I would like to thank:
cabrera1234, Hanzo of the Salamander, OBSERVER01, and Hiryo,Shinzochi for reviewing this story
Elquenodebesernombrado, turaflex tager, Zorobak, Kohey, and Shinzochi for adding this story to their Story Alert List
Elquenodebesernombrado, turaflex tager, Zorobak, RanmaXRyoga, Kohey,Shinzochi ,and Rakish for adding this story to their Favorite Story List
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ranma and Toph collapsed on their butts inside the impromptu dojo, both dripping with sweat after another worthwhile yet tiring training session. They were both prodigies of their craft and everything came to them relatively easily. Sure they had to train to keep up the level of the skill they had, but neither one of them ever really felt that challenged when it came to just one on one battles. Ryoga may have been stronger than either of them, but what the two lacked in raw strength they made up for in skill and speed. However when they seriously fought against each other while training Toph often out did Ranma at bending and he outdid her when it came to the martial artist.
Stretching her arms and legs as she cooled down and was regaining the stamina that she had used up, Toph looked over in the direction her 'sight' told her that Ranma was. Her best friend was just lying on his back, looking up at the ceiling.
"Hey Ranma….Ranma…RANMA!" Toph yelled. In her annoyance at being ignored she threw a rather large rock in his direction.
Before it could reach him a wall of air caught the rock causing it to fall to the ground. Hearing the rock hit the ground finally managed to catch the pigtailed boy's attention and it was his turn to get angry.
"What the hell was that for!" he yelled upon noticing the rock.
The wall of air that appeared to stop the rock was something related to his own version of unconscious bending similar to what Toph herself had. However since Ranma was not as good a bender as Toph, this was a result of Koton's training. Unlike Toph whose unconscious bending was automatic, Ranma and the others' abilities only popped up when they were daydreaming or lost in thought like he was just now.
"I don't know, maybe it was the fact that you were ignoring me. We're not even that far apart so I know you can hear me," she said.
"So what is it?" the pigtailed martial artist asked curiously.
"Never mind. I forgot about it thanks to you ignoring me!" Toph said annoyed; though only after she froze for a bit after realizing that she did not know what she wanted to say. The words had just died before they could leave her mouth.
She then walked off leaving her best friend wondering if this had anything to do with how she had been acting earlier when she had spaced out completely for awhile and only came out half way in some kind of waking daydream. Even after she had fully come back to reality while they were sparring she was acting more like she was his bending teacher than his partner like she normally did. Things like pointing out weaknesses in his bending and form as well as wanting him to be more proactive in his attacks rather then reactive.
It was probably something that Ranma would have to see his mom about. She might need to know this as it might come into play when they eventually came across someone from Toph's past. Whoever caused them to lose all their memories prior to roughly one year ago was pretty thorough in making sure that there were no records of them existing in written or digital form. Sure the people that had known and met them personally remembered but all forms of data like old doctor check ups, school records, etc. were all gone. Though with some help from her friends from Mahora, Nodoka had managed to get them restored, even Shampoo's despite not really knowing where she was from, at least until she talked to Ku Fei about her. Toph on the other hand had no records at all to recover. It was like she never had any in the first place. So, worried about his best female friend, Ranma went off to inform his mom of what had happened with her
Meanwhile…..
Toph had made her way to the bathroom. She made sure that the door was locked as on one of their first days at the Tendo/Saotome home something happened that brought a slight blush to come to her face with the memory. She had decided to take a shower and was just getting out when she overheard Kasumi tell Akane to stop Ranma from coming into the bathroom, but it was too late as nude Ranma stood staring at an equally nude Toph who dropped her towel from the surprise. Sure she was blind and couldn't use her 'sight' to see details but she did not need to as her mind was already painting a mental image of what Ranma looked like naked. The two of them just stood there like a pair of deer caught in some headlights until they both lost consciousness and fell forward, somehow managing to bash each other in the head in the process. It was something that Ryoga spent the next couple of days laughing over until Kasumi got him to stop (apparently something similar happened to her when she was younger with some guy named Tofu).
After that they all assured that the incident would not repeat itself again by simply waiting for the person in the bath to finish and then tell them it was okay. Toph took off the sweaty clothes she was wearing and tossed them into the dirty clothes bin before walking into the shower after making sure the water wasn't cold enough to activate her curse but not exactly hot either. Water that was simply cool didn't seem to affect them one way or the other. While she used to love her healthy coating of earth and would proudly boast about it, as the cool water struck her body she felt the effects of it coursing through her entire body right away. It was very soothing and relaxing. She just stood there for a second to enjoy it (even more so then most people because her blindness gave her an enhanced sense of touch). Next came soaping with her own brand of soap as she could not stand the scented kind because of her sensitive nose. Finally something she only did whenever she remembered to do it: washing her hair. Like Akane and Shampoo, she reached to unconsciously grab at hair that should have been just below her neck, only to find thin air.
Of course as she washed her hair she had her eyes closed. Something she learned the hard way was that even blind people need to keep their eyes shut as they wash their hair, especially those with very sensitive senses as the pain was that much worse. As she washed out the shampoo from her hair one question came to her mind that tended to pop up every now and then.
'I wonder if Ranma thinks I'm cute?'
Normally she could care less about her appearance; not truly being able to see herself made it hard to really care all that much. However at times like this she would find herself copying various poses she remembered 'seeing' Akane and Shampoo using when they got ready for school or to go out somewhere. All three of them were tomboys to different degrees—with Shampoo being the least tomboyish of the three of them, followed by Akane, and Toph being the most tomboyish—but they were all still teenage girls after all. Almost like clockwork, whenever she got on this train of thought an answer from within a dark corner her mind would come up.
'What does it matter. He probably already likes someone else.'
'Ranma is different, I know it' Toph responded.
'What do you know? It's happened three times before.'
'I just know it' the blind bender thought.
'He can't remember anything beyond a year ago clearly, the same as you. She could be out there unknown to
both of you until she stumbles across him.'
'That's not true' Toph thought as she shook her head.
At this point she just shoved the thoughts to the back of her mind where they would stay until something else brought them up again. Once they were buried again she quickly forgot about them surfacing and wondered what she was doing before she continued on her way, drying off, redressing from the clean laundry, and telling Ranma that he was free to use the bathroom in passing him by.
