[ranma][fanfic] Ranma 2096: Confessions and Revelations
Erin Mills and Jason L. Langlois
Editor's introduction:
Erin and Jason have made quite an addition to the R2096 storyline with
their Ukyou and Ryouga tales. Most of the mail I receive with regards to
R2096 is in praise of their writing, and the final installment of Erin's
'Skeride vs Ukyou' trilogy (of which 'Envoy' and 'Vendetta' are the two
first chapters) is the most-requested work-in-progress. Monsieur Langlois
focused on the life of the Hibikis from their marriage to Ukyou's
incarceration in a mental hospital, while Monsieur Mills chose to deal with
the afterlife of the two. In 'Confessions and Revelations', the two have
finally collaborated and united both sides of the tale.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
-Chris Willmore
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Created by Christopher Willmore. / \ \ /
4c...@qlink.queensu.ca / / \/
Based on a story by Rumiko Takahashi and /
Developed by C. Michael Schumacher / /
[Kensu: csch...@waun.tdsnet.com] \ /
R2096 pages: http://qlink.queensu.ca/~4cw6/ \/(Logo:Armakuni)
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CONFESSIONS AND REVELATIONS
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Written by Jason 'Jai-kun' Langlois and Erin Mills
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Ranma 2096 characters used with permission
Takahashi-sama, this is done in respect.
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"When I touch you like this
And you hold me like that
I just have to admit that
It's all coming back to me..."
-"It's All Coming Back To Me Now"
Written by Jim Steinman, Performed by Celine Dion
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He crouched, unaffected by the driving rain, as most of the spirit
world was. He knew she would show herself on this night of ghostly
activity.
Tonight, the Hunter would become the hunted. So swore Hibiki Ryouga.
As he waited with the patience of the spirit world, his thoughts
wandered back to his 'reunion' with his wife.
Inwardly, he shivered.
He hadn't seen that look in her eye since the time he had visited her
after... after he and Nabiki... The look in her eyes, the cold look of a
woman who had finally seen the very depths of betrayal, had forced him to
flee from his own wife, a woman he would have willingly given his life for
all those years ago.
When he had seen her again, he discovered he would have given his
afterlife for her, too..
If only... if he hadn't betrayed her, taken advantage of a situation
fueled by mental fatigue and frustration... If he hadn't dishonoured
himself, his son, his wife... maybe then, they could have both been happy,
both gone on to the afterlife they were _meant_ to, even... even gone on
together, instead of being cursed to walk the earth in vaporous form.
That one dalliance, that one moment of weakness with Nabiki... his
thoughts drowned in shame, even after all these years. That mark on his
honour was one of the reasons, he believed, he had been doomed to wander
the earth.
He shook his head, impatient with his own reverie. He would not fail
her this time. He would make up for his past failings, or at least, one of
them. He looked to the 'trap', looked at the 'bait' awaiting there,
glowing, and shuddered.
Minnako stood, or floated, actually, just above her now-repaired
gravestone. She glowed with her own ghostly essence, but the look of
timid joy she felt in helping her still-living family had been replaced
with a look of cold resignation.
She herself had come to Ryouga after he began his search.
"Wanderer, I wish to repay you for saving me from the Assassin." Her
timidity was gone, but her eyes... Ryouga noticed then, her eyes were
cold and dark. Stoic. "I wish to help you find her. But... there must be
a condition."
He had then seen the barest flicker of emotion. Pain flashed in her
eyes.
"You must let her exorcise me."
Ryouga had nearly refused. But the pain in her eyes... It reminded him
of Ukyou the day they had discovered she would not be released from the
Institute. Even now the memory burned him with anger and disgust.
Instead of the refusal already nearly past his lips, he had asked for and
explanation.
The pain flashed... flared into her eyes as she began her story. "I
had been home all night. Yakume... he hadn't... I was waiting for him,
just to see him..." Though she fought it, Ryouga could see by her
trembling lips and wet glow near her eyes that her heart had been crushed.
"When he came home... He was with another..."
He didn't ask her to go on after she had stopped her tears. He agreed,
both to let her lead him to the proper place, and to allow her to be
exorcised by Skeride.
He had no intention of keeping that second promise. The rain abated,
and Ryouga shifted slightly, more out of habit than any discomfort. She
would come soon. It was nearly impossible to resist, the shining ghost
hovering, this spirit that had once escaped her clutches, nearly visible to
even the least perceptive, on Friday the thirteenth.
