*****************
* 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 by [X].
Ramblings regarding customs portrayed are at the end of the
fic.*
********************
* Chapter Fourteen *
* Ashes *
********************
As the group arrived at the service, most of them pulled up
short in surprise. Even the determinedly morose Ranma was
caught off guard by the scene before him. Only Akane, a
bittersweet smile on the edge of her mouth, seemed unsurprised.
Gathered in the small courtyard were scores, perhaps even
hundreds of people.
Ranma-chan turned back to his fiancee. "Akane, where did...
How...?" The redhead's voice trailed off in confusion.
Akane blushed. "It wasn't that hard, really. I just called
all the kids at school--Ukyou was pretty popular, you know. And
I left a note on the door of Ucchan's, asking any of her
regulars to call me so I could fill them in on the details.
Word kind of spread from there. Kasumi helped make the
arrangements with the temple."
Contrary to the opinion held in some quarters, Ranma-chan was
not totally unobservant or insensitive. {She musta spent hours
on the phone... And she didn't even ask for help....} She gave
a small smile to her fiancee. "Thanks, Akane, it's great that
you did all this. It... it means a lot."
Akane gave her a shy smile back. "Your welcome, Ran-Ranko,"
she answered, shooting a glance at Nodoka at the last minute.
"Let's go inside, shall we?"
"Yeah."
The group moved inside. Akane and "Ranko" broke off from the
rest of the family, after Akane explained that they should find
Ukyou's father so he could greet the other guests.
****************************************************************
Ryouga, still clad in nothing but a satin sheet, knew exactly
where he was, for once. He stared morosely at the burned-out
ruins in front of him. In several places, the ceilings of the
underground chambers had collapsed, leaving gaping holes in the
ground, many of which had the trashed remains of the traps they
once contained sticking out at odd angles.
Even now, several days after the Kunou mansion had been
destroyed in the patriarch's last, desperate attempt to restore
the family honor, Ryouga could swear he could see tiny wisps of
smoke coming from the charred husks of the above-ground
structures.
With a heavy sigh, he turned from the grim tableau and tried
to figure out the best way to get back to the dojo from where he
was.
Of course, as he stood, pondering, a small truck passed by,
sending the contents of a nearby puddle cascading over him.
It took the piglet twenty minutes to find his way out of the
sheet.
****************************************************************
{This tears it! Now I know it must be a law somewhere that in
order to be a martial artist, you first have to have a father
who isn't worth his weight in shit.} Ranma-chan's reasoning
stemmed from the crumpled telegram she held in a clenched fist.
It was a fairly short document.
[Mr. Saotome--
Re: your letter notifying me of the "death of my
daughter, Ukyou", I must inform you that I have no
daughter by that name. Please refrain from any
further contact. Respectfully,
--Mr. Kuonji]
{How could he? How could that miserable excuse for a father
not even show up for his daughter's own memorial service?} As
she thought about it, her aura actually began to luminesce about
her.
"Ranma, please," Akane pleaded, gripping her arm, "I'm upset,
too, but there's nothing we can do about it right now that won't
just make things worse. Please...." She sighed with relief as
the aura flickered out, but her respite was short-lived as she
looked into the redhead's eyes and saw the same ice she had felt
on the night Ukyou was injured.
"OK, Akane, you're right. But," Onna-Ranma continued, her
voice low and dangerous, "this ain't over. Ukyou deserved
better, and I'm gonna make sure she gets it."
Frightened by this side of her fiance, Akane simply nodded,
mutely. {I hope I can steer him from doing anything too
drastic,} she thought miserably. {I need to talk with Nabiki.
She might have some ideas....}
Ranma-chan continued to glower for a moment, and sighed, her
shoulders sagging. "Akane, look, by law, at least, she was my
fiancee. Would you get mad if I took the role of her family?"
Akane blinked, opened her mouth, closed it again and stared at
her fiance. Then, carefully, she said, "No... No, not at all.
I think that would be the best course." She then shut up before
she started babbling.
Onna-Ranma moved to the spot near the casket where Ukyou's
father would have stood, and began to greet the guests,
accepting the black envelopes they carried as condolence gifts.
***********************************************************
P-Chan made his way through the brightly lit corridors. Those
familiar with both him and his curse would have recognized his
plaintive, "Bweee...," as meaning, roughly, "_Now_ where the
Hell am I...?"
Fortunately for him, one such individual happened to be
nearby.
"You know, Ryouga, you can be _so_ pathetic."
