Dreams of Destiny
Chapter 3
As sunlight filtered in through her window, Ami opened her eyes and stretched. Looking over at her clock, she saw that once again, she'd woken up before her alarm clock. Wiping the grit out of her eyes, Ami pulled her self from the bed, turning off her alarm as she passed it. I wonder if Ranma's up yet, she thought as she pulled off her pajamas and dressed in her school uniform. She moved over to her desk and started packing her books into her bag, making sure that all her assignments as well as her entrance test books were accounted for. She had another study session over at Rei's today and she needed to talk to the others. Ranma's curse was going to cause him problems making friends, so Ami figured that even though her friends were all younger, they could help him out.
That did bring up one problem, though. I'll have to get Makoto and Minako to back off, Ami though darkly. Given how they usually react to attractive boys, they'll be throwing themselves at Ranma every chance they get. I'll have to tell everyone about the curse and how Uncle Genma died. Hopefully, they'll respect his grief and give him some breathing room.
Ami crossed the hall to Ranma's room and knocked. "Ranma, are you up," she asked. No one answered, so she cracked the door open and peeked inside. "Ranma?" No answer.
Ami opened the door the rest of the way and took in the pristine state of the room. The bed was neatly made and everything looked perfect. Ami was worried that Ranma may have run off in the night until she saw the edge of his pack sticking out of the closet. Who would have thought that Ranma would be such a neat freak, Ami mused as she shut the door and headed downstairs.
Dr. Mizuno was setting the table for breakfast when Ami came down the stairs with a puzzled look. "What's wrong, dear," she asked.
"Do you know where Ranma is," Ami asked. "I went to wake him up, but he wasn't there and his bed was made."
"Ranma was up before I was," Dr. Mizuno chuckled. "When I got up, he'd already made breakfast. Then he asked if he knew if there was somewhere around here where he could train a little until we were ready, so I took him over to the park. He should be back any minute now."
As Dr. Mizuno finished her sentence, the front door opened and Ranma stepped inside, looking none the worse for having been working out. He was dressed in a red Chinese shirt with loose black pants tied off at the waist and ankles with drawstrings. He bent over and removed his scuffed slippers before stepping inside and heading for the table.
"So, how was your workout, Ranma," Dr. Mizuno asked as she set the last of the food on the table.
"Not bad," Ranma replied as he filled his plate. "That park is a nice place to practice, but I'm gonna get sloppy if I don't have anyone to practice with. Katas and exercise are good, but they don't come close to making you work like sparring with someone does."
"Perhaps I could find a local dojo for you to work out at," Dr. Mizuno mused.
"I'm not much for dojos," Ranma said nervously. "Oyaji had to leave lots of them in a hurry. Wouldn't surprise me any if he stole stuff from them. He did that kinda thing a lot. So my name might bias a lot of dojo instructors against me."
"So that's how Genma supported himself, he was a thief," Dr. Mizuno asked in shock.
"He didn't steal all the time," Ranma replied, "but he sure didn't like to work. All he liked to do was eat, drink, sleep and train."
"Well, I hope you have some different hobbies, Ranma," Ami chimed in. "I know you like to eat, but there's more to life than that."
"Well, I kinda like to draw," Ranma offered hesitantly.
"Really," Dr. Mizuno asked, a hint of surprise in her voice. "Are your drawings any good?"
"Dunno," Ranma mumbled around a mouthful of food. "I never showed them to anyone before and I hadta hide them from Oyaji. He woulda burned them if he'd found them. He didn't like me doing anything that might distract me from martial arts. Why? You wanna see them?"
Dr. Mizuno nodded, sensing that Ranma was nervous about allowing other people to see his drawings. He was much more sensitive than he wanted anyone to realize. Especially now.
Ranma made the contents of his plate vanish into his mouth and bolted up the stairs. Ami and her mother could her his door open and waited patiently as he bounded back down the stairs with a small sketch-book in hand. He handed it to Dr. Mizuno, his eyes nervously flicking from her to the floor and back again.
"One of my teachers in Junior high gave me that before I had to leave that school," Ranma said, every line of his body taut. "He said that it helped him to draw places he'd been, so maybe it'd help me."
Dr. Mizuno set the book on the table and carefully opened the first page. Ami leaned over her mother's shoulder to get a look. Ranma was surprised when both of the gasped.
"Guess they're not much good, huh," Ranma said sadly, scuffing his toe against the floor.
"That's not true at all, Ranma," Dr. Mizuno replied firmly. "These are wonderful. Did anyone ever teach you to draw?"
"Naw, I just drew them the way the places looked. Wasn't much special about it," Ranma replied dazedly. "So you like them?"
"They're wonderful, Ranma," Ami replied, her eyes locked on the drawing in front of him. It was a simple landscape, but the details that had been included made it seem more real than most drawings she'd ever seen. "Maybe you should take some art classes. You have a real talent for it."
"They're not that good," Ranma replied bashfully. "Just some things I scratched out when I was younger. I've drawn other things and people, but I usually don't keep many of them. That one was my first, so I kept it. I used to get rid of them after I filled them up. Oyaji said he didn't want me hanging on to things like that." Ranma looked into their eyes. "He didn't like me having anything either. Kept saying that 'Possessions tie you down, and a martial artist needs to be free to blow with the wind' or some such thing."
