A simple glass flask sat atop the mantle. The glass of the flask was dark
blue in color, but translucent enough so that anyone who lifted it up could see
it clearly contained some sort of liquid. A liquid not unlike water, but they
knew it was not exactly as commonplace as everyday water. The flask was bulbous
in shape, almost completely round save for the long, thin neck that protruded
from the top of the flask's belly. He didn't have to look to know, the top of
the flask was stopped with a simple cork.
"You're staring at it again," his companion spoke, reaching her hand over
to place it gently on his forearm. The touch him out of his daze, and he threw
off his thoughts with an imperceptible shudder, turning to let his deep blue
eyes gaze into his companion's soft brown ones.
"I was thinking," he said simply. After a pause, he added, "Wondering."
"I know," his companion replied empathetically. She didn't just know, she
knew. She was not like those people whom only said they knew in order to
remain polite, or just to make small talk, or just because they had no other
response at their disposal and wanted to avoid an awkward silence. More than
anyone else in the world, she really, truly, knew.
He swallowed thickly, adjusting the position of his arm to return her
favor, gripping her hands in gratitude. "I can't... but I think it's better
this way. I'm... I'm sorry."
"Don't be," she replied, as compassionate as always.
Descendants
(a sequel to Here Comes Neko!)
A Ranma Nibunnoichi fan fiction
by Luna Hinomura
Chapter 6: Sins of the Forefathers
Rain. He liked rain. Hideo never ran to seek shelter when sudden rain
showers surprised the inhabitants of Nerima, Japan. Instead, he would only
pause to take in his surroundings, admire how the world seemed so different, so
changed, when the sky was crying. Then he'd simply continue walking at the same
pace, no more eager to reach his destination than he'd been when he'd started
out.
The world certainly seemed different now. Only moments ago, before the
rain had started, a great number of people had been enjoying themselves in the
park. Hideo had watched for a while, seeing mothers with their young children--
too young to have yet begun to attend school--out on walks, or to play games
with their friends of similar ages. Now, the rain had driven them all away,
leaving Hideo alone to sulk. It mattered little to him; sulking was oft best
done in solitude.
Instead, he simply listened to the rhythm of the rain splattering on the
leaves and tree branches above him, each moment ringing a different beat, no two
ever alike. The tree protected him from the worst brunt of the shower, but this
shower was not the worst he'd ever experienced. He even half-expected it to let
up after only a few minutes. After that, health concerns would drive him to
seek a refuge where he could stop to wring out his waterlogged clothes. It was
no wonder his parents yelled at him all the time for coming home with a shoddy-
looking school uniform. They'd try to explain that they didn't have enough
money to buy him a new uniform, or that it was disrespectful to the school to
show up looking so downtrodden. In the end, all they really cared about was
that Hideo wasn't saving face or earning respect for the Saotome family name.
Who cared about all that crap, anyway?
Using monetary assets as an excuse was laughable. Aunt Nabiki would
certainly give them a loan if ever hey needed it and actually asked for one.
Moreover, she probably wouldn't even care if they paid her back or not. Well...
on paper she would, but under the table she'd mention that their time limit to
pay back the loan, plus any and all interest, was infinite. Heck, she had even
stepped in to be an accountant for the Tendo Dojo several times, always for just
a little bit, when Hideo's mother and father were too busy with other things to
manage it on their own. He remembered it most keenly after his sister Tsukiko
had been born; Aunt Nabiki had come to live with them for a month or so just to
make sure their family income would remain steady and to help baby-sit.
As for saving face, who needed it? Face was for people who cared about
other people more than they cared about themselves. Hideo refused to let other
people's opinions of him change the way he lived his life. A part of him
relished the freedom; other than his family, he didn't have anyone to care for,
and he didn't have anyone who cared for him.
Except for Rie.
