Echoes in Time (v1.04, 05/17/03)
Chapter 4: Pasts Revealed - Ukyo's Story
By AllWhacked
Send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/allwhacked/
--- Disclaimer ---
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the property of Takahashi Rumiko,
Shonen Sunday Comics, Shogakukan, Kitty TV (Japan) and Viz
Communications (USA). The characters of Tenchi Muyo belong to Kajishima
Masaki. The characters of Highlander belong to Davis/Panzer Inc. All
other characters and trademarks to appear are owned by their respective
owners. Note that this work of fiction is for free entertainment
purposes only. No compensation has been or will be received.
Please do not archive this work without the author's permission. Thank
You.
--- Note to Reader ---
This is an alternate universe/divergence fic with the bulk of the story
occurring after the Nanban Mirror episode (anime only). Now Ranma finds
himself stuck 400 plus years in the past with no means of returning
home.
"..." = spoken speech
'...' = thoughts
--- End Note to Reader, Start of Chapter ---
Tatewaki Kuno, age seventeen stood at the gates of Furinkan High as he
waited patiently for the arrival of his fierce tigress, Akane Tendo and
his equally lovely but also mysterious, Pigtailed Girl. That particular
morning he was in high spirits, for the long weekend had proven to be
just what he needed in renewing his desire for the two women. With born
anew fervor, he practiced his Kendo katas and poetry in anxious
anticipation of the eventual arrival of his two ladyloves. It was
during all this that he caught sight of his most hated foe--one Ranma
Saotome.
'The knave!' he thought. 'He dare arrive without the lovely Akane
Tendo? Unforgivable! For without her, how can I show my love if she is
not here to witness my righteous victory over..? But wait! Her absence
must surely mean that she has finally broken free of that Foul
Sorcerer's black magic.' As Kuno thought this, he failed to notice the
differences in Ranma's appearance; differences that would have told him
that he shouldn't charge on blindly into battle.
"Foul Sorcerer! Halt and face the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!" he
yelled. His battle cry caught the attention of surrounding students who
all quickly swarmed together to form a circle around the two combatants.
As the crowd waited anxious to see the fight, many wondered where Akane
was and more importantly, what Ranma's relation was to the beautiful
woman who had accompanied him.
As the two neared the center of the courtyard, Kuno appeared. "Halt
there Foul Sorcerer and face the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High."
Lightning thundered off in the distance, causing a large crow to be
electrocuted and fall dead atop of Kuno's head.
Looking at Kuno and then the smoldering piece of black feathers resting
on top of his scalp, Ranma, Ryoko, and the rest of the assembled student
body started laughing. Despite the comical scene, Kuno was non too
amused.
"You dare laugh at my noble personage?" he barked. Ranma just nodded
his head, an act that further enraged Kuno. While, lifting his bokken
high into the air, he screamed out his battle cry. "For your insult and
for the love of the fierce tigress, Akane Tendo and the lovely,
Pigtailed Girl I shall smite thee."
Seeing Kuno run towards Ranma, Ryoko tensed up and was prepared to
engage her energy sword. However a nudge from Ranma and the shaking of
his head told her not too. Realizing that she had overreacted again,
Ryoko blushed and walked off to the side to watch Ranma in his fight
with Kuno.
As Kuno charged, Ranma stood there motionlessly; the passing seconds
giving Kuno more and more time to bridge the gap between the two.
"Is he crazy?" one student asked. "He's going to get creamed if he
doesn't move."
Another student answered the other. "Don't be such a non-believer.
Haven't you ever seen a kung-fu movie? Whenever the badass martial
artist is about to do something hella cool, he'll just stand there and
wait till the last second before he acts. I betcha that Ranma has
something really awesome planned." Other students proceeded to nod or
shake their heads as bets were being placed on Ranma's next move.
++++++++++
Second after second passed and still Ranma had not moved. Finally it
came to the point that the two were within range of Kuno's bokken.
Kuno, seeing that his opponent was frozen in obvious fear of his battle
prowess, raised his bokken high into the air, preparing to bring it down
upon his foe--slicing him in two.
*Swish*
'What!? How could I have missed?' wondered Kuno as he ended his strike,
having hit nothing but air. 'I clearly cleaved him with my righteous
blade' he continued thinking. 'Surely he should be dead at my feet.'
As Kuno stood there contemplating what foul sorcery must have been in
use to deceive such a noble samurai as himself, his temper finally hit
its breaking point as he came to an ill-conceived conclusion. Striking
a pose to the heavens, he yelled out for all to hear.
"Foul Sorcerer!" he cried. "You dare run away from the Mighty Blue
Thunder. I demand that you show yourself now you un-honorable dog, so
that you can face heaven's wrath." As he said that he was met by an
annoyed voice.
"I didn't run anywhere you dip shit. If you bothered to use your eyes
and look around, you would have realized I sidestepped your attack."
Kuno turned towards the direction of the voice and came face to face to
a frowning Ranma. 'Quite odd, he seems taller' thought Kuno just before
his world turned black.
As Kuno's head slowly turned to face Ranma, he was met with a blinding
fast three hit combo. Beginning with a front leg round kick, Ranma
knocked the air from Kuno's lungs. In the same fluid motion, he twisted
his hips and delivered a sharp low round kick to the back of Kuno's
knees--dropping the kendoist in a disheveled heap.
While Kuno's broken body started falling face forward, he was yanked
back hard as Ranma gripped the locks of Kuno's curly hair. Without much
flare or ceremony, Ranma then delivered a two-finger strike to the base
of Kuno's skull. Then in a blur, he ran the same hand down Kuno's
spine, hitting various pressure points and nerve endings as he
progressed downward.
After hitting the first series of nerve endings, Kuno let off a pitiful
girlish cry; yelping as his body reacted to Ranma's ministrations. As
his body flared in pain, he first dropped his bokken. Then as if by
clockwork, the hands that were clutching his abdomen then made a series
of unnatural jerking motions. First he moved the shoulders, then his
elbows and wrists, finally leaving his arms flung out and away from his
body in an airplane formation.
With his arms out and locked in their current position, Ranma then
shifted his weight and delivered a powerful knee to Kuno's back; causing
the Blue Thunder to fall face forward into the payment.
Still holding firm to Kuno's hair, Ranma then adjusted his hold and
placed the majority of his weight into slamming Kuno's head into the
asphalt. With a sickening crunch, Kuno's face was crushed into a bloody
mass as the combined weight of himself and Ranma came down onto it.
As the crowd watched in sick fascination, Ranma proceeded to pull Kuno's
head out of the crater it had made. To the crowd, they could no longer
tell where skin met flesh as Kuno's face was a mass of peppered asphalt,
broken teeth and bones, and oozing blood.
"Had enough of my foul sorcery?" asked Ranma in a cold tone, staring
straight at Kuno's last good eye. Some of the girls and boys watching
gave off a shiver in fright as they heard this. While the crowd's gazes
shifted from Ranma to Kuno, they let out a gasp of horror as they got a
better look of the damage done.
Kuno's head was a bloody mess. It was obvious his nose had been broken
and possibly his jaw. When the boy opened his mouth, all that could be
seen were bloody teeth--a majority of which had been spit up as they
came loose during the impact. Looking down and in front of the fallen
Kendoist, they saw a small piece of pink flesh--a piece of tongue that
had been bitten off.
Kuno, with his teeth missing and his nose broken, attempted to reply
back to Ranma's inquiry. To those who were close enough, it sounded as
if he said "I fight on" though none could be too sure because of the
mass of blood that gurgled at the back of his throat. Combine that with
his missing piece of tongue and it was questionable whether he said
anything at all.
While the assembled crowd looked on with shocked eyes at how brutally
Ranma put down the once mighty Blue Thunder, Ranma seemed to whisper
something into his ear.
"Wrong answer" said Ranma as he slammed Kuno's head back into the broken
concrete. Kuno failed to move while Ranma proceeded to get up and dust
himself off; acting as if nothing was unusual. As Kuno's blood poured
forth from his nose, mouth, and his various cuts, Nabiki came running up
towards Ranma--shouting and yelling at him for what he'd done.
"Ranma!" she screamed. "What the hell do you think you're doing? I
thought you were going to leave on amicable terms. You probably just
killed Kuno." To that, Ranma only shrugged his shoulder in
indifference. Looking back at Kuno's broken body, Ranma could only
mumble a lame apology.
"I guess you're right. Oh well." Ranma proceed to turn around and away
from the stunned Nabiki, walking through the mass of students as they
parted to make way for him. Looking at Ryoko who seemed indifferent to
all this, he gave her a signal for her to follow. While the crowd began
to thin in the wake of the one sided fight, the school bell began to
ring.
++++++++++
Ranma shook his head as he ran through the possible scenarios for
dealing with Kuno. Killing him was an option, the fact that Kuno would
be attacking him with a weapon gave him cause enough to at least defend
himself by "accidentally" striking the Kendoist in the jugular and
collapsing his windpipe. Given that the act was in self-defense, he
could reason in any court of law that Kuno got what he deserved.
However, killing such a weak opponent left him feeling at odds with
himself. He had no qualms with killing in general, he had done it
enough times in his long life to no longer be bothered by it. In his
mind, as long as the death was for the right reasons then he wouldn't
lose any sleep over it.
But killing Kuno was different. It was akin to being a bully, it was
something that in his mind was un-honorable and no matter how good it
might make him feel to just lay into him, there was still the sense of
civility that he strove to maintain. No, killing Kuno was out of the
question, but what could he do?
Then inspiration struck, quite literally in fact.
*Thwack*
Ranma felt something hit him atop of his head. It felt like a mosquito
bite, but given all the strength and pain endurance training he had been
through that mosquito could have been a flying bullet for all he knew.
Breaking out of his thinking, he realized who it was. 'Kuno' he
thought. He should have realized the Kendoist wouldn't hesitate to
strike him down while he wasn't looking. 'No matter' he thought. 'Now
that his stick is broken, I can use this 'tact' thing everyone keeps
raving about.' Ranma was preparing to negotiate some peaceful resolve
to this conflict when Kuno spoke.
"Foul Demon!" shouted Kuno. "What black magic have you conjured to
render my righteous blade so?" Kuno proceeded to raise the broken butt
of his bokken, the other half having clattered to the ground when it
made contact with Ranma's head.
Ranma just looked at Kuno and rolled his eyes. 'Geez, what a cry baby'
he thought. "Don't worry Kuno, you can be rest assured that I only used
the most foulest of black magic against you."
Kuno seemed to take pause as he heard this. "Ha!" he suddenly
exclaimed. "That goes without question, for only the most vile of
sorcery could ever oppose such a noble samurai as myself. But now you
finally admit your demonic origins Foul Sorcerer?"
Ranma just shrugged. "Yeah, I'm a Foul Sorcerer but I'm no demon."
Jerking a thumb towards Ryoko he continued. "Now her, she's a demon."
Eyes adverted to look at Ryoko who just stood there and shrugged and
nodded her head slightly. Most of the crowd didn't believe what Ranma
was saying, but that didn't mean Kuno didn't or at least Kuno didn't
fail to believe the Foul Sorcerer part.
"You lie!" he cried. "No lovely flower such as her could possibly be of
demonic origins." Kuno just looked at Ryoko with an appraising eye,
Ranma in turn narrowed his brow in slight anger.
"Oh, you think so Kuno" began Ranma. "Then how the hell do you think I
became a Foul Sorcerer in the first place? I sure wasn't born that way.
I'd be careful around her, she'd eat your soul and you wouldn't even
know it. I on the other hand made a pact with her. You know, she
grants me evil powers to make rough the lives of noble samurai such as
yourself and she spares my soul but gets the soul's of all the lovely
women whom I ensnare. Quite a sweet deal."
Kuno looked at Ranma and then Ryoko with a disgusted expression. 'Could
it be, that lovely flower is what the Foul Saotome claims her to be?' he
thought. The idea seemed preposterous but given Saotome's own
admittance to being a foul agent of hell, it wasn't a big leap in Kuno's
mind to assume that that woman was the succubus-demonic spawn that first
contorted Saotome's heart to evil.
