Ranma 1/2, Gargoyles
Ranma, the Time of Changes
By Brendan O'Donnell
Chapter Four
Ranma stood at the doorway into the dojo. One effect of the rapid healing of his leg was that there was virtually no atrophy of his leg muscles. Rather than a month’s worth of exercise, he merely needed to make up five days worth. This was not much of a problem with his lifestyle.
"Well, you’re looking good today," a voice commented from the unfamiliar but non hostile presence five and a half feet behind him.
Turning around Ranma acknowledged David Xanatos’s presence with a quick wave and the comment "Yep, good as new."
"I think I ought to judge that myself," said Genma as he walked up.
Dropping into a quick stance Ranma replied "Anytime you’re ready, Pop."
Despite his unfamiliarity with this section of Japan, Xanatos knew that staying where he could be caught between two fighting martial artists would be quite bad. He calmly walked a few steps to the side of the dojo.
"It’s time for you to learn the price of your inactivity, Boy."
"Ha, don’t count on it Old Man!" Ranma responded. He leaped at his father and lashed out with a circular kick.
Genma dodged the blow, and countered with a strike at Ranma’s right leg. Ranma twisted his body in mid flight to avoid it, and landed precisely a moment later.
David Xanatos watched the pair begin a series of attacks and counters at a rate he could barely categorize. Despite the speed both were moving, he could see that Genma was concentrating much of his efforts into attacks on the leg that Ranma had injured so recently.
*Wow, I wonder how long Goliath would last against one of these guys?* Xanatos thought. Then he turned his head to follow the path Genma took when Ranma tripped him and sent him rolling to the pond. The older man splashed into the carp pond, and a giant panda emerged. *What?!*
"Ha! old age is definitely catching up with you!" Ranma declared, then leaped over the wave the Panda splashed at him, landing on the other side of the pond. "Even the Tomboy’s better than you!"
A barbell hit Ranma in the back of the head, knocking him into the Pond. In the dojo Akane lowered her arm and called out, "Who are you calling a tomboy?"
"Uh, is there something I should know about?" asked Xanatos as he walked up to the transformed pair.
Xanatos sat at the table in the Tendo’s main room sipping a cup of Kasumi’s perfectly prepared tea while he listened to Ranma finishing his explanation of the curse of Jusenkyo. *Incredible. I’d better keep an eye on that area of China, those springs could be incredibly dangerous under the right circumstances. Of course under other right circumstances...* "So you fell into the spring of the drowned girl, your father fell into the spring of the drowned panda, and you know people who fell into springs of drowned duck, cat, young priest, and... Let’s see: I think you said it was the spring where a yeti, riding an ox, and holding a crane and an eel drowned?"
"Yep." Responded Ranma.
"Well, despite the temptation to learn how an octopus can drown, Jusenkyo is definitely someplace to avoid on my next vacation," Xanatos responded with a grin. Putting on a more serious expression he added. "Ok, now as to why I came here in the first place; I’ve just about wrapped up what I came to Japan to handle in the first place, and I’ll probably be heading back to the states by the end of next week. But during that week I’d like to get in some training here."
"You study martial arts?" Ranma asked. *Like I couldn’t tell just by seeing how he moves?*
"Well, I started training in karate and jujitsu eight years ago, and I make it a point to stay in practice."
Ranma looked around. His father, had walked over to Soun and the two of them were playing shoji. Genma looked at Ranma a second, then turned his attention back to the game. *Oh yeah, ‘it’s your duty as the heir of the dojo’,* Ranma thought. He looked back at Mr. Xanatos. "How good are you?"
"Third degree black belt in tae-kwon-do, first degree in jujitsu," replied Xanatos straight forwardly.
Ranma looked at Mr. Tendo a moment. Soun clasped his hands in a position of prayer. Ranma sighed and stood. "Come on," he said as he walked to the dojo. Xanatos glanced at the two older Martial artists before following Ranma.
In a park in Nerima a brilliant greenish light flared for a few moments by a group of trees. The light faded leaving behind a young man holding an umbrella in his right hand, and a very large backpack in the other. He looked around, and said "Ranma," before collapsing.
