Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Rendezvous with Fate ❯ April ( Chapter 5 )

Revision Notes:
04/02/06 -- common mistakes in the English language
01/14/06 -- changed tense (had), changed quotation mark punctuation
10/18/05 -- Final run through by iCe
09/11/04 -- Some grammar revision. All minor. Took out the nasty parenthesis that was making it look weird.

Little note before you start anything:

Some mention of sex but that's it. If you're below 13 it might not be advisable.
Special Thanks and Disclaimer at the bottom

To thee I'll return, overburdened with care;
The heart's dearest solace will smile on there;
No more from that cottage again will I roam;
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.
John Howard Payne
Home Sweet Home

Rendezvous with Fate V.3
by iCe
Chapter 5

...Ranko -- or should I say Ranma's family is an unusual bunch. Nabiki... I don't know what to make of her... she made it so hard for me to understand her... such a complex person...

Nabiki watched as Ranma trained her only son in the Art that only the Saotome Clan possessed -- the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu. Although Nabiki was apt in the Arts, she was not good at teaching the said topic. Since her brother was better than her, she mostly deferred to him when they trained the children. If he was too busy, she took over the training but followed the strict regimen that he set for them.

Nabiki watched in the sidelines as Ranma demonstrated the move for the first time, physical fighting wasn't her specialty. Her eyes moved towards her son. He looked so much like his father. A particularly unpleasant memory surfaced from that encounter. She usually managed to block memories from the end of her marriage but today, she was helpless as the memories overtook her.

She was twenty-four again, looking at the dead man in the middle of her tatami in shock. 'This cannot be happening to me...' she thought, rising from the blood soaked tatami. She tried to call for one of her samurai escorts, but her throat was dry. The first signs of shock started to seep into her veins.

Her husband, Sugoshi, summoned by the ruckus about his wife, found her moments later staring at the dead body. He knelt in front of the dead man to examine him, and was surprised to find out that it was his brother, Omoi. Equally disturbing was the long sword protruding through is back identifiable as Nabiki's own. It was well known the two have not been agreeing lately.

Sugoshi said a few words as he shook her, but she heard only one question, "What reason did you have for killing him?"

Nabiki gulped. Her voice has not returned yet. Everything was just a haze surrounding her. Another blow came. 'Oh... Kami... what will I do... he will order me to commit seppuku! Sei... I'm sorry...' Shortly, Sugoshi carried Omoi out and left her alone with two samurai guards just outside her shoji, far enough for her not to see but close enough to catch her if she escaped. She wondered briefly if her husband would go to their liege lord... He probably will.

She snapped out of her stupor when she felt the trickle of water against her face. She slowly reached out for the water stilling the hands that ministered her, only to look at her son. Her five year old son held a rag and a bowl of water to wash her face.

"Okaasan, I don't believe that you killed uncle. You couldn't have," the child whispered the damp rag moving across the caked blood on her face. Her disjointed thoughts noted that she would have to teach him how to wash a wound properly. This would never do for a son of a samurai. "You always told me that uncle was that way because he cares for us, you wouldn't have killed him."

To have one child believe her was no match for the entire clan shunning her. Nabiki was convinced she would die if she didn't turn insane first. But she held her son's small hand against her face taking some reassurance from his touch. Licking her cracked lips she managed to speak to him, "Go on Sei. Go to your father. If he sees you here... Does he know you're with me? Did any of the guards see you enter?"

The guards were loyal to her husband and her son was expected to adhere to that same allegiance. Sei would be charged treason if he was found with her, especially tending to her wounds at a time like this. It didn't matter that she was his mother. It didn't matter if he was barely a child. He would be tried as an adult, especially since her supposed crime was severe.

"No, okaasan, Foster Mother Sewa (1) said she won't tell father that I came here. She'd cover for me like when I get lost in the forest. No one was guarding the window so I used it. It was just enough for me to squeeze through." He smiled a little, and Nabiki's heart went out to her son, he was only trying to cheer her up. "It's been some sticks since you were supposed to check on my writing. When you didn't visit me, I thought something was wrong, you never forget anything and you're never late... so I came here. You were hurt and--"

"Sei, if your father sees you here..." Nabiki's eyes went to the shoji, her impeccable hearing picking up the footsteps of her husband. She stood up and opened the shoji window opposite her hugging Sei as she whispered, "Listen to me, my son. You must remember what I tell you. Go to the forest, take the fork in the road less traveled by, do you know that?"

He nodded. Nabiki was relieved. It would lessen the problems. It was good that her son loved the forest. "At the end of that road, you will find a hut. It belongs to one of your uncle's old samurai. Tell him that you're my son and that you need passage to Ranma Saotome. Wait for me, if I don't arrive within a day flee as fast as you can to Ranma, tell him everything you know. Run as fast as the wind my son."

'He's just a little boy... ' He leapt out of the shoji. Nabiki frantically shut the window Sei used to exit and sat in the middle of the room taking the bowl and the cloth into her hands just as Sugoshi entered the room.

"The Lord Kintaro (2) has ordered your presence immediately." Kintaro was the head of the clan and the local daimyo.

"As you wish..." Nabiki answered setting the bowl aside and trying to stand up with as much dignity as she could muster. She swayed a little but refused help from her maid or the samurai that flanked her.

