Broken Hearts, Mended Souls
By
Nuclear Twinkie
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: In all seriousness, all rights to Ranma1/2 and its characters go to Rumiko Takahashi. In all silliness... BOOM! What the hell was that? "I think it's just Ayeka and Ryoko fighting again." I'm trying to write a fic here. How do you live with all the noise? "Well, you kind of get used to it after a while." Used to it? I wonder if there is someway to find someplace that's a little quieter. "I can help with that" "Washu!" Washu! No thanks, but I'll get used to it like Tenchi said. "Oh, don't be like that. Tenchi, and I can go with you to someplace much more peaceful. BzzZAP!! "Washu, what did you do? Where are... How the hell did we end up here??"
{} = Character Thoughts
------------------------------------------------------------------------
{Loneliness.}
{Sadness.}
{I no longer have any meaning or purpose. My life is empty.} Ryoga slowly stumbles his way thru a forest somewhere in Japan. The forest is rather thick and the occasional stream of sunlight leaks down thru the overgrowth. His head is bowed in sadness, and he looks bedraggled and filthy. There is the occasional twig and leaf hanging from his person, as if he had walked straight thru the forest without bothering to go around anything. Ryoga continues his seemingly unending walk of sadness thru the forest.
{My life is so empty. Akane finally found out about my curse. She broke into a rage and tried to kill me. I thought that was the most horrible thing that could have happened. I hate being wrong all the time.}
Ryoga continues his trek thru the forest. A rather large shadow momentarily covers him as a bird flies over. Ryoga doesn't even notice. {I can still hear Akane's voice as clear as day. 'I don't know if I'll ever forgive you. You have betrayed my trust and my friendship. I would rather lose the dojo than depend on you to defend it.'} Ryoga stops moving forward and sighs. {It was my fault she got hurt. It was my fault she said that. It was my fault she got hit by that thug. Everything is my fault. My life is so empty. I have nothing left but a dying, broken heart and that giant platypus.}
Ryoga stands there wallowing in the horrible depths of depression until what is left of his brain kicks in. {What the heck? Giant platypus?} Ryoga looks up to see a duck-billed platypus of enormous proportions looming over him. The platypus does not look happy to see him. {Ryogenzawa. Man, I hate this place. Stupid giant animals.}
Ryoga pulls his umbrella and waves it at the platypus. "Go away! Leave me alone! Shoo! I may be sad but I don't want to be eaten by a giant platypus." Ryoga lowers his umbrella and looks up at the creature questioningly. "Hmmm, I wonder what a platypus does eat?" Just then, the platypus lifts up a front paw and swipes at Ryoga. He jumps into the air and brings his umbrella down on top of the creature's head. It falls to the ground unconscious.
{I guess I hit it a little hard. Just like Akane tried to do to me.} The tip of Ryoga's umbrella falls to the ground as he sighs again in sadness.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing to that platypus?"
Ryoga turns around to see a boy about his age walking out of the surrounding forest. The boy is wearing a light blue t-shirt with white trim underneath a dark blue jacket and a white headband. He is carrying a wooden push broom, and does not look happy.
Ryoga turns to face the boy. "Hey, I know you. You're Shinnosuke, right?"
Shinnosuke gets a look of confusion on his face. "Have we met before?"
Ryoga lifts his hand behind his head. "Uh, kind of. Sorry about the platypus, but it attacked me first."
Shinnosuke walks over to examine the animal. "It's ok, just try not to hit them so hard. They may be big, but they are just normal animals. Anyway, you shouldn't even be here. You should leave here as soon as possible."
Ryoga slides his umbrella onto the loops on his backpack. "Sure, no problem" {Just one more person that doesn't want me around. Typical.} Ryoga turns and starts walking away.
"Hey, you're walking deeper into Ryogenzawa, not out of it. You want to go that way." Shinnosuke points in the opposite direction Ryoga was walking.
Ryoga clenches his fist and closes his eyes. {Damn it! As if the curse wasn't enough, as if Akane hating me wasn't enough, I still can't even find my way anywhere!} Ryoga raises his head to scream at the sky, "Damn my direction sense! Damn this curse! Just damn it all! What else could possibly go wrong?" At that exact moment, a downpour of rain begins. Ryoga shrinks away and becomes P-chan. {Typical. I hate my life.}
Shinnosuke stares at the little, black piglet sitting in Ryoga's clothes before walking over to pick him up. "Are, are you that guy that was here just now?"
