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
 |
Shadows of the Land
Volume II : Family Ties
|
Chapter 4: Curried Tofu?
The pedestrians of Nerima were startled when another of those known martial artists stepped out from behind a wall. Actually, he stepped through the wall.
"Ahh…where am I?" shouted Ryouga at no one in particular. The people around him made note to stay a convenient distance away from the umbrella-wielding boy. His strength was almost legendary and so was his depression. They knew he could explode anytime. However, there was one person on the road that day that was not even fazed by the lost boy’s violent return.
"Hey Sugar, where have you been?" scolded Ukyou Kuonji.
Ryouga rolled his eyes. Why was she mad at him anyway? He couldn’t raise his voice to her however. She was a girl. He would not be that coward Ryouga and raise his voice to a girl. A little birdie reminded him that he had tried to fight her on a day long past, but he forced it out when he remembered that he thought she was a boy then. It was all very confusing when he thought about it sometimes. He wondered why he had let himself be captured by all the chaos around Ranma and then he remembered why. Ranma was a real jerk and he could not stand around and let Ranma take advantage of Akane as he had done with all the others.
"I've been around…" he replied. It was actually the truth. He had been around. Where? He didn't know, but he had been around. He had made a visit to his home but no one was there. He had discarded a couple of items, picked up a few and remembered some old times he had there. He had left presents for his parents for whenever they passed by and they had also left for him. He had a new shirt, a forest green one with orange trimming at the sides and at the top. It would look good on him when he finally decided that the shirt he wore now was no good. He wore that old faded shirt not because it was the only one he had, but it was the one he was most comfortable wearing. Between getting lost and moving and fighting with Ranma, that shirt had remained with him to this day. When something lasted that long, it was meant to be kept. Right now, all Ryouga wanted was a nice hot bath. He hadn't had a hot bath in so long. Ranma didn't know what he had. He was so ungrateful. All Ryouga needed right now was a good soak in the tub to invigorate his muscles. Then he would be ready to take on Ranma again and pummel him to the ground. There was only one problem, he needed someone to show him the way to the Dojo. He knew about his bad sense of direction and usually wasn't so touchy about it. The only person who could regularly set him off was Ranma. He hated all that taunting with a vengeance. That was just one of the ways in which Ranma was a jerk.
"Hey Ryouga," called Ukyou, "Are you still in there?"
"Huh? Oh yeah. Say, could you show me the way to the Dojo?"
Ryouga bit down on his pride for a while. He knew he would not find the Dojo in days if he was left to his own methods.
"Are you looking for Akane?" asked Ukyou.
Ryouga nodded.
"Well Akane and Ranma went on a training trip for the summer holidays."
"What!!" exploded Ryouga, "Ranma took Akane on a trip alone!"
"I'm sure it was all their parents' idea." Shouted Ukyou trying to get her point across. She grabbed him by the wrist.
"Ryouga, I don’t want you threatening my Ran-chan!" warned Ukyou.
Ryouga however was not paying attention.
"I don’t believe this! I must save Akane from Ranma. Ranma I'm gonna kill you!" shouted Ryouga as he ran. Unfortunately, Ukyou was unable to disengage herself from Ryouga before he started travelling at warp speed. Several minutes later, she really wanted to womp the lost boy. Where were they now?
Ryouga slowed down enough for Ukyou to release one hand from him and unhook her spatula from its resting-place on her back. With a wild wide swing, she managed to connect with the lost boy's head and while it happened to disturb his equilibrium and send him careening into a tree, it did not damage him at all. In fact, he hardly felt it. The spatula had felt it though. There was a pretty big dent where it had made contact with Ryouga's head.
"What did you do that for?" shouted Ryouga.
"You Jackass! You got us lost!"
Ryouga looked around. He did not recognise anything around him but he wasn't going to tell that to anyone especially a girl.
"We're not lost. I know exactly where we are."
"Then where are we?" asked Ukyou impatiently.
"Somewhere outside Tokyo," replied Ryouga offhandedly.
Ukyou raised her eyes to the sky and her fist to Ryouga's face.
"Baka…" was all she muttered.
Ukyou removed her imprinted fist from Ryouga's face and pulled it to her side. When Ryouga was not looking, she soothed her hand. How did Ryouga's hand become so hard? And if he was that hard, how come Ran-chan wasn't hurt when he hit Ryouga? Ukyou flexed her hand once again. She would have to remember not to hit Ryouga, ever.
As the lost boy was about to take off into the woods again, Ukyou grabbed him by the collar.
"What?"
"You're coming with me," she replied with a note of frustration on her voice.
"Hey I can take care of myself."
"Yeah, I know. And you'll probably be in china by tomorrow."
