Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Heavenly Sword Of The New Age ❯ Remembrance ( Chapter 1 )

Heavenly Sword Of The New Age

Chapter 02: Remembrance

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A Ranma 1/2 and Ruroni Kenshin Crossover Story

Disclaimer: I do not own either of the mentioned series.

This story begins before the ranma cannon and many years after ruroni kenshin.

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He tried to calm himself, but it was no use. There were too many memories here, too much unhappiness, too much left unsaid. It was not that he had an unpleasant relationship with his father, but that they had no relationship at all. How Genma had come to be the way he was today, Ranma did not know. He could only hope that with time, and his hard work, changes to the currently loathsome personality of his father could be made. Similar to those changes he himself had undergone while under the guiding hands of Soujiro. Such things did not happen overnight, and required strength of character in the teacher that he did not use to have.

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4 years previous

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"Beautiful, isn't it?" Soujiro said.

Ranma had to agree. They stood beside a slow meandering brook, which tumbled down across moss-covered rocks from a height of perhaps six metres, certainly not more. Everywhere was green, even the water, even the pebbles. The house was perched upon pilings over a pool at the bottom of the small waterfall. A winding pathway of great black rocks led to it from the bank. The only sounds were the prattle of the brook and the sighing of the wind in the trees. He could see bright flashes off the skin of koi from the pool beneath the structure, it was as if they had travelled back in time, it was fantastic.

The boy couldn't help himself; "It's great" he was quick to inform, in all of his years of life, he had never seen this places like.

"It is your new home." Soujiro informed him quietly, "For the next four years you shall seldom leave this place."

He paused here for a few moments, to order his thoughts, and to make sure he had his student's full attention. "There are some things you must learn of, and a number of rules I will require you to follow during your stay. Their explanation will take some time. Come, we will continue within."

Ranma took off his shoes and set them on the mossy embankment before trying to walk across to the house. The stepping-stones were wet and slippery.

When he had reached the house, he climbed the steep wooden stairs and stood on the porch where Soujiro stood, waiting. Pointing towards the row of clogs placed near the door, Soujiro motioned for the boy to put a pair on, something he was sure Ranma had never done before.

"First things first, you will need to know the location of everything in the house during your stay, so, follow me, and I will show you around your new home, if you have any questions do not be afraid to ask."

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Immediately within was a large area with a table sitting in the middle of it. There were oil paintings on each of the walls, however the one thing in the room that truly caught Ranmas eye was a portrait of Soujiro and a beautiful older woman. They were sitting together, embraced, at the entrance to the house, the brook could be seen behind them in the noonday sun, both with content smiles on their faces. Curious, he turned toward the older man and asked, softly, "Who is the pretty lady in the picture, master, you look so happy with her?"

Soujiro looks at the canvas the boy was referring to, a portrait of himself and his wife, Megumi. It had been painted the previous year by one of the young woman down in the village, on their wedding anniversary. He was very close to the girls family, had known them since they had first settled in the area, two generations previous.

Snapping out of the memory, he turned toward his young charge. "Yes we were both very happy that day, it was a special to us, and the woman in the picture is my wife, Megumi. You will meet her later on tonight, she is the local doctor, and has a clinic in town. It was through her that I first learnt of you in fact. People that came in to see her were voicing concerns about your welfare."

"Really. Wow. Your lucky master, she is very pretty." The boy replied with enthusiasm, it had been a long time since he had had a mother figure in his life, and he missed it, a lot, nearly every night he would wonder about his mother. Where she was, what she was doing, was she thinking of him? He hoped that she was.

Watching Ranma for a while Soujiro could see a number of emotions go through the boys eyes. When they started toward the lower end of the spectrum, he decided a distraction was in order and so took hold of the boys arm, and moved on to the next room in the house.

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Off to the right side of the lounge room, the kitchen was located. It was a rather simple affair, a bench along either wall, one containing the sink, another the other an oven and stove. There was a large fridge in the other corner, hold on; -a fridge in the corner- Ranma couldn't help himself. -FOOD!!!- He lunged. Before he could get to the fridge, though, he was stopped short by hand.

