Permanent.
A fanfic by Sean D'anna [Catbert25]
Ranma 1/2 and all related characters
are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and are used without permission.
A sort of moody fic that I churned out today. Came out pretty good so far
hope fully will get more action oreiented later on...
Ranma Saotome sat by the window of the small appartment she had
rented and sighed. In the past year she had not spoken unless it was
absolutely nessesary. Ever since the incident in China. Her father sat in
the corner and snored loudly, Mr. P wandered into the room looking lost
as usuall. It had been hard to find a place that would accept pets,
especially a giant panda. The Manager had been so impressed with the
human like manners of the panda that she had allowed them to remain.
She only did two things now a days, train and work. She had
mannaged to get a job in a local diner as a waitress barely kept open by
its clientel of old men and women and had thus far been able to pay the
bills and keep her and the old man fed. The place was going under and
she didn't think it would last. She watched the rain hit the glass on the
window as a small shower began. Mr. P jumped up beside her and watched
intently, she reached down and tightened the bandana around his neck. She
saw the people scurry away into the cover of buildings. He watched
couples dive into secluded corners together. Something she would now
never know. She stood and walked into the center of the room and began
her Kata.
The panda rolled over to watch her. "Again?" said its sign. She
intencified her Kata growing faster and stronger with each blow. "Your
obsessing boy." said the other side of the sign.
Ranma knew it must be bad if her father thought she was
obsessing over martial arts. "What else have I got left?" she asked
herself in her mind. No answer came.
Tomorrow she would begin school. She did not like her fathers
decision but she did not want to argue with him. It seemed to be a waste
of her breath, lately every conversation seemed to be a waste of her
breath. She passed a table with one of her regular costomers and smiled.
She didn't really feel like smiling but it was part of her job.
Mr. Daimoko watched Ranma scurry about the tables with exspert
grace and seeming unatruall dextarity. But something was not right, she
was depressed from the moment he saw her. She did what she had to and
more in her work, often seeming to take to a task as if it were a
challenge. She was quiet and never rude to the costomers. She was a modle
employee. But the air of depression was still there. "I hope she pulls
through a young girl like that should enjoy her life." said a costomer to
him.
"Yup, she is an excellent employee." said Daimoko.
Ranma walked home and sat at the table with her father and Mr.P
as they ate dinner in the usuall way, a free for all battle, although
Ranma occasionally sided with Mr. P to be fair. She had picked up the pig
from Jusenkyo after she and her father were cursed. The guide and her
father had dropped into a pot of boiling water alive to cook it for
supper. Ranma had walked in and saved it after it refused to die after
several minutes. She had beat her father for trying to eat anything he
had caught near the springs even after knowing about the curses. She
nursed the pig back to health and found her suspicions true, it had been
a man once. The two had a sort of bond between them, almost like a
rivalry each understanding and sympathising with each others situation.
Mr. P was a name they both just sort of adopted over time, as opposed to
"pig." and the like.
The next day Ranma changed into her uniform, the skirt was longer
than it needed to be and the blouse loose. Then she put on a thick pair
of glasses and tightened the bindings around her chest, her long red hair
was in a loose pony tail. She walked towards the door only to find Mr. P
waiting for him. "I supose you want to come." she said looking at him.
The pig nodded with a look that said "You are not leaving me here
all day with -him-."
Ranma offered a rare smile and scooped him into the bag with a
warning glare. Mr. P knew what it meant. "Don't wander off." Ranma walked
out the door and onto the street. She imediately jumped onto a fence and
walked pourposefully towards the school. "I suppose he's trying to cling
to some sort of humanity." she thought as she felt the pig move around in
her bag.
At the school a large group of boys had gathered and was
attacking a lone girl who was wipeing the floor with them. Ranma watched
for a moment and moved through the crowd silently until she was inside
the building.
Nabiki Tendo watched the new arival walk silently through the
crowd unnoticed. "Who is that?" she wondered aloud. She looked at the
girl through a pair of binoculars intently and smiled. She was a pretty
girl and well trained in some form of martial arts judging from the way
she moved through the crow with ease, often ducking into shadows
unnoticed. "Thats not something you learn in a Dojo." said Nabiki with a
small frown.
"What?" said one of the girls next to her.
"Find out who the new girl is." said Nabiki to her as the girl
dissapeared into the building. The girl turned and looked straight at her
right before she went in. "She's known I was watching her the whole
time." thought Nabiki coolly.
"New girl? sure thing boss." replied the girl.
"Class this is miss Saotome, a new transfer student who has just
returned from a trip to China." Ranma bowed as the Teacher introdused her
to the class. "So miss Saotome tell us about yourself." said the teacher
to her. "No." said Ranma as she walked to her seat in the back of
the class. She surveyed the room around her and noticed that the girl who
had been fighting the boys in the court yard was in the front row. The
teacher began class and Ranma sat silently as the students watched her
for a while and then forgot about her.
