I'd liek to thank all the FFML members who helped clean up the first
chapter of CHildhood of a Modern Dynasty. The first chapter hits RAAC
and my website in a few days. For those who could read the whole thing,
here's a short preview. Thank you all.
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[Preview] Childhood of a Modern Dynasty - Chapter 1: Hit Me Hard, Kiss
Me Hard
Ranma 1/2 characters and situations created by Rumiko Takahashi, used
without permission
Ranma 1/2 Copyright by Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakan Inc., Kitty, Fuji,
Viz Communications, etc...
Childhood of a Modern Dynasty series created, written, and Copyright
1998 by Jim Lazar
This is a preview of my new ongoing series set after the end of the
Ranma 1/2 manga and anime.
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>From the personal journal of James Davidson:
April 4, 2057
The house at the center of the Tendo Compound looked almost
exactly like it did in the old photos. The adjoining houses and
buildings had changed over the past sixty years, of course, as various
family members had built up the Tendo Compound with their own houses.
Japanese families tended to live in the same house with all
generations, but when you had as large of an extended family as the
Tendo family did, you had to accommodate them all with the multiple
residences that made up the Compound.
Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted when I was kicked in the
side of my head. I went flying into the koi pond. I spit out the water
that I had almost swallowed. I lifted myself out of the pond, only to
end up on my butt again when I slipped on the edge of the pond. More
carefully this time, I rose and stepped out of the koi pond.
"Daijiko!" Akane scolded, "How many times have I asked you not to
kick visitors? Family only!"
"Sorry, Great-grandmother," the little girl named Daijiko replied,
looking sadly at the ground. She had the same short dark blue hair that
I've seen in old pictures of Akane, who now had a dignified mop of
white hair.
I squeezed out my shirt, then mussed up Daijiko's hair. "That's
okay, Daijiko. A visit here wouldn't be complete without a tour of the
koi pond. That's quite a kick for a five year old girl," I said,
rubbing my head. Daijiko beamed at me, bowed quickly, then she ran back
around the house to spar in the main dojo. Then to Akane, I said,
"She's grown quite a bit in the past year."
"She's too young for you, James," Akane informed me.
"You really think so? Darn," I replied, earning a smile from
Akane. It wasn't often, but I did occasionally manage to get her back
for all the times she teased me.
After drying off, I sat down on the porch again.
"I'm sorry about that. I try to keep the kids from following in my
footsteps, but it's hard," Akane said.
"Don't worry about it. A little water never hurt anyone," I said,
regretting it as soon as I said it.
Akane frowned, then said, "That's what most of us would have said,
until Ranma showed up at our doorstep."
"Sorry, didn't mean to bring up painful memories."
"They aren't all painful..." Akane said, then switched the
conversation like an expert, "Where do you want to start?"
"Well, the last book ended at the destroyed wedding. It's best to
start right after that," I said.
"Ok. Let's see...Ranma had managed to untie himself and then he
blasted the locked doors of the dojo open, just as me and-" Akane
began.
I interrupted her and said, "Sorry, not that wedding."
"Oh, sorry. Which destroyed wedding did you mean then?"
***********************************************************************
July, 1998 - Hotaka Mountain, Japan
-C- -M- -D-
Akane stood on a tree branch and nervously scanned the surrounding
area. Suddenly she found herself on the ground looking up at the tree
branch, on which Ranma stood with a smirk on his face. "Where..." Akane
began to say, but stopped talking suddenly as she had to flip to her
feet to avoid Ranma from landing on her face. She followed with a side
flip to get away from his punches. She missed avoiding his leg sweep
and tumbled to the ground with a thud.
"Not bad reaction after the initial blow, but you're still
thinking in two dimensions. I didn't see you look up at the tops of the
trees once," Ranma explained, in a lecturing tone.
<Damn, he's right,> Akane scolded herself mentally. "Isn't that
'thinking in two dimensions' from an old Star Trek movie?" Akane
questioned. A smirk grew on her face.
"Probably, Pop got most of his 'divine wisdom' from the movies,"
Ranma said, smiling back. "You'd be surprised at how much of our
training involved swiping popcorn and soda." He held out his hand as if
to help Akane to her feet, but then proceeded to flip her over his
shoulder, sending her into a group of bushes. "You also have to be
alert all the time."
"Baka..." Akane began, then corrected herself quickly, "Yes,
teacher."
"You should have saw that one coming a mile away, how many times
did my pop try it on me while practicing in the garden?" Ranma asked.
"As I recall, you fell for it several times as well," Akane
replied and then stuck out her tongue at Ranma.
"Let's head back to camp and I'll make dinner," Ranma offered.
"Oh, no...I'm making dinner!" Akane insisted.
"I am the teacher here, so I decide who cooks! I also promised
neither of us would get killed, so that rules out you cooking," Ranma
said, then turned back towards their camp. He arrived back at the camp
faster than he expected, since Akane ended up kicking him back to camp
in a graceful arc over the treetops. "Well, at least she's learned some
directional control," Ranma muttered and rubbed his head.
-C- -M- -D-
"This is a pretty big mountain, how are we going to find them?"
Ukyo asked, as she climbed up the mountain.
"Well, they didn't say exactly were they were camping," Ryoga
explained. He then noticed something ahead of them and suggested,
"Let's ask that girl in the waterfall." Ryoga pointed towards the
young, naked, redheaded girl washing herself in the waterfall.
Ukyo ducked down quickly behind some bushes and then pulled Ryoga
down beside her. "Idiot! That's Ranma!" Ukyo whispered to him.
"Are you sure?" Ryoga asked, sneaking another look.
"Well, what are the chances of another redheaded girl with a
pig-tail being up on this mountain at the same time as Ranma and
Akane?" Ukyo questioned a perplexed Ryoga.
"Good point," Ryoga conceded.
"Now be quiet and we'll follow Ranma back to their camp after he's
done washing up and see what we can do to keep him and Akane apart,"
Ukyo said, then asked, "By the way, why isn't your nose bleeding with a
naked girl in sight?"
"You may be attracted to hermaphrodites, but I'm not," Ryoga
replied. Plus he didn't know she was naked when he first saw her, but
Ryoga decided not to mention that to Ukyo.
Ukyo kept watching Ranma, but she started to think of some way to
get back at Pig-boy for that comment.
-C- -M- -D-
Childhood of a Modern Dynasty series: Coming soon to RAAC and a
newsreader near you. It can also be found on my website below within a
few days.
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Email me at: mailto:jimlazar@earthlink.net with comments, criticisms,
or if you would like to join my pre-reader list. If you like this
series, let me know.
Make sure to check out my Childhood of a Modern Dynasty website for the
latest CMD stories, graphics files, and other information:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlazar/anime/childhood.html
My other fanfiction can be found at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlazar/anime
--
Jim Lazar
E-Mail - mailto:jimlazar@earthlink.net
Home - http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlazar
FanFiction - http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlazar/anime
"You made Akane whose daughter?!?!"
"Genma's."
"Has she hit you with her mallet yet?"
"Several times, actually."