"Blood Calls Ouf for Blood" Epilogue partial

[MiriOhki]

<shrugs> Why not. Maybe someone can kickstart things.

Epilogue: The Beginning of the End and the End of the Beginning
The car slipped smoothly through the traffic on its journey toward Nerima. In the front seat were two older women, speaking with one another about their lives. In the back seat were two younger women, starting into one another’s eyes, completely silent. Kaiba fidgeted just a bit in her seat, relaxing as she gazed into Akane’s eyes. Both girls seemed to be struggling to work up the courage to speak.
“So, Kaiba,” Akane finally spoke up quietly, “how do you feel now?”
Kaiba closed her eyes. “Well, I don’t have the… weird sense of twoness, er, duality I had before. It’s just me now. But I’m also not quite as unsteady as I was before. I’m not partially Ami anymore, nor am I just partially Ranma anymore either. I’m Kaiba. For good or not, I’m one person. Things feel different than before but I feel more sure now.”
Akane nodded softly. “You’re a bit more eloquent, I see. A bit of an improvement.”
Kaiba nodded, blushing. “Well, I do have to admit, It’s not as hard to avoid putting my foot in my mouth, though I don’t mind all the help I can get to avoid doing so too.”
Akane nodded softly. “I don’t think you’d be you without eating a bit of shoe leather from time to time, but that’s alright.”
Kaiba sat back. “And you?”
Akane paused, trying to think of a response. “I don’t feel too much different. A little bit calmer, but a bit dazed, still. Probably just haven’t gotten used to all the stuff Rei’s given me.”
The other girl nodded. “Don’t worry, I understand the feeling. It’ll go away in time. Think of it as having a big block of data dumped in your head and the rest of your mind hasn’t coped with it yet.”
Akane blinked. “Data?”
“Well, the information I got from Ami did include a much larger vocabulary…” She shrugs. “As for the martial arts… I’m going to have to work out. I know I don’t have the physique of either of Ranma’s forms. I still know how to do it all, but I don’t think I could do any of it outside of being Mercury.”
Akane nodded softly and paused. “Does this mean you’ll really train with me?”
Kaiba sighed. “I… didn’t like training with you before, not because I didn’t like you, but because I liked you too much… I never wanted to hurt you. Now I don’t think I could use that excuse. You don’t seem to have changed all that much. For now I have more skill, but you have the better physique. We’ll have to work on that.”
Akane nodded softly, grateful. “Thanks, Kaiba.”
Kaiba looked up and nodded. “We’re there,” she said shortly. Akane could practically see Kaiba’s expression become glacial, to her surprise. This was not Ranma’s traditional battle-ready cockiness but a calm, stony determination she could never remember seeing before. One more sign, Akane realized, that Kaiba was different. Different as she was, she realized ruefully. The quartet emerged from the car, with Kaiba taking the lead. She was stopped, however, by three hands resting upon her shoulders.
Rieko looked down at the child who bore her daughter’s legacy. She didn’t know what to say, still unsure how to act around the child, but cared for her nonetheless.
Nodoka looked at the child she had lost, found, and lost once more, before undergoing a rebirth. Unlike Rieko, she understood the sacrifices that her child, Rieko’s daughter, and now the girl before her had to perform. It was a mix of duty, determination and honor that forced the trio to do what needed to be done. Ranma threw his life into hells nearly unimaginable to protect people both deserving and undeserving. Ami sacrificed her life, not once, but twice, to protect all of humanity. And now Kaiba struggled through a battle with her own mind, as well as the very fiends of hell itself to protect not only herself, but all of her friends and family. Indeed, the term, a man among men, was not only inaccurate, but grossly inadequate. Even heroine seemed lacking.
Akane looked at the woman she first befriended, hated, fell in love with, and then had sacrificed her own innocence to protect. Of the three, she was the one who knew the most about the person before her. This was not saying much, but she did know enough about Kaiba, and from her past lives, of Ranma and Ami respectively, to know that there were few human beings who could be, despite her faults, as purely noble as Kaiba could be.
And to all their surprise, the trio said simultaneously, “We’re with you, Kaiba. Good luck.” They blinked, and then all four laughed, nodding.
“Thank you, all of you,” Kaiba said softly
Kasumi was waiting at the door, intensely relieved to see the quartet of women before her. She did not recognize one of them, and one looked radically different than she had before, but it was calming to see the latter, as well her sister and Nodoka. “Ran-“
Kaiba interrupted her. “I’m Kaiba now, Kasumi-san,” she said softly.
This surprised Kasumi, but she embraced the girl, nodding. “I understand,” she said softly, before turning toward Akane. “I’m glad to see you, imouto-chan.”
Akane nodded softly, smiling as she embraced her sister. “I’m glad to see you, onee-chan.”
Nodoka nodded and smiled. “It’s very nice to see you, Kasumi-chan. This is Dr. Rieko Mizuno, a very close friend.”
