Well, here's my one-hour fic. I wasn't going to participate in this
challenge, but this idea popped into my head on the way to work this
morning and I couldn't get it out. We'll see if I can polish it off in
an hour.
Reading this fanfic require a passing knowledge of my fanfics.
Start time: 10:20pm
DEFINITIONS OF HELL
by Richard Lawson
Ranma leaned against the boulder with a sigh. At long, long last, it
was over.
The creature, whatever it was, sank into a pool of its own blood. If
blood was bright orange and bubbling, that is. Even as the fire in its
eyes began to dim, it still looked at Ranma with hate.
Ranma grimaced. This wasn't the first time he'd tried to kill an
opponent in combat. Heck, Saffron had survived on a fluke. This was
the first time, however, that Ranma had succeeded.
The creature opened its mouth and, for the first time, spoke. "A
curse."
Ranma frowned. Despite the many weeks he'd spent in this country, he
still had a hard time following English. And this creature's mouth
didn't seem well-suited to verbal speech. "What?"
"A curse." The creature tried to lift an arm, and failed. "I curse
you."
Ranma laughed without humor. "You not have magic. All used up, all
gone. Sorry."
"Death. Always magic in death. I use my death to curse you." The
creature was struggling to speak now, making it even harder for Ranma to
understand. "To you, Hell. To Hell with you." The light flickered out
from its eyes.
Ranma shook his head. So useless. In the end, it had used the last of
its life to spew invective. No regrets that its life had brought it to
such an end, only a desire to try and lash out.
Ranma sighed. Regrets he had lots of. Five months he'd been running
around the Australian outback. He'd be another month getting out and
back to Japan. All this with Akane pregnant. She should be seven
months pregnant right now, and having to take care of Nouma on top of
all that. Not to mention her job. Surely Kasumi, Nabiki, and the
others were helping, but Ranma knew he belonged there. Needed to be at
her side.
There were times when he really, really hated the curse.
Pushing himself off the rock, he staggered down the hill. Time to go
home.
---
Ranma walked up to the gates, and stood for a while drinking in the
sight. Six months away. He sure hoped the curse didn't try to take him
away for a while. Ranma had had enough for a while.
He opened them and walked down the path to the front door. He tested
the door, but found it locked as expected. Akane would be at work, and
Nouma at the after-school day care. Akane planned to work right up to
the time she gave birth, and then would take a month off before going
back.
He got out his keys and unlocked the door. The familiar sight of the
interior warmed him. Home. It was *so* nice to be home.
He set his backpack on the ground and walked down the hallway. He came
to the door that led to the back yard. He slid it opened and examined
the back yard for a while. Peaceful.
After a while, he glanced at the clock and realized it was time for
Akane to come home. He smiled and wandered into the kitchen. He'd fix
dinner for her. It would be a very nice way to get back into the
routine. It would also send her a message - that domestic duties would
be his top priority, at least for a while. She would need that
reassurance, especially with the baby due so soon.
He put on one of his aprons - efficient and no more, none of Kasumi's
frills - and began the task of cooking dinner. He lost himself in the
chore, realizing that it *wasn't* a chore, it was *family*, and that was
important.
As he was getting toward the finish, he heard the front door open. He
heard two sets of feet enter, one walking, one running. The running
steps scampered up the steps, while the walking steps made their way
down the hallway. Ranma felt a huge smile covering his face. Akane was
home. Akane was here. He had missed her, had lay awake at night
yearning for her, and now she was home.
Wiping his hands on his apron in preparation for hugging her fiercely,
he turned towards the door and froze.
He didn't know who was more shocked, himself or the man staring at him
from the kitchen entrance. Ranma felt something cold settle into his
stomach. The man, too, looked shocked. His face was ashen.
"R-ranma." The man was having difficulty speaking. "What happened?"
Ranma couldn't think straight. Intelligent thought was beyond him at
this point. "What happened to what?"
"T-to th-the..." The man made a visible effort to gather himself. "To
the baby."
Ranma could make no sense out of what was happening. "What baby?"
This seemed to shock the man even further. "My God." He walked up and
gently put a hand on Ranma's shoulder. "Please Ranma, I have to know.
Can you remember?"
"Remember what?" The man's too-familiar touch allowed him to react
finally. He knocked the hand away. "Keep your hands off me, bud. What
the hell are you doing here?"
"Ranma!" The man spoke with real anguish. "I live here, too. Don't do
this."
"You WHAT!" Ranma grabbed his shirt and lifted him off his feet.
"Since when do you live here, jerk?"
The man gently put his hand over Ranma's. "Since we got married, dear."
Ranma was shocked speechless. He couldn't articulate his fury. But he
could express it. He reached back his other hand and made a fist.
"Mommy!" A six-year-old girl ran into the kitchen and hugged Ranma's
leg. She reached up and patted Ranma's stomach. "Where'd the baby go,
Mommy?"
The man's shirt slipped from Ranma's nerveless fingers. The man fell
back to the ground with a grunt, but Ranma ignored it. He ignored
everything except the memory of the creature's words in Australia. To
Hell, it had said.
Being married to a man, having given birth to one child and supposedly
being pregnant with another... that quite nicely fit Ranma's definition
of Hell on Earth.
---
In another kitchen, two pregnant women stared at each other.
One gaped at the other in shock. "Since when did you move back in?
Where's Kentaro?"
The other looked very, very angry. She was staring at first woman's
extended belly. "You left me for six months so you could hide *this*
from me?! And now you come back?!"
A hammer and the shouted words, "Ranma no baka" played significant parts
in the events that followed.
Hell had found a nice foothold in the Tendo home. Both of them.
~*~
Finish Time: 11:15pm
Sorry about that. Had to get it out of my head. :)
Now on to more of "Roses of Shadow".