When Ranma was Two
or
A Funny Thing Happened at Jusenkyo
In China:
A sombre valley filled with pools.
A bamboo pole stands stoically in each pool.
A panda knocks a teenaged boy/man into one of the pools.
From the pool, a confused shout. "What the hell happened to my
clothes?"
"Who are you?" asked the other (clothed) resident of the pool.
"Oh, sirs. You fall in spring of drowned twin. Very tragic story of
twins who fall into pool many year ago and drown. Now, whoever fall
into pool take form of twins," said the Guide.
Sometime later, in Japan:
A dojo in Nerima district.
A man cries as he reads a postcard from China.
On the back of the panda postcard something is written:
Bringing Ranma,
Genma.
Soun Tendo calls his children to tell them about what the
future holds for one of them. The girls are less than pleased at
Soun's attempt at sooth-saying.
In the streets, in the rain:
Two identical young men, wearing clothing of the Chinese style
(one with a red shirt, the other a blue one, both short-sleeved,
red-shirt wore a back-pack) were busily shouting at a giant panda,
which also sported a backpack.
"We're going back to China, old man!" the youths screamed in
unison at the panda.
"We already have a fiancee, why do we need another?" shouted
the one in the red shirt.
"Yeah!" blue shirt agreed with his obvious brother, "Besides, I
was learning some stuff from her great-grandmother. Up until I," he
cocked his head at his sibling, "decided to take a hot shower."
Red shirt stopped pummeling the panda, and stormed towards his
brother. "Hey, it was the old man that doused me-you! Besides, we
thought we were rescuing you-me!" He highlighted his point with a
quick thrust to the abdomen.
The situation quickly degenerated into a brawl, with neither
brother gaining the advantage. Gravity-defying leaps, punches and
kicks so fast that arms and legs became blurs, feats of flexibility
that made one wonder whether the two had any bones in them, coupled
with impacts into and through the surrounding walls and road, made
onlookers doubt whether the two were truly human after all. So
engrossed were the two brothers in their fight that they never
noticed the panda come up and bash them into unconsciousness with a
street sign.
The house of the crying man and his daughters:
"Put me down old man! I'm going back to China!" two angry male
voices rang out.
"Ooh! That must be them!" said the middle daughter, Nabiki.
Nabiki and Soun eagerly ran to the door, wanting to see Genma,
and his (hopefully) cute son. They ran back, fear and shock on
their faces. Following them were two identical looking young men,
who were in turn followed by a gigantic panda. The young men looked
up from their study of the floorboards, and in perfect unison said,
"I'm Ranma Saotome-- sorry about this."
"You were both named Ranma?" Kasumi asked.
"Ooh, they're both handsome," Nabiki nearly squealed with
obvious delight.
Akane was non-plussed.
Both Ranmas put their right arms behind their heads, rubbing
their necks, performing this action in perfect unison. The boys
mumbled, "Not quite."
"What do you mean, 'not quite?'" Nabiki repeated dangerously.
The Ranma on the left (Blue shirt) looked at the other Ranma
(Red shirt), who looked at the panda, then nodded to Blue shirt.
"If we could have some hot water?" lefty said.
Kasumi nodded, and went to prepare the water.
Red shirt began, "Well, it happened when we were in China. The
ol' man wanted ta go to the legendary training grounds of
Jusenkyo...."
By the time the Ranmas finished (one would often pick up midway
through the other's monologue), Kasumi had finished heating the
water. The Ranma closest to the panda (the one in the blue shirt),
and dumped it on the creature, turning it into a middle-aged man
known to Soun as:
"Genma!"
"It didn't have to be so hot, boy."
"Live with it, old man," said the Ranma closest to Genma
sullenly.
"What happened to your hair? I thought you were going bald?
Hair Club for Men?" asked Soun about Genma's long, luxuriant
tresses (which were in fact longer than Soun's, much to Soun's
annoyance).
Genma laughed, loud and resonant, straight from the depths of
his belly before replying. "No, not that, old friend. All natural,"
Genma paused for a second, and used the time to run his fingers
through his silken mane.
