(start 2 of 2)
***** Earth 0.000,0.000
Listlessly, Nabiki flipped through the pages of her magazine. It was
one of the many fashion magazines that she was normally quite addicted
to, but not today. It was very quiet in the Tendou household, too quiet
for Nabiki's tastes. She set down her magazine and laid back on her
bed, lacing her fingers behind her head as she stared up at the ceiling.
Akane had gone to the movies, so she was not home when their father
had been brought home by one of the men from the Directorate, the
Tendou patriarch reeking of sake. Since she and Kyouko had put Soun
to bed, the house had been quiet.
With a sigh, Nabiki rolled up to a seated position upon her bed. "I
can't believe how bored I am," she said to herself. Continuing her
dialogue silently, she thought, *If this was that other life, then I'm sure
something would be happening now.* Smirking at some of her new
memories, she thought, *Some sort of a challenge, a new enemy to test
myself against. Something exciting would be happening.* She fell
backwards to lay on the bed again. *It never stayed quiet for long
there.* Looking at her clock, she sighed, *I can't believe it's been only
one minute since I last looked at it.*
Nabiki suddenly smiled as she figured out something to do to pass the
time. She was absolutely certain that it would provide her with some
sort of distraction. Sitting up once again, she reached out with one
hand and picked up the telephone in her room, and her fingers began
swiftly stabbing at the buttons on the pad at the base of the phone. She
listened to the line ringing, once, twice, and then three times before it
was picked up.
"Hello? Saotome residence," said a pleasant female voice on the
other end.
"Hello," said Nabiki pleasantly. "Is Ranma available? This is Nabiki
Tendou calling." There was a pause on the other end.
"Tendou-san?" asked Nodoka, a little surprised. "No, I'm afraid that
my son isn't here right now. He and my husband left this morning to do
some work in Ranma's lab at the Academy. They still haven't returned."
*Even better,* thought Nabiki, finding herself eager to try Ranma's
device once again, even if only to peek into that one life once again. It
was amusing to visit, but she was glad that she didn't live there. She
cleared her throat with a delicate sound and said, "Oh, I see. Thank you
for the information."
"Nabiki-chan," said Nodoka suddenly, and perhaps a little too
eagerly. "I want you to know that I am looking forward to the meeting
with you and your father this week."
"Why, thank you, Saotome-san," said Nabiki with a smile on her face,
and a pleasant tone in her voice. "I am looking forward to it as well."
Her index finger slowly wound the phone cord around itself. "Ranma is
an interesting young man."
"I'm glad you think so," said Nodoka happily. "He works very hard
at his studies, and he should offer any girl a wonderful future as his wife.
Don't you think so?"
"Uh, I'm sure he will," said Nabiki, suddenly feeling a little awkward
at the unexpectedly high level of eagerness in Nodoka's voice. "My
father is most interested in joining our two families. He feels that
Ranma will make an excellent husband."
"I'm so happy to hear that," said Nodoka, her voice carrying the full
measure of her emotions. "But what about yourself, Dear? Aren't you
looking forward to meeting my husband and myself? I just know that
Ranma is looking forward to this meeting as well."
"He is?" asked Nabiki, a faint note of surprise surfacing in her voice.
"I mean, I'm sure he is." She felt oddly happy at the thought that Ranma
might be looking forward to a marriage meeting between their families.
"I am, too," she said impulsively, before a blush crossed her cheeks very
briefly. She slowly continued to wind and unwind the telephone cord
around her index finger repeatedly.
"It was nice of you to call, Nabiki-chan," said Nodoka. "Shall I pass
on any messages to my son?"
"No, that's all right," said Nabiki calmly, regaining control of her own
emotions with consummate skill. "I'll talk to him soon enough at the
Academy."
"Very well," said Nodoka pleasantly. "Goodbye now."
"Goodbye," answered Nabiki, setting the phone back into its cradle.
She rested her palms flat on her bed after hanging up the phone, staring
out the window at the afternoon sky. Her thoughts whirled a bit. *So,
Ranma is looking forward to the meeting with me and my father, huh?*
she mused, crossing her legs and leaning forward to rest her chin in her
palm. That honestly did surprise her a little, but it also brought a smirk
to her face. *Maybe I'll let him win once or twice to keep his hopes up.
It wouldn't do for my future husband to be seen as totally outclassed by
me. After all, he and I will know that he'll never defeat me on his own,*
she confidently smiled as she finished her thought.
"Well, it's not like there's anything really keeping me in this house
this
afternoon," Nabiki thought out loud, hopping off of her bed. "I'll just
go see what him and his old man are up to." She smiled as she changed
out of the shorts and T-shirt she was wearing, and putting on a clean set
of what she was now calling her 'martial artist outfit.'
When Nabiki was done dressing, she headed out of her room with a
confident bound and then down the stairs, two at a time. Pausing briefly
in the front door area, she slipped on her shoes before heading out into
the late afternoon sunshine. Her mood already lightened, she took in a
deep breath and let it out, feeling happy. As she headed in the direction
of the Academy, she hopped up onto one of the fences running beside
the street she needed to head down and began jogging along it, her steps
light and sure.
Reaching the Academy grounds after many minutes of running, her
breathing only a little deeper from the effort, Nabiki walked in through
the main gates and shaded her eyes against the late afternoon sunshine
coming over the main building. She saw that the grounds were all but
deserted, only a few of the janitorial crew washing windows on one side
of the building. She ignored them and walked into the main door.
The lights were out when she stepped off the last step in the staircase
leading down to the basement area. Pulling her small flashlight out of a
pants pocket, she played it around the corridor, wondering if Ranma and
his father were still here. *Looks like there was a some sort of a power
failure or something. Ranma and his dad are probably gone. Still, I
might as well take a quick check in his lab while I'm here, as long as I
came all this way.* She continued on down into the quiet darkness of
the basement regions of the Academy, her small light giving off a small
circle of illumination in front of her.
The door to Ranma's lab was closed, and Nabiki put her hand on the
knob and twisted it. To her surprise, the door was unlocked and opened
quite easily, making only a slight squeak. She peeked her head in and
called out, "Ranma? Are you in here?" As she did so, she brought her
small light up and played it around the room. Ranma leaving the door
to his precious lab unlocked had her a little disturbed. It did not seem at
all like him.
Nabiki's light revealed Ranma lying on the couch, his eyes closed, and
he did not appear to be breathing. She inhaled sharply, surprised at the
sight of him lying there and looking so still. She hurried over to his
comatose form, noting the interface headset resting on his skull as she
approached. A quick check showed that he was breathing, slowly and
shallowly, and she relaxed muscles that had unconsciously tensed with
concern and sighed with relief. She turned and looked at the resonator,
seeing a few lights blinking on the device, but the monitor screen was
dark.
"What have you done now, Ranma-kun?" Nabiki muttered, her light
moving across his face. He appeared to her to be sleeping, and she
peeled back one eyelid to see his eye staring up at her, unmoving. The
sheer emptiness in its gaze, almost corpselike, disturbed her, and she
wondered if this was how she would have appeared to others if anyone
had looked in on her during her own use of Ranma's device. It was a
sobering thought to her as she let his eyelid close, her hand moving to
rest lightly on his cheek. She could still feel her desires for him, the
soft
and pleasant tingling along her nerves engendered in her from his mere
presence, and simply touching him skin-to-skin made her heart beat a
little faster.
On an impulse, Nabiki knelt down and gently pressed her lips to his,
vainly hoping to provoke some sort of reaction, but he did not respond,
and his body remained still and all but lifeless. To her surprise, she
felt a
single tear suddenly roll down one cheek, and she rubbed it away angrily
as she stood back up and glared down at the pigtailed scholar. Crying
was a sign of weakness, and Nabiki Tendou was not weak. No man
was ever going to make her feel weak if she had anything to say about
it. At least her getting angry at him helped push the painful feelings of
helplessness away for a time.
*Damn you, Ranma Saotome,* she thought in sudden frustration as
she stood over him. She could shatter bone or bricks with her bare
hands, move her body with lethal grace and speed, but, despite these
abilities, she felt incredibly helpless as she looked down on his comatose
form. Her gaze turned into a glare at him. *You and I are going to
have words when you wake up after this. You can count on it.*
Resolving to figure out what was wrong, Nabiki turned to study the
workbench, moving her light around, and quickly noticed the scattered
tools and the discarded component. She sat down in the chair in front
of the small computer unit and hesitantly tapped a finger on the space
bar of the keyboard, hoping that she would not disturb the experiment
running. The screen slowly lit up, and one thought went across her
mind while she waited, *Where the hell is Genma Saotome?*
The screen finally lit up and scrolled out lines of text, the system
updating the information displayed earlier, words that were both
somewhat informative and disturbing all the same.
*SWITCH TO EMERGENCY FUEL CELL BACKUPS HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL.
*SIGNATURE LOCK MAINTAINED ON TEST SUBJECT.
*FUEL CELLS CURRENT POWER OUTPUT INSUFFICIENT TO ACTIVATE RECALL PULSE.
*CAPACITOR TRICKLE CHARGER ACTIVATED.
*TIME REMAINING FOR SUFFICIENT CHARGE: 05 HOURS, 22 MINUTES.
