ASHES - A Cinderella Story
Chapter Eighteen/Epilog - Scattered Threads
Scattered threads, wind-tossed and blown
How little of our life we own
O wondrous fabric, cloth of chance
Fate guides our steps, keeps true our dance
A fragile line, true love appears,
Woven in amongst our fears
And suits us find, when all seems lost
A fair someone who's worth the cost
For love is worth the price they say
And love will always find a way.
Okay, folks. That's it. The show is over. While we're bagging up all the stale popcorn and dumping the ice from the drink machine, you can go ahead and delete this message so you can read the next one. All that is left is the wrap-up, and you know how boring those things are.
WRAPPING UP LOOSE ENDS:
The scene - a meeting of the Tendo daughters plus accumulated potential in-laws:
"I can't believe it! Daddy, actually taking advantage of someone?"
"What's so hard to believe?" snorted Ranma, "He ran around with my Pop for years. Some of it was bound to rub off on him."
The panda waved a sign, 'I do not shed!'
"What I mean," explained Nabiki patiently, "Was that he has never mistreated a woman, that I know about. And, now, with Miss Hinako..."
"He's been seeing Miss Hinako again?" Akane gasped, "Is that where he's been going every night?" Ranma froze at the tone of her voice, as if undecided whether to run or play dead.
"Hahaha!" Soun rattled nervously, "It's not like that at all! While Miss Hinako is an attractive lady, I have told her that I am not ready for another relationship. However, it was while I was letting her down gently that we discovered that we have a mutual interest."
"Oh, really, Father." When Kasumi spoke, the words seemed to loom like tethered barrage balloons, shutting out the light in the room, "And just what was this common interest the two of you have found?"
Soun appeared to deflate slightly. "We both share a love of exotic fish," he explained. "Haven't you ever noticed that the fish in our koi pond are the rare Carpus Delecti?"
"Naw," Ranma scratched the back of his head. "I allus thought they were just real good at dodgin'."
"There are also some lovely specimens at the reserved display in the museum. However, I can't get in because it is open only to members of the Academic Society. Now, it happens that Miss Hinako is a member, but she is embarrassed to keep going to the display by herself, so she gets me in so I can enjoy the fish, while she..."
Nabiki was the first to understand and fill in the blanks. "Our Miss Hinako has a boyfriend at the museum," she smirked.
Akane was nonplused. "I thought she was after Father," she said.
"She was. About like a bulldog holding on to the seat of your pants," said Ranma. Noticing the odd looks he was receiving, he added with a weak smile, "Y'had to be there."
You were too slow, boy!' signed the panda.
"She said she found him about the same time we first met," Soun commented. "A little after that little girl was visiting you. Seems she was looking for some very strong fighting fish. I can't imagine why."
HIROSHI: (It's My Party)
Hainoko looked very tiny as she put aside her toy tea set and looked up at me.
I bowed formally. "I am here for tea," I announced.
"I am very glad you could make it," she said as she laid out the cups and brush for her ceremony.
"Yeah. Well, uh...yeah. Nevertheless, I am here because of a wish." I saw the sadness recede - just a little - from her face, and had an unfamiliar urge to smile. "Why do I feel as if I have come to a funeral?"
"I miss Cin-chan."
"I...uh..."
"That's all right. I know you couldn't stay like that forever. Mommy says it would be bad for your lib...your lib..."
"Libido. No. You don't need to know what that means."
"You are my big brother. I know everything else about you. Including the fact that you are a klutz. But I...but...but..."
"Yeah," I shook my head, "I think you're kinda special, too. You're the only little sister I have."
"Oh, Big Brother!" she cried, jumping up to clamp my neck until I could not breath. She released me before I turned blue, tucked her arms behind her and swung back and forth in her I've Got A Secret' pose.
"What?" I asked.
"I'm not supposed to tell," she said.
"Tell me!" I demanded, and she shook her head. "Tell me?" I asked. "Tell your big brother so he won't have to beat on you?"
"Ooookaaay," she smiled all over, totally unfazed by my threats of violence. "I may still be your only little sister. Is is okay if I'm not?"
I shook my head. "I don't understand."
"Mommy's not really sick."
"Oh? Oh. Oh! Why didn't she tell us?"
"I heard her tell Poppy that she didn't want us to fight and be jealous."
"Let's go tell her we won't be jealous, then!"
She hesitated. "Sit down, first," she said solemnly, moving over and patting the cushion across the tiny tea table. "You won't have to come to tea again. I don't want to waste my wish."
"Wait. You made a wish?"
