AUTHOR NOTES
Hi to everyone! As promised, I bring you a flashback chapter, with some key moments in the last 7 months where Ranma and Ryoga's relationship improve and they start to be close friends. However, the chapter was going to be very long, and I decided to split it in two, because I didn't want to shorten it, so this will be part 1 out of 2. I hope you enjoy the chapter and that it brings some satisfaction to those who missed this part in this story.
About Part 2, I have written about 30% of it, so it will take a couple of weeks to get posted.
As always, thank you to all of you who keep following and reading the story. Your support encourages me to keep writing. Thank you.
Kind regards.
7 months earlier. Tendo Dojo. November…
The redheaded girl opened her eyes, but closed them immediately, with the light hurting them. Then she opened them a little, giving time to them to get accustomed to the brightness. She could hear someone whining, somewhere close to her. She couldn't recall where she was though. Once again, risked to fully open her eyes, and this time the light didn't hurt them. She saw that she was laying on the floor in the Tendo Dojo, and then she remembered everything. The place was almost empty when she regained full consciousness, for almost everyone had already left the dojo, with only her mother by her side. The wedding guests had to be thrown out before they could cause more destruction, and the wedding itself had to be called off.
Ranma looked around, and it seemed like a battle had occurred here. There were holes in the walls, on the floor, even in the ceiling. Her father and Soun were drowning their sorrow in sake, whining like little kids. Nabiki was counting bills with a satisfied expression, and Kasumi was cleaning up what she could, sighing from time to time. The redhead herself was in a sorry state. Her wedding suit was partially burned in the parts that weren't wet. Even her face was scorched, her hair dirty with ash. She felt dizzy and disoriented. Her mother smiled to her when she saw that she had opened her eyes.
"How are you feeling dear?" she asked.
"I feel like I've been beaten like a piñata." She answered, sitting up and reaching her hand to the back of her head, still a bit stunned.
"Easy. You hit your head when you fell to the floor after the bomb that old creep threw to you." Said Nodoka, referring to Happosai.
"Where's Akane?" Ranma asked.
"She went to her room to take off the wedding dress. As you could guess, she wasn't happy. You should do the same when you feel better, but your suit will have to go to the trash can, I'm afraid." Her mother replied.
"Yeah. I need a bath too." The pigtailed girl said while getting up with some difficulty.
"Can you walk well, dear? I can help taking you to the furo." Nodoka offered.
"No mom, I'm ok. I'll go by myself. Thanks." She replied.
The redheaded girl walked to her room to pick up some fresh clothes. Once done, she entered the furo, and locked the door behind her. Then she took off her clothes, filled a bucket with cold water and poured it all over her head, feeling the dizziness to dissipate with the refreshing water. Then she dropped to her knees, and stayed like that for a while, just staring at the wall, but getting lost in her own thoughts. Why did she had to agree to participate in this damned wedding ceremony? She and Akane didn't even talk about it. It was their parent's idea, schemed behind their backs. What pissed her off the most was that Akane seemed to be ok with it. She was smiling when she first saw her in her wedding dress. Something like this should not be rushed. And they weren't even eighteen, for Kami's sake. What were they thinking?
Ranma laid on her side on the floor, and shrank back into a curl. Tears started forming in her eyes, and then she cried. The tears kept rolling down her cheeks, and she couldn't stop them. Why? Why they had to do this? It was a disaster. And they didn't care what she thought about. She used to think that this was what she wanted someday. To marry Akane and inherit the dojo. Become the greatest martial artist of her time. But she wasn't so sure anymore. Not when this was being forced down her throat without even asking her opinion about it, or consulting her about how it should be conducted. In this moment, she felt like her life was no longer hers.
Ryoga kept walking without having a clear idea about where to go. He just wanted to get away from Nerima. He felt ashamed. At last he gives up his love for Akane so she can live her life with Ranma, and he ends up irrupting in the wedding ceremony and ruining it. Well, he wasn't the only one who irrupted and ruined it. Where did all these people come from? What a mess. Surely Akane hated him.
He needed to get out of there, and he would do what he usually does when he purposely wants to get lost; he would keep walking until he couldn't see any more houses or buildings.
A few hours later he reached the outskirts of the city and could finally see the countryside and a forest. He sighed relieved, and after adjusting the straps of his huge backpack, he headed towards the woods, feeling the chilly air of November on his face. He needed to isolate himself from other people at least for a few days, to think, to decide what he should do with his life. Should he spend a few years traveling and training? Maybe he could learn new techniques, and when he felt that he was ready, come back to Nerima and challenge Ranma to a fight to determine once and for all who was the best martial artist. Or maybe he should disappear from Nerima and never come back. Live in another city with Akari. Akari… did he really love her? He could not tell.
Ryoga set up his camp and gathered a few dry branches to make a campfire and heat up some canned food he had. After a while, everything was ready, and he was seating on a big stump, eating a can of beef with soy sauce and vegetables.
Akari was pretty and a good person, but he felt that something was off in their relationship. Something in his supposed girlfriend was making him uncomfortable, and it was probably her obsession with pigs, obsession that got his nerves every time she started to talk about those damned animals. The lack of physical contact when they were together didn't help either. She didn't let him to kiss her, and the only thing they did when dating was holding hands. Were they 12 years old? He got tired quickly of thinking about Akari, and his mind moved to Akane, his true love, but she never loved him like he did, and she never will. He was certain after Jusendo and their fight with Saffron. Akane only loved Ranma. He would keep loving Akane, but as a friend. That was all he could do. And talking about friends, what was Ranma to him? Some time ago he was his worst enemy, but he knew that that was one sided feeling, his side. Ranma never hated him. Ryoga didn't hate him neither, not anymore. They had battled together against Herb and Saffron, cooperated several times, and Ryoga had come to respect his former enemy. Did that make him his friend? Kind of. There had been moments that their relationship felt like that, where they more or less connected. When they were in Junior High, he considered Ranma the closest thing to a friend he ever had, but he left with his father and abandoned him. Deep down, Ryoga knew it wasn't Ranma's fault. They were kids back then, and was his father's decision to leave. Maybe he should try to be kinder with his rival. The Lost Boy was getting exhausted of so much fighting and arguing between them. If just Ranma could be less of a pain in the ass sometimes…
A month later… December
Ryoga was consulting his map, without a clue of where the hell he was. Was it a town or a city? The streets seemed familiar to him, but in any case, due to his lack of sense of direction, most streets in Japan seemed familiar to him. Despite that, he reduced the possibilities to Yokohama or Tokio. Then, out of the blue, someone landed on his head, and a very well-known voice greeted him.
