Ranma Nibunnoichi - Reflections
A. V. Morgan
Part Fourteen: Shattering Blows
The world was a dark and lonely place. Ryouga Hibiki learned this tragic fact at a tender young age the first time he had gotten lost. The world was so big, and there were so damned many corners. No one seemed to realize just how easy it was to turn one of those corners and somehow end up miles from where he wanted to be. No, they just stared at him and laughed, like he was the butt of some great cosmic joke. It had been terrible when it was just little kids laughing, but the older he became, the more contempt he felt from those who learned of his first curse. Learning to fight had been his way of stopping the laughter, until one cocky kid had laughed at his fighting ability. For too long, laughter had been a promise of mockery. Because of it, he could not have recognized the playfulness of his nemesis. His friend. He never understood that it was respect for his abilities that had singled him out for the torment he faced in Junior High. Thus, Ryouga Hibiki never realized that he had found—oh blessed word!—the thing he longed for most in the boy he invested all his anger and frustration.
He did not even realize the boy, Ranma Saotome, had become his beacon. The one wandering destination he could always find if he put his mind to it. The first landmark in the crazed map that was his lonely world. For all his heart cried out for the elusive happiness he dreamed of in the arms of his beloved Akane and Akari, Ranma was his true passion. A maddening enigma now, to be sure, that taunted him and tormented him with two faces. One might wonder at the nature of the attraction, given the peculiar nature of his rival's curse, but long before anything resembling sexual chemistry had entered the picture there had been a kind of magnetism. Anyone but the two in question might notice the similarities, wandering childhoods tainted by neglect and abuse. So, the attraction, then, might be seen in the nature of their personalities. One so naturally cheerful and confidant, the other so burdened with depression and frustration.
Jusenkyo had played a cruel trick on both of them, but its warped sense of humor introduced a different chemistry to the boy's lives. Ranma, something of a prankster at heart, simply failed to grasp the impact of his female form and how it subtly changed their masculine rivalry. Ranma was the first "girl" Ryouga had seen or touched in the nude, when they confronted each other in the Tendo furo. Ranma was the first girl who played games with his heart, masquerading as everything from his sister to his fiancée. The same desperate loneliness that caused him to give his heart to Akane had been exploited by Ranma too many times to count. Karma had been balanced a bit when Ryouga hooked Ranma with the koi fishing rod, wrapping Ranma's heart around Ryouga's fingers, but the fallout from that incident had scarred them both.
Now, the final blows had come. Ranma, by extension through Copy-chan, had been the first girl to kiss the lost boy. Copy-chan, emerging from the shadow of Ranma at last, had become the first girl he had kissed. It did not matter that it was mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, it was the only time in his life he had ever initiated anything intimate—and saving someone's life was indeed intimate. The immediate horror or realizing that the kiss, when it became a kiss, when he gave himself to it, had been witnessed by both Akane and Akari, had caused him to snap. Once he got over the panic, he was well and truly lost. His mind had rushed off in a million different directions, trying to think of a way to explain the situation to Akane and Akari, to keep them from hating him. But he kept being distracted by the image of her pulling back, eyes brilliant, face flushed, a small smile on her face. A look he had seen only in movies.
A look of love. For him.
And he had run away from her.
Ryouga had collected himself and set out, once more, to find the Tendo Dojo. This time, it was not Akane or Ranma he wanted to see. He actually dreaded the idea. No, it was the girl. The girl he had fallen in love with over and over again, and hated for not being real. A girl he had to find in less than a week, or she would disappear again forever. He had traveled through the night, a heavy dread filling his heart as he counted the times he had reached a destination in less than a week. Excluding the times he had found some assistance, the number could be tallied on one hand. Of course, asking directions did not count as assistance. Everyone he ever asked for directions sent him astray. Talking to the elderly gentleman he had confronted at the gates to an isolated mansion, he hoped that this time would be an exception. To his great surprise, the man had recognized the name of the Tendo Dojo at once, confiding that he had traveled there the week before on private business.
Ryouga tried to contain his desperate hope as the man studied his hand drawn map and muttered in confusion. The old man gamely asked him to explain the strange landmarks. Ryouga was describing how the strange, ferocious figures on the map represented the spot in the forest where he was always ambushed by headhunters, when he was startled by a familiar voice.
