One Trick Pony Chapter 19, a ranma fanfic

Chapter 19

Of all the people Ranma figured he would have to deal with, Tofu was the one he dreaded the most. Tofu Ono had always been nice to Ranma, and had always been there when he needed him. The problem was that everybody knew that Tofu had a 'thing' for Kasumi. Nobody ever discussed it with him, so as far as Ranma knew, nobody knew just how serious his affection was.

Jeez, in some ways it was just yesterday when I was walkin' around asking people for advice about bein' a one-trick-pony. Now here I am, back less than a day, and I'm runnin' around to people again. Course, it has been over twenty years for me, but they're gonna' think I'm pretty strange...

He arrived during Tofu's lunch break, and he knew from his previous visits that if he went around back, he could get the doctors attention and talk to him in private before his next patient arrived.

The pig-tailed boy knocked at the back door. "Hey Doc, it's me Ranma. I need to talk to you for a minute."

He heard footsteps inside the office, and the back door opened up. "Why hello Ranma, I had heard that you had a bad run in with a scroll."

"Yeah Doc, it was a doozy, but I'm back and I need to talk with you for a couple of minutes if ya have the time."

"Certainly!" he opened the door wider. "Come on in."

Ranma followed him in, and took a seat across from Tofu's desk. Well, let's start with the easy topic first. If anybody has a right to know the full story, it will be the Doc.

"Doc, what you probably heard about is true, we did have a run in with a magical scroll. What most people don't know, is what happened while we were gone..." He proceeded to tell Tofu of their exploits, with all of the romantic details edited out. He wanted to handle that at the last, just in case Tofu didn't take it very well.

After he was finished, Tofu peppered him with a few technical questions, which ended with. "Yes, but I still don't see how you could supply Ki to the entire world?"

Ranma shrugged, "hey I'm not sure how I did it either. Near as I can tell, all I did was keep enough Ki going that it..." he paused, searching for the right word. "...kind of innoculated the world against the things. Remember, I didn't have to supply Ki to any living animals at all, only the plants and rocks, and then only enough to keep them slipping into that 'gray' state that would have allowed the creatures to come."

Tofu shook his head with amazement. "Still, it must have been a huge drain. I wonder if the control of that much Ki will have any...side effects?

"Haven't noticed any side effects, but let's just say that all those years of training with that load on my system has given me some massive reserves."

"I would imagine so!"

Here was the favor he needed to ask. "Doc, in the time I was in that world, I did a lot of learning, a lot more than I ever thought I'd do. Before I went there I never thought about anything but Martial Arts. Once I was there though, well, lets just say I found I had more to live for than just the Art. Plus, I had access to the entire Amazon archive. I learned a lot about medicine and I found out I was pretty good at it, good enough to want to keep doin' it now that I'm back."

He paused, feeling guilty about asking him this before he told him about Kasumi, but he needed this favor. "I was wondering, do you know anybody who would like to train and certify a young doctor? I was hoping to find something in the Sinanju area near the mountains."

Tofu thought for a bit, then smiled. "As a matter of fact, I do know of a doctor who works in the area. I'm sure if I put in a good word for you, he'd take you on." Tofu frowned and looked at Ranma, "But what about your Martial Arts?"

"Well Doc, I had a lot of years to perfect my Art, and I'm sure I can still learn more, but I'd like to have the Art only be part of my life, not my whole life, if you know what I mean. I think I can do that now."

"Wow. I'm impressed. All right, I'll put in a word with my colleague."

"Thanks Doc, I was kinda surprised at how much I liked the doctor stuff. Kind of balances out the whole Martial Arts thing, but then, I guess you already know about that."

Tofu nodded. "Yes I do. I myself made that decision years ago, and I'm actually pleased to see you doing the same, I know how serious you take your commitments, so I'm sure you'll do quite well."

Ranma squirmed in his seat, he really didn't want to bring up the last topic. "Uh...there is one more thing, and I hope you'll still put in the good word with your friend after I tell you."

