When Past Was Present 7

by Kiwi Noriega

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ALL RIGHTS ARE OF RUMIKO TAKAHASHI AND VIZ VIDEO

NOTE: This is in draft form, so I'm really sorry if there are any mistakes ^_^

" " - talking
* * - thinking
{{ }} - dream sequence
^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ - flashback

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CHAPTER 7 - Strangers from the Past

Akane opened her eyes to the bright light from her window. She yawned and smiled as she saw Ukyou gazing out at the garden.

"Good morning, Ukyou." Akane said, her eyes still sleepy.

Ukyou shot her back a smile and answered, "Oh, good morning too. Well that was quite a story, Akane. I mean, how can the two guys you've ever cared for come back after leaving so suddenly? And at the same time too! And Ryouga..." a look that could only be called fond marked her eyes, "...I thought I would never see him again..."

Akane sighed and said, "I guess it's just fate playing with our hearts..." sadness tinged her eyes and she sighed once more.

Ukyou sat beside her and gave Akane a quick hug, saying, "Well, where are they anyway, so far, I've met only Heishiro," then she added, "I've never met a Samurai before..."

"Ryouga's probably camped out somewhere with Kentaro...as for Ranma..." she closed her eyes for a moment then continued, "I don't know where he is..." she turned to Ukyou, unshed tears welling up in her eyes, "I feel so bad Ukyou...I feel that like I'm hurting everyone I love..."

"Akane..." Ukyou gently said, thinking silence would be more helpful than words.

Akane looked out the window once more, whispering, "I'll have to make a decision soon or I'll end up hurting them more..."

* * * * * * * * * * *

Kentaro silently walked towards the Tendo home, leading Ryouga as the sun rose slowly. After practicing in the woods all night, he felt refreshed rather than tired, *I never thought that anyone could take so much damage like that!*

As they continued to walk, his thoughts turned to a certain someone he knew, *Nabiki sure looks different now...and the way she is, is just...I don't know, different, I guess...*

Kentaro sighed, his memories of the old Nabiki was different from the one he just met, *She doesn't smile as often as she did then...*

"Hey, Taro. Taro?"

Kentaro blinked for a while then turned sideways to his companion, "Wh-what was that, Ryouga?"

Ryouga smiled and answered, "Oh nothing...I was asking you who you were talking about, y'know, the smile."

Kentaro blushed and answered, "Oh, that...you see...um, it's nothing..."

Ryouga stopped and asked, a grin painting his face, "What did you say?"

"It's well, itsabonki..."

"Heh?" Ryouga said, looking at his friend curiously.

Kentaro gave out an exasperated sigh and said, "It's about Nabiki okay..."

"Oh..."

"What do you mean 'oh'?" Kentaro asked.

Ryouga smiled as they continued walking, then answered, "Well, I didn't think that Nabiki was the kind who y'know, who's interested in guys right now. I mean, I think she wants to succeed in her career first...and..."

"Sh-she was nothing like that before...she used to be so different and..." a dreamy look came upon him, "And she used to smile more..."

A grin plastered itself on Ryouga's face and he said, "Hmmm...you got it bad, Kentaro!!"

Kentaro was immediately shaken from his thoughts, saying, "Hey, I wasn't even in the Nabiki fan club, y'know!"

"Nabiki Fan Club?" Ryouga asked in confusion.

Kentaro looked at him and said, "There was a fan club dedicated to Nabiki in our old school! I mean she was the girl almost all the guys wanted to go out with!"

"Really? I thought Akane would--"

"Well, I mean _some_ guys liked Akane too, but most of 'em were scared of Heishiro and all..." Kentaro trailed off, glancing at his friend.

Kentaro turned to Ryouga and saw a stupid grin on his face. "Hey, stop teasing me Ryouga!"

Mock innocence shone on Ryouga's eyes and he answered, "Me? I didn't even say a word!"

"It's the same thing! You--"

When they turned on a corner, Kentaro immediately froze and started to walk the opposite direction, dragging Ryouga behind him, "Oh no!! Please don't let her see me!! Please!!!"

Ryouga pulled his hand back and said, "What was that all about?! Who don't you want to see?"

