Chapter 8
Past and Present Dishonour
"It had come to this." Ranma thought of his mother coming.
He steeled himself, but a deep sinking feeling started to grip him. A fear like no other, surfaced.
The time had come.
It was time to face his greatest fear, even more than the Nekkoken. His mother. The one person he truly trusted and betrayed him. He wanted to know why she did this to her own son.
As he sat there in thought, the door opened and in strolled in his mother. It was as he remebered her, strong and in full control. Also, looking at her in a new light, he saw the lines of hostility that she failed to mask and her aura that let him know of her deception. She hadn't realized that he had become much better so that he can see auras.
There were different emotions that had different colours, but only one was the colour of night. Hate.
In kind he responded to a challenge. Sought out weaknesses in his opponent and found questions were unanswered.
His mind In a flash of insight, he knew that it wasn't what he had done that she hated him, but perhaps what he represented and something that had happened to her.
So engrossed in what his mother was doing, he didn't see a tiny speck of black that moved into the room. Sasuke.
Ranma thought as he and his mother studied each other, "Might as well get the ball rolling." and said, "Hello, mother." in a neutral voice.
His mother didn't answer immediately, not knowing what to make of this. She had come here to get her "son" to the Tendos by being his mother, but she saw something that reminded her of...Jiro and all her anger resurfaced. She tried to calm down, but Ranma's stare was like his and suddenly she said in a haughty voice, "S-o-n, you are to come home with me. Tell Dr. Tofu that you will come with me."
As soon as she had spoken, Ranma hard a tiny intake of breath from in the room, "No."
Her eyes widened and with that one reply, she exploded (as if she was Genma) "What an ungrateful b-o-y you are. You owe me your life..."
Ranma interrupted, "But...you had taken away my life and honour."
Her eyes narrowed and scoffed, "YOUR HONOUR. You have no honour from the day you were born. Your were illegitimate. A BASTARD like you father."
This made him pause, HONOUR had been his life, but honour was a subjective thing. People in powerful positions do dishonourable things all the time in the name of honour and get away with it.
"Of course, like my father, but not Genma."
This in itself caught her off guard, but she recovered, "So you figured it out. No matter, You will never know your father as honourless as you are. He ran away the day I told him that I would have his child. I on the other had still have my honour."
"Honour? Ha. The Satome name is a joke. Genma made sure of that."
She smiled, "Oh, but my clan isn't Satome and you won't know that either."
"Yes, you will never be anyone." she said spitefully.
Ranma settled back, relaxed, which made her uneasy.
His attitude chafed at her, "He should have more fear." she thought furiously.
"So what?"
Again his reply caught her off guard, "So what? My family has more honour than you."
"Yes, but remember, deeds cut deeper than words." the full implication his Nodoka like a train.
She recovered, "I don't know how you found out, but it doesn't matter..."
"Oh, I won't say that. In a month, I will be eighteen and as I told Kasumi I keep my promises."
In that moment, she acted, she still had the right to kill him because of the Seppuku pledge, but it would take too long for her to get him out by the court before he turns eighteen.
She then vanished using the Umisenken without the traditional yell as she tried to attack him. Unfortunately for her, she forgot the rule of not using a technique that another person have mastered already.
He already knew from the cloth she pulled out that she was going to disappear. What she forgot was that as he mastered it, he modified it also. He knew that the one weakness of it was that it didn't defeat his danger sense and his heightened senses could feel the movement of the air. It was when he pulled energy from the environment because he had to know where the energy was. When she moved, he could feel a small discharge of energy in the air and anticipated where she would hit.
Both she and her sword appeared and slashed at the spot where he was. Her blade was as black as the Void as it came down and it was then Sasuke acted, but it was too late. Until, two hand flashed out faster than the eye and redirected the sword so that it went all the way down the hilt. Before she could react, Ranma slapped her, HARD. Like Urd, her only thought was that he hit her.
A commotion came from the door as Cream, Ryouga, Mousse, Ryo and Ami came rushing into the room. Urd wasn't far behind. She had found that choas was building up and it was playing havoc with the system as in more bugs popping up. Belldandy's new anti-viral program was working great, but she had to be there to oversee the installation and fix anything wrong with it.
They saw a serene Ranma with a shocked Sasuke and a stupified Nodoka on the floor.
Before Nodoka could say a word, Cream said very quietly like death knocking, "Leave, you aren't needed or wanted here."
Nodoka was about to say something when they saw their expressions, she stiffened her shoulders and cast an hateful eye at Ranma only to find, one of pure fire from him enough to melt through her hate which turned into fear before she quickly left. But before she left, she said with all the dignity and venom she had, "You are no longer my son."
