The Sister
Disclaimer: All characters are owned by their creators. I'm just
borrowing them for a little while but they will be returned in good
condition.
Blackness surrounded her. She spun in place slowly, her eyes searching
for any texture in the void before her. Just when a she began to believe
that there was nothing there it began. It was soft at first, barely
above the sound of her own breathing. She twisted, trying to discover
the source of the sound, and its identity. She felt her breath catch in
her throat when she realised what it was, crying. Someone was crying,
someone in great pain.
At first she didn't notice it, there was a slight change in the
darkness, then as the glow became brighter the sobbing became louder.
Just when she thought the glow would blind her it collapsed into a
sobbing girl kneeling before her, her face in her hands. Then the
sobbing girl looked up.
Rei bolted upright sweat running off her, eyes wide. She really hated
these kinds of visions they usually left her unable to sleep and cranky
the next day. She already knew that a scout meeting, with the outers,
was going to happen soon. She found her thoughts drifting back to the
last image the vision showed her. A face framed by flaming red hair,
deep blue eyes, and perhaps the most disturbing feature, the symbol of
Pluto flickered on her brow.
Meetings at the temple were not uncommon, having the entire solar system
represented was uncommon.
"Okay Rei, you called this meeting so why are we here?" Haraku, the
headstrong Warrior of Uranus demanded. Rei took a deep breath before
meeting the challenge thrown at her.
"Last night I had a vision. A vision I think you all need to know about,
especially Setsuna." This peaked the attention of the entire group,
affairs that involved the lone warrior often led to the involvement of
the entire group.
"What kind of vision Rei?" Setsuna was curious, events of this nature
were not common and thus could be a danger to the creation of the future
she desired.
"There was this girl."
"Was she wearing a Senshi uniform?" Makoto injected.
"No she wasn't, she.." Rei began
"So she was naked?" Haraku butted in.
"Yes she was, but that.."
"Now this sounds like a girl I want to meet!" Haraku grinned at her
partner.
"Would you all let me finish!" Rei's yelling had the desired effect,
everyone was looking at her.
"Perhaps you could summarise the vision?" Ami quietly asked. You could
hear Rei's teeth grinding.
"Fine, girl, crying, red hair, blue eyes, and pluto's symbol. There are
you happy." Rei crossed her arms and humped in her best 'now I'm mad'
manner. Nobody was paying attention to her however, instead everyone's
attention was riveted on the eldest Senshi. It wasn't every day that one
could see all the colour drain from her face, nor was it every day when
you could see her drop her tea cup in shock.
While seeing the only senshi who could look death in the eye and comment
on her mascara lose control, the burning question was why?
"Setsuna-mama is something wrong?" Horatu had never seen her sometimes
parent, when she wasn't spending time with various figures throughout
history, act like this. Not even the time Horatu had discovered the
little blue pills in her dresser drawer.
"Did you notice anything else Rei?" Setsuna was quite proud of the fact
that she asked nicely instead of turning the girls' head to mush.
"Ahh, yea now that you mention it she had this scar on her left
shoulder." Rei was beginning to think that something very bad was about
to happen. She was therefore adequately prepared when Setsuna expression
changed from shocked to something approaching joy, with a healthy dose
of fear.
"By the creator, she's alive!" Setsuna's voice might not have been
pitched high enough for most people to hear, but when you have an entire
room hanging on your every word anybody can hear anything.
"Setsuna who is alive? No riddles just give us the truth." Usagi's
concern shone though her voice.
"She was my sister."
"WHAT!?!" Ever see a building jump off its foundations due to sound
waves?
5 seconds later.
After everyone had recovered for the verbal equivalent of a neutron bomb
the questions flew like machine gun fire.
"You have a sister?"
"What was she like?"
"What happened to her?"
"Any other family members you haven't told us about?"
"Why are we hearing about her now?" The last question had the effect of
shutting up the entire group. Slowly all eyes tracked to the one person
who had asked a good question.
