Vassal By Kyokukou Disclaimer : I don't own the characters from Ranma 1/2 only the characters that I write myself . So please don't sue me ! But if you try to use my characters .....there will be ...unpleasant consequences if I find out . Do not repost or reprint this without my permission , however if you do ASK there is a good chance I will let you . " Some are born to lead , others born to follow . The greatest are born to do something else , but end up doing a little of both ." - Anonymous Chapter 15 Stand and swear She felt hunted . But she could not feel where or who the hunter was . So it had to be something powerful to hide it's presence so well . " So what are you planing ?" Leonorah hissed at her distrustfully . The hunter had to be at least a half block behind them , but without a killing ki present she decided they were in no immediate danger . " Check into a room and get that stab wound cleaned up ." She answered quickly . No need to tell the girl about the hunter just yet . " You're holding something back ." Eh ? " There is someone following us , about a half block behind us ." She answered in a level tone . " Once I get you into a room I'll take care of whomever our tail is ." She waited a few strides before asking . " I know about the instinctive lie detection thingie , but how did you know I wasn't telling you everything ?" " Part-in-parcel of my many talents ." Leonorah answered grimly . She only raised an eyebrow at the young girl's tone . Then their hunter caught her attention once more . A killing ki was forming . Great . " When we get to the alley stand around the corner . This guy is stupider than I thought ." She ordered . Thankfully , Leonorah complied without any protest . Once the wounded girl was out of danger she turned sharply . Through the light sidewalk traffic she picked out the hunter . A punkish looking young man with bleached blond hair and gang style dress . Oh , and a knife in one hand . A western bowie knife style affair . Whoop-dee-doo . " Could everyone clear the way for the almighty knife wielding gang boy ?" She announced loudly . In her stay at the Tendo Dojo she had learned that Nerima residents were usually two things , martial artists (even the old ladies) and masters of the quick fade . In the two seconds it took for the ganger to curse and stupidly begin a charge , most of the bystanders had vanished from the scene . " YAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The ganger screamed his battle-cry . " Baka ." She snorted , waiting for the ganger to come closer . " So you went on a date !!??" Her father hopped up and down in front of her with excitement . " Daddy , it wasn't a real date , just an outing ." She insisted . " Does this mean he's chosen already !?" Soun whirled to face Genma , whom she would have sworn had not been standing there a moment ago . " Oh , how I wish it were so ." Genma lamented . " But the boy-uh-Ranma would have told me if he had ." " You're right ." Soun hung his head . " Wait !" Genma brightened up . " AN IDEA !" " What is it ?" Soun looked up to his friend , eyes full of hope . " If Ranma went on a date with Nabiki willingly ..." " Then he shouldn't be opposed to going on a date with the rest of my daughters !!" Soun crowed in triumph . " Whom shall it be ?" Genma rubbed his hands together . " I'm going to the market !" Kasumi called just before shutting the front door behind her . " I'm exempt ." She smirked . " Uh oh ..." Akane or Otama gulped . " Akane , of course !" Genma grinned . Soun whipped out a coin . " What is that for , Tendo-kun ?" Genma inquired . " Head's it's Otama-chan , Tails it's Akane-chan ." Soun explained and flipped . The coin froze in mid air . " Huh ?" Genma stared at it dumbly . Soun gave Otama a stern look . " No cheating ." He plucked the coin out of the air and stalked into the next room . The ring of a coin flipping sounded then the thump of it landing . " Well , that's what you get for trying to cheat ." Soun said as he entered the room . " Ranma goes on a date with Otama-chan next ." " Oh alright ..." Otama sighed and let Akane take over . " Hey ! If she doesn't want to she won't have to !" Akane stormed up to her father . " Now , Akane , it's just a date . What if she decides she likes Ranma , what if you do ? Give him a real chance ." " If she doesn't want to then I'll go instead ." Akane wrinkled her nose at her father . " It's not like you can make her come out ." " If you go in her stead then -" Soun began sternly . " Then , oh well ." He finished with a smile and wink . " Heh , heh , heh ." Genma playfully elbowed her father . " Oh , what should the date be ? Dinner and a movie ?" Soun began . " Otama told me