Disclaimer: These characters are not mine. They belong to the wonderful
Romiko Takahashi and her licensees (Viz Communications in North
America). This work is strictly for the non-profit enjoyment of fans.
No copyright infringement is intended.
===========================
Ranma Gets Tough
Prologue
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by TeW
Last update: Sept 17, 2000
==========================
Ranma was on the Tendo house roof again, looking at the night sky and
wishing he could see the stars better. You couldn't really see the
stars from here, not like in the country, or even better, in the
moutains. Here there were too many people making too much light and too
many machines making too much smog.
He'd always enjoyed being out in the country. In the country there was
always work he could do to earn a meal, or in the wild there was food
to find if you knew where to look. Here he was dependent on the Tendos
for food and shelter. Sometimes it seemed too much like Pop had sold
him to the Tendos for food and a roof. Not that he handn't used Ranma
that way before, but at least the other times were more-or-less
temporary arragments. It made him feel like property rather than a
human being.
The way he was treated didn't help much. With the exception of Kasumi
and Dr. Tofu, pretty much everyone treated him like property. Genma and
Soun had his whole life planned out, seemingly so they could sit back
and relax while he took care of everything. Akane alternated between
treating him like a friend and like an unwanted pet. Nabiki was worst
of all, using him shamelessly in her money-making schemes.
Those outside the house weren't much better. Cologne and Shampoo wanted
him back in there village as Shampoo's husband. A few talks with Mousse
when he was feeling less beligerant than usual told him that being a
husband in their village was little better than being a slave. His
other fiancee wasn't much better. Ukyou was okay when she was acting
like his old friend, but when she was in her "cute fiancee" mode she
too wanted to install him in her little world of an okyokanami
resturant and a bunch of kids.
Somewhere, in all the obligations and expectations, that he might want
anything was completely lost.
He *did* want things. He wanted some freedom, he wanted to do some
traveling again, he wanted to see the stars, he wanted someone to make
him less lonely.
More importantly, he was finding that he *needed* some things. He
needed respect. To be listened to. He needed to have what he wanted
matter, at least a little, to those around him. He *needed* it. He
could not continue to live this way and remain who he was. He would
rather end it, committ sepuka as he had thought his mother wanted, than
to have things continue the way they were.
But you didn't do something like that without trying to make changes
first. So he'd been trying things. He'd started with the obvious stuff,
avoiding those who bothered him the most, making sure his father felt
pain in their sparing sessions when he got too abusive, spending as
much time as possible with the few who seemed to consider him a human
being.
Two weeks of that and where was he? Ukyou and Shampoo were chasing him
harder than ever and yelling at him for not coming to see them, Nabiki
was using nastier tricks to get him to pose for pictures and to set up
fights for him, his parents were telling him that being "moody" like
this was unmanly, and Akane was angry because he was "comming on" to
Kasumi by helping with the dishes.
Changing the little stuff wasn't working.
Now the question was, what did he do next? Thing had only gotten worse
and he could just not tolerate it. He was seriously considering simply
leaving. It would be hard to avoid everyone, there were just too many
people that wanted a piece of him. Still, there were some
possibilities. He could go back to China and look for a cure, that
would limit his immediate problems to the Chinese Amazons. There were a
few places he'd run across in his travels that might make nice places to
hide out, at least for a while. He'd never liked running away from
problems, though. If things didn't get better pretty soon he'd have to
give it a try. That or the tantoo blade.
He'd come up here because he had an idea he had to think about.
Something Dr. Tofu had said a while ago had made him think about it. It
was one of those things he'd heard his father say dozens of times, but
Dr. Tofu saying it suddently made it seem like one of those big truths
that sound kind of trite when you put them into words, but are really
very important. He didn't remember the exact words, but that wasn't
important. Something like 'You must be careful, because martial arts
gives you power that is easy to misuse'.
Trying to make his life bearable didn't seem like misuse.
He'd seen others use their arts against him. Ryoga, Akane, Happosai,
Cologne, Kodachi, Kuno, even his parents. Except for his father he'd
never done more than was necessary to protect himself and others. Did
he really want to be like them though? The abuse of their art certainly
didn't increase his respect for them. So the question was how could he
use his power to get what he needed without becoming a bully?
It was very late when the answer came to him. The answer was honor. Not
the honor that his parents and others were trying to use to force him to
do their bidding, but the real thing. A code that wasn't the bully, the
obediant son, or the pliant fiance, but one by and for Ranma Saotome.
He smiled. This was it, this was going to work or nothing would. Ranma
Saotome was going to be himself, nothing more and nothing less. If that
wasn't good enough, then to hell with them all! He could leave in good
cousious knowing he'd done all he could.
Now he just had to figure out who he was.
* * *
It took another week to work it out. Another week of increasing
pressure all around from family, fiancees, and enemies. Once he thought
he had it he told Dr. Tofu the whole idea. He was rather surprised when
Dr. Tofu didn't tell him he was nuts, but just calmly suggested a few
changes and told him to come and talk to him if he had any problems. It
was Dr. Tofu who so consisely summarised the eight pages of written
notes as 'give everyone a chance, but then treat others the way they
treat you'.
It was also Dr. Tofu who told him to start immediately and not to
announce his intentions. Just start doing it.
He realized, as he was walking back to the Dojo from the clinic, that
he was actually looking forward to it.
=== End Prologue ===
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