Nabiki licked suddenly dry lips and quickly glanced over at Ranma's
unconscious form for a moment. As she turned back to face the screen,
another minute ticked off, and then the monitor darkened back into its
power-saving mode once again. Checking her watch by flashlight, she
noted the time was now 4:46. She sighed aloud as she realized that
there were only two things that she might do now: restore main power
to Ranma's lab, or simply wait for his backups to restore him back to
this life. She grumbled in her thoughts, *Damn you, Ranma-kun.*
After several attempts to figure out what was wrong with the power
failed, a dejected Nabiki returned to Ranma's lab and closed the door
securely behind her, locking it so that no one would disturb Ranma and
herself. She briefly considered that perhaps her inability to restore
power was just as well, since the surge might cause the computer to lose
the signal lock. Also, she wasn't exactly sure why, but she felt certain
that disconnecting Ranma from his machine right now would be a "Very
Bad Thing." She did not know why Genma had not been here at the
lab, so that left only herself to watch over Ranma until he awoke.
Hoping that her batteries would hold out for the time remaining, she
occupied herself by opening up and reading through Ranma's journal,
after picking it up from where it was laying out on the workbench. She
applied herself to puzzling out what she could from the mathematical
equations and very densely-written scrawls of descriptive text done in
Ranma's handwriting, finding what little she was able to understand to
be simply amazing. Her level of respect for Ranma's genius cranked up
another few notches, and she turned to look at the comatose boy with a
smile.
When he did not stir, but simply continued breathing very slowly and
shallowly, her smile returned to a frown, and Nabiki felt a sudden urge
of protectiveness rise up in her, directed at the pigtailed boy. She had
not been able to protect her mother, but she would not lose Ranma.
*After all,* she thought with a slight smirk, *my own martial artist
counterpart protects a weaker Ranma from enemies in that other world.
So why should it be any different here?* She silently vowed that she
would do the same for her own version of the pigtailed boy, once she
finally proved to him that she was the stronger fighter. Since Ranma
was probably as stubborn as she knew herself to be, it would obviously
take several more fights between them to convince him of that. After
her victory during the last one, she was now certain that she was better
than he was. She was also actually looking forward to the struggles to
come between them before she managed to prove the superiority of her
skills to him.
The possibility of losing never even entered into her thoughts.
Nabiki turned back to continue perusing the journal, part of her mind
already contemplating the arguments that she would use when Ranma
finally regained consciousness, even as the rest of her mind focussed on
studying the high-level mathematics and notes. However, after a time,
the mild warmth of the room and the dry reading material combined to
make her feel sleepy. With the couch that Ranma was currently laying
on being the only furniture comfortable enough to take a nap on, she
very carefully laid herself down next to Ranma, making sure that she did
not dislodge his headset. Feeling unexpectedly contented and happy to
simply be near him like this, she cuddled up against his body as she
pretended that he was simply asleep. Nabiki drifted off into slumber.
******************************
***** Earth +1.612,+1.509
Ranma-chan slowly awoke, uncertain where she was. Eyes suddenly
opening wide, she felt the front of her chest. The look in her bright blue
eyes became dejected when she found herself in her cursed, female form.
With a brief sigh, Ranma-chan also realized that there was something
odd about where she was sitting, and she turned to the right to see
Shampoo's eyes staring into her own.
"Uh, heh, h-hello," stuttered Ranma-chan, the displaced scientist not
quite sure of what to make of being in Shampoo's lap. The last thing
that she remembered was staring down at a large tiger, and then her
mind went blank. As the redhead scrambled off of the Amazon's lap,
she struggled to remember what had happened next, but there was
simply this gap in memory. She saw Shampoo simply looking at her
with a questioning expression on her face.
"Ranma not cat anymore?" asked Shampoo, noticing the very slight
flinching movement in her companion at simply the mere mention of the
word. The young Amazon saw the redhead shake her head in response,
and she gracefully got up from her current kneeling position and smiled
a cheerful smile. "Shampoo glad."
"Uh, not that I'm complaining," began Ranma-chan hesitantly, "but
why was I in your lap, Shampoo?"
"Ranma act like cat," said Shampoo, noting Ranma-chan flinching
once again at the word, "knock Shampoo down, and fall asleep in
Shampoo's lap. Shampoo let Ranma sleep, and now Ranma is better,
yes?"
"Yeah," said Ranma-chan, actually feeling pretty good at the moment.
*I knocked her down?* she wondered, noting with a slight sigh that the
Amazon was several centimeters taller than this girl form. It felt odd to
be so short, and Ranma didn't like it. "I feel better, but I would love to
find some hot water now."
"We go back to Tendou Dojo then," said Shampoo brightly. "Ranma
get hot water there and change back to boy-type."
"Sounds like a very good plan, Shampoo," agreed Ranma-chan, eager
to change back. He agreed with his counterpart's feelings on the matter;
he disliked being a girl. Together, the duo headed back home.
******************************
Genma tromped back into the Tendou household, dejected that he
had been unable to find Ranma on his own. He hoped that his son might
have returned already, but that hope was quickly dashed. Everyone else
was there, except for Shampoo, who he guessed was still looking for his
son. He prayed that the Amazon had better luck in her search than he
had with his own.
"Ahh, Saotome, my old friend," called out Soun from the main room,
seated at the main table and enjoying a cup of tea. "I see that you are
finally back. Any luck finding the boy?"
"No, Tendou," said Genma, sitting down at the table with a tired
groan escaping his lips. The beating he had undergone several hours
earlier made all of his subsequent walking a new experience in
discomfort. He was glad to finally sit down and relax, but felt a little
guilty for giving up on his search before finding Ranma.
"Ah, well, I'm sure that Ranma will turn up," said Soun, taking a sip
from his cup of tea. "While we wait for him, care to join me in a game
of Shougi?"
Genma thought about it. The way his counterpart played, it would be
amusing to bring his own honest skills to the game. He was currently
rated as a Master at Chess, Go, and Shougi in his own world, and
Ranma had picked up a Grandmaster rating in all three games during
their journeys. He had once witnessed the boy playing ten games of
chess simultaneously, and his son's ability to pick out the patterns in his
opponent's strategy was still quite astonishing to Genma. When he had
once asked about it, Ranma told him that he could "see" the lines of
force in his opponent's strategies and counteract them with his own
piece movements.
"All right," said Genma with a nod, getting up from the table and
following Soun to the game table. He sat down and began setting up
the board while Soun settled himself at his own place.
Kasumi came out of the kitchen, her usual smile fading somewhat as
she caught sight of Genma, but she went up to the pair. When she saw
her father look up, she asked, "Can I get the two of you anything while
you play, Father?"
"Saotome?"
"Just some tea for me would be splendid, Kasumi, my dear," said
Genma politely, his thoughts already running through opening gambits.
As near as he could tell from the memories associated with this game,
cheating was pretty much the mainstay of this Genma's strategy. Most
of the ploys were remarkably transparent ones as well. After the board
was set up, he moved his first piece and then settled his attention on the
game.
Kasumi brought out the tea, earning a distracted Genma's thanks.
Surprised that he never looked at her, the matriarch of the Tendou
household noticed that he seemed to be unusually attentive to the game
being played, ignoring all of her father's usual attempts to distract his
attention from the board. She was also surprised to see that he never
indulged in any of his own, usual attempts at cheating.
Soun began to sweat as he started steadily losing piece after piece to
Genma's relentless assaults. He took a long sip of his tea and grimly
contemplated his options, but they did not look promising. His usual
attempts at distraction in order to facilitate cheating were simply
ignored by his old friend, and he saw that Genma seemed thoughtful
about something. He was about to inquire about that when there was a
brief disturbance at the front door.
"We're home!" called out Ranma, slipping his shoes off at the
entryway and waiting for Shampoo to do the same. The two of them
continued on into the main room, where Ranma spotted his father
playing Shougi and drinking tea. He was a little surprised at the sight,
but he could tell at a glance that his father had Soun stomped. As he
entered the room, he watched as Soun almost gratefully conceded the
match to his father.
"A good game, Tendou," said Genma, though he did not really mean
it. He looked over at his arriving son and smiled as he said, "Welcome
back, my boy. Is everything all right?" His gaze flickered to the young
Amazon who came in with him, noting a brief blush that crossed her
cheeks at his question. Inwardly, Genma smiled. He found himself
liking the purple-haired girl more and more as time went on, and as he
was able to remember more scenes of her and Ranma together. If he
and his son were permanently stuck in this life, then he far preferred him
to spend time with the young Amazon than the easily-angered and
violent Tendou girl, even if Shampoo did have that strange curse.
"Everything is fine, Father," said Ranma, glancing over at a silent
Shampoo before looking at his father once again. "I apologize for
making you worry."
Soun and Kasumi regarded Ranma with mild to severe astonishment.
There was none of the usual bluster and pride in his mannerisms, and the
respect shown to his father was nothing short of amazing. Further study
on this by the two was interrupted when Akane came walking into the
room, apparently having heard the couple return.
"Akane," said Ranma, tipping his head slightly in acknowledgement
of the youngest Tendou's presence. He saw her simply turn her nose up
and look away after glaring at him briefly, both gestures in apparent
irritation at his proximity to the purple-haired girl at his side. He just
shrugged a bit, but it was certainly preferable to her hitting him. Ranma
walked past her and sat down into a kneeling position by Genma.
