Part 5: End of the First challenge, the reading of a book
What has gone before:
Part 1: Akane meets Ranma at age 12. They spar. Akane walks in on Ranma
Part 2: Ryoga first appears. Ranma shows off in Gym class. Ranma is
challenged to teach the class gymnastics. Ranma walks in on Akane.
Part 3: Akane teaches the uneven bars. Sensei Ogawa has an agenda.
Nabiki takes a picture. Ranma walks in on Akane.
Part 4: Akane finds the picture. Akane and Ranma eat away from Nabiki.
Ranma and Akane pull a joke on Nabiki that gets Akane a kiss. Ranma and
Akane talk in the bath.
It was the last day in the Gymnastics section, so Ranma was writing up
notes on everyone as they did their final run though the stations. Sensei
Ogawa was making her own notes from her office. Ranma was finding that his
notes were revealing a depressing story. There was no way he could
consider even a fourth of the class as good as Kodachi, overall. Most
students were good on at least one section, though.
Sakura was up on the vault. She was one of the students he believed had
real talent. Kodachi had been singing her praises on the floor exercise,
and on the vault... well, no one else was attempting a flip with a half
twist. In order to provide some fun for the last day, Ranma had gotten
judges from other gym classes that period. Five judges for each event. So
far, no one had gotten straight tens on any event. If Sakura didn't change
that, he'd be surprised.
Flip, half twist, perfect landing with no hop. And the judges say, 10,
10, 10, 10, 10.
Sakura graciously accepted the applause of her classmates.
The bell for the end of class and beginning of lunch ran, but before they
could leave the gym, the Sensei called for attention. "Very good
everyone," Ogawa said. "I need to see Saotome Ranma, Kuno Kodachi, Tendo
Akane, and Mori Rintaro in my office."
That was the lead members of Ranma's core of assistants, all the ones that
had helped on multiple stations. Ranma expected the worst. His
evaluations didn't indicate that he'd done as he boasted.
The four followed the Sensei to her office. The Sensei took her seat
behind her desk and the students stood in a lose semi circle on the other
side. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to thank you all for teaching my
class the past three weeks," Ogawa said. "Mr. Mori and Miss. Kuno, I'd
like to extend a invitation to join the school gymnastic team. Your
performance has been most impressive. Miss Tendo, I'd like you to serve as
one of my assistants for as long as you are in one of my classes. Mr.
Saotome, while you did not meet your boast of getting most of the class to
Miss. Kuno's level, the whole class, with the lone exception of Mr.
Ishibashi, who refused to participate, did improve. I did not expect you
to succeed with your boast, and I didn't expect you to do so well. I'd
also like you to serve as my other assistant. I expect you and Miss Tendo
to meet me before class Monday. Dismissed."
As Ranma exited the office, he released a breath he hadn't been aware that
he had been holding.
"Were you worried Ranma?" Akane asked as they walked to the cafeteria
together.
"Nah, if I was doing something really wrong, Sensei would have let me know
earlier," Ranma said. "Are will still sitting in the dark corner, or have
you made up with Nabiki?"
"Both of my sisters are getting on my nerves," Akane replied. "Let's sit
away from Nabiki."
"Still bothering you about the kiss?" Ranma asked.
"They keep asking for details," Akane said, as they took a seat in a quiet
corner of the cafeteria.
"I thought you liked being ahead of them for a change," Ranma said. He
handed over the usual pudding, and Akane gave him her cherry pie.
"I know, but you can only describe it so many times," Akane said. "It was
only two minutes long."
"If you want a longer one, you only have to ask," Ranma replied.
"Pervert," Akane said.
"Hey, you were the one to suggest it," Ranma said. "And don't tell me
that you didn't like it."
"I did," Akane replied. "And it was easy to tell that you did to."
"Of course," Ranma said. "Have you found the Dojo registry yet?"
"I asked Dad for it," Akane said. "He said he would have it in my room
when we got home."