she wanted to see Crouching Tiger , Hidden Dragon ." She piped up . Which earned her a glare as Otama suddenly came out . " Shut up Nabiki ." " It's not a punishment , really ." She smiled at the person she though of as her third sister . " I had fun ." Despite almost getting killed , she silently added . " Fine , fine , I'll go on the stupid date ." Otama finished before letting Akane retake control . " YATAA !" Father one . " YATAA !" Father two . * * * " You can stop the theatrics . I've been finished for a while ." He told Leonorah . Who had been moaning in pain and complaining ever since he had started to clean her wound . It hadn't been deep , and luckily , the blade tip had slid between organs instead of into them . All in all , it was simply cleaning , closing , and applying dressing . Through the whole ordeal Leonorah had practically fought him . First he had to convince her to take off her shirt and jacket . She had complained that he wasn't wearing a bra and he might see . So he had calmly told her -while in female form at the time- that she had nothing that he didn't have too . Then it had been twenty minutes of "Owwwwww" , "That stings" , "You're pressing too hard" , "Just leave it alone" . So now he was finishing up the wound dressing with the pitiful first aid kit that the front desk had . She took a moment to look at her patient's back . She knew the homeless girl was undernourished , but Leonorah's bulky clothing had hidden just how severe the problem was . Each rib stuck out , every vertebrae also jutted forth . The poor girl's arms were like sticks . He had seen worse before , but he had never expected to see this in modern day Tokyo . He had made an important decision long before he was half finished with the gauze wrap . Leonorah stiffened a little every time he had to bring his hands around her so he could pull the wrap across her stomach . " Are you done with that , yet ?" " Almost ." He said , taking his sweet time . " Leonorah ?" " Yeah ?" " After you check out tomorrow -don't worry I've already paid- what do you plan on doing then ?" " It's my business ." She said . He left a very purposeful silence . Which prompted her to continue . " I guess I'll see if Nabiki has any jobs for me , if not then I'm sure something will come up ." " How would you like a steady job ?" He asked the a tone that his lord had taught him to be needed in such situations . " What kind of job ?" Suspicion was the essence of the homeless girl's tone . He finished his wrapping and took a seat a discreet distance from Leonorah . " I don't sell my body ." Leonorah said with a tone of finality , but it was muffled as she shrugged on the threadbare shirt that was four sizes too big . " I wasn't asking you to ." " I don't accept charity !" The young girl snapped . " I wasn't offering any ." He calmly assured . " So what is this job then ?" She asked , tugging on her jacket . " Swear fealty to me and the Saotome family ." He stated in a deeply serious tone . " What ?!" The young girl blinked . He waited a moment before explaining . " I am asking you to swear allegiance to me by your honor and the honor of your family . To become my servant , my vassal ." " Do you have any idea what year it is ?" The young girl narrowed her eyes at him . " The feudal system was dissolved over a hundred years ago ." " Honor wasn't ." He stated , holding her gaze with his own . " You can tell when people are lying . So listen . When I was fourteen I had an accident and ended up in the end of the Kamakura era , over seven hundred years ago . I spent almost four years there . That was when I was made into the Living Kodachi , by the man I had sworn fealty to . True so far ?" The hand that she held over her open mouth was shaking slightly as she nodded . " So , as you might imagine , I know more about swearing fealty than you might . But I will tell you that I will never ask more of you than you are prepared to give , or more than you can do . As my vassal I will ask you to use your talents from time to time . But , for the most part I will ask nothing but that you always make sure that your interests never conflict with mine or the Tendos . You're right , this is a different era , so you will be vassal in name only for the most part . More like a gal Friday , if I have the idiom right . " As a vassal you will also have a fief , a weekly salary instead of land . This is not charity , because when I ask you to do something I doubt it will be and easy task . You will have regular income , and me behind you . " That is my offer , now ask me whatever you want to ." " What ?" She raised an eyebrow at him . By now she was recovering from the revelation of meeting a time