by Lerris Smith
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2. This piece of work is purely for enjoyment purposes.
Author's Notes: Thoughts are shown like this. Panda signs are shown like this. Note that I replaced the code to displace fiancée and fiancées in LaTeX that was causing problems rendering the html version. If anyone sees any other chapters cutoff mysteriously let me know and I'll go back and upload them again.
Mouse wondered how long this scheme of Nabiki's would last. Well its true that he pushed things a bit in that direction, he still didn't like it much. Far too much could go wrong. Of course the alternatives were also unaceptable.
Kasumi yawned and turned off her alarm clock five minutes before it was going to go off. It had been over a year since the alarm clock beat her, although with Ranma-kun making life interesting it had been close, very close sometimes. She wondered where Ranma was. It would be dull here without him. She went to clean up and restore her serenity for the coming day. One of the few things she practiced religiously was a bit of meditation in the furo to help her retain her calm throughout the hectic day ahead.
A black cat wandered through the half open door as if to see what was going on. He jumped up on a bucket and looked at the unclothed Kasumi as if in curiosity.
"Oh neko-chan. Do you want a bath?"
Kasumi reached out and grabbed the unsuspecting kitty and managed to get him in the tub and most of his body submerged.
"Meoooooooooooow!"
Neko jumped out of the water, fliped, and hit the floor. He recovered quickly and ran out of the bathroom before Kasumi could blink twice.
"I guess neko-chan didn't want a bath."
Nabiki yawned and opened her eyes at the sound of Neko's complaint. She grumbled quietly about annoying cats making her sleep on the floor as the culprit of the crime came back in and started trying to shake the water out of his fur.
"Stop it. I don't want a bath yet."
Neko looks up at his caregiver and meows piteously.
"Don't look at me. Your the one that walked in on Kasumi's bath." And if you didn't have the mind of a cat right now, you'd be joining a certain pig. Nabiki paused and then leaned down towards the cat. "So can you understand me at all? Tap your paw 3 times if you can."
Neko meowed. Figures. This is most definetly not going to be easy. I really didn't want a pet for life. "You stay here while I get a bath."
Neko followed her into the bathroom. "I said stay there." She tossed him gently out the door and closed it.
Neko scratched at the door, incidently leaving deep scratches into the wood before getting distracted by the smells coming from the kitchen.
Kasumi had already started the rice and began to get out the ingredients for the miso soup when Neko wandered in and looked up at Kasumi and meowed piteously.
"Ara Neko-chan. Are you hungry? Well we need to wait until the food cooks." Kasumi sat down in a chair and Neko butted his head against the food provider's leg. Soon enough Kasumi's took pity on the black kitty and picked him up. Kasumi's petting had him purring shamelessly in mere moments. Neko soon had accomplished his goal of making a friend of the food provider with the warm lap. Neko meowed when Kasumi got a small tray of cooked salmon from the refrigerator. He jumped for it, but Kasumi kept it out of his hands. Kasumi put her sternest expression on her face, which was the same one she gave Akane when she asked her not to hit Ranma. Neko rolled over and meowed. "You'll have to wait and eat with everyone else." Neko meowed piteously.
Kasumi's resistance to the little cat's charm fled, and she began to fill a dish with the chopped salmon she had gotten out specifically for the cat. The rest of the crowd had already filled the small table. Neko immediately jumped up and started eating as Kasumi went back in to get the rest of the food.
Genma tried to steal food from the cat, but the cat broke his chopsticks with his paws. "No stupid animal is gonna beat me!"
He continued to try to steal food from the cat, and every time his hands or chopsticks were batted away. The last time Neko accidently knocked a glass of water into him changing him to an overweight panda.
"My my, the great master of anything goes is losing to a kitty cat." Nabiki snickered.
That cat's good. Its no wonder the cat fist is an unbeatable technique. Genma was smug. After all if a cat could show this much potential, why it just justified his teaching it to his son. Why that ungrateful boy. Flip. When I get him back here he will thank me and marry Akane as honor demands.
Nabiki glared at him darkly.
