On a planet 33,000 light-years away from Earth…
Saotome Ranma could only smile as he gazed up towards the bright disc of the Milky Way Galaxy from his position on the slopes of the Esanta'cha in the western part of Tere'na Province. His body glistening in sweat — and only now covered by his normal pair of exercise trousers — he had just finished a hard and long workout on the slopes of Sagussa's highest mountain, pushing himself to new personal limits he had never reached before, not even in the combat-intensive environment of Nerima.
Nerima…
Ranma sighed as he moved to walk towards the beautiful mountain cabin that had been originally built for Moroboshi Ataru over a decade before, when the Daishi'cha were nothing more than living logic machines and — in desperation to find someone they could learn emotions from — they had turned to a five year-old boy from the Tōkyō suburb of Tomobiki to act as a sort of emotional template. It had worked very well; within a month of Ataru's arrival on this war-ravaged world, not a single Daishi'cha were the Vulcan-like beings he had initially encountered when the Elder Mother — later to take the name "Noa" in honour of her past-self, one of Uru's Maidens of Aruka — introduced him to the others who had been literally reborn to bring new life to a dead world.
Wonder what the hell the people ten centuries ago were thinking of, Ranma mused as he walked up the steps to the front door and entered the house. "Tadaima!"
"Okaeri nasai!" a girl's voice called back from the kitchen.
He smirked, and then he tensed on smelling the wonderful food Tariko was now cooking. "So what's up for supper?" he asked as he walked into the kitchen, moving over to gently embrace Tariko from behind, which made her yelp in surprise.
"Hey! Don't be fresh!" Ataru's twin snapped as she playfully batted him away. "Just some leftover stormwalker meat I'm making into a stew."
He nodded. "I'll take a shower."
With that, he headed into the bathroom. Given Sagussa's current situation — the once-lush tropical world had been nearly blasted into a radioactive wasteland during the War of Clone Rights, leaving a desert with very little in the way of seas left — the water situation wasn't anywhere close to what Earth provided…which made the matter of Ranma's curse quite manageable given the absence of handy sources of cold water to make him become a girl without warning. And while that was just one of the reasons he had accepted Moroboshi Tariko's offer to move to Sagussa in the wake of the whole matter with Herb and the Zhǐshuǐtǒng, it was nice to be able to go to bed as a boy and wake up as a boy. And while he was somewhat used to changing into a girl, it wasn't the way he had been raised and he preferred to revert back to being a boy as soon as he could if — on the odd occasions — he did have his curse triggered.
Slipping off his exercise clothes, he stepped into the sonic shower and allowed the pulses of warm air to chase away all the sweat and dirt that had accumulated on his body. A nice body wash and an extendable, flexible shower head made sure he could get to all the crevices in his body, and then cooling pulses of air cleaned him off before he stepped out to slip on a yukata and move back into his bedroom so he could put on some fresh clothes, then head down to enjoy supper with his friend.
Friend…
Thinking about that, Ranma could only smirk at how much his being on Sagussa for the last four months had enhanced his education in many ways. While not as book-smart as some people he knew — thanks pretty much to lack of decent opportunity, one that his eight months in Nerima and attending Fūrinkan High hadn't really changed — he did pride himself on being a quick study at things. And the Daishi'cha as a whole — who, on meeting Tariko's friend, were quick to conclude that Ranma was clearly a perfect candidate to become a prospective Daimon'cha even if many of them still hoped Ataru would forgive them — didn't press Ranma as his would-be fiancées had done back in Nerima. Yes, they flirted with him shamelessly when they got the chance…but being empaths, they also knew when to back away and leave him be when he needed space. Atop that, they didn't consider him a pervert and accuse him of every evil under the sun as Akane often got with Ranma at times, much less try to twist his honour to satisfy their ends with no regard to his own desires or wants.
