In Mind and Body (PROSE VERSION)
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by Florencio B. de la Merced, Jr. (fmerced@pworld.net.ph)

A Fanfic inspired by the anime Ranma 1/2 created and copyrighted by Rumiko
Takahashi
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Prologue

It was suppose to be over between the two rivals. Ranma Saotome and Ryoga
Hibiki had patched up their petty differences about Ranma’s fiancé, Akane
Tendo, but with the way they were fighting inside the training hall, anyone
would have thought otherwise.

Ryoga made mince meat of the walls of the dojo in his efforts to nail his
friend with the martial art technique he learned from an old Chinese amazon.
"Ranma! I’m going to get you!" Ryoga made another puncture on the walls of
the training hall and Ranma was again able to dodge away from Ryoga’s
attacks. "That’s the last time I’ll ask you for some advice, Ranma!"

Ranma jumped high and over Ryoga, as his opponent concentrated on destroying
the floor beneath them. "Hey! I only said that because Ucchan’s my best
friend!" Ranma jumped back again as the floor underneath him exploded into a
thousand fragments.

Ryoga rushed forward, swinging and vaguely tried to clip Ranma with the
umbrella he was holding. "Some friend. Why don’t you let Ukyou decide whom
to date? It took me a whole month to gather enough courage to ask her!"
Ryoga threw his bandana at Ranma but again failed to even touch Ranma’s
fleeting shadow.

Ranma winced as he took notice to how much punishment the hall was taking
and quickly decided to finally end this brawl. "KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!!!"
Ranma threw lightning fast punches and all connected to Ryoga’s chest,
sending his friend crashing towards the far wall. Unscathed by the attack
Ryoga climbed out of the pile of loose splintered and chipped wooded planks
and prepared his counter attack.

"SHI SHI HOKODAN!!!" Ranma’s eyes bulged as he tried to get away from the
path of chi energy Ryoga had just released. A huge fissure crack and crater
replaced what were once the gates into the training hall. "Damn it, Ryoga!
You didn’t have to do that!"

-----

"What was that Tendo?" Genma looked up as his head trailed the billow of
smoke from an explosion that came from the training hall. Soun and Genma
jumped off the porch and from the shogi game they were playing and headed
for the source of the commotion. Akane also ran towards the training hall
and her mind was filled with only one person that she suspected to be behind
it all.

"RANMA!!!" Akane angrily jumped through the hole that used to be the door of
the training hall. Ranma was breathing hard and was standing over the
crippled figure of Ryoga. "BAKA!!!" Akane yelled out, as her hand caught
hold of a huge mallet from out of nowhere and promptly pounded it on her
fiancé. However, Ranma was quick enough to step aside as Akane’s mallet
hit the floor. Ryoga was not so fortunate, as he was trying to get up,
caught the full force of Akane’s wrath.

"Hey! What are you trying to do?" Ranma jumped from one side to the next in
further attempts to escape from the same fate that befall Ryoga. "How dare
you destroy the dojo?!" Akane was frustrated again as Ranma decided to just
sidestep once again. Akane finally allowed her mallet to fly towards Ranma,
which caught her fiancé off guard. Ranma slumped to the floor and grimaced
in pain. "That’ll teach you!"


Ranma winced as he saw his fiancé wield the mallet up and threatened to
flatten him again. "No, Akane." Ranma’s and Akane’s fathers intervened in
time. Ranma finally recovered from the mallet attack and stood up to glare
at Akane. "It wasn’t me Akane!" Akane wouldn’t believe him so Ranma had to
drag Ryoga’s unconscious form in front of his fiancé. "Ryoga?" Ranma
sighed as Akane finally realized it was Ryoga who went berserk in the
training hall a while ago.

"Oh, my." Kasumi and Nabiki finally arrived at the scene but what they saw
was a totally ruined dojo. "I suppose somebody has to fix this?" Nabiki grin
a bit as Ranma and Akane went at each other’s throats like cats and dogs.
The cat being Akane, Nabiki mused in her head.

"BAKA! It’s probably your fault anyway!"

"It was not! KAWAIIKUNE!"

-----

Oblivious to the whole family, Happousai was standing in the yard
overlooking the small pond that was the centerpiece of the garden. Happousai
was up to something no good again and no one was aware of what he was doing.

"Now, this will have to do." The old hentai master of the anything goes
martial arts poured some sort of liquid from a small bottle he brought out
surprisingly from somewhere underneath his clothes. He threw away the
container and picked up one side of the pond the kettle that he was boiling
water in. "To activate the spell, add a boiling water." Happousai laughed a
bit as he saw how the pond boiled up a bit with bubbles and a faint blue
aura emanating from within. The aura faded and Happousai nodded in
affirmation of the sign that the pond was ready. "Now, to get my dear
Cologne and later, Ranko!" Happousai didn’t bother to use the door as he
quickly jumped over the fence and ran towards the Nekohanten.

