Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Little Angel Lost ❯ Angel and the Rose Chapter 6 ( Chapter 20 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Little Angel Lost

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction by Ryo Oki
ryo_oki@pacbell.net

Disclaimer: All characters and places not created by me
are probably owned by someone else.

Authors Note: This story is an alternative universe / crossover story
set roughly 4 months after the wedding. Ranma and Akane are now juniors
in high school.

This side story is set during the week before Hinako's final transformation
and will include some material that was originally shown in Chapter 12 of the
main story.


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


Little Angel Lost Side story #2: Angel and the Rose Part 6


After helping Sasuke up from the ground, Kodachi, World of Elegance,
and Mr. Turtle followed the little ninja into the mansion and into a small
drawing room near the front of the house, where guests were often met for
informal gatherings.

Sasuke excused himself and came back 10 minutes later carrying a
rather large leather bound volume under his arm. Setting it down on a table
and opening the lock on the front Sasuke then placed it in front of the
two girls who could immediately tell that it was a photo album of some
age. The first pictures appeared to be quite old and the little ninja told
the girls that they could ignore those pictures of they chose. The ones
that he wanted them to see were further in.

Flipping through the pages Kodachi stopped when the pictures changed
from older sepia toned and black and white images to somewhat faded color
ones. Looking closely at the images they appeared to be over 30 years old.
The pictures were mainly images of young children in school uniforms. Two
of the children in particular looked very familiar. One was a young boy of
about 5 or 6 who had a face that was somewhat rodent like and the other a
young girl of about the same age with long purplish-black hair and bright
green eyes.

It took Kodachi a few moments to realize that this young woman was a
very early picture of her mother and the "unusual looking" young boy was
Sasuke.

Sasuke watched various emotions play across the face of the young
woman that he had help raise for so many years after the death of her mother.
It was not an easy time. The master of the house seemed not to care much for
the raising of his children, and often left them for months at a time to be
looked after by Sasuke and the other servants as well. Both the young
mistress and her brother were often saddened by the seeming loss of both
parents but Sasuke knew that this was preferable to them being exposed to
the many vices that claimed the attention of the master of the house and
his kin.

Hopefully with the arrival of the Mistress's new divine friend and
the changes in her relationship with the young Master Ranma, Kodachi could
begin to live a more fulfilling life. Before that though Sasuke knew he had
to tell the young Mistress certain secrets about her family, secrets he had
hoped that would have remained buried forever.

Sasuke was not privy to all of the secrets of the Kuno family though.
The present master of the house, and even more so his departed father, went
to great lengths to hide certain aspects of their family's activities.

Hidden behind a false wall in the back of one of the closets in the
Elder Kuno's bedroom was the entrance way to a hidden chamber containing
a secret the present master of the house wanted to hide most of all. The
entrance to this chamber was heavily locked, trapped and even warded to
keep out and in minor supernatural occurrences, as long as the spell was
renewed at a regular interval.

The disappearance of both the male Kuno's from the mansion the
spell had not been renewed and now a slight purple glow began to show in
the back of the closet. Whether or not this would grow remained to be seen.

Back in the front drawing room of the mansion Kodachi looked up at
Sasuke and was about to speak when the little ninja interrupted her and
began to tell her a tale that would surprise the young girl greatly.

"I do not remember the earliest days of my childhood, but what I have
been told is that between the ages of one and two I was left on the
doorstep of a local orphanage in Osaka without any note as to why I was
left there or who my parents were. Since I was an "unusual" looking
child I could only hazard a guess is that my parents were somehow
disgusted by my appearance and left my there for someone else to raise",
Sasuke began.

"The first couple of years there past without incident, but as I and
the other children my age reached the age of 5 or 6 the teasing began.
Children, as you know, can by quite cruel, either unintentionally or on
purpose. It seems my somewhat "rodent" like appearance gave them all
the fuel they needed to express themselves. For better or worse I tried
to weather this teasing the best I could. The words did hurt, but I was
still quite small and without any of the training I now possess so trying
to start a fight with so many others wouldn't be very smart I decided back
then.", Sasuke said.

"Yes, children can be cruel.", Kodachi said as if remembering some
distant memory before shaking herself out of it and asking Sasuke to
continue his story.

"When I was about seven though, life began to change in one very
important way. A young girl was brought to the orphanage. She had very
fine features and very pale skin, long blackish purple hair and the
brightest green eyes I had ever seen. She looked like a princess from
a fairy tale to me."