Ranma and Xanatos stood facing each other in the dojo. "Ok, it seems my father wants me to handle the job of teaching you. You can talk about money with Nabiki but first I need to get an idea what I’ll be working with." He looked over the billionaire and added, "And give you an idea of what you’re asking for."
David Xanatos looked down at the suit he was wearing. "Uh, don’t you think I’m a little overdressed?"
"Do you actually think you’ll be able to control what you’re wearing when trouble shows up?"
"Good point," Xanatos responded as he took off his jacket and put it in a corner of the dojo. He walked back and bowed to Ranma, who returned it. "So, shall we get started?" Xanatos said as he shifted into a defensive cat stance.
"Yep," responded Ranma, who didn’t bother to shift into any kind of stance.
Xanatos kept still waiting for Ranma to make a move. Three minutes later he concluded that Ranma wasn’t going to make the first move. He started slowly circling to the right, focusing all his attention on Ranma. Ranma didn’t even bother to move his head.
*He’s sure confident,* Xanatos thought as he circled behind Ranma. *Well, let’s see if it’s overconfidence.*
Standing about three feet behind Ranma, Xanatos made his first attack. Stepping in he kicked low, aiming to knock Ranma’s legs out from under him.
Ranma jumped over the kick and landed still facing away from his opponent. Xanatos rose striking a quick blow toward the back of Ranma’s head as he came up. Ranma leaned his head to the side, letting the strike pass by with an inch of clearance. *OK, he’s confident with good reason.*
In the park Ryouga groaned as he regained consciousness. He pulled himself to his feet, every muscle screaming protests at his head. "Damn you Ranma," Ryouga said to himself as he supported himself with his umbrella. *Wait, was it Ranma’s fault? Let’s see: those women did that rhyme and light stuff because I had gotten lost. I had gotten lost because I ran away from the UcChans. I ran from the UcChans because Akane... because Akane...* Tears began to trickle down the sides of Ryouga’s cheeks. "Akane didn’t return my love. Ranma, it’s got to be because of Ranma! She’d love me if not for him! It’s all his fault she rejected me! It’s his fault I got lost! It’s his fault that they..." Ryouga trailed off as he recalled hanging in the air helpless while the three women...
*What did they do?* Ryouga thought to himself. *I remember feeling like I was being taken apart and put back together, but I can’t remember any details.* "No time for that now. I’ve got to find Ranma and..." *And kill him for what he’s done to me,* Ryouga thought. *No I can’t fight Ranma because I told Akane I’d resolve our fight. If she sees me attack she’ll make me tell her about my curse!* "I’ve, I’ve just got to get to the Tendo dojo." *Maybe Akane really does love me, and only hit me because Ranma had gotten her so upset. Maybe she’s calmed down and realized she isn’t stuck with Ranma.* "I’ve got to get to the Tendo Dojo!" he shouted. A greenish glow surrounded him and he vanished.
"Well, you’re not bad," Ranma said, extending his arm to Xanatos.
"I’d feel better about that if I had actually been able to touch you once," Xanatos replied as he let Ranma pull him off the floor. He touched the spot where Ranma had hit him, just a few seconds ago. There would definitely be a bruise tomorrow. *And he definitely reined that punch in by a substantial margin. What am I getting myself into?*
"That’s the right attitude. If you don’t really want to improve you ought to quit now and save yourself some pain," Ranma responded with a little grin.
"I didn’t get where I am today by quitting easily," Xanatos responded as he walked to the corner and picked up his jacket. *Well this outfit’s had it. I hope he’ll let me wear a gi during the rest of the sessions.* "Oh yeah, about the weeks training sessions?"
"You’ll have to talk to Nabiki about how much, but just drop by the dojo after school and be prepared to stay a while."
A green light appeared in the center of the dojo, and it suddenly became Ryouga Hibiki. He staggered forward a step, catching himself from falling with his Umbrella.
"Ryouga?" Ranma blurted as he stepped toward the lost boy.
Hearing his rival’s voice, Ryouga straightened up. Lifting his umbrella to a fighting stance he turned to face him. "Ran..." was all he managed to say before passing out.