"What?" Usagi tried to laugh at all the stares levelled her way.
"Perhaps I should start off by describing my sister." Setsuna took an
deep breath, preparing herself for the coming ordeal. "She was perhaps
the kindest, most caring person I've ever met. At the same time she
could be the most crass, rudest and most aggressive person you could
ever meet."
"I don't understand." Ami hated contradictions and this person sounded
like one huge contradiction.
"She had this real talent for making enemies I think she was the only
person ever to have princess Serenity hate her."
"I hated her? Why?" Usagi couldn't imagine hating anyone much less
Setsuna's sister.
"There was a small incident when you both were young, I think it had
something to do with food. You forgave her later in life though, I think
that was after she nearly died trying to get you home." Setsuna seemed
lost in the past, reliving old times perhaps happier times for her.
"Why did she nearly die?" Makoto was beginning to like the sound of this
person.
"It's a long story and best left in the past. She did make enemies but
she also made many friends. She was the only one who treated Saturn like
a person after her powers manifested."
Horatu's brow wrinkled in thought as she tried to someone who had been
her friend in a time when she could count her friends on one hand and
have fingers left over.
"You don't mean oneechan?"
"Yes, she did treat you like a sister. She even went so far as to beat
the snot out of some minor noble who treated you badly. That's what she
was like, she would walk into fire for her friends or anyone who needed
her but she could be so sweet at the same time. After I was chosen to
stand guard at the gates of Time I wasn't allowed to have any outside
contact. People feared that the Senshi of time might be influenced if
she had outside contact. She would leave muffins or cookies just outside
the gate for me to find, she was the only one to remember my birthday.
I'll never forget the gift she gave me that first year." A smile had
wormed it way onto Setsuna's face as she remembered the one person who
treated her like a human person in those dark years when she was first
chosen to guard the gates of time.
"What did she give you Setsuna-momma?" Horatu was glad to see a smile on
Setsuna's face she didn't smile enough in Horatu's opinion.
"Two things, a framed photo of the two of us when we were younger, and
two packs of playing cards along with a book on all the known ways to
play solitaire."
"She sounds like a great person Setsuna. There still is the question as
to why we haven't heard about her before." Micharu shifted a bit in
Haraku's embrace. Setsuna's gaze met the floor.
"I didn't know she was alive. She died before the Silver Millenium fell
and would not have been part of Queen Serenity's spell."
"How did she die?" Minako felt that she had to ask the question.
"She drowned. It was early in the war and she was fighting on Earth. She
was part of a small scout force, sent to find the source of the
creatures that had been laying waste to parts of the Earth. They were
ambushed and almost the entire force was ripped to shreds, my sister
ordered a retreat and she was covering the wounded when she was struck
and fell off a cliff into a pool of water and drowned." There was a
moment of silence for one who gave her life for others.
"Setsuna why don't you use the gates to find her?" Usagi had, for the
second time, asked a reasonable question.
"Our powers don't work on each other." Setsuna's features drew into a
small smile. " It was kind of a safe guard to ensure that the two
warriors of Pluto couldn't battle each other." The smile disappeared and
was replaced with a look of sadness. "I couldn't even see her when she
died, I had to learn about it from a survivor of the battle. The gates
will be useless for finding her but I will find her." Setsuna's voice
had been growing in steel with each word, creating a vow at the end that
not even the gods themselves could withstand.
"So how are you going to look for her?" Makoto didn't doubt her word,
she just thought it would be very difficult.
"Thanks to Rei I know she's in Tokyo, she would have to be for Rei to
get such a clear image. I can use the gates, her very presence will
create a ripple in the background mana levels it's simply a question of
looking in the right place with the right eyes."
Authors Note: I happened across this idea but now I can't remember who's
it was. I hope that the person can forgive me my bad memory and contact
me.
C&C can be sent to:
[email protected]
This story will only be continued if I get some feedback.
The Sister
Chapter 1 part 2
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters and anyone attempting to sue
will be wasting their time.