That had been a breath of fresh air to the would-be heir of Musabetsu Kakutō-ryū…who was now officially a student of Saikō Jinseijutsu-ryū because Happōsai — to say anything of Ranma's own father — hadn't properly registered Ranma as their student in the records of the koryū that was the true home of both the School of Indiscriminate Grappling and the School of the Path of the Supreme Life.
Ranma smirked as he remembered Negako's explanations concerning Happōsai's mastery as awarded to him in the tenth year of Taishō by the Immortal Master himself.
Learning of what Happōsai had NOT been allowed to do when it came to taking on students had made Ranma laugh harder than he had done for as long as he could remember.
Of course, when Genma found out that his — much less his best friend's — "schools" had no legal standing with the Tensei-ryū, whatever hopes of "uniting the schools" of Musabetsu Kakutō that the two idiot fathers had would be flushed down the toilet.
Not that such would have stopped Saotome Genma and Tendō Sōun.
That was another reason Ranma had elected to move to Sagussa…
A knock at the doorway. "Hey!"
He perked, and then smiled. "Hey, Kanami!"
Walking into his bedroom was a girl that looked exactly like his cursed self: Petite, busty, hair as red as the side of a fire engine. Those were the only similarities between Ranma and the woman who had been designated Daishi'cha #91129 when she had been reborn a century ago. She — calling herself "Saotome Kanami" these days now that the Daishi'cha were getting away from using their sequential numbers as unofficial names — was Terran by descent and a shipmistress in the Republic of Sagussa Navy…though as of this time, there were few ships to command. Given what the Avalonians had done four months before when they seized an abandoned Sagussan fleet and a factory satellite then in orbit over the second world of Den'sha — which had been discovered by two of Moroboshi Hiromi's fellow tōshi a year before — the chances of Kanami getting her own ship to command soon were rather slim. Of course, the Daishi'cha were trying to negotiate getting at least the factory satellite back…but the Avalonians — driven by an overwhelming sense of abandonment because their spiritual "cousins" hadn't retrieved the bioroid factory from Phentax Twelve before the Niphentaxians found it a century before — weren't in any real mood to compromise.
Ranma and Tariko had both elected to keep mum over the whole matter.
Ataru had made his choice very clear on that matter.
That choice — even if Tariko was seen now pretty much as the Daite'cha, Sagussa's official head-of-state — had hurt Kanami and her sister Daishi'cha badly.
And while Ranma did care for a lot of the Daishi'cha…
…he really couldn't blame Ataru for feeling that way.
"So are the others coming?" he asked.
"Not today," Kanami replied. "Akane's doing shift-work on the Lyna'cha now. Ukyō and Shānpú are enjoying some quality time in the Chamber. Kodachi is doing shift-work in the Galactic Situation Room today; Makoto wanted to switch with her."
"Still hurtin' over what Mie-san did?"
Kanami nodded, her blue eyes misting. "I can't blame her. Or Ataru for that matter."
He nodded, and then perked on hearing Tariko call out for dinner…
Night fell over the Esanta'cha as Ranma and Kanami sat on an outcropping to gaze on the fiery disc of Sen'a setting beyond the western mountains close to the old shoreline near the site of Tere'na City; that was now a bomb crater thanks to an annihilation device set off centuries before to ignite the War of Clone Rights. Tariko was busy meeting several key advisors in the living room; since Ranma still was having trouble grasping those sorts of things and Kanami didn't have to be there, they had left the house to give the Daite'cha some privacy with Noa and her friends. Kanami was presently relaxing in the crook of Ranma's arm, smiling contently as she allowed her empathic powers to reach into his body and touch his somewhat-innocent soul. Ranma didn't want to deny her that chance even if he was still somewhat uncomfortable at the idea of being so close to a TOUCH-TELEPATH of all things.
