FATE
A Ranma1/2 fanfic by PansutoTarou5925
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Disclaimer to follow at end of chapter
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Atasuke sweated heavily. It was quite easy to understand why.
Apart from Konatsu, everyone had been very insistent on his remaining behind. The fight with the Amazons had a high chance of going sour and he was horribly out of his depth fighting at that level. China was far too dangerous for him. The adults looked tremendously irritated that he'd tagged along.
Oddly enough, the only ones who didn't look annoyed were Hild and Ranma. He understood why Hild wasn't annoyed - she was taking great pleasure in his troubles - but Ranma seemed almost... approving?
"Now arriving at Nekomi station," a voice announced over the intercom.
"That's our stop," Ranma said.
"We're picking someone up here?" Ukyo asked.
"No, catching a plane, Ukyo-sama," Konatsu corrected. "I have the tickets."
"Wouldn't it have been easier to just fly out of Toyko itself?" The short train ride had confused everyone.
"Get real," Ranma said, "I couldn't afford to buy everyone place tickets on JAL or something," she explained. "but I've made friends over the years. Non-martial arts types. We're hitching a ride on a cargo plane. They're flying from here to Shanghai."
"I see," Ukyo said, sweatdropping. "First class all the way."
Ranma easily lifted P-chan up as if he were a pet, and walked off the train with the rest of them. Once they were in the station she handed Ryoga to Atasuke, who grunted slightly as he caught the pig. "Can you take P-chan here to the men's room?" Ranma asked. "Konatsu and I might belong in there, but people would talk."
"Uh, sure," he replied, walking into the restroom.
"You still use the men's room, Ranma?" Ukyo asked disbelievingly. "Haven't you been a girl for the last seventeen years? You know, longer than you were a guy?"
"Thanks for reminding me," Ranma said bitterly. "I said I belonged in there. I didn't say I used it."
Konatsu opened his mouth, then thought better of it.
"I'm afraid of what you wanted to say," Ranma said with a smile. The male kunoichi carefully avoided Ukyo's gaze.
"I don't want to know. Perverts, the lot of you," Ukyo said, pretending to be exasperated.
"I'm not a pervert!" Ranma said angrily. Hild tugged on her shirt and coughed loudly. "That doesn't count and you know it! I have extenuating circumstances!"
"You like it and you know it," Hild said, leading Ranma to sulk until she saw Ryoga and Atasuke reappear.
"Ryoga!" she called out, thankful for any shift of topic that the lost boy might cause.
"Ranma! Prepare to die," Ryoga said conversationally, drawing stares from passerby.
"I left my will with my mother," Ranma responded, "or were you talking about something else? Insurance for the flight?"
"That might not be a bad idea, considering you'll be onboard," Ukyo said thoughtfully.
"Considering I've never flown before, perhaps we could talk about something more relaxing?" Atasuke said nervously. "Like homicidal psycho Amazons?"
Ranma nodded and stepped away from the group, taking a look around the station. It was fairly busy, but there was a café that had a decent view of most of the station, and would be a good place to watch for the arrival of the rest of the team. She pulled out her wallet and handed some money to Konatsu. "Don't let them spend it all," Ranma said, knowing the notoriously cheap ninja wouldn't waste the yen. Truthfully, she wasn't that worried, but more than thirty years of dealing with her father or Nabiki or both had left its mark. "You three eat in that café and wait. I just have a little side trip to make." She grabbed Atasuke's arm and jerked him along. "You too, Mr. Stowaway," she added, before placing Atasuke into a headlock and walking him out of the train station.
She didn't let him out of the headlock until she needed to flag down a taxi. "What did you do that for?" Atasuke said, embarrased. Even if he never saw the people in the station again, being dragged through the place in a headlock was a mortifying experience.
"You deserved it, for reading those hentai manga. Seriously, are you trying to be another Happousai?" Ranma said as they got in a cab. The three of them crammed into the back seat of the tiny taxicab. "The only reason I didn't do worse was because you tagged along."
"Take us here," Hild instructed, handing the cabdriver some directions. He nodded and took off.
"I thought you didn't want me coming along to China," Atasuke said, surprised.
