Happi’s Redemption
A Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction
By Michael A. Ivins
Ranma along with all of his friends, enemies and acquaintances are the property of Takahashi Rumiko. I’m just borrowing them for my own amusement and hopefully that of my readers. Sailor Moon and the Senshi aren’t mine either. Please don’t sue me.
This story takes place after the end of the manga
Chapter 11
Back to Japan
When they got up, Ranma and Noriko dressed and packed everything except the clothes they were wearing. They put on their packs then Ranma picked up one suitcase, Noriko picked up the other. Noriko was able to put the tube with the ki flow chart through one of the straps on Ranma’s pack. When they got down the stairs they found Lo Shen and Po Shen waiting for them. They had gotten up early to see their guests off.
They ate a cold breakfast that had been prepared the day before. There were hugs all around.
As they stood in the living room to give their final goodbyes, Ranma took off the curse lock ring and held it out to give to Lo Shen. The elder said, “That’s alright. You can keep it.”
“Huh." Ranma was confused. "Won’t you need it?”
The Elder explained, “We don’t need these rings so much in our village anymore. The Joketsuzoku have lots of them, so it wouldn’t be hard to replace this one if we did need it. Since your girl form is younger than your male form you might want to use the ring to lock yourself as a female at times to get your forms caught up with each other.”
Ranma frowned while considering that, thinking about the sorceress she was going to visit when they got back to Japan. “Would it still work if I got my curse trigger changed to will power?”
The older woman smiled and said, “Yes, it would still work. While wearing that ring you wouldn’t have to worry about the curse changing you without willing it.”
The redhead pocketed the ring and said, “When I get back to Japan I’ll get a chain so I can wear it around my neck when I don’t have it on my finger. That way I’ll never lose it.”
The Matriarch nodded. “That sounds like a good idea."
The matriarch sighed. "In the short time you have been here I've started to feel toward you two as if you are more granddaughters. I want to know what happens to you so, please don’t forget to write.”
Ranma wiped at the corner of her eye and said, “I think we’d better get going or I’m going to start crying. I don’t want to do that.” She was still laboring under the mistaken belief that it was unmanly to cry.
Lo Shen refrained from comment as the two girls walked out the door. Parked out in front of the house there was a pick up truck that looked to be about 40 years old. In spite of the vehicle’s age it appeared to have been lovingly maintained and was in excellent condition. A woman with gray-fringed green hair, who appeared about the same age as the truck, stood there.
Ranma asked, “Are you Mas Cara?”
The older woman nodded. She flipped up the corner of a tarp that covered the truck bed in back. “Yes, that’s me. You can put your stuff back here.”
When the girls had placed their belongings in the back of the truck the older woman fastened the corner of the tarp down . “Good! That’s got the cargo secure. Let’s go.”
She got in the driver’s side of the truck’s cab, while Ranma and Noriko climbed in the passenger side. There was enough room for all. Although standard equipment for trucks of this vintage didn’t include safety belts, someone had installed them. Mas explained, “The road gets kind of bumpy in places.”
The green haired woman started the engine. It would appear that the truck had been lovingly maintained indeed. It started up quickly and ran with a low throated purr. The driver checked to make sure her passengers were secure in their seats then put the truck in gear.
Mas Cara was not much of conversationalist. The majority of the trip was made in silence. She would make an occasional comment about the route and warned when they were coming up on one of the bumpy sections. Having heard the stories of her passengers through rumor and gossip, she didn’t feel compelled to chatter about it while they were driving.
When they got to the next village they went straight to the airstrip. There was only one runway. The plane they were going to take was parked to one side. This plane was also old, but like the truck it had been expertly maintained. The pilot appeared to be a man in his 50’s who kept in good shape. When Ranma handed him the letter from Lo Shen he looked at it with a sour expression.
He shook his head then his expression cleared. The plane did have seats for passengers, it was just that he generally didn’t like carrying them. He couldn’t refuse them, though. The Amazons had been customers for decades. Also, it didn’t hurt that the passengers that the Elder asked him to carry were two beautiful young women.
The pilot told the girls, “You can call me Chen.” He was surprised when the girls offered to help out by carrying the crates to the planes. The younger of the two didn’t look strong enough to even be carrying the backpack she was wearing.
His eyes went wide when he saw the redhead and blonde each pick up one of the crates. They didn’t even seem to be straining under the weight. Well, he guessed that he wouldn’t be asking either of the girls for a date when they got to the capitol. It was just as well, he supposed. They were both rather young for him.
Since the girls were so willing to help out, he was willing to accept that help. He directed each girl where to take the crate she was carrying. After the crates were set down in the cargo space at the rear of the plane he set to work securing them with straps while the girls went to get the other two crates.
After they had brought the second pair of crates in and set them down, the girls secured their luggage in some cargo netting in the back area. While they were doing that Chen told them, “We’ll be in the air at lunch time. I’m sorry I wasn’t expecting passengers, so I don’t have any food for you.”
Ranma smiled, not realizing how cute she looked. She said, “That’s no problem. We brought some food with us. We were expecting to supply our own food on the trip. As it is we’re going to have to conserve our money when we get to Beijing. We were originally expecting to hitch hike part of the way and go by train the rest of the way. This will get us where we need to go much faster.”
He nodded. “That was very generous of the Elder to send you with me.”
The redhead shrugged. “I think it was just a coincidence that the timing worked out like it did. We were lucky to be able to leave when they were sending a shipment of tea. If things had worked out differently, we might have ended up walking to this town to try and hitch a ride from someone who was going the way we wanted.”
“Hmm.” He grunted. “At least this will get you to the capitol quicker.”
Noriko said, “We have tickets for a flight to Tokyo. Getting to Beijing faster means we’ll have time to kill when we get there. I guess we can do some sight seeing or we could try to arrange an earlier flight.”
The younger girl looked thoughtful. “Getting to Tokyo earlier might be a good idea. It would be before people are expecting us and we might be able to do some stuff before my family starts up their usual crap.”
The blonde nodded. “Yes. When we get to the airport, we’ll have to talk to the people at JAL about getting an earlier flight.”
With the cargo secured and the passengers in their seats, the pilot began his checklist for departure. When he had that done he radioed for clearance and received it. He taxied the plane onto the runway and took to the air. When he was in the air he put the plane on course and turned on the autopilot. Although the plan was old, he had kept it well maintained and he had installed a newer autopilot.
He turned to his passengers and told them, “Ladies, we’re on our way. I’m sorry if I gave you the idea that I wasn’t glad to have you traveling with me. You can just chalk it up to me being a grumpy old man.”
Noriko laughed heartily at that. “I can understand being a grumpy old man.”
Chen looked at the young blonde. He ventured the only thing he could think of, “You took care of your grandfather?”
Still laughing she replied, “Something like that. I know what old people can be like. You aren’t that old yet.” She couldn’t tell the man what she really did know of how old men were. She had an unusual perspective on that situation.
The pilot smiled. They both seemed like nice girls. As the flight progressed they chatted about thing of no consequence. After a while Ranma got up from her seat and pulled a book out of the suitcase. It was a book on herbal medicine that Dr. Rinse had an extra copy of and had given to Ranma to further her studies.
Noriko took a martial arts technique scroll to study and Chen listened to music on a portable cassette player he had in the cockpit. They ate lunch partway through the flight. It was fairly late when they landed in Beijing. The airport where they landed was the same one where they were scheduled to leave in four days.
The two girls helped offload the cargo then bid the pilot farewell. They made their way over to the terminal building and got to the ticket office of JAL. They showed their tickets and talked to the clerk. It took some argument, but they were able to exchange their tickets for new ones on a flight that was leaving the following evening.
From there they found their way to a hotel that still had a room available. It was nearly midnight when they finally got to bed. The next morning they ate a hearty breakfast in the restaurant then went to a bank. Noriko got the Chinese bank to contact her bank in Switzerland and transfer funds to her. Then they went to the airport where they rented a locker to store their belongings until they were ready to leave.
They spent the rest of the day moving around the city, basically sightseeing. Ranma thought about looking for a computer at a library to send an email to let Nabiki know she and Noriko would be arriving early, but decided against it. There might be an advantage to being back in Japan before any of the “Nerima Wrecking Crew” knew they were there.
That evening Ranma and Noriko went to the air terminal to pick up their luggage and to get their belongings cleared through airport security. Nabiki had the foresight to have the stamps for the trip from Japan to China already marked in the Passport. This was so the officials at the airport wouldn’t get suspicious and check on them. Instead they just stamped their passports for the return flight.
The plane took off at 11:05 PM. Due to the late hour, Ranma and Noriko both slept the whole way just as they had on the trip out from Japan. The flight attendant woke them when they were coming in for a landing. After clearing their belongings through customs they went in search of a hotel.
After arriving in their room, Ranma changed back to male form. When he did so he confessed to Noriko, “I had spent so much time in girl form, I was worried that I’d get a period. I’ve been through them before but they’re never pleasant. If I’m male at ‘that time of the month’ I still tend to feel sort of sick and moody. Nothing like how I feel if I’m female at the time. I’ve also found out something about that. If I actually start a period, I have to stay female through the whole thing. Changing to male during a period makes me so sick that I have to change back to female right away.”
Noriko shook her head. “Thanks for reminding me. Since I was a baby when I became male, I was too young to ever have gone through a period. Considering the physical age of my body, I’m suspecting my first one will be bad.”
Ranma patted her shoulder. “Since I’ve been through it, I know what it feels like. I’ll give you any help I can.”
The pigtailed boy didn’t notice the intensity of the look Noriko gave him. She placed her hand over the one on her shoulder and said, “I know you will. You’re a good person Saotome Ranma. Helping people is a part of your character. I think that’s why you want to be a doctor now.”
The black haired boy looked at the floor for moment. He chuckled softly before saying, “You’re probably right about that. By the way, how do you feel about losing the heir to the Anything Goes School to the practice of medicine?”
The blonde woman shrugged. “I’m young again. I can find a new heir. Besides, it’s not like you will be giving up martial arts completely. You plan to be like that Dr. Tofu and still keep up at least some of your training.”
He nodded. “That’s true. What did you have in mind to do today?”
The girl said, “I thought we would look up Ninomiya Hinako. I have an apology to give her. You also want to tell her of your decision of what field of study you want to go into and to possibly discuss some ideas to further that study.”
The boy smiled. “If anyone is likely to want to help me it’s her. Do you know any way to help her?”
The blonde sighed deeply. “She’s someone I have mixed feelings about. By teaching her the technique to drain ki, I saved her life. She was such a sick child that she would have died without the energy she could drain from people. But it turned her into a social outcast. She’s lived a terribly lonely life and it’s my fault.”
A thought occurred to Ranma. “Maybe that sorceress in Juuban would know a way to turn Ms. Hinako normal. At least it wouldn’t hurt to ask her.”
“True, it wouldn’t hurt,” Noriko conceded. “Today is Friday, a school day. We should plan to go to Hinako’s apartment to visit her there after school. Tomorrow, school is a half day. I was thinking that would be a good time for you to head over to that book store and talk to the sorceress.”
Ranma looked confused. “Since I’m withdrawn from school for now, why would tomorrow being a half day in school make any difference?”
Noriko said, “I think I should be the one to make the offer of buying a yattai for Miss Kuonji. I would be less likely to get sidetracked by emotional arguments. And you know she will pull the ‘I’m the cute fiancée,’ argument. Besides that I won't be able to talk to her until she gets home from school.”
“I don’t know…”
The blonde leaned forward to look Ranma in the eyes. “If you go there and try to tell her that to you she’d just a pal, a buddy, you’ll never be able to do it. You will be so afraid that you’ll hurt her feelings that you won’t be able to get the words out. I’ll be as gentle as I can, but in your heart you know you aren’t going to get clear of that engagement without hurting her to some extent.”
Ranma's head sagged as he studied the nap of the carpet on the floor of the hotel room. “I know you’re right. I just hope there’ll be a chance of salvaging the friendship after that.”
The girl took one of Ranma’s hands in hers. “I suspect that you will need to give her at least a few days to work her way through it. I’d recommend that you go talk to her next week. That way she’ll have a little time to get used to the idea and you can confirm that what I tell her is how you really feel.”
He gripped her hand gently. “Ok, I’ll let you talk to her tomorrow. I’ll plan on going by her restaurant on Thursday or Friday next week. We’ll have to see how things go with everyone else. After all, there is the chance that my wanting to be a doctor will make my Pop disown me. If that happens, it’s pretty much all bets off.”
She shook her head. “If Genma disowns you, then he’s a bigger idiot than I thought he was.”
Even though the subject was serious, he couldn’t help laughing at that. “Yeah, that’s my Pop. One of the biggest idiots in the world if not the biggest.”
Noriko let go of Ranma’s hand and stood up. "We sort of missed breakfast so what do you say we go get something to eat? We can do a sort of brunch.”
They headed downstairs to the restaurant in the Hotel. The food was adequate, but not exceptional. While they ate Noriko entertained Ranma with tales of her life as Happosai. She was able to put a humorous twist on her telling of the stories so Ranma was getting a good laugh.
After they had finished the meal, Ranma commented, “I don’t know why you changing to a girl has made such a difference, but you’re fun to hang out with now.”
The blonde blushed cutely. “Why thank you, Ranma. It’s very nice of you to say that. You’re fun to hang out with too.”
Her manner sobered as she said, “I have to get in touch with some lawyers. I have to get them working on making Tendo Noriko the official heir of all of Happosai’s business dealings. I also have to have Happosai declared legally dead. There is paperwork that I need to do to have my current form legally made the Grand Master of Anything Goes. Once that is done I need to see about getting you a teaching certificate.”
Ranma sat back against the cushioned back of the booth. “Wait, where did that last part come from? Me, certified to teach? Are you saying that I’m qualified to be a master of Anything Goes like Pops or Mr. Tendo?”
Noriko shook her head. “There are a few things I want to teach you first. I also want to test you on what you already know. I still want to have the paperwork ready.”
“But I’m not even sure if I want to teach martial arts anymore,” Ranma protested. “I want to be a doctor.”
The girl gave a gentle smile, “That doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be recognized for what you have already achieved. I seem to remember you saying you could ‘kick your Pop’s butt any day of the week.' I’d say that was a pretty good indication that you have reached a level of mastery equal to his or better. With the way Soun’s let his skills atrophy you are his superior in the Art right now.”
“Atrophy?”
“We’re going to have to work on your vocabulary if you hope to be a doctor,” The blonde said. “It means to dry up or shrivel away from lack of use. I’m sure Soun still knows how to do all the old techniques, but I doubt he could still do many of them without some intense training. Another way of saying it is that he’s out of practice.”
Ranma nodded. “I know what you mean. From what he and the girls have said about her, his wife must have been a wonderful person. But he went from living to just surviving. It was bad for him and bad for the girls. If Kasumi and Nabiki hadn’t stepped in to take over stuff he should have been taking care of, they’d probably be living in the streets now.”
He sat silently and thought for a moment. “Well, maybe while I’m studying to be a doctor I could teach kempo to earn money for college. So I guess a teaching certificate would be a good idea after all.”
“That’s the spirit!”
The pigtailed martial artist smiled. “Tell you what. While you’re doing your legal stuff, I’m going to take that book list that Dr. Rinse gave me to the library. I can see which of the books they have there and get in some reading. If there’s time after that I can go practice in a park near here. We can plan to meet back here at 3:00 then roof hop over to Ms. Hinako’s apartment.”
They agreed and headed off to their respective tasks. It was in the afternoon that Ranma and Noriko met back up. Ranma was dressed in his preferred kung fu pants and sleeveless red shirt and Noriko was dressed in a Chinese pantsuit that provided plenty of freedom of movement. She wished she felt daring enough to wear one those short dresses she had seen Shampoo wearing.
Ranma had done his study in the library and had brought two books back with him. He would drop them off back at the library in the morning. Noriko had brought papers from the lawyer. While the matter of having herself legally declared the heir of her former male self was not settled, at least the legal machinery was set in motion. The final disposition of all of it might take as little as two weeks or it could drag on for months.
From the hotel they took a train to Nerima. From the train station the roof hopped to end up in the street in front of an apartment complex. In short order they were ringing the doorbell at an apartment on the fourth floor.
The door was answered by the diminutive form of an eight year old little girl in a loose fitting yellow dress. She looked up and said, “Saotome Ranma, you’re back? When did you get back? But why did you come to see me at home?”
Before Ranma could make a reply to the hyperactive little girl, she noticed the blonde and said, “Who’s this with you? She’s really pretty. Is she your girl friend? I thought Akane was your fiancé. What’s she going to think about this?”
Ranma held his hands out. When the little teacher took the hint and fell silent, Ranma said, “This is Noriko. She’s a friend and she’s a girl, but she’s not a girlfriend. She wants to talk to you, but I have some things I need to tell you too.”
With an effort the little girl calmed herself and sat on a chair, gesturing her guests to sit on the couch. When everyone appeared comfortable Hinako asked, “What did you want to tell me, Ranma?”
The pigtailed martial artist asked, “Have you heard the story of my training journey?”
The little girl frowned. Even frowning she looked cute. She said, “Your father stole you from your mother when you were a little child and took you away to learn martial arts.”
The black haired boy nodded. “That’s right. At the time my father never bothered to find out if Martial Arts was what I wanted to do. He just assumed it. By the time I got my sex-changing curse, I didn’t know anything else and thought the Art is what I really wanted to do.”
While in her child form the small teacher didn’t always have the best attention span. After asking her guest to wait, she went into her bedroom and came back shortly in adult form, carrying a fishbowl. In that bowl were two Siamese fighting fish. By draining their fighting spirit she was able to stay adult for as long as she wanted to. She had found that staying adult all of the time wasn't the best thing because her childish side tried to break through. Now that she could turn her adult intellect on what she was hearing, she noticed something about the phrasing of what Ranma had been saying. She asked, “Did you find out that you want to do something else?”
Ranma nodded. “Yeah. I’ll never completely abandon martial arts because it's been such a large part of my life. But I don’t want it to be the only thing in my life anymore. I recently had the chance to help out at a medical clinic while I was in China. I found out that I liked it and the way I was helping people. I also found out that I have a real talent for it.”
“Oh!” The woman looked surprised. “Are you saying you want to be a doctor?”
The boy with the pigtail smiled. “That’s right. I know that’s going to be hard with all the school I’ve missed and the bad grades I’ve gotten, but I want to try.”
The long-haired brunette said, “Part of the reason I was so upset when you withdrew was because of how greatly you had improved in your scholastic performance since the wedding with Akane went bad. With the effort you were putting in and the results you were producing I could tell you really are smarter than you ever let anyone believe.”
The young man confessed, “Before I was focused only on becoming the best martial artist. But I came to realize that wasn’t enough. If I were to run a dojo I needed to know how to teach. I also needed to know how to run a business. If I tried to run a dojo with the sorry state of my education like it was, I’d be completely broke in a year or less.”
Before Ms. Hinako could comment, he went on, “What I did was to treat my classes as if they were a martial arts challenge. I approached my classes like they were opponents I was preparing to fight. And it worked. I started staying awake in class, I started catching up on the stuff I missed by being on the road all those years.”
His expression grew grim. “With my past, I know becoming a doctor will be hard. I will approach that challenge just the same as I’ve gone at learning what I’d need to run a dojo. I’ll work hard.”
The educator was impressed. She could easily believe that Ranma would apply his formidable learning abilities to the task. If he went into the study of medicine with even a fraction of the determination he had applied to martial arts, he would become a wonderful doctor.
Hinako said, “Thank you for telling me this, Ranma. I’ll give what help and tutoring I can. I’ll find other tutors to help you. I think you’ll make a great doctor.”
He bowed his head in gratitude. After a moment he said, “There was a reason why Noriko is here with me today. Did you notice anything familiar about her?”
“Familiar?” She thought about it. She looked at the blonde haired woman. The thought that came to her now seemed impossible. “No, that can’t be.”
Noriko bowed her head and said, “I’m the ‘sick friend’ that Ranma went to help. I was dying and the only thing that could save me was some of the same water that gave Ranma his curse.”
The brunette shook her head, “Are you trying to tell me that the old, perverted man who made me into an age-changing ki vampire is now a teenaged girl?
When both of her guests nodded, she leaned back in her seat. Finally she said, “That seems oddly ironic. But why have you come here? I can understand Ranma and the news he had.”
Noriko bowed her head. “When I first taught you the ki draining technique I felt proud that I had actually done something good. I had saved a life. Then I learned that by doing so I had condemned you to life of loneliness as an outcast from society, I felt guilty. If there were a different way I could have helped you, I would. If there were some way I could make it so that your adult form was your only form, I’d do that.”
Hinako just stared at her guest. She wasn’t sure what to say.
