<newranma@hotmail.com>
<Jonathan Lavallee>
<Heredity sucks just a little bit: part 1 THE LETTER>

Here we go again?  Forget about the spelling and grammar for
now I just want people to tell me what they thought.  Send
all C&C to the e-mail address above. Thanks again.
Jonathan Lavallee

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Yes you know the drill, All characters mentioned in this
story belong to Rumiko Takahashi yadda, yadda, yadda.
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WARNING!!!   WARNING!!!!   WARNING!!!!!  WARNING!!!!!!!
This type of story (according to some on the FFML) is not
appropriate for some viewers.  There is not much humour in
this 'fic, not to mention subject matter that may (who am I
kidding, will) offend any Ryoga fans out there.  I repeat
that there is little humour and quite a lot of other stuff
(it's not a dark 'fic just suspenseful, I hope) so if you
don't like this sort of thing shy away now.
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"I want you and your curse to go strait to *HELL!!!*" a
voice screamed and then the sound of a door slamming shut
rang throughout the house.

Ranma cringed, this was not shaping up to be a very good day
and it only showed the promise of getting worse.  He had
never seen his son so angry and who could blame him . . .
certainly not Ranma.  Ranma had been the cause of him son's
anguish and this knowledge hurt him more than anything.
Yes. . . he wish that he and his curse would go to hell just
as long as it spared his son. . . but it didn't.

Ranma slammed his fist down on the dojo floor leaving a
small dent.  A sinister chuckle came out of Ranma's lips.  A
small dent, that was all his punch had made. . . he was
getting soft.  He looked out of the dojo and stared at the
rain cursing everything:  himself, his father and in the end
his curse.  Yes the curse that had now passed on to his son.

There came the sound of a door opening and in came a woman
Ranma knew well.  It was the one woman in the world he cared
about, Akane.  Time had barely touched her, her features had
softened just a little and her eyes were a little wiser but
that was the extent of her aging.  She still wore her hair
in that bob cut that Ranma had always thought was cute on
her.  Suddenly Ranma could see her face and notice the
anguish on her lovely features.

"What were you two fighting about this time?" Akane asked.
It hurt her every time she saw those two fight, now was no
different.

"Akane. . ." Ranma hesitantly started.

"What Ranma?"

"Do you remember how reluctant I was to get married while I
had this curse?"

"Yes I do." Akane remembered it well.  It had taken her
years to tell him that it didn't matter to her.  Finally he
had accepted but he never liked it.

"Well, now I know why my fears were justified." Ranma looked
down at the floor his shame and his sorrow written as plain
as day on his face.  Suddenly Akane knew what they were
fighting about, Ranma ashamed of his curse, their son's
departing words 'I want you and your *curse* to go to hell'.
Their son Musuko had inherited Ranma's curse and Akane could
feel nothing but anger at this.

"You idiot, why didn't you tell me this in the first
place!!" Akane screamed at Ranma.

"You're the one who didn't want me to go away to find a
cure!" Ranma shouted back starting another argument.

"Well you should go away now you jerk!" and with that Akane
kicked Ranma outside into the rain.  After that cleansing
Akane felt her anger drain away as she waited for Ranma to
come back inside . . . five minutes . . . ten minutes. . .
no one came in.  What have I done, Akane thought to herself,
I just yelled at him and missed that he was already feeling
horrible about it.  I was just being stupid, like always.

Akane ran to the opening in the dojo wall with "RANMA!!!
RANMA WHERE ARE YOU?!"  Then she fell to the floor crying,
what a fool I am. . . what a fool.  Akane picked herself up,
still in tears,  and walked back inside the house.

***

"Why do you keep torturing father like that?" Musume turned
and asked her younger brother.  Her voice had a small hint
of steel that showed how very angry she was which would have
been slight anger on anyone else.  "Don't you realize that
you hurt him and mother more than any punch they've every
taken?"

"I don't care what I do to that old man," Musuko replied
anger taking in his voice, "he's done everything to me that
I didn't want him to."

"Like . . ." Musume left her sentence trailing.

"Like teaching martial arts, and always looking over my
shoulder to see if I was in trouble, and now I have *his*
stupid curse."  Musuko could hear the in drawn breath coming
from Musume.  He smiled, I scored one there didn't I dear
sister.

"You know", Musume started, "one day your going to do
something really stupid and it just might make you think
differently."

Musuko snorted, "Not very likely."

