FATE
A Ranma1/2 fanfic by PansutoTarou5925
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Disclaimer to follow at end of chapter
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"So where are we going on this date?" Chiyeko said, still slightly
puffy-faced from crying.
"Just over to the Ucchan's," Atasuke said. "I don't think either of
us are really in the mood for anything fancy today."
"You mean that I'm not in the mood for anything fancy today,"
Chiyeko sniffed. "In which case you're right. Okonomiyaki it is."
She looked at Atasuke slyly. "I had thought I drained your
allowance dry, pervert."
Atasuke winced. "Well, our parents - feels weird to include Hild in
that - decided to be nice and give us a break."
"They just don't want us to see them get drunk," she grumbled,
kicking a soda can left in the gutter. It clattered along the pavement
for a bit. "My mom, I mean, my dad, gets totally plastered." She
frowned and stepped loudly on the can, crushing it.
"It must be very strange, this situation," Atasuke said, adjusting his
glasses unconsciously. "But I got used to Principal Ninomiya, so I
feel that we can both adjust to the curse your, er, father is under."
"You aren't related to Ninomiya-san," Chiyeko said darkly. "And
that's not the only weird thing."
"Well, you've never met my grandmother, but I know about being
related to weird people," Atasuke said, "So-"
"Just be quiet. I'm in my own little personal hell, leave me alone,"
Chiyeko said, stepping away from her fiancee. Idly she wondered if
she actually had her own personal hell, or if she had to share one
with all the other demons. The thought brought a smile to her face.
The meowing of a cat brought another. "A cat," she said warmly.
"I've seen this cat before. Mom sometimes feeds it when she finds it
behind the house." Atasuke walked up to the stray slowly. "Here,
kitty."
Meowing softly again, the cat walked hesitantly over to the two
teenagers before rubbing itself up against Atasuke's leg. Chiyeko
crouched down and rubbed its fur. "I always wanted a pet cat."
"And you couldn't get one because you were always moving?" he
said sympathetically.
"No, because when I brought a stray kitten I found back to our
camp once my mother screamed and ran through a tree. She's
deathly afraid of cats; won't let me near them."
"She ran through a tree?"
"Yeah, she's deathly afraid of cats. Never told me why, too - she
just forbade me from ever bringing a cat near her again." Chiyeko
rubbed the cats chin and giggled when it turned over and started
batting at her hand. "You're such a cute kitty," she cooed. "Yes
you are!"
"You know, nowadays they have very good desensitization
programs. I'm sure my father could put Ranma in touch with
someone who could help her with her fear of cats."
"Desensitization... don't they have to show the person what they're
afraid of?"
"Yes, I think so."
"You don't want to even suggest going near a cat to my father,"
Chiyeko said.
Atasuke thought about how frightening an angry Ranma could be.
"You're right, I don't." He considered the cat for a few moments.
"Do we want to bring this cat back and let it find Ranma?"
Chiyeko turned ashen white. "NO. No you do not."
"That bad?"
"Worse."
"Then I suppose I'll forget about it," Atasuke said, and Chiyeko put
down the cat.
The two walked some time in silence, until the Ucchan's was in
sight. "You know, my grandmother told me that my father had
dated Ukyo, back when she was a boy." She shook her head. "That
sounds SO wrong, I can't even process it. I've learned so much
about myself lately that I think I'm going to snap and stare at the
ceiling like a vegetable."
They walked into the Ucchan's, which was only half-full owing to
the hour. "Hey there!" the proprietor said, seeing Chiyeko and
Atasuke as they entered. "What can I do for you?"
Chiyeko held up her hands. "I need to wash up," she said, and got
pointed back to the restroom.
"A pork okonomiyaki," Atasuke said, and sat down at the counter.
He looked seriously at the two. "Chiyeko-chan learned the truth
about Ranma."
Both Ukyo and Konatsu froze. "So he finally told her?"
"'He'?" Atasuke asked with a smirk.
"Ranma will always be a 'he' to people who've known him a long
time, even if the Amazons force him to live out his life as a
woman," Ukyo said. "But I'm sure it's caused Chiyeko no end of
confusion."
"It has. I was wondering - do you have pictures of Ranma, back
before this curse of hers was locked?" he asked. "It might help
Chiyeko a lot if she sees some photos of her father as a boy.
Especially if Ranma still looks like Ranma."
"You're right. And I do have some photos from when we went to
Furinkan; I'll go get them," Uyko said, then turned to Konatsu.
