Sadly, I do not own the story of Ranma ½ and have no affiliation with the creator Rumiko Takahashi.
Chapter 4: Revelation
Mid-April 1986, Joketsuzoku village
"Ugh. My head is pounding!" Ranma exclaimed while looking around the room. She was back in her own timeline. It appears she'd collapsed on the floor.
"Well now, you're awake! More importantly, you're alive. Tell me Ranma, what are you?" a familiar voice inquired. "I've never seen a reaction this strong to the circle before, I need to know, what you are."
"What are you talking about?" Ranma asked before she remembered everything of the past couple days. Her trip to another timeline was not something she ever wanted to forget. Steeling her resolve, Ranma spoke out to the voice, "My name is Ranko Saotome. I will not go by Ranma ever again."
"Well, you seem to have figured some things out while you were out. Tell me, do you know what you just experienced?" The voice asked kindly. "It isn't often that this circle reacts to somebody and never in all the years of my life have I ever heard of this strong of a reaction. You're something of an enigma."
Finally getting up, Ranko faced the speaker and realized she was speaking to the village elder. "I know what is going on here, but I need to resolve this myself. Please do not interfere." Looking around the room Ranma found a glass of cold water and poured it over herself, triggering the transformation. "My name is Ranko Saotome, and I will be referred to as a woman."
The Elder's eyes widened and then she smiled sadly. "So, I was correct, you are a woman, yet you seem to have been born in the wrong body. Why was that experience different for you though than the others who are transgender?"
"I was born male artificially" Ranko replied coldly. "magic was the culprit, somebody wanted a boy badly enough that they used magic to turn me into one. Inside my mother, no less!"
"I don't know if there is anybody in this timeline who would help me. I'm alone." Ranma replied with tears in her eyes as she recalled her conversation with Ranko days ago. What if her mother was a part of this? Did she allow Genma to do this to her? The thought pushed her over the edge as she remembered the seppuku pledge and that her mother must be aware if she'd put a death threat over her daughter forcibly turned son to be a 'man amongst men'. Due to these issues, she cried knowing she'd never be allowed to live a life of her own choosing.
Crying years of pent-up frustration and anger and fears, Ranko collapsed in a heap on the floor sobbing. Did anybody care about her? Was life even worth continuing? She honestly couldn't see anything in her future that was promising with the path she'd chosen. She'd be alone in the world.
"Ranko, you'll always be with somebody. There is always a second half to a person out there. You just have to find them. There's an old saying here, 'don't look at the darkness that surrounds you in times of pain. Look at the speck of light in the distance'. It means don't give up"
Hearing this Ranko tensed and said with confidence, "Ranko Saotome never gives up!" Springing to her feet, Ranko looked the matriarch in the eye and said "You're right, I got to find my other half. Though that can wait, there is someone I need answers from first."
"Is it your father?" Kon Lon asked. A nod came from Ranko signaling an affirmative.
Kon Lon sighed and said "I'm afraid that's not going to be possible today"
"Why not?" Ranko asked. "Because he tried to do something to you while you were in the circle. He's been taken to the cells for detainment until you leave." Kon Lon replied.
"What did he try to do?" Ranko said anger radiating out of her. "We think he was trying to influence your outcome there through magic. We don't know for certain as the spell was incomplete and therefore was not cast. You need to be careful around him."
"I'm well aware of this fact, I've been walking on eggshells for years around him." Ranko replied. "I'll manage"
Kon Lon looked in the girl's eyes and saw the truth there. This girl did know how to protect herself, even from that bastard of a man. "Very well Ranko, I'll arrange a meet with him for you. Though it will have to be tomorrow. It's getting late and I don't want you out right now. We're at war with an enemy we've been fighting for millennia. They go after young women such as yourself, so I want you in bed in an hour or so. Just stay indoors until you're given an all clear."
"Yes ma'am, I need to rest anyways. I'm exhausted." Ranko said feeling like she hadn't slept in days. "That makes sense, after what you've been through. Alright, go to bed and I'll wake you when you can see your father in the morning." Kon Lon stated then showed Ranko to her bed. That night Ranko had dreams of rejection and fear. It would influence her in the days to come.
Around 3:00am the next morning…
"Ranko, Wake up! There isn't much time" Kon Lon said shaking the young girl awake. Coming awake, Ranko asked, "Are we going to see that bastard? I need to ask him something important."
Shaking her head, Kon Lon said, "You need to leave town! The Musk have infiltrated us and there is fighting in the streets! If you don't leave, you could be captured. I don't wish that on anybody, but least of all a guest! Come, I'll take you to your father and you both must flee! Quickly!" With that, Kon Lon bounced towards the main door of the house and waited while Ranko quickly dressed. When she was ready, they left without a word, running across the
grounds towards the jail that held her father.
Once inside, Ranko and Kon Lon made their way to his cell and quickly explained the situation to him, He looked grim but determined. Nodding, Kon Lon led him and Ranko to an escape route out the backway of the village. They hadn't been spotted yet.
After running for about 10 minutes, they arrived at a hidden gate. Once it was open Kon Lon turned to them and said "Go straight for a quarter mile, then turn south. Do not stop at all until you're more than 5 miles from here, at least!"
Pulling Ranko aside, Kon Lon said, "take this, when the time is right, read the note. Not until you're ready though." With that she shoved a note and a small vial of something into Ranko's hand. "Wait until you find the other half before reading this or opening the vial." Kon Lon gave Ranko a sad but loving smile and gently pushed her out the gate and sealed it back up.
Ranko and Genma heard screams of terror and pain rip throughout the night as they scrambled to get away from the village. After running for several hours and were way more than 5 miles from the village, did they begin to slow down. Looking back, Ranko could swear she saw a glow on the horizon in the direction of the village.