Sugoshi grasped her shoulder as she passed him. "Tell me Nabiki, did you kill my brother?" There was a pleading in his eyes. "If you say yes, Lord Kintaro might be able to permit to you seppuku... admit it Nabiki and you will not be cast away or put to death like a common criminal."

She shuddered at his offer. Yet, she truly did not kill Omoi and hell would freeze over before any woman like Nabiki would admit another person's crime. She looked him in the eye before she gave her response, "I never touched Lord Omoi, my lord. Although it is my shame that my sword was stolen from me and used against his murder, I will not claim any act that I have not done. I still have my honor."

The days that followed were long and tiring. Although she half expected some dire punishment, she was not hanged like some common criminal. On the seventh day, Ranma came and visited her at the newly instigated prisons to try to ease matters for her.

She stood before him as a man and not as a woman. Someone knocked a bowl of water onto her face, activating the Jusenkyo curse. To add to her discomfort, she was also ordered to leave all her garments before entering the cell. Not only was she dirty, but she was freezing because of the lack of garments.

Nabiki-kun flinched at the sudden rush of cold air, but welcomed it. It was a dramatic change from the fetid smell of the cells. She started to shiver and restrained her muscles. To show distress at her current situation would make her lose what scraps of pride she has left.

It was good her brother did not comment on the small cringe, he was close enough and fast enough to notice it. At least her pride was still intact. She still has that, if nothing else. She will keep whatever shards of it.

"Do you want me to buy you out, Nabiki?" Ranma asked concerned, it wasn't common practice to buy prisoners. It wasn't common practice to have prisoners at all. The jail was a new sanction. Before the jails trials were held and then death was imminent. It seemed pointless to have holding cells. Confinement was only there to prolong the inevitable. The common belief was that prison did not stop crime but merely abated it for a time (3). Prisoners were ultimately killed.

"I didn't do it, Ranma, and you know as hell I didn't either," she spat out.

"I know. It was Kodachi." It was Kodachi's testimony against Nabiki that solidified the case. Kodachi admitted this to Ranma, telling him in detail that she used Nabiki's brother-in-law to get into Lord Kintaro's stronghold for some ingredients she needed for a potion, after she had sex with him in Nabiki's room, she killed him off.

It was the perfect plan. It was known that Omoi was secretly in love with Nabiki. Nabiki didn't realize this, but they fought often and loudly. She was the perfect scapegoat.

Nabiki suspected Kodachi with the stealing of her sword, but she didn't imagine her sister-in-law could do something like this. Kodachi was at the gathering when she lost her precious sword, and Nabiki guarded her sword well. The sleek katana was her mother's gift when Nabiki mastered all the styles required to use it. It would have taken extraordinary means to steal the sword from her. "It seems your wife always is at the thick of things. I wonder why that old man ordered you to marry the woman in the first place."

"This isn't--"

"I know. Is... my son all right?"

"He is."

"Teach him how to be a good samurai and how to use the family art." She hesitated for a second, she wanted the best for her son and she believed that her brother could give him that. "Refuse him to his father, change his name if necessary, and tell him he's a Saotome. ADOPT HIM." Nabiki gave him no time to protest. Maybe she kept Sei from his father for selfish reasons, but she would not have her son to grow up hating her. He would if he remained here.

"Ikkasei (4) Nabiki?" The guard called from the gate.

Ranma's eyes moved towards them. "Do you want me to come with you?"

Her hand sought for his, he squeezed it and she let it go. "Please." Ranma requested some hot water from the guards, who obliged him without question.

Fortunately for her, she wasn't sentenced to death like a common criminal. Unfortunately, she wasn't permitted to seppuku. Her name was stricken off the Ikkasei Clan. She was also forbidden to become a nun. She was shocked. The only other solution was for her would be to go back home, but if Happosai turned her down what possible life could she lead? Being a ronin did not appeal to her. Not when she has a son.

"She must be branded (5) first before she leaves. She will never step in our domain again," one of the old men said as he took out a metal rod thrusting it into a burning pyre. Her screams of agony were shameful, even to her ears. Ranma stood in a ready stance, which to anyone not practicing Anything Goes Martial Arts looked like he was just watching the proceedings. With his eyes he asked her if he should attack Kintaro and save her, she refused.

To this day Nabiki wondered what lunacy persuaded her to refuse her brother's offer. Maybe war between the clans. Possibly because she didn't want Ranma to die, even he could not defeat Kintaro amidst hundreds of vassals alone. But most of all she refused Ranma because she needed to see her son alive, because she needed to spare him from the orders to receive the same shame that his mother received.

She knew that from the moment the boy escaped from his foster mother that she damned her son to a similar fate. That was why she ordered him to seek sanctuary in Nerima. Ranma could protect her only son. She lost her first child. She was not going to lose another.

Against her prediction, Happosai grudgingly welcomed her back into the household. He gave strict orders that her conduct was under review and that she was under Ranma's jurisdiction. She was told not to leave the boundaries of her brother's domain, Sagami, unless she has Happosai's permission.

When she got her hands on Kodachi, Nabiki drew her knife against her. Nabiki was willing to kill Kodachi then even if the woman's death would undoubtedly lead to her own. Ranma's marriage to Kodachi has countless rules which included sacrificing Nabiki should Kodachi ever die by Saotome blade.

