This is just a quickie I whipped up... originally it was going to be
part 2 of a longer story, but I decided what the heck, I'd let it stand
on its own. C&C greatly appreciated... if you read this, please let me
know what you think.

=====

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

A Ranma 1/2 fanfic by Jonathan S. Haas

jhaas@microsoft.com

=====

Ranma poked his head inside the Principal's office, not without
apprehension. While Principal Kuno helped make life interesting, a
summons to his office could only mean bad news. He wondered what he
could have done this time. "Um... Hinako-sensei said you wanted to see
me, Principal?"

Principal Kuno was busy shuffling papers on his desk. He looked up at
Ranma's words, blinding him with the glow of his outlandish Hawaiian
shirt. Stacking his papers neatly, he said, "Ah, Saotome, come in. Have
a seat."

Ranma nervously took the offered chair. To his surprise, Principal Kuno
wore a broad, disarming grin. A grin that spoke not of malice, but of
friendship. Even more surprisingly, he held out his hand to shake --
another Americanism the Principal had picked up during his long stay
abroad. "Well, Ranma, we've had our fun, haven't we?"

Ranma winced. He wouldn't describe most of his encounters with the
Principal as 'fun', but he wasn't about to contradict him. "What do you
mean, sir?"

"Well, of course, I mean that you've helped make every day here at
school an adventure. I'm going to miss you."

Alarm bells started ringing in Ranma's head. "Miss me? Where are you
going?"

The Principal looked at him in surprise. "Why, I'm not going anywhere.
You are. Didn't your father tell you?"

The alarm bells started ringing louder. "No, sir. Tell me what?"

"That he's withdrawing you from Furinkan High School. He called me up
this morning to tell me. He asked me to give you your permanent record,
to take with you to your next school, wherever that may be."

"What?? Why would he do that?"

"I don't know, Saotome, but wherever you go, may you bring your
principal as much excitement as you've brought me. And now, I must ask
you to return to class. I have much work to do."

--

"Really? Why would he do that?"

Ranma fumed from atop the fence. He and Akane were walking home from
school as usual, albeit at a faster pace than normal. He was eager to
get home and find out just what the hell his father was up to this time.
"I don't know, but he'd better have a damned good reason."

As they headed for home, the sun sank low in the western horizon. Due to
the usual complications and misunderstandings, both Ranma and Akane had
been sentenced to stay after school and clean chalkboards. By the time
they were finished, the first stars were beginning to shine.

They reached the Tendo Dojo, and Ranma stormed off towards the room he
shared with his father, Akane close on his heels. Virtually ripping the
door out of his track as he threw it open, Ranma bellowed, "Oyaji! What
have you done this... huh?"

The room was almost bare, showing almost no sign that anyone lived
there. Genma was bent over his futon, stuffing things into his sack. At
his son's entrance, he turned to face him, a grim look on his face.
"Boy. Pack your things. We're leaving."

Ranma walked over to his father and grabbed him by the collar. Hoisting
him several inches into the air, he demanded, "What do you mean,
'leaving'? If you think I'm going on another of your stupid training
trips..."

Trying to regain his composure and dignity, Genma pushed Ranma away and
landed on his feet. "We're not going on a training trip. We're leaving.
We're going back on the road."

Once more, Ranma was dumbfounded. "Back on the road? Why?"

Genma pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, then pointed towards
the door, past Akane's shoulder. "That's why."

Soun Tendo stood behind his youngest daughter, wearing a solemn look.
"Ranma," he said. "Since you obviously have no intention of wedding my
daughter, I see no reason why I should continue to provide you and your
father with free room and board. You've enjoyed my hospitality for the
better part of a year now, and I'm afraid you've exhausted it. You leave
me with no choice but to ask you and your freeloading father to leave."

Still sporting a look of comical bewilderment, Ranma said, "But... but,
Mr. Tendo..."

"No buts. That's the way it is, I'm afraid. It's too late to begin your
travels at this time of night, but by first light, I want you and your
father out of my home." And with that, Soun spun on his heels and walked
away.

Shock gave way to anger on Ranma's face as he turned towards his father.
"Dammit, Oyaji! This is all your fault! What have you done *this* time?"

"*My* fault?" retorted Genma. "Boy, if you had just done your duty like
an honorable son would, none of this would be happening. We'd be
enjoying the easy life here forever. Now, because of your stubbornness,
we have to leave." As he spoke, he continued shoving his meager
possessions into his backpack.

"But... where will we go?"

"I don't know," replied Genma grimly. "We'll just have to go back to the
life of traveling martial artists. It's a rough lifestyle, but it does
build character. Now pack, boy. And get some sleep. We've got a long day
ahead of us. You can say your goodbyes in the morning."

Reflexively, Ranma turned and looked toward the door. Akane still stood
there, but she'd gone pale. And then, without a word, she fled to her
room. That was all that Ranma had time to register before getting hit in
the chest with an empty backpack, thrown by his loving father.

--

In many ways, Genma's human body bore resemblance to his cursed panda
form. He was stocky and solid. He moved with a lumbering but surefooted
gait. Even his round glasses were reminiscent of a panda's eye markings.

But his most pandalike trait was his snore. Deep and rumbling, it
sounded like nothing more than the growl of a bear. With each
exhalation, the floorboards shook. A man with a megaphone would have had
trouble making himself heard in the same room where Genma Saotome
snored.

After years of sleeping alongside his father, Ranma'd grown used to it.
Even while his father snored, he was capable of entering a deep sleep
from which very little could wake him. Except for tonight. He lay on his
back, hands behind his head, eyes wide open. While Genma slept the sleep
of the very noisy dead, Ranma couldn't even catch a wink, no matter how
hard he tried.