-----

A while later, repair work on the training hall started and everyone had to
chip in to help. Ranma and Akane, though, haven’t stopped bickering at each
other.

"Stop it!" Ranma protested while he let go of his hold on the wood plank he
and Akane was nailing to cover one of the hundred holes that needed patching
up in the training hall. Akane frowned as her mallet stroke was interrupted
again by her fiancé. "And what exactly do you want me to stop, eh?!" Akane
proceed to pound the nail her fiancé bravely held on top of the replacement
wood. "Oww!" Ranma grimaced as he tried to rub the pain away from his sore
hand. "If you just stop moving your hand too much, I’ll be able to nail
this board properly." Akane hammered away and again Ranma’s hand was
squashed underneath it.

"Why don’t you let me have that?!" Ranma attempted to grab Akane’s mallet
but it only found its way on his head. "Oww! Why did you do that for!" Akane
ignored her fiancé and placed a new board on the wall for her to nail.
Ranma again held the board up and as before the mallet found its way to hit
his hands again. "Oww! Let me have that!" Akane glared at Ranma. "Oh, no! It
’s my mallet!" Ranma winced and could only yelp an insult or two, which was
immediately countered by a mallet hitting his head. "Get someone else to
hold your nails!" Ranma exclaimed as his ultimatum.

In one corner of the room, Nabiki and Ryoga were observing the two while
they work. "I still can’t believe they can fight over such feeble things.
Ranma must be mad to tolerate Akane." Ryoga sighed after commenting to
Nabiki about the two who were still fighting. "Yeah, its pitiful to look at
them go at it sometimes. But they do love each other." Nabiki giggled a bit
but was stunned by the forceful stoke of the hammer Ryoga held. "You’re
right about that, Nabiki. It’s a good thing I’ve come to terms with...my
feelings for Akane." Ryoga looked back at the two but the sight hasn’t
changed, "But, I still love her, though." Nabiki only blinked at what she
heard from one of her sister’s long time admirers.

"By the way, how is Kounji-san?" Nabiki wanted to change the subject and
found the perfect topic of discussion as she had heard rumors about Ryoga
and one of Ranma’s alleged fiancées. Ryoga stared back at her blankly and
blinked twice before fear swept across his face. "Did I said something
wrong?" Nabiki was stunned as Ryoga hammered away the rest of the boards,
effectively patching the rest of the holes on that side of the training
hall. "Er, I have to go. I forgot I had a date." Ryoga tried to move swiftly
but was immediately blocked one of the walls of the dojo. "Eh, this is the
way out." Nabiki quickly rerouted the nervous Ryoga towards the new gate of
the hall. "So, you have a date with Ukyou? Hope you have fun tonight."
Nabiki grinned as Ryoga could hardly contain his nervousness and excitement
about the date. "I just hope I don't get lost getting to the Ucchan's."
Ryoga remarked halfway out of the training hall.

-----

Ranma and Akane were struggling in their work. Ranma had managed to grab a
hold of the infamous mallet his fiancé had kept hitting him with throughout
the repair work. Akane, though, wouldn't let her fiancé take control of her
mallet, and she swore Ranma would pay for his insolence. "Let go!" Akane
gave a forceful tug on her clasp on her mallet. "Let me have this! Before
you kill someone with it!" Ranma tugged back on his hold. "BAKA!" Akane
kicked Ranma's shin promptly making Ranma loose his grip. "Oww! Kawaiikune!"
Ranma regretted those words as Akane swung the mallet like a golf club,
painfully sending Ranma flying across the room, and out through the new
gates of the training hall. Ryoga, however, was in the way and he too was
flung across the yard outside. They both landed in the pond at the center of
the garden.

-----

Ranma rose from the warm waters of the pond first, but the pain he was
feeling distracted him from noticing why he had not changed into a girl upon
contact with the pond. "Akane! You dummy!" Ranma climbed out and stormed
back into the training hall, ignoring his drench clothing which should have
attracted his attention because it wasn't his anymore.

"Ranma!" Ryoga broke through next and was dearly tempted to get back at
Ranma for ruining his clothes for the date with Ukyou. Ryoga could only
think about the meeting with Ukyou and how he is now severely late for it.
Moreover, he was thinking about changing first before running towards the
Ucchan. Ryoga must have been thinking a lot, because he hadn't notice why he
hasn't change into a pig upon soaking in the pond. And in his hurried pace
to get to Ukyou, he failed to notice the unfamiliar wet Chinese garbs he
took off while changing.

-----

"Now you'll definitely get it! Akane!" Ranma scowled as he entered the
training hall fuming. Akane was at the same time coming out the same way.
"Ryoga? What are you still doing here? Nabiki just told me that you were on
your way to a date." Akane looked back at her sister who just gave a
quizzical look. "Date? What are you talking about?"

