CH 4: Mission and Determination
A/N: Gomen-nasai *bows*. I didn't even realize how long I was taking for the next update. In celebration of my recent triumph over writers block, I have decided to post hte next chapter. I do have to warn you all however, that I will be slowing down my rate of posting since I haven't finsihed the story yet. I still need to wait for my beta reader to get back(or get a new one) to check ch 9.
Disclaimer: Mallet space is still an unexplainable phenomenon...oh and Idon't own Ranma 1/2.
When Akari's eyes cleared from the blinding light, she appeared to be sitting in a room of some sort. It really couldn't be described as much else since the scenery kept changing every couple of seconds, as if the room couldn't make up its mind what it wanted to be. As she looked around (still not getting up quite yet) she was approached by a majestic figure. It wasn't the figure itself that suggested majesty, but more the air of command and power around him. As he approached she got a good look at his robe, which appeared to be a swirl of all known colors, constantly moving and never quite the same. It looked as if there were patterns forming in the colors, but the harder Akari looked for one the less apparent it became.
The man stopped in front of her and offered her a hand. As it was pulling her up, she noted the material his gloves were made of looked like the stars at night. It was a peculiar thing, because if you looked directly at it, it didn't do much, but if you looked at it out of the corner of your eye, you thought you saw it twinkle, but as soon as you turn to confirm it, you see a plain old star pattern glove. Akari looked up to see he had a very nice face, and he had kind eyes (there was a glimmer of mischief in them if you looked really close).
"Well my dear, welcome to my abode."
Surprised to see such a man, Akari almost stared at him, but she was raised to respond automatically with manners. "Pleasure to meet you Mr…"
"Ah, how silly of me, I forgot to introduce myself, I am, " at this the man with the psychedelic robe pointed to himself, " the Kami of Chaos, and this, " a grand sweeping gesture, "is my realm."
"What do you want with me?" Akari was quite concerned at this point. The room had decided to become a mass of swirling galaxies, making it quite disorienting when you looked down and saw nothing under your feet.
"Well you see my dear, Ranma, your mother, was my Avatar of Chaos(1*), and had been doing quite a good job of stirring up trouble until another god's avatar decided to kill her spouse, which ultimately lead to her death. While thankfully Ranma managed to kill the other avatar before dying, Nerima, which I have so carefully kept in chaos for the past 5000 years, is now open to the influence of any Kami that wants it. Obviously I cannot allow this, so I am here to make a deal with you."
"What kind of deal," Akari asked suspiciously.
"What is the western saying? 'You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours'. Thankfully I still have influence over Nerima, so I can also influence its recent time stream. I will send you back in time to before the incident, and you must stop my Avatar from losing its will to live."
"So in other words, you want me to stop my father from dying."
"Well, in essence yes. Of course, you cannot let them know who you are, otherwise some terrible things could happen."
Akari just stared at him, not really believing he was asking her such a difficult thing. Save her mother? In a heart beat. Save her father? Without a backward glance. But I don't know the first thing about my parents' past! How on Earth am I supposed to interact with them?
"Why my dear," the Kami of Chaos said, somehow reading Akari's thoughts, "That is exactly whatI am going to show you." HE reached out and touched her forehead with his index finger, and Akari was assaulted with the memories of both her parents lives.
She saw it all.
First her mother, born a boy, aging slowly, to the seppuku contract, to the neko-ken, to Jusenkyo, to the trip to Japan. Then her father, born a girl, from the death of her mother, to the start of the hentai hoard, to her meeting with Ranma. Then the memories of their time together started. She saw all the events that transpired between them(1) up till the first wedding. She saw the post-first wedding disaster events, and how her mother had beaten Happosai for the title of grand master. She saw how mother slowly broke off all the other engagements, and how she practically beat Cologne into the ground and gained status as an Amazon Elder, able to break the engagement.(That explains the Amazons at mother's funeral. They came to honor a fallen elder. )
She watched as mother and father set up a second wedding. She saw how father got splashed with the water, magically modified to be permanent, from the spring of drowned man (once again courtesy of Herb) as one of the carriers tripped coming into the celebration hall. She watched as mother went with the now permanently male Akane to visit Herb and see if the curse could be lifted. She felt the heartbreak along with her mother and father as they received the news that there was no cure. She watched as Ranma made the toughest decision of his life, to lock his curse. She watched as her mother and father made their way back to Japan, blushing at the parts where they made love, to her birth, all the way to her mother's funeral. When she came back out of the memories, she gasped.
Everything was so… clear. She understood why mother and father did everything they did in their lives, why the still male Ranma had kissed father at the marriage ceremony, even though father had just minutes ago been permanently turned into a man. She now understood why mother always held back when fighting her. It wasn't that she thought less of her, it was that she was tearing herself up inside every time she hit Akari, and she couldn't bear the thought of losing her to an attack that was too strong (2). She saw how love, fear, pain, and happiness had influenced everyone. As she looked into the Kami of Chaos's eyes with determination, and she said the two words which shaped the future of the entire world.
"I'm ready."
A/N: Well, now you know the entire story behind the story(that sounded weird), hopefully I can still resolve it well. I want to extend several boat loads of thanks to Hitokiri-Hero who is diligently beta reading my crapy work and somehow mashing my massive, hastily written paragraphs into understandable bite sized pieces.
(1)-I'm not gonna list all of them, since the only people reading these will be people who already know everything.
(2)- If only someone *cough Akane cough*, would figure this out themselves.