"I am not marrying that pervert."
"Waaaa the groom ran away. Now the houses will never be joined. Waaaah."
Kasumi took her seat and started on her own breakfast. Neko, having finished his food, jumped down and then up into Kasumi's lap to see her plate. Soon enough Neko was sneaking food off her plate as she absently petted the cat.
Nabiki stared for a moment at the pair but said nothing. I guess you really are a cat right now, complete with being loyal to whomever feeds you. Nabiki sighed a small, but unnoticed sigh. "Well I'm off."
With Ranma's absense it seemed reality was uncomfortable with the vacuum left in his place. Whispers abounded about why Ranma wasn't present.
"I bet Akane put him in the hospital again. Why if he was my boyfriend..."
"No, it was those Amazons. They have captured him and now hes living as a love slave in China." added a boy.
Ukyo listened to all the rumors but had a hard time believing any of them well except maybe the one and that didn't make sense either. If the Amazon's had him, then why were they still here? Besides she had checked the hospitals. She turned to see Kuno strutting out doing. She considered, as she had many times in the past, beating the crap out of him on sheer principle. It simply wasn't worth the risk of him getting fixated on her. She shuddered at the thought. Then again, there was also the potential that he would win. That brought another shudder.
"At last the foul scoundrel Saotome has fled my magnificent pres"
Akane didn't even give him time to finish his speech before malleting him into the sky.
"Its dangerous. If you are caught..."
"If I am caught? That will be the day. I thought I was blessed when I was granted the right to watch over my family, but with all the rules and procedure involved about all I can do is watch. I watched as my youngest daughter was attacked day after day until she grew afraid of boys and lashed out at them. I watched as a foreign bimbo and her grandmother damaged my child's spirit and the relationship with her fiancée . I watched my middle daughter's first scam, first blackmail, and the tears she cried sometimes in her sleep. I see the fake smile my oldest daughter wears to try to hold the family together - sacrificing all for that purpose. I watched as my husband fell to pieces at my death and never recovered. Only one time have I been allowed to interfere and even then I was not allowed to finish the job. Well now I'm going to finish the job and damn the consequences."
"Just be careful ok. It is not just your daughter's future that is on the line."
Kimiko smirked and turned to face the other woman directly. "Koanna, you know I'm always careful."
"Well you did fall for Soun, so.."
"I wouldn't talk if I were you. After all, you fell for Genma's father."
Koanna sighed. She just had to bring that up. Wasn't Genma punishment enough for her slip? Besides Ranma turned out very well, so perhaps it was ok in the end, or at least tolerable. She had her own part to play in the coming scene as well. One she did not much care for, but it was necessary.
Ranma had returned to what passed for the Tendo house here. He looked around and confirmed there was still no one living wherever he was. He no longer thought of it as the real world. The real world didn't have things shift position on their own when he wasn't looking. It didn't have the distances one way change when going back the other way. No wherever this was, it wasn't the real world. The only question was what to do about it.
As he pondered he heard a growl from outside. It was one of those. The fear came. The fear that he could never fight since it swept reason before it like a flood. He had to flee, to run, to get away. He ran for the back door and down the street, but it had his scent and ran after him. A quick glance backwards confirmed his worst fears. It was a black panther the size of a horse coming after him. He ran faster, and faster. His few coherent thoughts fled as his fears started to rule his mind, but unlike normal there was no escape from the fear in the oblivion brought by the nekoken. A tiny part of him was surprised at this. Another tiny part wished for some water so he could transform and run a bit faster. He saw a brown haired woman about Nabiki's height a little ways down the street.
"Come with me. I'll take you to safety." Ranma was quite willing to follow anyone right that second if they could get him away from the horrible thing. He had to get away. She reached out her hand and he grabbed it and was pulled through a door that he thought was the entrance to a shop, but turned out to be somewhere else entirely. Ranma sighed. At least that... feline is gone.
