Wild Rose - Chapter One

Wild Rose
A Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction
by Michael A. Ivins

Ranma, all his friends, family and acquaintances are the property of Takahashi Rumiko. This story is written for fun and I make no money off it.

Chapter 1

Most cities have at least one section that is the exclusive territory of wealthy families. The Nerima Ward of the city of Tokyo, Japan was no exception to this. In one such area of that city-within-a-city there resided the Kuno mansion.

While the Kuno family were not the wealthiest in all of Japan, they were in the upper levels of the wealth stratum, at least in Nerima ward. There were larger mansions in their neighborhood, but not many.

Wealth has some beneficial effects beyond the ability to afford certain comforts. It also buys tolerance in a wide variety of things. An example of that can be seen when it comes to odd behavior. Behavior that would get a poor person locked up or at least labeled crazy, will get a wealthy person labeled "eccentric." People would often turn a blind eye to a wealthy person behaving in a manner that would get a poor person locked up.

That brings us back to the Kuno family. The father was a man with a peculiar obsession with things relating to the Hawaiian islands. He also had some kind of odd fixation that dealt with hair, not his own, but other people's hair. One of the reasons he bought the school building for Furinkan High School was for the chance to mess with the hair of a large school student body. Even though he was scholastically unqualified and temperamentally unsuited to being a school principal, his wealth let him assume that role by paying off members of the Ministry of Education.

Had Principal Kuno's wife lived, she might have provided a mitigating influence on the development of her children. Since she was not there for much of Kodachi and Tatewaki's childhood, they developed their own eccentricities. Or at least that was the public perception of the two siblings.

Tatewaki Kuno was pretty much as people saw him. He saw himself as a modern samurai. That in itself was not a bad thing, but his interpretation of that role was lacking. He was accomplished in his chosen art of Kendo but allowed that to give him the belief that he was superior in other areas as well. So strong was he in this belief that when Saotome Ranma had defeated him in fair combat, Tatewaki had declared that Saotome must have resorted to evil magic to accomplish it. He failed to see that he had been beaten by superior skill.

Such a conclusion led to the conviction that Ranma had used his black arts in other areas. For surely it must be true that the beautiful Tendo Akane and the fiery pigtailed goddess were enchanted by Saotome's sorceries. It had to be something like that for what girl could possibly resist Tatewaki's handsome face, chiseled physique and manly charm? It was inconceivable that two such girls would reject him otherwise.

As far as the story that Ranma and the pigtailed girl were both one person, such a story was absolutely absurd. The foul sorcerer used his evil enchantments to make the vibrant pigtailed one believe that she transformed into Saotome. Nothing less than that would make a beautiful girl reject a paragon of masculinity such as Tatewaki.

Then there was Kodachi. The public perception was of a girl who was, in her own way, as delusional as her brother. She was perceived to arrogant about her supposed nobility. Then there was the persona of the Black Rose. There was also the use of drugs, potions, paralysis and sleep gases. Indeed she was thought to be a nutcase, but a smarter one than her brother and possibly more dangerous because of it.

What most people did not know was that the Black Rose was a carefully crafted deception. She was not delusional as people believed her to be, it was an act. By behaving in such a manner, it assured that people didn't take her seriously. It also meant that nobody in the family treated her as a threat.

When the time was right, Kodachi would cast off the character she portrayed and would seize control of the family business enterprises from her father. In point of fact, the young girl was far more intelligent than anyone gave her credit for. Truly Kodachi was a genius. All of the potions and gasses that she used she created herself from plant extracts. To accomplish such a feat required a great deal of knowledge and skill in chemistry and other fields.

On the subject of Saotome Ranma, well that was quite another matter. When she had first met the boy, Kodachi had been fascinated by him. He was a total hunk and had been kind to her when there had been no need. Further interaction with the boy had led the gymnast to the conclusion that he was a lot smarter than anyone else believed. Her Ranma-Sama was a true diamond in the rough.

None of the other girls who pursued him truly appreciated what the boy was capable of. If Tendo Akane married him, Ranma would end up being the sensei of a martial arts dojo, truly a waste of talent. The same could be said of the okonomiyaki chef. Someone of Ranma's spirit would be stifled by running a restaurant. The idea of him being dragged off to China to be a house husband was positively ludicrous.

No, that diamond in the rough needed polishing. With the right education, done in a manner that challenged him would allow Ranma to turn into a captain of industry or a leader in some other field. He could be the man to be a perfect match to someone such as Kodachi.

As far the story of Ranma's gender changing, well that was another matter. She didn't know why her darling indulged in such a farce, but it had to be some kind of stage magic sort of substitution arranged with the red haired girl. Likely she was a sister or other relative, based on the family resemblance and how much the girl looked like Ranma's mother.