"It was back in China; I was trying to catch the boy, who had
run off again. As I was chasing him, I ran into a man who was
carrying a bowl of soup. Now, you have to understand that I needed
the energy to catch Ranma. Besides, you remember what it was like
training, eh Soun? Never pass up a meal, because you never know
when you'll get another one, So...."
"So you stole the man's soup and ate it," filled in Kasumi.
"Well, basically... which is to say... when you get right down
to it... yes. Then the most amazing thing happened! I grew this!"
Genma held up a lock of his hair for all to view or touch. No split
ends, tangles, knots. Very clean and very soft. Nice fragrance as
well, noted Kasumi, who took it upon herself to examine the hair.
Very well kempt.
"It turns out that the soup was of a very special kind. It was
made with the whisker of a dragon. If a bald man eats it, he
regrows his hair. If a man with hair eats it, his hair grows
uncontrollably until it falls out, only being kept back if it is
tied off with another dragon whisker. Women are unaffected. Oh, you
don't know the joy of getting my hair back! I can still scarcely
contain myself!"
Indeed, Genma could not contain himself, weeping tears of joy
as he caressed his newfound hirsuteness. He began to murmur to his
hair, "I promise I'll take care of you and appreciate you this time
around!"
Akane just shook her head, a small amount of disgust showing at
the man's vanity. Still, she had to admit, he really did have a
nice head of hair. Dr. Tofu would be sure to notice hair like that.
"Why did he have to chase you?" Nabiki asked Ranma, since Genma
was too engrossed with his hair, examining it for signs of damage.
"No need to go into that now, boy," Genma frantically tried to
stop the direction of the questioning.
"We didn't want to leave China, and we didn't want to leave--"
both Ranmas said simultaneously before being cut off by Genma.
"I said there's no need to go into that, boy!" Genma bellowed,
something which he did very well.
"What's in China?" asked Nabiki, rendering it impossible for
Genma to fix now.
"Shampoo," both Ranmas said, a warm expression on their faces.
"We have shampoo in Japan too," said Akane, peeved at these new
and obviously strange *boy(s)*.
"Shampoo is my," the Ranmas looked at each other with a
grimace, then continued, "our, fiancee. The old man dragged us away
from her."
"I thought I was helping you!" Genma thundered.
"Ranma was promised to one of my daughters before he was born!"
Soun protested.
Both Ranmas turned on Genma with lightning in their eyes, and
thunder in the faces. "We don't care, pops! We're going to go back
to China!"
"You haven't been showing me the respect I deserve, lately."
"Give us a reason to respect you, then."
"Are you interested in a little match?" Akane interjected in
what was an obviously touching father/son(s) moment.
The Ranmas looked at each other and shrugged. "Why not? Be a
nice change of pace, from fighting myself. The old man ain't hardly
a challenge no more."
The one in the blue shirt picked up the kettle of now
somewhat-less-than-boiling water, and poured it on him. His
clothes collapsed in a wet pile on the floor, as there was no body
in them to keep them standing.
The other Ranma in the red shirt reeled as if from some unseen
blow. He shook his head a few times, trying to clear it.
"What's that all about?" asked Nabiki.
"Whoa. You try suddenly having two sets of memories ta deal
with for the past two weeks. Takes a bit ah time to adjust when
we've been two for a while."
Ranma stood up, slightly wobbly from the change. Nabiki helped
steady him.
"Which way to the dojo?" he asked.
"This way, just follow me," answered Akane curtly.
"I think I'll watch. This could be interesting," mused Nabiki.
The trio made their way to the dojo, Akane in the lead, and
Nabiki with her arm around Ranma's... purely to steady him, of
course.
***
Ranma and Akane faced each other in the center of the hall,
while Nabiki lounged lazily near the entrance.
"I warn you, don't try and go easy on me just because I'm a
girl! Even though this is just for fun..." Akane trailed off
ominously, frowning slightly.
Ranma just had a slight, enigmatic smile on his face. "Don't
worry, I don't make that mistake. I always evaluate my opponent on
skill, and nothing else. Besides, if Shampoo ever found out I let
up on an opponent cuz she's a girl...," Ranma just shook his head.
"She's a martial artist?" asked Akane.
