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.
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Toshi-chan Book II
(Lite version - less angst)
Chapter 3
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by TeW
Last Update 2005-07-25
============================
Nodoka smiled as she prepared breakfast. It was so nice having children
around the house again, and a daughter now as well. She'd always wanted
a daughter. Of course with Toshi around she sort of had a daughter and a
half, not that Toshi spent much time in his female form. Nodoka stifled
a giggle as she remembered the morning before when Ranma, in girl form,
had accidentally walked in on Yuka and Akane while they were in the
bath. Akane had squealed and told him to get out while Yuka chided Akane
for not letting the 'girl' join them in the bath.
The really funny part was watching Yuka's face when they demonstrated
the curse.
Nodoka was just putting the dishes on the table when Yuka peeked around
the corner. "I'm sorry mother I was going to help you get breakfast, but
I overslept." She said, looking uncertain.
Nodoka waved her hand. "Thank you Yuka, but with just the three of us I
have no problem making our breakfast. You can help tomorrow if you
like...actually I think I might need your help tomorrow, as we are
likely to have two more for breakfast.
"Visitors?" Yuka asked as she sat down at the table.
"Not exactly. Your new father Genma and brother Ranma."
"Mom?" Toshi said from behind her.
"Yes dear?"
Toshi looked very nervous. "Are you sure we should do that? Pop doesn't
know about me yet, and...well me and Ranma..."
Nodoka gave him her best stern look. "I'm sure you will get along fine
with your younger brother."
Toshi shook his head. "Getting along with him is not what I'm worried
about. I'm worried about one of us disapearin' in a puff of smoke if we
meet."
Nodoka's managed not to drop the pan she was holding. "I-I thought from
our conversation earlier that nothing like that was going to happen!"
Toshi reached behind his head as if to pull at his hair, which was too
short for that to work. "I don't *know* anything for sure mom. I *think*
there's gonna be two of us. There aren't a lot of experts on this
subject."
Nodoka thought it through. She didn't want to take a chance with either
of her sons, even if they were sort of the same person. Yet she *had* to
talk to Genma about Toshi and Yuka, and eventually they would all be
living under the same roof.
She shook her head. "We will retrieve your father after school today. We
will proceed cautiously but we will proceed. Please come home
immediately after classes."
"Mother?" Yuka didn't ask the question, but Nodoka could hear it in her
voice.
"You will hear all about it Yuka. In fact Toshi, would you please pick
up Yuka on your way back today, I think she should come with us. That
will also give you a chance to speak with Akane, since you will not be
able to practice with her today. Your Saturday classes at the dojo do
not start until next week, correct?"
She could tell that he wanted to argue with her. Instead he just nodded
and said 'yes mom.' Such a good boy, she hoped Ranma was as well behaved
as his older 'brother'.
Nodoka planed as she served the children their breakfast. Should she
have Soun come along? Maybe even ask him to invite Akane? Genma would
likely listen to his old friend, and Soun had completely accepted
Toshi's story about his origins. Yes, invite Soun, and see what he
thought about inviting Akane along as well. Now how was she going to
arrange rooms for everyone?
* * *
Ranma had just had time to walk Yuka to the Junior high, where he had
time for a few moments with Akane before dashing off to the high school.
Now it was lunch and he just *had* to talk to someone about all this.
Before his jump back in time he would talk to Doctor Tofu or Ukyou. He
could still talk to Tofu, though the older man didn't know him that well
yet, and he had also found he could talk to Kasumi in much the same way
he had Ukyou.
It was rather odd really. He never could have talked to Kasumi this way
before, she seemed too disconnected and sweet to bother with the kinds
of things that happened to him. In this time she seemed to have a much
more interesting personality, and while she was still sweet, she could
get quite acid when talking about some of the other students and
teachers. Ranma had pretty much decided that Kasumi's time as a
homemaker had not been good for her.
Although Kasumi didn't have any great insights, the talk with her
settled Ranma's mind. At least it helped him get through his afternoon
classes. Once they were over he did his usual beeline for the Junior
high. He definitely wanted to talk to Akane before he went out to see
his younger self. If nothing else he wanted to be sure to see her one
more time, just in case he didn't come back.
* * *
Soun watched in amused surprise as Toshi literally dropped out of the
sky in front of his youngest daughter. Neither she or her friend Yuka
seem to find this at all surprising. His amusement grew as he watched
Toshi and his daughter join hands and stare into each others eyes. He
and his old friend Genma's dream of uniting the families seemed to be
well on its way to fulfillment.
"*Ahem*" Soun coughed. "We should get going."
Toshi looked up with a start. "Mr. Tendo, I didn't see you there."
"Obviously." Soun said dryly. Yuka giggled.
Akane spoke up, telling Ranma what he'd just finished telling her.
"We're all going to see your dad and brother. Auntie thought it would be
easier to convince them if we went as a group."
Toshi nodded slowly. "Okay..."
Soun gestured at the children. "Come on, we'd best hurry. We want to get
ready and get there before it gets too late. Genma might take Ranma on a
weekend training trip."
Yuka come up next to Soun, with Toshi and Akane trailing behind. "Naw."
