"Genma?"
That word was echoed with the slight SHIING! of the Saotome honour blade being partially drawn from its scabbard. Hearing that, Genma remained quiet as he continued to enjoy his pipe; he was seated on the front porch of the Tendô home, gazing out on the evening sky growing over Nerima. "What is it, my wife?" he then asked.
Nodoka blinked, clearly surprised by the fact that her husband was not reacting to what she was threatening to do with the sword in her hand. While she knew that he was quite skilled and very experienced when dealing with armed opponents — she remembered the few times the then-Genma Hayashi had expertly disarmed and disabled a whole bunch of kendô students who had been harassing the young Nodoka Saotome the day they first met over twenty years before — she believed that his true feelings for her would make him vulnerable to her will when she chose to exercise it.
It wasn't happening now.
"Is there something wrong?" Genma asked, again choosing not to look at her.
Nodoka shuddered as she slowly allowed the sword to return fully to its scabbard. "Why is it my son is currently dressed as a girl and on the other side of Tôkyô from where he should be?" she evenly demanded, a slight shudder racing through her. "How is it my son became friends with that alien maniac living in Tomobiki? And who were those other girls that were with my son and that alien on the television?"
"Our son is currently spending the weekend away from this place to train his first true student," Genma calmly replied. "To not alert the maniacs here in Nerima who would hound our son to the ends of the earth itself for their petty and selfish reasons, he elected to take female form and felt it only prudent to dress as a girl, which he has great practice in. The one girl that was with him is his student, Tsueko Mago. The other girl is Lum-chan's closest friend, Tariko Hana."
Nodoka's eyes widened. "'Mago?!' Wait! You mean…?!"
"Katahiko-kun's and Haeko-chan's daughter. She currently attends the Nan'yô Academy in Kimitsu under the battle name 'Hakufu Sonsaku.'"
Silence.
"Genma!" Nodoka shrieked. "You know what sort of monsters those people are! How DARE you allow my child to spend time with that…?! That…?! That THING?!" She shook her head. "I forbid this! Ranma is to come home at once…!"
A tidal wave of heat then exploded from behind Nodoka, making her turn sheet-white in horror as a growling voice then demanded, "WHO GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO DEMAND ANYTHING OF MY STUDENT, YOU IMPUTENT LITTLE CHILD?!"
Nodoka spun around to see a blazing ki aura loom like God Himself over her, it looking very much like Happôsai. "B-b-but…!" she sputtered helplessly.
"SILENCE!"
She clammed up immediately as Happôsai's glowing eyes seemed to bore right into her very soul. "When it comes to affairs of the Art, you have NO right to say a thing about what your child does, girl!" the grandmaster of Musabetsu Kakutô-ryû snarled. "I gave him permission to train Tsueko-chan over six months ago! And I don't CARE if she and her family are tôshi! She's got over a THOUSAND times more determination, courage and spunk than Sôun's worthless dyke of a daughter! I consider it the greatest of honours that a person bearing the soul of one of the greatest warriors that had ever lived in all of the Far East gladly chose to become a part of my school! And there is no way I will allow a lying, two-faced HYPOCRITE like YOU to interfere in any way, shape or form!" The battle aura exploded again, that causing Nodoka to shriek out in fright as she collapsed on herself. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME, GIRL?!"
She shakily nodded, her voice totally gone thanks to the fright she now felt concerning the small, aged warrior before her. Until now, she had never truly believed Genma's tales about how powerful and how dangerous his master was. Now, she had no choice but to believe those words. Seeing that, Happôsai seemed to smile as he relaxed. "That's much better," the aged grandmaster stated as he reached into his own personal stuff-space pocket to pull out a familiar sheet of paper. "Lucky thing I got my hands on this when I could," he said with a knowing look as Nodoka nearly cried out in shock on noting that he now held the copy of the seppuku contract she had carried with her for over a decade while Ranma and Genma had been gone on their training trip. "I wonder what a judge would say if he ever got a chance to read this thing?" He then stared knowingly at her. "And how he would rule your competency at being Ranma's mother as a result of this going public?" A chuckle. "Perhaps a spell in the nearest psychiatric hospital might actually teach you some things."
Nodoka nearly collapsed on herself, her eyes wide with horror at what Happôsai was now threatening. The grandmaster seemed to grin even more before a hum escaped him. "And speaking of stepping out of your bounds when it comes to my student, I think I better relieve you of something else as well." With that, his pipe lashed out.