He wanted to retort at that suggestion but in further thought, she was probably right. Resignedly, he followed her lead, being careful to stay very close to her so that he would not get lost.
Since the distance Ryouga was from the person he was following was inversely proportional to the probability of him getting lost, (Math-haters can kill me later.) Ryouga was indeed very close to Ukyou. So close, that she could feel his breath on her back.
Ukyou Kuonji was very dedicated to her Ran-chan, but the feeling on hot breath against the back of her neck was intoxicating. She had never been one to drink, but she was indeed quickly finding herself feeling disoriented and short of breath. Deciding she had had enough and before it got a bit too far, she stopped and rested. Primarily so that she could get away from Ryouga and secondarily because she needed a plan to get back home. She had no food supplies with her. That was never much of a problem since food was a commodity that could be supplemented easily. Once you lived off the land, you always found means of attaining food. Necessity always demands creativeness.
Ukyou lifted her thoughts to the skies above and strangely enough, the skies seemed to answer her. There, climbing below the clouds, was a pillar of smoke on its way to the gods. That is, someone was camping out here, and if someone was camping out here, that someone probably knew how to get back to civilisation. Hence, Ukyou could get back home.
She would have thought of tracking Ranma and Akane, but the prospect did not excite her very much. Although Genma Saotome was a sleaze in the worst form of the word in her mind, he was good at one thing: covering his tracks. Ranma had adopted the habit from his father with ease. To track Ranma in the woods would be akin to tracking a wild animal in its natural habitat when it knew who the tracker was and what the tracker looked like. Ranma made no discernible impression when he moved through the forests. It always remained as if he had never been there. She could track Akane though, but Akane would leave such an obvious trail that she would be unable to identify it from the foraging of other forest animals. Thus, Ukyou decided to stay home and await Ranma's arrival.
Ukyou had bivalent feelings towards Akane cooking for Ranma on this trip (the girl always wanted to cook for the poor boy). Akane could end up pushing Ranma further away from her with her cooking which was nothing short of toxic, or she could end up poisoning Ranma permanently after prolonged exposure towards such unhealthy food. Ukyou hoped that Ranma could last Akane's cooking or get himself batted around enough that he missed her vile attempts at producing something edible.
Holding Ryouga's hand, which was more of a necessity than something that she wanted to do, Ukyou followed the billowing smoke to its source. It was pretty thick smoke for a campfire. She knew it was not a forest fire simple by how the smoke rose into the air. Untamed fires were held back by nothing and the smoke tended to ring out after the flames caught onto the surrounding trees and grass.
This smoke came up in one billowing cloud after the next and in truth it looked as if someone was controlling the movement of the smoke. The forest was slowly thinning out and Ukyou could make out the impression of a small tent erected near the edge of the forest. She could see the embers of the fire rising into the clouds. The fire was very large and was fed but the wood underneath that was arranged not in the usual tepee formation, but in stacks, one above the other. That kind of arrangement was only used by accomplished woodsman. It showed that the person was confident in their ability to not only start a fire, but also control the fire.
She was so concerned about the fire that she had almost missed entirely the man in the black cloak. Actually, it looked like it was probably once a lighter colour but the falling ashes did not help reveal the true colour of the fabric any more than rolling through dirt would have. Ukyou could see no better place to spend the night than right here with this person. She saw a tent further off in the distance partially hidden by the trees. It was made of a patterned brown material that indicated that the person who was sitting by the fire was seasoned in camping. Ukyou could feel their chances of a good night sleep rising.
She, holding Ryouga’s hand, plodded through the rest of the undergrowth and walked up to the cloaked figure.
"Hey, hello?"
There was no answer.
"Hello!" shouted Ukyou a bit louder. No response. She was losing patience.
"Hey, you!"
"Wha…? Ahhh…."
Wham!
Jam rubbed his buttocks. He had been so engrossed in the pattern that he had not realised he had visitors. His grandfather would have given him a good scolding if he had ever done that back home. Jam allowed his energies to subside and faced his guests.
"Hello, welcome, what can I do for you?" he asked in Japanese, glad that he remembered to learn Japanese before he came to Japan.
Ryouga and Ukyou barely made out the words due to how badly the boy was abusing the language. He was a boy, about their age it seemed. His eyes were hazel brown and they seemed alive with energy. Just looking at them made you want to go out and do something. Besides those hazel brown eyes that initially caught Ukyou's attention, her gaze wandered lower and found that the boy was well endowed for his age with regards to facial hair. Though it did not show as yet, she could tell that he hadn't shaved in about a day. His face was not smooth yet it was not stubby. It was in a transition period between the both. She could trace with her eyes the arc of the hair as it curved from his sideburns right down to his chin. It had invaded the latter part of his face but had not quite taken over most of his cheeks as yet.
