The True Heir
A Ranma 1/2 story by -
Project Balrog Productions
Oh yeah, just in case you didn't know, there are a whole
bunch of people who own the rights to these characters and I
am not one of them.
I use the following symbols on occasion. I might have a
system, but I don't know what it is. Anyway, they mean
something. Maybe.
[ ]
( )
{}
Episode 2 - "I'm not sorry about this..."
[Inside the Tendo Dojo. Tarou and Akane are facing off from
opposite ends of the Dojo. Tarou has his arms crossed over
his chest and a bored expression on his face. Akane's
bleeding off an aura of anger as she goes through a few
warm-up exercises. The rest of the family is standing to one
side near the entrance, watching nervously.]
Tarou fakes a yawn, loudly.
"Are we going to fight anytime soon? Or is this a posing
contest?"
"Shut up! I'm almost ready."
"Eh, don't rush yourself. I wouldn't want you to tear a
muscle or something. I'll just be over there, taking
advantage of your helpless, innocent older sister..."
Akane cuts her warm-up short and stomps over to Tarou.
"Shut up you perverted foreigner! It's time to fight!"
Tarou looks her over slowly and deliberately. A smirk forms
on his face.
"So you're ready now? I couldn't tell the difference."
Akane just growls as she gets into a ready stance. After a
few seconds it's obvious that Tarou isn't going to bother
getting into a stance of his own. She gets even angrier, and
the wood at her feet begins to emit wisps of smoke.
With a wordless snarl, she charges him. She's attacking with
everything she has, doing her best to keep him off balance so
she can win quickly.
Tarou smiles openly as he begins to deflect her punches with
one hand.
"You know," he says in a conversational tone of voice, "you're
actually not half bad at this. I've met lots of martial
artists who aren't anywhere near strong as you are."
"Of course, most of them don't leave half as many openings as
you do."
Whether or not Akane actually hears him is debatable. It's
also not too terribly important, as the fist he plants in her
face almost certainly gets his point across.
She's lifted off her feet, and lands in a crumpled mess a few
feet away.
Tarou ignores the protests coming from their audience, and
simply stands in place crossing his arms again. He's smiling
almost from ear to ear.
It's only a second before Akane gets back to her feet. She
wipes a bit of blood from the corner of her mouth before
glaring at Tarou.
"You bastard. I wasn't ready."
Tarou arches an eyebrow, still smiling.
"Oh, I'm sorry. That was my fault I guess. I should have
told you that I'd be hitting back. You'll be ready now,
right?"
Akane charges in again. This time she's more focused and
being careful to avoid making the same mistake as before.
He kicks her in the ribs.
She falls down again.
When she gets up, she has some harsh words for him.
He apologizes insincerely and smiles even broader, chuckling
occasionally.
A pattern forms.
She attacks.
He responds.
She falls down.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
After a half hour, she can't get up any more.
Through all of this the Tendo family watches, quietly
horrified.
No one says anything as Tarou glares at the two fathers before
walking out of the Dojo.
Finally, after he's gone, Genma speaks up.
"He'll be back. The boy has too much honor for his own good."
[During the fight, among the audience]
The first time Tarou strikes Akane, Soun is about to leap in
yelling protests. Genma stops him with a restraining hand.
In response, Soun turns on Genma with his full Demon Head
technique.
"Saotome! What is your son doing?"
When Genma responds, it's in a quiet whisper that manages to
fully grab the attentions of Soun, Nabiki, and Kasumi.
"He's restraining himself admirably."
"What?"
Genma shakes his head.
"You've seen what he turns into. Akane's not the first to
assume that he's some sort of monster. He's been dealing with
unjustified attacks and murder attempts since he was six years
old."
Soun has tears streaming down his face.
"But Akane's just a girl... How could you teach your son to
fight girls? They're weak and helpless! It's a martial
artists duty to protect them."
Both Nabiki and Kasumi glare at him briefly, but no one
notices.
"Tell me something Soun. When was the last time you even
heard of a male devil hunter in Japan?"
Soun looks puzzled.
"If Tarou wasn't willing to fight girls, he'd be dead by the
end of the month."
Kasumi gasps quietly.
"But she's my little girl!"
"And she'll be fine. Tarou doesn't kill people, and he
doesn't cripple. All he's doing is teaching her about the
holes in her defense and that she's no match for him. She
can stop it any time she wants, you'll notice he isn't
allowing himself to take the offensive."
