A Ranma1/2 fanfic by PansutoTarou5925
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Disclaimer to follow at end of chapter
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Chiyeko Saotome was in a deep fog, a place distant from sex-
changed fathers, secret-pervert fiances, and boring, uninteresting
schools headed by chi vampires. It was a comfortable place, a place
where she was, if not a normal girl, at least a girl, and not...
whatever the hell she was.
It was a very comfortable place for her, which is why she was so
resistant to being woken up from it.
"Chiyeko!" Hild said anxiously, slapping the girl lightly. "Wake
up!"
"So this girl is my sister? I mean half-sister, like my other sisters?"
Urd asked, having been clued in by Sifu on the true state of things
while they dragged the unconscious girl over to a table in the food
court.
"Yes, Urd-chan, she's your sister," Hild said, and glared at Urd.
"And she's been much friendlier to me, even when she didn't
know I was her mother. What's your excuse?"
Urd scratched her ear. "I think it has something to do with you
stealing the All-Father's intellectual property and setting up a
competing organization well back before the beginning of time.
You know, the whole heaven and hell thing."
"Don't bring your father into this," Hild said, slightly annoyed.
Sifu looked at her friend/rival. "I think she's just had a few too
many shocks to the system lately, Hild-san."
The Daimakaicho nodded. "I see. So Ranma told her, finally. I was
wondering when he was going to do that." She clapped her hands.
"It's so nice to have someone call me mother, finally." Hild glared
daggers again at Urd, who returned the look this time.
'It's scary how similar they are,' Sifu thought. It was strangely
reassuring to her that a heavenly goddess was more similar to
Nifelheim's head demon than another demon was. It meant her
assignment of keeping an eye on Chiyeko's doings would probably
be fairly uneventful. She shook Chiyeko some. "Hey, wake up."
"I've studied it already," Chiyeko protested weakly, before opening
her eyes. "Hey, this isn't a class..." Remembering what had
happened, she then joined Urd in glaring at their mother.
Hild's glance immediately faltered under this newest glare. "What?"
"I can understand my, er, father hiding something from me. It
would be kinda hard to explain to a little kid, though I don't know
why she didn't tell me earlier." She hardened her glare at Hild a bit.
"You were hiding what I am from me!"
"Do you even know what you are?" Hild asked, quirking an
eyebrow.
"No! And that's the point!" Chiyeko snapped. She took the ribbon
that she kept wrapped around her head off, displaying the red
trapezoid on her forehead that she usually kept hidden. "What the
hell is this, and what does it mean?"
Hild looked coolly at Chiyeko for a few moments. "Chiyeko, my
daughter, it means that you are..." She breathed deeply, not
knowing how this would be taken, "a demoness."
Chiyeko's breath stopped. Then, very deliberately, so she didn't
scream it out loud and alert the whole mall: "I'm a what?"
"A demoness, just like me," Hild said calmly.
"Uh huh," Chiyeko said, drumming her fingers on the table. "Right.
Like I'm supposed to believe that." She pointed to Urd and Sifu.
"And I suppose they're some other bunch of demons, then?"
"Actually, we're goddesses," Sifu said quietly.
"I'm half-demoness myself, just to be accurate," Urd added. "But
I'm licensed with heaven."
"So, like, I'm from hell?" Chiyeko asked. She looked rather
unconvinced.
"No, Nifelheim, actually," Hild said.
"And I'm supposed to believe this, how?" Chiyeko asked.
"Urd-chan," Hild said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "Could you just
wait here a minute? I need to bring Chiyeko to the little girls'
room."
Urd gave her a fishy look. "You're going to alert every two bit
demon hunter in Tokyo, you know." Hild shrugged and got up.
"Follow me," she told Chiyeko, who got up and followed her with a
mulish expression on her face.
"What's going on?" Sifu asked. "How's she going to prove that to
Chiyeko?"
