Ranma 1/2 is the property and invention of Rumiko Takahashi. The following story is not produced for any monetary or personal gain. Its sole purpose is to entertain using the characters and plots developed by Takahashi. ALL rights reserved
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Shadows of the Land
Volume II : Family Ties
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Chapter 5: Connections
Kasumi Tendo blinked letting her eyes focus. The light was blurry. That was all she saw hazy light, then the images came back to her. Vague images at first, then they cleared somewhat. They were not totally clear, she could only see a certain things from them, but they were clear enough for her to remember what she had seen. Kasumi pulled herself off the floor, straightened her dress and happily continued mixing the cookie batter that she had been dallying with before while humming a dainty tune.
***********
Cologne was the first of the Amazons to wake up from their impromptu nap. She could feel the lines of energy in the air but before she could trace them, they were already fading into the past. She carried over three thousand years of Amazon knowledge with her though.
She checked on her great granddaughter and on Mousse. They were also beginning to rise. Luckily they had just been preparing for the dinner crowd and had closed the Nekohanten to prepare. No one had seen their fainting. Charging the young Amazons to complete the tasks at hand, Cologne retreated to her room and sitting in a lotus position on her stick, she began to meditate. She infused her ki into her meditation and a very bright aura surrounded her and suffused her body. Gently she began to probe her mind for the memories that were vaguely imprinted. She knew that something else had caused this mass occurrence and others besides the Amazons had been involved. The other lines headed out to the Tendo's and to other various places.
She rebuilt those old memories and she felt the surge of power as it made contact with her body. The memory itself could have struck her unconscious if not for the fact that she had protected herself by raising her ki fields. It was a tremendous surge of power but it was not of ki though, it was of chi. Something very powerful had manipulated the earth's energy signatures to form those lines.
The other memories were returning now. Her memories of what had happened in her mind while she had been incapacitated. Memories that could be compared to the fleeting images of dreams as they passed from one plane of existence to the next. They were not very clear. In fact, they were very vague. The outer edges of the pictures roaming through her mind were blurred beyond recognition but Cologne focused her concentration and with that focus the blurring at the centre of the visions began to dissipate. Cologne saw now what it had been. Something had either occurred or a premonition had been given. Who had given them this vision though? Cologne broke her focus and hopped to her immense collection of copies of ancient scrolls she had brought from her hut in the village.
She had no fear of Shampoo or Mousse entering the room. To do so would be to entice death and thing that were worse than death. Some of the scrolls contained information that was far more dangerous than any of the techniques she had taught Ranma or Shampoo for that matter.
To read the scrolls you had to raise protective barriers against the wards and protective measures surrounding the books. Ranma might have been able to do it now after her tutoring but she doubted no one else could. Happosai had come for the scrolls when he was younger and the results were evident. When he was very young, he had never been the man he was now, but contact with one scroll had been enough to ingrain into his psyche the ward of female necessity. He needed women, his honour was such that he had never taken a woman and thus he had moulded the spell into what it did to him now. He had found a way to control it by using the underwear of women but keep it away from his too long and the spell would take over.
Cologne did not reach for the scroll. No. No one could touch such a thing imbibed with magic. She reached out with her ki and summoned the scroll forth from its position. It came to her and unravelled itself before her.
The ancient ones had kept many records. Cologne was now the keeper of those said records. She was looking for something to do with the energy signatures. Something that would tie today's event with those over a thousand years ago. The scrolls were saturated with information but Cologne only needed to know one thing. She formulated a question in her mind and sent it out to the awaiting scroll. Her little burst of ki disappeared into the paper, and magically writing began to appear. Writing that was scrawled in the hand of the person who created the scrolls.
Cologne translated as the words were written one after the other and disappeared just as quickly, leaving only five words on the scroll at one time.
Ammatricari
Demons of the Nagasari
Powerful beings coming from the second reality. Most sent back by the Indus gurus of that era.
Cearini
Channellers from the third reality. Visited the first for short spurts. Require chi for gateways.
Chanirtaruo
Infrequently born natural channelers of chi.
Notitos
Unknown. Rare.
Satiricius
Great Demons can take any form. Cannot leave second reality without host
Saintinicia
White ghosts appear extremely rarely. Said to be messengers of the Old One. Otherwise unknown.
Cologne paled at the list. Then she released the breath she had been holding. It was not a demon. If it had been, more serious things would have occurred and the effect would have been staggering. No, it had to be something else. She did not know which though. The times were indeed becoming more interesting.
***************
"Boy! Get up!" shouted the old man into his grandson's ears. He didn't think a little knock on the head should knock his son out like that.
