DISCLAIMER: I don't own Ranma 1/2. Ryuu is my OC and Ryo is my friend's, since I got in trouble last time I was lazy and said he was mine...

Ranma's thoughts
Ryuu talking
Ryo talking

The 3 R's of Martial Arts Remix
Chapter 2 - History With A Twist

Cologne led Genma and Ranma through the village to the Main Hall and Ranma idly noted the hungry looks. Those looks I'm getting from the women of the village are beginning to creep me out.

Why are they creeping you out?

Cause Ranma's a prude.

Like you have room to talk.

Hey, I wasn't the only one who got "the talk" from their wife several weeks before their honeymoon! Ryuu shouted indignantly.

...Shut up. Ranma chuckled at the by play between the two. Yes, he could certainly get used to having them around.

Ranma's thoughts and the boys' banter was cut off as Cologne announced that they'd arrived. Ranma stared up at the building, it was made of stone and the doors, also made of stone, had carvings of battles fought. He idly listened to Ryuu as he pointed out that all the carvings depicted legendary battles and none of the battles had men triumphing over women, mostly because of the matriarchal society the village used and mostly because few men were thought of as legend worthy.

The doors were opened by the two guards who stood beside them and the small group walked in, the guide had left previously to go back to his hut, seeing as he really wasn't needed any further.

The room was circular and had a large, curved, wooden table at the back of the room. There was a set of 13 chairs behind the table, and all but one were occupied by women who resembled Cologne in stature.

"What is the meaning of this, Cologne? You know males are not allowed within the main hall!" One of the women called out. A murmur ran through those assembled and Ranma heard Ryuu mutter about some things never changing.

Cologne held her hand up to forestall anymore noise, "I have a very good reason for bringing these males into the main hall, Soap," She gestured to Ranma, "Our guests both fell into a spring at Jusenkyo. But this one fell into a very special spring. I'm sure you will all agree with me that this young man is no stranger to any of us."

Cologne motioned for Ranma to step forward so the elders could see him better. When he did there were several gasps and a couple confused looks.

The youngest elder, Soap, spoke up, "Who is he?"

"He walks in the body of Ryuu Nanashi, the Hero of Legends," Cologne explained, "As such, he is automatically exempt from marriage and death laws. He is granted acceptance into any tournaments and may be taught our techniques if he so wishes," She paused, "That was the deal, should anyone fall into the spring and emerge as the Hero, correct Lotion?"

Lotion, only a few days younger than Cologne, nodded, "That was indeed the circumstances that was established soon after his death. It also grants him a similar status to what the Hero originally had."

Ranma simply stood where he was, confused as his father was hungry. He meekly stepped forward another few inches, as if to remind the elders of his presence, "Um, could someone, maybe, explain all this to me?"

I'd explain it myself, but it'd take too much time. I'll go over whatever they miss tonight before training.

An excellent idea, history to get the brain ready for a workout.

Um, yeah...whatever you say, Ryo. Ryuu coughed something that vaguely sounded like "Freak" and another brotherly brawl was initiated.

Ranma tuned out their taunts and the ruckus they were causing within his mind and just tilted his head, "Maybe you can elaborate on what the deal was...is while you explain Ryuu's history to me?"

"Yes, yes, I suppose that can be arranged," Cologne smiled at him, "Now, we can have the story told here or we can go to my home and sit in front of the fire for this."

Ranma thought on it for a moment before nodding, "If it's not too much trouble, could we head to your house? I've always preferred to hear stories in front of a roaring fire."

Cologne nodded to elders gathered, even as murmurs ran through their ranks, and led Ranma from the main hall. A few minutes later they had arrived at a nicely built house, with two stories, and were greeted by a young woman about Ranma's age. She was slightly shorter than him with long purple hair.

"Great Grandmother, who are they?" The girl asked in mandarin.

"This," Cologne gestured to Ranma, "Is our honored guest for the moment and he is exempt of all challenge laws. The man behind him is his father."

Ranma bowed slightly, "Nice to meet you..."

"Shampoo," She smiled brilliantly, "It is a pleasure to have you in our home honored one," She normally was not one to be polite to strangers, especially male ones, but she was no fool. She recognized the Hero of Legends; she'd heard the tale often enough and even had it memorized. This was the form of the man who had married the woman she idolized

Ranma returned the smile and Cologne cleared her throat, sometimes it didn't pay to be four feet high on a cane, "As pleasant as it is to know you both get along," As I'd hoped, "We should go inside and start the fire if I'm to begin our tale before sundown. It will be well into the night before it is over as well, so we'll need an early start."

Ranma nodded and Shampoo stepped aside to let them in. She moved to what Ranma presumed was the living room and started a fire in the fireplace there. He had followed her and now found himself entranced by the way that flames danced over the logs.

