The streets crowded as people cheered. It was like the celebration of a new emperor, suited with the royal carriage which was an ornate black and gold Herse with a literal horse carriage where the trunk should be. A lady leaned out and dropped a coin pouch on a child's hands.
"My dear Koban! Isn't it wonderful giving wealth to the people! Oho, ho ho." The man lobed a roll of money into the crowd.
"Why it is Nishiki dear! Aha, haha" She patted her "dear's" shoulder and broke into another hearty laugh before tossing another pouch out of the window like it weren't full of coins.
The two were the very pillars of wealth, their clothes screamed it. Koban had her white, and orange brocade kimono and koi fish Obi -belt-. Nishiki had pure gold, Koban earrings to pair with his two, Red and green scarfs and the bell hanging at the front of his hair. All with a simple white Samue.
"Maybe one day dear wife. when we give enough." Nishiki pauses.
"We receive!" Koban completed, showing a bond down to the psychic level.
"Continue giving!" Nishiki shouted with a smile before gracing the locals with wealth. The normal way.
*Crunch* "Oh! my hip!" the teary eyed old man cried, holding a gold bar.
"Such sweet tears of joy..." Koban wipes a tear of her own, before chucking more wealth
*Crack* "My hand!" a high school girl cried. before holding them in way that looked like a prayer
"Those cries of happiness!" Nishiki hurls another gold bar.
*Thwack*
"AUGH-" -right to the chest- I-Is where a man held a gold bar closely.
"Ah, they take it to heart!" The couple said in unison, hugging each other warmly.
"Are you two crazy!" one bruised person shouted "No, Were kind!" they began grabbing handfuls of pouches and bars to toss into the air like dollar bills.
the crowds began to run down the road to avoid getting pelted by raining coin bags and cracked in the head by gold bars. Or both.
"Oh my!-" Koban exclaimed as she pointed.
"-They are running from us!-" Nishiki completed.
They look at each other with a realizing stare "-To stop us from giving more wealth to them, so we can give more to others!" They both delusionally concluded.
"Yea! just forget about us!" another bruised civilian with a coin mark shouted.
"How kind! Right dear?" Koban asked, clasping her hands together in appreciation.
"Of course!" He raised his finger sagely. "Which is why we must reward them with more!" Nishiki drops inside of the carriage, rustling about for something.
Koban pats the roof of the attached hearse "Driver! After them!" she demanded pointing at the fleeing crowd.
The large car takes off with a screech as it plowed through any shop signs or chairs filling the narrow road. Nishiki leans back out of the window with a-
"BAZOOKA!!" one of the now, frantically running elderly women shouted. The crowd stirred into a panic as gold bars flew by.
the vehicle slid around a corner "COME BACK! WE MUST GIVE PEOPLE AS KIND AS YOU MORE!"
Ringo and Ryoga were walking out of a shop on the other side of the commotion. "Thanks for helping me buy this gift for Akane!" Ryoga said, holding a large bouquet of flowers in hand with fresh strawberries. He had left Nerima after the koi god incident to find Akari, but got lost.
"Of course." Ringo was a bit unamused, basically being dragged out because Ryoga was so determined to bring a fresh gift this time, being in town and all. "I'm surprised you wandered back..." he muttered. as if he weren't the core reason Ryoga was tricked. This was karma.
Ryoga didn't even hear the earlier comment though. He was too busy looking at the gift he bought. "Oh man! i wonder what she'll say!" Ryoga fell deep into his fantasies unable to hear anything outside of this little world of his. "Thank You Ryoga! I love it." Her smile nearly blinded Ryoga in his dreams.
"Not as much as i lo-" outside of his world he had that loose smile as his eyes seemed to try to wander up. he clearly was paying way too much attention to his daydream.
"Woah. watch it! you're wandering!" Ringo snagged him out of his fantasies by the sleeve. The fire on his hair burning brightly. The last thing he wanted to do was work, but this was no better. He didn't like dragging someone along, let alone someone this troublesome to guide.
