AnimeFEST 2002 Fanfiction Contest
First Prize

Mommy, Too.
(A 'Nabiki-New Horizons' Story)
By G.L. Sandborn



     A brisk spring air rustled through the trees of Nerima. 
Hints of cherry blossoms teased the senses, calling adults to the
local parks for their annual 'cherry blossom viewing'.
     But on this night, magic was in the air.  It was a time of
dragons and heros - a time when children could be children.

     Akane Tendo sat contentedly on a large pillow in the living
room, watching her husband play a video game.  She had purchased
the game for him when they reopened the family dojo.
     The dojo had become quite a financial success, its number of
students quickly growing to overflowing.  That made scheduling a
bit of a problem, especially since Akane started training
children in the afternoons.  Despite having none of her own, she
loved children.  She liked being around them and understood their
moods.  She could also identify with their frustrations in
learning the rigid discipline required of the martial arts.
     Holding her five year-old niece, Sodoshi, on her lap, she
basked in a satisfied feeling at how things had gone for her and
her family.  Her marriage last year to Ranma, despite all the
previous troubles, went quite smoothly once they abandoned the
ceremony route in favor of just going to the city offices and
getting registered.  Actually, that's all they ever had to do to
be married; just get registered and pay a fee.  Silly that they
didn't think of it before.
     Nabiki's marriage to a wealthy gaijin, Jeffrey Lawrence, and
subsequent move to Hawaii was even more surprising - topped only
by her giving birth to a little girl less than a year later.
     Nabiki never wanted to be a mother and it showed in the way
she put other things ahead of her daughter.  What little time
Jeff and Nabiki could spare for their child was reserved for
trips to the zoo or the library.  Never to the park.  Never to a
festival.  Those were judged to be mindless entertainment totally
devoid of any educational value.  Their child was going to have
the best of everything.
     As a result, Sodoshi became a quiet, analytical child.  In
most gatherings she stood out because of her mature behavior and
extremely proper manners.  Still, outsiders could tell there was
something 'wrong' with the girl.  While it was easy to forget she
was only five years-old, she was still a child and not always in
control of her emotions.

