Memories (a Ranma-1/2-plus-plus! fanfic)
by Nikholas "Mayhem" F. Toledo
Editor's note: The original disclaimer written by the author is now way
too old, as the number of cameos, guest appearances, throw-away
references and what-not are equally important and belong to equally
important people. The series of Macross, Sailor Moon, Star Wars, The
Real Ghostbusters, Maison Ikkoku, Tom Swift, El Hazard and, of course,
Ranma 1/2 have made their respective marks on this on-going saga. May
their creators be forever remembered in the annals of history, monuments
built, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. On with the pervert-bashing!
@-----------------------------------------------------------------------@
|!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!|
@-----------------------------------------------------------------------@
Chapter 11
Sunsets and a cup of iced tea
Ami Mizuno stared out into open space.
They say that sunsets make you forget all your worries.
They say that ice tea calms a tortured soul.
They say that a place with a view clears a troubled mind.
None of them were working. Although the iced tea she sipped was the
best she ever tested - although the sun, still a half-hour from the
horizon, was casting relaxing shadows through the small cafe's windows -
although the view from this side of Tokyo Tower was spectacular, she
still felt as angry as she had in the dim recesses of the National
Library.
Was it anger, she thought, or confusion?
She had never seen this side of him before. It scared her, the way
he acted when he realized the full impact of Kimiko Tendo's theories on
chi, the almost limitless power hidden beneath a few lines of formulas.
An almost crazy, insane, maniacal fervor.
Only six months ago, she remembered, he had shown her the beauty
beyond the theories of science. He told her how thermodynamics could
never determine the best temperature for a cup of iced tea. He showed her
that knowing the formulas of electromagnetic diffraction was a poor
substitute for watching a sunset. He opened her eyes to the wonders of
altitude, to the psychological makeup of a human being. He gave a heart
to science, a soul to the abstraction, and a conscience to the powers
they unleashed. He was the last person, she thought, to become a willing
slave to science, just as she had been.
But he had changed, just as she did, just as all of them had.
Was it her fault? She remembered the half-hidden tears as they bid
their goodbyes - the way he couldn't look into her eyes - those
downturned, downcast eyes. Did he miss her? Had he begun to care, after
he promised that he wouldn't? Just as she...
She left it at that. She saw him come out of the elevator from
across the hall.
Ryoga Hibiki walked the unfriendly mile.
Unfriendly, because the people on this street hated martial
artists. You'd feel the same way if the first thing that you saw that
morning was a mega-pervert being chased by a rather large and unruly mob
composed of angry women, rampaging cats and one reluctant pig, all over
the living room carpet.
To summarize, have a pervert in the house and the world will beat a
path to your door, through the kitchen, and out the back window, to the
next house, and so on.
Ryoga was walking once more down the new street he had an unwilling
part to create.
It had been another peaceful afternoon, he thought.
Afternoons like this tended to make him remember the past, a past
that he did not want to remember often.
Her soft lips, covering his own...
He shoved that recollection to the back of his mind. It was a
mistake, him doing that. It was a stupid, stupid mistake. Why did he do
it? Why did he kiss her? Why? What would Akane think, if she found out?
What would Ranma think (that ingrate), if he found out? What would she
think, if she found out that it was his first...?
Questions that he did not want to even think of answering.
But why was he looking for her? Why?
He had to find her... He just had to... to make sure that he
wasn't just...
That it wasn't just him...
"What about Akane?" a smaller part of his mind asked. "There are
much more important things to think about right now," the rest thundered
back.
He turned at the corner, not noticing a certain spatula-bearing
female turn into the street that he just left.
The scene at Furinkan High School was very much like the night of
the living dead. The field was cracked and there was this smell of burnt
grass in the air. Some were floating around, being rather battle-aura-
drained. Others, who were able to make it to nearby shelter just before
Miss Hinako sucked the district dry, were wandering around partly in
shock. Only a few were left to make a decent-enough conversation.
Gosunkugi worked his way to the center of the crater where those
few were. Everyone was too busy looking for his or her own internal
organs to notice that he had just saved their lives. "Is everyone okay?"
he asked, looking for Akane in particular.
He saw her cradling Ranma's head in her lap.
His shoulders slumped down, and he turned away.
He did not notice Miyo looking at him strangely as he left.
"Where are we going, sir?"
The Navy jeep was going uphill along a small street that wove
around a medium-sized lake. Rick Hunter could not believe that he had an
extremely uneventful afternoon when there was a full-scale war happening
within the same district. But, here they were, enjoying the afternoon
sun.
The lake was nearly circular, as far as Rick could see, with cherry
trees in bloom lining the shore. The houses here were a little bit larger
than the average Tokyo home, with more spacious gardens. It could be said
that this place was an exclusive subdivision of sorts, a neighborhood for
rich people. He wondered what they were doing here.
"Where are we going, sir?" he asked again, for the Admiral did not
seem to hear. The Admiral had been unusually quiet that afternoon drive
and Rick wondered what was wrong.
"Just passing through a short-cut," the Admiral replied, smiling.
"I'll have to pass by someone's house. Another obligation that I don't
really want to do. Don't worry - it will just be a short while and we'll
be back before nightfall."
And as the Admiral looked back on the road, he seemed to say
something, something that perhaps was not meant to be overheard.
"It has been so long since..."
Mousse, struggling to regain his footing, balanced himself on the
tree branch that he had lain upon, hidden throughout the entire battle,
after being tossed by high winds, battle-aura-drained and almost having
his goose (duck) cooked by the rather (mindblank) energy ball. Cologne
had wanted him to watch her son-in-law (a term Mousse found appalling, in
light of his own personal quest) and, for the first time in a long time,
he actually found himself thanking the old ghoul. There was something
wrong with Ranma, he was sure. The way he had acted during the entire
battle was proof of that. And that something might even up the odds
between him and Shampoo. But he had to make sure first.
With a bound, he jumped down.
To his surprise, he stopped somewhere between the earth and the
sky.
The washing machine beeped quietly somewhere in the quietness of
the Tendo Dojo grounds.
Kasumi removed the load of white shirts and started with the
coloreds. After she set the timer to the proper setting, she then sat
down next to it, taking in hand one of the romance books that Nabiki kept
in odd places in her room. She gazed at the cover, not wanting to open
the pages, thinking that this would be better than the old boring books
that she used to borrow from Dr. Tofu. Not wanting to think any more, she
opened it to a random page. Her eyes alighted on one particular line.
The line read, "... and only a cold, empty, deserted street greeted
her..."
She stopped. There was this growing need in her chest to get some
fresh air. The stepped out of the bathroom and walked out the front door.
