Sean Kauffman (ryo@nym.alias.net)
Please direct all C&C's to this e-mail address.

WARNING: caveat homophobe.

Note: All speech is translated from Japanese, unless surrounded by < >.

                           Ryoga: Finishing Move

                    A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by Sean Kauffman

===== PART 2 =====
      "That was a really long story, Sho..." commented Ryoga.
      "So anyway, what happened to you in all that time?  Did you beat
him?"
      Ryoga's face sank into a mask of depression.  "No..." he said
quietly.  "It's been the worst time of my entire life."
      "Oh?  Why's that?  What was so bad about it?"
      "Well... wait here a moment."  Ryoga went to the kitchen, and
returned with two glasses of water.  He handed one to Sho, who looked
puzzled.
      "Okay, that's cold water.  Throw it on me."
      "What?"
      "Throw it on me.  Go on, splash me."
      Sho splashed him, and was somewhat shocked to see him shrink into
pig-form.
      "You... you... um... what just happened here?"
      "BWEEE!!" squealed Ryoga.
      "Um... what do I do now?"
      Ryoga squealed and jumped towards the glass of water on the coffee
table, which he couldn't quite reach.
      "Ah, I see," Sho said, picking up the glass. "This is hot... hope
it doesn't burn you."
      Sho splashed him, and saw Ryoga's form shimmer back into a more
familiar one.  Ryoga started putting on his clothes again.
      "So you see, Sho, that's the third biggest problem in my life - no,
wait, I guess it's the second, now that my directional problem is pretty
much solved."
      "How is that possible?  Is this some kind of trick?"
      "It's a curse.  A Jusenkyo curse.  And it's all the fault of Ranma
Saotome!!"
      "Wait a minute.  How is it his fault?"
      "He RAN OUT on our duel, the one you saw me preparing for, back in
junior high.  I followed him all the way to China, and then he... he
knocked me into a cursed pool, and I became cursed." Ryoga was steamed.
      "You mean he cursed you on purpose?" Sho asked.
      "Well..." Ryoga paused, considering. "Okay, I guess that was an
accident.  But if he hadn't run out on our duel, I would never have
followed him there in the first place!"
      "But what was your duel over?"
      Ryoga was silent.
      "Well?  What was it?"
      "It was... lunch bread." Ryoga said, a little embarrassed.
      "Lunch bread?"
      "Well, it happened EVERY SINGLE DAY!  You know how it is in the
cafeteria, they throw it at you.  I would go for the last piece of curry
bread, or melon bread, or whatever, and RANMA would kick me and grab the
bread, or stomp on my head and grab the bread, or - anyway, he always
beat me!  So I challenged him to a duel.  And he ran out, so I followed
him."
      "What do you mean, he ran out?  He didn't show at the time you set? 
Or... oops... you mean, you couldn't... find it?" Sho asked quietly.
      Ryoga just nodded miserably.  "After four days, I finally arrived,
and he wasn't there.  I heard he'd left for China."
      Sho sighed in sympathy.  "Well, at least you won't have that
problem anymore.  But what's the third problem?  The one that bothers you
the most?"
      Ryoga hesitated.  He didn't know whether he wanted to talk about
this.  He didn't know whether he was ready.  But who else could he
possibly talk to?  His parents weren't around, but he was pretty sure
they wouldn't approve anyway.  Sho was like a brother to him, they had
always stuck together when they were younger.  Surely he'd understand. 
But could he?
      "Umm... let me ask you something first..." Ryoga began.
      "Sure, anything," Sho said, encouragingly.
      "Well... about your friend in Taiwan.  Hua.  Did anything special
happen between you two?"
      "Special?  You mean...?"
      "I mean..."
      "Oh... well, actually, yes," Sho blushed slightly. "I eventually
realized I cared for her a lot.  She's intelligent, gentle, warm-hearted,
a lot of fun to be around...  So, one day a few weeks ago, before I left
for Japan, I... told her I loved her.  And she said she loved me.  We
were really happy together before, and even more ever since."
      "Oh," said Ryoga.  He looked a little downcast.
      "You're the first person I've told, other than her, of course," Sho
said. "But why'd you ask?"
      "Umm... well... there's somebody I care for, too.  A lot."
      "Ryoga!  So you do love someone!"  Ryoga blushed and looked at the
floor.  Sho went on, "I thought it was strange you never had a
relationship with anybody in junior high.  So have you told them yet?"
      "Umm... no... I haven't told... them yet."
      "Why not?  How will they ever know you love them unless you tell
them?"
      "I don't think that they love me."
      "Maybe if you tell them you love them, they'll tell you the same
thing."
      "It's different from you and Hua... this person... has a fiancee
already."
      "Fiance?  Really?  Wait... somebody just told me this... somebody
