Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2, nor claim to.
Chapter 4: A Big Dinner:
"This is how you remind me of what I really am. It's not like you to say sorry. I was waiting on a different story." Nickleback: How You Remind Me
"YAY!" Auska cheered, as the entire Saotome family and the two Reynolds children walked into the restaurant. Everyone was smiling; Joseph even seemed cheerful. The group noticed the Hibikis had already arrived, and Ukyo and Konatsu working like crazy to finish the meals for the other customers. Keira and her younger brother Haku were arranging a few tables for the themselves and the other children, Kite and Naruto were gathering chairs, while Ryoga and Akari, along with two other stools reserved for Ranma and Akane, sat at the counter.
The two generations separated, as Sauske, Auska, Sakura, Joseph, and Amy walked over to help rearrange the tables, before taking their seats.
It took a few minutes, but soon, the tables were all lined up, one end at a wall, the other into the center of the room. On one side, starting at the wall, were Joseph, Amy, Kite, and Naruto, while Auska, Haku, Sakura, and Sauske sat across from them, respectively, and Keira took the seat at the end of the tables, next to Naruto and Sauske. At the counter, the three couples met; Ukyo and Konatsu on one side, still half-working, while Akari, Ryoga, Ranma, and Akane sat on the stools on the other side, in that order.
Keira pulled a small notebook from the pocket in her blue jeans, while she stood back up, along with a pencil. She carefully straightened her teal T-shirt, then ran her finger over her blue bandanna to brush the hair out of her eyes, before walking to the far end of the table. It may be time for her to eat, but she still had to do work for the restaurant. "All right, Auska, what do you want?" she said loudly, grabbing the attention of everyone before they got engaged in long conversations.
"Um, well, . . . I dunno'." She replied sheepishly, trying to think. "I'll just have . . . um, well . . . it's all so good, but . . ."
"Everything, like always. Right?" Keira replied, smiling. Auska nodded, returning the smile. "And the usual for you, right, Haku?" Her brother nodded enthusiastically, his hair rustling around more.
When it was her turn, Amy ordered her food, before digging her hand into her pocket. After fumbling for a moment, she found what she was searching for, and pulled it out. Taking off the cap, she clamped her lips over the end. There was a loud hiss as the medication was forced out, before she took a few deep breaths, and recapped the inhaler, returning it to her pocket. She couldn't wait for this to be finally over. The doctors said she was growing out of her asthma. Now, it was no longer a burden; dealing with the problems was more of a chore.
The girl brushed back her brown hair, grown out into a long ponytail, over her shoulder, and onto the chair behind her. The green skirt and white shirt was similar to her normal school uniform, but she liked those colors all the time. But now was not the time to go over that; she smiled pleasantly, while the conversation began again with the other three around her that were her own age.
Haku smiled back from the other side of the table. He was glad it was Keira's turn to take orders; so, he didn't have to do anything, even if it really was his turn. He slouched down in his seat, further wrinkling his plain tan polo shirt and khaki pants, as his mop of blond hair drifted back down flat onto his head. It was good to be among friends, and escape from some responsibility.
Well, not really.
Keira, finishing the orders, brought them up to her mother, who promptly began to cook them. With that, she returned to her seat, and the conversations began again.
"Ooh, I'm so hungry!" Haku muttered, but never let his concentration waver.
Auska smiled, nodding at him, her red pigtails settling along her shoulders. "Yeah, I can't wait for the food to be done!"
"Are you two ever not hungry?" Joseph replied bluntly.
"Oh, Joseph, it's not so bad." Amy continued, also smiling. "At least they know they're hungry."
"You still smell, you know." Sakura said to the boy across from her, shaking her head. "Have you ever taken a bath before, or what?"
Kite sighed back to her. "Is that the only thing you can ever talk about with me?" The girl nodded gravely.
"It's not that great, Sauske." Naruto replied, turning his head in disgust.
The other boy, without a change in his normal voice, mumbled, "And yet I don't think you ever tried to jump from roof to roof in my neighborhood, have you?"
Naruto paused, before shaking his head in partial defeat. Keira smiled. "Oh, Sauske, it would be so amazing to see you do that. You're just so cool and cute!" Sauske paused, blinking. Naruto turned sheet white, his mouth gaping.
