Chapter 3: "Highwayman"
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2, not at all...
Bolded is Chinese
Thoughts are in Italics
Yo! Chapter 3, this is really the start of the story. Like I've said before, I have over 15 chapters planed for this fiction, all about the same size of the last two(6,000-5,000 words) so don't go slack on the reviews! I need people to tell me if I'm doing well, if I'm doing badly, whatever. Enjoy!
The sun slowly reached it's zenith in the sky above Nerima. A boy with a short pony-tail walked down the road that would eventually take him to his most difficult battle. There was no impossible opponent waiting on him, no flashy battle. No, something one hundred times worse than anything he had ever faced before: His family. A sudden chill crept up his spine at the thought of facing them. He was trying to find something to occupy his time on the trip to the clinic. He was trying to do a trick with the bonbori he brought with him, he was trying to hide them somewhere on his body with little success. How the heck does Shampoo do that? Looking down at the weapons in his hands, he wondered why he brought them. He hadn't even noticed he had them until he was half way to the clinic, by then he figured it would just be better to keep them and try to learn that trick. Somehow, the boy felt he could stand up to his so-called "fate" if he had them with him.
"Is it really just the weapons themselves that give me the confidence to move forward, or is it the person who they remind me of..." His voice deserted him as he saw his destination: a small clinic on the corner of two sleepy streets. The building itself wasn't too impressive, but the change Ranma wanted could only be obtained there. Shaking out the thoughts of anything, or anyone, else, he steeled himself for what was to come as he went into the clinic.
Tenitively walking into the cramped lobby area, he leaned the bonbori up against the wall. This is going to be hard enough like it is, I don't want them to be reminded of Shampoo right now, that would only make things worse. As he walked towards the back room where he was sure his family would be, he looked over his shoulder at the weapons. Sighing, he continued on until he come to the private medical room. He could hear voices coming from inside, so he lightly knocked on the door waiting to be let inside.
"I'll get it." Ranma tensed up as the door swung open. Akane blinked at him as he stood there. She seemed to snap out her shock long enough to throw a punch at his face. Being the martial artist he is, Ranma managed to dodge the fist enough to avoid direct contact, her knuckles still grazed the side of his face though.
"What the hell Akane!" Ranma yelled as he somersaulted back away from the door. Akane was still fuming as she stood in the doorway.
"Ranma you idiot! Where have you been! Your mother has been in here all night and you finally show up now!" Ranma, caught off-guard, could only glare at her. He tensed up his fist, trying to keep his anger in check.
"I don't need this now Akane! I'm here to see my mother, now get out of my way." He tried to keep his cool, but any more verbal/physical attacks from the youngest Tendo would push him over the edge. Genma, who had until now been at Nodoka's bedside, decided to defuse the situation.
"Now Akane, the boy is here now. No need to jump down his throat before you hear his story. Right now though, I'm sure he just wants to see how his mother is doing." Looking back at Genma, Akane finally gives up and moves out of Ranma's way. She retakes her previous seat off to the right of Nodoka's bed.
Still watching Akane, Ranma walks into the small room. He sees his mother asleep in the bed with a large welt on her face. So, that's why everyone is here. I knew something happened to mom, but I forgot to ask Kasumi what it was...
"So, Shampoo did this to mom?" Ranma asked his father. Genma looked confused but he still nodded.
"What do you mean? You didn't know Shampoo did this?" Akane hissed out. "She stormed into the house and tore the place up looking for Mrs. Saotome. She knocked her unconscious! You were supposed to keep her in check once you dumped her Ranma!" Akane didn't try to hit him again, but Ranma almost felt his body freeze under her glare.
"Of course I didn't know! Mousse knocked me out with some sort of drug when I went after her. It's not my fault that she did this! What the hell did you all say to get her that mad though? Shampoo wouldn't have done something like this unless you really pushed her." Ranma snapped back at her.
"I don't believe this! You're taking that Chinese whores side in this! She's your mother Ranma! Look at her, look how much she's hurt! I don't believe you!" Akane jumped up from her seat, already gathering a battle aura and clenching her fist.
"Don't call that Akane!" Ranma started drawing power as well. Utterly disgusted at this conversation, he was ready to dodge any attacks Akane might try. "Mom will be fine, but all that blood in the bedroom, that was Shampoo's right? What the hell did you do to her!"
Akane was taken back at the vigorous verbal defense Ranma was putting up. She was about to snap back when a voice to her left cut her off.
