Categories > Anime/Manga > Ranma 1/2 > Rendezvous with Fate
Chapter 1 : February
1 reviewAkane finds herself in the past, and while she tries to discover why she has been set on such an unusual place, in a different body, Ranma Saotome tries to come into terms with her. What Akane d...
1Original
Hark! They whisper: angels say,
Sister spirit, come away!
What is this absorbs me quite?
Steals my senses, shuts my sight?
Alexander Pope
The Dying Christian to His Soul
Rendezvous with Fate V. 3
by iCe
Chapter 1
... The first few days were the worst. I was so confused and hurt...
The last thing Akane remembered seeing was her hand stretching out towards her body. Thankfully, she did not see its state, but she touched her fingers. As she did so, the railway tracks faded and she blanked out.
With contentment, she somehow realized that she reached where she was meant to be. Feeling returned to her slowly. As it finally completed, she could've sworn she felt herself falling. Had she been given more time to process the situation, she would have at least tried to maneuver around so she would not fall headfirst. A groan involuntarily escaped from her lips, the intense pain forced her out of her body again when she collided with the ground.
oOo
Kodachi struggled from the horse as it reared its head. She let one out of her infamous laughs as she threw her head back in defiance. No one was near her and the person farthest from her reach was Ranma himself. She caught his gaze for a moment and smiled at what she saw there. Ranma rarely showed her any emotion at all. Lately it was a challenge, even for her, to make him angry.
All of a sudden her hand slipped from the horse. She let out a small gasp as she fell head-first towards the ground. She was a bit rusty in her practice of the art, but she still knew enough to know how to land on her feet. She started to twist around, when she was engulfed in a blackness that she could not identify.
She shook her head from the suddenness of the change. It seemed she was amidst hundreds of bushes of roses. Black ones, the ones she so loved. She was about to pick up one of the blossoms when she heard a noise. It was so soft that she thought she imagined it. She felt uneasy about the place, yet she maintained her stature as best she could.
"Kodachi," a voice called. Kodachi narrowed her eyes. She looked around the garden but saw no one.
"How dare you sneak up on me, insolent fool!" she called out as she looked around her for the origin of the voice. The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, and she disliked not knowing who she was talking to. "How impolite. I am Saotome Kodachi-noh-Ranma, a samurai of the Kisagi lineage. It is my right that I be called with the honorific '-sama' or '-san'!"
"I'm sorry."
It was a simple statement. Something that Kodachi heard almost every day, and yet, something in the voice, was its sincerity, that seemed entirely foreign. "Who are you?" She asked with a little fear creeping to her heart.
"Here, it doesn't matter who I am," the voice said as Kodachi's hand went to her head. She suddenly felt intense pain coming, yet distant at the same time, as if it was not happening at all.
"Do not talk riddles with me." Feeling that her head was slickly wet, she pulled her hand down to her eyes to look unbelievingly at the blood that dripped from it.
"You are too worldly for your own good. Even now as we have separated you from your body, you remain attached to it." Her head ached, it was pounding, pounding, she couldn't think straight. "You chatter too much."
"You were a mistake!"
She almost let out a laugh. A mistake. Mistakes are meant to be eradicated. Usually.
oOo
There was emptiness...
No sound, no feeling, no sight...
A few seconds of emptiness.
And then the sudden burst of everything: she could feel, she could hear, and though her eyes were closed, there was the red glare that was surely the sun shining through her eyelids.
Akane tried to move her head but groaned at the little movement she managed. She was both uncomfortable and very much in pain. In a second, she realized that someone was holding her, trying to see if she was all right.
"Kodachi... open your eyes." It was a man's voice, close to her ear. Akane shook her head, realizing her mistake just as soon as she did so, pain bursting from the back of her head to the base of her neck. His hand hovered on her eyes, as if in contemplation then lifted her eyelids with his thumb on her brow.
Akane managed to give him a weak glare at the sudden light of the sun. Even that small glare gave her trouble. "Kodachi, will you stop being stubborn?" It was a woman speaking this time. She leaned closer then snorted in exasperation.
'Are they calling me Kodachi?' She thought to herself, having heard the name the second time around. Finally, she remembered why she ached so much, 'The accident...' Akane thought... trying to remember exactly what happened, but could not.
'Did I survive?' She very much doubted it. She knew she died. She knew that for a certainty. 'Then why do I feel alive? Surely death would not inflict so much pain, nor leave me confused.'
She moved her hand slightly, and another wave of pain coursed through her, causing her head to pound. She felt the damp grass against her hand, and she was confused all the more, 'Grass? Does Nirvana have grass? Reincarnation?' Her thoughts were moving erratically from one point to the next. 'But... that's supposed to be in forty days.'
She tried to think, move as thoughts plagued her of being one animal or the next, as she thought of being one object from the other. 'But... reincarnation with all my memories?'
A breeze stirred her, and she realized she was very cold. She suppressed a shiver for her body ached at every single twitch of her muscle. 'Where am I?' She was frightened now, not knowing why she was present and not understanding her predicament.
She tried to speak, but the effort was too great, and the questions too many. In the end, she spoke out only one word, "Cold..." She couldn't suppress her final shiver.
The man who held her looked up. "Ifuku, a blanket." He didn't shout, but his voice was commanding, and the woman scampered at the command. There was a light touch on her shoulder and a soft cloth on her forehead, she tried to shake it away but the woman sternly held on to it, pressing hard against it. "It's to stop the bleeding, Kodachi."
"Let Nabiki do it." Another command. Akane felt herself being shifted, and then something heavy dropped on her body. A blanket that smelled of hay and horses.
It was eerily silent with no one speaking. She could hear waves, the horses' neighs, the shift of cloth, but no one spoke more than necessary. Had she not opened her eyes, she would not have realized that there were more than three people with her.
Suddenly everything stopped.
There was nothing again...
She was floating ... and when she opened her eyes, she didn't feel pain.
"Where am I?"
"In the void between consciousness and unconsciousness..." a singsong voice answered out of nowhere.
Akane looked around. There was nowhere to hide in this place. Wherever it was, it seemed to be an endless blue. The voice was not traceable to a particular spot, like an echo that resounded, though there were no barriers to bounce off it. "Who are you?"
"Oops, sorry, forgot about that invisible thing. I always forget that," the person said as he it whatever began to materialize before her. "Must be why that other girl kept asking me where I was when I was obviously in front of her."
When he finished, Akane blinked once, then another time. She pinched herself to be sure she was awake then took a deep breath. "You must be joking..." The shinigami, well pig, that was in front of her held its head up indignantly. "I have been taking care of you for twenty five years now young lady..." He abruptly stopped at what seemed stopped laughter coming from her throat and raised an eyebrow well Akane thought it was the equivalent of raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, I'm sorry, it's just that..." She smiled a little then patted the pig that was hovering above her chest.
