Dudebros #3: The Door Within [Koga, Ranma]

Well, what the fuck?

On a day as wild as today, Ranma wasn’t actually getting gains in at the moment. He’d somehow slithered away for the time being, off the grasp of Shura who’d likely expect him to return to the outside Rukongai because… something was wrong.

The Senkaimon was in fucking ruins – no big, red door. No pretty floor, just fucking ruins. The Senkaimon basically made travel between Soul Society and the World of the Living possible, which drove the Gotei for millennia. Without it… what fucking now? It felt like the damn end times – not right after what Noharu had assured him! Shit would work out, somehow.

But… he felt the urge to do something other than just work out. Sure, physical and spiritual weakness aside, right now, there was a destroyed door right in front of him. Ranma had brought his notebook from the Shin’o Academy and was proactively trying to read through his old notes on when he was lectured about the Senkaimon… with veins on his forehead, trying to find out how this shit was put together.

“I can’t fix this… uh, D-D-Daima… what, I can’t even write my own fucking notes, what am I even doing here? I’m wasting my time… I should just go back to Erica. She must be besides herself right now…”

… But he tried to wring something out of his forgetful brain, sitting down on the ruined floor in an attempt to summon some gold nugget of an idea about how to start solving this Senkaimon issue.

…

He ended up fainting in the ruined place, clearly in need of refreshments.

"What the fuck are you out here for? Been out here lookin' for you all day, bro."

In the distance, Koga's imposing figure would come into view as he approached Ranma with a bag of food in hand. He was trying to reach him to sit down and enjoy a good meal and drink, but this guy loved to wander off, and he could only imagine where the man went. According to people who saw him wandering around, he headed right for the Senkaimon - well what used to be the Senkaimon, at least.

Like a good friend, he chopped Ranma across the chest to wake him up with a grin as he set down the packaged meals he'd brought for the occasion. Lots of well-cooked protein. Beef and Chicken. Teppanyaki style. Rice. The Works. He figured a good meal in the aftermath of war would do their spirits some good. He even brought some sake along so they could get drunk. Sitting beside him, he'd cock his head to the side as he gazed at the Senkaimon.

"Seriously, though. Why are you out here? ...Don't tell me you think you can fix it."

”PFUUUH!” Ranma woke up imposingly from the chest chop, immediately ready to dine in bro’s eateries. However, Koga was on to something… why was he here? He couldn’t fix it. It wasn’t his job. It was… uh, whose job was it, again?

Ranma took a nom and expressed: “Bruh, it’s been fuckin’ ages since I went to the World of the Living – same for you! I just wanted to see if there was anything weird preventing this place from being fixed yet… whose job was it, again? I vividly remember it being the 7th’s deal, but… fuck, I heard the news- FUCK!!!”

Ranma almost smashed his clenched fist on the ground in fury, even as his mouth was stuffed with chicken. “Ya heard what happened, right? With CC Murasaki?”

"Hell if I know whose job it is. Maybe the noble bastards need to fix it. Anyway, yea, bro. I heard the news. Murasaki's... gone. Don't know where she went or what happened to her, but she certainly ain't here now."

Koga picked his nose a bit as he thought about the recent events. He heard something about a betrayal, and Former Captain Urahara being a traitor, but that's all he knew. He may have remembered more, but right now, it wasn't the first thing on his mind. Grabbing one of the boxes of food, he'd chow down on his protein and rice with veracity as he pointed his chopsticks at Ranma.

"Speakin' of the seventh, I wonder how those guys are gonna get back home now. Shit's been pretty wild up here."

The nobles? That meant… oh shit. Oh shit! OH SHIT! “Aw, not the fuckin’ nobles… why haven’t they fixed it yet, the- oh, wait, they weren’t actually… working with the Gotei United…” Yeah, a detail that could’ve shone more light into the inaction, for if you were to think about it with a truly deductive mind… then the nobles refusing to fix the Senkaimon in haste actually made sense. It was leverage for their soon-to-be attempt to redecorate the Gotei in their own image, once again.

If only they could fix the Senkaimon, then obviously they wouldn’t help the Gotei United. They’d force the Gotei to cater to their whims! For they now held the key to the Shinigamis’ income and communication with the outside world! But Ranma hadn’t caught onto that just yet – instead, Koga’s question about the 7th worried him too.

