"What's this all about?" asked the brown-haired girl, one Tendoo Nabiki by name. Her sandalwood eyes gleamed curiously as she carefully watched the strange (if rather handsome) boy sitting across the table, and the room, from her. She was wearing a teal kimono, still. She was also starting to get rather uncomfortable- she hadn't counted on 'first impressions' taking so long. Plus, she was pretty sure she didn't want to have anything to do with this boy in THAT way, and was getting a titch nervous. Of course, she didn't show it. She never showed it. Instead, she wore a skeptical, if very, very faintly curious expression, one eyebrow arched sharply up.
"How did you change into you from that.... uh...
...
...
... other... uh, person?" Tendoo Kasumi almost hesitated out of finishing the sentence, both hands gently wringing her own loose ponytail of nut-brown hair. Unlike either of her sisters, her eyes were a shade of deep hazel that only appeared to be brown at first. She was also considerably taller than either of them, enough so that it showed even when they were all kneeling on the tatami, as they were now.
"Ah..." began Genma, shoving his ear-strap spectacles up on his blunt nose with one (admittedly pudgy) finger. His face took on a bland, but determined expression, the broad, somewhat craggy features hardening slightly. His hand almost crept up to his bandanna, but seemed to think the better of it, dropping back to his lap.
"Where should I start?" He mused, slowly. He was going to have to be fairly blunt about this, in order to get his point across. "Oh, I know."
Genma grabbed Ranma by the front of his red tang with both fists, standing up in the same motion. Ranma, surprised by the motion, looked perplexed for a moment. Then Genma threw him at the koi pond. "HYAH!"
"Waaagh!" Exclaimed Ranma, arcing not-so-gracefully through the air, limbs trailing, coming to a bellyflop into the decorative structure, geysering water all over the back yard. It sparkled faintly in the sunset before spattering down.
glubglub went the pond.
Genma waited, still looking serious, watching the pond.
And waited.
And kept waiting.
For a full minute. Then he panicked, ran over to the koi pond, and leaned down to see Ranma-Yasha's nose just sticking out of the water right behind a rock. Before he could respond to this, he had been grabbed by the neck with a pair of small hands, and yanked into the pond. Ranma-Yasha used his momentum to help her pull herself out of the pond, rising just high enough to land on one of the rocks that made the pond's border. She spread herself as well as she could to get a grip on the boulder, clambering up out of the water.
"Che. Not just SAID. Nooooooo. That be so NICE you do it!" Ranma-Yasha snarled, tail lashing, as she stood up from where she was draped on the rock. Her bare toes easily gripped the surface as she shook her fist at her now-furred 'father'.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Passenger
Chapter 2: Daughter-like demon, or demonic daughter?
A Ranma 1/2 fanfiction by Starblade
Dedicated to those who do not take themselves too seriously, but still try their best.
Warning: I borrowed stuff from good writers. Hopefully, my interpretations are satisfactory- I don't intend to duplicate anything exactly. I have the greatest respect for those whose fanfictions I have DLed, as they are, in my opinion, the best of the best. And remember, if I borrowed it from you, I'm not giving it back until I'm through with it.
Disclaimer: They aren't mine. They never will be. Someone keeps them from me. Wait..... Aha!
SAOTOME RANMA!!!!! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!!!!!!!!!
Key:
= English
" "= Japanese
[ ]= Jusenkyoo Cursed Signs
{ }= Chinese
= internal conversation between Ranma and Yasha
° °= I don't know, I just put these here to mislead you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The large panda sat up out of the pond immediately, being more than tall enough to do so comfortably where Ranma-Yasha had had to swim a bit. Souun almost passed out again, but this was considerably less strange than what Ranma had turned into, so he managed to hang on.
Genma-Panda, spectacles hanging by one ear-strap from a protuberance no longer shaped for that use, much less positioned right, glared at Ranma-Yasha, his snout crinkling slightly.
[What's the big idea bo-] ::flip:: [gir-] ::flip:: [so-] ::flip:: [foul demon that infests my son's body, warping it to he-] ::flip:: [...it's evil purposes?]
Nabiki was decided. She HAD to get access to that panda's signs. She could make billions of yen off advertising deals with that. And with unlimited space . . .
Nabiki drifted off into dreams of advertising companies and multi-billion yen businesses selling 'Panda Signs'.
