Ranma 1/2, Fatal Fury fanfic "Wolf in Nerima" by Julian Soullard (e-mail: jnsoullard@hotmail.com) Warning: All caracters from this fanfic are copyright from Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2) and Masami Obari (Fatal Fury), I never claim them to be my own personal creation, so don't sue me! And by the way, when you see: [ ] that means the caracter is thinking, most caracter think something while saying something else. < > are used for sounds and noises. ' ' are used when the crowd are saying/shouting something. ( ) are use when the author (That's me!) is making a smart ass remark or notes. " " are used when the caracters speaks. * * are used to emphasize what the caracter or author says. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- AND NOW ON WITH... Chapter 1: New town, new job. "Excuse me sir." said the lady. He slowly raised his cap which covered his eyes. He slept through most of the trip. In front of him stood a lady that appeared to work in the train station judging from her uniform. "We have arrived to the Nerima station." she continued "You're the only one left on board." He took a look around. She was right. He was the only one on board. He took his traveling bag and placed it over his shoulder. After thanking the woman for waking him, he stepped outside. He readjusted his cap as he felt the wind go by. It was in moments like this that he wished he didn't tore the sleeves off his jacket. He could feel the cold breeze hitting his naked arms. His eyes traveled through the station, he had no particular place to go, but still, this was a familiar sensation. This was just *another town* the way he saw it, he'd only be staying here for a couple of weeks and then he'd move on. It was always like that, it was the kind of life he chose to live and he didn't complained about it. He opened his wallet to see what was his actual income. He'd have to find a job soon, but that never troubled him. Money wasn't something that he held so dearly, the only thing that matter to him now was his art. Still, everyone has to eat, as his stomach made him noticed that. And if you want food you have to pay for it and therefore, you need a job (quite simple!). Not a steady job in his case, just something good enough to get him some food and shelter for a couple of weeks, then, he'd move on once again. It was around 5:00 PM as he began to walk randomly down the streets of Nerima. First thing is first, he was hungry and had to find a place to eat, then he'd worry about getting a job. After walking a few minutes he could smell a delicious aroma that filled the air, following the scent of good food he suddenly found himself in front of a place called "Ucchan's". He didn't hesitate in entering. The place wasn't very crowded, it must have been the slow hour for the restaurant, it was after all kind of late for eating, but he didn't have anything to satisfy his stomach with since breakfast. The only person inside was a girl around sixteen years old with long brown hair nicely tied up with a white ribbon. She carried a rather big spatula on her back and had several little spatulas placed on her bandolier. "Welcome to Ucchan's," the girl said to him "what can I get you?" Being the only customer in the restaurant, he decided to take a seat in front. He placed his bag next to him and took off his cap. "What's the house's specialty?" he asked. The girl looked a little surprised at that question. It was obvious that this man wasn't a regular, he was certainly new around town. She handed him the menu. Her customer noticed that the only thing available was okonomiyaki. "I see..." He said "Hum..... I think I'll take the deluxe special okonomiyaki, please." "One deluxe special, coming right up!" she stated. The girl began to prepare his order with great precision and skill. Her customer noticed that she was quite talented in her job, she waved her spatulas with the greatest of ease. A conversation didn't took long to start between the both of them. "So," the girl began "you're new around here, aren't you?" "Yeah, this is the first time I've ever been to Nerima." he responded. "So what brings you to this part of town?" she asked "Family? Friends?..." "Not really." he answered "I was only passing by, planning to stay here for a couple of weeks, then maybe go and pay my brother a visit." "By the way," the girl brought out "I'm Ukyou Kuonji. Here's your order." as she handed him his okonomiyaki. "Nice to meet you." he told her "My name is Terry Bogard. Thanks, it looks delicious." as he began to eat. "Bogard?" she questioned "You're American? You sure speak Japanese very well." "I've been in Japan from time to time." he explained "I travel a lot. By the way, this is delicious!" Ukyou smiled at the compliment. Terry was quite a good looking man, that is, for a guy almost twice her age. She quickly threw away that thought, she was Ranchan's fiancee, *he* was the man of her dreams even if he turned into a girl half the time. Terry was only a