She would come soon.
The voice that rang out proved it.
"The time has come."
Minnako started, then righted herself as Skeride let the shadows fall
from her. "So, Minnako. We meet again." The smugness in the Assassin's
voice turned Ryouga's spiritual stomach, but he held. <Not until after.
Not until she starts the exorcism.>
Skeride was in a talkative mood, perhaps pleased with herself that she
had found this missed opportunity again. "I see you've seen your husband
lately," she practically purred, already beginning to glow lilac.
Ryouga tensed in readiness.
Minnako's voice wavered, but she did not break. "Do what you will,
Assassin," she spat. "I no longer belong here."
That seemed to touch a cord with Skeride. Her eyes darkened
dangerously.
"You _never_ belonged here!" The voice was barely above a whisper,
but reached the ghostly ears with venom.
She raised her hands and allowed the sphere to glow. Suddenly, she
smiled again. "I hope you aren't too attached to your little boy's new
mother. I told you, I have much experience in mind control."
Realisation hit Minnako just before Skeride released her soul trap. It
hit Ryouga seconds before. He stood.
"SKER-"
He never got to finish his shout.
A green flash blinded him for a short second. When he opened his
eyes again, Ukyou stood before him, anger distorting her features.
Ryouga looked around, realising that the three of them were no longer
at the cemetery, but on the roof of the administration building of the
university. Across the roof Minnako was looking around, confused.
Ukyou glared at Ryouga, glowing brightly. Her words were calm, but the
chill in them caused every sense in him to grow arctically cold.
"I told you to stay out of my way."
Ryouga looked up at his former spouse. He was, for the first time in
decades, speechless. Ukyou glanced at his dumbfounded expression with
undisguised contempt.
"Skeride is MINE." she growled. "NO ONE gets to her before I do. Do
you understand me? NO one. This is your second warning, Ryouga. Three
strikes and you're out." The Envoy turned to leave.
Ryouga found his voice. "So, you're here to deal with her then? I
thought it had something to do with another son we supposedly had."
Ukyou turned. "No, I'm not here to deal with her. That's a little...
bonus task I've set for myself. As for the rest, I've already told you
everything I can. Not that I expect you to care."
"I DO care!" Ryouga protested. "I care about YOU. I want to help you,
Oko-cha-" He was cut off by a quick slap across the face. When he looked
up, red light was pouring from Ukyou's eyes.
"Don't-you-EVER-call-me-that-again!" she said icily. "You lost your
rights to call me that when you stopped coming to see me; when you threw me
out for the others."
"Others?" Ryouga repeated. "What others? There was only Nabik--"
Ryouga clapped a hand over his own mouth, realising what he had just said.
<Hibiki,> taunted an inner voice. <You haven't any brain.>
Ukyou's aura had shrunk to near-nothing. The shadows hid her face from
view. <So,> she thought, <that was her little 'mission of mercy' that
time. She was already sleeping with my husband, so she came to laugh at me.
Laugh at me for being so stupid. And I sat there and listened to it.> She
raised her face to meet Ryouga's.
"Whore."
Ryouga blinked. "Nani?"
"You're a whore. You slept with Nabiki, and she gave you her company in
payment. A company with enough power to get me away from Takamoshi and
his thugs, and you... did... NOTHING! You had wealth and influence, and yet
you did nothing with it. You just loafed around, enjoying your wealth. You
are a whore, Ryouga! You are a prostitute!"
"I did try! But Kyoofu had me in a deadlock! I couldn't get you out!
And after Nabiki died, it took months to get all the paperwork signed and
settled. I tried!"
"Oh, you tried, did you?" She knelt down next to her ex-husband. "Shall
I tell you of what I went through while I foolishly waited for you? Shall I
tell you of the innumerable combination of drugs Takamoshi 'prescribed' for
me, so I couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't? Shall I tell you of
how every day the orderlies would come in with scalpels and tubes and other
surgical equipment and make off with parts of me?" Her expression darkened
and her tone dropped to a whisper. "Shall I tell you of how after the
samples were taken, the orderlies would take 'special privileges' with me?"
Ryouga looked at her in shock. "Ok-Ukyou, you mean you were-"
Ukyou looked up sharply, remembered tears glistening in the corner of
her eyes. "Where were you?" she asked.
Ryouga's mind flashed back to that one letter, the one he had received
after the visits stopped. His heart broke all over again.
