Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Chained World: The Fall of the House of Kuno ❯ Aftershocks ( Chapter 18 )

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. 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 or Naoko Takeuchi.

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

At the sound of tapping at the window, Ku Lon looked up from her seat at the central table in the dining room of the Cat Café. On seeing a duck pecking at the glass, she rose and unlocked and opened the front door, letting in the duck and a purple-haired cat. A quick splash from the still-warm water in the teapot at her table, and her worn-looking heir and Xian Pu's would-be paramour took seats at the table, Duck Boy shooting a concerned look at the girl he loved.

“So, it is over. Did it go as expected?” the Amazon matriarch asked.

The two teenagers nodded, though Xian Pu frowned slightly. “Yes, Great-grandmother, Sword Boy won as expected. But cost was high — very high. Many people bid very much for right to own Ai — Ranma.”

Ku Lon frowned slightly. “Do you remember the names of those that placed bids?”

Xian Pu shook her head. “Names not mean anything to Shampoo.”

“They probably meant something to Nabiki-san,” Ku Lon mused. “We will have to check with her later, see if this changes our plans.”

Then, straightening with a sigh, she added, “But that's for later — after our part in this the Tendos would not appreciate a visit from us today, and we have a restaurant to run. You can give me a full report after the day is over. Unlock the door and take down the sign while I get everything ready in the kitchen.”

* * * * *

The Kuno Family's large, muscular steward stepped past the lovely (and very competent) redheaded secretary into his lord's office, closed the door behind him, and bowed deeply. Lord Kuno nodded in response and waved toward a seat in front of his desk, his nervous eagerness carefully hidden behind a stiff, stoic façade. “Morimasa, you come in good time,” he said calmly. “I was just finishing the review of your plans for independent contractors to investigate the illegal slave trade in Nerima. It looks good, you have my full approval — use whatever lording resources you need in keeping with the required secrecy.

“Now, how went the auction?”

“It ... it went well, my lord,” Morimasa replied carefully. “I was successful in purchasing Ranko, as you commanded, but ... the cost was high — very high. It took every kaneitsuho you ordered made available, and the Lording is going to be struggling to make the payments for many years.”

Lord Kuno's chair shot back to bounce off the wall as he shot to his feet at the news with a shout. “Yes, at last! The sorcerer's pernicious influence is at last fading — Ranko is finally free to take her place by my side, and surely Akane will follow in time as Ranma's absence frees her of his evil enchantments. What matter the price?!”

For several minutes the office was silent as Lord Kuno fought to regain his composure. When at last he was able to speak with only a slight tremor, he asked, “And my love of the fiery hair, where is she now?”

“Even now she is being taken to your home, my lord,” Morimasa said. Then, as Lord Kuno strode for the door, the steward continued, “Per your instructions, beyond the usual bathing and clothiers, I have given orders that she is to have your personal maid assigned to her service. She will be ready by the time you arrive this evening.”

At that, Lord Kuno paused just short of the door. “True, she will need some time to make herself presentable and recover from her travails at the hands of the auction master's servants — she will not welcome my presence just yet, however much her love might now be finally blooming. But ...” Again, he struggled with himself, finally slumping with a sigh. “Very well, Morimasa, your less than subtle hint is well taken. Usagi-chan will probably be more of a balm for Ranko's wounded soul anyway, immediately after such an experience. I shall remain here until my usual hour.

“So, have you completed my instructions with regard to my full use slaves?”

Morimasa nodded. “Yes, my lord. While on my way to report to you, I called the chief accountant and instructed him to initiate the forgiveness of the three temporary slaves' debt and the sale of the permanent slave, with a sterling report for her next prospective owner. Mashita-san wasn't exactly happy with the unexpected expenditure, but he will do as instructed.”

“Excellent,” Lord Kuno said. “With the acquisition of the true coin, I have no need for substitutes. Let them get on with their own lives, those that can.”

With a roll of his eyes, he added, “Now, why don't you set the investigation in motion while I apply myself to the fascinating résumés of those that would take my father's place as principal?”

Morimasa surprised himself with a chuckle as he bowed at the dismissal. “Of course, my Lord, I would not keep you from such an interesting diversion.”

* * * * *

At a window on an upper floor of the Imperial Palace, a tall man looked out over the gardens below. He was dressed in the imperial regalia, white-haired with age but unbowed by the years. Behind him, a nondescript man, bland to the point of practical invisibility, finished his report of the events at the Neriman slave center. For a time, the room was silent as the Emperor continued to stare unseeing downward. Finally, he turned with a slight sigh.

