The True Heir
A Ranma 1/2 story by -
Project Balrog Productions
Oh yeah, just in case you didn't know, there are a whole
bunch of people who own the rights to these characters and I
am not one of them.
I use the following symbols on occasion. I might have a
system, but I don't know what it is. Anyway, they mean
something. Maybe.
[ ]
( )
{}
Episode 1 - "Insert Standard Opening Episode Here..."
[The streets of Nerima. A light rain is falling, and the
street is mostly empty. Most people are willing to delay
their tasks for drier weather. Two notable exceptions are
present, both walking briskly down the center of the road.
Their forms are completely obscured by heavy, green, hooded
cloaks.]
A voice comes from within the smaller cloak. It's a young
man's voice, and it carries a tone of bitter anger.
"This is a hell of a time to tell me I'm getting married old
man." He growls, "At least now I know the other reason you
were so eager to get us out of China."
The larger figure chuckles.
"Heh, calm down boy, we couldn't have stayed anyway. And it
isn't like there was anything there for us in the first
place. Besides, Tendo is an old training partner of mine
and I'm sure his daughters aren't weak little flowers.
You'll like them."
The boy's shoulders seem to slump a little.
"I don't know why you're so dead set on fulfilling this
promise. None of the others seem to have struck you as
important."
"We do what we have to son, it's the prime tenet of our
school. The same school that Tendo practices. Remember
that you're more than just my heir, you're the heir to
the entire Anything Goes style."
His son snorts, "Oh I don't mind uniting the schools old
man. It's that little detail of free will that concerns me.
I'm not exactly happy about having my dating options
narrowed from several billion to however many daughters this
friend of yours has."
"You don't need to be happy about it now boy. That'll come
later. You'll learn to love your wife. I did."
The boy starts to laugh. It's a quiet chuckle at first, but
soon he has to stop walking to keep from collapsing. It
takes him a minute to calm down enough to talk again.
"Heh heh... That explains a lot old man. snort I always
knew mom was way out of your league..."
[Across town in a house on a rather large and well kept
piece of property, there's another conversation going on. A
man who looks young enough to be in his thirties is seated
across from three young women, all in their teens.]
The youngest of them, a cute girl with long black hair
dressed in a gi, speaks up first. She's a bit irate. It
shows.
"How could you do this to us daddy? For all we know this
boy could be some sort of pervert!"
The middle sister, equally attractive with brown hair in a
page-boy cut and wearing a kimono, chimed in. She's not
angry, but seems both intrigued and calculating at the same
time. There's a hint of anticipation in her voice.
"I hope he's cute."
Finally, predictably, is the oldest. Where the other two
are cute, this one is beautiful, a difference that has more
to do with age and attitude than pure appearance. She's
wearing a simple dress and blouse, has her long brown hair
in a ponytail, and gives off the image of a young housewife.
When she speaks, it's quietly and calmly.
"Oh my, I hope he's older than me. Younger men are so...
boring."
Their father takes a drag on his cigarette before answering.
His thick mustache seems to twitch in the hint of a smile.
"I don't know. I've never met him."
This is clearly not what his daughters were expecting. The
youngest is red from anger, and seems incapable of speech.
The middle daughter is visibly irritated and is on the edge
of chewing him out. The oldest still appears calm, but is
wearing a definite frown.
"Honestly Daddy, Akane's right." The middle daughter speaks
up, "You don't know anything about him. How do you know
that he isn't a pervert, or worse?"
"Now Nabiki, be nice, just because we don't know him is no
reason to make accusations. He could very well be a nice
young man."
"If he's so nice, then why don't you marry him Kasumi? I
don't feel like walking in to something like this blind."
"But..."
Before Kasumi could finish, their father broke in again.
"That may very well be the best solution. It was the
original agreement, after all. If I remember right, young
Tarou was adopted just a few weeks before Kasumi was born."
"But father..."
"Now Kasumi, there's no reason to worry. Saotome and his
wife promised our... ahem... well they promised on their
honor to raise Tarou to be a fitting heir to the Anything
Goes tradition. I'm sure that he's a fine upstanding young
man."
"But what about..."
"I had thought to leave the choice up to Tarou," he
continued, "but it seems obvious that that Kasumi is the
best choice. Why think daughter, he's even older than you,
just like you wanted. Ah, the heavens surely shine down
upon this blessed union of our families."
"But I don't..."
This time, for a change, she isn't interrupted by her
father. Instead she's interrupted by the sound of someone
knocking at their door.
Nabiki, ever helpful, rises to her feet.
"Kasumi, aren't you excited? That must be your fiance now.
I'll go get him for you."
Surely, Kasumi thought in a daze, Nabiki couldn't have been
wearing a malicious smirk while she said that.
She didn't have too much time to wonder though. It was only
a few seconds before Nabiki returned, with two cloaked
figures following her.
The narrower figure pulled back its hood.
Inside was a face that was attractive enough to be almost
effeminate. He has a distinctly chinese cast to his
features, emphasized by his sharp, angular brown eyes. His
long black hair is pulled back into a single thick braid.
He's wearing a pair of simple golden hoop earrings.
"I'm Saotome Tarou, sorry about this."
{Commercial Break}
[The screen shows Pantyhose Tarou as he appears in the
Manga, complete with his trademark dragonscale vest and
bracers and his pantyhose sash. He's standing on top of the
fortress he uses when he kidnaps Akane. It's sunrise and
his pantyhose sash is fluttering behind him in the breeze.]
[The camera zooms in on his chest, showing the vest in
detail]
[The logo for the official Jusenkyo Dragonscale apparel line
flashes onto the screen]
"Dragonscale" The male voice is strong and dignified.
