Hello, this is my first attempt at a fanfic so be nice...
On second thought, blow me out of the water, C&C, Flames, the fires of hell,
I want 'em all. Anything you got, send my way. Even if you just want to
say you hate my guts, tell me. (what can I say, I like E-mail.)
(By the way, in case you live on Mars, in a cave, and never leave, none of
these characters are mine, they are all <cough> borrowed...sorta. But I
make no money so sue me not. Thanx)
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Ryoga: Possibilities
by Cat
Chapter 1
Ryoga was angry. This wasn�t all that surprising really.
Ryoga was just a naturally angry person. His current anger could be
attributed to many things. Perhaps it was the fact that he had never
learned how to interact with others, something that isn�t easy when you
never seem to be able to find even your own family for weeks or months
at a time. Maybe it was the loneliness that he couldn�t seem to escape.
Perhaps it was simply the fact that the Hibiki lineage tended to have a
very emotional streak in it. Most likely though, it was the fact that it
was raining, he was wet, and most definitely female.
Ryoga had never particularly enjoyed rain, but since a little
over a month ago, rain, and any other form of water at all had become
her mortal enemy. She stared into the sky, a look of almost sheer hatred
on her face.
�RANMA SAOTOME YOU�LL PAY!!!� Her yell was damped
by the pouring rain, but she could still hear the echoes as the sound
reverberated off the buildings around her.
As she continued to trudge through the city (which city was a
question she couldn�t answer) she berated herself once again for not
taking that weapons training in umbrellas. It had seemed like too much
of a hindrance on her quest at the time. After all, she was a true martial
artist and could endure some minor hardship to speed her search for
justice. At least, that�s what she�d thought at first. Since then,
however, every time it rained she could only curse her initial stupidly,
and become a girl. She hated it.
She had to admit, though reluctantly, there were probably
worse things to change into, at least she was human. She shuddered
once again at the thought of what might have happened when that girl
had kicked her off the cliff. She could have landed in any of hundreds
of springs, very few of them human.
Her anger returned as quickly as it had seemed to fade. Still, none of
this would have happened at all if it weren�t for Ranma.
There probably would have then followed some rather violent
and expensive destruction of city property had she not suddenly heard
something that snapped her back to the present, something she thought
she would never hear again. It was a voice right out of her nightmares.
�Come back here old man!� the red head yelled as she chased
what seemed to be a giant panda right past Ryoga. She stared in shock.
Doing a quick double take at the retreating figure while wiping the rain
from her eyes she confirmed what she had seen.
Yep, it was her alright. It was that girl, the one who had kicked her off at
Jusenkyou. Making a quick decision, especially for Ryoga, she decided
Ranma could wait, and instantly began to follow.
�DIE!!!� she yelled as she chased after the two in typical
Ryoga fashion.
It was thus that a strange trio began a chase through the
streets of Nerima on a miserable rainy Saturday. First in the pack was a
giant panda, soon followed by a young, attractive red head in a Chinese
style red shirt with black pants and hair braided into a pig tail. She was
being pursued with equal vigor by an enraged black haired girl who had
her hair tied back into a pony tail with what looked to be a black and
yellow bandana. She was carrying a large pack on her back and wearing
tan pants and a yellow shirt. If one were to look closely one might even
swear she seemed to have fangs.
Ranma was confused, nothing unusual. (It seemed that the last
few weeks since reaching Nerima she spent most of her waking hours in
that state.) Only seconds ago she had been chasing Pop for another
one of his stupid stunts to get her and Akane together, the fact that he
had run outside when it was raining had done nothing to improve her
mood, and then all of the sudden this strange girl with a backpack had
come running out of nowhere and tried to attack her. This wasn�t all
that much of shock. Lately it had seemed that everyone was getting mad
at her for something, but this was the first time a complete stranger had
decided to attack her out of nowhere. Deciding that she could pound
her father later she spun around to confront her attacker.
�Who the heck are you?� she asked from a comfortable
fighting stance. It wasn�t that she felt threatened, but she didn�t want
to be taken off guard either. The other girl just snarled as she dropped
her pack.
�I should ask you the same question,� the strange girl replied,
Ranma noted idly that she was pretty cute. (completely unlike some
tomboys she could mention) �My name is Ryoga Hibiki�� the girl
snarled, �and because of you I�VE SEEN HELL!�
�Huh? Whadd�ya talking about!� Ranma responded, rather
annoyed. She might not be that great with remembering things, but she
was positive she would have remembered this girl. Living with Pop and
then going to an all boys school all her life had made the number of her
female acquaintances remarkably small. In fact, she could count on one
hand the number of girls she had known well enough that they might
remember her and most of those were at the Tendou dojo right now.