Three weeks pass...
Mr. P had taken to doing the assigtnments the teacher had given
the class. Ranma watched as he wrote with a small ink bottle and the tip
of one of his hooves. Ranma had long ago learned his real name but Mr. P
had stuck even then. Ranma frowned as he signed his paper "Ryoga Hibiki"
and looked at her. she had been beaten again by the pig. She supposed
School work made him feel a little human again. Ranma got up and walked
towards the door again, "Off to work." she thought a little sourly.
The next day a group of girls approached Ranma as she sat in her
corner of the court yard durring lunch. "Hello." said the one in front
that she recognised as the fight girl. "I'm Akane." she said to her.
"I've seen you around but never really gotten to talk to you." said Akane
to Ranma who looked at her evenly. "Ranma is it? I was wondering would
would like to go with us for ice cream after school or something?" she
said looking amazingly cute.
Ranma felt herself blushing and tried to stop it only makeing it
worse. Akane's smile broadened. "You don't have to be shy." she said to
Ranma sweetly.
"No thanks, I have to work." she said and walked away after
smiling politely for a moment.
Later after gym class she stood in the shower stareing at the
wall. He waited for most of the girls to leave before entering. Every one
had just assumed she was just shy. She watched the water drain into the
hole in the floor. She could not get that girl out of her mind. "Perhaps
its because she was the first to speak to you for a long time." she
reasoned. She turned off the water and leaned on the wall.
"Mabey its time you got over this." said a voice in her head, a
voice that was no longer hers.
She put a fist through the wall and growled. "Never." she
whispered bitterly. The remaning girls in the shower shrieked and walked
out quickly. She pulled her hand from the hole to see a frightened
looking boy on the other side stairing at her face through the hole, she
grinned at him with a dark look in her eyes. She wraped her towel around
herself and walked out.
Daisuke could not beleive his eyes the most beautiful girl he had
ever seen had almost punched him in the face...by puting her fist through
the wall. "Who Was that?" he wondered. He knew he would have noticed a
girl like that walking around.
It would be almost three days before Daisuke was proven not to be
insane. He wandered around asking about the beautiful red haired girl who
had put her hand through the wall for the rest of the week.
"Jeeze Dasuke the only girl around here with red hair is that
creepy Saotome kid, mabey she should go out with Gosunkugi." said Hiroshi
to him at lunch the day after the incident.
"Don't be gross, she was a goddess." said Daisuke with his eyes
glazing over.
Then on friday...
Tatewaki Kuno stepped out from behind a tree in front of Akane
Tendo. Ranma was less than three feet behind her. "Shit." thought Ranma
as she snuck around to avoid the fight. As she had planed Kuno did not
notice her, he also did not notice sliceing her bag in half as he swung
at Akane. Ranma stopped wide eyed stairing at the bag half in her arms.
The pig was gone.
"Ryoga!" cried Ranma as Kuno's foot came down on the other half
of her bag. She lept at him and hit him away from the bag.
"Who would Dare?!" roared Kuno as he turned to see a small
average looking girl bent over half a bag holding a small pig. "How dare
you interfear-" Started Kuno, then she looked at him.
"He's cut." She said to him with an angry stare. The pig had a
shallow gash along its side.
"What?" said Kuno.
"You hurt my freind." said the girl standing tall, removing her
glasses, She flexed every muscle in her chest tearing the tight and
restrictive binding on her chest, she then reached up and tightened the
ribbon on her hair creating a more managable ponytail. She clenched her
fist at her side. She did not do this with emotion she had spoken evenly
and coolly the whole time as if she was giving the time.
Kuno and the rest of the student body gasped as the normally
quiet girl went from average to stunning in a matter of seconds. The girl
looked at the pig as it glaired at Kuno angrily nurseing its side.
"I challenge you." said Ranma calmly.
Kuno laughed and smiled his best smile at her. "Very well if you
win I shall allow you to date with me." he said.
"If I win there won't be any of you left to date." growled Ranma.
Kuno swung once, that was all. Ranma was on him imediately, she
crushed him easily. She pounded on him for almost a full minute
strategically placeing blows to keep him standing although he wanted to
fall after the first. Kuno collapsed in a heap when it was all over.
"Wow." said Akane as she looked over Kuno and noted he had a long
red mark in the same manner as the pig did along his side, his Kendo
uniform was torn to shreds along the area she had consentrated most of
her blows. It would make a rather nasty bruise for some time. Ranma
walked towards the school with the pig cradled in her arms. She held it
in a respectful manner, not that of a young girl comforting a pet. Akane
watched as she disapeared towards the nurses office.
Nabiki Walked up to Akane and frowned. "We have to find out where
she lives." she said coldly.
"Why?" asked Akane after clearing the daze frome what she had
just seen.