Even if he still felt quite odd being so close to a woman who looked like HIMSELF with an application of cold water, he knew Kanami had elected herself to be his protector and teacher while he lived on Sagussa. In essence, she was both an adopted sister to him…as well as that mysterious thing normal boys his age would call a "girlfriend," which was something unique in Ranma's experience. Yes, she would gladly want a baby with him as the father — thus helping him forever be rid of the curse of the Niángnìquán by completing the life-to-death-to-new life cycle that was the only cure for the curse — but she knew Ranma wasn't emotionally mature enough to face the idea of being a father even if he really didn't have to worry about being a parent to any child with a Daishi'cha given how marei'cha worked. Since the only examples of fatherhood Ranma had been exposed to were his own father and Tendō Sōun — neither of which could be seen as "ideal" given the former's emphasis on teaching Ranma martial arts over the years…and the latter's abandonment of his daughters in the wake of his wife's death a decade ago, which offended Sagussan sensibilities profoundly — Ranma didn't want to do anything which could later have him compared to either of those men.
Kanami understood that right from the start…which was a switch from how Ranma's would-be fiancées and Tendō Akane's sisters treated him in the past. In his eyes, his "spirit-sister" was a mix of all the good attributes his previous female acquaintances had: Tendō Kasumi's serenity, Tendō Nabiki's street-smarts, Kuonji Ukyō's friendly nature, Nǚ Shānpú's boundless energy and Tendō Akane's big heart. She wasn't perfect — no one was — but it was quite a change…and a welcome one. No more did he have to worry about would-be wives leaping to conclusions over him like Ukyō, Shānpú and Akane had done in the past. No more did he have to worry about lazy fathers trying to trick him into marrying Akane…thus dishonoring the other fiancées; which was grounds for a potential blood feud given Shānpú's tribal laws. No more did he have to worry about the Kunō siblings, their nutcase father who served as Fūrinkan High's headmaster or that ki-vamp Ninomiya Hinako. No more did he have to worry about all the rivals coming out of the woodwork trying to beat him up for some imagined slight or another. And he didn't have to worry about ultra-old martial arts masters — naturally, Moroboshi Negako didn't count given her physical youth — playing their idiot games with him…to say anything of Happōsai always trying to do weird things to his girl-body.
Yes, it was nowhere close to perfect — even if he had a massive number of potential sparring partners on Sagussa, there wasn't the mad drive he had been subjected to in Nerima — but nothing in this life was perfect, so why worry about it?
"Ranma…"
Ranma blinked as he pulled Kanami closer to him.
Yeah. Why worry about it…?
"Tariko, are you alright?"
Tariko perked, and then she shook her head. "A little distracted," she confessed. "Ranma's broadcasting a little too much…even if he doesn't have our powers."
The others in the living room laughed on hearing that; they had sensed it as well. "Oh, speaking of which, we have an update on events in Nerima," the statuesque woman with the long, flowing dark brown hair and the deep blue eyes seated to the Daite'cha's right beside Noa mused. "It appears there's a new player involved now."
"Who?" Noa asked.
"Ranma's mother," Carmen — the woman designated Daishi'cha #75124 when she had been reborn over two centuries before had taken both her given and family name "Sandiego" from the famous American child's educational video game series — replied.
"And?" Tariko asked.
A sigh escaped Sagussa's "spymaster-prime," the current Director of Intelligence. "If I was not as experienced in reading people as I was when you first came to Sagussa, Tariko, I would classify Saotome Nodoka at the same level as her husband."
"A child abuser?" the current Director of Defence wondered.
A nod. "Hai, Benten, the same. Instant she showed up at the Tendō home, Genma dived into the koi pond and disguised himself as 'Mister Panda.' Reason why: Before he took Ranma on that training trip, he declared that Ranma would return a 'man above men'…with both their lives forfeit in seppuku if Ranma didn't match such a standard."
Gasps filled the room. "Is that a JOKE?!" the Engineer Commander snarled.
