Ranma Nibunnoichi - Reflections
A. V. Morgan
Part Thirty-Four: A Pocket Full of Mischief
In the brief lull between Ranma declaring herself to be Fa Shen and Ranko's plaintive call for Happosai's demise, the demented old master of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts narrowed his wizened old eyes on Nodoka. Having been the source of the fabled Togenkyo water used by Genma to sire his son and heir, and having possessed numerous tomes and treasures stolen from the Tribe of Heroines, it suddenly became obvious what the restoration of her natural hair color meant. Curious, and completely indifferent to the chaos he had already stirred up, he bounced over and proceeded to pat the woman down. So it was that Happosai was cheerfully molesting Ranko's mother when the drained girl dropped the gauntlet. The battle commenced with the woman's shriek of indignity and attempts by every fighter in the room to separate the old toad from her person. While Nodoka twisted around, the naked steel in her hands flashed and whirled, sending everyone diving for cover as quickly as they dove in to assist. Ryouga tripped over Ranko in his own haste to escape. Laid out full length on top of her, he stared into her eyes and blushed furiously.
"Ryouga! Off!!!" Ranko blazed weakly.
"S-sorry! Sorry!" the lost boy bounced up, then proceeded to pick the girl up and search for a safer place to lay her down. Such a place did not exist in a world with Happosai, and only his perverse interest in Nodoka, at the moment, offered Ranko any security.
Ranma and Fa Shen itched to pry the old man off of the Saotome matriarch, but her own wild weapon was standing them off. The perverted dwarf inspired her wild swings by bouncing away to offer her a target, then speeding in to cling and crawl along her limbs and torso while she lashed out. The old master, briefly detouring from the delights of Nodoka's luscious form, concluded a quick search of her pockets and produced a bottle of water labeled in Chinese. Scampering to a perch on top of her head, he read the label and pulled the cork with a crow of delight. Everyone tensed in dread.
"What do you know! After all this time!"
"Oh no!" Nodoka cried, realizing what Happosai had stolen from her.
"What is that?" Ranma and Fa Shen flinched back.
"Oh, Master! Please, be careful with that! You don't know…"
"Be quiet, Soun! I know perfectly well what this is!"
[Run for your life, Boy!] Genma's sign waved, unnoticed.
"Happosai! You mustn't!" Nodoka dropped her sword and reached up with both hands in vain to grab the bottle. Happosai launched himself into the air to evade her grasp. Ranma and Fa Shen took one look at him sailing in their direction with a bottle of water—they had no idea what it was, or what it could do, but they had both learned to fear any untested water—and bolted in opposite directions in terror. Nodoka saw their fear and immediately assumed they knew what it was. Why else fear mere water? Why fear that water unless…? "Ranma…?" she caught her breath.
"He doesn't know," Akane hissed.
"Anything that makes Happosai happy is bad news," Nabiki added.
Mousse watched as Happosai turned to pursue Fa Shen, cackling in glee at the prospect of restoring the resurrected amazon's femininity, and proceeded to unleash his arsenal. Darts, daggers, yo-yo's and various deadly implements on the end of long ropes and chains shot out of his voluminous sleeves to either snare the old master or disarm him before he could bring the water to bear.
"Oh my!" Kasumi covered her mouth. There was going to be quite a mess to clean up when this was all over.
Happosai ducked and dodged around the incoming missiles and deftly evaded the entanglements. His attention focused on Fa Shen, he shouted, "Hold still, darn it! I just want to test something!" As quickly as he had forgotten his vow to keep Ranma and Fa Shen's sexual adventure a secret, he had allowed it to slip his mind WHY the pair had been compelled to consider it.
"Test what!? What are you tryin' to do to me NOW old man!?"
Seeing that Happosai was ignoring her, Ranma had turned and was now racing after the old pervert, weaving through the tangled web Mousse had created in the Tendo living quarters. His efforts to continue his assault were not making things any easier for her. "Hey! Happosai! Since when were you into chasing boys!?" she taunted.
"Ranma! He thinks that water will turn him INTO a girl!" Nabiki warned. That earned her a glare from Nodoka. Nabiki stared back at her coolly and shrugged. It was all well and good to not cast doubt on Ranma's manhood, but it was stupid to keep him ignorant of the danger. The only problem was, the boy was not really Ranma.
Fa Shen stumbled to a halt and gaped at Nabiki. "You're kidding! How is that…" This distraction was all Happosai had needed. The question was interrupted by a huge splash as Happosai flung the contents of the bottle over the boy. "…possible?" Fa Shen concluded her question in amazement, looking down at herself in surprise.
"Oh no!" Ranma had only an instant to process Nabiki's warning before witnessing as Ranko gained another twin. Picturing Fa Shen's full reaction to the return of womanhood, Ranma knew she had distract her. Straining for greater speed, she rocketed into Fa Shen before Happosai could complete his assault with a body caressing glomp, and her momentum carried the pair of them out toward the koi pond.
"Pretty girl!" Happosai dropped through the restored girl's after-image and began cursing in frustration. He was so distracted, he did not notice the insane fury that possessed Nodoka. The woman had slipped one foot under the sword she had dropped, kicked it into the air and lunged forward in one motion. Everyone watched, stunned, their eyes still turned to where the boy had turned into a girl, and caught full view of Nodoka snatching the sword out of mid-air and driving it down, point first at Happosai. He turned at the last instant and saw the blade descending. He gulped loudly. The explosive splash of Ranma and Fa Shen hitting the pond reached the room as everyone saw the Saotome honor blade pass through Happosai's shocked form and sink itself half way into the floor of the Tendo home with a loud, hard thunk.
