Hey guys, most of the reason why I was gone is down in the page bottom side of the author's note, so, check that out if you want. But I wanted to say... thanks to all those who support me an used to support. I've gone back an checked some reviews from my readers and some are so inspiring. It makes me feel like a symbol for the RanmaXRyoga world, I've had emails from reviews, PM''s, telling me how I've inspired them to write or how my work can relate or how so many wish they had a way with words like I do. Lolz
To be honest, It's nice. Feeling that way, but there are going to be hard times, especially when you're gone, your impact can fade or you can end up scaring off your audience. Thanks to everyone who still feels that way, your reviews an PM's have been my strength when I could not write.
Also, everyone, I managed to get a artist for some fan-art for this little story. Check out this link:
Just add actual dots where it says dot and you'll be linked to the page... lovelylily13 dot deviantart dot com
So, with that out of the way, I present your chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½, Ranma ½ is owned by Runiko Takahashi and Viz media, please support the official release! Even though it's old, seriously! It's funny!
Ryoga
Moonlight shined onto the forest's slightly rustling trees, quiet echoes of animals singing a strangely calm and eerie melody, dense foliage as far as the eye could see.
"Ah!" came the screams of three men, "Bwee!" and a pig.
The three masters exchanged looks before nearing the ground, they set their eyes on some trees and braced themselves, because they had some idea as to how bad the impact would be if they missed. Chance came into play as they they linked arms, the link going from left to right, Happosai, Chingensai, Matsu and finally their little pig friend.
"Got it!" Happosai cheered, happy to have avoided another concussion by grabbing onto a stray branch. The trio underneath him however were being tugged down by the force commonly known as, gravity. Thankfully the branch was rather sturdy and held place as they wobbled it up and down a few times, however Happosai experienced some pain from the backlash. "Ah! You two are getting out of shape!" he exclaimed as he forced his body to tug them upwards, doing well once Happosai got his barings of course.
"Alright..." Happosai looked to Chingensai before pulling him and the others up, giving Chingensai a hand and helping him tug Matsu up as well, though since all of them have linked arms, Matsu was holding Ryoga by a huff.
"Bwee!" Ryoga squealed in piggy terror as he slipped from Matsu's grasp, small bits of liquid had managed to stay on his hand and given that Ryoga's pig body didn't really have fingers to gripe with, he fell. "Ryoga!" Matsu shouted.
The three small men watched, shocked looks across each an everyone of their faces.
"Bwee!" Ryoga exclaimed, as he landed on his head and two comical anime swirls could be seen on his eyes. The small pig's eyes blurred as his eye lids slowly fluttered to a close, faint voices sounding as if they were at a distance, conscious thought slipping out of his huffs as he became lost in a world of darkness.
"Gah!" Ryoga gasped, feeling cold water run down his face as his back was pressed up to a tree trunk, Ryoga frantically searched his surroundings, finding familiar faces all around him, panting a bit he began to calm down, then his eyes widened as he remembered that his clothing had been left at the bathhouse. "Huh!?" he gasped yet again, finding his private area covered in some oddly recognizable gi garments.
Though out this display the other three watched, cautious of any overact ion he could experience or just flat out kind of shocked to see someone so young withstand a concussion and standing so soon. Then seeing his eyes look downward, they collectively watched Ryoga look down and then the two elder master began to crack up.
"Gotta' say, Ryoga, you're pretty sturdy, ain't ya?" Happosai commented, being the first to stop his fits of giggles. Though one snicker managed to pop through, thankfully Ryoga seemed to frantic to notice.
Ryoga blushed in utter embarrassment, as he had finally noticed that he was wearing some borrowed clothes from his friends. "Uh... thanks... but... where the hell are we?" Ryoga asked, standing up and surveying the surrounding area.
"Ryoga... before that... who was that boy? Why were you so afraid of him?" Matsu asked, finally getting a word in. "Was he... that one you've been mentioning?"
"Wait..." Happosai pasued as he slowly drew to the conclusion that Ryoga was into men. "Well... I didn't know ya' swung that way boy."
"Swung?" Ryoga responded, not familiar with the expression.