"No other line of clothing is so perfectly suited for the
wandering martial artist."
"Whether you're hiking through the wilderness."
[Tarou leaping effortlessly up a mountain, a heavy pack on
his back]
"Hunting for an old enemy."
[Standing at the entrance of the Tendo Dojo, casually
tossing a kettle to the side, the Tendos are cowering away
from him]
"Or just beating the snot out of girly little fem-boys"
[A scene of Tarou's first fight with Ranma, Ranma jumps in
to attack, but Tarou casually kicks him in the face, smiling
the whole time]
"No other material is this durable,"
[Tarou transforms into his monster form, his clothing is
shredded completely. Seconds later, he shifts back, and his
clothing is mysteriously unharmed]
"this fashionable"
[A close-up of Tarou's face, with the top of the vest
showing. Soft pink light is filtering down from above, and
he appears to be surrounded by a halo of flowers. A young
girl's voice can be heard saying "Kakkoi"] ()
"or this recognizable"
[Tarou is walking away. Akane and Ranko are watching him
leave. A badly done voice over has them gossiping about
that fabulous dragonscale he's wearing and how they wish
that everyone had such great fashion sense.]
"Be the be the envy of your friends by being the first one
in your Wrecking Crew to buy our exclusive Jusenkyo
Dragonscale Vest today!"
[Tarou is sitting in the Cat Cafe, tied to his chair. Most
of the cast is sitting around glaring at him. He has his
head turned away contemptuously and a smirk on his face.]
"Order now and the bracers are free!"
[A phone number and ordering information appears on the
screen. The screen fades to black]
{End Commercial Break}
() - Kakkoi, for those of you who don't know, is what Tarou
wanted to change his name to. It's typically translated in
fanfiction as meaning 'Cool'. From what my sister-in-law,
who's a Japanese major, tells me this is almost but not
quite correct. It does mean cool, in the sense that a
thirteen-year-old girl would use the word to describe an
attractive boy, and pretty much exclusively in that sense.
So that means that those of you who like to wander into
comicbook shops and drool over Gundam Wing figurines and
mutter 'Kakkoi' under your breath shouldn't be too surprised
if anyone who really speaks Japanese in the area stares at
you oddly before edging away quietly. Or they might just
shake their heads and call you a moron. So by all means, if
what you really mean is that you want that six inch tall
plastic model to come to life and sweep you up off your feet
for a life of storybook romance, keep it up.
In any case, I have no intention of ever using any Japanese
words in the story itself. I don't speak Japanese, I don't
write Japanese, this isn't the Japanese alphabet that you're
reading in the first place, and I don't intend to get into
pointless arguments about the proper spelling of what are by
necessity phonetic words or whether or not '-chan' is an
appropriate way of designating gender. If I do include a
word, It'll probably be as part of a bad joke like this one
was, and will include a needlessly long explanation shortly
after. - ()
[Back in the Tendo home, everyone is seated around a low
table sipping tea. Tarou and the other figure are both
uncloaked now. Tarou is wearing a version of Ranma's
traditional outfit, but with a green shirt in place of red.
He's long-limbed and slender, adding even more to his
effeminate appearance. The other figure is a heavyset
middle-aged man in a white gi wearing glasses and a white
bandana over his head. The Tendo family is sitting across
from them, and they are unchanged from their earlier
appearance.]
"These are my daughters," Mr. Tendo says, "Kasumi is 19,
Nabiki is 17, and Akane is 16. Kasumi will be your fiancee"
Tarou snorts and raises his head to look Mr. Tendo in the
eye.
"I'm glad we've finally decided to get rid of any illusion
of choice. I'd hate to think I actually have some measure
of control over my life."
Tendo starts to respond, but Tarou cuts him off.
"Tell me, did you give your daughters any say in this? Or
any warning? Or did you decide to do the same thing as my
father and not even mention this until today?"
He turns and looks at Kasumi for a second. She can't quite
meet his gaze.
"That's what I thought."
He turns back to Mr. Tendo.
"I want you to know that I don't like this. I didn't expect
my life to be planned out for me. The only reason I don't
leave now is that I know what my mother's reaction would be.
If Kasumi is willing, I'll give this a try, but that's all
I'm willing to promise."
He glares at his father.
"And before she makes her choice, she needs to know about my
curse."
Everyone in the room except Genma and Soun turns to stare at
Tarou.
"Curse?" Nabiki whispers, "Daddy, what is he talking about?"
Kasumi nods along with her sister and turns her gaze to
their father. Akane simply continues glaring.
Soun turns to Genma, "Saotome, I thought you were going to
remove the boy's curse. You don't mean that after 19 years
you still haven't found a cure."
Genma shakes his head. "It isn't that simple my friend. We
discovered the source of the enchantment less than a month
ago. As part of our training were in a valley bearing the
name Jusenkyo..."
[The scene dissolves in the standard flashback manner,
reopening in the valley of Jusenkyo with Tarou and Genma
both wearing white training gis and preparing to fight.]
Genma leaps first, landing lightly on top of a fifteen-foot
bamboo pole emerging from the center of a small spring.
Tarou is quick to follow, and the two face off.
"I don't see what is so special about this place Oyaji, we
can do balance training anywhere."
"Maybe so boy, but we might as well make the best of it.
Besides, with all this water this is the perfect place to
train your other body. I don't like some of the bad habits
you've been picking up lately. Your size won't always be
enough to cover stupid mistakes."
"Less talk more fight old man."