"Die!!!" Nodoka cried, tears spilling from her eyes.
Before anyone could react, the old master's body seemed to simply fade out of existence like a bad memory. A round of gasps was followed by a gentle pat as the diminutive martial arts master dropped down from the ceiling to perch on the pommel of the sword. Nodoka's vicious strike had only caught the man's after image!
"Damn woman! You could have killed me with this thing!" he complained, clutching his chest in alarm. A drop of blood welled on the tip of his nose, from where the point of the blade caught him as he desperately jumped up to escape the fatal strike. His eyes widened, and he made to leap away again as a huge mallet descended toward his skull. His second spurt of motion was barely enough to cause him to squirt out from between the mallet and the sword as Akane's strike hammered the sword down to its hilt in the floor.
"Die you demented freak!!!" Akane screamed, continuing to slam her mallet down, pursuing the old man as he crawled between blows to get away. Her strength soaring from the power of her rage, each meaty thwack was accompanied by the cracking and crunching of old bones and the grunts of air expelled from Happosai's lungs. While the bones of his condensed form were too dense to break, even from this abuse, his old joints snapped and popped as the violent compressions dislocated them. The old man had instants for his inhuman healing factor to wrench his limbs back into proper order before she clobbered him with a following blow.
While it looked like she might never stop, Happosai eventually recovered enough to brace himself and meet the descending weapon. With one finger, he stopped its downward arc. His other hand pulled the mirror compact out of his gi and snapped it open. Akane stared in shock, unable to believe the artifact had not been destroyed by her punishment, and fell victim to its power. With a whoosh she was sucked into the mirror.
"What have you done with my little girl!?" Soun lunged forward, his head growing to monstrous proportions as his writhing tongue shot out and wrapped itself around Happosai's neck.
"Ack! That's enough! I've had it!" Happosai choked. He lobbed a Happodaikarin at Soun, the blast dispelling the demon-head attack, and followed it up by flashing the open mirror in his face. Whoosh. Another Tendo was out of the fight. Happosai twisted in a spiral, dodging another barrage of implements from Mousse, then leapt onto the table in the center of the room. Nodoka was tugging on the handle of her sword, trying to pull it free of the floor, Nabiki was slinking back into the hall, with Kasumi shielded partially behind her, and Genma was staring at him with beady panda eyes. Happosai whipped around and caught Ryouga trying to sneak Ranko away from the fight. Past him, Ranma and Fa Shen were preparing to rejoin the fray. Happosai glared at them, knowing they were the greatest threat.
The girls glared back. It had looked like Akane was keeping everyone's attention for a bit, but now they needed to return to the fight. Ranma had forced Fa Shen to trade clothes and braid Ranma's hair while everyone was distracted by the aftermath of Nodoka's attack. Ranma had known that, however it happened, once Fa Shen turned into a girl, Ranma had to trade places with her. She would not allow Fa Shen to die in her place if her mother did not react well to the transformation. Having become used to quick changes, the clothing and identity swap was completed with enough time for them to witness the trapping of Akane and Soun, as Fa Shen let her hair down to complete the deception.
"You keep an eye on Ranko, Ryouga," Ranma commanded, passing her ersatz lover and nemesis. "We'll take care of the old goat."
"Are you sure you two can handle him on you own?" Ryouga frowned, cradling Ranko in his arms, her head on his shoulder. He wanted to rip the old man limb from limb, but his first instinct, to keep him from using the helpless Ranko against them, still gripped him.
"Between us, he doesn't stand a chance," Fa Shen promised. It was a bitter declaration, since the old man had just restored her to normal. However, his actions had clearly doomed Ranma. Her anger over the initial betrayal of trust blossomed into a killing rage, awakening the maiden of war she had become during the conflict that ended her life.
While Happosai studied them, Genma-panda slipped up beside his wife and grasped the hilt of her sword in one massive paw. With a growl of exertion, and a scream of tortured wood, he drew the blade free and handed it to Nodoka. She stared back into the frighteningly intelligent eyes of the cursed beast, before hardening her gaze and turning once more to face the old master. Genma grunted and took an offensive stance protectively beside her. A look passed from him to Ranma, the former son nodding to assert her identity.
"You make a fine young woman, Ranma," Happosai smirked, sensing the circle closing around him. The enclosed space neatly hampered his style, forcing him to stand his ground when his normal tactics involved an exhausting chase through the streets. He shifted his stance to look at Nodoka and bowed. "I hope you are proud of the daughter you SHOULD have borne, Nodoka-chan!"
Genma snarled, and Nodoka leveled her blade. "You have meddled for the last time, Happosai! If you think you have turned me against my child, you are sadly mistaken! I shall love and cherish MY DAUGHTER every bit as much as the SON you have slain with this vicious act!" she spat. How it was possible for her son to become a perfect copy of Ranko and Ranneko… or Fa Shen—or whoever she really was… she could wonder at later. For now, it would be enough to stop him from ever harming another family as he had harmed hers. She blinked her tears away and lunged in to strike.
Happosai laughed and leapt away from the blade arcing in to cleave him. As he did, he kicked a hot kettle of tea into Genma's face, restoring his apprentice's true form. Because the old man had launched himself in the same direction, Nodoka turned and witnessed the second startling transformation of this battle. Too angry to think straight, Genma made no effort to dodge. Out of habit, he instantly produced and donned his familiar gi and headcloth, adjusted his glasses, and snapped out a series of kicks and punches to meet Happosai's assault.