"You there!" he snarled as he pointed the remnants of his bokken at
Ryoko. "It is clear that you are the true evil here. Now prepare
yourself and face the righteous might of the Blue Thunder of Furinkan
High!" Kuno was about to charge with his broken bokken when Ranma
placed a firm hold on Kuno's shoulder.
"Unhand me knave!" yelled Kuno. He then let off a girlish scream when
Ranma started applying greater strength to his grip. "Cool it Kuno"
said Ranma. "We're not here to fight so you can put away that broken
stick of yours."
Kuno looked puzzled at this. 'The Foul Demon doth not wish to fight?'
The idea seemed as equally as preposterous as Ryoko being a demon
succubus, however this was Kuno we're talking about.
"Aha!" he exclaimed. "You must now wish not to fight for you have
obviously realized my superior personage and prowess and thus are here
to beg for mercy. But I, the Blue Thunder..." Kuno was unable to
finish this statement when Ranma interrupted.
"Oh shut the hell up and listen to what we got to say." Kuno was about
to retort to that but Ranma applied more pressure to Kuno's shoulder,
dropping the boy to his knees.
"Good" Ranma continued. "Now here is the deal. I Ranma Saotome, aka.
Foul Sorcerer, come before the assembled students of Furinkan High to
let all know that I have hereby relinquished my hold on the fair and
lovely, fierce tigress, Akane Tendo."
The crowd gasped at Ranma's proclamation. 'Could it be?' some of the
male members of the crowd thought. 'She is now free to date with one of
us.' Ranma proceeded to acknowledge the unsaid queries.
"My engagement to Akane Tendo has been absolved as I am now taken by Ms.
Demon over there." Ryoko proceeded to wave amicably at those members of
the crowd who dared look at her direction. The image she projected was
far from the demonic hell spawn that the word demon implied; however,
most of the crowd assumed that Ranma was merely joking with Kuno anyway.
"Anyway, I've 'freed' Akane from my black magic. So if you want to ask
her out on a date, you can. I suggest that you treat her like any
normal girl and be nice to her. If you ask her out and she likes you,
she might just say yes. However, don't expect to win a date from her by
trying to beat her up in a fight. I guarantee that if I find out that
you guys are still doing that, I'm going to come back here and track
down each and every one of you and hit your 'latent-homosexuality'
pressure point."
"Then I'm going to throw your gay asses into the 'Blue Oyster'(1) bar.
When the pressure point wears off, you'll definitely be feeling it in
the rear come morning." Ranma waited as his proclamation sunk into the
group's psyche.
For Kuno, he heard nothing past the part of "I've freed Akane." 'Could
it be?' thought Kuno upon hearing this. 'Akane Tendo finally free of
the wretched Saotome? But alas, what of my Pigtailed Goddess?'
"Foul Sorcerer!" Kuno announced. "I demand that you also relinquish
your hold over the Pigtailed Girl." Ranma merely snorted as he had
anticipated such a response.
"Sorry Kuno, no can do." Kuno was about to try bashing Ranma when the
pigtailed man furthered. "I would love to relinquish my hold over your
lovely Pigtailed Girl however the Pigtailed Girl is no more."
Kuno looked like he would go into shock. "The Pigtailed Girl, no more?"
he gasped. "You must surely jest."
Ranma just shook his head in response. "Sorry Kuno, she's gone, no
more, dead to the world." Kuno looked like he was ready to cry, but in
an act of unexpected strength, he broke free of Ranma's grip and turned
blurry eyed at Ranma, grabbing the lapels of Ranma's jacket.
"Tell me, Foul Sorcerer. Tell me what has befallen my Pigtailed Girl"
Kuno shouted. Ranma in turn looked rather annoyed at the physical
contact. In a swift and smooth motion, Ranma proceeded to use his right
hand, to grasp a hold of Kunos own right.
With his thumb over his thumb, he grabbed onto Kuno's wrist and twisted.
The move took less than a second, and Kuno found himself twirled around
as his hold on Ranma was broken. Furthermore, he now found himself in
an unbreakable arm lock as his right arm was extended out and his wrist
twisted in such a way, that to struggle would result in his wrist and
elbow being broken against the joint.
Despite this, Kuno attempted to struggle free. "Ah!" he screamed.
Ranma started to apply pressure as he saw Kuno would not submit to the
hold. The minute amount of pressure applied to Kuno's wrist created
enough pain that it dropped Kuno to his knees.
"I suggest you calm down before I break your arm" spoke Ranma in a calm
voice. Kuno just twisted his head and gave Ranma an angry scowl. He
would not admit defeat but he could not deny that to struggle further
was futile. Seeing that Kuno was relaxing, Ranma proceeded to release
some of the pressure he put on Kuno, yet not releasing his hold on him.
"Okay Kuno, if you agree to just hear me out and not talk or act, I'll
tell you what happened to your Pigtailed Girl. After that you can do
anything you want." Kuno just nodded his head at Ranma's words. Seeing
that Kuno was going to comply, Ranma released him as he began to spin a
tall tale of what befell his girl half.
"Kuno, it saddens me to say that the Pigtail Girl will not be coming
back. It was during the long weekend that she met with tragedy. For
you see, my most hated nemesis, a sorcerer who practices in black magic
so dark that even I would not dare dabble in. He.. he ambushed the
defenseless Pigtailed Girl and raped and killed her; possibly doing so
not in that order."
"When we found her bloody body, it was a sickening sight. To spare
others from seeing what had befallen such a lovely flower, we had her
remains cremated and her ashes sprinkled out over the ocean during the
funeral services held during the weekend. It was a rather beautiful
ceremony, there were..."
Ranma was cut off from his last bit of rambling by the sound of Kuno's
wails. "Oh the Heaven's doth weep for the loss of one of their own" he
cried. Turning abruptly towards Ranma he added. "Saotome! Tell me,
tell me who dared do such a despicable act so that I, the Blue Thunder
can bring them to justice."
Ranma was grinning inwardly at how well he was playing the chump. "Oh
Kuno" Ranma began in a melodramatic tone. "You mustn't go fight him.
He is too evil, too devious for even the most noble of samurai. It was
in the wake of his evil that I realized the folly of my chosen path and
so after today, I am to leave Nerima to seek atonement and purification
at a remote shrine."
Kuno proceeded to eat up every single word. "It is good that you seek
atonement for your sins, but you must tell me who has committed this
heinous crime. For the memory of the Pigtailed Girl, her death must be
avenged." Kuno proceeded to strike a pose as thunder sounded off into
the distance.
As Kuno stood there, Ranma had met a dilemma. 'Who to implicate?' He
had briefly thought about blaming this on his student, Happossai,
perhaps giving the pervert something more to do than simply grope women
and steal their underwear. With Ranma no longer around to keep the old
man busy, either by thwarting Happossai's various attempts to sneak into
the girl's locker room or raiding the local lingerie shop, Ranma as a
responsible sensei needed to provide his first and oldest student with a
proper nemesis to keep him lively and active while in old age.
Seeing Kuno heave in rage as he waited for Ranma's answer, the
Grandmaster of Anything Goes inwardly smirked as he saw the proper
'training buddy' to assign his old friend. An idle thought then passed
onto his quasi-friend/nemesis, Ryoga Hibiki. The eternally lost boy
would be out of a rival and a sense of purpose in life, since the Ranma
he knew, had advanced so far in the art that a fight between the two
would no longer even be considered a challenge; instead, in an all out
fight, Ryoga would be slaughtered and Ranma neither had the time nor
patience to deal with an opponent at such a lower level.
However, Kuno on the other hand wasn't half bad and given his
persistence and provided a little subtle training by Happossai, the
self-named "Blue Thunder" could prove an adequate replacement for Ranma
once he left Nerima. A grin came to his lips as a plan formulated in
his head.
"Oh Noble Kuno," Ranma began. "If you truly wish to avenge the
Pigtailed Girl then you must listen carefully for what I am about say.
The evil you are about to fight comes in two, a master and an
apprentice."
"The student of this evil master is a Ryoga Hibiki, a scoundrel of a
man. He is yay tall and wears a spotted yellow bandana and carries with
him a large red umbrella. Be weary of him for he is known to change
shapes, it is rumored that he transforms into a small black piglet whom
he has tricked the naïve Akane Tendo into thinking is her pet, P-Chan.
If you ever see Akane in a company of such a creature, you must destroy
it at all cost, for it is only in his transformed state that he is
vulnerable."
"The master of Hibiki is a perverted old man of both the martial and
magical arts. Though his true name is not known, he goes by Happossai.
He often frequents the halls of Furikan, carrying a sack filled with
women undergarments. He often comes to this school to spy on the girls
in the locker room--either to spy and ogle their young nubile bodies or
to grope them and later steal their bras and panties. In any case, you
must thwart him in these endeavors at every turn, for he draws his
demonic powers from touching the flesh or undergarments of young women
and girls."
"If you can deny this master of these things, he can be sufficiently
weakened enough for you to defeat him. Otherwise, if you attempt to
fight him head on, you will lose. Just as I have on numerous
occasions."
This final admittance of his own inability in the past to defeat
Happossai helped add the last element of legitimacy to hook Kuno's
warped mind into believe such a tale. Also given that Kuno was
predisposed to fairy tale fallacy, it wasn't hard to convince him to
accept everything he had just said at face value.
"Thank you Saotome for your assistance" began Kuno after Ranma had
finished. "Know that the Pigtailed Girl's memory shall be avenged, for
heaven's justice is swift and sure." Ranma just kept up the act as he
watched Kuno rush off towards god knows where. As soon as Kuno was out
of sight and earshot, Ranma proceeded to break up into loud laughter as
he made his way towards Ryoko.
From within the crowd, Nabiki made her way up to him. "Ranma!" she
exclaimed. "What the hell was that about!?" Ranma looked at her and
smirked.
"Oh that" he began. "That was my attempt at being amicable." Nabiki
narrowed her eyes as he said this.
"Amicable!" she exclaimed. "You just sent Kuno on a fool's quest. What
do you think Ryoga and Happossai are going to do to him when he starts
spouting 'Foul Sorcerer' at them?"
Ranma didn't pause in his answer. "What I did to Kuno, Happossai, and
Ryoga... that was all intentional. Remember, I'm not going to stay in
Nerima forever. Once I'm gone, no one is going to be here to stop
Happossai. And while Ryoga would probably be a better choice to handle
the pervert, do you honestly think Ryoga would stand a chance given his
sense of direction or the fact that he'd pass out at the first sight of
female flesh?"
Nabiki just stopped as Ranma continued walking towards Ryoko. She was
unsure how to respond to that as she stood there amongst the mass of
students, watching while Ranma motioned for Ryoko to follow him towards
the main building. Just then the morning bell rang.
--- Ranma's Classroom ---
"Mr. Saotome, you're late again" barked Mr. Ishikawa, the classes'
balding, middle-aged homeroom teacher. The teacher gave Ranma a smug
look, ever since Ranma Saotome had come to Furinkan, the boy had been
late every single day. That infuriated the teacher to no end.
'Just because he's the star of the school's athletic program and has all
those girls chasing after him, he thinks he can just shirk his
responsibilities' thought the teacher.
The man was bitter to say the least. He had come into teaching because
he thought he could make a difference. However, years of indifferent
students, combined with his failing marriage left him resenting people
like Ranma. People who without any effort were able to achieve so much,
receive so much, and get by on so little. So it was days like this,
where he could exert his power over such students that he got his
thrills.
Mr. Ishikawa was about to order Ranma and his attractive companion
outside to hold buckets, when Ranma stopped him with an answer. "Oh,
I'm sorry for being late Sensei. However, I was just too busy
contemplating beating Kuno within an inch of his life. I then thought
about doing the same to any other person who looked at me cock-eyed, but
I knew how important it was to get here for class. I hope you
understand."
Ranma's response wasn't much of an answer, however it served its desired
effect. With that answer, combined with how he looked at Mr. Ishikawa
and how callously he had said it, the teacher decided that it was not
within the best interest of his health to order Ranma or his friend out.
Giving Ranma a mumbled "Okay" Ranma smirked as he proceeded to walk
towards his assigned seat. Ryoko followed close behind and sat in the
chair normally reserved for Akane Tendo.