Kodachi wasn't much of a fight, she didn't keep up with her training, her form was lousy and her movements slow, jerky and predictable. Nabiki had her knife on her throat easily. "You lying, scheming bitch! Tell me why I shouldn't end your life right now?"

"Because you can't." Blood trickled from the knife, which already broke skin. Kodachi looked up to her eye to eye.

Nabiki held the knife at the throat for a moment then threw Kodachi down on the tatami, damning herself for the move she couldn't make. Her foster father was right. He raised the twins too soft. She turned to talk to Ranma who was standing on the sidelines, mindful of the rules.

"I knew it," Kodachi rasped her hand clutching her bleeding neck, knowing instantly that the wound was superficial. She wiped the line of blood before speaking, "For all your bravado, you could never kill in a duel of honor."

Steeling herself, Nabiki turned back, her eyes slowly regarding Kodachi. "There's nothing honorable about killing an honorless woman like you Lady Saotome, but that wound will be just like the kanji on my back. I prefer that you suffer here, a hell on earth, rather than be reborn or go to whatever seven hells Christianity believes in. I still have my honor, though in scraps, it will keep me warm. However you are nothing but a cheating liar. You have no honor."

"If I'm the one who has no honor," Kodachi drew out, madness present in her eyes again as Sasuke helped her up. "Then why is it you who has been banished?"

"But I was accepted back! If you were thrown out Kodachi, would anyone care enough to accept you again?" There was a ringing in her ears that she wished would die down. She knew that some intervention happened in her case. In exile, Nabiki would never be able to step into Saotome territory again, and Happosai was not overly fond of her. Somehow, she knew Happosai would not take her in again.

Ranma went to his sister's side looking the cuts and bruises Kodachi managed to inflict. Kodachi may be out of shape, but she still has some semblance of skill, they rounded the corner of the house before she finally took his offered arm. "I'm sorry for being weak, Ranma."

"It wasn't weakness. Kodachi would still scoff us in death, at least alive -- alive she suffers mortality just as we do." Ranma offered his sister a smile. "You were right Nabiki, killing Kodachi won't remove the past, making sure she lives through it will. It will sting her pride to know she's beaten -- beaten by a woman who she damned."

"No, nothing can erase our past," she said it with regret. At least she was back, even she doubted her own return. His smile was infectious and she soon found herself giving him a small one back. It was good to be home, exhausting, but good.

Ranma, knowing their current conversation would just yield bitter results, wiped the drying blood on Nabiki's cheek diverting her attention. "Is this the way you return? Soaked in blood and letting Kodachi get to your nerves?"

"It's hard not to, Kodachi always grates my nerves," Nabiki whispered, and then maybe because she was exhausted, or maybe because she was completely numb from her encounter with all the people she saw the past few days, Saotome Nabiki collapsed in her brother's arms for the first time in so many years.

For the first time in days, she found respite from the inquiry and time to recuperate from her wounds. She did not have to worry about the stinging sensation in her back, or her lost husband. She did not need to worry about the woman who sullied her name. She was safe. She was in her brother's hands.

Nabiki didn't worry about her son's disappearance from her husband's fief, the foster mother she chose was loyal to her... and smart. She would cover for her son's disappearance, and would probably weave up something like he was lost in the forest, which was, in a way, true. Her son would be forever lost in the forest to the Ikkasei. Forever lost to them.

Sugoshi sought for her one day and asked Happosai her whereabouts, Happosai told him he ordered her killed. She never heard from Sugoshi again.

Nabiki managed to flee her husband for so long because of her training with Genma, her brother's vigilance and Jusenkyo. The curse, which her husband never found out, was her savior.

Ranma broke her out of the memories with worry clear in his blue eyes and small frantic waving to catch her attention. "Hey, Nabiki, you all right?"

Nabiki forced a smile. "Yes... I'm fine. Really, Ranma, thank you for your concern, but shouldn't you be watching the children spar?"

He cocked his head to the side sitting down beside Nabiki. "I let them take a break some time ago Nabiki, I've been trying to talk to you ever since."

She mumbled a weak apology but Ranma waved it off, he was sure she remembered her husband again. Her son was growing up to be the spitting image of his father. "Would it hurt so much to share so great a burden with me?"

Folding her hands neatly on her lap, she diverted the topic, "How come Happosai agreed on letting me in the clan again? It's against practice, most women would turn ronin (6) , samurai without leaders, against lesser incidents. I wasn't, when it was obvious that I am his most despised samurai. Why?"

"Oh," Ranma said lamely. "Well, I really don't know Nabiki."

"Liar," she accused softly. She voiced out the only reason she could think of during the times that it bothered her, "You convinced him didn't you?"

Ranma was never a good one, especially not with her. Ranma's faith in his sister's ability to find out the impossible was absolute but this was one of the incidents he wished she wasn't so damned sharp. "Nabiki, it's been five years. Why bring this up now?"

"Because it's only since your last leave that I have proof." Her eyes shone with the glassy sheen of tears threatening to pour. "How could you take my punishment for me?"

"It's not a punishment, just a consequence," Ranma reasoned out.

