Today was... Oh I've said it many times already. Though there was a small change, Lee Yin felt a sudden warmth, waking up to see her silver ring reflect the excellent orange light of a sunrise. Ah yes, the sun on her face, the excellent ball of flame that brought great warmth to her life... And great surprise when she realized it was an actual fire right in front of her face.
"Lee Yin There's a fire! get out of the house!" The unseen voice cried. In comparison to the desperation in the second voice, Lee Yin was the opposite, a bit startled, but calm nonetheless. Lee Yin rolled further to the side of the bed to look at the source of the fire.
A nest of black, a pair of amber eyes, all belonging to her 'willful' husband, Ringo. "Well? There is a fire." He pointed out of the door and beyond. "Leave before you-"
Lee Yin smothered the small flame with her hand, it's last noise being but a fizz.
Accepting defeat, Ringo stood up and waved "Mornin." He started walking to the small table to his right to finish his breakfast quietly. Lee Yin joined him shortly after with the subtlest smirk on her face already looking at the second plate placed on the small table.
"Did you make any food for me?" her stomach had needs and Ringo's food was just the thing she needed.
Ringo softly nibbled on his toast, thinking deeply about his choice of words. "No." He said nothing else, leaving the soft crunching of toast as the only noise to come from his mouth.
She was stunned that he had such little hospitality, even if their marriage was very temporary, She was still a guest. "Would you mind sharing?" she asked her (reluctant host)-Husband, Her stomach starting to growl.
Ringo placed the toast on his plate and stared at her blankly for a moment before sighing. He slid the plate closer to himself and turned his head defiantly. "I'm hungry."
Lee Yin clenched her fist trying to hold back the vein popping out of her head "So...am...I. Ringo" She growled between every word but managed to put her calm demeanor back up. "And since you are my Husband." She emphasized, "You should share with your dear Wife."
Ringo shrugged and shook his head "Didn't you say I couldn't cook?"
"You...Petty-" Lee Yin slammed her fist on the table, "Fine." She growled, shooting out of her chair and stomping toward the stoves. She purposely choose a meal that would give her plenty of time to calm down.
Though she still felt the need to Rant, "What kind of husband doesn't share? he doesn't." She muttered, only to be more frustrated when Ringo hummed in approval, only amping up her angry rant "What kind of husband chooses to sleep in a tree?You do!" she yet again growled, shooting daggers at Ringo.
Ringo only shook his head "Why are you even upset? We aren't actually married, it was a Temporary, plan You made to get back at Ochiba." he paused to take a small bite out of his toast, confident in his logic. -and new plan...-
"Maybe this plan was foolish..." She thought with a sigh, genuinely reflecting on her choices till the sound of paper flapping next to her ear brought her frustration to dangerous heights. Lee Yin knew what the paper was without looking "I thought I shredded that..." She turned to see Ringo close a cabinet full of divorce papers with that stupid smirk of his. "WHY DO YOU HAVE A CABINET FULL OF THOSE!?" She finally became the rooster in the morning, waking a good few of their neighbors with that shout.
He rolled his eyes to the side and smirked, still holding a divorce paper to her face. "No reason. Gonna sign one?"
Her eyes lit up in realization "So that's your game..." A quite insulting game indeed. "No, d-dear... I won't divorce you." She cooed, grinning widely when she saw Ringo snap his finger.
Subtly pressing his hand in his hair, He playfully mumbled, through the toast in his mouth, "Why do you make this so difficult?"
"Why are you eating so slow?"
"Savoring the food."
"Are you broke?"
"dunno."
They sat in silence as Lee Yin finished making her breakfast, that was definitely going to out do Ringo's. A few minutes of cooking past and now Ringo was watching Lee Yin run through her breakfast recipe. White wine (he forgot he had), eggs, milk, flour, they were all mixed into a tedious batter and stirred fiercely.
"That's a lot of junk for a piece of toast."
Lee Yin rolled her eyes, still cooking "Just ask normally."
"...What is it?"
There was a barely detectable chuckle that escaped Lee Yin, she took the opportunity to get revenge, "Nothing..." she smirked slyly, flipping the fluffy mass of dough tauntingly. So Simple, somehow effective, very intentional.
