Subject: [FFML] (Ranma) A Casket of Nanichuan

From: "James Barnhill" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2000 09:31:17 -0800

A Casket of Nanichuan
By James Barnhill

Legal Disclaimer:  These characters are not mine, instead they belong
to Takahashi.  But like the demented puppet master I am I hypnotized
them so that they would follow my every command.  And to think, the doctors
are saying that Im getting better!  Just goes to show what they know:P

--------------------------------------------------

Hello to you, who ever you are.  This is my diary, or journal, whichever
one means a book of written down memories to you.

As for me?  Im probably dead or lost.  But thats not important.  Not
to me.  You see I have a secret that no one knows about, something that
will surely damm me for all of my years to come.  Yet I feel the need
to get this off my chest by writting the account in this book.  I will
let you decide whether or not I should be forgiven.

Twelve years ago to the day I wondered the outskirts of Nerima as I tried
to find my way to Nerima, and from there to the Dojo where I met my lovely
wife.
For a year and a half I have been wanting to tell her of my love, but
everytime I got the chance my brain locked up, every speech I had rehearsed
to declare my love forgotten as I gazed into her beautiful eyes.  But
then her fiance called me pigboy.  I wont explain why that comment made
me mad with rage, suffice it to say that an incident happened some time
ago thats effects my ability to socialize with other people.  Or at least
it did until I found a cure.
I managed to stop myself from going into a blind rage as Ranma, the fiance
of the woman I loved, taunted me and insulted me.  Luckily Akane hit
him over the head with her mallet before I could lose what little control
over the temper I have.
Your probably grinning right now, wondering how bad it could get when
I lose my temper, believe me, if you ever see me lose my temper then
just run as far as you can.  Whenever I come out of my usual fits of
rage I find out that Ive been destroying whole buildings, trees, cars
and anything else that got in my way.  Ive almost harmed elderly people
while I was running after or from Ranma.  But I degress.

After laughing at Ranma for a few moments he splashed me with some water
from a fauntain.  I just grinned at him as he stared at me with wide
eyes, Akane had aready left, though I cant remember why.  I told him
that I had found a casket of Nanichuan in some cave on one of the smaller
islands.  Immediately he was upon me.  Pleading for the location of the
casket, I felt a slight pain of conscience as I considered telling him
the truth.  But that only lasted for a few seconds as the rest of my
mind quickly filled with images of the humiliaion that Ranma had put
me through to keep me away from Akane.

That night we set out for the island without telling anyone else, frankly
Im surprised no one else found out.  Ranma had to lead the way though
as I have a bad sense of direction that has on more then one occasion
gotten me into some deep trouble.  So there I was, swimming behind my
most hated enemy as we made our way to the island, occasionally every
now and again I would feel a slight stingin sensation on my arms or face
that might have been from passing jellyfish.  High above in the night
sky one could see almost all of the constellations along with a thin
line of stars that made up the Milky Way galaxy, an impressive sight
if you have the mindset to enjoy it.  Before long, probably around midnight
since we started out at 9pm, we came to the island both soaking wet though
with my added clothing the cold air coming from the ocean didnt bother
me.  I looked to my left to see Ranma-chan, who is now a girl thanks
to the cold ocean water, doing her best to wring out her clothing.

I should take this moment to tell you that Ranma is under a magical curse
inflicted upon him by a place called Jusenkyo.  This curse changes his
form from a man to a red haired preadolescent girl that would turn any
mans head with those deep blue eyes of hers.  This is a sore point with
me since Ranma has used his cursed form to play tricks on me numerous
times without thinking about my own feelings.  This served to reinforce
my resolve.

The island itself may have been a site for weapons testing, what with
all of the small and large craters that still adorned the beach.  A little
ways inland we encountered the small jungle this island boasted, making
our way through I made sure that Ranma lead the way, I also didnt mention
the path I made through the jungle or the fact that these plants each
boasted a bit of poison strong enough to effect me.  I spent three weeks
of pure hell as I chopped a path through the lush jungle, at times my
imagination got the best of me as I began to hallucinate.  I stopped
daydreaming however as I listened to Ranma cuss and swear as the myriad
thorns and branches pricked her skin and tore at her clothing.

One point I feel I should make is that Ranma's magical is activated when
cold water hits him.  This is important because we were both still soaked
with water, for me this wasnt a problem but for Ranma-*chan* this little
trip became a bit hazardous as his female form doesnt have a high tolerance
for cold weather.  Soon enough Ranma began to sneeze, though Im not sure
whether it was a real cold or some sort of reaction fom the poisons of
this jungle.  Whichever the case she started to get sick, fortunately
for me we were almost to the cave entrance.  I hurrid Ranma-chan along
by taunting her and mocking her stamina.  In no time at all we were at
the cave.  I smiled widely at both the cave and at Ranma-chans terrible
appearance.

I think the cave itself was used by the Japanese military as there were
multiple branches that lead away from the main cavern to other rooms
and corridors that looked to have been cut into the rock.  I picked up
a piece of rope I had left to mark the spot.  Hesitantly Ranma followed
after me as I followed the rope deeper into the bowls of the cave.  I
dont think he trusted me, but if that were so why didnt he ask why I
hadnt brought him a small container of nanichuan?  Its a logical enough
question when you can calmly think it through, so maybe he did trust
me but not my sense of direction.  Still this person behind me has humiliated
me time and again for laughs, never thinking of my felings or how hurt
I was when I found that empty lot only to see that Ranma had already
left.  And still he trusted me not to harm him.  I mean while in female
form I couldve easily overpowered Ranma-chan and raped her on the spot
before killing her.  Such an act wouldve been quite easy for me, but
no matter what Ranma wears as a girl Ill always consider him a man.