"Genma!" Nodoka gasped, nearly dropping her sword in shock.
"Forgive me, my darling!" Genma wept, driving himself on against the man who trained him. Fury and desperation granting him the speed to evade the old man's shiatsu strikes and return a few solid blows. Happosai, annoyed by the fact that Genma had momentarily overcome his fear and fought with his true ability, rebounded from the occasional hit, leading the bigger man around the room. From the hard, ruthless patterns emerging, Genma was on the verge of unsealing the Yamasen-ken. Should he unleash that, and the compliment to his infamous brainchild, the Umisen-ken, Happosai would be forced to take the man seriously.
"Genma! You're beginning to make me angry!" Happosai threatened. "Unless you want to feel my wrath, you better cease and apologize!" His student was well aware of the nature of Happosai's revenge, the malicious campaign of humiliation and degradation he would unleash would wreak physical, mental, emotional and financial ruin on the man.
"Dead men can't take revenge!" Ranma shouted, launching herself into close combat. She was grateful that her father had kept the troll occupied long enough for her to work out a strategy with Fa Shen. The resurrected amazon had proven to be the most effective opponent Happosai had faced in recent months. All Ranma and Genma had to do was give her an opening and she could cripple the old man in his tracks. Ranma effortlessly fell into step with her father. The two knew each other so well they could fight as one, Ranma providing the dazzling speed and agility to box Happosai in, while Genma overwhelmed the old man with superior size and strength.
Happosai was laughing, or rather chuckling, madly. He was being pressed hard enough that he could not spare the air for outright laughter, but he was enjoying himself immensely. Ranma was dancing circles around him, hemming him in, tying him down so Genma could deliver punishing strikes. At the same time, she was batting away his Happodaikarin as quickly as he produced them. Mousse was circling the trio, ferrying the bombs Ranma lobbed at him out into the yard and acting as back up to keep the old man from getting away. Occasionally, Ranma would leave an opening for escape, but if Happosai tried to take it, a pole arm or mace would whip out from Mousse to intercept the master. Nodoka had quickly realized she could not bring her sword to bear without endangering her husband or child, and had rushed out to relieve Ryouga. The lost boy placed Ranko in her care and raced in to assist those pressing Happosai. The founder of Anything Goes was almost at his limit just rolling with the punches.
It seemed inevitable that the four of them would grind the old man into paste, but after a while it became obvious, as he risked death again and again to snuggle up to Ranma, that the little charge ups he was getting from her were boosting his healing and endurance more than enough to keep from being worn down. Cursing, she had to drift to the edge of the conflict and let Mousse and Ryouga press him close. Neither was as fast as Ranma, but they still reacted quickly enough, when he produced an object, to knock it out of his hands. This discouraged him from whipping out the compact and trapping another of them, or using his pipe to grapple with. The amount of damage the three males delivered the old man would have finished even Pantyhose Taro, but Happosai took his lumps and kept dancing. Finally, Fa Shen entered the fray.
In comparison to the pace of the battle, it had seemed to take forever for her to charge the area with negative ki. Except for Happosai himself, though, no one present had witnessed her Vengeance of Heaven, Raking Claws technique. Thus, as she darted in, clawed hand reaching to intercept Happosai, Mousse attempted to help by snaring the master in binding chains. Happosai caught the amazons' movements from the corners of his eyes, and instead of dodging the chain, leapt up to intercept it. While the center wrapped around him, he whipped the loose end around Ryouga. The other end was firmly anchored in Mousse's hand when Fa Shen screamed her attack and grabbed hold of the man. Grasping the chain in both hands, Happosai howled under the onslaught of massive electrical discharge but channeled much of the searing lightening through to Mousse and Ryouga.
For several seconds the three cried out in pain, dancing the electric boogaloo, as Genma and Ranma twisted away to shield their eyes. Fa Shen snarled, realizing too late how her attack had been turned against her allies, and broke contact. The lightening shifted from Happosai to her, as she grunted to contain the power she had unleashed. While she dropped to one knee, Happosai lunged, heaving on the chain and throwing Ryouga and Mousse out the open shoji and into the pond. All three of them were blackened and smoking, but still able to move. Unfortunately, the duck and piglet that emerged from the pond were no longer much of a threat. Genma turned around, realizing that the master had bought too much room to breathe, and lunged in to attack.
"Too slow, Genma!" Happosai grinned, an evil glint in his eye as he snapped open the compact in his face.
"Ranma! It's all up to yooooooou…!" Genma's cry was swallowed, along with him, by the mirror. Ranma made the best of her father's sacrifice to dart in and deliver a snap kick to Happosai's wrist. The compact went flying out of the old man's grasp, through the entrance to the hall and skittering off towards the kitchen. In a flash, Happosai took off after it. Ranma spared one glance at Fa Shen, who was dragging herself to her feet, her hair standing on end and crackles of electricity sparking off of her form. She nodded to indicate she was alright and Ranma raced down the hall. P-Chan rocketed through the room after her like a black homing missile. Following Ranma, the porcine projectile made its way into the kitchen. Now as small, fast and agile as the old master, he streaked around the room in Happosai's wake. Ranma skidded, losing her footing on a patch of soup the two hurtling black blurs knocked off the counter, sliding on her flank to crash into a cabinet.
