Content Warnings -Suicide, severe depression, severe mental issues, homophobia, gore, and family issues
Reader discretion is advised. Please take care and be kind to yourself.
For reader reference, Saotome Rose/Ryu Anko is 12 years old and Saotome Ranma is 30 years old.
"Hey Mom, I'm going to be home late, Iwata said he wants to show me a game of his," Rose shouted as she was coming down the stairs, "Mom?"
She found her mother staring at the cutting board, her eyes focused on the blade in her hand.
"Mom?" Rose touched her mother's shoulder, startling her awake.
"Anko!" she refocused her and turned towards her daughter, "Uh sorry, must gotten distracted in my thoughts, what was it that ya were saying?"
"Mom, you really should go and see that therapist Mama was recommending."
"Bud, I know that's not what you're saying before," Anko continued to stare at her mother, "As I said before, we can't afford it."
"Mama can," Anko noted.
"I don't like relying on her as much we already do,"
"Why? You're a stay-at-home mom, lots of parents do that."
"Well one, most parents' income isn't criminal, and two, we're not married."
"You would be if you could, I know that trip Mama is trying to plan to Canada isn't because she's a hardcore skier," Anko sat down.
"We… can talk about it later, Nabs will be here tomorrow anyway. What was it that you're mentioning earlier?"
"Oh, I'm going to be at Iwata's house until late tonight, wants to show me a game."
"Oh, and it'sjustyou that he's showing?"
"Please Mom, it's a yuri game he happened across. The dude's gay like I've said before," Anko's solo guy friend in school happened to be gay himself, thus another example of LGBTQ people gravitating towards each other.
"What's become of the youth today," a bitter voice muttered behind Anko.
"Mother, I didn't know you were awake!" Nodoka made no acknowledgment of her daughter as she took a seat at the table, glaring at Anko the whole while.
"Right, I'll get your usual mom," Ranma began to cook the veggies she had chopped, "As for you going out this evening, Anko. It's supposed to snow heavily this afternoon through to tomorrow."
"Ugh, again. The weather just has it out for me I swear."
"Hey, when I was your age-"
"You had to haul backpacks of bricks through freezing weather like this I know I know, I praise the heavens I don't have to live your nightmare of a childhood and my parents aren't slavers-" Anko received a slap to her face from her grandmother, knocking her to the ground.
"Mother!" Ranma moved to her daughter's side, "Bud, are you alright?"
"Mocking both your elders and the dead, you should be as ashamed of yourself child," Nodoka stared down at her grandchild, "You are a spoiled and weak child that shouldn't exist!"
"Mother!" Ranma's aura began to turn red.
"And you, look at you, acting like a housewife when you don't even have a husband, you are an utter failure in this pitiful excuse of false womanhood you cling to. You are not a real woman, so stop pretending to be one. Although you are even less of a man."
"That's it Granny, I've had it-" Ranma put her arm in front of Anko.
"Rose, leave the room,"
"But-"
"Bud, no,"
Anko grabbed her bag and left the room. Angry, she began to dress for the cold outside and tie her boots. Before she finished, footsteps creaked behind her.
"Hey, bud?"
"Yeah, mom,"
"How about you stay at Iwata's place tonight? I know you've been trying to hang out with him lately and the weather's been pissy lately."
"Really?"
"Of course bub,"
"Awesome, you're the best mom!" Anko hugged her mother, "I'm going to get going though,"
"But breakfast-"
"I'm not hungry mom, besides I know some others owe me their lunch if I get hungry,"
"Of course, you can take care of yourself," Ranma smiled softly.
"Damn right, I'm a Saotome!" Anko cracked a grin, "Laters Mom." Anko stepped out the door turning back to wave her mother off.
"Laters bud," her mother half-heartedly waved at her. Anko last saw her grandmother lingering behind her mother in the dim light, her eyes full of disgust at Anko as the door shut. Anko left the house in an angry rut that won't leave until she made it to school after a long walk.
"Senpai, I… I love you!" The anime girl said with tears falling from her eyes.
"Wow, they didn't even bother with a cg for the climax," Iwata grumbled, "What cheap stakes…"
"There's a good amount of cgs forthosekinda climaxes though," Anko commented as she flipped through pages of a manga magazine.
"Of course you'd noticed that," Iwata looked over at his friend, "Although for someone who should be more interested in this than me, it's clearly not grabbing you."
"Hey, I just haven't read this week's issue is all."
"Ahuh, that's why you've been re-reading that chapter at least four times now."
"Shit," she looked at the game screen. It was her style of art. "Sorry man, I'm just… distracted,"
"Worried about your mom?"
"Yeah…"
"For someone you say is so strong you sure do worry a lot."
"It's not her I'm worried about, it's my grandma. The woman's an utter bitch. Can't wait for her to be gone,"
"So your other mom got the papers?"
"Yup, grandma is off to a very nice mental health ward in Kyushu, while we're off to Canada," Anko grinned with delight.