Nodoka screamed out as a shiatsu point was hit on her arm, making her hand spasm as the sheathed honour sword was dropped to the patio deck. Before she could grasp it with her other hand, Happôsai snared the weapon and made it disappear. Seeing that, she screamed out as she stared in helpless outrage at the grandmaster. Before she could say a thing, his pipe hit the shiatsu point on her throat to silence her larynx.
As she found herself totally unable to speak, Happôsai then nodded. "Much better. I'm not interested in hearing the petty screams of a spoiled brat with delusions of adequacy that should have had that beaten out of her a long time ago," he said as he glared knowingly at her. "Believe me, girl, I'm fully AWARE of the true origins of your so-called 'family honour blade,'" he then said with a smirk. "I wonder what would happen to your family's reputation if that information ever went public?"
She was now as white as a ghost as she rapidly shook her head, a pleading look on her face. "Oh, enough of that!" he spat out as he turned to head back inside. "The day Genma took his child out on their training trip and away from you was the best thing ever to happen to Ranma," he stated as he lit up his pipe. "I would have hoped that in the decade he was away from you, you might have actually come to reflect on all the lies and fantasies your idiot parents and great-grandparents heaped all over you before you married Genma. But it seems that absence made you even worse than you were before Genma and Sôun sealed me in the cave." A shrug. "Oh, well, it's not too late. In a year's time, it won't matter either which way. You'll be forever out of Ranma's life once and for all. There'll be no chance in Hell for the lies your family has hung onto all these years to continue. And he'll be able to expand the Art in ways that have never been expanded before. No longer bound by the idiot traditions that should have forever gone up in smoke and fire at Hiroshima and Nagasaki!"
He took a deep breath. "Still, there is one hope for you, Nodoka." He stared at her, quick to sense the look of helpless pleading in Nodoka's eyes, and then he looked away to take a puff on his pipe. "Reject it all. Everything your parents and great-grandparents taught you. Accept the truth of your ancestry and what it means. And most of all, make yourself Ranma's real mother! Not the honour-bound hypocrite who showed right away how much she cared more for a piece of paper than the welfare of her own flesh-and-blood."
With that, he headed off. Nodoka shuddered as he left, and then she spun around to stare hopefully at Genma. He was looking at her now, a sad look on his face. Taking a deep breath, he reached over to tap her throat to unlock her larynx. A gasp then escaped her as she reached up to feel her throat, and then she glared at her husband. "Genma! How could you let that letch take away the sword?! He has no right…!"
"NODOKA!"
She yelped, her voice failing her as he glared at her. Silence fell as they looked on each other, and then he closed his eyes. "Ranma is aware of everything."
Her breath caught in her throat, and then she looked down, her whole body shivering as she felt the core of her very soul — the determination and the willpower to ensure the very dark secret that she had been charged to protect on her father's deathbed years before, when she was just a little girl and left in the care of her elderly great-grandparents, would remain secret from all outside scrutiny — start to shake apart at the sheer scale of how much she had ultimately failed in that task became known to her. As she felt tears in her eyes, she took a deep breath to muster what pride she had left, and then she stared at him. "Does he feel ashamed?"
"Hai, he does," he replied. "But not the thing you feel ashamed about."
Nodoka blinked. "What…?"
"Nodoka, do you think with the travelling Ranma and I did in our training trip, he could ever develop all the ingrained xenophobia most people in Japan have been forced to believe in thanks to our centuries of isolation away from other people, tacked onto all the idiot propaganda that eventually got us into a war we couldn't win against a nation far stronger both economically and culturally than we were?"
"That's not true!" she spat out. "Where's your pride?!"
A sigh. "Nodoka, please! Will you stop that?" he pleaded to her, and then he smirked. "I know for the fact that you actually like the idea of him being close to Shampoo, who happens to be Han Chinese and descent of migrants from the Middle East! If you allow that to happen yet reject the fact that he has foreign blood in him — just like YOU do! — what does that say about you?" He sighed as he looked away.
Nodoka began to shiver. "B-but, still…"
"Ranma still loves you, you know."
She blinked as she looked at him. "What?" she gasped.
"He still loves you," he repeated as he gazed fondly at her. "Even after he learned from Haeko-chan the truth of your family's ancestry, he still loves you. And he wants you to be happy. And he still wants you to be his mother." A smirk. "Not to mention be a grandmother to any children he might have when he gets married."
