Chapter 5
Confrontation
He took so long that he heard a voice, "Ranma?" It was Kasumi.
Not lifting his head, he said, "Kasumi, we need to talk..."
As Ranma looked onward to Kasumi. Despite her being serene all the time, he could see the almost hooded gaze that he had seen more on Nabiki. He studied his opponent from when she had walked up to him and had seen the things he had missed.
She walked like a martial artist. A very good one. Her strides were fluid as if she was flowing than walking. Her eyes were giving the aura of confidence and intelligence. The very look that Nabiki had, but more focussed. As more and more of his views of Kasumi changed, he realized in that instance that she had royally fooled him.
He may be a socially lacking, but she approached like a predator as his mind started going into battle mode.
Kasumi or mist/fog. It was an appropriate name. She had cast one on herself to obscure everybody's view of her. Assessment was that she was an very intelligent person and an exceptional actress to keep up the appearance of a perfect housewife.
Her deception was superb and now he was about to return the favour. He suspected that everyone, well almost everyone was against him, and like a battle plan his mind finally had worked it out as he saw the tactics that she used. A spy who actually led his enemies. First flood him with bad news so that she is the only one who is in his confidence and then go for the jugular the next second. As he really looked at her, many things became clear. She always worked behind the scenes with his mother. They were truly effective when he was clueless.
With her sunny disposition, she asked, "What about Ranma-kun?"
Ranma smiled, "Oh about why did you do this to me?"
Her smile never faltered, "Do what?"
His smiled never faltered either, "About crippling me."
"Oh my...You don't think...?"
If he didn't know better, she would have fooled him. "I know you did. If anything did happen, you would have known because everyone would have talked about it." in a voice of absolute confidence and for good measure his arrogance to get the ball rolling. He had seen her shell start to break over the last few months, but never knew what lay underneath it. Now he did.
As he continued, he had to make it more plausible of the Ranma of old, "I also know about the trading cards and manga (leaving out the hentai stuff and his mother) that Nabiki had been selling. Why didn't I see any of the money that have come in and by the way the others were telling me, it was a hot item."
She was about to protest again when she saw he would have none of it. Her eyes suddenly dropped the trademark sunny look and got realistic. This was a thinking Ranma, he was still a jerk, but now more dangerous. He would have to be taken care of. This was the last straw for her, she was tired of pretending to be the perfect homemaker. She smiled as she contemplated of pleasure of showing him the error of his ways when playing hardball with her.
"How did you know?" she asked.
"It all came together when I put together all the clues...you still didn't answer my question of why you did it." he said.
She thought about his answer and saw the open expression on his face, "He really did figure it out."
In a louder voice, she said, "Because you could never decide which to marry. Honour had to be satisfied and you dishonoured yourself when you didn't do anything about it." her voice had gotten louder. "You are an arrogant jerk and only a second rate martial artist."
"It figures." he thought, "She like everyone else had complete ignored that she and Nabiki made that very situation by rejecting Ranma without giving him a chance and again blaming him if he didn't meet their definition of honour." But he said outloud, "What do you mean second rate? Yooou couldn't have done better than me." He smirked his best, but inside he knew that he was still better than her even now.
"What do you mean?" she said as her anger started to boil and with hooded eyes, "I saw you practice and fight. I can tell you right now that I am more than a match for you then." smiling now a very cruel and superior look, AHeck, Akane is more than a match for you then, but she held herself back. She didn't even really need the Mother's Mallot."
Another thing clicked in Ranma's mind was the fact that he now understood her smile now. It was one of smiling at an insider's joke. She gave away more information than she possible knew. He did suspected that Akane could be that good and with her hints, he was sure of it now, but if Akane was then he presumed that Kasumi would be better. Much better. A challenge had been made and he hid his gleam in his eye.
"You beat Saffron, but it was a lucky victory. The Amazons told you that the Hiryu Shorten Ha was made for Saffron and you didn't use it when you had gotten your first chance, you used it at your last chance and almost killed Akane, you moron!"
'Typical.' he thought, 'A back seat fighter, completely forgetting that she wasn't there or she would have known that a that time, it was his only chance.' He was also surprised that they didn't tell her the weakness of the move. It would have sucked Saffron's power, but with his power of flight, he was strong enough to just fly out of the range of the tornado, even at that stage.
"You don't deserve any of the money we have made from you. You insensitive jerk!" She turned away and was about to walk out, but gave a parting shot to him with a cruel smile, "You will work for us for the rest of your..." as she looked at him with loathing "...pathetic life. No one will believe that you were innocent. Heck, everyone in Nerima uses your name as a 'curse.'"
