Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A New Future 2 - First Blood ❯ Reconciliations, sort of ... ( Chapter 31 )

This was originally published by me under the name Anduril at Anime Addventures, with the only changes being a few corrections in spelling, punctuation and the occasional word choice to make things clearer. If you like the beginning of my story but think I've gone off the rails, or have your own ideas for a great branch-off, or think I'm taking too long to update and want to continue the story yourself, come to Anime Addventures and join in the fun!

I claim no ownership rights to any of the works of Rumiko Takahashi, Naoko Takeuchi, or anything in the GURPS Ogre and GURPS Tales of the Solar Patrol settings published by Steve Jackson Games. Everything else is mine.

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Ranma stood — or rather paced — on the platform of the railway station. She knew she was making things difficult for her ostensible bodyguards, forcing them to constantly look over fresh territory and people all around her, but she couldn't help it. After two wasted weeks alone here in Tokyo, her Akane was coming home! She was so excited that she wasn't even paying attention to the strange men around her.

Not wasted, Ranma. You saved Satoru's life — that's worth a lot. And it was worth a lot. Waking up from the healing trance in a hospital bed next to a whole, healthy little boy whose life she'd saved had been like nothing she'd ever experienced in her life. And while it turned out that both of Satoru's parents had been at the park — and among the dead — his mother's sister had been located and was in the room. The overwhelming flood of love-charged joy and grief she'd radiated when her nephew woke up a few minutes later, completely healed, had been enough to knock Ranma right out of her center.

Still, while Ranma had been happy to accept an incredibly grateful family's offer to become Satoru's unofficial godmother when she'd asked if she could see the boy occasionally, the shared healing trance that was all she could manage so far was useless in battlefield conditions. She'd have to leave any on-the-spot healing to Hotaru and Big Sis. So you'll just hafta study harder and be ready next time. The lifedancers did it, so you can, too, somehow.

She'd so distracted herself with her thoughts of her successful failure that she hadn't noticed the sound of the train until it came around the bend, slowing as it approached the station. As it rumbled to a stop and the doors slid open, Ranma's eyes were scanning the windows, looking for a glimpse of familiar short, dark hair. Finally, she saw the former Tendo stepping onto the platform and scanning the crowd a few cars away, followed by Xian Pu and Mu Tse.

Taking a deep breath, the redhead sauntered up to the trio. “Hey Tomboy, welcome home,” she said.

Akane whipped around. “Ranma!” she shouted as she pulled her lover into a solid hug, Ranma's own arms rising to circle her, the two oblivious to the sidelong glances from the people around them. After a moment, Akane let go and stepped back. “Hey, Idiot, it's good to be back,” she said.

Behind her, Mu Tse and Xian Pu exchanged smiles. “They hide it so well, don't they?” Mu Tse commented idly, and Xian Pu snorted a laugh.

“Right, like you two are any better, now that you've dropped the act,” Akane groused, mock-glaring at her friends (she absolutely refused to think of them as bodyguards), and Ranma joined in the laughter even as she nodded approvingly internally — through the entire meeting she hadn't picked up a hint of emotion in the ki Akane radiated, her lover's control of her center had been rock-solid in spite of her obvious happiness to be back. After holding the glare a moment longer Akane also joined in. So, where are Hotaru and Usa? I thought they'd be here.”

After Ranma fought the laughter down to chuckles (not giggles, never giggles), she replied, “They said something `bout not wanting ta risk diabetes by being around when you got here.” Then as Akane glared at her again, this time with some heat in it, she hastily added, “Actually, they and Big Sis wanted to come, but it would'a meant adding another car. They're waitin' for us at the gatherin' point, come on.”

The group headed for the parking lot, and was soon on their way. Beside Akane in the furthest back seat of the van, a suddenly nervous Ranma watched the traffic out the window for a few minutes, before taking a deep breath and turning to look at her lover. She hesitated uncertainly for a moment, then grinned at a suddenly concerned Akane, the cocky “I can do anything” one that had used to get the raven-haired girl's blood boiling. “I learned a new trick last week,” Ranma said. “Want me show to you?”

