[ranma][fanfic] The Pursuit of Happiness pt1-3
RpM - acct4/5
author's note:
this is the sequel to 'The More Things Change', a fic I put out
a while back. In case you missed it, it's in the raac archives
as well as at the follow address:
http://www.uh.edu/~rpm/fanfic.htm
as for what you need to know... well... to summerize, Ranma and Akane are
together now, thanks to a small bit with spices done by Mousse, who has
departed for China with Cologne and Shampoo. Ukyou has hired Ryouga as
help around Ucchans, and there's a bit of a romantic tension between the
two. Meanwhile, someone Ryouga ticked off (but didn't know he did) has
returned to Nerima to abuse the Lost Boy a bit.
Jusenkyou has been ravaged by a construction error in China bureocracy.
Several springs were destroyed, including all the ones that ever had a man
drown in them. Choosing the lesser of evils, Ryouga took a dip in the
spring of drowned girl.
as we last left off in The More Things Change, everyone was in the
hospital recovering from a messy little battle involving Kuno, Kodachi,
Ranma, Ryouga, Tsubasa in a Mech, several other martial artists, Happosai,
his bombs, a gas main, electrical lines, and a truck carrying gasoline.
--
========================
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
ACT I
Life, Liberty, and the
Pursuit of that guy you
always wanted to kill.
========================
And there is even a happiness
That makes the heart afraid.
-Thomas Hood, "Ode to Melancholy"
========
PART I
Recovery
========
This is a story about kids in Nerima.
Actually, it's about two of them in particular. They live together, go
to school together, argue sometimes, and a few people have their
suspicions as to the actual nature of this relationship.
For years it was Ranma and Akane's story, with the whole of Nerima
seemingly revolving around their lives. Little did they suspect that it
was because of the very nature of Nerima that they were the center of all
the strangeness. But nothing lasts forever, and the center of Nerima's
odd sort of lifestyle found two other people to pick on.
Ryouga and Ukyou.
This is their story.
------
[Morning]
It was the third week of their hospital stay since the disastrous
fight involving the Kunos, the Muhoshins, Gosunkugi, Tsubasa in a
ridiculously large mech, Happosai, bombs, a gas main, a fuel truck, and a
power line. Needless to day, each week was fairly unpleasant.
The first week was incredibly unbearable, with everyone packed into the
same room. Riots and bickering were common every day. The second week
brought some relief, as most of the others were released. The remaining
few were Ranma, Ryouga, Kuno, and Ryo.
And how well did those four get along? Well...
Kuno peered from out the windows, a grin creeping into his face. "Ah,
rejoice, angels in heaven! Rejoice, and sing of love's sweet melody! My
goddess cometh!"
"Ranma," growled Ryouga, "try to keep your big mouth shut this time."
"Hey, we just kid around with each other," said Ranma with a shrug.
"She knows it ain't serious."
"Saotome, you had best keep thy tongue pure and thy speech kind towards
the fair Akane Tendo on this day, else I shall show thee the full vengeance
of the house of Kuno!"
"Shut up, Kuno!" both Ranma and Ryouga yelled.
A few minutes later Akane and Ukyou came in with baskets.
"Ranma, Ryouga, hi!" Akane waved to Ryouga and sat next to Ranma.
"Akane Tendo!!! Come to me my love!!!"
Kuno tried to spring out of his bed, but the casts and restraints held
him back. With that option taken away, he ranted.
"Ranchan, lost boy, hope you guys are feelin' better." Ukyou sat in a
chair next to Ryouga, although by the look of it, she wasn't too
enthusiastic about being there.
"Don't call me that," muttered Ryouga.
"Jeez, just kidding, ya big baby," muttered Ukyou.
Kuno continued to rant on various things, of the weather and the
goddesses, and the Devil Saotome, but by now they were used to it. It was
much like elevator music or background noise.
"Guess what we brought?" Akane smiled and held up her basket.
Ranma turned pale. <Oh no... not... not...>
"I made lunch!" She cheerfully
"You tryin' to make me stay here longer?!?" yelled Ranma.
-bap- "Don't you start again," said Akane mildly.
"Yes! Smite him my love!" cheered Kuno.
The two of them began a moderate conversation of barbs and bickering,
which to ordinary people would seem to be a bad thing. However, nobody
pulled out a mallet and nobody yelled. Thus, by their standards, this was
a rather tame squabble. Meanwhile Kuno ranted more on the vulgar habits
of the one named Saotome.
Ukyou sighed. "Those guys are at it again."
"You'd think they'd have stopped by now," muttered Ryouga.
"Oh, by the way," said Ukyou as she handed Ryouga a bento box, "I
brought these for ya. Just thought y'might be sick of hospital food,
that's all. No big deal."
"Um, thanks." as Ryouga took the lunch, his hands went slightly over
hers, and they both suddenly jerked their hands away.
"Well, um, seeya later Ryouga."
"Yeah, later Ucc.. er.. Ukyou."
Ryo Muhoshin stayed silent during this whole exchange. He'd been doing
a lot of that lately, and nobody complained.
Outside the hospital, Ukyou waved goodbye to Akane and walked off to
her restaurant, a frown on her face. It was kind of lonely at the
restaurant. She'd gotten used to Ryouga helping her out every day there,
and being alone just wasn't as comfortable as it used to be. For a
moment, a short, small, moment, she wondered about him... and her.
However, that idea was tossed out quickly. From all the times she tried
to get him together with Akane, she knew two things. One, he was
wishy-washy, and two, he was distracted with the greatest of ease.
Besides, she thought, she'd had enough of the dating game wasting so much
of her life on it, and on a boy who didn't love her. <Ryouga's a friend,
and that's all I need.>
A few minutes later, Ryouga was staring down at Ukyou's lunch. It was
some of her deluxe okonomiyaki. He sighed. <Nice of her to do that.>
He'd never had a closer friend than Ukyou. She knew a lot about him and
helped him out when times were bad. And for a moment, just a moment, he
thought that they might be something more.
Maybe.
He put that thought aside, though, and effectively shut off the very
small nagging voice that suggested it. He didn't need a relationship, not
now. He was still feeling somewhat hurt from when Akane finally let the
world know she loved Ranma. Was he still in love with Akane? There was a
part of him that would always love her, but there was no longer the
intense infatuation that he once had. However, the whole experience made
him a little more wary of setting his hopes on anyone.
Ukyou was his friend, probably his best friend, and for the moment, he
was entirely content with that. She made great okonomiyaki too.
Slowly, smoothly, Ranma hobbled out of bed and sat next to Ryouga.
Ryouga narrowed his eyes. Ranma was acting far too friendly already.
"What do -you- want, Ranma."
Ranma suddenly looked very serious. "Ryouga, y'know, we've known each
other for a long time."
"Huh?"
"I feel... like I've known you forever."
"The feeling's mutual," grumbled Ryouga.
"And I just wanted t'say... I love you, man!"
Ryouga edged a little away from Ranma, staring at his rival with
bulging eyes.
Then realization hit him.
"Ranma, you're not getting my okonomiyaki."
Ranma blinked, sighed, and went away from Ryouga. "Kuno, we've known
each other for a while now..."
"Away from my sustenance, you fiend! No doubt you hath poisoned this
fair and noble feast from Akane with vile potions!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Lord of the Shadoloo* sat in his command chair, disappointed.
He'd given Ryo Muhoshin the Power, in hopes that he'd cause some
destruction and chaos in Japan.
That didn't happen.
Instead, he seemed to have gotten himself killed.
He was useful, as a puppet. When he gave Ryo the Power, he also made
Ryo a puppet, to be controlled at any time. With that little ability, he
used the boy to kill one of his rivals, and then implanted the memory of
an assasination job so as not arouse suspicion. He even sent Ryo a modest
check.
Recently, though, he sensed his link to Ryo disconnected. That could
only mean one thing. Ryo was dead. After all, he didn't know about the
link and definitely wouldn't know how to disconnect it. Once someone
becomes fused with the Power, it _never_ leaves them. Even magic wouldn't
be enough.
He sighed, feeling disappointment, and resumed with his schedule.
"Sagat," he said over a telephone, "you're scheduled to take on
Zangief tomorrow. Don't forget."
||But when do I get to fight Ryu!||
"Have patience."
-----------------
* There was much confusion about his name. Some thought it was Bison,
others thought it was Vega. More people insisted that Vega was the
assassin from Spain that he hired, and others insisted that Balrog
was the name of the Spaniard. It was a bit confusing, and also
hazardous. The last guy to ask the boss about the name thing was
blasted into ashes. From that point on, the staff just used various
synonyms of the word "Boss."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gosunkugi wandered the Nerima streets, on his way to school and the
same old routine once more. He'd been having some serious thoughts about
his life direction since the big explosion that landed everyone in the
hospital.
He still wasn't fully recovered, as he was using a crutch to get around
and his left foot was still in a cast. Ever since the disaster, he'd
been thinking that maybe this whole love thing was crazy. Maybe he'd best
wait a couple of years first and preferably move to another city where
martial artists weren't so numerous.
<That's right>, he thought, <no more girls for me.>
<Um... Not for a little while, anyways.>
So there he was, on a somewhat cold late January day, on crutches, and
by Murphy's law someone should be along soon to bump him off his feet and
shove him in front of an oncoming bus.
Someone bumped into him from behind.
He wobbled, and stumbled towards the street.
A bus zoomed and skidded to a halt.
*WHAM*
Fortunately, the bus was a bit early, so Gosunkugi had only banged his
forehead against the side. If he knew how close to dying he really was,
he would have been in a better mood knowing he survived it. Instead, he
wobbled away from the bus and flopped to the ground like a fish out of
water.
"Ow."
His vision was blurred. The world was a bunch of greyish blobs.
"Oh my. Are you alright?"
<Hm,> thought Gosunkugi, <that voice was definitely feminine.>
"Oh, you've got a nasty bump on the head. C'mon, let's get you to a
doctor." Two soft hands gently helped him to his feet.
"Wah... a.. awaza..."
"Shh. C'mon, let's go. By the way..."
"Awha?"
"Where is the doctor? I'm kinda new in town."
Let's see, Gosunkugi thought, Doctor Tofu oughta be, hm, west of here.
"Wugh," he said, and nudged his head to the west.
"That way? Right."
Gosunkugi finally managed to get his vision cleared, and when it did,
he was quite surprised. <S-she's... cute.>
Nearby, a chime rang, marking the end of the hour.
Normally, this would be a romantic moment.
Normally.
"Oh no!" he heard her say, "I'm going to be late!" She took off
running, yelling as she left, "sorry about that! I've really got to go!"
{Nice to meet you} was what he'd thought, and tried to say, but it came
out as "Niaeeyouuaaah..." right before he collapsed on the ground again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was a place on no map, but that didn't make it non-existent. It had
grass, plenty of it, although it never seemed to need mowing. And all
along the vast grassy plain, there were large, tall, very shady trees.
Under one of these trees sat several people. They were enjoying the
breeze, either by climbing the tree, sitting down on blankets, or just
floating (these were the showoffs). Though they were of many ages and
many styles of dress, in general it seemed to be a communal sort of thing.
One of them, dressed in a simple t-shirt and slacks, was kneeling down
next to a little girl. She was possibly four, maybe five years old, with
locks of dark brown hair tied up in two ponytails. The center of her hair
was marked with a small streak of white. At the moment, she had a small
glowing ball of pink light between her hands.
"Hey, look!" said one of them, "Ske-chan's learning fast, eh?"
"Good going, Ske-chan!" said one of them, patting her on the head. She
grinned with pride.
Meanwhile, elsewhere By The Trees...
"How's that Gosunkugi doing?" one of them asked.
"Who?"
"The one over here," he turned a palm upwards, and a small image made
of several glowing blue strands appeared in his palm. In one strand, a
small arrow was blinking, with the words 'G-287' at one end of the arrow,
and a small red dot at the other.
"The one we gave a book to? He's doing fine. A little slow, but then
we all started off a bit slow."
"True, true."
They sighed. One of them looked at the little girl, who was now
producing a shower of bubbles from nowhere, which was itself causing
general panic.
"What a little troublemaker," one of them said, grinning, "a lot like
her 'sister'."
"Speaking of troublemakers... anybody ever find out where our rogue is
nowadays?"
"No, lost track of him."
"I just hope he doesn't interfere with G-287's world... it's been a
while since we've had a new inductee, and G-287 is getting close."
In the distance, a figure was trapped in a pinkish balloon. Two boys
stood behind the little girl, who was now giggling, and chided, "Ske-chan,
how many times have we told you not to do that...."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
As a penalty for being late to school, Hikaru Gosunkugi had to undergo
the standard Water Bucket Torture. To any normal student, it wasn't so
bad. To the local martial artists, it was a joke.
To Hikaru Gosunkugi, at peak physical performance, it was torture.
To Hikaru Gosunkugi, fresh out of the hospital, with a crutch, it was
hell. Considering who he was and what shape he was in, they reduced the
penalty to one bucket, half filled.
He was still struggling.
He was a pitiful sight, standing in the hall, leaning on his crutch,
while the crutchless side desperately clutched the bucket. He sighed,
settling into the position, and was dreadfully afraid that it was going to
be one of those days.
"Um, e-excuse me?" asked a somewhat timid voice.
Gosunkugi blinked. He'd heard that voice before. That.. .*cute*
voice. And if he recalled correctly, the face belonging to that voice...
He raised his head and looked across the hall and a few doors down.
And there she was. The girl. She seemed... somehow ordinary in her
appearance. A school uniform, long black hair, with a certain
girl-next-door appeal.
And two buckets.
"Um... h-hi," he said nervously, trying to look like the one bucket he
had wasn't the incredible strain on his muscles that it really was.
"Ah... sorry about this morning," she said, looking down.
"It's okay, really," he replied.
"Again, um, sorry." They turned away from each other, both feeling
equally embarrassed at the situation.
Gosunkugi sighed, wishing he'd have enough courage to talk to this
girl. She definitely was cute. Just another girl to be swept off her
feet by a passing martial artist, he supposed.
Suddenly, a fire was lit within him. _No_ he thought, _I will not be
the person I was before! I will be a better man!_ He summoned from his
memory as much advice as he could from those volumes of 12 step self-help
books, took a deep breath, and didn't say a thing.
After five more minutes of intense, self-esteem building thoughts, he
said, "Um..."
"Hm?" she said in reply.
"I.. ah.. was wondering..."
_whattoaskwhattoaskwhattoaskwhattoaskAHHA!IKNOW!_
"Are you, um, new around here?" he managed to muster.
"Just moved here," she said quietly.
"Oh? From where?"
"Ah... San Francisco, in America."
"Oh..." Gosunkugi, by nature, would have been twiddling his thumbs at
this point, but the bucket got in the way.
"Um... hi. I'm Hikaru Gosunkugi."
"Manami Hinako."
"Nice to meet you," he replied nervously. Internally, voices that were
installed by all those 12 step, self-help books were giving him mighty
pats on the back. <See?> he told himself. <That wasn't so hard, now was
it?>
"So... you're new around here?" he asked.
"Um, yes."
The negative voices in Gosunkugi's mind sprang out, nagging him and
reminding him _hey stupid, she already said that, now she'll think you're
an idiot._
Then, he remembered something important that he felt he'd better check.
"You're not... a martial artist, are you?" he asked.
She blinked and looked at him oddly. "Um... no, I'm not."
"Oh." That made him feel entirely better. She was new, with no
friends, and wasn't a martial artist. This could be promising. "Well...
ah... if you need someone to show you around, I'd be glad to help out."
"Thank you," said she, smiling slightly, "I'd like that."
Gosunkugi would have said more at this point, but the positive voices
in his head were throwing a party, and that involved cutting off any
unnecessary things like speech and movement. Before his control system
was shut down for the hour, it did manage to install a small, somewhat
goofy looking grin on his face.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ryo Muhoshin observed.
The days passed into nights and the nights into days, and he merely
rested in his bed and observed. There was not much else to do, really.
The demise of the Unorthodox Weaponry School of Martial Arts was quite a
hindrance for him. He'd had the school's backing in his hunt for Ryouga,
but the school was no more. What would he gain now by killing Hibiki?
There WAS personal satisfaction, which was indeed very important, but
there was no _tangible_ reward, not anymore. No promotion, no
recognition, and now that it was no longer a matter of honor for a school
of martial arts, the Law, which usually turned the other way when it came
to matters of honor and martial artists, might not look the other way now.
He admitted to himself, the grudge against Hibiki didn't have much honor
to it, just a matter of pride, but he still hated the fool regardless.
Thus, with that particular goal in his life somewhat sidetracked, he
merely observed.
Ryouga and his sometime comrade Ranma bickered off and on, Tatewaki
Kuno spouted his poetic phrases, and Ryo observed, quietly.
Sometimes, they had visitors. Ryo despised the times that Ranma's
significant other, Akane Tendo, visited. No rest could be gotten on those
days, since the obnoxious duo bickered nearly every minute they were
together.
Ryoko, on the other hand, was infuriating and sickening him with the
way she fawned over that idiot Hibiki. He'd sooner see her dating that
transvestite Tsubasa rather than see her fawn over HIM.
Then there was Ukyou, who also came to visit Ryouga. Oh, they claimed
they were just friends, but Ryo could see something odd between them.
There was that strange sort of uncomfortableness that one finds when
there's two people with mixed emotions. If he could somehow push those
two together, it'd put an end to Ryoko's foolish dreams...
"Ow! Ye gods!"
His brief moment of stray thought was snapped as Tatewake Kuno cringed
with a needle sticking out of his arm.
"Zounds, woman! Thou hast punctured with thy needle to my very bone!
I shall make a complaint on thy grave incompetence!"
For a reason he couldn't explain at the moment, that phrase made small
wheels in Ryo's mind spin. Needle... bone... hm...
He filed that thought away for another day's contemplation, unfolded
the day's newspaper, and observed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The school bell rang, signaling the end of another day at the races for
the people at Furinkan High. With the absence of their top martial
artists, the school had settled into an odd sort of calm.
Actually, it was unnerving.
The classes started, on time, without interruption. Property damage
was reduced to graffiti on walls. The Principal was just bored out of his
mind and considering another vacation to Hawaii.
