A Saiyan tail
Part 8:
The Memories of Masters past...
Ranma frowned as she finished her story while the Tendo's sat around him
listening intently.
"Sound's like you have your father's luck," said Soun looking cheerful.
"Daddy! That's terrible!" cried Akane in shock, she kind of felt sorry
for the boy.
"Ranma you cad you, not only my sister, but also a genuine raving
lesbian as well," Nabiki giggled to herself as she ate a few potato chips
from the bag in her lap.
"I-it's not like that!" cried the boy looking embarrassed.
"Well, it sounds like you have quite a problem there Ranma, I hope
you'll do the right thing and honor your engagement to my daughter," said
Soun as he did his best to look imposing.
"You think I didn't try that? Lucky for me she just ignores my male
side," he put his chin against the table and looked at Akane
apologetically again.
"Well, I doubt if the girl knows where you live Ranma," said Nabiki
cheerfully.
At that moment Saotome Goku walked into the home smiling cheerfully,
directly behind him Shampoo waltzed into the house glancing around as if
she was looking for something.
"Sh-Shampoo?! What are you doing here?" Ranma jumped up from his place
at the table and backed away in terror.
"Is stupid coward boy, where Ranma at?" asked the girl as she ignored
him and glanced at the people sitting around the table.
"Hey son! Look who I found, it's our old friend from China!" Goku seemed
absolutely oblivious to the situation as he cheerfully introduced the
girl to the Tendo's.
"Are you out of your mind pop? Do you know what she wants to do to me?"
the boy cowered behind an increasingly angry Akane.
"Do? I want do Ranma, not you stupid boy!" Shampoo frowned and crossed
her arms as if she had been insulted.
"Yea, yea," Ranma dashed outside of the house leaving his father with
the Amazon.
Goku looked confused, "What was that about?"
"Saotome, I think we need to have a talk," Soun's demonic head appeared
behind the man's shoulder and he shrank back nervously.
"I get the feeling you think this is my fault Tendo," he dashed out of
the house with a playfully frightened look on his face.
"So, Shampoo Ranma tells us you're an Amazon from China?" Akane looked
at her and smiled weakly.
"You know Ranma?" the girl got a dark look on her face as she glared at
the three sisters.
"Uh, yea, kinda..." Akane looked nervous, more so than usual.
"Aiya! If you try steal Ranma away Shampoo, I kill!" the girl stepped
forward staring her not yet rival down.
"Hey! What kind of pervert do you think I am?" asked Akane as she met
the challenge.
"Possibly another lesbian?" commented Nabiki as she lost interest in the
pair.
"I do not like girls!" screamed Akane angrily as she slammed her fists
on the table in frustration, it did not survive the attack.
Shampoo blushed and stepped back, "Why you no say so then? Ranma belong
Shampoo, how you know her?"
"Oh, that's easy Ranma is staying with our family!" said Kasumi
cheerfully. "He's engaged to Akane!"
"No! Not stupid boy Ranma! Girl Ranma, where is girl Ranma!?" Shampoo
was getting frustrated with the three and they didn't realize how
dangerous that was for them.
"I guess she's staying here too," Kasumi looked confused and thought
about her answer.
"Stupid, I go now." The Amazon girl whirled around and walked out the
door briskly with a frustrated look on her face.
"That was..." started Akane.
"Weird," Finished Nabiki with a small smile on her face.
The next morning Ranma walked calmly towards Furinkan High cheerfully.
He balanced along the fence and floated back and forth around Akane's
head on occasion.
"Would you come down from there?" snapped the girl after a few minutes
of quiet annoyance.
Ranma vanished from her side causing Akane to gasp in shock as a little
old lady emptied her ladle of water out onto the sidewalk where the boy
had once been standing. "That was close," he muttered while continuing
his brisk pace forward. Akane clutched her chest and gasped for breath in
shock from the sudden movement.
"Stop doing that to me!" she screamed as she followed him angrily.
In the wilderness just outside Tokyo a lone figure wandered through the
forest, he calmly slammed his fist into a large tree that was in his way
and felled it easily. "Damn you Ranma, wait until I find you again!"
Ryoga Hibiki slowly plodded forward. It was around nine o'clock at night
by the time Ryoga stood atop Tokyo tower and frowned as he tried
desperately to remember which direction Nerima was in again. His aura
flared up and lit up the top of the tower in a purple and blue blaze that
could be seen for miles. He calmed himself and tried to focus on his
task. "Where the hell is it?" he cried in frustration as he flew off
again.
[Hey, Perrie' tres strange no?] said one of the onlookers from a
sidewalk cafe.
His friend looked at the bottle in his hands and cursed. [Damn cheap
wine, I told you we should have gone to Jocques'] he muttered in a
slightly drunken slur.
Meanwhile...
"Ranma! What the hell are you doing?" Akane's voice caused many of the
heads in the Tendo household to turn in shock.
"Takin a bath, why?" the boy turned to see her staring at him as he
walked out of his room in the nude.
"You pervert! Put some clothes on!" she was facing away from him and
completely red in the face.
The boy looked at her in confusion and tossed his towel across his
shoulder with a bewildered stare. "But, they'll get wet if I do that."
"That's what the changing room is for!" snarled the girl angrily as she
absolutely refused to turn around and face him.
"Oh, but...why?" he looked confused and the girl realized that the
concept of a changing room was pretty much wasted on him.
"Because you can't just wander around naked! Especially in someone
else's house!" Akane whirled around angrily forgetting that he was naked
and never stopped turning until she was facing away again with a renewed
blush.