"It seems that you are just in time for dinner," announced Jam. "Won't you join me?" What better way to introduce himself to people, besides, it was tradition to offer a stranger food when they arrived at your house or in this case, your campsite.
"Umm…okay…thanks," replied Ukyou for the both of them. As a shop owner, she had a lot of experience dealing with a variety of foreigners who found themselves in Nerima for whatever reason.
"Good, now what did I have in mind for dinner, let's see…"
Jam knew he had been thinking about what he was going to have for dinner for awhile, now he forgot just what exactly he was supposed to have decided upon. Okay then, what did he have most of? Ahhh…yes, the wild rabbits or at least they looked like wild rabbits. Oh well, they tasted good enough, especially with the seasoning he had been using. Curry rabbit; that sounded good.
He pulled out an old iron pot and set it upon the fire. Wiggling his fingers, he brought out some oil and spices and threw them into the pot. He waited until the aroma of a cooking spices arose from the pot then he threw in the meat. A lovely sizzling sound greeted his ears. He waited until the sauce had soaked into the meat enough for him to add some water and bring the curry to a slow boil. Satisfied, he filled another pot with some rice and put a lid over it.
"I hope you like curry because it's what I'm cooking tonight."
"Sure…" replied Ukyou with realisation that the unique aroma emanating from the old iron pot was making her mouth water and her stomach rumble. She had forgotten when was the last time she ate. She heard a loud rumble and turned around to find Ryouga with a very red face. Apparently he was also hungry.
"So, what are your names?" asked Jam.
"Oh! Where are our manners? I'm Ukyou Kuonji and this here is Ryouga Hibiki."
"I'm Ramesh Jhamersinghe, but everyone calls me Jam. Pleased to meet you."
"Same here Jam-san."
"San?"
"Oh…I guess you don’t know a lot of Japanese."
"Not really, I know the words, but I don’t really know how to use them."
"Well, Ryouga and I'll be glad to help you, won’t we Ryouga."
"Huh…uphmm...uh yeah," replied Ryouga as he was unceremoniously elbowed in the gut by Ukyou who knew that Jam would not have seen that since Ryouga was currently behind her. Ryouga rubbed his stomach where she had hit him. He didn’t know she could pack such a punch.
While the pot boiled and the food cooked, Ukyou talked animatedly with Jam. During their short dialogue, she could actually hear the improvement in Jam's accent as he talked with her. He rose from barely being able to communicate to being able to at least enunciate a couple of words She was sure with enough practice he would be fully literate in Japanese.
Jam checked his curry and finding the meat almost cooked, he was heartened to find the rice cooked as well. He pulled out three wooden dishes and heaped the rice onto them, and then he poured on some of the curried meat. The smell was delectable and he even found his mouth watering as well. When he turned around, it was easy to see that Ryouga's mouth was watering as well. Ukyou kept her hunger hidden but Jam could sense it all too easy. He handed the food to them and they dug in immediately with chopsticks. He shrugged and started eating with his hands, as he was accustomed to. He had not mastered the use of chopsticks as yet, especially when it came to rice. They all ate hurriedly since they were all experienced travellers and knew that even though a good meal should be savoured, a good hot meal should be devoured since they came so rarely at times. This was one such time but they devoured the food not because it was hot, but because it smelled that good and they were that hungry.
After the meal, the three gathered around near the fire that was quietly burning. While they had been eating, the sun had decided to call it a day and was slowly dipping below the horizon bringing with it the expected change. The three travellers were not worried about this however. They were stretching on the ground, trying to digest the food they had just ingested.
"So Jam where are you from and why are you in Japan?" asked Ukyou.
"Oh I here to study under one of your teachers as repayment for studying under my grandfather. You see, he came to my village trying to learn something about magical spells and that sort of thing so my grandfather showed him what he knew."
Ukyou yawned, prompting everyone else to yawn after her.
"Time for bed," announced Jam, "Unfortunately, I don't have any spare tents."
Ryouga yawned at this and to Jam's amazement pulled out a tent and some other stuff from what seemed to be the air. Jam was amazed for only a microsecond though. He hadn't expected to see other users of that technique in Japan. He stored that fact in his mind for later reference.
"I assume you two are fiancées..."stated Jam in a very question-like manner.
"Yeah...yeah…" replied Ukyou hurriedly. She was tired. All she needed was a nice place to rest her head for the night.
Ryouga was baffled. Ukyou held Ryouga by the arm and pulled him to the side of Jam's tent. In a matter of minutes, Ryouga had the tent pitched and ready for the night.