"Well, anyway," Dr. Mizuno began, trying to keep Ranma from dwelling on his father's death. "Are you ready to go, Ranma? We need to head down to the high school and see the principal about getting you registered for classes."
"I'm ready now," Ranma replied. "I didn't work out hard enough to break a sweat. I don't got no school stuff though. Oyaji got rid of mine when we went to China."
"That's all right, Ranma," Ami replied, turning to go back upstairs. "I've got an old bag and some extra notebooks you can use. Let me go get them."
"Don't you gotta go to school now too," Ranma asked confused.
"I'm only fifteen, Ranma," Ami replied. "I'm still in junior high. The high school starts at an earlier time, so you need to go."
"But I thought I'd be in school with you," Ranma replied woodenly.
Ami looked at Ranma's face and the heavily guarded worry that leaked out. "Don't worry, Ranma. I'll meet you after school and introduce you to some of my friends. We have a study group going for the high school entrance exams. You can get to know them and catch up on some of the work you've missed."
"I think that would be wonderful, Ami," Dr. Mizuno said as she gazed proudly on her daughter. "Ranma doesn't know anyone here and meeting your friends will help. Right, Ranma?"
Ranma nodded shyly. He didn't want to admit he was worried about being in a new place where everyone was a stranger, but at least his family was supporting him. Ranma basked in the warm glow that word drew from deep inside. He'd never known what it was like to have a real family. He'd seen other kids with their parents and siblings, but he'd never understood what bound them together. He hadn't been close to anyone other than Oyaji, and her. But Ranma was half convinced that she wasn't real, so she didn't count. But Auntie and Ami had accepted him immediately and pulled him into their lives. He could feel the way they cared about him flowing off them. Wait a minute, hadn't Oyaji said something about that?
Ranma strained at the memory. It had been during one of the rare meditation exercises that Oyaji had felt it necessary to teach Ranma. He'd said that one of the first steps to mastering ki was to be able to control your emotions. He'd also said that sometimes you could feel others' emotions with it, if the emotions were strong enough. Ranma slumped in his seat at that. He was starting to control his ki? They felt strongly enough about him that it was radiating off them? It fried his brain.
* * *
Dr. Mizuno could almost see the wheels spinning around in her nephew's head and she wondered what had caused it. Lord knows that I don't know Ranma well, she thought sadly. I can only imagine the way Genma treated him. I just hope he didn't do any serious lasting harm.
"Here's the bag," Ami said, abruptly cutting off her mother and cousin's lines of thought. "You two need to get going, or you'll get there late. I'll meet you by the school's front gate after my classes let out. We'll go over to one of my friends' house from there. Now go." Ami had adopted a stern posture and was pulling Ranma and her mother up from their chairs and angling them to the door.
Dr. Mizuno grabbed her purse and Ami forced the school bag into Ranma's hand as the stepped out the door. "We're off," Ami's mother said as they started down the street.
"Have a good day," Ami replied before going back inside and sitting down to her untouched breakfast.
* * *
The walk to the high school was uneventful, but the morning was beautiful. Dr. Mizuno couldn't figure out why Ranma would look at the fence on the side of the street, then shake his head firmly. She promised herself that she would find out later, as she pulled him abruptly across to the other side of her, just in time to avoid the splash of water that came down from an open window above them. She ignored the apology that the young lady called out and continued on. That was the third time in the last ten minutes that Ranma had almost been splashed and she was determined that his first meeting with the principal would be as her nephew. Not her niece.
At least she was lucky enough to know the principal. Mr. Tanaka had been a friend in college and she'd been surprised that he had remained in Juuban, first as a teacher and later as principal. Not that she had any doubt about his ability, but Juuban generally drove people off with it's odd occurrences. The only places that were said to be weirder were Tomobiki and Nerima, but Mieko Mizuno doubted that half the stories she heard about the other districts were true. After all, the Sailor Senshi lived here, not in either of those districts. Honestly, how could the roaming martial artists of Nerima and the aliens in Tomobiki match up to them?
Dr. Mizuno shook her head slightly in amusement. Mr. Tanaka was going to be easy to deal with compared to how the other students would react to Ranma's curse. It was very likely that it would quickly make him an outcast. But Ranma was man enough to deal with it, she thought. It will be hard for him at first, but when everyone sees how he deals with the curse, they'll come around.
As they approached the school gates, Dr. Mizuno took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "Come on, Ranma," she said. "We have an appointment to keep."
* * *
Principal Tanaka was a solid, beefy man, with a very serious but fair manner. He was widely respected by his peers for managing one of the Trouble Three districts without cracking. Furinkan's principal Kuno had cracked years ago and only added to the chaos there, Tomobiki's principal kept himself hidden away these days. Tanaka prided himself on his resolve. Despite the constant monster attacks that had plagued the district in the past year, he had maintained the school schedule and kept his students from serious harm.