"This is Ryouga Hibiki?" Xanatos asked in a voice like ice.
Ranma looked at the Billionaire, then down at Ryouga. "Yeah."
"Your sure you don’t want me to have him arrested?"
"Ryouga’s bad tempered, violent, and really narrow minded; but he’s also got a bunch of good traits to make up for it. The only reason he didn’t stop his attack is that he’s so obsessed with our fight. If I can get him to quit fighting me, he wouldn’t be dangerous anymore."
"I owe you one, so I’ll take your word for it," Xanatos replied with a sigh. "But if you change your mind I’ll want to be there for the trial."
Ryouga opened his eyes. He was in the dojo at the Tendo house. There was a blanket covering him, and another on the floor under him. His backpack was beside him. Ranma was siting in a corner reading a Dragonball compilation book.
"Ranma!" Ryouga shouted, leaping to his feet and assuming an aggressive combative stance.
Ranma looked at Ryouga, closed the manga and set it down, and got up.
"Hi Ryouga, you’re finally awake," Ranma responded.
"Prepare to die Ranma! You’ve destroyed everything good about my for the last time!" Ryouga declared as he rushed at Ranma.
"What did I do? I was in the hospital the whole time!" Ranma replied, pausing only to jump over Ryouga’s charge. Ryouga managed to come to a halt just before hitting the wall, and pivoted to face Ranma again. "Why are you attacking me? In case you’ve forgotten, you told Akane you were going to make peace with me. So that you don’t do a better job of killing an innocent bystander the next time we fight."
Ryouga froze. *I can’t fight Ranma. He’s made my life hell and I can’t do anything about it.* "Ok, we’ll talk," Ryouga responded in a numb voice as he collapsed into a sitting position on the floor.
"Just a second," Ranma responded, looking at the ceiling. He leaped up and snatched something from the Rafters. Holding the microphone in his hand he said into it, "Sorry Nabiki, this is a private conversation." With a yank he snapped the cord where it rested against the edge of the ceiling beam. Crushing the microphone, he dropped the remains to the floor. "Ok, that takes care of that."
In her room Nabiki winced at the burst of static in her earphones. Reaching over to the panel she turned off the switch marked 3. Turning on switch 2 she heard Ranma say ‘I noticed Nabiki plant that earlier. She can’t listen in on us now.’
"What do you want Ranma?" Ryouga asked quietly.
Ranma looked at him. Ryouga was staring at the floor with an expression of one who had lost the last of his hope. Then he glanced up at Ranma, and shifted his hate filled look back to the floor. *Damn, this wouldn’t be easy.* "So Ryouga, how did you just appear like that?"
Ryouga shuddered. "It’s all your fault. After Akane... After I left UcChans, I just ran, I didn’t care where I was going, I just ran. All of a sudden I was running through this forest onto a beach, and the next thing I knew there were three women circling me chanting. I’m not sure what happened or how long it happened but all of a sudden I was standing in the park. And when I started thinking about how much I wanted to get to the dojo, all of a sudden I’m here feeling like the time I walked a week straight."
"Hmm, well at least that explains you passing out here," Ranma said contemplatively. He sighed. "Look Ryouga, this doesn’t have to be a big deal. All you have to do is quit trying to kill me for Jusenkyo, and agree to add a little structure to any future fights and we can tell Akane it’s resolved."
"Quit... Ranma, when you knocked me into that spring you completely destroyed my life. DO YOU KNOW HOW OFTEN I’VE ALMOST BEEN EATEN??!!" he screamed.
"Ryouga, your curse is worse than mine in a lot of ways. But I am not going to let you hang it over me for the rest of our lives!" Ranma responded. "I let myself get too angry at my dad, I wasn’t watching where I was going, I knocked you into the spring. That’s my fault, I admit it. If I ever find a cure for Jusenkyo I’ll share it with you, word of honor. But face facts, that instant by Jusenkyo is the only incident that you can call my fault. You’ve had a hand in everything else you insist on blaming me for!"
"WHY YOU!!" Ryouga leaped to his feet. He jumped at Ranma who sidestepped his rush. "HOLD STILL AND DIE LIKE A MAN YOU HALF-GIRL!"