"Ranma, don't fight with her." All the people present turned towards the speaker. Nodoka sat up in her bed and drank from a cup of water that on the table next to her bed. Clearing her throat, she looked back at the two. "You two should get along better. What matters now is that Shampoo and the rest of Ranma's fiancé's are taken care of. Once I'm released from the hospital, we can have the wedding! Then the schools will finally be joined." She looked over happily at Genma, but instead of an ecstatic husband, she saw a man deep in thought.
Grumbling to herself, Akane settled down and took her seat with her arms crossed, not looking at Ranma. Sighing, Nodoka motioned at a chair beside Akane to Ranma. Ranma, however, was still shaking in anger.
"I asked you a question Akane!" Ranma said while still staring at her. Akane, shocked as she was, only managed to blink at Ranma. What the hell? He's never been this angry before... She looked over at Nodoka who was as surprised as she was.
"Ranma, what is this? Shampoo attacked me and Akane defended me. It's as simple as that. Out of pity I didn't notify the authorities. If I had, I'm sure that girl would have been sent back to her own backwater village in China. I did her a favor." Nodoka said matter-of-factly.
"That's not true at all. If Shampoo was serious about attacking you, there is no way Akane would have been able to do anything about it! All that blood, you two...almost killed her..." He trailed off. His anger had reached an all-time high as he drew more and more chi into his clenched fist. The aura turned into a visible flame as he clenched his fist, it's intensity fueled by his chi. The flame danced around his hand only millimeters away from the skin on his hand. If he could feel the heat, he didn't show it on his face. The temperature started to rise as the flame grew in intensity and started traveling up the chi in his arm until it was almost at his shoulder. Wide-eyed, Genma, Akane, and Nodoka could only blink blankly at the boy.
She's really hurt, how could I let this happen to her! What the hell am I good for if I can't even protect the people I really care about! At that last thought, his aura instantly decreased in power, his flame-incased arm was still blazing, but it's intensity had died down. The people I...care about? I...care about Shampoo? Ranma's eyes suddenly shot around as if he was in a panic, darting from one person to another staring at their faces. His aura totally gone, he sighed and walked out of the room. Snapping out of his trance, Genma shot up to follow after him while Akane and Nodoka could only wonder at what had just happened. Genma caught up with Ranma as he gathered up what looked like Shampoo's bonbori.
"Boy, wait." Ranma shot a glance at his father, but still waited to hear what he had to say.
"That aura you used back there, have you ever done anything like that before?" Ranma only looked blankly at his father.
"What aura? Bah, I don't have time for this, I'm going to go check on Shampoo." He turned to leave, but Genma caught his shoulder at the door of the clinic.
"Boy, let's head back to the house for a minute." Ranma rolled his eyes. He didn't have time for his father to protest about his going to visit Shampoo.
"Look pops, I'll be back later, right now I have to check on Shampoo. I don't care if you think you'll marry me off to Akane but lemme tell you now that it's never going to happen. I don't want to hear any complaints about this! It's my life, let me live it for once." Genma thought about hitting the boy for that, but instead shook his head.
"I'm not talking about that boy, I have something I want to show you." Looking at the distrust in his son's eyes, Genma gave up.
"Fine, go see Shampoo but then come right back home, I'll have it ready for you by then." Before a confused Ranma could say otherwise, Genma walked off out of the clinic towards the dojo.
"...Whatever, I've got to get to the Cat Cafe'." Ranma, bonbori in hand, leapt off the ground onto a near rooftop. Making sure to watch his back this time, he headed off to the Cat Cafe' at Amaguirken-like speed.
Several Hours Earlier: Cat Cafe'
Sunlight streamed into Shampoo's bedroom as morning broke. She rolls over on her pillow only to be fully woken up by a sharp pain on her cheek. Her hands immediately run over the bandage that covers the left side of her face. Her eyes then caught sight of her bandaged right hand. She sighed and fell back in her bed.
"Ranma..." The memories of past day flooded back into her mind. No matter how she tried to reassure herself, no matter how much she tried to forget, they still came. The first few minutes of her date with Ranma, the anger she felt as she headed to the Tendo dojo, the pain she felt when she was cut. That pain was nothing compared to what I found out...how could you do this to me Ranma. I...I...loved you... Almost in tears, she caught a reprieve in the form of her great-grandmother. The elder hoped into her bedroom and over to her bed.