"It wasn't my place to say, dumbass," Ranma said. "That was your parents' call. But if you didn't come to help Chiyeko whether you were supposed to or not, I'd have found some way of blowing up the engagement." Atasuke gulped. "But you're here," she continued, looking him up and down, "no matter how pathetic and ill-prepared you are."
"Thanks," Atasuke said sourly. "Do you two always have to harass me?"
"Yes!" Ranma and Hild answered in stereo, and laughed.
"We're your girlfriend's parents!" Ranma said, earning a confused glance from the cabdriver, who veered into the next lane during the distraction. "It's our job."
"So who are we seeing, anyways?" Atasuke asked, looking out the windows at the town. Nekomi seemed a nicer place, one that was on a more human scale, than Tokyo.
"Visiting Urd," Ranma said, somewhat coolly.
"And some relatives of Sifu's, actually," Hild added. "Just picking up something that'll help."
The cab stopped. "They live in a temple?" Atasuke asked, somewhat confused. There were a bunch of people standing out in the yard, as if they knew they were coming, even though they hadn't called ahead. He recognized Urd and Skuld, and the other two bore a distinct resemblance to Sifu, especially the man, who he assumed was her father.
"Well, yeah, they live in a temple. Kinda fitting, I guess," Ranma said, leaving Atasuke to wonder just why that was fitting. "Hey, have you got it?" Ranma asked.
Belldandy smiled. It was so nice to have friends over (that Hild was usually an enemy was glossed over). "Yes, Mr. Saotome," she said, getting a sudden start out of Keiichi. "Urd told me about your little problem. Come on inside and we'll start."
Seeing that Belldandy and Urd were going to be inside, and not wishing to talk to Hild if humanly possible, Keiichi turned to the only other human present. "So, what do you know about fixing motorcycles?"
Atasuke sweated and hoped Ranma wouldn't be too long.
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"There sure are a lot of people here," Chiyeko said, having met more people - or demons and demonesses, anyways - than she felt like she'd met in her whole life.
"Oh, yes," Hild said with a smirk. "And we have room for plenty more. But as for demons, you've only met a few of my employees." Hild picked up a phone and dialled a long number. After a few moments, she said, "Mara? I need you in my office ASAP." She hung up and looked at her daughter. "Nervous?"
Chiyeko slouched in her chair. "Not really. Just... um. This is the furthest I've ever been from my father."
"Chiyeko, we've only been gone a few hours," Hild said patiently.
"What?" she yelled. "But you had me making futons and other crap for what seemed like days!"
"Time and space are such mortal concepts, Chiyeko," Hild said, with a look of insufferable superiority. Chiyeko had great experience with that sort of look - it was a favorite of her father's.
"Hmph," she sniffed.
"Yes, boss?" Mara yelled, throwing open the door. Chiyeko looked at her; this demoness seemed a bit frazzled and frightened of her mother, although, to be honest, pretty much everyone here was terrified of Hild.
"Could you call up the Norn file?" Hild said, leaning forward over her desk. The transformation her demeanor had undergone when Mara opened the door was dramatic; it was all business now. "We plan on making some adjustments to your assignment."
Mara cringed and quickly pulled up the relevant documents, which quickly manifested as an actual physical file folder bulging with papers and photos. Chiyeko would have thought it was a neat trick, except that her father had once stuffed half the contents of a room in her shirt without it being noticeable while escaping from Amazons once. A single folder was kid stuff against that. "Right here, boss," Mara said nervously. "Everything's inside."
"Good," Hild said, and quickly seperated the file into two stacks. She placed one stack back in Mara's folder and handed it back. Then she made a new folder, and placed the second stack in it, and handed it to Chiyeko. "We would like to introduce you to Demoness Second Class Trainee Chiyeko. Chiyeko, meet Demoness First Class Mara."
"Nice to meetcha," Chiyeko said in typical Saotome rudeness.
"Um, likewise," Mara said, even more nervous. New things or people plus Hild had never added up to anything good in her book.
"You will be assisting Chiyeko in her first assignment, which will be starting in a few weeks," Hild instructed. "We have great hopes for her here, and the assistance of a suitable mentor to help her avoid simple rookie mistakes would be invaluable." The unstated message was quite simple: I'll be keeping an eye on you.