Ranma nodded. "And an Amazon, too."
Ranma and Akane flowed into their opening stances, projecting
auras of readiness and confidence. Nabiki knew her role.
"Begin!"
Before Nabiki had a chance to blink, before Akane even
registered her sister's shout, Ranma had closed the distance, and
Akane went flying into a wall. He went over to her and offered a
hand up, which Akane accepted with a glare.
Back to the center of the hall, the two martial artists bowed
and waited for Nabiki to say the magic word again.
"Begin!"
This time Ranma let Akane come to him. Akane started off with a
quick lunge, and followed it up with a high kick; neither of which
connected to a Ranma that was no longer there, instead crouched low
for a sweep kick, which dropped Akane to the ground.
Back to the center of the hall. They started again.
"Begin!"
And again.
"Begin!"
And again.
"Begin!"
Throughout the matches, Akane did not once come close to
touching Ranma. Some matches lasted longer than others did,
Ranma analysed Akane's technique, and sometimes incorporated a
move she used against him. They fought very differently. Akane's
style was based on strength and power, smashing and breaking,
direct, forward and blunt.
Ranma's was more devious. His style was all speed and
misdirection. There was a randomness to his actions; he would start
on a pattern then change it mid-way. Misdirection, speed, agility--
water and air to Akane's earth and fire.
Nabiki just clapped. "That was... amazing," she finally
uttered.
"You're really good," Akane admitted, her voice a mixture of
respect (grudging), and frustration.
Ranma looked distantly for a moment before answering. "You
probably didn't have as good instructors as I did. Cologne
(Shampoo's great gran'ma) an' my ol' man (even though he's an
idiot) didn't go easy on me."
"Are you saying my father went easy on me?" Akane said
indignantly.
For an answer Ranma just said, "Hit me. As hard as you can,
hit me. I won't move."
Akane took him up on his offer, and he went flying into the
wall with a satisfying crunch. Ranma picked himself up and
non-chalantly dusted himself off.
"Feh. I won't even bruise from that. From some of the old
ghoul's training."
"Old Ghoul?" asked Nabiki, who was not quite as stupefied as
Akane by Ranma's lack of a reaction.
"Cologne. It's only at half strength though, since both bodies
didn't do it, and I didn't do it when I was one."
"I don't understand," said Nabiki, a little confused.
"I'll explain it later," said Ranma as he walked out of the
dojo.
Outside, on the porch:
"Ranma, would you like to wash up?" asked Kasumi. "You must be
all sweaty from your workout with Akane."
Ranma looked up from koi pond, which was the focus of his gaze.
"Sweaty? From the journey, yeah, I s'pose I am. I could use a wash
I guess."
Famous last words.
Inside, in the bath:
"What do you think, Akane? He's handsome *and* a great martial
artist. Then there's that condition of his!" Nabiki enthused. "But
what about that Shampoo girl?" Nabiki said, her face somewhere
between a pout and a thoughtful frown.
"Yeah, whatever." Akane was still sulking from the ease which
Ranma dealt with her.
Akane and Nabiki should have probably told Kasumi they were
going to use the bath before she told Ranma, and they should also
probably have put an occupied sign on the door. They should have,
but--
Ranma entered the bathroom, quickly and efficiently disrobed,
got two wash stools, and dumped a bucket of cool water on himself.
"So," said the first Ranma.
"So," agreed the second Ranma, who appeared as the curse
activated.
"You know what we could do, of course."
The other Ranma just snorted. "Of course. I know it just as
well as you do. Why shouldn't I? Pops is sure to douse us with hot
water, just to make sure we haven't split up and're really on our
way back. He's done it before."
The Ranmas nodded in agreement as they finish washing up.
"Nabiki, did you hear anything?" asked Akane.
"Must be your imagination, Akane."
"I could've sworn I heard--"
Ranma took that moment to open the sliding door to the furo.
All parties were surprised, to say the least. Three of the faces
were shocked: Ranma, Ranma, and Akane. Nabiki, upon seeing the two
Ranma's musculature, had on a slightly goofy-looking grin.