"Yo Ryoga! Where have you been man? I have not seen you since the wedding. You got lost again, right?" Ranma greeted in his usual way to the Lost Boy.
"Ranma… Then I must be in Tokyo." Replied the Lost Boy, getting upset to have the pigtailed boy squatting on top of his head.
"Of course you're in Tokyo, P-Chan. You always end up in Tokyo, no matter how lost you are. That's odd, now that I think about it." Said the pigtailed boy scratching his chin.
"Will you get off my head and stop calling me that?!" yelled irritated the Lost Boy launching a thrust with his umbrella against Ranma, who easily dodged the attack and jumped graciously a couple of metres away from the bandana boy.
"Ok, ok, sorry Ryo. I was just messing with you. You know me." said the pigtailed martial artist.
'Did he apologized?' thought Ryoga surprised. "And you know me and know that I hate that nickname. Why do you have to be always such a jerk?"
"C'mon, don't be so thin-skinned. It was just a joke." Tried to excuse the pigtailed boy. Then looked pensive for a few seconds, and finally talked again. "Why don't we eat some parfaits in an ice cream shop I know near here? My treat." He said smiling.
"You're going to pay for both? That's new." Chuckled the Lost Boy. "Ok. But after that we're going to spar. I've trained something new I want to try and you will be my perfect dummy."
"Something new eh? That's interesting. Ok, deal. Let's go. Follow me closely and don't get lost. Ok, P-Chan?... Ups." Said the pigtailed boy, covering his mouth with his hand.
"Ranmaaa…" said the Lost Boy fuming.
"Sorry Ryoga. It's a bad habit, I know. C'mon, don't make a fuss about it." Tried to apologize Ranma with a kind smile on his face. Then he started walking, grabbing Ryoga's tunic by his arm to make him follow him.
A while later they were getting close to the place. Ryoga was trying to keep an eye on Ranma so he wouldn't get lost, but it was proving difficult with the street so crowded. Then, suddenly, Ranma stopped.
"Why are we stopping?" asked confused Ryoga.
"Because I need water." Said the pigtailed boy looking around and smiling when he saw a bucket of water beside a door in a wood fence circling a small house.
"Water?" asked puzzled Ryoga.
Ranma walked to the bucket, picked it up and poured the water over his head, trying to wet only his head and not his clothes, which would be a problem in the cold air of December. This triggered his curse and changed him to a pretty redhead.
"What the hell?! Why did you do that? Is this one of your schemes?" asked startled the Lost Boy.
The redheaded girl winked at the perplexed Lost Boy and smiled. "Trust me. Do you want a parfait or not?"
"Whatever. I'm starting to guess where this is going..." Said Ryoga grumbling.
"Then follow me, and play along." She said. "Do you have a towel in your backpack, by the way?"
"Yeah, one sec." the Lost Boy said, searching in his backpack until he found what Ranma asked, and he gave the towel to her.
The redheaded girl then undid her braid and used the towel to dry her hair. Ryoga was surprised to see how pretty the girl in front of him was with her hair loose, even in her current wet state, and blushed at the thought, scolding himself for thinking that. When Ranma finished, she combed her hair with her hand and braided it again in her signature pigtail. "Ok, thanks." She said returning to Ryoga the towel, who put it in his backpack again. Then the redheaded girl grabbed the Lost Boy's tunic again and said. "Let's go." And together, they resumed the walk to the ice cream shop, entering the place a few minutes later.
The two martial artists picked one table and sat down one in front of the other. Ryoga left his huge back pack and his umbrella beside him. A moment later the waiter appeared. He was clearly older than the two teenagers, but he wasn't old at all. He should be in his thirties, medium height, and had short light brown hair with long bangs that reached just above his eyes.
"Oh! It's you again! How are you pretty lady?" asked with a broad smile the waiter.
"I'm fine, thanks. I hope you're fine too." she replied kindly.
"Oh, yes, I'm splendid, as you can see." He said, with his arms outstretched.
The redheaded girl giggled. "Yeah, you look great." She said smiling to him very feminine and coquette.
"You brought a friend, I see. I hope he's not a date." He said jokingly.
'And why the fuck would you care about that?' Ryoga thought. He didn't know why, but he was starting to dislike this guy. Besides, he was finding disturbing that a guy in his thirties was flirting with a teenage girl.
"Oh, of course he's not a date!" she said with a beautiful smile. "He's my brother. You see, our auntie died a couple days ago and he came from Osaka to pay his respects and be with the family." She said changing instantly her expression and looking sad.
"Oh my, that's terrible. I'm very sorry for your loss. Then a nice parfait should improve your mood. Do you want the usual?" asked the waiter with a sympathetic expression.
"Yes, please. And for my brother… What do you want Ryoga?" asked Ranma keeping the smile.
"You have no shame Ranma…" whispered the Lost Boy embarrassed.
"I beg your pardon?" said the waiter, not getting (luckily) what he said.
"For me just a tub of nougat ice cream with chopped almonds. Thanks." Finally said the Lost Boy.
"Ok, thank you. I'll bring your order as soon as it's ready." The waiter said and then left them alone.
As soon as the waiter was far enough to not hear them, Ryoga spoke, irritated. "Ranma, you were hitting on that guy!"