Besides, this girl didn�t even seem to know her name.
�Perhaps you might remember a little place called Jusenkyou
then.� Ranma winced, hearing the name. The girl seemed really peeved.
�You were chasing that stupid panda of yours when you kicked me of a
cliff.� Ranma swallowed nervously. She did seem to remember
something about that. Her memory of the first few hours after the curse
was pretty slim, however. She had just been to shocked and angry to
pay any attention to what was happening. It wouldn�t be too much of a
stretch to find out she had done that. Come to think of it, she did seem
to remember a backpack clad figure on the cliffs above Jusenkyou�.
Another snarl from the tiny girl in front of her brought her back to the
present. Suddenly something else the girl had said registered.
�You�ve got a curse?� she asked tentatively with a sinking
feeling. If she had actually given this girl a curse�well, she knew how
she would feel�how she did feel. If Pop hadn�t been her Pop she
would have probably tried to kill him long ago. Heck, she had been
about to try just minutes ago.
Making her decision, Ranma dropped out of fighting stance
and slowly walked over to Ryoga. Sitting on her knees before the irate
girl she stated simply.
�I am Ranma Saotome of the Saotome school of Anything
Goes Martial Arts, I acknowledge the wrong I have done to you and ask
your forgiveness.� She cast her eyes down at Ryoga�s feet and awaited
the inevitable. She had taken enough of Akane�s blows to know what
to expect. She only hoped this girl wasn�t quite as much the tomboy
type�
Ryoga stared, shocked. Her enemy had simply given in,
acknowledged her wrong. Suddenly her temper flared. How dare she!
She was trying to deny her vengeance! For a second Ryoga�s was
temporarily blinded by her anger. Without thinking she pulled back and
gave the girl on her knees before her a powerful punch to the face,
putting into it all the rage and frustration of the past few weeks.
It�s true that she was certainly a whole lot weaker as a girl than a boy.
Ryoga was, however, on the average, about ten times as strong as the
normal human. Anyone who was not an extremely skilled martial artists
would probably have been taken apart by that single punch. As it was
Ranma�s instincts warned her only milliseconds before the blow fell. She
barely had time to attempt to absorb some of the blow. Unfortunately, it
wasn�t to do more than lessen the damage.
Ranma flew across the street and impacted into a concrete wall.
(consequently completely destroying it) As Ryoga�s anger subsided
she immediately followed to examine her fallen opponent.
Several hours later Ranma awoke with the worst headache she
had had since that first day with Akane. The first thing she noticed was
that it was still raining. The second was that she was not getting wet.
She appeared to be in tent. Looking around she noticed several things:
there seemed some water boiling on a cooker just at the entrance to the
tent, gotta remember that. Also she was currently being watched rather
carefully by what seemed to be a very concerned Ryoga.
�Whad�ya hafta do that for?� she asked almost groggily, still
smarting from the blow.
Ryoga breathed a sigh of relief, she was alright. She had felt
horrible, attacking someone who had not only admitted her wrong, but
was down before her asking for forgiveness. Especially considering it
was a girl. That was not the action of an honorable martial artist. She
was amazed that the girl was even alive, and had sworn to make it up to
her.
�I�m really, really sorry. I lost control. I acted dishonorably,�
Ryoga cast her eyes downward not even able to look the girl in the eye.
Ranma eyed her warily. She seemed genuinely distressed. Well, she
should, Ranma grumbled to herself. Though the girl did looked rather
distraught, and she had apologized. Suddenly she got an idea.
�How bout this: You forgive me, and I�ll forgive you, �k?�
Ranma saw her chance, and she was nothing if not an opportunist.
Besides, it�s not as if she could challenge a girl to a fight.
�I��, Ryoga tried to think of what to say. This girl was asking
her for forgiveness. For what she�d done! But, hadn�t she acted worse,
attacking a surrendered opponent, a girl. Besides, it wasn�t as if she
could challenge a girl to a fight. Slowly she gave her a tiny smile.
�Ok.�
�Friends?� Ranma asked with an answering smile of her own.
