At 01:52 PM 10/6/98 -0400, you wrote:
| Hah! More free time. Yay! Part C now, then the revisions of all
| three parts
| of chapter 2 before I post chapter 3 A, later in the week.
You know, I think you've managed to get most of the FFML hanging on the next
chapter. Though probably HoI and the now-written end of IMBS were more
awaited...
Gad, where are these new people coming from that are so good? "Quantum
Destinies"... and this.
I don't know about Thesken-san, but I've been lurking for umm, 3 years now.
| A Plea: So far in this story, I have attemepted to stay within shouting
| distance
| of canon, except where I haven't. In this chapter I advance a
| theory that will
| probably strike many people as Extremely Borderline. I happen to
| think that it
| is, in fact, in the same Not-Quite-Canonable area as speculation about
| where the
| Tendo's money comes from, but thats Just Me.
Mr. Tendo works for the same company that Mr. Moroboshi and Yotsuya work
for. At least in theory.
| Nonetheless, I would truly hate to rouse Tybalt-dono's wrath by
| contributing
| to a flame-fest, or character debate. Therefor, I'm not going to.
| Explanations
| of my thoughts on this subject, and it should leap out at you
| when you come
| to it,
| by private e-mail only.
Okay, I'll be watching.
| So it would make me happy if Oyukasama would, for the purposes of this
| fic, assume
| that Ranma knows what he's talking about, and not post arguments
| where the
| FFML
| as a whole has to trip over them. Yes? Thank ya, thankya very much.
|
| [Ladies and Gentlemen, the Author has Left the building.]
Cue the rush of maddeningly squealing groupies to the nearest exits.
Don't we wish.
Oh, _don't_ we?
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Disclaimer: The playground is by Rumiko Takahashi, I'm only swinging on
| the monkey bars. Remember to leave the grounds cleaner than you found
| them and please don't feed the Troll.
By the way, has he said anything to you about this particular story? I'd be
interested to hear what he has to say, especially considering that this
breaks the mold for alternate universe fan-fiction...
So far the Troll has been silent. Thereby confirming my belief that the best
way to deal with the critters is to starve them of reponse, and watch them
wither. :>
| *Summer Lightning* and *After All* are copyright by Garnet
| Rogers, I'm only
| mangling them; if you haven't encountered him before go out and
| buy his CDs,
| So he'll put out a new album already.
Hmm. If he sings this well, I'll have to head... I wonder if amazon.com
carries his works?
Don't know, but:
http://www2.cddb.com/xm/search?q=Garnet+Rogers&f=artist&x=25&y=10
Seems to have them all.
Summer Lightning is from *Summer Lightning*, After All is from *Speaking
Softly in the Dark*.
Stan's stuff can be found at:
http://www2.cddb.com/xm/search?q=Stan+Rogers&f=artist&x=26&y=14
Lock keeper and Nancy are both on *From Fresh Water*.
Three Fishers is on *For the Family*.
| *This is a sound.*
| 'This is a thought.'
| _This is emphasis._
| {This is a sign.}
| <This is Chinese.>
"What do you make of it, Holmes?"
"It appears to be a rudimentary series of ideographs which serve as a
decoding key of some sort. Whether there is some greater conspiracy to be
found behind it has yet to be determined. Come, Watson! The game is afoot!"
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Ranma & Akane: A Love Story.
| Chapter 2 :The Second Day
| Part C: Crumbling Stone, Duets for Wind and Flame.
|
| I was riding west, through Ontake Mountains.
| The hills were heavy with new-fallen snow,
| And the sun-bright hills were dappled like a pony,
| I was riding hard, I had miles to go.
Waiwai! You've chosen a theme song already!
| And a magpie flew, 'cross the mountain highway,
| It flashed and tumbled, through the golden trees,
| And I thought of you, and my heart was lifted,
| And floated with that magpie, on the morning breeze.
|
| Predictably, Akane had made the best match to Ranma's voice.
Huh wha?
| Which
| is not to say that the other members of class 2-F hadn't tried.
Oh. It's not a theme song. Poo.
