Rejected
Part 7 - Saturday - Different Eyes.
By Lord Archive
This is a sad and possibly a little dark.
Characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, etc..., and are
used without permission. I'm only borrowing them. I'll return them. I
can't afford the overdue charge Nabiki insists on.
--------------------------------
I shall, once again, attempt to free my love from the accursed marriage
she has found herself in. It pains me to know, by her own words, that
Saotome has indeed taken liberties with her body. Forced her to share
his bed. He shall face the true wrath of the Blue Thunder for his
crimes.
I do not go home after leaving the hospital, for there is no time to
lose. I must free Tendo Akane now!
I stride past the gate and into the very domain of my foe and of my
love. This day Akane shall be free. Only death shall stop me from my
goal.
Ah! At last I've found the villain. "Saotome Ranma, you vile beast! How
dare you take Tendo Akane's hand in marriage? I SHALL KILL YOU!" I
strike an awe-inspiring pose.
He looks to me with eyes that already speak of his defeat at my hands.
"I dare because she gave it to me. She gives me her love, where you
only get to dream about it."
He dares speak to me with such contempt! "Saotome, you are not even
worthy to be called a man let alone..."
My senses must have blackened out since fair Akane now stands above me
in all her fury. Her body absolutely glowing with power. "Kuno-baka, if
you ever say that again, I WILL KILL YOU! Ranma is a thousand times the
man you are!" Her words of anger are like that of a rabid wolf. It
pains me to see how Saotome's spell afflicts her.
"Now Akane," the vile one speaks, "Kuno-sempai only said what is
true." He takes a step back into the koi pond.
My other love appears and the vile sorcerer is gone! Can it be that I
have won? That my loves are free?
"How can I be a man if I have a body like this?" My love doth speak in
riddles.
"Tendo Ranma!" Akane shouts angrily. "That body isn't your true body!
You're a man! Your spirit doesn't change because of that body you've
been cursed with!"
Is my love, Tendo Akane, delusional? Can she not see that is the
pig-tailed girl and not Ranma who stands before her? And what is this
other nonsense she speaks of?
"Come on, Akane? Do I really look like I'm your husband with this body?
I turn the heads of more guys than you ever could. I've got a body any
man would want." True, what glorious beauty she has.
"So magic has given you a body of a girl that's better looking than
mine, so what? Your male body turns the heads of even more girls.
Besides, the spirit of the man I love is still in there. You are a man,
my husband, and my love, no matter what you look like." Magic? Body of
a girl? What does Akane mean by this? Has she truly gone mad?
"NO!" the pig-tailed girl screamed. "I'm not a man! How can I be a man
if my own mother didn't think so? How can I be a man if I have periods?
If I have a woman's body? Real men don't know women's needs or women's
problems, but I do!" Yet more riddles? She is a women, and yet she
wants her mother to believe she is a man?
Akane was taken aback by the vociferous outburst. "R-Ranma... You're a
man to me. Your mother only knew you for a day. She didn't try to get
to know you. All she ever saw was that body. So what if you have
periods and know things only women do. I don't think it makes you less
of a man. It makes you more of one. All a woman ever wants is a man
that understands them, and you can do that more than any other man."
Akane approaches the pig-tailed girl. "I love you, Ranma. You are
everything to me. Knowing that you are my man is more important to me
than breathing. Your mother didn't think you're a man, because she
didn't know you. But I do know you and I know you're a man. The man I
love."
A-Akane is kissing the pig-tailed girl. She calls the pig-tailed girl
Ranma. What madness is this? Has the spells of Saotome corrupted their
minds?
"Well, Kuno-chan, I suppose you want to know what that was about, ne?"
the cold Tendo Nabiki asks me.
"Hai. I wish to know what madness this is that would cause Akane to
see the pig-tailed girl as Ranma."
Nabiki looks amused. "The person you believe to be the pig-tailed girl
is Tendo Ranma. A couple weeks before he first arrived here, Ranma and
his father went to the cursed training grounds, Jusenkyo. They didn't
know, until after they fell into one of the springs, that whoever fell
in took the body of whatever drowned there. In Ranma's case, it was
Nyannichuan, cursed spring of drowned young girl. His father turned
into the panda you saw around here."
