Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Ranma 1/2: The Truth and the Tempest ❯ Family Matters ( Chapter 33 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

[Author’s Note: The characters and setting herein- with the exception of one or two O.C.’s of my own design- are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. That said, we continue with the story currently in progress.]

Ranma ½: The Truth and the Tempest

Chapter 33: Family Matters

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It was well past sundown, and a mousy looking ninja was pacing the halls of his employers’ estate almost frantically. It was a nervous habit of his- especially at times of great stress for the household in general and himself in particular, in other words almost constantly. He had never let it slip to anyone else that he did it, for fear that he might be cast out like he had been once before, by the Young Master. But given the events of the past week, he felt he had just cause.

“What am I to do,” Sasuke mumbled to no one in particular. “I haven’t the slightest clue; Young Master Kuno grows more irrational and bent on revenge each day, and Mistress Kodachi…” He shuddered slightly. “She remains in her room, not saying a word to anyone except for occasional outbursts… and their father remains, as always, blissfully unaware…” He wrung his hands and cast a nervous glance behind him, towards one of the larger rooms of the Kuno estate. Tatewaki, he knew, was therein, having spent the majority of the afternoon in seclusion with an ice pack on his head, fuming over being knocked out with one kick.

Sasuke had been a part of the family long enough to know when something ill was about to happen; an icy sensation had always traveled up his spine at the first signs. That icy sensation had been traveling up his spine ever since both Kuno siblings had returned home in a daze, the day that Ranma had revealed his curse to them full-force. It had strengthened when the Young Master had sent him on an errand to procure him a ‘special’ katana to do away with Saotome for good, and now the icy feeling was at its strongest yet. It frightened him, not only because of the impending dirty work in the near future, but because of the implications it held for the Young Master.

Seldom have I ever seen Master Kuno so angry, he thought as he turned a corner, pacing up towards Kodachi’s room. Even in his earlier rages against this Saotome, he never ventured quite towards this level of… I don’t know… maniacal obsession, I suppose. But there’s more than that… He bit his lip. It’s like he’s becoming the violent boy he used to be… so many years ago, before the Incident with his father…

He remembered Tatewaki in his youth, a boy who apparently idolized his sire’s worldview and obsession with the samurai… an obsession that had lasted somewhat longer than some of the elder Kuno’s obsessions… a boy who had begun to look down his nose on everybody except perhaps his father. Even his own sister suffered his disdain in those days. Sasuke shuddered as he remembered the day the Kuno Matriarch was cast out, Tatewaki’s sudden rage against his sister… then not long afterward, a father-son kendo match that left the younger Kuno in a broken and battered heap, looking up at his father with eyes that spoke of betrayal- the ‘Incident’. Then the elder Kuno’s departure, that years-long trip to Hawaii that was to become his newest obsession and the final breaking point between him and both his children… but not before an oath had been forced upon all the serving staff.

That’s right, thought the unhappy ninja. He made us swear never to bring up the matter of those days again, not to the children, not to anybody whatsoever. None of us dared say otherwise or risk inciting the father’s temper… as it was back then, that is…

Sasuke shuddered again, thinking back to further events of the afternoon. The younger Kuno seated in front of a fire pit, ice pack firmly on head, bottle of aspirin in hand as he threw handfuls of photographs into the fire- all pictures of the pig-tailed girl, Sasuke had noticed. Kuno had not said a word, but had gazed into the fire with all of the intensity that Sasuke remembered from before the Incident. He had spent well over an hour in front of the fire as the pictures burned before getting up and limping to another section of the house. Sasuke had tried to say something, but one glare from Kuno had silenced him. The short ninja had done little else but watch on as Kuno had retrieved the family sword and commenced sharpening and cleaning it, mulling over in a low voice his latest plan to defeat his ‘most hated foe’.

This does not bode well at all, he thought, gritting his teeth. He was about to turn around and pace back the way he came, when he was interrupted by a series of loud ripping sounds. His head snapped up; it sounded like cloth being shredded, and it was coming from Kodachi’s room.

“Y-young Mistress? Is something the matter?” he called out in a weak voice as he scampered to her door. “Are you unwell?” A few seconds lapsed with no response, save for yet another ripping sound- this one accompanied by a moan. “Mistress Kodachi?” Sasuke pressed, his voice starting to shake.

A response was not forthcoming. He swallowed hard, remembering that Kodachi had once left strict instructions that he was never to enter her room without her consent. Knowing her penchant for certain types of… punishment, which seemed to have begun not long after her mother’s departure, Sasuke was not keen to go against Kodachi’s direct orders. But given her current state of distress- that he was aware of, having not entered her room for days- he was afraid that she could be doing herself a great deal of harm, and his duty to the clan included looking out for her well-being. In the end, duty won out over his fear of the lash; he gritted his teeth and disappeared from the hallway, re-appearing in her room a few moments later.

His eyes widened at the sight before him. Kodachi had wrapped herself in her bed sheets and was doubled over on the floor, weeping. Her favorite robe, covered in black embroidered roses, was torn in two, as were several other items of clothing that had apparently been yanked forcibly out of her wardrobe. Her dark violet leotard was in tatters; a pale burgundy kimono with dark blue rose patterns had been destroyed. In fact, just about everything with a rose motif to it had been demolished or defaced- even the thin glass vase on her bedside table. Her ponytail was unbound and her hair cascaded down her back and around her face. Sasuke took a hesitant step forward and gasped as he saw the black rose that had been in the bedside vase clutched in her hand, the petals crushed; he could just make out several shallow gashes in her palm from the thorns.

“M-Mistress?” Sasuke squeaked. “Oh Kami, what h-happened to you? Are you greatly hurt? S-shall I send for the family p-physician?”

Kodachi stirred, slowly looking up until her eyes met Sasuke’s. They were red-rimmed and her cheeks were streaked with tears, but there was a light dancing in her eyes that caused Sasuke to stop and look again. It wasn’t her usual glare or any of the maniacal gleams he had grown accustomed to- it was something else. Something he hadn’t seen in her since the days when she was a child, before their mother had left.

She blinked once, then pulled up into a seated position slowly. “Sasuke… I do not recall saying that you could come in.”