"Awhile back, I called heaven. A nice lady answered and said she'd fix everything," she forced the solemn frown away with a shaky smile. "I know you'd rather not play tea with me. I'm sorry that my wish forced you to do it."
"Oh. Yeah, well...those things happen, I guess."
"Anyway, I'm glad you're here."
"Me, too," I said as I sat on the small cushion and accepted a cup of make-believe tea. As I took a make-believe sip, I added, "Besides, who said this was YOUR wish?"
A mischievous grin spread across her face and she said, "Turtle!"
"Little, bitty, smelly insect!" I riposted.
"Crab," she countered.
"Spider monkey."
"Rhinocerous."
"Pekinese!"
"Warthog!"
"Children!" came the call from the kitchen, "Are you two fighting again?"
"Yes, Mom!" We answered in unison.
"Okay. That's nice. Just keep it down a little. Daddy's trying to watch the series."
"Hiroshi-kun?"
"Yes, Hai-chan?"
She giggled. "It sounds funny when you say that."
I scratched my ear. "Perhaps I should say it more often. You are kinda cute - for a little sister."
"But I was thinking. Pretty soon I will be a big sister, too. I'm kinda worried. What am I supposed to do? What if he...or she...runs into bullies like I did?"
"Then you will beat them up. Or call me. That's what big brothers are for, didn't you know?"
"I do now. Thanks, Hog-breath."
I knuckled her scalp. "Think nothing of it, Pack Rat. I want my Cinderella poster back."
"Biiiiihh!"
I was distracted by the doorbell. Without thinking, I threw the door open. I didn't quite close it in time.
"Good afternoon, Hiroshi," greeted my caller, who had jammed a shoe to keep the door open.
"Nabiki! Er...hi! What can I do for you? What are you doing around here?"
"Just in the neighborhood. Thought I might drop in and see how the little scamp is doing."
"She's okay, now. At least those kids at her school aren't bothering her anymore. You're pretty good."
"Really? Are you implying that I am scary?"
"Naw. Face it, Nabiki. Even I'm not scared of you any more. The wishes are over, and you have nothing to use against me."
"Oh?" Nabiki said as she pulled papers from her backsack, "How about nude photos of Cinderella?"
"Ack!"
"Just kidding! See? Blank paper."
"Don't do that! Why did you come around?"
"Oh, that. I brought you the bill for all those cameras I gave to the kids at Hainoko's school, so they could film any bullies."
"Accckk!"
"Expensive, weren't they? I want you to know that I did not make a yen profit off this deal and I will never forgive you."
"Oh," I said as I wiped the sweat from my face. "I can live with that."
SOMBODY TO LOVE:
Leaving Hiroshi's home, Nabiki picked up a companion and proceeded to the nearby neighborhood ginza. There, she tried to clear up any final misunderstandings with an associate.
"That's it? No more wishes?" she said, "I won't be left with the compulsion to hug any obnoxious moppets?"
"No, Nabiki Tendo. The wishes - except for the ones which were truly meant to occur - have all been erased."
"That's good," Nabiki sighed. "That's perfect. You realize how lucky you are, don't you? I could have inflicted some real pain if I hadn't been freed from that wish."
Ryoga gulped and nodded.
"And now..." she was interrupted by someone who bumped into her from behind. Since that person was less than a meter tall, Nabiki had to bend over to address her.
"What is it this time?" she asked.
"Auntie Nabiki! Can we go fishing?"
Nabiki gently pulled her lip to one side as she frowned and said, "I suppose so. And we have to get you back home soon, so your Mommy doesn't worry. Sure you don't want a drink first?"
"Nope! Yaaay! I'm gonna get a goldfish!"
Nabiki turned back to Ryoga and impaled him with her most fearsome glare. "Not. One. Word," she hissed.
Ryoga shook his head solemnly, impressed with the ferocity of her expression. He watched them hurry off toward the goldfish booth before he turned away.
Not until he had traveled for hours and could rest beside a campfire, in a grove of trees somewhere between Osaka and Nagasaki, did he allow himself a tiny smile.
HIROSHI (Sugar Shack):
"I know it would make everything simpler, but I'm having trouble with this whole reincarnation theory," I admitted, splashing sudsy water over another bowl.
"The Buddhists accept it," Akane offered. She took the bowl from me and wiped it with a dry towel.
"Easy for them. Pops is a devout pragmatist. Mom believes whatever the script tells her to believe. I don't know what to believe."
"The one I feel sorry for is Kidori," Ukyo said. She finished scraping the griddle and used her crutches to hobble over to the sink, handing the utensils to Akane who dumped them into the steaming water.