Akane's concern vanished. “Now?” she asked suspiciously, mindful of some of the pranks Ranma had pulled from time to time (to prove she was really all right even when she wasn't, Akane had thought — that had kept her from losing her temper a few times).

“Yup,” Ranma replied, holding out a hand, and Akane slowly reached out to grip it. Ranma closed her eyes, remembering again the emergency room a week before, the terrified and dying boy, and how she had calmed him. Letting her emotions settle against the still core at her heart, she again formed the “twisted cord” of her ki and emotions mixed but separate, and let it cross between them through their held hands and spread through Akane's body, merging with her ki.

Akane had been watching Ranma through narrowed eyes, and now those eyes widened in shock as she felt the intense joyful love mixed with the clear ki of her lover's calm center wash through her. “Ranma, what ... what was ... how — ?” she gasped out.

Ranma smiled again, this time without the cockiness of before. “That was how I calmed the kid long enough ta heal him, thanks ta memories a' what ya all did fer me. Akane, I know I'm not really good with words, but ... I'm really glad you're back.”

Akane resolved to have Ranma teach her how to do that at the first opportunity, but now ... without letting go of Ranma's hand, she reached up her other hand to cup the back of Ranma's head and pull the redhead towards her, her eager lips seeking those of her lover.

In the van's middle seat, after a few moments the two Amazons that had been listening in glanced over their shoulders at their princess and princess's consort, then grinned at each other.

“So, do you think they'll demand a room as soon as we get there?” Mu Tse whispered.

After a moment's thought Xian Pu shook her head. “No, Ranma's smarter and more responsible than that — she'd either have the constant distraction of the time limit hanging over them or make us push back the time for the debriefing, and she won't want either. She'll wait. But don't expect them to stick around much for the pre-battle get-togethers.” Then remembering a movie she'd seen in her exploration of Western culture, she added, “There isn't going to be a `touch of Harry in the night' from this pair.”

Mu Tse chuckled his agreement, then brightened. “We aren't going to be leading any warriors tomorrow, so why don't we follow our princess's example?”

Xian Pu smiled broadly at the suggestion. “Sounds good to me.”

/oOo\

Ukyo hugged herself as she glanced around the large room before she turned back to the apartment building window to stare down at the street, ignoring the park across the way where the next day's battle was going to take place. Mostly, she was watching for the arrival of the van bringing Ranma from picking up Akane. But partly, it was to ignore the room's other occupants.

While the three strange women sitting at the large table in the middle of the room that the chef assumed to be Amazons were outwardly relaxed, as were Sailors Moon, Saturn and Chibi-Moon, the same couldn't be said of the rest of the Senshi, or anyone else that had arrived for that matter.

In one corner on the other side of the table, a tense Soun was standing beside Hinako-sensei, the former teacher in her child form clutching at one of Soun's solidly muscled legs with one arm while with her other hand she was holding open the flap of an elastic belt-pouch to show a bemused Saturn all the coins she'd brought for the next day's fight, Chibi-Moon and Moon grinning as they looked over Saturn's shoulder.

In the other corner across the table, Dr. Tofu was standing and quietly arguing with an unusually assertive Kasumi. Ukyo idly wondered what the two would be arguing about (or what could be important enough to get Kasumi to argue about it), but her curiosity didn't extend to getting close enough to eavesdrop, even if she could without being noticed by the pair. Getting that close would mean circling the table one way to pass a pacing Tatewaki, the obsessed Kuno dressed in the full armor of a samurai with both katana and wakizashi at his waist, or going the other way to pass a Genma standing with his back to the wall and his arms across his chest as he glared at the Amazons at the table. Neither appealed to the spatula-wielding martial artist, even if — she glanced to one side and smiled fondly at the stunningly cute apparently-a-girl standing silently at her side, Konatsu dressed in her loose red and white battle uniform with a wakizashi at her belt — she would have all the backup she'd need in either direction even if the rest of the Senshi except Pluto, sitting at the table and mostly glaring at Genma (Venus was glaring at Soun) didn't intervene.