With that, Tarou launches a flying kick at his father. The
old man takes to the air to meet him and the fight is on.
The two spend a good amount of time trading blows, always
managing to land safely on one of the poles. Both are doing
quite well, Tarou has the advantage in speed but his father
holds the edge in strength and endurance.
As the fight progresses, Genma's experience shows. Tarou is
every bit as skilled as his father if not more so, but is
steadily losing ground to Genma's trickery. Still the fight
would probably have lasted a full hour if not for the
appearance of the guide.
"Stupid Customers, is very bad you fall in springs!" the
portly man in a green Mao suit yells out.
His shout catches the fighters by surprise and Tarou misses
his landing completely, falling into one of the many pools.
Genma watches in horror as the pool starts to boil, "Oh
shit, the boy's going to be pissed now."
The spring explodes in a geyser as Tarou emerges,
transformed into 23 feet of winged minotaur complete with
tentacles.
Genma's eyes widen at the sight of the tentacles, "Wait a
second, those weren't there before."
He has no time to comment further as his son swats him off
his pole with one man-sized hand. He goes flying towards a
pool a full hundred feet away.
"Hey, that's not what that pool is supposed to do." the
Jusenkyo guide mutters in confusion.
Tarou ignores the guide as he flies off to rescue his
father. He makes a point of ignoring the tentacles trailing
off his own back.
(After all, if it can't possibly be happening, it obviously
isn't.)
The guide runs after him eager to inform the pair of their
dire fates.
Genma was not having a good day. He had traveled with his
son to this 'Legendary Cursed Training Ground' in the hopes
of finding something evil and powerful enough to give his
son a decent challenge. Instead they found this place. Now
something has changed his son's curse, and he himself is
about to take a swim in yet another of these suddenly
ominous springs.
Genma's flight takes him over the spring of drowned Panda,
past the spring of the drowned virtuous man, well clear of
the spring of drowned wise-martial-arts-instructor, and
directly into the pole above the spring of the drowned
Gorilla.
He manages to cling to the pole desperately as it bends,
unfortunately the stress is too much and the bamboo snaps.
He falls into the pool with a splash just as Tarou touches
down nearby. The guide is close behind.
"Oh so sorry sirs, is most unfortunate you fall in springs"
the guide says finally with a self-satisfied smile.
He turns first to Genma who is dragging his 500 pound black
furred bulk out of the spring.
"You fall into spring of drowned Gorilla, is very tragic
story of visiting circus to nearby village who lost entire
menagerie three years ago. Now whenever you are doused with
cold water you will turn into Gorilla."
As the guide talks, Tarou seems to reach within his fur and
pulls out a flask from which steam is rising. He first
splashes himself and then throws the rest of the water at
his father who also returns to his own form. He blurs into
motion for a second, and is when he can be seen again, he's
fully dressed.
Ignoring the guide, whose jaw seems to have unhinged, he
turns to his father who is re-adjusting his now torn gi.
"Well Oyaji, it seems like we finally found out where I got
my curse from. Maybe this guy knows a cure."
The guide cheers up as realizes he actually has an attentive
audience again.
"Ah, young customer must have already visited Jusenkyo. You
know already that hot water returns you to your original
form, but only temporarily. There is only one permanent
cure for Jusenkyo curse. Allow me to explain."
"Most springs are not strong, and when victim falls in
stronger spring, curse is replaced with curse of new spring.
So for most men who are cursed they must only swim in the
spring of drowned man to be cured..."
He gestures away in the direction of the spring of drowned
man.
"...but young customer is cursed with strongest curse in all
Jusenkyo. The spring of drowned yeti riding an ox holding
eel and crane is very odd spring. Any who are cursed in
this spring simply make curse stronger if they fall in other
spring. That is why when you fall in spring of drowned
Giant Octopus you grow tentacles. Only other spring in
valley that always mixes curses is spring of drowned twins."
Tarou listens carefully to the explanation, so neither he
nor the guide notice that Genma has disappeared.
Now, which spring did he point at? Genma thought as he ran
through the valley. Aha, there!
He flings himself at the spring just as the guide notices
what he is doing.
"Nooo! Is very stupid customer!", the guide screams, "Is
too soon, and that not even right spring!"
Genma doesn't hear however, and plunges beneath the water.
"So, what's gonna happen to the old man?", Tarou asks in a
dazed voice as he and the guide head towards Genma's
location.
"Is much to soon, only after curse has been with victim for
nearly a year is it weak enough to be replaced."
The guide sighs in frustration.
"I was about to tell you that when he jumped in. And that
not even spring of drowned man, is spring of drowned
Saber-tooth tiger. Now he is like you, mix of two curses
can never be cured, only made worse."
The hulking beast that emerges from the pool hears the
guide's words and howls in sorrow at its own stupidity.
[The flashback fades away and we return to the Tendo Dojo.
Tarou is still there, but seems to be eager to leave. The
entire Tendo family appears to be in shock.]
"You expect us to believe that?", Nabiki says as she
recovers. "Magic curses that change your shape when you get
wet, sure. Right." She shakes her head and turns to her
father "Daddy, I think your friends have lost their minds."
Kasumi is the next to recover, and she speaks before Tarou
can reply.
"Now Nabiki, it isn't nice to call our guests insane. I'm
sure Father's friends have a perfectly good reason for
telling that story. And after all, it was entertaining."
Tarou shakes his head and looks away, disgusted but not
truly surprised at being thought a liar by his new 'fiance'.
He begins to grin evilly and walks into the back yard of the
Tendo property. His father begins to go after him but then
laughs and nods.
Soun faces his daughters all of whom are watching their
young guest.