Sasuke snapped out of his reverie, noting a hint of ice in her voice. “Oh… oh dear… f-forgive me, Mistress, but I heard something tearing in here, I was s-scared you might be trying to…” His knees gave out and he dropped to the floor before her. “I merely w-wanted to ensure your s-safety, I meant no impertinence, Mistress…” Please don’t hurt me, please don’t hurt me…

Kodachi shook her head slightly, her visage softening slightly. “I know…”

Sasuke blinked, still staring at the floor. “M-mistress?”

She shut her eyes and wiped her cheek with one corner of the sheet. “I know you meant well, Sasuke… you wouldn’t do something like that unless you had a very good reason…” She took a deep breath and allowed herself a hint of a smile. “Thank you… for being that concerned about me.”

Sasuke blinked again. Did… did she just thank me? SHE thank ME? He looked up, staring at her face, noting again that her usual icy mask was gone, as was the eccentric twinkle in her eyes. “M-mistress Kodachi, is there something wrong? F-forgive me for saying so, but you haven’t exactly been… well, that is, what I mean to say…”

“I know, Sasuke… I have not been acting the way I usually do,” she murmured softly. “Not since that… that day, when I realized I’d been… I’ve been living a lie.”

Sasuke’s eyebrow quirked. “Come again?”

“That day, when…” She bit back the phrase Ranma-sweetums and stared at a corner of the room. “When Ranma showed me once and for all that I was in love with a fantasy… that I’d been ignoring all the signs, even going so far as to ignore…” She paused and gave Sasuke a hard look. “Did you know that he and the pig-tailed girl were one and the same? All this time?”

Sasuke started, then looked away, scratching the back of his head. “I’d heard… rumors… but never really had much chance to verify it… and M-master Kuno was so vehement, and you know what he’s like when you talk back to him…” He stopped as Kodachi visibly flinched at the mention of her brother’s name. “M-mistress?”

“There’s more to it, isn’t there,” she said in a bitter tone. “Much more that you and the rest of the serving staff have neglected to tell me.” She took a deep breath and glared at the crushed remains of the rose in her hand. “Much that I have spent the past few days revisiting, time and again, all the while unsure if I even wanted to…” She swallowed hard. “I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream…”

Sasuke blanched. Oh, Kami… the shock really has gotten to her! She’s starting to quote classical literature, just like the Young Master!

“But it wasn’t just a dream. It was real… it all happened so long ago, and I did want to forget it so badly that… that I have lived a lie ever since, giving out pain to shield mine own self from that pain…” Her eyes hardened. “Surely my brother has lived a similarly crafted lie, else he would not do some of the things he does. Yes… more than likely, he forgot just as I forgot.”

“Mistress… what are you talking about?”

Kodachi bit her lip. “You know… all the staff probably knows… the day Mother left this house… the day our family fell apart and we all began l-living our own l-lies, ignoring what REALLY happened that day…” At Sasuke’s sudden look of guilt, she nodded and let out a long sigh. “I remember it all now… even if my sadistic elder brother cannot, or will not, lest it spoil his self-image of the ‘noble warrior’.”

Sasuke gripped the fabric of his pants and shook his head ashamedly. “Your father… he said we were not to tell a word, on penalty of… of… I’m sorry, Mistress…” He turned away, afraid to even look at her, and for a long moment neither one said anything. An errant moonbeam cast a watery light across the room, and further down the hall the faint scrape of Kuno’s sword-sharpening could still be heard.

Kodachi pulled the sheets around herself and let out a mirthless laugh, one that held no resemblance to her usual cackle. “Listen to me… I refer to oniisan as sadistic, and all these long years I’ve been much the same… even more so… Lord, what fools these mortals be.” She exhaled heavily. “I’ve lived like this for too long. I cannot continue to deceive myself, nor can I resume a hapless pursuit rooted in a desperate dream.”

“M-mistress…” Sasuke began to turn back towards her, then turned away again as she sat up further, the sheet falling off her bare shoulder. “I-is there anything I could bring you? Bandages for your hand, or fresh clothes? A-anything at all? Begging your pardon Mistress Kodachi, but you’re beginning to w-worry me; it p-pains me to see you in such a state. I only w-want you to be well…” Perhaps I can talk her out of this state and get her cleaned up before Master Kuno finds out about this; I don’t want to face what he might do if he sees his sister in such a state!

“That’s just it,” she replied in a dull voice. “I’m not well… I fear I have not been well for many a year now… nor has my brother been.” She shook her head again. “No doubt you have suffered much because of it, loyal Sasuke…” Kodachi paused again, listening to the distant scraping of the whetstone down the hall for long seconds before turning to Sasuke with a hard look in her eyes. “He’s planning something, isn’t he.”

Sasuke cringed, a massive sweatdrop running down his head. I don’t like the sound of her voice… oh Kami, what’s she planning now? “Mistress, I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about…”

“I think you do know,” she replied, pulling herself to her feet, adjusting the bedsheets about her like a toga. “I’m not deaf, I can hear someone cleaning a katana several rooms down, and Father doesn’t practice kendo any longer… great heavens, he doesn’t even LIVE in this house any longer, thank the Kami… so you don’t have to deny it. My brother is still out for Saotome’s blood.”

“Well, I c-can’t be for certain, he h-hasn’t spoken to me since school, so…”

“Tell me.” The tone in her voice was enough to stop him cold and look up; there was a distinct hatred boiling in her eyes that turned his blood to ice. “I want to know, and I want to know now. I have lived life behind…” She winced at the term. “…rose-tinted lenses for far too long. What I want now is the truth. What is my brother planning?”

Sasuke shivered violently, then sighed and hung his head low. Master, forgive me… but I can’t take this much longer. And he told her.

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Ranma lay back on his futon in his pants and tank top, one arm behind his head as he balanced a schoolbook on one finger before flipping it open. He sighed; English was one of his least favorite classes, but he knew he had to get around to it at some point. He turned a page with his thumb and his eyes darted over the letters, but his mind was only half on his work. Outwardly he was only slightly smiling, but on the inside he was practically singing.