The cool afternoon wind blew though her hair. The wooden gate loomed
before her and she resisted the urge to open it. She knew that there was
no one outside.
Sighing, she stepped inside. There was complete silence in the
house. She gazed at Kimiko's picture for a while, then took the phone and
dialed a very familiar number.
Five rings. Six rings. Seven rings. *click*
"Hello, Dr. Tofu?" she whispered into the handset.
"This is Dr. Tofu's Clinic, the nearest medical center in your
neighborhood. The doctor is out right now, so..."
Kasumi hung up. She had known something like this would happen. The
only way to talk to him was to go against her father's unspoken wishes.
There was only one person in the world who she knew was ruthless enough
to do that. She sighed in defeat and walked back towards where the
laundry was, taking one last look at the picture that stood next to the
phone, wishing that there was some number with which to call her.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a small black book behind
the picture that someone had definitely left behind as he (or she) left
for school. She opened the book and read.
And read, and read, and read.
Minutes later, no one was there to hear the washing machine beep
again.
There were only a few surviving people left at Furinkan High
School. Hiroshi, Daisuke, Sayuri and Yuka rushed out to the field to help
their friends.
"Don't worry, Akane," Yuka said as she and Sayuri lifted Ranma to
his feet. "We'll take him to a doctor. You're too weak to carry him by
yourself."
Akane nodded her thanks. "I don't know how..."
"Don't worry. What are friends for?" Sayuri replied. She shifted
Ranma's weight on her shoulders. "Boy, is he heavy."
"Why don't you guys ask Hiroshi and Daisuke for help?" Akane asked,
looking around for them.
Yuka tossed her head in the direction of the boys. They were too
busy arguing as to who would get to carry Nabiki to the clinic.
"Sometimes, those two can be a pain."
"Boys will be boys, Yuka. Hey, there's Mousse!" Sayuri pointed to
somewhere in the trees. "Maybe he could help..."
There was a sudden movement in the bushes below the tree as Mousse
jumped to the ground. Out stepped Kodachi, who began molesting the semi-
blind martial artist.
"Then again, maybe not..."
Tom slid back his seat with a calculated slowness. He was in an
awful hurry, but every single move he should make was to instill, into
his opponent, an air of his complete control over the situation. It was
very important that he get the book back and as quickly as possible -
even through force. The last word echoed in his mind as he weighed his
next few words.
"Miss Mizuno, I really need to get that book back," he said slowly
but defiantly.
"Why?" she asked, her voice was more tired than angry. "Why do you
need it so badly?"
The weariness of her voice knocked him off-kilter for a while. He
expected a very hostile word war. "It... it's for a very important
scientific experiment. A scientific experiment that could save lives."
Thinking that she might not believe him, he tried another tactic.
"Besides, if it fell in the wrong hands, those theories could---"
"Destroy the world.... Yes, I do know that." Her gaze became much
more melancholy, a gaze that Tom found strangely familiar. "What if I'm
the protagonist who is trying valiantly to prevent this book from falling
into the wrong hands?" She sighed sadly. "You haven't told me why I
should trust you."
Tom's mind screamed bloody murder. He couldn't think of anything he
could use to counterattack, except maybe the truth. The whole truth - and
nothing but. Something itched at the back of his mind about something
that he should remember, but he tired to ignore it.
He took a deep breath and began. "I'm trying to search for an
alternate energy source to power the containment unit that is sealing the
evil ogre that attacked California a few months back. You do know about
that, do you?"
To his surprise, Ami did much more than nod her head. "Yes. The one
who feeds on men's desire, who could turn even the purest of hearts to
evil." She met his questioning gaze. "Don't think that I didn't know you,
Mr. Tom Swift, the teenage genius inventor from California, the son of
the founder of Swift Enterprises, a world-spanning corporation that
manufactures everything from nanomachines to gigantic TeV particle
accelerators?"
She went on. "You were one of the three famous scientists who
headed the Macross Consortium that was created to design the Sub-nucleic
Divergence Fusion reactor core which was the only means to generate the
incredible amount of energy needed to seal the evil oni into Dr.
Spengler's containment unit. History states that you managed to capture
it but in reality you did so just barely. Now, you're here to find a more
suitable energy source with which to power the containment unit based on
the energy source that the other monster was using: ki. Inner strength.
The ancient Taoist concept that is one of the fundamental forces in
nature, based on Kimiko Tendo's theories on Lucasian Kinetics."
"How do you know all this?" he asked, not quite beliving what she
said.
"I'm much more intelligent than you think I am," she replied.
"Well, if you seem to know me so well, why won't you trust me?" he
countered, triumphantly.
Ami remained silent, staring deep into her half-empty cup.
"What the... ARRGGHHH!!!"
Mousse yelled in fear as he found himself in Kodachi's arms. "Oh,
no... not again..."
"Oh, Mousse..." She giggled in that happy way she always did. She
nibbled his ear. "You kiss so well that I just had to come back for you.
HOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!" She pulled him closer.
"Hey!" Mousse weakly protested. "What about--- OH, NO! HELP! *ACK*
*MMPH*"
"Eww..." Yuka and Sayuri averted their eyes. "That's disgusting...
And in public, too..."
Hiroshi and Daisuke, on the other hand, promptly forgot all about
Nabiki as blood started to pour through their noses by the gallon.
Kuno would have said, "verily, I say, there is a time and a place
for everything and to do such now is a crime against all modesty." Good
thing he was still knocked out.
Akane shook her head and walked towards the two.
Mousse was beginning to feel faint when Kodachi finally let go. She
fixed her hair. "Although I should really feel guilty of my infidelities
to my Ranma-darling, I am entitled to... what can we say... entertain
myself once in a while. HOHOHOHOHO---" *wham*
She avoided a careless boulder toss. "If it is not Akane Tendo,"
she eyed Akne warily. "So you have come once again to interrupt my
lovemaking (understatement)." Twirling a ribbon, she went between Akane
and Mousse. "Don't tell me that you want my plaything for yourself, too?"
"It's none of your business," Akane felt weak, but she tired to
make her voice stronger. "I'm... I'm just here to help a friend." She
glared at her. "Let him go, or I'll... I'll..."
"ENOUGH TALK!" With a mighty hurl, Kodachi unleashed an insane
amount of gymnastics equipment on the hapless martial artist.