"Yeah," Ranma grunted with his mouth full. "She really didn't want to fight." It sounded like, 'shrlldnwndafggghhht'.
"That poor girl," breathed Ukyo. "She believed so strongly in her 'curse' that she thought you were her long-ago lover. She gave up her whole career to save you."
"Yeah." I could not look up from my hands. I was having trouble seeing them through the distortion. Where was the water coming from? The dishes were washed. I should be drying them, now.
"It was all because of that cursed mask her wicked stepmother had," said Akane, removing the drying rag from my hands and taking up where I left off. "She would never have tried to make Hiroshi love her if it hadn't been influencing her."
I glanced up at her and then away, stung by the pity I saw in her eyes. "She didn't do that," I said. "I lo...loved her, anyway. From the first moment I saw her. I wish she was still here."
Down the counter, a wayfarer was preparing for a long journey by stoking down all the food he could hold. He noticed my glance and glared back at me.
"Don't expect anything from me!" snapped Ryoga, "I don't do that kind of thing anymore!"
"Where'd she go, anyway?" Ukyo asked, readying a mixing bowl for the next batch.
"With those men from the hospital," replied Akane. "They put her in..." She paused, puzzled. "Funny. I can't remember an ambulance."
"I thought the attendants were women," Ukyo said. "But I've never seen uniforms like that, with fur jackets. What hospital uniforms have metal helmets with birdwings?"
"It was so sad," Akane said. "She was crying and reaching for Hiroshi as they took her away, but he could do nothing, just stand there all alone, talking to himself."
"I was talking to a woman," I said. "She said I would never see Kidori again. But then she said she would be soon be doing all the things normal girls did."
"Y'were alone," Ranma corrected me. It was the first clear words he had uttered since the super-sized okonomyaki had claimed his attention.
"Okay. I was alone," I said. I knew better, but I kept silent, remembering a promise.
Cologne gathered her wrap and motioned to Shampoo. On her way out the door, she peered closely at me. "Strange," she said. "I had the feeling they weren't quite through with you. I can still sense..."
She raised the tip of her cane and I jumped away from her faster than I had ever moved in my male life. From a safe distance, I called, "I'd rather you didn't examine me again, thank you very much!"
"Oh, it too, too sad. Shampoo hope you feel better, soon."
"Thanks, Shampoo. Me, too."
"Even if flower girl want to kill everyone."
"Err...right."
"Shampoo been working on manners. Say bye to spatula girl, too. And violent girl."
"Grrrrr..."
"Shampoo say bye to Ranma. Is not Shampoo polite and correct?"
"Well, yeah," Ranma said, warily. "I mean, it's unusual..."
"Ooo! Thank you, Airen!"
"Urf! Get offa me!"
Akane glared the Chinese pair out of the building, then spun about, hands on hips. "I saw that, Ranma! You enjoyed it, didn't you?"
"Whad'ya mean? She grabbed me!"
"You didn't have to hug her back!"
"I gotta go, fellas," I announced.
"What...I did not!" Ranma turned aside with Akane's finger poking at his eye, "Bye, Hirosh. Try to cheer up, willya?"
Akane halted her attack long enough to wave to me. "Bye, Hiroshi-kun! Don't worry, everything will turn out right!"
"Thanks, I hope so. See ya."
"Did, TOO!"
"I was pushing her away! She was all hands!"
GOOD THINGS COME TO HE WHO WAITS:
The door of the temple opened and the master recognised the wayfarer who had stopped to ask directions. "Ah!" said Sensei, "Welcome to the Temple of the Good Deed!"
Ryoga gawked. "But you're..." he sputtered.
Sensei slapped him on the back and closed the door behind him. "I am confident you won't tell my students of my 'other life', will you? We seem to have worked for the same lady."
"Eh...no, of course not! But what are you doing here?"
"I have a student about to graduate. Ah, here he comes, now!"
Basho came into the room and sat beside Ryoga, who shifted uneasily. "Aren't you upset with me?" Ryoga asked, "I thought I disturbed your tranquility."
"Not at all!" Basho beamed in good cheer, slapping Ryoga's knee in comradely fashion, "That is all done. I am past such distractions. I have finally finished my trials and now I am qualified to receive the final teaching!"
From a dusty bin, Sensei fumbled out a tiny scroll of rice paper, ancient and soiled with the handling of generations. He proferred the scroll to Basho with the words, "To you, I present the scroll which is the last and greatest illumination, the penultimate teaching of the Temple of the Good Deed!"
Basho unrolled the paper eagerly, only to become red-faced and slam it to the table.
