No Need for Ranma! Prologue, part c (final part)

	It was a little more than a year and a half after Soun had 
lost his wife, when Achika finally succumbed to her long illness. 
Genma did his best to run the house on his own, since for days all 
his wife would do was cry.  He tried to comfort her, but wasn't 
surprised at her level of grief.  He'd only met Achika a few times, 
but she had been a kind and gentle soul.  Even he could feel the 
loss in her passing.
	The phone ringing snapped him out of his thoughts.  He 
picked it up and automatically said, "Hello, Saotome residence."
	There was a moment of silence before Genma heard a voice 
he'd honestly thought that he'd never hear again.  "Hello . . . 
Genma."
	It was Nodoka's father, Katsuhito, who had forbidden his 
daughter to have anything to do with him, ever, or she would be 
disowned.  Even after they had married, he never did carry out his 
threat.  The old priest still gave Genma the willies though.
	"Hello, Mr. Masaki.  We've already heard about Achika.  
I'm sorry about your loss."
	In the silence that followed, Genma berated himself over 
saying something so stupid.  He was even more surprised by the 
old priest's response.
	"Thank you.  While it has not been easy on me, there are 
others in more need of comforting.  I assume that my other 
daughter was also hit hard by this tragedy?"
	"Yes sir, would you like me to get her?"
	"No, no.  That's likely to do more harm than good.  Genma, 
no matter how much it pains me to do so, I must ask a favor from 
you."
	"A favor? From me?"  'The old guy must really be 
desperate.'
	"Yes.  As you may be able to understand, Nobuyuki has 
been devastated by Achika's passing."
	Genma nodded absently to the phone.  He had been ready 
before to take the boy on a ten year training trip away from 
Nodoka, but for her to be . . . .  Genma didn't even want to think 
about it.
	Katsuhito continued.  "The man has gone into shock.  He 
refuses to leave the house and has stopped eating and sleeping.  He 
has also stopped taking care of his son.  I've taken in Tenchi, but 
I'm worried about Nobuyuki.  I've tried everything I could think of 
and I can't snap him out of it, and now his health is starting to go.
	"I've heard that you have a friend who has recently suffered 
a similar loss.  I was wondering . . . I was wondering if you and 
Nodoka could come to the Masaki home and somehow get him to 
the point where he would at least be able to take care of himself.  I 
don't know how well you know Nobuyuki, but from what I hear, he 
and Nodoka are good friends.  This might benefit her as well."
	Genma thought about this for a while.  It would take time 
away from training the boy, but his first priority was getting his 
wife out of her depression.  Having to comfort another might just 
do it.  Still, this was a unique opportunity that shouldn't be
wasted.  He had the man whom he had feared for about a decade 
over a barrel.
	"All right, I'll do it.  It shouldn't be hard to convince 
Nodoka.  However, my wife and I will have our hands full during 
this.  Since you're already watching Tenchi, I was wondering if you 
could also watch our Ranma as well."
	There was only a slight hesitation.  "I don't see that as being 
a problem.  Tenchi would probably like spending time with his 
cousin."
	"Good, and while he's there, why don't you teach him that 
sword style of yours."
	Genma was still impressed by his wife's ability at kendo, 
and continually frustrated by her refusal to teach it, not even to her 
own son.  He also knew that getting the old priest to teach his son 
would be something the old man would hate to do.  For some 
reason the old guy would only teach it to Tenchi.
	"What?"
	"You've already started to teach Tenchi, so it shouldn't be 
too hard to teach Ranma as well.  My son picks up things pretty 
quickly and --"
	"I don't think I would be able to do that."
	"Well, then I don't know if we'll be able to come.  You see, 
I'd like to help you out, but I just can't neglect the boy's
training."
	"But I'm teaching a sword style, while you're teaching him 
hand to hand.  I don't see what I'm --"
	"Anything Goes Martial Arts means that anything goes.  
Armed skills are part of the art, I've just been concentrating more 
on the unarmed portion.  Anything you can teach him can be added 
in with ease."
	There was a long silence before Katsuhito said, "Fine, I'll 
do it.  Drop the boy off on your way to the Masaki house."
	Genma agreed and they chatted about probable dates and 
times of arrival.  After he had hung up the phone, Genma burst into 
laughter.  He had finally managed a little pay back against that old 
coot!

