Memoirs: Chapter 6. The Bitterness of going on. (Epilogue)
I awoke with a start and immediately felt along my body to find everything normal. Everything
was in place, no bones were broken, and I wasn't bound.
So what the hell had caused that dream? I mean...seriously! Since when was I equipped to love
somebody like Ranma??
I quickly arose and tore open the flap to my father's side of our tent.
"What the hell are you thinking, old man? Did you slip your secret sauce into my dinner again?"
My father roused awake like a bear from hibernation, which really wasn't far from the truth.
"Go black to sleep, Ukyo." The snores began again.
I hefted my battle spatula and punted the old man out into the open.
"Like hell!" I began to attack as soon as he hit the ground.
The old man finally woke up. "You're on, Boy!"
* * *
I woke from the dream with a shriek, only to have Nabiki shyly peek in on me.
"So you had it too..." Her voice was soft, nothing like it was in that memory...that dream.
I nodded and hugged my sister tightly. "What happened, Nabiki-chan? Who were those people?"
My older sister shook her head. "I have no idea, Akane." I saw the tears in her eyes as she turned
her face directly towards mine, at last. "Maybe we should call Kasumi at Tofu's. She'd know what
to do."
I nodded at my sister, deriving some comfort from the fact that she was here with me. "We'll call
in the morning,"
* * *
When I came to I was in a bed, and I was male.
I was two-for-two.
I sat up, and nothing hurt: I wasn't having a period, there was no gash that revealed my guts, I
wasn't scarred from a final battle, and I was male!
I stood up in the small cabin, revelling in my male body, to find that I was sixteen years old again.
"Odd. I could've sworn..." I spoke aloud to myself, assuming solitude.
"I thought I'd lost you there, boy." Pop's grim voice penetrated the silent air of the small cabin
and proceeded to scare the daylights out of me as he came in from the beautiful spring day that
tantalized me through the makeshift doorway.
"Where am I?"
"You don't remember?" The old man looked disappointed, so I began to recall the last few days
out loud.
"I remember coming home, finding the Kaisui-Fuu, and getting stabbed in the back by Ry-"
The old man was giving me an odd stare, so I decided to appease him. "What's wrong, pop? Spit
it out."
"We're in the Cursed Training grounds of Juusenkyo Springs, Ranma. You fell into a spring yes-
terday, as did I."
"I fell into..."
"We had to fish you out of Qipannichuan, Spring of Drowned Hope, sir." The familiar voice of the
Juusenkyo guide piped up as he brought a plate of fish into the cabin and offered me some dinner.
"You are first customer ever to fall into spring of Qipannichuan who make it out with life intact."
The guide gave me a guarded look.
"So...I just fell in this spring..." I allowed the joy of the matter to sink in. "So I'm free of the
female side! Yes!!"
The guide gave Genma a look and left the cabin. The latter of the two gave me a baleful sigh and
pulled up a chair.
"Son...I have something to tell you, and this is going to be hard on you."
I nodded, knowing that nothing could possibly dampen my mood.
* * *
As I helped grandmother in her meditation, in order to define the terrible dream we had both awo-
ken from, a horrific scream pierced the evening.
""
""
I got up and grabbed my sword off of its rack, nodding to grandmother, but she stopped me before
I made it to the door.
"
I gave my grandmother a curt nod and then returned to my cabin to see Mousse.
"I am sorry for keeping you for so long, Airen. I must go on a Journey. I believe I know what has
been causing our dreams."
My love gently began to push his glasses onto his nose and don his robe in preparation for battle.
* * *
I methodically punched each post as I strove to regain my concentration. This couldn't be right.
"Sir, you first person ever to fall into two springs! This is very special!"
Special my ass! Certainly...my last six years of memory had never happened, but I still remem-
bered them.
"You see, sir...the spring of drowned hopes causes the person who fall in spring to live whole
nother life. That person will experience worst possible conclusions to every event from that point
on. Very few customers ever come out of spring."
Then why the hell did I make it? I would rather have died than to have had this curse still!
No...that wasn't true. I had something to live for.
"So what about all the people I met?"