Kentaro was about to answer when an oh-so-familiar voice pierced through the crowd and called him,

"Kentaro!!! Son!!!! Wait for your dear mother!!!"

"Oh. . ." was all Ryouga could say, then he added in a dry tone, "You think we could run?"

Before they could do anything the crowds somehow parted to give way. They immediately noticed three _very_ muscled women with Kentaro's mom.

"What a coincidence! I was just telling these nice _ladies_ about my little sonny," she said, pinching Kentaro's cheek, "and his friend!!" then the middle-aged woman leaned up to whisper to both of the guy's ears, "They got great strength, sonny, they're gonna bear you some strong children."

Kentaro looked as his mom dryly and commented, "Mom, if you plan on whispering, why not make it a little louder 'coz the people on the other side of the world can't hear you."

The woman just shrugged the sarcastic comment off and patted her son on the cheek, "You silly boy!"

The three women looked at them and they flexed their muscles.

Ryouga and Kentaro's eyes met and they suddenly nodded at each other. Before the four women could say a word, the two young men were out of their sight...

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

Ranma closed his eyes and took a deep breath, *I shouldn't have confronted her like that...* His thoughts came back to the events last night, remembering how Akane had looked at him with those tear-filled brown eyes and the hurt deep inside. It just tore at him how insensitive he had been, asking her to take him back as if he didn't disappear for years.

"There she is..." he whispered to himself, peering at the form of Akane sitting on the sundeck. Ranma worked his courage up and approached her, his eyes tracing her beautiful face.

"Ranma--" she said, but he spoke before she could add anything else.

"I...I'm sorry, Akane..." Ranma watched as mixed emotions crossed her face...

Akane was at a loss for words. Somehow, she felt that she was the one at fault...Her thoughts stopped when Ranma extended his hand, saying,

"Friends?"

Akane took his hand and shook it, murmuring, "Friends."

Ranma sat beside her on the sundeck, feeling a small burden on his back being lifted, "So...where is everybody?"

Akane smiled and answered, "Well, Shiro's still asleep, Kasumi's out somewhere for groceries, I think...Daddy's playing shogi with Uncle Saotome...Nabiki's also out doing...uh, business...Ukyou wanted to look at what replaced her old restaurant..."

Ranma flinched inwardly when the samurai's name was mentioned first. He pushed such thoughts from his mind and just sat there and listened as Akane listed everything everyone was doing.

From there, they just talked about the old times, idly chatting about their past and what they've been up to. Whenever the topic of conversation came to anywhere near his trip to China, Ranma had carefully and effectively changed the topic...

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

{{ Heishiro sat in a dark, lonely corner, looking at the bars of his prison. Dirt and a little hay covered the bare ground and his only light came from the little barred window at the far side of the wall and a lighted torch at the entrance of the compound. He could've easily broken out of his cage, yet he knew that once he stepped outside, he would go no further. He knew by experience that wards surrounded the whole of the temple grounds, designed only for those who were kept prisoner.

Heishiro stood up and peered through the thumb-thick bars, seeing cells aligned down the corridor to the right. Almost in front of his cell, a long bench stretched along the wall, seated there were several men wearing traditional black Chinese robes. He shivered. If you looked closely enough, all of the men had a distant look in their eyes as if they were in an endless dream, their expressionless faces looking never stirring from that trance-like state. Heishiro was a witness to the enchantment the women in this temple had cast upon almost all the men, knowing that in a few days, he would be next. He remembered that day as if it happened only a few hours ago as he closed his eyes and slumped back down on the cold hard ground...

^^^^^^^^^^

He grunted as a man robed in black forced him to kneel down. He looked around, seeing women in white robes, their mysterious eyes regarding the men gathered. One of the women caught his eye, a young lady with red hair who was the only one who did not have those mysterious eyes like the others. The samurai's gaze turned to the other men with him, each gritting their teeth in both anger and fear. There was six of them all in all-Suddenly, one of the kneeled men managed to get lose from his captor's grip and started to run to the edges of the temple. None of the black-clad men moved, their hollow eyes only following the man as he tried to escape. When Heishiro finally decided to escape himself, the man suddenly burst into flame, his arms flailing about like a rag doll being tossed in the air. He froze in horror, seeing sunlight glinting off a translucent wall that suddenly disappeared. *Wards...* he immediately thought. Now there was only five of them remaining, disbelief and horror openly displayed for all to see.