The panorama at the top of the hill took Rick's breath away. It was
an unhampered 360 degree view, with no obstacles for miles in any
direction. He could see the entire district around him, and, far away,
the glass and steel monoliths of central Tokyo, and even beyond that, the
Pacific Ocean. There was this lake at the foot of the hill, a circular
looking-glass, reflecting both sky and sun with its fluffy clouds on its
clear surface. Here the air was clean, the winds were cool. In the exact
center of Nerima, somewhere between the earth and the sky, within the
limits of the city of Tokyo, a small piece of nature lay intact, proud
and resilient, standing tall against the stunning backdrop of human
progress.
Rick filled his lungs with fresh air and gazed with envy at the
large mansion behind him. The Admiral had already gone inside, presumably
for that 'obligation' he was talking about. "Whoever owns this place sure
must be rich," he said. "I wonder what he does for a living..."
"Martial arts and real estate," the shinto priest replied. "Didn't
I tell you that?"
Rick groaned. "You haven't told me yet." The priest's quirk with
important details was getting just a bit annoying. "Real estate, huh?" he
thought aloud. "You're right. Land around here costs a fortune, as far as
I heard from the news articles, but a few decades ago they must have been
worth a dime a dozen acres. Must have made a killing when local land
values went up."
"Yes..." the shinto priest began. "Nearly fifty years ago, there
were only two houses here. Two families, in fact. They sort of co-owned
the area around the lake, since the land then was useless and there was
no need for legal boundaries and all that." The priest began to frown as
he tired to recall something. "There was some sort of scandal when the
construction boom set in, and as far as I can recall, things got a bit
messy."
"Let me guess..." Rick closed his eyes for a while. "One of them
managed to get all the land and became the developer of this exclusive
subdivision and the other vanished into obscurity. And that guy who won
now lives in this mansion."
"Yes... That's about right," the priest replied. "Although it
wasn't exactly that..."
"I thought so..." Rick lay back comfortably on the seat. "Still,"
he said, "I wonder why did the Admiral had to come here? As far as I
know, he grew up in New York and had absolutely no relation with the
people around here..."
The priest shrugged. "I've told you everything I know..."
"Are you sure?" Rick asked.
"That's funny... Didn't I tell you that?"
"I knew it..."
"DIE!!!"
Kodachi hurled an insane amount of gymnastics equipment in the air.
Akane ducked but, to her surprise, found out that the attack was directed
to a spot on the ground several yards away. An old pervert yelped as sets
of pommel horses grabbed him by the scruff of his gi.
"It seems that I shall have to delay hurting you, Akane Tendo,"
Kodachi said, jumping high into the air. "I have more important matters
to attend to. HOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!"
Akane bigsweated as Kodachi made a departure amidst a storm of
black rose petals. <Gosh, she's really sick,> she thought. She turned
around to see if Mousse was all right, then averted her gaze, remembering
what she had done that lunch. Kissing him (with tape, mind you) made his
situation with Shampoo a lot worse.
A gentle hand lay on her shoulder. "Don't worry..." Mousse said. He
gently lifted her to her feet. "Come on, Akane. We have to get Ranma to a
doctor."
Ukyo Kuonji walked the friendly mile.
Friendly, because everywhere people waved at her and smiled.
Although the people in Nerima did hate martial artists, Ukyo was a very
cute martial artist and everyone loved her because she was a good
okonomiyaki cook and a very nice person.
And there, too, was someone whom Ukyo knew loved her as well.
That thought filled her with hope. All was forgiven. She had wished
for a sign that everything would be fine and then that earthquake came
along. Suddenly, all her tears disappeared and replaced by a growing
smile across her face. There was still that chance that she could get him
back, that small chance that he loved her instead of Akane.
Then a startling thought came over her. Who was she actually
thinking about? She shoved that to the back of her mind. There were much
more important things to think about.
She turned around the corner, not noticing a certain bandanna-clad
martial artist turn into the street she had just left.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Yuka asked Akane as Mousse
splashed Ranma with water. "I mean, Mousse doesn't have anything against
you... But what if Shampoo comes along? There's no telling what she's
going to do."
"What do you mean, nothing against her?" Sayuri protested. "He's
kidnapped her, tried to turn her to a duck, almost blew her up with a
bomb..."
"Don't worry, I can take care of myself," Akane reassured her.
"Besides, I do have to make up for what happened..." she looked on the
ground, "you know..."
Hiroshi and Daisuke were hounding Mousse. "Man, you're one lucky
guy," Hiroshi said slapped his back. "To get a girl to do something like
that... And in public, too... Wow... You're one lucky guy..."
"Eh..." Daisuke scratched his head. "That's Kodachi we're talking
about, Hiroshi. You know, the *insane* Kodachi Kuno who has this weird
fetish for black roses and destructive chemicals and is very much related
to the Principal who would shave our heads bald for a chance to go to
Hawaii and to the Blue Thunder who..."
"You aren't making things easier for me, you know." Mousse sighed.
"Now I know why Ranma's afraid of her." He lifted Ranma-chan in his arms.
"Come on Akane, let's go..."
"I'll be okay... See you guys tomorrow," Akane reassured her
friends one last time and walked out of sight.
"HEY!!!" Hiroshi continued to yell. "Since you've got Kodachi
fawning over you, how about letting us date Shampoo? We'll treat her like
a sister! Yeah, that's right! Like a sister! Hey, Mousse!"
"Are you sure you want to date Shampoo?" Daisuke said. "I mean,
that's the girl who has this weird tribal law to follow, also has this
weird fetish for mind-altering and body-changing herbs and spices (now
that's a good line), changes into a cat, is very much related to the old
ghoul and, if genetics do play a major role, in a couple of centuries
she'll be looking like... well... you know..."
"DAISUKE! SHUT UP!"
Happosai struggled to creep slowly away from the battlefield
without arousing (not that way) any attention to himself. He desperately
needed an underwear break, and it didn't help that most of the survivors
of the battle were drained men (again, not that way).
He was about to make it to the safety of the trees when several
sets of gymnastics equipment bit him in the scruff of the gi. A certain
leotard-clad martial artist followed suit, whapping him several times
with a ribbon. She grabbed him and was stringing him up like a piece of
unwashed laundry. "I GOT YOU AT LAST, OLD LEECH! HOHOHOHOHOHO!!!"
Kodachi's battlecry echoed through the hills. "How should I kill
you?" she mused to herself. "Maybe I could beat you to a pulp with a
spiked club? Nah, a clich� attack... I could feed you to Mr. Turtle...
It'll give him indigestion (poor Mr. Turtle)... I could make you watch
Maison Melrose (the local adaptation of the gaijin original) until your
eyes pop out... Waste of good electricity." A sudden idea sparked in her
otherwise twisted mind. "No! Death is too kind a punishment for you! I'll
torture you inside the Kuno dungeons until you absolutely beg me to just
kill you! HOHOHOHOHOHO!"
