Ranma 1/2: Sibling Rivalry

	[Note: This story takes place after The Herb story arc.]

	Ryoga Hibiki stood in front of his home and sighed as he opened
the front gate. "I wonder how long it'll take me to find the front door
this time?" he wondered as he staggered into his yard weakly.
	A familiar barking came from the home and Ryoga smiled as his dog
ran out to greet him followed by several other pups almost as large as
she was. "Hello Checkers. Your puppies have really grown." he said
cheerfully as she ran excitedly around his legs with the puppies jumping
and barking around him. He flinched as the smile brought a familiar pain
to his face.
	"That damn Chinese bastard hits pretty hard." he muttered to
himself as he allowed the dogs to lead him into the home. 
	Once inside he wandered around a bit and entered the kitchen
after a half hour of searching or so. He wasn't expecting to see what he
saw.
	"Mom! Dad!" he cried as his parents looked up from the table in
shock. He rushed to them excitedly, "When did you get here? It's been so
long!" he said with tears of joy running down his face as he embraced the
pair.
	"Ryoga? You've grown so much!" cried the pretty woman in her late
thirties. Ryoga's father was a broad shouldered man of about forty, he
had on a business suit and a large traveling pack sat at his side. In his
hand was a news paper from Kyushu. Ryoga grabbed him in a rough hug and
the man gasped in shock.
	"Boy, you've grown strong!" he said with an approving smile. He
pat his son on the back as hard as he could and Ryoga simply smiled
dumbly. "Stronger than I? At only seventeen years?" thought the man to
himself in wonder with a little jealousy as he realized the boy hadn't
even noticed his playful jesture.
	"Really Ryoga dear, your a little old to be calling me 'Mother'."
said the woman with a small blush.
	Ryoga froze and looked at her. "What?" he said with the smile
still on his face.
	"You should call me Auntie Korochi now, your not six anymore."
said the woman as she showed off a golden band on her finger.
	"Why Kimiko, congratulations sister!" said his father.
	Ryoga stood in silent shock. His mind raced as fast as it could
to search for an explanation. "She's never worn a ring before now?"
Ryoga's face twisted into a mask of confused anger.
	"You mean, your not my mother?" he said as calmly as he could.
His fist shook at his side and he stared at the two people as hard as he
could.
	"N-no, Ryoga dear. You thought I was...?" stammered the woman in
shock as she exchanged confused glances with the elder Hibiki.
	"No-one-ever-told-me." said Ryoga as the anger threatened to
block out his senses. He spoke in very controlled and deliberate words.
	A horrible dawning came over Mr.Hibiki, "How could he have
known?" he thought. 
	The last time they were all together was more than five years
ago, and even that time was very brief. He was very reluctant to discuss
the boy's mother with anyone.
	Ryoga was developing a strange glow and he was growling between
his teeth. His world had just come crashing down around him. The woman
shrank back in terror and watched him with wide eyed fear.
	"My god! What are you?!" she stammered as she backed into the
kitchen counter as she groped behind her searching for an escape, unable
to pull her eyes away from the enraged boy and the burning blue flame
that formed around him.
	Mr. Hibiki stood staring at his son and the power that surrounded
him in shocked awe. He realized that he was much stronger than he had
thought possible. He also saw that he was very angry and all of the anger
was focused on his sister. He tensed himself and stepped forward. 
	"Ryoga stop." he said quietly.
	"My life, my family, it was all a lie." said Ryoga as he held his
hands towards the sky. A growing sphere of energy began to form in his
hands, it was about the size of a baseball and was growing very rapidly.
The elder Hibiki realized that what ever it was it would not be good for
him and his sister to find out about it right now. It was about the size
of a soccer ball at this point.
	"Ryoga, stop this. It wasn't her fault, if you must kill for this
kill me." said the man in a gruff voice as he stood bravely between Ryoga
and his sister.
	The words managed to reach the boy and his eyes cleared up a bit.
"Kill?" he said in a daze. "No I can't!" he screamed as he realized what
he was doing. He shifted his hands and the ki he had formed downward and
turned  away from his family towards the wall. He felt the sheer force of
moving all of the pent up ki tear at his body mercilessly. He screamed as
the blast finally erupted from his hands and disintegrated the kitchen
wall. "Shi shi houkou dan!" he cried reflexively as he felt his body
completely drain in seconds. He looked around and saw that he had just
destroyed half of his yard and a good portion of the neibors, a large
smoking crater was all that remained where the grass and fence had once
been. He fell to the ground in exhaustion.
	He woke several minutes later still in the same position with his
family looking at him in horror. They had not tried to move him or help
him up. "Wh-what are you?" said the woman with tears in her eyes as she
gazed on him in complete terror. Ryoga only looked at her.
	"Son, what was that?" said the man finally.
	"My depression." answered the boy.
	