Ranma's eyes became like deep pools of glacier ice and replied, "How can I be your son when you have never been or even attempted to be a mother to me?"
As she went to pick up the Satome scabbard, Ranma said, "Leave it, you have dishonoured it enough. More than even Genma could ever do." She stiffened when she heard that. She was escorted to by three nurses to the door to make sure she left.
Back in the room, Ranma had a huge sigh of relief. A huge weigh left his shoulders, it turned out better than he though it would. Besides, being a ronin was better than having the Satome name. No end of trouble.
Sasuke knew what he had to do. He went to Master Kuno and talked with him about the decision. Master Kuno said he wanted to be there when he revealed the truth about Ranma.
He waited until Kuno had arrived, with Urd and Cream accompanying him to "supervise". Despite wanting to be with Ranma in his moment of need, the look Cream and Urd had given the other nurses were enough for them to be silent for now.
As Sasuke looked at everyone in the room and felt that they all were part that had made Ranma. The Cream, Urd, Ryouga, Mousse, Sammi and her pet Ryo, but most surprisingly Ami also.
It was time to break the silence, "Ranma, ronin." said Sasuke in a firm voice, as if he had given Ranma a formal title.
"Yes, Sasuke of the Sarugakune ninja clan." he replied unconsciously replying to the his tone that something really, really important was coming.
Sasuke remained still but inside he rejoiced. Ranma responded exactly like his father would have in using his full name. More to the point, he said it, unconsciously, in the full formal tone the situation required. Ranma had done this, accepting his ronin status and bore it as he should.
It was time to start at the beginning...
Even with his decision Sasuke hesitated.
"It was a decision made and kept. Something that should have been told long ago." He thought with a sigh. Everyone was silent. This story might have been for Ranma only, but these people, no matter where they came from was more family to him then his own.
Looking at Ranma, he couldn't help but marvel at the boy... no... man he had become. He could see Renjiro Tanaka in his face and with his character. Another sigh had come through. He had been doing that a lot. With a grim smirk, that he didn't think at all funny he started again.
"It started about eighteen years ago when a man, Renjiro of the Tanaka Clan, was betrothed to a young woman, Nodoka of the Meiji Clan."
A rustle of movement came from the shocked people. The Tanaka and Meiji clans were two of the oldest and most powerful in Japan. They were second in line just behind the Imperial Families in prestige and lineage. They were also currently in a blood feud that simmered down after an Imperial decree for some unknown reason almost twenty years ago.
"It was a arranged marriage where in this very rare occasion, they fell in love." Sasuke continued, "All would have been well if, his cousin, Yoko, didn't object." his eyes losing focus as he retraced the memories of the past, "At that time, she was married to a very great man, Master Kaemon Kuno."
The others looked at the shocked expressions from Ranma, Ryouga and Mousse and a face fault simultaneous to end all face faults shook the hospital as the rest sweatdropped.
"He was a great man." then with a bowed head he said again, "A very great man. That is why my family had served the Kunos for so long and well. It was then that I arrived. I was to take over from the senior ninja serving them, Goro. Before this generation, the Kuno were a very noble family and commanded great respect, even with the Imperial family, but all changed when the elder Kunos arranged a marriage for their son to a distant cousin of the Tanaka Clan, thus uniting the clans.
After a sigh, Sasuke continued, "After their marriage, a great change occurred in the young Mrs. Kuno and in her elevated position she started to demand many outrageous things that Mr. Kuno spend more time with her, even when he was in a high level meetings. Very soon after that, she started cutting ties with anyone Mr. Kuno knew. They had many legendary arguments that night and slept in separate rooms.
As Sasuke started to break down, he bravely continued, "It wasn't very long when something strange happened. Mr. Kuno became...unstable and then obsessed with...Hawaii when he didn't even like leaving Japan." No one interrupted him, "More trouble brewed when Mrs. Kuno disliking Nodoka Meiji. I am sorry to say that Mrs. Kuno was spoiled by her parents and siblings, but now Nodoka was taking Renjiro and the spotlight, she couldn't stand it. She had a crush on Renjiro ever since she was a little girl. In her eyes, he was her samurai and she was his lady, even though she was married. She even went as far as trying to get Renjiro to cancel the marriage, but he refused." It was then that Sakaske had gone very quiet.
No one could miss that Sasake never called Mrs. Kuno by her first name. They all could feel that to him, she was never worthy and would never acknowledge her name. It was almost the ultimate insult to the person in death, to be forgotten by the next generation.
