Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or Sacrifice™ or any related characters, terms or concepts.
Author's Notes: grateful for the feedback and for the notes on the Quiet Thief and Noisy Thief Styles, but just one thing to point out: Don't bother putting website addresses in your reviews, FFN automatically censors them, so you just have a confusing blank space in your review. To those of you who commented there wasn't much Sacrifice stuff; don't worry, Ranma isn't done in Otherworld yet, and I plan to have him drag the NWC along with him for the ride. In fact, I may not have him open up a can of magic-boosted whoop-ass on his rivals just yet, I may have him drag them along to Otherworld and let them see what he can do now.
Part Four: Return to Nerima
The air in Sliverspine Village was both joyous and sorrowful. Joyous for their master Ranma, who was returning to his home at last, but sorrowful that he was leaving them. Beings from all over Dalara Peaks had gathered here for this celebration. The Frostwolves banged on drums of tanned hide stretched tightly over wooden shells, clacked on bleached skulls with well-picked bones or simply howled raucously to the sky. At the center of all the attention, Ranma smiled nervously, idly helping himself to whatever delicacy caught his eye and lifting his jewelled goblet (which none would allow to empty) in response to any of the (often drunk) toasts proposed to him.
Sylphs danced gracefully by the center fire, or added their own music to the choir in the form of mournful piping or stringed instruments. Brainiacs mentally juggled items or put on aerial acrobatics for the amusement of those below. Seraphs idly gossiped and tittered to each other whilst Flurries played games with the Frostwolf cubs. Ranma finally shook himself loose of well wishers and, grabbing a last handful of food, made his way to the center of the village.
"My followers. No, check that, my friends…"
All of those still sober enough to be conscious instantly stopped whatever they were doing and turned their attention towards their beloved benevolent overlord.
"In the time that I've know you all, I've come to regard you with deepest affection. But, though it hurts me dearly to say this, the time has come for me to part ways with you all."
A chorus of sobs and tearful exclamations echoed these words.
"It's nothing personal, but I've been away from my family -or rather, my other family- for too long. I need to see them again. I will always cherish the time we have spent together, and I will always carry your memory in my heart. I'd like to think that you'll all miss me too."
Once again a chorus echoed his words, this time of affirmations.
"But though I say goodbye for now, I do not say goodbye forever. Rest assured that I will come back to you all… especially you little guys."
Ranma smiled and bent down onto one knee to pet Ryo, the leader of his pack of eight Manahoars.
"Be good and keep your fellows out of trouble, okay Ryo? I'm expecting you to keep them in line."
"Nyaan!"
Ranma stood up and walked towards the empty fields, his subjects pressing in around him to wish him final farewells and to express their hopes for his safe returns. Just before reaching the outskirts of the village he bumped into Gorehorn, the Yeti. Before he could say anything the normally sullen and taciturn beast grabbed him in claws that could shred rock and enfolded him in a (non-lethal) crushing bearhug. Once he dropped Ranma, and Ranma came back to his senses, Ranma smiled, shook Gorehorn's paw, and continued into the fields, the final cries of his followers echoing behind him. Once there, he instantly cleared his mind of everything but what he had to do.
Silently, he raised his arms, his eyes closing as the memorized patterns of mana instantly flared to life upon his consciousness. Slowly, with increasing speed, his hands moved through the gestures, the words of power spilling from his lips with an almost melodious quality. Eyes open now, he worked through the pattern, the energy visibly taking shape before him as he gestured and whispered, building and pulsing until it erupted in a brilliant surge of pure magical power.
Ranma shook his head to clear the last lingering glare from his eyes; the only thing he hated about teleportation. When he saw his surroundings, he pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He was back in Nerima! He was home again! Ranma laughed loudly and, as if in response, thunder rolled. He glanced upwards and, after a split-second's hesitation, reached out with a tiny tendril of his magic. With that slightest of influence, the notoriously unpredictable weather of Nerima broke into a torrential storm, the sun blocked by thick storm clouds and the rain pouring down upon the joyous face of Nerima's greatest (certainly best-known) martial artist.
Ranma smiled in joy and started towards the Tendo Dojo, pausing after a few short steps. Had anyone been around, they wouldn't have believed their eyes as Ranma held out his hand like someone expecting a hand out and promptly had a lightning bolt strike his open palm. Had they still been conscious, they definitely would have fainted when the glare faded to reveal an unharmed and still smiling Ranma, with a white-hot ball of raw electrical current sitting in the palm of his hand.
Ranma laughed again as the electricity arced and surged from his palm across his body, for all the world reminiscent of a friendly dog confronted with its long-absent master, before he dissipated it with a casual shrug. He resumed his trek towards the Tendo Dojo, smiling in anticipation of the welcome he would receive. His smile took on an altogether darker and wickeder tone when he thought about the nasty shock (pun intended) his enemies were in for.
