My name is Don Granberry and I am a newbie.
I have seen several pieces on this list that I thought were more than
worth the time and attention required to offer commentary on and
criticism of. However, I am loathe to offer criticism or commentary
without first establishing the fact that I am willing to undergo the
same treatment. I am therefore, offering a piece of my own writing for
others to criticize or not, as they see fit. Here's hoping I haven't
committed some unpardonable breach of ettiquette and that I got the
formatting right.
If responses are sufficiently positive, I will create a web page for
this piece. The story is set in the two years after Volume 38, well
after Ranma and Akane's rudely disrupted wedding.
Most of the characters in this piece and the setting for it, were
conceived of by Rumiko Takahashi for her Ranma1/2 series of Manga. All
such characters and the setting are the property of Takahashi-san and
her licensees. All other characters in the piece are purely fictional
and any resemblences to actual persons living or dead are purely
coincidental.
Spreading Wings
Part I: The Burning Ring of Fire
Scenes 1 thru 3
Presidents come and presidents go and their policies are turned out with
them. This time though a new President took office at the head of an
entirely new generation. They decided to put me behind a piece of glass
with a sign on the wall next to it that reads;
In Case of Emergency
Break Glass
A hammer hangs on a hook right beneath the sign. I got bored with it
after a while. One thing led to another and I wound up teaching
Aerodynamics at the University of Tokyo.
An America-jin or beijin living in Japan is most definitely a stranger
in a strange land, but I did manage to make a few friends. What? Oh,
beijin means �rice-person.� It�s what the nihonjin began calling
Americans right after WWII. One of my new found friends had a house in
the Nerima district of Tokyo. When he was transferred to Hokkaido by his
employer he needed to rent it out to someone and I needed to save
money. I had not come to Japan just to teach. I was building something
special and even though it was nearly finished, I still had quite a few
expenses to cover. The savings more than made up for the complications
of the daily commute. After a few weeks I found there were other
compensations for living in Nerima. The pace is quite a bit slower and
the people of Nerima are easier to get to know, even if you are gaijin.
Truth to tell, a gaijin is not all that weird to the good people of
Nerima. Strangeness is part of everyday existence there.
It was in Nerima where I came to understand that Japan is indeed the
land of gods, giri, gimu and most important of all, Happosai Hunts.
Happosai is this little old man that likes to steal ladies underwear. He
especially loves to steal the underwear of nubile teenagers. They say
he�s two-hundred years old or older. I don�t believe that but I can tell
you that he is an amazing old man. He is only four feet, nine-inches
tall but he can stand flat footed and leap a good eight meters into the
air.
I know! I know! You think I am exaggerating. Just come to Nerima
during the school year sometime and you will see it for yourself. One
parade led by this ancient little man as he runs down the street with a
hundred or more irate girls in heated pursuit, nearly all of them
bearing some sort of weapon varying from mop handles to their family�s
heirloom swords is all it will take to convince you. Typically he lets
them get close enough to think they have him, then frustrates them with
a running leap to a roof top. He will usually stand on the ridge of the
roof and give the seething mass of female fury a few catcalls before
disappearing across the Nerima rooftops, laughing as he goes. Happosai
Hunts are fast becoming a tourist attraction of sorts.
There are stranger things that go on here in Nerima but I shan�t relate
them to you. I have no desire to share the reputation of Baron
Munchausen. If you want to know about all those things, you will just
have to come see them for yourself. I am not going to write about them.
Besides, there are secrets one is sometimes required to keep and there
are things one chooses to keep secret so they remain unsullied. I simply
will not reveal much of what I know.
I will tell you about the third Happosai Hunt I witnessed though, as it
is illustrative of what is fairly common in Nerima. Perhaps then you can
decide whether or not it might be worth a side trip when you visit
Japan. It was a Monday and I had called in sick. I had been working on
my special project all week-end and woke up that morning with the worst
crick in my neck I think I have ever had. I could barely move. My
neighbor recommended a Dr. Tofu Ono whose practice was just a short walk
away. Not only did the good doctor take me in without an appointment, he
spoke a better grade of English than I did. This was not too much of a
shock as everyone in Japan has been required to study english since WWII
and I�m from Texas so my English isn�t all that great to begin with. We
Texicans have a dialect that is almost a language in it�s own right.