"All she'll have is bruises, by this time tomorrow she'll be
as good as new."
[Out in the streets of Nerima. Tarou is talking into a
payphone.]
"...so this one's actually real?"
"...yeah Mom, I understand, family honor and everything."
"You sure I can't pass this off on Ranma?"
"What do you mean other plans? Never mind, I don't care, but I
hope for his sake it isn't that white lily brat you had him
dating last time."
"She's a psycho mom. Her and her friends too."
"No, I'm not being melodramatic. Look, I shouldn't have even
asked, that's Ranma's problem. I'm just saying that unless
you want him to disown himself you'll at least consider
someone else."
"Well I don't know, how about that cross-dresser he's always
hanging out with. She might be a little odd, but at least
they get along."
"Oh come on, he has to have figured it out by now. She's
always coming on to him after all."
"Well yeah, I suppose. If he were gay. Otherwise he'd need
to be completely oblivious. You sure he doesn't really know?
He isn't too subtle but the two of them might be fooling
around and hiding it."
"You don't have to sound so proud mom."
"Yes mom."
"That's none of your business mom."
"How could I, I just met her today."
"Well, your confidence is inspiring..."
"...I don't know, I just met her. We haven't even spoken two
words to each other yet."
"...her family? ...I guess... Well their dad seems a little
emotional. I really didn't get much of a chance to get to
know them what with the fight and all.
He winces and holds the receiver away from his ear.
"...aw c'mon mom, it wasn't that big of a deal. The youngest
one got all upset when I showed them my curse and decided to
pick a fight."
"No, I didn't hurt her too bad."
"Tell that to that stupid V-chick that keeps harassing me.
She was the one who picked the fight. All I did was accept
her challenge."
"but..."
"...well maybe..."
"...alright, fine, but it isn't going to do any good."
"Of course I'm sure, she's a whiny little immature tomboy.
She's probably getting ready to challenge me again as soon as
I get back."
"...yeah mom, I'll try."
"...I know."
"I was wondering when you'd get back to the engagement bit."
"...her name's Kasumi."
"Well, actually, yeah she is pretty cute. Kinda looks like a
housewife-in-training though."
"Nothing mom, there's absolutely nothing wrong with
housewives!"
"...Wedding?! Isn't it a bit soon for that?"
"I know what an engagement is for!"
"Well I was kind of hoping to know a little bit more about my
wife than her name and what her face looks like!"
"...sorry mom."
"Feh! Knowing pops, he'll probably try for this weekend."
"Well sure... if you want me to change my name and move to
America."
"Of course I care about our family! I'm not going to spend
the rest of my life married to someone who resents me though."
"...fine!"
"I'll try mom, honestly. I'll give it a year, if she's
willing then, I'll go through with it."
"No mom, I still don't like this."
"No, I won't take it out on her."
"Yes mom."
"I love you too mom."
"Bye mom."
Tarou sighs heavily. It looks as though it's taking all of
his willpower to not crush the telephone receiver in his
hand.
[That night, in Kasumi's room. She's wearing a nightgown and
preparing to go to sleep. She looks as though she's trying
not to cry.]
Kasumi looks at herself in the mirror and sighs. Today has
been a little overwhelming to say the least.
She climbs into bed, but clearly isn't ready for sleep yet.
"I've never even been on a date once." She thinks to herself,
"Between school and housework, I never really had the time.
And even if I did, none of the boys my age would ever ask me
out. There was only one boy who ever tried to ask me on a
date when I was in high school, but he was that Tatewaki boy
in Nabiki's class and he is more than a little... odd."
"And now that I've graduated, I hardly ever leave the house.
Even if I did, I wouldn't know how to start a relationship."
"I guess it's a little silly of me, but when father told me
that one of us would be getting engaged today I was excited.
I know it's old-fashioned, but I've been worried for a while
that without some sort of arrangement I would never get
married."
"In my dreams, it was always with someone more like Dr. Tofu.
Younger than that, but someone mature and kind. Someone who
is educated. Someone I can talk to. Someone I can share my
life with, who understands me."
"Now I'm afraid that I'll be trapped in a marriage with a
violent, rude, inconsiderate, and uneducated man."
"That horrible curse of his seems almost unimportant compared
to his personality."