"Okay Ryouga, I'm tired and I want to sleep, so no funny stuff."
Ryouga was about to retort, but Ukyou had already found a comfortable spot and was dozing off already. He sighed and moved to the part of the tent furthest away from her. Unlike Ranma, he did not want to be a playboy of any sort and he had no intention of building up a harem like Ranma had. That was dishonourable and it there was one thing Ryouga had, it was honour.
Jam smiled as he thought of the other two in the tent next to his. He had only been in Japan for a few days and already he had made a couple of acquaintances. His grandfather had told him that many traditional families in Japan still arranged marriages. Obviously this looked like either an arranged pair or a pair that was going to get married. He did not know of any self-righteous mother who would let her daughter out into the wilderness with a boy and without a chaperone if they were not meant to be together. His mind as ease, Jam settled down onto the mat he used as a bed. After a hard day's travelling, sleep came to him quickly.
****************
Akari Unryuu and her pet Sumo pig were stalking through the woods. She had planned to visit Akane and Ranma in Nerima today and might have had the absolute luck of finding Ryouga there also, but she did not count on it. Somewhere between the house and Tokyo, she had made a wrong turn causing both her and her companion to plunder through the untamed forest for hours. It was quite dark and Akari was tempted just stop here in the forest and stay there for the night, but she knew the uneven ground would prevent Katsunnishi from getting a good night's sleep. They continued their trek into the darkness of the forest with only the moonlight to pierce the gloomy darkness that hung in the air. The air was still and the distant howling of some unknown animal could be heard.
Akari kept very close to her pet. He was her defender in times like these and his presence was enough to calm her fears. He was huge when compared to other pigs but that was one of the reasons why he was her favourite. He did not like people very much, especially people he did not know, and at times he seemed very aggressive towards them. To the people he trusted though, that was another story. Other farmers thought of their animals as something lower or as insignificant livestock. Akari knew better. Katsunnishi was her pet, but he was also her friend. He had a way of slumbering through the path ahead that comforted her. It was as if he was telling her that nothing that came into his path could stop him. For a girl travelling alone late into the night, it was comforting.
After several more hours of trudging, the forest finally began to thin, but not by a lot. Suddenly though, the forest gave way to a clearing that seemed quite an anomaly in the dense forest. She did not know why the clearing was there, she just knew it was there. She was tired and she was sleepy. She needed rest.
"Time to sleep," she spoke almost too quietly to be heard, but she was heard. She was expecting her pet to lie down with her. His body heat at this time of night would keep her warm as the night progressed. However, he did not move, he did not obey; he just stood there sniffing the ground and pointing in a singular direction.
As tired as she was, Akari did not ignore the fact that he was acting strange. For him to be acting strange was cause for her concern. She strained her eyes to try and find out what he was pointing at and in the dim light she could barely make out the definition of two tents in the distance. The presence of two tents was not something that would have attracted her attention but the second tent, the one closest to the woods, excited her. On the top of what was a normal canvas tent were a series of patches stretched out in a loose helical structure. To the ordinary person, that was what it looked like, but on closer inspection, the pattern coalesced and solidified into a tangible structure into a discernible shape. It was a shape that Akari Unryuu had admired more that any other. It was the shape of a small black pig. She had at one time fixed one of her fiancé's tents and this was that tent. This was Ryouga's tent and as such, a satisfied and slightly excited smile crept onto Akari's face.
****************
Nodoka Saotome had not had a family to take care of in a long time. Thusly, she was busily preparing food to be cooked during the week. Time had passed by and she did feel a tad tired but not too tired. She had spent many sleepless nights just looking out of her house wondering about her son. Wondering if he was okay, if he was eating right. She no longer had to worry about her son though. He had turned out to be different than she expected. She could read people and she loved to act as if she was terminally on a one tracked mind, but she wasn't. Her son had not grown up to be the exact idea of what she had in her mind to be a man amongst men. She knew however that with time, she would be able to mould him into the finest specimen of a man. She would only need a couple of years. A couple of years were all that it would take before her subtle training would take effect.
She hummed as she prepared the meat. For the course she was planning, the meat needed to be in fine strips that were no more than a centimetre in width. She had left the meat in the freezer and had not pulled it out to thaw. Her husband was a master of his martial arts school and she respected that. Her mother had always told her not to usurp her husband's position in the household. She never did. He never knew of her training. He had bred for her what was to be one of the finest martial artists in the world. He had never known of her art. Nodoka watch the frozen slab of meat in glee and with a blur of her hands, it was transformed into even pieces less than a centimetre thick. Smiling, she covered them and placed them back into the freezer.
