See 1st Chapter for disclaimer
AN About Ranma's problem with killing: Some of you are probably saying by now "well if Ranma's been killing people for months then he should be used to it by now" right? Well, I got to say that little theory is wrong, mainly because Ranma is not a monster, he has a conscience. Kenshin kills people but he's doing it for a higher purpose, Hiko (Kenshin's master) deals with it by giving his victims a proper burial, and Saito just follows his principle of 'Slay Evil Immediately' and thus believes the people he kills deserves to die. Every one of these people has a special way of dealing with murdering people, Ranma doesn't. He only pushes aside his emotions for a short time to he can kill people, but that doesn't mean he knows how to deal with it afterwards; hence the nightmares. He also knows that the reason he's doing this is completely for himself, he doesn't really care about the revolution or anything else like that, and deep down, he knows what he's doing is wrong, and instead of dealing with it, Ranma just finds something to push it to the side.
Chapter 5: A Horseshoe Nail
Ranma looked down at the unconscious form of Happosai and then the mirror she held in her hand. She had to admit, the pervert was right where her master said he'd be. Maybe there was something more to this Fung Shui stuff than just new ways to channel ki.
She remembered how she met Moruki Mizu, it was shortly after her first attempt to retrieve the teakettle from the Musk. Ranma had wrapped herself in the Umi-Sen-Ken and strolled right in. However there were a few things she didn't count on, the fact that the Musk tribe was much more populated than they had been in Ranma's time, and the fact that even though they couldn't see Ranma, they could still smell her.
-Somewhere in the Mountains of China-
Ranma groaned in aggravation as she trudged through the barely traversable mountain path. She had finally lost her group of pursuers by jumping down a waterfall, although her legs and ribs weren't in good shape from the impact. Damn Musk and their damn wolf men, they were like a pack of bloodhounds.
Now, Ranma had lost her map, was bleeding from various cuts, and was walking with a limp. Worst of all was the fact that now she had no idea where she was and how to get back and retrieve the Kaisufuu. She just had to get it, returning to her own time was meaningless if she couldn't turn back into a man. If she had to spend just one more month as a woman she was going to go crazy!
As Ranma continued down the path the sound of a camp fire and the smell of food drew her attention towards a small patch of trees that wasn't too far away. She was about to just forget about the whole thing and continue on but her stomach lodged it's protest and the rest of the body sided with it. Well, if she couldn't get any food then at least Ranma could grab a branch from one of the nearby trees to use as a makeshift walking staff.
When she walked past the small line of trees Ranma could see a man in traditional Japanese robes watching a fire with two small rabbits roasting over the flames. Even in the dark light she could see his features were Japanese, so what in the heck was he doing so deep in China?
The red haired girl stood there for a moment watching the man but when he didn't seem to notice her presence Ranma decided to maker herself known. "Hey there, you awake?"
"Yes," the stranger replied. "Come sit, dinner is almost ready, and I believe I could use some company."
Ranma just shrugged and walked over to the old man before they both started eating, she never was one to pass up on a free meal. As the night wore on Ranma asked who the old man was and what he was doing in China when he was obviously Japanese.
The man in return told him that his name was Moruki Mizu, and he was here because of the war in Japan. Some of his family had decided to get involved in the revolution, but he wanted no part of the war and came to back to China to improve upon his studies. He studied Fung Shui, it was some weird version of Chinese fortune telling. Personally Ranma thought that fortune telling was all just a load of crap.
That is until it was time for Ranma to take her leave.
She bowed her head and then stood up and started to walk off. "So, the wild horse goes off chasing the hot water that the dragon holds again, is that it?"
-End Flashback-
Ranma shook her head at the memory before waiting for the pot of water over the fire to heat up. When she asked how the heck the old geezer could have known something like that, he gave a more in depth explanation of his 'fortune telling' techniques.
Fung Shui was actually an advanced ki detection technique that read the flow of life energy of the three major things in the universe: the chi of heaven, the chi of earth, and the chi of man. Once all three were read and combined a pattern could be seen and paint a picture of the future. Some of the greatest of the Fung Shui masters could even influence that pattern according to their own designs.
