Just Won't Die 7
"What the hell are we going to do?" Misato gasped, the color draining from her face, "Ranma has gone to the other world to cause the Third Impact! How are we going to stop him?"
Luna and Lina and Emiko looked around in confusion, all three of them desperately trying to understand what had everyone so riled up. They were all gathered in the livingroom of Ranma's home. Ranma had disappeared for the other world just a short while ago. It didn't really matter when he had left for time felt like it was standing still at the moment.
"I don't understand, what is this Third Impact Ranma is trying to cause? What world did he goto?" Luna asked curiously, a bit worried about what she was going to hear.
Ritsuko turned toward Luna and replied, "The Third Impact occurs when an Angel comes in contact with either Adam or Lilith,"
"Adam and Lilith?" Luna asked.
"Yes, they are from the bible," she continued, "The scope of things is is that if Ranma comes in contact with either of them, the Third Impact would occur, and we don't know what that means,"
"Well, didn't Rei also cause the Third Impact on this world?" Akane asked curiously, "And we are still here. Could it be that bad?"
Ritsuko shrugged, "I don't know. However, I wouldn't think it's a good idea to sit back and find out,"
"But it isn't our world that it's going to happen to," Shinji commented, "Is there any reason for us to get involved?"
Misato shot Shinji a glance, "How could you say that? It may not be our world anymore, but how would you like it if someone from another world came here to cause a Third Impact and perhaps wipe out the human race in the process?"
Shinji became silent, embarrassed.
"What should we do?" Nene asked timidly.
"What else? We go after him and stop him!" Misato said, "As much as I hate the thought of going against Ranma, what he is attempting to do is insane. Who knows what the outcome could be. Rei did it, and she succeeded, but perhaps it was because...because she had originally be born to cause the Third Impact so perhaps she was able to change the outcome. We don't know what could happen if Ranma causes it..."
"Um, how do you suppose we do that?" Linna asked, "I don't know if you guys notice, but Ranma's a tad bit more powerful than when we had first met him. Y'know, when we mistakened him for a boomer as he with us..."
The room became deathly silent. Luna, Lina, and Emiko looked around curiously.
"What do you mean?" Lina asked.
"A long time ago, through a misunderstanding," Linna began, gesturing toward Sylia, Nene, and Priss, "mistakened Ranma for this thing called a 'boomer'. We hated boomer and would generally do anything to destroy them. Well, we fought against Ranma, all four of us at once against just him...and we were unable to defeat him. He's gotten insanely stronger since then. We weren't of much an obstacle against him, and it's damn sure that we're even less of an obstacle now,"
Luna shook her head, "You shouldn't think that. Although he's gotten stronger as you say, I'm sure you've also gotten stronger too,"
Linna gave a meek smile, "Um, well..."
"Um, we stopped using 'hardsuits', these suits we wore when we fought against him, over a decade ago," Nene said, "I guess you can consider us more than 'rusty' when it comes to using them,"
"Um, if it's really bad if he causes this Third Impact, I guess I could always try and stop him," Luna gave a meek smile. The girls narrowed their eyes at Luna.
"What, are you _that_ powerful that you can stop Ranma?" Akane asked curiously, "Keep in mind that none of us here aside from you and Lina saw that contest,"
Luna gave a non-committed shrug, "I don't know. Perhaps I might be able to stop him, but perhaps I might not. It is worth a try though, isn't it?"
"And how is she going to stop him?" Asuka asked, "She's here and Ranma is on a different world. And Ryoga has the other nanban mirror and we don't know where he is,"
"You could always open a portal up," Lina turned toward her elder sister.
Luna's face became a bit pale.
"What's wrong?" Lina asked.
"If I open up a portal to the other world, there's no way I can step through," Luna replied, "Remember? I'll need to stay on this world to keep the portal open so people go through to the other side. That means you'll have to go through and stop him,"
"M-me?" Lina said in surprise.
Luna turned away from Lina and toward the group, "Waitaminute, is anyone here from where ever this world is that Ranma went to?"
"Yes, a few of us," Misato spoke up, "Ritsuko, Asuka, Shinji, and I are from that world,"
"Well, that's good to hear," Luna said, "I asked this because I need some kind of reference point to open the portal, that being your memories of that world. Without it, we would need to find another way of getting there,"
"Yeah, and that would be the nanban mirror, but Ryoga has it and he isn't around here," Akane commented, "Sometimes, when he disappears, he disappears for years at a time,"
Luna said, "Well, that isn't all that much a problem. Since I have a reference, I can open a portal,"
The group cheered.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!"
On another world, a woman named Yui was walking down the street of Tokyo, on her way to a nearby mall store to do some shopping. Walking by her side was her husband Gendo. Gendo had this detached look on his face. It was obvious that he didn't want to be there. He knew why he was coming along with her shopping. His wife needed someone to carry all those bags of clothes she was going to buy.
He sighed. He missed being the commander of Nerv Headquarters now that there were no longer a threat of Angels attacking. Although Nerv Headquarters was no longer needed well over two years ago, he still longed to work there. He longed to work again. Commended for basically exposing SEELE's plans, thanks to Ranma's help, to the UN, Gendo as considered a hero had been well rewarded. Gendo no longer needed money, the government more than happy to provide him with any and everything, and that meant there was no reason for him to work anymore.
"I wish I was working," he muttered as he saw the giant clothing store getting closer and closer.
"What was that, honey?" he wife, Yui asked. She was a beautiful young woman with short brown hair. Her beauty made it a wonder why she was with a man like Gendo.
Gendo gave a meek laugh, "Oh, nothing,"
One of these days, he would put his foot down.
"Hurry up, honey, you're walking too slow," his wife told him.
"Yes, honey," Gendo said.
He would put his foot down, but perhaps another day.
As Gendo and Yui were crossing the very busy street, a bright light appeared high above them.
When they quickly glanced up, the light had already disappeared.
All that remained was Ranma has gavity took over and sent him down to the ground below. Luckily, he twisted skillfully in the air and landed silently on his feet him a short distance in front of the shocked couple. Actually, Gendo and Yui weren't the only ones shocked. There were hundred other onlookers that had just seen what had transpired.
Ranma looked around, not all that bothered by the attention, "Now, where am I?"
He looked around toward the buildings. It didn't take him long to recognize a building from when he was last on this world.
"Ah, I know where I am. If that building is here, the that means Nerv is located that way," Ranma was talking to himself as he pointed toward the west. Just beyond the edge of the city was the mountain where Nerv was located.
Just as Ranma was about to walk off in that general direction, someone called his name.
"R-R-Ranma? Is t-that you?" came a surprised female voice.
Ranma turned around and was pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face.
"Ah, Yui," Ranma smiled warmly, "Nice to see you again," "W-what? H-how? W-when..." she began.
"Is that really you?" Gendo asked incredulously.
Ranma smiled and nodded, "Yep. It's really me,"
"How? I-I thought...we thought you were killed," Yui said.
"Um, well, more or less," he said, "It's a really long story. I'm basically the third version of the Ranma you know. Let's just say that I'm going through lives like they're nothing. The funny thing is is that I don't remember dying even once, let alone twice,"
Gendo narrowed his eyes at Ranma, "Are you really the same Ranma we know?"
Ranma smirked, "Weren't you just listening? No, I'm not. I'm some kinda newer version of him. I'm still the same person meaning I remember everything, but I don't think we have ever physically met until today,"
Yui smiled, "Well, whatever the case, it's nice to find out that you're alive and well,"
Ranma gave her an odd look, "Just like that? I figure you would be surprised and speechless for longer than that,"
Yui gave a meek smile, "I'm sorry," She walked over and gave Ranma a hug, "It's great to hear that you're back. I'm so relieved,"
"Yui," Gendo called out to his wife, "You're married,"
Yui turned toward Gendo, a smirk on her lips, "Oh hush, honey. It's only a hug. No need to get all jealous,"
Gendo let out a grunt. He turned toward Ranma and offered his hand, "It's nice to see that you're alive and well,"
Ranma shook hands with Gendo, "I'm glad to be alive,"
"So, what brings you to this world?" Yui asked. "Nothing much," Ranma half-lied, "I just wanted to letcha know that I'm all right,"
Her eyes lit up, "Oh, you have to come around to our house to visit Rei. She doesn't know about you...about your other self dying. She's been wondering want happened to you for quite a while,"
"Quite a while? What, how long has it been since I...since my other self came around, to pick up Unit-01?"
"About a year," Yui said.
"Actually, it'll be exactly one year as of next week," Gendo commented.
Ranma whistled, "Man, I guess I have been away for quite a while. To me, it only feels like a week had passed, despite having been stuck on that other world for a few months,"
"Other world?" Yui asked curiously.
Ranma waved a hand, "Oh, nothing. Nothing too important. Anyway, I'll be glad to stop by later in the day and talk to Rei, and Shinji as well. I'd like to know how they've been doing also,"
Yui smiled warmly, "That's good to hear. I'm positive they're going to be very excited to see you,"
"Good, I'll drop by later today,"
"W-will y-you go out with me?"
Asuka looked at the young boy in contempt. It was now halfway through spending her lunchtime outside and already she had been asked out three times since lunchtime had started. She was getting sick and tired of being asked out.
"No, I'm not interested," she said, fighting back the urge to simply kick the young boy in his groin to get her point across more concisely. She took several deep breaths before she was about to bring her attention back onto the book she was reading. She had finished her lunch early to finish reading this interesting book she had picked up the other day. She was sitting outside, her back against a tree. "Whatcha reading?" Hikari asked cheerfully as she sat down next to Asuka.
Asuka smiled slightly. Although she should be angry for being interrupted, Hikari was her friend and she could let that slide. Besides, if it weren't for Hikari piloting Unit-02 along with Toji and Kensuke back then against the Angels, who knows what could had happened.
"It's called 'Dawning of Immortality'," she replied. "What's it about?"
"It's about a young man that became immortal and he goes about throughout the book seeking death," Asuka said, "It's a pretty good book, but what really gets to you is that it makes you wonder what it could really be like if you were immortal,"
"I read that book," came a masculine voice.
Asuka and Hikari were both startled. They looked up and noticed a silhouette of a man standing before them. They couldn't distinguish his features since the sun was to his back and the glare was preventing them.
"You two remember me?" Ranma asked, still smiling.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think we do," Hikari commented for the both of them.
"I wouldn't be surprised, it's probably been over a year since you had last seen me," Ranma said, shrugging his shoulders, "Oh yeah, by the way, if I were you two, I wouldn't sit like that,"
"What do you mean?" Asuka asked curiously. All she was doing was sitting against a tree.
"I can see both of your panties," Ranma said.
Asuka and Hikari both looked down and noticed that their panties were exposed. They shouldn't had sat down and leaned against the tree with their legs bent and pressed against their chests.
Ranma grinned, "However, I must say, red panties seem to suit you, Asuka. And blue ones seem to suit you, Hikari,"
Asuka and Hikari yelped as they quickly brought their legs down and pulled the front of their skirts down.
"You pervert!" Asuka shouted at him.
Ranma didn't seem all that perturbed, "There's no need for you to be embarrassed. I've seen you naked plenty of times,"
"What?" Asuka's eyes widened, "W-w-when? H-how!"
Ranma scratched his head, "Actually, I take that back. I haven't seen _you_ naked. I've seen another version of you naked plenty of times. It's just that she is identical to you so it might as well be you,"
"What the heck are you talking about?" Asuka glared at him, quickly standing up, a blush on her cheeks. Hikari also got to her feet.
He smiled, "Anyway, that's not the point, I just wanted to stop by and letcha know that I'm alive and well,"
Hikari stepped slightly to the side so that the glare of the sun wasn't in her eyes. When she managed to get a good look or Ranma, her eyes widened.
"Y-you're Ranma!" Hikari said in shock, "Y-you're alive? H-how?"
Ranma smiled, "It's a long story,"
Asuka took a good glance at him, "Ranma? Hm, that name sounds familiar,"
He turned toward her and said "Just think back a bit,"
After a moment, her eyes widened when she recognized who it was. "You used to be our teacher!" Asuka said.
"Bingo," Ranma smiled, "See, it wasn't that hard. I'm flattered that you bothered to remember me,"
Asuka blushed a bit. He was flattered? That's a rather sweet thing of him to say.
Ranma leaned down toward her when he noticed the blush, "Hey, why're ya blushing? Dontcha go developin' no crush on me or nothing. I've got enough problems with the girls back home, and I have no intention of developing the same problems here,"
"M-me? I do not have a crush on you!" Asuka shouted loudly.
"Good, keep it that way," he smirked, "Having one of you have a crush with me and constantly trying to deny it is bad enough, let alone two,"
"I said 'I do not have a crush on you!'" Asuka shouted once again, much louder this time. However, there was still a blush on her cheeks.
Ranma chuckled, "Asuka, this version of you is exactly like the other one," For a brief moment, he forgot that this Asuka didn't know him as well, for he placed an arm around her shoulder.
"At least knowing that you're here will definitely make my stay here all the more interesting," he commented happily.
"A-and what's that supposed to mean?" she asked, quickly slipping out from under Ranma's arm, glaring at him. If anyone else had tried to put and arm around her, she would had clocked him. However, Ranma was different. He was not some the general nervous young boys that approached her. Ranma made a sad face, "Y-you don't want me to put my arm around you? My feeling are hurt,"
"Um," Asuka began, almost beginning to feel ashamed of herself. When she noticed Ranma smirked, that he was only teasing her, she shot him a wicked glance, "Why you..."
Ranma held his hands up defensively, "Relax, I was only teasing. Can't you take a joke? Keep in mind I used to be your teacher. Y-you should treat your elders with respect,"
"Hmph," she turned her head away, "Respect my butt,"
"Um, would you like me to leave the two of you alone?" Hikari asked, "I mean, you two are arguing with each other as if you're both married to one another,"
Ranma jerked a thumb toward Asuka, "Me, married to her? I dunno about that,"
"No way would I ever be married to someone like him!" Asuka snapped at her friend, "I can't believe you would say something like that!"
Ranma acted as if his feelings were hurt again and said, "Really? Why not? I'm not good enough for you?"
Asuka paused for a moment before she caught on to Ranma's game and said, "I'm not falling for that!"
Hikari sighed, "Anyway, back onto the subject. I thought you were dead..."
"Dead?" Asuka looked at her friend. She then looked at Ranma.
Ranma said, "Okay. I'll try and explain everything in one fell swoop. The Ranma you knew, the one that had been physically in your classroom to teach you, he died a while back. I'm just another version of him,"
"What?" Hikari said.
"I'm sure you don't know all the fact, but neither do everyone else," he said, "All that you basically need to know as that although the Ranma you actually knew died, I retain all his memories. That's why I remember who you are, even though we never actually met,"
"W-what bring you here?" she asked.
"Well, I kinda have some unfinished business," he said.
"What kind of unfinished business?" Hikari asked curiously.
Ranma shrugged, "Oh, don't worry about it. You'll probably find out soon enough. It'll be a surprise,"
Hikari smiled, "Cool, I like surprises,"
Ranma smirked. He looked around the courtyard, "So, do you guys know where Toji and Kensuke are?"
"Yeah, they're probably still in class," Hikari replied, pointing toward a window, "That's their classroom up there,"
"How about Shinji?" "Shinji?" Hikari looked at Asuka, "He's probably hanging out with them also,"
"Cool," he said. He began walking off toward the school.
"That's it? You're just going to leave?" Asuka snapped at him, "That's rather rude,"
Ranma looked at Asuka oddly, "Huh?"
"You didn't even say something like 'see ya' or 'bye' or something like that," she commented, "Just up and leaving is rather rude, wouldn't you say?"
"I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that," Ranma said, turning back around, "You sound exactly like one of the girls back home that have a crush on me,"
"What?" Asuka blushed, "I-I do not have a crush on y-you!"
"Keep it that way," he smirked, "You'll be very disappointed if you do when you find out what I have in store for everyone,"
"What do you mean?" Hikari asked first.
"Nevermind. Don't worry about it," he said with a wave of the hand.
"What are you going to do, just walk right into school and up to into their class?" Hikari asked, "There are school monitors walking about. They're not going to let you pass because you're not a student,"
Ranma shrugged, "So what. It doesn't bother me,"
Hikari and Asuka watched as Ranma entered the school building. Curious as to how Ranma would deal with the school monitors trying to prevent him from entering, they both decided to follow after him. It would prove rather amusing.
They followed a good distance away, not really caring if he knew of their following. He only managed to walk into the school about ten feet before he was stopped.
"Excuse me, but you're not permitted on school grounds if you're not a student," a passing teacher said. He looked to be in his mid-thirties and had a bald spot.
"I'm a student," Ranma lied with a straight face.
"Then why are you not in your school uniform?"
"All my uniforms were in the wash before I realized it," he said, "I didn't wanna miss class because I didn't have a uniform,"
The teacher smiled, "Why, that's awefully good of you. Most of the kids nowadays would just skip class. They would use it as an excuse,"
"Well not me, sir," Ranma grinned, "I like school,"
"That's good to hear," the man said, "Very well, go on in. Just be sure to wear you uniform next time,"
"Sure thing," he said, walking on in.
Asuka and Hikari looked at each other.
"Damn, he's good," Hikari commented, "For a moment, even I actually believed him,"
"I guess so," Asuka shrugged slightly, showing no signs of surprise.
"Do you girls need any help?" the teacher asked them.
"Oh no, we're fine," Hikari said.
The two girls quickly rushed past the teacher and up toward the classroom Ranma was headed. They only took five steps before they realized they had lost track of Ranma.
"Where the heck did he disappear to?" Hikari asked her friend.
"Probably up to the classroom," she replied. Together, they rushed down the hallway. They were stopped when Ranma's head emerged from a corner.
"Boo," he said, causing both girls to yelp in surprise.
"Where the heck did you come from?" Hikari gasped.
Ranma smirked, "Why are you girls following me?" "We're on our way to class," Asuka replied with a straight face, "We're merely in the same classroom as the one you're headed to,"
He said, "Whatever you say. Whatever you say,"
He turned back around and headed down the hallway.
"Jeez, what's with that guy?" Hikari jerked a thumb toward him, "He's being awefully obnoxious. I don't remember him being that obnoxious back then. What gives?"
Asuka let out an annoyed breath, "Well, whatever the case, let's just hope he goes away after a short while. He's such a jerk,"
"Agreed," Hikari nodded.
Together, they headed toward their classroom, Asuka taking care to ignore the stares given to her by the lucky boys lingering in the hallway at the time.
"So annoying," she muttered under her breath.
Hikari laugh, "Get over it. You like the attention,"
Asuka casted her friend a serious glance.
"Um, maybe not," Hikari gave a meek smile. Hikari and Asuka entered the classroom where they saw Ranma, Shinji, Toji, and Kensuke gathered in the back corner of the room, already engaged in conversation.
When Ranma glanced up and noticed them looking in his direction, the two girls quickly went to their seats and sat down, feigning a lack of interest even though they were both very eager to hear what they were talking about.
The three boys were still in a state of shock. They were basically asking him questions on how he had managed to come back to life and such. He replied with the same patience as with everyone else before them. All in all, they seemed to take everything as a given.
"Well, I'm glad to see that you're alive and well," Toji commented first, "I mean, it did come as a big surprise when we heard of your death. Heck, we even had a wake and all. Of course, there was no body and all, but I'm sure ya understand what I'm getting at,"
Ranma asked, "A wake? Really? That's rather flattering,"
"Yeah, Misato insisted on it," Kensuke said, "I think she took the news the worst for some reason,"
"Speaking of Misato," Ranma jumped at the opportunity, "What is she up to? Is she still around? I wouldn't be surprised if she weren't, what with Nerv no long existing and all. And what about Ritsuko and Naoko?" Toji nodded, "Yeah, they're around. Ritsuko and Naoko started their own business together. After Nerv was no longer needed, Ritsuko and her mom went on to create a consumer version of the MAGI that was used for Nerv. Misato became their spokesperson,"
Ranma whistled, "Wow, that sounds really impressive,"
"They started their own business about five months ago," Kensuke jumped in, "The business really took off. What started off as a two-person company boomed into one that now has over fifty employees and is still growing,"
He smiled, "I'm glad to hear they're all doing well. Now, about this company, where is it?"
"They company is located right here in Tokyo," Kensuke replied happily, "Man, I can't wait to get school done and over with. They told me that once I get outta college, they'll be more than happy to hire me. Basically, I'm set,"
Toji let out a snort, "So what? Keep in mind that you still have the rest of high school and college to get through before you'll be working for 'em,"
Kensuke hung his head low, "I know,"
Ranma looked over his shoulder where he noticed the two girls glancing in his direction. It was obvious they were really interested in what he and the Three Stooges were having.
"If ya wanna join us, you're welcome to," Ranma said, gesturing to the empty seat next to them. Asuka and Hikari turned toward each other. They seemed to think about it for a moment before deciding to come over to where Ranma sat. What Ranma found amusing was how Asuka and Hikari tried to feign distinterest and even pretended to show reluctance in joining them.
"You're not fooling anyone," Ranma smiled warmly, regarding the two girls.
"Whatcha talking about?" Asuka asked innocently.
Ranma shrugged, "Okay. If you say so," He turned toward the three boys, "So where in Tokyo is this company? What's this company's name? I wanna go visit them,"
"The company is called NanoTech," Kensuke answered, "It's located only two miles directly south of the school. All you have to do is exit this school and make a left. The building is on your left. You can't miss it. It's one largest buildings in all of Tokyo. Quite a feat if you ask me considering how short a time it took to accumulate such wealth in order to buy a building,"
Ranma said, "All right. I'll go visit them then,"
"If you wait until after school lets out, perhaps we can all head their together," Shinji said, "We pass by that building on our way home every day,"
He thought about it for a moment before saying, "Yeah, sure. I guess I could wait until then. We can keep each other company,"
"That's cool," Toji said with a shrug.
Ranma noticed Asuka and Hikari looking at one another. It was obvious they seemed interested in tagging along but found no reasonable explanation to be tagging along though.
"Would you like to come along?" Ranma asked them, feeling it would be easier on them to accept his invitation than to ask themselves instead.
"Well..." Asuka feigned reluctatance.
"Hey, why bother, you live in the opposite direction of where we're headed," Toji said with a smirk. He didn't want them to come along. Although he didn't mind Hikari, he sure didn't like the thought of her friend coming along since they never got along.
"It doesn't matter," Ranma said without much thought, "I'll walk 'em home if it gets late. Who knows what kinda people could be out late at night,"
Hikari and Asuka turned looked at each other. For some odd reason, they found that comment very endearing. It was also strange that Ranma did say that because they believed that one hundred percent and didn't like the thought of being out late at night simply because they didn't want to encounter any one dangerous.
Shinji said, "Um, so what do you plan on doing while you wait for us to get out of school?"
"I think I'll goto the library," he said.
"Library? You mean that place with all those books?" Toji asked, a bit shocked. He didn't figure Ranma would be the type to enjoy reading a book or something like that.
"Yeah," Ranma nodded, "I wanna read up on some current events, to see what I missed since I was last here,"
"Like what?" Kensuke asked.
"Nothing in particular," Ranma shrugged, "Perhaps something like what happened after the Angels were finally defeated. Like what happened to the EVA units. Or what happened to Nerv itself. Stuff like that,"
Kensuke gave a great big smile, "Oh, you don't hafta worry about that. I know all about that stuff. I kept tabs on everything after the final Angel was finally defeated,"
"Oh, that's great. There's a lot of stuff I'm curious about," Ranma said.
"Cool, I can tell ya whatever ya need to know," Kensuke said, "I'll be more than happy to help,"
"Thanks,"
A bell rang, signifying the end of lunchtime. The lingering student in the classroom headed toward their seats to await the arrival of their teacher.
"Well, guys, I guess I best head out," Ranma said, "I'll wait for you guys by the front gate after school,"
"All right," everyone seemed to say in unison.
Ranma turned around to leave the classroom.
"Um, Ranma," Shinji called out to him.
"Yes?" he turned toward the group.
Shinji smiled warmly, "I'm glad you're okay,"
"Thanks,"
Ranma was leaning against a tree as five familiar students emerged from the school together. They all seemed relieved that the schoolday was over, Kensuke particularly eager on the trip in stored.
"I haven't seen Misato and the others in what feels like ages," Kensuke said happily, "I can't wait to stop by,"
"Get over it," Toji said, giving his friend a light elbow in the side, "You just wanna see what new technology Ritsuko and Naoko are working on. You're just eager to catch a glimpse of what would be considered the 'next-generation' computer,"
Kensuke smirked, "Yeah, so? What about you?"
"What about me?" Toji challenged.
"You just wanna visit so you can see Misato," Shinji smirked mischieviously.
"And what about you?" Toji said toward Shinji.
Shinji blushed, "W-what about me? I just wanted to see how they were doing, that's all,"
"Yeah right," Toji laughed, "Whatever you say, Shinji. Whatever ya say,"
"Hmph," the two girls muttered.
Ranma said, "Before we go visit 'em, let's all go out and get some food. My treat,"
"All right!" the three boys shouted in glee.
"So, what has happened since the Angels had been defeated?" Ranma asked Kensuke. He and the others were gathered around a table of a nearby restaurant, awaiting their meals to come. The restaurant was rather extravagant and everyone seemed to notice yet no one seemed all that relucatant to order some expensive dinner when Ranm had told them he more than enough money to cover whatever the bill was.
Kensuke took a sip of his coke and said, "Well, not all that much happened. Nerv Headquarters was no longer needed and is no longer in use. It basically became a tourist attraction. People from all over the world come here and tour through the base. Everything in there remained intact like during the 'Angel Wars',"
"Angel Wars?" Ranma asked curiously.
"That's the official name of our battle against the Angels," Kensuke answered, continuinmg to drink, "Everything in Nerv is intact except for the EVA units,"
"What happened to them?"
Kensuke took another sip of his drink, "Well, the EVA units were removed from Nerv and put in a museum. They've been decommissioned and are now on display at the museum located right here in Tokyo,"
"Really? Damn, I oughta go check 'em out. It's been quite a while since I've seen an EVA before,"
"Well, if you really want, you can always stop by the museum after visiting Misato and the others because the museum is only a short distance away from their building,"
"Y'know what, that doesn't sound all that bad an idea, I might just do that," Ranma said, "Okay, it's cool to hear that Nerv nor the EVAs had been dismantled now that they're no longer in use..."
"Of course they wouldn't be disposed of," Hikari said, "For all we know, there could be another Angel attack and we would need them again,"
Ranma was silent, his lips a thin line. "Anyway, the EVAs can be found at the museum," Kensuke said, "From what I hear, visiting the museum will become a national school trip thing. I heard that starting next year, at some point in time, every middle schooler will visit that museum as part of a school trip. I guess Japan wants all the children to know just how important a role those EVAs played in this world's survival,"
Ranma smirked, "That's good to hear,"
"Our text books had been changed to include the 'Angel Wars'," Shiji said, "It mentions of even Kensuke and Toji and Hikari's role in piloting the EVAs. They also mention of Misato and Ritsuko and my dad and everyone,"
"I guess you're national heroes, huh?" Ranma grinned at the children.
Hikari shook her head, "Actually, not really. We were all pretty famous for month or so, but then things died down. It's kinda like a phase this country went through. Nowadays, no one really know who we are unless we pointed it out to them,"
Ranma smirked, "How about me? Am I mentioned? Dontcha think I played a big part?"
The children looked at one another, not really knowing how to react to the question nor what to say.
"Um, about that," Kensuke said after a good minute of silence, "It seems there is absolutely no mention of you nor your role in the textbooks,"
Ranma shrugged, "Oh well. I was just curious, that's all,"
"Aren't you angry?" Hikari asked, "I mean, if I were you, I'd be angry. You played the biggest role of them all,"
He shook his head, "Not really. However, it will be a bit sad that no one besides myself will ever know of what I've been through. I've basically seen more stuff over the course of my life than anyone could imagine,"
"Actually, it's no totally untrue," Kensuke said, realizing his mistake, "There is mention of you in a book,"
"Oh?"
"From what I hear, there's supposed to be this 'conspiracy' book floating around that seems to mention of no one but you," Kensuke said, "The book mentions very concisely of how you had somehow appeared in our world from Unit-
01. As to how the person knew this, no one knows because only a select few know about it,"
"Perhaps it was someone that worked at Nerv," Ranma suggested.
"That's what everyone and Misato thought, but it seems the author used his or her penname in publishing the book," Kensuke said, "I don't know all the details. I suggest you talk to Misato about it because she really investigated into how that book came about. She came up with nothing,"
"You've read the book?" Ranma asked the young man.
Kensuke shook his head, "Not yet. It only surfaced a short while ago and I haven't had the chance to get my hands on it. Misato told me about the book when I last saw her,"
"So, what else has she told you?" he asked curiously.
Everyone else had their full attention on Kensuke. Everything he was telling was new to them. They were all pretty shocked that Kensuke knew of stuff such as this.
"Well, she told me the book seems to be very accurate," he said, "She mentions of how the book talks about how you had actually been on this world around fourteen years before you showed up via Unit-01 and had played an unknown role that seemed to have much much more significance than anyone on this world believes,"
"Hm, I wonder who wrote it," Ranma scratched his head.
"No one knows. From what she told me, Misato had basically been trying to pull her hair out trying to find out," Kensuke said.
Ranma smirked, "Hey, perhaps Misato had actually written that book. But she is concealing that fact by pretending to be the one looking for the author. Since she is the author, no one will suspect a thing and would have believed she was truly looking for the real culprit when it was her all along,"
Everyone was dead silent.