Ranma quickly tied the towels they were carrying around their
respective waists, before the two sisters could overcome their
shock and get a good look at the family jewels. As the Ranmas were
tying their towels, they slammed their eyes shut and backed away.
The water around Akane, already hot, began to bubble and boil
from the heat of her anger/shame/embarrassment/desire (and not
because of that chilidog she ate earlier, regardless of what one
might expect). We already know about Nabiki's reaction. Nabiki
enjoyed the whole situation, not just for the view but for the
humour of it too. Akane did not share her sister's opinion, to the
inevitable harm of the offending male member... of the species,
that is.
"I'll kill him!" Akane shouted in righteous female wrath.
"And how are you going to do that?" Nabiki asked lazily. "We
both know he's better than you are, and how are you going to get
out of here without him seeing you?
"I'll tell you what, I'll look and see if he's there, and if he
isn't then you can come out, okay?"
Akane agreed. Nabiki poked her head out and noticed a distinct
lack of males in the bathroom, so she gave Akane the okay signal.
They dressed and headed to the living room where the rest of the
family (and guests) was.
"What the hell do you mean we're staying here, pops?" Ranma
(only one of him around) thundered.
"Boy, tomorrow you're enrolling in school, and when you get
back... I've called your mother. She's coming." Genma knew he had
his son outmaneuvered.
Ranma's face paled as the shock hit him. "My mother? You never
told us about... I mean, I thought she was...." Ranma's face
contorted in anger once more. "Okay, one day. I'll go to your
school, and if she's not here when we get back, I'm heading back to
China."
Ranma stalked off.
Genma smiled.
Soun joined his friend.
Nabiki had a thoughtful look on her face.
Akane was unsure of what to do.
Kasumi co-opted Akane into helping clean the house, which
consisted mainly of getting Akane out to buy groceries so that she
didn't destroy anything in her attempts to play house.
In the morning, over the pond:
"Hey, that's a good one! Too bad I saw it coming from a mile
away!" Ranma taunted, and replied with a quick palm-strike of his
own to his opponent's left knee.
"Feh, like I didn't know you were going to say that," Ranma's
opponent, who was also Ranma, disparaged.
Ranma flicked his gaze up over his opponent's shoulder, who
sent an immediate kick back. Ranma took this chance and rushed the
him kicking backwards, only to be met with a fist, extended only
fractionally later than the back-kick.
"Hah!" said the Ranma on the giving end of the fist, "I knew it
had to be a trick, but just in case...," he trailed off, no other
words needed to be said to the recipient of the fist (C.O.D. no
cheque or credit cards accepted).
Actually, no words really needed to be said to the Ranma with
the fist in his gut at all, considering both Ranmas thought exactly
the same way, but he did have to say it so that anyone who might
have been watching (Genma, who was watching critically, for
instance, and Nabiki, who was watching not so much critically, but
definitely paying much more attention that Genma was, for another)
would know what happened and could be properly appreciative.
One member of their/his audience was properly appreciative, the
one not related to him/them (yet), Nabiki, clapping and grinning so
much like the Cheshire cat she was in danger of disappearing. Both
Ranmas paused, turned to her and bowed before launching themselves
to the breakfast table, moments before Kasumi's voice rang out,
"Breakfast!"
Ranma stared at himself, who staring right back. He pulled out
a coin from his pocket, and flipped it in the air. The Ranma who
didn't pull the coin out called it. The coin landed on the table,
and both Ranma and Ranma looked at it, then at each other and
nodded. Reaching for a kettle which Kasumi has so thoughtfully
provided, the one who lost the toss (the one who actually tossed
the coin, if you must know) emptied the contents onto himself,
causing the other Ranma to disappear.
"What was that all about?" asked Kasumi.
"Oh, sometimes I forget which me has the original body, so I
flip a coin to decide which one gets wet."
Ranma eyed the empty pile of clothes beside him and sighed.
"Well, at least those ones are dry."
Soun continued reading the newspaper, while Genma had the
crossword, busily trying to remember a four letter English word for
"excrement." Unfortunately, Genma's knowledge of English was
limited to the ability to order food, drink, and a multitude of
swear words and curses that surpassed that of many native speakers
of the language, and the only one he could think of did not fit.
