Part Two, Chapter 5: A Short Break From The Chasing of the Kaisufuu
Ranma leaned back against the wall of the hot water pool and sighed, closing his eyes. As much as he’d tried to protest their coming to the public bathhouse, he was certainly glad they had. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been able to relax at one; it was far too easy of a place for his curse to cause him trouble, normally. But the only person here who even knew who he was, much less knew about his curse, was Ryouga, and she was on the other side of the wall that separated the women’s side from the men’s.
This bathhouse wasn’t nearly as modern or glamorous as the one in Nerima, he reflected, but it was still quite nice. And cheaper, too, the frugal portion of his brain commented. Finding a pair of crumpled thousand-yen bills at the bottom of Ranma’s backpack had been a streak of luck, to say the least.
Of their own accord, his eyes cracked open ever so slightly, and he looked in the direction of the wall that had female voices coming from the other side. He hoped Ryouga would be okay over there…
Of course she will, his rational brain told him. She doesn’t have to worry about hot or cold water, after all – not like you.
Ranma re-closed his eyes and wriggled a little against the tiles of the side of the bath, trying to find a more comfortable spot. She’ll do fine, he assured himself. After all, she was the one who wanted to come here in the first place – and she seemed much better today then yesterday. I hope she wasn’t faking it, though… like she was last week. It’s obvious, thinking back, that she wasn’t feeling as well as she pretended to. I should’ve expected it – after all, this *is* Ryouga we’re talking about. She wouldn’t want to show weakness, not to me for sure. And with – well, this should help. It sure is relaxing… he sighed contentedly.
***
Ryouga wasn’t nearly as calm. She had managed to delay actually entering the bath by stretching out her stop at the restroom – although that had been a traumatizing experience in and of itself - but now she was standing in front of the door with the large kanji for ‘woman’ painted neatly on it, and her confidence had fled in terror. It took a few minutes, but eventually she reminded herself that there was no point in having come at all if she didn’t bathe, and opened the door.
Even though she’d gotten over nosebleeding at the sight of female skin, she still had to force herself into a regular breathing pattern to steady her heart rate and prevent a fainting spell. Once she had managed to relax, though, she found that it actually wasn’t all that bad. There weren’t very many other people there, and none of them paid her much attention as she undressed and washed, although she could feel a few of them spare her a curious glance.
Finally it was over, and she lowered herself into the water with a sigh of relief. The warmth soaked into her – she hadn’t realized how cold she had been until she was suddenly warm again. She breathed deeply, letting the almost too-hot vapors complete the infusion of heat into her body and her eyes slide closed.
The remarkably simple motion made everything change for the better. Uncertainty faded away; now that she couldn’t see anyone, she could pretend she was alone. Conversation was a low buzz, overshadowed by the roar of the water recalculation system of the giant tub. She sighed, settling further down to relax.
Suddenly a stream of cold water hit her squarely on the nose.
“What the…” she sputtered, opening her eyes again to see who had done that. A little girl, maybe ten years old, stood waist-deep in the water in front of her, holding a small, bright green plastic water gun. Ryouga blinked at her. Wha…
“Sorry…” the little girl mumbled in apology, belatedly hiding the water gun behind her back as she did so. But she didn’t move. After a moment of just staring at Ryouga unnervingly, she finally blurted out, “I like your hair.”
Ryouga absently touched her hair. “Um… thank you…”
“It’s pretty,” the girl went on, less bashfully now. “Pink’s my favorite color.” When Ryouga didn’t answer, the little girl went on. “How’d you get pink hair?”
Ryouga was at a loss for what to say, but answered anyway. “That’s just the way it happened.”
“Oh.” The girl seemed to consider that for a moment, and pulled a lock of her own black hair forward to examine it. “I wish mine was pink.” The she looked up at Ryouga and examined her more critically. “You should grow your hair longer. And that headband clashes.”
Fashion advice from a little girl… only you, Ryouga, only you would get that… and take it halfway seriously, at least… She pulled off her bandanna before she could think better of it. “You think so?” she answered, just to humor the child.
“Well,” she answered, little face set in a serious, thoughtful expression, “it’s okay short. But it’s much better without the headband.”
“Bandanna,” Ryouga corrected absently, pushing the clinging wet locks out of her face. She ran a hand through the mop of hair to adjust it to existence without something to hold it back. She was doubtful of the possible success of that tactic, but it didn’t fall in her eyes again.
The girl’s face crinkled in confusion. “What?”
“Bandanna,” Ryouga repeated more slowly, unfolding said object to show her.
