Subject: [Ranma 1/2] Village tale: chapter 1

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 11:49:43 +0000

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V I L L A G E    T A L E      

A Ranma ½ fanfic co-written by Rabbit AND Adrian Wong.

All relevent characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi and some others
that I don't know of. The story belongs to me and my co-author,
legally ^_^

Adrian: I'm not subscribed to the list!  Please C&C through private
email to <[email-masked]> 
Rabbit: Let me know what you think
either through the list or at [email-masked]

Japanese dialogues in " "
Chinese dialogues in  [ ]
Thoughts in < >
Illusory sounds in / /
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.

Chapter 1: Farewells and  Revelations

    Ranma looked out over the guarded rail of junk that was going to
    take them
   To China.  A feeling of melancholy had settled over him as he
   stared at the receding coast line.  

No one had shown up to see him leave.  

Even though he knew that THIS would have been the outcome, Ranma had
held a faint hope that he might see a familiar face, but it was not
meant to be.

Not even his mother had shown up. 

<I can't really say I'm suprised though . . .> Ranma thought to
himself dully,  <but this is for the best, it really is . . .> he
tried to convince himself over and over again.  <Everybody would be a
lot happier this way . . . >

He turned around, away from the fading vision of his homeland with a
resigned look.  It was then that he caught sight of another vision, a
vision of violet in all its glory.

A rich flow of purple hair, plus a simple Chinese skirt of the same
tone of colour adorned the face and figure of the exotic girl leaning
on the rail some distance away from Ranma, forcing every bystander's
eyes to glance toward her way.   Sunlight illuminated her, giving her
ivory complexion an almost golden glow.  Seemingly unaware of
everybody's attention on her, she stared down at the waves with a
subtly anguished look on her face.  Her lips moved, and as if by a
trick of the wind, Ranma managed to hear her whisper:

"Cowards . . . weak, terrible cowards!"

"Shampoo . . ."  Ranma spoke up in a sad voice, " . . . you don't know
the lengths that my clan and hers will go to uphold their dignity, if
only . . ." 

Shampoo blushed off a sheen of flowing hair with the back of her hand
as she   turned to stare at him with violet flame in her starlit eyes.

"Shampoo know: Cat-fu, arranged marriages, all said done for good of
Ranma.  If they real care for good of Ranma, why no accept Ranma for
who he is?  Why no even come see Ranma off?"  Shampoo spoke even
louder in a righteous voice.  "If Shampoo one in bridal gown with man
she love in Church, she no will let go of him if entire village stand
between them!"

Ranma smiled appreciatively, his eyes melting.  "And I always knew you
won't."

To his puzzlment, Shampoo seemed be taken back as she saw that smile. 
The fire in her cooled off, completely replace by embarrassment."

"Aiya . . .wind very strong today: Shampoo go back inside."

With that, the girl sprinted across the deck and hastily ran into the
lobby.

Ranma blinked.  <Now what was all that about?> 

His puzzlement was interrupted as a steady thump on the deck boards
moved towards him.  "Hello Cologne" he said without turning back.

"Ranma."

The tiredness in the aged voice startled Ranma, causing him to look
back at the old woman, whose expression betrayed a weariness that she
seldom allowed anyone to see in the past.  Cologne turned away from
his questioning gaze.

<That idiot . . .>  Cologne thought back to the night that she spent
with Happosai as she gritted her teeth, <what have either of us got to
gain by doing what we did that night?>

Yes, that night up on the roofs was a pretty picture, a beautiful
dream, but what good is it now that they were both making love not
truly to one another but to the ghosts of one another?

As Col-chan detached herself from Happi that night, he laid back on
the roof with his misty eyes gazing up the stars.  

"Is it what it would have been like?"  he asked.

"No," Col-chan said evenly without looking at him as she pulled on her
Chinese robe, "We wouldn't have been so tense and wary of each other
had we done this a century ago."

Happi remained silent.

Tossing her dark tresses away from her face, she stared back at Happi,
who was staring up at the stars with a lost look on his then youthful,
innocent face.   Col-chan's heart couldn't help but soften at the
sight.  She spoke up in a tender voice:

"What's gone . . . is gone, can't you see?"