"They is real people, sir."
I grabbed pop by the scruff of the neck.
"Here's the deal, pop. We're going to train for another year. You're going to teach me the Umisen-
ken," I perversely enjoyed the old man's look of surprise, "and we're going to go to the Tendo
Dojo in Nerima."
At least that part was satisfying. I would get to see Akane again.
As I continued methodically punching the posts I increased speed, working towards the level of
conditioning I had before...the end.
As I had expected, Cologne came through the brush behind me, flanked by Mousse and Shampoo.
"Hello, Cologne." It was satisfying to see the old woman so surprised.
"I seem to be at a disadvantage, young woman. Who are you?"
"You know. I fell in the Qipannichuan."
The old woman nodded sympathetically. "So that explains the dreams. May I enquire as to your
name, and the source of your pain, assuming that deathly scream was you?"
"You do the math, crone. I fell into the spring of drowned hope."
Cologne looked as if she was ready to hop into a stance, and I realized that I had gone a bit to far.
"I apologize, Cologne, but all i wish to do is regain the skills I had before that horrid dream ended
and then go back to Akane."
The old woman sighed and nodded, making ready to turn away and go back to her village.
I had a sudden flash of insight. "I'd like to make you a deal, Cologne."
The old woman turned around, her gaze piercing me.
"I want you to train me in the Kachuu Tenchin Amaguriken, the Hiryuu Shoten Ha, and the shark
fist."
Very few things could have matched the glee I felt at seeing such surprise on the aged Amazon's
face.
To her credit, cologne quickly regained her composure and nodded wisely.
"So be it, child. I shall train you provided you can beat Shampoo in single combat."
"I don't think so, crone. I don't want the kiss of death again. I'll defeat Mousse." I heard a sound
of facefaulting coming from the bushes.
The crone nodded and Mousse, exactly as I remembered him, except perhaps a bit younger,
walked towards me.
"Okay, little girl. Get ready to have your rear end handed to you."
I grinned at the half-blind ex-duck boy as I poured a convenient kettle of hot water on myself.
"Who said anything about little girls?"
* * *
The fight was short. It was obvious that Ranma, for I remembered his name from the dream, was
the superior fighter, and though he had lost his body from the dream, he retained his Ki power and
many of his skills by memory. Some of these skills were entirely new to me.
"Koutsugou Na Atemi no Pottuhoru!" I was going to enjoy this fight. The boy had just transmitted
his Ki to a large area of ground immediately behind Mousse, using the blind fool as a shield while
bombarding him with rocks, knocking him out in a total fight time of under five seconds.
I approached the casually standing Saotome and clamped him on the shoulder. "It will be an honor
to train you, son-in-law."
* * *
What did she just say!?
"Just kidding." The old woman flashed a `peace and love' sign.
A facefault brought me into unconsciousness.
* * *
Ranma awoke to my shaking his shoulder gently.
"I'm sorry, Ranma. I didn't mean to scare you like that." Did I really do that in his dream?
"It's not your fault, Cologne. Let's just say that I didn't ever expect to hear that phrase from you
again."
I nodded as if I understood, though I knew that I did not. This child would need some reassurance
to recover from this nightmare he had lived, and I wouldn't be able to help him until I knew what
had happened to him.
* * *
I sat outside the window of Matsui Yoiko, wondering why her name was so significant to me, and
why I was sitting out her window when I so distinctly remembered being in China at this time.
In hindsight, I should have realized that she'd be damn good at the art.
I did realize, though, but not until I heard a cry of "Koutsugou Na Atemi no Pottuhoru!" From
under myself and was tossed from the tree I was sitting in as it shattered, and oblivion welcomed
me for what seemed like the tenth time that day.
* * *
"You'd better have a damn good reason for peeping into my window, whoever you are."
I came to find myself strung outside a window, upside down, and staring a beautiful girl, presum-
able Yoiko, who was in little more than an overlarge T-shirt glaring at me.
"You're Yoiko Matsui...you were th..."
Whack!!
I went reeling to the ground as she cut me loose, hopped out of the window, and now held a very
sharp dagger at my throat.