She reached for it hesitantly, examining it closely when Ryouga relinquished it. “Bandanna,” she repeated, looking at it’s never-repeating pattern of fused squares curiously. “It’s kinda pretty,” she finally admitted. “But it doesn’t look pretty with your hair.”
“Really? Well, I know it looks ok with black hair…” On a whim, Ryouga took back the bandanna, folded it up again, and tied it around the child’s head, being careful to keep the knot loose. Then she leaned back and made a show of judging how it looked on her. To her surprise, she could see that now, with her bangs pushed away from her face, the girl’s eyes weren’t black like they had seemed, but rather deep blue with pupils outlined with a circle of reflected yellow-gold from the bandanna. “It looks pretty with your eyes,” she finally told the apprehensive-looking girl.
“Really?” her entire face lit up, and she touched the bandanna nervously. “Can I…” she trailed off, nervous about asking the question.
Ryouga nodded. “You can have it.” I’ve got dozens more, what does just one matter?
Suddenly the girl hugged her tightly, then jumped away, blushing slightly. “Thank you, miss…” she said politely, bowing awkwardly in the water that was a little too deep for her. She was practically glowing. “I promise I’ll take good care of it, and not let Kenji-ani steal it.”
“Well,” Ryouga told her seriously, “Tell your older brother that if he takes it, Ryouga Hibiki will take it right back from him.”
She nodded furiously, smiling. “Is he /your/ big brother?”
Ryouga hesitated for a moment, but when she started to answer, there was a loud call from the other side of the room. “Megumi-chan! Where are you?”
The girl whirled at the sound of the voice. “I’m here, mom!” she called.
An older woman, wrapped in a towel, rushed into their view. “Oh, heavens, Meg-chan, don’t frighten me like that. We’re leaving soon, get ready to go.”
“Yes mom.” The girl scurried out of the water. Before running off, though, she turned back to Ryouga. “Thank you…”
Ryouga’s lips turned ever so slightly upwards. “You’re welcome,” she whispered softly back as Megumi rushed off, calling excitedly after her mother.
***
Ranma sneezed and rubbed his nose irritably. Why was it so unavoidable… even when he was by himself… even when he was miles and miles away from Nerima… that no matter what he tried, /someone/ would always get him with cold water? He sneezed again. He’d managed to change back before everyone saw him, luckily, but it had still been embarrassing as hell – he wasn’t in Nerima anymore, where no one was surprised by anything anymore; he was lucky not to have been thrown out for the uproar that had been caused. Damn that little kid and his stupid water gun! Why couldn’t he at least have filled it with *warm* water? Ranma sneezed a third time, shivering in the relative cold of the bathhouse lobby. There were no benches, although he really wanted to sit down, so he had had to compromise by leaning up against the wall, clutching his bucket angrily under one arm. Well, as angrily as one could hold anything that contained a bar of soap, a small bottle of shampoo, a washcloth, and a rubber duck.
Yes, a rubber duck.
It was a reluctantly accepted gift from the younger brother of the older boy who had shot him with the cold water. He had been assured that it had originally belonged to the older brother – he had been insistent about that, telling Ranma the crucial information in quiet, fierce whispers. The little boy, who couldn’t have been more than six years old, hadn’t understood what had happened or why Ranma was so upset, but he had given Ranma the duck to apologize anyway. And to irritate his brother, Ranma had assumed.
So now Ranma was the slightly embarrassed possessor of a rubber ducky. What he was going to do with it, he had no idea, but he couldn’t bring himself to just throw it away.
He slumped further down against the wall. What’s taking so long?
It was if he had summoned her, because all of a sudden Ryouga appeared again, looking rather pleased with herself. He glanced at her with no particular expression, but he couldn’t totally erase the remnants of the cross look he had worn while waiting. Ryouga raised an eyebrow in response, not understanding the reason for his apparently upset mood.
“Took you long enough.”
“You could’ve taken longer yourself, y’know.”
“Whatever. Let’s go.”
Ranma turned away. Ryouga flashed him an annoyed look that just bounced harmlessly off of his back. Don’t think I’ve changed that much, Ranma… hey, wait a minute, is that a rubber ducky?
***
AN: Kenji-ani - my older brother Kenji.
Kanji - Chinese characters that were borrowed by the Japanese many many years ago; now an intregal part of the Japanese writing system. Kanji is used for most nouns (proper and regular) as well as verb and adjective stems.If there is any other vocabulary that may confuse you, please let me know and I'll tell you what they mean.
~Mordain