The Bat, The Bird, The Horse, and the Tomboy
Chapter
2 - R
The night had passed relatively quietly for Ranma. There was a weird dream at one point, but she couldn’t remember any real details about it. She got up and stretched a bit before checking the closet. Inside she found one of Mousse’s robes. Checking it out, she discovered that it had been tailored to fit her. Ranma smiled to herself, appreciating the thought.
Thinking aloud, she commented, “I’d almost want to stay here, if it weren’t for the fact that I have to get to… where? I don’t really have a destination in mind. I’m just trying to find information… if this ship travels as much as they say it does, maybe… maybe if I stay here, I’ll find some information. There are a lotta weirdoes on board, maybe one of them will have an idea. If not, I’ll definitely get a lot of travel in.” With the idea firmly in mind, Ranma left her cabin and headed for the galley.
She never noticed the temperature drop as she left the cabin. If she had looked back, she would have actually noticed a slight fog forming. She might have also seen a frowning face seeming to appear outlined in the wood of the wall.
A few hours later Ranma gazed out over the railing on the deck, admiring the view. The movements of the deck didn’t bother her. She actually enjoyed the feeling of the wind around her since it reminded her of flying. Unfortunately, thoughts of flying brought up thoughts of mallets, which brought up thoughts of Akane again. Once again Ranma’s spirits nose-dived, which one of the passing crew noticed.
Ranma was snapped out of her thoughts by a tug at her elbow. Looking down she saw Rally smiling up at her. “Hi, Ranma! You looked pretty sad, so I thought I’d introduce you to a friend of mine.” She pointed behind her as she continued. “She’s a really friendly-“
“YOU!” Ranma shouted as her eyes narrowed to slits and her depression switched to anger.
Standing in front of the pigtailed martial artist was a suit of light armor, a dogi, with no one inside. It was a very familiar suit with a yin-yang buckle on its belt. One of the arms of the suit suddenly shot up with a wooden sign, much like a certain panda used. #YOU!# was written on it.
Ranma began to steam visibly, causing Rally to back away. The dogi held up another sign. #HATE YOU!#
As the dogi threw the sign at her, Ranma growled, “Feelin’s mutual!” All of Ranma’s pent of frustration boiled over as she threw a sweeping kick that shattered the sign. Her follow-up kick was easily blocked and grabbed by the dogi and Ranma found herself inspecting the deck very closely as the dogi put her in a leg brace.
“Eat this! Domineering Fierce Tiger!” Ranma arced back and formed a ball of ki in front of her hands, slamming it into the dogi’s torso. The suit was knocked back into one of the masts as its grip broke. Ranma used the opportunity to flip back onto her feet just in time to parry an attack from the angry dogi.
The fight went back and forth as more of the crew rushed on deck to see what was going on. The dogi was blocking or dodging almost everything Ranma threw at it. Ranma was doing much the same, but she had a variety of cuts and scrapes covering her arms and face. A nasty bruise was also forming on her cheek. The dogi had a few tears and the breastplate was dented, but Ranma had yet to successfully strike the yin-yang buckle that would end the fight.
The suit charged forward again and Ranma moved to intercept. The block she had planned on using proved to be a mistake as the dogi grabbed her wrist and slammed a knee into her ribs. Ranma felt something start to give as she let out a sharp grunt. She fought through the pain and managed to hook an arm around the dogi’s leg and slammed it chest down onto one of the metal plates on the deck. The suit appeared to be stunned for a moment and Ranma, her vision clouded with pain and anger, proceed to slam the suit repeatedly against the deck.
“You! Nearly! Made! Me! Hit! Her!” Every word was punctuated by a brutal pounding as the plate began to groan from strain. Ranma finally flipped the suit over and was about to strike the buckle when a voice managed to cut through the haze.
“STOP!”
Ranma, her fist still pulled back to strike, looked over her shoulder at the speaker. She froze as she saw Kiku and Roan and the rest of the crew staring at her in shock and a little bit of fear. The fear in their eyes made Ranma pause, but it was the tears falling down Rally’s face that made her lose her anger. At least it did until the wooden sign slammed into the side of her head and knocked her a few feet away.