Tofu gave me a quick examination and to this very day I am convinced
that he saw more those few minutes than any other doctor I had ever
visited before. He had me strip and get up on the examination table.
�You, are a martial artist.� It was a statement not a question. He was
feeling the tendons in my right forearm near the elbow.
�Uh, you might say that. I was a kind of soldier once. Ungh!�
�Marine?�
How did he know? Unlike the majority of Marines, I had no tattoos.
�Yes.�
He started digging into the center of my left palm with his thumb.
�Pilot?�
I realized that for some mysterious reason my eyesight was improving.
Nothing like what it was when I was twenty, but much better than it was
than after I turned forty.
�Yes.�
�Roll over, please.�
I rolled over and he began working on the small of my back.
�What did you fly?�
�Started out in FA-18A�s aboard the Nimitz, then finished up flying
Harriers from the Enterprise right before she went in for refueling.
They made me fly a desk for a while after that,� I said.
It was all true but it was not everything. I had also flown a number of
C-130�s, but back then I could not tell anyone that.
�I thought so,� he said, �This will hurt a little.� He pressed down on
my back with one palm and fire shot up my back from the waist to the
back of my head.
�Damn!� I cried as my eyes began to water. It really did smart.
�It will stop in a few seconds,� Tofu said in reassuring tones as he
stepped back from the table, �You pulled far too many gees once.�
�Yep. Ruined a perfectly good airplane while I was at it,� I told him.
�Couldn�t be helped.�
He began working on the arch of my right foot with his thumbs and waves
of indescribable pleasure began to wash over me. The crick in my kneck
disappeared like the burst of soap bubble. Tofu-sesei laughed.
�Better now?�
�You got that right, Doc!� I said as I sat up.
�You are not getting enough exercise,� he told me.
�Doc, I...�
�Calisthentics aren�t enough for a warrior like you,� he said.
Now, I just know I sat there with my mouth hanging open. How the hell
did he know about my habit of doing calisthentics every day? I had only
just met him that morning.
�There is more than just your body in need of a regular working out.�
�Okay,� I said sounding rather puzzled I�m sure. �What should I do?�
I was so amazed by now that I decided I would do whatever he told me.
�With your permission, I will see if certain arrangements can be made
for you.�
�Sure, Doc. Whatever you think is best.�
He smiled at me then said, �I�ll give you a call some time next week
and let you know.�
�Okay, thanks.�
�With a little luck, your vision will improve enough for you to regain
flight status.�
He left the room while I dressed. My hands were shaking uncontrollably
even though I felt two-hundred percent better. He could not possibly
have known how much I missed flying--or could he? He was waiting for me
in the lobby with a small bag of what turned out to be a special tea. We
walked outside together. I was puzzled that there was no receptionist to
handle the billing. I found out later that Tofu was something of an old
fashioned doctor. He billed his patients once a month by mail. He wasn�t
cheap, either. No, I am not complaining. He was worth every penny and
then some. Besides, I know for a fact that there were lots of people
that he treated just as thoroughly as he treated me, but they never
received a bill from him. He was just that kind of guy. I loved him
then. I love him now. He is one hell of a man.
Dr. Tofu and I were standing outside his practice talking when Happosai
came tearing up the street with a swarm of angry teenagers wielding mop
handles and the like about fifty yards in his rear. As usual, they had
no real chance of catching him, but this time something different
happened.
Across the street from us was one of the prettiest little eur-asian
girls I have ever seen. She had naturally red hair, green eyes, ivory
white skin and a figure that would have made Bo Derek bite her lip in
envy. I must confess my attention was solidly locked upon her once she
called out to the bounding Happosai. I had never seen anyone quite like
her. There was an ineffable something about her that is nearly
impossible to describe. She had a liveliness, an aura of power and
energy about her that is rare, even among great athletes and warriors.
Yet she was wearing hand-me-down clothes at least two sizes too large
for her and her breasts were in no way burdened with a brassiere. I know
this for a fact because she tore open her blouse, revealing a sight
worthy of fold out space in Playboy.