***

	Tenchi was carefully sweeping up the leaves when he 
suddenly received a visitor.
	"Hiya Tenchi!"  eight-year old Ranma greeted his only 
slightly younger cousin.
	"Ranma!" Tenchi shouted with glee as he immediately 
dropped the broom and ran over to greet his cousin.  Grandpa had 
mentioned a surprise earlier, but he hadn't been expecting this.  
"Why are you here?"
	"I'm going to be staying here a while.  My mom and pop 
are gonna be staying with your pop.  They said he's real sad and 
they're gonna try and cheer him up!"
	"He's sad 'cause my mom died," Tenchi replied as he 
dejectedly looked at the ground.
	Ranma put an arm around his cousin.  "It's okay Tenchi.  
My friend Akane, her mom died too.  She was sad for a little while, 
but after a while she didn't get sad no more."
	"You cheered her up?"
	"Well, actually she gets mad all the time now, but I guess 
that's better than being sad.  I tried asking her what makes her so 
mad, but then she just gets even madder.  She's such a tomboy."
	"Tomboy?  What's that?"
	"My pop told me when a girl acts like a boy it's 'cause she's 
a tomboy."
	Tenchi nodded sagely and filed away the information for 
later use.  Fathers always knew useful stuff like that.
	"So what are you doing today, Tenchi?"
	"I got to clean up around the shrine."
	"Aw, that sounds boring.  Let's go play around that big old 
tree!"
	"Ranma, you know grandpa doesn't want you going there."  
	Ranma nodded, his grandpa could be a real stick in the mud 
sometimes, always forbidding them from doing one thing or 
another.  Not that Ranma ever listened to him.   Ranma and his 
parents rarely visited the shrine, usually only on holidays, but 
grandfather had already warned him several times to stay away 
from the holy tree of the shrine.
	"Okay, how about we go play by that cave again?"
	Ranma could see that that piqued his cousin's interest.  For 
some reason, Tenchi seemed to like that cave, even though 
Grandpa was always telling him to keep away from there.  And 
Tenchi, unlike Ranma, usually did what his grandfather told him.  
Ranma didn't really see what was so neat about some moldy old 
cave, but he didn't feel like doing chores or playing alone at the 
moment.
	"Where's grandpa?"
	"Talking with my parents."
	"Okay, let's leave now."
	As the two boys mock-fought under the shadow of the 
cave, neither one noticed the ghostly figure which watched them 
both with interest.

***

	It was a week after getting back from comforting 
Nobuyuki, and Genma was up late at night doing something that he 
had really never done before: thinking, specifically about the 
future.  Oh, he had some vague plans.  Training the boy in the art 
so he could marry one of the Tendos and take over the dojo.  Some 
specific plans on how to train the boy, not much more than that.  
All of these deaths around him had made him come to realize that 
he'd made no plans for the possibility that he might die one day.  It 
was a chilling thought, but after the passing of both Achika and 
Soun's wife, it was one he had to face.  Nodoka would go on 
without him.  He knew she was a kind and gentle woman, but with 
a will of iron underneath.  It was one of the reasons that he had 
married her.  The boy might miss him, but he was a strong one as 
well.
	His biggest problem was who would train the boy when he 
was gone.  Both Nodoka and the boy's grandfather could teach him 
that sword style of theirs, but Ranma would never reach his full 
potential if there was no one who could keep up his training in 
Anything Goes.  Genma could free the master, since he doubted 
that they had really used enough TNT to do the old freak in, but 
that would probably only makes things worse.
	No, there was only one choice:  his old buddy Soun.  He 
had started training Akane in the Art, only to stop when his wife 
had died.  Tendo had even stopped practicing himself, but maybe 
Genma could convince him to do this, just in case it was needed.  
He'd give his old friend a copy of all of his training plans and make 
him swear an oath.  Despite being the master's pupil, Genma knew 
that Soun still had a strong sense of honor.