"Waaah!" Shaking her head, then twisting it around to follow the ricocheting path of Ryouga and Happosai, she barely noticed what her fingers brushed against as she braced her arm to stand. "Oh! What luck!" she cheered, realizing she had come to rest right next to the mirror. Happosai spotted her plucking the compact up off the floor and homed in on her. She jerked and whipped around, holding the open mirror to shield her from the incoming attack she sensed. Happosai caught the flash of reflected light from the mirror and squinched his eyes shut, hurdling the top of the mirror as he streaked in, and planted both feet in Ranma's face. P-Chan, in hot pursuit, gave a wide eyed squeal of alarm before vanishing into the trap. Ranma's head snapped back at the blow, cracking hard against the cabinet frame, and she lost her grip on the compact. Happosai rebounded from her face, snatched up the trap and raced back out through the Tea Room.
Fa Shen was ready for him. "Got you!" she shouted. Forming a massive ball of chi in her hands, she snapped her hands apart, sending a ring of destruction right at Happosai, "Dragon's Noose!" As intended, Happosai dove for the open middle as she clapped her hands back together, "Vengeance of Heaven, Snapping Jaws!" A dark bolt of chi shot out ahead of a wall of compressed air. It hit Happosai square in the chest. All the energy in the glowing chi "smoke-ring" shot in toward that black bolt. There was a thunderous explosion as Happosai became the hub of a wheel of sheet lightening. The entire dojo shook from the confined detonation. Ranma raced in from the kitchen, barely noticing the shocked expressions on Nabiki and Kasumi's faces as they peered down from the end of the hall, and screeched to a halt over the blackened form of Happosai.
The old man lay on his face, still and unmoving.
"Did you kill him?" Ranma asked, as Fa Shen dragged herself over to Ranma's side to examine their foe. Ranma nudged the old man with a toe, half expecting him to leap up and bite her.
"It's possible," Fa Shen panted. She felt a faint satisfaction at seeing her special technique actually work properly this time. Kneeling in front of Ranma, she carefully rolled the old man over onto his back. As the two girls leaned in, his eyes popped open and he giggled. As their eyes widened in shock, he flipped open the mirror in his hand.
"Suckers!" he crowed, watching the pair vanish helplessly into the mirror. As their cries of dismay evaporated, he snapped the trap shut and collapsed back, panting. "Damn. I almost didn't make it through that one!" he complained as he put the compact safely away. While his eyes closed, he heard the footsteps of Nabiki and Kasumi approach. He sighed as the two girls knelt next to him, and propped him up. "Why, thank you girls! I won't forget your kindness!" He blinked and tried to focus as Kasumi took his chin in one soft hand and smiled down at him.
"You look like you could use something to liven you up," she smiled, as Nabiki held the rim of a bowl to his lips.
"Down the hatch!" Nabiki grinned evilly, as Kasumi hit a pressure point on the old man's neck that caused his mouth to open as wide as it possibly could. Nabiki then dumped a full bowl of Akane's special breakfast miso soup down his throat. Kasumi kindly tapped another point that caused the old man to swallow. "Compliments of Akane!" Nabiki stared him in the eye hatefully.
"Oh! Nabiki!" the other girl suddenly stiffened. "Are you sure this was really proper!?" Kasumi looked down and watched as the old man's bruised and bloodied face proceeded to display every hue found in the kingdom of fungi, molds and mildew.
"Are you complaining?" Nabiki asked as the small, evil, long unwanted house-guest choked on his medicine.
"Well…" Kasumi held herself tight as the old man flopped like a fish out of water on fast forward. "What if we kill him?" she asked in a small voice.
"Then you will have done the world a favor," Nodoka announced, lured in by the sudden silence in this symphony of destruction. Ranko, carried piggyback, looked over her shoulder at Happosai, as his body arched and finally fell still. She made no sound as her mother positioned her sword over Happosai's chest and prepared to skewer the man where he lay. The four women held their breath for several minutes as Nodoka contemplated murder. They all wanted him to pay for the damage he had done in their lives. They all suspected that, even with all the abuse he had taken in this fight, he would recover and be back to plaguing them again in no time.
Happosai's eyes creaked open and he coughed to muster his voice. Meeting Nodoka's unforgiving glare, he smiled faintly. In a weak, but steady voice he proceeded. "Murder is not your style, Nodoka. But, if you want an excuse not to," he coughed again, "I'd like to point out that it is rather difficult to recover what a dead man has tucked away in folds of his shadow."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Nodoka ground her teeth.
"You might have noticed the insane amount of weaponry Mousse pulled out of his sleeves. Tell me, Nodoka, where does he keep it all?" Happosai gave a wizened old grin.
The four women stiffened at the question. Then, a certain bespectacled duck quacked for their attention. Nodoka turned to stare at the creature, gasping when it pulled a sword out from between it's feathers. The weapon was larger than the duck itself. "T-th-the d-duck j-just pulled a SWORD o-out of THIN AIR!" she stammered in disbelief.
"Mom," Ranko sighed, "I think you have to let him live. Everyone is trapped in the mirror and he's stuck it where no one can get to it."
Nodoka sighed and shifted her sword to the side. Hanging her head, she uttered in a low voice, "One of these days, Happosai, you will pay for your misdeeds." She was about to walk off in defeat when she straightened in shock. Ranko was so surprised that she slipped off the tall woman's back and fell on her rear. She looked up in shock as Nodoka spun and stared at her. "You called me MOM!" the woman cried, her voice filled with hope and longing.