"Ryouga!
"Wha…? Oof!" Ryouga had barely turned around when the petite, female form barreled into him. The impact knocked the backpack off his back, sent the umbrella spinning across the manicured yard, and carried him to the ground. Blinking his eyes, he tried to focus on the assailant straddling his hips. "YAAAA! Who!?" he gasped in shock, instantly filled with dread that Ranma had heard of the incident in the park and had come to exact some kind of revenge.
"It's me, Ryouga-chan! Copy-chan!"
"C… could you, um, get offa me!?" he blushed as what she was sitting on suddenly began to notice her.
"Oh no. This time you're the one who ain't runnin' away! Not after giving me a kiss like that!" she cooed.
"That wasn't a kiss! That was CPR!" his eyes bulged in panic.
"CPR?" she frowned, looking rather cute in her confusion.
"You were dead! I was just tryin' to bring you back!"
"You brought me back from the dead!?" she blinked in surprise. Grinning she slipped her arms around his neck and pressed tight in a smothering hug, her girlish squeal emerging right next to his ear, "That's so romantic!"
"Erk!" he stiffened in shock as she cuddled up against him. His arms slid over her body, trying to find some way to peel them apart, "Wa.. wait a second. What're you…?" The girl, interpreting his pawing for some form of encouragement, began to lick and nibble at his earlobe before closing her mouth on the sensitive skin of his neck. His arms and legs shot out, stiff and straight, as he wrenched his neck trying to evade the succulent kiss, "Yikes! Waaaah!"
"You're so shy! That's so cute!" she piped, laughing. She pulled back to look into his eyes and noticed them rolling back into his head. The silly grin was cute, but the lack of attention was vexing. "Hey! Wake up!" she slapped him on the cheek a bit vigorously.
"Ohgod! You're still here!" he moaned, as the ringing in his skull and the sharp tingling in his cheek roused him from his swoon. From the way he was sweating and staring around madly for some avenue of escape, the girl thought he was trying to escape from a room full of cats!
"Don't be like that, Ryouga-chan!" her voice caught as she reared back, giving him some breathing room, but remaining firmly straddled over his hips. Her lip trembled as she sucked in a deep breath and a tear formed at the corner of her eye. In a voice gearing up to wail, she cried, "I'm startin' to think you don't like me!"
"Oh no!" Ryouga immediately began to wave his hands to forestall her. The look on her face was painfully familiar. Ranma had looked like that under the influence of the koi rod when Ryouga tried to dismiss his rival's feelings. It was a look that promised much pain, heavily seasoned with contusions in a rich, red sauce. "Ah, hahahahaha! I like you fine, really!" he tried to assure her at once. "But," he tried to think of some way to calm her down without encouraging her further. He immediately decided not to mention Akane or Akari. He remembered her reaction to his "straying" affections the morning before. Then inspiration struck, and he asked, looking as concerned as possible," Aren't you interested in that other copy?"
"Ah, well. About that," she looked away, sighing. "I can't do anything with him without hurting Ranma."
"Huh?" he boggled, totally confused.
Copy-chan took a breath and quickly explained Cologne's visit and what she had revealed to the trio. She was doodling on his chest with her index finder as she completed the abridged tale. "So, that's why I can't be with him. But you're here! You're cute and strong and you're not as crazy as Kuno," she beamed again. Leaning very close, her nose almost touching his, she smiled and purred, "Do you wanna make love with me?"
"Ma… ma… ma… ma…" Ryouga could not even get past the first syllable of the dreaded proposal. The gears in his head locked up as the blood in his system tried to decide which delicate organ to invade and overwhelm.
"It's not that hard, really," she assured him with a wide grin. "First we flirt, that's this part here," she explained, caressing his cheek. She pressed on enthusiastically, eager to share her itinerary with her new boyfriend, staring off at something only she could see in great anticipation. She began gesturing to enhance her words. "Then we start dating. That's when we can start makin' out, and from there it's really easy to move on to heavy petting!" Ryouga stared up, dreading once more that this was really Ranma messing with his head. As anger began to boil up inside him, he managed to stave off the urge to pass out. Unfortunately, it was a meager defense against the things she was saying! "Once all of that turns into foreplay we can try sex!" She paused to close her eyes in bliss. In a more normal voice, she confided, "I'm really looking forward to that!" She looked down to see his, expected, excitement at her plans and frowned, eyes going half lidded. "Oh. Are you passing out again? Ew. You're bleeding all over the place." She reached out and pinched his nostrils to stop the flow of blood.