Nabiki stared across the room at Ranma and Akane. She wished she had an
friend like Akane had found in Ranma. Two interests had dominated her life
so far, money and mischief. She had taken over the family finances when
her mother had gotten really sick, and as for mischief, well, that had been
a constant. Her father had once said that she specialized in the sneaky
tricks branch of the Tendo School.
Now, she wanted something that money couldn't buy. Nabiki had no idea
where she would find a friend, or perhaps something more. She had been the
center of the rumor mill and the person to go to for a loan since she had
been in the third grade. Both of those were positions that made it hard to
make friends, but until now, she had never regretted it.
The heavy dojo registry sat on Akane's desk. The dusty volume listed
every master, student and visitor to study in the Tendo Dojo for over
eighty years, carefully recorded under the master of the dojo's hand.
"Why did you want to see this, Ranma?" Akane asked, as Ranma gingerly
opened the book.
"I want to find out who studied here and what schools they were from,"
Ranma said. "And perhaps who our father's master was. Dad won't tell me."
"Neither will mine," Akane said. "You know, that's a little strange."
Ranma turned the page, and found a document pressed between the pages. "I
wonder what this is?" he said, unfolding it.
"Contract of arranged marriage, dated 1976," Ranma read out. "This can't
be real."
"Let me see," Akane said. Ranma handed her the paper. "Saotome Gemna and
Tendo Soun hereby pledge in marriage their children, Ranma and Akane to
marry when they reach maturity.... Well that's Dad's signature."
"And it look's like my Dad's beside his," Ranma said. "I'm going to kill
Dad."
"What, you don't like me or something?" Akane said, showing her temper.
"No, it's just that he made this decision when we weren't even a year
old," Ranma said. "Nobody arranges marriages any more."
"Apparently, our fathers do," Akane replied. "I wonder when they planned
on telling us?"
"If your Dad is like my dad, just before the wedding," Ranma replied.
"We should let them know we know," Akane said.
"Wanna have some fun with it?" Ranma asked, with a mischievous grin.
"What do you have in mind?" Akane said. She knew the signs, and this
looked like Ranma had come up with an interesting idea.
"Nothing much, just a version of your trick with Nabiki," Ranma said.
"We'll need more kissing practice," Akane suggested.
"Schedule it in the furo," Ranma remarked. "Right now, we have some
sparring to do."
It was a rather high stack of towels that Kasumi was carrying. She had
been putting off washing them in order to finish a paper for her History
Class. The stack blocked her view as she entered the bath to hang them up
on the towel rack. But when she began to place them on the rack, it no
longer blocked her view. And she noticed that the furo was occupied with
her sister and her friend. Her sister was getting a lot more romance than
Kasumi.
"Oh my," Kasumi stated.
This broke Ranma and Akane's passionate kiss. "Can't a girl have any
privacy around here?" Akane asked, as Ranma moved to a neutral corner of
the furo.
"You really shouldn't be so forward," Kasumi admonished, trying to fit
into a mother role, and doing quite well. "Taking baths with a boy isn't
appropriate."
"He's not �a boy,' he is my fiancee," Akane said. "Anyway, we're done
now. I'll be at Ranma's tonight."
"I'll meet you out front, Akane," Ranma said, exiting the bath.
"Questions, older sister?" Akane asked to Kasumi's blank stare.
"Fiancee?" Kasumi sputtered.
"Apparently Dad arranged it shortly after we were born," Akane said.
"Ranma and I found the document in the Dojo Registry."
"Oh my," Kasumi replied.
"I'm not sure I really want to go though with it all," Akane began. "I'm
only twelve, it's not time for me to make decisions like that. But I'm not
happy about Dad taking the choice from me. I mean, who arranges marriages
now days. Still, Ranma's not too bad, and I really want to get to know him
better. I better get going. Ranma hates to wait."
"Akane," Kasumi said softly.
"Yes."
"Try not to rush things," Kasumi advised. "Be careful."
"Yes... Mom," Akane said, touched by the sentiment, but rather tired of
the comment.