"STOP!" Sailor Venus came out from the other side of the field.
"THAT MONSTER'S MINE!!!" She tried to pull him away from Kodachi's grasp.
"You don't have any idea what you're up against. Let me take care of
him."
"Au contraire," Kodachi replied, voice full of spite. "I am very
much aware of the apparent incompetence of the Sailor Senshi in dealing
with perverts. Don't think that I didn't watch the live telecasts from
California when Happosai was wreaking havoc on the West Coast. I, Kodachi
Kuno, the Black Rose of St. Hebereke High, the rising star of the Martial
Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics world, will be the one to deliver the righteous
punishment of heaven upon the scum of this planet! HOHOHOHOHOHO!!!" She
snapped into the rhythmic gymnastics fighting form. "Besides, aren't you
supposed to be on strike?"
"There's been a labor settlement with the government," Sailor Venus
deadpanned. "I'm going to be the one to kill him! I still have a score to
settle!"
The fighting escalated, then decayed into a no-finesse-martial-
artist-fight complete with the hair-pulling, the foot-stomping and the
nose-poking. Unknown to them, Happosai was beginning to glow. Strength
was returning to his weakened arms. "I'm being fought over by two
beautiful (hmm... leotard-clad and tight-fitting sailor suit... nice...)
women. It's such a wonderful life." He jumped up and down. "Sweeto!"
"Excuse me, just passing through..." Happosai said to the two
women, who promptly forgot all about fighting as a sudden coldness passed
through their chests. The old pervert was smiling as he clutched one bra
while Sailor Venus was as red as a tomato.
"Give that back!" Kodachi yelled as she threw a ball at Happy. It
missed him by a mile.
"Sorry... Nothing personal..." Happosai grinned hideously and
jumped off. As he made his getaway, he sang a happy tune. "It's a happy
day! It's a happy day! It's a happy--"
"HAPPO-FIFTY-YEN-SIATSU!"
"--day..." Happosai collapsed to the ground.
A battered-looking Miss Hinako stepped out of the bushes. Her
yellow dress was ripped and burnt in some places and she had cuts on her
face and on her arms. Worst of all, her hair was an ugly mess.
"Happosai," she said, glowing in righteous fury. "I'm not finished with
you, yet!" She seized him and began spanking his bottom. "You made me do
a very delinquent thing! You're going to pay!"
"Hinako-sensei," Kodachi said in a forced respectful voice (Miss
Hinako could beat her senseless since she was in a bad mood), "with all
due respect, that isn't gonna work, you idiot..." (See... Kodachi didn't
even laugh hysterically...)
"I think this calls for a little bit of cooperation," Sailor Venus
suggested, then under her breath, "even if you're an energy-draining
being spawned by a who-knows-what evil\dark
kingdom\planet\tree\whatever..."
"Can I say anything in my defense?" Happosai asked weakly.
"NO!!!"
"Okay..."
An unspoken message was understood by all three women. Women-kind.
That word had new meaning to them now, after this long and hard battle.
No longer can they be set aside by their petty differences or their own
personal vendettas. Today, this afternoon, the semi-insane martial
artist, the beautiful sailor senshi, and the energy-feeding "youma" would
shout in one firm voice...
"DIE, OLD MAN!!!"
Kodachi Kuno picked up the unwanted pervert. "I do this for the
sake of all that is good..." she said, dealing the attack-of-a-thousand-
clubs before she nuked him into the stratosphere.
"Bye-bye!" Happosai's strength returned as fresh upper-atmosphere
filled his lungs. "I wonder where I'm going off to?"
Miss Hinako and Sailor Venus exchanged looks, then concentrated.
"HAPPO-"
"VENUS-"
"You've gotta be kidding..." Kodachi said.
"NO-YEN-COIN-RETURN!!!"
"LOVE-ME-CHAIN!!!"
From the safety of the bridge, Captain Henry J. Gloval waited
anxiously for news of the Battle of the Neriman Bra (as it was
unofficially termed). All radio contact to within the Nerima district had
ceased when a large whirlwind appeared out of nowhere, just as the battle
was getting good. (And he thought that this was going to be one exciting
afternoon.)
"Captain..." Lisa Hayes called out from her post. "Satellite will
be in range in twenty seconds."
"Good... Patch it up on screen when you're ready..." Captain Gloval
admired the strength that Lisa was showing. A mid-air bra steal was an
experience few people get to overcome without expensive therapy. (That's
the reason why psychiatrists were making a killing back in California six
months after the infamous Happosai-and-the-evil-oni-from-OAV6 attack,
though it wasn't called as such.) "And make absolutely sure that its not
the 24-hr. Purple Dinosaur channel you're tuning in," the Captain added
hastefully.
The entire bridge whistled as they saw the large crater and the
other miscellaneous damage at the center of the Furinkan High school
field. There was no sign of an ongoing battle, and everyone was mildly
disappointed.
Captain Gloval looked over to the communications console. "Is there
any way to get the status of Alpha Squadron or the tank battalion?"
"No sir... The air's still heavily ionized by that plasma storm a
while ago, but ionization levels rapidly decreasing. Blackout will be
lifted in about a few minutes, sir."
He lit his pipe. "I wonder who won?"
"CAPTAIN!" Someone shouted as a brilliant flash of light filled the
screen. "LOOK!!!"
There appeared to be an object rapidly approaching the orbital
cameras. Happosai's ugly, horrible, screaming face grew exponentially
across the viewscreen before it showed static. The bridge was suddenly
quiet. All were in a state of shock.
Captain Gloval recovered quickly (all captains are required to do
such). "Lisa... Tell me what happened..."
"Sir..." she replied, "we've lost the satellite."
Then with a loud bump, she fainted.
Soun stretched and paced across the floor of the dojo, gazing over
the ruined garden. After his restful sleep, he was ready to start repairs
to the pond as soon as possible. "And where's Genma when you need him?"
he asked himself. Genma has not been seen at the dojo since that morning,
and Soun had a good feeling that he was hiding once again from hard work.
"Kasumi, have you seen Genma lately?" he asked, talking more to the
house than to Kasumi.
"No, father," she answered from somewhere. "Last time I saw him,
Mr. Saotome was at Auntie Nodoka's place."
"Oh, boy," Soun thought. "I know he's allergic to hard work, but I
never knew he would go this far..."
Kasumi called out again from somewhere else in the house. "Father,
I think we have visitors. Could you please open the door? I'm doing
something important that I can't leave just now."
Before Soun could do anything, Nodoka came to the patio with a very
tired and worn Genma-panda in tow. "I'm sorry, Soun, but Mr. Panda walked
right through. I didn't..." her eyes rested on the ruins of the pond.
