Abandoning One's Manhood
Part 1: I Know It's Around Here SOMEWHERE...
by Minako
All of the Ranma 1/2 characters and related stuff belongs to Rumiko
Takahashi. Any original characters I may decide to stick in here are
mine, steal them and I'll cry. Then I'll get over it and steal them
back, after sending you flames until your email account is full. ^_^
-------
A man walked up the steps and through the door to the house. He
paused in the doorway, and turned to look at the door. 'I didn't leave
that unlocked...' he thought to himself.
"Ryouga? Ryouga, are you home?" There came no answer. The man
closed the door, then promptly slipped on something on the floor. He
slowly picked himself up, then looked at the small postcard he'd
slipped on. There was a picture of a panda bear on it. He flipped it
over and tried to decipher the writing on the back. It took a long
while, then he smiled.
"Ranma... such a nice name for a girl..." He said cheerfully,
"It says here they should be around sometime today. Hm... I think I'l
go fix them something to eat when they arrive, it must've been a long
trip from China..." The man walked deeper into the house. He made it to
the dining room, then a bedroom, then the bathroom. He sighed. "I
thought this house had a kitchen... oh well, I guess I'll have a bath
first."
-------
Ranma yawned. He was tired, or rather she was tired. And wet,
she hated being wet. Being wet meant being female. She glared at the
sky, the cause of her being not only wet and female, but cold. She
couldn't think of any way to blame being tired on the sky. Yawning
again, she tried to figure out the last time she'd slept. She came up
with three days, but may have been wrong. Her stomach growled, and she
tried to figure out the last time she had eaten. Growling softly, she
quickened her pace to come even with the panda in front of her.
"Hey old man, I thought you said you knew where we were going!"
She snapped at him. The panda nodded. "Yeah right, we've been wandering
Japan for almost a week now!" The panda nodded. Ranma twitched, and
opened her mouth to say something else. Then she noticed something
yellow flashing in the shrubs by the side of the road. Pausing, she
tried to pinpoint exactly where it was. After a minute, she darted off
the road and caught the small thing in her hand. The pig squealed.
Holding it by the yellow bandanna it had on around it's neck, Ranma
examined it. It was small, cute and black. Her stomach growled again.
It also looked very edible... She was brought out of her thoughts by a
panda's fist hitting her upside her head. "Hey! What did ya do that
for!?" She yelled spinning to yell at her father, but never releasing
the pig. The panda stared at her, then at the pig before turning and
crying on the ground.
*Oh... my son grows more female by the moment... the things it
does to a father's heart...* The sign read. Ranma kicked the panda in
the back of the head.
"What's that supposed to mean!?" The panda pointed at the pig,
then turned and began writing on another sign. Ranma waited impatiently
for her father to finish writing, silently seething at the insult to
her manhood.
*Alas, my son now keeps cute things as his pets...* The rest of
the sign was quickly becoming illegible due to the rain. Ranma sighed.
"Gimme a break Pop, I was thinkin' we could eat it later, I
mean, when was the last time we ate?" The panda turned and examined the
pig, then nodded again.
*We'll eat it later, we're almost there now...* The sign read.
Ranma sighed and nodded, then carefully tied the small pig to her bag.
It looked absolutely horrified. She grinned.
"Man, if you weren't a pig, I could swear you were afraid..."
Then, lifting the heavy bag back to her shoulder, Ranma continued after
her father, not noticing the yellow and green clothing, the red,
unopened umbrella, or the large travelling bag off to the side of the
road.
-------
"Hmm... This is not a kitchen." The man sighed as he looked
around at the bedroom. It was trashed, furniture flipped over, clothing
in odd places, stuff all over the floor. "I should really make Ryouga
clean his room..." He sighed. Then turned and left the room. Before he
knew it, he was in the bathroom again. Shaking his head, he left, only
to find himself in a different bedroom. Looking around, he smiled. This
room was in far better order, though nearly empty. "Well, I may as well
get some sleep while I'm here..." With that thought, the man went to
bed.
