Disclaimer: Ranma ½ is property of Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Communications, and the associated companies (in the other words, the characters ain't mine; I'm just borrowing them so don't try to sue. If you do try to sue, you will be doing a great wrong because I don't claim the characters and no profit is being made from this; therefore, I would be forced to hunt you down and inflict bodily harm upon you as retribution. Or more likely, I would send you an annoyed and exasperated email. Either way…aah, just go read).
Part 2 I watched you fallI think I pushed
Maybe I'm crazy
Maybe diminished
Maybe I blacked out
How do I play this?
~R.E.M., "Diminished"
"Ranma," Akane whispered loudly. "What do you think you're doing?"
The pigtailed boy turned to look at her innocently. "Who, me? What're you talkin' about?"
Akane was silent for a moment as Ryoga came back from the kitchen to gather more plates off the table. He'd insisted on helping with the dishes to be polite, but Akane suspected that the Lost Boy was also subtly trying to stay away from the family as a group. They seemed to make him nervous, which was understandable given they were practically strangers to him; and after watching the usual chaos that prevailed at mealtimes—Genma trying to steal his son's food, Ranma arguing with her, Nabiki complaining about someone's payments being overdue, her father throwing a fit of wailing over something or other—Akane could hardly blame him. She waited until Ryoga had disappeared around the corner again before continuing.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Akane said. "I heard what you told him, Ranma. What are you up to?"
Ranma shrugged casually. "Gee, Akane, you're always complainin' that I pick on him. I'm just tryin' to be nice."
"Nice?" Akane said incredulously. "Telling him that you're his best friend when you aren't is what you consider nice?"
"Whaddaya mean? Me and Ryoga are pals," Ranma said easily. "Heck, you said so yourself plenty of times."
Akane's expression darkened further. "You know what I mean," she snapped. "You two fight all the time, and you're always doing something to be mean to him! But now you've got poor Ryoga thinking that…that…"
Ranma blinked at her. "What are you so concerned over him for all of a sudden, Akane?" he asked. "Afraid he'll quit fallin' all over himself to be nice to ya and everything if he ain't mad at me? That would make you, lessee…jealous? Funny, for a tomboy who hates boys to be upset over somethin' like that. 'Course, with you bein' so macho and uncute and all…"
"Rannnmaaa…" Akane growled menacingly.
"Uh-oh," Ranma said as his aggravated fiancée lifted the table over her head.
"DIE!" she shouted, preparing to slam the piece of furniture down on his head. Ranma watched it fall towards him, shutting his eyes at the last second as he envisioned the bruises that would undoubtedly result.
He waited for the table to hit…but strangely, it didn't.
Ranma risked a quick peek, wondering if Akane had suddenly undergone some bizarre change of heart.
"Ryoga?"
The table was still poised only centimeters from Ranma's head, but Ryoga was holding tight to the edge of it with one hand as Akane blinked in shock.
"What are you doing?" Ryoga asked, staring wide-eyed at the surprised girl.
"Ryoga?" Akane said, sounding equally perplexed as Ranma had. "You…why did you…?"
"What, why did I stop you from hitting someone over the head with a table?" Ryoga asked, frowning slightly. "Shouldn't that be obvious? You could really hurt someone! And besides, you might ruin it."
Ranma stared at the scene unfolding above him. Ryoga…upset…with…Akane?
Now I've seen everything, he thought. I wonder if the world is about to end.
Akane's expression slowly changed to one of anger. "Hey! What do you think you're doing? It's Ranma! I always hit him, he deserves it!"
Ryoga appeared taken aback. "That doesn't seem very nice of you," he told her finally.
"You always hit him, too! You know he deserves it!" Akane cried.
"I don't remember hitting him," Ryoga said. "And why would he deserve it?"
This can't be good, Ranma thought, seeing where this whole thing was probably headed.
As if on cue, Akane's face edged from looking angry to looking furious. "Because! He always says stupid things! Don't you remember any of that? You used to hit him for me, Ryoga! Because he insults me and says I'm a tomboy and that my cooking is bad and calls me uncute!"
Ryoga looked at her speculatively. "Well, if you run around hitting people with tables all the time, I can see why he'd call you that," he said.
Ranma felt his mouth drop open as he gaped at the two people in front of him. Then he had to fight back a wild urge to laugh. Ryoga had just insulted Akane! Ranma wasn't sure which was funnier, the look on Akane's face or the fact that Ryoga had absolutely no idea that he was digging himself into a very deep pit he'd probably want to get out of later.
