(And now, back to Rob Bob's Last Call, and "Her"...)
Whoo...the only way to set free the 1500-year-old dead girl is for
Ranma to be exorcised out of his body. This is why possession sucks,
people.
And on top of that, everyone's acting like they picked up the wrong
script when they walked onto the set or something. We've got so much
messed up characterization going on it's almost hysterical.
So now Ranma goes out looking for Akane, Kasumi suddenly makes a
habit of looking at everyone's chi, we've got chi theory that's even
more skewed than DBZ, and there's gonna be some changes going on, as
we continue with "Her"...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----
P A R T T W O : C H A N G E S
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Ranma sighed as he walked out of the clinic, waving goodbye to Tofu-
sensei. Damn, he thought to himself, not here either. Where the heck
could she be?
His eyes glazed slightly as that now-familiar voice spoke from the
depths of his mind. *She's very upset, she'd go to a close friend.*
*Yeah, but she's close to Tofu-sensei, I mean, she goes to him a lot
when she's got something on her mind.*
*Maybe this time she didn't think he could be any use to her. She
probably wanted to talk to another woman about it, ne?*
*You got a point there.*
*Hey, ya spend 1500 years in a magic spring, you learn a few things,
ya
know.*
Ranma smiled to himself as the inner conversation ended, then
thought,
hmm....where might she have gone? Who...
"Aha!" He turned a corner and broke into a flat run.
********
"You're not serious!"
Akane sniffled, and nodded. "He's determined to help that girl's
soul,
even if he has to...has to..." She broke out in a fresh bout of
tears,
crying into her napkin.
Kuonji Ukyou took her friend's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Don't
worry
sugar, if there's one thing I know about Ranchan, it's that he always
wins. He'll come out of this just fine."
Akane stopped crying, and sniffled a couple times. Looking up, she
said,
"You really think so Ukyou?"
"Sure thing sugar. Come on, you know him just as well as I do."
Akane wiped her eyes, and smiled. "You're right Ukyou. There's
nothing
to worry about." She stood up and hugged Ukyou, who returned the hug
and
said, "Now why don'tcha run on home, okay? Ranchan and the others are
probably worried sick about you!"
"Yeah, we are."
Ukyou and Akane both turned around, startled to see Ranma standing
there
in the doorway. Akane ran over to him. "Oh Ranma...I'm sorry...I
didn't
mean to worry you like that..."
"It's okay Akane. Let's just go home. Seeya Ucchan." Ranma waved
goodbye
to Ukyou, and walked home with Akane almost clinging to his side.
********
"Look you guys, there's nothing to worry about!"
Soun was in full wail. Genma had a thoughtful expression on his
face.
Nabiki was going over some figures on her abacus, but seemed to be
rechecking something an awful lot. Kasumi had just put down a tray of
cookies and given everyone a glass of lemonade, but nobody had
touched it
yet. Akane, Ranma, and Ryouga all sat around the table. Akane
alternated
between casting worried glances at Ranma and trying her hardest to
stab
Ryouga with her eyes. Ryouga seemed oddly serene and calm today. He'd
been a bit out of it the night before, especially after the events
revolving around Ranma's statement that he intended to free Ranko or
die.
Today, Ryouga was like a completely different person. He wasn't the
least bit nervous about being in the same room as Akane, where after
yesterday he should have fled the area a long time ago in fear of his
life. He wasn't angry with anyone, which didn't really count for much
since Ranma was behaving himself for once. But there was something
not
quite right about him that nobody had been able to place yet.
Nobody had spoken for a while. Soun had stopped wailing and was now
playing go with Genma. They'd finally grabbed a couple of cookies and
were gulping down their lemonade. Both still had rather worried
expressions however. Nabiki finally straightened out her calculation,
but
her face fell when it didn't balance out right. She just KNEW she
couldn't possibly owe Ranma 300000 yen. Akane was still dividing her
attention between the Stare Of The Concerned Iinazuke and the
Anything-
Goes Martial Arts Stare Attack. Her opponent wasn't even fazed.
Kasumi
was busily distracting herself by thinking about menu plans for next
week,
making a mental shopping list, recalling the important points in that
last book she'd borrowed from Tofu-sensei, observing the level of
everyone's chi...
Chi. She froze.
Chi. That was it.
"Ryouga-kun...your chi is a lot lower than usual."
Ryouga blinked. "How--how could you tell?"
Kasumi smiled. "It's a knack." Everyone facefaulted.
Genma said, "I don't understand. What could cause Ryouga's chi to
drop?
He hasn't been fighting, he isn't ill..."
Ranma thought for a minute, then snapped his fingers. "I think I
know.
Hey P-chan, let's go outside for a minute."
Ryouga stood up, and followed Ranma outside, without even making a
remark about being called P-chan. Everyone got up and went to the
doorway.
Ranma stood with his arms behind his back. "Okay Ryouga, fire one
off."
