PLANE THINKING
An interlude in Extreme Measures
"I'm leaving on a jet plane don't know when I'll be back again,"
"Yechh" Ranma grimaced slightly and pulled the plug on the headphones he'd been wearing in order to listen to the in-flight movie. Not likely he wanted to hear that song right now.
Ranma sat back and turned away from the screen watching the clouds and endless seeming water through the airplane's window. Deep in thought, it amused him that this was the first time he had flown... well, on an airplane that was. Thoughts flickered through his head like his fists normally did through a kata.
He sighed and finally decided to stop evading the issue: Akane. This was probably the longest amount of peace he had had while conscious and he might as well put it to some use.
Did he truly love her? At first his mind shied from such a blatant question but he had realized that he had to confront the issue head on. Yes, he had to admit that he did care for her, but love? Ranma wasn't sure he knew what love was. He had three girls who swore that they loved him and one who seemed to alternate between love and hate. The shear concept of it threatened to overwhelm him but he took a deep breath and forced himself to fight through the problem.
"Hmmm... I'll come back to Akane." He mumbled to himself.
*Okaaayyy* he thought quietly after correctly interpreting the look he had received from his fellow passenger to the left as a 'Shut up already' look. He'd plenty of experience deciphering those. *Kodachi is right out. Not that she was ever 'in'*, Ranma thought to himself with a slight grimace. *Without me having a name anymore she'll drop me faster than a Chestnut Fist attack.*
*Shan-pu. She is gonna be a problem. She's already tracked me from China to Japan. I really doubt that a little thing like the Pacific Ocean is gonna stop her. I wonder how long it'll take for her to get past the smokescreen Nabiki said she would try and run. If it was just Shan it wouldn't be that difficult but with the Old Ghoul... I figure I'll get two weeks to a month. And then... Damn, there has got to be a way. There's gotta be a way for me to convince her to just go away. Sh'yaeh, like I haven't been trying to come up with an answer since she followed my to the Tendou's house. Damn you Oyagi, This one is definitely your fault. You and your damn stomach.* Ranma had to stop and re-assess that thought a little. *Okay, so it's my fault too... It wasn't like I'd known what the deal was. Damn. Well, neither did Oyagi either... I know, it's the Jusenkyou Guide's fault. Damn. I'm starting to sound like Ryouga. Sh'yeah, what's he got to be so depressed about? At least he has a name.*
*Ronin. I'm Ronin.* Ranma thought to himself. The concept still hadn't truly sunk into Ranma's head yet. The name was the sticking point here. With the fact that he was no longer Genma's son (and in truth had never been) a knock out blow was given to the fiancée mess. Ranma winced yet again, and it seemed he'd be doing that for quite a while to come as he thought about Ukyou.
*Damn. Shit. Damn.* Ranma shook his head and closed his eyes. *I'd only ever thought of her as a friend. Hell, I didn't even know she was a 'she' until she showed up looking like a he.* Ranma stopped for a moment and reviewed that last thought to see if it even made sense. *Oh well, no more so than a lot of other things in my life. Ukyou is going to be upset.* He paused again in his thinking. *No. Ukyou is going to be pissed. With a capitol 'P'.* He'd left without even saying goodbye. Just a hastily scribbled note that Nabiki promised she would deliver. Her honor was still shot as Genma had promised her family his son... And he didn't have one. *It can't be helped* Ranma thought. *The agreement was for her to marry Ranma Saotome, not Ranma the (shudder) Ronin.* He nodded to himself and then frowned. Ranma truly cared about her but he just couldn't see her as anything more than his friend. He never could.
Genma's promises were going to come back to haunt him for a long time to come.
*FLASH*
He could still hear the argument between Mr. Tendou and Genma, before he had left, in his head. Ranma had made the mistake of trying to exit out of the house the normal way after leaving Nabiki's room, so that he could at least say thank you and goodbye to Kasumi. Old man Tendou had actually gone off on him like it was 'his' fault he wasn't Genma's son. Considering what had gone on during the 'Saotome Family Meeting' out in the dojo, Ranma had been in less than an appreciative mood for Soun's crap. The resulting brawl had included almost everyone in the household in some way or another.