Still as we went further into the cave the floor began to gently slope
until we encountered the broad steps that had been cut into the rock.
 Ranma-chan had to lean against me for support as the dank atmosphere
and her own wet clothing caused her sickness to get worse.  For minutes
at a time as we walked further down I heard her mumble something, but
no matter how hard I tried to listen I couldnt mak it out.  Doesnt matter
now as it didnt matter then.

I stopped at the end of the stairway, by now Ranma-chan was starting
to cough up flem.  My eyes though were on the chains that attired the
recessed walls of the bottom chamber.  One could only imagine what went
on here so many years ago.  My train of thought was derailed as Ranma-chan
asked, between coughs, where the casket was.  I pointed to my side at
the wall, Ranma looked uncertainly at me before proceding to that spot
to search for the casket.  I grabbed some of the chains and began to
tie them around her small ankles, thats when Ranma startled me as she
began to cry.

Never in my life had I actually seen Ranma cry.  His father brought him
up to be a 'Man Among Men' and to that extent made sure that Ranma never
cried, though as to how he made that happen to a small child at such
an age I couldnt begin to imagine.  Yet here she, or he, cried her eyes
out as I tied more lengths of chain around her arms and then her legs,
making sure to test the anchors in the walls before proceding.  Her crying
gave way to a fit of coughing as I finished tying her up, then I went
over to the other side of the room for the bricks.  Why there was a load
of bricks down there I dont know, perhaps the people who used it before
planned to add support colums as I had noticed several large cracks in
the cieling.

In short I lay a wall of bricks around my most hated rival as she begged
to be released and to know why I did this to her.  I didnt tell her though,
I could never explain my pain in words that she could understand, I thought
it would be better if she experienced my reasons.  I lay the last brick
in the hole I made to make sure that she wasnt trying to free herself,
ignoring her screams for help.  She didnt die immediately though, oh
no that wouldve been too easy, the air spaces I had left would allow
her fresh oxygen as I wanted her to suffer and to cry until there were
salt tracks leading down her face from her tear ducts.  I could still
hear her screams as I walked out of the cave.  As I cleared the cave
intrance and saw the moon I thought that until tonight I had never seen
anything so beautiful before.

I left the island that night feeling like I had lost an immeasurable
weight from my shoulders, fully knowing that I would never see Ranma
in either form again.  Some weeks later I began to comfort Akane over
her loss, eventually we went from being friends to dating to lovers in
several months.  The other wemon that had been chasing Ranma left a month
after I returned.  Kodachi went searching for Ranma one day and never
came back.  Ukyou packed up her okinomiaki shop and left town, Ive heard
that shes doing quite well in Kobe.  The Amazons went back to china,
though I wonder if Cologne ever caught on to me, sometimes she just stared
at me for no reason that I could discern.

Everyones happy though in their own way, especially those living in Nerima.
 Since Ranma disappeared there hasnt been a single incident involving
insanely powerful martial artist or princess, I guess he was a magnet
for such events.  As for me I married Akane and am now the proud father
of triplets.  Im never gonna regret what I did to Ranma that night for
in my opinion I did all of them a great favor getting rid of the freak.

Sometimes I feel a momenterry twinge of conscience when I see my wife
staring out of the veranda with sad eyes and I can tell at that moment
that she is still thinking of Ranma after all this time.  Maybe in her
own way she did love him but with everything that went on around them
she never got the chance to tell him.  All I can do is frown at her and
wonder how she could love such a freak of chance and nature, then I start
to wonder if she really loves me or if she just married me to get the
dojo that both she and I now use to teach our respective fighting arts
to others.  But then she turns to me and smiles and I know at that moment
that she really loves me.

What's that?

Is he still there?  

I really dont know since I could never find my way back, and I am very
hesitant to try and get help from anyone.  Of course its been twelve
years since that night so Ranma is either dead or maybe he managed to
escape, but in my imagination I like to think that he, or she, somehow
lived and is now at this very moment screaming for help.  At any rate
if Ranma survived and managed to get free he would've come after me

But you want to know the most ironic part of the story?  There was a
small quantity of Nanichuan water on the island, unfortunately there
was only enough for me.  Hehehe

Your probably also wondering where I got such a evil idea.  Well while
I was in america I read this story called 'The Casket of Amontillado'
and if I got the name right then you may have read it as well.  I liked
the ending, with the man that everybody liked dying in a wine cellar
while the man who wasnt really liked lived to a ripe old age.  I dont
really care if the story's real or fiction for it certainly helped me.

---------------------------------------

Authors notes:  What can I say except the idea made me do it.  I dont
intend to continue this story.  At present KWOKINATOR has created his
'A Broken Casket' story as a continuation of this one.  Which makes this
story a prologue.  Just not that bloody.

The address below is for the Ranma Fanfic Forum.  An unusual place to
be sure, just remember to bring a level 4 biohazard suite.  Ya never
know what your going to find:)

http://www.delphi.com/ranma_fanfics/start/

C+C is welcome along with comments, encrypted or not.

Ja Ne.