"It means that you're gay, lad." Chingensai commented, stroking his beard, really perplexed as to Ryoga whole situation. A cursed animal becoming human and then becoming attached to another male. "Makes a little sense when you think about it... some animals aren't all that picky or bothered by gender."
Ryoga's eyes widened and he found himself unable to speak, swallowing hard he shook his head in denial, perhaps a little too quickly. "You don't get it! Ranma has a curse like me!" Ryoga exclaimed, accidentally giving them Ranma's name, "He's cursed to become a beautiful... caring, warm... " Ranma gulped this time as a light tink of pink flashed over his face, "soft." he finished, barely speaking now, whispering actually.
The moment that Ryoga mentioned this Ranma character having a girl side, Happosai's and Chingensai's interests were finally peaked, although chances were they still would have heard him out if Ranma could not, in fact, turn into a girl.
"Whoa.. soft? How soft are we talkin' here?" Happosai commented, showing his true colors, again.
Chingensai appeared to be smiling, or rather one would have to assume he was, given the forest of hair covering the short master's face. "Hm..." he hummed in such a way to show clear interest.
Matsu's eyes widened as Ryoga's eyes widened, clearly not having meant that last part to slip out. "Ryoga, you don't have tell us that!"
The two master's grumbled and crossed their arms, sadly noticing that Ryoga also seemed none too eager to tell them specific details as to why Ranma was 'soft', so, they settled for something else. "Least tell us what she's like!"
Matsu felt as though a large sweat drop should be threatening to drop from how awkward and perverted his two companions were. "You two are aware that this is a boy you're asking about?" Matsu questioned, not receiving a response, those two determined to hear about Ranma. "Fine..." Matsu sighed, also being a bit curious as to what Ryoga actually saw in Ranma.
Ryoga hugged his knees and and then sighed, his first time actually telling others about his feelings for Ranma, "Ranma is an amazing person... when I first met Ranma, I was that pig ya saw earlier, but when escaping some hunters, I came across Ranma... my first thought was to run, making him out to be another human trying to eat me... then I noticed that he didn't want to hurt me, I followed him for a bit, glad to know he didn't want to eat me because of a dislike for pork..." Ryoga looked off to the side. "Anyways, I thought that maybe I could follow him, maybe where ever he was going, would be safe." Ryoga said, his tone dropping to a much softer tone, almost as if he was hesitant to speak, "I guess I was desperate for a friend... I remember a farm I grew up on, then one day I stumbled onto what they were actually doing to us... all because someone accidentally left the door to our pen open." he said, envisioning his smaller form sniffing the ground, then hearing the sound of a slammed fence-door only to see it bounce back, a farmer figure leaving, scratching his back and grumbling about something he couldn't make out, even with Ryoga's heightened intelligence. "When I saw what they were doing I squealed and ran away... which I guess the others understood..."
Matsu scratched his chin, "Actually I hear pigs are some of the smartest animals around, maybe it was like a weird type of understanding..."
"They also go great in mi-" was as far as Happosai got before being elbowed by Matsu.
"Most were taken back... but I was the smallest and hid in a bucket until it was safe..." Ryoga sighed, then remembered that he had actually supposed to be talking about Ranma, then blushed and looked to the side. "I'm sorry..." he apologized, a little awkward feeling for having told them his origins.
"I get'cha boy..." commented Happosai, puffing a cloud of smoke from his pipe, looking a bit silly as the upper part of his purple gi had been used to cover Ryoga's unmentionables.
"When did you...?" Matsu questioned.
"My pants..." Happosai answered quickly, clearly not wanting to explain.
"Anyways... you're free to share whatever you want, Ryoga... I'm sorry to trouble you, but you wouldn't happen to have a last name, would you?" Matsu asked.
Ryoga stared at Matsu before looking to the side, "Not anymore..."
Matsu, took a brief pause as he put the pieces together. "Oh... well then, I shouldn't be rude, I'm Matsu, Matsu Hibiki."
Matsu and Ryoga exchanged smiles for a second before Matsu cleared his throat and gestured with his hand, telling him to continue with his reason for liking Ranma.
