Chapter 10

Shayla looked nervously out of the tiny window in the airplane, eyeing the great, blue ocean far, far below and gulped. She’d never flown before and squeezed Ranma’s hand tightly and relaxed a little under his reassuring smile. "Nervous?" he asked, seeing Shayla was reduced to nodding, his normally talkative girlfriend rendered speechless. He leaned over her and closed the sliding window cover, hiding the empty blue depths from her view. "Better?" This time the nod was more vigorous and she relaxed her deathgrip on his left hand. "Close your eyes and put your headphones on, it’ll help," he suggested, digging in her pack for the portable CD player she’d brought along.

"Okay," Shayla said, meekly putting on the headphones and putting in a Seal CD. She leaned her seat back a little bit and resolutely closed her eyes, opening them slightly to give Ranma the thumbs up after a few minutes.

Knowing she was going to be okay, he let go of her hand and rubbed his own, surprised that she had such a strong grip. She’d been clinging to his hand steadily since their take off from San Francisco almost an hour ago and he was glad she’d finally calmed down enough to let go. He looked over at her and smiled ruefully, seeing her lip-synching to the music and snapping her fingers. Restlessly, he picked up a John Grisham book Shayla had recommended and flipped through it, unable to concentrate, the words blurring into meaningless globs as his thoughts moved forward to Japan. . . and Akane.

‘I wonder how she’s changed,’ he thought, the book dangling uselessly in his fingers. ‘I wonder how I’ve changed?’ He remained staring off into space, lost in the act of reliving events that had happened long ago, until one of the air hostesses came to take his drink order. He ordered a Coke for himself and turned to ask Shay what she wanted, but she was asleep, head leaning against the closed window and Ranma shrugged to the hostess, frowning inwardly at her flirtatious smile.

The hostess gone, he returned to thinking about going home, this time concentrating more on his family. ‘It’ll be great to see Mom and maybe even Pop. If he’s as soft as Mom says, he’s got some hard days ahead of him.’ Thoughts of training with his dad stirred more memories, some pleasant, some not. ‘I wonder how Ukyo’s doing,’ he wondered idly, thinking back to when she’d tried to make her move on him after his and Akane’s breakup. He remembered he hadn’t been too awful nice to her, or anyone else for that matter and they’d lost touch. He dimly recalled hearing about Cologne closing the restaurant and taking Shampoo and Mousse back to China and thought about the scathing letter her received some weeks later from Cologne vilifying him for allowing his spirit to become so weak over a girl who didn’t even love him.

‘Even Happos. . .’ Ranma thought and sat up straight, eyes wide. ‘Shit! Happosai! I didn’t even think of him! What if he shows up?’ Ranma groaned inwardly and glanced at his sleeping girlfriend next to him, dreaming of how he would pulverize the little satyr if he so much as looked at her wrong. ‘Thank God he stopped showing up once I was cured. Speaking of which. . .’ He still hadn’t told Shay about the Jusenkyo curse and how for more than a year, he’d changed sex almost at the drop of a hat, if the hat happened to be filled with hot or cold water, which it usually was. ‘Maybe no one will bring it up,’ he thought hopefully, settling back with his Coke, which was now more water than Coke due to the ice melting.

The rest of the flight was uneventful, Ranma having resisted Shay’s advances to become a member of the mile-high club, knowing that with his luck, they would be discovered and thrown off of the plane—without parachutes. When they finally landed at Narita airport, after another bone-crushing hand hold by Shayla, it was Ranma’s turn to have the jitters. He hoped his parents would recognize him, clad as he was in jeans and a burgundy polo shirt. Shayla waited impatiently to get of the plane, poking Ranma in the back.

"Come on, I want to get off this plane, I need to stretch my legs," she complained playfully. She was very nervous about meeting Ranma’s family and actually didn’t mind waiting for the other passengers to get off first, but she considered it her duty to give him a hard time whenever possible.

"In a minute," Ranma said, waiting for the traffic to slow. They were in the second row of the coach seating and there were lots of people seated behind them. Finally, he gave the word. "Okay, let’s go." He hoisted his pack and moved out into the aisle, Shay following him closely. They walked quickly up the jetway and into the crowded gate.