Ranma broke in, “I'll help you too, if I can. I am not only going to study modern medicine. I will be studying herbal medicine, ki healing and magic healing. If there is anything in those disciplines that will help you, I will search them out for you.”
The educator smiled. With such a kind and giving soul, Ranma would indeed be a good doctor. She didn’t think the cure for her condition would be so easily found, but she was grateful that there would be people looking.
She decided that she would play hostess. She asked, “Would you care for tea? I’m sorry I can’t offer you cookies. I can’t keep any in the apartment. When I’m a little girl I just gobble them down without a thought.”
“I’ve got an idea.” Ranma suggested, “Why don’t we take you out to dinner. I’m sure you must get tired of your own cooking.”
The brunette woman smiled ruefully. “As a little girl I usually limit myself to heating up pre-packaged foods. When I try to make anything fancier, I have accidents and hurt myself.”
Ranma could understand that. Before they could get out the door, Ms. Hinako reverted back to her child form. They went out to have a pleasant dinner. They chatted about a lot of things while they ate.
When they dropped her back at her apartment, the little girl knew enough not to get her hopes up. Ranma and the rejuvenated Happosai didn’t say they had any potential cure for her. They had only promised to give what help they could. Such a cure could take years to find or they might not ever find it at all. At least Happosai was a much nicer person as a girl.
After the travelers got back to the area of the hotel, they went to the park to spar. They picked an area that wasn’t often visited to reduce the chance of people being hurt.
After a good workout the two martial artists returned to the hotel and went to bed.
Author's Note: Back in Japan and starting in the effort to set things right. Yes, coming back early was a good idea. Coming up Ranma will visit the sorceress in Juuban and on the way will run into the Senshi. Do they give autographs?
A Place for me to post fan fiction that I write and occasional articles and other thoughts.
Ranma-Kun & Ranma-Chan
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Happi's Redemption chapter 10
Happi’s Redemption
A Ranma One Half Fan Fiction
By Michael A. Ivins
Ranma along with all of his friends, enemies and acquaintances are the property of Takahashi Rumiko. I’m just borrowing them for my own amusement and hopefully that of my readers. Sailor Moon and the Senshi aren’t mine either. Please don’t sue me.
This story takes place after the end of the manga.
Chapter 10
Getting Ready to Go Home
The following day at the clinic, Dr Rinse had apparently been informed that her helper would be leaving soon. She called the young redhead into her office.
Ranma sat in a chair opposite the doctor. The older woman said, “Ranko, I’ve heard that you will be leaving in a day or two. I’ll admit I had reservations about having a martial artist as an assistant, but you’ve been great. You have been very good with the patients and you have learned a lot. You have natural aptitude for medicine.”
She paused a moment. “I would really like to hope you choose to study medicine as your life's work. No matter what you decide to do, I want you to stay in touch.” She handed over a card.
The doctor went on, “Please write to me. I confess that I’m tempted to get a computer just so I can exchange emails with you.”
Ranma shook her head. “Get one if that’s what you want, not for me. There’s a lot of other things you can do with a computer.”
Dr. Rinse nodded. “I know. I’ve been thinking about getting one for a long time. Exchanging emails with you may well be the final argument that gets me to actually commit to buying one.”
The redhead smiled. “That would be great. I don’t own a computer myself, but I’m sure I could talk Nabiki into letting me borrow hers. If not I could use one at the library for emails.”
The Doctor reached over to a shelf and pulled out a rolled up piece of stiff paper. The roll was tied with a piece of red ribbon. She handed this to Ranma. She said, “This is to help you in your studies.”
The young girl untied the ribbon and unrolled the paper. It was a poster sized copy of the ki flows chart she had been studying. Ranma was moved by the gift, but protested, “Won’t you need this?”
“Don’t worry,” assured the doctor. “This is a copy. I can afford to part with it for a student of your talent.”
Ranma stared at the chart for a time before she said, “I don’t know what to say. Thanks, doc.” She started to roll the chart back up.
The older woman smiled then picked a small stack of handwritten sheets of paper. She handed them over to Ranma, explaining, “This is a list of books that I think would help you. Many of them you can borrow from libraries. Some of them you can buy from a college or University bookstore. There are also a few you’re only likely to find in a store that specializes metaphysics and the occult.”
The redhead’s eyes went wide at the mention of an occult book store. “Odd that you should mention that. Elder Lo Shen has told me that a person who owns such a store that might be able to help me with my curse.”
The doctor nodded. “Then you have another reason to seek that person out.”
Ranma got up and walked around the desk to give the doctor a hug. The moment didn’t last long because at that moment a man rushed into the office with a bad cut on his arm.
After office hours Ranma went to the police station. She found that the class of trainees had arranged to throw a small party. There was food and drink (fruit juice) and some gifts were given. The Brick gave Ranma two scrolls for martial arts techniques.
When Ranma and Noriko got back to Lo Shen’s house they found that the mail had come and they didn’t get anything. So it appeared that they would be there for at least another day.
The following day both went back to their accustomed activities but shortly after lunch they were interrupted. A man on a motor scooter had arrived in the village. The word was that the express delivery service had flown in with a plane to the nearest village with an air strip. Upon arrival the pilot climbed aboard the motor scooter that he carried in the plane and traveled the rest of the way to the village.
Word was given to both of the travelers. At the end of the work shift at the clinic Ranma hugged Dr. Rinse. She turned to Comb in a serious tone said, “You take care of the doc. I hope soon to hear that she’s making do with some other assistant while you're at University working on your own medical degree.”
The tall young man impulsively swept the petite redhead into a hug. He commented, “Right now I don’t care if you really are a guy. A hug seems the best way to say goodbye. I’ll take care of Dr. Rinse and work hard on becoming a Doctor myself. It’s been great working with you.”
Ranma hugged the young man back. She commented, “Just don’t expect me to kiss you or nothing. A hug is as girlish as I go.”
Comb laughed as he disengaged from the hug. “That’s fine. You’ll have to understand that I have a hard time thinking of you as a guy. After all, I’ve only seen you in girl form.”
The redhead nodded. “That’s true.” She handed him a card and said, “This has my email address. I know you don’t have a computer right now, but you’ll probably want to get one when you go to the University.”
He frowned. “Don’t you borrow a computer now?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I’m not sure how I’ll do it, but one of these days I’m gonna get my own computer. Until I do, I can use a computer at the library or at school.”
Comb shook his head. “I wish I could help you with that, but my money for the university is pretty tightly budgeted.”
The redhead held up her hands in a dismissive gesture. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll work something out. I’ll probably be in debt to Nabiki for the rest of my life, but I can live with that. She’s been a lot nicer lately.”
She stepped back and said, “I’ve got to get back to Lo Shen’s. Now that I know I’m leaving tomorrow I need to finish packing.”
He inclined his head in a bow then looked up and watched as she left.
Ranma went by the police training facility and was given a lot of hugs and handshakes from the students. From the Brick Ranma got a handshake that would have crushed the hand of a weaker person. The muscular woman said, “Kid… Ranko, you’re Ok. If you’re ever in the area again, look me up. We can spar.”
The red haired girl grinned, “I’d like that.” The Brick was one of the best sparring partners she’d ever met. She wasn’t as strong as Ryoga, but a lot smarter and faster and a seemingly never ending source of new and interesting techniques.
They headed back to Lo Shen’s house. As they went, Ranma commented, “These are good people. Why is it they seem so much nicer and saner than Cologne’s tribe?”
Noriko shrugged and said, “I don’t know. I tend to think you have likely only met the more extreme members of Cologne's tribe. Not everyone there is a warrior. Arguably the Elders of the Joketsuzoku are the most extreme of the lot.”
“Humph!” Ranma shook her head. “What I want to know is how I’m going to get Cologne off my back. I bet Shampoo would give up if Cologne quit.”
The blonde frowned. “I’m not so sure of that. Shampoo is pretty stubborn. If she thought she was losing her Great Grandmother’s help, she might get desperate.”
“That’s just great!” Ranma sounded depressed. “I don’t love Shampoo. I could maybe see her a friend if she stopped treating like a prize to be won. But until she can show me a little more respect, I don’t think I even like her.”
Noriko felt a small thrill go through her as she heard that. She asked, “Are you sure? Shampoo’s really pretty and very sexy.”
The redhead shuddered. “I may have felt tempted when she first started doing all of that ‘Wo Ai Ne’ crap, but the longer I’ve known her the less I like her.”
Letting no trace of it show on her face, Noriko was cheering inside. She only commented, “Now if you could only convince Mousse of that, maybe he’d concentrate his attention on Shampoo and leave you alone.”
Ranma snorted. “He’s welcome to her. If there was some way I could do it, I’d give her to him – gift wrapped.”
In a thoughtful tone Noriko said, “I’ll give what help I can. It’s possible that the best way would be to work on the Council of Elders.”
Ranma stopped and considered that. Likely if anyone had the power to rein in the Matriarch it would be the council. She asked, “What did you have in mind?”
Noriko replied, “After you beat Herb and killed Saffron, the council members can’t be too thrilled by the idea of a male of your abilities living in the village. I suspect they would be afraid that they would have to treat you differently than the other men there.”
The younger girl’s eyes went wide. “If the rest of the men in the village saw me being treated better than them, it could make them unhappy with the way they’re being treated. Maybe if I threatened to get the men stirred up enough to demand equal treatment, maybe they would give up on me.”
The blonde looked at her companion in surprise. That was a smarter idea than she was used to hearing from Ranma. She said, “Lo Shen does talk to the Joketsuzoku elders from time to time. It might be a good idea if she could drop hints on that subject.”
A huge grin spread across the redhead’s elfin looking features. “It may not be a quick fix to the problem with Shampoo, but at least it is a plan with chance at success.”
When they got to the house, Ranma told Lo Shen of the idea of stirring up the men in the other village. The elder nodded. “Did you know that men of the Joketsuzoku village are forbidden to visit this village? The Council of Elders is afraid that the men would be ‘contaminated’ by our ideas of equality.”
She paused in thought. “After you are back in Japan, I will call Elder Soap and tell her that you were here. She’ll be furious, of course, but there won't be anything she can do about it. When I’m telling her about your having been here, I’ll make a point of telling her what an independent spirit you are and how you would never be happy living in their village. She may be set in her ways, but she’s not stupid. She should get the hint.”
Noriko nodded. “When we get back to Japan I think I should be the one to talk to Cologne. It would sound more convincing coming from another person than from Ranma himself.”
Ranma walked up to Lo Shen and took her hand. “Thank you, Elder. You have given Noriko and me more help than I would ever have expected in this part of the world. Lately most of the people I meet seem more interested in what they can get from me than in what they can do for me. It's nice to meet people who are genuinely helpful.”
Lo Shen bowed her head. “On behalf of all Chinese Amazons I apologize for the way you were treated. That Kiss of Death is a barbaric custom that has no place in the modern world. Kho Lon then compounded an already bad situation by treating you like she would one of the men of her own village.”
The blonde put in, ‘You should know that the way Amazons treated Ranma is not the only example of what she was talking about. I’m as guilty of it as anyone. I saw Ranma as the heir to my martial arts school and never thought to consider what her/his feelings were on the subject.”
She paused before continuing, “You know, it’s ironic that it took getting physically younger to make me start acting and thinking in a more mature way. I admit it. I was a selfish, spoiled brat who was more interested in getting his own way than anything else.”
When she saw Ranma nodding her head she said in a grumpy tone, “You didn’t have to agree so fast.”
Ranma shrugged but there was the hint of a smile on her face.
Lo Shen chose that moment to interrupt. She reached down beside her chair and grasped the handle of a somewhat battered looking suitcase. She pulled this out and said, “The clothes made by the sewing class are already inside. I also got you this.”
“This” turned out to be a cardboard tube with two cardboard end caps. On the side of the tube there was a rough-looking rectangular patch that looked as if a mailing label had been torn off. The elder explained, “Rin Se told me about the ki path chart. This will allow you to carry it without having to get creases in it from folding. As you can see, I’m re-using an old mailing tube. Rin Se remembered that you’d need this and sent it over.”
Ranma smiled warmly. “I’m sure it will work just fine.”
The elder said, “Mas Cara will be driving the pickup truck. It will be carrying four crates of our tea blend. She will be stopping by in the morning to pick you up. You can ride up front with her while your luggage can go in the back with the crates.”
She picked up an envelope from the table and said, “This is a letter to the pilot of the plane that will be carrying the tea to Beijing. This instructs him to take you with him on his flight and drop you off at the airport.”
She picked up another envelope and said, “This is the package sent by Miss Tendo Nabiki in Japan.” She handed it to Ranma.
Ranma opened the envelope and emptied the contents onto the table. She picked up the passport and handed it to Noriko. She looked at the plastic rectangle with the rounded corners. She saw the name Tendo Noriko on it and handed that to the blonde as well. There were a few other documents along with plane tickets on JAL.
Among the documents there was a computer printed letter. She read it.
“Ranma,
Here are Noriko’s documents. I have included the credit card and plane tickets. This should be all you need to get back to Japan.
Your Dad is starting to make a fuss. He’s been going on about “What is taking that ungrateful boy so long?” Your Mom looks like she’s about ready to draw the sword and do something painful to him.
Nobody seems to really be thinking too much about the fact that H is now Noriko. I don’t think anyone has the least idea of how to deal with her. I’m just worried that my Dad and yours may think Noriko is weak now and they can pull some kind of silly revenge plot on her. Just be careful when you get here.
Nabiki”
Ranma handed the letter to Noriko and said, “I swear my Pop keeps getting dumber all the time.”
The blonde looked over the letter and commented, “If they are hoping for revenge they are in for a disappointment. Thanks to the Brick’s training, I’m nearly as strong as your female body right now. With a little more training I may be able to get as strong as your male body.”
The redhead frowned as she said, “I won’t deny they did have real complaints, but you aren’t that person anymore. You’ve satisfied me that you really want to make up for the way you were when you were a man. I won’t let them hurt you.”
The blonde inclined her head in an expression of gratitude. She added, “I wonder what Akane is thinking.”
Ranma let out a snort. “Knowing her, she probably thinks that you and I have been doing all manner of perverted things together. Likely she thinks you’ve been having kinky sex with my male form the whole time.”
Silently Noriko thought, “I wish.” Out loud she said, “If that is what she’s thinking you could have a flight on Air Mallet in store for you.”
Both Lo Shen and Po Shen looked confused. Ranma looked depressed. She said, “Yeah, you’re probably right about that.”
Noriko sighed. She looked depressed as well. She asked, “Have you given any thought to what married life with Akane would be like?”
The redheaded girl frowned. “You mean like always acting as if I’m afraid of my own shadow? Having to be careful of every word I say for fear my wife will get the wrong idea about something and beat me with the mallet, maybe kill me?”
The blonde winced at the description. That was pretty much how she imagined married life would be for Ranma and Akane. She asked, “Ranma, do you want to be the abused spouse?”
Angrily the younger girl demanded, “What choice do I have? If I tell my parents I don’t to get married to Akane they'll pull the honor argument. It’s an arrangement that was made before I was even born and yet I’m honor bound to marry that violent tomboy.”
Noriko looked down at the floor for a moment. “When a woman is getting beaten by her husband, the advice always given is for her to get away from him. Usually she gets beaten because her husband is bigger and stronger than she is. Some people don’t want to believe there can be such a thing as an abused husband.”
The redhead frowned. Noriko was going somewhere with this but she wasn’t sure where. The older girl said, “The usual reason that a man can be abused is because he can’t bring himself to hit his wife in his own defense. It almost always happens with a husband who is strong and could defend himself against almost any attacker. He gets abused because he doesn’t want to hurt his wife by fighting back.”
The blonde continued, “I know one of Akane’s chief complaints about the training you try to give her is that you don’t take her serious as a martial artist. You only dodge, you never hit her. We both know that her martial arts skills are pathetic compared to yours. If you were willing to defend yourself, she’d end up battered and bruised.”
Ranma shook her head and replied, “I can hold back better than that. I could hit her without doing serious damage. I'm not sure I understand the point you're trying to make, Noriko.”
Noriko scowled. “I’m not sure what the point is at the moment. Tell me, if you wanted to, could you block or dodge the mallet strikes?”
“Yeah,” was the answer.
The blonde next asked, “Could you take the mallet away from her?”
Ranma felt like she wanted to growl. “Yes, I could, but what good would that do? The mallet is a ki attack. If I took one away from her, she could make another one.”
The former man thought about it some more. She asked, “What about the other Tendo girls? As I understand it the honor agreement only specifies that a Saotome child must marry a Tendo child. How would you feel about marrying Kasumi or Nabiki?”
Looking even more depressed, Ranma said, “Nabiki is in love with money. Even if we’ve been getting along better since the whole wedding mess, I don’t think getting married to her would work. Kasumi… doesn’t want me. I’m too young, she said. If I could pick any of the Tendo girls, she’d be the one. But it wouldn’t work with her either.”
Now curious, Noriko asked, “Why wouldn’t it work with Kasumi?”
The redhead shook her head. “I feel about her more like she's a sister and I'm sure she looks at me like a brother. If she had to she’d go through with it because of the honor agreement. The trouble is that she’d look at it as a sacrifice. She’d pretend to be happy but she’d always wonder what it would be like if she’d married Dr. Tofu.”
Noriko nodded as she took that in. Then she summed up, “So you don't think you could be happy with any of the Tendo girls. Ukyo is just a friend, you don’t like Shampoo and Kodachi is crazy. Anyone else your father may have made agreements with you don’t know them and don’t feel any attachment.”
“Yeah,” was all the answer Ranma made to that.
The former man walked over and put a hand on Ranma’s shoulder. “I’ve come to think of you as a friend, someone whose happiness I care about. Let me think on this situation and see what I can come up with. I think you should give more serious consideration to the other Tendo girls. A marriage to one of them might not be emotionally fulfilling, but neither of them is likely to physically abuse you.”
“There is that,” the redhead conceded.
Po Shen cleared her throat. “I… had no idea your situation at home was so bad. I sort of thought that you were eager to back. I hesitate to say this but if you wanted to stay, I’m sure the village could come up with the money to send you to University to study medicine.”
Ranma looked at her for a moment. “As tempting as that sounds, I can’t. I’m not gonna run away from my problems. That’s something my worthless father would do. I’m gonna have to face my problems and figure out a way to solve them. The real problem is that my father made so many honor commitments that there’s no way I could fulfill them all.”
Her expression grim, Ranma said, “At the moment I can only think of two ways to resolve every one of theses problems. One of them would be to commit seppuku. That would satisfy the honor debts, but it wouldn’t make anybody happy. Well, it might make Akane happy to finally be free of the pervert she thinks I am. The other way would be to renounce the Saotome family name and become a Ronin. Since all of the honor debts are on Saotome Ranma they would no longer valid if I’m not a Saotome any more.”
With a deep sigh she said, “I’m sure you can understand why I’m not happy about that idea. I’m going to keep that as a final escape clause. If I can’t find an honorable way to resolve the fiancé mess and all the other honor commitments, then that’s my final option.”
She turned from her study of the floor to look at Noriko. “You said you would think about my problems. Help me to find a third option.”
After a moment she said, “How am I going to tell Pops I want to be a doctor and just do martial arts as a hobby? He’ll go on some kind of rant about how ungrateful I am, how disgraceful and such. I have to wonder if Mom’s ideas of manliness require me to be a martial artist.”
Noriko said in a gentle tone, “Most mothers would be bursting with pride if their son announced his wish to be a doctor.”
The red haired girl snorted. “I’ve always thought Mom must be a little crazy to marry a guy like Pops. I just hope she’s not a lot crazy. If she says I’m unmanly for wanting to make martial arts a sideline, she may demand I commit seppuku.”
The blonde looked puzzled. “I thought she tore up the contract and burned it.”
“She did,” confirmed the younger girl. “Since she did, I don’t have any reason to give in to that kind of demand. If she does ask it, then I guess I’ll stop being a Saotome and come back here to take Po’s offer.”
Po Shen shook her head. “As much as we’d appreciate having you here, I hope it doesn’t come to that. If it does, we won’t care if you are a Saotome or not.”
“Thanks Po.” Ranma stood up. “Come on, Noriko. We’ve got some packing to do.”
When they got up to the guest room, Noriko said, “I’ve got a confession to make.”
Ranma rolled her eyes. “Another one?”
The former man nodded. After a pause she said, “I’m rich.”
“Huh?” Ranma wasn’t quite sure she heard what she thought she did. “Did you just say you’re rich?”
“Yes.”
The red haired girl considered that for a time. She placed the suitcase and the mailing tube on the bed and said, “I’m guessing there’s a story behind that. Why don’t you tell that story while I pack. After that you can tell me how that changes our situation. I’m guessing you have some idea that your wealth might help me in some way. You can explain that as well.”
She paused a moment and said, “Even if you were rich as Happosai, would you still be able to get your hands on that money now as Noriko?”