At that time, a familiar hand, at least to Keira, grabbed her from behind the neck, before the fingers wrapped around her throat. "Uh . . . heh heh, oops." The sitting girl said tentatively.
"Where did you get those?" the female owner of the hand said loudly, and angrily. A faint glow of red began to form between the fingers of the hand.
"What, these?" the sitting girl replied, while trying to smile through fear. "I . . . I bought them with my own money. I didn't take them from you or anything like that."
The hand tightened its grip on the sitting girl, before the voice returned. "And what about the two of you, huh? Want to explain why you're here, or just drop the act?"
Keira nodded as best she could with a hand around her throat, before her concentration faded. Suddenly, Haku winked out and vanished in a small puff of smoke and fog. "That's better." The girl said, as the entire table looked up at her, and the shock and surprise disappeared. "Now, can you just go and change on your own, or should I rearrange your face for you?"
Keira shook her head. "NO! . . . I mean, I can do it. No more games, okay? Promise." The hand loosened, before it re-grabbed her by the shoulder, lifting her to her feet, and shoving her away. Keira sighed in relief, nodded, and ran as fast as she could to her room. Or, his room.
The real Keira, dressed exactly the same in her own teal T-shirt, blue bandanna, and blue jeans, took back her seat, where her brother had been. "He's so annoying." She mumbled, resting her elbows on the table, and leaning her face into her hands. Sauske rolled his eyes, but smiled a bit, comfortingly. Naruto, finally realizing it was Haku who was pretending to be Keira, and not really Keira, relaxed, closed his mouth, and sighed in relief.
- - -
Ukyo sighed, before continuing to work. "Well, Ranma, Akane, what's been going on with you two?"
"Ugh." Akane blurted out. "Don't get me started." Ranma, although surprised, nodded a bit in agreement.
"What's wrong?" Akari added in, as everyone but Ranma turned to stare at Akane.
Akane sighed, letting her head droop. "Joseph, for one. I can't wait for Nabiki to get back and deal with him. Him, plus keeping up an oversized house and a group of twenty-three martial arts students a day is just too much. And then there's Shampoo."
Ranma turned to her, blinking. "I thought you said it was fine?"
"It is, Ranma, okay?!" She quietly shouted back, glaring at him, before sighing further.
"Shampoo?" Ryoga asked, leaning forward to see his friends better. "What are you talking about? Is she coming to Nerima again?"
"Worse." Akane replied quietly.
Ranma rolled his eyes a bit, secretly so his wife wouldn't throw him into the wall, before turning to everyone else. "She's moving here." Everyone's eyes went wide. "I mean, she already has, a couple of weeks ago, and she's coming to visit with her older daughter and Mousse tonight."
Ukyo tightened her grip on her spatula secretly, before flipping another okonomiyaki into the air. She could barely stand Shampoo, even less than Akane could. She was just too annoying, constantly writing Ranma, and almost exclusively Ranma, even after his marriage to Akane. They both knew there was nothing in it, because Ranma would be dead right now, twice over, if there ever were an affair or something like that. But, . . . couldn't she at least talk to other people.
Slowly, though, the two angry women began to relax. It was over and done with. Ranma and Shampoo were friends, and that was all. They had to remember that, because then everything made sense. It was time to let go; Shampoo loved Mousse, and Ranma loved Akane. Nothing more to it than old friends who like to keep in contact.
- - -
Haku bounded down the stairs, before running over to his chair, dressed like his doppelganger was dressed. He slid into his seat, smiling at Joseph, Amy, and Auska, before turning to see his sister at the other end of the table. She was glaring at him. And not the happy kind of glare; more the I-know-what-you-told-them-so-you-better-start-running-tonight kind of glare.
"Keira!" her mother shouted from the counter. "Orders up!" The girl broke her intense stare at her younger brother, before happily jumping up, and taking the tray and carrying it back to the table. Starting at the wall end, and working her way back to her seat and then her mother, she politely placed the plate down in front of her friends, before she got to her brother. There, she began her intense glare again, placing his plate down, before smiling again as she moved to the next person. When they were all done, she brought the large, round tray back to her mother, and sat down in her seat, about to eat.