"Ite!" the sudden assault on his nose roused him once more.
"Yo, Ryouga," a too familiar voice intruded. "You're right on time."
"Ranma? Oh, thank the kami!" Rouga had whipped his head around to see his rival, shadowed by his duplicate. With a rattling sigh, he assured himself that it had not, after all, been one of his rival's sick jokes. The very idea of a boy saying such things to him was mortifying. Turning a smile back on Copy-chan he relaxed. Confident in the confirmation that such startling words had come from a real girl, the sense of horror evaporated. That left him with the sudden realization that such startling words had come from a real girl. Finally, he received the full impact of what Copy-chan had been saying. In his own defense, he argued quite articulately, "Erk!" and then mercifully passed out.
"Geez! What were you sayin' to him?"
"I'm sure I don't wanna know! Copy-kun, can you get his gear? We should probably keep ahold of him in case he wants help getting back to Nerima or something." Ranma went over and flipped the lost boy onto his shoulder and turned to look for Cologne.
The matriarch had gone over to speak with the master of Mirror Mansion. The two talked for some time before the man finally agreed to let them into the building to examine the unsealed mirror. Cologne stopped Ranma as he moved to follow her in and softly deterred him. Because of the danger of confronting the mirror, Cologne and the priest entered alone. The three Ranmas set about waking Ryouga.
"Aren't we goin' in too?" Copy-chan asked, turning to Ranma.
"Nah, Cologne wants to make sure it's safe first."
"Don't you two make a cute couple," Copy-kun glared.
"Oh, don't be jealous!" Copy-chan huffed.
"Couple!? Us!?" Ryouga interrupted, before Copy-chan could continue.
"Relax, Ryouga." Ranma reached out and put a hand on his rival's shoulder. With a knowing grin, he shook him a little, "We already know about you jumpin' her in the park. Stop pretending to be so shy! Really, I didn't know you had it in you!"
"It's not like that! She was dying!" the lost boy protested.
"He saved my life! It's so romantic!" the girl clasped her hands together and beamed. She leaned her shoulder against Ryouga's and stared up at him.
"Really? Gee, thanks, Ryouga! You saved us all, then!" Ranma offered a genuine, thankful smile as he clapped the boy on the shoulder.
"Huh?" Ryouga stared at him in confusion, and once more the group informed him of the fatal flaw of the Mirror of Broke Souls. This time, the information seemed to penetrate, as he gaped in disbelief, "You're kidding? If one of you dies you all die?"
"Until we work out a way to fix the bleeding," Ranma nodded.
"But you can help protect me until we do!" Copy-chan proposed.
"Uh. Sure. I guess," Ryouga looked down at her, remembering the burst of fear when he thought she was dead. He rubbed the back of his head and tried to get the idea of defending her life to really sink in. That was a little hard with Copy-kun glaring daggers at him and growling under his breath.
"Cool it lover boy," Ranma reached over and tugged on Copy-kun's pig-tail. When the boy turned the glare on him, he leaned in close and reminded him that his other half was no longer his main concern. "Remember Akane? Hell, if you become me, you'll have a handful of girls to deal with even if you don't end up with Akane."
"What?" Copy-kun gasped. Ranma quickly explained the fiancée situation to his double, elaborating a little on the cause of all of them. The boy's expression became more and more outraged as Ranma detailed the many ways he had been sold off for food, fast cash or a quick bail out as the result of Genma's greed. He was positively steaming at the conclusion, "I'm gonna kill that old man!"
Before anyone could tell him to get in line, they were interrupted.
"Son-in-law, it is safe for everyone to enter," Cologne announced, hopping out through the front door. As they collected themselves and filed into the foyer, she tapped each one and issued specific warnings, starting with Ranma, "You will be safe. Ryouga, be sure not to look directly into the mirror or touch it. You two, I need to talk to alone." Ranma and Ryouga continued inside while the twins paused to confront Cologne.
"What is it?" they asked.