Soun chuckled to himself while Nabiki and Kasumi stared at the scene in
frozen shock, Kasumi was holding a teacup in the air over her father's
place at the table with her smile still plastered on her face. "This
brings back memories."
Akane turned to face him with a shocked look on her face, "You mean his
dad is a pervert too?"
"Akane, Son Goku is anything but a pervert."
An old faded memory pulled itself up in Soun's sub-consciousness for a
moment.
Son Goku was standing next to Grand Master Happosai with an amazed look
on his face, while Soun was on his knees just behind them. "Wow! You mean
you can tell the difference between a man and a woman, just by looking?!
Happosai turned to face him and snorted dejectedly. "Course I can tell!
What kind of freak do you think I am?!"
Goku grinned and clapped his hands, "That's pretty neat!"
A sudden look of understanding crossed the old man's eyes and he
suddenly became moved to tears. "Oh! This young man must be blind! Oh,
how I feel for him, to never see the soft curves of a woman's body or the
frilly beauty of a perfectly made pair of undergarments!"
"I can see fine old man!" cried the boy looking dejected. Soun was
starting to wonder if he was going to get punished for failing to escape
from the merchants.
Another old man appeared next to Goku and smiled cheerfully at Happosai,
he had a turtle shell on his back and a gnarled old staff in his hand.
"Happy? Is that you?"
"Roshi? What the heck are you doing here?" said Happosai looking
pleased.
"I'm training my student here for the Tenka Ichi Budokai next year, he's
already competed once before." The men pat each other on the back and
laughed out loud.
Soun gasped, Muten Roshi was one of the most powerful martial arts
masters on the planet, and if his own master was a friend of his...
"What's wrong with this boy? Is he blind or something? He can't even
tell the difference between a man and a woman?" Happosai looked back at
Goku with concern.
"I know, I've tried everything too! He just doesn't get it!" The pair
looked at one another for a short time. "Hey, I've got an idea Happy,
let's see if you can teach him! I'll let you take him off my hands for a
while if you'd like! Just don't let his other training get lax,"
Happosai snorted in response to that, "He'll be even stronger when I'm
through with him!"
"It's agreed then," said the turtle hermit cheerfully.
"Not so fast old buddy, I'll only take him if you take my student for a
while after I give him back. I could use a vacation from this idiot as
well," the old man gave Soun a dark look and the man cowered and bowed to
his master.
"I don't see any problem with that, it's agreed then," the pair shook
hands and pulled out paper to make contracts with. Goku smiled looking
bewildered and walked up to Soun cheerfully. "So I guess that means you
and I'll be training together, huh?"
"I suppose," the man looked wary of the boy.
"So, you can't tell either? Master Roshi told me I'd be getting special
training so I could tell like he can," Goku smiled at him.
"What do you mean?" asked Soun.
"I mean, you can tell the difference between a man and a woman right?
Without touching to see if they have any balls!" Soun's eyes about popped
out of his head.
"Of course I can tell! What kind of idiot can't?" Goku simply pointed to
himself. "Y-your kidding?" The boy simply shook his head and smiled.
"I guess that makes you pretty smart," Happosai turned to face them with
an angry grimace on his face.
"Who said you could speak!?" Soun fell to his knees and prostrated
himself while Goku looked on in confusion.
"I'm sorry master! Please forgive me!"
"Well, don't think I've forgotten you getting caught! I'll punish you
later, for now you just show the new kid the ropes got that?"
"Y-yes master!" cried Soun in shock, if he was lucky Happosai would
completely forget the event.
"Hiya! I'm Son Goku!" exclaimed the boy, to Soun he seemed like a mere
child.
"I am Soun Tendo," said the man.
"If you two train really hard you may get to compete in the Tenka Ichi
Budokai this year, but I'm not making any promises!" Happosai turned his
back on them and smiled to himself.
"You mean I can compete in that fighting tournament with all those
really strong guys? Great! Maybe I'll see Kurillin there again!" Goku
seemed pleased with himself and oblivious to the stares the other two men
where giving him.
"Those where good memories," said Soun as he finished recounting the
tale of his first meeting with Saotome Goku to the children.
"You've known my pop for a long time huh?" asked Ranma looking
bewildered.
"It's been many years, I haven't been to see Master Happosai or Kame
Senin since my girls where born." Soun looked pleased that they where all
so interested in his tale.
Goku walked into the room dressed in a dirty white dogi and smiled at
Ranma. "Come on squirt, we've got training to do, don't want to get lazy
sitting around here."
"Right pop, I gotta defend my title next year!" the boy jumped up and
rushed after the man cheerfully.
Goku started out of the room and stopped suddenly, he turned to face
Akane and looked at her questioningly. "You're not coming?"
The girl looked surprised and jumped up to her feet, "Yes!" she quickly
followed her fianc�e out into the dojo with a confident smile on her
face.
"Saotome my old friend," said Soun stopping the man as he started away
again.
"Yes Tendo?"
"Try not to go too hard on her at first, remember she's never really
been trained," Soun had a small pained and worried look on his face.
"Don't worry about that, she'll be fine! A little sore, but fine."
TBC...
A little shorter than normal, but I have to get back into the swing of
things. Next time Akane starts her training while Ryoga continues to look
for Nerima. Plus Shampoo puts the moves on Ranma, so to speak.
Carrot Glace, the artist formerly known as Catbert25. Web page at:
Http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/fountain/3203
"Ohh, shit! Someone else is out of Alcahol!" -Fujisawa Sensei.
"It's a wonderful warm fuzzy feeling in the pit of my stomach, like I've
had too much beer or something." -Phil