Chapter 07 - Promised Obsession
Nabiki stood up from her seat next to Ranma in the lecture hall and
stretched. This lecture class was the last courses they had, and one
of the few bits of course work they were able to still do together.
Their programs had differed significantly over the four years they had
been in school. A glance at the watch peeking out from under the
sleeve of her scrubs showed that they still had a quarter hour to
cross the campus and be to at the hospital where they were serving
their internships.
As Ranma got up beside her gathered his notes, she took a moment to
covertly study him while restuffing her notebook into her book-bag.
The intervening years had made considerable changes in him. At 21,
Ranma had broadened and filled out considerably. He still moved with
the same lithe grace, but now his moves expressed a hidden power.
Only on rare occasions was he subject the his earlier listlessness.
His normal mood was now one of quiet confidence and lately it seemed,
happiness, at least around her, which she didn't understand. Most
prominent though was a constant, underlying, and unrelenting
determination. One of the few features that remained of his earlier
self was his trademark pigtail, still sticking over the collar of his
own hospital scrubs.
He noticed Nabiki's observation and favored her with a smile. Even
four years later, she still closely watched over him at every
opportunity. Not that he minded. Especially when he could catch her
in the act and make her blush like that. Nabiki had also changed over
the intervening time, and much for the better in his opinion. She
still had the the same highly attractive features as before,
highlighted at the moment in a delicate pink. By now, several years
of the intense training regime he had instigated at her request had
refined her body into a sculpture of perfectly defined curves and
angles in all the right places.
The pair made their way to the exit of the building, swinging their
book-bags onto their backs and dropping off a few small items of
trash. An alert observer would notice several signs of impending
action. Glances were exchanged, position was subtly vied for, and an
almost unnoticeable tension crept into their motions. Several of the
other students had stopped just outside in anticipation while being
careful not to block the door. Walking out the door, Nabiki posed
today's stakes, "Loser makes dinner and does dishes tonight ?" The
flush returns for a brief moment, and she continues with a surpressed
smile, "and keep your hands in safe places this time, pervert."
"First one to drop something loses," he agrees, exactly side by side
with her, not ceding any advantage of position, "and I ain't the
pervert, here. I still say that you arranged that incident,
'Biki-chan'."
"I can only credit the evidence I see, or feel in this case, " Nabiki
smirked, "not your uninformed speculations. And don't call be
'Biki-chan', 'Pervert'."
At some unseen signal, the two of them leaped into motion at exactly
the same moment, encouraged by a vigorous cheer from the watching
faculty and students. Nabiki sailed on a graceful parabola three
meters high, the contents of her book-bag exploding from her rapidly
flying hands in all directions, followed by the book-bag itself.
Below her, Ranma bounced along an insane zig-zag course, somehow
managing to meet and relaunch each flying pen or notebook before it
reached the ground. He quickly added to the aerial carnage with the
contents of his own book-bag as well as that of the pockets of his
scrubs.
Nabiki was forced to provide her own impression of a demented
grasshopper on crack as she met the falling items in turn.
Additionally, she was soon forced to deal with several distraction
attempts, dodging sweeps, throws and other techniques while
relaunching the flying menagerie. The distractions she dealt back in
turn whenever Ranma was reaching for a falling book or stethoscope.
The cascade of flying objects marked their erratic course across the
campus.
By now, the spectacle provided by the pair's antics had come to be the
norm on the campus, and was generally treated with good cheer, not to
mention a certain amount of wagering. Passing friends or colleagues
cried out encouragement to whomever they favored, including members of
the original Jusenko curse research group which had been their
original excuse for being there. While the research group had made no
progress on understanding the curse itself, they had gradually come to
accept the enhanced prowess demonstrated by their favorite subject,
especially as they were able to see the gradual improvement of Nabiki
to near those same levels. They had managed to to come up with a few
measures designed to help those subject to the curse, however, one of
which was demonstrated when Ranma's course intercepted a sprinkler. A
brief blurring of his form between smaller and larger was settled in
favor of the larger as soon as his body cleared the cold water.