She gracefully washed and replaced all the utensils she had used for preparing. Drying her hands, she left the kitchen and walked up the stairs stopping only when she heard one creak. She would have to remember to tell Genma to fix it tomorrow. She continued until she made it to her room. She slid the door open and closed it as silently as she had opened it. Her husband was in his panda form again. She would not have told anyone, but she liked him better like this. He kept her warmer during the cold nights and his fur reminded her of the comforts of her home when she was younger. She slipped into bed and under the covers. Tomorrow was another day to be confronted. Her son had not been gone that long and she hoped that he would prove his manliness to her on this trip with Akane. She wanted grandchildren. She wanted strong grandchildren.
***************
Akari had asked her grandfather many questions and the answers she had received were exactly the ones she was hoping for. If Ryouga-san was here, she was sure that he would not mind if they shared a tent for the night. She had hoped that she would find him at the Tendo's, but she had found him in this clearing instead. It had to be the power of the kami.
Stretching out the kinks in her arms, Akari silently walked closer and closer to the tent. Her pet pig plodded along after her warily as if he expected someone to happen. Akari slowly walked towards the tent until she finally made it. Ryouga-san's tent contained no zip that she knew of. It was an old tent that he had bough or was given a long time ago she did not know which. One of the flaps covered the other and could be bound using some loose ties that drooped with the lack of wind. It was strange that there was no wind at this time of night. It was cold, but there was no wind. She dismissed the thought. She looked forward to climbing in next to him and getting a good, comfortable, warm night's sleep.
She pulled the flap open allowing the night air into the closed environment. She looked, she saw, she blinked. She blinked again yet still her mind did not register what she was seeing. She blinked again and again and again.
Ryouga Hibiki was a professional camper and as such, he had developed a keen sense for danger during the night; a sense that had kept him from being the main course of some prowling animal many a night when he was young. This sense was active anytime he was asleep. The sense prodded at Ryouga's consciousness jarring him awake. He saw someone looking, peering at him and he blinked. She blinked then the flap came down. The sound of heavy footsteps from a hasty retreat was muffled by the grass around the tent but the sound of something larger pounding on the earth was not. Ryouga blinked again and then his senses began to come back online one by one. He remembered where he was, why he was here, who he was with, and who just saw him. He jumped out of his supine position and raced out of the tent. His ears followed the sounds of something heavy forging a trail into the woods and he followed the trail. He knew what was making the trail and he hoped he would catch up to it. After five minutes of heavy running though, he could no longer hear anything but the sound of the crickets and the owls of the night. He clenched his hands and gnashed his teeth. He could only think of one thing to say. It was something he had become accustomed to saying and it was something he shouted out of reflex.
"Damn you Ranma Saotome!"
**************
Ukyou Kuonji awoke that morning feeling very cold. She was not what you would call a morning person and as such she just stayed on her bed and let the world pass her by while she morning-dreamed about a boy with a pigtail holding her in his arms and twirling her around a dance floor. He wore a loose fitting tuxedo that looked almost too regal to be true and he led her while they danced. She was smiling, beaming with joy as he lad her along the floor. She could see him smiling too, and laughing with the carefree expression that touched her heart. She gazed deeply into his eyes as she had done many times when they were younger. He had been uncomfortable when she did that when they were younger but now he stared into hers with the same vigour.
She could see the stars glittering in his eyes as they transported by some heavenly means to an outdoor arena. She could see the warmth of his eyes. She could trace the angles of his face; she could picture the two of them coming closer and closer together.
(plang)
What was that?
Hurriedly, Ukyou sprang out of her lying position, hitting her head on the wooden beam of the tent as she jumped. She rubbed her noggin' and investigated the source of the noise. She was surprised to see Jam with a frying pan imbedded on his head. Having lived in Nerima and having seen things that were of a unique nature to say the least, Ukyou did not really feel to ask for an explanation. She could read from Jam's face that he was expecting her to ask, but she did not ask. She gave him a wry grin and stepped back into the tent. It was then that she realised Ryouga was missing. She made a hasty check around the clearing for Ryouga while a confused Jam watched on. After finding neither hide nor hair of him, she came to the obvious and most logical conclusion: he was lost, again.
"Good morning," greeted Jam as she lumbered up to him and sat opposite, crossing her legs and staring into the smouldering fire he had rekindled. "Where's Ryouga?"
"Lost again, he's always lost."
"Oh! Care for breakfast?"
A slight nod and Ukyou had before her what seemed to be a dry flat bread with something spread over it.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Roti," he replied, "try it and tell me what you think?"
Ukyou eyed the food. She had heard of roti but she had never tried it before. She would have on another occasion declined the offer but it would be bad manners to do so at the moment. She lifted it to her mouth and took a bite and then another bite, chewed and swallowed. It had an interesting texture.