Authors Notes: Due to the large amount of support I have received I have
decided to continue this story but like all writers I love hearing from
people. People should also note that this chapter deals with things in
Ranma's life. Chapter three will bring together the two universes and
all will be well.
A note on spelling errors, English is my first language but I'm Canadian
so replacement of o's with u's and the changes in spelling of certain
words come from my cultural background. Sorry to ramble, please enjoy
the fic.
Timeline Note: Place this sometime before Ranma's mother learns of the
curse.
'' Thoughts
[] Panda signs
Events were proceeding on par for the denizens of the sub ward of Tokyo
known for its martial arts. Every week or so another student of an
obscure school of martial arts would appear, challenge the local
champion, and go home in disgrace. By all rights this pattern could have
continued for many years but for one thing. The champion was being worn
down. It wasn't any one thing, it was just the constant abuse, death
threats, and beatings.
Ranma sat on the roof of the Tendo household involved in his new hobby,
brooding. This was a new hobby for him, he had never thought of it
before his arrival at the Tendo's but somehow it seemed like a good
thing to do. He was even discovering that he was pretty good at it.
Ranma was so deep in thought that he did not notice the change occur,
nor did he really care. Over time he had become more and more
indifferent to what form he was currently in, only noticing when someone
pointed it out to him.
It was the sound of someone placing a ladder against the side of the
house that caused him to abandon his brooding. There were only three
people in the Tendo household who would use a ladder to bother him,
Akane, Nabiki, and Kasumi. Akane and Nabiki would have made their
presence known before placing a ladder so that left Kasumi.
'Kasumi's probably the only person in this whole damn town who gives a
damn about me.' The thought was not new, it had been hanging around in
Ranma's brain for awhile now as the number of people he thought he could
count on dwindled.
"Suppers ready Ranma-chan."
"Thanks Kasumi. I'll be down in a moment."
"Okay Ranma." Kasumi paused before heading down the ladder "You know
Ranma sometimes it helps to talk to someone."
That pretty much summed up Kasumi, most of the time she acted like she
was taking happy pills but every once in a while she showed remarkable
insight.
'Talk to someone, now there's a joke. The only people I could talk to
can't help me. Anyone else would just use it to their advantage.' Ranma
had known for sometime that he was alone. Growing up with just his
father, who would beat him if he didn't devote all his attention to the
Art, had permanently set Ranma apart from the rest of the world. He just
couldn't relate to anyone it seemed, every where he looked he saw people
who had friends, family, and homes. He had none of that, his so-called
friends are either trying to kill or marry him. His father made his life
hell for ten years and the only home he knew was at the Tendo's but even
that was unsure.
When you were younger you were told that Trolls live under bridges, as
you grew older you learned the truth, Trolls did not live under bridges
but sometimes you could find Martial Artists under them. If you happened
to look under a certain bridge in a certain park at a certain time you
might happen to find one of the greatest martial artists of all time.
He, or she depending, might be pondering the next battle, searching for
the weakness in the latest opponent, or just trying to escape the
general craziness of life.
Today however the greatest martial artist in the world was not doing any
of this, no today was a day to practice a new skill. Avoidance. Today
Ranma was practising a new battle skill in the war that had become her
life. Ranma had formed the opinion that by removing herself from the
places that she normally visited then the chance of pain would be
lessened.
Some people might call that running from your problems but Ranma figured
that there wasn't much else that could be done. There were a few flaws
with this tactic, Ranma couldn't stay away forever and when she finally
did show up he would often be hurt.
'Looks like it's time for dinner. I'd better be getting back.'
"RANMA NO BAKA!" The infamous battle cry of the youngest Tendo sister
rang throughout the streets, followed by a loud thunking sound as a
large wooden object impacted on a human skull. It was just another night
at the Tendo's and Ranma was once again unconscious from blunt force
trauma.
Authors End Note: Argh I been bitten by the less is more bug!! I can't
think of any way to make this longer! Argh!