Nabiki found herself wishing, and not entirely for the first time, that when she was in a serious argument with her brother he wouldn't be so ... smart. "How could you have done something so STUPID?"

"I don't think--"

"That's it! You don't think at all!" Her temper was controlled, but she was still seething inside. 'Why did he have to ask to share this? Why?' "You could have gotten divorced from Kodachi, Ranma. You could have -- don't you see? With me as a ronin, the Kunos' bind over us would be null. You could have divorced her and then claimed Rose Brier. With me in the picture, back as a safeguard, Kodachi can't be killed off."

"Because I feel responsible for you, Nabiki! It was Kodachi's fault that you were in that mess. It was my duty to get you out."

"But it is mine to see you live." Nabiki sighed then turned to question something other than the obvious. After she visibly calmed down she took a deep breath and began again, "So tell me, what did you use to bribe Happosai to get me back on the clan? And don't tell me you didn't bribe the old bastard, because I'm sure he hates my guts just as much as I do his."

He finally relented when he saw there was no shaking Nabiki off, "I bought him the contract of one of the better courtesans (7) in Nerima, acquired a couple of his 'silky darlings' for him. Do you know how hard it is to get an under-kimono (8) in Nerima? And he had Ranko publicly wash the penitentiary. That's all." Ranma fidgeted under her scrutiny, he wasn't used on them being on opposite ends of an argument this serious.

"Ranko did it naked, no doubt. I still don't believe you." Nabiki brandished one of her knives from her obi. Ranma eyed it wearily. Within a blink of an eye, she turned him around and cut a circular hole in the back of his silk shirt, she suppressed a gasp. "Damn you Ranma, why do this?"

"You know you could've asked. Silk is hard to come by (9)," Ranma joked a little. Silk was reserved for the wealthier people since it was an exported product. China produced silk which they trade with the Portuguese for some Japanese products, which was the reason for the high price. Nabiki did not like it when she was reminded of losing coin. She glared at him, although he could not see her face for the glare to take effect.

She traced the kanji-scar across his back. Most of the scars there were brought about by the sword, this came from a hot poker. It was also identical to the scar on her back. "Why?"

"It was this or your son's back." And they both knew that Sei wouldn't be able to live after such a torture. "You were too upset to be burdened with my problems, and when you weren't, it was just too long to care for it anymore."

Nabiki hugged her brother, menial labor was a terrible blow to his pride, but the scar had to have been more. It was an ever-present mark to be carried to remind him of his suffering on her behalf.

She suspected as much, Happosai was a demanding leader. He was not a man satisfied with half measures and compromise. A demand that only he could make and does not apologize for, clearly signifying that he held them all. He was a man who didn't give out his favors lightly, but could be persuaded... with the right amount of persuasion.

Apparently, even though Ranma was a favorite among his daimyos, public humiliation would be worth her return. She swore that someday, Happosai was going to pay. Her brother would take that perverted fool's station in the Saotome clan.

"Don't," Ranma whispered.

"Don't what?" She let go of him turning his face to her, so she could his deep blue-gray eyes.

He smiled faintly, switching to Chinese for fear of being overheard, " Take revenge on Happosai. Not because of this.There are other things, nobler causes. I do believe Happosai-- we have the same stand on Happosai.I don't like him either. But--promise me you won't kill off Happosai because of this. "

"And what makes you think --"

"Because I'm your twin," he reasoned taking her hand in his. "The best way to get even is to forget. "

Her hand tightened against his. "You fool, you sweet, stupid, fool."

Ranma never noticed that she never gave her word.

 

Ranma decided to lock himself up at the dojo with that girl named Nabiki and throw away the key. Akane could only guess what they were doing there but she could hear the whispers, the sobs which she mistook for laughter and the occasional thuds that were distinctly flesh against wood.

Even the constant honor guards the two kept were limited to the parameters. The brother and sister dismissed them to be alone. Hanae and a boy she did not recognize were playing along the koi pond. From the hostile glances of the samurai around them, speaking to them would not be advisable at the moment.

Since Ranma's arrival, the dojo was kept from her limiting her training to runs across the beach. But even she couldn't do that all day. Once she was tempted to demand entrance but she chickened out after a particularly loud blow against flesh.

Finally she decided to move towards the library and sat before one of the shelves to pick out what seemed to be a good read. Ifuku interrupted her briefly, to inform her that Ranma suggested a visit to the seamstress some time that week. She also said a stable hand, Ko-uma (10), was sent to make an appointment already.

Akane was surprised about her husband's sudden interest in her wardrobe but Ifuku supplied her with an answer, "I don't suppose you remember that the Lord Happosai has ordered all his important samurai to his fort in the Kanto Mountains?"

That came as a shock to Akane and the number, close to a hundred, surprised her even more. "It's to honor the day of birth of Lady Nodoka -- Lord Ranma's mother." Ifuku supplied.

Now she was in panic, it was one thing to have Ranko's family over, it was quite another to learn that it was a yearly affair. She surmised that Ranma's family would probably be in attendance as well since it was his mother's ball. 'More hostiles,' Akane thought distastefully, it would be her a grand challenge for her.

For two months, she had been secluded in Rose Brier, with only Ranma, Hanae and Ranko as contact with the real world. Both their family and his brood of friends were going to make her seem like an outcast.