Ranma glared at the suit as she rolled onto her feet and the suit glared back in spite of the fact that it had no eyes. Before either one could resume the fight, Ranma found her arms being locked into place by someone behind her. She struggled for a moment until she saw that Raijuu had grabbed the dogi.
“What is the meaning of this?” Roan’s chest was heaving angrily, as she completely forgot about the fact that she was normally shy.
Ranma looked up at Kiku, who was holding his arms, and growled through clenched teeth. “Sorry. When I was followin’ rule two, I forgot someone. Ya see, there’s this suit of armor that I really hate. Ain’t that right, Do-chan?”
The dogi held up a sign. #Hate you!# Before Raijuu could stop it, the dogi threw the sign at Ranma, hitting her in the rib cage again. Ranma snapped and tore herself out of Kiku’s grip. Moving faster than most of the crew could believe, Ranma cleared the distance to Do-chan and tore it out of Raijuu’s grip. She slammed her knee into its stomach, just barely missing the buckle. She felt the suit grip her wrist and Ranma found herself heading for the deck again. Ready for it this time, she flipped over and landed feet first, using her leverage to reverse the throw and slam Do-chan into one of the giant gears. She would have followed up the attack, but she found herself bound in the steel chains that announced Mousse’s arrival. Off balance from the unexpected attack, she fell onto her rear. She decided to stay that way as she noticed that Do-chan was similarly tied up and the pain in her ribs became almost unbearable.
Roan growled angrily, “All right, that’s enough! Raijuu! You, Rally and Kasui take Do-chan to my quarters. Ranma, Kiku and I are taking you to sickbay and then you are going to do a very thorough job of explaining everything about what just happened. There will be NO fighting among the crew of this ship!”
Ranma sat in silence for a moment, and Roan was about to ask her if she understood when the martial artist suddenly fell over unconscious.
While she was unconscious, Ranma heard a voice say, “You are not welcome here.” The phrase echoed through her mind as Ranma woke up to a lovely view of the sickbay. She started to sit up, but her head throbbed, as did her ribs. ‘Damn, think I bruised ‘em good.’ She couldn’t stop a small groan from escaping.
“Well, miss ‘I can take it’ is awake I see. How are you feeling?”
Ranma looked towards the speaker and saw Doc sitting next to her with a clipboard in hand. “How pissed are they?”
“The crew? They’re more concerned than pissed. You wracked up a lot of good points with them before the fight, but you lost a bunch because of it. Admittedly it wasn’t as many as Do-chan lost. We’ve never seen her get so violent before, except for when the crew was in danger. From the reports I’ve heard, she kept attacking you even after the captain ordered you both to stop.” Doc’s intense gaze bored into Ranma. “Care to explain?”
Ranma sighed, regretting it instantly. Doc noticed her wince and checked Ranma’s chest area. The redhead noticed that there was no lecherousness in her attentions this time.
“Be careful. Do-chan did a number on your ribs, as well as that hit to your head. You’ll need to stay down for at least a few hours before I’ll even consider letting you up.”
Ranma blinked in surprise. “Ain’cha gonna tell me I need to stay overnight or several days or somethin’”
Doc laughed. “You’ve already been down one day and I’ve dealt with everything from workaholics to masochists. I know that trying to pad the time frame just results in ignored orders. I tell a patient exactly what she needs and I don’t let her ignore me.” A dangerous glint worked its way into her eyes. “Got it?”
Ranma smirked. “Sure, Doc.” Something began bugging Ranma’s thoughts. “Doc, why didn’t I hear Do-chan wailing last night?” Remember how long she was asleep, Ranma added, “Er, the other night. If the dogi doesn’t have a master, then it cries real loud all night long. And since no one was wearin’ it, I’m guessin’ it ain’t got a master right now.”
Doc nodded and wrote something on her clipboard. “We found out about that little trait the first night she was on board. Since then, we found some _really_ good sound proofing materials for her cabin.”