Ranma-Yasha walked back to the room, pausing a moment to shake off excess water by shimmying, which left pretty much the whole yard sprinkled. Luckily, her clothes were big enough that the others still didn't realize she was a she, and so she avoided a possible malleting from Akane and the likely fainting of Souun and Kasumi for varying reasons. On the other hand, the wide ribbon slipped free of her quills and went flying. Sighing in a put-upon manner, Ranma-Yasha wandered over to the ribbon, picking it up and untying it as if this were an everyday occurrence, before using it to bind down her crazed trail of porcupine-worthy spines.
"Sumimasen..." started Kasumi, hesitantly, " but, why did you just get such a thick American accent? And start speaking so poorly, too?" She was very intrigued by the strange things going on- this was better entertainment than those Conan novels! Plus, it was more real, and didn't have translation problems... usually.
"Well... Is hard explain in Japanese today...." Ranma-Yasha said, fluffing out the ribbon into a wide, white bow shape. "You all know English?"
"Not very well, no. " Came Nabiki's response, basically echoed by the other three Tendoos.
Ignoring the panda returning to the room behind her, Ranma-Yasha began. "Well, may be sound confusing now. As much I can tell, is this how it is. Simply, when I change self, knowledge change. I remembering what happen before this start when I like this, but not know same things."
"Before what started?" Asked a puzzled Souun, shying away slightly from the demon-girl as she focused crimson eyes on him. He hadn't quite realized it at first, but red eyes could be very, very disturbing.
"Ask Oyaji-Panda-Baka."
SMAKK!!
Ranma-Yasha's eyes glazed over as she fell to the ground amidst the broken pieces of sign. She twitched a couple of times before passing out. Her last conscious thought was that it was rather unfair to attack a body with an entire floor when they were unarmed.
The remains of the sign read [Respect your father, boy!]. Or had, when they were in once piece. Not that anyone could read it anymore.
Souun, who had been just starting to pour some hot water on the panda when it struck, froze, staring at the downed demon-girl. Enough water poured to change Genma back, but Souun still held his position.
"Saotome-kun, don't you think that may have been just a bit much?"
Genma grimaced, warm water dribbling down the front of his face. "Stupid boy. He always puts on this weak act when he's like this."
"What do you mean, " Souun asked as he stepped over to the unconscious Ranma-Yasha, " 'when he's like this'?"
"Well, " Genma began, taking Tragic Stance # 12: What A Tragic Story. "It's like this, Tendoo-kun. We had gone to the pools of Jusenkyoo to train. We had barely gotten any training in before falling into two of the pools. We came out as you see us now, but here's the interesting part: the pools of Jusenkyoo turn you into whatever drowned in the pool you fell into, with the form changing based on water, as you seem to have figured out. My son knocked me into the Pool of Drowned Panda (disrespectful son!) and I, in turn, knocked him into the spring of drowned girl."
Souun blinked, pouring warm water onto the unconscious girl without looking directly at her. "So how did your son become a demon, Saotome?" As soon as he saw the change, he straightened his hand, leveling the kettle, and brought it around to place back on the low table.
To pretty much everyone's surprise, Ranma sat up, adjusting his hair again, apparently alright other than a small bump on his head, that was already going down. "Dunno. Th' guide couldn't explain it, either. It didn't make any sense." He sighed, rubbing the ribbon, now bound into a knot rather than a bow, thoughtfully.
"Furthermore," continued Genma, "When the boy is in his other form, he forgets all his knowledge. Or so he claims." This last was accompanied by a glare at Ranma. Genma was not the least bit new to trickery, and was sure that his son had cottoned on to some of it by now. In a way he was proud of his son, but the boy should have given that one up as soon as he had figured it out.
Ranma returned the glare full-force, then turned to Souun. "It's like this... When I'm like that, I'm still me, but I know diff'rent things. Like, I forget martial arts mostly, but I know a lotta dance stuff. Ballroom, tap, an' whatever. An', this is the real wierd part, I know all sorta stuff I know I shouldn'a learned yet. Like calculus an' trigonowhatsis." He still had no idea how much stuff Yasha knew- she'd been teaching him everything she had piecemeal since they'd found themselves together, at every spare moment, but he had a feeling they'd barely scratched the surface, even though it had been at least a couple months since Jusenkyoo. She was always coming up with something he'd never even heard of before.
