Donny Cheng wrote:

Another Time, Same Place

Yay. Been waiting for this one. Probably my favorite next gen series. Now I
have a chance to comment on it.

Chapter 5:  Past Remembered

trip and that situation with Taro had affected him more then he could

ever

believe.  He was starting to believe 

Two believes are close together. I'd change the second one to 'think'

that he could survive in this new
world of his. 

Now that is a mistake. 

He glanced out the window and the bright sky mirrored his
hopes.

Since this is Ranma, that's going to change real quick. ^_^

	His eyes wandered and rested on the house beside their own.  He 
felt the return of the dull ache that threatened to collapse his heart.
Akane was there in the yard with Ryoga and Eiko playing tag.  He wanted

to

turn away, but forced his eyes to stay put.  He could do this.  He will 
get on with his life and was surprised again to find that it was true. 

It

was then he turned away, the smile no longer on his face, but the deep
depression was also missing.  In their place was acceptence and that

would

have to do for now, Ranma felt.  He went down to get some breakfast.

			* * * * *

A nice little scene of showing him slowly adapting to his new environment.

	"Don't worry about it.  He did deserve it," Ryoko said helpully in
answer to Perfume's unspoken thought.  Perfume's face displayed the clear
internal struggle that was happening as emotions wrestled each other upon
it.  "You remember what Auntie Nabiki used to say about him, right?  He
just doesn't think before he talks most of the time."

Ryoko: And we never screw up by doing things like that.

	How could she forget, Perfume wondered.  To hear of Auntie talk of
Ranma, one would think he were a monster.  That was Auntie Nabiki's 
nature.  Unlike Mother, she didn't hold any illusions to what Ranma was
really like.  And unlike Father, she also didn't think that Ranma was a
total waste of human flesh.  That wasn't entirely true as Mother's
passions and Father's anger dimmed with age.

Back at the Neko-hantan:

Shampoo: *SIGH* Sometime Shampoo wonder what life would have been like if
Ranma husband.

Mousse: I knew it. He came back into our lives to steal you away again! DIE
SAOTOME!!!


Yes, Perfume sighed. Her parents had definetly left their past behind them.

	 Ranma, as Auntie was fond to put it, was not the brightest star
in the sky.

Biggest ego around though. That should count for something.

	Now that he was here in her midst, Perfume was slightly
dissappointed that she had been right.  Though not as bad as her father
once made him out to be, it was closer to the mark than her mother that
was for sure. 

Hehehe. I can imagine the portrait Shampoo would have painted. 

Her mother fell in love with that type of guy?  They were a
dime a dozen at Furinken. 

Heheh. Somehow I doubt that. Perfume still has so much to learn. 

Even so, she hadn't the right to treat him the
way she did since he came back.  He had no idea that of the first few
rough years of her parents' marriage.  He had no idea of the pain that

her

father went through to prove his worth.  He had no idea that... Mother

did

not fall in love with Father until well into their marriage.

	Indeed, he had shown signs of guilt and fear when he had thought
her parents were going to fight over him when he returned to the
Nekohanten for the first time in a long while.  That was the reason for
Perfume's guilt.  The person that made her early childhood years filled
with sadness for her parents didn't even know what he had done. 

I'd say so. He didn't plan on jumping into the future. Not that there
aren't some that wouldn't blame him anyway.

With each
increasing day,

I'd say 'With each passing day' 

that 'not so bad' trait of Ranma's made Perfume guiltier
of her actions towards the boy.  It was infuriating the way he could get
in under her skin one moment and completely astound her the next.

Un oh. Perfume better watch out. That 'ole Saotome magic is starting to
make a comeback. 

 She
sighed as she watched Ranma's expressive face devoid of any of the

sadness

he usually showed to the outside world.  To think that the one that could
have that kind of effect on him was only four years old.

			* * * * *

	Ranma glared angrily back at the crowd.  "Ugly?"

	"Ugly!  I don't see how a boy so ugly can attract the attention of
Yuu-sama," a girl yelled out from the crowd.

Now that was a mistake. 

	"Yeah, you pervert!  You're the one that's the cause for
Yuu-sama's behaviour.  If it weren't for you, we might be able to bring
him back to our side," another girl angrily said.

