Starting Over: Do You Want to be Friends?
Chapter 10
Written by Senshi of Valis
Ranma ½ created by Rumiko Takahashi
Card Captor Sakura created by Clamp
I don't own any of these series or the character in each.
"Ranma?" Ryoga asked, more than a little annoyed than being led around by the hand by the other boy who always stole the bread at lunch but to have to be led back and forth from school, it was so embarrassing. No one else seemed to really care this much though, and even with Ranma's over inflated ego, sometimes Ranma seemed more of a friend than a rival. Sometimes though the boy seemed to scare him, the way Ranma talked or seemed to enjoy being close to him at times, the kids at school was starting to talk and some of the rumors angered Ryoga, he wasn't like THAT!
Ryoga was so lost in his thoughts that he walked right into Ranma and knocked them down. For several moments he laid on top of Ranma, looking into those deep blue eyes.
"Ummm…Ryoga…you can get up now." Ranma said.
"S-Sorry." Ryoga said getting up and helping Ranma up.
"It's okay." Ranma giggled then blushed turning away for a moment and looked at the drug store they was by. "It was my fault, I needed to stop in here and use the restroom."
"Okay." Ryoga said. Ranma took his hand again, though he seemed nervous, and led the two into the store and to the back. When he started to lead them into the woman's restroom Ryoga had to stop and pull Ranma back. "That's the woman's restroom."
"Oh…Sorry about that." Ranma said, scratching at the base of his pigtail. "Come on."
Ranma led the two into the empty bathroom and went to one of the stalls. A few moments later a Ranma came back out and washed her hands and led the two back up an aisle and stopped by the hair dye. Ryoga watched confused as he looked through them until he picked one up and started heading to the counter, grabbing two bottles of water on the way. After paying for everything, Ranma lead them out of the store and handed Ryoga one of the bottles as he opened his.
"Ranma…why do you need hair dye for?" Ryoga asked.
"Oh…ummm…well, my pops wanted me to pick it up for his friend." Ranma said.
"Your pop has friends?" Ryoga asked jokingly.
"Yeah, hard to believe, isn't it?" Ranma laughed.
"Ranma…I've kinda been wondering…why don't you take gym with us?" Ryoga asked.
"Well, it's been so long since I was in school that they let me demonstrate my martial arts and the let me take make up classes for stuff that I've missed from the last time I've been in school." Ranma said though he looked kind of sad.
"What the hell do you think your doing?" Genma bellowed as the two got to the front of Ryoga's house, "I thought I told you to come straight home for practice?"
"I-I'm sorry." Ranma said, fear in his eyes. Genma grabbed Ranma's arm and literally dragged him off. Since that day the two grew farther and farther apart until Ryoga finally challenged him.
Ryoga sat up looking around the unfamiliar room, then he remembered that it was the room Alita had let him stay in after Ukyo left to return to her restaurant. Ryoga relaxed a little but then started thinking about his dream, the way Ranma acted funny back then…it all made a little more sense know. Ranma…no, Ranko was really a girl. It was so surreal, his greatest rival, somebody he tried to kill so many times was actually a girl.
Throwing off his covers he grabbed his pack and headed out of the rooms and actually made it downstairs without getting lost. He saw some light and decided to follow it to find a dinning room and Ranko sitting there eating some kind of sandwich and drinking some milk. She was wearing a black robe that was tied shut and her hair was falling freely sown her back and around her shoulders.
"Sorry." Ryoga said as he started to back away.
"Please…don't go, Ryoga…" Ranko said, "Please sit down."
"S-Sure Ranko." Ryoga said taking the closest chair.
"I am really sorry about last night, Ryoga." Ranko said, Ryoga could tell she was very nervous though and more than a little depressed. He was an expert in depression after all.
"Don't worry about it." Ryoga said. "I'm sorry too…I couldn't stop him…I really tried."
"Ryoga, please don't talk about it, I want to just forget it ever happened." Ranko said, "Thank you though, for trying to help. So you know that I'm really a girl?"
"Yeah, and I'm sorry for all of the times I attacked you." Ryoga said, "I should have been after that damned panda instead."
"Ryoga, you didn't know." Ranko said, "And the way I overacted trying to be the boy pops wanted…maybe I was just trying to be worth something, I don't know…"
"Hey, you are worth something, your worth a lot, Ranko." Ryoga said. "You have a lot of people here who care about you and a home to return to."