Ranma gave a laughed, "Hey, I was only joking around. No need to take it all serious,"
"Hey, what you're saying makes sense," Kensuke commented, "She was there for all the incidents mentioned in the book. Jeez, why didn't I ever notice that. It's gotta be her!"
Ranma gave a meek smile, "Hey, I was only joking around,"
Ritsuko stared at the computer screen. She was tired and she wanted to go home. She had been in front of this computer since nine in the morning and it was now close to five. She hadn't even eaten yet. She had been stuck in front of this blasted computer reading through thousands and thousands of lines of code looking for that one line that was causing the operating system to crash on her everytime she tried opening a certain application.
Her office wasn't all that extravagant considering she was co-president of the single most important company in the world, her mother the other co-president. It resemble a bit of a cubicle except there was a comfortable looking sofa in the corner and three chairs in front of her desk.
Ritsuko was startled when the intercom next to her computer came on.
"Ritsuko-sama, there's a few people here to see you," the receptionist said.
Ritsuko sighed. She was a busy person. She had things to do. She didn't have time to see anyone, "Tell them to come back tomorrow,"
"Hey, what gives? You don't like us anymore or somethin'?" Toji's voice emerged from intercom.
"Excuse me, sir, but you're not allowed to do that," she heard the receptionist's voice over the intercom.
"C'mon, it's me, Toji," she heard his voice again.
Ritsuko looked at the intercom. A second later she started laughing. That was typical of Toji. She said into the intercom, "All right, send them up. They know the way,"
Ritsuko leaned back in her chair. She couldn't help but smile at the thought of seeing the gang again. She remembered the receptionist saying that there was a group of people there to see her. That meant that it was most likely Toji, Kensuke, and Hikari. She glanced at the computer screen again and decided it was about time for a break. She hadn't seen the kids in a while and was looking forward to seeing how they were. She was also pretty eager to see Kensuke again. That young boy had a genuine interest in what she did and she found it very flattering. She liked the way he admired her. It made her feel very important.
There was a knock at the door.
"Come in," she said.
The door opened. Because she had been expecting to see either Toji or Kensuke or Hikari, she was totally caught off-guard when she realized it wasn't them. Ritsuko's eyes became wide when she recognized the man standing in the doorway was none other than Ranma. She rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things.
"Yes, it's me," Ranma said in that voice of his that Ritsuko found extremely sexy.
"I-is it r-really you?" Ritsuko didn't dare to blink, scared that if she closed her eyes, he would no longer be there when she opened them.
He nodded, "Yeah, it's me. I'm back,"
He entered the office, the children in tow. Ritsuko didn't even notice them until Toji said something.
"Hey," Toji said with a wave of his hand, "Long time no see,"
"Toji, Kensuke, Hikari, how nice of you to come visit," Ritsuko said warmly when she recognized them. She then noticed two other children in the group that she didn't recognize.
"That's Shinji and Asuka," Ranma jerked a thumb toward them, as if reading her mind, "They're friends of mine,"
Asuka blushed. S-she was Ranma's friend? Why would he consider her his friend when she didn't consider him a friend one bit. She barely even considered him an aquaintance.
Ritsuko got up off her seat and approached Ranma, "I-I can't believe my eyes. I-it's really you,"
Ranma walked forward to meet Ritsuko halfway. He extended his arms outward where he gave her a warm embrace. She buried her head into his chest, enjoying the warm sensation of being so close to him. When he released his hold of her, he gave her a curious look.
"What?" she asked.
"Um, aren't you going to kiss me?" Ranma asked. Since she and the other Ritsuko were exactly alike, he was sure they would also act the exact same way.
She blushed, "Well, if you don't mind," She had contemplated indulge herself and kiss him. Since it seemed he was expecting a kiss, she didn't feel she wanted to disappoint him. Asuka cleared her throat loudly. Ritsuko cast the young girl a glance before she turned her attention back toward Ranma.
"Oh, I better not," Ritsuko said a bit sullenly, "There're children here,"
"Yeah, do that on your own time," Toji said. He took a glance at the computer and asked, "So, whatcha workin' on?" The lines of codes look like another language to him. "I'm just trying to debug some code," Ritsuko answered patiently, knowing full well that Toji wasn't at all interested in what he was seeing, "Basically, there's a line of code located there that is causing the operating system to crash every time I try to open a particular application,"
She took a smirk at Kensuke, "Kensuke, why don't you take a crack at it? I've been looking at code all day and my energy reserves are pretty much spent,"
Kensuke's eyes widened, "Really? You'll lettme do that? Thanks!"
Ritsuko smiled warmly. She liked how enthusiastic Kensuke became whenever the subject of computer was mentioned. She even liked how he seemed actually interested in reading code.
He took a glance at the computer. He started reading the code. However, he gave no indication that he knew what he was looking for let alone understand what each individual lines of code.
"There's a syntax error here," he said, pointing at the screen, taking care not to actually touch it but have his finger just hover an inche from the screen itself. God forbid he actually touched the computer screen and leave behind a fingerprint. Ritsuko walked over to the computer and glanced over the boys shoulder.
"Well I'll be. You're right," she said, a bit embarrassed at having missed it. However, having an error like that pointed out didn't mean all that much, "However, that error is only superficial. It's not what is causing the operating system to lock up,"
"Oh," Kensuke said, a bit disappointed. He had hoped it would fix everything.
"So, what have you been up to?" Ranma asked.
Ritsuko smiled. She held her hands out and gestured toward her office, "Well, as you can see here, this is my office,"
"I can see," he said, "Kensuke told me about how you went on to create some consumer based MAGI computer. That's pretty cool,"
Ritsuko waved a hand, "Forget about me, what about you? How is it possible that you're here?"
"Well, it's a long story," he began, "I figure it'd be best that I tell everyone at once rather than to 'em individually,"
"Oh, I assume you mean Misato and my mother, right?" Ritsuko asked.
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, Kensuke told me about how the three of you work together. I figure I can assemble all three of you and tell ya at once,"
"Have you seen Misato or my mother yet?"
"No, I saw you first," he replied.
Ritsuko felt a slight blush come to her cheeks. It was rather flattering that he came to see her first. She figured if he knew about Misato also working there, he would had visited her first since they knew each other a bit better, Misato and him knowing each other a bit more since she had been the one that had to go after Ranma when he had left Nerv Headquarters in a huff after shortly appearing there.
At that moment, Ritsuko's stomach grumbled.
"I'm sorry, I guess it's because I haven't eaten all day," Ritsuko said a bit embarrassedly. She dared to ask, "If you haven't eaten yet, would you like to go grab a bite to eat? Of course, we'll go with Misato and my mother, too,"
Ranma said, "Sure, I'm starving,"
"But we just came from eat-" Asuka began.
"However, we actually came frome eating but I have no problem eating again," he continued, "I hafta take the girls home beforehand though,"
"Hmph, don't act like you're doing us any favors," Asuka muttered in disdain.
Ranma gave the girl an odd look, "What's with you? Do you want me to walk you girls home or not? Cuz when I said I would, you didn't seem to eagerly decline. What gives now?"
"Forget about it," Asuka said angrily.
Ranma scratched his head, "Jeez, now what did I do? Are you pissed at me because I'm gonna go grab a bite to eat with Ritsuko and the others? I said I would walk you home and I'm not going back on my word so what gives?" "Nothing," Asuka said. She walked over to the couch and sat down. Her posture gave her an indication of annoyance and impatience. It clearly looked like she didn't want to be there now.
Ranma turned toward Hikari, "Now what did I do?"
"Forget it," she said, "It's clear that you really have no clue so it's useless to explain it,"
He sighed as he shook his head. He decided it was best to just ignore the situation and turned toward Ritsuko as he said, "Anyway, how much more work do you have left? If you're willing to wait, I can come back after walking the girls home,"
"Well, I guess so," she began. Her stomach grumbled again.
She gave a meek smile, "Hm, I guess it can't wait. I haven't eaten all day, afterall,"
Ranma thought about it for a moment, "Hm, that's no problem, you can come along as I take the girls home. Afterwards, we can head out and eat. Basically kill two birds with one stone,"
"Look, we don't need you walking us home," Asuka snapped at him.
"I dunno about you, but I don't wanna walk home alone," Hikari argued, "Because he's walking us home is one of the main reasons why I'm willing to stay out late," Asuka opened her mouth to protest but said nothing. She let out a snort as she crossed her arms over her chest and said, "Fine, whatever,"
"Asuka, are you pissed at me because you are jealous that I'm gonna go grab a bite to eat with Ritsuko here?" Ranma asked bluntly.
"No!" she quickly replied.
Ranma looked thoroughly confused, "Then why're you angry at me all of a sudden?" After a moment of deep consideration, he said, "Aw screw it,"
He walked over to where Asuka sat and leaned in close to her. He looked deeply into her eyes. Asuka, a bit uncomfortable by how closely Ranma's face was coming to hers, ended up leaning farther back into the couch and stammering, "W-what a-
are you doing?"
Ranma said, "The eyes are the windows to a person's soul. I'm jus' reading your mind. I dunno what the heck is up with ya so I'm gonna read your mind instead. I hate playing games,"
Asuka blushed beet red as she quickly cut off Ranma's eye contact with her. However, it was too late. Ranma already knew his answer.
"C'mon, jus' lettme see," he lied, "I didn't get a chance to read your thoughts yet,"
"G-good, you've got n-no right reading a person's mind without their concent," Asuka said, glad he didn't get the chance to read her thoughts, to know of her inner secrets.
Ranma shrugged, "I just figured it'd be easier that way,"
"Look, you shouldn't do something like that," Hikari interjected, "It's not right. It's an invasion of privacy,"
"All right, I won't do it then, sheesh," Ranma said, "No need to make a big deal outta it,"
"Okay then," Hikari said.
Ranma turned toward Asuka, "Look, whatever I did, I didn't mean to do it,"
"Fine," Asuka said. Somehow, she felt a bit better.
"Well, now that you're here, we should go get a hold of Misato and my mother," Ritsuko said suddenly, "I'm sure they'll be glad to see you,"
"Sure,"
"So lettme get this straight, Adam is no longer at Nerv?"
Ritsuko nodded, "No, Adam was actually buried where he was from originally,"
Ranma winced as he said, "And that would be Antarctica?"
"Correct,"
Ranma sighed. He and the others were on their way toward the Development Department two floors below Ritsuko's office where Naoko and Misato were said to be at the moment. It was something to do with the intranet going down and the employees being unable to send messages to each other within the company. Ranma had took the short walk to ask Ritsuko a series of questions, taking care not to ask specific ones that would arouse suspicion.
"That's cool," Ranma acted disinterested, "Gee, I wonder where though,"
"Although I don't know the exact location, I'm sure Misato knows," she answered, "She was actually in charge of returning Adam back. From what she had told me, she basically put Adam back where he first appeared,"
Ranma smirked, "Really?" He knew exactly where it was. Although it hadn't been him physically that was there, he remember how to get there. He recalled his adventure to this world, when he and Asuka had come here to prevent the Second Impact, which they had succeeded in preventing...but at the cost of his former self's life.
Ranma casted a glance in Asuka's direction and smiled warmly. He recalled those memories as if he had actually experienced them. "What?" Asuka noticed Ranma looking at her.
"What, does she have some kinda booger hanging out?" Toji smirked.
"Nothing," he smiled, "I'm just recalling an old memory. Ritsuko mentioned Antarctica, I remember having gone there with Asuka,"
"I never went there with you!" Asuka stated.
Ranma let out a laugh, "I know. Heck, neither was I. I was merely referring to my previous life. I just happen to retain his memories. Anyway, my former self had gone to Antarctica with your other self,"
"Really?" Asuka showed signs of interest.
"Yeah, it was pretty exciting adventure," he replied, "I remember you, I mean your other self, getting stuck sharing a single sleeping bag because you had forgotten to spike the tent in correctly and the winds blew your tent away," "I never did that!"
Ranma sighed, "I know. I'm basically referring to 'you' as in your other self. That's all,"
"Oh," she said.
"That sounds like quite an adventure," Ritsuko smirked.
Ranma smiled, "I guess you could say so. You won't believe what Asuka is capable of. I remember falling overboard once into the freezing cold water and basically developing hypothermia and exhausting myself getting back on the boat. Well, the next thing I remember was waking up totally stark naked with Asuka sleeping every bit as naked right next to me,"
"Well, if it's hypothermia, then it was the right choice," Ritsuko said logically, "Direct body contact is a great way to warm up a person suffering from hypothermia,"
"True, but for all I know, she could have taken advantage of me while I was in my weakened and unconscious state," Ranma smirked, jerking a thumb toward Asuka.
"I did no such thing...and I know my other self would do no such thing either!" Asuka shouted, blushing horribly.
Ranma grinned, "If you say so,"
"Hmph!"
"C'mon, let's go see Misato and Naoko," Ranma changed the subject, "Gee, I wonder how they're gonna react,"
"I'm sure they'll be very glad to see you," Ritsuko smiled wryly, "Well, we're here,"
They were gathered in front of two large doors that was the entrance to the Development Department. Ritsuko opened the doors and entered, everyone following closely behind. The entire section was empty save for Misato and Naoko, everyone else having gone home at the end of the workday.
Neither Naoko nor Misato had seen the group enter the room until Ritsuko cleared ther throat.
"We have some visitors," Ritsuko said.
Naoko, whom had her back toward the group while she looked at the inside of the server, turned around.
Misato had been in one other corner of the room trying to fix her own fair share of problems. She was no where near as efficient with fixing computers as Naoko but she could contribute a bit. She too turned her attention toward Ritsuko.
"Oh, hi guys," Misato said, getting up and approaching the group. She managed to take about two steps before she stopped in mid-step when she recognized Ranma, "R-Ranma?"
"R-Ranma? Is that really you?" Naoko asked, also recognizing him.
He nodded, "Yep, I'm back,"
Misato and Naoko both ran forward and glomped onto Ranma from each side.
"Holy shit, it's really you!" Misato said. She kissed him passionately, her tongue invading his mouth. Ranma's arms flailed as his eyes widened as he realized what had just happened. He ended up falling backwards, both females falling down and on top of him. Naoko seemed to be in pure heaven as she buried her head snugly up against his chest.
"I can't breath," Ranma tried to say, considering Misato's mouth was blocking his air passage. Luckily, he managed to free himself after a minute.
"Jeez," Ranma said breathing heavily, "I thought I was gonna die there,"
"I want you to fuck me now!" Misato said, proceeding to remove her shirt to expose her breasts. She then proceeded to remove her bra.
"W-w-what t-the hell are y-you doing?" Ranma stammered.
"I'm not gonna lose this opportunity to have your child," she said.
"T-t-t-there's c-children here!" he said.
Misato smirked, "I don't care. They could watch if they want,"
"Get off of him," Ritsuko told Misato, "He's not some slab of meat,"
"Dude, this is better than watching a porno!" Toji said happily, his eyes intent of Misato's breasts. He couldn't wait until she took off her bra.
Misato let out an annoyed breath as she got to her feet, putting on her shirt, "You're no fun, Ritsuko," She casted Ranma an alluring gaze, "You and I will have business to attend to later. For instance, like the actual act of conceiving our baby together,"
Ranma emphatically shook his head, "No, I don't think so! You're outta yer mind,"
"C'mon, it'd be cool," she winked, "If the baby is a boy, we can name him after you. We can name him 'Ranma',"
Ranma stopped shaking his head, seemingly interested now as he said, "Really? Hm, now that you put it that way..."
"Ranma!" The other females in the room shouted at him.
He held his hands up, "All right. Forget I mentioned it,"
"You're joking, right?" Ritsuko asked Misato.
"I haven't been more serious in my life," she said with a straight face.
Ranma took a moment to compose himself. Misato had somehow caught him off-
guard with that stunt and that comment.
"Um, as flattering an offer as it is, I'll take a rain check," he said, "I'm not interested in raising a family yet. There's still so much more I wanna do before setting down once and for all,"
"Like what? Die a third time?" Misato said rather wryly, "Well, I ain't gonna let that happen,"
"Man, what's come over ya? Why're ya acting all like this?" he asked, "Why're being so aggressive all of a sudden? You were never like this,"
Misato didn't care that there were others around. She wanted to tell him simply out of fear that something horrible could happen a minute later and kill everyone on the planent.
"Ranma, I fell in love with you the very day I met you," she said, "No, I'm not talking about when you appeared from Unit-01. I'm talking about when I was a little girl and you showed up pretending to be a man named 'Adam' who was seeking help for your supposed 'Niece Lilith',"
Ranma whistled, "Wow, you remember that? That was like, a really really long time ago,"
She nodded, "Yeah...all I'm saying is I no longer want anymore missed opportunities to tell you,"
Ranma was silent for several moments before he gave a meeks smile, "Um, well, I guess you told me then,"
There was an awkward silence.
Misato gave a nervous laugh, "Well, I guess you're right. I'm glad I got that off my chest,"
Everyone fell to the floor.
Kensuke was the first to get up, "I have a question, Misato-san,"
"Sure, what is it?" she asked, turning her attention toward him. She casted Ranma one last glance, silently telling him that she still had some unfinished business with him remaining. That was what worried him.
"You wouldn't have happened to have found out who wrote that book you mentioned?" he asked.
"What book? Oh, you mean that book that mentions about Ranma?" she asked. She turned toward Ranma, "There's a book that seems to have been published that mentions of you and your role on this world,"
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, I know. Kensuke told me about it,"
"Well, I never found out who wrote that book," she said, "I haven't a single idea who it could have been,"
"Could it perhaps because your wrote it?" Kensuke smirked.
"Huh?" Misato looked at the young boy like he had grown a second head.
"I kinda makes sense," Kensuke said, "You were there at all those events mentioned. And what better way to make people not suspect it was you than to go on pretending to be searching for someone else,"
Misato burst out laughing, "You think I wrote that book? That's a riot,"
Kensuke scratched his head, "Hey, it did seem to make sense," Ranma leaned forward and looked into Misato's eyes. After a moment, he turned to face the group.
"Nope, she didn't," he said truthfully. He was sure she hadn't written the book and reading her thoughts just confirmed it.
"Ranma!" Hikari narrowed her eyes at him.
"What?"
"You just said you weren't going to probe anyone's mind, at least without consent," she said, her hands on her hips.
Ranma gave a meek laugh, "Oops, I kinda forgot,"
new stuff 1/19
"Forgot what?" Misato asked curiously.
"Ranma promised he wasn't going to probe a person's mind," Hikari said, casting him a cold glance.
Misato didn't act all that surprised, "Ranma being able to read a person's mind? I knew that. I have no problem with him reading my mind,"
She smirked as she leaned in close to him, "C'mon, Ranma, what am I thinking of?"
Ranma laughed, "Ha, I'm not gonna do it. It's probably something sexually deviant,"
"Gee, you think?" she asked sarcastically.
Ranma sighed as he shook his head, "Look, enough with the sexual innuendos here,"
Although they never acknowledged it, Asuka and Hikari were very glad to have Ranma walking them home. It seemed everyone had stayed at the building longer than they had expected and it was now dark out. For some reason, they felt very safe, like nothing bad could possibly happen to them. And even if something did happen, Ranma would be there. The others had gone their separate way, the boys not needing an escort and Misato and the others having gone out to eat some dinner. "So, how is life?" he asked from out of the blue, hoping to keep the walk back to Asuka and Hikari's place less awkward.
"What do you mean?" Hikari asked.
Ranma smiled, "I dunno. Like do you two have boyfriends?"
Asuka snorted, "Ha, like I would ever want to a boyfriend from this school,"
"No," Hikari said, "No boyfriend,"
"Really, neither of you two have boyfriends? Wow, I'm surprised," he said, "I figure you two would have no problem finding boyfriends,"
Hikari narrowed her eyes, "Why do you seem so interested in whether or not we have boyfriends?"
Ranma grinned as he placed his arms over both girls shoulders, "Oh, nothing. I'm just glad that you two don't have boyfriends. It just means you're both available for someone like myself,"
"Ha ha, real funny," Hikari muttered, slipping back out from under Ranma's arm. She did have a bit of a blush on her cheeks.
Ranma turned toward Asuka, "Oh, it seems Hikari isn't interested in me,"
"Hmph," Asuka said, also slipping out from under his arm. She, too, was blushing. "If you really want to know, we choose not to have boyfriends," Hikari said for the both of them.
Ranma smirked, "Oh, I get it. You don't need boyfriend because you have each other, huh? You two are more than just friends?"
He gave them nudges with his elbow.
"No!" both girls shouted toward him.
Ranma chuckled, "I'm just joking with you,"
He placed his arms back around the girls, messing up the girls' hair in the process. He swayed a bit as he walked, causing the girls to sway with him.
"W-what do you think you're doing?" Asuka muttered. She didn't get out from under Ranma's arm. She didn't know why though. No boy had even dared to even touch her let alone put an arm around her like Ranma had. "C'mon, I know you like the attention," Ranma smiled warmly.
Asuka blushed, "I-I d-do not,"
"Hikari here is only tolerating me having an arm around her because she likes Toji but knows that he isn't here and she isn't worried about him getting jealous," Ranma said with a grin.
"H-how d-did you know?" Hikari shouted, slipping out from under Ranma's arm, her face completely red.
Ranma laughed, "Ha ha ha, I knew it. I was only guessing but it seems your reaction proves it true,"
Hikari, still blushing, said, "Y-y-you're wrong!"
Ranma's visage became rather calm and soft as he said, "Don't worry, Hikari, I won't tell anyone. You can trust me,"
"Hmph," Hikari snorted.
Ranma paused. He stopped to look at this bathhouse. He took his arm off Asuka to scratch the back of his head.
"What?" Asuka asked him.
"Hm, I haven't been to a bathhouse in the longest time," he said.
"You're gonna hit the bathhouse?" Hikari asked.
Ranma shrugged, "Yeah, why not? I'll stop by here before I leave,"
"Leave?" Asuka asked, "You're leaving?"
Ranma smiled, "C'mon, you really think I was just going to stay here? I was only visiting. I've only come here to say hi to everyone and tell them that I'm all right before I leave,"
"Leave for where?" Hikari asked.
Ranma shook his head, "No need for you to know. Let's just say it's a place that doesn't have bathhouses like these. Ooh, I didn't notice it but it's actually one of those mixed bathhouses,"
"It's a mixed bathhouse?" the girls asked at once.
Ranma smirked, "Y'know, let's just say if we were to attend this bathhouse together, that means I'll be able to see you totally naked,"
The two girls blushed a deep shade of red.
"Y-yeah, but that m-means you'll be naked, too," Asuka managed to retort.
Ranma didn't seem all that bothered, "Yeah, so?"
He waved a hand, "Forget about it. Come on, let's get you two home,"
"Are you trying to get rid of us?" Hikari said, her hands on her hips.
Ranma gave them an odd look, "Huh? Man, what's with you females in general?"
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Asuka asked curiously, wondering if she should be offended.
He said, "I dunno. You females are weird. You're so temperamental . You could totally hate my guts and actually want me dead yet actually get jealous when you see me talking to some other female or something like that. What gives? Like now, we all know that you both can't wait til I'm outta your life yet when I mention it, you act all sad and stuff. Make up your mind,"
"We are not like that!" Asuka said for the both of them.
"Oh yeah?" Ranma smirked.
He shot his hands out toward the girls' direction before bringing it back to his said, a bit grin on his face. "What did you just do?" Asuka asked.
He held his hands forward toward the girls to reveal a pair of blue in one hand and a pair of red panties in the other. "Where did you get those?" Hikari asked. "They're yours," he said.
"What?" both girls' eyes widened.
What happened next Ranma found rather amusing. Since they didn't believe him, they pulled the front of this shool skirts up to make sure that they were wearing their panties. However, it only took a fraction of a second for them to realized that they not only had no panties on, but they were actually giving Ranma a perfect view of their private area.
Ranma grinned, "Well, now I know what both of your natural hair color are,"
"You asshole!" the girls shouted at him, totally humiliated, quickly puling their skirts back down to hide their nakedness.
Still holding onto their panties, he said, "Now, from the way the situation looks, it seems like you're really pissed at me and want to rip my head off when in actuality, you're flattered that it looks like I'm interested enough in you two to steal your panties,"
"What? And give those back!" Hikari shouted, grabbing her and Asuka's panties back. She handed Asuka back her own panties. They quickly looked around to make sure no one was looking. When they realized that no one was around, they quickly put them on, making sure that they didn't bend over more than was necessary and give Ranma another peep show.
"This is what's so weird about you girls," Ranma said, "It's obvious you consider me some kinda pervert-"
"You're more than a pervert!" Asuka shouted at him.
"However, you girls are also secretly flattered from the attention I gave you to steal your panties," he continued.
"W-we are not!" they both shouted.
"Ooh, he's such a pervert for stealing our panties," Ranma continued, pretending to be a female and saying in a female voice, "However, I'm kinda flattered that of all the possible panties out there for him to steal, he stole mine,"
"What?" they shouted, "We a-are nothing like that!"
Ranma laughed, "Yeah, right, whatever ya say,"
"We are not!" they said emphatically.
"Okay, perhaps I was wrong, maybe not all female are like that," he said, "However, let's just say that you both wear the sexiest panties I've ever seen,"
"R-really?" both girls asked, blushing, their anger replaced by embarrassment.
Ranma pointed toward them, a big smirk on his lips, "Y'see! Now you're flattered! I betcha for a second you forgot that I saw supposed to be angry with you!"
Both girls looked at one another before turning toward him and saying, "We are not flattered!"
"All right," Ranma said with a shrug, "Go ahead and slap me then if it'll make you feel better,"
They didn't so much as hesitate for a fraction of a second as they both slapped him hard on both cheeks. They both stormed away, hoping Ranma burn in hell.
Ranma said, "Are you sure you two wanna walk home alone? It's pretty late out,"
Both girls stopped dead in their tracks, not really knowing what to do. They were infuriated with Ranma yet they didn't like the thought of walking home without an escort.
Ranma quickly caught up with them. Knowing that they were in a state of emotional conflict between hating Ranma and wanting him there walking beside them, he made it easy for them.
"Forget it," he said, "I'm not letting you walk home by yourself,"
"We don't want you escorting us home!" Hikari basically lied through her teeth, "We'd rather walk home alone than be escorted by you!" "Well I ain't lettin' ya," he said, still smirking.
"Hmph!" Hikari turned her head in disgust.
Ranma shrugged, "All right, if you really don't want me walking you home, then have fun heading home by yourself. Besides, I can go to the bathhouse now instead of later,"
He began walking off. Asuka turned toward Hikari.
"I-I don't want to walk home unescorted," Asuka said in a silent tone.
"Um," was all she managed to say in reply.
They both glanced toward Ranma as he walked down the street. As if a huge weight had been lifted off their shoulders, they then noticed Ranma turning around and walking back toward them.
"I can't letcha walk home alone," he said, figuring he had already had enough fun with them, "It's not right that I not escort you two like I had promised earlier,"
"Hmph, don't act like you're doing us any favors," Hikari reverted back into defensive mode.
Ranma continued to enjoy the scene playing out but said, "I don't care. You're not walking home alone,"
As the two girls continued walked, Ranma walked on ahead and turned around to face them, making it so that he was just a few steps in front of them but currently walking backwards.
"What you did back there...I think you should burn in hell," Asuka said with contempt. Although she showed signs of hatred toward him, deep down inside, she was grateful that he insisted that he escort them. She didn't want to walk around and knew that she was too prideful to ask for him to do so. This made it easier for both her and Hikari, to merely accept his offer to walk with them rather than actually ask. "Look, what I did back there," he said, "It was all to prove a point,"
"And what point was that?" Asuka muttered, her eyes narrowed toward him.
"On how you females are so temperamental. You may say and act out one thing when deep down inside, you're thinking the exact opposite," Ranma answered, "It's weird,"
Ranma, walking backward, had been unaware that he had stepped into the middle of a busy street.
"R-Ranma," Asuka called out to him.
Ranma had a split second to react. He turned his head just in time to see the speeding car. Although he had lightning quick reflexes, he didn't have enough time to get out of the way. Since he knew he didn't have enough time, he had simply braced himself for the impact. He crossed his arms in front of his chest just as the car struck him.
He was sent flying bodily through the air where he crashed into a telephone pole, the pole breaking and falling forward from the force of the impact as Ranma continued flying through it and through the window of a store.
The car skidded to a halt a good distance away, dozens of other cars behind it also skidding to a halt.
"R-Ranma!" the two girls shouted, rushing across the now congested street and into the store via the broken window.
"Ranma, a-are you okay?" Hikari said, this nauseous feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Ranma was in the process of getting up to his feet. He looked more embarrassed than hurt.
"Man, I should've seen that car coming," he muttered, dusting himself, "What's wrong with me? I must be losing my edge or something,"
"A-are you all right?" Asuka asked, the first time coming to mind. She was absolutely shocked that Ranma was able to get up from being struck like that. Ranma nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine,"
He carefully exited the store, the patrons watching with a shocked look on their face, and out onto the side walk. He peered down the street where he saw the driver of the car heading in the direction of the store, this pale look on his face. "Don't worry, I'm fine," he told the driver. He regarded the car and winced. The car was wrecked. The entire front of the car was damaged beyond recognition and steam from the broken radiator was billowing out. Ranma turned toward the girls, "C'mon, let's get outta here before the police show up,"
They all ran off down the street. "Are you sure you're all right?" Hikari asked after the three of them had ran two blocks away from the scene of the accident before they finally slowed down.
