Ranma ½ is the property and invention of Rumiko Takahashi. The following story is not produced for any monetary or personal gain. Its sole purpose is to entertain using the characters and plots developed by Takahashi. ALL rights reserved
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The Eye of the Storm |
The brilliance of dawn can be halted by the coming of the rains.
Chapter 3: Friend or Fiend
Ranma Saotome was not a very religious person, but when things fell in his favour, he always gave thanks to the kami. There had been no sign of Dai Lin for the past week and none of his other enemies had shown up. That was a great relief to him. He didn’t think he could last another week with even more complications in his life. Just what did Dai Lin want with him now. Husband! That was one of the reasons he was here now. That word and what it entailed. Some of girls Ranma had met in the last few months had varying interest in what the word meant and how to go about getting a husband. And some of those girls he met at the temples were very creative and persevering when it came to catching a husband. Sometimes he had gained more exercise at night running from those girls than he did during is fights with his father.
(Whap)
Ranma staggered backwards and gained his footing quickly as another strike came swiftly upon him. Now that his mind was back to his normal mode of thinking he could get back to training. He taunted his sparring partner with a false set of attempted kicks and when the hands came up instinctively to block them, Ranma held his body in a suspended, inverted position and swept the legs out under his opponent, who ungracefully fell on her buttocks. Ranma did a handstand to show off his victory and somersaulted over to his opponent.
Akane was surprised that she had even got a hit in. Her usual sparring sessions usually turned out to be dodging sessions. Flat on her back, she waited until Ranma was in range. Ranma offered his hand to Akane who deftly whirled her feet in the air, catching Ranma in the stomach. Having trained under a master of underhanded tricks, Ranma’s body had already compensated for the blow and with a bounce off the wall, he tackled the rising Akane, catching her by surprise. Akane was unceremoniously dropped to the floor again while Ranma just stood at a slight distance away from her.
"Okay, that’s all for today."
Akane grunted. She had been beaten soundly once again.
"Your timing is improving Akane. Soon I’ll actually have to think about defending your attacks."
Akane beamed. Any kind of praise from Ranma was good. Hey, wait a minute!
"Ranma!"
"Nyah, nyah. Bet’ya a tomboy like you can’t catch me!"
Ranma bolted out into the streets of Nerima followed by a Bo wielding Akane. The neighbours popped their heads out for one second, then ignored the commotion. When things happened every day like clockwork, people tend to lose interest.
************
Ranma and Akane were merrily chatting away as they walked to school. Whether they were chatting or trying to best each other at insults was dependent on the listener. All the other girls just dismissed the behaviour as the two walked through the school gates. No matter how much they tried to get the two to stop one of them would start again and the thing would go full circle. It was hopeless. At least the boys had stopped attacking Akane and Ranma every morning when Kuno added Ranma to the list of datable girls by victory.
Ranma smiled as they walked through the Furiken gates unmolested. The boys quickly understood the real meaning of pain after they had been subjected to one of the worst forms of torture: a pain spell which caused the person to writhe in pain for a couple of hours on end. Of course, no one knew about the spell, but having known basic magic, Ranma knew how to conjure up something simple quickly. It was those blasted complicated spells that Dai and Master Sung used that he could never really get accustomed to. He hated having to sit down for two or three hours just to conjure up a spell. That was not his forte. He liked being active and he was glad that Master Sung gave him a lot of leeway. Master Sung had demanded that he learn certain spells or course, but reduced Ranma’s tutorials in long spells, augmenting them with sessions of all sorts of hard to comprehend but easy to produce wards.
Well the day was starting to go really well for Ranma until he heard an explosion from the front gates. A lone figure held a boy by the scruff of the neck.
"Is this Furiken High School?"
The boy nodded his head in the affirmative. The other fellow threw him to the side and the boy scuttled away. If he had been in that iron grip for one second longer, he would have probably embarrassed himself in front the entire school population.
"Ranma Saotome, face me like a man you coward!"
If it had been anything else, the redhead girl would not have turned around, but in one sentence, this boy had dared to dishonour his name and his family, and that really pissed a very powerful martial artist/mage off. Ranma turned around and in one leap was facing her adversary.
