Eternal Sleep:? Part Eleven
Written by: Liz Donovan
Ranma ½ Homepage
Eternal Sleep?: Part Twelve
Akane slowly opened her eyes. Her lids felt like they weighed tons. Her body was numb and she remained completely disoriented for several minutes. The room she was in was dark, although there were no windows to ascertain the time of day. She was numbly aware that she was lying on her back, her hands neatly folds on top her chest. She took a breath and blinked as feeling slowly crept back into her body.
She had no idea where she was or any recollection of how she got there. The place seemed foreign, except it seemed to have the qualities of home doctor’s office. She looked at the oak wood ceiling, trying to remember how or why she was here. She wiggled her fingers, and toes, and decided she wasn’t in any need to be bed ridden anymore. She tried to lift her arms, but found they were dead weights.
Slow she flexed her fingers more, and then her wrist. Her abdomen hurt a little, as if a weight were pressing on it. Her head spun as she continued working feeling into her body. Finally, growing impatient with herself, and getting slightly scared, she sat up. The world spun around and she grabbed her head to keep it from spinning. She kicked her legs up, and cried out as the ‘weight’ pressing on her abdomen, shot up.
She pulled the covers to her chest, and blinked. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, and she realized the ‘weight’ was actually someone’s head.
"Akane?" the person asked. "Are you uninjured?"
"Kuno?" she thought. "Was he sleeping at my side? Where am I? Why is HE here?" her mind added.
Kuno took her hands into his. "I was afraid you would wake up alone. I could not let that happen. Forgive me for foolishly falling asleep." He said, bowing his head. Akane snatched her hands from his grasp. Just then, the door to the doctor’s office opened and Sasuke entered.
"Master Kuno? Ah, I see Mistress Tendo has awaken!" he exclaimed. Akane blinked. She was at the Kuno’s Mansion? Kuno glanced at Sasuke, and then back to Akane.
"What happened?" she muttered. Kuno scooped her into his arms. She rewarded him with a hard hit on the head. He immediately set her back onto the bed. Sasuke blinked, confused.
"I came to say dinner has been prepared. You haven’t eaten since the Mistress arrived, I do suggest you eat, Master." Sasuke spoke. Kuno put a hand to his grumbling stomach. He looked at Akane.
"Would you join me for dinner, Tendo Akane?" he questioned. Akane blearily nodded in hungry agreement, and actually let Kuno help her stand.
The three made it into the hall, were Akane crumbled. She was still numb from the sleeping drugs the doctor had given her. Kuno gently lifted her up again, and they continued to the dining room. Akane came to, as Kuno set her in a chair, at the long and beautifully carved table. She was bewildered at the fact she was no long in the doctors office.
Kuno sat himself in one of the guest chairs, right next to Akane. Sasuke looked up surprised at his Master’s choice of seats. The chair at the head of the table remained vacant. Shortly, another servant arrived and began setting the table. Kuno looked at Akane, as she frantically tried to recall what was going on.
The thick redwood doors flung open with such force that both Akane and Kuno looked up. Kodachi appeared, still dressed in her school uniform. She stretched, kicked her shoes off disrespectfully and sat in the end chair. She looked up surprised not to see Kuno in the head chair, ready to scold her for her rude actions. Moments later, she realized he was sitting with Akane in one of the guest chairs. Her jaw dropped.
"Brother?" she cried. "What is the meaning of this!?" Kuno rose and headed towards his sister. She, too stood, and Akane dumbly watched. Kodachi grabbed Kuno’s hands and then snapped her fingers in front of his eyes. "Has she bewitched you!?" Kodachi cried.
Kuno pulled himself out of Kodachi’s grasp. He led her away from the table, where Sasuke helped set the plates, eyeing Kuno suspiciously. Kuno explained to his sister what was happening in a nut shell. Kodachi folded her arms angrily.
"So she turns to you now, after her other men are forgotten?" Kodachi cried. Kuno winced. "Is she not the reason for my dear Ranma-sama’s death?!" she added. Kuno glanced at Akane, and tried to quiet his sister.
"Please," He began. "she is our guest. Treat her with respect. Otoosan will be home for dinner soon, and he will not approve of your rude actions." Kodachi snorted.
"Perhaps you would think differently if it were Ranma-sama who’d murdered HER!" she shouted. Kuno paled. He hadn’t thought of it that way. In fact, he never thought of things that way. Kodachi always pointed them out to him. He sighed.
"I…understand your grievance now. You’re cries do not go unheard. Forgive my harsh accusations, and join me at the table to mourn." He said. Kodachi seemed slightly pacified. She looked at Akane, who now sat with her hands folded in her lap, taking no note of the steaming rice, and soup now sitting before her.
"You say Namida-sensei drugged her?" Kodachi inquired. Kuno’s eyes darted away.
"Yes." He mumbled. Kodachi smiled.
"You also said she arrived here on Wednesday?" she questioned. Kuno nodded. "And now she wakes up, the eve of Friday?" Again he nodded. "Namida-sensei used my sleeping injecting, did he not?" Kodachi said. Kuno nodded.
She looked to the food on the table, and then at Kuno. She realized he probably had not left Akane’s side the entire time she had been unconscious. His face was pale, and slack. He had not see the sun in days. His hair was unruly, and his Furinkian high school uniform was wrinkled, unwashed, and stained with blood. His arms seemed to have badly healed claw marks along them. She wondered just what had happened.