Amazingly enough Happosai had not gotten involved in the fight other than sitting on the porch with Kasumi and Nabiki and occasionally kicking Soun or Genma back into the battle as needed. Eventually, it had ended with Soun and Genma down and out for the count and Ranma and Akane standing face to face in the middle of the yard.
After almost a full minute of simply staring at each other, Akane had shuddered and turned to walk back towards the house.
"Go away Ranma... Just go away." She stopped and looked around at the torn up yard. "I don't care anymore. I'm tired of the fighting and I'm tired of being angry. Just... Go."
He just couldn't believe it. After all that had happened and after all that they had been thru. She wanted him to go. It seemed that he had been correct in what he'd said to Nabiki about Akane hating him.
He'd looked away for only a moment but when he turned back around Akane was gone. Kasumi was... well she wasn't crying, but she had the saddest look on her face that Ranma could ever remember seeing. A quick hug and a goodbye from her, a couple of comments and, very surprisingly, a hug from Nabiki of all people, and Ranma walked out of the Tendou's yard for what he was certain was the last time.
It had come as a surprise a few minutes later when he'd realized that Happosai was walking alongside of him and had been since he'd left the Tendou's.
When the shock had finally left his face, an unusually somber Happosai stood there and regarded him. "What my boy... You think you'd been completely kicked out?"
"What do you want?" Ranma asked, and then couldn't help adding, "You old freak."
"Now, now, boy. Believe it or not, I'm on your side this time."
"Sh'yeah, right. As if."
"Ranma my boy, I'm an old man. I'm older than you'd think, and I've seen a lot of things in this world." At this comment Ranma managed (barely) to hold the sarcastic comment in. "I know what Genma told you about the School, and I have something to say about that. "
Ranma tensed himself for the worst. Genma had already forbidden him to practice the Saotome School of Indiscriminate Grappling back at the dojo. What would the Grandmaster of the school have to say about him now? He thought he was prepared, for whatever sentence Happosai would pass onto him, but he wasn't.
"Here." Happosai said, as he thrust a small parchment towards the young martial artist. "Go on boy, take it."
"What the..." Ranma's voice trailed off as he started to read the document. His certification, signed by Happosai, proclaiming him Master of the Ranma (space) School of Indiscriminate Grappling. "Why the space after my name?" He finally asked after he managed to find his voice. He hadn't expected such a gift from the little pervert. Girls undies maybe, but not this.
"If/when you find your real father, you can fill it in. Or just take your Mother's family name of Yashida. Whichever. I left you enough room for you to fill it in."
Ranma looked at the old man real hard for a moment. "Why? Why this? Why from you?"
"What? Can't I do something nice, something right, for a change?"
"No."
Happosai looked up at the teen and grinned. "Oh well, you're right. I did it for two reasons. One: You are more than skilled enough to be a Master of the school."
"And the second reason?" Ranma pried. He knew that he was better than Soun and Genma, that was a given. It wasn't hubris, it was fact.
If anything, the smile on Happy's face became wider. "The other reason is that I could never really deny my Granddaughter anything she really wanted."
"Your Granddaughter?" Ranma was confused here at the sudden shift in the conversation.
The smile on Happy's face threatened to wrap around his ugly little head. "Yes, my boy, you know... Your Mother."
Ranma thought about it for a moment. Then he thought about it some more. "Ewwwww! You have got to be kidding me!" Ranma was starting to get nauseas just thinking about it. Here he'd found out that he wasn't related to Genma, which although he missed having the name Saotome, could be looked at as a good thing, only to find out that he was related to Happosai. Life sucked. A lot.
"What's wrong my boy?" Happy said chuckling. "Don't you see the family resemblance?"
"What? No. Ewwww... I... Ewwww..." Ranma gulped noisily and looked pale. "How many other people know about this?"
"Just your mother, you, and me, why?"
Ranma looked around nervously. "Good, why don't we keep it that way huh?"
