Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Chained World: The Fall of the House of Kuno ❯ Reconnecting ( Chapter 45 )

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 anyone else's published work.

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Mizuno Ami's eyes constantly roamed as she walked down the luxurious corridors of the Kuno mansion, looking for the security cameras she was certain were there. Not that the blue-haired girl expected to actually find any, of course — considering the current level of miniaturization possible, she expected that they would be discreetly hidden away. But she couldn't stop herself from looking, anyway.

First, because she was nervous about visiting her master's suite — even though she'd been invited and he wasn't home, there was a reason the slaves called it The Hermitage. Second, Usage was up to something. The blue-haired teenager didn't know what her friend was up to but she knew she was. When Usagi had invited her to come visit Kuno-dono's suite while their master was out, her nervousness had been obvious to anyone that knew her. And the one thing Ami was sure of was that whatever it was, it somehow involved her.

Then the doorway was in front of her. Taking a deep breath, she hit the chime.

“Ranko, you stop right there, that's my job!” Ami's eyebrow rose at the sound of fond exasperation in her friend's voice — and at the thought of how loud that shout had to be, to get through what she assumed had to be excellent soundproofing. She'd known since her fellow Juuban's last visit to her dorm that the blonde and her `mistress' were friendly, but there were limits.

Then the door opened, and Ami's other eyebrow rose to join the first one at the sight of an unfamiliar redheaded teenage girl dressed in a red silk blouse and black skirt of some sort with a Kuno slave chain around her neck to match Ami's own. The girl was looking over her shoulder back into the suite. “Yeah, like I'm just gonna sit around an' let ya wait on me hand an' foot!” she called back into the apartment, then turned around and smiled at Ami. “Hi, I'm Ranko, you must be Ami. Come on in.”

She stepped out of the way, and Ami walked through and looked around. The simple décor wasn't what the Juubanite had expected, after the luxury of the rest of the mansion that she was familiar with (other than the slave quarters and offices, of course), and she wondered briefly what it said about her master.

Then Usagi's arms circled her and all thoughts of interior design were lost as her maid-uniformed friend lifted her off her feet and whirled her around. “Ami-chan, it's so good to see you again!” the blonde gushed.

“Whoa, easy, put me down, it's only been a week!” Ami gasped, laughing breathlessly.

Ranko joined in the laughter as she closed the door. “Easy, Usagi, ya don't want ta hurt her,” she warned.

A blushing Usagi lowered her friend to the floor, “Sorry,” she muttered.

Ami forced her laughter down to chuckles as she straightened her clothing. “I'm happy to see you, too,” she said. “So, what's going on?” The room went quiet, and she looked up to see Ranko and Usagi exchanging glances.

“Nothing! I ... we just ... you see ...” Usagi stammered out.

“Oh, for heaven's sake, it's not that tough ta explain,” Ranko interrupted, rolling her eyes. “Ami, ya heard about me, right?” Ami slowly nodded. “Well, Kuno-dono's good enough ta let me visit home, an' Usagi figured we could use that ta take out a letter for yer mom.”

Ami froze. “I ... you can ... Mom?” she stuttered.

“Yes, your mom,” Usagi repeated, giving her friend a wistful smile. “You write a letter, Ran — ko and I take it with us when we visit the Tendos tomorrow, and one of the girls there passes it on.”

Ami shot Usagi a sharp glance at the stumble on the name. She knows. And living here in the Hermitage, she wouldn't have heard the rumors, I'm the one that tells her about them, and I didn't. So, how does she know? Maybe they're true?

But after a moment's speculation she set aside the inconsequentials to focus on what really mattered — a letter for her mother. Tears started rolling down her cheeks. “Where's the computer?”

/\

Ami broke off her frenzied typing at the chime of the vidphone's daytime alert. She glanced up as Usagi rose from in front of the flatscreen where she and Ranko had been playing as her redheaded, busty avatar got uppercut through the top of the screen. Usagi glanced back as she hurried to the phone, her hands busy at the back of her neck as she closed the clasp on her slave chain. “No fair, I got distracted! We're doing that one over!”