Ranma smiled, "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were truly concerned about me,"
"Um, of course I should be concerned," Hikari said, "You were just hit by a car,"
Ranma waved a dismissive hand, "Don't worry about it. I'm fine. I can get hit by a tank shell without getting hurt all that much. A car is child's play,"
The girls just looked at each other, not knowing whether Ranma was joking or not. They eventually took it at face value and believed him. He seemed to constantly regard him, this baffled look on their faces.
"C'mon, I can understand Asuka being confused but not you, Hikari," Ranma said, pausing so the girls to catch their breath, "I'm still the same Ranma you knew from back then. Well, I may be different but I'm different. I dunno if that makes sense or not,"
Hikari, finally catching her breath, said, "Still, it's pretty remarkable that you walked away from there without a scratch,"
Ranma shrugged, "I've been through worse,"
"Don't be so modest," Asuka smirked at him. She found it rather exciting. Sure, she had been terrified at the thought of seeing a dead Ranma went she dared to enter the store via the broken window, but when she saw him getting up under his own power, her heart lept into ther throat from relief.
Ranma said, "Let's just forget it ever happened. We'll all be better off,"
"Perhaps, but what about the guy and his car? And the store owner?" Hikari asked curiously.
"I'm sure they can take care of things," he said with a smile.
The three of them proceeded down the street once again.
Ranma gave the girls a big grin, "Hee hee, I'm kinda flattered that you were so worried about me back there. And here I thought you wanted me to burn in hell,"
The girls looked at each other.
"Foget about it. C'mon, let's get going,"
Ranma whistled as he looked up at the extravagant looking building, "Wow, both of you live in this apartment complex? Looks really classy,"
Hikari nodded, "Yeah, Asuka lives on the floor above me. That's how we know each other,"
"That's cool," he commented, "It must be nice living so close to one another. You can goto school as well as come home together,"
"That's how it always is," Asuka said.
Ranma noticed Hikari looking at a car parked in front of the building.
"Something wrong?" he asked.
"If I recall correctly, that's Misato's car," she said.
"Really? You think she's here?" Ranma asked, "If she is, I wonder why,"
Hikari relucatantly headed into her apartment complex and went into the elevator to ride it up to Hikari's floor. Hikari was silent in the elevator because she had this funny suspicion that she would see Misato waiting outside her door. She was right. As they emerged from the elevator and onto Hikari's floor, they caught sight of Misato leaning against Hikari's apartment door. "You're right, it seems she is here," Ranma said with a smile.
"Yeah," Hikari muttered.
"I wonder what she's doing here. Don't she have anything better to do?" Asuka said, her voice rather cold.
Ranma approached Misato, "Hey, Misato, what brings you here?"
"Hey guys," she greeted everyone, "I figured perhaps you might be hungry and was interested in going out and grabbing a bit to eat. Since I heard you mention that you were dropping the girls off, I figured I would wait here,"
Ranma smiled, "Sure, I don't see a problem in that. I'm starving," "But you just ate, right before we visited Misato and the others," Asuka quickly pointed out.
He turned toward the pretty red-haired girl and said, "Well, yeah, but that was a couple of hours ago. I'm hungry again,"
"Hmph,"
Ranma placed a hand on Asuka's head and messed up her hair, still smiling, "What's the matter? Ya don't want me going out eating with Misato or something?"
Asuka blushed, "W-what makes you think that? O-of course not!"
Misato smirked. She wondered if Ranma noticed.
"Okay," he said. He turned toward Misato, "All right, we'll go out and eat together. Just lettme say goodbye to Hikari,"
"Okay," she nodded. She walked off down the hallway, Asuka relucatantly following behind.
"Well, Hikari, this is where I say goodbye," Ranma said warmly.
"Um, yeah," she said softly.
"You sound sad," he said, "Is something the matter?"
Hikari felt a bit embarrassed to say but she didn't feel all that embarrassed to confide in Ranma. There was this quality to Ranma that made her feel very comfortable around him, like she could say anything to him.
"I guess I feel sad that you're leaving," she said.
Ranma smiled warmly, "I'm flattered to hear that. However, you hafta keep in mind that I had never intended to stay here,"
"Not even longer?"
He shook his head, "No. I was just stopping by here to say hi to everyone before going on my way. You know I don't belong here,"
"So you're going to go back home? T-to your own world?"
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, I'll go back to my own world soon enough after I get some business done on this world. However, I'm still leaving regardless," Hikari gave a sad look, "Oh,"
Ranma leaned forward and gave her a kiss on her cheek, "You take care, all right?"
"Yeah," Hikari said, blushing slightly.
"Bye," he said, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze. She reached up and placed one of her hands on top of his and gave it a squeeze too. When Ranma said his farewell, he headed down the corridor where he met up with Misato and Asuka where they seemed to be in the middle of a conversation.
"Perhaps a nice restaurant or something," Misato was answering Asuka, "I don't know for sure,"
"Whatcha talking about?" he asked.
"Oh nothing," Misato smiled at him.
"Come on, let's getcha home," Ranma turned toward Asuka.
Asuka walked into the elevator and punched the number for her floor, Ranma and Misato entering. There was this awkward silence in the elevator as they rode it. When the door opened, Misato waited behind while Ranma walked with Asuka down the corridor to her apartment door.
"So you're leaving?" she asked.
He nodded, "Yeah,"
"You're not coming back?"
He nodded his head, "Most likely not,"
"I have one question," she said, a bit nervous.
"Shoot,"
"Um, just how well do we get along? You and my other self?" she asked. She had been meaning to ask this ever since he had mentioned it.
Ranma smiled warmly, "We get along pretty well. Although your other self seems to hate my guts, I know deep down inside is quite the opposite. I just think she'll never admit it,"
"Y-you mean she likes you, too?" Asuka asked.
Ranma smirked, "Too?"
"Um, I-I mean..."
He placed a hand on her shoulder, "Yeah, she likes me. And I like her, too. If it'll make you feel better, I actually care very much for her,"
"R-really?"
"Actually, if you really wanna know, I had actually died once for her. And that if it weren't for her, this world would have been a whole lot different than what it is now," he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek, "However, that's the extent of what I'll say,"
"Oh,"
"You take care now, y'hear?" he smiled.
"I kinda feel bad that we don't know each other that well," she said. She didn't know what on Earth had compelled her to say it but she figured since she was never going to see him again, it was best to say her final words instead of regret not having said so.
"Don't worry," he said, "I'm no one worth remembering. Goodbye,"
He turned around and left. Asuka watched as he disappeared into the elevator with Misato.
"I doubt it," she said softly before heading into her apartment.
"So, where would you like to go eat?" Ranma asked as he and Misato emerged from the building and approached Misato's car.
Misato suggested a nice restaurant nearby. Oddly enough, it was the exact same restaurant Ranma and the children had eaten earlier. He didn't seem to mind and said, "Sure, I don't see a problem,"
Ranma got into the car with Misato as she drove off toward the restaurant.
"So, what do you plan on doing afterwards?" she asked.
"What, you mean after eating?" he said, "Well, originally, I had planned to check out that bathhouse located about halfway from your workplace and the girls' home. I guess I'll eat first and then go there right afterwards," "You mean that mixed bathhouse?"
He nodded, "Yep,"
"Can I join you?" she asked with a smile, dirty thoughts passing through her mind, "I haven't been to one of those in a while and I'm basically aching all over. I've had a rough day of work and figure a nice bath would help ease my tension away,"
"It's a public bathhouse," he shrugged, "You're free to do as you please. However, I got this sneaking suspicion that you're only interested in seeing me naked,"
"Well, I guess you can consider it one of the benefits of going to the same bathhouse as you," she grinned mischievously.
He let out an annoyed breath, "How come I've got the feeling I should be worried about a comment like that..."
"So, what do you plan on doing after the bathhouse?" she asked.
"I dunno, we can perhaps go back to your place," he smirked, "Since you mentioned wanting to have a baby with me, I figure I'll take ya up on your offer,"
Misato suddenly swerved off the road, narrowly missing several pedestrians. When she managed to get the car back under control and back on the road, she turned her gaze toward him, her eyes open.
"Jeez, man, you're one crazy driver," he commented, holding his chest as if he had almost had an heartattack to emphasize his words.
"Are you serious?" she asked.
"Yeah, you drive like a nut," he nodded.
"No, not my driving! I'm talking about..." she started. When she realized Ranma was smirking and had obviously been joking, her eyes narrowed.
"Damn you," she snapped at him, "I was really serious about having a baby,"
Ranma's joking visage turned serious as he realized he had upset Misato, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way,"
"When are you ever going to stop joking around?" she asked, "There're are time when it's inappropriate and now is one of 'em,"
"I said I'm sorry," he said defensively, "I guess I got carried away,"
Misato smiled a bit. She sighed and then said, "When I mentioned about my wanting a baby, I was dead serious,"
"I know, I hear ya,"
"And, well..." she tried to say.
"You consider me the best candidate to be your baby's father, huh?" Ranma finished it for her. Misato nodded. She was really surprised at how serious Ranma could be when he really needed to be. One second he could be teasing and joking around like some obnoxious schoolkid and the next, an mature and well-mannered adult.
Ranma scratched his head, "I dunno what to say. I'm flattered by the offer, but I'm not interested in settling down, at least not anytime soon,"
Misato sighed, "How come I'm not surprised?" She cleared her throat, "In all seriousness, I'm very eager to have a baby regardless, preferably yours,"
"Can we just drop it? It's kinda making me uncomfortable," he said sincerely. "Just hear me out," she said.
"All right, fine,"
"Anyway, we're both not getting any younger," she said, "Well, at least I'm not. I'm at the age where I want to settle down. Y'know, become a mother and raise a child,"
"I know, but like I said before, I'm not interested in settling down yet," he replied, hoping she would get the picture.
"If you're worried about the actual act of conceiving a child and feel uncomfortable with it, then you don't have to, but I would still like to have your child," she said.
"Oh, you mean through artificial insemenation?" he asked. She nodded, blushing a bit as she added, "As much as it would disappoint me in not being able to enjoy actually conceiving a child with you, I'm willing to take that approach,"
"But why me?"
Misato laughed, "Y'know what's weird? You may perhaps be one of the most arrogant men I have ever met, yet you are also, by far, the most modest."
"I don't follow ya,"
She narrowed her eyes at him, wondering if Ranma was just pulling her leg and just wanting to hear her say it. However, when she realized that he was truly confused, her heart skipped a beat as she felt herself falling for him even more.
"Well, if you really wanna know, you have exceptional genetics," she said, feeling a bit weird explaining this, "If the baby has even a fraction of your genetics, it'll grow up stronger, faster, more intelligent, and overall more powerful than any human being alive. I want to have a baby like that. At a purely primative and instinctual point of view, that is what every mother would want their child to be,"
Ranma consintued to scratch his head, "Yeah, well, as flattering as it may, it's not all genetics. I didn't become the way I am because of it. I became the way I am because of my training and hard work and constantly studying martial arts,"
Misato laughed, "Actually, that's where you're wrong. Remember how you're basically derived from that blood found in Antarctica? Well, the blood belongs to you, or at least your former self. Investigation of the blood indicated a person who had exceptional genetics. That means the person you are today is based on the genetics found in that blood. Genetics play a big role in who you are. Basically, even if my child were receive a fraction of your genetics, those genetics are still far and beyond better than any other person I can think of,"
Ranma let out a breath as he tried to absorb this, "Man, that's a lot to think about,"
"I know, but that's how it is," she said hopefully, "And above that, in all honestly, considering your track record, I'm very scared that you'll die once again. That's why I want to seize the opportunity,"
"So lettme get this straight, you wanna have my baby," he said, taking everything into deep consideration.
She nodded.
"You believe that even if a fraction of my genetics is passed on to the child, it's more than anyone you can think of," he asked.
She continued to nod.
"And you're willing to do this through artificial insemenation?" he asked.
"If it must come down to it," she said.
Ranma said, "Jeez, artifical insemenation? Why the heck would I want that? Wouldn't it be more fun if we simply did it the old fashion way?"
Misato suddenly found her nose bleeding as a very vivid image of Ranma and her having intercourse passed through her thoughts. Sure, she had had erotic dreams of him plenty of time, but perhaps it was the thought that he seemed actually interested was what did it.
Ranma narrowed his eyes, "Hmph, you hentai,"
"Wait, it's not whatcha think," she quickly said, grabbing a tissue from the tiny holding tray by her cardoor, "It's just that..."
"You were picturing us doing it," he finished for her.
"Well, yeah..." she said before blushing beet-red and saying, "No, I mean...you're making things very awkward for me here,"
Ranma chuckled.
Misato took several deep breaths to calm herself. After a minute, she said, "Look, let's talk about this over dinner,"
"Fine,"
Ranma and Misato were seated in the restaurant. The restaurant was very busy and they had to wait close to forty minutes before a table opened up for them. Shortly after they were seated, a young waitress approached them where they placed their order and patiently awaited their meal to come.
Ranma smirked, "So, you really think women consider me the perfect candidate for their babies?"
Misato gave Ranma an odd look, "What, you want me to spell it out for you?"
He smiled warmly, "Nah, no need. It's just news to me,"
He had always figured girls seemed to like him because he was handsome. However, as he talked more and more with Misato, she started pointing out that that was only one of his traits that seemed to attract women. She mentioned of how women like herself are also attracted subconsciously to him simply because he seemed to be an excellent potention father. "However, I still don't believe girls like me because I'm a nice person," he commented, "I always believe I'm an asshole. I tend to take everything as a joke and am constantly acting childish and teasing everyone. In a way, I always figured I was childish and immature,"
"Um..." she said after a moment, "Yes and no. No offense, but you really do act childish and immature at times. However, I know that that's not always the case. I know you can be serious when you have to be. And I know that you actually have a kind nature. Frankly, I like the way you are just fine,"
Ranma sighed, "Well, whatever the case, it's all news to me. I always figured it was just my looks. That's kinda why I always act like an asshole, so girls would view me as one and not want anything to do with me. I never knew it was on a purely subconscious and instinctual level,"
"Now, about having a child," she changed the subject. She couldn't really understand how or why she wasn't all that nervous talking to Ranma. She had no problems expressing her feelings toward him. Perhaps it was because he always made her feel comfortable, like she could say anything in front of him and not worry about him judging her. That way yet another quality about him she loved, that he never judged people.
Ranma leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed in front of his chest, "Yeah, about the child..."
She smiled, taking a sip of her dring as she asked, "H-how would you want to go about doing this?"
Ranma shrugged, "What else but the old fashioned way? We have intercourse,"
Misato nearly spit out her drink due to shock.
"You're serious?" she had to ask.
Ranma nodded, "Not unless ya wanna do it through artificial-"
"The old fashioned way is fine," she quickly said, blushing terribly.
"Okay, then intercourse it is,"
"Um, I'm actually really surprised," she had to say, "I figured it would be much hard, y'know...get you into bed,"
"All you had to do was ask," he said.
Misato fell off her seat. She quickly got back up, her eyes wide with shock, "T-that's it?"
He nodded, "Yeah. Since you put it that way, on how you really wanted a baby and find me the perfect candidate, how can I say no? You seem really eager to have a baby so I'll be glad to help,"
Misato sat down in her chair. She felt extremely odd. She remembered how much she had wanted Ranma back then, before he had left for his homeworld, and not knowing of an appropriate way of approaching him. After hearing what he said, she felt totally dumbstruck. All she could had done was merely asked nicely! Was that all there was to it?
Ranma realized something, "Oh shit,"
"W-what?" she asked, looking up toward him.
"Chickens," he said.
"Huh?" she looked at him like he had grown a second head.
"This world has chickens," he said.
"And your point?" she didn't really understand the significance of that comment.
"Lettme test something out," he said, "I'm gonna kiss ya,"
He got up off his seat and leaned forward toward Misato in an attempt to kiss her passionately on her lips. Misato's eyes widened when she realized Ranma was about to kiss her for the very first time. She had never been kissed by Ranma before. She had kissed him, but he had never kissed her before. She closed her eyes as she eagerly awaited his lips.
At that moment, a chicken flew into the restaurant via the kitchen door and ended up striking Ranma in the side of his head. He casually grabbed the chicken and handed it back to the chef that had ran out of the kitchen after it. "I'm very very sorry. I didn't mean for it to happen," the chef apologized profusely before quickly headed back into the kitchen, chicken firmly in hand.
"Man, that was rather weird," Misato commented.
"Yeah," Ranma said, sitting back down in his seat and already proceeding to get comfortable.
"W-weren't you just going to k-kiss me? Before that little distraction?" she stammered. Her breathing was a bit heavy.
Ranma shook his head, "Why? There's was damn chicken in the middle of the restaurant,"
"What does that have to do with it?" Misato couldn't understand, "This restaurant is known to have live chickens in back and are killed for your meals to assure absolute freshness. One of them must've gotten out as one of the chefs were trying to get one from its cage,"
"Right, whatever you say," Ranma said. He looked up toward the sky, "That's really screwed up, y'know. You're one messed up God,"
"What are you talking about?" she asked curiously, wondering if Ranma was perhaps losing his mind.
Ranma waved a dismissive hand as he took, "Nothing. It's just that I have this theory that there's some kinda higher being that constantly intervenes and actually prevents me from actually doing anything such as kissing someone or even express my feelings. It's really weird,"
"That's bull," she said, "It's merely coincidence,"
Ranma chuckled, "I wish it were. I wish it were,"
"Fine, try it again," Misato said hopefully, closing her eyes, "Kiss me again,"
He shook his head, "I'm telling ya. It's not gonna work,"
"Please," she said, her eyes still closed.
"All right," he said with a sigh.
He got back up out of his seat and leaned forward to kiss Misato again. Just mere centimeters from his lips pressing against hers, the kitchen door flew open, the exact same chicken flying across the room and accidentally hitting into the side of Ranma's head.
Ranma grabbed the chicken again and handed it to the chef.
"I'm very very sorry. It had managed to escape from my hands," the chef apologized profusely again. "Don't worry," Ranma said, getting back into his seat. He turned toward Misato who had this shocked look on her face and said, "Y'see? Didn't I tell you?"
"God," Misato commented, "The chances of something like that must be, like, one in a trillion,"
"More like one in one for me. Right now, I'm batting a thousand," Ranma muttered, his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"I refuse to believe something as ridiculous as that," she commented.
Ranma sighed as he shook his head, "You still don't believe me? What's it gonna take to make you believe me?"
"I dunno," she replied earnestly, "It's just purely coincidence. That's all,"
"Fine, this should prove my theory without a shadow of a doubt," he said.
He stood up and tapped on the glass of his drink.
"Can I have everyone's attention please?" he said in a loud voice.
Everyone stopped their chatting and turned their attention onto Ranma as he basically stood in the middle of the restaurant. Even the waiters and waitresses stopped what they were doing to look at him.
"You see this woman here? Her name is Misato Katsuragi," he said in a loud voice, loud enough that everyone in the restaurant could hear, "I just wanted to say that I am in lov-"
Ranma speech was cut short when several dozen chickens came flaying out from the kitchen, all of them seemingly hitting into Ranma before scurrying in a random direction.
"Damnit, didn't I tell you to always remember to close the cage?" a chef yelled at another as a dozen chefs ran out of the kitchen and after the chickens.
Ranma turned toward Misato and smirked and said,
"Y'see? Pretty messed up, huh?"
Ranma looked at the bathhouse, "Man, I can't wait to get in,"
After the meal, Ranma and Misato headed over to the bathhouse. The meal had gone on without incident, Ranma no longer trying to prove his theory correct anymore, no matter how much Misato refused to believe. Before they went to the bathhouse though, Misato had dropped Ranma off at a clothing store to buy new attire while she went home to fetch a clean pair of clothes. She picked him back up about ten minutes later, and together, they went toward their destination.
"Yeah, I've never been to this one before," she commented, "It looks rather extravagant,"
Ranma and Misato entered. Once inside, they paid for their admittance and entered their respective changing room. They didn't really understand the significance of separate changing rooms when it was a single bath for both sexes but didn't bother to think much about it.
Insider her changing room, Misato took of her clothes and had this mischievious smile on her lips. There were three things she was pretty excited about. The first was the thought of seeing Ranma in all his naked glory. The second was seeing if seeing her naked aroused him. And last but not least, seeing how many males she could get to notice her. She knew she was very attractive and liked the attention.
Once done undressing, she grabbed her towel and wrapped it around her body and then headed out into the bathing area. Once outside, she was a bit surprised to see just how much of a mixed bathhouse it was. She saw lines of faucets lining the walls on both walls as well as down the two isles in front of her. The part that surprised her was that there were women and men washing themselves side by side along the isles and wall.
"This is what I call a mixed bathhouse, huh?" Ranma approached her and whispered into her ear.
Misato was momentarily startled by his sudden appearance but managed to compose herself. Luckily for her, she had her towel covering over her breasts and private area. She didn't dare to steal a glance at Ranma because she knew he was stark naked. His towel was resting comfortably over his shoulders and neck. She blushed as she realized that Ranma was naked and standing only a few feet next to her.
"I'll wash your back if you wash mine," he said, gesturing toward two open faucets next to each other. "Um, sure," she stammered. She and Ranma walked over to the open faucets, Misato sitting down, her back toward him. She felt very awkward as she seemingly felt Ranma's gaze on her back and her backside as she sat on this tiny stool.
She gasped as she felt a warm cloth touch her back.
"You're awefully tense," she heard him say, "However, I guess it's understandable. This is a mixed bath, afterall,"
Misato took several deep breaths to calm herself down, only to become more tense when she felt Ranma's hands apply pressure around her shoulders.
"I'm gonna give you a massage first," he said softly, "You're tense as hell. You should relax more,"
Almost instantly, Misato's feelings seemed to drain away as Ranma's fingers did its magic. He gently kneaded her tense shoulders and rubbed the back of her neck. Within no time, Misato was so relaxed she found herself dozing off.
She snapped back awake when she soon realized Ranma was attempting to wash her back again. She just sat still as Ranma eventually finished washing her back.
"All right, now its your turn," Ranma said, turning his back toward her.
Misato swallowed the lump in her throat and turned toward him. She smirked when she glance at Ranma's tight rear end as he sat on that tiny stool. When she regarded his back, she was amazed at how impressive it was.
Ranma's back was very muscular and seemed to convey this air of hidden power. His muscles were well-toned and had the look of definitions developed through hard work rather than weight lifting, giving him that down-to-earth musculature.
She took her time washing his back. She had this blush on her cheeks the whole time when she noticed several envious stares some nearby females were giving her. She knew it was because those girls were jealous of her and it actually made her happy.
When Misato was finished washing his back and washing off the soap, Ranma proceeded to fash himself, Misato also doing the same. However, rather than having both their backs toward one another, they were both facing the faucet such that they were side by side.
"I haven't been to one of these mixed bathhouses in a while," Ranma commented, smiling toward her.
"Really?" Misato asked, keeping her eyes straight ahead. She didn't want to steal a glance toward Ranma. She didn't want him to see how eager she was to see him naked. It was weird. She had really wanted to see Ranma naked as she got undressed in the changing room, but now felt too nervous to carry out her plan.
"Man, you're really tense," Ranma commented, "I understand why you're tense. It's because we're both naked and all, but what's there to be so nervous about?"
"Um," she began.
"If you're worried about how you look," he said, "Don't worry. You look fine. Frankly, you've got a really nice body,"
Misato smiled. For some reason, that felt very comforting. It made her feel much less nervous all of a sudden. "T-thank you," she said, turning her attention toward Ranma only so that she was making eye contact with him.
"All right, I'm finished," Ranma said, getting up right in front of her, "I'm gonna go take a dip. I'll meetcha in the bath,"
Misato blushed as she managed to steal a glance of Ranma as he walked past. He had the nice tight backside and made her want to reach out and give it a good squeeze, just to make sure that it was as tight as it looked. Ranma stood in front of the hotbath, his hands on his hips. The bath looked more than adequate. It was very large and had a natural look to it. Instead of being a giant hot bath, it resembled more of a hotspring with several rocks lining the edges as well as a small island in the middle.
"Looking nice there," Ranma heard someone say, "You must work out,"
Ranma turned toward the right where he saw a female in her mid twenties giving him a rather seductive look.
Ranma looked down at himself and at the muscles of his arms and his washboard stomach, "Me? Workout? Not really,"
Misato glared daggers at the girl as she watched her talk to Ranma. Knowing that the woman was hitting on Ranma, Misato felt like it was her duty to quickly finish washing up and break the conversation up. Didn't Ranma know that she was only interested in Ranma because of his body?
"You don't work out? That's amazing," the woman said, "Regardless, you must be in excellent shape. And it shows,"
"Thanks," he smiled warmly.
"Ranma, let's go," Misato said, approaching the two of them. She glanced down at the woman and casted her a glance that seemed to silently say 'Stay the hell away from him' before turning toward Ranma, "I'm ready,"
"All right," he said, a bit curious as to how Misato seemed to have suddenly overcome her shyness. He looked over Misato's bare shoulder and at the woman, "Well, it was nice talking to ya,"
Without saying another word, he turned around and entered the hot bath, making his way toward the tiny island in the middle so that he could lean against one of its rock. Misato followed suit, leaning against a rock right next to his.
"Ah, this is so relaxing," he sighed, closing his eyes, "This feels so good,"
"Yeah," she said, regarding Ranma.
She was very surprised at how comfortable Ranma seemed to be in her presense despite being completely naked. She believe that it was most likely because Ranma had nothing to be embarrassed about. He had a terrific body, a body that males envied and females tend to have erotic dreams about. Misato wasn't all that uncomfortable being naked in front of a man also yet Ranma was causing her to feel otherwise. He yawned as he placed his hands behind his head, closing his eyes as if deep in thought and said, "Man, I'm gonna miss this,"
"Miss what?" she looked at him.
"Miss these hotbaths, considering where I'm going," he replied, eyes still closed. "When I goto Antarctica," he said sleepily. He felt so relaxed he felt like he could fall right asleep up against that rock. Of course, he knew that would be dangerous because if he stay in the hot water too long, he would suffer from heat stroke.
"Huh? Why would ya wanna go there?" she asked.
"To find Adam," he continued to say, totally unaware that he was supposed to be keeping his visit here a secret. The hot water was giving him this light-
headed sensation.
Misato was no longer relaxed, "Adam, w-why the hell are you looking to find him?"
Ranma, realizing his blunder, quickly snapped wide awake and said, "Oh, nothing, you weren's supposed to hear that," "No shit," she said, "However, I heard it regardless. Now why are you looking for Adam?"
He became defensive, making Misato becomg even more suspicious, "Look, forget about it. It was nothing,"
Misato said nothing else. She didn't know what Ranma was up to, but she was going to talk to Ritsuko about it. Perhaps she might be able to determine what Ranma was hiding.
"All right," she liked, "I'll forget you mentioned it,"
On a totally different world, a world unlike the one Ranma was on, Lina and the rest of the crew appeared. In the middle of the cloudy night, on a high cliff overlooking Tokyo-3, a glowing portal appeared and out emerged the Knight Sabers, Lina, Misato, Ritsuko, Asuka, Shinji, and Emiko. Basically everyone was there save for Luna, whom had stayed behind to open the portal to allow everyone through, and Akane, whom had stayed behind in case Ryoga showed back up home for some unknown reason.
When the portal closed, Misato turned toward Lina.
"All right, now it's your turn," she said.
Lina nodded. She reached into an inner pocket of her vest and fished out a small scroll. She carefully read it through before she followed its instructions. She placed a hand on Sylia whom was closest to her and casted her spell.
Immediately, a portal opened up right before her.
A second later, Luna could be seen emerging from the portal right before it closed up again.
Although the spell had only lasted a short while, Lina was already out of breath, the spell sapping away quite a bit of energy.
"You okay?" Luna asked, "You want me to heal you?"
"I'm fine, just a bit winded," Lina said. She really did want to be healed but didn't want the other girls to see that she needed help and had promptly chosen to to receive any. "Well, it seems the plan worked," Misato smiled.
Luna's theory had proved correct. Her ability to cast open portals to other worlds was a spectacular feat. However, there were basically two flaws. The first was that she needed some form of reference to open the portal to that world, the reference being a person from that world, and the second flaw being her needing to stay behind to keep the portal open so that others may go through.
However, despite that, Luna had believed it was possible that Lina open a portal from the other world to allow her through from the other side. It was a long shot, but it seemed to have worked. Luna had never known that something like this would have worked because she had been the only one capable of doing such a spell. Luckily, Lina was a fast learner and had managed to learn to cast it fairly consistently within a week.
"I still don't understand why you wanted me to cast it," Lina said to her sister after finally catching her breath, "You should have let me cast the spell from the other world and have you and the others come through so that, in case your theory didn't work, you wouldn't have been stuck on the other world since you would be much more useful than myself,"
"You can say that again," Emiko commented.
"What didja say?" Lina sneered at the young ninja.
"I did that because even if I couldn't come through," Luna said with a warm smile, "I'm sure you're capable of carrying the task out just fine without me,"
Lina turned toward her sister, a bit embarrassed, "Um, thanks for the vote of confidence,"
"Man, it feels so weird being in these again," Nene commented, looking down at her hardsuits, "I feel all stiff and all,"
"Well, we haven't used these in quite a while so we're all pretty rusty," Sylia commented, "However, we're a bit more comfortable now since we had that whole week to get used to it while Lina mastered that spell,"
"All right, what should we do?" Nene asked, turning toward Luna.
Everyone turned their attention toward her. It seemed she had somehow been unanimously designated team leader of this outing. No one could really understand why but there was a quality to Luna that made her seem an even better leader than Sylia or Misato combined.
Luna looked down the cliff and toward the giant crater that used to be a city. It seems as if a few years had passed since Misato, Ritsuko, Shinji, and Asuka had last been there. The city of Tokyo-3 no longer existed but there was a small town near the outer edge of the crater. Unfortunately, it was at the farthest edge of the crater away from the cliff they were perched.