Well, maybe that part ain't so funny… Ranma's conscience informed him.
Akane stared at him for a long moment, not quite believing what was going on. Finally she let out an inarticulate sound of annoyance and frustration, and shoved the table at Ryoga hard enough to knock him down. She turned and ran towards the stairs, leaving the two young men to gaze after her.
Ryoga pushed the table off of his lap and back to its rightful place on the floor. "Why'd she get so mad?" he asked, sounding confused. "I wasn't trying to be mean to her, I just-"
"Yeah, yeah," Ranma interrupted. "Akane…kinda overreacts sometimes. She's got a temper, y'know?"
Ryoga looked at him uncertainly. "How come she was saying all those things about me hitting you for her? Why would I do that?"
"Eh heh," Ranma said, trying not too sound obvious. "Well, uh…" He felt himself starting to sweat. Stretch the truth, leave out the details, it ain't a lie, he told himself. "Like I said, Akane overreacts. I sorta…kid around with her sometimes a little, yeah. I don't mean anything by it or nothin', but she gets mad sometimes, and when that happened you used to get a little annoyed, here and there, y'know? Defendin' a girl's honor or whatever."
"Oh," Ryoga said, brightening. "I get it. But should I…I mean, I don't want her to think that I-"
"Ah, don't worry 'bout it," Ranma said. "She'll come around. 'Sides, if you went up and tried to say anything to her now, she'd prob'ly just clobber ya with somethin'."
Ryoga opened his mouth to reply, but was halted by a splintering crash as the wall opposite where they were standing fell inward. The two boys leapt out of the way as a girl with long violet-blue hair carrying a large tin landed in the center of the room.
"Ni hao Ranma!" she cried, lunging at the pigtailed boy and throwing her arms around his neck as she smiled in the impossibly bright manner that it seemed only she was capable of.
"Shampoo," Ranma muttered, moving to dislodge her. Ryoga stared at them in surprise, but didn't have much time to reflect on the situation before he himself was grabbed and lifted off his feet by a longhaired young man wearing white robes and glasses.
"Oh, my darling Shampoo! Don't go to that wretched Saotome! I'm the one who loves you!"
"Hey!" Ryoga cried, trying to fight whoever this was off of him. But his arms were pinned at his sides by the other's tight embrace, making it rather hard to do anything effective. "What do you think you're doing? Let me go, put me down!"
"Stupid Mousse," Shampoo commented from where she remained wrapped around Ranma.
"Mousse! Let him go, stupid, that's Ryoga!"
The bespectacled Amazon looked confused for a moment, then peered closely at the angry young man he was holding. "Oh, it is Ryoga Hibiki. Where did Shampoo go?"
Ryoga slammed a fist into the other boy's face, sending him flying at the wall. "Jerk! Who are you, anyway?"
Mousse climbed back up to his feet. "Huh? What was that you said?"
Ranma managed to pry Shampoo off of him. "Cut it out, already," he griped as she moved towards him again. "Mousse, he don't remember you."
"What on Earth is going on down here?" Akane cried, running into the half-decimated room. "Shampoo?"
Mousse frowned and tucked his hands in his sleeves. "What do you mean, he doesn't remember me?"
"He's got amnesia, featherbrain," Ranma explained witheringly. "He hit his head earlier."
Mousse pushed his glasses up on his forehead and stepped closer to the bandana'd boy. "Ryoga…has amnesia?" he said wonderingly.
"Aiyah," Shampoo said, staring at the Lost Boy with wide eyes. "He no remember anyone?"
"Don't look like it," Ranma said. "Ryoga, the guy who grabbed you is Mousse. And this is Shampoo. They're from China."
Ryoga raised an eyebrow. "China? Do you always grab onto people like that over there?"
Mousse's expression darkened. "I can't see that well when my glasses aren't on right, Ok?" he snapped. Then something in his head clicked. If Ryoga didn't remember anyone, then he probably didn't remember anything that had happened around Nerima, either.
And if that was the case…
Meanwhile, Shampoo was regarding the Lost Boy curiously as she thought. "You no remember Shampoo or stupid Mousse at all?" she asked.
Ryoga glanced at her. "No…sorry…"
Nearly identical satisfied smirks formed on both of the Amazons' faces as half a dozen unpleasant schemes went through their heads.