traveler . " You had to listen to me , so ask me anything and I will answer . You're the lie detector ." " Alright ..." She said and furrowed her brow in thought . A minute passed in silence . " Went blank ?" " Completely ." She took a shorter route to the market than her normal one . At this time of day her usual friends would not be outside for idle chat . So she pressed on at a fast walk . When something ahead gave her cause to pause . There was a young man in the middle of the sidewalk who looked like he had tried to practice pretzel stance in the middle of the street during a stampede or a marathon . Ouch . " Are you alright ?" She asked once she reached the man . The heap twitched . " Getvay biffsh ." " What was that ?" She knelt to hear better . " Gettwayy bich ." The heap rasped . She really hated it when someone used the b word and directed at her ... or even muttered something close to it . " I fed gettway bi-" Was as far as the heap got before he found himself rolling down the gentle slope of the sidewalk , gathering speed . At the base of the hill was a row of parked buses that did not look soft in the least . Even though she knew she shouldn't , she felt quite satisfied as she continued on her way . " So does that answer that ?" He finished after a long explanation of how he had -as Leonorah put it 'twisted that gang guy into a ball and dribbled him' . " Shut up ... hmmm ... Alright , tell me how you got this sex-changing curse thing , and why the red hair ?" That was an unexpected question considering the circumstances . Oh well . " In China there is a cursed springs called Junsenkyo . Thousands of separate pools are in the valley . Most of them have had something drown in them . Once something drowns in a pool it's form becomes the curse . From then on whomever or whatever falls in the spring or is splashed with the cursed water is cursed . When splashed with cold water the curse activates , warm water reverses the change . I fell into the spring of drowned girl . So any water under room temperature hits me and poof , I'm a girl . Does that answer that question ?" " What about the red hair ?" " I had no idea for the longest time ." He deadpanned . " That bugged me so I did some reading , and came up with a hypothesis . Notice I have blue eyes ?" " Purple ." Leonorah corrected . " They change from blue to violet depending on my mood ." He dismissed . " That’s weird." She nodded for him to continue . " So I guess I have a few rare recessive genes in me . Now , X and Y chromosomes for guys and X and X for girls . My guess is that the curse discards my Y and duplicates my X when I change into a girl . That would get rid of the traits in the Y so that the X has free reign . I guess that's how something as recessive as red hair in a full blooded Japanese happens ." " It's been a long time since I went to school , but I think I remember enough to understand that ." Leonorah nodded . " Next question then ." He smiled . " We have all night . I'll leave when you want to sleep ." He added , answering her question before she could ask . " Good ....Alright , what is the relationship between you and Nabiki ?" He stared deeply into her eyes . Reading in her emotions as he answered . " Before I was born my father and her father swore an oath that I would marry a Tendo to unite the families . So I could preserve the family martial art and carry on the Dojo into a new generation . Then me getting trapped seven hundred years back kinda put a crimp on things . But now I'm back so our fathers are both real impatient to have me pick one of Tendo-san's daughters as my betrothed . Only , I have this idea that I wanna get to know them first . So I'm living at the Tendo Dojo , trying to get to know the Tendos and pick my future wife . Bad deal , huh ?" " Very , but you never said much about Nabiki ?" She urged . He let one of his eyebrows rise . " What is the relationship between me and Nabiki ? I would like to consider her a friend right now . As for a more romantic relationship ... I can't really say , that would require some soul searching ." Leonorah squinted at him , probably trying to search out any hint of mistruth . " Any more questions ?" " Plenty ." * * * " Have you made a decision yet ?" He asked gently . After the young girl had run out of questions he had ordered out for food . Over the rice and ramen she had asked about what sort of things he would ask her to do if she became his servant . He had told her that he would ask her to use her talents occasionally , to protect the Tendos , probably some errands , maybe some secretary type jobs , and other such things . Nothing dirty or too dangerous . " Not just yet ." She answered