[FFML] Quantum Destinies 23

[DB Sommer]

On 3/18/2012 1
** Earth 0.000, 0.000

“BWEE!”

After his headlong rush into the street, the small black piglet froze in 
terror. His death swiftly approached, its image filling his vision from 
the brilliant headlights of an oncoming car. In the depths of his mind, 
he paused to wonder if this was to be his final fate, to die like the 
lowly animal he now was, crushed beneath the wheels of a common 
automobile. Tears of rage welled up in his eyes, that he would never 
have another chance to prove his love to his goddess, the innocent and 
demure Kodachi Kuno, never to take her into his arms and make her his own.

% Interesting 'last thought'


With the glow of a streetlight illuminating her from behind, the sight 
of Kodachi Kuno approaching and kneeling down next to him greeted 
Mikado’s wondering gaze.

% Nice variation on the Akane Ryouga dynamic, I see coming

Quantum Destinies


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



By that time, the water had begun to steam heavily from the teakettle. 
He removed it from the fire and poured himself some tea, setting it on 
the concrete and letting it cool a bit before he used it on the cat 
seated near him. He turned his gaze from her as a naked Ryoko seemed to 
balloon

% I can imagine which part of her is 'balloon'ing.


“Worse?” Ryoko shook Cherry until his teeth rattled. “I turn into a damn 
housecat when I get wet, Cherry! How can this get any worse?”

% Now she's done it.

  “It is Fate,” Cherry said, a bit piously.


% That was his tag line, wasn't it?



“Oh, Mistress,” said the servant girl. “What an adorable little piggy.” 
She came over to P-chan and quite gracefully reached down and began 
gently scratching his head as she cooed at him, hitting a spot between 
his ears that caused in him a reflexive quiver of rapture.

“I think he likes you, Konatsu-chan,” said Kodachi,

% Oops. Miki would not be happy if he knew he was looking that way at a guy


“Of course, Kuno-dono,” Konatsu replied. She bowed deeply at the waist. 
“With your leave, I will see to it immediately.”

% Oh. In this reality he is really a she? Okay


Kodachi nodded, now dressed in a kimono of purple silk, finely-stitched 
Konatsu smiled at the small piglet and began to undress, slipping off 
first her obi and then her kimono. As she did so, P-chan seemed to watch 
her with interest. Eventually getting down to her Western-style 
underwear, she reached behind herself and unsnapped the brassiere, 
pulling it away to reveal a more masculine chest, the brassiere filled 
with padding. When the panties were removed, Konatsu was clearly not a 
female.

% Gotcha



Being bathed by a beautiful naked girl was one thing, but being bathed 
by a naked young man was something else entirely.

% It means you're a homphobe. :)


Konatsu wasn’t sure what trickery Mikado had used to transform himself 
into an animal, but his first duty was to protect Kodachi from the other 
boy’s treachery. But first he had to subdue Mikado, which was not 
proving to be easy. The other boy was quite a skilled fighter. Even so, 
he finally managed to get an arm around Mikado’s neck and began applying 
pressure, hoping to end this without bloodshed.

% But where would the fun be in that?




“Then I think we have a bargain in the making,” said Mikado,

% Konatsu: I can slide this knife into your ribs and you cannot stop me. 
What is this 'bargaining' concept you think you can engage in?

Konatsu absently regretted that he wasn’t truly a girl. If he was 
female, he would have been able to give up his name and marry into the 
Kuonji, ending his family’s past dishonor at the hands of the brutish 
Hibikis. Genji Kuonji, Ukyo’s grandfather, had given a scroll to 
Konatsu’s mother after the destruction of their teahouse promising this. 
But Ukyo was a boy, so his only hope now was to continue to work loyally 
for Kodachi and save his money.

