R oamin' Ryoga – Chapter 1
I've been re-watching Ranma ½ with a friend of mine and we've been talking about fanfictions we read back in the day. We used to read A LOT of Ranma ½ fanfiction. So, while at work, this idea came to me. I hope I can do it justice.
I don't own Ranma 1/2, or any other properties, songs, movies, or people mentioned in this story. Any resemblance to real people, or events are entirely coincidental. With one exception, Matt and Mattingly's Ice Cream Social is used with permission, though they have no say in what I have them do in the story.
'Here I am again.'
Ryoga Hibiki looked up and found himself at what used to be the Tendo Dojo. It had been renamed to the Saotome/Tendo Dojo for some time now.
'I guess I should stop in and say Hi.'
With that thought, Ryoga stepped towards the gate and walks in. Before he can get to the door he hears someone scream, "UNCLE P-CHAN!" The next thing he knows, he sees a blur of bright red. Aa young girl of about 5 runs up to Ryoga and hugs onto his leg as hard as she could, her hair as bright and vibrant as her father's… well, as her father's curse..
Ryoga smiles as he looks down and he gently says, "Didn't I ask you to call me Uncle Ryoga?"
"UNCLE P-CHAN! UNCLE P-CHAN! UNCLE P-CHAN IS HERE!" The small child continues to scream loudly with the biggest smile on her face.
From the door of the house, a familiar face came out. Older, but still the same Akane that Ryoga had fallen in love with so long ago. His heart gave a dull ache. After all this time, her approval was still super important to him.
"Ryoga? It is you! How've you been? Come inside, I'll make some tea." Akane smiled gently and motioned for Ryoga to come inside.
Ryoga tried to walk inside but realized that Momoko was still wrapped around his leg. "Momo-chan, I need to go inside."
"Take me with you uncle p-chan!"
Sighing, Ryoga clumsily walked with a child wrapped around his leg. Once inside, Momoko let go and went to grab something from her room.
Ryoga sat at the old table, in a room he had helped destroy many times. Things have been quiet for years. Ever since Ranma and Akane got married some 15 years previous. There were still loose ends at the beginning, but by the time they were expecting their first child, things pretty much resolved themselves. No one wanted to break up a family.
Akane brought in a pot of hot water, some tea cups, and some tea leaves. She may not be a great cook, but she learned a few things like how to make tea. She pours a few cups and says, "I'm so glad to see you! Momoko always loves it when you come by. I'm sure Ranma and Masaru would love to see you when they get back. How've you been?" She smiles and passes him one of the tea cups.
Ryoga gratefully takes the cup and blows on it just a bit before taking a sip of the tea. "Same old, same old for me. Wandering around with no real home or purpose." His demeanor started to go south, but before he could get too sad, Momoko came running down the stairs clutching a stuffed animal.
"Uncle P-chan! Uncle P-chan! Daddy made me this!" She thrust the stuffed toy in Ryoga's hands.
Ryoga looked at it in shock. Ranma had somehow made a stuffed P-chan. It was surprisingly well made and even the right size. He looked at the expectant face of Momoko, she seemed to be waiting for a reaction. "This is very nice! But it seems to be missing something isn't it?" Ryoga takes one of his many bandanas off ties it around the neck of the stuffed toy. "Now it's like I'm always here with you."
Momoko's eyes went wide and glittered with delight. She hugged the stuffed toy as hard as she could, and then did the same to Ryoga.
Ryoga looked up at Akane and for a moment, and thought he saw a pang of anger behind her eyes for just a moment as she looked at the stuffed animal. He blinked and she was back to all smiles. Just maybe she hadn't completely forgiven him?
"Alright Momo-chan, I think Uncle Ryoga would like to drink his tea. Why don't you go clean your room?" Akane looked at her daughter with a gentle look she probably learned from Kasumi.
Momoko looked sad for a moment, but gave in. "Alright mommy!" She took her new favorite thing, and ran upstairs, more likely to play with her stuffed animals than clean… but as long as she wasn't interrupting the adults.
Both adults watch her go upstairs and Ryoga breaks the silence. "She's growing up fast."
"Yeah. They do, don't they? I'm sorry again that Ranma taught her 'Uncle P-chan'."
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure she'll grow out of it. Where's Ranma and Masaru?" Ryoga took another sip of tea.
Akane looked over at a clock. "They went to the Nekohanten for a training session with Cologne. They should be back soon though. I wish they would have waited longer before teaching him those Amazonian techniques, but they thought that teenager was appropriate. He's only 14 Ryoga!"
Ryoga thought about how Ranma and himself had done training with Cologne at only 16 and smiled. "He'll be fine Akane. I'm sure they aren't going to be nearly as intense as when Ranma was trained by her. Or myself."