"He enjoyed hurting Akane. I know what Mr. Saotome said,
but even if he was justified in his actions, how could he take
pleasure in hurting someone weaker than him?"
"Father will insist that one of us marry him. It's a matter
of honor. After today, there's no way I can pass him off to
Akane. And even if he is attractive enough for Nabiki, she'd
never agree to marry a poor wandering martial artist. I'm the
one that will have to marry him."
"Oh mother, I wish you were still here. I'm going to marry a
monster, and there's nothing I can do to stop it."
She squeezes her eyes shut, and tries to ignore the tears that
are leaking out.
Author's notes and other junk:
I'd like to thank my reviewers, all two of you...
Actually, given that I rated this story R and that I'm new at
this, I wasn't expecting any reviews for a while. Like ever.
Rannath - I did have Soun mention that Tarou was adopted.
You must have missed it. The rest of his origin story will
come later. I don't know that I'd consider leaving something
like that out of the opening chapter a plot hole though, more
like a design feature. This way if you ever want to find out,
you need to keep reading.
dogbertcarroll - Ranma's background only. Kind of like a tree
or an oddly shaped rock on a nearby mountain. He's alive and
he's family, so he'll be mentioned occasionally, but I don't
have any appearances scheduled.
Strictly speaking, I should go back and tack this on to the
end of the first chapter. I don't think it really stands
alone, and I can't find a way to work it into the real second
chapter smoothly. I do feel it's rather necessary to the
story though, and because I don't feel like spending the next
week fleshing out a fight scene that's pretty much pure
gratuitous Akane-bashing (literally) I'll call this chapter 2
and pretend that it deserves the name.
Oh, and I feel it would set a bad precedent if I just went
back and added stuff into existing chapters of a multiple
chapter story. It'd be a real pain in the ass for all
of you to try to keep track of if I were going to be that
inconsistent. (I say all on the assumption that I have
several readers. Something I have no evidence to support.)
Anyway, there should be another real chapter out in the next
week or so. The only reason I waited a week on this one is
that between graduation and switching apartments I pretty much
killed my weekend.
Maybe if I start getting better at keeping a schedule in
writing I might not post rough-draft level stories.
Project Balrog
projectbalroghotmail.com
A Ranma 1/2 story by -
Project Balrog Productions
Oh yeah, just in case you didn't know, there are a whole
bunch of people who own the rights to these characters and I
am not one of them.
I use the following symbols on occasion. I might have a
system, but I don't know what it is. Anyway, they mean
something. Maybe.
[ ]
( )
{}
Episode 2 - "I'm not sorry about this..."
[Inside the Tendo Dojo. Tarou and Akane are facing off from
opposite ends of the Dojo. Tarou has his arms crossed over
his chest and a bored expression on his face. Akane's
bleeding off an aura of anger as she goes through a few
warm-up exercises. The rest of the family is standing to one
side near the entrance, watching nervously.]
Tarou fakes a yawn, loudly.
"Are we going to fight anytime soon? Or is this a posing
contest?"
"Shut up! I'm almost ready."
"Eh, don't rush yourself. I wouldn't want you to tear a
muscle or something. I'll just be over there, taking
advantage of your helpless, innocent older sister..."
Akane cuts her warm-up short and stomps over to Tarou.
"Shut up you perverted foreigner! It's time to fight!"
Tarou looks her over slowly and deliberately. A smirk forms
on his face.
"So you're ready now? I couldn't tell the difference."
Akane just growls as she gets into a ready stance. After a
few seconds it's obvious that Tarou isn't going to bother
getting into a stance of his own. She gets even angrier, and
the wood at her feet begins to emit wisps of smoke.
With a wordless snarl, she charges him. She's attacking with
everything she has, doing her best to keep him off balance so
she can win quickly.
Tarou smiles openly as he begins to deflect her punches with
one hand.
"You know," he says in a conversational tone of voice, "you're
actually not half bad at this. I've met lots of martial
artists who aren't anywhere near strong as you are."
"Of course, most of them don't leave half as many openings as
you do."
Whether or not Akane actually hears him is debatable. It's
also not too terribly important, as the fist he plants in her
face almost certainly gets his point across.
She's lifted off her feet, and lands in a crumpled mess a few
feet away.
Tarou ignores the protests coming from their audience, and
simply stands in place crossing his arms again. He's smiling
almost from ear to ear.