Oh, great, not even a full day and he's already inherited your sense of pyrotechnics.

It isn't pyrotechnics until the kid has started to control the element. But yes, he does seem to have gotten my fascination with fire already.

My only hope is that he isn't half as bad as you are when he begins his lessons.

All things considered... that's a pretty damn slim hope.

Indeed. Ryo trailed off, the rest of whatever he might have been talking about incoherent mutters now. Ryuu decided that, since Ryo was off in his little world, that it would be him that paid attention to the old crone's version of the story. Considerably ironic, since the roles are usually reversed for the Nanashi brothers.

Ranma settled himself down on the floor, his back to the wall and the flames at his side. Shampoo went into the kitchen and came out with a tray of tea, her grandmother hopping along beside her on her cane. Genma sat gruffly in front of the fire, Shampoo was next to Ranma as she handed him a cup of tea, and Cologne sat across from them, the light from the fire sending shadows dancing across her aged face. There might have been more light, but there was only one window that faced west, it didn't provide much light as the sun had already risen to its zenith.

"Now that we are settled in, it is time I began our tale," Cologne paused to sip from her cup, "This particular story begins more than one hundred and sixty years into the past, I was in my mid-forties when a young martial artist, no older than you are now, Ranma, entered our village with his brother seeking shelter. We allowed the young men their shelter, we looked down upon males, but even Amazons would not turn down travelers that looked as weary as they had.

"The two brothers were of the clan Nanashi and both were orphans at the time, only having lived with each other to depend upon. The younger was Ryo, a young man with an affinity for animals. He was often seen walking around with a strange looking wolf beside him."

"Strange how?" Ranma asked.

"The wolf was transparent, Ranma. Most who saw the wolf waved it off as either a figment of their imagination or a hallucination caused by a long day of hard work."

It was entertaining to watch people try to figure the girl out. No one expected her to be a spirit that I summoned for companionship... Ryo mused, now paying attention to the story unfolding.

"But it was a spirit, not a hallucination, right?" Ranma ventured, he wanted to seem like it was a fleeting bit of knowledge from his "curse" and not like he had the answer handed to him by the exact young man who had summoned the wolf spirit so long ago.

"Correct," Cologne gave him an appraising eye, "Quite knowledgeable on the subject, hm?"

Ranma shrugged, his amber eye glinting in the firelight, "When you were telling the story I got flashes of scenes, like I was reliving certain moments, but when you mentioned Ryo's wolf the information just kind of came to me."

"Interesting, now where was I? Oh, yes," Cologne cleared her throat before continuing, "Both young men drew ladies to them like moths to the flame, but only one lady caught the eye of the eldest, and the younger remained unresponsive to advances. A few months later they both departed to the north, towards pheonix territory, but turned west towards the Musk. We recieved word when they arrived, from Ryuu, with a promise to visit. We didn't hear from him nor his brother for another 3 months.

"When Ryuu returned to us, he returned alone, his brother had stayed behind with the Musk in order to court a noble woman. Though I know not her name, it was said her beauty was unrivaled in the Musk, accurate considering there were very few females among them that were born human."

"Born human?" Ranma thought, An odd choice of words.

"While Ryo courted the young Musk woman, Ryuu was courting his own crush."

"Jade," Ranma said.

"Yes, Jade. She was the village healer and she herself had a small crush on the outsider. Of course, our rules are a bit different for marriage when it comes to our healers. We don't want them being injured in their fights to the point where they are unable to treat our warriors, so they are allowed to choose their husbands through courting," Cologne paused to take a sip of her tea before continuing, "It was a few weeks later that Jade agreed to marry the boy. A few days later word arrived that Ryuu's brother had also gotten engaged, to the very noble woman Ryo had stayed behind to pursue.

"The news was celebrated between our two villages, the boys had inadvertantly created a treaty of peace between two of us. Two villages who had been rivals for survival since they had been created. It was nice to finally have peace between us, regardless of how short the peace lasted. During our celebrations we had conveniently forgotten the third faction of our valley."

"The Phoenix," Ranma said.

"Indeed," Cologne nodded, "They were uneasy at our unofficial treaty with the Musk and knew that we could overtake them if we ever decided to attack. The Phoenix are powerful in their own right, but with the Muck on our side, victory would only be a matter of time. I do not believe the Phoenix or their king thought to create a treaty instead of simply attacking our village while the Musk were visiting with Ryo as their new addition."

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A/N: Had this sitting around for a really long time, so I figured I'd Post what I have and finish up the rest of it when I got around to it. I'm actually kind of sad to see how much of a backburner story this turned out to be for me... -sigh- oh well. It's not dead, just in really slow progress. I'll come back to it eventually.

Reviews welcome. Flames will be used to assault lawyers. Have a nice day.

-Lov3the3vil