She picked up the mailing tube and pulled one of the end caps off.
Noriko started. “Well, as to how I got rich, that’s not all that much of a story. It comes of living a very long time. About 150 years ago I bought several parcels of land in Tokyo. At the time they were cheep. Not all of them became really valuable and those I’ve sold for what profit I could get. Some now have really big buildings on them that bring in enormous amounts of money in rent from the businesses that have their offices there.”
Ranma nodded as she slid the rolled-up ki flows chart into the tube and nodded. She could easily imagine someone doing what Noriko had described.
The blonde continued, “As to how I would be able to get access to the money, that wouldn’t be all that hard. I’ve been having the real estate management companies that collect the rents deposit the money into Swiss bank accounts. Those are accessed by use of account numbers and not by a signature. Remember those accounts have been around long enough that the bankers don’t expect the original depositor to ever come claim them.”
Ranma set the tube aside and picked up her pack. She didn’t say anything.
The older girl explained, “The bankers believe that the accounts are being maintained by descendants of the original depositor. I set up passwords to use so that ‘Members of my family’ could access the money. Using those passwords, I could be Tendo Noriko or even Saotome Ranma and still get the money.”
As Ranma began stuffing clothes in her pack she said, “Alright, I can understand that. But if you have a lot of money and still have a way of getting at it, why were you sponging off the Tendos?”
The former man responded, “You’ve seen how I used to live. I didn’t need a lot of money. Part of the reason I was living off Soun was because I had hopes that he would grow a backbone and try to throw me out. Of all my students, you are the only one who was willing to defy me. I admit that I was disappointed when Soun turned out to be such a wimp.”
The redhead looked in her pack and commented, “I guess we’ll have to ask Elder Lo Shen to give us some food for travel supplies before we leave in the morning. We might not always be somewhere where we can buy food when we get hungry.”
Noriko nodded, “Good idea.” She paused a moment before continuing, “you probably wonder why I used peeping on women in bath houses and stealing food and other such things as part of my training of your father and Soun.”
Ranma draped a pair of pants and a red shirt over the back of the chair. She planned to wear them in the morning. “Yeah, I did sort of question what that was supposed to teach them.”
The older girl explained, “That wasn’t really teaching. It was more of a test of their character. I kept hoping that they would protest or refuse to do the things I asked of them. They seemed to think that if they did those things I would share with them the ultimate secrets of the Anything Goes School.”
“Did you?” Ranma wanted to know.
The older girl shook her head. “No. It was because they went along with all of that crap that I never gave them the deepest secrets of the School. I did teach them some advanced techniques and let them believe that those were the secrets. They weren’t.”
Ranma took a look around to make sure she hadn’t forgotten to pack anything. When she was satisfied that the only things left out were those items they would be using or wearing in the morning, she said, “So they failed your test of character?”
The blonde nodded. “You might be interested to know that you passed. You refused to help me steal lingerie. You refused to compromise your principles. You have much more honor than your father.”
Ranma considered that. “Does that mean you will teach me all of your secret techniques?”
“If you want me to,” was the answer.
The redhead nodded. “And that's the important question. If I study to be a doctor, then I won’t be able to spend the time on martial arts that I have been. I would have to wonder if I would really need your secret techniques. Would any of those techniques heal people of diseases or wounds?”
Noriko smiled. “Actually some of them would. Besides ki healing, I know some magic healing techniques that the original Noriko taught me.”
“Would you teach them to me?”
The older girl said, “I’d be happy to.”
A thought occurred to the pigtailed martial artist. “We’ve spent all of this time talking about my problems and what I’m going to do with my future. Now that you’re young again, you have pretty much a whole new lifetime ahead of you. What do you want to do with your future?”
The blonde looked surprised at being asked. “Well, I have to work at making up for some of the things that I did while I was Happosai. Though, sad to say, many of the people I owe apologies to are dead now. After that, maybe I’ll open a dojo of my own. When I’m being serious about it, I can be a pretty good teacher.”
She paused again then snapped her fingers. “There was a point I was going to make about having money. It was about Ukyo. I was thinking I could buy a new Yattai to replace the one Genma took. That should clear the engagement issue with her.”
“That’s a generous offer,” Ranma allowed. “I’m not sure it would count as me resolving my problem if you are paying for it.”
“What?” Noriko protested, “Can’t I help out a friend?”
The redhead shook her head, “Like I said, generous offer. I don’t know, though.”
In a pleading tone the blonde said, “Please! At least think about it. I literally have more money than I know what to do with. It would do my heart good to help you with this. If you want you could even think of it as a loan to be paid back when you become a doctor.” In a sly tone she added, “Doctors do usually make pretty good money.”
Ranma was tempted. Finally she thought of a compromise. “How about this? I can tell Ucchan that I have the means to get her a new yattai. If she’s willing to go along with it, then I’ll agree to the loan.”
“Fair enough,” Noriko agreed.
Since they had come in earlier than usual it was time for dinner now. They went downstairs. After they finished eating, Lo Shen gave the two girls a box of canned foods and other supplies to eat on the trip.
After putting the supplies in their packs the girls adjourned to Po Shen’s room to use the computer. Ranma sent one final email to inform Nabiki they had received the travel documents and credit card and would be leaving the next morning. Since they would still catch the plane at the time listed on the tickets, they didn’t mention that they would be flying most of the way to Beijing. It wouldn’t make a difference in when they arrived back in Japan.
They went to bed early so they could be up early the next morning.
Author's Note: Ranma and Noriko found kindness and help in an unexpected place. While sad to leave their new friends, they have business to settle back in Japan. Whether or not all of Ranma's problems can be resolved remains to be seen. Noriko has dedicated herself to furthering Ranma's happiness with no regard to her own. Is there any happiness waiting for Noriko when they get back into their home territory? Stay tuned.
A Ranma One Half Fan Fiction
By Michael A. Ivins
Ranma along with all of his friends, enemies and acquaintances are the property of Takahashi Rumiko. I’m just borrowing them for my own amusement and hopefully that of my readers. Sailor Moon and the Senshi aren’t mine either. Please don’t sue me.
This story takes place after the end of the manga.
Chapter 10
Getting Ready to Go Home
The following day at the clinic, Dr Rinse had apparently been informed that her helper would be leaving soon. She called the young redhead into her office.
Ranma sat in a chair opposite the doctor. The older woman said, “Ranko, I’ve heard that you will be leaving in a day or two. I’ll admit I had reservations about having a martial artist as an assistant, but you’ve been great. You have been very good with the patients and you have learned a lot. You have natural aptitude for medicine.”
She paused a moment. “I would really like to hope you choose to study medicine as your life's work. No matter what you decide to do, I want you to stay in touch.” She handed over a card.
The doctor went on, “Please write to me. I confess that I’m tempted to get a computer just so I can exchange emails with you.”
Ranma shook her head. “Get one if that’s what you want, not for me. There’s a lot of other things you can do with a computer.”
Dr. Rinse nodded. “I know. I’ve been thinking about getting one for a long time. Exchanging emails with you may well be the final argument that gets me to actually commit to buying one.”
The redhead smiled. “That would be great. I don’t own a computer myself, but I’m sure I could talk Nabiki into letting me borrow hers. If not I could use one at the library for emails.”
The Doctor reached over to a shelf and pulled out a rolled up piece of stiff paper. The roll was tied with a piece of red ribbon. She handed this to Ranma. She said, “This is to help you in your studies.”
The young girl untied the ribbon and unrolled the paper. It was a poster sized copy of the ki flows chart she had been studying. Ranma was moved by the gift, but protested, “Won’t you need this?”
“Don’t worry,” assured the doctor. “This is a copy. I can afford to part with it for a student of your talent.”
Ranma stared at the chart for a time before she said, “I don’t know what to say. Thanks, doc.” She started to roll the chart back up.
The older woman smiled then picked a small stack of handwritten sheets of paper. She handed them over to Ranma, explaining, “This is a list of books that I think would help you. Many of them you can borrow from libraries. Some of them you can buy from a college or University bookstore. There are also a few you’re only likely to find in a store that specializes metaphysics and the occult.”
The redhead’s eyes went wide at the mention of an occult book store. “Odd that you should mention that. Elder Lo Shen has told me that a person who owns such a store that might be able to help me with my curse.”
The doctor nodded. “Then you have another reason to seek that person out.”
Ranma got up and walked around the desk to give the doctor a hug. The moment didn’t last long because at that moment a man rushed into the office with a bad cut on his arm.
After office hours Ranma went to the police station. She found that the class of trainees had arranged to throw a small party. There was food and drink (fruit juice) and some gifts were given. The Brick gave Ranma two scrolls for martial arts techniques.
When Ranma and Noriko got back to Lo Shen’s house they found that the mail had come and they didn’t get anything. So it appeared that they would be there for at least another day.
The following day both went back to their accustomed activities but shortly after lunch they were interrupted. A man on a motor scooter had arrived in the village. The word was that the express delivery service had flown in with a plane to the nearest village with an air strip. Upon arrival the pilot climbed aboard the motor scooter that he carried in the plane and traveled the rest of the way to the village.
Word was given to both of the travelers. At the end of the work shift at the clinic Ranma hugged Dr. Rinse. She turned to Comb in a serious tone said, “You take care of the doc. I hope soon to hear that she’s making do with some other assistant while you're at University working on your own medical degree.”
The tall young man impulsively swept the petite redhead into a hug. He commented, “Right now I don’t care if you really are a guy. A hug seems the best way to say goodbye. I’ll take care of Dr. Rinse and work hard on becoming a Doctor myself. It’s been great working with you.”
Ranma hugged the young man back. She commented, “Just don’t expect me to kiss you or nothing. A hug is as girlish as I go.”
Comb laughed as he disengaged from the hug. “That’s fine. You’ll have to understand that I have a hard time thinking of you as a guy. After all, I’ve only seen you in girl form.”
The redhead nodded. “That’s true.” She handed him a card and said, “This has my email address. I know you don’t have a computer right now, but you’ll probably want to get one when you go to the University.”
He frowned. “Don’t you borrow a computer now?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I’m not sure how I’ll do it, but one of these days I’m gonna get my own computer. Until I do, I can use a computer at the library or at school.”
Comb shook his head. “I wish I could help you with that, but my money for the university is pretty tightly budgeted.”
The redhead held up her hands in a dismissive gesture. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll work something out. I’ll probably be in debt to Nabiki for the rest of my life, but I can live with that. She’s been a lot nicer lately.”
She stepped back and said, “I’ve got to get back to Lo Shen’s. Now that I know I’m leaving tomorrow I need to finish packing.”
He inclined his head in a bow then looked up and watched as she left.
Ranma went by the police training facility and was given a lot of hugs and handshakes from the students. From the Brick Ranma got a handshake that would have crushed the hand of a weaker person. The muscular woman said, “Kid… Ranko, you’re Ok. If you’re ever in the area again, look me up. We can spar.”
The red haired girl grinned, “I’d like that.” The Brick was one of the best sparring partners she’d ever met. She wasn’t as strong as Ryoga, but a lot smarter and faster and a seemingly never ending source of new and interesting techniques.
They headed back to Lo Shen’s house. As they went, Ranma commented, “These are good people. Why is it they seem so much nicer and saner than Cologne’s tribe?”
Noriko shrugged and said, “I don’t know. I tend to think you have likely only met the more extreme members of Cologne's tribe. Not everyone there is a warrior. Arguably the Elders of the Joketsuzoku are the most extreme of the lot.”
“Humph!” Ranma shook her head. “What I want to know is how I’m going to get Cologne off my back. I bet Shampoo would give up if Cologne quit.”
The blonde frowned. “I’m not so sure of that. Shampoo is pretty stubborn. If she thought she was losing her Great Grandmother’s help, she might get desperate.”
“That’s just great!” Ranma sounded depressed. “I don’t love Shampoo. I could maybe see her a friend if she stopped treating like a prize to be won. But until she can show me a little more respect, I don’t think I even like her.”
Noriko felt a small thrill go through her as she heard that. She asked, “Are you sure? Shampoo’s really pretty and very sexy.”
The redhead shuddered. “I may have felt tempted when she first started doing all of that ‘Wo Ai Ne’ crap, but the longer I’ve known her the less I like her.”
Letting no trace of it show on her face, Noriko was cheering inside. She only commented, “Now if you could only convince Mousse of that, maybe he’d concentrate his attention on Shampoo and leave you alone.”
Ranma snorted. “He’s welcome to her. If there was some way I could do it, I’d give her to him – gift wrapped.”
In a thoughtful tone Noriko said, “I’ll give what help I can. It’s possible that the best way would be to work on the Council of Elders.”
Ranma stopped and considered that. Likely if anyone had the power to rein in the Matriarch it would be the council. She asked, “What did you have in mind?”
Noriko replied, “After you beat Herb and killed Saffron, the council members can’t be too thrilled by the idea of a male of your abilities living in the village. I suspect they would be afraid that they would have to treat you differently than the other men there.”
The younger girl’s eyes went wide. “If the rest of the men in the village saw me being treated better than them, it could make them unhappy with the way they’re being treated. Maybe if I threatened to get the men stirred up enough to demand equal treatment, maybe they would give up on me.”
The blonde looked at her companion in surprise. That was a smarter idea than she was used to hearing from Ranma. She said, “Lo Shen does talk to the Joketsuzoku elders from time to time. It might be a good idea if she could drop hints on that subject.”
A huge grin spread across the redhead’s elfin looking features. “It may not be a quick fix to the problem with Shampoo, but at least it is a plan with chance at success.”
When they got to the house, Ranma told Lo Shen of the idea of stirring up the men in the other village. The elder nodded. “Did you know that men of the Joketsuzoku village are forbidden to visit this village? The Council of Elders is afraid that the men would be ‘contaminated’ by our ideas of equality.”
She paused in thought. “After you are back in Japan, I will call Elder Soap and tell her that you were here. She’ll be furious, of course, but there won't be anything she can do about it. When I’m telling her about your having been here, I’ll make a point of telling her what an independent spirit you are and how you would never be happy living in their village. She may be set in her ways, but she’s not stupid. She should get the hint.”
Noriko nodded. “When we get back to Japan I think I should be the one to talk to Cologne. It would sound more convincing coming from another person than from Ranma himself.”
Ranma walked up to Lo Shen and took her hand. “Thank you, Elder. You have given Noriko and me more help than I would ever have expected in this part of the world. Lately most of the people I meet seem more interested in what they can get from me than in what they can do for me. It's nice to meet people who are genuinely helpful.”
Lo Shen bowed her head. “On behalf of all Chinese Amazons I apologize for the way you were treated. That Kiss of Death is a barbaric custom that has no place in the modern world. Kho Lon then compounded an already bad situation by treating you like she would one of the men of her own village.”
The blonde put in, ‘You should know that the way Amazons treated Ranma is not the only example of what she was talking about. I’m as guilty of it as anyone. I saw Ranma as the heir to my martial arts school and never thought to consider what her/his feelings were on the subject.”
She paused before continuing, “You know, it’s ironic that it took getting physically younger to make me start acting and thinking in a more mature way. I admit it. I was a selfish, spoiled brat who was more interested in getting his own way than anything else.”
When she saw Ranma nodding her head she said in a grumpy tone, “You didn’t have to agree so fast.”
Ranma shrugged but there was the hint of a smile on her face.
Lo Shen chose that moment to interrupt. She reached down beside her chair and grasped the handle of a somewhat battered looking suitcase. She pulled this out and said, “The clothes made by the sewing class are already inside. I also got you this.”
“This” turned out to be a cardboard tube with two cardboard end caps. On the side of the tube there was a rough-looking rectangular patch that looked as if a mailing label had been torn off. The elder explained, “Rin Se told me about the ki path chart. This will allow you to carry it without having to get creases in it from folding. As you can see, I’m re-using an old mailing tube. Rin Se remembered that you’d need this and sent it over.”
Ranma smiled warmly. “I’m sure it will work just fine.”
The elder said, “Mas Cara will be driving the pickup truck. It will be carrying four crates of our tea blend. She will be stopping by in the morning to pick you up. You can ride up front with her while your luggage can go in the back with the crates.”
She picked up an envelope from the table and said, “This is a letter to the pilot of the plane that will be carrying the tea to Beijing. This instructs him to take you with him on his flight and drop you off at the airport.”
She picked up another envelope and said, “This is the package sent by Miss Tendo Nabiki in Japan.” She handed it to Ranma.
Ranma opened the envelope and emptied the contents onto the table. She picked up the passport and handed it to Noriko. She looked at the plastic rectangle with the rounded corners. She saw the name Tendo Noriko on it and handed that to the blonde as well. There were a few other documents along with plane tickets on JAL.
Among the documents there was a computer printed letter. She read it.
“Ranma,
Here are Noriko’s documents. I have included the credit card and plane tickets. This should be all you need to get back to Japan.
Your Dad is starting to make a fuss. He’s been going on about “What is taking that ungrateful boy so long?” Your Mom looks like she’s about ready to draw the sword and do something painful to him.
Nobody seems to really be thinking too much about the fact that H is now Noriko. I don’t think anyone has the least idea of how to deal with her. I’m just worried that my Dad and yours may think Noriko is weak now and they can pull some kind of silly revenge plot on her. Just be careful when you get here.
Nabiki”
Ranma handed the letter to Noriko and said, “I swear my Pop keeps getting dumber all the time.”
The blonde looked over the letter and commented, “If they are hoping for revenge they are in for a disappointment. Thanks to the Brick’s training, I’m nearly as strong as your female body right now. With a little more training I may be able to get as strong as your male body.”
The redhead frowned as she said, “I won’t deny they did have real complaints, but you aren’t that person anymore. You’ve satisfied me that you really want to make up for the way you were when you were a man. I won’t let them hurt you.”
The blonde inclined her head in an expression of gratitude. She added, “I wonder what Akane is thinking.”
Ranma let out a snort. “Knowing her, she probably thinks that you and I have been doing all manner of perverted things together. Likely she thinks you’ve been having kinky sex with my male form the whole time.”
Silently Noriko thought, “I wish.” Out loud she said, “If that is what she’s thinking you could have a flight on Air Mallet in store for you.”
Both Lo Shen and Po Shen looked confused. Ranma looked depressed. She said, “Yeah, you’re probably right about that.”
Noriko sighed. She looked depressed as well. She asked, “Have you given any thought to what married life with Akane would be like?”
The redheaded girl frowned. “You mean like always acting as if I’m afraid of my own shadow? Having to be careful of every word I say for fear my wife will get the wrong idea about something and beat me with the mallet, maybe kill me?”
The blonde winced at the description. That was pretty much how she imagined married life would be for Ranma and Akane. She asked, “Ranma, do you want to be the abused spouse?”
Angrily the younger girl demanded, “What choice do I have? If I tell my parents I don’t to get married to Akane they'll pull the honor argument. It’s an arrangement that was made before I was even born and yet I’m honor bound to marry that violent tomboy.”
Noriko looked down at the floor for a moment. “When a woman is getting beaten by her husband, the advice always given is for her to get away from him. Usually she gets beaten because her husband is bigger and stronger than she is. Some people don’t want to believe there can be such a thing as an abused husband.”
The redhead frowned. Noriko was going somewhere with this but she wasn’t sure where. The older girl said, “The usual reason that a man can be abused is because he can’t bring himself to hit his wife in his own defense. It almost always happens with a husband who is strong and could defend himself against almost any attacker. He gets abused because he doesn’t want to hurt his wife by fighting back.”
The blonde continued, “I know one of Akane’s chief complaints about the training you try to give her is that you don’t take her serious as a martial artist. You only dodge, you never hit her. We both know that her martial arts skills are pathetic compared to yours. If you were willing to defend yourself, she’d end up battered and bruised.”
Ranma shook her head and replied, “I can hold back better than that. I could hit her without doing serious damage. I'm not sure I understand the point you're trying to make, Noriko.”
Noriko scowled. “I’m not sure what the point is at the moment. Tell me, if you wanted to, could you block or dodge the mallet strikes?”
“Yeah,” was the answer.
The blonde next asked, “Could you take the mallet away from her?”
Ranma felt like she wanted to growl. “Yes, I could, but what good would that do? The mallet is a ki attack. If I took one away from her, she could make another one.”
The former man thought about it some more. She asked, “What about the other Tendo girls? As I understand it the honor agreement only specifies that a Saotome child must marry a Tendo child. How would you feel about marrying Kasumi or Nabiki?”
Looking even more depressed, Ranma said, “Nabiki is in love with money. Even if we’ve been getting along better since the whole wedding mess, I don’t think getting married to her would work. Kasumi… doesn’t want me. I’m too young, she said. If I could pick any of the Tendo girls, she’d be the one. But it wouldn’t work with her either.”
Now curious, Noriko asked, “Why wouldn’t it work with Kasumi?”
