Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Bones and Phoenix Ashes ❯ Part Three: Yin-Yang ( Chapter 3 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]
PART THREE: YIN-YANG
One: Tai-Ping
Rising from Phoenix Ashes
November 10, 2003
We must look almost like siblings, albeit siblings without an awful lot of physical resemblance.
It's a nicely odd feeling, sitting with the Young Emperor of the Musk in a Japanese ice cream place, eating ice cream and watching the movements of the street through glass. Ice cream, chocolate ice cream especially, is one of the best inventions in the history of the world.
I generally finish the bowl and start scraping the spoon along the brown streaks, hoping to pick up a little bit more. He's already finished and is staring out the window with hands folded. The clock on the wall says fifteen past three.
We don't speak. It isn't necessary.
What is life? Really, what is it?
To many in this world, life is the most precious thing in the world. They hold onto it for dear life, scared of losing it because once it's lost, as far as they know it's gone forever. I don't have this concern. To me, life is a given. It simply is something that I live, like it or not.
I know that several times over the past thousand years- once this past year!- I was so ashamed that I would have quite happily died forever.
But I'm not quite ready to die yet.
Long Jing-Swei is not as fortunate (or unfortunate, some may say) as I. He too lives on a mountain, but when he dies he will stay that way. Granted he may come back, quite possibly as another Young Emperor, but then how can they be sure that it is he? He is a dragon, not a phoenix; a dragon is not reborn in the flames.
Then again, according to the legends, a dragon does not need to be reborn either (the legends conflict on this) because they live forever or because they live so ridiculously long they welcome death when it comes. Of course, according to the legends, they're reincarnated shortly afterward.
But that's just what the legends say.

***

I don't know why they all acted the way they did, last time and this time both. I guess they thought, with a thousand years to my credit, I could discipline myself.
How wrong they were.
I have a lot of things to learn- or perhaps relearn, but if I already know them I need to brush up on them because last time I certainly didn't use them.

***

The ubiquitous door chimes tinkle. A familiar red blur moves at a tremendous rate into the shop and stops moving his (some would argue for "her") legs halfway to the table. Momentum carries him forward, stopping him right beside our table.
Saotome Ranma runs fingers through his hair. "Hey, Herb, hey…" He stops for a minute, obviously wishing he could take back that last word. But "eating words" is strictly an idiomatic expression. "… Saffron."
"Oh. Hello."
He gives us a cocky grin. "Mind if I sit here?"
"No, I don't." Long Jing-Swei turns to me, quite slowly and stiffly. "Do you?"
I shake my head.

***

He flings himself next to me. "Um… I'm assuming this isn't what it looked like?"
"That depends on what it looked like," I tell him. "What did it look like?"
"Yechhh gross if one of you were me very worst nightmare," says Saotome Ranma, and no further explanation is needed.
Jing-Swei looks very, very nauseated. "That is not a topic appropriate for discussion."
"You sound like one of those people that sell Net filters." He laughs. "Seriously… what were you doing, then?"
"A diplomatic conference." I smile. A strangled burst of laughter comes from
"Okay then. Three-way diplomatic conference okay with you?" He turns to the waiter. "Rocky road and strawberry with chocolate sauce, please."

***

It's a pleasant afternoon. The ice is broken, not shattered, but broken.
We don't talk a lot, due to the fact that we have an unspoken rule abolishing all inanities. So they're mostly questions that spontaneously generate from that great thing known as Nothing.
"How tall's Musk Mountain, anyhow?"
"A kilometer or so, though nobody knows exactly." Jing-Swei runs fingers through his hair. "Who has time to take a rope marked off in meters and see how far it can go down the mountain?"
"Boy, that's so easy. Nobody, that's who!"
"Now, I assume you see my point."
"Yeah, I see your point." Ranma glances at the clock. "Oh great, have to go face the Dance of the Great Fire Dragon music. See ya around."
Jing-Swei gives him an odd look. "The Joketsuzoku?"
"Yeah. I need to take care of something. See ya around, Herb." He turns and looks straight at me. His voice is clear and blunt as always. "I can't say it's all okay no harm done for Akane, but I can say it's okay for me. See ya around, Saffron."
Conscience and protocol dictate a response. "I apologize for the events of this summer." And this time it isn't inane. It isn't inane at all.
He grins. "I'll be sure and tell that to Akane. Anyhow she won't beat up on a kid. See ya around, then."

