Title: Ranma and Limdo Walk Into A Bar
Author: Akanue
Fandom(s): Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden and Ranma 1/2
Rating: T
Warning(s): Maybe underage drinking. Some language. A scenario that doesn't make much sense. Don't think too hard on it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden or its characters. They belong to Yuu Watase, Shogakukan, and other licensors and distributors. I also do not own Ranma 1/2 or its characters. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Fuji TV, Studio Deen, and other licensors and distributors. This is a not-for-profit fan work.
Summary: One night, two strangers meet in a bar and learn each other's secrets, realizing they aren't so different after all.
Ranma and Limdo Walk Into A Bar
Rain drizzled down outside, but the bar was warm and cozy, the sounds of conversation and low live music being played under the dim lights creating a kind of atmosphere one came to bars for.
A young man sat at the counter, nursing a glass of some unknown brightly-colored brew. His handsome face was attracting the stares of many women who walked into the bar, and, he noticed with much distaste, some of the men. But he hadn't gone there to pick up girls. Oh no, he just needed to lie low for the time being. It was a nice establishment, really, where he could have a moment of peace and something to drink.
But then the door opened and another teenage boy walked in. He looked frazzled, as if he were on the run from someone else but didn't have the kind of experience or control Limdo did to hide that fact.
The stranger glanced around the room once and his gaze fell on Limdo. Probably because Limdo was the only person there even close to his age, but also because Limdo just had an air of authority and importance about him.
Or perhaps there was another reason. But Ranma couldn't have known the mysterious teen sitting at the bar's secret. Perhaps it was fate. Or the beginning of a bad joke.
Either way, Ranma slid in beside Limdo and flagged down the bartender, asking for some water. The bartender brought it over, but with a look that said they didn't serve freeloaders. Watching out of the corner of his eye, Limdo could see how exhausted the other boy appeared to be, and in a moment of sympathy, told the bartender to bring another of the same drink Limdo was having. Mild surprise crossed the man's face before he went off to get what was requested.
Surprised, Ranma turned to his new neighbor. "Hey, thanks."
"Don't mention it," Limdo said as he took a drink.
Ranma realized right away that Limdo wasn't a very talkative individual and would have respected that, allowing the rest of the night to have passed in silence, if not for a particularly drunk customer who swerved behind the chairs at precisely the wrong moment and dumped an ice cold pint glass of beer all over him.
The person was too drunk to notice what happened, and all of the other patrons were too far away to see what had happened and the barkeep's back was turned. Limdo, however, noticed, and dropped his drink in shock. Thankfully, it was close enough to the bar that it didn't spill, just awkwardly clattered down. Where the teenage boy had been now sat what appeared to be a teenage girl with red hair and pigtails. And she looked pissed and resigned at the same time.
As she saw Limdo staring at her in complete astonishment, she bristled, then sighed when she seemed to determine it wasn't worth it. "Sure, go ahead, laugh. I turn into a girl."
"So you're a boy then?" Limdo asked, now much more curious about this strange boy's predicament than he had been just moments before.
"Yeah," the girl said, going back to her drink as if nothing had happened. Though she was watching Limdo out of the corner of her eye, curious as to why he was so unperturbed by what she had just seen.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Limdo asked, a little louder than he'd intended, swiveling around in the bar stool to directly face Ranma.
"Ranma. Ranma Saotome," he (she?) said, still sounding completely uninterested.
Limdo weighed his options. He could get up and walk away. He could ignore it and go back to his drink. But he was more curious than anything; why did this strange boy have powers similar to his as a Genbu Celestial Warrior? So as gently as he could, he used his powers, bringing a small draft of wind throughout the bar. Some patrons shivered, but all ignored it, thinking it was nothing.
Ranma, however, saw that the teenage boy sitting next to him had also transformed into a girl. He came really close to spitting out the drink in his mouth but stopped himself at the last minute, coughing on the liquid that had gone the wrong direction. "W—What?" he stuttered out.