"Without a seal on the mirror, you two should be able to pass in and out of the mirror at will. This should allow us to test some things," she informed them. They nodded, in slight confusion, and entered. The matriarch followed. When Cologne had first gone in, she had confronted the mirror with a number of suspicions. She quickly shared these with the four teenagers. "It is safe to say that this is the Mirror of Broken Souls, and thus, you two are both Ranma," she declared, pointing to the copies.
She went on to explain how, despite the fact that two copies of Ranma had been released under the influence of the ghost, she had concluded that the ghost herself must still be trapped in the mirror. However she might have interfered with the copies, there would be no need for a second to emerge if the ghost had truly possessed the first. From the story of how the woman had inexplicably sickened and died, she also concluded that she had managed to unlock the mirror's power prior to her death. "She no doubt twinned herself and separated so that one could pursue her dream of finding a lover, while the other remained in her home to maintain appearances. I believe that the ghost will have to be exorcised as the first step in restoring the memory of Ranma to the twins."
This statement explained the preparations the priest had been making when they entered. Cologne had already conferred with him and convinced the priest to attempt an exorcism. He was just completing a quick circuit of the entry hall, affixing warding seals to protect and consecrate the immediate area. Half expecting the old man to be another crackpot, like the ones he had dealt with in the past, Ranma commented on his professionalism as he came to rejoin them.
"Oh," he laughed, "In my youth is was something of a Ghost Chaser. I discovered I could not really compete with some of the ladies in that profession and returned to the shrine when the master passed on."
"Okay," Ranma rubbed the back of his head. "So, now what?"
The old man produced a number of artifacts and smiled. "Well, after discussing this with Elder Cologne, the two reflections need to enter the mirror." Cologne had explained the boy's curse, confirming for the priest the validity of the fabled Jusenkyo. "Once they are inside, I'll light the tapers and begin the ritual to call the ghost from them and the mirror," he explained, handing Ranma, Ryouga and Cologne tall, thick candles.
"I thought we established that the ghost wasn't possessin' them?"
"That is true, Son-in-law," Cologne intercepted. "However, she has managed to use the mirror to extend her influence to them. Think of them as having been bespelled or entranced. I am concerned that they would remain under her spell if they were in the real world while she was brought forth and banished."
"Oh. Well, I guess we should take your advice," he shrugged. Turing to his twins he studied them, "Are you two ready to go back in?"
They nodded and Ranma followed them over to the mirror. To their shock, none of them seemed to cast a reflection in the tall glass.
"This is kinda weird," Copy-chan muttered, placing her hand on the glass. She frowned as she applied pressure, but the glass would not admit her. "That's odd. It won't let me in!"
"What do you mean?" Copy-kun, standing next to her, reached out and gaped as the glass resisted his own intrusion. "Hey, Cologne! I thought you said we'd be able to pass through this at will?" He was straining to push the glass with both hands, throwing the challenge over his shoulder, when Ranma reached out to touch the glass himself. With a startled cry, Copy-kun plunged through the mirror as if it was a pool of water.
"Apparently, the mirror's powers have been limited. The original and the reflection have to be in contact with the mirror's surface to bypass the original seal," she observed thoughtfully. The boy on the other side of the glass picked himself up and now studied them all through the glass. It looked like he was saying something, but the glass muted it. In sudden shock, the matriarch realized that Ranma's lips were moving in synch, muttering to himself in shock.
"What is that, Son-in-law?"
Ranma was staring at his reflection in shock as the memories of the past two days as Copy-kun spilled through his mind. "I… I can remember it all now!" he stammered, in response to the question. "I can remember being me. I can remember not being able to remember… I can remember…" The boy stiffened in shock as the string of confrontations with himself reached the most intimate ordeals. He let out a howl of pain as his mind tried to deal with what he had done and the feelings experienced on both sides. The priest, looking on in alarm, reached into his robe and before anyone could stop him, splashed the boy with purified water.
"Demon! Begone!" the priest shouted, to activate the enchantment in the water. To his shock, the boy turned into a girl, causing Copy-chan, who was still leaning against the glass, to spill through the surface with a squawk of surprise. The others noticed that the boy's reflection had simply vanished as the curse was activated. Ranma-chan spasmed, as her mind was assaulted with a third perspective, breaking contact with the mirror and falling to the ground slightly out of phase with her reflection.
"Wha… what just happened?" Ryouga asked in alarm.
