I've
had this one sitting around for a while. Tell me what you
think
The characters from Ranma 1/2 in
this fiction are the
creations of Rumiko Takahashi, and borrowed
without
her permission.
This story was written for non-commercial purposes
only.
"I can't believe I'm
lost."
The sun was hot overhead, and
the boy pulled out his water bottle and took a small sip. It would need
refilling soon, and he hoped that he'd run across another creek. He looked
up at the snow on top of the mountains, and thought of how cool it would feel to
touch it, but he wasn't about to start climbing. That would only take him
further from home, wherever that was.
The boy pulled his compass out
of his pocket, looked at it, and laughed at himself. He was lost because
he'd thought he could use the silly thing. Perhaps he'd be better off
following his nose.
A few hours later, hot and
thirsty, he stopped and listened. That was definitely the sound of running
water.
*****
Someone had gotten there
first. A young man lay in the grass at the edge of the creek, staring into
the sky. He became aware that he was no longer alone, and jumped to a
sitting position.
"Hey, sorry to startle
you. I was looking for water."
The boy cautiously approached,
and filled his water bottle. He splashed his face and hands, and ran a wet
hand through his hair.
"That feels SO much
better. It's so hot!"
He pulled off his pack, dropped
it onto the grass, and plopped down beside it. Wondering why he hadn't
received any response to his remarks, he slowly held out his hand.
"My name's David.
What's yours?"
His hand was taken in a
tentative shake.
"Ryoga. Nice
to...nice to meet you. Pardon me, my English is not
good."
To Ryoga's amazement, David
replied in Japanese.
"I took up Japanese when I
watched Shogun. Talking to you would be good practice."
Ryoga laughed.
"I was thinking the same
thing, but speaking Japanese is easier for me. You see, I've read more English
than I've heard."
"Really? Like
what?"
Ryoga flushed, and pulled a
paperback out of his backpack.
"Don't laugh - but I read
stuff like this all the time. You see, I spend a lot of time wandering,
alone."
David found himself holding a
Star Trek novel. He looked up, grinning.
"Why should I laugh?
Want to know why I'm out here in the middle of nowhere?"
"Sure."
"I'm trying to prove
myself. I'm always being protected by my folks, and I'm sick of it!
There's a Vulcan tradition for proving you're an adult where you go off on your
own to survive, and I got the idea I should try it..."
Ryoga nodded in
understanding.
"Yes! I read about
it--it's called S..S.. Damn! I know it starts with an
S!"
David grinned.
"Are you sure? I
thought it was with a K..."
Their eyes met, and suddenly
both burst out laughing. David was the first to recover.
"I can't believe how
ridiculous this is. I go out into nowhere, trying to follow a fictional
tradition, and I can't even remember what the thing is called! Can you
imagine anyone being stupider?"
Before the words were out of his
mouth, he knew he'd asked the wrong question. Ryoga just stood there, with
a look on his face that he found very familiar.
"You're looking at him,
David."
"Do you want to talk about
it?"
"No. I
don't."
Ryoga looked past David, toward
the sunset.
"It'll be getting dark
soon. We should set up a camp, and make something to eat. Maybe
tomorrow we can walk our way out of here."
^^^^^
From his sleeping bag inside the
tent, David could see Ryoga sitting by the fire. He was busy writing in a
small book. Every now and then Ryoga would stop writing, look up at the
stars, and sigh sadly. David wondered what was troubling him.
David opened his eyes to the
sunrise. Ryoga snored in his sleeping bag, and David quietly left the
tent. He started a fire, and put on some water to heat. Ryoga had
left his pack sitting beside the
tent, and the book he had been writing in
lay beside it, apparently having fallen out.
David picked up the book,
intending to tuck it back into the pack, but his curiosity got the better of
him, and he decided to sneak a quick peek. Expecting to find a journal of
Ryoga's travels, probably in Japanese, he was surprised to read the
beginning:
"I've decided to write this
journal in English. It is good practice, and will keep my parents from
being able to read it."
David grinned in amusement, and
started scanning. Apparently, Ryoga had started his journal in junior
high. He was involved in some sort of a feud with someone named Ranma,
which sounded silly. A fight over bread?
Fearful of discovery, David
began skipping pages and scanning quickly. He kept finding references to "a
curse", and "Akane loving P-Chan, but not me."
Who was P-Chan, who was Akane,
and why would Ryoga believe in curses? David decided to put the journal
back, and mind his own business.
^^^^^
Ryoga was leading, something he
was definitely NOT used to. The last thing he wanted to tell David was
that he was lost too. From Ryoga's estimation, the boy was about three
years younger than himself, and that made him feel responsible for his
well-being.
"I will NOT walk in
circles. I will NOT walk in circles."
Ryoga kept repeating that to
himself mentally, while focused on the mountain in front of him. He'd
looked all around from the camping site, spotted the mountain on the horizon,
and decided that they would walk toward it. He told himself not to stop
looking at the mountain. If he did that, he would walk in a straight
line.
That's why he didn't see the
snake until he stepped on it.
Ryoga felt the fangs of the
snake penetrate his leg, right through the fabric of his pants. His
martial arts instincts took over after that, and the snake was soon dead, but
the damage had already been done.