"Gah...!!!" shouted the boy as he came back to reality. "Who are you?" he asked the old man who instantly began to cry fountains of tears.
"Oh what have I done for my only grandson to forget his grandfather!" wailed the old man.
"Oh yeah, I didn't remember that," replied the boy as he scratched the top of his head.
A yawn from the other side of the room startled him. It was not the strong yawn of a man but the melodious one of a young woman. He turned an indeed he saw a beautiful young woman lying on the bed which was his, wasn't it? Who was she? What was her name? Was she related to him? Could she be his sister? Wife?
Hs eyes fell to the scribbles on the various items strewn around the room. Ak-something he could make out. The other two syllables had been scratched away. What was her name? He did not want to feel stupid going up to a girl he met already and asking her name. He met her already and he should know her name. He remembered she had come here to his house for a reason but he could not remember what or why? Ahh...this was so confusing!
He would have had more time to think if he had not hit a shelf with his hand causing the contents- a huge clay vase- to roll off and smack him on the head, sending him to la la land. The girl in the background could not help but say: "Oh my!"
*************
A few minutes before...
Jam watched the threads and memorised where they had intended to go. He could see that they criss-crossed. He could follow them with his eyes as they glowed. They were all like white snakes, squirming and slithering converging and diverging. One of the threads led directly to Dr. Tofu, another to Ukyou and yet another to him, but the one attached to him was faint. It was not very powerful and being trained, he was able to prevent it from having any great affect on him.
He kept watch over the good doctor though and his new friend. Friends were a precious commodity and the more you could have the better off you were, except if you friends had very weird habits, like that Indonesian man who like to suck oranges dry by biting them and sucking out the juices using the suction from his mouth. There was a strange man if he needed any!
Jam yawned. He had been travelling and last night was the first time in a few weeks he had managed to get some real sleep instead of the meditation induced ones he usually used. The real thing was always better and he always felt better hen he got up too.
He propped up Ukyou's head with a pillow and waited on the two of them to wake up. He had scanned their ki signatures and could find nothing wrong with either of them. The living white thread did not seem to do anything to their life force, which was good. It only seemed to be having some effect on their consciousness. Had he been prepared, he could have possibly stopped it from taking hold of them, but he had not been prepared so there was no use thinking about spilt milk. He plopped down on one of the chairs in the reception area. Thankfully, the good doctor had not had any patients to attend to nor had any come in the last few minutes.
Jam cast his eyes again and watched the threads as they writhed. He wanted to do something, ached to do something, but he had learned enough over the past years not to tangle with something he did not know about which was underway already. He knew that whatever had caused this was not dark energy, but positive energy. He did not feel a pulse from the thread, which he certainly would have felt if it had been dark energy. Since he felt nothing, it had to be positive energy since there was no way that most humans could track positive energy as they themselves were comprised of the said positive energy.
He wondered what Dr. Tofu had to eat in the clinic when he saw the threads begin to waver, weaken, then disappear altogether.
Dr. Tofu raised a hand to his head and rubbed his temples. He opened his eyes only to be greeted by a smiling Jam who offered him a hand up. On the other side of the room Ukyou was also stirring. She blinked twice and then stared at the two men. She then levelled her gaze at Jam.
"Okay sugar. You better had start explaining and it better be good," she warned.
"Me? Little old innocent me?" replied Jam. Okay perhaps he sounded a bit too much like one of those actresses from those old Hollywood films but hey if it got the job done who was he to complain. He tried the blinking eye technique and the goofy grin thing that he saw some of the actors do.
Ukyou was not amused as she pulled out her battle spatula and prepared to paste Jam onto the floor.
What was it with this girl and running and violence? Didn't these people ever mellow out, sheesh! Talk about taking things seriously!
Dr. Tofu luckily stepped in between the two.
"Yes Ramesh, what happened?" asked Tofu in a way that seemed to quell Ukyou's temper, temporarily.
"Hmm...I really don't know. There was a massive surge in positive energy. I don't know where it came from, but you two were selected among others. I know for a fact however that the effects were only scattered and the artefact chose only a few. Very very interesting this. I can see grandfather sitting around thinking about this for days to come..."
He stopped rambling when Ukyou glared at him again.
"Maybe I get a better idea if you tell me what happened while you were sleeping," responded Jam.
"Excellent idea Ramesh!" exclaimed Tofu.
"Please, call me Jam."
"Well Jam, all I really can remember if the picture of something. It is pretty blurry but I know I was happy to see whatever was going on. I really cannot remember very much except for a bird. I can't remember what the bird looked like, but it was red, a red bird. And it seemed alive at the time. Ukyou, what about you?"
