The Reluctant Fianc�e.
Part 2.
Shun's journey.
Fourteen-year old Shun stood next to her friend Hitomi in the kitchen of
the monastery. She hummed to herself while peeling a potato over a
boiling pot of water. Her hair had grown long cascading down her back
despite the fact she kept it in a ponytail, she had developed rather well
as well. Hitomi sighed as she looked back at the door to the kitchen and
noticed several of the boys huddled behind it staring at her friend with
lust filled eyes.
The girl seemed completely oblivious to them and continued her work
cheerfully. "I'd better make extra portions for Munchi," she muttered
under her breath earning a stare from Hitomi.
"I thought you hated his guts!" she cried in shock.
"Oh, I do, but he paid me," replied the girl with a shrug. "It was an
excessive amount of money too; I was only going to charge him three
thousand and he gave me five."
Hitomi's jaw dropped like a rock as she said this, "You took money from
him?"
"Yea, so?" asked the girl in confusion. "He said something about how it
was a small price to pay for my cooking." The girl was very proud of her
skills; she now had the skill to back up her claims of being the best
chef in the temple.
"You'd better be careful Shun, you know how that boy is," warned Hitomi.
"Oh, I know exactly how he is, he'll probably try to beat me up later
anyway," the girl snorted lazily as she pushed the pot onto another
burner and skillfully tossed a knife over her shoulder embedding it into
the door of the kitchen sending the boys scattering. "Perverts, have they
forgotten I'm already spoken for!?"
"You haven't seen that boy in years, are you sure he's coming back?"
asked the girl in concern. She had always thought her friend would forget
about the agreement and get on with her life, perhaps with one of the
boys from the temple. For a while she had even thought Munchi might have
a chance with her.
"We do have a contract Hitomi, besides I know where to find him if he
tries to get away!" a small fire burned behind her and she clenched her
fist with a strong look of determination on her face. "Oh yea! The
Flamb�!" She turned and put a lid over the pot putting the flames out,
"It's too soon for that yet."
"I don't know Shun, Munchi's been trying to make good on your challenge
for years! What were you thinking when you said that to him anyway?" the
girl blushed slightly at the memory.
"That lazy, over grown tub of lard? He couldn't beat me in a million
years! That stupid jerk, besides I only have to go on one date with him
if he ever does win, I didn't say I would marry him," Shun lifted the lid
of a nearby pot and inspected its contents.
"Still, your arms are still burnt from that accident you had a few weeks
ago! It looks to me like it might be infected, it hasn't gotten any
smaller in almost two weeks!" Shun had her arms bandaged from her elbows
down small spots of red skin could be seen between some of the gaps.
"That's nothing Hitomi-chan! I can take it!" snapped the girl
indignantly turning away from her friend.
"Well, he is pretty strong you know," said the girl looking away from
her friend in embarrassment.
"Jeez, I'm starting to think you like him or something," she gave the
girl a knowing smile and continued her work.
"I don't! I'm just worried about you, he's dangerous Shun!" snapped the
girl with a genuinely angry look on her face.
Shun looked away from her with a neutral gaze as she concentrated her
attention on the small pile of vegetables in front of her. She took a
small handkerchief out of her pocket and waved it around in front of them
a few times. A moment later they fell apart in neat even slices. "You
worry too much Hitomi," replied the girl with a smirk.
"Do I? Remember the time you almost killed yourself with those
boulders?!" snapped the girl angrily.
Hitomi shrugged, and looked at her friend blankly. "It worked didn't
it?"
"You almost died from the wounds!" snapped her friend.
"I got better didn't I?" replied Shun calmly.
"Really? Well now that we're on the subject I'm kind of suspicious about
those burns. You've done some really crazy stupid things before Shun.
Maybe I should be worried, it could be just another stupid technique
you've come up with! Remember the time you had to get all those stitches
in your leg because you kept trying to walk on top of the fence?"
"Which I can now do easily," replied the girl a she unwrapped her arms
revealing that they had in fact healed somewhat now. "Besides, I know you
worry Hitomi, that's why I didn't tell you about my new trick," she
smiled broadly as the girl got an enraged look on her face.