"Who are you?"
"Who are you?" the boy replied.
"I’m Ranma Saotome!" shouted back Ranma. Just who was this stupid boy anyway?
"No you’re not! You’re trying to trick me...hey, you’re that girl from the springs!"
"I’m Ranma Saotome and so what if I was at the springs?" retorted Ranma.
"You, you pushed me in the springs...."
"Aww...sorry man, now I remember. I was so busy trying to kill pops that I didn’t notice ya..."
"You ruined my life!" shouted the boy and he raised his umbrella to strike at the girl. Then he froze. He was going to hit a girl. A girl! How could he think of hitting a girl!
He bowed respectfully to the girl, who was by now in an intense state of bewilderment.
"Aww man, I thought I was at least going to have some fun," muttered Ranma. Images came slowly to his mind about a boy who wore a yellow-brown shirt and a black yellow spotted bandanna.
"Hey Ryouga. You’re Ryouga Hibiki!"
"Wha..." replied the boy.
"Yeah, don’t you remember. We went to school together. I walked you home and we would fight sometimes and I usually won," grinned Ranma.
Ryouga for his part scratched his head. He never remembered anything about a redhead girl going to his school and it was a boys' school anyway. Just who was this girl?
He made a move to question the girl, but she was smiling at him and boy was she smiling. No girl had even smiled at him before. Could this girl really have known him from before? Then his eyes drifted lower and he could see her outline through the fabric of the shirts she wore. The blood came to his nose quickly and his hand reached forward to contain the spurt of blood.
Ranma saw this, immediately caught Ryouga in his arms and literally bounded to the nurse's office with his old friend. Was Ryouga sick or something? He would have waited for Ryouga but school was going to start and if he was late for class again, they might stick him in a home economics class and he hated home economics. He hoped nothing was seriously wrong with Ryouga. What was he thinking? Ryouga was always as strong as a bull. He shrugged and met Akane and some of her girlfriends at the front door to the class.
"So Ranma," asked Akane slyly, "Who is your boyfriend?"
"Well he’s...WHAT...Ryouga is NOT my boyfriend!"
"Ryouga?" commented another girl. "What a nice name."
"I told you he’s..."
Ranma would have continued but it didn’t look like anyone would believe him, not even Akane.
This is not happening to me, thought Ranma. He was a man, not a girl, a man. He tried to contain his anger and concentrate, but the giggling of the girls behind him was starting to make him lose it.
When school was over, he tried to look for Ryouga, but when he went to the nurse’s office she said she had turned around for a second and he was gone, left. Lost was more like it, smirked Ranma. Ryouga could still get lost. Ranma wondered if he could create some kind of compass for his friend.
"Nah, would probably get lost trying to follow it," thought Ranma out loud. He wondered how long it would take Ryouga to find him again. And did he even make it to the match behind his house? Probably not, surmised Ranma.
************
Another boring week had passed for Ranma. Besides the teasing of the girls about Ryouga (how he hated that) things were going smoothly and at a normal pace, which, for a person like him who was accustomed to the road, was a welcome relief. Akane and their sisters got along well with him. Nabiki had taken some shots of him while he did exercises with Akane but he didn’t mind, even though some of them were somewhat revealing. He didn’t mind that much though, after all, he was a man, and this wasn’t his real body.
Nabiki was a kind of mercenary and after being there for a couple of weeks, Ranma had learnt to stay out of her way. He had seen what had happened to some of his classmates when they hadn’t paid her or had crossed her. Secrets got out and they weren’t nice. Somehow the description of the cold heartless Ice Queen befit her.
Kasumi was kind and gentle and he loved her cooking, Could she cook! Akane had tried to cook once and the whole family had deserted the table for dinner. He didn’t know better and thought that there would just be more for him. Boy was he wrong! Ranma didn’t think he had ever eaten something that bad in all his years on the road. Even stew with no seasoning, only raw meat and some roots tasted better. He had spent the better part of the night dodging Akane and his stomach at the same time. He considered it a miracle that his stomach did not explode.