With that, she leaped into the night, melting with it, and pushed
their past away from her heart forever.

Long as she could anyway.

Still, what was in the past was in the past, what's in the present is
what's important at the moment. 

In the beginning, she was glad that Ranma was interested in Shampoo
for a change.  Her great-granddaughter had certainly been put through
enough trouble and heartache in her pursuit of the handsome boy.  She
certainly deserved having her love reciprocated.

But why was she refusing it?

Could it be . . .?

<And how should I find out if that's the case or not?> she asked to
herslf.

Then the answer came to her.

 <Well, he needs to learn the language, and now is as good of a time
 as any to start teaching him.>  

With that, Colonge spoke up again. "Boy, it's time you start learning
Manadrin."

Ranma blinked.  "Learning Mandarin?"

"What?  You don't think that me and Shampoo speak Japanese in our own
village, do you?"

"Actually . . . no."

"Good.  Go to Shampoo to ask her to teach you some badly needed
basics."

Ranma perked up inwardly at the offered opportunity.  "Okay!"  With
that, he made his way towards the lobby of the ship with restrained
excitement in his steps.

Cologne stared after him.

<Now I can see if Shampoo has really fallen out of love with him or
not . . .>

   **********************

 Walking through a barely recognizable track in the remote forest, the
 three travelers savored the sight of the unearthly, bright-colored 
flowers and the lively, graceful birds as they made their way towards 
their destination.

 [Ranma . . . think . . . beautiful.]  the boy struggled with his
 Chinese, then finally gave in and reverted to speaking Japanese.  
"Hell, I just never noticed how beautiful this place was the last 
time I came here."

 Shampoo knocked him gently on his forehead with her seemingly
 delicate fist.  [Chineses, Ranma, speak Chinese.]

 Ranma protested.  "Oh, C'mon Shampoo-"

 Shampoo looked at him with an expression of mischief mixed with
 melancholy.  [Unless you want people to start calling you an 
illiterate simpleton . . .]

 Ranma sighed.  [Ranma sorry.]

      Cologne looked over at him as he continued in speaking Mandrin,
 sounding very much like a tourist all the while, and sighed.  She 
saw the way Ranma was looking at Shampoo as the lesson went on, and 
saw her slight wince at this.  It was getting more and more obvious 
that Ranma was falling for Shampoo, except Shampoo had fallen out of 
love with him, and he was to blind to see it.  Dreading that nothing 
good would come of this Colonge sighed.  Yet, she just couldn't bring 
herself to say something to him, especially since his heart was still 
scared from the wedding debacle.  Looking down the path, Colonge saw 
off in the distance the outline of the gates leading to the village.  
She smiled as she saw this.

<It's good to be back.> she thought to herself.

        Ranma was raptly listening to Shampoo, as she gave him a
 review over the varoius  Mandarin phases, and mentally sighed to 
himself. <She sounds so . . . graceful when she is speaking Mandarin, 
not at all like when she   speaks Japanese!  And Akane and Ukyou 
called her a bimbo . . . >  

At the memory of these two, he felt an ache in his chest.  One was the
best friend that he had pushed away by stringing her along, and the
other the love the was robbed away from him by ancient prejudices.
<That is the past and this is now.  Shampoo accepts me for who I am. 
I hope Akane and Ukyou found someone who can make them happy.> Ranma
smiled at the Chinese girl, the one person who could make him forget
and be happy.  Self-consciously, he turned up his "charm level" to a
few voltages higher as he did so.  To his puzzlement, he saw her
adverting her glance at the sight of his "Saotome lady-killer smile".

        Shampoo was trying hard not to notice the look on Ranma's face
as she went over the words with him.  She had long since come to the 
realization that she had no romantic lover towards Ranma anymore.  
The thought of him finally being attracted to her, while flattering, 
also alerted her of upcomimg complications in the future shall she 
find the real prince in her life.  