The principals of the junior was constantly coming to Tanaka for help, and Tanaka's air of solidity was there for the poor an to lean on. After all, most of the monster attacks had focused on the junior high, so the troubles there had been worse than at the high school.
Tanaka was looking forward to his meeting this morning. He hadn't talked much to Mieko Mizuno in years and he was always glad to do her a favor. Especially since it had been her tutoring that had kept him in college. After all, what kind of problem could a young man related to the esteemed Dr. Mizuno have?
Mrs. Tsuru, the secretary, opened the door to the office and let Dr. Mizuno and her nephew in. Tanaka stood up and greeted his guests. "Mieko, it's wonderful to see you again," he boomed as he strode forward and grabbed her hand, pumping it forcefully.
"It's nice to see you again too, Tanaka," Dr. Mizuno said warmly. "I'd like you to meet my nephew Ranma. He's Nodoka's and Genma's son."
Ranma nodded shyly at Tanaka. Like many others before him, he was slightly overwhelmed by the force of Tanaka's personality. Not many people expected an academic like him to be so burly and full of life. Tanaka was a study in contrasts.
Tanaka was taking this opportunity to size up young Ranma. He remembered meeting Mieko's sister Nodoka several times before she died. A wonderful woman, he thought. What a horrible way for her to go. He had only met Genma once when he and Nodoka had come together to visit Mieko and Tanaka had not been impressed. Whereas Nodoka had a spine of steel and a rigid sense of honor, Genma had been a spineless jellyfish who lived only to satisfy his appetites. He had known that Genma had disappeared with their son about ten years ago. Ranma looked different than Genma, though. He has his mother's determination, Tanaka thought. He'll do.
"Now I understand you want to enroll Ranma here, Mieko," Tanaka said. "I don't see any problem with that. We should be able to get his records in a week or so and he can go ahead and start classes today. But you said there was a problem?"
"Yes, there is," Dr. Mizuno replied hesitantly. She turned to Ranma and said, "Why don't you show him, Ranma. We can explain afterward."
Ranma nodded and reached for the pitcher of water on the side table in the office. He picked it up and splashed it over himself. He felt the change wash over him as he turned back to face the principal.
Tanaka had seen many strange things in his life. He'd seen the little troll that had terrorized countless high school locker rooms bounding across roofs with bags of underwear, he'd seen energy draining monsters appearing out of nowhere, but he'd never seen anything like this. The lean young man had poured a pitcher of water over his head and Tanaka had watched as the boy's body had reshaped itself into the body of a young girl.
"I assume this was the problem you mentioned," Tanaka said as he stared, trying to keep a quaver out of his voice. He shook himself and slapped his hands down on the edge of the desk. "Well, it's not as bad as some things I could think of. At least this one I can deal with."
"I thought you would be able to as well," Dr. Mizuno said. "Ranma changes into a girl with cold water and back into a boy with hot water. You can see the problem. Also, since he got this curse, he's been attracting cold water left and right. I thought you might have an idea what we can do."
"Hmm," Tanaka replied as he pursed his lips in thought. "I'll get the teachers together at lunch and explain this to them. Ranma, I'll want you to demonstrate it for them as well." Ranma nodded his assent. He was still slightly shocked that for the second time in less than a day, someone had taken his curse without a pause. "We'll break the curse to the students as it happens, and I'm assuming that a large part of the problem is that you'll change frequently?"
"Yeah, I'm kinda a water-magnet now," Ranma replied.
"Don't worry, son," Tanaka said as he got up from behind the desk and put his hand on the boy-turned-girl's shoulder. "The student's here are used to the unusual. They'll be shocked, but they'll get over it quickly. We're not snobs like over at Mugen Gakuen. Now why don't you go to the bathroom and get some water to change back."
Ranma marshaled a weak smile and left the office in search of hot water, while Tanaka turned back to Dr. Mizuno.
"I won't lie to you, Mieko," he said. "It'll be tough on Ranma. He'll have to catch up on his subjects and deal with the social awkwardness his condition will cause. I think he's strong enough to handle it, but we'll have to see how it goes."
"I think he'll be okay too," Dr. Mizuno said, smiling warmly. "My daughter, Ami, is going to help him with his schoolwork and I think he'll be adopted quickly enough by her friends. He'll have the support outside of school he needs to find his stability. But I'm still worried. He didn't even know that Nodoka was dead until yesterday and he's still trying to deal with the loss of his father. I worry that he'll do some stupid things and get into situations he can't get out of."
"I understand, Mieko," Tanaka said as he thumped his chest, "and you can rely on me to watch out for him here. And I think little Ami and her friends can keep an eye on him outside of school. I think you're borrowing trouble. He seems like a good kid to me. I think he'll settle in and get used to a life as normal as can be found in Juuban these days."
"I hope so," Dr. Mizuno replied as she leaned back in the chair and tried to relax. "I really hope so." But I'm afraid that something big is about to happen, she thought. There's something in the air. Something telling me that things will ever be the same again.
AN: Sorry this one took so long, but real life is causing problems. My writing will be a little slow, but I'm going to try and keep it steady. This is just a draft of this chapter. I'll probably make changes to it in the near future, but I need to put it up in order to keep myself going.