"Is this what I have been striving to learn?" He demanded. "Did I waste years of my life, years that could have been spent doing something productive, like chasing women? Is this why I have deprived myself of the comforts of life?"
"Like another Basho, you have endured much," Sensei told him. "That Basho once said, 'before I became enlightened, I ate, I drank, and I farted. Then I went off to learn, and I became very knowledgeable about what I ate, and what I drank, and I never farted in public. Now that I am enlightened, I drink, I eat, and I fart.'"
"But what does it mean?" cried Basho.
"Go outside, watch the sun and the clouds for an hour, then come back. I will tell you."
Ryoga watched the irate monk slam the door on his way out. "May I see the scroll?" he asked.
"Certainly," Sensei handed it to him. "However, it means nothing if you have not worked and sacrificed as he has."
Ryoga unrolled the scroll and read.
-No good deed goes unpunished.-
"What's so great about it?" asked Ryoga, "I know that. Everybody knows that!"
"Ah," smiled Sensei. "But knowledge is cheap. Truth comes dear."
The door slammed open again. "I'm quitting!" cried Basho. He threw open the closet door, yelling, "I'm going into town and find a woman, and I'm not coming back until...until..."
"I like Strawberry-banana, myself," said Sensei. "How about you?"
Basho stopped as if poleaxed, his face twitching while the older man's words rattled about in his skull. Eventually he nodded. With unfocused eyes he drew off his robe to stand in ragged shorts, selected a shirt and pants, and put them on as if in a trance.
"At first I was going to go into town, have a steak and a beer and chat with the pretty waitresses," said Basho. "Then it hit me how selfish I have been, all these years, feeling righteous because I denied myself, thinking I was helping others. When all I was doing was forcing my ideas of right and wrong upon them."
He drew himself up to his tallest obesity and proclaimed, "So, I have decided to go and apologize to each and every one of them. And then I'm going into town, have a steak and a beer and chat with the pretty waitresses!"
The door slammed, then reopened immediately. Basho popped back in to say, "Oh! Yeah! Lime!"
"What the heck is going on around here?" demanded Ryoga.
"Jell-O," said Sensei. "Care to stay for dinner? We're having a treat. Pigs in a blanket."
"No, thanks," Ryoga shuddered as he turned to leave.
"Don't go out that gate, though," warned Sensei. "The creek is up and the bridge..." he was interrupted by a splash, "...has been weakened."
HIROSHI: (The Rain, The Park and Other Things/I Love the Flower Girl):
I saw Hainoko to her school the next morning. I didn't have to do it, I just felt like it, okay? Anyway, as soon as she got there, that boy who liked to hang around her began to insult her new hairdo. When I started to call him down, Hainoko told me, in effect, "Thank you for walking me to school, goodbye, get lost."
Sisters. Just when you think you understand them, they get silly.
The day was breezy and warm. School was peaceful, which was unusual but nice, since I wanted some quiet. Daisuke yawned, stretched and complained as we waited in line to get a drink of cold water from the fountain.
"Back to the humdrum," he said. "Back to the same old thing. School-days are the pits."
Someone jostled me. I turned to see a cute but unfamiliar face. I said, "Oh, excuse me."
"You're excused," she said in a breathy voice, as if she had just finished a sprint. "Just don't do it again!"
"Ooookay...My name is Hiroshi. What's yours? I don't recall seeing you around."
"My name is Uchiko," she said gruffly. "Who is this Miss Hinako? I'm supposed to get her to assign me a study partner." She had a rough-and-ready air, a tough girl carrying an armload of books. Many of the books were from earlier in the session - this told me that she had only recently enrolled and was trying hard to catch up with the rest of us.
"Hey, you'll be in our class!" I indicated myself and Daisuke.
She gave me a look as if I had just crawled out from under a rock. Rolling her upper lip, she said, "Like that's a privilege?"
"Ouch," said Daisuke. He used his finger-tip to mark the score in the air: Girl 1, Hiroshi 0. Stay tuned for the shut-out.
She was getting under my skin. She was cute, in a thorny way, but I was already tired of her attitude. I didn't know why she was so angry with me. I certainly hadn't been the one to dash all the way across the school yard to talk to her.
That was what was bothering me. She had gone out of her way to meet me. She had ignored several other guys who were more poised and polished than I, had brushed past Daisuke and started to bug me as if I had been making faces at her.
