Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ City of Dreams ❯ Caught in the Dream Catcher ( Chapter 9 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
Kasumi stepped onto the upstairs landing and looked around. It was time to start dinner and she wanted to ask her sisters if there was anything special they wanted her to fix. Looking around, she wondered where her sisters had disappeared to, not having seen them since they returned home. Frankly, she was a little worried, she was alone by herself and Ryu was due home any time now as her sisters had been home somewhere for about an hour already. She went to the closest door, Nabiki's, and knocked. There was a quick, “Who is it?” from inside. Akane's voice.
Kasumi wondered what she was doing in Nabiki's room as she answered, “It's Kasumi, I just wanted to know what you wanted for dinner.”
There was a sound of movement and the door unlocked. A hand reached out and grabbed Kasumi, pulling her in before she could say `Oh My!' The door closed and locked behind her.
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Ryu wandered along a deserted road taking his time walking home. He was thinking how things had changed since he first met the man he called Pops. It couldn't have been more than seven years ago that Genma came into his father's dojo offering to trade techniques for room and board. He remembered his father being very excited about Yamiseken and soon after Genma left, the older man had begun to practice in earnest. Unfortunately, the dojo wasn't as stable as it was years ago due to the lack of income. Ryu's father wasn't the best of sensei and the gradual decline of students had worked it's toll on the family's earnings. Needless to say, the dojo collapsed on Ryu's father. His last words to Ryu were to find Genma and train until he could run a proper dojo.
It was only three weeks later that Ryu found Genma in a small jail in Hokkaido. In exchange for breaking him out of prison, Genma promised to take Ryu on as his heir. So began their training journey that eventually ended at Jusenkyou. Well, it didn't quite end there, that purple haired bimbo was still after him. Too bad, she had such a nice body. Thinking along those lines brought him around to his current dilemma.
He was engaged to three good looking women. Well, only one of them but there had been no decision on which one. The big question was how to get each of them to `give it up' without too much trouble. Sure he was strong enough to force them if he wanted but there was no pleasure in just taking a woman like that. It was nice when a woman responded to what you did to them, made the whole sexual experience more intense when both partners cooperated. Rape was for someone who wanted to feel empowered. Ryu knew he was powerful and didn't have to flaunt it, not too much anyway.
He saw the dojo in the distance and started making plans as he approached his new home.
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To say Kasumi was stunned was a bit of an understatement. However she showed nothing more than her calm outer expression, with maybe a little bit more happiness in her smile.
“So what you're saying is...” she began.
“We don't have to marry Ryu. He's not a Saotome.” Nabiki said, handing the relevant papers to her older sister.
“So the boy who one of us is supposed to marry, if the arrangement is even still valid...” Kasumi probed tentatively. She wanted to make sure she wasn't misinterpreting anything.
“Ranma Saotome. He's been catatonic since he was six years old. Akane however has been seeing and talking to him in her dreams for about two weeks now.” Nabiki replied.
Kasumi frowned in thought, something that would have sent her father into hysterics if he'd been there, “Are you sure it's really him and not some sort of dream or hallucination? Maybe you overheard father talking about him recently and made it up in your mind... you have been having weird dreams ever since Kuno made his proclamation.”
Akane nodded, “I thought so at first. I still have a few doubts but I'm going to check out a few things that will hopefully make things clear. The big question is, how do we get rid of Genma and Ryu?”
Nabiki rubbed her chin thoughtfully, “It will have to be done subtly. If there's any evidence we are behind anything then there could be dangerous repercussions. Letting the law know they're here is a must but it must seem like it came from someone else.”
“Ok, you start working that angle Nabs. Kasumi, you should see if daddy knows anything about Ranma or the neko-ken. If not, that should count as evidence in Ranma's existence.” Akane said tapping her head for emphasis.
“So what are you going to do?” Nabiki asked already having an idea of what her sister had in mind.
Akane blushed in a way her sisters knew she usually saved for a certain doctor, “I'm going to visit Ms. Saotome and see Ranma.”
“Good. However, I don't think you should mention anything about dream worlds or the fact that Genma and Ryu are here just yet. Maybe just mention that daddy told us about an engagement and we looked her up on our own.”
Akane agreed and the three Tendo sisters quickly began planning to take back their lives.
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Ryu ate his dinner a little slower than usual. He kept looking at the three girls spread around the table. They kept giving each other knowing glances and Akane smirked every time she looked his way. He didn't even care when the last of his food had been stolen by his `father'.
`I'm such a stud.' He mentally patted himself on the back for being such a chick magnet.
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Ranma was practicing a kata when a rift in space opened and Akane walked in. Deciding it would be a good time for a break, he settled into a ready position, then bowed to the small shrine in the dojo. Grabbing a towel from nowhere, Ranma walked over to Akane.
“You're getting pretty good a traveling around the dream realm.” Ranma praised.
