Ranma 1/2

Disclaimer: I don’t own Ranma, Rumiko Takahashi does. I just borrowed some of the characters. Rated: NC-17

Shades of Home

Chapter1

{blah, blah} [blah, blah] Ranma talking to himself
.

Ranma wrapped his hand in a strip of cloth. He would have to avoid hitting anything with it for a while and the cloth would remind him not to. Sunny had done a good job of healing it but it was still sore and he didn't want to undo all Sunny's good work.

Ranma decided to spend more time meditating until his hand healed. If he spent too much more time training, he was going to go stale and he knew that it could be more dangerous than not enough training. The human body could only reach a certain level.

If he wanted to maintain it, he was going to have to slack off. He analyzed his level of training as Ranma and Ranko and decided he was at optimum. In order to maintain maximum levels he would have to start hurting himself and that wouldn't do anyone any good.

When he got to the cottage he showered and wrapped a towel around his waist. Wandering onto the porch he sprawled across a cushion and began to braid his hair. {Maybe I should cut it. Someone could grab my pigtail and that wouldn't be good . . . for them. I'd like to see anyone but Ryouga get away with that. I wonder how he's doing?}

After eating the last of his supplies he rolled up in a blanket and fell asleep on the porch.

Next morning Ranma called control and asked them to get a basket ready. He warned them not to send it up, telling the man he talked to that the road was in even worse shape than ever.

"I'll come and get it when I'm done training. Don't let anyone try to drive even a jeep over that road. It's washing out." Ranma didn't think anyone would ignore a straightforward order. Was he wrong!

"BEEP!! BEEP!!" Ranma nearly jumped out of his skin. He had been meditating and the noise was magnified by the silence of the plateau.

"Yeah. Yeah. What the hell is wrong?"

"Did John get up to your place? He's not back yet and we can't find him."

"John? You mean the supply guy? I thought I told you guys not to send anyone up here. The road has drooped off. You can't get a jeep through. And the break . . . Damn!" Ranma took off running leaving Sergeant Samuels talking to an open circuit.

Ranma trotted along the road looking for breaks in the weeds or skid marks. He knew John was off the road somewhere and needed help. If he wasn't in trouble, why hadn't he either come up to the cottage or shown up back at the depot.

A break in the weeds told its own tale. The break came at a place where the road cut back sharply. You couldn't tell that it was too narrow until it was too late to do anything but brace for the crash

"John! Hey! John! You down there?" Ranma scrambled down to the jeep. It was on its side.

"Ranma! Damn, am I glad to see your ugly face." John grinned his relief.

"Can you move? Is anything broken?" Ranma ran his hands over as much of John's body as he could reach looking for blood or broken bones. "Where's your radio? We need to get you a medic."

"I'm not hurt. Nothing broken. I"m just trapped by the steering column. It's bent over my ankle and I can't pull out."

Ranma looked around for the radio first. Finding it in some weeds where it had fallen from the jeep as it rolled; Ranma called in for help. After talking to the dispatcher Ranma examined the situation with a rather jaundiced eye.

"I know I speak good. Not grammatical like I oughtta' but clear. I told that man this road wasn't safe. So why are you in a ditch with a steering column wrapped around your ankle? Huh?" Ranma wasn't happy at all, if he was going to work with these people he had to be able to depend on them and so far so bad.

"Well, let me see what I can do while those idiots are getting here."

Ranma crawled into the jeep and felt around under the dash board. John was lying half in half out of the jeep. One foot was clear but the other was pinned between the bent steering column and the pedals. The old jeep was one of the studier kinds with a solid floor board supported by several angle iron cross members. John's foot was trapped between the pedals, floor members and a bent steering column.

"You're really stuck. Have you got a knife? I'm going to cut your boot laces. See if you can pull your foot out of your boot."

John dug his knife out of his pocket and handed it to Ranma.

Opening the knife Ranma stuck his head and shoulders back in the jeep and cut John's boot laces pulling the gore open as wide as he could.

John pulled and grunted, finally snarling "Nope! No good, it won't budge and I've hurt my bad knee pulling. What next?"

Ranma eyed the jeep, it was more or less flat on its side, but he didn't want to pull around on it too much. It might tip completely over on John. That would crush him, injuring him for sure.