"Oh, my, what happened here?"
"Ah... Long story..." Soun replied, who looked questioningly over
at Genma-panda, who took out a sign that said <don't ask...> The panda
plopped over to the TV and switched it on, scanning the channels
aimlessly.
Nodoka gazed over the ruined garden sadly. The ground was trampled
and the flowers pulled out, and there was this ugly brown gash that went
through the western wall, right through the koi pond, wrecking it
entirely, turned left just before the patio, and out through the northern
part of the fence, skirting the house by mere inches. "Kimiko really
loved this garden, you know..." she said, remembering the fond memories.
"Yes, I know," Soun replied. "Strange as it may seem, this does
happen pretty often around here, but I have never seen it get this
damaged before."
Nodoka nodded. "The last time it got this far was when you first
moved here. Remember, Soun? Somehow, Kimiko got the master to make you
and Genma work from sunrise to sunset, saying it was a martial artist's
duty to weed and to water the plants. And you so called real-men were
there, shying away from girl work, practically begging the master for
mercy. What did Genma call it again? The pose of the wild tiger, was it
not?"
Soun laughed, "yes. He actually made this story up about how a
mountain lion fell from a cliff and he..." Soun stopped as he saw the
panda glaring at him from inside the living room. "Yes, she did have this
way with people. I remember that you told me back in high school never to
get involved in one of Kimiko's schemes if I valued my life."
"And you got married to her..."
"Yes..." Soun sighed. He still missed her, especially this time of
the year. "It's a strange way how the world works, how fate is stranger
than fiction."
"That's fact, not fate."
"I was just testing if I've still got the talent."
Soun and Nodoka grew quiet for a while. "You were my wife's best
friend, Mrs. Saotome," he began. "You would know how Kimiko would act. I
made a promise to her that I would find the best husbands for my children
and that I---"
Nodoka knew where the conversation was headed. "You should listen
to your daughters much more often."
"Pardon?"
"You should know what your daughters want. Although you want the
best for them, sometimes, what you think would be the best may not
actually be the best. In that case, you should listen to what her heart
desires." She smiled, knowingly. "You of all people should know that.
After all, you are Kimiko's husband."
"Pardon?" Soun asked again. He had absolutely no idea about what
was going on.
Nodoka sighed, sadly. "You're hopeless. I wonder what Kimiko found
in you." And then she remembered the main reason she came to the Tendo
Dojo.
"There was this other thing I wanted to talk to you about..." she
began.
Akane and Mousse walked side by side on their way to Dr. Tofu's,
each trying to break the uncomfortable silence, each waiting for the
other to speak first. Only Ranma-chan was peacefully quiet. The entire
trip lasted in complete silence, save for the occasional "Look out for
that post!"-"What post?"-*wham* conversation coming from a semi-blind
duck carrying a deadweight on his shoulders.
"Dr. Tofu? Are you home?" Akane knocked on the door of the clinic
for the second time that day and, to her surprise, found her calls
unheeded once more. "That's funny... It's a bit too early for the clinic
to be closed..." She tested the door and found that it was open. "Come
on, Mousse. Let's go inside."
"Akane?" Mousse shifted Ranma-chan's weight on his shoulders. "Are
you sure that it would be all right? I mean, Dr. Tofu could be doing
something, and we might be---"
Dr. Tofu appeared quite suddenly in the doorway, causing both
Mousse and Akane to jump (Ranma-chan was still too unconscious to be
surprised - even if she did, she was still strapped to Mousse's back).
"Akane! Mousse!" he said gaily. "Please come on inside. Oh, Ranma's here,
too!"
Akane looked at the doctor's face. Not only did it still have the
dark circles under the eyes that she saw that morning, he looked a lot
worse that afternoon. "Dr. Tofu? Is anything wrong?" she asked, her voice
full of concern. "You look a little bit pale..."
Dr. Tofu's happy mood seemed to vanish for an instant. "There's..."
he began, then he shook his head. He put on a winning smile. "Oh, there's
nothing wrong. There's nothing wrong about me, you shouldn't worry about
it."
They went inside the clinic. Mousse carefully placed Ranma-chan on
his regular bed. He and Akane watched as Dr. Tofu examined the patient.
He was shaking his head and murmuring. Apprehension mounted as time
passed by. Akane found herself holding back a breath.
Finally, the good doctor stood up straight and declared, "I think
that there is absolutely nothing wrong with Ranma."
"Urk..."
Dr. Tofu continued with his diagnosis. "There's nothing seriously
wrong with Ranma, aside from exhaustion. Good rest will do wonders for -"
"But, Dr. Tofu," Akane said, "Ranma's been acting weird since this
morning. He's been inattentive, snappish at best, and got into several
fights today."
"Isn't that what he usually does?"
"But..."
Mousse took out a hot water kettle. "Maybe this would help." He
splashed Ranma-chan with the hot water. "I think that there would be
something wrong with him now..."
Dr. Tofu's eyes widened as he sensed Ranma's static battle aura
dissipate into thin air. "Oh no... This does look bad."
"What looks bad?" Akane was getting worried.
Dr. Tofu snapped a look at Akane. "I'm sorry, Akane, but I have to
get you guys out of the room for the moment." He shooed the two out of
the examination room and closed the door behind him.
"But, Dr. Tofu..." Akane bit back a word of protest. Her shoulders
slumped down and she sat down on the couch, trying to make herself looked
unconcerned about what was going on around her.
Mousse gazed at Akane for a little while, with a look of sadness
that his glasses helped to mask. He sat down quietly in the couch in
front of her, gazing thoughtfully outside the window.
The same uncomfortable silence settled upon them once more.
Mikado Sanzenin had a rather long, boring day (if you count being
run over by a sailor senshi, lots of angry women and a tank battalion
boring) and walked back home. Strolling along the tree-lined uphill
street that led to his house, he noticed a dark-green jeep in front of
his house. There were two people waiting inside, one of which was the
shinto priest from the other side of Nerima. He stepped up to them and
said, "I'm sorry, but I don't sign autographs after five. If you want,
come back early tomorrow morning, and I'll give my autograph to you
personally."
Rick and the priest grew larger-than-average bigsweats. "Eh... We
didn't come for your autograph," the priest said. Rick pulled the scruff
of the priest's garb and asked, "who's that guy?" a bit loudly.
"One of the local martial artists. Martial arts skating, to be
exact. Used to be undefeated, until a few months ago. Has a bit of a
large ego, as you can see."
"Then what are you doing here?" Mikado asked, a bit hurt.
"Didn't I tell you already?" the priest replied incredulously.