"Forget it," I said, feeling sullen and sorry for myself. I almost said, 'Buzz off. I don't need you pestering me,' but the incongruity of the situation fascinated me. She was being a pain in the neck, she was bitching at me, and I had not done a thing to start it. However, I remembered Hainoko and the little boy who was picking on her. She liked him. I had decided that he liked her, too. A light came on, but I dodged it. Did Uchiko like me?
"Listen, Buster!" she said, "I've dealt with bigger punks than you, and I can take you on, any day of the week!"
I gulped. "Then you won't be interested?" I asked, my voice a triumph of casual indifference. I was proud of the way it barely quavered as she waved her fist at me.
She speared me with a razor glance and growled, "In exactly what?"
"We could study together?" I said, hopefully.
"We..." she held my gaze for a moment longer before her books started sliding out of her hands. She managed to catch most of them. One worn volume, decorated with tiny yellow flowers, flipped opened when it hit the ground. It looked like a diary, and the bookmark was a blue ribbon. I managed to read 'Hiroshi loves Ki...' before she snatched it away. "Do you mind?" she growled, "That's personal!"
No harm in asking a question, "Did you like to listen to Cinderella?"
Her answer was a suspicious glare. "What of it?" she demanded.
"I loved Primrose, myself. She had a special quality."
"...Indeed," she said in an almost-sneer. "I always thought she was stuck-up...hiding something, know what I mean? Now, Cinderella-chan...y'know, I'd really love to hear her sing again. She was always so, you know, spontaneous."
I turned my face from her, for I felt a crooked smile starting to form. "Well, yes," I said. "There is that. She was spontaneous. But no one will ever see her again." I remembered the silver- haired woman's face when she had spoken those same words on the stage, and my smile faded. I would never see Kidori again. Kidori was gone. Yet, somewhere, she should be doing the things normal girls did. Well, the same things nearly-normal girls would do.
"I mean, it's like I had this dream," Uchiko's voice became warm and thoughtful, "I'm on stage, there's this killer band playing like there's no tomorrow, I'm singing this song, and Cinderella- chan joins me in a duet, and he and I would...get me, would you? I meant 'she' and I said 'he'. Anyway, it was just a dream."
The wind had caught up two flowers and pummeled them into the sky, twirling them high above the soccer field. The yellow petals spun like helicopter blades. They might have been the slashing swords of dueling samurai, reflecting the afternoon sun. As I watched them the pain eased somewhat, floating in the updraft, and I said, softly, "...or a memory..."
She expelled her breath with a gruff, "Okay."
I looked over my shoulder at her. "Okay, what?"
"Okay, I'll study with you. It's not like I need it. But maybe I can help you. You can't be all that bright or anything, running around with Furinkan's poster child for Lonely Hearts."
Daisuke was close enough to hear this last statement, and he clamped his jaw shut with anger. Then he saw her sly glance. His eyebrow performed a Spockian escalation and I could almost hear his mental abacus rattle - score one more for the babe.
"Um," he said.
"What?"
"Are there any more like you, where you came from?"
A grin lighted her face. "I can't believe it!" she laughed. "A compliment? G'wan!"
"I don't get many complaints," he said, smoothing his hair along with his pride.
"Oh, really? But, I suppose not," she had seemed ready to lacerate him with a barbed blade of sarcasm, but she pulled herself back under control. Her next words were milder, "I'll go easy on you, seein's how you're a friend of my pal, here."
I felt my heart pause in confusion, then resume beating at an accelerated pace.
To me, she turned a wicked grin, "A memory. Do you realize how damn poetic that is? Are you a singer?"
"Poetic? Not me," I said. "And I can't sing. Not even a note."
"Ain't it the truth," promised Daisuke. "Except when he was..." He shut up when he saw me glaring at him.
"I like to sing. Come on," she said, grabbing my arm and dragging me along. "Let's skip this line. I want to get started studying." Daisuke, seeing that he was not included, faded away before I could call him back.
As we made our way to study hall, she shifted her burden of books to one side and used her free hand to check out my biceps. "Do you work out?" she asked, releasing my arm to fall limply back to my side.
"Not much," I admitted.
"Go out for sports? Track? Lifting more than the absolute minimum weight you can get away with?"
I glanced over at her, the way she was wearing her uniform cut dangerously close to school limits, her socks embroidered with the kanji for 'explosive' and 'ruthless'. She didn't look like Kidori. Unless you saw her eyes, and the way those eyes returned the gaze. "What's that you're humming?" I asked.
"Oh, just something I heard, once, a long time ago. 'Feels like centuries, lost without a clue, traveled the whole world over, trying to find you.' Some old mopey sad song. It's nothing, really." Uchiko jabbed me in the arm. "You're pathetic!" she said. "Let's face it, Haj. Me and you got some serious work ahead of us."