Toshi said. "We never went overnight while I was at that school, we just
did extra training on Sunday. Pop should be home between three and four
o'clock. I...I mean Ranma...will probably hang out with Ryoga for a bit,
then go to the apartment we're using and clean up. Pop was never real
good at cleaning."
Soun pondered that. He generally ignored Toshi's unusual situation, it
was just too strange to think about. Besides, it didn't really matter
most of the time. The boy was here, he was engaged to Akane, and he was
going to teach classes at the dojo. His strange origin didn't change any
of that.
This trip was different. Genma didn't know he had an extra son now, not
to mention a soon-to-be adopted daughter. He would need some time to get
used to the idea. That was why Soun had packed two bottles of very good
sake. If Genma had trouble with all this, then he and Soun would get
shit-faced together while Nodoka took the children back home. Once he
had to go back to his wife to get Ranma back she would have plenty of
opportunities to talk him into staying and accepting his additional
children.
Soun smirked. Maybe he'd better have the children stay at the dojo for a
few days to give Nodoka a chance to *convince* him. He definitely didn't
want Toshi and Akane seeing that, they'd get ideas. Maybe he'd better
talk to Toshi about his plan. If he'd lived on the road with Genma all
those years he would have a pretty good idea of how his old friend would
react. In fact...
"Akane? Could I borrow Toshi for a minute? I want to talk to him."
Akane pouted a bit but agreed.
Once Toshi and Yuka had traded places Soun outlined his plan in a low
voice. Toshi seemed to relax as he explained.
"Yeah, that should work Mr. Tendo. I was worried that Mom was
underestimating Pop's stubbornness. He plans on taking Ranma to China to
train, and changing his mind isn't going to be easy. I was hopin'
showing him my curse would do it."
Soun was not sure that was a good idea. Genma had some strange ideas
about women. "Let's hold that in reserve as a shock tactic. As for
China, do we need to stop him? Ranma should have the benefit of that
training too."
Toshi shuttered. "No way! That trip was one big disaster. I can teach
Ranma everything we learned there a whole lot safer. There's no reason
to get him and Pop cursed or to get them involved with those Chinese
Amazons again."
They walked on silently for a time. "Son, what finally convinced me of
everything you said was sparing with you. Maybe that's the best way to
convince Genma too. What if, rather than springing all this on him, you
were simply to fight him when he came home? That way he would be the one
asking you where you learned your moves."
Toshi looked up at him with a look he had not seen in some time:
respect. "That's a damn good idea father. Let's start that way, with the
sake as a follow up. That should be enough to handle even Pop."
Soun grinned. The boy had called him 'father'! Soun walked the rest of
the way to the Saotome house in a happy half-daze. Ranma was quiet the
whole time, but for some reason his daughter and her friend giggled and
whispered a lot the rest of the way.
* * *
Ranma smiled at the way the apartment looked. He'd never admit it to his
father, but he liked to keep the place clean. He'd gotten used to a
spartan environment and a well-kept camp while they were on the road. It
was his father who had taught him that, but for some reason whenever
they lived indoors his father turned into an incredible slob. Saturday
afternoon before his father came home was the only time he had a chance
to really get the place cleaned up properly, and he took advantage of
it.
Ranma started reading his history textbook. He was nearly caught up on
his studies now and wanted to keep it that way. He knew he wouldn't get
much chance to study once Pop dragged him off to China. School kind of
sucked, yet it sucked in a way that was almost fun. Maybe it was because
he was suffering with a group of people his own age rather than by
himself. Ranma lost himself in World History, a subject he would never
admit he actually liked.
Ranma rolled to his feet when he heard knocking at the door. It was rare
to have people calling on them, being pretty much limited to bill
collectors, sales people, and a little girl from down the hall who
sometimes watched them practice. Ranma tried desperately to remember the
girl's name, Mitoko? Makoto? Something like that.
He opened the door. Nope, not the little girl. A familiar looking older
woman. "Can I help you?"
"Ranma?" The woman asked.
He nodded. "Ranma Saotome."
"I'm Nodoka Saotome, your mother."
Mother? Ranma thought. I thought she was gone, Pop said...like that
makes any difference, Pop says what he wants to say. "Mom?"
"Yes son. I've come to see you and brought more of the family too."
Ranma saw an older man, a boy a few years older than him, and two girls
his age come up the stairs at the end of the hall. He had this much
family? He'd thought it was just him and Pop.
"Are you going to invite us in?" His mother asked.
"Oh! Sorry mom, please come in. I'll make some tea or something."
"I can make the tea dear. We have a lot to tell you before you father
comes home."
* * *
Genma was tired. He hated his job moving inventory around a warehouse,
but it was the best paying job he could find that didn't involve dealing
with people all the time. He had been particularly irritated when he
found that the warehouse did not stock anything really *useful* he could
borrow. Mostly they stored light manufacturing supplies, raw materials,
and some hardware. He'd been trying to muscle into the kickback scheme
the owner's son had going, but so far he hadn't had any luck.
Right now he was tired and ready for a good meal, a little sake, and
maybe a quick sparring session with the boy before going to bed.
Tomorrow he'd have the time and energy to pound something useful into
Ranma to help offset all the time the boy had to spend studying.
"Yo, Saotome!"
