PIG
by DangBat
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Chapter 1: Muscle, Nerve, and Sinew.
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Ryoga was ready. He was sure of it. For years now he
had hunted the source of his pain, and now, after so much had
happened, after he'd seen hell, spent countless nights out in
the cold, and was hunted himself, after so much, he'd finally
get his revenge.
There was Ranma, walking alongside a longhaired girl,
talking. Ryoga trembled in rage. While he had spent years
suffering, having absolutely no one, Ranma was calmly chatting
along with a girl. He snapped. His original plan was to accost
him, challenge him formally, once more, and take his
retribution, but this... this was too much. He leaped high into
the air, leaving the concealment of the tree he had been waiting
in for the last five hours.
"Ranma Saotome! Prepare to DIE!" he roared at the top
of his lungs while in the air, lowering his red umbrella to
attack.
Ranma looked up to see the figure of a very angry young
man silhouetted against the shining sun above. Noticing the
trajectory of the human mortar, a cry of "Akane, watch out!"
escaped his lips as he quickly reached over to his traveling
companion, grabbed, and jumped. Almost immediately after the
jump, Ryoga landed, umbrella first, onto the ground, creating a
crater eight feet wide.
For a moment, Ryoga stood at the center of the crater,
head bowed, recriminating himself. "Damn, I missed," he thought
to himself. Carefully and deliberately, he raised his head,
then straightened his body to his full height. Turning around,
he faced the man who had ruined his life. "Ranma," he whispered
softly.
Ranma looked at the figure inside the crater,
recognition quickly dawning on him. "Ryoga," he said, voice
sounding slightly weary, "why don't you just let it go? We've
been over this before." He felt what Ryoga's response would be,
but had to give it a shot anyway.
"Let it go? Let it go?!" Ryoga looked as if he was
barely in control of his hands, they trembled so badly. "Do you
know," he said, as he gave a strong jump backwards, out of the
crater, "Do you have any *idea*," he shoved his umbrella into
the ground, the shaft neatly buried a few inches in it, "of just
how *many* of these," he ripped off his yellow shirt, "are
because of COOKING KNIVES?"
Furinkan High School is an unusual repository of martial
artists. While things had certainly become quite more
interesting ever since the arrival of Ranma, the Nerima district
always had more than their fair share of martial artists, so the
students at Furinkan High were not that easily impressed. When
Ryoga removed his shirt, however, that is exactly what happened.
Not only was Ryoga incredibly strong, with muscles growing out
of places most people thought was only bone, he was severely
scarred. His torso and arms were covered with what appeared to
be an innumerable amount of slashes, burns marks, and many marks
that most observers would not be able to figure out their
origins. Amazingly, while his torso, and specially his
forearms, were badly scarred, his back was almost free of scars,
with only a few long marks breaking the purity of his skin, as
could be seen once Ryoga slid his backpack (and back part of his
shirt) off his shoulders and onto the ground.
Such a sight incurred a reaction from even Nabiki Tendo,
an expert at controlling her emotions.
"Wow," she said, softly, whether because of the muscles
or the scars was information she wouldn't sell to anyone. Ryoga
stood there still for a few seconds, waiting for the hubbub to
die out. Ranma blinked.
"Damn Ryoga, what the heck have you been eating for
breakfast? DBZ frosted flakes?"
Well, duh, thought Ryoga, what the hell else was he
supposed to eat? Meanwhile, Ranma's mind ran through the
possibilities. Something was wrong. Ryoga was not that strong
the last time they met, nor had those scars. Given the time
span, either magic was at work here, or Ryoga had been beyond
pissed to become so driven. Either way, it would be smart for
Ranma to rethink his strategy in regard to this fight.
One punch, Ryoga thought. One punch was all that he
needed. That had been his mistake before, he underestimated
Ranma's speed. Since he obviously would not be able to deliver
the quantity of hits needed to take him down, Ryoga worked hard
to make sure that the quality of the hits he *did* get were as
good as they could get. He'd suffered for his strength, and he
was damn well going to make use of it. He yanked his umbrella
off the ground and advanced towards Ranma.
Ranma threw his backpack to the side and motioned Akane
to give him some space. He fell into his battle stance and
readied himself for the approaching Ryoga. His opponent raised
his umbrella, and when he was six feet away, charged. Ranma
deftly sidestepped his initial charge, trying to trip Ryoga as
he passed by, tapping him lightly on the back of his neck to
help out. Ryoga stumbled but recovered his balance with
relative ease, twirling about for another shot with the
umbrella. Ranma ducked low and threw his right foot into
Ryoga's midsection, and when that didn't manage to actually move
Ryoga, he snaked his left leg behind his body and kicked at
knee-height. This managed to topple Ryoga over, and he fell on
the ground with a satisfying thud.
Ranma quickly got back to his feet and descended on the
bandanna clad boy with a strong fist aimed straight at his head.
Ryoga brought his left arm for a block, and instead of breaking
his hand on the fallen one's elbow, Ranma modified his strike,
bending his own arm and driving his elbow deep in Ryoga's gut.
The figure on the ground tried to counterattack, but Ranma was
already back on his feet and away from Ryoga's range. Ryoga
quickly stood back up and started to continuously strike with
his war umbrella, not being able to make contact anytime. Ranma
dodged the blows quickly and effectively, occasionally giving
the umbrella a light tap to move it out of the way, but never
doing a full out block. As soon as he saw an opening, Ranma
kicked Ryoga with a snap kick to the jaw, following through with
a couple of low kicks to the legs. Ranma still didn't see the
opportunity to get close, and so used the range of his legs to
his advantage.
