Author's note: Remember, Ranma will be a little bit OC compared to the norm in this. Two extra-years of Genma and Ranma can't remember the last time her father was proud of her… at all. Realize this please!
And without further ado. The FIRST Chapter!
Enjoy!
Tears
Chapter One: Another Begining
Ranma left the embrace slowly, wondering what had possessed the panda that was her father to hug her. It was true that she had needed it a lot but… it was odd for him.
Nonetheless it made her feel a HELL of a lot better! But it was nothing compared to what the panda did next.
"I have faced it Ranma. I know you may never be a man again and I have come to accept that. If you are a woman till your dieing day, you'll always be "M'boy" to me. I am proud of you, Ranma Saotome."
The Planet Barasus
One Thousand Years Ago…
A young maiden was limber and agile with her work. She was the best at what she did. It was too bad that her job was among the lowliest. Her Heiriram, or the person who was paying her for her services(if you could call her pathetic wages pay) was not at the house at present.
The stone buildings reeked of decay and rust. It was a castle, if a small one. She was simply one of many servants who worked in it… day in and day out.
It was a boring and meaningless life and the young house tender always dreamed of more. Matter of fact, that was what she was doing at that very moment.
"RAYILLA!" Came a sudden shout. "Get your head out of the clouds and get back to WORK! I don't pay you to daydream!" Her Heirirald, or her Heiriram's wife, ordered. The woman was evil and destructive by nature. She ordered Rayilla around at the drop of a hat, and to keep her job, Rayilla had no choice but to obey.
"Yes madam!" Rayilla jumped, banging her head on the low ceiling but snapping to attention nonetheless, ignoring the aching pain beneath her orange hair.
"You're a foolish girl! Just as your mother was, and just as your damn daughter will be." The Heirirald insulted.
"My daughter will be no such-" But Rayilla never managed to finish her sentence.
Suddenly the stone wall blasted open. Stone shrapnel flew in all directions, blasting forward like rockets. Rayilla managed to not be killed by any of the large ones and only took a few cuts and bruises from the little ones.
Her dead Heirirald was not so lucky, as a gigantic stone has literally "knocked her block off."
It was then that she realized she had a watcher. A young man, dressed in outlandish yet, tolerable clothing. He was a terrifying sight to behold. Muscled beyond reason, and of a darker color than what her countries Hierarchy would have considered to be normal. His yellow eyes seemed cruel and dark, as if planning something horrible. Though the thing about the man that frightened her the most, was a deadly looking, blood-covered falchion that he held in his right hand.
"That is her." The he said as he pointed towards her.
Suddenly, the man lunged at her, swinging the bloody blade faster then her eyes could follow."
I'm going to die." She heard in her mind.
Suddenly everything slowed down to her. The man zooming forth to destroy her seemed to slow down in front of her, moving slowly and awkwardly.
"He's going to kill me." Her mind told her again.
His anger was fierce and his eyes burned with cold and undying hatred as his slowly flew towards her.
"NO!" She cried.
A yellow barrier erupted around her and d ark man screamed as he collided with her new-found power.
The man flew back and slammed into the stone floor, hard enough to create a small crater. Rayilla looked on, having seen it all in slow motion, slack-jawed and amazed.
And with that, the barrier was gone, and slowly, the man stood on his feet once more.
"The Queen… bah! Is that all you can do? Your predecessor from five millennia ago was so much more powerful than you are now. Calivyrns are such weaklings during their adolescence…" The man "tsked" dejectedly. "I'm sad to say that you will not be alive much longer… Your Highness!" The man sneered with outright contempt.
"I'm sorry!" Rayilla begged, slumping to her knees. "I'm not a queen! I don't know what your talking about! I don't have any idea what's going on!" She begged more.
The man walked closer raising his blade high.
Rayilla gulped and prayed silently. "I… I have a daughter… please… please don't ki-kill me…" She stuttered, terrified.
The dark man hesitated. He looked away, and Rayilla noticed a tear slipping down his right eye. It was the last thing she noticed before her head was severed from her body.
"Damn this hell…" The dark man said sadly. "She didn't deserve this. It's no mere human's fault if she becomes the next Aquavyrn. "Why do they not cease to return…?" The man asked of no one in particular. He looked down at his bloody falchion and spoke, saying. "Come Crine… we've ruined enough lives this day."
And by some small stroke of luck, the man didn't notice the golden tear that fell off Rayilla's corpse's cheek, and into the stone floor.
A silver beam of light erupted upward from that point exactly, flying into the upper stratosphere and then through the dark depths of space.