Genma had been aware of the boy sitting on the fence, he wasn't so tired
that his martial arts instincts weren't working. The boy was a fighter,
and a good one too. He looked familiar, but he couldn't place him. He
prepared himself to use the Saotome secret technique.
"I'm here to spar with you old man."
Genma snorted. "Go away kid, I don't want to have to hurt you."
The boy grinned. "Genma Saotome, Master of the Saotome School of
Anything-Goes, turning down a challenge? What would your son think?"
Genma growled. So be it, if this pup wanted a lesson, then a lesson he
would get. "Where?"
The boy jumped down. "There's an empty lot just around the corner."
Genma nodded. It was the lot next to his apartment and he and Ranma
practiced there most days. Genma studied his opponent while they walked
to the lot. The pup looked a lot like Ranma, so much so that Genma had
to wonder if he was a relative. Maybe his sister's son? He hadn't talked
to her since he was twenty, it was possible. Or...that girl at the bar a
few years before Ranma was born? He hoped that wasn't it, Nodoka would
*not* be amused.
Genma began the fight, hoping to end it with a quick and humiliating
defeat of the youngster. They boy easily dodged his lightening quick
attack though, and he took a hit himself before moving back to a safer
distance. The pup was skilled, time to take to the air. He leapt up
using a Saotome special technique to get an impossible distance from the
ground. He'd land behind the youngster and take him out before he turned
and recovered.
To his shock the pup launched himself up and met him in midair. Genma
managed to block the blow that would have taken him out and landed
facing the boy. "Who are you?" He asked.
The boy just grinned. "You'll find out soon enough. Now let's go, I
haven't had a good spar in weeks."
Genma grinned back. The pup was good, and he hadn't had a good spar in
weeks himself. This time he decided to wait until his opponent made a
move. He didn't have long to wait.
Genma had gotten used to having people stop to watch his sparing with
his son, and so he ignored the small audience until his opponent managed
to pull off a complex counter to a move he's spent half the fight
setting up. As he lay on the ground stunned he heard clapping and shouts
of encouragement to 'Toshi' from his son and some girl. He forced
himself up and sure enough his son was standing with a girl about his
own age watching. Next to them was none other than his old friend Soun!
His opponent clapped him on the shoulder. "Good fight old man. Come on,
we've got lots to talk about."
Genma looked up at the young man. "Who are you?"
"Call me Toshi, details can wait until after we eat. Yuka is cooking and
Akane says she's really good."
* * *
Ranma sat on one side of the table with Yuka. The girl was full of
nervous energy, always jumping up and checking things in their tiny
kitchen or making sure everyone had food. Ranma was still not sure how
to deal with this girl, or with any of his new 'siblings'. The shock of
going from just he and Pop to being part of a family of five...six if
you count Akane, was confusing.
At least Pop was even more confused. You could see him trying to figure
out what was going on with Yuka and Toshi, who had been introduced to
him by first name only.
"Mr. Saotome?" Yuka said.
"Yes?" His father answered. It wasn't his usual gruff tone, he actually
answered gently. He was probably being nice because the girl had served
him such a good, and large, meal.
Yuka lowered her eyes before answering. "How was your meal? I've never
cooked for so many before and I was worried that it wouldn't turn out."
Genma actually smiled. Ranma usually only saw him do that when he pulled
off a particularly difficult martial arts move. "It was very good
Yuka-chan. You will make some man a wonderful wife someday."
Yuka blushed and didn't say anything.
Genma cleared his throat. "Now, if we are done eating, I would like to
know what's going on."
Ranma's mother took charge of the discussion. "I think we should start
with Yuka. Genma, Yuka's father recently tried to kill her. Thanks to
Toshi, a young man named Hiroshi Honda, and a little help from myself,
he was stopped. Her parents then disowned her, and gave her over to my
custody. With your approval we will adopt her into the Saotome family as
our daughter."
Pop furrowed his brow in thought. "Why would her father do such a
thing?" He asked.
Next to him Yuka shrunk down as if she was trying to disappear.
"Yuka, I'm sorry, but he and Ranma deserve to know the truth." His
mother said.
Yuka nodded very slightly and his mother continued. "There was a rather
large party recently. Someone put alcohol in the punch. Yuka and
Hiroshi...had relations after drinking the punch. Her parents
overreacted when they found out."
"A mistake, and a serious one. Is the young man honorable?" His father
asked.
The other man, Akane's father, answered the question. "He is, old
friend. He risked his life to try to save her from her parents, then
proposed to her after she had been disowned. He is, unfortunately, not a
martial artist, though I think he will be taking classes with Toshi."
His father looked over at Yuka. "Welcome to the family daughter."
His mother put a hand on his father's arm. "Thank you husband." She
said.
"Now," his father said, turning toward Toshi. "Who is this young man? He
knows things about the Saotome School that no one should know."
Toshi looked at Ranma. "Ranma?" He asked. "You know who I am. I'm...a
little worried about what might happen but..."
Toshi held out his hand. Ranma shrugged and took it. Nothing happened
except that a bunch of people let out breaths they had been holding.
Toshi took his hand back. "Glad that's over with. Now, Mr. Saotome, look
at Ranma for a second."
Ranma's father shrugged and looked at him.