If Ryoga doesn't remember, then maybe I can convince him to help me beat Ranma again! Mousse thought elatedly. And then, Shampoo will be mine!
If he no remember that he supposed to like Akane, maybe he… The pretty Amazon's smirk stretched into a grin. Then, Ranma marry Shampoo…
"Aiyah, is shame," Shampoo said.
"Yeah, if you don't remember…" Mousse added, placing a hand on Ryoga's shoulder.
"We have to make friends all over again, yes?" Shampoo finished in a sugarcoated voice, beaming at the Lost Boy as she stepped forward and took his hand.
Ryoga's eyes narrowed as they began to pull him in two directions at once. "Wait a minute…" he protested, digging his heels into the floor.
"Shampoo, what do you think you're doing?" Akane interjected, a scowl forming on her features as Ranma directed an equally heated look in Mousse's direction. Sure, the Amazons both knew Ryoga, but he wasn't exactly what anyone would call bosom buddies with either of them, and Ranma and Akane didn't like the looks of this.
Shampoo's pretty features contorted for a brief moment at the unwanted interruption. Realizing Plan A (dragging Ryoga bodily out the door with her and back to the Cat Café where she could get down to some serious planning) might not work, she darted to where she'd left her delivery box on the floor and pulled out a bowl of ramen that had originally been intended for Ranma.
"Shampoo make special ramen for Ryoga," she said cheerily, coming just short of shoving the bowl into the startled boy's face. "For friend Ryoga," she added cajolingly.
Ryoga blinked at the unexpected…gift. "Oh…uh, that's awfully nice of you-"
Mousse shuffled his hands through his sleeves. "Here!" he cried, grabbing onto the first thing that felt un-weapon-like and holding it out to the Lost Boy. "Take this, as a token of our…friendship!"
Ryoga wondered briefly how this Mousse person had been keeping a bowl of goldfish in his clothing. "Uh, th-thanks…I think…" he said hesitantly.
"Hey, you guys-" Akane started to say.
Shampoo grabbed a plate of buns from her tin. "And these too!" she interrupted, forcing them towards him. "Shampoo good friend, cook better food than violent-girl Akane."
"Hey!" Akane cried indignantly.
"Here!" Mousse said quickly, thrusting a green potted plant towards an increasingly uneasy Ryoga.
"Ryoga like dim-sum, yes?"
"Didn't you tell me once that you wanted a Ming vase?"
"Uh, heh…" Ryoga managed, backing away from the two with a nervous smile. "That's Ok, r-really…"
Behind him, Akane's scowl deepened and Ranma clenched his fists.
"Suck-up!"
"Insult my cooking?!"
Ryoga blinked as Shampoo and Mousse's airborne figures vanished into the horizon. "Uh…will they be alright?" he asked, though the look of relief on his face appeared to outweigh his concern.
"Fine," Ranma assured him. "It happens more than you'd think."
"O-oh," Ryoga said, glancing down at the bowl of fish he still held in his hands. "Um…they seemed…generous…"
"'Seemed' is right," Ranma muttered.
"Hmph. Says her cooking is better than mine. Honestly, that Shampoo can be so rude."
"C'mon Akane, don't be jealous. Shampoo's cooking is better than yours. After all, Shampoo only makes hers poisonous when she wants to…" Ranma said.
"Raaanmaaaa," Akane growled, clenching her fists. A moment later, Ranma was sailing through the newly-expanded door towards the koi pond, where he landed with a swear and a splash.
"What did you do that for?" Ryoga demanded, startled by the display.
Akane stared at him, then scowled. "He…he made fun of my cooking!"
"He was only kidding! You really are violent!" Ryoga told her. He ran out into the yard to see if the other boy was alright. "Ranma?" he said, placing his hands on a rock and leaning over the pond. He backed up a second later to avoid being splashed with water as Ranma stood up.
Ryoga's eyes widened at the sight. "What…what happened to you?!" he shrieked.
The petite redheaded girl squeezed water from her pigtail. "The water's cold, stupi-" Ranma started to say. "Oh, that's right," she amended. She glared past Ryoga towards the aggravated fiancée. "Jeez Akane, ya uncute tomboy, does it always hafta be the pond?"