had a fiancee... It was Ranma!  And the fiancee was... Akane Tendo! 
You're in love with HER?!  But wait, weren't you that PIG she was feeding
when I walked in?  What does she think about that?"
      Sho didn't notice, but Ryoga was slowly sinking lower and lower
into the sofa, looking more and more miserable.
      "No."
      "What do you mean, no?  No what?  You mean it's okay?  You mean she
knows you're the pig, and she feeds you anyway?  Maybe I ought to get Hua
to do that..."
      "Shut up!" Ryoga said, suddenly intense again.
      Sho paused for a moment, looking at Ryoga curiously.
      "Sorry, did I hit you in a sensitive spot?  So, she doesn't know
you're a pig, and you can't tell her you love her.  What a situation..."
      "No, you've still got it all wrong..." Ryoga said glumly.
      "I'm still wrong?  What other possibility is there?  Who else do
you know who has a fiance?"  Sho thought about what he had just said. 
Wait... could it be that he...
      "So, Ryoga..." Ryoga looked up at Sho's new tone. "You're in love
with Ranma."
      Ryoga looked away.
      "I'm right, aren't I?"
      Ryoga began speaking softly.  "I was hoping... I was hoping you'd
be gay too.  I was hoping you could understand me... but you're not."
      "You're wrong."
      "What?" Ryoga looked at Sho. "You are gay?  But... you love Hua...
right?"
      "I'm not gay.  But I CAN understand you.  Because in high school,
my best friend had a crush on ME.  He was gay.  I wasn't."
      "And... and you were best friends anyway?" Ryoga looked confused.
      "Yeah.  We were.  Through most of high school.  But it was because
we talked about it.  Early on.  At first, he hated me.  Why?  Because he
loved me, and I didn't love him back.  He thought I couldn't love him
back, because I wasn't gay.  So we were friends, but it was painful,
because we didn't understand each other.  Then finally I picked up on it,
and I told him we had to talk.  He told me he was gay.  I had sort of
known already, but I wasn't sure.  I told him I wasn't gay.  But that
didn't mean I didn't understand him, or that I couldn't be friends with
him.  We both had a good cry, and then we ended up being best friends for
the rest of high school."
      Ryoga was speechless.
      "He would even talk to me about guys he liked, just like I would
talk to him about girls I liked.  We were friends anyway.  We didn't let
our one difference get in the way."  Sho paused to let this sink in.  He
moved over and put an arm around Ryoga's shoulder.
      "Look, Ryoga.  Let me guess what's happened with Ranma.  You've
loved him ever since junior high, right?"  Ryoga slowly nodded.  "But
you've hated him, more than for any other reason, because he doesn't love
you back?"  Ryoga nodded again.  He looked like he was about to cry.
      "Hey.  Hang on.  It's okay.  There are two possibilities here. 
One, Ranma doesn't love you.  In that case, you go on.  You find someone
else, like my best friend in high school did.  But the problem is, you
don't KNOW he doesn't love you.  Right?"
      "Yeah..."
      Sho continued, "The other possibility is that he DOES love you."
      "But... I think... I think he really loves Akane."
      "Are you sure?"
      "That's why I pretend to love her.  To hurt him.  And it seems to
work, he gets really annoyed when she treats me nicely, even if I'm in
pig-form."
      "But are you sure he LOVES her."
      "... No.  But even though they fight all the time, and he calls her
a tomboy, uncute, and sexless, he might not mean it."
      "Did you ever consider that maybe he might not KNOW he's gay?"
      "What?"
      "You obviously found out early.  But my friend from high school...
he didn't find out until he was hating me.  In fact, that's what made it
so hard for him to admit to me that he was gay - because he hadn't even
admitted it to himself yet."
      "Why wouldn't Ranma want to admit it?"
      "Think about it.  How many people have you told?  One, right?  Me?"
      Ryoga nodded.
      "I'll bet the idea goes against everything Ranma's been taught."
      Ryoga thought for a minute.  "Yeah, you're right about that.  He's
so scared of his mom killing him for not being a 'manly man' - I don't
think being gay would count as manly."  Ryoga almost managed to laugh at
that.
      "What do you mean, being gay isn't manly?  You could almost say
it's MORE manly than not being gay.  Being gay is loving all that is man,
right?"
      Ryoga shrugged.  "I guess so."
      "Anyway, whether you think Ranma is gay or not, the point is that
you have to ask him.  If he is, great.  If not, then you go on."
      "But if he's not... he'll just have destroyed another part of my
life."
      "Come on, you can't go on like this.  It'll kill you.  Look what
happened with me and my friend in high school.  We ended up being friends
anyway.  Have you ever considered being Ranma's friend?"
      Ryoga considered.  This time he did laugh.
      "How could I?  After everything he's done to me?"
