[Ranma][Fanfic] The Bet: Kimiko's Legacy (rewrite)
AnimeToo
part 1: "Kimiko's Legacy"
Gregg Sharp, Metro...@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/greggsharp/index.html
pebble supplied and thrown by Christopher
Angel, god of moments. Pond supplied by
Rumiko Takahashi. Everything else is my
fault. C&C goes to Metro...@aol.com
---------------------------------------------
The Betting Area: October 17, 1998
The God of Moments looked over Toltiir's
form and snorted. "Bah," he scoffed. "Amateurs."
Toltiir gave the tall god a sly grin, which
looked like it fit especially well in his usual black cat
form. "You think you could do better?"
"He-er...da-um...shoot, yeah," the other
responded, stumbling slightly over the godly restrictions
on swearing.
Toltiir arched his head in such a way to
indicate the viewing globe. "Go ahead."
The mortal-turned-god hummed for a few
minutes as he scanned the realities. "AHA!" He shouted
and pointed a finger at the globe he was viewing.
Frowning at the image of a mortal woman in
the globe, Toltiir twisted his head to look back at the
much taller god. "What about it?"
"All I need to do is request an interference in
Kasumi's pregnancy..." The Lord of Paradox blinked.
"Yggdrasil subroutines have taken it over,
and produced an interesting interpretation, ne?"
------------------------------------------
April 14, 1973
Doctor Matsudeira turned to the young
couple, who were (as expected) grief stricken. "Now,
now, Mister and Mrs Tendo. We caught it in time,
we think. We'll have to put Kimiko here on
chemotherapy for awhile, until we're sure we've
gotten it all. This will still leave you with one
ovary, and in a couple of years you can try
again."
Kimiko Tendo nodded sadly. She had
so hoped to carry the child to term but it was not
to be. Ovarian cancer had caused one of the ovaries
to be removed, and the other had been checked
with no sign of the cancer spreading.
----------------------------------------------
Betting Area, October 17, 1998
Having been handed a book by
Grey (reluctant incubus working for the Rival
Relief Office) titled "Permissable Expletives
For Use by Demigods & Above" the Protector
of The Norns turned to page 17. "Ara. Masaka.
Stupid Potato Subroutine. This inhales greatly."
"So no children are conceived until
Akane's time, and because Kimiko Tendo was
using fertility drugs at the time..."
"She gets triplets." Well, at least
THAT was going as planned.
----------------------------------------------
June 15, 1976:
"I'm sorry, Mrs Tendo." Doctor
Matsudeira HATED moments like these,
which came all too often. One celebrates
one's successes and learns from one's
failures. When one is a doctor, those
failures have consequences beyond those
of (for example) a video game programmer.
Kimiko Tendo nodded, reaching
out to hold the hand of the man who was crying
enough for both of them.
"As you recall, when we found
the shadow on the xray we could have
renewed the chemo, but you would have
lost your children. As it is, the cancer is
along the spine. We can go to radiation
therapy now, but..."
"But the odds are not good.
Wakatta." Kimiko was of warrior stock,
and she faced the truth with the courage
of a warrior. "Do what you think best,
Doctor, we shall see."
Matsudeira shrugged. "We
can hope for the best, plan for the worst."
-------------------------------
June 17, 1976:
"Hello. This is Kimiko. It has
been a long time, Nodoka. Can you come
over...I need some help." Kimiko Tendo
hung up the phone. "Soun, if medical
science can do nothing, then we must
see what else is available, ne? At least
losing that ovary did one thing for me,
they wouldn't have found this until
much later if it hadn't been for that."
Soun Tendo nodded. Who
did he know who would have any
answers to such a question? Other
than He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named,
of course? And the Master was dead,
wasn't he?
--------------------------------------------
January 9, 1981:
Genma took his son away
from the crowded house. Minor training
journeys had proven fairly effective, but
to truly master the Art, it would require
the path of the long road.
Besides, with that many
women around, it might be a bad
influence on the boy.
--------------------------------------------
January 11, 1982
Nodoka stood next to where
Kimiko Tendo lay bedridden and weak from
the latest therapies, and had the three
daughters lined up before them. Each of
the three were wearing their personal gi.
Kasumi in white, Akane in red, Nabiki in
black.
Kasumi bowed to her mother,
and performed a clumsy iaijitsu manuever
that almost ended with her clubbing herself
in the head. (1)
Nabiki bowed to her mother, and
performed a similarly flawed iaijitsu manuever.