This proved to be Happosai�s undoing. He and I both focused upon the
young redhead and completely forgot about the onrushing young lovlies
howling for his blood. They caught him while the two of us were still
mesmerized. The ensuing mayhem was a maelstrom of clattering broom and
mop handles, the sounds of heals pounding fleshs, spiced with heartfelt
curses both muttered and screamed. Girls, even relatively young ones,
can be vicious. Dr. Tofu laughed so hard I thought he might collapse.
The young redhead tramped across the street looking satisfied as the
girls sorted through the old man�s bag for the their belongings, but
then stared up at me with unbelievably hard eyes as she buttoned her
blouse.
�What are you looking at?� She asked me in Nihongo, �You old pervert!�
I was well and truly embarrassed but was not about to lie to her or try
to squirm out of the situation. There was something about her that
precluded such foolishness, no matter how properly polite it might have
been. I looked at Tofu. He was trying to control yet another paroxysm of
laughter so I had no choice. I had to risk my faltering Japanese.
�The lovliest pair of breasts I have ever seen,� I said or think I said
anyway, �Please accept my apologies. I was mesmerized.�
�He meant no harm, Ranma.� Tofu said causing me to sigh in relief,
�Even I have a hard time ignoring such a sight.�
Thank the heavens some of the anger in her eyes began to dim. She had
looked as though she were about to give me a good drubbing which by the
way, I would have taken without resistance or complaint.
�Are you here for a visit, Ranma?� Tofu asked the girl.
�No! Just trying to teach ji-ji a lesson,� she said. �Ji-ji� is
colloquial Japanese for �old man.�
�I�d better go!� She said. Then, much to my amazement, she leapt to a
nearby rooftop and disappeared.
�God damn!� I said involuntarily, �What a powerhouse.�
Tofu clapped me on the shoulder with a hearty laugh.
�She�s about the same age as your daughter would be you know,� he said.
�Yes, I know,� I said, �Ain�t that a shame?�
This broke Tofu up for some reason that I could never get him to
explain. I helped him get the old man inside. The amount of muscle the
old nut had on his tiny frame was unbelieveable.
�Is he going live over this, Sensei?�
�Oh, yes!� Tofu said with a smile and a wise nod of the head, �Look. He
is already beginnning to heal.�
Tofu was holding the old man�s right hand up so that I could see the
back of it. It had been badly abraded but the bleeding had stopped and
it was already beginning to scab over. His tiny little knuckles had huge
knots of callous on them. I stared silently in unbelieving awe.
�He�s hundreds of years old, you know.�
�One of the old ladies at the vegetable market told me that but I
didn�t believe it.�
�It�s true.�
�How...�
�A rare combination of many things,� Tofu said answering the question
before I could finish asking it. �The key element of his secret is his
sheer joy in living.
�East and west have much to learn from one another I think.�
Tofu nodded.
�All knowledge has a price, though.� He said with more than a little
sadness in his voice.
I bowed and left, realizing that if I hurried I could teach my
afternoon classes. The following Saturday I received Tofu�s bill in the
mail. There was also a letter of introduction to a man named Soun Tendo,
a map to Tendo-san�s place of business and a class schedule. According
to the prescription, I was to attend classes there on Tuesday and
Thursday nights, and run a minimum of five miles on Wednesdays. Shit! I
remember thinking, I hate running by myself. Oh, well! Doctor�s orders.
---------
Ko Lon sat in the Tendo family room. They had left both sets of shoji
open, enjoying the end of an unusually warm day in October. The company
was generally convivial and Kasumi�s tea was as usual, more than worth
Ko Lon�s walk. She paid a courtesy call to the Tendo residence once a
month or so, not just to keep up the pressure on her prospective
son-in-law, but for the purposes of reconnaissance as well. That she was
always made to feel welcome spoke well of Kasumi, the eldest of Soun
Tendo�s daughters. She was reasonably sure that the second eldest would
have simply turned her away at the door. The girl had little respect for
traditional ways and was in many respects, one of her most formidable
adversaries.
Today they had pleasantly wasted an hour or so on small talk until the
youngest of the Tendo clan finished teaching her class of grade
schoolers. Ranma quickly became the topic of conversation as it
inevitably did when the youngest girl was around. Ko Lon was waiting for
an opportune moment to announce her departure. There was little to be
gained from overstaying her welcome.