The redhead shook her head. “I feel about her more like she's a sister and I'm sure she looks at me like a brother. If she had to she’d go through with it because of the honor agreement. The trouble is that she’d look at it as a sacrifice. She’d pretend to be happy but she’d always wonder what it would be like if she’d married Dr. Tofu.”
Noriko nodded as she took that in. Then she summed up, “So you don't think you could be happy with any of the Tendo girls. Ukyo is just a friend, you don’t like Shampoo and Kodachi is crazy. Anyone else your father may have made agreements with you don’t know them and don’t feel any attachment.”
“Yeah,” was all the answer Ranma made to that.
The former man walked over and put a hand on Ranma’s shoulder. “I’ve come to think of you as a friend, someone whose happiness I care about. Let me think on this situation and see what I can come up with. I think you should give more serious consideration to the other Tendo girls. A marriage to one of them might not be emotionally fulfilling, but neither of them is likely to physically abuse you.”
“There is that,” the redhead conceded.
Po Shen cleared her throat. “I… had no idea your situation at home was so bad. I sort of thought that you were eager to back. I hesitate to say this but if you wanted to stay, I’m sure the village could come up with the money to send you to University to study medicine.”
Ranma looked at her for a moment. “As tempting as that sounds, I can’t. I’m not gonna run away from my problems. That’s something my worthless father would do. I’m gonna have to face my problems and figure out a way to solve them. The real problem is that my father made so many honor commitments that there’s no way I could fulfill them all.”
Her expression grim, Ranma said, “At the moment I can only think of two ways to resolve every one of theses problems. One of them would be to commit seppuku. That would satisfy the honor debts, but it wouldn’t make anybody happy. Well, it might make Akane happy to finally be free of the pervert she thinks I am. The other way would be to renounce the Saotome family name and become a Ronin. Since all of the honor debts are on Saotome Ranma they would no longer valid if I’m not a Saotome any more.”
With a deep sigh she said, “I’m sure you can understand why I’m not happy about that idea. I’m going to keep that as a final escape clause. If I can’t find an honorable way to resolve the fiancé mess and all the other honor commitments, then that’s my final option.”
She turned from her study of the floor to look at Noriko. “You said you would think about my problems. Help me to find a third option.”
After a moment she said, “How am I going to tell Pops I want to be a doctor and just do martial arts as a hobby? He’ll go on some kind of rant about how ungrateful I am, how disgraceful and such. I have to wonder if Mom’s ideas of manliness require me to be a martial artist.”
Noriko said in a gentle tone, “Most mothers would be bursting with pride if their son announced his wish to be a doctor.”
The red haired girl snorted. “I’ve always thought Mom must be a little crazy to marry a guy like Pops. I just hope she’s not a lot crazy. If she says I’m unmanly for wanting to make martial arts a sideline, she may demand I commit seppuku.”
The blonde looked puzzled. “I thought she tore up the contract and burned it.”
“She did,” confirmed the younger girl. “Since she did, I don’t have any reason to give in to that kind of demand. If she does ask it, then I guess I’ll stop being a Saotome and come back here to take Po’s offer.”
Po Shen shook her head. “As much as we’d appreciate having you here, I hope it doesn’t come to that. If it does, we won’t care if you are a Saotome or not.”
“Thanks Po.” Ranma stood up. “Come on, Noriko. We’ve got some packing to do.”
When they got up to the guest room, Noriko said, “I’ve got a confession to make.”
Ranma rolled her eyes. “Another one?”
The former man nodded. After a pause she said, “I’m rich.”
“Huh?” Ranma wasn’t quite sure she heard what she thought she did. “Did you just say you’re rich?”
“Yes.”
The red haired girl considered that for a time. She placed the suitcase and the mailing tube on the bed and said, “I’m guessing there’s a story behind that. Why don’t you tell that story while I pack. After that you can tell me how that changes our situation. I’m guessing you have some idea that your wealth might help me in some way. You can explain that as well.”
She paused a moment and said, “Even if you were rich as Happosai, would you still be able to get your hands on that money now as Noriko?”
She picked up the mailing tube and pulled one of the end caps off.
Noriko started. “Well, as to how I got rich, that’s not all that much of a story. It comes of living a very long time. About 150 years ago I bought several parcels of land in Tokyo. At the time they were cheep. Not all of them became really valuable and those I’ve sold for what profit I could get. Some now have really big buildings on them that bring in enormous amounts of money in rent from the businesses that have their offices there.”
Ranma nodded as she slid the rolled-up ki flows chart into the tube and nodded. She could easily imagine someone doing what Noriko had described.
The blonde continued, “As to how I would be able to get access to the money, that wouldn’t be all that hard. I’ve been having the real estate management companies that collect the rents deposit the money into Swiss bank accounts. Those are accessed by use of account numbers and not by a signature. Remember those accounts have been around long enough that the bankers don’t expect the original depositor to ever come claim them.”
Ranma set the tube aside and picked up her pack. She didn’t say anything.
The older girl explained, “The bankers believe that the accounts are being maintained by descendants of the original depositor. I set up passwords to use so that ‘Members of my family’ could access the money. Using those passwords, I could be Tendo Noriko or even Saotome Ranma and still get the money.”
As Ranma began stuffing clothes in her pack she said, “Alright, I can understand that. But if you have a lot of money and still have a way of getting at it, why were you sponging off the Tendos?”
The former man responded, “You’ve seen how I used to live. I didn’t need a lot of money. Part of the reason I was living off Soun was because I had hopes that he would grow a backbone and try to throw me out. Of all my students, you are the only one who was willing to defy me. I admit that I was disappointed when Soun turned out to be such a wimp.”
The redhead looked in her pack and commented, “I guess we’ll have to ask Elder Lo Shen to give us some food for travel supplies before we leave in the morning. We might not always be somewhere where we can buy food when we get hungry.”
Noriko nodded, “Good idea.” She paused a moment before continuing, “you probably wonder why I used peeping on women in bath houses and stealing food and other such things as part of my training of your father and Soun.”
Ranma draped a pair of pants and a red shirt over the back of the chair. She planned to wear them in the morning. “Yeah, I did sort of question what that was supposed to teach them.”
The older girl explained, “That wasn’t really teaching. It was more of a test of their character. I kept hoping that they would protest or refuse to do the things I asked of them. They seemed to think that if they did those things I would share with them the ultimate secrets of the Anything Goes School.”
“Did you?” Ranma wanted to know.
The older girl shook her head. “No. It was because they went along with all of that crap that I never gave them the deepest secrets of the School. I did teach them some advanced techniques and let them believe that those were the secrets. They weren’t.”
Ranma took a look around to make sure she hadn’t forgotten to pack anything. When she was satisfied that the only things left out were those items they would be using or wearing in the morning, she said, “So they failed your test of character?”
The blonde nodded. “You might be interested to know that you passed. You refused to help me steal lingerie. You refused to compromise your principles. You have much more honor than your father.”
Ranma considered that. “Does that mean you will teach me all of your secret techniques?”
“If you want me to,” was the answer.
The redhead nodded. “And that's the important question. If I study to be a doctor, then I won’t be able to spend the time on martial arts that I have been. I would have to wonder if I would really need your secret techniques. Would any of those techniques heal people of diseases or wounds?”
Noriko smiled. “Actually some of them would. Besides ki healing, I know some magic healing techniques that the original Noriko taught me.”
“Would you teach them to me?”
The older girl said, “I’d be happy to.”
A thought occurred to the pigtailed martial artist. “We’ve spent all of this time talking about my problems and what I’m going to do with my future. Now that you’re young again, you have pretty much a whole new lifetime ahead of you. What do you want to do with your future?”
The blonde looked surprised at being asked. “Well, I have to work at making up for some of the things that I did while I was Happosai. Though, sad to say, many of the people I owe apologies to are dead now. After that, maybe I’ll open a dojo of my own. When I’m being serious about it, I can be a pretty good teacher.”
She paused again then snapped her fingers. “There was a point I was going to make about having money. It was about Ukyo. I was thinking I could buy a new Yattai to replace the one Genma took. That should clear the engagement issue with her.”
“That’s a generous offer,” Ranma allowed. “I’m not sure it would count as me resolving my problem if you are paying for it.”
“What?” Noriko protested, “Can’t I help out a friend?”
The redhead shook her head, “Like I said, generous offer. I don’t know, though.”
In a pleading tone the blonde said, “Please! At least think about it. I literally have more money than I know what to do with. It would do my heart good to help you with this. If you want you could even think of it as a loan to be paid back when you become a doctor.” In a sly tone she added, “Doctors do usually make pretty good money.”
Ranma was tempted. Finally she thought of a compromise. “How about this? I can tell Ucchan that I have the means to get her a new yattai. If she’s willing to go along with it, then I’ll agree to the loan.”
“Fair enough,” Noriko agreed.
Since they had come in earlier than usual it was time for dinner now. They went downstairs. After they finished eating, Lo Shen gave the two girls a box of canned foods and other supplies to eat on the trip.
After putting the supplies in their packs the girls adjourned to Po Shen’s room to use the computer. Ranma sent one final email to inform Nabiki they had received the travel documents and credit card and would be leaving the next morning. Since they would still catch the plane at the time listed on the tickets, they didn’t mention that they would be flying most of the way to Beijing. It wouldn’t make a difference in when they arrived back in Japan.
They went to bed early so they could be up early the next morning.
Author's Note: Ranma and Noriko found kindness and help in an unexpected place. While sad to leave their new friends, they have business to settle back in Japan. Whether or not all of Ranma's problems can be resolved remains to be seen. Noriko has dedicated herself to furthering Ranma's happiness with no regard to her own. Is there any happiness waiting for Noriko when they get back into their home territory? Stay tuned.
Happi's Redemption chapter 9
Happi’s Redemption
A Ranma One Half Fan Fiction
By Michael A. Ivins
Ranma along with all of his friends, enemies and acquaintances are the property of Takahashi Rumiko. I’m just borrowing them for my own amusement and hopefully that of my readers. Sailor Moon and the Senshi aren’t mine either. Please don’t sue me.
This story takes place after the end of the manga.
Chapter 9
Getting Stronger
The next day Ranma told Dr. Rinse about the self healing ki technique. The doctor was suitably impressed. She was willing to loan Ranma a chart of ki patterns so she could study them to learn more about them.
When Noriko walked into the class, the Brick was surprised. She had expected the blonde woman to beg off the teaching because of sore muscles. The woman didn’t say why she was able to move around, and the Brick refused to ask.
During the day’s classes Noriko mentioned to the Brick that Ranma knew the Breaking Point technique but hadn’t gotten the toughening up exercises. The instructor nodded. She did train her recruits in that technique. She agreed that after the class was done she would set up the boulders for Ranma.
It was just getting toward the end of the noon hour and Ranma had finished her lunch and was doing a little clean up in preparation for the next patient. There came a clattering noise from a closet.
Wondering what was going on, the redhead opened the closet door. From the interior of the closet came a tall muscular, black haired boy who wore dark trousers and a yellow shirt. In his hair he wore a yellow bandana with black spots. He fell on his face.
It took a moment for the boy to realize that he was out of the closet. He pushed himself up and looked around. Standing nearby he spied a redheaded girl wearing a Chinese pantsuit. He thought she looked slightly familiar.
The Lost Boy said, “I’m sorry Miss but I’m lost. Could you tell me how to get to the Tendo Dojo?”
Ranma gave him a scowl. “I’m not even going to ask you how you got in the closet. The Tendo Dojo is in Japan and right now you're in China - Qinghai Province in the Byancala Range.”
“China? I thought I was in Osaka.” The bandana-wearing boy paused, “Isn’t Qinghai Province where Jusenkyo is located?”
Ranma rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that's in this province. You are about a day and half walk away from it, though.”
The boy nodded as if weighing the answer. After another moment he asked, “If we’re in China, why are you speaking Japanese?”
The redhead closed her eyes for a moment, rubbing her fingers across her forehead. “I’m talking to you in Japanese because that the language you spoke in when you said you were lost. Besides my Mandarin sucks.”
The boy nodded again. A puzzled expression on his face, he said, “Forgive me, but you look familiar.”
The girl asked herself, “Why is this guy so dense?” Out loud she said, “I look familiar because I’m Ranma. As long as we've known each other you should be able to recognize me, Ryoga.”
“Ranma?” He looked at her closer. “You have played with Akane’s affections for the last time. Saotome Ranma, PREPARE…”
Before he could finish his usual challenge phrase Ranma shouted, “Damn it, Ryoga! THIS IS A DOCTOR’S OFFICE. Don’t you dare pull your usual crap here.”
The Lost Boy stood with his mouth open in mid-challenge. Before he could think of a way to respond to that, another voice demanded, “Young man, why are you harassing my assistant? And how did you get in here anyway?”
He turned and saw a woman in a white lab coat and a stethoscope draped around her neck. If he was in a doctor's office, she must be the doctor. “Your assistant?”
Dr. Rinse frowned and said, “Yes, I said assistant. Miss Tendo is staying in our village for a few weeks with her cousin and is helping me out while she’s here.”
“Tendo?” The boy was more confused. “This is Saotome Ranma. She even said she was.”
The doctor’s stern demeanor intensified, “I don’t care what you say this girl’s name is. I know her by the name Tendo Ranko and she had proved to be a good assistant. True, she is a bit ignorant of medicine but she is smart, eager and a quick learner. If you have some private quarrel with her it will have to wait until after the end of office hours.”
“But…”
“Leave, Now!” The doctor wasn’t taking any guff.
“Yes, Ma’am,” Ryoga meekly responded. He started back toward the door of the closet before Ranma stopped him. Comb had to lead the boy to the correct door, muttering the whole way.
Rinse turned to Ranma and asked, “You know that boy?”
The redhead nodded. “Yeah. He's Hibiki Ryoga. He’s like a sometimes friend, sometimes rival. He’s very strong, very tough. He also has one of the worst senses of direction of anyone on Earth. There have been some people who said Ryoga could get lost in a room with only one door. Others said he can teleport, which gets him lost on other continents.”
The doctor considered that before asking, “What is his grievance against you?”
Ranma shrugged. “He blames me for getting a Jusenkyo curse. He fell into the spring of Drowned Black Piglet. For a long time he was in love with my fiancé and fought me because of her. He has a girlfriend now, but still attacks me because I did something to ‘make Akane sad.’ The trouble with all that is that he has almost no restraint and yet he uses attacks that cause tons of property damage and risk hurting innocent bystanders.”
The older woman said, “That could be a problem.”
The younger girl let out a big sigh. “One of the worst parts of it is that he blames me for almost everything bad that happens to him or ever did happen to him. If his lost curse causes him to appear at the North Pole, he’ll say that it’s my fault. If he gets caught in a rain shower and changes to a pig, that’s my fault too.”
The doctor shook her head. “That boy is in need of counseling.”
The aquentransexual gave a short, bitter laugh. “You’ll get no argument from me on that.”
The redhead paused before continuing. “In a way it’s a good thing that he came here after I’ve only been here a couple of days.”
“How is that a good thing?” Rinse demanded.
Ranma explained. “Even with him always getting lost, he almost always manages to pop up wherever I am. I don’t know how he does it. I could make a bet, though that by the time you close the office for the day, he won’t be anywhere to be found in the village.”
The older woman laughed. “As well as you seem to know this boy, that would be a foolish wager. Nevertheless, I’m going to phone the police and ask them to keep an eye on the boy, just to be safe.”
The redhead nodded. “The way Ryoga is, he’ll likely be on the other side of the world by this evening and probably won’t make it back here for at least two weeks. I’d like to hope that he doesn’t get back here before Noriko and I leave.”
“Other side of the world?”
The sex changing girl smirked. “At times Ryoga has been on every continent in the world in the space of a couple of weeks, and all without ever once getting on a plane or boat.”
The doctor shook her head. “Amazing.”
“If I had to guess where he’s going to end up next, I’d say America.” Ranma snickered.
They broke off their conversation as a patient walked through the door.
The police were notified but Ranma’s prediction proved to be accurate. The cops watched the boy for about two hours. Then he turned a corner and by the time the policewomen turned the same corner, the Lost Boy was nowhere in sight. A quick search of the village yielded no further trace of him.
After the clinic closed for the day Ranma proceeded to the training field in back of the police station. She noticed that two boulders hung on ropes from metal frames and four more were positioned around the field. A smirk came to her face in contemplation of this. It looked like Noriko had convinced the Brick to give Ranma Bukusai Tenketsu training. Noriko was lifting weights. Some of the police trainees were lounging on the borders of the training ground, curious about the Outsider girls they had heard about.
Ranma asked Noriko, “How are you feeling?”
The blonde smiled. “I feel better and stronger. When I healed myself last night, I still got the benefit of the exercise without the soreness today. By working myself to exhaustion every day and healing every night, I can get stronger a lot faster.”
The redhead considered that for a moment. “It’s kind of like the Sayians on Dragonball Z.”
Both Brick and Noriko looked puzzled. Ranma clarified, “Dragonball Z is an anime. In the story the Sayians are this super badass warrior race. They’re super strong, have powerful energy attacks, can fly… Anyway they are examples of the saying ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’”
The girl could see that more explanation was needed. “For these guys if they got beaten to the point they were close to death, when they healed up they were always stronger than before.”
Noriko nodded. “I get what you’re saying.”
The Brick interrupted. “Before we begin your training on the Breaking Point there are some things you need to know. The first thing is that after you have achieved the necessary toughness in your female form, you will need to do it again in your male form. While physical skills carry over from one body to the other, physical conditioning does not (or at least not as much).”
Ranma had suspected this for a long time. She nodded to indicate her understanding.
The Brick continued, “When training a woman in this technique there is an additional step that men don’t often bother with. A woman’s breasts tend to be quite sensitive and need to be protected. There are two main ways you can achieve that protection. One of them is to wear protective chest gear. The other is use a ki manipulation technique called Iron Skin. Since you can already manipulate ki the second technique would likely be best for you.”
At Ranma’s puzzled expression, The Brick explained, “It is a way to temporarily do what the Bukusai Tenketsu training does permanently (or at least long term.) You channel your ki into the skin of parts of your body, making them iron hard. While it is possible to do over your whole body it takes a lot of ki and tends to tire you out quickly.”
She looked Ranma over then said, “The point is that with that technique you can partially harden your breasts so they can get the toughening without damaging them.” She paused before adding the comment, “I would not want to be the one held responsible for damaging that bosom.” She pointed at Ranma’s chest.
“Huh?” Ranma was confused by the comment.
Noriko paused in her exercises to explain, amusement in her tone, “The Brick isn’t used to giving compliments. Basically what she means is that you have a beautiful figure. If she were to be responsible for damaging those impressive breasts a horde of men would be demanding her head and not a few women as well.”
“Humph!” That was the only response the Brick made. Even if she refused to say it, it was obvious that she agreed with Noriko’s statement.
The Brick did have more to say about the techniques. “When you are toughened up you will be more resistant to punches, kicks and chops. It is said that if a person with the toughening uses Iron Skin in addition, they can withstand a gunshot.”
Impressed, Ranma asked, “Is that true?”
The police instructor's perpetual scowl deepened. “I hate to give an vague answer like this, but I have to say that it depends.”
Ranma’s expression of confusion was back. “Depends on what?”
The answer was, “It depends on the weapon and the ammunition. If it was a handgun firing plain led bullets then you could easily survive it. However if you tried to go up against a person with a high powered rifle and armor piercing ammunition, then you’d be better off ducking and covering. Now, it is unlikely that a person shooting at you would do you the courtesy of telling you what kind of ammo they are using. Because of that, as a practical consideration, it is safer to assume that any guns fired at you could injure or kill you.”
The redhead shuddered in consideration of that. “That makes sense.” "Note to self, don't let people shoot at you if you can avoid it."
Noriko went back to her exercises while the Brick instructed Ranma in how to use the Iron Skin technique. Demonstrating her incredible learning talent in matters relating to martial arts techniques it only took her 15 minutes.
The Brick stepped up to one of the boulders on the field and patted the rock. “Noriko tells me you already know the Breaking Point technique and only lack the toughening. I want you to point out the breaking point on this boulder without actually trying to blow it up.”
The redhead grinned. “Great! This’ll give me a chance to try out a variation on the technique I figured out.” She took a stance and used Iron Skin to harden her index finger. She then thrust her finger out to the point she could sense in the boulder and called out, “Bukusai Tenketsu Revised – Slow Crumble!”
Instead of an explosion, cracks radiated out from the impact point. From the initial cracks more spread for a minute until the whole boulder slumped down into a pile of rubble.
Ranma thrust her fist in the air and leapt up while shouting, “Yeah! It worked!” The people watching stood with their jaws hanging open.
The Brick poked her finger into the pile of rubble as if to assure herself that the boulder actually was broken to bits. Finally she asked, “When did you learn this?”