"Her story was anything but magical though. From what I overheard,
her parents were killed in an automobile accident and she had no other
relatives to turn to. She was quite nervous and barely ever spoke. Even
when she did it was only the barest of whispers. Because of this
behavior the other children either ignored her or in a couple of
cases seemed frightened of her. Her pale appearance and quiet manner
led others to think of her as some sort of ghost or other type of spirit
that should be avoided.", Sasuke said.

"This was my mother wasn't it?", Kodachi said in a quiet voice.

Sasuke smiled sadly at Kodachi but didn't answer her question
just yet. Instead he continued with his tale.

"Since by this time I was quite familiar with being ignored, I
tried to talk to this shy, quiet girl without much success. This continued
for at least 5 months without any success. I suppose I should have just
given up, most other people probably would have. There was something about
her though that caused me to want to help and more importantly to realize
that she didn't need to hide away from everyone, that there was at least
one person she could talk to if she wanted."

"Most of us did not even know the poor girl's real name. We were told
what it was when she first arrived but after that no one seemed to mention
it. Even the teachers seemed to ignore the girl when she was in class. The
only other person who seemed to pay attention to her was this boy about two
years older than her and it was not the sort of attention she deserved.",
Sasuke stated.

"Sounds like a bully.", World of Elegance said.

"He was a very strange child. He was two years older than us but
looked at least a couple years older than that. He at first tried to
be nice to her, calling her "his little girlfriend", but since she never
responded to him he then began to insult her every time he saw her, except
when a teacher was present. The insults continued for a while, then things
became worse."

"One day she came into the class limping on her right leg. The boy,
Godai, who had previously just been insulting her, kicked her hard in the
leg since she would not pay any attention to him and being larger that
all of us no one helped or tried to report him to the teachers for fear
of being picked on as well."

"I could not stand to see this sweet and quiet little girl be
abused any longer so I went up to Godai and told him that if he picked on
her anymore he would regret it. The threat was a joke to say the least, I
was much smaller than he and couldn't do any damage to him if I wanted to
as I soon found out. I was beaten pretty badly as the other children looked
on, including the girl that I cared about.", Sasuke sighed as he
continued his tale.

"When he told her that she was next, she had a terrified look in her
eyes. I told her to run and hide but she stayed by me even as I was being
beaten into the ground. When I saw him begin to pick up a large rock that
was nearby I thought that this was it. I would either end up very hurt or
dead. What I didn't notice was that as Godai was picking up the rock, the
girl whom I was trying to protect, had moved away from us and picked up a
a metal pipe that was laying in a trash heap outside of the building near
us. Before he could hit me with the rock he was hit on the back of the
head with the pipe. As Godai was falling over he has hit on the back,
then when he hit the ground he was hit one last time on his right knee,
causing a loud cracking sound to echo throughout the courtyard. His
scream could probably be heard for miles.", Sasuke said.

"As I tried to get up I heard an unfamiliar voice say, "Please
don't get up, you're hurt." Turning my heard towards the voice I
realized that it was 'she' that had spoken.", Sasuke said as he smiled
gently for the first time while telling his tale of the past.

"Truth be told I was not exactly in a hurry to get up anyway, as
the world still seemed to be "spinning" at the moment. I did manage to
prop myself up slightly and turned my head to get a better look at her.
He was kneeling right next to me at was looking at me with concern in
her eyes. This was this was the first time she, or any other girl for that
matter, had showed any sort of concern for me. I was unsure how I should
respond."

"She moved some of the hair that had fallen over my eyes and placed a
handkerchief over a cut on my forehead, that I had not even noticed. She told
me that I should be more careful in who I fought and even called me by my
first name. I was curious how she knew my name since most of the students
didn't seem all that interested in me. As if guessing my question she told me
that she had first noticed me when I had arrived and had remembered my name
when the teacher first called roll at the beginning of the year. I began to feel
guilty not remembering her name and had a troubled expression on my face
because of this.", Sasuke said.

"My name is Mari.", she said to me as if guessing what I was thinking
once again.

"A very pretty name.", I said without thinking, causing both of
us to blush.

"I began to feel dizzy again and laid down on the ground where I
was. Not long after I heard the sounds of several people running towards
where I was laying. Not long after that I fell unconscious."

"I awoke in the infirmary, a place I had more than a passing
acquaintance with. To my surprise Mari was sitting in a chair next to the
bed I was in. She had a large bandage on her right leg and was presently
asleep in the chair with one of her hands holding mine. Despite the pain
I was presently feeling I was quite happy at the moment."

"I later found out that right after I fell unconscious a few of
the teachers finally came to see what had happened. I expected to be
punished along with "him", because the teachers never bothered to find
out why a fight happened, they just punished everyone involved. This
didn't happen though. Mari along with several of the other girls in the
school explained what happened and how I had tried to stop Godai from
abusing Mari. One of the teachers even seemed to be impressed that I would
choose to defend someone against another who was much bigger than
myself.", Sasuke said.

