Disclaimer: All characters portrayed in this story are the property
of the Rumiko Takahashi and co.
This story takes place after volume 38 of the Ranma manga and also
draws ideas from the anime.
C & C welcomed.
Another Time, Same Place
By
Donny Cheng
Chapter 8: If it's Not One Thing...
Ranma rocked slowly back and forth on his head, feeling the hard
floor of the dojo knead his brain. *Kills brain cells? Ha!* he
thought jokingly, he did his best work in this upside down lotus
position. And this was definitely the time for serious thinking as
his plan against Ken was stalled at the moment.
He didn't know how Cologne managed to read his mind and stopped
him before he could push himself off that ledge, but nothing could be
done about that at this time. Her stopping him from carrying out the
Lock Fist training, held the silent insinuation that he less able then
Ken and that irked him to no end. It wasn't that he wasn't able, it
was that his body was not conditioned enough to under go the boulder
training _yet_. Given time, he would have been able to have ride a
boulder down a mountain of needles.
If someone had asked him if he could immediately follow Ryoga's
suit back when Pig Boy made himself into a tank with the breaking
point training, Ranma _might_ have grudgingly admitted that it wasn't
likely. But that year saw him increase his conditioning dramatically,
after facing opponents like Ryoga, Mousse, and even Ken's father. In
fact, his trek to get back to the dojo after his twenty year absence,
made the breaking point training look like a slap on the wrist. Even
now, he was haunted by the hundreds upon hundreds of women from bath
houses across China wielding any and all sorts of weapons and often
using them on his hide. His toughness was on par with or even greater
than that of Ryoga's at the same age, he was sure of that, ignoring
the fact that Ryoga's current conditioning was just as far beyond him.
Time was the problem, of course. He didn't have the time to
reach the conditioning needed to start the Lock Fist training. While
risking personal injury to learn or improve wasn't something he was
afraid of, he had to acknowledge Cologne's point about there being a
chance that he would not only get hurt, but not have a single increase
in skill to show for it. And so, he thought. And thought. It was
going to be a long night, Ranma knew as he tilted on his head to
stimulate the other brain cells.
* * * * *
"What's he doing?" Ryoko asked her mom.
"He's thinking and obsessing over the fight with Ken, most
likely. He'll probably spend the whole night doing that, so I
wouldn't wait up," Akane replied, remembering how far Ranma went back
then to win. "I remember when he stayed up all night fighting your
father to train against Kodachi or the time he stayed up to depress
himself in another fight with you, honey," Akane said, turning her
attention to her husband as he walked into the living room.
Ryoga let the frown fall from his face at his wife's smile, and
gave a peck on her cheek as she raised her face towards him. It still
angered him that the past still put him so much off guard. While some
of it was due to Ranma, a lot of it was due to his own involvement.
P-Chan was not the only thing he hid from Akane. He never did tell
her of his trying to sabotage Ranma against Kodachi that night she
reminisced about. One day he would tell her everything, he resolved,
feeling warm at her blinding happiness. "Yes, I remember. We were
young and felt like we could take on the world and win."
Ryoko nodded, having seen first hand how far Ranma would go.
The guy had actually considered throwing himself off a mountain
strapped to a rolling boulder. If Tatewaki hadn't deduced the same
thing Ranma did after seeing that movie Ken had carried with him, and
told Cologne, they'd all probably have found a man sized pancake at
the foot of a mountain. She suddenly felt shy and a blush come to her
face as a thought occurred to her. "He hasn't eaten all day, do you
think he would like it if I cooked him something?"
Her mother's eyes widened in surprised, followed by an
unreadable expression, that slowly turned into her usual warm smile
with a hint of a mischievous gleam. "Yes, I think he'd like that.
But
I think I saw Meiko heading to the kitchen mentioning the same
thought." She chuckled as she saw her daughter attempt to scramble
while trying hard not to and once again she felt irony's clammy
hands.
"At least she didn't inherit my genes in that area," she added wryly
to
Ryoga.
"Lucky," Ryoga muttered before realizing that he had voiced his
thoughts. "I meant, you see...," he was silenced by her biting his
lip.
At least that still shut him up, Akane thought, rolling her eyes
at his dazed look. And it saved herself from a broken hand, as much
as she had improved, Ryoga's skull had also.
* * * * *
"So, are you making a snack for yourself," Meiko finally asked
after she and her niece sidestepped the unasked question the moment
the both of them reached for the bowl with the most nicks on the lip's
edge. Ranma's usual bowl. It now sat between them on the serving
tray, which neither has so much as looked at, let alone touch.