“Hey, gettin' distracted in a fight is gonna hurt. Whether in a game or for real, ya gotta take yer lumps,” Ranko replied, pausing the game and grinning as she turned to watch her servant.

“That's an awful excuse,” Usagi groused over her shoulder, pouting. The vidphone's chime sounded again, and she turned back to the monitor and hit the `accept' button. “Pyo-sama, what's up?”

Ami found herself trying to hide in her high-backed chair even though she knew the Master of Servants couldn't see her at that angle and she'd been invited to visit, anyway.

“You're wearing your chain, Usagi, very good,” the Master of Servants praised.

“Thank you,” Usagi replied, cheeks stained by a faint blush. “What can Ranko or I do for you?”

“Nothing, I just wanted to let you know that Kuno-dono will be returning from the refinery cleanup tonight. Not until late, though, so you should have plenty of time to finish having fun with Ami and still have everything ready for his arrival.”

“I ... thanks,” Usagi said.

“You are welcome.”

Usagi turned from the vidphone and hurried back to sit down by her suddenly pale mistress. “If he's getting home as late as Pyo-sama says he's probably going to be too tired for anything but a meal and sleep,” she said quietly, an arm going around the redhead.

Ranko leaned against the younger blonde for a moment. “Yeah, you're probably right.” Straightening, she added, “So let's see if ya can get lucky here. You have been gettin' better, maybe in a year or so you'll actually beat me.”

Usagi stuck out her tongue at her opponent, then looked back at Ami. “Hey, Ami, finish up and get your letter on a memory stick, then get over here — I want to play someone I can actually beat!”

Ami grinned. “You're on!”

But on turning back to the computer, she found herself distracted, her mind reviewing the odd group dynamics of what had just happened, trying to puzzle out what was going on. Finally deciding she still lacked necessary data, she shook off her confusion and turned her attention back to the more important matter of telling her mother everything she could about her life since they'd been separated and sold two years before.

/oOo\

Happy to be a minder, Matsumoto Hanh maintained her usual silence when shepherding her mistress as the four girls walked through the streets of Nerima. Something was going on — not with Kodachi, but with Usagi and Ranma. The two girls were ... tense, excited? Looking forward to something, anyway. If it had been just Ranma, Hanh would have thought it was simply eagerness to see her family again, but it was Usagi as well — even moreso, actually, the bubbly blonde didn't hide her eagerness as well.

At least Koadachi-sama isn't a part of whatever's up, the ninja thought to herself. And that means that so long as nobody blurts out anything in front of me, I won't have to report anything to Pyo-sensei — let others try to figure out what Ranma is up to, my responsibility is to keep an eye on my mistress. It isn't Kuno-dono and Usagi's quarters that I'm searching at night for smuggled potions and powders, after all.

She still couldn't believe that Lord Kuno had agreed to let his sister join `Ranko' and Usagi on their weekly visit to the Tendo's when she'd asked him after he'd decided to join them for their morning sparring before heading for his office. Though on second thought, perhaps it wasn't so surprising, considering that his decision would have been based on her reports of her mistress's behavior and attitudes, and those reports had been ... perhaps somewhat more positive than warranted. Or at least, not as her brother and the Master of Servants would appreciate — Kodachi's and Hanh's discussions about honor, with and without the addition of Ranma, had been deep and wide-ranging but in some ways equally disturbing. Hanh was beginning to find it difficult to sleep at night.

Then the Tendo dojo came into view, and Kodachi glanced over at her. “As far as you go, like we agreed?”

“Of course, mistress.” Hanh stopped and watched as the other three crossed the street and walked through the dojo's front gate, then found a good shade tree where she could wait as she tapped in the code for her on-watch status in the net for the Kuno ninjas on Tendo watch. As she sat, she felt herself relax — whatever else happened, Operation Clean Sweep wouldn't be ordered, not with Ranma and especially Kodachi on the premises.

/\

“We're here!” Ranma called as she changed her shoes for slippers.

“Ranma!”

Ranma stiffened at the sound of her mother's voice, dropped a slipper and broke into a run for the kitchen. “Mom, you're back!”