	Ryoga stood next to his father on a hill several hours later
overlooking the ocean. "My son, I am sorry that I never told you about
your mother. I thought you knew." said the man after a few moments of
silence.
	"How could I have known?!" said Ryoga bitterly as he glared at
the man.
	"The family curse of course. Only those born of Hibiki blood have
it. You have it, I have it, my sister has it, your grandparents had it,
all of our family for generations." said the man with a sad smile. "Your
mother was not born a Hibiki and therefore, did not have our curse."
	Ryoga's face softened a little. "I'm sorry I blew up our house."
he stammered looking ashamed. 
	"Don't worry about that son. We didn't use it that much anyway.
I'm more worried about your aunt, she's likely to run away screaming the
next time she sees you. Besides it is only natural for people like us to
take up the art." said the man with a small laugh.
	"You mean you?" said Ryoga looking interested.
	"Yes, I also have trained in some forms of martial arts." said
Mr. Hibiki with a smile.
	"Do you think...you could teach me a little?" asked Ryoga
timidly.
	"I'm afraid, my boy, that -you- could teach -me- a great deal
more than I could teach you." said the man simply.
	"Oh, I see." said Ryoga looking slightly disappointed, but not
too much. He felt secretly proud that he had surpassed his father
already, but it wouldn't be polite to say that now.
	"Could, you tell her I'm sorry? I realize that it wasn't her
fault I didn't know." stammered Ryoga looking embarrassed.
	"Of course I will. She will forgive you, I'm sure of it." said
the man as he stood looking out over the water. There was another long
and comfortable silence as they both watched the sun edge towards the
horizon. 	"Ryoga, sometimes I wonder what lies beyond the ocean.
What lies on the great continent beyond us? Do you ever wonder things
like that?" the man's face had taken a contemplative look as he gazed
over the horizon.
	"It's nothing special, just allot of trees and people who can't
understand us." said Ryoga with a slightly sour look on his face.
	"You speak as if you've seen it for yourself." laughed the elder
Hibiki as he continued to watch the sunset. "Our curse keeps us confined
to this Island. To wander beyond it would mean we would be forever lost.
Many Hibiki's have vanished off to the world beyond Japan...none have
ever returned." said his father calmly. "That is why I never told you
about your mother, I was afraid she might have moved to some foreign land
and you would search for her abroad never to return to us. I was cowardly
and foolish. My selfishness has cost me my home, and the trust of my
son."
	Ryoga stood silently and said nothing.
	"I met your mother in my travels many years ago, when I was just
a boy of about your age. We became friends and I visited her home often.
Eventually she became married to a man who traveled constantly. She was
terribly lonely and we spent allot of time together, but we were only
friends. He was a martial artist and was always away on a training voyage
or something. I was a lonely wanderer happy with any companionship or a
familiar face I could tell my travels too. It was a wonderful
relationship."
 	Once when he was away, we became drunk and one thing led to
another...Our honor was lost that night. I suppose the loneliness was
finally too much for her. I still regret that moment more than any other
in my life. We separated after that and decided that we should never meet
again." said the man as his face became hard and he gazed into the now
vanishing sun over the ocean. 
	Ryoga just looked at his father in complete shock. "I'm a bastard
son? An illegitimate child?!" he gasped. He did not know whether to be
angry or sad at that moment.
	"Nine months later she appeared at my door with a bundle in her
arms. You had been born and her husband had not known about her
pregnancy. She wanted me to take you in, and possibly save her marriage
and her husbands honor. I agreed." 
	Ryoga's mind spun as he tried to find some form of understanding
in all of this. He could not bring himself to be angry at his father, but
he had to do something, anything.
	"Who was she?" asked Ryoga after a long silence between the pair.

	Ryoga's father pulled out his wallet and handed a small and
tattered photo to the boy. "This is her. She was beautiful wasn't she?
Her name was Nodoka, Saotome Nodoka. Your real name is Saotome Ryoga. 
Even though you are my son, I never adopted you into my family legally
because we were afraid the legal work would be discovered by her husband.
It was just to risky."
	Ryoga looked into the face upon the photo in shock. He knew the
face staring at him all too well. "Saotome." he said in a daze. 
	The woman in the photo looked exactly like Ranma's cursed form.
"No." he said quietly. "No, it can't be!" he cried with his voice growing
louder. "NOOOOO! DAMN YOU RANMA!!!" he cried as he ran away from his
father who looked at him in confusion. 
	"Ranma?" said Mr.Hibiki to himself only half realizing that his
son had ran off.

