[Ranma/SM][FanFic] The Phoenix Prince Saga Book 2, Part 5, Chapter 3
Linda Ward
It had been nearly three years now. A long period of time for
such a small child. Not that she knew that it had been over two
years. No. She was, after all, only 12 years old. And she had been
without human companionship during those years. But still, it had
been a long time, and that she was aware of.
She knew that she had lost her parents, her older sister, and
her little brother during a time of great confusion before she was
alone. She knew that as well as she knew her freckled features and
mangy reddish mane from her reflection in the lake's waters.
She had gone back. To the place where she had last seen her
family. She had even found them once more. But they didn't want
her. No. They didn't want her at all. They had just laid there on
the ground and refused to get up and come with her or take her
home. They had just laid there and been cold to her. Then, when she
came back sometime later, they were gone. They had left her behind.
But that was alright. She didn't need them anymore. She knew
how to take care of herself. The animals helped her from time to
time. So she had forgotten her name a long time ago? She didn't need
a name. She didn't need anything.
But that didn't mean that she didn't want for things. That
she didn't sometimes cast her hopes and dreams into the skies to ride
on the tails of the falling stars in her strange pidgin tongue. That
she didn't wish for things.
Because she did. She wished she had a home and a family that
still loved her. That wouldn't leave her like her family had.
She wished she had a name. It didn't have to be anything
fancy, but it would be nice to have a name. Some way to tell who she
was apart from anything and anyone else in the whole world.
But most of all, she was lonely. She was human, after all. And
humans are, by nature, sociable creatures, herd animals as it were. And
the days got longer and the nights got colder, and she was alone. So
terribly alone.
And she would howl her sorrows into the wind so that they
would be carried away to the distant full moon and trouble her no
more as the wolf pack did. But she was not a wolf, and the sorrows
followed her. She could not leave them behind, and so her nights were
oft marked by small dark stains upon the bundled hide pillow which
could have been made by tears. Tears, if she wasn't a warrior. And
warriors never, ever cry.
But she was so terribly lonely. And she did wish for a
companion. A friend. Someone, anyone, who would be there for
her. Someone upon whom she could depend forever and always. Someone to
help carry her many sorrows. So she cast that particular wish in every
direction.
She just hoped that someday her wish could come true. And so
every night, she laid down, after casting her wish, and fell asleep
under the velvet skies.
**********
It was approaching the night when she heard them. Horses. She
remembered horses. There had been horses in the village. They had
pulled things for people. People had ridden them during the great
confusion. And, most importantly, she had never heard them in her
part of the forest where she was so lonely.
She could only think of one answer to the question posed by
the jingling of harness and the quiet rustling and clopping that
marked the passage of horses through the underbrush. People had come
to her part of the forest! They had come to her! She was not to be
lonely anymore! And with a glad cry, she had raced through the trees
upon silent feet to where she had heard the horses coming from.
When she arrived, the horses were no longer moving. They had
been tied to long sticks thrust into the ground. Their riders clustered
about a flickering fire in the center of the clearing. Some others
stood around in a big circle, staring out into the night as if
searching for something. She wondered what they were looking for, as
they didn't seem to be finding it.
Then the riders had laid down upon the ground and not
moved. She supposed they were asleep, and quickly scurried up into a
tree so as to find safe resting place for the night. Pulling her hide
cloak about her and tucking the rough hood behind her head to serve as
a pillow, she drifted off to sleep.
**********
She awoke with the dawn, and the clanking sound of men in
armor clambering about. Silently ghosting down the tree, she slipped
around to where she could watch better. Surely they were coming to
meet her now, she thought with a smile.
Then they pulled up the long sticks and climbed on the horses
and began to ride away! With a frightened expression on her face she
had raced down the hill to their caravan. "Muhate! Muhate!" she
screamed as she ran.
Many of the riders and some on foot looked back at her but
kept on riding. She slowed and finally came to a stop, gazing
forlornly at the backs of the riders that had already passed her. They
had not meant to be her friends after all.