"Okay, it's pretty late and it looks like it's going to rain soon," Luna said, "There's a town all the way on the other side of that crater. We'll go there and look for some shelter. We can ask some questions there and see what we will need to do in the morning,"
"Man, it's so far away," Asuka commented, dreading the long walk in store for her and everyone else.
"Don't worry about it," Luna said, "We'll just fly. Since Sylia and the others' hardsuit have flight capabilities, we can can all partner up with someone and fly there. Sylia can take Misato. Priss can take Ritsuko. Nene can carry Shinji. Linna can carry Asuka. I'll carry Emiko. Lina, you can go on ahead and look around for a tavern or inn where we can stay for when we arrive,"
"That sounds like a good idea," everyone seemed to agree.
Shinji sighed as he looked at the bed of his hotel room. He had his own room while the other females all shared, two to a room. He figured he shouldn't be surprised since he was the only male in the group. Figuring he wouldn't really be able to sleep, he headed downstairs where he could take a dip in the hot bath that the inn had, one of its attractions.
As he was walking down, he accidentally bumped into Emiko as she was on her way out. She blushed a bit as she realized that the robe she was wearing seemed to show off a bit more cleavage than she would have wanted and quickly closed the neckline to conceal herself better.
"I'm sorry," he said, blushing a bit, "I should have looked at where I was going," He had caught sight of Emiko's cleavage before she noticed.
"You're going to take a dip?" she asked, figuring it was best to fill the awkward silence.
He nodded, "Yeah, I couldn't sleep. Figured I should take a dip and that the hot water might relax me,"
"Yeah, it's really relaxing," Emiko commented.
When it was obvious that there was going to be another awkward silence, Emiko figured it was best that she say, "Well, goodnight," And then she quickly headed down the corridor where she disappeared around a corner.
Shinji smiled a bit, blushing a bit. He didn't know why, but he kind of liked Emiko, more than any of the other girls his age. She was very beautiful, perhaps even more beautiful than Asuka. However, there was quality to Emiko that Shinji found very attractive. Emiko seemed to be rather quiet a reserved, much more so than Asuka. He liked that. Although she was an excellent martial artist she didn't act like some girl capable of killing a man with her bare hands even though she is easily capable of it. What he probably liked best about her was that she seemed to really like acting more like a girl rather than some deadly ninja she was supposed to be.
He sighed. Too bad Emiko was in love with Ranma. Shinji could definitely picture being more than just being an aquaintance to Emiko. He entered the changing room to get undressed. It only took a fraction of a second before he realized he had accidentally entered the wrong changing room.
Shinji's nose started bleeding when he caught sight of Lina in all her naked glory. The young sorceress had just entered the changing room from the hot bath and was still "You pervert!" Lina shouted, extending her hand forward to send a fireball right into Shinji and incinerate him.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he said, quickly running out of the changing room. When Lina realized that Shinji was long gone and that shooting a fireball would had only caused damage to the inn, she had stopped her chanting. She was a bit surprised at how fast Shinji had been able to escape.
After a moment, she figured it was best that she hadn't shot that fireball. Unlike Ranma, a fireball, even a tiny one, could have seriously hurt him. She was sure it was an accident.
She looked down toward her breasts, wondering what Ranma would had said if it had been him that had accidentally ended up walking in on her.
She would had shouted and called him a pervert, he would have said something like 'What, it's not like I haven't seen you naked before'. And then he would have probably had proceeded to take of his clothes in front of her, prompting her to blush profusely and ask what the heck he was doing, where he would then say, 'Well, I saw you naked so I guess I'll hafta let you see me naked'
Lina felt disgusted with herself when she caught her image in the mirror by the corner and noticed this blush on her cheeks. She swore to herself as she wondered what the hell had come over her. In any situation, she would have chased Shinji down and shot him with something along the lines of a Dragon Slave for seeing her naked, yet for some reason she didn't. Instead, she had started thinking about Ranma and of the times he seemed to have 'accidentally' seen her naked.
She was getting soft. It was all Ranma's fault. She was usually a decisive and quick thinking sorceress that everyone fear and would go out of their way to avoid, but now, she was acting like some love-sick schoolgirl with no brains.
"Hmph, it's all Ranma's fault! He's making me feel all love-sick and crap!" she said.
She blushed a dark shade of red when she realized something.
"What the hell am I saying?"
Emiko yawned as she gazed out her window. She had woken up well before dawn. Nene, whom had volunteered to partner up with her in the room for the night, was still sound asleep.
She smirked when she noticed someone doing some kata out by the field located behind the inn. It didn't take her long to realized that it was Shinji doing so. She stood there for several minutes watching him, a bit impressed with his form. She was surprised at how much he had improved.
She smirked again, wondering how well Shinji would have fair against her if she and him sparred. Although no where at her level, she had to admit that he was rather skilled and would most likely be a formidable opponent in a couple of years if he kept up with his training. That was a good thing.
Emiko was so skilled in martial arts that no one was a challenge for her and she would like to have a worthy opponent for once. She felt her skill was going to waste if she had no one formidable to fight against.
Ranma didn't count. It seems his level of skill was so far above hers, that there was no way she was ever going to even reach a fraction of his skill level. She had learned to live with it, with the fact that she would only be second best, that the gap between them was so wide she would never be able to catch up. Since she would never reach Ranma's skill, the only thing she could settle for was someone eventually reaching her skill. Shinji seemed like a likely candidate in the near future.
Emiko got dressed and headed outside. She practiced her kata every morning, just like Shinji. However, she tended to practice in a different location, aside from the dojo and backyard where Shinji usually practiced. She liked practicing on the rooftops. It allowed her to enjoy the sunrise also, too.
This time, she would make an exception. She would practice with him.
"Morning," she said. Her eyes widened in surprise when she realized she was saying good morning in the first place. She couldn't understand how she had changed so much over such a short time. She usually never talked, let alone initial conversation, so what gives?
Shinji, a bit sweaty, turning around and was surprised to see Emiko.
"G'morning," he said, blushing a bit. He picked up a towel that was lying nearby and wiped the sweat off.
"Um, how long have you been training out here?" she asked curiously.
"I've been out here for around an hour so far," he said, taking his time to catch his breath.
Emiko perked an eyebrow. She was impressed that Shinji had been up that early to practice. He tended to finish his practice at around the same time as her, yet since he seemed to be practicing an hour before, that meant he practiced more than she did. He must be very dedicated to martial arts.
"You seem to be coming along fairly well," she commented.
"Thanks," he said, "One of these days, if I keep this up, I'm pretty sure I'll actually beat Ranma,"
"B-beat him? Really?" she gave him a stunned look. Shinji seemed to be a whole lot more confident than she had believed originally, to believe he could actually beat Ranma.
He nodded, "Yeah, that's my dream. I still have a long way to go. I know he's only playing around with me, but from time to time, I was actually able to hit him,"
It was her turn to be even more stunned, "You're able to hit him?"
Shinji nodded, "Only a few times,"
"Hm, you must be a lot better than I thought," she commented. "I'm okay," he said rather modestly. He wanted to say that he is actually an excellent martial artist, that when it comes to unarmed combat, he is more than capable of taking care of himself but he didn't want to come of as conceited and arrogant.
Emiko smiled a bit. Shinji seemed to be very modest. She found that a rather endearing quality to him. "What am I thinking?" she said to herself, blushing.
"Huh?" he looked at her curiously.
She gave a meek smile and quickly said, "Oh, it was nothing. N-nevermind,"
There was a moment of awkward silence, which seemed to allow Shinji the time to think of what to say.
"I'm gonna keep practicing, perhaps you can give me some pointers," he said. He knew Emiko was more skilled than him and was hoping she might be able to point out some flaws. Plus, he figured it would be a good ice breaker.
Emiko thought about it for a moment, "I don't see a problem. Okay, I'll do it,"
"Thanks," he said.
Emiko walked a short distance away from Shinji to allow him some space to maneuver. She then proceeded to watch him do a kata she had seen all too often. It was the exact kata she remembered seeing Ranma going through when she had sometimes happened to have seen him practicing. Ranma seemed to practice infrequently.
When Shinji was finished with his kata, he turned toward the young girl to ask for her comments. "Um, actually, from what I saw, the kata was flawless," she said, surprised that he had actually done such a complicated kata and series of movements without a single mistake.
Shinji blushed a bit, "T-thanks," He figured he had made several mistakes. But since Emiko's trained eye picked up none, that must had meant he had done it perfectly. This was a first.
new stuff 1/20
"The only you might want to work on is the speed," she commented, "You should be going through the motions much faster,"
He nodded, "Yeah, I just figured it was best that I do it slowly so that I can get the form down correctly before concentrating on doing it faster and faster and eventually moving at full speed,"
"That good," she acknowledged, "That's what you should be doing,"
"Thanks,"
"Say, would you like to spar?" she decided to ask. She hadn't sparred against anyone in a while. Perhaps Shinji was a lot better than she had originally expected. It would probably do her some good.
Shinji blushed a bit, "R-really? You want to spar?"
She nodded.
"I-I don't see a problem in that," he said somewhat nervously. He was used to sparring against a girl since he always sparred against Asuka, but she had been the only female he had ever sparred against.
He regarded Emiko for a short moment. She was clad in her usually attire which consisted of her ninja outfit, minus the mask Ranma had removed a while back. Her clothes were fairly loose, which would allow for high modility.
Emiko regarded Shinji. Shinji was clad in his street clothes which consisted of a short sleeved shirt and some loose-fitting jeans. The two individuals got into their battle stances.
When Emiko noticed Shinji swallow the lump in her throat, "There's no need to be nervous. We're only practicing. No need to go all-out,"
"A-all right," he said nervously, starting to regret accepting the challenge. Sparring against Emiko felt different from sparring against Asuka. Against Asuka, Shinji was never nervous because was aware of Asuka's skill level. With Emiko, it was unknown.
Emiko dashed forward to attack, wanting to put Shinji in the defensives. Besides, she was more comfortable being offensive. She performed a series of kicks toward Shinji's chest, all of them narrowly missing him, Shinji doing his best to dodge.
"J-jeez," Shinji muttered to himself, breathing heavily. He couldn't believe Emiko could move so fast. He was also very surprised with himself for having dodged the attacks.
Emiko smiled a bit. Shinji was indeed better than she had anticipated. She quickly banished her smile when she realized that she, a ninja, shouldn't be smiling in the first place.
Shinji decided to take a crack at being on the offensive for a change. He dashed forward and executed several half-assed punches, all of them easily dodged, the last one countered and him receiving three hard punches to the chest for doing so.
"I suggest you attack harder," Emiko said, knowing full well that Shinji was going easy on her because she was a girl.
"I'm s-sorry. I'll try," Shinji said softly, rubbing his chest.
Emiko smirked a bit. She wondered how the battle would be if she sparred against Ranma. She knew Ranma would go easy on her now that he knew she was a girl. She knew Ranma seemed to go easy on the opposite sex. She shuddered as she wondered what could had happened to her when she had first attacked him. Ranma hadn't known of her gender and had actually attacked full force. If she had been struck by a single attack, she could have been killed.
But now that Ranma knew she was a female, she had an idea how he would fight her.
"C'mon, fight me!" Emiko would probably find herself taunting Ranma.
"Nope, you're a girl," Ranma would most likely respond, "You'll only get hurt,"
"C'mon!" she would shout.
Ranma would probably shrug and then say, "All right. I'll teach ya a lessone then,"
He would then most likely dash toward her, dodging several of her attacks to to ward him off and then do something unconventional like tackle her to the ground. As she would struggle to free herself and get out from under Ranma's weight, he would have most likely wrapped his legs around the back of her knees while pinning her arms down against to the ground by her wrist. He would basically knock her to the ground and get on top of her in the traditional mounted position.
"Hee hee, whatcha gonna do?" he would taunt her.
"Unhand me!" she would probably shout, trying to free herself and realizing that there was no way she would be able to overpower her.
"Hee hee, from this position, I can do whatever I like," he would continue to tease her. He would then probably lean forward and bring his lips close to hers and say, "Y'know what kinda possibilities there are,"
He would probably blow on her ear which would send shivers through her body. As to whether or not she would like that, she had no idea.
"Oh god, what am I thinking?" Emiko said to herself, blushing a horrible shade of red.
She had managed to snap out of her reverie just in time to see the incoming Shinji and deflect his attempt to grab her lapel for an attempted takedown and counter attack with a punch to his chest followed up with a heel kick to his face, sending him spinning to the ground.
He hit the floor hard. Landing a short distance away. He groaned in pain as he rubbed this side of his face where Emiko had kicked him.
Emiko, realizing what she had done, that she shouldn't had kicked him so hard, quickly rushed forward by where he lay hurt.
"Are you okay? I guess I hit you a bit harder than I should have," she asked, feeling a bit ashamed of herself. It was her fault for being distracted like that and then responding with such force.
Shinji sat upright and winced as he nodded, "Yeah, I'm okay,"
Emiko let out a breath in relief. She was glad he was okay. She could had seriously hurt him or perhaps hospitalize him. Or even worse, killed him. Luckily, he seemed to be a lot more tougher than he gentle look let on.
Shinji looked up at Emiko to acknowldge that she had won that little sparring session. However, he didn't even get a change to make eye contact with her because his gaze caught sight of Emiko's breasts as they were exposed.
It seemed when Shinji had grabbed the lapel of her outfit to throw her, he had never released his grip when she had kicked him and sent him flying away and to the ground. It seemed the front portion of her outfit got ripped, exposing her breast.
"Um," Shinji blushed.
Emiko noticed Shinji blushing and didn't know why. When she looked down and noticed some fabric still in Shinji's hands, she suddenly realized that they looked a lot like a part of her outfit. When she looked down at her chest and noticed it totally exposed, she quickly darted her arms forward to cover them.
"Pervert!" she shouted, blushing red. She felt incredibly so mortified and infuriated at the same time.
Shinji quickly scooted backward as quick as he can, "I-I'm sorry! I-it was an accident! I swear!"
"Yeah, I bet!" she narrowed her eyes, not believing him one bit.
Shinji, knowing he was doomed, that he was going to received the beating of his life, figured he might as well go for broke. Since Ranma usually ended up in situations like this, he had a tendancy of going down fighting, even though he was still going down regardless.
"T-they're really nice," Shinji said, figuring that was something Ranma would say, "I-it's w-worth it to see them,"
Emiko stopped in mid stride when she heard the comment. She didn't know why, but hearing Shinji compliment her made her feel kind of nice and not all that angry with him. Afterall, she was a girl and hearing stuff like that was nice. Heck, it even made her feel more feminine and more like a woman for a change, not like that of being a ninja like she was used to.
Oh man, that really does work, Shinji though to himself, totally shocked. He had always admired how if Ranma knew he had messed up and angered a female, he would basically throw in a several extra containers of gasoline on the fire, just so that he could go down in blazing glory. Shinji figured he might as well do the same but it seemed to have turned out differently and had a posititve effect.
"I don't care, you're still dead!" Emiko said after a moment, her anger finally getting the better of her. As nice as hearing a compliment was, he had still seen her breasts and no woman would ever let a man see their breasts without their consent and live.
Shinji received his beating as best as he could.
"Jeez, what the hell happened to you?" Asuka commented as she regarded Shinji, "You look even more ugly than you usually do,"
Everyone was gathered around a table inside the restaurant located by the lobby of the inn they had stay overnight. It was still early morning and everyone had decided to discuss their plans over breakfast. They were all awaiting their orders to arrive. Sylia, Nene, Linna, and Priss were no longer in their hardsuits, having left them in their hotel rooms.
"Ha ha, really funny," Shinji said sullenly.
Luna smirked, "All right, who did you see naked or at least partially naked?"
"W-what? How'd you know?" Shinji looked surprised.
She smiled and laughed a bit, "Well, it seems Ranma's approach does work," "What approach?" Nene asked.
"He likes to guess at what could had possibly happened and judging on the person's reaction, it proves that his guess was correct," she replied, still smiling, "It seems his way of getting answers seem quite effective,"
Shinji blushed as he looked down at the table. He couldn't believe he had reacted that way. Ranma always did that to him to get answers out of him that Shinji didn't want revealed and he had learned to counter it, to remain totally unemotional and keep his reply cryptic.
Asuka smirked, "Well, it's obviously can't be Lina since she doesn't have much to look at in the first place,"
"What?" Lina bolted upright, her chair falling to the floor.
"Now now, calm down," Luna said, "Keep in mind that Ranma isn't here to be the mediator like he did back then. And I that I have no intention of being on the receiving end of two people's anger since Ranma seems to always ease the situation by getting them angry at him instead of remaining angry at each other,"
"I'll have you know that I did no such thing!" Lina sneered at Asuka, wondering if a nice fireball in that girl's face would shut her up. "I didn't do it," Priss shrugged.
"Neither did I," Nene said.
"Nor I," Ritsuko said.
"Neither did I," Misato said with a smirk, "However, I'm sure there's plenty of times he's seen me naked so there's no reason for him to peep on me anymore. Actually, I'd feel flattered,"
"What?" everyone seemed to say at once.
Misato held her hands up defensively, "I'm only joking. I'm only joking,"
"For some reason, I have trouble believing you," Ritsuko took a sip of her drink, "Knowing you, you're the type of person that would write out a will that would give Ranma your panties or something like that when you die,"
Misato laughed, "Perhaps. But that's for me to know and Ranma to find out,"
"Um, I'm gotta go to the bathroom," Shinji said meekly, getting up and leaving.
Luna gave a meek smile as she put up a front. She was pretty surprised at the ranges of personalities Ranma seemed to have come in contact during his adventures. From what she could gather from the short time she knew everyone, Misato seemed to be really sex-starved for Ranma and didn't seem to be lacking in inhabitions. Despite that, Misato could be serious when she needed to be. Nene seemed rather shy and almost passive but is also a real genius with technology, something Luna wasn't all that familiar with. Priss seemed to be rather quiet but didn't seem to take crap from anyone and looked to be able to take care of herself easily and not be the one to anger. Sylia seemed the most reserved of everyone there and seemed to analyse and take thing into consideration before acting things out. She seemed least likely to act irrational. Ritsuko seemed to be the smartest of them, able to solve puzzles with only bits and pieces of information. Linna seemed to be the most normal of them all, tending to keep by the sidelines and contribute whenever she felt like it. Asuka seemed to actually be very much like Lina in a way such that they have rather loud personalities and seemed to always like attention. And last but not least, Shinji. He seemed to be the opposite, always quiet and shy and trying not to get in anyone's way. Since he wanted to avoid confrontation, that was why he had chosen to goto the bathroom. He noticed that he was basically sitting in the middle of a minefield, that he shouldn't be the only guy sitting at a table full of arguing females.
Luna glanced around the table as everyone seemed to be arguing with one another. However, the persons that seemed to take no part in the talking were Shinji and Emiko. Noticing Emiko blushing as she seemd to pay particular attention to the wood of the table in front of her, Luna knew exactly who had beaten Shinji up like that.
She smiled and even laughed a bit. "Hey, Luna, I have a question," Misato asked.
"What is it?" she turned toward her.
"You and Ranma haven't fucked, right?" she said.
Luna was stunned into speechlessness. Some people could be so vulgar.
"We're a couple. I'm pregnant with his baby," Misato added, rubbing her flat stomach.
"In your dreams!" Linna said, "He don't need someone like you. And the only way you can get pregnant is if that vibrator you keep hidden in your underwear draw has some can do so,"
"What?" Misato shouted, blushing beat read, "I-I can't believe you would say something like that! Go fuck a broomstick!"
"Why don't you go fuck yourself, it'd be cheaper!" Linna retorted with a smirk.
"Oh man," Luna shuddered, "I can't believe I'm hearing is," She was absolutely shocked at how crazy a situation to become in such a short period of time.
It suddenly dawned on her. That was because there were only females at the table, that there wasn't a male around to make them watch what they were saying or make them feel embarrassed. It was similar to how a group of guys would act like complete assholes when they're only among guys but would act a bit more reserved if there was even one female present. It's like the way a guy would take joy in passing gas in front of another guy and that second guy most likely trying to outdo him and pass gas even louder, but none of them even daring to do so with a woman around. This was the exact same but with females. They become every bit as vular as guys.
"Guys, we have to stop arguing," Luna suggested, hoping to get everything under control, "We have to come up with a plan,"
"We can worry about that later," Misato said before turning toward Linna, "Vibrator or not, at least I don't go asking a person, for anonymity sake let's just say her name rhymes with Nene Romanova, to take a picture of Ranma's head and super impose it on a nake guy,"
"I-I-I did not such thing!" Linna shouted.
Nene blushed. She remembered that. She must say that being able to do something like that was definitely one of the many benefits of being adept with a computer.
"Hey, guys, I have a question," Luna said.
Everyone stopped their arguing to turn their attention onto Luna.
"What is it?" Sylia asked.
Emiko felt a bit embarrassed because she couldn't really follow the story since they were using terms she weren't familiar with. She barely knew what a computer was since she had seen one of those in Ranma's house.
"What's a vibrator?" Emiko asked.
Everyone except for Luna and Lina and Emiko fell out of the chairs. The three of them looked confused.
"Shinji," Luna said, she and him were alone. Before they were set to head out to walk around the town to ask question as to if anyone had seen a person that fit Ranma's discription, Luna had asked Shinji to go down to the lobby a few minutes earlier than they were expected to meet to talk to him.
"Yes, Luna?" he asked.
"You have to do all of us a favor," she said, "Whenever all of us are together, you are not to leave,"
"Huh?" Shinji gave her a confused look. "When you left, everyone started arguing," she replied, "I think it's because you weren't there. Since you're a guy, it seems to make the girls watch what they say. All I'm saying is that it got pretty crazy around that table when you left,"
He shifted uncomfortably, "R-really?"
She nodded, "Yes. Next time, just do us a favor and not leave everyone alone. We basically need a guy around to make everyone watch what they say and to keep things from getting out of hand,"
"Um, okay, I-I'll try," he said softly. He didn't know if he could do something like that, "It's just that I feel extremely awkward being the only male sitting at a table with so many females,"
"I know, but just try," she said softly.
"Okay, I'll try," he nodded.
She smiled as she gave him a little nudge, "Thank you. That's very nice of you,"
"Um,"
"Yes?" she noticed he wanted to ask her something.
"I was just curious," he began, twiddling his thumb a bit. Although he was generally nervous around females in general, he didn't feel as nervous around Luna. She was a bit older than him but seemed wiser beyond her years. In a way, she gave at this warm aura that made him feel more comfortable around her. In a way, to Shinji, she was like Akane, like a big sister.
"What is it about?"
"It was about this morning," he began nervously, "It was about my...um...seeing someone partially naked,"
"You mean Emiko?"
"How'd you know?" he asked.
She smiled, "Emiko seemed to feel a bit unlike herself today. I figured it was that. Why?"
"Um, you think she's still angry at me?"
She smirked, "Oh, I see, you have a crush on her,"
"Um," he blushed again, unable to say what was on his mind.
Luna laughed warmly. It was so evident on his face.
"Yeah, she's probably still mad at you," she said.
"Oh," he looked a bit sad.
"However, just give her some time," Luna said, "That's all. Everything'll be fine,"
"You think so?" he seemed to look hopeful all of a sudden.
She nodded.
"Thanks," he said, "I appreciate your advice," Well, it looks like Ranma's got some competition, Luna thought with a smile. Perhaps Shinji might steal Emiko's affections.
"All right, we'll split up," Luna said. She and everyone else were gathered in front of the inn. Sylia and the others weren't wearing their hardsuits. They didn't need to for a task such as this. It was still morning.
Luna said, "Since there are ten of us, we'll split up into five teams of two. Misato and Ritsuko, you two can take the west. Sylia and Asuka, you two can take the east. Priss and Nene can take the south. Lina and I will take the north. And least but not least, Emiko and Shinji can take gather information right around here,"
When she saw Shinji glancing up at her when he suddenly realized she was pairing him up with Emiko, she gave him a quick smile when no one was looking. All the did was blush before glancing down at the ground in hopes of hiding his excitement.
"We'll meet back here in two hours," Luna said, "Are there any questions?"
"Yeah, why do you get to be the leader?" Misato asked wryly but also smirking, "I'm also pretty good with taking command of situations myself," Sylia smiled a bit. She had decided to to say anything. She would probably be a good leader herself too. She didn't seem to mind having someone else giving orders for a change. However, she'll be more than happy to take charge when she and Priss and Nene and Linna are in their hardsuits once again.
Luna smiled at Misato, "Well, if you wish to be the leader, I have no objections," There was no indication of deceipt in her voice. It seemed like Luna truly had no objections with having someone else assume the role of leader.
Misato shrugged, "It doesn't really matter anyway. I would have done the same thing," She didn't really want to admit it, but Luna seemed to know what she was doing and had good leadership skills.
Luna smiled, "Okay, like I mentioned before, we'll meet back here in front of the inn in two hours. From there, we'll decide our next course of action,"
"All right," everyone agreed.
From there, everyone went with their assigned partner to carry out their tasks.
"Um, I'm sorry about what had happened earlier today," Shinji began. He had been with Emiko for almost half an hour, none of them saying anything. All they had been doing the whole time was approach random individuals and asked if they had seen anyone that fit Ranma's discription, all of them replying and saying no, that they hadn't.
After a long moment of walking silently, Emiko spoke, "Um, I guess I kind of went overboard back there. Perhaps it was an accident. However, it still doesn't excuse the fact that you saw me..."
They were silent again.
Emiko blushed as she replayed the scene in her head again. She had been really wondering if Shinji had meant what he had said. She was actually dying to ask but she knew that she would never ask such an embarrassing question. It's just that it was nice hearing something like that for a change. It made her feel less of a ninja. "Do you think we'll find Ranma?" Shinji asked, hoping to keep a conversation going.
Emiko nodded, "Yes. As to when, I'm not too sure. I still have no real idea why we are looking for him in the first place,"
"Well," Shinji said, "Ritsuko believes that Ranma wants to caught the Third Impact on this world to bring back Rei,"
"And who is this Rei?"
"Well, she is a person Ranma knows," he answered.
"What is she to him?" "They know each other," he said, "It's kinda like how Ranma and I know each other. Basically, she is a really good friend of his just as he is a really good friend to her,"
"Go on,"
"Well, a while back, Ranma had died saving our world from these things called Angels," he continued.
Emiko was silent. She remembered back on her own world, Luna bringing forth these hidden memories that lingered in Ranma's mind. It had displayed him fighting about half a dozen individuals that looked exactly like Ranma and that Ranma had shot out this massive ki-blast from his hands to kill each and every one of them, but at the expense of his life. She remembered Ranma mentioning that he fought Angels.
"After Ranma had died," he said, "It seems Rei got so upset that she took matters into her own hands and caused the Third Impact on Ranma's world on her own. The way it goes is that if the Third Impact was implemented, the world is destroyed but the implementor becomes God. Well, from what it seems, Rei had become God of our world, but had somehow managed to recreate the world exactly as if were the moment before she destroyed it. The only difference is that she is no longer with us,"
Emiko continued to listen intently as she walked along side him.
"Well, it seems that since Rei had basically become God," he said, saying what she remember Ritsuko theorizing, "She must had used her powers to bring Ranma back. However, she ended up resurrecting him on a whole different world, and without memories of his death. Perhaps Rei felt that he didn't need to know that. Well, when Ranma finally made it back home, he basically finds out what Rei has done to save him and he goes about doing the exact same thing she did, so he may become God and save her. The problem in doing so is that there was no way to cause the Third Impact on his world so he opted to come to this world to cause it here, believing that he can still become God and use his power from this world to not only recreate it, but also bring back Rei. The only problem is that no one knows if what Ranma is doing will work out the way he had planned. I mean, what happen if he recreates the world but is unable to save Rei? That basically means Rei had sacrificed herself to save Ranma, only to have him sacrific himself needlessly in attempt to save her,"
Emiko took everything in. She was still a bit confused about how everything seemed to fit together, but she wasn't all that surprised that Ranma would do something like that, to not even think twice of sacrificing himself to save someone else. In a way, he was altruistic.
Shinji left Emiko alone to think as he approached an elderly man and asked him if he had seen a person that fit Ranma's discription. When the man said no, Shinji sighed and walked back to where Emiko was.
"Anyway, let's just hope we find he before he does go through with his plan because he have no ideas what the consequences are," Shinji commented.
He sighed as he thought about the other problem that everyone would have to deal with if they actually do happen to find him.
"Of course, as to exactly how we're going to stop him is a whole different matter,"
After two hours of searching around, everyong met up at the designated location. Everyone mentioned of how they were progressing but there seemed to have been a single pattern. All of them turned up empty handed, no one seemingly having seen Ranma.
"Damn, how can no one have seen him?" Priss muttered, kicking at an empty soda can. She seemed thoroughly annoyed. She figured something should had turned up by now. There were over ten people looking for one person. Surely someone should have seen him.
"It's like he never showed up here," Asuka muttered.
Ritsuko's eyes widened when she heard that comment, "Oh no,"
"What?" Sylia asked.
"We're in trouble," Ritsuko said after a moment. It gave everyone a scare.
"What is it?" Misato asked. She didn't like the look on Ritsuko's face. Sometimes, she hated how well Ritsuko could piece together a puzzle, but if the puzzle made Ritsuko worry, it was most likely really bad.
"I know why we can't find Ranma," she answered, "That's because he isn't here in the first place,"
"We don't follow you," several of the females said in unison. "Ranma isn't here," Ritsuko said, her face pale, "That's because he had never come here in the first place,"
"Why wouldn't he? He needs to find Adam to cause the Third Impact," Misato commented.