"Nodoka. It's time you got a few things straight," Happosai sat up, clutching his stomach in agony. He winced and then let out a prolonged burp. For all the world, it looked as if a cloud of toxic gas streamed out of his mouth and then scampered away from the old man in search of a place to hide. He shuddered and continued. "Seeing as I have most of your family hostage for the moment, maybe it's time we started negotiations."
While Nodoka stood watch over the incapacitated Happosai, Kasumi and Nabiki called in reinforcements. Nabiki was able to get herself, Akane and Ukyo excused from school on account of a "family emergency". It was the first time that Ukyo's status as a fiancée had proved particularly useful. To have another fighter on hand in case Happosai recovered, Nabiki was willing to risk this public acknowledgement. Further calls rounded up Dr. Tofu, Cologne and Shampoo. The good doctor arrived first, and proceeded to examine the old man while Kasumi busied herself out of sight cleaning the kitchen. By the time the amazons and Ukyo arrived, Tofu had diagnosed Happosai and concluded that he was sufficiently injured to require several days of bed rest. If not for the residual female ki in Fa Shen's final attack, the old man would have died. However, it was Akane's cooking that had truly laid him up. Even Happosai's constitution was severely taxed by a full serving of toxic waste. Cologne provided a purgative and prescribed some herbal remedies that had the pleasant side effect of making the old man as weak and uncoordinated as a baby.
Unfortunately, while they assured he could not fight for the immediate future, the old man did indeed hold half the Tendo and most of the Saotome families hostage.
"If you keep poisoning me, I am not going to bring any of them back!" Happosai threatened grumpily, after recovering from the purgative. In his worn and weakened state, projectile vomiting induced by Cologne's remedy was violently painful.
"You are a stubborn old man, Happi," Cologne sneered, "but a few days in your condition, subjected to my ministrations, and you would have no choice but to hand over the compact. Not even you are immune to compulsion." She wrung out a towel soaked in hot water and laid it over his forehead. "Now, after you have had a few minutes to recover, we will get to these negotiations you demanded."
Leaving the old man in his room with Dr. Tofu, Cologne returned to the Tea Room where a shell shocked Nodoka had retired once the good doctor had taken Happosai in hand. She had remained passive through most of Nabiki's earlier recap of the battle for Cologne, Shampoo and Ukyo—apart from snagging a heated kettle and dousing the duck to restore Mousse's proper form, when Nabiki mentioned Genma's transformation. There had been a brief, reluctant lecture from Cologne to explain the curses of Jusenkyo, but Nodoka failed to voice the suspicion everyone dreaded. Perhaps, in her mind, the transformation of her son was attributed to the altogether different powers of Togenkyo. When Nodoka said nothing, Nabiki continued describing the battle. When Cologne excused herself to assist Tofu, the two fiancées were absolutely floored by the fact that Nodoka had witnessed Fa Shen's restoration. Nabiki had used meaningful looks and careful phrasing to confirm the unspoken assumption that Fa Shen had been forced to pose as Nodoka's son. It did not take genius to realize that in Nodoka's mind she no longer had a son.
Fortunately, Ranma was trapped with several people who could all assure her that Nodoka had no intentions of having Ranma commit seppuku because of this revelation. Unfortunately, she would also learn that Nodoka intended to make a real woman out of her and get her married to fulfill Nodoka's secret family obligation. Nabiki would not lay odds on the chance of that going over well. Ranma may have been subtly infected by the former Ranko's quest to get in touch with her femininity, but it went without saying that she would fight to be a man again. No one wanted to guess how Nodoka would take that.
"Happosai will be strong enough to talk in a moment," Cologne informed everyone as she perched on the table among them. Taking a deep breath, she decided to return to the cause of the battle, since Nabiki had glossed over it so far. "Can anyone explain how this conflict was started?"
Nabiki sighed and looked at Mousse. "I think part of the blame lies with feather brain here," she scowled. Fixing him with a stern eye, she prompted, "I think you know what that was really about. Happosai was taunting Ranma, and aroused Nodoka's suspicion, but I am still not sure what he was getting at. You said Ranma had to sleep with Fa Shen to heal Ranko. Do you care to explain that?" The implications were obvious, and certainly enough to cause chaos in the families, but the reasons simply eluded the mercenary girl.
"The only reason I said what I did was because I could see that Ranma was about to cave in and tell," Mousse noted carefully, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Composing himself, he went on, "We all know about Ranma's gift with words. On such a delicate subject, it seemed difficult enough for people to hear, but if Ranma told it, things might have gone much worse. The simple explanation is, sex generates loose ki. That energy normally contributes to the conception of new life. Without conception, the energy eventually returns to its source, but for a short period of time it lingers and can be channeled to other uses. Since Ranko…" he paused and looked at Nodoka. Burying his face in his hands for a moment, he groaned. There was no way around it.
"Ranko was bound to Ranma and Fa Shen by the curse. Because of this, she could absorb ki from Ranma or Fa Shen to replace what she lost through the cure," he modified. Hoping Nodoka did not question why this was true, he pressed on. "In order to heal Ranko, it seemed obvious that Ranma and Fa Shen would have to have sex, and the simplest arrangement would have been for them to do it with each other."
Nodoka listened to this. It certainly was not a light thing for her son to have contemplated. He was engaged to Akane, and several other girls it seemed, though she had never been entirely clear on that count, so it did pose a threat to the Tendo family honor. However, "I find this a little confusing. First, I thought the curse made such a thing fatal for them to risk doing. Second, Ranneko… er, Fa Shen…" she shook her head. "I do wish someone would explain why Ranko's 'twin' isn't her twin, or how she could be, as she put it, the 'curse'. Whoever she is, she stressed that what Ranma had to do to heal Ranko would be a stain on his manhood. I know it is a bit scandalous, for an engaged man to take a lover—a lover who might be a Tendo herself, if she is truly Ranko's sister—but one cannot deny it would be manly."