     "Wanna play?" Ranma asked, holding out the game control to
his niece.
     Sodoshi looked questioningly at Akane who just smiled and
nodded.
     With a squeal of delight, Sodoshi bounded over and plopped
down nest to her uncle.  Taking the control, she listened as
Ranma explained how the controls worked.  Her little mouth worked
back and forth as she absorbed her uncle's instructions.
     With a friendly smile, Ranma pressed the 'RESET' button and
Sodoshi's game began.  It didn't last long.  Halfway thorough the
first level, her animated girl fighter was knocked down
accompanied by a sad tune indicating she had lost.
     For several seconds, Sodoshi stared at the screen, her face
a mixture of shock and incomprehension.  She had lost.  Sodoshi
wasn't used to losing.  Her reaction could have been considered
understandable for a child her age.  At least, a child other than
Nabiki's.
     "BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!" she screamed, slamming the floor with
her hand.  She finished by angrily throwing the control.
     "Sodoshi!" Nabiki growled, her face firm, her eyes ablaze. 
The one thing Nabiki DID do over the last five years was instill
control over her child.  She took personally this outburst in
front of her family.
     Sodoshi's tantrum caused everything in the room to stop. 
Only Nabiki looked directly at her daughter.  The others averted
their eyes in an effort not to embarrass Nabiki further.  
     "What is the rule about playing with other people's things?"
Nabiki snarled in a low voice.
     Sodoshi responded by glaring back at her mother, her dark
brown eyes locked to Nabiki's in defiance.  Slowly, her eyes
lowered, her face becoming an almost tearful pout.  She knew she
was wrong and her behavior inappropriate.  Nabiki, once again,
had stared down her daughter.
     "Sodoshi?" Jeff said, in a voice that sounded more
disappointed than angry.  "What is the rule?" 
     "Treat other people's things like they were precious
gifts..." Sodoshi answered in a baby-like voice.
     "And?" Nabiki prompted.
     "Honor the person who allows me to use them by treating
those things with respect."  She practically whispered the last.
     "And have you?"
     "No, Mommy."
     "You know what to do, then."
     Sodoshi snapped an embarrassed bow to her mother, then stood
before her Uncle Ranma.  Bowing deeply, she recited her apology.
     "I have acted poorly, Uncle Ranma, and shamed myself in
doing so.  I..."  She swallowed hard, as if this section hurt
more than any other.  "I beg your forgiveness for my actions."
     "If there is any damage, we will pay for it," Jeff added. 
Nabiki's face grew a tiny smile.  Jeff had taught Sodoshi well. 
Her daughter had learned the first rule of the Shinobi: 'All
progress comes from personal humility.  It is only by
acknowledging your failings can you correct them.'
     Without another word, Sodoshi walked to the doorway leading
to the hall.  Bowing again, she sprinted from the room and up the
stairs.  No slamming doors were heard.  Sodoshi knew better.
     Only Akane watched the girl leave.  "Where is she going?"
     "It's a version of the American 'time out'," Nabiki said
without emotion.  "We call it 'meditation'; where the child
kneels in a corner of her room and thinks about her behavior and
the reasons for her discipline."  Nabiki shrugged like the issue
was closed.
     When everyone returned to what they were doing before the
commotion, Akane frowned.  Didn't they care about the child?  Why
were they acting like it was no big deal?  She's just a little
girl.  Can't they remember what it was like at that age?
     She sat in silence a few moments longer, picking at the
corner of her pillow and thinking about her little niece all
alone in her room.
     Minutes passed and no one went to check on Sodoshi.  Akane
glanced at each person, hoping one would catch her concern but
found only adults engrossed in their own affairs.
     Certain no one was listening or even cared, she mumbled an
excuse and quietly slipped unnoticed out of the room.  At the
bottom of the stairs, she hesitated, her hand on the railing. 
Was she doing the right thing?  After all, Sodoshi wasn't her
child.  What if Nabiki took offense at her interference in the
girl's discipline?
     Gently caressing the handrail she had grasped thousands of
times before, she licked her lips and cast a quick look back the
way she had come.  This all felt so wrong.  It should be Nabiki
doing this, not an aunt.
     Sighing, Akane started up the stairs.  With every step, her
apprehension grew.
     When she was young, she too experienced 'temper control'
problems and was forced to sit alone in her room.  That isolation
scared and humiliated her more than any public chastisement. 
Being an outcast, even for a short while, it was the worst
punishment she could imagine.
     Each time, she felt certain she had lost her mother's love
forever.  But it was never as bad as it seemed.  Her mother
always followed after a little while, granting forgiveness - once
Akane had shown she understood the error of her ways - and she
was once again welcome back into the family.
     At the top step, she froze, her grip on the handrail
tightening.  Was she becoming like her mother?  Is that how girls
grow up, first hating their mothers and then becoming exactly
like them?  Swallowing hard, she looked around expecting to see
the ghost of her mother standing somewhere in the hall.  

