Disclaimer - I ain't no Rumiko Takahashi, I am a mere vassal who worships at her deific feet. For any lawyers who work for her or any company that may own rights to Ranma half I pray you waste neither your time nor talents in suing me, as all I have is a Pentium three and an incomplete set of Ranma half volumes. And I'm sure if you asked Takahashi-sama nicely she would be happy to give you a set of Ranma half, and if you ask really nicely she may even sign them for you. As for the Pentium III please take it, it'll give me an excuse to finally upgrade to something that's not quite so prehistoric, just give me a chance to get my files off of it first
Clarity
Chapter 1
Damn it why am I so confused? All my life I've been been told I had to be a man amongst men, an adonis to women(who would of course flock to my manliness), a paragon of virtue(though no one has informed me which virtues) and an example to all other men (someone to be admired and emulated). I think I've done it too. I mean I've got fiancee's all over the place, men challenge me on a regular basis.
"So what the hell's gone wrong?" he muttered under his breath. None of the people in his life respected him.
"Do you really want to know?" The voice had come from the doorway into the Dojo, it was the voice of someone he really didn't like HAPPOSAI.
"What d'ya want ya little freak? Haven't you caused enough trouble?" Ranma didn't even look up at the Grand-master of the Anything Goes school of martial arts.
"Hmmmm. Thats quite a good question Ranma. Did you ever think to ask why?" Ranma frowned, again without looking up. "I mean why I choose to cause so much havoc." Ranma gave a blank look at the little old man and gave his head a little shake as if to rid himself of a ringing in his ears.
"I always figured you were doing it for kicks. "
"I didn't really think so. I've tried to show you over and over, but that useless pile of blubber you call a father did his work a little too well. I think we'll come back to this question later. I think there are more immediate issues." Ranma remained in a stunned state, he'd never heard Happosai speak like this, but at these last few statements he raised his eyebrows in question. "Ah you look like you have a question, so go ahead and ask it."
"Okay." He frowned as he tried to find the words, those not being his strongpoint. "Let me get this straight. You mean to tell me Pops training of me worked?"
"Yes you could say that. More by accident than design I'm sure, you might even say he succeeded despite his own ineptness." He paused for a moment. "Let me ask another question of you. You don't have to answer me, but I think it's something you need to think on." Ranma gave a slight nod for him to continue.
"Right the question is - Ranma do you know what a slave is?"
"What the hell are you talking about? Course I know what a slave is!"
"Thats good. So definite, you must have a very good definition if you can say that so quickly. Why don't you enlighten me." Happosai smiled encouragingly at Ranma.
"Well, uh, um. It's like this. A long time ago people used to like, uh, sell other people to do hard jobs and things and, uh..." He trailed off as the little man sat there shaking his head a little in frustration.
"Interesting point you have there, but who said that it only happened in the past? Open your eyes Ranma and look at the real world. That's such a small facet of slavery, allow me to expand it just a little more for you. You spoke of physical freedom, but what about mental freedom? Or spiritual freedom? What about the kind of person who makes a slave of themselves." He seems a little stunned, maybe I'm going a little too fast for him? I've tried to be subtle and it hasn't worked. Time to try the bludgeon technique "If you remove a mans right to make decisions for himself, don't you in fact make that man a slave?" Ranmas eyes looked troubled. "As the master of this Ryu I have a task for you lad. The task is this, for as long as it takes you must examine your life and discover all the ways your father has attempted to enslave you."
"I ain't a slave to no one!" He yelled as his skin turned red in fury.
"Is that so? The sad thing is, I think you truly believe that." Looking into Ranma's blazing eyes he tilted his head to one side inviting the youth to answer him. For once Ranma had no answer and just sat there staring. "I'll leave you now to sulk, I mean meditate on the things I have told you to." With that parting shot he rose and left the dojo.
Authors notes:- this one just popped up in my mind so I decided to write it. It's a little more introspective than my normal story style. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue it. So if you're interested and would like to see it continued let me know by message or by review.