Dinner with the Tendos and his parents had gone far better than he had ever hoped it would. It had been a rather amusing sight, he thought, seeing his old man in panda form holding an umbrella for Nodoka as they entered the front gate. More satisfying than that, however, was the look on said panda’s face. One glance was all Ranma needed to know that something had finally gotten through his father’s thick skull- in all the time he had known him, Genma had never looked as repentant and ashamed as he had at that moment. Ranma wasn’t sure if it was the fight between them that had done it, or a vague ‘something’ Cologne had referred to earlier, but it was something he had wanted to see for a very long time.

Kasumi had, of course, provided some hot water for Genma to change with, which was followed by the elder Saotome doing something Ranma had not expected and was not prepared for. It was awkward and more than a little hesitant- Nodoka had actually prodded Genma with the pommel of her katana to egg him on- but in the end, Genma had bowed to his son before pulling him into a hug and saying the one thing Ranma thought he would never hear from his lips. An actual apology.

A stammering and convoluted one, but an apology nonetheless.

Ranma’s smile wavered as he recalled more of that evening’s events… his mother escorting father and son into the dojo, where the consequences of Genma’s loss to Ranma were made official. Part of Genma’s old attitude had resurfaced for a moment during the short ceremony, but only as far as his penchant for flowery speech was concerned. Ranma nodded to himself as he turned the page in his book, letting a wave of satisfaction wash over him. That was one time I didn’t mind the old man’s pomposity, he mused. He sure as hell did talk a lot an’ cover it up with a lot of provisions, but he did make one thing clear… an’ that’s all that really matters. He turned his head and glanced to the side of the room, where an ornate scroll was hanging on the wall. A certificate acknowledging one Ranma Saotome as rightful Master of the Saotome branch of Anything Goes Martial Arts, signed by former Master Genma Saotome and seconded by Nodoka Saotome, complete with the clan seal. The Sagara wakizashi lay beneath it, leaning against the dresser; Ranma had stashed it in his room long before Genma ever came over, and no one had told him about it.

I never thought I’d see the day he actually gave me bona fide recognition, Ranma thought quietly. And more than that… it may have been with that damn excuse that it was for the ‘sake of the Art’, but at least he fessed up to bein’ a jackass teacher. He flipped another page, his smile growing broader as he began to reflect on the rest of the evening.

Dinner had been a quiet affair for the most part. Soun’s spirits, as expected, had picked up at the presence of his old friend, albeit somewhat more subdued- for the Tendo patriarch hadn’t quite forgotten some of the things Genma had said about his daughters the previous day. Nodoka had sat between Genma and Ranma, allowing him to be spared the usual fight over portions, though Genma didn’t appear to be in any mood for a food battle anyway; consequently Ranma had finally had a chance to slow down and eat properly. Though not without a few reminders on manners from his mother and fiancée. “Son, no need to rush; it’s not healthy and certainly isn’t proper.” That had been Nodoka. “Honestly, Ranma, you’d think by now you’d have stopped eating like an animal!” And that had been Akane.

Ranma chuckled. “Yeah, guess I do need to shape up a tad in that department,” he said to no one. “I’m just glad ‘kane didn’t try to nail the manners point home with that damn mallet.” He paused, then shut the book and snickered at one incident during dinner that caught just about everybody off guard.

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“Oh, by the way… there was one other thing that happened when we were gone over the weekend,” Akane said offhand as she took a sip of tea.

“Really, sis? And what, pray tell, would that be?” Nabiki drawled in an apparently uninterested tone. Ryoga said nothing from his place on the other side of the table, but continued eating.

“Did you and Ranma learn something new together?” Soun asked, hope dancing in his eyes.

“It wasn’t something dangerous, was it?” Kasumi asked.

“Actually it wasn’t dangerous at all,” Akane continued in a nonchalant tone. “Ranma asked me to marry him. And I said yes.”

Genma almost spat out his tea and stared at the two of them wide-eyed. Soun’s jaw dropped almost to the floor. Nodoka and Kasumi both gasped before their eyes began to mist over. Nabiki’s eyes were the size of saucers. Ryoga looked shocked at the ease with which she had tossed it out, but shook it off rapidly; Akari was smiling from ear to ear. Ranma, for his part, merely shook his head and gave her a disbelieving look.

“What happened to easin’ them into it, Akane?”

Akane giggled. “And miss the expression on their faces?” Ranma paused, then started to laugh himself as he looked at their fathers, frozen in complete shock. The shock, however, lasted only about ten seconds before Soun and Genma broke out in war whoops and started dancing arm-in-arm, lapsing into form once again. A hearty series of congratulations quickly came from everybody else at the table; Nodoka began asking them about a wedding date, Kasumi was off thinking up whether to have a Shinto ceremony or a Western one. Even Ryoga offered a heartfelt congratulations to his oldest rival.

Shingen merely smiled wordlessly from his corner of the table and gave Ranma a quick thumbs-up.

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“Talk about chaos unleashed,” Ranma mused. “Might’ve carried on all night if Mom hadn’t got ‘em calmed down.” He flipped open the book again, read a few more lines before deciding he was thoroughly sick of English and tossed it off in the corner. “Bet they woulda had us married before the night was out if me, ‘kane and Mom hadn’t made both of them back off.” About time those clowns let us move at our own pace, too, he mused silently. He smirked again, then put both hands behind his head and rolled backwards into a handstand. It took only the faintest flicker of exertion to initiate his transformation from male to female; onna-Ranma took a deep breath and began doing a set of handstand push-ups in the middle of the room.

Talk about your weird weeks, she thought quietly in the midst of her exercise. Seems almost too good to be true, if you ask me… we’ve had nothin’ but craziness since the day we met, and now things are fallin’ into place, more or less. Not exactly the way I woulda thought they’d fall, but still… The redheaded girl twisted in a half-circle and hand-walked to the edge of the room and back again before resuming the exercise, sweat beginning to bead on her forehead.