He always wondered why Kasumi was the way she was. Nothing seemed to phase her, not even the chaos he and Akane weaved in the early mornings when he got up late. Akane had told him about the death of their mother in confidence. That had affected her deeply and he was proud to have been her confidant. She was so high-spirited and so strong. If she put her mind to it, he guessed she could almost anything, if she would just control her temper a bit more....
She wasn’t the fastest learner, but her form was steadily improving. Her father had complimented them the other day while they had been practising. He didn’t know why, but the two of them just seemed to hit it off together. She told him everything and he told her...well, just bits and pieces of his life. He just had too much to tell and if he slipped up just once, he could end up hurting them. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt them. He would wait until pops came, and then he would leave. He would probably visit now and then, but the life of Ranma Saotome was just a bit too complicated, even for himself.
Thus Ranma was siting with Akane eating ice cream. Of course, he showed no mercy when it came to treats and had Akane giggling every time she looked at him. That was before he heard a loud bang and saw a figure standing in the room with two large objects in her hands.
Akane looked around at the wreckage. At the hole in the wall and the scattered remains of some tables and chairs.
"Where Ranma?" demanded the girl. "I hear Ranma voice. Shampoo kill."
Akane didn’t know who this girl was but she and Ranma would show her who the boss was, except there was only one problem: where was Ranma?
"I think she went outside," replied Akane with no real conviction to her voice.
"Shampoo thank, now Shampoo kill."
With that, the purple haired girl disappeared from view.
"Ranma?" called Akane, but she got no response. However, a certain closet door opened and a short redhead peeked out.
"Is she gone?"
"Yes."
Ranma sighed.
"Okay Ranma, what’s going on? Why is this girl trying to kill you?"
"It’s a long story..." replied Ranma as he tried to escape from explaining, but Akane’s gaze shouted a lot of pain if he didn’t answer. Oh well, there’s nothing to lose...
**** Insert flashback from Anime Series*****
"So let’s get this straight, your father ate the prize and you defeated her so she gave you a Kiss of Death and now follows you to kill you?"
"Yep," replied Ranma in a vaguely downcast removed manner.
"So how do we stop her?" asked Akane
"Don’t know. I’ve been trying to get her off my back for weeks but I guess she followed me here to Japan. The girl just won’t listen! I mean me an’ pops tried everything, but we just can’t get her to leave me alone."
"Don’t worry, I know what we can do."
"Oh no," he knew what this meant. If Akane had trouble, there was only one person she went to and that happen to be the one person Ranma trusted the least probably in the whole of Nerima: Nabiki Tendo.
In the living room Ranma heard something akin to a fisherman sizing up his or in this case her catch. The twinkling in her eye warned Ranma that the worst was still to come and that for some reason, whatever Nabiki Tendo was thinking was not good for him. Good for making money, but not good for him.
"Well, what if you die at her hands," offered Nabiki.
"What!" exclaimed both Ranma and Akane at the same time.
"Not really die, but pretend to die. That way, Shampoo will think that you are dead and Ranma will be free of her. Of course I will have to raise my fee..."
That did not sound good to Ranma.
"Okay Nabiki, how much?" asked Ranma. He still didn’t know what this girl saw in money.
"Let’s say 10,000 yen!" She was still thinking about that coin Ranma had given her for the rent.
"10,000 yen! I don’t have that kind of money!" exclaimed Ranma. Which was true, he only had a set of souvenirs form the places he had visited.
"Oh all right," replied Nabiki. If Ranma didn’t have more money, she would have to find more means of using the redhead as a cash maker. Perhaps a dating service? Ranma profusely announced that she was not dating Ryouga.
"How about 2000 yen?"
Ranma searched his pockets and came up with almost the exact amount.
"All I have is 1800..." He never finished the rest as the money was grabbed form his hand. He wished he could see that money again.
"Akane, come with me, Ranma you stay here."
"Wha...? Shouldn’t I be going with you?"
"No. Akane and I have to plan. You just stay right here."