Kasumi bowed. “It is an honor to meet you, Mizuno-sensei.”
Rieko smiled as she bowed in return. “The honor is mine, Tendou-san.”
Akane asked, “Who all is home?”
Kasumi nodded. “Nabiki’s upstairs doing some reading, and I think Father and Uncle Saotome are playing Shoji right now.”
Kaiba nodded softly. “Do you have a towel handy?” She asked. Kasumi looked confused but left, returning with the towel. “Thank you,” She replied as she took up the towel, made a few gestures, and then disappeared. Rieko and Nodoka gasped in surprise, while Akane was merely mildly envious.
“I think she wanted to speak with Nabiki first, before confronting Genma and Father,” Akane explained.
Kasumi blinked in surprise before saying, “Perhaps we should go to the kitchen?” She said in invitation.
Nabiki stared at a series of pictures, all of the same subject. She shook her head softly, as she sat back in her seat. “No more Ranma huh…” She stood, not even noticing her door open. “I admit, I already miss the jerk.”
“That’s ok, Nabiki. I miss you too.” A cool, slightly dry voice said from nowhere.
Nabiki blinked and stumbled back, her head falling toward the chair, until she stopped, in mid air. “Saotome?”
“No, I’m the ghost of all the money you ever spent voluntarily.”
Nabiki’s eyes widened. “When in the heck did you get a sense of humor?” she asked as she was lifted and placed on the bed, before a girl appeared with a flourish of a towel.
“It was a gift from a friend. It’s still a bit rusty, though,” Kaiba replied, smiling. “It’s good to see you, Nabiki.”
Nabiki nodded. “I’m relieved to see you too.” She folded her legs and gestures to the chair she had just left. “Have a seat?”
Kaiba moved to the seat, pausing as she stared at the pictures. Surprisingly, all of them were dressed decently.
“You can have one of each for fifty yen a piece, the rest are mine.” Kaiba blinked and looked back. “Think of it as a clearance sale.” Nabiki said dryly.
Kaiba nodded and pulled out a 100 yen coin, taking one picture each of Ranma’s forms. “Thanks. But that’s not the only thing I wanted to talk about.”
“I sort of figured.”
Kaiba sat back. “What have the panda and your dad been doing?”
Nabiki blinked and nodded. “I figured it was something along those lines. He’s been grumbling a bit lately. Talking about setting up another wedding.”
“That’s going to be a bit difficult, I imagine,” Kaiba said dryly. “As far as I know, same-sex marriages aren’t legal here.”
Nabiki nodded. “They aren’t… So I gather this is for keeps?”
Kaiba nodded. “Yep. For a very long time indeed.”
Nabiki raised an eyebrow at the cryptic reply but nodded. “Yeah… you know, I can’t wait to see their reaction to this, though I don’t expect it to be pleasant.”
Kaiba shrugged. “To be honest, I don’t care too much about what Genma will think about it, though I’m almost sorry for what this will do to your father.” Nabiki gave her a curious look, to which Kaiba replied, “He was a royal pain in the butt, but I can understand why this means a lot to him… But it won’t be a problem. The Tendou school will live on. I have it on rather good sources that people will be practicing the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu for centuries.”
Nabiki chuckled softly. “Rather confident, huh? Interesting sources, I’d have to say. Don’t necessarily sound trustworthy if they can plan for that long.”
Kaiba gave a gentle smirk, replying, “I’d trust this source with my life. Even if said source is in the habit of keeping a few too many secrets. Can’t elaborate though.”
Nabiki looked at the girl with new respect. “You’ve grown up, Kaiba.”
“Yes, I have. It was a painful process, but worth it, I think. Got a video camera?”
Nabiki chuckled. “Yeah, why?”
“You did say you wanted to see what happens, right? The fun starts in a few minutes,” Kaiba gave that interesting smirk, before stepping out of the room.
Nabiki stared after the girl, before smiling softly. “I think things just got a lot more interesting,” She murmered to herself. Nabiki placed the remainder of the Ranma pictures in a drawer, locking it, before moving to grab her camera and a blank tape. “Good…”
“… The Kuonji girl can’t interfere anymore, the Amazons won’t know. It’s the perfect plan!” Genma stated with excitement.
But for once, Soun was hesitant. Perhaps it was Genma’s nonchalant disregard of a dead woman, or the fact that the would-be bride had not been seen in almost a week, and the groom in far longer. “Perhaps we should know where my daughter and your son are before we perform the wedding?”
Suddenly a voice, soft, yet filled with acerbic amusement, said, “That would be a good idea… I don’t know if you can hold a wedding in absentia.”
The two stood, surprised, as if searching for a ghost. “What’s wrong, ‘father’?” the voice said with a hint of vitriol as Kaiba appeared between them.
“There you are, Ranma!” Genma bellowed in outrage.
Soun’s voice, on the other hand, bore concern. “Where’s my daughter?!” he asked, a hint of desperation in his voice.
“I’m right here, father,” Akane called from the doorway. She had been warned by Nabiki, though Nabiki had suggested that Nodoka and Rieko stay out of sight.
Soun moved to embrace his daughter, intensely relieved to see her once more.
“See, Tendou? They’re both fine! The wedding can go on as planned!” Genma said boisterously.