After Ranma went through the portal, the black panther shifted, growing thinner and then standing on two legs until its former shifted to that of a very familiar woman. She said softly to no one in particular, "I hope your plan works Kimiko." If my grandson fails to learn what you have to teach quickly enough he will be trapped there forever. Some chances must be taken, and some are too risky to take. Now if only I knew which category this one was in. She sighed and turned around. She cursed Happosai briefly for twisting her son into what he had become. There was much work to complete before she could return.
Kimiko led Ranma to a simple house overlooking a valley. The sky was different here, neither bright nor dark and he couldn't find any trace of sun nor stars, yet it felt peaceful. Even without the sun there seemed a feel to this place as if it welcomed him. Ranma glanced at his rescuer again and once again cursed his old man for teaching him that dratted Nekoken. There was something familiar about her. She looked like an older version of Nabiki sitting there in a simple white yukata. Before long they were sitting at a table and she had poured them each a glass of tea.
"Hello Ranma, we need to talk. My family needs your help."
"Um who are you?"
"Don't you know. You've certainly looked at my picture enough in the little shrine in the dojo."
"Mrs. Tendo?"
"Got it in one."
"Then I'm dead?"
"No, your not dead, although in a way neither are you fully alive right now either. Lets just say your taking a holiday from your body while your furrier side has fun."
"Huh?"
"Your real body is in the Nekoken. Because of the unique situation you were in, it was possible to pull your spirit in here. Do you know what the nekoken really is Ranma? Do you know why it has to be a young child to work?"
"I thought it was just an insane martial arts technique."
"Not really. The art is about learning control of mind and body. The nekoken provides a very crude shortcut to some chi skills and an almost zen state of fighting. It is also quite harmful to the subject."
"Huh? What do you mean. All I have is this stupid fear of c..ats. Its even been helpful at times."
Kimiko smirked and then paused for a second. "Tell me Ranma, why do you hurt my daughters?"
"Huh? I would never hurt any woman, much less"
"Oh? You let Nabiki manipulate you. You sit by as Kasumi wastes her life as a surrogate mother and worst of all you let Akane hit you."
"Huh? I haven't done anything.."
"Exactly. By doing nothing you are doing the next thing to condoning their actions. If Nabiki gets used to manipulating people and gets better and better at it, where will she end up? If Kasumi spends all her time at home will she ever be happy? If Akane gets used to beating up all her problems what will happen the day she strikes a normal person?"
Ranma cringed as to the later. The tomboy's hits were hard. Very hard. She hit as hard as P-chan sometimes. She could quite easily kill someone. He knew she would regret it as soon as the swing was done, but that might be too late. Now Nabiki. Ranma could easily see her recruited by some of the less savory people he had run across in his training trip. He thought she was too smart for that, but she was quite addicted to money. Of course she did contribute to the house as well. He did really feel guilty about Kasumi now that she had brought it up. She did so much for him and they mostly took her for granted. Still... "So you want me to try to solve their problems? I can't even solve my own. If I were to.."
"Coward."
"I am no coward."
"Oh? Then why when you are presented a challenge do you make excuses and run away from it. You may be a hot shot martial artist, but at most anything else you are a pathetic coward."
"I am not a coward!" yelled Ranma.
"Oh? Then you won't mind proving it will you."
"Just try me."
Kimiko smirked slightly behind the glass of tea she was about to drink. "Very well. Right now you are trapped in the place between life and death, and unless you can learn what I have to teach you within the next couple weeks you will remain here forever."
"What? I thought I was just in the Nekoken."
"You were, but a friend of mine morphed into a panther and chased you here. You were so easy to manipulate it was quite sad."
"How dare you? What right have you?" His battle aura began to spread out.
"What right have I? What right have I? I'll tell you. You are the only one who has a chance to help my daughters that I could talk to. Now you have two choices, you either learn to truly master your spirit energy within the two week deadline before the connection to your body fades, or you give up and die the rest of the way. Oh and before you rant about life being unfair and all that crap, let me tell you that only a true master of their lifeforce can fix the damage done to Akane and save her. But if you would like to continue ranting, well I can bring up a viewscreen and we can watch Akane's life continue to fall to pieces as she is trapped in her own mind."
