Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters here that belong to Ranma 1/2. The Ranma 1/2 cast belongs to Rumiko Takashi. The rest of the character(s) from the novel "Plasmatic Shadow" belong to me. (Sorry, that novel isn't complete yet so you'll have to wait, IF you want to read it.)
This story takes place after Volume 38 or end of the manga series... just so you know.
This chapter has been revised as of 06th, May, 2004. ( Actually, revised before, but after a quick read through, I'm posting it now.
People who gave me very constructive pointers and helped me iron out flaws in my story, People who encouraged me made me feel like trying even harder to fix this fic, making it more worth your while. I hope this chapter reflects that I have indeed improved (albeit slightly). I hope you like it :) You all know who you are. Thank you!
This chapter had actually been revised a long time ago. I just didn't upload it until I had revised all. Sorry people, I've been extremely busy. I had been in a lot of pressure lately at work etc. So I really didn't have time for anything else. Luckily I've been released of that pressure ( my boss has taken me off that project, putting me in a new one…but this one is much better.)
This, I'm giving for some of those impatient people. Trust me, I know what it feels like to wait for a story to update. Chapter 11 is almost complete. In fact, I'm working on it. The moment it is done, I'll upload it to It shouldn't be long. Anyways…I hope… HOPE this can keep you guys a little relaxed for the time being.
Chapter one: The Long Talk / A New Visitor
It is a pleasant Saturday evening in Nerima, almost a week after the wedding fiasco that had resulted in the complete destruction of the Saotome household, and thus, forced the Saotome family to move back in with the Tendo's until their house was rebuilt. At least until some other arrangement could be made possible.
It had been three days ago, that Nodoka Saotome had decided to visit her home in Hiroshima in order to receive financing from her family. Genma, her husband, had atrociously little in terms of monetary value. Though Nodoka's family did not have much, she believed it would be a start.
Ranma had intended to go with his mother, and because of the diminutive amount of time that they had spent together, she was very willing to have her son tag along, and maybe meet her side of the family. However, unknown to Ranma, his father had secretly convinced his wife that Ranma needed to catch up with his studies, and continue his heavy training in the morning after her son left for school.
Totally incensed with what had transpired without his knowledge or consent, Ranma was livid. He had almost beat Genma into telling him where his mother went, hesitating only when Soun interjected by announcing that Nodoka was going to be back in a week's time, and that she had mentioned something about Ranma being on his best behavior.
'He has already missed too much of schooling. A man in today's times must be well educated.' Nabiki had quoted, dryly giving her approval of Genma and Soun's statements. That had pretty much 'officially' declared, in her own way, that they weren't being dishonest.
Not having too much choice in the matter, Ranma had reluctantly decided to stay put. He had not wanted to further frustrate his mother, whom he had gotten to know quite recently. Even then he had not spent that much alone time with her, obviously because of one problem or another rising up. Half the time his father had dragged him off with the pathetic excuse of training.
While Ranma would aversely admit that his father had done somewhat of an acceptable job in giving him the foundations, he knew well enough that he had already surpassed his parent. Genma had little to teach Ranma anymore, save the sealed techniques, which the young martial artist positively believed he could learn without his old man's help.
And now, Ranma Saotome, heir to the Anything Goes School of Indiscriminate Grappling, on a mission to become the best martial artist in the world, to become a man among men, sat in the back yard of the Tendo home- bored out of his mind.
His steel blue eyes encompassed tsunamis of emotion while he stared into to the Koi pond in front of him as he rested his elbows on his knees, a few leaves of grass twirling within his durable fingers. He sat there squatted, staring down in the water, ruminating on what he could see of his own reflection.
He had specialized in un-armed combat, yet his prowess at the art gave him abilities that would out do light conventional weaponry. It was now possible for him brush off the volcanic heat of ki blasts and similar attacks that would otherwise severely damage buildings.
All his life he had trained to be the best. Instructed by his father, Ranma had sacrificed much in the name of the art. He almost sold his soul to the Neko-Ken training. His sanity, while away from the feline kind somehow existed. That remaining sanity in itself was under constant burden, causing his personality became verifiably unstable and only to kept in check by his sense of honor.
Devoting his entire soul, his entire being in the name of the art, Ranma had gained much strength. He tasted sour victory after victory against unimaginable foes. He pushed himself to keep his honor; honor that was dictated to him, not established by him.
Some where something went wrong. He became a killer.
Akane had gone shopping with her sister Nabiki and had planned on being back no earlier than nightfall. Genma and Soun, the Saotome and Tendo patriarchs had mustered the courage to attend another town meeting regarding a personal effects theft problem that had escalated again. This left young martial artist with little to do without his father pestering him about martial arts and training. School work was not very important at the moment – not that it ever really was.
He did not feel like training. Ranma sat quietly, letting the wind play with his hair. He silently thanked the gods for somehow keeping is 'other' betrothed away from his current location. He really wished he had gone with his mother. It would have given him time away from the problems that plagued him at the time.
Figuring the best he could do right now was to contemplate on what had transpired lately, the young boy tried to make heads or tails of his current state of affairs. He wanted answers, and yet could find none.
He wanted to somehow resolve the problems that existed, which he knew after some time would escalate only to blow up in his face. It had taken him long – too long – to learn that postponing or temporarily pushing away problems would only cause them to come back with twice as much force.
It was as if he was stuck in his neko-ken mind – completely blank. He had no idea what was going, nor what to do about it. He knew what he wanted, but letting anyone in on that would probably cause more disaster. That was something he wasn't sure he could handle at the moment.
Ranma flinched when something struck his eye, and moved to rub it out. It was only a small twig, cast away by the sudden blast of strong wind. He smirked; even the weather was being erratic.
He glanced down momentarily at his reflection that staring back at him from the pond quivered as waves upon waves transcended. The souvenirs from the passing wind distorted his image, making Ranma chuckle lightly and emotionlessly. He wondered if this distorted reflection of himself represented his life currently.
The setting sun glazed him with its last remaining sunlight before morphing into dusk; the turning point between day and night. The shadows cast by the rock and the Tendo wall elongated in slow motion as the earth's rotation caused the city to shy away from the sun.
Inside the house, Kasumi Tendo, the eldest daughter of her family stood inside her kitchen, idly tapping a spoon on the top edge of a glass and enjoying the 'ting' sound. It was not something she did often, but thought nothing of it as she waited for the oven to finish baking her cookies.
Unknown to anyone else, she appeared to have an affinity with anything that was related to cuisine. She could almost 'feel' the correct dosage of any ingredient required to make the dish she made, absolutely delicious. Taking care of the family from a young age had turned her into the almost perfect housewife.
Upon looking at the emotionless martial artist in the back yard, Kasumi had decided to make something extra delicious for him to eat. She knew well enough, from the amount of grocery shopping she did that eating had always been one of his hobbies. She assumed it was because he had never been fed much while he was on the road. Yet how he managed to keep such muscle mass when he first arrived still eluded her.
She had quite desolately seen the way everyone treated him, and had heard what he gone through his entire life. She was quite shocked to hear that Ranma had gone so far as to kill someone to save her younger sister. While it was very difficult to believe such news, it had come from her younger sibling, Nabiki. That girl rarely, if ever, provided incorrect facts. Unless those false statements were to her benefit of course.
After witnessing Ranma's behavior in the past few weeks since his return, the eldest Tendo daughter's opinion on the matter led her to believe Nabiki's proclamation held some merit, since Ranma himself never talked about what had happened.
Kasumi assumed it was probably because Nabiki had shaken the information all out of him, and making him hide deeper under the shell he seemed to have formed around himself.
'Well, it was expected,' she thought sorrowfully, a mild frown tugging at her lips as she delicately tapped the bottom side of the glass, making it emit a sharp ting, followed by a low humming noise. At the rate problems had been coming up lately, she believed it required but a little more time before something tragic happened.
Contrary to what her family believed, the treatment the young boy had received from everyone after his return from China was appalling. His wedding was completely ruined by the people he thought to have become his friends – something which was probably good, only it left Ranma in such a state that even Kasumi couldn't figure it out.
The behavior towards the Saotome heir after that diabolical wedding attempt had adverse effects on the boy. Akane had initially been very upset with Ranma, which was quite understandable, for she had under her own will agreed to the marriage; it's destruction had been a major disappointment for the young girl.
The Tendo and Saotome patriarchs had blamed Ranma, something Kasumi simply could not understand, for him not fulfilling his duty and putting a stain on his honor. Initially Akane and Ranma had begun to get along really well, even after the whole ordeal. Kasumi supposed that was probably why had Ranma been content with the situation.
The remaining 'significant others', however had kept on escalating their efforts in attempts to gain his attention. Ranma never really did say anything to them, which in turn fueled Akane's insecurities.
Then of course, it was back to the usual bickering. On any usual day, it was quite common, and Kasumi would really consider them 'getting along' like she usually did. But this time it was getting worse. Both Akane and Ranma were getting tired of it. Akane was slowly becoming violent again and in the past week, Kasumi wondered if Ranma had even cared about anything anymore, knowing how badly he wanted to spend time with his mother.
He let anyone do whatever they wanted, without replying or at least attempting to get some control over the situation. Like that ever did any good. It only aggravated Akane more, and Ranma didn't seem to understand that. He was too busy in his own world. Maybe Ranma's curse did not only include the changing of gender, the elder Tendo offspring wondered.
Her thoughts were left hanging when the oven emitted a soft high pitched 'ding', telling her that her cookies were indeed ready. The tea had already been prepared.
Kasumi had decided that it would be for the better to try and talk to the boy turned warrior freely, without holding back the emotions and attitude she had hidden from most of her family due to personal reasons. Something different, and hopefully pleasant could shock him out of his misery. She carefully placed the cookies in the tea tray, making sure to neatly arrange them, and started off towards the pig tailed martial artist.
"Ranma, is everything alright?" she asked as she entered the lawn. When she reached the young man, she calmly laid the items them down next to him and sat down, wondering for a moment if he would mind her company.
"Hmm? Yeah, I guess so. I was trying to break my own record by doing something I've never done before." His monotonic voice replied, almost as if it was on automatic.
His smirk, his smile, his arrogant attitude that usually never left his side, no longer seemed to have existed in this empty shell that sat in front of her.
"And what is that?" Kasumi asked, hoping he would open up before he burst.
"Think."
