What is Weakness?
A Ranma ½ fanfiction by Selene Starblade
Disclaimer: The characters in this work of fiction do not belong to me. At least so far. Matter of fact, the whole idea off which this fic is based doesn't belong to me. And the computer's a loaner. And, technically, the bank owns my home. But, that's besides the point.
Chapter Three: No Thanks, but Thanks.
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It was wet.
This was rather disturbing to Ranma.
She (given the temperature she felt, that ought to be right.) had actually been rather enjoying the senseless darkness that she had been experiencing.
And now it had to get all cold and wet. She made a mental note, not for the first time, that she hated rain.
And little old ladle ladies, and koi ponds, and adversaries with buckets and kettles, and.
Actually, she was beginning to get just a bit upset with water in general.
Ranma's train of thought was interrupted by a dull blade of pain.
Hm. She thought. Seems to be my ankle. Hurting quite a bit. Feels kinda like it's pinned. Let's see..
Ranma let out a strangled noise as she discovered that moving her ankle hurt more.
Okay, bad idea. Alright, Ranma, let's see. Take stock of things before trying to do anything.
Rain, check. Female, check. Moxibustion weakness, check. Thugs. thugs?
Cautiously, Ranma opened one eye. Discovering that this did not hurt like moving her ankle, she opened the other one, and looked around a bit. She was lying on something of cloth, which was just starting to get seriously wet itself. There was grass, and bushes, and lots of.
"Trees?"
The small black piglet that had been dragging what looked like a bamboo umbrella towards her let go of the handle. It whipped its head around to look at her and grunted excitedly.
"Kwee! Buwee bwee kwee!"
Ranma blinked. "Ryooga? Th' heck 're you doin' here? 'N where IS here, anyway?"
Ryooga-buta gave Ranma a sardonic expression. (How a pig could do that was beyond Ranma to explain, but she just sort of knew it was.)
Ranma looked sheepish. "Oh, right. You wouldn't know."
The piglet snorted and returned to dragging the umbrella towards Ranma.
"Yawanna hand with that?"
The piglet glanced pointedly at onna-Ranma.
"Okay, then, if you're gonna be like that about it."
Ranma sat up, winced, and held her stomach.
"Owwww. dammit. Those thugs worked me over pretty good." Fortunately, she could feel that whatever had been bleeding had stopped. It was too bad it was Ryooga who was around, or she might have been able to go to a hospital or something.
"Bwmmph kwmph." Mumbled Ryooga-buta through an umbrella-handle. It was no more heavy now than it was when he was human, but there was only so much he could do to offset leverage problems. Now, he just had to roll THIS way.
With some effort, though Ranma would have been completely baffled as to explaining how he managed it, Ryooga not only opened the umbrella but set it up leaning on the ground, with the spread part pointing into the rain.
Now sheltered some from the water, Ranma lay back onto the tough material of the umbrella. Ryooga trotted into the sheltered area. His backpack was waterproof- it could stand the soaking.
Ranma let out a long breath. "I guess you got rid of those goons?"
"Kwee! Bwee bwee bwi bu-WEE!" Replied the damp piglet. A gleam of hate manifested in his eyes for a moment. "Buqii kwi BWI!" He puffed himself up self-importantly.
Ranma nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, man. I dunno what woulda happened without ya."
The piglet looked smug, a difficult thing to do when you're wet and shivering.
"Hey, you cold er something?"
Ryooga looked at Ranma like the girl-pro-tem was dumb.
"Right, right, stupid question. Here." Ranma reached over and, not without effort, picked up the pig.
"Bwee! Bwii KWEE!"
Ranma just LOOKED at Ryooga. "C'n you think of a better way to save body heat? I'm gettin' cold too, here."
Reluctantly, Ryooga stopped squirming and let Ranma place him in her lap. Before too long, the aquatranssexual martial artist had fallen asleep to the soft drumming of rain, one arm lying across the eternally lost piglet in her lap.
Ryooga watched the rain a while before giving in and also dozing off.
******
Kasumi looked out the sliding doors at the rain. "Oh, my. I hope Ranma's alright."
Akane, sitting across from her, snorted. "He probably shacked up with one of his hussies."
Kasumi smiled again. "Oh, that's right! Xian Pu-chan or Ukyoo-chan will surely care for him."
Genma laughed. "That's my son! A real survivor! Isn't that right, Ten.. do.. kun?"
Souun gave Genma the precursory glare to a Demon Head.
"Are you saying it's alright if your son stays with one of those other girls and not his fiancee????"