The most unfortunate victims of these circumstances were the students
of Miss Hinako. She just couldn't stand being stuck in child form for so
long, with her favorite delinquents absent, and SOMEBODY had to be drained
in order for her to absorb energy. The end result was that if a student
so much as twitched in her classes, Miss Hinako was quick and eager to
deal out the punishment.
Those were the most unfortunate, but as odd as it may seem, students
were beginning to feel... stressed (for lack of a better term) at the
sudden relative calm that had settled over the school.
The Principal, watching from his office as the students left, did what
he had to do.
He called his therapist.
Meanwhile, Ukyou packed away items in her locker and got ready to head
back to the restaurant for business as usual. She didn't realize how much
Kuno, Ranma, and Ryouga were an integral part of day to day life in
Furinkan, and hoped they'd be back soon.
Well, maybe not Kuno.
As she walked out of the gates, she noticed Gosunkugi walking along, at
a modest distance, along with... a girl? Ukyou smiled. That boy really
did need a girlfriend, she thought, and wondered if he'd have any luck
with her. Might as well see if she could help things, she thought.
"Hey, Gos!" she yelled, waving.
"Ukyou, hi!" he yelled back. A part of his mind, guided on by the
self-help books gave him the idea that it'd be nice to introduce the girl
to a few of his friends so that she wouldn't feel so lonely in town.
"Ah... Ukyou, this is Manami, she's a new student here."
"Nice to meet you," she said shyly.
"I'm Ukyou Kounji. Nice t'meet you too."
Manami blinked at hearing Ukyou's name, and frowned for a brief
second, as if remembering something.
"Hey, you two come on down to Ucchan's and I'll treat ya, okay?"
offered Ukyou.
"Ucchan's?" asked Manami.
"Ucchan's Okonomiyaki, I run the place," said Ukyou, smiling with
pride. "I'd be happy if you visited."
"We'll visit sometime then," said Manami, smiling a bit.
Meanwhile, Gosunkugi's mind was doing summersaults of joy, primarily
because Manami used the term 'we', which he assumed meant her AND him.
"Y-yes, we will sometime," he quickly agreed.
"Great! See you two later!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Several hours later, the Okonomiyaki chef was back at the hospital once
more and checking in on how her friends were doing.
Ukyou sighed. She couldn't help it.
She wasn't quite sure why she was feeling a tad melancholy, but she
told herself it wasn't because there was that Muhoshin girl fawning over
Ryouga. Nor was it because Ryouga seemed at a loss for words and fumbled
every time he tried to explain to the girl that she really didn't have to
give him so much attention.
And it was most certainly not bothering her, Ukyou told herself, that
this girl had declared herself Ryouga's girlfriend.
After all, it didn't matter to her what that idiot did with his love
life, right?
She looked around, sitting by Ranma as he and Akane chatted for a bit,
looked at her watch, then sighed again. "Hey, Ranchan, Ryouga, see you
guys later, okay? I gotta go."
Ranma motioned for for Ukyou to come closer, then he whispered in her
ear, "Could ya take some time to try an' improve her cooking some more?
It's still kinda toxic."
A nanosecond later, he got a pillow-whap to the head from his
significant other.
"Hey, it isn't THAT bad anymore."
Ukyou laughed a little, then waved.
"See you guys later."
Ryouga tried to say something but only managed to stutter a bit and
pronounce a few consonants and vowels. It seemed he was embarrassed, but
Ukyou made it a point to ignore him, so she didn't notice anyways.
Ryoko paused from fluffing up Ryouga's pillow.
"Oh, you're going? Mind if I walk with you?" she asked.
Ukyou blinked. This wasn't what she was expecting, not really. It
wasn't that she didn't like the girl, she just didn't know Ryoko that well
at all aside from that first day she came into Ucchan's asking about
Ryouga. Not wanting to be rude, she replied, "fine by me."
They waved goodbye to everyone, and Ryoko took the time to nudge Ryo's
arm. He replied with a grunt and a wave of the newspaper he was reading.
And after that, they left, in uncomfortable silence
Walking down the sidewalk outside of the hospital, Ryoko tapped Ukyou's
shoulder. "Say, how about lunch? My treat."
"No, that's alright, I..."
Ryoko held up a small bit of plastic and smiled.
Ukyou couldn't help but smile an amused smile. "You still have
_that_?"
"I think he forgot about it," said Ryoko. "C'mon, I insist, that cafe
over there looks nice, let's go!"
A moment later, they stepped inside a modestly lit, European styled
cafe. The walls were made of light grey rocks, cemented together, and
wooden support beams framed the place. It could have easily been the
inside of an English tavern. The walls were lined with large glass
windows, with the exception of two spots which were occupied by large fans
of some sort. Wooden tables were spread across the main floor, with a
jazz band of some sort playing near the fans, and a bar to the far left.
Behind the bar, a blond lady in her late 20's was polishing glasses.
Her hair was cut short, extremely short, and she was clad in a somewhat
feminine purple tuxedo of sorts. She was, at the moment, talking to a
gentleman of... odd appearances. He was dressed in a yellow jacket,
t-shirt, blue parachute pants, and sported a tall orange mohawk with what
appeared to be a small duck perched in it.
Ukyou and Ryoko took seats at the bar and waited for service, but
couldn't help but overhear the conversation.
"So, you won't be in it?" asked the mohawked one.
"I've quit that circuit already, Duck. I am _out_."
"Well, most of the heavy-hitters are sitting this one out too. I guess
it's a vacation year for us, eh?" replied 'Duck'. "Looks like it's
another year for the kiddies. Oh yeah, Yuri'n Mai send their regards."
"How are those guys doin' anyways? Been a while since I've seen'em."
"Yuri... she's still bickering with her old man an' chasing after
Robert-o, like usual, man."
"Heh."
"An' Mai? Globe-hoppin' with... her fiancee... whazizname..."
"Andy?"
"Yeah, that's it. Anyways, I'll see ya later, a'right King?"
"Sure, Duck."
"Hey, come by the club sometime, okay?"
"I'll get to it."
"Yeah, yeah, you allllways say that."
With a final swig of his glass, Duck waved and departed. And King
finally saw she had two customers.
"Oh, sorry about that," she said, "what can I get ya?"
"I'll have some tea," said Ukyou.
"What kind?" asked King. "Here's the drink list."
It was a long list.
"On second thought, just give me an espresso."
"Long Island special for me," said Ryoko.
"I don't think so," said the bartender. "You look a bit young."
"Fine, fine, gimmie a megavolt cola... some cheese sticks... ooh,
there's caviar! We'll take some caviar. Let's see... what the heck, he
owes me, gimmie the two most expensive things on the menu."
"Comin' right up." King scribbled something on a notepad, then walked
over to a small window which seemed to be a portal to the kitchen. "Order
up!" she yelled, and the paper was soon swiped away by a fast hand.
"So..." said Ukyou, "did you wanna talk about something?"
"Well," replied Ryoko, twiddling her fingers a bit, "I just wanted
t'get to know Ryouga's friends a little better... you are his friend,
right?" A friend?"
"A friend? Yeah, that's me," she said, shrugging.
"Known him long?" asked Ryoko.
"Oh... about a year or so," she said, thinking back. "We met under
kinda odd circumstances."
"Really?"
"Yeah. He was trying to kill my fiancee, so I tried to kill him."
Ryoko stared at her. "Um... must've been a nice start."
"Yeah, it was," said Ukyou, smiling, "in the middle of our fight my
now ex-fiancee opened my shirt and made Ryouga look."
"What?! You're kidding!"
"And from there..."
What was told next was, from Ukyou's point of view, more than a year's
worth of madness. Of course, it was edited tastefully so that nobody came
out looking like too much of a jerk (except maybe Shampoo). After a few
more appetizers and two refills, she wrapped it up.
"... and now Ryouga's working for me," said Ukyou.
"Geez, that's weird... your guy falling for his girl," said Ryoko
between bites of her seafood salad and gourmet hamburger. She was
displaying a talent for eating which rivaled the infamous Saotome
appetite.
"I'm over it," shrugged Ukyou. As she was about to say more, the clock
chimed, signaling the hour. "Whoops, gotta run. Don't wanna miss the
dinner crowd at the restaurant." Ukyou reached in her pockets to pay for
the espresso when Ryoko interrupted.
"No, don't pay, it's on my brother's card, remember?"
"Oh yeah... thanks."
"See you later," said Ryoko.
"Later," replied Ukyou, who rushed out the doors soon after. Ryoko
sipped her drink and thought for a while. Strange lives they lead around
here, in this neighborhood, especially if what Ukyou said was true. She
was very much glad that she didn't have to attend Furinkan High.
"Here's the bill," said King, presenting her with a piece of paper.
"Take credit?"
"Sure."
"Here y'go." She handed King her brother's ill-gotten credit card
casually, then started nibbling on the last of her cheese sticks as King
ran the card through the register.
"Sorry, Miss, but it's expired," said King, handing the card to Ryoko.
Ryoko paled. <Oh no.>
*
The Next Day...
Oil. Ingredients. Mix. Fry.
Listen to the sizzle.
Let it cook... further... more... and... flip.
"Hi, Ukyou."
The okonomiyaki cook was shaken from her zen-like pattern of cooking as
two people made their way into her store, recognized immediately as Hikaru
Gosunkugi and his new... friend, Manami.
"Hey, guys, come on in!" Ukyou quickly grilled up two okonomiyaki,
tossed them on plates, and slid them down the table. "Have some on the
house."
"Oh, we don't want to impose," said the girl quietly.
"No, no, I insist. C'mon, eat up!"
Ukyou went on to tend to the other customers, leaving Manami and
Gosunkugi with no chance to protest. Unfortunately, in that short span of
time, they had little to say to each other, and their conversation was
fumbling at best. Soon, Gosunkugi had to leave, having to go with his
parents to some prior engagement of some sort.
This, unfortunately, left Manami alone, and Ukyou was quick to notice
the shy girl and her appearance of anxiety.
"Hey, what happened to Gosunkugi?" asked Ukyou as she finally made her
way back to Manami after taking care of the last of the after school rush
of customers.
"He had to go," she said, sounding somewhat worried.
"Nice guy, don't you think?" she asked Manami.
"Yes, he is," she said absently.
"Um..." said Ukyou, noticing the girl's worried manner. "Is something
on your mind?"
"Actually... I'm kinda new to Tokyo... and have no idea how to get
home from here."
"So how did you..."
"Gosunkugi walked me here."
Ukyou sighed. This wasn't a good way for Gosunkugi to make a good
first impression. She'd have to talk with him about that. "What part of
town do you live in?" she asked.
"Um... by by Tanuki and 42nd."
"Tell you what," said Ukyou, tapping a spatula on the grill as
she thought, "I'm headed that way myself, visiting a friend at the
hospital. If you don't mind the brief stop there, I can walk you home."
"I don't want to trouble you," said Manami shyly.
"Hey, no problem at all."
*
Five down.
Two words.
Twelve letters.
American comedy team from early Hollywood era.
Hmm.
Ryo tapped the newspaper in thought, then glanced sidewards at his
roommates.
"Give my lunch back, Ranma!"
"C'mon, Ryouga! Have a little mercy, willya? One more lunch from
Akane and I'm gonna die!"
"Hold thy tongue, fiend! Talk not of the fair Akane Tendo in such an
ill manner!"
T-h-r-e-e S-t-o-o-g-e-s.
Hmm.
Fits perfectly.
Ryo grunted in satisfaction as he penciled in the letters. Meanwhile,
Ranma, Ryouga, and Kuno continued their squabbles.
"Hi guys!" The four boys paused to inspect their visitor. Ranma and
Kuno looked slightly disappointed, Ryo resumed his crossword puzzles, and
Ryouga smiled nervously.
"Hello, sis," said Ryo, casually.
"Hi there," said Ryouga.
"So, how're you today, Ryouga?" asked Ryoko, ignoring her sibling.
"Ah... well... we're getting released in a couple of days."
"About time," she replied. "Oh yeah, there's something that all you
guys might be interested in." She dug into her purse, pulled out a
flier, and handed it to Ryouga.
"King of Nerima Martial Arts Tournament," read Ryouga, "all schools and
styles welcome. Hm... in six weeks..." Then he finally got to the bit
about the prizes and whistled. Ranma, never one to miss out on a martial
artist thing, hobbled over and had a look at the paper. Then he got to
the bit about the prizes and whistled too.
"You guys interested?" asked Ryoko.
"Maybe," said Ryouga.
"Hey, I'm in," said Ranma, "Nobody 'round here can beat me!"
"Is that so?" said an irritated Ryouga.
"Methinks I heard the sound of a challenge?" pondered Kuno. "Very
well! I shall enter this tournament as well and smite thee once and for
all!"
"Hey, bro, you in?" asked Ryoko.
Ryo grunted vaguely and resumed his crossword puzzle. Mentally, he was
tallying up his current record of wins and losses... which he estimated
was 87 wins, 20 losses, and one draw match. The losses and the draw match
being all related to Hibiki. Surely, he was due for a win by _now_, or so
he thought. Yes, the tournament sounded like a good thing.
"Hi guys!" said Akane Tendo as she made her sudden entrance, basket of
food in hand. Ranma shivered at the sight of that. His only hope was
that she cooked curry.
His hopes were raised quickly when he heard the familiar call of, "Heya
Ranchan!"
"Ucchan! Hey! Great to see ya! Where's the okonomiyaki?" said Ranma
happily, right before he got a pillow-whap to the head from Akane.
"Sorry, Ranchan, just swinging by on my way to work," said Ukyou. She
pointedly ignored Ryouga, who was at the moment having his pillow fluffed
by Ryoko. "Just came by t'see how you guys are doing. Oh, by the way,
this is..." she said, pointing to empty space, "... hey, where'd she go?"
"Where'd who go?" asked Akane.
"Friend of Gosunkugi's... she was right behind me," muttered Ukyou.
Then she stepped out briefly, and returned with a girl in school uniform
and a girl-next-door sort of look to her. "C'mon," said Ukyou, "don't be
shy. These guys are friends of mine... well, almost all of them anyways.
Guys, this is Manami Hinako, just moved into town."
Manami waved timidly, then gasped.
"Something wrong, Manami?" asked Ukyou.
"Um... who's that?" she asked, pointing to the rather embarrassed
figure that was feebly protesting being fussed over by Ryoko while she
offered to give him a foot massage.
"That? That's Ryouga and his... girlfriend, of sorts," said Ukyou.
"G... girlfriend?" said Manami weakly.
Ryoko, getting a feeling that her name was just mentioned, looked
around. "Oh, heya Ukyou. Who's your friend?"
"Ah... Manami Hinako... nice to meet you."
At this point, Ryouga looked at her and blinked. And blinked again.
Something was bothering him, but he wasn't sure what. "Um... hello," said
he.
"Um, hi," said she, lowering her gaze to her feet. She looked around
nervously, trying to avoid the sight of Ryouga being pampered by Ryoko and
ended up looking at what appeared to be Gosunkugi.
"Excuse me," she said quietly. "Excuse me?"
Ryo blinked, put down his newspaper, and looked around to find himself
being addressed by the timid newcomer. "Yes, madam?" he asked.
"Are you... related to Hikaru?" she queried.
Ryo blinked. "Hikaru?"
"Um... Gosunkugi."
Ryo's face slumped into a frown. "No, madam." He grumpily resumed
finishing his crossword puzzle.
"Sorry I didn't bring any food guys," said Ukyou with a smile, "share
Akane's, I'm sure she's an okay cook now." Akane smiled at the compliment
while Ranma and Ryouga paled. They _hoped_ her cooking improved... or
that it was curry. "Anyways, I'll bring some stuff when I visit tomorrow,
okay? See ya later, guys."
"Oh, wait up for me, I'll walk with ya," said Ryoko.
"See ya later, Ucchan!" said Ranma. Akane waved. Ryouga waved too,
but in a rather embarrassed sort of way. First of all, he was embarrassed
to have been pampered by Ryoko in front of Ukyou, and secondly, there was
something familiar about that Manami girl. He shrugged off the nagging
feeling and sighed as the three girls left.
Ryo hmmed, tapping the pencil on the paper.
One word.
Number two across.
Six letter word.
Destined to an ill fate.
He looked around briefly, then lazily inspected Ryouga.
D-O-O-M-E-D.
Ah, fits perfectly. No... wait...
D-A-M-N-E-D?
Hm...
Ryo shrugged. Either way, he liked it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So, you're a friend of Gosunkugi's, eh?" asked Ryoko.
Manami smiled slightly and nodded.
"Don'cha think he's kind of creepy?" wondered Ryoko.
"Hey, he's not that bad," said Ukyou. "Isn't that right, Manami?"
"He seems to be nice," she said quietly.
"Creepy," said Ryoko, "he looks just like my brother."
Manami giggled. "He does, doesn't he?"
"Strange, isn't it?" mused Ukyou. "Say... why'd you havta leave
early?"
"Um... I kinda got a new job and I was visiting on my break."
"Job?" wondered Ukyou.
"Yeah... ah... they needed a waitress at King's Cafe, so..." she
explained, slightly nervous.
"Oh. Say, why haven't I seen you at school?" wondered Ukyou.
"I'm already graduated," said Ryoko, shrugging. Before they could
inquire further, she explained, "I'm a genius."
"Uh-huh," said Ukyou, "and next you'll tell me that everyone in your
family is."
"We are," she said flatly. "We're going to have Kyoko enrolled in
Furinkan High next month, by the way. She hasn't graduated yet."
"You're kidding."
"Anope. I'll show you my equivalency exam results sometime."
"If you're all geniuses, why hasn't Ryo beaten Ryouga yet?"
Ryoko smirked. "Intelligence doesn't necessarily mean wisdom.
Definitely not in his case."
"Must be nice," said Manami, "being out of school early."
Ryoko shrugged again. "I guess I should go to college, but I have no
idea what I want t'do."
"Oh," said she. Nobody seemed to notice the taint of melancholy that
seemed to creep across her face and voice as she looked briefly at Ryoko.
"Um," she said quietly, "are you really Ryouga's-"
"Hey, there's the workplace," said Ryoko, not noticing Manami's
beginning question, "see you guys later! Swing by sometime, okay?"
She ran off into the building quickly, while Manami stood there saying,
"wait, ah..."