Nodoka's eyes widened in shock as she took that in, and then she blinked as she felt tears flow down her cheeks. "I…!" she began before her voice choked up. "I don't know what to say or to think now, Genma," she whispered as she gazed on him. "I…! I…need time to think about this…!" She hugged herself.
A hand gently grasped her shoulder. "I know," he assured her. "I'm going to get Sôun drunk tonight, then after he's asleep, go spend the day with Haeko in Minakami." A sigh. "Nodoka, please. Not for your sake or mine, but for Ranma's sake. Don't consider that if you feel what just got revealed today is too intolerable for you to take. If you do that, you'll break Ranma's heart." He closed his eyes, allowing his own tears to gently glide down his cheeks. "And mine," he whispered.
Nodoka stared at him, and then she found herself weakly smiling before she rose and walked back into the house. Genma remained still as she left, and then he reached up to gently wipe his face clear. A moment later, a cup of tea was placed down beside him. "Arigatô," he said as he stared fondly at Kasumi. "For everything."
The eldest daughter smiled as she gazed at him. "It has been both a great delight and a profound annoyance having you in this household, Oji-san," she said as she turned away from him. "That you ended up raising a child that — despite all the things he didn't learn while under your care while you were travelling around — still has such a great heart speaks highly of him. And in an odd way, you as well."
"You flatter me for things I know I am not worthy of, Kasumi-chan," he said as he took up his tea cup. "The only thing I hope that will happen when we no longer have to force ourselves on your lives is that you go out and do what Ranma wants all of you to do. Live your lives as free and as happy as can be." He then perked as he gazed pleasantly at her. "Talked to Tôfû-sensei recently?"
A chuckle. "I'm still working on him, Oji-san. It might take a while."
He then laughed before taking up the tea and sipping it, his eyes narrowing as they locked on the nearby large cherry at one corner of the yard…
For the young warrior-maiden currently crouched in the shadows of the cherry blossom leaves that masked her visual presence from her 'husband's' father not ten metres away, the last few minutes had been the most surreal she had experienced since coming to Tôkyô a year before to finally breathe the air of freedom. And fine true love.
Ranma is prepared to renounce his mother and walk away from everything here once and for all?! And his panda father actually is supporting it?!
A whole storm of emotions now thundered through Shänpú Nyû's heart as her mind, honed to near tactical perfection thanks to the years of training under her great-grandmother and the other village elders, began to analyse what she had just heard. And while she knew immediately that she didn't understand the whole story surrounding Ranma Saotome and what was happening with his family, she knew enough now to suspect one thing.
Could Ranma know what's actually happening between Akane, Ukyô and I?!
THAT made Shampoo shudder with a mixture of fear at what could happen if Ranma decided it was time to get even with his "fiancées" for their using him like that and anger towards herself for totally getting it wrong concerning about the clueless boy she had found herself "married" to thanks to his defeat of her in Akane's defence almost a year ago. If indeed Ranma DID know the truth about what his three would-be wives did when they were on their own, what would it mean, especially for Akane and Ukyô? While Shampoo didn't really care about how the natives of this land saw her in the long run, she knew her beloveds were mortified of being "brought out of the closet" (as they would say it in the West) and exposed as lesbians to society at large. If people took it the wrong way — especially Akane's idiot father, to say of the arrogant fool Ukyô was forced to see as her sire — and turned against them both…
The village would become the only place they could truly feel safe anywhere in the Far East, the warrior-maiden hissed to herself as she waited for Genma to head inside so she could egress herself from the tree and return to Okonomiyaki U-chan's. Neither Akane or Ukyô are prepared to live in the West; neither of them speak English or any of the other languages there very well. It would be so hard for them both. I was prepared at least to live abroad when I chased Ranma and the panda out of the village. Are they prepared to live their lives separated from their family and ancestors even if it will guarantee their happiness with each other and with me?
She had come to the Tendô home from Ukyô's apartment over her restaurant after all three of them — in the wake of a delicious romp between them after they assured themselves Ranma would be gone for the day — got the shock of their lives on seeing their "fiancé" — in girl-form and DRESSED like a girl to boot! — in the company of LUM REDET of all people! — on the evening news, helping chase down and capture a pair of bandits on the highway close to Nerima Airport, who seemed to be in pursuit of a young orphaned boy from America who had come to Japan in search of his grandfather. Even worse, Ranma and Lum had been in the company of two other women, one of which Shampoo recognised as Lum's secret lover Tariko Hana, and the other…
Bearing one of the cursed magatama-shaped jewels of the Sänguó on her ear.