It turned out that Moruki had been in the mountains for the past three weeks hoping to meet with Ranma, who seemed to be at the center of his latest prediction. When she asked why he said that his 'vision' of the future currently took three paths, the first ended in Japan being consumed by a devil, the second ended in China being burnt to the ground, and the third was an unknown. He had decided to influence the events of the future towards the unknown path, since the first two ended in the deaths of millions.
So, Ranma decided to sit down, and tell him just why she was after the Kaisufuu, leaving out the whole time traveling part. When she mention her failure she just said that she would have to train and get faster for next time.
When she had finished talking to the old man he merely nodded his head in understanding and then said that it was a good thing that he ran into Ranma, and quickly explained why. When the Kaisufuu locks someone in whatever form they're in, it does so by completely stopping the cells from changing in any way, it kind of freezes them in time from the moment they're hit with the stuff. In other words, from the day they're splashed they can't improve their physical attributes, hence why Ranma's hair didn't seem to grow since she arrived in the past.
After that Ranma stayed with Moruki while waiting for her injuries to heal and making sure no one found her out. The next day Ranma had come to a decision, if she couldn't improve her body then she would have to improve her fighting style. So, she decided to stay with Moruki for the next few months, learning his version of Feng Shui.
She never did learn enough to actually predict anything, but the meditation techniques helped Ranma with her nightmares that had resurfaced after she had left Tomoe in Japan. She still felt an incredible amount of regret that tore at her daily, but she could at least get through a night without waking up in a cold sweat.
When spring was about to pass into winter, Ranma made another try for the Kaisufuu. This time she was able to get away with the Musk's precious magical item that unlocked the effects of the Chisuittion, but only barely. That night she finally was able to sleep as a man again, that is until it started raining cutting her full night as a man down to just a few hours. But, Ranma didn't care, he had finally been able to cure himself of a problem that had lasted him over a year.
With his cure in hand Ranma went back to a small hut where his sensei in Fung Shui to tell him the good news and thank the old man, if it wasn't for his advanced ki reading techniques then Ranma would never had been able to sneak through the Musk's defenses.
Moruki had already known Ranma was coming of course, and had something for him. The location of Happosai, or where he would be in two weeks.
So that brought him back to the present. Defeating the old man had been easy enough, once she flashed him that is. Now, she had that blasted time traveling mirror, and was about to use it to drop off the Kaisufuu back at its mountain hideaway. It was a little funny when she thought about it, the whole reason Herb even came to Japan and turned Ranma into a girl was because Ranma had stolen the magic kettle from his family over a hundred years ago.
It was too bad she couldn't just get rid of the pervert right then and there. But without him to train Genma, Ranma wouldn't have the skill level needed to survive half of the crap she did, or may not have even existed at all. Now that was quite the scary thought. The pervert was actually useful for something.
Seeing the water was ready Ranma reached down and tossed it over herself, letting the transformation take place before he put his hair back in its old pigtail. It felt kind of fitting, doing this one last thing while looking exactly like the way he had gone out as.
See, the way Ranma figured it, as it was he couldn't just return to his present like nothing had really changed. During his past year he had changed too much, seen too many things, and…he had killed. He hated to admit it to himself, but getting back his manhood didn't justify all the lives that he had taken.
So, Ranma's plan was a simple one, although it had taken weeks to plan out. He would teleport about twenty years into the future to drop off the Kaisufuu after the Musk had given up looking for it, then head back here with the mirror, and finally make one last jump back to the outskirts of Tokyo a night before he left in the original timeline. That way, he could stop Happosai before he ever even had a chance to get close to Ranma, and prevent this entire mess from happening.
All in all, it sounded like a pretty good plan. He just hoped that the Kaisufuu wasn't affected by the change, or if it were he hoped someone would steal it later and hide it in the cave for Ranma to find it. The first part of the plan went off without a hitch of course, no one was around and after placing the Kaisufuu where it looked like it should go he called up the more…darker memories of the past year and cried a tear into the mirror then transported back to Happosai's unconscious form two seconds after he left.