"Well, let me see if I can do somethin' with this steering column. If I can bend it some you might be able to get your foot out. I don't want to get too rough with it. It might tip over on you."

Just then they heard a yell from above. "Hey! John! You down there? Ranma you there?"

Ranma braced the jeep as two solders slid down the steep bank. "Wow! It's got to be all of thirty feet. How come you didn't get . . . "

Ranma just grabbed the two and held them away from the jeep "If you knock that jeep over on John I'm gonna cream both of ya. Go back up to the top and get some ropes rigged. We can't just haul John up by main force. Get going!"

"Hey you aren't the boss a' me. Sergeant Samuals is. Besides how are we supposed to get back up that slope?"

"You shoulda' thought a' that before ya slid down here. Double team up and get ropes rigged. Now!"

Ranma turned back to the jeep. He had to get John out before those idiots messed everything up.

"John, I'm going to have to take a chance and bend that column to get you out before those dummies kill you. I'll be as gentile as I can. Tell me if anything hurts you."

Ranma crawled into the jeep braced his feet against the door and put his shoulder under the column. All he had to do then was straighten up and hope that John's foot wasn't crushed when the column bent. If he had the angle right, all that would happen was John's foot would come free; if he had the angle wrong, he could cut it off instead.

"Hey! Ok, ok, I'm free." John's eyes bugged out. Ranma had bent the steering column into a pretzel. From at a twenty-degree angle pointing down it was now bent into a ninety-degree angle straight up.

"Well, great! Now if those fools get a rope down here, we can get you up and into the infirmary."

Ranma waited a while but no ropes. No sound: nothing. "Where the hell are those guys? Shit, I could be all the way to the school by now. Hey! You guys! Where are you? Where's that rope?"

Ranma started up the slope but it was really steep so he decided to jump instead.

Two jumps later he was on the top and no sight of the two troopers. Just their jeep and another coming up the road. Ranma greeted the new jeep with a glare of disgust

"Hey, Samuels didn't I tell you that road wasn't worth shit? What's the matter? Didn't you believe me? I know I'm just a kid but I've got eyes in my head. Got some rope? We need about a hundred feet and I don't want two ropes tied together either."

One of the other occupants of the jeep took exception to Ranma immediately. "Hey, kid, what do you think you're doing? You can't just take over here! We know what we're doing. You'll just get in the way. Why don't you just step aside and let the experts take over?"

"Ok! Take over! But I'd like to know how you're going to get a guy with a bum knee up that slope without a basket Gurney or any ropes. I could get him up with just some rope, but I'll leave it to you to fuck it up; then I'll snatch your nuts out of the fire."

Ranma sat down on the opposite side of the road 'out of the way', leaned back with his arms behind his head and watched.

After half an hour of scrambling, swearing and sweating (and John telling them all what idiots they were in language he could only have learned in the military) The four 'experts' gave up and turned to Ranma.

"We can't get a chopper in. It's too overgrown. We can't get up and down that slope. I give up. Ranma, how are we going to get him out. We can't even get the jeep into position to use the winch. I was sure we could get him up with a winch." Samuals had been afraid of this but his pride had gotten in his way. How would it look if four grown men had to rely on a sixteen-year-old boy to do the job?

"Get me that hundred straight feet of rope. No knots. I don't want to have to deal with trying to work around a knot. Park the jeep here so I can use it for a belay point."

"John, can you walk at all?"

"Sorry! No way! Nothing is broken but I'm not going to be dancing any jigs either. What do you need me to do?"

"I'm going to tie myself off and walk you up on my back. How much do you weigh?"

"Hey! You sure about that? I weigh in at 280 plus or minus a steak or two!" John wasn't too sure about this but he trusted Ranma more that a bunch of snot nosed new recruits. He'd seen some of Ranma's training, but still.

"Yeah, I'm sure! You've seen me carry those pack baskets. How much do you think they weigh?"

Ranma coiled the rope the newly arrived medics brought to him. Knotting a harness in the end of the rope he stepped into the loops and wrapped the long tail around his waist and tied it off. He fed the other end through a carabineer in the heavy tow ring welded to the frame of the jeep.Wrapping the rope around his arm, he pulled hard.