Urd slouched forward onto the table, leaning her face against one
palm and drawing circles on the tabletop with one fingernail. "She's
going to open up a gate to Nifelheim and give her a tour, of
course."
Sifu's eyes widened. "That's insane! A gate to Nifelheim, here?
That would take... well, I guess she is the Daimakaicho..."
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The very subdued girl who returned with Hild didn't resemble the
angry and confused one who left with her. The fight had gone out
of Chiyeko, it seemed. "I guess I should believe her," Chiyeko
mumbled as the demonic duo returned to the table. "Does this mean
we have to fight each other now or something? I mean, like we
used to?"
"No, no," Hild said, waving her hands. "Only if we have another
war. And that's unlikely because of the doublet system?"
"The doublet system?" Chiyeko said, lost again.
"It's a system Father and Hild came up with to prevent another war
between the gods and the demons. Every god or goddess," Urd
indicated Sifu and herself, "is matched up with a particular demon
or demoness." She pointed to Hild and Chiyeko. "If one is killed,
the other dies too."
Chiyeko's eyes bugged out. "You mean if some person who I don't
even know dies, I die too? That really sucks!"
"The whole idea is that you don't know," Hild said, continuing the
lesson. "That way, there's no temptation to kill anyone on the other
side. And besides, it only applies if your opposite number is killed
by another god or demon."
"Oh," Chiyeko said, still somewhat confused, but unwilling to show
it.
"Now that you know the truth, I can teach you how to use your
powers. Better than your father did, though I'm impressed that
Ranma was able to adapt his chi techniques to your pishogue," Hild
said.
"My what?" Chiyeko said, irritated at all the new things about
herself she was learning lately.
"Mortals have chi, gods have mana, demons have pishogue," Sifu
said. "They're pretty similar but there's some differences. Chi can't
be used to perform magic, for instance, but you and I could."
"Magic?" Chiyeko said. "Like turning-my-father-into-a-girl magic?"
"Correct," Hild said, "although the magic used on Ranma was of a
divine pattern, so I can't do anything about it."
Completely lost, Chiyeko just shook her head and then laid it down
on the table.. "Whatever. I don't even want to think about this
stuff. I don't want anything weird or unusual said around me today.
I"ve maxed out my weirdness for the day." She looked up and
smiled. "So, I hear you're my sister. Got any fashion tips? Sifu and
I have some money to burn."
"Sure thing, kid," Urd said, ruffling Chiyeko's hair.
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The money Skuld gave them didn't last too long, not with Urd and
Hild helping the two pick out clothes, although the outfits the two
had chosen were the tamest of the ones the older goddess and
demoness had selected. They had rather... daring tastes. Too daring
for Sifu, and Chiyeko only picked one of them up because she felt
like causing her father some grief tonight.
Hild had paid for an exact matching set in Ranma's size, and had
made suggestions to her daughter on how to trap Ranma into
wearing it. The two had enjoyed a brief evil chuckle before
rejoining the other two.
"It was nice meeting you, and thanks for your help," Chiyeko said
as Urd and Skuld left to go to Sifu's apartment.
"Think nothing of it, kid," Urd said. "That magic on your father
was divine in origin, right?" Hild nodded. "You should send him by
Nekomi sometime; perhaps Bell and I can figure it out."
Sifu just waved and walked off, a smile on her face.
"Well, that was interesting," Chiyeko said after they were gone. "I
suppose I'll go back to the Tendo dojo." She looked at Hild
curiously. "But where are you staying, Mom?"
She was immediately enveloped in another bone-crushing hug.
"You called me mother!" she said happily as her daughter dropped
her bags of clothes and struggled to escape.
After a few seconds Chiyeko managed to get loose and gasped for
breath. "What's the big deal?" Chiyeko said angrily.
"Urd never called me 'mother' or 'mom'," Hild said sadly.
"What!" Chiyeko said. "Sister or not, I'm gonna clobber her!" She
balled up her fists in anger.