When he reappeared next to the old freak Ranma took one last look at the man and remembered all the pain that he had caused before shedding another tear. As the glow of the mirror's magic surrounded him, Ranma tossed the mirror on top of the old freak's body then vanished without a trace.
A cloaked figure stood at a desolate wasteland, the only things around for miles were the small stone obelisks, each one giving a name, date of birth, and date of death. However since this grave field was here to commemorate what was known as the 'Tokyo Massacre' all of the death dates were the same.
Then, a moment later a burst of ki erupted from the ground and there was one less gravesite, and one very terrified and nervous martial artist in a red silk Chinese shirt.
When Ranma had appeared in what was supposed to be his present. However in the end he ended up…well he wasn't quite sure were since it was too dark to see anything. So, he did what any super human martial artist would to in his position of being cramped in what felt like a small box and running out of air.
He flared his ki and fired it upwards.
Coughing the smoke from the blast Ranma waved the dust away from his face as he stepped out of the hole in the ground. What the heck was that old freak doing? Sleeping underground?
"Well, it's about time you got here," a deep voice said in front of Ranma. "Quite frankly I expected you here sooner…I guess my watch must be a little fast."
Finally getting the taste of dirt out of his mouth Ranma looked up in front of him to see a man covered by a dirt brown cloak that was little more than a rag. It hid his face but the rest of his body was covered by some weird bright yellow suit.
Of course in his current position Ranma did the only thing he could. He stared blankly and blinked a few times before finally finding words to speak. "Uh…huh?" He looked around for a moment, but nothing around him looked familiar. It was just a bunch of stupid looking black markers sticking out of the ground.
Finally, he turned back to the man standing in front of him. "Excuse me, but WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?"
The stranger stood there for a moment before reaching up to his mouth as if coughing but he couldn't touch his face for the mask that was covering his face. However the movement did let Ranma see under the hood of his suit, but everything was completely covered by the suit the stranger was wearing.
"Well that's better," he replied. "Now then, I'm betting you're wondering what you're doing here and just who I am, correct?"
"For starters," Ranma said as he popped his knuckles.
"Why Ranma, you're just where you wanted to be," he told the boy. "One day before the date you were tossed back through time by Happosai, and right were Happosai was today."
"Funny," Ranma told him in a voice that held no humor. "I don't seem to remember anything like this in Japan. And just who are you?"
"Me?" The stranger asked. "Why, I'm a time traveler same as you. And you are right where you wanted to be Ranma. You appeared right next to Happosai, or what was left of him anyway. You see, Happosai died along with all these other people and most of the others in Japan as well as the world during the Third World War that happened about…I believe it was ten years ago today."
"Excuse me?" Ranma asked a little skeptical.
"Do you want a better explanation?" he replied. "Well I'm afraid that I can't give you a very good one, just a few minor details. From what I can figure the time when w-you traveled back in time to the Meji revolution, you changed something. Quite frankly I don't know what it was, I'm not exactly a big student of history but this is the result." The man held up his hands and motioned to the graveyard around him. "Because of your interference, in the year 1982 the emperor of Japan finally stockpiled enough chemical weapons and launched them against China in a plot to gain power. However because of this China and its allies retaliated. Eventual war broke out between the countries, and as China began to loose badly then more western nations took up arms, spreading the battles all across Asia and parts of Europe. In the end the western nations decided to try and put an end to it by destroying the capital city of Japan and thus eliminate the emperor, which was Kyoto at the time. But that only seemed to infuriate the Japanese, and in the end the entire island of Shikoku was rendered uninhabitable and the Chinese government annexed the two other islands of Japan."
"Excuse me but there's a few holes in your story," Ranma said. "Like the fact that Japan's Emperor holds no real political power, and hasn't after World War Two. Besides, what the hell does that have to do with me?"
