Mobile Suit Gundam Fan Fiction / Digimon Fan Fiction / Fatal Fury Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Trigun Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ A NEW DESTINY - Book 3: Revelations & Breakups ❯ Salt on the Wounds ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

New Destiny: Book 3 - Revelations and Break-Ups
Part 2: Salt On the Wounds

Minor note: I goofed up on the time TK was flung back into. It's supposed to be a year before Ranma died, not two years. My bad.


TK couldn't believe the situation he was in. One minute he was watching the past through a machine called the Window of Time, with Kari, Rusty, and others with him; and then the next thing he new, he had been pulled into the past he was watching after he touched the Window's "screen." The past was over a year before Akane would reject Ranma for good, before he would die from wounds received by Friezor, before TK would dedicate his life to training himself and become the true heir to the Saotome School of "Anything-Goes" Martial Arts.

The scene laid out before him wasn't familiar to him. Ranma had just chased Pantyhose Tarou, his deadliest rival, to the middle of the Nerima Park. Tarou held TK's 9-year-old self in one arm and Kari, also 9, under his other arm. Obviously, the teen had kidnapped them in his latest attempt to get his name changed.

TK remembered what Happosai and Ranma's journal had told him about Tarou. He had been born in Jusenkyo, China, delivered by Happosai himself, accidentally bathed with water from the Spring of Drowned Yeti-Riding-Ox-While-Carrying-Crane-And-Eel, and even given his name by the old letch. It was a name Tarou hated with a passion, more so than the fact that he turned into a minotaur with crane wings and an eel's tail. In fact, it was his secret weapon in fights.

"Now," Tarou sneered at Ranma. "Are you going to do as I say, or do I have to play rough with the kids here?"

From the bushes, TK could see Ranma was tortured just standing there. It was too risky attacking Tarou. The kids might get hurt if he tried anything. "Tarou, I'm trying to tell you, the old freak left hours ago and we don't know where or when he'll show up again. Just let the kids go and you can kick me around as much as you want. I won't fight back."

"How do I know that, cross-dresser? You're Happosai's heir, and that makes you untrustworthy."

"I trust him a lot more than I trust you, coward!"

Tarou looked down at the young TK. A scowl was on his face. "What did you just call me?"

"He called you a coward," Kari answered for her friend. "And I agree. I mean, kidnapping a pair of little kids like us just to get your own way-. AAAH!"

"Kari! UUUGGH!!"

They screamed as Tarou started to squeeze them in his arms, angered by their words. However, he wasn't that angry. Being called a coward was better than being called by his real name.

Ranma was horrified. "TAROU!!! LEAVE THEM ALONE!!!"

Tarou flashed a devious grin. "Oh shut it, cross-dresser! It's not my fault these kids have shit for brains."

Enough was enough. Unable to stand watching his, and Kari's, younger self being tortured, TK used his speed to first knock the wind out of Tarou, then delivered a strong kick to the chin, and grabbed the two children as Tarou loosened his grip and stumbled backward.

"You should watch that mouth of yours, pal," TK said. "There are children present, after all. We wouldn't want to warp their young minds." He looked down at the kids. "You two okay?"

"Never mind me, mister. Kari, you okay?"

"I'm fine. And you?"

Young TK smiled. "Same."

Ranma and Tarou were shocked. Where did this new guy come from, and how did he do what he just did?

TK quickly set the kids down and motioned for them to go to Ranma. "Have Ranma find you two a shady spot. I'll handle this guy."

Tarou put a hand to his chin, which felt sore. "I don't know who the hell you are, but I don't care anymore-!"

"I told you before," TK said as he got into a stance. "Watch your language!"

"Who's gonna make me?"

"Me, that's who... PANTYHOSE TAROU!!!!"

An awed hush filled the air, as everyone stood frozen in place. Ranma's eyes were as big as saucers. This guy just called Tarou by his full name. Either he had guts, or was really stupid.

"NOW YOU DIE!!!!"

TK didn't have time to make a move as Tarou launched a fury of attacks on him. Blind rage consumed the green-clad martial artist. It wasn't enough that this fool had to say his full name, but he had to shout it out loud for the world to hear.

Ranma hugged young TK and Kari tight, wincing at the beating the stranger was taking. But then, he noticed something rather odd. The stranger's feet and legs never moved from their spot. No matter how many times, or how hard Tarou hit him, he remained in that same spot, never moving back.

Finally, Tarou stopped to grin at his punching bag, only to have the grin fade as TK slowly moved his head to look him in the eye. A trickle of blood trailed from his nose; another from his lips, and his mouth had a bitter taste. Yet he had never moved his legs during the beating.