This ain’t over by a long shot, either. Pop an’ Mr Tendo are liable to go apeshit when they hear about me an’ Acchan’s bloodline power. And I’ll bet anything we’re gonna get more o’ those spirit things knockin’ on our door any day now. Onna-Ranma’s face hardened as she continued with the handstand push-ups. Or something else from the local loony bin. Probably bound to happen now that ‘kane’s dumped the news on the family. I just hope to Kami what happened to Mousse doesn’t happen to someone else…

She paused, suddenly sensing a presence moving towards the bedroom door. A moment later, she smirked and resumed her exercises. “Door’s open, Akane.”

The door opened and the aforementioned short-haired girl stepped inside. “I would ask how you knew it was me, but I don’t think I’ll bother since I think I already know,” Akane chuckled, closing the door before turning to face Ranma. As she did, onna-Ranma paused at the height of her latest push-up, tilted her head to smirk upside-down at Akane- and the redhead’s tank top abruptly came loose and succumbed to gravity, unintentionally giving Akane a free show.

Akane stared for a few seconds, a distinct flush crossing her cheeks- and then burst out laughing.

“Ah, GEEZ!” Onna-Ranma grimaced and pushed off the floor, rolling up from the handstand into a seated position where she promptly transformed back into a male and grabbed the loose tank top from where it had fallen on the floor. “Figured that kinda thing would’ve stopped happening to me now that I got control over the damn curse,” Ranma grumbled, yanking the offending item of clothing back on. “And what’s so funny anyway? Don’t ya usually give me some lecture on modesty when crap like that happens?”

“Sorry,” Akane snickered, reining her laughs in but failing to wipe the smirk off her face completely. “I couldn’t help it, it’s been a while since…” Giggle. “S-since you wound up f-flashing someone like that…” Snort. “I thought I’d never see that ag-gain after you got cont-trolheheHAHAHA!”

“Yeah, yeah, real funny,” Ranma snorted. “Not like I meant to, ya know. Just tryin’ to get my girl side a little stronger.”

“I know,” Akane chortled, calming herself down again. “It’s just… that look on your face was so priceless right now, just like old times!”

“You wanna talk priceless, how about when your dad’s jaw hit the floor at dinner, Miss Let’s-Tell-Them-When-We-Finish-Sorting-Out-Affairs?”

A kane sighed and giggled at the same time. “Okay, so I jumped the gun a little on telling them, it’s not like it’s that big of a deal, right? As long as we keep our final say on when and how, I don’t see why Dad shouldn’t know you asked me.” She paused, then started laughing again. “Though you’re right, I’ve never seen him so bowled over in my life.”

“Him an’ my old man, both,” Ranma replied. “And me, too. Darn near choked on my rice there,” he added with an amused look. “So where’d they head off to, it’s been pretty quiet the last half hour.”

Akane rolled her eyes. “They figured they had a right to celebrate the ‘union of the houses’, so they headed off to the local bar, as usual,” she sighed. “Fortunately your mom went with them, so I’m guessing they won’t cause that much trouble. She said something about needing to keep your dad ‘on probation’.”

“My gut tells me she’s gonna be keeping him on probation for a while yet,” said Ranma.

“Yeah, I guess so; she was giving him a bunch of hard looks all through dinner.” Akane paused and blinked. “Come to think of it, he was a lot more subdued than he usually is… you think that duel you had got to him?”

Ranma shrugged. “I dunno. I got the same feeling when he apologized about the whole Neko-ken fiasco… that guy never apologizes for nothing.” He paused, then scuffed his foot along the floor. “Maybe he just decided to grow up or something.” He looked up. “So, uh… did you wanna see me about something, ‘kane?”

Akane smiled. “It wasn’t much,” she said. “Just that Kasumi’s running an errand to a neighbor and Nabiki’s holed up in her room. Ryoga and Akari left for her place a while ago… so… if you want to get cleaned up before bed, now’s as good a time as any.”

“Eh, I can wait. You go on ahead an’ I’ll take my bath when you’re finished.” He stretched his arms out and was about to go through a series of leg stretches when he noticed Akane wasn’t moving. He also noticed a certain flush crossing her cheeks again. “Uh… Acchan?”

Akane looked to one side and opened her mind to his. Well… I didn’t say anything about taking turns in the bath, you know.

Ranma boggled and almost fell over. Huh? Are you SERIOUS? You wanna take a bath together in that ‘zero privacy bathroom’?

Akane shrugged. Hey, now that they know we’re engaged for real the only person who’d have a problem with it might be Kasumi, and she’s out running errands- and I already threatened Nabiki with a sparring session if she walks in on anyone or hides the Occupied sign again. She looked up at him again, her expression warm. Besides, it’s not like we haven’t had a bath together once already, right?

Ranma looked at her for a long moment, then chuckled and stood up, shaking his head. “And up till a little while ago you were callin’ me a pervert?”

Akane’s smile dimmed a few notches. “I know, I know,” she muttered, looking away again. “Pot calling the kettle black, I guess… if you’d really rather not, then we don’t have to…”

“Hey, wait a sec,” Ranma said, stepping forward and turning her back to face him again. “I didn’t mean it like that. I was just a little surprised, that’s all.” He smiled, then leaned forward and gave her a gentle kiss. “But… maybe we oughta keep it to just a bath this time, if you know what I mean.”

Akane blinked, then blushed again. Baka, I wasn’t thinking of doing anything like THAT, not right now anyway… Her smile returned full-force, with a sly look of the eye thrown in. “Maybe I was wrong, maybe you are a bit of a pervert after all.”

“Takes one to know one,” Ranma quipped before pulling her in for a quick squeeze and a longer kiss. “Race you to the furo?” Akane giggled and nodded before the two of them bolted out of Ranma’s room and dashing downstairs to the bath- stopping long enough to grab a change of clothes each. They darted through the hallway so fast, they very nearly bowled Shingen over, who happened to be setting up the last of his shield wards inside the bathroom itself; he merely nodded, excused himself and headed back to his rented room.

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Nabiki grinned; she hadn’t heard any of her sister’s conversation, but the warning she’d been given was sufficient to give the middle Tendo an idea of what was happening. With Kasumi out picking up some cookware she’d loaned to a neighbor up the street, and both their fathers out partying, something was bound to happen between Akane and her future brother-in-law. Her suspicions were confirmed when she heard a pair of laughs emerge from Ranma’s room(she no longer referred to it as Genma’s room, what with Nodoka more or less evicting him from the Tendo household), followed by hurried footsteps down the stairs and a sound which she could only assume was the bathroom door closing.

