While I was in the middle of writing Part 11, it ended itself rather
abruptly and in a very WAFFy manner. I'm working to lengthen it replace some
of the heart-wrenching angst with humor. Man, this thing is getting out of
control...
They do that. :)
Also, I've moved my pages off of Crosswinds. The new address is at the
top of the fic and in my sig.
And now, our feature presentation:
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Ranma 1/2 "The Nature of the Curse"
Hard Battle Story by Douglas MacDougall
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Originally posted 25 Mar 1999.
The latest parts and revisions of this story are available at:
http://www.thecia.net/~dougmacd/fanworks/
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Part 10 Behind the Invisible Barrier
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Daisuke grinned, "I thought your precious Ukyo wasn't violent like the
grinned.
"I'm only too happy to present by body for her needs. If that's what it
my body
Geez, you'd do well with any of Ranma's fiancees. Why settle with Ukyo?"
settle for {?}
"I'm really sorry about hitting you earlier, y'know? It was just a
reflex. Nothing personal" She flashed a smile.
personal."
Ukyo seemed doubtful, but seemed to accept the statement. "O-kay... I
didn't realize you were so upset by me hitting you. Just don't joke around
like that again Okay? Treat me like one of the guys!" Hiroshi numbly
again.
nodded. "Great. Don't forget to stop by Ucchan's! Later!" With that, she
jogged away, her spatula swaying side to side.
swaying from
"Let me guess. Tears of the broken hearted?"
broken-hearted?"
"She thought I was joking..." he sniffled
sniffled.
"Hey, Ukyo!" yelled Daisuke. "Its wasn't a joke! Hiroshi's desperately in
"It
The other boy grabbed Daisuke and pulled him to the ground. He swung his
head wildly about in a frantic search for Ukyo, but didn't see her. Pinning
him to the ground, he yelled at his so-called friend. "What're you CRAZY!?!
you,
As the coach placed another hurdle on the track, he noticed two of his
better rugby players sprinting around the edge of the field. Watching them,
he felt a little pride.
{But not much. :) }
"Good hustle, Daisuke!"
"Heeelp!"
{laugh! Good scene. I like the way you handle those two.}
Little exercises like this were second nature to him, and he found himself
performing them whenever he was anxious or bored. They were ingrained on him
ingrained in him by his father
from his father, who had turned his every waking moment into some form of
training. Anything Goes Steal the Pickle. Anything Goes Sleep In Another
Five Minutes. Anything Goes Standing Still...
{I like this notion. Very plausible.}
"So can I can you a few more questions?"
can I ask you
hide the tamp-- the box somewhere he couldn't check it. Hell, if she did hide
it, then Nabiki would want to know why, and that wasn't a raod he wanted to go
road
Well, Akane seemed to think this book thing was a good idea, so he'd
finish answering Akira's questions. Better to get them over as soon as
possible. Besides, there couldn't be anything more embarrassing then a guy
than
having a period, right?
{Oh, Ranma, how wrong you can be...}
"What's your problem, anyway? Are you some sort of pervert of something?
pervert or
"Hey, Akane, why don't you tell Akira how--" As he turned back to face
him, he noticed that the boy in question was frozen in mid-windup with a
sizeable bucket of water.
{Akira must have been counting on the "blind spot". Oopsie! :) }
Akane didn't believe that for a moment, and said as much. "I've known
Ranma for over a year now, and I've seen him do just about everything,
experience every emotion, in both of him forms. He's the same person,
of his forms
Ukyo beamed a smile at him. She leaned into Ranma's shoulder and put her
arm around her back. "Ranma honey's my fiance!"
Ranma-honey {I like "Ran-chan" better, but up to you...}
Akane frowned at the remark, and where Ukyo's hand was. Only she was
holding two book bags and the bucket, and didn't want to appear rude to
Ranma by shoving her childhood friend away. So she just glared.
{She's mellowed a bit. Being rude hasn't kept her from clobbering Ranma
before when other girls came on to him; now it does. Applause.}
Akira looked at her, scratched his chin, and then muttered to himself,
"Yeah, that should do it." He took a step forward, so he was right next to
Ranma, towering next to her. Ranma didn't back up. She continued to make
{suggest} right in front of Ranma, towering over her.
direct eye contact, turning up her head to look straight into his eyes. The
{suggest} tilting up
front of her slender neck was completely exposed.
