From owner-ffml@ffml.fanfic.com Thu Jul 23 16:30:36 1998 Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by ffml.fanfic.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) id QAA31609 for ffml-outgoing; Thu, 23 Jul 1998 16:30:36 -0400 Received: from pmsinternet ([207.175.30.162]) by ffml.fanfic.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) with SMTP id QAA31606 for ; Thu, 23 Jul 1998 16:30:34 -0400 Received: by PMSI4211_EX2 with Internet Mail Service (5.0.1458.49) id ; Thu, 23 Jul 1998 16:29:54 -0400 Message-ID: <5978110E6A09D211AD4A00805FBB1EF0056EBF@PCA2629_MAIL1> From: "Wingfield, Edward" To: "'fanfic@fanfic.com'" Subject: [FFML] [fanfic][rough take 2][ranma 1/2] village tale chapter 3 Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 16:28:17 -0400 X-Priority: 3 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.0.1458.49) Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="---- =_NextPart_001_01BDB657.1F649F60" Sender: owner-ffml@ffml.fanfic.com Precedence: bulk This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. ------ =_NextPart_001_01BDB657.1F649F60 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" well it looks like outlook screwed up the formating when I ran it through the internal spell checker lets try this again based upon the forever popular ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahasi used without permission but trying to sue me for money would be like getting Bill Gates to donate all his money to charity and become a monk, as I have no money what so ever ^_^ ************************************************************************ **************** Village Tale Chapter 3 Ranma woke once more just as the first rays peeked over the horizon. After Cologne's late night visit he had no longer been troubled by dreams. Remembering that he had a meeting with Cologne later on that morning , Ranma started to go through his morning stretches and katas. His efforts were not as intense as they were in times past though, as he went through the motions, Ranma realized that martial arts was not everything and there were other things worth working towards. With that realization came a less sense of urgency. he thought to himself as a smile spread across his lips. With a final flourish to a already complex kata, Ranma wound down his exercises and prepared to clean himself up for his meeting with Cologne. Ranma grabbed the towel he had pulled out earlier and headed out the door towards the pond just outside the village that he used to bathe in, since he still felt uncomfortable bathing in the communal bath, even while he was in his girl form. As he headed out Ranma saw that his usual morning observers were present. It always suprised him no matter how often he saw it. They were more discreet now than they were in the past, most likely due to some of the matriarchs who had joined the group, after all it would not seem proper for an elder of the village to be seen gawking after a youth. While he had cut down on the intensity of his morning workouts, he had not gone to flab due to in part to a change in diet and concentrating on definition, his body had become more lean and chiseled. Ranma waved in the direction of the hut where he knew the gaggle of ladies was hiding and was rewarded with the faint whisper of girlish giggles. Ranma had no interest in any of them except as friends and even then he was kind of wary about that. he thought to himself, then he did a mental double take, At that he gave a small chuckle. "I wonder how he's doing anyhow?" he said to himself. He also realized this was the first time in a few days that he had thought of anyone from his old life, excepting those horrible dreams he kept having. Cologne looked out her window at the spectacle and shook her head. [I can understand the young ones taking a look see but the elders should know better, Xian Se is almost as old as I am!] she muttered to herself. She watched as the Amazon elder in question left the hut, everyone had been hiding in, with a dreamy look on her face. She thought as she spied Shampoo leave the hut, an annoyed look on her face, as if things had not gone the way she had planned them. Cologne quickly moved away from the window as Shampoo started moving towards her hut. She had just finished seating herself when Shampoo entered, the frown of consternation still on her face. [Grandmother this is getting very frustrating! It almost like having Moouse around! Even though he doesn't fawn all over me that look on his face every time he glances my way is driving me to frustration, but I can't bring myself to berate him for it. Not yet, he heart is still healing and it scares me to think what might happen if I did.] Shampoo said as she sat down in a chair opposite Cologne. [It is indeed a sticky situation. On one hand do you keep leading him on, in hopes that he loses interest and finds someone else, or do you tell him the truth, and hope for the best? Either way he is going to get hurt. There is no easy way out. I see that your efforts to get Ranma attached to someone else are not going to plan eh?] Cologne cackled as she said this making Shampoo blush with embarrassment. [This is absolutely ludicrous! you would think that they were Japanese school girls instead of