"Something you wanted to ask her?" wondered Ukyou.
"It can wait, I guess." She sighed and looked down.
"Is something bothering you?" wondered Ukyou.
"No... is it far from my house?"
"Well, if the address is right, it's a little down this way and..."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE NEXT DAY...
"Is... is something wrong, Manami?" asked Gosunkugi reluctantly. He
really didn't want to bridge unpleasant subjects, but Manami's heavy
melancholy state was too much to ignore.
Manami sighed.
Gosunkugi let the subject drop.
Unfortunately for him, she didn't.
"I..." she began, "I found the man I fell in love with, yesterday."
Gosunkugi blinked, not sure where this was heading. "I-is that right?"
"But he... he loves someone else," said she.
"W-what?" stammered Gosunkugi, feeling his heart sink. She was already
in love with someone, and that was bad enough. "Maybe you... should
forget him?"
Manami shook her head sadly. "He's the first boy I ever..." The
words 'fell in love with' should have followed, but she was busy wiping
her tears away.
Unfortunately, Gosunkugi misinterpreted that phrase entirely.
"What?! What's his name?"
"Hibiki," sighed Manami, "Ryouga Hibiki."
Gosunkugi's mind reeled in agony. This wasn't fair! Wasn't this sort
of thing EXACTLY what he'd been trying to avoid? Again! Again with the
martial artists taking all the nice women! How DARE he USE Manami and
then toss her aside! _HIBIKI, YOU FOOL!_
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Somewhere in Nerima, a rather normal (although if one would ask the
Furinkan crowd, they'd say 'whoa, cute') looking girl and an abnormally
large pig were strolling down the sidewalk, ignoring the occasional stares
cast their way.
"Try not to wreck any more places, please?" asked the girl. "Mother
and Father said that I'd have to pay for the next time you make a mess, so
please behave."
The pig blinked, then grunted in reply, seeming to concede to his
owner's command, and then a strong breeze hit.
"Hey, what the heck are these?" wondered Ryoko, holding up a small,
round, chocolate candy of sorts while leaning against the bar.
"Truffles," replied King, polishing a few glasses. "Just some really
expensive candy, really."
"What makes these things so special?" wondered Ryoko as she placed a
rack of them in the glass display case.
"Well, they're somewhat rare. They use pigs to find'em then dig
them out of the ground. That seems to be it."
"And truffles are...?"
King blinked. "are...?"
"What's the contents?"
"Oh. Fungus."
"Ewww."
*snort*snort*snort*
The gigantic sumo pig waved its snout in the air, sensing something.
Akari didn't know what it could possibly be, but knew when her pig was
about to go nuts.
"Katsunishiki! Don't!" Akari took hold of the giant pig's leash just
as the creature bolted at *sub-sonic speeds.
[*sub-sonic is, technically, slower than sound. Therefore,
technically, a dead snail could be moving at sub-sonic speeds. There
would be better ways to describe exactly how fast the mighty sumo pig was
running on that day, but none would sound quite as neat as 'sub-sonic'.]
"Hey boss, all done with the EYAAAAAH!"
*CRASH*WHAM*
Ms. King emerged from the back room, champagne bottle in hand. "What
was that noi... oh no." The sight that greeted her was something she
could honestly say was too ridiculous to be expected. A young girl in a
sun dress and straw hat was holding on to leash and looking somewhat
apologetic. Attached to the leash was a pig of proportions which she
felt could only have been created by genetic experiments and radiation.
The pig seemed to have smashed through the front door and plowed right
into the display case full of truffles. Fortunately, the pig wasn't
moving anymore, probably because of the iron croquet mallet buried into
its skull by a very wide eyed and shaking Ryoko.
"This isn't my fault I swear!" said the malletress.
"Miss?" she asked the girl that was sheepishly holding the leash. "I
assume that's your pig?"
"I-I'm sorry! I don't know what got into him!"
King sighed. She hated to be the villain in situations like this, but
it had to be said. "Someone's going to have to pay for this."
Akari paled. <Oh no.>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mother and Father,
I am now in Nerima, still looking for a good husband just
like Grandfather wants me to. There are plenty of strong
people here, so going to Nerima was the right idea. But
unfortunately, a lot of the strongest ones are in the
hospital right now. I think it's because of that big
accident with the power lines, the gas main, and the
electricity lines that Katsunishiki got into.
I have registered for admission into Furinkan High school,
just as Grandfather suggested. On my visit there, it did
seem there was a lot of martial artists around, but they
couldn't beat Katsunishiki. But, as I said before, I
still haven't met the best of them.
I found that tree that Grandfather carved his initials into
while he was attended Furinkan. Unfortunately, the tree
is now a stump. I heard that one of the Furinkan students
in the hospital was responsible for that.
Katsunishiki is behaving well. You have nothing to worry
about. By the way, I've also found a job as a waitress
at some place called 'King's Cafe'. It's a nice job, and
the owner is a nice person.
Hope to return home with a husband soon, wish me luck. Miss
you.
- Akari Unryuu
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
A few hours later...
Dishes. She was beginning to hate'em.
Ryoko sighed as she scrubbed what felt like an endless line of dishes.
She was on waitress duty a while ago, until some lout started hitting on
her. She waited, patiently, until the customer stepped outside, then
promptly beat the living daylights out of him.
King was not thrilled.
So to make sure that she didn't maul any more customers for the day,
she had dish washing duty. It wasn't fair.
Her mood was slightly lightened as the sound of a saxophone coming from
the main room drifted in with a slow, jazzy tune. The boss had told her
she'd be hiring more people for the band, but was surprised that it was so
soon.
Curious as to who was out there, she quickly dried her hands and peeked
outside. At the far end of the room, in the small stage built for
musicians, a lone saxophone player sat, his somewhat long hair covering
his eyes, playing with a certain 'I don't care about anything else'
attitude that was definitely familiar.
Oh no.
"Hey, you know that guy?" asked King as she quietly approached Ryoko.
"Yeah, my brother. You hired him?"
"Actually," said King, holding up a credit card, "he made the same
mistake as you."
"Ouch."
"Does bad credit run in your family?" wondered King.
*
A FEW DAYS LATER...
"Hey guys, I'm back!" Ranma strode triumphantly into the Tendo house,
expecting everyone waiting and ready with a warm welcome. Instead, he
found Nabiki.
"Oh, hi, welcome back," she said, looking up from her copy of Financial
Week.
Ranma blinked. "Hey, where's everybody?"
"Well," said Nabiki, "Daddy and Uncle are out, on a training trip, I
think they said. Kasumi is currently out shopping. And I'm right here."
She smiled brightly then resumed ignoring him.
Something didn't seem right here. That sixth sense that detected
danger was nagging at him. "And where's Akane?"
That question was soon answered by a loud clanging noise from the
kitchen and a loud "HYAAAH!"
"She's not..." wondered Ranma.
"It isn't going to be curry," said Nabiki, "that much I know."
"B-but why?! I just got outta the hospital!"
"Love's funny that way, isn't it?" Nabiki smirked.
"Aw man, this ain't good."
"RANMA! I HEARD THAT!"
Ranma paled. {Oh no.}
*
The rent was cheap. The room wasn't exactly spacious, but it could fit
the four of them well enough. The location wasn't bad, near the train
stations and minutes away from his target.
"Isn't it cool?" chirped Kyoko.
Ryo hmmed. "Not bad. It will do, for now."
Outside, the sounds of a party of sorts were raging. Ryo winced at
that. "Too bad about the neighbors."
"They seem nice to me," observed the youngest Muhoshin.
"How nice. Has the rent been paid?"
"Um... I think sis payed for two months."
"Speaking of sisters, where is she anyways?"
"New job."
"About time she contributed to the income. And Megs?"
"New Job."
"Amazing." He snickered briefly, knowing exactly why they'd gotten
jobs. He'd cut off those cards just in time, too. It was hard to arrange
for those cards to begin with, but if you spend idiotic amounts like those
two fools did, the odds of keeping the scam running would be ruined. He'd
have to talk to his contacts and bargain for some more cards soon.
Ryo settled unto a futon and sighed. The building didn't thrill him at
all, but it was cheap in rent. "Yes, for now, this will do, although I'm
slightly embarrassed about it all..."
*
This was embarrassing.
Ryouga sighed, folding up the map in his hands. Even with the map and
the compass he'd still managed to get himself lost. It was a relief to
get out of the hospital at last. However, all this walking he was doing
would certainly dismay all the doctors.
"WHERE ON EARTH AM I NOW?!?!"
He sighed, looked around one more time, then continued his journey. He
had a nagging feeling that he'd forgotten something, but tossed that
thought aside. It couldn't be too important, now could it?
MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE HOSPITAL...
"That JERK!!!"
Patients, nurses, and doctors cleared the way as an irate chef stormed
out of the hospital lobby. Ukyou was, obviously, furious. Didn't she
tell him to wait for her? Didn't she? And what did that idiot do?
He wandered off without her, that's what he did. And now he'd miss
several days MORE of school, which she'd have to brief him on, and she'd
be without help at the restaurant again.
She knew what the problem was, probably. That damned Hibiki pride.
That state of mind that Ryouga showed every now and then that insisted
that he DIDN'T need anybody's help. The jerk. Yes, that's probably what
happened. The jerk was trying to show off by finding his way back by
himself. What an ego!
Once, Ukyou was a generally less violent person. That time being
between after finding Ranma in Nerima, and during the first few weeks
after Ranma and Akane made their engagement official. This was, not
coincidentally, the time when Ryouga had moved in with her. From that
point onward, she could see why Ranma wasn't that fond of the idiot.
Since then, her temper had been steadily getting shorter. And once in a
while, she found it rather eerie how she was behaving. Almost like...
almost like Akane used to.
Ugh.
This was his fault.
Having to find out what he missed in his classes so that he wouldn't
fall behind (not that he asked her to, but if she didn't do it, who
would?). Having to manage the store alone again (although she'd done it
alone before, she was so used to having him help her).
And now she was losing her temper too much and it was definitely HIS
FAULT. If she didn't worry about him so much, she'd kill him.
She was so angry, she could scream.
And she did.
"RYOUGA YOU IDIOT!"
*
Ryouga sneezed.
It was getting a little windy. He wished he was indoors, it wouldn't
do to get a cold or flu right after he recovered. Ucchan's would be a
really nice sight right about now. Heck, Ukyou would be a nice sight
right about now.
At that moment, Ryouga finally remembered what was nagging on the edge
of his memory. Oops. He hoped she wasn't too upset.
Then he heard her voice.
Although it wasn't exactly what he was expecting.
It went something like this:
"RYOUGA YOU IDIOT!"
Ryouga paled. <Uh oh.>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-end part 1-
this is the second part of the sequel to 'The More Things Change', found
in the RAAC archives and at http://www.uh.edu/~rpm/fanfic.htm
in case this looks familiar to you, it's partially because it's also a
remake. 'The More Things Change' was originally done about two years ago.
A year ago, I did a rewrite, and part of the effects of that rewrite was
that some things were knocked out of continuity, including a followup to
the old 'the more things change' story, entitled 'Nerima By Night'... this
is Nerima By Night, but redone quite a bit to fit the new 'TMTC'
continuity.
-rpm
--
The nights in Nerima are sometimes surprisingly peaceful. There may be
nights when the gigantic monsters don't roam the streets wrecking houses.
There are times when Mishima Heavy Industries DOESN'T send out a
ridiculously big mechanized assault vehicle through the neighborhood after
some girl with bionic abilities. There are times when the place almost
seems normal.
The last several weeks were like that. It was no surprise, considering
the more violent population of Nerima was stuck in the hospital for the
duration. However, things don't last forever, and tonight was the first
night that they were all back. Despite this, it was looking to be yet
another peaceful night. Possibly.
Tonight could have been a night like that.
It wasn't.
As if part of a wave effect, bedroom light after bedroom light opened
up in houses next to each other, in apartments, in hotels. Each flick of
the light was accompanied by a scream of horror.
Hidden safely in the shadows of a roof, a figure giggled wickedly.
His eyes glowed a bloody shade of red. His hands trembled in anticipation
as he stroked the fine silk string in his hands.
"They thought they could stop me? Me? No man has stopped me! Ever!"
*WHAP* "PERVERT!" Ukyou grinned wickedly, putting her assault-spatula
away. "Teach _him_ not to mess with my laundry..." she grumbled.
Happosai sailed on, across the skies. "Well, no man," he admitted to
himself, "but maybe some women once or twice..."
* * *
========================
The Pursuit of Happiness
Act 1
Part 2
Nerima By Night
========================
Happosai hopped from rooftop to rooftop, carrying his ever-growing bag
of female undergarments with him.
The wind was in his face.
The rush of adrenaline as he makes the perfect theft.
The silky smoooooth panties, powering up his fighting spirit.
This was what living was all about.
This, and sex. But he hadn't gotten much of that for several decades,
so the panties would have to do for now.
And speaking of which, it was time to enjoy the night's bounty...
He held a panty up to his nose and inhaled deeply.
"BLECH! BLECHBLECHBLECH! AAAACK! PTUI!"
Happosai laid on the floor, twitching and in pain. "Something...
wrong... with...panty... BLECH!"
*
The window was open.
The drawers were open.
They were also empty.
"Hey! Somebody stole my panties!"
Tsubasa angrily shut his window. Well, he thought, there's gonna be
some improvements in house security for sure.
= = =
Ukyou looked from her storefront window to the night sky outside. One
of these days, she thought, I really oughta leave this town, if only for a
while.
Really.
There's nothing hold me here, is there?
She sighed and closed the shutters on the front windows.
Something was missing.
"Ryouga? Hey, Ryouga, where'd ya go?"
She looked in the kitchen.
It seemed that he'd already done his job there. The dishes and the
stove was cleaned out. But Ryouga was nowhere in sight.
"I'm going to buy that idiot a pager one of these days," she muttered.
= = =
Ryo Muhoshin stared uneasily into the night. The money from his last
job was running out. He knew enough to make a few shrewd investments, but
that was only delaying the inevitable. He didn't want to do this, it
wasn't his style, but it had to be done. He sighed internally, cursing
life, cursing fate, cursing bureaucracy, wished that he was more recovered
from his hospital stay (he wasn't feeling quite at 100% yet) and accepted
his current destiny.
He slipped the money from the safe into his jacket and quietly raced
for the open window in the distance.
Burglary wasn't like assassination or security detail. He didn't get to
hit anybody. He didn't get to use his martial arts training. He had to
be _not_ flamboyant.
It wasn't much fun at all.
That didn't mean that he was above it, though.
= = =
Tsubasa brushed his long brown hair out of his eyes and concentrated on
the main circuit board of his Postal 210 disguise battle mech. He chewed
on his cigar, tossed the beer can away, and mulled over the design flaws.
"Hell with it, it's good enough," he said, in a gruff voice.
He hopped into the Postal 210, flipped a switch that activated the tank
treads, and drove off into the night.
Several minutes later, his first victim appeared.
"SAOTOME! PREPARE TO DIE!" Tsubasa yelled into the microphone.
The Mishima Heavy industries 3-way Super-bass speakers boomed his
message across the neighborhood.
Ranma, who had just gone for a midnight jog, looked like a deer caught
in the headlights. Tsubasa grinned wickedly and flipped a switch, turning a
mere post office box with tank treads into a 15 foot tall monstrosity of a
mech.
"Jeez!" yelled Ranma and sprinted down the street.
"YOU WON'T GET AWAY!"
Ranma ran uselessly down the street and suddenly they were in front of
Ukyou's restaurant.
"Hey! Help! Ukyou! Ryouga! Anybody!" Ranma nervously yelled.
Tsubasa flipped another switch and a deadly blade popped out of one of
the Postal 210's arms. "This is the end, Saotome." Tsubasa said.
The arm flung down with Ranma dead in it's sights.
Tsubasa grinned triumphantly.
Ranma froze in terror.
Suddenly, the mech was rocked on its side as the yell "Shishi
Houkoudan!" bellowed forth. The blade smashed to the left of Ranma, who
scrambled away quickly.
Tsubasa swiveled the mech cameras around. "HIBIKI!" he yelled into the
microphone, "SO YOU WANNA DIE TONIGHT TOO? FINE!" Tsubasa wanted to
enjoy the elimination of his enemies, i.e. using a really big blade, but
he realized that sometimes it didn't pay to have too much fun at work.
After all, that's how the heroes always escape. Tsubasa flipped a switch
and several Mishima Heavy Industries Inc. precision lasers popped out of
the Postal 210's shoulders. "DIE!" he yelled, and pulled hard on the
trigger.
Tsubasa emerged from his mech and stood before two piles of ash. He
looked at them solemly, and then kicked them into the winds. "So long,
suckers!" he yelled (in a surprisingly gruff, deep baritone voice) and lit
up a cigar.
Ukyou emerged from her restaurant, shocked. Tsubasa looked at her and
smiled. "Hey, Ucchan. Come on over here."
She looked at the ashes scattered all over the place. "You killed
them?" she asked.
"Yup." He took another puff from his cigar.
"Oh thank you!" she yelled, and rushed into his arms. "Ranma was just
so annoying the way he got free food all the time! And Ryouga too! Oh,
thank you for getting rid of those freeloading bums!"
"T'was nothin'" Macho-Tsubasa said.
She turned her eyes towards his, looking deeply. She leaned forward,
presenting her lips.
"But you'll give up this silly business with the mechs, right?"
Tsubasa froze. "But... but... I _like_ mechs!"
"What would you rather have, mechs? Or _me_."
He couldn't believe this. A couple of months ago this would be an easy
question. But now, he couldn't decide...
"I... um... you..."
"Tsubasa-chan?" Ukyou was getting impatient.
"Can't I, um, can't I do, er, have both?"
"TSUBASA YOU JERK!"
*CLANG*
* * *
"Ow!" Tsubasa said, rubbing his head. He groggily looked around.
"Oh," he said, realizing that he'd fallen asleep while working on the
Postal 210 again. Tsubasa pondered continuing his work, but decided that
working while groggy would just lead to construction errors.