"What the hell have you done now?!" she screamed angrily grabbing the
girl by her neck. Shun almost dropped the bowls of rice she had been
making as she choked for a moment. "Stop it! This is why the boys won't
talk to you Hitomi!"
That got a reaction from the girl and she calmed visibly placing a false
smile on her face. "So tell me what you've done now."
"I've been doing it for most of this conversation Hitomi," said the girl
with a slight frown.
Hitomi looked at the large pot of rice in front of her and noticed that
her friend's hands had a few small white specks sticking to them. She
didn't have a spoon or ladle of any kind and around fifty small bowls of
rice now lined the table next to the stove.
"What the?" she looked at her and frowned.
"Gohan ken, that's what I call it!" said the girl as her hands became a
blur of motion. Another ten bowls appeared as if by magic in less than a
second as the pot finally became empty.
Hitomi grabbed Shun's hands and frowned. "They aren't even wet."
"Yea, pretty cool huh? It helps with accuracy and speed! I can't wait to
tell Midori sensei about it!" she snickered to herself. The female Kung
fu master who led all of the young women in the temple through their
morning routine had taken to cataloging the girl's brainstorms. At first
she was as opposed as Hitomi was to her sometimes-dangerous activities,
after a few of the seemingly insane techniques actually worked she
started writing them down. The temple would have quite a legacy in
martial arts for future generations.
Hitomi sighed and continued to cut at the vegetables she had to prepare
for the evening slowly with a kitchen knife. "You are such a show off
Shun. So tell me, are you going to come visit the girls with me later?"
"Sure, but don't try to wash my hair again, you know I like to do it
myself." Shun had become very protective of her bathing habits over the
years. It would not do to change in front of her friends, especially not
when they were all naked at the time. It was also now very easy to tell
the difference between her male and female forms. As a result she had to
be extra cautious in the kitchen. So far she had been extremely lucky. As
a result she faked an extreme pride in her long light blue hair to
prevent revealing herself during the social sleepover style parties she
had to attend for appearances sake. Often she could use her super cute
tomboy attitude to get out of it, but not always. Besides, it wouldn't do
to have every cute girl in the temple thinking she was a snob.
Quickly she pulled her apron off of her waist and tossed it onto a rack,
the old wooden post was covered in cuts and slices from when the younger
students had first learned to use cloth as a weapon. "See ya later
Hitomi, I want to go and show lard ass my new techniques!"
She stopped in the courtyard just outside of the building and stared in
shock at the boy practicing in the yard. He was waving a belt around
rather skillfully, but unfortunately not able to do anything more than
slap the poor practice dummy in front of him. She walked up behind him
and watched for a few moments.
"Hey!" she called lazily after he threw the belt at the dummy in
frustration.
He turned to look at her and frowned suddenly, Shun smiled at the rage
in his eyes. "You need to relax, if you put to much force into the strike
it won't work."
"I don't need any help from a girl," snapped the boy as he turned his
attention back to the task.
She kicked her feet out an sent him to the ground while wrapping the
handkerchief she kept in her pocket around his hand and his ankle at the
same time effectively halfway hog tying the boy to the ground. "Not even
if she's better than you?" She released him and he sat cross-legged on
the ground with a deep frown on his face.
"Sorry, I'm just a little frustrated," he said sincerely.
"It's ok, I can see you're an OK guy. What's your name?" she already
knew the answer but decided for polite formality.
"Ryoga Hibiki," replied the boy half-heartedly.
"Well Ryoga, I'm Shun, would you like me to help you out some? I may be
a weak little girl, but I'm pretty good with the technique."
Ryoga looked up at her and blushed slightly. "No thanks, I..."
"You're embarrassed because I'm a cute girl? Don't bother I'm engaged,
I'm just being helpful," she smiled at him warmly.
"Oh," the blush disappeared from his face and he turned back to the
dummy. "No thanks, I'd rather do this on my own."
"I can understand that, oh well," she shrugged slightly.
"So, you a traveling martial artist or something?" she leaned against a
nearby wall and smiled slightly as she assessed him. He was good, not as
good as her at the moment, but she could easily see that it would change
in a short while.
"No, I'm looking for someone," replied the boy mechanically.
