Ancestry By Jacen The Characters from Ranma1/2 belong to Rumico Takahashi, and are used without permission for this story. References to other series are made, and these series belong to their respective creators. I regret that all of the detailed information available to me concerning the abilities and fighting styles of Tengu and Oriental Demons comes from the various works from Palladium Books. (Not a bad source, but not exactly original source material, either.) No infringement is intended, merely homage to these wonderful series. Please don't sue me; most college students have more money then I do. First Fanfic Alert! Nodoka frowned as she studied the family registry. She was noticing an odd pattern, one that could have been a sign of great pride, or a possible problem for her child. Of course, she'd have to get this checked out first... Ranma was having a bad day. Worse then usual. Happosai had managed to unleash a demon that morning, and now the two of them were trapped in a small Shinto shrine. The weird part was, while the powerful wards of the inner shrine paralyzed the demon, leaving it vulnerable to Ranma's Chi blast, Ranma himself found that he couldn't leave the shrine; that any attempt to cross the wards that trapped the demon brought horrible pain to him. As he waited for a priest to remove the wards, he powered up an attack, and destroyed the demon. Finally, the wards were moved. As he left, he asked the priest one thing: "So, why couldn't I leave earlier?" "You must be of spiritual descent, honored one. The wards would have only allowed you in if human, and only stopped you from leaving if at least partially supernatural." "What about curses?" "The wards would not affect those, or be affected by those." "Then, what am I?" "I do not know. However, your father, Genma, entered and left this shrine last week to make wedding plans. So you should look into your mother's line." Ranma decided he should do precisely that... When Ranma arrived at his mother's home, she wasn't there. Using the spare key, he entered, and immediately noticed the registry lying on the desk in the study. Looking at it, he began to realize just how big his family was; the registry covered ten generations of the Saotome family, and included at least some information about all of the families they married! As he started to worry, he noticed something strange. His mother was an only child, as was her father and his father before him. In fact, every couple that led up to his birth, for at least ten generations, involved at least one only child. Invariably that child was born from the only child from the previous generation. The only exception to this pattern occurred 4 generations ago when two only children married; the "extra" only child had six uncles! Ranma quickly noted the name of the first of the "only children", Ran, and noticed that he was interred at the shrine he was stuck at earlier. He then left to find out what he could about him. Ten minutes later, Nodoka returned home from the gynecologist. She was distressed by learning that she was, for some strange reason, sterile, and apparently had been for some time. She decided to go to the Tendos, and let them know what she had learned. When Nodoka reached the Tendo home, Genma was a panda, and Ranma was out. Akane met her at the door. "Aunt Nodoka, what brings you here?" "Oh, Akane, I've made a horrible discovery. Is Ranma here? I must tell him immediately." "I'm sorry, but last time I saw him, he was fighting a Demon. That was a few hours ago." "Then you will have to tell him. This matter affects you as well." "What is it?" "Apparently, for some strange reason, the members of my line seem to be able to produce only one child. You must tell Ranma, no matter how unmanly it would make him, he must not have a child before he marries, or else there cannot be a legitimate heir to the family line!" Akane was in shock. The woman who was willing to kill her son if he wasn't manly enough, just told her that Ranma couldn't afford to be "too manly" if he wanted a legitimate heir. In fact, even if he waited until after the wedding, then his child would be an only child! "Are you sure? I mean, why do you think this?" "For ten generations, my line has had only one child per generation. Furthermore, I just returned from the gynecologist, who told me that I was sterile, and that I had been for over a decade and a half! It's as if I lost the ability to have children when my son was born." Unseen by everyone present, a small pink cat chose that moment to leave it's hiding place under the floorboards. Shampoo realized the pursuit of Ranma just took a critical turn, and she needed her Great- Grandmother's advice... While Nodoka was notifying the Tendos about Ranma's... limitations, Ranma was returning to the Shrine. When he arrived, he asked to see the priest in charge of the records they kept there. When the priest heard the name of Ranma's early ancestor, he nearly passed out from shock. "Most honored one, your ancestor established this shrine to trap and contain Oni. According to the legend, his father was a Tengu! Oh, you must be very skilled indeed in the Martial Arts, for it was your very ancestor's people who brought the Art to man in the first place!" At this point, Ranma (understandably) passed out... As soon as Shampoo returned to the Nekohaten, she made her way to the bathroom, and used a concealed lever to open the hot water