20It was a miserable day, Genma Saotome mused to himself, one more miserable, downtrodden day stacked on what seemed to be a pile of them that knew no end. He was currently in his panda form, as the rain that poured down around him gave him no choice, while his "acquired" heir to the Anything-Goes school was currently in his pot-bellied piglet form.
Genma cursed, himself, his weak worthless son, those "things" that he'd had to deal with, the stupid Amazons that'd given the two of them, both him and his new heir that stupid Hibiki boy, who even now was tugging mightily on the leash he was attached to, trying his best to go in what seemed to be the complete opposite direction that Genma wanted to head. After another few moments of watching the piglet struggle, Genma yanked hard on the line, jerking the piglet off of its feet, and started to lumber on, not caring that the piglet/Hibiki boy was unconscious, or, that his face was currently pressed down against the sidewalk, rubbing hard enough to cause a little groove in the cement.
The passerby's that had stopped to view this strange occurrence in their normal ordinary lives, looked on a few moments longer, before they basically settled back into a point of view that screamed, 'if it isn't bothering me, it's not my business'.
Meanwhile, Genma in his Panda form continued on, while the Hibiki boy, Ryoga, had woken up, and was now trotting alongside him, only occasionally veering off at a ninety degree angle before getting back on track again.
The panda continued onward towards his ultimate goal, the Tendo training hall. Maybe, somehow, someway, Soun had continued his own training, kept it up, and he may know of a way to help out his best friend and training partner. If not, then maybe one of his daughters would be able to open the box that he currently kept hid in his personal sub-space bag. The damnable thing had been the cause of all of his suffering for the last ten years, well that and because his useless, worthless fool of a son, had left him also, couldn't forget that.
Hell, if one of them could open it, then he'd be able to get his son back from wherever he'd gone with 'them'. Genma shivered for a long moment, those people, things, whatever they were, had been much worse than anything he'd ever met before, and as he trudged down the road to where he could see the roof of his old friends home, he let his thoughts cast back to that day, the day when he'd "borrowed" that puzzle box from that old man's store. Even now, he could hear the old man telling him about it, about a thing that Genma had gotten to know quite intimately, that damned...Lament Configuration.
*Flashback*
Osaka certainly deserved its reputation; Genma Saotome mused to himself silently. Everywhere that you went, whether on the open streets, or its dark and dank back alleys, people were selling and buying anything and everything. It held a certain bit of humor to it that Osaka was known throughout Japan as the place to go if you wanted something, and yet, everyone spoke in a hick accent that would sound much like an American he'd met from that country's deep South. Genma grinned for a moment, before he'd left on his trip with the boy; one of his favorite comedians on TV had that same Osaka-style accent that he used in his act.
However, that memory faded quickly, as his son, Ranma, started tugging on his arm, trying to get his attention. Genma sighed heavily, before reaching around and cuffing his boy on the back of his head, effectively shutting him up. The boy said nothing then, and though he knew that he'd not been hit that hard, for making Genma have to do that, was promised a night of pain from training later on when they moved on.
Glancing down at his son, his small hand enveloped in Genma's own, it was very easy to see what the boy could become. Ranma was a genius at picking up new martial arts techniques; hell, Genma had taught him pretty much all of the basic styles years ago, when he was still at home with his wife, Nodoka. By the time the boy was seven years old, he pretty much had the basics of the Anything-Goes philosophy down pat.
But then, after he'd tried to train Ranma in that ultimate technique, the Cat-Fist, that it seemed things had taken a downhill turn. After that abject failure, Genma had been driven to further and further extremes in training and the boy had taken to it with nary a backwards glance. However, the boy had seemed to treat him less and less like the father that he'd used to, and more and more like the teachers at any of the countless training halls that they'd visited over the years. Even worse, the boy no longer called him Dad, or even Father anymore, these days using the less respectful slang term, "Pops".
All that was irrelevant in the end, as long as Ranma was able to prove himself the heir to his school, and then after gaining a few more years of experience, he'd be taken to his old friend Soun Tendo's training hall, and get his son hooked up with one of his daughters, which would mean that he and Soun would finally be able to sit back, and not worry anymore.
Shaking his head, Genma brought himself forcefully out of the daydream, and got back to concentrating on the place that he was looking for, some shop that supposedly held a key to a technique that would make the Cat-Fist look like a pissant move. Now if only he could find the place, then he'd teach the boy, and from that point he...
"What's your pleasure, Sir?"