"Oh dear," the priest moaned. "I forgot about the curse."
"What happened to Copy-kun?" Ryouga demanded, automatically rushing to Ranma-chan's side and pulling her into his arms.
"It looks like the mirror can only hold one reflection at a time," Cologne concluded, grabbing the two teens and urging them to their feet. "Quickly, we need to perform the exorcism. That girl is trapped in the edge of the spirit world in a physical form. We have no time to waste!"
Copy-chan was pressed up against the glass, banging against it for release, as Ryouga dragged Ranma-chan to her feet. Copy-chan's cries were coming from Ranma-chan's lips, "Lemme out! Lemme out! There's somethin' in here! Yaaaaaaaaah!!!"
"Hush, child!" Cologne reached out and tapped a spot above the Ranma-chan's navel. A strange calm overtook the cursed martial artist and her reflection. "If you panic, you will only draw more attention to yourself."
"Elder, I am ready to begin," the priest announced, after lighting the candles the four of them carried. He turned to Ranma, "Since you have a connection through the mirror, I will need to use you as a conduit to contact the spirit." He gestured to the shadows and the old man came forward. "As the lady's nephew, it would be best if you called out to her," the priest directed the master of the mansion.
"I will do so," the old man followed the priest's gestures to come and stand facing both Ranma and the mirror. Clearing his throat, he roughly called out to his long departed aunt, as he had been instructed. "Mihoshi Tengawa, I entreat you, come forth and speak!"
For a while, nothing happened. The only sound was the low chanting of the priest. Just as Ranma was about to start complaining, a chill went through her and she sagged. For a moment, there was just dizziness, and then Ranma found herself looking out through the mirror at the four people ringing her body. A voice echoed all around her, and she could see her vacant body suddenly animated by an alien spirit. "Oh, Shiro! Is that really you?"
Ranma strained, but the old man's reply did not penetrate the glass. There was an instant of panic, as she feared the ghost might take over her body and leave her behind in the mirror! "Hey! That's my body! You get out of there!"
"Dear, Shiro, I have missed you as well," the voice continued, oblivious to her demands. "I was so very foolish. I should have known it was too good to be true." Ranma calmed herself, distracted from the pooling of her reflections' memories by the one sided conversation with the dead noble woman. Apparently, Cologne had guessed right, as the ghost told her story of having discovered a way to twin herself with the mirror, and the struggle she had faced when tempted to escape the prison of her formal life. By the time she had realized that the division was killing her, her other half was too weak to return to the mirror. Upon their death, they had been reunited in spirit within the mirror, and in their anger ignored the silent call of heaven. She had tried to use the mirror to cheat death, but her efforts had done nothing but warp the reflections of those who stumbled into the open trap she had left behind. "I am tired of it," she finally admitted. "I have ruined many lives in my desperation to fulfill my own dream. I just did not know how to move on."
There was a long pause as the priest came forward on the other side of the glass and spoke to her. At the end, the ghost said one word, "Yes." Suddenly, Ranma found herself back in her own body in the small ritual circle.
"That was creepy! I was stuck in there!"
"I am sorry, young one, but it is over now. The spirit has gone," the priest declared, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"You mean she didn't fight you or anything?" Ranma-chan was shocked. From the looks on everyone's faces, they were all surprised at how easily the ceremony succeeded. After generations of frustration, the ghost had proved eager to quit the mortal plane and seek fulfillment in the next life. "That's a relief!" Ranma sighed, collecting herself and turning to head outside. She was surprised when Ryouga reached out and whipped her around. "Hey! What do you think you're doin'?" Ranma-chan barked.
"Are you just going to leave her trapped in there?" the lost boy demanded, pointing to the image of Copy-chan slumped against the inside of the glass, staring out in shock and dejection.
Ranma-chan stared at her in surprise. "I don't get it."
"What is that, Son-in-law?"
"She's inside of me now," Ranma declared. "What is she still doing in there?" It was true, too. He could close his eyes and feel her, a part of himself walled away in a corner of his mind. If he concentrated hard enough, he could even sense the male half submerged even deeper. All of their memories were hers now, but somehow both of them still existed.
"I would think she can not get out unless you open the mirror for her again," Cologne drawled with an amused snort.
"But, why wasn't she absorbed along with all the memories?" Ranma-chan demanded, walking back up to the mirror. Copy-chan pulled herself together and rose to her feet, peering out hopefully.
