Bonded

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
by Doug "daneel" Torneden
We all know who created the series but thanks and credit still
goes to the goddess Takahashi for creating it.

Chapter 2

The street looked like any other residential street in Tokyo at first
glance.  Children walked along with their parents peacefully, birds
rested on powerlines, and the day drifted along serenely.  This was
the Nerima district however where property insurance soared in the
last year.  A moment of peace was treasured because it was only a
matter of time before the young martial artists of the area rampaged
again through the city.  It all centered around the Tendo Dojo since
that was the home of the leader of the group, maybe leader was the
wrong word.  He was the obsession of the other martial artists.  The
girls wanted him; the boys just wanted him gone.

The air of excitement hung over the crowd gathered in the family room
of the Tendo's house.  Ranma Saotome sat at the table with his father,
Genma Saotome, and the Tendo family.  Soun Tendo sat at the head of
the table as usual with two of his daughters, Nabiki and Akane,
sitting on either side of him.  His eldest daughter Kasumi entered the
room a tray with tea on it.  They had all been trying to ask Ranma
questions about the cure Ryouga wrote him about.  The problem was they
were all asking him at the same time.

"Aaaarrrrgggghhhhh!  How do you expect me to answer you when all of
you at talking at once?" Ranma growled with frustration.

"The boy's right, let my wonderful son talk," Genma leapt to Ranma's
defense.  He slipped his arm around his son protectively.

"You can cut the father act Pops.  I know you're only trying to get
your hands on the cure," Ranma snapped back at his father shoving the
older man's arm off his shoulder.

"Son, your father's only showing concern for you and wishing to help
cure you," Soun replied in aid of his long time friend.  "Besides,
once you're cured there's no reason for you not to marry Akane."

Akane who had been quiet until now exploded at her father, "And when
ever did I say I wanted to marry that pervert over there."

Hearing this Soun burst forth into tears and wailed "Kasumi, she
yelled at me again."

Seeing the situation getting worse Kasumi knew she had to rein in the
family before another fight broke out and there was more structural
damage and broken furniture.  "Oh my.  Akane, you shouldn't raise
your voice to father like that you know how sensitive he is."

Akane suddenly felt guilty after being rebuffed by her oldest sister
who is so nice that anything not a compliment is a rebuke.  "I'm
sorry father. I didn't mean to yell at you like that," Akane replied
while still looking a little mad at her father.  *Why do they have to
try so hard at getting us together?  We haven't even been out that much
yet,* Akane thought to herself.  She couldn't deny she was a little
excited by the idea that Ranma might finally be cured.  Maybe Ranma
might stop insulting her figure so much.  *Yeah, right* Akane grimaced
and glared over at Ranma.

"Did you hear that Kasumi, by little Akane still loves me," Soun began
only to break forth with more tears this time of joy.

Before things got going again Kasumi exerted her authority over the
family once more. "So Ranma, what did your friend Ryouga have to say
in your letter?" she asked sweetly.

Ranma sat silently trying to figure out why Akane was glaring at him
instead of her father.  *No wonder she is such an uncute tomboy; she
is always mad at me,* Ranma thought to himself before answering the
question Kasumi asked.  "Not much 'cept he's at some temple either
in China or Japan, he's not sure, where he has found a cure for our...
er... my curse," Ranma stammered looking over at Akane hoping she
didn't catch his near revelation about her pet P-chan.

"So what kind of cure is it this time, another discontinued spring of
drowned man?"  Nabiki jumped in wondering if an avenue of profit was
about to be closed down for good.  If Ranma was cured then a steady
source of income from Kunou would disappear with Ranma's girl side.
She had to gauge this threat to her profits.

Ranma looked over at Nabiki and saw that calculating look of hers.
She had that look of an auctioneer appraising an item as she waited
for Ranma to answer.  "All he said was it's a ceremony called 'cure
the curse' or something.  He was a little sketchy on it.  I think
he's not too sure himself.  If this works I can finally say good-bye
to my girl side forever," Ranma cheerfully replied.

"So when do we leave my dutiful son?"  Genma asked with his backpack
strapped to his back already and Ranma's in his hand.