P-chan slowly nods. Shinnosuke picks up all the rest of Ryoga gear. "Wow, this is different. Let me take you back to my place so you can rest and get out of this rain." Shinnosuke starts walking thru the forest.
P-chan remains quiet as Shinnosuke carries him thru the forest. After nearly half an hour, they break thru the forest into a small clearing. A small wooden house is present in the middle of this clearing. Smoke from a chimney is apparent as well as the light inside the building. Shinnosuke walks to the door of the building and opens it. An old is sitting by the fireplace slowly replacing the teakettle hanging above it. There is a cup of steaming water he apparently just filled sitting on the coffee table next to him.
Shinnosuke walks in and sets everything but P-chan down next to the door. He removes his shoes and starts to walk over to the coffee table, when he stops to stare at the old man again. "Who are you?"
The old man stands up and takes a deep breath. He the leaps over the table and punches Shinnosuke in the head as he screams, "Megaton Punch!" Shinnosuke falls backwards and land on his butt. The old man looks down and says, "How many times do I have to tell you Shin-boy, I'm you're grandpa."
Unnoticed by either of the humans in the room is the small, black piglet in flight across the room. It starts its decent directly towards the steaming cup of tea on the table. {Well, this is different. I'm heading for hot water instead of cold. Of course I'll be naked so it kind of cancels out the hot water.} P-chan hits the coffee table just right, knocks the cup of hot water onto himself and shifts forms. Both Shinnosuke and his old man turn around to see Ryoga sitting on their table without a stitch of clothing on.
Shinnosuke look sat Ryoga questioningly. "Who are you?"
Several minutes later, after giving Ryoga the time needed to dress, all three gentlemen are sitting around the table drinking tea. Shinnosuke's grandfather looks at Ryoga. "So let me se if I have this straight. You turn into that black piglet we saw earlier when splashed with cold water, turn back into a boy when splashed with hot water, and you got this curse from some cursed training ground in China?"
Ryoga takes a sip of his and nods.
Shinnosuke's grandfather slams his teacup down on the table and raises his fist in triumph. "Well, this is great! I'll actually get to test it out now!"
Ryoga spits his tea across the room. The next thing anyone knows, the old man is now off floor and hanging in the air from Ryoga's fists, which are gripped onto the front of the old man's shirt. "Test, old man? What do you think I'm going to let you do to me?"
"Why, try to cure your curse, of course."
"Cure my, what?" Ryoga is stunned and slowly releases the old man.
The old man walks across the room to an old looking chest. "Sit down, my boy. All will be explained in a moment. I know it's in here somewhere. Yes!" The pulls man pulls out a strange looking bottle that appears to have a rolled up scroll inside. He walks back to the table and sits down. He yanks a cork form the top of the bottle and slides the scroll out. He then carefully unrolls the scroll and lays it in the table.
"Here it is. I found this shortly after the battle we had with the Orochi last year."
Shinnosuke, looking confused yet again, "What battle?"
The old man sighs. "Poor Shin-boy. Why don't you just go start dinner? I'll be up to help you in a couple of minutes." As Shinnosuke gets up and walks towards the cooking area, the old man turns back to Ryoga and the scroll.
"It must have been buried at the bottom of the Orochi's lake for quite a while. It seems to be in an older dialect of Japanese, which means it may be hundreds of years old. It tells of a way using various items mixed into the water of life that can remove curses. Of course, I haven't really had anyone that could verify this for me until now."
Ryoga sits staring at the scroll. {Cured? Would it really matter if the pig were gone? Would anyone even care?} Ryoga sighs and stands up. "Thanks old man, but it doesn't really matter anymore if this curse is gone or not. Nothing really matters now."
As Ryoga starts to walk to the door, the old man grabs Ryoga's arm. "Look boy, based on how your acting you've been through some rough times lately. I understand. I've faced some pretty bad times myself, but don't let this opportunity pass you by. Your curse must be horrible. Never being able to go swimming. Always having to watch for rain. This scroll says it can change that. At least take a look at what the scroll has to say."
{Do I really deserve happiness after what I did to Akane? It probably won't work anyway. It will just be one more disappointment in my life. What's it matter?} Ryoga sits down. "All right old man. What does the scroll say I have to do?"
