Thyself Known
A Ranma 1/2 fanfic by Zorknot
Ch.10: Possessions
DISCLAIMER: The thunder crashed, and the wind howled outside the hospital
window. The machines blipped and whirred, keeping the young woman in the bed
alive. Her husband sat beside her, holding her hand. The doctor came in with
his stainless steel clipboard, a serious expression on his wizened face. The
husband stood up, a hopeful look in his eyes. But the doctor shook his head.
"I'm sorry," he said, "but the Ranma1/2 characters in this
fanfiction are not the property of the author. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi.
There's nothing we can do."
Helpful Readers:
Nicholas Leifker (http://www.thekeep.org/~nightelf/fanfic/)
Tai
Khan
These
are people whose comments I've used to make the chapter better.
Editors
Abdiel
(http://www.florestica.com/abdiel/index.htm)
THE
STORY SO FAR: …is hopelessly complicated. There is an
underground conspiracy in Nerima bent on preventing the Awakening, which has
something to do with the return of demons to the world. Ranma and most of the
people he is attached to spiritually are part of something called the Migration, a sort of soul sickness that
affects people with high levels of ki, causing them to shift to different
aspects of their personality and consequently gain new powers as their chakras
realign. The Migration is a prophesied event that heralds the Awakening, which
the conspiracy is trying to prevent.
In
an attempt to halt or at least slow down the Migration, Tofu gave Ranma an
artifact called Thyself Known, which allowed him to consciously control which
aspect of his personality he would exhibit. Trouble is, Nabiki was already part
of the Migration before then, and a power awakened in her that almost killed
her. To save her, Ranma had to share some of his soul with her, in the process,
the Thyself Known became absorbed into both of them so that they both have to
be together in order it to work.
Naturally,
they fell in love.
Akane
and the fiancee’s aren’t too happy about this. They too have become part of the
Migration. Akane has Joined the Amazons, Shampoo has left the Amazons, and
Ukyo’s okonomiyakis are now filled with hate instead of love, making them
explosive and deadly. Things are snowballing into a roiling frenzy.
Complicating this further, Copycat Ken, unable
to return to his original form after fighting Ranma (anime canon), decided the
reason he couldn’t beat Ranma was that he wasn’t vicious enough (NOT canon). He
began systematically killing people close to Ranma so he could catch him by
surprise. After killing four people, including Gosunkugi and Hoko, one of
Nabiki’s two henchwomen and the closest thing she had to a best friend, and
absorbing the nekoken with his cursed camera that allows him to copy any
technique, Copycat finally had his rematch with Ranma. Ranma, who had bonded more
completely with his nekoken, killed him viciously, after which he discovered
that both the camera and the blanket that Copycat used to change forms and
learn techniques were part of a massive supernatural creature bearing a vague
resemblance to a flying tapeworm that was likely messing with Copycat’s mind.
Ranma sliced at the creature, cutting off the
last three sections of its body, which held portions of Nabiki’s and Hoko’s
soul along with some from Hiro, a traffic cop who had recently transferred to
Nerima and who recently discovered he was a necromancer. For reason’s which are
unlikely to become clear again at the moment, he was trapped in Hoko’s body
when the bits of his and Hoko’s soul returned. As a result Hoko is now alive
again and Hiro has his own body back. But the experience seems to have affected
his abilities…
~~~~~ch.10
possessions~~~~
"Possession
requires both control and intention. It is obtained from the first moment that
both those conditions exist simultaneously. Usually, intention precedes
control, as when you see a coin on the ground and reach down to pick it up.
Nevertheless, it is conceivable that a person might obtain control of a thing
before forming the intention to possess it."
-Wikipedia
~~~~~fluorescent
lights~~~~~~
~Please!
Please! You have to tell them my name! Tell them my name!~
~I
want him dead! Kill him! Kill him!~
~Is
it over yet? Please tell me it's over. I'm so lonely.~
~He's
gonna get all the money! He's getting away scott free while I'm rotting here!~
~I
don’t understand. I gave him everything in my purse. Why did he shoot me?~
Hiro
woke up with a gasp. All around him, shadowy figures were grabbing at him,
begging him to help them. The room was full of the specters… each reaching for
him… each screaming in pain or anguish. Without really thinking, Hiro reached
into his breast pocket, pulled out his sunglasses and put them on. The spirits
seemed to grow less substantial, their voices fading with their forms.
Hiro
remembered his parents saying he used to scream all the time as a child. That
he'd have terrible nightmares that would have him running from his room in
fright. They stopped when he was about five years old. Hiro’s first memory was
of starting preschool at five a good six months after his nightmares had ended.
Everything before that was a blank.
Aside
from a few encounters with violent death working in the homicide division in
his old precinct, Hiro had never seen ghosts before. Even in those cases he
could blow it off as an over active imagination playing with his uncomfortably
acute ability to empathize with victims. Except for the last one. The girl. He
hadn't ever quite been able to rationalize that one away. Something had changed
when he saw her. He had seen what she had seen, known what she had known. She
had broken through his defenses, walls in his psyche he hadn't even realized
were there, and she had left them weakened.
Ever
since then, if Hiro listened, he could hear the whispering of spirits. But
something had changed again. Now he couldn’t help but hear them, even through
the protection his sunglasses seemed to offer. It didn’t help that he was now
in a morgue.
~My
babies! They're all alone! My babies! Please!~
~It's
so cold. Why is it so cold?~
~Kaori?
Where are you Kaori? I can't see; there's too much smoke. Call out your name,
honey, so I can find you. Kaori!~
"I've
got to get out of here," He said, rising to his feet from the tile floor.
He would wonder about why it was that his sunglasses were suddenly
ghostblockers later, once he had some air.
"Hey,
you're up!" Hoko's voice, a real voice coming from a pretty girl standing
next to him, noted. “How’s it feel to be in your own body again?"
"You're
alive," Hiro remarked, confused.
"Yep!
Apparently Ranma killed Copycat, and we got our bodies back! I'm trying not to
think too much about how that's possible exactly."
Hiro
nodded, "I remember this mist or something coming towards me and then it's
a blank."
Hoko
grimaced, "When it hit me, I got all the memories of what he did while
using my body. It wasn't fun the first time. The second time…I'm just glad it
was quick. I kind of wish we could resurrect the bastard just so I could kill
him personally, but I'll work with what I've got."
A
vivid memory of falling on his severed spinal chord gripped Hiro for a second
before fading. "Okay…starting to come back to me now."
~Is
it over? Am I dead yet? I'm so lonely.~
~Someone
please help me find her!~
~My
babies! Please! Please! My babies!~
Hiro
shivered. Some of the spirits were hard to ignore. Part of him wanted to help
them, but there were too many, and they were too grotesque, and it was all too
much for him to handle after everything else that happened. "I really have
to get out of here," He said again, and started walking hurriedly toward
the door.
Hoko
followed him. "Uncle Inamura said it'd be better not to move you in case
you had a concussion. It's only been a few minutes. He's in his office at the
department talking to Mrs. Saotome."
"Screw
that! This place is freaky." Hiro burst through the door like a drowning
man coming up for air.
Out
of the morgue and in the relative warmth (and silence) of the hallway, Hiro
asked, "Inamura is your uncle?"
"He's
not my REAL uncle, no. Nabiki and I used to hang around his house a lot. We're
friends with his daughter, Ami, though lately she's been acting like a
bitch."
They
reached the elevator and Hiro punched the up button. "Mrs. Saotome…that's
Ranma's mother?"