Ritsuko nodded, "Yes, that's true. But what makes you think that he was looking for the Adam or this world? Ranma isn't from this world. The one that had visited this world had died a long time ago. Ranma was from that other world, that world where he came out of Unit-01 like he had told us. That world also has an Adam,"
"Oh shit," Misato said, her eyes wide.
"Ranma had gone back to the world from where he had emerged from Unit-01 to find Adam there," Ritsuko said, "And what's worse is that none of us are from that world. There's no way we can get there. Ranma is the only person from there. He brought no one back with him from that world. That means neither Lina nor Luna can open a portal to that world,"
"The world where we had borrowed Unit-01 from in hopes of using it to battle the Angels when they attack our world," Nene finished for her.
She nodded and added, "And there's no way we can get to that world because not only is there no one here from that world for Lina and Luna to use as reference, but the only nanban mirror we've got Ryoga has, and who knows where the hell he is right now,"
Misato walked over to the steps of in front of the inn and sat down, "This is too much. You mean to say we've been search for Ranma on the wrong world?"
Ritsuko nodded, "And not only that, but there is no way for us to go after him. There's no way for us to get to that world, not without the nanban mirror,"
"This sound really bad, but I don't really follow," Lina commented, "Can someone please explain?"
"It's really confusing," Ritsuko said, "To date, we've met three different Ranmas. The first one died a couple of years ago. He died preventing the Second Impact on our old world. However, since he succeeded and changed the timeline, it basically became a different world than the one we were from. The second Ranma was born on that world. He came out of Unit-01, this partially humaniod machine used to battle Angels. From there, he found out how to get home and did. Shortly after he came home, he had to fight the Angel on that world, where he died in the process. And the third Ranma is the Ranma you and Emiko and Luna know. He was resurrected by Rei and ended up showing up at your world. As to why he ended up on your world, no one except Rei knows,"
"Man, this is too much," Lina rubbed at her temples, "It's all so confusing,"
"It's confusing to all of us," Priss said matter-of-factly, "The only person that can probably follow this is Ranma himself. Actually, I'm not too sure even he can because there are gaps in his memory, like him not knowing about his previous self dying in a hospital at night or another previous self dying fighting off the Angels. Basically, everyone here have only seen glimpses or've taken part in a small part of everything Ranma had been through,"
"So what the hell are we going to do?" Asuka asked.
Luna shrugged, "If you think about it, there's nothing much we can do. All we can do is head back home,"
"What about the nanban mirror?" Shinji asked, quiet until now.
"What about it? Ryoga has it and no one knows where he is," Linna said, "He had disappeared for years at a time. The last time I saw him was a couple of week ago, when Ranma seemed to have come back to life for the second time,"
"Well, all we have to do is find this Ryoga and get the nanban mirror from him, right?" Lina asked.
"It's not that easy," Misato answered, "Ryoga is probably on a whole different world right now. Since no one here is from whatever world he is from, you and Luna wouldn't be able to open a portal there so that we can get in contact with him. Basically, the only thing we can do is head back home and wait and pray that he show up,"
"I don't want to do that," Priss snapped impatiently, "There's gotta be a better way,"
Misato sighed, feeling defeated.
"Unfortunately, there is no other way,"
Akane emerged from the house late at night as everyone save for Luna emerged from the portal that had suddenly appeared in her backyard. She watched as the portal disappeared once everyone was through and then Lina turning around and opening a portal of her own, Luna emerging from it a second later. The Knight Sabers were in their hardsuits but they had their helmets off and tucked under their arms.
Akane looked around for that one familiar face, but soon sadly realizing that Ranma was not among the group.
"Well, how did everything go?" she asked curiously, hopefully. Perhaps Ranma was on his way.
Misato gave her a sad look as she shook her head, "I'm sorry, but we couldn't find him. It turns out that we've gone to an entirely wrong world all together,"
"What?"
"Ritsuko believes that Ranma seemed to have gone to the world where he had come out of Unit-01," Misato answered, gesturing toward Ritsuko and Shinji and Asuka, "and not the world where we're from. Basically, he went to a different world where EVAs and Angels exist,"
Akane's face became pale, "You're kidding me, right?"
"Sadly, we're not," she said, shaking her head, "And what's worse is that without the nanban mirror, there is no way we can go after him,"
"Because Ranma has one and Ryoga has the other one," Akane finished for her.
"Correct,"
Akane sat down by the porch, everyone else doing the same. No one really knew what to do. "Um, you wouldn't happen to have seen Ryoga while we were gone, would you?" Nene asked hopefully.
Akane shook her head, "Sorry,"
"Damn, it was a long shot, but I had to ask," Nene gave a meek smile.
"It's too we have no idea where Ryoga is," Misato said, slapping her fist into her other hand, "From there, we can use the nanban mirror to travel to the world Ranma had gone to,"
"But as you can see, he isn't here, thus, no nanban mirror," Ritsuko pointed out.
Lina stood up, "Waitaminute, could it be possible to force this Ryoga guy to show up?"
"What do you mean?" Misato asked, "What do you mean by forcing him to show up?"
"Well, I remember on the other world, before we came here, Ranma mentioned of these strange theories of his," Lina said, "Like how he truly believes there's some higher being that seems always watch over him,"
She blushed a bit as she recalled the scene perfectly.
Ranma had sighed and said, "Forget it. Why am I not surprised? I believe there's gotta be some unseen force acting against me...I'm sure of it,"
"You're just paranoid," Lina recalled saying. Luna, Emiko, Naga, and Lina were all gathered at the restaurant at the time.
"I am not. There's some force out there acting against me," he replied.
"What do you mean?" Luna asked curiously. "Here, I'll prove it," he said. He stood up in his seat and said in a loud loud voice, "Everyone, I would like to have your attention,"
The entire restaurant quieted down, everyone turning their attention toward him, even Emiko and Naga.
Ranma had then looked down at Lina and Luna and said, "Check this out and see if I'm paranoid,"
Ranma had said, "I am in love with someone and I want all of you to know,"
Emiko and Lina's eyes were wide. Naga had seemed mildly interested. Luna had seemed starry eyed and was thinking about how romantic it was of him to proclaim his love.
Ranma then cleared his throat, "The woman I am in love with is named-"
At that moment, Lina recalled vividly, a live chicken fly in through an open window and hitting Ranma on the side of his head. He was knocked off his chair where he fell off and onto the floor.
Ranma had luckily managed to grab the chicken before it got away. He stood up up and laughed like he had just lost his mind or perhaps seen something that defied comprehsion.
"Y'see?" he said, seemingly proving his point.
"Hello, Earth to Lina," Misato said, waving a hand in front of the sorceress' face. She noticed Lina blushing.
Lina quickly hid her blush when she realized that she shouldn't be daydreaming at a time like that. She had merely wondered who Ranma would had said he was in love with. Could he had been meaning to say that he was in love with Lina?
She blushed again.
"Hello!" Misato said louder.
Lina snapped out of her reverie. She caught sight of her sister giving her a smirk.
"As I saw saying," Lina began after clearing her throat, "Ranma had these pretty weird theories. One of them that he mentioned was of how this guy Ryoga seems to show up whenever you need him,"
"Well, we need him, so where the hell is he?" Misato asked. She didn't really understand what Lina meant with Ranma mentioning of some higher being. She was out of options. All she could do was believe in what Lina was saying, no matter how outrageous.
Everyone waited around, hoping Ryoga would show up. He didn't.
Everyone sighed. It seemed Ranma's theory wasn't as good as he had originally thought.
"Well, if I think about it, it does seem to work," Asuka said, "I remember the time when I had been rummaging through his room looking for the nanban mirror because I had found out of its magical properties. However, when I got my hands on it-"
"You were probably rummaging through his room looking for his underwear," Emiko gave a comment with a smirk.
"Screw you!" Asuka snapped. She sneered at her before clearing her throat, "Anyway, after I found it, I had no idea how to use it, and Ranma wouldn't tell me how and he had told Akane not to tell me either. However, all of a sudden, Ryoga pops up to tell me of how it works before disappearing again,"
Misato snapped her figures, "Yeah, I remember Ranma mentioning of that. He basically considers Ryoga some kinda 'plot device' and that he shows up just to help out and disappear again,"
"Well, then how come he never showed up to help all of us battle the Angels?" Sylia asked, "Surely, we could have used his help greatly,"
"C'mon, let's give it a try," Akane said, "It couldn't hurt,"
"Give what a try? How?" Asuka asked.
"Gee I really wish Ryoga was here," Akane said loudly and to no one in particular.
"This is ridiculous, but it's worth a try," Priss said. She added, "Yeah, I wish Ryoga was here. We could sure use his help right now,"
Everyone looked at one another. After a moment, they all realized that no matter how far fetched it was, it was still better than just doing nothing.
"It'd be cool if Ryoga showed up right now," Asuka said.
"Um, yeah, I'd like to meet who this Ryoga guy is," Luna commented.
After several minutes of talking loudly and basically commenting on how they wished Ryoga was there and that they could sure use his help, they soon came to realize that not only did they sound like idiots talking loudly and to no one in particular, but the trick didn't seem to be working.
"I don't think it's working," Emiko said.
"Gee, you think?" Asuka said sarcastically, "Did it take both your brain cells to realize that?"
"Why you!" Emiko sneered.
"Now now, no fighting," Luna said, "We've got other things to worry about,"
Lina seemed to be laughing at the rivalry Emiko and Asuka seemed to have.
"What are you laughing at, you flat-chest?" Asuka taunted.
"H-how dare you!" Lina started burning with anger.
"Quit it!" Misato shouted at the three of them, "The three are you are, what, eighteen? Act your age!"
"Isn't it ironic that Misato is the one saying that," Ritsuko had to comment with a smile.
"I heard that," she narrowed her eyes.
"Gooddamnit! Where the fuck is Ryoga?" everyone heard Priss shout.
"I'm right here," Ryoga yawned as he emereged from inside the house. His hair was messed up but he generally looked like he usually did. He was clad in his usual attire also, except sans his backpack.
Everyone screamed in shock, as if they had just seen a ghost.
"W-w-where did you c-c-come from?" Linna was the first to ask after her heartbeat slowed down, "W-when did you show up here?"
Ryoga yawned again, "What do you mean? I've been here since Ranma showed up. I just woke up,"
"Never left?" Akane asked.
He jerked a thumb down the hall, "Yeah, I've been sleeping in my room and wandering around the house ever since. I just woke up when I kept hearing people out here shouting my name or something like that. I figured I should come down and check out what was up. Also, this is the first time I bumped into everyone since then,"
"Y-you m-mean to tell us t-that you've been in this very house the whole time since Ranma showed up?" Misato asked. One of her eyelids seemed to be twitching, "And n-none of us noticed this?"
"Um, I guess not," he replied, "What's the matter? Why does everyone look all upset?"
"If he's been home since that night Ranma showed up," Nene turned toward Linna, "Then how on Earth could we have missed him? We've all been here for the past week getting used to our suits while Lina learned that spell to open the portal,"
"Jeez, I don't know what's more messed up," Linna commented, "That Ryoga actually showed up like Ranma had predicted or the fact that none of us had bumped into him once,"
"Why can't be fighting Angels sent from heaven intent on destroying this world?" Misato commented aloud, looking up toward the sky, "That seems much more believeable than what I'm hearing this very moment,"
"Look, what's done is done," Akane said, being the voice of reason. She turned toward Ryoga, "Ryoga, it's nice that you're back,"
Ryoga blushed, "T-thanks. I'm glad to be back,"
"Do you happen to have the nanban mirror?" Akane asked.
"The nanban mirror?" Ryoga asked.
Akane nodded, "Yes, do you still have it?"
"Yeah, it's still in my room," he said, "You want me to go get it?"
"Yes, please do," she said.
Ryoga looked confused, "Hm, now which way to my room?"
Everyone fell to the floor.
Yui answered the door and was pleasantly surprised to see Ranma.
"Ranma, you're just in time," she smiled warmly, "Please, come on in. Follow me,"
"Thanks," he said gratefully as he entered, taking care to remove his shoes.
"Hi Ranma," a young girl squeaked as she approached him. It only took a moment before Ranma realized that this cute young girl was Rei Ikari, Gendo and Yui's second child.
"Ah, Rei, how you doing?" he smiled, kneeling down and giving her a hug. He was pretty surprised she remembered him.
"I'm fine," she smiled, "I'm gonna be nine,"
"That's great to hear," he smiled happily, rubbing the top of her head, "You're gonna grow up to be a very beautiful girl,"
Rei laughed as Ranma give her a kiss on her cheek, "That tickles,"
"Ya wanna ride on my shoulders?" he asked.
"Yeah," she piped up happily.
Ranma scooped her up in his arms and threw her up onto his shoulders. She giggled as he followed behind Yui into the livingroom where he saw Gendo and Shinji. Gendo had been sitting in the love seat reading the newspaper while Shinji had been playing a video game on the livingroom television.
"Hey, Ranma," Shinji smiled as he paused his game and looked up from the television.
"Evening," Gendo said, putting down his newspaper. He got up out of his seat and bowed.
Ranma did the same. Rei ended up falling off his shoulders, Gendo nearly having a heartattack when he saw his darling daughter falling, only to have Ranma skillfully catch her in his arms. Although he had actually accidentally let Rei fall off, him catching her so quickly made it seemed like he had done so on purpose.
He handed the giggling Rei to Gendo.
"Rei, it's time that you get to bed now," he said in a soft voice, "It's already way past your bedtime,"
"But I wanna stay up," she tried to argue. She was so happy to see Ranma again and wanted to play with him some more.
"Rei, honey, it's time to goto bed," Yui told her.
"Okay," she said sadly.
She turned toward Ranma and hugged his right leg as she said goodnight, Ranma giving her a gentle pat on the top of her head before she disappeared into her room.
"Sweet kid," Ranma smiled, "How old is she now? Nine?"
"That's correct," Gendo said.
"So, what might I have the pleasure of your visiting us this evening?" Gendo asked.
"Um, I said I was gonna visit earlier today and I'm visiting," Ranma said innocently, scratching his head.
"Well, yes, I know that," Gendo rephased, "It's just that I figured you were visiting to tell everyone that you're all right before you head on back home,"
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, that's basically it. However, I figured since Shinji liked learning martial arts from me the last time I was here, he wouldn't mind learning some more,"
"R-really?" Shinji's eyes widened, "I-I'd love to learn some more,"
"Have you been practicing?" Shinji nodded emphatically, "Every day, especially all the techniques you taught me,"
Ranma smiled, "That's really good to hear,"
"Can we go practice now?" he asked.
Ranma jerked a thumb toward Gendo, "Only if your old man let's ya,"
"Go right ahead," Gendo said, "Just don't be home too late,"
"All right! Thanks, Dad!" Shinji quickly got up to his feet. He headed for his room, "I'll be right back. Lettme just get changed into some more comfortable clothes,"
When Shinji was gone, Ranma turned toward Gendo and Yui.
"Old?" Gendo asked, "I'll have you know that I'm not that old,"
Ranma laughed, "No, it's that. It's just an expression I use. It's kinda like how people sometimes use 'pop' or 'father' or such. I tend to use 'old man',"
"Does that make me 'old woman' since I'm the mother?" Yui asked, her voice cold.
Ranma laughed again, "No. I just use it in place of 'father', that's all. I would probably use 'pop', but I used to use it for my old man, before he died," "Oh," Yui said.
"I'll just call ya something like 'hot momma' instead," he grinned.
Yui blushed a light shade of red.
"T-that's my wife you're talking about!" Gendo said, getting angry.
Ranma held his hands up defensively, "Relax. I was only joking around. No need to take it personally,"
"Hmph," Gendo said, eyeing Ranma. He didn't like the thougth of Ranma moving in on Yui.
Yui gave Gendo a hug, a big smile on her face, "Aw, that's so sweet, honey, you're jealous,"
"I-I am n-not jealous!" Gendo tried to say, blushing.
Shinji emerged from his room, "All right, I'm ready,"
Ranma smiled, "Well, we'll be back later,"
"Okay, then,"
Asuka walked around the busy streets of Tokyo alone. It was early in the morning, around nine. She was on her way to the bookstore. It was the weekend and she didn't have school to worry about. It was a beautiful day out. She was clad in a nice yellow dress that seemed to show off her curves.
"Hi," a boy said to her as she waited by the corner to cross the street. He was standing next to her. "Um, hi," she replied without much thought. She had the funny feeling that the boy was pretending to be crossing the street also just so he could walk beside her.
"I'm Kento," he said.
"Yeah, so?" she said coldly. She knew this boy was hitting on her. She was really starting to hate boys more and more now. She liked wearing dresses like this yellow dress she was wearing, but because of that, more boys seemed to approach her since it tended to hug her body a bit more than the usual school outfit and they obviously liked what they saw.
"What's your name?" the boy asked, undaunted by Asuka's iciness. He continued to walk alongside her.
"It's 'Not Interested'," she replied.
The boy laughed, "C'mon. What's your name, really? I won't bite,"
Asuka let out an annoyed breath and said, "Do you want me to point it out for you? I'm not intersted in you,"
The boy narrowed his eyes and sneered at her, "Okay, fine! Be like that you dumb bitch!"
"Bitch? I'll show you bitch!" Asuka sneered.
In a fit of anger, Asuka lashed out at the boy. She took several step ahead to and turned around to face the boy before bringing her knee up and right into the boy's groin.
The boy's eyes widened when he realized what had just happened before pain finally shot through his entire body and caused him to keel over right in the middle of the street, clutching his groin while crying in pain.
Not wanting to stick around to see what happens next, Asuka quickly ran off.
She ran for a couple of blocks before she stopped to catch her breath. While trying to catch her breath, she couldn't help but smirk. It serves that boy right not to call her a bitch. He deserved that. She was sure he would never make that mistake again.
After her heartrate was back to normal, she turned around to carry out with her original task, to goto the bookstore. As she took a step, someone bumps into her, almost causing her trip. Luckily, she had keep afoot.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" she said.
When she looked up at who she had bumped into, her eyes widened when she realized she was looking up at Ranma.
Ranma smiled, "Oh, we meet again,"
"R-Ranma," Asuka stammered, "W-what are you doing here? I-I thought you had left already,"
"Not yet," he said, "I'm just out clothes shopping, that's all,"
"Clothes shopping? What for?" "Well, where I'm going, it's gonna be really cold," he said, "I'm just gonna stock up. Y'know, buy a heavy winter jacket, some gloves, all that junk,"
He regarded her and that dress of hers for a moment.
"W-what?" Asuka asked when she noticed Ranma's intesive gaze. She knew he was checking her out. Ranma knelt down in front of her as if checking out the fabric of her dress. After a moment, he reached out and grabbed the bottom of her dress and pulled it up, revealing her white cotton panties.
"What the hell are you doing you pervert?" she shouted, hitting Ranma on the top of his head as she quickly pulled the dress away from Ranma's grasp and back down to cover herself up.
Ranma laughed as he gave a meek laugh and said, "Oops. Sorry. It's just that I figured it looked rather easy for a breeze to come by and blow this up. I kinda blanked out and forgot who was wearing it," "Hmph!" she narrowed her eyes on him.
Before she had a chance to stay angry at him, Ranma changed the subject.
"Hey, whatcha you up to?" he asked, snapping his finger.
"Um, nothing really," she said truthfully, "I was just walking around town. Um, I was on my way to the bookstore to buy a book and see what new books came out," She had finished the book she had been reading yesterday and wanted to buy the next volume of that series. Ranma smiled, "Will it take long?"
"Not really, why?" she looked at him curiously.
"Good, you can come with me afterwards," he told her. He suddenly realized something. Asuka would be the perfect person to have coming along with him clothes shopping. When he had come to this world over fifteen year ago with the other Asuka, they had gone clothes shopping and she had picked out most of his clothes. The other Asuka seemd to know what clothes he needed so there is no reason why this version of Asuka wouldn't be able to do the same.
Asuka said, "Wait, how do you know I don't have something else planned?"
"I don't care," he said, grabbing her hand, "Just cancel 'em,"
What was odd was that Asuka never bothered pulling her arm away from his grip. Instead, she ended up following behind him, barely able to keep up as he almost half dragged her toward the busy center of the city where the bookstore as well as many clthing departments were located.
Ranma held up a bright colored heavy winter jacket, "Whatcha think about this? Ya think this'll do?"
"That's ugly," Asuka told him, cringing at how disgusting it looked.
"It doesn't matter how ugly it looks," he replied, "It's whether it'll keep me warm or not that counts," Asuka sighed. She didn't know what to do with Ranma. "If you read label in the collar of that jacket," she said, "You'll realized it's not made of the right material. What you're looking for is a jacket made of a fabric that is not only waterproof, but also keeps the cold out while it also allowing a slight amount of bodyheat to escape. The last part is very important because even if it's cold out, if the fabric doesn't allow bodyheat out, it'll start getting too hot inside,"
Ranma read the label and said called out the fabric material to Asuka.
She shook her head, "No, that's not the right fabric. It's only waterproof and that's it,"
Ranma shrugged, "All right,"
She selected a jacket from the rack and handed it to him, "This is perfect,"
"Cool, I'll take it," he smiled, taking it and tucking it under his arms, "Now, onto some pants,"
"Um, aren't you going to try it out?" she asked curiously.
Ranma gave her an odd look, "Why? You said it's perfect for me. I trust your judgement,"
Asuka blushed a deep shade of red. She was shocked that Ranma trust her judgement that much.
Ranma grinned as he picked up a pair of panties, "Hey, check these out. These would be perfect for you,"
Asuka's eyes widen as heat flooded her cheeks. Ranma held forward the skimpiest pair of panties in existence. It was basically the kind of panties any man would love to see a female wear.
She quickly grabbed those panties out of his hands, "Give me that!"
"Cool, you're really gonna buy it? All right!" Ranma's eyes lit up as he gave her a smirk, "Wow, you're such a naughty girl,"
Asuka continued to blush as she quickly put the panties away and shouted, "I am not buying those! I was just trying to grab those away from you!"
"So you can buy 'em, right?" he smirked.
"No! Because you should not be touching stuff like that!" she shouted back, still blushing.
Ranma gave her smile as he laughed, "I know, I was only teasing. You should take things more lightly,"
"Hmph!" Asuka turned away from him in anger, her hands crossed in front of her chest, "I should never've agreed to go shopping with you! You're such an asshole!"
Ranma tapped on her shoulder.
"What?" she turned toward him, her voice full of exasperation.
He held a pair of pants up, "You think this is a good choice?"
She glanced at the pair in his hands. It was probably the worst pick of any pair of pants in the entire store. However, she was still angry at him and didn't want to help him anymore.
"I'm not going to tell you," she said, her voice cold.
Ranma smirked, "All right, fine. I'll go ask that pretty salewoman over there for her help," He pointed toward a young girl on the other side of the store that was helping a customer out. She looked to be around Asuka's age and was very pretty.
Asuka looked in the direction of where Ranma was pointing, her gaze resting on that pretty salesgirl. When she suddenly noticed Ranma actually walking in that girls direction, something within her made her suddenly angry at herself for allowing him to walk away. "Wait!" she called out to him.
"Hm?" he turned toward her. "Fine, I'll help," she sighed, as if she felt it was her obligation to help him out and that she was slowly losing her patience.
Ranma smiled, "Thanks," He walked back up to her and showed her the pair of pants, "To tell you the truth, I would rather have you helping me out than someone else,"
"R-really?" she blushed, a bit flattered. Perhaps it was a good idea to have actually stopped him.
Ranma nodded, "Yeah,"
"Um, thanks," she said softly, feeling rather happy. It was a nice feeling.
He held his pants up, "Okay, so whatcha think of these?"
"That's ugly,"
"I mean the pants," Ranma smirked, "I know I'm ugly,"
"No, not you. You're anything but that. I mean the pants," she said without thinking.
Her eyes widened when she realized what she had said. At that moment in time, she had never blushed harder in her lift. When she looked up and saw Ranma's smirk, she quickly turned her gaze away, mortified.
Ranma had been about to tease her some more but when he noticed how embarrassed Asuka looked, he figured he had teased her enough. He knew she must be feeling very self-conscious of what she had said. Enough was enough.
"What didja say?" he asked innonectly, "I didn't hear ya. You think the pants are ugly?"
Asuka had been about to sigh in relief when she realized Ranma hadn't heard. She quickly regained her composure and nodded as she took hold of the pair of pants, "Y-yeah, these pants are not only ugly, but they're not made of the right material,"
Ranma smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Thanks. I don't know where I would be without your help,"
Asuka said nervously, "Um, i-it's n-no problem,"
new stuff 1/21
Ranma picked up a hentai magazine and started looking through it. He and Asuka were at the bookstore. Now that Ranma and Asuka were done with his clothes shopping, they were there so she could buy the book she had been meaning to buy. Ranma carried a bag of his newly bought clothes.
"W-what are you doing?" Asuka shouted when she realized what Ranma was doing. She could tell Ranma wasn't reading the joke section of the magazing because no joke section required a fold-out.
He gave her an odd look, "What does it look like? I'm checking out this magazine. It's not like I'm doing anything wrong or nothing,"
"Y-you're not s-supposed to be looking at that!" she said.
Ranma scratched his head in confusion, "I'm not? Then why the heck are these thing being published then? Eh?"
Asuka continued to blush, "Not that! I-it's just that...I'm with you!"
Ranma eyes widened as realized that he was doing something majorly wrong. However, he didn't seem to really care.
"Oh well. I guess I'll hafta live with being branded a pervert," he said before proceeding to look through the magazine. He turned it sideways to get a better look.
"Ranma!" she shouted at him, holding her hands out to block the pictures of the naked woman, "Stop l-looking at her!"
"Dontcha have a book to buy?" he asked with a smirk.
"Ranma!" she said again.
"I believe the female body is a beautiful thing," he commented with a smile, "I am merely admiring it. There is nothing wrong with admiring the human body,"
"Ranma!"
"Well? Aren't ya gonna go buy your book?" he urged her, "It's probably on sale right now and it's best that you not miss it,"
"You don't even know what book I'm looking for!"
"Well, whatever book it is, it's probably on sale for only one more minute," he said without a pause, "You better go grab it now,"
"Ha ha, real funny,"
He sighed in exasperation as he closed the magazine and put it away and said, "Fine. I dunno what's with you. There's nothing wrong with what I was doing. I remember reading that men need stuff like this or they'll eventually suffer medical conditions. I dunno what condition is, but I don't wanna find out,"
"That's still no reason!" she said.
"All right, all right," Ranma said, "Enough already. You've proven your point. I did wrong. Sheesh,"
"Hmph," she said, feeling a bit happy with herself.
"Now go buy your book," he said, "I'll wait here,"
"Fine," she smiled. After a second, she narrowed her eyes, "Promise you won't look at those?"
Ranma shook his head, "No. I'm simply gonna wait until you walk away before I start looking through it again. That way, you won't be around to nag,"
"C'mon," she said, "Don't look at those. I-it's embarrassing,"
Ranma said, "Jeez, you're nagging like we're married or something,"
"M-married?" she blushed deep red.
"Yeah, married," he said, scratching his head in confusion, "Jeez. You should stop overracting. It's just a magazine. I won't feel jealous if you go about looking through magazines of naked guys,"
"Hmph!" she snorted.
Ranma grabbed her hand and farther into the story, "Fine. I'll accompany you. Let's go get you your book. Jeez, you're impossible,"
Although Asuka found herself barely able to keep afoot as Ranma nearly half dragged her toward the back of the store, she couldn't help but smile at the battle she had won.
"What book are you looking for?" he asked, releasing his hold of her hand as he arrived at the fiction section of the bookstore. All he knew about what she was looking for was a book of fiction.
"It's called the 'Dawn of Immortality'," she said, "It's the second book of a trilogy,"
"'Dawn of Immortality'? I remember that," he said, "That was the book you were reading when I first showed up, right? Yeah, it was that one that you were reading while you were with Hikari by that tree in the front courtyard,"
Asuka's eyes widened. Ranma was that observant that he remembered what book she was reading? She didn't even remember what hentai magazine Ranma had picked up when she had seen the title a dozen times since he had been facing her and when he had put it back. And that was only a minute ago.
"Wait," she said, "Sorry, I mean 'Day of Immortality'. I said the wrong title. That was the name of the first book of the trilogy. I'm looking for the second book. Man, did you really notice the name of the book I had been reading? That's pretty observant,"
Ranma shrugged, proceeding to scan through the books on the shelf, "Yeah, I remembered it," He leaned in close to her and smirked, "And another part I remember from that day were the red panties you were basically flashing me while you were sitting in that position,"
"R-Ranma!" she said with a blush.
"Hey, here it is," Ranma said, pulling the book from the shelf. He handed it to her. "Um, t-thanks," she said.
"Well, now that we have your book, let's get going," he said.
He took her hand and headed toward the front of the store. All Asuka could do was stumble along trying to keep pace with him while staring down at her hand in his. What Asuka found extremely strange was that not once had she tried to yank her hand away. She hated when a boy accidentally touched any part of her, let alone allow one to hold her hand. However, she didn't know why she hadn't reacted the same to Ranma.
She ended up bumping into Ranma's back when he stopped suddenly.
"Hey, why'd you stop like that?" she asked, rubbing her nose with her free hand.
While still holding her hand, he walked up to a book on display.
"'Erotic Stories'," he read the time, "Hm, this seems interesting,"
"Hey, don't pick that up," she said, "You shouldn't read stuff like that,"
Ranma flipped throught he book. He noticed that it contained several short stories. He flipped to a random page.
