Hot springs

The trio entered the village, Matsu following closely behind , aiding the young fang toothed boy into the city. Of course people asked if Ryoga was alright but Happosai and Chingensai always answered with "Just some martial arts training, we're dealing with it". Ryoga knew that some people at the food stands would recognize him; being that Nodoka was very well-known, so he asked Matsu to borrow his green scarf, Ryoga wrapping it around his head, much like Genma would. 'I feel like my fath-' Ryoga thought but stopped as he remembered that Genma had never actually called him 'His son'.

As they neared their destination, Matsu happened to noticed the aura of depression surrounding Ryoga, although he'd like to comfort his student, he knew that perhaps the setting wasn't right for something so concerning and forced himself to wait. The group was eventually seen dashing off to the side of the hot springs, to be more specific, Happosai and Chingensai were the ones that needed to evade being spotted, given their past with hot springs.

"Why did they...?" Ryoga groaned, trailing off as he forced himself to stand on his own two feet and expecting some sort of reply, he turned to Matsu, who responded with sigh.

"Because they've been banned..." Matsu replied.

"Why?" Ryoga asked, raising a quizzical brow, only to have it answered with Matsu pointing at the two elderly men, who seemed to be scaling the building, starting from the side and eventually hopping over the fence to the woman's side of the hotsprings. "A-aren't they going to get in trouble!?" Ryoga asked, looking to Matsu.

"My young friend... they're masters of the art, it would take one as equally as skilled as them to find them out... especially with Chingensai having taught Happosai his most famous move." Matsu explained, then began to walk towards the entrance, ushering for Ryoga to follow.

Ryoga immediately stumbled like an old woman without her walking stick, luckily for him, Matsu was quick on his feet and caught the boy. "I like your spunk, Ryoga!" Matsu smiled, "but really... just allow me to help."

Ryoga sighed but agreed anyways, allowing himself to be lead into the springs.

Upon entering Ryoga and Matus were greeted by the clerk at the front desk, which appeared to be a kind elderly woman, her hair wrapped in a bun and dressed in a bright yellow kimono, nearly twice the size of Cologne. "Welcome." she greeted with a slow wave of her hand, smiling softly.

Approaching the front desk Matsu smiled in return, fishing in his pockets for some money, before handing it over. "Two please." he stated, placing the correct amount of yen on the table, receiving a nod from the elderly woman, who then proceeded to pointing the two in the direction of the man's changing room.

Ryoga and Matsu waved to the old woman as they entered, who politely waved back. "My... what a cute one that boy is..." she commented, smiling with one hand on her cheek(she's meant to be an adorable old woman, not a perverted old woman).

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Happosai & Chingensai

The moment both Happosai and Chingensai hopped over the lady's side of the fence, the two whispered the following line in unison, "Now you see me..." they paused as they descended to the ground, "now you don't!" before their feet even hit the ground, the two masters vanished.

"Looks like we made it before the ladies even got in!" Chingensai commented, keeping his voice low.

"Mm-hmm!" Happosai nodded, forgetting that they were completely invisible to the naked eye. "It'd take someone of our level to find us!" he whispered with the utmost confidence in his voice.

"Great grandmother! Is you coming!?" Shampoo called out, hand near her mouth as she was adorned in nothing but a pink towel, hugging her delicate form, leaving very little to the imagination.

As for Happosai and Chingensai, they were much too distracted by the beautiful Amazonian girl to really notice her mention Cologne's name. Though Cologne clearly gave a response from inside the changing room, the two were only further distracted as more women came into the spring, dressed in much more modest towels but the anticipation of them dropping their towels was enough to get their perverted old mouth's watering.

Finally everyone dropped their towels and climbed into the springs, soothing the aches and pains of the day with warm water. "Aw..." Shampoo sighed, contently as she dropped herself into the spring, finally blurring her unmentionables(Sorry guys on the vagueness, this isn't rated M.), except to the perverted old man watching them as they dipped themselves in, having full view.

It was then that Cologne entered, wearing her orange with white straps, one piece bathing suit. "Sorry... I was having quite a difficult time getting my hair rolled up." she stated as her hair was in the traditional hair bun style.

"Is alright..." Shampoo responded, fanning her hand as she relaxed in the springs, a content look on her face as she closed her eyes and allowed her aches and pains to ease away in the warmth of the springs.

Although it was alright for Shampoo, the same couldn't be said for Happosai and his comrade, Chingensai as they remained cloaked with their technique, because if they were visible now, they could be seen sweating bullets, since nearly everyone knew of Cologne and how much of a status she had in the tribe. 'Please don't find us!' Happosai and Chingensai conveniently thought in unison.

"Hm... something feels odd..." Cologne muttered as she stepped into the hot springs, as if surveying the area for any intruders.

