The Ties That Bind
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Disclaimer: Hey guess what? I OWN ALMOST NOTHING!!!! Ha! Expecting some important statement weren't you? Anyway. All unfamiliar names (i.e. Ceres. Eriol Nadeshiko etc) Are mine. Any other familiar Ranma ½ names (i.e. Ranma, Ryoga, Mousse (Mu tzu) Etc.) are property of Ms. Rumiko Takahashi. Wait…. Who am I forgetting?
Kuduo: Ahem….
Oh yeah! Sorry Duo-kun! Kuduo doesn't belong to me either. He belongs to my palsy-walsy Sharpsnout! And Okashi is property of Miss Yume Tenshi. Hah! Now I'm covered!! So don't sue me. Ever. For any reason. Or else I'll sick my killer bunny on you.
Ceres: Again with the damn bunny?
Yep. I luuuuuuv my Commander Bun-Bun!
Ceres: Then why the name?
Uhhh….
Ceres: Thought so.
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Blah, blah, blah =The person is speaking in Chinese.
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Scattered paths of moonlight filtered down through the treetops of a dense forest, illuminating the hair and face of one who should've been in bed. The tiny girl-child was wandering; aimlessly it seemed, in her pajamas and without shoes. Not that it mattered. She paid little attention, if she was paying any at all, to the sharp pain in her heels as she stepped on various bits of nature. She was on a mission. She needed to find her cousin, and before it stared pouring. After a while she heard the sound of what sounded like the said cousin. A scared version of her cousin that was. She sidestepped a tree to come face-to-face with his back.
"I'm lost," he was saying, "I was only walking across town."
"Ohayo Ryo-kun," Misuka Ceres said cheerfully, "Are you lost?" Hibiki Ryoga whirled around and flew at his cousin, burying his face in her shoulder so she couldn't see his fear.
"Rei-chan I'm so glad you found me!!" he wailed. Ceres patted his head.
"Ryo-kun, it's not like you to be so whiny. You must've been out here for a while. Um, what are you doing out here?"
"Mom and Dad went grocery shopping and left me an' Kuduo alone. They left last week and we got hungry."
"Are both of you wandering around?"
"…………Yeah," Ceres made a face. Ryoga's sense of direction was bad enough but his little brother's was even worse. She grabbed his hand.
"Come on. Let's go find Kuduo."
"Rei-chan?" Ryoga asked when, a long while later they still hadn't found Kuduo.
"What?"
"How come you always know where to find me but not Kuduo?"
"Well, I see things."
"What things?" the ten year-old girl sighed.
"In the fire. I saw that you were lost and alone and in here. I always see things about you. Sometimes I see other things but mainly it's just you. And I've never seen Duo-kun in the fire. Mom once said that all females with Hibiki blood can do it," further up ahead they heard some voices. Ceres yanked her cousin into a crevice between two houses.
"The poor child. His parents are lost again?"
"Yeah. Aki called me last week to say that they were going shopping and if they didn't call back in a week to go check up on Ryoga and Kuduo. But when I got there the two of them were gone."
"And they have their parent's sense of direction?"
"Yes. Er, you haven't seen my daughter looking for Ryoga? Calling his name? He always gets lost. Poor thing, but Ceres always manages to find him."
"She doesn't have the Hibiki curse?"
"No."
"But she has the fangs right?"
"Yeah. She also has the female Hibiki obsession with fire. Almost burnt the house down more times than I care to count. Nadeshiko says that Ceres can find her cousin in the fire.... but...."
"That's weird."
"Yeah. Gotta be a Hibiki thing."
"Probably. Poor Ceres. She's so busy chasing after her cousins that she doesn't have any time for any of the things that girls her age are usually into."
"That's the thing. All Ceres wants in life is to train in martial arts and to play with fire. We've tried to get her to take flower arranging or tea ceremony lessons but she won't have it. She'd rather spar with Ryoga," Ceres clenched her fists. How dare they say things like that about her Hibiki blood! And her own father doing nothing to stop them! Well she'd stop them herself if she had too! Ryoga was tugging her arm.
"Come on Rei-chan! Let's just go home!" after a moment Ceres allowed herself to be led to the street.
"Doesn't that bother you?"
"Yeah, but what can I do?" he asked, "I can't go out there and beat up random grown-ups...at least...not yet..."