Actually it is the theme song. But this isn't an anime episode, so it
takes a little more work to slide it in.
| Sayuri
| and her friend Yuka has put up a brave struggle, and, of course, all
| the boys in 2-F had desperately attempted to hold enough of a baritone
| to match Ranma's contralto. But, in the end, Akane's clear soprano had
| been the only one with enough endurance, or range.
Coincidence or metaphor/foreshadowing? You make the call!
<Smirk> <points at title> <'.'><-(Innocently whistling smiley.)
| It was the sensei of music's private despair that neither girl was
| at all interested in representing Furinkan on the Musical Performance
| team.
Hmm. Given the Neriman taint to just about everything (there's probably
Martial Arts Window Washing out there somewhere) I can't blame them.
| He had even attempted to lure Ranma with reports of "Musical
| Martial Arts"
See? What'd I tell you?
| only to run headlong into a will of tempered granite.
|
| "I have spent too much of my life, and far too much pain, on my Art
| to betray it now", Ranma had said, firmly, "it is as perfect as I can
| make it and I will not abandon it simply so some-one trained in another,
| lesser, style can have a 'fair fight'. If some-one wishes to challenge
| me to Aikido, or Ninjutsu, or Martial Arts Croquet or Kung-Fu Break-
| Dancing
Actually, I believe that's what Eddy Gordo practices. I know it's CALLED
capoeira or some such, but it looks like Kung-Fu Breakdancing.
That's a good description of capoeira, actually.
| or any other such silliness they may do so. And they may use
| their Art, and I will use mine, and we will see whose is superior."
Woohoo! This one's got a brain in her head!
She still can't turn down a challenge, mind you. But she will interpret it
on _her_ terms.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
Sanzenin Mikado clutched his stomache, and attempted to straighten up.
"As you will it", he wheezed, "I challenge you to a Martial Arts Skating
Match,
in one week, at Kholkoz Highschool."
Ranma looked him up and down, coldly, and rapped him once, sharply,
driving him
into the ice of the rink so that his arms were trapped and only his chest
and head portruded. "No.", she said calmly, "If you want to challenge me to
a martial
art, we meet here, now, free style. Or you can just go away, whichever."
Mikado looked up into chill, blue eyes, and decided that his quest to kiss
all the pretty girls he could didn't have to be pursued, at this time.
Maybe later.
Maybe not.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------
| Her
| grin as she delivered this pronouncement had been truly alarming, and
| the matter had been dropped.
Like a load of hot coals on an iron skillet.
Non sequiturs make me eat lampshades.
| This had led to Ranma and Akane practicing duets on the same song
| that Ranma had began with yesterday.
|
| We are brief Summer lightning,
| We are swift as swallows' flight.
| We are sparks that spiral upwards,
| In the darkness of the night.
| We are frost upon the window,
| We won't pass this way again,
| In the end only love remains.
|
| It seemed that they should cooperate on the chorus, which led,
| inevitably, to the question of how to divide up the verses. So Ranma
| had taken the first set alone.
|
| Tonight the Harvest Moon hangs over the valley,
| I see the hills shine, in its' silvery light.
| It's the same old Moon, that shines down upon me,
| And'll light my way, till I'm by your side.
|
| For where I go, You go with me,
| Though the miles keep us apart.
| Your kisses on my lips, and your arms around me,
| And your gentle hands, always on my heart.
|
| Akane's soprano had rung out both more softly and more sweetly than
| Ranma on the second set, leading to the harmonies of their combined
| voices and Ranma's guitar on the second chorus.
You know, this makes me wish I had the soundtrack. Know if the music's been
converted into MIDI form yet? I'm getting sort of an amalgam of Christian
rock and mild country in my head and I'm not sure if it's right, wrong,
indifferent...
Garnet describes it as "Loud Folk", if that's any help.
| We are brief Summer lightning,
| We are swift as swallows' flight.
| We are sparks that spiral upwards,
| In the darkness of the night.
| We are frost upon the window,
| We won't pass this way again,
| In the end only love remains.
|
| And then it was time for the final verses and the problem of how to
| apportion them was solved, mutually, by alternating lines, first the
| contralto, smoke and ozone on the autumn wind and the presence -far off
| and brooding- of the storm; then the soprano, crackling now with driving
| energy, bright and pure, (yet, somehow, not at all sterile) filled with
| the changeable changelessness of a bonfire's roar.