“Have fun, you two,” she chuckled before turning up the volume on her Walkman. She turned a page in the family finance ledger and was about to add in the latest figures from their portfolio, when there was a sudden tapping on her window.

“What the… who’s buggin’ me at this time of the night?” she grumbled, snapping the ledger shut. “Better not be another one of their suitors, I’m not in the mood…” A quick yank and the shades were open. She blinked twice; nobody was outside, but somebody had been there. A small envelope dangled from the glass, affixed by a piece of tape.

“Ooookay… what might this be, I wonder.” Nabiki pushed the window open and tugged the envelope off the glass before closing it again and pulling the drapes. Her nimble fingers quickly extracted the note within. She flipped it open- and a moment later her eyes narrowed.

Ranma and your sister are in danger. There is a planned assault at the school gates tomorrow. I shall endeavor to halt it as best I can. With their skill, they should be able to take care of the rest, but more is needed. This futile struggle must end now. I will need your help and connections- yes, I am aware of your business acumen- to put an end to this insanity. Consider this an act of atonement. A series of web addresses and a web ID were hastily scribbled at the bottom of the note with the words, you might be able to use these, scrawled beneath them in shaky handwriting.

The note was not signed, but contained in the envelope was one final item. A single black rose petal.

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Tuesday morning dawned without any major incident. Ranma and Akane were both up at an early hour for a quick sparring session in the yard, which Soun- who was nursing a very mild hangover- was more than pleased to watch. Genma and Nodoka were not there to watch, having returned to the Saotome estate the previous evening. Kasumi took occasional glances at their match as she prepared breakfast, smiling happily at both of them.

Nabiki, per her habits, was the last one to rise, and looked to have stayed up far later than usual. Both Akane and Ranma noted the dark circles under her eyes when they came in from their match- that and the fact that she nearly nodded off into her miso soup at least twice. This struck Akane as being unusual even for Nabiki, and she quickly shot a worried look in Ranma’s direction. All he did was shrug, unable to give an explanation himself.

By the time the three of them left for school Nabiki had awakened a few more degrees, but still sported a rather haggard appearance coupled with a preoccupied air. They hadn’t gone for more than two blocks before Akane’s curiosity got the better of her. “Nabiki, are you feeling okay?”

“I’m fine, sis,” she replied, biting back a yawn.

“Come on, you come downstairs looking like some kind of zombie and expect me to believe that?” Akane shook her head. “Nabiki, I know you’re a bona fide night owl, but you look like you haven’t slept more than two hours. What’s going on?”

Nabiki rubbed her eyes and sighed. “I had to… do a little extra homework last night, that’s all.”

“Extra homework? Give me a break, I know you’re gearing up for your practice entrance exams to Waseda but I also know how quick you are on things. Those exams aren’t for a while yet anyways, so what’s this about homework?”

“I didn’t say it was homework the teacher assigned, Akane.” Nabiki suddenly flashed an ice-cold smile in their direction, one that made both Akane and Ranma stop and sweatdrop. “This was something… extra. Something to do with a certain someone.” She paused and shook her head. “I had to admit I was more than a little hesitant with going through with this, especially considering who it involved, but… well… some of this info was too good to pass up…”

“Wait a sec, you’re talking in circles here,” said Ranma, hands behind his head as he shifted closer- he and Akane were both on the sidewalk, foregoing the balance practice for the time being. “What was too good to pass up? And who is this person involved?”

Nabiki’s grin faltered a moment. “I got a note last night, taped to my window,” she said in a low tone. “And the simple fact is, you might be expecting some company at the school gate this morning. Some VERY familiar and all too pompous kendo-practicing company.”

Akane blinked, then groaned. “Oh, no… don’t tell me Kuno’s still going to try and…”

“Set up an ambush for you two, yep, that’s pretty much it. And this time, he might have some backup helping him out. Not sure what he has in mind, but…”

“Geez, doesn’t the moron EVER get a clue?” said Ranma as he kicked a rock down the road. “How many more times are we gonna have to bash his head in before he leaves us alone?”

“Actually, unless there’s something I don’t know about or I slipped up somewhere, you might not have to worry about him after today,” said Nabiki mysteriously. “My source’s info was most intriguing… that’s actually what kept me up most of last night, that and a few… online data transactions. All you have to do is let him make the first move, then clobber him. Everything else is already in motion.”

“Heh. That’s no problem, he usually makes the first move anyways,” Ranma replied.

“Hey, wait a minute,” Akane piped up. “That sounds more than a little too suspicious if you ask me, don’t you think? What was all that about ‘data transactions’? Care to explain what that’s supposed to mean? And for that matter, what about that note you said you got? Who sent it to you? How do you know they were telling the truth? For all you know, it could be some kind of doublecross, a bad joke or something that’ll pull us all into…”

“Akane,” Nabiki interrupted, her eyes hard as steel. “Ordinarily I’d be agreeing with you, don’t forget I’ve never taken anything at face value in my life. Are you forgetting I make it my business to know what I’m dealing with, especially when it comes to information? Okay, one or two slip-ups aside, I DON’T make mistakes.” She took a deep breath and continued, her sister staring at her wide-eyed. “I did a lot of digging last night, I checked everything forward and back, and believe me… this is no joke. I even tracked the note’s writer down on an IM list and had a long talk before I was convinced they were on your side. And believe me, some of the stuff that convinced me was stuff I’d heard rumors about before. They weren’t pretty.”

Akane shook her head; she’d never seen Nabiki talk that way unless it was something very serious. “Nabiki… I just wanted to know what you were talking about when you mentioned information, and also who wrote this note you’re talking about.”

“You’ll know all that in good time, sis. I’d rather not say any more; the walls have ears,” said Nabiki in a low voice.

“Well, for all we know, that shrimp Sasuke might’ve finally got a clue and quit working for the Kuno crazies; he’s about the best person to be in position to get info, right?” said Ranma with a shrug. The three of them turned a corner and started down the final block to the school gate. Ranma took a deep breath and slung his book bag off his shoulders. “Might as well get this over with,” he muttered before breaking into a run.