"And just who do you think invited you, Old Man?  Ryouga said
something about only needing one other for the cure and that person
is going to be me, got it?" Ranma shot back at his father as he
jumped to his feet.  "Besides, if it works we can always go back for
you later," he later amended looking at the hope in his father's eyes.

"Well Ranma who are you traveling with then?" Kasumi asked.  "You'll
need someone to cook for you while you're on the road," she added
knowing that her father wouldn't be able to resist the bait.  If
Ranma and Akane were ever to get together she had to help it along.

"That's right son, you shouldn't be traveling alone on the road so
I give you my permission to take Akane along with you on your quest.
She can cook your meals for you," Soun quickly leapt to the idea.

Kasumi just sat there calmly smiling while inside she chuckled at how
easy it was to get her father to do her bidding.  She excelled at the
Tendo's school of Martial Arts of Niceness she learned from her dear
mother.  It was a technique taught only to the oldest daughter
secretly for generations.  It was the manipulation of others without
their knowledge through kindness.  Kasumi was the youngest to ever
reach Master level in this art.

"If you call that toxic stew she makes cooking, I think I'd rather
take my chances eating bugs and roots.  I think I'd have less chance
of getting food poisoning," Ranma retorted without thinking. He
returned to sitting, oblivious to the blue aura surrounding Akane.

Akane just sat there for a few seconds fuming.  Her hands were
clenching and unclenching repeatedly.  Everyone else but Ranma saw
this and cleared the area quickly.  They could see the explosion that
was about to occur.  There are deadly forces known around the world,
Atomic weapons, Hurricanes, Toxic waste, Akane's cooking, and the most
violent force in Japan, Akane's rage when Ranma insults her.
Unfortunately for Ranma, he kept forgetting the last one.  Akane
lifted the table with ease and planted the table's surface to the
back of Ranma.

"How dare you insult my cooking without trying it!  I've been
working hard with Kasumi and all you do is criticize my efforts.  I
should come along just to make you eat my food," Akane shouted to the
prone Ranma still not moving but apparently conscious because of the
slight groans of pain coming from him.

Shaking himself back to reality Ranma crawls out from under the table
slowly.  "But you can't go Akane, because ... er ... cause ... well
just because."

"And why not Ranma, you're planning on going with Shampoo or Ukyou?"
Akane retorted back getting jealous quickly.

"No, no, that's not it, it's nothing like that Akane.  It just that
Ryouga is .... ummm .... well .... (sigh) I guess there's no reason
you can't go Akane," Ranma finally relented.  He just couldn't think
of a way of telling Akane without telling her about Ryouga and P-chan.

"So when do we leave?" Akane asked happily since she got Ranma to
back down.  It was a rare moment but she took them when she could.

"Well, let's see where this temple is on this map that Ryouga had a
priest draw for me," Ranma said as he pulled out a sheet of map from
the envelope.  He looked at the map and was dumb-struck.

Akane noticed this and grabbed the map out of his numb fingers.
"Geez dummy, if you're going to go into shock let me see how far away
it is," she said then looked at the map.  "Hey, Ranma, this is a map
of Tokyo.  The temple is only a couple hours walk from here."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Ryouga knelt in front of a priest dressed in a white robe with a red
and black circle emblazoned on the left breast.  The priest was and
older man whose white hair and smooth face made it difficult to tell
if he was a young man with natural white hair or an old man with whom
age couldn't touch.  They both were in the temple's altar room.
Ryouga had noticed earlier that the room was square in design with
several rings of benches around the altar area.  The altar area was
contained within a railing that formed a box around it.  The altar
itself was a raised wooden dais painted white with a square fire pit
in the upper half of the circle.  What Ryouga noticed most about the
temple itself was the predominance of red and black especially in
this room.  The benches alternated from a ring of black to a ring of
red.  The walls were red and all the columns were black.  He also
noticed Yin-Yang symbols everywhere within the temple grounds.

The priest was talking continuously to Ryouga as they knelt facing
each other.  "...so you see young man we specialize in curing
curses.  It's been decades though since anyone cursed from Jusenkyo
came here.  I'm just glad the ceremonies have been written down."