<No need to be nervous!> he reminded himself. <The interview with
Mishima Heavy Industries is tomorrow... THEY are the ones that contacted
me, right? Of course they'll take me in! I'm good enough, I'm smart
enough, and gosh darnit, people like me!>
Tsubasa yawned, rubbing the gear-shaped dent in his forehead, and went
to his room for a rest. "Oh my, that's going to bruise! I wonder if
makeup can hid it."
= = =
Out on a ledge in downtown Tokyo, seventy floors up, Ryo Muhoshin crept
slowly upwards.
Okay, Ryo thought, almost there. High risk but high reward. There was
a corporation out there that wanted the latest specs from MendoTech, and
they put out the word that they were willing to pay whatever it took to
get the information.
Just a bit higher... R&D was on the 73rd floor.
Maybe MendoTech was one tough corporation owned by one tough and crazy
family. The Mendo Clan even had their own _army_, commanded by their
crazy little heir. It took a brave guy to mess with that family.
<And that guy is me> Ryo reassured himself.
Then it happened.
He sensed a presence. Someone was up there with him.
"Hold it right there!" an unbearably cute voice said.
"Right," he replied.
There was a long silence.
"You don't want to know who I am?"
"I should ask, I guess?"
Suddenly, a girl appeared. It wasn't just an ordinary girl. She was
glowing pink, dressed in a sailor outfit. And she was floating in the
air.
"I am Magical Girl Kuruma!" she said proudly, striking some odd pose
that, Ryo guessed, was supposed to be impressive.
"Magical... Girl... Kuruma?" Ryo's expression was blank.
"You... you mean you've never heard of me?"
"Can't say that I have, no. Terribly sorry."
"Hm..." Kuruma looked at him with a confused expression on her face.
She _thought_ she sensed a supernatural disturbance, but there was only
this ordinary guy on a building.
"So what're you doing up here anyways?" she asked.
"Honestly? Well, you could say I'm getting information."
"You mean industrial espionage?"
"Rather negative way of looking at things, isn't it?"
Magical Girl Kuruma looked deep in thought for a moment. Well, she
pondered, there wasn't any demons or spirits running amuck like she was
used to dealing with, but there _was_ this guy doing obviously criminal
activity. But she'd never had to deal with "people" bad guys, just
supernatural stuff.
Ryo held on the side of the building, wondering what was supposed to
happen next.
"I guess I oughta stop you," she said.
"I was hoping you wouldn't. New at this?"
"A little," she admitted.
"Ah. I see." Ryo didn't like fighting girls. That didn't mean that
he was above that sort of thing. It just left a certain distaste in his
mind afterwards. Besides, the girl said she was magical, and the last
encounter with magic stripped him of some very serious powers.
Magic was something he'd learned to hate.
Ryo slowly edged away from the girl. There wasn't much room to move
on the ledge. Not enough to fight, either. If she had a blast-type
attack he knew he would be in trouble.
Magical Girl Kuruma held out her hand, where a staff appeared out of
nowhere. It had a giant red glowing crystal heart at its tip. She
pointed it at Ryo.
"Crystal Heart Entrapment!!!"
The crystal glowed.
Not much else happened.
"Curiosity demands," said Ryo, "that I ask if something was supposed to
happen?"
"Well, you were supposed to be entrapped in crystal until the
authorities come and get you."
"Indeed... You've done this before?"
"Don't be silly! Of course I have!" She had indeed, on people and
demons. There wasn't a reason for it not to work now.
"That staff, it's magical?" he asked.
"Yup."
Ryo touched the heart with a finger. The crystal dimmed considerably.
This, he thought, was rather interesting.
"Ribbon wrap!" Kuruma pulled a ribbon from her hair and lashed it at
Ryo. It circled around him, and then went lame.
"I assume that was a magical device as well?" asked Ryo.
"Well, yeah..."
"How, may I ask, are you floating?" Ryo was getting an idea.
"It's all magic."
Gears turned over in Ryo's mind. He was never immune to magic.
Gosunkugi certainly proved that. However, so far things were proving
different... or this particular magical girl was incredibly incompetent.
Ryo grinned wickedly. He had an idea.
Before she could dodge, he reached out and touched her arm.
Immediately, she started plummeting to the concrete streets below.
"Interesting," he said, watching her fall.
Before she hit the pavement, Magical Girl Kuruma managed to find the
ability to fly again, and narrowly avoided concrete death. She angrily
zoomed back to Ryo.
"That wasn't nice!" she yelled. "How'd you do that?"
"I have no idea. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some information to
retrieve." Ryo casually ignored the girl and resumed climbing up.
Magical Girl Kuruma didn't like being ignored. "THAT'S IT! I'M
CALLING THE POLICE!!!" With an excess of flair and dramatic motion, she
pulled out a cellular phone and started dialing.
Ryo frowned. "Fine, fine, I'm going." He opened his umbrella and
jumped off, floating to the streets below.
= = =
Nodoka Saotome looked into the night sky, feeling some measure of
warmth knowing that somewhere out there, her son was looking at the very
same stars. She sat in the park, wondering how her son was doing. Was he
eating right? Was he treating Akane properly? Was he a Man Amongst Men?
How was Genma? She missed him so very much.
Suddenly, she noticed a movement in the park and readied her katanna.
The figure came closer... closer... and then veered to another sidewalk
path in the park. Nodoka examined the figure in the darkness of the
night.
"Akane?" she said quietly. What was she doing out here? It seemed
rather late for a jog around the neighborhood. After all, there could be
some real strange people out there.
She put her katanna away.
Nodoka was about to go home for the night when she saw someone else.
Following Akane.
How DARE anyone threaten the fiancee of her son! Nodoka readied her
katanna once more and followed the figure.
....
After a few minutes, Akane came to a stop for a brief rest.
Ranma hid behind a water fountain, watching over her. He didn't like
these late jogs. They just weren't safe. Who knows what kind of weirdos
were out there at this time of night?
Suddenly, he felt the cold steel of a blade against the back of his
neck.
"You there," a woman's voice commandingly said, "what do you think
you're doing? I should call the police, or better yet just kill you."
"Er... it's not what you think."
"Do tell."
"Look, she's my fiancee and I just, just, just wanna make sure nobody
does nothin weird to her."
"Fiancee?" she asked.
Akane noticed the noise coming from behind the water fountain and
looked. Her face froze in shock.
Ranma suddenly realized where he heard this woman's voice before.
Nodoka turned the word "fiancee" over in her head.
"Son?" she asked.
Ranma turned around slooowly. He saw his mother. Holding a katanna.
"YAAAAH!" he screamed, and stumbled back.
Into the fountain.
Akane slapped her head in disbelief. Foolish boy!
Nodoka looked on, stunned. "Ran... Ranko? You're Ranko? WHAT'S THE
MEANING OF THIS! GENMAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
Suddenly an obese panda fell from the sky, landing in front of Nodoka.
She aimed her blade at its forehead. "Genma! Explain this NOW!"
"Rowf?" the panda said, startled.
He held a sign up desperately. //I SWEAR, I'M JUST A PANDA!!!//
"Don't play innocent with ME anymore, you lying BASTARD! WHAT DID YOU
DO TO MY SON??!?!?!?!"
She swung the blade down hard...
*
"ROWF!" Genma yelled as he bolted upright.
Wait a minute.
"Rowf?" he muttered.
*CLONK* "Hey, keep it down, pop! I'm tryin' to sleep!" Ranma angrily
muttered.
Genma shook his head vigorously.
He wasn't in his panda form.
He tried his vocal abilities once more: "ahem."
That's better.
"Mm. I hate when that happens."
Genma went off to find a glass of water. After all, it was easier to
deal with the cold winter nights as a panda.
= = =
Ryouga, wrapped in a thick jacket and traveling clothes, sat atop the
rooftop of Ucchan's admiring the stars. The stars in winter always seemed
a bit clearer to him. In the summertime, the starlight was too easily
covered up by the city lights or by clouds.
But in the winter it was different. He didn't know why, but it just
was.
He idly twirled his compass necklace around.
"Ryouga? Hey, where'd you go?" Ukyou yelled. She was closing up the
store when she noticed that the resident navigationally-impaired boy was
missing. After living with him for the past several months, she knew he
was either lost hopelessly or up on the roof.
"Up here!"
"Hey, Ryouga, what'cha doin?" Ukyou asked as she climbed unto the roof.
"Just stargazing. Maybe it's silly, but I like to do it."
"No, it's not silly. Ran-chan does it a lot in the summer."
Something he has in common with Ranma? Blech.
"Jeez, it's cold out here. Hey, mind if I join ya?" asked Ukyou.
"Sure. No problem," said Ryouga.
"Thanks." She flipped up to the roof and made her way next to Ryouga,
shivering slightly in her own thick jacket.
"What's keeping you up?" asked Ryouga.
"Oh, just things, I guess. Life. The universe. Stuff."
"You really thinking about closing down the restaurant?"
"Maybe. If Nabiki's estimates are right, I can live off of the profits
from some investment picks she's got lined up."
"Hm..."
"Hey, don't worry about a place to stay. You can stay here even if I
shut down the place."
"You sure?"
"What are friends for, right?"
They settled in once more, looking out into infinity. Stars swirling
around other stars...
"Hey, I hope you don't mind me asking but," asked Ukyou, "what's going
on with you and Ryoko?"
"Eh? I... she... I'm not... I mean..."
"Well, she seem kinda sweet, and she seems to really be in love with
you, Ryouga."
"Yeah, but I dunno. I don't think that I... well... argh! How'd Ranma
ever handle these things?!?!"
"You in love with her?"
"..."
"Well?"
"I don't know. Never had a girl ever tell me she loved me before.
I've always been a loner, y'know? This love thing, it's new to me. I
mean, er, you, um, how'd you know... er..."
"Hm?"
Ryouga sighed. " ... never mind."
"Hey," said Ukyou in a sleepy tone, "if you don't feel the same, tell
her. Tell'er now. No sense in dragging things out and breaking a
girl's... *yawn*... heart, y'know?"
"Yeah, I guess," said Ryouga. "I wouldn't want to end up making all the
mistakes Ranma made."
"Hey, we still going on that training trip this weekend?" she asked.
Ryouga nodded. "The weather's supposed to be much nicer this weekend,
according to the news reports. I hope so."
Ukyou yawned once more, stretched, and sighed. "Well, I'm done for the
day. See ya inside, sugar."
"G'night, Ukyou."
And once more, as was before, Ryouga was alone. Although he didn't
feel too bad about it. After a while longer, he slowly drifted off into
sleep.
And then he started walking.
= = =
Restless.
That was the word to describe her at the moment. She wasn't sure why,
but she was. Maybe it was that horror movie on TV she'd watched? She
never did take scary movies very well. Or maybe it was the affect of
inactivity? She hadn't sparred with anyone in a while and was itching to,
really. It couldn't have been the coffee that she (and she was rather
proud of it) managed to brew earlier. After all, aside from the initial
odd sting, it tasted like normal coffee. Nah, couldn't be the coffee.
Akane turned in her bed, turned again, and finally decided that sleep
wasn't something she was ready for just yet...
* * *
Ranma waited in the delivery room, anxious to see his first child.
"I'm gonna be a dad. _I_ am gonna be a _dad_. Wow." he muttered as he
nervously paced around the floor.
"Mr. Saotome?" a nurse called from behind the doors of the operating
room.
"Yeah? That's me! What's happening?"
"Congratulations, Mr. Saotome!" the nurse said, guiding him into the
operating room, "you're a father!"
Akane was resting on the bed, cradling a small infant in her arms. She
smiled warmly, in the way that only moms do.
"A.. Akane?" Ranma nervously asked. "Can I.. I.."
Akane smiled and held the baby forward for Ranma to hold. He cradled
it gently in his arms, feeling overwhelmed. The child already had a few
locks of hair on its head.
"Say, is it a boy or a girl?" he murmured as he tapped the baby gently
on the cheek.
Akane took a glass of water.
"Wha-"
And poured some gently on the baby.
"-t?"
And it's hair turned red.
"Ah.. no.. nonono... it isn't..."
Everyone in the operating room happily shook their heads.
"Congrats, honey," Akane cheerily said, "it's both!"
"NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"
* * *
*FWAP* //QUIET!// "Rwowr!"
"Huh? Oh. Sorry, pop."
Ranma sat upright, shaking badly. He took deep breaths.
"Only a dream. Only a dream."
He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep any more that night, and headed
off to the kitchen for a late night binge. He wasn't sure if that would
calm him down, but it always worked for his dad.
As he got up, Ranma heard footsteps. He quietly opened his door.
Nobody.
He crept downstairs.
Nobody.
Then he heard the front door open. Ranma snuck to the front just in
time to see Akane leaving in her jogging outfit.
"What the..." What time was it? Didn't she know it was too damn early
for a jog?
"Stupid girl," he muttered.
This wasn't his problem. No sir. Nope. If the tomboy wants to go
jogging around in the city while it's dark and cold and late and
dangerous...
He sighed.
"Dammit. Dammitdammitdammit." He went back to his room for a quick
change of clothes and then headed out the door.
"Stupid girl. Stupid stupid girl." he muttered. Just great.
Something else for him to worry about. That girl was a real pain
sometimes, even if he was in love with her.
Ranma jogged out into the night, looking for Akane. Had to make sure
her fiancee was alright.
After all, there's strange people out there.
= = =
Meanwhile, elsewhere, more nerfarious deeds were underway.
Happosai snuck into the large mansion, entirely undetected and evading
all the security precautions that this abode sported. This particular
place was one spot he had his eye on for quite a while now. Not only was
the lady of the house one sexy woman, she had expensive lingerie. Top
dollar panties. Creme de la creme.
Ha-cha-cha.
As he zoomed stealthily down the hallways, he found his target, the
main bedroom, and snuck quietly inside...
* * *
Ryo scaled the wall of the mansion. This, he knew, would pay off big.
This estate was owned by one _rich_ lady. In fact, it was owned by a lady
that he was _briefly_ quite fascinated with. It was unfortunate that he
had to resort to thieving from her, but the payoff from this little
expedition would keep him financed for a week.
He opened the window and crept inside...
* * *
Happosai dug through the drawers and grinned like the devil. Panties!
Ultra-silky, ultra-smooth panties! He dove into the drawer and immersed
himself totally in undergarments.
*BANG*
And then his world went black.
* * *
Ryo felt around the walls, behind the paintings, with no luck.
Where was the safe?
He decided to dig into the closet. Maybe it was ther-
*BANG*
"Ow!" he silently muttered. Ryo looked down. The lady left her panty
drawer open and he slammed his leg into the damn thing.
He nervously looked at the bed, where a rather stunning beauty of a
woman was lying there, asleep, in a rather stunning and very see-through
nightgown.
"Niiiihaoo," Ryo muttered, admiring the view. He stifled off a
nosebleed, shook himself back into reality, and went off to the closet.
Maybe the safe was in there...
* * *
Happosai's senses were put on alert. Somebody, maybe the lady, had
just closed the damn drawer on him. Whoever it was seemed to be moving
away. Happosai, demonstrating amazing strength for a man his size, opened
the drawer from the inside and looked around.
Hm... seemed the lady went back to sleep.
The lady.
In the see-through nightgown.
And those... those...
"Oh my," he croaked.
Hm? He just said "oh my"? Where on earth did that come from?
Happosai shook his head. Must've spent too much time around Kasumi. He
struggled with all his might and turned _away_ from the sight of those...
those... well, he turned away and headed for the closet. There wasn't any
bras in the drawer, so he was hoping they were stored there. Those, and
maybe some more of those exquisite nightgowns.
Happosai happily made his way into the closet and was burying himself
in a hung silky item which he hoped was a negligee when suddenly...
* * *
Ryo, in the dark, felt around the walls of the crowded closet.
Shoes.
Skirts.
Shoes.
Shoes.
Something with spikes... _heeello_ He blushed a bit and put the rather
revealing item of leatherwear back down.
Shoes.
Shoes.
What is it with women and shoes?
Hm... what else... he felt around blindly...
Something silky, warm, softish and round.
Erm. Ahem.
Silky?
Soft?
Warm?
Round?
* * *
Happosai sweated nervously. He was caught. Deep in enemy territory.
And stuck in a negligee.
* * *
Ryo sweated nervously. Not only was he robbing the girl, now he could
be charged with sexual assault.
Very slowly, Ryo let go and reached for the light switch.
* * *
=CLICK=
"YOU!"
"YOU!"
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! Thieves!!" *WHAP*
Kodachi twirled her ribbon madly, but by the time her eyes adjusted to
the light, the burglars were gone.
One seemed to have left something behind...
She opened the bag.
"Panties?"
* * *
Ryo ran furiously into the cold winter night. "Damn you, old man! You
ruined everything!" As he landed on a rooftop, he swung his umbrella
wildly at Happosai.
"What about me, huh? Curse you for interfering! I lost my whole bag
of panties!" Happosai angrily flung a dozen bombs at Ryo and hopped to
another rooftop. He fumbled slightly on his landing. Being trapped
inside a negligee usually did that to small people.
Ryo jumped in pursuit as another Nerima home was overly-ventilated
(*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*) and he flung a ki-blast out towards the
mini-megapervert, who dodged it easily. "You die tonight!"
"Oh? Is that so?" said Happosai, who suddenly let loose with a flying
kick that sent Ryo across the skies and into the park, slamming into a
fountain. "Tonight, foolish young man, you shall feel the wrath of
Happosai!!!!" The little man bounded away, the negligee flapping madly,
chasing after his victim.
* * *
Ranma muttered angrily, "stupid girl, stupid girl..." as he ran
silently into the night. She was taking her usual route, around the
neighborhood, through the park, and around across a newly repaired bridge.
That's the usual route she took in the mornings, Ranma knew, since once or
twice he had decided to follow her, merely out of curiosity.
Well, that's what it seemed she was doing tonight anyways. They did
the neighborhood thing and were cutting across the park, and...
*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*
Bomb explosions.
Damn.
Happosai.
*WHAM* "Ow!"
* * *
Akane was almost out of the park when she heard it.
*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*
Bomb explosions.
Damn.
Happosai.
*WHAM*
Something flew by her.
"Ow!"
And hit somebody behind her? Akane looked back curiously.
Imbedded into the water fountain was Ryo, who was currently cushioned
from his impact by Ranma-chan.
"Ranma?" Akane wondered what he was doing here. She approached
cautiously.