A younger voice called out from behind them, "Whatcha' guys
doin' sittin' on the steps?"  Then the sound of footsteps
revealed the youngest daughter, Sakura.

"None of your business Sakura now get out of here you little
twerp." Musuko snobbishly dismissed Sakura.

"Musuko decided to start another argument between himself
and father. . ." and Musume was cut off by Sakura who was
now in a state of rage.  Sakura is a mix between her
father's love of martial arts and speech patterns with her
mother's happy attitude and anger.

"Why you idiot!" Sakura was yelling at Musuko.  "Why do you
keep doin' that. . . I aughta' "

"Aughta' what Sakura," Musuko was yelling at Sakura in turn,
"try to beat me up. . . your so much like that old man out
there that you make me sick."  With that Musuko walked
upstairs in a huff and Sakura mad as ever started walking up
towards him when a restraining hand was placed on her
shoulder.

"Sakura", Musume's calming voice called, "there is no need
to go after him."  Then she smiled, Musume had a smile just
like her Aunt Kasumi, one that could drain away any anger.
In fact Musume was a lot like Kasumi in her mannerisms and
actions which really had astonished Akane.

Sakura sighed and sat down next to her, "Girl, you seem to
know exactly what to say."

"Don't I always?!" Came Musume's reply to that observation.
Suddenly their lips curved upwards in a smile as both of
them enjoyed a little chuckle.

***

Ranma walked down the street, ignoring the rain and ignoring
the fact the he was now a girl.  He. . . now she was lost in
thought not noticing where he was going.  Her thoughts were
about her life and what had happened to her.

***

Ranma fidgeted nervously as he stood there in his tuxedo.
That thing had been uncomfortable but he wore it because he
knew what was coming and tuxedo's were what was expected.
He looked over at his best man, Kuno . . . no wait he didn't
like to be called that anymore. . . it was just Tatewaki.
Ranma couldn't believe how much Ku - Tatewaki had grown up
lately.  I guess that's Ucchan at work, she's really doing
wonders with this guy.  His thoughts were interrupted by the
sound of the wedding march.

Ranma looked up and saw her walking down the aisle, he had
never seen such a beautiful sight.  She had opted for a
western style wedding dress and it looked absolutely
stunning on her.  He couldn't seem to take his eyes off her
(not that he really wanted to anyway).  Apparently everyone
else thought that the ceremony seemed to drag on and on but
Ranma hadn't noticed that.  All he could really remember was
being lost in the sight of Akane for a time out of mind.

Ranma chuckled a little as he remembered that Tatewaki
cleared his throat as the ceremony came to the part where he
had to answer.  He did passably, not well, but passably.
Finally his heart jumped a little when those words were
said, "You may kiss the bride."

Never had Ranma felt so happy.

***

Ranma sat down on the swing in the park.  The rain had let
up but Ranma didn't feel like coming home.  He had too much
on his mind and she needed to sort things out before she
apologized to Akane.  He liked to remember her wedding to
Akane it was perhaps the happiest moment of her life,
without match.  Then she thought about it and realized that
there were three times that could match that day.  Those
were the days that his children were born.

***

He remembered when Akane was into labour that he and
Tatewaki ended up waiting in the waiting room.  He
remembered the irritation that Tatewaki showed as Ranma
continually paced the room.  He didn't know what to expect,
he finally gotten used to the fact that he was now married.
Now he was going to be a father, and damn he was going to be
a good one, well . . . at least try to be.

"Quit pacing," Tatewaki had yelled at him, "you're starting
to make me nervous."  Ranma had at last calmed down enough
to sit down, which got a grunt of satisfaction out of
Tatewaki.

Ranma remember that to calm himself down he spent the time
studying Tatewaki.  How he had changed and so much for the
better.  First off he wasn't calling himself "Upper classman
Kuno" all the time.  In fact he had people stop calling him
even Kuno after what happened to his sister.  That was
scary, she had spent most of the family fortune hiring
assassins who would in turn try to kill Akane.  Upon hearing
of this he immediately call the police, the apprehended
Kodachi and she is now enjoying a nice long prison term,
thus bringing disgrace and shame to the family name.  The
second thing that Tatewaki had changed was the fact that he
acknowledged the fact that his Pig-Tailed girl was actually
Ranma's cursed form.  Not to mention that he dropped his
arrogant attitude and became more relaxed and outgoing.