"You expect me to believe such fallacy?"
"Kuno-chan, you are being really stupid. How much proof do you want?
Ranma transformed before your eyes. Akane argued with the pig-tailed
girl about her being a man. What would it take you to believe it? To
be cursed yourself?"
"Such magic does not exist!"
Nabiki scowls at me, fiercely. "Oh, but mind control magic does? Kuno,
really, there is more than enough evidence that Ranma is the pig-tailed
girl and that Akane loves him. Get it through that thick skull of
yours."
"I will not believe that! These are lies and I shall prove them as
such!"
Nabiki glares at me with a look that'd freeze the blood of lesser men.
"If you want more proof that I'm telling the truth, follow me."
Her look and tone tell me if I do not follow, she will cause great
financial woe to the Kuno estate, for that is how Nabiki exacts pain.
"I shall, but I doubt there is such proof."
Nabiki leads me away. While I fear for my loves, I don't know what
action to take without the cursed Saotome present.
-------------------------------
Nabiki leads me to the den of one of the sorcerer's concubines, the
Neko-Hanten. Oddly, it is closed on this glorious Saturday, a day it
should be open and brisk with business.
"Hello, Shampoo," Nabiki greets as the Amazon opens the door.
Shampoo looks as if she is in mourning. "Nihao, Nabiki. What want?"
"Sorry about disturbing you. Kuno is having a hard time believing Ranma
and Akane are really married and about the Jusenkyo curse. I want to
make it absolutely clear to him, so he won't try to go after Ranma
again."
The purple haired minx glares at me. "Want Shampoo turn cat?" What does
she mean by that?
"I was hoping you had some instant Jusenkyo, particularly Nyannichuan."
Nabiki's words turn cold as the arctic winds, "I want him to know
exactly what it feels like after he said to Ranma he wasn't worthy to
be called a man."
Shampoo stares at me in shock, then anger most vicious, and now grins
at me like a ferocious, evil tigress. "Oh, think Great-grandmother left
that. Shampoo go check." Her words are filled with venom.
Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling about all this? That I really
should be somewhere else. But I stand firm, fears are for lesser men.
Moments pass and my patience grows thin. I must free my loves.
Shampoo shouts from a second story window. "No instant girl spring,
but got some from instant wolf spring."
"Hmm... even better." Nabiki grins like the Cheshire Cat.
A moment passes and the purple haired Amazon appeared at the door with
a bucket of water. Nabiki steps away as the contents of the bucket
soak my personage.
I feel... strange... changed... weird.
My senses warp. I no longer see colors, just black and white. I
smell... everything, and hear.. everything.
My clothes, somehow, no longer properly fit.
I'm standing on all fours?!
What madness is this? I... I'm a wolf?!
Nabiki crouches down in front of me. "You see now, K-Chan? Jusenkyo
magic does exist. We have used a temporary form on you. It will wear
off soon enough."
How can you do this to me? This is sorcery most vile! I am no longer
human. I'm not a man, but a base creature. There is nothing more evil
than this.
Nabiki moves to remove my clothes. She dare do that! I snap at her,
fighting to keep my dignity.
"K-Chan, stop that. You're a wolf for now. I won't tell you how to turn
back unless you do as I say."
I relent. What else can I do? For I know not of how to lift this curse.
I will see that she pays for this.
She removes my clothes to my embarrassment. I am nude for the world to
see.
"K-Chan look kawaii!" The Amazon sorceress giggles in delight of my
shame.
K-Chan indeed. Such a lousy name for one as great as I.
"Thanks for the help, Shampoo," Nabiki says.
"No problem. Kuno hurt Ranma, so Shampoo hurt Kuno. Is fair." Shampoo's
demeanor becomes sad. "How is Ranma?"
"I'm not sure what harm Kuno's outburst did, but the true test comes
Monday when he returns to school. Until then, I can't be to sure."
"Oh. If Ranma need Shampoo's help, no hesitate to call."
