17 June, 1973
Physically, Azabu High School bore a strong resemblance to
Furinkan. Ranma was well aware of the fact that many schools in
Tokyo were built along a common plan, but there were usually
differences in placement of buildings and such. But Azabu's
layout was mostly the same as Furinkan; only the trees, and the
roof of the clock tower, were different.
Ranma was seated on the wall, looking out over the compound.
According to the clock, he had five minutes before final classes
let out, and he wanted to find Nodoka quickly. Most of today,
he'd spent working for Kikuyo, the old woman with the ramen cart.
Not that he needed to, since Skuld had given him some 1970's
money, but it gave him something to do.
He glanced over to his left, and noticed a girl approaching him.
He sighed; the more people he interacted with, the more likely
he was to do something stupid and lose his wish. But if he left,
he would miss Nodoka, and lose his wish. Once again, he berated
himself for not simply curing his curse.
"Excuse me. Shouldn't you be in class?"
He grinned. "Shouldn't you?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Certainly the teachers insist that I
should, but I think I can ignore them safely. You, on the other
hand..."
"I'm waiting to meet someone."
"Really? Whom?"
"Saotome--"
"Nodoka?" The girl smirked. "You must be Ranma."
"If I must." He shrugged.
"She hasn't been able to talk about anything but you all day."
Ranma blinked. "What?"
"She's been prattling on all day about how nice a guy you are.
Kind, friendly, clever, and so on. About how sometimes old-
fashioned is nice. She also said you were a hunk." The girl
smiled. "I see she was telling the truth."
"Well, thanks." He grinned. "And you are?"
"You say that as if I would give you my name," said the girl.
"I've only just met you, and I am already certain that you are
merely a peasant."
"Oh, boy." Ranma sighed. "Fine then. Don't even talk to me."
"I am of noble birth. If you are as old-fashioned as Nodoka-san
claims, you will recognize my worth."
More and more this seemed like a battle, and in an arena that
Ranma was simply not comfortable in. He considered a tactic,
weighed the risks, and decided they were acceptable. He hopped
off the fence, and bowed to the girl.
"Your excellency, I had no idea you attended such a common
school." He straightened up. "Nor that you would grace one such
as I with your words."
"Such as you?"
"Well, yes. My family has tried in the past to conceal our
background, but there are too many private detectives, hired
specifically to find us--"
The girl screamed, turned and ran. Ranma fell to the ground,
laughing.
"What's so funny?"
He sat up, and glanced over at Nodoka, who'd just arrived. "Oh,
I think I just gave that poor girl a heart attack."
"Poor girl?" She looked at the hole in the school boundary wall.
"You mean Maki-sama?"
"Sama?"
"She's from some rich noble family, or some such. What did you
tell her?"
"Well..." He snickered. "You see, my father is not precisely
honourable, and has run out on several debts in the past. We've
had private detectives showing up from time to time, to collect
on these debts. I told her this."
"So?" Nodoka scratched her head.
"I think she assumed that I was burakumin."
Nodoka bit her lip. "Are you?"
"No."
"Shit. I was hoping you were."
Ranma frowned. "Why?"
She grinned. "Can you imagine my mother's face if I brought you
to meet her?"
* * * * *
"Nodoka, I've got a question."
They were back at the ice cream parlor - Ranma's treat, this time
- and working on demolishing large confections. Ranma had
ordered a massive parfait, custom made, with nuts, sprinkles, and
many other sweet toppings. It would send a diabetic into shock
just to look at it. Nodoka had again ordered a banana split.
Well, more accurately, it had arrived in front of her without her
saying a word.
"Don't be so formal, Ranma. Call me No-chan."
"I'm not sure if I should." Ranma absently toyed with his spoon.
"I had a bit of a chat with Maki before you arrived."
"Why the hell would you want to talk to her?"
"I didn't want to, really. She just showed up and insisted on
talking to me."
"And what did she have to say?"
"Well..." He sighed. "She was talking about you."
Nodoka blinked. "About me?"
"Yeah. She said all you could talk about was me."
Nodoka blushed, turning almost the same shade as her hair.
"Perhaps I shouldn't have said anything."
"No. It's okay, Ranma. But I do think I owe you an
explanation." She sighed, and picked up her spoon. "First some
frozen courage."