"Come now ranma, that is not really necessary. You have already had lunch today. If you would like something to eat you will have to wait for dinner tonight. Other than that you can have some fruit." With this he gestures to a bowl of apples, oranges and various other fruit and vegetables on the bench next to the sink. " We are on good terms with most of the farmers in the area, so if you ever feel hungry during the day, or at night, feel free to help yourself.

Quick to take up the offer, Ranma grabbed an apple from the aforementioned basket. Taking a large bite out of it, man, it was delicious!! It was so long since he had something such as this. His father would only cook rice for him, and whenever they could afford something else Genma would just eat it all himself, this was great!!

Soujiro waited calmly for a few moments, what would the boy do, would he thank him?, would he offer one to Soujiro?. When no thanks were forthcoming he added another thing to the list of lessons for his student, manners.

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The library was off from the centre wall of the lounge, around half the size of the other room, it was ringed, floor to ceiling, in grand oaken bookcases. One side of the room filled with Soujiros books, everything martial. Tactics, forms, spiritual guides, whatever he could find.

The other side however, held the books that Megumi liked, maths, science, pressure points, foreign languages. Ranma would be reading a large number from both sides of the room in his time here, yet the boy did not need to know that for now. There were two leather couches facing each other in the centre of the room, with a glass plate in the floor between them, allowing one to see the water rush by, under the room.

Turning to the boy, Soujiro informed him of his location "This is the library." And that was that.

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From the left wall of the lounge a hallway stretched, from which could be seen four different doors. There was one along the left side of the hall and two along the right side, and finally a door at the end.

Turning to the first door on his right, Soujiro motioned Ranma through. A set of stairs were revealed, leading down into an eerily

blue light. Ranma showed signs of trepidation, but after only a momentary pause, he pushed on down the stairs, the kid had spirit.

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He was scared at first; he had never seen light such as this before. Suddenly though he could see a golden flash from the light, and curiosity won over the slight fear. The foot of the stairs opened into a large room, the floor was covered with large tatami mats and the source of the glow was revealed.

They were underwater!!! Cool!!! He rushed over to the right side of the room, his face glued to the glass. Ranma could see the koi swimming against the current, and a number of eels were amongst the reeds at the bottom of the creek. One side of the room was constructed of a huge clear glass sheet, and the entire room was submerged under the water, he could see the waterline perhaps two metres above the roof of the room. It was like a mini dojo.

Turning to Soujiro, he enthusiastically speaks, "Wow, this room is great!!. What is it for?"

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He had expected this, everyone reacted the same way when they first saw this room, it was like having a private aquarium. The truth was that he used the room for meditation. No sound could reach this place, just the lap of the water against the glass, it was very relaxing. "This room is used for meditation Ranma, something you will soon begin to employ. Now, you can come back here later, shall we continue?".

"Sure."

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Back in the hallway, Soujiro gestured to the door at the end of the hall. "This room is the master bedroom, myself and Megumi's, you should not go in here, if you must go inside, please be sure to knock first, okay?"

"Sure"

Next, he opened the left door, A large room was revealed, it had a huge futon on the ground along with a desk and closet along one wall. There was also a huge picture window with a great view of the town they had come from.

"This is the guest room. For the duration of your stay, this will be your room, please put your things in the closet, but keep a pair of fresh clothes with you okay"

"Okay"

The final door contained the furo and toilet, Soujiro told Ranma to take a bath, as it was obvious that it had been quite some time since his last one, and it would give him time to decide how much to tell his new student about his history.

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He knelt on the reed tatami, his kimono, light blue on navy blue, swirled around him as if he was the eye of a great whirlpool. He poured the steaming hot water into the earthenware cup and, as he took up the reed whisk to make a pale green froth, the form of Ranma shadowed the open doorway. Beyond his bent body, the polished wooden floor of the lounge stretched away, gleaming and perfect.