To Shay, the noise was enormous, thousands of people talking all at once, rendering her unable to distinguish individual voices and she became aware of Ranma tugging on her hand, pulling her to the right. There, an older woman with dark, reddish brown hair was waving frantically and, Shay could now hear, calling Ranma’s name. Next to her was a tall, stoutly built man with a cloth tied on his head and glasses, wearing of all things, a gi. Shay assumed the gi-clad gentleman was Ranma’s father and the crying woman attached to his neck was his mother. They broke apart, his mother holding him at arms length and Shay saw she was wearing a very intricately patterned kimono in blues and golds with a wide, dark blue sash at her waist.

Ranma escaped his mother’s grasp and clasped hands with his father, saying something that sounded very glib, even to Shay’s untrained ears. She could see the rapidly developing tournament of strength between father and son as they continued to shake hands. His mother intervened, motioning to Shay who had been hanging back shyly and Ranma took her hand and brought her up to introduce her to his parents. The only thing she understood was her name and the name of the school and she bowed like Ranma had shown her and said in halting Japanese, "Please to meet you."

She was taken aback when his mother bowed in response, murmuring what Shay supposed was a similar greeting. His father bowed as well, although not as deeply as his mother had, Shayla noticed and said something that earned him a punch in the arm from his son. Ranma took his Mother’s hand and lead her out of the gate area, mouthing the word ‘Luggage,’ to Shay, who followed behind, listening to the reunited family chatter away.

They picked up their luggage in short order and continued the walk out of the airport. Shay noticed the way Ranma’s mother was constantly in contact with him, touching his arm, smoothing his hair or something like that. She supposed she’d really missed her son, given that she’d already spent 10 years separated from him. Outside the airport, Ranma’s father, ‘Genma,’ Shayla reminded herself, remembering the crash course in family she’d received a few days before they left, hailed a taxi and they crowded in for the ride to the train station.

Shayla stared out of the window, amazed at the closely packed buldings, exotic signage and throngs of milling people filling the sidewalks and spilling out into the street. Never having been anywhere more crowded than San Francsico, it was a sight completely alien to her and a little frightening. Ranma put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her. "You okay?" his whispered into her ear, taking advantage of the small argument that had erupted between his mother and father.

"Yeah, I’m okay. There’s so many people," she said, gesturing to the crowd outside the taxi.

"Yeah, more people than I’ve seen in a while. Nerima’s a lot quieter. It’s like this mainly because of the airport." Ranma gave her another reassuring squeeze and said "Hai, okaasan," in response to one of his mother’s rapid fire questions.

"What did she ask you?" Shayla asked, curious.

"If I’ve been brushing my teeth," Ranma answered grimly.

**

‘Ranma was right,’ Shayla mused, ‘I do like Nerima better.’ She was in the guest room, laying on the futon that had been made up for her, reluctant to get up unless she knew Ranma was up first. She looked around the room, taking in the polished wooden floor with a brightly colored rag rug, the dresser against one wall and a desk with a chair on the wall perpendicular to it. There was a window that was currently closed opposite the wall with the dresser that had the shade drawn and Shay could see what looked like morning sunshine through the edge of the shade. She rolled over onto her stomach and decided that hadn’t been the best idea. It seemed like the last time she’d gone to the bathroom had been at the airport in San Francisco.

‘I hope he gets up soon,’ was her thought as she rolled back into a supine position. Outside, she could hear some brave birds, it was colder here than she thought it would be, and what sounded like a lot of shouting. Curious, she got up and padded to the window, moving the shade aside slightly. The window looked out into a kind of courtyard and in the courtyard were her boyfriend and his father, barefoot, fighting in the thin snow on the ground dressed only in gis.

As she watched, Ranma aimed a kick at his father’s legs, intending to land him on his butt in the snow, but Genma neatly avoided the sweep, leaping into the air and sticking his tongue out at Ranma as he landed, only to be cold cocked on the side of the head by an impossibly fast fist. Genma sank slowly to the ground, legs like rubber and Ranma dusted off his hands and walked back toward the house, leaving his father in the snow.