"Kids these days don't listen."
"Eh..." Rick poked the priest. "You haven't told him yet."
"You, too?" the priest looked at him in shock. "Fine..." He looked
at Mikado. "We came here to visit with your..."
It was then that the Admiral came out of the Sanzenin Mansion.
"Oh, hello there, son," he said.
"Why are you helping me, Mousse?" Akane broke the silence, asking
the question that had been bothering her for a while now. "Why, after
everything I had done - why help me? After all, I practically ruined your
life..."
"You didn't ruin my life, Akane," Mousse replied. "It's already
been ruined, for a long time now. All you've done is made me painfully
aware of that." He sighed sadly. "All my life, I've loved Shampoo, always
cared for her. But she never loved me back."
"But, Mousse, you can't say that," Akane said desperately, as if
she were fighting her own fight. "There are people I know who are too
afraid of love that they refuse to show it, under any conditions. Please,
you can't give up on her now when you know that she's a little bit
jealous of you?"
Mousse shook his head. "I don't want to believe anymore. It will
only just make me stay on an obviously hopeless cause. Akane," he said,
taking a sad meaningful look at her, "I've been thinking about this for
years now, about giving up, and finding my fortune elsewhere. But only a
smile from her and I would feel happy again and berate myself for ever
having thought of those thoughts." He turned his head away. "But it would
only hurt much more if I stay..." He made a forced laugh, but his voice
was near the breaking point. "It's just what - what's his name again? -
Hiroshi said. Someday, she's going to look like the old ghoul, so I
better get out a long time before then."
"Please, stop..." Akane whispered, her voice near tears as well.
"Why are you stopping me, Akane?" Mousse's voice was suddenly
angry. He began pacing around in half-controlled fury. "I seem to recall
that this morning you wanted me to give up on her. That you asked me what
was it that I found in her? And now, you want me to hang on to an
impossible dream. And get hurt, time and time again? Why? Do you take an
insane pleasure in seeing me in pain?"
"THAT'S BECAUSE I---" Akane stopped, her voice came out a little
bit louder than she expected. And without her rage, her voice broke down.
Tears began to fall in quiet drops down her cheeks. "That's because I...
I sometimes treat Ranma the same way..."
She realized the full truth of her words after she had said it. She
buried her face in her hands sobbing quietly.
Mousse's anger died down quickly, and he regretted having said such
harsh words. He sat down beside her, not knowing how to comfort her. He
settled to patting her back. But there was still one question he had to
ask. "Tell me, Akane," he said. "And tell me the whole truth." He paused,
trying to see the right way to phrase his next words. "Tell me. Do you
really love Ranma?"
"I don't know," she sobbed. "I just don't know... Love hurts too
much... It hurts too much... I can't... I just can't... I know I owe him
that... But what if he doesn't care... What if he really is doing all of
this for his stupid pride..."
"That's enough, Akane..." Mousse said, tenderly. "You don't have to
talk anymore..." Akane turned her head toward him and he gazed into her
tear-filled eyes. Slowly, he put his arm around her, comforting her.
Akane cried the last of her tears on his shoulder. "Thank you..." she
said quietly.
Dr. Tofu's little windchime twinkled in the warm afternoon breeze.
With a loud bang, the inner examination room slammed open. Akane
and Mousse jumped apart, but the damage had already been done.
"RANMA!" Akane yelled, but he was already out the door. "Oh no..."
Ami remained silent, staring deep into her very self.
Everywhere, the crowds grew silent in anticipation, but she did not
notice this. There were only the questions echoing in her mind. Why
didn't she trust him? Why did she run away? Why was she afraid?
Uncomfortable questions she did not want to face.
"Tell me," Tom asked. "Why did you leave all of a sudden back there
at the library? Why did you think I was the bad guy here?"
The ice crinkled in her cup. Something had to be said. Could she
tell the truth?
"I... I d-don't know. I j-just don't know why," she stammered out.
To her surprise, he smiled and replied. "Was it because I acted in
a manner totally unlike what you thought I was?"
Despite herself, Ami found herself smiling. For once, he hit it
right on the mark. "Maybe it was like that."
Unfortunately, he kept on talking. "I'm sorry to disappoint you,
but the movie they made of the whole thing was a total distortion of the
whole incident. I'm not as attractive as the author was. But I'm still
going to give you that autograph you've wanted from me from the start."
If Ami were a little bit more like some other girl we know so well,
she would have punted him into the stratosphere. But she was a nice
person and a Sailor Senshi, so she just frowned at Tom's last statement.
Tom's face was serious for a while, then he began laughing. "What's
so funny?" Ami asked, feeling miffed about the whole thing.
Between guffaws, he replied, "Your face... *haha*... I'll never
forget a... *haha*... face like that. You looked like you wanted to punt
me into the stratosphere... *haha*" He sobered down. "Seriously, I know
that I acted like a complete madman back there. I act that way when I get
excited. I must have scared the heck out of you."
Ami's disposition grew lighter with his candor. She smiled. "You
seemed possessed by the evil oni itself."
"How could I be possessed?" he replied. "I don't have horns on my
head."
She countered, giggling. "But you could have them on the soles of
your feet."
"Aha," he pointed a finger at her. "But how would I walk then?"
They both laughed for a few moments and Ami felt like all was okay
with the world - like she was not a Sailor Senshi, and he was not the
genius inventor whom she knew was going to save the world again - like
they were just normal teenagers, killing time and enjoying each other's
company - and that they had the time, all the time in the world, to be
friends again, to catch up, to heal old wounds, and perhaps... She took a
deep breath. Maybe she should tell him. Tell him the truth. The whole
truth. And nothing but.
She wasn't going to be afraid anymore. She... they've both suffered
for far too long. She thought that she had lost him forever. She was
going to make this second chance work.
She gazed into his face, like all the times before but he did not
notice, like all the times she had tried, but failed because she was
afraid, and said the words that she had wanted to say ever since she saw
him walk across the library hallway.
"I... I want to tell you... I... I'm really---"
She was interrupted by a brilliant flash of red and orange that
filled the entire observation deck.
The sun was setting.
The setting sun spread its last ruddy rays across this little
corner of Japan, filling everything with a soft orange glow. The
afternoon breezes blew the pink, fluffy clouds across the horizon, and
all of nature joined in the last sigh, thinking over the hours that had
past, and the events that had happened today, all the laughter and pain,
all the hopes and dreams, and sanctified it to the departing orb of the
sun.
It was at this street-corner where it all began, said they. The
small street corner with the no-left-turn sign. It was here where they
first came, the two who had blessed this little corner of Japan with a
little bit of excitement, albeit a little property damage, but
nevertheless a lot of happy memories.