Kodachi and Usagi exchanged smiles as they finished putting on their own slippers, and Usagi picked up the one Ranma had discarded before the pair followed more slowly to find Ranma and a Nodoka wearing an apron over the uwagi and hakama now favored by kendoists rather than her normal kimono. The pair were standing in the hallway outside the kitchen, the auburn-haired woman failing to hold back her tears as the two embraced.

Pausing a few feet away, the pair waited, Usagi reaching up to remove her slave chain. Beyond the pair, a silent Kasumi stepped out of the kitchen, her smile dimming momentarily at the sight of the Kuno sister's distinctive off-centered ponytail. Then there was a soft clatter of feet on the stairs behind them, and Nabiki joined them, her own face going blank.

Finally Ranma and her mother separated. Nodoka wiped at her cheeks, her gaze searching Ranma's face. “It is good to see you, my son. You are well?”

Ranma shrugged. “As good as can be expected,” she said with forced nonchalance.

Nabiki's thoughts raced, trying to find an even somewhat subtle way to get them out of their clothes (and any possible bugs) and came up empty. Last time she'd been able to get Ranma and Usagi into the furo and into a change of clothes for sparring afterward, but Kodachi? And the leotard she was wearing was perfect for sparring, considering her chosen martial art — damn it!

I guess subtlety is just going to have to get tossed, she thought wryly. “Okay, before anyone says anything more, let's get you out of those clothes.”

Kodachi's eyebrows rose, and she glanced at Ranma.

Ranma shrugged. “Bugs. Come one, I'll show ya where we can change. Kasumi can ya get Kodachi some clothes?”

“Of course,” Kasumi replied, her smile turning more natural at Ranma's easy manner with the Kuno heir.

/\

Kodachi stepped into the dojo, and the clacking sound of wooden staff on wooden staff stuttered and died away as the students of the class turned to stare at her. She stiffened under the universally hostile glares suddenly focused on her, but kept her face calm — however debased its reputation had deservedly become, being a Kuno had once meant something, and she would not dishonor her ancestors as had her father and brother. And you as well, you have a lifetime's labor ahead of you, redeeming the Family from our narcissism.

Only it turned out that not all the faces were hostile. One that wasn't was Akane's, of course, though the joy that had lit up her face when Kodachi walked through the door had nothing to do with Kodachi, and she was already out the door and gone. But the other nonhostile faces belonged to Genma and his adopted daughter. Ukyo's face was stiffly neutral, but Genma actually offered her a welcoming smile as he greeted her.

“Kodachi-sama, welcome to the Tendo dojo,” he said as he bowed. “I assume my son came with you?”

“Yes, he did,” Kodachi replied, returning the bow equally deeply, ignoring the stir among the students at her noblesse oblige. “But he is with his mother, and I suspect between her and his fiancée it will be some time before he makes his way here.”

Genma nodded. “Understandable. Until then, would you do us the favor of demonstrating your own chosen style, and how it matches to the staff that I have been teaching?”

Kodachi stared at the balding Master for a long moment. “I would be happy to,” she finally responded, “but my style is primarily weapons-based and I didn't bring the tools of my Art with me.”

Genma waved to a corner of the dojo, where a ball sat. In a new open cabinet above it were hung up a pair of clubs, a ribbon, and a hoop (the latter without a sharp edge). “After our encounter at the raid on the slavers, I hoped you would visit and so acquired what you would need. I think a bout with me would be the best demonstration. Ukyo can referee.”

Sighing softly as she walked over to take up the ribbon she preferred, Kodachi resigned herself to a period of serious pain — Ranma had been bad enough in their first clash years ago, and from what she'd learned since his father had been regularly beating him at the time. But perhaps Genma wouldn't take advantage of the bout to pay her back for her earlier treatment of his son and Akane. “I believe I should stick to the ribbon, and perhaps the clubs,” she said as she took them out of their case. “The hoop and ball are fine for competitions, but since they are primarily thrown weapons and bulky in any case they aren't usually appropriate for self defense. As well, your students will better observe our bout if they aren't worrying about dodging.”

Genma nodded. “Reasonable.” He motioned for the students to clear the dojo floor, and picking up a staff, moved out to the center. (And an interesting mix of students it was, from late teens to the almost elderly.)