You know, I REALLY want to hear this song. You write it and what I IMAGINE
sends chills down my spine...
But I CAN'T FIND THE THING ONLINE! Grr...
See above.
| Well who scattered these diamonds, through the vault of Heaven?
|
| The wind questioned, and the flame responded.
|
| Who drew the curve of the magpie's wing?
|
| The bonfire summoned, and the breeze answered.
|
| Who shaped your face, and what made you love me?
|
| The rising wind commanded, and the snapping flame obeyed.
|
| Where is the heart of every living thing?
|
| The blaze flamed higher, and the wind grew with it, and fed it, and
| drove it on before.
|
| Well, I guess I don't know, and I don't care either.
|
| Wind roused flame to life ...
|
| I know you love me, how could it not be?
|
| Flame drew wind's reply ...
|
| And I am your's, now and forever,
|
| Feeding now from each other's power, one to the other, changing and
| exchanging the lead, to join again in harmony at the last ...
|
| 'Till my lips fall silent, and my eyes can't see.
|
| And the wind whipped the blaze into a wildfire...
|
| We are brief Summer lightning,
| We are swift as swallows' flight.
| We are sparks that spiral upwards,
| In the darkness of the night.
|
| And the fire blew the wind into a storm.
|
| We are frost upon the window,
| We won't pass this way again,
| In the end Dear, only love remains.
|
| And in the silence that filled the classroom when the song had fin-
| ished,
Oh yeah. You can either greet that with total awed silence or a standing O.
And somehow the latter doesn't seem appropriate.
Nope. Excess emotion draws silence, excess energy draws applause.
| Ranma's slightly husky voice broke the stillness gently, like a
| sudden breeze breaks the hush of dawn, "By the way Akane, shouldn't you
| have been playing your instrument too?"
Ladies and gentlemen, the nominee for Most Abrupt Return to Reality...
Heh.
| "Um, well ...", Akane shook herself and replied, "No. You see I play
| the saxophone, and if I play I can't sing ...."
To say nothing of the fact that sax and folk (if the RA sample I heard is
any indication) don't exactly go well together.
No. Not at all.
| "You play _sax_??" Ranma blink-blinked, then mumbled, "Jazz. Now
| where am I gonna get sheet music for Jazz. Mmm, maybe I could ....
| Well, that's nice, but it does leave us with one problem."
|
| "Er, what's that, Ranma?", Akane asked warily.
|
| "Where in hell are we going to find a drummer?"
Wrong Thing to Say to a group of teenage fanboys.
| The bell took the opportunity to ring at that point, ending the
| class. And also cutting off at least three boys' attempts to volunteer
| for the offered position (not that any of them could actually _play_
| the drums, but that wasn't the point), which was, probably, extremely
| fortunate for all involved.
Yeah. Jazz drumming takes a definite measure of skill, and the band will
fall if the drummer fails, no matter how good the players are.
Heh. Now I wonder who it is that's going to end up a natural...
<'.'>
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Nabiki had excused herself for an unspecified appointment. Sayuri
| and Yuka had departed, giggling, to prepare the former for a date she
| had contrived with "this dreamy guy" from class 3-C.
Gasp! Boys are actually interested in someone besides Akane! Will wonders
never cease?
Well, _now_. Now that Akane chasing has been declared Officially Uncool,
anyway.
| Various other
| people had departed to their various ways. Ranma and Akane were, tech-
| nically speaking, not _alone_, just _by themselves_.
*piku* The difference being... that the former is intentional and the latter
coincidental, hmm?
The former indicates no one is around. The latter, that no one is around
_who is interested in R&A_. Subtle difference.
| They had therefore,
| by mutual, unspoken, consent, departed from the straight path towards
| Akane's home and were, instead, strolling idly through one of Nerima's
| parks, enjoying the warmth of the day and the freshness of the spring
| breeze. This being one of the Accepted Canonical Locations for Serious
| Discussions, one of the aforesaid Serious Discussions was underway.