Shay shook her head and giggled, wondering at the ferocity of their rivalry. She was picking out her clothes when she heard the soft knock on the door of the room. "Come in," she said softly, deciding on a simple pair of jeans and a mascot T-shirt. She had her back to the door and was extremely surprised to feel a pair of hands squeezing her shoulders in a very familiar way. She gasped and whirled around to face a grinning Ranma. "You scared the beejeezus out of me!" she exclaimed in mock anger, fixing a glare on her grinning, sweaty boyfriend.

"That was the idea. How are you feeling?"

"Fine, except I really need to go to the bathroom. Where is it?" Yesterday afternoon, when they had arrived at the Saotome residence, Shayla had been asleep on her feet and gone straight to bed.

"Well, get your bath stuff together like I showed you and I’ll show you where it is." Shayla picked up a bag full of toiletries and her clothes and followed Ranma down the hall. "This is the toilet," Ranma said opening the door, revealing a decidecly un-western facility.

Shayla looked at it doubtfully. "What if I fall in?"

Ranma rolled his eyes, feigning exasperation. "You won’t fall in, Shay-chan. Trust me."

"Okay. Are you going to wait right here?"

"Yes, I’ll be right here." He shook his head in amusement as she went in and closed the door. She emerged a few minutes later and Ranma led her farther down the hall to the bathroom. "Here is the bathroom." He opened the door and said, "You change in here," indicating the small, tiled room with a hamper. He opened another door on the other side of the small room to reveal a larger room, also all tiled, with faucets, a couple of stools and a large tub.

"Where’s the shower?" Shay asked.

"Oh, no, no shower here. You sit on the stool, use one of the buckets to wet yourself, soap up, rinse off with the bucket again and then when you’re clean, you get in the tub and soak for as long as you want. The water is hotter than you’re used to, so don’t stay in too long. If you feel dizzy, get out." Ranma dipped his fingers in the tub experimentally, testing the temperature. "Hm, hotter than I’m used to, too. Oh, the water that comes from the faucets for washing, it’s only cold."

"Wait a minute, only cold? No warm water?’

"Nope, only cold," Ranma said with a grin, enjoying the horrified look on her face in spite of himself. "I told you, remember?"

"Yeah, but I thought you were kidding or being macho or something."

"Anyway, get undressed in here, wash in there. If you need anything, call me, ne?"

"Okay." Shayla closed the door and Ranma waited outside until he heard the water running and Shay’s gasps as the cold water chilled her, knowing it would make the hot soak all the better. He ambled down the hall to the kitchen, where his mother was making breakfast.

"Ohayo, Mom," he said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Ohayo, son," she returned, adding water to the rice cooker. She noticed the stained gi he was wearing and wrinkled her nose at the smell that wafted her way. "You should be in the bath."

"I will Mom, Shay-chan’s in there now." He looked at the bowl of fruit that sat on the counter and picked out a bananna, peeling it deftly.

Nodoka turned away from the cooker and opened the window over the kitchen, letting the chill air in the room. "Oh, how is she doing this morning?" she asked casually.

Ranma finished the bananna and picked out an apple next, polishing it on his gi. "She’s fine, she just needs some time to adjust." He took a bite of the apple and chewed thoughtfully, watching his mother prepare breakfast. "Mom, what do you think about her?"

With her back still to him, she replied, "She’s a nice girl."

"But she’s not Japanese."

Nodoka slowly stirred the slowly heating miso soup. "No, she’s not Japanese," she said carefully.

"Mom. . ."

Turning to face Ranma, she crossed her arms and gave her son the look that meant she would not tolerate any more interruptions. "She’s not Japanese, and though I wish you had found a nice Japanese girl in America, I’m sure Shayla is a perfectly nice girl." Nodoka noticed the crestfallen look on Ranma’s face and smiled, putting her hand on his cheek. "Don’t worry son, I just have to get to know her."