Hoko
smirked up at him. "You want the full soap opera version or the plain
facts?"
The
doors to the elevator opened and Hiro moved quickly inside. He wasn't sure if
it was a real feeling or just nerves, but he had a sense of something chasing
him. He greatly needed a distraction. He pressed the close door button several
times and when they closed he let out a breath. "Soap opera version, I
guess."
"Well,"
Hoko paused as she pressed the button for the ground floor, which Hiro had
forgotten to do. Her long hair held a slight scent of lavender. "For about
a year now, Mrs. Saotome, Ranma's mother, has been visiting at the Tendos…”
As
Hoko continued telling him about Ranma’s troubled relationship with his mother,
her words slowly began to relax him. The elevator reached the ground floor and
the doors opened. Hoko continued talking as they walked out. "The first I
found out about this was the day girl Ranma came to school wearing a girl's
uniform. That was about a month after Mrs. Saotome started visiting. About half
the school still thinks female Ranma and male Ranma are two different people,
but I and other students who pay attention to things know differently. A lot of
people called him a pervert and a cross dresser and some things which weren't
so nice, but he just took it. Nabiki's sister Akane tried to get them to stop,
but Akane doesn't handle crowds too well. It wasn't until Nabiki started
telling people the story and hinting that he would get back at anybody who made
fun of him while he was Ranko that the teasing eased off. Since then about once
a month Mrs. Saotome will stay at the Tendos for a few days and Ranma will come
to school as a girl. "
They
exited the hospital doors and walked across the parking lot to the police
department. It was dark out, but the street lights were bright enough that Hiro
could see even with his sunglasses. Hoko kept up her narrative. "The thing
is, because Mrs. Saotome thinks 'Ranko' is a girl, she gets concerned when
'Ranko' acts like Ranma. You know, wearing boy's clothes, fighting people all
the time, et cetera. She feels there's not enough of a parental influence,
which is why she shows up every month or so, and why when she does, she makes
sure Ranko goes to school dressed properly in a uniform. The last couple months
she's stayed longer, like for a week."
"Must
be rough for him," Hiro said. He had only been in a girl's body for a few
hours and he was barely able to stand it. The idea of being like that for a
week…
"Yeah
the first couple times she was real depressed. She still gets moody from time
to time but Ranma's adaptable. Lately when he's a she, she seems, I don't know,
a little more relaxed. She's more approachable when she's a girl, I think. She
has friends that male Ranma doesn't have. It's almost like she really is a
different person. Funny thing is there have been more accidents at the school
recently. Ranma was always a water magnet, but now even when he shows up as a
guy about half the time he'll leave school as a girl. I was talking to Yuka
Hakimune, she's friends with Akane and she'll hang out with female Ranma during
lunch sometimes, her dad is a psychoanalyst and she thinks there might be a
psychological element to the curse. That somehow Ranma is more apt to turn into
a girl when he wants to be a girl, on, like, a subconscious level. I
guess since the curse changed maybe he doesn't even need water. I still don't
know how Nabiki turned male though. The past few days have been a real jumble,
what with me getting killed and coming back to life and all. I think I need a
few days to digest everything."
"I
need at least a month," Hiro concurred. They reached the doors to the
police department and went inside. They almost ran head on with Detective
Inamura, Sergeant Suzuki, and a kimono-clad woman carrying a sword who Hiro
assumed was Mrs. Saotome.
"Ah,
Kawagami, good you're up. Do you mind taking Hoko home? I've got paperwork to
fill out and Suzuki's taking Mrs. Saotome to see her…ah step-niece?"
"I
suppose that's an accurate term for our relationship, even if it's not
technically correct," Mrs. Saotome allowed. Addressing Hiro she explained,
"I'm worried about Ranko. I know she's skilled at martial arts, I've heard
she's almost as good as my son, but fighting a serial killer? Even if she did
best him, it's just too dangerous for a girl her age."
Inamura
shook his head. "She didn't just 'best' him, Mrs. Saotome, she killed him.
If it weren't for the allowances we make for martial artists and for Sergeant
Suzuki's surveillance tracking the killer from the department, she'd be in
serious trouble. As it is, I want her to come in for a statement
tomorrow."
Mrs.
Saotome nodded. "I'll see that she does that."
"Now
if you'll excuse me," Inamura gave a slight bow, "I've got to make
all this seem normal and put a nice little bow on it before I report it to the
main office." With that, he turned and left
"Well,
I guess I'm taking you home then," Hiro said to Hoko. Turning to Mrs.
Saotome, he bowed deeply. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Saotome-san."
Mrs.
Saotome bowed politely, and having given his farewell, Hiro turned and left.
Hoko
followed him until they were outside again. Then she stopped Hiro with a hand
on his forearm. "Just what are these 'allowances' anyway?" she asked.
"Well,
I'm still new here, but as I understand it any violent act committed between
two martial artists is deemed strictly self defense. If Copycat had killed only
martial artists, there wouldn't be much we could do without knowing more about
how they were killed. Our job is to protect those who cannot protect
themselves. Beyond that, we do not interfere."
"Makes
your job kinda easy then doesn't it? I mean the martial artists here kind of
police the area themselves."
Hiro
shook his head. "That's what I thought. I transferred over here partially
because of the low crime rate, but if the last day or so is any indication,
when things go bad here, they go REAL bad."
Hoko
nodded somberly. "I'm glad you guys are here. I…" Hoko looked up,
taking a breath and closing her eyes. "Damn. It's so good to be
alive!"
Without
warning, Hoko opened her eyes and walked briskly toward the parking lot.
"I'm driving," she declared over her shoulder at Hiro.
"I'm
not sure if that's going to work," He said attempting match her pace. I'm
bigger than you and…"
"I
don't give a rat's ass if you're bigger than me, if you're older than me or
you're a guy or a cop or a necromancer or whatever the hell else you want to
be. I don't even care if you saved my life. I am driving my own fucking bike.
If you don't like it, you can walk." She increased her speed as she said
this to the point that she was almost at a light jog when she stopped suddenly,
finding her bike in a pool of light from a parking lot streetlamp.
Hiro
hadn't really noticed it before, having been preoccupied with being in the
wrong body when he first rode on it. It was beautifully stylized with metallic
red orange yellow and silver in a brilliant flame design. The exhaust pipes
were all custom designed chrome with a nested flute pattern that, in the glare
of light, looked like white hot plumes of fire. It seemed in direct contrast
with what Hoko looked like, a rather conservative girl with straight black hair,
but it spoke volumes of the fierce independence Hiro had seen in her in only a
short span of time.
This
was not a normal bike. This was something that was loved, cherished. Copycat
knew that when he rode it. The memory of the psychopath’s sadistic pleasure
came unwanted now into Hiro's brain. Copycat took as his the product of years
of work and sacrifice. He did so without any kind of respect or reverence as if
it was his by default.
Hiro
looked up and saw tears in Hoko's eyes as she touched the seat of the bike. He
understood. Stuck in Hoko's body, he had felt completely violated, demeaned,
helpless, but Hoko hadn't just had her body taken away. When Copycat had driven
the motorcycle he wasn't just stealing a possession, he had stolen a part of
Hoko's soul.
Hiro
suddenly wanted to hit something. Something hard that would cause a lot of
pain. He was actually looking for something he could hit when he heard Hoko
release the kickstand.
He
saw her mount the motorcycle quickly, as if finally coming to a decision and
concluding the time for deliberations was over. She gripped the handles of the
bike and paused a moment, a look of determination in her eyes. She was
reclaiming it. It was hers again.