Soujiro had his back to the doorway. He faced the edge of the shoji screen and the large window through witch could be seen the heresawa river winding its way through the countryside, and far off the distant village of Urostoi. The scent of cedar was very strong now, as it always was in this private retreat, save during those few weeks of winter when the snow lay heavy and muffling through the ridges and rises of the terrain.

Soujiro never tired of the view, it was near here that Shishio made his last stand, the ruins of the once fine castle could be seen just a few kilometres the other side of the town. It was one of the main reasons he settled here. Even if the man was extremely misguided, he had done a lot for Soujiro, and he felt that the least he could do was pay that small respect. Behind him, Ranma was about to announce himself, but as he began, Soujiro raised his hand, and motioned for the boy to sit.

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Taking a long sip from his tea, he took a moment to gather his thoughts. "As I told you earlier Ranma, there will be a few rules that I require you to follow during your stay here, I am very serious about this, as you should be. A large part of martial arts is about self-discipline, and I am sorry to say that until this time your father has not set a good example in this matter. Firstly, starting from now, you shall address me as Master, there shall be no deviations from this, and I will strictly enforce it, is this understood?"

"Yes, master"

Satisfied with this, Soujiro continues, "Very good. Secondly, for the duration of your stay here, you hall employ the proper level of respect to all those you shall meet. As it is painfully obvious that you have not been taught anything in this respect, it will fall to me to tutor you. Is this Understood?"

"Yes, master"

He paused again here, to let the boy contemplate the two new restraints on his behaviour, "Finally, as may be inferred from the previous two rules, during your time here you will obey me without question. Any objections you have with my instructions are to be kept to yourself until after you have carried them out. Is this understood?"

"Yes, master"

"Very well", Soujiro replied, pleased. "Now that the two of us have established the ground rules for you to maintain during your stay, we can begin to speak of more personal matters, as you have told me your life experiences earlier this evening, I shall now tell you of the more important of mine." He paused for a moment here, then looking Ranma straight in the eyes asked "How old do you think I am Ranma, forty?, fifty?, sixty?"

"I reckon that you're around fifty master, am I right?" Ranma returned searchingly.

"You may find this hard to believe Ranma, but the truth is that I am one hundred and thirty years old, I was a teenager during the bakumatsu, and did not even begin to get grey hairs until I was one hundred. This feat was only possible due to manipulation of my internal energy, the energy that your father would call ki. He was using this energy during our fight earlier, however the method he employs is actually detrimental to a person." He takes another sip of his tea here, to let the new information settle in the boys brain, then plunged on.

"I had a hard life when I was young, I was victimized by my family, treated as hardly more than a slave. They would make me carry large sacks of grain, backbreaking, thankless work, from the time the sun rose early in the morning until after the sun set later that night. One day, however, there was an injured man taking refuge within the barn. He was hitokiri, an assassin; he had been turned on by the government, treated harshly despite his best efforts. My life was forever changed by that meeting."

He paused here for a long while, and it was clear to Ranma that he was not sure if he was happy or sad of this fact. "I killed them soon after, and left with the hitokiri, Shishio Makoto. For many years after this I was an assassin in Shishios employ, my mind had been shattered when I murdered my family. I could not feel any emotion; I could only smile emptily at the world, as I had smiled emptily at my family. Things continued in this way until we encountered a former hitokiri, one considered the best ever. He again shattered my mind, yet this time, I could once again feel. Like that man, I felt that I should atone in some way."

Soujiro just then noticed the faint snores his new charge gave off. There was no help for it, he would wake the boy when Megumi arrived home, perhaps he would continue his story some other day. He had yet to tell even Megumi herself the whole of it. And sometimes the things he had done in his youth weighed heavily on his heart. Still, for now, he picked Ranma up into his arms and placed him into his new room.

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Present

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Still there upon the hillside, Ranma thought about that day, his first under Soujiros guidance. It would not be until a year after that when Soujiro would continue his story. He was glad that at least in some way, he had helped Soujiro to heal as well.

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Authors note: Second chapter done. Will work on Tensai next hopefully, though I have the next chapter of clan of the dragon god fully plotted out already. As always, please review.