Ranma turned to look at her, smiling a little bit as she smiled back, trying to hold back a giggle. It worked.
"Oh I am sure that is not something you haven't done before."
"Not when it counts I don't, but I guess a better word would be to… reflect. Yeah, I'm reflectin'." He unconsciously grabbed a few cookies and directed them towards his mouth.
Kasumi stared at him curiously; she had half expected Ranma to finish the edibles in a few seconds. Though she had already established that the emotional stress he was baring had a large effect on his behavior, she still needed for him to drill a hole out of this airtight container so he could breathe.
Ranma, while munching, glanced at Kasumi upon noticing her gaze.
Probably wondering why it wasn't in my stomach already. Heh, he thought to himself, "Pop ain't here." He explained, "I can sense him whenever he's near now. No one's gonna steal this from me. Though don't tell anyone that I can sense people that well. It'll probably be better that way."
"Oh, that's quite alright… So you care to talk about what you were – ah - reflectin'?" Kasumi asked, moving forward to dip her hands in the Koi pond, as she got on her knees. The water felt cold at her touch. Still, it felt nice and soothing, if slightly prickly as she trapped some water in her delicate hands, raising them to let it slide down her slender arms.
This display caught Ranma off guard. Kasumi had hardly ever said anything to him, and well, most of the people in the house hardly ever paid any attention to her. It was as if she was non-existent except to do the house chores and be nice to visitors.
Ranma realized, with his stomach feeling as if he had swallowed one of Saffron's fireballs, that he was just as ignorant as everyone else. He had never noticed the specific behavior or antics that were unique to her.
It was always a smile or some short, polite sentences from her that he never really paid any serious attention to. Great, another thing to add to the list of what he was upset about.
At least I can deal with this right now, Ranma thought offhandedly. She might even be able to give some insight and he could get to know her personal side; that is if she had any.
From his experience with her, Ranma figured that she was probably the best person to let at least some of his issues out to. Kasumi had never gotten angry, jumped to conclusions without gathering all the reliable facts, or ever get physical.
She always had the calming effect on people, and he needed to be calmed before he totally lost it.
"There's a lot I've done that I ain't proud of," Ranma began quietly, "and more that I feel ashamed of. After the whole wedding deal, I almost lost it. I don't know if ya get me but, I am sure you would be able to understand what I'm tryin' ta say. I mean, after everything that has happened, all the fights, all the problems and the fiancées. I have always been dragged into one thing or another, and then finally I ended up killing someone." Ranma casually threw the grass leaves in the air and watched them dance around in the wind before coming to rest on the Koi pond, sending off mini waves in there wake before being blown aside by the cool evening wind.
He clenched his fists and started shivering as he leaned back. He folded his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. "Is it honorable, killing someone? I just wanted Akane safe. I should have done it without killing Saffron. But I killed him. He is dead, and I am alive. By all rights I should be dead along with him."
Kasumi turned around, wide eyed; disbelief was clearly chiseled into her face."Please don't say that Ranma." She voiced.
That was the last thing she expected him to say. She pondered reaching an arm out to him, but resisted for the moment. Even when Ranma had been in trouble, his never ending effort to dig himself out had always won. What had happened to him?
"I killed someone Kasumi. Just the sound of that sends shivers down my spine. I have been force fed so much bull about honor. That shit is mostly don't matter anyway because my pop and yours mostly use that as an excuse to justify whatever they do." Ranma continued, jutting his chin on his knees. "Even me," he whispered, "Even I do that. I use it to my advantage. That's not the way it's s'posed to be ya'know?"
The tsunamis behind his eyes were nearing the shore, growing larger by the instant. Soon they were threatening to destroy his barely composed outlook.
"I just don't feel right about it any more. I have very, very strong feelings for Akane, and I know she does for me as well. Yeah, I'm admitting; hard to believe ain't it?" Ranma smiled bitterly, "We always show our feelings whenever trouble comes by, like with Toma, Herb, and now with Saffron."
Kasumi noticed, by quickly glancing at his white knuckles, that he was on the verge of bursting out with what had turned the Ranma she remembered -and some times adored - into this shell.
She slowly, but deliberately moved closer to him and leveled him with an up most serious gaze, almost pleading him to go on. In the back of her mind, Kasumi had decided, for better or worse, that the Tendo household had gone on long enough without her interference; a household that she kept, and still keeps running.
"Kasumi, I - I don't know. I have always been thrown into things. I never chose. Doesn't anyone care about what I want? I don't want to be married right now. Yet, between me and Akane, you know, we have great feelings for each other. Even then at the wedding, for her sake I still played along. She was ready, and she looked beautiful in the wedding dress." Ranma almost whispered.
"She was willing as well, so I went along with it. Now after the whole deal, it's coming back to the old same crap. She is still jealous and always blames me for anything that goes wrong. Fine we have better times, but I thought it would be different, ya know? I know it isn't all her fault. But what am I supposed to do?"
Kasumi continued to look intently at Ranma with a solemn countenance, determined to let him free himself from the chains binding his usual personality. She watched as he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as his eyes focused on her again.
"I guess maybe she is also dealing with the failed wedding." Ranma continued, "But why does she have to take it out on me? Is that how she wants to show affection? Is the only way for her to be nice towards me is by more problems coming and more… god Kasumi how many people am I going to have to kill? Can't she once say anything to me without anger? Can't she for once trust someone who KILLED for her?" he gritted out. Kasumi nearly winced at how miserable his voice sounded.
"She just wants me to throw away all the other fiancées. They have honor too, and its stuck with me. I don't know what to do with them. Why does she always think I'm up to something when I'm lost. Can't she help me?"
Ranma was quite distraught to say the least. Tears had started forming in his eyes as he just sat there shivering, not knowing what to do. Ranma had rarely, if ever, cried.
Kasumi gazed at him with surprisingly understanding eyes as she quietly nudged close to Ranma and slowly, tenderly, collected him into her arms.
He flinched slightly at her initial touch, but the tsunamis behind his eyes had reached the shore and started to destroy everything that been built. His will that kept his composure crumbled under their immense power, and let loose everything he had kept inside. When he felt his head resting on Kasumi's shoulder, his whole body started rocking with sobs that he tried miserably to control; to control himself, the only thing that he could.
"Ranma, I understand what you are going through." Kasumi soothed, rubbing Ranma's back gently, "Believe me I do."
She held him tighter, small pools of tears also leaking into her eyes as well.
A man as strong as Ranma, who accomplished unimaginably deeds, fought powerful foes, withstood mind blowing situations, had finally broken. What could be a more pitiful sight? To know that her own family, including her, was partly responsible for this simply made her own eyes overflow.
"I don't have anything to say, Ranma. All I can do is comfort you. I-I never did before because, because I was afraid of what others might think, and might even react to. I'm sorry I stopped trying to help Akane or guide her after the first attempt. She got quite upset with me when I was trying to get her to figure out a better way to appropriately cope with the boys at school." She sobbed.
"I have been scared ever since. So I just tried to continue being as nice as possible to maybe set an example for her. I always tried to look at the bright side, be polite and feel pleasure in helping others. She tried to keep long hair like me to get Ono Tofu's attention, but never thought for a second to try and emulate my behavior. I guess she believed that her 'fighting spirit' was something to be prided on."
Ranma instinctively tightened his arms around her, burrowing his head deeper into her shoulder. They cried together, holding each other, the stress of emotional pressure finally causing them to search for something to rely on. Something they could trust.
Ranma cried because of the accumulation of all the strain he had to deal with only left him almost hollow. His arrogance, pride, and honor, were all shot down. After the wedding, his past experiences that he thought he'd gotten over came back ten fold along with the realization that instead of a martial artist, he had become a killer; without gaining much, he had lost a lot.
Kasumi cried at the sight of someone like Ranma, broken down, and not because of anything physical. Physically he was brilliant, but because of emotional stress he had not known yet how to relieve. He had always worried about others, always doing everything he could to satisfy their desires, and at the same time trying to satisfy the demands of his own honor.
Impaled on his own sword, exploited beyond belief by the people he protected and cared for, Ranma had nothing left to lean on to. Of course he tried to exploit others as well, so he was not totally innocent, but in this case, to a large extent Ranma was above suspicion.
What Kasumi felt worst about was that she had let something like that happen in her own house. Even if she feared her youngest sister's and father's reactions, and of the other combatants they had gotten to know, she felt sure that she could have done something to prevent the recent events.
A while passed as the two occupants of the Tendo compound started to relax after a good, long cry. Ranma slowly withdrew from Kasumi as he sat opposite her, strangely reluctant to let go. It was almost night time now. The sun set and the glow of the horizon had slowly started fading. Had he been in a better mood, he would enjoy the evening glow, majestically fading throughout the sky, so brilliant that it made the clouds change their color to match it.
Kasumi glanced at Ranma. She took in his appearance, discerning how his eyes were red, and he seemed visibly shaken. He was still shivering a little but looked much better than he had a short while ago.
The girl bit her lip. Regardless of what different books had on relationships, she couldn't think of anything to do next. This was the first time she had, in a long time, shown any other emotion apart from a happy face and a sweet smile to anyone.
While she knew it was necessary, it still left her in a basket ball court without the ball, or the two teams to play.
"Thank you Kasumi," said Ranma, finally breaking the silence. He took a deep breath and relaxed his muscles, letting his arms go limp and his head droop down.
Kasumi smiled slightly. "Anytime Ranma," It was easy to respond, just difficult to initiate something in this situation. "I only wish I could have done anything more."
"You already have, you were one of the few in the Tendo household that kept me sane up till now, I guess, but I never even got to know you properly. I guess I just didn't want to cause a misunderstanding bringing you into trouble as well." replied Ranma, smiling a bit. "One question though, I understand about Akane and Mr. Tendo but what about Nabiki?"
The middle daughter a knack for making money on his expense, but there were times when he got the feeling that she wasn't as bad as the image she tried to encourage.
Kasumi smirked, making Ranma almost gawk at her in shock. "Nabiki has always been the smart one. What she chose to do with her smarts is her decision, but who do you think taught her the ropes?"
Ranma looked at her dumbly, his mouth still not working properly. "Who?"
His look got even dumber when she bonked him on the head affectionately, using what he felt as a delicately soft fist.
"I did silly."
Ranma's look turned from dumb into clueless.
"I-uh-you mean you taught her what she knows?"