He glared at her and laughed dryly, "Well have fun cleaning all of, 'nothing'" he mumbled, shuffling out of the small building. Lee Yin considered asking where he was going but she was going to run with the victory she had. Besides, she had more papers to destroy. (And better breakfast to make)
Ringo looked around at the mess of immortal dust that filled his shop with a, textured aroma. He was supposed to work but decided that he wouldn't since the Kuno's wouldn't need a delivery for a while, no one paid like them.
"Honestly! how did pops get back into china without getting hounded by all of the families he promised me to." Ranma, had a recent run in with a disgruntled fiancé that crept out of the woodworks which ironically happened to be a carpenter, all the fault of Genma of course. "Now I got these stupid splinters..."
Ranma's complaints managed to intrigue Ringo. A man who escaped multiple engagements... sure, he had to blur out all of the red flags raised in his head, but maybe... 'Pops'... was his only hope. Ringo quickly popped out of the shop, heading toward the Tendo dojo.
Genma had been sleeping rather peacefully after kindly 'receiving' a generous portion of breakfast from his rude son and outsmarting his shogi rival, 'fairly'... Now he was beginning to practice 'rhythmic sleeping martial arts' and using the branch scratches the mountain technique, totally legit.
Even during such difficult training, his face was plastered with a blissful, stoic look toward the vast -and slowly shrinking- horizon. He was at such shameless peace that he felt his soul drifting, his engine slowly starting, his hair about to flow in the wind.
He wished he could be this bliss forever, but the sudden sound of a person indiscreetly landing before him dragged him back to his hairless reality in the burst of a bubble. After scratching his belly Genma peeked out of one eye to see that delivery boy that shows up occasionally looking down at him judgmentally.
Ringo crouched down to look closely at "pops" deciding that this was indeed the person he was looking for. Ringo finally said something after carefully crafting a bridge over any insult, "You look the right kind of experienced..." which, when translated means; "You look irresponsible enough."
His way of words did well to mask the insult and pique the lounging man's interests. After a scritch of the chin Genma opened both of his eyes, but chose to continue laying. He huffed proudly "I like the way he talks, now if only Ranma weren't so rude." he could only grumble bitterly. "What do you need boy? I happen to be in a good enough mood to share my wisdom." for a price of course, but those are later details.
Ringo paused, trying to sugarcoat "Show me your shameless techniques to escape marriage." Thankfully he learned to hold many words back when he learned his bluntness was rude when arriving in Japan. "I would like to learn how to free myself from burdens, and you know true freedom don't you?"
Genma sat up to hold his chin higher than lying down could ever achieve. "I do know true freedom indeed." he was grinning proudly, which means the sweet talk was working.
Now Ringo would strike, Genma did somehow get Ranma away from many engagements. "Just bear the politeness" a smile cracked across his face "May you tell me how to get out of a marriage?"
Genma's eyebrow twitched, to think he were known because of that? "W-Well I could teach you of that... but, breaking a marital bond is such a cruel thing to do... Such knowledge to break such a bond comes with a steep price..." He warned.
Ringo ignored the irony of that statement, quickly glancing down at Genma's stomach for that price. "Would you like food?" he asked, confident he was right based on his observations.
Genma managed to stop himself from celebrating and began to think, "He knows me so well! Too well... My name must precede me!" He had the Saotome signature grin, the mountains barely rising higher than his chin. After lowering his chin sagely, he answered "Of course, a good meal would do well." he patted the empty spot beside him "Go and bring that meal, Then come sit, I shall teach you a way out of marriage."
Ringo sighed in relief "That wasn't so hard..." So, Ringo did as Genma asked and sat down after handing him a generous bowl of noodles from the cat café. And Genma didn't scam a person this time! he in such a good mood, buttered up, that he felt glad to teach him a thing... maybe two?
After a white board that involved some crude illustration of getting oneself kidnapped. Genma finished his noodles burping with satisfaction, "Well? any questions?"
"A few..." Ringo thought "Well this may be too drastic so early..." he added a nervous chuckle to his façade. "Do you have any other ideas? that don't involve getting a new life?" Now Ringo confused himself when he thought about his question, Why did he not want a new life? away from that stupid shop.
He couldn't have the time to answer that since Genma finally thought up a response. "Well the noodles weren't quite good... Bring me another, f-for more wisdom..."
"What!?" After the hassle of barely escaping Cologne's training and getting away with the noodles he paid for. Those noodles had to have been amazing. "You're lying. Those noodles were great! the best you could even have!"