"Nothing. I can't remember seeing anything. All I can remember though was that whatever I saw, I did not like it. Did not hate it, but did not like it. Sorry Jam, that was probably why I shouted at you like that."
Jam waved her off with his hand. "So you both saw something you can't remember which may be the same thing or different things depending. Very strange indeed. If it was a vision, you should have remembered it. Very strange..." he continued while pulling the hair on his small goatee.
He paced the floor while Tofu and Ukyou watched him. Ukyou wanted to interrupt but Tofu's hand on her shoulder stopped her.
"Let him be. He's latched onto something and he's thinking it out in his mind. Would you like some tea?"
Ukyou nodded and Tofu set about making some tea for them both. He had been with this boy's grandfather and if the boy was anything like his grandfather, they would be waiting for him to speak for a long time. His grandfather never said anything until he was completely sure and even then, he would question himself. There was nothing they could do but sit there and wait for him to stop.
************
Night: just after the run in with Akari…
Ryouga shook his head and stared at the tree that he had run into. It had not been there before so someone had moved it and placed it in his way. That was the only answer. He was sure it had been Ranma but Ranma was not around, he had made sure of that.
Ryouga smashed his fist against the tree felling it and he too felt against the side of the tree. He had seen something. He was accustomed to having dreams and forgetting them except that this time, he could remember the dream. That was a strange thing in itself. He never remembered his dreams, except the ones that he had on Akari-san. Akari-san...
How could he have been so stupid to lose her? He would have blamed it on someone else but he knew it could only be his fault. If, no, when he found Akari he would explain to her what had happened. He knew this time he would have to accept the blame himself. He knew there was no way that Akari would allow him to place the blame on another person.
It had been so easy then, to place the blame on Ranma. Ranma had left him alone. He had been truly the only person who had cared enough about him to fight with him when he was younger. The other children did not like playing with him because of his tendency to get lost and his strength. Ranma had been the only one to challenge him. Had been the only one who would fight him. It had been Ranma's fault that his life turned into a slump when he left. Why had Ranma left him? He should have waited longer for the fight, for a man to man fight he should have waited longer. Ranma knew he had a problem finding places.
He could not blame this on Ranma though. His heart felt heavy. He knew what Akari thought she had seen and when he thought about it, it was hard not to see it that way, but that was not what had happened. He had no idea how or why Ukyou had closed the gap between them, but she had, and he had his hand around her when he got up. Damn Ran... No this time he could not blame Ranma though most of his problems were Ranma's fault, this one wasn't. He had to find Akari and tell her that nothing happened. He had to tell her that he did not like Ukyou more than a friend. He hoped she did not want more than that because he could not give her more than that for an answer.
He had always been alone. Except for that brief respite in Junior School, he had mostly been alone. He had been lucky though. He had strayed onto the camp of a master martial artist who taught him all his techniques and who had given him his yellow umbrella. He still could not believe he had met that man when he was younger. With his wandering and his disposition to get lost, he should have never found the place again, but he kept running into the master frequently during his many years of travelling. The training was never complete. There was always something new to learn. Something to try out on Ranma when he met him again.
He had to hope that luck would be with him again. He wanted, no needed to find Akari. He just didn't know where she was and even if he did he knew he would get lost trying to get there. He was lucky to have found the Tendo Dojo so many times in the last few years and maybe today he would be lucky again. It wasn't much, but it was all he had to hold onto. Shaking his head again, he ploughed into the forest. His heart was heavy and he was ready to give in to the depression but he couldn't, not as yet. There was still a spark of hope remaining. He had to find Akari.
He smiled. He would find her then he would find Ranma and beat him to a pulp for taking advantage of Akane. He wanted to beat Ranma he wanted to focus on beating Ranma. Fighting with Ranma was what made him feel good. Dealing with Akari was what scared him the most.
*************
Nabiki Tendo found herself surrounded by her employees who were very agitated from what she saw. Someone offered to help her off the ground but she refused. The girl who had offered shrunk back into the others. They knew her that well. It had been a nice gesture Nabiki guessed but here, in the room they were gathered in, it was all business.
"What happened?" she asked. A straight simple question that deserved a straight simple answer.
"You were talking then you suddenly fainted. We would have taken you to the hospital but Nara here knows CPR and she put you in the recovery position as she calls it. We called off the ambulance when you came to," responded Mariko.
Nabiki was thinking.
"We'll meet again tomorrow." A simple phrase but everyone obeyed. Everyone who was afraid of her. There were some though who were not as afraid of her as the others.