"Yeah, and when it's time to pay the bill, I'll hit on him again and we'll get out of here having our ice creams for free. It's just an act man, so relax." She said calmly.
"You should not do that Ranma. It's dishonest, and it's degrading to you." Replied Ryoga in a disappointed tone.
"Degrading to me? I didn't know you care about me so much pretty boy." She said making a cute face.
"Don't flirt with me, Ranma!" he replied blushing furiously.
The pigtailed girl cut the act immediately, and looked at him with a curious face. He was blushing, which meant that her flirting had some effect on him. Probably he was so timid that any girl who flirted with him, even her, made him blush so intensely. Oddly, he looked really cute to her all flushed, but quickly discarded that thought. 'He's Ryoga, for Kami's sake. He can't look cute.' She thought.
"Ok, sorry Ryoga. You know I like to joke around. Let's have a civilized conversation ok? That's why we came here, to have a good time, right?"
"Yeah, I… I guess so." He said still blushing.
"Tell me, what's this new technique you learned?" she asked. Before Ryoga could answer, the waiter came back with their order carried on a tray.
"Oh, that was quick!" Ranma said while smiling.
The waiter looked at her and smiled back. "Just because it's you… Ok, let see. For the pretty girl's brother, we have a tub of nougat ice cream with chopped almonds." He said, placing Ryoga's ice cream in front of him. "And for you, sweetheart, we have Blueberry cheesecake ice cream layered with graham crumbs and strawberry topping. Topped with whipped cream & a graham cracker. You have an excellent taste." He said, and placed a big crystal jar filled with cheesecake ice cream, and with the whipped cream reaching the same height as Ranma's chin. Ryoga's eyes went wide when he saw what his rival/friend was about to eat. Ranma showed a broad smile when she saw the parfait, and thanked the waiter.
"Oh, you are welcome miss. A beautiful parfait for a beautiful girl like you." He said with an ample smile, while staring at her.
"Th… Thank you." Ranma replied embarrassed, feeling that the guy was overdoing it with the compliments. After that, the waiter didn't leave, keeping his stare at the girl with a nervous smile, like wanting to say something more to her, but not daring. Ryoga started to get irritated again. He didn't like how he was looking at Ranma, and didn't like either the flirting tone he was using to refer to her.
"Hey… that's all." Said the Lost Boy in a serious tone to the waiter, raising his voice to get his attention. The waiter stared a Ryoga for a few seconds perplexed, not expecting his reaction and how his eyes were telling him to go away. "Oh… O-ok sir. Let me know if any of you need anything else." he said nervously, and left quickly.
Ranma was astonished, not sure about what had just happened. Was Ryoga jealous? She had seen his body language and he looked pissed at the waiter. In any case she was glad that Ryoga got rid of him, because he was starting to act a little creepy. Why she felt flattered by the fact that Ryoga was jealous and got rid of the waiter? She was feeling a warm sensation in her chest and goose bumps rose on her skin. What was wrong with her? Trying to think of something else, she tried to resume the conversation they had before the waiter interrupted them.
"So Ryo, your new technique. Tell me." She asked while she stuffed a spoonful of whipped cream in her mouth and moaned softly of pure pleasure because of how delicious it was. She tasted another spoonful and moaned again, delighted.
Ryoga was blushing at the noises Ranma was making while eating her parfait, and made him forget her question. He was about to ask her to stop moaning, but decided against it because it would make obvious that he was finding it somehow erotic, and Ranma would call him a pervert.
"Mmmmm, this is delicious. Do you want to taste it Ryoga?" she asked him offering him a spoonful of her parfait.
"No, thanks. I'm good." He said with his face red, eating his own ice cream.
"C'mon man, are you going to tell me?" she asked him impatiently.
"Tell you what?" he asked confused.
"About your new technique, pig for brains! Why are you so distracted?" 'Was he still thinking about the waiter?' The redheaded girl asked herself.
"Oh, right, sorry. It's not a new technique. It's an improvement of and old technique." He finally answered.
"An improvement?" he got her attention. "Of which one?"
"The Shishi Hokodan." He said.
"Oh, I thought you already improved it with the Final Shishi Hokodan." She said, while taking a bite of the graham cracker.
"Well, yeah, but I can only use that version of the Shishi Hokodan when I'm really depressed, so it's not very useful."
"Then it's something else. Tell me already man. I'm really curious about it." She asked impatiently.
"Ok, ok. See, to be able to use the technique, you have to join both hands together and concentrate all your ki there to expel a ball of energy, right?"
"Yeah, same as the Moko Takabisha." She answered.
"Exactly. Well, I found a way to concentrate the same amount of ki in each hand independently, and be able to cast two blasts, and..."
"Ryoga, I can do that already with my Moko Takabisha…" Ranma said interrupting him.
"I know, arrogant prick. That's why I trained to be able to do it too with my Shishi Hokodan, but I went one step further. I was going to tell you that before you interrupted me." Replied the Lost Boy in annoyance.
"Ok, sorry. I'll shut my mouth. Go ahead…" she said while stuffing in her mouth another spoonful of parfait. She had already eaten half of it.
"Well, you'll have to spar with me to find out…" He said with a mischievous smile.
"Oh, c'mon Ryo. Why don't you tell me?" the redhead pleaded intrigued.
"No. I want it to be a surprise." He said smirking.
Ranma sighed, resigned. "Ok, I'll wait until we spar."
Then there was about a minute in which none of the two martial artists spoke, just focusing on eating their ice creams. Finally, Ryoga talked.
"Tell me Ranma. How ended the wedding? I guess you and Akane couldn't marry in the end." He asked.
"No, after all the chaos that everybody unleashed, our parents decided that we would marry once we solve our issues as a couple. I… I must confess I wasn't thrilled by the perspective of marrying." Explained Ranma. Why was she telling that to Ryoga? Maybe because he was the closest thing to a friend she had, and she needed to tell it to someone. "I guess you're happy hearing that uh?" she said showing a forced smile.