Hmm. I somehow doubt this is the big, momentous revelation you thought would
spark debate up one side and down the other.
Nope.
| "Akane-san", Ranma gritted, "I _said_ that you should ..."
|
| "I did consider my decision, Ranma-chan", Akane replied calmly. "I
| decided that I wanted to go ahead."
|
| "_Damn it, girl_", Ranma roared, "you've got _no_ idea what you're
| getting into!"
In this day and age, when, according to your own thoughts in the prologue,
you can "defeat people without killing them", her idea not matching your
idea of what she's getting into is nothing to get ticked off at.
Becoming a warrior, in Ranma's estimation, means turning yourself into a
living killing machine. That Ranma herself doesn't enjoy killing, and
want's to avoid it as much as possible is irrelevant to her emotions on this
subject.
| "Ranma-chan", Akane reached out and put a gentle hand on the faint
| scar that traced the side of Ranma's face, next to her mouth, "when you
| took the blow that dealt that scar, did it hurt? Did it hurt
| afterwards?"
"What does it mattah? Is in de past!"
Bonus otaku points for identifying the mandrill with the Jamaican accent.
| "_OF COURSE IT BLOODY HURT!!!_"
Gah. Someone has a few unresolved issues.
Well, I mean, yeah. But it was a stupid question, no?
| "And, the others?", Akane's voice was gentle, "Did they hurt, too?"
|
| "What the hell kind of question is that?! Of _course_ they did!"
|
| "And after you healed, did they stop hurting?"
|
| "What are you ... _No!_ They never stop hurting, not completely! I
| _ache_ in the winter, sometimes!"
|
| "And you said that your honor didn't allow you to let your friend
| suffer likewise unless she _had_ to?"
|
| "_THAT'S WHY I'M TRYING TO TALK YOU OUT OF IT IN THE FIRST PLACE,
| YOU, YOU ... BAKA!!!_"
Hmm. Is this part of the test or is this part of Ranma's honest reactions?
Honest. Background coming up, I promise. But not until 3C, maybe in a week.
| Akane stepped forward to stand just in front of Ranma, face-to-face
| and looking closely into her cerulean eyes. "So what makes you think
| that _my_ honor will allow me to let _my_ friend suffer all that pain
| ... alone?"
This is one of those moments that you yell "BAM!" at the screen. I've done
it with TIL, HoI, Aikan Muyo, Waters Under Earth, The Shadow Chronicles...
yep, you're up there. It's when all over sudden, someone says something or
thinks something and reality just comes crashing down. You can hear the
paradigm shifting, generally for the better.
For lack of a more controlled response, I just yell "BAM!" at the screen.
My intention here, yes.
| And Bushiko Ranma, whose name had once been otherwise, looked into
| the great, dark, eyes of her opponent in this contest of wills, of her
| would-be student, of her friend; and found there no challenge, but also
| no surrender. And martialed a hundred arguments, and prepared a thous-
| and objections, and called to mind every precept of logic she had ever
| heard.
This is Ranma's brain preparing to go "BAM!"
Yep.
| And saw, in the theater of memory, -treacherous memory, that
| shows what it will, and not what _you_ will- another face. And the
| expression in the eyes before her mirrored once, long before, in a
| mirror. And bowed her head to another's honor, and bent her neck to
| another's necessity; and buried her face in another's shoulder, and
| felt another's arms embrace her; and did not cry, nor did she weep, so
| great was her control, whatever she might wish. Only, instead, she
| spoke, very low and muffled in another's breast, "Alright. Alright,
| I'll teach you. I'll teach you all I can."
This is Ranma after reality has shifted gears.
Yep.
| And Tendo Akane also did not cry, nor weep, for the moment was, for
| her, too great for tears. She only said "And I promise to learn, all
| that I can. And never to regret what you may teach, whatever it may
| cost me."
|
| And they stood like that for a time, which may have been long or
| short, and then released each other's embrace. And walked onward, more
| quickly now, to the hall that one called home.