"What's that Ranma?"

"Doc, during those years, Kasumi and I got close. Real close."

He could see Tofu tense up, it was subtle, but he was good enough to spot behavior like that.

"How close?" Tofu asked. Ranma could hear the regret and apprehension in the older mans voice.

"Doc, how close would you have gotten with Kasumi if you had been there over twenty years? I'm sorry, and you know I am because I can relate to how much you're not going to like this." He lifted his hand to show him the yellow band on his left hand.

Tofu became rigid, his glasses didn't fog, but Ranma didn't know what to expect yet.

"Look Doc, I know you liked her, heck, of course I know you liked her, who wouldn't! She's the nicest person I know. Once I got to know her, I...felt the same way. We were together a long time, and really got to know each other, it would have been kind of hard to not notice how wonderful she is."

Tofu continued to sit rigidly in his chair for a few minutes. Ranma appeared to be relaxed, but with Tofu's past erratic behavior, he was on his guard just in case Tofu snapped. Finally, a deep sigh escaped his lips and he relaxed back into the chair, his head down toward his chest.

Ranma leaned forward with concern. "Doc, you okay?"

Tofu didn't look up, "No...Yes, I'm okay. When you told me the story, I wondered how you and Kasumi had...gotten along...during all that time." He raised his head, stood up and started walking slowly around the room. "To be honest, I can't blame you Ranma. I would have done the same thing. Were you really there that long? How long have the two of you been...married?"

"For over twenty years, Doc." Ranma hated doing this to the man, but there was no way around it. He felt like he'd betrayed a friend. Unfortunately he respected Doc Tofu too much to tell him anything but the truth, it was the only chance at maintaining some type of friendship.

Tofu sat back down and composed himself. "Then I'm happy for you. I can't say that it doesn't pain me to say it, but at least Kasumi is with somebody that I can respect, and whom I know will treat her as she deserves to be treated. I only have myself to blame for not acting earlier."

Ranma breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks Doc. I respect you a lot, and I really didn't want to have to tell you about that part of our trip, but I didn't want Kasumi and I to leave without you knowing, it just didn't seem right."

Tofu looked at Ranma with a weary look. "Thank you Ranma. I am grateful you think enough of me to be uncomfortable in your very difficult position, but I appreciate your honesty, it will just take me a little time to accept this development."

They both heard some patients come into the waiting room, lunchtime was over. "Ranma, do you really love her?" he asked.

Ranma met Tofu's gaze unflinchingly. "With all my heart Doc. I'd do anything for her, because she deserves it. I know you know it too. Just remember, this wasn't a quick fling or some strange coincidence. I love her..

Tofu stared back at Ranma and then gave a tired smile. "Okay...good. Don't worry, I'll put in that word to my friend"

"Thanks, thanks a lot" Ranma stood up and left the office, a weary look on his face. The meeting with Tofu had gone as he expected. He always respected the Doc, and he figured he'd handle it well, it just sucked having to tell somebody as nice as Tofu that he'd stolen the girl he liked..

You can do this, you can do this he chanted to himself. The soul of ice wasn't really appropriate for dealing with Ukyo, after all, she technically was his oldest friend, which made this next visit all the harder. Tofu's visit had gone so well, it gave him a little confidence to face Ukyo. Even though he dreaded talking with Tofu the most, Ukyo was a close second. In general, Ukyo had treated him the best of his own friends and he knew how she felt about him.

"Ranma!" she called as he came through the door. "You're back!" She ran around the counter to the surprised looks of the few customers. She crashed into him at full speed and gave him a terrific hug.

They stood there for a few moments, and Ukyo was surprised that he didn't try to squirm out of her grasp. Wow! Maybe he did miss me! She finally released him and took a step back. "So, did you miss me?" she said, putting in as much cute fiancée as she could into it.

His blue eyes bored into hers. "Yeah Uc-chan, I did miss you, it's been a long time."

She blushed and looked back at the grill. "Well then, can I get you a few Okonamiyaki?"