Part 6: Fathers and Mothers
It was quite late when Genma Saotome got home from his second job.
Usually, he would find Ranma already asleep on his futon. Today was
different. His son was awake on the couch with a girl. And they were
kissing quite passionately. Ranma had his hand under her shirt, and so the
girl had her hands under his.
"What's going on, boy!?" Genma asked.
Ranma ended his kisses, and turned to look at his father. "I'm kissing
the fiancee you were kind enough to provide me," Ranma said, then looking
back at the girl, he continued. "Akane, I think we let the time get away
from us. Perhaps I should walk you home?"
"I'd love it," Akane replied.
Genma Saotome looked at the two sitting on the sofa. His son was supposed
to be studying martial arts, not marital arts. Though the study of that
would help him prove to Nokoda that Ranma was a man among men. Still,
can't let the boy know about that.
"Take her home, boy, and we'll have a long talk when you get home," Genma
said.
"Yes Father," Ranma said, in a much more respectful tone that he usually
used with his father. Ranma and Akane got up and walked to the door.
"And Ranma, I want you back here quickly," Genma said.
Ranma and Akane walked hand in hand down the street towards the Tendo
Dojo. Akane had never been out this late before, well awake at least.
There had been a couple times she had been taken home asleep from her
mother's bedside, but she'd rather forget that. Ranma's presence made that
surprisingly easy.
"That went better than I thought it would," Ranma commented, now that they
were safely out of earshot.
"Too well," Akane said. "It can't last."
"I hope it does," Ranma said, pulling her closer, so he could place his
arm around her.
Soun Tendo was worried about his little girl. She was supposed to be home
from Ranma's an hour ago. He was searching the table by the door for
Ranma's phone number when he heard the sound of rustling clothes from
outside. He looked out the partially open door to see his youngest
daughter kissing a boy that could only be Ranma just outside the door. His
eyes began to fill with tears. Akane was growing up. She had met her
fiancee and apparently was falling in love. He'd despaired of the day
she'd met Ranma for the first time, and find out about her engagement.
Akane had been a hot headed and rebellious child. He'd tried to temper
that by engaging her in the discipline of the art, and for the most part
he'd been successful. However, Akane still didn't do anything he wanted to
her to do if he asked directly. He had really been worried when he'd
spotted Akane and Ranma's betrothal agreement on Akane's desk, but it
looked like everything was working out. His daughter seemed to be enjoying
her kiss with Ranma.
"Good night, Ranma," Akane said, opening the door fully. "See you tomorrow."
"See ya, Akane," Ranma said, then turned and ran home.
Soun's tears obscured his vision as he embraced his youngest daughter.
"You're growing up so fast," he wailed.
"Daddy," Akane admonished. "It's just Ranma, and I really have to get
ready for bed." She disentangled herself from her father and headed upstairs.
At the top of the stairs, she was ambushed. Both Kasumi and Nabiki were
leaning up against the wall, trying to act like it was normal for the two
to wait up until 9:30 for their younger sister to get home.
"So, Akane, how was your date?" Nabiki asked.
"It was not a date," Akane said, trying to sound bored. Not easy when
your heart is still beating fast from a kiss that your fiancee gave you.
"It was a study session." She tried to walk past her sisters, but they
blocked the way.
"Basic Human Anatomy," Nabiki guessed.
"You're taking that, Akane?" Kasumi said. "If you need help, you can
borrow my books."
"I think Akane is taking a more physical course," Nabiki said. "With Ranma."
"That's not really proper," Kasumi said.
"For your information, we were studying English, Geography, and History,"
Akane said.
"Are you sure you didn't study Ranma?" Nabiki asked.
"No," Akane said, then smiling. "I did that before we left for his house."
"Akane!" Kasumi admonished, stepping back, and providing an opening for
Akane.
"If you don't want to hear about it, why did you wait up?" Akane said,
slipping by her sisters and heading toward her room.
"If you weren't denying it, we would be hearing about it," Nabiki said,
following.