Hild patted her on the shoulder. "Now, now - Urd has her reasons
for doing that. I don't think they're right, now, but..."
"That doesn't change what's right!" Chiyeko said, crossing her
arms. She then remembered she had dropped her bags and picked
them up.
They walked alongside in silence for a while. "Anyways, in
response to your earlier question, I'll probably be staying at the
Tendo Dojo tonight, along with your father. I haven't seen Ranma
in a while," Hild said, as they approached the dojo.
"Oh, OK," Chiyeko said, not really thinking about it. Her earlier
good mood from shopping having worn off and her underlying
stress and confusion coming to the surface. She said the usual
introductions to Kasumi robotically when the door opened.
"Oh, hello Hild," Kasumi said, noticing the other visitor, who
waved.
"It's been a long time, Kasumi," Hild said cheerfully, then got a
devious glint after Chiyeko shuffled off to the house. "Is Nabiki still
in town?" Trying to corrupt Kasumi was something of a hobby for
her, and the middle Tendo sister was an excellent unintentional
partner in crime when making those attempts.
"Ah, perhaps it would be better if we didn't call her," Kasumi said.
She remembered the last time Hild had visited, and she had
accompanied Hild, Nabiki, and some blonde associate of Hild's.
Her hazy memories of banging on a temple bell in her underwear
and the very vidid memory of a five-alarm hangover the next day
were in the forefront of her mind.
Hild smirked knowingly. "Well, perhaps we can get Ranma to come
instead," she said, sounding thoughftul.
Kasumi's eyes glinted in amusement. "That seems like a good
idea," she said, feeling devious. Ranma had an even worse alcohol
tolerance than she did, so the evening would probably be cut short.
At the very least, Ranma would be the one doing embarassing
things. As an added precaution... "Actually, I have a few bottles of
good sake here. We could just stay here."
Hild shrugged. "I suppose," she said, not caring where she got
Kasumi to get drunk and do silly things. As a bonus, she might get
Ranma to do silly things as well. She might have a soft spot for
Ranma - he had such a delightfully storng mixture of pride,
confidence, and repressed anger, and was loyal and looked good to
boot - but that didn't preclude her from having a little mischief with
the cursed martial artist from time to time. Besides, a little alcohol
might help Ranma accept the news that neither she nor Chiyeko
were human. "Ranma is about your size, right?"
Kasumi nodded. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, nothing," Hild said, smiling widely.
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Chiyeko walked right into the Tendo home, and ran into Ranma,
who was coming out of the kitchen looking rather energized. "Hey,
you're back," Ranma said, smiling. "I got back from your friend's
place a while ago, where were you? Shopping?" Ranma asked,
seeing the bags. She grinned, having gotten to skip out on that.
"Hi... dad..." Chiyeko said, still having to remember to call Ranma
'father' and not 'mother'.
"You want to spar? I've got Atasuke doing some training in the
dojo right now, he won't be done for at least half an hour."
"No thanks," Chiyeko mumbled, and shouldered aside Ranma on
her way up the stairs. "I don't feel like it."
Ranma watched her daughter walk leadenly up the stairs and
sighed. "I suppose she's had a lot to think about lately," Ranma
said quietly, and then headed back out to the dojo.
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Atasuke Ono was currently very sore, very tired, and had his arms
covered in small burns. He was also very happy: after a lot of very
painful practice, he had mastered the Amaguriken, and he felt that
it, combined with the pressure points his father had taught him,
meant that he was finally a match for his old sensei, his aunt Akane.
"Feeling good about yourself?" Ranma asked, smiling. She had lost
a lot due to the Amazons - the satisfaction of teaching students
being one of them. She'd only had the chance to teach a very small
number of people the martial arts - mostly Chiyeko, though she had
taught Nabiki some self-defense courses when the middle Tendo
daughter was in college, and some friends of Hild's who had
wanted a few pointers. Still, there wasn't anything quite like the
feeling when a student mastered a difficult technique.
