[FFML][Ranma][Fanfic][Final Draft] Childhood of a Modern Dynasty -
Chapter 1 [Section 4]
Okay, here is the final draft (I hope) of the first chapter of my new
series. Anyone who has seen the first drafts will recognize many
changes to the first half. The part in the mountains hasn't changed to
much (I didn't get any negative comments about Ranma and Akane's
training in the mountains).
BTW, Ukyo's big apology had been postponed, since many people indicated
she was a bit OTT in her apology for this part in the story (I had to
agree). She also makes her reappearance later in the school year.
Also, it was suggested that I split it up into smaller parts for the
pre-reading/FFML so I have. I'll post the pieces over then next few
days. Let me know if you prefer this format or in the single piece
that the final chapter will be posted.
I'm mostly concerned with cleaning up the grammar and spelling in this
draft, but as always, I welcome any comments about the story and
characters. Be brutal if you have to.
[Ranma][Fanfic] Childhood of a Modern Dynasty - Chapter 1: Hit Me Hard,
Kiss Me Hard
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Childhood of a Modern Dynasty - Chapter 1: Hit Me Hard, Kiss Me Hard
Ranma 1/2 characters and situations created by Rumiko Takahashi, used
without permission
Ranma 1/2 Copyright by Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakan Inc., Kitty, Fuji,
Viz Communications, etc...
Childhood of a Modern Dynasty series created, written, and Copyright
1998 by Jim Lazar
An ongoing series set after the end of the Ranma 1/2 manga, but
incorporates elements/characters of the anime as well.
<Speech text in angle brackets are thought by character.>
All other speech is in Japanese, although written in English in this
story of course.
=======================================================================
[section 4]
* * *
The next morning, Akane was up early and was trying to cook
breakfast. The number of dirty pans and the growing pile of discarded
food, showed that she was not having much luck. The scowl on her face
confirmed this.
Then she started another omelet. This time she carefully tasted
the milk before adding it to the eggs. She spat the milk out quickly,
then discarded the bottle. She opened a new sealed bottle and tasted
it, she smiled, then added the milk to the eggs. She did the same to
the rest of the ingredients, pausing over the sliced ham. It tasted
funny too. Discarding the ham into the pile, she dug out some turkey
and tasted it, perfect.
Ranma awoke and stretched her arms and legs. She emerged from her
tent in her usual shorts and muscle T-shirt. She yawned and shook out
her arms and legs. "Morning, Akane."
"Good morning!" Akane chimed, as she finished making the omelet.
"Why did you sleep as a girl?"
Ranma did a forward flip over the fire and sat down by the fire,
after scratching her butt. She poured herself some tea. "Oh, didn't
seem much reason to heat up water just to turn back before going to
bed," Ranma explained, as she sipped the tea.
"You're getting pretty comfortable with your girl-side these
days," Akane remarked, as she put the omelet onto two plates and
carried them over to Ranma.
"Well, with Jusenkyo gone I don't have too many options. I'm a
guy, but I can live with this body if I have to," Ranma replied, but
deep down she still longed for a cure.
"That's okay, I'd miss your girl-side anyway," Akane said, as she
offered one of the omelets to Ranma.
Taking the plate from Akane, Ranma looked at the omelet, sniffed
it, and then used some chopsticks to pluck up a piece of it. After a
brief pause, which Akane noticed with a slight frown, Ranma ate it.
After Ranma swallowed it, she remarked, "It's good, but what happened
to the ham?"
"I don't know, must have gone bad, it didn't taste right," Akane
explained, a smile came to her face. "I'm glad you liked it."
"So, where did you find the take-out place?" Ranma quipped, with a
smile on her face.
"Baka! I cooked it!" Akane yelled, as her battle aura sparked to
life.
"Sorry, just a joke...calm down..." Ranma said, as she backed away
from Akane. "Please?"
Akane stopped and let her aura fade. "Sorry...I overreacted."
"No, I put my foot in my mouth again," Ranma apologized. "Your
omelet tasted much better than my foot."
"Thanks, I think..."
<It actually was edible, a little bland, but I've at least learned
that I don't say anything Akane makes that is non-toxic, is bland.
She'd just try to 'improve' the recipe,> Ranma thought, suppressing a
shudder.
* * *
As Ranma and Akane finished their breakfast, Ukyo and Ryoga looked
down at them from their hiding place. "Dang, looks like she managed to
make a good meal even after I messed up the ingredients," Ukyo said,
with a sigh.
"What next?" Ryoga asked, chewing on a stick of beef jerky.
