Hitomi Ichinohei <hitomi@terminal.autobahn.mb.ca>
Here is a new one. I won't promise anything with it, just say that I thank a lot of people, especially Adam Nebhut.
***
A Son's Duty.
A fan fiction based on Takahashi Rumiko's ongoing Manga series, Ranma 1/2
Saotome Ranma, Saotome Genma, Saotome Nodoka, Tendo Akane, Tendo Soun, Tendo Kasumi, Tendo Nabiki, Kuonji Ukyou, Hibiki Ryouga, P-chan, Shampoo, Moose, Kunou Tatewaki, Kuno Kodachi, and Hinako Sensei are copyright 1987, 1995 by Takahashi Rumiko.
Publishing rights:
Japan: Shogakukan Inc. Tokyo
Hong Kong: Jademan (Holdings) Ltd.
North America: Viz Inc.
Chapter One:
The morning was beautiful. Nice and sunny with a hint of moisture left over from the morning rains. In the air, a delightful fragrance, full of perfumes and smells, yet clear and fresh, with just a hint of suppressed dust tickling the nose. A day like this was to be savoured whenever possible.
For many Japanese however, this was another day in which people had to hurry to get to the trains and buses, rush to the undergrounds, or get ready for school. Busy lives, the rush of the city, and the race for prosperity in an effort to keep up with the demands of energy, the cost of living, and increasingly high prices. One could describe it as preparing for war. Not the kind of war that was obvious, indeed, not one that many would call a war in the usual sense. It was a war for survival and in this war Ucchan's, a small okonomiyaki shop located in Nerima District, was barely holding its own.
The owner of the shop, one Kuonji Ukyou, always opened the shop with a friendly smile and a pleasant demeanour. While the regulars who attended the place found the business cozy, if a bit unusual for a district far from the hustle of downtown Tokyo, the irregular customers were surprised to find that the restaurant resembled many of the Office Girl bars and clubs closer into the city. One of the reasons was the fact that Ukyou sometimes appeared as a young man and at other times as a young woman. Then there were those friends of hers, especially one red headed girl who tried to disguise herself as, and claim to be, a boy despite her obvious femininity. This raised some eyebrows, but as long as they caused little or no trouble, the establishment was tolerated.
Technically speaking, Kuonji Ukyou was a boy, at least on paper. He was sixteen, the owner of a semi-successful expansion shop of the Kuonji family, which he ran part time in the evenings and on weekends, and was enrolled in the local high school, Furinkan. Admittedly, he was not at the top of his class in school, but Ukyou was close enough so that he would have little, if any, trouble getting into a university of his choice once he passed the Juken. To all appearances, Ukyou was a self-assured, competent businessman with a solid, if unusual, set of customers. Some of the other business people in the district were surprised at the good fortune of the restaurant which apparently filled an unsuspected niche in the neighbourhood. Especially since it was closed at the oddest times when the shop should have been open.
In reality, Ukyou was a young woman. She had chosen to be regarded as a male early on in her life thanks to a disappointment which dishonoured her and her family. It started when she was a child. Ukyou met a young boy, who, at first, was her adversary. A pleasantly mannered boy who happened to beat her every day in order to secure an okonomiyaki from her father's yattai. Gradually, the two of them became friends, with Ukyou now making okonomiyaki's for Ranma. For Ranma's part, he was glad to have such a good friend, for Ukyou, she had started to fall in love with him. Admittedly, it was a crush at the time, and it was complicated by the fact that Ranma thought she was another boy, but she persuaded her father that this was the boy for her.
When her father had asked the father of the boy, Saotome Genma, to marry the two of them, Genma had said that it was up to Ranma. What happened had embarrassed her family, and embarrassed her for when given the choice Ranma had not realized what was being asked. Genma, not wanting to give up anything, agreed to the engagement. The boy's father had then stolen the yattai when they were supposed to take Ukyou with them on their training. This created a situation where, for the sake of honour, she and her family had to make a choice: Either move, or for her to be raised as, and to become in fact, a young boy. Ukyou herself chose to be raised as a boy since she would never trust another male again.
Over the years, he had become a good son, performing all of his duties, going to school, getting good grades, and practicing a type of martial art almost lost in the rush to teach 'business martial arts' to the westerners. While his style used many of the basic moves common to all the higher arts, Ukyou had an additional set of weapons, his spatulas with which he practiced daily, and the equipment of an okonomiyaki chef with which, if used correctly, he could become extremely deadly. It was soon after the start of the new school year when the tracers Ukyou had put out and the tracking he had been doing finally paid off. Ranma had returned and was now living in Nerima district. While this was far from home, he nonetheless set out to confront, and defeat Ranma for the deep, still painful, insult to his, and the families, honour.