She didn't know how to act towards anyone. Ranma's reaction to her shorts and shirt was proof that she knew next to nothing about medieval Japan.

Amnesia would be her salvation in some places, but that still meant keeping her temper, watching her dress code, leaving the good things to do to the men and biting her tongue. Those restrictions were going to be hard. She grew up in a time where she could do anything, where she was any man's equal.

She was sure she was going to shock a lot of people with her behavior if she couldn't. She could never rein her temper or her tongue. Though it was light, it was damn hard to hold.

It seemed like she was going to have to start learning.

-

Finishing up with her lunch, which was composed of some sushi and yakitori, Akane pushed the plates away. She missed some of the modern foods but she already introduced some healthy menus to the cook when she looked over the possibility of a change in diet.

Briefly, she wondered why the cook wouldn't let her come near the kitchen after she tried to cook the food, but dismissed it when she heard a commotion outside. Apparently, one of the two families arrived.

She gave her reflection in the mirror a once over before she headed towards the garden. She frowned at the dark kimono and patted a stray hair back to the edge of her ear. She practiced a smile but that quickly turned into a frown. Steeling herself, she moved slowly towards the garden.

As she moved the last shoji blocking her way, she gulped down her anxieties. 'This is not going to be easy.' She was not part of the happy family she saw in front of her.

The woman, who presumably was Ranko's mother from the uncanny resemblance they shared, was in her early forties and remarkably beautiful. Ranma, Ranko were both were slightly damp but stood in loving attendance dressed in identical clothes. The two children, Hanae and the boy, were also present and bowed formally. The woman bowed back, pleased at her grandchildren then hugged them in her arms.

Akane frowned at Ranko. She hated the fact that in feudal Japan consorts to samurai were allowed, that meant she has to share her husband. One of the things she really didn't want to share with anybody.

Now she was being disregarded in her own house by his consort and her daughter.

She wrung her outer kimono unconsciously waiting for someone to notice her. When they did, she wished they didn't. The woman cleared her throat and motioned towards her, both Ranma and Ranko turned in her direction, Ranma matching Ranko's expression when they saw her.

"Ranma?" the woman asked with one eyebrow raised. Curiously, she was looking towards the redhead of the two.

Akane fidgeted a little as all eyes turned to her. She felt her embarrassment rise and forced her reluctant feet down the garden, her face growing hotter with each step. She smiled at the three scowls set in her way.

She turned towards the kids and was about to usher them out so the grown-ups could talk, when Ranko put herself between them and her, just as she did that morning with Ranma and Hanae, just as Ranma did with Hanae when he arrived. It was a manner that was clearly protective.

"Kodachi," she said sternly meaning it as a warning.

"What is it with you guys? Kodachi was stupid -- I know but she really wouldn't have hurt the children would she?" She'd been cut from the children twice before which made her angry, upset and hurt. When she realized she talked in the third person again, she muttered a soft oath, "Damn."

At their confusion, Akane realized the problem. "Ranma didn't tell you?"

At that, Ranko rolled her eyes. "Kodachi insists that she has amnesia and quite conveniently has no memory of you, or her misdeeds," she said it in a way that clearly meant she did not believe a word of it.

There was a moment of silence wile those in attendance tried to understand the explanation. Nodoka was the first one to speak. "Well then Ranma." Akane noticed that Nodoka was still looking at Ranko when she said this. "Introduce me to your wife."

Both Ranko and Ranma piped up at the same time, lending some odd flavor to the meeting. With a warning glare, Ranma continued with stiff formality, "Kodachi, let me present you to Saotome Nodoka, my mother. This is Saotome Sei, Nabiki's son, and Saotome Hanae, my daughter. I'm sure you know Ranko."

Ranko held her mouth the entire time, though she looked seething mad when Ranma mentioned her. Ranma allowed a smirk in her direction leaving Akane to wonder what by-play was happening. "Saotome... so Nabiki is part of the family?"

"Oh? Didn't you know?" Ranma drawled, the cocky smile never leaving his face. "Nabiki is my twin sister."

Ifuku's words came back to her, 'She runs the household as our lord likes it. I don't run the household because his sister does. What kind of -- ' Akane's only encounter with Nabiki was that one time when she first stepped out of her room. The house was uncanny that way, there were always samurai, but she did not see them. There were servants, the household chores were completed the beddings cleaned but she never heard them. It was as if the entire household help melted into the shadows, including Nabiki.

Another peculiarity that struck her was Sei using his mother's maiden name. Sei was a boy and was potentially an heir, so valuable under his father's name. She would never understand how this society worked, so she decided not to think about it.

"I - ah -- didn't know." She turned to go but stopped when another thing dawned on her. "Saotome... Nodoka, you're Ranma's mother?"

Nodoka frowned at the impoliteness of the girl. "Yes? Why?"

"I thought you were Ranko's mother. You look so much like her." The uncanny resemblance didn't just stop at the curly red hair. Ranko has her mother's eyes, if not her demeanor. She has the same shape, if not the height and their face held the same planes.