"Really? Who? Maybe he's been through here."
"His name is Ranma Saotome," replied the boy angrily. "He's a coward,
and a jerk!" snarled Ryoga angrily.
"Hmmm," Shun thought carefully about her answer. "It doesn't fit the
description of any Ranma I know of, sorry," she smiled at him again and
he returned to his practice. "You don't talk much do you?"
"Look I don't want to sound rude, but I've got to master this technique.
The monk said he'd only teach its more advanced form to me if I could get
this within three days," Ryoga turned away and continued to beat on the
dummy.
"Oh, sounds like pops to me. I'd love to help you out Ryoga, but if he
finds out I did he won't teach it to you," she turned away and smiled at
the bewildered stare she had gotten from the boy.
Ryoga turned back to the dummy yet again. "I guess she's that old man's
daughter."
Shun smirked to herself as she placed her foot in the base of Munchi's
neck. His body quivered slightly and he slumped to the ground. The fight
had lasted five minutes and she found herself the victor yet again.
Smiling to herself she bent down next to him. "You crazy jerk, I know you
know what I'm going to say. Even if you win that date, I still won't
marry you. I love my Ranchan," she gave a small girlish giggle and turned
away from him. Her face changed into one of carefully calculated evil.
"That should hook him for another fight," she smirked to herself. It was
rather cruel of her to keep stringing the boy along like she was, but she
didn't care much for him anyway. All it took was one super cute smile and
he was in the palm of her hand. Unfortunately, he was also as defiant as
Ranma about being controlled. She had to be much more subtle with her
actions in order to manipulate him. It was a relationship on par with
Mousse, but without the puppy like devotion. Munchi wanted to control
her, and he did everything in his power to do so; even to the point of
demanding a marriage from her at one point. She stood and thought about
it for a moment, he was kind of like Kuno that way.
It was true the boy was fat, but it wasn't because he was unfit either.
He was the strongest boy in the whole temple, and had a temper to match.
Fortunately for her, he was as slow as most people his size in a fight.
His punch packed a huge wallop, but it was easy for her to dodge. She was
having a sinking feeling as the time drew near that he would probably
follow her to Nerima.
Shun hated every minute of what she was doing, if anything she was
playing along for Hitomi's sake. The girls had her trapped in a room full
of feminine clothing and were trying them on while giggling to
themselves. Shun snarled as one of the girls handed her something. She
put it on and looked in the mirror, what she saw was hardly unpleasant,
she was a very beautiful girl. Not that she minded feminine clothes that
much, she was pretty open minded about things like that. In fact it
seemed perfectly natural to her after seven years as a girl. She did hate
being dressed in female formal Kimonos, and that was exactly what the
girls had begged her to wear. She preferred the more masculine clothing
over the frilly clothes her friends tended to wear. It was a monastery
after all so the only thing they could really dress up in was the one
formal Kimono most of the girls were allowed to keep. She didn't own one
for herself preferring the Chinese style work clothes over more
traditional Japanese Kimonos. In fact the only clothing she had besides
her Chinese clothes was her dogi.
Standing there looking in the mirror she smiled at herself, more out of
curiosity than anything else. She was very beautiful, not that she minded
that. "The better to manipulate you with," she thought to herself with
her smile turning into a knowing smirk. Quietly she turned around and
noticed the other girls were staring at her in shock.
"Shun, you're beautiful," gasped Hitomi while still staring at her.
"Who could have know she had a figure like that!? She looks better in
that damn thing than I do!" snarled the red haired girl who owned the
Kimono she was wearing.
"Munchi'd probably wet himself if he saw this," snickered another one of
the girls.
"Precisely why he never will," said Shun with a lazy smile as she held
out her hands. They all took a few yen bills out of their pockets and
handed them to her. "Thank you."
"Shun, what was that for?" asked Hitomi in confusion.
"Well, they said they'd all pay to see me in a formal Kimono for once.
So I asked 'how much?'" replied the girl with a shrug.
"Shun!?" screamed the girl in shock.
"What?" said the girl defensively. "A girl's gotta make a little money!"
Hitomi shrugged suddenly with her face calming a bit. "Well, we don't
really use money here for anything else but stupid bets anyway."