Genma jerked his head to the right, and saw Ranma standing in front of an old, run-down stand, talking to an old man, that for a moment, gave Genma the heebie-jeebies, much worse than when he had studied under the dreaded master, may his soul still rot and burn. The old man was wearing dirty and old clothes, with a hat that covered an obviously balding head, making Genma rub the top of his own head. His mouth was filled with rotting teeth, what few there were, and his eyes were almost squinted shut, while his voice sounded like that old man that lived down the road from his old house when he was young, and that old man had scared him then too.
All this went through Genma's mind in a moment, before he walked over, and stood next to Ranma, grabbing the boy by the back of his gi, shaking him just enough to make him notice it.
"My apologies, old man," he growled out, "But I'm sorry for my son to bother you,
we were..."
"Just looking for something," the old man rasped, "Something that you desire to give you an ultimate technique, right?"
Genma didn't know this man from Tora-san, but at that moment, his danger sense was yelling... no, shrieking at him to get the FUCK out of there, leave, take his son, go somewhere, back home even. Unfortunately, that sense had dimmed a lot with the retirement of the master and Genma stood his ground, his son ignorantly, and still somewhat trustingly, holding there with him.
*End Flashback*
Genma-panda paused for a moment to get his bearings, and picked up the piglet that'd been digging a furrow in the sidewalk with it's head for the last ten minutes, cradling it in his right arm, partly to keep some of the rain off of it, partly to make sure it didn't wander off again and he could pick his own pace up. He did want to get to Soun's before nightfall; heaven knew that he'd have a hard enough time explaining about the curses in the daytime, much less how hard it'd be at nighttime.
He growled for a moment, if only those damned Amazons had left well enough alone, instead of flying off the handle like they had when they'd found out what he'd done, as well as who his old master of the art was...well, spilt milk and all that. Getting his frustration out of his system, Genma set off in the right direction, the piglet dozing on his arm, and continued to let his mind wander a bit, remembering when he'd made the next biggest mistake of his life.
*Flashback*
Genma grunted with strain, here he was, after having spent close to a half-hour of his valuable time, and what did he have to show for it? The box had just sat in his hands, as if mocking his every attempt to open it. Sighing a bit, he sat down heavily, and picked up a nearby bottle of rice wine that he'd liberated from an undeserving fool. Taking a few healthy swigs from it, he sat it down and reflectively stared at the small cube in his hand. Hell, he mused to himself, it probably would have been better for him to have tried to see if there was an instruction manual that came with it, not that he needed one, as he was able to instinctively pick up on all kinds of techniques, much like his own son did, but it could have been useful. Still, if it would have helped him to figure out how to open the twice cursed thing, he'd have taken it happily. As it was, he was stuck with it for now, and what he had was a relatively cheap paper weight, and since he had no paper with him, it wasn't even worth that.
Genma sat and stared at it some more while taking another swig, that creepy old man had told him and the boy that the box would open when it sensed that you desired it enough to make it open up. Genma had snorted at that, even while he'd been making plans to return to the shop that later that night, and liberate the box from its obviously undeserving owner. After all, if it did hold a new technique, then since he was training the best martial artist of his generation, then of course he'd be the only one that knew what it was really worth. Of course, with a new technique, then that also meant that Genma would have something else to show off to Nodoka with when they finally returned home, and she could not help but judge him and the boy favorably.
However, before he could finish making his plans, Ranma had walked over and asked the old geezer how much he wanted for it. The old man stroked those long Fu-Manchu whiskers of his for a second, and had told him that he'd sell it for whatever was in the boy's pocket. Genma had been elated at that for a moment, he figured that all Ranma had might have been a ten yen coin that someone could've dropped in the street, and so was wholly surprised when the boy pulled out a five-hundred yen coin, and handed it over. The only thing that kept him from blowing up at the boy for holding out on him like that was the fact that the old man handed the puzzle box over right away.
Ranma bowed respectfully to the old man, while Genma made a note to himself to teach the boy to not do that until he absolutely had to, and walked back over to his father's side. Genma tensed, in case things might still go sour, getting ready to get the hell out of Dodge, since something about the old shopkeeper was still spooking him somewhat, when the old man called out to him. "Be warned," he gasped out, "The Lament Configuration that you hold in your hands knows what is in your heart, and your true desire, but you will see that..."
Genma had heard enough at that point, and had already picked up Ranma in one arm, was holding the other box with his other hand, and had leaped to the top of the roof, and headed west. Fortunately, neither of them looked behind to see that the old man had a malevolent grin on his face, before he stepped back into the store, and faded into its shadows.