"You tell me," Limdo demanded in an uncharacteristically strained whisper. "Why do you have my power?"
"So, did you fall into the Spring of Drowned Girl too?" Ranma asked, suddenly realizing that this boy was Chinese. Perhaps he had fallen into the spring…
"Spring of Drowned Girl? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Limdo demanded. "I'm a Genbu Celestial Warrior." He then revealed the tattoo that had appeared above his breast for two reasons. One, this other boy/girl didn't strike him as a threat – he/she didn't even seem to know what a Celestial Warrior was. And two, he wanted to know if their powers were somehow connected. It seemed like it would be far too much of a coincidence if two teenage boys had the magical power to turn into female versions of themselves.
"Okay, I think we owe each other an explanation," Ranma said, settling down.
So they did. Ranma went first, sensing Limdo was a lot more uncomfortable with his "curse" than Ranma himself was, though Ranma suspected the only reason he was so blasé about it was because he had simply grown used to it. After Ranma finished, Limdo dryly remarked that both of them seemed to have been cursed, and told his own tale. He left out some of the more dreary, identifiable bits, because there weren't too many people he trusted, but he was able to get across the gist of it.
Ranma stared at him for several seconds after Limdo'd finished before commenting, "Damn, maybe I am drunk."
The two of them sat there for a while, drinking and absorbing what they had just learned about the other. Seriously, what were the odds that they would run into each other in a place like this?
"Women have it so hard," Ranma lamented after he'd downed a few more drinks. "I never would have known otherwise. Men always leering at you, less natural muscle, shorter… I'm a martial artist, and I'm never as comfortable or skilled as a woman. It would have been fine if it was the body I was born with, but when you suddenly change into a different body it throws you off."
"That's never been a problem for me," mused Limdo. "Maybe the reason for that is magical." He paused. "Anyway, what really gets me are the periods. They hurt like HELL! The next time anyone says to my face that women are hysterical, I'm going to tell it to them straight."
Ranma cringed as well. "Yeah, they are a special kind of hell. They don't come very often, but, I don't know, maybe it's just part of the curse, but I get really uncomfortable, even in my male body, when it happens." He blushed tremendously, realizing what he had just said. "Woah, it's so weird to suddenly have someone who knows what this is like."
"Same," Limdo said, allowing a small smile. It was both weird, as Ranma had said, and liberating, in a way.
"Do you… have someone special?" asked Ranma, trying to steer the conversation away from something that personal and, quite frankly, that awkward for two dudes to talk about. "What do they think about it?"
"She knows," Limdo said, smiling down at his drink. Ranma's expression softened as he recognized the first deep, genuine emotion from the closed-off teen. "But she loves me anyway. And I love her with everything I have. I'd move the world itself for her."
Ranma snorted a laugh. "You didn't strike me as the type."
"She's brave and fearless. Strong, too, in ways I can't even imagine," Limdo continued, as if not having even heard Ranma speak. "And kind. She'd give it all to help others."
"Sounds like an amazing girl," Ranma said. "I'm sort of… engaged, though I really didn't have much say in the matter."
"Oh," Limdo said, well aware that such arrangements were not uncommon.
Before he could say anything else, though, Ranma continued. "She's an utter pain in the ass, that's for sure. Bossy, angry, not cute at all…"
"Oh," Limdo said again. "I'm sorry you don't like her."
"I don't like her at all!" Ranma glanced away, but Limdo knew immediately how the other teen truly felt. He'd been that way around Takiko once, before he'd been able to come to terms with his own feelings.
"Tell her how you really feel," Limdo said honestly. "Life's too short, and who knows how much time you'll have together."
Ranma opened his mouth to say something to the contrary, but couldn't bring himself to. He supposed, after being together so long, a kind of connection had formed between him and Akane. They both fell back into the silence of their own thoughts for quite some time.
"It was nice to meet you," Limdo said when Ranma finally got up to leave.
"You too."
After Ranma left, Limdo stood himself, put on his cloak, and left the bar.