"Like I said," the stranger replied. "I can't give you a very good one, and that was just pieced together from some of the people that I met during my travels across China. As you might guess, a chemical holocaust does wonders for the population's school system. Ninety percent of the contrary isn't even inhabitable and the small bit that is, is up in the northern regions that have snow falling almost all the time. But my guess is that Japan didn't join in World War Two, or they picked the winning side this time around.
"Something must of happened when you went back to alter history to this point. That's the only explanation."
Ranma simply scowled at the man for a moment. "Hey, wait a second," he finally said. "If you're supposed to be another time traveler or something, then how come you're not responsible for all this crap?"
The man was silent making Ranma scowl in anger. Finally, when Ranma was about to demand an answer out of him the stranger held up two fingers. "Two reasons," he told Ranma. "One, it is the fact that I came from the future, twenty years to be precise. And I came from the original timeline, you know, the one where the Tendo Dojo isn't a hole in the ground, the one where you fell into the spring of drowned girl, the one where you got engaged to Akane, and Ukyo, and had Shampoo and that nut case Kodachi chasing after you, the one where Nabiki constantly swindles you out of your money."
"You seem to know a hell of a lot about me," Ranma said.
"Let's just say you're the most interesting person that I've known in my entire life," Ranma didn't know why, but he was pretty sure the man in front of him was smirking underneath his suit.
Something just didn't seem right about this to Ranma, he was missing something. He looked over to the graves laid out in front of him. Was he really responsible for this? How could he be? Ok well the assassinations, but that couldn't of caused something like this, could it? If it were true then…instead of undoing the damage to the people's lives, he'd caused millions more.
"Ok," Ranma finally said pushing that ghastly thought aside. "Just for the hell of it let's say I am responsible for this. What the hell did I do then? All the targets I got would have been handed over to Kenshin anyway, and something tells me that it wouldn't have made a difference. So, what exactly happened to make…this," Ranma said while gesturing to the graves.
"No idea," the man in the radiation suit told him. "But you must correct it."
"WHAT?" Ranma shouted. "Just how the hell am I supposed to do that if you wont tell me what the problem is? Was it somebody I killed back during the revolution? And just how the hell do you expect me to do that anyway? Time travel isn't exactly easy to come by you know! And while we're on the subject, if I was supposed to alter history then how the hell am I here and not dead or in the place where the counter me is?"
The masked man shook his head. "The reason you weren't effected is simple. Think of time as a lake, calm and still. A time traveler is like a stone being dropped in, the effects ripple outward affecting everything, but since the traveler, or you, were at the point of impact the wave never touched you. As for why you must correct it, it because you caused it! And only you can make changes to counter the effects. Oh, and here." the man reached behind his back and pulled out an object wrapped in cloth then tossed it to Ranma.
He reached out and caught the thing then unwrapped it to reveal the Niban Mirror. "Ok then smart guy, just where exactly am I supposed to go then?" Ranma demanded.
"That I can help you with," the man said. "Head to Osaka, three months and two weeks after you found Happosai in China. When you get there destroy the mirror, and make sure to stay away from it this time. I'm sorry but that's all I can tell you."
"Yeah, yeah," Ranma mumbled. He stood there looking at the mirror for a moment, how the heck did this guy know where this was anyway? Well, Ranma really was never one to ask questions, he just got the job done. Forcing himself to cry one more time, he waited as the light enveloped him and he vanished back into the stream of time.
As the man watched Ranma leave he held up his hand to cough again then finally removed the radiation suit to spit out the blood in his throat. Most of his hair was gone now thanks to the radiation poisoning, and the suit was useless since he was going to anyway. The only reason he had survived for the past ten years was thanks to his intense physical conditioning and insane luck of living in one of the lesser-irradiated zones.
Spitting out the blood the man looked back up where the boy had disappeared. Ten years, it had taken him ten years and every bit of his knowledge to track down that mirror so he could return to this day. To correct the mistake that he had never even known he made.
The man walked through the graves looking for the one that he needed to find. He was pretty sure she was here, if Tokyo was bombed in 1985 then she would have been born by then, and her father was still probably too damn stubborn to move.