I was in trouble. She was going to wad me up and throw me against the wall unless I muscled up to meet her standards, which I never would. After she had used me up and drained me dry, she would probably leave me because I was not good enough.
But until then...
I looked into those eyes. They promised hurt, pain, humiliation, blood, sweat and tears. And beyond it all...Love?
Yeah. I could live with that.
We went on, making only a few small detours around a kendoist chasing a girl in China silk shirt and trousers, an okonimayaki chef bearing a platter of goodies chasing the girl and the kendoist, a Chinese girl carrying an order of takeout ramen on a bicycle who was chasing them all, as well as a curly-haired girl chasing a little black pig.
I'M SORRY:
"Bored, bored, bored, bored!"
Daisuke sulked along the walkway, pausing to lean against a column. Restlessness overcame him and he moved on. Fooling around was no fun without your best buddy, and his best buddy was studying with a girl. Hiroshi was going to be no company at all, for a long time. Until this Uchiko got tired of him being such a wimp, she was going to occupy all his time.
Dai spied a familiar face coming toward him across the school ground, a monk in a neatly cleaned habit and an anxious air. "I am looking for your friend, Master Hiroshi?" Basho asked. "I have made a vow to apologize to all the people I have made unhappy by trying to help them, and he is the last one before I can take a vacation."
"Sure," Daisuke shrugged. "He's over in the...what did you do to make him unhappy?"
"I made his wish SO complicated! I'm here to return things to normal. It is my new philosophy at the Temple of the Good Deed."
"Oh. He's over in the...what do you mean by normal?"
"Exactly the way they were before I met him."
"Oh? Oh. Oh! Now, where did I see him?" Daisuke sputtered for a moment, before coming up with an idea. "Try the gym. Then the chemistry lab. If he's not there, he'll be in study hall."
UP ON THE ROOF:
On the gymnasium roof, Mara held the struggling black pig high as she gloated, "Thought you could get away from me, didn't you? Well, you can see you're wrong! Now, give me that control!"
"It won't do you any good," spoke a short, dark and scrawny man. He was seated on a ventilator shaft cover, buffing his nails.
"Why not?" railed Mara, "When you recruited me for your project, you promised! You lied!"
"I never promised. Hinted, maybe. Suggested. Speculated out loud. Ran it up the flagpole to see who saluted," Loki looked straight at her. "You see anyone saluting?"
When she said nothing except to glare at him, he added, "I'm surprised at you, Young One. Didn't you recognise the workings of the Ultimate Force in this game?"
"It's not a game to me, you warped, twisted, perverted piece of trash! Why, you'd...you'd..." Mara stopped to pant heavily for a moment. "I never thought I'd say this! You're as good as a demon! And all the time, I thought you were working for the side of heaven!"
"Of course! So were you, in a manner of speaking. Don't breath a word of it, though. If word got out, it'd play...oh, you know...with the market."
"Hell!"
"Well, whatever."
"And just why won't it do me any good?"
"The PDA has been inactivated. Your assignment is over. So is his," Loki pointed at the black pig who had become board stiff in panic, and tut-tutted. "No, I suppose you didn't consider the Ultimate Force. Still, it's nice to know you've been exposed to it without suffering damage. How'd you like to have your old age back?"
"What do you mean, 'OLD age'?" Mara sputtered.
"If you can keep still without becoming emotional, this music box will restore you to your true age." Loki showed her a tiny radio, which began playing, 'Go Away, Little Girl.'
Mara jerked, feeling her feet start to respond in a dance step. She leaped away from him in alarm and grabbed a hammer from somewhere, flattening the device with one blow.
"What game are you playing now, Old Fool?" she cried, "You've caused me nothing but trouble! Because of you I've been making a fool of myself chasing mortals around like a love-sick puppy! Why should I expect any less from that thing? I'm through with that!"
"Aww. It's only made you a couple of years older. Didn't you want it to finish the job? Otherwise, you'll have to wait six more months, and you've never been a patient demoness, I might add."
"Your concern touches me, Old Man!" Mara made an obscene gesture as he turned to go. "I'll see you in hell!"
"Not mine to decide," Loki said over his shoulder. "Oh, by the way, that is no ordinary pig. In case you are interested, this fellow happens to be very mortal."
"I know that! I've seen the signs of magic on him! I thought it was your doing!"
"Oh, it's not my curse that he bears. However, since he saved my bacon, I suppose I'll have to save his." Saying this, Loki produced a kettle of hot water and handed it to her, while plopping a bundle of clothing down by the pig.