"Ryoga…I…I know I said a lot of mean stuff to you but I guess I was upset the way you was sneaking into Akane's room and using my promise against me." Ranko said. "I want to apologize for it but I won't allow it anymore."
"I'm sorry, Ranko, I really am." Ryoga said, "I don't know how to tell Akane without telling her."
"That's the easy part if you promise to keep a secret." Ranko said, "Akane means a lot to me and I might be able to fix it without her ever knowing. I know…I know you wouldn't do what he did…but it still isn't right to let it continue."
"There's not a cure, Ranko, but if you have any idea, I promise to keep it a secret." Ryoga said.
"Good, wait here." Ranko said as she stood up and took her plate with most of the sandwich and the glass into the kitchen. When she came back she grabbed Ryoga's hand and dragged him up stairs and into her room.
Ryoga was a little nervous at what was going to happen, he wanted to stay friends with Akane but he also wanted to become friends with Ranko and protect her. He felt he had to especially after failing once already.
"I'm asking you again, Ryoga." Ranko said as she let go of him and turned to look at him. "What I'm about to do no one can find out about, okay?"
"I promise." Ryoga said, confused to what she can do. He watched as she pulled a necklace with a charm on it out from her robe and started chanting. Ryoga almost freaked when the large glowing circle with weird designs appeared out of nowhere under them. The charm turned into a staff with a birdlike head on the end and she tossed a card up and struck it with the staff.
"The Erase Card, erase Ryoga's directional curse!" Ranko whispered loudly, "Release and dispel, THE ERASE!"
Ryoga almost fainted as the card was struck by Ranko's wand and it grew to a woman wearing a jester like outfit. The woman pulled out a weird looking sheet that seemed to be disappearing and waved it over Ryoga, it seeming to pass right through him. "The Erase Card, return to your power confined, ERASE!"
The woman turned back to a card and returned to Ranko's hand as she pulled out two more cards and tossed them up and struck them at the same time. "The Watery Card, The Create Card, Make some waters of separation! THE WATERY! THE CREATE!"
Again the cards came to life as one became a mermaid with water that surrounded it and a book that floated to Ranko's hand. Ryoga saw Ranko start to write something in the book as the water surrounded him soaking him until he seemed to be incased in a bubble of it. He started to panic until he found out that he could still breathe. Suddenly he felt something small floating in front of him and he automatically reached out and took hold of it. The water disappeared leaving him dry with a dry P-Chan sleeping in his arms.
"I-If it worked right." Ranko said, her breath a little heavy, "Th-Then both of your c-curses should be gone and P-Ch-Chan there should be just a normal p-pig."
"Are you okay?" Ryoga asked after he came over his shock as he noticed how tired Ranko looked.
"Yeah, Ryoga, just too much stress today and then using up so much power…I need some sleep." Ranko said as she staggered over to her bed. "I take it you have a room here tonight?"
"Y-Yeah." Ryoga said.
"Good, get some sleep and please don't go anywhere until we get a chance to talk a little more." Ranko said.
"Sure…but Ranko, tomorrow will you tell me how…how you did that?" Ryoga asked.
"Yeah, sure." Ranko said as she fell asleep.
Ryoga found his way back to his room with a sleeping black piglet in his arms. He had so many questions now but he knew it'd have to wait until later. He felt so much better now though, he didn't feel the constant depression that always seemed to stay with him. He was sure maybe it had something to do with the directional curse. He laid down on his bed letting the sleeping pig sleep next to him as he realized that this was the best he had ever felt.
Kero came out of hiding from his door when Ryoga had finally left and floated over to land on Ranko's bed. He felt so sorry for her because of everything that she had been through and now she had actually managed to cure Ryoga's curse if the pig was any indication. He wasn't sure how that made her feel but he was sure it only added to her depression some. They had tried several ways before to remove her curse and none of them had worked. Kero sensed that they were on the verge of working but she just didn't have enough power at the moment though she might when she gathered all of the cards. Her curse was just so much stronger than the other curses.
At least it did take care of one of her problems he hoped, there shouldn't be any more, "PREPARE TO DIE, SAOTOME!" from that Ryoga kid. Her whimpering brought Kero from his thoughts and brought a sigh from them, she was having nightmares again.