And the head of Rayilla whispered, "The Aqua Tree lives on…"
With that, the body of Rayilla disappeared.
Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts was something she had not been in a very long time. Elated? Joyous? Happy? These words didn't come close to her feelings.
Her father was proud of her! PROUD of her! He… he hadn't said… he.. He'd never… said that before.
It probably had something to do with how he had come to refer to himself as a she. It wasn't as if she had meant to! It just… it just happened! Her pop never called her "M'boy" anymore. And everyone else she ever talked to her seemed to think she was a girl. True, she was. But…
"He's proud of me!" She thought in the place of the "I'm such a failure" she had begun thinking on. If he was proud, then she surely wasn't a complete failure!
Ranma now felt as if she were failing her father even more by feeling so much… feeling about it! It was just a little sign of compassion! It was nothing to get worked up over yet here she was, smiling and laughing, inwardly at least, like some GIRL!
She couldn't help it though. She'd never been happier. She'd known that her pop cared for her. She'd always known that. And he'd started treating her like… like she assumed a father should treat a daughter. Though he was always on the lookout for a cure, he watched her depression and happiness more. Giving her a pat on the back when she was down.
But now… now… it was all different! He was PROUD of her! Even as a girl!
"Damn!" Ranma exclaimed, as she glared at the involuntary tear falling down her face.
"Grrorw?" Genma questioned.
Ranma couldn't help it. It wasn't a crying hug, but she turned and hugged her pop again. It was very quick and she left it as fast as she had begun it.
"Come on pop! Show me what you've got! I want a good fight!" She cried after she placed her legs on his enormous stomach and bounded off backwards.
Genma, who had been taken entirely unawares by his… daughter's embrace, smiled. How could this have made her so happy?
Ranma's father noticed something odd for a moment as he fell into a fighting stance. His child's cheek had a tear on it. Something he had grown to be able to forgive. But it was the tear that struck him as odd. Was it… sparkling? Glowing in fact? Gah, old and incorrect eyesight due to his… species… must have been playing tricks on him. As far as the fight went, he gladly obliged her. He gave her all he had and more too. But he was still no match for the petite red-head.
A bruised and battered Panda awoke the next morning lying in a tent, to the pleasant sound of a campfire burning outside, and a perfectly cooked meal of plain rice and bamboo at his right. He peeked out of his tent and, for a moment, watched his charge as she cooked her own rice. He smiled again, thinking greedily for a moment of how he could use this to get Ranma to cook for him all the time… then forcibly destroyed the thought. "Damn my greedy ways…" He thought bitterly.
He walked outside. Actually, limped would be a more accurate word for his mode of travel. He set the rice down beside Ranma, who looked confused.
"I don't deserve it boy. I'll take the bamboo just because you can't eat it, but I don't deserve you to cook for me when I sleep." Genma's sign read.
Ranma looked ready to protest but a stern look from Genma stopped her. For once, she didn't jump to argue as she normally would have.
"How long was I out?" Genma asked sternly.
Ranma sighed sadly at the rice, feeling as if her Father did not like it. However, she answered, "About a Day."
"Foolish boy! What do you think your doing? Go rest! What in the world do you think your doing! Cooking on your own birthday! Go! Go now! Let me finish this!" Genma said in a grand total of three signs with an angry scowl on his face.
Ranma smiled. "You… you know about my Bi-"
"Of course, boy! And it's not much but if figured you'd like it so here!" Genma's sign read, in a mock-angry way. He handed Ranma a scroll of paper. "These are forbidden techniques. They are forbidden with good reason and are only to be used in the most dire of situations."
As Ranma looked over the scrolls her jaw dropped in amazement. "It.. It's an entirely new art!" Ranma cried. Yama-sen-ken and Umi-Sen-Ken. The sheer creativity and flexibility of the two arts, just on first glance, astounded Ranma!
"Th-thanks Pop!" Ranma exclaimed.
Genma, treating Ranma as he would have if nothing had changed two years previously, waved Ranma off with a paw an impish grin. "Yes yes! Now go rest! I'll expect you to be in top condition this afternoon when I begin to teach you."
Ranma didn't know what to say. Why? When had her father become so… fatherly? Well, not quite fatherly but... caring at the least. He had forgotten her birthday the previous year.
She walked into the tent, a grin on her face from cheek to cheek. She laid down and began resting, every now and then, reaching out and eating a little of the rice bare-handed.
Meanwhile, Genma pondered his behavior as he tended to the rice. . His greed, his good, his… fatherhood.