"<So now what, Father?>" asked Ranma in Russian. He glanced
back at a still fuming Akane, noted Nabiki had also entered the room,
and then he returned his gaze back to regarding his father. "<The
excitement seems to be over for the day. So, how do we handle this
situation?>"
"<First, I break the engagement,>" said Genma, his accent fairly bad
but understandable to Ranma. "<Take Shampoo, and both of you pack
our things. I don't think our departure will be a pleasant one.>"
"Ranma," interjected Akane, her anger levels rising a bit, "why are
you speaking in a foreign language again?"
"Please be quiet while I speak with my son, Akane," said Genma, his
manner a touch cold, and he noted with some slight satisfaction that his
addressing her in such a manner appeared to surprise the girl. He turned
back to Ranma and continued in Russian, "<We are returning home to
your counterpart's mother. I will tell you more of what you should be
aware of when we are on our way. Go now.>"
"All right, Pop," said Ranma, a little confused. As far as he knew
from the memories of either of his two martial artist counterparts, his
mother was dead. However, he did not question his father. He simply
rose to his feet, signaled Shampoo to follow him with a look, and
headed upstairs to the bedrooms to pack their meager belongings.
Akane and Nabiki started to follow Ranma and Shampoo, one in
irritation at being ignored and the other in simple curiosity, when they
were halted by Genma's voice.
"Please come to the table, girls," said Genma, moving from the spot
where he had obliterated Soun at Shougi to his counterpart's usual spot
at the main table. "I have an announcement to make, and it concerns
you all. You too, Soun." He waited for all of them to seat themselves,
formulating what he was going to say in his head.
"What's this all about, Saotome?" asked Soun, puzzled by the change
in his friend. He saw the other man briefly turn his gaze to his youngest
daughter, his look unreadable even by Nabiki.
"Akane?" Genma asked. Gaining her attention, he visibly
straightened and became very serious. With an emotionless voice, he
then queried the youngest Tendou, "Do you like being engaged to my
son?"
"Like it?" sputtered Akane, looking as completely surprised by the
question as she had ever looked about anything. "Of course not! He's
rude, thoughtless, and he flirts with every girl he sees!" *Especially that
purple-haired bimbo!* finished Akane in her thoughts, too angry to
speak the words aloud. "I wish I'd never met him!"
"I see," said Genma, nodding slightly, his hand gesture cutting off
Soun before he could begin to bluster at Akane for her words. He
noticed Nabiki studying him with a clinical gaze out of the corner of his
eyes. "Thank you for your candor on this matter. You may consider
the engagement... ended."
Silence reigned for the space of several moments.
Nabiki's elbow slipped off the table in her shock. Surprise filled her
rapidly blinking gaze as she attempted a recovery back to her usual
cynical poise.
"Oh my," said Kasumi, raising one hand to her mouth as she blinked.
She glanced at her youngest sister to see how she was taking this news.
Akane looked stunned.
Soun exploded, "Saotome! What are you talking about? This is a
matter of family honor, to join together the two Schools! How dare you
make a decision like that?"
"This was not a matter of honor, Tendou," said Genma calmly, noting
that Soun seemed to be working himself into using the Demon's Head
attack on him. Genma stared the other man down as he continued to
speak, an unmistakable steel in his voice that the others had never heard
from him before, as he said, "Now sit down and be quiet, Tendou. We
are speaking as mature adults here, or at least some of us are."
"But," blurted out Soun, looking utterly shocked, the Demon Head
attack fading like a pricked balloon. "But what of the promise to unite
the two Schools?" He suddenly looked about ready to cry, and his eyes
began to fill with tears as the others watched.
Genma sighed, amazed at the quicksilver nature of the emotions in
the other man. He closed his eyes for a moment before continuing, and
then said, "It just isn't working out, Tendou. Neither of the children are
happy with the agreement, and we've forced it down their throats for far
too long. I, for one, am tired of watching them do nothing but argue
and fight."
"But all married couples fight," said Soun, desperation in his voice.
He began to babble arguments in favor of keeping the engagement
going. "They're still just getting used to each other. It was always our
dream to unite our two families, our two Schools. It kept us going
during those dark days training under," he paused, teary eyes looking
around before continuing, "the Master."
"Blame it on the blows to the skull I took today if you must, but the
engagement is off, as of now," said Genma, now glaring at Soun. "I
refuse to sit here another day and watch Akane and Nabiki bully and
victimize my son and Shampoo because both are too honorable to deal
with either one of them as they have deserved for weeks!"
Soun burst into a full-fledged wail of despair, blubbering a stream of
incoherent words. He covered his face with one arm and began to cry
even more fiercely about how "the two families will never be joined
now," and other such phrases.
Kasumi moved to assist her father, her calm words and gentle pats
attempting to cheer the man up. She spared Genma a few looks that
had less than her usual warmth for bringing her father to tears, blaming
him for Soun's sorrow.
*Me? A bully?* thought Nabiki, honestly surprised at being included
with her sister in such a blanket description. She immediately discarded
the notion as ridiculous. *Opportunist, maybe. But, how can he call me
a bully?* She glared at Genma with a cool, disdainful look.
Akane was still sitting quietly, apparently shell-shocked. She kept
repeating one thought in her mind, *The engagement is off?*
Genma sighed once more, even more certain that he had made the
right choice in this situation. Other than Kasumi, and maybe Nabiki, no
one in this family seemed to be a paragon of mental stability. He quietly
ignored the cool looks that he was getting from Nabiki, her disapproval
with him being quite obvious, but the looks from Kasumi bothered him.
Personally, he didn't care if Nabiki disapproved of him or not, but he
was troubled at hurting Kasumi. He turned to face the eldest Tendou
daughter.
"Kasumi," said Genma solemnly, "I wish to apologize for all of the
ways that my bringing Shampoo and Ranma under your roof damaged
the harmony of your household. If it is any consolation, I hold you in
the highest regard of anyone I know, except for my wife Nodoka."
Kasumi looked a little surprised at Genma's words of apology.
******************************
"Why we pack, Ranma?" asked Shampoo, watching him tie his
bedroll around his packed backpack. At his request, she was now
finishing packing Genma's stuff into the other backpack before they
headed over into her small room to pack her own things.
"My father is downstairs breaking the news to the others that this
farce of an engagement is over," calmly answered Ranma, carefully
checking the fit of his backpack for easy carrying.
"Aiyah! Ranma mean that?" blurted out the Amazon, not expecting
to hear that. She thought they might have been packing for some sort
of training trip, not leaving for good. Her thoughts briefly went to the
one person in this household that she would truly miss, Kasumi. The
older girl was her friend, and, briefly, her fiancee, even though the last
was thought with a sort of bittersweet happiness.
"Yeah," said Ranma, tying down the fasteners on his backpack with
the ease of a long-time vagabond. He wasn't sure where the thoughts of
the other Ranma left off and his own began at this point, as he said,
"Today was just a perfect example of why it won't work. We just end
up arguing too much for either one of us to really be happy with one
another. Let's just say that the old man finally saw reason."
"Where we go?" asked Shampoo, tying shut Genma's pack. She
glanced around the empty room and closet, nodding as she confirmed
that everything was packed.
"We're going to my mother's house," said Ranma, feeling an odd sort
of deja vu at the thought. He had already returned to his mother once,
after being away from her for a decade of his life, and that experience
was about to repeat, sort of. He felt a bit odd about it for a moment, a
mixture of joy and sadness, and his throat felt unexpectedly tight. "My
father and I... are going home."
"Shampoo happy for Ranma," said the Amazon, smiling at him in a
gentle fashion.
"Well, you're coming with us, of course, and I know my mother will
welcome you once Pop explains things," said Ranma, looking at the
purple-haired girl with a grin. He saw her smiling back at him warmly.
The pair headed to Shampoo's small room, and Ranma watched as
the Amazon quickly gathered her things, packing with efficiency and
care. They heard some muffled shouting coming from downstairs, but
Ranma had confidence that his father was dealing with the situation.
******************************
"My little girl will marry your boy, Saotome!" shouted Soun, his
composure apparently recovered after a brief session of weeping and
being supported by Kasumi's kind words. "This is a matter of sacred
honor between our two families!"
"It's over, Tendou," sighed Genma, wishing once again that his son
and Shampoo were already done packing, so they could leave. "Just
accept it. The engagement between Akane and Ranma is over. It's
obvious that it was a mistake, and your screaming about it won't help
things. I've been talking with my son, and he's made it very clear he
wouldn't be happy to be forced into marrying Akane, and both Nabiki
and Kasumi made their views obvious on the first day we met that they
were not interested in Ranma. I am not going to make my only child
miserable by forcing him to marry someone that he is neither interested
in nor has interest in him, and I know you love your daughters enough
that you wouldn't want them to be miserable either. So, be reasonable
about this, Tendou. It was simply not to be, and it would be a tragic
mistake to continue forcing the issue. Let the promise of two drunken,
foolish men end, since that was all it started out as."
Nabiki perked up from quietly glaring at Genma, surprised to hear
him speaking so frankly about this whole engagement matter.
"It's because of that Chinese girl that he has no interest in my little
Akane, isn't it?" muttered Soun, collapsing back down into a sobbing
mass of weeping, his surge of backbone faded.
Akane stared at Genma, a sudden suspicion forming.
"Shampoo is not to blame for this, Tendou," said Genma calmly. "It's
been a long day, and I want to put it behind me. Just tell me that you
release the boy from the promise, and Ranma, Shampoo, and I will leave
here."
