Waters Under Earth

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by Alan Harnum - harnums@hotmail.com

All Ranma characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, first
published by Shogakugan in Japan and brought over to North
America by Viz Communications.

I am not subscribed to the FFML, so if all comments could be
directed straight to my e-mail address, I'd be very grateful.
C&C is not only welcomed but very much appreciated.  Thank you.

Chapter 5 : Best-Laid Plans (1/3)

     Her wings hurt.

     The rocky floor of the cave had not been kind to the
sweeping, white-feathered appendages that marked Kima, along with
her taloned hands and feet, as one of the fading population of
Phoenix Mountain.  She was far from her home now, though,
returned to the country from which the outsiders had come, the
ones who'd ruined Lord Saffron's transformation.  Ten years of
careful preparation, of seeking the proper time to again attempt
to raise Saffron to his full power.  Ruined.  Utterly and
completely.  

     Kima shifted her position on the flat-topped rock she was
sitting on and outstretched one wing to examine it with a frown.
The feathers were dirty and dishevelled from the few hours of
sleep she'd managed to snatch on the floor of the cave.  Nearly
half-a-dozen times she'd been awakened by the heavy crashes of
thunder, to lie awake for what seemed like hours, listening to
the driving rain outside the cave and her own soft breathing,
before sleep again overtook her.

     Shiso had been gone from the cave when she'd awakened a few
minutes ago; she had no idea of where the raven might have went.
With a sigh, she began to clean the feathers of her wings with
her hands as well as she could.  She did not have the means to
heat water to truly clean them, and would have to do the best she
could with her fingers.

     She wanted a bath.  And a hot meal.  And to be back in
Phoenix Mountain in her quarters, where all those things and a
soft bed were available.

     Instead, though, she had this low-ceilinged cave and the
dried travel rations she'd brought with her.  That and lack of
sleep had not put her in the best of moods.

     "Feeling sorry for myself," she chided sleepily.  "I am a
warrior, not some fragile noblewoman.  I can endure what hardship
I must."

     Finished with one wing, she switched to the other.  An
errant breeze blew through the cave opening, and the air tasted
still of the rain that had fallen last night.  At least the cave
had been dry, and had extended far enough back into the hillside
that no rain had been blown in.

     She realized someone else was here, watching her, with a
kind of shock.  Her hand went for where her sword would have been
strapped to her hip automatically, and then she was realized it
was lying a few feet away on the floor, out of reach.

     "Don't worry, Kima," a female voice said as a woman stepped
into view from around the cave opening.  "I mean you no harm."

     "You know my name?" Kima said, relaxing only slightly at the
unfamiliar woman's presence.  She was short and slender, with
long dark hair down past her waist and delicate features.  There
was nothing delicate about the way she carried herself, though;
Kima's experienced eye recognized this woman as another warrior.

     "We've met before," the woman said with a humourless smile,
taking a few steps closer with the green silk of her robe
whispering about her legs.  There was a grey cloak bundled under
one arm.

     "Cologne," Kima said, her face hardening slightly.  "You
look... different."

     "Really?" Cologne said sarcastically.  "I hadn't noticed
it."

     Kima rose up, fluttering her wings slightly as she stood.
She was taller than Cologne by several inches, but still felt as
if she were the one being looked down upon.  "Do not speak to me
in that way, human."

     Cologne had stepped forward and thrown out her fist almost
before Kima realized what was happening.  The speed was too
great; only time for an instinctive closing of the eyes.

     She opened her eyes a moment later to see the fist had
stopped a hair's breadth from her nose.

     "And you will not speak to me in that way, child," Cologne
said in a voice with ice in it.  "We are together in this, and
while I suspect I have as much liking for you as you do for me,
one thing I will ask of you is respect.  In return, I will give
the same to you."

     Kima slowly stepped back, keeping herself from shaking by
force of will alone.  "Forgive me," she said flatly.  "I... am
not used to dealing with humans."

     "You'll find, I think, that we are much like you," Cologne
said sardonically.  "The same things drive us.  You have been
beneath Jusendo, have you not?"

     Kima closed her eyes and nodded.  "Yes."

     When she opened them again, she saw Cologne's face had
softened slightly.  "Then you saw?"

     "I saw," Kima said sadly. 

     "That is why we do this thing," Cologne said.  "And for our
people, and the land we live in, because they are the same
thing."