"It's not my fault. You're the one who conjured up this scene. I didn't even know what I was supposed to look like." He told her sternly then continued, "As I was saying we are in the 'Betweeness' if you want to call this void something."
"And why exactly are we in this 'Betweeness'?" Akane asked speculatively catching a cloud at her palms as it breezed by, shaping it.
"For me to explain to you what you're doing here," the pig smartly said and started off with such a torrent of words that Akane could only stare at open-mouthed and wide-eyed. When he finished, he looked at her and asked. "Well? I thought you'd be reacting to this much like that other woman - oops, there I go again saying things I shouldn't have."
"Would you run that by me again?" She asked, feeling a headache coming on. She gingerly sat down at one of the clouds a little bit surprised that it held her.
"We don't have much time to do this." The pig muttered, "Just know that I am your guardian and that I will see to your safety."
As he said those last words, the blue started to fade into black and pain started to return, though as she returned, the shinigami whispered the message that they wanted her to hear. In the back of her shocked mind, the pig squealed and said that she was not actually hearing the shinigami, but simply knew what they were saying.
What he said was so unbelievable that she needed to shake her head to clear it, an action which caused another rush of pain.
She was not aware of her surroundings yet and could only try to sort what was in her mind right now. She continued thrashing back and forth as if to stop that little black pig that continued to invade her mind. Despite that, the message came through and she understood.
They told her in a rush of magic and whispers that she had died on the railway, and that her unborn baby had also died with her. Though her body was dead, her soul was living in another woman. She wasn't pregnant any longer. She was living that other woman's pain while her mind and soul continued to live on. She was surprised that the explanation actually managed to take out her fright and confusion of the whole ordeal.
The voice suddenly stopped and she felt a hand that brushed her head, no, inside her head, like a feather touching her, to erase her pain and the agony she felt over the message.
Akane then tried to sit up straight, but a restraining hand held her. Opening her eyes, she saw the woman giving her a stern look to chastise her. The woman then took the small cloth she was holding against Akane's head frowning at the blood-soaked cloth. The woman shook her head as another cloth was handed to her and held it down against Akane's still bleeding wound. Surprisingly, Akane hurt far less than she remembered.
"I think we should call 119," Akane suggested hoping that someone has a cellular phone to reach the emergency number. She shook her head at her own voice startled at its sound. It was... higher, shriller. "Or maybe the doctor?"
'This woman was empty.' Akane thought not knowing just how right she was. She started crying, pouring out in tears the grief over what she lost; suddenly understanding her situation. She cried not only because of her baby, but also because of her husband, because of the life she knew she could not go back to.
It was a grief so violent that the people who surrounded her immediately started to try to calm her. Although everyone including her 'guardian angel' were trying to soothe her, they could not fill the emptiness she felt, as if they knew that this purging was necessary for her sanity.
One woman turned to the girl who they called Ifuku. "Ready her bed. She's going to need rest." The girl was swift on her feet and was gone in an instant. The woman then laid her hand on the man who was holding her. "She needs to get inside the house. She's delirious."
The man considered it for a moment then agreed. Akane felt herself being lifted quite easily, as if she weighed no more than a stack of books. She also felt the sadness fade away, replaced by an odd sense of exhilaration. 'Chemical imbalance,' she thought as she held on tightly to his neck. The pain in her head was still heavy, but at least she was on a chemical high. 'Someone in heaven must be looking after me.'
"I'll call the healer." The woman said as she turned towards the entrance. He hesitated a bit but the woman followed it up with a smile and a knowing glance. "I'd be faster than your samurai."
At that, he conceded and let her go. Finally, when they walked a considerable distance, she tugged on his shirt. He leaned closer, but did not stop walking. "I can walk now," she told the man who was carrying her. "Besides, I don't think you can carry me much further.
The man gave her a sharp look bordering on anger. She saw him for the first time. He was handsome, very handsome. Dark hair, deep blue eyes her favorite combination. But right now, he had a deep scowl, his lips compressed to hard to see what their usual shape was.
He looked at her for a minute. "Are you mocking me?" he asked her angrily, his head looming above hers with an ominous look. "You know very well I can carry you to and fro with whatever you throw at me, running, or fighting my way through your tons of suitors."
'Brash male arrogance.' Akane has always been independent and she was not going to break that now. "Honestly! Put me down. I'll lean on you, but this is ridiculous."
He did not let her go as he continued to walk on towards wherever he was headed. That started to irritate Akane. "Will you please let me down?" The man glared at her then let her legs down, but kept his right hand along her back for support. When she touched the ground, she felt shaky and immediately regretted her demands. "Just let me get my bearings." She said as the young man who helped her spun in her vision, she tried to focus her eyes as she held her hand out for support.
"I told you, you can't walk," he said sternly, gripping her arm tightly, just as the world stopped spinning. She stared at the imposing man who took charge. He wore a red Chinese shirt and loose black pants that looked Chinese. Glancing back at the people about, she noted with surprise that they were all dressed in kimonos.
She identified them as samurai from the two swords. Looking at herself, she noted that she too was wearing a long black kimono beneath a heavy cloak-like thing that damply clung to her. She wrinkled her brow, which made her pain worse.
She tried to balance herself. As a martial artist, she had learned balance at an early age. However the new body she was occupying thew her off by a whole margin. The frame was not tall enough, the bones too petite, although she was rather ... plumper than she had realized. She was going to have to push this body through a lot of martial arts training to get to its proper condition. "I'm... fat and FRAGILE!" Akane said in disbelief as she took stock of her current body.
The man was now looking at her as if she just suggested taking over Japan, then looked back at the group to see if anyone else heard her. He looked relieved that they were clustered around a horse to one side. The horse was far more important loss than Akane's accident it seemed. Akane looked at what he was staring at and asked, "What's wrong with him?" The mare stood fifty yards away and was surrounded by people looking at her legs.
"Congratulations, Kodachi, you just managed to do some of your favorite things: degrade me in front of my samurai and my sister by deliberately disobeying me. You have shamed me further by hurting one of the gifts our liege lord has given us." The man's beautiful blue eyes hardened and Akane was reminded of ice. "It broke its leg. I told you not to jump her. I told you she wasn't ready. She'll be destroyed."
"Destroyed?" Akane repeated, not understanding. "But... why?"
The man rolled his eyes at her and said, "You have got to be kidding! You know better, Kodachi. Don't pretend you're sorry for what you did and don't pretend ignorance. Have you forgotten who you're talking to Kodachi?" He looked at her with something close to disgust and...what was that thing...hatred?
"But I didn't do anything!" Akane protested without thinking as she looked at the man, pleading for him to understand her situation. She then had the odd floating sensation and the man's face wavered in front of her. She didn't quite understand why the man was calling her Kodachi. And then suddenly, she remembered the shinigami's warning. She was probably Kodachi. Or rather, she had possessed Kodachi's body.