As he walked down the rows of obelisks, he wondered just what did happen during that trip into the past. Was there some monumental change that Ranma inflicted? Or was it a minor one that had huge repercussions in the end? Knowing Ranma, it was probably both.
The man remembered a story he had once heard after arriving on this world, he was in Europe, in one of the countries not touched by the conflicted. It kind of reminded him of his present situation.
A long time ago, there were two warring houses going for the control of England. One was the House of Tudor, symbolized by a red rose, and the other house was symbolized by a white rose, the man couldn't remember their name, just the point of the story.
Anyway, when the Tudor house prepared to invade the king of England's main city and he needed to lead his army out to defend it, he needed to send his horse out to be shoed. The blacksmith they took it to ran out of nails for the horseshoes on the horses last hoof, but because of time the men sent by the king didn't wait for him to make more. So, when the kind went into battle, his horse only had three nails holding his horse's shoe down instead of four. Midway through the battle, the horseshoe came off, and the king's horse stumbled, fell down, and broke its neck. Then as the battle continued the invaders started to win and the king tried to rally his people but without his horse, he couldn't get their attention. So the king lost his horse, and then the battle, then his kingdom, and finally his life…all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
Finally, he came to the grave he was looking for, the one for Akane Tendo.
Ranma sat down and used another grave for support before coughing out some more blood. "Hey there tomboy," he muttered. "Well, maybe I shouldn't call you that since I didn't even know you in this timeline. Hell, you could of been a prim and proper lady for all I know."
He tried to imagine her in a dress then laugh a little and shook his head. "Well Akane, I guess I really blew it this time. Ranma Saotome: the man responsible for the end of the world! Don't worry though, I'm sure he can fix everything…I would have gone myself but I just can't seem to move like I used to. Hell, it's taking everything I got just to stay standing right now."
Another cough of blood stopped Ranma from talking. He spit out the red liquid from his mouth and looked back to the grave. "Ten years, it took me ten years of searching with everything I had to find that damn mirror again, at least Happosai wasn't sealed up in a cave this time around. I wonder what caused that little change?
"Man, I just hope he doesn't do anything stupid. Well, if he does set every thing and comes back to you, just try and bash him a little extra harder for me ok?" Ranma asked.
His vision started to blur again, it had been doing that a lot this past week, now matter how much her concentrated on regenerating his eyes. Well, not like it matter anymore anyway. Taking in one more breath of the not so sweet air that permeated the place, Ranma looked up at the sky and let go of the delicate thread of life that he had been holding to the past ten years.
Stupid kid, we made this mess, now he better fix it.
Ranma walked down the streets of Osaka with her old white cloak draped over he shoulders, not bothering to hide herself with Umi-Sen-Ken.
After she had arrived in this city Ranma wandered around a bit, wondering what he should do, or make that she after Ranma got splashed by some cold water. That's when she ran into Katsura again, they had both been surprised about the encounter to say the least. He also had another man with him, according to Katsura he was some new manslayer that he had picked up to replace Kenshin to take over assassinations in Himura's place.
After heading into a bar to talk privately Ranma agreed to pick up where she left off, especially when she heard about the target. It turned out that Iizuka guy from the inn was the spy that she had been sent after originally, Ranma just agreed to finish the job she had started a year ago. When she was done they had arranged to meet in Kyoto, Katsura had some other business that needed to be handled in a small nearby town.
So, here she was, back in the role of a murderer again. But this time she had a purpose. First, the revolution had to be completed, Ranma wasn't big on history but she knew that the Imperialists were the victors. After that, well…she would cross that bridge when she came to it.
Rounding a corner she finally came upon her target. Iizuka didn't look like he changed much in the past year. He still had the wild, short ponytail and the damn mustache. Well, she might as well hurry up and get this over with.
"Hello Iizuka," she said while moving up behind him and causing the other man to stop. "Wanting to run off on us now? I thought traitors would have at least had enough sense to stick around under the protection of the people they decided to sell out to."
The man turned around slowly and placed his hand on his sword then pulled it out of the sheath. "Well now if it isn't the little tramp from the inn," he said. "I think I have time for a quick roll around before my ship to China leaves."
