Chapter 8: Confusing Relations

 
They were woken up, disoriented from the change in their sleep cycle, early the next morning. Actually, only three of them were woken up; Ran-kun was already up, using the computer, but the others had to be rather forcefully awoken, while Ran-kun had to be forcefully dragged away from the computer.
 
After showers and a change of clothing (exact duplicates of what they were wearing; no one asked how they managed it), they ate breakfast with their hosts, a distinctly awkward scene for all parties involved except perhaps Nabiki, who chatted rather amiably with Ran-kun.
 
Or perhaps it was only awkward for Ranma.

He had taken the seat opposite Kuno, and between Akane and Ran-kun. It made a few people go cross-eyed, looking at the two of them sitting so closely together like that, but he hadn’t had much of a choice in the matter, having been the last person to sit down.

Kuno kept looking at him, a puzzled expression on his face, so he avoided him by talking with Akane and Kasumi.

“So, we’re fighting wizards?” he asked between bites.

“You could say that,” Akane answered, hesitantly.

“You did say it, last night,” he pointed out.

“I’m sorry if my explanation confused you,” Kasumi told him. “We have fought magic-users in the past, and we’re fighting the Wolf Pack right now, not just wizards as a category.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Not all magi are evil. Just the Wolf Pack, and not even all of them. We, personally, are currently getting ready to make an attack on their headquarters, since we recently found out where it was.”

“So that’s why you needed help,” Ranma reasoned. “Take out their leader, take out them.”

“Essentially, yes. Actually, we’re not even sure why we needed you; from our reconnaissance, the five of us should be able to take them down. However, we’re grateful for any help we can get. It’s been… a little more difficult since our leader died. I doubt your resemblance to her is accidental.”

“My resemblance to her… yeah. That’s still a little freaky.” He glanced at Kuno, briefly. “I just wish he’d stop looking at me…”

“You can’t blame him,” Akane said. “He loved her very much, and her death was very painful for him.”

Ranma grimaced. “Loved her… I feel sorry for her, having to deal with that all the time. It’s bad enough just half the time…”

“Hey! Don’t say that! They…”

“Akane…” Kasumi cut her sister off. “Maybe we should find out what he means by that… Ranma?”

“Look, I don’t know what happened here, but I can make a guess.”

“Go on…”

Ranma sighed. “Well, in my world, my old man engaged me to probably a dozen girls; for stupid reasons, most of the time. It was usually for money – so I’m guessing here that he engaged your Ranma to Kuno, for the money. It wouldn’t surprise me.”

When he finished speaking, he realized that the table had grown quiet, and everyone was listening to what he was saying.

Akane was speechless, but Kasumi kept talking calmly. “That would be quite impossible, as Ranma’s father died when she was very young. But you have not explained your comment, about how it was bad enough only half the time…”

“The Kuno in my world chased after my girl half. Never even realized that it was just a curse,” Ranma said, letting his annoyance show in his voice.

“It wasn’t the same way here, I can assure you, Ranma,” Kasumi told him. “Tatchi’s fiancée loved him very much.”

“Somehow I knew that,” Ranma mumbled, looking down.

“What?”

“Every Ranma’s had someone but me. He’s happy, she… was happy. He’s got him, she had him. Probably ‘cause their fathers died when they were little. Guess I’m damned ‘cause he lived.” He stood suddenly, and left the room.

“I wonder what’s happened to him…”

“Well,” Nabiki spoke up from the opposite side of the room, “we can always ask the person who knows.” She looked expectantly at Ryouga, who tensed.

“It’s mostly his own fault,” he told them. “Don’t feel sorry for him.”

“From what I understand, you don’t have the least biased opinion of him,” Ran-kun spoke up.

“And how do you know? You can’t know him all that well.”

“He told me his story,” Ran-kun explained. “Most of his problems weren’t really his fault, unless you count not resolving them properly until he was in too much of a mess to clean it up easily. And part of that mess is you, you know.”

“It’s his fault! He leads those girls on!”

“Would you want to upset any of them?”

Ryouga didn’t answer.

“Look, I’m not defending him. But I think I can explain. He’s got three fiancées, currently, and two of them were engaged to him by his own father. One, for the dowry, which he promptly ran off with, the other, to join his school with another so that he could retire and mooch of his own son. Not that he worked anyway, but that was the plan. The third was an accident, from what I can understand – he defeated a Chinese Amazon in combat, which engaged her to him. He’s also got the enraged admirer of the Amazon after him, an old friend from junior high school who has magnified an old feud totally out of proportion, and a boy who chases after his girl-side, not realizing that it’s just a curse, and who hates his boy-side.” He stopped, and took a deep breath.

