Ranma 1/2: Torn
Chapter 14: The Soul Stone
By Kit'ari
Himiko giggled as Akane cooed and played with her.
Before them, Akane's lunch sat largely undisturbed. Despite her hunger, she couldn't muster up the desire to eat.
At her side, Ranma-kun sat angrily wolfing down his portion. While not exactly different from their usual mornings, Akane knew it wasn't jealousy that seethed below the surface this time.
Akane flicked a glance across the table to her friend, Yuka. The poor girl looked like she might break at any moment. Ranma was not happy to learn she now knew his secret. Akane wanted to reassure her but didn't want to give Ranma the excuse to vent.
Shampoo sat uncomfortably next to Yuka and across from Ranma.
Cologne and Nabiki rounded out that side of the table, with Kasumi at the end opposite their father and next to Dr. Tofu who took up Mr. Saotome's usual spot on Ranma's other side.
Despite her trepidation at what would probably become an ugly fight, Akane found herself wondering about the boy sitting next to her.
Here was Ranma; surrounded by friends and would-be family yet denied his own. As much as she wanted to skin Mr. Saotome alive with a mallet, she also wished he would return. No matter how much everyone at the table might try, they could no more fill the hole his absence left than Kasumi could replace their mother.
Akane thought of contacting Auntie-Nodoka but quickly nixed that idea. While they could certainly use her guidance and help, the thought of what being stuck playing unwed mother might do to Ranma scared her more.
Akane held back her sigh, as she forced another smile for little Himiko.
"Is it everything you thought it would be?" Nabiki asked with her patented smirk.
"Huh?" Akane said, looking up from Himiko.
"Well," Nabiki drawled out, "you've spent so much time fantasizing about it, I was just wondering if taking care of Himiko was everything you thought it would be?"
"Wha-" was all Akane could think to say.
"What are you talking about, Nabiki?" Ranma asked immediately.
Akane suddenly felt a little panic.
"Well," Nabiki pronounced slowly, "what with how little sis is usually glued to your hip while cradling that little runt pig, it's obvious she's been wanting a certain someone's baby for a while now." Nabiki punctuated her statement by shooting Ranma a meaningful look.
"Nabiki!" Akane squealed.
"Wha- Who said I'd ever do anything like that to Akane!" Ranma shouted.
"Ranma!" Akane growled as she leaped up to bash his head in.
"WAAAHHH!" Himiko cried from both the raised voices and was jostled about.
Akane immediately spun away from Ranma and began rocking Himiko to calm her back down.
"There-there, little one. It's all right. See? Everything's all right," Akane cooed soothingly.
"My, what a good influence Himiko is on Akane!" Kasumi said happily.
"Is too-too true! Shampoo think Ranma give Akane lots and lots of children if means Akane no hit!"
"Hey!" Ranma protested while Soun drifted off mumbling about grandchildren. Everyone else around the table laughed.
"Don't mind them," Akane cooed from where she stood, back turned to hide her glowing face. "Especially Ranma, as he's just being his usual idiot self."
"Hey!" Ranma protested again. "At least I ain't some uncute tomboy!"
Himiko looked at Akane's face, patted her cheek, and then grabbed her nose.
"Shampoo, didn't you have something you wanted to show Ranma?" Akane asked, attempting to divert any more embarrassment away from herself. Though a few more chuckles were heard as they noticed Himiko's fascination with her nose.
"Ah! Yes, is very important Ranma see!" Shampoo announced happily.
Akane watched as Shampoo leaped up from her place and, after a brief search, handed something over to Ranma. Everyone gathered curiously yet cautiously around to see the new Amazon toy.
Ranma held the odd stone up so everyone could see it better.
Roughly egg-shaped and only slightly larger, its base appeared to be mostly clear with a strong river of green flowing up the middle to crash playfully like frozen waves against the middle.
Small golden sparks glittered about the column like sparks around a flame. From the top it was more of a muddy red and brown mix that slowly gave in to the beautiful green from below. On one side, a small faded spot of light blue and purple appeared. Light smoky patches appeared along the surface but resisted Ranma's attempt to wipe them away.
Akane looked up at Shampoo curiously. It wasn't any different from when Shampoo showed it to her and Yuka.
"What is it?" Ranma asked.
"Is Akane's soul," Shampoo answered with a grin.
"What!" Ranma and Akane shouted.
Akane immediately turned her attention to Himiko hoping not to get her crying again.