"I am Ranma's mother and I am Ranko's mother. Have these two not explained the matter of Jus--"

Ranma cut his own mother off by explaining, "It's just that Ranko's been consort to me since I married you and mother thinks of her as her own daughter. The resemblance is due to the fact that --" There was a pause in his statement before Ranma continued, "-- Master Happosai is known for his 'indiscretions' and Ranko's one of them. He ordered me to take her so she'd be under my wing (11)."

She looked at the two of them disgust showing in her face. "So you're related?"

"Very, very far apart," Ranko said slowly an accusing glare at Ranma.

There was a pregnant pause.

Akane then forced a smile. "I'm going to inform Nabiki of your arrival. Shall we have dinner at -- seven (12)?"

All of them looked too puzzled at her statement before she cursed. She forgot that time was told differently. She wondered when Japan was going to get a modern day clock instead of calling out names of animals every so often and basing hours by the burning of incense.

Ranma was the first person who understood her statement and replied quickly, "We're going out for dinner."

That stunned Akane. It not only implied that she wasn't coming, which she could take, but also said that Ranko, who was Ranma's consort, was coming along. She mentally seethed, her fingers fisted in anger, and had she been holding a pencil, she was sure it would have broken into two.

She didn't do anything about it. She couldn't do anything about it. 'I couldn't bash Ranma's head for taking Ranko who was all chummy to his mother, right? Right... but damned it all, I'm not going to like the redhead hussy.'

"And you don't have to look out for Nabiki. She uses the queerest doors," Ranma added as an afterthought. Something Akane barely heard as she tried to calm herself.

"I'll see you tomorrow then," she said with forced cheerfulness that even to her, didn't sound natural. She turned her back at them and tried to climb the stairs. By the time she reached the last step, she was crying.

-

Ranma-chan watched the back of her wife as she went and turned to his family. "Why do I suddenly feel bad about that?"

Nabiki-kun looked at him incredulously with a hint of exasperation. "Don't tell me you're actually sorry for her, Ranma. She deserves even worse than that."

"Besides you know she won't be admitted anywhere, amnesia or not." Nodoka put in, trying to comfort her son --currently daughter.

Ranma turned to Nabiki frowning. "Nabiki, do you realize that you just weaved a very complicated lie that doesn't even seem plausible?

Massaging her temple Nabiki shrugged. She took hold of Sei's hand before replying, "It was the best I could do at the time. Ranko is related to Happosai. Mom is married to Saotome name by birth therefore isn't related to Happosai. Ergo, they shouldn't look alike. She didn't think about it, you shouldn't dwell on it."

"This reminds me," Nodoka said as she looked at the twins. "Will you please tell me what is really going on here?"

 

Nodoka watched her daughter stare out to the bay, watching the calm of the night and the stillness of the house. Before, that was a sure sign that Kodachi was not home. The silence today stemmed from a different cause. Very different.

Earlier that night, Nodoka noticed a trace of worry on Ranma's face. It was not readily apparent but showed enough for both women to pick it up. On the way home Nabiki heard him mutter that he hoped Kodachi already went to their Nerima residence.

Kodachi was home, opened their doors and smiled for them. She even asked them about how the evening went. Not your typical Kodachi behavior and Nabiki was starting to doubt Kodachi's actions. Whereas before Nabiki was always one step ahead of her sister-in-law, now she was second-guessing her, and that probably scared her more than anything else.

"Nabiki, aren't you going to sleep?" Nodoka asked as she joined her daughter on the roof, using the shingles to steady herself. Her old bones were not up to the task of taking care of her children.

"I can't sleep." Nabiki grumbled in the dark, swinging her feet in time with the waves. She already checked Sei five times and her mother was sensing another trip coming on.

"What is it?" she asked, concerned. It was the first restless night Nabiki had since she was three, and Nabiki usually didn't step out of character.

There was a long pause before Nabiki answered, "It's Kodachi. I don't trust her."

"What else is new? Have you thought about her actions, then?" Nodoka looked out to the bay.

"Not much," Nabiki answered distractedly, averting her eyes from the questioning look her mother was giving her.

"Are you going to tell me or are you going to let me keep guessing?" she asked patiently, sitting closer to her daughter. She was robbed of the chance to see them grow up. All mothers were robbed of the chance to see their children grow up. Their duty was to their husbands, the children were for the foster mothers. In their case they were granted a foster father.

"She's actually trying to win the children over, and she has never done that! She tried to be polite, and when have you ever seen Kodachi being polite? This amnesia thing, it's new, it's unpredictable and its unpredictability is its greatest danger -- and we don't even know if she really has amnesia. She's being spontaneous! I've never seen her spontaneous! She has this twisted mind that manipulates everything she says! She's actually dropped her laugh--"

"Haven't thought about it, huh?" Nodoka joked a little interrupting her line of thoughts. "Nabiki, you think too much. You might think Kodachi's this little puzzle you have to decipher but she won't go away for the night."

"No, we're not that lucky," Nabiki muttered, closing her eyes to feel the soft breeze against her face. It was something she'd once heard Ranma say. "Let's just hope that we learned something from seven years ago."

-

Akane paced around her room in edgy impatience. She was hurt that she was not invited to dinner but she could take that. She was also hurt as Ranko's nature in the house was revealed to her but was satisfied that Ranma and Ranko kept their -- nightly intimacies quiet. 'At least the pervert isn't forcing himself on me.' She thought indignantly.