"Shampoo, I see you're up. That's good because I have to change your bandages." Cologne produced a first aid kit and started to unwrap Shampoo's hand. As the bandages came off Shampoo visibly winced. Her hand had a terrible cut at least half an inch deep. Without the bandages, Shampoo couldn't even try to close her hand.
"Shampoo, stop trying to clench your fist, you'll only aggravate the wound. It should be healed up by the time we get home so don't worry. Of course, it'll leave a scare, though not as bad as the one that will be on your face." Cologne finished unbinding the wound with several curses from her granddaughter as she applied the alcohol to remove infection. Chuckling, she rebound Shampoo's hand.
"Since when did you become so weak Shampoo? You've had worse pain than this before." Cologne was trying to goad the quiet girl into conversation to lighten the mood.
"Shampoo has been lax in her training great-grandmother. Have to remedy that when we get home." Cologne sighed. She had hoped that Shampoo would reconsider going back to Joketsuzoku. I guess some wounds must be healed in their own way...
"Well child, I already have our ticket home. You need time to rest as I'm sure you'll have many challenges when we get there, both from rivals who want your place as village champion, and from suitors since Ranma is no longer your Airen." Shampoo winced again as Cologne said that, although the elder didn't notice. "As such, I've gotten us on a boat. The trip will only be a week, but I think that will be enough time for you to recover. Mousse is already moving our personal effects to the docks. Well be leaving in about an hour."
"An hour! How Mousse move things so fast?" Shampoo was shocked, she had thought that she would have to wait at least three days to leave.
"That boy has been going non-stop since I told him our travel plans. When he puts his mind to it, he can actually be useful." Of course Cologne knew his motives were less-than-noble, but she figured she could use the boy as free labor. She then removed the bandage from Shampoo's face. The cut had stopped bleeding, but it was still a horrible sight. It ran 6 inches from the base of her hairline to the left half of her chin. Even an warrior as old as Cologne sighed at the sight of it. She gently cleaned it with a cold rag before she applied the alcohol. Shampoo bit down on her bottom lip to keep from crying out. Once all infection was out, Cologne covered it again with a fresh bandage. She then produced a pill and held it out to the younger Amazon.
"Due to the fact we'll get home fairly quickly, I think you should take this." Shampoo picked the small pill out of Cologne's hand and held it up in the light. It was blue and had a Chinese symbol on it, although it was too small for her to make out what it was. She looked over at her great-grandmother with a confused look.
"That is a 'weave healing' pill. It will help your wounds close much faster, but it won't heal scars. It should have your wounds closed by the time we get home. You'll need it too, on the ship I'm going to start your training in one of the four elemental schools. You'll learn the Water School, I think that will help you the most. It'll be brutal, but you'll make it." Cologne waited for Shampoo to take the pill, then she hoped over to the door where she had left a small bag.
"Well, I'm going to go get the last of my things so we can leave. The restaurant is already cleaned out so there isn't much left we can eat on the ship. Your cloths for the trip are in that travel bag by your bed, the rest are loaded on the ship. We're leaving soon, so meet me at the door in a few minutes." With that, the elderly Amazon hopped off towards the kitchen. Sighing, Shampoo got out of bed and walked over to her window. She looked out over the city where she was prepared to spend the rest of her life with the one she loved. The people walking past on the street below, the skyline in the strange city of Nerima, the place that she was about to leave. Pushing any doubts out of her mind, she moved closer to her window and kissed it, leaving an image of her lips on the window.
"Goodbye...my home..." She picked up her bag and headed out of her room, looking one last time out the window.
"...Goodbye...Airen..." A silent tear dropped as he made her way to the front door of the Cafe' where Cologne was waiting for her. Taking one last look at her old home, Cologne closed the door and pinned a note up on the door.
"Come child, Mousse is at the dock waiting for us." Cologne, Shampoo following, made their way to the harbor where a boat would take them to the one place where nothing could bother them: Joketsuzoku.
Cologne smiled to herself as she hopped along. Well Ranma, you may have screwed things up, but I know you. Consider that sign my first true test for you. I've left the bread crumbs, let's see if you're smart enough to follow them...
Back to Present: Cat Cafe'
Finally arriving at the Cat Cafe', a pig-tailed youth hops down from a nearby rooftop. Still with bonbori in hand, he approached the Cafe's door. What? The Cafe' should be open this time of day, what the heck is going on? I know she was hurt, but still... Noticing a note on the door, Ranma chooses to look it over and reads it out loud to himself.