"Hey, Sauske!" Naruto said from across the table. "I bet I can eat mine faster than you!"
"Jeeze, Naruto, do you have to turn everything you do into a competition?" Keira replied, rolling her eyes.
Sauske sighed. He knew Naruto would not stop pestering him until after he got some stupid challenge out of his system. "All right, fine. But just half."
"Deal!" Naruto replied happily, before slicing his okonomiyaki down the middle. Sauske followed, and both boys held their half up to their face. "On three. One . . . two . . . THREE!"
Nartuo shoved the okonomiyaki into his face, taking huge bites. He was already halfway through the half he was holding, and . . . "Done." Sauske said quietly from the other side of the table, wiping sauce from his face. Keira blinked, before nodding. Naruto froze, unable to believe he had just eaten that whole thing. But it was gone.
"Howb youdble duoblh thagle?"
"Swallow first, you idiot!" Keira shouted at the boy, punching him in the shoulder. Naruto began to chew slowly, watching Sauske. After a moment, he shook his fist at him.
- - -
"What's wrong with you, Ranma?" Konatsu asked, carrying a clean pile of dishes. The man in question was leaning over the counter again, staring down intently, but his eyes looked distant and concerned.
Ranma looked up, apparently as disappointed about something as Akane. "The stupid soap order is late again!" he said glumly.
"We freakin' KNOW that, Ranma!" Akane shouted at him angrily, louder than she expected, before turning back. She sighed, shaking her head, before whispering to her husband. "Sorry. It's been a long day." Ranma nodded apologetically, understanding it all.
"Soap?" Ukyo replied, temporarily forgetting what Ranma meant.
"Yeah, the waterproof soap from that Jusenkyo company." Ranma answered, shaking his head. "It's a month late again. And the best they've sent me is a letter sayin' it's gonna' be late. I can't take it anymore!"
Ryoga stared at Ranma, shaking his head a tiny bit. "You still use that stuff, Ranma?"
"Yeah, Ryoga, I do!" Ranma replied, glaring at his friend and rival. "Because, unlike you, I can't just get splashed with cold water an' go to work. If you become a pig or somethin', you can still train pigs and all that! I can't teach martial arts classes as a man one day, and a woman the next, okay?!"
With the exception of a small twitch of Akane's lips, there was no reaction to just the phrase "you become a pig."
There was a general sigh at that, before there was a pause. Ranma stared at his small section of counter again, before speaking again. "Besides, I'm worried more about them dealin' with life without it than me. That's why I keep usin' it, Ryoga." He said, flicking his head back to show he was talking about his children.
- - -
"So, how is the ranch doing?" Sakura said quietly, trying to keep a conversation going with Kite.
Kite sighed. "You know, same old same old, and all that. Can't complain, really." He paused a moment, taking a large bite out of his okonomiyaki, as some of the crumbs dropped onto his dark gray pants. "You?"
"I guess the same." She muttered quietly, before taking another bite of her food. The awkward silence began to spread again.
"That's good," was all that Kite could muster for a reply, before the silence began again.
- - -
Ukyo blinked, before nodding. She had almost forgotten about the curses. "They all have one. Naruto, Sauske, Kite, Sakura, Auska. They all have a curse of their own." She thought to herself.
"I don't see what the problem is. Kite and Naruto are doing fine without it." Akari replied over her husband's shoulder.
Akane sighed, not out of sadness, but instead, recognition. "Well, Sakura can't stand her curse. And Auska is . . . delicate when she changes. So much, it'd be real dangerous to let her live that way."
"It's not so bad for them anyway." Ranma continued. "It's not like they're in danger whenever they change, or hate it more than . . ."
"Kite hates his curse." Ryoga interrupted. "Probably more than Sakura ever could hate her own. And let's not forget . . ." Akari elbowed him, but everyone knew what he meant. That definitely didn't lift the somber mood.
Ranma sighed. While Sakura may have disagreed at that, he couldn't. Kite was more than cursed. He was cursed and cursed again. "All right, ya got me there."
"Do you think Shampoo's children are cursed too?" Konatsu asked, pulling out some plates to put the okonomiyakis on.