"Now I know it's hard to believe, but I assure you...", He
trails off as he realizes his daughters have stopped
listening to him, their faces are pale and they are shaking
in fear.
"MOOOOO!"
Soun whips his head to the side and sees... Tarou.
Standing in his back yard, and looking a tad irritated is 23
feet and several tons of shaggy brown furred beef in the
shape of a yeti complete with the wings of a crane, an eel
for a tail, and eight tentacles from a giant octopus.
While Soun had seen Tarou's cursed form when he was just a
calf, Tarou's current shape is more than a little
intimidating to say the least.
Kasumi stands up and walks calmly into the house. At the
same time, Nabiki recovers and grinning leans over to
whisper in Akane's ear.
"Gee, I wonder what he plans on using those tentacles for?",
she whispers innocently.
(Just try reading the manga and telling me she wouldn't say
something to cause trouble)
Akane's face slowly turns from white to green and then
settles on an angry red. She stands up to face the
mega-pervert she has been having nightmares of for the last
several years, only to be cut off as Kasumi walks calmly by
carrying a teakettle.
"I hope this is hot enough Tarou", Kasumi says politely as
she offers him the kettle.
He accepts the offer and rumbles loudly, making a sound
almost like laughter.
He pours the water over his head and his form blurs as he
returns to his usual size, surprisingly, he's dressed when
the transformation ends.
"Thank you Kasumi-chan.", He shakes his head, "Nineteen
years, and the only progress I've made with this curse is
learning how to save my clothes. At least Oyaji still
mostly fits in his."
Soun walks out to where Tarou and Kasumi are standing.
"Well son, I guess your curse isn't that bad. And you and
Kasumi are getting along already, is tomorrow too soon for
the wedding?"
"Tendo-san," Tarou sighs shaking his head, "I don't think
you understand. I doubt she wants to marry a demon, and in
any case I refuse to marry someone I just met."
He sighs again, "I'm about to start college. I'm too young
to be married and I will not force myself on a girl who
doesn't love me."
He starts to turn away.
"I'm leaving now."
(And so Tarou walked out of the Tendo home and on to live a
happy but relatively boring life away from Nerima. Oh
wait... wrong story. Here's what really happened.)
"I challenge you!"
Akane had been waiting patiently. She sat quietly through
the monster's obvious pack of lies. She stood back and did
nothing to interfere as the mega-pervert flirted with her
innocent older sister. Now she was going to do her duty as
a martial artist and vanquish the very embodiment of EVIL.
Tarou didn't bother looking at her, "I don't want to hurt
you little girl. Why don't you go play with your dolls."
(You know, that probably was not the best thing to say at
the time.)
"What kind of &$%ing coward are you?"
Kasumi most definitely did not approve of Akane's language.
Not that Akane often stopped to consider her sister's
approval.
"I'm not going to stand back and let you stay here and force
your perversions on my sister!"
(Akane had waited patiently through the lies, but hadn't
actually listened to them, and so she didn't actually
realize that Tarou was trying to leave. Oh well. Too late
now.)
Tarou slowly turned to face Akane. His voice went cold,
"Lead the way."
The two of them head for the Dojo, ignoring the attempts of
everyone around them to calm them down.
The End, for now.
This idea has been nagging at me since I first ran across
the 'Altered Destiny' stories. I didn't really accept the
logic for the initial setup in most cases. To me, it makes
no sense that Genma would actually go through with a plan
that leaves his son in Soun's hands while he's training
Kasumi for example. Don't get me wrong, I think those
stories are pretty good, but the starting point is a little weak
from my point of view.
'Switching Heirs' was the exception to that rule. I can
see Genma keeping a promise he made to Happosai to train
someone else. Ukyou was an interesting choice. But come
on, Tarou's his godchild. If Happosai is going to make a
child his heir, it makes more sense for it to be family.
The question, I suppose, is where exactly is Ranma during
all of this?
The real reason I'm writing this is to explore some of my
favorite characters in greater depth. I tend to like the
characters that don't get too much attention, so don't go
expecting to see a lot of Ranma, Akane, Ukyou, Ryouga,
etc..
Outside of Tarou, who had a completely different childhood,
I don't intend to change anyone's personality. They'll
grow with the story, but the base will be the same. Even
Tarou is meant to reflect his original personality in many
ways.
This first chapter contains a splicing of three separate
stories that I wrote at different times. It might not
flow as smoothly as it should because of that. In another
two chapters or so, I'll run out of related material to
paste in, except for flashbacks. I wrote about 60% of
this today, so if I'm motivated enough I might be able to
do weekly updates or some nonsense like that.
Feel free to review, or to email me, but I'm writing for
my own enjoyment, and as a mental exercise. Don't expect
to influence the direction of the story with your review
or your whining. Grammar and style critique would be
appreciated. Pointing out logical problems within the
story would be nice too. Keep in mind that I have no
intention of telling you everything outright though, so
some of what you don't understand you aren't meant to.
-Project Balrog
projectbalroghotmail.com
Something I'd like to toss out there.
In Tarou's last appearance in the Manga, he's fighting Rouge
in the air. She blasts him with one of her magical attacks
and sends him plummeting into the Tendo family's bathroom.
He, of course, lands in the bathtub and transforms into a
human.
When it happens, Kasumi immediately gets up and runs into
the house, saying "Oh my, I'd better go tidy up the bathroom
now..."
Now is this a 'Kasumi the ditz' moment? Or, since if she
isn't a ditz she had to know that he'd be naked in there, is
it the only 'Kasumi the pervert' moment in the manga?