"China huh?" Ranma replied. "Actually I know a much better place for you to head off to, it's called Hell. Let me show you what it looks like."
Deep within the mountains of Japan, a small cottage stood only a few miles away from the small village of Otsu. Within this house, Kenshin Himura sat, looking at the body of his dead wife. His wife, he didn't deserve to call her that, but that's what Tomoe was to him in his heart. He remembered the night when they shared each other's embrace by the fire, and she had asked him to be his husband for real.
He had been so happy. But he didn't deserve that happiness.
Kenshin slowly reached up and touched the scar on his left cheek that formed a cross. The first cut he had received was from Tomoe's fiancée more than a year ago in Kyoto, and the second slash he received only yesterday, it was the one Tomoe had given him to remember her by as she lay dying in his arms.
Damnit, why did things have to turn out this way? He had been so happy living a peaceful life, he hadn't hurt anyone after he came here. Now, the love of his life was dead, and everything around him felt so cold and empty.
As Kenshin felt someone enter the house he didn't bother looking up. "Hello Katsura, it's been a long time. What do you want?"
"Kenshin, I'm sorry for you loss," he said before stepping into the house. "You should know, I found the real spy, and I have recruited a new assassin. He will be handling assignations from now on. But, we still require your skills. The Shinsen Gumi and the Bakufu are getting stronger. They're killing more Imperialists every day, and we're desperate."
"I see," Kenshin replied.
Their was a brief silence between the men as Katsura sat down and turned away from the manslayer. "Kenshin…I was worried about your life as an assassin, I thought it would destroy your inherent humanity. I was the one who asked Tomoe to become your sheath, to keep you from becoming an unrepentant killer."
"A sheath?" he asked.
"Yes…if my good intentions led to this tragedy, I apologize."
"Katsura?" Kenshin waited till the other man turned his head towards the assassin before he continued. "I will lend you my skills. Tomoe was destroyed by the Shogunate, they used her emotions to control her…I will make them pay for that."
"I see," Katsura replied.
"However, once this war is over…"
"You will withdraw your sword?"
"Yes," Kenshin announced. "I think she knew that I would have to fight once more. But when this is over I will live the life that she wanted me to live. I will never kill again. Ever."
"I see," Katsura replied before he got up to leave. "I'll see you in Kyoto, Kenshin."
As he walked away from the house and down the warn mountain path, Katsura Kogoro was lost in thought. Shinsaku, the world has turned out just as you said it would. I was wrong to doubt you. The sword of Hiten Mitsurugi should only be used to protect the new world, not destroy the old one. I'm sorry, Kenshin.
And so it came to pass that a war was fought in Kyoto that would decide the fate of a nation. Fires lit the night sky and the rivers ran red with the blood of men that died every day. Some of these killers struck from the shadows, while others wandered the streets, slaying whatever enemy crossed their paths. And out of this blood soaked war their rose the legend of Battousai The Manslayer, the man who slays while drawing his sword, the one who was known as the strongest of the Imperialists.
Another legend also arose during these years, of a manslayer who stayed to the shadows, a man whose face no one had ever seen and lived to tell about. He became known as a ghost, The Phantom of Kyoto, whose very presence was as cold as death.
Both were instrumental in bringing about the Meji revolution to a close, and when the fighting was over, they both disappeared into the shdows, and were forgotten by the chronicles of history.
Ending AN: Well that's it for the revolution arc in this little project of mine. I know the fifth chapter kind of sucked and left a lot of questions still unanswered but I really needed to get this background part out of the way so I could move on the actual story. Oh, and if you're wondering what the whole 'China consumed by flames thing was, that was Saffron's rise to power which Ranma prevented in the original timeline. As for the Japan part, well that's what he's trying to prevent.
Preview for Next Saga: It is now ten years after the revolution had ended and Ranma has all but given up in his quest to set history right for something else. However the former manslayer's dreams of settling down are cut short when the only man to ever survive a battle with Ranma during the war appears on his doorstep with an offer he can't refuse.
Next Time on Ranma ½: A Decision For The Future.