“Crap, aren’t they stuck down there? Urgh… isn’t there a Bakudō that could just teleport them here? Hollows sure have it good with buttcracks in the air and shit…” He was talking about Gargantas.

Ranma helped himself to some greens that Koga had brought as well, for the water and extra crust feel to his teeth mixed with the tender meat. “I heard something similar happened a hundred years ago or something… you were in the previous 11th Division. Did ya experience something like this before?”

"Hm..."

Koga continued to dig into the tender meat and noodles in his box as he reflected on the past. Huh, that's right. Come to think of it, this wasn't the first time this happened. Of course, it wasn't as if Koga remembered all those details back then. Furthermore, things were different. Soul Society hadn't experienced destruction like this before. Where did they even begin?

"Hard to say. Pretty sure if I did, it wasn't ever on this sort of scale before."

”Well fuck, the fact we’re still alive is wild…” Ranma commented with chicken in his mouth, swallowing gleefully before sobbing, “Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck, if only I had a damn idea! How do we fix this thing? I ain’t even a century old yet, I don’t know how they did things back in the day! I feel like a blind fish nibbling random shit I find in the ocean right now…!”

He grabbed and looked at his Sealed Zanpakutō. Hōkamaru slowed down time… but he couldn’t turn it back. He couldn’t bring Ranma to the past, and he couldn’t fast-forward to the future. Ranma had thought that Hōkamaru just helped him delay the inevitable – a pessimistic view on his power. Slow down the punch that was about to hit him in the face, but… there was more. So much more.

“Do you ever… wish if things would go back to the way they were? Back when you were at the 11th? Were things better back then?”

"Back to the way things were, huh?"

Koga reflected on it for a moment. He thought about the past and the joy it brought him. Did he welcome a return to the old days? Sometimes. He'd be lying to himself if he said he didn't, and there wasn't a day that went by where he didn't miss Captain Zaraki. But that was all in the past. This was the present, and he was enjoying it for what it was worth. Besides, going back to the past meant he couldn't spend time with his bro, eating meat and vegetables like this. Hell no.

"Sometimes, but then, I don't know if I ever would have a chance of meetin' a cool bastard like you, Ran. So I think I'll pass on going back down memory lane."

Oh… Ranma’s heart skipped a beat. If he was gay, he’d probably pounce Koga right now – too bad, he liked pussy too much.

Now, let’s repress those first 23 words there. No need to linger on it.

Since Ranma was already born after the, like, whole third world war shit – or at least at its late stages – he didn’t really have a perspective of a Shinigami from that time. He had no clue how the previous Captain Kenpachi led his division beyond word-of-mouth… but Koga was working under that guy, and from what the bandaged hound knew, he looked up to Kenpachi about as much as Shura did. Shit must’ve been lit back then.

But to think he preferred today’s time, where the two of them met and became dudebros… it was beautiful. Ranma had to wipe a tear off of his face. “Same, bro… no clue how the past even was, but I wouldn’t wanna be born any other time than now. Even with all the… lack of Senkaimon going on,” he expressed, blinking at the debris around them, “This Kenpachi Captain guy sure left an impression on ya – both you and Shura. I heard he was a real demonic freak…”

"Hell yeah, bro. That's the spirit. I'm glad I know ya. Whatever happens, moving forward, I'm makin' damn sure we get to fight alongside each other and kick some ass."

Koga extended a fist over to nudge his brother from another mother in the shoulder. He meant what he said. Sure, those old days were lit, but spending time and getting into all sorts of zany adventures brought him banger moments, too. After that moment of bromance, Koga returned to voraciously scarfing down his meat and vegetables. When he heard Ranma mention his former Captain, Koga paused for a moment as he nodded. Indeed, that Kenpachi guy was pretty damn cool. Beyond the select few others, he held a deal of respect for in the Gotei, Zaraki was the one he respected most. Any moment in that division made him feel alive. Constant battle, endless sparring, getting drunk, and having a bomb ass feast - it was the best times of his life.

"Oh, he absolutely was. The guy was built wrong in the craziest way. He never backed down from a fight, either. The opponent could be insane in terms of overall strength, and that maniacal bastard would go right in and face them on his own. He's what I'd like to call a real badass - like us.'