Nabiki blinked. Ranma's "other half" was well-educated, was he? Sounded like a rather modern education, too. Which meant that Ranma could have been faking it. Or not.
Urgh . . .
Ranma blinked, focusing his attention on Yasha, while Souun and Genma sat, muttering to each other. Kasumi and Akane both studied Ranma some more, making the young martial artist somewhat uncomfortable until he 'zoned out'.
Nabiki, however, was watching the fathers suspiciously. She didn't think much of Genma so far. And he had shifty eyes. As in, they'd been constantly on the look out for exits without him even seeming to realize he'd been doing it. That didn't look good.
You alright Yasha? Asked Ranma in his head, with a concerned tone of voice.
Ranma? Couldja get the number of that tank that hit me? Came the chipper, if somewhat puzzled voice.
I'll take that as a 'yes'. Here, let's see what's going on now...
Ranma's eyes lost the distant look. Only Akane noticed, however, Kasumi and Nabiki had been watching the two fathers having a rushed, whispered conversation.
Ranma flinched back from Akane's angry gaze. Someone had gotten up on the wrong side of the bedroll this morning. Afternoon. Something like that.
Wonder what she's all worked up about? Asked Yasha, warily.
Dunno, Yasha, we'll just have to wait and see.
"Well, " began the Tendoo patriarch, clapping Ranma on the shoulder, "Your problem isn't so bad after all!" Maybe this idea of Saotome's that marriage would purge the demon who'd taken over Ranma's other side would work. He'd have to keep a careful eye on Ranma, though. Just in case.
"These are my daughters. First, Kasumi, she's nineteen. And Nabiki, seventeen. And, of course, Akane, who is sixteen. Pick the one you want. She's your fiancée."
Tense pause.
FIANCEE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?
"IINAZUKE?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!"
Yasha wasn't quite sure how Ranma managed to sound even more surprised than her. She also wondered how they'd reached their feet from a kneeling position without actually getting up, but decided to worry about it later.
"O-ya-jiiiiiiii..." Ranma turned a burning glare on Genma. "Did you, perhaps, forget to TELL ME SOMETHING????" His teeth gritted, as the tendons on the back of his clenched right fist began to stand out.
Genma winced, but held his solemn position.
Nabiki and Akane smirked, Nabiki just barely managing not to chuckle.
Souun flattened himself against the far wall.
And Kasumi watched pleasantly as Ranma manifested a faint, fitful, iridescent-blue battle aura.
"Now, boy, it's a matter of family honor! Our families were pledged to this before you were born! There really isn't much of a choice in this for anyone!" Genma exclaimed. He had, after all, brought the boy up to be honorable. Whenever someone else was looking.
That stopped Ranma, who growled at his father, then sat down, battle aura and anger temporarily suppressed. He turned and looked at the three girls, each of whom had returned to their usual facial expression. Except Kasumi, who hadn't really ever left hers. He examined them sullenly, his face tilted down, causing his bangs to partially mask his eyes.
The tall girl was barely smiling, pleasantly, and had her head slightly tilted, looking somewhat curious. The one in the middle had an absolutely stone-solid, neutral face. Ranma stared at her until she lifted an eyebrow, shuddered slightly at the coldness of her expression, and looked at the youngest girl, the one with the blue hair. Oo. Lot of anger there. Best stay away from that one...
At the same time, Nabiki blinked. Her 'game face' had never had that effect on anyone before. That was odd.
"I think..." Ranma trailed off.
"Well, boy, go ahead and choose!" Interrupted his father impatiently.
Each of the girls had come to the conclusion that, while they didn't want to be engaged to this.... very.... unusual person (though only Kasumi thought of it in such kind terms), they didn't want any of their sisters to be any more than they wanted to themselves. Since it was a matter of honor, though, nobody had much choice as to whether or not anything would happen. At least, until Nabiki could talk to their father alone. Maybe. Something told them, however, that their father might stand a little firmer on this than he usually did, so might as well just let the boy choose. Akane thought this with a bit of a shudder. Both Akane and Nabiki, however, had decided that they would rather take it themselves than have Kasumi stuck with it.
Wait, Ranma... maybe... Well, I can't think of a reason why they'd want to be married to someone they don't know... can you?