{Nabiki!} thought the lost pig-boy. {Great! I must be in the
hospital, then.} He turned to the sound of her voice, and was
delighted to see that he had surmised correctly. The middle
Tendou sister was sitting up in her hospital bed, watching some
American talk-show with subtitles. He wandered in, making soft
snuffling noises.
She picked him up by the bandanna. "Let me guess. You never
even got to _see_ Akane, right?" With a dejected expression,
the little piglet nodded in assent.
Nabiki sighed. "OK, Lost Boy. Amazingly enough, I'm prepared
for this contingency." She reached for a thermos on the table
beside her bed, and continued, "I told the nurse I liked to have
hot tea, but I figured I'd need this sometime this week."
After setting him back down on the floor, she opened up the
thermos. "Alright, get under the bed and stick your head out,
and I'll heat you up."
P-Chan nodded, then started to slip under the bed, failing to
notice the mischievous gleam in Nabiki's eyes. The hot water
struck him just as his head was fully past the dangling blanket. As Ryouga frantically scrambled to squeeze under the bed, Nabiki
said in a voice that sounded far too sweet, "Ooopsie, sorry
about that, Ryouga-chan."
"Aarrghh!!" cried the Lost Boy from under her sitting place.
"Just pass me something to cover up with, would you?"
Smirking, Nabiki rummaged through the drawer next to her bed.
"Your wish is my command," she intoned, dramatically, as she
dropped a spare hospital gown down to where he could reach it,
"Oh mighty bearer of the Sweet Pork Buns."
"NABIKI!!!"
****************************************************************
"Ranko" stood before the incense burner. There had been so
many people attending that the brazier was practically billowing
smoke, even though most of the visitors had restricted
themselves to a single pinch.
Ignoring the cloying haze, she reached into the bowl with her
thumb and first two fingers, as her mom had described to her on
the way to the ceremony. With careful deliberation, she raised
the pinch of incense to eye level, then sprinkled it into the
burner, and was rewarded with even more smoke. Undaunted, even
though her eyes were beginning to water, she repeated the
process, then stood and bowed, hands together, to the priest who
had performed the ceremonies.
{Farewell, Ucchan. I hope you are in a happier place, now.
Please forgive me any wrongs I have done you.}
Meanwhile, Akane and Nodoka were having a quiet discussion in
the back of the temple.
"So why, exactly, is Ranko filling in for Ukyou's family?"
"Umm... Well, it's like this," Akane responded, caution over
being caught causing her to drag out her speech. "Over the last
few months, Ranko and Ranma have become fairly close." Nodoka
raised an eyebrow at that.
Akane, correctly interpreting the expression on her face,
said quickly, "Not like that, really. More like brother and
sister."
"I certainly hope so," replied Nodoka, gravely. "It would be
a shame if my son were to add yet another barrier to fulfilling
his obligation to you just as one obstacle was gone."
Akane, remembering Ranma's words to their fathers the day
Ukyou had died, offered a silent prayer that Nodoka would keep
that opinion to herself. "So, anyway, she was often along when
Ranma visited Ukyou's shop," she continued, skirting the terrain
between truth and outright lie with a skill Genma would have
admired, "And since Ukyou's real family couldn't be here, and
Ranma himself is... away, she was the next best friend Ukyou
had."
"Oh. Well, in that case, it certainly makes sense that she
fill this role. I just wish she could have done so in more
appropriate attire. Maybe I'll take her out shopping this week
for some proper outfits."
"Ummm... Sure, Auntie Saotome. She'll... appreciate that,
I'm sure." Internally, Akane told herself, {I'd better be sure
to warn "Ranko" about this. He is really _not in the mood for
surprises, right now.}
"I've been meaning to ask, dear. Is there any reason you
chose to have the service on Tomobiki? While I'm sure you
regard it as just a silly superstition, it is a bit...
untraditional, don't you think?"
Akane's eyes grew wide. "What? Today is Tomobiki? Oh,
no..." She stared worriedly at "Ranko". "What have I done...?"
Hurriedly, she made her way to the front of the temple.
In a very low voice, she came up to Ranma-chan and whispered
in the girl's ear, "Ranma, we've got a problem."
Immediately loosening up for a fight, Ranma whispered back,
"So who is it? Tsubasa come back for the service, or
something?"
Akane shuddered. "No, nothing like that. But I--I messed
up. Today's Tomobiki."
Ranma-chan blinked. "So what's that?"
"Didn't that father of yours teach you anything outside of
martial arts?" Akane asked, gritting her teeth in frustration.