Tears began to stream down her face. She had all but forgotten about her father for the moment, she was in severe pain from possibly losing her best friend she had in the world.
"Boy are you crying?!" Snarled Genma, snapping Ranko back to her father and reminding her of the awful situation her life was in. "And why are you still a girl?"
Swiveling on her father, Ranko said, "I'm not a boy and you know it! How could you do something so awful to your only child? Let alone your unborn child?! You're no father of mine!"
Stomping off into the woods, Ranko heard a sound of shock and something else she couldn't put her finger on come from him. Her father was a master of deception though, so she didn't think too much of it.
'Shit, she knows! What am I going to do now? She doesn't know the whole story! Damn it!' Genma thought. He was unsure where to go from here. His daughter had been freed from his folly and judgment. But she doesn't realize the whole story is still yet to be told.
Going after his child, Genma was acutely aware of the precarious situation he was in with her. One wrong move on his part and it would be all over for Genma Saotome.
After finding his now daughter, Genma looked her over, noting the tear stains on her cheeks and the swollenness of her eyes. She'd been crying that much he was aware of. When she caught sight of him, she gave him a look of pure hatred, and under that Genma could see the feeling of betrayal in her eyes. She wouldn't forgive him easily.
"Ranma listen, I want to say..." Genma said then was cut off by "How dare you act so contrite when you're actually a noncaring, womanizing, chauvinistic, bastard! Do you actually understand what you've put me through because of this? I've been suffering for as long as I remember, and it was entirely your fault! There is nothing you could say or do to give me back my life that I should have had. I at least have my birth form back, but that was clearly the last thing you wanted me to ever have! And don't you ever call me Ranma again. My name is Ranko Saotome! I will not go by a male name when I'm not a man.
Ranko then proceed to try to walk away, but Genma said something that stopped her. "I know Ranko. I'm truly sorry that you suffered because of actions of mine from so long ago. But there's more to the story than what you've discovered."
"What are you talking about Old Man?" Ranko said without turning around to face him. Something was making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She sensed that what he was about to say would change the way she looked at this situation.
"Long ago, I was a pupil under the most perverted master. His name was Happosai, and he was the most powerful martial artist I've ever seen even to this day. When I trained under him though, I discovered his perverse nature. He had an unhealthy obsession with women and their underclothes. In those days I had a training partner, he and I were put through the harshest of punishments if we ever did something that the master did not approve of.
However; one night after the master had drunken himself into a stupor, he and I put the master inside of a cave and sealed him inside with a boulder. That was the last time either of us saw him. Until 5 months before you were born…"
Ranko looked back art her father and saw a look of pure terror on his face. She realized something had happened to her father and therefore her as well when this 'master' had returned.
"5 months before you were born, the master reappeared. He was enraged, and I thought he would kill me there and then. But he noticed your mother was pregnant, his anger evaporated."
'SNAP!' a twig broke nearby and Genma shut up and became on high alert. Ranko was right beside him and they stood there for a few moments and then they heard talking in the distance. Men talking about the fall of the Amazon women tribe in Joketsuzoku.
Ranko tensed upon hearing this. It was the Musk she presumed and after hearing from Kon Lon about them, she didn't want to be anywhere near them. She looked at her father and she motioned silently for him to follow her behind some brush.
Genma and Ranko hid behind the brush for a while until the voices were long gone. But the situation was not safe still, so after a few more minutes, they quietly made their way south through the woods so as not to be spotted. After hours of hiking and occasionally running, they came to the top of a large hill. Looking down, they could see the ocean in the distance. Near the coastline they spotted a small wharf with a few small ships.
"There, we'll buy passage on a ship headed to Japan and get away from this country that seems to be falling apart." Ranko said. Genma agreed with a grunt. There was still more to the story he'd been telling Ranko, but it could wait until a better time. Besides, she was at least willing to hear him out.
"Genma, when we get on the ship, you may finish your story, but there is a chance I still won't forgive you." Genma looked at Ranko after she said this and saw the conviction in her eyes. "I understand." Is all he responded with.
Over the next several hours, they trekked toward the wharf. It was sunrise before they made it to the wharf. Genma and Ranko were about to enter the village when Ranko realized that passage for two would be more expensive than just her and a pet. Genma agreed begrudgingly and they walked over to the water and Genma splashed a little on himself, turning himself into a panda again.
Together they made their way to the wharf and located a ship heading to Japan. Paying for the ticket and cargo cost, they boarded the ship heading to Japan. Sailors took her 'pet' down to the cargo hold, and she went to her room and laid down on the bed. Before she even realized it, she was asleep.
That night, Ranko dreamt of her mother and all the possibilities of how their reunion could go. There was one she wished with all her heart was the way it went, and one that woke her up from a dead sleep. In the end though, one theme seemed to pop up. Whether her mother knew about the magic used against her in utero or not.
When morning rolled around, they were well on their way to Japan. She asked around and discovered it would take at least another day or two before they arrived. She thought about this and realized that this was the perfect time to do some self-reflection about what her father had told her so far.
For the next day, she thought about her fathers' words, trying to find something that was a lie and she could use against him. In the end there was nothing she could find in what little he'd said. But there was a problem that had been left unsaid. She wasn't sure if it was intentional or not, but it cast a problem on the story of innocence her father was telling her. She did not know what to do about this. Pondering this dilemma, she realized she'd need the rest of the story to make a conclusion. Getting up, she exited her cabin and made her way down to the cargo hold. One way or another she would have an answer.
Happy Belated New Year!
Thank you for reading another chapter of 'The lost daughter' Please leave feedback that you deem helpful to me as usual. As always, your continued support is always appreciated.
Published 1/7/19