"HEY!" Ranma responded, dodging Ryouga’s punch, then crouching under his high circle kick to sweep his other leg. As Ryouga fell, Ranma grabbed his arm, twisting it and pushing it to the floor in a way that would make it impossible for Ryouga to move the limb or the rest of him without breaking the arm.
"I’m trying to help you for crying out loud. Is this the kind of thanks I get?"
"SHUT UP!!" Ryouga said, struggling against the hold. He began to psyche himself up to the point where he could ignore the pain of a broken arm. "You’ve taken everything that’s worth anything to me and turned it to ashes! I don’t want your pity, Ranma! I don’t want your help! I JUST WANT YOU DEAD!!!" He exerted all his strength, then flopped and rolled a few feet away as Ranma released his arm just before it could break.
"Look, calm down Ryouga!" Ranma said as he watched him come to his feet.
"NO WAY!" Ryouga responded. "I’ve got nothing left but revenge against you!" He charged at Ranma, throwing a dozen of his fastest punches.
Ranma jumped over Ryouga. The lost boy spun round, lashing out with the back of his fist, which Ranma dodged. *Hmm, I’ve gotta calm him down. If he doesn’t at least seem to be working out an agreement with me, Akane’ll keep pushing till she finds out about P-chan. That’ll get him out of her bed, but it’d be dishonorable not to do everything I can to prevent it. Gotta help him, can’t let Akane find out that he’s the one she should have been hitting and not making nice to all this time...* Ranma ducked under the blow and stepped into range, both fists lashing out at Tenshin Amaguriken speed, hitting every vital point on Ryouga’s upper body a dozen times.
Ryouga staggered back a few feet from Ranma’s sudden attack. He shook his head a second. "Nice try, I almost felt that," he taunted while he concentrated on making the world stop spinning and come into focus. The focus it came into was Ranma, who was standing a few away, looking him over calmly. *DAMN IT!! We’re blood enemies fighting our final battle, doesn’t he realize that!?* Ryouga began thinking his most depressed thoughts, building his aura brighter and brighter.
"Ryouga!" called the voice from the door of the dojo.
Ryouga’s aura winked out like a candle in a hurricane. He looked to the door to see the person he knew would be standing there. Akane.
Akane stepped into the dojo. She was wearing her gi, and had a highly disapproving look on her face. "Ranma, didn’t you promise that you wouldn’t get into a fight with Ryouga?"
"I promised that I’d do my best not to start a fight. Is it my fault Bacon-Boy here has such a short temper!?" Ranma replied loudly
"If you keep teasing him like that, yes it is!" shouted Akane back.
"Akane," Ryouga said quietly. *What do I say. I gave her my love, and she doesn’t want anything more than my friendship.*
"Oh Ryouga, how are you feeling? I guess I should apologize for hitting you last time, it’s just that what you said was so out of nowhere I didn’t know how to react," Akane said, a slightly embarrassed look on her face. Behind her Ranma scowled.
"Uh, I’ve tried..." Ryouga trailed off as he tried to come up with something, anything appropriate to say. Part of his mind thought up the perfect answer, but it got lost on the way to his mouth.
"Well, I’m sorry things took so long to come out into the open like this," Akane said. "I’ll always value your friendship, Ryouga."
"I...I’ll always be happy to have you as a friend," Ryouga said quietly. *Always a friend never anything more...*
"Ok, and since you’ve shown that you can’t discuss things together, I’m here to help you come to an agreement."
"Hey, this is guy stuff!" Ranma responded.
"Wrong, it’s martial arts," Akane countered.
"Look Akane, I’m glad you calmed down pig boy," Ranma said, ignoring Ryouga’s glare at the name, "But we don’t really need that much help. Ryouga and I were just agreeing to set up all our future fights in advance, and not do any more of the informal dueling in the streets. It’s the fighting anywhere bit that endangers bystanders."
"You shouldn’t be fighting at all!" Akane yelled looking at the pair.
Ranma raised his hands defensively. "I think Ryouga’s overreacting too."
"Ranma!!" Ryouga responded.