      Sho thought for a moment.  "Well, what if you got him back?  Could
you be friends then?"
      "Get him back?  It would take a lot to get him back... all the
taunts, the humiliation, the defeat..."
      "Well, according to you, you've caused him a lot of emotional pain
already."
      "Yeah, but..."
      "But... that's not enough.  So what's the one thing you've never
done to him?"
      Ryoga answered right away. "Defeating him in a formal duel."
      "So why haven't you?  Is he better than you?"
      Ryoga winced.  "I wouldn't say... 'better'..."
      "Are there at least some things he's better at?"
      "Well... he's faster.  But I'm a lot stronger than he is."
      "But strength hasn't won over quickness yet.  Right?"
      "... yeah."
      "Can I help you plan a strategy?"
      Ryoga looked at him.  "But... Sho, you aren't a martial artist."
      "I'm good at shogi though."
      "Really?  Maybe you could play against the panda."
      "The panda?"
      "Never mind, I'll introduce you some time."
      "But, seriously, I can help you beat Ranma.  You just have to tell
me what there is to beat."
      "Well... I already told you about our basic advantages... his speed
versus my strength..."
      "What about those 'special' attacks like the one you used to blow a
hole in the wall?  Are there any others?"
      "Yeah... for me, I have the Shishihokodan."
      "Lion's roar projectile?  What's that?"
      "It's a ki-blast.  Wanna see?" Ryoga grinned.  Sho was glad to see
him cheer up.
      "Okay, show me."
      "Let's go outside first... it's kind of destructive."
      They went into the backyard.  Ryoga set up a straw dummy on a
wooden pole.
      "The basic idea," Ryoga explained, "is that I get really depressed,
and then focus that energy into a ki-release.  Ki, you know, is the
energy field that flows within our bodies."
      "Yeah, I know about ki," Sho said, "but I've never seen ki
projected in any significant way."
      "Well... here goes," Ryoga said.  He spread his hands so they were
straight up and down, with the index finger extended on each hand and the
rest of the fingers bent at the second knuckle.  He concentrated, and
yelled.
      "SHISHI HO-KO-DAN!!"
      A sphere of energy as tall as he was exploded out from Ryoga's
hands, impacting the dummy and sending it flying into the fence.  Sho
felt the wind from the energy burst.
      "Whoa!  That was awesome!" Sho said, inspecting the half of the
pole still embedded in the ground.
      "Well, it helps that I was so depressed recently," Ryoga said. "But
talking to you made me feel better."
      "Hey, what are cousins for?  Especially cousins like me," Sho
grinned.  "Now does Ranma have a counter for this?"
      "Well, at first he didn't," Ryoga replied, "But by the time we got
around to a formal duel, he developed one.  It's basically the same
thing, except powered by confidence, not depression."
      "Is it as powerful?"
      "If he's feeling good, it is.  But I do have a stronger, complete
version.  It's called the Maximum Shishihokodan.  But I can't show it to
you, it might blow the house away."
      "Really?  So why don't you use that?"
      "First of all, it's really hard to do.  I have to be extremely
depressed.  And Ranma found out that if I get distracted after I launch
the initial wave, the backwave can hit me."
      "Oh, so that's how he beat you, huh?"      
      "Yup... too bad."
      "I guess it usually doesn't go that far anyway.  But what got you
so depressed that time?"
      "You know Akane?  I'm not in love with her, but she's probably my
best friend in the entire world.  She's about the only person around here
I can talk to who really cares about me.  So I asked her to tell me she
hated me.  After she did that... well, it was awesome."
      "Wow... do you have any pictures?"
      "I don't think there are any... but bring a camera next time, in
case."
      "Okay.  So anyway, if the fight doesn't go that far, what other
techniques do you use?"
      "Well, for me, you know I can throw bandannas and use my belt and
umbrella as weapons," Ryoga said. "As for Ranma, he uses another special
attack - the Tenshin Amaguriken.  It's a speed-punching technique, with
speed that would supposedly let you pull roasted chestnuts out of a fire
without getting burned.  That's where the name comes from."
      "Where does he usually hit you?"
      "Huh?  Oh... in the stomach, I guess."
      "Then why don't you just wear a metal plate under your shirt?"
      "Hmm... you think it would work?"
      "Well, the more punches he lands on it, the more pain he'll feel."
      "I guess so... but what about the Hiryu Shotenha?"
      "The what?"
      "It's a technique that depends on the user's staying cool, while
his opponent gets hot, to create a tornado from the temperature
difference, which flings the opponent away, usually."
      "How does the opponent get... hot?"
      "Well, it's usually from anger.  Ranma's really good at taunting
