Subject: (no subject) Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 19:48:41 -0600 From: "Donny" To: chengdo@shaw.wave.ca Disclaimer: All characters portrayed in this story are the property of Rumiko Takehashi and co. This story takes place after volume 38 of the manga and draws ideas from the anime also. Another Time, Same Place by Donny Cheng Chapter 3: Training "You're taking him," Perfume said through her clenched teeth at Mika. "Hrmph! I am not! Mrs. Tendo did not assign him any homework with today being his first day. There is nothing I can tutor him in. What are you staring at?" This last sentence Mika directed at Ranma. "Nothing," Ranma lied. He had been staring to tell the truth. Azusa? Well, not quite. The girl was taller for one thing. He shuddered to think that Mikado would have married the cute-obsessed skater. Sure enough, the girl had a pair of skates on. Roller skates. Mika looked hard at Ranma. It couldn't be. That person looked too young to be him. She recalled the teacher saying his name was Saotome Ranma. Must be a coincidence or maybe a relative, seeing as how Ranko once attended this school. Because if it was him, there was going to be hell to pay. The only mar in her parents' highly decorated career was their loss to Saotome. Perfume sighed and knew that if they went to Hinako, she would side on Mika's side for this fight. "Whatever. Well, what are you still gawking at her for? Thinking of adding another girl to your harem?" Ranma frowned at Perfumes obvious hatred of him. Just because he was a little... er a lot better than her, did she have to treat him this way? That girl had a huge ego problem. * * * * * Perfume fumed. She was actually more angry at herself than Ranma for once. She had been surprised to hear Ranma ask her to wait for Ryoko. It seemed even with the markers, Ryoga got lost nearly got lost this morning. She should have known the infamous Hibiki sense of direction should not be trusted. She was ashamed that someone like Ranma had to remind her to look after her best friend. "I'm sorry, Ryoko." Ryoko could see that Perfume was eating herself up with this morning's incident. "Don't worry about it. I was the one that told you not to pick me up. Besides, I did get to school on time. You didn't really need to take the trouble to drop me off at home first. Too much trouble to walk there and back to the restaurant." Perfume's eyes automatically searched out of the boy walking along the fence above them. It was Ranma, they had to thank for that. Suddenly, she found herself hard to remain angry with the pigtailed boy. At least not as angry as she had been. Ryoko also watched Ranma speculatively. There were instances when her father talked about Ranma in a positive light. She remembered him telling her that he first met Ranma in junior high. He had apparently taken her father home many times just like he was doing with her now. While her father always seemed to be angry when he related to her those stories, Ryoko knew otherwise. Why would a hated enemy take a person home and to school over three hundred times? The only reason she could think of was that the person was either very stupid or a friend. * * * * * Perfume pointedly looked the other way as Ranma followed her back to the Nekohanten for their tutoring session. She resisted the urge to jump on the fence herself and show Ranma a thing or two about 'balance practice'. No. She wouldn't sink to his level of immaturity. Ranma did not notice the dark aura forming around the girl below him. His mind was preoccupied with his upcoming confrontation with Cologne. He knew that other than Happosai, she was probably the best in Nerima in mastery of the art. Happosai wouldn't be exactly his first choice of people to train him. He just didn't know how far he could trust with Cologne though. He will NOT marry, but other than that, everything else was game. "I'm home!" Perfume yelled out. She sighed as a round of applause broke out through the room. Immediately after stepping in she caught sight of a dining room packed full with teenaged boys. Yuu's fanclub must have taken over most of Ucchan's today. That meant most of the boys came to the next best place. Shampoo nodded from behind the kitchen counter. "Get changed, it's going to be busy today. Ai... Ranma is here? Well he can help out too." Shampoo blushed slightly at her slight lapse of common sense. Just seeing him again brought forth memories of her childhood and first love. She glanced at Mousse from the corner of her eyes. She could tell that he too caught that mistake by the stiffness in his walk. She would have to make it up to him. Mousse tensed as he felt Shampoo walking towards him. He felt the anger at Saotome's arrival begin to drain away as her hand came to rest on his shoulder. Even after all these years, small gestures such as these excited him to no end. "Shampoo..." Shampoo silenced him with a glance. "It was a force of habit, nothing more." She smiled as her husband's will seemed to completely drain away. She was glad to know that he had learned in twenty years time. Then changing her expression to an irritated one, she scowled, "Now hurry up and clean up the tables. There are still customers waiting in line." Ranma shifted uncomfortably as he watched the exchange between his two former friends. He turned around as felt Perfume motion for him to follow her. "In here," Perfume said as she walked into the closet/changing room. Seeing the look of horror that passed Ranma's face unsettled her a bit. Though she was still