Everyone turned. "I never thought of that." Akane replied, pausing.
"They are." Ranma replied knowingly. "I went to 'em when we first found out Sakura was cursed, an' they told me all about the symbiosis stuff, or whatever it was called. Their older son was cursed at the same time. Along with Kite. By now, they all must have curses too."
- - -
Naruto scooted his chair back, as the cup fell over. The water spilled out, rolling along the table, and onto the side of his leg. At least it missed his lap. That would have soaked him a lot worse. He grabbed his napkin immediately, blotting as much as he could. He couldn't let himself change, not in front of Keira.
"Oh, jeeze, Naruto, I'm sorry." Keira said, picking the cup up. "I didn't see it there. You okay?"
Naruto paused. Nothing was happening. Thank god there wasn't enough water there. How his father had eve managed to work through this when even the smallest amount would cause him to turn into a pig, he didn't know. He was just glad he could take a bit of a soaking before he changed. "It's okay, Keira. Don't worry about it!" he shouted back with a smile, a bit of color returning to his pale face.
Sauske stared across the table for a moment. Something really made Naruto dodge that water fast. Was he hiding something? He couldn't be . . . cursed like he was, could he?
- - -
"Do they know?" Ryoga asked, turning back to the group, after watching his son dodge the spilled water. "I mean, do they know about Kite and Naruto?"
Akane shook her head. "No, I never told them. Did you, Ranma?"
"I didn't. I mean, they know about yours, and mine, and Shampoo's, and Mousse's, and Pop's, but not Kite and Naruto." Ranma replied. "Figured they'd find out themselves by now. Guess not, seein' what just happened, Ryoga."
"I didn't tell Keira or Haku either, sugar." Ukyo replied, finally finishing the set of okonomiyakis for all of them.
Placing out the plates, everyone began to eat rapidly, except for Akari and Akane. Ukyo, finished in seconds, began to immediately collect the plates from everyone else. Konatsu was done next, before going around to the children's table, gathering the plates there. Ranma was after him, followed by Ryoga, only an instant behind.
Akane and Akari ate slowly. They were used to finishing last. Ukyo and Konatsu had work to do, and Ryoga and Ranma couldn't help but compete. "Like father, like son." Both women repeated in their heads.
- - -
"Wow, Auska, this is even better than your last drawing!" Haku said enthusiastically, looking at the perfectly colored, shaded, and detailed picture of a smiling Kagome from Inu-Yasha.
"I drew another one with Shippo, but I couldn't color it in time." She replied glumly. That one was so much better. Haku handed the drawing across the table to Amy and Joseph. They looked down.
"Whoa!" Joseph replied, his eyes wide. This was just as incredible as every other drawing he had seen his cousin draw.
"This is great, Auska! You're such a good artist!" Amy said, and the redheaded girl smiled. "I wish I could draw like that."
"I could teach you!" Auska replied, smiling. Amy paused, thinking that over, before nodding, smiling wider.
- - -
Sauske leaned back in his chair, as Keira and Naruto began to argue about something again. Self-preservation told him to not get involved. His mind trailed back to the afternoon. That cat . . . it didn't seem to fit in, and the way it acted . . .
Sauske stepped along the sidewalk, spinning his green umbrella over him out of boredom, before his eyes looked up. The clouds were still thick and gray, even with the rain beginning to subside. Slowly, his eyes trailed away, as he saw it there.
A large cat, its front paws clamped over the top edge of the roof, was struggling to climb back up, its back legs running as fast as it could, trying to pull itself from the brink.
The boy paused for a moment, watching the cat struggle, in the large alleyway between two buildings, before he instinctively lurched forward, running to the fire escape stairs. He bounded up the steps three at a time, turning rapidly, hoping to save the cat before it fell, when suddenly, its claws gripped in, and it scurried onto the roof.
Deciding it was best to follow anyway, just to be safe, Sauske continued up to the top of the building, before reaching up, and pulling himself onto the roof. Once there, he lifted his umbrella up to shield himself from the rain, before scanning for the animal.
There, in the center, was the cat, looking all around, smelling the air for something. Sauske slowly approached, taking his time, and trying not to spook the animal. He wanted a better look at it, when the cat turned to continue along the street. It sprinted along, until it reached the edge of the roof. There, it leapt off the edge, trying to reach the next roof.