     "Little more than a thousand of us remain," Kima said
softly.  "And more than half of the women are past child-bearing
years.  A little more die each year in Phoenix Mountain then are
born, and the Hall of Speaking echoes a little more with each
passing decade.  We had hoped that if Saffron were..."

     Trailing off, she bent down and retrieved her sword from the
ground, strapping it to her hip with a sigh.  "The histories say
that we once had colonies all over China, secret enclaves in the
mountains from which we watched the human world, and went among
it with the aid of our cursed forms.  Some books say we even
ranged as far as Japan and Korea.  But one by one they were
abandoned as you humans expanded your territories.  Now my people
are dying, and from what I have read and seen, our hopes lie with
him."

     "I would weep for joy if a thousand Joketsuzoku still lived
in the village," Cologne said.  "More and more, the children
choose to leave for the cities rather than remain in the village
when they come of age.  My people die as surely as yours do."

     "It is not the same," Kima said vehemently.  

     "Perhaps that is the problem," Cologne said with a soft
sigh.  "Perhaps because we do not see each other as the same is
why we are dying.  Petty divisions of race or culture have split
the valley apart as surely as the rest of the world is divided
amongst a hundred different countries, each believing themselves
to be somehow better than every other one.  The Joketsuzoku,
Phoenix Mountain, the Musk Dynasty..."

     Kima looked uncomfortable.  "Perhaps.  May I ask you a
question, Cologne?"

     "You may.  I may even answer it," Cologne said.

     "How are you bringing him here?"

     "I have his mother."

     Kima nodded.  "Where is she?"

     "She'll sleep for a long time yet," Cologne said.  "Shiso is
watching her."

     "I was wondering where he went," Kima said.  "I... must it
be done like this?"

     Cologne smiled a little bitterly.  "Strange for the woman
who willingly enslaved my great-grandaughter to be bothered by
this."

     Kima frowned at her and said nothing for a few moments.  "I
did what I thought was best for my people.  That has always been
my foremost concern."

     "I understand," Cologne said.  "The brightest path is not
always the one that will lead to the best results."

     "The ends justify the means," Kima said with a slow nod.

     Cologne shook her head.  "Not always.  At a certain point,
striving towards good at all costs becomes a service in the name
of evil."

     "But not this?" Kima said.  "Not even..."

     Cologne sighed.  "You cannot even begin to imagine the force
that drives what we must do.  Even I cannot.  What watches him is
more ruthless than any foe you have ever faced.  It is only by
this that we can ensure the safety of those who shall remain
behind."

     "What is it?" Kima said.

     "I have glimpsed only shadows," Cologne said.  "Tangled
threads obscuring the truth.  I know that it has many hands in
many places.  Perhaps some even among those he counts as friends,
or foes.  It must be diverted.  We must break the hold of its
eyes upon him."

     She bowed her head and looked at the rough stone wall of the
cave.  "They will come before sunset.  There is much we must do
before then."

     "For our people," Kima said slowly.  "And for our land."

     "So be it," Cologne said.  She extended her hand, and Kima
took it.  Sharp, flexible talons held the soft flesh of Cologne's
wrist for a moment, and slim fingers closed over the bird-like
wrist of Kima's arm.

     "Perhaps we are not so different," Kima said after a
moment's hesitation.

     "Perhaps we are not," Cologne replied indifferently.

**********

     Kasumi had risen early that morning, as she always did.
Rising early meant she could get things done before everyone else
was up.

     Like sweeping the passageway that led from the house to the
dojo.  It didn't really need to be done.  It was just something
to do.  Something to take the mind away from things.

     She hadn't really seen anything of what had gone on
yesterday, when Ranma's mother had been taken.  She'd been
outside trimming some of the shrubs that grew along the path to
the front door.  Ranma and Akane had come home and gone inside.

     A few minutes later, there'd been a flash of dark hair,
green clothing and sad eyes.  And an odd, through extremely sharp
weapon.

     *"If you scream loud enough, I might let you live,"* the
strange woman had said.  Something in her tone had broken through
any urge Kasumi might have had to question what was going on.
She didn't often scream, but she'd put quite a lot of effort into
it that time.

     After that, things were pretty much blank.  Akane had told
her that Cologne, because that was who the woman was, had knocked
her unconcious with a pressure point and then made it look as if
she'd thrown her through the door.  She'd proceeded to take down
her father and Genma, and then kidnap Nodoka.

