Disclaimers: The paints, as always, are the property of Takahashi Rumiko; I'm merely a peasant with an easel.
I don't know if there's such a thing as a 'danger sense', but it seems to me that you can end up telling when things are going to go wrong. Pops says that a martial artist constantly surveys his surroundings and lets himself know on an unconscious level that something's up.
So I wasn't exactly surprised.
The thing of it is, just 'cause you can tell something's wrong doesn't mean you know what it is. I mean, there were enough things that didn't add up to tip me off, but I didn't know what it was. I could tell it was going to be big, though.
Sending Shampoo off to China.... I think I handled that as best I could. I felt good about it, too. I mean, she kissed me, she smiled.... That's all the way it should be, right?
Sure, Cologne's pissed at me, and I'm cursed forever. But I've gotten used to it. I mean, I wouldn't mind, but it's not like it's the end of the world. Just add hot water.
An easy fix, and an easy adjustment. Now, anyway.
But I was worried about Ucchan. Still, me and Nabiki made an agreement, and I figure, Nabiki's way better at talking to people than I am, so I might as well trust her. But I kinda hoped that Ucchan would be there. I asked Mom, and she said that she'd written up an invitation special, just for her. Nabiki delivered it.
Only, the thing is when we get there, she ain't around. Maybe she's still upset? Maybe Nabiki forgot? But I don't want to mention it around Akane. She gets angry enough when I try to talk about Shampoo -- so that's out.
Nabiki's all quiet and distracted, like she's looking out for someone. And that makes me think that maybe Ucchan's just late. But I don't ask. Pops told me how important this whole thing was for Akane, so I don't want to blow it by upsetting her.
Old-man Tendo seems cool enough, and I don't think I've ever seen him so happy. Akane's quiet and radiant....
But yeah, I can feel something's wrong. The giveaway is the fact that Kasumi looks like she's been sucking on lemons all day. I hardly ever see her not smile, but today she's unhappy.
Mom and Pops are fine, though. Akane looks happy.
So I try not to worry about it.
It's when we get home that I feel something's really wrong. Akane and Kasumi go with Old-man Tendo into the dojo, and leave us hanging in the living room. I watch the T.V. while Nabiki and Mom small talk about the wedding. Pops seems ready to drift off, which is way too relaxed for me. But I guess it's all jitters, or something. I heard about those.
Then Old-man Tendo comes in with Kasumi behind him -- Akane's not there -- and he says that he's gotten us a place to stay. We'll be better off there, and can go and have more space right away. He hopes we'll be happy with that. And honestly, I don't care what he says, or how he feels -- I'm trying to figure out what's actually wrong. What gets me here is something I think would get anyone.
See, halfway through his spiel, Mom interrupts him and holds up a hand. Pops wakes up from his nap, and she says, "Excuse me, Tendo-san ... what is this all about?"
Kasumi looks sick. Old-man Tendo looks sick. Nabiki just looks confused, like she hasn't figured it out yet. And if she doesn't know what's going on, I'm clueless. So I sit there on the floor and wait. While I'm waiting, Akane peeks through the back door, but doesn't come in. And she looks sad, and I want to look at her, but my eyes keep going back to Mom, and anyway, Akane won't look at me.
Finally, Kasumi says, "We firmly believe in what is proper, Saotome-san. And, as is proper, before Akane or Ranma-san could possibly be wed, we had an investigation -- a proper one this time, since Father's rush prevented it last time."
She leaves it hanging there like that. I don't get it.
"Investigated what?" I ask, feeling stupid.
"Well," Kasumi says, looking at me with a kind of pitying look ... and believe me, a pitying look from Kasumi leaves you feeling lower than a worm. "Ranma-san, you are descendant from.... That is.... It would be most proper to say that you are mura-no-mono. I'm sure you understand-"
And that's as far as she gets. 'Cause that's when Mom totally flips out. I got reflexes, so I owe Pops for this one. When the sword is out and swinging for me, I roll out of the way. "What the hell?" I manage to ask.
And Mom looks pissed. Her eyes are practically glowing with fury. I feel like part of my whole world just got ripped away. Me? An eta? No one ever told me! Maybe it was just some mistake? This was crazy -- things were happening too fast.
But then she turns on Pops. "You bastard!" she screeches. "You promised me! You swore a contract on your life that no one would find out!" Then she goes after him, and all I can do is stand there.
I mean, seriously.
This kind of crap can't happen to anyone else. I just won't believe it -- somehow, I got the bad-luck magnet to end all bad-luck magnets. Then again, I'm good about rolling with the punches. It could be worse. Pops ducks out of the way, and I turn to him, thinking, 'Hey, he's gotten us into tight spots before, but usually he gets us out of 'em, not too much worse for wear.'
Only this time, he just says, "Run for it, Boy!"
So ... we run.