The boy began running immediately. He raced to the other end of the building, and jumped across. He felt the wind rush past, as he floated over the alleyway below. His feet swung forward, ready to land on the next roof, as he cleared the edge. His legs crumpled, softening the landing, before his entire body fell forward, rolling along the ground. Sauske hopped up, onto his feet again, and searched the area quickly with his eyes.
The cat wasn't there.
He raced back to the edge of the roof, and there was the animal, struggling to pull itself up. Sauske leaned down, hoping it wouldn't think he was a threat, and pulled it up to safety. Once it was safely on the roof, the cat pulled itself free from his grasp, and sauntered down under his umbrella, a portable shelter from the rain. Shaking itself dry, its eyes looked up. "Meow."
Sauske blinked, looking the cat over. It wasn't an ordinary house cat. No only was it almost twice as big as the average cat, the animal was very muscular, with large paws. It had a shiny, brown-tan fur coat, with dark blue-black spots, and there were small tufts of black hair on the ends of its ears, making them seem longer. It's eyes were a soft green, staring straight back at him. They were neither afraid nor angry. The cat had this wondering look, as if it was asking "Why?"
Sauske leaned down, bringing itself closer to the cat. It leaned back a bit, before relaxing, and watching the boy carefully. "Well, where are you going, little fellow?"
If cats could roll their eyes and sigh, this one did. "Meow."
"Are you trying to find your home?" Sauske asked, more out of habit than an actual expectation that it would understand.
The cat, however, did. It nodded its head, then started scratching at a piece of blue cloth that was tied around its right front leg. There was another one on its left leg too, but the cat seemed very intent at pulling the right one off. Sauske noticed, upon further examination, that there was a piece of paper hidden behind it. He reached down carefully, before pulling it free and opening it.
"What the . . . ?" he thought to himself. There was an address written in blue pen, to a place not far from where he was. "Is this where you live?" he asked out loud, and the cat nodded. "Wow, smart cat." The cat beamed with pride.
"Well, here, I'll carry you down . . . oh, wow, you're heavy . . . h-h-hey now, no need to use the claws . . . OW! All right, all right, I'm sorry, you're light as a feather! I thought I was carrying a pillow! Just stop squirming!"
The cat calmed down, retracting its large, and very sharp, as Sauske now knew, claws, until they reached the ground. Once they were down again, it began to squirm, until he let it go. It landed softly, and began to walk next to him. They walked in silence, Sauske leading, the cat following next to him. "Meow."
"What, are you hungry?" Sauske replied, looking down at his feline companion. It shook his head. "Well, all right."
"Meow."
"Do you want me to carry you?" the cat shook its head again.
"Meow."
"What is it?" Sauske replied, starting to get aggravated, before he realized he was being pushed. The cat, behind him, was leaning on the back of his leg, and walking as quickly as it could. Sauske moved his leg, and the cat stumbled forward, before glaring up at him. "Don't worry, we're almost there. Just another block."
The cat followed, dejectedly, crossing the street, before they stopped at the door. "Well, here we are, building number one thousand two hundred forty."
"Mreeeooow."
Sauske, hearing its aggravated squeal, looked down at the cat, as it stared back. When eye contact was established, it shook his head, and began to walk down the street again. "Hey, wait. This is the address . . . wait a minute." Looking down at the paper again, . . . "Oh, the ink got smudged in the rain. It's building twelve ninety. That's just a bit further down the street, cat . . . hey, wait up!"
After another minute of walking, the boy and cat reached the new building. There were large glass windows, with brown paper hung up inside to hide what was going on. The door had a "Closed" sign over it, with "Opening Soon" below it. Sauske looked up, reading the sign. "Huh, a Chinese restaurant. Sorry, cat, but I don't think . . ."
The cat was banging on the door, but it barely made a sound. Inside, there was the noise of working and constructing, as something was being built or remodeled. Sauske sighed, before knocking loudly on the door. He might as well believe the cat; it hadn't led him wrong yet.