"It bit you, Ryoga?
We've got to take care of that right now!"
David pushed Ryoga to a sitting
position, and unlaced the bindings on his pant leg. He rolled it up, and
found a nasty bite on the back of Ryoga's leg.
Ryoga tried to look at it, but
the positioning of the bite was such that he couldn't care for it himself.
David saw his face, and nodded.
"Don't worry, I know how to
take care of this."
David pulled off his pack, and
dug around in it. He came up with a small first aid kit, and removed a
knife from it.
"We have to get the poison
out, fast."
Ryoga sat very still and didn't
say a thing when David cut into the wound. But when he put his mouth to
it, Ryoga pushed at him.
"What are you doing?
You'll poison yourself."
"I have no cuts in my
mouth. Shut up."
David quickly and efficiently
cared for the wound, and bandaged it. Ryoga looked at the job he'd done,
impressed.
"You did that well.
Thanks."
David shrugged.
"I was in the Boy Scouts
for a while, but my parents made me quit. They were always worried that I
would get hurt. They baby me too much!"
David looked away, and then
shook his body as if to drive away the unpleasant thought. He reached
down, and pulled Ryoga up.
"We'd better get
moving."
Ryoga nodded, set his gaze on
the mountain, and began walking toward it. After a while, he stopped to
take a drink from his bottle, and turned to David.
"Wasn't it unusual for that
sort of snake to be in Connecticut?"
David's mouth dropped
open.
"This isn't
Connecticut. This is Colorado."
Then it hit him.
"Oh no. You're lost
too."
"No. I know exactly
where I'm going."
Ryoga pointed at the
mountain.
"Why that mountain?
What's there?"
"I don't know, but I have a
feeling about it."
David looked a little skeptical,
but having a target was better than nothing. There was no way they would
get there tonight, but maybe tomorrow...
^^^^^
David cooked supper while Ryoga
sat by the fire, shivering. It wasn't cold, but he hadn't been looking
well all afternoon.
"You have a fever, don't
you?"
"Huh?"
Ryoga shivered again.
"Yeah, I think
so."
David took out a cloth, and
soaked it with cold water from his bottle. He started toward Ryoga to wipe his
forehead, but Ryoga jumped.
"What are you
doing?"
Before David could respond,
Ryoga had knocked the cloth out of his hand. David jumped in surprise, and
spilled the contents of his uncovered water bottle in Ryoga's lap. Seconds
later, he stared openmouthed at a small black pig, tangled in Ryoga's
clothing. The pig looked at him, opened its mouth, and looked as if it
were trying to talk.
"Kwee."
David hesitantly reached out and
picked the pig up. It was a tiny thing, and he noted with amusement (or
was it amazement?) that the bandanna Ryoga wore around his head was now around
the pig's neck.
"How, how did you do
that? Is it . . . magic?"
"KWEE!"
The pig wriggled free, and ran
to Ryoga's pack. He knocked it over, crawled inside, and emerged with the
journal in his mouth.
"You want me to read
this?"
David laughed aloud when the pig
nodded at him.
^^^^^
David put the journal down, and
put a pan of water on the fire to heat. Ryoga picked up the journal again, and
pushed it into David's hand.
"You want me to finish
reading?"
Ryoga nodded.
"Okay."
A little while later, David
finished the last page while Ryoga put his clothes back on. David closed
the journal, and handed it back. He didn't particularly care for girls,
but Ryoga's last entry bothered him:
"I'm lost again, Akane,
somewhere in Connecticut. I wish I could see you, or hear your
voice. The last time I saw you, when I told you I was going on a journey,
you were kind to me, and told me to come back soon. But when I turned
around to look back you were smiling at Ranma. I don't think you'll ever smile
at me that way."
"Why did you let me read
the rest? I mean, once I found out how to change you back . .
."
"I don't know,
really. Maybe I just wanted you to know the whole
story."
"Hey! You're not
shivering anymore. Do you feel better?"
"My fever's gone.
Maybe changing back and forth...I dunno."
Ryoga was quiet after that, and
seemed to be deep in thought. David simply watched him, wondering how a
person could deal with such a strange life. Ryoga's problems made his seem
very trivial.
David maintained his silence
until they were in the tent, wrapped in their sleeping bags.
"Ryoga?"
"Yes?"
"How are you going to get
back to Japan?"
"I don't know. I'm
not sure how I got here in the first place."
"Oh."
Ryoga drifted off, and David
listened to his breathing. Eventually, the steady rhythm made him sleepy,
and he began to drift off. As he did, he heard Ryoga whisper one
word.
"Akane."
^^^^^
When the travelers hit the two
lane highway, they gave each other a high five and sat down for a celebratory
snack. There wasn't much left in either of their packs, so they filled up on the
water from their bottles and began to follow the road.
After a couple of hours, they
walked into a small town. David spotted a pay phone, and Ryoga started
digging in his pockets for coins.
"Don't bother, Ryoga.
We don't need them."
Ryoga watched as David pulled a
card from his pocket, and dialed.
"Hi Mom."