annoyed at the mess he got her in with great-great-grandmother, she was a heart a softy. Very much like Ryoko in that respect. Eiko once commented that the two of them were like cookies. Crusty on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. Ryoko never let her sister into her room again after that. "Never mind what you saw. It's just their version of hanky panky," Perfume explained. "Father actually loves it. He's already had two 'three-year smiling deaths' put on him. To him, it's ultimate proof that Mother loves him. Amazons only use the technique on their husbands or boyfriends." Ranma raised his eyebrow, but didn't comment. Mousse always did have weird tastes. He remembered Mousse's description of the three years of horror the technique entailed. The wife would make the husband's life a living hell all the while appearing to be the dutiful wife on the outside to make him pay for some sin or other. But, he was happy that his long time rival found some form of happiness at least. "Thanks, for telling me." "Whatever. Just didn't want you to jump in where you're not needed. Hurry up and get changed. We don't have all day, you know." "Um... You mind getting out of the room?" Ranma asked as he unbuttoned his shirt. He then splashed water over himself, seeing as how the clothes she needed to change into consisted of a girly apron. "Er... I was just about to," Perfume muttered as she quickly left the room. She was surprisingly pleased to note that Ranma's female form had nothing on her own. She was also disturbed to note that the image of Ranma's female form threatened to shift to that of his male one. With the top off. She was still NOT going to marry him. * * * * * Cologne glanced up at noted Ranma's eyes shifting between her and Perfume. Ranma must think her to demand marriage to Perfume. No, Cologne had learned slightly from her mistakes. She had tried to fix that problem later on by not taking any action in making Ranma bend to her will. She even went so far as to teach him a few techniques without making him promise to marry Shampoo. However, it was too late by then. He became wary of her and worse, Shampoo, after the full-body-cat-tongue incident. She was not about to make the same mistake with Perfume. Well other than occasionally reminding him that they were married, she would not interfere. Well, maybe she could nudge them a bit. Just a tad. "You want me to teach you? Do you not already have a teacher? How else could you have beaten Perfume? I know Perfume is better than you were twenty years ago. She should have beaten you yesterday." "Well I won and what are talking about? Nobody taught me anything since I came back to Nerima. Me and the old pervert came straight to Nerima. I'll tell you that journey wasn't any picnic. I got beaten, mauled..," Ranma trailed off as a though suddenly occurred to him. "Yes. You went through the same thing your father and Soun did. You survived Happosai's training. With him as your teacher, why would you need me?" Ranma held up his hands in front of himself. He clenched his hands into fists experimentally. The old lech was good for something after all. But, he reminded himself that he did not want to have anything to do with Happosai again. Three months with him was more than enough to last a life time. "He won't sit still for a moment to teach me anything. Besides, I know what he'll ask if I do ask him for help. I don't feel like posing in a bra for him." Cologne calmed herself as the excitement began to build within her. "I suppose you could follow me and Perfume when we head off to the mountains for this weekend. You can set up our tents and do the cooking. Whatever amount of time I have left, I should be able to give you some scraps of information dealing with the art." Ranma grimaced and reluctantly thanked Cologne for her 'gracious' gesture. He then went back to the dojo. At least she didn't ask for his soul. Had Perfume been paying more attention to the conversation, she might have put more of a resistance towards Ranma joining them for the weekend. However, she was in shock to hear from her great-grandmother that Ranma got lucky against her in their battle. If she paid a little more attention, she would have beaten him. A rematch was in order, Perfume decided. * * * * * "You're what!" Soun cried out in anger. His demon head held in check as he knew Hinako disapproved of it. Ranma cringed at the loudness of Mr. Tendo's voice. He looked around himself for support. Everybody else had moved six feet away from the dinner table and quietly resumed eating. Man, maybe they should have stayed at home to eat. "It's only for the weekends. Besides, Perfume's supposed to be my tutor. I have to train with her once in awhile." Genma pulled his long time friend aside. He whispered, "Tendo, I think you should think this over. This is a great opportunity. We can have Meiko go with them to cook and clean. As his fiancée, it's her duty to take care of him." "Saotome, you're a genius," Soun praised. He then looked around and noticed everyone one in the room glaring at him. Most especially his daughter, Meiko. Ranma grew a vein on his forehead. He angrily bopped his pop on the head. "Why'd you have to whisper if your were going to write everything you said on those signs anyway?" Genma looked down and in his hands he found a marker and a sign. He opted the easy way out. He grabbed his drink and splashed it over himself. [I'm just a panda,] he wrote. Ranma sighed and decided to that he would be happy enough to steal his pop's food. "Pandas