Sasake took a deep breath and pushed onwward. "It was on that fateful day that Mrs. Kuno summoned Goro. She said she wanted this threat to be eliminated. She told him where this person would be and would be wearing a green hat.
She also wanted it to look like an accident. Goro knew that he could do this alone, he took me along because it was my first, but not my last assignment. He also wanted to ease me in slowly.
"It was at the time when the biggest hurricane that ever hit Japan made landfall, Hurricane Jasmine. We felt omens in not going though with our sworn duties and that great consequences would arise if we did. Blind to our duty, we stepped out and the world howled as the hurricane had come. That didn't deter us and since we knew where our target would be, it was decided for the situation that a traffic accident would be the most appropriate in this weather. The person was there, on time at the very street corner when we struck. Goro was a professional and did things himself. He wanted me to check that the person was dead.
"As I approached the person, I saw something that made my heart run cold. The person had a pigtail. The pattern was unmistakable, but I kept on telling myself that it couldn't be possible. It was then I decided to call an ambulance.
"When I returned, I told Goro what had happened. He said I shouldn't have done that, but instead of biding me to finish the job and then return to the Kuno mansion, he sent me to watch Renjiro to make sure nothing happened to him. The ambulance attendants found who he was and rushed him to the best hospital in the area. Right here at the Hospital where he died. It was then I returned to Goro and we returned. Goro informed Mrs. Kuno and she left with 'her' servants, but even I was surprised when I observed her taking Renjiro's body away.
"I wanted to know what had happened, but he said he would tell me when the time was right. It was years later when he was dying that he actually told me. He said that he told Mr. Kuno and confronted Mrs. Kuno with this.
"Before anything happened, she hit Mr. Kuno with some sort of power, but he managed to evade some of it. She said that all the men in her life weren't worth anything. They were to be controlled. She had laughed that was worse than Mistress Kodatchi's. Her eyes had that crazy look and...she was crazy. In high school, she had delved into drugs that no one she have had and when they couldn't get her the drugs then she made it herself. She hid it well from everyone in her family, but Goro felt that Renjiro was her anchor in life, always there for her. When he was to be married to Nodoka, she snapped. She said Renjiro betrayed her to that slut and he had to pay. She also said that he would serve her because she now had Mr. Kuno in her power. The drug was highly hypnotic and she would brook no interference from him, a lowly ninja.
"She was highly manipulative and vengeful. She told Nodoka that he didn't want to see her again and that he married and went overseas. His parents were distraught and with no word from Renjiro that was so unlike him, but they were forced by tradition and honour to disowned him for failing them. It was then that the Meiji family blamed them for theri former son's behaviour and a feud broke out between them. Mrs. Kuno took care of that no one ever found him. Nodoka was heartbroken. She was consoled both her and Renjiro's friend, Satome Genma. Even though Genma was your official father, you are Renjiro's son. You are the very image of your father, right down to his pigtail.
Silence until Kuno started to speak.
"What you never knew was that the drugs that actually affected her the most was the ones she made herself. If affected her so much to the point of having my Uncle embalmed and tucked in a secret room. I had found out about this when I heard her talking to someone. As a child, sometime I looked into her room to see who she was talking to. When I saw "uncle" I had nightmares for days afterwards.
He paused to gather himself, "She... talked to him a lot. From being angry with him for betraying her to pleading with him to forgive her. I had snuck into her room and when I found her talking to him, I couldn't sleep for weeks without screaming at night." A shocked silence. "As you know she passed on, but said that her room was never to be disturbed and it hadn't. She passed on her skills well to Kodatchi. At least Kodatchi she was never malice in her use of it.
A silence then he continued, "She named us with the full irony of the situation. Tatewaki was bringer of the sword with the face of the family, but Kodatchi was the sword who wielded the power."
A surprise was when Cream started, "I guess this is where I come in. The only thing that had been missing was the final part in the hospital.
"I was on duty that night when Renjiro was brought in. Yes, he was still alive. He was given one of the best room, but knew that he had little time left. He bade me to give him some paper, something to write and an envelope. I was amazed that with the injuries he sustained that he could still conscious. I hurriedly got them and he started writing. I didn't realize that he had no ink, so he improvised. He used his... own blood. He even sealed the envelope himself and addressed it to Nodoka. It only after that supreme act was when he died."
Suddenly she produced the letter and laid it in front of Ranma. She knew it was his decision. He was a ronin, but would he take up this responsibility from his father.
Looking at the letter, it was addressed to Nodoka and Ranma or Ranko. Ranma picked up the letter. This was closure for this sorry experience. He wouldn't read it as it was clearly intended for another.