Then, to her surprise, one rider had slowed his horse to a
stop beside her. She looked up in a daze. The horse was a big one,
with a reddish coat. And there, on his back, sat the most perfect man
she had ever seen. He shone with an inner light and, as he smiled down
at her, his dark eyes seemed to burn with a mirror of the fire from
last night.
"Ohayo, Kodomo no Mori." He spoke with a voice that almost
commanded reverence from all that heard it. "Do you need a ride,
little one?"
She nodded slowly, hoping beyond hope that this was the
friend she had longed for for so long. He reached down a gold encase
hand to her, and, as she grasped it, pulled her up behind him on the
red stallion. He glanced back over his shoulder with a smile. "Be
careful now, Kodomo no Mori. I'm riding to battle. Can you stay on?"
"Hai, Ojisama." She whispered, grateful that he seemed to
speak her tongue.
*********
The battle had been long and difficult, but they had
persevered and now their enemies laid defeated before them. She
and her new friend rode back slowly, dragging the bandit king's
corpse behind the stallion. She had recognized him as the man that
had made her family not want her anymore. So she had killed him. Now
she had a sword like her Ojisama! She had even given it a name! _Shino
Doroboo_! A fine name for a fine sword! True too.
"Oi! Shima-sama! There you are! We were getting worried!"
"Don't worry about me, Deshino Endymion! I had a good luck
charm for this battle!"
Shima-sama? Was that his name? Shima? She smiled. It was a
good name for her wonderful new friend.
"Oi? Good luck charm? Who, the kid?!"
"So, what's her name, Shima-sama?"
He smiled down at me where he was holding her onto the front
of the saddle before him, as the rope holding the corpse was tied
where she was last sitting. Then he looked back up at the men in the
bloody field. "This? Oh, you should know her! This is my Kodomo no
Ran!"
Everyone laughed at that. Then Endymion himself rode up.
"It's good to see you safe, Shima-san. And you too, Kodomo no
Ran." He looked up to Shima-sama at that. "You know, Shima-san that
is truly a mouthful to say time an again. Why not we just call her..
Ranko? It gets the point across as sure as Kodomo no Ran..."
"What do you think of that, Kodomo no Ran? Would you like that
to be your name? Ranko?"
She couldn't believe it. All her dreams were coming true!
First a friend and now a name! She smiled up at him and nodded
happily. "Hai, Shima-sama! I would like that much much!"
Shima and Endymion laughed, but it was Shima alone whom
spoke. "Then that shall be your name! Everyone, I'd like you to meet
my guardian angel of the battlefield! Ranko!"
She drifted off to slumber in the arms of her newfound friend
and buoyed on the sound of cheering with a smile on her face.
**********
Ranko flopped happily down onto her cot in Shima's
quarters. It had been quite a fun game she had been playing with
Akai-sama. Even though it seemed as though Akai-sama had been becoming
quite frustrated. But not as frustrated as Shima-sama became whenever
he got finished dealing with Akai-sama! She giggled a little at that
thought and rolled over to face the wall where she idly traced the
outlines of the stones that made up its surface.
And then that cute boy from Earth had asked her out! His name
was Marcus and she was quite head over heels at the moment. She rolled
back on to her back and spread her arms wide with a happy
sigh. Everything was going so much better than it had in the forest!
She had a family, and a name, and a home, and, and everything!
Then, abruptly, she swung her feet back over the edge of the
cot and sat up. Now, if that annoying pest Kuno Ikari would just leave
her alone everything would be solidly in the realm of perfect! She
growled in frustration of her own as she thought of that pervert who
kept on trying and trying to sleep with her as though she had no self
respect.
She had a distinct feeling that he would have done the same to
her friend Akai-sama if she hadn't so obviously outranked him and been
deemed completely out of his reach by the head of his clan. She growled
again, and her fingers curved into their familiar claw shapes as she
thought of the touch of that filthy beast. She swore that if he even
dared to try that again she would personally insure that he had no
more children!
