***************** * Illuminations * ***************** ************************** * A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction * ************************** *************** * By Freemage * *************** *Author's Note: This story draws on both the anime and the manga. This is a dark story, with several sexually suggestive scenes, although no outright Lemon scenes. If such material offends or disturbs you, please consider not reading this story--Unless, of course, you like being offended and/or disturbed.... Thoughts are denoted by {X}, text/Panda signs by [X].* ********************* * Chapter Eighteen * * Pursuit & Capture * ********************* Akane sped through the night, pushing herself to new extremes of speed and balance as she chased the flash of red hair and shirt that was the only part of her fiance she could make out in the gloom of the streetlamps. {Nuh-uh. No way. I let you down once, not again.} This litany, with slight variations, had replaced conscious thought several minutes prior, when she had realized she was about to lose sight of the redhead. A whiplike arc of lightning brought a brief illumination to the obstacle course that was Ranma's regular stomping grounds. Chimneys, TV antennas and power lines were cast in stark relief by the harsh, unforgiving light before plunging back into darkness. Even as the rolling thunder began to fade, Akane felt the first drops of what promised to be a bear of a storm, judging by the winds that had picked up over the previous half hour. {Just great. More rain. Why does the weather around here feel the need to punctuate every fucking disaster?!} Redoubling her efforts yet again, she pressed onward over the Nerima rooftops and fences. *********************************************************** Soun Tendou moved with all the stealth of a mute ninja in a silent movie. Without so much as the squeak of a hinge, the stairwell to the attic unfolded from the ceiling and settled noiselessly to the hallway floor. With the skill of long experience, he moved up the steps, skipping the third, which he knew to be unreliable when it came to silent passage. Clutching his jar of petroleum jelly in one hand, he eased himself through the hole in the ceiling which he had come to regard as the Gates of Paradise. He paused, listening to the sound of the remaining female occupants of the house easing themselves into the furo. Soon, very soon now. As quietly as a cat's padded foot, his hand settled to the floor so that he could hoist himself up into the gloom of the unlit attic. *CRACK!!* Soun howled with shock and pain as his hand was snared by what felt like the maw of a snapping turtle, painfully cutting into the knuckles of his first three fingers. Thrown off-balance, he tipped over backward, the lower part of his back striking the far edge of the attic entrance. Momentum caused him to slam, back first, to the attic floor. As he struck, the impact knocked the wind out of his chest even as it knocked the jar from his other hand. He retained just enough presence of mind to realize he was about to fall off the ledge, and not enough to even consider the possibility that that might be preferable to remaining where he was. With a Herculean effort, he brought his legs up from the hole and tucked in a roll to his right. As he came down on his side, *CRACK!!* another vise closed on the fleshy part of his right bicep. He began to thrash wildly, almost unaware of the subsequent attacks by his unseen foes. It seemed as if dozens of the beasts were seizing his garments and his flesh in their steely pincers. Finally, after an eternity of pain crammed into a few seconds' time, another assault scored, severing a piece off the top of his left ear. Maddened beyond rational thought, the Tendou patriarch tumbled frantically to, and then through, the hole leading to the relative safety of the upstairs hall. He landed poorly, smashing the fold-out staircase to worthless kindling, and lay crumpled in a defeated heap. As he slipped into unconsciousness, some dark corner of his mind realized that four legs approaching him were very wet, very well-formed and very naked. "Father!" "Tendou-san!" *********************************************************** It was a cold, driving rain, the kind that bites the flesh like a thousand thousand knives, each painful slice leeching the life and warmth out of anyone unfortunate to be caught in it. The chill night wind ripped at the back of Akane's throat as she gulped it down, not so much breathing as devouring the air, and yet still she pressed on. Sometimes she would close to within mere feet of Ranma, while other times she fell back nearly a full city block, but she never once lost sight of the fiery red ponytail which drew her on, a lighthouse guiding a ship to a safe port during a tempest. Suddenly, she did lose sight of her quarry, as the other girl, only half a block ahead, whipped around the corner of a deserted-looking building without even slowing her breakneck pace. Fear drew out strength she didn't even know was within her: fear that if she failed to catch up, immediately, she would never see Ranma again; strength to run with a speed that made her previous efforts seem feeble by comparison. She dashed around the corner of the building, ready to upturn the city if that's what it took. It wasn't necessary. Ranma was