Chapter Text
(I do not remember how Viz translated the title of Volume 2 Part 7, but in Japanese it's written as Ryoga Henshin, Ryoga is a character in the story and the word “henshin” means transformation in English.)
It was perfect sleeping weather. The rain fell in a steady but soft downpour. It started raining right at sundown and continued on into the night. There was little to no lightning mixed into it. All that existed was the well tempered dark and the soft sighs of the falling rain.
Yet, out of the dark warmth and steady rain a restless figure walked. It wore a yellow hemp shirt and carried a large red umbrella to shield it from the steady rain. It stopped at the gate of Tendo-ke and read the sign posted there.
“Tendo Dojou!” Ryoga exclaimed. “There can be no doubt. Today, Ranma Saotome, I will stop your life.”
Up on the second floor in the guest bedroom, Ranma Saotome was in a very deep sleep. He had suffered through a long and strenuous day. He had been wakened at 0400 by being thrown out the bedroom window by his father, landing in the koi pond. Then, he was attacked by his father in his human form who became a panda in short order because Ranma managed to throw him into the koi pond. Pretty much the normal early morning routine for Ranma.
Then he bathed and ate his breakfast which, despite Kasumi's best efforts, there was never enough of it because his father relentlessly stole food from his plate. Ranma spent the entire time of breakfast with his attention torn between eating and defending his food. After that, there had been the usual long walk to Furinkan which then led to several morning skirmishes between Ranma and whoever was feeling their oats that morning. Akane fought Kuno and pretty much got him into a winded state. Kuno then forced Ranma into beating the hell out of his silly ass before the school bell rang. Then, Ranma had to exercise during physical education class after having fought several skirmishes during the lunch break. Then, he had his after school workout with Genma, but that was truncated by the start of the prolonged rain. Ranma was thoroughly exhausted when he laid his head on his pillow as darkness fell.
How Ryoga found his way to the second floor, let alone the guest bedroom is anyone's guess, but he found it and Ranma without so much as waking anyone, or even just disturbing their sleep. He stood over Ranma glowering down at him.
“Get up, Ranma,” Ryoga said in a growling voice. “It's me, Ryoga. Time for us to duel.”
Ranma merely snored on, oblivious to the presence of the Random Return Man, which infuriated the forever lost boy even more than he had infuriated himself in his blundering wandering search for Tendo-ke.
“HEY, RANMA!” Ryoga shouted at the top of his voice. “GET UP!”
Well, I have done my best to wake the sneaky bastard, may as well be sneaky myself, Ryoga thought.
Ryoga drew back and thew a hard punch at the slumbering Ranma's forehead. Ranma rolled to his left with uncanny timing and Ryoga's fist slammed into the pillow. When Ryoga drew his fist back, the pillow came with his fist. Ryoga had punched completely through Ranma's pillow. Ryoga took in a deep breath and then thew a hard left hand at Ranma's head. This time, Ranma rolled to his right just in time to avoid Ryoga's punch. Ryoga's fist was now embedded in the futon that Ranma was sleeping on.
How guilty must a man be in order to dodge justice in his sleep? Ryoga asked himself. This is creepy.
“GET UP! HELLO!” Ryga screamed.
This triggered something primal in Genma-no-Panda. It sat up, seized Ryoga's shirt and threw him out the window. Then it pulled out a sign that read “Yakamashi!” which is what the Japanese always shout when they are irritated by some kind of rude noise, and swatted Ranma out the window with it. Then it laid back down and continued its heartfelt snoring. Remember what is said about old age and treachery and keep it wholly, because Genma Saotome is full of it.
Ever ready with his umbrella, Ryoga landed as dry as a powder house in the flooded yard. The water was nearly deep enough to get into his shoes, but not quite. Ranma, on the other hand, had been shot through the window without any expectation whatsoever and he he landed face down in the koi pond.
Ranma choked on the nasty tasting water.
“Buwa!” Onna-Ranma choked out, then started wondering what had happened. “Wha...Wha...Wha?”
Then his eyes resolved the situation for him. In the foggy blue of the street light (The Ranma 1/2 story was started well prior to the advent and installation of the high pressure sodium bulbs that are in use today which produce that sickly yellow light) Ryoga was in the fighting stance he used when it was raining: a modified horse riding stance with his umbrella held high in his right hand with his left fist held forward.
Onna-Ranma found himself sitting seiza staring at this menacing figure with his right hand pressed to his thumping heart, which made for a very sexy pose. He quickly clambered to his feet and shouted, “Ryoga, what the hell are you doing here in the middle of the night?”
“Knock it off!” Ryoga screamed. “This is revenge, it happens at night or at noon.”
Onna-Ranma suddenly looked bored.
“Again?” Onna-Ranma asked in a deeply aggrieved voice. “Yes, and you're as pure as the driven snow! What gives you the right to take vengeance out on me?”
“Before I and I alone send you to hell for your vile conduct...You abandoned our duel, so I followed you, you sorry bastard, all the way to China!”
Ranma was shocked by this revelation. He stared at Ryoga with a finger on his right cheek trying to figure out what it all meant.
“Lemme guess, you stumbled into Jusenkyou and now when you are sprayed with water, you transform into something.”
“Just as you say!” Shouted Ryoga as he jumped into the air, sailing toward Onna-Ranma, “Now that's the end of our conversation!”
Ryoga did his best to land a flying side kick to Onna-Ranma's midriff, but Onna-Ranma blocked it with a delicate push of his dainty right hand. Ryoga had been careful to stay beneath his umbrella throughout all these gyrations.