Looking a bit sheepish, the girl scratched the back of her neck as she explained, “I figured this out a couple of days ago. Noriko (in her old body) told me about a different way to use the technique for finding the Breaking Point. It got me thinking about an alternate way to destroy the boulder. I figured this way it would be easier to clean up the mess. I wasn’t sure if it would work.”
The police instructor picked up one of the fragments and examined it. It was rather jagged. She said, a trifle drily, “I’d say it works pretty well. Well, if you're creating revisions, it’s safe to assume you know the basic technique.”
She then hoisted Ranma up to the harness and fastened her in. Two of the students came up to help swing the boulder. The Brick turned back to putting Noriko through her paces.
Later that evening two girls made their way to the home of Elder Lo Shen. Noriko was exhausted from hard exercise, while Ranma was battered and bruised from having boulders smash into her. The two girls were leaning against each other for support.
With a groan, Noriko said, “That woman is evil. I swear she enjoys inflicting pain.”
Ranma groaned in response. “At least you get to heal up. You still get the strength build-up. I have to stay like I am. If I use ki healing I lose the toughening I’ve gained so far.”
That evening the two girls just ate and went to bed. They were not in the mood for a lot of conversation. Even without the use of ki to grant instant healing Ranma high ki level meant she naturally healed faster than normal people. That healing let Ranma keep the toughness she had gained.
The next day was busy without any strange occurrences. When Ranma got to the training field after office hours at the clinic, she had a question.
“Hey Brick?”
The instructor frowned, “What is it, Ranko?”
“Is it possible to do something like that Iron Skin technique with cloth?” She asked.
The instructor nodded. “Yes. Depending on what scrolls you’re reading, it’s called Iron Cloth or Armor Cloth. Why do you ask about it?”
“You know that guy that came to town yesterday?” Ranma asked.
“The one who gets lost?”
With a rueful nod, Ranma answered, “That’s the one. He has this trick where he can pull his bandana off his head, stiffens it up and throws it like a shuriken. He does another trick with the bandana but he can also take off his belt and use it like a sword.”
The police instructor considered that. “The Iron Cloth trick wouldn’t be hard to learn since you know the Iron Skin. Since it is outside your body, it takes more ki, but you have plenty. What’s the other trick he does with the bandana?”
The redhead looked thoughtful. “When he pulls off a bandana to use as a weapon, there's another one under it. The weird thing is that he can keep pulling bandanas off and never seems to run out. If there is a limit to how many he can pull off, he’s never admitted it.”
The short haired woman scratched her scalp. “That’s a new one. I’ve never heard of anyone doing that before. I’d be curious to observe him doing it. Maybe I could figure it out.”
The young girl shook her head, “I’ve seen him do it lots of times and I still haven’t figured it out.”
With the basics Ranma had from Iron Skin, it didn’t take her long to learn the Iron Cloth technique. When she found out her reaction was, “Of course! I should have figured that out before.”
After that they went back to the training. Ranma went back to being smashed with boulders and Noriko returned to exercising to exhaustion. She had progressed enough that she was now lifting weights. When they got back to Lo Shen’s house the Elder insisted that the girls go soak in a hot tub.
Ranma had wanted to protest at sharing a bath with the blonde but she was feeling too tired and painful to make a fuss about it. She reasoned that Noriko was too tired to try anything funny while they were in the bath.
Lo Shen had a Japanese style furo, so there was plenty of room for both girls to soak. Noriko was easing her body into the tub when Ranma shucked out of her clothing. Every part of her body with the exception of her face was a riot of colors, including purple, yellow, brown and greenish spots.
The blonde surveyed the other girl as she lowered herself into the water with a sigh. She said, “Damn, it hurts just looking at you.”
Leaning her head back against the side of the tub and closing her eyes, Ranma said, “It doesn’t feel as bad as it looks. Brick says I’m making progress. One more day, two at the most and I should be at the level of toughness to blow stuff up without getting hurt.”
Noriko surprised herself saying, “I hope it’s done soon. I don’t like seeing you get hurt like that.”
Ranma opened one eye and looked at the other girl. “You actually care? Wow, I’m touched.”
The blonde blushed and admitted, “I don’t know if you’ll believe this, but after the help you’ve given me, I’m really coming to think of you as a friend.”
The redhead opened the other eye and raised her head to get a better look. “Really?”
Noriko nodded.
The younger girl leaned her head back again but kept her eyes open as if studying the ceiling. After a moment she said, “Thanks for that Noriko. I have to admit that now, with you being a girl and not trying to grope me all the time, you are kind of growing on me.”
Noriko hadn’t had many friends in her long life. It was with a little apprehension she asked, “Do you think of me as a friend?”
The younger girl raised her head again. “There’s still some caution in my mind. I can’t forget that you used to be Happosai. Still, the way you look now and the fact that you’re acting different, it helping to ease the memory. If you keep going the way you’ve been going, I can definitely see you being a friend.”
The blonde let out a sigh. She hadn’t realized how much she was fearing rejection. She hoped it didn’t have anything to do with those sexual thoughts she’d had about Ranma. Her hormones seemed to have leveled out and she wasn’t having as many of those lecherous thoughts about her traveling companion.
Well, she amended, she wasn’t having so many lecherous thoughts. Most girls would say that Ranma’s boy form was a real hunk after all. Her girl form was the stuff of male and not a few female fantasies. At the moment it was hard to feel anything approaching arousal after seeing Ranma’s bruised form.
Seeing Ranma looking so abused had awakened another feeling in the former man. It was a feeling she wouldn’t not have expected. She wanted to comfort the redhead, to rub soothing ointments on her and make her feel better. If she had been asked, she would have sworn she didn’t have a maternal, nurturing side.
Considering what Ranma had said about gradually coming to accept her as a friend, Noriko decided not to let the other girl know her thoughts right now. She felt that doing so might ruin the trust that was growing between them. Maybe it would be better to let the friendship grow naturally rather than try to push it.
Over the next two weeks Ranma continued to work for the doctor and continued to learn about medicine. She also learned how to use ki healing on people other than herself. She found that she was greatly enjoying all that she was learning and found that healing people was something she would like to do in the future. She figured that when she got back to Japan she would redouble her efforts in school to try and prepare to study medicine.
On the training field after the doctor’s office hours Ranma finished her conditioning for the Breaking Point. She demonstrated her mastery of the technique by blowing up three boulders. She learned the Iron Cloth technique and the Splitting Cat Hairs.
Between working to exhaustion every day and ki healing, Noriko was almost equal to Ranma’s strength.
At one point Noriko offered to train Ranma in some of the techniques she knew.
While the redhead was getting to where she felt like she could trust the blonde, she wasn’t so sure about her techniques. She said, “If you want to teach me that trick of how to steal a woman’s underwear without taking off her outer clothes I don’t really want to know that.”
Noriko pointed out, “I actually adapted that from a technique that had nothing to do with perversion.”
Ranma was surprised, “Really? What was the original technique for?”
The older girl explained, “The original technique was used to steal weapons and armor from opponents to make them more vulnerable to martial arts techniques such as punches and kicks.”
Ranma had to concede that this might be a useful technique. She agreed to learn it. She also learned a variation of Tendo Soun’s demon head technique. In all they both kept busy.
One night during their stay Ranma and Noriko spent the night at the Brick’s home because a warrior of the Joketsuzoku had come to check if the “fugitives” had passed through the village. The warrior had been told that Saotome Ranma and Happosai had not come through the village. The warrior stayed the night at the home of a friend of Po Shen’s and left the following day.
In the email correspondence there wasn’t much new information. Ranma told Nabiki that Ryoga had showed up in the village. Nabiki said she would be on the lookout for him. She hoped to be able to keep him from telling people where Ranma was at least until the travelers could leave the village.
The mercenary girl reported that Kuno had taken off on a mission to rescue the “Pigtailed Goddess” from the Vile Lecher Happosai. When he had tried to carry his bokken through the airport, security guards tried to stop him. In the resulting fight four guards were injured and they had to throw a net over the deranged kendoist to subdue him. Nabiki had commented that it wouldn’t have done Kuno any good if he had gone, because he had only the vaguest of ideas of where to go.
Kodachi had made a pest of herself at the Tendo dojo, dropping by every day. Every time she was told that Ranma-Sama had not returned yet and there was no ETA. Ukyo was almost as bad. At least she was willing to believe that Ranma had gone to help a dying Happosai.
The Nekohanten group of Amazon’s had been quiet the whole time and Nabiki said that had her worried. Maybe she was trying to let her people in China handle things on that end but she would have expected the Amazons to at least keep a watch on the dojo.
It seemed that Ms. Hinako was giving Ranma the benefit of the doubt. She was willing to believe that boy really was helping a sick friend. She had phoned the Tendo dojo to tell them that she had save up the assignments so that Ranma could catch up when he got back if he wanted to.
Then a new email came.
“To: Undomesticated Equine
From: Frozen Monarch
Subject: Got it!
Your documents are ready. I’m putting them in an envelope and sending them by an express delivery service. You should have them no later than day after tomorrow.
Based on your description of the time it took on the way in, I’m making reservations for a flight back to Tokyo from Beijing. By my estimate, the reserved flight should leave one day after you get to that city. I added that extra day to allow for any problems that might come up on the way.
On the chance that you find a faster way to travel, I’m including a credit card. It’s like a gift card with a certain amount of money loaded onto it. There should be enough on it to pay for hotel rooms for two nights as well as meals. This is going on Noriko’s tab, by the way. She can settle up with me when she gets back.
Be seeing you soon,
The Ice Queen”
Ranma and Noriko exchanged a look then high fived. They had enjoyed their time in the Amazon village, but they were eager to get back to Japan. They had things they wanted to do there.
After Ranma sent a brief acknowledgement, she logged out of the email server and the two girls went downstairs to talk to their hosts.
When Lo Shen saw them she noticed something in their demeanor that suggested they had news to tell. “Did you hear some news from home?”
Ranma nodded. “Our documents are ready. The girl who’s taking care of it for us is sending them by an express delivery service. We should have the documents by day after tomorrow.”
The Matriarch seemed to think for a moment. “I’ll be sad to see you both go. You have been pleasant company. Still, when I agreed to let you stay here, I knew this moment was coming.” Impulsively she got up and hugged each girl in turn.
When they disengaged from the hug, Lo Shen told them, “This comes at a good time. We have a shipment of our tea ready to go. You two can accompany the shipment. That will cut down on your travel time.”
Ranma looked at her with a raised eyebrow. The Elder expanded, “We will be sending four crates. Mas Cara will be taking them in the truck down to the next village that has an airstrip. There they will be loaded onto a plane that will be flying direct to Beijing. If I request it, the pilot will let you ride with him. That would free you from hitch hiking and trains.”
Noriko smiled. “That would help a lot.
“Well,” Said Po Shen, standing up. “We need to get down to business.” She walked over and reached behind the couch. She pulled out a canvas backpack.
The young woman said, “My friend Mei Ling recently got a new, fancy backpack by mail order and doesn’t need this one any more. She was willing to let Noriko have it.” She handed the backpack to the blonde girl.
Noriko hefted the pack and commented, “There’s stuff in this already.”
The elders granddaughter laughed. “When they heard that you had nothing to wear other than borrowed clothing, Condi Shonur’s sewing class went a little overboard in making clothes for you. They said it wasn’t right that you to have to wear borrowed boy’s clothes. They made dresses, undergarments, pants and blouses. In fact they made more than would fit into two packs.”
The blonde looked distressed. “I’m grateful for their generosity and hard work, but we need to travel light.”
Po Shen sighed. “Actually they were more generous than that. The class also made some clothes for Ranko as well. Since you will be riding the whole way, maybe it wouldn’t be too much trouble to take more than you can carry on your backs.”
Ranma protested, “What are we going to carry the extra stuff in? Right now we only have the two packs.”
The Matriarch grinned. “I anticipated this and asked around. Our school teacher was planning a trip and mail ordered new luggage. She was wondering what she was going to do with her old luggage. She’d be happy to let you have two of the old suitcases. She’s giving you the two biggest ones that should fit all of the extra clothes with no trouble.”
The redhead seemed almost ready to cry. “You are such nice people. After I met the Joketsuzoku, I’m afraid I had a bad opinion of Amazons. You have shown me that not all Amazon’s are bad people.”
Lo Shen smiled. “Thank you, Ranko. You shouldn’t judge the Joketsuzoku too harshly. They live in more primitive conditions in an area that is hard to get to. They have reasons for acting the way they do. True, many of the reasons for their behavior are no longer relevant in the modern world, but that is a discussion for another time.”
The red haired girl shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe the ones I’ve met are just a bad example and the rest of them are nicer. Personally I think Shampoo is obsessed and Mousse is an idiot. Without a doubt Cologne is a cold, manipulative old bitch.”
The Elder considered that for a moment. “While I might not approve the language you used, I can’t argue the truth of what you say about them. I think part of the problem they have is that Kho Lon has been in charge so long and so used to getting her way that she gives no consideration to the feelings of the people she deals with. I think Shan Pu has a little bit of that problem herself.”
The aquatransexual thought about that. “So, if I’m understanding what you’re saying, basically she’s a spoiled brat who treats me like a toy her grandmother gave her.”
The older woman chuckled. “Well, I wouldn’t phrase it that way but I can’t really disagree. As to young Mou Tsu, I’m not sure if he qualifies as an idiot. I would have to say he really is a fool, though.”
Ranma and Noriko both joined in the laugh.
Noriko took the backpack and the two girls went back up the stairs. Ranma transferred one of the tents to Noriko’s pack. They would have to wait until the day they left to pack the food supplies.
The redhead wasn’t all that thrilled with the gift of girl’s clothing, but it would have been rude to refuse. At that thought she paused. If she was ever going to get her girl form grown up to match her male form, she’d have to spend time as a girl. If she learned how to change at will, there shouldn’t be any more accidental changes. Maybe girl clothing wasn’t such a bad idea after all – as long as it wasn’t too frilly and girlish.
That brought another thought. Back at the Tendo dojo there were boxes of girl clothing she had either never worn or not worn more than to try it on in the store. This was the stuff her mother had bought for Tendo Ranko while trying to make the girl she believed to be Akane’s cousin more ladylike. While there was some really frilly stuff there were some more basic items that would probably be appropriate for a tomboy.
Yeah! If Ranma did have to spend half or more of her time as a girl, she was still a guy inside. That would make her girl side a tomboy, wouldn’t it? It didn’t look like she was going to be the “man among men” her mother wanted. It was a relief at least that Nodoka wasn’t going to enforce the contract. Well that was an issue to worry about after she got back to Japan.
Since they were not actually leaving for at least another day or two, they didn’t spend much time with their packs. After they were done they adjourned to the bath. They had gotten in the habit of bathing together. The first time both of them had been too tired to do more than just sit and soak. Now they had developed enough trust in each other that they were willing to do it when they were feeling healthy. By mutual agreement, conversation at these times was kept light, staying away from important topics.
After a nice soak, the two girls retired to their beds for the night.
Author's Note: In effect Ranma and Noriko have had a sort of working vacation. Noriko's almost as strong as she wants to be and Ranma has learned some cool techniques. Soon they will be heading back to Japan and Ranma will have to face up to the fiance mess again.
A Ranma One Half Fan Fiction
By Michael A. Ivins
Ranma along with all of his friends, enemies and acquaintances are the property of Takahashi Rumiko. I’m just borrowing them for my own amusement and hopefully that of my readers. Sailor Moon and the Senshi aren’t mine either. Please don’t sue me.
This story takes place after the end of the manga.
Chapter 9
Getting Stronger
The next day Ranma told Dr. Rinse about the self healing ki technique. The doctor was suitably impressed. She was willing to loan Ranma a chart of ki patterns so she could study them to learn more about them.
When Noriko walked into the class, the Brick was surprised. She had expected the blonde woman to beg off the teaching because of sore muscles. The woman didn’t say why she was able to move around, and the Brick refused to ask.
During the day’s classes Noriko mentioned to the Brick that Ranma knew the Breaking Point technique but hadn’t gotten the toughening up exercises. The instructor nodded. She did train her recruits in that technique. She agreed that after the class was done she would set up the boulders for Ranma.
It was just getting toward the end of the noon hour and Ranma had finished her lunch and was doing a little clean up in preparation for the next patient. There came a clattering noise from a closet.
Wondering what was going on, the redhead opened the closet door. From the interior of the closet came a tall muscular, black haired boy who wore dark trousers and a yellow shirt. In his hair he wore a yellow bandana with black spots. He fell on his face.
It took a moment for the boy to realize that he was out of the closet. He pushed himself up and looked around. Standing nearby he spied a redheaded girl wearing a Chinese pantsuit. He thought she looked slightly familiar.
The Lost Boy said, “I’m sorry Miss but I’m lost. Could you tell me how to get to the Tendo Dojo?”
Ranma gave him a scowl. “I’m not even going to ask you how you got in the closet. The Tendo Dojo is in Japan and right now you're in China - Qinghai Province in the Byancala Range.”
“China? I thought I was in Osaka.” The bandana-wearing boy paused, “Isn’t Qinghai Province where Jusenkyo is located?”
Ranma rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that's in this province. You are about a day and half walk away from it, though.”
The boy nodded as if weighing the answer. After another moment he asked, “If we’re in China, why are you speaking Japanese?”
The redhead closed her eyes for a moment, rubbing her fingers across her forehead. “I’m talking to you in Japanese because that the language you spoke in when you said you were lost. Besides my Mandarin sucks.”
The boy nodded again. A puzzled expression on his face, he said, “Forgive me, but you look familiar.”
The girl asked herself, “Why is this guy so dense?” Out loud she said, “I look familiar because I’m Ranma. As long as we've known each other you should be able to recognize me, Ryoga.”
“Ranma?” He looked at her closer. “You have played with Akane’s affections for the last time. Saotome Ranma, PREPARE…”
Before he could finish his usual challenge phrase Ranma shouted, “Damn it, Ryoga! THIS IS A DOCTOR’S OFFICE. Don’t you dare pull your usual crap here.”
The Lost Boy stood with his mouth open in mid-challenge. Before he could think of a way to respond to that, another voice demanded, “Young man, why are you harassing my assistant? And how did you get in here anyway?”
He turned and saw a woman in a white lab coat and a stethoscope draped around her neck. If he was in a doctor's office, she must be the doctor. “Your assistant?”
Dr. Rinse frowned and said, “Yes, I said assistant. Miss Tendo is staying in our village for a few weeks with her cousin and is helping me out while she’s here.”
“Tendo?” The boy was more confused. “This is Saotome Ranma. She even said she was.”
The doctor’s stern demeanor intensified, “I don’t care what you say this girl’s name is. I know her by the name Tendo Ranko and she had proved to be a good assistant. True, she is a bit ignorant of medicine but she is smart, eager and a quick learner. If you have some private quarrel with her it will have to wait until after the end of office hours.”
“But…”
“Leave, Now!” The doctor wasn’t taking any guff.
“Yes, Ma’am,” Ryoga meekly responded. He started back toward the door of the closet before Ranma stopped him. Comb had to lead the boy to the correct door, muttering the whole way.
Rinse turned to Ranma and asked, “You know that boy?”
The redhead nodded. “Yeah. He's Hibiki Ryoga. He’s like a sometimes friend, sometimes rival. He’s very strong, very tough. He also has one of the worst senses of direction of anyone on Earth. There have been some people who said Ryoga could get lost in a room with only one door. Others said he can teleport, which gets him lost on other continents.”
The doctor considered that before asking, “What is his grievance against you?”
Ranma shrugged. “He blames me for getting a Jusenkyo curse. He fell into the spring of Drowned Black Piglet. For a long time he was in love with my fiancé and fought me because of her. He has a girlfriend now, but still attacks me because I did something to ‘make Akane sad.’ The trouble with all that is that he has almost no restraint and yet he uses attacks that cause tons of property damage and risk hurting innocent bystanders.”
The older woman said, “That could be a problem.”
The younger girl let out a big sigh. “One of the worst parts of it is that he blames me for almost everything bad that happens to him or ever did happen to him. If his lost curse causes him to appear at the North Pole, he’ll say that it’s my fault. If he gets caught in a rain shower and changes to a pig, that’s my fault too.”
The doctor shook her head. “That boy is in need of counseling.”
The aquentransexual gave a short, bitter laugh. “You’ll get no argument from me on that.”
The redhead paused before continuing. “In a way it’s a good thing that he came here after I’ve only been here a couple of days.”
“How is that a good thing?” Rinse demanded.
Ranma explained. “Even with him always getting lost, he almost always manages to pop up wherever I am. I don’t know how he does it. I could make a bet, though that by the time you close the office for the day, he won’t be anywhere to be found in the village.”