***

	Katsuhito had never liked Genma, not from the moment 
had had first met him.  It was obvious that he was a gluttonous, 
self-centered lout trained by one of the most despicable martial arts 
masters the world had ever known.  Genma had been completely 
unworthy of his daughter.
	And now that man was dead.  Yet the old priest felt no 
sense of satisfaction or justice.  It could have been that in the end, 
Genma had chosen to save his family rather than himself, showing 
that underneath everything, his heart had always been in the right 
place.  Katsuhito hated to think that he could be wrong, but 
perhaps he had misjudged Genma, and now it was too late.
	He reached for the phone, not feeling any humor in the 
irony of a call he had made in a similar situation.  Instead, there 
was only bitterness over his past mistakes.  Maybe, though, he 
could make it better somehow.
	"Nobuyuki, I need you to do me a little favor�"

	Soun Tendo put down the paper with a loud sigh.  Not a 
single tear fell in a situation where he would normally be bawling 
his eyes out.  His best friend in the world was now dead.  Instead, 
his face was marked by a look of determination that none of his 
daughters had ever seen before.
	It was a shock to all of them, when after breakfast, he stood 
up and said, "I have to go to Juuban on a matter of honor and I 
might not be back until late.  Kasumi, please look after your sisters 
until I return."
	Even though she was only fourteen, Kasumi took her 
responsibilities very seriously.  "Yes, father."

	Soun found the door of the Masaki home answered by a 
man who was only vaguely familiar.  "My name is Soun Tendo.  I 
was a good friend of Genma's and I am looking for his wife, 
Nodoka."
	"Nice to meet you again.  I'm Nobuyuki Masaki.  I believe 
we met during Nodoka and Genma's wedding."
	Soun followed Nobuyuki into the living room where 
Nodoka was pouring over the papers before her.  She was still in 
the process of selling her house and moving into the Masaki home.
	Nodoka finally looked up and noticed him.  "Oh Soun, I'm 
so sorry for not calling you.  Its just that after Genma . . . well,
it hasn't been easy."
	"I understand," Soun said as he took a seat.  "Are you all 
right about talking about it?"
	Nodoka nodded.  "It's only been a week, but I think that 
somehow Genma knew something like this was going to happen.  
He did a lot to prepare for this moment.  He made it very easy for 
Ranma and I to say good-bye."
	"If you don't mind, can you tell me how it happened?"
	"It was something so simple really.  We were walking 
home from eating out to celebrate Ranma winning a martial arts 
tournament.  We were crossing the street when a truck turned the 
corner and didn't stop.  Genma managed to push Ranma and I out 
of the way, but he couldn't save himself.  The doctors said that he 
should have died instantly from the crash, but Genma was always 
so strong.
	"He told me that I shouldn't be sad, that he had died in a 
way that he hoped would redeem the mistakes that he had made in 
life.  He wanted me to go on without him, for my son's sake if not 
my own.  He made me promise him to raise Ranma to be the 
greatest martial artist in the world.  After I agreed, he smiled, 
closed his eyes, and then faded away."
	Then Nodoka started to break down in tears.  Nobuyuki 
was immediately at her side to comfort her, while throwing Soun a 
hostile glare.
	"I'm sorry for bringing up such a painful subject."
	"It's all right," Nodoka replied as she wiped away her tears.  
"I think it hurts less the more I talk about it."
	"Genma also spoke to me about the possibility of his
death.  It was his wish that I take up Ranma's training.  It might be 
best if Ranma and you would move to the Tendo dojo so I could 
begin his instruction in earnest."
	"I don't think that would be a very good idea.  Ranma has 
been spending a lot of time here with his cousin Tenchi and that's 
helping both of them getting over the loss of a parent.  It also 
would take him away from school, where Ranma has several 
friends.  Besides, I've already begun to teach Ranma the Masaki 
family sword style, building on the somewhat sporadic lessons my 
father gave him.  I don't know if Ranma needs to learn more of 
Anything Goes."
	Soun needed to do this though, for Genma, Ranma, but 
mostly for himself.  It was his way of regaining part of what he had 
lost when his wife had died.
	"Perhaps if I were to train Ranma on the weekends? He can 
come to the Tendo dojo after school on Saturday and come home 
Sunday evening.  That way he stays with his cousin and the same 
school, and you can still train him on the weekdays."
	Nodoka thought it over.  In the end, she couldn't ignore the 
pleading in Soun's voice or her husband's last wishes to make 
Ranma the greatest martial artist possible.  "All right, he can stay 
over the Tendo dojo during some of the school breaks as well.   
You had better not try anything like the neko-ken though, that 
alone has caused enough problems."
	Soun nodded and left.  He had much to plan for.