"'Usuagi's usual morning'," he read the title of the chapter. He proceeded to read it.
"Hey, you shouldn't be reading stuff like that!" Asuka said.
Ranma ignored her and continued reading. After about two minutes, flipping through around thirty pages, he closed the book, "Jeez,"
"Y-you read all that in two minutes?" Asuka seemed more shock at the speed of Ranma's reading rather than the content he had been reading.
He shook his head, "I didn't read it. I just skimmed through on short story of the book. It had no plot whatsoever. All it had were of five girls engaging in intercourse. Basically, it had nothing but lesbian sex,"
"What? T-that's disgusting!" Asuka blushed.
"Man, I've gotta buy this," Ranma said serious, "That so cool. A book with no plot and all sex. That's perfect reading material,"
"Hmph, if you're a guy," she muttered.
"And since I'm a guy-" he sated.
"Put that back book!" she commanded him, "That's disgusting! I can't people are sick enough to write stuff like that!"
Ranma narrowed his eyes in challenge. He knew there was nothing Asuka could do to stop him if he really wanted it. However, noticing how upset she looked made him finally sigh and give up and put the book back. "Okay, you win," he muttered.
She smiled happily.
He and Asuka headed to the cash register where Asuka paid for her book. Once outside, Ranma stretched. It was still a very beautiful afternoon out. He couldn't believe how helpful Asuka had been. Without her, he would had probably had bought horrible winter wear and would probably freeze to death in Antarctica when he finally made it there.
"So, whatcha going to do now?" Asuka asked softly, a bit nervous.
"Dunno really. However, I think it's about I'm about to get going now," he said.
Asuka felt her heart plummet as she heard that. Ranma was leaving. This was it. She knew that the day eventually had to end, but she wasn't expecting it to end so abruptly.
Ranma's stomach grumbled.
"Hm, it seems my stomch says maybe not," he said, with a laugh, "I guess I should eat first,"
Asuka's eyes lit up. She and Ranma can go get some lunch together. The day wasn't ending just yet.
She looked up at him and said in a nervous voice, trying to make it sound like a casual invitation, "Y-you wanna go grab a bite to eat?"
Ranma nodded, "Sure. Why not? You pick the place,"
She gave a happy cheer. She knew of this great restaurant where they could eat. She told him of it, of how she was sure he would love the food, and he gave no objection, saying that he trusted her judgement.
"All right, let's get going then," he said with a smile.
She looked at Ranma's free hand, his other one holding the bag of clothes and Asuka's purchase, and then looked down at her own free hand. Blushing from nervousness and with her heart in her throat, she reached out and placed her hand in Ranma's hand when he wasn't looking.
When Ranma didn't seem to pull his hand away, her nervousness started to subside quite rapidly. Within a short moment, she started feeling very happy.
"Let's go, f-follow me," she said with a smile as Ranma now followed suit.
Ranma ate like there was no tomorrow. Asuka was embarrassed at his table manners that several times she wished she could just crawl up under the table, especially when Ranma used his hands a couple of times to eat his mashed potatoes better.
"Hm, good stuff," Ranma commented, nearly devouring the entire slab of steak in a single bite, "How's your meal? Good?"
Asuka nodded. She had ordered a light meal which consisted of a salad and a small sandwhich. She had eaten most of her salad and was in the process of eating her sandwich now.
Figuring he should keep the situation from getting awkward from the silence of eating, he decided to ask some random questions.
"So, you been having a good time?"
She nodded, "Yeah, it's been pretty nice,"
"That's cool,"
"So, how come a girl like you've got no boyfriend?" he asked, taking a second bite of his steak.
Is he asking me about this because he wants to be my boyfriend, she wondered. Is he curious as to what kind of boy I liked? To see if he fits the image of what I consider boyfriend material? She started to wonder how it would be like to have Ranma as a boyfriend, as if she hadn't already.
"Well, I merely don't have a boyfriend by choice," she said. She didn't want Ranma to think that she had some messed up personality that scared boys away or anything of the like.
Ranma slurped on the bone of his steak while using his hand to hold it, "Hm, I figured as much. I remember you and Hikari mentioning that. I figured it'd be by choice,"
Asuka blushed, "Really? Why'd you figure that?"
"I figure someone like you wouldn't have much problem getting a boyfriend," he answered, proceeding to break some crackers into his soup. Asuka prayed that Ranma would use a spoon to drink the soup and not his hands.
"Um, thanks," she said, a warm feeling in her heart. She knew Ranma had just complimented her, even though he was showing no table manners at the time.
"So there ain't no one you're interested in?" he asked curiously. That's it, she thought. He wants to know if he has any competition.
"Um, n-no one in particular," she said.
Ranma didn't get a chance to hear because he had started using his finger to push the broken crackers into the soup so they would be submerged quicker rather than have it done naturally through soaking up the soup.
He looked up, "What was that again?"
Asuka felt a bit disgusted by his lack of table manners but she was willing to put up with it for now. She said, "T-there's no one in particular that I'm interested in,"
Here it comes, she thought. This is where Ranma will ask me what I think of him. I've read it in so many books before. He will ask him if there's a chance I might be interested in him.
"What about me?" he asked, "Whatcha think about me?" He was curious how Asuka viewed him. He figured she finds him mildly interesting but that was it.
"You're okay, I guess," she answered, knowing that she should never give away too much in an answer. It was best to keep him wondering.
She waited anxiously for what he was going to say next. She assumed he was either going to pretend his feeling was hurt that she didn't think he was better than that just to see her reaction, or ask if that was all that she viewed him.
"Cool, I'm okay," he smiled, "Figured you'd hate me or something,"
"Hate you? Why would I hate you?" she asked. After a moment, she felt warm. Ranma believed she didn't like him and felt it was a challenge to get her to like him.
Ranma shrugged, "Dunno. I thought ya hated me first. That's all,"
"And?" she expected more.
"And what?" he said, "Whatcha want me to say?"
She blushed a bit, "Um, n-nothing. Of course, I don't see why there's a reason why I would hate you," She figured she should allow him a opening to say more, an opportunity to not only make her hate him less, but actually start to like him.
Ranma gave a chuckle, "I guess not," He smiled, "So, what kinda boys are you interested in?" He figured if he knew what she was interested in, perhaps he could find a nice boy to get hooked up with the other Asuka back home and get her to stop having this crush on him.
Asuka smiled a bit, "Well, I guess I like someone...I shouldn't be telling you this. I barely know you," She pretended she didn't want Ranma to think she was eager to divulge such information. It was all a part of an act.
"Well, if you don't wanna tell me, I guess you don't need to," he said with a shrug, showing no indicationg that he wanted to persue thinga farther.
Asuka noticed this and started wondering why things were moving the way they were. Ranma was so unpredictable. She had no real indication of how he would act or respond to her answers.
"But if you really want to know..." she gave him an opening. Ranma shrugged, "Sure, I'd like to know," Why not, he thought to himself. It couldn't hurt. Heck, it was better to know rather than not know now that Ranma thought about it.
Asuka blushed as she said, "Well, I kinda like a person who smart, and strong, and handsome, and tall, at least taller than me, l-like around your height. I really like a person who is really kind and caring as well as nice to be with. But most important of all, I'd like someone I can trust and just feel good being around and just talking to,"
Asuka felt so flushed when she finished saying that. She couldn't believe she had actually said that. In a way, she had revealled one of her inner most secret.
"So, what do you not like? About boys that is?" he asked.
Asuka took a few moments before she was able to answer. She hadn't expected Ranma to move on to the next question so quickly. She assumed that he would get back to the subject of what kind of guy she liked later.
"Um, well, if you really want to know," she said, "I don't like people who are two-faced as in say one thing but do the complete opposite. I don't like people who lie, and steal, and beat up others, at least for no reason," She added the last part because she realized she would be contradicting herself since she had kneed that boy in the groin earlier.
"Also," she continued, "I don't like people who are undependable, or take advantage of people, or does drugs, or smoke, or drink. However, the thing I hate most are people that lie,"
Ranma took several big gulps of his drink and then said, "Hm, you're probably gonna be looking for a while. I doubt there're a guys that fit your standards,"
She blinked several times. She figured Ranma would say something like 'Wow, what a coincidence, you basically described me exactly. I have all those traits that you like and none of the ones that you dislike'. She asked, "W-what makes you say that?"
"I don't think there's anyone that are at either ends of your spectrum," he said earnestly, "I don't think you're ever gonna find someone that will fit the traits you like about someone and none of the trait you don't like. It just doesn't work that way,"
Asuka was silent. There was someone that she did have in mind. Did he not realize it?
"Take me for example," he began.
She blushed again. Perhaps he did realize what she had meant.
"I'm pretty strong, people say I'm handsome so I guess I am," he continued, "I don't smoke or drink or do drugs. I even do a lot of charity stuff such as donating money. I'm also good with children, at least so I believe. However, I think those are the extent of what you would consider my good traits," He shrugged as he added, "Over my life, I've lied, stolen, detroyed people's properties without paying for damages, started fights with people simply because I didn't like them, and I'm also not that nice or fun to talk with. And let's not even think about what there is in store in the near future. I'm sure I'll become the most hated person in existence,"
"What are you talking about? I don't understand what you mean," she said. She thought everything was going along fine. Did he really think those things about himself? From what she had learned from the short time she knew him, he was none of those. And what was this about what does he mean about him becoming the most hated person?
Ranma shrugged, "All I'm saying is that if you're looking for that perfect person, you're gonna be disappointed because you're not. That's just my opinion,"
"Um, I don't believe you're mean," she said very nervously, "I also t-think it's nice and fun being with y-you,"
Ranma gave her a weird look as she wondered why she said that. After a short moment, his eyes widened upon realization.
"Oh no," he said.
"W-what?" she sounded startled.
"Y-you've developed some kinda crush on me," he said in a soft voice.
"M-me? I d-did not!" she said defensively.
Ranma gave a small smile, "I'm flattered that you like me,"
"I d-do not have a c-crush on you!" she said out of sheer embarrassment. It wasn't supposed to go this way. He wasn't supposed to find out. Ranma reached across the table and placed his hand on hers and gave it a squeeze. The gesture seemed to calm Asuka down because she felt like a trapped animal with no where to get except straight into pure mortification.
"Asuka," he said in a soothing voice, "I'm flattered that you like me and all but...wait, don't interrupt me. Just hear me out. Anyway, I'm flattered that you like me but you're only going to get hurt if you keep liking me. First off, I'm not from this world. Secondly, I'm going to be heading back," "But-"
He placed his index finger on her lips so she would keep quiet.
"You only met me because I had stopped by to say hi to everyone and tell them I was okay," he said, "Had you not been with Hikari that day, we would had never crossed paths. That is why when you saw me, you remembered me as that teacher that taught in your class for a day. You were to never know who I was to begin with, or have known that I had died on my other world. Anyway, last night was the last night anyone should have seen me on this world. Of course, I guess fate had it that we bump into each other in town. But that still doesn't exclude the fact that I'm leaving...forever...as in never coming back,"
Asuka gave Ranma a very sad look, as if she were at the brink of crying.
"I'm sorry if this makes you sad," he said, "But I had said it before. I said it several times for you to not grow attached to me because I was going to be leaving,"
She gave a weak smile, "Y'know what? I d-do remember you saying that,"
"I'm sorry it has to come to this," he said, still holding onto her hand, "But it does. I know what you're thinking. What if you came to where ever I was going. Well, I can't do that. No, I would not allow that to happen. You are to stay here, on this world, where you belong. If I were to stay, well, then there would be no problems. Heck, age difference aside, I know that I can easily find myself falling for you,"
"Y-you can?" she said, smiling a bit, a warm feeling enveloping her heart.
He nodded, "Yeah. But alas, I'm not going to be staying here to see where those feelings could take us. I'm sorry,"
"Yeah, I-I'm sorry, too,"
"I'm sure you'll find a great guy," he said. He even gave her a smirk, "If you give Shinji a try, you might grow to like him,"
"S-Shinji? That guy? N-no way!" she nearly shouted.
Ranma smiled, "Don't be so quick to judge. I know Shinji very well and he is a terriffic guy,"
"W-what about me? I mean my other self?" she asked. She remembered that her other self lived on Ranma's world with him.
He said, "I know her really well, too. That is why it seemed strange that I knew you so well initially when we met. Well, that's because I actually really do. You may exist in two different worlds, from two different timelines, but regardless of that, you're still the exact same person,"
"How well do you and...my other self get together on your world?" she asked.
"We get along fine," he said, "She had grown to like me very much like you have. We're very good friends, but that's about it. But that is entirely my fault,"
"Y-your fault?"
He nodded, "Yeah, I guess it's because I never let the relationship go any farther than that. It's just that I'm not ready to have a relationship. I haven't even begun thinking about settling down. However, if I ever decide that it was time to settle down with someone, I don't see any reason why I wouldn't settle down with her, provided she waits for me,"
"I'd wait...um, I mean she'd wait for you," Asuka gave a meek smile, "I'm sure of it," She didn't know why, but she felt no embarrassment saying something as intimate as that to him. And she knew why. She felt so at ease with him that she believed she could say anything.
Ranma smiled, "That's really nice to hear. Look, it's already getting late and it's about time we split. This time once and for all, like it was supposed to be last night,"
"Can you just answer these two questions?"
"Sure, but just two more questions. I'll answer them truthfully but that's it. We say our goodbyes after them,"
"Okay," she agreed.
"What's the first questions?" "Um, d-did you really t-take Misato up on her offer?" she asked with a deep blush. She had to asked. She had been meaning to ask this ever since she had bumped into him this morning.
"Oh you mean about her wanting a baby?" he said with a small laugh, "Y'know, you shouldn't be asking personal questions such as that. Dontcha think that's a bit, y'know, nosy?"
"I-I know," she said, "B-b-but I really have to know,"
He smiled as he shook his head, "No. Nothing came of it. We had gone eating together and even to the bathhouses together, but that was it. I've made it all the way to her apartment to actually try, but let's just say a whole bunch of chickens played a role and prevented anything from ever happening. All and all, nothing happened between us. That's all I'm gonna say,"
Asuka sighed in relief.
"Did you believe I had, y'know, done the deed?" he asked out of curiosity.
After a short moment, she shook her head, "No, I really didn't. I don't know why, but I just figured so,"
Ranma said with a smirk, "Y'know, had there been nothing to stop us, I really would had gone through with it. Keep in mind that we went to that mixed bathhouse together and I was ready to go if y'know what I mean,"
"Hmph," she snorted. However, she couldn't hide the smile on her lips. She knew Ranma was teasing her. He was teasing her like he had always. The difference was that there was no reason for her to get angry anymore.
"Okay, now what's the second question you wanted to ask me?" he asked.
"I remember you mentioned of having other things to take care of while you were here. What were they?" she asked.
He winced at the question. Of all the questions she had to ask, why did she have to answer that one? That was the one thing he wanted no one to know about. It was bad enough that Misato had heard him mention something about it while he had nearly fallen asleep in the bathhouse and that there was a chance she could figure his plans out based just on that. However there was a chance she might not figure it out. He didn't need someone knowing exactly what he had planned.
Asuka watched Ranma intently. She noticed him wince. That meant she had asked a very probing question. Whatever he was going to say must be very juicy. She smiled, knowing that whatever Ranma was going to tell her was the truth. That was one of her favorite qualities about Ranma, he never lied, or at least lied without saying that it was a lie.
"Can you perhaps ask me another question instead?" he tried.
She shook her head, now eager to hear what he has to say.
Ranma sighed.
"Well the question you had should end with 'what are they'," he started off, "That is because I never managed to do what I had originally came here to do. Visiting you guys and telling you that I was a benefit. If you talk your friend Hikari or someone like Misato or Ritsuko you'll hear more about who I am and where I came from. Anyway, like I mentioned earlier, I had actully died on the other world. However, I was brought back to life when a young girl name Rei Ayaname implemented the Third Impact of that world and became God, giving her the power to bring me back. However, it was at the cost of her life. Or at least her spirit because since she became God, she is basically stuck in heaven I guess. Now that I know that, I have come to this world to do the exact same thing she had done on her world, to become God, and thus, having the power to bring her back. Of course, since I had prevented the Second Impact on this world in a previous life, I would technically be causing the Second Impact instead of that Third Impact,"
Asuka's eyes widened in absolute shock. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, "So that was the reason for you going clothes shopping. You were preparing for your trip to Antarctica because that is where Adam and been placed,"
He nodded, "Yes. That's correct,"
Asuka reached out and grabbed his arm, "N-no, you can't do that! Who knows what could possibly happen!"
Ranma shook his head, "No, I have to do this. I know everything will turn out just fine if I succeed. As to how I know? Well, there's this puzzle that bothered me ever since I first heard it. It deals with what I had learn from your other self a while back, before my world got attack by Angels. It has to deal with entropy..."
On Ranma's homeworld. During a time long before the Angels attacked Ranma's homeworld where he had been forced to ask Taro and Herb and Saffron and others for help and where he ultimately died fighting off.
During this time, Ranma and Asuka came home after seeing a movie. "That was a good movie," Asuka commented.
"Um, you already mentioned that on the way home," Ranma chuckled, "Didja forget we had that conversation a few minutes ago? I mean, you said it was good, I said I disliked it. You asked why. I told you,"
Asuka glared at Ranma, getting angry, "I'm just trying to make conversation,"
"And you're failing," he smirked. He sat down on the couch, putting his feet on the table. He grinned and added, "You ain't my mother. Don't tell me that I can't put my feet on my coffee table,"
"I wasn't going to say anything," Asuka said, snorting in contempt. She was beginning to wish she had never went with Ranma to the movies. She looked at Ranma's feet and noticed that her school books where on the table and his feet were on them.
Ranma followed Asuka's gaze and notice his feet resting on several of Asuka's school books. He placed his feet back down on the floor. Asuka quickly reached for the books but Ranma reached them first.
He picked the books up and and gazed at it. His eyes narrowed on the first book as he slowly read the title.
"Physics. English Literature. H-human sexuality?" he said, eyes raising as he read the last book. "My, how interesting,"
Asuka blushed. She was hoping Ranma wasn't going to see that. She quickly retorted, "I-it's none of your business what I learn anyway. Give that book back!" She reached a hand out to grab it but Ranma turned his back toward her. He knew she would not climb over him to grab it.
He opened the book up and started skimming through it.
"Give that back!" Asuka shouted, almost pouting. She found this very embarrassing.
Ranma handed a book back to her.
"That's not the book!" she replied when he gave her her physics book.
He gave her the English Literature one.
"Ranma!"
Ranma chuckled and gave her back her Human Sexuality book. He leaned back against the couch. Asuka just stared at the book that had just been handed to her. She was expecting Ranma to tease her some more about it.
He reached out and grabbed the physics book and started skimming through it. "So, what do you learn in school?" he asked casually. He read a couple of paragraphs, albeit slowly, "This physics stuff sounds interestin',"
Asuka was silent for a moment. She then said, "Um, w-what is it you want to know?"
Ranma pointed toward the picutre, "What's this?"
Asuka leaned forward and looked at the picture, "That's that Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider,"
"What's that?" he asked.
She sighed. It was going to be impossible explaining something like that to Ranma. Ranma hadn't been in school in, what, close to fifty years. She wondered why Ranma even bothered asking about something so complicated.
"Well?" he asked, seemingly interested.
"Have you ever heard of the Big Bang theory?"
Ranma shook his head.
"Ritsuko would probably be better at explaining this," she muttered. She took a deep breath. If Ranma was interested, then Asuka could at least help him out instead of criticize him. "Do you know how the universe was created?"
Ranma thought about it for a moment and then said, "Um, didn't God create it? I remember some religious person telling me that,"
"Well, it's written in the bible that God created the universe, but that's from a religious point of view," she said. "The Big Bang theory is the scientific point of view of how the universe was created. Pretend that before the universe existed, there was pure nothingness. Nothing existed. Now, this Big Bang theory is of how two particles collided into one another, set off a massive explosion, created chain reaction that would eventually lead to the creation of the universe,"
Ranma seemed confused.
"What?" she asked, noticing this.
"Well, if nothing existed, then where did those two particles come from?" he asked. "Something must have crated those particles,"
Asuka's eyes widened a bit. That was a very intelligent question. "Well, that's what scientists can't seem to find out. They have no idea where those particle came from. But basically, they were able to predict the universe all the way up to, I think, the forty seven millionth of a second after the Big Bang,"
"That sounds cool. Now how is this related to that Revelation Collider Of Ions?"
"The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider," Asuka corrected him, smirking a bit. "Ion Collider..." Ranma said to himself. After a moment he snapped his fingers, "Oh, I get it. Ion collider...as in particle collider. That Revalation Collider Thingie is trying to collide ions together to recreate that Big Bang you just mentioned,"
Asuka's eyes widened. She stammered, "Um, y-yeah. T-that's right. Um, you already know about this stuff and are pulling my leg, right?"
Ranma shook his head, "Nope. I've never heard of it before,"
She paused for a moment, "Um, I'm a bit surprised,"
"About what?"
"That you can put it together so easily," she comment. Ranma chuckled a bit, "Well, considering how long I've been around, I guess I learned to put thing together quickly over the many years,"
She cleared her throat and said, "Anyway, you're right. It is used to create the Big Bang. You see, when two ions collide with one another at the speed of light, the Big Bang occurs. It creates this miniscule pocket of extreme heat and density. Basically, the Collider creates something that is more dense than a collapsing star and hotter than a million of our suns,"
"Wow...um, but why?"
"There are these things that can only exist in that atmosphere are called quarks," she said, confident of her intelligence, "And within the quarks, there are these particles that keep quarks attached to one another. They're called glueon quarks. These glueon quarks as so small that you can fit virtually the same number of it on an atom as the number of atoms could fit in this universe,"
"You lost me,"
"I figured," Asuka said, "It's very complicated,"
"I understand this quark and glueon quark, but I don't understand exactly how small a quark is,"
Asuka was shocked. Ranma understood that? It had taken her several times to understand that. It took her longer to understand just how small a quark was. She said, "You know an atom is really small, right? Well, imagine the amount of numbers an atom can fit in this universe. Well, that's basically the amount of quarks that can fit on an atom. That number is also that high when it comes to glueons fitting onto a quark. Pretty small, ne?"
Ranma nodded, "Yep,"
"Y-you understand this stuff now?"
Ranma nodded, "Yep,"
Asuka was shocked. If Ranma wasn't pulling her leg, and he knew nothing about what Asuka had explained before now, then he was one of the brightest people she had ever met. It was clear that at an analytical standpoint, Ranma was as brilliant as Ritsuko and Sylia. It was just his intelligence in all other areas were lacking.
Ranma shrugged his shoulders. He looked at the book and slowly started reading again. Asuka watched him with amusement. After a moment, he pointed toward a word on the book. "What does this mean? Entropy? What's that?"
Asuka shook her head, "It's too complicated,"
"Try me," he said, "I didn't seem to have any problem understanding the Big Bang theory, that...Collider thingie, and what quarks are,"
Asuka shrugged her shoulders. She might as well give Ranma the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he'll surprised her again. She said, "Entropy, by definition, means, an index of the degree in which the total energy of thermodynamic system is uniformly distributed and is thus unavailable for conversion into work. It also means the tendancy for things to move toward chaotic disorder,"
Ranma looked totally confused, "Huh?"
"Drop and egg on the floor, what happens to it?" she asked, coming up with a better way to rephrase it.
"It breaks,"
"Drop a broken egg on the floor, what happens? It'll stay broken. Entropy is basically the chaotic energy released when the egg is broken that can never be replenished or recreated,"
"Like in what kinda energy?"
"Like the sound waves created upon impact, the slight increase of heat created from the impact, all kinds of energy," she said, "Now, once this energy is released, it could never be put back. Because if it could, the egg could become whole again, but that doesn't and won't happen. That's entropy,"
"I'm still confused,"
"About what?" she asked patiently. She found this rather fun, trying to teach Ranma something. But then again, he was extremely bright and seemed to soak in information like a sponge does water.
"Okay, if I drop and egg, it breaks. If I drop the broken egg, it won't form into a whole egg again. This is all due to the release of energy that can never be replenished or recreated," he said, "Well, doesn't that sooner or later, there will be no more energy?"
Asuka nodded, "Yes. And basically, once that does happen-"
"What will happen?" he asked curiously.
"I dunno. I guess that means the end of the universe, of all creation," she said.
"That's terrible," Ranma said. "We hafta find out how to reverse entropy then. I don't like the thought of the universe ending eons from now,"
Asuka smirked, "So what? This world is expected to explode four billion years from now. What do you think we should do about that?" "That's nothing to worry about. For billion years from now, I'm sure mankind will have colonized new worlds," he said, "But, we only have one universe. It's not like we can colonize another universe before this one ends. What can we do? How can we reverse entropy?"
Asuka shrugged shoulders and said, "It's one of the questions that can never be answered, like the meaning of life,"
Ranma joked, "I learned what the meaning of life was, but I forgot to write it down,"
Asuka laughed a bit. That was a rather cleaver statement.
Back onto the world Ranma was on, back in present time, Ranma was finishing his explanation.
"I've been thinking about what your other self had said about reversing entropy and I finally figured it out a short while ago," he said, "With what I know, I'll be able to put everything back as good as new and no one will know the difference. The only difference is that Rei and I will be going back home, to where we belong. From here, I'm heading south as far as I can go. I plan on taking a boat down to Antarctica, just like what I, um, my other self did to prevent the Second Impact,"
"That's insane. You're going to try and cause an Impact?" Asuka said, "Something as ludicrous as that will never work,"
Ranma smirked, "Actually, it did. Rei had succeeded partially. The difference was that she basically had it such that the none of the devastation of causing the Third Impact of our world happened, even though that Impact had occurred. The problem was that she ended up sacrificing herself in the process. Me, I'm going to come back along with her. No one will know it had ever happened," "I-I can't let you do that!" she said, "W-what you're doing is wrong!"
Ranma shook his head, "No, it'll all work out, I'm sure of it,"
"I'm s-sorry, but I'm going to have to t-tell everyone about this..." she said softly, "Y-you're going to have to be stopped..."
He got up out of his seat, "I'm not going to stop you from attempting to stop me. You do what you have to do. I'll do what I have to do,"
"P-please, d-don't do it," she said, tears starting to flow, "I-I don't want to have to d-do it,"
Ranma gave her a sad look, "I'm sorry. But I have to do this,"
Asuka started crying. She didn't care if people were around watching. She was too emotional to stop them from flowing.
He walked forward and gave her a very warm embrace, tucking her closly against his body as she cried against his neck as he said "Asuka, I'm leaving now. This is where we say goodbye. If you really have to do what you have to do, then do it the second I leave this restaurant. If I die trying, then perhaps it was meant to be. The same goes for if I succeed,"
"I-I don't want you to die," she said.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine," he assured her in a soft voice.
"B-before you go, t-there is o-one thing that I must t-tell you," she said, still holding on to him.
"What is it?"
"I...I lov-"
"Shhhh, no need to say it," he said in a very soft voice, "I've always known. Asuka, you take care now,"
He gave her a kiss on the cheek, wiping away her tears with a napkin.
He smiled one last time, remembering what she looked like one last time before he turned around and left the restaurant.
"G-goodbye, R-Ranma..."
"Jeez, I'm the biggest idiot in the world!" Ranma muttered to himself. He was running down the street heading in a southern direction, "I can't believe it! I can't believe I left the bag with my damn winter wear in the restaurant with Asuka!"
Ranma had been running for around two hours before he noticed this. However he decided it was best that he not head back to the restaurant. He would buy some new cloths when he was near the southern docks. Luckily, he remembered what Asuka had taught him to look for in winter wear and what particular fabrics to look for. Besides, Asuka could keep the clothes as a for of momento of the time they had spent together. Sure, she wouldn't really be able to wear them since they would be too large for her, but it shouldn't be all that bad.
"Antarctica, here I come!" Ranma said, continuing to run, getting farther and farther away, eventually disappearing when he was too far away.
Shortly after Ranma had ran by, a taxi could be seen travelling by also. Within the taxi, Asuka peered out the front window.
"God, how the hell is that guy able to run so fast for so long?" the cab driver commented to the pretty young thing sitting in the back seat.
Asuka ignored the question as she continued to gaze out the window.
"R-Ranma, I don't care, I'm coming with you to Antarctica,"
new stuff
Ranma laughed to himself as he thought about just how coincidental it was that he was now on a boat called 'Epsilon II'. What was even more funny was that he bought this boat from the exact same family he had bought from over fifteen years ago. He didn't bother to question the astronomical chance of bumping into that same family, but then again, there had been plenty of times where something happened when the chances indicated that it was impossible.
The boat he was on wasn't all that large, but just large enough for a small family. Despite its size, it was a rather extravagant boat for it had two small bedrooms, one for the couple and the other for the children, a showerstall, and even a tiny kitchen down below deck. All and all, it was a comfortable sailboat.
Two days had passed since he had set out to sea and south toward Antarctica. Two days ago, shortly after having realized he had left his bag in the restaurant, Ranma had quickly bought a boat and his supplies. It didn't take him long to buy his winter wear nor some supplies for the long journey like extra food and water.
He stood near the front of the boat, enjoying the cool sea breeze as it carressed past him. It was a beautiful day and there was nothing but clear skies for as far as the eyes could see.
Knowing that he had a long journey ahead of him as well as a good deal of time in absolute solitude, cut off from human contact, Ranma figured now was a good time to practice some new techniques.