"I suppose you're right." As Akane went to take another sip from her tea, the sound of a bell went off. Akane put down her tea and reached in her pocket. She took out a small flat plastic rectangle. She looked at one side of it that was glowing. "Ah! They're on their way home! I should start the rice so Ranma can cook when he gets here."
Ryoga looked quizzically at Akane, and the plastic rectangle she was holding. "What is that?"
Akane looked up a Ryoga and back to her phone. "This is my cell phone. Nabiki bought one for me and Ranma. She pays the bill too. It helps us keep in contact, even if Ranma is out training."
Ryoga had vaguely heard of cell phones during some of his travels, but he had mostly seen small phones that flipped closed. You could make phone calls but that was about it.
Akane got up to go to the kitchen and a thought hit her, "Speaking of Nabiki, she asked me to call her when you came by. She wanted to talk with to you."
"With me? Why me?" Ryoga was really confused. He had never really had more than an acquaintance-like relationship with the middle Tendo daughter.
"I dunno. Why don't you stay for dinner? You can catch up with Ranma and Masaru, I can call Nabiki and we'll figure it out together!" Akane was measuring rice for the large rice cooker while inviting Ryoga to dinner.
"I'd love to stay. This is the closest I have to home anyway." Ryoga chuckled at that last remark, even if deep down, his heart panged with a bit of sadness.
About half an hour later, Ryoga was unpacking gifts from his backpack for the Saotome family while regaling Akane and Momoko with the stories of where he got each of the gifts. From the front hall, a pair of voices was growing louder.
"I almost had it! Couldn't we have stayed longer so I could get it?"
"No, your mother is waiting for us for dinner. To keep training with Cologne, we need to come home on time."
Ryoga looked up and saw where the voices were coming from. Ranma was walking around the corner into the room with a shorter boy next to him. Masaru was the spitting image of his father, except his hair was a dark blue like his mother's. You could tell they had both been training as they were covered in sweat. Maybe… a little too much?
"Masaru! Why are you all wet?" Akane had noticed that the younger Saotome was covered in more water than just sweat would have produced.
"Mom! They were teaching me the chestnut fist! I almost had it, but dad made us leave and come home." The young teen was more than excited to talk about what he had been learning, but seemed a little miffed about having to leave.
"Hey! I told you we had to get home! And don't worry Akane, we didn't use fire like I did… We used goldfish in a tank like I ended up doing. Much safer." Ranma was trying to get in before Akane could protest putting their son's hands in a fire.
From across the room, Ryoga scoffed a little, and said, "At least you aren't hurling boulders at your kid like she did to me!"
At that, Ranma looked up and noticed his old friend. "Ryoga! When did you get here?"
Momoko responded first with, "Uncle P-chan got here today!"
Ryoga gave a small wince at being called Uncle P-chan again… "I've been here about an hour or so. Akane invited me to stay for dinner."
Ranma smiled and grabbed Ryoga's forearm for a manly handshake. Ryoga followed suit. "Of course man! Let me take a quick bath and I'll start dinner." Ranma let go and went to the bath.
Akane looked at her son who had just sat down at the table, still wet from training. "Oh no you don't. You have to take a bath before dinner too! You can take one with your father, or after he's done, but you still have to take one."
"I will mom, sheesh." Masaru rolled his eyes. He seems to have gotten to that age.
"You better! Auntie Kasumi and Uncle Tofu are coming by tonight!" Akane was always a little more uptight about baths and cleanliness when her sister and Doctor Tofu were coming over. They came for dinner about once a week. Even after all this time, Akane still had a bad habit of comparing herself to her sister. Kasumi was just so at ease with home life and being a mother. She was practically a mother to her and her sister for so long anyway…
Ryoga looked up. "You didn't say Kasumi and Tofu were coming. I don't want to intrude on a family dinner…" Ryoga started to get up to leave but Akane waved him down.
"No no no… Don't worry about it! You're family to us anyway. I'm sure they would love to see you!" Akane sounded reassuring.
An hour had passed. Ranma was in the kitchen finishing up dinner, and despite some arguing from Masaru, he was bathed and dressed in a fresh set of clothes. Voices could be heard from the entrance.
"Akane! Ranma! We're here!"
The sweet sound of Kasumi's voice flitted into the room. She walked right into the home carrying a baby. Doctor Tofu came in behind her holding the hands of two young boys of about 8. A teen girl following the both of them. Kasumi was older, but still looked quite youthful. Doctor Tofu was becoming noticeably greyer, with some distinct lines around his eyes.
Ryoga looked at the arriving family, his eyes widening just a touch. "When did you guys have another kid?"
Kasumi and Tofu both looked over to Ryoga.