Kasumi's smile only grew as she gently put a finger on his lips. "That, Ranma shall be our little secret, and I know you will honor that, wont you?"
"Uh, yeah. Sure." said Ranma, not knowing what to think. Fear was his initial response, however. Kasumi taught Nabiki? That was NOT expected.
"I have had some talks with her regarding how she does her… business, and you know she's not a bad girl. She just keeps people distant. She's always been that way."
"Hmm. Nabiki and nice, sorry, don't think the word should exist in the same sentence as the name."
"Baka."
"Now why can't Akane do that?" asked Ranma indignantly, wishing the youngest Tendo could behave like that once in a while. Not that he really minded their bickering. It had become a game of sorts between them, a game that lately seemed to be getting old, and annoying. She didn't always have to so irreproachable. "Che, Dr. Tofu is lucky huh?" he muttered to himself silently.
"Why's that?"
"Ah, huh? Oh, Nothing." Ranma blurted, realizing he spoke too loud. It was too late, though, as Kasumi dropped and eyebrow, and raised the other. It gave her an incredibly cute facial expression, probably because it was the most she had shown up till now.
"I'm not all set to marry Ono Tofu Ranma," Kasumi smiled gently, "regardless of what the family is thinking. I guess only Nabiki might be inclined to know this." She sighed.
"Eh? Wha? Whe?"
"Ranma…" muttered Kasumi, leaning down and looking straight in his eyes.
"Uh. Who would have thought? Well I mean, he's clearly got the hots for you. Err, I mean, maybe I should rephrase that." Ranma started fidgeting around, like he usually did when things didn't go like they were supposed to.
Tragically, this happened a lot in his life, so his unconsciousness developed its own way of dealing with it. He started panicking, franticly looking right and left for a way out as if it would just show itself to him. His distress didn't last long. A few moments later he heard Kasumi laugh. He looked at her shivering form as she desperately tried to hold her mirth in.
She looked like a school girl, but at the same time, a woman. This was definitely enough to send Ranma's mind over the edge.
"You are so cute Ranma." She managed between her giggle, "Do not worry about Ono. Initially, it was flattering and sweet, his little Betty thing when he saw me. It wore off though when I realized that he was not recovering. In fact, it seems to be getting worse, isn't it?" Kasumi stopped giggling and looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Maybe it might work, maybe not. But I'm not holding my breath." Kasumi's smile fell a little, "But then again, it's not like I have much else to do; I'm not socially active."
"Umm, yeah." Ranma responded, fully aware of the decrease of 'happiness' from Kasumi's face. The problem here was quite simple; he had no idea what to do, and thus the Saotome technique, 'Blurting without thinking' kicked in instinctively.
"Well, I wouldn't mind taking you out and all, but then you know exactly what the problem's gonna be, right? I don't want you hurt, that and I don't know how much more I can take. Akane can be acceptable at times, and she can be fun to. I feel…comfortable around her, but her anger will never let it work between us. That's actually what's been eating at me lately." He flushed.
His demeanor currently showed another buildup of anger. Kasumi sharply inhaled. Well, she wasn't surprised, and it could still be salvaged, but she had to start acting quickly, she told herself.
"Ukyo, Shampoo , ugh Kodachi, no. Frankly, I am making my choice that I don't want either of them right now. That don't mean they will make my life any easier does it though, does it? If I reject, I'm only going to suffer. And if I don't, I'll still suffer." Ranma mulled.
His life was not getting any better. It was still more suffering, with no answers.
Damn that sucked.
He let out another sigh, then quirked his mouth into a lopsided smile as he noticed that he'd been sighing a lot lately. The only silver coin in his pile of mud was that at least he had made some sort of peace with Kasumi's help.
His mind suddenly went into rapt attention when he notice his companion reaching out towards him, only to relax slightly when he felt her delicate, warm hands in a gentle hold on his head. Ranma closed his eyes, enjoying the feel, didn't resist when they started pulling. He let the hands guide him to what he figured was her lap, when he felt her soft flesh.
"Relax for a while." She commanded gently, but with a bit more of a stern attitude. "If anyone comes, I'll deal with them. Do not worry, I meant it when I said that I taught Nabiki the ropes of using a sharp tongue." Kasumi's voice went down to a whisper when she apprehended his almost drugged state. He was almost asleep already.
Ranma, for his part, had never felt so relaxed before. He wondered if crying could be a good thing from time to time before igniting is jets of slumber, and taking off into the airspace of sleep.
It couldn't have been fives minutes of peace when a large electrical circle formed near the corner of the boundary wall, loudly crackling and sizzling as sparks flowed to the center where a glowing ball of electricity hovered.
Kasumi, surprised, quickly turned around to face it.
"Oh…What now?" she asked to no one in particular. Why must more trouble come this way? Ranma hadn't even begun healing yet. She knew well enough that another set of problems so soon wouldn't help at all.
"Sorry Ranma, I'm so sorry, but can you wake up?" She shook Ranma gently, but with a touch of urgency, "I said I would take care of things, but I don't know if this is something I can really handle with my tongue, no matter how sharp it is."
"Huh? Wha?" was all she got in reply.
Luckily Ranma had awakened, and after seeing the awesome display behind her, his mind instantaneously sprung into action, followed very closely by his body.
He quickly swept the girl up in his hands and jumped, somersaulting back to the roof of the house in one leap. When he landed, he focused at the electrical circle, holding Kasumi close to him.
"Aw man what now? Can't I have SOME PEACE?!" Ranma shouted.
The large circular frame of electricity didn't last long. A glowing ball in the center elongated itself and sparks intensified around it. The ball, well it was no longer a ball, but more like a big cylinder, dropped to the ground. IT gave off a bright blue glow as the entire electrical show weakened from the outer edges and steadily fizzled itself into nothing.
The cylinder changed shape as it stopped glowing, and sort of disintegrated strangely, as if it was being eaten away by dozens of small super powered glowy light eating caterpillars, all the while kicking a few sparks on occasion.
Ranma and Kasumi squinted in efforts to get their eyes adjusted to the dark again. Among the smoke a body there in the cylinder's place. The body wasn't moving initially as Ranma jumped back down to the ground with Kasumi in his arms, letting her down near the house before he sauntered forward slowly and cautiously.
The figure started to stir and slowly. It moved to rise and only got to its knees as Ranma called to it.
"Hey! Who are you? What are you doing here and what do you want?" Ranma shouted. He flexed his muscles and gathered his battle aura around himself, fully prepared for a fight if it came to that.
The figure coughed at first, then started laughing. That didn't help Ranma's mood at all as he got into a fighting stance and let some of his ki flow through freely, charging up a ki blast.
"I wouldn't be cough aggressive if I were you." croaked a male voice, coming distinctly from the figure.
'Well, at least it ain't another fiancée.' thought Ranma. If this guy somehow ended up wanting to take Akane for whatever reasons, Ranma had half the mind to let him go.
"Why not?"
"Let's just say, you will get hurt. Besides, I am in no condition to fight, nor do I want to hurt anyone." replied the figure attempting to get up, and doing so very sloppily.
"Oh…god." Kasumi muttered to herself as she saw the man' state. "He's hurt!" She quickly rushed past Ranma towards the figure.
"Kasumi WAIT! We're not sure if its safe!" shouted Ranma, at once moving to follow her.
As he reached to where the man lay, what he saw proved the man's words. He was bleeding from several cuts on his body. He was wearing a black sleeveless tank top and some black matching pants, both having an intricate logo on them.
His blood dripped from his wounds and could be seen clearly in the moonlight. The cuts seem to have been made from blades, Ranma assumed, as he saw one lying next to him. The man didn't make any move to pick it up as Kasumi bent down to help him stand.
Ranma stared at the man, then at the sword as it hummed with an unearthly energy, sending off diminutive electrical sparks around it. After standing still for a moment, Ranma moved to pick up it up when he was stopped.
"Don't touch it!" the man warned. "It's my sword. Only I can touch it cough. Anyone else will be electrocuted, unless, Kasumi-san…I presume." The man carefully turned his head towards the Tendo offspring as he eyed her carefully.
"If you pick it up and he can help me stand, that way you can be sure I won't try anything and my sword won't hurt an innocent woman; it's been made that way. Sorry, I'll explain later." He said in a slow and steady voice, though it was littered by gasps as he seemed to try and get some sort of control on his breathing.
Ranma thought about it, and reluctantly agreed for the moment. He moved to put the man's right arm over his shoulder, and slowly made his way to the living room where he sat the man down and got a good look at him in the light.
He was a young man, with his hair a little less than Ranma's own – minus the pig tail - and a very well defined upper body. He noticed that this man's muscles were in fact slightly larger than Ranma's and looked much more toned. His face looked tired, yet alert as his eyes were quickly darting around taking in every thing they could.
Several meters behind Ranma, Kasumi bent down a little shakily. As she stretched her hand towards the sword, a blue-white glow came to life, completely surrounding it. She instinctively pulled her hand back, and noticed that as soon as she had done so, the glow faded away into nothing.
Upon giving it a little scrutiny, Kasumi decided to try again. She reached forward to grab the hilt of the sword. The glow, expectedly came back to life. This time Kasumi continued with her reach until she thought she was touching it. She felt something slippery, as if this glow was in fact a barrier of water.
Nothing happened. The barrier felt a little warm, and somewhat comforting, if tingly. Deciding that it was safe as the man had said, Kasumi reached further and grabbed the sword by the hilt.
The barrier let her delicate hand go through it, passively doing nothing noteworthy apart from providing a spectacular sight.
Ranma turned around to look at Kasumi walking back with the sword in her hand. Though he was concerned with that soft blue glow emanating from the sword in her hands, as she slowly brought it and placed it next to the man, something told him it was alright.
"Thanks, I'm sorry for causing this mess for you." said the man as he stopped looking around and rested his eyes on Ranma and Kasumi. They were standing together but Ranma had placed himself slightly in front of Kasumi, ready to push her out the way should anything happen.
He was getting sick and tired with people suddenly showing up, and in his book they were nothing but trouble. He wanted to be rid of this one as soon as it came so it didn't cause any long lasting problems.
"Ya wanna explain the electrical works over there dude? And what's with the sword?" asked Ranma pointing to the area to the left with his thumb from whence the man came.
The man was silent, contemplating, as he closed his eyes for a second. He had apparently come to a decision as he opened them up and looked straight, taking in the current sight.
