Ranma Douyou yurasu II Like stone

The laws of physic. This is a strict term which takes nearly every condition of the nature into account. Therefore it bothers itself with finding explanations for the colour of the sea or why we are not simply falling up instead of down.

These terms are teached in every school around the whole globe. Everyone knows that you cannot run faster than a car can drive or that it is impossible to jump above a house. We are quite fond of this laws because they give use a certain stability in this world. It is a foundation on which we can place ourselves and our beliefs.

As a result it makes us feel save.

However what would be if we were too certain of ourselves? What would likely happen if we were confronted with a crack in the surface of the sky? What would we do if we passed a demon in the pedestrian zone while the one is eating ice cream? What would be if we were to see a man jump from roof to roof in a rapid fashion? What would we think if our internal beliefs were just toppled over from one day to the other?

This story centers on the last question and how a young man is forced to face the fact that not everything teached in school must be right in any case.

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A story based on the manga of Rumiko Takahashi.

With no rights in the characters or any gain from this.

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The author excuses any inconveniences the reader might experience while reading this. For example lacking language skills, mistakes, grammatic errors or wrong interpunction. That is due to the fact that English is not the author's native tongue.

Thank you for taking this in regard if you might leave a comment.

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Douyou yurasu - Like stone

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The cave was dark. Even darker than the cold nights for which the landscape hold quite a reputation. While the sun was burning down on the rough stony surface of the mountainside, the light did not touch the ground within the cave. Birds were chirping outside unbotherd by the utter darkness. They were far to busy with feeding their children and looking for new sources of food.

However for a single moment, time seemed to stand still. The chirping ceased and the sun's shine grew cold. Even the little birds in the nest stopped their struggling for the worm in their mothers mouth. A sudden chill creaped out of the hollow and the darkness turned an even darker shade of black.

Then within a second the moment passed. The chirping continued as like it had never stopped and the sun was burning down viciously like before. Nevertheless the mother was throwing quick and nervous glances at the cave. She seemed to sense something.

"Hell. It's dark like..." A harsh curse followed after a grunt of pain.

"Everything's gonna be all right. Yeah, sure. That's it! No more small trips into the nature! He can go alone for all I care if he's so smitten with that kind of..." Another expression of displeasure escaped from within the cave. A rustle of clothes followed right after and a dirty hand placed itself on the rough surface. The sun was indifferently shining down on the figure which finally stumbled out of the darkness. It was a young man. Strands of hair were hanging in front of his face and a worked-up backpack was slung over his right shoulder. His breathing was uncontrolled and his jeans was torn at the legs. A blue vest covered the upper part of his body and left his chest open to the hot touch of the sun. Nasty bruises covered his upper torso and his face.

He was exhausted, sweaty and stank. And he hated it. He would have given much to put the blame for his condition on anyone but himself. However his memory worked just too well for his taste.

He remembered the day before clearly. His father had returned from one of his journeys abroad, just to eager to enjoy some quality time with his son. He was a salesman for a big company and due to that he spent most of his time away from him. Due to that his son grew up under the tending hands of the grandparents. The young boy had a nice childhood, made a couple of friends, ate more chocolate than fruits and although did not end up fat. It was a miracle but like grandmother always tended to say: It's in the genes. Well, at least it should mean that however due to her wrong pronounciation it sounded more like jeans. But otherwise he was pretty content with his past.

Yesterday his father payed him a visit. They hadn't seen each other for more than a month and because of this he had been pretty happy. And that was his biggest mistake. While eating lunch his father had asked him about school, friends and finally about his plans for holidays. In respond to that he had only shrugged and unknowingly sealed his fate. His father's idea of spending quality time with his son consisted of fun, food and excitement. That normaly would have been fine with said son. Though his father seemingly found all of those qualities in a trip into the nature. Obviously that wasn't really his son's idea of an enjoyable time.

Today his father had rented a car and after five hours of constant driving, traffic jams and little children which stuck their tongue out to one, they finally arrived.

Their destination had proved to be one of this great and dark forests which easily make you believe that Big Foot's mansion might be somewhere around here. Shortly after lunchtime they decided on one of the many dirt tracks over peanut butter sandwiches and orange juice.

Of course his father happily chose the longest path which cut through the forest like a furious snake. Two hours later they found themselves surrounded by trees. The so called path was nothing more than compressed earth. A way on which no grass grew and stones were richly present. That much may have been bearable however when the first drops came down it became downright ugly. The path turned into mud and after no more than half an hour the both of them were utterly wet.

Of course he couldn't hold it any longer and so he began complaining and critizing his father's choice. Actually that alone wouldn't have been that problematic but his father wasn't feeling all that well himself. As a result they began to argue. First only a couple of taunts but very soon they were verbally fighting with each other. Nevertheless the rain was pouring down.

It ended with the son running off into the woods and the father barking after him. The young man ran until his lungs seemed to burn and his muscles grew weak. Just then he realized an important fact. Indeed, he had run. And now he was lost.

While he had been driven by rage his eyes had been nothing more than slits. Now however he saw the error in that. He had no idea from where he had come from and so he remained for some time in the same spot. Nervously he looked around himself for any indications. In the meantime the rain crashed down on him and wet his skin even more until he began to shiver. Just then he had finally enough and came to the conclusion that it would be best if he just moved on. At least it was better than ending up with a flu.