She understood that they would not comprehend easily, but it was hard. She needed patience, and that was never one of her best assets. She could only ask how many questions before she became too overwhelmed by it. How long until everyone treated her with respect? How long until the people realized that she was not Kodachi? How long until they knew that she was trying so very hard to be a part of everyone?

But it was no use to ask questions that no one really has answers to. She looked around the room worriedly, but nothing in the room gave her comfort. In fact, it added to her sense of dread. Everywhere she looked has Kodachi's distinct brand on it, Kodachi's perfume was pungently strong in the room and her face -- the face that stared back at her that told her about the wrongness of everything.

Every turn she faced the mocking picture of either Kodachi's mirror, or the portrait of eyes staring at her. They looked at her with accusing mockery. When she could take it no longer, she pulled a black shawl from the drawer and threw it over the portrait and across the full-length mirror.

"Oh, Akane, how long until you go insane, huh?" she asked herself, rubbing her shoulders. Another question ... this time, she didn't want an answer. She left the unsettling room to roam around the house just before dawn. She usually trained around this time, but since Ranma's family was present, she was confined to her own room. She muttered a curse under her breath as she went out to drink some tea trying to tread lightly across the tatami.

When she reached the kitchen she saw Sei was already up and moving about. She was surprised to see him up early. He was hovering over a kettle. Akane frowned, 'What is with these people and hot water anyway? They don't use it for tea, or I would have seen them take cups.'

By the sound of her steps, Sei's head shot to her. This surprised her, she was sure that she didn't create any sound, yet the child sensed her.

"Ohayou, Oba -- Aunt Kodachi," the boy greeted tentatively. "Sumimasen, I did not mean to wake you."

At this Akane's automatic reply was the vigorous waving of hands in front of her, negating the thought, "Oh, no, no Sei. I'm always up this early," she assured him then looked at him before clapping her hands happily. "Nabiki has taught you some martial arts?"

"That's father's work. Okaasan wants some of the family's knowledge passed down to me," he trailed off after a while.

For a second Akane dwelled on whom exactly Sei's father was, it seemed like Nabiki's husband wasn't around too much for her to see. She concluded that maybe he was just like his wife in that he took to the shadows. "How far are you into your lessons?" Akane asked as she sat down bringing a mug, cocoa and sugar with her. Sei seemed to be boiling a lot of water. She hoped he wouldn't mind if he shared it with her.

"Okaasan says I learn almost as quickly as father at his age," Sei answered, he almost seemed proud, yet it was well hidden. She sensed a few more years to that child and that proud shine in his eyes would disappear in a thick emotionless face. Saotomes seemed eager to hide their emotions. Too eager.

"You're a morning person too, Sei, aren't you, would you like to watch the sunrise with me?" she asked, the house seemed much too lonely for her tastes, and though sunrises were good to watch alone, it is always better when you have a memory shared with someone in return.

The child hesitated a moment then looked at her straight in the eyes. They stood there for a moment each looking at each other, questions left unsaid and unanswered. The whistling of the kettle drew him out of it. "My father needs the water."

The boy already held strong loyalties for one so young. And his loyalties were tugging him to his family rather than to an aunt he hardly knew. She wondered, again, how long it would be before he would watch the sunrise with her willingly. She smiled faintly then looked up at the rustle of noise behind her.

"Good Morning, Nabiki," she greeted her sister-in-law, smile wavering in her face. She didn't know how it looked now. "Sei and I were just talking."

The boy nodded at his mother in confirmation taking the kettle off the brazier. Akane just sat there, realizing now just how deep her sister-in-law's hatred was for her.

"Sei, the hot water is needed, quickly now," Nabiki said ignoring Akane, patting her son's brown hair. How she could look so kind to her son and so fierce to her was such a big mystery. The boy nodded in acquiescence and ran through the garden towards the house, hot water in tow. "Careful, Sei, that water can burn!"

After her son's footsteps disappeared through the main house her gaze turned to Akane. She almost wished something else would draw Nabiki's fierce look. "I know what you're doing Kodachi. I'm warning you, stay away from my son."

"He shouldn't fear you Nabiki," Akane offered quietly. "That isn't any way to raise a child."

"When have you known anything about raising children? Have you ever even tried to raise Hanae?" Nabiki shot back, her gaze was just as scorching as before. "You don't associate with my son, you don't talk to him, and now that you have decided to do so I am forbidding it."

Similar words, Akane's ire rose. "What gives you the right to forbid me -- to actually forbid me to do anything with whom I please?"

"When the subject of talk is my son!" Nabiki's voice never rose but the emphatic way she commanded it expressed just how furious the woman was.

It made Akane livid at how Nabiki could argue with so few words and still make her feel inferior. "He is my nephew."

"You lost the right to call him that after you cost me my first child," Nabiki answered as she turned her back to Akane. "You will never refer to him that way again."

 

"Thank you, Sei," Ranma-chan said gratefully as she poured the water over herself while the child watched in fascination. "I could've gone down there myself you know."

"Aunty Nabiki is right, if Kodachi tells everyone your girl-form is your -- " Hanae chose her words carefully, "-- consort, then you shouldn't show everybody 'Ranko' in your clothes."