"We won't, and thanks again." Nabiki turns to me. "Come on K-chan.
Let's go back to my home and you'll be able to see how much Akane is in
love with Ranma without you opening that big mouth of yours."
I growl at her, but follow anyway, for she knows of my cure. And she
has my clothes.
This body I am cursed with may come with advantages, but it is not my
body. It is not who I am. I am Kuno Tatewaki, the Blue Thunder, and I
shall be a man again!
I am in control of what I do. I see with a wolf's eyes, but think with
a man's mind. The sensations I feel are strange and aren't mine. How
could anyone live like this? I do not know. The feelings are foreign,
they are and are not part of me. I cannot comprehend what I really
feel.
Nabiki now speaks to me, "Now K-Chan, a few ground rules. One, you
will not attack Ranma. Ranma or Akane might think you're rabid, or
something, and kill you. You'd be buried as you are and no one, but
me, would know you died." I shudder at the thought. I must restrain
myself if I'm ever to be a man again.
"Two, you will behave yourself. You will watch them and not interfere."
I will not stand by and watch him work his evils.
"The better behaved you are the sooner I lift the curse." Grr... Fine.
"Three, remember, you are a dog, behave as such."
Do I have much choice in this?
"Do you believe yet that Ranma is the pig-tailed girl?"
I shake my head, because that is a lie, for she is my love!
"You have a better sense of smell in that form, right? You can tell the
difference in people by how they smell."
I nod. My own experience with dogs, and how good my sense of smell is
now, tell me this is true.
"Then four, you will get a good scent of Ranma as both forms. If his
smell doesn't differ too much, then you'll know both are Ranma."
Such should prove that I am the right, that they are not the same.
We arrive at the Tendo home. Nabiki leads me inside and gives me one
last warning to behave.
Where are my loves? I shall find a means to aid them, to free them.
Hark! I hear the fair Akane from upstairs. She is making strange
noises. She screams! I must save her! I growl and move to save my love.
"K-Chan SIT!" Nabiki commands forcefully.
I snarl at her. Does she not hear her sister scream?
"Akane is in no danger, so sit!"
But... my love...
"Sit or you'll stay that way."
Love or my manhood? I can move to save her, but then I may never be
able to love her as a man. Regretfully she must endure whatever torture
Saotome is putting her through, for I shall eventually free her and
love her as a man! For now... I sit.
The gentle Kasumi now approaches. "Kawaii! A wolf." She smiles gently,
and pats me on the head. I could get used to that.
Kasumi looks at Nabiki and says in tone of voice colder than I've ever
heard from her, "Have you handled Kuno yet?"
"Work in process. Hopefully everything will be settled with him by
tonight."
Tonight? All I have to do is put up with this and I shall be human
again tonight.
Akane screams again. I must... but I can't. Oh, Nabiki, you shall pay
dearly.
Kasumi sighs. "I do wish they'd be quieter when they make love." Make
love? Akane is with Ranma and you let them... I will see you all pay!
"With Ranma's curse, he knows how to pleasure a girl. He could make
anyone a screamer," Nabiki smirks. She's enjoying my discomfort.
"Guess you're right about that. No wonder so many girls were after
him."
Nabiki stares at Kasumi oddly. "Ah... yeah."
------------------------------
I wait in the dining room. It has been an hour since I got here, and
only a half-hour since they... stopped. Oh, what tortures she goes
through, and her family does nothing. They all shall pay for their
crimes.
Finally, I hear a pair of foot falls on the stairs. My love has left
the room of her pain. Akane stops at the door to the dinning room,
while the vile Saotome continues on.
"How is he?" Nabiki asks.
"He didn't take Kuno's comment well. I want to make Kuno pay for saying
that." Akane's fist shakes angrily. Oh, how the spell afflicts her so.
Akane sighs and leans against the door. "Though it was nice how Ranma
'proved' he was a man after that." My love has an odd look of happiness
and sadness at the same time.
"I'm sure it was. You were disturbing K-Chan, here, with the noises you
were making."
"I was?" I think Akane is blushing as her face takes another shade of
gray. "Oh, what a kawaii dog, Nabiki."
