Ranma had been hoping to find a new martial artist to train under for a couple weeks and had been anticipating their arrival within in a new village for days. When they finally reached this village, you can imagine his excitement. The pigtailed martial artist jumped for joy with his right arm extended upwards in uncontained joy. "Finally! It's been forever since I ate a decent meal." A rather thick arm came crashing onto his head after he landed causing him to squint his eyes and rub at his head. "What was that for, Old Man?!' Ranma cried out indignantly.
"Watch your tongue, Boy! A true martial artist never complains." His father whimsically spouted nonsense with crossed arms and closed eyes. This meant that he was so caught up in his moment of "wisdom" that he had not even realized Ranma was leaving him behind. Said boy had crossed his own arms behind his head and began walking further into the village with little interest for his father.
Inside the village was a bustling of villagers. One would almost say this was normal were it not for the alarmed glances they were giving each other while the mothers quickly ushering their children into the houses. "Well that's odd. I wonder what's goin' on." Ranma thought to himself, arms still behind his head as he continued an even pace forward, looking around curiously at his surroundings.
It was when a villager called, "Watch out!" that Ranma's arms dropped and he looked to the left of him.
What caught his attention was a bull running straight for him, its eyes narrowed in an enraged manner. "Woah!" was all he had time to yell before jumping up and over the bull's head. Unfortunately he misjudged his distance and ended up landing on the bull's back; his instinct was to grab onto its horns and hold on for dear life and crying out to the people, "Move out of the way. I can't control this thing!"
The bull charged all throughout the town, seemingly running on over drive. At this point Ranma's arms were growing numb and his head fuzzy due to all the twists and turns the creature had deemed necessary to take. In their wake they left confused villagers poking their heads out from their housing and wondering why a stranger was riding on top of one of their bulls. The one's who had witnessed the boy leap onto its back were curious as to why he didn't just jump right back off of it.
After what seemed like an impeccably long bull ride, the creature decided it finally wanted to rid itself of its passenger. The bull proceeded to buck and charge and spin around, successfully causing the boy to grow even more dizzy. It was while Ranma was trying to get his bearings back that this bull got the bright idea to go headfirst through one of the larger walls this village had to offer. "Ahh!" Ranma let a surprised yell rush past his lips and clenched his eyes shut once he realized what was happening.
Debris exploded around the two who crashed through the wall. Luckily for Ranma, the bull took another short charge forward, turned, and then finally stopped. He had been about to let go and hop off when the animal started forward again. What shocked him was that it was abruptly cut short and sent him flying right into a pond.
"Oh great, just what I needed!" Ranma dragged herself from the shallow depths, sputtering water out of her mouth while wiping a hand over her eyes. She looked up from her position on all fours and saw what had stopped the rampaging bull. It was a quite flabbergasted boy that appeared to be around her age. His hand was half extended to her but as she pulled herself the rest of the way up he promptly retracted it.
"A-a-a-are…" The boy paused for a minute and she watched as his eyes closed, almost as if he were embarrassed, and he cleared his throat. "Are you alright?"
Quite frankly their meeting didn't hit off with a bang! Instead, it left one Ranma Soatome stalking away with a churning stomach that some guy seemed to be so interested in his girl form. "What's worse is that- that- that guy thought that she had wished to propose to him!" Ranma was fuming, his hand clenched out in front of him.
After he had returned to the village he announced to the people that the bull had tired itself out and was beyond the wall behind him. He then went in search for his pops who happened to be in panda form, stuffing his face full of fruits and vegetables from a local vender's market. Ranma had smacked him upside the head and dragged him into the bath house that was, lucky for them, empty.
They were now currently inside a small house that was quite graciously offered to them by a villager who was thank that Ranma had "dealt" with their bull problem. What they didn't know wouldn't hurt them, right?
"We're so grateful to you for tiring out that bull, Sirs." The man replied, referring to Genma as well who, of course, took as much credit as he could get.
"Ah, it was nothing." Genma guffawed, his mouth hanging open obnoxiously.
Ranma slammed his elbow onto his father's head to quiet him down. "You're being rude, Pops." He gritted his teeth, obviously not pleased with his father taking credit for something the older man had nothing to do with. Sighing exasperatedly, Ranma sat back down and dinner was served not long after.
As usual, Genma and Ranma stuffed their faces and fought one another off as they tried to steal food from one another's plates. This sent pieces of rice flying off their plates at many angles, splattering occasionally on the table top, but for the most part it just ended up on them. When they did slow down it was either to drink some water or hold at their bowls for more. Their hosts, of course, just stared in awe, not being used to such table manners.
After dinner, father and son were escorted to their sleeping quarters. Genma fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow whereas Ranma stayed up for a few more minutes, his head full of thoughts from that day."Who does that guy think he is, assuming I was proposin' to him and stuff..." A scowl settled itself over his face before he shook it off. "Ah, whatever. Not like I care what he thinks. I'd never propose to a guy, especially one that arrogant." With that, the pigtailed boy fell asleep.
The early morning came with twittering of birds, a face full of sunshine, and a bucket full of water being splashed on one unsuspecting boy. "Gah! What was that for, Old Man?!" Ranma sputtered, agitated at being awakened so rudely.
"A real 'Man Amongst Men' would have been able to avoid that easily." Genma announced indignantly.
"Oh yeah? Let's see you dodge this!" Ranma's higher pitched voice took the seriousness in which Genma saw his child down a few notches. That put a huge dent in his guard as he began laughing after Ranma's first swing had missed, but only by a hair.
You're too sloppy, Bo-" Genma's sentence was cut off as Ranma's leg flew into his stomach, sending him reeling to the side.
"Who's sloppy now, huh?" Ranma stood cockily above her father, both hands on her hips before turning about. "I'm going to go take a shower. I don't want to meet any possible trainers in this body."
It wasn't until his child had left the room that Genma stood back up and prepared to leave himself, but of course not before cursing her behind her back. "Damn that boy."
Once Ranma finished bathing himself, relieved to be a boy again, he and his father mounted their bags on their shoulders and left. Their hosts seemed to have already went about their daily chores seeing as how they were not to be found inside the house. This was okay for them because it meant they didn't have to show their gratitude all over again and let them leave without all those pesky goodbyes and what not.
They took the road leading further into the village for the other one would have directed them from which they originally came. The further they went into the village, the closer the buildings became to each other until, finally, they reached a small clearing. This clearing surrounded the road they were travelling upon and stretched up towards a small incline. At the top was what Ranma recognized to be the palace grounds he had happened upon the following evening.
"Oh great, I hope that pervert isn't still there." He internally face palmed himself at the less than appreciated path his fate always seemed to throw at him, regardless of his wishes.