Chapter Ten
"You okay Ranma?" Akane asked when school was over and they walked down the hall.
The pigtailed boy yawned. "I will be once we get back. Yesterday really wore me out."
"All because of what Nabiki did?"
"You weren't the one she was doing it all to. Kasumi helping her only made it worse." He told her.
"Well you did need to wear something since all your clothes were in the wash." Akane pointed out.
"Kasumi actually wanted me to look like a girl and Nabiki treated it like a game." He stated.
"Hey you could have fought back at any point. The fact that she actually managed to get some of those outfits on you is your fault too you know." Akane told him, remembering the various outfits Nabiki had made a clothing-deprived Ranma wear the other day. Such outfits included but were not limited to a gym uniform and even an adult bunny costume, all for Ranma's female form. Akane still wondered why Nabiki had one of those lying around the house.
"Hey if I had attacked her your old man would have gone ballistic."
"Maybe, I'll give you that, but couldn't you at least have gone back to being a boy so she couldn't do that?" Akane asked as they stepped outside. She kept checking to see if anyone was overhearing their unusual conversation but so far none were.
"A half-naked boy running around a house full of girls? Yeah, that would have gone much better." Ranma sarcastically replied.
Akane noticed the stares and decided Ranma was right. There were many students standing around watching them warily. "Yeah, let's get going." They left without saying a word to anyone else.
Before they could continue the debate, Shampoo approached them. "Airen, strange boy ask for you."
"Does he have a bokken?" Ranma asked.
Shampoo shook her head. "No, umbrella."
"Umbrella?" Akane repeated, then Shampoo nodded. "Oh great, he's here."
"Who? That boy you warn about showing up?"
Akane nodded. "Yeah that's him. Ryoga Hibiki. Where is he right now?"
"Asking boy where Airen is."
"As soon as he sees Ranma he's going to strike a sneak attack with intent to kill."
Just then, there was a shadow above them. "RANMA! PREPARE TO DIE!"
"Damn, too late." Akane muttered before she, Ranma, and Shampoo jumped to avoid his attack. He created a small crater in the pavement, and the trio took up defensive stances in case of a follow-up move on his part. A crowd quickly formed to see this strange event.
Ryoga stared at his pursued target of many months while still crouched on his knees. "I've been looking for you, Ranma Saotome."
Ranma recognized him right away thanks to the warnings Akane gave him. "So you really have been hunting me down Ryoga."
"Damn straight! You may have no priorities, but I sure do and defeating you is my highest one!"
'Oh get a life.' Akane bitterly thought to herself.
In her dream, Akane had thought of Ryoga as a friend, an undeserving victim of circumstance, and proof that Tofu wasn't the only decent guy in the world. In a weird way, Ryoga was everything she wanted Ranma to be, but felt no real desire to be with him instead of Ranma.
However, in the time since the dream, Akane's opinion of Ryoga had gone downhill. She didn't hate him, but she no longer felt sympathy for him now that she knew what her dream self hadn't known. His friendship with her, while genuine at times, had also seemed like a way to spite or one-up Ranma. His undeserved suffering was really just a result of him not paying attention to what he was doing. And his decency also was circumstantial depending on the situation or other person. In short, Ryoga may not have been the worst guy in the world to her, but he certainly wasn't someone to feel sorry for. Not for the reasons he wanted people to sympathize for anyway.
"We no let you." Shampoo announced.
Ryoga held in a laugh but did little to hide his amused expression. "Hiding behind girls now Ranma? Even I didn't think you'd get that pathetic."
"And what's so pathetic about having girls care about whether or not someone's trying to kill him?" Akane asked.
"This is none of your business." Ryoga insisted.
"You show up out of nowhere, yell out and I quote 'Ranma prepare to die', and you expect us to pretend we don't see or hear a thing?" Akane asked. "Unless you're part of the Yakuza there's no way I'm ignoring this."
"I said it's none of your business so just stay the hell out of it." Ryoga repeated.
"No." Akane defied.
"What did you just say?" Ryoga asked, as if prepared for anything but that.
Shampoo stepped forward. "She say no."