"Attention: The Cat Cafe' has moved. New location: Joketsuzoku, China. Due to the boat trip back, the grand re-opening will be one week from Monday, August 10." Blinking, Ranma cursed and headed off towards Nerima harbor. Damn it! There is still time to catch her! Why the hell did she leave! Not again...I won't let her go like this! Running as fast as he thought possible, Ranma pumped more and more chi into his leg muscles, his aura flaring. He didn't notice, but the aura around his feet started to flame. Every time his feet hit the roofs of the buildings, a singed footprint would be left.
All it took for him to arrive at the harbor was around half an hour. Looking at all the ships, he knew he would never find the correct one in time. Pulling a dock worker aside, he asked for the ticket counter. Making his way over to it, several people got out of the mace-weilding boy's way.
"Hey! I need to know which of these ships is leaving for China!" The frightened ticket counter worker simply blinked at the enraged boy. Thinking it best not to get on his bad side, he complied and started looking through his records.
"Can you be more specific? A lot of ships come and go from here."
"Uh...it would be a ship that would take about a week to get to China. It would also be a passenger liner. There would be a lot of luggage, an old bat hopping around on a stick, a young Chinese guy with thick glasses, and a cute purple haired Chinese girl." Wait a minute...did I just call Shampoo cute? Arrg! I don't have time for this! I'll find her first, then sort out my feelings.
"Oh, those three. Yeah, they took the 'Hong Kong Maru' this morning." The ticket worker said matter-of-factly.
"You...you mean they are already gone...?" Ranma stuttered. He cringed at the thought of missing her, she had left without a word. No...now I can't even sort things out or make them right...
"However, there is another ship heading off to China leaving tomorrow morning." The ticket worker added. Ranma immediately brightened up.
"How much for a ticket?" He knew he didn't have enough money, but he had to try.
"Well...you seem like a strong guy. The ship is short on crew, if you work for them, they will probably let you go for free. It's a slower ship so it'll take longer to get to China, two weeks longer than your friends ship in fact. You don't have alot of time to think about it, they pull out 5:00am tomorrow. You can talk to the captain then and he'll let you on. Should I tell him he has a new crew member?"
Ranma thought for but a moment before he spit out an answer. "Yeah. I'll be here for sure."
After getting the particular information, Ranma headed back to the Tendo Dojo. It was getting late in the day as he walked through the gate. They are going to kill me for this. If I tell them that I'm going all the way to China just to see Shampoo, they'll flip out. I don't want to burn anymore bridges until I get my feelings sorted out...I've gotta find an excuse...
Making his mind up and hiding Shampoo's bonbori with his semi-perfected hiding technique, he walks into the main house. In the living room eating dinner was his father, mother, Akane, Kasumi, Nabiki, Soun, and Ryoga in pig form. They all looked up at him as he walked into the room. Akane instantly turned away in disgust and P-Chan glared.
Just great, Ryoga's here... "Hey guys, sorry I'm late, nice to see you out of the clinic mom." Nodoka put on a slight smile and motioned for him to sit. Genma continued eating and Kasumi went back to her conversation with Nabiki. Ranma coughed to get everyone's attention. All but Akane and P-Chan looked up at him.
"Uh...I've got some news. The reason why I was gone is because I was at the harbor getting a boat ticket." Everyone looked stunned. Akane looked at him with a suspitious look in her eye while P-Chan only smiled at his change of luck.
"Ranma, I know things have been tough, but running away won't solve anything. Especially with your wedding to Akane being planned. I'm sorry, but you can't go." Nodoka said. She was the essence of composed as she sipped on her tea.
No! It's my life! I'll do what I want, not even you can stop me. That is what Ranma said mentally, in reality he stuck to his former plan of action.
"I'm not running away, I'm heading to Jusenkyo to get rid of my curse." At this, there was an audible gasp from everyone present, even Akane looked shocked. Because of their shock, no one noticed a certain black pig run out the door in the direction of a nearby bath house.
Genma instanly recovered. Instead of saying anything, he simply walked up to the Saotome bedroom. Man, pops is acting weird...oh well, no time to deal with his mood swings.
"Why now Ranma?" Everyone turned to Nabiki. "If it was this easy for you to get a ticket to get cured, why are you going now?"
Darn you Nabiki! "Well, I need some time away from the family. I really need some time to think some things over, the trip will serve for that." That wasn't a direct lie, Ranma thought, Too bad they don't know I'm going to think about my relationship with Shampoo... A small grin showed itself for a moment, but was just as quickly suppressed.