Ranma paused, mouth half-open, as if to speak. He'd been about to completely dismiss this engagement. He hadn't wanted anything like this.
Well, no, I can't. That's why I was just gonna forget it an' head back to China. What're ya getting at, Yasha?
Why don't we let THEM choose? I mean, it's a matter of honor, and we know how Oyaji is about that. I really don't think we can just walk away from this. Besides, it's always easier to avoid messing up if you let someone else be in charge.
I guess. I dunno- I mean, I still don't know 'em.
True, but the five of us are all stuck with this situation, and besides, they know you better than you know them so far.
I suppose so. Actually, Yasha, that sounds like a pretty good idea. Let's try it.
Ranma straightened up, looking more confident all of a sudden.
"So, who's it going to be, son?" asked Mr. Tendoo.
"I think they should choose." Stated Ranma, solemnly. He looked dead-on at Souun, an even and confident gaze. Yasha hadn't steered him wrong yet, and always admitted when she had no clue. He trusted her opinion. "After all, they know more about me now than I do about them."
Genma gaped for a moment, too surprised to object just yet. Then he closed his mouth, and rubbed his chin thoughtfully with his right hand. Ranma had been acting strange recently, and this was something of a pinnacle. The boy usually objected much more to decisions being made for him, at the very least. Then again, he could have seen the wisdom in finally obeying his great and majestic father.
It should be noted that Genma is not exactly completely in touch with reality.
Nabiki smiled slightly. "Well thought, Saotome. Akane, Kasumi, if we could go discuss this, please?"
Akane and Kasumi both nodded and stood with their sister, following her upstairs to her room. If Nabiki wanted to discuss it, that meant she had a plan. And Nabiki's plans usually worked. Akane only hoped this wouldn't involve selling anything off like the last few plans.
"Well, " started Nabiki, having returned with her sisters to the main room of the house. "We've come to a decision. Here's the deal." She gave a steady gaze to Ranma, then to her father and his, and then back to Ranma. "It's traditional to give a year or so for the people in question to get used to such things. Sort of a 'getting-to-know-each-other' phase. So, Ranma will be nominally engaged to all of us for a year. If, by the end of that time, one of us has decided to accept the engagement onto her shoulders, and Ranma also agrees, things can proceed as expected. However, if none of us wish to accept it by the end of that time, the engagement will be declared null, okay?"
"Sure. Works for me." Stated Ranma, relieved not to have to make that kind of a choice with nothing to base it on.
"Alright then." Said Genma, begrudgingly. He didn't really think waiting was a good idea, but Souun had let know of his faith in his middle daughter. Besides, Genma was sure he could convince his son that one of these girls was worth marrying, and besides, the old Saotome charm could hardly fail his son when he himself had done so well with it! No woman could resist a Saotome!
Souun merely blinked as his old friend got one of THOSE expressions on his face, and nodded, realizing that Genma must have a plan now, and would probably include him in it. Any plan that he and Genma worked on together was bound to work perfectly! And he could probably convince Genma that Akane would be perfect too. After all, shouldn't martial artists go together? Things would work out just like he'd planned!
Yeah, right.
Are you sure this is a good idea, Ranma? Yasha asked, as she stood in the dojo, facing off against Akane. She really wasn't sure about this- she'd only been sharing a body with Ranma for barely two months! Surely she hadn't picked up a lifetime of martial arts experience!
Yeah. I mean, you need someone about your level to spar against, and she's only a first dan. Came the confident reply.
Yasha boggled. FIRST DAN is about my level?? Ranma, what planet are you living on???? I may be a fast learner, but two months isn't long enough to equal a blackbelt!
Akane smirked as her opponent became covered in small sweatdrops.
Just relax, Yasha. You'll be fine. Soothed Ranma. After all, he was very sure of this.
Well... if you say so. Guess I have to trust you. After all, mused Yasha, It's not like I have any other real choice here...
Aloud, however, she only said "Ready."
Akane snarled at her opponent, who had refused to attack her before, when he was in his normal form. The transformed Ranma was using the most basic ready stance there was, common to many styles of martial arts. And on top of that, Ranma was using it wrong, just barely balanced on the balls of his feet, toes splayed, and fists near his face. This would be too easy. His center of balance was off, his arms were too close to use effectively to guard, and there was no way he could lean to either side without falling over. This would be too easy.
