Relatively Absent

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When Sailor Pluto kills herself with a timestop at Mugen Gakuen, the Gate of Time decides it wants a different guardian, one who will not impose her own agenda on the Gate's ancient mission and on the course of the future. The only candidate it can find, though, is a critically-injured Ranma, locked in female form and buried deep under a landslide in the aftermath of a failed confrontation with Prince Herb over the Chisuiton.

An incredibly well-written fic that was already building up to epic length when its author renounced fan fiction entirely and tried (with surprising success) to purge it from the Web.

2002-June 2009

http://web.archive.org/web/20121014103314/http://www.markshu.com/blog/

Original characters, artwork, and the story itself are copyright © 2002 by Mark Shurtleff; these are owned by myself and I reserve all rights to their use and distribution.

Tropes used in Relatively Absent include:
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Edges sideway into this trope. The magical A.I.s in the Ginzuishou, the Gate of Time and the Silence Glaive have their own purposes and priorities that didn't align with those of their Silver Millennium owners, which is why they were "reprogrammed" and (mostly) driven into a state of "hibernation". Once they awaken again, the actions the Gate and the Glaive take to pursue those imperatives makes them appear to be going rogue. (The Crystal seems to be less inclined to buck its altered programming, but it's hard to be sure with the extant material.)
  • Abusive Parents: This fic implies that Genma is abusive beyond even the usual fanfic standard, hinting strongly that he is behind the "weak neural inhibiter" magic that damped down Ranma's intelligence, and showing that he only cares about his wife and son to the degree that they can get him access to the Yamada money.
    • Aiko implies that before she was adopted into the clan, Harukichi's birth family was abusive.
  • The Ageless: This is an immediate benefit of being an artifact's Guardian.
  • Alternate Universe: One key divergence is that Ranma does not escape the battle with Herb at Mount Horai unscathed, but instead was buried alive in the avalanche it caused.
  • Ancient Artifact: The Gate describes itself as "constructed so long ago that not even I have a recollection of my own creation."
    • The Crystal and the Glaive appear to be its contemporaries; it's all but stated outright that they long predate the Silver Millennium and were "repurposed" by/for Queen Serenity and her senshi.
  • Animal Eye Spy: Probably the closest trope to the way the Gate can only perceive things beyond its immediate physical location through its Guardian's senses.
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: Averted (as is common in fanfic) for Ranma, who has seen so many weird things just in the last few years of her life that she has absolutely no problems accepting the mysterious voice in her head that claims it's feeding her ki to keep her alive.
    • Also averted in the way Aiko Yamada does not dismiss Ranma's story about the Gate and her new guardianship, but rather accepts the story, although she does have considerable proof for its truth beforehand. (Even if she does draw a wrong but reasonable conclusion about what the Gate is.)
  • Arranged Marriage: The Emperor arranges a marriage between female!Ranma and her cousin Midori (wearing a male form thanks to instant Jusenkyo powder) on very short notice, as a ploy to keep the Yamada ninja clan active as ninja. Not the purest example of the trope, as both Ranma and Midori are given the opportunity to object and back out -- but the dire political and social consequences of doing so are impressed upon both of them, and neither feels they can decline honorably. (And Midori has a crush on Ranma -- to which she admits -- which makes her decision to go along with it much easier.)
  • Australia: The Gate directs Ranma to a remote bit of the Outback when she wants to try out her new guardian powers.
  • Australian Aborigines: A local super who appears to be an Aboriginal shaman shows up to investigate the section of Outback Ranma devastates while upset.
  • Bond Creatures: This is perhaps the closest trope to the relationship between Ranma and the Gate, although which one counts as the human partner and which is the bond creature is a bit hard to determine.
  • Bi the Way: Chapter 3 makes it clear that the cousins have enjoyed some kind of sensual/sexual play together, particularly in the context of learning about hojojutsu and shibari ties and how to escape from them.
  • Big Brother Is Watching:
    • In chapter 3, we learn that the Japanese National Intelligence Directorate is very aware of Ranma and the rest of the Nerima Wrecking Crew, has a group which maintains surveillance on Ranma (at least), and has some kind of project planned called "Chameleon" that will make use of her (or them) which goes active when they learn she survived Mount Horai.
