Order up! One chapter of Curiosity killed the cat with a side of fries!
Disclaimer: I may one day own something. It probably won't be Ranma ½.
Ranma's POV
"You're sure there's no other reason?" Akane asked
"Not that I can remember and I'd think that if I did something that would ruin someone else's life, I'd remember," I answered and then Kasumi walked by with a challenge letter from Ryoga.
"It's like I said before, this is no ordinary grudge," Akane said
"If he'd just sit down for a minute an' let me talk to him. Then we'd probably be done with this whole thing," I sighed and then Kasumi poured hot water on me. Akane noted that the challenge was scheduled for yesterday, but with Ryoga, he'd be lucky to make it within a week of the date.
Ryu's POV
"Hey, isn't that that guy from before?" One of the girls in the class said during 'study hall'. We all looked out the window and saw that Ryoga Hibiki had returned. He looked awful, leaning on that umbrella of his for support. Then he got nailed by a soccer ball.
"That kid has absolutely rotten luck," I quipped and then Ranma headed down to meet Ryoga. Scarlet told me Ranma had received a challenge letter a month ago. Someone *coughNabikicough* convinced the teacher to let us all out to watch the fight while Nabiki took bets. Those fools never learn. After some pre-fight banter, the two started fighting. Ranma tried to talk sense into Ryoga, but he was too pig-headed to listen.
"This is so scary," One of Scarlet's friends murmured and then the Chemistry Club showed up, or as I like to call them, the Failed Bomb Squad. It's a good week for them when they blow up their lab only a single time that week. They were made up of some of the few who still hadn't given up on Scarlet and unless I missed my guess, they were here to try and blow up Ranma. As I said before, those fools never learn.
"Take this you coward!" Ryoga shouted, drawing my attention back to the battle. Ryoga then threw a pair of handcuffs at Ranma, getting him locked by one and securing the other to himself. I had to admit, for someone of Ryoga's directional problems, this was an elegant solution. The fight continued and I noticed Ryoga had left his umbrella. Hiroshi and Daisuke began trying to mess with it, but couldn't lift it. Scarlet then tried to lift it and even she could only raise it a few centimeters before it fell back to the ground. And Ryoga carries it with one hand?
"Ranma, don't get to close to him! Stay away from him!" Scarlet shouted and then Ranma got serious and hog-tied Ryoga with the wire of the cuffs and sat on him.
"So Ryoga, what should I do with you now?" Ranma wondered; the only thing that was missing from that statement was a maniacal laugh. Just when it looked like it was all over for Hibiki, he got up on one hand and got into the air, thus getting out of the entanglement. There's strong and then there's scary strong. That's when Ranma began to use the cuffs to his advantage by keeping Ryoga in close quarters so he couldn't recover. Ryoga then snatched up his umbrella and the two combatants left the soccer field.
"After them!" Someone shouted and we all rushed to keep up with them. I then spotted the Failed Bomb Squad planting some land mines. Before I could get a stick or prepare my slingshot, Ryoga and Ranma entered the blast zone. But it turned out I didn't have to worry, the mines didn't go off when they were stepped on. That's when the FBS leapt from the bushes, all wielding mallets…I shall chose to not comment on that particular detail. Somehow, they spit the wire between the handcuffs, and each one of them hit one of the mines. That's when the mines decided to blow. Ranma and Ryoga left the school grounds and I went after them, followed closely by Nabiki and two of her minions. We eventually caught up to them and I saw Nabiki was up to something.
"Hey Ryoga, you ever hear of steroids?" Nabiki asked and Ryoga shook his head. Nabiki then produced two regular vitamins and told them that they would increase his strength. She was going to use the placebo effect to try and make sure Ryoga won. Technically speaking, there's nothing against the rules about it, since you did have that power all along, but it's still dirty. Then Nabiki added in a little pep talk. A red aura sprang to life around Ryoga and even his eyes turned red.
"I can feel the power!" Ryoga shouted and then uprooted a telephone pole. "How about it Saotome, fight me fair and square!"
"You call that fair and square?!" Ranma protested and then the fight turned into a warzone like path of destruction with Ranma dodging Ryoga's new club. This fight might have been where the name 'The Nerima Wrecking Crew' originally came from, but I'm not certain. Eventually the fight headed to the zoo and somehow Ryoga managed to cause explosions with his aura. I caught up with them just in time to see Ryoga slice open Ranma's shirt. He complained about it, saying that was his favorite shirt, and Ryoga called him a girl. That was a mistake on Ryoga's part. Ranma then started attacking with a vengeance until he ran into some cold water. With most of the school right behind us, it looked like his curse was finally going to be exposed, if it hadn't been last week when the water main broke.
"Ranma, is that you?" Ryoga wondered and then Scarlet showed up and reminded Ranma that his shirt had a slight tear.
"Didn't you even notice? That you became a girl, I mean," Scarlet said just as a few of the students were catching up. It would take some major maneuvering to convince everyone that they had all been hallucinating or something. Then Kuno showed up.