I promise the next part will be longer as it will deal with Setsuna's
search for her sister.
A side note on the usage of gender nouns. I know that some people will
state that no matter what physical form Ranma is in he's a guy. After
reading Zen's "The Bitter End" and studying a few points that had been
made I surmised that as Ranma becomes more and more depressed he/she
would begin to identify more and more with his female side.
I could launch into a four page defence of my belief but I'll leave it
by saying that this is my story and Ranma will dance and act as I see
fit.
Part 3
Setsuna was rapidly losing her patience. True, it only had been a week
since she had started looking for her sister and as guardian of time she
was required to have patience. Matters concerning her sister were
different, she was the only family Setsuna had and the only person who
had cared about her as a human being after she became the guardian of
the time gates.
In the beginning she had known this was a huge task, searching for one
person in a city the size of Tokyo was a labour worthy of Grey(1) but
she had not expected to have this much difficulty. Her sister had always
attracted large amounts of chaos and she had been counting on the
general amount of trouble she attracted to stand out. What she had
forgotten to account for was the fact that Tokyo itself generated large
amounts of chaos.
Seeing as how looking for trouble spots would be rather futile Setsuna
had settled on a different approach. Knowing how much her sister could
eat she was visiting restaurants in various wards of Tokyo and
describing her sister. So far she had had no luck, tomorrow she would
try the Nerima ward.
The moment Setsuna set foot in Nerima ward she could feel the headache
forming. This wasn't a Tylenol type headache or even a Motrin(2) style
headache, no this was a 'hope someone lops off my head it hurt so much'
style headache. Setsuna knew of only two things that could set off this
style of headache, one was discussing quantum physics with Mandy(3) the
other was losing her connection to the Time gates. Seeing as there were
no blond little girls with dogs named Buttons running around it had to
be the latter.
If seen in a certain light this could be a good thing, it could mean
that her powers were being limited because she was near her sister, or
it could mean that the gates of time had been destroyed in which case
she was out of a job. There was another possibility but Setsuna refused
to consider it, there was just no way that someone could have summoned
the Giant Twinkie(4) without her knowing it.
What ever the source of the headache it was becoming very unpleasant,
and Setsuna quickly needed to sit down, she knew that in a few moments
her headache would clear and she would be fine, but until then it would
be best to sit down somewhere quiet.
Setsuna spotted a nicely adorned park, complete with fountains and
benches and concluded that that would be an ideal place to wait out the
pain.
If you asked Ranma what her idea of a good day would be, you would
generally be told that any day in which her feet didn't leave the ground
was a good day. Today was not a good day. Something, probably the
continued existence of Ranma, had ticked off the little psycho
bit..(sorry) Akane and resulted in Ranma taking a scenic tour of Tokyo.
Ranma however was a frequent flyer and could compute the trajectory and
speed of her flight and estimate a fairly reasonable landing area. Ranma
wasn't worried about the landing, she could handle it and even so, for
some reason most of Ranma's flights ended in a watery landing.
Just as she was reaching the apex of the flight, Ranma deduced that she
would land in the park, probably in the fountain. With her luck one of
the others would be there and either try to kill her or date her when
she landed.
'Might as well do the polite thing and warn anyone in the park.'
"LOOOOOOOOK OOOUUUUUUTTTTT!"
Somewhere beyond the eyes of mortals a deity known as Fate rubbed her
hands in
gleeful anticipation. Beside her sat her sister Destiny, doing her best
Kodachi
impersonation.
Footnotes:
(1) Grey is Grey-Le-Shard from metroanime's series of fics which I
sugest everone read.
(2) Motrin style headache is a blantent rip off of a series of headaches
Motrin does.
(3)Mandy is from the animanics show. Cute little kid who only knows the
words 'why' and 'Okay I live you by bye'
(4)The Gian Twinkie refence comes from the belief a friend of my mine
has that twinkies are the highest form of life on earth and one day the
Giant Twinkie shall revel it self to punish the fools who have consumed
it's breathren
Disclaimer: All characters are owned by their creators. I'm just
borrowing them for a little while but they will be returned in good
condition.