*FLASH*
*Everything said and done the old freak was pretty damn nice to me.* Ranma shook his head *Till he pulled out the bucket of water and the negligee though* Ranma had of course had to fight a running battle all the way to the airport. Luckily he had lost the pervert in the Swedish stewardess' changing room. *Damn, I'm still not sure if he was telling the truth about being Mom's grandfather or if he was just yanking my chain in order to give me my certification without being all nice and stuff.*
Sigh *Akane. Why did it have to be so hard? I tried. You tried, and we still couldn't make it work.* Ranma sat back a little and let his eyes close. He was finally admitting to himself that he did love her. *It was always so difficult for us to talk without arguing though. Why couldn't she and I have been friends like she wanted us to be way back whe...*
Ranma sat straight up and his eyes opened wide. *Damn, I am an idiot. I do love her. I just don't like her.* Ranma's mouth hung open a little as he contemplated this. *It's the exact opposite of my problem with Ukyou. I love her but I resent her, I don't like her or a lot of the things she does. And I'm certain that she feels the same way. It explains all of our problems our fights and our feelings.*
Ranma closed his eyes again and snuggled back into the seat. The thoughts seemed to come faster and faster as he relived the last year and a little bit of his life. The fights, the smiles, the pain, the hunger for... something. His first memories of Akane, with her asking if he wanted to be friends, and the nightmare it had become when she walked into the bathroom and discovered his curse. The pain from that unintentional deception and his and her reactions to the aftermath had fixed their fate as a couple from day one. They'd never been able to get past the lack of trust in order to really like one another. They'd come to love one another but not trust, not like and not talk like they needed to.
*Damn...* Ranma turned his head to the side and, noting that the lights were still down for the movie, quietly did something he almost never did. He quietly cried as he watched the clouds go by. Crying for what could have been and never would be. For a love that happened and a friendship that didn't.
This wasn't planned, it just came out this way and I'm trying to get past a bit of writer's block. If you like it, please leave a review. If you don't then leave a review and tell me why... I'm hoping to add a chapter a month (or faster if I can)
QuickSilver Knight
An interlude in Extreme Measures
"I'm leaving on a jet plane don't know when I'll be back again,"
"Yechh" Ranma grimaced slightly and pulled the plug on the headphones he'd been wearing in order to listen to the in-flight movie. Not likely he wanted to hear that song right now.
Ranma sat back and turned away from the screen watching the clouds and endless seeming water through the airplane's window. Deep in thought, it amused him that this was the first time he had flown... well, on an airplane that was. Thoughts flickered through his head like his fists normally did through a kata.
He sighed and finally decided to stop evading the issue: Akane. This was probably the longest amount of peace he had had while conscious and he might as well put it to some use.
Did he truly love her? At first his mind shied from such a blatant question but he had realized that he had to confront the issue head on. Yes, he had to admit that he did care for her, but love? Ranma wasn't sure he knew what love was. He had three girls who swore that they loved him and one who seemed to alternate between love and hate. The shear concept of it threatened to overwhelm him but he took a deep breath and forced himself to fight through the problem.
"Hmmm... I'll come back to Akane." He mumbled to himself.
*Okaaayyy* he thought quietly after correctly interpreting the look he had received from his fellow passenger to the left as a 'Shut up already' look. He'd plenty of experience deciphering those. *Kodachi is right out. Not that she was ever 'in'*, Ranma thought to himself with a slight grimace. *Without me having a name anymore she'll drop me faster than a Chestnut Fist attack.*
*Shan-pu. She is gonna be a problem. She's already tracked me from China to Japan. I really doubt that a little thing like the Pacific Ocean is gonna stop her. I wonder how long it'll take for her to get past the smokescreen Nabiki said she would try and run. If it was just Shan it wouldn't be that difficult but with the Old Ghoul... I figure I'll get two weeks to a month. And then... Damn, there has got to be a way. There's gotta be a way for me to convince her to just go away. Sh'yaeh, like I haven't been trying to come up with an answer since she followed my to the Tendou's house. Damn you Oyagi, This one is definitely your fault. You and your damn stomach.* Ranma had to stop and re-assess that thought a little. *Okay, so it's my fault too... It wasn't like I'd known what the deal was. Damn. Well, neither did Oyagi either... I know, it's the Jusenkyou Guide's fault. Damn. I'm starting to sound like Ryouga. Sh'yeah, what's he got to be so depressed about? At least he has a name.*
*Ronin. I'm Ronin.* Ranma thought to himself. The concept still hadn't truly sunk into Ranma's head yet. The name was the sticking point here. With the fact that he was no longer Genma's son (and in truth had never been) a knock out blow was given to the fiancée mess. Ranma winced yet again, and it seemed he'd be doing that for quite a while to come as he thought about Ukyou.