Ryoko thought of lying, but angrily squished that idea. It
would be like she had something to hide, which she didn't. She just
wanted him to feel welcome and it was her duty to make sure a guest
was happy. The words, however, couldn't seem to leave the tip of her
tongue and all she could reply was, "Maybe."
Meiko's frown deepened. She reached for the salt shaker and
just happened to notice Ryoko pull out some chocolate chips. It had
to be cookies, Ryoko's specialty. Her nieces had a very strong sweet
tooth or fangs, and consequently Ryoko was quite good at making sweet
snacks for Eiko and herself. Not that Meiko was less proficient in
the art of sweets making, but a nice healthy sandwich was what she
decided that Ranma needed if he was going to skip dinner.
"I want to help too!" Eiko said as she bounded into the kitchen,
out of breath. Sure enough, she was not to be disappointed as she saw
Ryoko putting a tray of cookie dough into the oven and Meiko slicing
some turkey. She pouted as Ryoko said she could lick the spoon, and
her aunt said she could have a small sandwich just the way she liked
it. Not that she didn't appreciate the offers, because she definitely
did and would make them keep their words, but she wanted to help make
Ranma something too. He was always so nice to her.
* * * * *
"How was a guy supposed to think with all that racket outside?"
Ranma asked aloud, grumbling as he walked out of the dojo to see what
the commotion was all about. He wished he had stayed inside as he
found Ryoko and Meiko floundering in the koi pond trying to grab hold
of Eiko who in turn was holding a koi up proudly. But it lasted for
only a moment before the struggling fish slipped out of her tiny
hands.
"Daddy will have fits if he learned what you tried to do," Meiko
admonished as gently as she could, that it was hard to keep the
annoyance she was feeling out of her voice.
Ryoko nodded in agreement. One advantage with things dying down
after Ranma's disappearance was that he could keep his koi pond nice
and tranquil, her grandfather has used to joke. "If you wanted to
help cook for Ranma, you could have just asked for one of the frozen
fishes in the freezer."
"But, you're always saying, the fresher the better," Eiko
rebutted, on the verge of crying. She just wanted to help! She
suddenly found herself pulled out of the water and flung high into the
air before landing with Ranma catching her under her armpits.
"Ranma!" Ryoko and Meiko squeaked out, the both of them wrapping
their arms about themselves, imagining the show they were giving him
with them in their wet T-shirts. But they apparently needn't have
worried as Ranma seemed to ignore them both and joked about the irony
of Eiko voluntarily 'bathing'. They turned and glared at each other,
standing upright with their hands on their hips, no longer worried at
what this did to their profiles. However, their anger was not at one
another, but rather it was focussed on the boy leading young Eiko
away.
"Want the pie?"
"Want the cookies?"
* * * * *
Ryoko grumbled as she walked back into the house, wringing the
excess water out of her T-shirt, imagining that it was someone's head
instead. From Meiko's expression, she doing the same thing. Ryoko
didn't know if would have been more angry if Ranma had ogled them
rather than outright ignore two fairly decent looking women, if she
had to say so, more than decent looking women. She then noticed her
mother setting up the dining table for dinner. "Mom, Ranma's eating
with us tonight?" she asked, noticing his bowl on the table.
"I thought you said, he would be training all night," Meiko
said,
noticing the bowl also.
"He came in with Eiko and said he was hungry. I guess he's
already figured out a plan and now his second highest priority is the
only thing he's thinking of. He's washing up right now, you two
should
do the same before Daddy gets back. You know how he is with his koi
pond these days. Dinner won't be ready for another half hour, so find
something to talk about, before it's ready," Akane winked at them
both. She finished with the setting and shooed at the girls, before
heading back into the kitchen.
Ryoko looked at Meiko. Ranma would be joining them tonight.
His
parents would not be here. Two empty seats beside him. It took
only a minute for them to race to their rooms, pull on a new shirt,
and
back down to the table. However, the previous empty seats were now
occupied by Perfume and Eiko.
"Perfume, you're eating with us tonight?" Ryoko said, taking a
seat beside her, trying not to sound dejected, lest her friend think
she wasn't welcome here. She was welcome, just not at that very
second.
"Yeah, today's my turn to tutor Ranma. Thought I might get an
early start. It'll probably take me all night to make the guy see
that
I could teach him," Perfume said with a grimace. They needn't know
the
speed laws she broke, racing to the Cafe to tell her parents,
finishing up her deliveries, and coming back to the Tendos. She had
thought her parents might object since the weekend was when the store
was at its busiest, but they all seemed to be in a happy mood today.