--- Lunch Time ---
"Ranma, where's Akane and whose your friend?" asked Sayuri, one of
Akane's friends. Ranma for his part couldn't remember her name, but
nevertheless answered.
"Oh, Akane is sick and this is Ryoko." Ryoko proceeded to say "Hi" to
Akane's gathered friends. As the introductions and greetings were
finished, one of Akane's other friends, Yuka interrupted.
"Ranma?" she queried. "Is it true that you're a foul sorcerer and that
Ryoko here is the demon succubus that transformed your heart to evil?"
Yuka sounded silly saying it, but after watching Ranma's performance she
wasn't sure. 'His acting skills were never that good before' she
thought to herself. Next to Yuka, students who were ease dropping were
thinking along similar lines.
Ranma smiled at the question. He was preparing to answer, when Ukyo
came into view. Standing over him with her battle spatula blocking the
light of the sun, Ukyo posed a formidable sight. As the other students
caught sight of Ukyo, they dashed away in fear of their lives. They
knew that Ukyo was a powerful martial artist, and given that Ranma was
sitting so close to Ryoko, it was a fair guess that Ukyo would not take
kindly to anyone being that intimate with her fiancé. However, their
fears were unwarranted.
"Oh, Hey Ukyo-chan how are you?" asked Ryoko and Ranma. Ukyo just un-
slung her battle spatula and sat down next to them. She gave them a
smile and replied in kind. "Oh I'm doing fine Auntie, Uncle. How have
you two been doing?"
"Oh we've been doing fine" exclaimed Ryoko. For the most part of the
day, Ryoko had kept quiet, but now amongst familiar company she let
herself relax. "Yeah, we just submitted the papers to withdraw Ranma
from Furinkan" continued Ryoko. As the trio engaged in conversation,
the surrounding students were puzzled by the use of 'Uncle' and
'Auntie.'
One of those puzzled students was Nabiki who was walking towards them,
just as Ukyo showed up. 'Uncle?, Auntie?' she thought. 'I better ask
them about that.'
"Hey Ranma, Ryoko, Ukyo" interrupted Nabiki. "Sorry to interrupt you
guys, but I couldn't help hear Ukyo call you two 'Auntie' and 'Uncle.'
Do you care to explain?" Ukyo looked a bit apprehensive, but Ranma
waved off her worries.
"Don't worry, Ukyo-chan. Nabiki has the right to be curious, however
it's best that we take this conversation away from prying eyes and
ears." As Ranma said that, the surrounding students turned their heads
away in embarrassment. They thought they weren't being observed, given
that Ranma's head was turned away. However, they failed to note that
Ranma's heightened senses practically gave him eyes in the back of his
head.
As Nabiki neared the group, Ranma placed his hand on the ground and a
light blue glow could be seen emanating from his palm. As the energy
pulsed from his hand, the air around the four shimmered. To most
observers, they couldn't see a difference, however the sunlight would
occasionally glint across the unseen barrier. When Nabiki saw this, she
let out a gasp.
"Ranma? What is that?" Nabiki was unsure of what she had seen, but
given the things she had seen Ranma, Happossai, and the rest of the
martial artists of Nerima do with ki, she fathomed a good guess at what
Ranma had done. As Nabiki complied with the motion from Ryoko and Ranma
to sit down, Ranma removed his palm from the ground.
"That, Nabiki was just a sample of what four hundred years of martial
arts study and training can do. In this particular case, I used my ki
to disrupt the grasses' natural chi-flow, forcing it to flow up and
outward with enough force that it disrupts the surrounding air
molecules." Nabiki looked blankly at what Ranma had said. 'So what?'
she thought.
As if picking up Nabiki's mental query, Ranma proceeded to answer the
question. "You might ask why?" he began. "The reason is to keep ease-
droppers from hearing us. Whether you know this or not, sound can only
be heard if there is a medium for it to travel in. In this case, it's
air. So when you saw the air around us shimmer, that was a physical
indicator that I caused the air molecules to vibrate fast enough that
when sound travels through it, the noise will come out mute."
Nabiki just looked at him as if he grew a second head. "Yeah right..."
she said. When she looked to Ryoko or Ukyo for support, the look they
gave her told her that this was real.
"Nabiki" began Ranma in a soothing tone. "Listen around you. Do you
hear anything? Do you hear the sound of students playing, talking, even
the wind rustling? Do you hear anything except us four?" Nabiki
paused. She couldn't hear anything. She could clearly see students
talking, joking, yet she couldn't hear their voices, their laughter.
The silence was proving quite disconcerting. Especially when she
thought she was going to suffocate. She grabbed to her throat as if to
imply that. When Ranma saw this, he gave out a jovial laugh.
"Don't worry about suffocating, Nabiki" he remarked. "I didn't cut us
off from the air, merely causing the air molecules to move fast enough
that sound waves are disrupted." Nabiki seemed to relax at that. As
she calmed down, she proceeded to ask Ranma and the rest of them about
what she had initially wondered before.
"So you guys" she began. "What's this about Ukyo calling you two
'Auntie' and 'Uncle?' I thought Ukyo and Ranma were engaged. Don't
tell me Uncle Genma engaged you to your own niece, Ranma." Nabiki
smirked at that. Ukyo and Ranma merely frowned.
"No Nabiki" Ukyo answered. "Uncle Ranma isn't related to me by blood."
Nabiki just looked at her with an expression that said "then how?"
Ukyo took in a nervous breath as she prepared to answer. Ranma and
Ryoko on the other hand were calm as they sat against a nearby tree,
Ranma against the tree trunk with Ryoko in his lap--feeding him pieces
of okinomiyaki that Ukyo had brought. While all listened, Ukyo began to
unravel the yarn of a tale that made up her life so far.
"Okay Nabiki, Uncle Ranma and I are still technically engaged, however
after hearing my tale, you'll understand why I call both Ryoko and him,
Auntie and Uncle. Well, it all begins nearly ten years ago. It was the
day after my engagement to Ranchan was finalized and the day that I was
to spend the rest of my life with my fiancé..."
--- Yokahama, Japan Ten years ago ---
"Wait! Stop!" cried a little girl as she ran along side a dirt-paved
road. In front of her was her father's yattai that was being pulled by
her new fiancé, Ranchan's father. The boy in question sat atop of the
cart as he waved down at the running girl.
Looking at her fiancé, the little girl continued to run as fast as her
little legs would allow, screaming for her future father-in-law and
fiancé to stop.
"Stop you Jackasses!" she screamed. "Stop!" The little girl continued
to run as fast as she could, running despite the growing distance that
separated her from her fleeing targets. 'Why aren't they stopping?' she
started asking herself. 'Why are they leaving me behind? Don't you
like me anymore, Ranchan?'
At that the little girl finally hit her limit, her legs finally gave
out, causing her to tumble and scrape her knee. "Why? Why Ranchan?"
she started crying as she nursed not only her hurt knee, but also her
broken heart. "Why did you leave me?"
That little girl, named Ukyo Kunoji didn't know what to do. What was
she to do in this situation? If she returned back to her father, she'd
be a disgrace. At the tender age of five, not only had she been
engaged, but she had been practically left at the alter. She was far
from being tainted goods, but in her mind and eye, she was just as
worthless.
As little Ukyo sat there on the dirt road, a gentle hand tapped her on
the shoulder. "Huh?" she said. She didn't hear the person approach and
although she was taught to be weary of strangers, Ukyo no longer cared
what happened to her. Looking up with blurry eyes, she caught sight of
two faces.
While rubbing the tears from her vision, she realized that one of the
faces belonged to a handsome young-man in his mid-twenties. He was
giving her a friendly smile as he offered her a hand to get up. Next to
him was a woman, who was as beautiful as the man was handsome. She too
was giving Ukyo a friendly smile, extending her hand out to help Ukyo
up.
Ukyo didn't know what to do at this. 'Who are these people?' she
thought. She had never seen them before, yet the man seemed oddly
familiar. Feeling unsure, yet not too suspicious that she would reject
their assistance, little Ukyo accepted their offering and was lifted to
her feet.
"Thank you" stuttered Ukyo. Her voice wavered as she talked to the
strangers. It wasn't because she was afraid, but rather she was simply
exhausted, both emotionally and physically.
"You don't need to thank us, Ukyo" came the man's response. Ukyo looked
up at him in fright. 'He knows my name' she gasped. Ukyo wanted to
flee, something wasn't right with this picture. However, before more
worry could settle into her system, she felt a light tap to her neck and
the Ukyo's world went black.
++++++++++
"Wha.. where am I" she said aloud. She was sitting in a room and
resting in a soft bed. It felt odd, she thought. The last thing she
remembered was being left behind by Ranchan, then encountering an odd
couple, and now this. As she sat there, staring at the unfamiliar
ceiling, she was alerted by the opening of a sliding door.
"I see that you're awake" came a soft distinctly feminine voice.
"Mama?" Ukyo spoke. 'No, it can't be' she thought. Ukyo had at first
thought that she was back at home, back to a time when she still had a
mother. But that had been a year ago, a time before her mother had died
and her father and her took off for the open road.
"Sorry little one, but I'm not your mother" came the voice's reply. The
room was dark and it looked as if it was well past nightfall. "Where am
I?" asked Ukyo. She felt nervous as she lay there. "Where is my
father?"
"You are at the Masaki Shrine. Your father is not here. You were
brought here by relatives of mine. They saw you fall down on the road
after you were chasing a yattai. We weren't sure if the people you were
chasing were your father and brother. If they are I'm sure we'll find
them." Ukyo let out a small frown as she heard that. She had hoped
that what had happened with her and her Ranchan had all been a dream,
that in reality he hadn't left her behind.
"Jackass" she said under her breath. Next to her, the woman who was by
Ukyo's bedside looked at the young girl with an odd expression on her
face. "Excuse me, what did you just say?" Ukyo in turn just blushed in
embarrassment.
"I'm sorry ma'am, I wasn't calling you that. I was referring to the man
who was pulling the yattai, and the boy who was sitting atop of it."
The woman's expression softened as she heard that. As the soft light of
the lamp shone onto the woman's face, Ukyo got a good look at her
caregiver.
She was a handsome woman, who looked too young for her true age. She
had long black hair, and soft brown eyes; to Ukyo she looked absolutely
stunning. As the woman caught Ukyo staring, Ukyo turned her head away
in embarrassment. It wasn't polite to stare. Seeing Ukyo's reaction,
the woman smiled as she tried the comfort the girl.
"Don't fret child, I won't bite. My name is Achika Hino, but you can
call me Auntie. Do you have a name, little-one?" Ukyo just looked at
the woman and her features softened.
"Mrs. Hino.. er I mean Auntie. My name is Ukyo Kuonji of the Kuonji
School of Okinomiyaki-ryu." There was once a time when Ukyo would have
been proud to say it, but given the day's circumstances it was
understandable that she had lost a lot of the zest from her spirit.
As Achika listened, she picked up on the slight lowering of the girl's
demeanor. "Well then Ukyo Kuonji of the Kuonji School of Okinomiyaki-
ryu, how would you like to get freshened up and help me prepare dinner.
There you can meet the rest of my family. You know what, one of my
relatives has a boy about your age. There is also my daughter here
whose also about your age. The boy's name is Tenchi, my daughter is
named Rei. Perhaps you would like to play with them instead?"
Ukyo's ears perked up as Achika offered to let her help with the
cooking. It was something to do to keep her mind off things. But then
when the woman offered to introduce her to a boy and girl, Ukyo
immediately blanched. She had opened up to a boy once and he had shoved
her love back into her face by abandoning her she thought. A girl was
no better. Ukyo never seemed to get along with the neighborhood girls-
-they were into dolls and playing tea, not martial arts or okinomiyaki
like Ranma was. No, meeting this Tenchi or Rei even if they were
related to this nice lady was not something that Ukyo wanted to do.
"Err, I'd rather help you in the kitchen Auntie. But.. maybe I should
be looking for my father. I don't want to intrude on your family."
Ukyo was as polite as she was proud. She enjoyed the company of this
woman, it was something she could tell from the start. However, she
knew that she was a stranger to this woman and as a stranger, she felt
it was only right that she leave and go to where she belonged.