The older woman laughed. “As well as you seem to know this boy, that would be a foolish wager. Nevertheless, I’m going to phone the police and ask them to keep an eye on the boy, just to be safe.”
The redhead nodded. “The way Ryoga is, he’ll likely be on the other side of the world by this evening and probably won’t make it back here for at least two weeks. I’d like to hope that he doesn’t get back here before Noriko and I leave.”
“Other side of the world?”
The sex changing girl smirked. “At times Ryoga has been on every continent in the world in the space of a couple of weeks, and all without ever once getting on a plane or boat.”
The doctor shook her head. “Amazing.”
“If I had to guess where he’s going to end up next, I’d say America.” Ranma snickered.
They broke off their conversation as a patient walked through the door.
The police were notified but Ranma’s prediction proved to be accurate. The cops watched the boy for about two hours. Then he turned a corner and by the time the policewomen turned the same corner, the Lost Boy was nowhere in sight. A quick search of the village yielded no further trace of him.
After the clinic closed for the day Ranma proceeded to the training field in back of the police station. She noticed that two boulders hung on ropes from metal frames and four more were positioned around the field. A smirk came to her face in contemplation of this. It looked like Noriko had convinced the Brick to give Ranma Bukusai Tenketsu training. Noriko was lifting weights. Some of the police trainees were lounging on the borders of the training ground, curious about the Outsider girls they had heard about.
Ranma asked Noriko, “How are you feeling?”
The blonde smiled. “I feel better and stronger. When I healed myself last night, I still got the benefit of the exercise without the soreness today. By working myself to exhaustion every day and healing every night, I can get stronger a lot faster.”
The redhead considered that for a moment. “It’s kind of like the Sayians on Dragonball Z.”
Both Brick and Noriko looked puzzled. Ranma clarified, “Dragonball Z is an anime. In the story the Sayians are this super badass warrior race. They’re super strong, have powerful energy attacks, can fly… Anyway they are examples of the saying ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’”
The girl could see that more explanation was needed. “For these guys if they got beaten to the point they were close to death, when they healed up they were always stronger than before.”
Noriko nodded. “I get what you’re saying.”
The Brick interrupted. “Before we begin your training on the Breaking Point there are some things you need to know. The first thing is that after you have achieved the necessary toughness in your female form, you will need to do it again in your male form. While physical skills carry over from one body to the other, physical conditioning does not (or at least not as much).”
Ranma had suspected this for a long time. She nodded to indicate her understanding.
The Brick continued, “When training a woman in this technique there is an additional step that men don’t often bother with. A woman’s breasts tend to be quite sensitive and need to be protected. There are two main ways you can achieve that protection. One of them is to wear protective chest gear. The other is use a ki manipulation technique called Iron Skin. Since you can already manipulate ki the second technique would likely be best for you.”
At Ranma’s puzzled expression, The Brick explained, “It is a way to temporarily do what the Bukusai Tenketsu training does permanently (or at least long term.) You channel your ki into the skin of parts of your body, making them iron hard. While it is possible to do over your whole body it takes a lot of ki and tends to tire you out quickly.”
She looked Ranma over then said, “The point is that with that technique you can partially harden your breasts so they can get the toughening without damaging them.” She paused before adding the comment, “I would not want to be the one held responsible for damaging that bosom.” She pointed at Ranma’s chest.
“Huh?” Ranma was confused by the comment.
Noriko paused in her exercises to explain, amusement in her tone, “The Brick isn’t used to giving compliments. Basically what she means is that you have a beautiful figure. If she were to be responsible for damaging those impressive breasts a horde of men would be demanding her head and not a few women as well.”
“Humph!” That was the only response the Brick made. Even if she refused to say it, it was obvious that she agreed with Noriko’s statement.
The Brick did have more to say about the techniques. “When you are toughened up you will be more resistant to punches, kicks and chops. It is said that if a person with the toughening uses Iron Skin in addition, they can withstand a gunshot.”
Impressed, Ranma asked, “Is that true?”
The police instructor's perpetual scowl deepened. “I hate to give an vague answer like this, but I have to say that it depends.”
Ranma’s expression of confusion was back. “Depends on what?”
The answer was, “It depends on the weapon and the ammunition. If it was a handgun firing plain led bullets then you could easily survive it. However if you tried to go up against a person with a high powered rifle and armor piercing ammunition, then you’d be better off ducking and covering. Now, it is unlikely that a person shooting at you would do you the courtesy of telling you what kind of ammo they are using. Because of that, as a practical consideration, it is safer to assume that any guns fired at you could injure or kill you.”
The redhead shuddered in consideration of that. “That makes sense.” "Note to self, don't let people shoot at you if you can avoid it."
Noriko went back to her exercises while the Brick instructed Ranma in how to use the Iron Skin technique. Demonstrating her incredible learning talent in matters relating to martial arts techniques it only took her 15 minutes.
The Brick stepped up to one of the boulders on the field and patted the rock. “Noriko tells me you already know the Breaking Point technique and only lack the toughening. I want you to point out the breaking point on this boulder without actually trying to blow it up.”
The redhead grinned. “Great! This’ll give me a chance to try out a variation on the technique I figured out.” She took a stance and used Iron Skin to harden her index finger. She then thrust her finger out to the point she could sense in the boulder and called out, “Bukusai Tenketsu Revised – Slow Crumble!”
Instead of an explosion, cracks radiated out from the impact point. From the initial cracks more spread for a minute until the whole boulder slumped down into a pile of rubble.
Ranma thrust her fist in the air and leapt up while shouting, “Yeah! It worked!” The people watching stood with their jaws hanging open.
The Brick poked her finger into the pile of rubble as if to assure herself that the boulder actually was broken to bits. Finally she asked, “When did you learn this?”
Looking a bit sheepish, the girl scratched the back of her neck as she explained, “I figured this out a couple of days ago. Noriko (in her old body) told me about a different way to use the technique for finding the Breaking Point. It got me thinking about an alternate way to destroy the boulder. I figured this way it would be easier to clean up the mess. I wasn’t sure if it would work.”
The police instructor picked up one of the fragments and examined it. It was rather jagged. She said, a trifle drily, “I’d say it works pretty well. Well, if you're creating revisions, it’s safe to assume you know the basic technique.”
She then hoisted Ranma up to the harness and fastened her in. Two of the students came up to help swing the boulder. The Brick turned back to putting Noriko through her paces.
Later that evening two girls made their way to the home of Elder Lo Shen. Noriko was exhausted from hard exercise, while Ranma was battered and bruised from having boulders smash into her. The two girls were leaning against each other for support.
With a groan, Noriko said, “That woman is evil. I swear she enjoys inflicting pain.”
Ranma groaned in response. “At least you get to heal up. You still get the strength build-up. I have to stay like I am. If I use ki healing I lose the toughening I’ve gained so far.”
That evening the two girls just ate and went to bed. They were not in the mood for a lot of conversation. Even without the use of ki to grant instant healing Ranma high ki level meant she naturally healed faster than normal people. That healing let Ranma keep the toughness she had gained.
The next day was busy without any strange occurrences. When Ranma got to the training field after office hours at the clinic, she had a question.
“Hey Brick?”
The instructor frowned, “What is it, Ranko?”
“Is it possible to do something like that Iron Skin technique with cloth?” She asked.
The instructor nodded. “Yes. Depending on what scrolls you’re reading, it’s called Iron Cloth or Armor Cloth. Why do you ask about it?”
“You know that guy that came to town yesterday?” Ranma asked.
“The one who gets lost?”
With a rueful nod, Ranma answered, “That’s the one. He has this trick where he can pull his bandana off his head, stiffens it up and throws it like a shuriken. He does another trick with the bandana but he can also take off his belt and use it like a sword.”
The police instructor considered that. “The Iron Cloth trick wouldn’t be hard to learn since you know the Iron Skin. Since it is outside your body, it takes more ki, but you have plenty. What’s the other trick he does with the bandana?”
The redhead looked thoughtful. “When he pulls off a bandana to use as a weapon, there's another one under it. The weird thing is that he can keep pulling bandanas off and never seems to run out. If there is a limit to how many he can pull off, he’s never admitted it.”
The short haired woman scratched her scalp. “That’s a new one. I’ve never heard of anyone doing that before. I’d be curious to observe him doing it. Maybe I could figure it out.”
The young girl shook her head, “I’ve seen him do it lots of times and I still haven’t figured it out.”
With the basics Ranma had from Iron Skin, it didn’t take her long to learn the Iron Cloth technique. When she found out her reaction was, “Of course! I should have figured that out before.”
After that they went back to the training. Ranma went back to being smashed with boulders and Noriko returned to exercising to exhaustion. She had progressed enough that she was now lifting weights. When they got back to Lo Shen’s house the Elder insisted that the girls go soak in a hot tub.
Ranma had wanted to protest at sharing a bath with the blonde but she was feeling too tired and painful to make a fuss about it. She reasoned that Noriko was too tired to try anything funny while they were in the bath.
Lo Shen had a Japanese style furo, so there was plenty of room for both girls to soak. Noriko was easing her body into the tub when Ranma shucked out of her clothing. Every part of her body with the exception of her face was a riot of colors, including purple, yellow, brown and greenish spots.
The blonde surveyed the other girl as she lowered herself into the water with a sigh. She said, “Damn, it hurts just looking at you.”
Leaning her head back against the side of the tub and closing her eyes, Ranma said, “It doesn’t feel as bad as it looks. Brick says I’m making progress. One more day, two at the most and I should be at the level of toughness to blow stuff up without getting hurt.”
Noriko surprised herself saying, “I hope it’s done soon. I don’t like seeing you get hurt like that.”
Ranma opened one eye and looked at the other girl. “You actually care? Wow, I’m touched.”
The blonde blushed and admitted, “I don’t know if you’ll believe this, but after the help you’ve given me, I’m really coming to think of you as a friend.”
The redhead opened the other eye and raised her head to get a better look. “Really?”
Noriko nodded.
The younger girl leaned her head back again but kept her eyes open as if studying the ceiling. After a moment she said, “Thanks for that Noriko. I have to admit that now, with you being a girl and not trying to grope me all the time, you are kind of growing on me.”
Noriko hadn’t had many friends in her long life. It was with a little apprehension she asked, “Do you think of me as a friend?”
The younger girl raised her head again. “There’s still some caution in my mind. I can’t forget that you used to be Happosai. Still, the way you look now and the fact that you’re acting different, it helping to ease the memory. If you keep going the way you’ve been going, I can definitely see you being a friend.”
The blonde let out a sigh. She hadn’t realized how much she was fearing rejection. She hoped it didn’t have anything to do with those sexual thoughts she’d had about Ranma. Her hormones seemed to have leveled out and she wasn’t having as many of those lecherous thoughts about her traveling companion.
Well, she amended, she wasn’t having so many lecherous thoughts. Most girls would say that Ranma’s boy form was a real hunk after all. Her girl form was the stuff of male and not a few female fantasies. At the moment it was hard to feel anything approaching arousal after seeing Ranma’s bruised form.
Seeing Ranma looking so abused had awakened another feeling in the former man. It was a feeling she wouldn’t not have expected. She wanted to comfort the redhead, to rub soothing ointments on her and make her feel better. If she had been asked, she would have sworn she didn’t have a maternal, nurturing side.
Considering what Ranma had said about gradually coming to accept her as a friend, Noriko decided not to let the other girl know her thoughts right now. She felt that doing so might ruin the trust that was growing between them. Maybe it would be better to let the friendship grow naturally rather than try to push it.
Over the next two weeks Ranma continued to work for the doctor and continued to learn about medicine. She also learned how to use ki healing on people other than herself. She found that she was greatly enjoying all that she was learning and found that healing people was something she would like to do in the future. She figured that when she got back to Japan she would redouble her efforts in school to try and prepare to study medicine.
On the training field after the doctor’s office hours Ranma finished her conditioning for the Breaking Point. She demonstrated her mastery of the technique by blowing up three boulders. She learned the Iron Cloth technique and the Splitting Cat Hairs.
Between working to exhaustion every day and ki healing, Noriko was almost equal to Ranma’s strength.
At one point Noriko offered to train Ranma in some of the techniques she knew.
While the redhead was getting to where she felt like she could trust the blonde, she wasn’t so sure about her techniques. She said, “If you want to teach me that trick of how to steal a woman’s underwear without taking off her outer clothes I don’t really want to know that.”
Noriko pointed out, “I actually adapted that from a technique that had nothing to do with perversion.”
Ranma was surprised, “Really? What was the original technique for?”
The older girl explained, “The original technique was used to steal weapons and armor from opponents to make them more vulnerable to martial arts techniques such as punches and kicks.”
Ranma had to concede that this might be a useful technique. She agreed to learn it. She also learned a variation of Tendo Soun’s demon head technique. In all they both kept busy.
One night during their stay Ranma and Noriko spent the night at the Brick’s home because a warrior of the Joketsuzoku had come to check if the “fugitives” had passed through the village. The warrior had been told that Saotome Ranma and Happosai had not come through the village. The warrior stayed the night at the home of a friend of Po Shen’s and left the following day.
In the email correspondence there wasn’t much new information. Ranma told Nabiki that Ryoga had showed up in the village. Nabiki said she would be on the lookout for him. She hoped to be able to keep him from telling people where Ranma was at least until the travelers could leave the village.
The mercenary girl reported that Kuno had taken off on a mission to rescue the “Pigtailed Goddess” from the Vile Lecher Happosai. When he had tried to carry his bokken through the airport, security guards tried to stop him. In the resulting fight four guards were injured and they had to throw a net over the deranged kendoist to subdue him. Nabiki had commented that it wouldn’t have done Kuno any good if he had gone, because he had only the vaguest of ideas of where to go.
Kodachi had made a pest of herself at the Tendo dojo, dropping by every day. Every time she was told that Ranma-Sama had not returned yet and there was no ETA. Ukyo was almost as bad. At least she was willing to believe that Ranma had gone to help a dying Happosai.
The Nekohanten group of Amazon’s had been quiet the whole time and Nabiki said that had her worried. Maybe she was trying to let her people in China handle things on that end but she would have expected the Amazons to at least keep a watch on the dojo.
It seemed that Ms. Hinako was giving Ranma the benefit of the doubt. She was willing to believe that boy really was helping a sick friend. She had phoned the Tendo dojo to tell them that she had save up the assignments so that Ranma could catch up when he got back if he wanted to.
Then a new email came.
“To: Undomesticated Equine
From: Frozen Monarch
Subject: Got it!
Your documents are ready. I’m putting them in an envelope and sending them by an express delivery service. You should have them no later than day after tomorrow.
Based on your description of the time it took on the way in, I’m making reservations for a flight back to Tokyo from Beijing. By my estimate, the reserved flight should leave one day after you get to that city. I added that extra day to allow for any problems that might come up on the way.
On the chance that you find a faster way to travel, I’m including a credit card. It’s like a gift card with a certain amount of money loaded onto it. There should be enough on it to pay for hotel rooms for two nights as well as meals. This is going on Noriko’s tab, by the way. She can settle up with me when she gets back.
Be seeing you soon,
The Ice Queen”
Ranma and Noriko exchanged a look then high fived. They had enjoyed their time in the Amazon village, but they were eager to get back to Japan. They had things they wanted to do there.
After Ranma sent a brief acknowledgement, she logged out of the email server and the two girls went downstairs to talk to their hosts.
When Lo Shen saw them she noticed something in their demeanor that suggested they had news to tell. “Did you hear some news from home?”
Ranma nodded. “Our documents are ready. The girl who’s taking care of it for us is sending them by an express delivery service. We should have the documents by day after tomorrow.”
The Matriarch seemed to think for a moment. “I’ll be sad to see you both go. You have been pleasant company. Still, when I agreed to let you stay here, I knew this moment was coming.” Impulsively she got up and hugged each girl in turn.
When they disengaged from the hug, Lo Shen told them, “This comes at a good time. We have a shipment of our tea ready to go. You two can accompany the shipment. That will cut down on your travel time.”
Ranma looked at her with a raised eyebrow. The Elder expanded, “We will be sending four crates. Mas Cara will be taking them in the truck down to the next village that has an airstrip. There they will be loaded onto a plane that will be flying direct to Beijing. If I request it, the pilot will let you ride with him. That would free you from hitch hiking and trains.”
Noriko smiled. “That would help a lot.
“Well,” Said Po Shen, standing up. “We need to get down to business.” She walked over and reached behind the couch. She pulled out a canvas backpack.
The young woman said, “My friend Mei Ling recently got a new, fancy backpack by mail order and doesn’t need this one any more. She was willing to let Noriko have it.” She handed the backpack to the blonde girl.
Noriko hefted the pack and commented, “There’s stuff in this already.”
The elders granddaughter laughed. “When they heard that you had nothing to wear other than borrowed clothing, Condi Shonur’s sewing class went a little overboard in making clothes for you. They said it wasn’t right that you to have to wear borrowed boy’s clothes. They made dresses, undergarments, pants and blouses. In fact they made more than would fit into two packs.”
The blonde looked distressed. “I’m grateful for their generosity and hard work, but we need to travel light.”
Po Shen sighed. “Actually they were more generous than that. The class also made some clothes for Ranko as well. Since you will be riding the whole way, maybe it wouldn’t be too much trouble to take more than you can carry on your backs.”
Ranma protested, “What are we going to carry the extra stuff in? Right now we only have the two packs.”
The Matriarch grinned. “I anticipated this and asked around. Our school teacher was planning a trip and mail ordered new luggage. She was wondering what she was going to do with her old luggage. She’d be happy to let you have two of the old suitcases. She’s giving you the two biggest ones that should fit all of the extra clothes with no trouble.”
The redhead seemed almost ready to cry. “You are such nice people. After I met the Joketsuzoku, I’m afraid I had a bad opinion of Amazons. You have shown me that not all Amazon’s are bad people.”
Lo Shen smiled. “Thank you, Ranko. You shouldn’t judge the Joketsuzoku too harshly. They live in more primitive conditions in an area that is hard to get to. They have reasons for acting the way they do. True, many of the reasons for their behavior are no longer relevant in the modern world, but that is a discussion for another time.”
The red haired girl shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe the ones I’ve met are just a bad example and the rest of them are nicer. Personally I think Shampoo is obsessed and Mousse is an idiot. Without a doubt Cologne is a cold, manipulative old bitch.”
The Elder considered that for a moment. “While I might not approve the language you used, I can’t argue the truth of what you say about them. I think part of the problem they have is that Kho Lon has been in charge so long and so used to getting her way that she gives no consideration to the feelings of the people she deals with. I think Shan Pu has a little bit of that problem herself.”
The aquatransexual thought about that. “So, if I’m understanding what you’re saying, basically she’s a spoiled brat who treats me like a toy her grandmother gave her.”
The older woman chuckled. “Well, I wouldn’t phrase it that way but I can’t really disagree. As to young Mou Tsu, I’m not sure if he qualifies as an idiot. I would have to say he really is a fool, though.”
Ranma and Noriko both joined in the laugh.
Noriko took the backpack and the two girls went back up the stairs. Ranma transferred one of the tents to Noriko’s pack. They would have to wait until the day they left to pack the food supplies.
The redhead wasn’t all that thrilled with the gift of girl’s clothing, but it would have been rude to refuse. At that thought she paused. If she was ever going to get her girl form grown up to match her male form, she’d have to spend time as a girl. If she learned how to change at will, there shouldn’t be any more accidental changes. Maybe girl clothing wasn’t such a bad idea after all – as long as it wasn’t too frilly and girlish.
That brought another thought. Back at the Tendo dojo there were boxes of girl clothing she had either never worn or not worn more than to try it on in the store. This was the stuff her mother had bought for Tendo Ranko while trying to make the girl she believed to be Akane’s cousin more ladylike. While there was some really frilly stuff there were some more basic items that would probably be appropriate for a tomboy.
Yeah! If Ranma did have to spend half or more of her time as a girl, she was still a guy inside. That would make her girl side a tomboy, wouldn’t it? It didn’t look like she was going to be the “man among men” her mother wanted. It was a relief at least that Nodoka wasn’t going to enforce the contract. Well that was an issue to worry about after she got back to Japan.
Since they were not actually leaving for at least another day or two, they didn’t spend much time with their packs. After they were done they adjourned to the bath. They had gotten in the habit of bathing together. The first time both of them had been too tired to do more than just sit and soak. Now they had developed enough trust in each other that they were willing to do it when they were feeling healthy. By mutual agreement, conversation at these times was kept light, staying away from important topics.
After a nice soak, the two girls retired to their beds for the night.
Author's Note: In effect Ranma and Noriko have had a sort of working vacation. Noriko's almost as strong as she wants to be and Ranma has learned some cool techniques. Soon they will be heading back to Japan and Ranma will have to face up to the fiance mess again.