She must have needed a lot of courage; she finished off the
banana split before beginning.
"My mom sorta made it known that she's tryin' to marry me off.
She thinks I should be the proper Japanese housewife, and start
pumpin' out children - male children - as fast as I can grow
them." She snorted. "Not too bloody likely. If I have any kids
at all, I wanna have just two. A boy and a girl."
Ranma snickered.
"Oh, laugh it up, pal." She glared at him. "I know damn well
I'm gonna be old, right? I gotta get all my fun in before I turn
twenty, 'cause nobody over that age gets to have fun. But I'm
not gonna walk blindly into the future. So I got it planned out,
sorta. A husband I can tolerate. College. A good job, in
journalism. One boy, and one girl. And they're gonna be raised
a lot different than I was, I tell you!"
"No doubt." Ranma grinned. "What's wrong with the way you were
raised?"
"Rules! Lots of 'em! And some of the dumbest ones you ever
heard. A really early curfew, and I'm not supposed to be alone
with any boys. You'd never know she's tryin' to marry me off.
I'm not even allowed to date!" She sighed. "But back to my
explanation.
"So Mom's tried to get me to marry these old geezers. The
youngest must have been thirty. I mean, that's almost decrepit!
And the boys at school hear about this, through that loudmouth
Maki. So some of them figure I'm easy, and others figure I want
to actually marry some of these creeps, and there was even one
who told his buddies I was training to be a call girl!" She
scowled. "I broke his nose for that one!"
Ranma nodded. "So you're tired of them chasing you?"
"Hell, no!" She shook her head. "I'm tired of them avoiding
me!"
"...Come again?"
She dropped her chin into her hands. "You figure there's any guy
who'd wanna go out with someone with my reputation? I mean, it'd
be different if I'd actually done anything worth talking about,
but it's all just a pack of lies. And now no guy will come
within ten feet of me."
"You're kidding."
She lowered her eyes. "I told Maki, and a few others, that I was
meeting you after school. They wanted to hear more about you, so
I told them. I just..." She sighed. "Ranma, I'm tired of being
ignored. I'm tired of being shunned. I just wanna find someone
who'll take the time to get to know me, before judging me." She
looked up at him. "You said you wanted to get to know me better,
right? Was that a lie?"
"No."
"Good." She grinned.
"But..." He sighed. "Look, Nodoka, I don't want you getting the
wrong idea about me, either. You called me old-fashioned, and
maybe I am, a bit--"
"This is where you'll tell me you're not trying to get into my
pants, right?"
Once again, he was taken back by her directness. "Well...I'm
not."
"Why not?"
"Huh?"
She leaned back, placing her hands behind her head. "Maybe you
think I'm too ugly?"
"No!"
"Or do you believe these rumours about me?"
"No, not that either!"
"So you're really just old-fashioned. Too bad." She sighed.
"You can't honestly expect me to believe that you'd want me to--"
"Why not?" She shrugged. "Shows me you appreciate me, right?
Besides, it's not like you'd get anywhere."
Ranma considered this, then turned back to his parfait. "I'm
gonna give up tryin' to understand you. Is that okay?"
* * * * *
"Well, thanks for the ice cream, Ranma."
"No problem, No-chan."
She grinned up at him. "You don't need to try to unwind just for
me, y'know?"
"I know." He shrugged. "But it'll make you feel better, right?"
"Mm-hmm." She paused. "Hey, you been in Juuban long?"
"Not really," he said. "I came into town only two days ago.
Why?"
She pointed across the street. "The park over there has a really
nice fountain. It was dedicated to some guy in the war who came
from Juuban, and was a hero or something."
"They got a statue of him in there?"
"No. Just a nice fountain, with a plaque on it. C'mon!" She
turned and ran across the road.
"Hey, wait!" Ranma raised a hand. "I don't really--"
"Come on! Don't be dull!"
Ranma's every nerve was screaming; he just [4mknew[24m that if he
went
into that park, he'd end up getting splashed by the fountain, and
then he'd lose his wish. Because Nodoka would definitely
remember the curse, and the Ranko disguise he'd been forced to
wear would fail. And that would change the past.
Plus, he [4mreally[24m did not want to tick off Skuld.
He glanced both ways, hoping against hope that a runaway freight
train would by some miracle come down this street, cutting him
off...but there was not even motor traffic. He walked across,
and Nodoka grabbed his arm.