The fang toothed boy nodded his head before starting, "After traveling with Ranma, I saw him staring down a ledge and then before I knew it, he was falling... I tried my best to save him from falling but I was too small, too weak..." Ryoga lowered his head at this comment, feeling some anger towards his pig form, the one thing keeping him from possibly being happy, but before he could dive into those thoughts, he felt Matsu's eyes peering into his own and found his train out of thought again. "But it wsn't all bad... I got to meet the other side of Ranma..." he blushed, remembering how he had first met her, flushed at the idea of seeing Ranma; while in girl form, in nothing but her bathing suit. Now understanding the concept of nudity, now that his mind has had time to develop as well as his hormonal feelings too. Taking a deep breath, he began.
Happosai and Chingensai leaned closer, wanting to hear why someone would fall for a cursed man.
"She's shorter than regular Ranma... she has beautiful blue eyes, pretty red hair... on top of that, Ranma's hairstyle also works for women, so, it only adds to it..." Ryoga said, getting a warm feeling in his heart.
"Boring!" Happosai exclaimed, "Get to the bazongas!"
Ryoga's eyes widened as he found himself pressing the tips of his index fingers together, rather shy about it. "Uh well... you see..."
"He doesn't have to answer that, Happo-"
"They're a perfect mix between soft an firm...!" Ryoga blurted out, eyes still wide as a bright crimson line crossed his face. Happosai and Chingensai could be seen laughing with how funny and sudden that explanation was.
"Wow, she must be something when he in girl form if she got a shy little child like you to tell us that!" Happosai chuckled, then looked to the side, now just wanting to get a peep of Ranma's girl side.
Matsu also blushed because of how awkward the situation had become, "What's say I check where we are, okay?" he asked, jumping to the trees as to avoid conversation with the others.
"I'll join you!" Ryoga exclaimed, still a very shocked look on his face, but as he went to jump Matsu and the others looked towards him, knowing that their Ryoga had finished his jumping practice, although they were shocked even more by how naturally talented the boy seemed as he jumped much higher than the average person could, not to their level but clearly he was showing astounding progress.
"What?" Ryoga asked, looking down to the branch he was sitting on with his knees bent, a hushed exclamation of wonder escaping his mouth..
"That boy's a prodigy..." Matsu muttered as he stared at Ryoga.
"A little more an he's ready..." said Chingensai, the Bakusai Tenketsu training was going to happen much sooner than scheduled.
Ranma
The following morning came but the sting of lose was still present on Ranma, since Ranma was acting much more passive, even when Genma was making a total ass of himself, so, past the hotsprings and his stupid excuse for why he couldn't be there to personally monitor his son's progress. Ranma was barely listening though, he was only fairly sure Genma said something about getting some more cooking oil, which he was sure was 'Genma' for, sake.
His mind would often wonder back to Ryoga, an what he could have done to actually talk to him. There was no denying it was Ryoga, but now he had an idea as to who he was around, right before the explosion from that short man in a purple gi, he saw another man, one much hairier an somewhat lawn gnome in appearance. Whoever they were, they had Ryoga and what they intended to with him, he wasn't sure, he only hoped it didn't eventually lead to a barbeque.
It was then that Ranma felt a shift in the wind, his hair kick up as he felt the breeze. "Ya' just gonna' watch me or do you got sumthin' to say?" Ranma asked, looking over his shoulder.
The wind whistled as Cologne was made visable from some nearby tree branches. "Had I been trying to hide myself, you wouldn't have noticed... though I am glad to see your incompetent in somethings."
Ranma decided to address the elephant in the room as he knew from their previous encounter and what her intentions were for him. "Look, I ain't got time for games and my thirty days aren't up yet."
"Hm... perhaps we can strike some sort of deal, boy." Cologne stated, now suddenly on the ground as a smirk as raising from her wrinkled face. "I've had a few of my agents track your progress... you've been spending day in and day out training, either by yourself or with your father, but never the less, your father's technique is decent." Cologne commented. "But you'd rather not hear about that, would you?"
Ranma felt shivers running down his spine, just the idea of them being watched was unsettling. "I did just tell you to get on with it..." Ranma grumbled.
