Rain, Rain
A Ranma 1/2 Spam/Shortfic by MrThou
Ranma sat on a rock by the Tendo koi pond, and sighed. Somewhere in the background, music started playing: a mournful little tune, heavy on the strings.
For the first time in over a week, it wasn't raining, and Ranma had decided to take full advantage of that fact. Normally, he--fortunately male, at the moment--would be on the roof, but the rain had left the roof damp and uncomfortable, and the clouds still obscured the stars.
The week had been bad: days where it rained more than it didn't were usually bad, especially for those with water-based transformation curses. This week had had seven of them in a row. Most of the week had been spent in female form, and while he no longer hated his curse, it was still somewhat uncomfortable.
On the positive side of things, lots of rain meant no Shampoo--he didn't actually dislike the Amazon, but she could be a little bit clingy, and she tended to aggravate Akane's already short temper. Rain also usually meant no fighting with Ryouga, and didn't appreciably increase the chance of seeing P-chan. That was usually how Ryouga showed up at the dojo anyway.
Now a pause in the music, and the beginning of an oboe solo.
It was more than just the rain, though. This week had been an object lesson in the practical application of Murphy's Law: everything that could have gone wrong, did. Or at least, so it seemed to Ranma.
Tatewaki Kuno was always more obnoxious when Ranma was female, and arriving at school as such simply made him more so. And he didn't even want to think about the nightmare involving the locker rooms and the substitute P.E. teacher. Of course, that incident had set Akane off; the ensuing argument was worse than normal. Akane hadn't spoke to him for the rest of the day.
And that was just Monday.
Tuesday involved a rather annoying incident with Kodachi, Mousse in duck form, and a large quantity of fire ants. Ranma wasn't sure what the sightless Amazon was trying to accomplish, or where he got the fire ants, but their stings had firmly secured Ranma's bad mood for the remaining week.
And so the week continued, each day annoying, depressing and aggravating all at once.
With a last sad, sustained note the oboe stopped, and the strings quietly picked up the melody again, this time with a trumpet.
Nabiki had been taking advantage of the rain, of course. It seemed like the distribution of female-Ranma pictures was at an all time high, culminating in an embarrassing incident involving a doctored picture of both Ranma's forms and the Kuno siblings. Ranma was beginning to regret throwing Nabiki's camera in the canal on Wednesday.
The weekend had offered little solace; Ranma hated being stuck inside. The "sparring" session with Akane on Saturday had quickly degenerated into a name-calling session, and she had run off crying. Ranma always felt like a heel when he made a girl cry, especially Akane.
And so Ranma sat, staring at nothing in particular, sighing occasionally, and involving himself in quiet introspection.
The music swelled for a moment, and decrescendoed to the barest whisper.
Ranma closed his eyes, searching for his center. Failing, his mind resumed it's troubled course.
"I hate my life," he said aloud.
The music crescendoed once again, and was drowned out by thunder. It began to rain on Ranma
The water came down in a circle about a meter across. Ranma sat at its center. Everything outside the circle was completely dry.
Ranma stood, and stepped and jumped off the rock. About a second later, the column of rain followed. The violins hummed softly in the background.
She took a few steps back, and looked at the sky. The water followed again.
Ranma threw her arms up in the air and started chuckle. She ran around in circles, and the rain followed, always just behind her, never quite touching her. She juked left, then right, causing the stream to shudder, then she back flipped into the pond, laughing all the while.
The music swelled one last time, and was punctuated by thunder. The rest of the world started to rain.
Ranma stood in the koi pond, pointing to the heavens. The music stopped for a moment, then started anew. Ranma fell backward, and started laughing again.
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and all its characters are the creation of Rumiko Takahashi. I claim no ownership.
Author's Notes: I don't know quite where this came from, but it's based on a scene from the movie "The Trueman Show". I might try to work this scene into Check Back Later (with modifications, of course). Or maybe I'll let it stand as is. I apologize in advance if someone else already used the title.
C&C welcome, flames ignored. If you're going to rip apart my story, please be constructive.
mrthou@juno.com