Without knowing, she gave him the full view of the side of her that he had never seen before. The manipulative and cunning that made Nabiki look like an innocent merchant. Hiding it, he kept up the act, "No I won't! I promise you that I will get you back for all that you have done to me!"
"Yes you will. Nabiki asked that all the bills be paid when you are discharged. She will add the interest of paying them to your already huge tab. She could just tell them that you and your worthless father will pay for it." She saw his stubborn expression and gave an ominous smile, if you don't, I have other ways of making you do it." With that she started to walk out of the room.
He smiled inside. She thought she had him exactly where she wanted him and was squeezing him for what he was worth. The classic overconfidence. He refrained from mentioning the connection with his mother as it would undoubtedly this was her trump card. This time, it wasn't an act. With the betrayal in his eyes that she would misinterpret as a brave front, Ranma yelled in a petulant tone, "Don't come back her again!"
"Don't worry, I won't be in your presence as long as I have to, but you will pay for this." she said with a last look of disgust and she walked out. She suddenly found that no one would look at her anymore. Knowing the gig was up, she walked with dignity out the door. She never suspected that Ranma had set her up, thinking that he was too stupid for such a thing and herself too smart.
When Kasumi left, she never suspected that the damage she intended to inflict on Ranma would backfire. The informal grapevine was that fast and the story about Kasumi was almost made a legend in the hospital and with the more powerful people staying in the hospital.
A few minutes later, the Head Nurse and Ryouga walked in. They were both surprised that he wasn't looking lost or scared, but had both a hurt and satisfied expression on his face. Ryouga had never seen Kasumi that way. He knew from the conversation of the fiancees that Kasumi was smart. It wasn't until he saw her face that he truly realized how she fooled him.
Ranma, not surprised at Ryouga, asked him, "Where were you?"
Ryouga said, "Just outside the room, I can't believe she was like that."
"So you didn't get lost?"
"What do you mean LOST!"
"Calm down, man. I mean that usually you get lost in the first few minutes, but now you stayed here for the last few weeks and also right now came back to my room with no problems. YOU actually lead the head nurse here."
"..." Ryouga thought then he realized that he didn't get lost, "How did I do that?"
Ranma smiled a big smile as he put his chin in his fist, "Hmm...I got a theory, but only a theory. First...it occurred to me at the only time you DIDN'T get lost. I remember that it was when we went on the school picnic back in junior high near Mt. Fuji."
"Yeah, I remember that, it was great with all the food we could eat." Ryouga said as he smiled at the memory.
"At that time, you weren't obsessed with something or depressed or even angry. You were happy and let things as they come. When you came here, you were mostly shocked. I saw you walk to the washroom and sleep on the couch without losing your way there."
Ryouga thought about it hard and couldn't see any flaw in it. He had left and gotten back to to where he had wanted to be without being lost. His face took on a more thoughtful look then he cracked a smile. Everyone including himself had thought it was a Hibiki trait, but he realized that it may be a mindset. Maybe being too focused or preoccupied on the negative side had made him what was going on around him. Perhaps it did produce a defeatest attitude. His parents and siblings were also depressed about their directional disability. He will have to tell them the next time he saw them... in a few months.
"But." Ranma continued, "It still doesn't explain how you suddenly get to (shrugging) Siberia or Europe in a few days instead of the months it should take for you to trek there by yourself. The other theory is that you might have an innate ability to go anywhere in an instant and you and your family may be able to control it or at least stop the random travelling."
Again, Ryouga thought about this. In an obscure way, it actually made sense. How could he suddenly be a thousand miles away in a second. Finding people who spoke German one day and Chinese the next should have told him something, but he never thought about it.
Ranma then turned to the Head Nurse and said, "I'm sorry about this..."
"Don't worry about it. (taking a deep breath) Since you are going to be working the hospital, you might as well get to know my name. It's Ka Heem, but people just call me Cream." said the head nurse.
"Ok, Cream. It's just that my life is now literally upside down now. Before it was just crazy, but straightforward. Now, everything has changed. Most of the people that I cared about aren't who I thought they were. but they made two mistakes."
"They did? What were they?" asked Cream, a bit puzzled, but not Ryouga, he knew...
As Ranma smiled with a very far away look, "The first is that I always keep my promises...and the other is that I NEVER lose when it counts." Both Ryouga and Cream knew which promise it was because they heard him from in the hall, but Cream smiled dubiously at the comment because it seemed to her that it was the confidence of the young. On the other hand, only Ryouga knew how true both of them were because he witnessed both of them firsthand.