"I purpose a wager, child... should you happen to defeat my great-great-granddaughter, I'll grant you freedom from Shampoo's kiss of marriage... only in rare instances is tradition broken, an only an esteemed member of the amazon tribe can make this call, child." Cologne stated, meeting Ranma eyes.
"An what happens if I lose?" Ranma asked, then crossed his arms. "An what about Ryoga?"
"What of him? He's not even around from what I can tell, probably wandered off..." Cologne commented.
There was a moment of silence from Ranma, a shadow cast over his eyes. Cologne attempted to make eye contact with Ranma but soon came to understand the reason behind his actions or rather lack of actions. 'Maybe mentioning that cursed animals often wandering away isn't all too uncommon a thing...' Cologne thought.
" If you fail to defeat her... you'll be forced to wed my lovely great-great granddaughter," it was in a split second that Cologne's eyes widened from the idea that just hatched in her brain. "On top of losing I'll also assist in extending your cursed friend's lifespan..."
Ranma pursed his lips, then cursed under his breath and he realized that Cologne had pretty much made losing an alluring offer. "Argh! Damn you... those aren't exactly what you'd call fair conditions!" Ranma growled, taking a step forward and holding his arm out, as if he were gesturing for her to fight.
Cologne shook her head, her eyes being closed while she did so, "Child... I did not get where I am now," she replied, her eyes flashing open, "by playing fair." she then narrowed her eyes, "but if you wish to challenge your elders, I'm more than happy to oblige..." Cologne radiated her aura, which made the animals in the surrounding area fly off in flocks or scream in fear, the wind even kicking up around her.
Ranma used her forearm to cover her eyes, dust getting into her eyes. "Fine! I'll do it! Besides, keep doing stuff like that and you'll wreck our home!" Ranma shouted, his stern look lettin Cologne know he was serious. Also his mom wouldn't be too happy with any possible damage to the house, as even when training his dad they managed to wreck the place a little from time to time.
"Glad you've listened to reason..." Cologne seemed as though she vanished into a blur, before fading out of sight.
Ranma gritted his teeth, feeling like a fool for backing down from a battle, he needed something to give him an edge, considering how much stronger Shampoo actually was in comparison to him, sure Ranma had become a stronger than before but this wasn't enough and he was already giving it his all. Though not only that, did he actually want to win? 'What if I lost... what if..." Ranma pasued, then finally let out a sigh, knowing that if he won, that means that Ryoga would be miserable.
"Do I really have to break his heart..." Ranma wondered, looking down, balling his hands into fists, until relaxing his breath.
'To save him?' Ranma thought, unable to finish his sentence in words, his inner voice coming out hushed and worried sounding.
OMG! It's finally done! I know I said I'd try to post more new chapters an I'm sorry, I've been going through somethings and figured it was time for another release of this strange but cute little series. I decided to make it just a little longer than usual, mostly because it came out that way, I knew that I had to progress the plot, given the little bit of character development that happened in the last chapter.
This year I plan on finishing both of my stories, even though I know it's been a very long time since I've updated regularly and everyone probably doesn't want to go through the trouble of re-reading a story. I get that, probably way Ryoga's Girlfriend isn't doing so hot.
Onto that subject... I've been thinking about quitting Ryoga's Girlfriend for awhile now. An no matter how many times I say I'm going to quit, my mind tells me not to. Even though often times, I find the idea of working on that story a huge pain. Also it isn't as supported as it was when it was still updating regularly, on top of that, some ignore the ShampooXKuno pairing, not to mention, after awhile I felt that I had lost touch with the story, like I'm out of sync with the characters and their feelings. Is that someone you really want to work on a story for you? I know this just sounds like a bunch of excuses, which it kinda' is.
But I'll set the record straight... even if I say I'm going to consider cancelling something... just ignore me an assume one will come one day. Because that might be what happens. That or I pull the story from my account, I think that is the only safe way to assume I'm not going to write something.
But for the of fans of this little story? I hope support continues to grow as I try an update more regularly for this, I've got pretty much everything figured out to finish this story. If feedback is really good for this chapter, I'll try an post another update for this story this month. Anyways, enough of me rambling.
Foxes from the Foxxy~
DaisukiFox~