Ranma kept dodging Ryoga's clumsy attacks and took
whatever shots presented themselves, until he finally managed to
kick his opponent's umbrella from his strong grip, said object
being struck with enough force to fall several feet away. Ranma
took the opportunity to come in closer, now that Ryoga's reach
had been considerably reduced. Ranma kept hitting vital spots
as they came up; experience told him anything else would not
even make Ryoga itch. He kept up the flurry of attacks, keeping
Ryoga on the defensive.
Akane oversaw the fight, apprehensively. While Ranma
didn't look particularly worried and acted as if he knew the
fanged boy, something told her that this fight was a lot more
serious than it looked. A few of the more daring students
approached the fallen umbrella, eyeing it curiously. One of the
male students attempted to lift it, barely moving it.
"Just how heavy is this thing?" he muttered after having
given up. Akane, curiosity piqued by this new development,
tried to lift the umbrella herself, only managing to take it a
few centimeters off the ground before she had to let go of it.
The red parasol fell back to the ground with a loud thump,
embedding itself a little deeper in the hard dirt. She came to
the same realization as some of her fellow classmates, one who
actually voiced it aloud.
"He was swinging that thing with one hand?"
Akane felt a slight twinge of fear grip her. "Ranma,
don't let him hit you, he's amazingly strong!" she cried.
"I KNOW!" came back the slightly annoyed response.
Ryoga was getting very annoyed. Ranma had too many
years of practice slipping away, and he was akin to a rabbit
jumping over and around his attacks. He had to limit his
movement somehow, and his preferred method of beating Ranma
until he couldn't move was apparently not coming to fruition.
He had something he was planning on using in case the coward ran
away once more, but he might just as well pull it out now.
Ryoga stepped back to allow some space in between the two
combatants, and Ranma pressed on, seeing how he could go in the
offensive. A slight smirk was on Ryoga's face as Ranma heard
the 'click'.
"Where were you hiding this thing?" Ranma questioned as
he noticed the chain linking him and the lost boy by the wrist.
Ryoga was, after all, bare chested and those pants weren't
exactly lose.
"Now I've got you, Ranma!" bellowed Ryoga as he gripped
the chain, which couldn't dodge his grip, obviously, and began
turning, swinging Ranma like a ball and chain, eventually
swinging him straight at a tree. That did not have the expected
effect as Ranma simply turned in midair and landed on the tree,
using it for impulse for a jump, dragging Ryoga into the air
with him. 'That didn't go anything like planned,' thought Ryoga
midway through his impromptu flight. Both managed to land on
their feet, surrounded by some sparse trees as they left the
proximity of the main entrance of the school. Ryoga pulled
Ranma close by yanking on the chain, and Ranma took advantage of
the impulse to plant his foot in Ryoga's face.
Ryoga closed his fingers around empty air as he tried to
grab the foot that had so uncomfortably lodged itself on his
face and was already gone. Ryoga at this point was incredibly
irritated at Ranma's speed, and the pigtailed boy's following
barrage of kicks too fast for Ryoga to catch or dodge only
increased said irritation.
"Enough of this," he thought, and waited for an opening.
Meanwhile, Ranma was not relenting on his assault. He
was going to keep kicking Ryoga until he fell or gave up. It
didn't matter how strong Ryoga was, since he was not being able
to dodge them, his kicks would have to weaken him sooner or
later, right? Right? Fully concentrated on the fight, neither
of the fighters noticed the longhaired girl running towards
them.
"Ranma!" shouted Akane, momentarily distracting him.
"Hey, what are you doing here? Get away!" Ranma
shouted back, turning his head slightly. That gave Ryoga all
the opening he needed. He quickly jumped back, simultaneously
yanking the chain taught while reaching for his bandanna.
Quickly he removed some bandannas from his hair and prepared to
launch his attack.
"Ranma, prepare to meet your doom!" as he said that, he
threw the cloth bandannas in his hand, sending them twirling
towards Ranma. Ranma, on his part, warned by Ryoga's battlecry
and noticing that regular clothing should not act as if having
small built-in rotors, swiftly jumped over the first bandanna,
bent backwards in midair to avoid the second, effectively doing
a backwards flip, and noticed that the third, and last, was
coming straight at him. His tactical mind failing him at that
moment, he raised him arms in a hastily prepared block. The
bandanna hit the chain, sparks flying as it was deflected before
it hit Ranma, severing one of the links in the chain. Ranma was
momentarily stunned in realizing just how strong that trick was,
and allowed himself a quick glance at the other bandannas, one
that was in the process of cutting a tree branch while the other
one was disappearing in the sky far away. He also noticed that
Akane was rapidly approaching the battleground, and did what he
did best.
"Akane, are you stupid? Get out of here!" he screamed
at her.
"Who are you calling stupid, you jerk!" was her
intellectual reply.
Ryoga, taking advantage of his opponent's distraction,
took another handful of bandannas, and renewing his attack on
Ranma. Ranma watched as the oncoming bandannas approached, and
noticed the other person who was in their paths. Nimbly, he
jumped over to Akane, grabbing her as he landed, and jumped away
immediately after, a few bandannas whizzing by shortly behind
him.
"Hey, watch it! You'll end up hurting someone!" Ranma
shouted back to Ryoga as he jumped around with Akane on his
arms, trying his best to dodge the incoming projectiles.
"If you stopped jumping around like a coward and take it
like a man, I'd stop!" came the infuriated reply. "Hey! Where
did you go?" asked Ryoga to the now nowhere-to-be-seen Ranma.