don't eat food, like this." Actually, Meiko wasn't exactly mad, but felt that she had to make a show of it for appearance sake at least. She didn't want Ranma to think she was easy. A training trip in Ranma's element was a great way to find out what he was like. Images of her and him sparring danced in her head. Maybe she would get into trouble and he would rescue her just like in all those stories. Ohhh! She would just die if that happened. Eiko pouted openly. She wanted to play with Ranma during the weekend. Maybe she could get Mommy to let her go with Meiko. The thought of Ranma and her having tickling contests filled her mind. Ohhh! That would be just the best. Ryoko didn't know if she liked the idea of a confrontation between her best friend and Ranma again. He really wasn't all that bad a guy. She had better go along. Just to keep an eye on Meiko and her best friend, nothing else she told herself. Well, she might take the opportunity to thank him for taking her to school and back home today. But that's all. Sounds of Soun and Genma plotting, with Ranma arguing with them were to one side. The manic giggling of a teeager and child were on another. The brooding of a girl completed the square. Akane, Ryoga, Nodoka, Hinako, and Ranko went on eating dinner ignoring the antics of their immediate family members. After all, they only lived with them. * * * * * Ranma grumbled as he went about gathering fire wood for the camp. He just finished with setting up the tents for a bunch of girls and old ghoul and not he had to cook dinner for them? Cologne had meant it when she said that if would have to take care of all their needs during the trip. He now had to wait until she was done with teaching Perfume before he could even have a chance at learning anything. His chance finally came when Cologne patted her stomach and smoked on her pipe contently after dinner. "That was a fine meal, Ranma. You make a fine wife... er husband for my Perfume." Cologne smiled inwardly as she saw Ranma nearly choke on his rice. It was nice to know that he still had the same weaknesses. "Well, are you done eating? There's only a few hours before night time." Ranma impatience was clear in his voice. "I want to get some training in too. How about the 'breaking point' first?" Cologne shook her head at that. "The training you received from Happosai is much more effective than crashing into boulders. With your body now, you'd probably crack the boulder. But, it will serve as maintenance of your body at least. Because with enough time, you could eventually lose that toughness. As for the technique itself, you are smart enough to figure out how to do it. You just never had the chance to need it." Ranma mentally checked off that from his list of things to learn before he had a rematch with Ryoga and the others. "How about shiatsu points then?" Cologne nodded approvingly. It seemed her son-in-law already had in mind of what he needed to learn in order to beat his former rivals. She estimated a year maybe sooner before Ranma could give those men a decent challenge. "As a martial artist, you already know all the major nerve points and have used them in battle. I could teach you a style of shiatsu fighting that will enable you to hit nerve points in the most effective combination. These can make a person laugh, mute, asphyxiate, among other things. You already know the first step to this method. The amaguriken. The next step is for you to be able to do as many things possible during the amaguriken." Ranma was not surprised to learn that Shampoo used a variation of this with her 'memory erasing' technique. She was able to wash, shampoo, rinse, blow dry, and style hair in under a minute, all the while hitting the shiatsu points. Eiko, Meiko, and Ryoko sat in bored silence as they watched Ranma go through the learning techniques. Ryoko frowned as she watched Perfume examine him intently, looking for any and all weaknesses Ranma might display. Maybe a bit too intently, Ryoko thought. She had better stop this before it got ugly. "You know, Perfume, I think you've got him all wrong. Well, he's still an egotistical jerk, but he's not so bad that we should try and beat him up." Perfume did not look up from the training session between her great-great-grandmother and Ranma. "I suppose you're right. But, I'm not giving up. I was the best before he came and I will do everything in my power to remain so. I just won't beat him up that badly." "Really, I sure you have him all wrong... huh? I'm right? You don't hate him anymore?" Ryoko was sure that her friend despised him. Why else was Perfume paying so much attention to him? Meiko frowned as she noticed the look in Perfume's eyes. She and Perfume, along with others in their group were great friends. She had been scared at first when she heard that they were both affianced to the same boy. She really didn't want to compete with one of her friends. Hence her happiness when she found that Perfume didn't like Ranma. However, Perfume's eyes told her a different story. Eiko's eyes widened as she saw her aunt begin to glow blue. "Duck! Incoming shi shi hokodan!" Perfume and Ryoko on pure instinct quickly ducked. Meiko discharged ki blasts at times. Sometimes they weren't very strong as she was usually a quiet girl. Other times, when she displayed happiness or depression, the blasts had been known to blow even someone like Ryoga away. Ranma turned his head to see what was all the commotion about. He regretted the instant he saw the huge ball of chi arc towards