The otherwise vacant lot was again the scene of a high speed sparring session. Unlike a normal battle, blows were being pulled at the last minute, although missed blows were not, and were doing a bit of damage to the surrounding landscape. Ranma stepped back and asked, "Kuno, do you see what you're doing wrong, here?"
"You must be using some trick! You seem to know my moves before they occur! I performed that move perfectly!"
Ranma nodded. "That's exactly it! You were performing an advanced kata. Kata have their time and place, but if you stick to them in a fight, your opponent will have time to prepare a counter."
Kuno's budding anger gave way to confusion. "But the forms are all important in kendo."
"You've already mastered the standard forms, right?"
"Of course!"
"Then to improve, you must spend some of your practice time inventing new forms."
"But that's sacrilege! The forms were invented ..."
"The forms were made by the best of their generation, and refined by the best of succeeding generations. It's only sacrilege if you haven't mastered the preexisting forms. At your level, it's your duty to look for areas to improve them."
"I hadn't thought of it like that."
"If you take my advice, select the attacks you use most often, and imagine you want to do them in all the wrong order. You want to always have as many choices for your next attack, and vary them. That way, your opponent won't have that extra time to prepare."
"That makes sense, but it will take alot of time."
"Trust me, it's worth it. You might want to stop fighting Akane so that your new kata will be a surprise."
"I could not abandon her. Are you trying to trick me into leaving her unprotected so that you might date her?"
Ranma's look of revulsion was enough to convince Kuno of his sincerity "Gods, no! Listen, I think I've got half a solution to this engagement."
"You have my complete attention." Kuno put away his bokken to concentrate on the truly important things in life.
"My father is a lying cheat, as you know. I asked my father about one of my fiancees, and he denied everything. Then I swore on my family honor that I would not be coerced into marriage if he lied."
"But what if he told the truth?"
"Don't worry, he lied. Even if he somehow manages to conceal his lie, I haven't promised that I'd do anything if he told the truth. I'll try something else then. But when his lie is exposed, then he has no power to force a wedding on me."
"But if you leave, it would dishonor the Tendo family."
"I know. That's why it's only half a solution. I still have to find some way to convince Tendo to release me. But once my father's hold is broken, no one will think it odd if I don't marry for several years, so I have time to find the rest of the solution without dishonoring the Tendos."
"True. Yet as long as this persists, it will inhibit my chance to marry Akane."
"I've got another idea. You don't mind if I marry Akane's sisters, right?"
"So long as you don't disgrace their family."
"Well their only chance to force me to marry a Tendo is to make sure no dishonor falls on either of us. Listen, if anyone else hears about it, Akane's honor will be stained, so I know you can keep this completely secret. I swear on my honor and my family's honor that if I am ever successfully forced to marry a Tendo, I will select one of Akane's sisters for my bride."
"You'd give me this to hold over your head?"
"Sure. I want you to hold it over my head. The more reasons I have for not marrying her, the better chance I'll have to convince Tendo to accept an alternative. Hell, I'd rather become Tendo's adopted son, than his son-in-law. Nobody could force me to marry my sister, could they?"
"The thought of such an incestuous marriage, is enough to completely kill any desire for sustenance, as my stomach turns over."
-----------------------------
Ranma walked up to the fathers' incessant game, and asked "So, how goes the search?"
Soun sighed, "Not well. We haven't found a single Kuonji in Hokkaido."
"Why are you looking there? Ukyou is from Kansai."
"Genma! Come back here!"
-----------------------------
The school yard was alerted to the danger by the cry of "Ranma Saotome! Prepare to die!"
Ranma dodged the attack, and shouted out, "Well, well. If it isn't the honorless Ryouga Hibiki."
Ryouga's anger flipped up a notch "Honorless? You ran out of a man-to-man fight."
Ranma matched Ryouga's fury, and shouted "I waited three days at the place you chose! Then I had to leave to meet other obligations. Surely that's long enough courtesy towards someone who betrayed you."
"How could I have betrayed you!"
Ranma screamed at Ryouga, "I treated you as a friend! I helped you get home, when you got separated from Shirokuro. But you had to get jealous over how much lunch I had, so you set up that stupid duel. You never bothered to show up, and now you try to attack me from ambush."