Hideo shifted his body on the tree branch he was resting on, wide enough
to hold his weight but too narrow for him to remain there comfortably for an
extended period of time. The embarrassing incident in their homeroom still
plagued him, but he couldn't quite bring himself to apologize to his girlfriend
yet. In time, he would find her and make a heartfelt apology. Hideo felt that
he had conducted himself unsatisfactorily, momentarily letting panic dictate his
actions. He just couldn't bear to know how Rie was going to end her sentence,
what rumors were being spread around the school. It was true that Hideo rarely
cared what others thought of him... save for the one thing that scared him out
of his wits.
Along with the Saotome family name came its family secrets: the curses
that both Hideo's father and grandfather carried. A grown man turning into a
fat panda from a touch of hot water? A teenage boy turning into a girl? The
idea itself was absurd, yet Hideo knew its truth. They were the curses he'd
grown up with, every bit a part of his family as he, his sister, and all his
relatives. Though he was loath to admit it, Hideo resembled his father in that
he feared little and was often overconfident in his abilities--a trait that many
people perceived as unfounded arrogance.
Hideo knew his father's reputation from the stories he'd been told, and at
times was ashamed at the way his father had conducted himself as an adolescent.
Shortly before beginning high school at Furinkan, Hideo had sworn to himself
that he would not allow himself to be subjected to the same ridicule his father
had often endured. He would share nothing more in common with his father than
the bloodline and biological inheritance. None of his overworked ego, none of
his flippant mouth, none of his carelessness, none of his inconsiderate behavior
towards others, and none of his fears. Yet while his father suffered and still
suffered from embarrassing case of ailurophobia (an irrational fear of cats),
Hideo harbored other misgivings. In the deep recesses of his heart, Hideo truly
feared that if these family secrets were revealed to her, Rie would no longer
accept him.
It wasn't as if they had any future plans--who could say they even had a
future together at all? Still, Hideo cared about Rie more than he would admit
to anyone but himself. The self-same fears were what kept him aloof, so that
some sort of distance always existed between the two, whether physical or
communicative. It was the only way Hideo felt he could protect both of them
from hurting each other needlessly.
Even worse, the family secret was only one secret. There was another: his
longtime correspondence with one of his earliest friends, Lan. He liked to call
her Xiao Lan, and sometimes "Little Orchid" as a joke, since that was what her
nickname literally translated to. Little Orchid, because he could never quite
get over the creepy feeling that inevitably followed if he called her Ran-
chan--the Japanese equivalent of "Xiao Lan." It hit too close to home for Hideo,
being eerily similar to his own father's name. Hideo had never told anyone
about his secret Chinese pen-pal; only his parents knew of their letters.
Though the rate at which the letters came and went ranged from sparse to
frequent, they had never broken their ties of friendship with one another.
For some reason, this secret relationship with Lan caused Hideo to feel
guilty at times, though he had nothing to hide from Rie. Still, he did not want
his girlfriend to know about Lan's existence. While Hideo was grateful that Rie
was very trusting in him, he knew that she could also be a very jealous person
at times, but always kept her jealousy unspoken. Despite the separation by land
and water, Hideo's friendship and camaraderie with Lan remained strong
throughout their childhood and even now. Rie was sure to be jealous and
resentful.
Hideo remembered a time, long ago, when his same friendship with Lan had
sparked feelings of jealousy in someone else. He didn't want that to happen
again with Rie.
- - - - -
Noise of a flurry and kicks and punches filled his ears, and for the first
time in a long time, Hideo was enjoying the practice of Martial Arts. Of all
the opponents he'd ever faced, few could match his speed and skill. Even fewer
were of his same age, and now here in a remote village somewhere in China, he
had finally met a worthy challenge.
Two new acquaintances: a girl and a boy, the latter of which he now faced
in a mock battle. From answers to questions he'd asked his parents, he knew the
two to be cousins, both born of longtime friends of theirs. He hadn't asked
more than that.
Hideo understood little Chinese and spoke none, communicating through body
language instead. Using the beauty of his martial arts form, time-tested and
persevering through the ages, he showed them his heritage. When he punched and
the boy he faced blocked, the force of the blow explained how he'd been training
practically since he was born. When he leaned and leapt sideways to dodge a
kick, the flexibility of his body told of how many hours he spent stretching.