"Until the mirror is properly sealed again, she remains a unique expression of you, Son-in-law. She has her own will, and in the spirit realm that is enough for her to endure on her own." Either that, Cologne thought, or she has something to cling to in his psyche that makes her able to hold her own in his mind. Something the boy would not embrace. Cologne studied the girl in the mirror with growing hope. "It would be cruel to leave them in there for the time needed to repair the seal. It might be dangerous as well, since she is a physical manifestation in a spiritual realm."
"Oh, right!" Ranma remembered Cologne mentioning that earlier. She reached out to her reflection, and pressed her palm against that of Copy-chan. The glass flowed out from between their hands, allowing Copy-chan to burst free of the mirror. She flopped to the ground, gasping in relief. Her mind had opened up to embrace Ranma's life, and as she had feared, she was struggling now with the simple fact that she was permanently, perfectly, one hundred percent female. The eight or nine days she had spent entirely as a girl were not much to balance the overbearing masculinity pounded into her by her father. Even so, the permanent curse, the events that had undermined her manhood, the feelings she had for Ryouga—of all people—were not as bad as being trapped behind the glass. She reveled in her freedom for several breaths, until familiar hands moved to help her to her feet.
"Don't touch me!" she turned her troubled eyes to meet Ryouga's, silently pleading for space. "Please… just… give me some… time. I need to figure out who I am," she looked down and away, to avoid the sight of Ryouga's heart shattering.
Ranma stared at her in shock and dread. Crouching down next to her, Ranma-chan put her arm over her shoulder and spoke in a soft voice. "I am sorry. I never considered what it would be like to remember this suddenly. I remember you too, now. Just remember, there's still the nanniichaun, you don't have to be like this forever if you don't want to."
She laughed, "Oh, it's just a little worse. I've been through this before with the Musk. I'm just glad that didn't happen at the same time as the koi rod." She allowed her other self to help her to her feet. She didn't have to say anything to know what was on Ranma's mind. This had been shocking enough. What they had to do next would be even more painful. Turning to the master of the estate, they asked in unison, "Could we get some hot water?"
The old man bowed and marched away to grant their request. He felt he owed a lot more to this cursed stranger who had finally brought his family's tragedy to an end. He would be happy to do far more than produce a kettle of hot water!
"As soon as he gets back, I'll let the other one out," Ranma announced. "After that, we're going home. We don't really want to have to deal with anyone when he gets out," she added, giving Cologne a meaningful look. Seeing Ryouga studying the mirror with a strange look, she added, "Don't even think about it Ryouga. You'd be cured, but you would also spend the rest of your life cursed. Do you want to be a pig forever?"
The lost boy turned to him and sighed, "There's still the nanniichaun. The reverse of this curse would still be better."
"Then get some nanniichaun water first. Don't make a mistake with this thing!" Copy-chan grabbed him by the front of his shirt. She pulled him close, "Trust me, you won't like the feeling of being permanently cursed."
"Is that what… You're really Ranma now, aren't you?"
"I am sorry Ryouga," she looked down. "I meant everything at the time. I just don't know if I can live with it now."
"It probably would never have worked anyway," Ryouga sighed, turning away to collect his things. "Besides, I still haven't decided between Akane and Akari. You would have killed me over that in a week. Even without the memories, you are too much like him."
While the lost boy wandered outside, the old man returned with a steaming kettle. The priest, at Cologne's urging, went out to keep an eye on the lost boy, offering a sympathetic ear. That was enough to detain Ryouga as Ranma doused himself and returned to the mirror to confront his other reflection. Even before raising a hand to the glass, the other boy's head was bowed in anguish. He knew, as he took Ranma's hand and pushed through the surface, what his existence would do to his other selves. The long sought cure, finally realized for him, had a terrible price. All he wanted to do was laugh and celebrate, shout to the world that he was finally a man-among-men. Even in the strained silence, as he confronted the other two, the words could be heard. There was no reason not to say them.
"Well. I'm never gonna be a girl again."
"Congratulations, Ranma," the pair said to him.
Cologne gazed upon the three and wondered if the world could survive the three of them expressing their misery in a combined, perfect shishihokodan. At times like this, it was dreadful to know what Ranma was capable of.