Ranma 1/2
30 Minute Tales
Part 1
By darkangel98s
Pre Story Disclaimers
I don't own the copyrights to the following characters. I only used them under the Fair Use laws and for Non-Profit storytelling.
The 30 Minute Tales Series is a of WRITING EXCERCISES. They will be written in the span of 30 minutes to 1 hour. There will be NO editing, NO excessive spell checking beyond what Cetus Cword gives me initially, and I am NOT going to reread them until a week later. Why am I doing this? I want to see how I improve as I write over time, without excessive critiquing of myself.. I am, after all, my own harshest critic. I also want to see how I handle characterization when broken down into small events like these. Do I realize sometimes I misspell, why yes I do, do I know that sometimes, in my head I have a sentence and jack it up. Yea. I do know. I WOULD LOVE YOU TO READ AND REWIEW EACH OF THESE I DO. But for those of you that don't get what being an exercise in writing is about, don't tell me about spelling or grammar, tell me about descriptions and how you found this quick work. ALSO,IF YOU DO REVIEW, FEEL FREE TO LEAVE SUGGESTIONS ABOUT FURTHER SHORT TERM EVENTS YOU MIGHT SEE WRITTEN ABOUT. I am always looking for more material and you get full credit.
Ranma found himself sitting on a fence post not to far from Furinken high school watching a group of small children as they played together in small groups. They joked and tussled, chased each other with no more goal than to tag the object of their pursuit. They were haveing fun for the sake of fun, and it bothered something in side of him.
He hung his head low and let of a deep sigh. He did not ever remember being that care free, having fun like that. He had been different than the other kids. He could beat them in all their games, with ease, and that marked him as a show off. But he had rarely even had time for those games. When he did attend school, his father always required him to be back right after he got out for training.
He raised his head again, watching the children play. It was not that he did not like martial arts. In fact he loved martial arts. It was something he was good at, excelled at even. Being the heir to the Saotome School was a mark of pride for him. That was the reason he never backed down from a challenge, why he never gave up.
As he watched the swirling kids laugh at their latest game, he found himself wishing he had relationships like those of the children as well. He had, for a long time, believed that he did in fact have very close friends. Ukyo, Ryoga, and a few others from his younger days. But he discovered over time that they were not really his friends. He and his father hard messed up a lot of lives as they traveled and trained across Japan and China.
He felt bad about what his father had done to Ukyo, scamming her father and leaving her behind. But that didn't really change how he felt about her. She was as close to a best friend as he got, and while he did care for her a lot, it was only as that, as a friend.
And Ryoga, that knuckle head. He was angry over an accident, several of them in fact. Ranma never meant to make his life so hard, but he had done so anyway. He always felt close to Ryoga somehow. He often though it was because of the fact that both of their childhoods had been so screwed up. Sometimes, when they were hanging out together, after a fight or just during a random encounter they got along well, like lifelong buddies. To bad it never lasted.
He ended up with a lot of time on his hands after school now days, thinking about what he had, what he had missed out on, and if he would ever get any of it back. He was so deep in though that he did not notice when Akane found him. She started to say something to him, but noticed how distracted he looked, and instead watched him for a moment or two, before vaulting up, catching the fence top and using it to pivot in mid-air to sit near him on the fence. He apparently noticed her arrival, and glanced at her finally, not a full turn of the head, just a glance.
"Yo." He finally said and went back to watching the kids across the street.
"Hi." She watched him, then turned to watch the kids across the street. "Everything… alright?" She had never been good at talking to him about personal stuff, seeing as he usually said something stupid or she over-reacted to something, or, as was usually the case, they did both. But she did try sometimes.
"Yea…" He looked at her then, their eyes meeting and she could see something sad there. "I was just thinking about…" He never got to say anything else as they both heard the screeching of tires and a car horn blare. Ranma saw Akane's eyes turn slightly to the road and widen with sudden fear. His head spun around so fast it seemed to blur and he took the whole scene occurring in an instant. One of the children had run out into the street, following a lost ball, not looking out for traffic. The blue sedan was breaking hard, and the driver was trying to maneuver in a way that would avoid turning the small child into just another statistic but the little boy was standing dead center in front of the grill and looking like he was paralyzed with fear. Akane was just beginning to say something, the beginning of his name perhaps, when he moved, action already decided. One of his hands hand been resting on the fence top, and as he leaned forward, he grabbed chain link pulling himself far faster than he could fall. He felt himself pivot on the round fence top, like a wheel turning. His eyes never left the small child as his body was suddenly parallel to the ground, and his legs kicked out, launching him away from the fence and towards the child with tremendous speed.
Ranma neared the boy fast, flying through the air with tremendous momenttum, far to fast to scoop the child up without injury. Ranma had planned on this, and he was aimed to hit the ground just beside the child. As he landed, upside down, his hand shot out, and left a palm print in the asphalt as he slowed himself down. With the grace of a balarina, the skill of a gymnast, and speed in the unbelievable, he turned his hand plant into a cartwheel, and as he righted himself scooped the boy into his arms. He noted the car had a fine collection of bugs in it's radiator through the front grill from his view a mere foot away. He leapt up, arching himself over the car while back flipping. He could see the driver in his car just beginning to follow the move as he looked down at the passing car as they flew over it. He landed gently on the other side, boy in arms, and looked back at the car which had stopped a dozen feet or more past the impact point.
What followed was the usual hoopla that followed a child in danger and a hero saving the day. Several parents came and praised him, thanking him for the life of a child. The driver was crying and thanking Ranma and a higher being, almost in the same breath. The children all were watching Ranma with a sense of worship, like he was a super hero. And Akane watched him, by his side, as he accepted it all with a smile and assurances that he had been lucky and that everything was ok. He assured them it was his duty, as a local martial artist, and that he always kept an eye out to help anyone in need. He even got the little boy to assure him he would look both ways before crossing the street.
After twenty or so minutes of praise and thanks, he assured everyone he had important business to do, and after ruffling the hair of the young boy he had saved, Ranma and Akane left, on the way back to the dojo. For a long while they were silent, Ranma walking the with both hands on the back of his head the way he did sometimes, and Akane following right beside him. Every time she glanced at him, it looked like he had a faint smile on his face.
"That was very impressive." she said, testing the conversational waters. He grunted something like acknowlagement. She tried harder. "I am kind of proud of how you saved that kid back there Ranma. It was very heroic."
He was quiet for a moment longer, and when he responded, he looked over at her, and met her gaze. She could see that kind of sadness there, but also could see something else, like "I couldn't have done that without all the training I had growing up, huh?" He did not seem to be asking her, not really. He looked back at where they were going, eyes ahead. "I guess being able to really help someone was worth losing out on some stuff for, huh?"
Akane slowed down somewhat, and watched him from behind for just a moment. She did not know what had happened, aside from Ranma being a hero, but she had a funny feeling it had been important.