Ranma nodded. “That’s good. It’ll be bad enough dealin’ with it. I don’t feel like listenin’ ta it cryin’ all night.”
Doc frowned some at Ranma’s open hostility. “Now, quit dodging the question.”
“Er, what was it again?” Doc tilted an eyebrow, giving Ranma the indication that she was in no mood for games on this subject. The redhead sighed. “All right…” She launched into the story about how she had met Do-chan, the sentient dogi, She told Doc about how it wouldn’t let her near the person she loved. Doc gave her an odd glance at this, but she said nothing. Ranma finished telling her how she had finally gotten rid of the suit and what it nearly cost her.
When Doc
said nothing, Ranma began to worry whether she was going to have to swim to
Doc took in a deep breath and spoke. “So, Do-chan’s a peeper, eh? Guess I can sympathize with that.” She gave Ranma a small smile. “Ranma, I doubt that the captain is going to throw you overboard.” She let a small smile reach her face at Ranma’s relieved exhale. “However, it’ll be for her to decide. I’ll tell her what you told me and get back to you. I’ll warn you, if for any reason at all you and Do-chan get into another fight, we will let you pulverize each other and then throw you both overboard without medical attention or a raft. Am I clear on this?”
Ranma nodded enthusiastically. She was greatly relieved that she wouldn’t have to swim the rest of the way. She was also secretly glad that she was still welcome on board. She wouldn’t admit it, but the crew was really growing on her, and their unquestioning acceptance of her had lifted up her badly depressed spirits.
“Good.” The Doc sat back and let a slightly confused expression come to her face. “There is one thing I’m curious about. You’ve been informed of the rules, right?” When Ranma nodded, she continued. “Rule one; you will not be judged for your choice of lifestyle, and rule four; you don’t have to tell your secrets. Knowing both of these things, I would like to ask you a question. Are you a lesbian?”
Ranma’s eyes shot wide and she waved her hands frantically in a negative gesture. “Hell no! I ain’t like that! Please don’t hit on me!”
Doc smirked and snapped her fingers. “Darn. Foiled again. Don’t worry, I’ll just leer at a distance.” She chuckled. “You’re safe as long as you’re in sickbay.” She grew serious again. “If that’s so, there’s one part of your story that doesn’t sound right.”
“Huh?” Ranma was confused. She hadn’t left anything out that she could remember.
“Do-chan can only be worn by women and you said that the one who was wearing Do-chan was the person you loved. You can understand why I would come to the conclusion that you are a lesbian, can’t you?”
Ranma thought it over for a moment. She was on thin ice as it was, so she couldn’t lie. She also didn’t want to risk pushing her luck by explaining about her curse. “It ain’t that I like girls or guys. I really don’t think like that. There’s only been one person I’ve ever really loved, and she happens to be a girl.”
Doc nodded understandingly. “That makes sense. All right then, I’ll go talk to the captain. You stay here and rest up. And I’ll tell you right now, if you leave sickbay before I get back, then there will be nothing to prevent me from personally throwing you off the boat. Got it?”
“Got it, Doc.”
Doc was right. The captain ordered that Ranma and Do-chan stay at least ten feet away from each other and were forbidden initiating any kind of attacks, from ki blasts to ‘accidental’ incidents involving heavy objects. Other than that, both were left with free roam of the ship. Most of the crew surprised Ranma by showing more concern for her health after she got out of sickbay than they did before. A few were giving her disapproving looks, but Ranma could live with that.
One of the most surprising things to her was the fact that Harumi had also started showing a bit more interest in her company. She would still almost always end up stalking away muttering imprecations about Ranma, but she always came back. Ranma got to meet most of the crew over the rest of the day and found herself once again considering staying onboard, if they would let her, while searching for her cure. She could even put up with Do-chan, if it meant being able to be around people who didn’t blame her for everything under the sun.
Ranma once again found herself leaning against the railing and staring out to sea. She smiled at Kiku as the taller woman joined her. “Where are we headin’, anyways?” Ranma asked.