"Well, after they leave to train, we can go down and sabotage the
rest of their supplies so they have to head back early," Ukyo
explained, as she ate her bacon. She seemed to be savoring every bite.
"I really wish you wouldn't eat that in front of me," Ryoga said,
turning his head away from Ukyo.
"What?" Ukyo questioned, looked at her breakfast, then said,
"Opps, sorry wasn't thinking. Don't worry I'd never really cook you
piggy."
"Thanks."
"You're too tough with all your muscles anyway and not enough fat
for flavor," Ukyo explained, with a smile. <That's for the
hermaphrodite comment yesterday, Pig-boy!>
"Hey!"
* * *
Akane squared off with Ranma, currently male, in the mountain
stream. Each of them balanced on one of the many slick boulders that
impeded the waters smooth flow. Ranma leaped with a yell and managed to
kick Akane in the side, Akane tried to avoid the kick and throw her own
punches as he flew past her, but didn't connect. She barely managed to
stay on her boulder. "You're better off meeting me in mid air than in a
stationary position on that boulder," Ranma instructed. "The force of
my kick is increased with the momentum of my leap, so unless you have
some momentum too, you'll probably loose a confrontation like this if
you stay still."
"Understood."
Ranma leapt again, but instead of right at Akane, he leapt to a
bolder to one side of her. She quickly pivoted and leapt to another
boulder a little closer to him. He leapt over towards Akane. Akane saw
his muscles tense just a bit before the leap and did a side flip to her
original boulder, almost slipping off the boulder as she landed.
"Good, never stay still even if you can't attack directly or block
your opponent's attack safely. Now your turn to attack me," Ranma said,
then with an afterthought added, "First one to get soaked does NOT get
to cook tonight." Ranma smiled.
With a determined look on her face, Akane balanced on one foot.
Ranma studied her eyes. He was amazed when Akane attacked head on.
Amazement turned to pride as Akane didn't reach him, but instead
bounced sideways off a boulder in front of him. She bounced back off
another boulder and ended up landing a kick to his side as he leapt
forward trying to avoid the unexpected move. Ranma managed to land on
another boulder and balanced on his outstretched arm. He quickly did a
back flip from that position and regained his balance on another
boulder, this time balanced on his foot. Momentarily loosing sight of
where Akane was, he leapt straight up in the air to avoid any behind
the back attacks. He felt the wind of Akane pass below his legs as she
tried to hit him from behind.
Akane, who ended up in the dirt on the shore, quickly got to her
feet and located Ranma as he landed back on the rock he just leapt up
from. She jumped back to a boulder and appraised Ranma's position
again. <Damn, didn't expect him to escape by going straight up...two
dimensional thinking again. Spock, where are you when I need you?!>
Then seeing an opening, she leapt to Ranma's left side. He quickly
executed a side flip to his right and landed on a boulder. Akane leapt
to a boulder only a few feet away from him.
Ranma executed a perfect back flip and landed on a large flat
boulder. <Big mistake Akane, this boulder gives me a lot of options.>
Akane did a cartwheel using a boulder in front of her, she ended up on
another boulder with the smaller boulder she used for the cartwheel
grasped in her hands. Not sure what she was planning on doing with the
small boulder, Ranma leapt to the back of the large flat boulder he was
on. Akane took that opportunity and threw the boulder into the water in
front of the flat boulder. It hit another boulder under the flat one
and caused the flat boulder to tilt forwards. His footing already
unbalanced from his quick leap backwards, Ranma ended up in the stream,
sitting on his butt. Make that her butt, since the water was very cold.
"You should know that I'd do anything to cook!" Akane taunted,
then held out her hand to help Ranma out of the stream. Ranma took her
hand, then quickly flipped Akane over her shoulder and into the stream.
"Good tactics there, but you forgot not to let your guard down at
the end," Ranma said, flashing a smile at the soaking wet Akane. Akane
splashed Ranma with a sweep of her arm. Ranma returned the gesture and
soon both girls were caught up in a water fight.
Soon they both lay on the shore of the stream, both soaked from
head to toe. Ranma pulled off the top of her gi and wrung it out. "Hey,
what are you doing?" Akane asked suddenly.
"Trying to dry off, why?" Ranma replied, continuing to wring out
the top.
"Well, put your top back on, you're a girl!"
"Haven't we had this argument before?" Ranma replied, then added,
"Several dozen times in fact? You're a girl so what's the big deal?"
"Fine then," Akane said. She began undoing her gi.