"After that day Mari and I began to spend most of our spare time
together either studying, playing and in her case telling me what her life
was like before she came to the orphanage. She cried often when she spoke
about her parents and her younger sister that she had lost in the automobile
accident that had happened because of the actions of some local high school
students who thought it would be "cool" to see what happened if they tried
to drive while drunk. They were punished, but that did little to heal the
harm that they had caused to Mari."

"Over the months that followed though, Mari slowly began to recover,
and she even began to practice gymnastics, which had been doing almost
from the time she could walk. Many of the other students and teachers were
amazed at what she could do, even at such a young age. This admiration from
the students also seemed to bring her out of her shell and she began to make
friends with some of the other students."

"She surprised me the most though, when she asked if I would like to
learn gymnastics. Up until this time I had never bothered to engage in any
sport. She for some reason though, thought I would be good at it and as began
to practice with her I found out that she was right. I guess being small and
quite light was an advantage for a gymnast."

"She went on to enter several amateur competitions, which I couldn't
because they were for female gymnasts only. Our school's gymnastic program
was technically for girls only but the others did not mind me begin there.
They even thought it was cute that I wanted to be around Mari. I suppose I
was an informal mascot of sorts, although everyone treated me as an equal.
Still since I was male, no matter how small, I could not enter any of the
competitions with her.", Sasuke said.

"The next year was one of my favorite years there. The gymnastic team
continued to do well, with Mari performing so well there was talk of her
competing the junior national competitions. A piece of better news arrived
when several of us learned that Godai, of all people, had been adopted. I
suppose it was petty of me to think so, but for the life of me I could not
understand why someone like him, who had not yet outgrew his bullying stage,
was adopted while so many other children had not."

"We later found out that he had been adopted by a martial arts family
in Nerima who thought of his aggression as a good thing. He must have not stayed
there for long as I have been in Nerima for quite some time now and I have never
encountered him even once.", Sasuke said as his moot then seemed to darken.

"At the beginning of the next year our little group received both good
and bad news, Mari had finally been adopted, and by a rather prominent and
wealthy family. Everyone on the team was happy for her of course. It was even
a surprise that she had been at the orphanage as long as she had."

"It did not ease the pain of losing her though. Before she left, she
told us how much we all meant to her and how much she would miss all of us.
She even gave me a parting kiss, which should have made me happy but after she
left I found out the tears would just not stop."

"I had always tried to suppress on negative emotions but now I was
failing miserably. It was the first time that I can recall crying openly in
the presence of so many people. She meant everything to me and I think I was
in love with her, or at least as in love as a young child could be in love
with another. The others on the team were equally distraught. We were a sort
of informal family if you will, with Mari at times acting as the leader of
the family if you will."

"We still had each other for support though and we decided that we
would do our best to carry on with the gymnastics club. We even hoped that
one day we would see her again on another team that we would be facing off
against during one of our clubs many competitions.", Sasuke said with some
sadness in his voice.

"Halfway through the year though a miracle occurred. I was called into
the head mistress's office. When I got there I saw professor Hayashi and another
man, whom I did not know looking at me with pleased expressions. The
professor was the same man who impressed with me when I first stood up to
Godai when he injured Mari that one time."

"The other man could be described as average in just about every way;
his height, his weight, and his general appearance. There was "something"
about him though. The best way that I could describe it is that he had a
strong presence that seemed to dominate the room."

"Professor Hayashi introduced this man as his old friend and
colleague, Tiger Tanaka. The next sentence out of the professor's mouth
almost caused me to faint. It seemed that Mr. Tanaka wanted to adopt me
into his family. For over ten minutes I just stood there in shock, unable
to move at the news that had just been delivered to me. I managed to "come
back to life" if you will just moments before they were going to call the
school nurse to come and tend to me."

"I must have asked dozen questions as to why someone wanted to adopt
me in place of some of the other children. The only real answers I had
gotten was the I was somehow special and had some sort of hidden talent
that impressed Mr. Tanaka for some reason. I at first refused there offer,
surprising everyone present including myself. It was probably some
sort of insecurity on my part that caused me to refuse. I had always wanted
to have a family of my own, but I had been at the orphanage for a couple
of years now and almost felt like this was my home."

"They said that I did not have to give them an answer immediately,
and gave me a period of one week to make up my mind. I wandered aimlessly
for a while, until I found myself standing in front of the door leading
to the gymnastics practice room. Looking in I saw that everyone was present
and hard at work, but the moment I stepped into the room everyone just
stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at me. It was more than a
little creepy.", Sasuke stated.