Finally, having covered the width of the campus, they neared their
eventual goal of the hospital building itself. Ranma had just flipped
feet toward the concrete wall of the small cryogenics tank enclosure
in preparation for another bounce at the incoming stream of flying
Demetrius, when the wall beneath him suddenly disintegrated into flying
rubble. Deprived of his landing spot, Ranma shot through the new hole
and landed on something inside with a yelp. The something responded
with a curse of it's own as books, pencils, notebooks, book-bags,
wallets, stethoscopes, and miscellaneous objects settled about him.
"Rraaannnmmaa !", growled the landed upon figure, "GET OFFA ME !"
"Ryoga ! " cried Ranma, happily, jumping up. "It's good to see you
man ! It's been what, a year ? And you couldn't stick around last
time. Hey, I got a sturdier replacement for that last anti-change box
we tried for ya."
Nabiki poked her head inside the hole with a smirk. "Did the great
Ranma Saotome get surprised ? Oh well, looks like you lose this time
Ranma. Ryoga, however did you get in here ?"
"Ah man" whined Ranma, not too unhappily. "I haven't had to cook for
a week. Now I gotta pay Keito off, too. Shoulda never bet a week's
pay with her."
Ryoga looked confused, "How did I get in where Nabiki, and what are
you doing in Okinawa ?"
"Ranma, you jerk, you bet _how_ much ? I think we'll have to talk
about this. I know I'm not as good as you, but still you should be
risking our finances. Even though we're being paid now, the Kuno
trust is running out." Her reproach was unfortunately negated by her
still excited and happy face.
Turning toward Ryoga she continued, "You're at our school again,
Ryoga, although how you got in a walled enclosure with only one,
locked, door is anyone's guess." Nabiki looked again at Ranma. "Three
minutes left until you start your rounds," she said. "We better clean
up. Fortunately, I think the Kuno trust still has some repair funds
in it which should cover this damage. The hospital administrator is
going to be pissed again, though." Ryoga cringed at hearing this
last.
"Okay. Ryoga, we'll have to wait until tonight to fight. You can
have supper with us, and call Akari from our place, right ?"
Again, Ranma and Nabiki sprung into a ballet of motion, with objects
flying in a apparently chaotic disorder. Shortly, Ryoga found himself
magically transported to the outside side of the wall, which had the
rubble cleared away and it's hole covered in a sheet of plywood from
somewhere unfathomable. Ranma and Nabiki, also apparently by magic,
were again wearing full bags and had pockets filled with the
appropriate contents, and sported matching happy smiles.
"Now wait right here until one of us comes for you, or I'll have to
let slip who made this hole in the wall. Hmm, the research group
might want to study your sense of direction too." Nabiki lectured
briefly, with another smirk. The two then turned and made for
different entrances of the hospital complex. Ryoga could see the
happy expressions slowly fall from both of their faces, and noticed
that they were much slower alone than they had been when together.
Cowed by Nabiki's threat, Ryoga sat down with his back to the damaged
wall, and pondered the confusing changes in his erstwhile rival.
***
A cry of "Hey pervert ! Over here !" split the air of the campus,
drawing the attention of the aforesaid young man. Ranma, not Ryoga,
that is. Ryoga, waiting as promised with Ranma at the base of the
wall he had broken earlier, turned at the sound. He was well placed
to see both Ranma's and Nabiki's faces as they came in sight of each
other. While Ranma had been courteous and friendly in their
conversation (a change which still unsettled Ryoga), his expression
immediately changed to a far happier, far less guarded one on catching
sight of the young Tendo. Nabiki, too, underwent a similar
transformation, although it was even more noticeable in her, as she
lost the older, Furikan era ice queen facade, exchanging it for a
happy and excited face of any young woman.
"Great news Ranma !" Nabiki rushed excitedly, as she impatiently
flipped over the last obstacles between them, a small group of
pedestrians. Ranma arrested her forward motion, catching Nabiki with
a quick spin, and the two of them separated, without seeming to notice
that Ranma had ended up holding Nabiki's hand. "I think I've managed
a deal where you can do accelerated residencies and bypass the normal
match process. They need nurses, too. Come on, I'll fill you in on
the way home. Wanna race again ? Oh, I forgot we have company. Hi
again Ryoga."