For a moment, Ukyo thought back over the past month since her former fiancé's visit. After that wakeup call she had pulled herself back together, pushing her cooking back to its previous level of excellence even as she'd taken on a crash training regimen that had had her crying herself to sleep from the pain more than once and so stiff she could barely rise in the morning a lot more often than that. She'd accomplished both. Her restaurant clientage had skyrocketed after word spread throughout the district that Vanguard and two Senshi had served a lunch, and if it had dropped off after awhile when such exalted personages hadn't put in a repeat performance, it hadn't fallen back into the dumps that her depression had caused. And thanks to the brutal training, her skills were back up to par and her endurance, if not where it should be, was much improved.

And through it all, Konatsu had been at her side, giving massages on the mornings that she was too stiff to move, pacing her in her endurance training, critiquing her form when running through katas and sparring with her, gently poking at her (figuratively, of course) whenever thoughts of the future that now would never happen — never would have, if she'd been honest with herself — had returned to haunt her. It hadn't taken her long to realize that, though she had lost a fiancé, she'd gained two true friends instead of just one, and now she gave the crossdresser beside her (as always) a grateful smile.

Konatsu shyly smiled back, eyes shifting to the side as he blushed. Suddenly his eyes widened as they fixed on something behind her.

“So, are you ready?”

Ukyo whirled around, hand reaching for the handle of her battle spatula, then relaxed at the sight of Sailor Pluto stepping back and raising her hands, clutching a rolled-up paper. “Don't do that, Sugar!” the chef exclaimed as she shoved her half-drawn weapon back into its sheath.

“Right, sorry, it won't happen again,” a slightly pale Pluto agreed. “My usual target for that is Moon — she's so cute when she screams and jumps away.” Grinning at Ukyo's startled laugh as from her corner Moon huffed and pointedly turned back to Chibi-Hinako, Pluto continued, “But I should know better than to do that to a martial artist, even one as well-trained as you.

“So, are you ready?”

Ukyo nodded. “Yes, I am. Konatsu's been helping me train hard to get out of the hole I dug for myself, I'm back on top.”

“Good.” Pluto nodded, then offered Ukyo the roll of paper. “Here, I wanted to give you this before we started the briefing.”

Ukyo accepted what turned out to be a roll of parchment and unrolled it. She started to read, eyes growing wider with each line as Konatsu peeked over her shoulder. Finishing, Ukyo raised her head to stare at Pluto. “Is this for real?” she demanded. “It's really ... really ... ?”

“Really a request for your father to give up his vendetta against the Saotomes and accept you back into the fold as a girl, personally signed by the Emperor? Yes, it is,” Pluto said coolly. Then, as Ukyo continued to stare at the emerald-haired woman, she added, “You're putting your life on the line here, and while Ranma will always count you as one of her best friends, I'm afraid she's going to be too busy to really visit all that often. I thought the least we could do was help patch things up with your father. Do you think this will do the job?”

Ukyo's eyes dropped to stare again at the Emperor's personal signature. “Yes, this should do the job ... thank you,” she whispered.

“You're welcome.” Pluto looked up as Xian Pu and Mu Tse walked through the door, followed by Ranma and Akane with another two Amazons behind that peeled off to take up stations on each side of the doorway.

/\

Ranma looked around as she and Akane stepped into the room. It looked like they were the last to arrive, so ... then her big sister's wave motioning them over caught her eye, just as the two had planned that morning at the Outers' home when she'd spent time with her mother before reviewing the battle plan with Moon, Pluto and Elder Ku Lon. Turning, Ranma started toward the little group, catching her lover's elbow when Akane balked at the sight of her father. “Come on, Akane, yer the one always telling me I need ta learn some manners, be polite,” the redhead murmured.

“But that's fath — Soun!” Akane hissed.