Ranma was holding his left hand in front of Kasumi. It appeared the girl wanted to come forward but he held her back.
"But Ranma…" Kasumi began only to be cut off by Ranma. "Look Kasumi, lemme handle this please. If anything happens to you, I will go insane." argued Ranma. This seemed to quiet the girl down as she blushed slightly and backed up a bit, in order to give Ranma a bit more room.
"Ranma, is it. Koryu. Nice to meetcha. That electrical show as you called it, was a portal. I was being hunted down and attacked by some people I know. They caught me off guard and managed to hurt me quite a bit. This raised a situation for my retreat. Unfortunately, the portal didn't work quite like it was supposed to and here I am, brought to this world."
"This world?" Ranma sounded incredulous, "As in you are from another world?"
"From the ki I sensed in you, I am sure you have sensed, seen and maybe been in situations where magic or the paranormal has occurred. I can only ask for you to have an open mind to this." The man named Koryu bowed his head respectfully.
"Just great! Now we have someone from a different world!" Ranma stared at the sky, as if accusing it for his current situation.
"Ranma, I am not here to hurt anyone, but since I am here, and since I have told you about me, it would be best if I stayed here incase someone followed me to this place. It would only be my duty to protect you from them, should they ask you what you saw here from me. It would be my responsibility as it is I who has gotten you involved in this. Even if I seriously doubt they can do so. The chances of anyone following me are one in a thousand."
"Huh? How can you protect us if you ran away from them? Besides, if they come, they'll have to deal with me!"
Koryu shook his head, "Firstly, they caught me off guard. That is the only way they can hurt me. However, they failed in their task. Now I am ready, prepared, and ticked off." He gave a dark look that backed up his words, portraying his feelings on the matter.
"Secondly, these people are far too strong for someone of your caliber." Ranma looked as if he was about to refute. "Please do not be offended, I only speak the truth. Even if you could take on two or three, I doubt you could fight a team of six. Especially when there's someone here who can be a pretty good hostage." Koryu's glance hovered at Kasumi for a moment, who instantly began to look a little pale.
"Look. Just like you, I didn't want this." Koryu sighed, "But it has happened and I have been straight forward with you. Please honor that and let me rest just for one night. Then, if you wish, you will never see me again. If anyone follows me, it won't be just one person. It will be at least four or six."
"That will make things very difficult for you to handle, even if you take down the first three, which you might, given your ki abilities that I sensed." Koryu looked straight into Ranma's eyes, not wavering for a second as he stood up, albeit slowly, "I swear to you on my life, that I will not harm any innocent."
Ranma's gaze into Koryu's eyes didn't falter even though Koryu was taller by a few inches. He was only concerned about those eyes he was looking at. Those fierce light brownish eyes seemed to glow in the light of the living room.
He could clearly see that the man more than one eye color in both eyes. The outlined edges of the irises were a significant grey, slowly edging in and fading out from the corners. There was something else he seemed to see. What was it?
FLASH
Ranma felt as if his own body had been trans placed into another universe. He in an elevated position, and had green paws?
He saw a young boy, sitting cradling and older woman in his arms, crying.
FLASH
He saw the same boy, slightly older now, facing a man who Ranma thought, had a big lizard apparently made from his aura reaching out and preparing to attack. Maybe it could be a dragon, because it was blackish and seemed more vicious than any normal lizard Ranma had seen. Ranma looked down but couldn't see any paws.
FLASH
The boy, now a man – Koryu - was on a cliff holding onto someone. A girl.
Suddenly he felt he was coming closer to Koryu. Everything faded black. Then instantly he could see the girl up close, who was being held by …his hand? She had the most beautiful soft greenish blue eyes. He assumed he was now looking through the eyes of Koryu.
FLASH
Everything went black, but emotions continuously flooded Ranma's mind as water flooded a broken dam. Pain, sadness, anger, humility, pushed away all other emotions that he currently felt.
FLASH
Ranma stood there dumbly as Koryu's face focused in front of him again. He had no idea what had happened. Maybe he had gone into a trance, but it seemed evident that little time had passed. Ranma didn't waver in his outward posture. He kept on staring into Koryu's eyes, not even blinking once.
Those emotions he had felt in those flashes were probably similar to those he had been feeling as of late. How he saw them, he never knew, but some feeling in his gut told him, as he continued gazing into those fierce eyes. Koryu was expressing one more thing about himself.
Honesty.
"Kasumi," Ranma croaked. When had his throat gone dry? He quickly swallowed and said, "I believe he is telling the truth. What do you think? Where do we keep him? For some stupid reason, I don't want the family to know yet. I ain't gonna be able to handle 'em." Ranma shifted his gaze away from the young man and turned around to look at Kasumi, who simply nodded in response.
When Koryu turned to look at her, Ranma noticed that his eyes had lost their fierceness.
"Umm, the best place in all honesty would be my room. I do have a medical kit there, and no one will ever suspect anything since no one ever visits my room but me."
Koryu shook his head looking to refuse when Ranma agreed by nodding his head. "Yes, good idea."
Apparently he was thinking the same thing.
"I do not wish to cause you any more discomfort Kasumi-san. I can stay in the attic or anyplace else."
"No, its quite alright, and besides I think I will have to stay awake for a while cleaning and dressing your wounds." replied Kasumi, regaining her gentle smile.
Ranma visibly relaxed. For him, these past few intense minutes started off looking like another major disaster, but it seemed that the fates didn't totally have it in for him…yet.
He didn't doubt the look in Koryu's eyes, that and his gut instinct. It hadn't failed him yet when it came to trouble.
"Well then, we- we should hurry up. I'm sure someone will arrive soon and we better not leave any sign of this." Ranma said quickly as Kasumi ran in to get some cleaning up material.
As she disappeared from view, Koryu shifted his head closer to Ranma, "We're being watched." he whispered, "Someone in the tree."
Ranma acknowledged that with a nod.
"I know who it is," Ranma whispered back, "Don't worry; it's a punk ninja who serves the insane Kuno family. He'll be up to something tomorrow morning. He wasn't there earlier. I think he arrived when your, umm, portal kinda popped up." Koryu digested this information and nodded back in reply. "Want me to get rid of him?" he asked. A ghost of a smirk could be seen on his face.
Ranma didn't avert his gaze as he replied, "I could do that too, but I can't be bothered right now. Besides, ain't you hurt?"
"I am, but I've been through worse. I just needed to get my breath back. What I really need is some sleep for at least ten to twelve hours. I don't even need someone to clean my wounds." Koryu replied in a whisper, leaning down and picking up his sword. He proceeded to put it in his sheath that hung over his back.
"Nah, wouldn't want the wounds to get infected."
"Don't worry, they won't. Anyway, about this sword, it's a spirit sword bound to me. It obeys my will and reacts accordingly to my nature. It would have rejected you," he whispered, " And while Kasumi-san would not have been able to wield the sword, she would still be able to carry it nonetheless.
"Spirit sword huh? It's the first time I've come across one." Ranma commented. His eyes darted momentarily at the smooth hilt of the sword that he could see. He was about to question the remark about infection when Kasumi popped back into the room with some cloth and material in a bag.
She quickly wiped Koryu's blood, which had stared to smoke and then looked at Ranma and Koryu.
"Sorry, my blood is, special. If it leaves my body, it will instantly burn and evaporate. It prevents others from getting hold of my blood."
"Why would anyone want your blood?" Ranma implored, interested.
"Because it's special."
It was obvious that the man didn't want to speak more on the matter.
Kasumi decided to break in.
"Please, this way." She bowed politely.
Koryu sighed, pleased for the moment that these people were at least trusting. He could have been in a much worse situation. From what he saw as he delved into Ranma's eyes, Ranma gone through one shit life. He didn't blame Ranma's behavior and demeanor towards him. Anyone would behave like that if they even gone through a tenth of what Ranma had.
Koryu bowed deeply towards Kasumi before he let her lead him. Apparently this was a family with old customs. He let Ranma go ahead first, not wanting them to have any doubts about him.
As Ranma and Kasumi walked up towards her room, Koryu decided one thing for sure. He would stay here for a bit before he went back.
Loren would handle things perfectly in his absence. And the bloody Enwa Gumi had better not do anything else stupid, unless they wanted a clan war.
Koryu could imagine the states of mind of his Shadow Guard.
Sensing their leader get caught an ambush off guard and suddenly disappear in a portal with no communication what so ever?
Yep! They were probably cranky right about now.
End of Chapter 1
I would really appreciate any sort of comments you may have regarding this story, whether good or bad. Thank you for reading. I appreciate it.
RETURNING READERS (and new ones heh ): If you want something to read while waiting chap 11, I suggest you go here.
Process of Elimination, by Brian Randall. Okay. is being really really annoying. I would have given the http link, but it doesn't show. Just do a search for it on yahoo and you will get the link.
Authors Notes:
Yo people. This is probably the Second rendition of chapter 1, and my last. There were some things I had to add to this chapter, which were big plot holes. Returning readers ( you read this again!? Wow, I hope you liked it.) will know what I have added etc. Anyways… I hope this satisfies you guys temporarily, because I was unable to post chapter 11.
New readers can go ahead, or if they want to wait for my revisions, they can. UP to them. I guess the only real difference is the writing will be better. The story is the same, with small changes – those changes aren't too significant, but necessary for where I want to take this story – here and there.
Old readers, if you really want to read chapter 11, start praying. I'll be working on in the rest of this day. It is 15:00, err.. 3:00 pm? If things go well by tonight, I should be able to upload it.
There are no massive changes made in this chapter that will affect the story.
Why Revisions?
When I read this chapter myself, I felt bad, because many, many people had reviewed saying how good this story is etc. When I read it myself after all this time (it's been almost 4 months since I've written /revised this chapter) and after I got a critical review from JonnyG, I felt that this chapter could have been written so much better than it previously had been. I believe I have improved my writing ability sufficiently enough to try and properly re-edit this chapter. This is my final version for Chapter 1 of "Shadows of Honor".
Now, a few other things, just so you know if this is the first time you are reading this story. This is my first ever fanfic. I have started writing a novel called "Plasmatic Shadow", which was playing around in my mind for at least 3 years now. My writing was really poor, so I decided to put that on hold and write a crossover with that story. That way, I improve my writing skills and still define characters from my novel better.
This story just came into my mind, when I was wondering what would happen if Ranma and Koryu would meet each other. Ha! So here you go, "Shadows of Honor". I really hope you enjoy this story.
