Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction, I do not claim any rights to any of the characters or concepts created or owned by Viz Video or Rumiko Takahashi. This is just the work of one fan to the others. The only characters or concepts that I claim are the ones I created or introduced. That said, I bring you:
Broken Mirrors, chapter 40
Thursday, January 7th. The Saotome Residence, 4:00 PM.
As sunset approached rapidly, they arrived at last at the last mirror to deal with, besides the ones on the cars. Gosunkugi had explained that fixed mirrors were the biggest issues, since they were much easier to access from the other side, so they had focused on the ones that were stationary first, then dealt with hand mirrors that were of a sufficient size to act as doors. Akane and Ukyo were lost quickly, while Ranko managed to keep at least some grasp of what he had been talking about
Now, the three were at the moment of truth, the point of no return. Did they back out at the last moment, and leave the Mirror out of this, or explain what it was, and why it was important.
Akane and Ukyo looked at the pale and stricken Ranko, who took a deep breath and nodded before Ukyo opened the doors, while Akane offered her silent support to her partner.
They entered the shrine, and stopped before the smooth surface of the Mirror. All four of them regarded the mystical object with a slew of emotions churning in their gut. The first one to break the silence was the priest, Gosunkugi, as he turned to look at the other three.
"What...What is this? Nothing like this should exist in this world…" He said with a tremble of awe and wonder in his voice.
"Something that you must swear on the Kami that you will never speak of to another soul." Ranko said forcefully.
Gosunkugi looked into her eyes and swallowed nervously. They were not the eyes of some sheltered socialite, or some pampered rich princess. They were the hard, unwavering eyes of one who had confronted challenge after challenge and always been the one to walk away victorious. He stammered out quickly as he tried not to cower before her. "I… I swear on the Kami and my true name, I will never utter a word about this to another soul without your express permission."
Ranko locked him in her gaze for a minute, then smiled and the intensity dropped as she relaxed and Gosunkugi felt his shoulders slump in relief. Ranko smiled at him and said. "I'll tell you the whole story later… It will take a while, and I imagine that time is of the essence tonight, right?"
"A bit, yes… I need to have all the talismans placed before the sun fully sets to make the warding as potent as possible. I should come back each week and check on them, to make sure that the warding is holding, and doesn't need to be strengthened." Gosunkugi explained as Ranko nodded along, while the others just listened and tried to make sense of everything.
"Then, let me just sum things up for you. I'm not from this side of the mirror, my brother is though. We… We switch places each week, on Sunday at noon. We have been doing this for years, and we try to make the best of this second chance for both of us. You.. You don't have to do anything to it, do you?" Ranko said in a worried tone of voice.
Gosunkugi turned to regard the mirror, as he examined it carefully. His other senses could make out the connection that the Mirror shared,, different from the other mirrors he had seen. It definitely connected to the worlds beyond the mirror, but it seemed to only be connected to one small bubble, a place outside of time and space and disconnected from the rest of the worlds Between the Mirror. He nodded as he turned to the worried woman who sat anxiously.
"I don't understand how or why, but this one seems to be safe. How did you come across this? And how did you end up switching places with your alternate here?" He said, then grumbled quietly. "And how did Kodachi end up here, of all places…"
Ranko laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of her head. "Shouldn't you finish what you were doing, and… then I will explain as much as I can?"
Gosunkugi nodded as he took one last look at the Mirror, and moved to the spot he had chosen to finish the warding. He settled into place, and started to chant as he wove the bit of magic he possessed into the fabric of the boundary between. He noticed that it came even easier now than the last time he had warded the shrine. Perhaps the boundary was growing thinner, and letting more of what lay Between through? Perhaps the existence of a being from Beyond taking residence here was the cause?
Something to investigate at a later time, once he had finished the task that he had been given.
Once he had finished the ritual, he took one more pass through the manor as he made sure that each potential doorway to what lay beyond the mirrors had been sealed, then nodded as he turned to regard the three women. "Now, if possible, I would really like to hear your story. It might shed some light on why this is happening, and how it is even possible for it to happen here. To be honest, this world should be mostly safe from them, unless someone is stupid enough to summon something to this place." He said as he scowled and looked down, a look that seemed all the more sinister and unsettling with his gaunt, pale complexion and dark circles under his eyes.