Genma was startled by the sudden outburst, but was quick on his words a moment later. "You should be grateful! I chose not to say anything about those 'noodles' and still accepted them and gave wisdom to you!" he crossed his arms and acted offended.
Was that man delusional? Whether or not he was, Ringo wasn't going to act kindly to such denial. "Well You shouldn't hold your 'wisdom' so high! That shameless stupidity will only get me into deeper *Nonsense*" his feather was a full on miniature rocket.
"Language boy! and watch your tone! You must not disrespect the master of freedom!" he demanded, fully accepting the flattering title.
After a sharp burst of flames, one of Ringo's furrowed brows rose. "Where the hell did you get such a stupid title from!?" Slowly his recollection of why his anger was so high started to fade.
"You made the title! and I so graciously accepted it!"
Ringo's expression spiraled into more confusion, "What...what are you talking about?" He paced the living room and pressed his hand to his forehead trying to scrub out any memory of why he was even here. He turned towards Genma, genuinely asking, "Why am I here?"
Genma had his turn to be confused, did Ringo lose his memories? if so, how much did he forget? Genma cleared his throat. "To learn from the best of course."
Question marks were forming above his head "In what?" he asked, a foggy memory involving him abusing the effects of his feather to mess with Lee Yin was the only memory he had of today.
Genma realized the opportunity he had before him, thanking the sudden amnesia "In the freeing ways of anything goes martial arts."
Ringo looked deeply at Genma, searching for any teaching quality he could notice. "What would make me desperate enough to ask you?"
"I'll have you know that I am the, master of freedom! You should respect me!" Genma barked. He was never going to let that title die.
The feather on Ringo's head sparked and sputtered "Again with the title... why would I, respect you, 'master of irresponsibility'" he gestured at the stray noodle on the man's belly, and the mess he could only assume was Genma's. "I already learned enough martial arts for a lifetime." Ringo added.
"But you didn't learn the the best martial arts!" the infuriated man boasted. "In fact, it is too good for you!" he added.
Ringo was stunned, he didn't know why this man infuriated him so much, but he was appalled by the man's audacity. His feather was on full damage control, trying to make Ringo forget this entire situation. But it was too late, the best it could do was coax the fury driven boy to "mute" their problem. "Too good? Fine! I challenge your stupid art!" Ringo declared, succumbing to the crazed violence he once was so familiar with.
The residents of the Tendo dojo minus Akane and Ranma were thrown into a shocked silence, Nabiki considered grabbing her camera, Kasumi was about to attempt to bring peace to the situation, and Soun peeked up from his newspaper to the increasing scene.
"You will regret this decision boy." Genma stood up and stared at the smaller figure, He was an adept martial artist, he was larger, and he was confident he would win. He gestured toward the pond and both fighters walked to square off.
Kasumi had attempted to calm Ringo and Genma down but Soun stopped her, "This is a challenge, let them fight."
Just then, Ranma walked in along with Akane "Who's gonna fight?" the pigtailed boy asked, arms behind his head. When they looked out to the pond they were surprised to see Genma standing off against Ringo of all people.
Akane walked over to her father and brought up a hand of concealment, "What is happening? Why is Ringo and Genma fighting?" she whispered.
Soun explained the basics of the situation the asking for advice to get out of marriage, memory loss, and harsh judgements. "And then Genma said that his martial arts was too good for Ringo, and then the boy challenged him." gesturing for her to sit and watch the fight, which she does. Ranma stood in the walkway to watch, curious about how Ringo fought as a human.
After a short second of growls and grumbles being exchanged, Genma charged at impressive speeds the moment a fish jumped from the pond. "HYA" He leapt up and dropped a swift kick that Ringo evaded with a simple step to the side, just to insult Genma moving forward to flank the older fighter.
Now behind the Genma, Ringo planted one heel on the ground and went for a spin kick to the side of Genma's legs, that the very able man jumps over easily, trying to counter with a back kick that Ringo deflects with both hands knocking Genma's balance to the side. A burst of flames erupted from the feather in Ringo's hair as he kneed Genma in the ribs before he fell.
Genma staggered and had little time to gather himself as Ringo flew in with a side kick, then an axe kick that was barely evaded. Genma unleashed a sloppy flurry of punches and waited for Ringo to counter, which Ringo does as Genma readily caught the boys fist bringing the arm over his shoulder and hip tossing Ringo over the pond.