Ryoga blinked for a moment, startled at the prospect of Nabiki
forgetting anything, then jerked into motion following the rapidly
chattering pair in front of him. He caught up in time to hear Nabiki
saying, "So they need another doctor for both Emergency Med and
General Surgery, and they're willing to accept a resident since
they've got enough senior staff, and they've heard of us. That
matches both your specialties, and they want another nurse, too.
We've got an interview in a week. It matches what we're doing now
very well, too."
"Nabiki, where are you going, and what are you doing now ? " Ryoga
finally manages to interject.
"It's a job with the International Committee of the Red Cross disaster
relief team. They're creating a new 'first responder' medical
assistance team. We'd get to go wherever there's a problem or
disaster and help." Nabiki chirps happily. "As to what we've been
doing the last couple of years, well, wait until we get to our place,
and we'll show you." Nabiki pointed to the third floor balcony of the
apartment building the were approaching.
At this, another remarkable sequence of events occurred. In a wholly
unprompted sequence so sudden and smooth that it could only have
normally achieved by a trained team with years of practice, Nabiki
took a high step, stepping into the cradled hands of a suddenly turned
Ranma, who had dropped to one knee. Ranma smoothly straightened and
flung Nabiki into the air, assisting her simultaneous leap. Nabiki
flipped once in the air and landed softly feet first on the balcony
she just indicated, Ranma not more than a few seconds behind jumping
up in stages via the balconies of the floors below.
Nabiki smirked and waved at a shocked Ryoga before entering the open
balcony door, and Ranma called down before entering himself, "What are
you waiting for ? Come on up."
Ryoga, quite suddenly alone, stood in shock. After opening and
closing his mouth ineffectually a few times, he finally mutters,
"Since when did they join the circus ?"
***
In Ranma and Nabiki's apartment Ryoga turns from examining the wall of
the small living and dining area. Behind him, Nabiki kneels at a
small table, rapidly working though a pile of paperwork or perhaps
homework spread out before her. Paper flutter rapidly enough to sound
like the shuffling of a deck of cards.
Ranma is cooking in the tiny kitchen lining the shorter of the
interior walls, knives and implements flashing in the unnerving speed
both have been displaying. Both have changed into casual, but loose
clothing. Ranma no longer sports his Chinese style shirt, instead
wearing a baggy sweatshirt with the arms torn off and a picture of a
tall gray American cartoon rabbit. Nabiki sports a matching
sweatshirt with the same character dressed in drag. Both shoot
frequent short, glances at the other, as if to assure themselves of
the other's continuing presence. The small room nearly seems to
sparkle, overflowing with their energy.
Ryoga turns back to the wall. Nabiki had indicated it to him when he
appeared over the balcony railing himself, shortly informing him that
it would answer his other question. It is covered with newspaper
clippings, letters, and pictures. The headlines all have a common
theme: "Local medical students revive crash victim", "Local resident
injured rescuing pedestrian from speeding bus", "Med school hero
contains hazardous chemical spill, treats workers", "College students
rescue hostages". It seems that Ranma and Nabiki have spent the last
few years giving the local Fire and Rescue council some unasked for
assistance.
Pride of place is given to a full front page of a newspaper. Fully
half the page is a dramatic color shot of an obviously scorched Ranma
sprinting away from a huge inferno consuming a high rise apartment
building, carrying a child wrapped in blankets in his arms. One of
the smaller pictures framing the text shows Ranma leaping between
balconies, apparently just missing a piece of flaming debris. Another
shows him giving the child to a woman, who the caption claims to be
the mother. It is noticeably that even though Ranma appears in the
photo to be having difficulty breathing, his clothes burned through in
spots, and large and apparent burn blisters show on him, the child
appears to be unharmed, even happy. A substance which looks
suspiciously like frost flakes off the blanket.
Ranma is by now bringing a stack of plates and serving utensils and
pots of food to the table, which is cleared for him in another display
of perfect timing by Nabiki. Noticing Ryoga's focus of attention,
Ranma comments. "We nearly ran short of time to get that kid out.