He hated that he had come to think of his son as his daughter… but it was pointless to argue with himself about it. She wasn't his son anymore and so far, all evidence pointed to him remaining a her for the rest of his life. Failure after failure after failure had been awarded them for their efforts. Genma swore if there was a god or goddess of failure he would CURSE him or her in the afterlife!
But for now… the joy on his child's face was more than enough to keep an old panda happy.
Two or so hours later, Genma took a sign and peeled of the wooden post, leaving just the plank that said "Happy Birthday, Ranma" on it, and hurled it into the tent, directly where Ranma's head was.
At the "OW!" that bellowed from within the tent Genma chuckled at his Daughter. "DAMN YOU, PO- You… hey…" Was the next sound that came.
A human wouldn't have been able to catch the mumbled phrase that came next.
"Kindhearted bastard…"
And suddenly the red-head propelled from the tent, slamming Genma across the campsite skidding along the ground the entire way.
It was a rainy night. The stone streets and alleys of London were scarcely populated. Lightning flashed across the heavens and the crack of thunder followed not a moment after.
Suddenly, a woman appeared, alongside two men, walking down one of the more secluded alleys. Their black boots splashed through the puddles carelessly as they conversed. They wore old clothing that appeared to be what would have been worn during the days of Rome, or possibly during the Reign of Charlemagne.
The woman was of an average height, standing probably five feet and seven inches from the ground. She had black hair that hung down to her mid back. Her eyes shown a cruel yellow. Her skin was fair, yet covered mostly by what appeared to be armor. A black cloak flowed at her back, which under she wore a brown tunic and a black undershirt. Her baggy pants, faded blue pants were tucked into her boots. As she walked, the golden rings around her arms bounced furiously with her quick pace. Had she not been dressed so oddly she would have been considered gorgeous.
The first man was younger, taller with a much more handsome face than the other. Though both had the same black hair and yellow eyes as the woman, both of them had it unruffled and short. There dress was also similar to the woman's save for the rings. The younger man wore, around his neck, a collar, golden in color, that appeared to dance whenever the lightning stuck. Behind him hung a scythe of the highest caliber and quality.
The last man was shorter, yet burly and over-muscled. He had a beard that had been shaved within the last week at least as it was not too long, and not to short. Behind him, hung a deadly looking double-sided axe that was just shorter than he was himself. He looked older than the other man or woman by many years.
"It's begun." The shallow, timid, voice of the female said. "It's started again. After all this time… she has re-awakened. She always was the first. The Queen of the Vyrn is ALIVE! Shortly will follow the Vyrn court."
"So it has begun. The pact of old will be renewed. Those of us who lived our long immortality will meet again. We will form our alliance and defeat the Calivyrns… as we have done before. As we will do again. This universe was not meant to be ruled by gods and goddesses." The stronger, burly man said.
"You fool! If not gods and goddesses then what are we? We who are immortal? The Council of Twelve? With our manipulating ways we have scoured these systems seeking the Calivyrns and their queen every time they are reborn among the Humans! We rule humans as if they were dogs and fear only the Calivyrns. What does that make us, Kruthian?" The younger, less broad toned, male said.
"What do you propose, Nathaniel? Should the Rekin die? You know what happens if we die! The Calivyrns and their Queen will be reborn! Have we not sought the prevention of this for seven millennia?" The one known as Kruthian replied angrily.
"But there would be peace." Nathaniel replied. "It is not the Calivyrns who cause wars any longer. It is us."
"Pshsst! Surely you jest! They slaughtered your family in front of your eyes, Nathaniel!" The timid, female voice interrupted.
"I can get over a pain seven millennia old if it would lead to the end of this madness, Carmine!" Nathaniel cried, stopping as the lightning lit the blackened alley again. "Seven Millennia of destroying the queen upon her rebirth. I am tired… I want to grow old… get a wife and have a child... a family... that is... one that I wouldn't have to kill every time the queen is reborn. These humans would be just like us if we laid down our immortality… As would the ones on Reath, where Hector, Clamed and Dismal were sent!"
"Until their rebirth no longer occurs you will be one of the council of twelve." Kruthian scowled. He snorted and turned back towards the path and continued walking.
Nathaniel sighed. "Wait." He said suddenly.
Kruthian turned around angrily. "What now?"
Nathaniel's scythe was in the air before any normal human could see it, raised towards the sky and Kruthian at a sixty degree angle from the ground. "Death to the Queen." He said sternly.
Kruthian smiled, as did Carmine. Instantly, Kruthian Axe clanged against the Scythe's bladed edge. "Death to the Queen."
Suddenly a third blade joined. Carmine held a rapier that had been concealed in her cloak, up to where the Scythe and Axe had clashed. "By my blade Phi."