Just a thought.
A Ranma 1/2 story by -
Project Balrog Productions
Oh yeah, just in case you didn't know, there are a whole
bunch of people who own the rights to these characters and I
am not one of them.
I use the following symbols on occasion. I might have a
system, but I don't know what it is. Anyway, they mean
something. Maybe.
[ ]
( )
{}
Episode 1 - "Insert Standard Opening Episode Here..."
[The streets of Nerima. A light rain is falling, and the
street is mostly empty. Most people are willing to delay
their tasks for drier weather. Two notable exceptions are
present, both walking briskly down the center of the road.
Their forms are completely obscured by heavy, green, hooded
cloaks.]
A voice comes from within the smaller cloak. It's a young
man's voice, and it carries a tone of bitter anger.
"This is a hell of a time to tell me I'm getting married old
man." He growls, "At least now I know the other reason you
were so eager to get us out of China."
The larger figure chuckles.
"Heh, calm down boy, we couldn't have stayed anyway. And it
isn't like there was anything there for us in the first
place. Besides, Tendo is an old training partner of mine
and I'm sure his daughters aren't weak little flowers.
You'll like them."
The boy's shoulders seem to slump a little.
"I don't know why you're so dead set on fulfilling this
promise. None of the others seem to have struck you as
important."
"We do what we have to son, it's the prime tenet of our
school. The same school that Tendo practices. Remember
that you're more than just my heir, you're the heir to
the entire Anything Goes style."
His son snorts, "Oh I don't mind uniting the schools old
man. It's that little detail of free will that concerns me.
I'm not exactly happy about having my dating options
narrowed from several billion to however many daughters this
friend of yours has."
"You don't need to be happy about it now boy. That'll come
later. You'll learn to love your wife. I did."
The boy starts to laugh. It's a quiet chuckle at first, but
soon he has to stop walking to keep from collapsing. It
takes him a minute to calm down enough to talk again.
"Heh heh... That explains a lot old man. snort I always
knew mom was way out of your league..."
[Across town in a house on a rather large and well kept
piece of property, there's another conversation going on. A
man who looks young enough to be in his thirties is seated
across from three young women, all in their teens.]
The youngest of them, a cute girl with long black hair
dressed in a gi, speaks up first. She's a bit irate. It
shows.
"How could you do this to us daddy? For all we know this
boy could be some sort of pervert!"
The middle sister, equally attractive with brown hair in a
page-boy cut and wearing a kimono, chimed in. She's not
angry, but seems both intrigued and calculating at the same
time. There's a hint of anticipation in her voice.
"I hope he's cute."
Finally, predictably, is the oldest. Where the other two
are cute, this one is beautiful, a difference that has more
to do with age and attitude than pure appearance. She's
wearing a simple dress and blouse, has her long brown hair
in a ponytail, and gives off the image of a young housewife.
When she speaks, it's quietly and calmly.
"Oh my, I hope he's older than me. Younger men are so...
boring."
Their father takes a drag on his cigarette before answering.
His thick mustache seems to twitch in the hint of a smile.
"I don't know. I've never met him."
This is clearly not what his daughters were expecting. The
youngest is red from anger, and seems incapable of speech.
The middle daughter is visibly irritated and is on the edge
of chewing him out. The oldest still appears calm, but is
wearing a definite frown.
"Honestly Daddy, Akane's right." The middle daughter speaks
up, "You don't know anything about him. How do you know
that he isn't a pervert, or worse?"
"Now Nabiki, be nice, just because we don't know him is no
reason to make accusations. He could very well be a nice
young man."
"If he's so nice, then why don't you marry him Kasumi? I
don't feel like walking in to something like this blind."
"But..."
Before Kasumi could finish, their father broke in again.
"That may very well be the best solution. It was the
original agreement, after all. If I remember right, young
Tarou was adopted just a few weeks before Kasumi was born."
"But father..."
"Now Kasumi, there's no reason to worry. Saotome and his
wife promised our... ahem... well they promised on their
honor to raise Tarou to be a fitting heir to the Anything
Goes tradition. I'm sure that he's a fine upstanding young
man."
"But what about..."
"I had thought to leave the choice up to Tarou," he
continued, "but it seems obvious that that Kasumi is the
best choice. Why think daughter, he's even older than you,
just like you wanted. Ah, the heavens surely shine down
upon this blessed union of our families."
"But I don't..."
This time, for a change, she isn't interrupted by her
father. Instead she's interrupted by the sound of someone
knocking at their door.
Nabiki, ever helpful, rises to her feet.
"Kasumi, aren't you excited? That must be your fiance now.
I'll go get him for you."
Surely, Kasumi thought in a daze, Nabiki couldn't have been
wearing a malicious smirk while she said that.
She didn't have too much time to wonder though. It was only
a few seconds before Nabiki returned, with two cloaked
figures following her.
The narrower figure pulled back its hood.
Inside was a face that was attractive enough to be almost
effeminate. He has a distinctly chinese cast to his
features, emphasized by his sharp, angular brown eyes. His
long black hair is pulled back into a single thick braid.
He's wearing a pair of simple golden hoop earrings.
"I'm Saotome Tarou, sorry about this."
{Commercial Break}
[The screen shows Pantyhose Tarou as he appears in the
Manga, complete with his trademark dragonscale vest and
bracers and his pantyhose sash. He's standing on top of the
fortress he uses when he kidnaps Akane. It's sunrise and
his pantyhose sash is fluttering behind him in the breeze.]
[The camera zooms in on his chest, showing the vest in
detail]
[The logo for the official Jusenkyo Dragonscale apparel line
flashes onto the screen]
"Dragonscale" The male voice is strong and dignified.