"Why bother though? Why not wait until you have a bath or
something?" asked Nabiki, wanting to find out more about Ranma.
Akane was very pointedly not talking to Ranma, who was, purely by
accident, not talking to Akane, which only served to make Akane not
talk to Ranma even more pointedly.
"Why shouldn't I eat half as much and still be as full if I
don't have to?"
He knows the value of a yen, too. Ranma was appearing better
and better to Nabiki. After a fairly quick breakfast Nabiki stood
up and announced to Ranma that, "We'd better go now if you don't
want to be late for class on your first day. Registration and stuff
like that, you know the drill. I'll go with you so you don't get
lost, okay Ranma?"
Ranma nodded curtly as he stood up and gathered the dry
clothes. "Just a sec, I gotta change," so saying, Ranma dumped a
glass of cold water on himself, causing the curse to activate.
Unlike the incident in the bathroom on the previous day, this
time there was no free show (though not for lack of trying on
Nabiki's part). There was a blur of motion and then there were two
Ranmas, fully dressed (even down to the pony tail he kept his hair
in), standing before her.
The Ranma wearing the damp clothes just nodded and said, "Let's
go." The other Ranma just smiled and waved at them as he said,
"Have fun!"
On the streets, towards Furinkan:
"Why do you do that, anyway?" Nabiki craned her neck to ask
Ranma, who was doing the regular Ranma thing and balancing
perfectly on the fence as he walked along it without effort.
"You mean this? Balance. Probably have the advantage of higher
ground in a fight. I can see more of the area around me. 'You must
always be prepared for an attack, boy! Anything can be made into
practice for the Art,'" Ranma did a passable imitation of his
father's oratory.
"No, I meant back at the house."
"Almost the same reason. I can go to school and still train at
the same time. Plus, this way if I get hit with cold water, no big
deal. I'm going, instead of the other me, in case one of us gets
hit with hot water."
Ranma looked up at the sky for a second, pausing his trek to
school. "I'm going to do some speed and endurance training today, I
think."
"You're not sure yet?"
"Well, I haven't really decided yet, but that's probably what
I'll do while I'm at school today, if you catch my drift."
Nabiki nodded slowly, puzzling out what Ranma meant. "Do you
always refer to the other Ranma like that?"
"What other Ranma? Oh! I see what you mean. Yeah. Why shouldn't
we? We're still the same guy, whether there's one or two of me, it
don't matter."
"Well, here's the school. I'll show you to your class, since
mine's right beside it." Nabiki was being very nice to Ranma,
showing him to his class and all, incidentally passing by many of
the girls of the school, who then started wondering who was this
boy Nabiki was with, what his name was, how does he know Nabiki
(are they seeing each other? must be!) and so on and so forth.
Purely coincidental of course. Wouldn't want the rumour mill to
start saying that Ranma and Nabiki were an item now, would we?
Hah-hah! Perish the thought!
Akane entered the schoolgrounds a few minutes later, plowing
her way through a mass of boys with her usual abandon. Ranma was
peering out the window, showing no interest in the chatter or
gossip of the students around him. One of the girls (since all the
boys were busy outside being pummeled by Akane) casually sidled up
to Ranma and joined him looking down at the battle.
"It happens every morning around here. Akane Tendo fights them
every morning."
"Oh."
"She's really quite good you know. None of them even manage to
touch her anymore."
"They're untrained, uncoordinated and they aren't working as a
team, getting in each other's way instead of helping each other,"
Ranma said dismissively. "She's better than I expected, though,"
Ranma admitted.
A short silence ensued; Ranma did not want to be there and so
had nothing to say, and the girl did not know what to say.
"Who's that?" asked Ranma, pointing to a single boy challenging
Akane below.
"Who?"
"The guy in the kendo outfit and the bokken going after Akane
now."
"Oh," the girl deadpanned. "That's Tatewaki Kuno. He's head of
the kendo club at Furinkan. He's the reason why everyone's
attacking Akane. At the beginning of the year, he said that anyone
who wanted to date her had to defeat her in combat first, or else
he'd take care of them."
"He's not bad."
Down below the fight was continuing, with Tatewaki forcing
Akane back with his blows (which never quite managed to hit).
