Subject: Another Time, Same Place 7
Date: Thu, 04 Mar 1999 17:51:45 -0700
From: Donny <chengdo@shaw.wave.ca>
To: chengdo@shaw.wave.ca

Disclaimer:  All characters portrayed in this story are the property of
the Rumiko Takahashi and co.

This story takes place after volume 38 of the Ranma manga and also draws
ideas from the anime.

C & C welcomed.

Another Time, Same Place

By

Donny Cheng

Chapter 7:  Silver Lining.

        Ranko carefully climbed out of her window.  It had been years since
she
had done this.  She had stopped coming out to see the stars when her
mother had caught her once and told her it was not ladylike to climb all
over the place like a monkey.  She had of course listened dutifully as a
daughter should.  It brought a small sense of guilt to break the promise
even as she was already an adult.

        Ranma heard the sound of someone moving on the roof.  "I already
told
you, Ryoga.  I don't want to talk about it!"

        Caught unawares by the sudden shout of her youthful, older brother,
Ranko slipped from her precarious perch on the ledge of the roof.  The
swift movement of her head brought about a wave of dizziness and to her
horror the ground suddenly loomed in her face.  For only a moment
though.  Her arm suddenly jerked causing her body to come to a halt in
the air, and just as quickly she found herself on the ledge again,
staring into a face so like her own.

        "You weren't kidding when you said you weren't very good at martial
arts," Ranma said tactlessly.

        Ranko flushed red, embarrassed slightly, but also irritated at her
brother's gruff words.  "Physical prowess is really not my strength."

        "You shouldn't climb to such a high place, then.  Who knows what
could
have happened?  Pop and Mother would have...," Ranma didn't finished.
He couldn't bear the taking the thought further.  Their mother was only
starting to become less emotional in recent days.  She no longer cried
out of the blue, happy at his return and yet at the same time worried
about him.

        Ranko sighed.  Was it this quality of his, that drew her friends'
attentions?  The concern evident in his eyes that seemed to come at you
so unexpectedly?  So unexpected it was that it caught Ranko off guard
and her hold on her anger softened.  Though they didn't admit it, she
knew Perfume and Ryoko were at least as interested as Meiko appeared to
be.  "I should have been more careful," Ranko agreed and a smile of
affection showed on her face as Ranma let out a breath that he must have
been holding since she fell.

        Ranma gave Ranko a cautious glance as he help her over to where he
had
been sitting, not trusting the girl to stay put safely on her own.
"Glad, some girls actually listen."

        There it was again.  The chauvinistic nature getting the better of
him.  That was the reason why girls hated him at the same time.
However, it could be that very thing, which made them notice him at all
in the first place.  A great hatred at one person could, while not
easily, turn into something else altogether.  "Uncle told me that you
weren't speaking to anyone.  He thought maybe you'd be more comfortable
with your own family.  You were up here all night.  Are you going to
spend all of today here too?  You've already missed school."

        Ranma frowned at the thought of Ryoga worried about him.  The
thought
of it made his stomach flip.  It was pity again.  Pity for him.  "You
can tell the jerk, I'm fine.  Nothing is wrong.  Just need some time
alone."

        Ranko didn't move from her spot and she knew that Ranma wouldn't
force
her to leave.  There were times when a person did need to be alone.
This was not one of them for Ranma.  "Are you so eager to get rid of a
sister you don't even know?  Am I that bad to be around?"

        "No," Ranma reluctantly said.  "I guess not.  So did you want
something?"

        "Not really.  I just wanted to talk with the brother I've never
seen,
but heard so much about."

        "Don't tell me you believe some of the stuff I've heard them say
about
me.  No I did not suddenly shrink or grow.  I was never seven feet tall
or a four foot worm."

        Ranko caught herself giggling.  "I guess some of the stories have
gotten out of hand over time.  You have to understand that for a year
you were the center of attention of all of Nerima.  Even in so short a
time, you made a huge impact on everyone you knew.  Including our
parents."  Ranko was no longer smiling at this last bit of information.

        "W-what?" Ranma stammered as she looked at him intently.  She seemed
to
accuse him with her eyes, but he had no idea why.