     Things like this seemed to happen all the time around here,
though, ever since Ranma had shown up.  Although it was usually
Akane who was the target.

     She still wasn't very clear on how Cologne had gone from
being an old woman to one about her age suddenly, but it didn't
really concern her.  These things usually didn't; Ranma and his
friends would deal with them.  She would make dinner for them
when they got back, and try to keep them from destroying the
house.

     She hoped this wouldn't hurt Ranma and Akane's marriage,
though.  They really seemed to be doing better ever since she'd
had that talk with him.  Ranma was such a nice boy, although a
little rough around the edges.

     Reaching the end of the hallway, she was about to turn
around when something made her stop and slide the door to the
dojo open.

     "Oh my," she said.

     Ranma and Akane lay on the floor together, Akane's head
resting on his chest.  One of his arms was around her waist,
the other around her neck.  Both appeared to be sleeping quite
peacefully.

     "At least they still have all their clothing on," Kasumi
surprised herself by saying, perhaps a little too loudly.  There
was a click behind her.

     Ranma's eyes blinked open, and he sat up abruptly, which had
the effect of dumping Akane off onto the floor, although not hard
enough to wake her up.

     "...won't take her away from me!" he said, in a
strange-sounding voice.  "I won't..."

     He trailed away and looked around.  "Uh..."

     His eyes fastened on Kasumi, and then on Akane.  "This isn't
what it looks like."

     "Well, I'd be interested to know it really is, then," Nabiki
said from behind Kasumi.  She sighed and put her camera away, the
source of the click Kasumi had heard.  "Those shots are going to
be priceless to the right people.  You'll have lots of explaining
to do pretty soon, I think."

     Kasumi took a step back and put a hand on her younger
sister's arm.  "Nabiki, can I talk to you for a moment?"

     Nabiki was silent, but let Kasumi lead her into the hallway
and close the door with a smooth sound of sliding wood.  "What is
it, sis?"

     "Film, Nabiki," Kasumi said, holding out her hand.

     Nabiki blinked.  "What?"

     "Film."

     Kasumi demonstrated by taking the camera from Nabiki,
popping open the back, and pulling out the film canister.  She
dropped it into the pocket of her apron and handed the empty
camera back to her surprised sister.

     "Kasumi, give that back," Nabiki said.  She smiled.
"Please?  C'mon, sis."

     Kasumi turned and began to walk away.  Nabiki stopped her by
grabbing her shoulder.  "Kasumi!"

     "I'm just going to hold onto this for a while," Kasumi said.

     Nabiki's smile faded into a neutral look, and her hand
tightened almost imperceptibly.  "Sometimes I think you forget
you're not my mother, sis."

     Kasumi looked back at her sadly.  "I don't ever forget that,
Nabiki.  But if you want to continue to eat my cooking and live
in the house that I keep, you'll forget about that film right
now."

     Nabiki frowned.  "Sis, I'm sorry, maybe that was a
little..."

     Kasumi slipped away from Nabiki's hand and left without
another word.  Behind Nabiki, the door to the dojo slid open and
Ranma and a sleepy-eyed Akane stepped out.

     "Film, Nabiki," they said together.

     "Hey guys, I was just kidding," she said, holding up the
camera and showing them the open back.  "Check it out, no film.
Good joke, huh?"

     It took her a fair bit of time to convince them she was
telling the truth, and they really in the end only stopped
questioning her because Kasumi called them for breakfast.

**********

     Ukyou prodded the large form in the sleeping bag in the
middle of her storeroom with one slippered foot.  "Wake up, you
big dope."

     The sleeping bag groaned something unintelligible and moved
slighty.  Ukyou prodded it again, then sighed and knelt down
beside it.

     "Hey Ryoga," she said, pulling down the edge of the sleeping
bag and looking at the sleeping face.  Ryoga looked extremely
peaceful when he slept, she realized, the hard lines of his face
dissolving slightly into softness.

     He ruined the pleasant effect by letting out a loud snore
and rolling so his back was to her again.  Ukyou stood up, and
went from prodding to kicking.

     After a good minute, Ryoga turned his head and blinked at
her.  "Good morning."

     He promptly closed his eyes again.

     "Hey Ryoga.  Lemme remind you of a few things.  Ranma's
mother?  Cologne's gone crazy and is gonna fight Ranma?  The two
of us are gonna be there, for some reason?" Ukyou said.