-------
"Hey, I thought you said this place was close!" Ranma yelled,
slamming her elbow down on the panda's head. The pig snorted. It was
still working on getting over the fact the girl's name was Ranma. The
bag jostled violently as she was tossed down a hill. The pig felt
itself get loose, only to be caught by Ranma's hand. "What the hell did
you do that for!!??" She yelled. The panda jumped down the hill after
her, and held up a sign.
*This is it.* The sign read. Ranma turned and looked behind
her, then turned around fully, bringing the pig around with her.
"Whoah, no kidding." Ahead of them was a large city. The pig
thought he recognized it, but then again, knowing this particular pig,
him recognizing it could mean it was anywhere.
-------
The man woke up and looked around the room. He smiled as he
remembered the occurrences of earlier in the day. Rising to his feet,
he looked around the room until he found the door, then he left the
room, only to find himself in the bathroom. He sighed.
"What is it with me and the bathroom?" He muttered, then he
turned and walked down the hall, only to end up in the dining room.
"Ok, if I'm in the dining room, the kitchen must be nearby." Turning
slowly, he looked for a door into a kitchen. That was when the doorbell
rang. "Oh, that must be them." The man headed upstairs.
-------
Ranma rang the doorbell for what had to be the fifteenth time.
"I don't think they're home." She announced, glad for a reason not to
stay.
The panda hit her on the head with a sign that read: *They HAVE
to be home.*, then he went up and knocked on the door. Hard.
"Coming! I'm, coming! Please, give me a minute." The voice came
from inside. Yet, no one arrived at the door.
"Hello?" Called out Ranma.
"I'm coming, really!" The voice said. Ranma sighed. Five
minutes passed.
"The hell he's coming." Muttered Ranma. It was then that the
door opened to reveal a man about her father's age. He had short
brown/black hair and green eyes. He looked vaguely familiar to Ranma,
but she couldn't figure out why. She had a bad feeling about it though.
"I'm really very sorry about that..." Said the man. "You must
be Ranma." She nodded.
"Yes, I am." She said, noting that her voice was female, and
cursing herself for not remembering to get hot water before coming.
"Good, good. Come in. I'm Hibiki Tanima. Um, may I ask why
you're travelling with a pig and a panda?"
"Um, that's a long story." Ranma was a bit confused at the
man's reaction, couldn't he tell she was female? The bad feeling she
had grew stronger.
"All right then, they're welcome here, I don't mind. Where's
your father Ranma?" Ranma sighed.
"Uh, he's around." She did not want to be the one who informed
him that her father was a panda at the moment.
"Alright, well, come along, I'll show you to the dining room."
He headed upstairs.
"Your dining room's upstairs?" Ranma asked, she'd never met
anyone who'd put their dining room on a floor seperate from their
kitchen. She could see the kitchen through the door down the hall.
"No, I suppose it isn't." He smiled and laughed. "This way." He
led them down the hall, and into the kitchen. Ranma heard him mutter
something that sounded like, "Oh, so now I find it..." but she ignored
it. He walked through the next door, and smiled. "Ah, here it is." He
said, proud of himself for some reason Ranma couldn't figure out, and
once again, he reminded her of someone who she couldn't think of.
"Take a seat, tell me about yourself. How's your father?" Ranma
removed her bag and sat, and the panda sat behind her. Absently, she
took the pig off the top of her bag and placed it on the table in front
of her.
-------
In the confusion and questions that came, no one noticed that
the pig had tears in its eyes as it saw someone it hadn't seen in
nearly five years.
-------
Alright, finished part 1, I think Tanima's a bit like Tofu-sensei.
Absent-minded, and he runs around laughing at his mistakes. Oh well,
maybe it's just me. ^_^ Well, I guess the end was kinda confusing, and
I know Ranma shouldn't have just walked in there without a fight, but
that part is still to come, it will be explained. Anyways, C&C're very
welcome, daybreak_impression@yahoo.ca and kind criticism's ok, but flames
make me cry.
(
geocities.com/tokyo/club/Club) (
geocities.com/tokyo/club) (
geocities.com/tokyo)