"Okay, so I have a stalker, I can deal with that." I sighed in relief.
"I'm not a st-" She cut me off. Not literally.
"I'll just kill you."
"What's going on, Yoi-chan?" A sleepy voice penetrated the night like a rather exhausted dagger.
"I caught a peeping-tom, Sera-chan. What should I do with him?"
The brunette from whom the voice came jumped with sudden glee and began to squeal with
delight. "Let's extract information, Yoi-chan!"
"Okay, okay, Sera. Don't wake the neighbors. I'll get the feathers. I hope he's ticklish. This could
be fun!"
* * *
Two hours later, I was red in the face and short of breath from continuous laughter.
"So...you're Hibiki Ryoga." Yoiko, the girl from the dream, grinned at me as if she was about to
eat me. I personally wouldn't mind, so long as she put the damn feather away.
Sera, the short gaijin brunette, looked at me with a bit of fear. "He's like the nice girl from the
dream, Yoiko." The poor child looked as if she was about to start crying, she couldn't have been
more than ten years old.
In the blink of an eye, Yoiko's knife was at my throat again. "Are you the cause of this, you bas-
tard?"
Then I realized what was happening.
* * *
I gently put my arm across Yoi-chan's to keep her from hurting the boy.
"He's had the dreams too, Yoiko." Through some miraculous act of God, I managed to keep my
composure. "He knows why they're happening too, and who's at the center of this."
The boy, Ryoga, looked at me as if I had just poleaxed him.
Before he passed out again he managed to get out two short syllables.
"Ran-ma."
***
The stage is set for a convergence of forces, as the events of the past are clarified.
What happened in the Qipannichuan, what exactly is it?
Will Ranma's life really be better than the old one?
As this story is complete, that is for another tale,
I may revise this chapter later, but as of yet, this story is done.
Thanx to Freelance, RedDjango, and Tannimfodder.
Special thanx to Figment (Prereader of this entire fic...damn, he's patient.)
Very very special thanx to my love, forever, Riyousha.
-Inu_Ranma (Inu_Ranma@yahoo.com)
I awoke with a start and immediately felt along my body to find everything normal. Everything
was in place, no bones were broken, and I wasn't bound.
So what the hell had caused that dream? I mean...seriously! Since when was I equipped to love
somebody like Ranma??
I quickly arose and tore open the flap to my father's side of our tent.
"What the hell are you thinking, old man? Did you slip your secret sauce into my dinner again?"
My father roused awake like a bear from hibernation, which really wasn't far from the truth.
"Go black to sleep, Ukyo." The snores began again.
I hefted my battle spatula and punted the old man out into the open.
"Like hell!" I began to attack as soon as he hit the ground.
The old man finally woke up. "You're on, Boy!"
* * *
I woke from the dream with a shriek, only to have Nabiki shyly peek in on me.
"So you had it too..." Her voice was soft, nothing like it was in that memory...that dream.
I nodded and hugged my sister tightly. "What happened, Nabiki-chan? Who were those people?"
My older sister shook her head. "I have no idea, Akane." I saw the tears in her eyes as she turned
her face directly towards mine, at last. "Maybe we should call Kasumi at Tofu's. She'd know what
to do."
I nodded at my sister, deriving some comfort from the fact that she was here with me. "We'll call
in the morning,"
* * *
When I came to I was in a bed, and I was male.
I was two-for-two.
I sat up, and nothing hurt: I wasn't having a period, there was no gash that revealed my guts, I
wasn't scarred from a final battle, and I was male!
I stood up in the small cabin, revelling in my male body, to find that I was sixteen years old again.
"Odd. I could've sworn..." I spoke aloud to myself, assuming solitude.
"I thought I'd lost you there, boy." Pop's grim voice penetrated the silent air of the small cabin
and proceeded to scare the daylights out of me as he came in from the beautiful spring day that
tantalized me through the makeshift doorway.
"Where am I?"
"You don't remember?" The old man looked disappointed, so I began to recall the last few days
out loud.
