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Ryouga's Discovery
by Chris Jones
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Sergeant David Coffler, LAPD, had faced down serial
killers, gangsters, drug addicts and rabid lawyers, but he
trembled in horror before the only thing that really held any
terror for him.
"David, do you think this dress looks good?"
*Oh, lord no...* he pleaded.
"It doesn't make me look fat, does it?"
"Ummm... No! No, dear! It looks just great! Really!"
And it did. How the rather diminutive Japanese woman
could think her figure was anything short of astonishing was
beyond him, but David had discovered that his wife was
extraordinarily vain.
It took a small fortune to keep the woman in makeup,
and, living in the silicone capital of the world, he had to
convince her monthly that no, she did not need a boob-job.
Natural D-cups weren't enough?
"You think I look okay?" the woman asked.
"Of course, Yuri. You look great!"
The woman tossed her long, apparently natural, red mane
and stared disdainfully in the mirror. She cupped her breasts,
adjusting them beneath the fabric of her gown. She sighed, and
clenched her fists.
"I'm just not as young as I used to be," she complained.
"You're twenty-four, Yuri," at least he *estimated* that
she was twenty-four. It was hard to tell sometimes... It was
one of the concessions you made when someone you loved had
amnesia.
"But..."
David put a finger to his wife's lips. "You look great.
You look so good that all the other women will be jealous! You
know that, honey."
Yuri nodded and held her hands out to her husband.
He took them and pulled her in close for a kiss.
"Not too much," Yuri scolded teasingly. "You'll mess up
my face."
"Yes dear,"
His wife smiled and began to fasten her earrings.
After only a few more minutes of 'adjustments', David
and Yuri proceeded to their car.
"I was planning on 'Last Impact'," David informed his
wife as they pulled out of the driveway.
Yuri nodded. Action movies really were her favorite.
David knew that there was nothing she liked better than to
pull her hair into a ponytail and mimic fight scenes along
with the latest Jackie Chan video.
As they parked the car, David noticed a bit of commotion
near the front of the theater.
It didn't seem to be violent, but he had not survived
ten years in South Central L.A. by not trusting his instincts.
David reached under his front seat, and pulled out a shoulder
holster. He put a clip in his pistol and concealed it beneath
his sport coat.
Yuri looked concerned, but David pulled his badge out of
his breast pocket, and hung it on his hip pocket for easy
access.
"I'm certain it's nothing," he assured her.
Knowing what her husband considered nothing, Yuri stood
well away from her husband as they walked up to the front of
the theater.
The ruckus was centered around three young men. Two were
obviously employees of the theater. The third appeared to be a
vagrant of some sort. His clothes were dirty and worn, and he
was violently angry, and screaming in Japanese.
"LAPD," David called out, holding up his badge. "What
seems to be the problem here, gentlemen ?"
The two uniformed youths backed away from the angry
young Japanese man.
"He just walked up to the door and started trying to get
in without a ticket," one of them stated.
"You have to buy a ticket if you want to see a movie,"
David said, hoping against hope that the young man spoke
English.
Clenching his fists, and shouting angrily, the young man
strode up to him and began shouting in rapid fire Japanese.
David shook his head as the man got closer to his face.
Finally, he decided there was no other recourse. He held his
jacket open so that the young man could see his weapon.
"Listen, pal. I don't thing you're from around here, but
if you don't calm down, you're gonna go downtown. Capice?"
The young man seemed taken aback by the sight of the
pistol, but he was still shouting. David knew so little of the
language, but he did catch a pleading tone to the man's voice.
He motioned to his wife, who was standing in the safety
of the theater's doorway.
"Yuri, can you tell me what this guy's saying?"
Yuri looked intently at the young man. "He says he's
looking for a high school. A Japanese high school, I think."
As Yuri spoke, the young man stared at her in drop jawed
amazement.
"What's with you?" Yuri asked in Japanese.
"Ranma! I've found you!" the man shouted.
Feeling old responses coming back to her, Yuri pointed
at her nose. "Me? I think you've got the wrong person."
Surely... surely she couldn't have known him before the
accident. Before she lost her memory.
"Ranma, I can't belive it! And here I thought I was in
Tokyo! What are you doing dressed like that? Who's this guy?"
"Listen, I don't know what you're talking about. My name
is Yuri, not Ranma. This is my husband, and he's going to
arrest you if you don't start making some sense!"
"Ranma, I know I hit you on the head, but you have to
come back with me. Akane's upset because we fought, and I'd
rather die than see her angry anymore."
"Listen I--"
Yuri was rather surprised to see another young man clasp
his shoulder, and turn the first young man around.
"Hey, this guy causin' problems?" the pigtailed youth
asked in Japanese.
The first young man began to mutter incoherently.
Yuri turned to see her husband speaking with a young
woman with short hair, who was speaking in broken English.
"He my friend, yes? He get fight and lost and....
ummm... we take him back hotel. Is okay?"
David sighed and nodded. The young woman bowed several
times in apology.
"Just try to keep him out of trouble," David warned.
"C'mon, pig-boy," the pigtailed youth prompted, leading
the bandanna clad young man away from Yuri and her husband.
"Weird," David muttered.
"I'll say," Yuri responded.
"Man, Ryouga? Don't you ever think?" she heard the
pigtailed boy scold the confused young man. "How could you
think that was me?"
"But-but-but..."
"You're a moron, P-chan."
"Leave him alone, Ranma!" the young woman shouted
angrily. "Ryouga just gets lost easily, right Ryouga?"
Yuri shook her head. "How odd..."
- - -
Not what you were thinking, ne? ^_^
'The CLAN' parts 6-9 are typed, and pending pre-reading and/or some
revision. Just so you know...
Chris
* * *
Chris Jones - hamster@arn.net
The Ranma 1/2 Gallery: http://cyberwheel.simplenet.com/ranma
"Give a man a fish, and you will feed him for a day; Teach him
to use the Net and he won't bother you for *weeks*."
- Phil Proctor -