“So, Kuno won after all,” he said. “I had hoped he would fail, even if his success plays into our hands, but ...” His voice trailed off, then he gave a faint shrug. “Things are as they are, not as we wish them to be. And overall, this has worked out even better for us than I'd expected. The near-riot will be useful. However, there is one ... oddity.”

Egami quirked an eyebrow. “You are referring to Meioh Setsuna's actions, Your Majesty?” the Emperor's Hand asked.

“Yes,” the Emperor replied. “We already knew she was wealthier than she seemed, she has to be considering how active she's been in the Shadow World the past several years. But the amount of wealth that she was willing to devote to purchasing Ranko was actually greater than Lord Kuno's top offer.”

“True,” Egami mused. “If it hadn't been for the way she got bored waiting for Ranko to come up and played with the bidding, she would have won — it was that slave she won by accident that stopped her.

“Still, on the surface it simply looks like more of the same,” he continued. “We already know she's heavily involved in something mystical, considering the way she's been recruiting high powered martial artists and mages. And considering that a majority of her recruits have never been seen again, whatever is going on is seriously violent. And none of it has been cheap — the support she's provided to surviving dependents alone is enough to indicate that her hidden wealth is at least as great as her known resources. Her attempt to purchase Ranko could simply be another recruitment attempt — Ranma did help blow the tops off of two mountains, after all.”

The Emperor said nothing for a time, deep in thought. Finally, he said, “Perhaps, but I don't think so. Meioh-san has always been careful in the past to keep her public persona and her activities in the shadows well separated. This time ... she has revealed much for no gain. No one of knowledge and sense is going to believe that she was willing to spend that much on a slave simply out of hatred of the Kunos — she's far too astute and practical a businesswoman for that.”

Turning from the window, he looked at his Hand. “We will not have time to discuss the full ramifications at this time — the Shogun will be here soon to give the report on the fortifications the Sultan is constructing along his borders with the European Union.

“Keep a close but unnoticed eye on the situation in Nerima — it may well serve our needs without further intervention on our part. Also, take another close look at Meioh-san's activities, both public and in the shadows. I don't expect her to fail to notice the investigation, but try your best to be unobtrusive. Once you have gotten the surveillance started, set up an appointment to see me again, so that we may discuss this more fully.”

Egami bowed deeply and quietly left the room as the Emperor turned his gaze back upon the garden, noticing a solitary, unobtrusive gardener pruning one of the trees. An excellent metaphor for the Empire — outwardly serene with the army of gardeners needed to maintain it next to invisible, at least when they are performing their duties properly.

* * * * *

“All right, you bastard, if that is your final word, you got it. Your pride and stupidity has cost you your daughter the past twelve years, now you'll just have to do without a son!” Ukyo shouted into the phone's mouthpiece, then slammed it down on its cradle. Whirling from the counter, she snatched her battle spatula from off her back and with a scream split the nearest table in half. Within minutes, there wasn't a whole item of furniture left in her restaurant's tiny dining room, the floor covered with splintered and chopped pieces of tables and chairs.

Leaving the battle spatula imbedded in the hacked counter separating the dining room from the kitchen with her bandoleer of throwing spatulas draped over the handle, Ukyo took one last look around the devastated restaurant, tacked a folded note with Konatsu's name written on the outside up beside the order window, and walked out of the devastated restaurant without a backward glance.

 

Kasumi, worn-looking with eyes reddened from crying, sighed as the sound of another knock on the front door echoed through the house. The steady stream of offers of support and regrets from all the well-wishers, both students from Furinkan and adults from all over Nerima, were gratifying, but the effort to appear calm and collected was weighing her down. Walking from the kitchen, she opened the front door and froze, gasping at the sight of the former “cute fiancée” covered in splinters and seat stuffing with tears running down her face. “Oh my! Ukyo, whatever happened to you?!”

“I'm so sorry to be bothering you right now,” Ukyo managed to choke out, “but is Genma-san home?”

“Of course, please come in,” the eldest Tendo answered without hesitation, stepping out of the way.

A few minutes later, Ukyo knelt at the family room table across from the last known living master of Anything Goes and his wife, her eyes focused on the table top. “My apologies for disturbing you on such a day,” she said softly, “but when I returned home from the ... from the auction, I called my father.”

She fell silent for a moment, and Genma waited patiently as she struggled for control. Finally, Ukyo continued, “When I refused to try to kill you and Ranma, he declared me ronin and forbade me to use either of the family arts. Is ... is the offer of adoption and becoming your student still open?”

“Of course,” Genma responded instantly.