If you are returning readers / reviewers, thank you so much for your support, and thanks again for reading this story.
This story takes place after Volume 38 or end of the manga series... just so you know.
This chapter has been revised as of 06th, May, 2004. ( Actually, revised before, but after a quick read through, I'm posting it now.
People who gave me very constructive pointers and helped me iron out flaws in my story, People who encouraged me made me feel like trying even harder to fix this fic, making it more worth your while. I hope this chapter reflects that I have indeed improved (albeit slightly). I hope you like it :) You all know who you are. Thank you!
This chapter had actually been revised a long time ago. I just didn't upload it until I had revised all. Sorry people, I've been extremely busy. I had been in a lot of pressure lately at work etc. So I really didn't have time for anything else. Luckily I've been released of that pressure ( my boss has taken me off that project, putting me in a new one…but this one is much better.)
This, I'm giving for some of those impatient people. Trust me, I know what it feels like to wait for a story to update. Chapter 11 is almost complete. In fact, I'm working on it. The moment it is done, I'll upload it to It shouldn't be long. Anyways…I hope… HOPE this can keep you guys a little relaxed for the time being.
Chapter one: The Long Talk / A New Visitor
It is a pleasant Saturday evening in Nerima, almost a week after the wedding fiasco that had resulted in the complete destruction of the Saotome household, and thus, forced the Saotome family to move back in with the Tendo's until their house was rebuilt. At least until some other arrangement could be made possible.
It had been three days ago, that Nodoka Saotome had decided to visit her home in Hiroshima in order to receive financing from her family. Genma, her husband, had atrociously little in terms of monetary value. Though Nodoka's family did not have much, she believed it would be a start.
Ranma had intended to go with his mother, and because of the diminutive amount of time that they had spent together, she was very willing to have her son tag along, and maybe meet her side of the family. However, unknown to Ranma, his father had secretly convinced his wife that Ranma needed to catch up with his studies, and continue his heavy training in the morning after her son left for school.
Totally incensed with what had transpired without his knowledge or consent, Ranma was livid. He had almost beat Genma into telling him where his mother went, hesitating only when Soun interjected by announcing that Nodoka was going to be back in a week's time, and that she had mentioned something about Ranma being on his best behavior.
'He has already missed too much of schooling. A man in today's times must be well educated.' Nabiki had quoted, dryly giving her approval of Genma and Soun's statements. That had pretty much 'officially' declared, in her own way, that they weren't being dishonest.
Not having too much choice in the matter, Ranma had reluctantly decided to stay put. He had not wanted to further frustrate his mother, whom he had gotten to know quite recently. Even then he had not spent that much alone time with her, obviously because of one problem or another rising up. Half the time his father had dragged him off with the pathetic excuse of training.
While Ranma would aversely admit that his father had done somewhat of an acceptable job in giving him the foundations, he knew well enough that he had already surpassed his parent. Genma had little to teach Ranma anymore, save the sealed techniques, which the young martial artist positively believed he could learn without his old man's help.
And now, Ranma Saotome, heir to the Anything Goes School of Indiscriminate Grappling, on a mission to become the best martial artist in the world, to become a man among men, sat in the back yard of the Tendo home- bored out of his mind.
His steel blue eyes encompassed tsunamis of emotion while he stared into to the Koi pond in front of him as he rested his elbows on his knees, a few leaves of grass twirling within his durable fingers. He sat there squatted, staring down in the water, ruminating on what he could see of his own reflection.
He had specialized in un-armed combat, yet his prowess at the art gave him abilities that would out do light conventional weaponry. It was now possible for him brush off the volcanic heat of ki blasts and similar attacks that would otherwise severely damage buildings.
All his life he had trained to be the best. Instructed by his father, Ranma had sacrificed much in the name of the art. He almost sold his soul to the Neko-Ken training. His sanity, while away from the feline kind somehow existed. That remaining sanity in itself was under constant burden, causing his personality became verifiably unstable and only to kept in check by his sense of honor.
Devoting his entire soul, his entire being in the name of the art, Ranma had gained much strength. He tasted sour victory after victory against unimaginable foes. He pushed himself to keep his honor; honor that was dictated to him, not established by him.
Some where something went wrong. He became a killer.
Akane had gone shopping with her sister Nabiki and had planned on being back no earlier than nightfall. Genma and Soun, the Saotome and Tendo patriarchs had mustered the courage to attend another town meeting regarding a personal effects theft problem that had escalated again. This left young martial artist with little to do without his father pestering him about martial arts and training. School work was not very important at the moment – not that it ever really was.
He did not feel like training. Ranma sat quietly, letting the wind play with his hair. He silently thanked the gods for somehow keeping is 'other' betrothed away from his current location. He really wished he had gone with his mother. It would have given him time away from the problems that plagued him at the time.
Figuring the best he could do right now was to contemplate on what had transpired lately, the young boy tried to make heads or tails of his current state of affairs. He wanted answers, and yet could find none.
He wanted to somehow resolve the problems that existed, which he knew after some time would escalate only to blow up in his face. It had taken him long – too long – to learn that postponing or temporarily pushing away problems would only cause them to come back with twice as much force.
It was as if he was stuck in his neko-ken mind – completely blank. He had no idea what was going, nor what to do about it. He knew what he wanted, but letting anyone in on that would probably cause more disaster. That was something he wasn't sure he could handle at the moment.
Ranma flinched when something struck his eye, and moved to rub it out. It was only a small twig, cast away by the sudden blast of strong wind. He smirked; even the weather was being erratic.
He glanced down momentarily at his reflection that staring back at him from the pond quivered as waves upon waves transcended. The souvenirs from the passing wind distorted his image, making Ranma chuckle lightly and emotionlessly. He wondered if this distorted reflection of himself represented his life currently.
The setting sun glazed him with its last remaining sunlight before morphing into dusk; the turning point between day and night. The shadows cast by the rock and the Tendo wall elongated in slow motion as the earth's rotation caused the city to shy away from the sun.
Inside the house, Kasumi Tendo, the eldest daughter of her family stood inside her kitchen, idly tapping a spoon on the top edge of a glass and enjoying the 'ting' sound. It was not something she did often, but thought nothing of it as she waited for the oven to finish baking her cookies.
Unknown to anyone else, she appeared to have an affinity with anything that was related to cuisine. She could almost 'feel' the correct dosage of any ingredient required to make the dish she made, absolutely delicious. Taking care of the family from a young age had turned her into the almost perfect housewife.
Upon looking at the emotionless martial artist in the back yard, Kasumi had decided to make something extra delicious for him to eat. She knew well enough, from the amount of grocery shopping she did that eating had always been one of his hobbies. She assumed it was because he had never been fed much while he was on the road. Yet how he managed to keep such muscle mass when he first arrived still eluded her.
She had quite desolately seen the way everyone treated him, and had heard what he gone through his entire life. She was quite shocked to hear that Ranma had gone so far as to kill someone to save her younger sister. While it was very difficult to believe such news, it had come from her younger sibling, Nabiki. That girl rarely, if ever, provided incorrect facts. Unless those false statements were to her benefit of course.
After witnessing Ranma's behavior in the past few weeks since his return, the eldest Tendo daughter's opinion on the matter led her to believe Nabiki's proclamation held some merit, since Ranma himself never talked about what had happened.
Kasumi assumed it was probably because Nabiki had shaken the information all out of him, and making him hide deeper under the shell he seemed to have formed around himself.
'Well, it was expected,' she thought sorrowfully, a mild frown tugging at her lips as she delicately tapped the bottom side of the glass, making it emit a sharp ting, followed by a low humming noise. At the rate problems had been coming up lately, she believed it required but a little more time before something tragic happened.
Contrary to what her family believed, the treatment the young boy had received from everyone after his return from China was appalling. His wedding was completely ruined by the people he thought to have become his friends – something which was probably good, only it left Ranma in such a state that even Kasumi couldn't figure it out.
The behavior towards the Saotome heir after that diabolical wedding attempt had adverse effects on the boy. Akane had initially been very upset with Ranma, which was quite understandable, for she had under her own will agreed to the marriage; it's destruction had been a major disappointment for the young girl.
The Tendo and Saotome patriarchs had blamed Ranma, something Kasumi simply could not understand, for him not fulfilling his duty and putting a stain on his honor. Initially Akane and Ranma had begun to get along really well, even after the whole ordeal. Kasumi supposed that was probably why had Ranma been content with the situation.
The remaining 'significant others', however had kept on escalating their efforts in attempts to gain his attention. Ranma never really did say anything to them, which in turn fueled Akane's insecurities.
Then of course, it was back to the usual bickering. On any usual day, it was quite common, and Kasumi would really consider them 'getting along' like she usually did. But this time it was getting worse. Both Akane and Ranma were getting tired of it. Akane was slowly becoming violent again and in the past week, Kasumi wondered if Ranma had even cared about anything anymore, knowing how badly he wanted to spend time with his mother.
He let anyone do whatever they wanted, without replying or at least attempting to get some control over the situation. Like that ever did any good. It only aggravated Akane more, and Ranma didn't seem to understand that. He was too busy in his own world. Maybe Ranma's curse did not only include the changing of gender, the elder Tendo offspring wondered.
Her thoughts were left hanging when the oven emitted a soft high pitched 'ding', telling her that her cookies were indeed ready. The tea had already been prepared.
Kasumi had decided that it would be for the better to try and talk to the boy turned warrior freely, without holding back the emotions and attitude she had hidden from most of her family due to personal reasons. Something different, and hopefully pleasant could shock him out of his misery. She carefully placed the cookies in the tea tray, making sure to neatly arrange them, and started off towards the pig tailed martial artist.
"Ranma, is everything alright?" she asked as she entered the lawn. When she reached the young man, she calmly laid the items them down next to him and sat down, wondering for a moment if he would mind her company.
"Hmm? Yeah, I guess so. I was trying to break my own record by doing something I've never done before." His monotonic voice replied, almost as if it was on automatic.
His smirk, his smile, his arrogant attitude that usually never left his side, no longer seemed to have existed in this empty shell that sat in front of her.
"And what is that?" Kasumi asked, hoping he would open up before he burst.
"Think."
Ranma turned to look at her, smiling a little bit as she smiled back, trying to hold back a giggle. It worked.
"Oh I am sure that is not something you haven't done before."