It was not an action a martial artist would normally take, leaving herself
wide open in such a vulnerable place. Ranma was clearly daring Akira,
expressing her disdain for the boy's ability to do anything to her, even with
the opening. Akane wondered if Akira even knew the meaning of the posture.
{I didn't, but it sure makes sense. Applause.}
"Gross changes is right." Ranma muttered, but she couldn't quite bring
right,"
"Maybe you do. Maybe you act like a girl... like a woman, but you don't
act feminine." Ranma started gnashing her teeth. "The two don't mean the
same thing. It could be that your cursed form is a tomboy."
{Good distinction!}
"Ranma, you only change sexes, so there's little to no evidence to make
{suggest} little or no
you aware of your blind spot. The only curses that have a lesser
transformation are the personality pools. In fact, because they have no
physical change, there's NO way to become aware of the blind spot. People
so cursed are completely victim to the mental effects."
{Hmm. I'm following along with this, nodding. Akira has a great future as
in education. :) }
"It's all a matter of degree, but yes. No physical change leave no clues
leaves
and thus no way to escape the mental changes. Large changes can be noticed by
victim, and the make the mental changes relatively easy to avoid. Slight
they {or perhaps} thus {?}
changes, such as your case, make the mental changes avoidable, but not without
constant vigilance.
vigilance."
Ranma muttered to herself, "So I'm LUCKY to turn into a girl, am I?
Ryoga, you stupid jerk..."
Akane blinked. What did she mean by that?
{Hah! She said SHE! Akane thinks Ranma's a girl!}
Akane refrained from commenting that she had known the cursed (and adult)
Ranma for longer, and that they saw each other more regularly. He did live in
the same house with her, after all. She should be the one to say whether she
acted like a man or not!
{AAA! She did it again!}
"And you say he's never acted like a girl."
"No!" she responded defiantly.
At least not very well, added Akane mentally.
{snicker. Like Akane's a good judge...}
"N- Uh, well, he dressed up like a girl a couple times, but not because
he wanted to or anything."
{You might want to add some attributions here. It took me a couple of passes
to figure out that this was still Ukyo speaking.}
"So he's never been attracted to a guy?"
"No, of course not!"
Akane and Ranma looked at each other just long enough to start blushing
horribly. They stared at the ground in silence.
{*blink* Oh dear.}
"What?" her defiant tone was completely back.
Her {also "had returned", perhaps?}
Akira's only answer was to point at the nervous, fidgeting couple. Ukyo's
eyes widened in surprise at she looked first at Akane, and then Ranma. She
gave Ranma's shoulder a little shake to snap him out of it, had little effect.
it, but it had
After a few moments of silence, Akira said, "I'm sorry. I'd like to talk
more, but I'm supposed to meet Mu-Tsu, granny, and Xian-Pu at the Cat Cafe in
Granny,
Ukyo watched the finacees run off into the distance, out of sight. So the
fiancees {Since this is from Ukyo's POV, "couple", "pair", or even "two girls"
might be more appropriate than "fiancees", though...}
wasn't very feminine, but she'd neither could she be called masculine. She
but neither
was just violent. Uncute. Ukyo, however, could be both.
Feminine and masculine, that is. She wasn't violent or uncute!
{heheh. I was just about to say... :) }
"He got those weird ideas two days ago. Apparently after he decided that
Apparently he {?}
plummeted into the canal. The two started resumed their walk home side by
two resumed
hears him saying he loves me, they'll... I don't know. Think he's finally
They'll think {?}
you're not in lo-- (uh) That you don't...return his feelings. Everyone knows
you're a guy.
guy."
"But it's not the same thing! I'm not talking about respect, or which
you'd rather learn from, but what a person would believe more."
{He IS talking about respect, of course. Ranma is very concerned with his
"face". He, er, she'd still say the above, of course.}
She inhaled deeply, taking in the scents of Akane's hair, and the short
strands tickled her ear and cheek. It smelled nice. She wondered what sort
of shampoo she used.
{Formula 119. :) }
"Ryoga!" Ranma called out and waved with her free arm, finally lifting
her head off of Akane. There was a slight crick in her neck, and her ear hurt
a bit, but she figured it was worth the cost.