That had been Ucchan's work, she had done amazing things
with him.  Unlike Nabiki who, when finding out the effort
needed to change him, had simply dumped him very abruptly.
Nabiki was one of the subjects that was never talked about
in his presence.

Anyway he and Ucchan were enjoying their marriage and Ucchan
was due almost any day now.  Ranma couldn't wait until their
roles were reversed.

***

Ranma smiled, that scene had been almost identical for every
other one of his children.  With Musuko it had been Ucchan
that had stayed with him, and Tatewaki was there when Sakura
was born.  They were good friends and Ranma was glad that
she could call them that.

Ranma thought about where she stood in life.  She had a
great marriage, good friends and family.  Ucchan's two kids,
Kokku and Senshi, were great; while Nabiki's kid was even
more devious then her, Kasumi and Dr. Tofu had children that
were saints, while Shampoo and Mousse's daughter, named
Rinse for some reason Ranma couldn't get Shampoo and Mousse
to explain why, who was as charming as her mother and fought
like her father.  These people had made Ranma's life
happier, more enjoyable.

"I thought I might find you here." A voice called out from
behind her.  Ranma turned her head and saw Ukyo staring
right back at her.

"Hi ya, Ucchan."  Ranma could change the tone of her voice,
it showed how depressed she actually was.  "What are you
doing out here?"

"Well Akane was so afraid that you had left she called out
everyone but the national guard to go look for you."  Ukyo's
little joke made her laugh but suddenly her face turned
serious.  "Why didn't you walk back into the house, Ranchan?

"Isn't it obvious?" Ranma stared down at his feet too
ashamed to admit what was in his mind, his fault.  "I gave
my son my curse."  Ranma wasn't surprised to see Ukyo's face
covered in shock, it looked just like Akane's when she
figured it out.

Suddenly Ukyo bonked her fist on her open palm.  "So that's
why she was so worried." Ukyo had understood why Akane was
not to anxious to explain why Ranma had run off, she was
worried that he would leave and it would be her fault.

Ranma suddenly jumped up in anger, "What's that supposed to
mean!"

"Don't worry about it sugar," Ukyo smiled sweetly at Ranma,
"it's a girl thing."  Ukyo saw Ranma's head fall down in his
hands.  Why did we ever try to break those two up, it's
obvious that she's hurting because she thinks she hurt her.
"Come on Ranchan . . . let's go back to the dojo 'K."

"Sure, why not."  And with Ukyo leading Ranma they both
headed towards the dojo.  Neither one spoke but Ukyo knew
that her presence was helping Ranma immensely.  The road was
littered with puddles and the air had a perpetual chill
waiting for something to happen.  The two figures that
walked down the road were met by two other figures, Shampoo
and Mousse.  Ranma was glad to see that so many of his
friends were worried about him.

"Ranma," Shampoo suddenly asked, "when was last time you saw
Ryoga?"  Ranma smiled as she listened to Shampoo, her
Japanese had improved since she came her but she still got
disjointed when she was worried or scared. . . worried or
scared . . . worried or scared.  Ranma's smile faded.

"Not since after the wedding," Ranma paused curious as to
why she wanted to know, "why do you want to know?"

"Well Shampoo saw Ryoga and . . ."  Mousse left his sentence
hanging as he leaned closer to Shampoo and Ranma noticed for
the first time she was limping.  Shampoo's hadn't changed
much since she was 16, I guess that was due to the longevity
of the Joketsuzoku.  She still sported her purple hair and
had not changed the style.  Mousse was the same way, his
long glossy black hair had only grown longer, it now reached
down to around the back of his knees.

"What happened to you guys?" Ranma asked them.

Well. . .

***

Shampoo was walking down the road looking for Ranma, Akane
as usual had gotten angry and chased him out of the house.
Well that's what Shampoo was guessing because Akane wouldn't
tell them what happened.  They had met at the Tendo dojo,
Ukyo, Tatewaki, Mousse and herself and saw that Akane was
just getting over tears.  There was probably another fight
between Ranma and his son Musuko.

Shampoo found herself outside Fuurinkan High School were all
their children now went or had gone to get their education.
The building was the same, even the principal was the same,
everything looked like it hadn't been touched by time.  In
some little part of her Shampoo had wished that they all
could go back to that time, when they didn't know so much.

Suddenly someone came by and tapped Shampoo on the back, and
then came the voice of someone she had thought long gone.