Tatewaki overextended one such blow a fraction of a fraction-- a
fraction which Akane quickly capitalised on with a quick blow to
the right armpit followed by a few jabs to the ribs.
Tatewaki staggered back to give himself more room to wield his
bokken. The girl beside Ranma heard him snort softly. She glanced
at him and heard him grunt disdainfully.
Akane used the moment's respite to sweep Tatewaki's legs out
from under him, which were still a little wobbly. The fight was
over soon enough.
"This always happens?" asked Ranma. "She normally wins?"
"Always."
"Oh. I see what's goin' on. I dunno why, but I get it." Ranma
shrugged and left it at that, despite the girl's attempts to get
more out of him.
The time until lunch passed by too quickly for some and for
others (the larger amount of the students, if we are to be honest)
too slow. Uneventful at least, except for the beginning when the
teacher sent Akane out into the hall with two pails of water to
hold for being late.
In the den of the Hungry Students:
Lunchtime at Furinkan High was always an interesting event and
today even moreso. Ranma had barely entered the cafeteria before he
was swamped with people asking him questions.
Help came, unexpectedly, from Nabiki, which shocked everyone
until she said, "If everyone will form a line all questions will be
answered by Ranma or myself... for a small fee. Now if you'll allow
us to get our lunch...."
Everyone took the hint as Nabiki drifted off and parted way,
allowing her and Ranma a way through unmolested.
Sitting at a Table, let's do Lunch:
"Ranma, you said you were in China, training, in front of the
class. What for?" asked a relatively unimportant member of the
student body.
Ranma (to whom all the members of the student body were equally
unimportant) answered tersely in between bites of lunch, "Martial
arts."
"How good are you?" asked another student.
"Good enough."
"Good enough for what?"
"Anything. Certainly better than anyone around here." Ranma
stood then left, having finished both his lunch and the
interrogation.
Nabiki also stood, to make herself better heard. "Gentlemen,
ladies, that will be all for today. Now, pay up."
The money collected, Nabiki left the cafeteria to go to her
locker, which, coincidentally enough, was in roughly the same
direction Ranma had been headed.
The bell, the streets, the end of school:
Students of Furinkan flood the streets once the school day
ends. Waves of teen-aged boys and girls in too tight collars and
too long skirts rushed the gates, pouring through into the street
in front. Riding the crest of one of the waves is a young man not
in uniform and two young women.
"Akane!" A shout from behind the trio, from the halls of the
school to be more precise, or from one Tatewaki Kuno, to be even
more accurate. "I have need of words with you. Will you wait a
moment?"
The longer-haired of the two women sighed and turned to the
other. "Will you wait for me for a few seconds while I go see what
Kuno wants?"
Nabiki (being the 'other' of the two women) glanced at Ranma
for a fraction of a second (who was merely standing there looking
into the distance) and grinned back at her sister. "Isn't it
obvious what he wants, Akane? He wants you!"
Akane snorted in derision and left to talk to the
upperclassman.
"What are you looking at?" Nabiki looked in the same direction
Ranma was, the direction her house was, and saw nothing out of the
ordinary.
"She's probably there by now, you know. I'm probably talking to
her right now," Ranma said a little distantly. Was that eagerness
in his voice? Whistfulness? Trepidation? Perhaps a combination of
all these things and more; Nabiki could not tell.
"Who is 'she?'" Nabiki asked. "Oh! Your mother. Why are you
worried? Haven't seen her in a long time?"
Ranma nodded, never once taking his eyes away from their
far-off view. "Didn't even know she was alive. I haven't seen or
heard about her in ten years. I don't even remember what she looks
like."
Nabiki wasn't sure how to reply. She was about to say something
when Akane and Kuno interrupted her.
"What do you want, Kuno baby?" Nabiki said, the familiar
combination of snakeoil charm and barely hid contempt already
making an appearance in her voice.
"I wish to know who this man is that consorts with the sisters
Tendo," spoke the imperious Tatewaki Kuno.
Nabiki performed the necessary introductions. "Ranma Saotome,
Tatewaki Kuno. Tatewaki Kuno, Ranma Saotome. Ranma's father and our
father are good friends from long ago."
