Duality
Chapter 2
No Rest for the Hopeful
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Author Note: Okay, Shinji and Ranma are the same person. Ranma or Shinji rarely dream, but when one goes to sleep, the other wakes up and goes through their day. It is the same soul, living two lives at the same moment.
Though Shinji is younger, the soul uses him to live a normal life, compared to the life of Ranma. When Gendo abandoned him, Shinji decided to become more like Ranma in that life, and become strong enough to never have to rely on anyone again.
As such, Ranma became more like Shinji in his life, hiding his true self behind a false mask, which answers the soon-to-be-coming OOC questions.
Once again, same soul, just living different lives. Ranma/Shinji only gets to dream when the other body is injured and cannot wake up.
Shinji waited as the plug drained, hating the taste and smell of blood it left in him. "Now I know how that guy felt inside that Big Guy. Hmm, I wonder if I'll get a sidekick named Rusty."
As the door opened, Shinji hopped out, taking a bow. "All hail the victor!"
His praises were sung by three darts embedding themselves in his arm and back.
Shinji stood up, removing the darts and looking at them. The smell told him they were sedatives. "What? Does piloting make you crazy?"
His answer was two more darts.
His response was a Möko Takabisha Double down the hallway, sending his attackers back and into the walls.
The scenery began to shift, tilting back and forth along its axis. Damn it, this body can't handle the stuff like Ranma can. I need to hide out until it gets out of my system.
He set his body to burning it out, but since he had no idea how potent the stuff was; he had no way of knowing a time frame before he would be awake again.
But that plan died as he turned a corner, seeing not only the LCL-soaked man behind his assault, but another group with those tranquilizer guns.
Shinji was soon sent to sleep, promising the next time he threw his father into something, the bastard was not coming out.
Ranma awoke to find himself sailing through the air, instinct keeping him from landing in the koi pond after utilizing a little bit of ki for Herb's flying technique.
"I don't have time for this shit. Möko Takabisha!"
And with that, a part-time panda received a quick shot to end the morning sparring match.
As Ranma watched his father fall to the ground in a smoldering heap, he took stock in his actions. Normally, he would have dragged out the morning spar, trying to gain some workout from it.
Not that his Father was a challenge anymore. But after defeating a Phoenix God, what could one say.
So why the change? Why had he attacked and ended it quickly?
Ranma exhaled loudly. He knew why already. As Shinji, he was used to relaxing in the style of a normal life, finding solace as the boy.
Until the Angel...
Until Gendo decided to treat him like a crazy animal and shoot him full of sedatives.
"Great, I'm going to be fucking edgy all day." His mask was strained yesterday, popping off slightly for the confrontation with Akane outside the furo. The action and excitement in the Shinji world left him still feeling worn around the edges, as if the mask was still ready to fall off.
One world gave him peace, another gave him excitement. If the balance was shifting, then he would have to try and adapt.
It was the foundation for his school; his life.
"I'm screwed."
The table stared in awe. Not only had Ranma began to eat at a normal pace compared to a normal person, but he was reading a school text book.
Kasumi wondered if perhaps her father had spilt more sake in the cooking pots again.
Nabiki didn't know how this information could turn a profit, but she knew she didn't like her favorite mark changing habits too much.
Soun was crying about how his son-in-law had been switched with an evil clone from another universe; a most likely a conclusion born of drinking with Genma at a Sci-Fi convention yesterday.
Genma was still passed out in the yard. No one cared.
Nodoka was beaming that her son was improving his studies. It was very manly, in her opinion.
Akane simmered, having been ignored last night and currently. "What are you doing with that book, baka? Hiding some perverted pictures?"
Ranma ignored her baiting; allowing the mask off for the day, figuring it would keep people off his case and allow him the rest his life as Shinji had failed to grant him in his last stretch. "No, I am studying English verb conjugation that Ms. Hinako seems unable to teach. It is doubtful she would maintain her job without her aura draining technique, which also keeps students fearful to correct her or ask questions. I am merely using self education as a tool to overcome this discrepancy."
The others could only blink.
Internally, Ranma was smiling. If he was going to relax and enjoy life without the mask on this side of the soul, then he might as well get started.
Because when he went to sleep tonight, he was so going to beat the hell out of Gendo. Dart me, will he.