"V-very well," muttered a defeated-sounding Soun, his blubbering
fading for a moment . He turned miserable-looking eyes towards the
other man. "But for breaking a man-to-man promise, you are no longer
welcome in this house ever again, Genma Saotome. So take yourself,
your son, that Chinese girl, and begone from here. I never want to hear
the name Saotome spoken in this house again." That said, Soun Tendou
wearily got up from the table, looking decades older than his true age,
and began to cry loudly some more.
"I'm sorry you feel this is my fault, Tendou-san, but I only do this for
the sake of my son," said Genma, slowly standing himself. "Someday, I
hope you might understand that." Genma felt tired. He had tried his
best to present a reasonable argument, and the other man had jumped to
a false assumption and would not be dissuaded from it. Shampoo was
not at fault for this decision, but Soun apparently blamed her anyway.
"I'm tired, Kasumi," said Soun, ignoring Genma now. He began to
blubber more loudly, barely choking out the words as he said, "I'm
going to skip dinner tonight and go straight to bed." He walked to his
room with as much dignity as a crying man could manage, just missing
passing Ranma and Shampoo in the hall.
"Yes, Father," whispered Kasumi, staring after him with sad eyes.
She went into the kitchen and began working on dinner to distract
herself.
Nabiki followed her father's movements with her eyes alone, before
returning her gaze to Genma. Something did not add up here, but she
could not understand what it might be. *There's more to this than meets
the eye,* she finally decided. She was angry at Genma for the pain he
had caused her father, and she intended to have suitable revenge for
that. Nobody hurt a member of her family.
Akane stared after her father in shock, but she was finally absorbing
the idea that Ranma was no longer her fiancee, no longer anything to
her. His family name could no longer even be spoken within hearing
distance of her father. In a way, she was glad, especially after he was
flirting with Shampoo right in front of her. *They deserve each other,*
she thought with anger. *Both of them are shape-shifting perverts.*
So, knowing this, why did she also feel such a sense of loss?
Genma decided to wait in the front hallway area, away from the
silently judging eyes of the middle Tendou girl. From what he could
discern, Akane seemed to him to be too shocked by the change to feel
the same as her sisters. *They will get over it,* he decided. It was
becoming more 'apparent' by the minute that he and Ranma were going
to be stuck in this world, possibly forever, and they had to adjust the
conditions to something they could live with. That meant no more
engagements, living in the midst of chaotic households, or having
threats of manliness or death hanging over their heads.
Ranma came walking down the stairs, a pack on each shoulder, and
Shampoo following right behind him. Things were very quiet, and that
could be either a good thing or a bad thing. He saw his father as he
stepped into the main hallway.
"We're ready to leave, Father," said Ranma, feeling a vague sense of
relief to be heading out of this house, even if he was still trapped in this
life. He silently handed his father's backpack to him, letting his own fall
to land upon the floor with a thump as he picked up his shoes. He saw
Kasumi come out of the kitchen area and silently regard them, her calm
expression unreadable. Ranma suddenly felt a little bit guilty.
Kasumi continued to look at the trio, emotions flickering in her eyes
that were as confusing to herself as they were impossible to determine
by the Amazon and the pigtailed boy looking back at her.
Ranma suddenly bowed deeply to Kasumi, and he said, "Thank you
for taking care of us, Kasumi Tendou. Words alone cannot tell you how
much I appreciate your efforts."
Kasumi, startled by Ranma's unrehearsed little speech, bowed to him
in return, her expression warming with a smile, albeit a somewhat sad
one.
Ranma thought her gaze was as much on Shampoo as himself, but he
could not be sure.
The door to the main room suddenly slid open, and Ranma saw the
other two Tendou girls looking at him, differing expressions on their
faces. Akane regarded him with a slight frown on her face, and Nabiki
was gazing at him with a calculating look.
"So, you're leaving," remarked Nabiki, studying Ranma and his father
to see if she could figure out what was different about them. They were
both acting tremendously out of character, and it bothered her to not be
able to judge their reactions as easily as she could before. They were
like two different people to her. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she
locked onto that idea, wondering why she might think that.
"That's right," said Ranma calmly. "There's no reason to stay here
anymore."
His matter-of-fact attitude was irritating to Akane. Didn't he care?
Was he so relieved to be leaving her? She herself felt an odd mixture of
sadness and relief at no longer having the engagement being forced
upon her, but she also found herself getting angry at Ranma for his
cavalier manner as he was getting ready to leave. And she also found
herself getting even angrier at Shampoo. *Is he just going to walk out
with that purple-haired, Chinese bimbo of his?* she thought, wondering
if something had happened between him and Shampoo that had helped
cause this sudden change. Her fists clenching at her sides tightly, she
glared at the pair. How she hated the two of them at that moment.
Ignoring a wrathful-looking Akane, Ranma slowly walked over to
Kasumi and gave her a gentle hug, a whispered "Thank you" going into
her ear. He apparently surprised the older girl a great deal when he
gave her a peck on the cheek, noticing the blush she was showing. He
smiled at her as he stepped back, finding himself not wanting her to be
angry with him for what had happened, at least. He turned away from
her as Shampoo came forward and said a quiet farewell to Kasumi, her
words too soft for him to hear.
"No kiss for me, Ranma-kun?" said Nabiki wryly, a smirk on her face.
Ranma considered it for a few moments, but he felt it would probably
be unwise with both Akane and Shampoo watching. Apparently, Nabiki
could tell what he was thinking because she suddenly got a surprised
look on her face. He smirked at her and said mildly, "Only if you paid
me." He found he enjoyed the extremely amazed look on her face at
that statement.
"Akane," said Ranma, finally turning his attention to the youngest
Tendou daughter.
"Ranma," said Akane through slightly-gritted teeth. The expression
on her face was not pleasant. She shot a venomous glare at the Amazon
before returning her attention to Ranma.
Ranma bowed slightly to Akane and said , quite calmly and simply,
"Goodbye, Akane Tendou."
Akane was startled, returning the bow through reflex alone, her anger
temporarily pushed aside in her surprise. Her hands remained clenched
at her sides as she dipped her head. She rose from the bow slowly, her
eyes on Ranma's face, an unspoken question in her gaze.
Ranma turned from Akane, put on his pack and shoes, and the trio
left the Tendou household in silence.
Behind them, Akane went from an expression of disbelief to one of
angry tears. With a growl, she stormed away to the dojo out back. The
sounds of breaking bricks and shattering training equipment drifted into
the house after a few moments. Eventually, those noises trailed away.
Nabiki wandered up to her bedroom, already calculating how much
she would have to make to pay off Akane's latest tirade. She was more
than a little worried about the loss of such an excellent source of funds
as Shampoo-kun was, since the cursed Amazon was no longer going to
be going to school anymore. That would really cause a drain on her
cash flows.
Kasumi stood in the doorway long after her sisters had left. She
watched the closed gate with, for her, a rare solemn expression, her
heart feeling heavy with regrets.
"Goodbye, Shampoo," Kasumi softly whispered.
After a long moment, the eldest Tendou daughter shut the door and
went back to the kitchen to finish the dinner she had been in the midst of
preparing, when this bombshell had been dropped on the household.
******************************
Genma's stomach growled, and he looked startled at the unexpected
sound.
Ranma chuckled at the noise, until his own stomach also began to
loudly rumble. Frowning, he turned to a silent Shampoo and said in a
serious tone, "Not a single word."
"We should get something to eat," said Genma. "We have a fair walk
ahead of us this evening to get back to your mother's house. Having a
meal will also give you and I some time to talk, Ranma."
"That's a good idea," said Ranma. Checking his pockets produced an
ominously small amount of currency. He turned to look at his father
and saw a similar expression to the one he imagined was on his own
face. Pangs of hunger were growing distracting to Ranma.
"Shampoo not have much money either," said the Amazon when she
saw Ranma turn to look at her with a hopeful expression.
"Well, there's always Ucchan's," said Ranma, noting the expression of
distaste that crossed Genma's face.
"<I suppose it would also allow us to end another engagement set up
by my idiotic counterpart,>" muttered Genma grimly in Russian. For
Shampoo's benefit, he then said in Japanese, "Very well, let's go get
something to eat."
A short walk brought them all to stand outside the storefront named
"Uk-Chan's" on this world. Ranma suddenly felt a little bit nervous,
especially when he realized that Shampoo's mere presence could spark a
fight, and the last thing he wanted to get involved in was another battle.
He put a hand on the outer door and took a deep breath. He turned to
look back at the other two and said, "I'm going in. Shampoo, you might
want to wait outside while Pop and I get some food and talk to Ucchan.
Is that okay?"
The Amazon looked annoyed and said, slightly grumpily, "I wait."
Ranma and Genma went inside, leaving their backpacks outside with
Shampoo. Inside, it was only moderately busy, the dinner rush already
over. Ukyou was seen working behind the counter. Ranma smiled at
her when he caught her eye.
"Hey, Ucchan," said Ranma in a friendly tone, finding it remarkably
easy to slip into the mannerisms of his counterpart. This Ukyou was
perhaps even a better friend here than in the other Ranma's tangent,
since she wasn't trying to get him to marry her. He was reasonably
certain that this would go pretty easily. "My father and I'd like to order
some food and chat a little with you, if that's okay."
"Sure, Ranchan," said Ukyou with a weary smile. It had been a long
day, and she was eager to close up and get some rest. Luckily, Sundays
she was able to close earlier than normal if she chose, and it didn't take
long to have the place empty of everyone but her and the two Saotome
men. She ignored Genma for the most part, her desire for vengeance
satiated, for now.