"He's protected, for the moment, Mara. Pour the hot water on him and apologize. He's sort of like one of those little dinosaur toys you get in your breakfast cereal."
"I don't eat breakfast cereal!"
Loki grinned. "Then why do I find empty boxes of 'Unlucky Charms' in your kitchen trash?"
As he poofed out of existence, Mara gave the kettle a doubtful look and tilted it.
YOU'VE GOT TO STOP YOUR EVIL WAYS:
The silver-haired goddess/norn rested a tanned elbow on her companion's shoulder and drawled, "Well, Loki-sama, y'got past me. I really didn't expect you to pull it off."
"Don't tell me you knew all the details about my task?" Her companion asked, a slight man with a whisper of power leaking from beneath his frail features.
"When you played that prank on that samurai, you pulled a thread in old Freya's loom. She doesn't like to have souls split - it makes her irritable. Besides, it interferes with the pattern she's weaving."
Loki gazed at her, his dark eyes twinkling. "And I suppose she gossiped to you? She's such a fussbudget, getting the bean-counters up in arms. All because of some harmless joke. You're the Goddess of Love. Surely you can appreciate what I did was for the sake of those two lovers, long ago."
"I am also the Norn of the Past, Loki-baby. The head bean- counter that you've been railing about. The one who called you down. And, by the rules, the one who has to mete out your punishment." Urd showed her teeth in a bitter smile, "Sorry to tell you, old chum. Your show wasn't enough, and Freya wants her pound of immortal flesh, anyway. I've summoned Cerebus over to handle the punishment."
"Does that woman never let up? I'm miserable enough, I might say! Can you imagine having to listen to Rockn'Roll for fourteen fights?" Loki spoke with a sigh, "Ah, well. If I must go, let me go with dignity."
"Yup, you got my sympathy, for what little good it will do you. Better buck up - here comes the mangy beast, now...What?" Urd brought herself up short and gaped at the tawny yellow creature which had appeared before her.
Even the normally unflappable Loki was shaken. "Urd-chan," he said. "I'm not the sort to belabor a sore point, about some rumored difficulty you might have with your spells..."
"Then don't!" she snarled.
"...but it appears that this time you may have outdone yourself. This creature is hideous!"
Urd cried, "I sent for Cerebus! Who are you?"
"What do you mean, Cerebus! I am Keroboros!" snapped the creature. "Can't you immortals get anything right?"
"There went my dignity," Loki said.
"Oh, great," Urd rested her forehead in the palm of a hand for a moment, then said to the hovering winged creature, "Are you supposed to punish Loki? You don't look very imposing."
"Well, I am indeed! Don't let the cuddly looks fool you! If you make me angry, you'll be sorry!"
"I'm very frightened, I might say," quavered Loki convincingly. "You are one tough cookie...I mean dog."
"Lion! Lion!"
"Lion, I really meant to say!"
"It'll only make things worse if you try to make fun of me, I'm warning you! I've been commanded to punish you for two solid months, but I can make it longer, if necessary!" The cuddly winged lion grasped Loki's collar and pulled the god to him, which meant that he pulled himself close enough to snarl into Loki's face, "Now, what makes you most miserable?"
Loki pondered, producing a pained expression, as if he were indeed thinking of unpleasant things. Finally, he begged, "The one place I most fear! Let me think...oh, yes. Have you ever heard of a briar patch?"
The little lion shuddered. "No briar patch. My skin would tear and my stuffing would leak out!"
"Oh. Then please, please, don't force me to spend time in a tavern! The smell of the fermentation sickens me and the sound of those games are enough to burst my eardrums!"
"Games? Hmmm...games scare you?"
"Oh, terribly! Especially those with video - you know, television screens? Scare the frost right out of me. Can't sleep for a month after I see one of those!"
"Very interesting! Video games, hah?"
"Now, wait a minute," Urd tried to interpose.
"Terrifying! And the worst places are game parlors that serve beer. Or ale. Or sake. Terrible stuff, hard liquor. I prefer a nice, tasty root beer, myself."
"It's too late! You have confessed your private fears to me! Now, I will force you to spend the next sixty days in one of those torture chambers!"
"One with video games? Oh, that is cold-hearted of you, I must say!"
"Right! I can't show you an ounce of mercy!"
"Are you two quite finished?" Urd asked, having trouble keeping a straight face.
"Suits me," Keroboros concluded.
"I'm good," agreed Loki.
Urd sighed, "Then I officially start the festivities...I mean, the punishment. Don't be out late."