Happi's Redemption chapter 8
Happi’s Redemption
A Ranma One Half Fan Fiction
By Michael A. Ivins
Ranma along with all of his friends, enemies and acquaintances are the property of Takahashi Rumiko. I’m just borrowing them for my own amusement and hopefully that of my readers. Sailor Moon and the Senshi aren’t mine either. Please don’t sue me.
This story takes place after the end of the manga.
Chapter 8
Training
The next morning the two “girls” got up to find Po Shen had left them clothes. Ranma grumbled about putting on feminine undergarments, but used the garments provided. The clothes she had brought for the trip were very much in need of washing. The rest of the outfit provided for Ranma were borrowed from elsewhere in the village. They had found a girl who was the same size at the red haired martial artist.
The outfit provided for Ranma was a Chinese pantsuit similar to some that Ranma had seen Shampoo wearing. The gender changer felt that at least if she did have to wear girl’s clothing, it was better to wear pants than some kind of dress. Her outfit was a soft pastel blue in color.
Noriko found she had been left a similar outfit but in yellow. Considering that she had been a man for centuries, she had expected herself to feel more resistance to the idea of wearing feminine clothing. Thus is was a bit of a shock that she actually found herself feeling disappointed that she hadn’t been given a dress to wear.
On the other hand this might be the best choice. She was supposed to be teaching martial arts and she needed clothing she could move in. She had seen Shampoo fight in an outfit like this and knew that it was cut in such a way that a person could move well in it.
They took turns in the bath but cut their morning ablutions short. They went from there down to the dining room where they met their hosts. Lo Shen gave them directions to the police training ground for Noriko and the local clinic for Ranma. The Matriarch told them, “I already told you yesterday that our doctor’s name is Rin Se but she won’t mind if you call her Rinse. The sensei for our police has a name but nobody has used it in years. She is called the Brick. When you meet her you’ll understand why.”
Ranma cocked her head and commented, “She sounds like someone I’d like to meet.”
The Elder nodded. “After you finish your duties at the clinic you can go to join Noriko at the Police training ground. I’m sure the Brick would enjoy sparring with you. She would never actually say such a thing, but those who know her would be sure of it.”
After finishing breakfast everyone dispersed to their respective jobs. Ranma headed to the clinic. At the door of the clinic she was met by a tall, skinny young man with close-cropped brown hair. The young man wore glasses that seemed to constantly slide down his nose.
He gave a bow of his head and said, “Hello, you must be Ranko. I’m Comb. I know it’s a silly name.”
Well, at least the guy seemed to have a lot of enthusiasm. Ranma returned the bow and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Comb. Yes, I’m Ranko. I’m supposed to help out here for a couple of weeks.”
Comb nodded. “Do you have any medical training?”
Ranma thought to herself, “I hope this wasn’t a mistake.” Out loud she said, “Mostly first aid. I’m trained in treating wounds and stuff like that. From hanging around a clinic I know a little bit about herbal medicine (very little) and some pressure points. I can manipulate my own ki and can do that a little bit for other people.”
The young man looked bemused. “That’s a rather strange mix of skills. You’re a martial artist, aren’t you?”
Ranma looked at the floor for a moment. “It shows, does it?”
“Well, you move like a warrior,” explained Comb. “Treating and caring for wounds is one of the basic skills that a martial artist or warrior would need. The herbal medicine is a bit more unusual for a martial artist. The pressure points could also be used in fighting. So far as I know only the most advanced martial artists can manipulate their ki beyond using it to enhance their strength and speed.”
The redhead couldn’t resist a smirk as she summoned a ball of pure ki and let it glow in her hand. When she dismissed that she could hear the sound of hands clapping. She looked and found a woman standing there. She was of middle height (taller than Ranma’s girl form) with graying blue hair.
The woman was wearing a silk pantsuit similar in style to the one Ranma was wearing. Over that she was wearing a white lab coat. She also was wearing glasses, but didn’t seem to have the same problem as Comb with the glasses sliding down. The doctor also had a stethoscope hanging around her neck.
The doctor gave a slight bow and said, “An impressive display of ki control. I’d guess you could use that as a weapon if you needed to. Still healing is always more complicated than destroying things. Tell me, have you used that impressive reserve of ki for something other than fighting?”
This sounded like a verbal challenge. Ranma answered, “When my friend Noriko was dying from ki depletion I transferred some of my own ki into her aura to keep her alive. Of course she was a man at the time.”
The doctor frowned. “A man? Jusenkyo?”
Ranma nodded. “Me too.”
“Ah,” said the doctor. “I thought I sensed something about you. I’m guessing you’re originally male.”
The redhead nodded. The doctor smiled now. “That was a nice piece of work with the ki transfer. Did you have any training on how to that?”
The girl noticed that the doctor had refrained from asking why Ranma was currently female. She answered, “No training. I found my friend more dead than alive and had to do something to save him. I guess you could say it was instinct.”
The doctor’s smile seemed to gain in warmth. “Then it would seem that you have good instincts. Lo Shen said you’re only likely to be with us for a couple of weeks, so I won’t have a lot of time to give you more than the barest basics. It should still be enough to teach you if this is something you want to do with your life.”
The sex changer nodded. “I get the feeling you don’t think too much of martial artists.”
The doctor was not the least bit apologetic. She said, “Don’t get me wrong, I know that warriors and martial artists have their place in the world. I just don’t like having to patch up the losers in the fights.”
With a slightly defiant expression, Ranma said, “I really didn’t have much choice in the matter. When I was five, my father took me away from my mom on a 10 year training trip. The whole time was spent in martial arts training. Nobody ever asked me if it was what I wanted to do.”
The doctor’s manner sobered. “I’m sorry if I brought up unpleasant memories. Come on back to the office. The first patient is due to arrive in about 15 minutes.”
In another part of town Noriko was led to the police station. From there they went into the open field in the back. There was a woman who was square in her build. She was powerfully muscled. Her face gave the impression of being carved from granite. Her hair was a red that was reminiscent of a brick.
The woman introduced herself, “I am called the Brick or just Brick. I do have another name but I like Brick better than the name my parents gave me.”
The name suited her. The woman gave off an aura of strength and solidity. The Brick said, “The Matriarch tells me you are the master of your own martial arts style. Is that true?”
Noriko bowed and said, “That is true. However, if you were hoping to spar with a martial arts grand master, I’m afraid I must disappoint you. Before I was a man of many years experience. What you see before you now is the body that Jusenkyo has gifted me with. I know all the old moves but it will take some time for me to get this body trained to level of strength and speed that I can execute all of those moves.”
“Used to be a man?” The powerfully built woman looked over the blonde. “I’m guessing this body is an improvement over the old one.”
Noriko couldn’t help laughing. “You could say that. The old body was very old. In fact it was dying of old age.”
Brick nodded. “So you went from old and male to young, female and pretty. Personally I think pretty is overrated.”
Silently, the Blonde thought, “You would.” Out loud she said, “I can still teach.”
The police trainer agreed, “Yes, I would imagine your knowledge would still be good. I hear you won’t be with us for very long. For the time you’re here, I’ll be willing to help you train to get your strength back.”
“Thank you, Brick. After my friend, Ranko, gets done with her work at the clinic, I’m sure she would like to come and spar with you. She’s a very strong martial artist.”
“If that’s true, what’s she doing at the clinic?”
Noriko shrugged. “The Matriarch felt that was better suited to her. I have the feeling that she may have the makings of a great doctor.”
Brick sounded doubtful. “A noble calling to be sure. But to turn from martial arts to medicine seems odd.”
The blonde shrugged. “Not as odd as you think. Besides, the child was forced into martial arts at an early age. While she has great aptitude for the Art, it may be that her talents would be better suited to healing.”
The martial arts trainer shrugged. “If that’s true, Dr. Rin Se will find it out.”
Noriko nodded. “That I may assess your level of skill I would like to spar. Keep in mind that I’m not up to my proper level of strength so go easy on me. I want to see your moves.”
The instructor pointed toward the police station. “The class is coming. Maybe it would be more instructive for you to observe me sparring with some of my students.”
Thus it was a short while later that Noriko was watching the students. She did get a good feel for the skill levels of both the teacher and the students. Before long she was able to start suggesting new moves or refinements to moves that were being used.
At the clinic the doctor was taking a lecturing tone as she spoke to her helpers. When a patient came in she would recite back the symptoms. Because of the newness of her students, the teacher would then list some of the conditions that could cause those symptoms. When needed she would have one or both of her helpers fetch pieces of equipment or instruments. For Ranma she often would have to describe what the instrument looked like as well giving the name of the instrument.
It was likely that examination of every patient took longer than it would have otherwise. The doctor explained nearly every step she took. The exception to this was the things she had already explained earlier in the day. If a patient came in with a similar complaint to one who had been earlier, the doctor would question her helpers to see if they remembered from the earlier patients.
Of course the helpers did all of the cleanup.
Both of the travelers kept busy at their respective jobs most of the day. When the doctor’s closed her office for the day, Ranma went to the police station. The students had been dismissed for the day, but Noriko and Brick were going through a light sparring.
Ranma stood and watched for a while. The instructor noticed the audience. She stepped back and turned to the redhead. “Are you Ranko?”
The redhead bowed. “That’s me.”
The police trainer said, “We shall see if you live up to the praise your sensei has given your. Defend yourself!”
With no more warning than that, the powerfully built woman rushed forward. Ranma ducked under a punch and snapped off a kick. Her kick connected and Ranma felt some pain come from it. Damn, the woman was tough! She probably had gone through the training for the Breaking Point technique to be so tough.
A few exchanges of blows and Ranma had an evaluation of her opponent’s fighting style. The woman was very strong and seemed to favor moves that used that strength. She also seemed to disdain defense, depending on her toughness to protect her. Ranma adjusted her attack to fight as if she was going against Ryoga.
For the first time in a long time Brick had to adjust her fighting style. She found the petite redhead was hitting vital spots. Places that still hurt even with her toughness. For the first time in a long time the fighter nicknamed brick had to start fighting defensively.
After a while of this, the police trainer jumped back, held her hand up and said, “That’s enough for now.”
Ranma eyed her quizzically. After a moment the woman said, “I see that your teacher didn’t exaggerate. You have good defense and an intelligent offence. I admit that was a bit of a surprise.” She rubbed absently at the inside of her right elbow. “Your natural strength isn’t as much as mine, but with ki enhancement, you are equal or even a little stronger. I wasn’t using ki enhancement, but I do know how.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I hate to admit it, but I don’t think I could match your speed even with ki enhancement. I could tell you weren’t even using your full speed.”
Ranma smirked. “Yeah, I’m pretty fast. I do have to admit that I’m faster in girl form than am as a guy.”
“Oh?” The trainer gave the redhead another appraising look. “Does your male form have a compensation for the loss of speed?”
“Yeah, my male form is bigger and stronger.”
The big woman frowned and shook her head. “I’m tempted to ask you to change to male form and see what you can do. But Lo Shen said you needed to stay female for the time you stay with us.
At Ranma’s sour expression, the police trainer clapped a hand to the redhead’s shoulder and said, “There’s worse things you could be than a woman. From what I’ve heard you could probably use some time in female form so your growth can catch up to your male form.”
Ranma cast a glare at Noriko. Responding to the look, the blonde held up her hands and said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you wanted to keep it a secret.”
The younger girl shook her head and said, “I guess there’s no real harm done. I’d like to ask that you not be so quick to share information about that in the future.”
Suddenly the expression on Ranma’s face turned into an evil grin. “Now I seem to remember you wanted to get some exercise so you could get your new body in shape.”
While the Brick’s mouth didn’t turn up at the corners there was just the faintest hint of a glint of humor in her eyes. She said, “I can help with that as well. You really do need to have strength to match your skills.”
Noriko looked back and forth between the other two women and suppressed the desire to groan. She thought, “I’m doomed.”
Sometime later Ranma walked back to the home of Lo Shen, not in the least hampered by the weight of Noriko who was draped over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry. The older woman was conscious, but so tired she could scarcely move. When Ranma had offered to carry her, the blonde readily agreed.
Noriko groaned and said, “I’m going to be sore tomorrow.”
Ranma glanced at the woman on her shoulder and commented, “All you had to do was say you’d had enough. Even a woman like the Brick isn’t deliberately cruel. You just had to keep going until you couldn’t even stand up anymore. I hope you realize you are probably going to be pretty much useless tomorrow.”
Only a groan answered. Ranma rolled her eyes as she stepped up to the door of the house. She knocked and the door was answered by Po Shen. The young woman’s eyes went wide, “Oh, my goodness! What happed to Noriko?”
Ranma looked at the woman on her shoulder and said, “A little too much hard exercise with the Brick. Actually she did a little better than I expected. I’d have to rate Noriko’s level of fitness about equal to a high school soccer player. Still pretty weak for a martial arts master, but we can work on it. If nothing else, today’s session was important to teach her what her limits are.”
“What were you doing during this?” Po Shen wanted to know.
The redhead’s eyebrows went up. “I was following along, of course. What we were doing was a good workout. I feel a bit tired myself.”
The young woman looked Ranma over. The shorter girl couldn’t be too tired if she had the energy to carry Noriko. Shortly Ranma was inside and Noriko was on a couch in the living room.
They were just in time for dinner. When Jin Rei announced the meal, Ranma went over and let Noriko lean on her as they went into the dining room. While they were eating Ranma said, “Hey Po, if you don’t mind I’d like to get on your computer after dinner to check if Nabiki has answered my email from yesterday.”
The older woman nodded. “That won’t be a problem. I’ve got some work to do before I need to use the computer myself. You’re welcome to it.”
After the meal Ranma helped Noriko up the stairs and they went into Po Shen’s room to use the computer. Ranma was seated in the desk chair, while Noriko lay down on Po Shen’s bed.
Before long Ranma was logged onto the mail server and checked her in-box. Besides some spam the only significant piece of mail was from Frozen Monarch.
Ranma clicked on it then decrypted the mail.
“To: Undomesticated Equine
From: Frozen Monarch
Subject: Got your Pictures
The picture with the blue background should work fine for a passport photo. I’ve passed a copy on to my people and they will get to work on it. You should have the new passport in 3 weeks at the most.
I took a good look at the other picture. Wow! Are you sure that pool you fell into wasn’t the Spring of Drowned Beautiful Young Hot Girl? Noriko’s gorgeous. I’m jealous.
I’m pretty sure I found your sorceress. It wasn’t hard. She runs a store called the Spell Book. From what I can find out it is a pretty standard occult book shop with some New Age stuff mixed in. Rumor has it that there is a back room or even a basement where there are real magic books, supplies and even weapons. If anyone could help you with your problem, she’d probably be the one. What kind of control do you think she could give you?
It’s nice that you found people who are willing to let you stay with them while you wait.
There is a possible problem here. I’m guessing that a certain ninja servant has been talking to Café bunch. The True Blunder is still saying that the ‘foul sorcerer has fled from his just wrath.’ But now he’s started going on about the Pigtailed Goddess has been kidnapped by the ancient lecher. The Black Rose is glad the competition for her ‘Ranma-Sama’ is gone, but says that even she wouldn’t want her worst enemy in such captivity as the red haired one must now be suffering.
I’ve heard nothing new from the Café crowd. Miss Big Spat dropped by yesterday to ask where you had gone. I told her the agreed on story of you going to help out a sick friend. I get the feeling she doesn’t believe it.
What have they got you doing to earn your food and lodging?
I’m doing what I can to keep things contained, but considering the people I have to deal with, there’s likely to be a limit to what I can do.
Signed,
The Ice Queen”
Ranma thought about it. After a moment she said, “3 weeks, maybe less. I guess that shouldn’t be too much trouble.”
“Speak for yourself,” Noriko said from the bed.
Ranma let out a big sigh. “You’ll recover. You just overworked yourself. It not like you did any permanent damage to yourself.”
A groan answered her. The blonde finally said, “I’m going to have to channel my ki to speed up my recovery if I’m going to even have a chance of helping with Brick’s class tomorrow.”
Ranma looked with an interested expression. “I can do that a little myself. Since you always seemed to recover from even the worst beatings from angry women wanting their lingerie back, I’d guess you can do that self healing trick better than I can. Can you teach me?”
“Eh?” The blonde seemed to think about it. “Sure, I can do that. Part of it comes from having a very high ki reserve. Even if I did get a new body, my ki reserves did transfer over.”
Ranma shook her head. “I think part of it may be in the technique. If it were just how bad the wounds were, I’d think the extra ki would do it. But you don’t just heal up worse damage, you do it lots faster than I can.”
“Okay,” Noriko agreed, “I’ll teach you.”
Ranma nodded, then began typing.
“To: Frozen Monarch
From: Undomesticated Equine
Subject: Re: Got Your Pictures
Yeah, I know. Noriko’s really pretty and she’s older than my girl form. It sort of makes me feel like a little kid.
The Elder here said the sorceress could change the trigger for my transformatipm from water to will power. That still wouldn’t mean that I would stop changing, just that I’d be able to control when.
It was explained to me that the curse wants me to spend at least half or more of my time in cursed form. If it thinks there’s been too much time since I was last in cursed form, it magically attracts water. She tells me that if I had just got in the habit of sleeping in girl form, I could have cut down on the number of water accidents during the day. It can also cause hot water accidents if I’ve been a girl too long, but exactly how long that is, I don’t know.
This Amazon village doesn’t have Warriors; they call them police officers instead. Noriko is going to teach them Anything Goes. The Matriarch seemed to think I’d be best off helping out at the local medical clinic. We’re staying at the Matriarch’s house.
All for now
Signed,
Undomesticated Equine”
Ranma encrypted the message and sent it.
In a thoughtful tone Noriko said, “Nabiki’s comment got me thinking. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Nyaniichuan curse victim whose girl form wasn’t at least cute. Most would qualify as pretty or even beautiful. I’ve never heard of one who was ugly or even plain.”
Ranma sat for a moment. “Well that’s interesting, I guess…”
Noriko rolled her eyes. Old people say stuff like that all the time. Oh, well. Maybe now that she was young again, she could start relating better with young people.
When Ranma logged out of the email server she put the computer in standby mode for Po Shen to get to work with it quickly. The redhead stepped out of the room and went partway down the stairs.
Po Shen was reading a book and making notes on a pad of paper. Ranma spoke just loud enough to get her attention. “I’m done with the computer now.”
The other woman looked up and nodded.
When Ranma got to the guest room she found Noriko was already in bed. She looked at the redhead with a questioning expression.
The younger girl nodded then stepped up to the other’s bed. She stood at the side of the bed and held her hands over Noriko. Next she closed her eyes and tuned her ki senses. Having done the ki transfers, Ranma was now used to connecting with another person’s aura. She hadn’t tried something like this since Happosai became Noriko.
There was a difference now. The aura had a distinct feminine feel that had not been there before. Ranma took that to mean that Noriko was adapting well to the change. She supposed that was good.
She took a moment to locate all of the ki flows in the other girl’s body. When she felt she was ready for the demonstration, she said, “Ok, do it.”
Ranma watched, fascinated, as Noriko channeled ki within herself. Ranma could tell that she was doing it slower than normal to allow the younger girl to see what was being done.
The redhead was watching with the same concentration she used when watching any martial arts technique. The same talent that allowed her to master a technique by only seeing it was now applied to this self healing.
When Noriko was finished she said, “And that’s it.”
Ranma pulled in her ki senses and opened her eyes. She asked, “How do you feel?”
Noriko answered honestly, “Still tired but it’s the kind of fatigue that sleep and food will fix. Did you get a good read on the technique?”
Ranma grinned. “Yep, I got it. I could tell you were going slow so I could see it. I’m pretty sure I can do it myself. Actually, from what I saw, I’m thinking I could do it to someone else. I just don’t know enough about ki flow patterns to try it right now. If I did I’d probably do more harm than good.”
The blonde nodded. “I bet your Dr. Rinse could teach you about ki patterns if that’s what you want. You should ask her when you see her tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” she said. “I’ll do that.”
Noriko smiled inwardly. Ranma really seemed excited at the thought of learning healing techniques. Maybe Lo Shen was right about Ranma. Maybe he was better suited to the healing arts than martial ones.
The blonde said, “I’m pretty tired, so I’m going to turn in now.”
Ranma nodded and turned out the light. She moved over to her own bed. She wasn’t feeling particularly sleepy at the moment. She wondered if the good doctor would have a ki flow pattern chart that she could borrow.
The young girl lay down on her own bed and closed her eyes. She wasn’t trying to sleep. Ranma again tuned her ki senses and focused them on herself. She wasn’t looking for specific problems but seeking to learn the pattern of ki flows. Mentally she rehearsed the technique Noriko had shown her without actually using it.
Ranma did eventually drift off to sleep.
Author's Note: So Ranma begins learning more about medicine and Noriko gets in some hard training. At least they are doing something constructive while they wait for Noriko's new passport.