Amazon warriors! I tried to get one of them to approach him and all they could do is blush and giggle!] , Shampoo said with some ire. [Ranma seems to have that effect on most ladies,] Cologne said looking straight at Shampoo to emphasize her point. [Do not forget that you are to go before the council of elders this afternoon to face judgement about what is owed.] Cologne already knew what judgement was going to be passed and what the sentence would be, but was not going to let on. She thought to herself, while keeping a neutral expression on her face. Since the incident last night she had been feeling more spry than she had in a long time, though it was kind of a anxious moment when it happened. So far it had not happened again. Shampoo looked forlorn as her grandmother reminded her of the meeting. It was something she had been trying hard not to think about ever since they got back. She knew though that there was no way out of it though, as she was not going to marry Ranma. She mentally chuckled to herself. If someone had told her a year ago that she would stop loving Ranma she would have called them a liar and would have tried to do serious bodily harm to them, now to get out of this she could marry him, which now Ranma wanted to do, but now she just wanted him as a friend. [I had better go and prepare then.] Shampoo said as she went into the back room of the hut to change into her formal clothes. Ranma finished washing up and headed back. ****************************************************************** Herb was finding out the hard way that humility was not a lesson that was lightly learned. His first day working had been completely degrading, embarising, and tiring. He had been serving drinks for the past 10 hours and had been groped fondled and whistled at the entire time. It hadn't been just women but men as well, and that had been completely unsettling to him. Yet he struggled through without complaining. The days had started blur together. Herb now had started to get an inkling of what it was like to be a faceless piece of meat, for that was what he saw in the faces that leered at him. He also knew now what it felt like to be truly poor, for though the manager supplied him a place to sleep after work, it was no bigger than a broom closet. As much as he would love to leave he was bound by the contract he signed when he first started working here, and honor forbade him to leave for he would rather die than give up his honor, after all it was all he had left. [My legs are killing me,] Herb muttered to himself, [maybe I can get the boss to get me a slightly looser pair of pants.] The boss has given him 5 sets of pants when had started to work, all of which were skin tight, which was the uniform requirement. After thinking about it for a moment he discarded that notion. Since he had started working here the influx of customers had grown by twenty percent. Normally this would have stoked his ego had it been anywhere else, but working here had squashed any sort of ego that he had. As he prepared for bed he once again thought of home. The faces of his companions, Lime and Mint, flashed through his mind. Only now that he was toiling through his personal penance could he appreciate their devotion to him. A tear rolled down his cheek as he laid his head down on his pillow, home seeming a little farther away and loneliness a little closer. ********************************************************************* Akane woke as the first rays of the sun warmed her face. Instinctively she listened for the sounds of Ranma and his father doing their morning workout, but only silence reigned. Even after all this time she still could not get out of that habit. Getting out of bed Akane walked over to her window and opened it. Reaching under the sill she felt for the note that she knew would be hidden there. After a moment of groping around she felt the parchment that was tied around a rose. She unrolled the document and carefully set aside the the white rose within. The letter said: /Everything is going according to plan. How are things going on your end? The rose is laced with the special pollen that you asked for. Remember do not inhale it yourself, the effects last for 24 hours. I will meet you at our usual place, and remember to bring the picture with you tonight ./ It was simply signed Ko-chan. Akane read over it once more, then folded it up and stuck it into her pocket. She then picked up the rose by the stem, being very careful not to jostle it, and set it in her desk. Ever since the day she and Kodachi had given Tatawaki his due, they had been meeting on a regular basis. Since that week ago they found that they were getting along better and better as friends. They both found that though they both loved Ranma it was that same love of him, no matter what he was that brought them together. almost everyone else in town had written him off and completely forgotten him. Even Ryouga had seemed to have forgotten him as he never really showed up anymore. For that matter she hadn't seen P-chan in a long time as well. To keep what they had planned away from prying eyes they had arranged a way of communicating without raising suspicion. She and Kodachi would still be hostile to each other in public but whenever