     Dismissing her childish fears, she crept up to Nabiki's old
room and listened carefully at the door.  Hearing nothing inside,
she tried knocking softly.  When Sodoshi didn't answer, she
turned to leave, half hoping her niece had skipped the meditation
part and simply crawled into her bed.  The girl was probably
already asleep.
     Akane reminded herself how it wasn't her place to interfere
in the discipline of her sister's child.  A couple of steps down
the hall, she paused.  What if Sodoshi had fallen asleep in her
clothes?  She really didn't think Nabiki would be pleased about
that.  The least she could do was undress the girl and see her
properly tucked in bed.
     The door squeaked softly as Akane opened it.  In a thin
shaft of hallway light, she could see the empty bed. 
     "Sodoshi?" she called in barely more than a whisper.
     "I'm not supposed to speak to anyone, Aunt Akane," came the
child's voice from the darkness.
     Akane's eyes strained to pierce the gloom until she caught
the dim outline of Sodoshi Lawrence kneeling in the room's far
corner, her back straight and head erect -  almost defiant in her
posture.  True to her Shinobi heritage, she appeared to be
enduring without complaint the harshest punishment a five
year-old could imagine.
     Closing the door behind her, Akane made her way over to
where Sodoshi was kneeling.  Assuming a meditation position on
the floor next to her niece, she took a deep cleansing breath
before closing her eyes and allowing her mind to drift in a Zen-
induced search for the path of truth and enlightenment - or
whatever goofy thing her father used to call it.
     "Did you do something bad, too?" Sodoshi finally asked,
still looking at the wall.
     Akane chuckled to herself before answering with a soft
voice.  "A long time ago, my mother used to make me sit alone in
my room when I misbehaved."
     She caught Sodoshi's head turning slightly towards her and
heard the surprise in the child's voice.  "You... were bad?"
     "Hard to imagine, isn't it?  I did this lots of times,"
Akane acknowledged as she smiled at the wall.  "But not as much
as your mother."  She rocked her head over enough to smile at
Sodoshi, who's eyes were now wide with astonishment.
     "Mommy was bad, too?" Sodoshi asked.
     "Your mommy was a handful," Akane replied as she grinned at
her niece.  "She was always in trouble.  She practically grew up
in the corner of this room."
     "Mommy?  Bad?" Sodoshi repeated, like she just couldn't
believe her aunt's claim.
     "Yes, but she learned to control herself and so did I.  You
must learn to control your self, as well.  I'm sure your mother
has told you how such displays of temper bring shame on yourself
and your family."
     Sodoshi squirmed, her chin dropping to her chest.
     "You must work harder to behave properly in front of
others."
     Even in the darkness, Akane could see the girl's lower lip
tremble.  "Aunt Akane, it's so hard..." Sodoshi whined, covering
her face with her tiny hands.
     Akane reached for the child before stopping herself, unsure
just what to say or do.  She knew how difficult it was.  Self
control was a problem she struggled long and hard with herself. 
It was something that even today, she faced daily.  For a child
like Sodoshi, caught between the permissive Western world of her
father and that of her mother's more reserved Japanese, it must
have seemed overwhelming.
     For several minutes, only the sounds of Sodoshi's tiny sobs
broke the silence.  Only in the darkness did the child feel free
to cry.  Akane finally gave in to her instincts and gathered the
child into her arms.  Burying her face in her aunt's chest,
Sodoshi sobbed, her little body trembling.  Akane had comforted
other children in the dojo when they hurt themselves or suffered
the scorn of their fellow students.  This was different.  This
was personal.
     Nabiki and Jeff had always treated Sodoshi like a little
adult version of themselves; analytical and in control.  But she
wasn't a small adult.  She was a child, a young child, who needed
more than anything a chance to do things children were supposed
to do, to make mistakes and learn from them, to be loved and
held.  Sodoshi deserved better.  She deserved her childhood.
     "Come on, kid," Akane said conspiratorially.  "We're getting
out of here."
     Instantly, Sodoshi's eyes grew large as she partially freed
herself from Akane's arms.  "NO!" she gasped with genuine fear. 
"Mommy hasn't said I can leave my room yet.  She'll be angry."
     "Tough," Akane replied with a fake snarl as she stood up and
took the girl's hand.  "We're making a break for it - you and I."
     "Where?" Sodoshi asked between sniffs.
     "A special place.  A secret place," Akane said in a hoarse
whisper, making sure to emphasize the word 'secret'.  "Somewhere
I always went when I was a little girl.  Come on.  But you gotta
be quiet."
     Sodoshi still wasn't smiling as she allowed herself to be
helped to her feet.  Her miserable expression matched her
reluctance.  For, perhaps, the first time in her young life, she
was doing something a normal child would do; she was disobeying
her mother.
     Creeping down the hall to the stairs, they could hear Ranma
still playing his game and Sodoshi's parents visiting with
Akane's father.   With practiced silent strides of an
accomplished martial artist, Akane led the little girl down the
stairs until they won their way to the front door.
     Slipping on their shoes, they cast one last look to make
sure they were unobserved before escaping into the night.