Atasuke nodded. "I've got some ideas for how to make this better,"
he said.
"Oh, really?" Ranma said, smirking. She'd thought up several
improvements and modified versions of most of her techniques; it
was something of a specialty of hers. Even Chiyeko hadn't seen the
majority of her techniques... then again, she was saving them for the
Amazons. "You'll have to show me some time."
"I will do that," he said, then adjusted his eyeglasses. "I heard you
are going to China."
"That's right," Ranma said.
"I'm going with you," he said with determination. "I've learned a
lot from you, and Chiyeko is going-"
"No," Ranma said, firmly. "You might have managed to learn the
Amaguriken, and you've come a long way in a short time in terms
of skill. But your stamina stinks. Chiyeko told me about your little
roofhopping trip with her to the video store, and you were winded
by it."
He balled his fists at his side. "I'll get better in time. It'll take at
least two weeks to get there, and you aren't even leaving for almost
a week."
"No, and that's final," Ranma said sternly, then softened.
"Honestly, I believe you, and - please don't tell Akane this - I think
you'd be better than she is when we arrived. This isn't my decision,
and it's not your decision to make. Your mother and father made it
for you. No going to China for you."
Atasuke grumbled and looked away.
"I have a favor to ask of you, actually," Ranma said. "Chiyeko
seems very depressed, and I don't think my talking to her would be
much of a help right now." Atasuke looked back at Ranma. "Go to
her and cheer her up. She's your fiancee." She slapped him on the
shoulder.
"I guess I can do that," he said, and trotted off with a smile, as
Ranma started cleaning up the dojo.
A few minutes later, Hild was at the door, waving a bottle of sake.
"Oh loverboy!" Hils sang out. "We called over Nabiki, come on
inside."
Ranma blushed. "No thanks, alcohol and I don't mix."
"I have several memories that suggest otherwise," Hild said,
smirking. "You had better come, to make sure I don't share them."
"Blackmailer!" Ranma cried, shaking a fist in pretended anger as
she headed towards Hild. "Spreading lies and trouble!"
"Stop that, you're making me blush," Hild said with a smile. She
grabbed Ranma as she walked by, and spun her around and pinned
her against the doorframe.
"What?" Ranma asked, just before Hild kissed her, and her eyes
widened until they were the size of dinner plates. She then looked
around when Hild backed off. "What if someone saw us?"
"So what? You know you liked it," Hild said with a wink. She
waved the bottle again. "Didn't even need any sake this time for
you to return it."
"I'll be a man again soon enough, Hild," Ranma said, seriously,
then blushed as she realized what she was basically telling Hild.
"Is that a promise?" Hild said, smirking.
Ranma just scratched the back of her head and looked sheepish. "I
ain't saying nothing," she said roughly. "C'mon, I want to talk to
Nabiki too."
Hild smirked again, where Ranma couldn't see. Both Kasumi and
Ranma. This would be a fun night.
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Atasuke stopped in front of the guest room and crouched down,
making sure that his mother wasn't around to mistake his action for
peeping, and listened. If Chiyeko was crying, he really didn't know
what he'd do, but there was only silence, so...
He smoothly and quietly opened the sliding door, as if on a panty
raid. Only the glint of light from his glasses ruined the pure
stealthiness of his entry; that and the fact that he had just crept into
a well-lit room. He closed the door just as silently, walked silently
over to Chiyeko's side. She was balled up on the futon and holding
the blanket over her head.
He took his eyeglasses off and wiped them briefly, before putting
them back on. Yes, completely undetected. He prided himself on
that for a moment, then thought about what to do for a few
seconds.
Chiyeko was upset. About what, he didn't know, but it was
probably something silly. He should probably just distract her from
her troubles. He smiled. He had just the thing.