     Ryoga's eyes opened, and he slowly sat up, rubbing his jaw
tiredly with one hand.  "Sorry, Ukyou.  I'm not too good in the
mornings."

     "I'll put on some breakfast for us," Ukyou said.  "Then
we've got to get over to the Tendo's."

     Ryoga nodded and started to stand up.  Ukyou turned to
leave, then heard him speak again.  "Hey Ukyou?"

     "Yeah?"

     "How are you feeling today?"

     "A little better," Ukyou said, not turning to look at him.
"All wounds heal in time, you know."

     "Thanks for letting me stay here last night," Ryoga said
after a moment.  "I would have asked Akane, but..."

     "I know," Ukyou said quietly.  "I know."

     She stepped out the door of the storeroom before Ryoga could
say anything else.

**********

     Shampoo stood before the mirror in her room, carefully
checking herself over.  The white outfit, the one she'd worn when
she first came to Japan, was immaculate and shining, washed last
night by hand, as you were always supposed to do with your battle
uniform.

     She'd oiled and polished the hardened leather breastplate
that went with the uniform, and now strapped it carefully on,
tracing her fingers over the familiar designs upon it.  It had
been her mother's.

     Finished with the mirror, she walked over to the weapons
rack underneath the silk wall-hanging.  The mountain rose in the
background, with the lake before it.  It reminded her of home.
Too many things did these days.

     She took the bonbori first, tucked them into the belt of her
uniform.  She glanced, for just a moment, at the naked sword also
on the rack, curved edge gleaming, then turned away from it.

     There were three quick knocks on the door outside, and then
Mousse's voice.  "Shampoo, I made us breakfast.  It's not much,
but..."

     "Thank you, Mousse," she said, stepping closer to the door
but not opening it.  "I be down in minute."

     She could almost see him nod his head, and then there was
the soft slide of his footsteps down the hallway.  She sighed and
a moment later stepped out into the hallway and walked towards
the stairs, bowing her head as she stepped by her
great-grandmother's room.  The door was closed now, but she
hadn't been able to bring herself to touch the pile of clothing
and the discarded staff on the floor.

     This was not going to be a good day, she decided as she went
down the stairs.  This was not going to be a good day at all.

     Mousse had laid out breakfast on one of the dining room
tables, a simple meal, rice and vegetables.  He was a fairly
competent cook, when he needed to be.  All Joketsuzoku men were;
it was more an oddity for one to be a skilled fighter like Mousse
than it was for one to be a good cook.

     Shampoo sat down across from him without a word and picked
up her chopsticks.  Or tried to.  A soft clatter echoed as one
bounced off the wooden table top and fell under Mousse's chair.

     "Let me get that," he said quietly, reaching down with a
soft rustle of cloth.  He didn't have his glasses on, but his
slim, agile fingers quickly found the errant chopstick and
plucked it up.  He wiped it off on the white sleeve of his robe
and handed it across to her.

     "Thank you," Shampoo said, taking it by the far end so she
wouldn't accidentally brush his fingers with hers.

     "Are you alright, Shampoo?" Mousse said.  There was nothing
but concern in his voice, but Shampoo glared at him all the same.

     "I fine," she said quickly, before beginning to eat.  She
looked down into her bowl so that she wouldn't have to look at
his eyes.

     "He doesn't blame you," Mousse said softly.  "He knows you
have nothing to do with it."

     "Shut up, Mousse," Shampoo said.  "You no know what you talk
about."

     "Shampoo, you're not responsible for what Cologne did,"
Mousse said.  "And it won't do any of us any good for you to tear
yourself up inside about something you had no control over."

     Shampoo slowly nodded.  "I know."

     "Good," Mousse said, rising quietly from the tables, his
chopsticks banging softly against the ceramic bowl as he lifted
it to carry it to the kitchen.  "We should leave in a few
minutes.  Take your time eating."

     His footsteps softly sounded on the floor as he walked out
of the dining room.  Shampoo stared into her bowl and sighed
deeply.  No, it was not going to be a good day at all.

**********

     Ryoga and Ukyou arrived after an uncomfortable breakfast at
the Tendo house.  Noticeably absent had been Nodoka, and Soun.
The Tendo father was still asleep, recovering from the injuries
Cologne had given him yesterday when she attacked the house.

     "Thank you for coming," Kasumi said quietly as she let the
two of them in at the front door.  "I hope it wasn't too much
trouble."