Behind them, Akane was quaking with anger. Having Ryoga stop her from clobbering Ranma when he deserved it, then having him practically call her uncute had been plenty to make her irritated—and now he was calling her violent while he went to make sure that jerk Ranma was Ok? And Ranma, still shooting his mouth off at her even now! This was too much…
Akane picked up the goldfish bowl that Ryoga had left behind. "So, I'm violent, am I?" she said, drawing the two boys' attention to her once more. Ranma had barely climbed out of the pond when Akane flung the bowl towards them, water, fish, and all. "Ranma, you jerk!"
Uh-oh, Ranma thought as the water-filled missile came towards Ryoga. She leapt forward and shoved the Lost Boy to the ground, then caught the bowl. The sudden halt loosed a wave of water into her face.
"Uncute…" Ranma muttered to herself, flicking a renegade goldfish out of her bangs and back into the bowl.
"I could've caught that," Ryoga said to her. Then he noticed, once again, that Ranma was now a she instead of a he. "Uh…h-how did you…?"
Ranma looked down at him and sighed. "Yeah, I know. Uh, come with me, will you? There're a couple of things that I need to explain…"
* * * * * * * * * *
"Jusenkyo, huh?"
"Yep. Cursed Springs," Ranma affirmed. "As you prob'ly figured, I got the Spring of Drowned Girl. My dad fell in the Spring of Drowned Panda. Shampoo fell in the Spring of Drowned C-ca-cat, and Mousse got the Spring of Drowned Duck."
"Wow," Ryoga said. "That's terrible."
Ranma suddenly felt like he'd swallowed a brick. "Uh…yeah. Um, Ryoga, I ain't sure how to tell you this but you-"
"Me?" Ryoga said disbelievingly, his eyes going wide. "B-but I've never been to China!"
Ranma scratched at the back of his head. "Actually…you have been to China."
Ryoga stared at him, his expression a mixture of astonishment and anxiety. "I-I have…? I didn't…I didn't fall into a Spring, though, d-did I?"
Nah, you didn't fall. I knocked you in, Ranma thought, feeling a little guilty at the Lost Boy's horrified expression.
"I hate to tell you this…but you did end up with a curse," Ranma told him. "Hey, don't worry, it ain't so bad," he said quickly as Ryoga's eyes filled with dismay. "You can change back with hot water, just like I did."
Ryoga swallowed hard. "Which Spring…? Will I still know who…what I am if…?"
Ranma glanced around the bedroom, then went to shut the door. "Well…here, I guess I might as well just…" he picked up the glass of cold water he'd brought with him. "Just remember, you can change back with hot water," he explained, motioning to the kettle beside him. Then he dumped the glass over the bandana'd boy's head.
Ryoga closed his eyes at the odd sensation of the change. He opened them a moment later, but to his amazement, everything looked different. Different as in…huge. He opened his mouth to ask what was going on, but instead of words, he emitted a high-pitched squeak. Startled, Ryoga raised his hands to his throat…but he didn't have hands anymore, he had…hooves? Hooves! He couldn't even bend his arms right! Maybe because his arms were more like legs now…
Ryoga backed up reflexively, as though he could pull himself out of whatever the hell had happened to him. His body…it was completely out of proportion, it didn't move right! He wasn't even human! Kami, what had happened to him?! Through his shocked haze, he heard Ranma, speaking quickly in a low voice. He looked towards the sound, and saw that Ranma was…how small had he gotten?
Noting the growing fear on the small piglet's features, Ranma reached over to pick him up. But when Ryoga saw that Ranma's hand was nearly as big as he was, his eyes went wide with panic, and his little black ears flew straight up in alarm. Letting out a terrified squeal, the piglet tore away, running haphazardly around the room and bweeing at the top of his tiny lungs.
Oh, damn, Ranma thought, realizing a little late that maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. He chased the piglet around the room in frenzied circles, unable to get a hold of the frightened animal. After a few minutes of futile pursuit, Ranma began to worry. Sooner or later, Akane would hear 'P-chan' and come running, undoubtedly wondering what new torture Ranma was exercising upon her pet. Either that, or Ryoga was going to run himself into a wall or go flying out the window; and though Ranma knew the Lost Boy was pretty tough in either form, he didn't much like the idea of Ryoga worsening his head injury or escaping the confines of the room for the larger perimeters of the rest of the country.
With this in mind, Ranma doubled his efforts, and finally managed grab hold of Ryoga's bandana. Unfortunately, maintaining his hold wasn't exactly easy either. P-chan fought him for all he was worth, kicking and struggling wildly while letting out sounds that Ranma figured would probably translate into human screams.