     Through the cool evening darkness, with only moonlight to
guide their way, Akane led Sodoshi to the dojo.  Inside, she
switched on just the entrance light, so as to not attract
attention.  It's dim illumination gave the room a twilight feel.
     Slowly, Sodoshi's eyes took in the large room as she
searched for the special place her aunt described.  Scuffing her
feet on the smooth wood floor, her expression remained skeptical
and a little scared.  She was breaking one of her mother's
primary rules just being out of her room.  Breaking rules for a
good reason was the Shinobi way, but this was hardly what Sodoshi
considered a good reason.
     "Is this your special place?" she finally asked in a hushed
voice, a little let down by the simplicity of it all.
     "Yup," Akane said out loud, proving to Sodoshi there was
nothing to fear.  "I used to come here whenever I was scared, or
sad, or lonely, or... well, just about any reason was good
enough."  She looked wistfully around the room, tugging at every
pleasant memory.
     "But Aunt Akane, it's just the dojo."
     "Oh, no it's not," Akane skipped across the room to a
window.  "It's a magic castle.  A place to defend against evil
samurai raiders or fire-breathing dragons."
     "Mommy said there are no more samurai," Sodoshi scowled at
her aunt.  "And there are no such things as dragons."
     Akane hesitated before slowly walking back to her niece. 
Here was a child totally detached from her own childhood;
stripped of her imagination, deprived of the play necessary for a
child to fully develop.  For only an instant, Akane thought
disapprovingly of her older sister and Jeff.  Children deserve
the right to play.
     "You have to use your imagination, Sodoshi," she said. 
"Haven't you ever played pretend?"
     "Did at school once."  Sodoshi bowed her head and pouted. 
"Got in trouble," she mumbled.
     "Don't you play pretend with your friends?"  Akane knelt
down to look the little girl in the face.
     "No,"  Sodoshi answered softly.
     Akane recalled that her niece was enrolled in some fancy
special school for the gifted in Hawaii.  Apparently, 'play'
wasn't high on their list of things to do.
     "Come here," Akane coaxed as she took Sodoshi's little hand
and pulled her over to the window.  Moonlight streamed through
the glass, broken only by the trees outside.  "Look there."  She
pointed to a particular shadow on the floor.  "It's a dragon. 
See it's head?"
     "It's only a shadow, Aunt Akane," Sodoshi replied, glancing
between the shadow and her aunt.
     "No, no, no.  It's a dragon." Akane insisted.  "And we have
to defend the castle from it."
     Akane retrieved a pair of bokkans from the equipment locker. 
Handing one to little Sodoshi, she assumed a fighting stance. 
Sodoshi reluctantly followed her aunt's lead, dropping into a
swordsman's stance Tatewaki Kuno would have admired, her little
fingers barely able to grip the large weapon.  Akane grinned to
herself.
     "Back dragon!" she yelled, taking swipes at the shadows. 
Her bokkan made graceful arcs through the still dojo air.
     Almost like she was embarrassed, Sodoshi took a few swipes
of her own.  Her attacks surprisingly fluid for someone her age. 
Obviously, Jeffrey had already begun the child's Shinobi
training.
     "Oh, no," Akane squealed in mock surprise, pointing to
another shadow across the room.  "One is trying to get through
the other window.  Stop him, Sodoshi."
     With noticeable reluctance, Sodoshi moved to the other
window and slashed away at the shadows, her little cries echoing
through the dojo.  Akane watched with growing satisfaction. 
Sodoshi was playing - using her imagination.  She was being a
child.
     "Arrrgh, the dragons are inside," Akane warned.  Dropping to
her hands and knees, she roared like a dragon.  "I'm the dragon
and I've come to eat you."
     With a stunned expression, as if unsure how to react,
Sodoshi almost dropped her bokkan.  Her eyes wide, she took a
step backwards.  Akane raised her arms and growled, her fingers
extended like dragon claws.  Bounding across the dojo and
growling her best dragon growl, she closed the distance between
them.  Sodoshi swung her bokkan at her aunt but missed as Akane
somersaulted over her head, landing in a crouch.  Swatting the
bokkan out of the child's hands, Akane roared in triumph. 
Sodoshi turned and ran with a little girl squeal across the
dojo's smooth floor.  Akane was right behind, doing her best
imitation of a rampaging dragon.
     Akane caught the little girl near the first window. 
Growling and tickling, she pulled Sodoshi to the floor.  The girl
was soon reduced to a helpless, giggling child, her tiny legs
kicking the floor with her laughter.  The dragon had won - this
round.
     "Now, YOU are the dragon," Akane crowed as she got to her
knees.
     "But I don't know how," Sodoshi responded with a sudden look
of apprehension.
     "Just do what I did," Akane answered as she gleefully sprung
to her feet.  "Oh, help.  The dragon's after me."  She scurried
away, clutching the front of her blouse like Kasumi often did
when alarmed.
     Sodoshi scrambled to her feet and issued a tiny growl before
rushing after her aunt.  The chase lasted only a few seconds as
Akane let the little girl catch her in the middle of the dojo. 
Sodoshi pounced on her tickling, growling, and giggling.