"Ack! What are you doing, Akane!" Ranma recoiled.
"Well we're both girls, aren't we?" Akane asked.
"No, I'm a guy!" Ranma insisted, but ruined her statement when she
pointed at her naked female chest. Point to Akane. "Fine, but we have
to dry off or we'll get sick. Turn your back and we can wring out our
clothes without seeing each other."
"Okay, but if you peek you're going back to Nerima by 'Akane
Air'," Akane threatened. They both turned their backs to each other and
then slipped their tops and pants off.
* * *
As she looked down at the two wet girls, Ukyo scowled, "Looks like
Akane is trying to seduce Ranma all right. She's taking her clothes
off!"
"Akane would never do that!"
"Maybe, but they are both standing down there naked," Ukyo
insisted. Ryoga started to look, but Ukyo forced his head down. "You'd
just faint, honey."
"Is what we're doing right? If they are happy together..." Ryoga
said suddenly.
"You're the one who came to me and now you're getting cold feet?"
Ukyo said. "They may like each other, but they are only going along
with the engagement for their family honor," she insisted, but a
nagging voice inside her told he she was deluding herself. She decided
to stop listening to her conscience.
"Right, it's our duty to make sure they don't end up in a loveless
marriage. If that means us marrying them, so be it!" Ryoga exclaimed.
"That's the spirit!"
* * *
As they walked back to their camp, Ranma noticed something wrong.
There was trash and pieces of fabric scattered all along the path.
"Damn, looks like something got into our camp." They quickly raced to
the campsite.
"Oh no," Akane gasped as she saw the devastation. The tents were
both down and looked shredded. Pots and pans were scattered all over.
"Looks like bears, but I didn't think they had bear problems up
here," Ranma said.
"We'd better clean it up and see what we have left," Akane
suggested, then started to collect the pots and pans.
After they cleaned up and took inventory, Ranma spoke, "Well, one
tent may be usable with pieces of the other one and we may have enough
bedding to keep warm. We will have to sleep in the same tent." Then to
avoid the backlash from Akane, he added, "I'll sleep as a girl, don't
worry." This seemed to calm Akane, a little.
"Foods a big problem, almost everything is gone. A few canned
things and we have plenty of water from the stream. It looks like we'll
have to cut the trip short," Akane said, disappointed.
"Don't give up so fast. I can't count the number of times me and
Pop had to live off the land," Ranma recalled.
"I don't plan on stealing an okonomiyaki cart with you," Akane
quipped.
Smiling, Ranma replied, "I don't think that will be necessary,
even if there was one nearby."
* * *
"They'll probably head back in the morning. Let's go to our camp
and get some rest ourselves," Ukyo suggested, as she backed away from
the ledge overlooking Ranma and Akane's camp.
"What if they don't leave?" Ryoga asked.
"Well, then we have to get more direct in our efforts," Ukyo
explained.
As Ryoga and Ukyo walked through the forest towards their
campsite, Ukyo missed a sudden drop in the darkening forest. Ryoga saw
her stumble and yanked her quickly back so that she wouldn't fall over
the cliff in front of them. Unfortunately, the momentum of his yank to
save Ukyo sent him over the cliff's edge instead. He ended up tumbling
down the steep cliff. He tried to catch hold of a tree or outcropping
on the way down, but couldn't. He tried to use his umbrella to slow
himself down, but it slipped out of his fingers. As he swore about the
loss of his umbrella, he hit the bottom with a loud crunch. His leg lay
twisted beneath his body. As he tried to get up he winced in pain. He
pulled his leg in front of him and noticed that it was bent, but not at
the knee. That didn't look right to him. "Damn, can't believe I broke
my leg from a little fall like that!" Ryoga screamed.
It took Ukyo close to an hour to make her way carefully down the
'little' cliff that Ryoga managed to tumble down in less than two
minutes. Finally, Ukyo arrived by Ryoga's side and asked, "You okay,
sugar?"
"Pretty much, but my leg is broken. I can't believe that I could
get hurt from such a small fall," Ryoga explained, he looked up again
at the cliff he fell from.
Ukyo followed his gaze, then said, "Anyone else would have died
from that fall, sugar. Well, no way I can get you out of here tonight
and I'd rather not climb back up to our camp in the dark like this."
"We'll freeze if we stay here!" Ryoga said, suppressing a wince as
he moved his leg.
"Not much choice, sugar," Ukyo said, and looked around. Pulling
out her canteen, she poured it on Ryoga's head.
"What...bweeeee," Ryoga began, but P-Chan finished the question
with a squeal.