"I'm not." Ryoga replied, to her astonishment. "I won't meddle between you two anymore, so you can rest easy."
"Ryoga…" she could only say, staring at her rival/friend bewildered. "Did you realized you love Akari more than Akane?"
"I'm still not sure about my feelings for Akari. She's a good girl, but there are things I need to figure out yet. It's complicated." Ryoga explained while moving methodically his spoon inside the almost empty tub. "But that's not the question. The question is, that I gave up my love for Akane before the wedding. It was after you saved Akane in Jusendo when I realized she would never love me. She will always love only you, Ranma."
Ranma didn't know what to say. After the wedding, things had been rough between her and Akane. In the last two weeks they had several fights. The pigtailed girl didn't know how to talk to her fiancée without both ending up arguing. But she couldn't tell that to Ryoga. At least not now, after what he just said to her. Ranma turned down her gaze, not daring to look at Ryoga in the eye. She noticed that she had already finished her parfait.
Ryoga found weird that the redheaded girl didn't say nothing after what he told her. Why she didn't want to talk about Akane? Were things not good between them? How could be possible, after Ranma saving her life in Jusendo and screaming that he loved her? 'Ranma, make up your mind once and for all.' Ryoga thought.
"Do you want to leave?" she finally asked.
"Yeah. I'm eager to spar." He replied with a smirk.
Ranma called the waiter to pay the bill, or rather to put an act and avoid paying the bill. She was readying herself mentally to flirt with the guy, who gave her the creeps, but she couldn't say no to free food.
The waiter arrived, and looked at Ranma with the weird smile he had before, with Ryoga frowning at him.
"Hi beautiful. Do you want something else?"
"No, in fact we're going to leave. There's a couple of things we need to take care of. Can you bring us the bill, please?" she asked making the cutest face she could.
"Oh, shame. My turn is much enjoyable with you here." Ryoga wanted to punch the idiot, but why was he feeling like that? Then the waiter left again. Ryoga looked at Ranma, and she looked uncomfortable. Something was upsetting her, and the Lost Boy knew it was probably that guy. But why was she doing this to herself? Was it worth a free food?
A couple of minutes later, the waiter came back bringing the bill. Ranma took a look at the paper and again she made her cutest face while being flirtatious at the guy. "I'm sure that someone as nice as you would give us a discount." She said with a wide, innocent smile, as she batted her eyelashes.
The waiter looked a bit troubled, but gazed at the beautiful redhead who was displaying all her arsenal on how to hit on a guy. He finally smiled. "You know what? This is on the house." He said with a friendly expression.
"Oh, seriously? You're a sunshine." She said trying to be as feminine as possible. Ryoga was more and more irritated by the conversation.
"But this time I'd like to ask you a favour." The waiter said while sweating visibly.
'What? What favour?' Ranma thought. She feared what he could ask of her. This guy was going too far. "What favour would you need?" said Ranma chuckling nervously, with her hands trembling.
"Well… mmm… how about you and I go together…?" the waiter started.
"Forget your favor." Ryoga interrupted abruptly raising his voice, and making the guy speechless. "The bill will be on me." He said, and placed the money on the table, leaving no room to any argument. "Ranma let's go." Said Ryoga absolutely serious while getting up, picking up his backpack and umbrella and waiting for Ranma to get up as well.
The pigtailed girl looked at Ryoga embarrassed, then looked at the waiter, and got up. Then Ryoga grabbed her hand and both youngsters left the ice cream shop, leaving the waiter staring at them with his eyes wide and his mouth open.
When they were at certain distance from the place Ranma stopped and forced Ryoga to let go of her hand.
"What was that all about, Ryoga?! I didn't ask you to intervene!" She reprimanded him angrily.
"I couldn't stand that idiot. Did you notice how he looked at you?" retorted the Lost Boy.
"Yeah. Many men look at me that way when I'm a girl. I'm used to it." She said.
"You're used to it. Do you like it?" Ryoga asked her indignantly.
"Of course not! Who do you think I am?! It disgusts me. But sometimes I have to bear with it if I want to get some free food…" She said looking at the ground.
"To get free food? C'mon Ranma, this is beneath you. Is it really worth it to degrade yourself, letting creeps like that guy to look and talk to you like lecherous perverts?"
Ranma didn't know what to say. He was right, of course, but did Ryoga really care about that? And why? He looked so jealous of that moron, and at the same time worried about her, she didn't know if she should be angry with him or thankful and flattered.
"You know what? Forget it. Let's look for an empty lot to spar." He said to the bewildered redheaded girl.
"O-Ok. I think it will be better if we jump on the rooftops." Said Ranma pointing up with her finger.
"No problem. After you." Replied Ryoga, and then Ranma jumped to the rooftop of the nearest house, followed closely by the Lost Boy, and from there they scouted the zone searching for an empty lot where they could have their spar session. In no time they spotted a suitable location, and they jumped from house to house to get there. When they were close, they jumped to the ground again, and walked to the empty lot.
The place seemed ideal. It was totally empty of any construction materials or machinery, so they didn't have to worry about damaging other's property. Ryoga left his backpack and umbrella to one side of the place, not too far away just in case someone would try to stole them (though no normal human could lift any of them, they could open the backpack and steal something). Then both martial artists walked to the centre of the lot, one standing a few metres away from the other, and adopted a fighting stance.
"Ready, Ranma?!" yelled the Lost Boy.
"Always!" replied the pigtailed girl with a confident smile.