�Akane,� Nabiki said, �if you would just think ahead of him a little
bit you could have him eating out of your hand.�
�What do you know, Nabiki?� Akane said irritably.
Ko Lon shook her head at the girl�s constant irascibility. Not that Ko
Lon could blame her for being irritable. Some of the rumors she heard
made her hair stand on end. Life in modern Japan could be rough on young
people.
�You�re not the one engaged to him.�
�All men a mere putty in the hands of any woman with a good head on her
shoulders, my dear sister. �
�Is that why you don�t have boyfriend, Nabiki?� Akane asked.
�Akane!� Kasumi said sounding alarmed, �That�s not nice.�
�Don�t worry, Kasumi. It�s the truth,� Nabiki said, �I�ve always wanted
a man who wouldn�t roll over and play dead whenever I told him to--I
don�t think there is such a thing.�
�Are you saying you could make...�
Akane�s question was cut off by a knock at the gate.
�I�ll let them in,� Nabiki said.
�She should be careful of what she wishes for,� Kasumi whispered to
Akane, �if she finds a man like that she isn�t going to know what to
do.�
Ko Lon and Akane both chuckled as they watched Nabiki walk out to the
gate.
Tonight was the dojo�s first �therapy� class. Nabiki had been too busy
with her studies to get involved, but Dr. Tofu had asked her father to
take some of his patients as students. According to him, they needed
special exercise. Most of them were males ranging in age from thirty to
sixty-five and so far, none of them warranted a second glance. They did
however promise to be a major source of family income so she had decided
it best if she knew what each of them looked like. There were times when
such knowledge made collecting debts a much simpler process. Greeting
each one at the gate was the most convenient means of doing this without
having to interview each and every one of them.
Alarm bells started going off in Nabiki�s head, even before she touched
the latch. She hesitated. His scent was already present. Not that he had
an offensive odor. She could tell that he had recently showered and that
he did not smoke and that he did not bother with cologne or aftershave,
nor did he have that yeasty odor of a habitual drinker. Yet, something
disturbed her about him. She sensed danger. After a moment�s hesitation
she decided she was being silly and opened the gate. She found herself
staring at a man�s chest, or more accurately, the closely fitted shirt
which covered his chest.
She looked up into the man�s face and felt her body freeze as her eyes
locked onto his. His gaze flicked away from her�s for the tiniest
fraction of a second, taking in what lay behind her in the compound then
refocused their full attention on her. It was like looking into the eyes
of a tiger. He was calm. He was in control. He smiled and his eyes said,
�Mine.� Nabiki knew in the very core of her being that the word �mine�
was being applied to her and she was surprised to discover that she
minded the notion not at all.
His facial features were not at all unusual, or perhaps they were
unusual given the rest of him. Were it not for his very closely cropped
hair he could have easily been mistaken for just another saraman
beginning to grey around the ears. A quick glance down at his shoes
confirmed what she suspected. He was an American.
�Hi, my name is Nabiki Tendo.� She said in her very best eigo, �Are you
a new student?�
She struggled to maintain a straight face while he tried to make up his
mind whether to speak English or Japanese. After about three attempts he
gave up and held out his letter of introduction. He bowed far too low
for the occasion, but such a mistake was completely understandable.
Nabiki minded her manners and returned his bow. She was vaguely aware
that the man had shivered while she was reading the letter and was
certain that he had given out a little gasp when he had straightened up
from his bow. Perhaps he had a back problem.
�William Warden Westerlake, Capt. USMC, Retired.� The letter read,
�Aged 42, blood type O. Now teaching Aerodynamics at Tokyo University.
His chi is in grave need of exercise and no one should press him too
much about his past. There is much that he cannot discuss. This is
fairly common among soldiers.�
She looked up from Tofu�s missive to find the man�s attention still
fully focused upon her. She shivered inside, wondering what those eyes
looked like when they stared down the barrel of a rifle. She was their
target now and she knew in her heart he was the sort that seldom missed.
�Where do I report in?� Westerlake asked.
Nabiki shook herself out of her revery and pointed with her left hand.
�Just follow that walkway,� she said.
He turned to walk towards the dojo.
�Are you all right?� Nabiki asked.
He turned back to face her.
�No,� Westerlake said, �I am never going to be the same again.�
Now that I have seen you, his eyes added. Nabiki was taken aback. He
was now being entirely too forward and he was certainly too old for her.