"And what," Tatewaki inquired, turning to Ranma, "are you doing
with them now?"
"It ain't your business."
Nabiki added, "They just got back from China and popped in
to--"
"Get Ranma married to one of us," Akane suddenly interjected,
surprisingly, because she had not previously looked interested in
the conversation.
"What?" Tatewaki roared. "You shall not have Akane!"
Tatewaki was in the process of grabbing his ever-present bokken
when Ranma replied through clenched teeth, "I've already got
someone else back in China where we're going back to very soon."
Nabiki, a fraction of a second later than Ranma retorted,
"Besides, no one has said anything about Akane. He could have
Kasumi... or me." Nabiki moved a little closer to Ranma-- to
emphasise her point and hopefully stop Kuno's rampage.
As for Tatewaki? He stopped his blow and peered deeply into
Ranma's face. "I see you speak truth. I see the flame of love burns
within you for this Chinese girl, just as it burns within me for
Akane. You may depart now; still, if I see you making designs on
the beauteous Akane...." Tatewaki turned around and with one
lightning quick gesture brought his bokken down, cutting deep into
the pavement though it never touched the ground.
Tatewaki walked away, presumably to his home while the two
Tendo sisters and their houseguest looked on.
"Could've taken him easily, y'know," Ranma said to Nabiki.
"Why'd you interfere?"
"Because I thought you'd want to get home to see your mother
sooner, and fighting Kuno-baby would have taken up some time. You'd
also want to make a good impression, as well," Nabiki replied
effortlessly.
Ranma shrugged and headed off to see his mother. The two Tendo
sisters followed.
In the martial artists' lair:
Ranma arrived at the Tendo dojo a few paces ahead of Akane and
Nabiki. Ranma opened the door and greeted himself, who was just
arriving. The Ranma on the inside of the doorway had a kettle in
his other hand, and a smile on his face.
"How did it go?" asked the arriving Ranma, face somewhat
anxious.
"Find out soon enough. We're not dead, at least," answered the
other, somewhat mysteriously.
Before the arriving Ranma could ask what he meant by that
remark, he poured hot water on himself, leaving a pile of damp (but
warm) clothing and one dry Ranma at the doorway.
Ranma blinked. He blinked again, then smiled, pure pleasure on
his face, no room for anything else but an innocent happiness.
Striding into the living room purposefully, Ranma left both
Nabiki and Akane with no other choice but to follow, if they wished
to decipher his last cryptic comment. He had the damp clothes he
wore when he answered the door in his left hand and his schoolbag
in his right.
The living room was a sight to behold. Soun was there, sitting
by the table drinking tea, and Kasumi was there, pouring tea for
her father. Genma was there too, although he was not drinking any
tea because there was an unrecognisable woman there dressed
traditionally in a kimono beside him with her hands running
continuously through his hair and a rapt expression on her face. A
moment of scrutiny did allow Nabiki to recognise the woman, whose
features were somewhat reminiscent of Ranma's (it was obvious which
side of the family he took after in looks, which was known as a
very good thing), and the look on her face... was the exact same
one Ranma had on a moment ago at the door. His mother then, that's
who she had to be.
"We're back," Ranma said cheerily.
Genma nodded in Ranma's direction and said, "Nodoka."
Obviously Nodoka was the name of Ranma's mother, since she
looked up from the attention lavished on his father's new
hirsuteness, and asked, "Who was it?"
"Just me an' Nabiki an' Akane... mister Tendo's other two
daughters. We just got back from school."
Nodoka wasn't so distracted by her husband's new growth that
she did not hear the use of the "we" pronoun. Her eyes narrowed
slightly. "What do you mean 'we?' You were here today."
"Ah, yeah. That's the thing we were waiting to talk about.
Y'see, while we were here, I was also at school."
"That's impossible! How can you be in two places at the same
time?"
"Dad?"
Genma reached for the glass of water on the table beside him,
and drenched himself with it, with predictable results. Nodoka was
suitably shocked.
"We went to this trainin' groun' in China, right? S'called
Jusenkyo. Lotsa pools there, an' each one had sumthin' dif'rent
drown in each. Now, whatever one y'fall in, you take the shape of.