"When I want to talk about it, I'll tell you," Akane said, pausing at her
door. "Right now, I just want to get some sleep."
"We should let Akane sleep, it is way past her bedtime," Kasumi said.
"Come on Nabiki, you can weasel out information from Akane tomorrow."
"When do I weasel out information..." Nabiki said, as Akane closed her door.
Akane put her backpack down on her desk. For some reason, the Hello Kitty
emblem on it made Ranma nervous. She'd have to ask about it sometime. The
Dojo Registry sat beside it, still open to where the betrothal agreement
had been found. They'd have to look for their fathers' master later, but
Akane was sleepy, so she got ready for bed, wondering what Ranma was doing.
Ranma wasn't doing that much. His father was busy giving his usual
martial arts is the only thing that should be in your life speech. Ranma
was nodding at all the right places, and generally ignoring most of the
speech, while musing about the topic in his mind.
You'd think he could alter the speech a little in all these years. And
it's not even true. You can't live on martial arts. He's always saying
that I must carry on the school. To do that, I have to know how to teach,
and Dad is far from a perfect example for that. If I'm going to model my
teaching on anyone, it will be Sensei Ogawa. And he's really big on this
heir to the school thing, so shouldn't he be encouraging me to go out with
Akane? Oh, he's to the "You must carry on the traditions of the Saotome
School of..." Time to put on the respectful face and response. I wonder...
"I understand, Father," Ranma said, in a very respectful tone, which Genma
expected. While Ranma had lost some respect for his father over time, he
hadn't lost it all yet. But that loss of respect, was enough for him to
not let the speech go without question. "However, I do have one question."
"What?" Genma asked. He was a little surprised by the request.
"If I am to carry on the School, shouldn't I learn how to court my girl so
that I can be sure of many heirs?" Ranma said. Genma nodded. "Then you
won't object to me spending more time with her."
The next morning, Ranma met Akane outside the Tendo gates. They were to
arrive at School early, as Sensei Ogawa wanted them to meet the new sword
instructor. Ranma had convinced Akane that her gym attire would be a good
thing to wear for their early morning meeting. So now, he was trying to
teach her to run on the fence.
"The key is to not look down," Ranma said, as he followed Akane. "Trust
that the fence will be as you saw it before it got below you."
"I think I'm getting it," Akane said, concentrating on her walk.
"Then it's time to go faster," Ranma said.
By the time they reached MacArthur, Akane was almost gasping for breath.
Sensei Ogawa was waiting for them outside her office. The Sensei looked at
the two, dressed in the blue shorts and red t-shirt, MacArthur's gym
uniform complete with the five star logo of MacArthur Junior High.
"I take it that you're doing that fence walking training I heard you
talking about last week," Ogawa said. "Very commendable." Ogawa knocked
on her office door. A woman about Ranma's father's age opened it. "May I
introduced, the school district's wandering sword instructor, Saotome Nodoka."
"Hello, son," Nodoka said.
Part 7: Mother and her sword.
It had been seven years since Ranma had seen his mother. Seven years of
near constant training had dulled his memory of his mother, but with a
simple 'hello son' she was back in his life. Ranma wasn't sure how to
greet his mother. Sensei Ogawa had commented once that our mothers are our
greatest teachers, and his mother was at school as a teacher, so he fell
back on formality.
Ranma bowed. "Good Morning Mother," he said.
"I see traveling on the road has not managed to erode your sense of
respectfulness, Ranma," Nodoka said. "Who is your friend?"
"Mother, this is Tendo Akane, by agreement of our fathers, my fiancee,"
Ranma introduced.
"Good Morning, Mrs. Saotome," Akane said.
"You must be Soun's youngest daughter," Nodoka said. "I was sorry to hear
of your mother's passing. She and I were once good friends. Ranma, if you
have time before you father wants you for training after school, I'd like
to hear how your last seven years of training have gone."
"Dad is working until nine on his second job," Ranma said. "I promised
Akane I'd spar with her every day after school, though."