"What the bloody hell?!"

TK turned his head to spit out the bloody saliva in his mouth, and then looked back at Tarou while using his hand to wipe the blood from his face.

"For the last time... watch your MOUTH!"

With those last three words, TK gave Tarou a hard punch to the jaw that sent him sprawling towards a nearby lake. He fell in with a loud splash.

"No," Ranma shouted. "You don't know what you've done-!"

"I know about his Jusenkyo Curse."

"You what?"

"Just trust me."

Suddenly, a hulking beast with bullhorns and crane wings rose up from the lake, glaring at TK. It made a chuckling noise, like it was laughing at the fool's mistake.

TK just smiled. "Let's party."

Tarou charged straight at TK and swung a punch, only to hit air as the teen vanished. Confusion soon turned to amazement as Tarou's target reappeared, hovering in front of him, upside-down.

Before anyone could speak or comprehend what had just happened, TK started to pummel the minotaur senseless in no time flat. It fell to the ground with a loud thud as Akane, Genma, Soun, Nodoka, and Happosai appeared alongside Ranma and the kids.

TK dusted his hands while standing over the beaten Tarou. "That takes care of him." He then looked over to see everyone stare at him funny.

"How did you do that," Akane asked, her hand clutching the handle of a kettle, likely filled with hot water. "Are you a Saiyan?"

"No, I'm human."

Happosai hopped over to further examine Tarou. "Very interesting," he said before looking TK in the eye. "What school do you hail from, my boy?"

"Uh... I trained under different styles, so technically I don't belong to any school." {Gotta watch what I say. Can't let on that I'm the heir to the Saotome School.}

"Say, maybe you'd like to train under me? I'm a master of martial arts myself-."

TK quickly crossed his arms. "No thanks, Happosai. I heard about you from outside sources, and I have no intension of becoming a panty thief!" {Besides, the only real martial arts you could teach me when I started training were the basics.}

Just then, Ranma walked over to TK. "I don't know who you are or how you're so strong," he said, "but now I really don't care." He stuck out his hand. "Thanks for saving my cousin and his friend. My name's Ranma."

Awkwardly, TK shook Ranma's hand. "Call me Takeru."

"Hey," Young TK exclaimed. "We have the same first name! Only everybody calls me TK, for short."

Now everyone had gotten near TK, offering their thanks and raising a few questions, most of which TK answered, "It's a secret, sorry."

Finally, TK took the kettle from Akane and poured it on the still unconscious Tarou, reverting him to human form. He didn't even flinch or wake up from the heated water on his skin. Once this was done, TK slung him over his shoulder. "I'm going to take this guy somewhere out of the way where he won't bother anyone else around here. Be right back." Having said this, he put his two fingers to his forehead and vanished, leaving everyone shocked.

"Holy-!" Genma stammered. "How does he know the Instant Transmission Technique?! Only Cell, Goku, and Blue Goblin can use it!"

Just then, TK suddenly reappeared before everyone, but without Tarou. "He won't be back anytime soon," he stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Where did you go," Kari asked.

TK smiled at her. "I dropped him off in the Jusendo tribe's village in China. If they don't keep him occupied, I left him a little something that should get him off your backs." {It's a good thing Happosai gave me that envelope back when he trained me. Though I never realized that by giving it to Tarou now that he'd leave Ranma alone ever since...}


*************************************************** *****************************


With a weak smile, Happosai tremblingly handed a manila envelope to the 10-year-old TK, who was wearing a new gi for his training. It had only been three days since Ranma had been buried, and the young boy had been eager to start his training and earn his right as heir to the Saotome School.

"What's this, Happosai?"

"That," Happosai said, "is an official letter for Tarou, a boy I helped deliver and then named in Jusenkyo, China many years ago. I gave him the name 'Pantyhose Tarou,' and since then he has sought me out to make me give him a new name. However, he hasn't come to Nerima for a long time now, and I think he finally gave up on the whole thing."

"What's in this letter?"

"Tarou's new name. TK, I'll be honest with you: I don't have much longer to live, so when and if you encounter Tarou, give him this envelope. I'll rest easier in the afterlife or limbo knowing at least my own hands have righted one of my wrongs."

"But what if he doesn't like the new name?"

"Then you tell him he can either take the new name or leave it and keep his current one. If he wants the new name, he merely has to take that letter to a lawyer and it will be made legal, as per the instructions also inside that envelope. Do you understand, TK?"

"Yes. I understand."