“We’ve got
a delivery for Lex Corp. in Metropolis. We won’t be hanging around for long at
all because we have an important shipment that needs to get to
Ranma smiled. “Not really. I actually kinda like it here. I’m so used to everyone blaming me for everything that goes wrong in their lives that it’s nice to be treated like a normal person for once.”
Kiku nodded understandingly. “That’s how most of our crew felt shortly before signing on.” Kiku gave a rather startled Ranma a wink as she walked away.
Ranma shook her head slowly after a minute. She just couldn’t see herself as a member of the crew, but it would be nice to hang with them for a while. Ranma shuddered as a particularly cold breeze blew past her. She was surprised when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. Ranma spun around in surprise, but she relaxed some when she saw that it was Harumi.
“Jumpy, are we?” The dark-haired girl asked. Ranma just snorted in response. Harumi just shook her head and smiled. “Anyway, I was wondering if you’d like me to show you were the baths are.”
Ranma blinked. “They got baths on this ship?”
Harumi nodded. “It’s a pretty fantastic ship. We have hot and cold water available, and plenty of it. So, wanna take a bath with me?”
Ranma suddenly blushed as she realized what that meant. “Uhm, nah that’s okay. I uhm, don’t really need one.”
Harumi’s blinked in surprise. “Uh, Ranma… yes, you do. Believe me.” She made a waving motion in front of her nose. “And don’t tell me you’re shy. You were quite willing to show off your body in the galley.” Her eyes slowly narrowed as something occurred to her. “Or is there some other reason you don’t want to take bath with me? Are you too good to share the same water as me?”
Ranma waved her hands defensively. “No, no! Not at all! I’d be honored to!” Ranma froze. ‘Aw, shit!’ She punched herself in the head. ‘I am such an idiot!’
Harumi giggled and turned around. “Follow me.”
As they walked, Ranma tried to figure out what she was going to do. ‘I can’t take a bath with her! I’ll change, she’ll call me a pervert, the crew will get mad at me, and I’ll get thrown off! Dammit! Why can’t something go right for once?’ Ranma slowly trudged after the girl.
Mousse heard a disturbance as he headed for the baths. Stopping outside the door, he knocked politely. “Is something wrong?” Mousse was a bit startled when the door flew open and a topless Ranma stood before him with an extremely relieved look on her face.
“Mousse! Oh, thank heaven! I’ve got a problem… she wants me ta take a bath!”
Mousse wrinkled his nose and made a waving motion with his hand. “That makes two of us, Saotome.”
Ranma shook her head vigorously and leaned in to whisper, “I mean she wants me ta take a bath with her!”
A look of understanding crossed Mousse’s face just as Harumi stepped into view, a towel wrapped around her. “Ranma, what is wrong with you?” Harumi’s voice carried a mixture of concern, frustration, and oddly something that neither Mousse nor Ranma could quite place.
Mousse saw the pleading look on Ranma’s face and quickly put together a defense for the besieged redhead. He couldn’t help taking some veiled jabs, though. “Ranma had some difficulties with public bathing back when I knew her. There were many times when she would be chased out of public baths by a mob of angry women crying out ‘Pervert!’” The look that he received from Ranma would have killed most people, but Mousse just felt the urge to chuckle.
Harumi blinked in confusion before staring at Ranma. “Why would they say that?”
Watching Ranma
squirmed under the combined gaze of Mousse and Harumi. “Oh, well you know how
macho Ranma acts? Well, some of the women thought that she was a lesbian and
didn’t appreciate her presence. There was also an assortment of different
misunderstandings that often followed the infamous Saotome wherever she went.
Harumi nodded slowly and bit her lip as she bowed slightly to Ranma. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. If you prefer, you can use the private bathing are. I’ll show you where it is.” Turning around she missed the grateful look that Ranma shot Mousse. She also missed the former Amazon’s nod in return.