"We'll go over into that patch of trees and I'll wear your
clothes. You can sleep under my shirt, that should keep us both warm
enough," Ukyo explained. P-Chan looked a bit scared at the plan. Ukyo
looked at the broken pig leg. She pulled out a little medical kit from
her small backpack, wishing that they had carried their big packs with
them today, and managed to make a little pig-sized splint. P-Chan
wriggled in pain as she did it, but knew it had to be done.
"Bwee?" P-Chan squealed.
"Yes, with the splint on, it shouldn't hurt that much tonight,"
Ukyo replied. Then she did a double take and thought, <Did I understand
him? Or just assume I knew what he was wondering about.>
Ukyo slipped Ryoga's clothes over hers, then she lifted P-Chan
carefully, and placed him under both of the shirts she wore. "I don't
know what Akane lets you get away with, but I know that you are really
a guy, so don't get any ideas down there. I may be hungry in the
morning and forget my promise not to cook you. Got it?" Ukyo explained
the situation very carefully to the pig. P-Chan nodded.
As they settled down to sleep, Ukyo curled up a little and wrapped
her arms around P-Chan to stay warm.
"By the way...thanks for pulling me back from that cliff," Ukyo
said, as she fell asleep.
* * *
Akane slipped into the repaired tent and cautiously lay down
beside the other girl. Ranma shifted a little as Akane joined her on
the sleeping mat. "Goodnight Ranma," Akane said and drew the blanket
around her.
"Goodnight," Ranma replied. Both fell asleep looking very nervous.
* * *
As the sun came up over the mountain, Ukyo shifted to avoid the
light hitting her closed eyes. Her shifting caused P-Chan to be pressed
up against her breasts. When P-Chan awoke, he was greeted with a close
up view of the bound breasts. "Bweeeeee!" P-Chan squealed and the blood
started flowing.
Awakened by the squeal, Ukyo sat up. P-Chan squirmed out of her
shirt and, ignoring the pain of his leg, raced away to cower under a
bush. "What's the matter?" Ukyo asked calmly. Seeing that Ukyo wasn't
mad at his being between her breasts, or just didn't notice, P-Chan
hobbled out from his hiding place. Ukyo picked him up and patted him on
the head. "Nice piggy."
P-Chan just snorted.
"Now then, we can climb back up, but that's a long haul with you
in my hands. I think we should make our way down the mountain. I can
come back later for our gear," Ukyo suggested.
P-Chan made several small squealing sounds while nodding up
towards the cliff he fell down.
"What about Ranma and Akane?" Ukyo asked. P-Chan nodded. "Well,
they will probably head back today, but not much else we can do about
it now. Have to get you to a vet."
"Bweeeeee!!," P-Chan squealed angrily.
"Okay, okay, have to get some hot water and get you to a doctor,"
Ukyo laughed. With P-Chan in her arms, Ukyo made her way down the
mountainside.
* * *
Ranma awoke and tried to get up, but found she couldn't rise.
Looking down she noticed that Akane was draped over her chest. <She
looks so sweet,> Ranma thought to herself. Carefully Ranma tried to
slide out from under the sleeping Akane. Unfortunately, Akane opened
her eyes with the movement. She sprang away from Ranma.
"What? How dare you..." Akane blurted, then stopped. Before Ranma
could deny doing anything with a tomboy like her, Akane said, "Oh,
never mind...Guess that was innocent enough."
Just as she WAS going to blurt out that she'd never do anything
with a tomboy like Akane, Ranma stopped herself. "Yes, it was," Ranma
agreed.
<Guess I can trust him after all,> Akane thought, with a smile.
"What are you grinning at?" Ranma asked.
"Oh, just the look on your face. You were expecting a mallet blow,
weren't you?" Akane asked.
"Um, sort of," Ranma replied, nervously scratching her head. "I'll
go out and do some foraging for berries, mushrooms, and whatever else I
can find. Heat up some tea and hot water, will ya?"
"Okay," Akane answered, and started to build a fire.
* * *
After another day of vigorous training, Akane and Ranma ate the
food they foraged for during the course of the day. Ranma even managed
to snare a rabbit, which Akane reluctantly ate.
Over dinner, they discussed the rest of the trip. "Well, it'll be
rough, but if you're up to it we can last another week out here," Ranma
stated, and then ate some berries.
"Sure, these berries are great," Akane said, as she ate the
mixture that Ranma came up with. She ate some of the rabbit too, but
didn't really want to talk about it. She kept picturing the pet rabbit
she had when she was smaller.