"This is wonderful! Akane, you can go with Ranma to grow closer to your fiancé!" Just as quick as Soun Tendo got the idea, two sets of fists knocked it out of him.
"No way I'm getting stuck on a boat with that pervert!" Akane shouted.
"Same thing here! No way I'm going with her! This is a personal thing, so none of you are going, not even pops. Speaking of that panda, I've got to go see him." Ranma left a questioning family behind as he ascended the stairs to his room.
"Hey pops, you said you wanted to see me?" Ranma headed into the room and found Genma by the window. There were still blood stains on the carpet that made Ranma cringe.
"You're going after Shampoo aren't you?" Genma said calmly. He had something in his hands, but from where Ranma was he couldn't see it.
"H..how the hell do you know that!" Ranma was shocked to be sure.
"I know you boy. I'm your father after all. Also, you've been carrying around her bonbori all day long. You've got them hidden well, but you can't pull one over on me. Well, not yet anyway." Genma supressed a chuckle. "I've dragged you around this world for how long now Ranma? 16 years?" He sighed as he turned to face his son. "As much as I want you to marry a Tendo, I also want you to be happy. The Art may be your life, but there is more to it than that, boy. I won't say anything to your mother, she'd never let you leave, she'd probably disown you." Ranma cringed. If it came to it he might give up the family name to go, but he'd rather not.
"...Thanks dad." Ranma went over to his closet. He pulled out his backpack and began putting clothes and such in it when Genma called him over to him.
"Here." Genma handed Ranma a old scroll. Curious, Ranma opened it. There were examples of chi manipulation, basic and advanced katas, and different attacks. He noticed the header of the scroll.
"The...Fire School? What is this pops?" Ranma asked as he began to look over the scroll.
"You know about the four different chi schools right?" Ranma shook his head. "Well, there are four different schools: Air, Water, Earth, and Fire. That is the basic scroll of the Fire School. Today in the clinic, I saw you use a fire technique when you got mad. "
"Really? I didn't even notice...which one was it?" Ranma rolled the scroll back up and began packing once again.
"The 'Burning Fist'. I was quite suprised. All this time, I thought for sure you'd be like me and take after the Air School. Guess I never saw it huh? Your trip should take awhile, so study that scroll and learn it. It's also easier to use a weapon with that school than with the Air School. Since you're carrying those bonbori around, you might as well use them. I think learning this school will help you in the long run." Genma turned back to the window.
"Yeah, I'm sure it will..." Ranma finished packing and turned to Genma. "Well pops, the ship leaves early...so I'm gonna go on..." Genma didn't turn around, he only said one thing.
"Ranma, whatever you decide in China...you'll always have one parent that will accept your decision." For the fist time that day, Ranma smiled. He simply walked over to his father and did something he hadn't done in years, he hugged his father. Quickly breaking the embrace, he went over and got his backpack.
"Tell anyone I did that and I'll kick your ass, old man." Genma only chuckled.
"Wouldn't dream of it. You should take the window and head out that way, if you go downstairs you'll only cause a disaster with Nodoka and Akane. I'll talk to them after you're gone." Genma walked over to the door, on his way out he heard the window slide open.
"You know pops, sometimes you're not half bad." Before Genma could answer, Ranma was gone.
"Ha, that boy will never change." Genma said as an afterthought. He then went down to the living room to handle damage control.
Ranma made his way towards the dock in the dark of night. His huge backpack was on his back as he studied his new scroll he had received from Genma using the light of the street lamps. He really didn't need light, the characters seemed to glow red themselves in the darkness.
"So...this tells me how to do the 'Burning Fist' eh?" He began to read aloud from the scroll. "Fold your chi into itself as close to your body as possible, then use the aura friction to ignite the oxygen in the air around you. At advanced levels you can light your entire aura field on fire, this is called the 'Burning Armor'. Be careful however, as the chi flames eat oxygen to burn. If you light the aura around your face, you will be unable to breath due to lack of oxygen." Ranma shook his head. "That's handy to know."
While he was immersed in his scroll, he didn't see the rock aimed at the back of his head. It hit with enough force to almost knock him over. He caught himself though, and turned to meet his attacker.
"Damn, that's twice I've been hit from behind! I really should train harder to avoid that..." He said sheepishly. "Ok, who did that? Show yourself!" Ready to meet anything, he drew up in a classic Anything Goes defense stance.
"Well Ranma, you are really gonna do it this time, huh?" The figure hopped down from a wall that ran parallel to the street Ranma was walking on. It then stooped down to pick up another rock and was gingerly tossing it up in the air and catching it.