pipe. (If you changed into a small animal regularly, wouldn't you make arrangements for an easy change back?) She then dressed and went to the kitchen. Finding Cologne at her usual place by the stove, Shampoo quickly related what she had learned to the elder. A few moments later, to Shampoo's shock and Mousse's joy, Cologne declared that Ranma's hereditary condition made him unworthy of being the husband of an Amazon, and that they were returning to China within a week, as there was no need to stay. (Do not let it be said that an author cannot send Ranma some random act of kindness without increasing the local chaos. Then again, Shampoo's declaration "If Shampoo no have Ranma, no one have Ranma!" certainly could lead to new and interesting complications...) When Ranma regained consciousness, he found himself in a small room in the shrine. As he looked around, he saw an ancient text lying open on a nearby desk. Curious, he went over to see what it was. To his surprise, it was open to a letter to him! "My decedent, I only wish I could better prepare you for what lies ahead, but fate should bring you to this book while still young enough to use it. I learned shortly before my half-human decedent was born that after ten generations a time would come that would require a master of Teng-jutsu to intervene, and that, in that age, the Tengu would be blocked from intervening. To prepare for this, I had a dragon who owed me a favor lay certain spells in place. One of these spells will allow one of my pupils, a young man (at the time) named Happosai to live long enough to insure that you would receive the fundamental training in a form of Teng-jutsu which he named the Anything-Goes School of Martial arts. Another compulsion would have him arrange for you to enter this temple one week before the spells sustaining him expire, and find this book. Take this text, child named for Chaos, and study it, for it contains all the secrets of my art and much of my magic! But beware! An enemy of mine, an Oni lord of great power, has also begun a bloodline so a warrior of power can exist in your time. You will know him by his strength, his fangs, and his innate hatred of you! You will also find that he has a weakness. All being of supernatural decent have a limitation to prevent their lines from becoming to powerful. The limit of our line is that it will produce only one child per generation. His line is cursed with a lack of direction so strong that their family cannot organize itself enough to be effective. Beware this wanderer, for he is fated to vex you to the end of your days." "I guess this mean that Ryoga and I will always be rivals. Oh, well." With that, Ranma took the text and left the shrine. He had some serious reading to do, and some serious training to do with it. As he approached the Tendo home, Ranma sensed an incoming attack, and immediately dodged. To his surprise, it was Shampoo who then broke through the fence, Bonbori at the ready and anger in her eye. As she looked at her former fiance, she spoke the words he had believed he would never hear from her again: "Ranma, You I Kill!! DIE!!!"... As Ranma dragged herself home, she was thankful that she thought ahead and put the book in a waterproofed backpack, and was glad those sprinklers were in the yard with that huge dog. Hopefully, Shampoo would be busy for the rest of the night. Even so, she needed to find out what was going on, and then to clear out of town until hurricane Shampoo blew itself out. Kasumi met Ranma at the door. "Hello, Ranma- chan. How was your day?" "Weird. Did anything happen here?" "Well, your mother stopped by earlier and talked with Akane, and Cologne called and told me to tell you to leave town for a week at least, and that she'd write later and let you know what's going on." "OK, then I'll just get packed and go on a training trip. Tell pops that Shampoo's on the warpath again." With that, Ranma went to her room, packed her meager belongings, and left the Tendo's. Summer break had just begun, and she didn't need to return for at least two months. What better way to spend a summer mastering the original Martial Art? As Summer break was about to end, Ryoga found himself at the gates of Furinkin High when he saw a familiar pigtail down the block. With a cry of "Die, Ranma!" he rushed his rival... and found himself flying towards orbit moments later, after what seemed to be a simple throw defense from his own kick! "What the Hell is going on?!?" At that point, Ryoga passed out from the thinness of the air, and fell quite limply into the Yellow River in China! Satisfied with the results of his Chi-enhanced throw, Ranma continued on to the Tendo Dojo. He wasn't worried about Ryoga; even after ten generations, an Oni lord's child would be able to survive any fall at terminal velocity. At worst, he would have a killer headache for a couple of days, and would lose consciousness for a couple of hours. No real problem for Ryoga. When Ranma reached the Dojo, he found Kasumi waiting for him. "So how was your trip, Ranma?" "Very good. I learned more about myself then I ever did before, and mastered some very useful techniques. Including this one." At which point, Ranma mentally triggered his curse! "Oh, my." Ranma smiled. Having spent several hours a day meditating had really paid off, not only did he have better control of his Chi then ever before, but he had also awakened the latent Shape shifting power he