"Happosaaaaaiiiii!!!" Ryo roared as he shoved off of something in his
attempt to get up.
"Gedoffame!" Ranma yelled as Ryo shoved her in the face. He grabbed
Ryo's arm and twisted it.
"Gah! WHO DARES?!" Ryo yelled. He wasn't in the mood for any more
inconveniences. He twisted violently and spun around, slashing wildly
with his umbrella. He heard a shriek.
"Akane!" Ranma-chan called out. She flung Ryo into a tree and went to
her. "Are you okay?" she asked, sounding genuinely concerned. Akane's
hand was bleeding.
"I'm okay," she said, "it's just a cut."
"Dammit! He's dead!" Ranma-chan charged angrily at Ryo. "Nobody
hurts my fiancee!" She aimed a jump-kick at his head.
*BONK*
And was knocked out of her flight by something...
"Sorry, Ranma, but that one is mine!" Happosai said from somewhere in
the darkness. Happosai's laughter was heard from far above.
"Ranma? I don't see any Ranma..." Ryo muttered. Just some irate
redhead. Worry about the minor distractions later, he had a fool to fry.
Ryo looked up into the trees, searching for his enemy.
*BONK*
Ryo stumbled back. Something had hit him on the nose.
*BONK*
And on the head. In fact, there seemed to be a lot of things falling
all around him. Lots of round, small things with fuses...
Ryo lashed out with the hook-end of his umbrella into one of the trees
and pulled hard, pulling back a surprised Happosai. "Old man, you will...
will..."
There was a sound.
Hissing.
Ryo suffered a quick flashback to the fight that put him in the
hospital. He would never forget the sound..... of bomb fuses burning.
This was that sound.
"Aiyah..."
*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*
* * *
Habits are a very hard thing to break.
Birds migrate, snakes rattle, and Ryouga walked in his sleep, looking
for Akane's bed where he would get a night of snuggling with her as
P-Chan.
One would think this sort of thing would get him in dire trouble, given
his horrible navigational skill. But this is a Hibiki, a very strange
breed that doesn't behave exactly as one would expect him to. Yes, Ryouga
did sometimes wander far in his sleep, and yes, he'd wander far, sometimes
incredibly far, but he would _always_find_his_way_back_ to where he'd
begun sleeping before he woke up.
That is, he'd find his way back unless he was 1) in his cursed state
and 2) found Akane's bed, or something like it.
It was truly amazing how many young ladies across the globe out there
woke up with a little black piglet next to them.
As Ryouga stumbled around in the dark, asleep, he tripped over a bucket
of water (as the Nerima/Jusenkyou Water Magnet Law demanded), turning him
into a her.
Then she made a coincidental left turn here, and right turn there...
and sensed a bed nearby.
Her subconscious made a judgement call.
Cursed form? Yes.
Bed nearby? Yes.
Akane? Seems like it.
Snuggle.
*
Ranma held her close, her face buried in his manly chest.
"Oh Ranma," she said, and gently nuzzled his neck.
He held her tighter.
Ukyou worked her way up to his ear, nibbling on it gently.
He started to moan.
Then his face changed...
Ukyou looked up to his eyes, confused. "Ryouga?!?!"
*
Ukyou woke up.
In bed.
With a female Ryouga.
"EEEEEEEEEK! YOU PERVERT!"
*POW*
* * *
Ryouga slept a dreamless sleep. Then things got unexpectedly erotic.
She dreamed as a he, of course, and at the moment, as a he, he dreamed of
Ukyou, in a negligee.
Ukyou? Hm.
This had to be a dream. She'd pound him into the ground if she caught
him looking at her while she was in _that_ outfit. He shrugged in his
dream, guessing that maybe he was over Akane after all.
Although the question 'why Ukyou?' did flicker briefly in his mind.
All was forgotten as Ukyou leaned on him ever so closely and nuzzled
his neck, worked her way up, and gently nibbled on his ear.
What a dream. So realistic too....
"EEEEEEEEEEEK! YOU PERVERT!" *POW*
Suddenly he was flying. That's funny. He never dreamed of flying
before. Boy, when that Ukyou puts her lips on a guy...
* * *
A slightly charred Ryo and Happosai hopped across the nighttime skies
of downtown Tokyo, exchanging blows and insults. Ranma-chan and Akane
were in pursuit, wanting to get their hands on either one.
Happosai dashed across a skyscraper rooftop but tripped on the landing.
Ryo saw the opening and aimed the blade of his umbrella downwards. "NOW
OLD MAN, YOU DIE! *OOF*"
Ryo was knocked clumsily off his trajectory by something heavy,
slamming into him hard, plowing into Happosai, then through the roof and
into a bathhouse.
Right into the hot water.
And on the women's side.
Ranma and Akane peered into the hole in the roof. At this point, they
both noticed the naked ladies scrambling about. Ranma tried to look away
before Akane whapped him to look in the other direction. He did look
away, but as a matter of principal, she whapped him anyways.
A brief minute later, after some enraged screams, three martial artists
were violently tossed out. Two of them were trying to hold back
nosebleeds (one via black and yellow bandanna, the other via hankerchief)
and the third one was feeling better than ever.
And he was still tangled in Kodachi's negligee.
"Nice t'meet ya, lovely ladies!" cackled Happosai, running off into the
distance. This night was turning out to be absolutely fabulous for him,
with an invigorating swim amongst the pretty ladies and a few martial
artists to play with. "Catch me if you can, boys!" he taunted, then
sprang back into the rooftops.
Meanwhile, Ranma and Akane were running to catch up, while Ryo and
Ryouga got up after giving each other scowls. Once more, they chased
after the megapervert.
"Idiot!" sneered Ryo, "I had the old wretch in my sights and YOU-""
"Shut up." Ryouga was sleepy, tired, and in no mood for Kuno-esque
rants and raves. As he landed on the next roof, his footing wobbled
underneath him and he fell ungracefully.
On Happosai.
"Ow!" the old lech croaked. He grabbed Ryouga's leg and slammed him
into the pavement, berating himself for pausing too long while trying to
figure out which direction Victoria's Secret was from this particular
roof. It was a shame, really, he felt he should have that memorized by
now.
Ryouga got up quickly, anger reviving him. "That's it! I-"
*WHAM* He was slammed forward, his head propelled by Ranma's feet. His
own feet scrambled violently, knocking Happosai into a cement wall.
"Oops. Sorry 'bout that, Ryouga."
"Ranmaaa! How DARE you!"
"Hey! It was an accident! I was jumpin' already, YOU got in the way!"
"Hey!" yelled Akane, landing violently on Ranma's head with her feet,
"Cut it out already!"
Happosai had enough. It was time to stop fooling around. He had been
abused and kicked around enough for one night, and it was time to put an
end to it. "FOOLS! WITNESS THE ANYTHING GOES MARTIAL ARTS SECRET
ATTACK!"
Akane was confused. "He're gonna to run away?"
"NO! THAT'S THE _SAOTOME_ SECRET TECHNIQUE!" roared Happosai. The
pint-size pervert began to glow brightly, causing Ranma-chan, Akane, and
Ryouga scrambled back in panic. They'd seen Happosai's enlarged battle
aura before, but this was different. The old man's aura wasn't growing.
_He_ was growing.
"Hey, Ranma?" asked Ryouga.
"What?!"
"Saotome Anything Goes Secret Technique?"
"Good idea. RUN AWAY!"
Ryo blinked in confusion as the three scrambled for safety. Feh,
cowards. He spat into his hands and readied his umbrella. It was going
to be one of _those_ nights? Well, that was just fine for him. Ryo
hadn't gotten into a serious fight in a long while. He was way overdue
and needed to take his stress out on somebody.
He noticed with surprising calm that even though Happosai was growing,
his clothes weren't shredding. In fact, they were growing too...
Weird.
Oh well. Time to kill.
"BANZAIIII!!!"
===============
=AFTERMATH=
===============
[6:00am]
She wondered where the pervert went off to.
How DARE he slip into her bed!
She was, for a while, mad, incredibly mad, bordering on murderously
mad. But now that she had time to cool down and think on it, she wasn't
mad anymore.
She was scheming.
Sooner or later, he'd never know when, he'd never know where, but he'd
PAY for that.
Ukyou shook her head, realizing that she was ranting in her mind
about Ryouga again, and that wouldn't do at all. Stress, after all,
was not a healthy thing. She needed a distraction.
Tv. That would do. Morning tv usually isn't promising, but
at least it took her mind off the problem. She turned it on, hoping to be
distracted.
///A crisis of gigantic proportions here this morning in downtown
Tokyo-///
"Whoa..." She was shocked at what she was seeing. She always knew
Happosai was a danger, but she'd never imagined this.
...
Several blocks away, Ryouga stumbled towards Ucchan's. He knew it was
around here somewhere. At this moment he was grateful to be alive, and
with all his limbs intact.
* * *
It seemed like the start of a fine day in the Tendo household. Kasumi
was up early getting the breakfast meal ready, Nabiki was just waking up,
and Genma... was looking for Ranma.
"Where is that boy?! He's missing our morning sparring session!" he
yelled, as he entered the main room.
Soun ran up frantically and grabbed Soun by the shoulders. "Saotome!
Akane's missing!"
Genma hmmed seriously for a moment, stroking his chin. Soun joined him
in contemplation.
"You don't think they..." started Soun.
"Well, Tendo," replied a grinning Genma, "would it be particularly bad
if they did...?"
Suddenly, both of them began a dance of joy, with much confetti being
tossed about.
As if on cue, a very tired, somewhat dusty looking Akane entered
through the front door. Her hair and clothes were a mess.
"Akane! Where have you been?" asked Soun.
Ranma entered the house. He was slightly dusty, his clothes were all
in disarray. He stretched and yawned.
Soun and Genma cast a quick glance and an evil grin. Ranma and Akane
out all night? Their clothing in a mess? Tired as if they were busy all
night? Suddenly, they stood behind their children, holding their
shoulders, and tossed confetti. "Oh Saotome! It's good to see our
children getting along once again!"
"Yes Tendo, it is indeed!"
"My daughter is all grown up! Waaaah!" Soun wailed.
Ranma frowned. He would, under normal circumstances, prefer to toss
his dad into the pond. Unfortunately, he was just too tired to do that.
He glanced over at Akane. It looked like she was in the same predicament.
"Mm," said Ranma, and he pointed towards the heart of downtown Tokyo.
"Eh? What's that you're saying?" asked Soun.
"Mm." Akane pointed her thumb in that direction too, hoping that would
answer everyone's questions.
They both trudged upstairs to get some well deserved rest. Genma and
Soun looked to where they had pointed.
"Oh my," said Kasumi.
"Saotome," said a grim Tendo.
"Tendo."
"We're moving to China."
"Yes. Good idea. As soon as possible."
* * *
Ryo Muhoshin crawled into his apartment, ragged and out of energy.
He'd given it his all. He'd done his best. There was no shame in his
retreat.
"Hey, bro, where've ya been?" asked Ryoko.
"Urg."
"What happened to ya? You look like you've been fighting Ryouga again."
"Feh." He gave his sister a glare, then proceeded to rest on the
floor. It wasn't a good night for Ryo. He'd lost his big score at Mendo
Tech, at the Kuno Mansion, got beaten silly, and lost a damn fine
umbrella.
"Cool! Gimmie the details!"
"No talk sleep now." was the best Ryo could offer in reply.
"Fine. Be that way."
Megane passed by, noticed Ryo on the floor, and said, "so you got your
ass kicked again, did you?"
"Shaddup."
Ryo was content. He was alive, right?
He strongly felt that he ought to leave this town. It seemed to be
hazardous for his health.
For now, Ryo was "home", and he was content to just fall asleep on the
floor, right there, right now.
* * *
Commander Ichiwara was in a panic. "Get the tank divisions lined up
over here! Call the general and tell him we need those damn air strikes!
Get those electro-discharge dishes in place! Dammit men move it move it
move it!!!"
Not since those damn giant monsters crashed into town ten years ago had
he ever seen such a horrible threat to Japan.
The creature, as tall as an average skyscraper in downtown Tokyo and
had devastated half of the downtown area already. It crushed several
divisions of tanks already and had swatted down two squadrons of fighter
planes as well. He hoped that the new anti-monster system developed after
the disaster of Godzilla would prove effective.
What it _looked_ like was absurd. A hideously mutated old man,
resembling a troll somewhat, and wearing an even bigger negligee. The
damn thing kept on roaring something unintelligable that came out sounding
like "BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!" or sometimes "PAAAAAANNNNTIIIIEESS!!"
Luckily, it had stopped its rampage and was apparently molesting a
gigantic billboard with a lingerie-clad girl on it.
Ichiwara shook his head. Who knows what that thing was. Atomic
accident gone wrong? Mutant? Ancient race of cross-dressing giants that
had so far been hidden from mankind? He took a drag from his cigar and
pondered the mysteries of life.
"SWEEEEEEEEETTTTTOOOOO!!!"
-end part 2-
this is part 3 of the sequel to 'The Pursuit of Happiness'
which can be found at the RAAC archives and at
http://www.uh.edu/~rpm/fanfic.htm
--
========================
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
ACT I
Part 3
A Training We Will Go
=======================
nothing's so cold
as closing the heart when all we need
is to free the soul
but we wouldn't be that brave i know
and the air outside so soft, confessing everything
everything...
-Toad The Wet Sprocket, 'All I Want'
FRIDAY NIGHT...
The sun slowly sank to the mountains, its brilliant orange glow bathing
the scenery in an almost cinematic moment. Two observers sitting next to
a campfire were admiring the event, looking a bit weary themselves, as if
they had just done a lot of walking, which they did.
"Wow, kinda warm for this time of year, ain't it?" said Ukyou.
"That's true, I guess," admitted Ryouga.
"Feels more like spring than winter, really."
"Nice weather for a training trip, isn't it?" said Ryouga.
"Very nice. So, this is where you train normally?" asked Ukyou, who
was currently reclined on her sleeping bag.
"I always liked this place," said Ryouga, stretching his back and arms.
"It's always so peaceful, and scenic too."
This was done, somewhat, because of the much anticipated King of Nerima
tournament that was to begin in about a month's time. But more than that,
the trip was done because life in Nerima tended to be hazardous anyways.
It was in Ryouga's best interest to get back in shape as soon as possible.
"Yeah, this place is beautiful," agreed Ukyou.
"I was told this used to be known as the Cobweb forest. Supposedly,
there's spirits that haunted the woods, and hidden somewhere in here is
the remains of an old abandoned fortress from the days of the warlords."
"Sounds spooky," said Ukyou, frowning.
"Well," said Ryouga, "I've never seen any spirits, or any fortress.
Maybe it's all just a myth."
Ryouga's stretching ceased, and he stood perfectly still. His eyes
were closed, and his breathing was steady and calm. No worries, no cares,
and only the feel of nature all around him.
Ukyou looked up at Ryouga curiously. She'd never seen him so... calm
before. When he wasn't scowling, moping, or being an idiot, she had to
admit he was cute. In fact, he was kinda handsome.
"Um, Ukyou? Something wrong?"
"Huh?" She realized that she'd been gazing right at him, and fixed
that problem by turning away quickly. However, the blushing wasn't
helping her any. "J-just thinking, that's all."
"Oh." He let the inquiry stop at that, mostly because he wasn't sure
he was ready to hear any answers. Instead, he let a more natural urge
take over. "Say, when's dinner?"
*
"Dinner's ready!"
"Ah... be there in a minute!" Ranma took a moment to make a prayer to
any deities out there that would listen as he was about to face a
consequence of bringing his beloved fiancee along with him on this
training trip.
At the time, it seemed like a good idea. Just the two of them,
together, in the mountains, and without any weird antics from their
parents, Happosai, or any other fiancees that Ranma might not have heard
of yet.
It sounded romantic, anyways.
Until he thought about who'd be doing the cooking.
If only she wasn't so sensitive about the topic...
Oh well.
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?
"Ranma! Your dinner's getting cold!" called out Akane.
He took this moment to remind himself of a few vital things before
partaking of the feast. One, he was her fiancee. Two, he really did care
about her. And three, as his father was fond of saying, the path of a
true martial artist is fraught with peril.
Forcing a smile on his face, Ranma headed towards his fiancee and the
peril she lovingly made for him.
He couldn't help but worry. That smell from the pot of... whatever...
was smelling like Akane's standard fare, which was noxious.
*
"What is that stench?" muttered Ryo.
He stood still upon a boulder that was sitting in the middle of a
stream, sniffing the air curiously and trying to determine what on earth
it was and where it was coming from. Failing to do either, he gave up and
resumed jumping from rock to rock. Even though it was dark, he managed to
keep himself upright and dry. It was all a part of UWSMA training, being
ready to fight in any environment, wet or dry, bright or dark.
He couldn't help but frown, though. He felt it, in every move he made,
that he wasn't at peak condition anymore. Too much time in the hospital,
on his back. This wouldn't do. The smell wasn't helping either.
The best place to begin, he thought, was with the basics. Push the
limits again until his limits were higher. After all, he still had a
Hibiki to defeat, and it was clear that his skill levels before were still
inadequate for the job. He just needed a little more of an edge.
Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. Ryo jumped away from the stream,
brushed off his ebony t-shirt and dark brown slacks, and picked up his
backpack.
That odor was just too disharmonious with nature. He couldn't stand
it anymore. There had to be some other place to camp around there, _away_
from that smell.
*
"Hey, you smell something?" wondered Ryouga.
"Like what?"
"You don't smell it?"
Ukyou closed her eyes, inhaled, then frowned. "Yeah... I can barely
smell it, but there's something weird in the air."
"I guess that's what happens when cities get too big," lamented Ryouga.
He shook his head sadly, then resumed munching down his okonomiyaki.
"The okonomiyaki okay?" wondered Ukyou.
"Great as always," replied Ryouga.
"And the grilled chicken?" queried Ukyou.
"Pretty good, pretty good."
"How about the egg drop soup?" she asked, somewhat concerned.
"Um... Ukyou?"
"It wasn't good, was it. I knew I used too much salt."
"Ukyou, the soup was good."
"Oh. Good." Ukyou smiled once more and relaxed.
This was odd, thought Ryouga. Very odd. "Ukyou?"
"Hm?"