No one spoke for a while.

“I didn’t know that Chinese Amazons were engaged to marry whoever bested them in combat,” Nabiki commented idly, looking at Mu Tsu.

“It only applies to the females…” he answered weakly.

“And I’m noticing you’re not using any names,” Nabiki continued, “but I can guess who some of them are, and judging by the large coincidence that I know that many of them, I probably know the others, so why don’t you just tell me their names?”

“You’re right, you probably do know some of them. Some of them, or their counterparts at least, are sitting in this room right now. How do you know that you’re not one of them? It wouldn’t do me any good to tell you, it would just mess everything up.”

Nabiki’s eyes narrowed, her expression becoming deadly serious. “I want to know because I want to know which one of my sisters that he thinks “my fiancée” when he looks at her. I know about that old agreement our father signed with Ranma’s, that if one family had a boy and the other a girl that they would be married. I don’t want him thinking of me, or one of my sisters, as some girl who is bound to him by some sort of infernal agreement. So name names, and name them quickly.”

Ran-kun drew back, a little intimidated. “It’s Akane. He was engaged to Akane. And the girl who’s dowry his father stole was a girl named Ukyou, the Amazon was named Shampoo, her admirer was Mousse, the old friend was Ryouga here, and the one who chases his girl side was Kuno, as you already know. There. Are you happy?”

Nabiki grinned ferally and nodded. “I’ll warn him to stay away from my sister personally.”

Mu Tsu spoke. “Shampoo… do you mean Xian Pu by that name?”

Ran-kun shrugged. “I don’t know. But I think that Mousse must have been your counterpart, because he called you ‘Mousse’ when we first got here…”

Mu Tsu nodded. “I know. So it must have been Xian Pu. He… defeated her in combat?”

“Twice, from what I understand. Once on the challenge-log in the Amazon village as a female, the other time in Japan as a male, when she came for the life of the outsider who had defeated her.”

Mu Tsu seemed impressed. “To defeat the heiress of the matriarch of the Amazon tribe, he must be powerful indeed.”

“I saw him fight, once. And indeed, I do believe that he is rather strong.”

Akane stood. “I think we’d be a little disappointed if he wasn’t, given what our Ranma was like. I think this would be a good time to test that strength… and I know that I personally would like a shot at him.”

Nabiki stood as well. “Good idea, sis. I don’t think you’re the only one who wants a shot at him…”

Everyone looked at each other, and agreed.

***

It wasn’t too hard to find Ranma, who had naturally gotten lost in the unfamiliar compound. He was snatched out of a hallway and dragged, very confused, to an almost ridiculously large, metal-walled practice arena.

He agreed to the idea of a series of practice matches easily enough. The first one he faced off against was Akane.

“You fight barehanded?” she asked before they began.

“Yep.”

“Very well. Let’s begin.”

“Ok.” He let her make the first move, rather than taking advantage of the possible head start.

***

He wasn’t at best form for the first fight, but it turned out not to matter much after all. It was a more difficult match than if it had been against the Akane that he knew, but he still managed to win it handily enough. It was a good warmup, though.

Mousse had also been reasonably easy. He was, like Akane, more skilled than his counterpart that Ranma knew, but not enough. It may have been because he didn’t use any of his hidden weapons, instead fighting barehanded like Ranma, but even so he was almost difficult to beat.

Kuno, on the other hand, had been a pain. He admitted to himself that he had been somewhat reckless in that fight (he never even thought that he may have been tired), but he still managed to win it, albeit with some difficulty, likely only because he limited himself with his attacks, something he always did unless it was a serious fight. For instance, even though it would’ve ended the match rather quickly, he refrained from blasting the poor guy with a Mouko Takabisha or a Hiryu Shoten Ha. Though he was tempted to.

Ryouga stepped up next, and although Ranma was all for fighting his familiar rival, they made him stop, pointing out that he was probably tired.

“I’m not tired,” he insisted, fanning himself with one hand. He wasn’t tired, but that had been a good workout, enough to make him sweat even in the air-conditioned room.

“You look hot, though,” came a voice from behind him. He started to turn to answer, but even has he did he was drenched from behind with a wave of cold water. So the turn was completed with him as a she.

“What’d ya do that for?” she demanded, considerably upset by the drenching.

Nabiki simply put down the now-empty bucket. “You looked hot, I said. That was the best way to cool you down, since you were so objectionable to a break.”