    • The Americans have a spy satellite watching the Yamada compound specifically to track Ranma. Unfortunately for them, he's learned to teleport by then.
  • Big Fancy House: The Yamada compound is huge and opoulent without being crassly showy.
  • Big "What?": From Aiko upon being informed in chapter 3 that Ranma is alive.
  • Body Language: Control of one's body language is an important part of the Yamada martial art, and leads directly to the complex and detailed communication possible with their Signed Language. Aiko notes upon first meeting her that, in contrast, Ranma has been deliberately taught to essentially broadcast all her thoughts through her body language.
  • Break the Haughty: This happens to Nodoka in the years after she is disowned, until she reaches a point during Ranma and Genma's training trip where she is willing to be a High-Class Call Girl to feed herself.
  • Buried Alive: Ranma's state at the start of the story. It takes the entire first chapter (and the Gate's help) for her to dig her way out.
  • The Clan: The Yamada. While for the most part we see only Aiko Yamada and Ranma's four female cousins (and a couple servants/family friends), Ranma has several uncles and aunts and numerous other cousins, none of whom are involved with the family's ninja tradition. Most of them show up on-screen during the wedding.
    • Several other ninja clans are mentioned, but none appeared "on-screen" before the story was abandoned.
  • Compelling Voice: Aiko can lace ki into her voice to add a level of command to it, but more for immediate imperatives ("SILENCE!") than compulsions or manipulations.
  • Conditioned to Accept Abuse: As a result of epic exploitation of the Double Standard Abuse (Female on Male) trope by the fiancees, Ranma has been "trained" to basically stand still and be a target for "punishment" after encountering anything that he's learned a girl might take offense to. When Ranma reacts this way to seeing Kioko in the nude, it horrifies Kioko.
  • Conspicuous Consumption: Generally averted by the Yamada, although not from Ranma's point of view, what with the family providing the cousins and her with cell phones (in 1989!), Japan Rail passes, credit cards, and an allowance that could masquerade as a salary.
  • Cool Old Lady: Aiko Yamada, when she isn't wearing her "clan matriarch" hat -- and sometimes even when she is.
  • Covert Pervert: Midori, at least where Ranma's concerned. In chapter 3, when Ranma idly (and innocently) speculates on re-training in her girl form how to get out of rope ties, the image it produces (plus Ranma bouncing her own breasts to demonstrate the "obstructions" she now has to work around) cause Midori to imagine playing BDSM games with Ranma. After which she blushes furiously and rushes off to calm herself. At several other times she ends up utterly distracted by (and sometimes drooling over) Ranma.
  • Cursed with Awesome: The Gate, from its own perspective. It has vast and literally cosmic power, but almost no ability to use it on its own volition.
  • De-Power: Many of Sailor Pluto's trademark abilities come not from her Senshi empowerment, but from being the guardian of the Gate of Time. They are stripped from her after her temporary death at Mugen Gakuen, and when Ranma accepts the Gate's guardianship they're permanently denied her (and the Garnet Rod taken from her). Their loss is both inconvenient and personally humiliating -- and turns Crystal Tokyo from a guaranteed future to ... something far less so.
  • Dead Fic: After a prologue and eleven chapters written over six years, the story was abruptly abandoned by author Shurtleff (along with all his other fan writing).
  • Death by Fanfic: Herb, Mint, Lime and Ryoga all died in the collapse of Mount Horai. At least, Mousse and the Yamada clan believe -- with good evidence -- that this is the case. (And none of them reappear in the extant material.) However, Ranma's confident Ryoga survived, based on past experience.
  • Disney Death: Twice In-Universe: First, the misapprehension that Ranma died at Mt. Horai, which is corrected (for the Yamada, at least) by chapter 3. Also, Aiko believes that her youngest granddaughter -- who by all appearances is Hotaru "Sailor Saturn" Tomoe -- died in an explosion with her father. She is, of course, not dead, but is currently in infant form after the events of Mugen Gakuen.
  • The Ditz: There's a little bit of this worked into Tsuya's personality.