The three women looked at each other, then nodded. Akane gripped the handles of Ranko's chair again, and smiled down at her fiancee. "We will take Gosunkugi to the study, did you want to get us something, or at least let Mrs. Sasami know, Ukyo? I know that this is going to take some time, and I don't know about you, but this has been a long day for me." Akane said and smiled at Ukyo before she led Gosunkugi towards the study.
Ukyo chuckled as she watched the pair lead the strange priest off. She made her way quickly to the kitchen, sure that at this hour the head maid would be in residence there, or at least nearby. She smiled as she saw the Sasami's all sitting at the staff table as they quietly talked amongst themselves. Once she entered the room, all three stood and bowed respectfully to Ukyo.
"And what can we do for you, Lady Kuonji?" Mrs. Sasami asked as Shiro reached for his coat that was draped over the back of his seat.
"Did you need me to take you somewhere, ma'am?" Shiro asked.
Ukyo shook her head and smiled, still unused to this kind of treatment. "We don't need your services yet, and it might be a bit until the priest returns to the shrine." She said as she smiled at Shiro, then turned to Mrs. Sasami. "I was actually hoping that you could get us something light to snack on and some tea? We… Are going to lay out some of the details to him, since we kind of need some help with the problems we have been having that is a bit more… Specialized."
The elder two Sasami's looked at each other and nodded. "Of course, Lady Kuonji. If you want to return to your guest, we will take care of everything. And, if you need anything in the future, you can just ring for us. We are always at your service." Mrs. Sasami said as all three of them bowed deeply to the Master's fiancee.
Ukyo smiled and blushed a little, then quickly bowed to them before she walked back towards the study.
The elder Sasami's shared another look before they both went towards the kitchen to get the staff working on what they would need. "It is good to know that the next generation of Saotome's will have such a fine lady for a mother." Mr. Sasami said as he held the door for his wife.
"I think that they will keep us quite busy, dear. It's been far too long since we had little ones in this house. I can hardly wait!" Mrs. Sasami said happily as she saw to what needed to be done.
Shiro shook his head and sat back down to finish his meal, a fond smile on his usually stern face.
Ukyo walked into the study to find Ranko and Akane sitting on the large couch, with Gosunkugi seated across the small table from them. Akane nodded to the spot opposite of Ranko, and gave her fiancee's hand a comforting squeeze.
"Did I miss anything, sugar?" Ukyo asked as he sat down next to Ranko and gave the mistress of the Saotome family a gentle smile.
"No… We waited for you to start. And don't worry, we haven't been back long." Ranko said, as she bit her lip, and then looked at Gosunkugi. "We are going to trust you, and… That isn't easy to do. I honestly don't expect you to believe me… But… This is our story…" Ranko said as she put her thoughts into order, and started to explain the events that had led the siblings to their strange shared existence.
She talked briefly about her life before, still uncomfortable with the events that led to her near death at the hands of her own parents. She explained about the fact that in her old world, the concepts of supernatural beings and magic were not quite as far fetched, even if most would never experience anything of the like. She once again demonstrated the chi-fueled energies that they had started to tap into as Gosunkugi looked on and listened.
Next, she started to talk about what she herself remembered of the night that their worlds changed, about the strange dark haired girl named Natsume who saved them both, and created the Mirror. She paused as she looked at Gosunkugi, who just shook his head and motioned for her to continue as he listened and nodded.
Ranko paused in her story as a quiet knock sounded on the door, followed by Mrs. Sasami wheeling in a cart with a selection of sushi and other light finger foods, and a service for tea, along with a kettle of a soothing herbal tea. She quietly served each of them, then bowed and left the study once more. Ranko took a few sips of the tea, with her hands wrapped around it and enjoyed the warmth for a moment, before she continued the story.
