Chapter VII
After building a small fire with whatever they could collect from the site without going out in the rain, and using rain water, Ranma and Mousse changed back into their normal selves.
But now Ryoga was once again forced to hand over another piece of clothing, because white swans don't wear clothing. This time, Ryoga had to give up his pants to Mousse.
This left Ryoga in his tank-top and boxer shorts. He kept his dignity and embarrassment in check, with his hands out in front. His love for Akane sometimes had a profound power over him that stirred up controllable feelings of impure thoughts. This was one of those times.
They sat around the fire with a boiling steel bucket of water under a canopy that protected them from the pouring rain, it was really coming down.
"Ryoga, you okay, man?" Ranma asked, wearing Ryoga's yellow shirt. "You look a little flushed."
"Yeah, your face does look a little red," Mousse remarked, wearing Ryoga's pants but no shirt. He adjusted his large, round glasses. Without them, he was a blind as a bat.
Ryoga looked at them both. "I'm just—cold," he replied irked, trying to hide the true reason. He gave Akane a thin smile, keeping his hands out in front of his boxers.
Akane was so breathtaking Ryoga lost all control when he thought of her. The kindness she showed him when they first met was the most anyone had shown him in his life. And she had captured his heart. (Of course, she had no idea he was P-Chan at the time when she kissed him on the snout. It was just as good as kissing him on the mouth, he thought.)
Ryoga knew he had to take Ranma out of the picture. He wanted to be the one to marry Akane.
He wondered for a moment if he had made the right decision to save Ranma from choking to death. Then he decided, he did—it had been the only decision to make at the time. He wouldn't be able to live himself if his rival died so senselessly.
Defeating Ranma was his primary goal, then he would find a cure for his curse, then he would propose to Akane, and they'd have a wonderful life together.
"Don't catch a cold, Ryoga," Akane said kindly.
"Oh," he said, smiling back. "Thank you, Akane. I'm strong. I won't."
Ryoga saw with a side-ways glance Ranma and Mousse looking at each other, they knew how he felt. Mousse was in love with Shampoo, so if Akane took Ranma, and Shampoo dropped Ranma, then that would free up Shampoo for Mousse. But Ryoga would never allow that to happen, because Ranma was a two-timer. He could not be trusted.
Buying from the Cat Cafe right after he purchased from Ukyo's restaurant was proof of that.
"So, Ryoga," Ranma said. "What's with you and Ukyo?"
Ryoga looked at him stunned. "What do you mean?"
"When I went to pick on the dojo's order, you and Ukyo seemed to be very close." He smiled coyly. "Rubbin' her shoulders, and such, getting a little touchy-feelly—if you know what I mean? Is there sumthin' goin' on between you two that we should know about?"
Akane looked at him surprised. "Ryoga? You and Ukyo?"
Ryoga waved his hands in front of him. "No, no! Nothing is happening between us," he said, snarling at Ranma. "It was just, Ukyo had been working all day, and I…"
"He was massagin' her shoulders," Ranma revealed. "You can't deny it, I was there."
"I-I…damn you, Ranma! I should've let you die!"
Ranma laughed short. "I'm not knockin' ya, Ryoga. Ukyo's a good catch. She's pretty and she's a great cook, two great qualities in a potential suitor."
"Really, Ranma?" Akane stared at him with dagger eyes. "And you're saying what about me, exactly? I know I'm not the best cook, but I'm trying. Before you came along, I had the entire male student body at school wanting to date me. Even Kuno. So, don't make yourself out to be the best thing since Ramen noodles. Truthfully, Ryoga may be a little meek, but he would make a nice catch for any girl. He's loyal, and frankly, I think he's just as handsome as you."
Ryoga was dumbfounded, totally shocked, that Akane would admit that. His mind raced with the possibilities of a future together. As a result, he felt his face flush red and his mind awash with impure thoughts again. I love you, Akane, he thought.
"Ha!" Ranma retorted. "Don't take her seriously, Ryoga. She's always thinking of new ways of making me jealous. Well, it won't work this time, Akane, because I know you're just pulling my leg. If you knew Ryoga like I do, you'd realize he's nothin' more than a lowdown, dirty pig."
Ryoga fumed. "You take that back, Ranma, or I'll throw you back in the cement!"
Akane waved her hands about to ease tensions, and said, "Settle down, Ryoga. And Ranma, Ryoga is not a pig as you can obviously see!" she spat out angrily. "Out of the goodness of his heart, he lent you, and Mousse, an article of his own clothing so you wouldn't catch cold. He's a kindhearted guy." She turned back to Ryoga. "I meant what I said, Ryoga, but I'm engaged to Ranma, by our parents decree, and Ranma is set to take over the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. Ranma promised. And our parents aren't getting any younger."
"The arrangement our parents made is an old tradition, Akane," Ranma said. "However, I can't stand by and see the Tendo Dojo collapse. The martial artist in me can't accept it. I did say I'll stay and help. The best way I can. But as for marrying you, that's to be seen. We've been through a lot, but that doesn't mean—"
"Just forget it, Ranma!" Akane said angrily.
Was Akane jealous? Ryoga wondered. "Why do you have to say such horrible things to make Akane mad? I'll make you pay for it, Ranma. Mark my words!"
"You don't have to defend me, Ryoga," Akane said. "I can handle Ranma."
She was always getting angry with Ranma, Ryoga noticed. There was definitely tension in their relationship, but Ryoga couldn't quite figure out what sort of relationship they had? Did they care for each other's wellbeing? Yes, but did they "care" for each other like the way Ryoga loved Akane? He wasn't sure. It was an unstable relationship, for sure.