No, Kodachi's lack of belief in Ranma's gender changing was more along the lines of a scientist who refuses to believe in the existence of magic. As the young Kuno woman thought, the only magic involved was of the sort that let stage performers substitute a tiger for a woman all in the interest of entertaining the masses. The only thing that Kodachi was not able to figure out was what reason Ranma had to conduct such a fraud.

This day Kodachi returned to her home in the mansion, satisfied with the work she had done. While she had not been the only person involved, she had contributed to the task of preventing Ranma's marriage to Tendo Akane. It was plain to see that a marriage between the two of them was doomed to failure. The young Tendo was not mature enough to enter into an adult relationship with a man and her abusive behavior could possibly cause Ranma permanent injury some day.

The gymnast stopped in her room and got out of her black wedding dress. She thought it had been a nice touch. It fit with the whole Black Rose image and yet had the advantage of being recognizable as a real wedding gown. It was just a pity that she hadn't been able to re-direct the wedding to having herself as the bride. Oh well, there would be other opportunities.

One of the things that the martial artists would have found impressive was that Kodachi had actually mastered the Hidden Weapons technique. She was able to manipulate her own ki to the point that she could create the pocket of folded space. It was part of why she was able to carry the large quantities of black rose petals that she threw around all of the time. With that same technique she always carried with her a pair of clubs and her gymnastic ribbon.

When she was at the wedding, she had witnessed something that had seemed extremely odd. The men, or at least some of them, had been fighting for possession of a container of some kind. The men involved were Ranma, Ranma's father, that vagabond Hibiki Ryoga and Mousse from the Ramen restaurant.

What she had done about it was something of a whim, but when the container had fallen into the tiny hands of the ancient lecher named Happosai, Kodachi had acted. She had slipped her ribbon out of weapon space and used it to snag the container away from the pervert. She had retrieved the container and stowed it away in weapon space so quickly that everybody who had been participating in the fight believed that Happosai had somehow caused it to disappear.

Now that she was away from the scene, Kodachi justified her actions to herself by saying that she had assured that the container could go to Ranma and only him. If she could give it to him sometime when there were no others there to fight over, she could win points with him. There was also the thought that by studying the container and its contents she might get some insight into the character of the man she wanted to marry.

After she got done hanging up the wedding gown, she was left wearing one of her favorite leotards. Contrary to popular belief such garments were not all she ever wore, but she did find them comfortable and often did wear them. This one was green in color and had the pattern of a black rose embroidered on it.

When she got to the lab where she created her potions and gasses, she donned a white lab coat and proceeded to the workbench. After pausing to button up the coat, she pulled the container out of weapon space and placed it on the bench top in front of her.

The weight and the fact that it gurgled when moved suggested that it contained some kind of liquid. She moved a lamp over to the container and turned it on so she could examine the container more closely.

Well, the container had been shipped from China, according to the label affixed to it. Kodachi was not fluent in Mandarin, but could puzzle out most of it. The cask had been sent from some place called Jusenkyo, but the gymnast was not familiar with that place. The label said that the cask contained water from the Spring of Drowned Man.

On reading that the young woman allowed a frown to mar the delicate beauty of her features. Why would anyone want to drink water that came from a spring with such a name? It seemed positively morbid.

The text on the cask said that it held enough for only one person. That seemed decidedly odd. She estimated the capacity of the cask at about two liters. If it was being used as drinking water, that should be enough for two or even more people, depending on how thirsty they were. Why that quantity of water would only be enough for one person would seem only likely if the person it was intended for was close to dying from dehydration.

Continuing to frown, Kodachi picked up the cask in an effort to find more writing on it that might clarify what it had been sent for.

During the time she had been looking over the water cask, Kodachi had been unaware of the movements of Sasuke, the Kuno's ninja manservant. He was returning from his own surveillance of the abortive Saotome wedding. He'd had to accompany young Master Tatewaki to do what was necessary to keep him out of jail.

Though the ninja would never openly admit it to anyone, he secretly wondered if spending some time in jail would benefit the young Kuno heir. If not jail, then it was highly likely that some form of professional help was needed.

Young Master Kuno had drawn live steel at a wedding, of all places. In the past Tatewaki's delusions had caused him to take out his ire through the use of a wooden sword and direct it against opponents who were able to defend themselves. As things stood with this latest episode, people could have been hurt, possibly even killed.

Perhaps Mistress Kodachi could help. Unlike many, Sasuke knew that the Black Rose character was a fabrication. In his own opinion, the young mistress was playing a dangerous game. He would be much happier if the young mistress would just be herself, but he understood why she had to portray such a dangerous character.