Kasumi looked up at the peal of thunder, surprised (albeit mildly) at how such a vicious storm could blow up from out of nowhere. No one else seemed to have noticed, or at they had noticed they didn't seem to care about it. The whole house seemed to have lost something when Ranma had disappeared two months ago. Cologne had proclaimed ignorance as to his fate, but she had sworn he was still alive somewhere. Her father and Mr. Saotome would have sworn it was an Amazon trick to kidnap Ranma, but they had proven to be telling the truth; the Cat Café was still in Nerima, and all of them (even Mousse) seemed to be as listless and depressed by Ranma's absence as everyone else who knew him.
In fact, the only one not upset about him being gone was Kuno, who alternated between bragging about having chased away the "sorcerous fiend Saotome", berating Ranma for being too much of a coward to fight him in fair combat and accusing him of both stealing away the "Pig-Tailed Girl" and leaving Akane still under the thrall of some bewitchment. This, naturally, meant that Akane's regular beatings of him had intensified.
She sighed (not that anyone heard it, or else they would have immediately started crowding around her; this is Kasumi we're talking about) and looked around the living room. Mr. Saotome and her father had brought the Shogi board in (they'd been playing outside, when the storm broke it wrecked the game and activated Genma's curse) and were starting one of their endless games over again. Nabiki was sitting at the table, doing something that involved her calculator whilst drinking a can of soft drink, and Akane was watching TV with P-Chan. She started when she heard the sound of someone knocking on the door.
"Oh my. Now who could that possibly be in this weather?"
She went to the door and opened it, though she didn't recognize the person standing there; he wore a sort of overcoat and his features were hidden beneath the oversized brim of the hat he wore. As if seeing a stranger at the door wasn't enough of a surprise, he spoke as though he knew her.
"Hi Kasumi. How have you been?"
"Oh… do I know you?"
"What? Come on Kasumi, don't you recognize me?"
He pushed the brim of his hat upwards, coincidentally at that very moment a bolt of lightning struck nearby, providing illumination for his face. Kasumi audibly gasped.
"Ranma!"
"So you do recognize me. Now, can I come in? 'Cause it's really pouring out here."
"Oh my, come in, come in! We've all been so worried about you!"
"I'll bet you have." Kasumi, naturally, missed the slight sarcasm in Ranma's voice, especially considering how she was hurrying into the lounge-room to announce Ranma's return. Or at least, that was what she had intended to do; Ranma's firm but gentle grasp on her wrist brought her to a halt.
"No, I want to be the one to tell them I'm back… I want to see the looks on their faces."
Now, Kasumi doesn't really have a not-nice bone in her body. She does have her limits, but generally she sees the positive side of everything. Thus, any interpretation of Ranma's words that would make the expected deed something other than an innocent request never occurred to her. She simply smiled that smile of hers and let Ranma pass.
Akane sighed and stroked P-Chan's ears, blissfully ignorant (as always) that her beloved pet was really the Eternally Lost Boy, Ryoga.
"Oh P-Chan, it's just not the same without Ranma around is it? Things are so quiet and dull now."
"Why, I never knew you cared tomboy."
The sound of that familiar and missed voice inspired different reactions throughout the room. Genma and Soun knocked their Shogi board sprawling (though that may have been a deliberate move on Soun's part; he was losing again). Nabiki pulled a spit-take, almost choking on her soft drink. P-Chan keeled over in shock. And Akane spun around so fast she almost got whiplash, her mouth falling open as she began sputtering, unable to choose between hurling herself into her fiancé's arms and never letting go and pounding him for leaving and getting her so worried in the first place. As she tried to decide, Ranma laughed and took off his hat before petting her on the head.
"I missed you too Akane. Hey pops, how's it hanging? Hey, what's wrong? You all look like you've seen a ghost?"
"R-Ranma?"
"Boy?"
"Saotome? You're back?"
"Whoo! Ranma! You're back at last! Let me welcome you with open arms!"
True to form the perverted Grandmaster of Anything Goes swooped on his reluctant heir from the rafters, splashing him with cold water before glomping onto his chest. No sooner had Happosai latched on when he let out a:
"Huh?"
Before Ranma, with a particularly feral sound, ripped Happosai off of his chest and thrust him out the open door with enough force that he left a crater in the concrete wall. No sooner had he dropped to the ground then a lightning bolt dropped from the sky right on top of him. Not that the people who reluctantly shared their house with him noticed (nor would they have cared); they were too busy staring at a soaking wet, but still undeniably male, Ranma Saotome. Naturally enough, instant bedlam broke out, with everyone wanting to know the details about how he cured himself, as well as where he'd been. They were all ecstatic about his cure, well, all of them bar four.
Nabiki was angry because no Ranma-Chan meant lower profit margins for her; she'd sold out almost her entire stock of Ranma-Chan photos to Kuno and the other boys who bought them (though she had realised that maybe she might be able to reduce the impact by selling pictures of Ranma-Kun to some of the girls in Furinkan; Ranma was rather popular amongst the female population, but none wanted to challenge Ranma's fiancée brigade for the rights to date him) and a cured Ranma meant no way to replenish her stock.
Happosai was angry (or would be when he woke up anyway) because his favourite target for glomping and groping was no more- and he'd never gotten Ranma-Chan to model any lingerie for him! Not even so much as a single measly stinking bra!