"Quiet you two!" Akane screamed. As the two looked at her she glared at them. "It’s not important who started this, only that it gets finished."
"Akane, we can take care of that now," Ranma responded. Turning to Ryouga he said "Ryouga, I’m willing to swear off fighting with you in any populated area if you are. What do you say?"
Ryouga looked at Ranma. He shifted his gaze to the woman he loved, then back to the man he blamed for taking her from him. "I... ok."
Akane smiled. "Well, would you like to have dinner with us? We’d all enjoy having you."
"I... No, I really have to be leaving. Have to head back home." Ryouga laughed nervously as he put all his effort into funneling his rising tide of despair into something other than hatred for his one true rival. He had to get away. Maybe alone he could find a way to deal with the pain.
"I’ll show you the way," Ranma said walking to Ryouga’s side.
*How can I put his crimes from my mind when he’s right in front of me!* "I can find my home on my own!" Ryouga shouted at Ranma.
"Oh, like you did all those times I used to walk you to school and back?" Ranma responded.
*I made a promise to Akane! I can’t hit him!*
"Ranma! Stop picking on Ryouga!" Akane said angrily. Turning to Ryouga she said "I remember where your house is if you want me to show you the way."
*Me and Akane alone in my house... She doesn’t love me there’s no hope of it...* "No need, besides I really think I should do this myself. I have some things to think about."
"Ok, I’ll just start you on your way then," Ranma said.
"NO WAY!! I’M GOING HOME WITHOUT ANY OF YOU!!" Ryouga screamed. Running from the dojo, he jumped to the top of the Tendo house, then continued his leaps in a straight line forward.
"I’ll be right back," Ranma said as he jumped after Ryouga.
"RANMA!" Akane called to the already departed figure. She sighed. "Oh well, at least they agreed not to fight."
In her room Nabiki took off her headphones and turned off the Xanatos Corp. surveillance equipment. *Hmm, the other motivation for Ranma and Ryouga’s fights is some sort of Jusenkyo curse Ranma inflicted on Ryouga. Hmm, what does he...* Nabiki’s eyes widened. "THAT HENTAI!!" *That shape shifting pervert! Ryouga has to be P-Chan!* Her eyes narrowed angrily. "I’d give Akane that kind of information for free! Lucky for me she paid me in advance."
"Hold up Ryouga!" Ranma called as he caught up with his fellow martial artist.
"WHAT!" Ryouga screamed back at him with a hate filled look.
"I’ve got one last thing that I couldn’t say in front of Akane pig-boy."
*I must not kill him, I promised. I just have to stay calm and I can smash a few boulders and pretend their him.* "Talk and go," Ryouga said angrily, not bothering to turn to face his arch rival.
Ranma scowled. "Ryouga, I just want you to know one thing." He jumped over Ryouga and landed face to face with him. "I am sick and tired of P-chan, and I want it to end!"
Ryouga looked in Ranma’s eyes. "And?" he said, focusing most of his attention into not striking at his hated Rival.
Ranma sighed. "Ryouga, Because I was partially responsible for cursing you I’ve done my best to help you keep it secret. In order to do that I’ve had to help you keep up a continuing lie with Akane. That ends now."
Ryouga’s anger was suddenly eclipsed by an overwhelming wave of fear. "Y-You wouldn’t..."
"I’m not going to tell her, I’m not going to show her, I’m not going to set up any kind of situation that would expose you. But from today on you’ve lost your silent partner! If Akane wants to give P-chan a hot bath, I wouldn’t say a word. If you’re falling into the pond when she can see, I wouldn’t make any attempt to catch you or distract her. If you need an alibi or a story, you can look somewhere else. From this day forward if you want to be P-chan, you’re on your own!" Ranma looked at Ryouga for a moment, then walked past him and began his housetop trek back to the dojo.
Ryouga stood there trembling slightly. *WHY THAT COWARDLY DISHONORABLE...* "AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!" Ryouga dropped to his knees and struck the ground with his right fist. His arm sank through the pavement of the street to halfway between his shoulder and his elbow. Ripping the limb back from the ground he rose to his feet and screamed to the heavens, "RANMA, BWEE BWEE BWEEEEE!!!" He took no notice of the water spraying from the broken pipe in the hole he had just created.