there. *********************************************************** Pain greeted him as he awoke. A huge throbbing pain from his right hand. A searing heat from his left ear. A sharp, stabbing pain from the back of his skull. Dull aches from innumerable locations across his entire body. Slowly, Soun Tendou forced his eyes open, wincing at the sharpness of the rays of light that cut into his eyes like a thousand knives. The two most beautiful faces he had ever seen hovered over him, guardian angels who had obviously been caring for him while he slept. A pity that they had apparently had time to get dressed. "Father?" The voice had a subtle, musical quality that stirred both the soul and, truth be told, the loins. "Are you all right? I've made you some tea. I'm so very sorry." "Now, now, Dear, it wasn't your fault." A second voice; gentle, yet firm; sweet, yet substantial; soothing, yet erotic. "You were just trying to help." "Yes, but if I hadn't--" The second voice, interrupting. "No. I won't hear of it. Far too much has gone on today for you to be heaping more anxiety upon yourself." Nodoka turned her attention to the fallen man. "You see, Kasumi explained to me while you were... resting." {Ah, Saotome. I understand now why you married this woman. Her understanding, and compassion, allowing me to keep my pride undamaged.... I shall watch over her, as I know you would wish, were you still here to say so.} The thoughts flashed through his mind even as he spoke. "Whatever do you mean, Nodoka-chan?" Shifting, as though this sudden familiarity were uncomfortable, the matriarch of the recently reduced Saotome clan still managed a smile. "Well, it seems Kasumi has been hearing noises in the attic of late, and was concerned it might be rats. So, she took the precaution of laying out a series of traps to catch the beasts. Unfortunately, the whole affair with that blasted Panda completely overshadowed any thought of informing the rest of us about the arrangement. Regrettable, given the result, but not incomprehensible." Soun turned his head to meet his eldest daughter's gaze. As he did so, he realized he had been moved while unconscious to his own room. Mustering his best 'Stern Father' expression, he asked her, "Kasumi, is this true?" Blushing, she nodded mutely, the faintest hint of a tear glistening from her left eye. Seeing that expression, he could no longer maintain the ruse. Both women sat back, startled expressions dominating their features as Soun laughed aloud. "Is that all? Please, Kasumi my dear, set it aside. Think nothing of it. Honestly, the way you were carrying on, I thought you might have gone on an axe-murdering spree." Now both women joined in with his laughter, although Kasumi still had a slight blush giving her cheeks a subtle color. "Now that that's settled, I shall partake of a bath myself, and clean some of these cuts a bit more." Soun sat up, stood, and fell in a painful-looking heap. "Oh, no!" He wasn't sure which of his companions had uttered that exclamation, but he agreed wholeheartedly. With a hiss, he explained, "My ankle seems to have twisted somewhat in the fall. Do you two mind helping me to the bath? I hate to impose...." Reaching over and moving herself into position to support most of the weight on his left side, Nodoka interrupted. "Nonsense. It is no imposition at all. Really, you men." Kasumi simply smiled and took her father's other arm, and the trio moved somewhat unevenly down the hall to the bathroom. *********************************************************** "So." "Uh... So." "Well?" "Well... what?" "What. Do. You. Want?" Akane frowned. This conversation was going nothing like she had been hoping. Onna-Ranma was being way too cold for her to feel comfortable. The position the redhead had taken, standing on a fence with a streetlight just behind her head, so that she seemed like some sort of living shadow, wasn't helping matters. {It's almost like she planned that pose....} Akane dismissed the thought as unnecessarily paranoid. "I want to talk." "So talk." Akane swallowed, counting to five in her head before responding. "No. I want _you_ to talk. I want to listen. You... you've had a horrible shock. You need to talk to somebody." The shadowed figure, so familiar and yet so alien, emitted a derisive snort. "Will wonders never cease? First my worthless fleabag of a father decides to find his honor, and now my fiancee is showing signs of actual empathy. Now all's we need is for your father to grow a spine, Kasumi a brain and Nabiki a heart, and whole house will actually qualify as members of the human race. Even if my mother is stuck in the feudal era." Akane reeled under the litany of anger, as if Ranma's words struck her with greater impact because she was below the other girl. "Why are you doing this?" she asked, tearfully. "Maybe because I'm tired of it all. Because I'm tired of fiancees, challenge matches and neurotic families. Or maybe because I'm tired of watching the body count around this place rack up, wondering when it'll be--when it'll be me that gets it." "So. You're just going to leave us here?" "You got it. Whatever's going on, it probably won't be striking two different places at the same time. My best bet is to get as far away as possible." "I--I don't believe this! You'll just get out and leave me and my family... and--and head for the horizon? What about your mother? What kind of son leaves his--?" A