"Oh, if it's too much trouble, why don't I sit there, so you can
get a good peaceful meal in," Meiko said hopefully.
"No, I thought I might start the training at dinner. The
Anything Goes school isn't the only school to practice while eating,"
Perfume rebutted
"But Eiko is right beside Ranma. I don't think it'd be that
good
to fight so close to her," Ryoko said with not very much sisterly
concern in her voice.
"I think that the two of us is skilled enough not to involve
those around us if we wanted to," Perfume rebutted and then made a
show
of shifting in her seat, as if making herself comfortable for the long
haul.
Meiko sighed and turned to try her luck with Eiko but bit back
what she was going to say when she saw a scowl mar the little girl's
face. Her shoulders slumped for a second before realizing that the
spot directly across from Ranma was still empty. She turned red as it
came to her that it would give her an excuse to look at him all night.
Ranma came down the stairs and suddenly went on guard as he felt
pin pricks along his spine. After a moment of nothing hitting him, he
felt silly standing there waiting for an attack. The sense of danger
would not leave him however, as he made his way to his bowl which
happened to be next to little Eiko. Oh, and Perfume. No sooner did
he sit down then, the prickly feeling magnified tenfold. It occurred
to him that the girls all seemed to be angry at something. Based on
habit, his mind raced at what he might have done and the conclusion it
drew was that it was nothing as usual, so he ignored them, waiting for
the rest of the family to file in.
Feeling the tension in the room tighten as the object of their
attention walked in, Ryoko knew it would have to be the non-love
interest to break it. She idly wondered why her parents never saw fit
to get drunk and make some deal with Genma or have some weird law that
required marriage. "So, Ranma, you figured out how to beat Ken?" she
asked, feeling her heart flutter as she drank in the rakish grin and
clear eyes that were directed at her. Confidence oozed out of him.
"You might say that," Ranma chuckled, giddy at the thought of
his
plan. Ken won't know what hit him.
"Saotome Ranma, I, Lotion of Joketsuzoku, challenge. You
'defeat' as girl. Law require Lotion to kill, but have learned of true
boy nature. Fight again!"
Ranma blinked at the loud pronouncement that seemed to be coming
from the backyard and suddenly Perfume's glaring head reared up at
him.
"What did you do? You beat up another amazon? First time can
be
ignorance, second time was stupid especially after I announced that I
was an amazon, but third time makes it deliberate!" Perfume shouted
angrily. First her mother, then her, and now some hussy from China?
So much for 'don't like to hit girls'.
"Hey, don't look at me like that," Ranma said, warding off the
girls' gazes of death. "I think I'd remember if I defeated some
girl.
Oh, wait, I did pass by the village while I was there, and I seem to
remember a head of hair that Happosai had jumped on and then I..., ah,
oops?" Ranma said sheepishly.
Perfume rolled her eyes and looked at Meiko and Ryoko, giving a
nod to them. Treat this like a usual challenge that their schools
often received. They marched to door and slid it open. What greeted
them was a girl that seemed strangely familiar. She looked quite a
bit
like Shampoo, same exotic attractiveness, and wore the same chinese
garments, meaning the dress was extremely high up. The girls hated
her on sight.
"I'm sorry, but he's taken," Perfume started, and blushed as she
saw the shocked glances from her friends, causing her to include, "by
my mother who is also Joketsuzoku. Whatever he did to you is absolved
because of this."
*This must be my niece,* Lotion thought. The family resemblance
was eerie and she was surprised the other girl didn't notice. "Your
mother? Then is your father? He no look so old. Claim invalid if
take up another man," Lotion said, already knowing the answer.
Perhaps, there really was a chance that her niece would get together
with the girl/boy that defeated her, judging by Perfume's concern with
the matter.
"He's got other obligations," Perfume tried again, without
actually saying them out, like her own defeat. She frowned at Meiko's
beaming. She didn't mean _that_ engagement.
"Joketsuzoku laws force Lotion to ignore girl/boy other
obligations. You, who speak for him. He your property? He beat
too?"
"Hey," Ranma said, bristling at the idea of being someone's
property. And if he defeated Perfume, how did that make him hers?
*Not a bad specimen,* Lotion had to admit, looking at the girl
in
her boy form for the first time. But she had Spice already and nobody
else mattered. She continued to needle her niece into action. "No
speak out of place when betters speak. If he beat too and give kiss
of marriage then Lotion forget and go home." Technically, that would
work. She had not given Ranma either kiss of marriage or death. If
someone else did before her, whoever beat who first would not matter.