Upstairs, he grabs his pack, I grab mine ... sure. Why not? An escape until this all blows over -- that's the perfect thing. The ultimate technique, and this is damn sure the time to use it. No reason to hang around someone who's swinging a sword at you, even if it is your own mother. There's crazy, and there's stupid.
Just, is this something that can blow over? It has to -- Pops will know who set us up and how we can fix this.
A few minutes later we stop beneath a bridge, and Pops sighs and starts setting up camp. Like it was nothing to worry about. So, why should I worry about it that much? He's got to have a plan. We ate fine at the reception, so we just set up and sit there for a bit in the quiet, listening to the water.
We don't usually talk that much when we're alone. No need to.
"Well," he says, standing up and dusting his hands off on his pants. "We should get some sleep."
"Wait," I complain. "You're not going to say anything about that crap? Whoever it is that set us up?"
Pops just shrugs like it's no big deal. "I wouldn't worry about the Tendo family or your mother anymore," he says confidently.
Now, I know Pops, and I know he's a champion liar. But I also know enough to tell when he's really worried, and the thing that blows my mind about this is that he doesn't look upset at all. Perfectly calm, not worried ... got everything under control.
So he's got to have a plan, and he won't let me in on it. Sometimes Pops can be a real jerk.
But this is Akane we're talking about -- and.... Hell, after everything else I did for Akane already, the last thing I need is this garbage, even if it is temporary. What about my reputation? How am I supposed to get students for the dojo once I inherit it with something like that on my record? "I want to know what's going on here!" I yell at him, grabbing the front of his gi. "Come on, Pops! Akane's got to be all kinds of freaked out about--"
He stops me not by attacking me, or trying to start a fight -- right then I'm tense enough I would have leapt for it. "Boy," he says, in that 'calm down, I'm going to say something smart for once' tone I've got from him maybe five times in the last three years. "I want you to think about what Akane did when she heard."
And that kills the conversation for the night. I spend a lot of time stewing it over, and don't get to sleep until late.
At least Pops didn't snore that night.
In the morning, when Pops is gone, I start thinking about things some more.
He left me all of my stuff, which was pretty decent of him.
And he left me a message, though, it wasn't written or anything. I could just tell. He said....
It's not a setup. It wasn't a mistake.
If it were a fluke, he wouldn't have ditched me.
So I spend the rest of the day beneath the bridge, just sitting there and thinking. Pops always did move around a lot. He always seemed happier when we were traveling. When we went on our trip, I think he liked leaving Japan the best.
He was almost always laughing when we got to Korea. Russia didn't dampen his spirits too much either, though he always loved China best.
I figured it out. Because there, no one could know we were mura-no-mono. He never told me, so I couldn't screw it up -- I guess he made the right choice there, even if everything did get screwed up in the end.
That's just a hell of a thing to find out. Figuring out what to do is even harder.
Around the time the sun is setting, I've spent the entire day pacing around beneath the bridge, just thinking. Trying to think. It's a lot to wrap your head around.
But, hell. I killed Saffron for Akane. Then this comes up and, what, Pops ditches me overnight? My stomach starts to hurt, and I realize I haven't eaten all day. I start thinking of the Neko-Hanten, before I remember. That's out, and if everything goes to hell, China's out too.
Ucchan's got to know by now, so that's no good. And that means I got nothing left at all.
Except Akane, right? So, tired, hungry, and feeling pretty damn lousy in general, I go over to check things out. I guess her family doesn't want much to do with me, but Akane's got to feel different.
When I get there, it's full dark. The Umisen-ken may be sealed, but if I'm mura-no-mono, I don't think a little thing like my word should slow me down. No one else will value it, so why should I?
I came up with a plan, working my way to the dojo. First, I'll find Akane, and we'll talk. I'll square things away, and then we'll blow the whole damn country off. No real reason to stay anyway, right?
Only, it doesn't work that way. I spend ten minutes just sitting on the wall outside of the house, trying to think about what the hell I'm going to say. It doesn't help that from where I'm sitting I can see her. And she doesn't look broken up, or upset, or anything but tired and bored. Maybe a little disappointed.
And ... Pops' words kind of haunt me. So I just sit there and think, and watch Akane. I spent my entire day thinking about her, and the first thing I hear her say from where I am is, "What's the weather tomorrow, Kasumi?"
Damn it. I ran after the wrong person, didn't I?
Just like me.... All I got is nothing -- except for an urge to find Pops and beat the snot out of him. I may be mura-no-mono, but if I got it from him, where the hell does he get off ditching me?
Hey, mura-no-mono means 'people of the village', right? So if this place isn't my home, maybe I'd better find where it is.
Pops didn't leave many clues behind, but when I packed up what he left me with, I did find a small stack of cash. Not a ton, but with the sen-kens, I guess it'll never be a big issue anyway. So for the first week, I try and remember the way we went when I was little.