"Now, now…" Mousse said, interceding. "Let's not start a fight. We're here for a reason, remember, and it concerns that Brimstone guy, and this new technique Ryoga now knows."
Ranma and Akane snorted, then dropped the argument. Ryoga was glad.
"So, what's the plan?" Ranma asked all around. "Any suggestions?
Akane turned to Mousse. "Mousse, after you changed back, you told us that you saw Brimstone jump over the fence, and then disappear soon after the rain started, right?"
"Yeah," Mousse confirmed. "I was following Ranma after he left the Cat Cafe, then fell into a puddle when I tripped. After my curse activated, I flew up into the air before the rain started and perched on a second level beam of this building. I didn't see much of the fight between Ranma, Ryoga, and Brimstone, but I did see him flee the construction site, then simply vanish. I didn't even see him run away after he leapt over the fence into the street."
Ryoga looked at Ranma. Was he having the same thought?
"Why were you following Ranma?" Akane asked Mousse.
Mousse lowered his head abashed. "I was going to sabotage Ranma's chances of getting Shampoo's order to the Tendo Dojo. To embarrass him, and say he was unreliable. Shampoo would then depend on me more to help her, and then we'd start to get closer."
Ranma eyed him. He sighed heavily. "I'm not gonna lie, Ryoga beat ya to it. We lost the order in the canal after we, uh, had an altercation."
"Another fight, you mean, Ranma," Akane simplified, her face folded angrily.
"Well, someone couldn't hold his temper in," Ranma explained, eying Ryoga.
Ryoga seethed inside. "Don't blame me, you two-timing scoundrel. It was your fault! Uyko's cooking is much better, anyway. Her Okonomiyaki is to die for."
"We almost died when we fell into the canal when you jumped me," Ranma retorted. "And look at you, defending Ukyo. I knew there was somethin' between you two. C'mon, dish it out. Tell us, are you two—"
"No!" Ryoga flat out stated. "Now, drop it!"
"I like Shampoo's cooking better," Mousse put in. "She makes it with love."
Akane frowned. "I'm trying, okay!"
Brimstone watched the foursome from the roof of a house opposite the construction site across the canal. The rain was starting to teeter off now. From the look of the sky, it was merely a short storm, yet the rain had come down hard and fast when it did.
He was up high, yet crouched down low enough for Ryoga Hibiki and his friends not to see him.
Now there were three of them with all changing forms.
Ryoga Hibiki, Ranma Saotome, and another with long, dark hair—he had changed from a white swan. Each of them cursed from a place called Jusenkyo, a series of cursed springs in the Bayankala Mountain range, in Qinghai Province, China. He overheard Ryoga speaking about it briefly to his uncle in the village during those weeks Ryoga was there.
And, Akane Tendo, friendly with each of them, and not shocked by their transformations. She was the younger daughter of the host of the medical conference taking place at the Tendo Dojo.
Nevertheless, all of them were collateral damage in his fight against Ryoga.
He vowed revenge. Ryoga Hibiki would pay for murdering his uncle. Ryoga had disappeared, soon after his uncle was found dead. Brimstone was on a house-call both as a medical practitioner and a priest at the time Ryoga had decided to leave the village.
He quickly put things together.
Ryoga learned The Hellfire Technique, which he clearly demonstrated here, and he murdered his uncle to keep the secret that he was going to forge it into a new weapon to use it against Ranma, another martial artist, and rival. This went against his uncle's philosophy. No doubt they fought, and Ryoga killed him. It was the only way the circumstance happened, he was sure of it.
With information he obtained, Brimstone followed Ryoga. He was shocked the guy kept getting lost, and Brimstone was so close to exposing himself to tell Ryoga that he had the worse sense of direction he had ever seen. But he kept his cool and they found their way to Jusenkyo.
They were only there briefly, but Ryoga shouted a curse to kill Ranma Saotome, across the landscape, as he stood on the edge of bluff overlooking the pools, then suddenly left.
Brimstone cursed Ryoga for ever leading him there!
Brimstone looked down from the house roof top.
There was a couple walking hand-in-hand next to the canal fenced enclosure. He made his way down to the ground and jumped out in front of them.
The young couple gasped in shock at his presence.
"That's a weird looking cat," the girl remarked.
"I don't think it's a cat," her boyfriend said. "I've seen something like that on the Nature Channel. It's a Marmoset—with its fluffy white ears, clownish white face, and dark fur. And see its long tail. They are like a small monkey, and live in places like Peru and South America."
Brimstone had fallen into a spring at Jusenkyo where a Marmoset had died. How or when one did, he didn't know. But thanks to Ryoga, he now changed when splashed with cold water. He thought he would stay a Marmoset forever until he found a natural hot spring and discovered the curse was reversible, as long as he wasn't subjected to cold water. The rain triggered the curse.
He had bought something from a salesman just out of town. He had thought later how gullible he was, a tube of cream that claimed to cure the curse? He hadn't had a chance to try it. But as soon as he got his clothes back, that some stranger put into a Good Will box near-by when they were found on the ground, he would use it, and see if it did what it supposed to do.
Brimstone growled at the couple. He knew what a Marmoset was and knew they had aggressive tempers towards strangers, so he used that to his advantage.
He chased them away, then proceeded to retrieve his clothes from the Good Will box, crawling into the opening, and then dragging them out, and them to a public bath, whereas he snuck in, and changed back into his normal self, and then used the cream as per the instructions.
He splashed himself with cold water afterwards to test it out.
And he beamed a smile.
To be continued...