Ranma didn't know what to say. He was at first so angry for being manipulated especially by Akane's mother of all people, but hearing that he could help Akane deflated his anger like a pin in a balloon. "Tell me whats wrong with Akane. I have felt she was in trouble somehow.."
Kimiko smiled. Hook, line, and sinker. She was prepared to lie to help her daughter of course, but in this case the truth worked as well. She thought it interesting that as soon as Akane was mentioned he forgot about the Nekoken.
"Now we will begin our training by teaching you to find your center. This soul of ice Kho Lon teaches is close, but in some ways misses the point entirely."
Ranma nodded. "I'm ready."
"Empty your mind of all thoughts and emotions. This step is the hardest step, but you must do it. Let go of fear, of hate, of jealousy, of desire. Let go of it all and find your center. When you find your center you will feel the heart of your chi, untainted by emotion."
Ranma sat for hours, and for hours got close, so very close, but Kimiko's aura sight could tell he never hit it. It was like many colored copies of Ranma representing his different aspects were falling into one, but never quite getting there. She decided to try another tactic. "You are close Ranma, but close means nothing."
"What do you mean? I thought I almost had it."
"Wrong." She then channeled a small amount of her spirit into a fine point and aimed it at the weakness where his spirit had failed to align itself. Ranma felt intense pain and then passed out a moment later. She tossed her now cold tea on him causing him to change into a girl and wake up.
"What did you do that for?"
"I demonstrated how easy it was for a master like myself to attack someone who cannot find their center, and as to your gender, well here you are what you think you are."
Ranma grasped onto the last part first and thought of himself as a man, and sure enough he was. Then he thought about the first part. "Well what can I do about it? I have been trying for hours you know."
"Yes I know, and if we had a few months to teach you I might be proud of your progress, but we do not." Kimiko frowned. There was little choice, but she did not have to like it. "Ranma, I think I can show you your center."
"The why didn't you do that in the first place?"
"Because to do so you will have to permit a portion of my spirit inside your own. It has dangers, and it is likely I will know at least some of your thoughts since you lack the ability to control them properly."
Ranma thought of what she said. The danger he didn't mind, but had a lot of thoughts he was not proud of. "Is this the only way?"
"No, we can keep on as we have been, but if you haven't found it by now it could take months."
No need to complete that sentence. They were months that he did not have - that Akane did not have. He sighed. "Ok, Lets do it."
"Very well. Do you best to try to reach your center again, and when you feel my spirit try not to resist. I promise to do no harm."
He did as she asked sitting comfortably on the floor and began to try to center himself. She soon came from behind him and grabbed one of his arms with her own. As she began to move into his spirit, she could sense pieces and fragments of his thoughts. She supposed it was a bit manipulative of her to tell him of that danger so he would focus on them, but well he was supposed to marry her daughter after all.
Ranma saw Kodachi as he lay paralyzed on the roof. Beautiful, but crazy. He saw flashes of the Nekoken training and remembered his desire to kill his father and again at Jusenkyo for taking away what he was taught was the most important thing of his life. Then he saw Akane offer to be friends and then saw her nude in the bath. So very beautiful. I wish she would smile at me. The memory of waking up with Shampoo in his arms. Another beautiful, but crazy woman. Akane is gonna kill me, but this feels nice. He saw Kasumi in a t-shirt and shorts working out in the flower garden. Sweat glistened on her brow and made her shirt cling to her chest showing the outline of her bra. Thats Kasumi what am I thinking? Akane is going to kill me. Then he remembered watching Nabiki sit at the table carefully and meticulously going over her business for today. She would sometimes smile when she came to a particularly good result. He knew today was a good day and he couldn't help at marvel how ingenious and clever she was, and cute when she smiled. He knew if he were to marry her, life would never be dull. He caught himself. No I gotta marry the tomboy. If only she would listen.
Kimiko chuckled inwardly at Ranma's thoughts. Her youngest daughter, as she was now, would have called him a pervert many times over for his lustful thoughts. And to think, all three of her daughters interested him in someway. Well that was normal enough, and she didn't sense any desire to string them all along, although he did seem to like the idea of admiring them all. Nodoka would be thrilled, then again since he didn't plan to marry them all or keep them all as mistresses she might not be, but Nodoka was just weird.