Blackness surrounded her. She spun in place slowly, her eyes searching
for any texture in the void before her. Just when a she began to believe
that there was nothing there it began. It was soft at first, barely
above the sound of her own breathing. She twisted, trying to discover
the source of the sound, and its identity. She felt her breath catch in
her throat when she realised what it was, crying. Someone was crying,
someone in great pain.
At first she didn't notice it, there was a slight change in the
darkness, then as the glow became brighter the sobbing became louder.
Just when she thought the glow would blind her it collapsed into a
sobbing girl kneeling before her, her face in her hands. Then the
sobbing girl looked up.
Rei bolted upright sweat running off her, eyes wide. She really hated
these kinds of visions they usually left her unable to sleep and cranky
the next day. She already knew that a scout meeting, with the outers,
was going to happen soon. She found her thoughts drifting back to the
last image the vision showed her. A face framed by flaming red hair,
deep blue eyes, and perhaps the most disturbing feature, the symbol of
Pluto flickered on her brow.
Meetings at the temple were not uncommon, having the entire solar system
represented was uncommon.
"Okay Rei, you called this meeting so why are we here?" Haraku, the
headstrong Warrior of Uranus demanded. Rei took a deep breath before
meeting the challenge thrown at her.
"Last night I had a vision. A vision I think you all need to know about,
especially Setsuna." This peaked the attention of the entire group,
affairs that involved the lone warrior often led to the involvement of
the entire group.
"What kind of vision Rei?" Setsuna was curious, events of this nature
were not common and thus could be a danger to the creation of the future
she desired.
"There was this girl."
"Was she wearing a Senshi uniform?" Makoto injected.
"No she wasn't, she.." Rei began
"So she was naked?" Haraku butted in.
"Yes she was, but that.."
"Now this sounds like a girl I want to meet!" Haraku grinned at her
partner.
"Would you all let me finish!" Rei's yelling had the desired effect,
everyone was looking at her.
"Perhaps you could summarise the vision?" Ami quietly asked. You could
hear Rei's teeth grinding.
"Fine, girl, crying, red hair, blue eyes, and pluto's symbol. There are
you happy." Rei crossed her arms and humped in her best 'now I'm mad'
manner. Nobody was paying attention to her however, instead everyone's
attention was riveted on the eldest Senshi. It wasn't every day that one
could see all the colour drain from her face, nor was it every day when
you could see her drop her tea cup in shock.
While seeing the only senshi who could look death in the eye and comment
on her mascara lose control, the burning question was why?
"Setsuna-mama is something wrong?" Horatu had never seen her sometimes
parent, when she wasn't spending time with various figures throughout
history, act like this. Not even the time Horatu had discovered the
little blue pills in her dresser drawer.
"Did you notice anything else Rei?" Setsuna was quite proud of the fact
that she asked nicely instead of turning the girls' head to mush.
"Ahh, yea now that you mention it she had this scar on her left
shoulder." Rei was beginning to think that something very bad was about
to happen. She was therefore adequately prepared when Setsuna expression
changed from shocked to something approaching joy, with a healthy dose
of fear.
"By the creator, she's alive!" Setsuna's voice might not have been
pitched high enough for most people to hear, but when you have an entire
room hanging on your every word anybody can hear anything.
"Setsuna who is alive? No riddles just give us the truth." Usagi's
concern shone though her voice.
"She was my sister."
"WHAT!?!" Ever see a building jump off its foundations due to sound
waves?
5 seconds later.
After everyone had recovered for the verbal equivalent of a neutron bomb
the questions flew like machine gun fire.
"You have a sister?"
"What was she like?"
"What happened to her?"
"Any other family members you haven't told us about?"
"Why are we hearing about her now?" The last question had the effect of
shutting up the entire group. Slowly all eyes tracked to the one person
who had asked a good question.