ON THE ROAD AGAIN:
There was an uneasy peace between them - although it was more like the hound and the fox gasping for breath on the trail, too tired to continue the chase. They sat side by side on the roof of the auditorium, high above the flow of students, watching life resume what was considered to be ordinary at Furinkan High.
"It was all for nothing!" complained Mara, pounding her knee with a clenched fist. "After I finally track you down, I still did not get what I wanted!"
"What about me?" Ryoga replied, shifting away from her. "Nobody even asked what I wanted! I have been put through hell and it is all your fault!"
Mara shrugged, "I was this close! If you had slowed down even a little, I could have caught you!" She drew back and slugged him in the shoulder. When the blow had the same effect as a snowflake trying to stop a freight train - that is, none - she took another frowning look at his muscular arm.
"That was part of my hell!" Ryoga gave her a stony look. "Have you forgotten that remark about cooking me?" He turned away from her, glaring out over the school grounds.
"Spoken in the heat of the moment. I'm really not that bad a demoness," her frown was beginning to thaw as she quirked an eyebrow. "Nice biceps," she commented, to no one in particular.
"I cannot believe that you expect me to just stand here and listen while you try to explain yourself! You ran me all over Japan!" Ryoga had been staring out over the soccer field at the far fence when he felt someone watching him. Gradually, his gaze slid to the side until, out of the corner of his eye, he could see that there was a soft demoness leaning on his shoulder.
With her eyes half closed, she smiled at him. She was so close that he could feel the heat of her breath on his cheek, her voice a growl and a purr as she spoke.
"Oooooo. Fangs!"
Ryoga narrowed his near eye while the far eye opened wide in panic.
"Uh-oh," he said.
- Almost the end:
We've had fun weaving words that rhyme
But we can't mess with Father Time
While everybody's doing well
We'll blow a kiss and wave farewell.
But first -
On the wooded rise beyond the soccer field stood a solitary figure, a sinister smile playing across his face. He considered the object in his hand, a device that could spell revenge. He could reclaim the old days. Memories of bygone days tantalized him as he pondered his next move.
Should he alert Nabiki?
Naaah. Let her scheme up her own agenda, that's what she was good at. This was his play. He would face the challenge alone.
"Just you wait, Hiroshi!" cried Daisuke, "One of these days she's going to tire of your wimpy vacillations and your prurient wanderings! Then she'll drop you and you can be my buddy again! Heh. Hehehehehe...heh...hac...cof..." He looked around furtively to see if anyone had heard.
"Frack!" he muttered, "My evil laugh sounds crappy. Guess I'll have to scratch supervillian off my list of career objectives... Maybe I'll settle for being a sidekick."
Inserting the tape into his pocket tape player, Daisuke adjusted his headset as he made his way toward study hall. Yep, he mused, things were going to be interesting. Everything was going to be fine. He smiled serenely as he strolled, listening to his favorite song:
"You've asked me what I want to do,
you've wondered from the start...
I'll tell you what I know is true,
I have to win your heart!"
If he timed it just right, he could be there when Basho arrived. Still, he had to wonder. Where had it all begun? Who had started the whole wishball rolling?
Far off in heaven, someone sneezed.
-
Really the End:
OVER AND OVER AGAIN:
The plaque above her desk read, He who fails to remember the past is condemned to repeat it - Hayakawa'. At the moment, it was slightly askew, displaced by the force of her sneeze.
Stupid one-minute viruses, thought Urd, as she positioned the plaque and adjusted her headset. She re-established the connection and said warmly, "Just wanted to say thanks for the assist, Sensei."
"'Sensei'," the mortal repeated, his voice conveying a smile over the telephone - a softer smile than the one his students usually saw. "I been meaning t'ask you bout dat. Now, what an old fool like this kieke be teaching a young vahine-sama like you?"
"Oh, I don't know," Urd chuckled, "Except that sometimes those past mistakes are the best kind."
She signed off and leaned back, stretching, relaxing for the first time in days. Six months without Mara. Could she stand the boredom? "Better not go there," she chuckled, and decided to take a well-earned nap.
-
End: Epilog - Ashes: A Cinderella Story
I bid adieu, I'm pleased to note
This last chapter's all she wrote.
Sing and dance and weave and then
God keep you 'til we meet again.
James and the Bluejay
Partial list of song and name-droppings:
It's My Party (and I'll cry if I want to), by Leslie Gore
Somebody to Love, Jefferson Airplane
The Rain, The Park and Other Things, the Cowsills
I'm Sorry, (can't remember)
Up on the Roof, the Drifters
On the Road Again, Willie Nelson
Over and Over Again, (can't remember)