Hearing her denial at the blame caused the man infront of her to become even angrier as he pulled her arm roughly and forced her to walk faster than she could have. She could hardly manage with the headache, and she certainly couldn't with the dress, especially not with the string that tied her knees together, and he was just too darned fast. He led her off the grass and onto the smooth dirt track, but she felt weird in the new body, and she found herself stumbling more than she would've liked.
Her eyes started to blur with what she thought were tears, but she could see where he was taking her. To her right was a field, the tall grass shivering in the cold breeze; to their left were woods and the trees bare of leaves. Although she knew that it was August and summer when she left, she had a feeling it was late winter now. The air was sharp, but has a fecund smell, as if things were beginning to grow. She also knew they were close to the sea, because of the familiar clean, salty smell was strong. As they turned the bend, Akane got her first glance of a huge house that was nestled behind high shrubbery. But as she tried to get more details of the house, her eyes lost focus once more.
"Is that where we're going?" she asked. Her head pounded. She couldn't think straight, and she suddenly felt a wave of nausea wash over her, "I don't think I can make it. I don't feel so good." He stopped and turned to look at her checking for signs of injury. With that final check she managed to stop walking, thew up and fainted.
oOo
Ranma Saotome caught his wife as she slumped to the dirt. 'That fall is making her act differently,' he thought. He expected Kodachi to rant, rave and laugh that infuriatingly loud laugh of hers then rant again about not training the horse properly. She was just too damned cheerful especially taking in to consideration what just happened.
He just couldn't understand her. As he carried her towards Rose Brier, he looked down at her face. She was starting to look old and she was only twenty and five, he thought. Too much sake, the late nights, the... indulgences she never seemed to refuse were catching up with her. The young demure countenance that she'd donned at their marriage when he was twenty-two was not there anymore. She had aged faster than her years.
But, though her face had changed, she had managed to keep all her vices and her scheming. She was just the same black rose back when she was nineteen as she was now at twenty-five. She just had more thorns. He should have known about her when they were married, but that wouldn't have made a difference. The marriage was arranged to cement a family alliance with the Kunos, with the dowry of Rose Brier having made the arrangement much more attractive to his clan, since it provided tactical advantages allowing the clan to even better control its fief.
Regardless of the best interests of his clan, at the time of the marriage he though Kodachi was a blessing for his clan and his fief. She had been a well-sought-after beauty and she had a very good dowry. She had been hidden away in the Kuno, their liege showing her only to prospective suitors. She had been rumored to be charming, well-bred and well trained. She hadn't changed after they had married. She was still charming, well-bred and well trained. She just showed that being charming and well-bred lent well to being manipulative and sadistic, thorns to her rose. No wonder the people in Kuno lands had called her the Black Rose. He should have asked why.
At their first meeting, they had already managed to get on each other's wrong foot.
"You're the lowlife my father has arranged on my marriage?" Kodachi demanded when they had met, twirling a rose as she sat on the large futon that occupied the room that they were supposed to share. "You look pathetic."
Ranma recoiled at the words. He was young and almost sheltered. He lived in a world with no political agendas, no samurai, no daimyo. He knew no betrayal and though his foster father Genma tended to act foolishly, it has always been for the good of the twins. It was his first taste of the real world, and he reeled from it.
"But... "
"Don't tell me you're going to grovel." Kodachi scrunched her nose in obvious distaste as she dug into her futon throwing her covers over herself, "I hate a man who has no backbone."
He stopped and looked at her then turned away for another room not wanting to stay in bed with her. Although he had every right to order her out of his house, every right in their laws to take her head... he didn't. She was still useful to the Clan: her dowry was protecting her on one side, the support of the Kunos on the other.
Over the years, he had learned what she truly was. The foster family chosen by her parents was a mistake, and her mother's death in the War when she was five worsened her state. Her father hasn't been the same after his wife's death and didn't care for her. Her foster mother (1) spent more time gossiping than teaching her proper behavior. When her brother caught torturing one of their subjects when she was seventeen, he gave her an ultimatum: Find a respectable man to marry or be forced to be left out on the streets, forbidden to the right of seppuku, which she would never earn. So that is what she did.
After that disastrous night, it was just sex between Kodachi and Ranma, and that only when she used one of her potions. After a while, he just managed to find ways not to be home when she was. Her touch left him feeling filthy and self-loathing that he couldn't live with her. So he had arranged never to meet her when he was able.
So they ignored each other, he rarely brought her to Saotome Clan functions, and he didn't allow her to mingle with his people. In return she passed her time without bothering him too much.
His mother told him that he should get a consort for himself and reminded him time and again that he was allowed to, but he refused completely. He had plenty of 'consorts' in the form of endless fiancées before. He didn't want more. The day the head of the Saotome Clan, Happosai, called Ranma up to Happosai's donjon, the central main building of the clan castle, at the Kanto to solve his fiancées problem had been the start of his disaster.
"Ranma, my boy, I think six years of evading your fiancées is long enough, don't you think?" Happosai had said when Ranma had answered the summons. Happosai was a shriveled up old ghoul who still managed to sit aloofly on the silken cushions of the audience room when it was necessary.
Holding the clan for nearly two centuries merited him many things, and he trained his eyes on Ranma, who showed such great potential at becoming a leader. "I'm offering you an easy way out, my boy. I can strip you of all your fiancées."
Ranma was skeptical, although he didn't show it. He didn't want to be impolite to his liege lord. His fiancées were harder to get rid of than Happosai thought. He should know, he spent six years trying. "I don't think so, my lord. My fiancés are... a lot... and the only easy way out of it would be to commit seppuku."
The old man's eyes flared at what his great-great-grandnephew suggested. The boy was still useful. "You are forbidden to commit seppuku on the matter of your multiple iinazukes!"
There was a short pause, a moment for Ranma to breathe and realize what was not granted to him. It was something he both wanted and detested. Ranma always asked for the ritual suicide every year, as was his right to do so. As always, Happosai's response was just as vehement against it. He already decided that the women were not the boy's fault.
Ranma protested, "I am dishonored. You can't have a samurai with that much shame around dirtying the Saotome name." The multiple iinazukes has made him feel dishonored since he learned of them, especially since he knew he wasn't planning to keep any of them. He always asked for permission to commit seuppuku so that if he committed it, he'd receive honor. Unlike battle, for his circumstances if permission wasn't given, no amount of seppuku would restore his honor.
"I offer a simpler way out. The Lady Kodachi of the Kuno Clan is nineteen. At that age, she is ripe for the plucking. Her dowry, Rose Brier, which borders on the Kanto Mountains and the shore of the bay, has great tactical advantage. It is easy to protect and a good place to keep meetings when we are pressed on our back with messengers we don't want."
There was a short pause again. Not one of the samurai surrounding them stirred, though most knew the Lady Kodachi's infamous reputation. Ranma held a puzzled frown as he sneaked a peek at Happosai. "I don't see how marrying the Kodachi Kuno helps..." There was a pause. "It is rumored the woman is touched by the kami ... she's crazy!"