When he went through the house he looked out to the garden and found the door of the lab standing open and the light was on. He was under the strictest of orders to never disturb the mistress when the door of the lab was closed. On the other hand it should be safe to look in if the door was open. He headed across the garden, picking his way though the rows of rose bushes.

By lifelong habit Sasuke moved along in almost total silence. Stealth was his way of life and it was not something to be abandoned just because he was at home. He went up to the door of the lab and found Mistress Kodachi seated on a stool by the workbench holding some kind of container and examining it carefully. Her full attention was on the container and she didn't notice the ninja.

"Miss Kodachi?" the Ninja said in an effort to get the young lady's attention.

The young chemist was so focused on her examination of the cask that her reaction to the sound of Sasuke's voice was out of proportion to the sound. She was shaken out of her concentration and so violent was her startlement that her hands jerked and sent the cask up into the air.

Seeing this, Sasuke leapt forward in an effort to catch the cask before it had a chance to strike Kodachi. If it had gone higher into the air, he might even have had a chance to intercept the cask. As it was, the container only move a hands width over the girl's head before it came down and landed.

Realistically, the length of the fall should not have been enough to split open the cask, but it was weakened from being thrown around earlier in the day. None of those who had struggled to snatch it from the others had treated it gently. Thus it was that when the cask came down on the crown of Kodachi's head, it split open, emptying its contents all over the girl.

Kodachi felt a sensation of tingling throughout all of her body. Then there was an odd sensation of expansion as well as compacting. It was as if she was growing in some parts of her body and shrinking in other parts. The leotard she had been wearing under her lab coat was getting tight through the shoulders and not long enough for her body. There was also a tightness and strong discomfort in the crotch.

When the strange sensations subsided Kodachi looked and saw Sasuke standing on the top of the work bench where he had jumped in an effort to catch the cask. The young gymnast felt slightly disoriented and said, "What just happened?"

At the voice the came from his mouth, Kodachi put a hand to his throat. The voice sounded like a slightly deeper version of Tatewaki's. That couldn't be right. "What happened to my voice?"

When Kodachi looked at Sasuke, he could see the expression on the little man's face was one of shock and deep sadness. "Oh, Mistress! I am so sorry. I tried to catch the water cask but I wasn't fast enough. I'm sorry I startled you."

"But what happened?" The gymnast demanded.

"You have changed," the ninja replied.

Now frowning, Kodachi said with some asperity, "I may not understand the full scope of it, but I can still grasp the bare fact that I have changed. How have I been changed?"

Jumping down from the workbench, the small man sighed and told his employer, "You have gained a curse. If this is what I believe it to be you have been changed into a man."

"A man?" Kodachi brought a hand up and patted his chest. There was a distinct absence of a feminine bosom. Oh, this didn't look good at all! He brought the hand down to feel at the juncture of his legs and found something that had not been there before.

The young man sat back down on the stool. He didn't know what to do or what to say. Screaming seemed like it would be appropriate or possibly fainting. However, he didn't give in to either of those urges. Kodachi Kuno was made of sterner stuff. He would control himself as much as possible. He asked, "This is magic?"

The ninja said, "Yes, Mistress. It is magic. If I am not mistaken it is the same kind of magic that afflicts Saotome Ranma, but in reverse."

Kodachi sat for a moment as he took that in. That would mean... "Are you saying that the story about Ranma changing into the red haired hussy is true?"

"Yes Mistress," the small man replied. "In the time I have conducted surveillance on the Tendo home, I have witnessed Ranma's transformation many times. If I am right and this is the same kind of transformation, you can be restored to your female form by hot water."

"It is not permanent?" Kodachi couldn't keep tones of hope from entering his voice.

The small man sighed and said, "I have overheard Ranma explain the curse to other people who were exposed to it for the first time. Once one has received the curse, cold water will activate it, changing the curse victim to their cursed form. Hot water will reverse it, but only until the next splash of cold water."

"Then I suppose I would just have to avoid cold water," Reasoned the young man. He felt some relief at the thought that his new problem could be handled so easily.

Sasuke bowed his head for a moment before looking up and saying, "It is not that simple. As I've heard Ranma say it, the curse is magic. If it has been too long since he has been in his female form, the curse magically attracts water. He calls it being a 'water magnet.' You can't just avoid cold water. If the curse wants you in your alternate form, then cold water will find you. It could be rain from a clear sky, a burse pipe or even water flowing uphill."

Kodachi felt the cold grip of despair clutching at his heart. He could guess at some of the rest, but he asked anyway. "Because the red haired girl has been around for over a year, I would assume that Ranma has not been able to find a cure in that time. Has he tried?"

Another sigh. The dark garbed man said, "He has tried on numerous occasions. None of his efforts have succeeded. May I ask where did you obtain the cask of water that caused this?"