"I remember coming home, finding the Kaisui-Fuu, and getting stabbed in the back by Ry-"
The old man was giving me an odd stare, so I decided to appease him. "What's wrong, pop? Spit
it out."
"We're in the Cursed Training grounds of Juusenkyo Springs, Ranma. You fell into a spring yes-
terday, as did I."
"I fell into..."
"We had to fish you out of Qipannichuan, Spring of Drowned Hope, sir." The familiar voice of the
Juusenkyo guide piped up as he brought a plate of fish into the cabin and offered me some dinner.
"You are first customer ever to fall into spring of Qipannichuan who make it out with life intact."
The guide gave me a guarded look.
"So...I just fell in this spring..." I allowed the joy of the matter to sink in. "So I'm free of the
female side! Yes!!"
The guide gave Genma a look and left the cabin. The latter of the two gave me a baleful sigh and
pulled up a chair.
"Son...I have something to tell you, and this is going to be hard on you."
I nodded, knowing that nothing could possibly dampen my mood.
* * *
As I helped grandmother in her meditation, in order to define the terrible dream we had both awo-
ken from, a horrific scream pierced the evening.
""
""
I got up and grabbed my sword off of its rack, nodding to grandmother, but she stopped me before
I made it to the door.
"
I gave my grandmother a curt nod and then returned to my cabin to see Mousse.
"I am sorry for keeping you for so long, Airen. I must go on a Journey. I believe I know what has
been causing our dreams."
My love gently began to push his glasses onto his nose and don his robe in preparation for battle.
* * *
I methodically punched each post as I strove to regain my concentration. This couldn't be right.
"Sir, you first person ever to fall into two springs! This is very special!"
Special my ass! Certainly...my last six years of memory had never happened, but I still remem-
bered them.
"You see, sir...the spring of drowned hopes causes the person who fall in spring to live whole
nother life. That person will experience worst possible conclusions to every event from that point
on. Very few customers ever come out of spring."
Then why the hell did I make it? I would rather have died than to have had this curse still!
No...that wasn't true. I had something to live for.
"So what about all the people I met?"
"They is real people, sir."
I grabbed pop by the scruff of the neck.
"Here's the deal, pop. We're going to train for another year. You're going to teach me the Umisen-
ken," I perversely enjoyed the old man's look of surprise, "and we're going to go to the Tendo
Dojo in Nerima."
At least that part was satisfying. I would get to see Akane again.
As I continued methodically punching the posts I increased speed, working towards the level of
conditioning I had before...the end.
As I had expected, Cologne came through the brush behind me, flanked by Mousse and Shampoo.
"Hello, Cologne." It was satisfying to see the old woman so surprised.
"I seem to be at a disadvantage, young woman. Who are you?"
"You know. I fell in the Qipannichuan."
The old woman nodded sympathetically. "So that explains the dreams. May I enquire as to your
name, and the source of your pain, assuming that deathly scream was you?"
"You do the math, crone. I fell into the spring of drowned hope."
Cologne looked as if she was ready to hop into a stance, and I realized that I had gone a bit to far.
"I apologize, Cologne, but all i wish to do is regain the skills I had before that horrid dream ended
and then go back to Akane."
The old woman sighed and nodded, making ready to turn away and go back to her village.
I had a sudden flash of insight. "I'd like to make you a deal, Cologne."
The old woman turned around, her gaze piercing me.
"I want you to train me in the Kachuu Tenchin Amaguriken, the Hiryuu Shoten Ha, and the shark
fist."
Very few things could have matched the glee I felt at seeing such surprise on the aged Amazon's
face.
To her credit, cologne quickly regained her composure and nodded wisely.
"So be it, child. I shall train you provided you can beat Shampoo in single combat."
"I don't think so, crone. I don't want the kiss of death again. I'll defeat Mousse." I heard a sound
of facefaulting coming from the bushes.
The crone nodded and Mousse, exactly as I remembered him, except perhaps a bit younger,
walked towards me.
"Okay, little girl. Get ready to have your rear end handed to you."
I grinned at the half-blind ex-duck boy as I poured a convenient kettle of hot water on myself.
"Who said anything about little girls?"