It was believed craziness is caused by the gods themselves, so crazy people, just like children and old people, were allowed some special privileges.
"She is also Christian, so I order you to convert at once!" The old man laughed at some amusement only he saw patting the sword at his side. "Those priests have been meddling in our affairs too long and I still don't have a single Christian spy."
Taken aback, Ranma stared at Happosai openly now, ordered to be a Christian? He didn't understand them with all their silly laws and doctrines. It could be a good tactical move, but he didn't know if he could follow the religion. "In fact I have ordered your sister Nabiki to convert at the same as you do as well."
Ranma gulped. 'Nabiki was ordered as well? The Old Man's mind was moving again. 'What is he up to?'
"But taking Kodachi won't solve all your problems." The old man cringed, as if he remembered something foul. "She is a rotten one, that girl, and not as virtuous as she seems. But ... you are given a choice after all. That rotten attitude of hers will keep all the girls away."
"If you marry her I'll increase your fief to twenty ri around Nerima, which will include Rose Brier at that stretch." The ri was a measurement of distance, its equivalent was what was given to lords as weight in rice for payment for protection. Twenty ri was a lot to give to a newly minted lord.
The old man gave him a few days to think, but it was obvious that the matter was decided even before he was called out to the donjon. That decision would doom him forever. A few days later, Kodachi became his bride.
He was bitter, but he convinced himself that he was as happy as he was ever going to be with his life.
The only comfort he has was the Art. Thank God for that, he'd thought more than once. Unlike many of his fellow samurai, whose wives held the purse strings and has little to do with the family fortune, Ranma was the one who did that part of the marriage as well, with help from Nabiki of course. He could do without family life. A lot of samurai did.
Without warning, the image of his sister, Nabiki and her son leaped into his head. Nabiki was just as unlucky as he was: after a miscarriage and giving birth to a son, her husband almost killed her for a crime she didn't commit.
She now lived on his estate, but far enough from the main house not bother Kodachi. He was thankful for Nabiki and her son's company though. If not for them, he would be far more bitter and lonely than he already was.
Although Ranma wasn't tired from carrying Kodachi when he reached the house Sasuke met him at the door. The short ninja was a kuroki, a protector, as Sasuke would like to think, and Ranma let him to believe.
Upstanding men never employed the Stealthy Ones as a rule. They were treacherous and deceitful most of the time, but the Kunos felt that a ninja would keep Kodachi at bay and could keep track of her actions better than any other samurai could. Ranma petitioned the case up to Happosai who shrugged and agreed to let Ranma employ his services as long he kept the true nature of the short man to himself and to a few chosen people.
He raised his eyebrow when he saw the blood on Kodachi's head though didn't offer to take Ranma's burden, as doing so would be discourteous and be offending. Ranma, followed by Sasuke, brought Kodachi to her room and deposited her on her futon.
She tossed her head of dark curls and moaned as she again opened her eyes. The man from the field was standing back, his arms crossed as he looked down with no emotion.
oOo
"I fainted," she said, as she looked around taking in the frills, the bleakness and darkness of the room, and the black trimmed, gray furniture. "This... is the darkest bleakest room I've ever seen. And stop looking at me as if I were crazy every time I open my mouth! Honestly!" She then shut her mouth as she realized the design might have been done by one of the men standing in front of her.
"Kodachi, you fell from that horse. You hit your head. It's making you act strange. I'm just reacting to a sick wife."
"Wife!" 'Kami,' Akane thought, 'this is worse than I imagined.'
Footnotes:
I tried to remove as much footnotes as I could from the chapter by explaining it in the chapter itself. Regardless, I left the footnotes here so that people who want to browse could browse.
(1) Why does Kodachi have a foster mother when her parents were STILL alive? Well that's because important samurai let foster mothers take care of their children while they can focus on new matters...further explained in Chapter 3 :)
(2) Donjon: central main building of a Japanese Castle. Happosai's main donjon is in Edo. Which most people know now to be Tokyo.
(3) Why is Ranma asking for seppuku? Well he feels he has dishonored the Saotome name by having multiple fiancées he doesn't plan to keep.
In the earlier days, you weren't allowed to commit seppuku if the head of the clan or your liege lord (generally someone higher up) doesn't permit you to. It strips off the giving back of honor seppuku is supposed to give, although you can commit seppuku if you're about to be captured by your enemy. Seppuku's an honor.
(4)What does touched by the Kami mean? They believed craziness is caused by the gods themselves, so crazy people, just like children and old people were allowed some special privileges, another reason why Kodachi can't be killed off.
(5) Why was Ranma ordered to convert to Christianity? Well then, that's Happosai for you :) although this may be another tactical advancement it's also for Kodachi who's also Christian :)hehehehe I love irony... anyway...Christianity came with the Portuguese and the Fathers have churches on Japan (in the late 1600's they'll close the doors to all foreign people and such and boot out the priests and Christianity and order everyone back to Buddhism)
(6) A ri is roughly equivalent to a mile.
(7) What's a kuroki? Well if taken literally it means black something. Also is a servant clad in black :)Generally guys who were servants to all these big mansions in Japan.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2 and the book I based it from is When there is Hope, and if you sue me you can't possibly get money from me.
Author's Notes:
Ryoga doesn't have a curse because Ranma isn't living in the present, (not that, that hinders Ryoga to wander in the pool of drowned pig but...
Ryoga, Akane's husband? Well, there's no Ranma, who do you think she'll fall for Kuno? Okay so Shin-boy's an option... I can't work with all the options :p Okay so technically she couldn't meet up with Ryoga without Ranma... but he gets lost a lot it's a wacky world.
Why is Happosai the head of the Saotome Clan? Well, after thinking about possible candidates, (namely, Ranma, Genma, Nodoka, Ranko, Nabiki) My sister and I thought bout this change... well, we can't have Ranma because we need a counter balance of things he needs someone to order him to marry Kodachi in the first place :).
Genma isn't a possibility because we all know how stupid the patriarch of the Saotome household is, the Saotomes would never survive the beginnings of the Tokugawa Era :) (which begins around 1603 according to my history book) and medieval Japan (Era before Tokugawa)
Hokey, another chapter converted from its idiot beginnings as an almost lift from When there is Hope to a new revision.
iCe
Revision History:
11/17/10 - converted from version 2.2 to version 3.
04/02/06 - common errors in the english language
01/14/06 - punctuation (quotation) and tense (had) revision
10/18/05 - grammar revision
05/29/03 - grammar and some of the reasons of Nabiki's presence.
Special Thanks to:
MJ, Maurice Phillip, Tin and Angel, Anno Nimus, Jourdan Bickham, Byooki Desu, khymchanur
And to the person reading this.
website: ice /dot /esmartdesign /dot /com (largely defunct and old... with lots of populs... go to livejournal instead)
email: siuane at gmail dot com
livejournal: ice underscore of /underscore /dreams
I write when the spirit moves, and I make sure it moves every day ~unknown
Sister spirit, come away!