Shaking himself, he made a resolution that he wouldn't be caught unprepared like what put him here.
In the corny Disney cartoon that he once saw at an exhibition in Tokyo, the character's expression seemed appropriate.
Darkwing Duck said, "Let's get dangerous."
With that, things changed. Urd, Sammi with Ryo and Ami felt the change in the air. Things were never going to be the same again.
It was months since his fateful encounter with his mother and the secrets that were out into the light. He looked at the letter and sighed as he paused in his kata. Many things have changed.
To begin with, he started actually perfecting his own style and creating a whole new school instead of just gaining a new move. He had many moves from his previous life, including the Amazon techniques plus others such as his Mouko Takabisha, Happo Five Yen Setsu and his fathers Forbidden Techniques after the Failed Wedding Attempt.
The very last thing his father said when he taught him the final parts of the katas all those years ago was that he was the only one who would use them properly. This was really the only time he could remember when his former father was totally serious and a person to be respected. A true meeting of father and son.
Added to that the weapons techniques and knowledge that resided in The General Hospital. Under these conditions, Ranma started to excel in many areas that he never could before. The defensiveness of his masculinity had eroded. Everyone accepted him for who he was, curse and all. The expectations had changed. He had changed to an extent that even he didn't realize. For the first time in a very long time, he could actually relax. In that time, he really started to look forward towards his future. In the end, he discussed it with the others and decided to keep his name. When...he left the hospital, he will face them. They understood that to become adopted by Tofu would give him the easy way out.
The tensions that had been around the hospital subsided and so did the distractions. For the first time in his life, he was doing what he liked and not what someone else expected. In his newfound look on life, he didn't want to let the only people who stood by him down. As he put 110% into everything he did, he started to do much better in his studies and in life in general that even Ami was surprised. Once he finally understood what was needed, his analytical skills in battle made him a quick study. His broad range of knowledge of people, places and history rivaled her own and that wasn't including that he actually travelled to those places like Ryouga. The confidence translated itself into his stories that he included with each place enraptured her and the others and made them all laugh. Without knowing it, he drew her out like everyone else of their protective shells against the world and made them realize what a truly wonderful world they lived in. Ami was especially affected as they talked which was just as much as they studied. Her friends would never have believe their eyes when they saw this side of Ami.
Not to be outdone, the other nurses monopolized his time when he was training with his old rivals. They teased them all and allowed them to be themselves without pressure, drugs or obsession. Sammi and Ryo played as much as she could before she tired. She always smiled for him because he treated her like anyone else, not with pity. Laughter rang thoughout the hospital as most of the patients waited for Ranma's daily rounds through the hospital. His languages had improved and with Ami helping him in writing, he was actuallly more fluent than she was.
It was at that point that a thought whisphered in his mind...
The core which Ranma wrapped his own style was from a long forgotten memory that surfaced. The very essence of the Anything Goes Style. It was basicially that humans were everchanging. They had the seeds in them with the potential to be anything they want, but only the truly unique individuals could actually achieve it. It was that spark that gave them the boundless energy to become good or bad, saviour or a tyrant, or even a god or a demon.
Energy flows through the universe until a harmony is reached, but where does this energy come from? It comes from living things. Actions and thought affect everything, no matter how small or insignificant, they eventually do affect who we are, for better or worse.
Ranma had always felt that within everyone was the potential of being better than you were, of being one with the universe and setting things right that went horribly wrong. He felt, it was his Destiny.
To that extent, he started slowly form his own style, combing aspects of all that he knew. For the sum to be greater than the individual parts. Of using his ki, chi and to eventually feel the very essence of the universe, but more importantly to find out who he was inside.
He had heard others saying that just beating your sensei was mastery or going on one or more quests to overcome obstacles. The difference was that for him, without knowing who and what he was, he would simply be another wannabe martial artist and would never really believe that he attained mastery in the Art. He already knew what he was physically capable of. To know thyself is the hardest for anyone to accomplish, but especially hard for Ranma with all that he went through becasue it was the path he had never really travelled. It is said that the for true self discovery was the true test that toughens up the mind, body and spirit. To pass this would make the recognition of being a Master a mere formality.
He didn't know it when he made his decision, but he had already decided to undergo the journey when he felt the time was right. It was the time when he felt that he had learned all that he could and needed to go on to the next level. It would almost be like an instinct for him to the next logical step.