Nabiki began telephoning and networking to find the purple-haired girl called Shampoo. It did not take her long, as a girl with purple hair was definitely a source of excitement in the otherwise boring Nerima streets. She was working at Dr. Tofu’s aye? Nabiki’s mind was working on just how to get Ranma out of this. Contrary to popular belief, this was what she liked. She liked to plan and she loved to see her plans come true. They always would work just how she liked them and she could just sit back, relax and enjoy the show. This time would be no different.
Okay, where was that article she had seen before. Ahh...there it was.
"Akane. Go get me some of this and get it quick!"
"Nabiki, what are we going to do?"
"Simple Ranma is going to look like she died."
Akane gave Nabiki a questioning look.
"No she won’t die!" replied Nabiki exasperatedly. "She’ll just look like she died. "
Akane was still confused. Nabiki just shook her head and ordered her sister to get the stuff. Really, Akane could be so dense sometimes.
Nabiki picked up the phone.
(pause)
(click)
Nabiki knew she would have to work fast. She could see the yen signs starting to float around her. She could only think of all that money she would make.
***********
Two hours later, Ranma found himself at the centre of the football field (English football, i.e. Soccer). The stands were packed with people and somehow, vendors were selling T-shirts, memorabilia, drinks, food, and even comic books. Just where did all these people come from and just where was Nabiki. He glanced around to Akane as if to ask where her sister was. Akane just shrugged her shoulders.
Ranma spied her somewhere.
"Hey Nabiki! Just what is going on!" demanded Ranma.
"Relax Ranma, this is your cheering squad!"
Funny that, there were only a fraction of the students he could identify from Furiken and most of the spectators were boys, which really bugged him. He pulled a T-shirt away from some unsuspecting student and read the print.
"Ranma Vs Shampoo : Catfight of the Century!"
Ranma cringed when he read the word cat, but he knew what was going on well enough, Nabiki was selling him off as entertainment. It made him angry but he did not have time to get back at Nabiki. He had a fight to prepare for. Instinctively he ducked as a familiar pair of bonbori flew through the air where his head once was. He was sure glad his reflexes were in excellent condition.
"Shampoo..."
"Ranma! I kill!"
The circle around the pair grew until they were the only ones at the centre of the football field. Nabiki threw something at him and he caught it.
"Ranma drink some of it, it’ll help you in your fight," urged Nabiki.
Ranma smelled it: no scent. Tasted it; it tasted like water and he was a bit thirsty. Only his reflexes prevented him from getting hit when the first attack came. The battle was as intense as it was brutal. Ranma had deflected all of Shampoo’s attacks and had got some of his in. Shampoo really had no reply to his attacks until one got thorough and another, then another. A hand sent him flying to the floor, hard. What was happening to him? Why were there three Shampoo’s? Where were all these new sounds coming from? Why was he feeling so off balanced? These were the questions bombarding Ranma’s head as he tried in vain to stop Shampoo. But he just couldn’t!
Something smashed into his stomach then into his head. He was feeling dizzy and for some reason he was not on the floor. All he could hear was a familiar voice holding him and shouting, shouting that Shampoo had killed him. Ranma knew he wasn’t dead, not by a long shot, but he couldn’t say anything.
Someone was holding him, but he neither knew who nor how cause he was already out...
**********
"Ahhh...!" shouted Ranma as he got up. When he cracked open his eyes, he found himself lying down on a familiar bed again. A familiar hand was against his face, pressing a cloth against his head and that familiar face was a tad too close to him for comfort. He tried to get up but two powerful hands forced him down, and two beautiful dark eyes were staring down at him from very close. He tried his best to hide the blush creeping to his cheeks.
"Come on Akane, let me up!" cried Ranma.
"No way!" replied Akane. "Dr. Tofu said you got knocked up pretty badly and you should stay in bed for the rest of the day."
"I’m fine I tell you." And he was. For some reason he healed very quickly when he was hurt. But Akane would have none of it.
Ranma was strong as a girl, but he was weakened and Akane had leverage from her position.
"If you don’t stay, I’m going to stay here for all day!" exclaimed Akane threateningly.