        "Everything I did paled in comparison to you.  Nothing, I ever did
was
good enough.  I know he doesn't mean to, but each time Father looks at
me, I see disappointment written all over his face.  My interests were
never focussed on the Art, so we never had anything to talk about.  When
mother looks at me, she sees the martyr of a son that sacrificed himself
to grant the wishes of others."

        "I didn't know," Ranma whispered, not knowing what else to say.  The
one person that was unhappy at his leaving, was his own sister.

        "I could have hated you, but I didn't.  If anything, I think I grew
to
idolize you when I was still a little girl.  It was only when I would
ask about you that I would see Father break into a smile.  He would tell
me of the adventures the two of you had during that ten year training
trip.  It was only then that he would forget to grieve.  Mother was even
less happy with your disappearance if that was possible.  From what I
have heard, she had only been with you for the first five years and the
last few months of your entire life.  I guess it was a blessing that I
grew to resemble you in feature.  Even when you were hiding yourself as
Tendo Ranko those many years ago, she had felt some sort of motherly
attachment to you.  She took to teaching me everything that she had
wanted to back then to your cursed form.  Sometimes, when she whispered
my name, I could tell she was really thinking of you.  But, that was
okay with me, because I could see that she was happy.  How could I hate
someone that made the two most important people in my life happy."

        "Are you usually with Pop and Mother during the day?  Do you hang
around both of them at the same time?" Ranma asked, breaking his
sister's reverie.  He could see her gradual sadness building up to a
depression that was as great as his own.  He had only had to look into a
mirror when he was in his cursed form to know that it matched Ranko's.

        Ranko snapped to attention at Ranma's sharp, quick questions.  It
was
her turn to take a mental step backwards as she gazed into Ranma's
intense gaze.  "No.  I am a university student.  I am only with them at
night or on a holiday.  Father is usually helping out at Mr. Tendo's
dojo in that time."

        "Then you're wrong.  They aren't only happy when I am around.  I
came
back in this world, because the requirement of everyone being happy was
fulfilled.  Pop and Mother's name were both on that list.  There were
happy.  You underestimate yourself."

        Ranko blinked and then a slow chuckle escaped from her.  She had
been
trying to cheer him up with her stories.  Telling him how much he had
been needed.  Yet, she ended up having Ranma cheer her up.  "And you
wonder why girls are drawn to you.  If you weren't my own brother...,"
She laughed out loud as Ranma went ghostly white.  "I was only kidding
and thank you for trying, Ranma.  Can you at least do the same?  I
really want to listen and help you."

        Ranma shrugged.  "There's nothing to talk about.  I'm in a world
where
people my own age have reached my skill level, yet none of them went on
a ten year trip to do it in.  One of them is even better than me.  Did
ten years on the road mean so little?  I look at them and I see them
happy with friends and family all around them and they are still only a
stone's throw away from my level."

        Ranko decided that Ranma needed a good skull rapping and she did,
ignoring the glare he gave her as he put a hand to where she hit him.
"That training trip wasn't bad and you enjoyed it.  I know that from
what Father tells me.  So you never had a chance to grow up with people
around you, that doesn't mean you wasted your life.  You can't wish for
things that have already past, only be happy with what you have now.
You have a chance now to make things better.  There's a bunch of kids
downstairs waiting for you.  They want to be your friends, but you never
give them a chance.  Besides, Uncle Ryoga tells me that he was better
than you when you two were the same age.  As lost as he got, he still
spent more time than you did around civilization.  So why are you
worried about this now?

        "That lying idiot.  I was always better than him.  Old age is
affecting
his brain..."

        Ranko shook her head in amazement.  She hadn't believed Uncle, but
it
really was that easy once you distracted his mind.  She waited until
Ranma was done rambling before asking him to help her down.  Not that
she was frail, but she needed to give him an excuse to come off the roof
also.

                        * * * * *

        Ranma couldn't really describe the feeling he got when he saw the
number of people waiting for him below.  None of them paid much
attention to him, but that didn't matter.  The fact that they were here,
when they didn't need to be was enough for the moment.