Despite this reasoning, Achika would have nothing of it. "Nonsense
child" she chided. "You are quite welcomed in my house and at the very
least, you can have dinner with us while my husband and the others go
look for your father." Ukyo perked up at that, she was afraid she'd be
sent out, but after hearing Achika's words, Ukyo no longer felt the same
anxiety of rejection that she had been feeling since the Saotome's had
run off with her dowry.
"Okay, Auntie... lets head off to the kitchen." Achika just smiled as
she watched the girl's new burst of enthusiasm. 'Such a lovely child,
it's no wonder that he befriended her so long ago' thought the Hino
woman.
--- At Dinner ---
"Everybody" began Achika. "I would like you to meet Ukyo Kuonji of the
Kuonji School of Okinomiyaki-ryu. Ukyo, this is my family." As
everyone began their introductions, Ukyo caught sight of the pair who
she had met on the road. As Ukyo's gaze came across the man's, there
was a nagging feeling at the back of her head as she looked over his
features. 'There is something about him' she thought. 'I wonder what
it is?'
As dinner progressed and finally came to an end, the room's occupants
left to conduct their own business. The only ones to remain in the room
were the same pair whom Ukyo met on the road, an older man called
Katushito and his wife, as well as Achika and her husband along with
another woman who looked a lot like Katushito's wife.
"Hello Ukyo" began the man she met on the road. "Do you remember me and
Ryoko here?" Ukyo just nodded her head as she stared at him. He didn't
seem threatening, but there was something not right about him, that much
she could tell.
Seeing the slight fear in her eyes, the man frowned as he began to talk
again. "Ukyo, I.. I would like to apologize for what happened earlier."
Ukyo sat there with a puzzled expression. 'Him? Apologizing to me,
what for?' she asked herself.
Seeing this in her eyes, the man worked in a response to what he was
about to say next. "Ukyo, do you know who I am? Do you know who I
really am? I can sense that you do." Ukyo just seemed to frown at his
question. What was he getting at?
"Ukyo, I know that you suspect something about me. I can see it in your
eyes. The reason why you feel that way is because.. is because my name
is Ranma Saotome. I'm Ranchan." Ukyo simply sat there, giving him no
sense of reaction. 'Shit!' thought Ranma. 'How the hell am I suppose
to explain things to a five year old?'
While Ranma pondered, Ukyo surprised him with her intelligence. "You're
not Ranma Saotome" she barked. "Ranma Saotome is a no good dishonorable
jackass, whose father is just as rotten." Ranma for his part could only
blanch. 'Geez' he thought. 'I'm over four hundred years old and I'm
getting chewed out by a five year old.'
Ranma proceeded to sit there, as Ukyo poured forth her grief as she
tried to describe how terrible the Saotome men were. Around him, the
various members of the family were either in a state of shock,
amusement, or both. 'Victim or not, this girl is definitely going
through etiquette lessons' thought Ranma as Ukyo went through her third
tirade about how Ranma was the son of something he wasn't quite sure he
heard right.
Huffing, under her continuous slandering of Ranma Saotome's name, Ukyo
took a final deep breath as she added. "Also, you can't be Ranma
Saotome because he's only five years old. You're just some lying old
man." There, Ukyo was finished. She had made her point and there was
no way that that lying man could try to fool her into saying that he was
her Ranchan. That was what she thought just before the said lying man
gave her a response that put her whole world in a tailspin.
"True, your Ranchan is only five years old" exclaimed Ranma. "However,
I'm not lying when I say that I am or was your Ranchan. You see Ukyo,
I'm from the future. I was accidentally sent back in time and I've used
this opportunity to set things right. In my future, you were abandoned
just as you were today and subsequently you spent the next ten years of
your life tracking me down so that you could kill me. You abandoned
your femininity and lived those ten years as a man, training in your
family's art so that you could redeem your honor. However, when you
finally met up with me you experience a slight change of heart... but
regardless of that, here I am. I'm trying to atone for what my family
did to you."
Ukyo just sat there with unblinking eyes. Ranma wasn't sure if that was
a good or bad thing as he waited for the little girl to process the
information. But as the seconds passed by like eons, a response finally
came. "Bullshit" she exclaimed. "Time travel doesn't exist and you're
not my Ranchan."
Ranma just looked like he was ready to explode. He had planned
carefully for this. Taken into consideration what needed to occur so as
not to create a temporal paradox. Now, after years of preparation, he
had failed to take into account how pessimistic five year olds could be.
'Damn it, what the hell am I going to do!?' he screamed inwardly. 'I
can't let her go so she can waste her life either trying to kill or pine
away for me. It's just not fair for her.'
Seeing that his options were few if any, Ranma decided to go for the
gusto and use a technique of psionic control that he seldom liked to use
on others. But throwing caution to the wind, Ranma leaned across the
table and placed two fingers atop of Ukyo's forehead. With a flash of
light, a series of images, thoughts, and emotions were passed onto the
child. In an instant, Ukyo understood what it was that Ranma wished to
say; knowing from his own memories that he spoke the truth.
"What did you do to me?" she gasped. It felt as if she had watched a
movie while she was half asleep. The images and sounds were there for
viewing, but they only seemed to come to focus when she sought out a
specific scene or memory. What Ranma did was a limited dump of selected
memories; granting to Ukyo enough of what he knew to help her understand
his motives.
As Ukyo sat there, slowly assimilating what Ranma had given to her. The
child finally broke out into a smile. She no longer felt sad or alone-
-Ranma's memories had told her that he would protect her always. While
those who watched this display sat there stunned, Ranma grinned as Ukyo
made her way to give him a hug. It felt good to know that he was no
longer at odds with the little girl. As he let go of her embrace, Ryoko
was shocked as she was also embraced in a fierce hug--an after effect of
Ranma and Ukyo's mind meld.
While still in Ryoko's embrace, Ukyo looked over to Ranma. "Ranma.. did
you really mean it when you said you'd take care of me forever?" Ranma
for his part just nodded his head as the girl let out tears of joy. It
was a touching scene as Ukyo proceeded to bring Ranma into her embrace.
To those assembled, it was a classic Kodak moment.
--- The Present ---
"So you see, Nabiki. That little girl in the story was me and the man
and woman who found me were Uncle Ranma and Auntie Ryoko. As for why I
call them that, it's because I couldn't just call them mom and dad, and
calling Uncle, Ranchan just didn't seem appropriate given his age. Plus
I couldn't very well call Ranma my fiancé either." Nabiki just sat
there in stunned silence; she had never expected this to happen.
As the news slowly assimilated into Nabiki's mind, she turned to the
Okinomiyaki chef. "Ukyo, if what you said is true then why did you come
back seeking revenge? Do you still want the engagement?"
Ukyo replied immediately to that. "Nah, I didn't really want revenge
against Uncle Ranma, but he said that in order for history to play
itself out and to prevent any disruption of the time stream, it would be
wise to keep to how things originally went. So during the past ten
years, he had me train while also coaching me on what happened that
day."
"When he told that the original me went from wanting to kill him to
wanting to marry him after he said I was cute, I thought Uncle was just
joking. However, I share the memories to prove it. But in any case,
now that history has been changed, I suppose I'll be heading back home?"
Ranma merely nodded at that. "That's right Ukyo-chan. While Ryoko and
I were in the office, we had your transfer approved. Today is your last
day at Furinkan, I hope you don't mind." Ukyo shook her head. "Nah, I
can't wait to go back home so I can start dressing like a regular girl
again."
Ranma and Ryoko just smirked at that. "Are you sure that's all" teased
Ryoko. "Your enthusiasm wouldn't have anything to do with Tenchi now
would it?" Ukyo just blushed under their combined efforts. "What, that
jackass!?" exclaimed Ukyo. "Who'd be interested in that weenie anyway?"
Ranma proceeded to take on a look of disinterest. "Oh" he began. "It's
good to know that you're not interested in the boy because I was
planning on arranging a meeting between himself and the Tendo Daughters.
Also Cologne seemed quite interested in having Shampoo meeting my heir.
Oh, and lets not mention how his father wants him to marry that Shrine
maiden in Jubaan. Ryoko, what was her name again?" As Ranma proceeded
to go on and on about Tenchi's marriage prospects. To Ukyo who was
listening, she looked ready to explode however she wasn't about to let
her Uncle get the best of her.
"Fine" Ukyo all but shouted. "Arrange as many marriages for him as you
want. The weenie needs as much help as he can get." Ukyo proceeded to
stuff herself on her bento while Nabiki looked on at the sight in
amusement.
Turning towards Ranma and Ryoko, Nabiki inquired. "Oh Ranma. There was
something that came up during Ukyo's story. Do you mind elaborating,
I'd ask Ukyo but I think you're a better person to ask." Ranma just sat
there and shrugged--giving Nabiki the sign that she could ask away.
"Good, um.. during the end of Ukyo's story, she mentioned how you sort
of did this mind meld thing. What was that? Don't tell me that was
ki?" Ranma smiled at that. "That" he began. "That was not Ki but
something else. I suppose to describe it best is to answer how I got
such psionic powers. Basically, for all immortals there is a give and
take that accompanies our lives. As you know, there is this game that
all immortals must play."
"It is a force that compels us to fight each other, though many
immortals such as myself chose to not fight unless forced to. For us,
simple existence is enough. But for others, they strive to kill
immortals like one would collects stamps."
"The reasons that drive these hunter-immortals vary, though the main
reason is for power. For you see, when an immortal dies, there is
something that occurs called the quickening. It is a destructive force
that occurs after an immortal loses his head, in it you can literally
see and feel the power leaving the dead immortals body. In some cases,
the quickening is so destructive that it could destroy a few city
blocks."
"Now you might be thinking, what is the point of the quickening and the
answer is with the quickening, all the memories, powers, and life-force
of the dead immortal are passed onto the immortal who took his life--a
sort of instant power up so to speak. So for hunter-immortals or to
those who win the game, the ultimate prize is the cumulative knowledge
and power of all immortals that came before him. A pretty strong
motivator, right?"
Nabiki nodded her head as she stared at Ranma. 'Taking their heads' she
thought. Nabiki unconsciously brought her hands to her own neck as she
pictured the idea of Ranma taking the heads of his fellow immortals.
'My god, how many heads must he have taken to reach his current state?'
Nabiki didn't know, but the idea of Ranma even taking one head seemed
unnerving in itself. Inching away, Nabiki was about to leave.
"Wait" began Ranma. "Don't get the wrong idea about me. I'm no
headhunter, but I have taken the lives of immortals. I'm not proud of
it, but sometimes its necessary, you have to trust me on this. I never
take a fellow immortals life for power or pleasure. The lives I take
were for the sake of saving others--either mine or those I care for."
"As I said, many of those headhunting immortals are motivated for power
and in their quest, they'll do anything to attain it. In the case of
that psychic, he was using his abilities to trick women into falling in
love with him so that he could rape them. He was as ugly as he was
powerful and if I hadn't put an end to his ways.. well you get the
picture."
Nabiki just nodded her head numbly. As justified as the death may have
been it still perturbed her that anyone could take someone's life like
that. Ranma might have been an exception in her book, but she still
didn't like the idea of knowing someone who had killed or could kill as
easily as they breathed air or drank water.
"Uh.. thank you for answering my question, Ranma. Um, I've got to go."
Ranma merely nodded his head and gave Nabiki his farewell as he lowered
the protective barrier around them. As he sat there wondering if he had
said too much or perhaps not enough, Ryoko was there to comfort him.
Hugging his chest she gave him a comforting kiss on the cheek as she
rested her head against the crook of his neck. Though no words were
exchanged, the affection she showed gave him the strength and
understanding that he needed. Letting him know that she would be there
for him when he needed her.
--- End of Chapter ---
Please send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com and if you're going to
criticize, please give reasons why. Thanks.
(1) - The Blue Oyster bar is the name of a gay biker bar featured in the
"Police Academy" movies.
Questions and Answers:
Q1. Why did I change the line where Achika refers to Tenchi as her son?
A1. Well although it hasn't been confirmed yet, I'm doing this to leave
my options open about Tenchi's parentage if you catch my drift.