"No other line of clothing is so perfectly suited for the
wandering martial artist."
"Whether you're hiking through the wilderness."
[Tarou leaping effortlessly up a mountain, a heavy pack on
his back]
"Hunting for an old enemy."
[Standing at the entrance of the Tendo Dojo, casually
tossing a kettle to the side, the Tendos are cowering away
from him]
"Or just beating the snot out of girly little fem-boys"
[A scene of Tarou's first fight with Ranma, Ranma jumps in
to attack, but Tarou casually kicks him in the face, smiling
the whole time]
"No other material is this durable,"
[Tarou transforms into his monster form, his clothing is
shredded completely. Seconds later, he shifts back, and his
clothing is mysteriously unharmed]
"this fashionable"
[A close-up of Tarou's face, with the top of the vest
showing. Soft pink light is filtering down from above, and
he appears to be surrounded by a halo of flowers. A young
girl's voice can be heard saying "Kakkoi"] ()
"or this recognizable"
[Tarou is walking away. Akane and Ranko are watching him
leave. A badly done voice over has them gossiping about
that fabulous dragonscale he's wearing and how they wish
that everyone had such great fashion sense.]
"Be the be the envy of your friends by being the first one
in your Wrecking Crew to buy our exclusive Jusenkyo
Dragonscale Vest today!"
[Tarou is sitting in the Cat Cafe, tied to his chair. Most
of the cast is sitting around glaring at him. He has his
head turned away contemptuously and a smirk on his face.]
"Order now and the bracers are free!"
[A phone number and ordering information appears on the
screen. The screen fades to black]
{End Commercial Break}
() - Kakkoi, for those of you who don't know, is what Tarou
wanted to change his name to. It's typically translated in
fanfiction as meaning 'Cool'. From what my sister-in-law,
who's a Japanese major, tells me this is almost but not
quite correct. It does mean cool, in the sense that a
thirteen-year-old girl would use the word to describe an
attractive boy, and pretty much exclusively in that sense.
So that means that those of you who like to wander into
comicbook shops and drool over Gundam Wing figurines and
mutter 'Kakkoi' under your breath shouldn't be too surprised
if anyone who really speaks Japanese in the area stares at
you oddly before edging away quietly. Or they might just
shake their heads and call you a moron. So by all means, if
what you really mean is that you want that six inch tall
plastic model to come to life and sweep you up off your feet
for a life of storybook romance, keep it up.
In any case, I have no intention of ever using any Japanese
words in the story itself. I don't speak Japanese, I don't
write Japanese, this isn't the Japanese alphabet that you're
reading in the first place, and I don't intend to get into
pointless arguments about the proper spelling of what are by
necessity phonetic words or whether or not '-chan' is an
appropriate way of designating gender. If I do include a
word, It'll probably be as part of a bad joke like this one
was, and will include a needlessly long explanation shortly
after. - ()
[Back in the Tendo home, everyone is seated around a low
table sipping tea. Tarou and the other figure are both
uncloaked now. Tarou is wearing a version of Ranma's
traditional outfit, but with a green shirt in place of red.
He's long-limbed and slender, adding even more to his
effeminate appearance. The other figure is a heavyset
middle-aged man in a white gi wearing glasses and a white
bandana over his head. The Tendo family is sitting across
from them, and they are unchanged from their earlier
appearance.]
"These are my daughters," Mr. Tendo says, "Kasumi is 19,
Nabiki is 17, and Akane is 16. Kasumi will be your fiancee"
Tarou snorts and raises his head to look Mr. Tendo in the
eye.
"I'm glad we've finally decided to get rid of any illusion
of choice. I'd hate to think I actually have some measure
of control over my life."
Tendo starts to respond, but Tarou cuts him off.
"Tell me, did you give your daughters any say in this? Or
any warning? Or did you decide to do the same thing as my
father and not even mention this until today?"
He turns and looks at Kasumi for a second. She can't quite
meet his gaze.
"That's what I thought."
He turns back to Mr. Tendo.
"I want you to know that I don't like this. I didn't expect
my life to be planned out for me. The only reason I don't
leave now is that I know what my mother's reaction would be.
If Kasumi is willing, I'll give this a try, but that's all
I'm willing to promise."
He glares at his father.
"And before she makes her choice, she needs to know about my
curse."
Everyone in the room except Genma and Soun turns to stare at
Tarou.
"Curse?" Nabiki whispers, "Daddy, what is he talking about?"
Kasumi nods along with her sister and turns her gaze to
their father. Akane simply continues glaring.
Soun turns to Genma, "Saotome, I thought you were going to
remove the boy's curse. You don't mean that after 19 years
you still haven't found a cure."
Genma shakes his head. "It isn't that simple my friend. We
discovered the source of the enchantment less than a month
ago. As part of our training were in a valley bearing the
name Jusenkyo..."
[The scene dissolves in the standard flashback manner,
reopening in the valley of Jusenkyo with Tarou and Genma
both wearing white training gis and preparing to fight.]
Genma leaps first, landing lightly on top of a fifteen-foot
bamboo pole emerging from the center of a small spring.
Tarou is quick to follow, and the two face off.
"I don't see what is so special about this place Oyaji, we
can do balance training anywhere."
"Maybe so boy, but we might as well make the best of it.
Besides, with all this water this is the perfect place to
train your other body. I don't like some of the bad habits
you've been picking up lately. Your size won't always be
enough to cover stupid mistakes."
"Less talk more fight old man."