"Certainly is." Nabiki scratches me behind the ear. That's what it
feels like?! No wonder dogs like that. "I'm keeping an eye on him for a
friend. Hopefully he'll pick him up tonight, tomorrow at the latest."
Tomorrow? You shall make me a... Oh, I really like how she is
scratching me now.
Ranma returns. "Akane, do you know where the aspirins are? The medicine
cabinet is empty."
Akane nods, and calls out, "Kasumi, can you get some aspirins for
Ranma?" I hear Kasumi give an affirmative answer.
"Why is the medicine cabinet empty?" Ranma asks in a cold tone.
"Well, um," Akane say nervously, "We were worried you might...
try to kill yourself." The vile Saotome is suicidal?!
"Come on, Akane, do you really think I'd do that?"
"Ranma, we're worried about you. You've taken your parents' death
really hard. I don't want to lose you because you couldn't take the
pain anymore. While I doubt you would try it that way... we didn't
want to take any chances. Besides, we have to be careful with Daddy,
too. Your father was his best friend, and he's been over-emotional
ever since Mom died."
Ranma shakes his head. "I appreciate the concern, but you don't have
to be THAT concerned."
"I can't help being that concerned. I love you and I couldn't go on
living without you." She touches him with such gentleness I have never
known. She is kissing him. This sight sickens me so.
Kasumi gives Ranma the aspirins. They then sit at the table and watch
TV. They sit together so closely you'd think they weren't two
different people.
Nabiki controls me. She does so not with words, but by scratching my
head. I wonder if people would scratch their dogs if they knew it had
the kind of effect it has.
I continue to watch them. They behave not as I know them. They do not
argue. No insults said.
Yet I continue to watch. Waiting for him to show his evils. Waiting to
be proven true.
Damn it! Do something wrong! Be the evil man I know you to be!
Still I watch. He still has yet to do wrong. How can evil, such as he,
lie in wait?
Time continues on, and Ranma and Akane have shown to speak to each
other without speaking. Such is truly sickening, for how can this be
true?
It's been hours and still nothing.
I can see a visible, almost tangible, closeness existing between them.
This is wrong. Akane cannot love him so. How can she love him? He is
evil! Evil, I say! DON'T LOVE HIM!
She... she does love him. By all that is holy, she loves him. A spell
may have brought that love, but that love exists. To break such love
would break her, would kill her.
I lay by Nabiki like a wounded animal. My goddess of the hunt is in
love with another, to a man of evil. I can do nothing for now...
perhaps never.
But what of the pig-tailed girl? She is nowhere to be seen. I can yet
free her.
Why is it that I feel, now, that I shall be proven wrong in this as
well? That Ranma is the pig-tailed girl.
It is now time for supper, and like all dogs, I sit watching them. I
do not do so for food, though I am hungry. I do not do so to play the
act of being a dog, though I do take the food Nabiki offers. She
enjoys that too much. I do so to see that he is evil. Perhaps I can
find how he works his evils. Find a means to unravel them.
Nabiki makes a deliberate move to 'accidentally' knock over a glass of
water. It's contents finds itself on Ranma. Now my red haired love
sits in his place. Nabiki apologizes for her 'mistake.'
I smell her scent. It moves across my senses. Smells like... Ranma.
But there are subtle, small differences. The pig-tailed girls scent
has something different to it... something that is similar to the
other girls in the room. It is the scent of a woman, but the remainder
of the scent is Ranma's.
Ranma truly is the pig-tailed girl! Oh what bitter ironies?! The loves
of my life have married each other. Shakespeare would love such a
concept.
I walk from the table. My loves are not in love with me, and one is a
man. I want to vomit at the thought. While it is said by some of my
ancestors, the truest love is between men, comrades in arms, I want
only the love of a woman.
I look into the koi pond. Stare at the reflection of the wolf that I
now am. Maybe I would be better this way. Wolves care not for love.
Their hearts are not torn asunder by the loss of love.
