Fushicho Ryu
Chapter Two: A Fighter’s Legacy
By Qaddafi the Ripper

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 belongs to the almighty Takehashi Rumiko, Tenchi Muyo! to Pioneer (?), Sailor Moon to Takeuchi Naoko, Aa! Megami-sama! to Fujishima Kosuke, and Fushigi Yuugi to Watase Yuu. Please don't sue this poor college student!

Cologne perched on her stick, watching the young woman. “He died bravely,” she said, trying to be consoling, but feeling hypocritical even as she said it.

Onna-Ranma knelt for a minute longer in front of the candles, head bent in prayer, before turning around. “I know,” she replied. Noticing Cologne’s expression, she smiled, though the expression was marked by a distant pain. “Don’t worry, Elder. I’ll be all right. Really.”

The two were silent for a long moment as they stood over the new grave. “What do you intend to do now, Ranma?”

“I don’t know,” the petite redhead admitted

“You can come to Japan with us, if you like.” Seeing the other’s confused expression, Cologne explained, “I want Shampoo to get as full of an education as possible, so I decided to take her to live in Japan for about a year or so. Mousse managed to convince me he should be allowed to come as well,” she added dryly.

Onna-Ranma chuckled. “That must have been a sight to see. I’m sorry I missed it.”

“Though it will primarily be for educational purposes, we will be training a great deal, too. As you’re from Japan, I thought you might want to join us. And, before you ask, I will do all that I can to keep your secrets as secrets.”

“I would be honored to, Elder, and thank you.”

“Then it’s decided. We leave in little over a week.”

***

More or less the same time, Nerima, Japan

“Hey, Akane! Want to come to a movie with us?” Yuka called.

Akane smiled as she join her hailer and Sayuri, her other best friend. “What are you going to see?”

Sayuri grinned. “It’s a martial arts flick about your obsession.”

Akane turned bright red. “No fair calling him my obsession! That makes me sound like Kuno or something! Besides, it’s not like I’m the only one who likes him!”

“No, but you’re certainly working hard to be his biggest fan,” Yuka teased.

“That’s not true!”

Sayuri laughed, and decided to take pity on her friend. “Don’t worry, Akane. We like him, too. So why don’t we all just go see the movie?”

“All right,” Akane agreed, glad they weren’t teasing her anymore. “Hey, did you know? There were some clips of him on the news last night. The real one, that is. It was amazing! I’ve never seen someone move like that!”

“Yeah, I saw it too,” Sayuri concurred. “The actors do a good job, but nothing compares to the original!”

“It was almost like he could fly! No one even got close to touching him!”

“Definitely a crush,” Yuka remarked, then added sadly, “Too bad he’s already taken.”

“And it’s not like any of us could ever compare with that Shampoo. She *so* gorgeous!”

Akane looked up wistfully. “But what I wouldn’t give to have Saotome Ranma as my boyfriend!”

*****

A few weeks later, Nerima, Japan

“Why a restaurant, or all places?”

“What do you mean?” Onna-Ranma asked.

“Well, of all the profitable businesses we could start here, a dojo the most obvious of them. A restaurant just seems rather…odd.” Mousse shrugged.

Onna-Ranma grinned impishly. “Maybe Cologne just has this hidden obsession with cooking that she’s been hiding from us all this time.”

“Hmm… could be….”

“Baka! I was joking!”

Shampoo stuck her head out from the kitchen where she and Cologne had sequestered themselves over an hour ago. “Mousse, Ranma, we need groceries. You go buy.”

“What do you think we look like, your slaves?” Ranma muttered, not really annoyed.

“In Ranma’s case, yes. Go.”

“Right away, O Grand Exalted One. We live but to obey your commands…” Ranma trailed off, seeing Mousse’s enraptured expression. “How depressing,” she muttered. “Some of us really *do* live but to serve you.”

Shampoo had also noticed the tall boy’s face. “Stupid Mousse! Stop staring at Shampoo! Go!”

“Whatever you want my love!” With that, the mostly sightless boy was off, barely missing the door in his rush to get out.

Shampoo sighed. “He so pathetic sometimes. Ranma, you watch out for Mousse, okay?”

“No prob.” Ranma sprung up from her position and quickly gave chase. It didn’t take her long to catch up, though Mousse had been running quite fast. Adjusting her stride to meet his, she commented, “It’s great that you’re so much in love, Mousse, but you don’t have to act *totally* brain dead around her.”

He was immediately stricken. “Do you think it’s that bad, Ranma?”

“Yep.”

“Oh. But, it’s not always a bad thing, is it?”

“Pretty much. Especially since one of the reasons she likes you is your mind.”

Mousse frowned. “You’re right. Very well. From now on, I will try my hardest to act mature and responsible for Shampoo.”

“Good! To start off, you should watch where you’re going.”

“Wha-“ Mousse’s question was broken off as he ran directly into a lamppost. Onna-Ranma shook her head in exasperation. Mousse was a nice guy and all, but he sure was hopeless sometimes.

Fortunately, the rest of the shopping went mostly without incident. Meaning, of course, Mousse had not run headlong into anything or grabbed the wrong item by mistake. The two were headed back to the Neko-haunten, when a girl stopped abruptly and gasped.

“It’s you, Mousse!” she exclaimed, pointing at the bespeckled martial artist. She had long, pretty blond hair held in a red bow.

Mousse frowned and adjusted his glasses, squinting at her. “Forgive me, miss, but I don’t think I recognize you.”

“Wow, I can’t believe it’s actually you! And you speak such good Japanese! What are you doing here, anyway?”

“Um… I live here. We just moved. And I had a good teacher,” he added, nodding at Onna-Ranma who shrugged the compliment aside.

“That’s what friends are for.”