     "No trouble, Kasumi," Ryoga said quietly.  Ukyou said
nothing, and turned her head away when she saw Kasumi give her a
slight questioning look.

     Ranma and Akane were on the back porch, Genma sitting
between them.  Any other morning would likely have found Ranma
and his father practicing; not this morning, though.

     "Hey guys," Ukyou said, looking uncomfortable at the
prospect of sitting next to Ranma or Akane.  Ryoga finally saved
her by settling down next to Ranma and putting a hand on his
shoulder, and she promptly settled down next to him, keeping him
between her and Ranma.

     "You okay, Ranma?" Ryoga asked.

     Ranma looked surprised, then slowly nodded.  "Yeah.  Thanks
for coming, Ryoga."

     "You'd do the same for me, wouldn't you?" Ryoga said with a
quiet smile.

     Ranma looked at him, then slowly nodded.  "I hope so."

     "Now we've got to wait for Shampoo and Mousse to arrive,"
Akane said, picking at a splinter on the boards of the back porch
with quiet intensity.

     "I don't see why you're involving that crazy girl," Ukyou
said.  "It's her fault, after all."

     Ranma looked at Ukyou sadly.  "Ucchan... it's not her fault.
The only person responsible is Cologne."

     Ukyou looked away from him and didn't say anything.  Ranma
softly sighed and turned to his father.

     "Pop, you got anything to say?"

     Genma fixed his son with a square look.  "Ranma, it is your
responsibility to rescue your mother."

     "You're one to talk about responsibility," Ranma muttered as
he gazed out at the backyard pond.  Last night's storm had left
damp puddles all over the yard, and hung the trees with drops of
water shining in the sun.

     "It is every father's hope that his son will surpass him,"
Genma said, so quietly only Ranma heard it.  He turned his head
to look at his father, and was about to ask something, some
question, when the door to the back porch slid open again and
Shampoo and Mousse stepped out.

     "We're here," Mousse said.  Shampoo didn't say anything; she
was standing closer to Mousse than she usually did when they were
together.  With his hands tucked into his sleeves and folded in
front of him, and his eyes opaqued by his glasses, he looked like
some kind of motionless statue, a sentinel to stand guard over
something precious.

     "Then I guess we better get going," Ranma said, rising up
with a sigh.  "The sooner this is done, the better."

     "What are we doing, exactly?" Mousse inquired, the faintest
hint of a frown crossing his lips.

     "We're gonna go get my mother back," Ranma said.  "No matter
what I have to do."

**********

     From the window of her room on the second floor of the
house, Nabiki watched the group of seven people troop out the
front gate.  First came Ranma, with Akane beside him, his strides
quick and sure.  Behind him Ryoga and Ukyou, Ryoga moving more
heavily, though with the same grace.  Then Mousse and Shampoo,
the Chinese girl moving a bit unsteadily, with the tall, robed
form of the boy who loved her gliding beside her like a walking
shadow.  Genma brought up the rear, his posture seeming to
indicate his wish to be anywhere but with the others.

     As they passed under the gate, they stepped for a time into
the pool of shadow cast by it, and just for a moment, Ranma
appeared to vanish completely.  She blinked her eyes, and then
watched as the others stepped out as well, deciding it had just
been an optical illusion.

     She swivelled in the chair at her desk and looked at the
phone, beside a stack of notebooks.  She nervously licked her
lips, and then picked it up, glancing back out the window to see
them start down the street in the direction of the train station.

     She looked at the phone again, and back at the window.

     She picked up the handset, which felt very, very heavy.

     She began to dial.

**********

     Ranma settled back into the seat with a sigh, feeling as if
he could sink forever into the cushion.  Outside, the passengers
who'd disembarked from this train were involved with greeting
acquaintances, or, if they had no acquantainces to greet them,
leaving the train station as quickly as possible.  Train stations
bothered Ranma sometimes; places of arrival, places of departure.
Nodal points for separation.

     Akane glanced over at him, layed her hand over his on the
arm of the seat, and gave his hand a soft squeeze.  He looked at
her and smiled softly.  Behind him, he heard Ukyou make an almost
inaudible sigh from where she sat next to Ryoga.  Shampoo and
Mousse were in front of them, with the Chinese girl slumped
slightly in her seat in a posture utterly unlike her.  From the
angle of Mousse's head, he appeared to be looking at something
only he could see.

Continued in [Ranma][Fanfic] Waters Under Earth - Chapter 5 (2/3)


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