"The Chi Stone is an ancient and mysterious Amazon artifact that has the ability to temporarily record a person's Chi or aura," Cologne stated taking her wise-elder lecturing stance. "As a person's emotions and thoughts are often projected into their aura, so too is their inner true self. The Chi Stone, when blank can record the stronger undercurrents of a person and hold a representation until it is again blanked."
"So this is what Akane's Chi looks like?" Ranma asked.
As everyone took a renewed interest in looking at the stone, Akane felt a little naked.
"In a matter of speaking. It's the stones interpretation of her Chi," Cologne explained.
"What do the colors mean?" Nabiki asked.
Cologne took the stone from Ranma and looked closer.
Akane clenched somewhat at the casual why everyone was discussing her soul.
"The base represents the influences of the mother while the top the father," Cologne said. "Sometimes other influences, when strong enough to change a person, are reflected in its appearance, but beyond that, I can not say."
"Huh?" Ranma replied. "Why not?"
"The stone's appearance is as different for each person as people are different from each other. Many have over the years studied the images it produces to attempt to discover their meaning and learn to fully read it. Although some knowledge has been gleamed, everyone who studies it inevitably is left with more questions than answers."
With a quick flick of the wrist, Cologne tossed it back to Ranma.
"Hey, it changed!" Ranma said.
"Of course. The stone can only maintain an image for as long as its in contact with Chi charged objects. Air, being one of the prime magical elements, is enough to blank it," Cologne said as she looked at the changed stone.
Now a bluish-gray wound like tiny vines up from the base weaving a maze of holes while holding odd crystalline spires of red, pink, and white. From the top, a sky-blue flowed down in varying layers of translucency revealing odd distortions. Along its equator, a golden-red cloud-like spot sat opposite a bright violet. Near the center, a crack could be seen disrupting the pattern.
Akane, who wormed her way back to look at Ranma's pattern, gaped at the sight.
After a few moments, Ranma gave an indifferent shrug and tossed it over toward Cologne, who caught it on the edge of a pearl white rod. Cologne smirked at the boy as she balanced the now clear stone.
"So what use is it, if ya don't know how to read it?" Ranma asked.
"Oh, it still has many uses," Cologne answered cryptically. "Akane, could you lay Himiko down here?"
"Just what are you thinking at, old ghoul?" Ranma demanded.
"Clearing Shampoo" was Cologne's reply.
Akane looked to Ranma who nodded after a moment.
Akane gently laid Himiko down on a pillow. Remaining kneeling at her side, she cast her watchful glance over the Amazon Elder.
Everyone gathered around, as Cologne approached Himiko's other side. With slow deliberate movements, she held the white stone out over Himiko.
"Here you go, little one. Just one touch," Cologne said softly.
Himiko didn't look too happy at being left but quickly turned her attention to the new object in her world. With both tiny hands, she reached out and grabbed the strange new thing which, to her delight, began to change colors.
A multitude of colors swirled within the stone, Yellows, and greens mixing with blues and reds. Slowly, a sky-blue settled along the bottom two-thirds sparkling with a luminescence all its own. Some trick of light appeared to tenderly reflect a silky-red leaving the impression deep underlying violet feel. The top one-third, by contrast, is filled with a light-smoky dirty-purplish hue while leaving a crystal clear band between the two parts.
Everyone watched in quiet awe until finally realizing that it finished.
"Ranma, would you please carefully hand me the soul stone?" Cologne asked.
He shot Cologne a quick glare before reaching out.
"Himiko, you don't need to play with that," he said just as he took hold of the stone.
Suddenly a bright light flashed from Ranma and Himiko while a gentle warmth settled upon the room like a favorite blanket fresh from the dryer.
"Mother," the three Tendou daughters and Shampoo whispered almost together as the feelings passed.
"Hey," Ranma shouted as Cologne bounced up retrieving the stone from his hands. "I was gonna give it back. No need to get so grabby."
"What just happened?" Nabiki asked.
"Proof that Himiko is indeed Ranma's daughter," Cologne answered.
"You still had doubts?" Nabiki returned quickly.
"No, but with this," Cologne said as she wrapped the stone in a non-dyed silk cloth, "we can return home with Shampoo's honor intact."
"Huh?" Ranma replied, looking over at Shampoo.
"Is true," was all Shampoo said.
"I don't get it," Ranma replied guardedly.
"One of the prime tenets of the Joketsuzoku is the indomitable will of a mother to protect her child," Cologne stated sagely.