"Why are you acting so weird?"
Ukyou frowned. "Huh? Weird? I'm not acting weird."
"Yes you are," said Ryouga. "I'm not saying you shouldn't have, but
what's with all this stuff you cooked?" he asked, pointing at a rather
amazing variety of dishes. There were the traditional dishes from Japan,
one or two Chinese dishes, a side dish from India, and the desert was
possibly French.
Ukyou frowned. "What, you don't like it?"
"T-that isn't the problem. It's just that... well... I'm just used to
you cooking okonomiyaki."
"I just, well, wanted to expand my skills a bit."
"Oh."
"Everything tasted okay, right?"
Ryouga rolled his eyes. "Yeah, everything tasted great. Stop
worrying!"
Ukyou smiled a bit, then pulled out a cooler.
"What's in there?" wondered Ryouga.
"Ice cream. Want some?"
*
Ice cream would've been nice right about now, thought Ryo. Or a nice
espresso. Instead, he was settling for a lukewarm coke and some odd bird
he managed to kill, cooked via roasting over a campfire. Next time, he
said to himself, don't forget to bring the cooler. Using a rib in place
of a toothpick, he scraped off some nagging bits of bird from his teeth
and perched on a low branch of a tree.
He closed his eyes and inhaled, analyzing the air and its pleasant lack
of modern day scents.
Well, almost.
An eye opened lazily as his olfactory senses detected... Chinese
food... and something Indian... and definitely, the scent of okonomiyaki.
Both eyes opened, narrow reptilian slits, scanning his surroundings
carefully. Could Hibiki and his 'friend' have followed him up here? It
was a possibility.
No. It couldn't be.
He blamed the tempting aromas on the small city a few hours hike away
and settled into the branch, pulling out his portable television. Not
much achieved today, aside from getting the long walk done with and warming
up a bit. Tomorrow, however, would be when the interesting events were
scheduled to take place. Hopefully, it'd be a beautiful day.
*
"It's beautiful tonight, isn't it?" said Akane, holding on to Ranma's
hand as they navigated through the forest.
"Yeah, the stars don't get this bright in the city," said Ranma. That
was true. Out in the countryside, the night sky was unbelievably clear,
almost looking like she could reach out and touch the stars. It was
beauty on a grand scale.
"Watch out, low branch," warned Ranma.
"Thanks. I hope the view is worth the trip," said Akane.
"Hey," replied Ranma confidently, "trust me."
They wandered through trees and bushes, with the surprisingly bright
moonlight guiding their way. Eventually, they made it to the mountain
top, a majestic view greating them as the valleys nearby were revealed in
all their splendor. In the far distance, city lights were flickering,
much like tiny fires in the night. The two sat down, looking upon the
world, and leaned against each other for warmth and comfort.
"You're right," said Akane, sighing. "Nice view."
"Glad ya like it."
*
"Nice view of the stars from out here," said Ryouga, lying back on his
sleeping bag.
"Yeah, I've forgotten how much more, well, alive the night sky is, when
you're out in the rural parts of the country, that is," said Ukyou, lying
in her own sleeping bag and looking up.
"Forgotten?" wondered Ryouga.
"Used to be in a smaller town, remember?"
"Oh, you mean before-"
"Mm-hm."
Minutes rolled by. Birds glided past, far above in the sky. Somehow,
the two failed to fall asleep.
"Hey, Ryouga," said Ukyou, "still awake?"
"Yeah."
"Whaddaya see when you look at the stars?"
"See?" wondered Ryouga.
"You know... constellations and stuff like that."
"Oh. Well... I've always heard that sailors used the stars to find
their way, so I kinda tried the same."
"Oh?"
"Never seemed to work, though," said Ryouga, sitting up. "See that
star?" he asked, pointing towards the sky.
"Hm? Which one?" asked Ukyou.
"That one, right over... ah, hold on." He left his sleeping bag,
kneeled next to Ukyou, and pointed up in the sky. "See that one?" Ukyou
leaned closer, trying to see exactly what he was pointing at.
"What about it?" she asked.
"Well, it's supposed to be the north star, right? But I still get lost
when I use it for ref-"
"That's not the north star," said Ukyou bluntly.
"-erence. Um. It... it isn't?"
"THAT," she said, moving his arm up and sideways quite a bit, "is the
north star."
"What?! Then what's that star supposed to be?!" he asked, sounding
bewildered and embarrassed.
"Not the north star."
"Oh." Ryouga grinned sheepishly, clearly embarrassed.
Ukyou patted him on the shoulder and said, "try to remember, okay? Who
knows, it just might help you. Now get offa my sleeping bag, sugar."
"Huh?" Ryouga looked around and suddenly realized how close he was to
Ukyou. "Oh! Aheh, sorry, sorry." He quickly went back to his own
sleeping bag.
Ukyou smiled, amused at the reaction she got from Ryouga. The guy was
just so funny sometimes, although she knew he didn't mean to be.
"Hey," she said.
"Hm?"
"Still didn't answer my question, y'know."
"What question?"
"About stargazing?"
"Oh, that." Ryouga looked up at the sky, thoughtfully. "I used to see
Akane." He didn't see Ukyou roll up her eyes in disgust. "But," he
continued, "lately it's been... well..." Actually, he hadn't given it
much thought, so he was taking that moment to see what he would see.
Admittedly, in the past, he'd start thinking in dramatic terms about how
he and Akane would be looking up at the same stars, and that one day...
"Just stars," he answered, shrugging. "How about you?"
"Let's see, there's the big dipper over there," she said, pointing
skyward.
"Where?"
"_There_."
"Where?"
Ukyou got up, kneeled next to Ryouga, grabbed his face, tilted it
upwards, then pointed up. "There."
"Oh. I see."
"Over there, that's the 'Okonomiyaki Nebula'"
Ryouga blinked.
"The what?"
"The Okonomiyaki Nebula," she said, smiling.
"Hey, there's no such thing as-"
"No, no, it ain't an official name," she said, still smiling a pleasant
and somewhat sentimental smile. "It's what me and Ranchan used to call it
when we were kids."
Ryouga frowned, slightly. "I see."
"And next to it... that's what we called... 'The Really Odd Shaped Bent
Spatula Constellation'." She laughed at the memory, feeling a little warm
glow from happier days.
"Oh." Ryouga scowled at the mention of Ranma, still not liking how he
was always in Ranma's shadow. Even now.
"And over there is Orion's Belt... and that, over there is..." for a
few minutes, Ukyou pointed out the various constellations in the sky, and
why they were named so. As she did so, her voice seemed to fade out in
Ryouga's ears. Instead, he couldn't help but notice how close she was,
and her perfume seemed to smell really nice too. After a while, Ukyou
finished talking and went back to her sleeping bag to settle in for the
night. She entirely missed the way he seemed just mesmerized by her,
following her with dazed eyes.
Soon, the two were once again chasing after sleep, with little success.
The wind blew.
Trees swayed in the breeze.
"Hey, Ryouga, still awake?" asked Ukyou.
"Yeah."
"Mind if I ask you a question?" she asked.
"Hm? Go ahead."
"Why are you so clumsy around girls?"
"What?!"
"Hey, come on, admit it. You just turn into a babbling idiot when you
face a cute girl. Remember all those times I tried to set you up with
Akane? Huh?"
"Okay, okay," he replied irritably. "So I do. I guess... I'm not used
to people."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I mean... it's always been just me. Whenever I go on training trips,
or get lost, or when I was in school... it was just me. I'm just not used
to dealing with people. I always just either beat them up or tried to
say the right thing."
"Oh." She glanced at the forever lost boy, feeling sad that his
upbringing was so isolated. "Well, you're an okay guy, Ryouga. You
shouldn't worry too much."
"You really think so?"
"You just have to keep your ridiculous temper under control."
"I don't have a bad temper," he said calmly.
"Yes you do, my friend."
"I do _not_."
"Normal people don't begin vendettas because of bread, sugar."
Ryouga scowled. "Feh."
"Other than that, you're a nice guy."
"Gee, thanks," he said sarcastically.
"And when you're not moping or scowling... you're actually kinda cute."
Ryouga blushed. "You... really think so?"
"Yup. But your brain still turns into mud when you're around a
cute girl."
"I wasn't THAT bad around Akane. And I'm doing just fine talking to
you right now, aren't I?"
Ukyou blushed, but it was hidden will underneath her sleeping bag and
the darkness. A proud part of her refused to get flustered, and decided
to knock Ryouga off balance.
"So," said she mirthfully, "that mean I'm in the 'cute' category,
sugar?"
"Er, what?" This time Ryouga blushed somewhat as he realized that his
word choice was a bit suspect last time, and tried to make up for that
now. "Ah, I mean, well, it's not like..."
Ukyou giggled. "You were saying something about not being that bad?"
"Hey, no fair, you caught me off guard!"
"All's fair in love and war, sugar."
"And this is war, ne?" said Ryouga, amused.
"And I'm up, 1-0."
* * *
SATURDAY MORNING...
He stared into her eyes, an intense, deep, and meaningful gaze.
She returned his look with an equally intense stare.
He brushed a stray lock of hair from her eyes.
She took his hand in hers and held it.
"Akane..."
"Ranma..."
"I'm cooking breakfast, and that's that."
"I don't think so," said she, giving his hand a mildly painful crush.
"Ow! It's only fair. You cooked dinner, I do breakfast."
"Are you trying to avoid my cooking again?"
"I'm... ah... sharing the duties here. I mean, we're gonna be married,
right?"
Akane narrowed her eyes. "I challenge you."
"What?!"
Akane rolled up her sleeve and pulled her arm back, fist clenched.
"What, you afraid you'll lose?"
"To you? No way!" He rolled his own sleeve up and pulled his arm
back, ready to strike.
"Ready?" she asked.
"Ready."
"Junken Pow!"
Akane had scissors. So did Ranma.
"Junken Pow!"
Ranma had rock. So did Akane. They glared at each other. Apparently,
they both thought, a twist in strategy is required.
"Junken Pow!"
Akane, rock. Ranma, rock.
"Stop copying me!" yelled Akane.
"Hey, it's YOU copying me!"
* * *
It had been said that Ryo was trying to copy Ryouga. This he heard
from the rumor mill that was constantly flowing in Nerima. And it irked
him somewhat, really.
How was he supposed to know that Ryouga had ALSO learned the breaking
point technique? Was it his fault Ryouga used an umbrella as well? Ryo
had used an umbrella _first_.
Ryo stood atop a boulder, facing the rising sun with his eyes closed as
if in meditation. He scowled as he used those thoughts of irritation to
build up a surge of anger, and felt power coursing through his body as a
result.
He shifted his focus and suddenly his gloves were lit with ki energy,
glowing a pulsating purple and blue.
The test here was how long he could keep his ki focused and ready. By
the size of the blasts that he'd seen Ryouga execute, he guessed that his
enemy had ki generating abilities surpassing his own by leaps and bounds.
That would have to change.
Ten minutes went by, as he focused to keep his gloves charged. Ten
minutes... it wasn't bad. But there was a better way to push his limits.
Keeping his gloves energized with ki, he leapt down, turned, and slammed a
fist into the boulder. Rocks flew and the rock shuddered as his arm
plowed into it.
And then he punched again.
And again...
* * *
"The reason why you lost all the time was because he was always
faster," observed Ukyou. "That's why he's always been the best. You
can't touch him when he's up to full speed."
"You think I should train to be faster?"
"It certainly wouldn't hurt. You just might take him by surprise."
Ukyou took a few practice swings with her battle spatula, warming up.
"Say, how'd he get so fast anyways?"
"Cologne taught him."
"Shoulda known. How?"
"She made him sit in front of a campfire and try to pull chestnuts
out. She tried to teach me the same technique, but gave up."
"Well... let's see about getting your defense back in shape then.
Engarde!" She charged at Ryouga, swinging at a moderate pace at first,
then speeding up. Ryouga easily blocked the first volley of strikes, but
as her speed increased a few hits tagged him. Fortunately, they weren't
powerful hits, but they were unfortunately slipping through his defenses
at an increasing rate.
Finally, after a few more minutes, she stopped. Ukyou was feeling
exhausted, after having attacked constantly for so long. Ryouga was
feeling slightly winded, having suffered quite a few hits.
"You leave yourself open way too much sometimes," said Ukyou between
deep breaths. "especially your left side."
"It'd be a different story if I was attacking," he grumbled.
"The POINT here is to make your defense better. We'll try this
again in a few minutes."
*
36 minutes nonstop.
Not bad.
Ryo sighed as he felt the last of his ki energy drain away from him,
and he surveyed what he had managed to do while he was able to keep his
charge up.
The boulder which he had been punching at the start, was now rubble.
In addition to that, a few neighboring boulders were also victimized, as
well as quite a few trees. In his frenzy to continue punching and kicking
with ki charged blows nonstop, he punted a few miscellaneous forest
animals into mid-earth-orbit.
"This... is good," he said, taking deep breaths. Keeping his ki up for
so long was incredibly tiring, he felt as if all his reserves were spent.
Maybe a thirty minute rest, he mulled, and we'll see what else we can
think of. He wiped sweat from his brow, sat under one of the undamaged
trees, and looked at a very rough blueprint of an umbrella design he had
in mind, and lost himself in thought.
*
"And I thought you were getting better," taunted Ranma, dodging a
furious barrage of kicks and punches with a bit of a smile on his face.
"Come on, hit me!"
"I'M TRYING!" shot back Akane, continuing her berzerker barrage.
Against any normal man, her assault would be devastating. But this was
Ranma, and to fight Ranma meant facing a foe of incredible speed,
dexterity, and with a habit of tossing insults casually during a fight.
Meanwhile, a small amount of forest animals flew violently through the
air in the distance, appearing as if they'd been flung there by a
catapult. Both martial artists utterly failed to notice it.
"You're killing the forest, ya know," said Ranma as he rolled under a
flying kick. Akane zoomed past him and cracked yet another tree. "Keep
on trying, come on, faster!" He didn't seem pleased, but he was actually
thinking that she was progressing well. She was, in his guess, up to
Kodachi's skill levels, maybe Ucchan's. If they had more time, she just
might become better than Shampoo.
Akane came in with sweeps followed by mid-section kicks, intending to
catch him while he was in the air. It almost worked, and forced him to
finally start blocking her attacks. She pressed the advantage, mixing in
a series of punches high and low, and was getting him to block more than
dodge. Akane smiled slightly at the progress.
"Alright then, let's see how ya dodge," said Ranma, and lashed out with
a kick. This caught Akane entirely by surprise. He'd never fought back
before, and she wasn't expecting it now. She ducked the kick, but got
tagged by a fist going towards her face. Instead of the hard hit she was
expecting, she was tapped lightly.
"Gotcha."
"Why you..."
"Come on, block!" He lashed out with more kicks and punches, a few of
them going past her defenses but never striking with anything harder but a
light touch.
To someone with Akane's pride, this was absolutely insulting.
"You trying to get me mad?!"
"I'm tryin' to TRAIN you! Now block, willya?"
"Fine!"
After another minute of relentlessly getting tagged, Akane finally
began blocking a few of Ranma's attacks. "Come on, you gonna let me tag
you all day?"
To his surprise, Akane actually began counter-attacking, reacting to
his attacks. None made contact, quite a lot were dodged entirely, but a
few came very close.
"Alright, that's better!"
*
"That's better," said Ukyou, watching Ryouga practice some punches at a
tree. "Your defense is getting a little better, definitely."
"You think so?"
"Yeah, although if you wanna go with that chestnuts in a fire
training..." she teased.
Ryouga frowned. "No way."
"That's what I thought you'd say. And you're still leaving that left
side open a bit too much."
"I am not."
*CLANG*
"Oww..."
"Maybe you are," smirked Ukyou. "Aside from that, I'd say you're
almost back to normal."
The two settled underneath the shade of a large tree and unwound.
Ukyou pulled out a canteen of water and offered some to Ryouga, but he had
his own.
"Hey, learned any new techniques for the tournament?" wondered Ukyou.
"New techniques?"
"You know... some new special attack that'll surprise the competition.
You know, like how Ranchan does every now and then."
"Where does he get those techniques from anyways?" wondered Ryouga.
"Let's see... he learned the Moukou Takabisha from you."
"Not exactly," countered Ryouga.
"True, but he came out on top in that one anyways."
Ryouga scowled.
"Hey, if it makes ya feel any better," said Ukyou, "it proved his ego
is bigger than your angst."
Ryouga blinked. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?
"Now if only we could find a ki attack based on stubbornness..." mused
Ukyou.
"Hey you!"
"Just kidding!" laughed Ukyou. "Aaanyways, let's see... he learned the
Hiryuu Shouten Ha and the Tenshin Amaguriken from Cologne. Strong stuff,
those two are."
Ryouga nodded in agreement.
"And he learned that awesome Saotome School Ultimate Technique from his
dad," said Ukyou.
"Ultimate Technique?"
"You don't remember it? He used it on you, I heard."
Ryouga scratched his head. "Um..."
"Let me refresh your memory," said Ukyou, assuming a battle stance.
Ryouga raised an eyebrow, wondering what Ukyou could be up to.
"Ready?"
Ryouga nodded grimly.
"HERE I COME!" Ukyou charged at him with alarming fury, berzerker rage
in her eyes. Ryouga raised his umbrella to block the first strike,
expecting a jarring hit from her spatula.
It never came.
He looked around, blinking, and saw Ukyou zooming away from him,
yelling, "run away!"
"That," he wondered, "was it?" He heard Ukyou's laughter in the
distance, and had a nagging feeling he was being laughed at. With the
smallest hint of a smirk, he took off after her, yelling, "GET BACK HERE!"
*
Now _here_ was a new technique, thought Ryo, worthy of being forbidden
knowledge. There was already a new name he had in mind to give to the
technique, too. He grinned maliciously as he fiddled with a wrench,
making meticulous and final adjustments to his umbrella.
In theory, it was perfectly viable.
In his experiments with toothpicks and fried chicken, it passed with
flying colors.
Out on the field, however, with _live_ test material...
He sensed the movement of a wild animal in the brush. A perfect
opportunity to test the technique. Ryo swiveled the umbrella in his hand
until the bladed end was outward. With a movement of his hand, the blade
popped in, and a rapier-like end took its place. He sped towards the
bushes and spied a blur rushing out. Immediately, he saw the breaking
points of the creature and lashed out, yelling, "*BAKUSAI TEN-SATSU!"