"Watch the store for me, OK?"
The effeminate ninja bowed and took her place behind the counter.
Atasuke had always been disturbed by the transvestite; his finely-
tuned pervert senses told him that this was no woman, yet Konatsu
was, objectively speaking, one of the top five hottest 'women' in
Nerima... or had been up until Hild and Ranma moved into the area.
Possibly lower if Urd was going to be around...
However, he had no time for such pleasant distractions, and
reached into his pocket for the note he had quickly scribbled, and
slid across the counter. Konatsu pocketed it without even giving
any other acknowledgement that he had noticed its existence.
Chiyeko reappeared at that very moment. "Hey, where's Ukyo?"
"She went upstairs, Saotome-san," Konatsu said. "I'll handle your
order."
"Beef okonomiyaki, then," she replied, and sat down next to
Atasuke. She watched Konatsu cook her food for a while, and
found herself wondering who would be more confused; she herself,
having a boy turned girl being her primary female role model, or
some hypothetical child of Konatsu's and Ukyo's, the two biggest
cross-dressers in Nerima.
"Deep thoughts?" Konatsu asked, seeing her distant expression.
"Not really," she replied.
"I found them!" Ukyo said, waving a handful of pictures in the air
and holding an album under her arm.
"Found what?" Chiyeko asked.
"Photos of your father," Konatsu answered, and flipped their
okonomiyaki onto plates and shoved them across.
"I've seen photos of my father before," Chiyeko said. "I mean, back
when he was a man." That statement earned her a few odd looks
from the other patrons. "My grandmother showed me one or two
before."
"I have a lot more, though," Ukyo said, and spread them all across
the table. "Nabiki took lots of - oops," she said, seeing one photo
that she did not want other people to see, and whipped it off the
counter.
"What was that photo of, Ukyo-san?" Konatsu asked innocently.
"None of your business," Ukyo said, blushing.
"I'm curious now, let me see," Chiyeko said with a devious smirk.
"Yes, Ukyo, let us see," Konatsu said.
"You really don't want to see this photo. Trust me," Ukyo said.
"I bet it's a dirty photo," Chiyeko said. "Blackmail material."
"Perhaps we should just look at the other photos," Atasuke offered,
recognizing the signs of typical Nerima chaos brewing. He opened
up the album at random and saw a black-haired boy beating the hell
out of someone who looked a lot like a younger Kuno-sensei. He
pointed to it. "Isn't this Kuno-sensei? This makes better blackmail
material than Ukyo's photo, I think."
Distracted, Chiyeko looked at it and laughed. "It is that poetry-
spouting idiot! And that's my father, sure enough. I wonder what
Kuno did to get him angry."
"Kuno was infatuated with your father's cursed body," Ukyo said,
causing Chiyeko to laugh even louder.
"But she's just got to be the dorkiest tomboy in the world! I mean,
Dad is about the least feminine woman in the world..."
"The only other girl Kuno ever expressed interest in was Atasuke's
aunt, Akane," Ukyo said.
"He chased after Akane?" Atasuke said, flatly amazed. "Keep
talking, this is getting better and better."
"Nothing could keep Kuno away from those two, except for severe
blunt trauma." Ukyo shook her head. "I guess I should count my
blessings that he never developed a crush on me." She then pulled
out some more photos.
"Who's this?" Chiyeko asked, pointing to a purple haired girl.
"That's Shampoo, and she's the reason your father is stuck as a
girl," Ukyo said coldly. A certain silence fell over the group. The
Amazons had hurt them all, in their different ways, when Ranma's
curse was locked. The two teenagers ate in silence for a while,
alone to their thoughts for a spell.
"So this is the face of the enemy," Chiyeko said, laying her
chopsticks down and picking up the photo. Her voice had an edge
to it Atasuke hadn't heard since she caught him taping her in the
bathroom.
"You didn't sound this angry about the Amazons before," Atasuke
said.
"That was before I knew just how messed up my life was, thanks to
Mom's curse. I mean my father's curse. You see what I mean?" she
said, waving the photograph. "This person is to blame. She and
all the other Amazons. If it weren't for them, I'd have had a normal
life." Even as she said it, she knew that wasn't true, but she didn't
care. She finally had a target to focus all her confusion and stress
on. Someone to blame, that wasn't someone she loved. An
unhealthy green glow started for form around her, and Atasuke
almost thought he saw the red dots on her cheeks glow.