She was the last one, fortunately. I'm still kinda pissed the paper
didn't show any of the shots of Nabiki, though. We did a tag team on
that one - I threw and she caught. It's our largest rescue to date."
Ryoga gapes a moment. What the hell have they been doing ?
Strangely, as they sit to eat, he begins to see something familiar in
Ranma, and, come to think of, in Nabiki too. It's almost feels like
his old obsession to find and punish Ranma, back in high school. But
that can't be right, can it ? He looks again, looking into their
auras this time, and what he sees only seems to confirm his suspicion.
That powerful and pure of a set of auras could only be generated by a
strong purity of purpose. It was one of the reasons why he himself
was able to learn the shi-shi-hokodan so quickly those years earlier,
his hate and obsession with Ranma was so all consuming.
Watching their actions now seemed to make more sense, even sitting and
eating, neither of them was idle or even doing just a single thing.
Instead both keep occupied doing multiple tasks, completing
correspondence, writing up notes on their patients, and holding a
conversation about the new residency opportunity. They both finished
the meal in Saotome time, and despite the earlier contest terms,
cooperate in clearing the table and washing the dishes, excepting the
heaped plate still only a third finished in front of Ryoga.
Despite the lingering mistrust and antagonism he still felt toward
Ranma, Ryoga almost felt pity. He truly hoped that they were not as
fanatically dedicated toward their path as they appeared. He now
understood the futility and self destructive nature of such obsession.
Just to confirm it, and to antagonize Ranma, of course, he pointed to
a line of letters pinned up along the bottom of the display. All of
them were from the local authorities, fire, police, or rescue,
castigating the pair in some way for their risky behavior and telling
them to leave the work to the duly appointed professionals. "Still a
jerk and a trouble maker, aren't you Ranma ? You've been in trouble
with the local authorities ever since I've known you. First at
school, and now here. You also seem to have a knack for dragging a
Tendo into trouble with you."
"Feh. When those losers have gotten through eight years combined of
college degree and four year med school in half the time, and broken
up half the crimes or saved half the people we have in the past four
years, then they can say somethin' to me." Suddenly his gaze hardens,
and his eyes flash brilliantly. "And leave Nabiki outta this. It's
her choice, and you got no right to say anythin' 'bout her. This is
in honor 'o Akane and a promise I made the Tendos, and not you or
anybody else's gonna stop me, got it ?"
"Ranma, it's alright. Ryoga doesn't understand." Nabiki stops him,
laying her hand on his arm. "Why don't you get that new model curse
mitigation box, the copy of the one you wear now. You've been going
to send it to Ryoga, anyway."
With a visible effort, Ranma regains control, and the fire in his
brilliant eyes dampens. Turning, he vanishes for a moment,
reappearing in front of Ryoga carrying a compact, flat box on a belt.
"Here, ya wear this against your skin, and keep it filled with water
and propane. When the belt starts to loose tension, the box squirts
ya with hot water, it reverses the change before it can really take
effect, so long as you're not totally immersed. It should hold up
better than the one we shipped ya at the Unryu farm. I been wearing
one like it for 6 months, and if that" Ranma waves his hand at the
wall of newspaper clippings "ain't hurt it, nothin's gonna."
Ranma pauses a moment "Meanwhile, finish up and we'll go to the park &
spar. Ya can call Akari from here, and either stay overnight here or
leave tonight after our fight. Either way we'll get 'ya to the train
station."
Ryoga finally nods and digs into the rest of his food. Nabiki was
wrong, though, he did understand. An obsession didn't have to make
sense, it just was. And as honor driven as Ranma was, that only made
it far worse. He finished his meal in silence, there was nothing more
to be said.
***
Authors notes -
Despite working at a medical institution and school, I'm a programmer,
not a doctor, and I'm certain I don't really understand what goes into
making one. I got my information on medical school from the wonderful
"How stuff works" website, http://www.howstuffworks.com.
I am also certain that a Japanese medical school differs in perhaps
significant ways from an American one. Sorry 'bout that, but I can
only write what I can find out.