Ryoga frowned then grabbed his umbrella. "Then share his fate!" He announced, trying to attack all three of them.
Shampoo pulled her chui from out of nowhere and blocked his attack, but struggled to get him to back off when he pressed forward. 'Akane right, umbrella no ordinary. This be tough.'
"Ryoga stop this! This is crazy!" Ranma tried to reason.
The lost boy backed away from Shampoo merely to look at his true target. "Shut up Ranma and just let me kill you!"
"Fat chance of that!" Akane said before bringing out her mallet then hitting Ryoga with it. Since Ryoga's endurance wasn't built up due to Bakusai Tenketsu training yet, the hit was about as effective as it was against others. Meaning Ryoga was sent flying until he disappeared. 'Glad I can still do that.'
"Nice shot." Shampoo said, impressed.
"That must have hurt." Ranma noted.
"Landing will too." Shampoo added.
Akane put away her mallet. "He'll probably land in some water and at worst trigger his curse. He'll return to normal then come back here in a week."
"At least he not know where you live." Shampoo said.
Akane nodded, then got concerned. 'Wait a minute, in my dream Ryoga learned where Ranma and I lived and I never found out how. I better do some damage control before he has a chance to learn.'
"Umm girls? Could we get going already? People are staring." Ranma pleaded, feeling uncomfortable now.
Akane looked around, seeing a crowd of students looking around watching them warily. "Yeah, good idea. Let's go." The trio left without saying a word to anyone, but luckily for them no one tried to start a conversation.
"Hey Ranma, don't forget I told Dr. Tofu you'd stop by his place today after school. You ought to head there now." The youngest Tendo daughter told her fiancee.
"You really think I need to? I'm not good at that sorta thing." Ranma replied, well aware of what she wanted him to go there for. She told him why she went the other day.
Akane nodded. "Yeah, we're both confused on the arrangement between us and some help from a professional might help us at least know a little more about what we're doing?"
"Shampoo go too?" The Amazon asked.
"Maybe after you learn the language more, though by then we might all know what we want and you won't need to." Akane told her.
Shampoo nodded then looked at her watch. "Shampoo have go work. Bye Bye Airen, Akane." She said waving before heading to her restaurant.
"I hope she can handle schoolwork and restaurant work together." Akane thought out loud.
Ranma looked ahead and saw Tofu's clinic. "I guess this is my stop."
Akane smiled and head his hand. "Trust me, this will help you."
"How? Talking about my problems is not my style."
"Aren't you always looking for new ways to learn and improve?" Akane asked him.
"Yeah but not like this."
"And why not?" She asked.
Ranma huffed. "Because it's not fun, it's not something I can use, it's... it's just not me."
"Just try it Ranma. For me if not for yourself." She told him, trying not to get impatient. "Martial arts can't solve every problem you face, and I'm trying to help you here by giving you an alternative means of help. Dr. Tofu can help you understand any confusion you have so you won't have to ignore what you don't understand."
'This is one of those times I won't be able to win an argument.' Ranma thought, remembering one of many warnings his father gave him on women. "Fine, but I still think this is a waste of time."
"How about I make it up to you somehow?" Akane suggested.
Ranma looked intrigued. "Like what?"
"Oh, let me surprise you with that. Just promise you won't be too close-minded to Tofu. Okay?" She told him.
"Uhhh... okay." The pigtailed young man said, scratching the back of his head.
Akane smiled at him, knowing he found it cute when she did it like this. "Thanks Ranma. You won't regret this." She then headed off without him, giving him no chance to object any further.
With nothing else to do, Ranma went up to the clinic and knocked on the door.
"Nabiki?" Akane asked, knocking on her sister's door.
"Yeah sis?"
Akane opened the door. Nabiki was on the floor trying out a few aerobic stretches she was reading about in a magazine. "Nabiki, I need to ask you to do something around school."
The mercenary looked intrigued. "Hmm... such as?"
"I'm sure you heard today that someone from Ranma's past showed up at school today, declaring and I quote, 'Ranma prepare to die'."
"Yeah I heard that. What of it?"