	In a small well kept home in a suburb of Tokyo, Nodoka Saotome
sat flipping through a large photo album with a sad smile on her face.
She stopped on a photo of her holding a newborn baby and a tear rolled
down her cheek. 
	Her husband had always thought that it was a photo of his son.
The pair were born so near after each other that it wasn't difficult to
convince him that it was. Secretly she knew. It was her first born son,
she had never even named him as she spent only a precious few hours with
the child. Her friend, Hana Tendo, had helped her keep the child secret
from him and had taken the photo of them together. She often wondered if
it would have been better to keep him. She had delighted in her second
son and saw it as a way to make up for her lost child. She could raise
him and experience motherhood the way she should have, but her husband
had other plans. Kami had been cruel indeed, she was punished for
escaping with her honor by losing her second son as well. 
	She felt the tears flowing down her face as she sobbed
uncontrollably over the photo's of her children. She tried to compose
herself and succeeded a little. Her face grew cold and she looked over at
the family katana on the wall, she had given up so much to keep her
honor. Now she would make sure that her husband would not lose it with
his foolish promise. She could not sacrifice her son a third time. But if
he was not manly as she expected, her husband would retain his, and the
families, honor. Then she would begin a new life with her daughter,
Saotome Ranko, by her side. She understood why they were hiding like
that, and she would give the boy a fair chance to prove he was manly.
Still, she had to find a way to shed their seemingly magical disguises
first. 
	"Perhaps if I hit her with the tea kettle? That seems to be how
they do it." she wondered.

	Ryoga Hibiki sat at a dying fire in a small thatch of woods
somewhere in Japan. He did not care where he was, even if it was Nerima
he would not even try to find the Tendo dojo this trip. He had too much
thinking to do. He gazed at the stars in contemplation.
	"Damn you Ranma, you've taken every thing from me! My life, my
dignity, my honor, my humanity, my love, and now even my mother." he
thought as an angry scowl formed on his face. It softened and he smiled
slightly, "I wonder what she's like? I hope she isn't much like him." He
stood and put out the remains of the fire, went into his tent. "Does she
even want to meet me? Should I look for her? Why can't this be simple?"
he thought as he lay down to sleep. "As much as I hate to say it, I need
to talk with Ranma...but what do I tell him?"  he asked himself as he
finally dozed off.

	TBC...

C&C to Catbert25@juno.com

	This is my answer to all the so and so is related to so and so
fics out there. It seems to me that people seem to think that just
because two people find out they are related that they will both
instantly bond and forget anything that happened between them. This is a
common idea among fics with Ukyo being the number one choice for relation
to Ranma, Akane coming second, and Ryoga being a distant third. Every
time they instantly get along and cheerfully solve all the problems of
the Ranmaverse. 
	It sickens me. 
	I don't want to give too much away at this point but Ranma and
Ryoga's relationship will not change that much. I haven't even decided
what Ranma will think of all this when he finds out about it. I'm not
even sure HOW he finds out about it yet. Ryoga isn't the type to just run
up to Ranma with a hug and scream that he's his brother. Ryoga is shamed
because he is a bastard and only Ranma's half brother. He is also likely
to realize that this -may- help his chances with Akane. If he marries her
then the contract is still technically valid, He was never adopted by the
Hibiki's so legally he's still a Saotome.
	It could destroy his chances as well, and he knows it. 
	He could also come to disagree with Ranma even more because of
this. [After the Herb story Ryoga tends to treat Ranma more like a friend
he doesn't want anyone to know he likes. He likes to think he wants to
kill him, and they still fight but he wouldn't really hurt him.] Nodoka's
presence may make him a bit more tolerant of Ranma's unthinking attitude,
but his treatment of her will probably start more than a few fights.
[Read: 'Ranko'] It is also another common ground for them to argue more
comfortably and actually gives them a reason to talk. Not that they'll do
much of that anyway.
	It seems like allot of explanation I know but I'll need it for
what I'm trying to write here. I hope to do a few things you don't
expect, but try to keep the underlying spirit of things still in Ranma.
[This isn't a WAFFy fic, but it shouldn't be too dark either.]
	Ja
Catbert25
	BTW, In the opening scene Ryoga was referring to an injury he
received in his battle with Lime. [Or was it Mint? I don't really
remember, and it isn't all that important.]

�Sigh�, yet another fic started. It would have bothered me till I wrote
it if I had tried to forget about it and concentrate on what I should
have been writing this weekend.

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