Ryouga blinked. "Huh?"
Ranma smirked. "A shishihoukoudan. Hit me with your best one."
Ryouga frowned. "I dunno Ranma, that's not a very good idea."
Ranma looked annoyed. "I know what I'm doing, you idiot! Blast me
already!"
"Ranma, no! You can't take a blast like his!" Akane called.
"Son, what are you doing?" Soun wailed.
Genma smirked. "Ranma, this is no way to prove your bravery to
anyone."
"Will you all just butt out? I know what I'm doing. Do it now,
Ryouga!"
Ryouga sighed. "Alright...don't say I didn't warn you..." He held
his
hands up in front of him, let all his depression build up in front of
him,
fueling his chi. His eyes were closed, his breathing controlled, his
mind focused on pushing it all down to rest between his hands. He
waited
a couple of minutes, until he felt that enough energy would be
gathered
to make a blast that couldn't do more than knock Ranma out cold.
"SHISHIHOUKOUDAN!" he yelled as he extended his hands forward.
Akane closed her eyes.
Soun wailed.
Genma shook his head sadly.
Nabiki smirked.
Kasumi watched patiently.
Ranma stood there, a smile on his face.
He was smiling because there was no glowing ball of pure depression
coming at him.
Ryouga stared. He blinked. He stared again. He looked at his hands.
He
rubbed his hands on his arms. They didn't feel any warmer than usual,
there were no lingering traces of the blast on them.
That's because there was no blast.
"What the--?"
Kasumi looked mildly confused. Genma stared in disbelief. Nabiki
smiled.
Soun stopped wailing. Akane uncovered her eyes, and was relieved to
see
Ranma standing there unhurt.
Ryouga blinked. "I don't get it."
Ranma grinned, and walked toward him. "Isn't it obvious, man?"
Ryouga stared at him, frowning. Ranma sighed. "Ryouga...how do you
feel?"
Ryouga blinked, and said, "I feel fine, why?"
"Anything buggin' ya?"
"No, I mean, I'm worried about your problem with Ranko, I wish Akane
would quit glaring at me like that because it's a little annoying,
I'm
confused as to why that didn't work, other than that nothing..."
Ranma grinned wider. Ryouga blinked, then a grin slowly spread
across
his face. He laughed, and hi-fived Ranma.
Akane was annoyed by what Ryouga said about her glaring at him. She
was
also confused as to what these two idiots were celebrating.
Soun just looked lost.
Genma was trying to figure out what he'd missed in that
conversation.
Kasumi didn't know quite what to make of all that, but she did know
that
whatever was going on, whatever caused Ryouga to lose his Roaring
Lion
Bullet attack was making him very happy.
Nabiki, who'd known the second the attack didn't happen, was busily
trying to figure out how it was possible that Akane, her father,
Saotome-
san, and Kasumi could be standing there looking clueless when she'd
figured it out and she was the only one here who knew nothing at all
about chi attacks except what she overheard in conversations.
Akane finally blew up. "Will someone PLEASE tell me what the hell is
going on?"
Ryouga flashed her a slightly annoyed glance, but it was quickly
replaced by a calm smile. "You do know what the secret of the
shishihoukoudan technique is don't you?"
Akane blinked. "Well...not really..." She tried to think. Something
about heavy chi...what was it again? "I remember hearing something
about
heavy chi one time, but that's about it."
Suddenly Kasumi understood. "Oh, heavy chi! That's what it is!"
Suddenly
she was smiling. "Oh, Ryouga-kun, how wonderful for you!"
Soun was still clueless. Genma, however, caught on after a moment.
"Isn't heavy chi the force of someone's feelings of depression,
anger,
and pain?"
Ryouga nodded. "That's right."
Ranma chimed in. "See, you have to be a pretty depressed person to
be
able to use the shishihoukoudan. It's a technique I'd never be able
to
master. I know how to do it, but I don't generate a lot of heavy chi.
And
when I'm really angry in a fight, I usually rely on the kachuu
tenshin
amaguriken or the hiryuu shoten-ha anyway. But Ryouga here, he's
always
been the most depressed being on Earth. On a good day he'd have
enough
heavy chi to throw off ten or twenty Roaring Lion Bullets big enough
to
blow up cars."
Ryouga nodded. "That's right. But when Ryokuroi and I decided to
coexist
as one person, and his soul and mine joined together, I gained a lot
of
insight. He helped me take a step back and look at my life, and
realize
that being angry and depressed just doesn't work. All it does is make
you
a walking time bomb. People like me are just disasters waiting to
happen."
Everyone understood now. Soun spoke up. "So when you got over your
depression and your anger..."
Ryouga grinned. "I stopped radiating heavy chi. No heavy chi, no
shishihoukoudan."
Genma said, "But to lose your most powerful attack..."