Her spirit was finally where she could show him his center. "Focus Ranma. I am going to show you the fragments of yourself you must integrate to find your center."
Ranma did and he was amazed. The different parts of his spirit created a tapestry more ornate than anything he had ever seen. "That is me?"
"Yes. When you are centered what you are seeing will become uniform and the fluctuations will cease. You should feel almost as if reality snapped in place. Try."
Sure enough now that he could see what he was doing, he managed to find his center within minutes. It felt more right that he had ever felt before.
"Now release your center and get back there as fast as you can."
"Again."
He didn't do it fast enough and she gave a mental shove and knocked him away. "Do it faster and I won't be able to do that. Now again."
Ranma grumbled for a second, only earning another mental shove and then put his annoyance aside and practiced. Soon enough he was able to get to his center almost on reflex.
"Now before I leave you, I want you to find a place in the Earth below you that is calm like your center and then connect the two. This is called grounding. When you are grounded and centered you are difficult to affect by spirit based attacks. It also helps you regain your strength faster and helps you focus your mind as well. Begin." She watched in amazement as he found the spot in mere minutes. She was sure she would have to show him.
Once she was sure he was grounded she gave a hard mental shove. "Very good Ranma. Had I done that before we began, you would have been out cold for days, or dead."
Ranma gulped. Kimiko slowly withdrew her presence from his spirit. She could sense gratitude for her teaching, especially that it didn't hurt as much as his fathers. Kimiko sighed slightly about that. Ranma had not had an easy life, and the pace of these lessons was hardly kind either, but they were out of options.
Time passed. Ranma had been the best student she ever had. Of course he had also been the only student she ever had. Her daughters were too young to learn what little she knew before she died, and most of her knowledge came after her death. She hoped it was enough, for it was time for him to go, or he would no longer be able to do so. "Thank You Ranma. You have worked so hard that I know you will be able to cross the barrier now and then win back control of your mind from the cat fragment." In truth she knew no such thing, but optimism was important here.
"Don't worry, I will help Akane." He gave one of his cocky grins. The one that irritated all his challengers to death. Inside he wasn't nearly as as confident. The barrier separating this realm from the realm of the living and his own body would be difficult to breach from this direction. It was apparently easier for those who had lived in this realm for a long time. Something about their spirits becoming in phase with the barrier as time passed. He understood so little of it, but he knew what to do, at least he hoped he did.
After Ranma left Koanna walked in followed by another. Kimiko looked up at the sad yet content smile on her friends face.
"It's time isn't it?" asked Kimiko.
"I'm sorry." responded Koanna.
The man responded in a soft voice. "You were forbidden from such blatant interference."
"Forbidden? What was the point of letting me watch over my family if all I could do was watch them fall to pieces? I did nothing wrong and I'd do it again in a heartbeat."
The man asked quietly, "Are you ready then to face your punishment?"
Kimiko sighed. "I am."
"Very well. Come with me."
"What? Aren't you going to at least tell me what my punishment is?"
The man smirked. "Oh that? Well the threat of punishment is really there to prevent casual interference. We choose those allowed to watch over their families carefully. If the interference is important enough that one is willing to risk a potentially great punishment including perhaps reincarnation as a toad or something else equally horrible, then it is hoped that it truly is for a good reason. Oh don't misunderstand, occasionally we are disappointed and have to give real punishments, not to mention clean up the mess made, but this is not the case this time. Well its still possible we will have to clean up your mess, but you are not to be punished, merely moved out of the range of further temptation."
"What do you mean? Will I still be able to see my family?"
Kimiko replied, "See yes. You will have the place next to mine. It seems Ranma TV has high ratings."
"Huh? Oh. What did you mean you might have to clean up my mess?"
