now."
"Have you been crying, Ucchan?"
"There's no time for that." Ukyo quickly looked away and got behind her grill. "Akane's going to be back here with your mother any minute. Go upstairs and get-"
"My mother? What's going on?" I really hated being in the dark like this. "Spit it out, Ucchan!"
"Herb called, saying that Akane was to come pick your mother up from the Kyoto Ward this morning. They're due back in about an hour. He says that your mother knows where your cure is, and that he considers his lifedebt paid."
* * *
I sat across the table from Saotome Nodoka, awaiting her explanation. Why had she returned now of all times?
"Hello, Son."
I bowed my head and mumbled a barely-coherent response, not ready to have this situation thrust upon me.
My mother stood, sighed briefly, and dropped something metallic on the table.
"Six, one, Ninety-nine. That should be the combination of the safe. According to the Dragon, your cure is there. I hope this has redeemed you in my eye, son, for I can do no more."
Nodoka began to walk out, but I stopped her before I knew what I was doing, and embraced my mother with all of my might.
"I can try and forgive you, Mother, and I shall, provided you accompany me, and try and see who I am without hindrance of superficial 'honor.'" She winced at my harshly chosen words, but nodded at their implication.
I gave a glance to Akane and Ukyo, who were sitting at the bar with Ryoga, and we arose as one, ready to face my destiny.
I did a double take.
"Wait a damn minute! What the hell is he doing here!?" I was yelling at the top of my lungs and I didn't care. Ryoga had no business with us, anymore.
As my hands clutched his shirt in preparation for tossing him out the window Ryoga protests weakly, then a hand came onto my shoulder.
"He's offered to help us, in case anything goes wrong, Ranma." Akane's soothing voice drew me out of my anger and I dropped Ryoga on the ground with all of the dignity that he deserved. None.
"Fine, but it won't be ony my head." I got up and headed out of the door, prompting all of my friends, and one who was my enemy, to follow.
* * *
Oh, but it will be on your head.
* * *
After stopping to pick Yoiko up from her apartment, we headed straight to Saotome-ke.
As we entered the dark house, my mother shuddered and I gave her a sidelong glance.
"Something's missing, Ranma. I don't know what, but something's wrong."
Ryoga looked out the front door and glanced into the hallway ahead of us. "It's clear, Ranma. Let's get this over with."
Mother was right, though. Something was seriously wrong.
Not wanting to cause any more nervousness, I ran to catch up with my mother, and stopped cold as I saw her removing that fateful object, an ornately-carved kettle, harboring more power than anything I knew. It was the Kaisui-Fuu: My cure.
Nodoka Saotome, my mother, quietly, ceremoniously walked to a faucet and filled the kettle with hot water as Akane, Yoiko, and Ukyo entered the room behind me and backed against a wall.
I imagined the joy and elation of my male body as the hot water poured over me.
I never imagined the wrenching feeling, or the pain.
This wasn't right.
I looked down to feel something wet and sticky. As I felt my belly, where it hurt, my hand came away red.
This was about when I noticed the look Akane had on her face. It was a look of horror, and it was directed at whatever was right behind me.
Something was horribly wrong.
I turned around to see Hibiki Ryoga, holding the remainder of my family's blade, and had just enough time to dodge so it went into my lung, not my heart. It didn't matter.
I found myself unable to concentrate as I got ready to defend myself and attempted to focus on the elated grin that Hibiki Ryoga sported. The bastard had been planning this all along.
I was dead anyway, so I decided to do what I knew how to do: fight.
In my desperation, in hindsight, I may have overdone it a bit, but it really didn't matter. it was over, and even as I began to systematically break each of my assailant and murderer's bones, one by one, I knew that this was the end.
* * *
My dream had just become a nightmare.
Here was the man...the woman I loved, glowing like some odd star, every muscle writhing in some twisted parody of the neko-ken, two blades sticking out of her like some sort of cannibalistic shish-kabob, and snapping Ryoga's bones, one by one, while keeping him cruelly alive.
Somehow, this isn't what startled me.
Ranma was aging.
I was surprised, because she developed so quickly, outgrowing her seifuku to the end that she bordered on kinky and had gone far beyond vuluptuous.
Her hair grew too, and before I knew it backlash for four years of non-aging had caused Ranma's beautiful red locks to hit the floor, and yet she still fought, and she still extended her cruelty.
The glow finally intensified as the Kaisui-Fuu completed it's work, turning the bloodied, gorgeous twenty-year old woman into a handsome, nearly dead twenty-year old man.
Ranma finally stopped attacking Ryoga and promptly collapsed. His mother hurried to find something to cover his inert body with, but the look in his eyes told that it would be little more than futile.
My love was dying.
"Akane." His voice was a whisper.
I found that I had been crying, and backed away from the man I loved. Before I made that mistake for the second time, though, two hands caught my shoulders.
A Quiet, tearful voice gently admonished me. "He loves you, Hun. He needs you now most of all."
I glanced behind me to see Yoiko nodding as well, agreeing with Ukyo's statement, and found that I needed no more encouragement. I ran to my love, bloodied and broken on the hard, unforgiving floor near the man who had brought about his death, and embraced him as he died, taking my heart with him and speaking one final, emphatic word.
"Live!"
And with that Saotome Ranma left my life for the second time.
* * *
Brightness.
Heaven?
Death?
Peace?
Where am I?
Underwater?
Voices.
Where are they coming from?
So familiar...
"Qipannichuan."
***
Disclaimer:
Rumiko Takahiashi owns everything from Ranma 1/2. Everything else in here is mine.
Special thanx to Breisleach, Figment, Figment, Figment, Tannim, Mai and Rakhal.
Very special thanx to Riyousha.
-Inu (Inu_Ranma@yahoo.com)