But Ryouga wouldn't let himself be in the wrong. Not after all he had suffered. "Shut up! Because of you, I've seen hell!"
"What did I do to you?"
"The time for talk is over."
"So, are you going to fight me fairly? Or are you going to try to kill me from ambush, like an honorless assassin."
"I'm going to beat you into a bloody pulp!"
"And I'm going to make sure everyone knows your actions, even in your cursed form."
"How did you know about that?"
"I had a vision. You think you've seen hell? I'll just have to get the authorities to put you to sleep. They won't even realize that they're killing an assassin. You scream death threats at me? I'll have your balls, your freedom and your life in that order, and no one will punish me for it. I'll show you hell, you bastard."
Akane, shocked at the fury Ranma displayed, asked "Ranma, what are you talking about?"
"This bastard can shapeshift into an animal. If he insists on trying to make my life difficult, after all the crap he's already done, then I'll have him put down."
Ryouga's look turned shocked. "You wouldn't dare!"
"You come here shouting death threats, and don't expect me to respond?"
"Well, all I was really going to do was beat you into a bloody pulp and put you in the hospital."
"I've put up with crap from you because I thought you were my friend. You've betrayed me and smashed my trust in you. Why should I treat you with any sympathy?"
This honestly surprised Ryouga. "You really thought of me as a friend?"
"Of course! You were the only person my own age I could ever spar with. Why do you think I spent so much time after school with you? Why do you think I helped you get home? You think it was just because I liked seeing Shirokuro?"
"But you were always insulting me!"
"And you were always insulting me! My father insults me regularly! Which speaks louder? Actions or words?"
"But because of you, I had to trek through China."
Ranma's fury turned to exasperation. "I did what I could to stop that! I waited three days! What makes you think leaving for China was my choice? My idiot father dragged me into that hell hole. My idiot father selected the cursed training grounds! I was a fool for listening to him, and you were a fool for following us. But now you're acting like it was all my fault, and I will not take the blame! I did the best I could for you. If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have bothered."
"Don't say that. I've got to think this through."
"I'm currently a guest at the Tendo Dojo. If I gotta leave, I'll try to leave some message there for you."
After Ryouga wandered off, dazed and confused, Akane asked Ranma "Who was that?"
An emotionally exhausted Ranma answered "Either a messed up good person, or an honorable scoundrel. I'll let you know when I figure out which one."
"Does he really have a curse?"
"He did in my dream, and he used it to betray several people's trust. I won't let him pull that crap. If he tries, he'll see what a real life in hell is like."
-----------------------------
Later, that same day, Ryouga asks, "Ranma? Can we talk?"
"For old times sake? Ok."
"What happened to you? You used to be so carefree."
"In China I was cursed like you, and then chased across China by an assassin. Then I was dragged here to be engaged to a violent maniac. On top of this, I had a dream about what my life would be like. I learned that my father has engaged me many times, including to a childhood friend. He stole her dowry. In the dream, you and I fell in love with the same woman, and she made my life hell. Now my father's trying to force me to marry that woman."
"A dream?"
"More like a vision. Everything I've learned in the dream has come true. In my dream you had fallen into the spring of drowned piglet, and my father in panda form tried to cook you."
Ryouga boggled, "That was your father?"
"Yep, the walking stomach. Real pandas are vegetarian. He has a Jhusenkyou curse, and didn't bother to check if the piglet he caught had one or not."
"Wait. Does this mean we're doomed to fall in love with the same woman?"
"No. The future isn't set in stone. I've sworn I'll never marry her, and I'll have this engagement shattered."
"But, how could we both fall for the same woman?"
"It wasn't pretty, and we both acted like bastards. I'll introduce you on one condition."
"What?"
"That you'll tell her about your curse. In the dream, you pretended to be her pet to protect her from me. That, more than anything else, makes me mad at you. But you didn't do it yet."
"But I'd never do that!" The idea horrified Ryouga on several levels. Not only did it dishonor a girl, and to some extent Ranma, it also meant voluntarily pretending to be an animal, instead of human.