"Yeah, that'd be great."

He walked over to sit at the counter as she started to prepare his order. "So" she asked "anything interesting happen while you were gone?"

He paused for a bit, then answered, "Yeah, quite a bit actually. Went to an abandoned world. Spent a long time getting back. Met some monsters. Escaped some monsters. Battled some Amazons, you know, the usual."

Ukyo rolled her eyes "yeah, sounds like the usual. No really, tell me what happened."

Once again, Ranma recounted his life for the past twenty plus years, and once again, he edited out his romance and marriage to Kasumi, deciding that Ukyo would probably come to it herself, and it would be easier to talk about than if he just announced it and went on.

She sat and listened to his tale, wondering what it would like to be alone with Ranma for so long. As he continued to tell of his adventures, she noted certain pauses in his narration, as if he was considering how to explain something. As these ever so small pauses accumulated, her intuition made her feel more and more worried. When he was done, she finally said. "Uh, Ranma-honey, you leavin' anything out of this story? If what you say is true, how come you don't look any older?

"Yeah, that is kinda strange. See we didn't seem to age where we were sent." He squirmed in his seat and answered in a slightly quieter voice. "But yeah Uc-chan, othere is one thing that I left out, one thing that I really don't want to have to tell you."

"Hold on a sec" she asked as she layered some toppings on her cooking.

He watched her face drop as the implications hit her. Her reflexes took over and she quickly removed the two Okonomiyaki from the grill and set them on some plates. He heard her take a deep breath, or sigh, he wasn't sure which, and she finally said "Let me guess, I'm not the cute fiancée any more, am I?"

In some ways he was impressed with how well she was taking it, but she was after all the only sane fiancée he had before the incident. "I'm sorry Uc-chan, your still my cute friend, but I'm afraid I'm no longer on the market any longer."

She dropped her eyes to the grill and said. "I figured something like this would happen. If it had been anybody but Kasumi that had gone with you, I wouldn't have worried. But I knew...I knew that the only chance of you liking somebody was for them to just be your friend, and be nice to you. I was trying to do that, it was just so damn hard with all those nutcases around..." she stopped as tears began to run down her cheeks.

He reached over and grabbed her hand. "I'm sorry Uc-chan, I really am. You're one of the only true friends I have, and I know how you felt."

She smiled at his holding her hand. The tears now tracing routes around her forced grin. "Yeah, well, I guess I should be glad that you at least fell for one of the few nice girls around. I can't say that I feel cheated by losing to Kasumi."

"Thanks. I think she's pretty special too. Look Ukyo, Kasumi's my wife, we've been together for a long time, but I don't want to lose one of the few friends I have. I know you've been...pursuing me...for a while, but I'd like to ask you if you could settle for at least still having me as a friend. It would mean a lot to me...to us actually. I'm sure you'll hear more later, but we don't plan on staying around for much longer. Of all the people we know, you're the only one we're going to let know where we are going. If you'd like, please visit us, heck Kasumi said she had a way of even helpin' you to relocate your restaurant out of this area if you'd like."

He paused then continued. "See, I've had enough time to think, and I've decided that true friends are hard to come by. We'd like to be your friends still if you'd let us."

She felt her emotions tearing her from opposite directions. On the one hand, she was hurt, hurt that she'd finally lost him. On the other hand, when he disappeared with Kasumi, she was the only one smart enough to realize the potential risk. She suspected that Kasumi was fond of Ranma, and the longer they were gone, the more likely that Ranma would see Kasumi for the girl she was. True, she thought they'd only been gone a month, but even a month of uninterrupted time with Ranma would be plenty of time to let romance take hold. She'd steeled herself against the worst, and it looked like she was smart she did.

She looked back into his blue eyes and saw nothing but love, not the kind of love she had hoped for, but love none the less. Ranma definitely cared for her, and she had to make the decision, did she walk away, or did she keep a good friend. She thought back over her life, and realized how few friends and how lonely she was. The young man in front of her had never betrayed her, and had always cared for her, could she really give even a part of that up?