"Hold, foul sorcerer! I shall dispel your dark magics from—"
Kuno's rant was cut off by Ranma, as he disarmed the steel sword from Kuno—including the sheath—and backhanded the delusional kendo student through the school's outer wall, all the time not taking his nose from the English book, now much closer to the end than it had been during breakfast.
Nabiki hissed, still trying to catch her breath. Ranma had left before anyone else, claiming he needed to talk with his teachers about missed work.
But for the middle Tendo, she knew something more had to be up. In the few hours he had been awake, Ranma was showing a 180 in his personality. He was acting against expected patterns.
This did not set well with the Mercenary Girl, and she would have answers.
But her day continued to both baffle and irritate her. Ranma had not appeared in any of his classes, nor was he seen around school during lunch.
Finally, classes had ended, fiancées had departed, lunch nor classes revealing the object of their desire or anger. Had Ryoga not shown up in her classroom twice asking if this was Furinkan, she would have assumed Ranma had skipped out.
So, she decided to use her analytical skills. If Ranma was still in school, he had to be the one place no one would ever think to look for him.
Smiling, she stalked off, her prey now cornered.
Ranma shut the book, filing away another set of homework questions into the folder he would turn in tomorrow.
He looked around, his eyes tired. The books of the library offered great solace. Here, no fiancée would think to find him, no enemy would seek him here, no teacher or principal would stalk in here to yell.
It was a quiet sanctuary, a fact that for him, seemed to cross the threshold of his dual lives. But it appears the chaos has followed as well.
He looked at the pile of books to his left, signaling the ones he was finished with. All but his Science course and his History course were finished, a proud achievement he took pride in, completing a semester's worth of work in one day. His mind felt exhausted, a feeling that made him feel more like Shinji than Ranma.
As Shinji, martial arts were not his life, but a part of him. He had true friends, outlets for peer socialization, and had even enjoyed a few dates, though Usagi seemed to now be more interested in a man named Kaji Himura.
He did wish her luck. They may have been each other's first kiss, but far be it for him to demand more. They were friends first, no matter what.
But there, he was as normal as anyone with his life could be, despite what his worthless Father and guardian had tried to do.
Sure, he wasn't as tough as Ranma in taking a punch, as quick, lest he would have avoided those tranquilizer darts. His ki was another matter, since meditation helped there. There, he had slightly more ki than Ranma, though his body wasn't able to handle it enough.
Maybe I should study P-chan, see if the Bakusai Tenketsu can be duplicated without the boulders. It's not like I can expect the shadows to leave me alone that long. Maybe it creates a ki barrier within the skin. If so, then maybe I can duplicate it.
Worth a shot.
"Well, hello, Saotome."
His head lowered, reaching into his book bag, and retrieving a paper, handing it to Nabiki. "What's this?"
Ranma smiled. "It is a bill for services rendered."
The girl blinked before going over it. "You're charging me for saving me when I was your fiancée?"
"Yes. I am also charging you for back fees for my gig as a model for your pictures. I think the amounts requested are quite reasonable."
Nabiki could only pale as she read the final total. "You can't be serious!"
He stood, placing his books into his backpack, deciding that a public library in Tokyo Proper would have to do for the rest of the work he needed to get done today. "Completely serious, and until you pay, I am cutting off your little extracurricular activities involving me. And notice I charge a flat fee of seventy five percent for any information sold about me."
By the time Nabiki snapped out of it, and remembered why she had come here to talk to Ranma, he was already gone.
Ranma trudged home, now in female form thanks once again to the ladle lady. "Well, she won't be washing sidewalks with this anymore." Ranma smirked as she held up the crushed ladle, taking some pride in how the woman had reacted when Ranma had snatched it from her.
"If you aren't considerate enough to watch where you are tossing the water, then I fail to see why I should continue to let you."
It was the high point of her day. Sure, when her life as Shinji resumed and the stress was taken care of, she might feel somewhat guilty for doing such things.
But then again, being first asked to kill a divine enemy and then shot with a few dozen darts by a soon-to-be dead father figure would send a good bit of stress your way.
Her stomach made a small rumble, informing her the light dinner she had after she had finished History was no longer enough to sustain the monster within.
History... It was the only subject she dreaded. She remembered when she had spent a few months in school as Ranma, and had caught herself writing down Second Impact as an answer. Until that point, Ranma had always been good at separating his life he led from that of the one he led as Shinji Ikari.
So he made the mask, trying to keep playing the game on both sides, wanting to ensure that they stayed separate.