"You
getting on, or are you going to watch my dust?" she called out brashly,
her bravado only slightly marred by the crack in her voice.
Hiro
got on and Hoko keyed the engine, kicking it to life and revving it with the
handle. Hiro tentatively put his hand on either side of Hoko's slight frame. As
he suspected it was awkward. Then Hoko took his arms and wrapped them around
her torso. She leaned back into his chest, her silky lavender-scented hair
touching his lower cheek.
Suddenly,
it wasn't so awkward.
Hiro
heard an odd sound behind him and craned his neck to see what it was. Two
tapered cylinders painted in the same metallic fire pattern as the rest of the
bike were moving out of a concealed compartment. They looked almost like
miniature jet engines, but of course that was impossible.
"They're
miniature jet engines," Hoko explained, yelling in order to be heard over
the motor.
Once
they were in position, on either side of the bike connected by a short, flat
sheet of painted metal, the cylinders looked a little like wings. Inscribed on
them were two Chinese characters. They were the characters Hou and Ko. Together
they made up Hoko's name. The one on the left meant "
Hiro
turned his head back and squeezed the phoenix girl to him as she flew out of
the parking lot and into the street, completely ignoring every speed limit.
~~~~~reflection~~~~~
The
city seemed different at night. Nodoka looked up at the passing streetlights
through her warped and ghostly reflection on the car window. The fat, eye-patched
form of police sergeant Masaki Suzuki was driving beside her with the dome
lights on, mumbling something about not being able to find "it". The
"it" was apparently the tracking device that he had put on the serial
killer that her "step niece" bested in combat, though why he should
be so keen on retrieving it was beyond her.
Nodoka
tried to be proud of her son, but the feeling was as warped and ethereal as her
reflection in the window. She had seen the news report. Ranma had chosen a
bride most dramatically, and there was little doubt he was the manliest man in
all of
Nodoka
had seen her husband change first on accident, and then she had confirmed it
later when she confronted him. He had told her about Jusenkyo, at least the
part that involved him. He hadn’t said anything about Ranma, but she knew about
that too as much as she wished she didn’t. Most of the time she had no problem
forgetting the knowledge that lurked in the back of her mind. Ranko was Ranko,
Ranma was Ranma. But at times like this, when her doubts were close to her, she
wondered.
Was
it worth it?
Yes,
the contract required that Ranma be a man among men, but what if the pressure
caused two children to be lost instead of merely one? This rash of manliness on
Ranma's part... was it as good a sign as it seemed, or was a light burning
brighter just before going dark forever?
The
patrol car pulled over behind a couple walking on the sidewalk. The boy had an
odd helmet-shaped hair cut and wore a black t-shirt with brown dogi pants--- an
odd fashion choice to say the least. The girl was fairly short and had fiery
red hair in a pigtail. Ranko of course, no one else had that hair color, but
she was wearing an orange shirt with the shoulders cut out and white shorts,
which seemed more like something Nabiki would wear. Both of them walked
barefooted and when they turned around, shielding their eyes against the glare
from the headlights, it seemed as though there was a bullet hole in the boy's
t-shirt. Nodoka had the familiar sense of something having happened that she
was not likely to ever completely understand.
Sergeant
Suzuki opened his door and grumbled out of his seat, his rotundity making it
difficult for him to get past the steering wheel. Genma was anorexic compared
to this character. Nodoka got out as well, wishing to greet Ranko and try to
find out firsthand some version of what happened, even if it wasn't the truth.
Nodoka
smiled when she saw Ranko's face. She loved the girl. She loved her spunk and
the way she cared for others. She was real too, not some vague form that she
could only catch in fleeting glimpses and, more recently, on news reports.
Maybe if she adopted Ranko they could find some way to live together? But that
wouldn’t work either, of course, at least not indefinitely. But maybe it
wouldn’t be so bad with Ranko around, it would have to be better than being
alone…
The
family sword vibrated in its sheath. Nodoka gripped the handle tightly. Patience,
Hayama, she thought, though it had the feeling of a prayer. You will be
released soon, but it must be done the proper way.
Nodoka
felt a wash of guilt. She had been thinking of giving up on her son. Gods help
her, but she had been thinking of it.
~~~~~headlights~~~~~
Nabiki
and Ranko had walked in silence for about fifteen minutes before the patrol car
pulled up behind them. Nabiki could have started up the motorcycle again, but
it would have been too loud…too agitating. He and Ranko needed calm. Something
had happened to them and they weren't sure what. Nabiki knew Ranko felt the
same way. He and she were connected to such a degree they were practically the
same person. They had differences, yes, but it was like they were one brain
with four hemispheres instead of two. When they embraced they felt more
complete, but at the same time it was like one's right hand clasping one's
left.
This
feeling they felt, Nabiki knew he felt it differently than Ranko, but he knew
exactly how Ranko felt about it. Ranko was a little scared. She felt out of
control and unsure of herself. It was the reason she wanted to be a girl at the
moment, because men weren't supposed to feel that way. Nabiki would have chided
her except he now knew the extent of the brainwashing Ranma had endured over
the years. Men weren't supposed to feel, period. Even as Ranma, Ranko had been
a bit more sensitive than most. But Ranma had severe stoicism beat into him at
an early age. Ranko relished her feelings having escaped through a loophole in
her conditioning, but she also feared them.
Nabiki,
by contrast, was a stoic by choice. No one had forced him to mask his emotions,
or play on the emotions of others, he came about it naturally. He had good
reasons not to trust his emotions, and that was why he was male. For whatever
reason, it was easier to block emotions in the male form. Maybe it was the
residual male ego from Ranma's influence, though a great deal of that had been
evened out. At any rate, it was a little like all his life, Nabiki had been
playing with a handicap that he hadn't even been aware of, and now it wasn't
there. On one hand it was easier to not feel what he was feeling. At the same
time, it wasn't as satisfying. There wasn't as much skill involved.
What
Nabiki felt was cold, yet resolute. He would get them through this, whatever it
was. He would let Ranko worry, because she needed to worry. And she would let
him pretend to ignore his own doubts, because he needed to do that. They both
felt different things, but knew that they were really feeling the same thing,
and their minds repeated the same message over and over in varying iterations:
They
had crossed a line. They had killed and felt no remorse. They had passed a
threshold. They had murdered. They had changed. They ended a life. They were no
longer completely human.
And
as they walked, this mercurial mantra winding through their heads like the
ticker tape from some tireless outdated machine, they drew closer together and
further apart from the world around them, until the headlights of the patrol
car grew at their backs and they turned around, shielding their eyes against
the brightness.
"Alright,
you chuckleheads," growled a short, fat man in a uniform after clambering
out of his vehicle. "Where the hell's my eye?"
Nabiki
and Ranko blinked a bit. They recognized Sergeant Suzuki from the police
station, but they looked at him differently now. He didn't have much of an
aura. It was dark brown and seemed to appear almost accidentally around his
body as if it were embarrassed to be there, and there was a thin red filament
that came out of his eye patch and continued above the buildings and toward the
east.
Nabiki
absently pointed in the direction the filament seemed to go.
"Could
you be a bit more specific? Not that I don't mind searching through every
god-cursed alley this side of Nerima, mind you. I do that sort of thing for
kicks, really. Every third fucking Tuesday."
Nabiki's
eyes thinned. Beside him, Ranko piped up. "About how much money do you
think that information's worth, Firefly?"