"Now picture him two years older, without the pigtail, then look at me."
Ranma watched his father's face with interest. Surprise, then shock,
followed by fear, then the fear ebbed as confusion took over."
"You-you look *just* like him. Who are you?"
Toshi grinned and stood up. "I am Ranma Saotome, of the Anything Goes
School of Martial arts, age 17." he said with a bow. "Nice to see you
again Pop."
* * *
Genma poured Soun another cup of Sake. Soun didn't drink it right away,
his tolerance was not what it had been in his youth. His old training
partner and friend though, was sopping up the Sake like a sponge. Soun
decided there was no harm in letting Genma get seriously drunk. The
children had gone back to Nerima with Nodoka. The two of them could
crash right here in Genma's apartment. Soun filled Genma's cup as well,
then filled it again when it was quickly emptied.
"Tell me somethin' old buddy." Genma slurred.
"Yes?"
"Do you *really* believe this time-travel crap." Genma said.
Soun stared down into his cup. Did he really believe it? "Well, Genma,
I've accepted it. What else makes sense?"
"Nothin' I can see. There's a problem though. He's from, what, two years
in the future?"
Soun nodded, starting to get a glimmer of what Genma might be getting
at. Two years seemed short for some of the things he'd heard.
Genma sat up straight and glared across the table at Soun. "Then how did
he get so *damn* good!"
Genma slumped down. "He beat me Soun. He didn't get lucky or take me by
surprise, he was just better. My son is already better than me."
Soun didn't know what to say. He had heard things about the next few
years that made Toshi's skill seem a little more believable. More
important was that he trusted Toshi. The boy was honorable almost to a
fault. There was no way he could convince Genma of that now. He did have
to find some way to keep his old friend from resenting his new elder
son.
"Genma, old friend," he said quietly. "I know what you mean. His skill
is beyond amazing. Before you judge it to be impossible though, you
should hear his story. He...had a rough time of it after you brought him
to the dojo. Actually he had a rough time of it before then too. Once
you two go to China things got very strange."
You could see Genma trying to work through the convoluted mess Soun
always made of verb tenses when he talked about Toshi's time in the
future. "So what happens if I don't take Ranma to China? Does Toshi
disappear?"
Soun almost groaned. This was the strangest part. "I don't think so. We
call the things that happened to Toshi in the future the 'other time'
because it doesn't seem like it's going to be the same this time around.
No one really knows why, though there is the Nanban mirror."
"The what?" Genma asked.
Soun poured his old friend another cup. He knew where this was going to
lead, Genma would need the sake when he heard. "It is the artifact that
the boy used to travel back in time. It doesn't work anymore, but it
does let you *see* that other time. Nodoka has it, ask her to show you
your grandson sometime."
Soun took a deep breath. "And Genma, he got the mirror from the master."
Genma froze, his face paling.
"I'm afraid he is still alive. In the other time he showed up a little
over a year from now."
Soun held up his cup. Genma matched him, shaking only a little. They
drank down the cups without the usual salute.
Soun decided Genma was still too pale. "Genma, something you may not
have thought of, your son Toshi is better than me. You just said he was
better than you. Is he better than the master?"
Genma perked up at that. "Maybe...no, not unless he was holding back
when we fought."
Soun chuckled. "He was holding back old friend. He knows some special
techniques that would make your...my hair stand on end. Have you heard
of the Splitting Cat Hairs technique?"
"That's a legend." Genma said, looking mournfully at his empty cup.
Soun poured him another. "He knows it. He showed it to me."
Genma just stared at him.
"There's more. He can literally throw around ki like you and I would
throw snowballs. I've seen him throw hundreds of punches in a second,
and he knows pressure points too."
"How?" Genma said. "I didn't, *couldn't* teach him all that."
Soun shrugged. "He had many teachers over his last year. If I understand
his stories correctly, you switched from direct training to guiding and
helping him practice his new moves. He is a master Genma, he is well
beyond the kind of training we're used to. Not that we don't have a few
tricks to show him!"
"Can he beat the master?" Genma asked.
Soun shrugged. "He told me he *thinks* he can."
Genma drank off his cup. "Then we'll have to hope, and train. A year? No
matter how good the boy is we can make sure he's better by then."
Soun didn't say that Toshi had said basically the same thing. "A good
plan, Genma."
Soun switched to talking about the 'fun' they had when training together
and the evening continued as one would expect: drinking and reminiscing
until they both passed out.
* * *
Waking up, Toshi mused as he opened his eyes, had gotten a lot nicer
since he moved back in time. With his father not around to 'train' him
every morning combined with sleep uninterrupted by midnight attacks, he
was caught up on sleep for the first time in years. Toshi looked over at
Ranma, sleeping like a log on the futon next to his. Their mother had
put them in the same room, their house just wasn't big enough to give
everyone in the expanded family a room of their own.
Ranma heard his mother getting up and decided he had enough time for a
good training session before breakfast. He contemplated waking Akane,
who was staying in Yuka's room. He decided against it, the two of them
had probably stayed up late talking. He'd have to train by himself then,
unless...
"Hey, Ranma, time to train." Toshi said, pushing his younger self.
This had no effect, much to Toshi's surprise. He'd been told many times
that he was a hard sleeper, but had not, until now, actually experienced
it.