Chapter 4: Pasts Revealed - Ukyo's Story
By AllWhacked
Send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/allwhacked/
--- Disclaimer ---
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the property of Takahashi Rumiko,
Shonen Sunday Comics, Shogakukan, Kitty TV (Japan) and Viz
Communications (USA). The characters of Tenchi Muyo belong to Kajishima
Masaki. The characters of Highlander belong to Davis/Panzer Inc. All
other characters and trademarks to appear are owned by their respective
owners. Note that this work of fiction is for free entertainment
purposes only. No compensation has been or will be received.
Please do not archive this work without the author's permission. Thank
You.
--- Note to Reader ---
This is an alternate universe/divergence fic with the bulk of the story
occurring after the Nanban Mirror episode (anime only). Now Ranma finds
himself stuck 400 plus years in the past with no means of returning
home.
"..." = spoken speech
'...' = thoughts
--- End Note to Reader, Start of Chapter ---
Tatewaki Kuno, age seventeen stood at the gates of Furinkan High as he
waited patiently for the arrival of his fierce tigress, Akane Tendo and
his equally lovely but also mysterious, Pigtailed Girl. That particular
morning he was in high spirits, for the long weekend had proven to be
just what he needed in renewing his desire for the two women. With born
anew fervor, he practiced his Kendo katas and poetry in anxious
anticipation of the eventual arrival of his two ladyloves. It was
during all this that he caught sight of his most hated foe--one Ranma
Saotome.
'The knave!' he thought. 'He dare arrive without the lovely Akane
Tendo? Unforgivable! For without her, how can I show my love if she is
not here to witness my righteous victory over..? But wait! Her absence
must surely mean that she has finally broken free of that Foul
Sorcerer's black magic.' As Kuno thought this, he failed to notice the
differences in Ranma's appearance; differences that would have told him
that he shouldn't charge on blindly into battle.
"Foul Sorcerer! Halt and face the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!" he
yelled. His battle cry caught the attention of surrounding students who
all quickly swarmed together to form a circle around the two combatants.
As the crowd waited anxious to see the fight, many wondered where Akane
was and more importantly, what Ranma's relation was to the beautiful
woman who had accompanied him.
As the two neared the center of the courtyard, Kuno appeared. "Halt
there Foul Sorcerer and face the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High."
Lightning thundered off in the distance, causing a large crow to be
electrocuted and fall dead atop of Kuno's head.
Looking at Kuno and then the smoldering piece of black feathers resting
on top of his scalp, Ranma, Ryoko, and the rest of the assembled student
body started laughing. Despite the comical scene, Kuno was non too
amused.
"You dare laugh at my noble personage?" he barked. Ranma just nodded
his head, an act that further enraged Kuno. While, lifting his bokken
high into the air, he screamed out his battle cry. "For your insult and
for the love of the fierce tigress, Akane Tendo and the lovely,
Pigtailed Girl I shall smite thee."
Seeing Kuno run towards Ranma, Ryoko tensed up and was prepared to
engage her energy sword. However a nudge from Ranma and the shaking of
his head told her not too. Realizing that she had overreacted again,
Ryoko blushed and walked off to the side to watch Ranma in his fight
with Kuno.
As Kuno charged, Ranma stood there motionlessly; the passing seconds
giving Kuno more and more time to bridge the gap between the two.
"Is he crazy?" one student asked. "He's going to get creamed if he
doesn't move."
Another student answered the other. "Don't be such a non-believer.
Haven't you ever seen a kung-fu movie? Whenever the badass martial
artist is about to do something hella cool, he'll just stand there and
wait till the last second before he acts. I betcha that Ranma has
something really awesome planned." Other students proceeded to nod or
shake their heads as bets were being placed on Ranma's next move.
++++++++++
Second after second passed and still Ranma had not moved. Finally it
came to the point that the two were within range of Kuno's bokken.
Kuno, seeing that his opponent was frozen in obvious fear of his battle
prowess, raised his bokken high into the air, preparing to bring it down
upon his foe--slicing him in two.
*Swish*
'What!? How could I have missed?' wondered Kuno as he ended his strike,
having hit nothing but air. 'I clearly cleaved him with my righteous
blade' he continued thinking. 'Surely he should be dead at my feet.'
As Kuno stood there contemplating what foul sorcery must have been in
use to deceive such a noble samurai as himself, his temper finally hit
its breaking point as he came to an ill-conceived conclusion. Striking
a pose to the heavens, he yelled out for all to hear.
"Foul Sorcerer!" he cried. "You dare run away from the Mighty Blue
Thunder. I demand that you show yourself now you un-honorable dog, so
that you can face heaven's wrath." As he said that he was met by an
annoyed voice.
"I didn't run anywhere you dip shit. If you bothered to use your eyes
and look around, you would have realized I sidestepped your attack."
Kuno turned towards the direction of the voice and came face to face to
a frowning Ranma. 'Quite odd, he seems taller' thought Kuno just before
his world turned black.
As Kuno's head slowly turned to face Ranma, he was met with a blinding
fast three hit combo. Beginning with a front leg round kick, Ranma
knocked the air from Kuno's lungs. In the same fluid motion, he twisted
his hips and delivered a sharp low round kick to the back of Kuno's
knees--dropping the kendoist in a disheveled heap.
While Kuno's broken body started falling face forward, he was yanked
back hard as Ranma gripped the locks of Kuno's curly hair. Without much
flare or ceremony, Ranma then delivered a two-finger strike to the base
of Kuno's skull. Then in a blur, he ran the same hand down Kuno's
spine, hitting various pressure points and nerve endings as he
progressed downward.
After hitting the first series of nerve endings, Kuno let off a pitiful
girlish cry; yelping as his body reacted to Ranma's ministrations. As
his body flared in pain, he first dropped his bokken. Then as if by
clockwork, the hands that were clutching his abdomen then made a series
of unnatural jerking motions. First he moved the shoulders, then his
elbows and wrists, finally leaving his arms flung out and away from his
body in an airplane formation.
With his arms out and locked in their current position, Ranma then
shifted his weight and delivered a powerful knee to Kuno's back; causing
the Blue Thunder to fall face forward into the payment.
Still holding firm to Kuno's hair, Ranma then adjusted his hold and
placed the majority of his weight into slamming Kuno's head into the
asphalt. With a sickening crunch, Kuno's face was crushed into a bloody
mass as the combined weight of himself and Ranma came down onto it.
As the crowd watched in sick fascination, Ranma proceeded to pull Kuno's
head out of the crater it had made. To the crowd, they could no longer
tell where skin met flesh as Kuno's face was a mass of peppered asphalt,
broken teeth and bones, and oozing blood.
"Had enough of my foul sorcery?" asked Ranma in a cold tone, staring
straight at Kuno's last good eye. Some of the girls and boys watching
gave off a shiver in fright as they heard this. While the crowd's gazes
shifted from Ranma to Kuno, they let out a gasp of horror as they got a
better look of the damage done.
Kuno's head was a bloody mess. It was obvious his nose had been broken
and possibly his jaw. When the boy opened his mouth, all that could be
seen were bloody teeth--a majority of which had been spit up as they
came loose during the impact. Looking down and in front of the fallen
Kendoist, they saw a small piece of pink flesh--a piece of tongue that
had been bitten off.
Kuno, with his teeth missing and his nose broken, attempted to reply
back to Ranma's inquiry. To those who were close enough, it sounded as
if he said "I fight on" though none could be too sure because of the
mass of blood that gurgled at the back of his throat. Combine that with
his missing piece of tongue and it was questionable whether he said
anything at all.
While the assembled crowd looked on with shocked eyes at how brutally
Ranma put down the once mighty Blue Thunder, Ranma seemed to whisper
something into his ear.
"Wrong answer" said Ranma as he slammed Kuno's head back into the broken
concrete. Kuno failed to move while Ranma proceeded to get up and dust
himself off; acting as if nothing was unusual. As Kuno's blood poured
forth from his nose, mouth, and his various cuts, Nabiki came running up
towards Ranma--shouting and yelling at him for what he'd done.
"Ranma!" she screamed. "What the hell do you think you're doing? I
thought you were going to leave on amicable terms. You probably just
killed Kuno." To that, Ranma only shrugged his shoulder in
indifference. Looking back at Kuno's broken body, Ranma could only
mumble a lame apology.
"I guess you're right. Oh well." Ranma proceed to turn around and away
from the stunned Nabiki, walking through the mass of students as they
parted to make way for him. Looking at Ryoko who seemed indifferent to
all this, he gave her a signal for her to follow. While the crowd began
to thin in the wake of the one sided fight, the school bell began to
ring.
++++++++++
Ranma shook his head as he ran through the possible scenarios for
dealing with Kuno. Killing him was an option, the fact that Kuno would
be attacking him with a weapon gave him cause enough to at least defend
himself by "accidentally" striking the Kendoist in the jugular and
collapsing his windpipe. Given that the act was in self-defense, he
could reason in any court of law that Kuno got what he deserved.
However, killing such a weak opponent left him feeling at odds with
himself. He had no qualms with killing in general, he had done it
enough times in his long life to no longer be bothered by it. In his
mind, as long as the death was for the right reasons then he wouldn't
lose any sleep over it.
But killing Kuno was different. It was akin to being a bully, it was
something that in his mind was un-honorable and no matter how good it
might make him feel to just lay into him, there was still the sense of
civility that he strove to maintain. No, killing Kuno was out of the
question, but what could he do?
Then inspiration struck, quite literally in fact.
*Thwack*
Ranma felt something hit him atop of his head. It felt like a mosquito
bite, but given all the strength and pain endurance training he had been
through that mosquito could have been a flying bullet for all he knew.
Breaking out of his thinking, he realized who it was. 'Kuno' he
thought. He should have realized the Kendoist wouldn't hesitate to
strike him down while he wasn't looking. 'No matter' he thought. 'Now
that his stick is broken, I can use this 'tact' thing everyone keeps
raving about.' Ranma was preparing to negotiate some peaceful resolve
to this conflict when Kuno spoke.
"Foul Demon!" shouted Kuno. "What black magic have you conjured to
render my righteous blade so?" Kuno proceeded to raise the broken butt
of his bokken, the other half having clattered to the ground when it
made contact with Ranma's head.
Ranma just looked at Kuno and rolled his eyes. 'Geez, what a cry baby'
he thought. "Don't worry Kuno, you can be rest assured that I only used
the most foulest of black magic against you."
Kuno seemed to take pause as he heard this. "Ha!" he suddenly
exclaimed. "That goes without question, for only the most vile of
sorcery could ever oppose such a noble samurai as myself. But now you
finally admit your demonic origins Foul Sorcerer?"
Ranma just shrugged. "Yeah, I'm a Foul Sorcerer but I'm no demon."
Jerking a thumb towards Ryoko he continued. "Now her, she's a demon."
Eyes adverted to look at Ryoko who just stood there and shrugged and
nodded her head slightly. Most of the crowd didn't believe what Ranma
was saying, but that didn't mean Kuno didn't or at least Kuno didn't
fail to believe the Foul Sorcerer part.
"You lie!" he cried. "No lovely flower such as her could possibly be of
demonic origins." Kuno just looked at Ryoko with an appraising eye,
Ranma in turn narrowed his brow in slight anger.
"Oh, you think so Kuno" began Ranma. "Then how the hell do you think I
became a Foul Sorcerer in the first place? I sure wasn't born that way.
I'd be careful around her, she'd eat your soul and you wouldn't even
know it. I on the other hand made a pact with her. You know, she
grants me evil powers to make rough the lives of noble samurai such as
yourself and she spares my soul but gets the soul's of all the lovely
women whom I ensnare. Quite a sweet deal."
Kuno looked at Ranma and then Ryoko with a disgusted expression. 'Could
it be, that lovely flower is what the Foul Saotome claims her to be?' he
thought. The idea seemed preposterous but given Saotome's own
admittance to being a foul agent of hell, it wasn't a big leap in Kuno's
mind to assume that that woman was the succubus-demonic spawn that first
contorted Saotome's heart to evil.