The old man bends over the scroll. "Let's see here. First, collect the base of 1 liter of water of life. That's no problem. Slowly mix into the water of life the following:
1) 100 milliliters of pigeon tears
2) 200 milliliters of platypus saliva
3) 100 grams of dung from the..."
Ryoga slams his hand onto the table. "Wait a minute! What does that scroll say I'm actually supposed to do with all this stuff?"
"Drink it."
"D-d-drink it?? Are you insane? I haven't even heard 3 of the ingredients and I already don't want to go thru with this! Besides the fact that I would probably die from drinking that, who do you think is going to collect all that junk?"
The old man starts to roll up the scroll. "Don't worry. I've managed to collect all but one ingredient the scrolls asks for." The old man puts the scroll back into the bottle and seals it. He leaves it on the table and gets up to help Shinnosuke with dinner.
Ryoga sits at the table while Shinnosuke and his grandfather finish dinner. {Man, he expects me to drink that? This is crazy. It sounds worse than something Akane would... cook. Akane. If there was someway I could get her to not hate me. Even if we couldn't be friends again, it would be good if at least I could get her to accept an apology. Maybe, if the pig were gone...}
Ryoga stares into space as the first glimmer of hope in a long time reaches his heart. {It just might work, but I know I'm missing something. Oh yeah.} "Hey, old man."
Shinnosuke and his grandfather set down three large bowls of some type of stew. "Yes, my boy. What is it?"
"What is that last ingredient? You said you had them all but one."
"Oh yes, that. The last one is mn mnmm mnn mn nmnmnm." The last part of the old man's sentence is muffled by a spoonful of stew.
"What was that?"
The old man sighs. "The last one is a whisker from the orochi."
"WHAT?? How am I supposed to get that?" {I knew this was too good to be true. Stupid old man. Now what do I do?}
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Notes: Thanks yet again to Langdz for pre-reading this. Sorry about the long break in my fic, but I just lost the spirit to keep writing. Good thing it's back now. PLEASE post review after you read the story. I really like to get people's input on my story. Anyway, please e-mail me with opinions, criticisms, and suggestions. Please be constructive with all C&C. I don't mind being told what someone doesn't like, as long as they provide some direction to make it better. (Ntwinkie@effectnet.com)
By
Nuclear Twinkie
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: In all seriousness, all rights to Ranma1/2 and its characters go to Rumiko Takahashi. In all silliness... BOOM! What the hell was that? "I think it's just Ayeka and Ryoko fighting again." I'm trying to write a fic here. How do you live with all the noise? "Well, you kind of get used to it after a while." Used to it? I wonder if there is someway to find someplace that's a little quieter. "I can help with that" "Washu!" Washu! No thanks, but I'll get used to it like Tenchi said. "Oh, don't be like that. Tenchi, and I can go with you to someplace much more peaceful. BzzZAP!! "Washu, what did you do? Where are... How the hell did we end up here??"
{} = Character Thoughts
------------------------------------------------------------------------
{Loneliness.}
{Sadness.}
{I no longer have any meaning or purpose. My life is empty.} Ryoga slowly stumbles his way thru a forest somewhere in Japan. The forest is rather thick and the occasional stream of sunlight leaks down thru the overgrowth. His head is bowed in sadness, and he looks bedraggled and filthy. There is the occasional twig and leaf hanging from his person, as if he had walked straight thru the forest without bothering to go around anything. Ryoga continues his seemingly unending walk of sadness thru the forest.
{My life is so empty. Akane finally found out about my curse. She broke into a rage and tried to kill me. I thought that was the most horrible thing that could have happened. I hate being wrong all the time.}
Ryoga continues his trek thru the forest. A rather large shadow momentarily covers him as a bird flies over. Ryoga doesn't even notice. {I can still hear Akane's voice as clear as day. 'I don't know if I'll ever forgive you. You have betrayed my trust and my friendship. I would rather lose the dojo than depend on you to defend it.'} Ryoga stops moving forward and sighs. {It was my fault she got hurt. It was my fault she said that. It was my fault she got hit by that thug. Everything is my fault. My life is so empty. I have nothing left but a dying, broken heart and that giant platypus.}
Ryoga stands there wallowing in the horrible depths of depression until what is left of his brain kicks in. {What the heck? Giant platypus?} Ryoga looks up to see a duck-billed platypus of enormous proportions looming over him. The platypus does not look happy to see him. {Ryogenzawa. Man, I hate this place. Stupid giant animals.}
Ryoga pulls his umbrella and waves it at the platypus. "Go away! Leave me alone! Shoo! I may be sad but I don't want to be eaten by a giant platypus." Ryoga lowers his umbrella and looks up at the creature questioningly. "Hmmm, I wonder what a platypus does eat?" Just then, the platypus lifts up a front paw and swipes at Ryoga. He jumps into the air and brings his umbrella down on top of the creature's head. It falls to the ground unconscious.