"They never learn, do they..." a woman's voice sounding across the courtyard. "Even after three different attempts, they persist to defy our will..."

A regal air surrounded the woman who spoke, making her look handsome rather than beautiful, yet still her face was one of the fairest Heishiro had ever seen. Dressed in white silk robes, her dark eyes seemed out of place along with her white hair and fair complexion. Though her hair was pure white, her face spoke of a woman who has not even gone past her thirties. Heishiro only realized there was a young lady behind her when she turned and motioned the girl to approach. The young woman was not much different from the elder. Instead of pure white, her hair was silver, highlighted by her amber eyes. And if he thought that the older woman was more beautiful, he would be lying.

As one they literally glided across the paved stone of the temple, their white silk robes gracefully joining the wind. Yet as Heishiro looked closer, their hair did not even move an inch. As they swept past, bows went around like a gentle wave, each person murmuring 'Honor to the Faithful..'. The two women approached Heishiro and the other men kneeling, their gaze slowly sweeping past from man to man.

"So which do you fancy, younger sister? I will teach you to make a slave of him..." she laughed, sending shivers down the spines of the captured men.

The young lady glided to the kneeling men, looking deep into the eyes of each one. Heishiro looked on as the lady stopped in front of one of the men. From what the samurai could see, she had stopped in front of a young man near his age, his brownish black hair barely hiding the bandanna he wore. In her facial expressions, he could see surprise mixed with curiosity and...awe...?

"Is he the one?" the older woman asked, a cold smile touching her lips.

The lady looked back at her elder sister then back at the young man and answered, "No. No, he is not, sister."

"Very well, then make your choice..."

The young lady went to the next man and gestured with her hand, not even looking at the chosen one. "He is the one..."

The man chosen looked around fearfully, not even caring if the black-clad men dragged him to the elder woman. Sensing that something bad was gonna happen to him, the man flailed about, trying his hard to escape, yet the men robed in black had an iron grip on both his hands.

The younger lady was back beside the elder, stealing glances at the young man with the bandanna when she thought her older sister was not looking.

With her index finger and thumb, the elder slowly closed the man's eyes, then traced back her fingers to his forehead as she closed her own eyes, breathing slowly in concentration. The samurai thought that she was murmuring some words of incantation, but he did not know what to make of it.

Without warning, the black robed man behind him hoisted him up and led him to his cell before he saw anything of the chosen man. But as he was near his cell, a blinding light seemed to come from the courtyard, flashing like lightning and was soon gone, leaving black dots in his vision. Heishiro barely noticed the black-robed man shove him into his cell, shivering as thoughts of what could have happened to the man invading his mind...

^^^^^^^^^^

Heishiro started awake from his reminiscing and grunted as he realized he was in a cold, dark cell. Suddenly, the same man chosen in the courtyard sped towards him, moonlight glinting on bare steel that was aimed for his throat. *No!!!* }}

Heishiro started awake, finding himself in the room he shared with Ranma in the Tendo dojo. "Just a dream, just a dream..." he kept on repeating to himself, though only the latter part was dream, and the previous stark reality. He breathed heavily, the blinding light dancing across his vision and the fate of the man chosen playing itself in his mind. Closing his eyes, his breathing slowed, and his thoughts cleared. He knew that the red-haired girl in the Temple was Ranma here, but what he couldn't understand was what she was doing gathered with those other...women. It was odd though. The man in the bandanna seemed so familiar to him now that he thought about it.

The samurai stood up and looked outside the window, seeing that it was already afternoon. His stomach rumbled, *Better find something to eat...darn...I woke up too late, I wonder what Akane's doing. I better hurry, Ranma might be with her already...* With that, he strode outside the room and decided to take a bath...