Nabiki stood up from her seat next to Ranma in the lecture hall and
stretched. This lecture class was the last courses they had, and one
of the few bits of course work they were able to still do together.
Their programs had differed significantly over the four years they had
been in school. A glance at the watch peeking out from under the
sleeve of her scrubs showed that they still had a quarter hour to
cross the campus and be to at the hospital where they were serving
their internships.
As Ranma got up beside her gathered his notes, she took a moment to
covertly study him while restuffing her notebook into her book-bag.
The intervening years had made considerable changes in him. At 21,
Ranma had broadened and filled out considerably. He still moved with
the same lithe grace, but now his moves expressed a hidden power.
Only on rare occasions was he subject the his earlier listlessness.
His normal mood was now one of quiet confidence and lately it seemed,
happiness, at least around her, which she didn't understand. Most
prominent though was a constant, underlying, and unrelenting
determination. One of the few features that remained of his earlier
self was his trademark pigtail, still sticking over the collar of his
own hospital scrubs.
He noticed Nabiki's observation and favored her with a smile. Even
four years later, she still closely watched over him at every
opportunity. Not that he minded. Especially when he could catch her
in the act and make her blush like that. Nabiki had also changed over
the intervening time, and much for the better in his opinion. She
still had the the same highly attractive features as before,
highlighted at the moment in a delicate pink. By now, several years
of the intense training regime he had instigated at her request had
refined her body into a sculpture of perfectly defined curves and
angles in all the right places.
The pair made their way to the exit of the building, swinging their
book-bags onto their backs and dropping off a few small items of
trash. An alert observer would notice several signs of impending
action. Glances were exchanged, position was subtly vied for, and an
almost unnoticeable tension crept into their motions. Several of the
other students had stopped just outside in anticipation while being
careful not to block the door. Walking out the door, Nabiki posed
today's stakes, "Loser makes dinner and does dishes tonight ?" The
flush returns for a brief moment, and she continues with a surpressed
smile, "and keep your hands in safe places this time, pervert."
"First one to drop something loses," he agrees, exactly side by side
with her, not ceding any advantage of position, "and I ain't the
pervert, here. I still say that you arranged that incident,
'Biki-chan'."
"I can only credit the evidence I see, or feel in this case, " Nabiki
smirked, "not your uninformed speculations. And don't call be
'Biki-chan', 'Pervert'."
At some unseen signal, the two of them leaped into motion at exactly
the same moment, encouraged by a vigorous cheer from the watching
faculty and students. Nabiki sailed on a graceful parabola three
meters high, the contents of her book-bag exploding from her rapidly
flying hands in all directions, followed by the book-bag itself.
Below her, Ranma bounced along an insane zig-zag course, somehow
managing to meet and relaunch each flying pen or notebook before it
reached the ground. He quickly added to the aerial carnage with the
contents of his own book-bag as well as that of the pockets of his
scrubs.
Nabiki was forced to provide her own impression of a demented
grasshopper on crack as she met the falling items in turn.
Additionally, she was soon forced to deal with several distraction
attempts, dodging sweeps, throws and other techniques while
relaunching the flying menagerie. The distractions she dealt back in
turn whenever Ranma was reaching for a falling book or stethoscope.
The cascade of flying objects marked their erratic course across the
campus.
By now, the spectacle provided by the pair's antics had come to be the
norm on the campus, and was generally treated with good cheer, not to
mention a certain amount of wagering. Passing friends or colleagues
cried out encouragement to whomever they favored, including members of
the original Jusenko curse research group which had been their
original excuse for being there. While the research group had made no
progress on understanding the curse itself, they had gradually come to
accept the enhanced prowess demonstrated by their favorite subject,
especially as they were able to see the gradual improvement of Nabiki
to near those same levels. They had managed to to come up with a few
measures designed to help those subject to the curse, however, one of
which was demonstrated when Ranma's course intercepted a sprinkler. A
brief blurring of his form between smaller and larger was settled in
favor of the larger as soon as his body cleared the cold water.