But that was becoming a dream, the only dream he seemed to ever have. In their life, they were either Shinji or Ranma, no in-between. "To sleep, per chance, to dream."
Ranma knew other people dreamed when they slept. But not her. When she slept, she lived as someone else. Sure, there were brief moments where she could dream, where she was neither Ranma nor Shinji.
But those moments were often the home of nightmares.
Kuno professing his love...
Nekoken...
Her dreams...her happy moments...were more centered in her life as Shinji.
Shaking her head, Ranma headed inside.
"I'm home!"
"Boy, where have you been? You should have been here eating the delicious dinner your fiancée made you. Oh, how was I cursed with such a disrespectful child?"
"He was probably flirting with those hussies!"
"WAH! NOW THE SCHOOLS WILL NEVER BE JOINED!"
Ranma shook her head, taking the kettle offered by Kasumi, and resuming her birth form. "First off, I was studying to catch up on my classes and finish the homework I needed to turn in. I don't want to be left behind at the end of the semester."
He turned to Akane, seeing her prepare to call him a liar. "I was not hanging out with any women, unless you count Mrs. Tanaka at the Furinkan High library, and the nice elderly lady who helped me at the Tokyo Proper public library near the downtown train station.
"But then again, when has the truth ever stopped me from being blamed.
"And as for dinner, well... I have yet to hear from any of you how good the food was."
The silence was not even disturbed by a cicada, which had been coincidentally eaten by Genma since Akane had prevented Kasumi or Nodoka from cooking.
"Boy; that meal was meant for you! Now, be a man and eat her meal!" Genma shoved a covered plate in front of Ranma.
Ranma just pushed it back. "I'll make something for myself. If she won't eat her own cooking, then there is no reason I should play the part of the canary for this mining troop."
"HOW DARE YOU—"
Once again, Genma found his rant cut off by Ranma's fist. "I ain't in the mood for childish behavior, old man. All I hear is whining from you and everyone else about how I don't act as you want. I refuse to be a louse like you, I refuse to be a punching bag for an ill-tempered girl, and I refuse to be bullied by those who dare assume they deserve such rights over my soul!"
Ranma stormed off into the kitchen, ignoring any protests, demon heads, or spouting fools who seemed to enjoy ticking him off to no end.
As he prepared a meal as best he could, considering Kasumi had yet to clean Akane's mess—not that he expected the tomboy to do the work herself—he set his meal cooking as he began the dishes.
He was stressed, his mind frayed from homework and lack of relaxation. So far, he had avoided the fiancées, avoided much of the Kunos and dealt with Tatewaki quickly and efficiently, kept his mind distracted by homework. He even got a pretty good sword out of the deal.
But there were no friends here for him, no time to relax, no time to be...free.
Once again, Ranma found himself yearning to sleep.
Dreaming was not an option at this point.
Shinji came to, his head pounding as his ki began to burn through the sedatives in his system. Damned old man.
He sat up, noticing how bound he was to the bed. "So, the old fart wants my secrets." His smile grew. "Well then, I'll just have to...demonstrate them, won't I?"
Gendo Ikari and Ritsuko Akagi were walking down a hallway to Medical Room 7, where they had stored the drugged body of the Commander's son. "What have we learned from the Third Child, Doctor?"
Ritsuko hated him calling Shinji that, but if the boy really was contaminated by the Angels... "Aside from the fact he is in better health than should be possible, I don't know what to tell you. I have found no signs of Angel activity. His muscle cells are denser than normal, his bioelectric field contains much stronger harmonics than I have ever seen, brain activity is normal, despite his comatose state. I haven't even been able to deduce why it took the amount of tranquilizing agent that it did to drop him." Ritsuko hated mysteries, and this boy was giving her a giant one. "As to how he was able to do those things he did, I have no clue. But it is safe to rule out Angel contamination."
"Very well. Anything else?"
"We need to find a way to secure him. Perhaps he will answer our questions willingly."
Before Gendo could answer her idea, they heard a loud pounding, which brought their attention to the reinforced door between them in the medical lab, which now had a large bulge in it.
Followed by another one...
And another one...
Finally, the door was ripped off the hinges, hitting the ground and sliding in front of the two humans.
They slowly looked up, seeing a nude boy of the age of fourteen, cracking his knuckles. "Old man, we need to talk...about boundaries."
Shinji was back!