Mara sweated. "Sure thing, boss! Anything you say!" She looked at her new assistant. Looked fairly young, didn't even know enough to be frightened of the boss. Not good. "I'll keep a close eye on her."
"Very good, then," Hild said, and looked away. Mara stood there nervously, wondering if she'd been dismissed. Her discomfort increased for a full minute before Hild looked up as if she were surprised she was still here. "Oh, since you're still here, could you get my daughter and I a drink?"
Mara's jaw seemed to hit the floor. "D-d-d-daughter?" she yelped. Urd was bad enough! Once she collected herself, she bolted from the room in search of the needed drinks, wondering what she'd done to offend the Daimakochou.
Once she left, both Hild and Chiyeko burst out into laughter. "She's a little high strung, isn't she?" Chiyeko said, laughing.
"Well, yes," Hild said, smirking. "But she works hard and does well. Even if she has some rather crackpot schemes." She assumed a thoughtful pose. "Now, I want you to read that folder front to back. It's very important."
Sighing, Chiyeko reflected that she'd found Furinkan High to be like hell, and hell to be like Furinkan High; one of life's ironies, she supposed.
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It was a rather ratty, run-down airport outside of Shanghai, which itself was barely visible on account of all the smog which burned their lungs. However, you wouldn't know it from the people jumping out of the back of the old 767 on the tarmac. They looked out across the landscape like they were the vanguard of an army. "China," Ranma said with finality.
"Is the air always this bad?" Atasuke said, coughing.
"It will get better away from the cities," Konatsu said.
"It's Mint and Taro," Ukyo said, noting their approach.
"Mint!" Ranma said cheerfully, then maliciously added, "And Pantyhose!"
"Stuff it, fem-boy," Taro said angrily. The two stared at each other in mutual loathing for a few seconds.
"Prince Herb sent me to inform you that he supports your mission against the Amazons, who have become remarkably troublesome and frosty of late," Mint said to Ranma's chest.
"Express my thanks to the Prince," Ranma said, bowing. "Also, I and my chest are both glad to see you again, Mint."
"I'm sorry," Mint apologized. "I've been married for years and I still can't help it." He was still talking to Ranma's chest, though.
"Please look somewhere else," Ranma had a slight edge to her voice this time, and Mint looked away. Ukyo and Hild giggled. "Well, let's get going."
"It's almost night out," Hild asked. "Can't we stop for the night?"
"No," Ranma said. She paused and looked at Hild with a slight smirk. "No rest for the wicked." That earned her a flat glare, so Ranma hurriedly continued. "I want to get out of this damn smog as soon as possible." No one disagreed with that, so the party quickly left the airport.
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Chiyeko nervously wiped her hands. She'd read the folder full of information her mother had handed to her, and this seemed to be a hell of a lot more difficult that manifesting random objects had been. Honestly, she'd rather use her father's training methods than attempt this.
She would even give her grandfather's training methods consideration. Not serious consideration, but-
"Stop stalling, Chiyeko," her mother drawled in a bored fashion. "This is a simple skill any demon should know." She buffed her fingernails idly on her shirt before leaning over and looking at her daughter curiously. "Or are you just chicken?"
"Of course I'm frightened," Chiyeko said with a frown. "I'm just making sure I know what I'm doing. I'm not chicken or anything." She knelt down on the floor and started drawing circles, lines, and characters in the demonic script of Nifelheim, making an elementary transportation gate.
Hild smirked. She might not posture as much as Ranma did, but her daughter certainly could be prodded out of reluctance by a few jabs at her courage. "Not bad for your first try," she said, seeing how the girl was putting things together.
"Heh heh," Chiyeko said, rubbing the back of her head with her hand. "Thanks."
"Now, focus on your father and try to transport to a dojo nearby," Hild instructed.
"Why a dojo?" Chiyeko asked.
"You spent a lot of time in dojos over the years," Hild said. "There's a natural connection for you, formed from all that practice. It should be easier for you to move yourself to one."
"All right," Chiyeko said. She clenched her eyes shut, raised her hands, and activated her gate.
Hild nodded and sat back. She'd probably be getting a call from the girl in a few minutes; no one ever went where they intended the first few times.
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It was very quickly apparent to Chiyeko Saotome that she hadn't gone anywhere close to where she wanted to.
'I'm in the Tendo Dojo,' she thought. 'Crap.'