Finally, having covered the width of the campus, they neared their
eventual goal of the hospital building itself. Ranma had just flipped
feet toward the concrete wall of the small cryogenics tank enclosure
in preparation for another bounce at the incoming stream of flying
Demetrius, when the wall beneath him suddenly disintegrated into flying
rubble. Deprived of his landing spot, Ranma shot through the new hole
and landed on something inside with a yelp. The something responded
with a curse of it's own as books, pencils, notebooks, book-bags,
wallets, stethoscopes, and miscellaneous objects settled about him.
"Rraaannnmmaa !", growled the landed upon figure, "GET OFFA ME !"
"Ryoga ! " cried Ranma, happily, jumping up. "It's good to see you
man ! It's been what, a year ? And you couldn't stick around last
time. Hey, I got a sturdier replacement for that last anti-change box
we tried for ya."
Nabiki poked her head inside the hole with a smirk. "Did the great
Ranma Saotome get surprised ? Oh well, looks like you lose this time
Ranma. Ryoga, however did you get in here ?"
"Ah man" whined Ranma, not too unhappily. "I haven't had to cook for
a week. Now I gotta pay Keito off, too. Shoulda never bet a week's
pay with her."
Ryoga looked confused, "How did I get in where Nabiki, and what are
you doing in Okinawa ?"
"Ranma, you jerk, you bet _how_ much ? I think we'll have to talk
about this. I know I'm not as good as you, but still you should be
risking our finances. Even though we're being paid now, the Kuno
trust is running out." Her reproach was unfortunately negated by her
still excited and happy face.
Turning toward Ryoga she continued, "You're at our school again,
Ryoga, although how you got in a walled enclosure with only one,
locked, door is anyone's guess." Nabiki looked again at Ranma. "Three
minutes left until you start your rounds," she said. "We better clean
up. Fortunately, I think the Kuno trust still has some repair funds
in it which should cover this damage. The hospital administrator is
going to be pissed again, though." Ryoga cringed at hearing this
last.
"Okay. Ryoga, we'll have to wait until tonight to fight. You can
have supper with us, and call Akari from our place, right ?"
Again, Ranma and Nabiki sprung into a ballet of motion, with objects
flying in a apparently chaotic disorder. Shortly, Ryoga found himself
magically transported to the outside side of the wall, which had the
rubble cleared away and it's hole covered in a sheet of plywood from
somewhere unfathomable. Ranma and Nabiki, also apparently by magic,
were again wearing full bags and had pockets filled with the
appropriate contents, and sported matching happy smiles.
"Now wait right here until one of us comes for you, or I'll have to
let slip who made this hole in the wall. Hmm, the research group
might want to study your sense of direction too." Nabiki lectured
briefly, with another smirk. The two then turned and made for
different entrances of the hospital complex. Ryoga could see the
happy expressions slowly fall from both of their faces, and noticed
that they were much slower alone than they had been when together.
Cowed by Nabiki's threat, Ryoga sat down with his back to the damaged
wall, and pondered the confusing changes in his erstwhile rival.
***
A cry of "Hey pervert ! Over here !" split the air of the campus,
drawing the attention of the aforesaid young man. Ranma, not Ryoga,
that is. Ryoga, waiting as promised with Ranma at the base of the
wall he had broken earlier, turned at the sound. He was well placed
to see both Ranma's and Nabiki's faces as they came in sight of each
other. While Ranma had been courteous and friendly in their
conversation (a change which still unsettled Ryoga), his expression
immediately changed to a far happier, far less guarded one on catching
sight of the young Tendo. Nabiki, too, underwent a similar
transformation, although it was even more noticeable in her, as she
lost the older, Furikan era ice queen facade, exchanging it for a
happy and excited face of any young woman.
"Great news Ranma !" Nabiki rushed excitedly, as she impatiently
flipped over the last obstacles between them, a small group of
pedestrians. Ranma arrested her forward motion, catching Nabiki with
a quick spin, and the two of them separated, without seeming to notice
that Ranma had ended up holding Nabiki's hand. "I think I've managed
a deal where you can do accelerated residencies and bypass the normal
match process. They need nurses, too. Come on, I'll fill you in on
the way home. Wanna race again ? Oh, I forgot we have company. Hi
again Ryoga."