"Ran-chan, why do you do this to me?"

He winced at her words, expected to lose his long time friend.

She saw him wince, and immediately made her decision. The boy cared for her, and as Ranma had said, true friends are hard to come by. "God, you're a baka! Akane was right about that anyway. Fine, let me know where you two love-birds are going, and maybe I'll come your way. I guess you still have me for a friend."

Ranma's smile almost split his face. He stood up and walked around the grill, giving Ukyo another hug. "Thanks Uc-chan, I know it's greedy of me, but I'm glad to still have you. Thanks, and come talk to Kasumi about her idea to move your restaurant. She wouldn't give me any details, but she can be pretty sneaky some times!"

Four customers came in the door and interrupted their conversation. Ukyo gave Ranma one last look and said. "Get going, I'll catch up with you two later."

Ranma grinned and walked out the door, pleased that he could still count Ukyo as a friend.

He was halfway home from Ukyo's when he heard the traditional "Ranma prepare to die" challenge when he was in front of his favorite ice cream store. He turned around and sure enough, there was Ryoga striding menacingly toward him.

"Ryoga! Hey how's it going?" It was funny, but one of the things that made him realize just how isolated they were in there former world was that not even Ryoga had shown up in all those years.

"I was by the Akane's this morning, and found out that you had married Akane's sister, how dare you do that to poor Akane!" he screamed, and then began glowing his familiar green hue.

"Uh uh, no way, not any more. We are not damaging these people's businesses. Ryoga, this is stopping right now." growled Ranma.

"Let's see you try!" challenged Ryoga as he prepared to launch his Shi-shi hokodan.

Ranma glowed a soft white, as he powered up. As Ryoga screamed out his attack, he saw it only go up a few feet before being reflected back! As it bounced around in a now obvious containment sphere, Ryoga's surprise spoiled his concentration, and the Ki attack pummeled the boy within the sphere. Ranma could see Ryoga's form being tossed around like a leaf in a storm inside the Ki sphere he created to contain Ryoga's attack..

After a few moments, the attack wound down, and a well worn Ryoga was laying on the ground, bruised and bleading in a few places.. Ranma walked over to him and hauled him up, shaking him to help him regain consciousness. "Now look pig-boy, we've gone through a lot, and I don't want to have to hurt you, but I'm not puttin' up with this crap anymore!" He shook him for emphasis.

Ryoga stared wide-eyed at Ranma. Since when did he get this strong! How did he come up with that defense against my attack!

"Look, I'll make it really simple for you. I'm married to Kasumi, she's my wife. You can have Akane, she's all yours. She's your problem! Within a couple of days, I'll be gone for good and you can woo her with your pig-charm all you want. But. Don't. Keep. Blaming. Everything. On. Me!" He continued to shake Ryoga with each word. "Got it?"

As usual, Ryoga wouldn't listen to any common sense. "I'll never give up, I'll never let you know any peace."

"Yeah, I figured as much. You and duck-boy." Ranma had thought about how to handle Ryoga long and hard during his absence. He whipped Ryoga around and in a blur began doing something to Ryoga's head. He returned the shampoo and his thermos of warm water to stuff-space and released Ryoga. He then quickly splashed some cold water that he had stashed on himself to trigger his curse. .

Ryoga turned around and looked at Ranma. "Oh hello. Excuse me, I was looking for my home?"

Ranma decided to verify if everything worked. "Is it in Nerima?" she asked.

"Nerima? No, I don't think I've ever been there. I have problems with directions though, so I might have been once."

"Really, you have problems with directions?" she asked in as sweet as tone as she could manage.

Ryoga blushed, "Yes, I have a hard time not getting lost."

"May I?" Ranma stepped forward, indicating that she'd like to touch Ryoga.

"S-s-sure." Ryoga never was good around females.

Ranma touched a few pressure points, and applied some Ki in selected areas. While she was in the village, she had read about this condition and its treatment. Cologne either didn't know about it, or didn't wish to share it.