As soon as Ranma said that she jumped directly towards Ryoga trying to hit his head with a flying kick, but the Lost Boy expected this. Ranma always tried to have the initiative. The Lost Boy jumped to one side one moment before the redheaded girl could connect her kick, and instead she hit the ground with violence, opening a hole. Ryoga tried to take advantage of the opening running to her and throwing a fast combination of punches to her body, but she blocked them not without some difficulty, feeling the extreme strength Ryoga put on those hits, leaving her some bruises in her arms. After blocking the last punch, the redhead tried to unbalance Ryoga with a sweep kick to his feet with her right leg. He made a quick dodge to his left, but Ranma expected this, and in a split second she changed the sweep kick to a round house kick with her left leg that fully impacted the side of the Lost Boy's head, almost making him bite the dust, but he managed to remain standing, mainly due to his high durability.
Both martial artists stared at each other for a few moments. Ryoga smiled to his rival, acknowledging her good strategy for connecting that kick, to which Ranma smiled back. Then he closed the distance between them and tried to kick her chest, but she dodged the kick easily, then launching at him hundreds of punches with the Tenshin Amaguriken. Ryoga had barely enough time to cover himself with his arms and try to endure the rain of punches the redheaded martial artist was launching at him. Most of the punches impacted his arms, but many others hit his torso multiple times, making the Lost Boy groan in pain. Seeing that the Tenshin Amaguriken was not being as effective as she hoped, she finished the rain of punches and tried to end the attack with a direct kick to his leaver. Unfortunately for her, Ryoga saw it in time, and blocked the kick, trapping her leg, lifting her in the air like she was a feather and then crushed her directly against the ground, making the girl to yell in pain at the impact.
Ryoga gave Ranma some time to recover, which the girl thanked him nodding her head after getting up and cleaning the dirt from her clothes and hair.
"We're even." Said the Lost Boy smiling.
"For now. I think it's time to see that improvement of yours." She said smirking. Then, suddenly, she joined her hands and yelled "Moko Takabisha!" projecting a bright yellow ball of energy that went directly towards the Lost Boy, but her aim was not as precise as she needed, and she missed by few centimeters, impacting the blast on the ground just beside her rival, creating a big explosion throwing dirt and dust in all directions and the shock wave launched the black haired boy flying a few meters away, rolling on the ground until he used his hands to stop.
Ryoga quickly got up, relatively unharmed by the missed attack, and extended his arms towards the pigtailed girl, who adopted a defensive stance, guessing what he was about to do. A ball of blinding energy formed in each of Ryoga's hands, but pink in colour this time, and the Lost Boy yelled. "Twin Shishi Hokodan!" and the blasts went flying at incredible speed directly towards Ranma.
The pigtailed martial artist wasn't too worried, expecting Ryoga to perform this technique eventually during the fight, and wasn't too worried neither about the fact that not one, but two blasts of energy went directly at her. Having little time to react, she extended her arms in the direction of the balls of energy, and shouted. "Double Moko Takabisha!" and expelled two twin blasts of yellow energy in direct course of collision against Ryoga's Twin Shishi Hokodan. She was smiling, expecting to counter Ryoga's attack, but when her Double Moko Takabisha was about to impact the Twin Shishi Hokodan, Ryoga raised his arms, and his blasts quickly altered their direction and moved up, dodging Ranma's attack, which impacted against the ground a few meters away from Ryoga. The pigtailed girl couldn't believe what she was seeing, but had little time to be surprised because Ryoga lowered his arms and the pink blasts went flying directly at her again. Trusting the superior speed of her female body, she dodged the first blast by a hair's breadth, and after landing safely a couple meters away noticed that the second blast was coming at her. In a split second she ducked and rolled just in time to avoid the impact of the second blast, then trying to stop using her hands against the ground to slow down, finally kneeling before her rival a few meters away from him.
She showed Ryoga a proud smile for having dodged the two blasts. Just when she was going to run towards the Lost Boy to counter attack, she saw her rival smile, saying. "I got you." She then turned back and saw that the two blasts she just dodged and forgot about them were coming directly at her. She tried to dodge again, but it was too late, and the balls of energy impacted her directly, causing a huge explosion that created a cloud of dirt and dust around the impact zone.
When the dust started to dissipate, Ryoga saw his rival laying down on the ground covered in dirt inside a considerable crater. Seeing that the redheaded girl didn't react, he run towards her, fearing he could have seriously hurt her. When he was by her, kneeled and tried to wake up the girl.
"Ranma, wake up! C'mon, open your eyes, please! I didn't realize that I charged the blasts with too much ki!" He said to the unconscious girl, shaking her. After a few seconds, she groaned in pain and opened her eyes. Ryoga sighed relieved.
"Ouch. That hurt… I forgot how much kick had the Shishi Hokodan." Then she sat up and after cleaning up the dirt that was on her, she looked at Ryoga still astonished. "I can't believe what you just did." She said perplexed. She had lost the fight.
"Are you ok?" the Lost Boy asked.
"Yeah, more or less. I feel dizzy and my arms hurt for using them to protect myself against the impact." She explained.
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I think I overloaded the blasts. I didn't want to hit you so hard. Can you get up?" said Ryoga to her, offering his hand to lift her up.
"Yeah, I can." She replied, grabbing his hand and standing up with his help. She then shook off the rest of the dirt on her.
"Let's go to my backpack. I have some bottled water, and we can sit down there and rest a little." Ryoga said.
"Sounds good. Let's go."
A couple of minutes later the two youngsters were sitting on the ground in front of each other, taking each one of them a good sip of water from a couple of bottles Ryoga took out of his backpack.
"Ryoga, that was amazing! You can control the direction of the blasts after casting them, and change their trajectory on the fly. How did you do that?" She asked excited, but knowing that Ryoga won't tell his secret to his rival.
"For the regular Shishi Hokodan or Moko takabisha, you focus in concentrating ki on the palms of your hands, then you shoot the blast and hope that it will impact where you were aiming. But we can control the direction of the blast, any blast, seeing the flow of ki from your body to the blasts and then after shooting them. When you are able to see the flow, you'll notice that the flow keeps going to where the blast is going to impact. With enough concentration, you can alter this flow and where is going to end, and thus control the movement of the blasts."
