Oh boy, here it is, really.
Sorry about before, sorry about my story stripping so brazenly. I thought I wrote it better than that.
Troy
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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: thesunlightandthewind1.txt
The Sunlight and the Wind
By Troy Thomas
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the creations
and properties of Rumiko Takahashi. Street
Fighter II and its characters are the creations
and properties of Capcom.
All comments and criticisms are appreciated.
Please send them to [Silentnova@go.com]
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Sunlight warms the heart, but can be lost
easily. When such occurs, hope is often found
in the wind.
One
A young man with black hair, without shoes,
wearing a white gi, walked along a green path.
His name was Ryu.
He quietly followed the green trail, which
snaked its way towards a town one half-hour
away.
There was no intent in his stride, only
determination.
His stride was suddenly thrown off though, when
he heard a sound far from the trail hidden in
the trees.
Stopping, Ryu began listening for the sound.
Dismissing the sound after a moment of hearing
only the forest hum, Ryu resumed his walk.
The sound touched his ears again though.
Ryu turned to where he assumed it was, and
looked determined to hear the sound once again.
It was silent, and seemed lost in the heartbeat
of the forest, but the sound, so familiar to
him from his childhood, sent an unwelcome
tingle down his spine.
"Someone's crying..." Ryu whispered.
He moved unthinking towards the sound's
creator, but stopped in a fright when the sound
suddenly stopped.
"Hey! Is somebody there?" Ryu shouted.
"Dad? Is that you?" a young child, a boy,
replied.
Ryu rushed towards the child, who had stepped
out from behind a tree.
The boy stumbled trying to walk towards Ryu,
falling forward onto his knees.
When he was close to the boy, Ryu saw
scratches, scratches everywhere on the child,
from a hundred or more cats, and shredded
clothing. Blood stained the clothes.
The boy looked less than the age of nine. He
had long black hair, which was braided into a
pigtail. He wore a white gi, not unlike Ryu's
own.
Ryu motioned to pick up the child, but the
child shied away falling onto his back, and
from the impact of the ground on his skin, the
child cried out in pain.
"Oh my god!" Ryu said, falling to one knee.
He looked into the boy's eyes, past the
scratched eyelids, seeing a red gloss.
He stared at the child, without emotion on his
face. But slowly, determination began to
appear.
Ryu warmly smiled. "My name is Ryu...what is
your name?" he asked, when the boy smiled back
at him.
"It's Ranma...Saotome."
"Ranma, we can't stay here...you need help."
Ryu began to stand, but kept his knees bent so
he could remain on an eye level with Ranma. "I
don't think you should walk...but that means
I'll have to carry you."
The child stood, but shifted his eyes towards
the ground.
Ryu stood up completely, and then picked Ranma
up, cradling him. He could feel Ranma cringing.
Before returning to the trail, Ryu whispered,
"Don't worry, you'll be fine."
Carefully and slowly he carried Ranma. When
away from the grasping branches of the trees,
Ryu turned towards the city.
Alone, he sat beside a fire. Genma Saotome
looked towards the stars. "Hmm, night-time
already?"
He was a heavy man, more muscle than fat
though. He was in his mid-thirties, but already
showed substantial hair loss. Wearing only a
white gi, he gladly sat closer to the fire.
Flickering flames reflected off his glasses.
"Humph, it was noon when I last saw the boy. I
wonder where he could've ran off to?" he asked.
"Doesn't he know, all I'm trying to do, is..."
Genma silenced his own tongue. "Damn it!
There's no one else here!"
Some wood Genma had earlier tossed on the blaze
caught fire. Flames danced over the log.
"There's no need to convince yourself what the
truth is!"
A book sitting beside Genma, opened to the last
page, seemed to accuse the heavy man.
Taking his glasses off, Genma rubbed his nose.
"I guess there's no need for the cats anymore."
He picked the book up. "Nor for this...the boy
won't go through with it. There's no need to
try and force this issue anyway. I would rather
have a sane son anyway."
After tossing the book onto the fire, Genma
stood. He walked over to a large and dark pit,
which was alive with noise. The meows of cats
could be heard.
Lying beside the pit was a long but narrow cut-
down tree. Sliding it into the pit, Genma then
walked back to the fire.
He sat down. "My guess is, Ranma will be in the
town."
He stared into the flame. Barely recognising
the book cover, Genma sighed. "What to do?" he
quietly asked.
It was morning. Birds outside the house chirped
and sung, while the sun slowly warmed the cool
earth.
Ryu opened his eyes. Not immediately
recognising his surroundings, he tossed away
his blanket and stood up out of the bed.
"Now that was weird..." He rubbed his head. "I
just thought I was somewhere else. Must've been
dreaming."
Someone knocked on the door. A moment later,
the door opened and a head with a smile
appeared. The owner of the smile, was an
elderly lady.
"Oh, young sir. You're awake?" the lady asked.
"Yes, and thank you." Ryu replied. "You took us
in, without a single doubt." He bowed. "I am in
your debt."
The lady shook her head. "Nonsense young one.
I'm just glad the boy is safe. Those scratches
were very painful looking."
She cackled. "But some warm water and little
bit of soap helped a great deal."
Walking over to the bedroom window, she drew
the curtains open. "I'm happy the scratches
weren't very deep, or else he might've never
survived that horrible training."
"Excuse me? Did you just say those scratches
resulted from training?" Ryu asked.
The lady watched the world outside the window.
The sight was her backyard.
"Yes, I'm afraid. The boy arrived at this town
three days ago with his father." She sighed.