"If the conditions were right, even an angel can fall. I shouldn't blame you for something you haven't done, but I can't forget it, and all the trouble it caused."
Appalled, Ryouga asks "I could really fall that low?"
"Step, by bloody step. The first mistake was not telling Akane about your curse."
"But how could I tell someone?"
"If you don't, you risk a hell of your own making. You start on a path of betrayal, and self loathing that ruins your life. I'm not going to be your conscience, I'm just warning you. I've seen the future, and it's hell."
"But how could I risk admitting my curse to someone I care about?"
"Admit it before you care. If they can't take it, you won't be hurt as much. It's your best shot at happiness."
"Can you help me?"
"Last time I saw you, you wanted to kill me."
"I made a mistake, alright?"
"Wanna try and start over?"
"Sure."
-----------------------------
Ranma guided Ryouga back to the dojo where Akane was practicing, and called out "Akane!"
"What is it, Ranma?"
"I want you to meet Ryouga. He's also a martial artist. In my dream you two were friends. He was the only guy who treated you the way you wanted. The only guy who never did anything perverted. Ryouga, this is the girl my father wants me to marry. In my dream, she was your best friend. Ryouga suffers a Jhusenkyou curse like Pop and I."
Akane looked at Ryouga suspiciously. "You don't turn into a girl, do you?"
"No, a piglet." Ryouga was a little shocked at how easy it was to say, compared to how he feared it would go.
"Oh. I guess that's alright."
Miffed that Akane was still holding his curse against him, Ranma snapped "You two decide if you want to be friends or not. I'm going to go practice."
While Ryouga is busy studying the ground, Akane turns to Ryouga and asks "So, what do you think of female martial artists?"
"Both of my parents are martial artists. They both taught me."
"So if we spar, you'll take me seriously?"
"Sure, but there are alot of attacks I don't use when sparring. Just because I'm willing to take you seriously doesn't mean I'll risk your life."
"Would you have used those attacks on Ranma?"
"I would have, while we were fighting. I wouldn't while we were sparring."
"Ok, I can accept that. Why were you two fighting?"
"I thought he was trying to ruin my life. Turns out it was a misunderstanding."
"You must be using some trick! You seem to know my moves before they occur! I performed that move perfectly!"
Ranma nodded. "That's exactly it! You were performing an advanced kata. Kata have their time and place, but if you stick to them in a fight, your opponent will have time to prepare a counter."
Kuno's budding anger gave way to confusion. "But the forms are all important in kendo."
"You've already mastered the standard forms, right?"
"Of course!"
"Then to improve, you must spend some of your practice time inventing new forms."
"But that's sacrilege! The forms were invented ..."
"The forms were made by the best of their generation, and refined by the best of succeeding generations. It's only sacrilege if you haven't mastered the preexisting forms. At your level, it's your duty to look for areas to improve them."
"I hadn't thought of it like that."
"If you take my advice, select the attacks you use most often, and imagine you want to do them in all the wrong order. You want to always have as many choices for your next attack, and vary them. That way, your opponent won't have that extra time to prepare."
"That makes sense, but it will take alot of time."
"Trust me, it's worth it. You might want to stop fighting Akane so that your new kata will be a surprise."
"I could not abandon her. Are you trying to trick me into leaving her unprotected so that you might date her?"
Ranma's look of revulsion was enough to convince Kuno of his sincerity "Gods, no! Listen, I think I've got half a solution to this engagement."
"You have my complete attention." Kuno put away his bokken to concentrate on the truly important things in life.
"My father is a lying cheat, as you know. I asked my father about one of my fiancees, and he denied everything. Then I swore on my family honor that I would not be coerced into marriage if he lied."
"But what if he told the truth?"
"Don't worry, he lied. Even if he somehow manages to conceal his lie, I haven't promised that I'd do anything if he told the truth. I'll try something else then. But when his lie is exposed, then he has no power to force a wedding on me."
"But if you leave, it would dishonor the Tendo family."
"I know. That's why it's only half a solution. I still have to find some way to convince Tendo to release me. But once my father's hold is broken, no one will think it odd if I don't marry for several years, so I have time to find the rest of the solution without dishonoring the Tendos."