Ranma was panting slightly, his back to a tree, hiding
himself and Akane from the bandanna-wielding boy.
"Akane, what are you doing here? Ryoga is dangerous,
leave this up to me," he said softly, holding Akane so that she
didn't wander outside the concealment the tree provided.
"Oh, so now I can't take care of myself, is that it?"
she said, her voice slightly higher than Ranma's.
"Dammit, stop being so stubborn! Go away and hide
somewhere, this guy's stronger than even *you*!" Ranma tensely
replied.
"What is *that* supposed to mean?" screamed Akane,
throwing a straight kick at Ranma's face. Ranma jumped to the
side, avoiding the kick, and in so doing, left the cover of the
large tree trunk.
"AH-HAH! I've got you now, Ranma!" Ryoga bellowed,
throwing a few more bandannas at the leaping figure. Akane's
shout had given him a general idea of where Ranma was, and so he
was ready when Ranma jumped out from behind that tree.
"Fine! If that is how you want to be, then I'll just
leave!" shouted Akane as she started to make her way back to the
main schoolgrounds. Forcefully marching back, she didn't notice
the high-speed projectile flying through the air towards her.
"Girl! Watch it!" shouted a wide-eyed Ryoga as he saw
the sudden new addition to the scene coming out from behind a
tree and into the path of one of his bandannas.
Ranma noticed this as well, and kicked a tree behind him
as strong as he could to get enough impulse to reach Akane in
time. He got to her too low, and tackled her legs to the
ground. The shove was barely enough to remove Akane from
danger, and her long hair trailed behind her, the bandanna
passing through it with a clean cut.
"Akane, are you OK?" asked a worried Ranma to the girl
fallen beside him, before noticing her hair lying next to him.
"Hey, are you hurt?" Ryoga asked as he ran to the two
of them. "Dammit," he thought, "This fight was not supposed to
hurt anybody other than Ranma."
Akane slowly stood up, still a bit groggy. She hit her
head slightly on the tackle, and felt her head. She felt her
head unusually light, for some reason. She groaned and hoped
that her injury hadn't been worse than a bump. It was then that
she noticed that most of her hair wasn't where it was supposed
to be.
"It doesn't look like it hurt her," Ranma said while
checking the back of her head.
"Are you sure?" Ryoga said, also checking her head to
be sure.
"Yeah. Ryoga, what's the big idea? Those things are
dangerous!"
"H-hey! I wasn't throwing them at anything other than
you! I didn't know she was there! She jumped in front of it!"
Neither of them realized Akane's shocked expression
frozen on her face, nor a few other students who had made their
way to them.
"Akane! What happened to your hair?" Nabiki
half-shouted as the sight before her registered. There wasn't
any response from Akane, and the voices of the boys besides her
fell silent as she stared ahead with a blank look on her face.
"Hey, Akane?" Ranma asked the catatonic girl, waving
his hand before her face. "Yo, Nabiki," Ranma turned to Nabiki,
"what's the matter with her?"
"You idiot, can't you see it?" Nabiki took a good look
at the dumbfounded expression on both boys' faces, and decided
further explanation was in order. "She just lost almost all her
hair! A girl's hair is very important to her!"
Ranma looked slightly puzzled. "Really?" he thought.
That was something he hadn't really realized. Considering all
the whispering among the students going around them, he was
pretty sure that what Nabiki told him was true. So, now what?
What could he do to make things better?
"Hit me."
Ranma blinked and stared at Ryoga, wondering if he had
heard him correctly.
"It's my fault. Come on, you can hit me as hard as you
want."
"Yeah," Ranma stepped in as he realized this *could*
make things better, "you can hit me as well, Akane. Let it all
out."
Everyone stood silent as they waited for Akane's
reaction. She looked up, slowly dropping her hand to her side.
A few moments later, a very hurt Ryoga and Ranma stood side by
side, watching Akane leave.
"Easy to please, huh?"
"Tell me about it."
---
Ryoga left soon after, allowing Ranma some breathing
room. The mood was, after all, ruined, and having that girl,
Akane, if he remembered correctly, get in the middle of the
fight stopped it cold. Of course, in retrospect, he should have
simply set up camp at Furinkan High, to make sure he'd be able
to find Ranma when he needed. Right now, Ryoga was looking at
some kind of woolly animal at the other side of the fence,
looking like a cross of a small giraffe and a sheep.
"Where in the world am I now!" he roared in frustration.
---
Ranma walked back home glumly. Akane hadn't been to any
class after the fight, and as much as he hated to admit it, he
was slightly worried that she might not have gone home after her
hair was cut. To make things worse, he could see clouds
gathering in the sky above him, and with his luck, it would
start to rain before he got to the Tendo dojo. Ryoga had left
earlier in the day, and he was pretty sure that he had a good
week of peace at least before seeing him again. Now that he'd
caught up again he wouldn't waste time. Ranma noticed a
shorthaired girl dressed in a school uniform heading the same
way he was. She looked suspiciously familiar, and Ranma
approached her.
"Akane? Is that you?" Ranma asked as he recognized the
girl's face. Her hair had been cut even shorter, and her eyes
were slightly puffy.
"Oh, hi, Ranma. I was just returning home."
"What happened to your hair?" Ranma asked before he
could stop himself. "I mean..."
"Kasumi cut it for me," Akane responded lightly. Ranma
frowned somewhat. What was Akane doing going back home if she
had already been there? Where could she have gone still in her
school uniform? Akane continued, "It didn't seem right to let
it like it was."