With that, Tarou launches a flying kick at his father. The
old man takes to the air to meet him and the fight is on.
The two spend a good amount of time trading blows, always
managing to land safely on one of the poles. Both are doing
quite well, Tarou has the advantage in speed but his father
holds the edge in strength and endurance.
As the fight progresses, Genma's experience shows. Tarou is
every bit as skilled as his father if not more so, but is
steadily losing ground to Genma's trickery. Still the fight
would probably have lasted a full hour if not for the
appearance of the guide.
"Stupid Customers, is very bad you fall in springs!" the
portly man in a green Mao suit yells out.
His shout catches the fighters by surprise and Tarou misses
his landing completely, falling into one of the many pools.
Genma watches in horror as the pool starts to boil, "Oh
shit, the boy's going to be pissed now."
The spring explodes in a geyser as Tarou emerges,
transformed into 23 feet of winged minotaur complete with
tentacles.
Genma's eyes widen at the sight of the tentacles, "Wait a
second, those weren't there before."
He has no time to comment further as his son swats him off
his pole with one man-sized hand. He goes flying towards a
pool a full hundred feet away.
"Hey, that's not what that pool is supposed to do." the
Jusenkyo guide mutters in confusion.
Tarou ignores the guide as he flies off to rescue his
father. He makes a point of ignoring the tentacles trailing
off his own back.
(After all, if it can't possibly be happening, it obviously
isn't.)
The guide runs after him eager to inform the pair of their
dire fates.
Genma was not having a good day. He had traveled with his
son to this 'Legendary Cursed Training Ground' in the hopes
of finding something evil and powerful enough to give his
son a decent challenge. Instead they found this place. Now
something has changed his son's curse, and he himself is
about to take a swim in yet another of these suddenly
ominous springs.
Genma's flight takes him over the spring of drowned Panda,
past the spring of the drowned virtuous man, well clear of
the spring of drowned wise-martial-arts-instructor, and
directly into the pole above the spring of the drowned
Gorilla.
He manages to cling to the pole desperately as it bends,
unfortunately the stress is too much and the bamboo snaps.
He falls into the pool with a splash just as Tarou touches
down nearby. The guide is close behind.
"Oh so sorry sirs, is most unfortunate you fall in springs"
the guide says finally with a self-satisfied smile.
He turns first to Genma who is dragging his 500 pound black
furred bulk out of the spring.
"You fall into spring of drowned Gorilla, is very tragic
story of visiting circus to nearby village who lost entire
menagerie three years ago. Now whenever you are doused with
cold water you will turn into Gorilla."
As the guide talks, Tarou seems to reach within his fur and
pulls out a flask from which steam is rising. He first
splashes himself and then throws the rest of the water at
his father who also returns to his own form. He blurs into
motion for a second, and is when he can be seen again, he's
fully dressed.
Ignoring the guide, whose jaw seems to have unhinged, he
turns to his father who is re-adjusting his now torn gi.
"Well Oyaji, it seems like we finally found out where I got
my curse from. Maybe this guy knows a cure."
The guide cheers up as realizes he actually has an attentive
audience again.
"Ah, young customer must have already visited Jusenkyo. You
know already that hot water returns you to your original
form, but only temporarily. There is only one permanent
cure for Jusenkyo curse. Allow me to explain."
"Most springs are not strong, and when victim falls in
stronger spring, curse is replaced with curse of new spring.
So for most men who are cursed they must only swim in the
spring of drowned man to be cured..."
He gestures away in the direction of the spring of drowned
man.
"...but young customer is cursed with strongest curse in all
Jusenkyo. The spring of drowned yeti riding an ox holding
eel and crane is very odd spring. Any who are cursed in
this spring simply make curse stronger if they fall in other
spring. That is why when you fall in spring of drowned
Giant Octopus you grow tentacles. Only other spring in
valley that always mixes curses is spring of drowned twins."
Tarou listens carefully to the explanation, so neither he
nor the guide notice that Genma has disappeared.
Now, which spring did he point at? Genma thought as he ran
through the valley. Aha, there!
He flings himself at the spring just as the guide notices
what he is doing.
"Nooo! Is very stupid customer!", the guide screams, "Is
too soon, and that not even right spring!"
Genma doesn't hear however, and plunges beneath the water.
"So, what's gonna happen to the old man?", Tarou asks in a
dazed voice as he and the guide head towards Genma's
location.
"Is much to soon, only after curse has been with victim for
nearly a year is it weak enough to be replaced."
The guide sighs in frustration.
"I was about to tell you that when he jumped in. And that
not even spring of drowned man, is spring of drowned
Saber-tooth tiger. Now he is like you, mix of two curses
can never be cured, only made worse."
The hulking beast that emerges from the pool hears the
guide's words and howls in sorrow at its own stupidity.
[The flashback fades away and we return to the Tendo Dojo.
Tarou is still there, but seems to be eager to leave. The
entire Tendo family appears to be in shock.]
"You expect us to believe that?", Nabiki says as she
recovers. "Magic curses that change your shape when you get
wet, sure. Right." She shakes her head and turns to her
father "Daddy, I think your friends have lost their minds."
Kasumi is the next to recover, and she speaks before Tarou
can reply.
"Now Nabiki, it isn't nice to call our guests insane. I'm
sure Father's friends have a perfectly good reason for
telling that story. And after all, it was entertaining."
Tarou shakes his head and looks away, disgusted but not
truly surprised at being thought a liar by his new 'fiance'.
He begins to grin evilly and walks into the back yard of the
Tendo property. His father begins to go after him but then
laughs and nods.
Soun faces his daughters all of whom are watching their
young guest.