Akane blushed, “Thank you. It's only because you helped me.”
Ranma gestured to a bench that wasn't there before and the two sat down, “So what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”
Akane fidgeted a little, “I... I found something out today after school. It concerns you and all the other stuff that's been going on in my life.”
Ranma remained quiet yet nodded for her to continue.
“First off, Ryu is not a Saotome. That's because your mother divorced Genma after the incident with the cats. Your mother was a Saotome, not your father.”
Ranma took a moment to let that sink in, “So what happened to me? Did you find out?”
Akane nodded, tears in her eyes, “You've been catatonic ever since you were six. It was in a newspaper article. The doctors said they couldn't find anything wrong with you. You just wouldn't wake up from your trancelike state.”
“And he never will if I have anything to say about it.” A voice said.
Akane looked around in shock, trying to find the voice's owner. She gasped when she saw a tall dark skinned woman in golden robes fade into existence.
“Mother, what are you doing here?” Ranma asked. Akane gasped. This was the goddess Ranma had spoken about. The one who had raised him.
“You know perfectly well why I'm here. You were warned about continued contact with this girl yet you continue to defy me. The council has heard of this as well as this young lady's corruption of a nightmare. Something I believe you helped bring about.” The goddess of dreams said.
Something clicked in Akane, “You did this didn't you?” The goddess looked at Akane with a blank stare.
“You did something to keep Ranma from waking up didn't you?” She almost shouted.
The goddess sighed, her earlier superior aura fading, “He was dying. I had to do something anything to keep that bastard from killing such an innocent child. When Ranma went unconscious that final time, I placed a block to keep him from waking up. Otherwise he would have kept throwing my son into the pit until he died. Don't you see? I saved his life!”
Akane wasn't finished. Her anger was manageable these days thanks to Ranma's influence, but she was still Akane Tendo. “Then why do you still keep him here? Why not let him return to the Blind and live like normal people?”
The goddess actually flinched from the force of Akane's accusations, “I was going to... but I... it had been so long since I had children to care for. I thought I'd care for him a few days. But the days turned to weeks, then months, then years. It is too late now. He could never live a normal life if he were to awaken now.”
“M...mother? Is it true? All of it?” Ranma asked quietly. Seeing Hathor's tear streaked face nod confirmed it.
Hathor drew herself up straight again and her face hardened, “I'm sorry son for what I have to do. Remember this next time you want to bring someone in from the Blind.” She turned from Ranma to face Akane.
“Akane Tendo, the council of dreams has convened and found you to be a threat to the sanctity of our world. I'm sorry, but I must exile you from the Dreaming forever.” She waved her hand and Akane disappeared with a look of shock on her face.
“What did you do Mother?” Ranma yelled.
“She's cut off from the dreaming. She can no longer enter our realm.” Hathor said sadly.
“But if she can't dream she'll die!” Ranma was frantic. The girl he lo... liked a lot had just been given a long lingering death sentence. She'd slowly go mad from the inability to dream off her excess emotional energy every night.
Ranma got up, “Damn you mother! And damn the council!” He turned and ran out of the dojo.
“I'm sorry son. I tried to warn you...” she said softly as he disappeared from sight.
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Author's Rant:
Well, it's been about a week since my last update. Hopefully no one's forgotten about me. It's been busy here, what with tests and sculpture projects being due. Sadly, I know where I want this fic to go but I'm having a bit of trouble getting it to go there. I've found in the past that if you force the writing then it reads forced and comes off lacking somehow. There may be a little longer lag as these final chapters come out due to me kicking ideas around till they make sense. As for Akane's plight? Hell if I know. I swear sometimes I don't know what's going to happen until after I write it. Oh, and as for the few of you who inquired, no `Ranma and Tenchi's Excellent Adventure' is not a real fic. I came up with the idea a few months back and tried miserably to flesh it out into something I could write. I originally wanted a fic that would make Gregg Sharp or Skysaber jealous. I mean, just the shear number of series and movies involved would have put any of their works to shame. But the more I thought about it the more I realized it wouldn't work. Other than certain scenes being cool for the whole crossover factor there was no real plot or anything beyond the `big bad evil is taking over so let's get forces from all over to unite and smite said evil' story. It's been done to death and I'd like to try to do some things originally. (Considering I'm writing using someone else's characters I'm not off to a good start)
Anyway, if I can get this fic finished, I plan on finishing or at least continuing, Ahh! My Akane, Four Years, and Ranko's Curse. Oh and Element of Shadows...
Future fics I have plans for are a Ranma/project Ako story, a Ranma/wellworld story/trilogy?, and a couple of Alternate Universe Ranma stories. *sigh* too many story ideas and not enough time to write.
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A man woke having dreamt he was a butterfly. He was concerned, was he a man dreaming he was a butterfly or being awake, was he a butterfly dreaming he was a man?
In the end, does it matter? Dreams are indistinguishable from memories so are they any less true?