	Ranma ground his teeth together.  His jaw set stubbornly in place.
Ugly?  Hah!  He caught sight of his target walking into the school yard.
"Hey, Yuu-kun!  Over here.  Let me carry those books for you."

	"Huh?" Yuu said intelligently.  Ranma-sama!  "Uh... sure,
Ranchan," adopting his mother's nickname for the pig-tailed boy.

	Yukio glared jealously at Yuu.   Grabbing the thermos of cold> water she

carried for absolutely no reason at all, she splashed him. "Oh,

I'm so sorry!  It just slipped out of my hands."

Hahaha. Ranma's going to have a worse time of it than usual.

	The crowd, being Furinken students, didn't miss a beat.  "You vile
sorceress!  Unhand, Yukio-sama!" an enraged boy cried out.

	"Your presense mars the beauty that is our goddesss," another boy
quickly followed suit.

	If there was one thing of her cursed form Ranma was proud of was
her beauty.   She was convinced that the reason she was beautiful as a 
girl was solely because her real form was the definition of manly beauty.
"Heh, Yukio doesn't seem to think, so there!

Check the wording on that. If Yukio has any pride she should hit Ranma for
that. Perhaps you meant to say:

"Heh, Yukio doesn't seem to think so, so there" 

Of course since this is Ranma, usually the wrong words to come out of his
mouth.

C'mon Yukio, I'll walk you
to class."

Just throw some fuel into the fire, boy. 

	"Ranchan, wait for me!" Yuu called out, quickly uncorking his
thermos of hot water as fast as he could.

Poor boy's doomed. 

	"That egotistical..," Meiko said, showing an increasingly not so
rare display of emotion.

	"..idiotic..," Ryoko continued through gritted teeth.

	"....pervert!" Perfume finished angrily.  And to think she 
actually thought she might try to be nice to him.

Some things never change.

	"Ranma-kun is certainly something," Kasuga said helpfully.  It was
hard to say anything in a positive light like her mother taught him.

	"Ranma-san is certainly that," Tatewaki agreed.  He was still not
sure what to think about this new friend of there.  Even whether or not

he

was a friend in the first place was in question.

			* * * * *

	Mika forced herself to remain calm throughout the school day.  She
would not look at him.  She would not give anything away.  After so many
years of denial she had finally looked at the video tape of her parents
only loss in competition play to confirm something that stuck in her

mind.

Sure enough, the boy in the video tape was one Saotome Ranma.  She didn't
know how that was possible, but from the stories, these things happened
frequently when Ranma was around.  No matter, tonight would be the night
of her first tutorial session with him.  And teach Ranma a lesson, she
would.

Double uh oh. 

			* * * * *

	"Then there was the time, Ranma and us took on Principal Kuno.
You remember that, Daisuke?" Hiroshi asked his long time friend.

	"Of course.  This is the former principal we are talking about
here.  This guy had a major short hair fetish.  It it weren't for us most
of the students would have been bald for the rest of the school year.
Those were the days.  Hey, where'd Ranma go?  Anyway, where was I..?"

	Ranma had smartly decided to leave the two storytellers to
themselves.  He was surprised at the size of the crowd the two men drew.
"Do they do this everyday?  Don't they have jobs?" Ranma asked nobody in
particular.

	"I think that this is their job," Mika answered as she walked to
the boy.  Unlike most of the students, Mika hated to listen to the

stories

Hiroshi and Daisuke told.  Mostly because they would sometimes tell the
crowd of 'their' win over the golden pair.

Golden Pair should be capatalized, I think. 

 "Where do you want to have me
tutor you?  At your home?"

	If there was one thing Ranma had learned in the past it was that
one did not let anyone see oneself with another girl at any time. 

So some survival instincts are still intact. 

He
figured taking Mika home would not be advisable.  "Your place, if it

isn't

too far," Ranma answered.

	Mika nodded.  Perfect.  "Get your books ready, the limo will be
around in a few minutes."

	Ranma had the strange notion that Mika was licking her teeth as
she looked at him.  He shrugged it off as his mind just worrying about

the

fact that he was going to the home of a girl that looked like Azusa. 