Ranma was speechless. She wasn't expecting that he actually would tell her how to use his technique. Together with how he reacted to that creep in the ice cream shop, Ranma didn't know why he was being so nice to her today, but she wasn't going to complain.
"Then, first I have to see the flow of ki that runs from my body to where the blasts are going to impact. I can feel it, but I don't know how I would be able to actually see it. Would you… would you teach me how to do it?" the pigtailed girl asked him timidly, fearing that he will probably say no.
Ryoga looked at her, saw her pleading expression, and he thought she was the cutest girl he has ever seen in his life, and blushed intensely at that thought, averting his gaze from her. What was wrong with him? She was Ranma! Then he looked at her again, and she had the same cute expression, this time smiling. He blushed again. Why did she have this effect on him?
"Ok, I'll teach you, but cut the cute act already. You're making me uncomfortable." He said without looking at her.
She smiled even wider. "Ok, ok. Thanks man. You… you're a good friend." 'Did I say friend out loud?' she asked herself surprised.
'Did she call me friend?' Ryoga thought. They weren't enemies, not anymore at least. Rivals maybe? But since he gave up his love for Akane, was there any reason to keep their rivalry going?
The sun was really low on the horizon, and the streets got lit by the streetlamps that just turned on.
"Well, it's getting late. I should go back to the Tendo's. Do you want to spend the night in the dojo? You don't have to sleep in the streets, Ryoga." Offered the pigtailed girl.
"No, I rather sleep in my tent. I don't want to disturb." Said Ryoga negating with his head.
"What are you talking man? You know you're always welcome at the Tendo's. C'mon. There's no school tomorrow. We can have another match in the dojo after breakfast. But no ki attacks, ok? Nabiki would cut our balls if we would cause any damage. What do you say?" insisted the redhead.
Ryoga looked at her, then looked to his backpack, undecided. After a few more seconds he finally agreed, nodding with his head, which made the pigtailed girl show him a warm smile. She was genuinely happy, and he could tell from her face. The Lost Boy flushed once more at the cuteness of her smile, cursing himself for feeling this way with Ranma.
"Let's go big guy. We still can make it in time for dinner. You'll thank to eat Kasumi's meals over that canned food you have on your backpack." She said, and grabbed his hand, making his face redder, if that was possible. "I only do this so you won't get lost, ok?" she said, seeing him looking uncomfortable with she holding his hand. 'He looks kinda cute when blushing.' She thought.
One month later. Tendo Dojo. End of January…
"I still don't understand why it has to be me. Why don't you ask Akane?" Was grumbling Ryoga to the pigtailed boy.
"Sssshhh, lower your voice man." Asked him Ranma. "Because she never wants to come with me to buy music. We always end up arguing about how bad each other's taste is, and any fun I could have will be ruined." replied Ranma whispering. "C'mon Ryoga, they have headphones connected to a cd player and you can listen to several albums right there, before deciding if you want to buy any of them. And that shop has thousands of records of all styles. I'm sure that even you could find something you like." He said in normal voice being a bit sarcastic.
"What are you implying, that I don't like music?" replied Ryoga upset.
"I don't know. Do you?" Ranma asked smirking.
"Of course I like music! It's just that since I don't live in my home I can only listen to it the few occasions I return there."
"You can buy a Walkman and a few tapes. Or even one that plays CD's, a Discman." The pigtailed martial artist offered him as alternatives.
"I don't have the money for that. What I have is to buy supplies and pay for transport in case I end up far away when I get lost."
That made Ranma feel pity for his rival/friend. He hadn't considered the harsh life Ryoga had to endure, but this fact gave him an idea. He knew Ryoga's birthday was in two weeks. He could save some money and purchase him a Walkman and a few tapes. But first he needed to know his musical tastes. He couldn't ask him directly now or could spoil the surprise, but if he could convince him to go with him to the records store, he could ask him without arousing suspicion.
"Ok. Anyway, if you like music, I can guarantee you that you're going to have fun at the records store, so what do you say?" Ranma tried one last time.
"Agh, fine. I'll go." He finally accepted.
"Thank you! You'll have fun, I promise." Ranma said cheerfully.
"Ok, ok. Just let's go." He said with a timid smile.
A few minutes later, the pair of martial artists exited the Tendo Dojo and walked the streets of Nerima to Nerima Station to pick up the train to Nakamurabashi Station, which was close to the records store Ranma wanted to go. During the trip on the train, Ranma saw the perfect opportunity to ask Ryoga about what type of music he could like. Besides he was honestly curious, so he asked.
"Hey Ryo…" started, feeling a little shy about discussing something as casual as music with Ryoga.
"What's up?" replied the Lost Boy.
"Wh… what type of music do you like? I'm curious." Asked the pigtailed boy.
"Oh, well, I like… rock, and pop, and some bands of metal, especially western metal." Replied Ryoga a little embarrassed, and to Ranma nonetheless, fearing that the pigtailed boy could mock him because of his tastes in music.
"I like rock and pop too!" said enthusiastically the pigtailed boy. "What bands do you like?"
"I… I like a lot F-Blood, and UL-SAYS." Replied the Lost Boy, a little red on his cheeks for opening like this to someone, but relieved that Ranma shared his musical preferences.
"F-Blood uh? So you like soft pop. I would have never guessed knowing you." Replied cheerfully the pigtailed boy.
"What's that supposed to mean?! That I like girl's music?!" retorted angrily Ryoga.
"I didn't say that, Ryo! I never said it like something negative. I like them too." Tried to sooth the Lost Boy's anger.
Ryoga's irritation deflated instantly. "You like them? Really?"
"Yeah man, of course. I have a couple tapes of F-Blood. And even I like UL-SAYS. I have heard them on the radio and I like them. Why are you so defensive?" asked bewildered the pigtailed martial artist.
Now Ryoga was feeling ashamed by his reaction. "I… I don't know. Maybe because you have teased and mocked me so many times, that I assume you're always doing it…" he said.