"Yo! Ranma! Wake-up!"
Nothing.
Ranma sighed. He got up and dressed, used the bathroom, then came back
to his room and flipped Ranma over his shoulder. The boy *still* didn't
wake up. He carried him downstairs and out the porch to the back door.
His mother stepped out onto the porch. "Toshi, dear? Is Ranma all
right?"
Toshi turned. "Sure mom, we am a heavy sleeper."
His mother opened her mouth then shut it again. "Dear, please watch your
language when you talk about the two of you. *I* understand, but most
people would be rather confused."
Ranma mentally replayed what he had just said. "Right. Anyway, Ranma is
a heavy sleeper. I'm going to wake him up and we're going to train a
little before breakfast, okay?"
"Yes dear. Don't take too long, you have to pack up for your trip to the
dojo. You and Ranma might as well plan on staying there for the week.
You'll be starting your classes anyway, and I think you and Akane's
father will be busy getting ready.
Ranma nodded, smirked a little at his mother's light blush, and turned
to the problem of waking Ranma. He was tempted to turn the hose on him.
He'd certainly been woken by water often enough. On the other hand he'd
always hated that, and thought Akane could have found a better way to
wake him. Now was his chance to prove it.
He started by shaking Ranma, then bouncing him up and down, neither
approach got more than a snore. Next he threw the boy into the air a
meter or so, then caught him. That almost seemed to do it. He threw him
again, this time a good three meters up and stepped back rather than
getting ready to catch him.
Ranma twisted in the air and landed on his feet, then he opened his
eyes. "Morning Pop, time to train?" He asked sleepily.
"Pop's not here, and yes it is time to train."
Ranma's eyes shot fully open. "Toshi?"
Ranma spun around and stared at where their mother could be seen through
the kitchen window, bent over the sink. "It wasn't a dream?"
"Nope. Pop's stayed at the apartment with Mr. Tendo, so he can't spar
with you this morning. I thought we could train a bit."
"Sure, let's go." Ranma said, then launched himself at Toshi.
Ranma was better than Toshi remembered himself being. He had all the
basics down pat, all he really needed was more speed and a few of the
more elaborate techniques to be a top-notch martial artist. Of course
that wouldn't be enough with what was coming at them in the next few
years. He decided he would teach Ranma some of the basic ki techniques
pretty soon. He wanted Ranma to be at least as good as he was after the
trip to China. That should be tough with school taking away from
training time. Even though Ranma seemed closer to that level now than he
should be, Toshi would have to resort to some of the effective if
strange training techniques he'd picked up from Cologne and others. He'd
also have to keep his father from getting in the way.
After the sparing Toshi showed Ranma some of the counters he'd developed
to his father's moves. Toshi explained how each move could be used
against their father and the best ways to follow up on each. Then he
started telling Ranma stories about what Genma had done when he'd first
sprung them on him.
"The first time I tried *this* one, I didn't include the leg extension
at the end." Toshi was explaining. "So Pop was able to grab my arm and
throw me before he lost his balance We were in the Tendo yard, where
they have this big koi pond, so Pops goes flying into the pond and I go
flying into the air. But Pop was to surprised to aim very well so he
comes up outta the water and just then I came down from the throw, right
on top of the old panda's head."
Ranma giggled, then stifled it and turned it into a chuckle.
Toshi grinned at him. "The best part was that just before I hit he
looked up...the look on his face was great, after I bounced off of him I
was laughing so hard I almost choked."
Ranma giggled again, then it turned into a full-blown laugh. He still
heard giggles though-Akane, Yuka and his mother were standing on back
porch and all of them were giggling. Toshi couldn't help it and broke
into laughter himself.
His mother recovered first. "Five minutes until breakfast you two. You'd
better wash up a bit."
Toshi nodded and toed the still laughing Ranma. "Come on Ranma, time to
wash up."
Ranma just shook his head and kept laughing. Ranma bent down and saw
that the boy was crying, and his laughter was getting hysterical. This
wasn't good, Ranma definitely wouldn't want to be seen crying in front
of his mom or the girls. Toshi hefted him up under one arm, holding him
face down to hide his crying.
"The baka is laughing himself sick. I'll go hose him down in the
bathroom." He said and carried the boy into the changing room. Once in
there he dropped Ranma on the floor.
Maybe he should have had Akane or his Mom come in too. He wasn't even
sure what was wrong. He thought back to the time he'd been with his
father, before China, to try to figure out what was with Ranma. It
didn't take long. Being at the Tendo's had been such a change for him, a
place where he belonged. Now Ranma was going through the same thing,
plus being with his mother, plus finding out he had a brother and sister
he had never known about. Poor kid must be feeling pretty weird. He had
to try to help him somehow. After all Ranma was, more or less, his
little brother.
"Hey, Ranma, you don't have to worry. We're not going to go away or
anything like that. You really are home now."
Ranma managed to stop his laughing and partially control his breathing.
"It's nothin' like that. I just was laughin' too hard."
Toshi shook his head, he'd sure been a baka at that age. "Ranma, you can
hide this kind of stuff from Mom and Pop, and probably from Akane and
Yuka, but I'm *you*. I know what you're going through and I know how
hard it is for you to deal with this kind of stuff. Heck, I'm still
pretty bad at it myself, though Akane's really helping me with that."