"Someday.... you and me.... we'll teach people to talk badly of Hibiki blood. Won't we?" she turned to Ryoga who clenched his fist.
"Snacky CAKE!" Ceres grinned and clenched her fist as well.
"CAKE!"
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To say that Misuka Nadeshiko was glad to see her daughter and oldest nephew would be like saying that the Pacific is a bit wet or that the San Andreas Fault is a tiny bit unstable. The moment Ceres and Ryoga walked in the door Nadeshiko had them both in a tight embrace, lecturing Ceres the whole time.
"Never in my entire life have I been so worried! Went in to check on you! Gone! Bed empty! Window open! Thought you'd fallen out in your sleep!"
"I left a note mummy."
"It doesn't matter! All it said was that you knew where he went! How was I to know where you were! And of course I can't go looking for you! I'd get lost myself! Just wait until your father gets home!" she took a deep breath and Ceres cringed, "But I guess I can't blame you dear, it's in your nature to search after your cousin. And I certainly can't blame you Ryoga. I don't suppose you've managed to find Kuduo?" Ceres shook her head, "Alright then. I'm going off to look for him."
"But mum, you'll get lost."
"Yeah probably but your father and I have a system. Don't worry Ceres. We'll be back soon. I promise," finally letting go of the children Nadeshiko walked into the night.
"Why do you have that look on your face Rei-chan?" Ceres braved a smile.
"No reason."
"Liar."
"Just a funny feeling that's all. Come on."
"Where?"
"Kitchen. I thought you were hungry," Ryoga's face lit up.
"I am!" inside the kitchen they found that Nadeshiko had left a candle burning. Ceres leaned over to blow it out and froze, spellbound by the dancing flame. Slowly she closed her eyes. *FLASH!* A speeding car. *FLASH!* "Nadeshiko look out!" *FLASH!* The screech of tires. *FLASH!* The sound of flesh hitting metal. *FLASH!* "Little boy…little boy are you alright?" *FLASH!* "I'm ok…please help my aunt and uncle. They were hit." *FLASH!* "Oh my god…somebody…somebody get Ceres. And…and…somebody has to find the Hibikis. Ceres didn't realize that tears were running down her cheeks.
"Rei-chan what's wrong? Did you see something? You did didn't you?"
"It's nothing," she whispered, "Nothing at all…" just then somebody burst into the kitchen. Ceres quickly wiped her eyes before turning to the woman.
"Ceres? Oh! There you are," the woman, Ceres recognized her as their next-door neighbor, bent down and took the girl's hands, "Ceres your parents….Ceres there's just been an accident. A truck hit your parents. I….I don't think they made it…." The woman's eyes flicked from Ceres's emotionless face to the still burning candle, "You saw it didn't you? Just now…in the flame…am I right?"
"Yes. Fushigo-sama, is Kuduo all right? He wasn't hit was he?"
"Kuduo's fine. He's still with the others."
"Can I go and get him? Me an' Ryoga?" Fushigo Eiko nodded.
"As long as you stay together," Ceres bowed her thanks and left, Ryoga a scant step behind her.
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The scene of an automobile accident is never pretty. Even worse is if the people involved are ones that you know. Still, Ceres showed no sign of breaking down. Not when she saw her parent's bodies being loaded into an ambulance, not even when she spotted the pool of blood on the street. Ryoga, to his credit was trying very hard not to cry, for Ceres's sake. Kuduo, who had seen the accident, tried as well but being so young couldn't help it. Despite Ceres's soothing he was bawling still when Aki and Miyako Hibiki finally arrived.
"What…what happened? How…how…" Aki couldn't believe that his baby sister, whom he had protected since childhood, was gone. He further couldn't believe that his best friend had died as well, or that Ceres refused to cry.
"What good will crying do?" Ceres said in a tone unbefitting a ten year old, "It won't bring them back will it?" some of the bystanders may have found this extremely stolid of her but Ryoga knew that she was just waiting until she was alone before she burst into hysterics. Miyako put her arms around the girl and youngest son.
"Ceres it is ok to cry in public you know that don't you?"
"I know."
"No one will think you're weak because of it."
"I know. But…I knew…I cried then…and I'll cry later too…" But…Aunt…crying is emotion Ceres was thinking, And…emotion…is weakness……didn't you know that?