"Thanks Mom." Ranma hugged his mother tightly and they broke apart, both smiling self-consciously, still not used to this closeness. Ranma took another bite of his apple and brightened, remembering his father. "Hey, oyaji’s still outside in the snow. I guess I’d better bring him in, huh?" He quickly finished the apple and tossed the core up in the air, hands blurring as he turned it into little pieces, carrying it outside for the few birds that were brave or foolhardy enough to stick around.

His father was in the same position he left him in, surprised look on his face and all and Ranma easily hoisted him up on his shoulder in a fireman’s carry and deposited him on the floor near the heater and went to check on Shayla in the bathroom. He opened the door and saw her fully dressed, combing her hair.

"Ohayo, Ranma-kun," she said with a smile, looking and feeling much improved.

"Ohayo, Shay-chan." He kissed her on the cheek and started to take off his gi.

"What are you doing?" she asked, watching him in the mirror.

"Getting ready to clean up." He removed the top and started untying the drawstring on the pants.

"Wait, won’t this upset your parents?" She turned to face him and seeing Ranma fumbling with the knot, sighed and started untying it for him.

"Mom’s in the kitchen and Pop’s still out cold. You’re almost done in here, right? They’ll never know." He grinned at her wolfishly. "Besides, it’s not anything you’ve never seen before."

"Hm. Stand still. There, that does it." She stepped back and handed Ranma a towel and watched him walk to the bathing area and start pouring buckets of cold water on himself. She shook her head and went back to the mirror to finish taming her hair. By the time she was done, he was soaking in the large tub, a blissful expression on his face.

"Man, you don’t know how much I’ve missed this."

**

At the breakfast table, Nodoka gave her son and his father a stern look at the first hint of food stealing between them, smiling happily when they chose to display their fine table manners in front of their guest. Shayla had been coached on what to expect for breakfast, but she was still surprised by the rice, miso and fish that was on the table. Still, she was starved and ate with gusto.

"Shayla," Nodoka started, having a little bit of trouble with her name, "I hope you will excuse my terrible English, but this will give me the chance to practice."

"Oh, no, Mrs. Saotome, your English is excellent. Ranma didn’t mention that you knew any." She looked at Ranma quizzically and he shrugged his shoulders.

"When Ranma and his father were. . . away. . . I had a lot of time on my hands and I studied several languages. I have not spoken English in a very long time, though, and I hope you will correct my mistakes."

‘Like I would correct a woman who carries a sword,’ Shayla thought, smiling and nodding. "Sure, no problem."

"Ranma told me you are studying to be a teacher, correct?"

"Yes. In California, you can’t major in education, so I’m a liberal arts major with a child development minor," Shayla answered. ‘Here we go,’ she thought, readying herself for the questions.

"Oh? What age level do you want to teach?"

"Well, I am hoping to teach at the fifth or sixth grade level. That would be 10 to 12 year olds. When you start though, you kind of have to go with what they give you."

"Interesting. Genma, you remember Midori Igurashi, Mrs. Igurashi’s daughter? She was a teacher." She turned to Ranma and said, "She married a man from Hokkaido and moved there with him. You remember how she used to babysit for you?"

"Uh, yeah," Ranma replied noncommitally. ‘What I remember about life before leaving for the 10 year training trip would fill about 30 seconds of film,’ he thought glumly.

Nodoka turned back to Shay and continued to ask her questions about her family, upbringing, life at school, job, friends, attitude toward having children of her own and just about everything else under the sun. Finally, the barrage of questions was stopped by a knock at the door. Ranma got up to answer the door and Nodoka, noticing that everyone was done with breakfast, started to gather the dishes, declining Shayla’s offer of help. "No dear, you are a guest. Why don’t you go see who’s at the door with Ranma?"

"Okay. Thank you very much for breakfast, Mrs. Saotome." Ranma’s father was now engrossed in a sumo match on the television and didn’t notice when Shayla got up from the table and walked toward the door.