Gah. That was good. That was poetically emotional in a way only Palmer-san
comes to mind as exuding.
<blinkblink> <smallvoice>As good as Palmer-dono?</smallvoice><faints>
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| On the mat Ranma bowed to the Dojo's spirit and then turned to face
| Akane and crossed her arms. "Okay. We now face the First Problem of
| teaching you how to lead a life dedicated to the fine art of slaughter.
| Briefly, the problem is one of attitude. A warrior simply has a diff-
| erent basic attitude to a person who has only trained, and the necessary
| attitude is one you don't possess."
"Thank you and goodnight."
<RimShot>
| Akane assumed an attitude of respectful attention.
|
| "And the number of ways I know of to induce the necessary attitude
| reduce to three", said Ranma, beginning to pace back and forth. "First,
| we could send you to a remote temple for 2 or 3 decades so you could
| run up and down snowy mountains, and drink bark tea, and meditate on
| your navel. _But_, we can probably say that this approach will take a
| _trifle_ more time than we actually have." Ranma reached the end of her
| pacing arc, and raised one finger in the air as she turned around.
Ah, good. We're back to smugly and understatedly humorous. I can deal.
Heh.
| Akane turned her head to face her, still attentive.
|
| "Second, we could send you off to somewhere where life is cheap,
| gunpowder is in the air, and death lurks behind every corner, in the
| hope that, if you survived, you would pick something up by osmosis.
| _But_, that approach is probably a little too, umm ... _uncertain_."
No. Ya think?
Hmm. And if she's saying "second", shouldn't she have two fingers in the
air? Unless she, like all mathematicians, starts her count at zero?
Next sentence, yes?
| Ranma reached the other end of her arc and held up a second finger.
| Akane made a face, and nodded vigorously.
|
| "So what we are left with is choice three", Ranma said with an evil
| grin. "This is the approach where I beat the living snot out of you on
| a regular basis until you learn something."
Gah. I'm having Ill Met By Starlight flashbacks.
Yeah. IMBS was a inspiration, early on. THough ALS is an IMBS antithesis
as much as anything.
| Akane observed the grin, and gulped.
So is Akane.
Heh.
| "And the first part of that process", Ranma said, turning to face
| Akane, and crossing her arms again, "is to see precisely what you are
| capable of _now_. _Assume_."
Maybe you have Ranma's voice going from conversational to drill sergeant for
that last word. Maybe you should put in words to that effect. But that was
just me.
Nah. Not Drill Sergeant. Just added some snap to it, that's all.
| Akane brushed away a sudden bead of sweat, and assumed the Tendo
| Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu Crane In Waiting stance.
Bushiko...
Akane...
Round 1...
FIGHT!
<DingDing>
| Ranma looked her up and down for about 3 seconds
Minor Grammar Nit: Numbers which can be... er... enumerated in less than
three words should be spelled out.
Noted.
| while she waited
| uneasily, and then she moved. It seemed, to Akane, like being in the
| center of a tornado. Great winds buffeted her from all sides, and a
| hail of punishing blows descended from every angle that she didn't
| block.
And what about the angles she did block? I don't know if you want that
effect, but it sounds confusing...
"A hail of punishing blows descended from every angle. Blocks proved
futile."
Or something to that effect.
The angles she was blocking got left alone. Will amplify.
| A slide kick sent her sprawling to the ground,
SLIDE kick? You're the fight scene guy and I'm just an otaku, but I have no
idea what a slide kick is.
Attacker side-steps defender's position, slides sideways, hits defender in
ankle, leg or hip. It's a takedown move, as I understand it.
| followed by three
| fast and bruising punches to the small of her back, but she fought
| grimly upright and cleared some space with a sweeping hip kick that
| only cost her two snap-kicks to the knee and a crane strike to the
| thigh. Setting her back against the Dojo's outside wall, and reminding
| herself not to move on that leg, she waited as steadily as she could
| for Ranma's next attack.
|
| It came within seconds, a v-step across Akane's range that turned
| into a feint to her upper right guard. A 'feint' that succeeded in
| bashing her out of position for another series of feints, each con-
| tacting her defenses, each bruising her arms or legs, each moving her
| farther and farther off center, until her defense was completely down.
| In the extremity of her extension, when she could respond to no more
| threats, she watched, with despair, a rising power kick that she knew
| she could never stop. Awaiting the end, she noted, as if from her
| peripheral vision, a slight movement _behind_ her, and then the world
| went black.