He stared up at the ceiling, at the familiar rafters he'd grown
accustomed to over the past several months. He remembered the days when
there was no ceiling, only a blanket of stars... or of threatening
clouds, pouring rain onto him as he shivered. He found it hard to
imagine going back to that life. Never knowing where his next meal was
coming from, never knowing what lay beyond the next bend in the road,
only knowing that he and his father had to keep moving, because that was
all there was to do. 

At the Tendo Dojo, he'd found what he'd never known in all his life.
Stability. A warm home, with hot meals, and a constant roof over his
head. A sanctuary from an unfriendly world. A place where he belonged.
And now, he was going to have to give it up. Over time, his stay at the
Dojo would fade to nothing more than a distant memory. All of his
friends in Nerima... heck, all of his enemies in Nerima too... these
were the constants on which he'd built a life. All being yanked out from
under him.

He rolled over and glared at his sleeping father, then looked back up at
the rafters. The uncaring rafters stared right back at him. And then he
began thinking about the girl who slept above those rafters. Akane.

It was hard to describe what she was to him, or he to her. Over the past
few months, they'd become... friends? He didn't really think of her as a
"friend". Not in the same way Ucchan was... or even Ryoga, in his own
perverse way. Akane was different from anyone else he'd ever known. The
feeling he got in his throat when he saw her smile... nobody else gave
him that. Leaving the Dojo, leaving Nerima, leaving all his friends...
that would be difficult, but bearable. Leaving Akane, possibly never
seeing her again... that was tough. He wondered if she was having as
much trouble sleeping as he was.

He got his answer when he heard the door softly slide open. He looked
up, and there she was, silhouetted in the moonlight. She was wearing a
thin nightgown, and backlit as she was, the curves of her body were
clearly visible through the sheer fabric. Glancing at his father, then
at him, she made a beckoning motion with her hand, then disappeared
towards the back door.

Carefully, so as not to wake his father (who was usually unwakable, but
you never know), Ranma slid out of his futon and crept out the door.
Walking on tiptoes and avoiding the known squeaky boards, he snuck into
the backyard.

She was waiting for him by the koi pond. Sensing his approach, she
looked at him solemnly, then wordlessly took his hand. He gave her a
gentle squeeze, and together they silently watched the stars reflected
in the pond.

It was a beautiful, clear night. A full moon shone brightly in the sky,
filling the pond with dazzling sparkles. A warm breeze caused the leaves
in the trees to flutter, and gently stirred Akane's hair. After an
endless moment, she turned to face him, and he pulled her into a soft
embrace.

Her cheek was warm against his neck, and he could feel hot moisture
leaking from her eyes. As they held each other, he found himself
reflecting on the women he'd known in Nerima, and what he was to each of
them. To Shampoo, he was a point of law become a point of pride. A
trophy to be won, a prize to be carried home and exhibited in
Jokuzetsuko. To Ukyou, a friend who could never return her love. He
pitied her, but he just didn't share her feelings. To Kodachi, a sick
fantasy. A dangerous obsession in her twisted psyche.

And then there was Akane. Both were too proud to admit it openly, but
their initial friction had given way to deep caring. Their fights were
frequent and vicious, but they both knew that they were superficial. He
would fight the darkest demons of Hell itself for her, and she for him.
The more he thought about it, the more unthinkable losing her became. He
held her a little closer, his arms cradling her smooth back. His hands
told him she wore nothing beneath her gown.

Finally, Akane moved her mouth close to his ear and broke the long
silence with a whisper: "Don't go." 

He ran his fingers through the hair on the back of her head and answered
her with another whisper: "I'll come back for you someday." This
elicited a sob, and she clutched him as though her life depended on it,
her body shaking. He could feel the tears streaming down her cheek and
his neck, dampening his shoulder.

Finally, she pulled back and looked at him, as though memorizing his
features. Her eyes were red-rimmed and shiny, and tears streaked her
face. In the glow of the moonlight, she was beautiful.

The kiss was fluttering and tentative, but it gripped Ranma with an
intensity that squeezed his heart and threatened to make it burst. The
second kiss was longer, more sure, and no less intense. He moved his
hand to her cheek, to brush away the tears and to play with her hair.
She seemed to melt into his embrace. And even through her occasional
sniffles, he could feel her lips curving upward in a smile.

That night, they made love in the dewy grass by the pond, bathed in the
protective glow of the full moon. And though neither one of them
actually said the words "I love you", they both knew it was true.

--

Genma sat at the breakfast table, shoveling rice into his maw. Soun and
the two elder Tendo daughters breakfasted beside him, but Akane and
Ranma were conspicuously absent. It wasn't until midway through the meal
that they put in an appearance.

Ranma slammed the back door open and entered, Akane close behind, her
hand in his. "Oy! Oyaji! I've got something to say."

"Can't talk. Eating," Genma mumbled around a mouthful of rice.

"Listen up, old man," hissed Ranma. "I'm not going anywhere. Do you hear
me? I'm not going back on the road with you."

Genma swallowed and looked up at his only child with surprise. "Of
course you're not. Whatever made you think that you were?"

Once again, Ranma was struck dumb with surprise. When he found his
voice, it was to say, "But... but you said..."

"Oh, that?" Genma gave off a booming chuckle. "That was just a ploy to
get you two to admit how you feel about each other." He grinned at the
two, staring pointedly at their joined hands. "Worked, didn't it?"

Ranma stared stupidly for a second, then darkened. Releasing Akane for a
moment, he balled his fist and advanced on his father, who had returned
his attention to his food.

Several hours later, a bruised, bloodied, but very happy Genma Saotome
checked into Dr. Tofu's clinic.


--JSH