"The father wanted cats. First he searched for
many stray cats, and then stole the rest he
needed from helpless people like me."
The lady pointed to an area far beyond her
yard. "Just over there, he dug a hole and
tossed all the cats into it." She looked at
Ryu. "He didn't know I was watching him, but I
was. And I called everyone that I could to come
over."
She shook her head. "He tried to throw his son,
who he covered in sausages, into the pit. I'll
bet those cats were hungry, because I could
hear them yowling from here."
She laughed. "And then, everyone charged after
the man to stop him. But he ran away with his
son, and all the cats, which he stuffed into a
big bag. We haven't seen that man since. And my
cat too."
Walking towards the door, she frowned. "The boy
you brought here last night is that man's son."
Sighing, she left the room.
Outside, the branches of a nearby tree rustled
from a gust of wind.
"If Ranma wasn't so badly hurt, it might've
sounded weird rather than dangerous." Ryu
commented. "After all, I'm no stranger to such
extreme training techniques."
He thought for moment, and re-evaluated the
situation. "But I willingly take on such
challenges. What that man tried, was simply too
dangerous!"
He shrugged, and then left the room.
The town was common enough, children played in
the streets, old men sat down wherever and
waited as the day past, pigeons pecked at
whatever food lied about.
Genma, however, was both an uncommon and
unwelcome sight. However, it seemed no one
wanted to bother him.
"Humph, can't find him, but...if my luck holds
up like usual, the boy will at that house..."
He pointed to the house, from whence away he
was chased.
He walked towards it. "Ranma, I'm an idiot, but
I'm your father. You should not have run away."
"What are you doing here, you...beast!" the
lady shrieked.
Moments before, at the kitchen table, with
Ranma and Ryu, she had settled down to eat
breakfast.
The doorbell rung and the lady went to answer
the door, but apparently what she found didn't
make her happy.
"Huh?" Ryu dropped his chopsticks and went to
see what the matter was.
"I have come to pick my son up!" a man said,
standing with his foot between the door and
frame. "I know he is here! There is no denying
it!"
Without thought, Ryu responded, "You can't have
him!"
"He's my son. He ran away from me, but I don't
want to lose him." The man crossed his arms.
"Bring him to me."
The lady moved to follow the man's orders, but
Ryu stopped her, grabbing her by her shoulders.
"Listen madam, I can stop him. Please don't do
anything rash."
"Me do anything rash? You're the one acting
rash!" The lady's eyes pleaded. "Just give him
his son, and let them go away!"
"No!" Ryu let the lady go and turned to face
Genma. "Alright, we'll settle this right now!"
He cracked his knuckles. "Prepare to lose."
The wind flowed gracefully past him. There was
neither interval nor noise from the wind. It
simply was. It was strong enough to force Genma
to stand firmly, but weak enough so he could
stand confidently.
"You look familiar, young man. But you will not
keep my child away from me. I am his father,
and you have no right to try to steal him!"
Genma readied himself, placing a fist forward
to be prepared and a foot behind to be steady.
A second later, he back-flipped away from the
doorstep avoiding a kick, which the young man
brought in a downward motion.
Spinning away from the young man's next thrust,
which was a powerful looking downward punch to
his stomach, Genma countered with an elbow to
the young man's side, just under the armpit.
Next, Genma followed by kneeing the young man
in the chest.
However, the young man did not collapse like
Genma expected. The young man used the forward
motion of his fall to propel himself away while
commencing an upside down spinning kick to ward
away further attacks.
Landing on his feet, the young man faced Genma.
"You're very good. I underestimated you because
of your size. Don't think I will again."
Genma charged the young man while the young man
was speaking, but was quickly grabbed and
tossed by the young man's leg as the young man
flipped onto his back, and then back onto his
feet.
Landing hard on his arm, Genma stood up holding
his shoulder. "Damn it!" He spread his feet
apart, grimacing at Ryu. "Well, young man. That
was one lucky landing for you by me."
Genma laughed. "You can beat me, unless I use
the most feared technique the Saotome School of
Indiscriminate Grappling has ever devised!"
The young man spread his feet apart, bracing
himself.
"Saotome Secret Technique!"
Ryu prepared for a great onslaught of power,
but the man turned about and ran away. "What
the?"
"Dad always says, a fool stays and fights, but
the wise man runs away to fight another day."
Ranma said, explaining his father's actions.
Ryu and Ranma sat together by a large tree,
which was part of a forest. Forced by the
elderly lady to vacate her home, the two found
they only had each other's company.
"Humph, well, I guess this means he'll be
coming after you again, huh?" asked Ryu. "And
I'll have to fight him again?"
"Yup, and he'll be better! Dad never loses more
than one fight in a row!" Ranma beamed.
Ryu frowned at Ranma. "You're proud of him,
aren't you?" He almost regretted his next
question, "But what about the cats?"
"Dad just wants me to be the world's greatest
martial artist." defended Ranma. "I have to
learn from anything and everything!"
"Oh."
Looking towards a road at the trail's end, Ryu
sighed. "Should have I just given him back? He
does seem to understand more than I assumed."
He glanced at Ranma. "I have no time for this.
I'm a fighter, not a babysitter."
Standing up, he began walking. "Ranma, come
along. I'm sure you're dad will catch up to us
soon."
"Are you going to teach me anything, Ryu?"
"Uh...sure!"
"Alright!"
"Ryu?"
"Yes?"
Silence followed the questions.
"Where are we going?"
"That way."
"Oh."
End One
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