Well, obviously, she was just going to have to try again! Chiyeko started drawing on the floor of the dojo with her fingers. The pattern would burn away when she activated it, so she wasn't worried about Auntie Kasumi seeing weird patterns on the floor and thinking aliens had landed (and challenged Ranma, of course), or whatever.
Finished, she inspected her gate for errors. She'd had to make a few changes because this was Midgard, not Nifelheim, but it wasn't anything too difficult, right?
"Chiyeko!" a voice behind her cried out. "What are you doing here?"
She turned around to see her aunt drop a bucket full of soapy water on the ground.
'Great, how am I going to explain this?' she said, sweating.
"And what on earth are you doing to our dojo?" Kasumi said, pointing to her gate.
'I'm drawing a demonic portal to shunt myself through hell to the destination of my choice,' she thought. "Nothing!" she said.
Kasumi sighed. "You're an even worse liar than your father."
"Um, thanks?" she said.
"Well, clean up when you're finished," Kasumi said, frowning. "I don't want you leaving a mess in the dojo." There was a brief pause. "It's impolite."
"I won't leave a mess, Auntie," Chiyeko assured her.
"If you see Atasuke, tell him his father and I are going to revoke his internet privileges for sneaking off after you," she continued, waggling her finger at the youngest Saotome.
"I'll be sure to tell him," Chiyeko said. "Umm..."
"Yes?" Kasumi asked patiently, seeing that the girl wanted to ask her something.
"Aren't you going to ask what I was really doing?" she asked in a puzzled tone.
Kasumi just gave her a weary expression of long-suffering.
"I see..." Chiyeko said, sweatdropping. This dojo had seen stranger things, after all.
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Ranma and company - now bolstered by Taro and the Musk's representative - walked over the crest of the ridge that marked the entrance to the Jusendo valley. They were approaching the Amazon village by the long path; the scenic route, as Hild had jokingly called it.
The scenery included a tall and ominous looking volcano, and a mountain, or the remnants of one, that had been cast down into a hill of scree and rubble through which trees had grown. It was the home of one of Ranma's greatest enemies - the home of one of the Amazons' most ancient enemies.
"Hello, Kiima," Ranma said, upon seeing the winged woman. It had been a long time, but these were faces he would never forget.
"Saotome," Saffron's bodyguard said, narrowing her eyes. "I should have known."
"Known what?" Ukyo asked, confused.
"That he would travel with her," she said, pointing to Hild.
"Little ol' me?" Hild asked, smirking cutely.
"Saffron has said you are not permitted in the mountain," she said, keeping an eye on Hild.
"We don't need to go inside," Ranma said, with a smirk of her own. "I would just like to discuss something with the Phoenix King."
Kiima grew thoughtful, and turned to her guards. She nodded once and they relaxed, before turning back to Ranma. "Then tell me what you intend. We are listening..."
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Chiyeko had finished up, checked her runes and symbols, saw they were right, and transported herself again.
This time, she found herself in a dark room with no light, and blindly stumbled over unseen objects. She clapped her hands and focused her power, trying to create some light. Instead, she called up some flames, which caught on the kendo equipment she'd tripped over and started a little fire.
Looking around, she saw that she'd managed to send herself all the way across town, into the dojo behind her school, where the martial arts clubs, of which Furinkan had entirely too many, practiced. Fortunately, it was deserted at the moment. "Heh heh," she laughed nervously, not wanting to chance setting her magical fire out. "The dojo spontaneously burst into flames, right? It could happen to anything..."
Quickly, before someone investigated the rapidly spreading fire, she drew another diagram on the floor. She didn't have as much time to check things, since the flames were moving quickly. "Third time's the charm," she muttered, and activated the sigils, picturing her father as clearly as she could in her mind.
This time, she materialized in the center of a great concentration of magical power. Small cool pools of water surrounded her in every direction, with slender bamboo poles standing still in the still muggy air. It was a place she'd never been, but knew at once.
"Jusenkyo," she breathed, and then looked to the north. Her parents were close, she could feel it. It wouldn't be much longer.
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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: I told you it wasn't dead yet! I finally got a version of the chapter I wasn't disgusted with, and decided to put it out, rather than stalling for another year until I had something I really liked.