	Akane flicked the sweat that was dripping from her hair as 
she went into the same kata for about the twentieth time.  She, 
being a very determined eleven year old, refused to stop until she 
had it perfect.  Finally, she would have the rematch that she had 
been training five years for.
	Akane had always been interested in martial arts.  She had 
tried to imitate her father practicing as soon as she could walk.  
And it was something that she could do well, better than anyone 
she knew.  Her family and friends were all impressed to see such 
skill in a little girl.  It wasn't something that she was serious about,  
but it was something that she liked doing and being good at.
	That was until she met Ranma, who despite being her age, 
had beaten her five times in a row.  No matter what she had tried, 
Ranma had always won.  And then his mother had caught them and 
forbidden him to fight her, like Akane was too frail.  She decided 
right there that she wouldn't rest until she had beaten Ranma at 
least once.  And with her father's announcement of Ranma coming 
over on the weekends to train, she finally had her chance.

	Ranma smiled as he gathered up his bath things and headed 
to the Tendo furo.  It had been so good to fight with Akane again.  
It was funny how flustered she got when she lost.  She had even 
challenged him to an immediate rematch and lost even more 
quickly than the first time.  She sort of reminded him of Ryoga that 
way.  She even challenged him to a match over who got to use the 
furo first.  He didn't know what sort of training Mr. Tendo had 
planned, but it looked like it would mostly consist of Akane trying 
to beat him up.
	Thinking of this, Ranma failed to notice that the furo was 
already occupied until he opened the door just as Nabiki was 
getting out of the bath.
	Barely looking at her, Ranma said, "Oh, I didn't know you 
were in here, Nabiki.  Just tell me when you're done."
	With that, he left.
	Nabiki had gone from instant embarrassment to anger.  She 
had recently hit puberty and her body was developing accordingly.  
She had also noticed that the boys had paying a lot more attention 
to her lately, even going so far as to buy her things.   Always 
looking for a way to make some easy money, Nabiki had 
done her best to take advantage of this.
	She was queen of middle school until her little sister Akane 
had come there and then suddenly all the boys had started to ignore 
Nabiki in favor of her 'cuter' sister.  She hated how she was almost 
forgotten now.  Why did Akane have to come and ruin everything?
	'How dare he pretend he didn't notice that I was naked!' she 
thought. 'He should have been struck blind by seeing a cute girl 
like me and started showering me with presents.  I'll get Ranma for 
this!'
	Immediately, she thought of her first step.  Finding her 
sister, she told Akane that she could have her bath now.  Waiting a 
few minutes, she went and told Ranma the same thing, acting like 
nothing was wrong.
	"Ranma no Baka!" Akane shouted loud enough for the 
neighbors to hear and then punted a half naked Ranma into koi 
pond.
	When Ranma glared at her accusingly, Nabiki only smiled.