        "I'm only here because Ryoko and Meiko needed someplace to study.
Not
very easy in a house filled with students practicing," Perfume quickly
explained when Ranma looked in her direction.  Ryoko also nodded just as
quickly.  Meiko just smiled shyly.  "You look okay for a person that had
his bones broken methodically one by one.  Should have known that hard
head of yours also means hard bones."

        Though there wasn't exactly a question, Ranma could almost feel it
laced with in her seemingly nonchalant words.  "Yeah, takes a lot more
than that to get rid of me, not like some violent girls I know."

        Meiko giggled as she saw Ryoko and Perfume look at each other at
Ranma's words.  She was glad to know that it couldn't have been her that
Ranma meant.  It couldn't, right?  Sure she blasted him that one time,
but that was days ago.  It wasn't that it took much to beat her either.
She frowned as she gave Perfume and Ryoko another glance.  It had to be
them he meant.

        Kasuga was also there but his attention was riveted to Ranko.  He
was
reduced to a blubbering mass when she walked over to him and filled his
cup with tea.  Ranma noticed she didn't refill anyone else's cup.

        Yukio perked up at Ranma's entrance.  Yuu, however, sat looking out
into the Tendo yard where some of the dojo's students trained.  "Hey,
Ranma.  Good to see you're okay.  I was worried when I heard what
happened."

        Ranma quickly stamped down the jealousy he felt at being discarded
so
quickly.  He was half-surprised to see Yukio still happy to see him
actually.  They both struck him as the type that loved and left them.
"Nothing I couldn't handle," he grinned back at Yukio.

        "Glad to see you are fine, Ranma," Tatewaki said as he walked over
with
Mika at his side harping at him.

        "Now will you tell me what the big secret is?" Mika asked angrily at
the bokken wielding boy.  Not that it took much for her to be angry with
him.  He always pushed the wrong buttons with her.

        "Secret?" Ranma asked, noticing a glint in Tatewaki's eyes,
reminding
him of when Nabiki was setting him up for a deal.

        "I think I know Ken's training technique or at the very least the
reasoning behind it," Tatewaki said slowly.  His imitation of his
mother's method of dropping a hint perfected.

        Ranma's eyes narrowed.  This he was used to.  "How much?"

        Tatewaki blinked.  "Oh, I don't want money.  That would be wrong and
not in the least bit honorable."

        Ranma staggered from the stance he usually took when he dealt with
Nabiki.  He guessed that he was wrong about the other boy.  Kuno's
samurai influence no doubt.

        "But a favor on the other hand is a reasonable request."

        It took all of Ranma's strength to stay on his two feet this time.
Then again, Nabiki was always the stronger of the two in personality.
"What do you want?"

        "I only want to join you on your training trip with Perfume... I
meant
Cologne one weekend." Tatewaki in his haste to close the deal, forgot of
the other love of his life, for a single moment.  It was of course a big
mistake.

        "Why are looking at me?  Like I would care if you went to see some
overly bouncy airhead of a bimbo," Mika said as she walked out the
door.  She didn't care.

        "I don't think I believe her," Ranma said finally after a moment.

        "Oh?  What gave it away?" Tatewaki asked as he picked up his bokken
which Mika had pulled from him and broken using his head.

        "It's a deal, by the way.  So, what's the secret?"

        "Have you ever heard of a Chinese actor that was popular during your
time, called Chow Sing-Chi?"

                        * * * * *

        "This guy is awesome!  He is a great master of the art," Ranma
called
out to Tatewaki in awe as he watched the documentary on the actor.  "You
say he's an actor?"

        Everyone in the room facefaulted.  Perfume pulled Tatewaki aside and
the other quickly followed after them.  "He can't be serious.  That's a
movie.  It's all fake."

        Tatewaki was amazed himself when he tried that little experiment.
"No,
he is serious.  I would hazard to guess that Ryu Kumon, Ken's father,
also thought this was real when he saw it.  Ranma and Ryu both traveled
extensively on the road and it's not very hard to imagine that they
don't know what is fake and what is not in the movies."

