Rejected

Bonus chapter: Wandering Spirit

By: Lord Archive

This is darker than any canon Ranma 1/2 story. If you want Takahashi styled humor, you will not find it here.

This is a bonus part of the series, and posted for those who want something to deal with Nodoka.

Ranma 1/2 characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Shogakukan and are used without permission.

Duty, honor, loyalty. Three concepts that I've devoted my life to. Concepts that allowed me to survive twelve years alone. Alone, waiting for my husband and my son to return.

I lived, I hoped, I dreamed. When my husband left with our son, he was to be raised as a manly child. Someone I could be proud of to call my son.

I knew there was a chance I might set my standards too high. I decided as long as there wasn't anything too feminine about him, I would consider oath fulfilled. The truth of the matter was not something I could tolerate. It violated the oath in a way I never dreamed.

I spent twelve years waiting to be reunited with my son. Twelve years! When I found him, he was a GIRL! Bosoms and all, he was a girl. He was not my son. He was my daughter.

Dear, how could you have made such a mistake? To fail so miserably? How?

How can my son be a man amongst men if he is also a girl?

What's this? I'm being pulled somewhere. Finally I get to see the life I might be born to or...

"Hello, Nodoka," Happosai greeted with an evil grin.

...my maker? "What the hell?"

"You have done something truly atrocious, my dear. You turned your son into a miserable wreck and suicidal. Made him marry Akane-chan. And all my successors for the true art of Anything Goes Martial Arts are no good. All of that thanks to you," Happosai sneers. "For what you've done, I've granted you eternal life... as a ghost. You will be able to see and hear everything, but will never be able to interfere."

I'm a ghost?! Impossible. It's a simple matter to prove. All I have to do is lift my kimono and look at... my... feet?! I DON'T HAVE LEGS!

I'm a... ghost. By all that is honorable... I'm a ghost.

"Seeing a ghost pale. A truly sickening thing," Happosai jokes, then his face takes on a malevolent look. "Now, you over-honored bitch, you are cursed with your new existence. And since you'll only be able to go to places where Ranma and Akane have visited at least a couple times, I can easily find you and watch you suffer."

"Why is that?" I asked.

"To curse you, I need certain things to cast the spell. The primary ingredient besides your blood, were tears from one who is part of your family, tears from the one who killed you, and tears from someone who curses your very existence. Ranma supplied the first two, and Akane the third. I'll let you think about your new life." That evil man leaves me alone in the Tendo dojo.

I stare out the dojo doors, trying to comprehend what just happened. I am a ghost now. The living dead. I will be able to see everything that happens and not be able to interfere. How can anyone be so evil as to do this? Why did he do this?

I do not know how long it's been, but I can't stay here forever.

Can I?

Sigh. Might as well as see Ranma. I hope Happosai was exaggerating about how Ranma was.

I walk to the house and into the kitchen. "Hello, Kasumi." She keeps humming. "Kasumi. Hello." Nothing. Why isn't she responding. I wave my hand in front of her face. "Kasumi?"

"Hmm... it seems a bit colder than usual today," Kasumi commented like she doesn't... know... I'm... here. She doesn't know.

Hopefully I'll find someone besides Happosai who can see me.

I look around the house for a little while and find Ranma's room. How do I get in the room if the door is closed? Maybe I can pass through the wall.

A door down the hall opens and Nabiki staggers out. "Hello, Nabiki?" I ask hopefully, but she doesn't respond in the slightest.

Ranma's door opens and SHE exits. What was Ranma doing in his room as a girl? And why is she so happy? "Mornin', Sis."

Nabiki blinks. "Er, good morning."

"Hurry up, Akane," Ranma calls.

"Give me a moment. Why don't you make sure the bath is ready," Akane replies.

"Okay." Ranma nods and skips down the stairs.

Akane exits the room, and Nabiki stares at her.

"Is it my imagination, or did you spend last night with Ranma while he was a girl?" Nabiki asks.

Akane sighs. "It's not your imagination. Ranma decided he is both yin and yang, he feels that he's both a man and a woman. Which means he wanted to be treated as my wife as well as my husband."

"So you two went at it, girl-to-girl?" Nabiki asks, dumbfounded.

Akane nods.

Ranma is no man! I run down to the bath finding Ranma there. I made a mistake letting him live. No man should ever force a girl to make love like that. I attack.

"Brrrr. What's with that cold breeze?" Ranma asks.

Damn it all to HELL! I can only make Ranma feel a little cold. She doesn't even know I'm here. There has to be something I can do.

I watch Ranma prepare the bath, and Akane enters the room.

"So, how's my perverted wife?" Ranma asks with a grin.

"You better not repeat that when someone can overhear you," Akane warns.

"Hphm. Like they didn't suspect that you like girls that way."

"That may be so, but I don't want them to know I'm bi-sexual." Huh? Ranma is bi-sexual, he changes genders after-all. "Do you have any idea that would happen if the girls in my gym class found out I might find them sexual attractive?"

Huh? Akane sees girls...

Ranma nods. "I can make some pretty good guesses. Considering what happened when I tried to sneak into the girls locker room."

Blink. Ranma did that?

Akane sighed. "Now, um, how often do you want to make love like we did last night?"

"Which form do you like better?" Ranma asks hesitantly.

Akane fidgets. "When you're a guy."

Ranma nods. "Yeah. I kind of prefer it that way myself. Why don't we just see how the mood takes us."

Akane nods. "And I'm in the mood for a man right now."

Ranma grins. "Of course."

"Oh, dear." I don't want to see this. I leave, but I can't escape the sounds they are making.

How can Akane be happy with Ranma? He is not a man. I'm not sure if he's even half a man.

"Like what you've seen?" Happosai sneers.

Nodoka clenches her fist. "I see I've made a mistake in allowing my husband's failure to continue."

"You shall find you have indeed made a great mistake, and I will watch as you realize the full horror of it." Happosai cackles evilly as he once again departs.

If Happosai thinks he can torment me, I shall haunt him until his final days. I may not be able to touch anything, but he can hear me. I wonder how he'll like it if I kept him awake at all times and generally annoy him to death.

Author's Notes:

I had debated continuing this as a full series. The issue, as with many ideas I've had, 'where do I go from here?' Retelling the manga with the differences caused by this series. The loss of Cologne forcing Ranma to turn to Happosai for answers. Kuno forging a relationship with Nabiki and becoming friends with Ranma. Ukyou eventually deciding to go home and start her life over as the girl she was meant to be.

Jusendo was the only spot I had done some planning. Kuno would be included in the team. And when Akane was to be kidnapped, she was noticeably pregnant, so Nabiki was taken as well and she was the one used to make a new spring at Jusenkyo. Cologne using Shampoo's involvement to defeat Saffron to get her back into the tribe.

Of course, throughout the series, Nodoka would increasingly realize that Ranma truly is a man amongst men. That the body really doesn't mean anything. Not to mention she would make Happosai's life hell. Eventually Ranma and a few others would inrcreasingly know of Nodoka's presence as she gains power as a spirit and they improve in the higher arts of martial arts.