"I can afford to skip one day, Ranma," Akane said. "Plus, I told Nabiki
that if you ever weren't available, I'd spar with her."
"She does need the help," Ranma said.
"I won't intrude on your time with your fiancee, Ranma," Nodoka said.
"Nah, it's time Nabiki got back into her training," Ranma said. "We
better get changed for class, Akane. We can tell Nabiki about her sparring
session at lunch."
"We will see you third period, Ranma, Akane," Sensei Ogawa said. "Now,
Nodoka, about that butterfingers act you like to do..."
Ranma eagerly awaited gym class. He wanted to see a demonstration of his
mother's abilities. She had to be good. So when his mother entered the
gym, and drew her sword he was watching closely. So he caught every move
when Nodoka drew the sword and sent it flying into the wall on the other
side of his gathered classmates.
To Akane, it appeared that this new sword instructor was really careless,
accidentally sending it flying. She began to wonder why Nodoka had been
hired. She was fooled. In four years, even Ranma wouldn't have spotted
that it was an act.
Nodoka began her speech on sword safety, punctuated by various
demonstrations of what not to do. Sometimes it was obvious that she was
trying to do those demonstrations, sometimes not.
It had been three weeks since the last time Akane and Ranma had sat with
Nabiki. Nabiki thought it was a good sign. Ranma had even been nice
enough to trade his chocolate pudding for her cherry pie. Akane had gotten
Kasumi's first attempt at angel food cake. It looked rather good, but
Nabiki wasn't about to miss her first chance at getting that chocolate
pudding. She had taken the last piece of Cherry Pie in the Tendo household.
"Did you talk with your mother about where you're going to meet?" Akane
asked, as Ranma dug into his lunch.
"She wants to walk home with me to surprise Dad," Ranma said. "But she
wants to stop by your house."
"I don't mind," Akane said. "Do I still spar with Nabiki today?"
"Since when did I start martial arts again?" Nabiki said, savoring the
last spoonful of her pudding.
"According to the Dojo Registry, you are still a resident martial artist
in training," Akane said.
"Yeah, and as the senior student, you're suppose to answer challenges to
the Dojo," Ranma said, smiling evilly. "I'd get some training in before I
get the idea to challenge you."
Nabiki cringed. She'd seen Ranma and Akane sparring. They were good, a
lot better than she was. True, she had been able defeat Akane every once
in a while when they were training together, but that had been more than a
year ago, and Ranma was, in her opinion, better than her father. The main
reason she'd quit was that she could see that Akane was a lot better. She
really didn't want to compete and lose to her little sister. One of the
first things she had learnt when she began her financial career was when to
cut her losses, and she'd done that with martial arts. Now it looked like
she hadn't done it so well.
"I don't do that any more," Nabiki said.
"Well, you should have had yourself removed from the Dojo Registry then,"
Ranma said.
"Yea, sis," Akane said. "But I don't see why you're worried. It will be
just like old times."
"Akane, you're a lot better than I ever was," Nabiki said. "It would be
like a master martial artist taking on a kindergartener. And you know that
if I asked Dad to remove me, he'd break down crying again."
"'The path of a martial artist is fraught with peril,'" Ranma entoned.
"Give up, Nabiki," Akane said. "The sensei has spoken."
Nodoka walked along side her son. He had grown so much since Genma had
taken him off on they're training journey. He had only been three and a
half feet tall at the time, now he was almost five feet. She'd missed a
lot of her son's life, and she didn't intend to miss much more, agreement
or not. She really didn't care if he was a man among men, and at twelve,
it was a little early to judge, she'd just put that on to make sure Genma
was on his best behavior. In any case, the way Ranma had his arm around
his fiancee was proof that he was on his way to becoming a man.
"So Ranma, how did you meet Akane?" Nodoka asked.
"Well it was the first day of school," Ranma began. "I had gotten to
school really early because Dad had to register me before he went to work.