Ryoga nodded once again. Might as well go all the way. This time both
girls broke out into big grins. �So, if you don�t mind me asking, what
was your curse anyway?� Ranma asked with her typical tact. Seeing
Ryoga�s panicked expression added, �I only ask because I got one too,�
Ranma hated to tell people about her curse, but she was really curious,
and if they were to be friends she would have to know anyways.
After a nervous moment of thought, Ryoga decided she owed
the red-haired girl an answer. Taking the water heating on the cooker
she poured it over her head. The change was almost instantaneous.
Ranma gasped. No way, she thought as the tiny girl turned
into a slightly taller well built guy. Reaching over she took the rest of
the water and poured it over her own head. In the background, almost
as if on queue, thunder crashed.
The two aqua-transsexuals stared at each other for a long
moment as the rain poured down outside. For a few minutes nothing
could be heard but the sounds of water on canvas. Finally Ryoga
spoke.
�Ranma Saotome?� he was tentative, he hadn�t seen his mortal
enemy in a while, but he almost never forgot a face, and the name
matched. He almost swore, he had forgiven the debt. Even though he
hadn�t known that it was this Ranma at the time it didn�t matter. To him,
honor was honor, his quest had ended. His anger rose again, but this
time he suppressed it.
So what if it turns out that my mortal enemy is also the one
responsible for my curse, so what if he tricked me into forgiving his
debt. I resolved the conflict. I forgave the debt, I even offered
friendship. I can�t go back now.
Ryoga kept repeating that last line to himself over and over.
This was a matter of honor. He would overcome.
�How did you know my last name?� Ranma asked puzzled by
the strange boy who shared his curse and seemed to be talking to
himself.
�We were classmates in Junior high, remember,� Ryoga again
tried to hold back his anger, it was becoming more difficult by the
moment. Finally his anger got the better of him. �You ran away from a
man to man fight!� he yelled barely keeping himself from attacking, only
years of training in the Art allowed him to resist.
Ranma seemed taken aback by his vehemence. Slowly he tried
to think back. Thinking had never been his strong suit. Slowly, it came
back.
�Ryoga!� he was rather proud that he had remembered that,
then, the rest came back, �I waited for you for three days, man.� He
gave him a puzzled look, �Is that why you were at Jusenkyou, chasing
me.� Ryoga looked away for a moment. Ranma couldn�t believe it, he�d
chased him for literally years just because of that silly bread feud. He
held out his hand.
�I know what you�ve been through, believe me, I know how
you feel. I�d really like to still be friends.� Ranma once again offered
the rare prize of friendship to the lost boy.
Ryoga looked at him, then down at the extended hand. What
was he supposed to do now? This, his sworn enemy wanted to be
friends. He couldn�t hold him accountable for his curse, he had already
forgiven him/her for that one. And, though he hated to admit it, Ranma
had probably seen just as much a hell as he, they had the same curse
after all. Finally he took the hand.
�For honors sake.� Ranma smiled,
�For honors sake,� he returned. There was an awkward
silence. Then something occurred to Ranma.
�Hey, buddy, how�d you like to eat with me tonight?� He knew
that Ryoga would just end up lost and alone otherwise.
�If it stops raining, sure,� Ryoga said, visibly wincing at the
word buddy. Ranma looked outside, the rain didn�t seem to want to
stop any time soon.
�Look pal, it probably won�t stop any time tonight, and
Kasumi�s making the food. Believe me it will be worth it.� Ranma�s
mouth started to water at the thought.
�But what about�?� Ryoga trailed off, obviously concerned.
Ranma gave him a reassuring look.
�Don�t worry. The Tendou�s know all about my curse, they
won�t be shocked.� Ryoga still didn�t look convinced.
�Listen Ranma,� he said nervously, �I�d rather no one finds
out about this. I�ve had problems in the past.� He shivered, cry�s of
�beloved� echoing through his head as one scenario after another
flashed through his brain. Having a girls body was bad enough.
Having an extremely attractive girls body, especially when you tended
to meet a lot of people, from all over, tended to make the time spent in
it�less than enjoyable for your average male martial artist.
�The Tendou�s aren�t like that, really, it doesn�t bother them,�
Ranma tried again, the thought of that food still firm in his very
stubborn mind. Seeing an equally stubborn look come across Ryoga�s
face, he formulated an alternate plan.
�How �bout this. We walk over, you can wait on the porch, I�ll
go in and get some hot water, no one needs ever know, and we still get
to eat.� At the mention of eating both boys stomachs growled in
unison.