“Ranma, wait up!” Akane shouted in an exasperated tone before sprinting up to catch him. “Do you always have to run headlong into things like this? I thought I told you, it drives me nuts when you do that!” Nabiki began jogging just behind them, retrieving her mini-cam from her bag at the same time.

“Akane, this is Kuno we’re talking about. It’s not like the guy’s that big on tactics- and so what if he’s got some sorta backup! If we could deal with that damn magic sword he used last time, I think we can deal with anything,” was Ranma’s cocky reply as they crossed the T-intersection and entered the school gates.

The instant they did, both of them skidded to a halt; their peripheral senses, sharpened by their Hunter exercises, started picking up several large concentrations of battle aura. It was tightly concealed, but it was there, and in great numbers.

You feel that? said Ranma wordlessly to Akane.

Yeah… feels weaker than those oni, but there’s still a bunch of them, was her Astral response. Feels like it’s coming from the trees.

Ranma gritted his teeth. Probably Kuno’s hired muscle. And if I know his taste for ‘warrior custom’ he probably scraped together a bunch of ninja. Better stay back to back at first, Acchan.

“And so the honorless Saotome shows his face a final time,” said a thoroughly unpleasant voice. The two of them looked up and stared as Kuno emerged from the shade of a nearby tree- only he was not merely dressed in kendo attire. He was in full samurai regalia, the Kuno crest clearly visible on his gray kataginu, and he had pulled his hair tightly back into a semblance of a topknot. His left hand gripped the saya of his clan sword as he took several slow, methodical steps forward.

“In the past, vile cur, you have shamed and humiliated me. Worse still, you parade yourself about and toy with the emotions of not only my own beloved Akane Tendo, but those of mine sister and myself as well!!!” He took another step forward and placed his right hand on the hilt of the family blade. “This will end today, Saotome. This day, I wilt pay you back for making me look the fool this past year; there will be no more of this! Your sorcerous ways and contemptible perversions shall be quelled!”

Ranma glared at the taller man before him. “I must’ve kicked you harder than I thought yesterday, Kuno. I told you and TOLD you I was through playing around, but you just don’t listen, do ya?”

“Obviously not, otherwise he’d catch on to the fact that I hate his guts,” Akane snarled, giving Kuno her iciest glare yet.

“You say such hurtful words now, fair one,” Kuno said in a low, dangerous tone that caused Akane to blink and look up; she started as she saw a look in his eyes that chilled her to the bone. It was the look of a man beyond all reason… or the look of a predator approaching his cornered prey, and it was being directed at her. “But once I have vanquished this scum, you will see the truth and be freed to come willingly to my arms once more.” He stopped his advance and glanced quickly up at the trees. “As you saw fit to declare war on me, Saotome, so have I declared war on thou… and one must make proper use of one’s weapons. FORWARD, MEN!”

At that signal, the trees exploded with activity. Dark shapes sprang from the branches, darting hither and yon across the schoolyard and catching the eye of more than a few early-arriving students. Nabiki crouched just beyond the gates, her mini-cam focused on Kuno. Akane and Ranma backed up against each other, scouring the black blurs in front of them as they took up defensive positions. Suddenly the blurs stopped moving, revealing no less than thirty trained ninja in full battle dress in a rigid semicircle around Ranma and Akane. Akane gasped; behind her, she felt Ranma stiffen up and start to shake.

Every ninja was wearing a perfectly detailed cat mask.

Kuno smirked cruelly. “I well remember a certain… attitude you bear towards certain felines, Saotome. The Neko ninja clan of Kyoto was more than happy to assist my most noble cause.” Once I agreed to their price, anyway, he thought to himself with a grimace.

That bastard! Ranma, calm down! Akane practically shouted through the Astral. Don’t pay attention, they’re just masks! Ranma didn’t respond, but she could feel his shoulders start to tremble even more. Dammit, Ranma, listen to me! Don’t look at them! It’s just a stupid trick!

“Ca… ca… ca… cats… c-cats… CATS…” Ranma tried to tear his eyes away, but the suddenness of it, combined with the realistic design of every mask, was pulling up his oldest fear even quicker than when he had fought the yamaneko spirit at the warehouse just a few days prior. The demon had only vaguely resembled a cat at times, and never long enough for the fear to fully grasp him. Thirty cats’ heads suddenly appearing in a ring around him, on the other hand, was enough to lock him up and start sweating like a madman, oblivious to Akane’s attempts to shake him out of it. Akane started to panic herself and was just about to spin him around and try to slap some sense into him…

…and then Kuno made his move.

“DIE, LOWBORN SCUM!” he bellowed as he sprang across the yard with a speed Akane hadn’t been aware he was capable of. The ninja each took a quick step back and simultaneously pushed their masks up, revealing more traditional shinobi masks beneath- their instructions from Kuno had been clear, ‘distract the one in the Chinese clothes only long enough to immobilize him’. Ranma blinked, jerking out of his trance just as Kuno was on top of him. There was a sudden flinch, hands darting out to shove a startled Akane away, a flash of steel- and blood splattered on the ground as Ranma staggered back, sporting a wicked gash across his left forearm.

“RANMA!” Akane screamed, dropping her bookbag before snapping her attention back to Kuno. Fire flared in her eyes and she was about to lunge forward and beat the crap out of him when a wire suddenly whipped through the air, targeting her ankle. Her aura caught it just in time and she skipped to one side, only to find another wire heading her way- several of the ninjas surrounding them were actively trying to bind her in place. Akane gritted her teeth and began to spin and dive away from the incoming wires, trying desperately to read the ninjas’ intentions and get them before they got her. She ducked in and smashed one across the nose with her elbow, hopped over a pair of wires and caught another with a reverse spinning roundhouse kick. Dammit all to hell, I’ve gotta get away from these creeps and give Ranma a hand! she thought frantically, just as five more ninja surrounded her and launched another volley of wires. The first few she managed to evade, but the remaining wires blazed through the air too fast for her to react, catching her in a veritable ‘cat’s cradle’ that bound her hands and feet in place.