pretty picture. "By the way," Terry continued "correct me if I'm wrong, but you're a martial artist, aren't you?" "That's right." she told him "How did you guess?" "You don't usually see someone as nimble when it comes to using spatulas the way you do." he responded "I assume you use them as weapons too, am I right?" "You sure are good at noticing stuff like that." she stated "Are you a martial artist also?" he seemed after all to be in good shape to be one. "Yeah, I've been training for quite some time now." he answered. "In that case, you'll fit in perfectly in Nerima." she declared. Moments later, once Terry finished eating, he left Ucchan's in search of a job. On the way out he bumped into a teenager who was wearing a red chinese shirt with black pants and kung-fu shoes. The back of his hair was tied up in a pig tail, not as long as Terry's pony tail though. "Sorry!" Terry said to him "I wasn't watching which way I was going." "Hey no problem, pal!" the boy responded "No harm done." Once the excuses were exchanged, Terry left the restaurant. The boy on the contrary went inside and took a seat next to the owner. "Hey, Ucchan!" he said to her "How's it going?" "Ranchan! So sweet of you to come!" she told him "Hold on I'll fix you something to eat!" "Take your time, I'm not in a hurry." he declared. "You're not?" she asked "How come?" "I found out Akane is cooking dinner tonight." he explained "Believe me! I'm not eager to go back to the dojo until it's safe or until dinner is over, whichever comes first." He'd been walking for half an hour now, still no luck in finding a job. Last time he had one, he was a construction worker. He liked jobs that required physical qualities, it helped into staying in shape also. Unfortunately, there weren't any constructions going on in Nerima for the moment, maybe he could find something similar. After a long search, something caught his attention. "Mizuhara's roof and wall repair company" said the big billboard on the building, another sign was hanging over the window with "help wanted" written in it. "Roof... and... wall repair company??" he said to himself a little intrigued. That was rather strange, since when repair companies specialize in roofs and walls. But Terry wasn't such a picky person when it came to a job, it was the closest thing to construction worker he found so far and he really was in no position to complain, so he went inside. Sitting behind a desk was a middle-aged man with glasses and a short beard. As soon as Terry went inside the shop the man left what he was doing at the moment and drove his attention towards his visitor. "Good evening, sir." the man told him "What can I do for you?" "Hi." he said "I'm here for the job offer." "Oh good good good!" he enthusiastically declared "Please come on in and take a seat." Once both of them took a seat, Terry began to be interviewed. "So, what are your qualifications?" the man asked. "Well," Terry began "I have a lot of practice as a construction worker and I really don't mind hard labor at all." "I see, I see." The man stated, he seemed very happy to find a employee "You surely seem to be more than physically qualified for the job and being a construction worker helps as well." "Does that mean I have the job?" Terry asked him. "Oh certainly, certainly." he pointed out "I've been really busy lately with so much work, I could really use the help. If you have some time now I'd like to see your work." "Sure, no problem." Terry declared "I have lots of time." Both of them went down at the workshop, the owner gave him some tools and a few wooden boards to see how Terry handled himself, he did quite all right, his former job certainly made it easy for him. When it came to the use of concrete in wall repairing he was even better. The owner was very satisfied with the final results. "Excelent, excelent!" he stated "I see you won't have any problem adapting to your new job. You can come back tomorrow to fill out the contract, the job is all yours mister... er... what is your name by the way?" "It's Bogard." he said "Terry Bogard." "Well Terry," he told him as he began to shake his hand "welcome aboard, I'm mister Mizuhara, you'll be starting tomorrow morning." Terry began to head outside the workshop when suddenly his new boss stopped him as he held a list on his hand. "By the way, Terry." he began "To save some time, here's the address of our regular customers. If you have some time on your hands check out where the places are. You'll be going there very oftenly." Terry took the list a little confused. Regular customers? How often could someone's house be damaged? This was actually very weird, his boss told him he had too much to handle by himself, he couldn't imagine how could the man be overwhelmed with work, especially when it came to roof repairing. Were there a lot of earthquakes in this part of town? He decided to stop thinking about that as he began to walk down the streets of Nerima. "Excuse me." said a voice next to him. Terry