Which is indeed cause for concern.

He
shuddered as he remembered the kleptomaniac of all things cute.
Fortunately, her daughter hadn't displayed the same qualities yet.

			* * * * *

	Meiko looked forlornly at Ranma chasing after Mika.  "I could have
tutored him in math."

	Ryoko and Perfume looked gave Meiko a look.

	"Er... well, you guys could.  Oh, never mind.  You guys are worse
than me."

	The three girls sighed.  That math test tomorrow was going to kill
them.

	"Is she still sore at Auntie Akane for defeating her parents?"
Tatewaki wondered aloud.

	Kasuga spared his friend a long glance.  Grabbing his first-aid
kit he headed off to the Sazanin estate.  He didn't have to look back to
know that Tatewaki was not far behind.

Heh.

			* * * * *

	<Whap>


	"You're just nodding your head and making me move along, aren't
you?" Mika sighed and picked up her eraser and started to remove the
unsightly scribbling in her neat workbook.  With the rate the were going,
the tutorial would end before she got a chance at revenge.  How
inconsiderate of the jerk!

	Mika cared too much of her reputation as the smartest girl in the
school to let this Ranma ruin it.  What would it say to the world if the
person she taught failed every test he took?  She will 

would 

not let a Saotome
make a fool of the Sazanin name ever again if she could help it.

You won't.

 

	Azusa punched Mikado lightly on the shoulder.  "C'mon, say it."

	Mikado glanced sheepishly at his wife, "Alright, alright.  We
always meant to tell you twenty years ago, but we never got around to it
and the next moment we knew, you were gone.  We just wanted to tell you
how sorry we are for the way we acted to you and Akane.

AHHHHHH!!!! SOMEONE JUST APOLOGIZED FOR THEIR BEHAVIOR! AND IT WAS THE
GOLDEN PAIR! AHHHHH!!!!

 We already
apologized to Akane, now we get the chance to do the same to you."

	Ranma's jaw dropped and he stared in shock at his two former
rivals.  "Mikado?  Azusa?  You guys haven't had any serious injuries to
the head in the last twenty years have you?"

	Mika would have whapped Ranma with the ruler again, but she too
was in shock.  "Father?  Mother?  Why are you apologizing to him for?
He's the one that ruined your record."

	"He's also the one that brought your father and I together," Azusa
said gently to her only child.

	Mikado nodded.  "After that tounament, I was taken to the
hospital.  There your mother came by and nursed me back to >health."

And grabbed all the cute bed pans she could.

	"Florence Nightingale?"  Mika had heard of this effect before.

	Azusa blushed and muttered a mumbled no.

	Mikado laughed, "Hey, it's alright, Honey.  I forgave you already.
Actually, your mother's visits extended my stay by a year.  She wasn't

the

best 'nurse' in the world.  She kept trying to take my bandages apart
because she thought they were cute.  Soon, the golden pair went into
anonymity with lack of ice time.  It was then I knew how much my 'fans'
cared about me.  In my bitterness, I noticed your mother for the first
time and the rest is history."

	"You married mother and went on to win every martial arts figure
skating competion you entered in.  You retired some years after I was
born," Mika finished.  She had gone over every aspect of her parents'
illustruous career and knew it off by heart.  She blushed as her parents
both smiled warmly back at her.  It had always been her dream to follow

in

her parents' footsteps.

	Ranma shuddered involuntarily at the thought of Azusa having a
child.  He looked over at Mika and had to admit that aside from being a
bit snobbish, she didn't look like anything Ranma would have guessed
Azusa's child would be like.

	"No, Ranma I 

Ranma. I

don't act that way anymore," Azusa said in answering
Ranma's unasked question.  She had caught Ranma giving her and her
daughter funny looks.  "I found Mikado to be all the 'cuteness' I need."

WAFF so thick you could cut it with a knife. ^_^

	"And I found that kissing Azusa a hundred times is more preferable
than kissing a hundred different girls."

Now I'm starting to gag.

	"Oh, Jean-Luc!"

	"Azusa-chan!"

	Ranma found himself to be sick for totally different reasons now.

Heheheh. That's better.