Perfume frowned, not liking where this was headed. She
considered the laws old fashioned and she always tried to undermine
them whenever she could. But here, she could use them to help Ranma
out. It was just a silly little kiss that didn't mean anything other
than to the glowering girl standing outside. She licked her lips,
feeling them go dry suddenly.
"Oh, yes, they already kissed. I saw it with my own eyes.
Right, Ryoko?"
"Right, yep, I saw it, Meiko."
Perfume resisted the urge to punt the two busybodies into
orbit.
At least she wouldn't be forced to follow the laws. Laws that would
have made her give Ranma a kiss... yes, at least that. She forced a
smile on her face, "As you could hear, I already have."
"Since when did I...," Ranma grunted as three elbows shot out
from the three girls ahead of him.
Lotion nodded, accepting the girls' lies. She would have liked
to beat up the boy as revenge for the humiliation he caused her, but
she could tell her niece would want to have words with her if she did
so. "Now just marry and Lotion can leave. Wait for announcement,"
Lotion said, and bounded off.
"Marry!?" Ryoko and Meiko yelled out, rounding in on a sheepish
Perfume.
"Joketsuzoku usually want a more definite proof. Just be glad
she didn't want me to be pregnant." She realized she should have kept
quiet about that as they grew even angrier.
* * * * *
Perfume ignored the other girls as she worked with Ranma's form.
They were still mad at her for the marriage thing, and only grudgingly
let go when she said she'd come up with something while Lotion was
waiting and if that didn't work, they could always make a fake
marriage up. They weren't happy with the fake marriage even! And if
anyone should be angrily, it should be her for them spoiling her
chance to kiss Ranma... and make the amazon leave. Technically, the
kiss was proof of marriage, all that it lacked was official ceremony.
But, if Lotion saw the kiss re-enacted for herself, she might have let
it go at that instead of asking for ceremony. It was certainly _not_
because she wanted to kiss him.
"Hey, you finished tying me up yet?"
Ranma question brought a blush to her face... it was because she
was angry! "Yeah, quit moving so much," Perfume said as she tied the
last knot. She stepped back to survey her handwork. Various ropes
were tied from his arms and legs to his body, limiting their movement
away from his body. The only way he could punch would be if he moved
his whole upper body, as standing still, the rope prevented his hands
from moving moving more then a few decimeters away from his body.
"What is the purpose of this," Meiko asked finally. Although
somewhat skilled, this method of training had her at a loss.
"I've seen Daddy do something similar with one student's feet
once. That student was slower than most and would always lose to a
faster opponent. The problem was that he was too large, so that when
he threw his body into a punch, if the other guy managed to dodge it,
the student was left wide open. He limited the movement, creating a
more stable base. Less power, but he recovered much quicker to block.
What Ranma is doing is something similar. Ken may not be much faster,
but he can take a hit very well. Any attack Ranma makes, leaves him
wide open for Ken to grab something, an arm or a leg. With a more
conservative stance, it'll mean more jabs and short attacks, quicker
and less chance to be grabbed hold of."
"But you said it yourself, Ken can take a hit very well. Even a
full out swing won't do much to nick him. Little jabs will be like
rain to him," Meiko said, suddenly worried, remembering Ranma being
all
twisted up.
"That's what I'm afraid of too. But I'm sure Ranma has thought
of that too, so maybe he has something planned."
Perfume nodded to herself, agreeing silently with Meiko and
Ryoko's assessment. Just what did Ranma have planned? She waited
until Ranma signaled he was ready, before launching her attack on him.
* * * * *
Ken had said that he would give the guy a few days, but had
heard
from sources of Ranma being up and about already, so he figured *why
wait?* His entire body was tense with anticipation as he sat on the
floor waiting for his opponent. Ranma would not be so lucky with that
chi attack this time. He hadn't expected such an attack in all his
preparations against the Saotome side of Anything Goes, so had let his
guard down. He had utter faith in himself that he would be able to
snuff out the chi blast if the boy tried to do it again.
"Where's Ranma?" Ryoko yawned. Her mother had been serious when
she said, the boy in question often trained into the wee hours of the
morning.
Perfume found Ryoko's yawn infectious, and had a hard time
stifling her own yawn. "He said, he had some preparations to make.
He
didn't expect Ken to come this early," Perfume said, giving Kumon a
glare.
"Yeah, I saw him ask Eiko for something and the two of them went
into the kitchen... oh, my!" Meiko exclaimed suddenly, her eyes
riveted
to the dojo door.