"Ah. It looks nice on you," Ranma said, softly.
Akane looked surprised for a second, then smiled gently.
"Ranma? Who was that boy?"
"Oh, him. He's Ryoga," he paused for a moment, thinking
of how he could explain it coherently. "We went to grade school
together, I guess you could call us friends. Without me, he'd
never be able to get home," Ranma smirked a bit, while a
confused Akane waited for him to go on, "Anyway, during the
lunches, I was always able to get the bread that Ryoga wanted,
and one day, he challenged me to a fight. The location was a
vacant lot behind his house, and after waiting three days, I had
to leave for China with Pop," Ranma saw the look in Akane's
face, "yeah, three days. I wasn't kidding when I said he
wouldn't get home without me." He sighed, and continued,
"anyway, later I found out he arrived there on the fourth day,
and came after us to China. Then, shortly after falling in the
jusenkyo spring, he managed to catch up with us."
^^^
A figure was kneeling near the edge of a cliff,
trembling slightly, his head down.
"Ranma Saotome, prepare to pay for what you did to me!"
Ranma quickly stood up and turned around to face the boy
who had called out his name. A kid of about his age was
standing there, with dirty clothes and a bandanna on his head.
It had been a few years, and only after some thought was he able
to recognize him.
"Ryoga? Is that you? What are you doing here?" Ranma
started wondering whether he was hallucinating. The last few
days had been shocking, and he had a lot of stress in his life,
but he hoped he wasn't that far-gone yet.
"Don't tell me you've forgotten about our fight
already."
Ranma was having some trouble following what Ryoga was
saying. What was Ryoga doing in China? Shouldn't he be in
Japan? "Ryoga, what are you talking about?"
"The fight! The duel to take place in the vacant lot,
that you didn't wait for!" Ryoga fumed.
Ranma blinked a few times, and managed to find his
voice, "*That* fight? The fight that *you* scheduled and I
waited three days for you to arrive?" It couldn't be *that*,
Ranma thought. He must be seriously misinterpreting what Ryoga
was talking about.
"I got there the fourth day! Do you know how hard it
was to track you two across China?" He took a deep breath, then
continued, "I've come to finish what we never started." And,
saying that, got into a battle stance.
Ranma slumped his shoulders, giving Ryoga a dejected
look, "Ryoga, come on. We're in the middle of China and you
want to fight after all this time?" he sighed, and went on,
softly, "besides, I have worse problems to deal with right now."
"Oh, no, Ranma. You already ran out on me once, you
won't do it again now that I have finally caught up with you."
Ryoga tensed up, waiting for Ranma's move. Ranma took a step
forward, to walk past Ryoga, but the fanged boy took it as the
beginning of an attack, and threw a kick.
Ranma hadn't been expecting the attack, but managed to
dodge it. He instinctively kicked Ryoga's ribs as he saw an
opening, and stepped back. Ryoga flinched slightly, but it was
obvious that the brunt of the kick was wasted. Ranma threw
another kick straight into Ryoga's midsection, throwing him a
good distance back. Ryoga recovered rapidly, just as Ranma
closed the distance between them. He threw a left hook, and
when Ranma blocked that, he quickly turned and landed a
right-sidekick. Ranma exhaled forcefully as he felt the full
impact of the kick, and struck back with his right palm to
Ryoga's forehead. Ryoga's balance was gone, and he fell on his
back.
"Had enough, Ryoga?" asked a confident Ranma, huffing
slightly but otherwise showing very little signs of fatigue.
Ryoga, on his part, glared at Ranma from his undignified
position.
"We haven't even started yet."
Ryoga flipped his legs and as soon as he was on his feet
he lunged forward, his right fist extended, shouting in rage.
Ranma quickly sidestepped, and Ryoga's fist met the boulder that
Ranma had his back to.
"Ow," Ryoga said, gritting his teeth. Hitting rock
wasn't the brightest thing to do in the middle of a fight. Or
at any time, for that matter. His fingers were hurting, but he
didn't have any time to check if he had broken anything. He
would just have to avoid using his right hand for the remainder
of the fight.
Ranma had been patiently waiting for Ryoga to recover
from hitting the boulder, or, in other words, for him to stop
shaking. As soon as he had, Ranma came in, grabbed his collar
and left sleeve, and sent him slamming into a tree nearby.
Ryoga slid to the ground and turned around to face Ranma once
more. His face was very bruised, but his eyes retained the
fierce determination present in them during the fight. Ryoga
roared once more and engaged Ranma in battle again. The two
traded blows for a few minutes, while clouds very quickly began
to gather in the sky. Soon, light drizzle began to fall.
Ryoga was frozen in shock as he saw the boy in front of
him apparently shrink, change his hair color, and enlarge his
breast to an absurd size. Since Ranma was wearing a gi, the
transformation was quite obvious, as a generous amount of
cleavage made its way through.
Ranma, however, was so much into the fight he didn't
notice that he was now a she. She delivered a kick to Ryoga's
chest, and since his defenses were down, and his mind still
hadn't quite kicked in to compensate for what he'd just
witnessed, that kick was very effective. Ryoga flew back, and
over the edge of the cliff. Ranma ran to the edge, but wasn't
too worried about Ryoga's safety. The cliff wasn't that high,
or that steep, and there was nothing at the bottom.
"I told you I had other things to worry about." Ranma
said, and turned around to get his father and move on.
^^^
"So you just left him there, at the bottom of the
cliff?" Akane asked, her eyes wide.