(*writer's note: 'blasting point kill')
FIVE MINUTES LATER...
Okay, so the technique had a few bugs to iron out, admitted Ryo to
himself, glancing briefly at his umbrella, which currently sported a bent
tip. When something is built that is needle-precise at the tip, it's
bound to be not very resilient.
He sighed, turning over the somewhat intact carcass of a rabbit. Yes,
the bakusai ten-satsu had a few little annoying hitches, like apparently a
distinct need for precision. The first few stabs he swore were close
enough. Apparently, though, near-misses weren't enough to trigger the
breaking point. Rocks needed a bit less precision than bone, it seemed.
It couldn't be said that the results weren't spectacular, though. He
hadn't expected the rabbit's leg to explode quite so violently. It made
an absolute mess on his slacks, which were currently getting a much-needed
soak in a nearby stream.
He could only imagine how devastating an exploding rib would be to
internal organs. Nasty, nasty, nasty. Definitely the sort of technique
that becomes forbidden knowledge after a few decades. Did the Amazons
know of the potential of the breaking point? They probably did, he
believed. Must have stricken all records of the technique too. What a
waste.
But, oh, what a new technique.
*
"What are you doing now?" wondered Ukyou, standing at the edge of a
clearing.
"New technique," said Ryouga, who was currently on one knee and
examining the earth.
"Where'd you learn a new technique from?"
"Actually... it's an improvement on an old one. You might wanna stand
back."
Ukyou wondered what he was up to as she took a few steps back.
Ryouga cocked his arm back, single digit extended, and yelled, "BAKUSAI
TEN-KETSU!" At his touch the earth shook, sending rocks and debris
everywhere. Where Ukyou expected one explosion, there was instead a fast
chain reaction of explosions on the ground in a violent wave. It finally
ended after forty meters, leaving a jagged trench in its wake.
Ukyou whistled. "Wow. Now _that_ is impressive. What's the trick?"
"A chain effect of breaking points. I direct the explosion towards
another point nearby, and when the blast reaches that point, it goes off,
towards another point nearby and..."
"I get the idea. Anyone facing you oughta be intimidated by that.
So, got any other new tricks?"
Ryouga paused, thinking about something. "Well... there was one
technique I learned. I haven't used it in a while, though, and I never
did get it fully right."
"Show me?" wondered Ukyou.
Ryouga nodded, and walked to the base of a nearby tree. He closed his
eyes, trying to remember what the old master had taught him.
"SHORYUKEN!" Ryouga surged skyward with an uppercut, demolishing the
tree as he rose to its top in a somewhat not quite straight fashion. Ukyou
thought she saw the faintest hint of a glow on Ryouga's fist as he flew
up. Finally, he reached the peak of his ascent, turned in the air, and
landed. His fist was unscathed, and the tree was nearly split in two.
That move... it seemed awfully familiar to Ukyou.
"Waitaminute!" she yelled, "that's the move that the Street Fighter
champ used a couple of years ago to get the title."
"Yeah. I think I met him and his sensei while I was lost."
"And..." continued a horrified Ukyou, "you didn't get an autograph?!"
"I didn't KNOW who they were at the time, okay?"
"And you call that a shoryuken? You were kinda wobbling all the way
up, ya know."
"I didn't say I mastered it, did I?" snapped Ryouga.
"Ya certainly didn't," replied Ukyou.
"Well, it's a new technique, and it oughta knock the wind outta Ranma
if I end up fighting him."
"Still looks ridiculous," teased Ukyou.
*
"THIS IS RIDICULOUS!" protested Akane, leaping ungracefully up in the
air.
"I told my old man the same thing," said Ranma, also leaping, but with
much more grace, "but hey, it works. Come on, you're falling behind!"
"When I catch up I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" yelled Akane, jumping high
once more, with a large metal ball chained to her ankle. When she asked
Ranma if he'd help her get ready for the tournament, this wasn't what she
had in mind.
"Come on, this isn't too bad!" taunted Ranma.
"Oh sure, YOU'RE not the one with the ball and chain tied to you!"
"I will in a few years!" he shot back.
"What do you mean by..." At first Akane had no idea what he meant,
then realization dawned on her. "You calling me a ball and chain?!"
"Nyaaah!"
"Why you!" She summoned up more iron determination and actually
managed to speed up. There was the faintest hint of a smile on her face
as she chased after her fiancee.
"Hey," called Ranma from up ahead, "when we're done with this, I'll let
you try to learn the katsu tenshin amaguriken! I've got the fire and
chestnuts all set up!"
"I'm not doing _that_!"
"Oh yes you are! Gotta start learning new attacks!"
"How about if I just attack you?!"
*
Another new attack came to Ryo's mind, and he was getting ready to
test it. However, there seemed to be a shortage of material...
His previous campsite was now thoroughly devoid of any intact boulders,
and the trees were a bit of a mess. In fact, the whole sight was a mess,
so it was time to move onwards to other locales.
This new locale, it had boulders. Plenty of them. Perfect. He walked
away until he was about fourty yards in distance from them, then began
twirling his umbrella. A moment later, a small blast of ki, no larger
than a finger, raced across the distance, and hit the boulder with an odd
'thud' sound. A second later, the boulder exploded in a wild shower of
rocks and dust, leaving only a shallow crater in its place.
A distance breaking point technique, mulled Ryo, but how could this be
applied in combat? He looked around and spied a tree standing alone in a
clearing. At the rate he was destroying trees, Ryo mused that he was due
for a visit from some odd environmentalist fanatic. Oh well, sacrifices
had to be made. He sprang high into the air, charging his umbrella with
ki, then released four small bolts of ki streaking towards the tree. They
impacted in front and behind it, triggering four explosions that obscured
the tree in a shower of shrapnel and dust.
When the dust settled, the remains of the tree were revealed, battered
by the shockwaves of the explosions and the flying debris.
"Not bad... not bad at all."
*
"Not bad, Ryouga, you're finally starting to guard that left side
better," said Ukyou, spinning her battle spatula slowly while circling
Ryouga.
"You're not too bad yourself," said Ryouga, snapping his umbrella shut.
"Let's see how you handle some tricks of mine," she replied. "Come on,
P-chan, gimmie your best shot!" As Ryouga charged at her, she pulled a
small bag from her pocket and threw it down hard. She was instantly
consumed by a cloud of flour. Ryouga couldn't stop himself in time and
ran right into it. He expected to get a spatula right to the noggin or
worse.
Instead, nothing happened.
Ryouga looked around quickly, but failed to find her. He heard the
sounds of feet landing behind him too late as he was grabbed by the back
of the shirt.
He found himself suddenly on the ground, slightly dazed, and looking up
at a grinning Ukyou.
"Gotcha, sugar. You oughta be a little more careful when you can't see
your opponent."
Without warning, Ryouga grabbed Ukyou's leg and gave it a quick pull,
taking her entirely by surprise and causing her to land on her rear.
"Gotcha back," said a smug Ryouga, right before Ukyou grabbed him by
the bandanna and flung him into the nearby stream.
"Told ya to be more careful," teased Ukyou, as a soaked Ryouga-chan
stomped out of the stream.
"Just heat up some water, please?"
*
It was somewhat pleasing to Ryo that he had an advantage over Ryouga in
speed. However, he was disadvantaged when it came to matters of
endurance. He resented admitting it, even to himself, but if it came to a
matter of trading hit for hit, he'd be on the losing end of things.
The strength aspect of it couldn't be improved any further. He was
already remarkably strong, especially considering his physical appearance.
He doubted he could improve himself much further on that end.
The endurance aspect, however, might be correctable. He knew exactly
where he got his high endurance from, the learning of the breaking point
technique. He overheard the Amazon instructors when they were discussing
the matter with their students. His endurance _should_have_been_ better,
if he had trained properly to learn the breaking point (i.e. thrown
against large boulders more often). Unfortunately, half of his training
was spent poking at boulders trying to hit the right point. At the time,
he didn't have the luxury of free run of the Amazon training grounds and
had to make do with using it when it was empty.
Ryouga _must_ have learned the technique properly. He had a somewhat
higher endurance level before, but with that last duel of theirs, it was
clear his endurance had risen to far higher levels. He'd been caught in a
ki blast barrage and managed to fight back afterwards. That, to Ryo, was
alarming.
Now how to catch up?
He wasn't about to fling himself at boulders.
So instead, he decided to see how many times he could do the breaking
point technique without stopping from pain.
"BAKUSAI TEN-KETSU!"
*BOOM*
A blast six meters in radius shook the earth. Rocks flew everywhere,
small animals scattered, and a few nearby plants would never be the same.
That's one...
*
"BAKUSAI TEN-KETSU!"
*BOOM*
An explosion of ten meters in diameter violently shook the earth.
Rock shrapnel flew places, and from a safe distance away Ukyou watched as
Ryouga proceeded to make a fairly large pit in the ground.
"Ryouga, remind me why you're doing this?" queried Ukyou.
"To see where my endurance is at. BAKUSAI TEN-KETSU!"
*BOOM*
"Ah, I see."
"Can you keep count for me? I think this is my third. BAKUSAI
TEN-KETSU!"
*BOOM*
"That WAS your third before or that WAS your third just now?"
In the distance, an explosion rumbled like a distant thunderstorm.
"That... was my third. This WILL be my fourth. BAKUSAI TEN-KETSU!"
*BOOM*
"And the next one will be your fifth, right?"
"Yup. BAKUSAI TEN-KETSU!"
*BOOM*
*
-boom-
"Hey, did you hear that?" said Ranma, looking up from the campfire.
"Hear what?" asked Akane.
"Thought I heard something... kinda like thunder," said Ranma as he
looked around, "but there's no clouds in the sky."
"Oh well, must've been nothing. Now where were we?" wondered Akane.
"Soy sauce."
"Right here!"
"Akane, that's vinegar."
"Oh, sorry."
-boom-
"There it is again," said Ranma.
"I heard it too. It's coming from that direction."
"No it isn't, it's coming from THAT direction."
"No, you've got it wrong, I tell ya."
-boom-
*
*BOOM*
Fifty-eight...
*BOOM*
Fifty-nine... ouch ouch ouch...
*BOOM*
Sixty...
*BOOM*
Sixty-one.
"Aaaaagh!" Ryo dropped his umbrella and staggered to the shade of a
nearby tree, worn out by the pounding that the debris from the breaking
point flung at him. Normally, self-inflicted damage didn't play a factor
in the execution of the technique, not unless he was in close quarters.
The direction of the explosion WAS controllable. But the very basic form
of the breaking point had no directional blast. It was an explosion that
washed over all directions. And besides, it'd be pointless to test his
endurance via breaking point if he didn't allow himself to get worn down
by it like he did the first time.
Sixty-one. Not bad. Better than his previous mark of thirty-nine.
And he was already feeling his second wind coming.
-boom-
Wait a moment... what was that noise?
*
-boom-
"See? told ya it was coming from this direction," said Ranma, sticking
his tongue out at Akane.
"Oh, just shut up and lead the way," she hissed.
Through bush and tree and other varieties of forest obstacles they
traversed, getting closer and closer to the sound of constant explosions.
The ground was vibrating slightly under their feet, and they thought they
heard someone counting.
"Hey, there's a clearing up ahead," whispered Ranma. "Looks like
there's a camp there too."
Akane looked to where Ranma was pointing and there was indeed a
campsite, complete with a pile of wood where a fire would normally be plus
a pair of tents.
"Ranma, those tents look kind of familiar."
"You're right. I think... I think I know who's here."
*
{What have we here?} wondered Ryo as he crept along the forest with
much stealth. A few feet away was something most surprising and alarming.
Ryouga Hibiki.
That was part of the surprising bit.
It seemed he was performing the breaking point technique over and over,
just as Ryo had been doing a while back. The alarming part was what he
was hearing from the Kuonji girl that was sitting nearby.
"A hundred one."
*BOOM*
"Hundred two."
*BOOM*
"Hundred three."
By the time Ryouga finally stopped, he'd reached 127 blasts. Clearly,
much more than Ryo had managed. He knew that Ryouga's endurance was
superior, he just didn't realize _how_ superior. Clearly, headbutting
Ryouga would never be an option again.
A mischievous smile crept on his face. Ryouga was here. _With_ the
okonomiyaki girl. Now what can we do with this...
*
"How many did I do?" wondered Ryouga, staggering out of his self-made
pit.
"A hundred and twenty seven," replied Ukyou. "Pretty impressive,
sugar. You okay?"
"Just need ... a little rest." He wasted no time in collapsing to the
ground in a tired heap.
"You _sure_ you're okay?" asked Ukyou with some concern.
"I'm fine, really."
"Alright then... guess I'll make lunch. Any requests?"
"Okonomiyaki, _no_ pork."
"Comin' right up, P-chan," she replied with a smirk.
"Don't _you_ start doing that," he said wearily.
*
Ranma smirked as he watched the two. If he were more like his old man,
he'd be tempted to try and set those two up. Come to think of it, so
would Akane, if she were...
"Hey, Ranma, maybe we should try to get those two a little closer?"
Okay, so she _was_ like her father.
"I dunno, maybe later." A smile came to his face as he watched Ukyou
cook up some okonomiyaki. "S'cuse me, Akane, I gotta go do something. Be
riiight back."
*
Something was wrong. She could sense it. Ukyou peered into the
forest, watching. Slowly, she lowered the okonomiyaki from her spatula
and added it to the stack. This feeling, she hadn't had this feeling in a
long while, not since...
She felt a breeze pass by and turned suddenly, two throwing spatula at
the ready. A few floating leaves were the only evidence of anything
passing by. That, and one of the okonomiyaki was missing.
Oh ho.
Ukyou pulled out her battle spatula and concentrated on her
surroundings, hearing rustling grass, the birds flying by, waiting for her
adversary to return.
Ah ha!
*CLANG*
"Heya, Ucchan!" It was a scene from days past, from times long gone,
and it still made her smile. One foot was raised, stopping the spatula
from striking, one finger held a spinning okonomiyaki, and the face had an
infectious smile.
"Ranchan! What brings you out here?"
"Hello, Ranma," said Ryouga, without any enthusiasm.
"Just training for the tournament coming up. Just like you two, I
guess," said Ranma. "Hey Akane, come on out!"
"Hi guys!" said Akane merrily, emerging from the forest.
As she approached, Ukyou said quietly to Ranma, "Lemme guess, you're
starving."
Ranma nodded. "She's getting better, but still..."
"Let her try more often, maybe she'll surprise you," said Ukyou
encouragingly. Not that she really believed it, but still...
*
Surprise, surprise, thought Ryo, Saotome and fiancee were there too.
He watched them for an hour, but failed to see anything of interest, and
decided to depart. There were schemes he had in mind for Kuonji and
Hibiki. Maybe they wouldn't work, but they'd certainly cause a little
confusion, and chaos was always fun.
At the moment he was wandering through the forest and was surprised to
find himself wildly disoriented. He was lost, the kind of lost that
should happen only to a Hibiki. This wasn't right at all. The sun was
already beginning to set and a mist was creeping through the forest. With
only the moonlight to depend upon, it would be a dark walk back indeed.
After another hour wandering, he was no longer worried, he was enraged.
Trees were paying the price for being in his path and he'd bulldozed an
ugly path through the woods. It was during a break in his mad destructive
streak that he sensed it. A flicker of azure flame in these dark woods.
He tried to forget the old tales of the forest, tried to push out the idea
of something supernatural afoot, but there was that feeling he couldn't
deny.
Someone was watching.
He shot off a ki blast wordlessly to a branch above and was rewarded
with falling leaves and a shadowy figure landing before him. Around its
neck hung a chain, with something hanging on it that was barely flickering
and getting dimmer as it approached him.
"Who are you?" asked Ryo, spinning his umbrella in anticipation of an
attack. In response, the shadowy figure took another step forward,
raising some sort of weapon of its own.
"Stay BACK!" Ryo snarled, charging his umbrella handle with ki. The
other figure tilted its head, as if curious. Then it raised its own
weapon to its face, and charged it with a brilliant yellow ki.
And Ryo saw who it was.
He was looking at himself.
"Shush, brother of mine, don't be so quick to panic," his other self
said calmly.
"I've only one brother, and you don't look like him," replied Ryo.
"Again I ask, who are you?"
"I am you," was the simple reply.
"No... the doctors said I wouldn't be having this sort of problem...
I'm all better now... you're not me... no..."
"Damn, we're getting hysterical. Calm down else we'll never get
anything done, hmm?"
"Alright... I am talking to myself."
"About time you accepted it."
"Well then, what do I want?"
The other Ryo looked around nervously, as if expecting company. "I can
only stay for so long, me, so listen carefully." Ryo nodded. "You _want_
to get the Nanban mirror, sometime in your future. It is _very_
important."
"Nanban mirror? Why?"
"It's power, power that will take us places, brother of mine.
Secondly, you must get rid of Ishido. He'll be a problem."
"Ishido? Who is Ishido?"
"Ah, you've yet to meet him. Good. Waste no time in disposing of him
when you do meet him. Understand?"
"Not quite."
"Don't argue with me, me. I know what's good for us."
Ryo never knew that episodes of delusion could be so vivid. He was
talking to himself, as if he was two people. He'd be headed back to the
sanitarium at this rate.
The locket on his other's necklace began to flicker slightly. Its
owner looked down at it and frowned. "Hmm... seems he's followed me even
here. Keep him busy, will you? I've chores to run." Ryo's 'twin'
strolled into the darkness, and with a wink of azure flames disappeared.
"Muhoshin!"
Ryo turned around, wondering what other products of his imagination
were running around tonight, and found himself grabbed by his lapels by...
Saotome? But that couldn't be... he left Saotome back at the Hibiki
campsite. In the dark, it was hard to tell, but the pigtail was a
distinct giveaway.
"Give it BACK!" Saotome yelled.
"Now my delusions are threatening me," grumbled Ryo.
"I'm not in the mood to argue with you ANYMORE! GIVE IT BACK!"
Saotome flung him violently into a tree, damaging it mildly. Muhoshin was
less damaged, but far more irate.