What is this absorbs me quite?
Steals my senses, shuts my sight?
Alexander Pope
The Dying Christian to His Soul
Rendezvous with Fate V. 3
by iCe
Chapter 1
... The first few days were the worst. I was so confused and hurt...
The last thing Akane remembered seeing was her hand stretching out towards her body. Thankfully, she did not see its state, but she touched her fingers. As she did so, the railway tracks faded and she blanked out.
With contentment, she somehow realized that she reached where she was meant to be. Feeling returned to her slowly. As it finally completed, she could've sworn she felt herself falling. Had she been given more time to process the situation, she would have at least tried to maneuver around so she would not fall headfirst. A groan involuntarily escaped from her lips, the intense pain forced her out of her body again when she collided with the ground.
oOo
Kodachi struggled from the horse as it reared its head. She let one out of her infamous laughs as she threw her head back in defiance. No one was near her and the person farthest from her reach was Ranma himself. She caught his gaze for a moment and smiled at what she saw there. Ranma rarely showed her any emotion at all. Lately it was a challenge, even for her, to make him angry.
All of a sudden her hand slipped from the horse. She let out a small gasp as she fell head-first towards the ground. She was a bit rusty in her practice of the art, but she still knew enough to know how to land on her feet. She started to twist around, when she was engulfed in a blackness that she could not identify.
She shook her head from the suddenness of the change. It seemed she was amidst hundreds of bushes of roses. Black ones, the ones she so loved. She was about to pick up one of the blossoms when she heard a noise. It was so soft that she thought she imagined it. She felt uneasy about the place, yet she maintained her stature as best she could.
"Kodachi," a voice called. Kodachi narrowed her eyes. She looked around the garden but saw no one.
"How dare you sneak up on me, insolent fool!" she called out as she looked around her for the origin of the voice. The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, and she disliked not knowing who she was talking to. "How impolite. I am Saotome Kodachi-noh-Ranma, a samurai of the Kisagi lineage. It is my right that I be called with the honorific '-sama' or '-san'!"
"I'm sorry."
It was a simple statement. Something that Kodachi heard almost every day, and yet, something in the voice, was its sincerity, that seemed entirely foreign. "Who are you?" She asked with a little fear creeping to her heart.
"Here, it doesn't matter who I am," the voice said as Kodachi's hand went to her head. She suddenly felt intense pain coming, yet distant at the same time, as if it was not happening at all.
"Do not talk riddles with me." Feeling that her head was slickly wet, she pulled her hand down to her eyes to look unbelievingly at the blood that dripped from it.
"You are too worldly for your own good. Even now as we have separated you from your body, you remain attached to it." Her head ached, it was pounding, pounding, she couldn't think straight. "You chatter too much."
"You were a mistake!"
She almost let out a laugh. A mistake. Mistakes are meant to be eradicated. Usually.
oOo
There was emptiness...
No sound, no feeling, no sight...
A few seconds of emptiness.
And then the sudden burst of everything: she could feel, she could hear, and though her eyes were closed, there was the red glare that was surely the sun shining through her eyelids.
Akane tried to move her head but groaned at the little movement she managed. She was both uncomfortable and very much in pain. In a second, she realized that someone was holding her, trying to see if she was all right.
"Kodachi... open your eyes." It was a man's voice, close to her ear. Akane shook her head, realizing her mistake just as soon as she did so, pain bursting from the back of her head to the base of her neck. His hand hovered on her eyes, as if in contemplation then lifted her eyelids with his thumb on her brow.
Akane managed to give him a weak glare at the sudden light of the sun. Even that small glare gave her trouble. "Kodachi, will you stop being stubborn?" It was a woman speaking this time. She leaned closer then snorted in exasperation.
'Are they calling me Kodachi?' She thought to herself, having heard the name the second time around. Finally, she remembered why she ached so much, 'The accident...' Akane thought... trying to remember exactly what happened, but could not.
'Did I survive?' She very much doubted it. She knew she died. She knew that for a certainty. 'Then why do I feel alive? Surely death would not inflict so much pain, nor leave me confused.'
She moved her hand slightly, and another wave of pain coursed through her, causing her head to pound. She felt the damp grass against her hand, and she was confused all the more, 'Grass? Does Nirvana have grass? Reincarnation?' Her thoughts were moving erratically from one point to the next. 'But... that's supposed to be in forty days.'
She tried to think, move as thoughts plagued her of being one animal or the next, as she thought of being one object from the other. 'But... reincarnation with all my memories?'
A breeze stirred her, and she realized she was very cold. She suppressed a shiver for her body ached at every single twitch of her muscle. 'Where am I?' She was frightened now, not knowing why she was present and not understanding her predicament.
She tried to speak, but the effort was too great, and the questions too many. In the end, she spoke out only one word, "Cold..." She couldn't suppress her final shiver.
The man who held her looked up. "Ifuku, a blanket." He didn't shout, but his voice was commanding, and the woman scampered at the command. There was a light touch on her shoulder and a soft cloth on her forehead, she tried to shake it away but the woman sternly held on to it, pressing hard against it. "It's to stop the bleeding, Kodachi."
"Let Nabiki do it." Another command. Akane felt herself being shifted, and then something heavy dropped on her body. A blanket that smelled of hay and horses.
It was eerily silent with no one speaking. She could hear waves, the horses' neighs, the shift of cloth, but no one spoke more than necessary. Had she not opened her eyes, she would not have realized that there were more than three people with her.
Suddenly everything stopped.
There was nothing again...
She was floating ... and when she opened her eyes, she didn't feel pain.
"Where am I?"
"In the void between consciousness and unconsciousness..." a singsong voice answered out of nowhere.
Akane looked around. There was nowhere to hide in this place. Wherever it was, it seemed to be an endless blue. The voice was not traceable to a particular spot, like an echo that resounded, though there were no barriers to bounce off it. "Who are you?"
"Oops, sorry, forgot about that invisible thing. I always forget that," the person said as he it whatever began to materialize before her. "Must be why that other girl kept asking me where I was when I was obviously in front of her."
When he finished, Akane blinked once, then another time. She pinched herself to be sure she was awake then took a deep breath. "You must be joking..." The shinigami, well pig, that was in front of her held its head up indignantly. "I have been taking care of you for twenty five years now young lady..." He abruptly stopped at what seemed stopped laughter coming from her throat and raised an eyebrow well Akane thought it was the equivalent of raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, I'm sorry, it's just that..." She smiled a little then patted the pig that was hovering above her chest.
"It's not my fault. You're the one who conjured up this scene. I didn't even know what I was supposed to look like." He told her sternly then continued, "As I was saying we are in the 'Betweeness' if you want to call this void something."
