Author's note: So my dad is fine. Just a minor rupture. I won't have to slow down my updates this week after all. Also, if you've noticed some of the chapters seem a bit longer, don't worry. I'm not changing anything about the plot of the story itself, I'm just beefing up some of the prose and clarifying a few character thoughts. Feel free to browse back to earlier chapters if you want, but know that it isn't necessary.
Oh, and if anyone is going to be at this year's Oni-con in Galveston, I'll be there as girl Ranma. Not that it matters, but I figured I'd mention it for fun anyway.
"So what's this all about? Is there some kind of party going on out here I wasn't told about?" Ukyo sarcastically inquired, crossing her arms. The okinomiyaki chef didn't seem too pleased about the congregation, and was sincerely concerned at the absence of Ranma.
"You go home, stupid boyish girl, no can help!" Shampoo retorted, leaping into the air with her bike and landing beside the Tendos with a flair. Mousse flapped his wings and shook his head, finally releasing his metal hat to fall to the ground. "Wenk wenk wenk!" He snapped, agreeing with Shampoo...because Mousse always agreed with Shampoo, if it would make her happy.
"Shampoo, I don't see anything wrong with Ukyo coming to help us. Ranma needs our help, and he...she'll need all the extra hands she can get!" Akane defended Ukyo, separating herself from the group and taking a fighting stance. If the Amazon was going to start a stupid fight like this, Akane was going to make sure it ended quickly.
"You think we should bring whole city to spirit world, then?" Shampoo asked, frowning at Akane and giving her a piercing glare. Genma slammed a fist into one of his hands, feeling self-satisfied that he'd at least had a good idea something was wrong with the fog.
"I just knew there was something wrong with this fog!" He hissed his thoughts aloud to the Tendo family. They all took it in with very little surprise. After all, Ranma was engaged to a demon. Clearly strange things were afoot.
"She does have a point, Akane," Nabiki remarked, breaking the silence, and popping a lollypop into her mouth. Nobody knew where she'd gotten it, but the nature of Nabiki's snacking was a strange and mysterious phenomenon that none questioned.
Ukyo waved a hand in the air, dismissing Shampoo's bad attitude. "Look, if you don't wanna answer my question, fine. But I'm not going to sit by here or go back home and wait around if Ranma-honey's in trouble." She paused. "Wait...repeat that. Spirit world?" She blinked, Shampoo's last remark finally taking hold in her mind. She nervously frowned. "You mean the kind of place with ghosts and evil demons? Why is Ranma in the spirit world? DID YOU SEND HIM THERE?!" Ukyo reached for her spatula, ready to give Shampoo a good beating if need be. Kami-sama knew the Amazon was always doing funny things to get him to marry her, if anyone was behind this...Shampoo was a pretty safe bet.
"Girls, girls!" Soun finally interrupted. "Ranma is in the spirit world because she...well, I guess she took a wrong turn. Now, it may not be a good idea to bring more people with us, but we've got to think of Ranma. If you just stand around here bickering, who knows what will happen to her."
Ukyo rubbed at her temples and released the handle of her spatula. "Wait...her? Why are you calling Ranma-honey a girl? Did he wonder off when he got splashed with cold water?" She was desperately trying to make sense of this whole mess, but growing more and more confused by the second.
"It like this. Ranma really girl. Ranma supposed to marry demon. Ranma try to go China to fix things, end up in spirit world because demon open door here in Nerima. Understand?" Shampoo asked, frustrated. They didn't have much more time before the door closed, and already the fog had receded several feet since Ukyo had arrived.
"Okay, okay. Where's this spirit door you're talking about?" Ukyo asked, beginning to...kind of grasp at the situation.
Shampoo jerked her head towards the fog.
"So...okay, that's the...'door'? Well, what if someone decides to go jogging or something? Aren't they going to end up in the spirit door too? I mean...what if there's like a marathon, or somebody has weekend detention at Furinken?" Ukyo asked, crossing her arms.
Shampoo paled. "Shampoo no think of that..." She paused to consider. "Someone have to stay behind, make sure no one pass until fog gone."
"Well, I'm not doing it. What if someone won't take no for an answer?" Nabiki made a good point.
"And I don't think I would feel comfortable fighting a young girl, should the need arise," Soun agreed, crossing his arms.
"I don't believe in fighting." Kasumi added.
"Well...I'm not going to just stand here if Ranma needs my help!" Akane shouted, turning away.
"Shampoo only person who know anything about spirit world, and Mousse is useless duck," Shampoo tossed in her two cents.
Genma didn't need to say anything, he wasn't aloud to stay behind. He was Ranma's father, after all. He was obligated to save her.
"So that leaves us with me," Ukyo finally sighed. "Fine. I'll open up my stall here, and I guess if food doesn't work...I'll have to fight. But you'd better hurry back as soon as possible with Ranma-honey." Ukyo decided. "And don't make jokes about him being a girl, it's not funny." Clearly she wasn't going to be able to accept that piece of news until she saw it for herself. So it was agreed. The Tendos, Genma, and Shampoo said their reluctant good-byes to Ukyo. And as for her, she prepared herself for what would prove to be a very long morning. Perhaps she should have stayed at her restaurant after all.
