Chapter 2 - Switching heirs
By Paks
Disclaimer:
1) The characters and stories of Ranma 1/2, Sailor
Moon, and Tenchi Muyo
belong to their respective creators, and are used here without permission or
license.
2) No claims to the above copyright are made by the author of this work.
3) This work is for non-commercial use ONLY, and is produced for the enjoyment
of fans only.
4) This work is the expression of the author and the depiction of the Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, and Tenchi
Muyo characters herein are in no way represented to
be a part of Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, and Tenchi Muyo as depicted by the
original author and copyright holder(s).
Authors note: This story is set to be a mega-crossover, you have been warned.
**********
Two young dirty children follow along behind a ferrety looking man. They look
quite sullen and miserable - it appeared as if they had not eaten for a while.
All three individuals are walking down some very narrow, very seedy looking
back streets of a large city. Eventually they arrive at what appears to be some
sort of market, but all the individuals in attendance appear to be down on
their luck, except of course the men in the immaculate black suits.
"You two, wait here I have to talk to someone."
So the two young children slump down on the spot, preparing to wait for what
could be a long time. The ferrety looking man scurries of leaving the two young
children where the huddle together on the ground as if they were the only two
people in the whole world. If anyone noticed the grin on the
mans face, or the rubbing of hands, or even the muttering, they would
have been greatly concerned for the welfare of what appeared to be his own
children.
"Brother, please stay with me always - I am scared of what the old man
will do to us this time."
"Sister, I will." The solemn promise issued by a young boy who
appeared to be no older than four - due to the lack of food over the course of
his young life, could have broken the most hardened man.
When the ferrety man returned, he looked at the two children with disgust. He
had tried to make the less dependent on each other but nothing seemed to work.
It had taken him years to find such a perfect opportunity to both get rid of
them and make a bundle of cash, but it would be worth it. Grabbing the two
children's arms he dragged them off and shoved them into a wire pen full of
other children, quickly slamming the door shut he rushed off to talk to a man
in a black suit. The two children clutched at the wire and looked outside
forlornly.
"How much for the pair?"
"500000 yen for the pair."
"Is that all?"
"Take it or leave it."
"I'll take it." The man grabbed the money and scurried away. Those
children had cost him enough already and they weren't showing any promise for
the purposes he had hoped to mould them.
**********
Ranma and Ranko played
happily in the backyard of the Saotome house. Mock
punches and kicks rained from all angles as the children tried to slam each
other to the ground in some semblance of martial prowess. Their short arms and
legs never quite connected as one or the other always just managed to evade the
other’s blows.
Genma looked on with pride at Ranma
and some disgust at Ranko, a quick glance at his wife’s
katana convinced him not to interfere in the children's play though. Nodoka looked fondly at the two children, they had changed
so much from the little bundles of joy she remembered holding in the hospital.
Of course she had never connected the change with Genma's
switch, how can this be, well Nodoka was never too
bright - she did marry Genma after all.
"No-chan, our 'children' are showing promise -
about that training trip for Ranma..." ‘children’ was said with a grimace of distaste, but Genma needed to include Ranko as
he was trying to sweet talk Nodoka at the time.
"Yes dear."
"I want to be leaving soon, he is getting old
enough for a more formal training regimen."
"Yes dear, you will of course be taking and training Ranko
at the same time….."
"Errrrr, of course No-chan,
Ranma will need a sparring partner that is closer to
his own skill level."
At this point Genma's devious mind began thinking of
ways to take the boy but leave the girl behind.
"I also want to hear regular updates as to how their training is
going."
"Of course, I will send letters every time I can - but we will be training
in some very remote places, you understand."
Nodoka returned her gaze to the children; they would
grow up to be good heirs for the family school, marry and give her lots of
grandchildren to care for. Stars appeared in her eyes as she thought of the
grandchildren she would have one day. Ranma and Ranko continued sparring, oblivious to their parents’
plans.
**********
Kimiko Tendo, walked slowly from the Dr Tofu’s office. The glazed look
in her eyes showed the people in the waiting room that her thoughts were
elsewhere. She kept reviewing in her mind what had happened in the office, and
her concern for her family grew - for her husband was not up to raising three
daughters by himself.
*****Flashback*****
"Mrs. Tendo the test results don't look
good."
"Please tell me how long we are looking at Dr."
"I think we can safely say that you have one year remaining, perhaps
longer if you consider one of the treatments that I have suggested."
"You know that my husband cannot afford that kind of expenditure Dr.
Please don't tell anyone of this."
"But you should at least tell your husband, surely..."
"
"Well, if this is what you want, I will of course respect your wish."
"Thank you Dr, I am grateful for everything you have done for me."
"You are welcome, Mrs Tendo.
If there is anything else I can do for you just ask."
"There is one more thing, please ensure my daughters are taken care of
when I am gone."
"I would be honored to, Mrs Tendo."
With that Kimiko Tendo
stood and quietly left the Dr's office.
*****End Flashback*****
Kimiko had been considering the possibility of this
happening for a long time now, for as long as she had been secretly seeing the
doctor about her strange symptoms. She would train Kasumi in how to take care
of the house; her daughter seemed to enjoy helping her with the chores. Nabiki was a whiz with numbers even at the tender age of
six. Akane, her baby, was only five - she desperately
hoped that Soun could hold the family together after
she was gone. The thing she regretted most was that she would not be able to
see her daughters grow up into the beautiful women she knew they would become, and
she would not get to play with her grandchildren. As she approached the Tendo dojo she composed her face into an expression of
contented bliss. A genuine smile crossed her face as she heard her husband
training students in the dojo - he really did love teaching his art.