It's only a second before Akane gets back to her feet. She
wipes a bit of blood from the corner of her mouth before
glaring at Tarou.
"You bastard. I wasn't ready."
Tarou arches an eyebrow, still smiling.
"Oh, I'm sorry. That was my fault I guess. I should have
told you that I'd be hitting back. You'll be ready now,
right?"
Akane charges in again. This time she's more focused and
being careful to avoid making the same mistake as before.
He kicks her in the ribs.
She falls down again.
When she gets up, she has some harsh words for him.
He apologizes insincerely and smiles even broader, chuckling
occasionally.
A pattern forms.
She attacks.
He responds.
She falls down.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
After a half hour, she can't get up any more.
Through all of this the Tendo family watches, quietly
horrified.
No one says anything as Tarou glares at the two fathers before
walking out of the Dojo.
Finally, after he's gone, Genma speaks up.
"He'll be back. The boy has too much honor for his own good."
[During the fight, among the audience]
The first time Tarou strikes Akane, Soun is about to leap in
yelling protests. Genma stops him with a restraining hand.
In response, Soun turns on Genma with his full Demon Head
technique.
"Saotome! What is your son doing?"
When Genma responds, it's in a quiet whisper that manages to
fully grab the attentions of Soun, Nabiki, and Kasumi.
"He's restraining himself admirably."
"What?"
Genma shakes his head.
"You've seen what he turns into. Akane's not the first to
assume that he's some sort of monster. He's been dealing with
unjustified attacks and murder attempts since he was six years
old."
Soun has tears streaming down his face.
"But Akane's just a girl... How could you teach your son to
fight girls? They're weak and helpless! It's a martial
artists duty to protect them."
Both Nabiki and Kasumi glare at him briefly, but no one
notices.
"Tell me something Soun. When was the last time you even
heard of a male devil hunter in Japan?"
Soun looks puzzled.
"If Tarou wasn't willing to fight girls, he'd be dead by the
end of the month."
Kasumi gasps quietly.
"But she's my little girl!"
"And she'll be fine. Tarou doesn't kill people, and he
doesn't cripple. All he's doing is teaching her about the
holes in her defense and that she's no match for him. She
can stop it any time she wants, you'll notice he isn't
allowing himself to take the offensive."
"All she'll have is bruises, by this time tomorrow she'll be
as good as new."
[Out in the streets of Nerima. Tarou is talking into a
payphone.]
"...so this one's actually real?"
"...yeah Mom, I understand, family honor and everything."
"You sure I can't pass this off on Ranma?"
"What do you mean other plans? Never mind, I don't care, but I
hope for his sake it isn't that white lily brat you had him
dating last time."
"She's a psycho mom. Her and her friends too."
"No, I'm not being melodramatic. Look, I shouldn't have even
asked, that's Ranma's problem. I'm just saying that unless
you want him to disown himself you'll at least consider
someone else."
"Well I don't know, how about that cross-dresser he's always
hanging out with. She might be a little odd, but at least
they get along."
"Oh come on, he has to have figured it out by now. She's
always coming on to him after all."
"Well yeah, I suppose. If he were gay. Otherwise he'd need
to be completely oblivious. You sure he doesn't really know?
He isn't too subtle but the two of them might be fooling
around and hiding it."
"You don't have to sound so proud mom."
"Yes mom."
"That's none of your business mom."
"How could I, I just met her today."
"Well, your confidence is inspiring..."
"...I don't know, I just met her. We haven't even spoken two
words to each other yet."
"...her family? ...I guess... Well their dad seems a little
emotional. I really didn't get much of a chance to get to
know them what with the fight and all.
He winces and holds the receiver away from his ear.
"...aw c'mon mom, it wasn't that big of a deal. The youngest
one got all upset when I showed them my curse and decided to
pick a fight."
"No, I didn't hurt her too bad."
"Tell that to that stupid V-chick that keeps harassing me.
She was the one who picked the fight. All I did was accept
her challenge."
"but..."
"...well maybe..."
"...alright, fine, but it isn't going to do any good."
"Of course I'm sure, she's a whiny little immature tomboy.
She's probably getting ready to challenge me again as soon as
I get back."
"...yeah mom, I'll try."
"...I know."
"I was wondering when you'd get back to the engagement bit."
"...her name's Kasumi."
"Well, actually, yeah she is pretty cute. Kinda looks like a
housewife-in-training though."