Ranma, for his part, had begun to recover from his initial shock and was moving defensively, blocking or evading Kuno’s cuts as best he could, when suddenly he found himself having to fight on multiple fronts at once. The ninja, having given Kuno an opening, had moved to their second phase and began herding Ranma back towards their employer. He snarled and spun to catch three at once with a reverse crescent kick, but froze up at the very last second- the ninja directly in front of him had pulled his cat mask back into position and mimicked a cat’s meow. The flinch provoked by the meow gave two other ninja sufficient time to kick Ranma in the gut back towards Kuno; Ranma shook himself and spun back towards the kendoist just as Kuno lunged and thrust at his face. The blade came dangerously close to taking out Ranma’s eye, carving a deep gouge into his right cheek. Ranma bit back the pain and ducked in, slamming his fist into Kuno’s gut just as four more Neko Ninja leaped into the fray, with the combined result that Ranma had to pull his punch just to fend off the additional attackers and Kuno managed to get in another shallow cut, this time across the back of Ranma’s right hand.

For endless seconds, it seemed, the pattern seemed to repeat itself. Ranma would try to get into a groove and would toss one or two attackers aside, only to be accosted by more ninja attacking him both physically and psychologically, all while Kuno was continually setting up his pattern strike, carving more shallow cuts into Ranma’s arms. Akane was wrestling against the wires that were holding her back, screaming obscenities at Kuno verbally and continual words of encouragement to Ranma astrally. She could tell it was only having minimal success; Ranma wasn’t getting as distracted by the masks or the animal mimicry, but it was still enough. “Kuno, you sick son of a bitch, I swear to Kami- you kill him, and they’re gonna need a squeegee to clean up your remains!” she barked, her aura flaring bright crimson about her.

“You wound me with such talk, my tigress,” Kuno purred, throwing a chilling look her way. “I see it is evident that you will have to be… trained. It would be most unseemly for you to talk to your beloved as such in public.”

Trained? Did… did that lunatic say… TRAINED? Ranma’s mind suddenly snapped into clear focus. All the sounds around him died down; he looked up and couldn’t see anything except Kuno’s sneering face. The dull throb in his arms seemed to quiet for a moment as a burning rage leaped up inside of him. “Don’t… you… DARE… talk… about… Akane… that way… AGAIN!”

Kuno’s eyes widened in sudden shock as Ranma’s aura practically exploded around him, tossing no less than five ninja through the air, their uniforms suddenly scorched by the heat. At that same instant, Akane’s aura erupted with identical force, burning through the cables that kept her limbs restrained; a quick flip and she had produced a pair of tonfa, one in each hand, as opposed to her usual mallet. He blinked twice and stepped back into a defensive swordsman’s stance, when a third thing happened that he wasn’t expecting.

A ribbon shot through the air and snapped around his wrists, twisting around several times before pulling taut. Kuno stared in shock and was promptly yanked in a semicircle towards the wielder of the ribbon, who stood behind him in a plain lime green leotard with a look of hatred on her tear-stained face. “Wha- what is the meaning of this?” he gasped. “Sister, have you gone MAD? Here I am, on the verge of reclaiming our clan’s honor from this fiend, and you STOP me? Is your love for this cretin so misguided that you betray your own BLOOD?”

Kodachi shook her head slowly. “Had my alarm not failed me, I would have been here far sooner,” she said in a trembling voice. “And I do not do this out of love, brother,” she added with an undercurrent of venom. “I do this to repay my debt to them… and to collect the debt you owe me from so long ago.” A flick of her hand, and a gymnastics club slammed into Kuno’s forehead, sending him staggering back a few steps. Kodachi flicked her ribbon, and the clan sword was suddenly out of Kuno’s grasp, flipping through the air into her waiting hand.

“If you must fight, you may have your preferred weapon,” she said lightly, flicking a bokken towards Kuno with her foot. “And now, brother dear… this madness ends.”

Another flick of the wrist and two more clubs flashed through the air, past a stunned Ranma and Akane. The clubs landed amid two large clusters of ninja and promptly detonated in a cloud of smoke and pepper, sending ten ninjas into a fit of sneezing and frantic eye-rubbing. Kodachi snapped her ribbon to attention and lashed out one last time, striking her brother across the face and both hands, leaving a series of vicious red welts before leaping forward and disappearing beyond the cloud of smoke. She had barely enough time to drop a pair of envelopes on the ground before springing to the school gates and bounding off into the distance. There was no maniacal laughter from her… only a slow stream of silent tears.

A moment of stunned silence passed before Kuno gritted his teeth and snatched up his bokken, vowing to ‘punish that girl for such a base act of betrayal’. He turned around… just in time to realize the odds were no longer in his favor. Ranma and Akane were both glowing like angels of vengeance- and from his vantage point, the wounds he had given Ranma seemed to be not as serious as they had been a moment ago. The two of the nodded to each other; Akane readied the twin tonfa seemingly snatched from thin air, while Ranma produced a black strip of cloth which he bound over his eyes.

The next few minutes after that were the most vicious ever seen in the front courtyard of Furinkan High, as Saotome and Tendo heirs executed their most perfectly timed offensive ever against Kuno and his lackeys. Kuno made a resolute fencing attempt, but Ranma was not in a mood to be lenient after hearing his ‘training’ remark, and promptly broke Kuno’s jaw in two places. Akane followed suit with a double strike to his stomach and his groin, hitting him so hard that he staggered back two steps before doubling over and losing his breakfast. That done, she turned on the group of ninja that had bound her and proceeded to give them a worse thrashing than anything she had ever dished out before- worse even than the beating she had given Ryoga a week earlier. At the same time, Ranma plowed into the remnants of the Neko Ninja; no longer intimidated by the sight of their masks and hearing no sound save a warhorse’s whinny that had erupted in his mind’s ear, he smashed through their ranks in a whirlwind of punches and kicks that culminated in a Hiryu Shoten Ha so massive it yanked every last one of them off their feet and through the air in the general direction of Kyoto.