*Damn. Shit. Damn.* Ranma shook his head and closed his eyes. *I'd only ever thought of her as a friend. Hell, I didn't even know she was a 'she' until she showed up looking like a he.* Ranma stopped for a moment and reviewed that last thought to see if it even made sense. *Oh well, no more so than a lot of other things in my life. Ukyou is going to be upset.* He paused again in his thinking. *No. Ukyou is going to be pissed. With a capitol 'P'.* He'd left without even saying goodbye. Just a hastily scribbled note that Nabiki promised she would deliver. Her honor was still shot as Genma had promised her family his son... And he didn't have one. *It can't be helped* Ranma thought. *The agreement was for her to marry Ranma Saotome, not Ranma the (shudder) Ronin.* He nodded to himself and then frowned. Ranma truly cared about her but he just couldn't see her as anything more than his friend. He never could.
Genma's promises were going to come back to haunt him for a long time to come.
*FLASH*
He could still hear the argument between Mr. Tendou and Genma, before he had left, in his head. Ranma had made the mistake of trying to exit out of the house the normal way after leaving Nabiki's room, so that he could at least say thank you and goodbye to Kasumi. Old man Tendou had actually gone off on him like it was 'his' fault he wasn't Genma's son. Considering what had gone on during the 'Saotome Family Meeting' out in the dojo, Ranma had been in less than an appreciative mood for Soun's crap. The resulting brawl had included almost everyone in the household in some way or another.
Amazingly enough Happosai had not gotten involved in the fight other than sitting on the porch with Kasumi and Nabiki and occasionally kicking Soun or Genma back into the battle as needed. Eventually, it had ended with Soun and Genma down and out for the count and Ranma and Akane standing face to face in the middle of the yard.
After almost a full minute of simply staring at each other, Akane had shuddered and turned to walk back towards the house.
"Go away Ranma... Just go away." She stopped and looked around at the torn up yard. "I don't care anymore. I'm tired of the fighting and I'm tired of being angry. Just... Go."
He just couldn't believe it. After all that had happened and after all that they had been thru. She wanted him to go. It seemed that he had been correct in what he'd said to Nabiki about Akane hating him.
He'd looked away for only a moment but when he turned back around Akane was gone. Kasumi was... well she wasn't crying, but she had the saddest look on her face that Ranma could ever remember seeing. A quick hug and a goodbye from her, a couple of comments and, very surprisingly, a hug from Nabiki of all people, and Ranma walked out of the Tendou's yard for what he was certain was the last time.
It had come as a surprise a few minutes later when he'd realized that Happosai was walking alongside of him and had been since he'd left the Tendou's.
When the shock had finally left his face, an unusually somber Happosai stood there and regarded him. "What my boy... You think you'd been completely kicked out?"
"What do you want?" Ranma asked, and then couldn't help adding, "You old freak."
"Now, now, boy. Believe it or not, I'm on your side this time."
"Sh'yeah, right. As if."
"Ranma my boy, I'm an old man. I'm older than you'd think, and I've seen a lot of things in this world." At this comment Ranma managed (barely) to hold the sarcastic comment in. "I know what Genma told you about the School, and I have something to say about that. "
Ranma tensed himself for the worst. Genma had already forbidden him to practice the Saotome School of Indiscriminate Grappling back at the dojo. What would the Grandmaster of the school have to say about him now? He thought he was prepared, for whatever sentence Happosai would pass onto him, but he wasn't.