************************************************ ********************************


It felt strange, TK realized, having dinner in the Tendo House, especially since it was in the past. But he couldn't refuse the invitation given to him by Soun and Nodoka.

A part of him wanted to tell them everything; that he was from seven years in the future where Ranma was dead, Akane had married Ryoga, and that he was really TK, the successor to the Saotome School. He wanted to change history for the better. However, that would seem impossible. They might take him for a lunatic since his younger self was present, not to mention Nabiki would ask certain key questions about his time.

But he had to get back somehow, he told himself as he ate. "Staying in the past for a long period of time could have dire consequences," he could almost hear Rusty tell him. "Look what happened with Cell. He spent over a thousand years in the past and he altered history somewhat."

Ranma had mentioned Cell dropping by later. Maybe TK could ask the MA for help. Rusty was a member around this time, and so was a younger Jinnai.

"Would you like more tea, Takeru?"

TK looked up to see Kasumi standing over him, a smile on her face and the teakettle in her hands. The smile was real, TK noted. It was warm and friendly. He remembered Kasumi's smile from his time, after Ranma had died. It was empty, a shadow of this current smile.

"Yes, please," TK said while raising his glass.

"Are you saying it was my fault Tarou took the kids?"

All eyes locked onto Ranma, who was starting to get angry with Akane. She was also getting angry, P-chan almost grinning in her lap at the coming fight. "Well, you were the one supposedly watching them this afternoon, Ranma. Or did you sneak off to see Ukyo or Shampoo?"

"Tarou got the drop on me, okay? With that guy, you never know when and where he'll show up next!"

"Then you should have kept a closer eye on TK and Kari!"

"Akane," Young TK cried, "it wasn't Ranma's fault. He was just surprised, like he said. Right, Kari?"

Kari was about to say she agreed, and that Akane was making a senseless argument since no one was really hurt. However, Akane raised her hand to cur her off. "Please don't try to defend him, you two. If he had been a better babysitter, you two wouldn't have been taken."

"You could have helped, you know, instead of babying that pig of yours!"

Akane hugged P-chan tight to her chest, which made him blush. "Leave P-chan out of this, Ranma! And don't blame him for YOUR incompetence!"

"It wasn't my fault, you uncute tomboy!"

"Yes it was, you perverted jerk-!"

A sudden shattering noise caught everyone's attention, shifting focus to TK's hand. His grip had tightened during the argument as he remembered Ranma telling him how Akane left him for Ryoga, how Cell said that perhaps she never really loved Ranma at all, how Ranma's last words were to tell Akane he loved her. A few tears fell from his face while blood dripped from his cut palm and fingers.

Kasumi quickly put down the kettle and pulled out a handkerchief. "Here, let me help-!"

"LEAVE ME ALONE," TK yelled, knocking Kasumi's hands away and getting up quickly. "ALL OF YOU!" He the dashed out of the room and, from the sounds of the door opening and slamming, out of the house. There were bloodstains trailing from the table to the door from his wounds.

"What was that all about," Soun wondered aloud, clueless as the others.

Nodoka eyed the blood. "I hope he's okay."


****************************************************** **************************


The streets were deserted as TK ran through them under the dusk sky. He didn't know this, but if he did, he wouldn't have cared. Teardrops and blood drops flew behind him as he kept going to nowhere at all.

It was too much for him. Being years in the past, seeing Ranma alive, watching him and Akane arguing like that while knowing the future that they were creating for themselves, it was too much for TK; it was all too much to bear.

He needed someone to talk to, some one to confide in. The problem was who. Anyone he told about this might try to alter the future. Kari would probably understand, be she was too young. His aunt and uncle, Mr. Tendo, Kasumi, Rob, Ami, Ukyo, Shampoo, Mousse, Cell, Rusty, they were all out of the question. Even Burter, who was still alive and a member of the MA around this time, wouldn't be able to keep this a secret.

Finally, his legs gave out and he fell on a set of stairs. A familiar set of stairs.

"What the-?! Rob, Ami, you'd better get out here!"

TK knew that voice anywhere. It was Burter's. Somehow he had ended up running to the front steps of the Mega Mansion.

"Burter, what happened?"

"I just found him there on my way out for my usual walk."

"I'll get the medical kit. Have him taken to the guest room! One side, Cell!"

"Hey, that's the kid Ranma was telling me about over the phone!"

"Fill us in after we get him to bed and tend to his hand. Try not to talk, okay? Just relax."

TK managed to spit out the words before he got dizzy from the blood loss. "Easy fer you t' say, toots."

Ami gave a sympathetic smile. "If my boyfriend heard that, you'd be hurting worse than you are now."