Ranma didn't say anything.
"Ranma, just listen okay? This emotional stuff is a pain, but you can't
get through life without it. If you try and hide it all it just gets
really bad. I'm not saying you've got to turn into some big crybaby, but
you need someone you can talk to about this stuff. You can talk to me,
but you might be better off talking to Yuka. She's had a pretty tough
time too, and I think you could help her as much as she helps you."
Ranma still didn't stay anything. Toshi sighed. He hated to do this,
but...
"Unless your afraid of course."
Ranma turned around and glared at Toshi. "I ain't afraid of nothin!"
"Good, then you'll talk to Yuka about stuff? Tell her about the
Neko-ken?" Toshi asked.
"Ahhh...." Ranma said.
Toshi held out his had to help Ranma up. "Good, come on breakfast should
be ready. Try not to eat too fast, okay? Watch Akane and copy her."
Ranma shrugged and leapt up without help. "Right. Let's eat."
* * *
Toshi was worried that they would waste the whole day getting ready to
go to the dojo, he was pleasantly surprised at how quickly things went.
Akane and Ranma had almost nothing to pack, and Toshi himself was a
master at Anything Goes Packing. Akane helped Yuka get her things
together and they were ready to go by mid-morning. Nodoka gave Yuka some
extra money to buy Ranma some school cloths and other necessities with
instructions to keep the costs down. Then, after a long goodbye, they
were off to the dojo.
As they walked along Ranma seemed to get more and more agitated. Toshi
finally figured he better find out what was wrong before his younger
self opened his mouth and inserted foot trying to handle whatever it
was. "Hey Ranma, you're bouncing around like someone dumped a badger
down your pants."
Ranma snorted. "I can't believe Pop thought the badger thing was a
training exercise. Even *I* could tell the old guy was just being
sarcastic."
Toshi nodded. "Yeah, those things are strong! I still got a scar from
it."
"Oh, is that where you got the scare on your...." Akane suddenly flushed
bright red looked down at the sidewalk.
Yuka stared at her friend, then giggled. Toshi was pretty sure he was
blushing too. Ranma looked slightly offended.
"Geez Toshi, if you've got that scare the same place I do, then how'd
Akane see it." Ranma asked.
Toshi groaned. He'd forgotten how clueless he'd been. He understood the
mechanics of sex. Living on the road gave you plenty of opportunities
for observation of animals mating. He knew almost nothing of flirting,
romance, or anything else associated with the way men and women
interacted. He'd have to explain it all, maybe Hiroshi and Diasuke could
help, they'd filled in a lot of blank spots for him.
"Ah, Ranma, they *are* engaged you know." Yuka said.
Since he had no idea what to say Toshi let Yuka try to get the idea into
Ranma's thick head.
"Oh." Ranma was quiet for a moment, then. "Aren't you supposed to be
married before you do that stuff?"
Blushes all all around...or everyone except Ranma of course, protected
from embarrassment by the armor of ignorance.
"That's...the *proper* way to do it. It's only a *little* improper if
you're engaged like those two or like Hiroshi-chan and I."
Ranma was quiet and thoughtful for a while. Everyone kept quiet, glad an
embarrasing conversation had stopped. Then Akane took Ranma's hand and
gave it a squeeze. He smiled down at her and she gave him one of her
heartachingly bright smiles in return.
"Man you two really are lovey-dovey aren't ya. I don't think I'm ever
gonna get engaged."
Toshi halted. "Crap." He said.
"Toshi! What's wrong?" Akane asked.
"I can't believe I forgot about the engagements."
Akane looked puzzled. "Toshi? You told me about them. Shampoo shouldn't
be coming here now and we've taken care of the Tendo-Saotome agreement,
let's see...there's that old friend of yours...Ukyou?"
"Uk-chan?" Ranma said. "What about him?"
Toshi groaned. "There's more...four others that I know about. Some of
them are more than a little insistent, and most of those would probably
be just as happy to switch the engagement to Ranma's 'older brother'."
Everyone tried to talk at once until Toshi raised his hands and said
'Stop!'.
"We've got a year to get this fixed up, let's talk about this later."
Toshi said.
The girls both nodded, though he could tell he would hear a lot more
about it from Akane. Ranma spoke up though.
"Just one thing I gotta know, how can I be engaged to Uk-chan? He's a
guy."
Toshi could understand that question, he had been pretty surprised and
upset about that whole thing too. "Okay, I'll tell you about the thing
with Uk-chan as we walk, but that's all." Toshi launched into a somewhat
edited version of his future meeting with his old friend.
* * *
Akane was sitting by the pond nursing her bruises and sometimes throwing
pieces of grass into the water. She hadn't done well during practice
with Toshi. He'd finally called a halt to it and told her they could
practice more when she 'found her center', which was his way of saying
she needed to calm down.
Akane sighed. She was *not* calm, and she knew why. That comment about
the fiancees and how they might go after Toshi worried her a lot.
Knowing that they probably wouldn't see any of them for more than a year
might be fine for Toshi, but to her it meant that this would be hanging
over her head all that time. Damn it, everything had been so nice the
last couple weeks, now she was worried about losing the big jerk. What
if someone close to his own age, some good looking girl who was engaged
to him too, came along and lured him away?