Ranma felt a pang of guilt. He was right. He had mocked him more times than he could remember, so why should Ryoga trust him? "I'm sorry Ryoga. I know that sometimes I behave like an idiot."
'Ranma apologizing again?' asked himself the Lost Boy. Well, it wasn't going to be him who would complain. "Ok, no problem. I guess I should relax a little too."
"Yeah, let's relax both of us. We're supposed to be having fun!" said with a smile Ranma.
The PA system announced they were arriving at Nakamurabashi Station. The two martial artists decided to continue their conversation later and got up, getting ready to leave the train as soon as it stopped.
Minutes later, both youngsters were walking the streets of Nakamurakita on their way to the records store. At this time of the day, the streets were booming with very diverse people, like teenagers like themselves going to some Arcade, or couples taking a walk holding hands, or kids running to play with their friends. Without being aware of the time passed, they finally arrived, and to Ryoga the store looked quite discrete, at least on the outside. Its name was Eternal Records, and it had a shop window with a selection of albums in CD and a variety of t-shirts of different bands. Judging by what they had exposed, it seemed that they were focused in rock music.
"Inside is much cooler than outside. C'mon. Let's get in." said Ranma to the Lost Boy.
When they entered the store, Ryoga saw that it consisted of a large room, with thousands of CD's displayed in shelves, sorted in alphabetic order and by genres, so it could be easier to find what you're looking for. They had a smaller section for tapes, and a really small selection of vinyl's. All the walls of the big room were decorated with dozens of posters from different bands and solo artists, and you could hear rock music playing in the background. Lots of people from diverse ages, but mainly teens and young adults, were walking from one shelf to another, browsing thoroughly to find their sought albums. Then Ryoga saw some sort of posts of about 2 metres high with headphones attached to them, and several CD covers displayed in said posts with a red button beside each of them. Ranma noticed that they had caught the Lost Boy's attention.
"Those are the CD players I told you about. You just have to put on the headphones and push the button of the CD you want to hear and it will play the music. They only have those two posts, so sometimes you have to wait." Explained Ranma to the astonished Lost Boy.
This was the biggest records store Ryoga had been in his life, and those CD players were a novelty for him. He was glad to have come with Ranma. Otherwise he would have missed this.
"What are you going to buy?" asked Ryoga to his rival/friend.
"A rock album from Plastic Tree in CD, their last one, and probably a couple tapes from F-Blood and Kenji Hayashida."
"Why are you going to buy both CD and tapes? Why not buying everything in CD? It will sound better." Inquired the Lost Boy.
"I don't have enough money to get everything in CD. Tapes are cheaper. Usually I can only afford a CD once in a while." Replied the pigtailed boy.
"Oh, ok. Yeah, it makes sense." Said Ryoga.
"Do you want to take a look at the CD's or the tapes? I'm sure you can find something you like." Said Ranma with cheerful eyes.
"But I can't listen to them. I don't have a Discman." Argued Ryoga.
"Well, you can do it whenever you go to your home. How often do you go?"
"Em, once every six months?" Replied the Lost Boy scratching his chin.
"Oh, that's scarce." Said Ranma lowering his gaze, but he quickly came up with a solution and stared again at Ryoga. "I have an idea; if you buy something you like you can listen to it in my room at the Tendo's whenever you want. I have a CD and tape player Kasumi lent me. What do you say?" asked the pigtailed boy with a warm smile.
Ryoga didn't expect such kindness from his rival, and flushed a little. "Ranma, why are you so good with me lately?"
"What kind of question is that? You're still thinking I'm going to mock you or that this is part of a scheme? We're friends, Ryoga. That's what friends do. Because we are friends, right?" asked worried the pigtailed boy to his rival/friend.
The Lost Boy looked at Ranma with nervous eyes. He wanted to say it, but why it was so hard? Finally, he found the courage to say the words. "Y-yes… we… we're friends."
"Cool." Replied relieved the pigtailed martial artist. "C'mon then, let's take a look and see if we can find something for you."
"Ok, let's take a look." Ryoga said smiling.
The two boys started to browse the CD shelves randomly, taking an album from time to time, looking at the cover, and returning it again to the shelf to keep browsing. After a while looking, Ryoga seemed to find something he liked.
"Oh! This one! I always wanted to have an album in CD from Cali≠Gari." Said Ryoga thrilled while holding the CD.
"I don't know them, but if you like'em they must be good. Are you going to buy it?" asked Ranma, gently picking the CD from Ryoga's hands and taking a look at it. "The cover is cool."
"Yeah, they're really innovative. It costs 1000¥. Is that expensive?" the Lost Boy asked to Ranma.
"No, not really. The album was released this year. It's a good price for a new release." Answered the pigtailed boy honestly.
"Great, then I think I'm going to buy this one." Said Ryoga smiling. "What about those?" he said pointing at the columns with the CD players and headphones.
"Yeah, let's use one of the CD players. There's one free right now." Ranma said grabbing Ryoga by his arm and pulling him quickly in the direction of one of the posts with headphones not used in that moment before someone else would use it. When they got there, Ranma picked the headphones and gave them to his friend.
"Give me the CD. I'll keep it for you, and put the headphones on your ears. What album do you want to listen?" Ranma asked to the Lost Boy.
Ryoga took a look at the album covers displayed on the post. He didn't know any of them, so he picked the one with the cover he liked the most, and pushed the button beside that album.
"Let's try this one." Ryoga said. A pop-rock song played in the headphones with a fast rhythm and solid drums, and Ryoga liked it. It was catchy and he loved the chorus. After a couple of minutes, he pushed the button again and a new song played in the headphones. This one was a little more energetic, and it was really cool.