"Look, I don't have time to explain, I just need you to trust
me. We need to put a doll in the coffin with Ukyou, or you
might get hurt."
"Are you serious?" The redhead's voice was incredulous.
"Where am I supposed to get a doll right now?"
Akane didn't reply, instead just giving her a desperate,
pleading look.
Onna-Ranma sighed, knowing she was beat. "OK, but I expect
an explanation when we get home, you got it?"
Akane nodded rapidly, her eyes brimming with tears, and then
she hugged Ranma-chan with all her strength.
"Hey, Akane, remember, we're both girls right now! And
besides, I ain't even got the stupid doll, yet," she hissed,
prompting Akane to release her bear-grip.
She glanced around, scanning the crowd. "Ah, there he is.
I'll be right back." Akane watched in confusion as Ranma-chan
slipped away through the mingling horde.
****************************************************************
Ryouga clambered out from under the bed, clad in the hospital
gown. Nabiki was still sniggering behind her hand.
"Har-de-har-har, Nabiki. That wasn't funny."
"You're right," she said with an almost-straight face, "It
was hilarious."
"Oh, you're just full of laughter and joy today, aren't you?"
"Oh, stop. A girl's entitled to a little fun... Especially
when she's as bored as I've been these last few days. It's
times like this I wish I was still into martial arts, so I could
recover as fast as you guys do."
Ryouga grimaced, then sat down. "So, any chance of talking
you into giving me an extra couple of days because this delay
wasn't really my fault?"
Nabiki arched an eyebrow at him. "Not a chance, pal. If I
waited until things got normal around here, you'd be old and
grey before you told her anything."
"And that's bad?" The clueless expression on his face was so
perfect that Nabiki almost bought it.
"Nice try, Hibiki. You've got three more days till I get out
of here. And you're going to wait here until I can get someone
from the dojo to come pick you up. I don't want you getting
lost again."
"Hmph. So why don't you just call one of them up right now?"
he asked.
"Oh, well they won't be back yet from--" she replied, cutting
herself off with a mental curse. {Damn! It would have been
better to let one of the others tell him. I'm no good at this
crap!}
Even Ryouga could not have missed her sudden mood shift.
"Back from where, Nabiki?" His voice rose as his instincts
kicked into overdrive, telling him something very bad, indeed,
had happened.
Nabiki gave him a such a helpless look that, for a moment, he
wondered if he could teach her how to do a Shi Shi Houkoudan.
Looking down at her lap, she replied, "Ukyou's funeral."
Ryouga felt like someone was using his intestines for a taffy
pull. "What? Ukyou? When...How?"
Nabiki gave a great, shuddering sigh. "Well, you know that
note she gave Ranma?" When Ryouga nodded, she continued, "Well,
the truth is, she left because her legs weren't working after
all, at least not yet. She was afraid Ranma would feel
compelled to try to protect her, and so she thought she would
protect him, instead. Anyway, she was going to America, to see
a therapist Dr. Fujishima knew in San Francisco, but--" Ryouga
cut her off with a question.
"Wait a minute. How did you find all this out?" Nabiki
realized his mind was trying to seize on little trivialities to
keep from having to focus on the big part all at once.
"Dr. Fujishima told me."
"But, don't doctors usually keep stuff like that to
themselves."
She looked at him levelly. "Everybody's got secrets,
Hibiki," she replied, "Everyone. Find out what those are, and
you can get someone to do almost anything." Ryouga suppressed a
shudder at the tones she was using.
"Anyhow, the ship she was on, the Maiden's Luck, was
sabotaged, they don't know by who, yet. When Ranma heard, he
went a little nuts, and spent several hours swimming in spot
where the ship went down. He was the one who found the... who
found her."
Ryouga looked sick, but determined. "So where's the funeral? I should be there."
"Ryouga-baby, be honest with yourself. Even if I drew a map,
you'd still arrive at the temple just in time for Christmas--If
you were lucky. I'm afraid you're just going to have to wait it
out here, with me."
The Lost Boy slumped, defeated. "OK, you win," he sighed.
Standing, he walked over to the window and stared at the parking
lot, or, more accurately, pointed an unfocused gaze in the
parking lot's general direction.
"I know you liked her, Ryouga. Tell me, was there anything
more than that?"
Without turning from the window, he replied, "No, although a
lot of people thought so after that disaster at the 'Tunnel of
Lost Loves'." In spite of himself, he chuckled. "Ukyou and I
had exactly one thing in common, a desire to break up Ranma and
Akane. Heck, if we'd ever managed it, we would probably have
turned on each other. After all, neither of us thought very
highly of the other's 'chosen', if you get my drift."