***

	Ranma cautiously approached his mother as she prepared 
dinner, having just come back from his weekly training at the 
Tendo Dojo.  He was surprised to realize that it had been five years 
since he had started his training with Tendo-sensei.  His mother 
had always been protective of him, but ever more so after his pop 
had died.  His sensei had tried many times to persuade her to allow 
Ranma to go on a extended training trip, but Nodoka refused to 
have her son out of her sight for more than a week.
	Ranma knew his father had planned many trips, but the one 
that he had always talked about was to China.  Due to the good 
business of the reopened Tendo dojo, Tendo-sensei had finally 
saved more than enough to pay for the trip, but he was afraid that 
Nodoka would say no without even hearing him out.  That's why 
he had persuaded Ranma to ask for him.
	Ranma had agreed since he really wanted to go on this trip, 
but that didn't make asking his mom any easier.  Nodoka was 
normally very sweet and loving, but when Ranma stepped out line 
she could become very stern.  Ever since his pop died, any time 
Ranma did something wrong she'd call for a training session in 
kendo, which would last until he fell down in exhaustion.  It was 
good training, but it wasn't something Ranma looked forward to.
	"Um, mom . . ."
	"Oh Ranma, welcome home.  Dinner will be ready in a few 
minutes."
	"That's great, but there's something I've got to ask you . . ."
	"Tenchi is upstairs in your room."  Nodoka thought it was 
odd that the boys had insisted on sharing a room despite the fact 
that in the large Masaki house they could each have their own.
	"That wasn't it.  You see, the Tendo dojo has been doing 
really well and there's vacation from school coming up.  Tendo-
sensei was thinking that . . ."
	"Ranma, please sit down and tell me what you want."
	The pig-tailed boy did as he was told.  "Tendo-sensei wants 
to take me on a month long training trip to China."
	The only sign that Nodoka's calm had waved was the fact 
that she had nearly dropped the knife she was holding.  "Ranma, 
you know that even though I'm only working part-time, my job as 
a kendo instructor is very important to me, so I can't just take a 
month off right now.  I also don�t like the idea of you being away 
from me for so long, especially to China.  That's not the friendliest 
place for Japanese to go."
	"Please, mom.  Pops always wanted to go to China and 
Tendo-sensei has been talking about all the things we can see there.  
It will only be for a month and I doubt there's much that me and 
Tendo-sensei won't be able to handle.  I really, really want to go."
	Nodoka considered her son for a while in silence.  He had 
grown up so fast.  It seemed only yesterday that Genma was trying 
to sneak off with the boy on a training trip.  He had proven himself 
able to take care of himself, maybe it was time that she let him go 
off without her, at least for a little while.
	"All right, you can go, but I don't want you missing any 
more school days then are needed and you'll still be responsible for 
any homework you have over this trip."
	"Yeah, sure," Ranma answered readily, having just about 
ignored everything she had said past the part about allowing him to 
go.

	Soun and Ranma tried to sneak out of the Tendo home, 
only to be confronted by a very angry short-haired teenage girl 
wearing a gi and carrying a backpack.
	"Going somewhere?" she asked in a voice that was just 
barely holding back from shouting.
	"Just taking Ranma on a little training trip," Soun told his 
youngest daughter.
	"Forgetting someone?"
	"Like who?" Ranma asked, not catching on.
	"Like me, you baka!" Akane shouted right in his face.  
Even though he was used to it, somewhat anyway, Ranma took a 
step back.
	"Well, I didn't think that you would want to go on an 
extended training trip, being away from you friends and missing 
some school," Soun told her.
	"Besides, going all the way to China on a training journey 
is too rough for girls, even tomboys like you," Ranma added, 
putting his foot in his mouth. Akane showed her appreciation of his 
figurative contortion by applying her elbow to his stomach.
	That was just how they got along; neither of them really 
meant anything by it.  Ranma really didn't think that women were 
weak, especially Akane, and in turn, Akane really didn't think that 
every boy was a pervert.  It would have been hard spending every 
weekend and about half of the holidays with someone who you 
truly hated.
	Soun took a step back.  Even he was frightened of his little 
girl when she got really mad and she looked ready to explode at 
any moment.
	"I am going with you."  Akane said it as a flat statement of 
fact, making it very obvious that it wasn't open to negotiation.  "Or 
else I'll persuade Kasumi to let me cook for the both of you when 
you get back.  For a month.  No... make that two months! "
	Soun and Ranma exchanged defeated looks.  Both knew 
that they wouldn't be able to survive a week of Akane's cooking, 
much less two months.  Trying to get food elsewhere would be no 
good; Akane would force-feed them if she had to.
	"All right, you can come," Soun said as if it were the last 
thing he wanted to happen.
	"Yatta!" Akane shouted, dancing around.
	Only when both Ranma and Akane's backs were to him, did 
Soun allow himself to smile.


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