"By my blade Garagoth." Kruthian said.
"By my blade Sheen." Nathaniel uttered.
Then as one they chorused, "Death to the Queen."
With that, they sheathed their weapons and continued walking towards the east in silence, trudging through the pouring rain as their clothing became more and more soaked.
Ryoga Hibiki was in a state of utter elation. After two years… two years of being cursed into that awful pig form, he had finally been freed. Freed, freed at last.
"Wow… you are a well equipped one…I might need to extract some, ehem, extra services from you." The girl who had cured his curse winked.
She was short, about five feet and four inches, and had long green hair. She wore atop her head, a circlet with a small green gem in it. On her back now resided the staff she had used to cure Ryoga. It was an oak staff with yet another green gem at the top of it, which the wood was carved around and held in place. She wore a deep blue cloak that had a hood, pushed back and hanging behind her neck. Her similarly dark blue vest left her breasts scantily covered and her pants, which were full of rips and holes, showed more of her beautiful skin than they showed cloth. Her boots were pointed at the ends and seemed to be over-worn and over-traveled. Either way, she was a rather attractive girl.
Ryoga fell to his knees. "You can have anything you want! Anything to pay you back for curing my curse!"
Ryoga reached around his back seeking a backpack. Finding none he realized he had nothing to pay her with. "Um… I'm really sorry but I don't have anything to pay you with…" Ryoga trailed off as he noticed something odd about the girl. She was looking at him oddly. There was an evil smirk in her expression and her eyes appeared to be lingering on… on…
"EEK!" Ryoga exclaimed as he stood and covered his private areas instantly.
"Oh no you don't!" The girl exclaimed. The staff on her back whizzed in front of her. She twirled it around a few times and then, shoved the bottom into the ground. The Green gem in the upper side of the staff, glowed brightly. "Your GOING to pay me back…"
Ryoga suddenly found himself frozen… literally. He couldn't move an inch as the girl's hands slowly drifted downward.
"I! We… I! But! We can't do THAT!" Ryoga exclaimed.
"Why not? Your buddy here seems up to the task…" The girl smirked, pointing downward, indicating that something would happen whether he approved or not.
"B-but! But I don't even know your NAME!" Ryoga exclaimed. He had JUST become a man again after TWO YEARS! Walking was going to be difficult let alone the… things that this girl implied.
"If you must know, my name is Makiri." The girl sighed in slight disappointment. "And with that she bent to the ground and began to do the most perverted thing that had ever been done to Ryoga in his life.
Ryoga's willpower quickly shattered as he and the young witch, who had been his savior and was now his lover, eloped.
For the first night in Ryoga's memory, he forgot about his grudge against the evil, red-headed girl who had kicked him off the mountain, into the cursed waters of Jusenkyo.
Seven days later, Ranma and Genma were finally at a coast. They had been aiming for the upper coast of China, near the sea of Japan, though why, Ranma did not understand.
"Pops, can you tell me why were headin' up north? I mean, we've been this way twice… Why come here a third time when we could head towards Tibet? I've heard there are a lot of mystics and stuff there!" Ranma exclaimed.
When Genma didn't reply and just kept walking in front of her, she became confused. "Pops?"
Then angry.
"POPS!" She yelled.
"Boy." The sign appeared over the Panda's shoulder.
"Uh huh?" Ranma asked.
The Panda stopped in the middle of a clearing. He turned around and looked at his red-headed child. "Twice we've been up this way, and twice I've failed to take the trip. But this time I won't. Ranma, I want to go to Japan. I don't know if we can find a cure there… but I do know something." Genma said in a total of seven signs.
"O… kay..?" Ranma asked. "What is it?"
"Your mother, boy. I want to see her again. I've been a coward and a fool. I wanted to bring you home and see her two years ago but… well…" Genma wrote.
"A M… mother? I got one a' those?" Ranma replied, confused. She put her chin in her hand and thought hard, trying to remember a woman from her past that she once called mother.
"I don't remember…" She said. "And she surely won't accept that I'm her son. Pops?" Ranma asked. Something was wrong with Genma.
"She can't… Ranma… when I took you, when you were two years old, I made a contract with your mother. I told her that… if I didn't make you a "man among men" then you, I, and her, would commit… Seppuku." Genma told his daughter.
The fact that Genma's was telling this through signs made it less realistic to Ranma, however, the slight watery tint to Genma's eyes doubled it's realism.
"… You… you really are an idiot… pop…" Ranma muttered.
Genma turned around, his face to the ground he walked away and revealed on the ground the written words "Gomen Nasai."
Ranma sighed and placed her hand up to her head in an exasperated position. Genma looked at her and was frightened by how similar she looked to her mother.