        "Any of you guys have a truck?  I'm sure I could learn it, if Ken
could." Ranma continued to call out as he watched.  The training method
this Sing-Chi guy was using looked somewhat difficult, but after the
daily beatings he got from women while he journeyed with Happosai back
to Nerima, he felt his body was strong enough to handle it.  It involved
a person hanging onto the monkey-bar like frame of the truck while it
drove over a rocky road at full speed.  The goal, Ranma could see was to
learn how to hang onto something without letting go no matter what
happened.  The same applied to the human body.  Ken would hang on, take
any amount of damage, all the while holding the person in a grip that
was stronger than death.

        "I don't think he is kidding either," Ryoko said, shaking her head
in
disbelief.

        "I did some checking when I saw that tape and found some information
on
the Kumon's.  They live in Hong Kong now teaching some new art form, but
it is not well received due to its newness and abstract style.  That and
they claim their patron is Chow Sing-Chi, a popular, but comedic actor.
Not likely to get any serious students with something that absurd.  This
is one way they are using to gain fame and respect for their school."

        Meanwhile, Ranma had come to his own conclusions.  The truck would
not
be enough to gain the skills that Ken possessed.  He tried thinking of
what he would have done had he came up an idea to defeat the twin arts
his father devised.  The Lock Fist, to hold both the noisy and stealthy
thief techniques was a reasonable start.  However, in order to train it,
he would not have used a truck.  He would have tried something much
bigger and harder to hold onto.  For durability, getting beaten up by
mobs of girls and slamming into boulders were fine, but not enough to
gain that kind of toughness.  Boulders.  The word stuck in his mind.  He
had his answer.

        It was funny that he never thought of something as simple as
strapping
onto a rolling boulder before.

                        * * * * *

        Ken looked down the slope.  This one, while not as steep, had much
more
jagged rock formations than the previous one had.  Grunting, he hefted
the large boulder and placed it near the edge.  Spitting on his hands
for traction, he grabbed onto the rock as best he could.  Small crevices
provided minor handholds for him to hang on to.  Then, he pushed himself
over the ledge.

                        * * * * *

        "<Pigtailed girl?>" Shampoo asked, after Lotion finally broke down
and
answered some of their questions, but only after promising to release
her after three questions.  That had been the last.  From the first two
questions, she gathered that her mother was now elder of the village,
voted by the council.  A position she disliked because it meant less
time acting as healer, but she really was the most qualified in terms of
stature and lineage.  It had always been her and her great-grandmother's
wish to relieve her mother of that burden.  She also knew that her
mother did not share her sister's feelings on the matter.  Her head
bowed low at the image of her mother looking wistfully at hut that
served as the village's hospital.

        "<You were defeated, so that was how you came to come here.  Three
guesses who this pigtailed girl is.  The time of this event is the same
time he was in China,>" Cologne said thoughtfully.  Did her family owe
the boy a debt in some past life?

        "<Ranma!>" Shampoo and Mousse both stated simultaneously.

        Lotion, who had been paying little attention at this point, looked
up
at the name.  "<That is the name of the girl, that you told the council
was actually a boy, that had defeated you all those years ago.  He was
the reason that you never came back to the village.  If he is alive, it
means you both were lying.  You could have released mother from her
burden long ago.>"

        "<We did not lie,>" Shampoo said sharply.  More gruffly than she
should
have, as she saw the sister she never knew flinch from the force of it.
Much more gently, she told the story again, "<Ranma was gone.  He had
only reappeared three months ago because of a great magical artifact he
had used.  Haven't you wondered why he appears to be the same age.>"

        "<Then...,>" Lotion looked wonderingly at the sad faces before her.

        "<Yes, it is all true.  The village had already given Shampoo her
one
warning and even gave her the cat curse as penance, but only because I
stepped in for her.  The second return to the village without a husband
or a body, would have meant she failed.  If we returned, the whole
family would have been shamed.  Better to have the council believe us
dead, missing, or hiding,>" Cologne explained to her newly discovered
other great-granddaughter.