"True. Yet as long as this persists, it will inhibit my chance to marry Akane."
"I've got another idea. You don't mind if I marry Akane's sisters, right?"
"So long as you don't disgrace their family."
"Well their only chance to force me to marry a Tendo is to make sure no dishonor falls on either of us. Listen, if anyone else hears about it, Akane's honor will be stained, so I know you can keep this completely secret. I swear on my honor and my family's honor that if I am ever successfully forced to marry a Tendo, I will select one of Akane's sisters for my bride."
"You'd give me this to hold over your head?"
"Sure. I want you to hold it over my head. The more reasons I have for not marrying her, the better chance I'll have to convince Tendo to accept an alternative. Hell, I'd rather become Tendo's adopted son, than his son-in-law. Nobody could force me to marry my sister, could they?"
"The thought of such an incestuous marriage, is enough to completely kill any desire for sustenance, as my stomach turns over."
-----------------------------
Ranma walked up to the fathers' incessant game, and asked "So, how goes the search?"
Soun sighed, "Not well. We haven't found a single Kuonji in Hokkaido."
"Why are you looking there? Ukyou is from Kansai."
"Genma! Come back here!"
-----------------------------
The school yard was alerted to the danger by the cry of "Ranma Saotome! Prepare to die!"
Ranma dodged the attack, and shouted out, "Well, well. If it isn't the honorless Ryouga Hibiki."
Ryouga's anger flipped up a notch "Honorless? You ran out of a man-to-man fight."
Ranma matched Ryouga's fury, and shouted "I waited three days at the place you chose! Then I had to leave to meet other obligations. Surely that's long enough courtesy towards someone who betrayed you."
"How could I have betrayed you!"
Ranma screamed at Ryouga, "I treated you as a friend! I helped you get home, when you got separated from Shirokuro. But you had to get jealous over how much lunch I had, so you set up that stupid duel. You never bothered to show up, and now you try to attack me from ambush."
But Ryouga wouldn't let himself be in the wrong. Not after all he had suffered. "Shut up! Because of you, I've seen hell!"
"What did I do to you?"
"The time for talk is over."
"So, are you going to fight me fairly? Or are you going to try to kill me from ambush, like an honorless assassin."
"I'm going to beat you into a bloody pulp!"
"And I'm going to make sure everyone knows your actions, even in your cursed form."
"How did you know about that?"
"I had a vision. You think you've seen hell? I'll just have to get the authorities to put you to sleep. They won't even realize that they're killing an assassin. You scream death threats at me? I'll have your balls, your freedom and your life in that order, and no one will punish me for it. I'll show you hell, you bastard."
Akane, shocked at the fury Ranma displayed, asked "Ranma, what are you talking about?"
"This bastard can shapeshift into an animal. If he insists on trying to make my life difficult, after all the crap he's already done, then I'll have him put down."
Ryouga's look turned shocked. "You wouldn't dare!"
"You come here shouting death threats, and don't expect me to respond?"
"Well, all I was really going to do was beat you into a bloody pulp and put you in the hospital."
"I've put up with crap from you because I thought you were my friend. You've betrayed me and smashed my trust in you. Why should I treat you with any sympathy?"
This honestly surprised Ryouga. "You really thought of me as a friend?"
"Of course! You were the only person my own age I could ever spar with. Why do you think I spent so much time after school with you? Why do you think I helped you get home? You think it was just because I liked seeing Shirokuro?"
"But you were always insulting me!"
"And you were always insulting me! My father insults me regularly! Which speaks louder? Actions or words?"
"But because of you, I had to trek through China."
Ranma's fury turned to exasperation. "I did what I could to stop that! I waited three days! What makes you think leaving for China was my choice? My idiot father dragged me into that hell hole. My idiot father selected the cursed training grounds! I was a fool for listening to him, and you were a fool for following us. But now you're acting like it was all my fault, and I will not take the blame! I did the best I could for you. If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have bothered."
"Don't say that. I've got to think this through."