* * *
The fight was short. It was obvious that Ranma, for I remembered his name from the dream, was
the superior fighter, and though he had lost his body from the dream, he retained his Ki power and
many of his skills by memory. Some of these skills were entirely new to me.
"Koutsugou Na Atemi no Pottuhoru!" I was going to enjoy this fight. The boy had just transmitted
his Ki to a large area of ground immediately behind Mousse, using the blind fool as a shield while
bombarding him with rocks, knocking him out in a total fight time of under five seconds.
I approached the casually standing Saotome and clamped him on the shoulder. "It will be an honor
to train you, son-in-law."
* * *
What did she just say!?
"Just kidding." The old woman flashed a `peace and love' sign.
A facefault brought me into unconsciousness.
* * *
Ranma awoke to my shaking his shoulder gently.
"I'm sorry, Ranma. I didn't mean to scare you like that." Did I really do that in his dream?
"It's not your fault, Cologne. Let's just say that I didn't ever expect to hear that phrase from you
again."
I nodded as if I understood, though I knew that I did not. This child would need some reassurance
to recover from this nightmare he had lived, and I wouldn't be able to help him until I knew what
had happened to him.
* * *
I sat outside the window of Matsui Yoiko, wondering why her name was so significant to me, and
why I was sitting out her window when I so distinctly remembered being in China at this time.
In hindsight, I should have realized that she'd be damn good at the art.
I did realize, though, but not until I heard a cry of "Koutsugou Na Atemi no Pottuhoru!" From
under myself and was tossed from the tree I was sitting in as it shattered, and oblivion welcomed
me for what seemed like the tenth time that day.
* * *
"You'd better have a damn good reason for peeping into my window, whoever you are."
I came to find myself strung outside a window, upside down, and staring a beautiful girl, presum-
able Yoiko, who was in little more than an overlarge T-shirt glaring at me.
"You're Yoiko Matsui...you were th..."
Whack!!
I went reeling to the ground as she cut me loose, hopped out of the window, and now held a very
sharp dagger at my throat.
"Okay, so I have a stalker, I can deal with that." I sighed in relief.
"I'm not a st-" She cut me off. Not literally.
"I'll just kill you."
"What's going on, Yoi-chan?" A sleepy voice penetrated the night like a rather exhausted dagger.
"I caught a peeping-tom, Sera-chan. What should I do with him?"
The brunette from whom the voice came jumped with sudden glee and began to squeal with
delight. "Let's extract information, Yoi-chan!"
"Okay, okay, Sera. Don't wake the neighbors. I'll get the feathers. I hope he's ticklish. This could
be fun!"
* * *
Two hours later, I was red in the face and short of breath from continuous laughter.
"So...you're Hibiki Ryoga." Yoiko, the girl from the dream, grinned at me as if she was about to
eat me. I personally wouldn't mind, so long as she put the damn feather away.
Sera, the short gaijin brunette, looked at me with a bit of fear. "He's like the nice girl from the
dream, Yoiko." The poor child looked as if she was about to start crying, she couldn't have been
more than ten years old.
In the blink of an eye, Yoiko's knife was at my throat again. "Are you the cause of this, you bas-
tard?"
Then I realized what was happening.
* * *
I gently put my arm across Yoi-chan's to keep her from hurting the boy.
"He's had the dreams too, Yoiko." Through some miraculous act of God, I managed to keep my
composure. "He knows why they're happening too, and who's at the center of this."
The boy, Ryoga, looked at me as if I had just poleaxed him.
Before he passed out again he managed to get out two short syllables.
"Ran-ma."
***
The stage is set for a convergence of forces, as the events of the past are clarified.
What happened in the Qipannichuan, what exactly is it?
Will Ranma's life really be better than the old one?
As this story is complete, that is for another tale,
I may revise this chapter later, but as of yet, this story is done.
Thanx to Freelance, RedDjango, and Tannimfodder.
Special thanx to Figment (Prereader of this entire fic...damn, he's patient.)
Very very special thanx to my love, forever, Riyousha.
-Inu_Ranma (Inu_Ranma@yahoo.com)