That had been two days ago, and Genma and Ranma were currently deep in the mountains surrounding Kyoto, holed up in a little shack that they'd found near a stream of cold clear water. The little box stymied his efforts to open it, though again, he'd not really taken the time to try, just occasionally looking at it, twisting it a bit, and then throwing it in his backpack so they could run off to the next training area. It was well after dark now, and the fire that they'd built earlier was dying down a bit, though still warm enough that they wouldn't have to worry about the chilly air too much.
Glancing over at Ranma sleeping peacefully for the time being, having gotten his weak nightmares out of his system for the night, Genma felt a spike of anger. If only the boy had been stronger, then he wouldn't have made a fool of himself with the Cat-Fist. Shaking his head in disgust, he chucked the puzzle box at Ranma's head, having a perverse sense of satisfaction at the thunk it made when it struck his head, and at seeing his son jump up into an immediate defensive position.
Ranma was still weak, but maybe one day, he'd finally learn that the whole world was against him, and that the only person you could count on, was yourself, all others were just things to go over or around, or to use for the time being. He did that with Soun, with Nodoka, and now he'd do it with the boy, and hopefully Ranma would learn this hard lesson for himself before it was too late.
Swallowing the last of the wine, Genma tossed the bottle over his shoulder and into the underbrush, before he crawled into his blanket, and was snoring away less than a minute later. Ranma stood there a few moments longer, staring stupidly at his father, till he realized that there was no training for him tonight, for the time being. Plopping down onto the ground, he absently threw a few sticks on top of the dying fire, watching it flare up to consume the offering, before it settled down again.
Looking over to his side, he saw the box that his Father had wanted to get from that weird old man. While it was pretty, he didn't see what techniques that such a small thing like that would hold in its depths. Picking it up, he examined it closer, the gold on the outside looked real, and he was sure that if his Dad didn't think it was any good, then he'd be able to make some money from re-selling it. Looking at it some more, while keeping an eye on his Dad, who seemed to have some sixth sense when Ranma was going to try an attack, unconsciously rubbing a bruise that he'd gotten earlier that day when he under-estimated a kick, he studied it harder for a few minutes, trying to figure out the best way to crack it open.
It was while he was looking at it, that it seemed like something about it was different. Ranma stared at it harder and almost gasped in surprise. It was so simple; he didn't know why he and his Dad had missed this before. Heck, the thing seemed to glimmer in the firelight, and Ranma could see where the connections went to the seals. It was as plain as day, all you had to do was… CLICK!
Ranma gasped in surprise and dropped the box, quickly glancing over at his Father, but when Genma made no move, only continuing to snore loudly, and then he picked it up again. Yes, it had definitely clicked, and when he looked at it further, he saw that it had moved a bit, a deeper line showing that it had gone a little out of position. Ranma's little fingers continued to pick and prod at the little box, not even paying attention to the mournful little tune that seemed to fill the air around, that sounded much like a music box.
A burning desire filled his being now, and Ranma worked almost feverishly with the box, turning it one way, then another, as though he felt he had to, no, needed to open it, hell, it almost called out to him to open it. Time seemed to slip away as Ranma worked, first experiencing moments of frustration as he was denied, then moments of elation as another part of the solution was wormed out of the box. All that time, the sounds of a music box continued to grow louder and louder, though if Ranma heard anything, it was drowned out by the fever that gripped his own mind.
Genma's danger sense had been steadily increasing its shouting at him for almost from the moment his head had hit the pillow, though he'd continued to ignore it, since there were no other humans or animals that might attack them for several kilometers around them. Still, something felt wrong, and his sleep, while looking sound from the outside, was troubled on the inside. Genma mentally snarled at his self, if only that damned music would stop so that he could get some better rest and...music?!
Eyes snapping open, Genma jumped up into an immediate offensive stance, shrugging off the effects of the alcohol he'd consumed earlier almost instantly, scanning the area, only seeing his son Ranma desperately working on the puzzle box, turning it this way and that, solving the damn thing! Genma watched, fascinated, as half of the box turned on its own, before settling into a new configuration. Ranma looked up at his Father, and Genma saw his eyes gleaming, the same way he looked when he was mastering a new technique.
"Daddy!" Ranma shouted with glee, "Daddy, I got it! I figured it out, all I've got to do is twist it around this way, and then it'll be solved!"
If Genma hadn't been quite so greedy, or thick-headedly overcome with a fair amount of jealousy that Ranma had been able to figure it out when he hadn't, he'd have noticed that his son, for the first time in over a year and a half, was calling him Daddy again. But he didn't, and it was only after everything was all over that one fact struck him, making Genma cry his first real tears in years, tears of bitterness and pain, and lost opportunity.