"To put it simply, Nodoka," coughed Happosai, as he limped into the room, "no one has told you the full truth yet. Which brings me to the first point of our negotiations." He made his way to the table and then perched next to Cologne and cleared his throat. Dr. Tofu followed and took a seat in silence next to Ukyo. When everyone's attention was on him, Happosai announced, "It is time you learned the truth, Nodoka. However, the reason we had this little fracas this morning is because it's never quite safe to confront you with the naked truth. So, before I dare, I must have your word of honor that you will listen to and comprehend all I have to say, and that you will not act until you do. Secondly, on the matter of Ranma's manhood, I expect you to heed the opinions of those who know him best, especially Ranma himself, before passing judgment."
"There is no need for judgment. You've made it quite clear that SHE was not intended to be a man," Nodoka grated. Shampoo and Ukyo bit their lips and clenched their fists in their laps. They could see that the hurt and hateful look Nodoka gave Happosai was in some part directed at herself. It was torturing her that the fates had taken her two greatest wishes and twisted them in such a cruel fashion. All the sacrifices she had made for her son were wasted, her dream of a daughter destroyed by an obligation that stopped nature from taking its course.
"Again, you don't know the facts. Just give me your word, Nodoka-chan. Heed my words and answer my questions, and you will learn," Happosai huffed.
"Fine. You have my word."
"Excellent! Now, before I begin, please tell me, why was it necessary for you to have a son? More importantly, why was it so important for him to be a pinnacle of manhood?" he prompted. The others turned to the matron in interest. When Nodoka repeated her earlier claim of a promise to her father, and her family obligation, he waved it off. "I know about the promise. Genma went on about it for hours when he begged for my assistance in conceiving his heir. What I am asking is, did you ever bother to learn why your father placed this obligation on you? Do you know what purpose Ranma was supposed to serve?"
Nodoka blinked. Folding her hands in her lap and staring at them, she confessed, "I tried many times to pry that information out of my father. I first learned of the obligation when my marriage to Genma was arranged. Initially, he said he would confide in us when I gave birth to a son, but before that happened a thief broke into his house and got into his personal papers. Father claimed the thief was obviously searching for information on the family legacy that Ranma was supposed to fulfill. Because of this intrusion, Father decided it could be dangerous to reveal anything more until Ranma was of age to assume his obligation. Because of my father's sudden death, I feared the knowledge was lost, but in his will he stated that all the pertinent information was entrusted to an old friend of the family." She sighed and wiped an unshed tear from her eyelashes. "Ranma is old enough now that, had he been the boy he appeared to be, we could have gone to this man to learn what Ranma was to do. I… I don't know what to do now."
"I see. I take it then that this man would be the one to pass final judgment on Ranma's manhood then?" Happosai pressed.
"I know only that Ranma was to be tested, initially by my father, but in this case no doubt by his friend," Nodoka shrugged.
Happosai nodded. "Well, as I see it, it is not unlikely that if Ranma became male again, he might pass whatever test awaits. I would think that's enough reason not to act hastily," Happosai pointed out. "So, that settled, it is time to tell you the truth about Ranma, Fa Shen and the curse."
Everyone in the room tensed. This was not what any of them expected when Happosai spoke of "negotiations". Cologne smirked, realizing that Happosai took the matter at hand seriously enough to play wise old elder. Even though it suddenly sounded as if he had appointed himself Ranma's advocate, she was suspicious of his intentions. Even she would hesitate before daring to present Ranma's mother with the truth. In spite of her reputed haste in passing judgment, she honestly felt she needed to hear this tale from her son, not a third party. "Is it fair to have this discussion when they cannot be present?" Cologne demanded.
"Certainly, because most of what I have to say concerns Nodoka's daughter," Happosai crossed his arms and turned to look at the remaining pig-tailed girl. "Ranko," he nodded to her. The girl sitting beside Nodoka stiffened in surprise. The other teens in the room gaped at Happosai, bug eyed.
"What are you talking about?" Ranko demanded uncomfortably.
"My… daughter?" Nodoka looked at her.
"Yes. Your daughter," Happosai scowled. "The person who should have been born if not for my meddling. A person who sits here today as the result of Ranma's curse."
"I don't understand…" Nodoka frowned, pulling the girl close to her side. Unable to fathom where Happosai was going, most of the witnesses suddenly felt as removed as poor Kasumi, who listened from the hall to avoid Tofu.
"How do you come up with that?" Ranko challenged. She knew he was about to explain about Jusenkyo, but she could not see how he was getting around to it.
"Taking the things we've learned recently, it's not that hard to see," Happosai insisted. Pulling out a video cassette and handing it to Nabiki, he instructed, "You should have known if you taped something like this, it would eventually find its way into the wrong hands. Still, it's useful now. Why don't you play this for Nodoka."
Nabiki checked the label and noticed her own hand writing. She knew at once what the tape was. She had made it thinking it could be used to convince Kuno that Ranma and the Pig-Tailed-Girl were the same person. Deciding he would probably dismiss the tape, she had kept it for personal amusement. When it disappeared, she had assumed Ranma had found it and destroyed it. While she turned on the television and prepared to play it, Happosai finally mentioned Jusenkyo.