"Ryoga! What's the big idea huh?" Ranma said as the lost boy walked out into the light of a street lamp.
"What do you mean 'what's the big idea'? I heard you're going to Jusenkyo right? Well I'm coming too!" Even in the dark, Ranma could see the ecstatic look on Ryoga's face.
"No way P-Chan. This is personal." Ranma said walking off.
"Don't be so selfish Ranma!" Ryoga gritted his teeth. "I have to go! I don't want to be stuck as a half pig the rest of my life! Besides, it's your fault I'm like this, you need to make amens!"
"Well Ryoga, if I was actually going to Jusenkyo you could come, too bad I'm not." Ranma was still walking towards the harbor and Ryoga was still following him.
"Then why did you tell Akane and the others you were? What are you up too?" Ryoga said as he caught up enough to walk beside Ranma.
"I'm..." Ranma trailed off as he looked down at his feet. It's not like I'm ashamed to say I'm going to go look for Shampoo, it's just I don't want any of the family to find out until I can come up with a way to tell them myself... "It's none of your business where I'm going Ryoga! Besides, you couldn't keep your mouth shut anyway if I told you."
Now Ryoga was really interested. "Come on! I won't say anything, really!" He was like a kidergardener with a pleading look in his eyes. "Tellmetellmetellmetellme..."
"ARG! FINE I'LL TELL YOU, JUST SHUT UP FOR A MINUTE!" This was shouted much louder than Ranma intended. Several lights flickered on in the darkness and multiple curses could be heard from people who were woke up from peaceful sleep.
Almost in a whisper, Ranma continued, "I swear Ryoga, if you tell anyone back home about this, P-Chan will be making a lot more apperances, get the drift?" Ryoga gulped and nodded.
"Fine, well, this is how it is..." The next few minutes were spent bringing Ryoga up to speed on the events that had transpired during his latest absence. At several points the lost boy would point out something obvious then get cursed out by an eye-rate Ranma. Finally getting to the point about the purpose of the trip, Ranma stopped.
"So...I'm going after Shampoo. I really don't know why, but I can't get on with my life until I see her again. I'm hoping once I run into her I can get the answers I need." Ranma felt better talking to someone his own age, even if it was Ryoga.
Ryoga rubbed his chin and sighed. "Well, that's...a big step for you huh? I mean, you never talk about your feelings about any of the other girls." Suddenly a thought came over him and he grinned like an idiot.
"Hey! With you going after Shampoo, Akane is free!" Ryoga felt great, his heart of glass just might have toughened up a bit in light of his new odds of winning the youngest Tendo.
"I guess she is, but why you would want her I don't know..." Ranma said, pushing Ryoga's buttons. He was rewarded with a quick punch to the gut.
"Don't talk about her like that!" Ryoga started grinding his fist in when he pulled it back with a yell. Ranma grinned as the air around his waist burned with a chi fire. Ryoga was waving his hand around in the night air, trying to get it to cool down.
"How's that P-Chan? Like my new technique?" Ranma cound't help but get proud at the effectiveness of his new trick. Although he couldn't control it to the point he wanted, he could still summon a bit of fire to a point in his body for a few moments.
"Damn that hurts! So that's the new style you're learning huh?" Ryoga managed to get out between blowing on his hand. "Hey, I just had a thought. The Amazon villiage is close to Jusenkyo right?" Ranma thought for a moment then nodded. "And the ticket price is waved if you work on the boat?" Ranma nodded again. "Well, why don't I go with you anyway? It's close-by where you're going and you also need a training partner for your new Martial Arts style right?"
Ranma considered this and finally nodded in aproval. "It's a long trip so the company might not be so bad. We might be gone for awhile thought, can you deal with that?"
"Yeah! Once I get my curse removed, I can finally come back and tell Akane how I feel! This is gonna be great!" Ryoga said.
Ranma only started to rub out a forming headache as he and the lost boy continued on the way to the harbor. This...is gonna be a long trip...
Ha! Got this chapter written quickly huh? Well, people might not like the coming chapters because Ranma and Shapoo's relationship will be put on hold for awhile. Also, I did make Genma a better father in this fiction. I think if Ranma really picked one of the other girls, he'd support him, IMO. This story is really a Romance/Humor/Angst/Adventure kinda thing, so if that's not your bag, don't bother reading it. If it is, enjoy my next chapter which I should have ready this weekend! Till next time.