"There, that should help, I doubt you'll get lost anymore. Now, where do you think your house is?"

Ryoga concentrated then pointed in the right direction. "There, my house is that way! Thank you, thank you." He gushed as he bowed to her and turned toward his house.

The method he used wasn't foolproof, but with the removal of most of his memories since the curse, and taking away his ability to get lost, she figured hse wouldn't see much of the boy any longer. Ranma knew Ryoga's relationship was doomed with Akane, since sooner or later, she would find out about his curse, and her anger would never let her forgive the formerly lost boy. He'd still have to deal with the curse, but two out of three ain't bad. True, he wouldn't have an explanation for the curse, but the slip of paper she stuck in his backpack explained that he had received it in a place called Jusenkyo and explained how the curse worked. The paper went on to say that Ryoga had struck his head shortly after which had caused the bit of amnesia he was experiencing. Not the best story, but it should do. The biggest thing is that he'd no longer have any memory of Ranma and hopefully would never cross paths with him again.

I'm so glad I found that shampoo at the Amazon village! Three down, three to go... he thought.

Kasumi saw Ranma come in the house. "Hello Ranma, how did things go?"

She slumped down on the couch. "Not bad actually, I managed to take care of Tofu, Ukyo and Ryoga. It was a bit of an eventful morning."

"Wow." Her voice dropped a bit, "so how did Tofu take it?"

"Not bad actually, he has good taste, he likes you..." she tilted her head backwards and gave her a smile. "I asked him about a reference to get trained as a doctor, he may have some ideas."

She came up behind him and massaged his shoulders. "That's great. So what do we have left?"

"Well, I was hopin' to meet up with Happosai, I need to talk to my wacko mother, and we need to talk to Nabiki, but that should probably be last."

"What about school, are you going to talk to them?"

Ranma groaned. "Do I hafta?"

"Well, it would probably help if you really want to work in medicine. I still think you should talk to Miss Hinako, if what we found is correct, you may be able to help her, and she might be more willing to help you."

"Okay, I'll give it a try."

Kasumi walked around and sat down next to her husband. "So how are you going to find Happosai?"

"Well" he started, "I figure the first thing is to stay like this until he shows up, and if our parents are right, all we have to do is say his name a lot and he'll show up." She cocked her eyebrow at Kasumi. "Care to go Happosai-fishing with me?"

"Certainly" she giggled.

"Happosai" they said together.

"Happosai"

On the fifth Happosai, the diminutive Martial Artist appeared in the back yard. Ranma and Kasumi both sported ridiculous grins as they looked at each other.

"Well that was easy" Kasumi said, as Ranma rose to meet the ancient Master.

"Ranma-chan! How nice of you to come back, and you've dressed just for me!" he said as he launched himself at Ranma's chest. He was shocked when he came to an abrupt halt with Ranma no longer in front of him. He realized that he was being held by the leg and looked back to see her holding him at arms length.

"Ah ah ah" she scolded the old pervert. "I think we have some business to discuss before pleasure." She flipped him back to the middle of the yard.

Kasumi walked over with some hot water and changed Ranma back to his male form. No sense taking any chances in this battle.

"Ranma my boy, what do you mean?"

"Happosai, I challenge you. If I win, you must allow me to teach Anything Goes."

Happosai thought for a moment. "And if I lose? We've done this before boy, I don't want to waste my time here..."

Kasumi cleared her throat. "If he loses, we both pose for pictures for you."

"B-b-b-both?" It was almost too much for the old fart to handle.

"Yup, but I'm not losin' so I'm not worried about it."

"I get to choose the outfits?"

Both Ranma and Kasumi knew it would lead to this, but they both new that Ranma wasn't about to lose.

"Yes" they both said together.

"In that case, you're on!" The gleam in the old mans eyes gave both of them the willies.