Ryoga blinked for a moment, startled at the prospect of Nabiki
forgetting anything, then jerked into motion following the rapidly
chattering pair in front of him. He caught up in time to hear Nabiki
saying, "So they need another doctor for both Emergency Med and
General Surgery, and they're willing to accept a resident since
they've got enough senior staff, and they've heard of us. That
matches both your specialties, and they want another nurse, too.
We've got an interview in a week. It matches what we're doing now
very well, too."
"Nabiki, where are you going, and what are you doing now ? " Ryoga
finally manages to interject.
"It's a job with the International Committee of the Red Cross disaster
relief team. They're creating a new 'first responder' medical
assistance team. We'd get to go wherever there's a problem or
disaster and help." Nabiki chirps happily. "As to what we've been
doing the last couple of years, well, wait until we get to our place,
and we'll show you." Nabiki pointed to the third floor balcony of the
apartment building the were approaching.
At this, another remarkable sequence of events occurred. In a wholly
unprompted sequence so sudden and smooth that it could only have
normally achieved by a trained team with years of practice, Nabiki
took a high step, stepping into the cradled hands of a suddenly turned
Ranma, who had dropped to one knee. Ranma smoothly straightened and
flung Nabiki into the air, assisting her simultaneous leap. Nabiki
flipped once in the air and landed softly feet first on the balcony
she just indicated, Ranma not more than a few seconds behind jumping
up in stages via the balconies of the floors below.
Nabiki smirked and waved at a shocked Ryoga before entering the open
balcony door, and Ranma called down before entering himself, "What are
you waiting for ? Come on up."
Ryoga, quite suddenly alone, stood in shock. After opening and
closing his mouth ineffectually a few times, he finally mutters,
"Since when did they join the circus ?"
***
In Ranma and Nabiki's apartment Ryoga turns from examining the wall of
the small living and dining area. Behind him, Nabiki kneels at a
small table, rapidly working though a pile of paperwork or perhaps
homework spread out before her. Paper flutter rapidly enough to sound
like the shuffling of a deck of cards.
Ranma is cooking in the tiny kitchen lining the shorter of the
interior walls, knives and implements flashing in the unnerving speed
both have been displaying. Both have changed into casual, but loose
clothing. Ranma no longer sports his Chinese style shirt, instead
wearing a baggy sweatshirt with the arms torn off and a picture of a
tall gray American cartoon rabbit. Nabiki sports a matching
sweatshirt with the same character dressed in drag. Both shoot
frequent short, glances at the other, as if to assure themselves of
the other's continuing presence. The small room nearly seems to
sparkle, overflowing with their energy.
Ryoga turns back to the wall. Nabiki had indicated it to him when he
appeared over the balcony railing himself, shortly informing him that
it would answer his other question. It is covered with newspaper
clippings, letters, and pictures. The headlines all have a common
theme: "Local medical students revive crash victim", "Local resident
injured rescuing pedestrian from speeding bus", "Med school hero
contains hazardous chemical spill, treats workers", "College students
rescue hostages". It seems that Ranma and Nabiki have spent the last
few years giving the local Fire and Rescue council some unasked for
assistance.
Pride of place is given to a full front page of a newspaper. Fully
half the page is a dramatic color shot of an obviously scorched Ranma
sprinting away from a huge inferno consuming a high rise apartment
building, carrying a child wrapped in blankets in his arms. One of
the smaller pictures framing the text shows Ranma leaping between
balconies, apparently just missing a piece of flaming debris. Another
shows him giving the child to a woman, who the caption claims to be
the mother. It is noticeably that even though Ranma appears in the
photo to be having difficulty breathing, his clothes burned through in
spots, and large and apparent burn blisters show on him, the child
appears to be unharmed, even happy. A substance which looks
suspiciously like frost flakes off the blanket.
Ranma is by now bringing a stack of plates and serving utensils and
pots of food to the table, which is cleared for him in another display
of perfect timing by Nabiki. Noticing Ryoga's focus of attention,
Ranma comments. "We nearly ran short of time to get that kid out.