"Last spring, Genma was concluding Ranma's training in China and decided to take his son to a legendary training ground known as Jusenkyo," he began. After Cologne's lecture, Nodoka was properly disturbed and suspicious of what would follow. He described the events so familiar to the rest of the crowd, focusing on the images beginning to play on the screen. It showed the Tendo furo, where a naked Ranma had just entered and squatted down on a stool in preparation to bathe. "…Genma jumped out of the spring Ranma knocked him into and continued to fight, unaware that anything special had occurred. However, Ranma was quite startled by the sight of his father turned into a panda and was knocked into another spring. The Nyanniichaun," he named it as the boy on the screen picked up a bucket of cold water and poured it over his head. Quicker than the camera could pick up, his form shrank and altered.
"R-Ranko!" Nodoka gasped, watching the boy turned girl shiver at the cold and begin to wash herself. Ranko just blushed and hunched in on herself. She found herself praying that this was not a record of one of the few times during her stay at the dojo where she had "tension" to burn off during her bath.
"This was your son's curse. Whenever he was splashed with cold water, he would become a she," Happosai nodded, smirking at the image. "Because of the contract Genma made, he forced Ranma to hide his true identity until they could find a cure, and that is where Ranko came into the picture."
"I don't understand. I… Ranko and Ranma… even that other girl, they were all here in the same place. How can that…" she pointed at the screen, where the girl was rinsing off and proceeding to climb into the heated tub, "…be both Ranma and Ranko?"
Ranko just sighed as she saw the girl on screen become a boy again. She had not been caught indulging in immodest behavior on tape. Seeing Happosai looking at her expectantly, and knowing that finally the truth was at hand, she spoke. "That's actually me," she stated meekly. "Ranma and Fa Shen were split off from me by the cure. Until last week, we were all one person." She bit her lip and turned impulsively to Cologne, "What I don't understand is, the mirror never copied the curse; why did your antidote change Fa Shen back into a girl when she ended up stuck in the male copy of me?"
Nodoka froze.
"As I explained to you, Ranko, your male form was just a mask. It was enough for the curse to latch onto, but when the mirror copied you it had to catch the underlying truth to make that copy real. In a funny way, it made the reflections more equal, since one was a girl turned into a boy and the other was a boy turned into a girl. I suppose if you had discovered and shown your true form to the mirror, you could have produced another reflection," Cologne hypothesized.
"What are you talking about?" Nodoka finally pleaded.
"Ranko's cure was mostly an accident," Cologne turned to the mother. She proceeded to explain the legend of the Mirror of Broken Souls and what had happened when "Ranma" had stumbled across it. From there it was easy enough to simply describe everything that had happened up to the previous evening. "Fa Shen, you see, was the original victim of the Nyannichaun. The template of the curse, but since Ranma was a reincarnation of her, he was able to free her from her grave. Her awakening last night was completely unexpected, but, it did cause Ranko to figure out who she was and free Ranma and Fa Shen from inside of her."
Nodoka was struggling to take it all in. She turned to Ranko and tried to puzzle it all out, "So, you took my son's place and thought you were Ranma from the moment he was cursed until last night?" Ranko nodded. "You… this… is the body of the child I actually gave birth to?" she touched Ranko on the shoulder hesitantly and got another nod.
"Also, we didn't know about Pops using Togenkyo water to have a son until this morning," Ranko added.
"And Ranma and this Fa Shen—they both 'woke up' in the wrong bodies, which was why 'Ranko' from the date was suddenly changed to 'Ranneko' when we got home…"
"Because it would have been too confusing to call her Fa Shen and I wasn't going to give up my identity again," Ranko concluded, shuddering. "It was hard enough to give up being Ranma and Ranma had never really been Ranko. That's me. If I was really Ranma, then the whole time I was being Ranko, I'd have been lying to you, but now it turns out it was the only time I was really me."
Nodoka closed her eyes and sorted things out in her head some more. She had seen so many impossible things that morning; more than she had ever imagined possible. It had been a stretch to consider the warped version of the curse that boy Kuno had described. Now, she had seen people change sexes and species before her very eyes. She had witnessed her own personal transformation with the restoration of her hair. Magic had always seemed the most elusive thing in the universe, but here she was facing a daughter she had never known she had and SHE was practically stewing in it.
Ranko was also rehashing details in her mind, trying to see if they had covered all the angles yet, when something flashed across her mind. The only question that seemed unanswered was how healing her was a threat to Ranma's manhood. She turned slowly toward Mousse, remembering both what he had revealed and the surge of energy that had passed from Ranma to her. It could not escape Nodoka's mind, now that she knew Ranma had awoken in the female reflection, what Ranma had been prepared to do. That was the threat to manhood, but Ranko now understood that the threat had already been realized. All of Ranma's actions the previous night suddenly made sense. She could see in Mousse's eyes that he knew. There was no question Ryouga knew, and no doubt Fa Shen had been informed. The question was, did Nodoka have enough clues to figure this out for herself? Before she could look, her mother's voice intruded plaintively. Clearly, she was already on the right track!
"Oh! Ranma was going to…!" Nodoka covered her mouth in shock.
"Indeed," Happosai studied her passively. "If Fa Shen had remained male, Ranma would have sacrificed his manhood in order to heal Ranko. Personally," he smirked, "I find it ironic that such a noble gesture, such a selfless sacrifice, would no doubt have inspired you to hold your son to that ridiculous contract. If not for this conversation. Of course there remains a problem, doesn't there?"