"Not when it counts I don't, but I guess a better word would be to… reflect. Yeah, I'm reflectin'." He unconsciously grabbed a few cookies and directed them towards his mouth.
Kasumi stared at him curiously; she had half expected Ranma to finish the edibles in a few seconds. Though she had already established that the emotional stress he was baring had a large effect on his behavior, she still needed for him to drill a hole out of this airtight container so he could breathe.
Ranma, while munching, glanced at Kasumi upon noticing her gaze.
Probably wondering why it wasn't in my stomach already. Heh, he thought to himself, "Pop ain't here." He explained, "I can sense him whenever he's near now. No one's gonna steal this from me. Though don't tell anyone that I can sense people that well. It'll probably be better that way."
"Oh, that's quite alright… So you care to talk about what you were – ah - reflectin'?" Kasumi asked, moving forward to dip her hands in the Koi pond, as she got on her knees. The water felt cold at her touch. Still, it felt nice and soothing, if slightly prickly as she trapped some water in her delicate hands, raising them to let it slide down her slender arms.
This display caught Ranma off guard. Kasumi had hardly ever said anything to him, and well, most of the people in the house hardly ever paid any attention to her. It was as if she was non-existent except to do the house chores and be nice to visitors.
Ranma realized, with his stomach feeling as if he had swallowed one of Saffron's fireballs, that he was just as ignorant as everyone else. He had never noticed the specific behavior or antics that were unique to her.
It was always a smile or some short, polite sentences from her that he never really paid any serious attention to. Great, another thing to add to the list of what he was upset about.
At least I can deal with this right now, Ranma thought offhandedly. She might even be able to give some insight and he could get to know her personal side; that is if she had any.
From his experience with her, Ranma figured that she was probably the best person to let at least some of his issues out to. Kasumi had never gotten angry, jumped to conclusions without gathering all the reliable facts, or ever get physical.
She always had the calming effect on people, and he needed to be calmed before he totally lost it.
"There's a lot I've done that I ain't proud of," Ranma began quietly, "and more that I feel ashamed of. After the whole wedding deal, I almost lost it. I don't know if ya get me but, I am sure you would be able to understand what I'm tryin' ta say. I mean, after everything that has happened, all the fights, all the problems and the fiancées. I have always been dragged into one thing or another, and then finally I ended up killing someone." Ranma casually threw the grass leaves in the air and watched them dance around in the wind before coming to rest on the Koi pond, sending off mini waves in there wake before being blown aside by the cool evening wind.
He clenched his fists and started shivering as he leaned back. He folded his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. "Is it honorable, killing someone? I just wanted Akane safe. I should have done it without killing Saffron. But I killed him. He is dead, and I am alive. By all rights I should be dead along with him."
Kasumi turned around, wide eyed; disbelief was clearly chiseled into her face."Please don't say that Ranma." She voiced.
That was the last thing she expected him to say. She pondered reaching an arm out to him, but resisted for the moment. Even when Ranma had been in trouble, his never ending effort to dig himself out had always won. What had happened to him?
"I killed someone Kasumi. Just the sound of that sends shivers down my spine. I have been force fed so much bull about honor. That shit is mostly don't matter anyway because my pop and yours mostly use that as an excuse to justify whatever they do." Ranma continued, jutting his chin on his knees. "Even me," he whispered, "Even I do that. I use it to my advantage. That's not the way it's s'posed to be ya'know?"
The tsunamis behind his eyes were nearing the shore, growing larger by the instant. Soon they were threatening to destroy his barely composed outlook.
"I just don't feel right about it any more. I have very, very strong feelings for Akane, and I know she does for me as well. Yeah, I'm admitting; hard to believe ain't it?" Ranma smiled bitterly, "We always show our feelings whenever trouble comes by, like with Toma, Herb, and now with Saffron."
Kasumi noticed, by quickly glancing at his white knuckles, that he was on the verge of bursting out with what had turned the Ranma she remembered -and some times adored - into this shell.
She slowly, but deliberately moved closer to him and leveled him with an up most serious gaze, almost pleading him to go on. In the back of her mind, Kasumi had decided, for better or worse, that the Tendo household had gone on long enough without her interference; a household that she kept, and still keeps running.
"Kasumi, I - I don't know. I have always been thrown into things. I never chose. Doesn't anyone care about what I want? I don't want to be married right now. Yet, between me and Akane, you know, we have great feelings for each other. Even then at the wedding, for her sake I still played along. She was ready, and she looked beautiful in the wedding dress." Ranma almost whispered.
"She was willing as well, so I went along with it. Now after the whole deal, it's coming back to the old same crap. She is still jealous and always blames me for anything that goes wrong. Fine we have better times, but I thought it would be different, ya know? I know it isn't all her fault. But what am I supposed to do?"
Kasumi continued to look intently at Ranma with a solemn countenance, determined to let him free himself from the chains binding his usual personality. She watched as he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as his eyes focused on her again.
"I guess maybe she is also dealing with the failed wedding." Ranma continued, "But why does she have to take it out on me? Is that how she wants to show affection? Is the only way for her to be nice towards me is by more problems coming and more… god Kasumi how many people am I going to have to kill? Can't she once say anything to me without anger? Can't she for once trust someone who KILLED for her?" he gritted out. Kasumi nearly winced at how miserable his voice sounded.
"She just wants me to throw away all the other fiancées. They have honor too, and its stuck with me. I don't know what to do with them. Why does she always think I'm up to something when I'm lost. Can't she help me?"
Ranma was quite distraught to say the least. Tears had started forming in his eyes as he just sat there shivering, not knowing what to do. Ranma had rarely, if ever, cried.
Kasumi gazed at him with surprisingly understanding eyes as she quietly nudged close to Ranma and slowly, tenderly, collected him into her arms.
He flinched slightly at her initial touch, but the tsunamis behind his eyes had reached the shore and started to destroy everything that been built. His will that kept his composure crumbled under their immense power, and let loose everything he had kept inside. When he felt his head resting on Kasumi's shoulder, his whole body started rocking with sobs that he tried miserably to control; to control himself, the only thing that he could.
"Ranma, I understand what you are going through." Kasumi soothed, rubbing Ranma's back gently, "Believe me I do."
She held him tighter, small pools of tears also leaking into her eyes as well.
A man as strong as Ranma, who accomplished unimaginably deeds, fought powerful foes, withstood mind blowing situations, had finally broken. What could be a more pitiful sight? To know that her own family, including her, was partly responsible for this simply made her own eyes overflow.
"I don't have anything to say, Ranma. All I can do is comfort you. I-I never did before because, because I was afraid of what others might think, and might even react to. I'm sorry I stopped trying to help Akane or guide her after the first attempt. She got quite upset with me when I was trying to get her to figure out a better way to appropriately cope with the boys at school." She sobbed.
"I have been scared ever since. So I just tried to continue being as nice as possible to maybe set an example for her. I always tried to look at the bright side, be polite and feel pleasure in helping others. She tried to keep long hair like me to get Ono Tofu's attention, but never thought for a second to try and emulate my behavior. I guess she believed that her 'fighting spirit' was something to be prided on."
Ranma instinctively tightened his arms around her, burrowing his head deeper into her shoulder. They cried together, holding each other, the stress of emotional pressure finally causing them to search for something to rely on. Something they could trust.
Ranma cried because of the accumulation of all the strain he had to deal with only left him almost hollow. His arrogance, pride, and honor, were all shot down. After the wedding, his past experiences that he thought he'd gotten over came back ten fold along with the realization that instead of a martial artist, he had become a killer; without gaining much, he had lost a lot.
Kasumi cried at the sight of someone like Ranma, broken down, and not because of anything physical. Physically he was brilliant, but because of emotional stress he had not known yet how to relieve. He had always worried about others, always doing everything he could to satisfy their desires, and at the same time trying to satisfy the demands of his own honor.
Impaled on his own sword, exploited beyond belief by the people he protected and cared for, Ranma had nothing left to lean on to. Of course he tried to exploit others as well, so he was not totally innocent, but in this case, to a large extent Ranma was above suspicion.
What Kasumi felt worst about was that she had let something like that happen in her own house. Even if she feared her youngest sister's and father's reactions, and of the other combatants they had gotten to know, she felt sure that she could have done something to prevent the recent events.
A while passed as the two occupants of the Tendo compound started to relax after a good, long cry. Ranma slowly withdrew from Kasumi as he sat opposite her, strangely reluctant to let go. It was almost night time now. The sun set and the glow of the horizon had slowly started fading. Had he been in a better mood, he would enjoy the evening glow, majestically fading throughout the sky, so brilliant that it made the clouds change their color to match it.
Kasumi glanced at Ranma. She took in his appearance, discerning how his eyes were red, and he seemed visibly shaken. He was still shivering a little but looked much better than he had a short while ago.
The girl bit her lip. Regardless of what different books had on relationships, she couldn't think of anything to do next. This was the first time she had, in a long time, shown any other emotion apart from a happy face and a sweet smile to anyone.
While she knew it was necessary, it still left her in a basket ball court without the ball, or the two teams to play.
"Thank you Kasumi," said Ranma, finally breaking the silence. He took a deep breath and relaxed his muscles, letting his arms go limp and his head droop down.
Kasumi smiled slightly. "Anytime Ranma," It was easy to respond, just difficult to initiate something in this situation. "I only wish I could have done anything more."
"You already have, you were one of the few in the Tendo household that kept me sane up till now, I guess, but I never even got to know you properly. I guess I just didn't want to cause a misunderstanding bringing you into trouble as well." replied Ranma, smiling a bit. "One question though, I understand about Akane and Mr. Tendo but what about Nabiki?"
The middle daughter a knack for making money on his expense, but there were times when he got the feeling that she wasn't as bad as the image she tried to encourage.
Kasumi smirked, making Ranma almost gawk at her in shock. "Nabiki has always been the smart one. What she chose to do with her smarts is her decision, but who do you think taught her the ropes?"
Ranma looked at her dumbly, his mouth still not working properly. "Who?"
His look got even dumber when she bonked him on the head affectionately, using what he felt as a delicately soft fist.
"I did silly."
Ranma's look turned from dumb into clueless.
"I-uh-you mean you taught her what she knows?"
Kasumi's smile only grew as she gently put a finger on his lips. "That, Ranma shall be our little secret, and I know you will honor that, wont you?"