"What is it... oh, my," Perfume said and began frantically
fanning herself with her hand.
Ryoko's jaw dropped. She seriously needed to get her father and
Genma drunk together one of these days so they could set something
up. Or get Perfume to adopt her as a sister into Joketsuzoku.
"Hey," Eiko said as she ran towards the three older girls.
"We're not late are we? Where are the other students? Too early is
it? Did you know what I was just doing!" Eiko giggled suddenly just
then.
Having stayed up all night with the rest of them, trying to get
Ranma's body to react less expressively and more conservatively,
Perfume would have thought the tike's energy would be sapped. "Is
that what you went into the kitchen for?" she asked, noticing Meiko
and Ryoko were wide awake now.
"Yep. I got to help put it on him," Eiko giggled again, not
noticing the murderous glares that admission got her. "He only let me
put it on the hard to reach places like his back, though."
Ryoko spared only a glance at her sister, before going back to
the action in the middle of the dojo. Ken was apparently just as
shocked as they were, but that didn't stop him from launching the
first
attack. Ranma dodged and flowed away from the attack like... well,
oil. At no point did either his legs or arm extend a foot from his
body, and if Ken did manage to grab a part of Ranma, his hand simply
slipped off.
"Is his entire body covered in oil?" *Even the nooks and
crannies?* Meiko wondered but did not say out loud.
"He could have worn more than that speedo. He's going to catch
a
chill. And I think it looks like it's a size too small," Perfume
noted absently.
"At least he didn't go so far as shave his head," Ryoko
commented
on the pigtail still there being tied about his head. But the rest of
his body hair seemed to be totally absent, making his muscles very
defined. Very.
Eiko wondered if her father was up and making breakfast yet.
Her
sister and the other seemed to be hungry. She confirmed it when she
heard them slurp up the drool that had collected at the bottom of
their mouths.
* * * * *
Ken sighed as he packed his bags. He wondered how he could face
his father after such a disgraceful loss. He was about to roll his
cart of dojo signs out when, he caught sight of a boy walking up to
him. He looked familiar. It was that pretty boy in the Dojo the
first
time he went there.
"Hi, I heard about the fight. Sorry, you couldn't win your
ninety-ninth victory. Ninety-eight is still a good number," Yuu said
encouragingly.
Ken was surprised that he actually believe the boy. "No, it's
not. I failed in my quest to bring fame to my dojo."
Yuu blinked. "Failed? Don't you read the newspaper. It's been
reported that in Hong Kong, the Kumon School of Anything Goes has seen
over three hundred students sign up within a week. It's made the news
world wide I imagine. The success was attributed to a lone student of
the art having success against Japan's best schools."
It was Ken's turn to blink. "Really?"
Yuu smiled, "Yes, really. In fact, I became a fan after hearing
of your exploits. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind taking on a
student? I know others that are interested."
"S-Sure," Ken stuttered, still dazed at the news the Kumon's
have
found success.
"One question first. I was wondering," Yuu said, twiddling his
fingers together, "if it's a problem if you take some female
students. I'm, uh, asking for some girls that have expressed
interest. Because your art embarrasses some girls somewhat."
Ken frowned. "I've never had a problem fighting girls. In
fact,
I've found it easier against them, because they have more hand holds."
"Uh, don't you get, um, bother touching their 'hand holds'?" Yuu
asked, a gleam of hope in his eyes.
"No, not really. Should I?" Ken suddenly felt he was in more
danger than he had ever known in his short life. But there was only
his new grinning student. "I'm sorry, I just accepted you and don't
even know your name."
"Yuu Kuonji," he smiled. "Now, want to wrestle?"
* * * * *
"<Wait, don't you want to meet your niece?>" Shampoo called out
when Lotion came back to listen to their report. She was relieved
when
her younger sister came back after her meeting with Ranma in good
spirits. Perfume had apparently given her the impression that Ranma
was taken and she was free.
"<Best that she thinks I'm the enemy. She will work harder at
proving Ranma is hers.>" Lotion was about to leave, when she stopped
and turned to meet Shampoo's concerned eyes. "<Thank you, Sister. I
await the day we can all be together again.>"
Shampoo smiled back, though not with any tentativeness.
"<Hopefully, that day will be sooner rather than later.>"
* * * * *
Spice reached down and touched the ground. This was the first
time he had touched land that did not belong to his beloved country.
"Find Lotion. Where Ranma is, she will not be far."
Lime and Mint bowed respectfully before running away. He could
hear the word 'breasts' as they left. Perhaps, he should have brought
someone else.
* * * * *
The End. (maybe)