"Well, it wasn't like that. I knew Ryoga wasn't really
hurt. He was just shocked to see me change, and I wasn't in the
mood for a long fight," Ranma sighed, "Remember, Akane, when I
first got this curse, I wasn't really ... dealing with it very
well."
"Ranma," Akane said, looking apprehensive, "Ryoga had a
lot of scars on his body, maybe..."
"No. No, no, my fight with him was not that violent,
and I checked on him after he fell off the cliff, he wasn't
hurt. He must've gotten them after our fight."
They both remained silent for the rest of the way home.
Shortly before dinner, Ranma went out for a walk, mostly because
Akane had decided to cook, and considering she had just lost her
hair, he thought that she would be slightly more sensitive
towards constructive criticism on the art of cooking. If that
wasn't enough reason for him to leave the Tendo residence for a
few hours, there was also the fact that he was never a good
liar, and even if Akane might not have noticed that he was
keeping something from her, her sisters were another story. He
didn't know Kasumi all that well, but he was certain that Nabiki
would be able to figure something was amiss. It might just be
paranoia, he told himself, but why risk it?
He strode down the street, hoping there were more good
restaurants in Nerima, maybe some Chinese food, or maybe even
pizza, as his mind went back a few months.
^^^
...there was nothing at the bottom.
Nothing, that is, except for....
"Oh, no," thought Ranma. A feeling of dread filled
Ranma as he looked down the cliff. He could see Ryoga tumbling
down the steep incline; rolling and grunting in pain every once
in a while. At the bottom of the cliff, Ranma saw Jusenkyo.
"Maybe those rocks will stop him," Ranma hoped, as Ryoga
tumbled towards a few boulders jutting out from the dirt. He
landed face down on one of them, with a loud thud, the impact
dislodging the rock and sending Ryoga rolling again.
"Maybe the bamboo..."
Ryoga crashed through bamboo shoots for a few feet,
shouting once as a few of those were broken, and the edges were
rather sharp.
"Maybe the rusty barbed wire..."
A few loud curses and quite a number of cries and yelps
were heard as Ryoga became entangled in a mess of rusted barbed
wire and a sign that read "Keep out! Intruders will have too
too tragic tale happen to them!" and managed to skid to a halt a
few inches away from a pool of water with a thin bamboo pole
sticking out the middle of it. The boulder that had been
dislodged earlier on then came crashing on top of Ryoga just as
he began to lift himself up.
Ranma couldn't help but notice in what great shape Ryoga
was, as in just a few seconds he was on his feet again, looking
straight at Ranma.
"Ranma, don't think this is over! As soon as I get --"
Ryoga's speech was cut short as he slipped and fell back first
into the pool he had so narrowly avoided.
"Aw, damn!" Ranma thought, turning around and running
back to try to find his father. They'd have to leave there as
fast as they could, if that little piglet was able to throw the
boulder almost all the way back up.
^^^
In retrospect, Ranma felt maybe he shouldn't have run
away. While his own nerves had been frazzled by his recently
acquired curse, Ryoga probably would have needed some support
with his own curse. Not to mention that, since they'd taken the
Jusenkyo guide along with them to serve as translator, Ranma had
no idea how long it took Ryoga to understand his condition.
Near a park, Ranma stopped wandering around and decided
to head back to the Tendo dojo, not hungry anymore. He might
even nibble on some of Akane's food, if she insisted. His
shoulders sagged and his gait was lazy and slow. He stopped as
he sensed something hidden in some bushes alongside the path he
was on. After waiting for almost a minute for something to
happen, Ranma took a stick and started poking the bushes.
"Ouch. Hey, stop that!!" Ryoga shouted as he popped up
from the bushes.
"Just how did you manage to find me so fast?" asked
Ranma, putting down the ugly stick.
"Feh. You've been running away for so long you have no
idea how much I have progressed--"
"Oh, I see," said Ranma from a few yards away, parting
some bushes, "you're camped here in the park." Ranma was
examining Ryoga's sleeping bag and assorted items that were
spread around it, as well as a kettle over an extinguished fire.
"Hey, got any food with you? I sure could use something."
"Ranma," Ryoga began, "you dare mock me once more? You
have made my life hell! Ranma, prepare to die!" and saying
that, Ryoga leapt towards Ranma, only to be greeted by a splash
of cold water.
"Look, Ryoga, I know that it's my fault that you're like
this. Trust me, I know how it's like," Ranma continued on,
mostly ignoring the biting and scratching the little black pig
was engaged in. "Still," Ranma dropped the now empty kettle, "I
was hoping you could understand, y'know, that we are both in the
same boat here."
Ranma sat down in a meditative pose, keeping the pig
controlled under his foot. He should do something for Ryoga, to
show him why he should stop all this fighting.
"You know, Ryoga, we haven't been best of friends, but
how about trying to start with a clean slate, huh? You got the
fight you wanted over the bread, and, like it or not, I won.
The both of us are stuck with our own curses, so it's pointless
to fight about that, right?"
That little piggy quietly stared at Ranma with wide
eyes, an inner peace showing in them.
"I mean, of course I'd win, I always win if there are
martial arts involved. You are the lucky one, to become a
worry-free pig, while I turn into a cursed girl. It wouldn't be
so bad if I weren't so pretty, you have no idea how many guys
try to hit on me, giving me presents, free meals, money even! I
think I have my own fan club at school!"