Leading off with a straight punch, Akane changed that thought as the demon-girl simply slid her feet to the sides and practically fell underneath the basic attack. Ranma might not be much on technique right now, but that didn't mean he wasn't fast.
Akane continued her assault on her much smaller opponent with a low kick. Ranma-Yasha fell over backwards as the foot passed over her, then curled into a backwards somersault as the leg was retracted. Frowning, Akane followed her, though slower, just in case of a surprise attack, keeping her hands up, her guard ready.
Reaching the edge of the mat, Ranma-Yasha uncurled to stand straight, facing Akane, then leapt forwards, her right arm leading out with an arcing jab. The blue-haired girl jumped back in response, to keep her opponent from getting within her guard, allowing Ranma-Yasha room to somersault back towards her. Akane punched down, aiming for where the smaller martial artist would be in a moment, only to be surprised as her opponent braced her hands and uncurled into a kick parallel with Akane's arm, aimed for her head. Unfortunately for her opponent, the small girl had misjudged the distance and wound up falling on her back , feet beneath Akane's head. Akane took the opportunity to lash out and strike Ranma-Yasha in the gut, only to be surprised again as the smaller fighter snaked out of the way almost spinelessly, her feet and head remaining anchored as she bowed her entire body.
Rolling to the side and just barely avoiding the follow-up punch, Yasha curled sideways on the mat. She then spun, using the momentum to help her to her feet, arms starting to swing, just in time to catch a fist in her forehead from Akane. The smaller girl was almost sent flying, as it was, the momentum from the punch sent her about four feet back, to land heavily on her back and crack her head on the floor.
Akane winced at the loud THWAKK made by her opponent's head hitting the floor after she misjudged the distance and hit the smaller martial artist with more force than she had intended. She hadn't intended to hit that hard, just to knock her opponent down.
"Gnnnh....." Stated Ranma-Yasha, defiantly, as she moved to get up and fell back down. What was it with these people? Was hitting someone with the entire floor some sort of a special attack or something? She shook her head, then grabbed it with one hand. Oh, yeah. It was a BAD idea to shake your head when it hurts. "Itai..."
Akane, now somewhat worried, walked over to the demon-girl, who was lying flat, the heel of her hand braced against her forehead, eyes squinched shut.
"Gomen kudasai... I didn't mean to hit you that hard. It's just, you wouldn't fight before, and . . ." She extended a hand to help her opponent up.
The demon-girl muttered something noncommittal and incomprehensible, then got up slowly, first to a crouch, then to her feet, still holding her head with one hand. Bowing shakily to the I-ro-ha sign on the wall, she wobbled her way out of the Dojo.
Akane huffed at Ranma's rudeness, and decided to go break some concrete blocks to cool off.
Nabiki watched the little demon talk to Kasumi for a moment before wobbling off, still a little unsteadily, to the bathroom. Akane really should learn to control that temper. Now... what could she do tomorrow to start offsetting the cost of two more people in the dojo? Besides, she still hadn't gotten enough money for that new manga she wanted . . . She hoped very dearly that she wouldn't have to dip into her personal funds to keep the family going for a while.
Kasumi hummed to herself as she made a double recipe of tempura. That Ranma person was so nice and polite when he was like this. Something still bugged her about that boy's cursed form, but she still wasn't sure what it was.... Oh, well. She'd figure it out soon enough if she just watched carefully.
Author's Notes- 08/06/03
And so here is the second chapter of the Passenger rewrite. It took me a while to get to the point where I had time for this, but from now on you should expect these things regularly- once every week or two. I'm happy to be back working on this, I'm happier that more people will get to read it, and I'm most happy that I'll be able to keep my promise that I will not ever come to a total halt on any writing until it is finished.
There are entirely too many fanfics out there that leave off because the writer lost interest or something like that- it's frustrating to not know any more than the beginning of a story.
Anyways, review review review! I've got a new prereader on this one- and I've agreed to preread his fanfic for him as well. Hopefully, both works will turn out the better for it!
Hmm... I've never had a prereader before......
"Okay, I'll bite. Who or what is Ranma, and what is all his, her, or its fault?"
-Agent J, "Tenchi and Ranma Together Forever!"