But other than those two tiny nits...
Wow. Nice fight scene.
<DingDing>
| She awakened upside down against a wall.
I don't know... maybe segregating the various sensations off with periods or
ellipses will help, maybe it won't. First you come awake, then you realize
"Hey, I'm upside-down.", then you realize you're leaning against something.
If Akane's as groggy as you make her out to be, this'll probably be more
accurate.
I'll look at it.
| Only moments could have
| passed, but from the condition of her abused muscles it might have been
| hours.
Gah. This sounds so awkward it's not funny. Perhaps something like "The
stiffness of her muscles told her hours had passed, but she knew it could as
easily have been moments."
But that's just me.
"She knew that ..."
| She was gently turned over and set upright, squatting against
| the wall, to discover Ranma kneeling in front of her, wiping her face
| clean of sweat and blood with a handkerchief.
Hmm. I don't know. Perhaps she could feel herself being turned over and set
upright against the wall, and then opened her eyes to see Ranma kneeling and
so on and so forth. Her eyes have to pop open at some point here, and I
think you missed that.
Will look at.
| And grinning merrily, as
| though she had just been told the best joke in all the world.
Gah! IMBS flashback times two!
Heh.
| Akane frowned weakly, "I know I'm not in your class, Ranma-sensei,
| but I ..."
|
| Ranma's grin transmuted into a gentle smile and she shook her head.
| "Not in my class? Heh. Not in my class. *snrk*. Akane-chan", she asked,
| more gently yet, "do you know why you're lying here on the ground,
| feeling run over?"
"It had something to do with frogs and a man named Arthur Philip Dent..."
<RimShot>
| "Well I missed that last power kick ...", Akane responded uncert-
| ainly.
|
| "The power kick was a feint, Akane-chan", Ranma returned to her grin,
| "the real attack was the thrust-kick from behind.
>From behind. How do you get behind a wall?
She got lured into turning sideways in the last feint sequence. Will amplify.
| The thrust-kick that
| would have stopped before it actually hit you, like the death-blow I
| did to Kuno-san. The thrust-kick that you couldn't even have _seen_,
| much less blocked. That thrust-kick."
"Oh, THAT. I thought it was a fly."
<RimShot>
| "Oh", Akane said weakly, "So, what happened?"
|
| "You blocked it, of course", Ranma's grin was even larger now.
Hmm. So Ranma, pulling her punches, connects THROUGH the block and, by
overkill, Akane gets K.O.'ed.
Yep. Exactly.
| "I thought you said I _couldn't_ have blocked it", Akane complained.
Complained? Perhaps she's puzzled, but confusion and complaining don't work
well together.
She can't figure it out, and is complaining about it. I complain when I'm
confused all the time. <shrug>
| "You couldn't have", Ranma replied cheerfully, "But you did, anyway.
| And there's only one way that could have happened."
|
| Akane shook her head, as if to dislodge whatever particle of inspir-
| ation was hiding in it that was keeping the conversation from making
| sense.
Unfortunately, she only managed to prevent the insertion of a vision of
unicorns and rainbows, which, all things considered, was not entirely a bad
thing.
<RimShot>
| "Wh .. What's that Ranma-sensei?", she quavered.
|
| Ranma's grin seemed to split her face, "You must have gone zanshin,
| Akane-chan. It's the only way you could even have come close. With
| all your defenses down. Completely overextended. And without even
| _meaning_ to."
Zanshin... Zanshin... god, I love the Internet...
Essentially, it means "full-body awareness", developing a kind of sixth
sense about the surroundings of the body so that you feel rather than
process incoming attacks.
