Up To Interpretation
AN: Hello, again! Happy New Year! With a new year, I decided to make a new story! In particular, unlike most of my works, I wanted to make a story that starts near the beginning of the series, to be more accessible to those that have only seen the Remake. Thus, this story will go with the Remake for character designs and canon details, at least as far as it goes at the time of me writing each chapter. Beyond that, I intend to default to the manga canon.
Content Warnings: This story will cover issues involving homosexuality, gender identity, and intolerance towards those subjects. Please keep in mind that the setting is 1980s Japan, and that comes with certain cultural perspectives and expectations. If you think any of this will make you uncomfortable, please avoid this story.
Without further ado, enjoy!
Chapter 1: Three Whole Days
"Wait, Ranma! Kasumi wanted us to run an errand!"
Ranma Saotome continued to run as he left Furinkan High School, despite the shout from his fiancée, Akane Tendo. "Why do I have ta tag along?" He called over his shoulder.
"Because we need to buy rice and miso!" Akane said, chasing after him.
"What's the matter? I thought you'd want ta prove how stupid strong ya are," Ranma taunted her, not slowing down.
"Come back and say that to my face!" Akane called out.
"Gonna have to catch me first!" Ranma said with a laugh, as he leaped into the air. Suddenly, an ominous feeling hit Ranma. 'Bloodlust?' He thought.
"Ranma, get ready!"
Ranma twisted in midair to avoid the sudden strike, locking eyes with his opponent for a split second as they landed. The young man's intense brown eyes seemed familiar, but Ranma could not immediately place them. Sensing danger, Ranma sprang back, just before the ground beneath his unexpected opponent cratered from the force of his umbrella's impact.
"Ranma, you're knack for running hasn't changed," the stranger said, flipping his umbrella to let it rest on his shoulder.
Ranma stared at him in silence for a moment. There was something familiar about this person, something tugging at the back of his memory, telling Ranma that he should recognize him. The yellow and black bandanas. The pronounced canines. Not to mention the glaring brown eyes that definitely recognized Ranma. Ranma knew he had met this person before, but he just could not recall where...
"Do you know him?" Akane asked.
Ranma wracked his brain, but just could not think of what his name was. Finally, a flash a memory hit him. "I know! You're him!" Ranma cried out, even though he had not remembered the name yet.
Seeing nothing more forthcoming, Akane sighed and grumbled, "Come on, remember already..."
"I have just one question, Ranma," the young man said. "Why didn't you show up for our fight!?"
"Ah, I remember ya now," Ranma said with a smile, as things started to click into place in his memory. "You're Ryoga Hibiki! We were in the same grade in middle school. Man, it's been forever!"
However, the now identified Ryoga seemed less than satisfied with that response. "Answer the question!" He demanded.
"I waited at the place ya picked out for three whole days!" Ranma protested.
"Yes," Ryoga replied, his fist shaking in frustration. "And when I arrived on the 4th day, you had already left!"
Now it was Ranma's turn to glare, as he asked, "I have something ta ask, too, Ryoga. Why did it take ya four days to get there when it was an empty lot on the same block as where we lived?"
"You bastard!" Ryoga snarled back. "You think I went on a leisurely walk for those three days? You have no idea of the pain I had to endure to reach here..."
Although Ranma did not let it show on the outside, inwardly he had to wince at that. 'He always did have a bad sense of direction,' Ranma thought. 'I couldn't even begin ta count the number of times I helped him get home... Come to think of it, how did he even know I was back in Japan?'
Before Ranma could ponder that further, Ryoga declared, "You broke a man's promise, and ran off to China with your dad!"
Ryoga swiped at Ranma's legs with his umbrella, but Ranma jumped over it, leaping back at the same time to get some distance, saying, "To make the story short, you're here to settle the score, huh?"
"Settle the score? Not even close. This is revenge!" Ryoga declared, as he flipped his umbrella open and sent it spinning towards Ranma. Ranma deftly leaned out of the way, but several unlucky onlookers got tears in the clothes from failing to completely dodge its razor sharp edge. The umbrella arced through the air, back to Ryoga's hand. closing it with a flick of his wrist, Ryoga pointed it at Ranma and said, "I'll do everything in my power to destroy your happiness!"
With his other hand, he pulled out an old and stained letter from his pocket and tossed it to Ranma. "A challenge?" Ranma said aloud, reading the writing on the outside of it.
"There, I handed it to you. This time, don't run!" Ryoga said, before turning and walking away.
"Destroy my happiness?" Ranma pondered the other boy's threat. "Am I happy?"
"Don't ask me," Akane replied, as she began to leave the school. "Now come on, we still need to go shopping for Kasumi."
"Alright, fine," Ranma said, following after her as he looked at the challenge letter.
"Did you really wait three whole days just for a fight?" Akane asked him as they walked.
"Of course!" Ranma said. "Ryoga was the closest thing I had ta a best friend back then, I wouldn't of just ditched him."
"Then why did you have such a hard time recognizing him?" Akane asked.
"Well, he wasn't exactly wearing his old school uniform, now was he?" Ranma pointed out. "Plus, he's bulked up a lot since then. Not to mention, I haven't seen him since Pop dragged me off to China." As he followed Akane towards the store, Ranma's thoughts wandered back to the events in question...