He turned, the shame renewed, not able to look at her face. "I
couldn't face you," he whispered.
Ukyou's own cold voice struck his back as if he hadn't said anything.
"Where were you when... when I cried at night because I just wanted to
be home?" Her voice began to tremble. "When I woke up screaming
because _you_ weren't next to me? Where were you then, Ryouga?" Her
voice, sharp with pain and bitterness, pierced the core of Ryouga's heart.
"You were... You were playing out your Tendo fantasies at home."
Ryouga spun, anger and horror flashing through his eyes. His teeth
were clenched, his jaw muscles working in almost human reflection of his
frustration. "No! No, Ukyou, I wasn't playing out my 'Tendo fantasies'!
You really want to know where I was?" She met his dark gaze with a look of
defiance, daring him to tell her the truth. "I was failing!! I was trying
to get you out of that damned place, back home _where_you_belonged_, and I
was failing with every step I took!"
Ukyou looked at his trembling body with utter contempt. "Right. How
convenient that the only thing you tried was the courts..."
The look that pinned Ukyou to the ground also tightened her throat
around her accusation. The pain in Ryouga's voice nearly crumbled the
walls she'd built around her heart, the hatred she'd felt for him since...
to her surprise, she could no longer remember.
Ryouga's voice was strained, his breathing, though not required, rapid
and shallow. "Ukyou, you sit there and think you have it all figured out.
You think I forgot you, that it was easy for me to lie in that huge bed and
feel empty space where there was warmth once? You think it was easy... if
so, you're a bigger fool than I am." Ukyou's mouth opened in anger, but
snapped shut as he continued. "I _did_ try to break you out. I was all
ready... I saw you asleep... all I could think about was getting you out,
holding you, and telling you how much I'd wished I'd done this sooner.
Then... Kyoofu showed up.. He was surrounded by four of the orderlies. Big
guys... One was that officer whose arm I broke... He told me..." Ryouga's
voice caught, the remembered failure draining his resolve. "He told me
he'd blacklist Kioku if I tried anything. He told me I couldn't visit
you until they did a review. I... I decided... to get Nabiki to help
me..."
Ukyou's anger flooded, almost to the level it had been before. "Why
not? She was already 'helping' you in other ways!"
"What are you _talking_ about?!? She _used_ me! She hurt Kasumi, and
blamed _me_ for it! She seduced me, made me betray you, all so she could
get what she wanted!"
Ukyou looked in his eyes. One thing she remembered about Ryouga came
crashing to the surface of her thoughts. <Hibiki Ryouga may have his
faults, but he's never lied to you.>
She mentally kicked herself for even wasting her time with him.
"J-just stay out of my way, Ryo- Ryouga." She stood and began to walk
off. "Leave Skeride to me. Leave it all to me."
She halted as words struck her back. "Running away, Oko-chan?"
She stopped dead in her tracks. "I told you, don't _ever_ call me that
again." Her words were forced, quiet, but she knew Ryouga heard. "I
told you, you don't deserve to call me that. Not when you slept with
Nabiki. Not when you walked out on me." The words sounded hollow to her in
the face of his own words. But one last memory blasted past her lips, the
pain too much to even try to hold it back. "Not when you didn't even show
up on my last birthday."
Ryouga's own voice, also a whisper, floated on the breeze to her. The
sadness and hurt in that small whisper reminded her of the pain she felt
when she visited the graves of her former love and his fiancee.
"I did."
Ukyou turned and faced her...husband? No, it had been far too many
years for her to allow herself to call him that. Had he? Had he actually
visited her?
"No," she replied quietly. "I remember. You didn't show up."
"No, you're right." Ryouga admitted. Ukyou began to feel her spiritual
heart sink. "I arrived the next day. In the afternoon. They-they told me
you died the night before. And STILL, still Takamoshi refused to let me see
you! As if you were still a danger to his precious Institute!"
Ukyou returned to Ryouga's side. "What-" she swallowed. "What did you
do?"
"Kyoofu no longer had a hold on me, so I busted my way in and rescued
you..."
* * * * *
Ryouga dashed down the corridors of the Institute, Ukyou's body
cradled in his arms. Tears were streaming down his face. They had taken her
from him! His WIFE! They had taken one of the kindest, gentlest souls he'd
ever met in his years of aimless wandering and destroyed her.