Ranma grimaced, and looked around the room. Everyone was looking at her, particularly Ryo-kun, who had yet to see him in his cursed form. Ran-kun poked him, making him blink and look away.

Kuno looked pained, and averted his gaze. She looked just like his Ranma… the sight brought back painful feelings.

“Well then, if this will do instead of rest, I’m ready to fight now.” She did actually, feel refreshed. A little tired, but those other fights hadn’t been that hard… and his enemies had been courteous, unlike when he usually fought those three.

“I don’t usually fight girls,” Ryouga commented, crossing his arms over his chest. “But I’ll make an exception.”

“Okay, pig-boy. Hey,” he continued, turning back to Nabiki, “is there a place we can fight outside?”

“Why?”

“Don’t want to damage this place. And it’s a little to enclosed. Don’t want any of you guys getting caught in anything.”

“Too… enclosed?” Nabiki looked around. The room was easily twenty meters in each direction, and five high. “Sure, we have an arena outside.” She wondered if he was just idly boasting, but he – she – seemed serious.

***

Everyone, including Kuno, came outside with them, standing at the side of a huge ring that was roughly three times larger in area than the arena than the indoor room.

Ranma kicked the ground a few times. “Hey, concrete. That should make you happy.”

Ryouga scowled. “No holding back for this one.”

Ranma grinned. “Right, might as well show off. Have fun with your excavation work, Ryouga – and try not to get lost.”

They faced off. All was still for a second, then both went into furious motion. Ryouga moved first, attacking not Ranma but the ground beneath her feet.

“Bakusai Tenketsu!” he cried, and it exploded, leaving a crater a good three feet in diameter and debris scattered ten times that far. Ranma had dodged, but not quite fast enough; a sharp stone had hit one arm, leaving a thin gash that was bleeding slightly.

“Ouch,” she commented, and grinned. “My turn. Mouko Takabisha!”

The ball of blazing white chi energy shot out from her outstretched hands and hit Ryouga squarely on the chest, knocking him back a few feet.

“Not bad,” Ryouga said, “considering that you are pretty tired, after all.” Then he attacked again, conventionally this time.

Ranma dodged easily, and then started the fight in earnest. Even though she was a little tired, she refused to admit it and continued showing off for the rest of the fight, making sure to use every trick she knew. However, for some reason Ryouga wasn’t really angry with her, which stumped her and her attempt at a Hiryu Shoten Ha.

Ryouga also used every technique he knew except the ones he needed his umbrella for, as that had been left behind, and the perfect Shishihoukodan, although he did fire off several smaller ones. Ranma was a little surprised at that, actually – he wasn’t in the habit of using those often. But then again, Ranma didn’t usually use the Mouko Takabisha in fights.

Even though he usually just dodged the energy blasts, Ranma was sure to demonstrate how his own attack negated Ryouga’s. Generally, though, they kept to physical attacks – those were impressive enough, anyway.

Ryouga didn’t spare the use of his Bakusai Tenketsu, though, and ironically it ended the match. He wasn’t expecting to hit a water pipe, and although he didn’t want to stop fighting, it was rather difficult for him to continue to do so as a small black piglet.

The others were a little confused to see Ranma walk out of the cloud of dust that hovered over the field carrying a small animal in one hand, but then they remembered Ryouga’s curse and relaxed.

On their way back inside, a wide-eyed Mu Tsu confronted Ranma. “Where did you learn those techniques? The Amaguriken, the Bakusai Tenketsu. How do you two know them?”

Ranma, tired, looked at him. “Y’mean all the old amazon tricks? The old ghoul Cologne showed ‘em to us…”

Mu Tsu didn’t understand for a moment. “Do you mean Ku Lon?” At Ranma’s nod, his eyes widened. “Why would the matriarch teach such techniques to two male outsiders?”

Ranma sighed. “Long story. Long, long story. Don’t worry about it.” She walked faster, letting Mu Tsu fall behind.

She, or some version of her, deemed him worthy… there must be something very special about him…

***

Kasumi had watched the fights more intently than she normally would have, to even her own surprise. Sure, she needed to know how strong their allies were, but she normally would have allowed Nabiki to analyze their abilities and worked with that data. Her specialty, after all, was in preventing damage to her allies, not causing it to her enemies (although if forced to she was a pretty good fighter). But she found herself intently watching every move in all four fights.