Ranma observed his friend and saw that he was smiling, listening to the music. He was liking it. He was enjoying the experience. To think that the moron didn't want to come at first… What Ranma was realizing is that Ryoga what really needed all these years since he knew him was someone who could help him to relax, a friend. When he wasn't angry or depressed he looked really cute and was very sweet. 'Did I say cute again?' thought the pigtailed boy, still not understanding why he was finding his friend cute. 'You're a man, Ranma. Men don't think this kind of things about other men.' He scolded himself.
'This is great. The place is cool and you can actually listen to a lot of songs from many bands thanks to those weird posts with headphones. I was and idiot refusing to come.' Ryoga was thinking. He feared that Ranma was scheming something, but he didn't. He just wanted someone to spend the afternoon together. And he chose him over Akane. The Lost Boy was discovering a new side of his old rival/now friend. When he wanted, he could be kind and nice. They even shared their tastes in music, finally realizing it after all these years! He was starting to feel comfortable around Ranma, and he liked the feeling.
While Ryoga kept listening music with the headphones, Ranma used the time to browse the shelves on his own, looking for the last album of Plastic Tree, and after five minutes searching thoroughly, he finally found it. It costed 1500¥, a bit expensive for him, but he wanted this album badly, so he picked it up. After that, he went to the tapes section, and browsed the F until he found the one he was looking for, F-Blood's eponymous album, picking it up as well. Then searched for Kenji Hayashida's album, but after at least 5 minutes browsing, he couldn't find anything in tape. With sadness, he resigned himself to what he had already found, and went back to where he left Ryoga, but he was startled to see that he was not there. Feeling a bit nervous, he looked around in the store, but couldn't see him. He looked in every direction, but to no avail. Now he was starting to panic. He run to the street, leaving the CD's and the tape in a shelf so the alarm wouldn't go off. He looked in all directions again, but didn't get to see him. Too much people walking in that street. He yelled his name, but aside from some passer-by staring at him puzzled, the Lost Boy didn't respond to his call. He then entered the store again to take a last look in there. He moved from one corner to the other of the store, but couldn't find him.
"That baka got lost, damn it! How am I going to find him now? When I will see him again?" He cursed himself for not being careful enough and not keeping an eye on his friend. He knew how easy Ryoga could get lost, but had been too focused on getting the albums. When he was giving up all hope of finding him, a voice called him from behind.
"Ranma, look how cool are these t-shirts…" said to him Ryoga, oblivious to the scare he had given to his friend. This startled the pigtailed boy, who turned around.
When Ranma saw him, he felt like a heavy weight was lifted from his chest. Then he started to feel pissed. "Ryoga, you baka! I thought you got lost! I couldn't find you anywhere! Where have you been?!"
"I was… in the t-shirts section… over there." He said astonished, pointing at the said section. "I didn't think you wouldn't see me…" he tried to explain, starting to feel guilt inside his guts, seeing the expression of worriedness in his friend's face.
"You should have told me man. I thought I lost you." Said Ranma still a little angry.
"Lost me?" repeated perplexed the Lost Boy, while blushing. "I… I'm sorry Ranma."
The pigtailed boy calmed, and his expression softened. It was his turn to blush at the unexpected apology from Ryoga, something he wasn't used to hear from the Lost Boy. "Ok, don't worry. It's just that you scared me. Are you going to buy those t-shirts?"
"Y… Yeah, they're cool, and really cheap." Replied the Lost Boy, a little nervous.
"Ok, stay here for a moment. I left our CD's and tape that we're going to buy on that shelf." Explained Ranma, and while Ryoga waited for him, he walked to the shelf and picked their stuff. When he returned, he had a satisfied smile on his face. Luckily, against all odds, Ryoga didn't get lost, much to his relief. After that, they went to the checkout, where a woman in her forties attended them, paying their items and exiting the store.
On their way to Nakamurabashi Station, they chatted about Plastic Tree, Cali≠Gari and F-Blood, and it was funny. They were having a good time sharing their knowledge in music and which were their favourite bands.
"In the train you said other genre you liked was metal. What's that? It's some kind of electronic music?" asked curious the pigtailed boy.
"No, it isn't electronic music. It's like rock, but more aggressive. With faster rhythms and heavier guitars, and the voices are super cool. I've heard Japanese metal, and I like some bands like Loudness or X Japan, but I find western metal more akin to my tastes. One band I love is Iron Maiden. I think they're British." Explained the Lost Boy, trying to remember more bands.
"I'd love to hear something from those bands. Do you have some albums from them at home?" said Ranma curious.
"Ye… yeah. I have tapes, from when I was in Junior High." Replied Ryoga.
"And do you have a CD-Player?"
"My parents have a Stereo Sound System with CD-Player and radio cassette in the living room."
"Great. How about we go tomorrow afternoon to your home and listen to the CD and tapes we bought today, and you play some of those metal bands you like?" asked Ranma showing a cute smile, trying to convince the Lost Boy.
"O-ok. Yeah. That would be cool." Replied the lost boy flushing a little.
The two youngsters finally arrived at the train station, and entered the train that should take them to Nerima Station.
For Ryoga this was a new experience, going out with a friend, do some shopping and chatting. It was fun. He liked it, and realized that he could do this type of things with Ranma. The same realization came to Ranma, seeing that he could enjoy common things with his former rival, and he wanted to spend more time with him. That sadly was subordinated to the chances Ryoga had of getting lost. And that was something that troubled him, to not be able to know when he would see his friend again, because he realized that Ryoga had become someone important to him.
Ryoga knew it too, wanting as well to spend more time with Ranma, now that they were connecting. It was nice to have a friend, and Ranma seemed to care about him, in the same way that he was beginning to care about the pigtailed boy. They got close to a true friendship in Junior High, but was interrupted by Ranma's father, taking him away. This time it seemed different. This time, they could make it possible.
END OF CHAPTER NOTES
All the japanese bands I mention in this chapter are real bands that were active in the late 90s, where this story takes place, or at least that's what google says. I even search for songs of them in youtube to get an idea of their music and style. I have to say that I liked them all, so I recomend you to listen some song of them as well.