"This guy's going to show up again sooner or later. What I'm asking is for you to ensure no one at school tells him where Ranma lives or for everyone to be on the look out for him until he shows up. I'm hoping you won't charge me for this, because keeping this dangerous guy away from our home should be enough for you."
Akane was exaggerating Ryoga's threat level, but hopefully Nabiki would consider peace of mind payment enough instead of cash Akane couldn't afford.
Nabiki looked at her sister for a moment, then closed her eyes and stopped stretching, settling into an informal seated position. "Sorry Akane, no can do."
"Why? Because I wasn't offering money?" Akane asked, feeling a bit insulted by the denial.
"Oh it's not that. It's the fact your request wouldn't work if I enacted it."
"Huh?"
Nabiki held her hand like she was pointing something out. "Akane, how exactly am I supposed to get a hold of each and every person in school and swear them to secrecy on something that doesn't truly concern them? I don't have that strong a control in Furinkan, and I couldn't very well control what they say or do outside of school. And besides, even if we assume that this guy wanting Ranma did not already know where he lives, he does know what school Ranma goes to. If he could find that out, why wouldn't he be able to find out Ranma's current address?"
Akane was aghast. 'I... she's right. I completely forgot that Ryoga also learned Ranma was at Furinkan, another hole in my dream. If he learned that, then of course he could learn where Ranma lives whether or not we try to stop him.'
"Akane?" Nabiki asked, wondering what her sister was wondering.
The younger girl sighed. "You have a point. Never mind sis. But do you think there's a way to at least keep him away?"
"Why? What did this guy do wrong?"
"Ranma and he had a small competition in middle school. After a lot of losing, the other boy, his name's Ryoga by the way, decided they needed a real spar to settle things, but his sense of direction was so lousy it took him four days to find the place they decided the spar was to be held, even though it was right behind his house."
Nabiki nodded mainly to show she was listening. 'Four days?'
"Ranma waited as long as he could, though his father made him leave town on the third day so they could go to China. When Ryoga did show up, he called Ranma a coward and decided to track him down to prove it. He's been following Ranma ever since then."
"And he's only just now caught up?" Nabiki questioned.
Akane nodded. "I told you, he's got a terrible sense of direction. Right now I wouldn't be surprised if he was in Sapporo."
Nabiki furrowed her eyes. "Akane, even if his sense of direction is bad, how in the world could he get to there from here in a couple of hours?"
"How can falling in a spring give a man breasts?" Akane asked back.
"Touche Akane. But still, do you really think this guy is dangerous?" Nabiki inquired.
"Nabiki, he jumped out of nowhere issuing a death threat. That's not exactly friendly if you ask me."
"Well what do you want me to do about it that you and Ranma couldn't?" The mercenary asked.
"You're the genius, you surely can figure something out." Akane said before leaving. 'If I know Nabiki, she should do it merely to prove she can. Now, what to do for Ranma?'
When Ranma came back to the dojo he had a lot on his mind thanks to Tofu.
"Hello Ranma, where were you today?" Kasumi greeted.
"Just out seeing the doc. Akane said it was good for us."
"How so?"
Ranma shrugged. "Not really sure. This sort of thing is completely new to me."
"What did you two talk about?" Kasumi asked.
-Flashback-
"So Ranma, is there anything you want me to help you understand?" Tofu asked.
Ranma took a moment to reply. "To be honest Doc, I have no idea what to say or do thing. Pops always said talking things out was for girls and the only thing men would talk about was their way out of times women wanted to talk to them."
Tofu had to collect his thought before he responded to this. "Well Ranma, your father is entitled to his own opinion and allowed to parent you as he sees fit, but that doesn't mean every lesson he teaches is the right one to learn. What you just described sounds to me like he was teaching that if you can't fight a problem you should just ignore it or let someone else take responsibility for it. That's far from the right thing to do."
"I know my old man ain't perfect but he's still my father." Ranma stated.
"I'm not arguing that, but you must understand you're past the age where your father is the one who must take responsibility for how you behave." Tofu told him. "When you were younger you didn't know any better, you were just following your father's example. That's how it is for all kids. But now you're practically an adult which means you've had plenty of time to learn the difference between right and wrong and can make your own decisions despite your parent's example. What you do now reflects not your upbringing but what you yourself believe is the right thing to do."