P-Chan was angry that Ranma had gotten a cure before he had- or even that he'd gotten one at all. And he and Genma were both angry because Ranma refused to share his secret of how he'd gotten cured.
So they all crowded him, questioning him, until he slipt out from their ranks and waved his hands to ward them off.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, take it easy! I know I've been gone a while, and I will tell you all about everything that happened to me, but right now I'm tired and I'd like to get some sleep; it's school tomorrow, right?"
Taking advantage of their confusion, he silently slipped out of the living room and headed towards the guest room he shared with his father. Once there, he closed the door and used another spell to freeze it shut; he didn't want anyone barging in on him, as he really was tired. The spell would last for at least a few hours. He took of his hiru and saka and tossed them into the corner before falling onto his futon.
There's no place like home.
Ranma was confused for a moment when he woke up the next day; his sleeping furs were gone, the firepit was out and all the various knick-knacks and junk that littered his hut were gone. Then he heard someone snoring close by, and remembered that he wasn't in Sliverspine anymore: he was back in the Tendo Dojo. He sat up and looked over towards his still-sleeping father, still in panda form. After staring at him silently for a minute, he got up and walked out of the room, surprised to discover that he had awoken before everyone, even Kasumi.
He headed towards the kitchen and started getting some things together to cook for breakfast. That was another of Ranma's talents that no one knew about; Ranma was quite a good cook, having developed it on his training journey (the alternative was die from malnutrition caused by eating nothing but Genma's lousy camp rice), but he never cooked for the Tendos because
A: his father said it wasn't manly (though that had never seemed to stop him eating Ranma's cooking on their journey) and
B: Kasumi always cooked- well, except on those occasions when she was foolish enough to allow Akane into the kitchen.
Normally, Ranma would have woken up to one of Kasumi's delicious (or Akane's toxic) meals. But seeing as how he was up and everyone else was asleep, he decided to cook breakfast himself. He'd had to feed himself in Dalara Peaks, and old habits died hard. Besides, unlike his father he wasn't some good-for-nothing freeloader; Kasumi had enough on her hands dealing with the other tasks involved with running the household, and her family gave her no help at all (well, Akane tried, but she usually ended up making an even worse mess), so he figured he should help out. Cooking breakfast was one way to do so.
When Kasumi woke up, it was to the faint sounds of someone in the kitchen. Naturally, this confused her; it hadn't happened since before her mother died and she was the only one who did anything in the kitchen now. Oh, Akane tried now and then, but she never woke up this early. So who could it be?
Kasumi stepped through the kitchen door with her usual "sneak up on paranoid martial artists" quietness. And blinked in surprise at what she saw: Ranma Saotome, preparing a meal. She watched in stunned silence as Ranma moved quickly and gracefully about the kitchen, doing all the hundreds of little things involved in preparing a meal. Now, Ranma had always been graceful, and there were times, deep down, when Kasumi agreed with Ranma's declaration of Akane being clumsy- compared to him, she was. But Ranma seemed to have gotten even more graceful in the time he'd been gone. Watching him move, Kasumi had a sudden bizarre image of a cherry blossom dancing on the wind.
"Ranma?"
Ranma yelped in shock, sending the plate of food flying into the air. Kasumi gasped, but faster then her eyes could follow Ranma caught the plate and then snatched every single scrap of food from the air, piling it back on the plate. He sighed in relief and then turned to her.
"Oh, it's only you Kasumi. I'm sorry; did I wake you?"
"Oh, no, I didn't know you-"
"Could cook? Oh yeah, I was the one who had to do it for us both on our training journey- Pops can't make much more than camp rice, and we couldn't live on that alone, could we? Besides, we've been freeloading here for over a year now, and it's about time we started doing something to lessen our drain on your finances."
Kasumi was shocked; that was the most articulate speech she had ever had Ranma give. And the contents of that speech were pretty shocking too. Unable to think of anything to say, she simply started helping Ranma set up for their ever-hungry family.
"This is great Kasumi! You've really outdone yourself today."
"Thank you father, but I didn't cook this; Ranma did."
That statement caused a ripple of shock to engulf the entire table, everyone staring at Ranma in shock, except Kasumi, who, like Ranma, ignored their reactions and continued eating. Whilst Genma began berating Ranma, who simply ignored him and began swiping food from Genma's plate faster than the greedy half-panda could defend it, Akane began fuming.
Not only is he a better martial artist, now he's a better cook than me too? RANMA NO BAKA!
Before she could even think about expressing her displeasure, Ranma suddenly glanced towards the clock and shot up.
"Crud, we gotta go- we're going to be late!"
Akane blinked at this sudden series of events, then a glance towards the clock confirmed what Ranma had said. She'd wondered where Nabiki had gone come to think of it.
"Ranma- hey Ranma, wait for me!"
All right, chapter 5 is up and done. I'm very pleased to have had so many positive reviews, especially considering how this is the first real fic I've ever written. In the next chapter, the rest of the NWC finds out about Ranma's return, Happosai starts plotting to achieve the return of Ranma-Chan, Ranma's Manahoars manage to find their way from Otherworld to Nerima and Ranma starts explaining just where he has been and what he's become.