The water is clear and placid, while in sharp contrast, my heart and
mind is clouded and in turmoil. The water seems to beckon me. Yearn to
me. Call to me. I could drown out my sorrows in this pool, and forget
the heartache of lost love.
Water... Ranma has changed form with water! I can return to a man with
water! I jump in without another thought.
Damn it! I'm still a wolf. Will I ever be a man?
"What's with the dog?" Akane asks.
"Like I'd know. I'm only watching him," Nabiki said, amusement clear
in her voice.
I crawl out of the koi pond. I rest to the side of it. My mind is a
turning sea of thoughts.
I look at my loves... No, they are not my loves. They have never been
my loves. They are beauty which one yearns for, but that is not love.
Never were my loves... and never shall be my loves.
But what evils that Ranma has wrought? Should I not help fight against
his evil? The evil that he's done to... No, that was a delusion. How
could he rape himself as I thought? What about the numerous girls that
chase him... Yes, chase him, for he runs. He does not want them.
I think about my life now, and see it not as I had, but see it as if I
wear new eyes. I ignore what I felt then, seeing things as I wanted
them to be, since I now see them as they really are.
My world is shattered. All that I knew was a lie. A lie I told unto
myself, as I refused to see reality. Refused to see things as they are,
preferring to see things as I chose.
I am nothing but a lie.
I am a lie.
I am false.
I am nothing.
After they complete supper, Nabiki approaches me. She sits on a rock,
next to where I now lay. She speaks to me in a soft, low voice, "Do
you understand now? That Ranma and Akane love each other? That Ranma
is the pig-tailed girl?"
I nod sadly to her in response to her questions. For now I see the
truth I have denied myself.
"Come on. I'll give you a nice warm bath. That'll change you back."
Warm bath? So it is the temperature of the water that triggers the
change.
I follow her to the bathing room. My clothes are already in there.
After I enter, she shuts the door behind me. I hop into the furo's
warm water. I feel the change occur. YES! I am a man again! I am
whole!
I quickly dry myself with a towel and get dressed. I exit the bath,
striding past Nabiki. There is something I must do.
I return to the dinning room, where Ranma and Akane are. They look to
me with anger and hate. Yes, hate and not the love I had thought it
was. How I've been blind.
I kneel before them. "Tendo Akane, Tendo Ranma," I begin, "I, Kuno
Tatewaki, apologize. I have acted wrongly towards you. I am the one
who is dishonorable. I am the one who is not truly a man. Ranma, you
are truly a man. I see this now. I am sorry for what I've done."
They stare at me in shock and surprise. The look on Ranma's female
face is priceless.
"I do not expect that you shall ever forgive me, but know this, for as
long as the Kuno clan exists it shall be in service to the Tendo clan
whenever it is in need."
I bow low to them, for they are the right, the superior. I have always
thought superiority came from my breeding, through wealth. This is not
the case. Superiority comes from the person, from within. I am not
superior, for I know not what is within me, nor do I know that which
is on the outside. I am lost, but I shall find my way.
"Darn, and here I thought you were about to give me a blank check,
K-Chan," Nabiki smirks. I am not that stupid anymore... I think.
"K-Chan?" Akane squeaks.
I sigh. "Nabiki thought I should pay for my ignorance and reluctance
to see the truth by having the Amazon temporarily turn me into the
wolf."
"You were K-Chan?" Akane stares at me in disbelief.
I nod. "It has been a sobering experience to say the least. But I have
found it to be... enlightening. I refused to see the world through my
eyes, so I had to see the world through a wolf's eyes. My vision may
have been black and white, but for the first time, in a long time, I
have truly seen."
"So now you know what it's like," Ranma says.
"Yes. For while I spent most of the day not as a man, I am a better
man for it. Again, I am truly sorry for my actions." I stand up.
"Ranma, if you are not a man, then no one can claim to be. For while
you may have that body, you have proven to truly be a man amongst
men."
I bow once more, and leave. Nabiki follows me to the door.
"Nabiki, I wish to thank you. You have opened my eyes, forced me to
take off my rose-colored glasses, if you will. I can never repay you
for that service. Still, I ask if I ever refuse to see reality for
what it is, you will make me see it."