<How ironic it is....> Shampoo thought to herself, <not so long ago it
was me who wanted to lavish my affections on Ranma and him just
wanting to be friends.  Now it's HIM wanting to smother me in love,
and I just wanting to be friends.>  She looked at the smile on Ranma's
face, and saw it was the masculiane version of the one that she used
to wear when she was chasing him.  Adverting her glance, Shampoo
fought the impulse to make a face of tiredness and distaste.  She knew
she could say or do little to discourage him right now, as heart
broken as he was.  Besides, if someone like Mousse could snap after
her rejection . . . she didn't want to take the chance with Ranma. 
Looking ahead, she saw the gate to her village . . . a village stuffed
with exotic and beautiful inhabitants.  A little selfishly, Shampooo
hoped that one of them could manage to capture Ranma's heart so that
she could be free when the time comes for her to love again.

   ***********************
        Akane sat in her room and looked at the one picture of Ranma
she managed to hide from the purge that her family did on the house 
of anything that was related to him or Genma.  Her father had even 
gone as far as to discard the Soji board that he and Genma used to 
play their nightly games on, as if had been contaminated.  She 
laughed hurmorlessly as she thought of that.

 "That prejudicial old-"

 She immediately slapped herself hard across her own face before she
 could finish her sentence.  Tears threatened to steam out her eyes 
as she realized how much had changed.  The family that she had once 
loved had now became the focus of her hatred, and the man that she 
was once annoyed with had magnified into a dream that she couldn't 
reach.

   Tears dropped down her cheek as she remembered how close they had
come. They had finally managed to admit their feelings for each 
other, and were so close to being married that it made her want to 
scream out in frustration.  Who cares what his Ancestors were?   This 
is now, not then.  How could her family be so stuck up on something 
so stupid?! And Mrs. Saotome! Even she had it in her head that her 
own son was unclean, like he had contracted leapersy or something.  
And to think that she once respected that woman . . .

What made the whole situation worse for her was that she was not even
allowed to go to see him off when she had found out from Sayoko that
Shampoo had asked her to inform her that Ranma was leaving for China. 
Akane's thoughts once again wandered back to the wedding as her eyes
burned with flames of pain and anger.  

If only there hadn't been those damned leaflets . . .

Actually, who had it been who had dropped all those leaflets?  

Softening her expression, she once again taped the photo to the bottom
of her desk drawer and closed it.  Drifting down the stairs
soundlessly like a restless phantom, she was determined to find out
the answer.

  Kasumi was in the kitchen cooking dinner when Akane came down. 
  Akane realized that while subtly crafty, her oldest sister would be 
the easiest to get the information out of if she can play the game to 
her liking.  Taking a deep breath and relaxing herself, she stepped 
into the kitchen with a sad, guilty look on her face.

"Oneechan . . ."

Kasumi turned around, and before she could have reacted, Akane
gathered her into a huge.

"I'm so sorry, for being mean and unreasonable to everyone . . ." 
Akane whimpered as she forced tears out of her eyes.

Kasumi smiled.  Finally, her little sister had seen the light.  

"Shhhh, it's alright, as long as you understand why we did what we
must."

"I . . . I wasn't thinking, about the consequences of me actually
marrying Ranma,"  Akane sobbed,  "I was actually going to marry him!"

Kasumi petted her like a gentle mother.  "It's alright, it's all
behind us now.  We all know that you are still a dutiful child."

"Those leaflets, if it wasn't for those dropped leaflets at the
wedding, I . . . I . . ."

"Yes." Kasumi soothed, "If not for that nice boy Tatewaki saving us in
time, our family would have been severly disgraced-"

She stopped abruptly, as if having said something that she shouldn't
have said, as she felt Akane tensed up in her embrace.

Letting go of Kasumi, Akane stepped back with a wide-eyed, blank look
on her still tear-stained face as she stared passed her sister toward
an unseen point.

"Ak-Akane-chan?"  Kasumi asked worriedly.

"That nice boy, that nice honorable boy . . .who could have thought?" 
Akane hissed.  Slowly, her lips curled into an eerie smile as she
slowly stepped backwards out of the kitchen.   "I guess I should go
thank him, for . . . saving our family from shame and . . .
indignity."

Kasumi stepped forward.  "Akane-chan, are you sure-"

Before she could have finished her sentence,  Akane had twirled around
and out of the kitchen.  A second later, the sound of the front door
shattering could be heard. 

"Oh . . . my."  Kasumi whispered to herself.