Her movements were jerky instead of the
fluid seamless motion that it should have been.
Akane managed the iaijitsu portion
flawlessly, but as the tiny bokken moved up to the
"eight-strike stance" it slipped out of her grip and
ended a short arc by finding the top of Nabiki's head.
Nodoka sighed and looked embarrassed
as Nabiki and Akane fell to scuffling. "Well, they
HAD the manuever down."
Kasumi frowned and tried again, this
time performing both manuevers almost flawlessly.
"Very good, Kasumi,"her mother said
weakly. "That's my girl."
The other two stopped fighting long
enough to glare daggers at their sister. Kasumi
beamed at the praise.
"Oh, not that both of you aren't precious
as well. Now your mommy is very tired, so why don't
you go do your chores?"
After a session of hugs and the procession
out of the room, Kimiko looked over at her friend. "So
how are they doing?"
Nodoka made a small gesture to indicate the
vanished girls. "I think that neither Nabiki nor Akane
will ever be champions in kendo. Within the Saotome
School of 'Falling Rain' Kendo, there are several paths.
Kasumi is best suited for 'Gentle Rain', I think. Nabiki
really has no talent for the sword, but considerable
promise as an archer. Akane seems best suited for the
'Fierce Rain' path, but I think the 'Anything Goes' freestyle
kempo is going to be her main strength."
Kimiko paused. "You heard what the doctors
have said?"
Nodoka smiled. "The doctors do not know
everything. A friend of a friend told me of a doctor,
and I have tracked down what this doctor has told me.
Taking your daughters on this little trip seems to have
been a wise move. Three young warrior girls training
made quite a favorable impression on the Nichieju."
"When you said amazons, I thought so.
Besides, they have to get used to the idea that I may
not always be around."
Nodoka held up a hand. "Before you go too
far there, there is a woman who thinks we might be able
to add a few years yet before you go on."
"Ah, to see my daughters develop a little
longer..." Kimiko sighed and sat back. "And where is
this miracle worker?"
"This ancient and honorable worthy is
making plans to come see you. Apparently it was
meeting your daughters that decided her on this
course. Even then, I had to prove I was a warrior
and that my word had honor. She is named Khu Lon.
I think the final reason she agreed to assist you was
that her great-granddaughter has lost her parents
recently."
"Whatever the reason, if she can help me
to see that my daughters grow up right, her help is
quite welcome."
---------------------------------
July 6, 1984:
"Ah," Cologne sat back and enjoyed the
cool breeze of a fan. "This intrusive technology may
be a crutch, but it can have its benefits."
"Yes, honored Elder." Nodoka bowed.
The two listened to the sounds of practice swords
clacking in the dojo as the Tendo daughters dueled
with an...extra addition.
"Nodoka, don't stand on such ceremony,
we've known each other for, oh has it been two years
already?" Cologne nodded and sipped on some ice
water. Decadent, horribly decadent to go through all
this just to have ice cold water in this sort of heat and
humidity, she sipped again to be sure.
"You were wondering why I brought my
grand-daughter?" The old woman's eyes met the
samurai woman's eyes briefly.
"Well, yes." She HAD been wondering that.
"You've told me your own son is on a
training journey which will take about ten years. Well,
my Shampoo gets all the martial arts training she needs
right there in the village. But, you see, I want more for
my granddaughter than just being a topnotch Amazon
warrior."
"Ah," Nodoka nodded. "So she is on a
training mission as well, to learn about the world
outside your village."
"Precisely." Cologne smiled, pleased that
Nodoka was keeping up with her. "The Nichieju could
use friends on the outside, though our skills and fighting
prowess are great, we tend to be very insular. We need
to know what's going on in the outside world, and if it
should threaten us, what we can do to stop it or (if it
cannot be stopped) avoid it."
Kimiko's voice came from the bed. "So you
need friends. A safe house for the travelling warrior,
eyes and ears that can relay to you what you can't get
locally, someone to ship you what you can't find at home."
"Precisely." Cologne nodded. "We have a few,
scattered about, mainly married amazons who, for one
reason or another, are happier away from the village but
retain the ties to their homeland. We always need to find
a few more. When I met your daughters, I saw that each
had some of that amazon fire within them. To be the best,
and not necessarily as a warrior, this is an amazon trait."