Mikado and Azusa didn't seem to notice that two children were in the room

friends are
here, they can help me teach you all night if we have to."

	"What?"  Friends?  Ranma looked around him and saw Nabiki's son
and Kasumi's son outside of the window looking in.

	"I should have known better than to hide myself from one such as
yourself," Tatewaki said as he came in through the open window of the
room.

	"I told you we should have just used the front door, Tatewaki."
Kasuga said, his face red with shame at their behavior.  "How did you

know

it was us, Miss Sazanin?"

	Mika gave them a wry look.  "Ranma wasn't the only person I heard
retching just a moment ago.

Hehhe.

 Also, my house doesn't have roses since I
hate them so much.  The only one stupid enough to bring them in my
presense could only be Tatewaki."

	"Again you astound me with your intellect.  Truly, only one
blessed by the gods would be so divine," Tatewaki replied, non-plussed at
Mika's apparent hatred of him.

A true Kunou then.

	Ranma awkwardly looked at boy and girl arguing with each other.
At least he thought they were arguing.  Neither one raised their 

	Kasuga smiled at Ranma.  "Don't mind them, Ranma.  They really
like each other.  It's just that they don't get along very well. 

Tatewaki

knew that Mika didn't like the two people that defeated her parents, 
Auntie Akane and you.  Mika tends to resort to physical violence even
though she doesn't condone it in others."

The Genma School of Philosophy then. Do as I say, not as I do.

	Ranma prudently said nothing.  One Kasumi had been more than
enough and there were now two of them.  Just when he thought life was
almost normal again.  He _was_ secretly glad that both Tatewaki and

Kasuga

were concerned about him.  He never had 'pals' before in the strict
definition of the word.

Of course he'll probably manage to do something to offend them.

	"Why can't I fight him?" Akane asked again.

	"Absolutely not!  Remember, you're not the heir to the dojo
anymore.  The dojo will belong to Meiko and Ranma when the marry," Ryoga
hoped that Akane would listen for once rather than act.  There was no way
he was going to let his wife subject to the diabolical art of this cocky
teenager.  He shuddered as he thought of Akane in this 'Ken's' hands.

	Akane nodded to her husband's wishes.  If she pushed him, she knew
that he would cry about her not liking her place in the Hibiki school.
Ryoga had learned a thing or two from her father on the Tendo art of
crying.

Heheh. Now that is a scary thought. 

 She watched as the dojo destroyer utterly defeat Hiro.  How on
earth did Kumon come up with this fearsome art of...

			* * * * *

	Lotion watched the Nekohanten from across the street.  Every time
the door swung open, she caught a glimpse of the bustling activity

inside.

There was a near-blind bus boy cleaning up the tables.  Though he was
often clumsy, she knew for a fact that the man easily surpassed her and
most amazons for that matter in skill.  In the far back, in the kitchen
was another extraordinary person.  That woman, had she still been in the
village, would have been the next matriarch of Joketsuzoku.

	"Haven't you been looking long enough?"

	Lotion whirled around to face the person that had crept up upon
her.  "Great-grandmother."

	Only three hundred years of experience stopped Cologne from
falling off of her staff.  "Ah, I take it that she had another child.
Well, what are you standing out here for.  Don't you want to meet your
sister?"

Uh oh. 

I do seem to be saying this a lot.

			* * * * *

	What could the two have been doing near Joketsuzoku?  Nothing must
interfere with Spice's plans.

	"You didn't tell him," Mint whispered as he poked at Lime.

	Spice's dragon lineage gave him a superior hearing to that of
normal humans.

That and his knowledge that his aides were idiots should be all he needs to
know if they're lying.

 "Tell me what," he asked softly knowing full well the two
idiots could here the silent rumbling in his voice.

	"Um... Mistress Lotion was seen in their company in China three
months ago.  She was also seen in Japan," Lime meekly added.

	"Prepare the ship.  We have a trip to make," Spice ordered
immediately.  He hadn't noticed that Lotion was gone.  He should have

paid

more attention to the happenings in Joketsuzoku.

And what is his interest in her, I wonder.

			* * * * *

The End. (maybe)

ARGH!!! I hope not. You still have a long way to go. Still like this story
a lot.

D.B. Sommer