turned towards the teenager that stood next to him. He was wearing a black and yellow bandanna that matched his yellow shirt. He was also caring a huge backpack with a red umbrella tied on top of it. "Do you know the way to the Tendou dojo?" he asked. "Sorry, kid." he told him "Can't help you there. I'm new in town too." "I see..." the boy replied a little disappointed "Well thanks anyway." as he began to walk in a random direction. Terry took out the list his boss gave him, he then noticed something. The name of the place the boy was asking about was in that list. As a matter of fact it was even underlined in red. "Hey kid! Wait up!" Terry told him, the boy turned around as he heard he was being called "Looks like I'm looking for the same place you are." as he showed him the list "Mind if I join you in your search? We might get there faster." "Sure, fine with me. [It'll be easier to get there, I don't think he has the same direction sense problem I do.]" Both of them began to walk, Terry constantly looked around to see if he was on the right street. His companion, on the other hand, seemed very confused, the blond gai-jin had to set him on the right track more than once, he got lost easily. "You're not really good with directions, are you kid?" Terry asked him. "Yeah, I guess you can say that." he stated while scratching the back of his head "It runs in the family. By the way, I'm Ryouga Hibiki." "Nice to meet you, I'm Terry Bogard." he said. [Bogard?] Ryouga thought [Now where have I heard that name before?] "So... Why are you heading towards the Tendou dojo?" Ryouga asked. "I got a job as a roof repair man." he told him, he emphasized in the *roof repair man* sentence to make him noticed how strange that sounded "My boss told me to find where the place is, looks like that dojo is one of our regular customers." "Your boss is right. You'll probably have to fix their roof constantly." Ryouga declared. "So... why are you heading there?" Terry asked him. "I'm expecting to find someone there." he explained. "Some old friend?" "Far from it!" Ryouga stated, he had a look of hatred in his eyes "It's more like an unfinished business." "Well I think this must be it." Terry pointed out once they were in front of a big wooden door with a sign next to it saying "Tendou training hall, school of Anything Goes Martial Arts". Terry looked at the sign a little intrigued [Anything Goes Martial Arts? What on earth is that suppose to mean?]. But what certainly surprised him the most was that big panda bear that opened the door once Ryouga knocked. Ryouga didn't look surprised though. "Aren't you going to come in?" Ryouga asked him. "Er... No thanks, I just wanted to know where the place was, that's all." Terry responded once he recovered from that unusual moment "See you around, Ryouga." "Come on by anytime!" said the sign the panda held..... Of course that didn't help in making Terry feel any better. He left a little freaked out. While roaming through the streets of Nerima, Terry began to study the list once he decided to forget about that little incident at the dojo. His boss even took the trouble to write the names in a certain order, the list showed precisely which were the company's most important customers. First came the Tendou dojo, then a school named Furinkan high, after that was a place called the Nekohanten and Ucchan's where Terry already went. Now that he had a job, the only thing left for him to do was to find a place to stay. That seemed to be the easiest thing of all, finding a motel or something similar wouldn't be so hard. In a matter of time, he found a motel to spend the night. It was already late and Terry felt rather tiered after doing some workout. Tomorrow would be his first day in his new job and he wanted to have a good night's rest to be in shape. He laid down on his bed with his arms crossed behind his head. He suddenly felt something in his rear pocket. It was Lily's picture. He took it in his hand and started looking at it. It was still painful for him to deal with that part of his past. Loosing their father while being just kids was tough enough for Terry and his brother Andy. But things didn't just stopped there. After his dad, came the murder of his girlfriend and master Tong. Things were bad enough for him at that time, he practically gave up on women after Lily's death. That is, until Sulia appeared asking for his help, he was giving love a second chance at that time. Sulia was such a sweet girl, he really was starting to fall in love with her... but she died trying to help him into saving her brother. It really wasn't fair. Why him? Of all people? He put the picture aside and turned off the lights. He had to find a way to forget about all of that, so far he tried to focus on his training, that was his only getaway. He closed his eyes trying to put himself to sleep, he really had to find a way to deal with his past... End of chapter 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- See you in chapter 2...