Suikoden One Half: Side Stories

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Please Read!

This is the first time I've written anything besides being a co-writer with MadHat886. Please go easy on me. Suggestions and comments are greatly appreciated.

I don't own Ranma ½ or any other animes or crossovers I do. This is done with permission from MadHat886 and works together with the fic we are doing together.

These are parts I was going to add on to future chapters of Suikoden One Half but figured I should just put them as side stories instead. No, Madhat created none of these.

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Where, When, What, Who?

"Come on! Hurry up slowpoke!"

"I'm coming! Hold on a minute! Why are you so excited anyway?"

A girlish giggle came from the first person. "You'll see! I like it here. This is where I go whenever I get tired of my life. Somehow this place seems…I don't know…rejuvenating. Come on! We're almost there!"

"I'm coming." Under his breath he muttered, "Stupid cobwebs. Why do we have to go here anyway?"

He obviously did not mutter it low enough because the female gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "Because you love me and I told you to. That's why." She winked at him and turned back to dragging him along with her.

The section of the castle the two are traversing has not seen visitors in who knows how long. Judging from the amount of dust on the few tables (in styles he has never seen before) along the walls and on the floor this is a maid's worst nightmare and an archaeologist's greatest find. Their footsteps echoed through the vast, dusty and cobweb filled chamber the two are walking through. The two walked (more like the female dragged the male) on a brown carpet that was once a vivid red.

The two arrived at the end of the chamber where a heavy iron door stood before them. A ring of metal served as the doorknob. Above the ring is a keyhole. The male stepped up and tried to open the door for his girl. He expected the door to be locked and sure enough after a couple of tugs it he found it would not budge a centimeter.

The boy looked back at the girl. "So how are we going to get in?"

The girl gave her man a mysterious smile that set him on edge. "We use the key of course."

He held out his hand for her to give him the key. After a few moments he got impatient and asked, "So are you going to give me the key or not?"

She leaned forward, still giving him that smile. "What's wrong? Don't tell me you can't open such a weak, easy to pick door my manly man." The challenge in her voice is obvious.

That set him off. "Hah! This thing! I'll have it open in no time!" He gave her a cocky smirk.

He turned around and took out a piece of metal used by thieves to pick locks with. He knelt down in front of the door and started to use all of the considerable skills he knows to pick a lock. He tried wiggling it first, then turned it clockwise and then counter-clockwise hoping the lock will turn with it. When that did not work he put his ear to the lock hoping to hear it open while moving the piece of metal around furiously. He started to sweat in frustration and embarrassment at being unsuccessful.

Behind him the one who owns his heart tried hard not to giggle at the frustrated sounds he makes.

The boy gives up on the piece of metal and puts it away while taking out another tool. He tried to use it, but is met with failure. Grunting in anger he takes out another, and another, and another. All met with the same fate.

He let out a final frustrated yell that reverberated in the chamber and the connecting hallways. He threw all of his tools down on the ground forcefully and sat down with a loud thump.

"Stupid door! If I ever get my hands on the guy who made that lock I'll…!" He yelled a few of the tortures he will inflict on the poor slob if he ever meets him. It involved blunt knives, a hammer, and the thing that allows him to create offspring.

His rant, however, is interrupted by the laughter of the only other person in the room. The boy looked at his girl rolling on the ground in mirth. He is about to shout at her to shut up, but then noticed that all the dust on the ground is getting on her. He started laughing too. Thankfully the girl though he is laughing along with her or he would have experienced her wrath. She's scary when she's holding a sword straight at his throat.

After a few minutes the two get their breaths back. The boy helped her get back on her feet. "Okay. I give up. Give me the key."

The girl's face lit up. "I don't have it. It's been lost for a long time."

The boy's face met with the floor and the girl started chuckling again. He angrily stood up from his face fault with his face red both from the pain and anger. "What do you mean you don't have the key!?"

The girl's smile turned mischievous. She strode confidently to the door. Using one of her long nails she stuck it in the lock and twisted. Much to the boy's shock the door easily opened.

"How did you…?" he asked breathlessly.

She waved her pointer finger at him left and right. "A woman NEVER reveals her secrets!"

He groaned helplessly. He hated it when she is like this. "Let's just go in okay."

She agreed with a nod. The two stood there motionless for a while. As time passed she got an irritated look on her face. "So are you going to open the door or what!?" she half-yelled in irritation.

He got a half irritated, half sheepish look on his face. She is already there so why should HE open the door? When she started tapping her foot he got the message and rolled his eyes as he opened the door. He hated that damn couch. They are not married yet, but he likes sleeping next to her as long as her parents do not find out. They are already engaged so what is the problem?

Once he stepped inside after her he looked around in astonishment. Before him is a HUGE library. However, unlike outside the place is free of dust and had metal floors. Item cases containing all sorts of things such as books, scepters, all sorts of things can be found here and there. How there are metal floors in a stone castle he'll never know.

While passing by one of the shelves as his fiancée led them deeper into the library he noticed the books and item display cases are very well kept. "How come these books look so clean and new? Why is this place all clean and the outside all dirty? How come this place has metal floors?" he asked.

She spoke to him over her shoulder. "This place is kept clean by those things." She pointed to something that resembles a metal dog or cat. It's going around cleaning up any dust on the shelves or books using a broom and dustpan held by mechanical arms. "The books are kept new by magic," his girl continued. "As for why this place has metal floors and not stone I'll get to that later."

The two walked for a few more moments before reaching another door. This time the door swung open with a loud hiss. When the boy entered after the girl he stood in astonishment.