Akane wiped the moisture from her eyes before it became a tear and
jumped up. She had to do something about this, it would drive her crazy
otherwise, but what? She wanted Toshi for herself. She was tempted to
sneak into his room tonight. If they didn't get caught she'd have
another night with him, if they *did* get caught her father and Auntie
would probably force them to get married right away. Either way Ranma
would be that much more hers.
If only she wasn't so young. Getting married now would cause all sorts
of problems. She wasn't even sure it was legal to get married until she
was older, though they could still do the rest of it...exchange vows and
have one of them adopted into the other's family. How old did she have
to be? Kasumi had mentioned a fellow student who was married, a junior
so she couldn't have been older than 17. Maybe she would know more.
* * *
Toshi was sitting :cross-legged in the middle of the dojo thinking about
training. He had the classes he would be starting next week, Ranma's
training, how to get Yuka started in martial arts, and most of all
Akane's training. She had not done well at all today. He'd been hoping
to have her spar with Ranma to start getting Ranma used to the idea of
fighting with girls, now he wasn't sure that was a good idea. She'd
seemed upset, almost angry, during their sparing. Not at all like the
sweet girl he'd gotten used to. She had been acting more like the old
Akane.
Toshi sighed. He'd had so few problems with this Akane that he'd
forgotten how difficult she could be sometimes. This life was so much
easier in some ways that his old life in the future that he was getting
soft. He got a full nights sleep every night, a sweet caring fiancee who
seemed to really love him, and a curse that - while it hadn't gone away
- didn't insist on getting him splashed at every opportunity.
He snorted. Most people wouldn't consider this a 'soft' life. Sure, he
had a cute fiancee, but he had to train hard every day, and help train
others. He was going to be starting classes because both families needed
the money, and he could expect challengers to start coming out of the
woodwork as soon as it became known that a powerful new martial artist
was in the area.
Ranma's musing was interrupted by Akane sliding open the door. She had
changed from her gi into a dress. A rather nice, simple dress that
showed off her long legs and a hint of cleavage. And her hair was short!
For just a moment he thought it *was* the older Akane. He swallowed at
the flood of emotions that invoked: longing, sorrow, regret. The feeling
that followed, when he realized it was the younger Akane, *his* Akane,
was relief. In that instant he knew that he was happy with the way
things had turned out.
"We have to talk Toshi." Akane said.
She walked over and knelt in front of him. "It's about the future. When
do you think Ranma's and your other fiancees will start to arrive?"
So that was it, she was jealous, that explained why she had been upset
earlier.
"Uh, well they started appearing a while after I showed up. You, then
Kodachi if you want to count her, then Shampoo, I think the noodle shop
girl was next, then Ukyou, then this sorta french guy who was *your*
fiancee, then...well there were others."
"You'll have to tell me about the one that was my fiancee. For now
thought, none of them show up until after you showed up in a little over
a year, sometime late in April right?"
Toshi nodded. "Yeah we got her on the twenty-third or twenty-fourth I
think."
Akane took a deep breath. Toshi kept his eyes on her face, but his
excellent peripheral vision watched the dress stretch around her bust.
"Toshi, my sixteenth birthday is on the eighth of that month. A few days
after that will be a Saturday, and an auspicious day, and...I think we
should get married that Saturday."
"Huh?" Was all Toshi could manage.
Akane got a little angry. "Look, I don't want Ranma's fiancees to come
in here and think they can take you away! If we're actually married
there won't be much they can do. It might cause your family some
trouble, but if your dad made multiple engagements, then he has to deal
with them."
"I...I guess that makes sense. Do you, do you *want* to get married
then?" Toshi asked nervously.
Akane looked down at her knees. "No, I don't want to get married then."
Of course she doesn't, Toshi told himself. She would barely be sixteen.
"Look, Akane, we can wait longer. It's Ranma the fiancees will be after,
not me. We can handle it. You don't have marry me that soon if you don't
want to."
Akane looked up into his face. There was fire in her eyes, though Toshi
couldn't tell if it was anger or something else. "You idiot, I want to
get married *now*. If I was Nabiki's or Kasumi's age I would ask you to
marry me right away, but..." Her voice faded out and the fire died.
Tears appeared in her eyes and she looked down again.
Toshi reached forward and pulled her into his arms. She buried her head
between his shoulder and neck and sobbed quietly, saying 'I'm sorry'
every so often.
"Shh...It's okay, I'll marry you whenever you like." Toshi whispered.
Toshi was too distracted by the crying girl in his arms to hear the dojo
door slide shut.
* * *
Yuka shut the dojo door and giggled quietly. Ranma rolled his eyes.
"Man are they ever lovey-dovey." Ranma said.
Yuka nodded. "Isn't it sweet? I think I should ask Kasumi if I can
invite Hiroshi over for dinner. You should meet him, he is going to be
family too after all."
Ranma gestured toward the door. "Are you two that bad when you're
together?"
Yuka smirked at him. "Maybe, why?"
"Oh, I think I'm going to be sick to my stomach." Ranma said, putting
his hand over his stomach and sticking out his tongue.