"What's your point Doc?" Ranma asked.
"My point Ranma is that when I ask you a question I don't want to hear what your father thinks, I want to hear what you think. You are not your father's ventriloquist dummy, he doesn't decide what words come out of your mouth. Now, back to my original question, is there anything you want me to help you understand?"
Ranma looked reluctant. "Why did Akane want me to do this when I told her it wouldn't do any good?"
"That's a question for Akane, not me. But why are you so certain I can't help you on something? Don't you have questions and concerns about what's expected of you and Akane?"
Tofu could tell Ranma was uncomfortable and thus defensive and unwilling to admit he needed help, so he had to lead the boy into opening up.
"Hell yeah I got questions! Why would everyone expect me to want to marry any girl right away? What if I don't want to? What if I don't care? I've been traveling on the roads learning martial arts my entire life. That's what I care about. Not even for one second in my life did I think about settling down in one place with a wife and kids. So why should I all of a sudden want that just because others are telling me to?"
"Ranma, it's perfectly natural for a teenage boy to not be ready for marriage. You shouldn't have to be. But you are in a position where you have to at least consider if you can see yourself with someone in the future. If you don't, that just tells me you're afraid to grow up."
Ranma looked annoyed. "Are you saying I'm just like a kid?"
Tofu adjusted his glasses. "What I'm saying is that you're afraid of what the future may hold so you keep yourself stuck in the past because it's what you're familiar with. It's not uncommon behavior, but it's not mature behavior either. By doing this, you're hoping to avoid something uncomfortable that hasn't happened yet by focusing your attention on something you've already done. Basically, you're afraid to become an adult."
"I'm not afraid of anything." Ranma countered. 'Except cats but that's not my fault.'
"Ranma, I could go into great length about the impossibility of that claim, but that may have to wait for later. Right now though I'm more concerned about how it sounds like you don't even want to entertain the idea of having a relationship with Akane. Why? Tell me what exactly do you have against the idea."
"I told you, I'm not ready for marriage."
Tofu shook his head. "I didn't ask why don't you want to be married. I asked why don't you want a relationship."
"What's the difference?" Ranma asked.
"Plenty." The doctor told him. "You really don't understand how to interact with the opposite sex do you?"
"Not unless it involves martial arts."
"Then Ranma, I have something I want you to try." Tofu said. "I want you to make a conscious effort to spend time with Akane every day after school doing something that doesn't involve martial arts. You may practice as normal and if she is up to it include her in it as well, but spend at least one hour every day you're with her doing something that isn't connected to martial arts."
"Why would I do that?" Ranma asked.
"Because you need to learn how to interact with people without the element of competition involved. Also, as you sound rather single-faceted to me right now, this should open you up to new things to do. I'm not saying martial artists shouldn't be important to you, but it shouldn't be your only priority. Don't you ever get tired of your next fight being the only thing you have to look forward to?"
"Honestly I never thought about it."
"Maybe you should. Just try it out for a week at least. The worst that can happen is you find out Akane isn't the kind of girl you want to be with in the long run and it's better to find that out now then just before or after you marry her."
Ranma thought it over and couldn't really find an argument that worked for him. "Fine Doc, I'll give it a try."
"Could you say it without sounding like a child being told to eat their vegetables?" Tofu joked.
-End Flashback-
"Sounds like good advice to me Ranma." Kasumi told the pigtailed teen.
"Me too." Akane said from behind Ranma, capturing him in her own version of the Amazon glomp.
Ranma was quite surprised. "How much did you hear?"
"Enough to know that you are basically under doctor's orders to date me now." She said with a victorious grin.
"What? No I'm not."
Despite this Akane still smiled. "Dr. Tofu told you to spend an hour a day with me with no martial arts involved. Why not date in that time?" She then leaned closer to whisper in his ear. "Or would you rather try something else boys and girls can do together?"
Completely red in the face, Ranma broke out of her hold on him and made a dash for his room, as if to hide from her.
Akane stayed where she was. 'Looks like I have to work at getting him to open up to me. I just hope he's not even more sexually repressed than he was in my dreams.'