"Get out of the way boy!" snarled Genma, grabbing the box out of Ranma's hands, shoving his son roughly to the ground, which sent his left hand into the fire's dying embers. He ignored Ranma's cry's of pain, and twisted the box in the direction Ranma had indicated earlier, first yelling in triumph when a hole opened up in its top, which turned a shriek a second later when two chains shot out at him, with two oh-so-sharp hooks on their ends, which latched onto his chest.
Genma was in such pain at that moment, he didn't even remember hearing the deep tolling of what sounded like a temple's bell, and the sound of the music box, which had grown to match the bells noise, and that the area around he and Ranma had grown pitch-black, until what sounded like wood groaning, and light started to filter in the room through slatted holes in the wall. However, he did take special notice, when four figures appeared out of the darkness, and he screamed again, this time out of the fear a soul has when it's damned, and it knows it too.
*End Flashback*
Genma stopped at the Tendo's gate, and after reading the signs over it, rang the bell for the front door. From inside the house, he heard the voice of his old friend Soun shouting about how his old friend had arrived at last and grimaced to himself. He had a heir with the Hibiki boy, but he wasn't at Ranma's level, never would be. Oh well, maybe one of the girls was a decent martial artist or could figure out how to open the puzzle box themselves. Then he could get Ranma back, and see how the boy had grown in the art. After all, that demon with the nails hammered all throughout his head, had said that Ranma would be trained in special techniques.
Genma stopped at the Tendo's gate, and after reading the signs over it, rang the bell for the front door. From inside the house, he heard the voice of his old friend Soun shouting about how his old friend had arrived at last and grimaced to himself. He had a new heir with the Hibiki boy, but he wasn't at Ranma's level, never would be. Oh well, maybe one of the girls was a decent martial artist or could figure out how to open the puzzle box themselves. Then he could get Ranma back, and see how the boy had grown in the art. After all, that demon with the nails hammered all throughout his head, had said that Ranma would be trained in special techniques.
It was only a few more seconds of waiting when the door was yanked open and Genma's oldest living friend and training partner, Soun Tendo, stood there, his face going from open joy to confusion to sheer fright in the matter of a moment. He jerked and stumbled backwards rapidly, almost knocking over a lovely young woman in a kimono that had been standing behind him. That must have been one of Soun's daughters, thought Genma, she had dyed her hair brown, showing that she had some vanity, but had it cut in a not so flattering page-boy style, which hinted that she was frugal, or didn't care so much about looks like other girls her age.
As the two of them were back up into the far corner, and Genma mentally berated Soun for getting into such a hard to defend position, another young woman popped up in front of them, with an air around her of peace and calm, that reminded Genma of what it used to be like the first year or so of his marriage to Nodoka, but then they'd had Ranma, and well…things had gone a bit downhill from there.
"Oh my!" she exclaimed out loud, "Well, hello Mr. Panda, did you get lost from the zoo? I don't think we've had the circus come around for a few months, but that could just be because you'd run away from one that was somewhere else?"
The young woman put her left hand up to her lips in contemplation for a second, while rubbing the end of the ponytail that fell over her shoulder with her other one and Genma almost snorted out loud, before he noticed something else, and his eyes narrowed a bit; she'd have to be kept an eye on, that was for sure. Sighing heavily, the panda held up a sign that read: *Hot water, please?*
The young woman stared at it for a second, before giggling, her hand held over her mouth in the proper manner, "How cute, a panda that's trained to use signs as well! What else can you do, Mr. Panda?"
Genma stared at her again, before he held up another sign, *MAY I HAVE SOME HOT WATER, PLEASE?"
The young woman stepped back a bit, before nodding to him slowly, "All right Mr. Panda, please wait here for a bit."
With that, the young woman gave the panda a short bow, turned around and went towards what Genma assumed was the kitchen. Hearing a snorting noise, he glanced down to see the little piglet staring up at him, and got ready to show it a sign when he heard: "Hey! What are you doing here scaring my sisters, and what are you getting ready to do to that cute piggy?! Get away from here, or it'll end badly for you, you…big panda thing!"
Genma-panda turned his head, to see that another girl had shown up into the room, and had entered into what he laughingly assumed was supposed to be a defensive stance. Studying her, he saw that she had some basic knowledge of the Art, but had not been really and truly trained in it for a while now. Her movements were a bit sloppy, and she seemed to have an aura of rage around her. In fact, she might have been perfect for his son Ranma if he'd been there, he could have tamed her a bit, and maybe gotten her skills up to the point that she didn't stumble around in her stance so much. Genma held up a sign, as he noticed that the first girl in her kimono had taken off now, good speed on her anyway, and might be interesting to see how she'd do in stealth exercises, might be able to compete with real ninjas if her danger sense was better than half-assed.
