Subject: [FFML] [Fanfic][Ranma] Currently Untitled - Part Two

From: Rial Fletcher <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 23:04:39 -0700

[email-masked]

Rial Fletcher, Prophet of Nyrf, Fourth Dungeon Master of Zork and 
ruler of all the Eastlands.

Yo.

Hi there! 

I got a few C&C - people either loved or hated the characterization -
I have a sneaking suspicion that those who love it are big fans of the
introspection-type fics, and that those who hate it are those who 
revere canon.

One of the C&C's included a phrase that nearly made me die laughing:
"Oh, Pity me, P-Chan!".  Hah!

Also, I should note that in the last Part, I left in the note intended
for the moderator of raac.  Oops.  With my luck, of course, this note
will end up on raac.  Go fig.

Also, it should be noted that my hubris regarding proper formattingw
was punished - Although Part One looks fine _here_, the word wrapping
is bad.  I will fix ASAP.  I am currently using electrical tape to 
make sure I don't mess up again.

No Apologies Given.

Ranma & crew property of Takahashi Rumiko and whomever else owned 
them last. All other characters / situations property of whomever 
they are the property of.

Ranma 1/2 - Currently Untitled

What has gone before:

In Part One:

-Ranma Awakens - Foreshadowing
	In which Ranma gets out of bed.

-A Twilight Conversation Between Enemies
	In which we have a musical number, and Ranma & Ryouga 
	actually manage to avoid getting in a fight.

-Yet Another Amazon Bearhug Ending in Multiple Types of Pain
	In which the author refuses to give Akane a mallet; He thinks 
	that they are very silly and overused.

-A Battle Postponed
	In which Ryouga observes aforementioned bearhug, and his 
	revenge is rescheduled till after dinner.

-Dinner
	In which there is no dialogue.

-The Duel
	In which Ryouga makes the mistake of taking Ranma's fighting 
	style for granted, which wins him the battle in an embarrasing 
	way.

-An Unpleasant Revelation
	In which Ranma realizes what the Foreshadowing in the first 
	scene was all about.

Part Two

"SHIT!"

Ryouga started out of his relaxed state, his muscles tensing in 
alertness at the cry.  The water in the tub sloshed slightly in
response to his movement.  

*SLAM!*

"I LOST!"

"I FUCKING LOST!"

"Ranma?", called Ryouga in a voice loud enough to carry out of the 
bathing area.

Akane slid open the door to the bathing room, and yelled, "Ranma! what 
the hell are you screaming about?"

Ryouga made an *eep* noise, and ducked his head underneath the water 
in embarrasment.

Akane inhaled, in preparation for her continued verbal assault on
Ranma, when she saw that the figure underneath the water was wearing 
a yellow and black bandanna.

"Oh, sorry Ryouga.  Have you seen Ranma?"

"Ryouga?  Oh.  He can't hear me, he's underwater."

She exited the bathing area, sliding the door shut behind her, and
continued her search for Ranma.  He was nowhere to be found in or 
about the Tendou residence.

As she was completing her first round of the premises, she ran
into Ryouga, who had exited the bath and was using a towel to dry his
hair.

"Oh!  Hello, Ryouga.  Did Ranma tell you where he was going?"

"Uh... no.  Um... Sorry about earlier, in the bath?"

"No problem, Ryouga.  My fault, anyway... although I _do_ have a 
question."

"Mmm... Err... What?"

"Do you always bathe with your bandanna on?"

"Uhh... Yeah."

"What was Ranma yelling about?  I know you two had another fight, 
and he was yelling about losing or something."

"Hmm.  I don't think it was about the fight.  He didn't seem upset
about that at all."

"Oh well.  He'll probably be back tomorrow anyway.  I'm going to
go get some sleep.  If you want, you can sleep in the dojo."

"Heheh..  Well, uh... Thank you, Akane!"

"No problem.  G'night, Ryouga."

--

"Damn it!  No-one's seen that worthless son of mine in two weeks!"

Genma had been getting more and more visibly agitated with each 
passing day since Ranma's disappearance.  His outbursts and bouts 
of temper were getting more pronounced, and ocurring with greater 
frequency.

"Saotome, there's no need to worry.  He's probably out training in
some new technique.  He'll come back, soon enough."

"Tendou, don't you think he would have let us _know_?  No-one's been
able to find him!  It's like he's dropped off the face of the planet!"

"Saotome, pacing around like you're doing is pointless.  I have 
confidence in my future son-in-law's abilities.  I don't think he's 
in any danger."

"Hmm.  You're taking this awfully well, Tendou.  Do you know 
something that I don't?  Is this some plan to get our ungrateful 
offspring married?  You can let me know, of course.  I'm hurt that 
you haven't confided in me already."

"Nothing of the sort, Saotome.  I just refuse to let things I cannot
control determine my actions.  That was one of the first lessons we 
learned, as I recall."

"What's your point, Tendou?"

"We would both do well to remember it."

"Hmmph."

--

"Kasumi?"

"Yes, Nabiki?"

"Can we talk for a moment, in my room?"

"No problem.  Be right there."

Kasumi dried her hands on her apron, and headed up the stairs with 
Nabiki to her sister's room.

"Dinner is cooking, so I need to be back in the kitchen in about ten
minutes, okay?"

"That's fine.  This shouldn't take long.  Here, look at this."