However this didn't answer the question to where he should go. After he glanced around a second time he came to realize something he hadn't pondered before. The rain had filled his footsteps up and had distinguished them a bit. But one could make them out if he were to concentrate. Due to that he thought it possible to follow them back. And so he started walking, watching out for any signs of his father.

He could feel the mud creep into his shoes and nearly jumped everytime at the sensation. He had worked his way through the forest in hopes of finding something, anything. However when he hadn't layed eyes on anything after a walk of about two hours he grew uncertain. He was so distracted that he didn't even register that the sun set slowly. Its colour switching from yellow to a dark red.

With the night came the cold. In less than an hour he began to shiver for real. His fingers, his feet, his very body began to shake and his skin seemingly grew lifeless. Nevertheless it stung like hell.

Due to his condition he decided to look out for a cavern in which he would be guarded from the elements. So he walked constantly for an hour concentrating hard on finding a dry spot within the dark forest. The darker it got the more spooky the woods became. He started hearing the sounds of breaking branches and the wet rustling of grass and shrubs. Just when he decided to cease his searching and somehow crawl under his backpack for shelter, he set eyes on something in the distant. Hope gave him new strength and made him move on. His muscles were contracting painfully and every step hurt but he continued regardless.

In the end his determination was rewarded when he realized that he was standing in front of a mountainlike structure. From his point of view the wall of stone had an enormous length. Even when he tried to find the end of it his eyesight failed to reveal one. However, for all he cared that could have been the Chinese wall, all he was looking for was cover from the rain. Unfixed about if he should walk left or right he came closer to the stony structure until he could touch it literally.

It was hard to make out any details due to the darkness which was only slightly softened by the moon. The harsh rainstorm didn't make it any better. He didn't know what he was looking for, stumbling throw the night along the rocky surface. Due to that he became easily depressed. He began blaming himself for the quarrel with his father and his idiocy of running away aimlessly. He flipped back some of the wet strands of hair and nearly ignored the absence of stone. Immediately he stopped and looked to the right. He was standing in front of a cave. Nothing big or striking but he would have walked past it easily. If it hadn't been for his reluctance of letting go of the rocky surface he would have missed his chance for cover.

With a tired smile he entered the cave and made a couple of steps. The echo resounded in the vault and gave the place a mysterious atmosphere. Coupled with the intensity of the blackness he'd not have wondered to see a fairy pass him in flight.

He sat down on the hard ground which was oddly covered with a huge mass of foliage. That was not only uncommon for the season but kind of spooky. Because when he touched the leaves he realized that they were fresh and soft. A chill creeped over his back and he suddenly became very uncomfortable. That was until his eyes fell on something in the dark. It strangely looked like light. The question regarding the fact where it came from was easily solved. His muscles might have felt tired but the possibility of meeting another human being pushed him further. The way through the blackness was harder than he had thought. Many times he hit his head or shins on protruding stones. Although the exhaustion was pulling his eyelids down, he walked further and further. Finally the spot of light grew. At first only slowly but within a couple of minutes its seize doubled. He became irritated when he began to realize that the light wasn't coming from a bonfire. The closer he came the more confused he grew.

Finally he got the clue. Nevertheless it didn't help to know that the light he had seen was really daylight. Hadn't he escaped the clutches of darkness only an hour or so before? How could it be that when he entered the cave it was night and when he left it was day? He decided for himself to look later on for a plaubsible explanation and to simply leave the spooky den for now. He could see some trees from his viewpoint and the sun seemed to burn down. However the latter did not do anything for the blackness within the cave. The dark never wavered in its intensity. On the last meters he downrightly tripped over every single obstacle in his way and banged his head two more times.

Eventually he escaped the cavern. Tired and beaten he fell down on his knees and screamed in joy. Forgotten was fear and exhaustion for a moment of peace. The birds were tweeting in the trees, the sun loomed over him and he relished in the warmth.

"I've made it. I can't believe that I've really made it." He ran his fingers through his sweaty hairs and tried to adjust his sore eyesight to the sunlight. It stung a bit but strangely he could see without any trouble. Even after all this time in utter darkness.

He took a look around and realized that the tunnel had lead him into a clearing. There was a angry rush not too far away which had mixed itself under the chirping of the birds. That was why he hadn't really heard it before. The sound seemed to come from somewhere behind the trees on his right side. He was in need of water. He hadn't really drunken anything while wandering around aimlessly. There was only a bottle of orange juice in his rucksack and the one was empty. Exerted he righted himself and followed the noise to its source.

His clothes clung disgustingly to his body and his hair was falling in his face like a dead animal. It even smelled like one.

He passed the trees, attentive to not lose the sound of the running water for a single time. He did not know when the last time was as he had to walk that much. The noise increased and after a few more minutes he came in sight of a small river. It sparkled under the sunshine and was as clear as clean.

Enthusiastically he ran into the shallow stream, closed his eyes, cupped water in his hands and drunk feverishly. His face was wet as like his clothers when he ceased his drinking. The water may have been too cold to drink but that did not matter to him. It tasted better than anything else.

Satisfied he opened his before closed eyelids and viewed himself on the water surface. For a moment there was silence. Than he screamed though not in joy.


End file.
