Ranma Aqua-Isekai'd, by Chaos Orchid
Chapter 8: The Great Fall!
"Roofhoppin'!" Ranma said, jumping to his feet and pulling Eyeshadow up so fast she almost didn't get her feet under her in time to stand. "I know she can't do it! She had to be thrown up on this roof! Hah! Even that little girl could get up there on her own before she changed into a bird!"
"How about roof falling?" Cologne suggested.
"Falling!? From a roof!?" Eyeshadow cried.
"Yeah!" Ranma's smile turned wicked. That'll teach her for stealing from him!
But that thought passed the moment he thought of her-or somebody who tricked him into feeling she was a girl-getting crippled. He didn't mind her getting martial arts' training level of hurt, but maiming was going too far. Not if she didn't know special healing techniques. "No. She can fail from the ground. Then the only fallin' she'll be doin' is trippin' 'cuz she's clumsy."
"I'm not clumsy!" the redhead told him.
"Then why haven't I seen you use a weapon?! Are you afraid you'll hurt yourself or somebody(!)?"
"Enough!' Elder Cologne insisted. "You can play 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours' later!
"I suggested Roof Falling because I meant Roof Falling. Eyeshadow will have no choice but to, to use your word, 'steal' your powers and abilities as she feels the need for them. You should very well know that's how ki energy works, Ranma!"
"Hmph!" Ranma blew a blast of air out his nose. "Fallin' from a high place will make her afraid and her self-preservation instinct will look for a way to save her."
"See? You do understand." Cologne then said, "Don't be too afraid, Eyeshadow. Trust me that I will not let you get hurt."
"Unless she's clumsy and trips," Ranma muttered.
"Then let's go outside," Elder Cologne said. "It's approaching sunset. The shadows will emphasize in Eyeshadow's brain just how high she is."
"Yeah!" Ranma's wicked smile was back. He liked the idea of seeing the thief even more afraid than she was now.
The building they were in turned out to be even better for putting fear into the redhead than he at first thought. They had to go down stairs. "This is a three-story building." Cologne said and proceed to give a brief tour of ground floor by gesturing. "In back is the outhouse. Just inside from it is a lavatory to wash your hands. Water from the onsen is piped in and also provides hot water both to the bathroom and the kitchen. More about that water later.
"On that side are the tearoom and parlor. And, here, inside the front door, is the shop, and this here is my shopkeeper, Hēi Dǔ."
"Hairdo?"
"Who is this man with Red(!)?(!)," the long-haired man frowned. He wore a long, white-with-black trim coat with long, wide sleeves. On his chest was a symbol, a square that had other squares within it that together had Ranma thinking of an 'S'.
"Testing, testing: Listen and listen well, Hairdo!" Cologne yelled at himt. "I have given my blessing to Eyeshadow and Ranma!"
"Ranma!? His name is 'Ranma'!?" And he reached into his sleeves and pulled out a…
"A kid's potty?" Ranma had to say.
"That's not a brush," said the guy. Searching for it, he next pulled out a circular saw blade. After casually tossing that away, too, did he find the writing brush he was looking for. "Now, I need to find an ink block!" Looking for that in his sleeves, he only found a green, woman's leotard.
"Hairdo, how's your brother?" Eyeshadow asked.
"My brother?" And he pulled his sleeves up. There was writing in inked covering his arms like tattoos. After scanning over the messages, he read what he was looking for. "Tweezer and his baby are doing well'."
Cologne spoke to him, "Write down I'll be examining him the day-after-tomorrow."
"I will, Elder Cologne. Ah, my ink block!" Then he looked for an empty space on his arm to write the message.
"Come," she told the two teens, "the sooner we're out of here, the sooner he'll forget we were here." And the young woman pushed them before her to the front door.
Outside, she sighed. "I was hoping the fool could listen. I'll need to find a new treatment for his short-term memory loss."
"Don't try too hard," Eyeshadow said. "I'm not interested in becoming his fiancee."
"But it's okay to be my(!) fiancee!?" Ranma challenged her.
"It's only okay because Elder Cologne says it is! I don't want to be anybody's fiancee! I don't really want to be a girl! But I'm told I have to be!"
"Why!? This meddler says I gotta be a girl, too! Why should I-and you!-listen to her!? That Hairdo doesn't!"
"Because she's not ready to be a Real Hero," Cologne told Ranma.
"So she has to steal my(!) talents to be able to become a hero!?"
"Being a Woman Hero in the tribe of Women Heroes is not being a Real Hero!" and she hit him on the head for emphasis. Hard emphasis!
"Why you…!" Ranma grabbed the hand.
And found himself on the ground almost before he was aware she was giving him a max-skill judo throw. Growling in frustration, he vowed, "Once I learn that technique I'll get you back!"
"Do that youngster. I have many more than you can learn. Too many more!" And she laughed.
"But for how long?" Eyeshadow said to herself. But for now she was the Elder she and others depend on, so she turned to returned to her predicament. "A 'Real Hero' is somebody who babysits, is a caregiver, or…" Eyeshadow tried to swallow, "...has the babies."
"And gathering and farming," Cologne continued. "Perhaps Eyeshadow will change her mind after she's done her compulsory military service. All women are drafted here."
"But not the guys?" Ranma asked.
"They're drafted to be Real Heroes!"
"What!?"
"To fit in with a tribe ruled by women, men have to be more like woman and learn to be caring and nurturing! They'll be no domineering through greater strength and 'I could care less'ness."