Nabiki
smiled, "I'd say at least a couple thousand yen." Then he saw Nodoka
exit the patrol car.
Even
though Nodoka was wearing a kimono, and her hair was in her usual bun, she was
still shockingly attractive when compared to Sergeant Suzuki. Nodoka was
approaching middle age, but still looked in her twenties. She was practically a
taller Ranko with darker hair. The resemblance was unmistakable, and yet Nodoka
repeatedly mistook it.
There
had been times when the lady seemed quite sharp though. As if hidden in her
silken kimono was an iron determination, and her predilection toward tradition
was really a well-played ruse.
She
had a strong aura that stayed mostly in the blue, but shifted smoothly from
light to dark and sometimes into green. She was hard to read. What was oddest though
was the sword she carried. It actually had its own aura. A blue and white
vortex that seemed to whip around it impatiently.
Nabiki
noticed Nodoka tighten her grip on the handle of the sword and moved between
her and Ranko. He felt his ki claws come out. Was Nodoka a threat?
Ranko's
hand on his shoulder mollified him. This is my battle, Ranko was saying,
let me handle it.
Coming
from behind Nabiki, Ranko called out to Nodoka, "Auntie Saotome!" She
rushed to woman in the kimono and the two figures embraced, at first almost
like strangers, and then like vampires feeding off each other through their
hearts, and then, for a moment, like mother and child. The moment passed like
the shine of a silverfish and the two released each other, but it was enough
for Nabiki to suspect that regardless of what played out on the surface,
neither Saotome held any illusions as to who the other really was. But then
why…?
"Saotome
Nodoka?" Ranko interrupted Nabiki's analysis, "I want you to
meet…er…Takahata Hotaru, my boyfriend."
Nabiki
cringed at the name. Not so much Hotaru, he was used to being called
"Firefly" by now and even though it had some unfortunate connections
to Sailor Moon manga, it was still mostly gender neutral and probably the best
choice.
"Pleased
to meet you." Nodoka bowed slightly.
"Take
it easy on me," Nabiki smiled and bowed slightly deeper.
After
the introduction, Nodoka seemed to go distant for awhile, thoughts apparently
lost on some tangent.
"What
the hell you trying to pull?" Sergeant Suzuki snapped, reminding everyone
of his presence. "I was at the precinct. I know you two are really Ranma
and Nabiki. You only have one alternate form and you haven't even bothered to
change clothes. Why do you shape shifters always have to make out like you're
masters of espionage or something?"
"I'm
sorry," said Ranko with a saccharine smile, "You must have been
confused. I like to pretend I'm Ranma sometimes. We're very close you see, and
it's sort of a game we came up with. Hotaru here had such a strange haircut,
and it reminded me of Nabiki's style, so I thought he could join in on the act.
We really didn't mean to be so deceptive."
Ranma
lying so easily…that didn't use to be the case. Part of it was from their bond,
Nabiki knew, but he also knew that part of it was from practice. When you're
sure your mother would literally kill you if she knew the truth, you learn to
lie pretty quick.
"Listen,
Red," Sergeant Suzuki pointed an angry finger at Ranko, "I may not
look like much, but I'm an officer of the l-"
Nodoka
put a hand on Sergeant Suzuki's shoulder, restraining him. "What she says
is correct, officer. It's an odd habit and I've scolded her about it, but she
still persists. She's getting a little old for these games, but I can't do much
about it. I'm not even really her aunt, and besides, children grow up so fast
these days. I say let them be innocent a little longer."
Nabiki
felt a shiver run through his body. "Innocent" was no longer a word
that described him and Ranko. Not in any sense. "We'll help you find your
eye," Nabiki volunteered, hoping to distract himself from the thought,
"just as soon as we take care of payment."
"I'm
not going to pay you!" Suzuki said incredulously, "I only have two eyes,
damn it, and thanks to you and your psychotic sidekick one of them is lost
somewhere in the dark streets of Tokyo."
Nabiki
blinked. Suzuki was seriously mistaken if he thought Ranko was his
sidekick.
"I'll
give you a side kick up your ass, Cyclops. I don't care if you are a cop,"
Ranko shot back. Her ki claws extended a centimeter from her fists.
Nabiki
touched Ranko lightly on her arm. Easy there, Sunshine.
Ranko
calmed herself.
"Yeah,
go ahead and threaten me, Ninja Girl. I don't know why Inamura puts up with you
clowns, but when the head of the department gets back from
"What
a rude person," Nodoka said.
Nabiki
was inclined to agree.
~~~~~calling~~~~~
It
had a different name, but that's what Yuka and her family had always called it,
and so Sayuri and Akane took to calling it that too. Night Beach. The reason
was that it only seemed like a beach at night, when it was colder and when most
of the people were gone. Yuka's grandparents still worked at the ryokan where
they were all staying tonight. All day they would have to deal with the demands
of the crazy gaijin tourists who wanted hamburgers with their sake and demanded
a "real" mattress instead of a futon even after their wives tried to
explain to them that it's not that type of hotel and that if they wanted that
they could have gone to the Marriot... The couple that stormed out a few hours
earlier still had Sayuri miffed. Sometimes knowing English was a curse.
Yuka's
grandparent's had to deal with that crap all day, and they didn't get a break
until the night. Then the two of them would walk about half a kilometer out to
the
Sayuri
thought Yuka's grandparents were too nice. Family was one thing, but letting
her and Akane impinge on their alone time was taking hospitality too far.
But
despite feeling a little guilty, she wouldn't say anything. The moon was
shining on the waves as they crashed upon the shore and everything was crisp,
cold, still, and beautiful. Tonight they were all sitting on the cool sand,
her, Akane, Yuka, and Yuka's parents, uncle, and grandparents. They were silent
as they sipped the tea from the thermoses they had brought. This was a precious
gift, this moment, and Sayuri didn't have the heart to return it.
Sayuri's
mom was the stereotypical office lady. Divorced and harried. Her mom tried, but
the simple fact was that in order to be there for your kids, you have to be
there, and Mom couldn't do that. Sayuri was used to feeling lonely, but it was
times like this when she could see what she was really missing. Times like
this, when she felt the bond that the Hakimune family had, that Sayuri loved
them more than even her own mother.
Beside
her, Akane sighed. "I needed this," she said, seeming to put Sayuri's
feelings into words.
"We
all did," Yuka agreed, surprising her. Sayuri gave her a questioning
glance. Yuka never seemed to have any problems. In response, Yuka grimaced
slightly and got up. "I'm going for a walk. You guys want to come?"
It
was the kind of request you don't say no to, and at any rate, the mood was
broken with the silence. Sayuri and Akane got up to follow her.
"We'll
probably head back soon," Yuka's father said, "don't stay out too
late okay?"
"Okay,
Daddy, we won't," Yuka said and started walking to the edge of the surf.
When they were out of earshot, Yuka said, "Guys, I need your opinion on
something."
"What
is it?" Akane asked, concerned.
"Yeah,
usually we're the ones asking for advice." Sayuri nodded.
"I
know, but this… I can't think about this clearly." Yuka looked back toward
her family, and then she looked down, crossing her arms as if hugging herself.
They were all dressed for the cool night temperatures, but every now and then a
cool breeze would cut through and cause one of them to shiver. Yuka seemed to
be suffering from a different chill though. "I'm thinking of maybe not
going to a university when I graduate."
"But
you're going to be a psychotherapist!" Akane protested, "How can you
do that without a university degree?"