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Saotome's

The trio of Saotome's stood before the bathouse/hotsprings; as they often were considered both. Ranma looked to the bathhouse and quickly found himself looking away, just feeling a little wrong. Nodoka's spidey senses, which were actually motherly instincts, told her of Ranma's disheartened feelings, looking to him with a timid expression, she placed her hand on Ranma's shoulder.

"Ranma... it's okay, I wish he was here too..." Nodoka said, offering some comfort to Ranma.

"Wha?" Genma wondered, raising a brow as his arms crossed, not getting it at first but slowly coming to a conclusion. "Hey! He's the one that abandoned you boy!" Genma exclaimed, "Besides, he'd probably just try to force himself on you!"

Ranma found himself blushing and diverted his attention from his father, the thing was after his and Ryoga's last conversation, that, that wasn't too far from the truth. There was various instances of situations where Ranma felt Ryoga going into his comfort zone, well, his female form's comfort zone.

"Genma!" Nodoka scolded, raising her tone like a mother silencing an ill-mannered child.

"S-sorry dear!" Genma replied, raising his hands as to ward off evil, a sweat drop on the side of his head appearing.

"Let's just go inside..." Ranma muttered as he led the other two inside.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

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Ryoga & Matsu

Nearing their destination the fang toothed boy stopped as they stood just outside of the male's side of the hot springs, he seemed deep in thought as he contemplated how he was going to explain his circumstances, see as how he hadn't really said much to them about who he was but since they were training him he figured that it might be best time to tell Matsu, as he was the most understanding.

"What's wrong, Ryoga?" Matsu asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Matsu... I'm not what you think..." Ryoga sighed, he had gone this far, there was really no backing out now.

Matsu turned around so that he could face Ryoga, a worrisome look on his face. "What do you mean, Ryoga?" Matsu asked, a clear sign of concern on his face for whatever Ryoga had to tell him, and right before their relaxing deep in the springs.

"I'm not actually a person..." Ryoga stated, his eyes meeting Matsu's, "I'm actually a cursed pig from Jusenkyo..."

"You mean you're a piglet that fell into the drowned springs?" Matsu inquired, taking a step towards him and remembering Ryoga's proclamation, then it occurred to him. "Ryoga... this person you mentioned before, could this person be the one you're training for? Could you have fallen for a human?" Matsu asked, earning a blush from him.

"So going into the hot springs would turn you back... wouldn't it?" Matsu asked, earning a nod of confirmation from Ryoga.

"To be honest... I wasn't sure what I was thinking coming here, maybe all this training is wearing me down... not to mention it's been so long since I've had a warm bath..." Ryoga confessed, obviously hoping to get a relaxing dip in the water, all while avoiding getting kicked out.

"Hm... then maybe I can help you."

Seconds after saying that, the two emerged from the changing room and out came Matsu, wearing dark sunglasses as their was some string attached to P-chan's neck, the little porker seemed flushed that he was in such a situation, then came one of the employees.

"Um... excuse me sir, you can't have pets in the springs." stated the man, dressed in a man's kimono.

"Sorry, but I can assure this pig is quite necessary, it's my seeing eye pig." said Matsu, earning a baffled look from the worker. "Oh here... I'll show you, R-" he paused as he placed his hand on his chin, thinking of a name on the spot. "P-chan! Roll over!"

Ryoga in pig form, did so, being rather cute about it.

"Oh! That's adorable... alright. Besides, it doesn't really seem dirty, least not as much as some other guests, so, I'll allow this." the man said, stepping aside.

Matsu smiled and bowed his head, "Now lead the way, P-chan!"

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Cologne

The wise elder narrowed her eyes as she felt uneasy about this moment, like something was watching them. Cologne was about to close her eyes and try to sense a presence but was distracted when she heard the door to the springs open, glancing over she noticed one of her workers. The mother of the Saotome's walked into the woman's hot-springs section, wearing a modest towel around her figure as she stepped into the springs, although before she had the chance, she heard someone call to her. "Well, if it isn't my only valued employee..." Cologne stated.

"Hey! Shampoo is valued too!" the girl exclaimed, standing up from the springs, revealing her womanly charms. That were conveniently censored with the fog of the springs.

Cologne was going to comment on what Shampoo said but felt a strange spike of energy, oddly enough occurring the moment Shampoo was visible.

Nodoka placed her hand over her mouth, "I really didn't mean to cause any trouble, I just came to relax..." she said, hoping to calm Shampoo down.

Unknown to them, except Cologne. Chingensai and Happosai were struggling to contain the fire in their pants, since seeing a fine young woman like Shampoo stand up, buck naked, ignited them. Now they were trying to contain themselves as they noticed Cologne scanning the area, her eyes darting left and right. They continued to watch Shampoo though, which wasn't helping but thankfully Shampoo pouted and crossed her arms before falling back into the springs, obscuring her attractive nude body. Allowing them sometime to breath and calm themselves.