As he watched his old friend Soun stumble about, Genma felt a bit bad for him, it seemed that since the death of his wife, Soun's skill had degraded a fair amount; he could still keep up, and would probably be able to meet and beat most challengers, but would not seem likely that he could come close to keeping up with Genma these days, hell, even the Hibiki boy seemed more adept now, even though he had nowhere near the aerial moves of his son.
The panda sighed, and stood there for a second, scratching at some of the wounds he'd received that day, still itching and sore after all these years, and thought back to that fateful day while waiting for the hot water to come and cleanse this curse off himself temporarily.
*Flashback*
As Genma stared at what was appearing around him, he felt his body wracked by the pain of the hooks that were currently embedded in his chest, making every movement a fresh bit of agony. Grimacing with concentration, he hit the correct series of pressure points that would allow him to ignore the pain long enough to remove the hooks, when he saw somebody out of the corner of his eye gesture, and all of a sudden, were there had been only two chains, before, now Genma found himself suspended in mid-air, being held up by what seemed to be a hundred of those chains, and for the first time in ages, Genma knew PAIN unlike any he'd felt before.
For the moment, that pain was all that consisted of Genma Saotome's worldview. Oh sure, there'd been times in the past when he'd been in a great amount of pain, whether it'd been when he and his best friend Soun had trained with the dreaded Master, or the day that his wife had got it into her head that she was going to be the next great swordswomen of the God's Cry School, never mind that she was more dangerous with it around a bag of potatoes than against an actual opponent. That was the day when she'd managed to somehow toss it up in the air, only to have it end up sticking through his foot was indeed painful, but compared to this particular moment in time, that pain was nothing.
Right now, for Genma Saotome, all those old memories of pain had been supplanted by this new experience. Oh yes, that person that had now moved to stand in front of him was right, that there was pain, and then, there was PAIN. Genma gasped again, as the now identifiable gentleman that he could see gestured, and the pain increased, along with that maddening sound of those tinkling, clinking chains, with those oh so sharp hooks. However, when he stepped into full view, Genma heart did a quite nice impression of a kangaroo, considering how far it jumped into his throat.
The "person" for lack of a better word, standing in front of him, was like something that you'd see in a nightmare. He wore a black, leathery type of material that had a high-collared neck, and stretched all the way down from there into a long type of skirt that fell around his feet. His skin was pale, and he was completely bald, but all over his head, there looked like lines that were cut into his flesh, each of them joining to make a square, and at each corner of those squares, OH LORD, it looked like he had nails or large pins hammered into his head. The thing appeared not to notice those pins though, and concentrated his attention completely on Genma, ignoring Ranma completely.
All around Genma, more figures appeared, one of them a large heavyset man, with what looked like dark glasses in place of his eyes, slimy-looking wearing what looked like an amplified form of his own smirk that he got when he'd tricked someone, and another looked like the flesh had been torn from his face, and had teeth that chattered constantly, and you could see those teeth clearly since his lips had been ripped away as well.
Finally, there was a bald, pale-faced woman that had been standing, and staring at his son, before she knelt down to look him in the eyes. She was dressed in the same black leather as the others, and in fact, would probably have been very beautiful, had she not had a hole in her throat that was held open with jagged wires.
His son had gotten into a defensive stance the moment things had gone to hell in a hand-basket, that is the moment that he made that final turn and had been hit with those first hooks and chains, but the four things in front of him ad simply walked around Ranma without hardly acknowledging him, though the woman did have a bit of a gleam in her eyes as she glanced at the boy for a moment.
"Oh my good fellow," rasped the tall, bald man in a deep voice that was full of menace, whom Genma had mentally nicknamed Pinhead, "We can see that you resist pain quite readily. It will be most wondrous to break you down, both body and spirit, and rebuild you again to our pleasure, oh yes, most wondrous indeed."
He gestured again, and dozens more chains with hooks on their ends shot out of the blackness surrounding them, catching Genma all over his body, sinking into his flesh before they jerked back much like a fisherman, casing pain to shoot all throughout his body. With this, Genma was now suspended in mid-air, looking much like a large fly caught up in a metallic, clinking web, his dirty gi now sprouting an ever growing number of blood stains on it. Genma groaned in agony again, and Pinhead smiled, a dry humorless smile, before Ranma again jumped to jump in front of him, again settling to an aggressive stance.