"We'd like three of your usuals, if you please," said Ranma, looking
around casually and comparing this version of the restaurant with the
one in the other timeline. They were similar, and yet small differences
existed, just enough to be noticeable. A stray memory prompted him to
ask, "Where's Ryouga?"
"Out. Lost. The usual," Ukyou said simply, with an undertone of
irritation. She quickly prepared three of her standard okonomiyaki,
figuring Ranma must have ordered a second helping in advance. She
turned around when she heard the sound of coins clinking on the
counter. Ranma had laid down all of the money that the three travelers
had, fifty yen shy of enough to purchase all three. "You don't normally
pay, Ranchan. What's the occasion?"
"Well," began Ranma, uncertain how to tell Ukyou what had just
taken place at the Tendou household. He decided to just come right out
and say it. "The engagement between me and Akane is off. Pop and I
left." It wasn't completely the truth, but it was mostly true, the failure
to
mention Shampoo accompanying them more a concealment than an
outright falsehood.
"Hitting the road again?" asked Ukyou, serving him and his father.
She couldn't help but look a little amused and rather self-satisfied at the
battered appearance of the older man when she glanced at Genma. It
had felt unbelievably good to work off some of her anger at the man by
pounding upon him like she did.
"Something like that," answered Ranma, frowning slightly at the joy
she apparently found in looking at the injuries she had given his father.
"Pop and I are getting out of the neighborhood and going home. I just
wanted to stop in, get some food, ask you a question, and then we'd
leave. No big deal."
"A question?" said Ukyou, a little surprised. "Just what sort of a
question?" She saw Ranma wolf down his meal in his hunger, and a
slight smile crossed her face at the sight. She continued to ignore the
presence of Genma, who was being very quiet and only watching the
exchange between his son and her with an odd look on his face.
"Would you be willing to forget about your engagement to me?"
asked Ranma, unsure how she would react. He saw her blink for a
moment. "I know this must be a bit of a shock."
"I guess I was just expecting to bring it up myself at the proper time,"
said Ukyou, not nearly as upset as Ranma thought she might be. She
looked down for several moments, and there weren't even traces of tears
in her eyes when she lifted her face. "Sure, Ranma. It's okay. In fact,
it's kind of a relief." She smiled at him.
Ranma suddenly put it all together: her slight irritation when Ryouga
was mentioned, her calling her restaurant by the 'stupid' name Ryouga
used for her, her unexpected ease at his asking her to break off the
engagement between them, and the (slightly irritating, although he was
not sure why) fact that she never expressed any interest in marrying him,
like she did in the other Ranma's life. He did as she had a few moments
ago, blinking in surprise. Ukyou and Ryouga? It all made a weird sort
of sense, based on what his memories were now showing him had
happened between them, complicated by the presence of Shampoo-kun
posing as "Ranma," as he had been known at school as "Shampoo."
"Friends?" asked Ranma, holding out his hand. He saw her look
down at his extended hand and take it in a firm grip of her own.
"Always and forever, Ranchan," said Ukyou with a smile.
They let go their grips and Ranma began wrapping up the one last
remaining okonomiyaki in a paper napkin from the counter. He noticed
her smile quickly fading into a frown as she looked over his shoulder at
the window.
Ukyou spotted Shampoo staring in through the window of her shop,
a deep-seated anger filling the okonomiyaki chef's being at the sight of
her purple-haired nemesis. Ukyou was certain that the Amazon was
plotting more mischief against her. She figured that was the only reason
why Shampoo was skulking around, so she could do something bad to
her person or her restaurant.
Ranma's hopes of getting out of here without any trouble went up in
flames before his eyes, the angry flames that arose in Ukyou's gaze at
the mere sight of the Amazon.
Ukyou growled out a soft and angry, "Shampoo." Then she turned to
heft her giant spatula, intent on bloody mayhem.
Ranma half-leaped across the counter and jabbed a couple of fingers
into a shiatsu sleep spot between her shoulders that Shampoo had once
taught his counterpart here. He caught the chef's slumping body gently,
a whispered apology on his lips as he laid her out on the floor. He made
sure that she would be as comfortable as he could make her.
"That went well," mused Genma, watching his son with a wry smile
on his face.
"I just hope that she's not too mad when she wakes up," muttered
Ranma, wadding up a few towels to place behind her head. He stood up
and faced his father, his hands moving to quickly finish wrapping up the
okonomiyaki for Shampoo. "We should go now. That nerve strike
won't last long. I was just damn lucky that she was distracted, or it
wouldn't have worked at all."
When they got outside, Shampoo eyed the okonomiyaki presented to
her skeptically for a moment, and she took a sample bite first. After a
little incident with 'wallpaper paste style' okonomiyaki, she was cautious
around Ukyou's food, but the hunger in her belly convinced her to eat it
despite what her pride might say. Within moments, she was consuming
it with voracious hunger, the taste of the first bite quickly overcoming
her remaining resistance. She shouldered her pack when she was done,
after wiping clean her hands and face with the paper napkin.
The trio continued on their way across the city, moving through the
darkening streets. Genma led the way, keeping his thoughts to himself
as he guided them to the Saotome household. Behind his father, Ranma
felt Shampoo take a gentle hold on his arm, and he patted her hand with
his free one.
Genma paused and let the two of them catch up to him. They had all
been walking for a couple of hours. The pale light from a nearby
streetlamp reflected from Genma's glasses as he turned to face his son,
and a grim look was upon his face. The two combined into a rather
eerie effect.
"Ranma," intoned Genma. He took a moment to adjust his glasses a
little to hide his nervousness. The two teens stopped in front of him.
"Yeah, Pop?" asked Ranma, a little unnerved by the sight
"We are near home," said Genma, while continuing to look rather
uncomfortable. He paused and cleared his throat, before speaking once
again, "Ten years ago, this Genma made a promise to this Nodoka that
he would return with his son as a 'man among men', or else."
Ranma did not like the sound of that, and, after a brief pause, he
asked, "Or else what?"
Shampoo looked puzzled. *What are they talking about now?* she
wondered. She looked from one to the other. Ranma was being even
more enigmatic to her than usual today.
"The promise was that you must be a manly man at that time or
commit seppuku," said Genma calmly, perhaps too calmly for Ranma's
tastes at the moment.
*Seppuku?* thought Shampoo. *What is that?* She did notice that
Ranma had grown a little paler at the mention of the word.
"I see," said Ranma, his mouth feeling a little dry. "And just what
would I have to be like?" He thought about his Jusenkyou curse, and he
wondered how they were going to overcome that particular argument
against his manliness.
"It is difficult to say," said Genma. "Nodoka is a very traditional sort
of woman, but she has some odd ideas of how men and women should
act." He paused and looked at Shampoo, an idea suddenly occurring to
him. "However, Shampoo has just given me an idea."
The Amazon looked even more puzzled.
Ranma looked at his father, unintentionally mirroring the puzzled
look on Shampoo's face. The odd grin that his father was giving the
two of them disturbed him a little. He turned to look at Shampoo and
tried to figure out where his father was heading with his thoughts.
*What could Shampoo do to help me prove my manliness?* he
wondered.
"Peeping," muttered Genma, startling Ranma out of his reverie.
"Huh?" grunted Ranma, before quickly shaking his head. "I mean,
what do you mean by that?"
"Nodoka would consider it to be very manly for you to peep at a
pretty girl in the bath," said Genma, considering how he might work this
angle. For a moment, he paused, wondering why he was even thinking
about this as some sort of 'angle' in the first place. It disturbed him
more than a little.
Ranma got a wide-eyed look on his face, and memories of different,
nude quantum Shampoos flooded his thoughts. A tiny trickle of blood
ran from his nose as the images filled his mind. He immediately reached
up and pinched his nostrils shut, focusing his thoughts when he turned
to look at Shampoo, standing next to him.
"Uh, heh," stuttered Ranma nervously. The thought of Shampoo
naked was much more distracting than he had first anticipated, but he
summoned his reserves and banished the thoughts away for a time.
"Why Ranma and Pop look at Shampoo like that?" said the Amazon,
appearing puzzled. She didn't quite understand what was going on, but
she had picked out of the conversation between Ranma and his father
that the pigtailed boy was going to meet his mother for the first time in
several years and that he had to be manly. Then the two men with her
had started to talk about peeping, and she had gotten a bit confused. To
her, Ranma was very manly, and he had never tried to peep at her when
she bathed. *These Japanese are weird,* she finally decided.
"Pop, you cannot be serious!" yelled Ranma, his eyes looking a little
wild.
"She expects you to be a strong warrior, a paragon of manhood, and
to also be a bit more perverted than I raised you as being," said Genma.
"A bit?" Ranma yelled in surprise.
Continuing as if not interrupted, Genma calmly analyzed the situation
aloud, "So be reasonable about this, Ranma. I wouldn't suggest it if I
didn't think it would help."
Shampoo clobbered the both of them, having grown tired of them
speaking as if she was not there. She dusted her hands off as Ranma
staggered back up to his feet, having been caught totally off-guard by
Shampoo's attack.
"What the heck did you hit me for?" grumbled Ranma at the Amazon,
making a mental note to watch out for Shampoo's willingness to strike
him for perceived wrongs. He had not managed to get out of one bad
relationship to just end up in another one.
"Stop talking like Shampoo not here! Explain what you and Pop
talking about." She assumed a listening pose, arms folded.