"What happened Nabiki?"
Nabiki did not have to look up to know who asked the question.
"I don't know, but I will find out."
"I hope it is nothing serious. It would not do for the others to think that the 'boss' is sick."
"No. You are correct in that sense. But nothing is wrong with me. That much I can tell."
"You should go and see a doctor," urged another who had to be Nara, the medical specialist of the group.
"Do not tell me what I have to do," she snapped at Nara then added more quietly, "but I think it is best that I have a little chat with Tofu-sensei. Now let's go, I believe that football match is on tonight and I do intend to see that my investments go through."
"Yes, some are actually betting that Japan will win 5-0," joked Mariko.
"The better for us," smirked Nabiki, "there is still a lot of work to be done."
Nabiki walked with the others, but her thoughts were not with them as they began collecting betting slips for the upcoming match. Something had indeed happened to her, but it was not been physical. With Ranma and all the craziness that followed him, she would be stupid to conclude that it was due to something physically wrong with her. No, it had to be Ranma or one of the other martial artists who surrounded him like bees to honey.
She would find out though. Cologne would know and if cologne knew then either Shampoo or Mousse knew and they were easier pickings than the older Amazon Matriarch.
Maybe something had happened to Ranma and Akane but she doubted it. They had received a letter from Akane stating how angry she was at Ranma and what he had done to her and how much of a baka he had been. Nabiki had to smile. Those two never got along and she knew that eventually they would come to an understanding but what understanding and how long that would take was still up in the air. Meanwhile, she could still make some profits from them. The 'who will end up with Ranma' betting pool was still wide open. Most of the students had placed their bets, which ranged from her little sister to Kasumi to a new female martial artist to even Ranma's female side. Some of the students had some really ecchi ideas she thought. Many of them thought that he would have more than one. She did not question them though. She would make a profit from it, and it was interesting to say the least, to hear what they had to say. She kept everything in a special little notebook only she had access too. Her employees objected, but not too strenuously. They needed her and they knew that. Without her as their symbol, their highly profitable business would collapse. They did not get a high percentage of the profits, but they did get something. She might be a mercenary, but she was a decent one.
She would go home first and check on Kasumi and her father. Family first, then business. Many thought she had it the other way around but then most did not know her. The pictures of her sister had been decent and the pictures of Ranma were a little less decent, as if Ranma minded. She did not think that Ranma cared that much about his girl form being seen. He flaunted it that much.
That boy had been the cause of a lot of the family's trouble but his adventures, his big mouth and his innate ability to find himself in compromising situations was too hilarious for it not to affect her. Sometimes she would get up a morning and bet against herself what would happen to Ranma or Akane for that matter that week.
She was now alone and almost home. The others had left her on the way. She walked into the house and was surprised to find Kasumi almost dancing as she dusted. She was humming too: a sprightly jig that Nabiki had to admit was a bit catchy.
"Oneechan, anything to celebrate?" asked Nabiki.
Kasumi just smiled at her and returned to her cleaning. Nabiki stared at her as she daintily and gracefully dusted the living room. Nabiki shrugged and headed up to her room. Two more weeks remaining she reminded herself. Two more weeks without the chaos of Ranma and Akane and their constant fighting. Two more weeks. It was not a short time but then again it was a long time too. She wondered how three weeks together on a training trip would change those two. Not much she thought, but then again... She smiled. Maybe or maybe not.
*************
Ukyou was nodding off while Jam paced the floor. She was settling into a nice comforting nap when a shout caused her to jump and smash her head against the ceiling of the clinic.
"That's it," shouted Jam as he gave her a brief smile and hurriedly walked out of the clinic. Dr. Tofu was already up and following him. Ukyou rubbed her head and sighed. She would enjoy a nice long soak after this.
"What are we looking for?" asked Ukyou.
"Not looking, following, the answers are in the following..." Jam's little speech was cut short as he stared at the pavement once again as if trying to find something that he had dropped in the street. Several times, he bumped into people on the road and gave passing apologies without even looking the other person in the face. She had tried to pull him out of his intense concentration with questions but he seemed to just ignore her. She was about to give him a piece of her mind when she felt a hand rest against her shoulder. The expression on Dr. Tofu's face alone told her that she should not, that he would not approve of such action.
The spatula disappeared to its position on her back and she frowned. The boy was driving her nuts, all he did was stick his nose into the pavement like a hound following a scent and nothing she said could bring him to face her. When he did look up, she wasn't going to talk to him again. Even her Ran-chan wasn't that rude.
