Chapter 2

Of Roads and Campfires

As Ranma-chan trudged through the forest, she became increasingly aware of a particularly thorny problem; she was hungry. She cursed the absence of her pack, which contained a few rather useful implements for alleviating her of the uncomfortable ache in her belly.

It's not like I can just ignore it and try to push on. In my current state, I don't have a lot of energy reserves to rely on. Carelessness could be fatal. She gulped. I don't have the time or tools to set up traps to catch rodents. Fishing is going to be my best bet for a decent meal by sundown.

Finding a stream nearby proved not to be a terribly difficult task. As Ranma-chan set down to fashion herself a fishing rod, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned and saw a figure standing knee-deep in the water a few lengths downstream. The figure was clad entirely in his birthday suit with the exception of a … black and yellow headband?

Ranma-chan felt a strange surge of excitement, relief and annoyance at the appearance of the bandanna-clad bumbling wonder. The latter mostly having to do with his current state of dress.

"Hey, pork-butt!" Ranma shouted towards the naked boy, a goofy grin plastered on her face. Aw, man he's going to be surprised to see me all the way out here!

Ryoga turned around and hunched over with his hand shielding his eyes from the sun, as if he were trying to get a better view of who shouted at him. He then began to approach, slowly at first, then breaking into a run.

Huh. I can't help but feel as if I've forgotten something. Ranma-chan's forehead furrowed. Why do I suddenly feel so on-edge? As Ryoga's rage-filled countenance came into view, it suddenly hit her. Her eyes widened as she realized his intent.

"Ranma Saotome, prepare to die!" Ryoga roared as he charged.

Shit! I can't handle him in my current condition. He's going to wreck me!

"Ryoga, wait! You don't understa-" She was cut off as Ryoga's fist slammed into the left side of her jaw. She felt her feet leave the ground as she flew back from the hit. Pain resounded in her head, making it nigh impossible to maintain conscious thought. Fortunately, she was relieved of such frivolities as her flight path directed her head into an intimate meeting with a tree trunk and she crumpled to the ground.

Ryoga blinked for a few seconds as he took in what had just happened.

I beat Ranma? With a single blow? Hints of a grin began to appear on his face before he came to the more likely explanation: that Ranma was toying with him- again. Ryoga sprang after Ranma-chan, arriving at the base of the tree where she lay. He hoisted her up by the scruff of her collar and pinned her against the tree.

"What are you playing at, Ranma!?" He roared at her.

Ranma-chan's head lolled and fell into her chest, revealing a matted bloody patch of hair on the back of her head with streaks of crimson liquid leaking into her shirt.

Ryoga paled.

~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~

As Ranma-chan drifted back into consciousness, the first thing that she observed was that the air was filled with the smell of food. The second thing was that it was making her feel horribly sick. She sat halfway up and dry-heaved into the bedding she inhabited, a painful reminder that she hadn't eaten anything recently.

Convinced that being unconscious would be much better than this new reality that she found herself in, she set about bringing herself back into that blissfully unaware state. As she attempted to accomplish that, a force wrested her body up again and a foreign object forcibly inserted itself into her mouth. Violently opposed to this development, she struggled to expel said object from her mouth. Before she could force it from her, however, it quit her mouth of its own accord leaving behind a warm and thick substance. Realizing what she was meant to do, she set about to swallowing it. With great effort, she managed.

"Let's see if you can't keep that down, eh Ranma?" a deep, soothing voice implored. Ranma felt inclined to obey that voice, if for no other reason because it sounded so pleasant. Her stomach protested this new addition to its environment, but she managed to keep it from relieving itself of its contents through sheer force of will. She felt slightly better due to the less pronounced absence of food in her belly, but her head caused her unfathomable torment that made her feel still queasy while sitting up.

Tentatively, she tried to lay her head back down onto the bedding. Finding that the force that once had kept her from this action no longer remained, she hastened her descent, falling into the mat with a great thump. This proved to be a horrid, horrid idea, as her head suddenly felt as if a meteor had impacted with the base of her skull, and her vision filled with bright stars and dark yellow and red amorphous shapes.

She moaned, expressing to the world just how much she regretted her decision. She would have been angry at the chuckles that emanated from the deep soothing voice, if she were able to form any sort of concept of what it meant. As it was, she could hardly keep track of all of the aches and pains in her body. Slights to her ego were just slightly out of her realm of understanding at the moment. She instead found relief from the stability that the voice seemed to embody as she drifted off to sleep.