one needed to get ahold of the other they would leave a message under her sill. They had also taken to meeting under the bridge where Ranma used to go when he didn't want to be found. Somehow they felt a little closer to him while there. They had also devised a way to throw people off the track if anyone were to find any of their messages, They were sent in such a way as to make the reader think that it was a male that was writing them. Akane proceeded to get dressed. Since this was a Sunday and no school she had arranged it so she would be out all day. She had been noticing that more and more lately how nauseated and uncomfortable she had become around the Tendo family. She found herself spending more time away from the dojo, and when she was asked about it she would make one excuse or another. She had also noticed that Nabiki had started to spy on her. Akane had talked to Kodachi a bit earlier on that problem and they had managed come up with a good solution. As she left her room and walked down the stairs she heard the door to Nabiki's room open and close. She walked out the door and out through the dojo gates, then proceeded down the street. She walked the same route she had been for the past few days. Sure enough she felt Nabiki following her some distance back. When Akane reached the corner of the building that once held the Ucchan, she quickly ducked around the corner, and a ninja who dressed exactly like her stepped out and continued to walk down the road. Akane hid behind the dumpster that was there and a minute later Nabiki came strolling by. She waited a few more minutes to make sure that Nabiki was no longer around, and then took off the other direction. Akane chuckled to herself as she recalled how she and Kodachi had come up with the idea. At first they were not sure that it was going to work, but when Nabiki didn't notice the change they grew more sure of themselves, the Kuno family ninjas were doing a good job. A few minutes later she reached the bridge, and after making sure that there was no-one around, Akane went around the side and walked underneath. Kodachi was sitting in her usual spot when she spotted Akane coming around the corner. Her ninja's must have done their work because she knew that Akane would not have shown up here otherwise. "Hello Akane. Did you bring it?" she said as Akane took her usual place across form her. Though she wouldn't quite call her a friend yet, kodachi was finding herself enjoying these meetings more and more. She thought to herself and gave a small laugh. She couldn't help but smile a bit as Akane gave a bit of a shudder. "Well let us get down to the second phase of our vengeance." Akane nodded to Kodachi. "I will have everything set up by tonight. I take it that your people are ready?" "The Kuno family ninjas are always ready. They will await your signal just on the other side of the wall. If we hadn't already made plans, it would be most interesting to see what their expressions would be when they find everything falling apart around them." ************************************************************************ ** Nabiki looked around. She had up until five minutes ago been keeping a discreet eye on her sister. She had heard rumors that Akane had been seeing someone discreetly the past few days. Nabiki had checked with everyone she knew and nobody had any idea who it was. That was why she was following her little sister around. After all it would do to have her make another colossal mistake of falling in love with someone improper. She had been doing this now for several days and still turned up nothing unusual, beside the fact she chose to walk by the now closed Ucchan and Nekohanten. "Where could she have gone?" she said to herself, "there is no place she could have walked into and this road is as straight as an arrow.", for now Akane was nowhere to be seen, just normal people walking back and forth on their daily business. Shrugging Nabiki kept walking the way she had been heading, and if she bumped into her well she could just claim it was a coincidence. ************************************************************************ *************** The man watched as Nabiki walked by and smiled. Reaching down to pick up the grocery bag that was beside him he headed off in the other direction. All was going to plan. The mistress of the manor would be most pleased and when she was happy life around the estate was much more enjoyable. ************************************************************************ *************** Authors notes: well hello to everyone out there. I apologize for this taking so long but RL has been keeping me real busy for a while now. I would also like to ask those people who were pre-reading for me to send me their email addresses again because when my old machine belched out the cloud of blue smoke it took my hard drive along with it. any and all C&C would be appreciated ( I know there are spelling mistakes but this is just a rough) I also have some other fics I am working on at the same time as this one and hope to have them out soon as well. (I will never ride greyhound to Expo again!!!! stupid bus driver got lost. and I so wanted to attend the fanfic panel ;_;) Rabbit -Reality is only what we perceive it to be.-