"You know, Hibiki, just as I think I know a person totally,
inside and out, I see a totally different side of them. Of
course," Nabiki added, with a wicked smile, "I kinda like the
side I'm seeing now."
A confused look passed over Ryouga's face, until he realized
that the draft he was feeling wasn't his imagination, after all. Blushing furiously and clutching at the back of the hospital
gown, he whipped around to face the snickering girl. "NABIKI!!"
Her laughter took on a slightly hysterical edge, as she
gasped out, "I-I know... But it's j-just easier... than... than
dealing with...." Her words broke off as she started crying,
clutching her arms around herself.
Uncertain about how to handle this, Ryouga just went over and
held the weeping girl, and soon his tears mixed with hers.
****************************************************************
Onna-Ranma walked up to her target, who just stared back at
her, giving a flat "Saotome" as a greeting.
She smiled cutely at him. "Oh, c'mon now, Gosunkugi. You
can be nicer than that. I just want to ask for a favor."
He peered at her, suspiciously. "What kind of favor did you
have in mind?"
"Oh, I just need to have one of those little voodoo dolls you
like to carry around, to place in Ukyou's coffin."
Hikaru's mind raced furiously. {Why would he want... Surely
they wouldn't have been so stupid as to... Wait, it is Tomobiki! The blessed Akane Tendou must have set this up from the start,
so that she could be free of him--That's why she had him act as
the chef's family! And if I refuse to help him escape his fate,
then perhaps she will be so grateful that she might even talk to
me again!} Delirious at the thought of hearing her voice, he
drew on what little courage he possessed. "I'm sorry, Saotome,
but they are not for the likes of you." He turned to go.
A gentle, but powerful, grip seized his shoulder, preventing
further progress. In a very low voice, Onna-Ranma whispered in
his ear, "Gos? Do remember the time you threw me in with those
cats?"
Weakly, Gosunkugi nodded.
"And then, you released the tiger?"
He started to sweat.
"And then later, when I was weakened by the moxibustion, and
you decided to whack me with that mallet and tricked me into a
room where all my other opponents were?"
He whimpered.
"Now, if you don't give me one of those dolls, I'm gonna send
you on a tour of the 'other side'. Do we understand each
other?"
Clinching his eyes shut, Gosunkugi reached into a pocket and
handed the contents to Ranma-chan.
"Ummm... Gos, I want a doll, not a spleen."
A few moments later, Onna-Ranma walked back up to the coffin
and set the doll next to Ukyou before turning to face a visibly
relieved Akane. "Satisfied?"
Akane just nodded.
Ranma-chan's face grew more serious. "Good. Now, will you
do me a favor?" Again, Akane nodded.
"The priest said that since I'm acting as family, I need to
stick around for the... the cremation. Could you stay and...
and help me?"
A third nod lightened the load on Ranma-chan's heart by a
small fraction. "Thanks."
After an awkward pause, they turned to rejoin their family.
****************************************************************
Ryouga and Nabiki sat, quietly sharing the hospital dinner.
Nabiki grimaced. "You know, if I didn't know better, I'd
swear they had Akane on staff down there. Hell, even the salt's
bland!"
Ryouga snickered. "Oh, come on, it isn't that bad. I
haven't seen it move once."
She shot him a wry grin. "Why, Mr. Hibiki, are you implying
that Akane's cooking is anything less than manna from heaven?"
she asked archly.
He hemmed and hawed for a bit before replying, "Well, maybe
so. But I still say Ranma rides her too hard about it."
A thoughtful look passed over Nabiki's face. "So tell me,
Ryouga, why, exactly, are you so hung up on my little sister,
anyway?"
He blushed, then looked up at her. "Well, when I first got
here, it had been years since I had actually met anyone who gave
a damn about me. After I confronted Ranma that first time, I
realized that I could hurt him as badly as he had hurt me, if I
stole his fiancee from him.
"Anyway, that night I wandered into your house as a pig,
hating every minute of it. When Akane found me, I tried to run,
but she grabbed me, then she... she hugged me. And spoke nice
to me. I suppose you think I'm silly, but it had been so long
since _anyone_ had been kind to me... It gave me hope, that
there might really be someone out there, someone that would
return my love for them. And that's why I have to keep fighting
for her, because without her, I lose that hope. I don't expect
you to understand, but that's how it is."
He looked up at her, and then promptly glanced away, feeling
intimidated by the thoughtful expression she was wearing.