"Well?" asked Jam expectantly.
"It's a bit dry, but it tastes okay otherwise."
Ukyou couldn't help but grin when she saw the smile creep onto his face. It looked like it fit there perfectly as it endowed him with some shallow dimples at the side of his cheeks. She could tell that he had shaved too. There was no special fragrance in the air but the lack of stubble was evidence enough. She broke her thoughts and stood up to stretch. It was time to go home. Hmm maybe she wouldn't have to travel...
"Hey Jam, Where are you headed?" asked Ukyou.
"My grandfather told me to go to a clinic in the Nerima ward of Tokyo."
"Really!" exclaimed Ukyou quite surprised, but on second thought, it was not that much of a surprise. So many strange occurrences were tied in to that small area of land that it made Nerima seem almost unreal. It was as if it attracted trouble, or was it that Ranma was the one causing it to attract trouble. She would have to ponder that later. "I live in Nerima. Maybe we can travel together."
"I'd like that," responded Jam to Ukyou's delight. She hated travelling alone for reasons she hadn't told anyone before. She wasn't about to travel alone if she could help it and any company in her mind was good company. Ukyou set about packing up the tent that Ryouga had previously pitched and found it strange that all she had in her hand when she was finished was a small roll. That was strange. Then again this was Ryouga who was the arch nemesis of Ranma, who dragged weirdness behind him as if it was his calling. She just didn't bother and tied the roll to her bandoleer. She turned to face Jam, half expecting to find him with an array of travelling cases for his tent and the other things that had been previously strewn about the clearing. She was surprised that all he had was a brown satchel at his waist with a handle that hugged his neck as he hung the satchel across his body.
She wanted to ask, but she didn't. If she had learned how to keep her grill hidden, why shouldn't he know something about the art too. He was heading to Nerima. That fact alone meant that he was able to do something extraordinary or that he practised some absurd form of martial arts. Thankfully he had not mentioned any vendetta against her Ran-chan.
"Time to go?" asked Ukyou.
Jam only nodded and the two of them began to trek south where the clearing seemed to stretch past the trees the furthest.
***************
Kasumi Tendo was the peacemaker of the Tendo Dojo. It seemed that nothing fazed her and indeed that was almost the case. She did not allow the stress of everyday life to get to her. This trick of hers was not of her own doing but of her mother's. It was a meditation technique that her mother had shown her when she was younger and Kasumi practised it every night. Meditation was one of the few techniques in martial arts that Kasumi thoroughly enjoyed. She was a passive person by nature and endangering another person for any reason whatsoever seemed simply, wrong.
She had risen before the usual time this morning and she found herself faced with the prospect of having nothing to do. Nothing at all. With Ranma and Akane around, there was always something to do but as she had learned from past experience, when they left everything followed them. Usually Nabiki, Father and Uncle Saotome were enough to occupy her time but with Auntie Saotome here, Kasumi found herself with more time on her hands than she had ever previously had. The Saotome Matriarch had relieved her of most of the household chores leaving her entirely, free. She had absolutely no work to do. She wondered if she should prepare breakfast but was surprised to find all the ingredients lain out on the kitchen counter. All that had to be done was the cooking. She sighed. She had never really had a lot of personal activities that did not involve the family except probably her occasional visits to Dr. Tofu. Dr. Tofu...
She had really been upset when he had disappeared without word. She did not tell anyone but she knew that her sisters knew. Ranma knew as well. She had a lot of respect for him. She could imagine a lot of other people growing up the way he did and becoming much less of a good person. She did not think that anyone was bad. Everyone had his or her bad moments, even she did. She knew though, deep in her heart, that every person she met was a good person. Sometimes a bid misguided, but a good person. Ryouga-san was just like that. Always fighting with Ranma, always calling for revenge, but she knew that it was not the revenge he wanted but just to be around Ranma; to be around someone who was always surrounded by action. She was excited to be around him too as Ryouga was. The only pity she had though was that she was unable to go on his many adventures. All that excitement...
Tofu was back and she had seen him at the house only on a scant few occasions. She did not know why he had left but she would have liked an explanation; even if it came though a casual conversation with one of her siblings, Ranma included. She had not gone to see him in a long time. She did not know why, but she missed seeing his silly antics and that wide smile of his. She missed watching him dance across the clinic floor when she entered the room. She had no idea why he did that. It certainly was very strange that he did that, but other people had their own way of having fun and she was sure that his dancing was just a way he had found to make him relax.