"Excuse me miss," the voice began, "do you know where the
Tendo dojo is?"  Shampoo had turned around, and there stood
Ryoga.  His style of clothing had not changed, nor had the
bandanna that remained tied to his head, he only looked
stronger and in some way a little sinister.  "Miss . . ."
Ryoga's voice had trailed off in sudden recognition,
"Shampoo . . . what are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here . . . " Shampoo could help but get
angry at that statement, "What is stupid doing here?"
Shampoo replied curtly.

"I see like your manners, you language hasn't improved
much." Ryoga's eyes looked quite evil now.  "Now listen to
me Shampoo," he said her name with so much venom she thought
that the ground beneath her had corroded, "Take this to
Ranma, tell him . . . it's a belated wedding gift."

At his personal joke Ryoga started to laugh, not a pleasant
laugh. . .you know the kind that can brighten any day, but a
evil laugh. . . one that sent a shiver throughout Shampoo's
body.  Ryoga had never been like this before, why is was he
like this now?  Before Shampoo knew it he had grabbed her in
a vice grip in between his two hands.  "And just to prove to
you that I'm not joking."  He looked down and twisted
Shampoo's arm until she could hear something pop, and kicked
her leg as she fell.  What had surprised Shampoo the most
though was his speed.  Ryoga had never ever been this good.

***

"I'm sorry Ranma," Shampoo began uncertain how to comfort a
man(well in this case woman)she had come to call friend, "I
was too scared to read this before you.  I'm too worried
about what it could say."  She gave her the letter with a
trembling hand.

Slowly Ranma opened the letter, and read it out loud.

HEY RANMA:
	HOW'S LIFE BEEN.  I HOPE THAT YOU ARE IN GOOD HEALTH.
OTHERWISE I WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO BEAT YOU INTO A BLOODY PULP
IN FRONT OF AKANE.  I HAVE BEEN TRAINING HARD AND AWAIT THE
DAY THAT I CAN TAKE AKANE OUT OF YOUR CRUEL UNCARING HANDS
THAT DO NOT DESERVE HER.

BEST WISHES

RYOGA HIBIKI

After Ranma had finished reading the last line she wash
shaking with almost uncontrollable anger, then she could
control it no long by screaming "OVER MY DEAD BODY!!"  There
was no way this loser was going to take his wife away from
her.  Not a chance in hell.

Ranma was going to go run off when she felt a reassuring
hand on his back.  It was Shampoo's hand that held him back.
"Ranma," Shampoo began her voice filled with pity, "listen
to me.  You do not need to accept this challenge."  Ranma
tightened with barely controlled rage but before she could
say something Ukyo interrupted.

"Listen to her sugar," she said, "it seems that Ryoga really
wants to beat you into a pulp.  Right now your no match for
him and do you really want to risk Akane of this."  Those
words sobered Ranma up faster than any coffee could sober up
a drunk.  Did she really want to risk Akane in a fight in
which she had nothing to prove.  Not likely, over the years
she had grown up and realized that some fights weren't worth
the risk.

The group had calmed down as they saw Ranma relax.  Good,
Mousse thought, she's thought it through.

I'm glad it looks like she's not going to fight Ryoga, Ukyo
sighed, I grew up too and I don't want to see my friends
broken up like that.

She has chosen the wisest path, was what Tatewaki was
thinking.

Glad to see that anger hasn't taken over her mind, Shampoo
followed in thought, I don't want to see Akane with that mad
man.

That's was what Shampoo truly thought of him.  Unlike Ukyo
who had Tatewaki to lean on after the wedding, Ryoga had
appeared to go just slightly insane.

None the less, those five friends were a solemn group as
they walked back towards the dojo.

***

When Ranma opened the door he was met by an over
enthusiastic Akane.  She flung her arms around her and cried
desperately on her shoulder.  "You idiot, Ranma don't you
ever do that to me again." she berated her yet she didn't
let go of her grip.

"All right all ready," Ranma tried unsuccessfully to get out
of Akane's bear hug, "let me go get some hot water."  and
Ranma walked out of the room.

"Thanks you guys," Akane turned towards Mousse, Shampoo,
Tatewaki and Ukyo, "I don't know what I do without you."

"You know you guys better stop fighting," a voice called out
from behind, "or one of these days you might knock him into
orbit."  Then the owner of that voice stepped out into view.
Nabiki still wore that severe bob cut but it was speckled
with gray.  Nabiki wasn't that old but the pressures of
business had started to prematurely turn her hair gray, she
didn't mind, she thought it made herself look more
distinguished.  Nabiki chuckled and slowly stopped as she
saw who was at the door.  She then turned to Akane "Dear
sister, I know you called everyone but was it necessary to
bring in the dogs."  her tone was one of superiority, a tone
that almost everyone despised.