"Oh Ryoga! I haven't seen you in quite some time! Little Eri was just born 6 months ago. I guess you never got the letter." Kasumi tilted her head slightly and a small frown appeared on her face for just a moment.
A small derisive snort could be heard from the back of the room. "Of course he never got the letter. He's never in any one place for long… and doesn't use e-mail."
"Reiko! What have I said about that attitude young lady?!" Tofu was visibly scowling at the teen.
Reiko exaggeratedly rolled her eyes and pulled out her cell phone. "I told you dad, I want to be called Rei. Reiko is SUCH a kids name…" She started typing quickly and went back to ignoring the room.
Ryoga had blushed just a little in embarrassment at Reiko's comment. He was always out of the loop. He never knew what was going on in the lives of his friends. Reiko had never much cared for him after he missed some of her life events young in life… birthdays…. Dance recitals… She had latched onto him as her favorite uncle for her youngest years and now Ryoga's lost that trust…. That friendship.
Most of the room was settling into their seats, Tofu trying to wrangle the twins to sit, which was almost a futile battle. Ranma started to bring the food into the room when he noticed the level of ki had risen in the room. Not a dangerous amount… but a noticeable one. Looking over, there was a subtle green tint around Ryoga. After putting down the food, and trying not to draw any attention that anything was wrong, he patted Ryoga on the back and smiled. "Hey buddy! Ready for some fresh home-cooked dinner?"
Snapped out of his internal thoughts, the green aura quickly dissipated. Ryoga saw the look in his old friend's face and realized what had happened. With a smaller voice than normal, Ryoga replied, "Sorry… yeah. That sounds… nice." Ryoga forced a small reassuring smile onto his face. Coming to see the Saotomes was always a double edged sword for Ryoga. Seeing old friends is comforting. Having something be a constant in a life where everything is always changing was nice… but seeing everyone have happy families, seeing all their kids growing up and never getting updates on their lives… It's depressing when you dwell on it.
The rest of dinner was uneventful by Saotome/Tendo standards. No one destroyed any walls, only one person got splashed with cold water (Ranma, of course) and everyone seemed to eat to their hearts content. No fighting over the koi pond for the last piece of anything. Now that dinner had finished, the Tofu twins, Daisuke and Hideki were running around the backyard playing hide and seek with Momoko. Tofu was keeping an eye on them. Kasumi and Akane were taking all the dishes to the kitchen for cleaning. After -all, that was Ranma and Akane's agreement. Ranma would cook and Akane would clean up. With the added stipulation, that if Akane cooked a meal, Ranma would clean if he was physically capable of it. Kasumi had just insisted on helping, and Akane could never persuade her otherwise. The two teens were in a corner laughing at something on Reiko's phone. Then at something on Masaru's phone. They just kept swapping back and forth. Ryoga was feeling out of place for a bit. Akane had refused his help to wash the dishes and now he was just sitting there. Just then, Ranma emerged from the bathroom, toweling off his hair.
"I must take the most showers in the world." Ranma joked to Ryoga as he sat next to his old friend.
"At least you have that option." Ryoga joked back and gave a light punch to Ranma's arm while smirking.
"Yeah, yeah! I know. How've you been holding up?"
Ryoga sighed and looked down. He thought for a moment then looked at the sky. It had gotten dark during dinner, and the stars were starting to appear in the sky. "Honestly…. Not great. It's a little disheartening to be 35 and still single. Still with no real job… no real home… Just… wandering forever. Every time I come here and see you… your family… Kasumi's family… it reminds me of what I can never truly have…"
Ranma didn't quite know how to respond. Knowing about Ryoga's…. condition… there really wasn't a way to help the man. They sat in silence for a few minutes looking up at the stars. Their quite reverie was interrupted by Akane.
"Hey Ryoga, I called Nabiki. She wants to see you but is busy tonight. She wanted to know if you were free tomorrow around lunch-time?"
Both Ranma and Ryoga looked up at Akane. Ryoga had a quizzical look on his face.
"I have no plans, but how will I find her that quickly?"
"I told her you would stay here with us tonight. She'll send a car to pick you up tomorrow and take you to meet her." Akane smiled and walked back into the house before Ryoga could protest about intruding on their house for the night.
Ranma looked at Ryoga. "Why does Nabiki want to see you so badly?"
Ryoga looked back to the stars and replied, "I have no idea."
A/N – Here's the introduction! Chapter 1. It ended up longer than I anticipated but I really wanted to build the world they were living in. This story is mostly going to explore a possible scenario for the Ranma world. Ryoga going around and running into people he knew as a teenager. What may have happened with everyone once all the craziness calmed down. I'm mostly just writing this for myself, but if you like it, I'd like to know that too. =)