"You're not afraid I'm gonna jump you in the park, are you?" She
grinned up at him.
He smiled a bit. "Should I be?"
"Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?" She
dragged him into the park.
She was right; the fountain was very nice. It was made of
simple white stone and brass piping, but the arcs formed by the
jetting water were complex and interesting, and the breeze
carried just a small amount of spray, enough to cool them off in
the summer heat. The spray also cast several rainbow in the
summer sun; Ranma noticed that there were a few mirrors and
prisms worked into the statuary, small enough to be unobtrusive
but placed to enhance the effect. Best of all, Nodoka was
content to stand at the outskirts of the small park, well away
from all the cold water.
"See?" She grinned up at him. "Pretty, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
"And you were scared of it!"
He bristled. "Was not!"
"Oh? Then why didn't you want to come in here?"
Someone bumped into them from behind.
"Watch out!"
Ranma and Nodoka whirled, in time to see three kids running
towards them, apparently chasing the one that had hit them. One
of the three chasers put his hand out and shoved Ranma backwards
as he ran by.
It was a small amount of force...just enough to push him into the
arc of the fountain. Instantly, he was a she.
"Umi-sen-ken fade!"
She invoked her father's art, vanishing from both eye and [4mki[0m
sense. Nodoka turned back, looked right at her...then turned
again.
"Ranma? Where the heck are you?"
She slipped out of the park, then ran up to the ramen yatai.
"Hi! Can I get some hot water please?"
Kikuyo looked at her oddly. "Just water?"
"Please."
"Hot water, eh? You want tea?"
"No, thanks."
The old woman scratched her head. "I don't get it. Why just hot
water?"
Ranma glanced over her shoulder, to see Nodoka emerging from the
park. "Please, the water!"
"Not until you tell me what it's for."
Ranma threw up her hands. "Why do you want to know?!"
"I'm nosy."
"You sure are!"
Kikuyo crossed her arms. "You seriously need to learn some
manners, girl."
She sighed. "I'm sorry. I just like hot water, okay?"
Kikuyo pulled out a paper cup and poured some water from the tea
kettle into it. "Here."
Ranma looked at the cup.
"Take it, child. Before I ask some more nosy questions. Like
why you're suddenly a girl, when you were a boy this morning."
She grinned. "And I'll even distract your girlfriend there for
you while you make an escape."
"Kikuyo...thanks."
"Any time, Ranma."
* * * * *
He met up with her a minute later, once again male. Thankfully,
silk dried in the summer sun faster than any other material.
"Sorry about that."
"It's okay." She grinned. "But you can forget about telling me
you're not really afraid of water."
"Well...it's not a manly thing, right?"
"Got it." She laughed. "What happened, did your father try to
make you swim to China or something?"
"Yeah, he did, actually."
She stared at him. "No way."
"We made it, too."
"No way!"
"Yeah, we did." He chuckled.
"It doesn't really explain why you don't like water, though."
"Well, there is a reason, and I can't really go into it..."
"I've been hearing that a lot," grumbled Nodoka. "From both of
us."
They reached the walkway that led up to her house, and he paused.
"No-chan...I kinda understand some of what you're going through."
She shrugged. "Yeah, right."
"No, I'm serious! I've had a similar problem." He sighed.
"Thanks to my curse, I've been treated much the same."
"Curse? You mean the water thing?"
"No, it's something else. A family problem. Something else I
can't really go into. But anyway, because of my family problem,
and a few other things, it seems that every guy that comes along
wants to challenge me, and every girl that comes along wants to
marry me."
Her hand flew to her mouth. "Oh, Ranma, I'm sorry."
"Eh?"
"When you heard about me talking about you? You must have though
I was doing the same thing."
"Well..." He sighed. "It did cross my mind. Sorry 'bout that."
"I'm real sorry, Ranma." She bowed to him, the first time he
could remember her doing so. "I'll make it up to you." She
straighened, and grinned. "Though, if I may say so, the idea did
cross my mind."
"Wha--?"
"Well, you are one hell of a man, Ranma. Pity you're engaged."
She tilted her head. "But then again, you did say you didn't
love her...or was it them?"
"I..." He sighed. "I kinda do like one of them."
"What's her name?"