Ranma was standing in the doorway, speaking Japanese to the person on the other side, a girl from the sound of the voice. Shayla peeked over his shoulder and saw a girl with long, dark hair and expressive green eyes wearing jeans and a sweater under a ski jacket. She saw Shayla peeking over Ranma’s shoulder and smiled brightly, speaking faster and more excitedly to Ranma. Ranma laughed and stepped aside, invitng the girl in. As she took off her shoes and jacket in the entryway, Ranma introduced her and Shay. "Shay-chan, this is my oldest friend, Ukyo Kuonji," he said in English to Shay. In Japanese, he said, "Ukyo, this is my girlfriend, Shayla Stevens."

Shayla could only gasp in surprise at the girl’s strength as Ukyo grabbed her up in a huge hug, making exclaimations that sounded like so much gibberish to Shay’s western ear. When Ukyo released her, Ranma invited her in for some tea and they sat at the Saotome’s low table. Ranma’s mother came out with cups and a teapot on a lacquered tray. "Ukyo, it’s so nice to see you again! How have you been?" she asked in English.

"I have been well, Nodoka-san," she answered back in the same language, surprising Shayla again. "The restaurant is doing extremely well these days. I can afford to hire help and take some time off."

"That is wonderful. If you children need anything, let me know." Nodoka smiled and went back into the kitchen to finish cleaning up from breakfast.

Ranma poured them each a hot cup of tea and Shayla let hers cool for a while, having already noticed that the Japanese tended to like thier liquids hotter than she did. "So, Ukyo, what brings you here?" Ranma asked casually, sipping his tea and speaking English for Shayla's benefit.

"Well, I’d heard you were back in town for a while and that you had brought your American girlfriend. Of course I had to see for myself! The last time I saw you, you weren’t too. . . happy," she said, referring to the time she’d visited him shortly after he found out Akane wasn’t his fiancee anymore.

"Uh, yeah. Listen, I’m really sorry about that. I was. . . messed up," Ranma said quietly, aware of the hurt he’d caused his best friend. Shayla sat quietly, looking like she was watching a tennis match. "So, you said the Ucchan is doing well?"

"Yeah, it’s really taken off in the last six months or so. I hired another cook and a couple of waiters, although none of them are as cute as you!" she exclaimed, making Ranma blush. "I’ve got almost enough saved for college if you figure in what I can sell the restaurant for."

"That’s great! It’s kinda sad you would have to sell the Ucchan though."

"No big deal, I’ll probably open up another one on campus. Or maybe I’ll get a yattai," she mused, sipping her tea absently. Catching sight of Shayla sitting quietly, she said, "Listen to me going on about myself! How are you, Ranma-honey?"

Ranma told her about how things were going in California and Shayla reflected on how she was starting to like Ukyo, until she’d called Ranma ‘Ranma-honey’. She was still lost in thought when Ukyo turned to her and asked a question. "Excuse me?" she asked, embarrassed to be caught not paying attention.

"I asked you how did you meet Ranma?" Ukyo repeated.

"Oh. Well, we had a couple of classes together and we literally bumped into each other at the school bookstore," Shayla repeated, giving Ranma a smile. She told Ukyo about her studies and job at the university computer lab.

"So you know a lot about computers?" Ukyo asked eagerly, leaning forward more toward Shayla.

"Well, I know a fair amount, why?"

"I’m thinking about buying a computer for the restaurant and school, and I don’t know what to buy. Could you help me?"

"Sure, I’d love to," Shayla said, answering Ukyo’s smile. She found herself liking the ebulliant girl more and more, even if she did have a pet name for her boyfriend.

"Let’s go now," Ukyo said, standing up to take the tea tray back into the kitchen.

"Now?" Shayla looked at Ranma and he only shrugged in response.

Ukyo came back into the room and encouraged them to get up and get ready. Shayla got her suede jacket from the room she was staying in and found Ukyo in the entranceway with her shoes and jacket on, ready to go. Ranma came in as Shayla was putting on her shoes and Ukyo exclaimed that he looked so American now. "You don’t wear the Chinese clothes anymore."

Ranma looked down at the navy polo shirt and jeans he was wearing, and at the hiking boots he was putting on. "Well, they didn’t really fit in over there," he said sheepishly, pulling on his jacket.