Kodachi took her position across from her opponent. As she waited for Ukyo to signal the beginning of the bout, she commented, “I thought Anything Goes was an empty hand style.”

Genma shrugged. “It focuses on empty hand techniques, because they aren't dependent on anything but your own body. But it's a dangerous world, and so I thought a basic grounding in weapons should be included — `Anything Goes'.”

Kodachi suppressed a wince at the thought of what `basic' would mean to someone of Genma's level of skill, and then Ukyo gave the signal for the bout to start and she leaped back to avoid Genma's first strike even as she sent her ribbon spiraling toward him.

/oOo\

Nodoka knelt in the Tendo family room, the fingers of one hand nervously plucked at her now preferred hakama, the other white-gripped around the hilt of the Saotome Honor Blade once again at her waist (its new usual location, rather than inside the bundle she had formerly used to carry it around). Ranma would be back soon from changing clothes along with the blonde girl Akane had told her about upon her return the previous day, and what could she ask her son about his — her time at the Kuno mansion without making her uncomfortable at best, traumatizing her again at worst?

The truth was that, however important her son was to her, she didn't really know him all that well. She had been so caught up in the moment when she first saw her cursed son that she hadn't gotten a long look at her almost-twin at that age before the teenager had been rushed away to change. Akane said her fiancé seemed to be bearing up as well as could be expected, but —

“Heya, mom.”

Nodoka looked up at the sound of the voice of her son's female form, to find the redhead and her blonde servant standing in the doorway, Akane behind them. Ranma's eyes were fixed on hers, and Nodoka felt herself relax at what she thought she saw there. Ranma seemed ... not happy, certainly, not serene, Nodoka wasn't sure. But whatever it was, it wasn't the desperation or despair she had expected. And from what Akane had said, her assigned body slave was responsible for a great deal of that.

She rose to her feet, and Ranma's eyes dropped to her waist, and the katana and wakizashi there, before lifting again to her face.

The redhead stepped into the room, the other two girls following. “Mom, this is my new friend, Usagi. She's been a big help over the past month.”

Usagi bowed deeply, eyes widening when Nodoka's acknowledging bow was as deep as her own. “I am honored to meet the girl that has provided so much aid to my son.”

On each side of Ranma, Usagi and Akane glanced at each other over the smaller girl's head, Akane's expression questioning, Usagi shaking her head slightly. Odd. “It's been my honor to help,” the blonde responded.

“So, what's with the wakizashi? An' wearin' the Saotome Blade instead a' carryin' it?” Ranma asked.

Nodoka relaxed even more. It seemed Ranma was as eager to avoid talking about her stay at the Kuno mansion as she was. “I have been busy, since ... in the past four weeks,” she said. “I know I have a long way to go, but Masaki-sensei has pushed me as hard as he could and seemed to be pleased with my progress when he suggested I return home for a time.”

Ranma perked up. “Yosho-kun's been trainin' ya? Cool, that old man really knows his stuff!”

Nodoka hesitated. It really wasn't her affair, surely Masaki-sensei would have said something if it was, but curiosity had been eating at her ever since the monk had contacted Genma and made his offer to train her. “Yes, he said he knew you, when did the two of you meet?” she asked.

Ranma opened her mouth, paused, then finally shook her head. “Sorry, mom, but if Yosho-kun didn't tell ya, I can't either — it's his secret, not mine. I'm sure ya must a' brought a bokken home with ya, did ya bring two?”

“Of course I did,” Nodoka replied, and smiled as Ranma instantly brightened. “With your father teaching classes in the dojo it will be some hours before it is available, but so long as you avoid your typical acrobatics I believe your room upstairs should work admirably.”

“You're on!” The redhead almost ran for the stairs, and the woman and two girls left behind exchanged amused glances.

“I guess some things will never change — thank the kami,” Akane said, turning to join her fiancé. The other two followed, Usagi giggling.

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One thought that occurred to me is that almost the only way Ranma seems to relate to his father is through the Art. “Tendo Ranko” had a fake relationship with Nodoka when Ranma was pretending to be a cousin, but probably wouldn't have much of an idea how to relate to his (currently “her”) mother, and would welcome a chance to put the relationship on familiar footing.