Nabiki was surprised a little by this (don’t think for a moment that it hadn’t escaped her notice), but shrugged it off to the fact that the fights – particularly the last one – had been rather more interesting than what they were used to. She had had the feeling during the first three that Ranma had been holding back, and it was confirmed in the fourth. He must be stronger male, yet he did that female… and after three other fights that left him quite tired… amazing . She wasn’t one to use such praise lightly, and yet it came naturally to her thoughts. She suppressed, however, her amazement. The boy obviously had enough of an ego already. She didn’t need to boost it by being obviously impressed.

***

Ran-kun and Ryo-kun stayed behind. “I never learned that one…” Ryo-kun mused to himself, looking at the pits that dotted the concrete surface. “I wonder how…” he picked up a chunk of concrete and examined it. “Impressive.”

“The learning process involved being hung from a tree and having large boulders swung at you – not aimed to miss, either - until you could break them into pebbles with one finger,” Ran-kun told him dryly. “Still want to learn?”

That earned him an incredulous look from his lover. “Wow… he agreed to that?”

“Eagerly. He’s got quite the rivalry going with my counterpart.”

Ryo-kun nodded. “I noticed. Weird… I can feel sorry for him, though. I should, I suppose… I’ve always been glad that I left behind my wandering days years ago, but he never did…”

“I know. It’s really been tough for him. Did you see that energy attack he did? From what I was told, those kind of attacks are based on emotional energy. And his – depression, specifically.”

“Was that what that woman said that I was no longer suitable for? Well, I guess that’s right. Maybe before, or maybe when I get lost, but not anymore.” He smiled.

“Ranma’s – er, the other one’s – attack is based off confidence, and she said you could probably use that one. Why don’t you try?”

“Now?”

“Sure, why not? He said you do it by bringing up as much of that particular emotion as you could and concentrating it into the spot between your hands.”

“Ok… I’ve never done anything like this before, but…” he stepped out into the middle of the circle and closed his eyes. Concentrating, he pictured that red-haired girl cupping her hands together and crying out the phrase. Bringing his hands up, he now summoned other memories. Out in the wild, winning fights. That band of poachers he had found once. Bruising and busting them had been fun. Practicing in front of Ranma, knowing that he was being watched and admired. Trying, futilely, to teach Ranma how to fight that one time. Coming home, knowing that Ranma was waiting for him. Defeating most of the class the one time he bothered to take a formal martial arts lesson… “Mouko Takabisha!” he shouted, willing something to happen.

A cloud of white air puffed from his fingertips with a distinct fizzling sound.

From the sidelines, Ran-kun clapped. Ryo-kun blushed and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “That wasn’t very good, I don’t think…”

“What are you talking about? It was your first time even trying! That was great!” Ran-kun was grinning from ear to ear. “Practice makes perfect, try again!”

But he hesitated. “I just don’t think that confidence is the emotion for me. I’ll never be much of an egomaniac… besides, I’m not nearly as good as those two…” he sighed, a little depressed.

Ran-kun ran up and hugged him tightly. “Love, if you’d have to go through what he to be strong, I’d rather you be the weakest thing on earth. It doesn’t matter to me, we’re probably superfluous anyway. They’re as strong as ten people. I just really think you can do this, but if you don’t want to, that’s fine.”

Ryo-kun thought for a second. “Did he say that the only emotions that work are confidence and depression?” he asked slowly.

Ran-kun tried to remember. “No,” he answered eventually, “In fact I think that the confidence one was made up by him…”

“Okay then, I’ve got an idea…” he ran, grinning, to the center of what remained of the circle and repeated what he had done before, at least on the outside. Ran-kun couldn’t tell what he did differently this time, but slowly a ball of blue energy formed in his hands and grew, until apparently it was too much and Ryo-kun released it, with a strained, wordless yell. It was a small blast, but impressive enough.

When he remembered to blink, Ran-kun whooped and cheered wildly, and ran up to him, pouncing with a hug and shower of kisses that made him stumble a little. “You did it! You did it!”

Ryo-kun smiled wearily. He felt exhausted, drained, ready to just fall over and sleep for a month or two, but he had succeeded! Of course, it was in no small part because of “Ranma,” he said wearily to the boy who had glomped him but good, “thank you…”

Ran-kun, seeing that he was tired, disengaged himself. “So what did you do? You used a different emotion, didn’t you? What was it?” he asked excitedly.

Ryo-kun smiled wider and put his hands on the other’s shoulders. “I’ll tell you later,” he whispered, planting a kiss on those tempting lips to reward himself. “But for now…” his expression became pleading. “I really need to lay down…”

“Okay, I’m sorry…” Ran-kun let Ryo-kun lean on him, and helped him walk inside.

***

~Mordain

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