Ranma held on as best he could and made a mad dash for the kettle. Tightening his grip so Ryoga wouldn't be able to get free from his one-handed hold, he knelt down and poured the hot water over the piglet's head.
An instant later, Ranma found that instead of a struggling, kicking P-chan, he had his hands full of a struggling, kicking Ryoga. Ranma quickly discovered that he had been correct in his piglet-sound-interpretation as well—Ryoga was screaming.
"Ryoga…Ryoga! Stop! Stop, it's alright!" Ranma cried, battling to hang on to the terrified boy. He gave him a shake, hoping to bring him back to his senses. "It's alright," he repeated.
His voice seemed to cut through the panic, because Ryoga stopped his desperate movements and his cries sank to frightened gasps. Ranma noted that the Lost Boy's face was a shade past white and he was trembling like a leaf. Obviously, fear of being grabbed by a giant panda and ending up cooked had overridden the fright of Ryoga's curse itself when he'd first received it. Despite the explanation, this still hadn't gone very well. Ranma figured that on top of the injury, the memory loss, being stuck among people he didn't remember, seeing Ranma's curse without warning courtesy of Akane's swat into the pond, and being subjected to the commonplace chaos of the daily fights and destruction…well, considering the stress level, it was no wonder the kid had flipped.
"Wh-what happened to me?" Ryoga stammered, his breath short. "I…I…"
"It's Ok," Ranma told him. He held up one of Ryoga's hands and waved it in front of him. "See? You're back to normal."
Ryoga turned his head to look at him with wide, dark eyes. "What am I supposed to do?" he asked, his voice full of trepidation.
Ranma felt something inside him twist with guilt. He'd been the one to knock Ryoga in the Spring, he'd been the one to make him lose his memory, he'd been the one to scare the hell out of him now, not to mention the score of other things Ryoga held against him…yet the Lost Boy was looking at him not with the familiar anger Ranma was so used to seeing, but…
Trust.
Ryoga believed what Ranma had told him before. He trusted him as a close friend, expected Ranma to tell him the truth, and didn't blame in the least for anything...
"It's not so bad," Ranma heard himself saying as he helped the other boy stand up. "You learn to avoid cold water is all, and you can carry around hot water with you or something, just in case."
Ryoga blinked, then shivered. "Oh…"
From downstairs, they could hear Kasumi calling them.
Ranma scuffed at the floor with his foot. "You Ok? I shoulda warned you better."
"I'm…I'm fine," Ryoga said, shuddering once.
Fine, Ranma thought sardonically. He was beginning to wonder how long things would stay that way.
* * * * * * * * * *
The final remains of the sunlight shone through in bright discernable rays, as though bravely trying to defy the incoming twilight that marked the end of day.
Within the living room of the Tendo home, Akane sat fuming silently to herself, ignoring the display presenting itself outside the open door. Even though she'd been ready to blame Ranma for everything only a few hours before, even though she knew that Ryoga probably couldn't help anything, she still felt her anger smoldering.
Akane shot both of the boys a glare as they entered the living room, aiming an extra dose of indignance at Ranma. She was used to the pigtailed boy swapping between being nice and being insulting while around her, but now Ryoga…he had always been nice to her, and it annoyed her all the more that this wasn't the case any longer. So what if he had amnesia, if he'd liked her before, there was no reason for him not to be seeing all those likeable qualities now…right? Unless Ranma had something to do with it, which was likely the reason for it, although Akane wasn't quite sure how he'd managed to pull something like that off such a short time.
Either way, Akane concluded, both of the boys were being jerks.
With that, she let out an annoyed "Hmph," and disdainfully turned her head, refusing to look at the young men sitting across from her. Ryoga frowned slightly in response, obviously not understanding what her problem was.
Ranma shook his head and bit back a grin. He couldn't help thinking this was at least a little funny, even if just by the irony of it. At this rate, Ryoga was never going to have a chance with Akane.
Though…if Ryoga got his memory back, he'd be awfully…
Ranma refused to think about it. If any of this should end up mattering, well, he'd deal with it when it happened.
Sure, you'll deal with it, muttered a little voice in the back of his mind. But how will everyone else deal with it?
How will Ryoga deal with it?
Ranma shook his head to clear it, though a lingering sense of guilt refused to dissipate.
He would deal with it…when it happened…