"Nothing mom, there's absolutely nothing wrong with
housewives!"
"...Wedding?! Isn't it a bit soon for that?"
"I know what an engagement is for!"
"Well I was kind of hoping to know a little bit more about my
wife than her name and what her face looks like!"
"...sorry mom."
"Feh! Knowing pops, he'll probably try for this weekend."
"Well sure... if you want me to change my name and move to
America."
"Of course I care about our family! I'm not going to spend
the rest of my life married to someone who resents me though."
"...fine!"
"I'll try mom, honestly. I'll give it a year, if she's
willing then, I'll go through with it."
"No mom, I still don't like this."
"No, I won't take it out on her."
"Yes mom."
"I love you too mom."
"Bye mom."
Tarou sighs heavily. It looks as though it's taking all of
his willpower to not crush the telephone receiver in his
hand.
[That night, in Kasumi's room. She's wearing a nightgown and
preparing to go to sleep. She looks as though she's trying
not to cry.]
Kasumi looks at herself in the mirror and sighs. Today has
been a little overwhelming to say the least.
She climbs into bed, but clearly isn't ready for sleep yet.
"I've never even been on a date once." She thinks to herself,
"Between school and housework, I never really had the time.
And even if I did, none of the boys my age would ever ask me
out. There was only one boy who ever tried to ask me on a
date when I was in high school, but he was that Tatewaki boy
in Nabiki's class and he is more than a little... odd."
"And now that I've graduated, I hardly ever leave the house.
Even if I did, I wouldn't know how to start a relationship."
"I guess it's a little silly of me, but when father told me
that one of us would be getting engaged today I was excited.
I know it's old-fashioned, but I've been worried for a while
that without some sort of arrangement I would never get
married."
"In my dreams, it was always with someone more like Dr. Tofu.
Younger than that, but someone mature and kind. Someone who
is educated. Someone I can talk to. Someone I can share my
life with, who understands me."
"Now I'm afraid that I'll be trapped in a marriage with a
violent, rude, inconsiderate, and uneducated man."
"That horrible curse of his seems almost unimportant compared
to his personality."
"He enjoyed hurting Akane. I know what Mr. Saotome said,
but even if he was justified in his actions, how could he take
pleasure in hurting someone weaker than him?"
"Father will insist that one of us marry him. It's a matter
of honor. After today, there's no way I can pass him off to
Akane. And even if he is attractive enough for Nabiki, she'd
never agree to marry a poor wandering martial artist. I'm the
one that will have to marry him."
"Oh mother, I wish you were still here. I'm going to marry a
monster, and there's nothing I can do to stop it."
She squeezes her eyes shut, and tries to ignore the tears that
are leaking out.
Author's notes and other junk:
I'd like to thank my reviewers, all two of you...
Actually, given that I rated this story R and that I'm new at
this, I wasn't expecting any reviews for a while. Like ever.
Rannath - I did have Soun mention that Tarou was adopted.
You must have missed it. The rest of his origin story will
come later. I don't know that I'd consider leaving something
like that out of the opening chapter a plot hole though, more
like a design feature. This way if you ever want to find out,
you need to keep reading.
dogbertcarroll - Ranma's background only. Kind of like a tree
or an oddly shaped rock on a nearby mountain. He's alive and
he's family, so he'll be mentioned occasionally, but I don't
have any appearances scheduled.
Strictly speaking, I should go back and tack this on to the
end of the first chapter. I don't think it really stands
alone, and I can't find a way to work it into the real second
chapter smoothly. I do feel it's rather necessary to the
story though, and because I don't feel like spending the next
week fleshing out a fight scene that's pretty much pure
gratuitous Akane-bashing (literally) I'll call this chapter 2
and pretend that it deserves the name.
Oh, and I feel it would set a bad precedent if I just went
back and added stuff into existing chapters of a multiple
chapter story. It'd be a real pain in the ass for all
of you to try to keep track of if I were going to be that
inconsistent. (I say all on the assumption that I have
several readers. Something I have no evidence to support.)
Anyway, there should be another real chapter out in the next
week or so. The only reason I waited a week on this one is
that between graduation and switching apartments I pretty much
killed my weekend.
Maybe if I start getting better at keeping a schedule in
writing I might not post rough-draft level stories.
Project Balrog
projectbalroghotmail.com