“Yeah, an' he's gonna be puttin' his life on the line tomorrow, just like the rest of us, an' he'll fight better if he has at least some hope a' gettin' back together with you,” Ranma replied, tugging on Akane's elbow.

After a moment's further hesitation, Akane reluctantly walked forward, feeling blind. She'd deliberately dropped out of her center before entering the room — feeling the emotions of a room with Soun, Genma, and Kuno in it didn't appeal to her — but now she was wondering if that had been wise. Ignoring her father, she focused on the woman/child still clutching Soun's leg. The child was obviously nervous, but looked good — none of the tired eyes and too-slim body that Ranma had described after her visit. Moon's and later Chibi-Moon's visits (and quiet help) seemed to have served Hinako well.

Dropping to one knee, Akane forced a smile. “Hello, Hinako-sensei, it's been awhile. Ranma told me you quit your job. Are you enjoying getting away from the principal?”

“Oh, yes!” the little girl enthused. “I had to keep some coins in my hand whenever he was around, or he would have those clippers out and try for my hair. I blasted him so much.” Then she added with a cutely stern look, “You aren't going to make Soun cry, are you? He cries too much about you already.” The stern look vanished as the child's eyes went watery. “Please?”

Akane froze, looking away. Oh, crap, what do I say to that? she thought despairingly, fighting to control her roiling anger as she remembered that final scene at ho — at the dojo on The Day, when the man she should have been able to trust as much as any in the world had betrayed her to side with his scumbag of a friend.

Then she made the mistake at looking back down at wide eyes, with two tears rolling down tiny cheeks, and the knowledge that the “child” was actually a woman some years older than her was completely useless as her heart melted. “Okay, I'll be nice,” she grumbled.

Hinako perked up instantly, smiling brightly. “Yay!” she shouted, letting go of Soun's leg to throw her arms around her still-kneeling former student. Above the two, a pigtailed redhead and long-braided blonde exchanged tiny self-satisfied nods.

Akane rose to her feet, picking up Hinako when the child refused to let go of her, and nodded to her father. “Tendo-san,” she said coldly, then sighed as his face clouded up with the all-too-familiar signs of coming tears and Hinako's arms tightened around her. “Okay, okay ... Father,” she muttered ungraciously, though she managed to keep the frost out of her voice.

“Akane,” Soun replied. He drew a deep, shuddering breath. “When I said what I did those months ago, uniting the schools wasn't my primary concern — rather, it was you and Ranma. What the two of you are doing just isn't right.” He dropped his gaze to stare at the floor, oblivious to Akane's shock. Even as she opened her mouth to shout out her disagreement, he continued, “But when you removed yourself from the family you also removed any right I had to have a say in how you live your life, and when I did have that right I was too caught up with living in the past to pay the attention I should have to my daughters. I'm sorry. The Tendo dojo may no longer be your home, but ... could you visit, from time to time?”

Akane simply stood there, mouth open, mind racing in circles. As the silence stretched, Soun's shoulders slumped and he began to turn away just as Akane felt Hinako's arms tighten around her. “Will Ranma be welcome, too?” she finally asked, voice harsh.

Soun nodded without turning back. “Yes, of course.”

“All right, so long as Ranma can come I'll stop by occasionally,” Akane ground out. “But for now, I think we have more important things to talk about.”

“Yes, we do,” Pluto said from directly behind them. They turned to find the Senshi of Time holding a roll of paper almost as tall as she was in one hand, and a lumpy bag in the other. “Tofu-san, if you'll help me roll the map out on the table, and Kasumi-san, if you'll put one of these crystals on each corner, and if everyone will gather around the table, we'll get started.”

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Current planning is that this is going to be Ukyo's last hurrah, so I thought I'd wrap up her situation — and I can't think of anything more likely to get through her father's rock-headed stubborn vendetta than a personal appeal from the Emperor.

Oh, and that new trick of Ranma's? It's going to have more uses than just letting your lover know how much you love him or her, but that's certainly a good place to start.