Nobody but Kasumi got to witness the fight of the century that afternoon. Everyone else was gone, and the three of them had the house to themselves. Kasumi thought that in some ways it was a letdown. It actually didn't take very long. Happosai immediately went on the offensive, using every trick and technique he knew to try to end the fight quickly. Ranma blocked each and every one, and the Ki attacks her merely absorbed. After five minutes the old man paused, panting.

"What..what...who are you? You can't be Ranma!" he panted.

"Sure am old man, do you yield, or do I have to hurt one of Nerima's senior citizens?"

With a growl, Happosai launched himself again at Ranma, only to be stopped in mid-air.

"What's this" the old man cried. He struggled but couldn't free himself from the invisible grip.

"That" said Ranma as he calmly walked toward his hovering opponent. "Is my Ki. Impressive, isn't it. I found that once you have enough, you can make it do just about anything you want. Oh I could fight you for real, instead of the spar we just had, but it would hurt, a LOT"

Happosai stopped struggling and looked at Ranma. The boy isn't boasting, he's serious.

"But that wouldn't really accomplish anything, and I'd like to get you to sign my certificate now, not in two to three weeks when you got out of a hospital." He finally stood in front of Happosai and touched his finger to the Masters forehead. "Your choice. Which way do you want to do it."

Happosai struggled and struggled, but he was held in an iron grip. He hadn't lived this long by not recognizing when he was outclassed. "Ranma, I'm not sure how you got so powerful, so quickly, but...I yield."

Ranma lowered him to the ground and released him. Kasumi walked over with the formal documents, and within moments, Ranma was now officially a Master at Anything Goes.

"Well m'boy, seems like my work is done here. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" He leaped on to the wall and disappeared over the top.

He walked over and gave Kasumi a kiss, "One more down."

He decided that since he had such good luck today, he might as well go for it all and went to school at the end of the day. He'd battled everyone he needed to fight, now it was just a few last things and he and Kasumi could leave with light hearts.

His meeting with Hinako went as expected. Kasumi had found a cure for her condition in the Amazon archives, and had taught Ranma how to administer the pressure points and Ki probes. Once he had cured her of her condition, she was so overjoyed that she was more than happy to agree to administer the test required of each student that showed they had achieved enough knowledge to graduate.

It only took him two hours to breeze through the six hour test, and Miss Hinako was not amazed that he passed with a 97.

"Don't worry Ranma, I'll take care of the paperwork. I'm glad to see you made something of yourself, and thanks again for the cure..."

"No problem Miss Hinako, and thanks for helping me with the paperwork."

The night at the Tendo's was abnormally peaceful. Genma was subdued, but Ranma knew he had something still up his sleeve. Akane was moping at the end of the table, and Nabiki had seen enough that she decided to just sit and watch.

"So pop, when is mom coming over?"

"Son, she's coming over tomorrow morning." He mumbled between bites.

"Oh that should be fun" drawled Nabiki. "Why do you want her over Ranma"

"Need to clear things up with her before we..." he stopped suddenly. "Just need to clear things up with her."

"Uh-huh." she said. "Care to explain"

"Nope, not now, but I will when she gets here."

"I can hardly wait..." said a bemused Nabiki.

Authors Note: I know, I know, where is the big dramatic fight scene with Happosai? Well, one thing I've learned is that fight scenes are tough to write, and I can't write 'em for spit. Sorry to let you down, but I think Ranma grew so much that even Happosai was outclassed.

As far as Tofu and Ukyo, I know some of you were hoping for fireworks, but when it comes down to it, I think they are both pretty good people. I'd expect Akane and Shampoo to blow, but somehow I just couldn't see Tofu or Ukyo losing it at this point. Oh neither of them is too happy, but they've got enough class to deal with the pain instead of try to fight Ranma.

Also, I have to say that I hate Dumbledork (not really!). See, originally this was going to be a single story, cuz this has been hard enough without thinking about having it go on, but he had a pretty good idea for a sequel, and I'm actually considering it although the idea is rather intimidating. I'm not sure that I'll be able to write it, but I'm going to try to leave enough hooks in this one that if I get ambitious, I might try it later on.