"Here." Happosai said, as he thrust a small parchment towards the young martial artist. "Go on boy, take it."
"What the..." Ranma's voice trailed off as he started to read the document. His certification, signed by Happosai, proclaiming him Master of the Ranma (space) School of Indiscriminate Grappling. "Why the space after my name?" He finally asked after he managed to find his voice. He hadn't expected such a gift from the little pervert. Girls undies maybe, but not this.
"If/when you find your real father, you can fill it in. Or just take your Mother's family name of Yashida. Whichever. I left you enough room for you to fill it in."
Ranma looked at the old man real hard for a moment. "Why? Why this? Why from you?"
"What? Can't I do something nice, something right, for a change?"
"No."
Happosai looked up at the teen and grinned. "Oh well, you're right. I did it for two reasons. One: You are more than skilled enough to be a Master of the school."
"And the second reason?" Ranma pried. He knew that he was better than Soun and Genma, that was a given. It wasn't hubris, it was fact.
If anything, the smile on Happy's face became wider. "The other reason is that I could never really deny my Granddaughter anything she really wanted."
"Your Granddaughter?" Ranma was confused here at the sudden shift in the conversation.
The smile on Happy's face threatened to wrap around his ugly little head. "Yes, my boy, you know... Your Mother."
Ranma thought about it for a moment. Then he thought about it some more. "Ewwwww! You have got to be kidding me!" Ranma was starting to get nauseas just thinking about it. Here he'd found out that he wasn't related to Genma, which although he missed having the name Saotome, could be looked at as a good thing, only to find out that he was related to Happosai. Life sucked. A lot.
"What's wrong my boy?" Happy said chuckling. "Don't you see the family resemblance?"
"What? No. Ewwww... I... Ewwww..." Ranma gulped noisily and looked pale. "How many other people know about this?"
"Just your mother, you, and me, why?"
Ranma looked around nervously. "Good, why don't we keep it that way huh?"
*FLASH*
*Everything said and done the old freak was pretty damn nice to me.* Ranma shook his head *Till he pulled out the bucket of water and the negligee though* Ranma had of course had to fight a running battle all the way to the airport. Luckily he had lost the pervert in the Swedish stewardess' changing room. *Damn, I'm still not sure if he was telling the truth about being Mom's grandfather or if he was just yanking my chain in order to give me my certification without being all nice and stuff.*
Sigh *Akane. Why did it have to be so hard? I tried. You tried, and we still couldn't make it work.* Ranma sat back a little and let his eyes close. He was finally admitting to himself that he did love her. *It was always so difficult for us to talk without arguing though. Why couldn't she and I have been friends like she wanted us to be way back whe...*
Ranma sat straight up and his eyes opened wide. *Damn, I am an idiot. I do love her. I just don't like her.* Ranma's mouth hung open a little as he contemplated this. *It's the exact opposite of my problem with Ukyou. I love her but I resent her, I don't like her or a lot of the things she does. And I'm certain that she feels the same way. It explains all of our problems our fights and our feelings.*
Ranma closed his eyes again and snuggled back into the seat. The thoughts seemed to come faster and faster as he relived the last year and a little bit of his life. The fights, the smiles, the pain, the hunger for... something. His first memories of Akane, with her asking if he wanted to be friends, and the nightmare it had become when she walked into the bathroom and discovered his curse. The pain from that unintentional deception and his and her reactions to the aftermath had fixed their fate as a couple from day one. They'd never been able to get past the lack of trust in order to really like one another. They'd come to love one another but not trust, not like and not talk like they needed to.
*Damn...* Ranma turned his head to the side and, noting that the lights were still down for the movie, quietly did something he almost never did. He quietly cried as he watched the clouds go by. Crying for what could have been and never would be. For a love that happened and a friendship that didn't.
This wasn't planned, it just came out this way and I'm trying to get past a bit of writer's block. If you like it, please leave a review. If you don't then leave a review and tell me why... I'm hoping to add a chapter a month (or faster if I can)
QuickSilver Knight