"Get away from my Pop!" he growled out, though at his age, it was most unimpressive, "You stay back from him or I'll, I'll…I'll fight you, and I'll win!"
Pinhead glanced down at the small child in front of him, a small smile again gracing his lips, though it seemed the one for Ranma had a tiny hint of warmth to it.
"You are an innocent, my child, came a feathery light voice from Ranma's right, and the little boy glanced over to see that the pale-skinned woman had turned her attention away from Genma, to squat down in front of him and looked into his eyes, .
"But, I opened the box!" shot Ranma, caught up in her gaze, "Don't hurt my Pops, it was my fault! If I wouldn't such a weak, useless girl, I wouldn't have caused so much trouble."
"That's right!" Genma squeaked out wincing when the woman's eye snapped away from Ranma to glare at him dangerously, "The boy opened the box, it's his fault that you had to come here, why don't you take him instead?!"
Genma wasn't a truly bad man now, however, he was one of those types of people that did not think through his actions before he did them, something he'd started to pass to Ranma, and it was this same ability that made him curse himself for years to come. It was only when he saw the almost unholy gleam in the eyes of the creatures that he could see that he started to wonder just what he had done.
"You would truly give up this child?" Pinhead asked, almost in wonder, "A true innocent that had done no malice towards anyone? You would do well with us, but…
Pinhead was stopped by the woman, who had put her hand on his arm, and as he glanced down at her, he saw that she had a look in her eyes that he'd not seen in all of his years of leading their group, not since he'd open the box years before, a look of want and…need? He stared at her a few moments longer, before almost grudgingly nodding his head, causing the woman to smile again before she reached over and tousled Ranma's hair, making the boy flinch just a bit, even as his eyes remained locked with hers, much like a mouse with a snake. Pinhead turned back to Genma, staring hard into his face, making the man sweat even as the pain subtly increased.
"Very well," he intoned, 'The child for your life, he will undergo your suffering for a time, but one day, you will open the box again, and on that day, we reserve the right to claim you, and whoever may be there with you. Are we understood?"
At this point in time he could have told Genma that he had to eat baked cow pies and Genma would have cheerfully agreed to do so, the pain was so great, and it was with a nod of his head, that he did so. Yet the pain increased for a long moment, before slacking off a bit. Still, that was not the worse thing it seemed, at least to Genma's mindset, as now his weak and useless son, that he'd agreed to be taken from him, was just standing there, having taken that woman's hand, and was acting like a simpering idiot while she whispered to him.
"So, will you really be able to teach me some new techniques," the little boy asked innocently, "Because I really got to work hard to be the best I can!"
The Female Cenobite, beautiful, and yet not, smiled down at him. Her pale face seemed seem to light up at the child's simple question, especially as it'd been so long, so very long since she'd had the opportunity to be able to break in a new innocent like this. Still, the little boy did have a way of rising within her feelings that'd been long dormant, and did for a moment, make her feel like the mother she'd been once, long ago.
"Oh yes, my dear," she whispered, not through any choice, but because of the wires that held open the hole in her throat that gaped wide, "You will learn techniques that few mortals ever have before. However, it will be difficult, and hard, and you may indeed wish that you had never met me this day."
"Heck, my Pops threw me into a pit of c…ca…cats a lot," Ranma stuttered for a moment, before his voice gained strength again, "There isn't anything I can't handle, because I'm going to be the best. My Pops told me so!"
"You're a good boy my child," the Female Cenobite whispered as it smiled at him, "I promise you, this will be the most difficult training you've ever had. Oh yes, there will be times where you'll curse me, and yourself, and all of existence, but, you will persevere, right?"
"You bet!" Ranma said cheerfully, "I'm going to be the best, no matter what!"
As she started to walk off, any warning that Genma wanted to give his weak child was cut off by a flare of the current pain he felt, caused by the chains with their so sharp hooks, hooks that seemed to sink deeper into his flesh. Genma groaned, and cried out weakly, he was surrounded by monsters!
That man with the nails all over his head, by now Genma was paying him no mind, as he saw that his retirement was walking away with that woman, who'd turned back to see his fear-filled face.
Genma's pain was erased by surprise for a moment, as the woman winked saucily at him, before she turned around and led his son off into a cold, black tunnel, though his fear and pain returned a moment later, when he saw the curved blade she held in her free hand behind her back. She gently caressed that blade with her thumb, before he saw her press against it hard, and the edge penetrated deeper into her thumb, from its bottom up to what must have been the nail.
"Come child," she stated, "Let us explore new avenues of pain, and fear, and pleasure. I and my companions will teach you of a world undreamt of in human experience."