The long trek away from Tokyo.... It's funny. The first part I remember really clearly is meeting Ucchan. I guess I should probably call her Ukyou, now. Or maybe Kuonji-san.
That feels way too formal, and it's not like she's talking to me. But hell, if the Tendo family and Mom get so worked up about it, someone from western Japan would probably flip out way worse.
So after a while I find myself wandering through the fields where I used to duel for okonomiyaki with Ucchan.... Ukyou.... Ah, whatever. I guess to me she'll always be Ucchan, no matter what she'd call me if we talked. She lived around here when I met her, so I guess she probably came back after she found out about me.
And I guess I'm kind of hoping that I'll run into her and it won't be a big deal. But I'm not hoping enough to go after her, either. Then again, it's not like I even tried to talk to Akane. First things first -- finding Pops.
I end up wandering for a long while, all over. I find the spot where Ucchan and I used to play as kids. Where Pops watched over us, or sometimes her dad, when he was off.... Off where, now that I think about it? He did leave me with her dad a few times. He always left to the north, so that's where I head.
Sure enough, a few miles out I find a whole buraka village. Looks like it's left over from one of those government reformation projects, only someone gave up halfway. Not a single building in the lot of maybe a hundred isn't seriously messed up from where I stand. Holes in the walls, broken windows, doors busted completely off....
Depressing as all hell to realize that these are my people. I'm one of them. But then again, I've seen other buraka villages, and they aren't all as messed up as this one. Pops came here, though. Or I think he did. I hope he did.
Anyway, most of the town's set up in a big circle, and everyone looks at me like I'm an outsider. Some part of me isn't ready to say, "Hey, brothers and sisters, I'm dirty too," so I just look away and walk on.
When I think about it, that makes me a huge asshole. But I don't care about these people, even if they are really my people. I just care about Pops. And Akane, I guess. I mean, I got to talk to him before I can talk to her. And I do plan on talking to her.
But in the middle of the town is a couple of dirty buildings, and one of them lets me know that Pop's inside. Whoever it is he was fighting flies out and slides past me in the dirt, and then I hear him laugh. So I know I'm in the right place.
When I get in, he's sitting at a table against the back wall, with at least fifty empty bottles scattered around. They're not all his, I can tell he's being free with 'em and all the guys and girls sitting around, cheering him on. So I storm over, and I'm ready to give Pops hell and tear him a new one, and none of these people have even noticed that I'm there, and then some girl that's leaning over Pops says, "Are you going to stay home this time, Daddy?"
"Yeah," he says, setting down his bottle of sake and looking me in the eye. "You looking for my son, stranger?"
And it's the damnedest thing ... that girl is younger than me by about five years, I'm guessing. And she's just a kid ... so who am I to say, "Sorry, I need Pops back, and it looks like he's only going to help one of us out," you know? She's still a person, and she's got her own family ... Pops, I mean.
Genma, I guess, if that's how this is going to play out. And maybe he did the right thing choosing her over me.
Damn.
"Looks that way," I answer. "I heard...." And then I pause, because everyone looks at me like I don't fit in -- like these aren't my people after all, and I see what Pops is really up to.
"You heard he was a living legend," Genma says proudly, grinning. "He went to China and fooled those 'clean' people in Tokyo for the better part of a year! Lived the good life, learned a lot ... and now he's going out to do it again, huh?"
"I didn't hear all of that," I say dryly. "Just the first part."
"Well, he isn't here," Genma says with a shrug. "This isn't his home."
"Oh."
Then there's nothing to say for a minute, and he tosses an unopened bottle at me. "You won't drink sake that's been through my hands," he says, "but give this to my son when you find him."
"Yeah," I say, nodding. "I think I'll do that."
And that ... is the last time I plan on talking to my father.
Don't that just beat all?
So I spent a while wandering.... A quick trip down to Sasebo, which is about as far south as you can wander casually. It was also where Pops and I originally left to China from, which pretty much means I can't go much further west, either. Anywhere else is going to take a boat or a long swim, and I don't feel like losing myself in the Ryu-Kyu islands for a few years right now.
Maybe I can pull a Ryouga later.
So that's when I loop back to the north along the coast, running a big lap around the island. Super endurance training, I guess.
Doesn't take long, and I make sure to only steal from jerks and people who won't notice -- usually they're the same ones, anyway. So by the time Tokyo rolls back around in front of me, I've had some time and space to burn off my anger. And it's not like I could take it out on Genma. He spent his entire life ... well.
He spent my entire life looking out for me, if I realized it or not. And the real kicker about it all is that I can't really complain too much about the curse, either, 'cause that just makes it easier to hide. 'Course, I still got problems. I don't know who I am anymore. I'm not Genma's son.