% Ukyou really needed to be more feminine



“Kuonji-san?” Ranma-chan sat up in bed, her injuries from the fights she 
had been in seemed to be gone, but she still felt a bit unsteady. She 
set her feet on the floor and was about to stand when the door suddenly 
opened. A young man emerged, perhaps only a year or two older than 
Ranma-chan herself was, dressed in exactly the same outfit that Yumi had 
been wearing, toweling at his hair.

% Ah, playing that the waters reatard aging, eh? At least in cursed form

  “What’s this?” Ranma-chan opened the small box. A cake of some waxy 
substance fell out into her hand. “Soap?”

% Hmm. Waterproof soap?



  “Can’t do what?” Ukyo asked, looking at the other girl. She then 
noticed the young man, and she frowned suspiciously. “Who are you? 
Where’s Aunt Yumi?”

Yumi-kun blanched briefly, surprised at letting himself get so involved 
with talking to Ranma-chan that he had utterly failed to notice Ukyo’s 
approach. He quickly recovered and grinned. “Uh, hi there, I’m Yu.” He 
then quickly added, “I’m Yumi’s son.”

% I'd wager she had that story in place in case Ukyou ever did see her 
like this



For a moment, he considered the choices he had made. There were few 
regrets he had in life, but one of those was his decision to leave the 
place he had found for himself in Nerima many years ago, even as bad as 
it had seemed at the time. It was partly why he had come back after so 
long a time away, out of nostalgia. When he had chosen to continue on in 
service to the Mobius Institute instead of staying, at his request they 
had kindly erased the memories of those few who had come to know both 
Yumi and ‘Yu’ Kuonji in the interim. At the time, it had seemed to be 
the only real choice available to him. Now, he was uncertain.

% Hmm. Too public with the identity?


The real party began in Japan. His old boss, Cherry, wanting to give him 
a long R&R, had arranged for him to stay with the family of a friend of 
his, the Himuras. Because of a miscommunication before his arrival, and 
an untimely run-in with some rain, he had to remain in male form almost 
constantly to stay there. It ended up with the father continually trying 
to put him together with his rather ‘high-spirited’ daughter, Nodoka. 
But that wasn’t really the end of it. Far from it.

% Ah, so that was the old flame Nodoka didn't remember



Nodoka had been in danger of dying from internal injuries, and Kenseiko 
was in roughly similar shape. After getting them both to the hospital, 
he decided to leave. Despite all the arguments, despite all the times 
she hit him for saying something unintentionally stupid that offended 
her, he just couldn’t bear to see Nodoka hurt like that again, not over 
him. He had contacted Cherry, and it was taken care of before the dawn. 
None of them would ever remember either Yu or Yumi Kuonji anymore.

% Nice backstory



Sakura looked around, grateful to finally get into a warmer place after 
enduring cold, wet gusts outside, and she quickly met with Yumi-kun’s 
startled gaze. She slid her dripping umbrella into the stand near the 
door and slipped off her overcoat to hang it up. Underneath it, instead 
of her usual shrine priestess garb, she wore a trendy, short-skirted 
cotton dress in white with a matching, wide, loose leather belt resting 
down low on her hips, the outfit showing off her feminine charms quite 
well. The skirt barely came down to mid-thigh, exposing a generous view 
of her long, shapely legs. Light tan hose, a small black leather 
pocketbook and ankle-high black leather boots with modest heels 
completed the ensemble.

% Someone dressed to impress


Ukyo studied the strange woman as she sat down at the table her cousin 
was seated at, surprised to see him involved with someone several years 
older. But it confirmed her suspicions that he had a date. No woman 
would wear something like that to meet someone who was just a friend. 
She wondered idly if Ranma would like seeing her in such an outfit.

Yumi-kun realized belatedly that his mouth had been hanging open and he 
hastily shut it. He looked at her in puzzlement.

“Uh, Sakura,” he said eventually. “That’s quite an outfit.”

“I was out on a date,” she said simply. “But it wasn’t going well. I’m 
actually a bit glad you called.”