"Wait a sec. Mom,
don't cry--I'm fine, really! Yeah, I did, I got lost. No, someone
helped me."
Ryoga walked away, to give his
friend some privacy.
^^^^^
David's father was rather quiet
on the drive back, and his son looked uncomfortable. He'd jumped out of
his car, and hugged him, then held him at arm's length to make sure he was all
right. After assuring himself of that, he was able to tear his attention
away from David long
enough to meet Ryoga.
Ryoga had accepted the
invitation to return home with David. After all, he had no idea where he
was anyway. What he didn't expect was the crowd of reporters that
surrounded the car when they got back, or the size of the mansion David lived
in.
^^^^^
The practice dummy flew across
the room, and hit the wall with a loud smack.
"Not bad, Ranma. Care
to practice with a real opponent?"
Ranma whirled. Ryoga was
leaning against the doorframe, arms folded.
"Hey, P-Chan! Where
have you been? It's been months."
Ryoga took off his pack, and
leaned it against the wall.
"Don't call me
P-Chan."
Ranma grinned.
"Make me
stop."
Akane was behind the house, and
the noise from the dojo attracted her attention. She discovered a sight
she hadn't seen in a long time--Ryoga and Ranma in the middle of one of their
battles. But
something was different about this one. Neither of
them seemed to be intent on killing one another, but were actually--what was
it--enjoying themselves?
Normally, Akane would whip out
her mallet and use it on Ranma to stop him from picking on Ryoga, but this
different battle style made her hesitate. She sat in the corner next to
Ryoga's pack and watched quietly as Ryoga tripped Ranma, who stumbled backwards
and knocked the pack over.
"Clumsy, Ranma! Come
get me!"
Ranma laughed, got up, and ran
after Ryoga again. Akane picked up the pack, and a folded paper fell out
of it. She picked it up, and realized that it was a newspaper clipping
from Denver, Colorado. Curious, she unfolded it completely.
"HERO"
One word. Hero. And
over the word, a picture of Ryoga, looking terribly embarrassed. Akane
wrinkled her brow, and read the accompanying article. Ryoga had rescued a
lost boy, bringing
him to safety. His wealthy parents had offered him a
reward, which he had refused. According to Ryoga's story, the boy had
treated a poisonous snakebite that he had sustained, and as far as he
was
concerned they were even.
Ranma and Ryoga were getting
tired. They looked at one another, smiled, and dropped their hands.
Ranma put his arm around Ryoga's's shoulder, and walked him to where Akane was
sitting.
"I missed you, buddy.
No one gives me a workout like you do."
Ryoga looked
embarrassed.
"Well, I had things to
do."
"Like
what?"
Ryoga sat on one side of Akane,
and Ranma on the other. Akane handed Ranma the clipping.
"Like this, Ranma.
Ryoga, that was a wonderful thing you did."
"Akane, I, I,
I."
Ryoga was furious at
himself. As usual, he couldn't talk properly when Akane smiled at
him. And the smile she was giving him now was making him melt. Then
Ranma laughed.
"Akane, don't tell me you
fell for this! It's gotta be a fake. Ryoga, where did you have this
printed up?"
As the words were leaving his
mouth, Ranma knew he'd made a mistake. His fiancee was glowing with
anger.
"RANMA NO BAKA! How
could you doubt this?"
Ranma leaned back in the vague
hope that he could avoid Akane's mallet, and was saved by Kasumi's voice, which
distracted her.
"Oh, there you are,
Ryoga! I've made tea for your friend. Won't you come in?"
^^^^^
David put down his teacup when
Ryoga walked in with Ranma and Akane, and shook hands with both of them.
So this was the girl his friend was so crazy about? It looked like she
wasn't very happy with her fiance at the moment.
"You speak Japanese very
well, David."
"Thank you, Akane.
I've been taking lessons for a long time now. I'm glad I can finally use
it. Ryoga is going to show me around Japan."
Ranma's eyes opened as wide as
they could get.
"Um, unless you want to
wander in circles..."
Akane pinched his hand under the
table, and he yelped, but Ryoga laughed.
"He knows, Ranma. His
father hired a guide for us."
They sat around the table
together, talking and drinking their tea, until it was quite late. Then
David reluctantly got up.
"I guess we should get back
to the hotel, Ryoga. Thank you for your hospitality. I'll come see
you all again before I go back home."
Akane poked Ranma, and whispered
into his ear. He turned rather red, but got up and offered his hand to
Ryoga.
"Sorry I doubted your
story, Ryoga. I should have known better."
Ryoga just laughed.
"No problem,
Ranma."
He looked down at Akane, but she
had her eyes on Ranma, with that look again. The look he wouldn't be
seeing directed at him. David caught it too, and understood what it
meant.
^^^^^
The door closed behind them, and
the two friends got into the waiting car. As the driver started the
engine, David took a good look at Ryoga. He expected Ryoga to be upset,
but he was smiling.
"You
okay?"
"Yeah, I guess I am.
Let's go have some fun."
Ryoga looked behind him as the
Dojo disappeared, and told himself that there were a lot of things to do that
were fun that did not include the word Akane. All he had to do was find
them.
-------------------------
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