Still moving silently, he crept over to the guest room dresser and
pulled out one of Chiyeko's bras. While he had promised Ranma
not to pilfer any more underwear, he rationalized that this wasn't
stealing, nor even 'borrowing', as he didn't plan to take it out of
the room. Closing the drawer, he then walked over, not bothering
to be stealthy, and sat down near her head.
"You have good taste," Atasuke said loudly. "Much better than
your mother, at any rate. You'd swear she was a man, or
something," he continued, remembering how Chiyeko liked to
insult Ranma's unfeminine nature.
"She's not my mother, and she is a man," Chiyeko said, her voice
muffled from being under the blanket. She sat up, her face all tear-
streaked. "And give me back that bra, you pervert," she said
angrily, snatching the piece of underwear away from him.
Atasuke scratched his head. "Ranma isn't your mother?" Atasuke
said, confused. It took Chiyeko a few minutes to remember that he
hadn't been there for the whole 'Ranma is my father' revelation.
"No, it's kind of complicated... Ranma is my father, and Hild is my
mother, and the Amazons did something to keep her.. him... stuck
as a girl."
"Oh," Atasuke said, sweating. This was a bit more than he was
prepared for. "That's very... um..."
"Weird," Chiyeko said, then got angrier. "It's always weird!
There's always some sort of strange thing going on in my life!" She
broke down in tears and hid herself under the blanket again. "I just
want to be a normal girl, for just a little while, and I can't even have
that."
Atasuke sat there in silence for a while, not certain what to do or
say, listening to Chiyeko sob. He was feeling a little angry himself,
but for a different reason. Earlier, he had been all excited and ready
to go to China, to participate in one of the big martial arts
adventures his parents and aunts had told him about. He had
wanted to do something exciting and weird his whole life, and he
was being denied that, just like Chiyeko was being denied a chance
to be normal and boring for once.
He made two quick decisions. First, he was going to China whether
his parents allowed it or not.
Two, he needed some money. "I'll be back in a minute," Atasuke
promised.
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He returned downstairs to find that the sake was flowing freely
among the adults. Nabiki would certainly advance him the money,
but he didn't feel like being up to his eyeglasses in debt, so he tried
his parents first. "Mother," he said, knowing exactly who had the
power of the purse in the house, "can I have some money?"
"What for?" Kasumi asked, feeling slightly buzzed already.
"I just want to take Chiyeko out tonight," he said honestly. He
figured that a normal, boring, hopefully not-interrupted-by-insane-
martial-artists date would probably cheer Chiyeko up.
"Now, Atasuke, your father and I expect you to stay within your
allowance-" she started, but was cut off by Nabiki.
"Five percent interest," Nabiki said, "as much money as you need."
She smirked.
"Nabiki!" Kasumi said, angrily.
"Perhaps we ought to give him some money," Tofu said. "After all,
Chiyeko has been having a stressful last few days." Kasumi seemed
to think it over.
"I'd be very grateful," Atasuke said, bowing deeply.
His mother frowned. "I don't know..."
He was rescued from an unexpected source, as Hild pushed a wad
of yen on him. "Go ahead, have fun. I got her a nice new outfit
tonight, see if you can get her to wear it. Just don't do anything...
naughty," Hild said, winking. "I'll know." She had set up the
Nifelheim computer to automatically alert her anytime someone did
anything 'bad' to Chiyeko, after all. Such persons would get special
attention when they die... assuming that they didn't go to heaven.
"Thank you," he said, bowing again, before leaving.
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DISCLAIMER: Ranma ½ is the property of Rumiko Takahashi,
Shonen Sunday, Viz, and other parties; I make no claims of
ownership of any of the intellectual or other properties pertaining to
it. Oh! My Goddess belongs to Kosuke Fujishima, Studio Proteus,
Dark Horse, and other parties, and I make no claims of ownership
of any of the intellectual or other properties pertaining to it, either.
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Author's Note: Again short, but moving along nicely, no?