"I shall join you." she finally stated after assessing Kuno once more. He grinned and both turned to sit. Kuno took his place next to Akane, and Kodachi sat at the end chair. Neither ate however. They both sat, with their hands in their laps. Within moments, the redwood doors opened again, revealing the eldest Kuno. Kuno and Kodachi’s father. The principal of Furinkian high. Both children sat, with their heads slightly bowed. Mr. Kuno took no note of the extra person sitting at his table.
He was dressed in a wild ‘Hawaii’ shirt complete with a string of neon yellow silk lei’s. He had a pair of outrageous sunglasses on and sandals. Sasuke bowed, and Mr. Kuno grinned back. He looked at his two children.
"Ah! Tatewaki! Kodachi! Mine children!" he shouted, nearly crying. "It is so wonderful to see you both gathered under one roof with your old father!" Kuno and Kodachi both kept their heads bowed. He sat himself in the middle chair, across from Kuno and Akane. Wordlessly he lifted his chop sticks and began eating. "Pleased to see you up and around, Tatewaki, my boy!" he grinned between mouthfuls of food. "And mine Kodachi, how wonderful to have you back from your school. Do they treat you well?" he asked, stuffing his face. Neither Kuno nor Kodachi moved. Neither offered answers to their fathers questions. Akane dumbly watched, blinking confused.
She realized just how little she knew of the Kuno family. She knew Kuno, and Kodachi. She knew their father was Furinkian High’s principal. She knew Kuno loved her and female-Ranma, and Kodachi loved male-Ranma. Other than that, however, she knew very little. As she did not know this ‘tradition’ the two Kuno children were experiencing. Both kept their heads bowed as their wacky father ate his fill. She didn’t offer an interjection to the older mans rude behaviors for fear of being impolite. She only sat their, and bowed her head as well.
Perhaps Kuno would explain what was going on after dinner. Why she was here, for one thing. She looked up, and almost laughed as Mr. Kuno shoveled food into his mouth.
"He eats like Ranma." she thought, and then became solemn. She refused to compare any of the Kuno family with Ranma.
While the three children sat, heads bowed, the steam from their rice slowly lifted. Akane watched as she had nothing better to do. The steam was gone, and the rice was getting cold. Finally Mr. Kuno finished his soup with one loud slurp and piled the last of the rice into his mouth. Sasuke arrived, carrying a tray of fish, marinated and noodles. He filled Mr. Kuno’s bowl with hot tea and spice. Then Sasuke left.
As if on cue, as Mr. Kuno lifted his chopsticks to eat the fish, both Kuno and Kodachi lifted theirs to begin their rice. Akane followed in pursuit.
And thus they ate. Never passing the meal their father was eating. When they finished the rice and soup, they waited until their father had finished his noodles and fish before they began theirs. And so Akane did so too.
Tendo Dojo
Kasumi stood at the low table, where her father sat. He cried immensely, grieving over the disappearance of his youngest daughter. Kasumi tried to comfort her father, but he would not have it. He feared the worse. First his daughters fiancee, then his daughter. How cruel fate could be! Kasumi bit her lower lip, also worrying about her dear sister. She wiped a stray tear from her cheek, vowing to be strong for her father, and not let him down. And although she tried, it was still difficult, because she did not know what had happened to her sister.
Only Nabiki seemed to be able to function. She slowly ate as her father bawled. Her elder sister stood near, trying to comfort her father. Nabiki held her rice filled chopsticks and sighed. She didn’t know what had happened to Akane. She was worried, but she coped with her emotions far more differently than the rest of her family.
She wondered how in a mere two and half weeks, their household of six and seven had dropped to three. Akane had been missing since Wednesday after school. It was now the eve of Friday, and they had heard no sign of her. Nabiki hadn’t returned to school Thursday or Friday. Her father wouldn’t allow her, afraid that she’d be ‘kidnapped’ as well. Nabiki sighed again, and ate her rice.
Neither Soun nor Kasumi touched their food, and soon, Kasumi stooped down and cleared the uneaten dishes away. Nabiki set her chopsticks her now empty plate. She hoped her father and sister would eventually eat something. Soun had not eaten anything but a little tea and soup. He smoked his pipe and cried. Nabiki rose and left, heading to her room. The atmosphere in the dining room was too depressing.
Sitting on her bed, she thought about the past events. Having Ranma be killed in something as trivial as cracking his skull open on the stairs was odd enough. Having seen the last of Ryouga, leaving her house, naked, only complicated things. Having Akane vanish from school brought things to the word bizarre. Nabiki laid on her back, staring at her ceiling. She tried to add one and one. Nothing made sense. Ranma had died to easily, Ryouga had ran out nude, and with no explanation from Akane, and now Akane had vanished. It just didn’t add up.
She shut her eyes, wearily. Things had taken there toll and this year it’d taken more lives than previous. She remembered the year her mother had died, and she shuttered. That year they were nearly put out onto the streets. Nabiki’s mind wandered and shortly she drifted into a fitfully sleep.
The blaring ring of the telephone jarred Nabiki from her doze. She leaped out of bed, and flew open her door. She was never one to miss a phone call, because even in times of depression, there was money to be made. She leapt down the stairs, almost in the style of a martial artist, and landed in a crouch gracefully by the phone.
She stood up, flicked her hair and took a breath to compose herself before lifting the receiver. She held it to her head and spoke.
"Moshi moshi. Tendo Residences."
There was silence, and then a small voice answered.
"Nabiki…its me."
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