Then she sighed and leaned back against the wall while staring
idly at the door to the Sacred Fire Chamber where Shima was
ensconced. Right there, behind that door, she figured was the biggest
obstacle in the way of a real friendship with Akai-sama. Shima-sama
himself. Akai-sama always seemed so... so mad whenever Ranko talked
with other guys when Shima was around. It was almost as if... as
if...
Ranko sat bolt upright again with a hastily stifled
giggle. Akai-sama couldn't possibly be thinking _that_ now could
she?! Ranko flung herself face down into the pillow to muffle her
suddenly outrageous laughter. Akai-sama thinking that Ranko and...
and Shima-sama! She couldn't help laughing!
Slowly she sat up and wiped away the tears that had trickled
down her face as she ran out of laughter. But if that was the problem
between her and Akai-sama it could surely be remedied. All she had to
do was explain her relationship with Shima to the older girl. Beside,
Shima wasn't _that_ way as far as Ranko knew!
Still... Akai-sama thinking something like that!
Ranko's pillow soon found itself home to another round of
giggle fits.
**********
Ranko raced head-long through the thick underbrush on feet
that long remembered the way to move silently through even the
thickest growth with speed that resulted from terror and panic. She
was being chased. Through the forests that had so long been her home
before Shima-sama had come to them. It was betrayal of the ultimate to
the yet youthful girl.
She had traveled down to the Earthian forest as a messenger to
the Amazonian tribes that filled these tangled areas. She had come on
behalf of Shima-sama and Akai-sama. She had come bearing tidings of
the coming nuptials between her most beloved of friends. She had come
with good tidings and bearing gifts to the friendly warrior women.
She had been followed.
It was a the second village on her route that she had been
warned. A young mother still bearing her darling little girl,
Kuh-long, her arms had been the bearer of ill tidings. As Ranko
had leaned over the pretty babe and made the proper exclamations of
wonderment at the tiny life, the young mother had whispered her news
into the girl's ear.
"You are being followed, little one."
Ranko had looked up with a smile on her face, but confusion in
her eyes.
"There is a strange man always behind you as you travel. The
young warriors have been following him for sometime now, guarding you
as you travel." The woman paused to smile at some small comment Ranko
had made about her child before continuing. "However, this man bears a
steel blade and we have only enough steel to guard the village from
the Musk now. The girls are armed only in bone, wood, stone, and glass
and I must say that I fear for my comrades. We have not long been at
war. I hope nothing evil comes from your follower."
And that, as they say, had been that. Ranko had bid her
farewells and continue as she knew she must. She was aware of her
tail by this time and began taking efforts to lose him. But it was
for naught.
He had attacked halfway between the village where tiny
Kuh-long slept and the newest of villages at Joketsu. The brave Amazon
warriors had fought valiantly and died quickly with honor before the
mad man's fierce onslaught. Their deaths had not been for nothing
though. Ranko had used the time afforded by their brave, if foolish,
struggle to vanish into the undergrowth to the side of the trail.
She had been running for several hours now. Plunging ever
deeper into the darkness of the twisted maze the forest provided. She
knew who it was that followed her now. It was the same, deadly fool
that had been stalking her since the day Shima first introduced her
properly to her Majesty, the Queen Serenity V, in court. Kuno Ikari
had never learned to take no for an answer, despite the beating
frequently imposed upon his person by her friends and herself.
Now he had dived far off the cliffs of reason into the ocean
of dementia. He had actually bared steel against the named ward of the
Phoenix Prince. His life was completely and utterly forfeit if Ranko
ever emerged from these woods, and he knew it.
She knew she would not leave these woods alive, and yet she
also knew that if she allowed Kuno Ikari to catch her she would suffer
a fate far, far worse then any possible death. She saw but one last
answer.
Pools were all that remained of the once great lake that she
had lived near all those years ago. And that was where she was
headed. She knew that the pools were deep, very, very deep. She had
often dived into them during trips back to the area with Shima and
the girls as they had trained above her on the long poles Shima had
sank into the earth. They were her last hope to escape Kuno Ikari and
his sword. Both of his swords, metal and otherwise.