Ryoga was savagely attempting to get out from under
Ranma's foot, his eyes flaring with rage. Meanwhile, Ranma kept
on listing the advantages that he had to being a pig, since they
ate less, could stay in hog pens if needed, and a lot of girls
kept cute little pigs as pets, while Ranma had to suffer the
change in voice, the embarrassment of being caught in women's
clothes, having men whistle at her, that one time he had to use
the crowded girls' locker room because there was no hot water
anywhere else...
---
Kasumi looked up from her magazine, to check on the
kettle heating on the stove. Still not whistling, nor stirring.
Good. Just as it was a few seconds ago. She continued reading
the article, a very interesting piece on common mistakes that
caused dot com companies to fail. She looked at the clock on
the wall. Dinner had been over for a while now, Mr. Saotome
insisting that his son was still under training, and punctuality
had to be learned, proceeding then to eat both his and his son's
food in a few bites. Had he arrived there on time himself, he'd
have known that Akane had been the one that prepared the food.
Poor man. He wouldn't make that mistake again, Kasumi was
certain of that. Ranma had probably eaten out, but just in case
he hadn't, Kasumi had put some of what seemed to be the more
edible parts of Akane's cooking in a small package. They were
engaged, after all. He'd have to learn to eat it, whether he
liked it or not.
The kettle started whistling, and Kasumi quickly got up
and turned off the fire under it. Mr. Saotome had promptly
retired to his bedroom after inhaling two plates overflowing
with Akane's goo, and the others were now also in their
respective bedrooms, sleeping. Kasumi just couldn't sleep on an
empty stomach, and so decided to make herself some instant soup,
which she kept hidden behind all the other groceries for cases
like these. She enjoyed cooking, but it was late, she just
wanted to go to sleep soon, and all she needed was a quick,
light meal. If Akane woke up to find her cooking, she'd be
hurt. Even if Kasumi could keep it quiet when cooking, keeping
it odorless was harder to do, and cleaning up afterwards was
extremely hard to do stealthily. At least like this, Kasumi
could just say she was boiling for water for some tea, won't she
join her for some? She'd fill her little soup cup with water,
throw away any extra water, and sneak away to her room to finish
off her little cup of happiness.
Kasumi checked out the hall connected to the kitchen one
last time, to make sure nobody would catch her doing her dirty
deed. Happily finding no one and hearing only silence, she
quietly grabbed one of the noodle-filled cups from their hiding
place.
"Hmmm... Bacon flavor," Kasumi giggled, "That'll do,
pig, that'll do."
She opened the lid halfway, filled the cup with water to
the specified line, and frowned.
"Tsk. Too much water again," Kasumi thought. "Why do we
have such huge kettles? It's hard to gauge the quantity of
water in them. Oh, well."
Kasumi opened the little kitchen window. While common
practice was to throw water in the sink, it was so much more fun
throwing it outside, all of Kasumi's friends did it. Buckets,
pans, bowls... just throw it out the window. Kasumi didn't
entirely approve, as they didn't always check before throwing
the water out, and sometimes it hit someone. But they were
right. It was fun. And so, happy for being so adventurous,
Kasumi threw the remaining hot water through the small window,
her control apparent as all the water went through, none of it
hitting any part of the house inside.
An inhuman scream pierced the night from outside
immediately after. For a brief second, the thought that the
kettle was somehow rebelling against being emptied flitted
across Kasumi's mind, then was quickly discarded as being simply
too silly.
"Oh, dear, that sounded like Ranma," thought Kasumi,
worry pervading her thoughts. Where was she supposed to hide
her now-water-filled cup?
Outside, Ranma was now under a naked and unconscious
Ryoga, both wet. Ranma shoved him off to a side, grumbling
about curses. He had put Ryoga's clothes and tent back in his
backpack after he had knocked the little pig unconscious. Ryoga
was being too fidgety for his tastes, and that made him that
much easier to carry. Ranma swung the backpack he was lugging
around to his front, opening it and proceeding to try to find
Ryoga's clothes. It was the sight of Ranma holding Ryoga's
pants on one hand and his underwear on the other that greeted
Kasumi as she came out of the house to check on whatever
shouted. She quickly and quietly turned and went back into the
house before Ranma could notice her. She heard him say
something about Ryoga not being able to keep his clothes on, and
she decided she'd heard enough. She was guessing that Ryoga was
the strong, well-defined young man whose bronze skin was
glistening under the pale moonlight. She was also guessing that
Ranma's relationship with him was ... different than what he
told Akane. Kasumi was drawing a blank when trying to come up
with a proper reaction, so she felt it more prudent to simply
retire to her quarters and let the matter rest. For tonight, at
least.
Hmmm... soup.
---
Ranma was not exactly sure where the hot water came
from, but he wasn't very grateful for it. He was planning on
turning Ryoga back into a man someplace more private, after he'd
regained consciousness. As it was, he hastily clothed Ryoga the
best he could and carried him and his backpack into the Tendo
Dojo, quietly making his way to the guest room on the second
floor.
"I hope Mr. Tendo won't mind him crashing with us for a
while," thought Ranma, "but I have to make it up to Ryoga
somehow. It'll be easier if he's somewhere I can keep an eye on
so he doesn't stray off."
Ranma nimbly opened the door to the guest room with his
foot, stepped in, carrying Ryoga on his shoulders, and closed it
as quietly as he could. Pop was sleeping soundly, which meant
he was making a lot of sound snoring. He placed Ryoga on the
floor, unrolled his sleeping bag, and rolled Ryoga into it.
Ranma wondered whether he should tie him up, in case Ryoga woke
up before he did, but decided against it. Of course, the last
thing he did before going to sleep was to tie Ryoga up.