Nodoka nodded her agreement. Softly, she added, “We will place you on the family register as our daughter first thing tomorrow. Today, please join us and the Tendos as we offer prayers to the kami for the wellbeing of my son.”

Looking up, the teary-eyed girl nodded and smiled tremulously. “Of course, I would be honored.”

* * * * *

Tenoh Haruka and Kaioh Michiru walked through the front door of their home. Shifting the violin case she carried to her other hand, Michiru flipped on the light and smiled fondly over at her lover, dressed in formal masculine garb and cradling their sleeping adopted daughter in her arms.

Haruka smiled back at Michiru, a gentle expression few others ever saw, her eyes travelling over the elegantly dressed green-haired girl. “It was a fine performance, Mi-chan,” the short-haired blonde whispered, “but I'm afraid that, however much little `taru enjoys your music, it was just too long for her.” Then, her smile turning lascivious, she added, “Why don't I put her to bed, and then the two of us can celebrate your solo tonight?”

Michiru's own smile turned eager and she nodded, only to freeze at the sound of something tapping against glass coming from their kitchen. The two teenagers exchanged glances, then Haruka silently turned and stepped back out the front door while Michiru just as silently leaned the violin case against the door frame and slipped along the wall, down the hall toward the sound. Dropping to a crouch, she looked with one eye around the kitchen entrance, then sighed and rose to her feet. Striding back to the front entrance, she called out to Haruka, now crouched by the open door their car. “Come on back, it's just Set-chan!”

Haruka rose and kicked the car door closed, then walked back to the house. Before she could ask anything, Michiru said, “Something's wrong. Let's get `taru put to bed, then get back to the kitchen.”

A few minutes later the pair walked into the kitchen. Haruka's eyes widened at the sight of Meioh Setsuna at the kitchen table lifting a slightly shaking glass to her lips, a half-filled bottle of sake at her elbow and an empty one lying on its side.

The emerald-haired young-seeming woman looked up at their entrance and gave the pair a smile that failed to reach her pain-filled eyes. “Oh, you're home,” she said, and waved a hand toward the cabinet. “Why don't you grab a couple of glasses and join me?”

The two younger women exchanged glances, then ignored the offer to sit down on each side of their leader. Haruka carefully took the glass out of Setsuna's hand and moved the bottle out of her reach, while Michiru gently grasped Setsuna's other hand. “What's wrong, Set-chan?” she asked.

“Wrong? Nothing's wrong!” Setsuna said with a harsh laugh that was half a sob. “All's right with the world! In a little while we'll have the Princess join us, and she'll even be more world-wise and driven — less naïve, if also less innocent. We'll even be able to get Mercury and Jupiter in the bargain. We'll be able to stop replacing quality with quantity and burying the corpses of warriors the Empire is going to need badly on down the road, and increase our economic clout. What could be wrong?”

“You tell us, Set-chan,” Haruka replied. “I've never seen you like this before — just what did you have to do to accomplish all that?”

“Oh, nothing much,” Setsuna responded with an airy wave. “Just take advantage of as fine a boy as you'll ever meet as he gives up almost everything he cares about for the girl he loves and her sisters, while setting up another fine young man for death and the destruction of all he cares for instead of arranging the help he needs. But what's another piece of what's left of my soul against the future?”

Michiru looked over at Haruka, quirking an eyebrow with a questioning nod toward Setsuna. At Haruka's nod, Michiru reached up to gently grasp Setsuna's chin and turn her head toward her. “We do what we have to for the future, and hope we can face ourselves in the mirror when it's all over. Now, why don't you forget about the future for awhile, and sacrifice, and death, and join us?” Setsuna stared at Michiru in incomprehension, then her eyes widened as the emerald-haired girl leaned forward and softly kissed her on the lips.

“I ... but ... you two are ...” the Senshi of Time stammered out, and Haruka rose and stepped behind her, pulling her into a hug from behind.

“We're an item, right? That's why you've tried to hide the once-overs you've given us from time to time?” she whispered in Setsuna's ear, sending a shiver down the woman's spine, then chuckled when Setsuna nodded. “That's right, and we don't sleep with other women — alone. But we do occasionally share one — how much better a good friend than a simple acquaintance? And don't worry about what Hotaru thinks when she finds you here in the morning, she's asked once or twice when `Auntie Set-chan' will spend the night.”

Michiru nodded her agreement as she gazed into Setsuna's questioning eyes, and then leaned forward to put her arms around the two women as tears began to spill down Setsuna's cheeks and she finally broke down and sobbed.