Closing time, they said. Time to go back to the places that they
will be from.
"RANMA!!!" Akane's running footsteps echoed quietly upon the
deserted side-street. "Please wait! I can explain!"
"I said, don't talk to me!" he yelled back. But his pace was
getting slower as his condition caught up to him. He stopped for awhile,
leaning against the old sign, the same sign which his father bonked him
with, the same sign that was the first article ruined in Nerima. "Can't
even run away..." he gasped.
"Ranma," Akane stopped at some distance behind him. "Why are you
acting like this? You could get hurt!"
"Why do you care?" Ranma angrily replied, with much spite in his
voice. "I don't need your pity! I don't need you! I don't need anyone!"
He began to walk away. "Leave me alone..."
But he couldn't walk away. Someone held him back. Someone held his
hand back. He turned around and gazed into Akane's tear-soaked face. She
had been crying - and those tears were for him. "I'm not leaving you, you
idiot!" she yelled. "I'm really worried about you, and I don't want you
dying out on me on some street-corner and have his rotten carcass eaten
by sewer rats, even if you do deserve it!"
Ranma was about to answer back but she talked first, and there was this
gentleness in her voice that he couldn't help but listen to. "Please,
Ranma. Don't do this. You were always there when I needed you, even if
you said that it's all for your stupid pride." She squeezed his hand.
"Let me be here for you, at least for this one time."
And from the bottom of his heart, Ranma said, "thank you... Thank
you, Akane..."
And their eyes met. And there was only them and the rest of the
universe. For a short moment in time, just as the sun was setting, they
looked into each other's eyes and found themselves, both afraid of love,
both having lost so much. Just the touch of each other's hand and all
their fears and inhibitions were gone, just as they had gazed at each
other, just as they had done that morning in the bathroom, after they had
admitted to each other, yet stubborn enough not to care, pretended like
they never heard. And maybe, just maybe he could take her into his arms,
or she could reach out and touch his face, like all the other times that
they were either half-insane or found themselves victims of Nerima's
weird gravity, and perhaps not let go of this moment, just as the sun was
setting, and all the world sighed this general sigh of weariness and
tiredness and loneliness. But, soon, the sunset will be gone - and it
would be getting dark soon, and perhaps people would be watching, and
they would get married too soon, before they'd had a chance to fall all
the way, before they'd had a chance to love - and that moment was
postponed like all the other moments in the past.
"Come on," she said. "Let's go home..."
"I'm getting hungry..." he replied.
With a small step, they walked off. There was only the wish that
the sunset could last a little bit longer, or the wind blow a little bit
softer, or a thousand and one other factors, but the moment was lost
forever.
But it wasn't a complete loss. They never let go, this time.
"SON?!?" Rick shouted in his mind.
The Admiral stood before Mikado, who was taller than him by more
than a head. "My, you're a fine boy. Ever think of joining the military,
eh?"
"Who are you?" Mikado asked, looking down on the Admiral. "I
haven't seen you before."
"I'm an acquaintance of your grandfather," the Admiral answered
Mikado's question. "I have a message for him from your father."
"Oh..." Rick breathed a sigh of relief.
"My father?" Mikado asked. He placed his right fist on top of his
left palm with an audible *ponk*. "So he is on that ship..." he
concluded.
"Oh, no... not really. He's on... shore leave, as far as I can
recall." The Admiral's forehead began to knot a bit as he stepped into
the jeep. "You know, you don't look like your father."
"How should I know?" Mikado countered. "I haven't seen him since I
was a little boy."
"Actually, you must look a lot like your mother," the Admiral said,
starting the engine. "Your father doesn't have blue eyes." The Admiral
seemed lost in memory for an instant but he shook it off. "You better go
inside, your grandfather is waiting for you." He took one last long look
at Mikado, then an even longer one at the beautiful blue lake that lay at
the foot of the hill where the house was. Then with a loud roar, he sent
the jeep rolling downhill, straight into the sunset.
"WAIT!" Mikado raised his hand to make them stop, but they were
already gone. "You haven't told me about my father..." he said, gazing as
the jeep turned around the corner. "Who was that?" he asked to no one in
particular.
What is the sound of a heart breaking?
It is the sound of someone else falling in love.
That sound echoed across that small street corner with the no left
turn sign.
Ukyo stared at Ryoga, who stared back from the opposite side of the
street.
"I'm leaving, Ryoga. Don't you dare follow me," Ukyo said. She
walked quickly away, trying not to let her tears show.
"But, Ukyo..." Ryoga followed.
In the wrong direction.
"We're here..." he said, wishing it were a few hours more.
"We're here..." she echoed, staring into the wood of the Dojo gate.
Reluctantly, they let go of each other's hands. They knew it had to
be done. Only this wish that it could happen again, that there was more
time, and that their meddling parents---
*splash*
"What did you do that for, pop!" a drenched Ranma-chan yelled back.
<Trying to save your life, Ranko!> Genma-panda signed just as
Nodoka and Soun went up to the gate. "Oh, hello, Ranko," Mrs. Saotome
said. "I borrowed Mr. Panda here for a day. Just came to return him." She
slapped Mr. Panda's rump. "He's a very bad panda, drenching people like
that." To Genma-panda, she added, "well, what are you going to say, Mr.
Panda?" the katana flashed wickedly in the air.
<Arr... I'm so---so handsome that even men find me sexually
attractive?>
While the Saotome couple was bickering, a weird change came over
Ranma-chan. "Oh no," she said. "I left him behind... I've got to go back
to school." She tried to leave, but someone held her back, someone held
her arm back.
"What do you mean you've got to go back to school?" Akane asked.
"We just got back here, you know."
"Don't stand in my way, Akane," Ranma angrily replied, jerking
Akane's hand off her arm. "I've got to go back for Kuno. He was hurt
pretty badly. I need to be with him."
"But..." Akane began to remember the letter she had read that
noontime. Could it be that it was true? "Ran--ko," she said, trying to
control her anger, "don't go back. You need to take some rest after what-
--"
Ranma was screaming. "Why the heck are you holding me back, Akane?
Do you want him for yourself? Well, you can't stop me. I love him and you
won't be able to do anything about that!"
Ranma's last statement echoed through the minds of those who knew.
"Love KUNO?!?!" Akane screamed in burning fury. That's who Ranma's in
love with? That's the person she was so jealous of all afternoon? "What
the heck is wrong with you, Ran-ko?!?" she resisted the urge to call her
Ranma at the time. "Do you actually want me to believe that you're in
love with him?!?"