It was a tiring day for everyone and Cream saw the signs that that Ranma was getting tired and she ushered Ryouga out.
It was only after a few minutes that Dr. Tofu came in.
Ranma had one look on his face and thought, 'Crap. He knows.'
Even though he had bad feelings with Kasumi, he didn't want Dr. Tofu to be hurt that bad.
Before he could open his mouth, Dr. Tofu spoke in a frighteningly calm manner, "You know. I really never thought that Kasumi could be like that. She used to be the nicest and sweetest girl that anyone could know. I think over time, I did fall in love with the person I... thought was Kasumi." He stopped, pursed his lips and seemed to gather his thought before shaking his head. "You never really know a person do you Ranma unless they trust you." Dr. Tofu said before leaving.
Ranma remained silent. There was nothing he could do for the good doctor. Well, nothing that would matter to him anyway.
He laid there quietly and was thought about everyone, but couldn't really believe how different people were from what they presented to him. It was then that emotional exhaustion had hit him. He was tired, very tired. Emotionally rung out. Always the martial artist, it drove home how much of a weakness it was to rely on emotions, even without using chi. He also in a way he felt all the secrets swirling around him lessened and a very large part of the invisible weight of honour that had always accompanied him had been lifted somewhat. Secrets were coming out and again he was in the middle of it, but for the first time he had taken steps to take care of it.
The gist of his life kept coming at him. All of them were against him. It still amazed him what a few words could do. Subtly. Kasumi gave away more information than she could imagine, unlike Nabiki. She explained why the rumours were there. To cut him off from everything and to make him be at their mercy. Before twisting meanings by saying its his choice to chose a fiancee, but then pressing their impressions and ideals on him and throw in THEIR honour down his throat for him to choose. Knowing fully that despite everything, he will take the greatest burden of the supposed choice.
If this was going to be his life then, it was time for him to run his life.
As his mind drifted over the people who he thought he knew,
Akane. As he suspected, a very proficient martial artist. She was still the angry tomboy, but had a sneakiness like Nabiki that seemed to be a Tendo trait. Two-timer. Also who knew the Umisenken. What else is she hiding?
Kasumi. Very good at appearing to be only the housewife type, disguising her more Nabiki like traits, but more domineering than Nabiki. As he though back, he saw telltale signs that she was better than Akane and maybe as good as he was before Saffron. To think that he confided sometimes to her and that she had to be disgusted inside. She is the one of the most brillant actress that he had ever seen, but she seemed to forget that it takes two to tango and Akane did not every try for a relationship.
Tendo Nabiki. Still mercenary, but if what Ryouga heard was true then she might be the odd one out. She actually seemed to be the one who was the most sincere and honourable of the lot. The most straightforward motive was to keep the family dojo afloat. He could respect that. He always knew where she stood. She may have done many things, but never went over the line. She even apologized a few times when she got close to the line.
Shampoo. Fabulous acting job. Give her an American Acadamy Award. She totally fooled him with her the bubbly bubble headed act. He never knew that she wasn't interested in him and had a boyfriend back home. Still, it seemed that her honour seemed to be the only thing that even remotely interests her. Like Nabiki, she had a straightforward motive.
Ukyou. He could only shake his head. It had devastated him a two weeks ago when it was made clear to him that she pretended to be his friend, but immediately dropping him after her honour had been restored to her. As he sought for a calm breath from the sob that choked him, he thought of the many times that he had confided in her like Kasumi and how she must have been disgusted at him inside. At the same time, he wasn't as forgiving for her blaming him for what he did at six year old. How in the world would a six year old know about fiancees and marriage?
Kodachi. Who cares, but it was an eye opener to find out that she wasn't insane. Very sneaky and very controlling bored rich kid who drugged her brother for her own ends.
Hinako. His teacher, if wasn't a part of the plot then knew what would happen and did nothing. She was at the house enough times and were really friendly to the Tendo women. At least she had the decency not to be involved the 'incident'.
As huge sigh emerged out of him as he started to feel depressed. The biggest surprise was his mother. She said that she accepted him and that the seppuku contract was no more, but now she was probably the real mastermind. The others could have logically waited for him to decide because he was only seventeen and not yet out of high school. His mother must have pushed for it. She was a traditional woman who was so concerned with honour that she would cripple her own son to keep it. She showed no remorse in making him go into servitude for her honour or go back on it on a techicality like the seppuku contract when she kept on changing her mind if was manly or not...every time he met her.