"Exactly, you get the idea now!" said the girl cheerfully.
Two years flashed by in the blink of an eye. Shun stood at the gates of
the temple with a traveling bag on her shoulders. "Are you sure you have
to go?" said Hitomi with tears in her eyes.
"Yea, I've got an old promise to keep besides the engagement. I'll come
back though, I promise!" said the girl as she hugged her friend with an
equally sad expression on her face. She didn't cry though, a hard look of
determination was etched onto her features.
Hitomi stepped back and smiled warmly. "Good luck, I hope you get your
husband."
The girl smiled slightly at this, "I certainly hope I don't" she thought
with a wicked laugh in the back of her mind. "That'd be gross."
"Try to keep that jerk Munchi from following me," said the girl with a
frown as she looked towards the temple. "I talked with pop about it
already, but there might not be anything he can do."
"What can I do?" asked the girl in confusion.
"A girl has ways," said Shun with a small smile appearing on her lips
for a moment.
"It's not like that! I don't like him anymore than you do!" retorted the
girl angrily.
"Well, we'll see, I'll see you in a few years Hitomi, I promise I'll
come back!" she turned away and jogged down the trail towards Tokyo.
Hitomi watched her friend vanish into the forest surrounding the
mountain and turned back into the temple grounds with tears flowing down
her face freely. "Good luck Shun-chan."
Shun walked away from the base of the mountain and looked up, it had
been many years since she had been this far away from home. She saw the
walls and the rooftops of the buildings jutting from the forest near the
peak. It was noticeably warmer now and the air was much thicker. She felt
like she could run for days and not stop. In her bag was a large amount
of cash, she had been saving all of the money she had earned through bets
and her work in the temple over the last nine years. She smiled to
herself at the unexpected revelation her adopted father had given her. He
owned a small piece of land in Nerima, it was in the business district
and would serve her needs nicely. She had actually planned to buy a place
of business for herself. She had almost enough money to do so, now that
left her with a comfortable fall back fund. A small frown crossed her
face as she realized she would probably have to blow it on repairs once
Ranma and his friends showed up.
She smiled to herself at the memory of the boy and turned towards
Nerima. "I wonder how much he's changed?" he knew a good bit about the
older Ranma Saotome already, but still it was little things she was
wondering about.
The place was a shack, she had done some checking around and found it
after a few hours of walking. It was dirty and old, but the gas lines and
kitchen would suit her needs nicely. "So, this is Shun's Yakatori?" she
dumped her bag on the ground and scratched the back of her head. "Man,
this is going to take some work." Deciding to forget about the clean up
until tomorrow she walked up the stairs and noticed a few creaking
boards. "Good security device," she thought to herself.
Finding the bedroom upstairs was easy enough, mostly because it was one
of two rooms, one of which she would turn into a guestroom. There was a
small western style tub downstairs and a tiny bathroom. She checked
everything over and walked outside taking in the scenery. A few blocks
down the road was the Cat Caf�, Ucchan's was non existent, but she could
see the building across the street from her own restaurant. "Well, the
Cat Caf� is there, so Ranma's had plenty of time to fall in love with
Akane, I wonder what she's really like?" she turned back into the
building and started to set up her cot in the bedroom. It would do until
she bought some real furniture.
"Ugh, I've got to register for school tomorrow" she said flatly to
remind herself. "Furinkan should be easy enough."
After a moment she started thinking about the little boy she had met all
those years ago in the temple. Shun was hardly expecting the relationship
to pick up where it left off, especially with the whole fianc�e business
and the fact that Ranma probably thought she was a boy. She did intend to
keep her promise though, if there was one thing she never went back on it
was her word. She lay down on the cot and closed her eyes to get some
sleep.
TBC...
Next time: Shun starts school and sets up her business, as well as
meeting some of the neighbors. Oh yea, and she find's Ranma too. Gee, I
wonder how he'll react...
This chapter is mostly character building stuff for Shun, Don't think
Nabiki, think Nanami from El-Hazard. Next time the real fun starts.
Obviously the time line will be put into perspective next time, you'll
just have to read and find out.
C&C to CarrotGlace@juno.com
URL: Http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/fountain/3203