Anyway, I had gone to the roof to see the sun rise, and was walking around
the third floor, just killing some time. Then I spotted this cute girl who
looked like she was starting to cry. I can't stand to see a girl cry, so I
asked her what's wrong, and introduced myself. Turns out she was sad
because this was the first time she started school after her mother's
death, and she couldn't find our classroom. We talked and went to class."
"What were you doing up on the third floor, Akane," Nabiki said, from
behind the group. "I told you your class was on the second floor."
"You know the gym door?" Akane said. "I entered that way and went up one
floor."
"Didn't check the numbers on the floor, did you?" Nabiki said.
"It was my first day," Akane said. "And I'm sure you got lost too, though
not as bad as Ranma's friend Ryoga does. By the way, Ranma, where was he
today?"
"I don't know," Ranma said.
Somewhere there is a young boy looking for MacArthur Junior High.
Somewhere there is a boy unconsciencely translating other languages into
his native Japanese. Early this morning that somewhere was Hawaii. About
noon, he ate his lunch in San Francisco. And at the present time, he's in
Salt Lake City. He thinks he's in Tokyo. He's wrong. He's about to see
the world, and he doesn't even know it. All because Ranma hadn't walked
him to school like he had since the school year began.
Ranma sat beside his mother watching Akane spar with Nabiki. Nabiki was
definitely outclassed. Akane was, quite frankly, wiping the floor with her
older sister. Of course Ranma had some problems with this. Most notably
that Nabiki's gi was a little small, and definitely not tailored for the
breasts that Nabiki had. Of course, he'd seen more with Akane, but it
still bothered him, and it certainly bothered his mother. His mother had
given a rather long lecture about proper attire when Nabiki had came
downstairs after changing. Nabiki had promised to get a new gi. Kasumi,
meanwhile had taken notes. Akane looked rather pale when she saw that.
He'd have to ask why sometime.
"I noticed that Akane called you Sensei when you asked if she was ready,"
Nodoka said, turning to her son.
Ranma was busy observing Nabiki's rather rusty style, as he replied, "She
does that ever once in a while. Since her mother died, her father hasn't
been training her anymore, so our sparring is the only testing she gets."
"Speaking of training," Nodoka said. "How has your father been training
you?"
"Well, he has had me study under most of the masters in Japan," Ranma
said, observing a particularly well executed attack by Akane. "But his own
teaching is mostly to fix problems I have and the occasional secret technic."
"Fix problems?" Nodoka inquired.
"Well, I had this really bad problem once when I was losing fights because
I kept splitting my pants," Ranma said. "So Dad gets the idea that the
best way to stop me from being embarrassed by it is to embarrass me so much
that the next time the splitting pants would seem small. So he strips off
my pants then chases me around town while I'm wearing these really
embarrassing boxers with red hearts on them. After being chased though the
bakers, grocers, and the baths, I got use to it, and sent Dad flying into a
nearby river."
"That must have been a sight," Nodoka said.
"Yeah, I got rid of those boxers after that though," Ranma said, noticing
something about Nabiki's pattern. "Boy, Akane is about to take a hit."
"I don't see how," Nodoka said, observing Akane pressing Nabiki back.
"Akane seems to hold control."
"Just watch," Ranma said. Sure enough, Nabiki snuck a chop to Akane's
shoulder right by Akane's guard. "But she'll pay for it." One two three,
Nabiki found her self short of breath and sitting on her behind.
"I yield," Nabiki said breathless.
Nodoka and Ranma left for his apartment shortly after the sparring match,
but not before Ranma got a long satisfying kiss from Akane, guaranteed to
make sisters jealous. Now Nodoka was relaxing on the sofa while Ranma was
working on his homework. He wasn't really taking much time doing each
question though, and that had Nodoka worried. She'd have to check on his
grades tomorrow. Meanwhile, she was cleaning her sword.
"Done," Ranma said, slamming his math book shut.
"Then why don't you get ready for bed?" Nodoka said. "You don't have to
wait up for your father."
Ranma retreated to his futon, and got under the covers. He was asleep
when his father entered their home.