Ranma sighed as he relaxed in the well-heated tub. The room was small and only had a thin screen for privacy, but the chance to get clean and become male again was too much for him to pass up. As he lay in the water he let his mind drift. Good times and bad took their turns in his mind’s eye as he let the heat soak into him. After an indeterminate amount of time, Ranma heard an odd creaking sound coming from one of the pipes. He got out to take a look as the strange noise became louder. Suddenly, the metal ruptured and a stream of ice-cold water slammed into him. The now female martial artist let out a surprised squawk and tumbled back into the pool, shifting back into male form. He recovered his balance and stood up just as the privacy screen was thrown aside to reveal a worried Harumi.
Ranma could only blink as the scene before him blended with one from his memory. He was standing naked in a tub of warm water and there was a naked girl staring at him in surprise. When Harumi slowly closed the privacy screen with a dazed look on her face, Ranma knew exactly what was going to happen next. Moving as fast as he could, he threw his towel around his waist, tossed the screen open, grabbed Harumi around the waist and clamped a hand over her mouth before yanking her back into.
He could tell Harumi was terrified as he wrestled her as best he could away from the screen. The problem was that she was fighting back rather well despite her fear. “I ain’t gonna hurcha, ya stubborn tomboy!” Ranma whispered into her ear. He felt her struggles slow down as a look of surprise crept into her eyes. “I’m gonna lecha go, but just don’t scream till ya let me explain, okay?” Harumi nodded suspiciously as Ranma slowly took his hand away.
Ranma groaned as he rested his head in his hands for a moment. “All right, guess a visual’s the best way ta go.” He walked over to where the cold water was still pouring out, though the flow had diminished by a large amount. “I kinda got Mousse’s problem.” With that he ducked his head under the water and shifted to his female form.
Harumi’s eyes bugged out of her head as breasts appeared on the now red-haired girl’s chest and she shrank a bit. “Ranma? Jusenkyou?” When Ranma nodded, Harumi did something that shocked him. “Oh, thank the gods!”
“Huh?” Ranma blinked a few times.
Harumi let out a relieved sigh before she blushed horribly. “Uhm, it’s just that you’ve been confusing me ever since I met you. You act like a guy, but you’ve got a body that many women would kill for. I’ve been trying to figure out how to react around you and now I know.”
Ranma shrugged. “Now you see why I didn’t want ta take a bath with ya? I’ve had enough problems with bein’ called a pervert.”
Harumi nodded and smiled slightly. “Could I see your male form again?”
Ranma shrugged and dunked her head into the bathtub. He fidgeted some as Harumi’s eyes traveled over his body, but he got a confused look on his face when her eyes stopped at his waist and stayed there for a while. “What?” Looking down he realized that the towel had fallen off during his transformation. “Crap!” He quickly covered up.
“Woof.” Harumi blinked and shook her head clear. “That’s an… impressive body you have there.”
Ranma grumbled, “Thanks.”
Blushing, Harumi stuttered out a question. “D-does it… b-belong to anyone?”
Ranma groaned and rubbed her forehead, eliciting a curious look from Harumi. “Yeah… no… aw hell, why does this keep happening to me? Must every girl I run into want ta kill me or kiss me? Can’t I ever just have a friend?” He scooped up some of the cold water that was pooling on the floor and changed back to his girl form.
Harumi’s temper began to flare. “What? How dare you-“ Ranma cut her off.
“Look, let me tell ya the whole story about why I’m here.” Without waiting for a response she launched into The History Of Ranma, an Autobiography. A long time later she finished and exited the bathroom leaving a stunned Harumi behind. As she left the bathing area, Ranma noticed that night had fallen. With a depressed sigh she headed for her cabin and crashed on the bed. A few minutes later she was dreaming.
The dream started off relatively normal. There random flashes of images and strange conversations that made little sense. That ended suddenly when Ranma found himself standing in total darkness. A strange mist began to build up as the temperature dropped and Ranma suddenly found himself changing to his girl form. The mist grew thicker until it almost couldn’t be seen through.
“What’s going on?” Ranma growled. This wasn’t a normal dream and she realized that.
“What’s going on?” A weird, yet obviously female voice responded. “I’m protecting my children. That is what’s going on.” The mist coalesced into a female form.