Genma sweated and cowered some. "Well, uh, Tendoo-kun, um, it's got to be, uh, better than having him stay out on the, uh, street all night, right?"
Souun refused to let up. "And when he returns??"
"I'll, um, punish him for being unfaithful to his fiancee?" Genma whined. Kami-sama, but his friend was scary when he got like that.
The shadow passed from the face of the Tendoo patriarch. "Good to hear that, Saotome. For a moment there, I almost thought you were still trying to freeload off of everyone, like back when the Master was training us."
Nabiki looked pointedly at Genma, who continued to sweat heavily.
******
"So, that's it?" Asked Ryooga. "You're leaving Nerima?"
Ranma, once again male, and across the campfire, nodded, still staring at the small pot of stew over the fire.
"And Akane?"
"What about her? I told ya, she don't like me at all."
"So, you're giving up?"
Ranma nodded.
"At last! I can court Akane!" Ryooga stood in a triumphant pose. "True love shall succeed!"
"Ryooga."
"I can see it now!"
Scene: a flowery field.
Imaginary Ryooga: Akane, Ranma has chosen to forfeit any claim to you! Will you be mine?
"Ryooga!"
Imaginary Akane: He truly has? How wonderful! Now we can be together forever!
I-Akane and I-Ryooga together: True love shall triumph over all!
"RYOOGA!"
Popping back out of his daydream, Ryooga glared at Ranma. "What?!?"
"Stew's boiling over."
Ryooga eeped and removed the pot from the fire, carefully not burning himself on either the pot or the slopping-over stew. "Why didn't you tell me earlier!"
Ranma just sighed.
Ryooga dished out some of the stew into his spare bowl, and handed it and a spoon to Ranma.
"Wait a minute, Ranma. You're still weak, right?"
Ranma stared into his stew. "Dowanna talk about it." His hands were trembling with the effort of lifting the full bowl even now. It was shameful. He had been so strong once.. So long ago, and yet, only a day.
Ryooga thought as he ate, noticing that Ranma wasn't eating in his typical eat-now-taste-later manner. The depressed-looking pigtailed martial artist had set his bowl on the stump next to him, and was slowly eating a spoonful at a time.
Finished, Ryooga put down the pot. He looked over at Ranma. Somehow, from somewhere, he felt some sort of an obligation to the other boy.
"Would you like to travel with me? I go plenty of places, and I could help you out if anything goes wrong."
"I don't need someone to protect me." Growled Ranma, throwing his spoon and empty bowl at the other boy.
Ryooga raised one eyebrow as the eating utensils bounced lightly off of the ground scarcely a foot away from Ranma..
"I don't! I can take care of myself! I don't need ta travel with you, or with anyone! I'll be fine on my own!" Ranma shouted, folding his arms over his chest and glowering at the grass between his knees. Damn this weakness, he couldn't even express himself anymore. "I ain't gonna take any charity from anyone, you lousy-"
"And how will you carry supplies?"
Ranma stopped mid-rant, his mouth open, as he tried to come up with an answer.
"And what about other thugs and toughs? Not to mention all the martial artists after your hide? They'll find you eventually, you know."
Ranma closed his mouth.
Ryooga pushed on. "AND you're still weak, too. I know you don't like it, man, but you'll have to travel with someone you can trust. That doesn't leave you a lot of options, y'know? Besides, with the way I get lost, it'll let you figure out ways to deal with the others for when they eventually catch up. And I can carry enough stuff, and-"
"Fine. Fine. You win, Ryooga."
Ryooga nodded.
"Besides," continued Ranma, "'snot like there's anyone else around to go with." He gestured to the forest around them. "Where the hell are we, anyways?"
"Ranma, would it hurt you to be just a little bit grateful when people do things for you?" Ryooga asked, ignoring the question.
Ranma looked blandly at Ryooga. "Only if pops knows."
Ryooga blinked. You know, he thought, the way he says that, makes it sound like it's true.
He opted to change the subject. "So, how's your ankle feeling?"
Ranma smirked and patted the limb in question. "Jus' fine. Should be good to go in a bit less than a week."
Ryooga nodded, deliberately ignoring the wince of pain that Ranma had suppressed. "Great."
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So. Two pals on the road. Pretty normal, right?
::unable to keep a straight face, collapses in laughter::
Aheh. riiight.
Well, Ranma normally winds up in enough messes on his own. But when you combine his attraction for the bizarre and confusing, and Ryooga's ability to get lost.
Boy, are THEY going to have some fun adventures.