"I wouldn't joke about that, Ryūnosuke," Carmen stated. "But after Komugi got close enough to her to do a quick psi-probe, it turns out that this is a much more complex situation." As people gazed at her, the chief of intelligence stated, "Nodoka lost all contact with Genma and Ranma after they left the house. The only indication she ever received that they were still alive was the odd postcard in the mail. That's had two effects on Ranma's mother. One, she now believes that she has no choice but to enforce the suicide pact when Ranma finally returns home…and given Genma's actions when she visited the Tendō home, there is the potential that Nodoka will view Ranma's curse as 'unmanly.' Two, since she's missed out on so much of her son's life, she would gladly see him bed any woman to give her grandchildren to raise. And given Ranma's reticence to do anything save basic snuggling with Kanami or anyone else…"
"That's not going to go over well," the Surgeon General noted.
Nods around the room. "So what do you recommend?" Tariko asked.
"Well, the decision is ultimately Ranma's, isn't it?" Carmen asked. "He came here once your sister informed him of his paternal grandmother's will, not to mention the pre-marital agreement that was made between the Hayashi and Saotome families demanding that Ranma be raised 'properly.' Once Nodoka is reminded of her own responsibilities and how her acceptance of what Genma forced on her a decade ago would ultimately compel Ranma to renounce the Saotome name as provisioned for in the original agreement, that might make her see reason."
"Is that was Komugi recommends?" Tariko asked.
A nod. "Yes."
The Daite'cha of the Fifth Republic of Sagussa moaned. While she did understand her brother's desire to have nothing further to do with the Daishi'cha given how they had "abandoned" him — when all they did was return him to his family home as there had been no real hint of abuse from Ataru's parents towards him — for a decade, Tariko honestly wished that he hadn't been so hard-headed about it. Much that the women around her — and all the Daishi'cha on Sagussa, not to mention those Avalonians who had followed Tariko to the ancestral homeworld over the last four months — were doing as much as they could to make Ataru's twin comfortable in her current position, this was something she clearly had never envisioned for her future life. While she wasn't as carefree as Ataru had always been, she didn't need such responsibility slammed onto her shoulders. And while she knew what he was doing with the Avalonians as a way of atoning for his sins, there was still a little resentment in Tariko's heart when it came to her twin.
Still, there were the perks. Tariko didn't see herself settling down with anyone soon, but did envision having ONE permanent relationship when the right sort of person came into her life. She was not lacking for intimate companionship…and since Ranma was the only man on Sagussa at this time, such always was with a girl, which made Tariko feel much easier. Even if it had been almost six months since her soul had been separated from Ataru, she was still getting used to being a girl 24/7 — her own menarche, for example, had been quite harrowing — and didn't see herself as ready to do THAT with a guy, even a sweet one like Ranma. Atop that, Tariko respected established or developing relationships amongst her friends…which guaranteed that she wouldn't butt in on Ranma even if she got over her hang-up of actually sleeping with a man; he was obviously Kanami's target for something other than a quick one-night fling with no contraceptives anywhere in close range. And while there were many potential candidates out there, there hadn't been the spark that would make a marei'cha bonding easier in the long term.
The only girl who could POSSIBLY fit Tariko's needs was Miyake Shinobu — in that incident where Ataru had been split in two by Lum's spice candy and Cherry's cursed cake, the "kinder" version of him was actually Tariko in her first chance "in the driver's seat," so to speak; Tariko did fondly remember how Shinobu had liked the idea of having a "tamer" Ataru in her life and away from Lum — but the other woman clearly wanted to have a sense of normalcy in her life despite her current infatuation with a being like Inaba. Tariko respected Shinobu too much to horn in on the latter's life. And given the fallout of what happened the previous week between Ataru and Lum, Tariko knew Tomobiki was NOT a place to visit for the foreseeable future; until the potential threats there were dealt with, she would leave that place to Negako and Hiromi.
Well, that was for the future to decide…
"Tell Komugi to go ahead, Carmen," Tariko then bade.
A nod. "It will be done."
And with that, we now…
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(Posted Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:41)
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