She could feel her eyes growing hard. She could not stop them. She hated
this. It meant she was no longer in control.
�Your English is almost as flawless as your apperance, you know.�
Westerlake said without a trace of embarrassment.
Very definitely an American, Nabiki thought. He was demonstrating a
textbook example of their behavior. No guile whatsoever. Just call them
like you see them. Nabiki was suddenly very glad that she had been
studying to become an interpreter. Not that she wanted a career as an
interpretor. She smiled without willing it. Her reward was immediate.
The American smiled back and she felt as though she were standing in an
open field on a midsummer day.
�Why thank you, Captain Westerlake.� Nabiki said, remembering that
Americans were always very straightforward about money and appreciated
others who did the same, �How would you like to handle the bill?�
Westerlake laughed out loud as he opened his gymn bag and dug out his
wallet.
�How about three months in advance, cash on the barrelhead?�
�Ooh! Cash!� Nabiki squealed, throwing in an appreciative wiggle as a
bonus for him, �It�s my favorite form of flattery!�
�The shortest route to a real woman�s heart is always through a real
man�s wallet,� Westerlake said softly with an evil grin on his handsome
face.
Nabiki could not help herself and cackled. He certainly knows where my
hot buttons are, she thought. Nabiki, she said silently to herself, You
need to be very, very careful here. Money is one of your weaknesses and
an older man with money might just be too much for you to handle. Then
all thoughts of caution were thrown to the winds because he had captured
her eyes with his again. She felt a surge of power, as though she had
taken hold of a power line with both hands. Her heart leapt as adrenalin
flooded into her blood stream. How could he do this to me? Well, she
thought, time to turn the tables!
She leaned towards him until she could feel the heat of his body,
annoyed with herself for pouring out more than a little of her own. He
winced a little, letting her know he felt it.
�A girl could grow very fond of silver fox,� she whispered in his ear.
�Never tease an old dog,� Westerlake shot back in a tone that suggested
she had just been given fair warning.
He smiled as he slowly looked her up and down, very deliberately
undressing her with his eyes and not caring if she noticed. Then he
turned on his heel and marched off towards her father�s dojo. Had she
just done that to Kuno he would have picked her up and run for the
bathhouse. Nabiki suddenly felt weak at the knees. The unbidden vision
of Westerlake carrying her off to a mountain hotspring was a little more
than she could safely handle with her sisters watching. She hurried back
towards the house, hoping if she could make it without falling down.
USMC: 1 Nerima: 0.
---------
�Samurai, ja!� Kasumi said, as the last of the new students swaggered
away from her sister and headed for the dojo.
�Gunjin, da!� Ko Lon said by way of correction, �He is here exactly on
time. Each and every step he takes is the exact same length. His aura is
that of a man who has been put through enormous stress. �
Akane snorted.
�Nabiki nearly brought him to his knees without so much as a word.�
�I think he had a similar effect on her, Akane!� Kasumi said.
�Oh, come on, Kasumi! He�s a gaijin!�
�Your sister is right, Akane-chan,� Ko Lon said, �gaijin or not, he is
a man of indomitable spirit. I wish I were fifty-years younger.�
�You�d let him win?� Akane asked with one eyebrow raised.
Ko Lon smiled and nodded.
Akane looked disgusted.
�Who is that man, Nabiki?� Kasumi asked her sister as she struggled to
mount the steps.
�Captain William Warden Westerlake, United States Marine Corps,
Retired. Age 42, blood type O.�
�What? That�s a caucasian name!� Akane said.
�Yep. Doesn�t look it though, does he?� Nabiki said, �Tofu writes that
he needs his chi exercised heavily and that no one should press him
about his past.�
This was met with silence as the other women in the room considered
it�s implications.
�He must have served in one of the special forces,� Nabiki said at
last.
�A pilot too, I should think. That would explain a lot of what I saw as
he walked through the gate,� Ko Lon said, �He nearly got to you, didn�t
he?�
�That he did,� Nabiki said without so much as batting an eyelash, �Too
bad he isn�t twenty-years younger.�
�Nabiki-onee-chan!� Akane and Kasumi chorused.
�He was a very different man twenty-years ago, Tendo-san.� Ko Lon said.