"What?" Usagi tried to laugh at all the stares levelled her way.
"Perhaps I should start off by describing my sister." Setsuna took an
deep breath, preparing herself for the coming ordeal. "She was perhaps
the kindest, most caring person I've ever met. At the same time she
could be the most crass, rudest and most aggressive person you could
ever meet."
"I don't understand." Ami hated contradictions and this person sounded
like one huge contradiction.
"She had this real talent for making enemies I think she was the only
person ever to have princess Serenity hate her."
"I hated her? Why?" Usagi couldn't imagine hating anyone much less
Setsuna's sister.
"There was a small incident when you both were young, I think it had
something to do with food. You forgave her later in life though, I think
that was after she nearly died trying to get you home." Setsuna seemed
lost in the past, reliving old times perhaps happier times for her.
"Why did she nearly die?" Makoto was beginning to like the sound of this
person.
"It's a long story and best left in the past. She did make enemies but
she also made many friends. She was the only one who treated Saturn like
a person after her powers manifested."
Horatu's brow wrinkled in thought as she tried to someone who had been
her friend in a time when she could count her friends on one hand and
have fingers left over.
"You don't mean oneechan?"
"Yes, she did treat you like a sister. She even went so far as to beat
the snot out of some minor noble who treated you badly. That's what she
was like, she would walk into fire for her friends or anyone who needed
her but she could be so sweet at the same time. After I was chosen to
stand guard at the gates of Time I wasn't allowed to have any outside
contact. People feared that the Senshi of time might be influenced if
she had outside contact. She would leave muffins or cookies just outside
the gate for me to find, she was the only one to remember my birthday.
I'll never forget the gift she gave me that first year." A smile had
wormed it way onto Setsuna's face as she remembered the one person who
treated her like a human person in those dark years when she was first
chosen to guard the gates of time.
"What did she give you Setsuna-momma?" Horatu was glad to see a smile on
Setsuna's face she didn't smile enough in Horatu's opinion.
"Two things, a framed photo of the two of us when we were younger, and
two packs of playing cards along with a book on all the known ways to
play solitaire."
"She sounds like a great person Setsuna. There still is the question as
to why we haven't heard about her before." Micharu shifted a bit in
Haraku's embrace. Setsuna's gaze met the floor.
"I didn't know she was alive. She died before the Silver Millenium fell
and would not have been part of Queen Serenity's spell."
"How did she die?" Minako felt that she had to ask the question.
"She drowned. It was early in the war and she was fighting on Earth. She
was part of a small scout force, sent to find the source of the
creatures that had been laying waste to parts of the Earth. They were
ambushed and almost the entire force was ripped to shreds, my sister
ordered a retreat and she was covering the wounded when she was struck
and fell off a cliff into a pool of water and drowned." There was a
moment of silence for one who gave her life for others.
"Setsuna why don't you use the gates to find her?" Usagi had, for the
second time, asked a reasonable question.
"Our powers don't work on each other." Setsuna's features drew into a
small smile. " It was kind of a safe guard to ensure that the two
warriors of Pluto couldn't battle each other." The smile disappeared and
was replaced with a look of sadness. "I couldn't even see her when she
died, I had to learn about it from a survivor of the battle. The gates
will be useless for finding her but I will find her." Setsuna's voice
had been growing in steel with each word, creating a vow at the end that
not even the gods themselves could withstand.
"So how are you going to look for her?" Makoto didn't doubt her word,
she just thought it would be very difficult.
"Thanks to Rei I know she's in Tokyo, she would have to be for Rei to
get such a clear image. I can use the gates, her very presence will
create a ripple in the background mana levels it's simply a question of
looking in the right place with the right eyes."
Authors Note: I happened across this idea but now I can't remember who's
it was. I hope that the person can forgive me my bad memory and contact
me.
C&C can be sent to:
[email protected]
This story will only be continued if I get some feedback.
The Sister
Chapter 1 part 2
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters and anyone attempting to sue
will be wasting their time.