Satisfied with the strength of the rope he started walking down the steep slope, feeding the rope through his hands as he walked down using a standing rappel.

"Here let us feed you the slack" One of the troopers grabbed the rope.

"Get your hands off that rope! If you foul the coils I'll come up there and make you eat every last inch!" Ranma hoped that the idiot hadn't fouled the carefully arranged coils of the rope. Working with this long a rope it had to be just right or it would knot and wouldn't go through the carabineer. He'd rather take the chance of using a self belay than rely on an ignorant belay monkey.

John watched Ranma work the rope and felt real relief. This kid was the real deal. He knew exactly what he was doing.

"Here! Get on my back and wrap your legs around my waist. Don't put both your arms around my neck I don't want to get straggled." Ranma's instructions were plain and straight to the point.

John put one arm under Ranma's arm and the other over his shoulder; wrapping his legs around Ranma's waist, he settled in as best he could.

"Sir, yes Sir! Ready for carry, Sir!" John snickered in Ranmas ear.

"Well, better hang on to your hair cause here we go." Ranma walked up the slope like it was a flat sidewalk, using the rope to pull himself and John up to the road.

"Well there you are, safe and almost sound. Better sit down and get off that knee." Ranma grinned at John. "Next time, could you be all you can be and stay out of wrecks?"

"Sure, Saotome-san. Next time you might not be around to rescue my sorry ass. You can't rely on most of the dummies around here. If you need something look for an old fart, we're all grunts together." A medic grabbed John unexpectedly. " Hey! Ow! Get offa me! Damnit, where do they get these over educated idiots."

John pushed the medic away and limped to the ambulance himself. "I don't mind young. We were all young once, but I can't stand ignorant. I can't stand these kids who are in this for the glory." John turned around and shouted after a retreating Ranma. "Hey Saotome-san, remember! With a medal and a dollar you can get a cup of coffee."

Ranma turned around and ran backwards. "Yeah! I know! Take care!"

.

Ranma tickled fish for supper and found some mushrooms and herbs to stuff it. Breakfast was left over fish.

Supplies appeared in an unexpected way. They were dropped by helicopter right into the side yard. Ranma was glad that he didn't have to go down to the depo to get them. He didn't feel like seeing anyone yet.

Ranma sat under the water fall meditating. He didn't feel the water pounding on his head and shoulders nor did he notice how cold it was.

He chanted a mantra seeking peace and centering.

Om Asato maa sadgamaya
tamaso maa jyotir gamaya
mrityor maa amrtam gamaya.
om shaantih shaantih shaantih.

As he repeated the mantra, he felt himself centering. He felt peaceful for the first time in a long time. Since Jusenkyo in fact.

{Get up Saotome and get on with things. You better get over this as best you can. There's too much for you to do to be coddling yourself like this} [Yeah. But it feels so good just to sit lotus and meditate without having to look out for someone smacking me on the back of the head and telling me I'm a sissy]

Ranma left the waterfall and headed for the field of stakes. His wet clothing stuck to his muscular body as he ran.

Two little spies got an eye full.

"Oh . . . My . . . Goodness!"

"Oh, yeah! Yummy goodness!"

"Sunny, you are a pervert."

"Says you Leela, you have drool on your chin."

The two girls headed back to the school their mission completed. They could tell everyone that Ranma was OK.

Ranma was perched on a stake poised to begin a kata. {Why am I doing this? Because Pop said it was what I should do or because I think it's the best way to develop balance?} [I like it!] Ranma went up. If anyone had been watching all they would have seen were blurs and a few pauses as Ranma seemed to appear from nowhere to stand poised on the ball of his foot on one attack or another. {I'm good now. Ranko and Ranma are both as good as I'm going to get and be able to maintain the level. I'm about ready to leave. If I could just get my emotions under control.}

Ranma changed to Ranko and started his workout as his other half. She moved through kata as if it was nothing. Her slender body defying gravity just as easily as Ranma. Her leaps were more graceful but just as powerful. Her strikes would never be as hard; it was impossible. She just didn't have the muscle mass to power them, but her strikes were devastating all the same. Saying that Ranko wasn't as powerful as Ranma was like saying that a stick of dynamite wasn't as powerful as C-4. True, but the difference wasn't discernible to any but the experts.