Ringo managed to gracefully flip over the pond, before spinning out of the way of another flying kick. He would take his time to insult the man but he was far to furious to say anything but swears. Before Genma could toss an elbow his way, Ringo shoved back him with a sharp kick
Genma charges back in with a much more precise blend of punches and kicks that is partially blocked, and mostly evaded by Ringo with a frustrating grace. At the end of the combo Genma attempted a leg sweep but Ringo did les than hop, but slid one foot out of range and lifted the other above Genma's leg before hopping back to stand on top of the highest rock and stare down at the frustrated opponent.
But now was the time to show his superior air combat as Genma leaps up and gestures with a childish insult to Ringo to give chase. And the boy angrily does just that, having enough of the Genma's audacity.
Having his head start, Genma swipes at Ringo as the he rose up, but Ringo, with a slight struggle given the air based conditions, evades. After a short exchange, Genma then goes for a kick but the boy maneuvers above Genma's sweeping leg and punches him down to the pond. Leaving his opponent to be shrouded in the pond with a large splash.
Ringo starts to fall and is about to land on one of the surrounding rocks but a mass of black and white fur blocks his path and with a much heavier kick, knocks him into the water. Genma in his panda form stands at the edge of the pond triumphantly, and pulls out a sign: "That's what you get you weaselly little brat!" he made some semblance of a noise akin to laughter. Till he saw a pair of narrowed eyes popped out of the water.
A burst of water shrouded Ringo's new form when he rose. Though a glint from within the water warns Genma to duck under an incoming attack. A sharp black beak shoots through the temporary geyser as a black and white bird appears out of the water, landing on its favorite rock.
Everyone except for Ranma and Akane stared at the bird wide eyed, especially when they saw it burst into flames for a second. "Ringo was the phoenix that came that day?" Kasumi quietly exclaimed.
The battle started again before any questions could be asked.
A much more annoyed Ringo darts forward at blinding speeds to pierce Genma with their beak, but Genma barely ducks under it and swipes furiously at the bird, only to miss widely as the Ringo was already a foot out of reach, and would continue to be so during the next series of attacks.
This fight was more troublesome than Genma thought it would be, and he needed a plan to end this quickly. but that would come later as Ringo starts to charge in beak first. the panda, still surprisingly agile, rolls out of the way and lunges at Ringo to use the cradle of hell but the blur of feathers already moved around Genma, and onto his back.
Genma bucks him off like some sort of black and white horse and hastily gets up to see a black needle speeding toward him, he ducks the first but ten more come his way as he is forced to defend against the ones he can react to. "I just need to stop this stupid bird for a moment!" Genma thought, narrowing his panda eyes sinisterly when an idea came to mind.
After the flurry of pecks, panda-Genma swipes widely to get some space and pulls out a sign with very small writing on it. The black and white avian stopped to read it as if it is an unspoken rule to try and listen to another witty banter, slowly getting closer and squinting its eyes more they fell into a trap. After a muffled snicker, Genma pulls out another sign that was written in bold: "If you are having so much trouble reading, then have a closer look..." The panda smirked sinisterly. before he bashed Ringo on the head with the first sign, sending the bird sliding. Ringo was dazed, his smaller form didn't take kindly to hits. But, instead of falling down as Genma had hoped, Ringo glared at him much more furiously. Bursting into that ill willed ball of flames that attacked this place before. "Conniving old man." he thought, glaring intensely.
Even through all of the flames, Genma still saw that angry glare. But he did not waver, "the attack hurt that stupid bird! I can win this!" So, Genma matched the furious glare with a glare of his own, full of confidence and took his stance, ready to finish this fight and gloat. He pulled out another sign that read, "I will show you to respect me boy!" He quickly charged in, leaping up high to drop his next attack with full strength and weight.
But, he went for an aerial attack against a 'super-avian'. Before Genma knew it, Ringo was already above him and immediately bringing his beak to the center of the panda's skull and forcing the mass of fur to crash down on the rocks. Genma struggled off his feet holding on to the hope that Ringo's weak bird body could be beaten, but those hopes were dashed when he saw Ringo rising out of the pond in human form.
"He must've heated up the pond!" Genma thought, placing his hands on his fluffy cheeks in disbelief. He pulled up another sign with the same small writing as last time. He was going to win this! for his honor as a master! And the plan worked! Ringo paused again to read the sign, and got close enough for Genma to bash him into the ground without warning! In fact, he had hit Ringo so squarely that even he could feel the grass on his own face... and the bruise he gave, on top of his own head.