"You there!" he snarled as he pointed the remnants of his bokken at
Ryoko. "It is clear that you are the true evil here. Now prepare
yourself and face the righteous might of the Blue Thunder of Furinkan
High!" Kuno was about to charge with his broken bokken when Ranma
placed a firm hold on Kuno's shoulder.
"Unhand me knave!" yelled Kuno. He then let off a girlish scream when
Ranma started applying greater strength to his grip. "Cool it Kuno"
said Ranma. "We're not here to fight so you can put away that broken
stick of yours."
Kuno looked puzzled at this. 'The Foul Demon doth not wish to fight?'
The idea seemed as equally as preposterous as Ryoko being a demon
succubus, however this was Kuno we're talking about.
"Aha!" he exclaimed. "You must now wish not to fight for you have
obviously realized my superior personage and prowess and thus are here
to beg for mercy. But I, the Blue Thunder..." Kuno was unable to
finish this statement when Ranma interrupted.
"Oh shut the hell up and listen to what we got to say." Kuno was about
to retort to that but Ranma applied more pressure to Kuno's shoulder,
dropping the boy to his knees.
"Good" Ranma continued. "Now here is the deal. I Ranma Saotome, aka.
Foul Sorcerer, come before the assembled students of Furinkan High to
let all know that I have hereby relinquished my hold on the fair and
lovely, fierce tigress, Akane Tendo."
The crowd gasped at Ranma's proclamation. 'Could it be?' some of the
male members of the crowd thought. 'She is now free to date with one of
us.' Ranma proceeded to acknowledge the unsaid queries.
"My engagement to Akane Tendo has been absolved as I am now taken by Ms.
Demon over there." Ryoko proceeded to wave amicably at those members of
the crowd who dared look at her direction. The image she projected was
far from the demonic hell spawn that the word demon implied; however,
most of the crowd assumed that Ranma was merely joking with Kuno anyway.
"Anyway, I've 'freed' Akane from my black magic. So if you want to ask
her out on a date, you can. I suggest that you treat her like any
normal girl and be nice to her. If you ask her out and she likes you,
she might just say yes. However, don't expect to win a date from her by
trying to beat her up in a fight. I guarantee that if I find out that
you guys are still doing that, I'm going to come back here and track
down each and every one of you and hit your 'latent-homosexuality'
pressure point."
"Then I'm going to throw your gay asses into the 'Blue Oyster'(1) bar.
When the pressure point wears off, you'll definitely be feeling it in
the rear come morning." Ranma waited as his proclamation sunk into the
group's psyche.
For Kuno, he heard nothing past the part of "I've freed Akane." 'Could
it be?' thought Kuno upon hearing this. 'Akane Tendo finally free of
the wretched Saotome? But alas, what of my Pigtailed Goddess?'
"Foul Sorcerer!" Kuno announced. "I demand that you also relinquish
your hold over the Pigtailed Girl." Ranma merely snorted as he had
anticipated such a response.
"Sorry Kuno, no can do." Kuno was about to try bashing Ranma when the
pigtailed man furthered. "I would love to relinquish my hold over your
lovely Pigtailed Girl however the Pigtailed Girl is no more."
Kuno looked like he would go into shock. "The Pigtailed Girl, no more?"
he gasped. "You must surely jest."
Ranma just shook his head in response. "Sorry Kuno, she's gone, no
more, dead to the world." Kuno looked like he was ready to cry, but in
an act of unexpected strength, he broke free of Ranma's grip and turned
blurry eyed at Ranma, grabbing the lapels of Ranma's jacket.
"Tell me, Foul Sorcerer. Tell me what has befallen my Pigtailed Girl"
Kuno shouted. Ranma in turn looked rather annoyed at the physical
contact. In a swift and smooth motion, Ranma proceeded to use his right
hand, to grasp a hold of Kunos own right.
With his thumb over his thumb, he grabbed onto Kuno's wrist and twisted.
The move took less than a second, and Kuno found himself twirled around
as his hold on Ranma was broken. Furthermore, he now found himself in
an unbreakable arm lock as his right arm was extended out and his wrist
twisted in such a way, that to struggle would result in his wrist and
elbow being broken against the joint.
Despite this, Kuno attempted to struggle free. "Ah!" he screamed.
Ranma started to apply pressure as he saw Kuno would not submit to the
hold. The minute amount of pressure applied to Kuno's wrist created
enough pain that it dropped Kuno to his knees.
"I suggest you calm down before I break your arm" spoke Ranma in a calm
voice. Kuno just twisted his head and gave Ranma an angry scowl. He
would not admit defeat but he could not deny that to struggle further
was futile. Seeing that Kuno was relaxing, Ranma proceeded to release
some of the pressure he put on Kuno, yet not releasing his hold on him.
"Okay Kuno, if you agree to just hear me out and not talk or act, I'll
tell you what happened to your Pigtailed Girl. After that you can do
anything you want." Kuno just nodded his head at Ranma's words. Seeing
that Kuno was going to comply, Ranma released him as he began to spin a
tall tale of what befell his girl half.
"Kuno, it saddens me to say that the Pigtail Girl will not be coming
back. It was during the long weekend that she met with tragedy. For
you see, my most hated nemesis, a sorcerer who practices in black magic
so dark that even I would not dare dabble in. He.. he ambushed the
defenseless Pigtailed Girl and raped and killed her; possibly doing so
not in that order."
"When we found her bloody body, it was a sickening sight. To spare
others from seeing what had befallen such a lovely flower, we had her
remains cremated and her ashes sprinkled out over the ocean during the
funeral services held during the weekend. It was a rather beautiful
ceremony, there were..."
Ranma was cut off from his last bit of rambling by the sound of Kuno's
wails. "Oh the Heaven's doth weep for the loss of one of their own" he
cried. Turning abruptly towards Ranma he added. "Saotome! Tell me,
tell me who dared do such a despicable act so that I, the Blue Thunder
can bring them to justice."
Ranma was grinning inwardly at how well he was playing the chump. "Oh
Kuno" Ranma began in a melodramatic tone. "You mustn't go fight him.
He is too evil, too devious for even the most noble of samurai. It was
in the wake of his evil that I realized the folly of my chosen path and
so after today, I am to leave Nerima to seek atonement and purification
at a remote shrine."
Kuno proceeded to eat up every single word. "It is good that you seek
atonement for your sins, but you must tell me who has committed this
heinous crime. For the memory of the Pigtailed Girl, her death must be
avenged." Kuno proceeded to strike a pose as thunder sounded off into
the distance.
As Kuno stood there, Ranma had met a dilemma. 'Who to implicate?' He
had briefly thought about blaming this on his student, Happossai,
perhaps giving the pervert something more to do than simply grope women
and steal their underwear. With Ranma no longer around to keep the old
man busy, either by thwarting Happossai's various attempts to sneak into
the girl's locker room or raiding the local lingerie shop, Ranma as a
responsible sensei needed to provide his first and oldest student with a
proper nemesis to keep him lively and active while in old age.
Seeing Kuno heave in rage as he waited for Ranma's answer, the
Grandmaster of Anything Goes inwardly smirked as he saw the proper
'training buddy' to assign his old friend. An idle thought then passed
onto his quasi-friend/nemesis, Ryoga Hibiki. The eternally lost boy
would be out of a rival and a sense of purpose in life, since the Ranma
he knew, had advanced so far in the art that a fight between the two
would no longer even be considered a challenge; instead, in an all out
fight, Ryoga would be slaughtered and Ranma neither had the time nor
patience to deal with an opponent at such a lower level.
However, Kuno on the other hand wasn't half bad and given his
persistence and provided a little subtle training by Happossai, the
self-named "Blue Thunder" could prove an adequate replacement for Ranma
once he left Nerima. A grin came to his lips as a plan formulated in
his head.
"Oh Noble Kuno," Ranma began. "If you truly wish to avenge the
Pigtailed Girl then you must listen carefully for what I am about say.
The evil you are about to fight comes in two, a master and an
apprentice."
"The student of this evil master is a Ryoga Hibiki, a scoundrel of a
man. He is yay tall and wears a spotted yellow bandana and carries with
him a large red umbrella. Be weary of him for he is known to change
shapes, it is rumored that he transforms into a small black piglet whom
he has tricked the naïve Akane Tendo into thinking is her pet, P-Chan.
If you ever see Akane in a company of such a creature, you must destroy
it at all cost, for it is only in his transformed state that he is
vulnerable."
"The master of Hibiki is a perverted old man of both the martial and
magical arts. Though his true name is not known, he goes by Happossai.
He often frequents the halls of Furikan, carrying a sack filled with
women undergarments. He often comes to this school to spy on the girls
in the locker room--either to spy and ogle their young nubile bodies or
to grope them and later steal their bras and panties. In any case, you
must thwart him in these endeavors at every turn, for he draws his
demonic powers from touching the flesh or undergarments of young women
and girls."
"If you can deny this master of these things, he can be sufficiently
weakened enough for you to defeat him. Otherwise, if you attempt to
fight him head on, you will lose. Just as I have on numerous
occasions."
This final admittance of his own inability in the past to defeat
Happossai helped add the last element of legitimacy to hook Kuno's
warped mind into believe such a tale. Also given that Kuno was
predisposed to fairy tale fallacy, it wasn't hard to convince him to
accept everything he had just said at face value.
"Thank you Saotome for your assistance" began Kuno after Ranma had
finished. "Know that the Pigtailed Girl's memory shall be avenged, for
heaven's justice is swift and sure." Ranma just kept up the act as he
watched Kuno rush off towards god knows where. As soon as Kuno was out
of sight and earshot, Ranma proceeded to break up into loud laughter as
he made his way towards Ryoko.
From within the crowd, Nabiki made her way up to him. "Ranma!" she
exclaimed. "What the hell was that about!?" Ranma looked at her and
smirked.
"Oh that" he began. "That was my attempt at being amicable." Nabiki
narrowed her eyes as he said this.
"Amicable!" she exclaimed. "You just sent Kuno on a fool's quest. What
do you think Ryoga and Happossai are going to do to him when he starts
spouting 'Foul Sorcerer' at them?"
Ranma didn't pause in his answer. "What I did to Kuno, Happossai, and
Ryoga... that was all intentional. Remember, I'm not going to stay in
Nerima forever. Once I'm gone, no one is going to be here to stop
Happossai. And while Ryoga would probably be a better choice to handle
the pervert, do you honestly think Ryoga would stand a chance given his
sense of direction or the fact that he'd pass out at the first sight of
female flesh?"
Nabiki just stopped as Ranma continued walking towards Ryoko. She was
unsure how to respond to that as she stood there amongst the mass of
students, watching while Ranma motioned for Ryoko to follow him towards
the main building. Just then the morning bell rang.
--- Ranma's Classroom ---
"Mr. Saotome, you're late again" barked Mr. Ishikawa, the classes'
balding, middle-aged homeroom teacher. The teacher gave Ranma a smug
look, ever since Ranma Saotome had come to Furinkan, the boy had been
late every single day. That infuriated the teacher to no end.
'Just because he's the star of the school's athletic program and has all
those girls chasing after him, he thinks he can just shirk his
responsibilities' thought the teacher.
The man was bitter to say the least. He had come into teaching because
he thought he could make a difference. However, years of indifferent
students, combined with his failing marriage left him resenting people
like Ranma. People who without any effort were able to achieve so much,
receive so much, and get by on so little. So it was days like this,
where he could exert his power over such students that he got his
thrills.
Mr. Ishikawa was about to order Ranma and his attractive companion
outside to hold buckets, when Ranma stopped him with an answer. "Oh,
I'm sorry for being late Sensei. However, I was just too busy
contemplating beating Kuno within an inch of his life. I then thought
about doing the same to any other person who looked at me cock-eyed, but
I knew how important it was to get here for class. I hope you
understand."
Ranma's response wasn't much of an answer, however it served its desired
effect. With that answer, combined with how he looked at Mr. Ishikawa
and how callously he had said it, the teacher decided that it was not
within the best interest of his health to order Ranma or his friend out.
Giving Ranma a mumbled "Okay" Ranma smirked as he proceeded to walk
towards his assigned seat. Ryoko followed close behind and sat in the
chair normally reserved for Akane Tendo.