"I knew I should have met him at his house," Ranma muttered, as the rain poured down upon him. It had already been a day and half since they were supposed to meet, but there was still no sign of Ryoga. The first day had not been too bad, but it had started raining the next morning. "Well, at least it's warm out. Nothing wrong with a little water, after all."
It only took a few moments for this thoughts to shift from the weather back to the person he was waiting on. "I hope he's alright. He's never missed more than a week of school at a time, so he's bound ta show up eventually. If he could just get ta the cafeteria faster, I would have ta be here." Despite Ranma's grumbling, he could not suppress a smile. The first time he had taken the last of the food Ryoga wanted, it had been a coincidence. It was Ranma's first day at the new school, and he had been a bit late getting there, himself. The second time, Ranma did it just to mess with Ryoga because of how melodramatic he had been the first time. After that, it became a routine for Ranma.
'There were other lunch options, so it was not like Ryoga was going hungry,' Ranma thought, standing silently in the rain. 'Besides, teasing him is fun!'
Once he had found out that the reason Ryoga was always late to lunch was because of his horrible sense of direction, Ranma had started helping him get home after school each day. It worked out fine since the room his father was renting was on the same block as the Hibiki residence. Unfortunately, it seemed that was not enough, and a few days previous, Ryoga had challenged him to a 'man-to-man fight' at the empty lot Ranma was now in. Hours passed, and Ranma waited patiently. If there was one thing his father's training had drummed into him, it was discipline... at least when it came to a fight. Even so, as the sun set, Ranma found himself dozing off standing up.
It felt like he had just closed his eyes when he was jolted awake by someone calling out to him. "There you are, boy!" Snapping to attention, Ranma looked around. The rain had stopped and the sun was starting to come up. His father, Genma Saotome, stood nearby with his arms crossed, and asked, "Care to explain why you haven't been home for two nights in a row?"
"I told ya, Pop, I got challenged ta a fight!" Ranma said.
"You expect me to believe you've been waiting two days just for a fight?" Genma demanded. "Whoever it was clearly ran off on you!"
"Ryoga just has some trouble finding places, that's all!" Ranma protested. "He wouldn't just leave me here! He wouldn't..."
"Hmph, I'll give you until tonight, and then we're leaving," Genma said, turning to leave. "No son of mine is going to spend his days pining after another boy."
As his father walked away, Ranma muttered, "Dammit, Ryoga, where are you?"
That third day crawled by for Ranma. Part of him was frustrated that Ryoga had gotten so angry over some harmless teasing, but another part was looking forward to their fight. They had gotten into a few tussles outside the lunchroom, but had never been able to go all-out at school. Ranma knew Ryoga was not like the other kids that just played at martial arts after school. 'He's stronger and tougher than most guys our age,' Ranma thought to himself as he waited. 'No match for me, of course, but it makes him fun ta mess with. I don't mind the occasional fight, but I wish we could hang out some time without arguing. Maybe some day... but Pop said we're leaving tonight. If Ryoga doesn't make it, I won't even get the chance to say goodbye...'
Sure enough, just before sunset, Genma returned with their travel packs. Ranma tried to argue for his father to give him a bit more time, but it devolved into a fight. For all of Ranma's natural skill at martial arts, Genma still had far more experienced and trained than Ranma at that time. In the end, he knocked Ranma out and carried him away, the boy not waking up until they were halfway across Japan.
'And the rest is history,' Ranma thought, laying on the roof a couple days after their reunion. 'So much has happened lately, that I forgot all about those days. Still, I wonder how things could have gone if Pop hadn't suddenly dragged me off ta China. Maybe we could have been friends or rivals. Maybe even...'
Ranma sat up and slapped his hands against his cheeks. "No point dwelling on the past or what might have happened," he muttered to himself. "Thanks to Pop, I gotta be a Man-amongst-Men, whether I want ta or not."
"Ranma, dinner's ready!" He heard the voice of the eldest Tendo sister, Kasumi, call out.
Hopping down from the roof, Ranma headed inside to get some food. "Awesome, I'm starving!" He said as he sat down at the table.
Shortly after everyone started to eat, and while Ranma was fighting his father with chopsticks for the best bits of food, Kasumi returned with tea and said, "Ranma, I found this on top of the miso pot."
Ranma looked up to see her holding out a familiar challenge letter. "Ah, right. I forgot he gave me that."
"A challenge letter? Again?" Commented Nabiki. "What did you do this time?"
"I wonder..." Ranma said aloud, staring at the letter sitting on the table. 'If Pops realizes who Ryoga is, who knows what crazy stunt he'll pull next'
"You must have done something," Akane said. "The way he held a grudge wasn't normal."
'It's not like I know why he's so mad, either. Ah well, probably easiest ta just play dumb until he tells me himself,' Ranma thought. Out loud he said, "Hmm, maybe it was the sandwiches? It was at the beginning of the semester..."
AN: And there we go! Been a while since I wrote for such an early part of the series, but I hope you all enjoy this divergent story!
Why was Ranma so determined to wait for Ryoga? Why is being a Man-amongst-Men so important? Find out in future chapters of 'Up To Interpretation'!