"Now, now, sugar," Ukyo said, sweating. She started making
calming motions with her hands. "Let's not blow up my shop now,
OK? I had enough of that from Ryoga back when he was your
age."
"And the insurance company almost has the Ucchan's condemned
for all the 'gas leaks' we had," Konatsu quipped. "The only reason
they didn't was because this was Nerima, after all.."
Chiyeko carefully suppressed her power, bringing it back down
slowly. She gave Ukyo back her photo. "I'm sorry, Kuonji-san, I
seem to have singed it a bit," she said sheepishly. She turned to
Atasuke. "C'mon, let's go back home."
With a wave to Ukyo and Konatsu, the two left the Ucchan's and
headed back to the Tendo Dojo.
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Back at the Tendo home, the party was in full swing, and the
primary victims - Ranma and Kasumi - were completely plastered.
After enough sake, Hild and Nabiki had managed to get Ranma to
change into a skimpy Chinese dress, which she had bought with
Chiyeko earlier that day expressly for this purpose. At the moment,
Ranma and Kasumi were singing karaoke together, off key and with
words missing as they both broke into giggles, while Nabiki and
Hild clapped and laughed. (Tofu was a quiet drunk.)
They were being loud enough that none of them heard who was
banging on the front door, nor did they notice the front door open.
In fact, Akane could have probably changed into a chicken suit, set
it on fire, and run around the yard without the five of them noticing.
However, she didn't do that. Instead, her face turned red as she
walked over and pulled the plug on the karaoke machine. "I don't
believe this!" Akane yelled. "I live right up the street and you didn't
even invite me over! I haven't talked to Nabiki in a month!"
A slightly tipsy Nabiki leaned over and looked at Akane. "There is
this amazing invention, the telephone-"
"It's no substitute for being with your family," Akane insisted.
Kasumi laughed drunkenly and dropped her microphone, and
knocked some plates aside on the table in front of Akane. "Stay
there, dear sister. I think I've got some cake left in the kitchen for
you," Behind her, Hild pulled the totally smashed Ranma back over
and tried to sit her down; but instead, Ranma fell into her lap. Still
giggling, Ranma tried to kiss Hild but missed, then fell back onto
the floor.
"You know, Akane, we were having a fun time listening to them
sing before you killed the karaoke machine," Hild said with a flat
stare.
Akane turned visibly red again, and Hild smirked, before she
managed to rein in her temper. "All you do is embarrass him and
get him drunk or in trouble, Hild. I don't understand why Ranma
chose you," Akane said. "If-"
"Not one more word," Tofu said suddenly, having a notion of what
Akane was about to say.
The youngest Tendo daughter visibly deflated; she knew she had
almost let her temper get the best of her. She swallowed, knelt, and
bowed to Ranma and Hild. "I'm sorry. I've had a stressful day and
let my anger get away with me."
"Apology accepted," Hild said with an almost disappointed
expression.
"The little brats had you seeing red again?" Nabiki said smartly.
Akane taught gym and also the sole drama class at Kolkhoz High
School, and never stopped complaining about
Akane fumed, at something other than Hild this time. "Those little
hellions. They're worse than Kunos."
"Nothin' worse than Kunos," Ranma said drunkenly from the floor.
"Kodachi's son is in that class," Akane said neutrally, "and he's the
least annoying child in it."
Kasumi returned and put some tea and cake in front of Akane
before sitting down next to Tofu. "There you go, little sister,"
Kasumi said gently.
"Thank you," Akane said. She sighed deeply, took a sip of tea, and
then turned to Kasumi. "So, is it all right if I stay here for the night?
We're all assembling tomorrow for the trip to China anyways, and
it'll save me a trip,"
"But Akane," Nabiki said, smirking. "I thought you lived just up the
street!"
"Shut up, Nabiki," Akane said irritably.
"Sure, little sister, you can sleep over tonight. Just fold down the
couch in the den." Which had been Happousai's room, before he
died, and had only become the den after an exorcism and
fumigation.
"Speaking of sleeping," Hild said, with a certain gleam in her eyes,
"I need to talk to Ranma here before I put her to bed."
The other adults (except for Akane, who gave Hild a dirty look)
laughed and waved the two to their guest room. "I'll keep Chiyeko
out of there, don't worry," Nabiki said.
"Perverts, all of you," Akane said under her breath. Louder: "I'll
keep Atasuke occupied, too." Hild, for her part, dragged a dead-
weight Ranma up the stairs.