"Fine!" muttered Ranma loudly. He shifted to Mandarin, so that he
would be certain that she understood. "<My mother is expecting me to
be a 'man among men' when I get back home, because, if I'm not, then
I'll have to kill myself to preserve my family's honor.>" He turned to
face the fallen body of his father. "Does that about cover it, Father?"
Genma made an affirmative sound as he recovered from his second
beating in a single day. Luckily, this one was almost playfully light next
to the one from this morning. He took some small comfort that Ranma
had shared it with him this time, but he immediately felt a little guilty for
thinking that way. "You forgot to explain to her how peeping comes
into this," he said as he got back up to his feet. He adjusted the straps
of his backpack, resettling it onto his shoulders.
"Oh, yeah," said Ranma, shooting his father a dark look. "Thank you
ever so much for reminding me of that part, Father." He turned to face
Shampoo once again, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking her
in the eyes. "Shampoo, to prove myself manly to my mother, my father
thinks that I should peep on you while you're bathing. Now, I know
that-"
"Okay," said Shampoo with a nod, interrupting Ranma in midspeech.
She saw him freeze in place for several moments, the oddest expressions
crossing his face as he began to blink rapidly.
"Okay?" asked Ranma somewhat faintly, looking very surprised.
"Shampoo no mind if Ranma watch Shampoo take bath," said the
Amazon, noting that Ranma's eyes suddenly looked a little glazed, and
his mouth was now hanging open a small amount. It amused her for
some reason to see him look so flustered, and he looked so cute to her
when he was off-guard. Her ancestors knew that Ranma had been a
source for puzzlement and confusion for her often enough during their
travels together.
Ranma quickly recovered his composure. He glanced at his father to
see the older man trying hard not to laugh by busying himself with his
backpack, adjusting the straps to optimize the weight load. With a sigh,
Ranma nodded at the Amazon. He turned back to his father and asked,
"So what do we tell her about the curse?"
"The truth. What else?" answered Genma. "Despite what you might
think, Ranma, that curse is a burden that would have destroyed many a
lesser man. If dealing with it, and also the other myriad problems that it
has caused you everyday, doesn't show true manhood, then I don't know
what does. Trust your father, my son. Nobody is going to die." *Not
if I have anything to say about it,* Genma finished in his thoughts.
Shampoo looked at Genma for a moment, but her expression was
neutral. Ranma's father had been sounding odd to her all day, nothing
like the pompous old coward that she knew and tolerated because of
Ranma.
"Then let's go and meet my mother," said Ranma with a smile, his
hands adjusting his backpack straps.
Genma led them to a well-kept house in the modest neighborhood
they had been walking in, but a minor difficulty delayed their approach
when a splash of water from a passing car hitting a puddle changed both
Ranma and Shampoo into their cursed forms. The trio quickly left and
got some hot water, Ranma muttering under his breath the entire time.
A short while later, with the two teenagers back in their proper
forms, they all went up to the door and Genma rang the bell. As they
waited, Shampoo took a gentle hold of Ranma's hand once again, a
smile on her face. He squeezed her hand with his own.
The door opened, and Nodoka Saotome stood there in a pale blue
kimono, her eyes suddenly opening wide as she gaped at the odd trio
standing on her doorstep, recognizing her husband in the lead.
"Genma," she whispered, a smile on her lips. Her eyes glanced over
at the young man standing there holding hands with a purple-haired girl.
*Ranma,* she thought, certain that this was her son returned to her at
long last. With tears in her eyes, she quickly swept him up into a
motherly hug and cried out, "Ranma!"
"H-hello, Mother," gasped out Ranma, imagining that he could feel
himself smothering from her greeting. It reminded him more than he
cared to remember of the welcome home that his own mother had once
given him many weeks past. Just before he thought he would pass out,
or force Shampoo to rescue him from his mother's arms, she let go of
him with a teary-eyed smile.
"Welcome home, my son," said Nodoka, and her heart took flight
with her joy. Her husband and her little boy had come home. For the
moment, she ignored Shampoo, her attention only on Ranma and her
wayward husband.
Immediately taking charge, she ushered the three of them into her
home. Their backpacks were left by the front door with their shoes, and
they were all led to the main dining area. Shampoo seated herself next
to Ranma as if staking a claim to him. The three travelers had barely sat
down when Nodoka disappeared for a minute into the kitchen to fetch
the water she had been boiling water for tea.
Ranma took the opportunity to examine the room they were now in,
finding it to be well-kept and dust-free. The decorations were sparse,
but arranged in such a way as to reminding him very strongly of home.
He felt a tightness in his throat, partly a result of the emotional roller
coaster he had been on today. It felt so much like home here. But it
wasn't.
Genma also was finding himself overcome by a surprising amount of
emotions, brought on by the sights and smells of the half-familiar house.
It had seemed so simple a decision to come here; in a sense it was home,
as the memories of his counterpart opened to him gradually, but it was
straining his emotional resources to keep himself composed. He knew
that he had to be strong for Ranma's sake, and he could sense the guilt
lurking behind his son's eyes occasionally when he looked at him.
Once they had both gotten a good night's sleep, they could begin
making plans to rescue themselves come the morning. He was feeling
very confident that, between the two of them, they would solve their
current difficulties. However, if they had to build another resonator
from scratch, it might take years before they had enough resources to
construct one. In the meantime, Genma would accept each happening
as a new learning opportunity, like a form of field research. He busied
his thoughts with composing notes on the paper he would write on this
experience.
Nodoka returned with a serving tray, teapot, and enough cups for
everyone. She gracefully settled herself next to Genma and began to
serve. It seemed to be a solemn moment, an unspoken agreement
entered into by all present to accept a cup of tea and drink in silence.
The gentle sound of the wind blowing through the trees was the only
break in the quiet.
Genma noticed that Nodoka was observing him out of the corner of
her eyes, and he held himself with dignity. After he finished his tea, he
turned to her and said with a note of formality, "It is good to be home,
my dear wife. I have fulfilled the promise and returned our son to you,
a true man among men. Say hello to your mother, Ranma."
Ranma bowed to her and managed to say without his voice breaking,
"Good evening, Mother. I have missed you."
Nodoka's eyes were shining with unshed tears as she looked upon her
son. She thought he looked so handsome and carried himself with such
dignity and strength, the bearing of a true martial artist. She had so
often pictured this day that to have it finally come true was making her
the happiest woman alive. She softly whispered, her voice filled with
emotion, "Welcome back home, my son." She then moved nearer to
him without rising, her body coming to rest on the opposite side of
where Shampoo was seated. "I have waited for this day for such a long
time."
Shampoo had caught the occasional questioning look directed her
way from Nodoka, glances that the two men did not appear to notice,
but she wasn't sure what to make of them. Remaining a silent presence,
she offered her strength and support to Ranma as best she could.
"I suppose I could spend the rest of the evening simply looking at
you, Ranma," chuckled Nodoka. "However, I was wondering if you
could introduce me to your young lady friend." She turned her gaze to
Shampoo, a smile on her face.
"This is my friend, Shampoo," Ranma blurted out, grateful to have
something easy to talk about. He had been wondering what his own
mother was going to do if he did not return. It left an opening in his
usual awareness of his surroundings. "She came with us from China.
She's an Amazon, and an excellent fighter." He noticed Shampoo smile
at him.
"Ranma good friend to Shampoo," said the Amazon. Forging ahead
with true inspiration, she added, "He even watch Shampoo take bath."
Ranma blinked, grateful that he had not been taking another sip of his
tea at that same moment. *Did she have to say it quite like that?* he
wondered with a furrowed brow. He had not been expecting to have
the proof of his 'manliness' thrown out into the conversation quite so
quickly.
Genma raised an eyebrow. *Well, she's direct,* thought the older
man with a slight smirk on his face.
Nodoka seemed to be even more pleased with Ranma, and asked, "Is
that true, my son? Have you been looking at this girl while she bathed?"
"Uh, yeah," answered Ranma, suddenly having flashes of memories of
seeing Shampoo bathing assail him. He grinned weakly, feeling that he
could at least answer semi-honestly based on that sort of secondhand
experience and said, "I mean, yes. Yes, I have."
Shampoo looked a little surprised at how certain he sounded, but a
hint of a smile seemed to be on her lips.
"That is very manly of you, Ranma," said Nodoka approvingly. "A
proper appreciation for a woman's naked body is the mark of a true
man. Your father certainly enjoyed looking at me in the bath before we
were married, after all. He never thought I knew."
Genma was suddenly not quite as amused by this whole thing as he
had been a few moments ago, and the memories of the other Genma's
actions suddenly erupted into his awareness. The courtship between
this version of himself and the woman seated near his son was quite a
different one from the gentle romance he had built with his Nodoka. In
a few ways, they were the same, but there were many embarrassing
differences.
"I did not want to rush into the discussion of some things, Nodoka,"
said Genma, adjusting his glasses slightly. "But there are some matters
that you should know right now, about Ranma." He saw his son tense a
little and glance at the katana resting in a rack over by one wall. The
truth be known, Genma was suddenly feeling a little unnerved by it as
well. He was not feeling as certain of his abilities to control this odd
situation he found himself in, but he still intended to try.
"Oh?" said Nodoka, turning to face him.
"To begin with, the agreement with Soun has been cancelled, by my
choice," stated Genma. "There will be no joining of the two families. It
was a mistake that I deeply regret." He saw Nodoka blink in surprise.