He smiled. Since no one was around for hundreds of miles, he could even throw a few Seppukku blasts in the air without worry of people seeing it. The last thing he wanted was for people to be aware of what he had intended to do. Of course, he knew that he shouldn't have told Asuka the truth since it was inevitable that she would tell all the others and there will eventaully be a ocean-wide man-hunt for him, but what was the fun in keeping it a secret? Although he wouldn't mind reaching his destination with no obstacle in the way, deep down inside, he kind of hoped that there would be more of an adventure. Afterall, he still loved adventure.
"As long as people don't get hurt, I don't care what they throw at me," he said to himself. He wondered how long it would be before he would most likely be battling against the entire Japanese Navy.
Of course, he wasn't all that worried, at least not that much, not nearly as much had he been about 15 years or so younger and less experienced. He had fought off the Japanese Army back on the other world with little effort and this was before he became more battle hardened from fighting Angels. "They're gonna be in for a surprise," he smirked, already coming up with plans to thwart the Navy from getting close to him. If the Navy tried to attack him by boat, he could shoot them down before they can get close to him since he could see and shoot a ki-blast much father than a cannon can fire. If he were to be attacked by air, his 'Hiryu Shoten Ha' can easily knock the planes out of the sky without risking the pilots' lives. If attacked by sub, he could easily blow up the incoming torpedos before they struck him. And, last but not least, god forbid, they choose to drop some kind of bomb within his vicinity, he could use his AT field to keep the blast at bay so it wouldn't consume the ship.
Ranma smiled. Although it was a rather vague plan, it was nonetheless, an effective one. All he had to do was find out exactly how effective.
He laughed, "Ha ha, even if they DO manage to blow up my ship, I'll just fly the rest of the way,"
The very next day, Ranma was in for a surprise. Although he had a plan to fend off the Navy, he didn't have one to fend of nature.
Ranma was awoken from his slumber at around two in the morning when the ship listed precariously toward one side. He muttered under his breath as he realized that the sails of the ship was still up and that they would rip. On any other given day, he would had most likely lowered the sails when he was about to go below deck to get some sleep, however, he had merely been curious to see where he would end up had he not put them down when he woke up the next morning.
He headed up deck and was a bit surprised at just how violent a storm it was. The water crashed against the side of the boat from both sides, causing it to list back and forth, to and fro, the winds hitting the sails further amplifying the listing of the boat.
Ranma was soaked within seconds of emerging from below deck as he quickly made his way to one of the sails and quickly lowered it. Once that was lowered, he proceeded to the other side of the boat to lower the last remaining two sails. After finally lowering and securing the sails in place, he proceeded to head back below deck, knowing that there was nothing much he could do except wait for the storm to blow over.
As he headed toward the tiny doorway leading below deck, one of the poles of the sails seemed to have come undone from its bindings and swung in a wide arc over the side of the boat and back around the other side.
Although Ranma was in the swinging pole's direct path, he didn't get hit by it for he skillfully ducked below it.
He laughed, "Gee, what a coincidence, I almost got knocked overboard like the other time around fifteen years ago on this world,"
He secured the pole back in its binding before proceeding toward the doorway. Before he made it to the door, the boat was struck hard from the side and tipped toward the side at a forty five degrees angle, causing Ranma to lose his balance.
Before he actually went overboard, Ranma had reached out and grabbed one of the railings on the side of the boat just as he flipped over. Although he slammed pretty hard into the side of the boat, he was in no danger of actually falling into the water.
As the boat continued to rock back and forth, Ranma hung by one hand over the side of the boat, his back pressed against the boat's side as he simply peered straight ahead out toward the ocean.
As he held on, he laughed. He couldn't believe how much he had changed over such a short period of time. Back then, if he found himself in a predicament such as the one he was in right now, he would had most likely tried to pull himself back up and back up to the safety of the deck.
However, despite only holding on by his fingertips, he wasn't even all that scared. Actually, he found it rather funny. He knew that even if he fell overboard, he was more than capable of swimming to the back of the boat where he would get back up onto the deck without expending even a fraction of his energy. He was just that much better than his former self.
Ranma looked down at the water as it crashed against the sides of the boat, further drenching him, before figuring that he had enough fun and should get back under deck.
With one arm, he flipped his entire body upward where he landed skillfully on the deck. Just as he landed, he was struck by the same pole that had come loose from his bindings.
Instead of getting thrown overboard, he instictively grabbed onto the pole where he swung outward in a wide arc over the side of the boat where it seemed to stop swining.
Ranma sighed. He had been expecting to hold onto the pole until it had swung all the way around the boat where he would put his feet back on the deck again, only to realize it stopped halfway, while directly above the water over the side fo the boad.
"Just my luck," he muttered, looking at the water below.
He casually swung his entire body a could of times where he then released his hold and used his momentum to propel himself up into the air where he landed skillfully on the pole.
As he stood there, the pole seemed to start swinging wildely as the boat also continued to pitch back and forth.
That didn't seem to both him as he merely stood in place, as if he were actually a part of the pole as it continued to swing back and forth. It was an odd sight, seeing how Ranma was standing on the swinging pole with no support yet it looking as if he was an actual part of the pole itself.
He continued to stand where he was, looking straight out toward the sea, waiting patiently for the pole to eventually swing all the way around and over the deck where he would then hope off. However, he never had the chance to do so for he heard someone call out his name, even over the roar of the crashing waves.
"Ranma!" came a shriek.
Ranma turned toward where the voice had come from. It only took a fraction of a second before he realized who was standing by the tiny doorway peering out straight toward him.
It was a terrified Asuka.
"What the?" was all he could say, shocked to be seeing her there.
The brief moment of distraction had caused Ranma to lose his balace, causing him to slip off the pole. Unfortunately, he slipped off the pole in the worst possible way for one foot slipped of one side of the pole while the other foot slipped of the other side.
Ranma landed on the pole right between his legs. He let out a yelp of pain as he clutched at his groin just as he fell into the dark water below.
Asuka shouted out Ranma's name again as she saw him fall overboard and plunge into the water. Not knowing what to do, she quickly ran out into the pouring rain, and up to the side, leaning against the railing and peering down at the spot in the water where Ranma had fallen into.
"Ranma!" she shouted, extremely frightened.
Her heart was racing as she shouted for him several times. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to jump overboard herself to go after him, but she knew she wouldn't last more than a minute in that freezing cold water and that even if she did manage to get a hold on him, she had no idea how she would get back onto the boat.
As she shouted his name, Ranma quickly surfaced.
"R-R-Ranma! A-are y-you okay?" she shouted.
Ranma looked up toward Asuka as he swum in place. He wasn't even so much as gasping for breath or shivering from the cold.
He gave her a nod as he said, "Yeah, I'm fine. The water is a bit cold, but I'm fine. What the heck are you doing here?"
"W-we have to get you out of the water!" she shouted, ignoring his question. She would allow herself to be scolded by him later. But first, she had to get him out fo the water before hypothermia started to set in.
"I hear ya," Ranma said, "There's a rope right by where you're standing, just tie one end to the railing and throw the other end toward me. I'll climb my way out,"
Asuka looked down toward her feet where she saw a coiled up bundle of rope. She quickly did as she was told, proceeding to tie one end to the railing. Unfortunately, as she was using her hands to tie the end to the railing, she had no firm grasp of anything stationary when a massive wave crashed against the boat from the other side, causing it to leaned forward a great deal, Asuka ending up tumbling forward and right into the water with Ranma.
The icy cold water felt like a thousand needles sticking into her at once as she felt herself become completely submerged. She fought to hold her breath as she struggled to swim toward the surface, immediately realizing that she was losing her energy and fast.
In the few seconds when she fell overboard, Asuka felt her energy leaving her at such a fast rate she she immediately realized that she would not be able to stay afloat for more than a minute before she passed out from the cold and from exhaustion.
As she struggled to stay afloat, trying to cough up the water she had swallowed, she felt Ranma grab onto her from behind.
"It's all right," his voice sounded too good to be true, "I've got you. You're gonna be okay,"
Asuka quickly turned around to face him, grabbing onto him tightly, wrapping her arms up and around the back of his neck, burying her head deep against the crook of his neck and shoulder.
Ranma's lips became a thin line as he could feel her shivering as she hugged his body tightly. It finally dawned on him just how cold the water was and the effect it was having on Asuka. Just because he wasn't effected by the cold that much doesn't mean others aren't either.
He quickly swam toward the side of the boat where the rope was dangling. Luckily, Asuka had managed to secure the line to the railing just moments before she was tossed overboard.
With one hand holding tightly onto Asuka, Ranma used his free hand to grab the rope and pull himself up and a bit out of the water before planting his feet on the side of the boat and proceed walk up the side. Much like the way a rock climber to repel down the side of a cliff, Ranma was doing something similar but using only one arm and proceeding upwards instead.
When Ranma got Asuka up and onto the deck, he quickly carried her below deck and straight toward the bedroom. He relized that he he didn't get Asuka warmed up quickly she could die of hypothermia.
He glanced down at her, his visage turning to that of shock when he realized Asuka was unconscious.
"Oh shit!" he said. He quickly made his way into the bedroom where he lied her down, immediately checking her neck for a pulse.
There was none.
"How can that be? We were in the water of no more than two minutes!" he stammered. He didn't bother to answer his own question as he proceeded to administor his own version of CPR. He sat her upright so that she was facing him. He pinched her nose shut as he brought his lips up against hers and blew a deep breath into her mouth.
Once that was done, he quickly turned her around so that her back was facing him. He extended both hands outward so that they were pressing against the back of her neck.
He closed his eyes as he started to glow while slowly brining his shoulders down the length of her spine toward the small of her back before proceeding to move the back up toward the neck area. Once up to the neck area, he started moving his hands back down.
Once his hands reached the center of her back, his hands gave a quick thrust forward.
The moment Ranma did that, Asuka keeled forward over the side of the bed, coughing out a large quantity of water. Ranma continughed to rub her back as she coughed and coughted all the water from her lungs.
"A-are you okay?" he asked, concern in his voice. He was very glad that she was breathing on her own again. However, there was a big chance she wasn't out of the woods yet. All he had done was make her unconsciously cough all the water from her lungs.
After she finished coughing, she stopped where she was, still keeled forward, unmoving.
"Damn," he muttered. He was afraid of that. Hypothermia had already set in and she had already gone into shock. Her skin was pale as can be and it looked like she was a ghost. He checked her eyes and noticed they had this glassy look to them.
Ranma shrugged. There was only one way to deal with hypothermia and that was to get her out of her wet clothes and warmed up as soon as possible.
"God, she's gonna kill me when she wakes up," Ranma muttered as he took off all of her clothes, even her bra and panties. Once she was totally naked in front of him, he carefully laid her down on the bed and proceeded to take off his own clothes. He removed all of his clothes except for his boxers.
He closed his eyes and allowed his aura to blaze to life which immediately dried as well as warmed him up to normal temperature since the cold water has caused his skin to become cold to the touch. Once he was satisfied that he was back to his normal warm body temperature, he climbed into bed with her. He had her facing away from him as he pressed his entire body up against her back, intertwining his legs with hers, wrapping one arm around her side, resting it nearby her stomach while the other was being used as a pillow to keep her head close to his, his hand resting by her collarbone Knowing that there was nothing much else he could do but wait, he closed his eyes, holding Asuka very close to him. Feeling a bit tired from the excitement, he figured he might as well get some sleep since he was going to be in this position for at least a few hours.
Before he felt asleep, he whispered into her hear, "I don't know why you're here, but I'm glad you're okay,"
Asuka felt something pressing against her rear end.
She opened her eyes, a bit disoriented and unable to discern her surroundings. All she knew was that she was in a bed. However, that didn't matter at the moment, because something was pressing against her rear end.
She reached her hand behind her and grabbed at it to move it away, whatever it was. However, the very second her hand closed on it, a voice shouted into her ear.
"Ow ow ow ow! W-watch what you're g-grabbing there!" Ranma gasped as he felt his manhood being squeezed hard. The fabric of his boxers didn't help protect him one bit.
Asuka, realizing that she wasn't alone in bed, quickly released her grip and shot upright. She turned her attention toward where the voice had come from. It only took a fraction of a second before she realized that there was a man in bed with her.
"Eeeeeekkkkk!" she screamed, thrashing her hands out at the man.
Ranma ignored the reigning blows as he climbed out of bed, rubbing at his groin area. He looked like he was in pain.
After a moment, Asuka realized that she recognized the man standing at the foot of the bed.
"R-Ranma?" she asked.
He nodded, "Who else didja think?"
He rubbed himself a couple of times, wincing a bit. He was still a bit sore from what had happened above and how he had fallen on that pole totally wrong.
Asuka took a moment to gather her thoughts. She couldn't quite remember everything, like how she had gotten there in bed with him. The last thing she could remember was falling into the freezing cold water after barly managing to tie that rope onto the railing.
She gasped, "I-I fell into the water,"
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. However, it seems like you're all right now,"
He gave his package one more inspection before feeling satisfyed that he was okay. He looked back up at her and then gave her a smirk, "Um, ya might wanna cover yourself up,"
Asuka looked down. When she did, she finally realized she was totally naked. What was even more embarrassing was the way she was sitting upright in the bed. Because she hadn't recognized Ranma at first, her blankets and fallen off and onto the ground while she was attacking him. It also didn't help that she had sat upright with her legs spread wide apart, which meant Ranma had a perfect view of her...
"Eeeeekkk! I'm naked!" she shouted, trying to cover herself, much to no avail. It was too bad she didn't even realize that there was a large blanket just over the side of the bed if she bothered to look. Instead, she tried to use one hand to cover her private area and her other to cover her breasts as she sat uncomfortably on the bed.
"Relax," Ranma said, with a dismissive wave of the hand, showing no signs of awkwardness from seeing her naked, "It's not like I haven't seen you naked before,"
"Where's my clothes!" she asked.
"It's in the other room drying," he answered.
"Get me my clothes!" she shouted.
"They're still wet," he said. He reached down and picked up the blanket and gave it to her. She promptly covered herself up, bringing the blankets high up on her, all the way up to her neck.
She looked mortified.
Ranma let out an annoyed breath, "Didn't ya hear what I said? It doesn't matter to me if you're naked or not. It's not like I haven't seen you naked before. Jeez, I washed you while you were unconscious for god's sake,"
"W-w-what?" her eyes widened.
"I washed you," he said, "You know, the thing where you use a sponge? I used a sponge on you. I was every part of your body so there's nothing you have that I haven't seen yet,"
"W-what? H-how? W-why? W-when..." she began stammering.
Ranma sighed, "To make a long story short, you reeked because you hadn't taken a shower in three days, so I washed you while you were unconscious,"
"Y-you didn't," Asuka seemed to be in a state of shock.
Ranma started showing signs of anger, "Hello? Are you there? Am I getting through to you? I've seen you naked plenty of times. It doesn't bother me. There's no need to be embarrassed about it,"
"That's not the point!"
"Look," Ranma sighed, not wanting to argue, "To ease your mind, I swear to God I did not take advantage of you while you were unconscious. You don't have anything to worry about,"
"Hmph! I don't believe you,"
"All right, fine, I confess," Ranma said, throwing his hands up in defeat, "While I was washing you, I didn't use a sponge. And I paid extra attention to your private area when washing it. And even though I didn't use a sponge, it doesn't necessarily mean I used my hands either, if you catch my drift,"
Asuka's eyes widened in disbelief, this horrible blush coming to her check.
Ranma's eyes widened as she suddened realized that Asuka seemed to truly believe what he had just said to be the truth.
"What the hell is wrong with you? You really believe that?" he said, "Jeez, you're more gullible than I thought,"
Asuka continued to blush. She looked down toward where her private area would be beneath the blankets.
"Get your head outta the freaking gutter!" Ranma shouted.
Asuka snapped out of her tiny reverie. With her mind now clear, she was able to take in her surroundings and look at things more clearly and perhaps be able to ask some questions, like the fact that she was naked and she didn't know why.
Now that she was very aware that she was totally naked, she was able to take in a few more other bits of information, like the fact that Ranma was wearing only his boxers.
"Y-y-you're almost n-naked!"
"You think?" Ranma said sarcastically, "Gee, I never knew that. Wow, nothing seems to escape your grasp, huh?"
Asuka narrowed her eyes at him.
"Before you go jumping to conclusions," he said, "Neither of us are dressed because you went into hypothermic shock after you fell into the water. I even had to administor CPR to revive you,"
"I g-got hypothemia?" she asked.
He nodded, "Yeah, I was merely warming you up. Nothing more, nothing less. And frankly speaking, I don't appreciate your way of saying 'Thank you' when you grabbed me like that,"
Asuka blushed. She had this funny feeling what she had grabbed earlier wasn't something as simple as his arm.
Ranma continued on, "Anyway, you went into hypothermic shock. That's why I was in bed with you. I was trying to warm you up," "How long was I out?"
"Three days, we've been basically hovering here in the same place since then because I've gotta figure out what the heck to do with you," he said, "You're not supposed to be here,"
Asuka was silent.
"Now, my turn," he said, "Now that you're awake, perhaps you can answer a few question I have of my own. Like, why are you here?"
Asuka remained silent.
He narrowed his eyes toward her, "Well? I'm waiting..."
"Um, I wanted to return the stuff you left behind at the restaurant," she quickly said. All in all, that was the truth, at least partially. The other part was simply seeing him again. Sure, he looked rather angry at her right now, but he was still a nice guy to know in her book.
Ranma scratched his head, "My stuff? Oh, you mean my winter wear? Don't worry about it, you can keep it. Another question I have is, how the heck did you manage to keep yourself hidden for three days on this boat without my noticing it?"
"Um," Asuka blushed a bit, "I stayed in the other bedroom. Since you seemed to have stored the extra water and food in there, there was no reason for me to leave, unless I needed to goto the bathroom,"
Ranma said, "You grabbed stuff from the fridge, right?"
She nodded after a moment, only some bottled water.
"That kinda makes sense," he said, rubbing his chin as if slowly putting a puzzle together, "I remember noticing that there was one less bottle in there a day after I started sailing. At first, I didn't think much of it but it started to make me wonder. Eventually, I gave up trying to figure that mystery out and went about my business,"
"During the storm," Asuka continued, "When the boat kept on rocking so much back and forth, curiosity got the better of me. I basically wanted to see what was going on topside. When I got near the deck, I noticed you on the pole and all..."
"And I guess you panicked and thought I was about to fall overboard," he said.
She nodded.
After a moment of quiet contemplation, he shrugged.
"Well, that doesn't matter now," he said, "All that matters is that you're now all right,"
Asuka blushed.
"Now that you're okay," he said, "You're fit to be sent back home,"
"W-what?" she gasped, "Go back home? W-why?"
"Hello? Do you really, honest to goodness, believe that I was going to allow you to come along with me to Antarctica?" he asked, "I know you're aware of what I'm planning to do. Why on earth would ya wanna accompany me there?"
She stayed quiet. She felt embarrassed to say that she really liked his company and believed any trip anywhere with him wouldn't be all that bad, even if it was to Antarctica.
"I hope you're not trying to tag along simply because you like me," he narrowed his eyes.
"N-no. O-of course not," she quickly said.
He shrugged again, "Well, the point is moot because I'm gonna take you home,"
He walked over to this tiny draw by the corner of the tiny bedroom and fished out a mirror. He casted her a glance and noticed the reluctance she had toward going back home. There was no indication that she didn't want to go home. Rather, it seemed she wanted to stay more than go home.
"There's no reason for you to come along," he commented, wondering if there perhaps was one that he missed, "It's Antarctica for God's sake. I went there once before with your other self and she was barely able to tought it out. What makes you think you can also?"
"Well..." she tried to say. She started thinking about it some more. Perhaps tagging along with him wasn't all that good an idea. It seemed rather nice at first but after more thought, it seemed like a rather irrational thing for her to have done. She never did stuff like this, ever. Could she be that lovesick that it messed up her sense of rationality?
"I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to come along," he said, "Right off the bat, it's going to be really dangerous. I can't risk having you get hurt,"
"I can take care of myself,"
"I'm sure you can, but that isn't the point," he said, "The point is that you're trying to tag along and go somewhere where you have absolutely no reason to go,"
"And just how do you expect to get me home?" she asked, "You're just going to turn around and sail all the way back? Aren't we about a week out to sea?"
Ranma shook his head, "Actually, we're about three or four days. The other few days was spent basically floating in the same place while I waited for you to get better. However, that's not how I'm gonna getcha home,"
He gestured toward the mirror in his hand, "Y'see this mirror here?"
She nodded.
"This called the nanban mirror," he said, "It's got special properties and allows for me to travel not only through time, but to anywhere I wish. That's how I got to this world, by use of this mirror. I'll simply use this mirror to send you back to Tokyo. Heck, I'll even have it where you get put back at around the exact time I had left that restaurant so that no one will be out looking for you since I'm sure people are looking for you right now since you've been missing for about a week,"
Asuka quickly said, "But I don't want to go home,"
"Why? Why don't you want to go home?"
She was about to say something but quickly closed her mouth, a bit embarrassed. She was silent for several moments before she seemed to muster enough courage to say what was on her mind.
"B-because I'd rather be with you," she said, "I-I really l-like being with you,"
Ranma became very quiet. He was very surprised that Asuka had said that. He was aware of her seemingly having a crush on him but had never expected her to like him enough to actually say so. He never anticipated the other Asuka to say that.
He regarded her for a short moment, giving her a soft smile. As he looked over her, he started to realize that, in a way, this Asuka and the other one were not all that similar. The one standing before him had never been an EVA pilot, had probably never suffered through the loss of her parents, had never been out there in the heat of battle fighting for her life against the Angels. Asuka blushed a bit, nervous from Ranma's intent and scrutinizing gaze. After a moment, she turned her gaze away.
Ranma smiled again. When he noticed her turn away, he started to believe she was more different than the other Asuka than he had anticipated. This Asuka seemed a bit more shy, somewhat timid, and to an extent, almost meek. There seemed to be quite a difference in how a way a person was raised could effect the person they would later become.
"I-if you can use the mirror to send me back home and to a time as if I had never left," she said, "Then why don't you just let me stick around? W-when things get too much, you can always send me home then,"
Ranma laughed. That was very true. He remembered clearly that he had no objections to being with the other Asuka, knowing they were going to Antarctica, simply because he knew that at any point in time, he could use the mirror to go back home and be there a second later.
"What? Why are you laughing?" she asked, not really knowing if he was laughing at her suggestion.
"All right, fine," he said, "I'll let you come along,"
Asuka eyes widened, "R-really?"
"However, the moment I feel that you're in any danger from my allowing you to tag along, I'm sending you home, no questions asked," he said, "We got a deal?"
Asuka nodded eagerly.
Ranma became surprised once again. He had figured Asuka would at least add something. Something like 'Well, you won't have anything to worry about because I can take care of myself,'
Figuring he should change the subject, Ranma said, "Just wait here for a moment. I'll go get you a pair of clothes. Your clothes are still drying so you can wear some of mine," He left the room before Asuka had a chance to reply.
Now alone in the bedroom, Asuka had time to ponder on what think about what she was getting into. She was going to Antarctica. And what was even more amazing was that even though she was going there, when she got back home, no time would have elapsed so no one would have ever known she would had left.
Ranma entered the room, now dressed in clothes, and placed a pile of clothes at the foot of the bed.
She looked down at it and then back up at Ranma. "Oh, sorry, I'll leave you alone," he said.
He headed out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Once he was gone, Asuka felt a bit better, but not by much. She didn't really know if she should be wearing Ranma's clothes. Ranma was much larger than her and she was sure his clothes wouldn't fit. She blushed as she suddenly realized that she would be wearing Ranma's clothes and that there was basically nothing she could do about it. However, it was a lot better wearing his clothes than not wearing any clothing at all.
She got up out of the bed and grabbed the shirt lying on the top of the pile. She held the shirt out in front of her and realized that it was much too large for her. Knowing that there was nothing she could do about it, she threw the shirt on. She blushed again as she noticed Ranma's scent on the shirt. There was this faint smell of shaving cream and perspiration, as if he had thrown this shirt on one morning, shaved, and then went about hoisting the sails before realizing that wearing a shirt was not necessary since he would soak it with sweat had hrown it off ever since.
The smell of Ranma's shirt almost made Asuka lightheaded. However, she quickly regained her composure as she realized other aspects of that shirt.
She noticed that her hands didn't even reach the end of the sleeves, that not even her fingertips could be seen even with her arm extended fully. Not only that but the neck line of the shirt was rather large, sagging low in the front and showing off quite a bit of her cleavage. The shirt was so large she was basically swimming in it. However, there was a benefit to the shirt being so large. The shirt fell down close to her mid thigh, covering a good part of her lower body pretty well. The shirt was large enough that it was almost akin to a short one-piece skirt she might wear. She smiled. The shirt reminded her of the over-sized sweatshirt she used as pajamas.
She turned her attention back toward the pile of clothes. Her jaws dropped when she realized that there were only two more articles of clothing, and that the pants she wanted to grab a hold of was sitting below something else.
A pair of Ranma's underwear was sitting on top.
She blushed this horrible shade of red as she glanced down at the pair of boxers lying on top of the folded pants. Her heart was racing as she realized that she didn't know what to do. She could feel heat rushing to her cheeks as she realized she was staring at them longer than any girl was supposed to look.
"I-I can't wear those!" she said to herself in embarrassment. In a way, the situation laid out before her was extremely awkward. She already had decided that she wasn't wearing Ranma's underwear and that she wouldn't so much as touch them. Afterall, a girl shouldn't touch a guy's underwear. Who knows what kind of hentai thoughts might pop up into their thoughts?
She gulped as she glanced at the pair of boxers, knowing full well that she would not be able to get to the pair of pants lying below them if she didn't move his underwear out of the way first.
She smirked as she realized that there was a way around that.
She reached down and picked up the blanket and used to pick up Ranma's underwear and move it aside.
She breathed a sigh of relief when the underear was away from her. With that problem solved, she picked up the folded pants and put them on. It didn't take more than a second before she realized she would not be able to wear them. She had a puny 21 inch waist and the pants had at least 30 a inches waist. It was way too large for her. It also didn't help that there was no string or belt she could use to hold them up for the moment she released her hold of the pants, they felt right down her legs and to her ankles.
"Damn," she said, "Well, I shouldn't be surprised though,"
She wasn't all that upset. She could simply wear the shirt for now and change into her own clothes once they were dry.
Up on deck, Ranma was doing nothing. It was a morning, nearing eleven. Ranma was bored as he waited for Asuka.
"Jeez, how freaking long does it take a girl to put on a pair of underwear, a shirt, and a pair of pants?" Ranma muttered.
Asuka emerged from below deck.
"It's about time," he said, "I was about to come down a dress you myself if you took any longer," He regarded her for a short moment before he realized she wasn't wearing any pants, that her slender legs were in clear view.
"Hey, why aren't you wearing any pants?" he asked.
"Um, they're too big,"
"Why, what size waist are you?" he asked, "21, 22, 23?"
"21," she replied, "Your pants are about 9 inches too large,"
"Hm, I guess it wouldn't had been that bad if I bought 28 inch pants like I usually do," Ranma commented.
"You have a 28 inch waist?" Asuka was surprised. The average male waist was around 34 and anything less than that generally meant two things. It meant the guy was either skinny, or in shape. Since Ranma obviously wasn't skinny, he must be in a lot better shape than she thought. He nodded, "Yeah, I guess that's one of the benefits of keeping in shape,"
Asuka wondered to herslef, "Hm, I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. He was in shape enough to run the whole distance from Tokyo to the harbor without stopping once to catch his breath,"
Ranma walked up to her, "Hm, that shirt looks rather nice on you. It looks like pajamas on you,"
"Um, thanks," she said with a blush.
A strong gust of wind blew across the top of the ship, the sails becoming taut. However, the wind also blew the bottom of Asuka's shirt high enough for Ranma to notice the tell-tale sign that she wasn't wearing anything else below.
Asuka blushed horribly as she quickly grabbed the front lower portion of her shirt and pulled it back down. However, she knew it had been too late.
All Ranma did was give her a slight smirk.
"H-how much did you see?" Asuka quickly asked.
"Nothing I didn't see that you didn't show me when you were sitting on the bed with your legs wide apart just a short while ago," came his reply.
Asuka felt like she was going to cry from embarrassment. She was so utterly mortified.
When Ranma noticed how vulnerable she looked, he almost wanted to kick himself for having said that. This wasn't the same Asuka he knew. He shouldn't be treating her as if she was. He shouldn't be saying stuff like that, expecting to get a rise out of her like he did with the other one.
"Look, I'm sorry," he said in a soft voice, "I guess I shouldn't have said that. However, just don't feel so embarrassed. It couldn't be helped,"
Asuka said nothing, just staring at him, seemingly at the verge of tears, as if still awaiting some more comforting words to say everything was all right.
"Jeez, you shouldn't get all bent outta shape about something like this any. You'll die early. You shouldn't be ashamed of your body anyway," Ranma gave a dismissive shrug, "You look fine to me. Jeez, I wonder if females in general feel all insecure and crap about their bodies. I don't see the big deal,"
Asuka gave a brief smile. She didn't know why, but that felt nice. She was sure Ranma had just complimented her, even if it was in a bumbling way. She was sure he had said it out of annoyance, but it felt even more endearing that he had complimented her like that without even realizing it. "Look, what's done is done," Ranma said, "Let's just move on. And right now, I'm hungry. I'm going down below deck to make some lunch. Ya want anything?"
"Um, yeah, I guess," she said. "All right," he said.
Ranma disappeared below deck, leaving Asuka alone once again.
Not really knowing what to do, she walked over toward the side of the boat and looked over the side toward the water below. The sea was calm and it was a beautiful day out. It was also pretty warm too.