people."
      "Then to beat that, you just have to stay cool, too."
      "What?  It's not that easy..."
      "Well, even better, you could PRETEND to get mad.  Then when he
tries to use it, it won't work, and you can surprise him with something."
      "Hmm... that might work..."
      "But first, you have to be able to stand any taunt.  How does he
usually taunt you?"
      "Well... it's usually about either my being a pig, or my sense of
direction."
      "Your sense of direction is fixed now... or at least, you can work
around it.  So you can't be taunted that way.  Right?"
      "Oh yeah... but to make him think I still have a bad sense of
direction, I should show up late at the duel like I always do."
      "Sure, that's a good idea.  Now as for being a pig, you just have
to control yourself.  Isn't that right, pig-breath?"
      "Why, YOU...!!!  ... oops"  Ryoga's anger fizzled.  "I see what you
mean."
      "Yeah.  Maybe I should test you.  Or maybe not.  I've seen what you
do to dummies.  Anyway... I guess that's it.  Except for weapons.  Ranma
doesn't use any, right?"
      "He doesn't train with them, but he seems to get good at them
pretty quickly."
      "What does he do against your weapons?"
      "Against mine?  Well... he can dodge pretty much anything...
whether it's the bandannas, or the belt, or the umbrella..."
      "And if he doesn't dodge?  Then what?"
      "Hmm... he usually uses the weapon as a springboard.  He springs
off it with his hands to launch a kick, usually at my head."
      "Ah, now that's helpful.  We can do something to counter that..."
      "Like what?"
      "How about electrifying your umbrella?"
      "... that's not honorable!" Ryoga protested.
      "Hasn't he ever beaten you dishonorably?"
      "Well... yes.  Sure.  He tries to trick me all the time."
      "So why can't you?  You want to beat him, right?"
      "Yeah... well, okay, I guess it's all right.  Can you do it?"
      "I think it won't be too hard.  I'll rig up wires along the ribs on
the outside of the umbrella, connected to a power source on the handle. 
With this kind of power source, you probably won't get a really big
shock, but you just want to stun him, not kill him, right?"
      Ryoga had a "kill" expression but he said "Yeah, right."
      "Okay, and maybe something else... have you ever tried combining
weapons with special techniques?"
      "Like how?  You mean like bandannas and Shishihokodan together?  I
can't do both at once."
      "Well, not together, but maybe in sequence.  If you lock him in
place by surrounding him with bandannas, he can't escape the
Shishihokodan, can he?"
      "No, I guess not... but that's just a theory!"
      "You'll never know until you try it on him."
      "Fine.  Ranma will be the guinea-PIG for once." Ryoga grinned
fangedly.
      "Now all you have to do," Sho said, "is send the challenge.  And
practice."
      "Okay, I'll go write it."  Ryoga went inside to get a piece of
paper.
      "Hey, it's dark out already," Sho said to himself, shivering
slightly.  He headed inside too.  "And what happened to dinner?"
      Sho found Ryoga in the living room, writing his challenge on the
coffee table.
      "When should it be?" Ryoga asked.
      "Why not make it tomorrow?" Sho replied. "Then you can show up in
three days, so you still have time to practice."
      "Okay.  As for where... let's make it Furinkan, after school.  The
playing field.  Lots of witnesses."
      "Hmm, I'm getting excited already," Sho commented. "To see my
little cousin Ryoga-kun in the fight of his life."
      "Wait... how will we deliver this challenge?  It has to get there
today."
      "We have to bring it ourselves.  You can practice navigating with
your watch.  I'll bring in the challenge.  We'll go to the Dojo on the
way to dinner."
      Dinner!  Ryoga's stomach rumbled.  "How long have we been at this?"
he wondered to himself.  It was dark out already.
      "Okay, it's done.  Let's go."
      "Lead the way," Sho motioned for Ryoga to go first.  Ryoga checked
his watch.  He scrolled through the coordinates Sho had given him until
he found "Tendo Dojo".  He clicked "Accept" and a pointer appeared on the
screen.  "Okay, it's this way," he told Sho, moving in that direction.

=== Later, at the Tendo Dojo ===

      "Ranma!" Kasumi called. "Ryoga's cousin Sho (ooh, what a dreamy
guy) just dropped off a letter for you!"
      Ranma looked up from where he was reading manga on the floor and
took the letter.  He opened it.

      "Ranma,
      Meet me tomorrow after school at the usual place.
      Don't be late.
      Ryoga."

      Ranma put down the letter and found Nabiki staring at him.
      "Well, well, another challenge from Ryoga."  Ranma could almost see
the yen signs glittering in Nabiki's eyes.  "Don't lose, Ranma."
      "How could I lose to Ryoga?" Ranma asked, bored. "And how could he
possibly make it by tomorrow?  He won't be here for a week."

===== End Part 2 =====