--- Lunch Time ---
"Ranma, where's Akane and whose your friend?" asked Sayuri, one of
Akane's friends. Ranma for his part couldn't remember her name, but
nevertheless answered.
"Oh, Akane is sick and this is Ryoko." Ryoko proceeded to say "Hi" to
Akane's gathered friends. As the introductions and greetings were
finished, one of Akane's other friends, Yuka interrupted.
"Ranma?" she queried. "Is it true that you're a foul sorcerer and that
Ryoko here is the demon succubus that transformed your heart to evil?"
Yuka sounded silly saying it, but after watching Ranma's performance she
wasn't sure. 'His acting skills were never that good before' she
thought to herself. Next to Yuka, students who were ease dropping were
thinking along similar lines.
Ranma smiled at the question. He was preparing to answer, when Ukyo
came into view. Standing over him with her battle spatula blocking the
light of the sun, Ukyo posed a formidable sight. As the other students
caught sight of Ukyo, they dashed away in fear of their lives. They
knew that Ukyo was a powerful martial artist, and given that Ranma was
sitting so close to Ryoko, it was a fair guess that Ukyo would not take
kindly to anyone being that intimate with her fiancé. However, their
fears were unwarranted.
"Oh, Hey Ukyo-chan how are you?" asked Ryoko and Ranma. Ukyo just un-
slung her battle spatula and sat down next to them. She gave them a
smile and replied in kind. "Oh I'm doing fine Auntie, Uncle. How have
you two been doing?"
"Oh we've been doing fine" exclaimed Ryoko. For the most part of the
day, Ryoko had kept quiet, but now amongst familiar company she let
herself relax. "Yeah, we just submitted the papers to withdraw Ranma
from Furinkan" continued Ryoko. As the trio engaged in conversation,
the surrounding students were puzzled by the use of 'Uncle' and
'Auntie.'
One of those puzzled students was Nabiki who was walking towards them,
just as Ukyo showed up. 'Uncle?, Auntie?' she thought. 'I better ask
them about that.'
"Hey Ranma, Ryoko, Ukyo" interrupted Nabiki. "Sorry to interrupt you
guys, but I couldn't help hear Ukyo call you two 'Auntie' and 'Uncle.'
Do you care to explain?" Ukyo looked a bit apprehensive, but Ranma
waved off her worries.
"Don't worry, Ukyo-chan. Nabiki has the right to be curious, however
it's best that we take this conversation away from prying eyes and
ears." As Ranma said that, the surrounding students turned their heads
away in embarrassment. They thought they weren't being observed, given
that Ranma's head was turned away. However, they failed to note that
Ranma's heightened senses practically gave him eyes in the back of his
head.
As Nabiki neared the group, Ranma placed his hand on the ground and a
light blue glow could be seen emanating from his palm. As the energy
pulsed from his hand, the air around the four shimmered. To most
observers, they couldn't see a difference, however the sunlight would
occasionally glint across the unseen barrier. When Nabiki saw this, she
let out a gasp.
"Ranma? What is that?" Nabiki was unsure of what she had seen, but
given the things she had seen Ranma, Happossai, and the rest of the
martial artists of Nerima do with ki, she fathomed a good guess at what
Ranma had done. As Nabiki complied with the motion from Ryoko and Ranma
to sit down, Ranma removed his palm from the ground.
"That, Nabiki was just a sample of what four hundred years of martial
arts study and training can do. In this particular case, I used my ki
to disrupt the grasses' natural chi-flow, forcing it to flow up and
outward with enough force that it disrupts the surrounding air
molecules." Nabiki looked blankly at what Ranma had said. 'So what?'
she thought.
As if picking up Nabiki's mental query, Ranma proceeded to answer the
question. "You might ask why?" he began. "The reason is to keep ease-
droppers from hearing us. Whether you know this or not, sound can only
be heard if there is a medium for it to travel in. In this case, it's
air. So when you saw the air around us shimmer, that was a physical
indicator that I caused the air molecules to vibrate fast enough that
when sound travels through it, the noise will come out mute."
Nabiki just looked at him as if he grew a second head. "Yeah right..."
she said. When she looked to Ryoko or Ukyo for support, the look they
gave her told her that this was real.
"Nabiki" began Ranma in a soothing tone. "Listen around you. Do you
hear anything? Do you hear the sound of students playing, talking, even
the wind rustling? Do you hear anything except us four?" Nabiki
paused. She couldn't hear anything. She could clearly see students
talking, joking, yet she couldn't hear their voices, their laughter.
The silence was proving quite disconcerting. Especially when she
thought she was going to suffocate. She grabbed to her throat as if to
imply that. When Ranma saw this, he gave out a jovial laugh.
"Don't worry about suffocating, Nabiki" he remarked. "I didn't cut us
off from the air, merely causing the air molecules to move fast enough
that sound waves are disrupted." Nabiki seemed to relax at that. As
she calmed down, she proceeded to ask Ranma and the rest of them about
what she had initially wondered before.
"So you guys" she began. "What's this about Ukyo calling you two
'Auntie' and 'Uncle?' I thought Ukyo and Ranma were engaged. Don't
tell me Uncle Genma engaged you to your own niece, Ranma." Nabiki
smirked at that. Ukyo and Ranma merely frowned.
"No Nabiki" Ukyo answered. "Uncle Ranma isn't related to me by blood."
Nabiki just looked at her with an expression that said "then how?"
Ukyo took in a nervous breath as she prepared to answer. Ranma and
Ryoko on the other hand were calm as they sat against a nearby tree,
Ranma against the tree trunk with Ryoko in his lap--feeding him pieces
of okinomiyaki that Ukyo had brought. While all listened, Ukyo began to
unravel the yarn of a tale that made up her life so far.
"Okay Nabiki, Uncle Ranma and I are still technically engaged, however
after hearing my tale, you'll understand why I call both Ryoko and him,
Auntie and Uncle. Well, it all begins nearly ten years ago. It was the
day after my engagement to Ranchan was finalized and the day that I was
to spend the rest of my life with my fiancé..."
--- Yokahama, Japan Ten years ago ---
"Wait! Stop!" cried a little girl as she ran along side a dirt-paved
road. In front of her was her father's yattai that was being pulled by
her new fiancé, Ranchan's father. The boy in question sat atop of the
cart as he waved down at the running girl.
Looking at her fiancé, the little girl continued to run as fast as her
little legs would allow, screaming for her future father-in-law and
fiancé to stop.
"Stop you Jackasses!" she screamed. "Stop!" The little girl continued
to run as fast as she could, running despite the growing distance that
separated her from her fleeing targets. 'Why aren't they stopping?' she
started asking herself. 'Why are they leaving me behind? Don't you
like me anymore, Ranchan?'
At that the little girl finally hit her limit, her legs finally gave
out, causing her to tumble and scrape her knee. "Why? Why Ranchan?"
she started crying as she nursed not only her hurt knee, but also her
broken heart. "Why did you leave me?"
That little girl, named Ukyo Kunoji didn't know what to do. What was
she to do in this situation? If she returned back to her father, she'd
be a disgrace. At the tender age of five, not only had she been
engaged, but she had been practically left at the alter. She was far
from being tainted goods, but in her mind and eye, she was just as
worthless.
As little Ukyo sat there on the dirt road, a gentle hand tapped her on
the shoulder. "Huh?" she said. She didn't hear the person approach and
although she was taught to be weary of strangers, Ukyo no longer cared
what happened to her. Looking up with blurry eyes, she caught sight of
two faces.
While rubbing the tears from her vision, she realized that one of the
faces belonged to a handsome young-man in his mid-twenties. He was
giving her a friendly smile as he offered her a hand to get up. Next to
him was a woman, who was as beautiful as the man was handsome. She too
was giving Ukyo a friendly smile, extending her hand out to help Ukyo
up.
Ukyo didn't know what to do at this. 'Who are these people?' she
thought. She had never seen them before, yet the man seemed oddly
familiar. Feeling unsure, yet not too suspicious that she would reject
their assistance, little Ukyo accepted their offering and was lifted to
her feet.
"Thank you" stuttered Ukyo. Her voice wavered as she talked to the
strangers. It wasn't because she was afraid, but rather she was simply
exhausted, both emotionally and physically.
"You don't need to thank us, Ukyo" came the man's response. Ukyo looked
up at him in fright. 'He knows my name' she gasped. Ukyo wanted to
flee, something wasn't right with this picture. However, before more
worry could settle into her system, she felt a light tap to her neck and
the Ukyo's world went black.
++++++++++
"Wha.. where am I" she said aloud. She was sitting in a room and
resting in a soft bed. It felt odd, she thought. The last thing she
remembered was being left behind by Ranchan, then encountering an odd
couple, and now this. As she sat there, staring at the unfamiliar
ceiling, she was alerted by the opening of a sliding door.
"I see that you're awake" came a soft distinctly feminine voice.
"Mama?" Ukyo spoke. 'No, it can't be' she thought. Ukyo had at first
thought that she was back at home, back to a time when she still had a
mother. But that had been a year ago, a time before her mother had died
and her father and her took off for the open road.
"Sorry little one, but I'm not your mother" came the voice's reply. The
room was dark and it looked as if it was well past nightfall. "Where am
I?" asked Ukyo. She felt nervous as she lay there. "Where is my
father?"
"You are at the Masaki Shrine. Your father is not here. You were
brought here by relatives of mine. They saw you fall down on the road
after you were chasing a yattai. We weren't sure if the people you were
chasing were your father and brother. If they are I'm sure we'll find
them." Ukyo let out a small frown as she heard that. She had hoped
that what had happened with her and her Ranchan had all been a dream,
that in reality he hadn't left her behind.
"Jackass" she said under her breath. Next to her, the woman who was by
Ukyo's bedside looked at the young girl with an odd expression on her
face. "Excuse me, what did you just say?" Ukyo in turn just blushed in
embarrassment.
"I'm sorry ma'am, I wasn't calling you that. I was referring to the man
who was pulling the yattai, and the boy who was sitting atop of it."
The woman's expression softened as she heard that. As the soft light of
the lamp shone onto the woman's face, Ukyo got a good look at her
caregiver.
She was a handsome woman, who looked too young for her true age. She
had long black hair, and soft brown eyes; to Ukyo she looked absolutely
stunning. As the woman caught Ukyo staring, Ukyo turned her head away
in embarrassment. It wasn't polite to stare. Seeing Ukyo's reaction,
the woman smiled as she tried the comfort the girl.
"Don't fret child, I won't bite. My name is Achika Hino, but you can
call me Auntie. Do you have a name, little-one?" Ukyo just looked at
the woman and her features softened.
"Mrs. Hino.. er I mean Auntie. My name is Ukyo Kuonji of the Kuonji
School of Okinomiyaki-ryu." There was once a time when Ukyo would have
been proud to say it, but given the day's circumstances it was
understandable that she had lost a lot of the zest from her spirit.
As Achika listened, she picked up on the slight lowering of the girl's
demeanor. "Well then Ukyo Kuonji of the Kuonji School of Okinomiyaki-
ryu, how would you like to get freshened up and help me prepare dinner.
There you can meet the rest of my family. You know what, one of my
relatives has a boy about your age. There is also my daughter here
whose also about your age. The boy's name is Tenchi, my daughter is
named Rei. Perhaps you would like to play with them instead?"
Ukyo's ears perked up as Achika offered to let her help with the
cooking. It was something to do to keep her mind off things. But then
when the woman offered to introduce her to a boy and girl, Ukyo
immediately blanched. She had opened up to a boy once and he had shoved
her love back into her face by abandoning her she thought. A girl was
no better. Ukyo never seemed to get along with the neighborhood girls-
-they were into dolls and playing tea, not martial arts or okinomiyaki
like Ranma was. No, meeting this Tenchi or Rei even if they were
related to this nice lady was not something that Ukyo wanted to do.
"Err, I'd rather help you in the kitchen Auntie. But.. maybe I should
be looking for my father. I don't want to intrude on your family."
Ukyo was as polite as she was proud. She enjoyed the company of this
woman, it was something she could tell from the start. However, she
knew that she was a stranger to this woman and as a stranger, she felt
it was only right that she leave and go to where she belonged.