Suddenly, the door opened, a middle-aged Chinese woman, with long purple hair, opened the door. She was dressed in overalls, her work clothes underneath, covered with paint stains, and with a man about the same age, similarly dressed, with long black hair and thick glasses, behind him. "I sorry, but we closed . . . oh." She muttered, as the cat rushed inside and disappeared.
"Sorry to bother you or anything, but I found this cat, and it had a note with this address. I hope this is the right place." Sauske said quickly.
"Oh, thank you." The woman continued, taking the note. "Please, come in, out of rain."
"No, that's all right. I have to go home now anyway." Sauske replied, smiling, before he turned and walked back the way he was going before.
"Thank you!" The woman shouted, smiling, along with the man behind her, before she slowly closed the door.
Ukyo sighed. It was almost seven-thirty, and Ranma, Akane, Ryoga, and Akari were all getting ready to leave. She still wanted to talk with them, but . . . she could always go and visit.
"Well, see ya later, Ucchan!" Ranma said, with a friendly smile, before Akane dragged him away before he could order more okonomiyaki. Their children followed, along with Akari, Ryoga, Kite, and Naruto.
"Tell Shampoo and Mousse to come and visit me too!" she shouted back on the spur of the moment. Ranma nodded, and waved.
As they disappeared, the family began to clear away the dishes, as new customers began to enter. The mother sighed to herself again. She hoped Shampoo and Mousse were willing to see her again; she had put the past behind her a bit more, and hopefully, they had too.
Next Chapter: After a few domestic issues, Shampoo, Mousse, and their elder daughter Aki finally arrive at the dojo, starting a new chain of events.
Well, that's the end of this chapter. I finally thought of something to put here in my author notes. Seeing as this takes place twenty-two years after Ranma 1/2 begins, you probably ought to know how some of the characters have changed.
While this stuff isn't set in stone, hopefully you'll have a better understanding of how everyone got to where they are, and how everyone acts now. There's also information on their fighting abilities. The ranks are 1 through 5, with 1 being a normal, untrained human, 2 being a well trained person, such as a black belt martial artist, 3 is an just beyond normal human limits, like Shampoo was when she first arrived, 4 being extreme levels of power, and 5 being superhuman.
Saotome Ranma:
Age: 38
Occupation: Martial arts teacher at the Tendo School of Indiscriminate Grappling
Abilities:
Speed: 4
Strength: 4
Stamina: 5
Ki: 3
Aura: ?
Special Techniques: ?
Ranma is the most powerful martial artists since he arrived in Tokyo twenty-two years ago. His powers since then have grown many times over, and his skill and ingenuity is currently unmatched. In his mid twenties, for example, he created several special techniques, which had never existed before, although nobody except Akane has seen all of them.
After things had settled down a bit in Tokyo, Ranma was finally able to solve some of his problems, and it culminated with him finally marrying Akane. After that, everything else began falling into place, and his old friends and rivals either accepted what happened, moved away, or both. His father moved back in with his mother, and slowly everything else settled down. The only person whom Ranma consistently fights with is Ryoga. They spar once a week, more out of a necessity to fight someone at least reasonably equal in skill.
After three years of marriage, Akane and Ranma had their first child, Sakura. The next year, Sauske was born, and a few years after that, Auska, their third and final child was born. Then and now, his children are the most important thing to him, along with Akane. On many occasions he has been willing to give his life to protect them from something, and on almost one out of five of those occasions, he almost did. Although they have their differences, he loves all of his children completely, whether they are insolent (Sakura), passive (Sauske), or have little interest in martial arts (Auska).
In appearance, Ranma has changed little between the ages of 16 and 38. His hair has gained a few gray lines, but it is indistinct and overpowered by the majority of black hair remaining. He still has his short pigtail and his semi-muscular appearance, with only a new set of scars formed over the older ones. And of course, he still wears his favorite, although they are now old and torn, repaired, torn, and repaired again, Chinese shirts and pants. When in his female form, Ranma has lost a bit of his beauty, but it's made up for by a much more relaxed attitude when he is a she.
As for the relationship between Ranma and Akane, things have settled a bit. She does still hit him sometimes, although not nearly as much as before. He does sometimes poke fun at her, although again, not nearly as much as when they first met.
Overall, to Ranma, even when they go through a stressful time, everything around him is finally going well.