     Their antics did not go unnoticed.  In the shadows of the
dojo's doorway, Nabiki Tendo-Lawrence looked on.  She had gone up
to check on her daughter and found the room empty.  With Akane
missing as well, she deduced what had happened and tracked them
to the dojo.
     She almost interrupted the first time as Akane was
explaining the shadow dragons.  She almost intervened when
Sodoshi was slashing away with her oversized bokkan.  She almost
broke down and cried when she saw her daughter playing with her
younger sister.
     Nabiki never played with Sodoshi.  She never really knew
how.  After all, her mother never played with her - at least, not
that she could remember.  Only when Nabiki did something wrong
did her mother act as if she noticed.
     When her mother died, Nabiki steeled herself against those
who 'played' or did trivial things.  She willingly severed her
own childhood to protect herself from the pain of being a child. 
After all, she reasoned, adults didn't get hurt.  Adults just
hurt others.
     Now she was watching from the darkness, alone and envious,
as her own child rolled on the floor giggling and playing with
her sister.  Something inside her cried as she watched the pair
play.  Her inner little girl sobbed for all the times her mother
refused to play with her.  The mother in her mourned the daughter
she never got to know.  That painful thought pulled her from her
hiding place.

     Akane was the first to notice her sister's appearance and
frantically tried to get to her feet.  Sodoshi, sensing something
was wrong, looked around in confusion until she too spotted her
mother.  With an anguished cry, Sodoshi scrambled to her knees,
her fear-filled face downcast.  She had been caught breaking the
rules - sneaking out and playing when she was supposed to be
under punishment.  She squeezed her eyes shunt and awaited her
fate.
     Nabiki stared at her daughter for a long time, unsure what
to do.  A quick glance at Akane elicited her sister's stumbled
excuse.
     "We were just playing...," Akane began, but her voice
trailed off as if she knew she had done something wrong.  She had
helped Sodoshi disobey her mother and that was serious.
     "You, of all people..." Nabiki hissed at her sister.  When
she glanced at her daughter and saw the fear and tears on her
face, she felt herself sag to the floor.
     Dropping to her knees in front of her daughter, Nabiki sat
back on her heels.  All she could think of was how Sodoshi was
growing up - growing up too fast.  Five years of the child's life
was already lost.  Five years she could never get back.  Nabiki
grimaced and shuddered at what she had done.
     Placing her fingers under the repentant child's chin, Nabiki
gently raised the trembling girl's face until she could see her
eyes.  Sodoshi had a pretty face - very Japanese.  There was
little to betray her mixed heritage.  But in her eyes, she could
see herself, desperate for her mother's attention.
     Nabiki smiled at the irony of the first rule of the Shinobi:
All progress comes from personal humility.  It is only by
acknowledging your failings can you correct them.
     "Can I play, too?" she heard herself ask.  It had been many
years since she asked to join others at play.  Her only fear
then, as now, was that she would be rejected.
     Sodoshi's eyes got big and her mouth fell open.  "You want
to play, too?"
     Akane's sudden grin betrayed her next move.  "Two dragons
attacking!" she called out, lunging at her older sister, growling
and tickling.  The two fell over, rolling on the hard wood floor.
     Nabiki couldn't stop the laughter and little squeals of
protest.  Her sister was all over her, attacking her most
ticklish spots without pity.
     Sodoshi hesitated, as if unsure of what was permitted.  This
was her mother, bringer of discipline and control.  She watched
the two women wrestle on the floor, pondering what to do.  At
Akane's urging, she soon joined the assault on her mother, shyly
at first but with rapidly growing confidence as she helped her
aunt, growling and tickling.
     "Help, the dragon's got me!" Nabiki cried between giggles.
     Leaving her aunt to continue the onslaught, Sodoshi crawled
to one of the discarded bokkans.  Holding it up, she proclaimed:
"I'll save you, Mommy!"
     Akane growled like a dragon at the girl before bounding away
with Sodoshi close behind.  Nabiki hugged herself with laughter
watching her sister leap about the dojo with Sodoshi in pursuit,
slashing the air with her bokkan and calling out admonishments to
the evil dragon.

     The dragons were vanquished that night.  Sodoshi Lawrence,
youngest daughter of the Clan of the Cold Moon and heir to the
shadow warrior tradition of her people, successfully defended the
family castle in Nerima, saving her aunt and her mother.