Despite this reasoning, Achika would have nothing of it. "Nonsense
child" she chided. "You are quite welcomed in my house and at the very
least, you can have dinner with us while my husband and the others go
look for your father." Ukyo perked up at that, she was afraid she'd be
sent out, but after hearing Achika's words, Ukyo no longer felt the same
anxiety of rejection that she had been feeling since the Saotome's had
run off with her dowry.
"Okay, Auntie... lets head off to the kitchen." Achika just smiled as
she watched the girl's new burst of enthusiasm. 'Such a lovely child,
it's no wonder that he befriended her so long ago' thought the Hino
woman.
--- At Dinner ---
"Everybody" began Achika. "I would like you to meet Ukyo Kuonji of the
Kuonji School of Okinomiyaki-ryu. Ukyo, this is my family." As
everyone began their introductions, Ukyo caught sight of the pair who
she had met on the road. As Ukyo's gaze came across the man's, there
was a nagging feeling at the back of her head as she looked over his
features. 'There is something about him' she thought. 'I wonder what
it is?'
As dinner progressed and finally came to an end, the room's occupants
left to conduct their own business. The only ones to remain in the room
were the same pair whom Ukyo met on the road, an older man called
Katushito and his wife, as well as Achika and her husband along with
another woman who looked a lot like Katushito's wife.
"Hello Ukyo" began the man she met on the road. "Do you remember me and
Ryoko here?" Ukyo just nodded her head as she stared at him. He didn't
seem threatening, but there was something not right about him, that much
she could tell.
Seeing the slight fear in her eyes, the man frowned as he began to talk
again. "Ukyo, I.. I would like to apologize for what happened earlier."
Ukyo sat there with a puzzled expression. 'Him? Apologizing to me,
what for?' she asked herself.
Seeing this in her eyes, the man worked in a response to what he was
about to say next. "Ukyo, do you know who I am? Do you know who I
really am? I can sense that you do." Ukyo just seemed to frown at his
question. What was he getting at?
"Ukyo, I know that you suspect something about me. I can see it in your
eyes. The reason why you feel that way is because.. is because my name
is Ranma Saotome. I'm Ranchan." Ukyo simply sat there, giving him no
sense of reaction. 'Shit!' thought Ranma. 'How the hell am I suppose
to explain things to a five year old?'
While Ranma pondered, Ukyo surprised him with her intelligence. "You're
not Ranma Saotome" she barked. "Ranma Saotome is a no good dishonorable
jackass, whose father is just as rotten." Ranma for his part could only
blanch. 'Geez' he thought. 'I'm over four hundred years old and I'm
getting chewed out by a five year old.'
Ranma proceeded to sit there, as Ukyo poured forth her grief as she
tried to describe how terrible the Saotome men were. Around him, the
various members of the family were either in a state of shock,
amusement, or both. 'Victim or not, this girl is definitely going
through etiquette lessons' thought Ranma as Ukyo went through her third
tirade about how Ranma was the son of something he wasn't quite sure he
heard right.
Huffing, under her continuous slandering of Ranma Saotome's name, Ukyo
took a final deep breath as she added. "Also, you can't be Ranma
Saotome because he's only five years old. You're just some lying old
man." There, Ukyo was finished. She had made her point and there was
no way that that lying man could try to fool her into saying that he was
her Ranchan. That was what she thought just before the said lying man
gave her a response that put her whole world in a tailspin.
"True, your Ranchan is only five years old" exclaimed Ranma. "However,
I'm not lying when I say that I am or was your Ranchan. You see Ukyo,
I'm from the future. I was accidentally sent back in time and I've used
this opportunity to set things right. In my future, you were abandoned
just as you were today and subsequently you spent the next ten years of
your life tracking me down so that you could kill me. You abandoned
your femininity and lived those ten years as a man, training in your
family's art so that you could redeem your honor. However, when you
finally met up with me you experience a slight change of heart... but
regardless of that, here I am. I'm trying to atone for what my family
did to you."
Ukyo just sat there with unblinking eyes. Ranma wasn't sure if that was
a good or bad thing as he waited for the little girl to process the
information. But as the seconds passed by like eons, a response finally
came. "Bullshit" she exclaimed. "Time travel doesn't exist and you're
not my Ranchan."
Ranma just looked like he was ready to explode. He had planned
carefully for this. Taken into consideration what needed to occur so as
not to create a temporal paradox. Now, after years of preparation, he
had failed to take into account how pessimistic five year olds could be.
'Damn it, what the hell am I going to do!?' he screamed inwardly. 'I
can't let her go so she can waste her life either trying to kill or pine
away for me. It's just not fair for her.'
Seeing that his options were few if any, Ranma decided to go for the
gusto and use a technique of psionic control that he seldom liked to use
on others. But throwing caution to the wind, Ranma leaned across the
table and placed two fingers atop of Ukyo's forehead. With a flash of
light, a series of images, thoughts, and emotions were passed onto the
child. In an instant, Ukyo understood what it was that Ranma wished to
say; knowing from his own memories that he spoke the truth.
"What did you do to me?" she gasped. It felt as if she had watched a
movie while she was half asleep. The images and sounds were there for
viewing, but they only seemed to come to focus when she sought out a
specific scene or memory. What Ranma did was a limited dump of selected
memories; granting to Ukyo enough of what he knew to help her understand
his motives.
As Ukyo sat there, slowly assimilating what Ranma had given to her. The
child finally broke out into a smile. She no longer felt sad or alone-
-Ranma's memories had told her that he would protect her always. While
those who watched this display sat there stunned, Ranma grinned as Ukyo
made her way to give him a hug. It felt good to know that he was no
longer at odds with the little girl. As he let go of her embrace, Ryoko
was shocked as she was also embraced in a fierce hug--an after effect of
Ranma and Ukyo's mind meld.
While still in Ryoko's embrace, Ukyo looked over to Ranma. "Ranma.. did
you really mean it when you said you'd take care of me forever?" Ranma
for his part just nodded his head as the girl let out tears of joy. It
was a touching scene as Ukyo proceeded to bring Ranma into her embrace.
To those assembled, it was a classic Kodak moment.
--- The Present ---
"So you see, Nabiki. That little girl in the story was me and the man
and woman who found me were Uncle Ranma and Auntie Ryoko. As for why I
call them that, it's because I couldn't just call them mom and dad, and
calling Uncle, Ranchan just didn't seem appropriate given his age. Plus
I couldn't very well call Ranma my fiancé either." Nabiki just sat
there in stunned silence; she had never expected this to happen.
As the news slowly assimilated into Nabiki's mind, she turned to the
Okinomiyaki chef. "Ukyo, if what you said is true then why did you come
back seeking revenge? Do you still want the engagement?"
Ukyo replied immediately to that. "Nah, I didn't really want revenge
against Uncle Ranma, but he said that in order for history to play
itself out and to prevent any disruption of the time stream, it would be
wise to keep to how things originally went. So during the past ten
years, he had me train while also coaching me on what happened that
day."
"When he told that the original me went from wanting to kill him to
wanting to marry him after he said I was cute, I thought Uncle was just
joking. However, I share the memories to prove it. But in any case,
now that history has been changed, I suppose I'll be heading back home?"
Ranma merely nodded at that. "That's right Ukyo-chan. While Ryoko and
I were in the office, we had your transfer approved. Today is your last
day at Furinkan, I hope you don't mind." Ukyo shook her head. "Nah, I
can't wait to go back home so I can start dressing like a regular girl
again."
Ranma and Ryoko just smirked at that. "Are you sure that's all" teased
Ryoko. "Your enthusiasm wouldn't have anything to do with Tenchi now
would it?" Ukyo just blushed under their combined efforts. "What, that
jackass!?" exclaimed Ukyo. "Who'd be interested in that weenie anyway?"
Ranma proceeded to take on a look of disinterest. "Oh" he began. "It's
good to know that you're not interested in the boy because I was
planning on arranging a meeting between himself and the Tendo Daughters.
Also Cologne seemed quite interested in having Shampoo meeting my heir.
Oh, and lets not mention how his father wants him to marry that Shrine
maiden in Jubaan. Ryoko, what was her name again?" As Ranma proceeded
to go on and on about Tenchi's marriage prospects. To Ukyo who was
listening, she looked ready to explode however she wasn't about to let
her Uncle get the best of her.
"Fine" Ukyo all but shouted. "Arrange as many marriages for him as you
want. The weenie needs as much help as he can get." Ukyo proceeded to
stuff herself on her bento while Nabiki looked on at the sight in
amusement.
Turning towards Ranma and Ryoko, Nabiki inquired. "Oh Ranma. There was
something that came up during Ukyo's story. Do you mind elaborating,
I'd ask Ukyo but I think you're a better person to ask." Ranma just sat
there and shrugged--giving Nabiki the sign that she could ask away.
"Good, um.. during the end of Ukyo's story, she mentioned how you sort
of did this mind meld thing. What was that? Don't tell me that was
ki?" Ranma smiled at that. "That" he began. "That was not Ki but
something else. I suppose to describe it best is to answer how I got
such psionic powers. Basically, for all immortals there is a give and
take that accompanies our lives. As you know, there is this game that
all immortals must play."
"It is a force that compels us to fight each other, though many
immortals such as myself chose to not fight unless forced to. For us,
simple existence is enough. But for others, they strive to kill
immortals like one would collects stamps."
"The reasons that drive these hunter-immortals vary, though the main
reason is for power. For you see, when an immortal dies, there is
something that occurs called the quickening. It is a destructive force
that occurs after an immortal loses his head, in it you can literally
see and feel the power leaving the dead immortals body. In some cases,
the quickening is so destructive that it could destroy a few city
blocks."
"Now you might be thinking, what is the point of the quickening and the
answer is with the quickening, all the memories, powers, and life-force
of the dead immortal are passed onto the immortal who took his life--a
sort of instant power up so to speak. So for hunter-immortals or to
those who win the game, the ultimate prize is the cumulative knowledge
and power of all immortals that came before him. A pretty strong
motivator, right?"
Nabiki nodded her head as she stared at Ranma. 'Taking their heads' she
thought. Nabiki unconsciously brought her hands to her own neck as she
pictured the idea of Ranma taking the heads of his fellow immortals.
'My god, how many heads must he have taken to reach his current state?'
Nabiki didn't know, but the idea of Ranma even taking one head seemed
unnerving in itself. Inching away, Nabiki was about to leave.
"Wait" began Ranma. "Don't get the wrong idea about me. I'm no
headhunter, but I have taken the lives of immortals. I'm not proud of
it, but sometimes its necessary, you have to trust me on this. I never
take a fellow immortals life for power or pleasure. The lives I take
were for the sake of saving others--either mine or those I care for."
"As I said, many of those headhunting immortals are motivated for power
and in their quest, they'll do anything to attain it. In the case of
that psychic, he was using his abilities to trick women into falling in
love with him so that he could rape them. He was as ugly as he was
powerful and if I hadn't put an end to his ways.. well you get the
picture."
Nabiki just nodded her head numbly. As justified as the death may have
been it still perturbed her that anyone could take someone's life like
that. Ranma might have been an exception in her book, but she still
didn't like the idea of knowing someone who had killed or could kill as
easily as they breathed air or drank water.
"Uh.. thank you for answering my question, Ranma. Um, I've got to go."
Ranma merely nodded his head and gave Nabiki his farewell as he lowered
the protective barrier around them. As he sat there wondering if he had
said too much or perhaps not enough, Ryoko was there to comfort him.
Hugging his chest she gave him a comforting kiss on the cheek as she
rested her head against the crook of his neck. Though no words were
exchanged, the affection she showed gave him the strength and
understanding that he needed. Letting him know that she would be there
for him when he needed her.
--- End of Chapter ---
Please send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com and if you're going to
criticize, please give reasons why. Thanks.
(1) - The Blue Oyster bar is the name of a gay biker bar featured in the
"Police Academy" movies.
Questions and Answers:
Q1. Why did I change the line where Achika refers to Tenchi as her son?
A1. Well although it hasn't been confirmed yet, I'm doing this to leave
my options open about Tenchi's parentage if you catch my drift.