Yuka giggled again. "Don't worry about it Ranma. You'll understand in a
few years. Most boys aren't really interested in this kind of stuff
until they're a bit older. Hiroshi's more mature than most and Toshi's a
few years older than us."
Ranma shook his head. "I don't think I'm ever going to be like that."
Yuka started walking toward the house. "Sure you will, remember who
Toshi really is."
Ranma just groaned.
* * *
The week at the dojo was a busy one for Toshi. He trained Ranma and
Akane every morning and again right after school. Then after homework
and dinner he worked with Mr. Tendo and sometimes met with Nabiki to
talk about the martial arts classes that would be starting that
Saturday. They were going with two classes a week for a beginning class
in Anything Goes, and a children's martial arts class on Saturday
afternoon. Toshi would have two weeks of classes before the end of the
school year, then a month before classes resumed. He was sure that by
then he and the students would have settled into a routine and he'd be
able to keep up school, his own practice, and the martial arts classes.
He hoped.
Nabiki was in charge of signing up students. She was guessing twelve to
fourteen for the beginning class, which was a good size for Toshi's
first real class. The children's class was another story. They had
almost thirty signed up already and were expecting quite a few to sign
up at the last minute. They didn't want to turn away students,
especially children, but the thought of dealing with forty or fifty
children from four to ten years old was making Toshi more than a little
nervous.
They decided to accept up to forty and hire Akane and Ranma to act as
assistants. Since the children's course would be the first one they
taught, Toshi included them in several of the planning sessions. They
were both excited to be helping teach martial arts and Ranma was *very*
excited by the idea of earning a bit of money of his own.
Toshi managed to sneak in a few extra hours studying for the upcoming
exams and one trip to get ice cream with Akane.
Fortunately, the weirdness that week was limited to Toshi being ambushed
at school by a group of six guys, including one of those he'd scared
away from Kasumi his first day. They attacked him openly at lunchtime
saying he was an 'uppity lower classman'. He was fairly gentle with
them, no broken bones and only a little blood from a split lip. He then
lectured them on the stupidity of bullying anyone, much less a
master-level martial artist. The head of the Kendo club (not Kuno, he
was still in junior high) joined him and told them that if he caught
them teaming up to bully anyone he would beat them senseless.
Nabiki later told him he'd gotten three more students in his beginning
class out of that incident.
His parents did not show up all week. His mother did call in the middle
of the week to say they would be by Sunday for dinner and that they
could all return home that evening. Mr. Tendo made a few rather
suggestive comments about what his parents were up to. Toshi just tried
not to think about it.
Finally Saturday came. Toshi skipped the half day of school and spent
the time preparing the dojo and fretting. Mr. Tendo was surprisingly
helpful both in getting the dojo ready and in distracting Toshi with
stories about training with Genma and his own early experiences with
teaching children's courses.
Once Ranma and Akane got home they quickly changed into gis and joined
him in the dojo. They were just in time to help with the rush of
children and parents coming early to sign up or to talk to the teacher
before class. The class itself went by in a blur and would have been a
complete disaster without Akane's and Ranma's help. They did little more
than stretches and a few very simple moves and stances. Then came the
parents to pick up the children and kids asking for last minute help and
parents wanting to find out how things went. The single ninety minute
class took nearly three hours, and then they had to clean up.
The three of them finished the cleaning and went to the main room where
Kasumi said she'd have a snack ready.
* * *
Akane leaned on the table and stared at her plate. She was hungry, the
rice ball looked and smelled wonderful, but eating was just too much
effort.
"I'm so tired." Ranma was sitting across from her. He was resting his
head against the table.
"How many of them did we have anyway, I was too busy to count." Toshi
said from next to her. He sounded even more tired than she felt.
Her father, sitting at the head of the table, chuckled. "It gets easier.
And Nabiki said we had fourty-seven students in the class."
Ranma groaned. "I thought we were limiting it to forty"
"We couldn't turn away those few extras. Their parents were so looking
forward to having their children in the class." Soun said.
"At least there's a lot of kids interested in martial arts around here."
Toshi said.
Soun chuckled again. "Or a lot of parents interested in getting the kids
out of their hair for a while on Saturday afternoons. A few really will
be interested, and in six or eight months some will move into the
beginners course. That's why I thought a children's course was so
important, it's a major source of interested students for the real
classes."
"Oh." Was all Toshi said.
Akane managed to eat one of the rice balls and then leaned against Toshi
and closed her eyes. Ranma got up and headed outside. "I'm gonna go
stretch out a bit, you guys want to join me?"
Toshi was about to say yes, but Akane snuggled closer to him and shook
her head no without even opening her eyes. Ranma shrugged and went out
to the rocks by the koi pond. Toshi smiled down at his fiancee who had
draped herself against him and looked quite comfortable.
"Hmm...you two should go sit on the couch, maybe there's something on
the television." Soun said.
Toshi nodded, he would certainly be more comfortable on the couch. He
lifted Akane up and carried her over, setting her gently down next to
him. She hardly reacted at all, just giving a 'hmm' when he put his arm
around her.
They were both asleep in minutes. Kasumi brought a blanket while Nabiki
got the camera.
=== End Chapter 3 ===
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