"But why?" Nodoka asked. "It used to be all that you spoke of when
Ranma was born. To unite the Tendou and Saotome families was your
dream."
"It was a difficult decision, but the right one, I believe," said Genma.
"It would have been wrong to force a marriage upon Ranma for the
sake of the pride of two scheming, old men. I say he is a man, and a
man should have the right to choose his own partner in life... as I chose
you, Nodoka." He smiled at her, and, for a moment, he let himself
recall how very much he loved his wife, seeing so much of her in the
lonely woman now seated across from him. He spoke as if to his own
wife, so very far from him now, and his words had an effect on Nodoka.
"Oh, Genma," said Nodoka, her eyes filling with tears again even as
she smiled. "How can I disagree with something like that?" She could
recall how earnestly he had pursued her when they were young, the
brash young man she had fallen so deeply in love with. His leaving had
hurt her deeply, and left her lonely for so long. But, seeing before her
now the gentle-spoken man he had become, sounding so much older and
wiser (obviously from his time on the road training their son), she found
herself falling in love with him once again. It startled her and left her
feeling how very much she had missed him.
"There is one thing more that you need to know about your son,
Nodoka," said Genma calmly. "He is suffering from a curse that some
might say calls his manhood into doubt. Before I demonstrate it for
you, I must ask this question. Do you consider Ranma to be manly,
Nodoka?" He saw her look at Ranma seriously for a moment, then she
broke into a smile.
"Yes, I consider him to be manly," said Nodoka, nodding her head.
"You raised our son well, Genma. He has fulfilled your promise. So
now you may show me this 'curse' of which you speak. I doubt that it
will change my opinion."
"We'll see, Mother," said Ranma, before taking a moment to go into
the kitchen to find a container and filling it with cold water from the tap.
He returned shortly.
"If you wanted water, Ranma, you only had to ask," said Nodoka,
looking puzzled.
"The water will allow me to show you my curse," said Ranma, feeling
oddly distant and calm at the moment, some part of him realizing that
this wasn't his life, only borrowed moments from another version of
himself. "Hot water will restore me to what you see before you now,
your son." With that said, Ranma poured the cool water onto himself,
his body changing into female form.
"R-Ranma?" asked Nodoka, looking faint. Genma was there at her
side in an instant, supporting her. She closed her eyes for a moment and
then looked at the girl before her now, dressed in the clothes of her son.
"Ranma is cursed to turn into a girl in physical form when splashed
with cold water, Nodoka," said Genma soothingly. "Hot water restores
him to his normal form. The girl, Shampoo, becomes male with cold
water. That is why she travels with us." He turned Nodoka to face him,
her eyes looking a little glazed with surprise. "I know it is a lot to try
and take in all at once, but you have my word that Ranma is still very
much a man. This curse has given him challenges to overcome that
would have broken another man. He has grown stronger from them."
Nodoka looked at Shampoo, taking the container from Ranma and
tossing the remaining cold water into the girl's face. She stared at the
larger male form of Shampoo-kun, a thoughtful look on her face. Her
gaze moved back to her son, now her daughter, as she considered the
matter.
"If you feel that Ranma is unmanly, then I offer my life as proof of my
words when I say that he is," said Genma suddenly. "The boy has gone
through so much, suffered so much, but these experiences have left him
even more worthy to carry on the Saotome name." He saw Nodoka
suddenly focus her eyes upon himself, a look of certainty appearing on
her face.
Ranma poured some hot water from the teakettle, rushing over to his
father as he shouted, "Are you nuts, Father? If she thinks I'm not manly,
then I should be the only one to pay. All that has happened is my fault,
after all." He suddenly wasn't sure if he was speaking about the accident
during the experiment, or his counterpart's misstep at Jusenkyou. He
was brought up short when Nodoka suddenly smiled.
"To have you both speak so very passionately in the defense of each
other," said Nodoka gently. "How can I condemn either of you? Give
me a hug, Ranma, and welcome home, my son."
Ranma stepped towards Nodoka, and his vision suddenly grayed out.
******************************
Genma saw Ranma's eyes seem to go blank for a moment, and he saw
the boy stumble into his mother's arms. She hugged him to her, crying
about how glad she was to have him home once again, and how manly
he had proven himself to be. A moment later, his eyes cleared, and
Ranma seemed extremely puzzled. He saw the boy turn to look at him.
"Pop?" asked Ranma, sounding very bewildered. "What's going on?
Where are we?"
Genma sighed, partly with relief, partly with dismay, and then he took
Ranma aside to explain an edited summary of the day, taking care about
not mentioning other worlds, not wishing to confuse the boy even more.
Until he was finally retrieved from this timeline, Genma Saotome would
give this version of Ranma the father that he should have had in this life.
He was, oddly enough, finding himself looking forward to the challenge,
as well as having the unexpected opportunity to observe the results of
his son's device on one of his counterparts from the other side of the
quantum barrier between worlds.
******************************
***** Earth 0.000,0.000
Refreshed from her nap, Nabiki snuggled comfortably against Ranma,
reading from his journal by flashlight as she waited for his 'return.' A
check of her watch revealed that the last minute before recall had finally
arrived. Hunger had forced her to eat one of the two lunches sitting on
the workbench, and it had been very delicious. Tempted to eat them
both, she managed to control her urges. Her counterpart had been
raised to eat as much as she could whenever possible, since it might be a
while before the next meal if things went bad. Her will had repressed
that particular desire.
While checking her watch, Nabiki heard the system click back online.
Blushing from incipient embarrassment, she moved before Ranma could
awaken with her snuggled up to him like she had been all afternoon and
went to sit in the chair by his workbench. She was not yet ready to
show, much less admit, a weakness to her only rival in martial arts.
Also, she wanted to control the pace of their relationship. As she
thought about things, she saw the monitor light up as the system
powered up to full activation.
*TIME REMAINING FOR SUFFICIENT CHARGE: 00 HOURS, 00 MINUTES.
*EMERGENCY CAPACITOR NOW AT FULL CHARGE.
*ACTIVATING EMERGENCY RECALL SEQUENCE. PLEASE STAND BY.
"Recall complete," intoned the computer's voice from the speaker.
Nabiki let out the breath that she discovered herself to be holding.
She saw Ranma's breathing change suddenly, and she closed his journal,
setting it aside. One of her trademark cool smirks appeared on her lips.
"Welcome back to the real world, Ranma," Nabiki said sweetly.
Moving nearer to him, she reached down, grabbed his shirt, and half-
pulled him off the couch while growling in anger, "Now tell me what the
hell you thought you were doing."
Ranma blinked his eyes open, seeing Nabiki's face in the dim light
cast by the small flashlight pointing at them from its resting place on his
workbench. There was a lingering weakness in his body, and it left him
feeling woozy. He felt very hungry and thirsty, and his bladder was now
informing him that relief should be sought soon. This caused him to be
a little disoriented, wondering if he had somehow dreamed the day's
events. Then, his mind snapped back to the present, and he was fully
himself once again. His fears about being trapped in that alternate
universe, possibly forever, were now gone.
"I asked you a question, Ranma-kun," said Nabiki, lifting him bodily
from the couch, but there was a falseness to the fierce tone she was
using to mask her concern. She saw the headset fall from contact with
him, the wire leading to the resonator hooked on something that
prevented it from rising with him. "What were you doing in here?"
"I could ask you the same question, Nabiki Tendou," said Ranma, his
gaze taking in the darkened room. He suddenly realized what must have
happened, and he was grateful for his foresight at installing several
levels of redundancy into his system. He brought his gaze back to her
face. "Why are you invading my lab?"
"Oh, no you don't, Ranma-kun," said Nabiki, shifting into one of her
'interrogation voices.' She let go of him, finding it difficult to retain
her
composure otherwise. "I'm asking the questions here. Where is your
father? What were you doing? Where did you go?"
"If you don't mind, Nabiki," said Ranma with a little irritation in his
voice, "I need to use the facilities for a few minutes before I answer any
of your questions." Without waiting for an answer, he stumbled his way
across the darkened room, opened the door, and made his way down the
hall to the restroom.
Nabiki decided to wait, but she was a little taken aback at the tone he
used with her. She was concerned about him. Why couldn't he see
that? She tapped her foot on the ground while she waited, occupying
her mind with reviewing how her counterpart treated her own version of
Ranma. She frowned at how differently her Ranma was acting from his
counterpart in that other world.
Ranma returned after several minutes, looking a little bit better than
he had before. He had splashed some cold water into his face, drinking
several swallows of cool liquid from the tap to reduce his thirst. He felt
like he could drink a lake dry right now. His nose picked up the scent
of food in the lab, and he homed in on it unerringly. He opened up the
remaining boxed lunch and began consuming it in true Saotome fashion.
"I'm still waiting for an answer, Ranma-kun," said Nabiki coolly, her
patience with him wearing a little thin. She watched as he rather
unconcernedly finished his meal. Unused to being ignored, especially
when interrogating a subject, she found herself frowning in frustration.
"I don't see why I have to answer any of your questions, Nabiki," said
the pigtailed boy as he dabbed his napkin against his face. "Although
this might be a good opportunity to ask you about what you were doing
in my lab the other afternoon and now tonight." He looked at her,
obviously waiting for an answer.
"I wanted to know what it was that you were doing in here," Nabiki
replied. "I tried out your machine, and it was... life-changing." She
made a loose fist with one hand and studied it. "The experience was
more than I bargained for."