*************************************

Behind a series of steep, protective Mountains was a Chinese village
that was protected by the natural landscape.  This village, remote as
it was, had quite an important place in various ancient Chinese
history texts due to the various treasures that was rumored to be
sealed within it.  The leader of the village came from a legendary
bloodline with 3000 year's worth of history . . . a bloodline that was
said to have been originated from the unearthly dragon itself.  Under
this bloodline were various other bloodlines, all of which  were said
to have originated from various ferocious creatures of the earth. 
Even though the outside world had always considered the small
territory a village, the villagers themselves thought differently. 
They claimed themselves to be the citizens of an independent kingdom. 
Normally, such a claim would have caused the village to be wiped out
in a country that has always been under the rule of the central
government.  But their remote location, combined with the superhuman
martial arts skills that they had, had made the government felt it
impractical to carry out such an act.  As such, this radical village
was granted the independence that few other places in China had.

This kingdom was called the Musk Dynasty. 

Today, all the villagers were gathered together at the grand hall of
the kingdom at the command of the Emperor himself. Inside the
building, the villagers were murmuring nervously among themselves: it
wasn't like the Emperor to give such a command unless something of
utmost importance had came up.  In the past year, the village had
suffered four attacks from various outside forces, ranging from the
government's military force, Japanese martial arts clans, to Mongolian
radical outlaws.  Try as it might to appear glorious and strong as
always, the kingdom's fighting force had been weakened considerably
after these battles: something that the opposing forces to the Kingdom
might gradly took advantage of in the near future.

And all of this vicious attacks upon this village was, in truth,
brought upon by a single person that none in the kingdom will dare to
voice out against. 

Well, almost none.

A loud bang from a huge metal drum silenced the crowd immediately.   A
blur shot down from an opening on the ceiling and landed lightly onto
the throne on the grand stage. He was a dwarfed, wrinkled elder with
long white hair tied back in a high ponytail.  Despite his ancient
appearance, he was flaring with an aura that was powerful and
unearthly at the same time.  The crowd immediately got onto their
knees and bowed at the sight of him.

[Long live the Grand Elder!] they said with lowered heads.

The old man, a look of barely restraint fury on his face, snapped his
fingers, and a  remarkably handsome boy in a set of commoner's clothes
hesitantly walked up to kneel in front of the throne.

[Great-grandfather, I . . . ARK!!] Before the boy could finish his
sentence, the old man narrowed his eyes and struck him hard across his
face, sending him sprawling onto the ground.  The crowd gasped at
seeing that.

[Do NOT call me by that title, Herb, for you are not worthy!]  The old
man growled.

[I . . .]  Prince Herb of the Musk Dynasty tried speaking up again as
he resumed his kneeing position, but a glare from the old man silenced
him immediately.  

[SILENCE!  Ever since I was stupid enough to pass on the throne to
your, we have been under more attacks this year than the past century
put together! Shall I let you continue your leadership, then surely
this kingdom shall crease to exist within the next decade!  Something
has to be done.]

Herb bowed his head with a red face as he struggled to hold in his
tears. It was over . . . he had finally lost his throne due to his own
impertinence and stupidity.  The old man's expression softened lightly
as he continued.  [Arrogance . . . your have the arrogance of our
anscestor: the heavenly dragon descending upon the earth.  But you
lacked the patience and wisdom of a true dragon, thus brought the
anger of the outside world upon yourself with that inflated ego of
yours.  And that had cause unnessesary bloodshed to stain our once
peaceful land.  Turn around and take a good look at our people.]

Herb stood up and turned around.

 The old man narrowed his eyes.  [Stay on your knees as you did so.]

Herb  obliqued with a shame-faced expression.  Him, the Prince,
kneeing in front of his people?

It was then that he saw the ugly wounds, the bandages, and the body
casts on the bodies of his people.  A look of guilt crossed his face
at seeing that.  Walking up to his side, the old man studied his
expression and spoke up once more.

"They are the people placed under your care, Herb.  Their well-being
is your responsibility.  And now, look at them: crippled, burned,
blinded . . . all for what?  But for the foul temper of an arrogant
young prince who have no manners, no self-restraint, and no respect
for the outside world! Do you actually expect EVERYONE to grovel in
front of you like our own people?  You just cannot go around attacking
everybody who you see as being desrespectful to you.  The outside
world is not part of our domain: expecting them to treat you like
you're their superior is an act so foolish and immature that I
wouldn't have expected of you.]