::begins to laugh evilly:: And they shall never escape! NYAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!
Disclaimer: The characters in this work of fiction do not belong to me. At least so far. Matter of fact, the whole idea off which this fic is based doesn't belong to me. And the computer's a loaner. And, technically, the bank owns my home. But, that's besides the point.
Chapter Three: No Thanks, but Thanks.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
It was wet.
This was rather disturbing to Ranma.
She (given the temperature she felt, that ought to be right.) had actually been rather enjoying the senseless darkness that she had been experiencing.
And now it had to get all cold and wet. She made a mental note, not for the first time, that she hated rain.
And little old ladle ladies, and koi ponds, and adversaries with buckets and kettles, and.
Actually, she was beginning to get just a bit upset with water in general.
Ranma's train of thought was interrupted by a dull blade of pain.
Hm. She thought. Seems to be my ankle. Hurting quite a bit. Feels kinda like it's pinned. Let's see..
Ranma let out a strangled noise as she discovered that moving her ankle hurt more.
Okay, bad idea. Alright, Ranma, let's see. Take stock of things before trying to do anything.
Rain, check. Female, check. Moxibustion weakness, check. Thugs. thugs?
Cautiously, Ranma opened one eye. Discovering that this did not hurt like moving her ankle, she opened the other one, and looked around a bit. She was lying on something of cloth, which was just starting to get seriously wet itself. There was grass, and bushes, and lots of.
"Trees?"
The small black piglet that had been dragging what looked like a bamboo umbrella towards her let go of the handle. It whipped its head around to look at her and grunted excitedly.
"Kwee! Buwee bwee kwee!"
Ranma blinked. "Ryooga? Th' heck 're you doin' here? 'N where IS here, anyway?"
Ryooga-buta gave Ranma a sardonic expression. (How a pig could do that was beyond Ranma to explain, but she just sort of knew it was.)
Ranma looked sheepish. "Oh, right. You wouldn't know."
The piglet snorted and returned to dragging the umbrella towards Ranma.
"Yawanna hand with that?"
The piglet glanced pointedly at onna-Ranma.
"Okay, then, if you're gonna be like that about it."
Ranma sat up, winced, and held her stomach.
"Owwww. dammit. Those thugs worked me over pretty good." Fortunately, she could feel that whatever had been bleeding had stopped. It was too bad it was Ryooga who was around, or she might have been able to go to a hospital or something.
"Bwmmph kwmph." Mumbled Ryooga-buta through an umbrella-handle. It was no more heavy now than it was when he was human, but there was only so much he could do to offset leverage problems. Now, he just had to roll THIS way.
With some effort, though Ranma would have been completely baffled as to explaining how he managed it, Ryooga not only opened the umbrella but set it up leaning on the ground, with the spread part pointing into the rain.
Now sheltered some from the water, Ranma lay back onto the tough material of the umbrella. Ryooga trotted into the sheltered area. His backpack was waterproof- it could stand the soaking.
Ranma let out a long breath. "I guess you got rid of those goons?"
"Kwee! Bwee bwee bwi bu-WEE!" Replied the damp piglet. A gleam of hate manifested in his eyes for a moment. "Buqii kwi BWI!" He puffed himself up self-importantly.
Ranma nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, man. I dunno what woulda happened without ya."
The piglet looked smug, a difficult thing to do when you're wet and shivering.
"Hey, you cold er something?"
Ryooga looked at Ranma like the girl-pro-tem was dumb.
"Right, right, stupid question. Here." Ranma reached over and, not without effort, picked up the pig.
"Bwee! Bwii KWEE!"
Ranma just LOOKED at Ryooga. "C'n you think of a better way to save body heat? I'm gettin' cold too, here."
Reluctantly, Ryooga stopped squirming and let Ranma place him in her lap. Before too long, the aquatranssexual martial artist had fallen asleep to the soft drumming of rain, one arm lying across the eternally lost piglet in her lap.
Ryooga watched the rain a while before giving in and also dozing off.
******
Kasumi looked out the sliding doors at the rain. "Oh, my. I hope Ranma's alright."
Akane, sitting across from her, snorted. "He probably shacked up with one of his hussies."
Kasumi smiled again. "Oh, that's right! Xian Pu-chan or Ukyoo-chan will surely care for him."
Genma laughed. "That's my son! A real survivor! Isn't that right, Ten.. do.. kun?"
Souun gave Genma the precursory glare to a Demon Head.
"Are you saying it's alright if your son stays with one of those other girls and not his fiancee????"