Nabiki handed her sister an envelope and a letter.  The envelope
was addressed to the Tendou Dojo, and had no return address.  Kasumi
read the letter, which appeared to be from Ranma.

-

Hey,

	Sorry about all this.  The money is to pay for all of
the freeloading me and my dad've been doing since we got here.
It's gonna take me a little while to pay it all back, but I
gotta do it, because I can't marry Akane anymore.  Sorry, Akane.
I can't tell you where I am, because you'd just go looking for me, 
but if you _really_ need to reach me, you can put an ad in the 
local paper, I'll be reading the ads so that way you can tell 
me if something really important happens.

				-Ranma
-

"It came with this money order for 10,000 en.  I don't know what's
going on."

Kasumi frowned.  "Neither do I.  Are you going to tell Father and 
Mr. Saotome?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to talk to you first, see if you had anything to
say."

--

"What!  He's sending us _money_?"

Nabiki nodded her assent.  "Yes, Mr. Saotome.  What really bothers me
is that the tone of the letter suggests that he isn't coming back."

"Well, I don't know what put this damn fool idea in his head, but
he is coming back, and he _is_ marrying Akane, and, and,"

"Saotome, you must calm down.  As much as I don't like to do it,
we will enlist the aid of that old crone who runs the Nekohanten, 
and talk to Ukyou and the Hibiki boy.  With everyone looking for
him, we are sure to find him."

"You may be right, Tendou.  Nabiki, would you please talk to Cologne?  
and Akane, if you'd go visit Ms. Kuonji and ask for her help, I'd
appreciate it."

"No problem, Mr. Saotome.  I'll go see her after I finish eating."

Akane did not contribute anything to the conversation.  All she did
was poke at her food and glower at the eating utensils.

--

When Nabiki entered Ucchan's, her face was stark white.  It took Akane
only a moment to notice the dead expression on her sister's face.  She
immediately ran to Nabiki's side and helped her to a seat.

"Nabiki!  What's wrong?  Cologne and Shampoo have him, don't they?
Did they do something to you?"

"No... No.  It's just...  I never expected..."

Ukyou interrupted, "What is it, Nabiki?  What happened with Cologne?" 

Akane glared at Ukyou, and waited for Nabiki to continue.

"I showed her the letter, and told her about the night he ran off,
and...

--

"So.  It would appear that Saotome Ranma has become a coward, a small
child running away from his problems."

"What?!"

"Shampoo!  I have something to tell you!"

"What, Great-Grandmother?"

"Ranma has proven himself to be weak, and unworthy of you.  He cannot
be allowed to marry you.  His weakness would only weaken our tribe.
Pack your things."

"But, Great-Grandmother!"

"You will do as I say, Shampoo.  We have no more business here.  
Tendou Nabiki, stop opening and closing your mouth like a goldfish.
It is unbecoming of a young lady."

"But... But..."

"But what?"

"What's going on with Ranma?"

"I'm surprised you don't know.  It's fairly obvious to me, and I think
that the way he's handling it is infantile.  It doesn't matter, you'll
know eventually anyway; He'll be sure to tell you what happened.  I
think I'll let him tell that story.  It will be more fun that way."

"More fun?!"

"Yes, I think I may just stick around to see it.  Shampoo and Mousse
will, of course, be going back to China on the next available boat."

"Of course."

--

...So she's sending Shampoo and Mousse back, but she's going to stick
around because it'll be 'fun', and won't tell me what's going on!"

"You can't possibly believe her, Nabiki!  I just know she's up to 
something."

"I don't know about you, Akane, but I do believe her.  Cologne is a
pain in the ass, but she usually doesn't lie outright."

"Well, I don't know about the two of you, but I'm going to go look
for Ranchan!  He can't have gone too far."

"Alright, Ukyou.  If you see Ryouga, be sure to tell him to look too.
Akane, I'm going home; I need to lie down."

"Are you okay, Nabiki?"

"Yeah... It's just that seeing Cologne give up on Ranma was the 
absolute last thing I expected.  It gives me a very, very bad
feeling."

--

"Can you give me directions to the Tendou Dojo?"

"I don't know, son.  Do you know whereabouts it is?  Maybe I can
point you in the right direction."

"It's in the Nerima district."

"Son, I hate to break this to you, but you're on Okinawa."

"AAAAAAAAArgh!  Ranma, this is all your fault!"

--

End Part Two

Hey, this part ended rather short, and _really_ heavy on dialogue.
I would continue, but in order to do so, I'd have to include stuff
that belongs in Part Three.

Help!

I'm being punished for my hubris at the end of Part One, when I 
claimed that I knew what I was doing.  I have written myself into a 
corner, in part five.

It's not as if I don't have any options, it's that I don't care for
the options I've got.

Option 1 - The Original Plan.
	Upon review, I've decided it's too farfetched, and too WAFFy.
Option 2 thru 4
	Copouts, all of them.  Can't bring myself to do it.

If you'd like to help, please let me know!

Again:

Comments & Criticism welcome, as are flames, but I warn you, if you
flame me I will most likely lose any respect I may have had for you.
As a general rule, flames are mindless pieces of garbage that serve
no purpose other than to stroke the ego of those who can't use the
language properly.  However, there are exceptions.  If some kind soul
were to send me a well worded, intelligent flame, I would treasure it
for the rest of my days, for such rare things are to be cherished.

[email-masked]