What happened next was a sight she'd likely never forget. The group departed, passing through the swirling fog. Though it didn't grow thicker, even seemed to be fading more, no sooner did they pass through the brink, she could no longer see their shapes. They had disappeared.
The old man smiled warmly, and strangely enough...Ryoga's distrust of him evaporated. There wasn't even a hint of malice or deception in the stranger's eyes. It was like he was talking to his own grandfather, whom he hadn't seen since he was a child attending the man's funeral.
"I know nothing about you, I only know what I see. A young man haunted by the shadows of a past and future he does not understand. Know that all parts of the whole are just that...parts. One bad piece of a man does not make the rest of him evil. You are not soup, and whatever is haunting you is not a piece of rotten pork." He stood up slowly, this time moving in the same way Ryoga would have expected a person of his age to. The old man nodded and winked at Ryoga, turning about.
"Wait! Aren't you still cold? Don't you want to sit by the fire a bit longer?" Ryoga called out, pointing to the roaring blaze that had finally become stable enough so that he didn't need to toss any more leaves onto it.
The old man did not respond. He simply kept walking. Ryoga was left feeling even more conflicted than he had before the stranger joined him. But then, at just the right moment, he remembered Ranma's absence...and realized the pig-tailed martial artist should have been back by now.
"Ranma!" Ryoga shouted, jerking to his feet and dashing off in the direction he'd seen her go. 'Ranma, I just know you've got to be in some kind of trouble!' He thought as he headed towards the sound of rushing water. 'Dead or alive, she's still my bride. It doesn't make a difference to me.' The voice spoke again, breaking Ryoga's mental silence. "SHUT UP ALREADY!" He shouted...at himself.
Ranma's punch just barely missed the creature grasping at her wrist, and as she squinted in the water she was able to discern a strange shape. A long, thin...frog thing. That was the best way to describe it. With a froth of wiry black hair wafting about it's head.
"GREEEEEEEEEE!" Ranma garbled again, desperately trying to claw her way to the surface of the river to get some air. The creature gave her this much freedom, but held her wrist even tighter, sending a harsh pain into Ranma's arm. Now she was mad!
"TAKE THIS!" Ranma shouted, diving back beneath the water and delivering a kick right into the creature's stomach. It clearly hadn't expected her to be that skilled, or quick in the water, and opened it's thin and lipless mouth in a silent gasp. It also released her wrist, which gave Ranma the chance to grab the thing by the neck and haul it to the side of the riverbank and throw it onto the grass in one swift motion. Climbing out, Ranma glared and clenched her fists, ready to have a proper fight now that she was on solid ground. But the creature didn't seem to appreciate the situation anymore, and recovered enough sense to crawl quickly back to the water, kicking it's way to the bottom and disappearing before Ranma could grab at it.
"Yeah, you'd better Run!" Ranma shouted after the frog-thing. Nobody tried to drown Ranma Saotome. Nobody. She was only disappointed it didn't put up more of a fight, because she really needed one right now.
"Jeeze, I don't think I can handle much more of this weird stuff," Ranma mumbled, stripping off her shirt and wringing it out. Her lack of feminine modesty made the motion a quick one, so she didn't take the time to survey her surroundings. And neither did she notice Ryoga standing behind the shade of a few trees, staring dumbstruck at the sight.
Before, when Ranma was...well, a boy...seeing her as a girl did phase him. But not in the same way. It was like seeing a guy wear a really convincing costume. And now he knew...she actually was a girl. He didn't know how to process the sight, and furiously blushed, hoping maybe she'd put her shirt back on soon so he could make his presence known without getting an earful. He'd been standing there far too long to rescue himself from being dubbed a 'pervert'.
"Man, we shoulda just taken a bus or something. What was I thinking, trying to talk to Nagasaki?" Ranma grumped, shaking out her shirt and watching the water spray on the grass.
"And now I'm getting all these funny feelings about being around that stupid Ryoga, just because I'm stuck as a girl right now," she added. "Stupid girl body...gonna be glad when I'm a guy again. Stupid stupid stupid..." She trailed off, her angry ranting devolving into expletives about life in general. "GRAH!" She finally yelled, giving her shirt one more good squeeze.
If Ryoga had been a robot or computer, he very likely would have blown a fuse or had a processing error at that exact moment. 'Funny feelings?! What kind of funny feelings?!' He mentally squawked.
And then something even stranger happened. Ranma stopped frowning and grumbling...and then broke into a big grin. "Hey! Maybe that green thing in the water was the demon that's trying ta get hitched with me?" She put her fists on her hips and laughed. "I guess that means my contract's over!"
'Fat chance.' The darker voice in Ryoga's head intoned, but he was a little too distracted to get mad at it. "Funny feelings?" He repeated quietly, looking up at the sky. Maybe Ranma was going crazy too. Oddly enough, his mind didn't once stray towards Akane at that moment, which if very well may have the day before. "Funny feelings?!"
"Hey? Who's over there?" Ranma called, turning towards Ryoga and frowning. She was still holding her shirt, and didn't look ready to put it on any time soon.
Author's note: The green creature Ranma encountered in the river is called a 'Garappa', a kind of kappa. It isn't strictly evil to men, but has an awful lot of fun assaulting women. Luckily, our dear Ranma was too much for it.