"Yes..." Ranma-chan said, a little bit dreamily. "I know that I
used to hate him, but know I realize that all he ever did was care for
me. He never hit me or get angry at me, like you always do (when I'm a
girl, that is). And I hate myself for always being mean to him." She
declared, "it's time that people started caring about the people who love
them the most!"
"You better let her go, Akane..." Nodoka said, smiling at Ranma-
chan. "She really loves him. You won't be able to stop her anyway..." She
went up to Ranma-chan and hugged her gently. "Someone has captured your
wild heart, Ranko," she said. "Whoever he is, he must be a real man, one
lucky man..."
"Thank you, Auntie Saotome..." Ranma-chan replied. She bid her
goodbyes and made preparations to leave.
"But..." Akane protested. Then realizing that there was nothing she
could do, she looked at her feet, unable to keep her head up.
"And, Akane?" Ranma-chan said as she departed, with much venom in
her voice. "I know what you're thinking..." she whispered to Akane who
couldn't meet anyone's eyes. "I want to tell you that I never loved you.
Not one bit..."
There was this brilliant flash of light that blinded everyone and
after it was gone, Ranma-chan had an angry red welt on her face. Akane's
battle aura was burning, burning with all the righteous fury of a scorned
lover. And her eyes were full of tears, tears that would fall soon, tears
shed because of Ranma-chan.
"Go to hell, Ranma," she said quietly and quickly as she turned her
back on all of them and disappeared into the house.
"Aha," Tom pointed a finger at her. "But how would I walk then?"
They laughed for a few moments and for a strange reason, he felt at
ease with this person who sat in front of her - like they had met
somewhere before - like she was an old friend whom he wanted so bad to
see again. That was the actual reason he had traveled across the seas,
his hidden agenda, that perhaps on that small chance that he could find
her, and tell her what he really felt: to find a friend, to heal old
wounds, and perhaps...
"I..." she stammered out, staring at him with those familiar eyes.
"I want to tell you... I... I'm really---"
She never got to finish. With a weary sigh, the sun set into the
Tokyo skyline, a dazzling ball of yellow and orange and red disappearing
into the steel-grey towers of Tokyo, ending the day which, for many, was
a very long and tiring day, full of tears and heartaches. The last rays
of the sun filled the sky with the brilliance of color, a glorious
goodbye to this side of the world. Elsewhere, the sun was rising, a new
day on other shores, where the multitudes were rising up to meet the
newborn sun. But not here. Here, the sun was dying, giving way to the
quiet serenity of the waxing gibbous moon, nearly full, which was rising
in the east. The time of the sun was over. It was now time for the moon,
the time for the stars, the time for night, a time for rest, a time for
dreams.
Ami didn't have to say anything. For a brief moment of time, he
realized. His tongue got caught in his throat as he saw the sad, sad way
she looked at him, her eyes glistening like gems on hidden tears, and the
way that the last ruddy rays of the sunset shone upon her face caressing
tender cheeks that seemed as white and as fragile as porcelain, and upon
the blue-green turned red hair that made him think that he was no longer
staring at the sun setting into the steel greys of Tokyo but high up on a
old familiar grassy green hill (that he knew so well) gazing into the
vast blue ocean where the redness of the sunset made it seem like it was
made of fire and water and grass and trees and sky and sun at the same
time - and the half-empty, half-full cup of iced tea that he knew was at
the right concentration and the right temperature, the same conditions
only one other person in the world knew; and suddenly he was in another
place and in another time, seeing another face (that was one and the same
but he wasn't sure) that floated above the face of the blue-green-haired-
girl-pretending-to-be-Ami-Mizuno-pretending-to-be-Sailor-Mercury girl
that gazed at him with the same sad eyes and staring into the same sunset
but not at that old familiar other place but across the table in the
chair in front of him and sipping that cup of ice tea that was not hers
but hers (another her, but they were one and the same but he was not
sure) - and he thought for one brief moment that it was her, the one he
had searched for all this time.
He jumped up. "You!" he almost yelled, as if begging her to stay
and not to leave him a second time. But Ami felt the same dread and fear
that had welled up in her back then. She ran into the open elevator,
leaving the book behind. Tom could not do anything, just he could not
stop the sun from setting, and let her leave. The doors slid shut behind
her, and it was like a door shutting out the light that shone briefly
into his heart.
The sun had set. And the realization from his mind disappeared, and
it all just seemed like a dream, and that he had scared her away again,
just as he had done to her (another her, but they were one and the same,
but he had given up on that). Slowly, carefully, he picked up the book
she had left, the same book he had come for from across the seas, the
*only* reason he came here. He made up his mind. There was nothing else
here. Nothing else, not even time.
Soon, he left, too, leaving nothing behind, save a half-emptied cup
of iced tea, two pulled-back chairs, and a half-fulfilled wish. But soon,
the tea will find itself in the trash, the chairs will be fixed, and the
wish will have been forgotten.
And only the night remained, the cold and the dark emptiness of a
lonely universe.
To be continued...
Well, after a long period of time, Mayhem is back on-line and ready
to strike chaos into the FFML. It's been a long time, and I've been
pretty busy lately, combined with the fact that I've watched the 10th and
11th volume of Evangelion and I'm mightily depressed. Anyway, I managed
to get my senses back on-line.
It's been eleven months since I started Memories and I still hope
that there are readers still waiting for this next installment. If you
are, you would be happy to know that the next chapter will be the last
chapter of the First day of the Memories saga (it's actually called a
saga now...). Although the entire Memories story is far from finished,
the 12th chapter (i hope) will give you guys a sense of closure. You
deserve it, after all, it's been a long, long day.
And if you've all been good readers, answer the next question and
get the 15000 Zennies prize. And the bonus question is... Who was the
skating boy and the blue-haired girl who can cook in the prologue? There
have been plenty of hints scattered throughout the day, so if you've paid
real good attention, you can answer this. C&C's needed pretty badly
though, so even if you couldn't answer, please tell me what you thought
of the chapter.
Watch out for the dramatic conclusion of the first day of the
Memories saga: Chapter 12, You're Light Years Away, coming before the end
of the month of August, the anniversary of my first year as a fanfic
writer.
Thanks to all who helped
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Nikholas F. Toledo Zu @ WWW: The Entertainment Capital of UP Village
Vector, Switch, Yebah, Rain Man, goo, Pervert, Scruples, Hollie, NomaD,
Blitz, Gee, Datzo, Jewel, elf, Radler, Pinball, Mayhem, Chaos, Father,
Attar and Llewe @ http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/3145/mezza9.html
Fanfiction Page @ http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/3145/fanfics.html
Perv's SI Archive @ http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/3145/insert.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------