Besides, if their fathers had every tried to just marry them off, they would have been in LEO from Akane's mallet and his fist faster than they could say, "Not your own father!" or "ungrateful boy!"
It was strange that Cologne seemed better when viewed against the others. She was truly one who hadn't been trying to do anything bad to him. She was still the Old Ghoul, but he could understand her. As he thought about it more, he could see that she didn't have to teach him those martial arts techniques, but also noticed her attitude change for the better the last months after the failed wedding when he controlled his mouth a bit more.
Ranma still lay there in silence. The dawn light had just come through the window as he went over what he had just heard. The petty squabbles about honour to those who didn't know the meaning of the word.
A martial artist followed the Code. Loyalty, benevolence, bravery, self control and honour above life. The first four he understood, but the fifth made him pause.
The main question was what was honour and by whose definition was it by. His mother had the Satome's honour. It was drilled into him that the present generation was only borrowing their ancestor's names and we must give more honour it, leave it untarnished or redeem it. By the actions of Genma, he had tarnished it beyond belief and it spilled over to him. More to the point, his real concern was the question if he still wanted to be a Satome.
Obviously, his mother's view of a "Man Among Men" was perverted. She actually had approved of what Happosai did and she wanted Ranma to peep on women to be manly and also to go into servitude for Akane. At the same time, she gave him no chance at being honourable and now seemed to bar his way to be only what she wanted, honourable or not.
It would be dishonourable to become a ronin, but what did his name ever do for him. He was always away from Japan for almost two thirds of his life. Did he even care about HONOUR. Everybody was disgusted by Genma and it spilled onto him also. Also during the training trip, he always tried to strive for HONOUR, but now he finds out that almost everything he did was a set up to make him fail.
'Was it WORTH it to ME?' he thought and then shook his head as he didn't know.
As he mulled over these thoughts. He was beginning to realize that past his life was crap. Since his near death injuries, he had lost much more than his freedom and now was looking at a life of servitude for those who manipulated honour, but with the longer he stayed here. He began to realize that he didn't really understand what honour really was until the nurse started teaching the children about the facts of life. Despite the rumours that still swirled around him, he felt that he had the real respect of the hospital staff and patients, a lot more than in his old life. They saw him for who he is and not what people wanted him to turn into.
That had started him thinking about his life in general and if someone had looked into his mind they would have seen the rusted gears of his mind shaking off the cobwebs and rust. He wasn't the person that came into the hospital, one dimensional, now a person who was more complex than even he realized. A stray thought popped into his head and wouldn't go away. It was that if the main women in his life weren't who they seem, how about the men.
Soun. Now that he knew how his daughters were, he could fully realize that he was totally under their thumb. A mere figurehead and no wonder why he was so emotional and didn't teach, but then Ranma realized that his daughters had never let him do anything for himself. He even heard Kasumi scold him for even getting himself a cup of tea and not let her do it for him.
Ryouga. At least he helped Ryouga about his directional problem so that Ryouga didn't get lost as much and is now a real friend than an enemy.
Mousse. He don't know yet. Now that he was out of the picture for Shampooo, he was a more sensible guy.
Kuno. He now knew that Kuno wasn't insane. Only his sister's drugs kept him that way. He did meet him only once when he wasn't on the drugs and he turned out to be a surprisingly nice person and profusely apologized for his behaviour.
Ah, Sasuke. The loyal ninja servant. Hiding his true talents like himself from the Kunos under the fascade of being inept, but was more of a friend than his "best friend Ucchan".
Happosai. To write him off would be a mistake. Yes, Happosai did do panty raids, but when he was done and thought no one was looking, Ranma saw pain. Yes pain and guilt. Taking women's ki was probably very easy to him and he had a ready supply of it. It also made him lazy in increasing his own ki by himself. When Ranma was beat Saffron, he felt like a god with all that ki. Sweet and when it was over Ranma alway wanted more. It was like a drug to him and he supposed it was the same to Happosai when needed his fixes. Still in that train of thought, Ranma felt, in a way, sorry for him, but Happosai, despite everything, was a great martial artist, but did do this to himself and wasn't strong enough to resist after so many centuries of groping.
Finally, Genma. The fat and lazy panda had done many harmful deeds to him, but as he looked deep into himself for the good or useful things his father had done for him.
As he was about to give up, something clicked in his mind. He noticed that no one could lie to him and knew if they were. There were clues, but he let himself be blinded to that would have let him figure out the people who were truly his enemies and they weren't what they seem to be. He shook his head when he remembered one of his sensei saying, "People have 20/20 in hindsight, not foresight."