As he practiced his modified his new style and special techniques, Ranma knew it was time. Dr. Tofu and the others felt this. From what his former father and the other martial artists had said, each of the Masters of the Anything Goes has their own way of traveling on the journey. It was on the very day that he decided to try to perfect his art when Happosai dropped by. The nurses went on alert, but were surprised when he just passed them without so much as a feel. They all found him in Ranma's room and talking with him. The gravity of the exchange made everyone hesitate to bother them. From the surprised expression on Ranma's face that turned serious, they knew that something was up and it became truly apparent when Happosai gave him a scoll and then bounded out without a single look back or even a glance at the nurses assembled.
Ranma had looked at the Rite of Mastery of the Anything Goes scroll. When he initially opened the scroll, he thought it was a joke. It was a blank scoll, but the power that he felt from the scoll belayed that assumption. He was surprised when Happosai came to him and told him of the Mastery of the Anything Goes.
He still remembered the very words of what Happosai said when he told him that he wasn't able to be with Anything Goes, "Pah, you have been always special Ranma. For good or ill, you still have exemply the potential of being anything you want. It includes being the greatest of the Anything Goes school. Others place great faith in quests, whether physical or spiritual, throught the land or through other dimensions, but that isn't the Anything Goes way.
"Each person who goes through the Anything Goes Trial has a unique journey. No two journeys are exactly alike, like people. Physically and mentally, you have achieved what is to be a Master. The spiritual journey is much harder, it will show you whether you are ever fit to be a Grandmaster. Yours will be the most difficult of all to face because I can sense that the kamis are a big part of your life. The scroll itself is a spell component and if... when... you come back, if you pass, the scroll will come back in time for you to give to your student. It comes to a master to give to his student, but only when the student is ready.
"The Anything Goes Mastery isn't just overcoming obstacles and learning form them, it is to be who you really are. Not the puppet like Genma would like, not the pervert that Akane always said you were, not the bane of everyone's existence, but only who you think you are, who you want to be.
"If you remember anything in your Mastery journey, remember this." as he took a deep breath, "What you are about to face IS the thing very thing you will need to show you, to be who you are. Be it physical, mental or spiritual, this will test you to the very limits.
"Ranma, you will know what to do when the time comes."
A short time later when Ranma was ready, he requested that everyone be present. The nurses who befriended him, his rivals and his friends of the hospital. As he clutched the scroll, he surprised everyone when he ask Urd to be the one to read from the scoll. Before the amazed eyes of everyone, words started to appear. Urd was extremely surprised that it was in ancient Asgardian. The spell was called, A journey into Chaos. When she started to chant, it was as if a light went off in his head and he realized that the only way to really know who he was was to know who he had been. Either he will accept it or be broken by it. There was no middle ground.
As the chanting went on, he started to relax into a mediative state, the mind becomes free to wander at will to anyplace it wishes to go. To start it, he decided a soothing person was needed. Urd was truly the only one to make him feel totally at ease. He felt...connected to her, so it seem fitting for her to start the rite.
When Urd was finished, she looked as surprised as everyone and sighed. Ranma will have the hardest of all of journey, but if he makes it he would be a Chaos Nexus and also an immortal. She was estatic that he had made the cut. Deep inside, he had the power, but will he be willing to be a god and to accept her?
Ami too was anxious, but she chalked it up to be worried for him. As the months of tutoring him wore on, she had started to remember Ranma as a "Fop of the Court" and totally beneath her attention. She ironically was betrothed to him, but favoured another. Even though she likes him now as she didn't back then. It was till fuzzy to her after that, as if she was missing something then the pieces started to fall together. What she remembered, she realized that she made a grievous mistake in her previous life that she now had to fix.
Sammi and Ryo looked on. The anti-Jurai energy was eating away at her. Even with the best this hospital could do, it wouldn't be enough, but Tsunami was adamant that she could be cured, a little raven told her. She knew that she didn't have long to live, but...she wanted to now more than ever. Ranma was different than anyone she had ever known. He treated her like no other, not even Techni. When she looked at him, his endless optimism and his ability to make the impossible possible made her want to live...for him.
The basis principle was this. Fight poison with poison. The anti-Jurai energy was a form of Chaos. Chaos was a random element that influences life energy. Too much Chaos usually kills the individual, either by accidents or disease. Only certain individuals could withstand the influence of too much Chaos and in ways can regulate that energy to serve them than kill them.
Cream was just plain worried. She didn't really know what would happen, but she knew how important this was. She looked at the other nurses and the same echoed in their eyes, "What would happen next?"
As the hour passed, an explosion could be heard. Urd sensed the change as Ami's beeper went off...they were under an attack.
As choas ensued, Ranma went on, oblivious to everything and no one noticed when the scoll started to glow and break into little lights that circled Ranma and the absorbed into his body.
Author's note.
Time for change.