Their travels led them to a large wooden establishment then had its name rendered both in Chinese and in Japanese. The Nekohanten. Jam opened the door and went inside followed by the others.
"Hello, Shampoo take order?" Shampoo stared at the strange boy. She had read stories of people like his who came from over the great white ice mountains. All Amazons knew about them. They were supposed to be the one who first brought the Art to them. All Amazon's were supposed to show some respect for the elders and the people from over the great white ice mountains were certainly due some measure of respect. Shampoo however could not help but blush a little as the boy kept staring at her. It was not that he was staring at her, but that he was staring at her as if she was something that captivated him. She had seen others boys fawn over her body before, but something was different about this boy. For some reason she just wanted to stay there and let him look at her until he found what he was looking for. For some reason she knew he had to find it and she would gladly be of any assistance.
"Stop staring at my beloved!" shouted another voice from across the room, who flew across to challenge Jam before he was caught up in the stare. Mousse's hands that were once hidden within his robes dropped from his voluminous clothes along with a couple of chosen weapons that clanked to the ground.
The boy was searching him for something. He did not know what, but the boy needed to find something and if he needed help, Mousse knew he would be there to help. The boy would not harm his beloved in fact the boy was there to help his beloved. The boy needed something and Mousse knew he could help him. Mousse knew he would be glad to help him in any way.
"What's going on?" asked Ukyou.
Tofu shrugged, but a voice to their side answered.
"That is the dreaded Gaze of the Guru. An extremely powerful technique. Once the guru is intent on finding something his mind is able to project a frightening mental aura that is able to penetrate even the strongest of wills in the quest of finding knowledge. I have not seen it in such a long time. The guru is able to bend the wills of others to his needs. A most powerful technique indeed."
Jam turned around and blinked once, twice, then bowed, ignoring the pleas of Shampoo and Mousse to be his servants and to please him and to find anything he needed.
"Greetings elder. Would you have the information I seek?"
"Maybe," she replied. "Who are you?"
"I am Ramesh Jamersinghe, but everyone calls me Jam."
"Jamer..ahh, from the Temple of the Ages. Yes I remember a young man from there once. A foolish man trying to get into the village to learn about Jusenkyou. Almost succeeded too."
"That, would be my grandfather," smirked Jam. "He never backed down from investigating something that interested him."
"Aiya! What you do to Shampoo!" demanded Shampoo. She remembered saying all sorts of stupid things to this boy who she did not know. It had to be some sort of spell that he had cast on her. She would do nothing like that for anyone except maybe her airen.
"What have you done to my beloved Shampoo!" challenged Mousse. He vaguely remembered trying to slaughter this boy for slighting his beloved when a notion of complete subservience came upon him.
They were both silenced by a flat stare from Cologne. In fact, they cowered behind the stare. Shampoo had seen that once and she did not like what happened after she had seen the stare.
"What brings you to Japan, Jam, and to the Nekohanten in particular?" asked Cologne.
Jam studied her for a second before he crafted his answer.
"I felt the lines, and I'm sure you did too. I can feel your power though you try to hide it. I can sense Jusenkyou in these two," he said, gesturing towards Mousse and Shampoo. "You must be the famed Amazons."
Cologne regarded him for a while. He was strong this one. To sense her and to make those conclusions from the little bit he had observed. He was indeed what she expected to find coming from the land beyond the great white ice mountains.
"I am Elder Kho Lon, and this is Xian Pu and Mu Tzu," she replied. "You and indeed correct young one, come sit, let us talk. You too," she beckoned as she gestured towards Tofu. "I am sure that you will be very interested in what we say." Ukyou approached with Tofu, but Cologne made no move to stop her.
All four sat down at the table with Shampoo and Mousse within hearing distance.
"So you felt the lines," inquired Cologne.
"Yes, they were very distinctive. I followed one set, here, to this place."
That raised Cologne's eyebrows. Even she had not been able to follow the lines, though she could easily guess where they went.
"There were others too. To other places, but all were in this area. This was the closest so I came here."
"Did you experience the effects," she asked.
"No, it did not come for me, but they were affected." She did not have to guess who they meant.
"I don't know what caused it, but at least we know that it was not a demon."
"No. Not a demon," he agreed. "Something powerful though."
"Hmm...you are a promising young man Jam. Perhaps I should introduce you to a couple of Shampoo's cousins."
The implied meaning was understood by all the others except Jam who kept staring at the others and asking 'what?'
************
Hidden by the forests, two people silently crept towards a destination that seemed to call them from their very souls. Something beckoned them to approach, and they did.