In her bedroom on the second floor of Tendo-ke, Akane woke up from her blissful sleep which, was now her only time of being at peace since the arrival of the Saotome.
“What is all that awful racket in the yard?” Akane asked aloud to her empty room. She clambered out of her bed and walked out into the hallway. Kasumi opened her door and stuck her head out.
“That awful noise woke you up, Akane?”
“You as well, Kasumi-chan? Akane asked.
Brandishing the shinai that she had brought from her room, Akane led Kasumi cautiously down the stairs. Kasumi had her hands crossed over the center of her chest and was clearly frightened.
“I wonder if it isn't a burglar,” Kasumi said.
Akane's grip tightened on the shinai as she said, “Better not be.”
Kasumi glanced out of a window and saw Ryoga' silhouette back lit against the burning blue of the Tokyo skyline glowing in the misty rains.
“Ah, It is a burglar! He has a huge pack of stolen goods on his back,” Kasumi said in a loud voice.
“I'll lash him until he can't stay on his feet!” Akane said in a voice that was louder than Kasumi's.
Kasumi, despite her appearance of being constantly preoccupied, knew quite a bit about fighting and tactics. After all, she managed a household of martial artists.
That shinai is just a bunch of bamboo strips lashed together with cotton string, Kasumi thought. Akane will break it on the first or second swat and then all we'll be armed with is our fingernails. It would be best if we crippled this guy from a distance.
“Not a good move. It's too dangerous ,” Kasumi said as she hefted a ten kilogram barbell with both her hands. “Use this.”
Akane glanced at the short barbell with genuine surprise.
Outside in the rain, Onna-Ranma is finding his short reach a great disadvantage in dealing with an enraged Ryoga. His aerial work is as superb as it ever has been, but Ryoga is not his father and is able to move much quicker. Worse, his punches stop short of their targets as do his kicks. The only thing he is able to do is to block Ryoga's moves in as painful a way as he can, but Ryoga happens to be a very, very tough opponent. He absorbs the pain as though he were a sponge soaking up water.
Then, without any warning at all, a testament to Akane's strength arrives in the form of a whistling barbell and it then testifies to the hardness of Ryoga's skull when it caroms off the back of his head.
Ryoga is more than a little shocked by this event, he's positively stupefied and drops his umbrella as Onna-Ranma stares at him in shock. Ryoga then partially recovers and lunges for the top of the wall around Tendo-ke. Onna-Ranma settles on top of the wall, searching the rainy night for his opponent.
“Ryoga!” He shouts in his high-pitched screechy voice.
On the engawa, Akane is holding her follow through pose as she stares out into the yard.
“Ryoga?” Akane asks after hearing Onna-Ranma's shout.
Kasumi is delighted. “Oh, it was just Ranma's friend after all.”
Out in the yard, Ryoga's heavy umbrella lay upside down, rapidly being filled by the steadily falling rain. Out in the street, it's difficult to tell narrow streets of Japan from their alleyways, Onna-Ranma sprinted down the road so quickly that he left a rooster tail in his wake. He stops running when he saw Ryoga's pack and cloths clumped together beneath a street light. He knelt down and picked up the yellow hemp shirt.
“These clothes...were worn by Ryoga,” he mutters. He heard a growl behind him and turned his head sees a dog and asks, “Ryoga?”
The only response the dog gives is a series of pants.
On the second floor of Tendo-ke, Akane is back in her bedroom, making ready to go back to bed. She yawns while thinking about what just happened, Really, because of that annoying fool showing up here in the middle of the night, I'm losing sleep?
Akane froze in her tracks when she heard a faint, pecking noise.
There is something living in my room? She thinks. Then there is a louder scrambling noise.
“Who's there?” Akane shouted. “Come out where I can see you!”
Without preamble, this little black ball came flying right at Akane's face. She screamed and batted it away. It made a whimpering noise when it hit the floor.
Akane looked down only to find herself staring into the wide eyes of a very panicked black piglet. It was fearful of her and made more whimpering sounds as it slowly backed away from her, while staring at her as though it expected her to attack it. The piglet's fierce demeanor amused Akane.
“A piglet,” she said aloud as she got down on her hands and knees, making an effort be less frightening to the black piggy. “Come here. Don't be afraid.”
Akane finally coaxed the piglet into coming nearer and she picked it up gently with both hands. The poor little thing was soaked to the skin.
“Oh, wow!” Akane exclaimed. “You're soaking wet. I wonder if you haven't been out in the rain until just now.”
Akane hugged the piglet to her bosom felt the bump on the back of its little noggin and said, “Gosh, no one has been taking care of you.”
Downstairs, Ranma was making a vain attempt to converse with the dog, because he believed that it was Ryoga in his cursed form.
“It's in the middle of the night, Ryoga,” Onna-Ranma said as he struggled to dry himself. “These infantile attacks in the wee hours of the morning have got to stop!”
The dog simply stared at Onna-Ranma as though he had lost so many marbles that he no longer had enough to play a good game. Onna-Ranma's body language is nothing ladylike. He is sitting on the floor in a pair of boxer shorts with his legs spread while he dries his fiery red hair and he is completely oblivious to what men and boys must think when they see him looking like that.
“I'm just a freeloader here; without status and little wriggle room to play in, understand?”
About that time, Akane showed up carrying her newly found black piglet in her arms.
“Akane,” Onna-Ranma said nervously.
“What's with the dog, Ranma?” She asked.
“What's up with you?” Onna-Ranma asked. “Why are you carrying that weird pig?”