Authors Notes: Due to the large amount of support I have received I have
decided to continue this story but like all writers I love hearing from
people. People should also note that this chapter deals with things in
Ranma's life. Chapter three will bring together the two universes and
all will be well.
A note on spelling errors, English is my first language but I'm Canadian
so replacement of o's with u's and the changes in spelling of certain
words come from my cultural background. Sorry to ramble, please enjoy
the fic.
Timeline Note: Place this sometime before Ranma's mother learns of the
curse.
'' Thoughts
[] Panda signs
Events were proceeding on par for the denizens of the sub ward of Tokyo
known for its martial arts. Every week or so another student of an
obscure school of martial arts would appear, challenge the local
champion, and go home in disgrace. By all rights this pattern could have
continued for many years but for one thing. The champion was being worn
down. It wasn't any one thing, it was just the constant abuse, death
threats, and beatings.
Ranma sat on the roof of the Tendo household involved in his new hobby,
brooding. This was a new hobby for him, he had never thought of it
before his arrival at the Tendo's but somehow it seemed like a good
thing to do. He was even discovering that he was pretty good at it.
Ranma was so deep in thought that he did not notice the change occur,
nor did he really care. Over time he had become more and more
indifferent to what form he was currently in, only noticing when someone
pointed it out to him.
It was the sound of someone placing a ladder against the side of the
house that caused him to abandon his brooding. There were only three
people in the Tendo household who would use a ladder to bother him,
Akane, Nabiki, and Kasumi. Akane and Nabiki would have made their
presence known before placing a ladder so that left Kasumi.
'Kasumi's probably the only person in this whole damn town who gives a
damn about me.' The thought was not new, it had been hanging around in
Ranma's brain for awhile now as the number of people he thought he could
count on dwindled.
"Suppers ready Ranma-chan."
"Thanks Kasumi. I'll be down in a moment."
"Okay Ranma." Kasumi paused before heading down the ladder "You know
Ranma sometimes it helps to talk to someone."
That pretty much summed up Kasumi, most of the time she acted like she
was taking happy pills but every once in a while she showed remarkable
insight.
'Talk to someone, now there's a joke. The only people I could talk to
can't help me. Anyone else would just use it to their advantage.' Ranma
had known for sometime that he was alone. Growing up with just his
father, who would beat him if he didn't devote all his attention to the
Art, had permanently set Ranma apart from the rest of the world. He just
couldn't relate to anyone it seemed, every where he looked he saw people
who had friends, family, and homes. He had none of that, his so-called
friends are either trying to kill or marry him. His father made his life
hell for ten years and the only home he knew was at the Tendo's but even
that was unsure.
When you were younger you were told that Trolls live under bridges, as
you grew older you learned the truth, Trolls did not live under bridges
but sometimes you could find Martial Artists under them. If you happened
to look under a certain bridge in a certain park at a certain time you
might happen to find one of the greatest martial artists of all time.
He, or she depending, might be pondering the next battle, searching for
the weakness in the latest opponent, or just trying to escape the
general craziness of life.
Today however the greatest martial artist in the world was not doing any
of this, no today was a day to practice a new skill. Avoidance. Today
Ranma was practising a new battle skill in the war that had become her
life. Ranma had formed the opinion that by removing herself from the
places that she normally visited then the chance of pain would be
lessened.
Some people might call that running from your problems but Ranma figured
that there wasn't much else that could be done. There were a few flaws
with this tactic, Ranma couldn't stay away forever and when she finally
did show up he would often be hurt.
'Looks like it's time for dinner. I'd better be getting back.'
"RANMA NO BAKA!" The infamous battle cry of the youngest Tendo sister
rang throughout the streets, followed by a loud thunking sound as a
large wooden object impacted on a human skull. It was just another night
at the Tendo's and Ranma was once again unconscious from blunt force
trauma.
Authors End Note: Argh I been bitten by the less is more bug!! I can't
think of any way to make this longer! Argh!