  • Double Standard Abuse (Female on Male): The double standard is very much averted by the Yamada, Midori in particular; she holds an especial grudge against the fiancee brigade for how they treated Ranma -- and is furious with herself in chapter 3 for accidentally triggering Ranma's defensive reflexes with a ill-chosen comment that echoes that mistreatement.
    • And because of the fiancees' acceptance and exploitation of the double standard, Ranma starts the story with an ingrained terror of anything even hinting at female sexuality, and conditioned to accept physical punishment for the slightest, most innocent encounter with it.
  • Dramatically Missing the Point: Nodoka. Every time she learns more about Ranma, she draws exactly the wrong conclusion about what Ranma wants or needs. For example, upon learning that Ranma is stuck in girl form, she immediately assumes it's permanent (despite being told otherwise) and that Ranma consequently has to live as a woman in all ways. Nodoka is helped in this by her tendency to only listen long enough to anything to jump to a conclusion about it.
  • Emergency Transformation: The Gate doing a remote, incomplete bond with Ranma as a way to save her life and get a new guardian, loosely speaking.
  • Emotion Eater/The Empath: The Gate's relationship with its guardian includes a certain amount of this, although not in a harmful or malicious way. What emotions it possesses are (usually) muted and low-key, but along with other sensory input it enjoys from its symbiosis with a guardian, it can experience (and enjoy) their emotions. However, it receives only stimulation, not sustenance, from them; it also knows enough to recognize when its guardian might be reaching dangerous emotional extremes, and will take steps to help them stabilize themselves.
  • Face Plant: In chapter 5 Ranma face plants into a maple tree when distracted by a call to breakfast while practicing the morning after arriving at the Yamada compound.
  • Fainting: Ranma, still weak and recovering from her escape from the avalanche, briefly suffers an Emotional Faint when she learns from the Gate that she is effectively immortal as long as she is its guardian.
  • Faking the Dead: Done accidentally on Ranma's behalf by Aiko before she learns that Ranma has survived, when she sends a video documenting Ranma's curse -- and ending with footage of her apparent death -- to Nodoka, to indulge Harukichi's desire for a little vengeance. Nodoka then "shares" the video with the Tendos after marking Ranma and Ranko as dead in the Saotome family register.
  • First Law of Gender Bending: Subverted -- although Ranma never returns to male in the extant material, the Gate assures her that with sufficient experience she will be able to toggle her gender-switch curse at will. And even if she doesn't, it will eventually wear off on its own over the course of Ranma's now immensely-prolonged lifespan.
    • When Ranma douses herself in chapter 4 with water sneaked from the Chisuiton by Harukichi during the fight on Mount Horai, it's too degraded to completely break the curse, but it still erodes the lock, decreasing the time needed for it to decay on its own.
    • Naturally, Nodoka buys into this trope full-force, even when expressly told that the lock on Ranma's curse will be broken one way or another.
  • Fish Out of Water/Country Mouse: Ranma as she tries to adapt to life with the Yamada clan. The sheer opulence of the family home and the wealth and resources they possess (and casually distribute to family members) overwhelm her; the amount of the cousins' allowance alone boggles her.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: The cousins, but only in the broadest strokes: Harukichi (Phlegmatic), Midori (Choleric), Tsuya (Sanguine), Kioko (Melancholic).
  • Frills of Justice: Ranma is very personally offended when she learns that the allegedly "sophisticated" guardian uniform is (in her opinion) covered in these, despite the Gate's assurances otherwise. Later, though, she discovers that some of those frills disguise very effective armor and no few weapons.
  • The Glomp: Harukichi all but tackles Ranma when she first enters the Yamada home. Afterward, Ranma explicitly calls it a glomp.
  • Gold Digger: Genma, who had ulterior motives for marrying (so he thought) into the Yamada clan. Nodoka was disowned in part to keep him from access to the Yamada wealth and connections.
  • Gratuitous Japanese: Fortunately not to excess, but the occasional "gomen" and "kawaii" slip in here and there, along with a few other terms (like "butsudan") whose meanings can be inferred from context.
  • Healing Factor: Ranma's canonical healing speed (a consequence of the manga/anime's slapstick violence) is turned into an actual ki skill for enhanced healing, which then gets supercharged by the Gate's endless supply of pure ki.