For some reason, Ranma’s mind found that to be a very promising situation. Unconsciously he made a move to get up, but Akane had him trapped. His struggle had brought them even closer together. His inner mind was smiling broadly while Ranma’s outer mind fought for the control he needed in situations like this. His outer mind was winning, but not by much.
Akane released him and he just lay there on the bed, she applied the towel again to his head.
"So would you mind telling me what happened?" asked Ranma.
"Well, Nabiki drugged that drink she gave you and it caused you to lose you focus..."
"I noticed," replied Ranma as he tried to flex his arm and got a stinging response.
"Don’t do that..." shouted Akane as she pampered Ranma like a hurt puppy. "Anyway, we wouldn’t have got to you in time if it wasn’t for Ryouga."
"Ryouga!"
"Yeah he just showed up and started fighting Shampoo. He thought you were dead. Well Shampoo disappeared, and we convinced him that you weren’t dead. Then while I was carrying you to Dr. Tofu’s he just disappeared, vanished. We couldn’t find him anywhere."
'That’s because he has the worst sense of direction in the world,' smirked Ranma.
"Hey why am I on your bed?" asked Ranma.
"Well could just leave my best friend on the futon when she's sick."
Akane yawned. Ranma looked around. The lamp was on, and outside was very dark. Just how long had he been out for?
Akane scooted Ranma around on her bed and lay down on the edge of the bed. Ranma was glad that she had turned off the lamp because he was blushing brightly. Here he was in bed with a girl again. Just how did he get into these situations? Ranma really didn’t have time to think as his mind was still a bit cloudy. Oh what the hell! Akane had already fallen asleep and had draped her hand across his chest. Ranma just let himself drift to sleep.
***********
Shampoo waited and watched. Damn that boy. Why did he appear all of a sudden anyway? Shampoo wanted to take him too; she actually wanted to see if he could defeat her. Any boy who would defend Ranma would surely be a strong warrior. Maybe he could defeat her and she would have her husband. She wanted a real husband, not that stupid Mousse who followed her around like some decoration.
She had lost her chance though. She was tired from her fight and the boy could really hurt her. She was not prepared for another intense fight like the one before. Here she was on the wall overlooking a large house. She had followed them here when they brought the girl. Shampoo knew the girl was not dead. The girl was strong. She was a strong and talented opponent. The reason why Shampoo hadn’t killed her was that it would have been no sense of pride or accomplishment after the kill. Shampoo knew that Ranma had been drugged. She would wait, could wait, until Ranma was back to normal, then she would kill the girl and return home knowing she had fairly defeat a worthy opponent. She could just visualise the praise of her great grandmother.
"Shampoo is that you?"
A startled Shampoo swivelled on her feet, bonbori at the ready. Whoever it was. If she was unfriendly, she could be dealt with quickly. Shampoo recognised the face.
"Dai?"
"Hi Shampoo, long time no see." The other girl smiled back.
"Hi Dai, what you do in Japan?"
"Oh, I’m just here to get my husband, and you?"
"To kill redhead girl who defeat Shampoo in tournament."
"Redhead?" asked Dai suspiciously, "Wouldn’t be named Ranma would she?"
"Yes, how know?" asked Shampoo.
"You can’t kill her," replied Dai sternly.
Shampoo was getting angry. How dare she tell her what to do?
"Why?" asked Shampoo with a hint of threat in her voice.
"Because she is a he and he is my husband to be!"
"What!" shouted Shampoo incredulously.
"He fall in Spring of Drowned Girl in Jusenkyou, then Spring of Drowned Phoenix."
Shampoo started in amazement. "You mean she is a..."
Dai nodded then stared at Shampoo who was starting to act funny. Her eyes were all glazed over and looked as if they had heart filled shapes in them.
Ranma strong warrior. He made Shampoo plenty strong children. Shampoo have strongest husband in village.
"Bye Dai. Shampoo see later okay."
Dai made a move to respond but the girl had already disappeared.
For some reason Dai knew that things had just got complicated. She searched the house magically for Ranma’s presence, which stood out like a sore thumb. She found him in a room with another girl? Well, sister, two could play at that game. Dai settled down gently behind Ranma and hugged him. Just wait until he hears the news tomorrow!