% I see



Sakura lifted her gaze to meet his. “I just want us to try again, 
Kuonji-kun. All I’m asking for is another chance for us to be a couple 
again.”

% More conflict, I see





Cherry pulled his pipe from his lips again. “Would you care to talk 
about it? It appears we both have some free time.”

“Damn, but you’re a strange one, Cherry,” Nabiki chuckled, looking at 
him. “What makes you think I’d want to talk about what’s going on in my 
life with a total stranger?”

“I’m a priest. Helping people is part of what I do.” He gave her a 
smile, a truly ugly sight.

% Even though this is the first time Nabby has thought it, you went over 
his hideous smile with Yu. It's redundant to the reader and I'd skip it

  “After listening to the words of the kami in the winds, the water and 
the subtle movements of the trees, listening to people becomes far 
easier.” He studied her. “I sense great anger in you tonight.”

% Better than a disturbance in the Force


“It was just a setback today,” she grumbled, not quite answering him. 
“The fight’s not over yet.” She curled her hand into a fist. “Next time, 
I’ll win,” she swore. While she had dropped a few fights to Ranma, the 
losses had not been important. She had won the match that mattered 
though, and now she was the best. And she would beat that little redhead 
to a pulp when she saw her again. “I don’t lose.”

% Chiuauas never feel they lose either, but they always do. There's a 
difference between determination and delusion.


Cherry grinned. “So certain of that are you?” He looked away from her 
and into the fire. “Well, perhaps he’ll surprise you. It is the way of a 
martial artist to strive for victory over rivals.”

% Master Lee said the opposite, and that it is victory over oneself that 
is the true goal.



Perfume gazed solemnly at her mother. “<When my opportunity arrives, I 
will show everyone in the village Shan Pu’s weakness, that she has been 
corrupted and is no longer a true Joketsuzoku. I will show them all that 
she is not the one who is destined to lead us.>”

% Can't do that from China, though. Gonna have to go to Japan at some point



Asuka did not move closer, only watched with a certain fascination as 
her master’s face bulged out slightly on one side, a vein in his temple 
throbbing. Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. What was wrong with him?

“Nanashi-sensei?” she asked, when the worst of it seemed to have passed.

Nanashi stood. “It is nothing,” he grunted, feeling the swelling of his 
face receding, the sound of blood that had thundered in his ears fading 
back to nothing. “A reminder of something I must take care of someday.”

% Yet another plot point for later



Colt nodded. “I’ll be in touch.” With a powerful flex of her leg 
muscles, she leaped up to land on the roof. She turned around and 
grinned down at him. “So long, my son.”

“Goodbye,” he said softly. “Mother.” They exchanged a rather intimate 
look and then she vanished off into the night.

% Heh. Bet others didn't see that coming

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



Hinako smiled. “It’s my job to learn such things, but it’s my pleasure 
to do so when it involves a personal interest in a subject.”

“A personal interest?” Nodoka studied Hinako.

% Hinako doesn't know if Momma doesn't like you, you have a mark against 
you.




He'd even gotten himself a job and was working really hard at it. When 
he got his first paycheck, he'd brought it home and given it all to Mom 
like any other salaryman would for his family. Somehow, his father had 
become someone else overnight, someone more like other boys had for 
fathers, but it was someone he had trouble even recognizing as Genma 
Saotome. These were all good changes, but it also felt weird, like it 
was a pleasant dream he knew he was going to have to wake up from at any 
moment.

% Yeah, pretty much.



zombie in the morning if he didn't get any sleep, and he had a major 
math test to contend with. However, as he lay there, he began hearing 
distant sounds coming from somewhere else in the house, like someone was 
in pain or something. It was a woman's voice, and it took him a few 
moments of listening to the rising and falling cries to realize it was 
his mother. He lay there feeling confused, wondering what was going on 
and then he heard his father's name being called out by her, followed by 
more of those strange sounds.


% Oops. Someone is about to get traumatized.