  • Heavy Sleeper:
    • Tsuya is apparently on a par with Ranma's canon behavior in this regard, judging by Midori's thoughts in chapter 4.
    • On the other hand, Ranma discovers to her annoyance that, after the bonding with the Gate is complete, she now has a built-in alarm clock and cannot just sleep as long as she'd like any more.
  • Hidden Depths: Ranma is surprisingly conversant on varieties of tea, and knows how to comport herself properly when drinking tea with others, thanks to time spent with Kasumi. She recognizes and understands the social implications of seating positions during tea. She's also much smarter than she comes across in both canon and fan fiction, which becomes more obvious when the Gate removes a "weak neural inhibiter" effect on her, and rebuilds her speech centers and language skills after accidentally causing damage during the bonding.
  • High-Class Call Girl: What Nodoka was almost reduced to doing to support herself, before a Man in Black offered her a contract to remove an "unwanted individual".
  • Hollywood Healing: What Ranma's ki mastery gives her. The avalanche utterly shattered one forearm, and she insists certain it'll be fine in two weeks, to the utter bafflement of her cousins. (It actually gets better much faster, thanks to her connection with the Gate.)
  • I Gave My Word: Why Ranma does not abandon the cousins and head right back to Nerima -- because she promised Akane she would return as a man. ([[Squick|And because Mr. Tendo threatened to force her to marry him if she came back still locked in female form.}})
  • I Have No Son: Subverted. While Aiko is forced to disown Nodoka for marrying Genma in order to protect the clan, it is without rancor, she hopes for a reunion someday, and she sets up a monthly stipend so that Nodoka is taken care of, regardless. (Unfortunately, the stipend is embezzled by a Yamada accountant whom Aiko trusted, leaving Nodoka penniless and believing that this trope is the case and that she is The Unfavourite.)
  • In Medias Res: The story starts with the final moments of Ranma's battle with Herb on Mount Horai.
  • Insistent Terminology:
    • Aiko makes a point of addressing Ranma with masculine pronouns and other terms, to reassure her that she is perceived as the man she was and is, despite the locked curse.
    • The narration repeatedly calls Ranma (in girl form) a "neo-girl", which literally means "new girl", as though it was a synonym for "part-time" or "transformed girl".
  • Kid Samurai: Midori, who alone of the four cousins favors direct combat and as such is training in the Yamada sword styles.
  • Kids Are Cruel: Before she finds out "Ranko" and Ranma are one and the same, she blames "Ranko"'s loneliness, "tomboyishness" and desperate desire to please her on presumed mistreatment by her peers, and cites this trope by name.
  • Loophole Abuse: The Gate of Time is unable to disobey its guardian, who has for many thousands of years been Sailor Pluto. Nor can it choose a different guardian -- unless its current guardian is dead and there is no third party present to select impose a candidate, which is the case with Pluto in the aftermath of Mugen Gakuen. The Gate takes advantage of its brief period of opportunity before Pluto is automatically resurrected to select and bond with a new guardian of its choice.
  • Magical Girl: In addition to the Sailor Senshi, the artifacts' Guardians are also Magical Girls, a fact the Gate was not clear on when offering the position to Ranma. Ranma is somewhat upset about this when she finally puts it all together and realizes what she's agreed to.
  • Magical Girl Warrior: The artifacts' Guardians are very much warriors, being explicitly tasked with fighting off and putting down anyone who wants their power for themselves.
  • Magitek: The Gate (and perhaps the Crystal and the Glaive, as well) appears to be some manner of magitek device, and it views magical effects in terms more scientific than mystical -- such as when it interprets the web of curses and other magic on Ranma as mutually reinforcing and interfering fields of energy.
  • Masquerade: Despite what they might think, the Sailor Senshi are far from the only paranormals active in the world. Leaving aside all the magic, ghosts, monsters and other supernatural elements present due to the crossover with Ranma ½, there are apparently Superheroes and other methahumans all over the world; the Emperor's security staff alone has an entire troop of psionically-active agents.
  • The Men in Black: Various government agents of different kinds who appear in the story make appearance.