inherited from his Tengu ancestor. Admittedly, it was rather limited because of his curse, but at least he would never need hot water again. In fact, he had gotten to the point that he could change partially instead of totally when he did. (Hence the male pronouns above.) All in all, a very educational trip, and that says nothing about the Shiatsu techniques he had learned (or the regenerative power.) It was truly amazing how a proper understanding of Chi, it's flow and it's effects on people could change your entire viewpoint. However, there were side effects to the training. Even as it helped Ranma to be a better, more effective fighter, it also gave him a rather unique perspective of the universe. He saw the cosmic comedy that life on earth truly was. He alone could feel the light and darkness of the very planet's soul. He knew this was a holdover from his Tengu ancestor, and could feel the impulse to add "punch lines" to the cosmic comedy of life. (Why do you think the Tengu were such notorious tricksters?) He also could sense the coming danger, and knew what had to be done thanks to the prophecy. Mankind had poisoned the world's soul with technology, pollution, and overpopulation. In a few years, at the turn of the millennium, a time of testing will begin. After half the world dies off in the declaration of the test, a period of time for preparation would come, followed by the test. The first test would be of survival and the second would be of temptation. A trap would be set in the supposed prize. If one of purely human decent tried to truly win the prize, then all save two would parish. If an Angel obtained the prize, none would survive. If, however, one of Tengu decent could obtain the prize, then few would die as the world was healed. Of course, the healing would remove all technology more advanced then stone blades or bows and arrows, but then again, humanity would survive none the less. All in all, Ranma had less then two decades to master the magic in his ancestor's text. To make matters worse, the Oni were supporting the Angels in this; a destroyed world would be inherited by them, and that pleased them greatly. This meant that Ryoga would become a serious problem in the near future. Ranma was unwilling to kill his rival, however, and decided to simply keep the lost boy in the dark as much as possible. Ironically, according to the prophecy in the text, Ranma would have to support the way of darkness for at least a short time, for only that would see the Angels defeated, and he could not safely obtain the prize before the end of the first test. Even so, he needed to provide very little in the way of support, just keep those of Oni decent from interfering. After all, if one of them reached the prize, then mankind would not simply die, but die slowly as technology failed and the Oni returned in force. As Ranma entered the Tendo home, he heard his father approaching. "So, Boy, you finally came back! Now, let's see just how soft you've gotten!" Being tired from the trip, Ranma tapped Genma's forehead once, and went up to his room while his father struggled to move. 'Better living through Shiatsu, that's the ticket' Ranma thought as he entered his room. 'Now, let's see what bit of chaos is next on the agenda. Maybe I should see what happens if I suppress Nibiki's mathematical aptitude. Having to struggle through simple arithmetic for a few days should convince her that there are more important things then money, and some things far too dangerous to mess with to get rich.' (Yes, Ranma holds grudges. He might not hit a girl, but that doesn't mean that he won't poke them a few times in their sleep.) When Ranma woke up, he became fully male, and went to find his favorite mercenary. Instead, he found Akane. As she prepared to chew him out for disappearing for two months, Ranma, to her utter and total shock, gathered her up in his arms, and gave her a kiss. After about three minuets, Ranma came up for air, leaving Akane with a rather goofy grin (oxygen deprivation and secret Shiatsu points make for truly amazing responses, wouldn't you say?) While Akane's brain came back on- line, Ranma sought out his still paralyzed father. "Yo, Pops. You've got a small problem that needs addressing. You got me too many fiancees, and you need to deal with some of them. I can't without loosing all honor, but for you it would just mean some loss of face. So, I'll tell you what. If you honorably deal with all of them except Akane within the next week, I'll undo this Ultimate Weakness Point that I'm putting on you. After that, well, I hope you're medical insurance is paid up. After all, your heart is going to be as weak as the rest of you, and as fat as you are, you probably will have a heart attack before long." With that, Ranma touched two points on Genma's back; one for ultimate weakness, and one to undo the paralysis. Genma immediately went to Dr. Tofu's office to see what could be done about the (supposedly) lethal Shiatsu attack. At this point, Ranma shifted to a largely female form, walked up to a barely recovered Akane, and re-initiated liplock. Four minutes later, Ranma broke the kiss, and decided to get back to playing with Nibiki, who she "felt" approaching the door. "Well, well, the prodigal son returns. So how was your trip?" As Ranma answered, she put her arm over the middle Tendo daughter's shoulder, touching it in a rather unusual manner. "Very good. I understand that Shampoo has gone back to China?" "Yes, she has. Remove your arm, now." Ranma complied. "Apparently, she learned that you will only have one child, which makes you truly poor Amazon breeding stock. She decided that if she couldn't have you, then no one could. Cologne got her out of the country before she could get arrested, however, and promised to get her under control. Oh, and Mousse paid me to thank you for your genetics." "No problem. How did she learn?" "How did you?" Ranma smiled, and walked away. He really didn't care how Shampoo found out, and besides, Nibiki was about to learn the price of her greed, and pay it for, oh a week or so. Meanwhile, Akane was reeling. 