"So you can really rid me of this curse that was laid on me by that
accursed Saotome?"  Ryouga asked the priest with a grin on his face.
"I mean if he had only done the honorable thing and met me for our
man to man duel I wouldn't of been afflicted with this."

The priest fought to keep a pleasant smile on his face.  This young
man had asked him that question almost ten times already and still
seemed determined to hear those words again and again.  "Yes,
Ryouga, we can remove your curse from you, but with a cure for a
Jusenkyo curse there must be two who suffer from .... blah...
blah," was all that Ryouga heard every time.  Each time the priest
began to explain the need for two who were cursed from Jusenkyo
Ryouga's mind had already seized on and refused to let go of the
words "Yes, Ryouga, we can remove your curse from you."  They
echoed throughout his head.

Soon he was now longer in the temple but in a park in Tokyo.  The
sun was shining down for a peaceful day.  Couples strolled through
the trees as children laughed and played while their parents looked
on.  Ryouga was walking slowly enjoying the peace in the air and he
was not walking alone.  Joined with him arm in arm was Akane.  She
was smiling sweetly with her head tilted to lie on his shoulder.

"I'm so glad you finally got rid of that jerk, Akane,"  Ryouga
told her as they glanced at the blooming flowers.

"My dear Ryouga, I don't know what I ever saw in that pervert when
I have a real man like you to protect me," she responded while
looking up into the face of the man she loved.  They came to a stop
and faced each other.  They slowly leaned towards each other, eyes
closed and lips pursed.

The priest was interrupted again by the sounds of a nervous
laughter came from Ryouga who had his left hand behind his head
and a distant look in his eyes.  *Not again,* thought the priest,
*I refuse to explain the cost of the cure to this boy one more
time!*

"So this Ranma suffers from a Jusenkyo curse too?" the priest
asked bring Ryouga back to reality.

"Huh, oh, Ranma, yeah, he fell in the spring of drowned girl while
I was knocked into the spring of drowned black piglet," Ryouga
answered back oblivious to everything the priest had talked about
during his planning of the future.

"I can see why he would be willing to go through the ceremony
with you.  Most are not lucky enough to have a friend like this
Ranma."

"Ranma, is not my friend.  It's because of him that I've
suffered all the horrors that I've seen.  If you need two of us
to cure me, then he owes me," Ryouga snapped back at the priest.
"Oh, I'm sorry sir.  I don't know what came over me," Ryouga
admitted as he realized just whom he lost his temper with.

"And you told him of the ceremony and he agrees to it?"

"I wrote him a letter and told him everything I know about it.
Knowing him, he left as soon as he could so I would guess it'll
take him several days at least to get here," Ryouga informed the
priest as they began to stand up to leave the altar room.

Grabbing the boy by the collar the priest turns Ryouga back
around and moving in the right direction.  *This boy's got the
worst sense of direction I have ever seen* the priest thought
to himself as he shook his head.  "Where does the boy live and
I'll tell you how long it should take him."

"He lives at the Tendo Dojo in Nerima," Ryouga flatly replied.

The priest stumbled upon hearing this and looked up at Ryouga
to see if he was playing a joke on him.  He only saw the sincere
face of the young man.  "But, this temple is just outside of
Tokyo!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

end of Chapter 2

In the next chapter Ranma and Akane head for the temple but who
is tailing them and why?

Authors Note:  Sorry this took two weeks to get out but I just
didn't have my mind together at the time.  I went from not
sleeping but a few hours a day for five days to finally getting
almost ten to twelve hours a day of rebounding sleep for three
days.  Which just means a week was basically shot.  I was hoping
to get further along than this by now but haven't met my goals
yet.  I hope to get back on track here soon so hopefully the
story will pick up.  I didn't get as much done in this part that
I wanted but decided to go ahead and sent it out and bump the
travel escapade to chapter 3.  Please send any complainants,
comments, critiques, or cash to daneel@flash.net.  I appreciate
the C&C I have already gotten and hope to see it continue.

--
Doug "daneel" Torneden
daneel@flash.net
"see honey, I'm writing as fast as I can. <BAP> lkjadfojopiajdf;ljk.
<Oooowwwww>"