The room was lit only by a single light. Nodoka was seated on the sofa,
polishing her gleaming sword. The edge appeared to be quite sharp. Gemna
tried to enter silently after spotting the sword, hoping to surprise the
woman.
"Hello, Genma," Nodoka said.
Part 8: Changes
Ranma awoke to his mother's humming. A look at the bedside clock
determined that his father was already off to work. He'd totally missed
his parent's conversation the night before, despite his intention to stay
up to listen. He quickly put on his school uniform. He really didn't like
the outfit. It was long white trousers, a white shirt, and a dark blue
coat with white lapels. The whole outfit looked like the Lieutenant's
uniform that he'd seen in that movie "Captain Hornblower" that he and Akane
had watched together last Saturday night on TV. Still, he did look good in
it, or at least Akane said so.
"Good morning Mother," Ranma said, as he walked into the kitchen and sat
down.
"Good morning, Ranma," Nodoka said as she placed a large frosted flakes in
front of him. "I do hope you're hungry. You father wasn't this morning."
As Ranma sat down and began eating, Nodoka picked up her sword and
continued polishing it. "He did pay lots of attention to the Saotome
Family Sword for some reason. I think he expected it to have rusted away
in my care for some reason."
Ranma ate the last spoonful, and got up. "I have to go meet Akane to walk
her to school," he said, picking up his books and heading towards the door.
"Your father and I will be having dinner at the Tendos tonight," Nodoka
said. "I expect you to join us."
"Okay," Ranma said. The door slammed behind him.
Akane walked beside Ranma, his arm around her waist. She'd gotten use to
the embrace and expected it now. "So Ranma, what was your father's
reaction when he found your mother there?" Akane asked.
"I'm not sure," Ranma said. "I was asleep when he got home and he was
gone when I woke up."
"Did he even come home?" Akane asked.
"I think so," Ranma said. "Mom said he didn't have much breakfast, and
thought he was afraid of Mom's sword."
"Considering the butterfingers way she handles it, I would too," Akane
said, remembering the previous day's demonstration.
"That's all an act," Ranma said. "She always carefully aimed and made
sure it went exactly where it's suppose to go."
"I couldn't tell," Akane said.
"Look at the eyes," Ranma said. "Mom's good at hiding it, but the eyes
give her away."
Ranma joined Nabiki and Akane for lunch. Akane and Nabiki both had
chocolate cake for their desert, but Kasumi had thoughtfully included a
piece of cherry pie for Ranma. Nabiki still was moving a little tenderly
after the previous day's sparring with Akane.
"So Nabiki, what's this about you and Tatewaki Kuno?" Akane said.
"He's merely playing opposite me in our class reading of Romeo and
Juliet," Nabiki replied, blushing.
"Would he be Romeo to your Juliet?" Akane asked.
"Yes," Nabiki said. "But that's as far as it goes."
"But you'd like more," Akane said, teasing Nabiki a little.
"No," Nabiki said, uncertainly.
"Why not? he's rich," Ranma said.
"That's not enough," Nabiki said.
"He looks rather dashing in the school uniform," Akane said. "Not as much
as Ranma, though. Plus he is rich."
"I don't look for money in a man," Nabiki said, rather frustrated. "And
it's none of your business if I happen to like Tatewaki."
"All ready on a personal name basis..." Akane began. She would have
continued the taunt but Ryoga dropped into the seat across from Ranma at
that moment. Ryoga looked like he hadn't slept in days. Akane hadn't seen
him in two weeks, about the time since Ranma began walking to school with her.
"Ranma, I have walked around the world because of you!" Ryoga shouted.
"Not literally, I hope," Ranma said, looking at the dusty uniform. "And
you don't have to shout."
"Because of you I have seen ..." Ryoga began, but couldn't think of a word
to continue.
"Perhaps if you described it we could tell you what you saw," Nabiki
interjected, after a moment's pause.
"One minute I was walking out my front door, the next I was walking along
this strange black wall with English names carved in it ," Ryoga said. "I
think I passed this barb wire topped wall covered with graffiti. And I
walked on top of this other wall that was at least four meters wide."