Genma's eyes shot open as he rises to his feet with a pained grunt. The top of his head was sore, along with the rest of his body after that forceful drop from the bird-brat. Speaking of bird-brats, Ringo was sitting on a stone in his drenched clothes, steam emanating around his body.
Ringo ran his hand through his wet hair and flicked off some the water before exhaling softly, "Welcome back old man. Enjoy your nap?" He had a deceptively kind, and mocking smile that made Genma grimace before rubbing the temple of his skull
The panda cringed when he rubbed the sore spot and began writing with a scowl. Showing a sign that read, "What happened?" he was still keeping that scowl strong.
Ringo softly chuckled as more steam began to rise around him "You got beaten, with those cheap tricks of yours that..." more steam rose "...I managed to fall for." Ringo was suffering from intense second hand embarrassment that he buried with his victory.
"Beaten? I beat you with a sound strategy, and a strong hit!" He claimed, which was technically the truth but those are unnecessary details, nothing that should be known.
Ringo could only chuckle loudly for a moment before being able to speak again. "Why don't you ask the audience?" he gestured toward Ranma and the Tendos, smirking confidently.
Genma responded with a humph and did just that, walking toward the house and receiving a kettle of hat water from Kasumi. "Didn't I win the the fight?" he asked, taking a seat with the family at the table.
Ringo, from the pond shouted, "Those are questions Losers ask!"
Genma quickly turned and barked, "Shut up!" with much more aggravation than usual. He grumbled and pinched the bridges of his nose before turning back "Am I not the winner?" he asked with more irritation.
Akane was quick to stop Ranma from breaking the news, knowing he would only cause more irritation to the disgruntled man. "Ringo beat you... Uncle Saotome." She sheepishly told him.
Genma's eyes widened "That cant be! I saw it myself! I distracted him, and then I bashed him on the head again!" he looked to the others for a consensus but they all shook their heads "H-How?" he asked with a defeated tone.
Ranma finally took his chance to speak up, since the others didn't see how it happened. "The moment he got out of the pond he leaped towards you and kicked you on the head." In all honesty, even if Ranma saw how fast the bird moved, it was still impressive he moved that quickly as a human.
But something Ukyo told him made him far too curious to stay impressed. He turned to Ringo only to see him in the middle of climbing the wall. "Hey!" he quickly ran over far too curious to concern himself on whether or not it was his business. he placed a hand on his shoulder, "I wanna know something."
Ringo hopped off the wall "What is it?" he spoke with a slight edge, since he was starting to get hungry and tired.
"Are you actually married?" he asked, with curious raise of his eyebrow.
"Yea, somewhat." he glanced at the ring on his hand "Not for long" he muttered, hopping over the wall.
He was a kick away from leaping to the next house "Is it to Yukue?" Now he was a literal handstand away from taking a nap. Ranma hopped on top of the wall to check on Ringo "You alright?"
Ringo let out a sigh of relief and gently placed himself on his feet. "Just fine." his stomach growled, "Can I talk about this after I ate?" Ringo suggested, though he was definitely going to leave if he got a chance to.
Kasumi's voice came from behind the wall bordering the Tendo household. "You can join us to eat and then explain" She suggested, her voice as sweet as ever.
Ringo would've walked away but he was too hungry, and she offered food "Fine." he hopped over the wall and joined the residents at their table.
"For the last time! no, its not Yukue, Where did you get that idea?" He blurted, his feather's effect helping hide his embarrassment with a small trail of smoke.
"Well last I've heard you were over at her hotel for a while." Nabiki added, to the increasing pile of reasons why including the dinners together, the rivalry, and that one rumor about a boy carrying a girl to her room.
"Well its not her, it a girl named Lee Yin who decided it was a wise idea to fake a marriage to get rid of a guy." He revealed, hoping to end this conversation where it is. "Any questions? no? Good, I'm goin home." he rushed out of the house before Soun or Genma could stop him and ask how he got married.
It was the halfway into the evening and Ringo was two streets away from the Tendo dojo. That's when a familiar voice called out to him "Ringo!" To his, surprisingly, pleasant surprise, it was Yukue who called his name.
"Are you actually married?" She asked, oblivious to the interrogation he had just escaped. She heard something snap inside of Ringo as he walked along "No more..." he whispered "...How can I get a divorce?"