***

We head back for the hotel. Jing-Swei walks. I'm a few feet off, using the Kinjakan to hover just above the ground. And I'm ready to finish being reborn in the flames. I'm ready to really start over.

Two: Shueh Mu-Tz
Poetry

It's closing time at the Nekohanten, and I'm washing the last dishes of the day.
8:29 PM, the clock above the cabinet says. Twenty-three hours and fifty-nine minutes ago, I heard those words I had long ago secretly despaired of hearing.
But words are only words. Actions speak louder than words, and Joketsuzoku law speaks louder than action.
Matriarch Lin is staring out the window.
It is now 8:30 PM.
The door chimes tinkle.
He steps in slowly, hesitantly, looking not at all like the Saotome Ranma I saw before. Is it him, or me that's changed?
He takes a few small steps forward. Another one backward.
Matriarch Lin turns to him. "Saotome Ranma? What is it?"
"Um. Shampoo's great-grandmother, hello. I need to tell you something."
"Yes, what is it?"
Shiang-Pu has emerged from her room. She stands behind the Matriarch, eyes wide, waiting.
"I can't do it."
Matriarch Lin blinks. She blinks again. "Can't do what?"
"I can't do it. You see, there's this little rule over here in Japan, and this law outlaws this thing called polygamy. You know what polygamy is?"
"I know perfectly well what polygamy is. Get to the point."
"Well, ya see, that means I can't exactly get married to Akane and Ukyou and Shampoo. So…"
I think she's suspecting now. "Yes, go on."
"Ireallycan'tmarryShampoosorryaboutthis." And a moment later, Saotome Ranma has left the building.
"What do you mean by this, Saotome Ranma? You come back here and explain!" Matriarch Lin Go-Long has left the building.
And Lin Shiang-Pu gives me a very large hug. "Be sure to find him and thank him for the both of us later, Mu-Tz."
I nod. It was inelegant, but it does the trick.
Oh yes, it does the trick very, very well.
My luck has taken a turn for the better. Where before we were trapped in an insane comedy, now we are in the best poem ever written.

Three: Lin Shiang-Pu
Just Like in the Movies
November 12, 2003

The universe, capricious merciless child playing with living toys that it is, has for once turned its mind to other things, leaving us to live our lives with relative peace.

***

Father, considerate person that he is (whether he will die prematurely, which according to the papers happens to most considerate people, or not), finishes the washing up.
Great-grandmother, determined person that she is, does not return until past midnight.
"He hid in a garbage can," she informs us, "and ran away when my back was turned. An hour I spent chasing him about, another one arguing with him. And, another one fighting him."
"Who won?" I ask her. Out of the corner of my eye I see Mu-Tz carrying a glass vase into the dining area. It's a laughable pretense, but it does fine.
She frowns. "Who are you to ask such a question?"
So it's finished. Ranma yielded the moment the universe child, not wishing its fun to be spoiled, played Great-grandmother as a last resort. All those movies are lies. Love does not conquer all. It's going to be just like it was before.
Except now, I will be trapped with following my heart. And when I follow my heart, only pain can result. Why can't you leave us alone, Universe?
"He won."
Mu-Tz stiffens. His fingers open in an automatic reflex. The vase, of course, drops. I fling myself flat onto the floor and grab it seconds before its planned collision with the floor. The collision is canceled.
She turns to Mu-Tz. "I'll be seeing your sister about this tomorrow."
He goes all pale. "Y-yes, Matriarch." We exchange glances. What now?