She had liked reading those books she had previously borrowed. She had learned a lot from them, enough to be able to fix Ranma after some of his fights. She still could not understand how such a young boy's body could take all that beating and still look completely unaffected the next day. She wanted to learn more from Tofu, but she was a bit shy in asking. She really wanted to go to the clinic and just see him act silly like he always did, but she did not know if she should. He had not opened an invitation for her to come to the clinic and it would be improper for her to invite herself to his establishment without being asked.
What was she to do today? Idly, she picked up one of Nabiki's papers in the living room and began to read. A flower show at the gardens...maybe she would find some new shrubs for the backyard.
****************
Ukyou and Jam continued trekking through the clearing. Jam looked unconcerned, his eyes flashing from side to side, watching the animals as the moved in their natural habitat. He liked animals, well at least most of them. There were some that were so...he was not going to describe them. It fact, he should just forget about them and concentrate on the scenery.
Ukyou might have been doing the same thing that Jam was doing except that she was anxiously waiting for them to reach the forest. She did not like the cold dark forests and she just wanted to reach them so that she could get it over with. She wanted to reach the forest so that she would no longer have to think about getting there since she would be in there. The only problem though was that they were still in the clearing. The forest stood steadfastly around them while they walked almost challenging her to dare enter them. By now they should have reached the edge of the clearing but they had not. It was strange. The forest did not have natural clearings like these; it was strange. It was strange that the grass did not seem higher on one side and lower on the other. It was strange that they had not met or seen any wild animals on the trail. It was strange that no saplings attempted to bar their way. She looked at the uniform cut of the grass around her and was about to ask a question when she heard a sound in the distance. It was a sound that she had heard many times before and probably would hear again and again in her travels. It was the sound of something powerful rumbling though the forest accompanied by the clitter-clatter associated with this mode of transportation.
Grabbing Jam hand, she made a dash for the woods where the sound came from. Sprinting and half dragging the young man who was caught unaware, she ran towards the rapidly fading sound. The sound disappeared in the distance and that fact would have disappointed her greatly if she was looking to catch the train. That however was not her intent. After five minutes of sprinting she reached her goal. The train tracks were there and if there was one thing about train tracks, they always led somewhere. From the position of the early morning sun peeping out from the heavens, the train was going south and hopefully to Tokyo.
She stopped at the tracks and gave Jam some time to stop his heaving. Man was he heaving! She didn't think he was that out of shape. Maybe next time she would warn him before they had to do some strenuous exercise. He would have to get a bit more physically fit though; she had a few suggestions that could help him out after they reached Nerima.
After a couple of hours of trudging they finally reached what looked like a train station. A couple of hours though were enough time for the sun to rise directly overhead. A fact that seemed to send signals to Ukyou's stomach which initiated a low growl. Time for lunch. Whipping out her grill and her spatula along with several necessary ingredients, she began to cook some okonomyaki.
The sizzling of the batter on the hot grill brought Jam out of his intent study of an ant war. Those little creatures were so fascinating. They only lived for a couple of weeks but within those couple of weeks...they were capable of almost anything. Alone, they were useless but together, as a team, they defeated almost any odds. In his homeland, he remembered stories he had been told about a horde of ants driving a few villagers out of their homes with their stinging bites. Humans had a way of controlling everything around them. Ants too held the same ideal. Most animals feared finding nests filled with aggressive ants and most animals made note when they found such a nest by mistake. Even plants succumbed to the ants. Leaf cutters could shape tropical forests just like how man shaped the forests. He had even read of the marauding Army ants of South America that were famed for destroying everything in their path as they made their migrations through the forest. Ants were so simple...and so complicated.
(Growl)
Jam quickly looked up and stared at the people around him. No one eyed him suspiciously. He let out a sift sigh of relief. He didn't realise he was that hungry. He had not paid any attention to the aroma emanating from around Ukyou's grill but apparently his stomach had. Having been alerted by it, he found himself salivating. He did not expect to be hungry so soon after eating, but he was never one to binge on food. He whipped out a pot and was about to find a suitable place to start a fire when he saw Ukyou staring at him intently. That stare had a certain compelling instruction attached to it, but Jam did not know what it was. It succeeded though, in making him drop the pan in his hand.
"There's no need to cook. You cooked for me yesterday, so today's my turn," responded Ukyou, giving the stare a meaning.
Jam relaxed and was surprised when he found himself relaxing. He had not known that Ukyou's stare had caused him to tense up that badly. He rolled his wrists, his elbows and his shoulders letting the sensations of their movement run through his body. His mouth though would not stop salivating.
Hours later...
"So how did you like your first okonomyaki?" asked Ukyou as she sat next to Jam on the train.
"Okonomaya...?"
"Okonomyaki," corrected Ukyou.
Jam did not bother trying again. He had learned from travelling in China that sometimes it is best to keep your mouth shut. Especially when a foreign word was causing you problems to pronounce. The question though could be answered.