Nodoka made a negating sound. "You could have stopped any inquiry by showing everybody the curse. It would make fewer complications that way."

"I don't go telling any person about my weird curse you know," Ranma defended himself crossing his arms in front of his chest, and succeeding in looking very much like a spoiled brat. "Besides, what the Lord Happosai orders, we must obey. He has ordered that the curse would only be known to the 'strict confidences of only the most trusted of all people'." The fact that Kodachi found out makes him simmer in rage already. The only reason he hasn't taken it out on them was that it was through Happosai's own mistake that Kodachi discovered the curse.

That was the scene Nabiki saw when she opened the shoji towards the room they were all gathered in. "Oh GOD! That woman infuriates me!"

"Calm down Nabiki, don't give her the satisfaction of seeing you like this," Nodoka said in a soothing voice. Everyone knew that her son's wife left a lot to be desired. "Sei, Hanae, go about your morning training so you can take a bath before breakfast."

With the dismissal from their grandmother, the children scurried out of the library. "And do remember to use a door this time!" Nodoka called out worriedly, she still did not approve of the manner they went about hopping from place to place. Training or no, it made her worry a lot more than she should.

When the children disappeared, Nabiki settled on the silk cushion Ranma led her to. "Let's talk of pleasanter things." He smiled as he looked at her. "How are the preparations coming through?"

Having her attention diverted from the topic of Kodachi, Nabiki eased her back. She almost sighed, and wished fervently that even though Kodachi was there, everything would go on well enough.

She would be let down... hard.

Endnotes:

(1) Sewa: means to help or charge

(2) Kintaro: 'Golden Wax Rice Field' (wonder what kind of rice this produces, doesn't sound like a samurai name... but... live with it.

kin -- gold or money
ta -- rice field
ro -- fireplace
wax

(3) Before the prisons were instigated, men were often killed when they were found at fault, no questions asked. The prisons, which came in the late 1500s were a temporary resting place before you got killed off. Getting killed after all is the only punishment. It's very rare that people ever come out of those cells.

(4) Ikkasei: 'Family Reason' (what I used although it could sound like 'Below Reason'... how much does one letter change the sound of this anyway... a byplay of words if you wish... :)

Ika -- less than, under, below
Ikka -- (A) Family
-sei -- results, influence, reason

(5) I'm not entirely sure if they really branded them back then... but it's for the story... what? You don't believe me?

(6) What are ronin? Samurai without a leader. I won't delve into the topic. Most of the people know what ronin are. An important fact though are that women samurai become ronin when their husband turns them out. That or shave their hair and become nuns. Or seppuku. Talk about hard choices.

(7) Buying the contract of a courtesan, means you own that courtesan. Renting a contract usually is a night... buying a courtesan would probably cost around a thousand koku depending on the level. Kyoto First Class courtesans are the best. The wives are the ones who negotiate for the contract for their husbands. Weird, huh?

(8) Of course there still aren't any bras in Japan at 1600s, I had to improvise! I'm not certain what an under-kimono is actually... but it's under the category of underwear. Happosai has to settle for that until he reaches the 20th century.

(9) Silk is reserved for the more wealthy of the people :), China produces silk which they trade with the Portuguese for some Japanese products... they didn't trade directly because they can't understand each other and needed the priests as translators (who traded the products with outrageous prices). Japanese students sometimes were sent to China to learn there... why they never picked up the language I would never know.

(10) Ko-uma: pony. (He's the stable boy okay! Problem is there are currently no horses)

(11) Is this legal? Well yes... anything your liege lord says is legal to you... of course if it isn't legal to somebody else... you may get your head cut off... trick here is not to let that particular someone else find out.

(12) Measure of time -- well it is measured by: um I'll copy the exact paragraph from Shogun:

The day and the night are each split into six equal parts, the day began with the hour of the Hare (5 am-7am) Dragon (7am-9am), snake, horse, goat, monkey, cock, dog, boar, rat and ox. The cycle ended with the hour of the tiger (3am-5am)

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2 and the book I based it from is When there is Hope, and if you sue me you can't possibly get money from me.

Special Thanks to: MJ Maurice Phillip Tony Loco Dream and Angel Jourdan Bickham Jose AragaoByooki Desu Ano Nimus C. Jones Richard Robinson David Bateson David Stanley Jitou King Chan Lawrence Chu Bert Miller The Dragonbard Darthcwader1 Erin Outlawone1 David Calvarese Larry F

 

Author's notes:

I must admit Kodachi is turning out to be more evil than I expected her to be :)

Also, I don't know if you've noticed but my fave girl character in the Ranmaverse is Nabiki Tendo... who's going around nicely in her role :)

Yes... I said I liked her, I didn't mean for her to be Ranma's wife. :) I hope I've done her justice... :) Even if I cursed her, separated her from her husband, banished her... etc. etc. Still there are reasons for this... which I think I explained earlier. :)

This is where the deviation from the book I based this from starts. Although some scenes are the same, Nabiki's story is definitely different.

iCe

website: ice dot esmartdesign dot com
email: siuane at gmail dot com
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We sometimes tend to forget that criticsm is better than praise, when we criticize we say that the other person has the ability to accept our words and take it as a challenge to become better because of this.
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I write when the spirit moves, and I make sure it moves every day.
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