"I'm currently a guest at the Tendo Dojo. If I gotta leave, I'll try to leave some message there for you."
After Ryouga wandered off, dazed and confused, Akane asked Ranma "Who was that?"
An emotionally exhausted Ranma answered "Either a messed up good person, or an honorable scoundrel. I'll let you know when I figure out which one."
"Does he really have a curse?"
"He did in my dream, and he used it to betray several people's trust. I won't let him pull that crap. If he tries, he'll see what a real life in hell is like."
-----------------------------
Later, that same day, Ryouga asks, "Ranma? Can we talk?"
"For old times sake? Ok."
"What happened to you? You used to be so carefree."
"In China I was cursed like you, and then chased across China by an assassin. Then I was dragged here to be engaged to a violent maniac. On top of this, I had a dream about what my life would be like. I learned that my father has engaged me many times, including to a childhood friend. He stole her dowry. In the dream, you and I fell in love with the same woman, and she made my life hell. Now my father's trying to force me to marry that woman."
"A dream?"
"More like a vision. Everything I've learned in the dream has come true. In my dream you had fallen into the spring of drowned piglet, and my father in panda form tried to cook you."
Ryouga boggled, "That was your father?"
"Yep, the walking stomach. Real pandas are vegetarian. He has a Jhusenkyou curse, and didn't bother to check if the piglet he caught had one or not."
"Wait. Does this mean we're doomed to fall in love with the same woman?"
"No. The future isn't set in stone. I've sworn I'll never marry her, and I'll have this engagement shattered."
"But, how could we both fall for the same woman?"
"It wasn't pretty, and we both acted like bastards. I'll introduce you on one condition."
"What?"
"That you'll tell her about your curse. In the dream, you pretended to be her pet to protect her from me. That, more than anything else, makes me mad at you. But you didn't do it yet."
"But I'd never do that!" The idea horrified Ryouga on several levels. Not only did it dishonor a girl, and to some extent Ranma, it also meant voluntarily pretending to be an animal, instead of human.
"If the conditions were right, even an angel can fall. I shouldn't blame you for something you haven't done, but I can't forget it, and all the trouble it caused."
Appalled, Ryouga asks "I could really fall that low?"
"Step, by bloody step. The first mistake was not telling Akane about your curse."
"But how could I tell someone?"
"If you don't, you risk a hell of your own making. You start on a path of betrayal, and self loathing that ruins your life. I'm not going to be your conscience, I'm just warning you. I've seen the future, and it's hell."
"But how could I risk admitting my curse to someone I care about?"
"Admit it before you care. If they can't take it, you won't be hurt as much. It's your best shot at happiness."
"Can you help me?"
"Last time I saw you, you wanted to kill me."
"I made a mistake, alright?"
"Wanna try and start over?"
"Sure."
-----------------------------
Ranma guided Ryouga back to the dojo where Akane was practicing, and called out "Akane!"
"What is it, Ranma?"
"I want you to meet Ryouga. He's also a martial artist. In my dream you two were friends. He was the only guy who treated you the way you wanted. The only guy who never did anything perverted. Ryouga, this is the girl my father wants me to marry. In my dream, she was your best friend. Ryouga suffers a Jhusenkyou curse like Pop and I."
Akane looked at Ryouga suspiciously. "You don't turn into a girl, do you?"
"No, a piglet." Ryouga was a little shocked at how easy it was to say, compared to how he feared it would go.
"Oh. I guess that's alright."
Miffed that Akane was still holding his curse against him, Ranma snapped "You two decide if you want to be friends or not. I'm going to go practice."
While Ryouga is busy studying the ground, Akane turns to Ryouga and asks "So, what do you think of female martial artists?"
"Both of my parents are martial artists. They both taught me."
"So if we spar, you'll take me seriously?"
"Sure, but there are alot of attacks I don't use when sparring. Just because I'm willing to take you seriously doesn't mean I'll risk your life."
"Would you have used those attacks on Ranma?"
"I would have, while we were fighting. I wouldn't while we were sparring."
"Ok, I can accept that. Why were you two fighting?"
"I thought he was trying to ruin my life. Turns out it was a misunderstanding."