"And why exactly are we in this 'Betweeness'?" Akane asked speculatively catching a cloud at her palms as it breezed by, shaping it.
"For me to explain to you what you're doing here," the pig smartly said and started off with such a torrent of words that Akane could only stare at open-mouthed and wide-eyed. When he finished, he looked at her and asked. "Well? I thought you'd be reacting to this much like that other woman - oops, there I go again saying things I shouldn't have."
"Would you run that by me again?" She asked, feeling a headache coming on. She gingerly sat down at one of the clouds a little bit surprised that it held her.
"We don't have much time to do this." The pig muttered, "Just know that I am your guardian and that I will see to your safety."
As he said those last words, the blue started to fade into black and pain started to return, though as she returned, the shinigami whispered the message that they wanted her to hear. In the back of her shocked mind, the pig squealed and said that she was not actually hearing the shinigami, but simply knew what they were saying.
What he said was so unbelievable that she needed to shake her head to clear it, an action which caused another rush of pain.
She was not aware of her surroundings yet and could only try to sort what was in her mind right now. She continued thrashing back and forth as if to stop that little black pig that continued to invade her mind. Despite that, the message came through and she understood.
They told her in a rush of magic and whispers that she had died on the railway, and that her unborn baby had also died with her. Though her body was dead, her soul was living in another woman. She wasn't pregnant any longer. She was living that other woman's pain while her mind and soul continued to live on. She was surprised that the explanation actually managed to take out her fright and confusion of the whole ordeal.
The voice suddenly stopped and she felt a hand that brushed her head, no, inside her head, like a feather touching her, to erase her pain and the agony she felt over the message.
Akane then tried to sit up straight, but a restraining hand held her. Opening her eyes, she saw the woman giving her a stern look to chastise her. The woman then took the small cloth she was holding against Akane's head frowning at the blood-soaked cloth. The woman shook her head as another cloth was handed to her and held it down against Akane's still bleeding wound. Surprisingly, Akane hurt far less than she remembered.
"I think we should call 119," Akane suggested hoping that someone has a cellular phone to reach the emergency number. She shook her head at her own voice startled at its sound. It was... higher, shriller. "Or maybe the doctor?"
'This woman was empty.' Akane thought not knowing just how right she was. She started crying, pouring out in tears the grief over what she lost; suddenly understanding her situation. She cried not only because of her baby, but also because of her husband, because of the life she knew she could not go back to.
It was a grief so violent that the people who surrounded her immediately started to try to calm her. Although everyone including her 'guardian angel' were trying to soothe her, they could not fill the emptiness she felt, as if they knew that this purging was necessary for her sanity.
One woman turned to the girl who they called Ifuku. "Ready her bed. She's going to need rest." The girl was swift on her feet and was gone in an instant. The woman then laid her hand on the man who was holding her. "She needs to get inside the house. She's delirious."
The man considered it for a moment then agreed. Akane felt herself being lifted quite easily, as if she weighed no more than a stack of books. She also felt the sadness fade away, replaced by an odd sense of exhilaration. 'Chemical imbalance,' she thought as she held on tightly to his neck. The pain in her head was still heavy, but at least she was on a chemical high. 'Someone in heaven must be looking after me.'
"I'll call the healer." The woman said as she turned towards the entrance. He hesitated a bit but the woman followed it up with a smile and a knowing glance. "I'd be faster than your samurai."
At that, he conceded and let her go. Finally, when they walked a considerable distance, she tugged on his shirt. He leaned closer, but did not stop walking. "I can walk now," she told the man who was carrying her. "Besides, I don't think you can carry me much further.
The man gave her a sharp look bordering on anger. She saw him for the first time. He was handsome, very handsome. Dark hair, deep blue eyes her favorite combination. But right now, he had a deep scowl, his lips compressed to hard to see what their usual shape was.
He looked at her for a minute. "Are you mocking me?" he asked her angrily, his head looming above hers with an ominous look. "You know very well I can carry you to and fro with whatever you throw at me, running, or fighting my way through your tons of suitors."
'Brash male arrogance.' Akane has always been independent and she was not going to break that now. "Honestly! Put me down. I'll lean on you, but this is ridiculous."
He did not let her go as he continued to walk on towards wherever he was headed. That started to irritate Akane. "Will you please let me down?" The man glared at her then let her legs down, but kept his right hand along her back for support. When she touched the ground, she felt shaky and immediately regretted her demands. "Just let me get my bearings." She said as the young man who helped her spun in her vision, she tried to focus her eyes as she held her hand out for support.
"I told you, you can't walk," he said sternly, gripping her arm tightly, just as the world stopped spinning. She stared at the imposing man who took charge. He wore a red Chinese shirt and loose black pants that looked Chinese. Glancing back at the people about, she noted with surprise that they were all dressed in kimonos.
She identified them as samurai from the two swords. Looking at herself, she noted that she too was wearing a long black kimono beneath a heavy cloak-like thing that damply clung to her. She wrinkled her brow, which made her pain worse.
She tried to balance herself. As a martial artist, she had learned balance at an early age. However the new body she was occupying thew her off by a whole margin. The frame was not tall enough, the bones too petite, although she was rather ... plumper than she had realized. She was going to have to push this body through a lot of martial arts training to get to its proper condition. "I'm... fat and FRAGILE!" Akane said in disbelief as she took stock of her current body.
The man was now looking at her as if she just suggested taking over Japan, then looked back at the group to see if anyone else heard her. He looked relieved that they were clustered around a horse to one side. The horse was far more important loss than Akane's accident it seemed. Akane looked at what he was staring at and asked, "What's wrong with him?" The mare stood fifty yards away and was surrounded by people looking at her legs.
"Congratulations, Kodachi, you just managed to do some of your favorite things: degrade me in front of my samurai and my sister by deliberately disobeying me. You have shamed me further by hurting one of the gifts our liege lord has given us." The man's beautiful blue eyes hardened and Akane was reminded of ice. "It broke its leg. I told you not to jump her. I told you she wasn't ready. She'll be destroyed."
"Destroyed?" Akane repeated, not understanding. "But... why?"
The man rolled his eyes at her and said, "You have got to be kidding! You know better, Kodachi. Don't pretend you're sorry for what you did and don't pretend ignorance. Have you forgotten who you're talking to Kodachi?" He looked at her with something close to disgust and...what was that thing...hatred?
"But I didn't do anything!" Akane protested without thinking as she looked at the man, pleading for him to understand her situation. She then had the odd floating sensation and the man's face wavered in front of her. She didn't quite understand why the man was calling her Kodachi. And then suddenly, she remembered the shinigami's warning. She was probably Kodachi. Or rather, she had possessed Kodachi's body.
Hearing her denial at the blame caused the man infront of her to become even angrier as he pulled her arm roughly and forced her to walk faster than she could have. She could hardly manage with the headache, and she certainly couldn't with the dress, especially not with the string that tied her knees together, and he was just too darned fast. He led her off the grass and onto the smooth dirt track, but she felt weird in the new body, and she found herself stumbling more than she would've liked.