"Okay miss, Ranma stated, a bit hesitantly, "But, will I get to see my Pops again soon?"
Oh little one," she grinned, "You will indeed, and I'm sure that he'll be most happy to see you again, most happy indeed. But for now, why don't you call me…Mother?"
"My mom's not here no more," the young boy stated sadly, "My pops said so. Does this mean you'll be my Mom while I'm training?"
"Yes, little one," the Female Cenobite whispered, as it now grinned insanely in triumph at Genma, "I will be your mother from here, to the end of your existence. You will work hard to please me, won't you?"
"You bet I will," Ranma stated confidently, "I'll never quit, or lose!"
Genma watched through a haze of pain, as Ranma and the woman walked away, until there was no one there anymore. With a flash of light that blinded him momentarily, he blinked away the spots to see that the room was now empty, the darkness that filled it taken away, and replaced by the dying embers of the fire pit, the music box no longer tinkling, as well as the sounds of the bell, leaving the room as quiet as a grave.
He fell to his hands and knees, breathing heavily, before lifting his head to glance around the room. Its silent emptiness mocked him, and he stood up, looking all over for his son, before he foot bumped into a sharp edge, and stared at the small box that know sat silently on the floor
End Flashback
Genma absently rubbed at the puckered areas on his skin from where the hooks had grabbed onto him; even after all these years, the feeling of those hooks in his flesh hadn't left him, nor had the skin where they'd been healed up completely, no matter how much of his life energy that he directed to them. At the same moment, the girl that Genma assumed was the elder daughter stepped into the training hall where he and Ryoga in his piglet form sat patiently, while Soun, who'd fainted momentarily, was now sitting with his two other daughters flanking him on either side, across from them.
"Here you go Mr. Panda," the girl stated in an almost insanely cheerful voice, "I wasn't sure as to how hot that you wanted it to be, so I brought it up to a boil, and then let it cool off a bit so it would be just right for tea if it anybody wanted some."
After finishing that last statement, she sat down gracefully, ignoring the stares from everyone else there, and put the hot pot of water on top of a folded dish-towel so as to not burn the floor. A few seconds passed before each side turned their gaze back on each other.
Genma/panda held up a sign that read *Thanks* before putting the back of his paw against the kettle to test for heat. When he felt that it wasn't boiling hot, he picked the pot up and tilted the spout over his head, shuddering as he felt that now familiar rush he got when the tingly sensation of the curse was once again washed away with the flow of water. Breathing deeply into his now human lungs, he opened his eyes to see Soun and his daughters were now openly gaping at him
"Again, my thanks for the hot water Miss Tendo, Genma started out, "My apologies everyone. I am Genma Saotome, Master of the Saotome school of Anything Goes martial arts, and this is my heir, Ryoga Hibiki."
Turning slightly to his side, Genma again upended the kettle over the neckerchief wearing piglet, the water seeming to melt it away to reveal a ruggedly handsome young man wearing a bandana around his head, and nothing else. All three girls blushed a bit while Ryoga hurriedly dressed, before he settled back to his earlier kneeling position, showing very large eyeteeth while grinning nervously.
"Genma," Soun spoke up, "Wasn't your son named Ranma? What did he do to make you take the school away from him, and how did you and…Mr. Hibiki end up turned into these animal forms?"
"That, my old friend," Genma said in a faintly pompous voice, "Is a horrible and tragic tale. You see, it all started when my weak and useless son left me and our school, and instead ran off with some strange woman, leaving me to face the tough and arduous task of not only finding a new heir to the school, but to be able to train him up to what I'm sure are your own high standards of your heir. Oh woe is me, why was I cursed so?"
With that last statement, the elder daughter looked at Genma quizzically, while the daughter with the pageboy cut looked at Genma with hard narrow eyes, and the other on wearing a karate gi looked offended at the thought of someone doing what Genma said.
Off to his side, Ryoga rolled his eyes, as he'd heard the same story from Genma several times over the years they'd been together. Still, even he never had heard the whole story of what happened from Genma, so maybe he would finally, and then maybe they wouldn't end off pissing these people off like they had with those Amazons they'd met in China. It had always been annoying the way Genma would constantly compare Ryoga to his long-lost, probably dead son. Still, if nothing else, he'd gotten a hold of the problem with his bad temper, something that Genma had worked on right away when he'd first found him, and in fact had basically beaten it out of him after less than a month of training.
"Tell me where he went Mr. Saotome!" snarled the younger long-haired girl, "I'll bring him back so he can get his punishment! All boys are bastard assholes anyway, and they deserve what I give them!"