"Now I know it's hard to believe, but I assure you...", He
trails off as he realizes his daughters have stopped
listening to him, their faces are pale and they are shaking
in fear.
"MOOOOO!"
Soun whips his head to the side and sees... Tarou.
Standing in his back yard, and looking a tad irritated is 23
feet and several tons of shaggy brown furred beef in the
shape of a yeti complete with the wings of a crane, an eel
for a tail, and eight tentacles from a giant octopus.
While Soun had seen Tarou's cursed form when he was just a
calf, Tarou's current shape is more than a little
intimidating to say the least.
Kasumi stands up and walks calmly into the house. At the
same time, Nabiki recovers and grinning leans over to
whisper in Akane's ear.
"Gee, I wonder what he plans on using those tentacles for?",
she whispers innocently.
(Just try reading the manga and telling me she wouldn't say
something to cause trouble)
Akane's face slowly turns from white to green and then
settles on an angry red. She stands up to face the
mega-pervert she has been having nightmares of for the last
several years, only to be cut off as Kasumi walks calmly by
carrying a teakettle.
"I hope this is hot enough Tarou", Kasumi says politely as
she offers him the kettle.
He accepts the offer and rumbles loudly, making a sound
almost like laughter.
He pours the water over his head and his form blurs as he
returns to his usual size, surprisingly, he's dressed when
the transformation ends.
"Thank you Kasumi-chan.", He shakes his head, "Nineteen
years, and the only progress I've made with this curse is
learning how to save my clothes. At least Oyaji still
mostly fits in his."
Soun walks out to where Tarou and Kasumi are standing.
"Well son, I guess your curse isn't that bad. And you and
Kasumi are getting along already, is tomorrow too soon for
the wedding?"
"Tendo-san," Tarou sighs shaking his head, "I don't think
you understand. I doubt she wants to marry a demon, and in
any case I refuse to marry someone I just met."
He sighs again, "I'm about to start college. I'm too young
to be married and I will not force myself on a girl who
doesn't love me."
He starts to turn away.
"I'm leaving now."
(And so Tarou walked out of the Tendo home and on to live a
happy but relatively boring life away from Nerima. Oh
wait... wrong story. Here's what really happened.)
"I challenge you!"
Akane had been waiting patiently. She sat quietly through
the monster's obvious pack of lies. She stood back and did
nothing to interfere as the mega-pervert flirted with her
innocent older sister. Now she was going to do her duty as
a martial artist and vanquish the very embodiment of EVIL.
Tarou didn't bother looking at her, "I don't want to hurt
you little girl. Why don't you go play with your dolls."
(You know, that probably was not the best thing to say at
the time.)
"What kind of &$%ing coward are you?"
Kasumi most definitely did not approve of Akane's language.
Not that Akane often stopped to consider her sister's
approval.
"I'm not going to stand back and let you stay here and force
your perversions on my sister!"
(Akane had waited patiently through the lies, but hadn't
actually listened to them, and so she didn't actually
realize that Tarou was trying to leave. Oh well. Too late
now.)
Tarou slowly turned to face Akane. His voice went cold,
"Lead the way."
The two of them head for the Dojo, ignoring the attempts of
everyone around them to calm them down.
The End, for now.
This idea has been nagging at me since I first ran across
the 'Altered Destiny' stories. I didn't really accept the
logic for the initial setup in most cases. To me, it makes
no sense that Genma would actually go through with a plan
that leaves his son in Soun's hands while he's training
Kasumi for example. Don't get me wrong, I think those
stories are pretty good, but the starting point is a little weak
from my point of view.
'Switching Heirs' was the exception to that rule. I can
see Genma keeping a promise he made to Happosai to train
someone else. Ukyou was an interesting choice. But come
on, Tarou's his godchild. If Happosai is going to make a
child his heir, it makes more sense for it to be family.
The question, I suppose, is where exactly is Ranma during
all of this?
The real reason I'm writing this is to explore some of my
favorite characters in greater depth. I tend to like the
characters that don't get too much attention, so don't go
expecting to see a lot of Ranma, Akane, Ukyou, Ryouga,
etc..
Outside of Tarou, who had a completely different childhood,
I don't intend to change anyone's personality. They'll
grow with the story, but the base will be the same. Even
Tarou is meant to reflect his original personality in many
ways.
This first chapter contains a splicing of three separate
stories that I wrote at different times. It might not
flow as smoothly as it should because of that. In another
two chapters or so, I'll run out of related material to
paste in, except for flashbacks. I wrote about 60% of
this today, so if I'm motivated enough I might be able to
do weekly updates or some nonsense like that.
Feel free to review, or to email me, but I'm writing for
my own enjoyment, and as a mental exercise. Don't expect
to influence the direction of the story with your review
or your whining. Grammar and style critique would be
appreciated. Pointing out logical problems within the
story would be nice too. Keep in mind that I have no
intention of telling you everything outright though, so
some of what you don't understand you aren't meant to.
-Project Balrog
projectbalroghotmail.com
Something I'd like to toss out there.
In Tarou's last appearance in the Manga, he's fighting Rouge
in the air. She blasts him with one of her magical attacks
and sends him plummeting into the Tendo family's bathroom.
He, of course, lands in the bathtub and transforms into a
human.
When it happens, Kasumi immediately gets up and runs into
the house, saying "Oh my, I'd better go tidy up the bathroom
now..."
Now is this a 'Kasumi the ditz' moment? Or, since if she
isn't a ditz she had to know that he'd be naked in there, is
it the only 'Kasumi the pervert' moment in the manga?
Just a thought.