A Ranma One Half Fan Fiction
By Michael A. Ivins
Ranma along with all of his friends, enemies and acquaintances are the property of Takahashi Rumiko. I’m just borrowing them for my own amusement and hopefully that of my readers. Sailor Moon and the Senshi aren’t mine either. Please don’t sue me.
This story takes place after the end of the manga.
Chapter 8
Training
The next morning the two “girls” got up to find Po Shen had left them clothes. Ranma grumbled about putting on feminine undergarments, but used the garments provided. The clothes she had brought for the trip were very much in need of washing. The rest of the outfit provided for Ranma were borrowed from elsewhere in the village. They had found a girl who was the same size at the red haired martial artist.
The outfit provided for Ranma was a Chinese pantsuit similar to some that Ranma had seen Shampoo wearing. The gender changer felt that at least if she did have to wear girl’s clothing, it was better to wear pants than some kind of dress. Her outfit was a soft pastel blue in color.
Noriko found she had been left a similar outfit but in yellow. Considering that she had been a man for centuries, she had expected herself to feel more resistance to the idea of wearing feminine clothing. Thus is was a bit of a shock that she actually found herself feeling disappointed that she hadn’t been given a dress to wear.
On the other hand this might be the best choice. She was supposed to be teaching martial arts and she needed clothing she could move in. She had seen Shampoo fight in an outfit like this and knew that it was cut in such a way that a person could move well in it.
They took turns in the bath but cut their morning ablutions short. They went from there down to the dining room where they met their hosts. Lo Shen gave them directions to the police training ground for Noriko and the local clinic for Ranma. The Matriarch told them, “I already told you yesterday that our doctor’s name is Rin Se but she won’t mind if you call her Rinse. The sensei for our police has a name but nobody has used it in years. She is called the Brick. When you meet her you’ll understand why.”
Ranma cocked her head and commented, “She sounds like someone I’d like to meet.”
The Elder nodded. “After you finish your duties at the clinic you can go to join Noriko at the Police training ground. I’m sure the Brick would enjoy sparring with you. She would never actually say such a thing, but those who know her would be sure of it.”
After finishing breakfast everyone dispersed to their respective jobs. Ranma headed to the clinic. At the door of the clinic she was met by a tall, skinny young man with close-cropped brown hair. The young man wore glasses that seemed to constantly slide down his nose.
He gave a bow of his head and said, “Hello, you must be Ranko. I’m Comb. I know it’s a silly name.”
Well, at least the guy seemed to have a lot of enthusiasm. Ranma returned the bow and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Comb. Yes, I’m Ranko. I’m supposed to help out here for a couple of weeks.”
Comb nodded. “Do you have any medical training?”
Ranma thought to herself, “I hope this wasn’t a mistake.” Out loud she said, “Mostly first aid. I’m trained in treating wounds and stuff like that. From hanging around a clinic I know a little bit about herbal medicine (very little) and some pressure points. I can manipulate my own ki and can do that a little bit for other people.”
The young man looked bemused. “That’s a rather strange mix of skills. You’re a martial artist, aren’t you?”
Ranma looked at the floor for a moment. “It shows, does it?”
“Well, you move like a warrior,” explained Comb. “Treating and caring for wounds is one of the basic skills that a martial artist or warrior would need. The herbal medicine is a bit more unusual for a martial artist. The pressure points could also be used in fighting. So far as I know only the most advanced martial artists can manipulate their ki beyond using it to enhance their strength and speed.”
The redhead couldn’t resist a smirk as she summoned a ball of pure ki and let it glow in her hand. When she dismissed that she could hear the sound of hands clapping. She looked and found a woman standing there. She was of middle height (taller than Ranma’s girl form) with graying blue hair.
The woman was wearing a silk pantsuit similar in style to the one Ranma was wearing. Over that she was wearing a white lab coat. She also was wearing glasses, but didn’t seem to have the same problem as Comb with the glasses sliding down. The doctor also had a stethoscope hanging around her neck.
The doctor gave a slight bow and said, “An impressive display of ki control. I’d guess you could use that as a weapon if you needed to. Still healing is always more complicated than destroying things. Tell me, have you used that impressive reserve of ki for something other than fighting?”
This sounded like a verbal challenge. Ranma answered, “When my friend Noriko was dying from ki depletion I transferred some of my own ki into her aura to keep her alive. Of course she was a man at the time.”
The doctor frowned. “A man? Jusenkyo?”
Ranma nodded. “Me too.”
“Ah,” said the doctor. “I thought I sensed something about you. I’m guessing you’re originally male.”
The redhead nodded. The doctor smiled now. “That was a nice piece of work with the ki transfer. Did you have any training on how to that?”
The girl noticed that the doctor had refrained from asking why Ranma was currently female. She answered, “No training. I found my friend more dead than alive and had to do something to save him. I guess you could say it was instinct.”
The doctor’s smile seemed to gain in warmth. “Then it would seem that you have good instincts. Lo Shen said you’re only likely to be with us for a couple of weeks, so I won’t have a lot of time to give you more than the barest basics. It should still be enough to teach you if this is something you want to do with your life.”
The sex changer nodded. “I get the feeling you don’t think too much of martial artists.”
The doctor was not the least bit apologetic. She said, “Don’t get me wrong, I know that warriors and martial artists have their place in the world. I just don’t like having to patch up the losers in the fights.”
With a slightly defiant expression, Ranma said, “I really didn’t have much choice in the matter. When I was five, my father took me away from my mom on a 10 year training trip. The whole time was spent in martial arts training. Nobody ever asked me if it was what I wanted to do.”
The doctor’s manner sobered. “I’m sorry if I brought up unpleasant memories. Come on back to the office. The first patient is due to arrive in about 15 minutes.”
In another part of town Noriko was led to the police station. From there they went into the open field in the back. There was a woman who was square in her build. She was powerfully muscled. Her face gave the impression of being carved from granite. Her hair was a red that was reminiscent of a brick.
The woman introduced herself, “I am called the Brick or just Brick. I do have another name but I like Brick better than the name my parents gave me.”
The name suited her. The woman gave off an aura of strength and solidity. The Brick said, “The Matriarch tells me you are the master of your own martial arts style. Is that true?”
Noriko bowed and said, “That is true. However, if you were hoping to spar with a martial arts grand master, I’m afraid I must disappoint you. Before I was a man of many years experience. What you see before you now is the body that Jusenkyo has gifted me with. I know all the old moves but it will take some time for me to get this body trained to level of strength and speed that I can execute all of those moves.”
“Used to be a man?” The powerfully built woman looked over the blonde. “I’m guessing this body is an improvement over the old one.”
Noriko couldn’t help laughing. “You could say that. The old body was very old. In fact it was dying of old age.”
Brick nodded. “So you went from old and male to young, female and pretty. Personally I think pretty is overrated.”
Silently, the Blonde thought, “You would.” Out loud she said, “I can still teach.”
The police trainer agreed, “Yes, I would imagine your knowledge would still be good. I hear you won’t be with us for very long. For the time you’re here, I’ll be willing to help you train to get your strength back.”
“Thank you, Brick. After my friend, Ranko, gets done with her work at the clinic, I’m sure she would like to come and spar with you. She’s a very strong martial artist.”
“If that’s true, what’s she doing at the clinic?”
Noriko shrugged. “The Matriarch felt that was better suited to her. I have the feeling that she may have the makings of a great doctor.”
Brick sounded doubtful. “A noble calling to be sure. But to turn from martial arts to medicine seems odd.”
The blonde shrugged. “Not as odd as you think. Besides, the child was forced into martial arts at an early age. While she has great aptitude for the Art, it may be that her talents would be better suited to healing.”
The martial arts trainer shrugged. “If that’s true, Dr. Rin Se will find it out.”
Noriko nodded. “That I may assess your level of skill I would like to spar. Keep in mind that I’m not up to my proper level of strength so go easy on me. I want to see your moves.”
The instructor pointed toward the police station. “The class is coming. Maybe it would be more instructive for you to observe me sparring with some of my students.”
Thus it was a short while later that Noriko was watching the students. She did get a good feel for the skill levels of both the teacher and the students. Before long she was able to start suggesting new moves or refinements to moves that were being used.
At the clinic the doctor was taking a lecturing tone as she spoke to her helpers. When a patient came in she would recite back the symptoms. Because of the newness of her students, the teacher would then list some of the conditions that could cause those symptoms. When needed she would have one or both of her helpers fetch pieces of equipment or instruments. For Ranma she often would have to describe what the instrument looked like as well giving the name of the instrument.
It was likely that examination of every patient took longer than it would have otherwise. The doctor explained nearly every step she took. The exception to this was the things she had already explained earlier in the day. If a patient came in with a similar complaint to one who had been earlier, the doctor would question her helpers to see if they remembered from the earlier patients.
Of course the helpers did all of the cleanup.
Both of the travelers kept busy at their respective jobs most of the day. When the doctor’s closed her office for the day, Ranma went to the police station. The students had been dismissed for the day, but Noriko and Brick were going through a light sparring.
Ranma stood and watched for a while. The instructor noticed the audience. She stepped back and turned to the redhead. “Are you Ranko?”
The redhead bowed. “That’s me.”
The police trainer said, “We shall see if you live up to the praise your sensei has given your. Defend yourself!”
With no more warning than that, the powerfully built woman rushed forward. Ranma ducked under a punch and snapped off a kick. Her kick connected and Ranma felt some pain come from it. Damn, the woman was tough! She probably had gone through the training for the Breaking Point technique to be so tough.
A few exchanges of blows and Ranma had an evaluation of her opponent’s fighting style. The woman was very strong and seemed to favor moves that used that strength. She also seemed to disdain defense, depending on her toughness to protect her. Ranma adjusted her attack to fight as if she was going against Ryoga.
For the first time in a long time Brick had to adjust her fighting style. She found the petite redhead was hitting vital spots. Places that still hurt even with her toughness. For the first time in a long time the fighter nicknamed brick had to start fighting defensively.
After a while of this, the police trainer jumped back, held her hand up and said, “That’s enough for now.”
Ranma eyed her quizzically. After a moment the woman said, “I see that your teacher didn’t exaggerate. You have good defense and an intelligent offence. I admit that was a bit of a surprise.” She rubbed absently at the inside of her right elbow. “Your natural strength isn’t as much as mine, but with ki enhancement, you are equal or even a little stronger. I wasn’t using ki enhancement, but I do know how.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I hate to admit it, but I don’t think I could match your speed even with ki enhancement. I could tell you weren’t even using your full speed.”
Ranma smirked. “Yeah, I’m pretty fast. I do have to admit that I’m faster in girl form than am as a guy.”
“Oh?” The trainer gave the redhead another appraising look. “Does your male form have a compensation for the loss of speed?”
“Yeah, my male form is bigger and stronger.”
The big woman frowned and shook her head. “I’m tempted to ask you to change to male form and see what you can do. But Lo Shen said you needed to stay female for the time you stay with us.
At Ranma’s sour expression, the police trainer clapped a hand to the redhead’s shoulder and said, “There’s worse things you could be than a woman. From what I’ve heard you could probably use some time in female form so your growth can catch up to your male form.”
Ranma cast a glare at Noriko. Responding to the look, the blonde held up her hands and said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you wanted to keep it a secret.”
The younger girl shook her head and said, “I guess there’s no real harm done. I’d like to ask that you not be so quick to share information about that in the future.”
Suddenly the expression on Ranma’s face turned into an evil grin. “Now I seem to remember you wanted to get some exercise so you could get your new body in shape.”
While the Brick’s mouth didn’t turn up at the corners there was just the faintest hint of a glint of humor in her eyes. She said, “I can help with that as well. You really do need to have strength to match your skills.”
Noriko looked back and forth between the other two women and suppressed the desire to groan. She thought, “I’m doomed.”
Sometime later Ranma walked back to the home of Lo Shen, not in the least hampered by the weight of Noriko who was draped over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry. The older woman was conscious, but so tired she could scarcely move. When Ranma had offered to carry her, the blonde readily agreed.
Noriko groaned and said, “I’m going to be sore tomorrow.”
Ranma glanced at the woman on her shoulder and commented, “All you had to do was say you’d had enough. Even a woman like the Brick isn’t deliberately cruel. You just had to keep going until you couldn’t even stand up anymore. I hope you realize you are probably going to be pretty much useless tomorrow.”
Only a groan answered. Ranma rolled her eyes as she stepped up to the door of the house. She knocked and the door was answered by Po Shen. The young woman’s eyes went wide, “Oh, my goodness! What happed to Noriko?”
Ranma looked at the woman on her shoulder and said, “A little too much hard exercise with the Brick. Actually she did a little better than I expected. I’d have to rate Noriko’s level of fitness about equal to a high school soccer player. Still pretty weak for a martial arts master, but we can work on it. If nothing else, today’s session was important to teach her what her limits are.”
“What were you doing during this?” Po Shen wanted to know.
The redhead’s eyebrows went up. “I was following along, of course. What we were doing was a good workout. I feel a bit tired myself.”
The young woman looked Ranma over. The shorter girl couldn’t be too tired if she had the energy to carry Noriko. Shortly Ranma was inside and Noriko was on a couch in the living room.
They were just in time for dinner. When Jin Rei announced the meal, Ranma went over and let Noriko lean on her as they went into the dining room. While they were eating Ranma said, “Hey Po, if you don’t mind I’d like to get on your computer after dinner to check if Nabiki has answered my email from yesterday.”
The older woman nodded. “That won’t be a problem. I’ve got some work to do before I need to use the computer myself. You’re welcome to it.”
After the meal Ranma helped Noriko up the stairs and they went into Po Shen’s room to use the computer. Ranma was seated in the desk chair, while Noriko lay down on Po Shen’s bed.
Before long Ranma was logged onto the mail server and checked her in-box. Besides some spam the only significant piece of mail was from Frozen Monarch.
Ranma clicked on it then decrypted the mail.
“To: Undomesticated Equine
From: Frozen Monarch
Subject: Got your Pictures
The picture with the blue background should work fine for a passport photo. I’ve passed a copy on to my people and they will get to work on it. You should have the new passport in 3 weeks at the most.
I took a good look at the other picture. Wow! Are you sure that pool you fell into wasn’t the Spring of Drowned Beautiful Young Hot Girl? Noriko’s gorgeous. I’m jealous.
I’m pretty sure I found your sorceress. It wasn’t hard. She runs a store called the Spell Book. From what I can find out it is a pretty standard occult book shop with some New Age stuff mixed in. Rumor has it that there is a back room or even a basement where there are real magic books, supplies and even weapons. If anyone could help you with your problem, she’d probably be the one. What kind of control do you think she could give you?
It’s nice that you found people who are willing to let you stay with them while you wait.
There is a possible problem here. I’m guessing that a certain ninja servant has been talking to Café bunch. The True Blunder is still saying that the ‘foul sorcerer has fled from his just wrath.’ But now he’s started going on about the Pigtailed Goddess has been kidnapped by the ancient lecher. The Black Rose is glad the competition for her ‘Ranma-Sama’ is gone, but says that even she wouldn’t want her worst enemy in such captivity as the red haired one must now be suffering.
I’ve heard nothing new from the Café crowd. Miss Big Spat dropped by yesterday to ask where you had gone. I told her the agreed on story of you going to help out a sick friend. I get the feeling she doesn’t believe it.
What have they got you doing to earn your food and lodging?
I’m doing what I can to keep things contained, but considering the people I have to deal with, there’s likely to be a limit to what I can do.
Signed,
The Ice Queen”
Ranma thought about it. After a moment she said, “3 weeks, maybe less. I guess that shouldn’t be too much trouble.”
“Speak for yourself,” Noriko said from the bed.
Ranma let out a big sigh. “You’ll recover. You just overworked yourself. It not like you did any permanent damage to yourself.”
A groan answered her. The blonde finally said, “I’m going to have to channel my ki to speed up my recovery if I’m going to even have a chance of helping with Brick’s class tomorrow.”
Ranma looked with an interested expression. “I can do that a little myself. Since you always seemed to recover from even the worst beatings from angry women wanting their lingerie back, I’d guess you can do that self healing trick better than I can. Can you teach me?”
“Eh?” The blonde seemed to think about it. “Sure, I can do that. Part of it comes from having a very high ki reserve. Even if I did get a new body, my ki reserves did transfer over.”
Ranma shook her head. “I think part of it may be in the technique. If it were just how bad the wounds were, I’d think the extra ki would do it. But you don’t just heal up worse damage, you do it lots faster than I can.”
“Okay,” Noriko agreed, “I’ll teach you.”
Ranma nodded, then began typing.
“To: Frozen Monarch
From: Undomesticated Equine
Subject: Re: Got Your Pictures
Yeah, I know. Noriko’s really pretty and she’s older than my girl form. It sort of makes me feel like a little kid.
The Elder here said the sorceress could change the trigger for my transformatipm from water to will power. That still wouldn’t mean that I would stop changing, just that I’d be able to control when.
It was explained to me that the curse wants me to spend at least half or more of my time in cursed form. If it thinks there’s been too much time since I was last in cursed form, it magically attracts water. She tells me that if I had just got in the habit of sleeping in girl form, I could have cut down on the number of water accidents during the day. It can also cause hot water accidents if I’ve been a girl too long, but exactly how long that is, I don’t know.
This Amazon village doesn’t have Warriors; they call them police officers instead. Noriko is going to teach them Anything Goes. The Matriarch seemed to think I’d be best off helping out at the local medical clinic. We’re staying at the Matriarch’s house.
All for now
Signed,
Undomesticated Equine”
Ranma encrypted the message and sent it.
In a thoughtful tone Noriko said, “Nabiki’s comment got me thinking. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Nyaniichuan curse victim whose girl form wasn’t at least cute. Most would qualify as pretty or even beautiful. I’ve never heard of one who was ugly or even plain.”
Ranma sat for a moment. “Well that’s interesting, I guess…”
Noriko rolled her eyes. Old people say stuff like that all the time. Oh, well. Maybe now that she was young again, she could start relating better with young people.
When Ranma logged out of the email server she put the computer in standby mode for Po Shen to get to work with it quickly. The redhead stepped out of the room and went partway down the stairs.
Po Shen was reading a book and making notes on a pad of paper. Ranma spoke just loud enough to get her attention. “I’m done with the computer now.”
The other woman looked up and nodded.
When Ranma got to the guest room she found Noriko was already in bed. She looked at the redhead with a questioning expression.
The younger girl nodded then stepped up to the other’s bed. She stood at the side of the bed and held her hands over Noriko. Next she closed her eyes and tuned her ki senses. Having done the ki transfers, Ranma was now used to connecting with another person’s aura. She hadn’t tried something like this since Happosai became Noriko.
There was a difference now. The aura had a distinct feminine feel that had not been there before. Ranma took that to mean that Noriko was adapting well to the change. She supposed that was good.
She took a moment to locate all of the ki flows in the other girl’s body. When she felt she was ready for the demonstration, she said, “Ok, do it.”
Ranma watched, fascinated, as Noriko channeled ki within herself. Ranma could tell that she was doing it slower than normal to allow the younger girl to see what was being done.
The redhead was watching with the same concentration she used when watching any martial arts technique. The same talent that allowed her to master a technique by only seeing it was now applied to this self healing.
When Noriko was finished she said, “And that’s it.”
Ranma pulled in her ki senses and opened her eyes. She asked, “How do you feel?”
Noriko answered honestly, “Still tired but it’s the kind of fatigue that sleep and food will fix. Did you get a good read on the technique?”
Ranma grinned. “Yep, I got it. I could tell you were going slow so I could see it. I’m pretty sure I can do it myself. Actually, from what I saw, I’m thinking I could do it to someone else. I just don’t know enough about ki flow patterns to try it right now. If I did I’d probably do more harm than good.”
The blonde nodded. “I bet your Dr. Rinse could teach you about ki patterns if that’s what you want. You should ask her when you see her tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” she said. “I’ll do that.”
Noriko smiled inwardly. Ranma really seemed excited at the thought of learning healing techniques. Maybe Lo Shen was right about Ranma. Maybe he was better suited to the healing arts than martial ones.
The blonde said, “I’m pretty tired, so I’m going to turn in now.”
Ranma nodded and turned out the light. She moved over to her own bed. She wasn’t feeling particularly sleepy at the moment. She wondered if the good doctor would have a ki flow pattern chart that she could borrow.
The young girl lay down on her own bed and closed her eyes. She wasn’t trying to sleep. Ranma again tuned her ki senses and focused them on herself. She wasn’t looking for specific problems but seeking to learn the pattern of ki flows. Mentally she rehearsed the technique Noriko had shown her without actually using it.
Ranma did eventually drift off to sleep.
Author's Note: So Ranma begins learning more about medicine and Noriko gets in some hard training. At least they are doing something constructive while they wait for Noriko's new passport.
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