She was the last one, fortunately. I'm still kinda pissed the paper
didn't show any of the shots of Nabiki, though. We did a tag team on
that one - I threw and she caught. It's our largest rescue to date."
Ryoga gapes a moment. What the hell have they been doing ?
Strangely, as they sit to eat, he begins to see something familiar in
Ranma, and, come to think of, in Nabiki too. It's almost feels like
his old obsession to find and punish Ranma, back in high school. But
that can't be right, can it ? He looks again, looking into their
auras this time, and what he sees only seems to confirm his suspicion.
That powerful and pure of a set of auras could only be generated by a
strong purity of purpose. It was one of the reasons why he himself
was able to learn the shi-shi-hokodan so quickly those years earlier,
his hate and obsession with Ranma was so all consuming.
Watching their actions now seemed to make more sense, even sitting and
eating, neither of them was idle or even doing just a single thing.
Instead both keep occupied doing multiple tasks, completing
correspondence, writing up notes on their patients, and holding a
conversation about the new residency opportunity. They both finished
the meal in Saotome time, and despite the earlier contest terms,
cooperate in clearing the table and washing the dishes, excepting the
heaped plate still only a third finished in front of Ryoga.
Despite the lingering mistrust and antagonism he still felt toward
Ranma, Ryoga almost felt pity. He truly hoped that they were not as
fanatically dedicated toward their path as they appeared. He now
understood the futility and self destructive nature of such obsession.
Just to confirm it, and to antagonize Ranma, of course, he pointed to
a line of letters pinned up along the bottom of the display. All of
them were from the local authorities, fire, police, or rescue,
castigating the pair in some way for their risky behavior and telling
them to leave the work to the duly appointed professionals. "Still a
jerk and a trouble maker, aren't you Ranma ? You've been in trouble
with the local authorities ever since I've known you. First at
school, and now here. You also seem to have a knack for dragging a
Tendo into trouble with you."
"Feh. When those losers have gotten through eight years combined of
college degree and four year med school in half the time, and broken
up half the crimes or saved half the people we have in the past four
years, then they can say somethin' to me." Suddenly his gaze hardens,
and his eyes flash brilliantly. "And leave Nabiki outta this. It's
her choice, and you got no right to say anythin' 'bout her. This is
in honor 'o Akane and a promise I made the Tendos, and not you or
anybody else's gonna stop me, got it ?"
"Ranma, it's alright. Ryoga doesn't understand." Nabiki stops him,
laying her hand on his arm. "Why don't you get that new model curse
mitigation box, the copy of the one you wear now. You've been going
to send it to Ryoga, anyway."
With a visible effort, Ranma regains control, and the fire in his
brilliant eyes dampens. Turning, he vanishes for a moment,
reappearing in front of Ryoga carrying a compact, flat box on a belt.
"Here, ya wear this against your skin, and keep it filled with water
and propane. When the belt starts to loose tension, the box squirts
ya with hot water, it reverses the change before it can really take
effect, so long as you're not totally immersed. It should hold up
better than the one we shipped ya at the Unryu farm. I been wearing
one like it for 6 months, and if that" Ranma waves his hand at the
wall of newspaper clippings "ain't hurt it, nothin's gonna."
Ranma pauses a moment "Meanwhile, finish up and we'll go to the park &
spar. Ya can call Akari from here, and either stay overnight here or
leave tonight after our fight. Either way we'll get 'ya to the train
station."
Ryoga finally nods and digs into the rest of his food. Nabiki was
wrong, though, he did understand. An obsession didn't have to make
sense, it just was. And as honor driven as Ranma was, that only made
it far worse. He finished his meal in silence, there was nothing more
to be said.
***
Authors notes -
Despite working at a medical institution and school, I'm a programmer,
not a doctor, and I'm certain I don't really understand what goes into
making one. I got my information on medical school from the wonderful
"How stuff works" website, http://www.howstuffworks.com.
I am also certain that a Japanese medical school differs in perhaps
significant ways from an American one. Sorry 'bout that, but I can
only write what I can find out.