"Damn, that's some anniversary surprise your mom's getting."
"I just can't believe Mama got us passports and even a fast track to residency planned."
"She's going to propose right?"
"Of course," Anko smirked that classic Saotome smirk, "Mama's got it all planned out."
"I'm going to miss ya, my one comrade in arms in a nightmare of a conservative country,"
"Chill dude, you're all set for Tokyo anyhow and worse comes to worse you got relatives in Australia… and soon a friend in Canada."
"Someone's excited," he jabbed her shoulder.
"Yeah, but I don't know," Anko looked up at the ceiling, "Got a bad feeling and I can't shake it,"
"Sure it isn't nerves?" He asked.
"Nah, something about this morning has my stomach in a knot," she looked outside, the snowfall had already begun.
"I'm going to go home," she picked herself up from the bed.
"But it's past six thirty, and the weather is going to be atrocious!" Iwata pleaded.
"My gut is telling me something is wrong and that means something to my family."
"That you're hungry?"
Anko stared at him, "What? I've seen you eat a banquet to yourself, don't lie to me, woman!"
Anko sighed, "I'm going home."
"Alright, not like I could stop you even if I wanted to," he crossed his arms.
"Damn right, nerd," she stood and flicked her friend's forehead.
Iwata rubbed his wound, "You're just a nerd with muscles."
"Better to be Gohan than Yamcha I always say," she chuckled.
"Thanks for the self-esteem boost," he muttered.
"Relax, you're more a Bulma anyhow."
"That's a comment on my taste in men, isn't it?"
"You're the one who likes Franks, the foreign short king."
He sighed, "Stay safe, the weather's bad out there."
"Of course, I'm a Saotome! Nothing gets us down for good," she grinned at his doorway, "Laters!"
Iwata waved goodbye and ignored the dread building in his gut.
It was the smell that alerted Anko first. She always had a good smell of smell between her ancestry and curse—that iron scent of blood. Anko's legs tried to sprint through the metres of snow. She threw open the door to her house with brutal strength, not caring it was now broken.
"Mom?" She heaved out.
Silence, save for the faint singing coming down the dark halls.
"~Make tomorrow a sunny day~"
'It's… a nursery rhyme.' The wind howled down the hallway, the singer clearly undisturbed by the storm inside and the sound of the door being ripped open.
"~Like the sky, I saw in a dream~"
Anko could only take one step at a time as she approached, her heartbeat pounding in her ears. It was coming from the living room, the smell and singing.
"~If it's sunny, I will give you a golden bell~"
She pulled open the door, immediately collapsing onto her knees at the sight. Her grandmother was singing, tears endlessly running from her dead eyes, hair twisted like a nightmare, and blood all over her. In her arms, she cradled the head of her child.
"~Make tomorrow a sunny day~"
"No…" Anko began to crawl forward, her hands and knees becoming soaked in blood. Anko reached the headless and gut-opened body of her mother.
"~If my wish comes true~"
"Mother mother mother!?"
She hugged the corpse, begging for a miracle, magic trick, or anything to fix the reality before her.
"~The little bird really loves to sing~"
"Mommy…" Anko's eyes turned to her grandmother.
"~Calling his mother, he also sings~"
The elder had a faint smile on her face. Rose bellowed from deep within her soul. Her skin began to burn. Sight became clouded by red. The air ignited and everything around Rose erupted in flames. Rose never saw her gramma's smile turn to a grin nor heard her whispered last words.
"Oh, my sweet child, finally hell welcomes me."
The fire engulfed her. The woman did not scream once as the old home turned into an inferno. Countless photos of Rose's childhood and her parents' romance, the treasures of many adventures, and endless letters and diaries all burn into ashes that filled the storm above. In such weather, no fire rescue would come, no one would even know until the snow in the town began to turn black from the burnt memories.
Before the storm had even fully cleared and a fire truck had even begun to stir, a lone woman approached the burnt household. The blaze once roared but too swiftly it burnt through its fuel source and the endless snow smothered it within the hour. The woman almost turned away, her cold eyes finding nothing of value immediately but then her sensitive ears heard faint crying. She cautiously approached, careful to not burn herself on still-hot ash. She found the source quickly, throwing beams of burnt wood away with ease and looking about her find. A perfectly unharmed girl besides ashes that covered her naked body. The girl wept in a barely conscious state.
"Who's… there?" The girl moaned.
"I am Xian Puu, last of the Amazons," Xian kneeled down to the girl, "Where is Saotome Ranma?"
"She's…" the girl cried.
The older woman sighed, "You will have to do." She picked up and threw the preteen over her shoulder. Distantly, Xian could hear the sound of emergency vehicles.
"Where are… taking…" the girl barely mumbled out.
"Somewhere to make you strong," The older woman grinned a feral smile, "Let's hope you're better than your mother at killing demons."
The woman had no issue erasing their trail and exited the scene long before emergency services arrived, escaping into the woods with her prize.
Neither would be seen for a decade.