        Lotion saw Mousse loosen her straps as promised.  Suddenly, she
found
herself in no hurry to leave.  She had told the truth when she said that
her mother did not blame them for not returning to the village.   Mother
loved them and her warm heart was the reason she had been voted for and
also the reason she didn't turn it down, despite her own wants.  Lotion,
however, did or rather had blamed them.  She had grown up watching her
mother ache to go and spend the day at the healer's hut, but the duties
as elder allowed at most one free day out of weeks or even months.

        She found it easy to shift her anger to that of the pigtailed boy
that
defeated her.  "<It's all that girl's fault!  That girl that's also a
male.  If we bring her body back now, you can all go back to the
village.  Although I am supposed to kill him, amazon law dictates that
you have precedence.  I'm sure you can defeat her now.  I've seen her
way of moving and from the way you move, you could easily beat her,
sister,>" Lotion said emphatically, not aware of calling Shampoo sister
for the first time.

        "<No.  I have no quarrel with him.  He wasted twenty years of his
life
making a wish that would benefit us all.  If anything it is I that owes
him,>" Shampoo disagreed.

        Lotion found it hard to fault her sister's statement.  Honor was
something that her mother had taught her to respect.  "<But, couldn't
you marry him?  That would also work.  Even if you are married to this
_male_ here, the laws do not prevent you from having another.>"

        Shampoo saw Mousse stiffen through the side of her eye.  "<No.  I am
much too old to think of another male.  Besides, my daughter is married
to him.  Or rather she would be if she were in the village.  She was
defeated by him also,>" She replied more for Mousse's sake than for
Lotion's.

        The Kiss of Marriage!  It only crossed Lotion's mind just then that
she
was obligated to marry this Ranma if the council found out she was in
reality a male.  "<I never planted the kiss of death on him!  Now that I
know he is really a male...>"

        "<You are obligated to marry him.  Your engagement takes precedence
since you were defeated first.  Without the Kiss of Death, you do not
have the option to kill him like Shampoo had all those years ago,>"
Cologne recited off by heart.  She cursed her knowledge of the amazon
laws.  They would again destroy her family for a second time.

        No!  Spice was waiting for her back in China.  How could she have
gotten herself married to another boy?  Just as she thought her life was
over, she felt her great-grandmother touch her shoulder.

        "<We tell Ranma nothing,>" Cologne spoke before Lotion could another
word in edgewise, "<and hope that we can get this mess sorted out before
anyone is the wiser.  If Perfume, your niece, were to marry Ranma
beforehand, you could ask for a reprimand from the council, a
termination of the marriage, or you can let him go and find another.>"

        Hope filled within Lotion as she heard this.  There was still one
small
problem. "<But the village saw my defeat and my chasing of the girl.>"

        "<I think it's time I talked with your mother.  Ranma's reappearance
will mean that we no longer have to hide.  The council will want my head
for keeping them in the dark about our disappearances, but with
son-in-law back among us, I think I can pull it off.  I know enough of
the laws to twist the words to suit our purposes.>"

        Lotion finally let herself smile.  She was then swept up in her
older
sister's embrace.  She stayed that way for a moment before pulling
herself away.  "<You may have your excuses, but I'm still angry with
you.  It will take me some time to rid myself of it, I hope you
understand.>"

        Shampoo nodded.  Had she been in the Lotion's shoes, she may have
killed herself, so deep was her love for her family.  "<Where are you
going?>" she asked when Lotion started to head out for the front door.

        "<To teach this Ranma a lesson he will not forget.  As long as
great-grandmother is sorting out the laws and keeping this between us, I
won't let this opportunity go to waste.  He humiliated me in front of
dozens of villagers.>"

        Shampoo sighed.  While the girl took honor and the laws seriously,
Lotion was not afraid to bend them to suit her purposes.  So much like
herself, Shampoo thought affectionately.  "<Have fun.>"

        "<Oh, I will,>" Lotion grinned sardonically.

        Awhile later, Lotion came back to the restaurant asking for
directions.

                        * * * * *

        Spice slept in a cabin below the deck of his mighty ship.  He
sneezed
sometime that night, awaking him momentarily, before he want back to
bed.

                        * * * * *

The End. (maybe)

--
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