{It sure is. Well-described.}
Akane turned around, too, and saw the lost boy, "Oh, Ryoga! It's good to
boy.
Ryoga's grin split his face and he started running towards couple.
the couple.
A wind picked up and blew at her hair and skirt. She started to walk back
home, thinking about the events. What's wrong, Ranma? Why do you act like
you do? Don't you want to be seen with me?
{The old conundrum: Ranma himself doesn't know why he feels the way he does,
how's Akane supposed to figure it out?}
Kuno's thoughts of his true loves was temporarily derailed by a severe
concussion. Landing skull-first on the concrete had a tendency to do that.
With practiced ease, he let himself fall to the side, and instantly righted
himself into a cross-legged sitting position, from which he observed the
world. Where had his fiery-tempered Ranma knocked him to, now?
{Nice.}
"Kuno turned to face the well-intentioned passerby. Aha! Ranma had sent
Kuno
Kuno began chuckling. "You sought to escape me, did you, Tsu? But your
victim Ranma has thrown of the chains with which you sought to bind her, and
off
"Well that was a mistake, I--"
Well,
He blinked, and started whimpering. Yes, Kuno had forced the truth even
out of one such as he. "You can't be serious! You can't blame me just
because we were in the same country...!" Akira had finally backed himself
against a wall.
{He don't know Kuno vewy well, do he? :) }
The boy dropped to his knees, "Wait! If you kill me, Ranma will remain
knees.
all of the passersby carefully avoided looking at the two young men. No doubt
aware of Kuno's right of samurai heritage to deal with the cur in any way he
No doubt they were aware {?}
not let such a thing happen. For above all else, Takewaki Kuno was a man.
For,
Although he no doubt would be the very image of feminine beauty...
{glurk!}
"No doubt you'll seek to escape your imprisonment. I must fist... subdue
first {?}
The description was right on the nose. "You do know him! Why the hell
did you let a sadist like him into the Tendos?"
Tendos'
pectoral. It twitched powerfully, which seemed to take even Ranma aback. "I
seem to recall giving YOU a few nose-bleeds." She smirked.
{Yes, but only when Ryoga didn't know who she was. It's passing strange that
Ryoga is so very clear on the notion that onna-Ranma isn't a girl... perhaps
because Ryoga is also Jusenkyo-cursed?}
He grinned, and leaned against Ranma's head. "Oh, he's been no bother at
all." He started to rub his knuckles against the bump on Ranma's head.
{THis is very Ryoga. Applause.}
"C'mon pig-boy. This'll just take a minute."
C'mon,
She remembered the first time they met. He had thought the okonomiaki
okonomiyaki
"C'mon, P-Chan!"
"You shut up, Ranma!"
Wait. It couldn't be that... That Ryoga...?
No.
No way!
{Screech! I thought Akane was going to leap to the conclusion that onna-Ranma
had the hots for Ryoga and/or the reverse, possibly based on lingering
side-effects of the koi-rod incident... rats. :) Akane's train of thought
here is possibly a bit too weak to drag her to the notion that P-chan is
Ryoga, considering how thick she's been about it before, and that she's seen
Ryoga fall into cold water and not change (the soap), but I'll let you get
away with it. :) }
She grabbed one of the many buckets in the kitchen and started filling it
with water from the tap. As it filled, Akane let the thoughts from her own
mind flow out. She wouldn't-- Couldn't! think about the consequences if what
couldn't!--
"You find the number?" asked Ranma.
"Is there anything you need help with?" added Ryoga.
Akane smiled...
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End Part 10 Next Time: "Don't You Know? It's Love!"
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And for the more quibbl^H^H^H^H^H^H attentive readers, I remind you that
The Nature of the Curse is based off the Ranma animation, not the manga.
(Ryoga got a nosebleed when he met Ukyo in the TV series, but not in the
comics.)
{Anime AND manga. Jusendo. Wedding.}
Another thought-provoking chapter, and I'm looking forward to seeing how
Ryoga gets out of this one.
Thanks for writing and sharing!
Vince Seifert Network Analyst seifertv@csus.edu
Techie: http://webpages.csus.edu/~seifertv/
Fanfic: http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seifertv/toth/
CSUS hired me to build their LANs, not to give away the homeworld.