"I'm leavin' and goin' back to Japan." And Ranma started walking away.
"Good. Even if you are gone or dead, the other Ranma will live and Eyeshadow will still have access to your power. It doesn't matter to magic how far away she is from him. Or you."
Ranma growled in frustration again. He pivoted on one foot and returned.
"I apologize," Eyeshadow hung her head. "I was interested in martial arts even before my dad brought me and my sisters to Jusenkyo. And I have been getting training as a guard."
Why did his dad…. Ranma stopped himself from asking. All that he had been hearing was already too much information for him. Later, maybe, if he couldn't be rid of Eyeshadow. "I'm still ain't convinced she can do what I and only true martial artists can do." In fact, he wasn't convinced women in general could become true martial artists. (Shé used a gimmick, and Cologne…. Well, he hadn't figured her out, yet.)
"And that is why we are out here," Cologne said. "You want proof that can convince you."
"I don't want to be convinced. But I'll let her try to. Okay, Eyeshadow, jump up onto the roof!" Three-stories high! It was a wonder Tint was able…If his sisters choose to be guys, why aren't they with the so-called Real Heroes? Answer: Don't ask why, yet, Ranma.
The little redhead looked at Ranma and then at Cologne. Cologne just shook her head with a sigh. "Remind him that you can't jump that high. But remind him by giving your best."
Eyeshadow nodded and jumped. Got half a meter off the cobblestones and jumped again and got less air and once more. Three times was enough. She backed up until the building across the street and ran until, a meter from Cologne's manse, she jumped with an equally unimpressive result.
"Not only can't she jump, she's dumb!" Ranma critiqued. "She's gotta have seen how Sweetie parkours up buildings! If you can't do it from a standing jump…" And the martial artist did just that! "...you do it another way!" he yelled down from the roof.
The still panting Eyeshadow frowned, resentment growing in her. She would(!) leap onto a building and ricochet off to the next and then-
But Cologne's hand on her arm and the martial arts technique it used stopped her. "All we're interested in seeing how well she lands from a fall!" She called up at the arrogant fool.
"Hmph!" His snort could be heard below. And then he came down, stepping on the side of the building every meter to slow himself down gradually. He fell the last two and transferred momentum to the ground even as he rolled across it to the building across the street, slammed his feet against it and then springboarded up! He landed an intimidating meter from Eyeshadow. "That's how you do it if you don't know how to land straight onto your feet!" he gave her a cocky smile.
Eyeshadow did feel intimidated. But the resentment in her also swelled. "I, I'll remember that," she frowned.
"Showoff," Cologne said critiqued Ranma. "Now pick her up and take her to the roof, already!"
"Are you sure she ain't gonna get hurt?! This is dangerous!"
"Eyeshadow trusts me. Just do it!" (Though even Ranma could see that at this time it was: barely.)
"If I hafta." And he slung her over his shoulder in a fireman-carry. He didn't even think to give her a princess carry, the kind a groom carries his bride over the threshold with. 'Let's get this over with." And he leaped-
Suddenly everything was wrong! The muscles of his legs were attached differently; his center of gravity had dropped; and gravity was dragging his butt and chest much more… And the girl on him grew bigger and heavier!? Even his trajectory was effected-
Ranma was losing control and was about to slam into the building. Was he now in any condition to even land right!? Think of the girl first, he told himself! He could heal!
The legs closest to the building met and pushed off and away from the building, Distracted and surprised that it wasn't his legs, his hold on the girl slipped. The girl was going to fall and it was his fault! He had to correct himself and change what he was doing with his body to save her!
Only it wasn't his body! Not the body he was used to! He was too far away from the building now to use that to course-correct and his body's automatic calculations for mid-air maneuvering seemed to be making mistakes!
He fell.
He was caught.
How humiliating. A man was holding her in a princess carry. And it made him feel soft. As soft as he remembered Eyeshadow being.
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NOTES:
Of course Ranma has changed into his female form for the first time. And of course Cologne splashed hot water on Eyeshadow changing her into Tsukiko, the name of his male form.
It was late evening on That-side, too, and the Saotomes had escaped Shampoo and set up camp. They had heated some water over the campfire and some of the water was splashed on Ranma when the redhead fought the panda over the little food they had. That was when they found out they weren't stuck to always be a girl or animal.
The Chinese guide was no longer with them. He knew about the effects of cold and hot water as he was cursed to change into Prune, but he didn't tell the Saotomes about it. Why? His/her daughter, Plum, is the (not always clear) communication link between his two haves. And Prune works for the Women Heroes on This-side. Their agenda is not the same as the Cologne's tribe on That-side. Different world, different goals.
And, oh, the Chinese guide had washed with waterproof soap and didn't have to worry about getting wet.
Further NOTES:
Hairdo is an analogue of both Mousse and Kuno. He has short-term memory problems, but he can remember things if he writes them down. His disability should be played for tragic comedy in the same way as Ryōga's was/is.
'Hēi Dǔ' can be written in different ideographs, one giving 'chemical gamble' (he does work in what can be considered the pharmacy of Cologne's clinic), and another meaning a range of things, like 'dark', 'hide (something) away'. How 'sinister' he will be is yet to be determined. 'Hēi' can also mean, ¹'hey' (a word I can see associated with Mousse), ² the mischievous laugh of 'heh heh', as well as being part of hēi xiū, 'to make love'. In other words, I really hit the jackpot when I went looking for a name for him.