It's also one of the Mystical Ultimate Techniques. Mushashi gets very emphatic
about the element of Void in *Five Rings*. Involves "Mind-no-mind", fighting
without polluting the Art with the Will and "Becoming Your Enemies Defeat."
Or words to those effects. A practioner, in the stories, is the next thing
to invincible.
| "Z .. Zanshin, Ranma-sensei? You mean like, like Mushashi-sama?
| The _Book of Five Rings_?"
Hmm. Is this the big deal you were talking about? I dunno. Fighting against
an onrushing horde of hormone-crazed teenagers, where one successfully
landed blow means entrapment in a relationship, for a full year except
Sundays and holidays... I'd have to say that'd probably be a rather
effective training technique for developing that encompassing sense of body,
environment, and the relationship between the two.
Plus which, it ought not to be possible without lots of meditation and
Mystic Prunes
and stuff. Took Ranma 3 years, on and off.
| "Exactly! And, of course, you know what _that_ means?"
|
| "N-no, I mean, I don't ... what?", Akane shook her head frantically,
| desperate to find something that made sense. Zanshin? Her?
And of course, Zanshin is normally attained through much more esoteric
means, seeing as how the masters of old didn't have members of the House of
Kuno making proclamations about their future marraige plans and inciting
provinces to pitched battles on a daily basis.
Yup.
| "It means you made me completely waste all that angst I went through,
| that's what. You're as surely marked with the Murderer's sign as am I."
| Ranma traced a circle on her forehead with a gentle hand. "It means
| you will probably end up being better than _me_.
Is THIS the big deal you were talking about? Akane kicked Ranma's sorry
martial artist butt when she was wearing the battle dougi. Which, if you'll
recall, does nothing more than raise a person to their highest fighting
potential.
Yup. I know. But some people think that _even so_ she's still not the martial
artist Ranma is. And I'm saying here that, potentially, at least, she's
actually
_better_. Which is the sort of thing that has been known to cause Character
Debate
Flamewars. Which I don't want. Or, I could just be being too sensitive.<shrug>
| It means that I've
| found my Perfect Student, the one I can learn from as much as I teach.
And this can't be applied to canon at any rate, since the teacher is as much
influenced by his studies as his own potential.
| And what, what, _what_ in the name of all that is holy is a nice girl
| like you doing in a condition like that?"
|
| Akane's battered mind seized on the only thing she recognized in all
| that barrage of words, and came up with the only appropriate response,
| smiling weakly, "Umm, Just lucky, I guess?"
Ladies and gentlemen, Akane has been overwhelmed with praise.
Customer:"What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?"
Bargirl:"Just lucky, I guess."
Laugh Track.
| Ranma's silver laughter filled the empty hall. And then she abandoned
| any attempt to urge Akane to rise, and cradled her in her arms, rising
| smoothly to her feet as Akane feebly waved her hands in protest.
|
| "And now we'll get you in the furo. You need to soak."
|
| "But, but, that is, I don't, you shouldn't ..."
|
| "Hush, Akane. The Sensei Is Always Right."
|
| "But you, I, it's not ..."
|
| "Hush, Akane-chan."
|
| "Don't need, why, can walk, ..."
|
| "_Hush!_"
|
| "Er, umm, that is... Yes, Ranma-chan", meekly.
|
| "And then I'll give you a massage, to keep you from being too stiff
| tomorrow."
|
| "Erkk...", very meekly indeed.
|
| "And after that we'll get Kasumi-san to make you a _big_ meal, so
| you can keep your strength up."
|
| "Oh, no", a very, very small voice.
|
| "And after _that_, we can do some _real_ training!"
|
| "Help", almost inaudible, in fact. Not that it helped.
|
| And Ranma's cheerful laughter blew them into the furo. And then they
| did exactly what Ranma had said they would.
Were Ranma a guy, he would have successfully swept Akane off her feet. As it
is... well, same words, less romance. Gad. If she EVER finds out Ranma's a
guy, she's going to take all this to one of two extremes. Let's hope it's
the one that doesn't end in homicidal mania.
Points at Title again.
Mind you, Much Angst must intervene first.