before taking a long drag on the straw of her drink . " How would our vassal-lord thing go legally ?" He gave her a serious look that was meant to prepare her for a painful question . " Do you have any living relatives ?" She took it well , only growing stoically serious when she answered . " Only a alcoholic great uncle that wanted to whore me out to pay for his booze when he wasn't trying to get into my pants himself ." She took another sip of her drink , trying to act nonchalant . " So I ran away . I don't think he ever bothered to legally become my guardian anyway . Why ? You going to adopt me or something ?" " Exactly ." He nodded seriously . " What ?" Leonorah slowly set her drink down and stared at him . " How old are you ?" " I'll be fourteen in a few months ." She answered warily . " Don't worry , I'm not going to try to play father or anything . But you had it right . That's going to be the legal side of the agreement , I'll become your legal guardian ." " How ?" " Pull strings , and by your consent . Only with your consent ." The girl was silent for a long moment . " So I gain security at the price of my freedom or I go back to the way things were ?" " Freedom to starve ? Get a knife in the back for sleeping in the wrong alley ? I'm not going to turn you into a slave . If you ever find service under me unbearable I'll release you from your vow , no questions asked , no strings ." " Why are you doing this ?" She asked him , standing up . He smiled , he had been waiting for a long time for that question . " I was once in a situation like yours , only ." He ran a finger from the ever so thin beginning at his hairline down to the scar's end , a little past the corner of his mouth . " I guess I can safely say I had much worse than a small puncture wound ." Her vivid green eyes traced the line of his scar up and down for a moment , she shuddered as she imagined the wound it must have once been . " I was homeless , wounded , and in danger . A man offered to take me in as his vassal . One day he told me that should I ever find someone in my situation I could repay his kindness by passing on the favor he did for me to another ." " So I should do this for someone else , to pay you back for doing it for me ?" " If you agree , and only in the fullness of time ." Once again the girl lapsed into thoughtful silence . Leonorah walked over to the bed and sat down . He watched her from his chair , and waited . He was ready to wait all night . But she wasn't . " Alright , where do I sign ?" She looked up at him and smiled tiredly . He shook his head as he stood . " No contract except your honor and oath ." " Alright ." The oath he remembered saying as his swords had been presented to him seemed both ill suited and probably too archaic for the modern Japanese girl to properly understand without a year long crash course in archaic Japanese phrases and idioms as he had had . So he simply made one up . " Bow before me in supplication then swear as I say ." He intoned , trying to use the awe-inspiring tones his Lord had used the day he himself had sworn . The girl got off the bed and folded her legs under herself , pressed both palms to the carpet and bowed low until her forehead briefly touched the floor . " Stand and swear ." She stood and met his eye with a steady gaze . " I , Leonorah ," He began . " last of the Tansaki family , do swear my whole and total loyalty and unconditional obedience to Saotome Ranma the Living Kodachi ." With more gravity than any thirteen year old should ever be cable of she repeated the oath word for word . Then he surprised himself by swearing an oath . " And I , Ranma of the Saotome family , the one called the Living Kodachi , do swear to do my utmost to preserve Tansaki Leonorah's life and wellbeing so long as she is under my service ." He put one hand on the girl's shoulder and smiled . Leonorah took it as a cue that it was safe to speak . " What was that ?" " Just what I said , in case you still thought I might try to take advantage of you as my vassal ." He could see tears start to come to her eyes . Although whether they were from relief or some other emotion he could not tell , and decided not to try to find out . Instead he gave her gaunt shoulder a slight squeeze before letting his hand drop . But his new vassal had other ideas . Before his arm could land at his side she had wrapped both of hers around him and buried her face in his chest . He returned the hug , mindful of her wound . Rocking the crying girl ever so gently . When she was ready he guided her over to her bed and tucked her in . The final emotional outburst had used up her last reserves , leaving her exhausted . For someone who was starving , had been stabbed , and spent most of the day running around in the cold with a open wound before spending the remainder of the day in deep discussion with emotional turmoil mixed in , she had shown incredible fortitude for someone twice her age . " Sorry 'bout that ." She apologized . " Don't be , but what brought that on ?" " I just suddenly realized that I was finally safe . Ya know ? After all this time of watching my back and sleeping with one eye open I'm finally safe ." He nodded and stroked her disheveled hair out of some kind of paternal instinct . " You need to sleep now . There's no school tomorrow so call the Dojo when you get up and I'll pick you up from here ." " Then what ?" " Then we reintroduce you to regular meals and new clothes ." " Where are you getting the money from ?" " Wouldn't Nabiki like to know ." He chuckled . " I'll tell you later ." He stood and turned to leave . He had gotten halfway to the door when she called out to him . " I feel so childish asking ...but...could you stay at least until I'm asleep ?" With a smile he walked over and sat down on the foot of the bed . Leonorah didn't last too long before she fell asleep . Leaving him alone . What had he gotten himself into now ? Fulfilling one old debt by taking on a new responsibility to add to the tangled web of complications that was already piling up . Still , how could he have done otherwise ? Just patched her up and sent her back out into the streets to last what ? Another month or more until she was dead ? No , this was the best thing he could have done . Once the girl was sixteen or older he would release her from his care . It would only be two or three years . Right ? The part of his mind that thought like every one else said 'yes' . The part that did not think in any language that could be spoken gave him the impression that it would be much longer than that . The possibilities and fates of Leonorah stretched out in that vast section of his mind . Much longer than a few years . " Great ." He thought as he stroked the sleeping girl's hair once more before leaving the hotel room . Outside it was well past sunset as he started towards the Tendo Dojo . She finished putting up the last of the groceries she had bought on her late market trip . While her hands worked , handing off cans and boxes , she thought of other things . Why had Ranma disappeared so suddenly ? Had one of them done something to anger him ? Had he sensed some old opponent and gone off to battle ? Wait a second , who was she handing things to ? " Oh my ?" She turned to find Ryouga shelfing the canned soup she had just handed to him . " Eh ?" Ryouga looked to her at the sound of her startled reaction . " I'm sorry , I was just surprised ." " Surprised ? I walked in and you stared handing me stuff ." Ryouga shook his head . " I thought you knew I was here ." " Um....How did you get here ?" " Well , I was trying to find my way out of the bathroom in this house when I walked in on you . I was trying for Ranma's guest room ." " I suppose that ...explains things ." " Sorry about this ." Ryouga scratched the back of his head in embarrassment . " Are you just visiting or do you need to find Ranma ?" She asked , beginning to hand him groceries again . " I thought I was in Kyoto when I ended up in your back yard . So I decided to drop in to see Ranma and catch up a little ." " Oh , I see . Well , I don't know when Ranma will be back , he left suddenly during supper ." " He's coming through the gates right now ." Ryouga shrugged , putting a few bags of rice up . " How do you know ?" She asked . Despite how hard she strained her own senses she could not detect a hint of anyone outside the house . Ryouga shrugged . " Ranma and I spent the first year in the past more or less together . However , I spent most of the rest of our time in the past trapped in China . I never became as strong as Ranma when he was the Kodachi , but I am much stronger than I think you imagine . I knew Ranma was coming when I was in the back yard . That's how I knew it was your house ." She was about to reply when suddenly she felt Ranma's presence at the front door and instant before he called out . " I'm back ." Ryouga turned to face the kitchen doorway . " So where'ya been , Ryouga ?" Ranma had started speaking well before he even reached the kitchen doorway . " Running from the meanest old woman you've ever known ." Ryouga grinned . " Thought it'd be something like that ." " What about you ?" Ryouga asked . " I have a vassal now , but nothing much else to talk about ." " A vassal , who ?" Ryouga asked as the two friends moved from the kitchen to the living room , leaving her to stare at their backs in confusion .