"Uh, yeah. Sure." said Ranma, not knowing what to think. Fear was his initial response, however. Kasumi taught Nabiki? That was NOT expected.
"I have had some talks with her regarding how she does her… business, and you know she's not a bad girl. She just keeps people distant. She's always been that way."
"Hmm. Nabiki and nice, sorry, don't think the word should exist in the same sentence as the name."
"Baka."
"Now why can't Akane do that?" asked Ranma indignantly, wishing the youngest Tendo could behave like that once in a while. Not that he really minded their bickering. It had become a game of sorts between them, a game that lately seemed to be getting old, and annoying. She didn't always have to so irreproachable. "Che, Dr. Tofu is lucky huh?" he muttered to himself silently.
"Why's that?"
"Ah, huh? Oh, Nothing." Ranma blurted, realizing he spoke too loud. It was too late, though, as Kasumi dropped and eyebrow, and raised the other. It gave her an incredibly cute facial expression, probably because it was the most she had shown up till now.
"I'm not all set to marry Ono Tofu Ranma," Kasumi smiled gently, "regardless of what the family is thinking. I guess only Nabiki might be inclined to know this." She sighed.
"Eh? Wha? Whe?"
"Ranma…" muttered Kasumi, leaning down and looking straight in his eyes.
"Uh. Who would have thought? Well I mean, he's clearly got the hots for you. Err, I mean, maybe I should rephrase that." Ranma started fidgeting around, like he usually did when things didn't go like they were supposed to.
Tragically, this happened a lot in his life, so his unconsciousness developed its own way of dealing with it. He started panicking, franticly looking right and left for a way out as if it would just show itself to him. His distress didn't last long. A few moments later he heard Kasumi laugh. He looked at her shivering form as she desperately tried to hold her mirth in.
She looked like a school girl, but at the same time, a woman. This was definitely enough to send Ranma's mind over the edge.
"You are so cute Ranma." She managed between her giggle, "Do not worry about Ono. Initially, it was flattering and sweet, his little Betty thing when he saw me. It wore off though when I realized that he was not recovering. In fact, it seems to be getting worse, isn't it?" Kasumi stopped giggling and looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Maybe it might work, maybe not. But I'm not holding my breath." Kasumi's smile fell a little, "But then again, it's not like I have much else to do; I'm not socially active."
"Umm, yeah." Ranma responded, fully aware of the decrease of 'happiness' from Kasumi's face. The problem here was quite simple; he had no idea what to do, and thus the Saotome technique, 'Blurting without thinking' kicked in instinctively.
"Well, I wouldn't mind taking you out and all, but then you know exactly what the problem's gonna be, right? I don't want you hurt, that and I don't know how much more I can take. Akane can be acceptable at times, and she can be fun to. I feel…comfortable around her, but her anger will never let it work between us. That's actually what's been eating at me lately." He flushed.
His demeanor currently showed another buildup of anger. Kasumi sharply inhaled. Well, she wasn't surprised, and it could still be salvaged, but she had to start acting quickly, she told herself.
"Ukyo, Shampoo , ugh Kodachi, no. Frankly, I am making my choice that I don't want either of them right now. That don't mean they will make my life any easier does it though, does it? If I reject, I'm only going to suffer. And if I don't, I'll still suffer." Ranma mulled.
His life was not getting any better. It was still more suffering, with no answers.
Damn that sucked.
He let out another sigh, then quirked his mouth into a lopsided smile as he noticed that he'd been sighing a lot lately. The only silver coin in his pile of mud was that at least he had made some sort of peace with Kasumi's help.
His mind suddenly went into rapt attention when he notice his companion reaching out towards him, only to relax slightly when he felt her delicate, warm hands in a gentle hold on his head. Ranma closed his eyes, enjoying the feel, didn't resist when they started pulling. He let the hands guide him to what he figured was her lap, when he felt her soft flesh.
"Relax for a while." She commanded gently, but with a bit more of a stern attitude. "If anyone comes, I'll deal with them. Do not worry, I meant it when I said that I taught Nabiki the ropes of using a sharp tongue." Kasumi's voice went down to a whisper when she apprehended his almost drugged state. He was almost asleep already.
Ranma, for his part, had never felt so relaxed before. He wondered if crying could be a good thing from time to time before igniting is jets of slumber, and taking off into the airspace of sleep.
It couldn't have been fives minutes of peace when a large electrical circle formed near the corner of the boundary wall, loudly crackling and sizzling as sparks flowed to the center where a glowing ball of electricity hovered.
Kasumi, surprised, quickly turned around to face it.
"Oh…What now?" she asked to no one in particular. Why must more trouble come this way? Ranma hadn't even begun healing yet. She knew well enough that another set of problems so soon wouldn't help at all.
"Sorry Ranma, I'm so sorry, but can you wake up?" She shook Ranma gently, but with a touch of urgency, "I said I would take care of things, but I don't know if this is something I can really handle with my tongue, no matter how sharp it is."
"Huh? Wha?" was all she got in reply.
Luckily Ranma had awakened, and after seeing the awesome display behind her, his mind instantaneously sprung into action, followed very closely by his body.
He quickly swept the girl up in his hands and jumped, somersaulting back to the roof of the house in one leap. When he landed, he focused at the electrical circle, holding Kasumi close to him.
"Aw man what now? Can't I have SOME PEACE?!" Ranma shouted.
The large circular frame of electricity didn't last long. A glowing ball in the center elongated itself and sparks intensified around it. The ball, well it was no longer a ball, but more like a big cylinder, dropped to the ground. IT gave off a bright blue glow as the entire electrical show weakened from the outer edges and steadily fizzled itself into nothing.
The cylinder changed shape as it stopped glowing, and sort of disintegrated strangely, as if it was being eaten away by dozens of small super powered glowy light eating caterpillars, all the while kicking a few sparks on occasion.
Ranma and Kasumi squinted in efforts to get their eyes adjusted to the dark again. Among the smoke a body there in the cylinder's place. The body wasn't moving initially as Ranma jumped back down to the ground with Kasumi in his arms, letting her down near the house before he sauntered forward slowly and cautiously.
The figure started to stir and slowly. It moved to rise and only got to its knees as Ranma called to it.
"Hey! Who are you? What are you doing here and what do you want?" Ranma shouted. He flexed his muscles and gathered his battle aura around himself, fully prepared for a fight if it came to that.
The figure coughed at first, then started laughing. That didn't help Ranma's mood at all as he got into a fighting stance and let some of his ki flow through freely, charging up a ki blast.
"I wouldn't be cough aggressive if I were you." croaked a male voice, coming distinctly from the figure.
'Well, at least it ain't another fiancée.' thought Ranma. If this guy somehow ended up wanting to take Akane for whatever reasons, Ranma had half the mind to let him go.
"Why not?"
"Let's just say, you will get hurt. Besides, I am in no condition to fight, nor do I want to hurt anyone." replied the figure attempting to get up, and doing so very sloppily.
"Oh…god." Kasumi muttered to herself as she saw the man' state. "He's hurt!" She quickly rushed past Ranma towards the figure.
"Kasumi WAIT! We're not sure if its safe!" shouted Ranma, at once moving to follow her.
As he reached to where the man lay, what he saw proved the man's words. He was bleeding from several cuts on his body. He was wearing a black sleeveless tank top and some black matching pants, both having an intricate logo on them.
His blood dripped from his wounds and could be seen clearly in the moonlight. The cuts seem to have been made from blades, Ranma assumed, as he saw one lying next to him. The man didn't make any move to pick it up as Kasumi bent down to help him stand.
Ranma stared at the man, then at the sword as it hummed with an unearthly energy, sending off diminutive electrical sparks around it. After standing still for a moment, Ranma moved to pick up it up when he was stopped.
"Don't touch it!" the man warned. "It's my sword. Only I can touch it cough. Anyone else will be electrocuted, unless, Kasumi-san…I presume." The man carefully turned his head towards the Tendo offspring as he eyed her carefully.
"If you pick it up and he can help me stand, that way you can be sure I won't try anything and my sword won't hurt an innocent woman; it's been made that way. Sorry, I'll explain later." He said in a slow and steady voice, though it was littered by gasps as he seemed to try and get some sort of control on his breathing.
Ranma thought about it, and reluctantly agreed for the moment. He moved to put the man's right arm over his shoulder, and slowly made his way to the living room where he sat the man down and got a good look at him in the light.
He was a young man, with his hair a little less than Ranma's own – minus the pig tail - and a very well defined upper body. He noticed that this man's muscles were in fact slightly larger than Ranma's and looked much more toned. His face looked tired, yet alert as his eyes were quickly darting around taking in every thing they could.
Several meters behind Ranma, Kasumi bent down a little shakily. As she stretched her hand towards the sword, a blue-white glow came to life, completely surrounding it. She instinctively pulled her hand back, and noticed that as soon as she had done so, the glow faded away into nothing.
Upon giving it a little scrutiny, Kasumi decided to try again. She reached forward to grab the hilt of the sword. The glow, expectedly came back to life. This time Kasumi continued with her reach until she thought she was touching it. She felt something slippery, as if this glow was in fact a barrier of water.
Nothing happened. The barrier felt a little warm, and somewhat comforting, if tingly. Deciding that it was safe as the man had said, Kasumi reached further and grabbed the sword by the hilt.
The barrier let her delicate hand go through it, passively doing nothing noteworthy apart from providing a spectacular sight.
Ranma turned around to look at Kasumi walking back with the sword in her hand. Though he was concerned with that soft blue glow emanating from the sword in her hands, as she slowly brought it and placed it next to the man, something told him it was alright.
"Thanks, I'm sorry for causing this mess for you." said the man as he stopped looking around and rested his eyes on Ranma and Kasumi. They were standing together but Ranma had placed himself slightly in front of Kasumi, ready to push her out the way should anything happen.
He was getting sick and tired with people suddenly showing up, and in his book they were nothing but trouble. He wanted to be rid of this one as soon as it came so it didn't cause any long lasting problems.
"Ya wanna explain the electrical works over there dude? And what's with the sword?" asked Ranma pointing to the area to the left with his thumb from whence the man came.
The man was silent, contemplating, as he closed his eyes for a second. He had apparently come to a decision as he opened them up and looked straight, taking in the current sight.
Ranma was holding his left hand in front of Kasumi. It appeared the girl wanted to come forward but he held her back.