"Hey Akane," called Nabiki as she came down the stairs.
"Oh, hi Nabiki," Akane replied.
"I just discovered reason number two for the Ranma Ryouga feud, and I really think I should tell you," Nabiki said with a serious look on her face.
"I don’t know, maybe I should wait and see if they can keep their promise not to fight first."
"No, trust me, you want to know this now." Nabiki grabbed Akane’s hand and pulled her into the yard.
"Hey, what?"
"I don’t want you near anything too breakable when I tell you," Nabiki said as she brought her sister by the pond. "It seems that Ryouga followed Ranma to China and got knocked into a Jusenkyo spring."
"What!? But which spring?"
"They didn’t say, but I think I’ve got it figured out. What does Ranma always call Ryouga? Who around here shares Ryouga’s bad sense of direction? What four legged creature wears the same bandanna as Ryouga?"
Akane was staring at her sister in shock. She clenched her fists tightly, and started to tremble slightly. "THAT PERVERT!! THAT DIRTY ANIMAL!!" *’Violent tomboy too stupid to see bandanna.’ EVEN SHAMPOO KNEW!* Then she thought of Ranma’s taunts. "And Ranma knew!?"
"Apparently he felt that since he had knocked Ryouga into the spring, he was obligated to keep it a secret," Nabiki said calmly.
*’If I tell Ryouga’s secret I’d be no better than my father’* Akane’s rage died a moment as she remembered Ranma telling her this. Then it rose again as she said, "Well, I am going to have a little talk with him as soon as he gets home."
"Hey Ranma!" Nabiki called.
Ranma looked at her. He was standing just outside the Tendo home, and had been about to open the door and enter. "What do you want."
"Do you know how much that bug you wrecked cost?"
"Look, I needed to talk with Ryouga about something personal," Ranma replied in an annoyed tone.
"Yeah, no telling what I’d do if I found out that Ryouga fell into a Jusenkyo spring and became a pig."
Ranma froze and looked at her. Nabiki smirked at him. "As they say in America, never put all your eggs in one basket."
"If you want something to keep this a secret talk to Ryouga. I just told him that I’m not going to do anything to help him hide this anymore."
"I’m so glad to hear that. Actually I already told Akane everything. I didn’t think it was appropriate to just let someone sneak into her bed all the time. At least not unless she wanted it."
Ranma scowled. Then he sighed. "Will she be calm enough to talk to?"
"I’m honestly not sure. She was really mad when she found out, but she’s been a bit calmer than I expected when she talked about you knowing."
Ranma looked at her a moment. "I’d better not put this off too much. Where’s Akane?"
"After I told her she went to her room."
"Thanks, Nabiki," Ranma said as he jumped onto the roof and made his way to his fiancee’s window.
"Welcome to Nekohanten, may I take order?"
">Um, my Japanese isn’t that great, do you speak English?<" he replied taking off his black hat to reveal his short combed back reddish brown hair.
Shampoo looked at the customer and winced inwardly. She had studied English in China before she had any reason to learn Japanese, however she had always avoided any form of linguistic study when she realized just how bad she was at it. *Hmm is Mousse here? He has always been the expert at languages.*
">No trouble, I’ll take care of it.<" Shampoo turned back to the kitchen, recognizing her great-grandmother’s voice.
">Ah, thank you. I’ve just flown in and I’d like an order of the deluxe Ramen before I head to my hotel.<" He unbuttoned his black coat and sat at the table close to the Kitchen window.
">Coming right up!<" Cologne prepared the dish with the skill only a true master chef could match and a few moments later the bowl sat on the table before the Gaijin customer.
">Umm, smells quite good.<" A quickly slurped noodle confirmed his estimation.
">So would you object to a little company? I haven’t needed to speak English in years and I fear I’m out of practice.<"
">I have no objections, Ms?<"
">My name is Cologne.<"
">Mine is Antoine Sevarius.<"
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In episode five, Xanatos begins studying Anything Goes, Ranma and Akane attempt to talk without insulting each other, and Ryouga visits distant lands and meets new people.