"It's his family curse," Ranma said. "He couldn't find the bathroom if
you put him in the doorway."
"Ranma, you promised you won't tell," Ryoga moaned.
"No, I promised to try to help you," Ranma said. "It's not my fault that
you wouldn't let Hiroshi and Daisuke walk you to school."
"Ranma, those two could drive anyone insane with their constant
commentary," Akane said.
"They do want a lot of details," Ranma commented, absently.
"About what," Akane asked, her mind jumping to conclusions.
"Things they aren't finding out from me," Ranma said.
"Perhaps I can sell them the information," Nabiki said, putting her
Geography book away.
"You don't have the equipment to give the information to them," Ranma stated.
"I don't know," Nabiki said. "After all, they just want the information,
not the personal experiences."
"Don't they have older brothers going to Furinken High?" Akane said.
"Genichi and Genkazu?"
"The ones Kasumi refers to as the dark perverts?" Nabiki said. "Not that
they are that bad."
"Nabiki, they pasted a nude picture to Sensei Murasawa's overhead screen,"
Akane said. "She nearly had a heart attack."
A thump caught the table's attention. Ryoga had fallen out of his chair
and was sleeping.
Dinner was different at the Tendos. For the first time in over a year,
Kasumi wasn't the sole cook. Nodoka had insisted on cooking several
dishes. That left Kasumi to concentrate on some of her favorites, and
improved an already decent meal. Genma had arrived shortly after Kasumi
got home, so it was a little crowded around the table.
"Ranma, your mother and I have been talking about your training," Genma
said. "Since I've been preparing for the Chinese leg of our training
journey, I'm not able to train you like I should. So I've asked my old
friend Soun to take over your training."
"Bout time," Ranma said, under his breath.
"Your father will also be moving home until then," Nodoka said. "So I've
asked Mr. Tendo if he'd let you live here."
"It will help you and Akane get to know each other better," Soun said.
Ranma and Akane looked at each other. This had promise.
"Of course, I'll still be over every Saturday and Sunday for our sparring,
boy," Genma said. "But I'm sure my old friend will be able to teach you
quite a bit."
"So you'll be moving into the upstairs guest room tomorrow," Soun
concluded. "Genma, could you spar the time for a round of Go?"
"Certainly, old friend," Genma said.
"I better start cleaning out the guest room," Kasumi said. "Nabiki, it's
your turn to do the dishes."
"I thought it was Akane's turn," Nabiki said.
"Akane did it yesterday," Kasumi said, getting up.
"Ranma, we better get started on that English assignment," Akane said,
standing.
"We have all weekend," Ranma said.
"And if we finish it now, we won't have to worry about it all," Akane said.
"Okay. I guess it's something to do while our dinners digest," Ranma said.
Later that night, Ranma and Akane relaxed in the furo. He'd decided to
begin his stay at the Tendos, after watching his mother and father exchange
glances while he and Akane had finished their English assignment. His
father seemed some what jumpy, his eyes lingering on the family sword,
which was in a wrapped bundle next to Nodoka. His mother, meanwhile, was
smiling, and even blew a kiss to his father. Somehow he knew that it would
be better if he stayed at the Tendo's tonight.
"Ranma," Akane began, as he placed an arm around her. "It's going to be
really different with you living here."
"Yeah, no more breaking up our kisses so one of us can get home on time,"
Ranma said.
"Ranma?" Akane asked.
"What, Akane?" Ranma said, pulling her closer, into his lap.
"You can kiss me any time you want for as long as you want," Akane said,
blushing.
"Right now, I think I'll find out if Nabiki was right about you being
ticklish," Ranma said. Soon the room was filled with giggles and requests
for Ranma to stop tickling her.
--
Stephen Ratliff
FAQ & Index Maintainer for Alt.StarTrek.Creative
http://www.runet.edu/~sratliff/FAQs
http://www.runet.edu/~sratliff/ascindex