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| And much later, long after dark, as Ranma wound her way alone to her
| rented flat, and Akane slept the sleep of the Just -or, anyway, the
| Sleep of the Very, Very Tired-,
Heh. Been there. Done that. Nice touch.
<AOL>
| Ranma looked up into the light-glare
| that blotted out the stars above Tokyo, and snorted.
|
| "'Keep your head down, and hope you find a friend', I said.
Aheh. Fourth Law of Thermodynamics: The perversity of the universe tends
toward maximum.
Finagle's law, yes.
| Hah!
| Oh, well I can't complain about the quality of her art at least. Even
| if it is bloody inconvenient!
That you have to stop your own training to train someone else? Heck, I get
my best studying done by tutoring.
Nah. Remember, she's only got about 6 months before she has to go face Genma,
and no gaurantee she'll ever make it back.
Here Ranma, here's your perfect student, you only get 6 months, HAND.
| And it's loads better than that last
| school. Food fights, bleah. Oh, yes, it could _definitely_ be worse."
Hmm. Where IS Ryoga in all of this?
Wandering angstfully. Where he usually is. I've got that scene plotted, oh
yes.
Chapter 10ish, or thereabouts.
| And then she began, without raising her voice, to sing. And continued
| singing all the way down the road.
|
| The brooding ghosts of this dark night
| Are gone from wood and Town.
| My spirit revives in the morning breeze,
| Though it died when Sun went down.
| The river is wide, the stream is strong,
| And the grass is green and tall.
| And I feign would think that this world of ours,
| Is a good world, after all.
|
| The light of passion in dreamy eyes,
| The page of truth well read,
| The glorious thrill in a heart grown cold,
| And a spirit once thought dead.
| The song that goes to a comrade's heart,
| The tear of pride let fall,
| My heart grows brave, and the world, to me,
| Is a good world, after all.
|
| Let our enemies go by their own dull paths,
| Let theirs be doubt and shame.
| The man who's bitter against the world
| Has only himself to blame.
| Let the darkest side of the past stay dark,
| And only good recall,
| For I must believe that the world, to me,
| Is a good world, after all.
|
| It may be that I saw to plain,
| It may be I was blind,
| But I'll keep my face to the morning light,
| Though the Devil stand behind.
| Though the Devil may stand behind my back
| Shall I see his shadow fall?
| And I'll read, in the light of the Morning Star
| Of a good world, after all.
|
| And then, very softly:
|
| Rest, for your arms are weary, Love,
| You drove the worst away.
| And the ghost of the one that I might have been
| Is gone from my heart today.
| We'll live our life for the good it brings,
| 'Till our twilight shadows fall.
| Oh, my heart grows brave, and the world, to me,
| Is a good world, after all.
You have to be kidding me. Did you write this entire story around the songs?
Because they fit SO DANGED WELL! If you want, I could probably give you a
nice songfic out of "Summer Lightning" when this whole story winds to a
close.
Although, to be honest, the song and her previous musings are rather at odds
with each other.
Neither do her emotions, really.
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Next: More silliness. Ranma tells a story. Foreshadowings are
| foreshadowed. And ghosts begin to walk.
|
| Ranma and Akane: A Love Story
| Chapter 3: The Third Day
| Part A: Point of Contact: The Hunter and the Bear.
|
| Coming soon, to a FFML near you.
Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait.
| --
| "Rabbi, I have lost Faith."
| "And how did this happen?"
| "I studied Logic, and found you can prove anything if you're
| clever enough."
| "Indeed? Can you prove you have no nose?"
| "Certainly. To begin with---" <POW!>
| "Then, my friend, what hurts?" -- Old Yiddish Parable
| -Eric Hallstrom, the Tired.
| Eric Hallstrom hallcon@mindspring.com
You also find the best .sig files in the world.
--G. Falconar
I've a 65.7K .sig file, and I add to it all the time.
--
I don't speak for Oracle. I can't - I don't understand the language.
-Simon Cozens, Oracle Temp.
-Eric Hallstrom
Eric Hallstrom hallcon@mindspring.com