"I
know, but… It's Grandma and Grandpa. They're getting old, and Grandpa…he's
starting to forget things. We're not sure how long they can keep running the
ryokan."
"Can't
they hire more people or something?" Akane asked.
Yuka
shook her head. "Grandma and Grandpa are very traditional. They hire
people from time to time to help with repairs and the like, but otherwise they
do everything themselves. The ryokan's been in the family for generations and
they don't want it leaving the family. Daddy was supposed to take over after
them but he went into psychology instead. So now…"
"Why
can't you do both. Be a psychotherapist AND help with the ryokan?" Sayuri
asked.
"Even
if I had enough time to do that after classes and studying for exams and
homework it wouldn't work out. Dad tried that. What Grandma and Grandpa do…
it’s like they're monks or something. It’s a way of life. You can't just do it
on the weekends."
"Maybe
your mom or dad could retire and help out?" Akane suggested.
"Mom
and Dad are both very dedicated to their jobs. Daddy almost has a complex about
his work and Mom's a teacher who actually cares about what she does. Asking her
to retire would be like… I don't know. It'd be like asking Grandma and Grandpa
to give up the ryokan."
They
walked in silence for a while by the water. The beach would always be here
regardless of what happened to the ryokan. But without the Hakimunes, it wouldn't
be Night Beach anymore. It'd only be one of the many beaches of
Yuka's
grandparents were like monks. Even during the day the ryokan seemed so
peaceful. People staying there were treated to something almost sacred. It was
why people like Mr. Hamburger upset Sayuri so much. Here was this wonderful
experience they could have and instead they want the same crappy things they’re
used to. But there were also people who appreciated the gift, who came away
having been subtly changed by the experience. Without the ryokan…nothing. It'd
be nothing. Just a beach and another boring hotel room.
Sayuri
suddenly had an idea. "Maybe…I could do it!"
"Huh?"
Yuka asked.
"Listen,
you and Akane know what you want to do right? Well I don't. I'm not a martial
artist, I'm not good at reading people like you are, Yuka, and really I'm not
much good at anything. Maybe I just need a calling though, maybe this is
it." Sayuri started to get excited, "I mean I love it here. I could
learn from your Grandparents and start helping during the day. It's not like
I'm doing that well in school anyway, and so I could just work here full time.
Then I could keep it going when your grandparents aren't able to."
"Um…Sayuri,"
Yuka held up her hand in a stop gesture, "You're forgetting the main
problem here. You're not a Hakimune, no matter how often you hang around the
house."
Sayuri
deflated. It was a stupid idea, and she was stupid for saying it.
"Sayuri,
that was supposed to be a joke," Yuka explained with a slight smile.
"I
know. Sorry. I guess you're in a tight spot." Sayuri looked up at the moon
as she kicked at the sand. It was none of her business what happened to the
ryokan or to Yuka for that matter. It wasn't her family. It wasn't her problem.
"Honestly,
I don't know what to tell you," Akane said. "But my sister Kasumi
took care of the house after Mom died and Dad became a wreck. She was going to
be a doctor, but she seems happy enough now, maybe it isn't so bad?"
Sayuri
shook her head though neither Akane or Yuka saw her. Yuka wasn't like Kasumi.
She had too much ambition. Her dreams were too powerful.
Sayuri
saw something out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head for a better look.
Oh it's just a gigantic flying flat segmented thingy with a circular mouth
and teeth. She turned her head back to the sand beneath her. Wait a
minute… Sayuri looked again and the giant… thing seemed to fly into the
sand where they had been walking with a gentle thud.
"Whatever
you choose to do, Yuka, we're behind you," Akane said. "Right,
Sayuri?"
"Did
either of you see that?" Sayuri asked.
"See
what?" Yuka looked around.
"I
don't know what it was, but it was big and looked like it went straight into
the sand over there."
"Hold
on," Akane said with a tinge of martial arts bravado, "I'll go check
it out."
Sayuri
waited with Yuka as Akane stalked up to something, and nudged it with her foot.
"It's
okay I think!" She called out. "Somebody left their towel and a
camera, that's all it is!"
Sayuri
started toward it but Yuka stopped her. "Hold it," she whispered,
"Remember this is the same girl who said that the bomb the principal left
in our classroom a few weeks ago was 'just a pineapple'."
"Noted,"
Sayuri said, but she went ahead anyway. She felt Yuka was being a little
unfair. It had looked an awful lot like a pineapple. The fuse was barely
visible.
The
camera and the green cloth, not really a towel in Sayuri's estimation but more
of a thin blanket, seemed to be just that. The blanket was folded neatly into a
square. The camera rested on top. The words around the lens read "Made in
Japan." Now if it had said "Made in the USA," Sayuri might have
been suspicious. But if it was made in Japan, it was reasonable to assume it
wasn't going to blow up. Sayuri moved to pick it and the blanket up.
"Wait,"
Akane said, "I'm sorry. I think I may have called you over too soon."
"What's
wrong?" Sayuri asked.
"I
don't know. It's…it's too… normal looking."
"That's
bad?"
Akane
looked like she was having some sort of epiphany. She'd been getting the look a
lot since she showed up at Yuka's earlier this evening. Sayuri had asked her
about it, but she said she'd explain later. Akane swallowed. "I think,
yes. I've been through a lot the past year and something happened
yesterday…it's like I'm seeing everything I went through for the first time.
Look, we didn't see this the first time we passed this point, right?"
Sayuri
nodded. She glanced over at Yuka who was looking a mix of impatient, concerned,
and uncomfortably curious. "But maybe we just didn't see the blanket and
camera, because we were talking with Yuka."
"But
you saw something 'big' hit this spot, right?"
"I
don't know what I saw. It could have been anything."
"But…it's
not anything. If something big landed here, there should BE something."
Sayuri
frowned. "What, you mean like a crater, or a giant bug monster or
something?"
Akane
was silent for a while. She seemed to mull over the idea in her head for a
moment before she said. "Yes. It's not so much that there's nothing here.
There is something, but its completely normal looking. I mean before today, I
might just think 'no problem' and pick it up but…Sayuri, honestly, something
that falls out of the sky has no business being this normal."
"Akane,
I just said, I don't know what I saw. Maybe nothing fell out of the sky. We
have to be rational here. Someone just forgot their camera and their blanket.
We have to bring them to the lost and found."
Akane
just gave her a worried look.
Sayuri
shook her head. "Look, if you won't take them, I will." She picked up
the blanket with both arms, letting the camera rest on top. The blanket was a
little rough, probably made of cheap wool, or maybe a polyester mix. Other than
that there was no sensation. "See? Nothing happened. Nobody blew up. Now
let's just get going, shall we?"
If
anything, Akane looked even more concerned. "Sayuri, I'm sorry. I should
have picked that up the moment I thought something was wrong. Maybe
everything's okay. I hope so. But I've had to deal with curses and magic and
demonic possessions, and I'm getting major déjà vu here. You've got to promise
me that the MOMENT anything strange happens you'll tell me, okay?"
"Akane,
it's just a blanket and a camera, I don't see-"
"Promise
me!"
"Okay,
okay, I promise, yeesh. What's gotten into you lately?"
"It's
a long story. I’ll tell you and Yuka all about it when we get back to her. Just
remember, Yuka and I are your friends. We're here if you need us, okay?"
"Thanks,
Akane, but I don't understand why you're so worried."
"You
want to make me feel better?" Akane asked, suddenly shifting gears.
"Um…
sure."