They left the house, Ranma telling his mother to probably not expect them for lunch but they would definitely be back for dinner and walked down the quiet street, Ukyo keeping up a steady stream of conversation. "And after you left, Ryoga came looking for you and vowed he would find you in the United States. Did he ever find you?"

"Ryoga couldn’t find a plate in a china shop," Ranma snorted derisively, looking around the neighborhood.

"Who’s Ryoga?" Shay asked, enjoying the crunchy sound of the snow under her boots.

"He’s sort of a friend, rival, whatever. He was in love with Akane and we used to fight a lot." Ranma said, taking her hand.

Ukyo turned to her and said, "Well, let me tell you, if there was ever one to compete with Ranma-honey in the looks department, it was Ryoga. He has the cutest little fangs! You’ll see, I’m sure he’ll show up for Akane’s wedding."

They continued to walk toward the train station, Ranma commenting on how some things had changed and how some had stayed the same, including the old woman who constantly threw water on the walk in front of her house. He’d only been gone a few months, but somehow, the old neighborhood just wasn’t the same. They boarded the train and headed for the electronics district in Tokyo.

**

Ukyo waved goodbye from the door of the Ucchan as Shayla and Ranma left in the early evening. After a morning of computer shopping Shayla had found one that would service Ukyo more than adequately for the next few years and Ukyo had treated them to lunch at her restaurant, introducing Shay to the world of Japanese pizza. Ranma, true to form, had inhaled about 4 of them, an ecstatic look on his face the whole time. After lunch, the computer was delivered and quickly set up. Shay had given Ukyo some instruction, but not being familiar with Japanese, was not able to answer some program-specific questions, but Ukyo impressed her as a bright girl and would be able to figure it out in no time.

"So, she used to be your fiancee, huh?" Shayla asked, taking Ranma’s hand as they walked briskly down the sidewalk.

"Uh huh."

"She’s cute."

"Uh huh."

"So how come you didn’t pick her?"

"What?" Ranma turned to look at Shay, eyebrows raised.

"How come you didn’t pick her? You know, to marry."

Ranma stopped walking and said, "Marry Ukyo? She’s my oldest friend."

"So?"
"I used to think she was a guy." Ranma started walking again, directing them flawlessly through the human traffic on the walk.

"Woah, really?"

"Yeah. Well, when you’re 5 years old, sometimes it’s hard to tell who the boys and girls are, ne?"

"Oh. Well, what about when she moved here?"

"Well, see, that’s where it gets weird. See, she felt that since I’d rejected her by picking okonomiyaki over her, she couldn’t live as a girl anymore and used to dress like a guy and the whole bit. It wasn’t until later I found out she was a girl, and a pretty cute one at that," Ranma explained offhandedly.

"Wow, she’s got some issues." Shayla shook her head in amazement.

"Well, she dropped the whole guy act not too long after I found out and tried to become the perfect fiancee."

"Which brings us back to my earlier question, how come you didn’t pick her?"

Ranma didn’t answer for a few minutes and Shayla was afraid she’d offended him somehow, but he finally answered her question. "I was in love with Akane."

They walked quietly for a while, holding hands, thinking their own thoughts when Shay piped up again. "When you came back from your trip, and found out Akane’d fallen in love with the other guy, Shin-whatever, how come you didn’t fight him or something?"

Ranma sighed heavily and thought for a moment before answering. "Shay-chan, you are making me think of things I have not thought of in a long time."

"I’m sorry."

"No, don’t be. You have questions and they’re very good ones." He smiled at her and continued, "I thought about fighting him. I knew I could probably beat the crap out of him, but how would that make me look to Akane? I almost jumped him several times, but managed to talk myself out of it, telling myself now that I was back, Akane would have to come back to me. She never did, though."

Shayla was quiet for a few moments before finally declaring, "Well good."

"Good? For you, maybe," Ranma snorted, smiling at his girlfriend.

"Damn right. Now, come here, you." Shayla pulled Ranma closer to her and hugged him tightly.