Ukyou applied to, and was enrolled in Ranma's school. His goal, to challenge Ranma and make a fool out of him. By this time, he did not consider himself a woman anymore, at least not in any real sense of the word. All that was left for Ukyou to move on was to finally defeat the one who had stolen his honour.
Ukyou had not realized how wrong he was to confront Ranma. At first, his opponent had avoided all his blows, then when Ukyou was getting the upper hand, Ranma's skills started to show. Instead of defeating him, Ukyou and his shame were exposed to the school. At that point, as far as he was concerned, Ranma was now a deadly enemy. It was only after a talk with Ranma, who explained what had happened, that Ukyou realized that he had not meant to dishonour him, but that he honestly did not know what Ukyou's sex was when he was younger.
Seeing the way Ranma wished to restore his honour, Ukyou started to fall in love with him, a love that blossomed in an instant. This time, it was not a crush, or a passing phase, but true, deep, and meaningful love. At that moment, Ukyou's life was thrown into turmoil.
You see, Ukyou stilled considered himself to be a male for the most part and his documentation and papers supported that fact. It was only after being exposed for whom he was several times that he came to accept, and be what he once was for some part. Ranma's revelation of how he changed sexes had facinated Ukyou and helped in his decision. Thus Ukyou started to live a life where he lived his school and some other parts of his life as a man, and at other times he was a sweet, caring young woman. It was not too bad a life, and he was able to fit into the area well, away from his family.
All things considered, it was not a bad start to a new life, in fact, it was an excellent start. The best thing about it was he had more freedom than he would normally be allowed had he stayed with his parents. Generally speaking was as pleasant as this particular morning. At the moment however, Ukyou had to head for school.
"Well, at least it is a beautiful morning.", Ukyou thought as he inhaled slowly, enjoying the smells and feeling of the air. "Today is the sort of day that nothing can go wrong." Turning back to the door, he locked up and reached into the mailbox. Inside were the usual items and, as Ukyou started to walk down the street, he began to sort through it. The bills he put to the back to the pile to handle later when Ukyou got home. There were the new magazines, his regulars would like the article in them, especially since an Ensoku to that area was coming up in the next couple of weeks. In addition to this was a reminder from her supplier about next month, and a thank-you letter from a local construction company. The last letter though caught his eye.
It was from his father, whom he hadn't seen, or really thought of contacting, for a few months now. Worried that something might be wrong, he quickly opened the letter and started to read it. After the usual salutations and greetings, as well as some other information, Ukyou got to the part that interested him. He started to read in earnest and his eyes began to show a bit of startlement. As he read further, Ukyou stopped walking and stared at the letter.
"By the gods!", he thought to himself, "Not now, not when I finally am getting my life back together." Ukyou looked at the letter once more to make sure that he had not misread it, and shuddered. What he now considered his worst nightmare was now coming true, and there was not a thing that he could do about it. Folding the letter carefully, Ukyou put it back in the envelope and placed it in his briefcase. Surprisingly, he then stuffed the rest of the mail haphazardly into his briefcase as well, not really paying attention to what he was doing. "Family duties! I thought I could escape from them if I stayed here after what Ran-chan said to me. If father finds out how I feel, if he even suspects what I feel about Ran-chan, there could be a lot of trouble." He shook his head as he resumed walking, "How am I going to get out of this? In any case, while father visits I can no longer appear as a woman, even in private...Ran-chan!!!" Ukyou grimaced, "I'm going to have to s!
tay aw
ay from him, and I am also going to have to make sure that he stays away from me and the restaurant, at least for a while."
At that moment, the object of Ukyou's concern was having a few troubles of his own. For Ranma, the day had started better than normal. His usual morning practice with his father had ended with Genma being dunked in the pond, and Akane, luckily, did not catch him watching to make sure that she arrived back safely from her morning jog. Even breakfast went well with Akane and him being cordial and polite to each other. It was when he was walking with Akane on the way to school, that he had made a big mistake.
He opened his mouth.