"Give
me the blanket and camera."
"No!"
Sayuri snapped, "Why should I? Because of some superstition you have about
normal things?"
"Just
drop them, then. You can pick them up right after. Just humor me."
Sayuri
almost did just that. She thought about opening her arms and letting the
blanket and camera fall. The idea made her nervous though…She laughed off the
tension. "Come on, Akane that’s just silly."
Akane
sighed. "If you can't even do that…Sayuri go ahead and call me crazy. I've
been called worse things. But you're acting like I did before today. I think
this thing is already playing with your mind. And the way you picked it up, it
was like you were drawn to it. Like it chose you."
"Akane,
you're crazy. This is a camera and a blanket, not some demonic 'thing'."
"I
already know you're not going to listen to me, Sayuri. Just remember I'm here
if you need me, and Yuka's here for you too." Akane nodded toward the
space behind Sayuri.
Yuka
had come over while Sayuri wasn't looking, "Something wrong?" she
asked.
"No,"
Sayuri responded, "nothing much. Apparently Akane thinks I've been cursed
by an infernal camera and blanket demon duo. I think she needs to get some
sleep or something."
To
Sayuri's exasperation, Yuka did not laugh. Instead, she asked Akane: "We
aren't in Nerima right now; you really think something like that could happen
out here?"
Akane
shrugged. "There are gigantic duck-billed platypuses living in Ryugenzawa.
Nerima doesn't exactly have the weird market cornered."
Sayuri
let out a small scream. "Am I the only rational person here?"
Yuka
put a hand on Sayuri's shoulder. "Yes, Sa-chan. And I'm afraid that's a
strong indicator that you've completely dissociated yourself from
reality."
"Hey,
guys," Akane said, "someone's coming this way."
Sayuri
looked where Akane indicated and saw a very fat man in a police uniform
bumbling toward them from the beach parking lot. The moonlight was enough to
see him with, but he was using a flashlight to scan the ground in front of him,
and Sayuri was temporarily blinded when he directed it at her.
"Oi!"
The officer called out "Any of you girls see an eye?"
"An…eye?"
Akane asked, her hand shielding her own eyes from the glare of the flashlight.
"No…uh…sorry."
"You."
The officer directed the beam to Sayuri. She had to squeeze her eyes shut
against the light. "Is that your blanket?"
"No,
officer, we found it just a little while ago with the camera."
The
policeman lowered the light and walked closer to her, saying "I suppose
you thought you'd put it in the lost and found, huh?"
"Yes,
we were just going over there now."
The
policeman was the same height as Sayuri, short for a man. The patch made him
look like a pirate. A very round, Asian pirate in a uniform. He walked up to
her, inspected her with the flashlight for a moment or two then, looking at the
blanket he smiled. "Aha! I found you, you little bastard." He plucked
something off the blanket.
It
was an eye.
Sayuri
stared wide-eyed as the man took off his patch and lifted his head to place the
eye, with its dangling optic nerve, into his empty socket. He blinked a few
times, looking for all the world like he had just put in a contact lens. Then
he addressed Sayuri casually. "I don't suppose you'll let me take that
blanket and camera? It's sort of evidence in a murder investigation."
"What
do you mean, 'sort of'?" Yuka asked.
"We're
done investigating. The murderer was killed. Open and shut case. I had my eye
on him the whole time. It's just that he owned that blanket and camera that
you're carrying, and after he died they both flew over here somehow. It's a bit
curious."
A
blanket and camera flying ANYWHERE was more than curious. Besides, murder?
"Take it," Sayuri said quickly, holding the blanket and camera out to
the officer. She no longer wanted anything to do with the two items. Strangely,
though, she felt as if she was betraying them somehow.
The
officer moved to accept them. She tried to keep her arms out, but she felt a
wave of panic and brought the blanket close to her again. The more she tried to
release her grip the more tightly she squeezed it until, like sand slipping
through her fingers the blanket was gone.
"Psh."
The officer rolled his eyes. "That's what I thought. Fucking demons. Ah
well. It's yours now. Try not to kill anybody." With that he walked off,
grumbling about something.
"Wait!"
Sayuri yelled after a few moments spent coming to grips with the idea that the
blanket and camera she had been holding were now apparently gone. The next
moment, as the officer stopped, she realized something else. The blanket and
camera weren't gone. She could feel them. She backpedaled
mentally, changing the question she was going to ask from "What the hell
just happened?" to "What do you mean demons?"
Hearing
the question, the officer turned around. His eye glowed dark red. "I
mean," he said, his voice taking on a growl and a tone that was at once
both angry and condescending, "spiritual parasites that invade your body,
feed off your soul and force you to do bad things. Ask your parents about it.
Or your friend there," the officer nodded toward Akane, "she has a
demon of her own. Me, I've had enough stupidity for one night. I'm off duty and
late for my beer appointment. I hope I never see you again, but I probably
will." He waved her off lazily as he turned back around and trudged
through the loose sand to his car.
"What
a rude person," Yuka noted.
"Akane?"
Sayuri asked.
"Yes?"
"You
know how you said to tell you the moment anything strange happened to me?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm
pretty sure this qualifies."
~~~~~~faith~~~~~~
Kasumi
poured tea first into Tofu's cup and then her own. Sitting down, she blew some
of the heat off the tea and sipped slowly, closing her eyes and letting the
warmth fill her. There was a slight chill this evening, a pernicious shiver
that she couldn't quite quell with warmer clothing. Turning the heater on would
be overkill and would waste energy, especially with her and Tofu being the only
ones inside. It was a little too early for the furo. This was the best
solution.
"Thanks,
Kasumi," Tofu said needlessly. Still, Kasumi smiled and nodded in
appreciation. Tofu still acted a little silly around her from time to time, but
it was a good silly, not a potentially fatal silly.
Kasumi
let her thoughts drift. She had been so happy on their date two nights ago,
now… It wasn't fair. That's what it came down to. Kasumi realized it was a
rather petulant argument, but that was it. She had given up on being a doctor.
That dream seemed so far away now. She had decided her family was more
important and she did not regret the decision. But then, with Auntie Saotome
coming so often and Tofu opening up to her, it made her think she could have
more.
"Do
you think we should talk about it?" Tofu asked.
Kasumi
nodded.
Tofu
and she each took a sip of tea before Tofu started. "We don't know exactly
what it means. It could just mean that we'll get married. That would be nice
wouldn't it?"
Kasumi
shook her head. "The words came with the vision.’ The two will become one'
doesn't mean we'll be joined. We'll actually become one person. Either one of
us will die, or we'll merge somehow. Either way, we'll be alone again."
"What
happened eleven years ago? Why can't I remember all of it? What's this
Awakening?"
"Who
knows?" Kasumi riposted. "It seems like the kinds of stories the nuns
would tell us at St. Hebereke’s. Armageddon, Judgment day, the
Apocalypse." Kasumi had gone through grammar school at St. Hebereke’s back
before it became a high school…and before her mother died.
Tofu
gave a small laugh. "That would make Ranma the Antichrist."
Kasumi
took a thoughtful sip of her tea and then sat the cup down on the table.
"But the nuns would also tell us God's plan for us is often mysterious,
and that He gave all of us free will. I think that includes any possible
Antichrists. Regardless of the situation, we have to try to make the right
decisions and help others do the same."
"We're
home!" Ranma-chan called out from the side entrance.
"Speak
of the devil," Tofu quipped.
Kasumi
smiled as she got up to answer the door. "Come in!" she called out as
she walked past the steps to the doorway.