"It was an interesting flavour," he replied truthfully, using the tact that he seemed to be born with. 'Interesting' was a word you could use that neither meant good or bad. It's meaning would mould itself into whatever the questioner had expected you to answer back with. The pizza like thingie tasted okay, not as good as one of the pizzas he had bought from that girl...Rashnai...her name was, from Bombay. Why he had been in Bombay was another story, but while he was there, he decided to treat himself and bought a home made pizza from one of the shops. It had tasted so delicious that he wanted to buy another one. The only problem was that he did not have enough room to fit it in. So, in the end, he only had the one. Besides, the girl was sort of pretty too, and the way she kept looking at him served to enhance his self-image.
Ukyou thought his half-dazed expression after he answered the question to be another affirmative reply to her cooking. The blush rose to her cheeks. She did not think the okonomyaki she cooked was of her high standard but if Jam thought it tasted that good then so be it. If he thought that was good, wait until she got her hands on some fresh supplies and was back in her own kitchen. She would make him beg for more.
Comforted by her thoughts, Ukyou lay back on her seat and started to daydream about you-know-who while Jam started playing back all those Japanese words he had just heard and tried saying them until he sounded close to what they were saying. He knew what the words meant; he just did not have the right or exact pronunciation.
A few more hours and the two found themselves on the platform of the train station near the outskirts of Nerima. Ukyou still could not believe how far Ryouga had carried her in a couple of minutes. It was if he had warped from one place to the next. Then again, the way Ryouga always got lost anything was possible.
As they reached Nerima, Jam pulled out an old notebook from somewhere (don't ask me, I don't know either) and began to stare intently at the book.
"What in there?" asked Ukyou.
"A map showing me where the place I should go is located," replied Jam.
"Here, give it to me. I've been here for a couple of months and I practically know where everything is around here."
Ukyou took the book and found on it a map with most of the road in Nerima and some of the more extensively used alleys. He mind wandered around, following the edges and although the map was crudely drawn, she could follow it with her knowledge of the area.
"Who are you supposed to meet?" asked Ukyou.
"Someone whose name sounds like some kind of food..."
Ukyou began to think of all people whose names reminded her of food. A lot! She had many customers and most of their names rhymed with the name of some type of food or the other. Who could Jam be referring too? She took another good look at the page in front of her eyes. She recognised the roads and the X was right there next too. Wait a minute! Rhymes with food. D-uh! Who else could it be!
"Let me guess, you're looking for a certain Dr. Ono Tofu."
"Tofu, yes, that's it!"
"Come on then. I can take you directly to him."
Jam sighed as the girl began to run again. What was it with this girl and running? He had to get to Tofu but he didn't have to go right away! Why couldn't they just take a nice stroll to Ono Tofu's house like normal people do?
Sighing to himself, Jam chased after the rapidly fleeing figure of the Japanese girl he had only met a day ago. Well, at least Japan would be more exciting than home!
A heaving Jam finally caught up with Ukyou when she stopped at a door. He placed his hand against the wall and started to breathe in gulps of air. Finally catching his breath, he looked up and read the sign: Ono Tofu's Clinic. Ahh...so this was where he could find the man his grandfather had been ranting about. And, he was a doctor too. All the better for Jam. This Tofu person had many talents he wanted to learn, and Jam knew he would learn. Knowledge was one thing he picked up quite too easily. Even his grandfather wondered just how he did it. Jam didn't know. The only thing he knew was that things just seemed to fall into place in his mind after a while.
Jam was now ready to go inside. He took a deep breath, cleansed his aura and prepared to go inside. He opened the doors and entered to find a man in his mid-twenties sitting on a chair waiting for him with a smile.
"I take it you're Ramesh Jhamersinghe?"
Jam bowed.
"Please to meet you master Ramesh," replied Tofu, then he bowed.
"Call me Jam."
Tofu extended his hand out to shake Jam's hand when the world suddenly became blurry. He blinked and tried to clear his mind but it was of no use. Only Jam's quick catch prevented him from slumping completely to the floor but by then he had lost consciousness.
Jam lay the doctor on the floor and then scurried over to where Ukyou had just collapsed. He had read both their auras and his face was grim. He had never felt a presence like this before. Something powerful had forced its way into their mind. Jam knew he was powerful but his powers were nothing when compared to the pureness of this force. His grandfather had warned him about Nerima and a certain family. It seemed that Jam had just made it in time for the fireworks. Something was afoot. This was a powerful omen indeed. The lines of power were collapsing again into the realm of time to birth something. The only problem was that, in the name of Buddha, he had no idea what was going to happen.