"Nabiki," Akane rebuked in a whisper, "don't do that to my
friends."

"Oh! Well, I must be going," she paused, "I left Zurui in
charge of the business while I was out and I'm dying to see
how much we've improved."  Nabiki left with a flourish and
nobody could miss the sheer look on Tatewaki's face nor his
clenched fist.  He hated it whenever Nabiki flaunted herself
in front of him.  What they did so long ago didn't matter
anymore but she kept rubbing it in his face.  She just liked
to tease him about it, unfortunately that kind of teasing
usually got people killed.

"Calm down dear," Ukyo whispered to her husband, "she sets
my teeth on edge too."  Finally Tatewaki turn and faced
Akane.

"Now Akane what shall we do about . . . " he was interrupted
by a blow to the ribs by Shampoo.  Shampoo smiled and
dragged Tatewaki off, probably to tell him not to say
anything more.

"I wonder what that was about?"  Akane asked and she was
answered from behind her.

"Akane," Ranma's voice had dropped a little, "Ryoga's back."

"Really where is he."

"I don't think that you want him to show up."

"Why not?"

Ranma showed her the challenge letter and saw her face pale.
"You see what I mean Akane," Ranma's voice was calm but his
eyes were worried, "right now Ryoga could easily defeat me."
He dropped the tone in his voice, "And I don't want to lose
you."  He looked over and saw that everyone had gone into
the dinning room and had left the two of them alone.  He
also saw Akane's face inches away from his own.

"I know," Akane whispered, "I don't want to lose you
either." and slowly she kissed him, passionately, and he
returned that with all the love in his heart.  Unfortunately
their moment was broken by someone clearing their throat.

"You guys make me sick," Musuko commented, "why do you have
to do that in front of me?" He roughly pushed his way
between them and walked outside.

"Where are you going?" Ranma asked his son, a question that
most fathers would ask in that situation.

"None of you business!" Came the shouted reply.  You know,
Ranma thought to himself, I am really going to have to talk
to that boy.

***

Musuko walked down a lonely road in Nerima.  He didn't care
much were he was just as long as it was away from his
father.  Why did he keep foisting things off on him, things
that Musuko didn't want.  There was the martial arts thing,
Musuko hadn't wanted to learn that.  Now there was the
curse, no his curse.  Thunder boomed from the sky, "Great,"
Musuko said out loud, "now it looks like it's going to rain.
I used to never have to worry about this.  *DAMN HIM!!!*"

With that he kicked a rock that was on the ground, some
unoffending rock that was happy were it was lying and didn't
appreciate the fact that he was kicked.  What the rock
didn't appreciate even more was the fact that he hit a man.
And by the way the rock bounced off him it seemed that this
was a strong man.

"Now why did this rock hit me all of a sudden?" a voice
called out of the alley where the rock had flown.  Musuko
suddenly froze.

"I'm sorry sir," He quickly turned and apologized, "I didn't
mean to hit you with the rock sir."

"Don't worry about it," there was a pause, "why were you so
angry before?"

"Well, my damn father gave me this stupid curse . . ."

"I see," the voice said, "by the looks of you your probably
Ranma's son."  There came a long silence after and Musuko
wanted to run into the alley asking how that man knew his
father but the aura emanating from the alley made Musuko's
blood run cold.  It may have been a trick from the light or
lack there of but it seemed to Musuko that a red glint
appeared for a brief second.  The light was dismissed as
soon as the stranger started talking.

"Well do you want to get back at your father?"  The voice
asked in a whisper.  He has said something that was close to
Musuko's heart.  Revenge.

Musuko smiled, ever so slightly and replied, "More than
anything."

"Then come over here . . ."

***

That's the end of Part 1, I hope people enjoy this,  I'm
trying desperately to get my stuff in order (essay, seminar,
yadda, yadda, yadda) and will try to finish this at another
time (Well hopefully before school finishes).  Anyway
remember send C&C to newranma@hotmail.com, Thanks again.

"The bride was radiant like brides always are - or did you know that
  brides are radian and bride grooms are always nervous.
  Does that suggest to you who really run the world."

Belgarath the Sorcerer by David Eddings
(Well more or less) :{)>

See ya!

Jonathan Lavallee (otherwise known as new)

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