"I…" Nodoka looked up at him. She swallowed. "She t… HE tried to warn me in the bath last night. I- I- I may have actually pushed him to do it. But," she paused, reflectively. "You… prevented that. By splashing Fa Shen, you made it so they cannot… well, not as a man and a woman."
"Not unless one of them becomes male again. The question is, Nodoka, do you have any intention of allowing Ranma to be a man, or would you condemn him to remain female because of some imperfection in his manhood or how he attained it?" Happosai pressed. "I remind you that Ranko is in just as great a need now as she was when your son put his manhood and his life at risk to inform Fa Shen of his intentions."
"Do… Do you have any more of that To-Togenkyo water?" Nodoka asked, mentally kicking herself for forgetting that Ranma's manhood could indeed be restored. But Happosai shook his head. "Then… how could either of them become male again?"
"One of them would have to take a curse, a Nanniichaun curse," he clarified, describing it as the compliment to the nyanniichaun. "I should point out, however, that Fa Shen is not inclined to be a man. No, it is Ranma who would wish that. Now, he could lock that curse, hide the girl he is now forever, but there would always be the risk of something unlocking it, revealing the girl inside." He smiled in thoughtful appreciation of that inner girl. He shrugged, "It is in the nature of such a curse to leave its victim half a man, but even so, it is more than man enough to save Ranko. Can your definitions of manhood survive what your son might become?"
Nodoka was not sure how to answer. The only clue she had of what sort of person he would become, subject to living as both sexes, was the girl beside her. On second thought, if she understood what she had been told, Ranko was a perfect example. For all intents and purposes, she was a female version of her son, a product of the exact same upbringing. Taking her hand, Nodoka asked, "Ranko, are you a boy or a girl? Not… not physically. I mean, if you've been both, can you really be one or the other?"
"Uh," Ranko scratched her head with her other hand, trying to decide how honest she should be. "Being a girl is sort of what separates me from being Ranma. It's sort of the way I was born. I'm not much of a girl, I suppose, but it's kinda how I see myself. But… I kinda like bein' a boy, too, I suppose. It's kinda strange to think I'm not one—can't be one—anymore. I feel like somethin's missin'. Like, I'm also a boy. I never liked flippin' back and forth 'cuz of the curse, 'cuz I don't like havin' no… not having any control over it. There's just a part of the that only works if I am a boy, so I guess that's why I miss it. I'll miss it more the longer I am like this."
"Oh dear," Nodoka bit her lip, but forced herself to see the earnest look in the girl's eye as she struggled to explain. "How… how do you think Ranma will feel?" she prompted in dread.
Ranko cocked her head in thought. It was not that hard to answer, since that was who she had been for most of what she could remember. "At heart, he's a guy. I think, because of me, he's figured out what it is to be a girl—I think he understands and can be a girl, like I can be a boy. Bein' a boy or a girl changes the people around you more than it changes you, though. You stay the same, but the way people look at you and act around you changes. I can't describe all the things you have to give up to just be one. That's what makes it so hard. I don't think anyone who has been both could give up one and not feel half dead," she confessed.
This surprised everyone, most especially Nodoka. "You are saying that Ranma—even you yourself—NEED to go back to being cursed like this? But, if that's so, why did you go through with this cure?" she demanded, thinking back to the part of the story where the cursed teen chose to exploit the mirror for a cure.
Ranko shrugged. "I really wasn't expecting to be cured. I planned to survive and keep the curse. The only reason I am cured is because of the stuff with the Togenkyo water. The only reason I let the mirror thing go on was because I thought you deserved to have a normal daughter and son," she explained. With a heavy sigh she added, "Just 'cuz I was comfortable with how I was, more or less, doesn't mean it works all that well for the people around me."
"So, you and Ranma will both want to get cursed again," Nodoka concluded in dismay. "You both feel it's better to be both."
Ranko nodded, ashamed. Then she firmed and corrected, "I am thinking about getting a boy curse, but what I really want to do is see if I can master it. Fa Shen said that's what people used to do. Get cursed and master it so they could control the transformation and use the advantages they gained from the curse. I already know I can deal with the curse the way it was, but I don't like the idea that I could have mastered it and didn't try. I can't back down from a challenge like that!"
"Now that sounds like Ranma," Nabiki grinned, shaking her head.
AN: Reflections is quickly coming to a close, and quite clearly has become something quite different than I had originally intended. From the kind of feedback I was getting from my more vocal readers, a divergence from the original series was welcomed eagerly, so I allowed the story to go where it would, rather than force it down the original path of a "missing episode". This process started with the first intrusion by Fa Shen during the writing of this story, when I had already heard strong suggestions to make this a divergence. Rather than remove the Fa Shen thread, I decided to see how people reacted to where it took the story and I am pleased by the result. I know I let things drift in an entirely original direction before acknowledging this as a divergence, but up until the awakening of Ranma and Fa Shen in their new bodies, it had been possible to still jerk things back into line and smooth things down before the end of the story. Ultimately, I decided it would be more interesting to see where things would go on their own. What I learned from this story taught me what I needed to know to write what I originally had in mind, so a different version of Reflections that fits into the original series is entirely possible. In the future. For now, I am focusing on the end of this story and what will unfold in its sequel. I hope my readers find this an interesting way for Nodoka to learn of Ranma's curse. It naturally evolved into the central crisis of the story. How she deals with a daughter determined to recover her manhood, and a son who is intimately in touch with his womanhood ought to be something of an adventure! Tune in next time as Ranma, Fa Shen and the others are released from the mirror trap and discover the mess Happosai has created for them!