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Ranma & Genma

"I can already feel the springs healing effects boy..." Genma commented, sighing in content as he led Ranma.

"We aren't even in em' yet." Ranma replied, as they were just about to get into the section.

"Well, that's how soothing it is!" Genma replied, smiling widely as they went through the door. Finding exactly what they expected, other men sitting around and enjoying themselves, even having some sake. They noticed that those men seemed kind of loud and obnoxious. "Yeah, I ain't going anywhere near those guys... right old-" Ranma looked to where his father had stood but only saw a faint outline as his father had moved at light speed to join the drinking man. "Figures..."

Ranma decided that it didn't matter and went to relax on his own, the pig-tailed boy moved over to the water and stepped in, the haze of the springs covering his private area as he removed his towel and stepped in, letting the water relax him. "Ah..." Ranma groaned, closing his eyes. 'Man this feels good... pop's been working me like a pig...' Ranma thought before stopping himself, finding that his expression was off, by a lot. 'Guess I still miss Ryoga...' Ranma thought to himself as he sighed, wishing that things could go back to how they used to be. They had been through so much, yet, now they were split up. To think that adorable pig he had first met on one of his training sessions(if it could be called that), would end up being so important to him. 'I'd do anything just to hear him again... even if he was a pig.'

"Bwee!"

"Yeah... like that..." Ranma smiled, then opened his eyes and looked around. "Where'd that come from?" how could his memory be so accurate that it could mimic the sound in his head that well? The answer was simple, he couldn't.

From where Ranma was sitting he could see that further to his right and closer to the back of the springs was a middle-aged man, probably slightly older than that but middle-aged he was certain and upon looking at him he noticed how short he was but something else, like he was holding something in front of him. He watched for a moment before averting his gaze...

"Bwee..." was a content sounding squeal.

"Ryoga!" Ranma shouted, standing up from the his place and then screamed when he remembered that he wasn't wearing anything, than blushed as he realized that what he just did was more woman like. Then stood back up.

Ryoga's eyes widened as he saw the object of his affection standing just a few yards away from them. 'Not now Ranma! It isn't time!' Ryoga thought as he swam away as fast as he could.

Matsu's eyes widened, clearly by how Ryoga was reacting he needed his help in getting away from this person. Though he wasn't blind to the fact that he knew Ryoga's name, maybe this was the person Ryoga had kept mentioning, ignoring the fact that Ryoga might be into men, he sprung into action and grabbed Ryoga mid-swim, aiding him in his escape.

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Nodoka

During Nodoka's conversation with the other women in the springs; most likely about their husbands, she heard Ranma shout Ryoga's name, which immediately caused her to stand up, exposing her beautiful body to the foggy haze. "Ryoga!" she shouted.

It was then that two screams from nearby were heard, this coming from two old men that were pressed up against the walls of the springs area, nose bleeds running down their faces.

"Run Chingensai!" Happosai shouted as he covered his bleeding nose and began trying to run away.

"There you are!" Cologne shouted, running back inside to get her cane. Nodoka in response to the perverted old men, concealed her nude body, as did all the rest of the women their as a chorus of screams echoed into the area, most of them running inside to avoid being seen.

"You won't get away from me!" Cologne shouted, cane in hand as the Happosai and Chingensai could be seen making a mad dash for the end of the springs, also making a mad dash for the end of the springs.

Nodoka however reminded herself that her child was at stake and forced herself to try to get to the man's side of the springs, so she quickly grabbed her towel, making her way to the other side.

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Ranma

Ranma ignoring what could be happening on the other side, gave Matsu chase. "Hey! Come back here! Ryoga!" Ranma shouted, his hand reaching out for him but Matsu proved that he was faster than him.

Matsu finally reached the end of the springs and leaped into the air, jumping on the very edge of the wall. "Ryoga!"

"Matsu!? What's with the pig in your hands?" Happosai asked, as he also landed on the edge of the wall, though quite bit away from him.

"We don't have time for this!" Chingensai exclaimed, as they saw that Cologne was closing in on them.

"Then I ain't got much of choice!" Happosai shouted, taking out a large, ball shaped firework. "Happo-" before he finished he saw Cologne and felt that finishing the name of his attack was pointless and threw it down. "Get ready we're taking the express way out!" he shouted as it blew up, the force sending the trio, plus Ryoga flying in the distance.

Both Ranma and Nodoka had made it just into time to get a glimpse of Ryoga in his pig form, before shielding their eyes from Happosai's technique. Following the aftermath, Ranma stood there as he lowered his head, clenching his fists as his hair shadowed his eyes, a lone tear falling from one of his eyes.

"Damn it... Ryoga..." he said, his voice shuttering.

"I miss you..."

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