There had been an old saying which had been altered somewhat in
Japan over the last few decades: Hell hath no fury like a Hibiki scorned.
Ryouga had already left three guards with broken limbs, another two would
need full body casts and as for the ex-cop that wanted the rematch... well,
they were making wonderful new advances in respirator technology.
Ryouga wasn't stupid, however. He had taken care to disguise himself
in the tattered brown cloak and goggles he'd used while wandering in the
desert before he'd arrived in Shikoku. The black clothing was an added
help.
He was almost out. There was only one other thing he needed to do.
The door to Takamoshi's office exploded. Bits of steel reinforced wood
showered the office proper. Takamoshi instinctively hit the floor, trying
to avoid the shower of building materials. He cowered under his desk as he
heard someone enter the room. There was a rustle of leather as something
was laid on the sofa. Then a pair of black shoes came into his field of
vision. The feet were pointed away from him, then turned, and again so they
were facing him.
The desk was suddenly ripped away, bathing Takamoshi in brightness.
He squinted upward at the cloaked figure that was silhouetted against the
picture window of his office. The figure reached down, and hoisted the
not-so-good doctor up by the collar of his coat until he was nose to nose
with the goggled assailant. The lenses of the goggles were mirror-tinted,
so Takamoshi could only see his fat, terrified, middle-aged face in them.
"Know this," the figure said in a harsh whisper. "I will return, and
put an end to all the misery and suffering you've caused. She," the figure
gestured at the body of Hibiki Ukyou that was laying on the sofa. "will be
your last victim."
With this, his assailant dropped Takamoshi, picked up the body and
dove through the window.
Three days later, Hibiki Ukyou was buried. The engraving on the marker
said simply 'Sumimasen.'
* * * * *
Ukyou studied Ryouga. He cared, he really did care. She believed him
now. He did care for her. Why else would he do such a thing for her? But
still, there was a part of her that refused to believe it, that felt he was
still hiding something. It was this part that prompted her to ask her next
question.
"Why are you here, Ryouga? Don't tell me it was to become the
champion of Nerima's dead. What happened? Did you get lost again?" her
attempt at humour fell flat.
Ryouga tensed. What to do? Dare he tell her that he'd gotten lost
because he'd seen Akane at the side of his body as he was leaving? Or
should he just say that he'd gotten lost? Ryouga struggled with a dilemma
he'd not dealt with since he was a teenager. He decided he wouldn't lie to
her again.
The words came out on their own.
"I stayed because...I saw Akane as I was leaving."
The original phrase was 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'.
And in Ukyou's case, it was quite literal. The green ki flames
returned, burning with a fury he had only seen when she had returned.
"So." was all she said.
Ryouga watched as his former spouse walked across the roof to Minnako.
The two women spoke for a while, then he watched Ukyou raise a hand above
Minnako's head. Within moments, Minnako was surrounded by a field of green
ki. After a moment, Minnako became a mere shadow inside the field. And
when the field faded, there was no trace of the spirit. Ryouga stood and
walked over to where Ukyou was preparing to leave. He placed a hand on her
arm.
"Ukyou, please..."
Ukyou stiffened as if to throw his arm off, then relaxed. Her next
words came out quietly.
"I've sent Minnako to where she needs to be." She turned to look at the
Wanderer. "I don't want to see you anymore, Ryouga. But if you insist on
interfering...our other son's name is Sable."
With that, there was a second flash and Ryouga found himself back in
the cemetery. He was conscious of only one thought.
<I've lost her. I've lost the only woman I've ever truly loved. No! I
refuse to let that happen! I love her, and she loves me! She's just
forgotten! Forgotten how much she meant to me! I must find a way to prove
my love...>
After a moment, an idea came into his head.
Ukyou stared at the spot Ryouga had been standing in, before she sent
him away. Despite his confession, she had not sent him away in anger.
<I-I don't love him anymore. That's the truth of it, isn't it? I've
fallen out of love with him. Then why did I tell him Sable's name? Do I
truly want his help? I-I->
The tears began to form again, and Ukyou closed her eyes as the sun
began to come up over the horizon. Then, quiet as a breath of wind that
blows through a meadow, she spoke:
"Ryo-chan..."
"To repeat tonight's top story; the historic Tokyo Institute for the
Criminally Insane was destroyed today in an explosion of unknown origin.
The former mental hospital and now museum was completely obliterated in
what some are beginning to call an 'Act of God'..."
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FIN
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