Hot water turns you back to normal," Ranma explained to his still
stunned mother.
Kasumi demonstrated how one went about returning one so
afflicted to normal by pivoting gracefully, causing the hot water
which was going into her father's teacup to now land on Genma.
"And... you? What do you turn into, son?" asked Nodoka warily.
"Best to demonstrate."
Genma threw a pitcher of water at Ranma, activating Ranma's
curse. Just before the water reached him, however, Ranma flung the
clothes in his left hand into the air. They never reached the
ground, being snatched and worn by a newly created Ranma.
Ranma grinned. "Twins," he said.
Nodoka blinked. She did it again, and finding it was a good
feeling, decided to do so once more. Tentatively, she smiled, a
fleeting thing which grew bigger and stronger exponentially, until
it encompassed everyone and everything in the whole room. "You
really are a manly man then, aren't you?" and then she laughed.
Demurely. Behind her hand. Not great big loud peals of laughter,
howling around the room like a storm, certainly not that, but
quiet... dignified. Everyone else joined in, and some of _their_
laughter _was_ of the loud, torrential nature.
After the laughter subsided and the tears were wiped away,
Nabiki remembered something that was nagging her since they were
greeted by Ranma at the door. "What did you mean by, 'We're still
alive,' Ranma?"
"Oh, some promise pop made when we went started our training
journey. I just found out about it today. If I didn't turn out to
be a man amongst men, then me an' dad woulda had to commit
seppuku," Ranma said in an offhand tone.
Nodoka nodded and held up a somewhat weathered parchment. "I
still have the contract here. I won't be needing it anymore." A
quick movement with her wrists, and the document was in two pieces.
"I guess Ranma will be living back home again then, yes?" Akane
asked happily, and why not? Ranma and his father, who she had not
met nor heard of until yesterday were out of her house, and the
woman (who seemed to be nice enough) was reunited with her son,
whom she had not seen in at least ten years. A happy ending for
Nodoka, Ranma and for herself; why should she not be glad that
everything worked itself out?
Alas, nothing works out quite the way it should ever since
William Lau had a son named Murphy.
Nodoka blushed furiously. "Actually... My husband and I haven't
seen each other in a very long time, and we have some... catching
up... to do. If it isn't too much trouble, we were wondering if
Ranma could stay with you for a few days...."
Soun leapt at the chance to keep Ranma closer to his daughters,
increasing the chance Ranma might take a liking to one of them and
so fulfill the promise. Genma was of a similar opinion; that Ranma
should stay with the Tendos for that... and for other... which we
won't go into right now. Nabiki kind of liked the idea of having a
strong, good-looking and definitely date-worthy boy living in the
same house as her.
In fact, the only two who had any objections were Akane and
Ranma.
"But I haven't seen you in a long time too!" Ranma objected.
Akane did not voice an objection, but her displeasure did show
on her face.
"One of you can see me while the other is at school, Ranma,"
his mother replied sensibly. "It'll be just you and me, with your
father out working."
"Working?" Genma asked weakly.
"Of course. How else do you expect to support us, dear?"
Ranma grinned slightly at the thought of his father actually
making a (semi)honest living. It was worth it. "Okay, but only for
a bit. I'm going back to China as soon as I can."
Soun was happy.
Nodoka was happy.
Nabiki was happy.
Kasumi was Kasumi.
Genma was happy, sad and really, really, hot-to-trot at the
same time.
Ranma could live with it.
Akane would have to live with it. As long as he didn't try
anything to hit on her, she could live with it. Maybe he could
help with her training....
-And now for the obligatory and probably useless after-fic stuff!-
Next part: Ryoga (whadaya mean, you're a _______?)
Neko-ken!
Genma gets a job!
Kodachi!
And if we're all very lucky, Shampoo! (it ain't what yer
thinkin' I'll tell ya that right now!)
Hey wow! These notes are actually somewhat relevant to the fic!
What a novel experience for me! (kinda weird, you ask me... gives
me the willies) ^_^
(
geocities.com/tokyo/flats) (
geocities.com/tokyo)