Shampoo nearly had a heart attack on seeing that close-up image of the green-eyed dark blonde girl holding Ranma's hand when the aerial news cameras had got a close-up image of them both. Like all in her tribe, the young warrior-maiden knew well the ancient tales of what had happened to the souls of many warriors and warlords from the bloody period after the final collapse of the Han dynasty eighteen centuries ago. How they had been trapped in jewels of an unknown material, then somehow made their way across China to eventually pass through Korea and across the East Sea to Japan. How each soul-cursed jewel ended up possessing someone along the way, forcing that poor unfortunate to live out his/her life in a mad and bloody parody of the soul's own life. Which, if the soul in question had died young and horribly, would often repeat itself with the reincarnated version of that soul many years and centuries after the fact.
The Nyûjiézú had experienced several encounters with people cursed by those damned soul jewels in the past. Each time, the ancient marriage laws which were meant to ensure new strength flowing into the tribe turned into a terrible curse that, on several occasions, had nearly bled the tribe dry. Eventually, the elders had no choice but to declare an exception to the kiss of marriage law: under NO circumstances was anyone known to be touched by the mad souls of the warriors of the Sänguó were to be considered as potential husbands or wives. If these battle-crazed beings were ever encountered, a Nyûjiézú warrior was to retreat immediately and keep clear of them.
That law also applied to those the mad ones considered friends or mates.
And if the blonde warrior saw Ranma as a friend…
Or even MORE…?
Shampoo shuddered, and then she took a deep breath to calm herself. She had a potential name at least: Tsueko Mago, the daughter of two childhood friends of Ranma's parents. If she was the one who had been on the television screen, then she was at least Ranma's friend as well as student. Even more, if what the panda and the pervert had told Ranma's mother was true, this Tsueko was considered a student in their Art, which made her even more precious in their eyes. Realising that, she then grimaced. Be careful in telling Akane about that one, she mused as she noted that Genma had finished his tea and was now heading inside. Relaxing herself as she waited a couple of minutes before she would slip out of the tree and head off, she sighed.
Even if Akane did not train as much as Ranma did, she still was in training; Shampoo had taken it upon herself to help her lover improve her skills by teaching her the basics of the Nyûjiézú version of wûshù, both unarmed and armed styles. And Akane still had her pride as a martial artist. Shampoo did nothing to hurt that pride; after all, given how much Akane had fallen behind thanks to her father's appalling unwillingness to teach her a thing because of his profound fear of hurting his beloved child, pride was all she had left when she compared herself to heavy-hitters like Ranma and Ryôga Hibiki. And Shampoo knew that her pride would take a very vicious hit if she learned of Ranma actually having a STUDENT — and a WOMAN! — which he trained, with the permission of Happôsai and Genma atop that!
And if this Tsueko Mago WAS one of the mad ones of the Sänguó…?
Shampoo sighed as she moved to slip out of the tree and make her way to a nearby rooftop for the run back to Okonomiyaki U-chan's. While she was prepared to lose friends and loved ones to death under any circumstances — the harsh life she had endured at her village ensured she had long ago come to understand THAT — she definitely did not want to lose Akane or Ukyô to one of THEM under any circumstances, even if it was to force Ranma back into his role as their "fiancé." And with Genma and Happôsai not only supporting his friendship with this woman, but making very damn sure that Nodoka (and Sôun) could not possibly begin to interfere, that meant that things were about to come crashing down on people in one way or another.
And she loved and cared for Akane and Ukyô too much to see them hurt THAT way.
Within minutes, she slipped in through the window leading into Ukyô's apartment over her restaurant, and then she stopped to see that neither of her lovers were anywhere close by. "Akane? Ukyô?" she called out before her ears picked up splashing noises from the direction of the bathroom. "Oh, there they are," she whispered.
Her clothes came off as she made her way into the bathroom, where her lovers were currently enjoying a hot and enjoyable soak in the furo. Both perked on seeing her there, and then they grinned. "Hey, Shan! What took you so long?!" Ukyô demanded before her eyes noted the wary, fearful look in the warrior-maiden's eyes.
Akane had also noticed it. "What is it?"
Shampoo sighed. "We may have a big problem."
"What?" the other girls demanded in unison.