'He kissed me. No, she kissed me. No, Ranma kissed me. Twice. I should be angry. I should be furious. I...I...I really need to change these panties. I can't believe Ranma got me to do that just by kissing me. As a girl. Maybe I'm the pervert, after all?' With that, Akane, still dazed by the events of the last quarter hour, went up to her room to change... Across town, Kuno was practicing when Sasuke, his "trusty ninja sidekick," showed up to let him know about Ranma's return. To say Kuno was a bit hasty about going to the Tendo's would be an understatement. To notice him landing in his own front lawn shortly thereafter, however, was merely typical. As Kuno landed, Ryoga was found by some hot water. As he looked around, all he saw was a book with a note to him attached. Apparently, one of his ancestors wanted him to master a deadly artform, sometimes called Demon Wrestling. Ryoga uttered his usual pledge to kill Ranma (no surprise there) and began to study, while a delivery demon watched, and smiled... Even as Ryoga began to study one of the deadliest forms in existence, Nabiki was learning about Ranma's "gift", and was not happy! In fact, if the old lech was still alive, she would have given him all the underwear in the house if he could just teach Ranma a lesson from which he would never recover. Instead, she started calling around, including a certain long distance call to China, and a much closer call to an animal shelter. "That's right, I would like fifteen cats delivered to the Tendo Dojo today....Yes, Tabbies are just fine...kittens? Oh, those will be perfect, but double the number." Unfortunately for Nabiki, Ranma's Chi training included sensory enhancement, and he was already planning his escape and revenge, not that it would involve much. After all, Kasumi would banish the cats, and one well placed touch would induce a horrid allergic reaction to cats in Nabiki. Just to make it a challenge, Ranma decided to practice the first spell from the book that he had bothered to learn. Muttering under his breath, Ranma became invisible. He then walked up to Nabiki, who had just left her room to get a drink. He noticed her sudden scowl when he touched her, and then left the house for a few hours. When Ranma returned from his meditations in a nearby park he noticed a truly miserable looking Nabiki being lectured by an upset Kasumi. Ranma smiled. Then he kissed Akane again before she could say anything, and went to the Dojo to practice. 'I'd better not kiss her again for a few days. After all, she might just get addicted to those if I give her to many of them!' Just as he was about to enter the Dojo, Ranma heard cats. At this point, the secret of the most impressive feat of magic or martial arts was revealed to all who could see: Teleportation is simply a matter of moving so fast the universe can't see you! "THERE'S C-C-C-C-CATS IN THE DOJO!" "Oh, Ranma, I'm sorry, but I had to put them somewhere until the people from the animal shelter can arrange to take them back. It would appear that they had a problem with finding room for them all. They were quite happy with Nabiki offering to take them all in." "I...see. Did Nabiki tell you why she offered all those...felines a home?" "Apparently, she is upset with you about your disappearance. I'm rather vexed with her bringing them into this house just to punish you. That was incredibly unfair for the cats." Ranma smiled. "Akane, could you do me a favor?" Akane, still recovering from her third super-kiss today, was very willing to take Ranma up on his suggestion of sparring with Nabiki in the Dojo. An hour later, Nabiki was more then willing to use her varied contacts to find new homes for all of the cats. She would have started earlier, but it took her nearly forty five minutes to recover from her allergy attack enough to use a phone. As the day ended and night fell, Ranma reflected on the major problems ahead of him. 'I need to master at least a few more of those spells; it took me a month to get the invisibility down, and that's the easiest spell in the book! Even more important, if I'm going to be facing agents of God in a few years, I'm going to need some serious practice. Not a problem, normally, but there's no one around here that's even close to my level anymore, and I need to practice with someone a lot better then me if I'm going to be good enough. Maybe I should check out some of the rumors I've heard about other districts. After all, if demons are allegedly being killed by urban legends in Juuban, then there should be a serious challenge just waiting for me over there.' Too be continued (maybe) Author's Comments: This, and all my future fanfics (along with those of my good friend Darkchild), can be found at http://home.twcny.rr.com/jacen/.