-----

Ryoga ran out of the Tendo dojo and that he quickly turned a corner. "I hope
she's still there." Ryoga confidently turned another corner, taking him ever
closer to Ukyou's okonomiyaki restaurant. Fleeting from his notice, was how
confident he was making the correct navigation around Nerima, on his way to
the Ucchan's.

-----

"Ranma, come on out. We've still got work to do!" Akane pranced around the
yard for a while looking for her fiancé. Ranma was confused at the sight,
thinking that both Akane and Nabiki must be playing him for a fool. "Hey,
I'm over here!" Ranma again announce to the two, but he was just ignored.
"Don't you have someplace to go, Ryoga?" Nabiki walked past Ranma and
searched for her sister's fiancé back inside the training hall. Akane
followed suit as she was getting frustrated at trying to find Ranma. "He's
not going to get away with this!" Akane bellowed just before entering the
dojo. Ranma too was getting frustrated at being ignored, when clearly the
one Akane and Nabiki have been looking for the past few minutes was standing
in front of them.

"Hey, have you two gone blind? I'm over here!"

-----

Ukyou was cleaning up her restaurant and was preparing to close shop when
Ryoga ran inside unexpectedly. "Oh, good. I thought I was late for our
date." Ryoga sat on one of the seats beside the counter and tried to catch
his breath. "Ran-chan, what are you doing here?" Ukyou was startled at first
that her once fiancé had come by for a visit so late in the evening, but
what confused her was that Ranma was ranting about being late for a date
with her. "Ran-chan? I'm not Ranma." Ryoga stared at Ukyou and only got a
few giggles as a reply. Ukyou continued to clean up, occasionally laughing
at Ryoga. "Hey, what so funny?" Ryoga checked his dressed as he suspected
that in his rush to change clothes that he might have dressed wrongly.

"Listen, Ran-chan. I know what you're trying to do." Ukyou sat at the seat
next to his guest and inched her head towards him. "I know that you know
that Ryoga's been seeing me a lot lately, and..." Ukyou grinned, "...and I
know I've been giving him some thought." Ryouga winced, "Some?" Ukyou
laughed and walked back behind the counter. "The truth is, I'm old enough to
chose who I'm going to date with, Ran-chan. So please..." Ryoga only smiled
and gave an exasperated sigh of relief. "That’s exactly what I said to
Ranma. Of course, he couldn't stand it so...I had to teach him a lesson."
Ukyou slammed one of her spatulas on her friend's head. "Stop mumbling,
Ran-chan. Ryoga will be here any time tonight so you better go back. Akane
must be worried about you?" Ukyou smiled and continued to clean up. "Eh,
Ucchan are you all right? Why do you keep calling me Ran-chan?"

-----

Akane was up to her neck and was growing irritated as her fiancé was
nowhere to be found, and was making no attempts to show his face to her.
"Ranma! Where the hell are you?!" Ranma trailed Akane all around the house,
pleading his case to her but to no avail. "What is wrong with you people?! I
said I'm over here." Akane turned around and poured her frustration at her
pursuer. "Listen, Ryoga! If you don't stop this foolishness, I'm going
to..." Ranma never had a chance to evade the huge mallet that came crashing
at his head. Ranma again grimaced in pain as Akane belted out more pounding
before Nabiki could restrain her. "You'll pay for this, KAWAIIKUNE tomboy!!"
Akane and Nabiki both blinked as they never heard those words from Ryoga,
only from Akane's fiancé. "Ranma?" Akane asked nervously. "Yes!!! I've been
trying to tell you that all afternoon!"

"If that's you Ranma, then what are you doing in Ryoga's body?"

"Ryoga's what?" Ranma finally noticed that he was in someone else's clothes
and that thought quickly drew him to find a mirror, a full size one. The
reflection Ranma saw wasn't his, and his horrific yell after the discovery
shook the very foundations of the dojo.

-----

In another part of Nerima, a similar discovery and shock trembled the little
okonomiyaki shop to its very core.


End of Prologue
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Author's Note:

Ok, this is obviously a prose version of my fic and I'm wondering if I
should continue it this way.  As you can see, a prose version is...harder to
write, considerebly longer, and (gasp)... anyway tell me please.

Jeez, this is only the prologue and it's five pages long.  The script
version only lasted two pages, and I'm looking at 11 more pages to convert.

Thanks to those who had read the script version, and if you want to blame
anyone for me making a prose version...further delaying future chapters,
well you know who you are. :)

Special Mention,

Hunter Kid
 Jeff Shelton
 Ronny Hedin
 David Johnston
 Demonsword
 SuprCat
 Asri Jaffar
 Robert Morrison
 G. Chow
 and
Rumiko Takahashi.