A loud curse in Mandarin Chinese came and
another girl's voice started laughing, only to go into a
startled yelp and a lot of yelling thereafter.
Nodoka excused herself to see what Akane
had done to Shampoo.
----------------------------------------------------
September 3, 1986
"Hello, little girl, are you lost?" Nodoka
smiled down at the nervous little girl at the gate.
"Is this the Tendo dojo, please?" The
girl fidgeted, quite obviously trying to be brave.
"Yes, it is..."
"Mister Saotome said his wife never
could be reached at home on the phone, cause she
was always in Nerima at the Tendo place...uhm..."
"You know my husband?" Nodoka
blinked. Other than a few postcards and the occasional
phone call, she hadn't seen the two in years.
"THAT JACKASS LEFT ME BEHIND!"
"You shouldn't talk like that, little girl."
"Sorry, ma'am. Wait'll I tell you what he did."
The little girl quickly explained the matter, and included
the phone number of her father who confirmed the
story, though he had apparently disowned the daughter
in shame over the event.
Nodoka put the phone down, smiled at
the little girl, and stepped quietly back out the door.
"GENMA SAOTOME, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?"
Taking a deep breath, Nodoka went back
into the house to have a nice talk with a little girl named
Ukyou Kuonji.
-------------------------------
August 3, 1987
Ukyou Tendo, adopted daughter of Kimiko,
stood next to Shampoo Tendo, also adopted daughter
of Kimiko, who stood next to Akane, Nabiki, and Kasumi,
natural daughters of Kimiko Tendo.
The funeral had been brief, the cremation swift,
and Kimiko Tendo's urn sat in a place of honor before her shrine.
Cologne looked sadly at the spectacle, but death
had been a long companion of hers and she could shed no
tears for Kimiko. The children needed a strong presence now
anyway.
Kasumi broke from the line to place the prized
kendo trophy on the shrine. "S-s-see, mom. I did it. We
all did it. Y-you'd be so proud of us. And I got first place
in the Children's Cook-Off..." Of them all Kasumi had
felt the closest to her mother, the only one of the three
natural daughters who had actually been cooking on a
regular basis. Not that Shampoo and Ukyou hadn't been
assisting lately.
Nabiki put her own trophy next to Kasumi's.
"Mother. Archery. Second place. I WILL do better next
year. I promise you! Oh, and I placed in the top 10% on
the math finals, like that was a surprise..."
Akane placed a broken piece of brick on the
shrine. "Mother, I finally got to where I can break a brick.
Anything Goes style doesn't lend itself well to tournaments,
but you know that. I hope that my training in Amazonian
Wu Shu will further please you."
Shampoo said nothing. She had only known
Kimiko Tendo and Nodoka Saotome for a short time
while staying with them, but they had treated her as equal
to any of the Tendo daughters. She simply placed a wicked
looking dagger on the shrine without a word. Whether
she was offering her services, or just the weapon, either
was impressive.
Ukyou looked at those offerings. She'd only
known the Tendos for the past year, and there was some
friction between the others about this arranged marriage
stuff that Soun Tendo had gone off about to Nodoka and
Kimiko after she'd arrived. Still, she had been treated
fairly by Kimiko, and so simply offered a skillet with an
example of her Art- an okonomiyaki.
Nodoka sighed, torn between grief for a dear
friend, and pride at how the daughters had turned out.
Kimiko had lasted long enough to see them reach eleven
years of age. That was years longer than the doctors had
given her. It was enough, she thought, because Kimiko
had always stated that she would fight long enough to
see her daughters grow up.
She had, and in many ways, they did.
-----------------------------------------------------------
March 1, 1992, village at the edge of the Bayankala
mountain range
"<You,>" Shampoo pointed at the innkeep.
She described the two she was tracking. "<They here?>"
"<No>," the little hole-in-the-wall inn wouldn't
last long if a Chinese Amazon decided to get angry. The
innkeeper decided that he'd better be completely honest.
"<They left some time ago.>"
"<Grrrr. What was their names? That'll at
least make it easier to track them.>" Shampoo snarled.
Why couldn't the girl just stay put and let her avenge
herself? She might be able to get away with nearly
killing the woman, even though it was just a fairly
close match that had gone on for some time.
The innkeep studied the deskbook. "<Says
here, Genma and Ranma Saotome.>"
"<YOU LIE!>" Shampoo stopped. The innkeep
was terrified. Then it clicked, the familiar feeling she'd gotten
seeing the stranger girl's stance- it was that "Anything Goes"
style that her Japanese family used! "<Genma Saotome?