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that."
"And you probably can't tell me why, either, right?" She sighed.
"You and your damn secrets."
"No-chan...I--"
She waved a hand. "Don't worry, Ranma. I'm awfully happy just
to have a friend. Trust me." She glanced over at the house.
"Oh, hell."
"What is it?" He started to turn.
"No! Don't move." She looked back at him. "My mom's watching
from the window."
"She is?"
"Yeah." An impish look crossed her face. "So this engagement of
yours...how much can you get away with?"
"Huh?"
"You say that way too much." She leaned forward, placing her
hands on his shoulders, and stretched up towards him, her eyes
closing.
"NODOKA!!"
Ranma had been about to yell the same thing, with about the same
force. He turned in shock, to see a woman bearing down on him,
waving a cane. Her hair was long and flowing, but quite white.
She walked with a pronounced limp, and he noticed that she had
some bad scar tissue on her face.
"You tramp! You get to your room right now!" She swung the
cane, catching Nodoka across the seat of her skirt. The girl
yelped, and made a beeline for the door.
The old woman whirled on Ranma. "You! Don't you dare move!
I've got a bone to pick with you."
Ranma threw up his hands. "I ain't goin' nowhere, Granny!"
"Darn straight you're not!" She gasped in pain, and leaned on
the cane. "First boy I've gotten to say within ten feet of my
girl for more than five seconds."
"Excuse me?"
She leaned towards him. "What's your name, boy?"
"Sato Ranma."
"Hm. Good family. Unless you're one of those Okinawa Sato. A
good-looking lad, too, and obviously healthy."
"Well, I--"
"Shut up. I'm Saotome Akiko. You may call me Saotome-san. If
you call me Granny again, I'll break your neck."
"I..." He hesitated.
"You may speak."
"Ummm...I wasn't tryin' to get fresh with Nodoka, Saotome-san."
"Good."
He scratched his head. "She said you were old-fashioned."
"Do you actually think before you speak? Or do you just open
your mouth and let whatever words fall out?"
"A bit of both."
She snickered. "You've got spunk, kid."
"Thank you."
"I hate spunk." She turned and started hobbling back up the
lane. "You may court my daughter, Sato-san." She whirled back
towards him. "But step over the limit once, and you're toast.
Got it?"
* * * * *
"Man, I am just too confused."
The vapour from his tea began to coalesce, and Skuld appeared.
"About what?"
"I--wait, will this count as my question? 'Cause I got something
more important to ask."
Skuld considered. "I think I can answer both questions. So
what's the first one?"
"I thought you were the Goddess of the Future," said Ranma with a
smirk. "Can't you see my question?"
"I see a mallet in your future, if you don't show me a little
more respect."
"Sorry, Skuld-sama. My first question, O Exalted One, is this:
Is my entire family doomed to have a screwed-up life?"
Skuld shook her head. "I'm afraid that's one I have to hedge
around, Ranma. Let's just say that Saotome Akiko has had a
really rough time, and she's trying to balance modern life
against her traditional, pre-war upbringing. Your mother was
born in 1956, well after World War II. But she lost two brothers
to that war."
"They were soldiers?"
"No." Skuld shook her head. "They were children. Your
grandfather was a soldier. But his wife and two sons were in
Tokyo during the firebombing. Their house was hit and destroyed,
the two boys killed, and Akiko badly injured.
"Nodoka is Akiko's last child. She's very protective of her
daughter, but wants to see her line continued before she dies."
Skuld sighed. "And she's not going to."
"I know."
"It's a pity, really. You should get to know her, Ranma, as
she's really a worthy person. But she's angry at the world, and
depressed, and just...not very happy." She bit her lip. "I hate
depressing stories. What's your next question?"
"Well...Did No-chan tell the truth? About her problems?"
Skuld grinned. "You'd doubt the word of your own mother?"
"Yes."
"She is kinda dizzy these days, isn't she?" Skuld chuckled.
"That girl, Maki Hitomi, is going out of her way to turn everyone
against Nodoka. She pretends to be her friend, to try to get
more ammunition. Nodoka sees through this, but still hangs
around her."
Ranma shook his head. "Why?"
"Because she has no-one else, Ranma." She turned to go. "Why do
you think she's so attached to you? Both now, and in 1995?"
* * * * *