The same motions in the other boy's body spoke the same volumes. Hideo
could read them as easily as if he were flipping through the pages of a
children's book. The girl's squeals of glee and single-person clamor of
applause were barely noticeable as Hideo ignored the noise, and concentrated on
reading his opponent's moves. The boy wasn't fighting seriously, only enough to
give them both a good workout. Fair enough, he wouldn't push the sparring match
too hard, either.
It was then that Hideo's young foot hit a stray loose rock, and he
stumbled, forcing his punch to come up too sharp. Unfortunately, before he
could pull back, it connected with the other boy's cheek. The boy fell back
rapidly in surprise, pin-wheeling his arms for balance. In shock, Hideo
realized that his punch had connected harder than he initially realized, and
that it had split the boy's lip. The boy cousin wiped the back of his hand
against his mouth, and stared at his own blood in dumb shock.
Hideo reacted as he felt befittingly: by bowing deeply and apologizing in
Japanese. It was the language of his homeland, and the only language he knew;
he hoped it would be enough. With concern in her voice, the girl called
something at both of them in Chinese, and the boy cousin yelled something back.
The boy cousin fell upon him again then, and Hideo naturally assumed he'd
been forgiven, that they would continue until one of them tired. The dance of
their fight began again, but slowly, something seemed to change. Hideo could
feel the boy cousin's assault pressing harder on him, as if he deliberately
meant to injure rather than to continue their simple friendly sparring match.
Having already accidentally split the boy's lip, Hideo had no wish to
cause more harm to his opponent. He feigned an opening, letting one stray punch
fly through his defenses--exactly what he expected. Instead of being hit, Hideo
reacted to it by turning aside and grabbing the boy's arm. He used the other
boy's power in his follow-through to flip the boy over his head, landing him on
his back, perhaps a little harder than he intended.
The girl cousin shouted something else in Chinese at the two of them, and
ran over, pulling them apart from one another. Hideo backed up immediately at
the expression in her eyes, startled. She looked wounded, as if she were
disappointed in Hideo. She looked as if she had been the one injured, rather
than her cousin.
- - - - -
"I found you," Hideo heard a sing-song voice calling to him, startling him
out of his memory. He almost lost his balance on the tree branch, having been
so deep in reminiscing that he'd forgotten where he was. Trying not to give
away how easily he'd been caught off guard, he looked down nonchalantly, at the
sight of a Rie standing within the shade of the tree he was sitting in.
"Your point?" he asked, still trying to keep up his nonchalant act.
Rie sighed and lowered the umbrella she carried. The rain had all but
stopped, and it was no longer necessary. She looked as if she wanted to roll
her eyes, knowing him too well to believe he'd been aware of her presence all
along. "You're cutting class."
"And so are you," Hideo observed. "Are you here to coax me back?"
Surprisingly, Rie shook her head. "No. I think we both need a break from
other people. We need... time alone, maybe?"
With an easy leap, Hideo landed beside her beneath the tree and took her
into his arms in a gentle embrace. "I like that idea," he said emphatically,
then abruptly sneezed.
"And, you seem to need a doctor."
"I don't-- ACHOOOO!"
Rie pulled herself out of Hideo's reluctant arms. "Come on, we can talk
on the way." She shook out the dress she wore, attempting to dry her school
uniform from the rainwater Hideo had passed onto her when he hugged her.
"You're soaking wet, and you could catch a cold like that. Let's find a nice
dry place nearby and get you something warm to drink."
And just like that, he was forgiven for his outburst that morning, but the
moment was not forgotten. Hideo knew he would have to bring it up again sooner
or later. They walked, hand in hand, as if nothing were wrong, as if they were
the perfect couple. Every couple had its problems, Hideo told himself, some
more complicated than others. Of course, meeting his parents was out of the
question; Hideo didn't want Rie to see his family so soon. But maybe, just
maybe, he could give her a glimpse of what it might be like.
"Come on," he said, grasping Rie's hand a little more tightly, with
confidence. "I want to introduce you to someone."
End of Chapter 6