"It's not his room," Kasumi said, still drunk and not making the
connection. The other three shared a look of understanding, though
- Atasuke was a pervert, and would try to peek at the likely
activities in the guest room if he had an inkling of what was going
on there.
"We're home!" Atasuke and Chiyeko said cheerfully. The two
walked into the room, Chiyeko looking much cheerier than she had
been. Atasuke also looked fairly cheery, and had a fading handprint
on one cheek.
"Aunt Akane! - and Nabiki!" Atasuke said.
"Why do you always mention me last?" Nabiki groused. "I'm going
to start taking that out of your presents, you know."
"He says your name last because he knows I'll beat him up," Akane
said. She looked at Chiyeko speculatively. "Hey, Chiyeko, are you
as bad as Ranma is at cards?"
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Meanwhile, in the guest room, a drunken Ranma was lying like a
sack of potatos on top of her futon, with Hild sitting down next to
her. Blearily, Ranma looked up at her and frowned. "I don't like
being a girl. Let's wait a few weeks... I'll be a man again soon,
Hild-chan," Ranma said, remarkably clearly for her state of
drunkenness.
"I didn't bring you up here for that," Hild said smoothly. "I told
Chiyeko a secret about my side of the family I'd not told either of
you, and I-"
"Ish about the ki, right?" Ranma said. "And the shrooms..."
Hild sweated. What the hell was Ranma talking about?
"I know you ate the shrooms and had Urd, Hild. I talked to Skuld...
I'm no dummy," Ranma said, then screwed up her face, thinking
she had ordered that wrong, but being a bit too toasted to tell.
"What the hell are you going on about, Ranma-chan?" Hild said,
irritably wondering what was causing Ranma to spout such
weirdness. Scratch that; she knew what caused that - Skuld. She
made a mental note to cause Skuld trouble in the near future. That
still left the question of what, exactly, the youngest Norn had told
her mortal lover.
"Urd, Urd is your daughter," Ranma said, "your other daughter.
The older one. She looks older than you and looks lots like
Chiyeko-chan. Couldn't have had her... you look yoo young,"
Ranma said, eliciting an unseen smile from Chiyeko. "You must
have eaten the age-reducing mushrooms. But I don't mind, Hild, I
still love you anyways," Ranma said, burying her face in Hild's
stomach with an off-balance hug.
Hild levered Ranma up a bit more and hugged Ranma right back.
Inwardly, she was a bit nervous, but the second she realized that
and why, she smashed it back down. 'You're the Daimakochou, the
leader of all the demons,' she told herself. 'If you lose the love of a
mortal, it's nothing.' But still, Ranma deserved to know the truth. If
it weren't for Chiyeko, she'd leave him in the dark in a heartbeat.
The girl was as much Ranma's daughter as her own, though.
"Ranma, that's not true. I didn't take any age reducing
mushrooms," she said, looking Ranma in the eyes.
"Oh yeah?" Ranma slurred, curious, and poured out of Hild's grip a
bit..
"I'm really that old," Hild said. "You see, I'm not fully human."
Ranma smiled where she was, half buried in Hild's chest. "Mff," she
said, her voice muffled, then: "You must be an angel, then," Ranma
said, giggling, obviously not taking it seriously.
The sheer absurdity of being called an angel made Hild laugh out
loud, joined by Ranma's drunken giggles.
Hild let go of Ranma, who immediately flopped back until her head
hit her pillow. "Not quite. I am the Daimakochou Hild, leader of
Nifelheim, home of the demons."
Ranma started giggling again, then slowed to a stop as she saw
Hild's face. "Seriously?" Ranma asked.
Hild nodded solemnly. "I had to tell Chiyeko of her heritage. I
didn't think I should keep things from you any longer."
Ranma tensed up. Hild could practically see any number of angry
statements floating behind Ranma's eyes, and just as obviously, the
alcohol was defeating attempts to marshall a serious response.
"Well talk about it in the morning, Ranma-chan," Hild said, and
kissed Ranma on the head, then laid herself down beside the
redhead.
Ranma looked at Hild, unasked questions and a hint of fear on her
face, then turned over, so her back faced Hild.
Hild sniffed as well, and turned over, her back to Ranma's. A tear
washed down her face, one tear alone: she had hoped it would have
gone better, even if she feared it would be worse.
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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: IT LIVES!