The young man studied the remains of the cask that had landed on the workbench after it had emptied itself over his head. Finally he told of the events at the wedding.

"I see," said the ninja. He looked at the cask and read the labeling. After taking that in he said, "From your description of the events, and what I read on the cask itself, I have a theory of what led up to the events you participated. Someone in China shipped that water to Ranma. I would also guess that someone at the Tendo home intercepted the shipment and hid it away until the wedding."

"But who would do such a thing?" Kodachi demanded.

"I don't know for certain," Sasuke admitted. "However I have my suspicions. During my surveillance I have often overheard Mr. Tendo saying 'The schools must be joined,' as if that was something he considered to be of primary importance. I think he must have been the one to intercept the package and prevented it from reaching the person to whom the package was addressed."

Kodachi frowned. After a moment he finally was able to get his critical faculties functioning enough to say, "What you say makes sense. Tendo-San would have been home when the package was delivered. Likely Ranma and Akane were in school at the time. It would have been easy enough for him to have signed for the delivery and then to hide the cask."

Nodding approval at his young charge, Sasuke said, "That is how I see it. If Ranma's marriage to Akane was as important to Tendo-San as I believe, he might have been hoping to use the water in the cask to blackmail Ranma into marrying Akane if he had proved unwilling to go through with the ceremony."

The expression on Kodachi's face changed to one of horror. He pointed to the remains of the cask on the workbench and said, "That would mean that this was to have been Ranma's cure? When he finds out about this, he'll hate me. How can I ever show him my face?"

Shaking his head, the ninja told his employer, "I don't think so. When he hears about it, he will be angry, but he'll get over it. One thing I have come to appreciate about young Ranma is that he has a kind and forgiving heart. Indeed, he may be more forgiving than is strictly good for him."

"What do you mean by that?" Kodachi asked.

"Because he has a shortage of friends, Ranma has forgiven people who have attacked him," Sasuke reported. "Do you recall Hibiki Ryoga?"

"Is he the barbarian who wears the black spotted yellow bandana in his hair?" asked the young man. "He always seem to be getting lost."

"That's the one," agreed the older man. "On numerous occasions that boy has attacked Ranma with no more challenge than a shouted 'Prepare to Die.' I'm told that the attacks used were of sufficient power that anyone of less strength and skill than young Ranma would have been killed. Yet Saotome still counts Ryoga among his friends."

Considering that, Kodachi finally said, "It is sad that my Ranma-sama would be so desperate for friends that he would forgive people who try to kill him."

"Sad, yes," the ninja affirmed. "I would hope that he would find it in his heart to forgive you. For, while I have heard about the curse, Ranma-san has lived it. If there is anyone who might advise you on how to cope with this, it would be him."

The young man sighed. "I don't know if I can face him, knowing that I destroyed his cure."

He fell silent for a moment as he thought about it. Finally Kodachi said, "Well, if someone found that water to send, then there may be more of it. I will spare no expense to obtain more. Who knows, maybe I will find some of the same water that has afflicted Ranma and use it to cure myself."

"That might reassure Ranma-san," the older man said approvingly.

"What am I going to do about Tatewaki and the principal?" Kodachi asked worriedly. "If he can't accept the Ranma's curse, how likely is he to accept my having a similar curse?"

The ninja thought about it for a few moments. He said, "It seems likely that there will come a time when they find out. It is unlikely that you will be able to hide it from them forever. You may need to accelerate your plans."

The neo boy's face settled into a warm smile. He patted the small man on the shoulder and said, "You are truly a treasure, Sasuke. I deeply regret all of the times I've had to act badly toward you in furtherance of the plan. You are more like a father to me than the principal ever was."

Sasuke smiled in return. These moments he had with Kodachi were rare and he savored them when they came. Of course he knew of the plan and had labored for years to help her accomplish them.

The young man said, "I always knew that events might force early commencement with the plan. I have the papers drawn up and all that is required is to have them registered."

The papers she was referring to were the legal documents needed to have herself declared an emancipated minor. Once that step was completed, she would be able to start making her move on taking control of the family business.

Author's Note: Here is another first chapter of a story from that list of ideas I posted on my blog in Feb 2012. As you might guess, my goal in the story is to end up with a Ranma/Kodachi pairing. I'm just not sure the path I want to take to get there.

So far, this chapter is all I have on this concept. In this my idea is that the character of the Black Rose is a fabrication on the part of Miss Kuno. When faced with the behavior of her demented brother and some of Tatewaki's followers, the only way to maintain her virtue and safety was to become a dangerous character in her own right. Let me know if you think this story deserves to be continued and expanded upon. I would also welcome suggestions for the path to take that would lead from this beginning to an end of Ranma and Kodachi becoming happily married.