"But I didn't even know!" Ranma protested.
"Ranma!" Akane growled in warning.
"That does not matter, only that you were with child at the time," Cologne said.
Ranma looked away.
"What was it like, Ranma?" Yuka inserted into the awkward silence.
"What was what like?" Ranma asked stiffly, having forgotten she was here.
"Being pregnant! Having a baby! What was it like?" Yuka asked slightly more enthusiastically.
Ranma started to frown under the girls' expectant attention until Himiko began to fuss again.
This time it was Kasumi who retrieved Himiko from her pillow. She cooed quietly while clearly splitting her attention to Ranma.
Ranma rocked back on his heels as he fumbled with his pigtail.
"It was nothin'," he said as he gazed upward with his I'm-so-cool grin.
Everyone but Akane gaped at him. She wasn't surprised one bit. She recognized the stupid I'm-too-macho-to-admit-anything stance.
"Dr. Tofu," Akane said sweetly. "Can you tell us?" Akane asked, laying it on thick.
All the other girls quickly turned their attention to the only other coherent male in the room.
"I'm sorry, I can't," he answered.
"Tofu Ono," Kasumi hissed surprisingly warning while Yuka, who had leaned in to hear better, fell flat on her face.
"I can't because I wasn't there," he quickly answered.
"Duh," Akane said as she slapped her head. "The hospital wouldn't let him," Akane concluded as she shook her head.
"Um, I didn't go to any hospital," Ranma volunteered reluctantly.
"Then where do you go? Who helped you with the delivery?" Akane asked.
"Well," Ranma began reluctantly, "there was this old abandoned cabin I found in the woods."
"No one! You didn't have anyone there with you!" Akane nearly screeched.
Yuka, Shampoo, Kasumi, and Nabiki openly gaped while Cologne stood frozen.
"Its nature right? I didn't need anyone doing anything down there.
Besides I had some pamphlets that Dr. Tofu gave me."
"Those weren't instruction manuals, Ranma," Tofu tried to say.
"You Idiot!" Akane screamed over Tofu. "What if something happened?
What if you died? What if she died?" Akane grabbed hold of Ranma and yelled descending into tears as she went. Finally bearing her face into his shoulder as she wept.
XXXX
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Sunday morning came, and Ryouga found himself walking down some sidewalk in some city, not paying attention to anything but his thoughts.
Ranma had a baby somewhere out there. That was hard for Ryoga to comprehend. When he thought of their fights, he almost couldn't contain his anger. How many times did they fight? How many times did Ranma go girl on him? It wasn't his fault he wanted to believe. Most of the time it was Ranma fault anyway. How many times did he use his curse to trick him?
"All right. What's so important you had to drag me out of the house?" a voice called from around the next corner.
"Shampoo want apologize to Akane for way Shampoo treat," a second voice called.
'That's right,' Ryoga thought. 'Ranma shouldn't have been messing around with all those girls when he had a baby of his own to take care of!'
"Oh, well. Ryoga?" Akane said.
"Ryoga?" Shampoo replied as she turned around in time to have the fang-toothed martial artist walk into her.
"Hey watch it!" Ryoga groused."
"Pig-boy one who need watch where he walk," Shampoo stated sharply.
"Akane?" Ryoga said as he looked up.
"No, is Shampoo. Akane is over there," Shampoo stated as she rolled her eyes.
"Just what do you think you're doing, Ryoga," a male voice called from behind him.
"Mousse?" Shampoo and Akane said at once.
Ryoga turned just as the wall they were standing by exploded out.
"Look, Mint! Girls!"
Original Author Notes:
A.N.:
A few words about this chapter.
First, about Ranma being alone: I've often heard women bemoan that if childbirth was left to guys, the human race would've died out long ago. I don't know about that. Although "The Pill" might have been invented sooner. :)
Certainly, guys can act like spoiled children when they're sick or in minor pain. However, deep pain or internal things men keep to themselves. (My brother broke or at least severely sprained his ankle and refused to see a doctor.) Being raised by Genma, I think Ranma definitely would've hid it until he didn't have a choice. If you disagree, I wouldn't mind discussing it further in e-mail, especially as it's only a minor point in the story arc.
Second, you may have noticed that this chapter appears a little different than previous chapters. With this chapter, I am testing a CSS implementation. Unless I hear complaints, the next update may see the rest of this story similarly formatted. Followed soon, but the rest of the site.
As always, your comments, whether about the story, my formatting, or whatever are greatly appreciated.