"What was that for!" Ryoga snapped, upset by being brought to the real world. Most people would be able to know where he wanted to go since they were around for a while, but Ringo was new here. He wouldn't ask Ranma since it's a gift for Akane, Ukyo was busy working the shop on her own since Konastu managed to starve himself and was bedridden. And he couldn't find the cat café, which was a shame since Shampoo would be helpful in distracting Ranma.
"You hired me to take you where you needed!" he said in a low, reminding shout.
"Well i expected you to know where it was!" Ryoga defended, clearly used to a more, experienced guide.
"You don't!" Ringo countered "And I'm the one who knows left and right" Ryoga silently pointed right and left confidently. Ringo just face palmed before spotting a familiar house that was on a road to the Tendo household a few blocks down. "Lets go!" He grabbed Ryoga by the wrist and made a new "shortcut"
The two leapt through Ryoga's house, through another's yard, past a brawl between a duck and a rat, and arrived at a corner one block away from their location. Because Ryoga was fantasizing again and becoming dead weight in Ringo's "shortcut terms". "Should i turn you into a pig?" he remarked, putting actual thought into following through with that plan. But the screech of tires in the distance shifted the feathered glower into one of slight curiosity.
The screech got closer, the roar of an engine getting louder. A person stumbled around the corner, hastily getting up and running faster as a stampede followed close behind. "Run for it!" a bruised man shouted, in fact, Ringo could see that they all were bruised in some way. "What psycho did all of that?" Ringo scoffed slightly, before tugging Ryoga back from his wandering.
"Cut them off!" an unseen voice shouted over the sound of a labored engine.
It was mere seconds after that demand when a car -on two wheels- drifts to a stop in front of Ringo and Ryoga. Dropping back on four wheels the idling engine rumbled as two people take off their pilot goggles and golden helmets.
Ringo was halfway up the wall and Ryoga held his finger out toward the car. All four people stayed silent frozen in their positions. Finally, Nishiki lowered his gold launching bazooka. "Are you two alright?"
Ryoga's posture slacked as he lowered his finger "Of course..." they looked at Ringo "You?"
He silently put his thumb up as the fire on his head dissipated "Just dandy." his lips unsealed as he stares at the wall, sighing in relief.
Nishiki raised his bazooka up as he and Koban put on their goggles. "Who wants to go first?" Koban asked lifting up a bag of coins. the two looked like delinquent yakuza members even with those kind smiles of theirs.
Truth is. The two aren't sadistic. they just don't know how to give properly. ever since they were poor they had to beg for food most of their lives but the people weren't too kind and always tossed food at them aggressively. Sadly the naïve children mistook the hostility for kindness and decided that they would give kindness just like the people.
But one day when they walked inside of a- place... and saw laughing people throwing money at the... beautiful "employees" and eating food. They came up with the idea to gather money from around the area and kindly hand -hurl dimes- at kids with food. It worked a lot more often than it should, as long as they continued to believe that "Please i don't need anymore! just take it!" was a good thing for people to say.
But even if they were good people, they still are killers of kindness.
The two boys assume the couple were behind those bruises. Ringo pats Ryoga's shoulder and smiled. "You can go first." he stepped back and was going to keep going till a hand dragged him back by the shoulder.
"I forgot to pay you for helping me get this far. You go." Ryoga held his arm out in a way telling Ringo to pass.
"Well i gotta help you get to your last stop." Ringo placed his hand on Ryoga's shoulder "Lets go." They both waved goodbye to the married couple and walked away. But before they could get too far they heard a soft sniffle. "How kind!" Koban cried, wiping her tears with her arm. "We can give money to them both!" she dived into the carriage to pull out a... "Grenade launcher!?" she also now wore a demolition outfit with more pouches of coins.
Ringo and Ryoga peek behind them to see the grill of a car right in their face as the two weapons shined in the sun. beads of sweat dripping down their faces, they try to ignore it and continue walking. 'Hey Ryoga.' Ringo whispered 'You should accept the gift.' a thought formed in his head.
'Why should I.' Ryoga whispered back. Continuing to look forward, he tried believing in the trope of "if i don't see it, it does not exist." to a religious extent.
"If you bring those pouches of coins to Akane, you wont just make her happy. You will make the family rich! and then you may get her father's approval." He winked knowingly digging into one of the lost boys wishes.