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By the time the chaos finally died down, most of the students had retreated a fair distance away and stared in abject amazement. Nabiki, for her part, was still behind one pillar of the school gate, still recording away. Holy moly…so he really did hire ninja. Never did find out what KIND of ninja, that certainly might’ve been helpful…

Akane breathed out a long sigh. “Ranma, are you alright?”

Ranma winced, tying a sash around the remnants of the gash on his arm. “I’ll live… had enough time to use that Healin’ Light on most of what he dished out,” he sighed. “How about you?”

“I’m okay for now,” she replied, glaring at the collapsed and battered body of Kuno. “Goddamned lunatic…”

“Yeah… but more than that,” Ranma continued, “what I wanna know is, what the hell was Kodachi up to? Geez Loueeze, is that crazy broad tryin’ to get me indebted to her or something?”

“I was kind of wondering that too,” Akane murmured, “but she said something about a debt Kuno owed her… and paying a debt to… us?” She spun on her heel. “Sis, have you got any clue about what in the name of won ton soup is going on here?”

Nabiki let out a long sigh. “All I know is what I learned last night, sis,” she said softly. “You might as well know, she was the one who sent me that warning. She didn’t exactly clarify what was going down today, but she did tell me to give you two a heads-up. Wish I’d known about the cat gimmick, though,” she groused.

“Why?” Ranma’s face was stony. “Why bother to help out anyway? I woulda thought she’d be just as ticked as Kuno, after I shouted the two o’ them down last week…”

“Little bro… let’s just say that she had something of a re-awakening recently,” Nabiki continued. “Long story short, and you both know this already, that family is not all there upstairs. Haven’t been for a long time… course, there’s some aspects of that even I didn’t know about. Kinda like what your dad put you through on that training trip, if you catch my drift.”

Akane blinked. “Nabiki, are you trying to defend what she’s done to…”

“I’m just telling you what I learned online last night,” Nabiki replied. “From what I can tell, she made up this whole ‘Black Rose’ thing as a sort of self-defense. Against the rest of her family.” She paused, and Akane and Ranma’s ears perked up to a sudden growing sound. The sound of police sirens in the distance.

“Sounds like the last piece of the puzzle is on its way,” Nabiki sighed, popping the tape out of her mini-cam. “Kuno struck at you first, Ranma, and I’ve got it right here on tape. Clear self-defense. And he drew blood- which I wasn’t expecting, mind you, and you’d probably better get yourself to the school nurse. With that and the info I dredged up online, I think we can safely say you won’t be bothered by Kuno-baby for a while.”

“And if you don’t mind my saying so, I’m relieved you were able to get over that blasted fear of yours in time, Ranma; you’re going to need to work on that some more, however.” All three of them froze at the sudden sound of a new voice and spun around to see a familiar man in a leather jacket leaning against the school gate. “Can’t risk freezing up if you have to fight against another cat spirit.”

“SHINGEN!” Akane snapped. “Don’t do that! Just about scared me to death there- and how’d you sneak up like that? And how long have you been here, anyway?”

The taller man shrugged. “Aura suppression, that’s how I did it. And I got here just after those ninja did; that Hell Hound incident yesterday got me thinking, so I decided to come down and check the grounds to see if there’s any sort of chaos attractor in the area. You did mention you’ve had a fair number of battles here, after all.” He looked around the remnants of the fight. “I wasn’t expecting anything like this, mind you.”

“Yeah, well, neither were we until a while ago,” Ranma sighed. “Can’t believe I freaked out like that,” he added quietly, looking at the ground.

“You weren’t expecting it, Ranma; it’s not that big a deal,” said Akane softly. Just then the bell began chiming. “Oh, hell… now we’ve gotta get to class.”

“You go on ahead, sis,” said Nabiki. “I can take care of things out here- but you might need to tell some people what happened later today.” Akane nodded as she and Ranma turned, grabbed their bags and sprinted into the building, leaving the broken Kuno in their wake. Nabiki smirked momentarily, then bent down to pick up the envelopes Kodachi had dropped on the ground. One bore Ranma’s name, the other bore Akane’s. She fingered them briefly and slipped them into her bag just as two police cars pulled up to the front gates.

Shingen said nothing, but shoved his gloved hands into his jacket pockets and slipped into the schoolyard unnoticed. There must be some kind of a ley line conjunction here… something I missed when I was studying in that exchange program seven years ago. Granted, I didn’t come to this part of Nerima very often, so perhaps I wasn’t paying attention. But all the fighting that seems to have taken place here… there must be something that provokes it. Something that adds to the chaos stream. But what could that be… and why?

He reached up and straightened his bandanna. Guess I’d better find out before something like this happens again. And I’d probably better tell Ranma to start carrying his sword from now on.

To Be Continued.

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Author’s note 12/28/05: Well, another chapter that turned out longer than I expected it to, but one which hopefully edges a few loose ends closer to being resolved. I’d mentioned in a previous chapter some of the skeletons lurking in the Kuno closets, and while I doubt I’ll mention them all, they have, invariably, come back to haunt them. The reason I don’t go into detail is that I leave it up to you, my readers, to wonder at exactly how twisted that family is. Selective memories and imagined circumstances seem to be common among them all- and perhaps this chapter did turn a bit dark at times, but necessarily so.

A kataginu is part of samurai attire from the Edo period, a sort of sleeveless vest with exaggerated shoulders. The family crest is usually emblazoned on each ‘lapel’. It, plus the hakama, were worn over the kimono outside the house, or when expecting guests. This sort of dress can be seen in a number of samurai films and period anime- for example, in the original Ninja Scroll movie.

Regarding the figure introduced in the previous chapter, Astaroth- while his name is indeed the name of a demon mentioned in various sources, it should not be taken as given that he is the same one. It is possible, but has yet to be revealed. (On an interesting side note, there are mentions of Astaroth in the games Soul Calibur and Final Fantasy II- he’s apparently a rather popular demon.)

I hope everyone had a very happy holiday season; I hope this chapter did not turn out too rushed at points, but I wanted to get it out before the New Year. I’m not entirely sure when my next installment will be, as I do have a number of things I want to get caught up on. Hopefully it will be within my two to three week timeframe. Keep those reviews coming; each one makes this effort seem worthwhile. Until next time.

Neon Ronin