�Your auras would never have melded the way they did this evening.�
�You could see that happening?� Nabiki asked.
Ko Lon nodded.
�I�m not surprised,� Nabiki said, �It was all I could do to avoid
simply throwing myself into his arms.�
Nabiki sat down heavily. She looked wilted, as though exhausted from a
long, cross country run.
�He paid cash for three-months in advance. Money isn�t one of his
problems,� Nabiki said in a speculative tone.
Ko Lon smiled as she watched Kasumi and Akane stare at their sister
with growing alarm.
�I�ll get you some tea, Nabiki� Kasumi said, scurrying towards the
kitchen.
�One-chan...� Akane said in a soft concerned voice.
�Oh, don�t worry Akane!� Nabiki said irritably, �I�ll get over it and
so will he. We are both too much the realists to let this get out of
hand.�
Akane glanced up at Ko Lon, who shook her head in the negative. She had
seen what she had seen. Their auras had run together like a million
volts of electricity going straight to ground. Ko Lon knew that no power
on earth would change what fate had visited upon her young friend and
adversary. The man might have had a little gray around his ears but ying
and yang were ying and yang. There was no power in all the universe
capable of putting them asunder. Now she needed to think on how best to
take advantage of this newly developing situation.
�Well,� Ko Lon said in a cheery voice, �I had best be getting back! Mu
Suu and Xian Pu will be in dire need of help by now.�
�Bai, bai, Ko Lon!� Akane said cheerfully.
�Ciao, Ko Lon,� Nabiki said.
�Look to your heart, Tendo-san!� Ko Lon said over her shoulder as she
made for the front gate. �It won�t mislead you.�
�What makes you think I have one?� Nabiki called after her.
The old woman cackled as she leaped over the wall. They could hear her
laughter echo in streets as she headed back towards the Nekkohanten.
Kasumi entered the room bearing a tray laden with oolong tea and
homemade cookies.
�Oh, thank you Kasumi!� Nabiki said, �You don�t know how much I needed
this!�
�He is such a handsome man!� Kasumi said.
�Yeah, if you like gray!� Akane said, �He�s almost as old as our
father!�
Nabiki exchanged a long sad look with her older sister.
�What is the matter with you, Nabiki?� Akane said, the alarm in her
voice was genuine.
�Nothing is wrong with me, Akane. I just lost my balance there for
moment. That�s all.�
�Are you sure?� Akane asked as she favored her sister with a credulous
stare. �You�re still palpitating.�
�So am I!� Said Kasumi, �There was plenty to palpitate over.�
�Don�t worry, Akane!� Nabiki said in reassuring tones, �I am not going
to run off with the guy. I just ...just...liked his looks is all.�
Reassured, Akane suddenly became aware of her fatique. On Tuesdays she
worked out with Ranma then taught a class of young students basic kata
and breathing. She was finding the class more difficult than learning
advanced techniques from her innazuke.
�I think I�ll get a bath,� she said as she stretched the tense muscles
in her back.
�Don�t go to bed right away,� Kasume said, �I�ll have spring rolls
ready as soon as the late class is finished.�
�Okay!� Akane called over her shoulder as she proceeded up the stairs.
The eldest Tendo daughter turned to her sister with a look of heartfelt
concern.
�What on earth are you going to do, Nabiki?�
�I haven�t the foggiest idea, Kasumi. I�m still trying to figure out
what happened exactly.�
�He�s so handsome!� Kasumi said.
�I know.�
�He was so taken with you!�
�I know.�
�I thought he was going to fall on his knees right there in front of
everyone!�
�I did too!�
�But he�s too old!�
�I know!�
They giggled. The giggling turned into laughter.
�You need help in the kitchen?�
�Yes,� Kasumi said as she put her hands over her mouth, her eyes bright
with barely contained laughter, �I do.�
�Well let�s get to it! If I sit here and think about him much longer
I�ll have to elbow Akane out of the way so I can get a cold shower.�
They giggled some more as they headed off into the kitchen.
�It�s so-o ridiculous, Kasumi!�
�But it�s so-o romantic, Nabiki!�
The laughing and giggling continued at length, punctuated by the
occasional shriek of hilarity over the clunking of knives and the
general clatter indigenous to a happy kitchen.