Her eyes started to blur with what she thought were tears, but she could see where he was taking her. To her right was a field, the tall grass shivering in the cold breeze; to their left were woods and the trees bare of leaves. Although she knew that it was August and summer when she left, she had a feeling it was late winter now. The air was sharp, but has a fecund smell, as if things were beginning to grow. She also knew they were close to the sea, because of the familiar clean, salty smell was strong. As they turned the bend, Akane got her first glance of a huge house that was nestled behind high shrubbery. But as she tried to get more details of the house, her eyes lost focus once more.
"Is that where we're going?" she asked. Her head pounded. She couldn't think straight, and she suddenly felt a wave of nausea wash over her, "I don't think I can make it. I don't feel so good." He stopped and turned to look at her checking for signs of injury. With that final check she managed to stop walking, thew up and fainted.
oOo
Ranma Saotome caught his wife as she slumped to the dirt. 'That fall is making her act differently,' he thought. He expected Kodachi to rant, rave and laugh that infuriatingly loud laugh of hers then rant again about not training the horse properly. She was just too damned cheerful especially taking in to consideration what just happened.
He just couldn't understand her. As he carried her towards Rose Brier, he looked down at her face. She was starting to look old and she was only twenty and five, he thought. Too much sake, the late nights, the... indulgences she never seemed to refuse were catching up with her. The young demure countenance that she'd donned at their marriage when he was twenty-two was not there anymore. She had aged faster than her years.
But, though her face had changed, she had managed to keep all her vices and her scheming. She was just the same black rose back when she was nineteen as she was now at twenty-five. She just had more thorns. He should have known about her when they were married, but that wouldn't have made a difference. The marriage was arranged to cement a family alliance with the Kunos, with the dowry of Rose Brier having made the arrangement much more attractive to his clan, since it provided tactical advantages allowing the clan to even better control its fief.
Regardless of the best interests of his clan, at the time of the marriage he though Kodachi was a blessing for his clan and his fief. She had been a well-sought-after beauty and she had a very good dowry. She had been hidden away in the Kuno, their liege showing her only to prospective suitors. She had been rumored to be charming, well-bred and well trained. She hadn't changed after they had married. She was still charming, well-bred and well trained. She just showed that being charming and well-bred lent well to being manipulative and sadistic, thorns to her rose. No wonder the people in Kuno lands had called her the Black Rose. He should have asked why.
At their first meeting, they had already managed to get on each other's wrong foot.
"You're the lowlife my father has arranged on my marriage?" Kodachi demanded when they had met, twirling a rose as she sat on the large futon that occupied the room that they were supposed to share. "You look pathetic."
Ranma recoiled at the words. He was young and almost sheltered. He lived in a world with no political agendas, no samurai, no daimyo. He knew no betrayal and though his foster father Genma tended to act foolishly, it has always been for the good of the twins. It was his first taste of the real world, and he reeled from it.
"But... "
"Don't tell me you're going to grovel." Kodachi scrunched her nose in obvious distaste as she dug into her futon throwing her covers over herself, "I hate a man who has no backbone."
He stopped and looked at her then turned away for another room not wanting to stay in bed with her. Although he had every right to order her out of his house, every right in their laws to take her head... he didn't. She was still useful to the Clan: her dowry was protecting her on one side, the support of the Kunos on the other.
Over the years, he had learned what she truly was. The foster family chosen by her parents was a mistake, and her mother's death in the War when she was five worsened her state. Her father hasn't been the same after his wife's death and didn't care for her. Her foster mother (1) spent more time gossiping than teaching her proper behavior. When her brother caught torturing one of their subjects when she was seventeen, he gave her an ultimatum: Find a respectable man to marry or be forced to be left out on the streets, forbidden to the right of seppuku, which she would never earn. So that is what she did.
After that disastrous night, it was just sex between Kodachi and Ranma, and that only when she used one of her potions. After a while, he just managed to find ways not to be home when she was. Her touch left him feeling filthy and self-loathing that he couldn't live with her. So he had arranged never to meet her when he was able.
So they ignored each other, he rarely brought her to Saotome Clan functions, and he didn't allow her to mingle with his people. In return she passed her time without bothering him too much.
His mother told him that he should get a consort for himself and reminded him time and again that he was allowed to, but he refused completely. He had plenty of 'consorts' in the form of endless fiancées before. He didn't want more. The day the head of the Saotome Clan, Happosai, called Ranma up to Happosai's donjon, the central main building of the clan castle, at the Kanto to solve his fiancées problem had been the start of his disaster.
"Ranma, my boy, I think six years of evading your fiancées is long enough, don't you think?" Happosai had said when Ranma had answered the summons. Happosai was a shriveled up old ghoul who still managed to sit aloofly on the silken cushions of the audience room when it was necessary.
Holding the clan for nearly two centuries merited him many things, and he trained his eyes on Ranma, who showed such great potential at becoming a leader. "I'm offering you an easy way out, my boy. I can strip you of all your fiancées."
Ranma was skeptical, although he didn't show it. He didn't want to be impolite to his liege lord. His fiancées were harder to get rid of than Happosai thought. He should know, he spent six years trying. "I don't think so, my lord. My fiancés are... a lot... and the only easy way out of it would be to commit seppuku."
The old man's eyes flared at what his great-great-grandnephew suggested. The boy was still useful. "You are forbidden to commit seppuku on the matter of your multiple iinazukes!"
There was a short pause, a moment for Ranma to breathe and realize what was not granted to him. It was something he both wanted and detested. Ranma always asked for the ritual suicide every year, as was his right to do so. As always, Happosai's response was just as vehement against it. He already decided that the women were not the boy's fault.
Ranma protested, "I am dishonored. You can't have a samurai with that much shame around dirtying the Saotome name." The multiple iinazukes has made him feel dishonored since he learned of them, especially since he knew he wasn't planning to keep any of them. He always asked for permission to commit seuppuku so that if he committed it, he'd receive honor. Unlike battle, for his circumstances if permission wasn't given, no amount of seppuku would restore his honor.
"I offer a simpler way out. The Lady Kodachi of the Kuno Clan is nineteen. At that age, she is ripe for the plucking. Her dowry, Rose Brier, which borders on the Kanto Mountains and the shore of the bay, has great tactical advantage. It is easy to protect and a good place to keep meetings when we are pressed on our back with messengers we don't want."
There was a short pause again. Not one of the samurai surrounding them stirred, though most knew the Lady Kodachi's infamous reputation. Ranma held a puzzled frown as he sneaked a peek at Happosai. "I don't see how marrying the Kodachi Kuno helps..." There was a pause. "It is rumored the woman is touched by the kami ... she's crazy!"
It was believed craziness is caused by the gods themselves, so crazy people, just like children and old people, were allowed some special privileges.