sharp, barking laughter ended her retort. "Son?! What son? Take a look, Akane!" The redhead turned so her profile was highlighted by the streetlight. "I don't see any sons here! As long as I've got these...." She paused, running her hands over her cursed form's ample curves to accentuate her point. "... I'm not anyone's son! Do I look like much of a 'son' to you?" Finally, the familiar rage, stung into wakefulness by her fiance's hateful words, took hold. "No. No, I guess I don't. And I don't think I'd see one even if you had the 'manliest' body on Earth." Tears streaming down her cheeks to mix with the rain water, she fled into the darkness. Onna-Ranma stared after the fleeing form until the other girl was lost to sight. "Just keep telling yourself: It had to be done." Turning to the abandoned building with a sigh, she placed her hands on her hips. "Now down to business." *********************************************************** "Here we are, Father," Kasumi said cheerfully, if somewhat unnecessarily. "Thank you. Thank you both." Carefully he allowed himself to be lowered to the stool, still in his robes. "We'll be downstairs, making some more tea. Let us know when you are finished, and we shall assist you in returning to your bedroom, Tendou-san." "Again, thank you." As the two women reached the door to the outer room of the bath, they heard a sharp intake of breath that bespoke of vicious agony. "Oh, Father, are you all right?" his eldest daughter asked worriedly, as she turned to check on him again. He was clutching his arm to his side, his face obviously struggling to keep a firm facade of control. He said, in short gasps, "It would seem... that my... leg is not... the only thing... I have sprained...." Nodoka studied the situation for a moment, then spoke. "Well, I guess it's up to one of us. Kasumi, do you want to help him bathe, or do you trust me to be in here alone with your father?" The last was said with a twinkle of humour that the younger woman completely missed. "Oh! I'm sure you would never do anything inappropriate, Auntie Saotome. Still, it might not look totally proper.... Perhaps it would be best if I handled him, and you took care of the tea." Soun was uncertain if it was real or just wishful thinking, but he thought he detected a look of disappointment in the sultry depths of Nodoka's eyes. "Yes, I suppose that would be best." The elder woman nodded and turned to leave. "Be sure to call if you need any help." "I will, Auntie," replied Kasumi, before turning her full attention to her father. "Now, how should we do this...." Her voice trailed off for a moment as she stepped behind her father, only to be replaced by the whisper of cloth on skin. "Kasumi? What are you doing?" "Well, Father, I can hardly wash your injuries in my bathrobe--it would get soaking wet. Besides," she added with obvious humor, "it's not like you haven't seen it all before." Her words had an electric effect on Soun. Panic at being discovered warred with relief at the secret being out and done with. Keeping his voice calm with an iron will, he started to phrase his next question. "You... you mean...." "Well, after all," Kasumi interrupted, "you did bathe all of us when we were growing up, now didn't you?" If Soun didn't think it would have killed him with agony, he would have facefaulted. *********************************************************** A forlorn P-Chan wandered the empty halls of his current maze-like prison in confusion and frustration. He had, at first, managed to keep Akane barely in sight, even as she pursued her overwhelmed fiancee. Then the rains had come. It had taken no time at all for P-Chan, with his short legs, to fall hopelessly behind his peers. And with the course the trio had been following around the city, he probably would have been lost even with a normal sense of direction. So he wandered, lost, confused and frustrated, until he managed to slip into an open door and out of the rain. Now he wandered the halls, which always seemed so cavernous in this form, trying to find some hot water and slip out unnoticed. "Well, there you are! I was wondering about where you had gotten to!" Ryouga froze at the familiar tones. It was only with great trepidation that he managed to look over his shoulder. And into the eyes of Nodoka Saotome. Panic flooded the piglet, locking his muscles with a paralytic fear. Unable to move, he was helplessly lifted up the mother of his greatest rival. "I think you should come with me. We've had enough pets lost in this household for one day. You can sleep with me tonight." The mental picture of Ranma's reaction to walking in on _that_ was enough to break P-Chan's paralysis. He began squirming, desperate to get away, and so ensured his doom. For his struggles, and Nodoka's efforts to contain them, caused her bathrobe to slip open, enough to offer a view that Soun had been attempting to acquire for days. Nodoka carried the fainted piglet back to her room, and lay down to sleep. *********************************************************** End Chapter 18 Chapter 19: Rolling With the PunchesAuthor's Notes: Gah! It just gets sicker and sicker, don't it? It's interesting to see how far I can go without actually crossing the line set up by the GeoCities regs, you know? Much of the next chapter is already mapped out, so it should follow in less time than it took to bring out this one (I hope).