He wasn't quite sure what it was he said. In fact, Ranma was sure that he had been nice to Akane all morning. "Stupid girl," Ranma thought, "What does she think I did now?" Turning his head, he looked back at his fiance. In the mood she was in, Ranma was not sure if it was wise to stop. He did like her a lot, but her temper...Ranma still had bruises from the last time she blew up and he wanted to avoid any more. "I'm sure I didn't do anything to her. Why does she have to be so violent?" He continued to think..."Ok, what did I do...I asked her how she liked the day so far...I looked up at the sky and smiled...I asked her if she wanted to go somewhere this evening...I said that she looked nice..._I_ DID_NOT_DO_ANYTHING_TO_HER...What's wrong with her?" He looked back again and ended up tripping over something and hitting the ground...hard.
Akane's morning had started off well. The sunlight had come streaming in her bedroom window, tickling her nose and waking her up. She had opened her window, letting the outside air clear the mustiness and smells of sleep from the room. Akane looked outside and noticed how nice it was, the sun giving just a hint of a rainbow to the air. She got ready and left her room, heart light, and feeling wonderful.
Her morning jog had also gone very well, and she arrived back, full of energy. The surrounding neighborhood had just waking up and not too many people were about. People had greeted her with a friendly smile, and others had noded politely. All in all, a nice, lazy day, not that she really expected it to last.
She also expected to have an arguement at any moment with Ranma.
"Strange, " She spoke softly to herself, "Sometimes, it's as though we can't have a good day unless we fight." Going downstairs, Akane expected Ranma to make some sort of smart remark, something to purposely get her angry. It wasn't that Akane was looking for her day to be spoiled, but she had gotten used to their constant bickering. She was surprised that he greeted here pleasantly, even warmly. It sometimes happened, so she shrugged her shoulders and started eating. It was on their way to school that Akane realized Ranma had not eaten as much as usual.
What had triggered that reaction was when Ranma asked her about how she liked the day. He had never been that pleasant, in fact, he usually made some comment by this time that caused her to automatically attack him. "Is he sick?", she muttered to herself as she looked at him, "He's just staring up at the sky."
It was when Ranma had asked her out and said she looked nice that she decided to try and hit him. At first, it was because she thought their parents were trying to get them to date again, they were always inventing situations to throw them together. Then she realized, he was just being nice because he wanted to be nice.
She hesitated, then shouted, "RANMA NO BAKA!!!"
It wasn't that Akane wanted to fight this time, it was more that she wanted to return some normality to her day. She was not used to Ranma being nice to her, and it was unnerving to say the least. For Akane, it was better for her sanity, and her pride if they were fighting. She ended up chasing him into the school yard, her school bag swinging at him.
That was when Ukyou turned the corner.
Normally, Ukyou would have been able to avoid an attack, having been able to feel when danger was approaching. Most people thought that he, and the other martial artists at the school, had fast reflexes. As Ukyou would have told anyone who asked, the skill came from practice, of putting oneself into enough danger that the skill became as a new sense, and while his body and mind would usually react before truly being aware what was happening, his worries had distracted Ukyou.
It was a spectacular crash.
GLOSSARY
OKONOMIYAKI
Okonomiyaki litterally means, "As you like it." It is comparable to an American pancake, but with a richer flavor and a lighter, more delicate skin. A recipe for it follows below.
The basic recipe is a pancake mixture made with rice or wheat flour. Extra flavor can be given by adding a stock to the mixture. In addition, many Okonomiyaki places have their own family recipes that have been handed down for generations.
The following is a restaurant type mixture for about 10 people.
Basic Ingredients
10 chicken eggs
2 quail eggs
5 cups of wheat or 6 cups of rice flour
3.5 cups of Awase Miso
Additional ingredients
Thin pork slices
Thin beef slices
Shrimp, shelled, deveined and fillited.
Red pickled ginger
Wasabi
Sesame oil
Daikon, grated finely
Thinly sliced Shitaki Mushrooms
or any other flavourings as long as they are thinly sliced.
Break the eggs in a bowl and mix well. Add Awase Miso to the eggs and mix well. Slowly add the flour and beat so that the mixture is without lumps.
Heat a griddle or hot plate to about 350 degrees farinheit and oil. Stir mixture just before you pour it out on the hot plate. Allow to start cooking, and add any ingredients that you would like to the mixture that is on the girdle.
Wait until the bottom is browned and flip over to cook the top.
Flip back over and onto a plate.
Garnish with bonito, nori, or some wasabi.
Serve.
Sauce:
There are a variety of sauces that can be had with Okonomiyaki. My favourite is a Sweet Sake sauce.