{I guess I hit it a little hard. Just like Akane tried to do to me.} The tip of Ryoga's umbrella falls to the ground as he sighs again in sadness.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing to that platypus?"
Ryoga turns around to see a boy about his age walking out of the surrounding forest. The boy is wearing a light blue t-shirt with white trim underneath a dark blue jacket and a white headband. He is carrying a wooden push broom, and does not look happy.
Ryoga turns to face the boy. "Hey, I know you. You're Shinnosuke, right?"
Shinnosuke gets a look of confusion on his face. "Have we met before?"
Ryoga lifts his hand behind his head. "Uh, kind of. Sorry about the platypus, but it attacked me first."
Shinnosuke walks over to examine the animal. "It's ok, just try not to hit them so hard. They may be big, but they are just normal animals. Anyway, you shouldn't even be here. You should leave here as soon as possible."
Ryoga slides his umbrella onto the loops on his backpack. "Sure, no problem" {Just one more person that doesn't want me around. Typical.} Ryoga turns and starts walking away.
"Hey, you're walking deeper into Ryogenzawa, not out of it. You want to go that way." Shinnosuke points in the opposite direction Ryoga was walking.
Ryoga clenches his fist and closes his eyes. {Damn it! As if the curse wasn't enough, as if Akane hating me wasn't enough, I still can't even find my way anywhere!} Ryoga raises his head to scream at the sky, "Damn my direction sense! Damn this curse! Just damn it all! What else could possibly go wrong?" At that exact moment, a downpour of rain begins. Ryoga shrinks away and becomes P-chan. {Typical. I hate my life.}
Shinnosuke stares at the little, black piglet sitting in Ryoga's clothes before walking over to pick him up. "Are, are you that guy that was here just now?"
P-chan slowly nods. Shinnosuke picks up all the rest of Ryoga gear. "Wow, this is different. Let me take you back to my place so you can rest and get out of this rain." Shinnosuke starts walking thru the forest.
P-chan remains quiet as Shinnosuke carries him thru the forest. After nearly half an hour, they break thru the forest into a small clearing. A small wooden house is present in the middle of this clearing. Smoke from a chimney is apparent as well as the light inside the building. Shinnosuke walks to the door of the building and opens it. An old is sitting by the fireplace slowly replacing the teakettle hanging above it. There is a cup of steaming water he apparently just filled sitting on the coffee table next to him.
Shinnosuke walks in and sets everything but P-chan down next to the door. He removes his shoes and starts to walk over to the coffee table, when he stops to stare at the old man again. "Who are you?"
The old man stands up and takes a deep breath. He the leaps over the table and punches Shinnosuke in the head as he screams, "Megaton Punch!" Shinnosuke falls backwards and land on his butt. The old man looks down and says, "How many times do I have to tell you Shin-boy, I'm you're grandpa."
Unnoticed by either of the humans in the room is the small, black piglet in flight across the room. It starts its decent directly towards the steaming cup of tea on the table. {Well, this is different. I'm heading for hot water instead of cold. Of course I'll be naked so it kind of cancels out the hot water.} P-chan hits the coffee table just right, knocks the cup of hot water onto himself and shifts forms. Both Shinnosuke and his old man turn around to see Ryoga sitting on their table without a stitch of clothing on.
Shinnosuke look sat Ryoga questioningly. "Who are you?"
Several minutes later, after giving Ryoga the time needed to dress, all three gentlemen are sitting around the table drinking tea. Shinnosuke's grandfather looks at Ryoga. "So let me se if I have this straight. You turn into that black piglet we saw earlier when splashed with cold water, turn back into a boy when splashed with hot water, and you got this curse from some cursed training ground in China?"
Ryoga takes a sip of his and nods.
Shinnosuke's grandfather slams his teacup down on the table and raises his fist in triumph. "Well, this is great! I'll actually get to test it out now!"