Ranma Saotome? I am following a panda and a girl with the
same names as...>"
"<It's true! I also saw the panda transform into a
balding man in a white gi.>" The innkeep was volunteering
information in the hope that the girl would calm down.
"<So...>" Shampoo stopped. She'd continue on
the trail, but send a message back to great grandmama. If
she didn't have an idea as to what was going on, nobody
would. She'd hold off killing the two, just in case there was
a chance they were related to her Japanese sword-sensei.
In that case, there were loopholes to the "must kill" law.
But wasn't Ranma supposed to be Nodoka's _son_? And
if she had been defeated by a boy...
Shampoo smiled. At last, there was a way to
get Mousse to leave her alone. And she knew from what
had been said before that Akane didn't care for the idea
of this arranged marriage, so she could do her friend a
favor at the very same time.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Nabiki smirked. "Oh my. There's a panda
molesting some girl on our front walk. This neighborhood
gets crazier all the time."
The panda grunted at that, seeming to be a
little surprised at how calmly the girl in the kimono was
taking this. Even opening the door and motioning him
in as if a panda carrying a struggling young girl was
a common arrival at the house.
"Let me go, pop! This isn't fair!" The girl being
carried was thumping the panda but seemed to be rather
ineffectual from her current position.
"So, here you are." Nodoka stood like some
Japanese valkyrie, sword unwrapped and ready to draw.
"You have quite a lot of explaining to do."
The panda that was carrying the struggling
girl in saw Nodoka and came to a complete stop. The
panda's eyes fixed on the sword briefly, then saw a
young girl with a large spatula behind her. And behind
HER was the very same Shampoo who had been chasing
them all over China.
Soun, in the background, gave an apologetic
shrug.
The panda grinned briefly, then went into
Full Panic Mode. Ranma managed a startled yelp as she
was slammed into the doorframe as the panda made a
run for the border. Any border.
Kasumi looked down at the unconcious
girl lying amongst the pieces of doorframe. "Oh my."
--------------------------------------------
"Urkh." Why did his head hurt so much?
Ranma blinked his eyes and realized he'd somehow
turned male again while he was unconcious, they
were familiar with the curse?
"Well, hello there. My name is Kasumi
Tendo." The girl smiled at him. "You just had a little
accident, but it should be fine."
"Kasumi dear, I think I need to speak
to my son alone for a moment." Nodoka smiled as
she watched Kasumi, who was blushing as she
looked down at Ranma and walked away.
Ranma blinked. "Mother?"
-------------------------------------------
"Ah, my son." Nodoka thought for
a moment about what her son had been through.
Was he truly a man among men? Could he be with
such a curse? Sadly, she thought, no.
Nodoka Saotome gathered all of the
daughters Tendo together, and told them and her
son of the agreement that had been made.
Kasumi frowned. Ukyou scowled.
Shampoo scratched her head and wondered if
maybe she had misunderstood something.
Nabiki wanted to see the contract and examine
it for loopholes. Akane wanted to hit something.
Ranma froze.
"Auntie Saotome," said Kasumi in
a calm sweet voice. "Why does his curse make
him less manly? Everything we hear about
Jusenkyo tells us that it doesn't change one's
inner nature just the outward form."
"Why punish Shampoo? Shampoo
have to marry man who defeat her. He good
fighter, you know Shampoo no slouch in
wu shu. He more manly than Mousse, Shampoo
sure of that!"
"It looks more like he was fingerpainting
than signing a contract," opined Nabiki. "How old
was he when you had them sign this? Five? He
was here then, wasn't he? Did WE sign anything
like this?" Nabiki sounded a little worried as this
last bit occurred to her.
"Hey now. I've been engaged to him
for years now, don't go giving me those amazon
rules, Shampoo. Don't you think you're being a
little quick in your judgement, Auntie?" Ukyou
winked at Ranma. They'd figure a way out of this.
Akane looked over the boy who was
staring wildly around as each one spoke. "He
looks totally clueless. Doesn't that qualify him
as being pretty manly? It sure is a common
quality amongst the boys at school."
There was murmurred agreement from
all the Tendo daughters on that point.