"This is devolving fast, Scarlet. If we don't do something, everyone's gonna know about Ranma's curse!" I hissed
"You're right, the rumor mill has been suspicious ever since last week," Scarlet responded and thankfully, Ranma provided a distraction by kicking Kuno into the lion's den.
"Go ahead and make fun of me Ryoga. I have no idea why you hate me so much, I just…I just… I'M JUST TRYING TO GET BY!" Ranma shouted, "IT'S NOT EASY HAVING THIS CURSE FOR A BODY!" I promptly face palmed. There goes any hope of salvaging Ranma's secret. Ryoga then seemed to chuckle and pulled, not one, not two, but four bandannas off of his head and there was a fifth under that.
"Don't make me laugh! You can you say things like that? Since when is having a beautiful body like yours a curse?" Ryoga asked and Scarlet didn't look amused by that comment. Ryoga then began to spin his bandannas and threw them at Ranma with a cry of 'Ranma Saotome, you make me sick!' The thing was, those fabric bandannas had suddenly become steel-like instrument of death. Everyone had to dodge them and a few people got some hair buzzed off the top. Scarlet then decided to go get Ranma some hot water, but on the way tripped on a tree root. She twisted her ankle, but it was better than having her arms sliced off, which would have happened if she hadn't tripped. Ryoga then threw his umbrella like a javelin and some more bandannas. Ranma kicked and caught the umbrella and used it to deflect the bandannas.
"Watch it you crazy lunatic! You could kill someone with those things!" I shouted, but Ryoga ignored me. While carrying Scarlet, Ranma then made a break for it. I managed to track them down before Ryoga could. They seemed embarrassed about something and then I noticed Ranma's shirt was still torn slightly. It wasn't rocket science to figure out what was going on. They then started fighting.
"Hey you two, don't you think there are more important things? LIKE STAYING AWAY FROM RYOGA'S HOMOCIDAL RAMPAGE?!" I roared at them and they had the decency to look ashamed of themselves. Then Ryoga came sauntering along. He undid his belt and it then straightened out like a sword. I wanted to know how he was doing it, but that could wait. Ryoga then easily cut down a tree with a single, swift, strike. As the tree began to fall, Ryoga jumped up to Ranma and Scarlet's level and tried to cut Ranma in half, but Ranma used the umbrella to block, but it got cut in half instead.
"Let go of me!" Scarlet shouted on the way down
"I ain't holding you 'cause I like you or anything!" Ranma protested and then when they landed, Scarlet slapped him. She then walked off and Ranma went after her, but then one of Ryoga's bandannas flew by, lopped off a good chunk of her hair, and nearly took off her head.
Ranma's POV
The danger sense of all males in the area went straight to ten. Ryu seemed pushed past it and went to see if Akane was OK. He examined her neck and he obviously didn't like what he saw. He then dug a bandage out of his pocket and placed it on the back of her neck.
"Scarlet, please go home. This is about to get extremely ugly and I'd rather you didn't watch," Ryu said in a quiet voice. My danger sense shot up to twenty. Akane numbly nodded and walked off. Ryu then fixed Ryoga with a glare that, if someone had told me it had killed someone, I woulda' believed 'em.
"It was an accident! I didn't mean too-!" Ryoga was cut off by Ryu
"I don't care what you meant or did not mean to do. All I care about is that you and your damn grudge nearly got not only Scarlet, but everyone else here killed." He said in a voice that made ice seem warm by comparison. Ryoga shrank back in fear. "Now get out of my sight before I kill you." Ryoga didn't need to be told twice and bolted as fast as he could. Ryu then turned to me.
"Come with me," He said
"But what about Akane?" I asked
"Are you an idiot, man?! If you confront Scarlet now it'll be suicide! It's best if you come to my house where I can get you some hot water and wait out the storm," He said and so I followed him. When we passed school, I then realized that he lived in the opposite direction of the Tendo house.
"Hey, if you live in the other direction, then how come you follow us home sometimes?" I asked
"I don't mind. The extra exercise does me good," He responded and a while later, we made it to Ryu's house.
"Are you sure your parents won't mind?" I wondered, "I mean it's not every day a sex changing weirdo like me comes around." I then noticed that Ryu had stopped in the doorway.
"They won't mind. My parents are long dead," Ryu said simply and walked into the house.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't know!" I apologized
"Don't worry about it. They died when I was six and I don't remember them very well. Nothing more than a few blurry memories really," Ryu remarked, trying to sound carefree. He then went into the kitchen to get me hot water. As he did, I looked around a bit and noticed all the stuff he had. Posters, books, manga, American comics, tons of video games, and so on. Guess he really wasn't kidding when he called himself an otaku.
"So do you live here alone?" I asked
"Mostly. My older brother Koga is over in America for collage so he can then go to medical school to become a doctor," Ryu answered and then gave me the hot water.