This was the first time she had been able to glance out at sea since she had stowed away on board. She was able to see the curve of the Earth on the distant horizon. There was nothing but water in every direction. It made her realize just how alone the two of them were out there on the ocean. Suddenly, she realized something. She and Ranma were the only ones on the boat, which was far out to see, probably hundreds of miles from the nearest boat.
"Ranma," she called for him.
"Yeah?" Ranma's head popped up by the doorway.
"Um, how long are we going to be on this boat?" she asked curiously.
"About three more weeks if we make good time," he said, "The trip takes about a month and a week has already passed,"
"A-a month?" Asuka's eyes widened, "I figure we would arrive at the destination in a day or so,"
Ranma laughed, "Sorry, but that's not possible. We're gonna be on this boat for at least three weeks. If you're having doubts about the trip, I can always take you home then,"
Asuka quickly shook her head, "No, I don't want to go home,"
"Well, I might as well tell you what is in store," he said, "For about three or four more days, we're going to have nice weather. And from then on, it'll only start getting colder and colder. Luckily, you brought along all that winter wear that I had forgotten. Otherwise, there is no way you would be able to come along. I wouldn't have even given your suggestion a consideration because you'll freeze to death before we even touch down on Antarctica. You can use the extra clothes to keep warm,"
"But the clothes are for your size. They don't fit me," she said, gesturing toward the shirt she was wearing. "Don't worry about it," he said, "We can alter it to fit you. I bought one of those 'survival packs' before I left and I'm sure there is a sewing needle in there,"
"I don't know how to sew," she commented, a bit embarrassed. She found it odd that she didn't feel all that embarrassed to tell him that.
"Don't worry about it," he said, "I do,"
"You know how to sew?" Asuka seemed a bit surprised.
Ranma smiled, "Yes, I do. I know a lot of stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if I forgot more than people actually learned," His stomach grumbled, "We can talk later. We have three weeks of that since there isn't much to do on this boat but talk and keep each other company. Right now, I'm hungry and I want to eat,"
He disappeared back below deck.
Ranma and Asuka ate lunch together up on deck. They chatted about nothing in particular, Asuka asking him bascially the same questions the other Asuka had asked back then. They indulged in conversation Ranma found very familiar yet was very new to Asuka. It felt very much like d j vu to Ranma since he found himself talking about things he had talked about with the other Asuka on this world about fifteen years ago.
Although the conversation was a bit familiar to Ranma, it wasn't all that similar. Ranma had kept away from making even a single teasing remark, figuring it would upset and embarrass her more rather than get her riled up.
"Ya know what's weird? It's really odd how I'm doing something my other self had done about fifteen years ago on this world. It's all very familiar yet different," Ranma commented.
"How so?" she asked.
"To me, I've already done this," he said, "I've had converstations very very similar to this, however, it's also very very different. What I find odd is that despite my doing things almost exactly like I did back then, I'm also going about it differently. For instance, like when I fell overboard. I remember I fell overboard and managed to get myself back onboard but had totally exhausted myself in the process. Well, I ended up overboard once again this time around, and even had to fish you out, but I wasn't even winded. I'm just a bit surprised at how far I've come, that's all,"
"Oh," she said.
"I guess it's all because of what I had gone through," he commented.
"I guess you must had gone through quite a lot," she said.
He nodded, "Yeah. It also brings up another subject,"
"And what is that?"
"How much someone goes through could change someone," he said, "I bring this up because I have come to the conclusion that although you and the other Asuka I know are the same, you're both different. I guess it's because of how you grew up. I guess the underlying traits and personalities are there, but exactly how much a particular trait shows is probably all because of what the person goes through,"
"Well, that goes without saying," she said, "There are instances where identical twins are separated and later reunited. Since they're identical, they are expected to grow up to basically act exactly like one another. However, depending on what they had to go through as they grew up, they could grow up very differently,"
Ranma shrugged, "I guess you have a point there. It's just that there was a turning point in my life that made me the way I am. I merely wonder how it would have been had that incident never happened?"
"If you don't mind my asking, what incident are you talking about? What could had changed you so much that makes you question how you might have turned out?" she asked curiously.
"Well, a long time ago, my friends and family were killed," he said, "I wasn't able to save them,"
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," she said sympathetically.
"That is the turning point in my life," he said, "I wonder what would happned had that not had happened. I wonder how I would have turned out,"
"Well, you what about that mirror of yours?" she asked, "If it gives you the ability to travel to different times, what's to stop you from going back to that time and preventing that incident from happening?"
Ranma thought about it for a moment, "No. I told myself I would never do something like that. What was done is done. It can't be changed. Even if I did do that, it'll never change the fact that I had gone through what I had gone through. There will be an alternate timeline, but that's it,"
"But you changed our world," Asuka said, "What would had happened had you not intervened? Think about that. I'm sure this timeline is far better off had you not intervened. I'm sure if you did the same and prevented you friends and family from being killed, everything would turned out for the better,"
Ranma was silent, deep in thought. Asuka noticed that she was getting to him.
"I'm sure you're much more powerful than you were back then," she continued, "Even though you coudln't stop it back then when you were younger, what makes you think that you can't stop it now in your present condition?"
Ranma gave a quick laugh, as if he was fighting back a surge of emotions trying to envelop him.
"You know what's funny?" he said, "The 'boomers', these machines, like robots, that killed my friends and family...at that time and age, were no more powerful than a standard 'housemaid' boomer found around Japan about thirty plus years after I came back from my training trip. They were unstoppable simply because bullets didn't effect them. That was all,"
Asuka regarded him intently. He looked like he was in pain thinking about it, making her realize that she should not press the subject much further and leave well enough alone. Ranma was silent for a minute before say, "But that's all in the past..." "You don't know how to sail, right?" Ranma asked from out of the blue. Ranma was at the steering wheel of the boat and Asuka was standing closeby, gazing out at sea. It was only around five in the afternoon.
Asuka, now clad in her own clothes, turned around to face him, leaning up against the railing.
"No, not really," she said, "But how hard could it be? It's like driving a car, right?"
Ranma nodded, "Yeah,"
He gestured toward the wheel, "Here, why don't you take a crack at steering? It's not hard at all. All you have to do is keep the ship sailing straight, that's all,"
Asuka shrugged. She walked up to the wheel and took hold of it as Ranma stepped back. As he watched her, he smiled a bit, wondering how much this Asuka knew compared to the other Asuka.
"Just curious, do you know martial arts?" he asked.
"Um, no, I don't," she replied, a bit embarrassed. She would love to learn something like that, "How about you? Do you know it?"
Ranma gave her a very warm smile. He liked this Asuka a lot. Whether or not he liked this one more than the other one was irrelevent.
"More or less," he said, "I've studied it a bit,"
Asuka got an idea. She gave him an eager look and asked, "Say, you wouldn't happen to be able to teach me, would you?"
Although Asuka had indicated that she knew no martial arts, that meant if he were to teach her, he would have to teach her the very basics. Even if she was remotely like the other Asuka, there was a chance she would grow impatient of learning such basic moves that she would want him to teach her some more advanced techniques which would probably frustrate him.
Ranma didn't even need to think twice about the reply. "Of course," he said, "I'll be glad to teach you,"
A week passed without incident. It had started getting colder as the ship made its way further south yet. Even during the afternoon when the sun was shining clearly, it was still unseasonably cold.
Asuka turned out to be a really bright student, much better than the other Asuka Ranma knew. Ranma loved teaching martial arts, and she was very eager to learn even the basics which made teaching her all the more enjoyable. She picked everything up quickly, learning basic punches and kicks and parries in no time. "Am I doing it right?" she asked, her arm held out in front of her. She had exectuted a basic punch.
Ranma nodded, "That's perfect. Okay, now that you know the basics, we can now move onto more advanced techniques. Are there anything in particular you wish you learn? You seem to be eager in learning everything at once, but I figure you might want to learn something specific,"
"Yeah," Asuka nodded, "Can you show me what to do when someone grabs your wrists?"
Ranma nodded, "Sure, no problem," He extended his right hand, "Here, grab my wrist. I'll show you some very simply yet effective way to get away from it,"
Asuka took hold of his right wrist with her left hand.
In a simple fluid motion, Ranma extended the fingers of his right hand forward and bent his arm such that his thumb pointed his chest. The motion had caused Asuka to lose her grip, unable to hold onto him.
"That's the simplest move you can do," he said, "I can show you more later on but it's best that you learn this one first. Here, now you try,"
Asuka extended her hand as Ranma took hold of her wrist. She tried to do as Ranma had demonstrated. However, instead of simply bending her arm, she took a step toward Ranma as she bent her arm, ending up bumping right into his chest.
Asuka blushed, "I'm sorry,"
He smiled warmly, "Don't worry, you'll get it. Just bend your arm instead of stepping forward and bending it,"
Asuka did as she was told and succeeded in breaking free from Ranma's grasp.
"T-that's it? It's so easy," she said, her eyes wide, "But then again, you weren't holding onto my wrist that hard,"
"It doesn't matter how hard I hold on, I won't be able to keep a hold on you," he said. "Can I see for myself? Can you grab my wrist and squeeze as hard as you can this time?" she asked.
He gave her meek smile, "Um, no can do. If I did, it'll break the bones of your forearm. It's best that I not grip you tightly. I kinda don't know my own strength and don't wanna hurt you,"
Asuka blushed, "Oh,"
"C'mon, let's continue on,"
Another week passed without incident. Ranma and Asuka continued to pass the time without much trouble, Ranma spending most of this time teaching her martial arts. As they gone further and further south, the temperature started to really plummet, nearing around 5 degrees celsius. And they were still a week away from their destination.
Because it was so cold, Ranma had decided it was best to stop teaching Asuka. She had already learned plenty enough from him that in a one-on-one confrontation with someone bigger than her, she would be able to take care of herself, provided she kept a clear head and not let fear take control of her.
It was now afternoon. The sun was out but is was still very cold out, so cold that Asuka had already started donning her winter wear. Ranma remained dressed in his usual clothes, uneffected by the cold so far.
Ranma peered over the side of the boat and noticed a few sharks nearby.
"Gee, I never knew there could be sharks this far south," Ranma commented.
Asuka, busy steering the boat, her back toward Ranma, said, "Sharks have been known to be spotted as far south as within several miles off short from Antarctica,"
He laughed, "Hey, Asuka, have you ever had shark before?"
"No, I never had it before," she replied, "Why do you ask?"
"Hee hee, looks like we're gonna be having shark tonight," he said.
"Huh?" she turned around to look at him, just in time to see him jump over the side of the boat and into the water.
Shocked at what she had seen, she quickly ran to where Ranma had once been and peered overboard, "R-Ranma! What the heck are you doing?"
She didn't see Ranma for a moment. When she saw him resurface, she breathed a sigh of relief. However, it didn't last long when she noticed a shark's fin just a short distance away. It made her realize what had prompted Ranma to asked that question about sharks in the first place.
"Ranma, you have to get out! There's a shark behind you!" she shouted, pointing.
Ranma smiled up at her, "I know. That's why I jumped in. Don't worry about it. I'll be fine," He turned around to face the incoming shark, extending his right arm forward, "Come and get me,"
Asuka screamed as she saw the shark almost jump out of the water as it clamped its massive jaw on his extended hand. With its jaw on Ranma's arm, it proceeded to twist and turn, trying to bite his arm right off.
With the shark still gnawing at his arm, Ranma turned around and proceeded to swim back toward the boat, shark in tow.
"Get away from the side. Get back to the steering," he said, "I'm gonna throw this thing onto the boat,"
Asuka not really understanding what the last thing he said meant, followed his first instructions and quickly ran off toward the front of the boat. She glanced toward the side of the boat, wondering what the heck Ranma was up to. She couldn't understand what had just happened but she recalled having seen a shark bite into Ranma's arm and him seemingly fine.
As Asuka peered toward the side of the boat, a giant shark was thrown onto the boat. The shark proceeded twist and turn as it realized the predicament it was in. It continued to do so, before it seemed to stop writhing after several minutes.
Asuka just stared at the shark.
"Don't go near it," Ranma said, climbing over the side and back into the boat, "It may look dead but it really isn't,"
He extended his hand toward the shark's jaw.
Asuka yelped in shock as the jaw suddenly thrashed one last time and clamped its jaw on Ranma's forearm.
"Now it's dead," he said, proceeding to free his trapped arm by prying the shark's jaw open with his other arm. With his arm free, he looked at it. There were not a single mark.
He laughed, "Man, I must've come a long way. Not even a scratch,"
"A-are you all right? What the hell happened back there?" Asuka asked, rushing up to him. She took hold of his hand and looked at his forearm. Her eyes widened as she said, "W-what the hell? There isn't a single mark!"
"Don't worry," he said, "Let's just say it's one of the interesting things about me. It's just harder to hurt me nowadays,"
"Huh?"
"I was attacked by a shark a while back," he said, recalling his adventure on this world with the other Asuka, the time when he had been attacked by a few sharks when he was taking a dip in the ocean, "I got pretty hurt but eventually healed. Now, something as leathal as a sharkbite doesn't even faze me,"
Asuka gulped. She never knew this about Ranma.
Ranma gave her a smirk as he gave her arm gentle squeeze, "You ain't seen nothing yet. Wait until you see the wings..."
"Wings?"
"Nevermind," he smiled.
He turned toward the shark and gave a big grin, "All right, we're gonna be eating mighty hearty tonight,"
Ranma munched down on his meal. It was nearing evening. Asuka ate quietly, stealing glances toward Ranma as he ate. He ate like a pig and there was bit of shark on his face. They were both above deck, sitting in front of a box that they were using as a makeshift table while they had their meal.
She giggled a bit.
He looked up, "What?"
"There's some food on your cheek," she said, pointing.
He wiped it off, "Is it off?"
She nodded.
He went back to eating again, "So, how're ya enjoying the meal?"
"It's delicious," she commented, "It's the first time I've ever had shark before. I must say, although it tastes a bit weird at first, it's actually really really good,"
"That's good to hear," he smiled.
There was a moment of silence as Asuka looked like she was trying to come up with a way to say something. She glanced up and saw Ranma staring at her rather fondly.
She blushed, "W-what?"
"Well, I've been feeling guilty about this so I figure it's about time I get it off my chest," he began.
"What?"
"Um, well," he began, blushing slightly, "remember the time when I told you I gave you a shower?"
She narrowed her eyes, "Yeah, and?"
"Um, there was no sponge," he gave a meek smile, "I ended up washing you with nothing but my hands,"
"What?" her eyes widened, this terrific hue of red on her cheeks.
He held his hands up defensively, "I'm sorry, I was only joking,"
Her lips became a thin line as she quietly wondered if Ranma had actually been teasing her. As much as she wanted to believe that he was joking, she had a funny feeling that he wasn't.
ranma and asuka arrive at antarctica
That's all for now...
Asuka was awoken from her slumber when she heard a loud noise just outside the tent. She was in the process of putting her jacket on when Ranma's head popped into the tent from the opening.
"Asuka, hurry up and get dressed, we've got company," was all Ranma said before his head disappeared back out the tent.
Asuka did as she was told, emerging from the tent within a minute. She emerged to see a sky covered with planes flying overhead. "What's going on here?"
"It looks like they finally found out exactly what I'm up to," Ranma smirked, whistling. He must had counted over a hundred planes that flew by overhead over the course of the minute. There were at least a hundred or so more looming in the distance heading their way.
"How did they find out? I never told anyone, I swear," Asuka said, frightened.
"No, you didn't, but I did," he said.
Asuka looked up at Ranma, "What?"
"A month ago, I sent out a letter that would reach Misato shortly after I set foot on Antarctica," he said, "Of course, since a few days were spent with the boat simply drifting when you were unconsious, we've arrived here a few days behind schedule,"
"Why? Why would you do that?" Asuka asked.
Ranma smirked, "Let's just say that I wanted things to be interesting,"
He turned around to survey his surroundings. About a mile or so in front of him looked like a huge snowstorm. He knew it was from all the snow being thrown up by the wheels of the land vehicles headed his way. To his back was nothing but open space for ten or so miles before the base of a mountain looming in the distant horizon behind him.
"Well, I might as well attack 'em first," Ranma said with a shrug.
He lept high into the sky, wings shooting out from his back, flying toward the heavens above. Ranma continued to travel straight up until he was several hundred meters in the air. As he hovered there, it looked like as the tent he had set up was nothing more than a single speck on an otherwise white canvas. In the far off distance he could see hundreds of other specks, the land vehicles, heading toward his tent.
Ranma extended his hand toward the wide open space located between the camp and the incoming vehicled and shot dozens of ki-blasts at it. Massive explosions littered the open area. He continued to shot ki-blast after ki-blast, having it so that he was destroying the terrain between the vehicles and his campsite. If the vehicles couldn't get over the destroyed area, they would have to travel around it, which would take much time. He smirked as he looked down at the ground far below. A straight line of destruction perpendicular to the incoming vehicle stretched out in both directions for about a mile.
His smirk quickly disappeared as several incoming fighter planes opened fire at him. Of course, since he was such a tiny target, it was near impossible for the pilots to get a lock-on on him.
Ranma quickly angled his body so that he was diving toward the ground below at an intense speed. Just moments before impact, he would do an aerial somersault forward and land silently on his feet, not even bothering to use his wings to slow his descent.
He smirked as he saw the shocked look on Asuka's face as she noticed these massive wings protruding from his back. He walked up to her and gave her the biggest grin, "There's a whole lot more to me than you would care to believe. These wings is just the tip of the iceberg,"
"A-a-are those real?" Asuka asked, regarding the wings.
"Yeah," he said, "However, as much as I would love to stay here and explain things in detail, I can't,"
Without saying another word, he darted forward and picked Asuka up in his arms, causing the young girl to yelp in surprise. Her yelp became a shriek when he jumped high into the sky as she soon found herself hundreds of feet off the ground, holding onto Ranma for dear life.
"Asuka, y-ya gotta loosen your grip," Ranma stammered through a strained voice, "I can't breath,"
Asuka stopped screaming to look toward Ranma. When she realized she basically had him in a chokehold as he held onto her, she loosened her hold of him slightly. "Don't worry," Ranma said in a soft, reassuring voice, "Nothing will happen to ya. You're safe with me,"
She gazed into his eyes. Hearing those words made her feel safe suddenly. Even as dozens of planes flew by, so close that should could almost feel the heat from their afterburners, she didn't feel all that worried.
Ranma smiled warmly, making eye contact with her to allow her the realization that she was safe before he started to fly through the air toward his destination, the facility where he would find Adam.
As Ranma flew, the incoming planes shot at him from behind, some of them actually managing to shoot fairly close to him, none of them actually hitting him. Oddly enough, even though he wasn't in any real danger, the incoming bullets were deflected by the sudden AT field that would appear just a short distance in front of Ranma's back.
"W-what is that?" Asuka asked, almost reaching out to touch the AT field that was ripplying just a short distance behind Ranma as he flew through the skies.
"It's my AT field," he replied with a smile, "I have no control over it but it protects me from injury. I have two kinds of AT fields, a passive one and an active one. That's the passive on that you see,"
"Passive one?"
"Yeah, it protects me partially," he said, "However, my passive AT field is more than enough to protect me from stuff such as bullets. The other AT field, one where I actively generate, protects me from everything,"
Asuka was silent.
Ranma's eyes widened when a missle whizzed nearby, missing him by a few meters.
"Damn, they're using missles," Ranma whistled. He watched as the missle continued to travel forward and eventually hit one of hapless planes in its path. Luckily, the pilot of that plane managed to eject just moments before impact.
Ranma laughed. He flew forward where he saw the ejected pilot was slowly making making his parachuted descent toward the ground below. He hovered a short distance away, making his descent along side the pilot.
"I can't believe you guys are trying to use missles," he said, "Considering my size as well as the fact that I don't give out a heat signature similar to that of a plane, you guys will never hit me,"
The pilot, seeing his target hovering nearby, stared in shock. It was very surprising to not only see Ranma, wings and all, but also seeing him hovering so close by, seemingly taunting the person. The pilot reached for his piston and opened fire. His aim was perfect.
Ranma used one arm to hold onto Asuka as he used the other one to swat the bullets away. Rather than depend on his AT field protecting him, he would rather actively protect Asuka and himself. It made him feel less lazy.
When the pilot had emptied the cartridge shooting it Ranma, he proceeded to reload, dropping his spare cartridge due to the shaky hands. The cartridge fell to the ground far below. Ranma narrowed his eyes at the pilot, "Are you stupid? Dontcha see that I'm carrying a hostage? Jeez,"
"Hostage? I'm not your hostage!" Asuka said, giving Ranma an odd look.
He ignored the young girl and said to the pilot, "Thanks for the ammo," He put the bullets in his pocket and flew off. "Didja hear what I said? I'm not your hostage!" Asuka repeated herself, her eyes still narrowed at him.
"Yeah, yeah," he said, "I was just saying that to make things seem more dramatic. The both of us here know you're a hostage,"
"Good, I just wanted to make that clear,"
Another missle flew by.
"Jeez, I guess they're not learning from their mistakes," Ranma chuckled as he saw another plane being shot down due to friendly fire. He stopped flying, hovering in place as if a sitting target.
"What are you doing?" Asuka said nervously, noticing the dozens of incoming planes. Her grip on Ranma tightened as she saw the planes get closer and closer.
"I used rocks to knock down helicopters once," Ranma smirked, reaching back into his pocket to take out a single bullet, "Let's see if I can use bullets to knock down planes,"
"W-what?" Asuka asked.
As one plane zoomed stright toward them, Ranma threw the bullet right at the cockpit window. Ranma had thrown the bullet with enough force and accuracy that the bullet struck the cockpit window, cracking it.
"Bull's eye!" Ranma cheered.
He watched as the plane zoomed by, the pilot suddenly ejecting a short distance away. It seemed the bullet had caused a large enough crazk in the cockpit window that the glass eventually broke, which resulted in this powerful vacuum due to the speed the plane. The vacuum had ended up causing the pilot to lose control over his plane which lead to his needing to eject.
"D-did you just do that?" Asuka asked, shocked as she saw the pilots parachute deploy a good distance away, the plane arcing down and exploding upon contact with the ground several miles away.
Ranma nodded, "Yep. Although I'm sure the glass of the cockpit is plenty thick, it doesn't seem to be strong enough to withstand a single bullet if I threw it hard enough,"
"U-unbelieveable!" Asuka stammered. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She was still in a state of shock from seeing wings protruding from Ranma's back, and then seeing these balls of energy shooting from his hands, and then finding out that he had some special barrier that protected him, and now seeing him knock down a plane with a single bullet. That was too much to comprehend.
She watched as Ranma took down another plane with a well thrown bullet.
"This is too fun!" Ranam giggled, "A multi-million yen state-of-the-art aircraft, taken down by a single bullet. They pilots must be every bit as shocked as those helicopter pilots back on my world,"
"Huh?"
"Don't worry about it," Ranma said, "I was just thinking aloud,"
Ranma continued to do this until he ran out of bullets. All in all, end ended up knocking down fifteen planes. The ground far below was littered with debris from the crashed planes, many black columns of smoke able to be seen from the smoldering planes.
"Well, I'm outta ammo," Ranma said. He flew forward toward one of the ejected pilots.
"Prepare to die!" Ranma shouted at the frightened pilot, nearly biting his lip to keep from laughing.
The pilot reacted much like the first pilot, pulling out his firearm and opening fire.
Ranma laughed as he caught the bullets once again. He grinned at the pilot and said, "Thanks for the ammo. I appreciate it,"
He flew off once again, one bullet in his hand, ready to be thrown, the rest in his pocket. However, he noticed that none of the planes seemed to fly close by anymore, the pilots realizing that doing a close flyby to their target resulted in their planes going down. They believed Ranma had some special weapon that was causing their planes to go down.
He grinned at Asuka, "It seems the pilots got smart. However, they're kinda at a dilema since they can't attack me without getting close. And it hadn't taken them long to realize long range missles are useless. I wonder what they're going to do,"
"Rather than stay around, perhaps we should get going," Asuka suggested. Ranma had been hovering in place for quite a while.
"You're right," he said. He continued to fly toward his destination. He didn't exactly know where Adam was, but he knew of the general direction to be heading. He didn't know why, but he was able to sense that Adam was only a short distance away.
Ranma flew for several minutes in silence before he spoke up.
"Asuka,"
"Yes?" she looked up at him.
"Once we make it to where Adam is being held," he said, "I'm going to give you the nanban mirror so you can use it to go back home,"
"W-what?" Asuka said, "Why?"
He regarded her with soft eyes, "You know why. The reason why I'm letting you hang around with me even now is because you're not in that much danger. However, when we get there, I have no idea what is in store and I don't want to put your life at risk,"
"But-"
"Did you really think I was going to let you actually come with me all the way until I reached Adam?" Ranma asked.
Asuka was silent. She simply regarded him, trying to think of some words to say.
"I'm sending you back because as soon as I touch down on the ground," Ranma said, "All hell is going to break loose. I can take care of myself, but I can't have it where I have to worry about you,"
Asuka said, "But I'll be fine,"
Ranma shook his head, "I'm sorry, but I need for you to go home, where it's safe. I have the funny feeling that as a last resort, they're gonna drop an N2 mine right on top of the facility in hopes of stopping me. I've never dealt with N2 mines before, and I really don't want you to be around if there ever is a case where they do,"
Asuka was silent once again.
"So, once we arrive at the facility, that is where we part," Ranma said, "I don't want you around because it will be dangerous and I don't want you getting hurt. You understand,"
Reluctantly, Asuka said, "Y-yeah, I understand,"
With nothing much else to be said, Asuka wrapped her arms around Ranma a little bit tighter, burying her head closer to his chest as they flew through the air.
The very moment Ranma's foot touched the ground, an explosion erupted nearby. Ranma and Asuka had finally arrived at their destination, the facility that held Adam. The facility looked like a large cylindrical building that stood up a story high from the ground. It was roughly a hundred feet in diameter. Although the building didn't necessarily stand out, the most noticeable aspect about it was the fact that it was made entire of concrete.
"So this is the building," Ranma said.
"It doesn't look all that impressive," Asuka commented.
"I have a funny feeling this building extends probably a mile or so underground," he commented. He was sure of it. Although they were at the front entrance, Ranma sensed that Adam was still a good distance away. The only direction that could be would be straight down. Another explosion erupted nearby. Asuka almost lost her balance had Ranma not reached out and grabbed a hold of her to steady her. When the smoke subsided, Ranma turned his gaze toward the side where he saw hundreds of incoming land vehicles a short distance away. Dozens of planes circled overhead.
Ranma placed Asuka on her feet. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the nanban mirror. He handed it to her.
"Well, here's the nanban mirror," he said, "This item will allow you to travel back home to Japan, and even back in time about a month if you like. That way, it could seem like you had never disappeared during that month you were on the ship with me and wouldn't have to worry about people wondering where you've been all this time,"
Another explosion erupted nearby.
Ranma let out an annoyed breath. He waved a hand in front of him, a red barrier suddenly appearing. Suddenly, another explosion erupted nearby, right against the barrier, but nothing happened. All that was seen was a red ripple. The blast as well as that shockwave from the explosion never made it through.
He turned toward Asuka, "As I was saying, that's the nanban mirror. It'll allow you to travel home,"
Asuka looked down at the mirror where she saw her reflection. She noticed she had this sad look to her eyes. The reflection looking back at her looked like a girl that didn't belong in the middle of Antarctica.
"This is where we part," Ranma said, a bit sad, "I know, and you know, that what I'm about to do is very dangerous. I don't want to risk your getting hurt in the process. This is might fight and my fight alone,"
Asuka sadly nodded.
"All you need to do is shed a tear onto the mirror and think about where and when you want to be and you'll be whisked away to there," Ranma said.
Asuka gave a slight laugh, "Shed a tear. How fitting,"
Ranma placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Well, Asuka, I guess this is where we say goodbye,"
Asuka found tears starting to form by her eyes. She couldn't believe it. Her time with Ranma was finally coming to an end. She knew that she and him would eventually depart, but she wasn't expecting it to be so soon.
Ranma wiped them away with one of his fingers, "I know you're sad, but you know that we would eventually have to part ways. It wasn't even meant to be this way. We were supposed to have departed ways over a month ago, back on Japan. However, I guess through some twist of fate, we ended up coming here together,"
"Yeah," Asuka said softly, trying to smile. She looked up at him, "So that's it? We just split, huh?"
Ranma nodded.
"Am I ever going to see you again?" she asked.
He shook his head, "No. Whether or not I succeed or die trying to carry out my task, this is the last time you will ever see me. Since I won't be needing it to go home after this, you can keep the mirror, as a souvenir of our time together,"
Asuka looked down at the mirror again.
Ranma bent down and kissed her on the cheek, "Asuka, you take care now, you hear?"
She gave a sad smile.
"Goodbye, Asuka," Ranma said.
"G-goodbye, R-Ranma. I'll never forget you," she replied, running forward and giving Ranma one last embrace.
Ranma released his embrace and took a step backward. He watched as Asuka reluctantly looked down at the mirror. She looked up one last time, as a tear fell from her eye, rolled down her cheek, and onto the mirror.
In a flash of light, Asuka disappeared.
Ranma stood there silently for a short moment, oblivious of the explosions erupting against the AT field he had generated, as he gazed at the place Asuka had been just a second before.
He smiled, knowing that Asuka would now be safe. He turned around and looked at the gigantic iron door that was the entrance to the facility.
"All right, now to carry on my task," he said to himself.
Stepping through the door, that was the last time Ranma was ever seen on that world again...
The end