"We had pretty much resigned ourselves to being alone, living a shared life, as it were. But, then these two came into our lives, and things got so much better for us. The thing is… It's also gotten a lot stranger, as well lately. My chi abilities returning, even slowly. Akane and Ukyo are also adepts, and are progressing swiftly. Ranma is showing potential as well, but I guess that makes sense since he is my, what did you call him, my alternate? Do you think all of this is related somehow?" Ranko asked.
Gosunkugi seemed lost in thought for a moment as he processed all that Ranko had told him, then nodded slowly. "This world has always been blocked off to some extent. I haven't met anyone else that can access the world between the mirrors like I can, not here. All the stories about ghosts, witches, warlocks and other things I have ever looked into are just that, stories. It wasn't until my own experiments led to what, I guess, you could call success that I even really believed in what I saw when I looked into mirrors. I will have to talk to Ranma about his experiences, of course. So, you said that you and him rotate, each staying as long as the other did last? And that you have it synced up on Sundays at noon?"
Ranko nodded. "We've had occasions happen when it wasn't possible for us to exchange places on the usual time and date, so we had to make sure that the next time the cycle came up that we were able to get back to the correct time. It… Makes life a lot easier."
"And, what is it like? When you two exchange places?" Gosunkugi asked as he leaned forward slightly.
"Well… Honestly? It's like when you fall asleep suddenly. Then, just as suddenly wake up. You know that some time has passed, but you don't know how long or what happened between falling asleep and waking up. At first, it was really disorientating. Losing time like that. And, when we started out it was not always on a week by week basis… Since Ranma had to get surgeries done." Ranko said and smiled as Akane squeezed her hand.
"I see.. I see. Well, I can see how that would be.. Disconcerting. I wonder if that is what it is like for the others, as well? Not like I am going to ask her…." Gosunkugi started to say, then froze as a pair of slim, strong arms looped around his chest from behind him. He froze still, with a terrified look in his eyes as his head slowly turned and locked gazes with a smiling Kodachi Kuno. "W...What are you doing here! I thought you promised to keep away from me!" He said as he tried to get her off of himself without actually touching her more than possible.
Kodachi pouted at him, then grinned at the three women who hadn't noticed her come in until she ambushed Gosunkugi. She let go of her victim and stepped back and bowed. "Thank you for having me." She eyed Gosunkugi in a way that was far from innocent as he paled even more, if that was possible. "Oh, and I think that they promised to keep me away from you. Now, I just happened to be in the area so I dropped by. It is a pleasant surprise to see you here, Gos dear. We really should catch up sometime… For old times sake." She said in a near purr.
Gosunkugi just stared at her with a horrified look on his face for a minute before Kodachi sighed and stepped away from him. "Really, Gos. You are just no fun anymore. Fine, fine, I will go wait out in the garden until you all are done with your little talk. Just make sure that you don't go gossiping about me, hrm? That would be quite rude." Kodachi said before she stalked out of the room, her hips doing very interesting things as she practically prowled away.
Gosunkugi swallowed hard and made sure she was gone before he drained several cups of tea in a row. He cast a look at the three, and saw the looks on their faces before he sighed and bowed his head. "I know that you are trying to keep your end of our deal. Kodachi… Doesn't respect rules or boundaries if she can help it. I.. Really can't say more than that. I think I would like to return to the shrine, where it's much safer from her, if you don't mind? We can continue this next week when I return to check on the wards."
The three women nodded as Akane stood up and helped Ranko back into her chair. "We will walk you out, if that is okay Gosunkugi?" Akane said as she stepped behind Ranko's chair.
"Yes, thank you." He said, obviously shaken. They walked him out, where Shiro was already waiting for them with the car. Gosunkugi stopped as he was about to get in and looked at the three. "Be careful with Kodachi… She isn't what she seems to be." He said cryptically before he got in and Shiro drove him back to the shrine once again.
The three women exchanged a look, then went to go find their unexpected guest in the gardens. They each had quite a lot to think about, and they would have to talk to each other about it later, when they did not have an unexpected and unpredictable guest.