"The oldest girl on the team, Haruka, who was thirteen, came up to
me and asked me if it was true. Was I going to be adopted? I did not
answer at first. I was surprised at the fact that they even knew this.
When I told her that it was true, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to go,
she surprised me by slapping me then beginning to cry. I had no idea how
to respond to this but before I could respond she pulled me close and
began to whisper to me.", Sasuke said.

"She told me that she had been at the orphanage since she was a
small infant and the now because of her age and the fact that she was of
mixed race the odds of her ever being adopted were almost nonexistent.
It seems people preferred to adopt "pure blooded" babies and small
children, not a mixed race teenager. She told me that she would give up
almost anything to be in my position and that I was not being fair to
anyone present by turning down such a precious gift."

"I tried to tell them that I didn't want to leave them, but they
would have none of it. If I had a chance to become part of a real
family then I should take it. I wondered if this was how Mari felt when
she chose to leave us. Did the pain I was now feeling the same pain that
she had felt not to long ago."

"Two days later I made my decision, I was going to accept Mr.
Tanaka's offer and become part of his family. It hurt almost as much saying
goodbye to the girls on the gymnastics team as it did when Mari left. I
did not love the girls in the same way that I did her but I still cared
very deeply for them. Before I left I made them promise to try as hard as they
can to get into the national championship, for I wanted to see them win,
in person if possible. I told them that I would try my best to seem them
on the day that they took home first place."

"The very next day I left for my new home. Mr. Tanaka arrived at
the orphanage in a large limousine. I never knew that he was wealthy, not
that such things really meant anything to me. Now while the limo did not
surprise me, the fact that Mr. Tanaka had also adopted two other children
from the orphanage did. One was a boy about a year or 2 older than myself
and the other was a girl my own age who also happened to be a student in
my homeroom class. These little surprises though pale in comparison to what
awaited the three of us once we reached Mr. Tanaka's home though.", Sasuke
said to his audience who were now on the edge of their seats so to speak.


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


Meanwhile in another part of Tokyo, a dimensional portal opened in an out
of the way rear courtyard of St. Hebereke School For Young Ladies. Out of
the portal stepped a man with short black hair, blue eyes and wearing an
elaborate suit of leather armor. Next to him was a young girl of about 16
with long brown hair, green eyes and wearing a furious expression on her
quite attractive face. She was wearing a schoolgirl uniform and did not
seem to think much of its appearance.

"I don't see why I must undergo this ridiculous trial.", the young
girl said in an imperious tone of voice.

"You must under go this because you were a bad girl and Kami-sama
decided to set this up as your punishment my dear sister Athena.", the
man said with a grin on his face that seemed to further irritate the
young girl.

"Then why are you here Ares?", Athena said to her "older" brother.

"Because with Kami-sama stripping you of all your powers for the
duration of this trail someone must look out for you, and if that
involves posing as a teacher in this school then so be it.", Ares said.

"The fact that, that girl Kodachi attends this school has nothing
to do with this duty of yours of course.", Athena said in a sarcastic tone
of voice.

"Does she now? I completely forgot about that.", Are stated with a
rather large smirk on his face.

Athena was about to tell her brother exactly what she thought of his
lack of memory and where he could stick it when a loud crashing sound was
heard, followed by a rather panicked young girl's voice crying out, "No
leave me alone, don't touch me!"

Less than a second later Ares found himself standing alone next to
the closing portal as his sister was now running as fast as she could
towards the sound of the voice.

"Very good sister. Perhaps this little test will help you to show
more compassion towards others.", Ares mumbled to himself then turned to
face a new visitor who had just decided to pop in.



Author's Note:


Well it's been a while boys and girls, did anyone miss me? The author
listens to the sound of nothing but crickets in the background and pouts.
Ahem, well be that as it may, this chapter was running quite behind
schedule. I originally intended it to be out before Halloween and longer
than it is now. But, life being what it is, I had other things to attend to
first.

Last author's note I commented that the story shouldn't get too much
longer unless I thought of a way to complicate things.....I did... Not that
this will is a bad thing but you all may have to put up with this story for
some time more. I hope no one minds.

On another note I will be including more drama in the following chapter,
nothing too dark mind you but things will not be as light and silly as they
were earlier. Sasuke's, Kodachi's and even World Of Elegance's past will
be the biggest part of the drama with maybe some humorous tales to balance
things out. In either way I hope you enjoy this chapter. With Christmas and
New Years soon to be upon I probably with not have a new chapter ready until
mid January, maybe early February at the latest. So until then I bid you
farewell.


Ryo Oki

ryo_oki@pacbell.net