  • Miniature Senior Citizens: Aiko Yamada. Although she's not as exaggeratedly short as Cologne, she's still petite enough that she has to look up into the faces of three of her four teenaged granddaughters -- all of whom are of a size with (or smaller than) Ranma's female form. The narration explicitly calls her "diminutive".
  • Ninja: Nodoka was born into the Yamada, one of the last surviving ninja clans in modern Japan. Ranma's four female cousins are also being trained as kunoichi.
  • Never Mess with Granny: Aiko Yamada, as the matriarch of a ninja clan, is no less skilled than any of her descendants still pursing the art, is very politically savvy, and has the ear of the emperor.
  • Nosebleed: Midori gets one in chapter 4 when a braless Ranma stretches after a nap.
  • Not Listening to Me, Are You?: Ranma is so sure upon meeting them that the cousins are new fiancees that while ranting about what Genma might have sold her off for this time, she misses the first few attempts Midori makes to tell her they're family. Midori finally has to resort to yelling at her to get Ranma to listen.
  • Parental Incest: It's revealed that Genma is Happosai's son -- by way of Happosai's adult daughter -- and that the Yamada have long suspected this is the case. Intriguingly -- and surprisingly given Happosai's personality -- it appears to have been a mutually loving and consensual relationship between two adults.
  • Power Glows: A side effect of Ranma's Power Incontinence before she finishes the bonding with the Gate. Just as in real life it indicates that energy is being used ineffciently and wasted, as Ranma and the Gate both note several times.
  • Power Incontinence: Until Ranma can complete the bonding process with the Gate, she suffers from having more ki than she can use, almost more than she can control, and too much to use with any kind of fine control. And the Gate eventually admits she will lose control of the ki within days if she doesn't complete the bonding quickly.
  • Power Strain Blackout: Ranma passes out from overexertion shortly after tunnelling her way out from under the avalanche at the end of chapter 2.
  • Power-Up: In a non-video game example, Ranma explicitly describes the impending completion of her bond with the Gate as this
  • Professional Killer: One of the ways Nodoka makes ends meet over the years is by taking the occasional assassination contract for the government, which also allows her to keep her kunoichi skills sharp. It is strongly implied that these contracts are a kind of charity from someone in the government aware of her situation and wishing to give her an honorable means of maintaining herself. Given the interest the Emperor has in maintaining the Yamada as a living ninja clan, it may well have been at his orders.
  • Psychic Link: One exists between Ranma and the Gate; establishing this was the first step in the bonding process, and required the injured, semi-conscious Ranma's agreement in chapter one.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Nodoka after she learns of Ranma's apparent death from the videotape given to her by Harukichi. She publicly declares the end of the Saotome clan; she closes the Saotome register, officially "killing" the clan; she declares blood feud on the Tendos; and she reverts to her kunoichi training and garb to literally hunt down and kill Genma.
  • Sailor Fuku: Ranma is appalled when she realizes that the guardian's uniform is a variation on a seifuku, and accuses the Gate of misleading her.
  • Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Part of the key divergence of the Alternate Universe -- a canonical lock on Ranm's gender-bending curse is not undone as it was in canon. Ultimately subverted, as Ranma learns that it will wear off by itself, or if she trains sufficiently in magic, she can break it faster.
  • Signed Language: The Yamada clan ninja. We see them using it from the very first moments of the story, when Midori gives a new assignment to Harukichi with hand signals. And there's at least one scene where Matriarch Aiko has one conversation with one of her granddaughters on a verbal level, and a completely different one in the clan sign language. Further, the Yamada sign language is not limited to hand signals -- it incorporates full-body communication, using everything from posture to eyebrow twitches to communicate as clearly as speech.
  • Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Harukichi, who is described as "striking", even in comparison to the other cousins, none of whom are anything less than beautiful.
  • Silk Hiding Steel: Aiko, to be sure, but this is a fundamental element of the Yamada ninjitsu.
  • Sleep Cute: Midori is of the opinion Ranma does this, even commenting "kawaii" when seeing her napping.
  • Spoiled Sweet: The cousins come across this way, if you ignore that they are being intensively trained as ninja.