"That's cool. So what's the deal with Akane's hair? I mean it's just hair; it'll grow back," I remarked
"Think about the way Scarlet wore her hair. Who does it remind you of?" He asked and after a little thinking, I got it.
"It looks like the way Kasumi wears her…oh I get it! This is about Dr. Tofu again, isn't it?"
"Yep, before she decided to make Kasumi her rival, she really didn't care about the way her hair looked. She only grew it out so she'd look more like Kasumi. That's the reason it would be suicide for you to show up for awhile," Ryu told me
"Man, girls sure are complicated," I grumbled
"About twice as complicated as guys by my calculations," Ryu quipped and then we spent the next two hours talking about various things. After that, Ryu gave me a cautious go ahead to head back home.
When I got there, Kasumi told me that Akane had gone to Dr. Tofu for her ankle. On the way, I saw a mop of bluish black hair and thought it was Akane.
"Oh sorry, my mistake," I said and then Akane spoke and I realized it was Akane. Kasumi must have cut it for her and I didn't recognize her at first.
"It's different, isn't it?" Akane asked dryly
"Akane, I'm sorry," I apologized
"Gee, aren't you being nice for a change," Akane quipped, "It's OK, you're off the hook. I was gonna cut it anyway." I didn't quite believe her, but she kept hobbling along.
"How's your ankle? Do you want a piggy-back ride?" I offered
"Stop being so nice, you're scaring me," Akane joked, but I kept close to her all the way to Dr. Tofu's clinic. Dr. Tofu immediately noticed Akane's change in hairstyles and then she told him she had sprained her ankle, but didn't tell him how. Akane asked Dr. Tofu what he thought of Akane's new hairstyle and he told her that it looked very good on her. I found myself agreeing before I realized what I was thinking. Then Akane suddenly started crying.
"A good cry really does make you feel better," Akane said on the way home. Then I jumped onto the fence beside the canal.
"He said cute. That's what he said," I reminded Akane
"Oh, who cares? It's over. Dr. Tofu is in love with Kasumi and that's that," Akane said, "It's OK though. I think I'm finally over him." I then worked up the nerve to say
"I just wanted to tell you, your hair really does look cute." Akane seemed shocked.
"Are you feeling OK, Ranma?" She asked, "You don't have to be nice to me."
"That's not what I meant…I'm being nice to you 'cause I want to be," I told her and then dashed off.
Ryoga's POV
I had finally found it; the Tendo dojo. After a week with a little old lady trekking all over Japan. Tonight, Ranma Saotome would get what was coming to him! I made my way to where Saotome was sleeping, but I wasn't able to wake him up. Somehow, he dodged my punches in his sleep!
"WAKE UP STUPID!" I finally shouted and that still didn't wake him…but it did wake the panda sleeping next to him. I never knew pandas could be such violent creatures. He threw both Ranma and me out into the rain! I almost wasn't quick enough with my umbrella.
"Ryoga? What the heck are you doing here in the middle of the night?" Ranma asked
"You shut up! Does revenge know night or day?" I replied
"This is going too far. What could I have possibly done to make you so made?" He questioned
"Listen, because these may be your last moments on this Earth. After you skipped out on our duel, I followed you to China.
"Oh Ryoga, you didn't go to Jusenkyo, did you?" Ranma asked, "You fell into a pool and now you change?"
"Not another word! You've done enough to ruin my life!" I shouted at Ranma and then attacked, but he wouldn't stay still! Then, in the middle of our fight, something hard clonked me on the head and I dropped my umbrella. So of course, I fled to protect my secret.
Ranma's POV
I had to find Ryoga. Who knows what he turns into? As I was running, I spotted Ryoga's clothes and backpack. I then heard a growl and turned around to see a very angry dog. Only Ryoga could be so angry with me. So I took him home with me.
"I feel bad for you Ryoga, I really do! But you've gotta stop attacking me in the middle of the night," I told him
"Hey, where'd you find that dog?" Akane asked as she came downstairs.
"Where'd you get that funny looking pig?" I returned and the pig didn't like that at all. Akane then cuddled it and it began to blush. I checked and sure enough, it was a boy pig. Then the pig started attacking me! Akane got out the first aid kit and began treating a bump on the pig's head and then she told me the dog was owned by someone. So that meant it wasn't Ryoga after all. He couldn't stick around long enough for anyone to claim him. Just to make sure, I poured a little hot water on the dog and it didn't work.
"I'm gonna go take a bath. All that running around in the rain nearly froze me half to death," I told Akane and then she told me to take the pig with me. I agreed in the end, but the pig didn't seem to keen on the idea. But I managed to get him into the warm water…, which turned out to be a mistake. As it so happened, the pig was Ryoga. So when he changed back, I was still a girl, and naked and so was he. I had to fight down the impulse to slap him silly.
There was no good place to stop until right there, so I combined the two episodes. I found writing for Ryoga to be interesting, a chance to get in touch with my darker (And more delusional) side. I can't wait to write for him for an extended piece.