I promise the next part will be longer as it will deal with Setsuna's
search for her sister.
A side note on the usage of gender nouns. I know that some people will
state that no matter what physical form Ranma is in he's a guy. After
reading Zen's "The Bitter End" and studying a few points that had been
made I surmised that as Ranma becomes more and more depressed he/she
would begin to identify more and more with his female side.
I could launch into a four page defence of my belief but I'll leave it
by saying that this is my story and Ranma will dance and act as I see
fit.
Part 3
Setsuna was rapidly losing her patience. True, it only had been a week
since she had started looking for her sister and as guardian of time she
was required to have patience. Matters concerning her sister were
different, she was the only family Setsuna had and the only person who
had cared about her as a human being after she became the guardian of
the time gates.
In the beginning she had known this was a huge task, searching for one
person in a city the size of Tokyo was a labour worthy of Grey(1) but
she had not expected to have this much difficulty. Her sister had always
attracted large amounts of chaos and she had been counting on the
general amount of trouble she attracted to stand out. What she had
forgotten to account for was the fact that Tokyo itself generated large
amounts of chaos.
Seeing as how looking for trouble spots would be rather futile Setsuna
had settled on a different approach. Knowing how much her sister could
eat she was visiting restaurants in various wards of Tokyo and
describing her sister. So far she had had no luck, tomorrow she would
try the Nerima ward.
The moment Setsuna set foot in Nerima ward she could feel the headache
forming. This wasn't a Tylenol type headache or even a Motrin(2) style
headache, no this was a 'hope someone lops off my head it hurt so much'
style headache. Setsuna knew of only two things that could set off this
style of headache, one was discussing quantum physics with Mandy(3) the
other was losing her connection to the Time gates. Seeing as there were
no blond little girls with dogs named Buttons running around it had to
be the latter.
If seen in a certain light this could be a good thing, it could mean
that her powers were being limited because she was near her sister, or
it could mean that the gates of time had been destroyed in which case
she was out of a job. There was another possibility but Setsuna refused
to consider it, there was just no way that someone could have summoned
the Giant Twinkie(4) without her knowing it.
What ever the source of the headache it was becoming very unpleasant,
and Setsuna quickly needed to sit down, she knew that in a few moments
her headache would clear and she would be fine, but until then it would
be best to sit down somewhere quiet.
Setsuna spotted a nicely adorned park, complete with fountains and
benches and concluded that that would be an ideal place to wait out the
pain.
If you asked Ranma what her idea of a good day would be, you would
generally be told that any day in which her feet didn't leave the ground
was a good day. Today was not a good day. Something, probably the
continued existence of Ranma, had ticked off the little psycho
bit..(sorry) Akane and resulted in Ranma taking a scenic tour of Tokyo.
Ranma however was a frequent flyer and could compute the trajectory and
speed of her flight and estimate a fairly reasonable landing area. Ranma
wasn't worried about the landing, she could handle it and even so, for
some reason most of Ranma's flights ended in a watery landing.
Just as she was reaching the apex of the flight, Ranma deduced that she
would land in the park, probably in the fountain. With her luck one of
the others would be there and either try to kill her or date her when
she landed.
'Might as well do the polite thing and warn anyone in the park.'
"LOOOOOOOOK OOOUUUUUUTTTTT!"
Somewhere beyond the eyes of mortals a deity known as Fate rubbed her
hands in
gleeful anticipation. Beside her sat her sister Destiny, doing her best
Kodachi
impersonation.
Footnotes:
(1) Grey is Grey-Le-Shard from metroanime's series of fics which I
sugest everone read.
(2) Motrin style headache is a blantent rip off of a series of headaches
Motrin does.
(3)Mandy is from the animanics show. Cute little kid who only knows the
words 'why' and 'Okay I live you by bye'
(4)The Gian Twinkie refence comes from the belief a friend of my mine
has that twinkies are the highest form of life on earth and one day the
Giant Twinkie shall revel it self to punish the fools who have consumed
it's breathren