him. Oh, boy! * * * * * Cologne held her nose. The chi blast left a distinct smell of burning flesh. Her eyes confirmed her nose's findings as she looked over Ranma slightly burned semi-naked body. "Meiko, remind me have a word with Ryoga about stepping up your training." Meiko nodded meekly. Her eyes averted from Ranma's body for decency sake. She wondered when it would be appropriate to turn around. A minute, she decided. Or less. Eiko, unlike the other girls, did not cover her eyes. "Wow, he has so many muscles. He looks cute sleeping like that. Almost like a baby. Um, so who's going to take him to the tent to get dressed?" Three pairs of eyes shifted. Perfume gave an exaggerated sigh, "Now that he's a student of my great-great-grandmother, I suppose it's my duty as his sempai to help him out." "Oh, no need for you to trouble yourself, Perfume. Father sent me here to take care of Ranma. I might as well do what I was supposed to." Meiko quickly stepped in front of Perfume. "Actually, I didn't do anything all day. Perfume, you trained with Cologne all day and must be tired. The same with you Meiko. You helped Ranma cook and clean. I guess, I should pull some weight here on this training trip." Ryoko, in turn, stepped in front of Meiko. "Um, Cologne already took Ranma into the tent," Eiko supplied. "Never mind then," three voices muttered out. * * * * * The four girls sat about the campfire moodily poking into it with sticks. Eiko hated waiting. "When is she going to be done with fixing Ranma up?" Perfume shrugged. "Great-great-grandmother will take care of him. She said that it's mainly shock and that Ranma will recover in a few hours." Ryoko was impressed by that. "That's fast. It took daddy almost a whole day when he was hit." Meiko blushed. "It was only half a day. But, yeah, I know what you mean. He's every bit as good as the legends at Furinken say he is." "You've been listening to those story tellers, Hiroshi and Daisuke, again haven't you? I don't know how those two guys find the time to get off work at their firm to talk with us kids at school everyday. All they do is talk about the old glory days." Ryoko didn't feel that she needed to also mention that she made a point to listen in once in a while. Meiko blushed again. That answered that question. "I hope he gets better soon. He might leave very soon. I want to play with him some more before he goes." Eiko sighed at another wasted day. "What!? He's leaving? Where did you hear this?" Meiko rushed over and picked Eiko up bringing the child close to her face. Perfume and Ryoko sweated nervously at their quiet cousin's not so demure behavior. Meiko noted the glances she was receiving and wondered if all that blood rushing to her face was a good thing. She quickly put Eiko down and asked again slower this time. "Yesterday, yesterday night. I was talking to Ranma on the roof when Mommy and Daddy made me go to sleep. But, I didn't. I heard them say that it wasn't that bad and that he should stay." "Not that bad they say. I couldn't imagine how it would feel to be in his position. His fiancées all married and with children as old as he is. Poor Ranma. What he needs is the love, caring, and understanding of some good friends to go through this tough period in his life," Meiko said. Ryoko cast a guilty glance at Perfume, "I guess we didn't really help much by picking on him." Perfume tried to appear nonchalant, but failed miserably. "He shouldn't have tried to make me look like a fool in front of everyone. Treating like I'm some weak girl and not taking me seriously was bad enough, but that was worse." Ryoko sighed. She really couldn't feel any of the anger she felt for Ranma anymore. "We were the ones that picked the fight with him. He wouldn't even have gone to the arena if we didn't force him to." Perfume gave up and just sat in moody sat in moody silence. After a short time of thinking she spoke up again. "I guess I could try to be nicer to him. I still want to fight him though!" Ryoko nodded. "Let's try to make him feel more at home so that he'll stay." Meiko and Eiko cheered. With friends like them why, would Ranma want to leave? * * * * * "Sweet... oof. Watch where you stand you big oaf! Erk!" "Long time no see, Happy. I've searched for you for twenty years. Funny how much you learn in that time. Now about changing my name." * * * * * Ken raised his arm triumphantly as his opponent conceded. He then jumped up and kicked down the dojo sign and added it to his growing collection. His technique had been flawless in today's battle. After a few more practice rounds, he will go after Genma and his Saotome Ryu. * * * * * Spice listened thoughtfully as his advisors related to him the story of his father's only defeat. Only one person had beaten his father. If that person was still alive today, would that person pose a threat? Maybe when he had the time, it would be a good idea to pay Nerima a visit. * * * * * Lotion grumbled. There was one minor flaw in her plan of defeating that pigtailed girl. She didn't have a single clue as to where she could find the wench in a country of millions. She would have to search every city, she supposed. Tokyo would be good start. Fortunately she had a full mastery of the language. "You, farmer. Where is Lotion?" The farmer looked up at the strange foreign girl. "At the super market," he answered and went back to plowing. Lotion looked around her and wasn't impressed. This super market didn't look like a very developed area. She should get going as to the nearest city. * * * * * to be continued...