"Humm… what're we gonna do pop?" Ranma asked, tiredly.
"I just want to see her… and for you to meet her…" Genma said. "At least for a little while."
Ranma walked up to her father and looked him in the eyes. "Well… lets hope I get cured on the way ok? But if not… perhaps she can settle for a daughter…"
"I hope so boy… I hope so." Genma said, waving the sign twice for the repeating effect of speaking. "Lets go."
With that, Genma ran towards the sea of Japan, swimming far faster than many a normal panda could.
"You are such an idiot, pops…" Ranma muttered before following.
As she swam, she looked at her father… The panda held a sort of grim determination on his face. His eyes held sorrow.
"I forgive you pops." Ranma said.
Genma didn't act like he heard her but he did suddenly speed up, as if not wanting to see his daughter, due to his shame.
Nodoka felt odd… her daughter, Ryaine, was scowling. It seemed that the little girl was angry. She had plenty of reason to be, of course. But she suddenly seemed more angry then she had been a moment ago.
She thought about it for a moment and realized what it was that was making the red-head so angry. The sunset. The girl HATED the sunset. Nodoka couldn't for the life of her, figure out why. But the girl did hate the sunset.
She was walking down the road towards her home with her daughter trailing behind her happily, when suddenly the girl had begun to scowl.
"Ryaine…" Nodoka began.
"Sorry mom." Ryaine interrupted. "I know I know… nothing is wrong with the sunset… I just don't like it…"
"Good girl… perhaps your growing up after all. No daughter of mine should be afraid of the dark." Nodoka said.
Ryaine snorted. "Jus' don't like losin' the light…" she muttered, inaudibly.
After a moment's silence Nodoka sighed and began, "I'm sorry, Ryaine… I didn't want to tell you the truth so I hid it from you."
"Nice time to tell me, mom! Nice to know I'm the production of a rape! So is Genma just an illusion? Genma and my brother Ranma? Just an elaborate joke that I'm suppose to throw away?" Ryaine screamed, her long red hair swaying with her shouts.
"NO!" Nodoka replied turning on her daughter. Then much more calmly she said. "Genma and Ranma are real… and they will be home one day… I know it."
Awkward silence.
"I… well… I'm sorry mom. But… why couldn't you have just not told me?" Ryaine asked sadly.
"You needed to know the truth, and you are old enough to handle it now. " Nodoka said. "Either way, you're my daughter and I love you as such. Don't forget that. And once again… happy fourteenth birthday."
Ryaine smiled. "S-sorry… mom. Thanks."
"It's alright dear." Nodoka replied. "And your welcome."
Tatewaki Kuno flew through the air yet again as Akane walked up the steps to Furinkan High school for the first time in a long while. "Two years and he's still at it… you'd think he'd'a given up by now, eh Akane-chan?" Akane's lover, Sayuri, asked curiously.
"You would think so. Heh. Back to school at last for one final year. I hope it's good one, eh?" Akane replied.
"Oh, cept' for Kuno, I'm sure it will be for us both!" Sayuri winked devilishly.
Akane kissed her on the cheek and then said. "See ya! Gotta go or I'll be late!" And with that she went to class.
It was looking like it would be a great year!
"Hurry up Akane!" Ryaine cried. Ryaine was Akane's best friend, though she was three years younger than her, and not to mention a rival in all the areas that counted. She sat in the back of the room, holding a seat for Akane.
Ryaine had been upped three grades due to the fact that she was the best! She managed to make the things in this grade, that is, calculus and advanced physics, look as easy as addition! The poor girl was a fourteen year old senior! Either way, she was excruciatingly smart for her age.
Akanesat down in a hurry, placing her books haphazardly onto the desk."Happy late birthday, by the way!"She exclaimed.
Ryaine didn't look very happy about it. She almost looked angry. "What's so happy about that?" She muttered angrily.
"I'm… sorry? Ryaine? What's wrong?" Akane asked.
Ryaine sighed and then placed a faked smile on her face and said "Oh… nothing. It's not important. How was your summer?"
"It was great!" Akane replied, and then went on to tell Ryaine all about her summer. Ryaine cheered up quite quickly, but Akane couldn't help but think that something was making her friend a little… sad.
End Chapter
Once again, thank you for all the reviews! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! This fic is not just a fluff fic! Ha ha!
Next Chapter: Duet of Blue Eyes
Reviews aid me in my quest for good writing. Criticize, Check, Praise, or Flame. I like them all! (well… flames leave me a little bit crispy so if you could, just stick w/ criticism...) Please leave a review though!