�All right,� Ryoga replied, albeit reluctantly, �I guess that will
work.� He had a bad feeling about this but that food did sound awfully
good.
It took the two almost no time at all to take down the makeshift
camp and pack up all of Ryoga�s equipment. Then Ranma led them to
the Tendou�s house. It turned out Ryoga had camped only a few lot�s
away and they were there in just a few seconds, though, notably, Ryoga
still almost got lost several times on the way.
Reaching the house Ryoga was attempting to wring out her
wet clothes and Ranma was just opening the door to acquire the much
needed hot water when Kasumi ran up with an umbrella.
�Oh my! It certainly is wet out here isn�t it,� seeing Ryoga she
gave her one of her patented blank smiles. �Why hello, are you one of
Ranma�s friends?� Ryoga didn�t know what to do, and started to
stammer and blush like mad. Ranma was a little quicker on the uptake.
�Yea, that�s it. Kasumi, this is Ryo�ko.� Ranma congratulated
herself on coming up with that one. She had realized after the fact that
Ryoga�s name was pretty much a dead give away to her curse.
Especially once you knew she had one. �Yea, Ryoko, she�s a friend of
mine from school. Don�t worry, she knows all about my curse.� He
added as he ran to the bathroom to get some water, leaving a very
nervous and wet Ryoga on the front porch.
�Oh, your all wet. You must be freezing. Let me get you a
towel,� Kasumi said as she walked off into another part of the house.
Ryoga decided to just stay where she was, she had learned from hard
experience not to go wandering around in strange places, no matter how
small they seemed. A few seconds later Ranma returned, notably very
male.
�Where�s my hot water?� Ryoga whispered fiercely, trying not
to let anyone else hear.
�I didn�t think you�d need any now.� Ranma said, completely
oblivious to the look of sheer hatred coming from the small bandana
clad girl.
�What do you mean? I�m still a girl aren�t I?� Ryoga began to
raise her voice a little.
�Hey, I thought you wanted to keep your curse a secret. If
you don�t I can go get it right now.� Ryoga started, she hadn�t thought
about that. Great, just great, she thought starring at Ranma angrily. She
sighed, there was no help for it, she would have to pretend to be a girl,
at least for tonight She gave Ranma another look, this is all your fault,
Saotome, she thought, falling back into her tradition habit.
Just then Kasumi returned with the towel, and began to call for
dinner. Soon the rest of the household began to converge in the dining
room.
Ranma led Ryoga into the room adjacent to the entranceway.
For some reason she had been headed for the stairs. Once there he
introduced Ryoga to them as Ryoko, a friend of his from junior high.
�Oh, you were friends were you?� Akane asked in a
suspiciously sweet tone.
�Not exactly friends.� Ryoga answered giving Ranma an angry
look. Akane look from Ryoga to Ranma back to Ranma. She seemed to
decide on something and visibly relaxed. Neither Ranma nor the
currently female Ryoga seemed to notice.
Later, over dinner, Akane began to act like her more normal self
as she and Ranma bickered back and forth, with cries of �Ranma!� and
�Uncute!� flying across the table. Ryoga was amazed, if she had
followed what could loosely be termed their conversation, Akane and
Ranma were engaged. It seemed impossible that they could hate each
other that much, or that Ranma could be stupid enough to say all those
things. Several times Ryoga had wanted to interfere, but several
months as a girl had allowed her to learn a few things. And this
newfound wisdom was telling her on no uncertain terms to stay out of
this little fight.
To Ryoga�s intense satisfaction, at some point Akane was able
to toss some water at a very annoyed Ranma. After that Akane seemed
to decide that she had had enough for one day and simply gave Ranma
the cold shoulder.
�So what brings you to Nerima Ryoko?� Ryoga squirmed a
little under Akane�s gaze, sure that her secret must come to light by that
look alone.
�N-nothing, really,� realizing she was sounding panicky she
tried to calm herself, �I was just,� a pause, �I mean�I�well,� Ranma
came to her rescue.
�Ryoga takes a lot of trips, he�she gets lost a lot.� Ryoga
gave Ranma a cold stare. Akane however ignored him without ignoring
his words.
�So, who are you staying with?� Akane asked continuing the
conversation as if they had never been interrupted.
�I�m not exactly staying with anyone at the moment,� Ryoga
replied, again slightly nervously. Being half girl had helped her out a lot
with interpersonal relationships, two words she had never know existed
before her curse, but it didn�t change the fact that she was still
completely and utterly socially inept in all ways. Especially when it
came to girls, and Akane was definitely one of those, despite Ranma�s
comments to the contrary.