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

Nabiki walked into the dojo, smiling as she fingered the wad of money in her pocket. *Good business as usual...* She made her way up the stairs and into her room, plopping herself on the soft mattress. With the sudden turn of events, Nabiki found herself thinking more of her past, especially when she first saw Kentaro. A blush forced its way up her cheeks and she tried not to think of that encounter in the furo. She sighed and sat up on her bed, looking around her room, remembering what her life used to be before Furinkan.

Nabiki's gaze fell on the corkboard, seeing the different bills and contracts posted on it. Suddenly, she noticed something sticking out from behind the board and she slowly approached it, carefully pulling the end of what looked like a picture. A sigh once again escaped her lips as she looked upon an old picture of herself, standing in a field of flowers. Yet the picture wasn't clear, it was somewhat blurred. She had kept the picture for a long time, always comparing it to her life now. Fingering the picture, she stared at the innocent big eyes of the young girl and looked at her mirror. "Where did this little girl go...?"

Nabiki let out a forced breath and sadly smiled before tucking the picture in her top drawer. Hearing her stomach grumble, she reluctantly stood up and went downstairs, hoping to find something the Saotome's hadn't devoured.

She pushed the cloth flap separating the kitchen, still disturbed at her earlier thoughts. "Kasumi, do you have--?" Nabiki stopped in mid sentence as she saw Kentaro holding a huge sandwich. "Oh it's you."

A huge sweat drop appeared on Kentaro's head, feeling as if he was caught stealing a cookie from the jar. "Uh, hi Nabiki...Ryouga got lost and, uh, I was kinda hungry and Kasumi, she, uh..." *Oh no, I'm babbling...*

Nabiki acknowledged his greeting with a cold stare and opened the refrigerator door, looking for something to satisfy her hungry stomach.

Putting the sandwich down, Kentaro went over to Nabiki and put his hand on top of the open door, looking down at Nabiki while she was looking for food. "Why the cold shoulder, Nabiki? I don't think its about the, uh, y'know, that bathroom thing..."

Nabiki looked up at Kentaro and once again glared, yet for some reason, it didn't have the same effect it gave everyone else. She slammed the door, barely missing her friend's hand. Nabiki gave him an innocent look and said, "Ooops, sorry 'bout that..." To Nabiki's surprise, instead of an outburst of rage, he actually smiled at her.

"It's okay, really..."

Frowning, Nabiki faced him and said, in an icy tone, "Taro, look here...I've changed a _lot_. I'm not the same girl from our old school, so deal with it, everyone has." She waited for his answer, waited for him to argue with her and everything, but once again, that insolent grin melted through her icy coldness.

Kentaro walked away from Nabiki and stopped when he was near the door and smiled for all he was worth. "Y'know, Nabiki...I only realized now how little you've changed."

Nabiki was caught by surprise at his words, but before she could speak again, he raised a finger to stop her, and surprisingly still, she did.

His cheeks reddened and he said, "One little thing though...you should smile more...I really miss seeing it..." With that, he strode out the door, in search for the Eternal Lost Boy.

Nabiki's eyes were still fixed on the doorway, different thoughts whirling about in her mind. *What's wrong with me?* Her mind went back to the way he smiled... *Stop it!* Her hand slowly came up to her cheek and she could feel its heat rising. As she looked at the empty doorway, for once, she did something for a very different reason than she used to. She smiled.

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

A young beautiful woman stood in front of the School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts and sighed. Her silver hair cascaded down her back, her white silk robes gently whirling about. "Finally...my love...Ryouga..."

Author's Notes:

Oookay, I'm really, really, really sorry for the huge delay. I finally got myself to sit down and finish the 7th chapter. *sigh* Anyway, as you could expect, school's starting and I'm gonna be quite busy, but I promise to write as often as I can. [really, believe me!] ^_^ ^_^

Beyond forms 3 is under way, again, I'm sorry for the delay!!! [Gomen!!] The Thin Line Between Love and Friendship 2 is also under way ^_^ What else? I got a few short fics coming along, and that's about it! I'll be updating the page soon, too! ^_^

Well, again I'm sorry for the delay, and yes, this is in draft form. C&Cs are welcome at [email protected]

Anyway, thanks and ja!!!!

~Kiwi Noriega~

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