Kasumi was a morning person. Actually, that's
misleading. After all, that would make it seem that Kasumi
would be grumpy, irritable, or in general a less pleasant person
at any time other than morning. Kasumi was more of a waking
person. If she were asleep, she had her mood swings, and wasn't
really a nice girl. As soon as she woke up, however, she was in
her environment. And so, Kasumi woke up, changing from her
grumpy self to her cheery, more pleasant persona. She slapped
her face a few times, gently, to scare away any residues of
sleep that might not understand that Kasumi was a waking person,
and by definition didn't like sleep. She didn't need to look at
the wall clock to know that is was early morning. Her body had
become used to waking up at a certain time, and for years she
hadn't deviated from that more than a few minutes. She sat up
on the edge of her bed, contemplating on what she'd do that day.
First, make her bed. That was easy enough, thought
Kasumi. She stood up and started making her bed, years of
practice speeding things up. What else did she need to do?
Personal hygiene. After finishing tidying up her room, Kasumi
crept downstairs, carrying a change of clothes with her. An
advantage to waking up before dawn was that she had the bathroom
all to herself, nobody hurrying her. Since it was morning,
there was no hot water on the furo yet, so Kasumi just washed
herself with cold water, scrubbing forcefully to remove any
grime. As she got her clothes on, she started wondering what
was left in her morning routine. Make breakfast for the family.
See Ranma, Nabiki, and Akane off to school. Clean up the rooms
after they are gone. Put any dirty laundry in the washer
machine. Prepare lunch for herself, Mr. Saotome, and father.
Put now clean laundry to dry. Go out shopping for any groceries
that were needed. Talk to Ranma about his lifestyle choices.
Make dinner. Go to sleep. There wasn't anything else she could
think of doing for today. Of course, there was the usual tea
making throughout the day, sweeping the floors, and trying to
accommodate any of Ranma's queer friends into her schedule.
Already, if Ryoga didn't go to school with Ranma, she'd have to
tend to him during the day. Even if he did follow Ranma around,
she'd have to buy some more food to make for dinner. If he ate
at all like Ranma...
Still, Kasumi wasn't preocupied about those things just
yet. There was something else nagging her, nibbling at a corner
of her mind, which she couldn't quite put her finger on. There
was something strange, something missing right now, as she made
breakfast for the family. Kasumi heard a few birds as they woke
up and welcomed the new day. Kasumi smiled; it had been a long
time since she'd heard those birds.
"Of course!" thought Kasumi. Mr. Saotome and Ranma are
not out training as they usually are at this time. Ranma and
his father had continually woken up earlier than Kasumi, which
put her off-balance in the initial days. Someone waking up
earlier than her just seemed ... wrong. She tried to wake up
even earlier, but then gave up. There was no increase of
productivity, and she tended to stay sleepy for quite a while,
much to the unsettlement of her family. Her father still wept
at the remembrance of those dark days.
As it was, Kasumi worried a bit about what the duo's
absence from this morning's usual routine might mean.
Conflicting emotions tore at her: should she go check on them,
or wait until breakfast was ready? Even if they were martial
artists, that didn't mean they had to engage in training every
single day. Intruding upon them would be most rude, and
potentially embarassing, not to mention that it would delay her
schedule a bit. Oh, how she wished she could just pop something
sweet from the toaster and be done with breakfast.
Ultimately, prudence won out, and Kasumi decided to go check on
the Saotomes.
Kasumi cautiously made her way upstairs, darning the
creaking that occurred. Stepping into the hall, she could hear
some faint sounds coming from the guest room. Tiptoeing closer
to the door, Kasumi drew a glass from a fold of her apron, and
listened attentively.
"I'm telling you, Pop, we better keep him tied up for
now. The first thing that he'll do when he wakes up is to go
ballistic on us.
"Ranma," Genma said, in a tired voice, "I have spent
sixteen years working hard to make a real man out of you. I
have endured banishment from my wife and South Korea, suffering
through endless secret techniques, and being forced to freeload
off my good friend, and all for what? To one day wake up and
find you all cuddled up to a tied up man?!"
"C-cuddled!? He managed to squirm an arm out and grab
me! Do you know how many hits to the head it took just to knock
him out again? And you! You were great help, weren't you,
Pop?" Ranma was just about frothing right now. Hearing his
father go on his usual moronic diatribe hadn't made his temper
any better. Ranma was so far being able to keep his voice low,
helped out by both the fact that Ryoga could wake up at any
moment and that his arm was still holding Ranma in a headlock.
"Where could I have gone wrong?" lamented a dejected
Genma, tired at his son's girlish whinings.
"You --- you useless hairball!" Ranma snapped, "What the
heck have you ever done RIGHT?" Ranma's legs were flailing
wildly, hoping his father was stupid enough to enter their
range.
"Ranma, we must not allow this travesty to continue!"
Genma declared, standing proudly (and cautiously away from the
kicking legs). "We must intensify your training at once! You
will be a man among man, no matter what! You must regain a hold
on your manliness, starting now!"
Ranma laid stiff for about a second before he jumped up,
a muffled growl escaping him as he did so. Ryoga was still
hanging on to his neck, and, surprisingly, even though he was
being hauled like a backpack now, was still very much
unconscious. Ranma lunged at his father, fist extended, anger
at his father's insinuations propelling him forward at
incredible speeds, extra weight notwithstanding. Normally, such
a punch might even have connected with its intended target, but
Ranma's center of gravity was way off, and Genma had no trouble
sidestepping it, leaving his foot behind as a fatherly lesson to
his son: don't lunge at your father with a body slung across
your back.