The room is beautiful. The floor is carpeted a warm red and looks so new that he wondered if someone had just come by to replace it a few days ago. The walls are made of marble that is so shiny that he could see his reflection on them. A few bookshelves lined the walls. However, unlike the books from the library these look a bit aged, but not by much. A few cases also litter the place. A few contained things like swords and such. There's even a fireplace even though it looks as if no one has lit the fire in years.

The most captivating of all is what is on the walls. Portraits of people he didn't recognize are hanged prominently on the walls. All of them are beautiful and had warm gazes on their faces. Their expressions are those of people with kind and contented souls. Their eyes captivated him the most. They all contained hardship and experience in them. However, they're also the eyes of people who gained all they ever wanted in life and more.

"Who are these people?" he asked as he stared at them all. Underneath their portraits are a few cases and bookshelves obviously belonging to the person.

The girl sat down on a couch and prompted him to sit as well. When he did she indicated the portraits. "These are my ancestors. A very long time ago they are the ones to start my clan and made it into what it is now."

He nodded as he looked around at the portraits some more, studying them. "Wow. Good looks must run in your family huh."

She ran a finger around his chest as she molded herself to him. "Flatterer. Yes. Good looks have always run in my family. Our children will be beautiful." She gave him a passionate kiss, one that he returned.

Before things could elevate she broke the kiss off. "Not here. This place is sacred okay. Later." He nodded a bit reluctantly.

She stood up and went to one of the portraits. "This is the man who was the head of our clan when it first started a long long LONG time ago. He and his family lived in the first 'castle' of our clan, though that seems to be the wrong word for it since it was made mostly of wood and paper.

'A castle made of wood and paper?' the young man though. He returned his attention to her when she continued speaking. "He was a great man. He was kind, caring, brave, and most of all, loving. While he was strong and VERY skilled his heart is his greatest strength. It's weird since his parents lacked that trait." She pointed to another portrait, one that contained a woman. "That's his wife." She pointed to another. "So is she." She continued pointing to others as the boy's eyes went wide. When she finished he wondered how she got taller. Then he realized he had fallen out of the couch.

He stood back up with a shocked face. "But…how…? They MUST have been pissed at him for having so many wives!"

The girl shook his head with a smile on her face. "Nope. Actually, it was their idea. They saw how much he cared for all of them and for his benefit worked it out among themselves. He had a technique or spell or something that allowed him to be with all of them at the same time even though there's only one of him. No, the bodies weren't illusions but actual, err, clones or something. I don't really understand how anyway since their journals were never clear about how he got to spend time with all of them. Oh and he's NOT a playboy or anything, just that he fell in love with multiple women. Besides, I found out that they just LOVED bossing him around when they were pregnant. Try having to deal with THEIR midnight cravings all at once!" She giggled while the boy's face paled. How the hell did the guy SURVIVE!? As far as he knows the most one person, either guy or girl, has ever married are two spouses and that is in one of the far off countries where polygamy is still allowed.

She continued as if never noticing how white he had gone. "He is also the one who gave me and my people our wings. He is the first of our family to have wings, and as you can see the trait continues on through the ages." For emphasis she flaps the white wings on her back."

He looked around and only noticed now that his fiancée is right. Only he is the one with the wings. None of his wives did. "Whoa." Then a little fact made a tremendous impact. "Wait a minute. That would mean that…" He turned bulging eyes at his bride-to-be.

The girl nodded sadly. "Yes. A gene or two relates ALL of the people in my kingdom, the ones who have wings anyway, to one another. Over the centuries our people forgot that we all came from the same roots and decided to mate with only those with wings. I'm the only one who knows our real history when I stumbled on this place when I was young. I spent all my time here learning about our history, our TRUE history! That's why I'm so open to marriages with those without wings. I told my parents about our history, but they denied it. I also tried to tell all of my people all of this, but they refuse to accept the fact that we once came from the same family. Even though I'm a princess I can't beat beliefs that has held for centuries. Whenever someone wants to marry someone that is not of our 'race' I make sure it happens. I don't want my people to keep deluding themselves into thinking that 'our kind' were actually evolved humans or something and should keep our wings 'in only our kind'. It's a miracle we are not all cripples or worse from all the inbreeding that happens."

Ryu nodded and held his fiancée who is on the verge of tears. That was a lot to take in. A whole 'race' of people came from one person. Over time the knowledge of this got lost and inbreeding happened. A good number of them must have mated outside of the 'race' or else everyone would be suffering from brain damage or worse. He has also noticed that not ALL the people hold those beliefs now since there are those who married 'regular' humans, though their children all have wings. Thankfully he is not part of his fiancée's people. He can freely marry her without having to worry about marrying his own family.

Now that he thinks about it what kind of wings will their children have? Will they have their mother's bird-like wings, or his dragon wings? Will him being a dragon in human form affect them having children?

The girl got herself under control and wiped the unshed tears out of her eyes. She turned around in his arms and stayed there as she continued speaking. "Anyway, this room contains all the things they left behind. It also contains all of the files and something called 'videos' of their adventures and stuff. The library we just came from is of all the generations that came after them up until a few generations ago, when everyone forgot about this place. The magic that keeps the library new also works here. I don't know just how old everything is since the records aren't good enough to be able to tell. This room is dedicated only to him and his family before he had children since they were the ones responsible for laying the foundations of our kingdom. This room and the library are THE oldest rooms in the world!"

"What was his name anyway, Nina?"

She made a grand show of introducing him. "Ryu, I want you to meet my great great great great great great…err…whatever, grandfather, Ranma Jones."

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Author's Notes

So what do you think people? Read and Review please! Ideas for new side stories are appreciated too!