Kero brought out the dream card an activated it causing a woman to appear that reminded him so much of Helba from those dot hack games and anime. She brushed Ranko's hair out of her face as Kero could feel the sadness coming from the woman as she looked at her Mistress. The card knew what to do though as she glowed and Ranko seemed to settle down. The Dream Card had stopped the nightmare and gave Ranko some good dreams to have.
"Thank you." Kero said as the woman nodded and returned to her card form.
AN: Hi everyone, sorry that I haven't had much card catching action yet but there will start to be plenty within the next few chapters as summer draws close and several new faces will be showing up. I decided to remove Ryoga's curse this way so they have to tell Akane the truth since both are actually afraid of losing Akane's friendship over this.
Review Responses:
Shinigami: There will be at least one maybe more people acting like Ranko's big brother/sister but Tatewaki will probably be one. As for the cards, Genma will run across a few of them and get smacked around a bit. And for Genma being Ranko's father, I'm not to sure. It is a great idea and a possibility but I'm not so sure how to handle it if that happens. It could be another reason for Genma's actions towards Ranko though.
Mgsaintz: Thanks, I really am trying to improve my writing with every chapter. Ranko is trying very hard to not think about happened and forget it but like what happened in last chapter, it isn't working and won't work. She'll probably end up going to see a therapist along with someone else. I'm not sure about a permanent pairing with Ryoga but as you said it would be a good starting point and he will probably be one of the candidates if he doesn't become more like a brother first. And I'm sorry about the confusion with the curses, I meant that the normal curses would mix, not the one she had. Hers didn't mix because the magic of her curse was a lot stronger than the training grounds and made her immune to them.
Reaper2040: Thanks, as for the shadow card, it might come into play against Genma but his final punishment may be some different kind of shadows.
Dragon Man 180: I love all of those punishments and the all suit Genma rather well, I love hearing about all the different ways you and others keep coming up with different ways to punish him. They are two people she didn't need to deal with right now though Ukyo will end up being the hardest one to convince of everything. As for the Ryoga pairing, you bring up some very good and strong points. Thanks, I did use the erase card but I had to use something different for the jusenkyo curse so there could be both a Ryoga and a P-chan.
Goku: Maybe, but I'm not sure. I thought it looked the cursed forms but you could be right. It is an excellent idea though, thank you.
Rubel: Well, the amazons are going to be a little more tougher to deal with. Shampoo may attack Ranko and call her worthless and weak while Cologne may feel bad for her and it may be reversed. Also, the both might feel bad about Ranko's whole situation and call of the whole kiss thing. Thank you.
Goldfighter: Thanks, I'm glad you like it and I will.
Goldfighter: Don't worry, I'll update again soon. Thanks.
RubberNeck: Thanks, I'm sorry though that chapter may be a little bit shorter but I had so much to deal with today. The next chapter should be a lot better and maybe even longer than what's been my recent norm.
Calamite: Thanks, I swear my spell/grammar checker is out to get me. I wanted to make Nodoka of seen a lot so not to much of the strange stuff in Ranko's life won't scare her or phase her much hence the Nuku Nuku part. The steel angel could be another great one, thanks.
TheWhiteMonk: Ukyo will be a little harder to convince but as for poking fun at the Ranma/Ryoga pairings, nope. I liked the pairing from the first two fanfictions I ever read which was Genma's Daughter and Equal Halves. They are very good stories which end up with a Ranko/Ryoga pairing. As for them being a couple in this story, I'm not really sure yet. He may become more a brother figure to Ranko. She is bottling it up and will have a breakdown which is when she will finally agree to see a counselor though someone else will go also to show that it is ok to see one. And in the next few chapters summer will be here for them and there will start to be more card activity. I will keep writing, thank you.
Kuubi: Wow, 10 out of 10. Thank you so much, I'm glad you like it so much.
Lov3the3vil: Okay, you have a point, I should probably tell three…well, four of the biggest candidates for a pairing with Ranko. First we have Li, then of course possibly Ryoga, then either Yugi or Bakura if I even bring one of them in. Here is where I'm going to go ahead and giveaway an idea I was working with so I can see if people would like it or hate it. I'm thinking Yugi or Bakura so Genma's final punishment will be banishment to the shadow realm where he will live through everything he did to Ranko himself over and over again for eternity. This isn't a set idea yet, it may not happen, but I would like to see if people like it or not. So, present possible pairings are Li, Ryoga, and possibly either Yugi or Bakura.
Thanks everyone for your wonderful reviews and thank you to everyone who has read this.
Until Next Time,
Ja Ne.