Ranma looked closely at it and was surprised to see features that reminded him of just about every girl he knew. He could see Akane’s lips, Ukyou’s hands, and Kodachi’s ears, just to name a few. Only the eyes were different. There was no humanity in them at all. “Who are you?”
“I am the spirit of this vessel.”
Ranma blinked. “Well, that’s cool. Nice ta meetcha.”
“No, it isn’t.”
Ranam frowned at the chill tone in the woman’s voice. “What’s yer problem? I was tryin’ ta be polite.”
The woman glared at Ranma and she felt the temperature drop some more. “I do not care what you were trying to do. You are not welcome here.”
“Hey, the Cap’n an’ them don’t seem to mind, so what’s yer problem?”
“You are threatening their lives, you miserable worm!”
Ranma’s temper flared. “Bullshit! I ain’t doin’ nothin’ and no one knows I’m here!”
The temperature finally hit the freezing point and Ranma felt ice crystals begin to form as the woman glared harder. “SHE knows you are here and already some of my children are beginning to fall for your charms. I will not risk them being destroyed for you!”
Ranma cursed. “Dammit, it ain’t my fault!”
“I don’t care whose fault it is, I only care that you are threatening my children’s existence. I was created to act as a haven for those who had no homes any more. All of those aboard have been cast out and drifted to me. I have taken them into my family. YOU still have a home that you could return to where, for reasons I am incapable of understanding, there are those who love you. YOU chose to leave that home and you are not welcome here.”
Ranma knew that the spirit was right, but admitting that sort of thing had never been her strong point. “Fuck you, I think it’s ‘your children’s’ choice as ta whether I’m welcome or not.”
The woman smirked at him. “My children may make their own choices, yes, but I have certain powers for getting rid of unwanted guests. I tried making your cabin uncomfortable, but you didn’t notice. I ruptured that pipe so that Harumi would inform the crew about your little secret. You just won’t be driven away. I cannot actively manipulate any of my children, so I might try something a little more… direct. A rotting board could break and cause someone to fall and break their neck. Or the ship could suddenly buck when the unwanted passenger was leaning against the railing, sending them plunging to their death. But something tells me that wouldn’t work on you, so I’ve taken… other precautions.”
The spirit let out a chilling laugh that reminded Ranma of Kodachi. “Do you think it was a coincidence that Do-chan reacted as hostilely as it did? Sure it doesn’t like you, but it would never have risked angering my children just to fight you. Unlike the other crew, it is not truly alive so the restrictions placed upon me do not apply. You are a threat to the safety of all those under my protection and I will not permit you to jeopardize their lives. Let me show you something.” She waved a hand to the side and scene coalesced out of the mist.
In the vision, Do-chan slipped silently into Ranma’s room. Ranma watched angrily as the animated armor picked up her body and carefully slipped out the door. Do-chan stealthily crept through the ship, successfully avoiding being scene as it made its way to the side. When the suit jumped, Ranma felt panic welling up inside.
‘Is it tryin’ ta kill me?’ Ranma really didn’t hate the idea of dying, it was just that being killed in her sleep by a jealous piece of armor just really didn’t sit well with her.
Ranma felt relieved when Do-chan landed gracefully on solid ground, her body still in its arms. The vision panned a little and Ranma could make out an extremely high-tech city in the distance. A frown crossed her face. “I know I’m a heavy sleeper an’ all, but why didn’t that jump wake me up?”
“Since you are not one of my children, I may use some of my powers on you. I have been holding you here in sleep so that my servant can fulfill my wishes.” The spirit turned to watch as Do-chan carried Ranma into the city and deposited her in a dumpster. Ranma’s growl echoed through the dreamscape.
“That thing is SO dead when I wake up,” she swore.
The spirit shook her head. “It is a good servant and I will not permit you to harm it further. The ship will dock in a short while and transfer its cargo. They will only stay for a few hours and I will hold you in sleep until the ship leaves. Only then will I let you wake and you will not be permitted inside of me again until you have rid yourself of the curse of the goddess. You have been warned, Saotome.” With that the spirit and the vision vanished, though the mist remained. Ranma cursed and ranted, but nothing heard or cared.