Other than martial arts moves, he remembered each day in detail when he really needed to know. The wonder of this new thing that he had overlooked. His father drilled him to memorize each move or strategy no matter what kind of pain or distraction he was in. As he went back in his mind, he started to remember details and incidents that he had thought he had forgotten. He could remember details of not just martial arts, but of his life in general, the boring as well as the exciting came to him with equal clarity. He tried to remember the term used...a trained photographic memory, but more with the feelings and sensations. He realized that it was a gift, but also a curse because he could remember everything he did right and, but couldn't forget anything he did wrong, no matter how horrible.
As he had widened his horizons n the hospital, he looked back to the first day at the Tendos. Most of all he saw Akane's reaction to him when he changed, all of Nabiki's remarks, the times when Kasumi acted out of character and finally, what his mother had said about being a man and realized that he didn't want what they wanted.
Ironically, the most vivid memory was of a long past event. It was really the only time he had ever seen his father be truly serious and honourable. It was a time before Jusenkyo when his father suddenly said in the most serious tone he had.
Flashback
"Ranma, I have finally seen you come into your own." Genma said then paused as he looked into the sky for a very long time. The pause was stretching longer and just when he thought that the old man had really lost it, he started again, "It is now time for me to give you these. It was taught to me by a great man...a very great man.
A serious pause then continued, "One who was unjustly wronged. He was my friend when I was younger and before you were born. These are moves that he had perfected for his own school. A school that was never founded. There will be other moves that I will teach you and you must learn them for THEY ARE YOUR HERITAGE. Never forget ..." as he turned to Ranma, "...what you feel is right.
Looking Ranma straight into the eye, he said, "You may laugh at me for saying this, but very early on I have found that honour is what you make of it, not what other people make of it. It is true that what people think gives you honour, but in the world, I have seen the few evil people trump over many good people because they manipulate honour. A bad rumour and planted material had toppled many good and innocent people because others covert what they want or for revenge of some slight generations ago and didn't tell their victims or because no one stood up for it.
"To people who wanted to believe it, the rumours were the truth even though there was no proof or even had proof to the contrary that they had ever did the deed. You see, for people, you are guilty and cannot be totally be proven innocent. They expect it and that is why evil people gett away with it.
"Ranma, never judge someone because of a rumour. Discard the truth because people can believe a lie and say it is the truth, but always know what happened and why without what other people THINK happened."
He blinked. This wasn't the idiotic, greedy father he always had, but a totally different person. The tone and posture of his father told him of the importance of what he was about to teach him.
The training after that was gruelling. Each move was like a very long katas that his father taught him and told him to use it as a last resort. At the time, they were simple looking katas that seemed to build up the strength of the entire body and that of the mind. Different moves after that required different parts of the katas. As Ranma flew into the katas, they all seem to flow into a single style.
The Satome Forbidden Techniques were only a start, not the core of the moves. It was a way of "testing" the person to see if they would match up to it. The master would see what the person would do with those techniques. The next real moves were followed by flowing movements and then the still movements. It wasn't the end.
'There are Forbidden Techiques?' Ranma thought, 'When the heck would he have told me?'
Flashback end
But now seeing them in a new light, his mind went over them and saw the pattern. Perhaps his father's biggest gift, as he saw the katas that made up the Satome Anything Goes Style. The moves looked like unarmed combat styles, but on a closer look, it was really made for the weapons. Ki techniques, drilling in hit and run, and finally a one strike technique that he perfected using ki. The use of ki to produce any type of weapons by merely focusing on the form. The vaccum blades were only one example of it. It can be changed at will to many forms. It can also be used as a melee weapon. All were interchangeable and could be used in combination. He realized that a lot of his father's Forbidden Moves may be based on these other techniques to make a truly formidable style. Even though Genma thought weapons were weak, this was a truly great weapon's art.
Another thought came up, if this was such a formable style then why did he not incorporate it in the Satome Anything Goes Style? As he pondered, he suddenly realized that despite how honourless his father was, he must have truly respected his friend not to take advantage of it. For really the only time in his later life, he felt truly humbled by his father and especially to the friend he so respected.
Inspiration then struck him. Most of the moves were ki techniques with the sword. Combining the Satome Forbidden moves with the last part of the katas does produce an awesome force even without moving around. For the first time in a very long time, he smiled as he could see some hope for the future.
Author notes:
Nuff said.