***

Great-grandmother leaves for the Ryuujin Gokuraku early the next day. Saotome Ranma's birthday, though the actual celebration isn't for another few days. On the weekends there will be time for a longer party, a fun party. And Ranma wants a fun party. He deserves a fun party.
Not many people have stood up to Great-grandmother and simply walked away. Once, just once mind you, several years ago Wang Kan-Dao (everyone calls her Candle because some outsider tourist had mispronounced her name that badly), was fresh with her. Now Candle wasn't sensitive or timid or anything like that. She had the heart of a dragon then, proud and stubborn. She never listened to anyone, whether they were younger or older or the same age. Within an hour of her offense, she was very polite and easily spooked, and she's still that way today.
Anyone that can change a person so much in one hour should be approached with caution even if this anyone happens to be your Great-grandmother.
We run the restaurant without her all morning. Father cooks, and it's not as good as Great-grandmother's but it's not total junk either. It's better than Tendou Akane's cooking, which, I have to be honest, is not really so good. Any person picked at random off the street could cook better than her. I'd bet a hundred yuan on the truth of that statement.
So it's a good morning. Some of the clientele flirt with me but that happens just about every day. We watch the clock. And we wait.
She walks in quite casually when we're clearing up the remains of the lunch rush. "Shueh Mu-Tz, your sister is your only surviving relative, correct?"
"Yes… that I know of."
"She has expressed approval of the marriage."
"What marriage?" I ask. A necessary inanity.
She looks at me funny. "Your marriage, of course. Who else could it be?"
I feel like I've been hit over the head very, very hard. I'm so stunned I can't keep my mouth from opening. "But Great-grandmother, why did you decide on Mu-Tz after all?"
Great-grandmother looks at me as if I was crazy. Maybe I am crazy. "He is the second best male fighter in the village. You're not interested in Lio Musk, are you?"
"Of course not!"
"Then it's settled. I'll be consulting Jiang Huang about the horoscopes shortly. Just to be sure."
So it's settled, then. It's settled.
And I grab Mu-Tz and we dance around the Nekohanten laughing, feeling just like we're in the movies.

Four: Long Jing-Swei
Dragon Bones Glimpsed Through Bright Water
November 14, 2002

I can never go back again, that much is certain.
Never again will I be the same person that listened to Wei Hua-Shuhng whisper rumors for a jiao each. Nor will I be the same person that shouted for Jia Hakka to bring the Stopping Water Bucket after I saw Saotome Ranma tumble to the floor with distinct changes in his anatomy.
Those people are still inside of me, but they haven't got so much say now.
If one wants to survive it is necessary to change at least a little bit.
And I'm changing. Oh, I'm changing.

***

Tomorrow is Saotome Ranma's birthday celebration. Yesterday was his real true birthday. Yesterday was the day I brought him the present.
I remember waiting until the afternoon. I remember looking through the bottle. It was a plastic one that used to hold soft drink. Glass is unreliable- shatters so easily, and when you're dealing with this sort of thing that is most definitely Not Good. I'd wrapped the top with tape. Just to be safe.
I took the box and set off.
My first stop was the Nekohanten. Lin Shiang-Pu was very helpful. She'd apparently been to the Tendou family house so many times she'd memorized the directions.
Five minutes later, after two extremely unpleasant encounters with a shrunken old pervert and a sword-wielding maniac (maybe I should consider cutting my hair short, like Liang-Hu and Hakka, if people continue to mistake me for a woman from behind. At any rate they ought to have landed somewhere in the Pacific Ocean) I'm there.
It's in the traditional Japanese style, and it could very well pass for a house in the era arranged marriages were everyday news.
All of a sudden he bursts out the door and nearly runs me over.
"Sorry about that, Herb." He brushes dark hair out of his face. "What's this? My birthday present?" I nod.
He goes for the box first. He unties the wide red silk ribbon and ties it around his forehead. He runs his fingers over the carved cedar dragons intertwined about the sides and lid.
And, when I'm starting to grow impatient, he opens the box.
His mouth opens and his voice runs away.
He blinks thrice, then after a moment catches his voice and drags it back to where it belongs. "What is this? A leftover from some Chinese barbecue?"
I nearly burst out laughing. "No, it's a dragon bone."
He stares at it. "Wait a minute. Wait. A. Minute. Didn't those dragon bones turn out to be really ancient people or something?"
"Not this one."
He touches it, gingerly, as if expecting the dragon to come to life and swallow him whole. "Wow. How'd you get it?"
"I found it."
"Guess you can find just 'bout everything in China. So what does it do?"
"Take it and see."
"Um." He gulps. "It isn't a booby trap, is it?"
"If it was, would I tell you?"
"Good point." He picks it up and gasps. "Wow! I feel… charged up."
"I expected you would."
"It's like drugs without bad stuff or something?"
"Actually, I believe it's generally used more to increase chi power."
"So with this I can finally blow the old pervert to Hawaii?"
I know which one he means. "If you do I will applaud you."
"So how come you're giving it to me! Something like this is awfully valuable isn't it?"
"Don't feel too flattered. I have eight more just like it at home."
He laughs. Very loudly.
And then he turns his attention to the soft drink bottle, which no longer contains soft drink.
He doesn't need to say anything. He knows. But he says something anyway.
"So this is Nannichuan water, isn't it?"
I nod. "Yes. You kept your promise, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I suppose I did."
But from his voice I can tell he can't quite believe it.