At long last she burst into the clearing that held the pools
with the last of her flagging energy. It had been a long time since
she had found need to run that fast or that far. She staggered through
the maze of pools until she reached the center.
It was there she stood, pulling every ounce of ki that Shima
had taught her to harness to her, when Kuno Ikari burst into the
clearing his eyes mad with his dementia and his sword upraised. His
formal Royal Earthian garb was tattered and torn, and blood ran from
many injuries, yet he bore on after her with teeth bared in a snarling
grimace.
"Stop." Her voice, quiet though it was, bore the same
commanding power that she had once recognized in Shima long
before. Kuno Ikari staggered slowly to a halt, the madness slowly
taking second place to confusion. She looked up and met his gaze and
he recoiled bodily from those glowing white orbs that energy fair
crackled from.
"Oh, stranger, tread lightly." She whispered, the sound
rolling over and about the clearing, growing in strength, growing in
power. "'Tis holy ground here. In Death's cold embrace, the Soldier
sleepth here. On the red field of battle our brave Comrade died, and
his last smile I caught as I knelt by his side."
The power growing in the clearing cracked and sparked across
the pools. Ranko merely continued on her way, slowly striding forward
towards one of the deepest ponds, knowing she was beyond exhaustion.
"Oh his lips they were smiling, he feared not to die, and his
ear caught the shout as it rose to the sky. For 'Victory is ours!' his
comrades cried. 'Thank god.' Said the Soldier and, smiling, he died."
Her foot touched the surface of the pond but failed to sink.
Instead, she tread upon the water itself.
"Sleep well, my young Soldier, and soft shall be our tread
upon this holy ground where lies the noble dead. And you who are
listening, may you look upon this grave, and be proud, of your brother
Soldier brave."
She slowly strode ever further towards the center, never
flagging in either speech or stride.
"May God help his mother, her sadness to bear. May God help
the Widow, of he who lies here. May he help the Orphans, their little
hearts grieve, who no more shall a fond father's kiss receive. And
stranger tread lightly, 'tis holy ground here. In Death's cold
embrace, the Soldier sleepth there. 'Tis the grave of the hero neath
the grass covered sod. His spirit's in Heaven, at home with his God."
She now stood in the center of the pond and simply stood there
as the power snapping and crackling about her rose to new heights.
"Sleep well, my young Soldier, and soft shall be our tread
upon all this holy ground where lies the noble dead. And you who are
listening, may you look upon this grave and be proud of your brother
Soldier brave."
With the sounding of the last word, Ranko sank down far
beneath the sill surface of the pool. She didn't even attempt to
grasp at the long pole that protruded from the water beside her. She
simply sank deeper and deeper until she was no longer within sight
through the clear waters.
Then suddenly the clearing exploded in light and power as
the energies that had been building throughout the clearing suddenly
found themselves released from what had previously bound them. When
the light finally cleared, Kuno Ikari was no more. Where once had
stood the most insane man of the Realms, who had so many illegitimate
and legitimate progeny scattered about the 10 Kingdoms that some
referred to him as the Evil Father, now was a small dumpy man in
a ragged old robe and hat crouched.
"I.. I am... I am the Guide.." he muttered dimly as he set
about gathering supplies to construct a new home for himself within
the clearing.
Many years later, the Guide would meet with one who was his
many, many times over great-grandson. But that would not be for a
great while. And he would no longer be aware of the meaning of the Kuno
name to him.
For now, Shima's sole companion outside of the Senshi and
his new wife, Akai, had drowned herself in a pool that she had once
played in so carefreely. And in her desperate action made to escape
a deranged man, she had cursed the entire clearing. Now the pools
held within them the image of the form that had drowned within them
for all eternity until that image was released by a living creature
falling within it without drowning.
--
Look not for me in bright of day
Look not in dark of night
I am but a solitary figment
Alone created of your mind.
-
Siobhan Recca
The Cybernetic Ninja