  • The Stoic/The Spock: The Gate, by its very nature, is calm, dispassionate, logical but also aware of the cost of using its power. While it does possess emotions, they are generally muted and low-key, which makes the time it expresses anger about Sailor Pluto's behavior such a surprise to Ranma.
  • Super Senses: Aiko, Seiko and other members of the Yamada household are able to sense ki, to the degree that they can tell apart family influences (Ranma's ki apparently has markers of both Yamada and Saotome), in addition to strength, aspecting and other qualities. It is detecting the Gate's vast, pure, "unflavored" and inhuman ki feeding into Ranma's that convinces Aiko that her grandchild is not insane but is in fact in communication with something that she perceives as a kami.
  • Surprise Jump: Ranma makes one when Kioko startles her in chapter 3.
  • Swiss Army Weapon: Ranma, being all about the uses of anything to hand in fighting, discovers that the Garnet Rod can shift its shape from a giant key into a more traditional quarterstaff, the better for use in combat. She also discovers that the bow on the front of her uniform can come off and be used as a whip similar to Kodachi's gymnastics ribbon.
  • Third Law of Gender Bending: Ranma works assiduously to avert this trope, starting from the moment she realizes she's giggling the day after she tunnels up out of the avalanche.
  • Uncle Pennybags: Aiko comes across a bit like this where Ranma and the cousins are concerned, although there's a whole lot more to her than that.
  • Undisclosed Funds: The Yamada are incredibly wealthy, but the exact specifics of their assets are avoided, other than to demonstrate they are very, very rich. For instance, when Aiko hires Dr. Tofu as Ranma's personal physician, they buy him a building to be his clinic. Unfortunately, due to what was available on the market, they had to get a bigger building than they'd planned. The exact cost is never mentioned.
  • Understatement: The Gate's warning to Ranma that the bonding process might be "uncomfortable". Ranma lampshades it afterward.
  • The Unfavourite: Nodoka believes that she is this, because she was disowned by her mother for marrying Genma. She isn't by any measure, but her mother was forced to do so to protect the clan from him. This is reinforced by the embezzlement of a monthly stipend set up for her, leading her to believe she had been completely abandoned by the clan.
  • Wedding Day: Ranma (as the bride) and male!Midor (thanks to instant Jusenkyo powder, as the groom) are married at the behest of the Emperor of Japan in what is the last major set-piece of the extant story material.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Sailor Pluto long ago stopped communicating with the intelligence within the Gate of Time, considering it nothing more than an inanimate object. When Ranma explains to her that the Gate doesn't want her as a Guardian any more, Pluto refuses to believe it at first. It's only when it's obvious that the Gate is prompting Ranma with the instructions on how to finish the Guardian bonding process -- something that Pluto is the only person left alive who knows -- that she even considers the possibility.
    • On the other hand, Sailor Moon has no problem accepting that the Ginzuishou has its own controlling intelligence once it starts talking to her and anyone else who'll listen.
  • Whip It Good: While exploring what her guardian form is capable of, Ranma determines that the bow on the front comes off and can be used like a whipe (or Kodachi's gymnastics ribbon).

Eiko chuckled to itself when it noticed a hint of swirly spirals in Ranma's eyes.


Trivia page

  • Creator Backlash: Shurtleff abruptly abandoned writing fanfiction in 2009, and enacted a complete purge of Relatively Absent and all his other works from the Net -- even from the Wayback Machine. In one of the last entries on his blog he seemed to regard it as an Old Shame that he no longer wanted associated with his name after shifting his focus to other projects, nor did he want anyone continuing this or his other incomplete stories.
  • Keep Circulating the Tapes: This story is a lost classic—if you can find it (usually as an archive maintained off-line by a fan), consider yourself incredibly lucky.
  • Shout-Out: * One to PARAGON by Rob "Kenko" Haynie, another (incomplete) Sailor Moon/Ranma ½ crossover, when the Gate assures Ranma that the magical girl with the talking rabbit mascot does not wear a fancy, frilly outfit.
  • What Could Have Been: Well, the entire story, basically. But more specifically...
    • There was at one time among the artwork commissioned for the story a piece depicting Hotaru Tomoe dressed in the same style of guardian as Ranma in her guise as "Guardian Khronos".
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