Ranma-chan
was accompanied by her mother and boy-Nabiki. Ranko was wearing a thin blue
sweater and a black…no it wasn't a skirt, it was a pair of pants but it was
loose enough in the leg and of soft enough material to make the difference
academic. "That's a lovely outfit, Ranko." Kasumi noted.
"Yeah,
we went shopping." Ranma lifted up her bag and Nabiki nodded lifting up
his. Nabiki wore a dark green dress shirt over an orange t-shirt tucked into
black jeans. He was lanky and attractive despite the haircut, which on a boy
made one think of a foppish prince in a period film. Kasumi wondered how Nabiki
withstood the experience of shopping as a boy. It had to have at least been
different.
Nabiki
nudged Ranma and she spoke again, "Oh yeah, uh, Nabiki said she was going
to stay at Ami's house tonight. This is Hotaru, my er…boyfriend. Is it all
right if sh…he stays over?"
Kasumi
couldn't help raising an eyebrow. Even if it was part of a ruse, Ranma claiming
someone as his boyfriend was a bit alarming. Kasumi recovered, smiling and
playing the game she usually played when someone close to her wanted her to
lie. She just pretended it was the truth. This wasn't Nabiki and Ranma, her
sister and future brother-in-law; this was her cousin Ranko and her boyfriend.
"That's fine, Ranko-chan, but I don't think it would be proper for you to
stay in the same room. The house is a little empty right now anyway. You can
sleep in Akane's room if you want, and Hotaru-kun can sleep in Nabiki's room,
just as long as he doesn't disturb anything. I'm afraid Nabiki-chan is a little
fussy about her possessions."
"Actually…"
Ranko grimaced, "Akane and me aren't on the best of terms right now. I
think I'll sleep with Auntie Saotome. By the way, if Akane comes back for some
odd reason, could you tell her I said sorry?"
"Of
course, Ranko," Kasumi smiled. Ranko usually slept with Akane when Auntie
Saotome came to visit. What with the nature of their respective nightmares,
Ranko and her mother simply weren't compatible sleep mates. "I think
there's still some rope in Grandfather Happosai's room if you need help tucking
yourself in." Ranma’s nightmares always picked up steam when his mother
was around. The rope kept anybody from getting hurt.
"Thanks,
Kasumi-oneechan. I'll show Hotaru where Nabiki's room is. Are you okay, Auntie
Saotome?"
"I'm
fine, dear, thank you," Nodoka nodded, "I know my way around."
Ranko
gave her mother one of her sad little looks, the one that showed how much she
wished she could hug her mother, and be her child rather than some pseudo
relative. The look was only there for a second and then it was gone, Ranma
replaced it with a polite smile and bowed slightly herself before escorting
"Hotaru" upstairs.
"Tofu
and I are having tea, would you care to join us?" Kasumi offered.
"I
wouldn't want to intrude…" Auntie Saotome said putting a hand up.
"You
wouldn’t be intruding. I have enough tea for everybody." Kasumi insisted.
"No
thank you, I’m tired and I'd like to get every thing ready for bed early."
Kasumi
smiled. Nodoka was a true Japanese. Wait to be offered three times before
accepting any kindness. "If you don't accept, it will just go to waste.
Please." Kasumi motioned to the kitchen.
Nodoka
bowed, "Alright, maybe I will have some. There's a chill in the air
tonight. Something hot might do me good."
Kasumi's
conversation with Tofu had ended the moment the other's had arrived, but Kasumi
hadn't liked the seriousness of it anyway. Paradoxically, having Nodoka there
allowed her to be closer to Tofu. She sat next to him, leaning into him and
clasping his warm, strong hand in hers. Tofu's most impressive feature was his
hands. Strong enough to set a misaligned spine, delicate enough to make the
most perfect of stitches.
Nodoka
asked how things were going, if she and Tofu had set a date, whether Kasumi
wanted children. All wonderful questions. Hopeful questions. Maybe there was no
hope, but it was nice to pretend.
And
Kasumi was good at pretending.
All
too soon, the tea ran out, Tofu went back to the clinic, and Nodoka left to get
ready for bed. Kasumi was just putting away the dishes when Ranko entered the
kitchen.
"Kasumi-oneechan,"
she said, "do you have a minute? I need to talk with you about
something."
"Certainly,
Ranma-chan," Kasumi said, figuring there was enough privacy that she could
drop the "Ranko".
"Kasumi
I think you should know. Nabiki and me…we've changed, Kasumi. We've killed.
"
"You've
killed?"
Ranma
nodded. "I killed Copycat Ken. He killed Hoko and several other people,
but he was being controlled by a demon or something. It escaped after I killed
him. It was this huge segmented worm thingy with a circular mouth. I sliced
through a couple of segments and there was this blue mist. It gave Nabiki the
memory of killing Hoko. Copycat used her body to do it, you see, and now even
though she knows she didn't do it, it doesn't matter. It still feels
real."
"You
two have gotten really close," Kasumi noted, concentrating on the positive
aspect of what she was hearing, rather than attempting to understand it all.
Ranma
nodded. "We're practically the same person. We're just specialized now.
She's put all her emotions into me and I've put all my…whatever the opposite of
emotions are, I put that into her. That's why she's a guy now and I'm a girl. I
couldn't deal with this stuff as a guy."
"Is
there more?"
"Yes.
You know I'm fighting myself just to be here? Part of me wants to escape. Part
of me thinks you're just a nice human who'll nonetheless try to trap me. I've
joined with the Nekoken. I have control over it now, but in some ways it's
worse than before. I’m afraid I might slip, go completely cat. The Thyself
Known is working, I know who I am now, Kasumi, but I’m not Ranma, and Nabiki's
not Nabiki. We're something different. It scares both of us." Ranma's eyes
were brimming with tears. It was strange that somehow that this fragile, deadly
creature had been a part of both Ranma and Nabiki, and yet neither of them
would have ever acted this way before.
Then
Kasumi remembered Nabiki’s gun. She closed her eyes and embraced the redheaded
girl. "It's okay," she said, "It's okay."
"I
love you, Kasumi-oneechan. You saved my life…when I was Nabiki. I'm afraid,
Kasumi. I'm so afraid I'll do something terrible."
Kasumi
wasn't completely sure what Ranma was talking about now, but she held the
sobbing girl close to her. "I love you too imoto-chan," she said,
because it felt right. "It will be okay, little sister."
She
could feel the girl relax in her embrace as her sobs began to gradually
subside. They rocked back and forth in their embrace. Something clicked in
Kasumi's head and she said, "No matter what happens, no matter whether
you're Ranma, Ranko, Nabiki, or Hotaru, we'll always be family."
"Thank
you, Kasumi-oneesama," Ranma whispered. "Thank you."
Kasumi
felt the wheels of fate turn around her. If Ranma was her family, she would not
be able to harm him. That could have potentially disastrous consequences. The
future was still uncertain, Ranma’s destiny and that of Nerima was still
unclear. If Ranma fought with the demons against humanity he would be her
adversary. But that was the future. For now, there was only her sister/brother
who needed her love. For now, she would have faith.
~~~~~control~~~~~
The
Tendo dojo was quiet and cold. Hotaru’s bare feet were practically ice cubes,
but he was determined to get this right. He went for a crescent kick leading up
to a frenzy of punches, only instead Hotaru fell on his ass, cursing out loud,
for the third time that night. It was so frustrating. He had the kata right
there in his mind, but he just couldn't execute it. He didn't have the
flexibility or the power, or the muscle memory. It just wasn't there.