"She is also Christian, so I order you to convert at once!" The old man laughed at some amusement only he saw patting the sword at his side. "Those priests have been meddling in our affairs too long and I still don't have a single Christian spy."
Taken aback, Ranma stared at Happosai openly now, ordered to be a Christian? He didn't understand them with all their silly laws and doctrines. It could be a good tactical move, but he didn't know if he could follow the religion. "In fact I have ordered your sister Nabiki to convert at the same as you do as well."
Ranma gulped. 'Nabiki was ordered as well? The Old Man's mind was moving again. 'What is he up to?'
"But taking Kodachi won't solve all your problems." The old man cringed, as if he remembered something foul. "She is a rotten one, that girl, and not as virtuous as she seems. But ... you are given a choice after all. That rotten attitude of hers will keep all the girls away."
"If you marry her I'll increase your fief to twenty ri around Nerima, which will include Rose Brier at that stretch." The ri was a measurement of distance, its equivalent was what was given to lords as weight in rice for payment for protection. Twenty ri was a lot to give to a newly minted lord.
The old man gave him a few days to think, but it was obvious that the matter was decided even before he was called out to the donjon. That decision would doom him forever. A few days later, Kodachi became his bride.
He was bitter, but he convinced himself that he was as happy as he was ever going to be with his life.
The only comfort he has was the Art. Thank God for that, he'd thought more than once. Unlike many of his fellow samurai, whose wives held the purse strings and has little to do with the family fortune, Ranma was the one who did that part of the marriage as well, with help from Nabiki of course. He could do without family life. A lot of samurai did.
Without warning, the image of his sister, Nabiki and her son leaped into his head. Nabiki was just as unlucky as he was: after a miscarriage and giving birth to a son, her husband almost killed her for a crime she didn't commit.
She now lived on his estate, but far enough from the main house not bother Kodachi. He was thankful for Nabiki and her son's company though. If not for them, he would be far more bitter and lonely than he already was.
Although Ranma wasn't tired from carrying Kodachi when he reached the house Sasuke met him at the door. The short ninja was a kuroki, a protector, as Sasuke would like to think, and Ranma let him to believe.
Upstanding men never employed the Stealthy Ones as a rule. They were treacherous and deceitful most of the time, but the Kunos felt that a ninja would keep Kodachi at bay and could keep track of her actions better than any other samurai could. Ranma petitioned the case up to Happosai who shrugged and agreed to let Ranma employ his services as long he kept the true nature of the short man to himself and to a few chosen people.
He raised his eyebrow when he saw the blood on Kodachi's head though didn't offer to take Ranma's burden, as doing so would be discourteous and be offending. Ranma, followed by Sasuke, brought Kodachi to her room and deposited her on her futon.
She tossed her head of dark curls and moaned as she again opened her eyes. The man from the field was standing back, his arms crossed as he looked down with no emotion.
oOo
"I fainted," she said, as she looked around taking in the frills, the bleakness and darkness of the room, and the black trimmed, gray furniture. "This... is the darkest bleakest room I've ever seen. And stop looking at me as if I were crazy every time I open my mouth! Honestly!" She then shut her mouth as she realized the design might have been done by one of the men standing in front of her.
"Kodachi, you fell from that horse. You hit your head. It's making you act strange. I'm just reacting to a sick wife."
"Wife!" 'Kami,' Akane thought, 'this is worse than I imagined.'
Footnotes:
I tried to remove as much footnotes as I could from the chapter by explaining it in the chapter itself. Regardless, I left the footnotes here so that people who want to browse could browse.
(1) Why does Kodachi have a foster mother when her parents were STILL alive? Well that's because important samurai let foster mothers take care of their children while they can focus on new matters...further explained in Chapter 3 :)
(2) Donjon: central main building of a Japanese Castle. Happosai's main donjon is in Edo. Which most people know now to be Tokyo.
(3) Why is Ranma asking for seppuku? Well he feels he has dishonored the Saotome name by having multiple fiancées he doesn't plan to keep.
In the earlier days, you weren't allowed to commit seppuku if the head of the clan or your liege lord (generally someone higher up) doesn't permit you to. It strips off the giving back of honor seppuku is supposed to give, although you can commit seppuku if you're about to be captured by your enemy. Seppuku's an honor.
(4)What does touched by the Kami mean? They believed craziness is caused by the gods themselves, so crazy people, just like children and old people were allowed some special privileges, another reason why Kodachi can't be killed off.
(5) Why was Ranma ordered to convert to Christianity? Well then, that's Happosai for you :) although this may be another tactical advancement it's also for Kodachi who's also Christian :)hehehehe I love irony... anyway...Christianity came with the Portuguese and the Fathers have churches on Japan (in the late 1600's they'll close the doors to all foreign people and such and boot out the priests and Christianity and order everyone back to Buddhism)
(6) A ri is roughly equivalent to a mile.
(7) What's a kuroki? Well if taken literally it means black something. Also is a servant clad in black :)Generally guys who were servants to all these big mansions in Japan.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2 and the book I based it from is When there is Hope, and if you sue me you can't possibly get money from me.
Author's Notes:
Ryoga doesn't have a curse because Ranma isn't living in the present, (not that, that hinders Ryoga to wander in the pool of drowned pig but...
Ryoga, Akane's husband? Well, there's no Ranma, who do you think she'll fall for Kuno? Okay so Shin-boy's an option... I can't work with all the options :p Okay so technically she couldn't meet up with Ryoga without Ranma... but he gets lost a lot it's a wacky world.
Why is Happosai the head of the Saotome Clan? Well, after thinking about possible candidates, (namely, Ranma, Genma, Nodoka, Ranko, Nabiki) My sister and I thought bout this change... well, we can't have Ranma because we need a counter balance of things he needs someone to order him to marry Kodachi in the first place :).
Genma isn't a possibility because we all know how stupid the patriarch of the Saotome household is, the Saotomes would never survive the beginnings of the Tokugawa Era :) (which begins around 1603 according to my history book) and medieval Japan (Era before Tokugawa)
Hokey, another chapter converted from its idiot beginnings as an almost lift from When there is Hope to a new revision.
iCe
Revision History:
11/17/10 - converted from version 2.2 to version 3.
04/02/06 - common errors in the english language
01/14/06 - punctuation (quotation) and tense (had) revision
10/18/05 - grammar revision
05/29/03 - grammar and some of the reasons of Nabiki's presence.
Special Thanks to:
MJ, Maurice Phillip, Tin and Angel, Anno Nimus, Jourdan Bickham, Byooki Desu, khymchanur
And to the person reading this.
website: ice /dot /esmartdesign /dot /com (largely defunct and old... with lots of populs... go to livejournal instead)
email: siuane at gmail dot com
livejournal: ice underscore of /underscore /dreams
I write when the spirit moves, and I make sure it moves every day ~unknown
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