Ryoga spits his tea across the room. The next thing anyone knows, the old man is now off floor and hanging in the air from Ryoga's fists, which are gripped onto the front of the old man's shirt. "Test, old man? What do you think I'm going to let you do to me?"
"Why, try to cure your curse, of course."
"Cure my, what?" Ryoga is stunned and slowly releases the old man.
The old man walks across the room to an old looking chest. "Sit down, my boy. All will be explained in a moment. I know it's in here somewhere. Yes!" The pulls man pulls out a strange looking bottle that appears to have a rolled up scroll inside. He walks back to the table and sits down. He yanks a cork form the top of the bottle and slides the scroll out. He then carefully unrolls the scroll and lays it in the table.
"Here it is. I found this shortly after the battle we had with the Orochi last year."
Shinnosuke, looking confused yet again, "What battle?"
The old man sighs. "Poor Shin-boy. Why don't you just go start dinner? I'll be up to help you in a couple of minutes." As Shinnosuke gets up and walks towards the cooking area, the old man turns back to Ryoga and the scroll.
"It must have been buried at the bottom of the Orochi's lake for quite a while. It seems to be in an older dialect of Japanese, which means it may be hundreds of years old. It tells of a way using various items mixed into the water of life that can remove curses. Of course, I haven't really had anyone that could verify this for me until now."
Ryoga sits staring at the scroll. {Cured? Would it really matter if the pig were gone? Would anyone even care?} Ryoga sighs and stands up. "Thanks old man, but it doesn't really matter anymore if this curse is gone or not. Nothing really matters now."
As Ryoga starts to walk to the door, the old man grabs Ryoga's arm. "Look boy, based on how your acting you've been through some rough times lately. I understand. I've faced some pretty bad times myself, but don't let this opportunity pass you by. Your curse must be horrible. Never being able to go swimming. Always having to watch for rain. This scroll says it can change that. At least take a look at what the scroll has to say."
{Do I really deserve happiness after what I did to Akane? It probably won't work anyway. It will just be one more disappointment in my life. What's it matter?} Ryoga sits down. "All right old man. What does the scroll say I have to do?"
The old man bends over the scroll. "Let's see here. First, collect the base of 1 liter of water of life. That's no problem. Slowly mix into the water of life the following:
1) 100 milliliters of pigeon tears
2) 200 milliliters of platypus saliva
3) 100 grams of dung from the..."
Ryoga slams his hand onto the table. "Wait a minute! What does that scroll say I'm actually supposed to do with all this stuff?"
"Drink it."
"D-d-drink it?? Are you insane? I haven't even heard 3 of the ingredients and I already don't want to go thru with this! Besides the fact that I would probably die from drinking that, who do you think is going to collect all that junk?"
The old man starts to roll up the scroll. "Don't worry. I've managed to collect all but one ingredient the scrolls asks for." The old man puts the scroll back into the bottle and seals it. He leaves it on the table and gets up to help Shinnosuke with dinner.
Ryoga sits at the table while Shinnosuke and his grandfather finish dinner. {Man, he expects me to drink that? This is crazy. It sounds worse than something Akane would... cook. Akane. If there was someway I could get her to not hate me. Even if we couldn't be friends again, it would be good if at least I could get her to accept an apology. Maybe, if the pig were gone...}
Ryoga stares into space as the first glimmer of hope in a long time reaches his heart. {It just might work, but I know I'm missing something. Oh yeah.} "Hey, old man."
Shinnosuke and his grandfather set down three large bowls of some type of stew. "Yes, my boy. What is it?"
"What is that last ingredient? You said you had them all but one."
"Oh yes, that. The last one is mn mnmm mnn mn nmnmnm." The last part of the old man's sentence is muffled by a spoonful of stew.
"What was that?"
The old man sighs. "The last one is a whisker from the orochi."
"WHAT?? How am I supposed to get that?" {I knew this was too good to be true. Stupid old man. Now what do I do?}
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Notes: Thanks yet again to Langdz for pre-reading this. Sorry about the long break in my fic, but I just lost the spirit to keep writing. Good thing it's back now. PLEASE post review after you read the story. I really like to get people's input on my story. Anyway, please e-mail me with opinions, criticisms, and suggestions. Please be constructive with all C&C. I don't mind being told what someone doesn't like, as long as they provide some direction to make it better. (Ntwinkie@effectnet.com)