==================================
(1) Iaijitsu- "the art of the draw" used to not
only draw the sword but often to strike in the
same fluid motion. In this particular storyline,
they are using Saotome School Kendo- "Falling
Rain." For purposes of this fic, the style is
then broken down into three basic paths, two
of which are mentioned here. "Gentle rain"-
which is mainly evasion and quick strikes
to incapacitate, and "Fierce rain" which relies
on strength and is aggressive.
well, you can't say that this is just retreaded
story with one minor change and everything
else staying the same, can you?
where does it go from here? Kasumi
stakes a claim early on. Shampoo claims that
as a Tendo, and as an amazon that lost to
Ranma, she carries a higher claim. Ukyou
feels that because of the dowry and the
agreement between her natural father, and
her adoption into the Tendo household as
well, that SHE is clearly the one with the
best claim to Ranma.
Ranma isn't sure what to make
of any of this.
The rivalry between Furinkan's
male kendo club (with the insufferably
chauvanistic Tatewaki Kuno) and the
women's kendo club escalates.
KUNO: "Ah, Akane Tendo,
fierce warrior! Ah, Ukyou, goddess of
okonomiyaki! Kasumi, how dare you
(a mere woman) cross bokken with the
Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!"
KASUMI: "You have forgotten
that the Girls' Kendo Club is also undefeated,
and you now face the...uhm Akane, Ukyou,
can you wait on pummelling him until after
I do my intro...*sigh*."
--------scene: "Ryouga, the lost boy"
Ryouga: "Ranma, PREPARE TO
DIE!"
Ranma: "Couldn't it wait until
morning?"
Ryouga: "Justice can't...wait?"
Ryouga looks around. Nodoka has her
sword, Kasumi has her sword, Nabiki has
an arrow nocked, Ukyou has her big bad
spatula, Akane is holding a baseball bat,
Cologne is blinking owlishly at him from
her walking stick. Shampoo has forgotten
to put her top on. Ranma has just noted
this last and fainted.
Ryouga grins nervously. "Maybe
morning would be good, yeah."
Scene: "The Golden Pair"
Kasumi: "No, I want to be the one to
skate with Ranma!"
Shampoo:"Shampoo want partner with
airen!"
Uykou:"Ranchan, don't you think
we'd make a cute couple!"
Ranma:"How did I get myself into
this mess?"
Nabiki:"I'll tell you for 500yen."
Scene: "Late Night In Nerima"
"Ah alone at last, eh, Ranchan?"
"Silly Ukyou, why for you hug
Shampoo?"
"Aaaaaaaaa!"
"Hmph, silly Ukyou. No should
touch stuff if can't hold liquor."
Scene:
Kasumi focussed, her two great
loves coming together in a single moment.
She tossed the bread, lettuce, tomatoes, and
turkey breast into the air. Without hesitation,
she drew her katana and made the "Cyclone
Assault" manuever.
Five sandwiches landed, perfectly
made as Kasumi sheathed the blade with a
practiced click. Kasumi blinked. Five? She
looked up. A large glob of mustard and
the fixings of the sixth sandwich landed
directly on her face.
Scene: "the Mousse-Ranma Challenge"
Nabiki selling photos of the
various Tendo girls, and Ranma-chan.
Ukyou selling okonomiyaki
from her portable grill.
Kasumi selling sushi, prepared
with flourishes of tanto and katana.
Shampoo and her great grandma
selling ramen.
Akane grumbling about having
to take out the trash. Kuno's legs are sticking
up out of the trashcan.
Ranma and Mousse look at the
surrounding circus and wonder what happened
to a simple challenge fight.
Scene: "Last minute scramble"
Nodoka decides it is decision time.
Ranma has till the end of the week to choose a
fiancee, and it looks like it will be...Kasumi.
Nabiki and Akane, jealous, try to
win Ranma on their own. Nabiki tries to seduce
Ranma, Akane tries to be nice to Ranma.
Shampoo reinstates her claim on
Ranma, and starts ignoring Tofu-sensei to
concentrate on Ranma.
Ukyou has a WAFFy scene where
she realizes that she's just his "buddy" and
has to decide whether to destroy that and
her place in the family or to try to win Ranma
through trickery. Bet it all on a long shot, or
settle for having a family...
Akane's pet pig, P-chan, takes
exception to all the attention being focussed
on Ranma and decides to get out of here,
unfortunately Shampoo and Akane have
been fighting again and P-chan is scheduled
to be fixed.
======================
this is a promised rewrite of an earlier version
ja ne,
gregg