Ranma fell forward, hard, his usual nimbleness all but
negated at this point. Since he fell on Ryoga's arm, it choked
him quite a bit, and the impact hurt his adam's apple a lot.
Standing back up, Ranma fell into a slightly groggy battle
stance.
Usually, sparring with his father was simply light
practice. Sure, sometimes the old man got lucky and managed to
pull off some interesting move, but apart from throws, Ranma was
never really caught in anything. He had the definite impression
that his father never actually learned how to counter throws,
which is why neither of them could avoid them effectively. Now,
with Ryoga on his back, Ranma really didn't have much of a
chance, specially if he didn't want him to gain consciousness
once more. He had wanted to do this later, but apparently there
was only one action he could take that would make any sense
right now.
He'd have to turn Ryoga back into a squealing piggy.
He wasn't quite sure if Ryoga would gain consciousness
with the transformation, but he could tie him up very well with
all those ropes, if need be. With only an eight kilo swine to
deal with instead of an eighty kilo boy, he wouldn't be so off
in his abilities. After he dealt with his father, he'd be able
to untie Ryoga, sit down with him, explain why he had to do what
he did, and Ryoga would understand. Simple.
And it was so that Ranma, wholly prepared to execute his
perfect plan, feinted to one side, and then shifted his weight
towards the door, opened it as fast as he could, and jumped into
the hall.
Kasumi was trying hard to make out what Mr. Saotome and
Ranma were talking about. At first it had been relatively easy,
and with Ranma's voice growing louder, even more so. There were
a few seconds of silence, and Kasumi was slammed back, giving
out a small shriek. When she was able to get her bearings once
more, she noticed she was pinned under the weight of two men.
While not in any kind of pain, per se, she still found this
terribly improper. Moreso due to the fact that Ranma's head was
buried in her bosom.
Ranma wasn't quite sure of what happened, and was having
some severe mixed feelings about all this. He went over his
perfect plan in his head. He got to the door. Check. Opened
it. Check. Ran outside to the bathroom. General Protection
Fault. He was pretty sure that there wasn't supposed to be a
wall right after the door. He couldn't have run into the
closet. That'd be too stupid. Plus, there was something wrong
with this wall. It was kinda soft, which was nice, since he had
run a few times into trees and walls, and those hurt. It also
had fallen down with him, which was very considerate, since it
broke his fall a little.
"Uh, Ranma?"
It talked too. What a friendly wall.
"Ranma? Could you lift yourself up? This is a little
awkward."
Ranma lifted his body, barely noticing the arm slipping
off his neck, and was able to take a good look at the wall. A
slightly flustered Kasumi was smiling back at him.
Ryoga was dazed and disoriented as he woke up. After
ascertaining that he was, indeed, supposed to feel disoriented
but not dazed, he tried to get ahold of his surroundings. He
was in some sort of house, a couple of small pictures hanging on
the walls. To the left, the hall he was in continued for some
ten feet before apparently turning into a staircase going
downstairs, but it was hard to see from this angle. To his
other left, a very friendly wall was smiling slightly, and
behind him, the hall continued, a strange man in armor rapidly
approaching. It was the person under him, however, that peaked
his interest. He readjusted his weight, settling his right hand
on some soft, unstable base, but figuring that it would have to
do for the meantime, and got ready to challenge his nemesis once
more.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNMMAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
"That's strange," thought Ryoga, "My voice sounds a lot
deeper now. I thought I had gone through puberty already."
"Mr. Tendo, it's not what it seems," said a very
panicked Ranma.
Soun Tendo, martial artist, widower, father of three
girls. That is usually a very good description of the head of
the Tendo household. Succint, to the point, and deceptively
simple. He was a man guided by his sentiments, and his sensitive
nature led him to tears often. This was also a man who could
sleep through raging forest fires, a number of small
earthquakes, even the cacophony caused by his very best friend
and son sparring against one another.
When he thought he heard, through four walls, that his
eldest daughter had let out a whimper of pain, pleading for her
daddy to come save her, there wasn't enough caffeine in the
world that could have duplicated his state of alertness. He had
rushed out his room, not even bothering to open the door, and
saw, at the very end of the hall, his daughter. His daughter,
under two men. Two men, forcing themselves on his sweet, dear
Kasumi. The panda's son, rubbing himself all over her. A
stranger, fondling his daughter's breasts.
Ryoga looked down, noticing for the first time that
there was someone underneath Ranma. Noticing what the very
unstable base was.
"Hey, she's not wearing any..." was all he could
complete of his thought process before painting the walls red.
Soun drew his katana from its scabbard.
---
Well, I guess that concludes chapter one, or the prologue, I am
not sure yet. In case you haven't figured this out yet, this is
an alternate universe fic :)
I won't bother to explain how all the changes stemmed from Ryoga
catching up with Ranma in Jusenkyo (knowingly), if anything is
unclear, then I am not doing a good job of tying it together in
the story and should be told so.
I didn't want to recreate Ryoga and Ranma's first encounter in
Nerima step by step, but I had to keep some similarities for the
sake of consistency.
Hm... let's see...
Oh, yeah. I take the phrase "Author's Notes" quite literally.
I'm gonna have to check on the chronology of events of when
Ryoga first appeared, I can't really remember how long the
Saotomes were with the Tendos. I think it was over a week, but
some confirmation would be nice.
Argh. Already wrote more than I wanted for this portion.
Oh, and I'm looking for pre-readers.
Ah, and title is also open to suggestions.
-D