�How �bout she stays with us.� Akane suggested generously,
with almost no forethought, completely missing both Soun and Nabiki�s
looks.
Nabiki almost instantly was at her side speaking in a whisper
that was just loud enough for Ryoga to hear. �Sis, you can�t invite her
to stay! We can barely afford to feed those two freeloaders as it is!�
Ryoga was in turmoil. She had never really had a home, not
someplace she could go, with people who knew her, even if one of them
was her semi-sworn enemy. Akane�s offer was the closest Ryoga had
even gotten and if there was anything she could do to make it happen,
she would do it. Besides, Akane seemed like a really nice girl, and the
way Ranma treated her was horrible. She made her decision, she would
stay if at all possible. Now how to convince the Tendou�s�
�I could pay?� Ryoga said quietly.
�I really don�t think you could afford it.� Nabiki retorted
instantly, rather rudely even for Nabiki. Ryoga named a figure.
Nabiki�s eyes almost popped out of her sockets. Soun was a little
quicker to respond. Within seconds he had Ryoga in a crushing bear
hug.
�Welcome to the family!� he cried joyfully. After the
commotion died down they again began to eat. Ranma, showing
uncharacteristic restraint left off his fight with Genma for the food and
whispered to Ryoga.
�Are you crazy! Your still a girl remember. You�re gonna hafta
tell them about your curse now!� Ryoga almost fainted, still�a�girl.
What was she thinking!?! As she continued to eat she again tried to
think, this was becoming a bad habit. Before, when faced with a
dilemma, she just broke things. After a few minutes she was able to
come to several conclusions.
First, she really liked the Tendou�s, (and could Tolerate
Ranma) and really wanted to stay with them. Second, she couldn�t tell
them about her curse, there was no way anyone was ever finding out
about that. Especially not the Tendou�s, if they found out she had lied
they would probably throw her out on the spot. Ryoga didn�t know
why, but she wanted this more than just about anything she had ever
desired in her life. However that left very few viable options. After
much deliberation she settled on the simplest, go along with it for now,
pretend to be a girl, and figure out what to do later. Not the greatest of
solutions, but it would have to do.
�Don�t you say anything Saotome! Warriors honor!� she
invoked the most sacred of bonds, at least to sixteen year old martial
artists, that of the warriors code. There was no way Ranma could
possibly tell without completely throwing out all bonds of honor. Not
that she would be surprised if he did. After all he had run away from a
man to man fight.
�What are you thinking fang face!� Ranma was in complete
shock. He hadn�t seen Ryoga in years but he knew him probably as
well as anyone and pretending to be a girl would be one of the worst
possible solutions to this problem. He would have to get to the bottom
of this, but for now there wasn�t really anything he could do. Not when
she had called upon the warrior�s code. Just then Kasumi spoke up.
�Oh my!� Ryoga was beginning to think she couldn�t say
anything without starting with that, �Father, I was just thinking�where
will she sleep?�
�She can sleep in the guest room.� Ranma spoke, not
surprisingly, without thinking.
�Don�t be silly boy. We are sleeping in there.� Genma was
none too soft spoken, especially when it came to correcting his son.
Ranma didn�t reply as he quickly tried to find a solution to the problem
which had presented itself. Unfortunately for him, his never to sure
abilities at quick thinking, at least when it wasn�t fighting, completely
deserted him.
�Don�t worry, she can sleep in my room.� Akane spoke up
helpfully.
�That sounds wonderful!� Soun was as enthusiastic as ever.
Ryoga however didn�t like the way this was going. That was probably
the worst solution she could possibly come up with.
�Isn�t there anything other place?� she asked. Upon seeing
Akane�s hurt look she quickly added, �I don�t want to be an
inconvenience.� Akane brightened up.
�Don�t worry silly, it�ll be fun! Just like another sister,� she
almost bubbled in an extremely cute manner, at least it seemed like that
to Ryoga. Unable to think of a way out Ryoga finally turned to his only
ally. Giving Ranma a pleading look that spoke volumes. Ranma, for his
part simply gave her an almost desperate stare back, again, completely
at a loss.
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That's it. Whad'ya think? Am I good or am I good...or am I pathetic?
Well, at least you got this far. I'm just rambling now, it's very late
and I should be in bed so forgive my pointlessness.
Cat (The Lesser God of Ryoga Fanfics)