"There is one other thing I wanted to ask you before we turned
in," Ranma said, awkwardly.
"Sure, what is it?" Akane asked.
"I was wondering why..." Ranma began, then reached behind him.
"Why..."
"Why...you brought these with you?" Ranma finally asked, he held
out the box of condoms he found while cleaning up the night before.
Akane went pale and then started to blush. Looking down at her
hands, she eventually said, "Um, Nabiki gave them to me as a joke. I
guess I just packed them by accident."
"Oh. I was just a little surprised when I found them. I mean, we
haven't even really kissed yet. Let alone..." Ranma blurted in relief.
"Yet?"
"Well, I mean, it's been a year and a half since we met. I can
think of worse things to do with you..." Ranma tried to compliment her,
but failed miserably.
Akane raised an eyebrow and then said, "Hate to think what you'd
consider 'worse'," Akane quipped.
"I didn't mean it like that!" Ranma insisted.
"I know," Akane said, then placed a finger on Ranma's lips.
Ranma's eyes grew wide. So did Akane's.
They just sat and looked into each other's eyes for what seemed an
eternity. In real time, it was less than a minute before Akane leaned
in and gave Ranma a short kiss on his quivering lips.
They broke the kiss, then Ranma slid alongside Akane. He pulled
her close, briefly glanced around for a panda with a video camera, and
then repeated the kiss, spending a little more time enjoying it since
the initial panic of the first kiss had passed.
They reluctantly broke the kiss and just held each other close as
the fire burned itself out.
[End Chapter 1]
***********************************************************************
>From the personal journal of James Davidson:
I could see the tears well up in Akane's eyes, it was obvious that
she loved Ranma. For it to take a year and a half to get a first kiss
with the man she loved, had taken a toll on her and on the rest of her
life. I took her hand, then said, "That can be all for today."
"Thank you, James. Sorry to get so weepy on you, but thinking
about that trip always makes me cry. I just wish we could have kissed
sooner, so many things would have turned out differently," Akane said,
and got up.
I closed my palmcard and the keyboard folded back into the
twelve-centimeter by six-centimeter card, then I followed Akane inside
to get my clothes back.
I removed my borrowed kimono, slipped my freshly laundered clothes
back on, and followed Hanaki back to the front gate, admiring the
garden as I went. "Your Aunt is quite a woman," I commented, as we
passed the dojo.
"Yes she is," Hanaki replied.
Before we reached the gate, I said, "Um, I like the red
highlight."
Hanaki fingered the streak of red that ran down her long hair and
smiled. "Thank you. I'm afraid my mother doesn't like it that much."
"Well, my parents didn't like it the first time I shaved my head."
Hanaki snickered at this comment. "I'm glad you stopped shaving
it, I like your hair."
Self-consciously, I ran my hand through my hair and said, "Thank
you. Um...I'll see you tomorrow." I left the Compound and walked back
to my hotel. The sun was already setting.
"Goodnight James."
[Coming soon: Chapter 2: Broken Hearts and Legs]
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[Childhood of a Modern Dynasty Omake Theater]
Unused plot twist number one:
Akane sat by the campfire and chewed the meat off the rib she was
holding. Tossing the rib away, she asked, "So now that we've kissed,
what do we do now?"
"Get naked and use those condoms Nabiki gave you, of course,"
Ranma replied, leering at Akane.
"Sounds good, but can I have some more barbecued pork before we do
it?" Akane asked, slipping her gi top off.
Ranma started to drool at the sight of Akane's breasts or maybe
because the pig smelled so good. They both probably taste good. "Of
course," Ranma replied, then quickly carved a piece of the barbecued
meat off the small pig that was roasting over the fire and handed it to
Akane. Akane finished her meal, then got up and headed for the tent.
After Akane turned her back, Ranma dropped a yellow and black bandana
into the fire.
"What do you think we can catch tomorrow for dinner?" Akane asked,
as she slipped out of her pants before she entered the tent.
Ranma pulled off his gi as he walked to the tent. He glanced at a
large sack that was hidden behind a large bush. "Oh, maybe some wild
chicken." He grinned, then entered the tent with Akane.
The wind blew the top of the sack open, a large blood covered
spatula could be seen sticking out of the sack.
=======================================================================
--
Jim Lazar
E-Mail - mailto:jimlazar@earthlink.net
Home - http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlazar
FanFiction - http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlazar/anime
"You made Akane whose daughter?!?!"
"Genma's."
"Has she hit you with her mallet yet?"
"Several times, actually."