**********
Dr. Mizuno looked sadly at her daughter Ami, she was
smart even at the tender age of four years. The young girl played doctor in the
corner of the living room. Sipping her coffee the young doctor skimmed the
hospital reports with one eye and watched her daughter with the other. She
wished that she could spend more time with her daughter, but after her husbands’
death many years earlier it fell to her to keep them living well. A tear
escaped her eye and fell into her coffee cup, unnoticed she took another sip.
The twins that had vanished without a trace had never resurfaced. A thorough
investigation had resulted in many sackings and early retirements. The poor
mother of the children had not survived the news that her children would likely
never be found alive. She had succumbed to ill health a few months later, never
having quite recovered from the difficult labour
months before; the news seemed to completely dissipate her will to live.
**********
In the small pen overflowing with dirty children, one child - who was bigger
than all the others - approached a young girl and boy with the intention of
bullying them to acquire everything that they had. The young boy got up and
stood over the girl protectively as the bigger boy approached.
"Give me evethin' ya
got!"
"I aint got nuttin'"
"No but I bet yer girl has..."
"You leave my sister alone!"
As the older and bigger boy got closer, the young boy darted forward and
tripped him. Taking the opportunity to rush in the young boy began slamming
punches onto the older boys face. He was no stranger to brawling - in fact the
old man that brought them there seemed to actively encourage it. The older
formerly tough older boy began to cry out as the blows made his nose begin to
bleed. He was saved when a man in a black suit entered the pen and dragged the
younger vicious boy off him.
"Your turns up kid, you got spirit at least, you'll need it."
With that the man in the black suit dragged the young boy out if the pen. The
young boy was still screaming and struggling to reach the downed older boy. In
his battle rage, he didn't even notice his young sister cry out and try to
reach him as he was dragged from the pen.
"And the next item on for sale is a fine young man,
he has plenty of fighting spirit, and would suit a ninja clan as a
servant."
Another man in a black suit went over to assist the first man holding the
squirming and battle enraged young boy. The boys wild
eyes and mussed and dirty black hair gave him a feral appearance. The
auctioneer pointed at the boy in question and the crowd of dirty and down on
their luck people all eyed him wearily. They weren't going to buy a servant or
perspective family member who was that hard to control.
"We will start the bidding at 3 million yen"
Silence greeted this announcement.
"2 million..."
More silence.
"1 million?" the auctioneer gulped nervously at the impassive stare
of the man in the white suit with the dark sunglasses.
"Okay, at 500 000 yen this child is a bargain and I am afraid I can go no
lower for a fine specimen such as this.
Just as it appeared that no one would buy the young child a man who seemed to
be wandering aimlessly behind the crowd cries out in frustration.
"WHERE ON EARTH AM I NOW!!!"
The auctioneer gasped in relief.
"Sold to the man in the back for 500000 yen."
The huge muscular man at the back of the crowd was approached by several men in
black suits including the two holding the young boy - who had calmed a little
and was looking around and wondering why he was no longer in the pen with his
sister. Suddenly noticing the men approaching he looked at them sheepishly and
began scratching the back of his head. The men discretely asked the huge
muscular man to pay them the 500 000 yen that was now 'owed'. Nervously the man
pulled out the required amount wishing to avoid the four guns pressed to
various points of his body - even a martial artist of his caliber couldn't
avoid a bullet quickly enough at that range.
Once their dues were paid, the two men in black suits holding the boy dumped him
into the shocked huge muscular mans arms. The man caught the young boy
reflexively. Then, deciding that he didn't like this situation he promptly got
lost with the boy still held in his arms.
**********
Katsuhito Misaki trained
his only remaining grandchild, 10 year old Tenchi in
the sword forms of his family, the boy showed potential. He had searched years
before for his two grandchildren, he had even considered asking his Goddess,
Tsunami, but politics and the fact that he had never informed Achika of her true heritage had stopped him from pursuing
that path. So as a kind of repentance he poured all of his efforts into
training and caring for Tenchi. Noboyuki
had thrown himself into his work after his wife’s death and paid little
attention to the boy when he needed his fathers comfort the most.
"Pay attention Tenchi" yelled Katsuhito as he once more bopped his distracted grandchild
on the head with his bokken.
Tenchi jumped back rubbing his head, then he returned to a stance holding his bokken
in two hands. He ran at his grandfather, who avoided all of the child’s swings,
driving the boy to move ever faster. However, Tenchi
was distracted - he really wanted to go back to that cave on the mountain. He
felt as though there was a lonely presence there who cheered up when he visited
to play around the area. Still he was trying his best to hit his grandfather,
but he was just too fast.
Sighing, Katsuhito called a halt and sent Tenchi off to play. He could feel that the boy had a
destiny and would need all the skills that he could pass on one day. Tenchi ran off to go and play near the cave again - he
vowed that he would get those keys so he could explore it himself one day.
**********
After seeing her brother taken away the young girl dried her tears in the pen
determinedly started inspecting every square inch of the wire fence, and sure
enough there was a small hole beneath the fence in the back corner of the pen -
she would find her brother if it was the last thing she would do. Squirming
through the hole underneath the fence she tore her already ruined rags into
even smaller shreds. Taking one last look at the pen and the crying older boy
who her brother had just beaten up to defend her, she looked in the direction
she had last seen her brother being taken and ran. No one noticed the small
girl running away from the pen.
**********
Authors Note:
Thanks to DogbertCarrol for that cool idea - keep up the ideas. I’m sorry I took so long to update, but getting to an internet cafe in this place is tough and expensive. I am getting the internet installed soon though. The next installment will be much quicker I hope.