A tired sigh later, Shampoo began to explain as she sat down and washed herself before slipping into the furo. The explanation took about twenty minutes; both Akane and Ukyô had been warned about the truth behind the tôshi of the Seven Schools months ago after a particularly nasty incident near Rakuyô had hit the news. Hearing that, both Japanese girls began to pale as the true scale of this potential disaster sank in.
"So you're saying that Ranma is actually TEACHING this thing the Art?" Akane finished after Shampoo sprayed herself clear of suds and moved to join them.
"Hai," Shampoo said; whenever she had to talk serious with her lovers, she dropped the pidgin Japanese she used in public and revealed her true knowledge of the language, which was as fluent as Cologne's. "Further, it's totally WITH the knowledge of the panda and the pervert. And they just totally cowered the panda's wife into submission when she objected to it, using some secret from her family's past to put her down."
"So if Ranma really is getting close to this girl…?" Ukyô mused.
"Then by my people's laws, I am no longer married to him," Shampoo finished. "And if Ranma is aware of what we actually do when we're away from him, he'll have every right in the world to renounce any engagements to either of you. And if you try to beat him down, all he has to do is let the knowledge go public." A grimace crossed her face on seeing Akane and Ukyô jolt, their eyes widening in fright. "And everyone in Nerima is very well aware of this: 'Ranma Saotome can't lie to save his life.'"
"That BASTARD!" Akane snarled, her fists clenching.
"Hey! Cool down, A-chan!" Ukyô urged as she placed firm hands on her lover's shoulders. "We don't know if he knows the truth or not!"
Akane stared at her, and then she blinked before breathing out. "True."
They enjoyed a group hug before Ukyô stood up. "What's wrong?" Shampoo asked.
"I'm going to get my kanji dictionary," the okonomiyaki chef said as she moved to dry herself. "I want to see what that Mago girl's name means."
Akane and Shampoo blinked before they stood up to follow. Minutes later, all three were in Ukyô's bedroom, the chef at her desk as she picked through the index of her kanji dictionary, the others on their feet and looking over Ukyô's shoulders as she picked through the pages. Finally, she pointed. "Here's 'Mago.'"
Shampoo and Akane looked at the kanji 孫. "That reads 'son,' too," the latter said before she looked over. "What does it read in Mandarin, Shan?"
"'Sün,'" the warrior-maiden whispered, her voice filling with dread.
Akane and Ukyô were quick to notice. "Find 'Tsue,'" the former then said as she gazed on the latter. "The 'ko' part of her name's easy to figure out."
"Right," the chef said as she flipped through the pages, and then she perked on finding the entry in question. "It's a really rare one, this one."
"On reading 'saku,'" Akane said as she looked upon the kanji 策. She then glanced once more at Shampoo, quickly seeing the other woman's skin turn white with mortal terror. "Shan…?" she hissed as she reached over to grip the other woman's shoulder.
"Cè Sün," Shampoo whispered before she staggered back and fell onto Ukyô's bed. "Oh, Goddess, no! Not THAT one…!" she hissed as she rubbed her forehead.
Her lovers were immediately at her side. "What is it, Shan?" Ukyô gently urged as they gazed into Shampoo's tearing eyes. "What is it about this girl?"
The warrior-maiden blinked before taking a deep breath. "She is perhaps one of the most dangerous and deadly tôshi of all," she then said. "Cè Sün was known in his time as 'the Little Conqueror.' He helped form the state of Eastern Wú when everything all fell apart, though he never lived to see his brother become the first emperor there; a Taoist monk cursed him to die when he was put to death for sedition." A deep sigh. "Ever since that time, all the known and suspected reincarnations of Cè Sün were said to be possessed by the power of…" Here, she gulped.
"What?" Akane gently urged her.
Shampoo closed her eyes. "A dragon."
Akane and Ukyô paled. "Like what Ranma himself was supposedly touched by, if what that alien girl who came here today said was the truth," the former said.
"Oh, crap…!" the latter groaned.
"Hai," Shampoo said as she gazed on one of her lovers, and then the other. "I love you both. I will do anything to keep you safe and happy. And I have to warn you both this now…" She paused, and then sighed. "If the Lady Tsueko is indeed Cè Sün reborn in this life — and if she IS touched by a dragon — then the chances are VERY good that she now considers Ranma her treasure." Her eyes closed. "If we do anything to hurt Ranma in any way — and if the Lady Tsueko learns of this…"
"Then we're in trouble," Ukyô finished.
"Hai."
Silence fell as they considered that, and then Akane closed her eyes. "What do we do?"
Now we…
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(Posted Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:27)
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