Nabiki gives me a wry grin, "Oh, I'll give you a nice kick in the ass
if you ever get out of line again. One thing before you go, do you
think you can handle your sister?"
"I shall," I nod. "Um, am I no longer cursed?"
"It was a one-shot use. You don't need to fear water as Ranma does."
I sigh with relief. With a bow, I say, "I shall see you later."
"Goodbye, K-Chan."
I growl at the name. I think that only encouraged her.
I walk from the home of my loves, knowing they are out of my reach. My
heart does not ache as it would if I had truly loved them. I know now
it was only infatuation. That I wanted them for their beauty.
They say it is better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved
at all. I don't know this to be true, for I have never known love. Not
love even from my parents or from my sibling. Love is unknown to me.
To be a full man I must find love, but I know not where to begin to
look. I do not want to live life without love, for that would be a
waste of my life. I'd have done nothing, been nothing, worth nothing.
I look at my hands. My manly hands. I never want to go through such
experience again. To be not as you are, but something else. A creature
whose form is unknown and yet known to you, for you are that creature.
To not be a man. To fear that you shall never be a man again. That
you'll spend the rest of your life as something you were not born to
be. How Ranma has lived with that curse, I shall never know. Never
want to know.
A truck splashes me with water. Where once I'd curse the indignity,
but now I am happy. I am still a man.
I arrive at my home. I walk to my room, only to hear the insane
laughter of my twisted sister. It sounds far worse now than I've ever
heard before. She must know of Ranma's wedding then. I must face her,
prevent her from working against the Tendos as I've promised.
I move towards her green house. Her laughter grates on my nerves. I
want to run, for I fear my sister. She is an alchemist and may have
concocted an evil brew to bring down one of the Tendos. I must stop
her, though she might use it on me. I must stand against my fear.
"Dear sister, what is it you are doing?" I ask as if I didn't know.
"Why, I'm going to get my darling Ranma-sama away from that wretched
Tendo girl," Kodachi speaks fiercely.
"Then you seek to destroy Ranma? For if you take him a way from Akane,
he is nothing. He would be destroyed."
"What nonsense do you speak of, brother dearest."
"I speak of love most pure. Love we have never known. Ranma and Akane
love each other to degrees I did not know existed."
"So you have given up on Akane to Ranma? You let your love slip
through your fingers. I shall not! I love Ranma and nothing will stop
me from saving him from that vile marriage he's in." My sister is,
indeed, not well in the mind as I was.
"I cannot let you do harm to them." I move to the ready.
"You dare stand in my way? I thought you hated Ranma." She steps
back, ready to strike like a snake.
"Oh, I was deluded as you still are. I have had my eyes opened."
"Then I shall close them!" And she strikes.
We fight each other, though I wish no harm to my sister. She would
bring more harm if I do not fight her.
We exchange blows. She has cut me. Toxins are now in my system. I hope
they are her usual brand of paralization, for which I'm immune to. I
see by the look on her face that it is so.
We continue to fight on. Our battle rages through the grounds of the
Kuno estate.
A trap! Gases engulf me. I stagger to the pool, and fall in.
I quickly get out of the pool. My sister's pet would likely find me a
tasty snack.
What devilment is this?
My sister laughs. "I did not think my gases could do that! I must make
more of it." She leaps away, laughing her insane laugh. It hurts my
senses now more than ever.
Slowly, reluctantly, I move to the pool's edge.
I look at my reflection.
no.
No.
NO!
"HHHOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!" I scream into the night.
----------------------------
Author's note:
Evil can be fun ;)
In case you didn't noticed Akane and the 'pig-tailed girl' speak in
more Kuno-esque style than normal when the story is from his
perspective, since this is Kuno's interpretation of things.
Thanks to my numerous pre-readers for checking this chapter.
And thanks to all of you who sent me C&C on this series.
You can send C&C to archive@mich.com
You can find previous chapters my other stories at
http://www.mich.com/~archive/anime
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geocities.com/tokyo/fuji/9061) (
geocities.com/tokyo/fuji) (
geocities.com/tokyo)