"Actually, Ryouga, I do understand... More than you might
realize. Why don't we just relax for a bit, and then I'll call
home and have Ranma come over and take you home?"
Ryouga nodded.
"Oh, and one more thing...." Ryouga looked back at her,
curious at the shift in the tone of her voice.
"If you ever, and I mean, _ever_, say one word about this
conversation to anyone, under any circumstances, I will make it
my personal life's goal to make sure you come to really
understand what the phrase, 'hellish life,' truly means--Got
it?"
His throat suddenly gone dry, Ryouga just nodded mutely.
"Good."
****************************************************************
After all the guests had left (and Ranma-chan and Akane had
insisted that the rest of the family go back to the dojo, as
well), the priest approached them and bowed low, saying, "The
ashes are ready, now."
Onna-Ranma returned the bow and replied, "Thank you. Where
are they?"
"In the back."
"Please, lead the way."
Akane sighed, silently thankful that the ordeal was almost
over, with no disasters. {No thanks to you, you baka!} she
rebuked herself.
As they entered the crematoria, the priest handed them both
chopsticks. Confusion crossed Ranma-chan's face. "Huh? What
are these for?"
"Well, you are acting as her family, are you not?"
"Yeah, but what does that have to..." she started, her voice
trailing off as she saw the tableau covered with the ash and
bone. "Hey! I thought you said that they were ready!"
Akane stepped forward and took her fiance's hand, hoping the
gesture would stop the rising panic she could hear in the
redhead's voice.
"Yes, the cremation is finished, but the family...," the
priest broke off as he realized the truth of the situation.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I thought you knew. It is the family's duty
to remove the bone from the ash before the remains are placed in
the urn. Since you are obviously unprepared, though, I can--"
"No." Ranma-chan's voice permitted no argument. "If that's
part of the job, then I'm up to it. It just took me off guard." She turned to her fiancee. "Akane, I didn't know this was
involved, and I don't think you did, either. If you don't want
to do this, I understand."
Akane felt herself about to accept the offer, but crushed the
impulse with the mental equivalent of her trusty mallet. Taking
a deep breath to steel herself, she replied, "No, I want to
help." She noticed the relief in Onna-Ranma's eyes and knew she
had made the right choice. Turning to the priest, she asked,
"So what, exactly, do we do?"
Nodding in admiration of the resolve he sensed in the two
young women before him, the priest said, "One of you takes the
bones from the ash, and passes it to the other, who places it in
the receptacle." A thought seemed to occur to him. "Didn't
either of you ever learn that you aren't supposed to pass food
from one person to another with chopsticks, because it resembles
the ceremony?"
Akane nodded, "I did, but neither Kasumi nor Father ever
mentioned the reason."
Ranma-chan just muttered something that sounded like
"kuso-oyaji" to the priest, but he ignored it. Smiling kindly,
he said, "Well, you should get started, it can take awhile. I
will be here to help, if you need it."
The two girls bowed in thanks, then knelt to perform the
grisly task.
****************************************************************
End Chapter 14
Lotsa Ramblings and notes: The ceremonies I've described here
are probably horribly wrong, but that's what happens when you
try to rely on poorly translated Web-sites for your cultural
information. *sigh*
If anyone out there spots something that was horribly
misportrayed, please let me know, thanks.
Anyway, here are a few more details, as I understand them:
The condolence gifts are supposed to be a small cash donation
delivered in a special black envelope, available in most
stationary stores.
The Tomobiki, or "friend-taking", is a day when funerals are
not supposed to be held, for it is felt that a family member
will follow the deceased soon after. If the service is held on
that day, then it is customary to place a doll in the casket to
serve as a substitute.
The site I got this off of was a little unclear but Tomobiki
is either roughly every sixth day, or the sixth day of each
month.
Apparently there are several actions you are never supposed to
perform with chopsticks on food, including passing food or
thrusting them deep into the dish, as these resemble the actions
taken at the cremation ceremony and are thus considered bad
luck.
After the ceremony, the ashes are placed in the urn and taken
back to the family's home for thirty-five days before being
returned to the cemetery for burial. Of course, things are
going to come to head in this fic long before then, so Ukyou may
play one final role in this thing, after all. (Hmmm...Note to
self: Invest in Flame-retardant longjohns....)
It seems likely to me that neither Akane nor Ranma would be
aware of most of these customs, for slightly different reasons.
Flames, MST's, C&C and any other feedback will be greatly
appreciated.
*sniff* G'bye, Ucchan.
Chapter Fifteen
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