Five: Saotome Ranma
My Own Kind of Perfect

I can't believe it.
It's way, way too good to be true. Maybe it's just plain old water and this is a prank. Maybe the dragon bone really is a chicken bone. Maybe it's the real deal but I know something will happen, anything from Kunou to an atom bomb, that will keep me from using it. The universe can't let it be this simple.
But still, I hope. And hope is all that matters.
Hope springs eternal, after all. It doesn't just spring eternal in an English writing exercise.
I look at it. I hold out one vibrating hand, another one. I slowly, slowly unwrap the tape and unscrew the cap. I look down at the water. There doesn't seem to be anything odd about it. But then again the springs looked okay when I first saw them.
I hold it high. And I tip my wrist.
Water glubs out of the bottle, coming down on my head, wetting my hair in a cascade generally heralding a change of hair color and a change of… er, parts. I jerk my wrist back into its original position. I estimate there's maybe half the water left.
I look down. The water was cold; there's no doubt about it. But my… parts are the same.
"I'm cured." Just a whisper.
Herb blinks. "Pardon?"
"I'm CURED!"
I somehow retain enough presence of mind to recap the bottle in case Akane should wander in (boy would that be wrong place wrong time), and then proceed to dance a dance that I name "The I'm Cured Dance" on the spot.
"I'm CURED! I'm CUREDIMCUREDIMCURED! YAYYYYY!"
My euphoria lasts a full sixty seconds, after which I am forced to jump out of the way of a massive stampede of three.

***

"Ranma, don't be so stingy!"
"Boy, get down from there!"
"Ranma, please…"
I look down from the roof of the dojo. "Okay. Pop, stand there, under that tree."
He walks forward, beaming. But I have a little surprise for him. I have a little surprise for everyone.
I lean over the edge, aim as best as I can, and turn the bottle upside down. "Incoming!"
It looks like Ryouga and Mousse're standing under a waterfall. They sputter for a bit, and then start to laugh. It's right around then that the bottle empties, so they're standing there soaked and laughing, laughing, laughing, but it's not mean or anything, not at Pop who is crying worse than some babies (he deserves it), they're just laughing, then Ryouga yells.
"I'm CURED!" And then he grabs Mousse by the wrist and they do a dance together, shouting and laughing all the while, and then I'm laughing too, running to the edge of the roof and jumping and soaring across the sun and feeling just like Herb and Saffron must feel, and then I land on someone else's roof and keep on running, momentum carrying me forward right off the opposite end of the roof but that's okay because here comes another one, and I keep on running and running and twice make cannonballs into swimming pools before finally I stop in front of school and sprawl down across the grass, laughing and laughing because I feel so wonderful, so wonderful.

***

My name is Saotome Ranma. My age is seventeen. I am not the Saotome Ranma I was.
I am cured. My faith in the universe has been restored. At least for now.
And I do like Akane a bit but we are kind of young to get married. Wait to see if it blows over necessitating divorce and all of that. It might blow over, it might not, but we have to wait and see if it does. And I told her Saffron said he was sorry about her turning into a doll and everything. She was kind of neutral about it, but that's what you'd expect from her.
And I do think Aunt Akiko is so nice and perfect but not the right kind of perfect for me.
I've found my own kind of perfect.