"But Ranma…" Kasumi began only to be cut off by Ranma. "Look Kasumi, lemme handle this please. If anything happens to you, I will go insane." argued Ranma. This seemed to quiet the girl down as she blushed slightly and backed up a bit, in order to give Ranma a bit more room.
"Ranma, is it. Koryu. Nice to meetcha. That electrical show as you called it, was a portal. I was being hunted down and attacked by some people I know. They caught me off guard and managed to hurt me quite a bit. This raised a situation for my retreat. Unfortunately, the portal didn't work quite like it was supposed to and here I am, brought to this world."
"This world?" Ranma sounded incredulous, "As in you are from another world?"
"From the ki I sensed in you, I am sure you have sensed, seen and maybe been in situations where magic or the paranormal has occurred. I can only ask for you to have an open mind to this." The man named Koryu bowed his head respectfully.
"Just great! Now we have someone from a different world!" Ranma stared at the sky, as if accusing it for his current situation.
"Ranma, I am not here to hurt anyone, but since I am here, and since I have told you about me, it would be best if I stayed here incase someone followed me to this place. It would only be my duty to protect you from them, should they ask you what you saw here from me. It would be my responsibility as it is I who has gotten you involved in this. Even if I seriously doubt they can do so. The chances of anyone following me are one in a thousand."
"Huh? How can you protect us if you ran away from them? Besides, if they come, they'll have to deal with me!"
Koryu shook his head, "Firstly, they caught me off guard. That is the only way they can hurt me. However, they failed in their task. Now I am ready, prepared, and ticked off." He gave a dark look that backed up his words, portraying his feelings on the matter.
"Secondly, these people are far too strong for someone of your caliber." Ranma looked as if he was about to refute. "Please do not be offended, I only speak the truth. Even if you could take on two or three, I doubt you could fight a team of six. Especially when there's someone here who can be a pretty good hostage." Koryu's glance hovered at Kasumi for a moment, who instantly began to look a little pale.
"Look. Just like you, I didn't want this." Koryu sighed, "But it has happened and I have been straight forward with you. Please honor that and let me rest just for one night. Then, if you wish, you will never see me again. If anyone follows me, it won't be just one person. It will be at least four or six."
"That will make things very difficult for you to handle, even if you take down the first three, which you might, given your ki abilities that I sensed." Koryu looked straight into Ranma's eyes, not wavering for a second as he stood up, albeit slowly, "I swear to you on my life, that I will not harm any innocent."
Ranma's gaze into Koryu's eyes didn't falter even though Koryu was taller by a few inches. He was only concerned about those eyes he was looking at. Those fierce light brownish eyes seemed to glow in the light of the living room.
He could clearly see that the man more than one eye color in both eyes. The outlined edges of the irises were a significant grey, slowly edging in and fading out from the corners. There was something else he seemed to see. What was it?
FLASH
Ranma felt as if his own body had been trans placed into another universe. He in an elevated position, and had green paws?
He saw a young boy, sitting cradling and older woman in his arms, crying.
FLASH
He saw the same boy, slightly older now, facing a man who Ranma thought, had a big lizard apparently made from his aura reaching out and preparing to attack. Maybe it could be a dragon, because it was blackish and seemed more vicious than any normal lizard Ranma had seen. Ranma looked down but couldn't see any paws.
FLASH
The boy, now a man – Koryu - was on a cliff holding onto someone. A girl.
Suddenly he felt he was coming closer to Koryu. Everything faded black. Then instantly he could see the girl up close, who was being held by …his hand? She had the most beautiful soft greenish blue eyes. He assumed he was now looking through the eyes of Koryu.
FLASH
Everything went black, but emotions continuously flooded Ranma's mind as water flooded a broken dam. Pain, sadness, anger, humility, pushed away all other emotions that he currently felt.
FLASH
Ranma stood there dumbly as Koryu's face focused in front of him again. He had no idea what had happened. Maybe he had gone into a trance, but it seemed evident that little time had passed. Ranma didn't waver in his outward posture. He kept on staring into Koryu's eyes, not even blinking once.
Those emotions he had felt in those flashes were probably similar to those he had been feeling as of late. How he saw them, he never knew, but some feeling in his gut told him, as he continued gazing into those fierce eyes. Koryu was expressing one more thing about himself.
Honesty.
"Kasumi," Ranma croaked. When had his throat gone dry? He quickly swallowed and said, "I believe he is telling the truth. What do you think? Where do we keep him? For some stupid reason, I don't want the family to know yet. I ain't gonna be able to handle 'em." Ranma shifted his gaze away from the young man and turned around to look at Kasumi, who simply nodded in response.
When Koryu turned to look at her, Ranma noticed that his eyes had lost their fierceness.
"Umm, the best place in all honesty would be my room. I do have a medical kit there, and no one will ever suspect anything since no one ever visits my room but me."
Koryu shook his head looking to refuse when Ranma agreed by nodding his head. "Yes, good idea."
Apparently he was thinking the same thing.
"I do not wish to cause you any more discomfort Kasumi-san. I can stay in the attic or anyplace else."
"No, its quite alright, and besides I think I will have to stay awake for a while cleaning and dressing your wounds." replied Kasumi, regaining her gentle smile.
Ranma visibly relaxed. For him, these past few intense minutes started off looking like another major disaster, but it seemed that the fates didn't totally have it in for him…yet.
He didn't doubt the look in Koryu's eyes, that and his gut instinct. It hadn't failed him yet when it came to trouble.
"Well then, we- we should hurry up. I'm sure someone will arrive soon and we better not leave any sign of this." Ranma said quickly as Kasumi ran in to get some cleaning up material.
As she disappeared from view, Koryu shifted his head closer to Ranma, "We're being watched." he whispered, "Someone in the tree."
Ranma acknowledged that with a nod.
"I know who it is," Ranma whispered back, "Don't worry; it's a punk ninja who serves the insane Kuno family. He'll be up to something tomorrow morning. He wasn't there earlier. I think he arrived when your, umm, portal kinda popped up." Koryu digested this information and nodded back in reply. "Want me to get rid of him?" he asked. A ghost of a smirk could be seen on his face.
Ranma didn't avert his gaze as he replied, "I could do that too, but I can't be bothered right now. Besides, ain't you hurt?"
"I am, but I've been through worse. I just needed to get my breath back. What I really need is some sleep for at least ten to twelve hours. I don't even need someone to clean my wounds." Koryu replied in a whisper, leaning down and picking up his sword. He proceeded to put it in his sheath that hung over his back.
"Nah, wouldn't want the wounds to get infected."
"Don't worry, they won't. Anyway, about this sword, it's a spirit sword bound to me. It obeys my will and reacts accordingly to my nature. It would have rejected you," he whispered, " And while Kasumi-san would not have been able to wield the sword, she would still be able to carry it nonetheless.
"Spirit sword huh? It's the first time I've come across one." Ranma commented. His eyes darted momentarily at the smooth hilt of the sword that he could see. He was about to question the remark about infection when Kasumi popped back into the room with some cloth and material in a bag.
She quickly wiped Koryu's blood, which had stared to smoke and then looked at Ranma and Koryu.
"Sorry, my blood is, special. If it leaves my body, it will instantly burn and evaporate. It prevents others from getting hold of my blood."
"Why would anyone want your blood?" Ranma implored, interested.
"Because it's special."
It was obvious that the man didn't want to speak more on the matter.
Kasumi decided to break in.
"Please, this way." She bowed politely.
Koryu sighed, pleased for the moment that these people were at least trusting. He could have been in a much worse situation. From what he saw as he delved into Ranma's eyes, Ranma gone through one shit life. He didn't blame Ranma's behavior and demeanor towards him. Anyone would behave like that if they even gone through a tenth of what Ranma had.
Koryu bowed deeply towards Kasumi before he let her lead him. Apparently this was a family with old customs. He let Ranma go ahead first, not wanting them to have any doubts about him.
As Ranma and Kasumi walked up towards her room, Koryu decided one thing for sure. He would stay here for a bit before he went back.
Loren would handle things perfectly in his absence. And the bloody Enwa Gumi had better not do anything else stupid, unless they wanted a clan war.
Koryu could imagine the states of mind of his Shadow Guard.
Sensing their leader get caught an ambush off guard and suddenly disappear in a portal with no communication what so ever?
Yep! They were probably cranky right about now.
End of Chapter 1
I would really appreciate any sort of comments you may have regarding this story, whether good or bad. Thank you for reading. I appreciate it.
RETURNING READERS (and new ones heh ): If you want something to read while waiting chap 11, I suggest you go here.
Process of Elimination, by Brian Randall. Okay. is being really really annoying. I would have given the http link, but it doesn't show. Just do a search for it on yahoo and you will get the link.
Authors Notes:
Yo people. This is probably the Second rendition of chapter 1, and my last. There were some things I had to add to this chapter, which were big plot holes. Returning readers ( you read this again!? Wow, I hope you liked it.) will know what I have added etc. Anyways… I hope this satisfies you guys temporarily, because I was unable to post chapter 11.
New readers can go ahead, or if they want to wait for my revisions, they can. UP to them. I guess the only real difference is the writing will be better. The story is the same, with small changes – those changes aren't too significant, but necessary for where I want to take this story – here and there.
Old readers, if you really want to read chapter 11, start praying. I'll be working on in the rest of this day. It is 15:00, err.. 3:00 pm? If things go well by tonight, I should be able to upload it.
There are no massive changes made in this chapter that will affect the story.
Why Revisions?
When I read this chapter myself, I felt bad, because many, many people had reviewed saying how good this story is etc. When I read it myself after all this time (it's been almost 4 months since I've written /revised this chapter) and after I got a critical review from JonnyG, I felt that this chapter could have been written so much better than it previously had been. I believe I have improved my writing ability sufficiently enough to try and properly re-edit this chapter. This is my final version for Chapter 1 of "Shadows of Honor".
Now, a few other things, just so you know if this is the first time you are reading this story. This is my first ever fanfic. I have started writing a novel called "Plasmatic Shadow", which was playing around in my mind for at least 3 years now. My writing was really poor, so I decided to put that on hold and write a crossover with that story. That way, I improve my writing skills and still define characters from my novel better.
This story just came into my mind, when I was wondering what would happen if Ranma and Koryu would meet each other. Ha! So here you go, "Shadows of Honor". I really hope you enjoy this story.
If you are returning readers / reviewers, thank you so much for your support, and thanks again for reading this story.