  Herb bowed down toward the crowd, his head touching the floor as the
crowd gasped in disbelief.

[I . . .I apologize for endangering all of you in my own
inconsideration and foolishess.]  He spoke up in a shaky but clear
voice.  [I shall now resign from my in accordiance to my sins.] 

Still in shock, the crowd numbly accepted his apology.

The old man studied his greatgrandson, and saw the sincerity in his
entire being.  <Yes, there might still be hope for the child yet.>  
Clearing his throat, the Grand Elder was about to make the most
drastic decision the kingdom ever had for the last few centuries.

[From this day onward, Herb shall leave the kingdom to live as a
common pleasant in the outside world.]

Herb closed his eyes with a pained look as Lime and Mint, who were in
the crowd, rushed up to the front of the stage and protested.  [Grand
Elder, please reconsider your decision!]

The crowd joined in as well.

[No Prince of ours have ever been exiled before!]

[He's still a young man, he'll mature . . .]

[This is just too drastic.]

[We can't have our prince living like a peasant.]

[And Prince Herb is very good at tactics during a battle . . .]

[SILENCE!!!!]  The Grand Elder roared, and the crowd shut up
immediately. 

[I'm not finished yet.  Until the day that he can finally learn
patience and humility, he shall not set one foot within this kingdom!]

Herb's eyes widened at hearing that.  There might still be hope for
him! He looked up at his greatgrantdfather with a look of disbelieving
joy on his face.

[Gre . . . Grand Elder, you mean I'm not really outcasted?  That I can
still . . .]

The Grand Elder shot him an authorative look.  [Only if you can hold
up your end of the bargain,  Herb.]

 Herb could only nod . . . he was too excited to do otherwise.  The
 crowd all looked relieved to hearing that their Prince might still 
have a chance to redeem himself.

[And now, one final thing . . .]

The Grand Elder suddenly leapt up toward Herb and hit a point right on
the centre of his forehead.  A flash of impossibly bright light
flashed out of the boy's body as his eyes widened in shock.  A moment
later, his body dimmed up again as the Grand Elder landed back onto
the ground.   Herb shivered sightly as he realized that something
inside him seemed to be missing.

Holding a bright ball of chi in his hand, the Grand Elder looked down
on Herb.  [I had just retrieved the royal dragon chi that I had once
given you in my foolishness.  Whenever you want to start a fight from
now on, just remember that you can only rely on unarmed combat.  With
this knowledge, you should find it a lot easier to be  more . . .
humble.]    With that, he closed the hand with the chi-ball in a tight
fist, and his own body glowed for  a moment.

[Yes, honored Grand Elder, you acted . . . wisely.]  Herb said as he
desperately tried to hide his sense of loss.   The Royal dragon
bloodline was unique among all the other bloodlines in that that the
one single chi source from the ancient dragon was passed down from one
emperor to the next in the form of a regenerative mass of chi.  Now
that the Grand Elder had taken it back, Herb could no longer perform
most of his chi-techniques.  He had, of course, been trained in the
art of hand to hand combat, but he was no where as good as Lime and
Mint.  Dragons rely heavily on their chi. Without it, he was no better
than a mediocrite martial artist at best.

With his belongings on his back, the young prince walked out the gates
of his Kingdom in heavy steps.   Looking back at his kingdom for a
final time, he vowed to himself that he should return and be a fitting
emperor to his people once more.  For the sake of his people, he SHALL
succeed in learning humility and patience.  If needed, he would even
go as far as to WORK like a peasant if that's what it took for him to
learn humility.   

Framed by the setting sun, the lone boy who was once a prince set out
on his journey for humility and patience.

Jan 20,1998

Well here it is.  I hope it meets with everyone's approval.  I have
tried my best to keep it as close as I could to the plot outline that
Adrian gave me when he turned this story over to me.  Any C&C, MST, or
other comments are welcome.  Thanx to Adrian for letting me work on
this wonderful story.

See you on the flip side,

Rabbit