******************************************************* *************************


Ranma and Akane rushed into the guest room of the Mega Mansion to find TK lying in bed. His hand had been treated and a cold, wet washcloth was on his forehead. "How is he," Ranma asked Ami, Cell, and Rob.

"Just a little tired," Rob said. "From the crying and loss of blood. He'll be okay, though. How'd he hurt his hand, though?"

"He put too much pressure on the glass he was holding," Akane started to explain. "It must have been while Ranma and I were arguing at the table earlier. But what I don't understand is why he did that?"

"It's because you and Ranma were fighting, Akane Tendo."

Everyone looked to see a tall woman with long, dark green hair standing at the door to the room. In her hand was a long staff with a gem heart at the top of it.

Ami recognized her right away. "Setsuna!"

Cell crossed his arms. "What does the Sailor Scout of Time have to do with this?"

Setsuna calmly stepped forward to the bed, Ranma and the others giving way for her. She never took her eyes off of TK. "This boy... is from seven years in the future."

Only Cell wasn't shocked by this answer. "Okay, so who is he?"

"His name is Takeru. That is all you need to know."

"Then he's the future version of TK?" Ranma asked.

"I did not say that, Ranma Saotome. As for why watching you argue with Akane made hi so upset, it's because of his parents."

"I get it," Rob exclaimed. "His parents must be divorced and you two must've reminded him of when his folks argued before they split up. But what's he doing back here in the past, our present?"

"You don't have to worry about that, Prince Robert. Now you must all leave this room. I wish to speak with him when he wakes up. And should I find anyone listening in-."

"We get the message, Setsuna. You heard the lady, gang."

Cell ushered everyone else out, including himself, leaving Setsuna and TK alone. She tilted her staff over him and a light green beam covered him. His bandages came off as his hand began to heal. Slowly, his eye began to open.

"Well," Setsuna began, "you nearly caused a lot of trouble for me, Takeru Saotome."

TK looked over at her. "You must be Sailor Pluto. So, are you going to send me back to my time?"

"I'm afraid not just yet. Although you present the risk of revealing too much about the future, you are needed in this time for the evil that is coming."

"Then those dreams I had... you gave them to me?"

"Yes. And it was no coincidence that the others decided to use the window of time. Although, I didn't exactly plan on the generator giving out after you came here."

This made TK sit up straight. "You mean I'm trapped here?!"

Setsuna simply raised her hand. "Please control yourself, Takeru. Dr. Doom will arrive tomorrow to help Rusty and the others build the window of time. Until then, be on your guard and please try not to tell anyone of what is to come!"

"But... It's so hard for me to keep it inside. I've dreamed of this chance to prevent Ranma from dying, and now I have that chance..."

Setsune then sat down and hugged TK gently. "I know it's difficult. If I wanted to, I would have stepped in that night and saved you and Ranma. However, even I am bound by the laws of time."

"It would be easier... if I had someone to confide with."

"You could confide in me. Though I've seen Ranma's death, I'm willing to listen to your story."

"...Thank you. Just one thing, though."

Setsuna just smiled. "Don't worry. Kari won't find out about this. I promise you."

And so TK talked about that night Friezor attacked, and Setsuna listened until he grew tired and went to sleep in her lap.

"If you only knew," she said with some sadness, "what the very near future holds for you. And for Kari, and for Cell."



To Be Continued...

A/N: Seems I'm getting in a rut here. Three times I had TK break something in his hand and it got cut (unless you count that Dagger in the Heart is a rewrite of someone else's fic). Well, I don't plan on using it anymore, at least not with TK. As for what Setsuna said at the end, I'm saving that for the end of this book. And if it seems I repeated the fact that this was all before Ranma's death and Akane's rejection of him, I apologize.

Also, sorry this took so long to get out. It's my last year here at college and, to be honest, I'm a little scared about what happens after the summer when my part-time is over. Plus I have been busy at my internship at one of the central Pennsylvanian newspapers. Recently, I was given my first two assignments from the editor and I managed to get them done finally. Before I just handed the editors articles I just did in my Feature Writing class, but now I have 2 more articles to add to my final portfolio at the end of the semester.

So, what happens in part 3? Well, if you've seen DBZ movie 4, you know how it all starts (excluding the scene where Gohan visits Piccolo and we find Namek's hate whistling). If you haven't, then you'll just have to wait and see, won't you? And for those of you who missed Burter since his death in book 1 and brief voice cameo in book 2, I'm sorry he didn't have much of a part in this chapter, but he'll be around for the next 1-2 chapters, at least.

Till next time, gang!