"Right then, that's it... YOU DIE!!!"
*
"Well, have a seat and enjoy!" said Ukyou as they sat around the
campfire. Ranma and Akane were rather stunned at the variety of dishes
that were laid out before them.
"Hey," whispered Ranma to Ryouga, "what's with the food?"
"Leftovers from yesterday," said Ryouga, equally as quiet.
"That ain't what I mean," hissed Ranma.
"Then what DO you mean?"
"This ain't okonomiyaki."
"Oh," said Ryouga. "Um... she just... cooked it yesterday, said she
wanted to expand her skills. Don't ask me why."
Ranma's grin became wider and he elbowed Ryouga a bit. "Hey, I think
she's cooking just for you, eh? Eh?"
"SHUT UP RANMA!"
*CLANG*
*WHAP*
"What are you two fighting about now?!" yelled Akane, pulling her
mallet away. "Stop picking on Ryouga, Ranma!"
"And don't hit Ranchan, idiot!"
Both men rubbed their heads, wincing, and gave a brief glare to the
women. "Violent maniacs," They both muttered.
*CLANG*
*WHAP*
A few less painful minutes later....
The four were once more at ease, and warming themselves up with mugs of
hot tea. They were generally talking of school, and people, and a little
about martial arts.
"By the way," said Ranma, "Why aren't ya after that Ryo guy like you
were after me, Ryouga?"
"What?"
"I mean, knowing your bad temper and obsessive habits..."
"I do NOT have a bad temper and I am NOT obsessive!"
"... you haven't been running around rampaging after Muhoshin, really."
"Yeah, that's true," said Ukyou. "Why haven't ya settled things?"
With a scowl, Ryouga answered, "first of all, I still don't know what
he's so mad about."
"So ask him," suggested Ranma.
"I did, he refused to answer."
"Oh."
"And then, I don't even know where to find him," finished Ryouga.
"Why don't you ask Ryoko," suggested Ranma, "she's his brother, right?
And she's always hanging by your side." He didn't miss Ryouga's face
turning slightly pale, his quick glance towards Ukyou, or her slightly
irritated look.
"Ah... yeah... didn't think about that.. aheh," said Ryouga nervously.
This was followed, of course, by a few minutes of uncomfortable
silence. It was broken, surprisingly, by Ukyou.
"Oh, by the way," said Ukyou, "You'll never guess who Ryouga ran into a
few months back."
"Hm? Who?" wondered Ranma.
"You'll kill him once ya find out," said Ukyou.
"What?" said Ryouga, "Why'd he want to do that?"
"Well, who'd he meet?" wondered Ranma.
"Lost Boy here met Ryu, the Street Fighter champ, _Ryu_, and didn't get
an autograph," said Ukyou. "Can ya believe it?" The four of them were
sitting around a campfire, eating some of Ukyou's okonomiyaki specials.
"Aw man! A good opportunity wasted," said Ranma, shaking his head in
disgust.
"I _said_ I had amnesia at the time, didn't I?!" said Ryouga. "And
where's the salt?"
"Who else was there?" wondered Ranma. "Maybe Ken Masters was around.
Here's the salt."
"Who's Ken Masters?" wondered Ryouga.
"Ooh, Ken's a cute one," said Ukyou. "Too bad he's married. And
what, I didn't add enough salt?"
"Yeah, he's a hunk," giggled Akane. "And no, I think you added enough
salt."
"Hey!" yelled Ranma.
"WHO is Ken Masters?" repeated Ryouga. "And I just like my okonomiyaki
saltier, that's all."
"The blond gaijin, his style is the same as Ryu's. C'mon, you oughta
remember..."
"Oh yeah!" Ryouga's face turned from one of thought to that of
embarrassment. "Aheh... yeah, he was there too."
Everyone groaned and shook their heads.
"Coulda had the autograph of Ryu AND Ken," lamented Ranma. "Man, good
company is just WASTED on you. Next thing you're gonna tell us is that ya
got into a Jackie Chan film."
"Well actually..." said Ryouga. He saw the collective glares and
quickly said, "JUST KIDDING! JUST KIDDING! Somebody pass me a megavolt
cola?"
*
Meanwhile, back in Hong Kong...
"Hey, look at this," said one of the editors, pointing to a figure on
the screen.
"Look at what?" his co-editor said.
"Check it out... after Jackie leaps from the exploding building...
riiiight THERE... see it?"
"Is that.. is that a guy walking out of the explosion?"
"Jeez, man, that's impossible."
*
Some days were just impossible to get by without things getting ugly,
thought Ryo. This seemed to be one of them. He was now thorougly
disoriented, a tad sore, very grouchy, and utterly baffled.
Maybe these woods _were_ haunted.
The battle was fast, furious, and confusing in the dark. He landed
some solid blows and received some as well. He felt he could have won it
if it weren't' for the cliff.
At some point, they'd fallen over a not-so-high cliff, and
unfortunately for Ryo, he was the one to land on the bottom first,
cushioning 'Saotome's's fall. Stunned badly after that little landing (and
all of the other exercises he'd done earlier in the day didn't help
either), he passed out for an unknown amount of time. The last thing he
sensed was Saotome getting up, then darkness.
When he regained consciousness he was alone, with no sign of anyone
else having ever been there.
What the hell was THAT about?
He supposed he'd better visit his therapist again... becoming mentally
unhinged once more, especially so soon to the date of the tournament would
not do.
That couldn't have been Saotome either, something wasn't right. The
voice was somehow different, the manner not quite the same either.
Mostly, it was his gut feeling that whatever it was he faced wasn't Ranma.
Strange days, these are. Haunted forests indeed.
Now which way was his campsite?
He wasn't entirely sure where to go, but he saw fire and smoke in the
distance, someone out there had a campfire going.
The night seemed full of surprises tonight, and he didn't care to be on
the receiving end of any more of them.
*
"Well, that was a surprise," said Ukyou, humming as she cleaned up some
of the dishes in the river, part of the mess left behind by Ranma and
Akane. The two had left them after dinner, not wanting to 'spoil the
mood' said Ranma and Akane with a wink. Ryouga was clueless as to what
that meant, while Ukyou insisted that those two were being silly.
"I wonder if it was just a coincidence," said Ryouga suspiciously as he
straightened out their campsite. "He's probably here to spy on me."
"My, isn't SOMEONE'S ego getting a bit large, hmm?" teased Ukyou.
"I do NOT have a big ego! Not as big as HIS anyways."
"Oh, give it a rest already, Mr. Take-My-Bread-And-Die."
"Feh."
Ryouga scowled in the manner that just happened to get on Ukyou's
nerves. Something would have to be done to humble the guy. As Ryouga
came towards her with more dishes to be washed, she turned towards him and
ripped her shirt open, sending some buttons flying. Ryouga promptly fell
over, nose spraying blood, and passed out on the spot.
Of course, nothing was _really_ shown, since she had a t-shirt
underneath. She woke Ryouga up with her laughter, and brutally teased him
about it.
"You're a spring-of-drowned-girl victim and you STILL can't handle that
sort of thing?" she marveled. Ryouga merely blushed and grumbled
irritably. "You're probably the only guy I know who got a nosebleed when
he looked at 'herself' in the shower."
"Don't remind me!"
Unseen by either of them, a pair of eyes watched over them from the
treetops. Ryo Muhoshin had found himself at their campsite once more, and
couldn't resist meddling with them a bit before leaving. If he could get
those two together, his idiotic sister wouldn't damn their genetic line
and family lineage by mating with Ryouga.
To be honest, it wasn't about genetics at all, but when Ryo ranted on a
topic, even in his head, he'd pick out the oddest things to gripe about.
Mostly, it was the concept of Ryouga as an in-law that horrified him.
Of course, he had absolutely no experience when it came to matchmaking.
However, he'd seen enough television to try a few gimmicks. They might
be lame, but maybe, just maybe they'd work.
First off, the flower bit. He'd have to wait a bit before trying that,
though.
As Ukyou tossed and turned in her cot, she thought she heard something
flying through the air. Sitting up quickly, she reached for a set of
throwing spatula and looked around.
Nothing.
Then she noticed the single flower at the side of her bed. That
certainly wasn't there before. But who'd put it there?
"Ranchan? You out there?" she whispered. It was the first thing she
thought, but she knew it wasn't likely. Still, there was a possibility
and it made her nervous. After a few seconds of silence, she knew that
there was only her and Ryouga here.
So it had to be... Ryouga?
"Ryouga? You awake?" she hissed to him. The lost boy didn't respond.
Either he really was asleep or he was just afraid to talk to her, she
thought. Ukyou took a moment to examine the flower and sighed. Amazing
how such a little thing could cause her to feel so nervous. She sighed,
looked at Ryouga, and wondered what he was thinking. "Thanks," she
whispered, "if ya gave this to me, I mean."
Ryouga continued to sleep in blissful ignorance of what had just
happened. A few minutes later, Ukyou joined him in unconsciousness.
It wasn't what he'd hoped would happen, but then again few things ever
went according to plan these days. What was that look he saw on her face?
wondered Ryo. It wasn't one of happiness, he thought. It looked more
like apprehension.
No, no, no, that wasn't what he was aiming for.
Well, now for the next idea.
Actually, there was no next idea.
He was out of romantic strategies, and had not a clue as to what to do
next. So, with all his options gone, he just did what came naturally.
A few minutes later he had Ukyou sedated (thanks to the miracle of
shiatsu points), gagged and bound, and had learned that Ryouga was a
surprisingly deep sleeper.
Of course, now was a PERFECT time to kill him.
It was tempting, the opportunity to eliminate him as he slept... but
no, it wouldn't be satisfying, not as satisfying as humiliating him in
front of an audience at the tournament. No... Ryouga could wait. It was
a little more than a month until the tournament, he could wait that much,
bide his time, perfect his skills. He'd show them all who's better.
A part of him whined about passing the opportunity by, but he tried to
ignore it. It wasn't easy.
With okonomiyaki chef slung over shoulder and ransom note left in
place, he was about to stomp off into the night when he realized there was
a very fundamental problem that needed to be addressed.
Ryouga.
More precisely, his utter lack of a sense of direction. Leaving a note
saying 'I've got your friend so meet me at etc etc etc' would be utterly
useless, especially when it might take him five days to get there.
How to solve this problem... hm...
*
SUNDAY MORNING...
Ryouga woke up the next morning to the absence of the sound of
okonomiyaki grilling. It was enough to make him aware that something was
very wrong. He rose, stretched, and called out, "Ukyou? Where are you?"
There was, as he looked around the campsite, an utter lack of
Kuonji-ness in the area. Then he noticed the small black umbrella lying
on her sleeping bag. As he picked it up, the mini-umbrella popped open
and a small piece of paper unfurled itself.
"What's this...?"
/ Hibiki, I have your dearest Miss Kuonji in my possession. /
/ Should you wish to reclaim her, follow the trail of fallen /
/ trees. - M /
Sure enough, there was a line of trees plowed down leading into the
forest. Attached to the first tree was yet another note.
It read:
/ If you can't follow THIS trail, you're twice the idiot I /
/ thought you were. - M /
*
Ukyou fumed and squirmed, trying to get out of her bonds. She was
never a hostage, and didn't intend to start being one now. It was all
terribly lame to her, being the damsel in distress. She wanted no part of
it, seeing it as ridiculously sexist and stereotypical.
"PUT ME DOWN YOU JACKASS!!!" she bellowed.
"Okay," said Ryo, pausing to think about the request. "Your cooking is
wretched."
"WHAT?!"
Ryo frowned and tilted his head towards her. "You wanted me to 'put
you down', yes?"
"Ha ha. Very funny."
In the distance, the sound of trees falling and occasional curses
echoed. Ukyou and Ryo looked into the forest, trying to see the source of
the noise.
"That," said Ryo, "would be your hero to the rescue. Time to put the
gag back on."
"HEY! NO! DON'T YOU DARE *MMMF*"
"Shush woman," chided Ryo, securing the gag on her, "take my advice,
just shut up and listen. Now where'd I put that rope..."
*
Ryouga blazed through the forest, occasionally knocking over a tree
while following a path of knocked down trees. He was feeling angry,
frustrated, and scared (which, a year ago, was almost normal for him).
How _dare_ he kidnap Ukyou!
He burst out of the forest into a clearing, then plowed on through
deeper into the woods.
Ryo peered into the forest and sighed. It almost worked, almost.
Sneering and muttering curses, he strolled to a freshly made clearing,
where, in the distance, Ryouga ever onwards, PAST the clearing, and into
the forest.
"IDIOT! OVER HERE!!!"
Ryouga stopped, blinked, and turned around. A few yards behind him,
Ryo was waiting, tapping his foot impatiently.
"YOU!" roared Ryouga.
"Idiot," spat Ryo.
"GIVE HER BACK!" yelled Hibiki as he stomped over to his enemy.
"Ooooh, but why?" wondered Ryo as he stepped back into the clearing
while Ryouga entered. He grinned briefly, glancing up at Ukyou, who was
gagged and bound in rope high above, but definitely within hearing range.
He could see her glaring at him from high above, where she swayed with the
breeze, held high by a single rope. "Why should I?"
"BECAUSE SHE'S M-"
"Your lover, ne?"
"Right. Wait. NO!" Ryouga wasn't expecting this sort of treatment.
He was feeling embarrassed and enraged and not a little confused.
"She's your girlfriend, riiight?."
"I, ah, NO! She isn't!"
"Come now," said Ryo, strolling around casually while twirling his
umbrella, "you sleep in her house, you work under her orders, you rush to
her rescue..."
"I... I mean..."
"I, on one hand, am a magnificent liar. You, on the other hand, are
not. Tell me now, tell me _now_, you don't have _any_ romantic feelings
towards Miss Kuonji."
"I..."
"Be honest and I set her free. Easy, yeeees?" asked Ryo in a mocking
voice.
Ryouga looked to the ground, a scowl making itself almost permanent on
his face. From high above, Ukyou stopped her struggles and watched as the
scene unfolded. Ryo tapped his foot impatiently.
"How I feel about her," said Ryouga quietly.
"Yes, how you feel about her...?" asked Ryo impatiently.
"Is _none_ of your business! If you EVER hurt her I'll kill you!"
Ryouga suddenly lunged at Ryo, who managed to duck out of the way. The
tree behind him, however, shattered at the trunk under the impact. A rope
tied to the base of the tree unraveled, and suddenly Ryouga felt something
strike him on the head and make a sound not entirely unlike that of two
really hard objects hitting.
Ryo sighed and retreated into the forest. The plan clearly failed, as
Ukyou slid off of Ryouga's forehead, badly dazed. There was nothing more
to do, and thus it was time to leave.
"Adieu, lovebirds, see you later." He bowed slightly, then disappeared
into the forest, shaking his head sadly. Maybe he should have just killed
Ryouga in his sleep anyways.
Meanwhile, Ryouga untied Ukyou from her bonds quickly, looking very
worried.
"Ukyou! Are you okay?"
"Aaagh, I got a headache..." She scowled, rubbed her head, then took a
moment to whap Ryouga.
"What'd you do that for?!" yelled Ryouga.
"For having such a hard head, you jerk! Ow..."
*
Much later...
Ukyou looked out from the train window and sighed. It was a long day,
she was tired, and after being rescued in the morning there was an odd
sort of tension between her and Ryouga.
They'd agreed that it'd be best to take the train back, just to make
sure they got back to Ucchan's with time to spare. After all, tomorrow
was a school day.
Still, there was _something_ hanging in the air between the two, and
neither knew exactly what to say.
"Hey, Ryouga," said Ukyou absently, staring out at the window.
"Hm?" Ryouga looked up from the newspaper he was reading, clearly a
little nervous.
"Earlier today... when Ryo asked... ah... I mean, what were you...
er..."
"I was...?"
"Um... never mind." She sighed and looked out the window. "S'not
important."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure."
The train rattled onwards, passing mountains, houses, and fields in a
neverending stretch. Ryouga sighed, having finished the comics section.
The news and sports seemed incredibly boring. He was terribly aware of
Ukyou next to him, and the odd silence that hung between them.
And he didn't know what to say to her. Or why.
"Hey, Ryouga," said Ukyou softly.
"Hm?"
She gave his hand a light squeeze and smiled slightly. "Hey, thanks
for running to my rescue."
"I'd, ah... any time."
At that moment, with her hand in his, Ryouga's heart was racing and
suddenly he found himself wanting to tell her how much she meant to him,
how much he'd do for her, how he'd never leave her side. He didn't know
exactly what he'd say, mainly because he wasn't entirely sure of what
this was he was feeling. It was exhilarating and frightening all at the
same time, being there with her, holding her hand on a starlit night,
crossing Japan by train. The moment felt too strong to say nothing.
Ukyou wondered why, exactly, Ryouga wasn't letting go of her hand. It
was beginning to make her rather nervous. "Hey, Ryouga, helloooo, you can
let go of my hand now. Earth to Ryouga?"
He held her hand firmly and looked right in her eyes. His blood
racing, heart pounding, his throat incredibly dry.
"Ucchan... I..."
"R-Ryouga?"
"HIBIKI! I shall smite thee!"
Ukyou blinked. Ryouga blinked. Kuno whapped him.
****CRASH****
*
Ryo blinked. He put down his drink, lowered his newspaper, and looked
out from his personal cabin. He couldn't see very well in the dark, but
it seemed something was falling off of the train.
Tsk. It had better not be his luggage, he thought, else there would be
hell to pay when this trip was over.
He yawned, turned away from the window, and resumed reading through his
newspaper undisturbed.
*
-a few minutes later-
Ukyou stood up, looked down through the broken window and sighed as she
watched Kuno, Ryouga, and various kendoists tumble down to the river
below.
It seemed nothing was going right on this day. How were they to know
that Kuno & the kendo team would be on the same train, returning from a
regional tournament? Just bad luck, she guessed. She strained to keep the
river in view as the train traveled past, relieved to see that Ryouga was
making his (now her) way to shore, and Kuno, unconscious, floating
downstream. She briefly thought about jumping out of the train and making
her way to Ryouga, but then realized that by the time she made her way to
the river side below, Ryouga might be in Beijing or even Australia. No,
it'd be better to let him find his way.
He'll come back to me, she thought. He always does.
-end part 3-