I'm not a burakamin. So I'm just some homeless wandering martial artist. Who happened to return to Tokyo, the one place I probably shouldn't ever have gone to.
But I figure, as long as I'm there, I'll just hide all the time -- stick with the Umisen-ken. And that's mostly what I do. But I'm not stupid. I don't go to Furinkan. I don't go looking for Akane. I know that wouldn't do any good now, anyway.
And while me and Genma traveled a lot, we never met that many people. I do wonder what the old pervert's take on this whole thing would be, but I figure it's probably best not to ask. It'd be way too easy for him to screw me over, and he can be malicious enough sometimes to do it. Not worth the risk.
The plan is to avoid anyone I know at all.
After that, I'm the freest person in the world.
So ... why am I here?
Only, I know that. It's 'cause I'd give it all away if I could just have had Akane. And that's when the tears hit me.
Saotome Ranma, man among men, doesn't cry.
And he can go screw himself, because whoever I am, I sure hurt when it all comes together for me.
So by the time I wake up, I'm thinking that first, I gotta get out of town. Second, I've got to throw away that bottle that Genma gave me. Still unopened, but I can't bring myself to drink it.
Then I realize there's someone sitting next to me. I figured, hey, who's going to find me on the top of a twenty-story building? I'll tell you who.
Konatsu.
"What do you want?" I ask him, rubbing my eyes and fumbling around for my canteen.
"I need to ask you for help," he says tiredly.
And once I finish waking up, I have to say: he looks like I feel. "You look like crap."
"Ranma-sama," he says, bowing low, kneeling on the ground with his forehead pressed against that cruddy roofing stuff they put on high-rises. "I have to beg you for help!"
"You don't got to beg me for nothing," I tell him back with a growl. "And stand up. You're a man, aren't you? And anyway, I'm not...." A pause. Gotta think about this for a second. "What do you know about what's going on right now?"
Konatsu sits up and kneels, while I'm packing up my stuff. "I know about your ancestry," he says bluntly. "But I still need to ask you for help."
Heh. Konatsu seems like a good kid, I guess. "I'd love to, really, but I gotta skip town."
"Ukyou-sama needs you," he insists.
"Yeah, she needs me like she needs a hole in the head," I tell him back, giving him a dirty look. "I'm no good for anyone." And the last thing I need is someone who used to be my best friend telling me off. Akane's distance was bad enough, but Ucchan's got a temper, too.
"Ranma-sama," Konatsu says, sounding like he's about to cry, "Ukyou-sama has rejected me. I can't help her anymore ... and she needs someone."
"I'm sorry. She was my friend, Konatsu. She was. But honestly? She's a hell of a lot better off without me dragging her down."
Konatsu doesn't say anything for a moment, then he sighs. "I can't do anything to convince you? If I thought it would do any good, I'd...." And then he puts on a girly act that makes me want to gag -- mostly because after you think about it, he's good at it. And that's creepy, because while I can turn into a girl, he's still a guy. Anyway, he's all making like to get undressed, and he says, "I would give you my body, Ranma-sama."
"Don't want it," I say quickly, waving a hand to stop him. "I'm sorry, Konatsu, I don't think you know how much trouble I'd cause if I tried to talk to Ucchan right now."
"If...." Konatsu stops pulling off his kimono and sighs. "Well, there's an abandoned construction site a few blocks from Furinkan. They ran out of money. If you're looking for a place to stay for a while, and be hidden, it may work."
And then Konatsu stands up and walks to the edge of the roof. He looks back at me and says, "Good luck, Ranma-sama."
"You too, kid," I say.
Where the hell did that come from? 'Kid'?
But he smiles, then jumps off. For a second, I feel sick -- Ukyou just told him off, and I said I wouldn't talk to her. He didn't take it too hard, did he? But no, when I look over the edge of the building, he's running down the street.
That's why, when the sun sets, I find myself huddled for warmth at the base of the building Konatsu told me about. The walls they use to keep people out block the wind pretty well, so it makes for decent shelter -- but you gotta get up early to avoid the people who show up in the morning.
So it's not a bad place to camp, and it is pretty out-of-sight. But why am I there?
It's the kind of thing you wonder about after the fact, but even when I was going there I kept telling myself there was no point to it....
Then I hear someone I recognize cry, and I know.
And that's why I'm there.
Author's note: To explain, 'burakumin' or 'mura-no-mono' were the descendents of those who handled the bodies of the dead or slaughtered animals, jobs traditionally considered 'unclean' during the Tokugawa period (around the 1600s to the mid 1800s). The most common job of detectives in Japan at one point in post WWII Japan was to research the backgrounds of prospective brides/grooms before weddings.
In modern Japan, this is no longer an issue, so this fic would have to be set in the 1970s. At any rate, I'm not the first to use this; credit goes to Susan Doemine for her original 'Poison'.