"Akane are you blind?" asked Nabiki with a suprised look.
"What do you mean?" asked Akane.
"She was useing the anything goes style, you of all people should
know that." said Nabiki coolly.
"Only two families practice that style that is rediculo-" Akane
stopped. Nabiki was right.
Ranma walked towards her home and watched the two girls follow
her silently as they could. "Come on out." she said after a moment
turning to face them. Akane stepped out of hiding and blushed at being
caught. "And the other girl." said Ranma coolly. Nabiki grummbled and
stepped from her own spot. "What do you want?" asked Ranma evenly.
"Where did you learn to fight like that?" asked Akane. "My father
taught me." said Ranma turning away.
"Wait!" called Akane after her.
"What is it?" sighed Ranma.
"Why do you act like that? Would it hurt you to smile?" She said
looking at Ranma with a sad exspresion.
"You wouldn't understand." said Ranma looking at her saddly.
"How do you know?" asked Nabiki.
Ranma sighed again and turned to face the girls again. She had
not spoken this much in a long time.
"Well, what do you want to know?" she asked.
"Where did you learn the any thing goes style?" asked Nabiki.
Ranma gasped. "How do you know what its called?" she asked.
Akane smiled as Ranma gapped at the sign on the gate to her home.
"Weird eh Mr.P?" she asked the pig. Akane was a little suprised when the
pig nodded in reply.
"Your pet pig is so cute! can I hold him?" asked Akane smiling at
the pig.
"If he wants to let you, he isn't really a pet. Just don't put
him down or he'll get lost." said Ranma not really paying attention.
"Hello young lady are you interested in takeing a class with us?"
said Soun who had walked out after seeing the girl staring at the sign.
"No thanks I already know the style although I am a bit suprised
to see some one else teaches it." she said to him.
Soun looked at her oddly. "Well now I doubt that miss...?" said
Soun warrily to the girl.
"Saotome, Ranma Saotome." said the girl. Soun gasped.
Soun sat across from the girl as she nervously looked around. "So
how is old Genma san?" asked Soun Cheerfully.
"Gone." said Ranma casually.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." said Soun looking a little pale.
"You have a brother I understand?" asked Soun trying to sound cheerful.
"I am an only child." said Ranma.
"And your Mother?" asked Soun.
"Haven't seen her in ten years." said Ranma.
Soun looked at the girl in shock. "That is truly sad." he said
trying to look dignified.
"How did you know my father?" asked Ranma.
"We were best freinds for many years training under the same
master." Said Soun holding back tears.
"I see." said Ranma.
Akane looked at her softly it exsplained alot about her her
family was gone and she had to work to support herself and who ever she
was living with. Desparate to end the tension Akane piped up. "Ranma, you
want to go spar in the Dojo?" she asked.
Ranma turned to face her and a small smile formed on her lips,
"sure." she replied.
Ranma recognised Akane's style from earlier fights and never gave
it a second thought. But now up close and personal she saw that it was
indeed anything goes style. Even though it was a little rough and
inexspirienced. Ranma fliped over Akane as she Charged at her screaming
"This time for real!" She landed behind her and tapped her on the back of
the head.
"Wow your pretty good." said Akane laughing. Ranma sooned joined
in. It was the first time Ranma had laughed in a very long time. "Its
getting late, won't somebody get worried about you?" asked Akane.
"I live alone." said Ranma, "Well just me and the animals." she
corrected.
"Oh" said Akane after a moment looking suprised.
Soun walked up to the pair. He had been watching for some time
now and spoke up. "Someone as young as you living alone?" he asked.
Ranma turned pale, if she was turned over to the govornment now
who knows what would happen to her father and Ryoga. "I-I uhhh..." she
stuttered.
"I feel responcible for you young lady. Your father was a good
freind who helped me keep my sanity over those terrible years of training
with the master. If Genma had had a son then our two families would have
been joined through Marrage. Therefore I would like to think of you as
family, I would be honored if you would stay with us." said Soun crying a
river of tears.
"B-but, you just met me, and I uh..."Stammered Ranma
Ranmna did not know what to say to the man. "It would help her
considerably to have a stable home and not have to worry about scratching
together enough to pay the rent and feed her and her 'family'." she
frowned and thought for a moment. "I accept...on two conditions, One is
that you allow me to keep my animals and two is that you allow me to pay
rent." she said finally.
"Very well. I hope they are well trained." he said as they walked
into the home.
Nabiki was sitting with the pig at the table going over some
problems in her note book and doing the budget. "Your right that is
wrong." she said to the pig who nodded and pressed some numbers on her
calculator. "Right that should do it." she said to it and it sqealed
happily.
Soun saw this and sweat. "Lets go Ryoga we have some stuff to
talk about at home." she said to it walking out the door. The pig lept
into her arms and the two walked out into the night.
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