“Um, excuse me, but I do see several difficulties with any wedding.” Kaiba said.
“Are you trying to get out of your duties, boy?!” Genma blustered.
“Wrong on two counts. One, I don’t see any boy here, do you, Akane?” Akane almost burst into laughter at the joke. “And second, who said they were my duties? There’s no Ranma here.”
“What kind of joke is this, boy?!” Genma roared.
“No joke, no boy,” Kaiba said wryly.
Genma growled and hurled a nearby tea-kettle at Kaiba, who almost seemed to blur as she dodged the kettle, catching it as it passed. “So impatient.” She replied, pouring a little onto her face. “Ahh, refreshing,” she replied as she washed her face.
Genma gritted his teeth. “My weak, girly, worthless son gets his curse locke…” but before he could finish that thought, he felt a cold, sharp edge against his throat.
“Are you claiming that my son is not manly?” An arctic voice protested from behind Genma.
Kaiba smirked softly. “I believe that’s what he said, Nodoka-okaasan,” she said with a tone of mock piety. “You do know what that means, don’t you?”
Genma blinked, his face paling. “You can’t be serious! You and I would both have to commit seppuku…”
Kaiba shook her head. “Ranma already surrendered his life to a noble cause. You, on the other hand, deserve anything that’s coming your way.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Ranma died to save millions of people,” Kaiba said, her anger almost palpable. “You, on the other hand, tortured an innocent child with hatred, starvation, wild animals-“
“It was training!” Genma roared. “I did everything I could think of for my son!”
"To your son - if you could call Ranma your son at all!" Kaiba snapped. "He wasn't a son, he was a monument to your sadism, a sign that you could be more perverse than that evil little gnome you call master, a symbol of your COMPLETE LACK OF HUMANITY!”
Genma loomed over Kaiba, but before he could continue his rant, he froze, backing off. The reason was simple: He felt the kiss of cold steel against his neck. His worst nightmare was forming before his eyes. Not only had he lost the culmination of ten years of forging the perfect martial artist, not only was his chance of having a peaceful and rich retirement impossible, but now his wife was staring at him with death in her eyes. With a strangled cry, he leapt back, punched through the shoji door, grabbed a towel from the clothes line in the back yard, and disappeared into thin air.
Nodoka glared at the place where Genma stood, but Kaiba merely placed a hand on hers. “It’s alright, mother. I expected him to do that.” Nodoka looked toward Kaiba, who whispered, “Every time something doesn’t go his way, his first reaction is to run. Why should this have been any different?”
Nodoka blinked and wilted a bit as she homed the blade. “Always?”
Kaiba nodded as everyone else stepped away from the walls they had flattened themselves against during the confrontation. “He’d always get us in trouble and then run away… always claimed it was speed training,” Kaiba said with a hint of scorn.
Nodoka shook her head in disbelief. “I cannot believe this is the man I married.”
Rieko looked a bit disturbed as she looked at Nodoka. “That was your husband? But… he has to be almost fifty!”
“He’ll be forty-seven in a few months, I think.” This only disturbed Rieko even more.
“But you don’t look a day over thirty five!”
“Actually, my thirty second birthday is in a week and a half.” Nodoka said. This turned most of the room cold.
“Wait a sec,” Nabiki muttered, “If Ranma’s seventeen, that would make it… you were only fifteen when you married Genma?” she said, looking a bit green at the concept.
“Actually, I was fourteen.” Virtually everyone turned green at that one, save for Kaiba, who either didn’t seem phased, or wasn’t sure what the implications were. Of course, as Ranma had been engaged to one of the Tendous from birth, and had been engaged to several women since then, perhaps it just didn’t occur to her. “My parents and Genma’s parents, I believe, had us married rather early on.”
Nabiki now looked both disgusted and un-wantedly enlightened. “I see… The plot sickens. No wonder he didn’t care about arranged marriages.” She shook her head and turned away.
Dinner that night was somewhat strained. After Nodoka left to assist Kasumi with the dishes, Kaiba and Akane found themselves seated at the edge of the koi pond, looking at the moonlight reflecting off the still surface.
Almost simultaneously, both girls looked toward each other and said, “We should talk…” Both blinked and blushed, staring back toward the pond again. Akane murmured, “Go ahead.”
Kaiba nodded and whispered, “Where do you think we should stay?” She said simply. There are only a few options I think. We can either stay with Setsuna and the rest, we can stay with either Nodoka or Rieko, Hino-san’s shrine, or find a place of our own.”
“Some interesting options,” Akane remarked. “Why not here?”
Kaiba sighed. “Too many memories. Too far from the others. This was Ranma’s and the old Akane’s place. There’s no room for us here.”
Akane nodded and sighed. “You’re right.” she stared at the water, before asking, “What if... you live with Nodoka, and I live with Hino-san?”
Kaiba blinked a bit. “Apart?”
“We wouldn't be too far from one another, and we would both have time and room to get to know people we really should.”