"Hey!" shouted Ryoga, "Not all guys are perverts! I've never done anything perverted to a girl, and I don't want to, so what do you get off…!"
"Shut it, you!" the girl glared back, "You thought you could just walk in here, in this curse, disguise…whatever, and take me and my sisters, didn't you? Well, you'd better think again, because I won't let you!"
"Like I'd want to mess with an un-cute tomboyish girl in the first place," Ryoga said as he turned away, which proved to be a bad mistake as she had already grabbed a wooden sword off of the wall, and had brained him over the head with it..
"Akane, please!" wailed the patriarch of the clan, "You mustn't go around hitting like that, this boy will be one of you girls fiancé, so that we can unite the Tendo and Saotome school back into one branch of Anything-Goes!"
"WHAT DID YOU SAY DADDY?!" shrieked the girl knew now as Akane, while the other daughters either rolled their eyes, or sheltered their head in embarrassment, "Like I'll ever allow some boy to marry me, and you'd better not try to push this off on Nabiki or Kasumi either! I won't allow any of us to be used like some kind of a cow down at the farmers market! Boys can just go and burn for all I care!"
The fiery girl was living up to her name, as her face had gotten so red that it looked like she might have exploded if she held her mouth shut, before she turned around and walked out the door. Genma simply stared at her, while Ryoga had gotten back into position, and rubbed the back of his head. Soun, for his part, sat there, his mouth gaping much like the goldfish in his pond outside, before he visibly got control of himself, and turned back to his guests.
Genma, Ryoga," he started, "My apology for what you had to see here, Akane has had a very rough time of it since her mother died, and I'm afraid that, that I've not dealt with her as well as I should. She has embarrassed her family here, will you please wait a moment, while I go and… speak with her?"
Genma nodded and Soun stood up and stepped outside the training hall. While the four of them sat there, the two other daughters and Genma and Ryoga looked at each other and around the hall, neither one fully comfortable with one another yet, they heard some shouting in the main room of the house, though not much could be made out, until Soun raised his voice and yell something about *Your Mother* and *Embarrassing Her Memory!*. A few moments later, Soun and Akane stepped back in, the young girl looking decidedly like the wind had been taken out of her sails, and Soun not looking much better either.
The two of them sat down, Akane next to her other sisters, while their father sat off to their side, before he spoke up again, "Ryoga, these are my daughters, Kasumi, age nineteen, Nabiki, age seventeen, and Akane, age sixteen. Pick anyone you want, and they'll be your fiancée."
As Ryoga stated to open his mouth, Genma spoke up, "Soun, when I said that my son had gone away, well, there is a very slim chance that he could come back, and then you would have the true heir of my school. But, I doubt any of your daughters would have the will or fortitude to be able to do what's necessary. I mean, you have to be a martial artist for that to happen, and I'm sure that…"
"HEY!" Akane shouted, "I'm a martial artist, just tell me what needs to be done, and I'll get that other useless son of yours back, and show him who's a true master of the school of Anything-Goes!"
Genma sat back and hung his head low, as though he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, before he lifted it back up and turned to the group again.
"What I have to say is with the utmost seriousness," he started off slowly, "But I lost my son, not out some challenge, or a better master of the art, but because I was a greedy fool, who didn't know what he had in his hand before it flew away. My son, Ranma, was well on his way to surpassing me one day, and I let him go, all because of this."
With that last statement, Genma held out his hand, and showed the group the bane of his existence. Kasumi looked at it with her head tilted, while Nabiki had a distinct look of avarice on her face, and Akane simply looked mad as usual. The box itself sat there in his palm, looking as innocent as when he'd first found it, though Genma knew there was nothing but the blackest of evils associated with it.
"The only way that I can retrieve my son is to be able to open this puzzle box again," he said with a heavy sigh, "And I've been trying to get it open for the last ten years. You know, it's supposed to take an intelligent person to be able to open it, but maybe I should take it to one of the universities and…"
"Give it here!" Akane shrieked like the proverbial banshee, "I'll open the stupid thing!"
Genma mentally rolled his eyes as the youngest daughter struggled with the box for a good five minutes before she growled and let loose with a vicious throw across the room, where the box fell into a corner with a heavy thud.
Genma stared at Soun, wondering what had happened that his old friend had let things get so bad that his daughter wasn't much more than a pit fighter. As he made a move towards his friend, he heard a whispered, "Oh my, that wasn't hard at all," before he heard a mournful tinkling tune, the deep toll of a bell letting Genma know that his boy was on his way home, and he was coming for him.