It was tempting, but one person came to mind. Akari, "I have a girlfriend!" he declared, crossing his arms, proud of his loyalty. "Then why are you here!" The whispers were long gone.
Ryoga froze, "why am i here?" he looked at the gift in his hand, his recent daydreams, all for Akane. "This is for a friend" he tried to convince himself. "Good for her!" Ringo's voice seemed distant, as if he was farther away.
"So you accept to go first!" Koban and Nishiki clapped, pointing their weapons at Ryoga.
Ringo could hear the firing of weapons in the distance. He clasped his hands together, closing his eyes for a prayer "May he rest well..." he then continued strolling, placing his arms behind his head and rounding a good few corners in his stroll, he fully relaxed. The sound of heavy running got closer. Ryoga burst from behind the corner right in front of- "Ringo!"
The fire on his head was a flare at this point. "Of all the TIMES! And you manage to find your way to me!?" Ringo dashed like a marathon champion, Ryoga barely close behind with gold bars in his hair. "You left me behind!" he shouted, plowing through a wall Ringo leapt over
"And I'll do it again!" Ringo was about to speed off till that fancy hearse slid in front of him. "Please stop!" Koban and Nishiki both held their hands out. Ringo fell to his stomach "What?!"
"We just want to give you money!" They loaded their weapons.
"Why" he raised both hands in the air. Ryoga stumbles in on the situation but one of them aimed their weapon at him.
Nishiki pulled out a strip of paper to summarize "If we give enough stuff we will get stuff."
"Is that it?" he tilted his head skeptically.
The two nod and aim their weapons. "Now if you will-"
"Wait!" Ringo reached into his shirt "I have something for you two!" Out came a pineapple-esque mask he looted from Ryoga's room. By all means it was cheap. worth two cents without a bargain since it was dried up, brown, and cracking.
The two, Rich, people took the pineapple. Scanning it thoroughly and picking at it. "What is this" Koban asked with a raised eyebrow. Nishiki poked his finger through the eye slits. "Its..."
"What you don't like it?" he acted hurt. making a pouty face as he turns his head away.
Ryoga finally caught on. "Its a family heirloom! and its very precious to me." He put on an insulted look "If you hate it just say it!" He held his hand out in a saddened manner. this was a last shot to get out of this stupidity
"O-oh uh" Koban glanced at Nishiki and the mask "We'll keep it!" Nishiki had to gulp a bit before taking the gift "D-Do you think we should give wealth to the next town?" His wife just nodded while looking for any speck of beauty in the mask "miss, if you may?" they tapped on the roof of the car. "You no pay for work outside Nerima. Shampoo no drive." The purple clad driver hops out of the car, grabbing her bike from underneath the hearse.
Ringo and Ryoga already walked away from the scene settling their own problems. "Ryoga, I shall trust you with these directions" Ringo was fighting off a consistent yawn.
Ryoga stopped Ringo from speaking further "But that's why i asked for your help." but it was now Ringo who lazily shushed Ryoga.
"Listen..." He dozed off for a moment before jolting back up "Its easy. Just go south to the mountains of Okinawa, and you will find the Tendo dojo." He left before more questions could be asked finding the place he "woke" up in to go back to sleep.
"South." Ryoga looked east "mountains in Okinawa..." His long journey began. He traveled the endless plains, rested at a tree, camped at a pond, ate at the Tendo family and left to continue his journey stopping at the mountain range bordering a large lake. at the peak of the highest mountain Ranma stood there practicing his soul of ice. "Why...are you in Okinawa..?" He asked with barely enough energy to look up. surviving off of the last flowers in the gift he had apparently wasn't a good substitute for breakfast lunch and dinner.
The question broke Ranma's concentration, to his frustration. "Look here! this is The T E N D O, D O J O!"
"Tendo dojo?" A look of surprise overtook his starved face.
"You were walking circles around in our yard! You even ate here!" Ranma pointed at the still warm bowl of rice laying outside the first campfire of four.
"I did it! I went where i was supposed to go!" he cried tears of joy and laughed happily. he was free from the starvation and cold nights he somehow went through. Sadly, the edible parts of the gift were long gone and the note was crushed from being used as a pillow.