"You taught skills that are almost unheard of in the mortal realm. If they are misused they could change the balance of power in the world. It has not been decided if he will be allowed to keep those skills yet. If we have to erase them, well a good erasure has side effects, especially to erase the knowledge of something that uses so many parts of his mind to perform."
"No.. You would erase his memory? Kho Lon knows it as well."
"Kho Lon's knowledge is imperfect and flawed. Most are in favor of the erasure now, but for now we will watch and wait. Come, your time here is done."
Kimiko sighed. Still the cost could be higher. Don't fail me Ranma.
Ranma walked to the edge of this place following the slight trail of his own spirit that still linked him to his body. He approached the boundary and brought out his hands to feel along it. Multicolored sparks flew from the barrier at his hand causing him to yank his hand back in pain. I knew I shouldn't have done that. Ah well time to begin.
He relaxed his body, but did not sit down. What he was going to do was hard enough without wasting the time required to stand. He focused on his emotions, his desires, even those he seldom allowed himself to notice and wrapped each in tainted chi of the opposite polarity. His love for the art was wrapped in the hate of training. His hate of the tomboy's mallet was wrapped in the love of her smile. On and on he went until he came for the last and the hardest. His fear of cats he wrapped in his need to succeed. It was the last because he had no equivalent countering source of bravery to counter such fear. It was the best he could do.
He moved forward into the barrier. It ignored him at first, as it should, but the neutrality he had hoped to achieve with his spirit was imperfect and when he was less than half way through the barrier the pain began. It threatened to bring him to his knees, but he struggled to keep focus to keep pushing through. The pain and agony eat at his control and weakened the barriers he had placed which in turn caused even more pain. He staggered and fell. He tried to reinforce the barriers, but it was impossible. He reached out and tried to pull himself forward only to collapse again. It seemed like hours, but was in reality only minutes before he was finally through. His link to his body pulled him back as his spirit collapsed and sought desperately needed rest.
Author's Notes: What follows is a few minutes of doodling on a story idea. Feel free to do whatever with it. Maybe I'll even make something out of it someday. Who knows. The following is in no way related to the previous story. I'm just tossing it out there to see what people think of the idea.
The wedding came and went and Ranma could not be happier about the later part. He felt he had dodged a fate to be feared above all others except maybe becoming a nice subservient Amazon husband. He shuddered. "Sometimes I wish I could do it all again, only this time I wouldn't pick the tomboy."
At the same time Ranma was making his seemingly idle wish another young woman who should have felt happy at preventing a disaster instead felt empty. It seemed so much time was wasted and no future she could foresee lead to happiness for anyone. "I wish I would have picked Ranma in the beginning."
Let it not be said that the kami are not merciful or at the very least possessing of a unique sense of humor. A group of them that were watching the mortal channel Ranma Saotome marathon when these wishes were heard. One older kami who was now on his second bottle of saki shrugged at said, "Why not? This should be entertaining." in a slightly slurred voice.
For the sake of completeness Ameratsu objected with a weak, "What happened to not interfering with human destiny?"
"But destiny is getting boring." opined another. The rest nodded quietly adding their support to the general consensus. Loki feeling especially brave decided to propose an alternative as a way to seal the deal, "Well Genma did promise Ranma to you if he got food that one day. We could setup the wedding in a few minutes Ameratsu?"
"Um no that won't be necessary. Besides I only helped the moron so Ranma didn't starve."
The one that had now finished his second bottle of Saki snapped his fingers and said, "Tape the good stuff. I gotta get some sleep."
Author's Notes: Ok, that isn't the best intro in the world, but the key idea being that reset type stories where Ranma goes back and makes things right with Akane are plentiful, but I don't think there are any where Ranma uses his knowledge to try to get Nabiki to fall for him while trying to dodge bombori and the rest. I wouldn't have Nabiki having any past knowledge though. That would make things far too easy and we can't have that. At any rate if anyone likes the idea and writes a chapter or two, let me know. It is probably something I'd like to read.
Additional: As one reviewer correctly pointed out a small section of about three hundred sixty three words is based on how mind magic was taught in a story by Mercedes Lackey. I apologize for forgetting to mention that.
2005-03-13