Ryouga silenced him with a raised hand. "Eh, who needs it. It's too
dangerous to be practical anyway. I mean, I've used it in battle a
lot,
sure, but what if I unloaded without thinking? What if I got real
angry
at someone and released a Roaring Lion Bullet, and it wound up
hitting
people I care about? What if I got drunk, and started wallowing in my
depression? My God, I'd blow myself up without even being sober
enough to
realize I was doing it, and I'd probably end up taking half of Tokyo
with
me!"
Genma thought about that and nodded. "You're absolutely right, boy.
That
technique really is too dangerous."
Ranma said, "But now, Ryouga's calm, and happy. So the bomb's
diffused."
Ryouga nodded, smiling serenely. "Yep, it's nice to be happy. And I
don't have any reason to want to fight Ranma anymore."
Akane blinked. "Ryouga not fighting Ranma anymore?"
Ryouga shook his head. "Nope. I wanted to kill him in the first
place
for stealing my bread in junior high. But now I realize, he didn't
steal
anything. I hadn't caught it yet so it was still fair game. It's my
own
fault for not getting to it first. And besides, when I came here
looking
for him, he DID go out and buy all that bread for me to make up for
it.
And it was good bread too." Everyone laughed. "And of course, I was
mad
because I got knocked into that spring at Jusenkyo when I followed
him to
China, and when I found out it was actually Ranma who knocked me into
the
spring I was even madder. But if I'd been watching where I was going
and
paying attention, I wouldn't have been standing on the edge of a
cliff
like that anyway, and besides, falling in that spring was the best
thing
that ever could have happened to me. As for Ranma being the one who
pushed me off the cliff, it was an accident. He probably couldn't
even
see me with his dad running right past me. Besides, he did me a favor
by
knocking me off the cliff anyway. I should be thanking him for it."
Ranma asked, "And the other thing you were mad at me about?"
Ryouga shrugged. "That. It's cool. I mean, I'm always gonna be her
friend, if she'd ever stop glaring at me like that, but she's your
iinazuke. You two belong together. I'll even start helping keep the
others off of you, okay?" Ranma grinned. Akane looked confused.
"HEY!
What're you two talking about?"
Ryouga stopped smiling for a second. "Oh, that's right. Nobody ever
told
her did they?" Ranma shook his head. Ryouga gulped.
Akane looked mad. "Told me WHAT!?"
Ryouga swallowed, and smiled a little nervously. "Ah, Akane?" She
fixed
a glare on him that made him sweat. "Umm...you see, ever since I
first
came here, well...I'd never met anyone as kind and as caring and as
nice
as you, and well...I kinda, ahh, well...fell in love with you."
Soun and Genma blinked. They'd had no idea. Kasumi smiled. At least
he
finally told her, she thought to herself. Ranma was glad this was
over
with but he had a feeling Ryouga would be spending some time in Tofu-
sensei's clinic getting a mallet extracted. Nabiki started
calculating,
trying to figure out what services she could offer to both sides and
how
much she could charge.
Akane blinked. Her face turned a nice bright red. Then she scowled,
and
glared at Ryouga. "BAKA! Why didn't you just tell me in the first
place!"
Kasumi spoke up. "Well Akane, considering that for most of his life
Ryouga's only had negative emotions to express, maybe he didn't know
how
to express a positive one?"
Akane blinked. That made sense. Damn. That meant she couldn't
justify
pounding him with Mallet-Sama. That annoyed her. Great, she thought.
Of
all the stupid...damn you Kasumi. Oh well. She settled with glaring
at
Ryouga and giving him the finger. Not much but it'd have to do.
Ryouga and Ranma exchanged glances.
"Definite tomboy."
"Yep."
"Cute though."
"Man you crazy?"
"Oh get off it Ranma. You just say she's uncute to piss her off."
"Well yeah, you got a point there."
"She's still a tomboy though."
"Yep."
"Thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"
"I dunno, maybe?"
Ryouga grinned mischeviously, then whispered in Ranma's ear. Ranma's
eyes lit up, and he grinned. "Perfect."
Everyone was watching them curiously, even Akane.
"OK Ranma you ready?"
"Let's do it! On three! 1, 2, 3!"
Both shouted at the same time, "TICKLE ATTACK!" and dashed at Akane.
They knocked her over onto the ground and proceeded to tickle her
viciously.
"Hey! Heeheehee! Lemme go! Hey! Cut it out! Heeheeheehahahaha!"
Everyone was laughing. Ranma and Ryouga got off of Akane and helped
her
up. She was actually smiling.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"Try to control yourself..."
"Hey, I'm 20. I'm male. I'm single. I'm not
getting any. What do you expect?"
"...I stand corrected. And you...just...stand."
-Conversation between Lurker and an
anonymous AOL user
---
The Eternal Lost Lurker
...gettin' ficcy wit' it...
EternalLostLurker@worldnet.att.net
http://www.geocities.com/~etlostlurker
"Heeere leezard, leezard, leezard..."
-------------------------------------------------------------------