[Anime_Freak317]

Nice set up.
1.) Have Kaiba holding Nodoka's sword in the back. This way people don't question where the sword came from.
2.) (Just for comedic purposes) have a yellow stain with a wet spot on the floor before he flees.
3.) Soun attacks Kaiba with his Demon Head attack, Dr. Mizuo shoots him with a Tranquilizer gun. "And here I thought you were kidding about protecting myself from the wierdness in this town," she says calmly as she re-holsters the gun.
4.) Kaiba at the Saotome home...Uh Uh. No go. Crash her at the Mizuo-ka and invite Nodoka to live there as well. Mostly because of Genma being (sadly) head of the household and owning the property.
5.) I liked the Chibi-Usa stealth attack. Add a little cement-Okonomiyaki, just to 'spice' up the scene a 'pinch'.
6.) (for fun, or maybe I could write this O-make scene) Haruna and Michiru invite Kaiba and Akane over to teach them how to be lesbians. Hotaru walks in after school, sees them, and...I don't know...something or another.
7.) Write one paragraph bashing me for not updating my own fics.
Well, there you have it. I would suggest posting this under the "Fic C&C" section if you really want some other help. Besides, this seciton is for "Site News" and such.

[Sunshine Temple]

I took the liberty of moving this. Thought you would like that.
Rather like the setup. Some of Kabia's and Akane's lines are a bit flat towards the end but this is still a living scene. Nice to see this story is almost totally done.
And it's a fitting capper.
As for Nodoka being 14. When she and Genma married the age of consent was 12 I belive. So that would have worked.

[gsteemso]

Only thing that popped out at me when I read it was a minor typo. The dimwitted duo *cough* that is to say, the fathers, should be playing shogi with a G. Shoji with a J is, as you use later on in the text, some sort of sliding panel used as a door (I'm not clear on the details).

[nav]

Been waiting for this one for a long time now!
Nice, thanks.

[ranger5]

Nicely done. Good encounter at the Tendo's and I like the idea of taking their time in the relationship. Makes sense... and it's not like they aren't gonna have plenty of time (g)

[Cyber_Skaarj]

I've been waiting for this epilogue for a long while now. And I like what I see.
Can't find any faults besides the occational mis-spelling. Good bit of work, can't wait for the finished product.

[Adyen]

Strangely, I get the feeling that Genma DID do those things because he thought it was in the best of Ranma's interest. Too bad this is an epilogue, or you could have Genma attacking Kaiba in what he believes to be rightous anger at destroying Ranma's future or something believablely noble like that.

[WG_Writer]

7.) Write one paragraph bashing me for not updating my own fics.

Hmm that looks like good advise, but if we did that to you then we would have to do that for everyone who doesn't update enough. I think we could shoot out enough for a chapter with just that...
back on topic, it looks good, but I do feel it could use one more scene set between a month or more in the future.

[Anime_Freak317]

7.) Write one paragraph bashing me for not updating my own fics.

Hmm that looks like good advise, but if we did that to you then we would have to do that for everyone who doesn't update enough. I think we could shoot out enough for a chapter with just that...

Awww, that's so kind of you. The difference here is that I'm giving everyone permission to bash me...within reason. That's how nice I am.

[Atlan]

Hmmmm. A little short, but postable.
Food for thought: How are Nokoda and the Dr going to get along? Will they end up competing for Kaiba's love? Or will they end up like Hakura/Micheru?