Ranko changed and decided to quit for the day. He was sweaty and wanted to take a bath and relax for once. But it was not to be

"Hey! Curry bread!"

Ranma dodged the flying object, catching it before it got by him. He looked at the package in his hand, his lips moved silently, ‘Curry bread?'

He took up a defensive stance as Ryouga dropped out of the sky. No ‘die Saotome' or anything like that rang out.

Instead, "Ranma Saotome; I, Ryouga Hibiki, cancel our feud. We fight no more forever. OK, now that the formalities are over with. Do you want to beat me t' a pulp? Thanks for the GPS. I got a bunch of different breads. I'm hungry, want to join me for lunch or would you rather have a sparing match first?"

"Spar then lunch. Heavy fight, no blood but go hard. OK?"

At Ryouga's nod Ranma took up a stance. At first you wouldn't even know that they were fighting. First Ranma twitched then Ryouga; Ryouga moved his hand. Ranma moved his foot. This went on for nearly half an hour.

Then Ryouga made a mistake. He left Ranma an opening.

"Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!"

Ryouga back peddled, Ranma pushed his advantage and Ryouga countered with a leap that took him behind Ranma and launched a kick that sent Ranma flying. He hit the cliff at the head of the clearing with a boom.

"Ow! That hurt! Damnit. I'm getting careless." Ranma was disgusted; he knew better.

Ranma dragged himself out of the cliff. He met Ryouga in mid air, both boys punching and kicking so fast that all you could see were blurs.

KA-DOOM!

Ranma and Ryouga hit the ground at almost the same time. Ranma managed to dig himself out first. He grabbed Ryouga by the arm and flipped him onto his stomach trying for a pin. Ryouga eeled out of Ranma's hold, losing a little skin in the process. Ranma kicked him in the back to put some room between them, but Ryouga was ready and the kick only resulted in Ryouga getting a good grip on his ankle. But having Ranma by the ankle was like having a tiger by the tail. Ranma pulled back his foot and kicked Ryouga high into the air using only the leverage of his thigh muscles.

"Well . . . when he comes down, I'll ask him to lunch"

"Look Up!"

Ranma did and Ryouga dropped on him like a ton of bricks. Ranma took it right in the face, the kick stunned Ranma for a split second which Ryouga took advantage of, he got Ranma in a choke hold hoping to hang on long enough to choke Ranma out.

"Are you done yet?"

Ranma let Ryouga choke him for a while then bent down and grabbed Ryouga by the ankles. He jerked Ryouga off his feet and turned him over, locking his feet in a funny looking hold.

After struggling for a while Ryouga gave up.

"Ok I give! Let me go. Uncle, Aunties and all that! . . . Where did you learn that hold?"

"Saw it on TV. Really useful when you don't want to have to knock someone out. What the hell are you doing here?"

"Looking for you actually. To give you that curry bread and a bunch of other breads. All fresh" Ryouga looked at Ranma hopefully.

Ranma sat down on the ground and started laughing. He laughed til he cried and then laughed some more.

"Hey Ryouga, man! I'm really sorry about getting you dunked. You ought to know I wouldn't have done it on purpose. Not for the world and everything in it. We can be friends if you want to. I'd like that."

"So would I. I know what your Pop did. Can we talk? Is the . . . " Ryouga stopped talking. Ranma looked so sad.

"Look, let's go to my cottage, eat some lunch, have some tea and I'll tell you everything. I'm glad you finally decided to forgive me. I need someone to talk to."

Ryouga nodded and at Ranmas gesture he followed him to his cottage at a full run.

.

Doris ran into Stevens office, grabbed him and dragged him to the window. Pushing him toward a telescope, she nearly shrieked, "God some kid just attacked Ranma. They're tearing each other up. Look! Look!"

Steven grabbed the telescope just in time to see Ranma and Ryouga hit ground together.

"Oh, shit they're both dead! No. Ranma's up. Damnit! What just happened? They're just standing there talking. Now Ranma's laughing."

When Ranma and Ryouga headed for the cottage, Steven went back to his desk.

"What the hell was that all about? Call Ranma and ask him if he needs anything. Get a status report from all watch posts and try to figure out what the hell just happened!!"

"Fuck! I'm too old for this shit!"