The girl, apparently recognizing another passerby, tugged another girl aside and pointed again at Mousse. “Look, Rei-chan. It’s Mousse!”

The new girl, who had long black hair and a refined manner, blinked in confusion then started blushing furiously. “It…it really is Mousse. It’s really an honor to meet you, Mousse-sama!” she finished hurriedly. “Hey, Mina-chan, what’s he doing here?” she whispered to the first girl.

“He lives here,” the other replied reverently.

“Umm… I'm terribly sorry, but I don’t know either of you. Who are you?” Mousse was by now thoroughly confused.

The girls seemed to find this extremely amusing, making Mousse’s head spin even more. “We’ve seen all the movies,” Minako (yes, you guessed it, Aino Minako, Sailor Venus) gushed. “Numerous times!”

“Movies…?”

“And we’ve seen the real life clips they’ve managed to get, too,” Hino Rei added quickly, not to be outdone.

“What? What are…”

“We love your techniques! How can you hide so much stuff in your robe?”

“Uhh…”

“And why do you carry so many unusual items? Wouldn’t it be better to just have more weapons?”

“Umm, you see, uhh…” Suddenly Mousse seemed to realize how long they’d been standing there. His eyes bugged out behind thick lenses, and he quickly snatched up Ranma’s bags, and with a cry of, “Oh no, Shampoo’s going to kill me for being so late!” headed down the street at close to supersonic speeds.

The two girls stared dumbly in shock. Onna-Ranma rolled her eyes and laughed. “He’s got it bad,” she remarked dryly.

“What do you mean?” Rei asked politely.

“Couldn’t you tell? He’s completely in love. Hopelessly, irretrievably, totally in love. Shampoo never stood a chance.”

“Shampoo?” Minako blinked, as if there was something wrong with that statement.

“The girl he’s in love with. Don’t worry, her name’s really Xian Pu, but Shampoo sounds better in Japanese, so we call her that. Very confusing at first, though. I know I was shocked.”

“Poor guy,” Minako murmured.

“Huh? Poor? Why?”

“Because it’ll never work out, of course,” Rei said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Why not?” Onna-Ranma inquired, genuinely worried. She’d worked too hard for it to just fall apart now.

“Because Mousse could never hope to compete with Ranma,” Minako declared, totally certain.

“Ranma?”

“You don’t know?” Rei wondered aloud, scandalized. “Where have you been for the past year or so? It’s been all over the news, and there are three movies…” she trailed off at the redhead’s blank expression. “Oh my. Mina-chan, I think we’d better explain a few things.”

“Definitely,” the blond agreed.

Over thirty minutes later, Onna-Ranma stumbled into the Nekohaunten, looking harried. At the amazons questioning looks, she just shook her head and mumbled something about being jinxed.

***

“I still can’t believe anyone could be so uninformed!” Mizuno Ami stated adamantly. “She must have been living in the middle of no where for the past year!”

Minako shrugged, having expected her friends’ reaction to the story of the girl she and Rei had run into. “She seemed completely surprised to me.”

Makoto shook her head. “She never heard about the biggest hunk alive. I feel sorry for that… uh, what did you say her name was?”

Rei frowned. “Come to think of it, I don’t think we ever caught it. How odd.”

“Impossible!” Ami cried, straightening suddenly.

“What’s wrong, Ami-chan?” Usagi asked.

“I…I just had a thought.”

“What?”

“Well, if Mousse is here, and if, as it sounds like, Shampoo is as well, it might be possible that Ranma is also here in Japan.”

“No way! That *is* impossible!” Makoto exclaimed, though her cheeks were flushed.

“You… you don’t really think *Ranma* is here, do you?” Usagi gasped.

“Hey, what are you getting all worked up over?” Rei demanded. “You already have a boyfriend, remember?”

The conversation mostly degraded at that point, but none of the girls forgot Ami’s suggestion. Saotome Ranma, here in Japan. Could it possibly be true?

End of Chapter Two
Author’s Notes: Well, what d’ya think? Ranma’s famous! ^_^ And Akane, who’s never met him, has a crush on him, heehee. It’ll be awhile before the reason for Ranma’s changed attitude is revealed, but it is coming. And the Senshi all have a crush on him! So here’s the deal so far: shortly after Ranma and Genma arrived in Nieuchiesu, a war broke out with the Musk (you know, Herb et all)(I may institute a THIRD re-write for more details on that, but right now, I'm leaving it as is). Ranma, Genma, Shampoo, Mousse, and Cologne all fought (others too, but like we really care about them…) Some bozos got some of the fighting on tape, and it’s been played on TV all over the civilized world (cause the way they fight is so cool!). Then, some rich movie director decided he didn’t have enough money already, and made a movie about all of it. Two others were also made, and were extremely popular (in less than a year's time... wow).

Everyone knows how movies screw stuff up. Shampoo had a crush on Ranma for a while, so when he helped her in battle, she responded rather affectionately (typical Amazon Glomp). So now, Hollywood (or the Japanese equivalent, whatever that is) decided that those two were a couple, and they’re portrayed as such in the movies. Hence, the assumption that Mousse will never win her love (cuz she already has Ranma). However, Ranma wasn’t interested in her, and has been helping Mousse to win her heart. More on how they succeeded later ^_^. Just recently, Genma died, which is what made Ranma decide to come to Japan with his friends. And no, I’m not a Genma-hater. I like him. His death just fit the story, that’s all. Please don’t kill me! ^_^;; And that’s mostly the story up to this point. More details are coming, don’t worry! Oh, and no one (well, mostly no one) outside of the Amazon tribe knows about Ranma’s curse.

Japanese Terms
Onna: girl, female
Nekohaunten: Cat Café, same restaurant as the anime/manga

Onto Chapter Three
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