He
didn't have any misconceptions. Sure he had some weird abilities, like the
nekoken and motorcycle stuff, but he wouldn’t be any good in fight, and he was
sure there were going to be fights. His ki didn't work like Ranko's. For some
reason he couldn't just let it flow out of him all the time. It was either on
full blast or not at all. And after he used it, it took a good minute to
recover.
He
had to get better. He had to or next time…
Next
time he might kill someone…again.
He
felt everything Ranko felt, but it was all oddly warped. He couldn't just let the
feeling wash over him like she could. He had to do something. His pain
converted directly into anger, and that was something else that was keeping him
from performing the kata correctly. Even before Ranma received the curse it was
the more, for want of a better term, feminine aspect of him that allowed him to
be so graceful and to achieve the peace he attained when performing his katas.
Hotaru didn't even have that now, which annoyed him even further. He had given
most of his femininity to Ranko once they had gotten back so she could talk
with Kasumi. He hoped it worked, and he hoped Ranko was quick about it.
Hotaru
enjoyed being a man more than he had expected, but he kept running into
surprising deficiencies. People just didn't realize how much they needed a
balance of masculine and feminine to even function in the world.
Hotaru
adopted a horse stance and punched the air to work out some frustration. He
hated thinking of it as masculine and feminine energy, it seemed so sexist, but
what else could he call it? If you had too much of one you were a mad person,
all action and no emotion, if you had too much of the other you were a
blubbering mess, all emotion and no action. He would be relieved when he could
be his old self again. Sure he’d have to play Hotaru for Auntie Saotome, but he
could be Nabiki in his own room couldn’t he? Maybe he could leave for a bit and
come back as Nabiki. But then he’d have to leave Ranko. Even at this distance
from her he could feel himself slipping, he didn’t know into what. He didn’t
want to know. He just wanted to do something.
The
punching wasn't doing anything for him. He was about to try kicking when he
heard a knock at the dojo entrance. He turned to find Shampoo and Ukyo standing
in the doorway.
"What
do you want?" he asked, not able to stop himself from being rude. He was a
bit upset at Shampoo for trying to steal his…well that was weird wasn't it? It
was the cat in him that had the problem. But while he was upset about almost
losing his mate, the quarrel had been between two female cats over a male. Now
Hotaru was the male and Shampoo was still female. The antagonism just didn't
have any place to go. Hotaru sucked in air. If he wasn't careful, he would
start to be attracted to Shampoo. She was still in heat, though she was almost
out of it now.
"Who
you?" Shampoo asked a little more breathily than she had probably
intended.
"That
depends," Hotaru hedged, "on what your intentions are."
Ukyo
spoke up. "We're here to issue a challenge to Ranma Saotome and Nabiki Tendo."
"They
aren't here," Hotaru snapped.
Ukyo
looked at Shampoo, who was rather fixated on Hotaru, and then she looked back.
"You have a cat curse or something?" She asked.
"Something
like that," Hotaru allowed.
"You
free tomorrow? I make too too good ramen for you. I learn to make Okonomiyaki
too if like…"
Shampoo
made an enticing offer. Her…assets were considerable. Not to mention her
huge…tracts of land. And she had the nekoken inside her. And she was in heat.
It also didn't help that Shampoo's new short hairstyle and the tight
okonomiyaki chef uniform appealed to the libido Hotaru had borrowed from Ranma.
"Easy,
sugar." Ukyo admonished Shampoo. "Remember, it's all
pheromones."
"I
like fair moan." Shampoo said in what was almost a trance. She stepped
closer. "I want more fair moan."
Hotaru
clenched his eyes shut. Get it together. I have to control this situation.
This isn't right. I'm really a girl. I'm Nabiki Tendo, this is just a short
term thing and besides I'm with Ranko now and…Hotaru shook his head, Why
the hell am I even entertaining this. Just get control of the situation…just. Hotaru
opened his eyes. "I'll let you know how to reach Ranma and Nabiki…for a
small fee."
Ukyo's
eyebrow arched up. "Ah…I see. So how did you turn male, Nabiki?"
Damn
them. Damn their feminine whiles, Hotaru thought sourly.
"This…Nabiki?"
Shampoo looked disgusted, but not quite disgusted enough.
Hotaru
sighed. "Look, Auntie Saotome is here, so Ranma has to be Ranko. Remember
Ranma's curse started changing with his thoughts? We had to do something to
keep him from changing. This," Hotaru gestured to himself, "Is the
result. By the way, my name's Hotaru Takahata while Auntie is here. I'm 'Ranko's'
'boyfriend'." Hotaru made quotation mark hand signs on both
"Ranko" and "boyfriend."
Ukyo
nodded slowly. Then a smirk appeared on her face and she finally erupted into
laughter.
"What
so funny?" Shampoo asked.
"Oh…"
Ukyo said between guffaws, "how… the mighty…have fallen! Tendo Nabiki, the
great manipulator of men forced to be Ranchan's boyfriend!"
"I
wasn't exactly 'forced'" Hotaru grumbled.
"You
used him for a year, but then he ended up beating you at your own game, didn't
he? Ranchan never loses! 'Oh please, Nabiki, you big stud you, please help me
hide from my mother, won't you?'" Ukyo put on the act, batting her eyes
impressively.
When
she stopped, though, Ukyo was serious. "Nabiki, or Hotaru or whoever you
want to be. You…are a jackass. You had this whole mystique going, like you knew
everything. But you didn't, did you? The only thing you had going was that you
didn't get involved. You were
"Ranko
loves me, and I love her. There's no war going on. It's all been decided
already," Hotaru countered, but it sounded weak even before Ukyo
responded.
"Funny.
That's what I said just before Ranchan…RANMA and his father ran off with my
dowry. And having to watch him with Akane and Shampoo…But it was all okay,
because he loved me and I loved him. And then one night I see him fucking Miss
Ukyo
took a piece of paper out of the flap of her uniform and stuck it to the side
of the dojo entrance with a throwing spatula. "So, if you happen to see
Tendo Nabiki or Saotome Ranma, you tell them to meet us in two weeks at the
abandoned lot, in their correct forms, or else they'll be revealed as the
honorless, jackass, shitfaced, bastard fucks they are."
Ukyo
turned and left, dragging Shampoo along with her. She had walked almost out of
eyesight in the night before Hotaru snapped out of his daze. "Oh…Oh
yeah?" he called out, "Well, I never liked your okonomiyaki
anyway!" Not quite satisfied with this, he cupped his hands around his
mouth and yelled "It tastes like paper maché!"
Even
after the two former fiancees were gone, Ukyo's words continued to linger in
the air. Nabiki would have been able to handle that situation so much better.
But Hotaru wasn't Nabiki anymore. He looked around the dojo. Why am I here?
This isn't me.
He
looked at his hand, wider, less graceful than his normal one, and felt a surge
of panic. He tried turning female, but he couldn't. Ranko took too much. The
room seemed to spin. Energy built up within him. I’ve got to hold on to it, he
thought desperately, I can’t let it go or I could die. But his control
was slipping. A green light sputtered around him and then grew like a flame all
over his body.
A
second before he passed out, he realized he was no longer touching the floor.
~~~~~author's
note~~~~~
10/6/07
finishing touches.
8/23/07
Did some major editing. Not as bad as I thought, though.
1/18/07-
First draft was actually done pretty quickly, but I got some sobering
critiques.