Ingredients:
2/3 cups Sake
1/3 cup Mirin
1/3 cup Shoyu
1/3 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons of grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons of Su
2 whole takano tjume crushed
In a suacepan heat up the Sake, Mirin, Shoyu, and Su. When it is nearly boiling add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Reduce heat and add the ginger and takano tjume. Let simmer for an hour or until the sauce is two thirds of its original volume. Strain and cool. Serve in a Shoyu dish.
OFFICE GIRL CLUBS
These clubs and bars are designed to cater to Office Girls or secretaries as they are known here. In areas of Tokyo, these clubs and bars feature transsexuals and transvestites as waitresses.
JUKEN
This is the standardized test that students take to determine their place within the structure of schooling. The test results determine which schools you can enter.
YATTAI
A type of cart used for selling food to customers. Can be seen in many resort areas and is similar to the American mobile hot dog or hamburger stand.
MAGAZINES
The gathering of various magazines is a type of customer appreciation displayed by the restaurants. Because life is very heric and rushed, most people take any oportunity that presents itself to read, study, catch up on current events, or socialize. In fact, a restaurant usually has a set of regulars who sit at the same place every time and use it to study and socialize. In fact, some regulars pay for the privilage of the sitting space with a monthly fee over and above whatever food they may order. In other cases, an owner might provide a space because of the customer flow a particular person might bring in.
The new magazines are placed at these tables and the older ones are rotated to other parts of the restaurant including the food preperation bar. Over a month, a restaurant will go through approximately eight or nine dozen new magazines.
Remembering my school days, the only times that I had to relax was going to the candy store where ojisama used to sit all of us down and tell us stories or during the performance of the tea ceremony every day. Trust me on this, we even work at having fun. My country is a country of workaholics, and no matter what anyone says, this is a fact of Japanese life.
ENSUKO
An Ensuko, or 'Far Feet' is a type of field trip to a historical place, such as a temple, or a place where something of great importance has occured in our history, or, for students in the science stream, a scientific research centre. These were both fun and boring, depending on how good you were. Ranma would definately be in trouble on these for _NOT_ wearing a proper uniform. (For that matter, he would be in trouble anyways since _NOT_ wearing a proper uniform can be grounds for dismissial from school.)
REMINDER
In Japan, manufacturing is conducted on the just in time theory of economics. Basically stated, screws, parts, and equipment are delivered as close as possible to the manufacturing time. According to the theory, this has the following benefits:
1) Top quality raw materials are made available.
2) Top quality parts are created.
3) No stockpiling occurs of unecessary equipment.
4) Quality control remains very high.
5) There can be imediate production stopage and revision if it needs to be done.
Because of this, the reminder serves two purposes.
1) Asking the restaurant owner to make an estimate of the materials needed for supplies at the end of each week based on past business performance.
2) To provide information on new techniques, recipies, equipment, and materials that allow the restaurant owner to have a better product and more customer satisfaction.
THANK YOU LETTER
This is _not_ what most readers of this would think. I.E. A thank you for repairs done due to a lot of dammage being done to the restaurant. Indeed, this is a common, mundane occurance that is designed to promote good public relations and repeat business. In this instance, a new type of high effiency hotplate and burners would have been installed at Ucchans. This would include a series of single cup coffee burners as well as a large cold brewing container to make a strong house specialty coffee. Given that Ucchans would serve mostly studying school students and some business people, this would be the best way to increase the popularity of her place of business.
***
Authors Notes:
This started on the Ranma Mailing list, (Ask everyone else what started it, not me), and I went ahead and started it. People said I would not get the permission I wanted and continued to ask for it. So here it is, Chapter one. I want people to flame me on this one. It is bad if there are no complaints about my writting, especially as I am new to the English language. Please FLAME FLAME FLAME.
On a personal note, do not mind the glossary, it was just some people had questions on what those particulars were that I included in my story.
Other than that, there isn't a lot to say, but that this is trying to fit into the continuity of the series. Hopefully, I am able to make a contribution in a psycological manner that will explain some of the rather bizzare aspects of the story. As to what I mean, join the Ranma Mailing list and find out about the craziness of Ranma, and those that follow the chosen red haired goddess, (or is that black haired god? The Kunou's are getting to me it seems...).
Anyway's enough ramblings, have a good time with this one, and good night.
Ichinohei Hitomi
Hitomi@terminal.autobahn.mb.ca