"I thought so, too, after my first time" said Ranma, relaxing his stance
a little. He took a moment to study Nabiki, wondering just how much
he could trust her with his secrets. He didn't really know her, but he
suspected that there had been changes taking place inside her mind that
left an altered Nabiki for him to deal with. Changes that were probably
as profound as the ones he himself had undergone. For some reason, he
felt inclined to trust her, at least somewhat, since she was the only other
person in the world who could appreciate what they had both
undergone.
"So talk to me," said Nabiki, relaxing a little when she sensed him
lowering his guard a little. "Tell me what's happened to you, and I'll tell
you what's happened to me. Fair deal?"
"Fair enough," sighed Ranma, actually a little grateful to be able to
share his troubles with another, even if that person was Nabiki Tendou.
He sat down on the couch and began to relate the events of the day, the
accident, and some of his concerns about his father. When he was done,
he looked at her face, seeing her mulling over what he had said. Idly, he
thought, *She's beautiful.* He banished that thought away quickly.
In turn, Nabiki told an intrigued Ranma about some of her own
experiences from the alternate timeline she had visited. They briefly
compared notes on places visited by their counterparts, finding a fair
number of similarities. The duo shared a very brief closeness as they
compared some of the people they knew from the two very different
tangents, Nabiki finding herself reluctant to speak much about some of
them. This brought them back to Ranma's main concern at the moment,
and Nabiki finally broached the subject.
"So you think your father now has the mind of that other Genma
Saotome inside him?" asked Nabiki, knowing she found that to be a
most unwelcome prospect. It wasn't exactly the same Genma from her
counterpart's world, but she strongly suspected that this one would be
as troublesome to herself and Ranma. She felt a great deal of sympathy
for the pigtailed boy sitting next to her now.
"Yes, I do," answered Ranma, sounding frustrated, "and my own
father is trapped in that other parallel timeline now. Nabiki, what am I
going to do? I don't know how I'm going to get him back."
"We'll think of something," said Nabiki confidently.
"We?" asked Ranma, raising one eyebrow. "Since when did this turn
into some kind of partnership? I work alone. I always have."
"Not this time, Ranma-kun," said Nabiki. "You already implicitly
agreed to my help when you agreed to share information. Besides, who
else could you turn to? I know that you haven't really made any friends
here."
"I never felt the need," said Ranma hesitantly. "I was so tied up in my
work all the time. Besides, what can you do to help me?"
"Aside from bringing my own formidable intellect, fighting skills, and
good looks to this partnership, you mean?" asked Nabiki with one of her
trademarked smirks. "After all, I am a better fighter than you are, and
you might need me if Genma gets up to his old tricks or if any other
troubles should arise."
"You're not a better fighter than I am," growled Ranma, annoyed that
he hadn't managed to do better than tie with her so far. "And don't go
getting any ideas about acting as my protector, or something. Ranma
Saotome doesn't need any girl protecting him."
"You're pretty cocky for a guy who had his butt handed to him in our
last sparring match, Ranma-kun" said Nabiki teasingly, watching Ranma
frown some more as he stood up. She stood up as well, firmly poking
her finger into his chest as she continued on, saying, "When you can
beat me in a real fight, then we might renegotiate our roles, but for now
just accept that I should be in charge. There's nothing wrong with being
my sidekick. That other Ranma certainly has no problems with letting
that other Nabiki deal with problems."
"I most certainly am not going to become your sidekick," grumbled
Ranma as he folded his arms and looked defiant. "Especially since I
haven't lost to you in an actual fight. Sparring doesn't count. So, if
anything, you should be my sidekick. I am the guy, after all."
"What was that, Saotome?" asked Nabiki, a dangerous glint now in
her eyes, a counterpoint to the cool smile on her lips. "If you can take
me in a real fight, then I might consider it. Not that I really think you
can," she finished truthfully. The tone of faint mockery in her voice was
obviously grating on Ranma.
"You really don't think I can beat you?" asked Ranma, surprised. His
male ego was feeling the need to assert itself, and it was doing so with a
vengeance now. "Guys are stronger fighters than girls. My counterpart
is the best fighter among his peers in that other world, male or female,
and I have all of his skills."
"I can say the same thing, Ranma-kun," said Nabiki with her smirk
back in place. Her pride was on the line here, albeit a certain amount of
that pride was borrowed from that other Nabiki, but she refused to back
down now, after hearing him say something like that. She intended to
rub his nose in her victory over him and prove her strength to him. "So,
what do you say? Do you feel confident enough to challenge me to a
real fight? I promise not to hurt you too badly when you lose, and you
are going to lose."
"You're on," said Ranma, feeling his newfound egotism taking firm
possession of his mouth once again. "Just name the place and time, and
I'll be there."
Both of them were now standing, practically nose-to-nose, wearing
equally cocky looks on their faces. The almost companionable mood
from a few moments earlier was set aside for now, and their rivalry was
guiding their actions now. It intermixed itself with the undertones of
attraction they felt for each other, producing a volatile combination of
feelings. This had been building up between them for the past few days,
lurking behind their eyes as they spent more time with each other. Both
of them were actually looking forward to the thought of challenging
each other like this.
"Before classes, tomorrow morning, out in the playing fields away
from the main buildings of the Academy," said Nabiki firmly. "Give me
a good showing, Ranma-kun."
"You can count on that," said Ranma with a grin, right before his face
paled a bit and he staggered. His time spent under the influence of the
resonator apparently must have drained him more than he thought, and
he felt weak in the knees. He noticed Nabiki slipping a supporting arm
around him, and the feel of her touch was pleasant.
"We should get you home," said Nabiki, her concern for him slipping
past the cool-eyed mask she had been wearing. "I'll help you to your
house, and I don't want any arguments about that."
"All right," agreed Ranma. He had been operating to a large degree
on adrenaline after waking up. The food and water he had consumed
helped, but he was still feeling weak.
Together, the two of them shut down his equipment, gathered up his
things into his bookbag, and they left his lab. Ranma took a moment to
lock the door. They wended their way back upstairs, Nabiki refusing to
relinquish her hold on his arm after he experienced another bout of
weakness on the stairs and almost broke his neck.
They arrived at his house, Nabiki insisting that she escort him inside
despite his protests. He finally relented with a grumble, mumbling under
his breath something about "pushy females." Nabiki let that comment
slide, but she made a note to punish him a little for it in the morning.
Nodoka greeted them at the front door, her face looking worried.
She blinked when she saw Nabiki with Ranma, and she ushered them
both inside with a terse, "Where have you been, young man? A pair of
Peaceforcers brought your father home, drunk, a couple of hours ago."
"He was with me, Saotome-san," said Nabiki, knowing that it was not
exactly a lie. "We have not met, but my name is Nabiki Tendou." She
bowed to Ranma's mother. "Your son and I were on a date." She
flinched a little inside at the weakness of the lie, but it was the best she
could come up with at that moment.
"Well, Genma was certainly in no condition to tell me about your day
when he came home," said Nodoka darkly. She then quickly brightened
up and smiled very broadly when she asked Ranma, "Did Nabiki-chan
say you two were on a date? How was it?" She briefly glanced at
Nabiki, noting that the girl was dressed in a Chinese-style outfit like she
had seen Ranma wearing during one of his morning practices. She
found that mildly odd, but it did not diminish her happiness in the
slightest way to see her son spending time with one of his prospective
fiancees. And she still thought the Tendou girl reminded her of
someone, but she could not quite remember who. However, seeing
Ranma taking some initiative and making such an effort was gratifying
to Nodoka.
"Uh, yeah, date," said Ranma helplessly, "it was... interesting. I can
honestly say that it was a most memorable day."
"I should be going now," said Nabiki smoothly, after watching Ranma
fumble for words for the last few moments. "I'm afraid that Ranma is a
bit worn out by what happened today. I suggest that he go to bed right
away." She smirked at Ranma.
"I'll trust your judgment on the matter, Nabiki-chan," said Nodoka
with a smile. She turned to him and said, "You heard her, Ranma, so
off to bed. You and I will talk in the morning." She turned back to a
grinning Nabiki, missing the dark look that Ranma was giving the
Tendou girl. "Will you be all right going home by yourself, Dear?"
"Sure," said Nabiki brightly, "it's not far. I only live a few blocks
away." She bowed in farewell to Nodoka. "Goodnight, Saotome-san.
Goodnight, Ranma-kun." With that, she left.
Ranma went upstairs, even more determined to prove himself to the
smug Nabiki tomorrow. She was even more insufferably irritating to
him now that she fancied herself his peer in fighting, and he did not
much care for her take-charge attitude. He was the guy, so he should
be in charge of their partnership, right? *Not that we are partners,* he
quickly amended.
While wondering about that, and about the problem of his father,
Ranma fell asleep, his mind dropping into a dreamless slumber.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Special thanks goes out to D.B. Sommer for his kind permission to
borrow from "Shampoo �" for Earth +1.612,+1.509 (Ranma � cluster). For
the original way that events played out on that alternate world, this
took place in chapter nine of that story. The switch in Genmas that has
taken place has caused a crux event, splitting off a new tangent with a
new destiny that will play out differently from the path of the original
timeline.
Thanks to my pre-readers for all of their help and advice:
Michael Allen
Jim Bader
Donny Cheng
David Eddy
Doug_W
D.B. Sommer
T.H. Tiger