Genma sweated and cowered some. "Well, uh, Tendoo-kun, um, it's got to be, uh, better than having him stay out on the, uh, street all night, right?"
Souun refused to let up. "And when he returns??"
"I'll, um, punish him for being unfaithful to his fiancee?" Genma whined. Kami-sama, but his friend was scary when he got like that.
The shadow passed from the face of the Tendoo patriarch. "Good to hear that, Saotome. For a moment there, I almost thought you were still trying to freeload off of everyone, like back when the Master was training us."
Nabiki looked pointedly at Genma, who continued to sweat heavily.
******
"So, that's it?" Asked Ryooga. "You're leaving Nerima?"
Ranma, once again male, and across the campfire, nodded, still staring at the small pot of stew over the fire.
"And Akane?"
"What about her? I told ya, she don't like me at all."
"So, you're giving up?"
Ranma nodded.
"At last! I can court Akane!" Ryooga stood in a triumphant pose. "True love shall succeed!"
"Ryooga."
"I can see it now!"
Scene: a flowery field.
Imaginary Ryooga: Akane, Ranma has chosen to forfeit any claim to you! Will you be mine?
"Ryooga!"
Imaginary Akane: He truly has? How wonderful! Now we can be together forever!
I-Akane and I-Ryooga together: True love shall triumph over all!
"RYOOGA!"
Popping back out of his daydream, Ryooga glared at Ranma. "What?!?"
"Stew's boiling over."
Ryooga eeped and removed the pot from the fire, carefully not burning himself on either the pot or the slopping-over stew. "Why didn't you tell me earlier!"
Ranma just sighed.
Ryooga dished out some of the stew into his spare bowl, and handed it and a spoon to Ranma.
"Wait a minute, Ranma. You're still weak, right?"
Ranma stared into his stew. "Dowanna talk about it." His hands were trembling with the effort of lifting the full bowl even now. It was shameful. He had been so strong once.. So long ago, and yet, only a day.
Ryooga thought as he ate, noticing that Ranma wasn't eating in his typical eat-now-taste-later manner. The depressed-looking pigtailed martial artist had set his bowl on the stump next to him, and was slowly eating a spoonful at a time.
Finished, Ryooga put down the pot. He looked over at Ranma. Somehow, from somewhere, he felt some sort of an obligation to the other boy.
"Would you like to travel with me? I go plenty of places, and I could help you out if anything goes wrong."
"I don't need someone to protect me." Growled Ranma, throwing his spoon and empty bowl at the other boy.
Ryooga raised one eyebrow as the eating utensils bounced lightly off of the ground scarcely a foot away from Ranma..
"I don't! I can take care of myself! I don't need ta travel with you, or with anyone! I'll be fine on my own!" Ranma shouted, folding his arms over his chest and glowering at the grass between his knees. Damn this weakness, he couldn't even express himself anymore. "I ain't gonna take any charity from anyone, you lousy-"
"And how will you carry supplies?"
Ranma stopped mid-rant, his mouth open, as he tried to come up with an answer.
"And what about other thugs and toughs? Not to mention all the martial artists after your hide? They'll find you eventually, you know."
Ranma closed his mouth.
Ryooga pushed on. "AND you're still weak, too. I know you don't like it, man, but you'll have to travel with someone you can trust. That doesn't leave you a lot of options, y'know? Besides, with the way I get lost, it'll let you figure out ways to deal with the others for when they eventually catch up. And I can carry enough stuff, and-"
"Fine. Fine. You win, Ryooga."
Ryooga nodded.
"Besides," continued Ranma, "'snot like there's anyone else around to go with." He gestured to the forest around them. "Where the hell are we, anyways?"
"Ranma, would it hurt you to be just a little bit grateful when people do things for you?" Ryooga asked, ignoring the question.
Ranma looked blandly at Ryooga. "Only if pops knows."
Ryooga blinked. You know, he thought, the way he says that, makes it sound like it's true.
He opted to change the subject. "So, how's your ankle feeling?"
Ranma smirked and patted the limb in question. "Jus' fine. Should be good to go in a bit less than a week."
Ryooga nodded, deliberately ignoring the wince of pain that Ranma had suppressed. "Great."
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So. Two pals on the road. Pretty normal, right?
::unable to keep a straight face, collapses in laughter::
Aheh. riiight.
Well, Ranma normally winds up in enough messes on his own. But when you combine his attraction for the bizarre and confusing, and Ryooga's ability to get lost.
Boy, are THEY going to have some fun adventures.
::begins to laugh evilly:: And they shall never escape! NYAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!