Subject: [FFML] [fic][Ranma/NGE] Tokyo 3 and 1/2 - Chapter 2 - Starting to learn
From: Falc
Date: 5/9/2003, 10:27 AM
To: FFML


oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
o                                          o                           o
o         Falc presents Chapter 02         o  NEON GENESIS EVANGELION  o
o                                          o                           o
o    An Evangelion/Ranma cross/cont/alt    o      Tokyo 3 and 1/2      o
o                                          o                           o
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo



DISCLAIMER:
Ranma 1/2, Neon Genesis Evangelion and all distiguishing elements of
those works are being used without permission but also without the
intention of hurting anybody's commercial interests.

VERSIONS:
v1: prereaders
v2: FFML

PRE-FIC NOTES:
- Chapter 1 has been corrected and posted to my website: 
http://homeusers.brutele.be/bvannitsen
- Speaking of that website, I have tried to create a layout that leaves 
the fics enjoyable to read. If you find this is not the case for you, 
feel free to let me know.
- I would like to thank my prereader, Lilith's Dark Shadow, for his/her 
(remind me to check that...) valued remarks. If anybody else would like 
to become a prereader, send me an email off-list.
- All C&C on this chapter is more than welcome.
- Work on chapter 3 is progressing nicely.

RECAP:
Ikari Shinji arrives in Tokyo 3. After defeating the Angel, they need to 
find him a place to live. Saotome Ranma, his martials arts teacher, 
decides to have him live with his wife Akane and son Tenma in their home 
in Nerima.



\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
   Chapter Two - Starting to Learn
///////////////////////////////////



[The next day]


Shinji only stared for a moment as Tenma leapt up to the railing and
started walking. It had lost some of its surprise value after seeing
Ranma do it as if it was perfectly normal and well, with Tenma being his
son...

"Man, you're quiet."

Shinji was shaken out of his reverie by Tenma's words. "I'm sorry... I
just... You looked like you were angry so I didn't think you'd want to
talk."

Tenma grumbled a bit before replying, "Yeah well... Mom woke me up early
this morning becase I have to walk you to school. Which means, and I
quote, 'walking at his pace, not yours'."

"I'm sorry for being so slow."

Tenma looked over his shoulder at Shinji's expression and rolled his
eyes in exasperation. "Oh look don't get all worked up about it, okay?
It's not your fault."

"Okay..."

They continued their way to the train station in silence. They waited
for the train in silence. They got on the train in silence. They reached 
their stop in silence... almost.

"Aaargh! I can't take this anymore! Say something! Anything!"

The look on Tenma's face would have been enough to make Shinji confess
to all the crimes of the past, present, and future. "What do you want me
to say?"

Tenma hung his head for a moment and realized he would have to drag
Shinji into a conversation. "How about... What was your previous school
like?"

Shinji shrugged his shoulders as they got up from their seats and exited 
the train. "Nothing special, just a school."

"I see. Did you have any friends there?"

"Not really..."

Tenma shook his head. "Oh come on. You don't expect me to believe that?
I mean, what did you do in your spare time?"

Shinji hesitated for a moment as they left the train station, letting
Tenma lead the way. "I play the cello. I was in a small orchestra."

"Cello, eh? Are you any good?"

Shinji smiled a bit. "According to my teachers, yes."

Tenma's grin was clearly the devious kind. "So we won't have to buy a
large supply of earplugs?"

Shinji's smile grew a bit larger as he shook his head. By this time, he
could see the large school building, a few hundred meters down the road.
He wondered why he had been sent to a school all the way in central
Tokyo 3. And why was Tenma also going there, surely there were schools
closer to Nerima?

Shinji's thoughts were interrupted by Tenma cracking his knuckles.
"We're almost there. I'd advise you to not stay near me, that'll be
safest."

Shinji felt his heart sink at those words. Their conversation of a few
moments ago had given him the impression that Tenma might like him. And
now he was just telling him to get lost? Could he have been so wrong
about him?

"Oh, and if anybody offers you to bet on the outcome, bet on me. They
don't stand a chance."

Shinji was now thoroughly confused. They had by now reached the school's
gates and what he saw in the schoolyard didn't make things any clearer.

It looked pretty much like every other school in Japan, but he couldn't
remember angry mobs being standard issue. About a hundred students were
standing there, facing the gates. Each of them seemed ready for battle,
wielding hockey sticks, baseball bats, boken, or just some random piece of
scenery. As he took in the scene, it became clear to him that whatever 
they had been waiting for had just arrived, which could only mean it was 
either him or Tenma...

Tenma stopped just outside of the school gates and started stretching 
his muscles. It appeared that he was neither surprised nor worried about 
the welcoming committee.

"Hey, could you hold on to my bag while I go do this?"

Shinji just nodded, too confused to do anything else.

Tenma grinned as he handed over his bag and flashed him a V-sign. "Be
right back. Remember what I said."

The instant he set one foot inside school grounds, a mighty roar came up
from the mob. Then they started moving, charging at Tenma who was calmly
walking forward. He easily avoided the first few attacks, but soon the
brunt of the pack was upon him. Shinji got worried about Tenma's safety
but he knew there was nothing he could do. A cloud of dust started
envelopping the fighters and he lost sight of Tenma.

A few moments later, he barely managed to dodge a barbel that had come
soaring out of the tangled mass of combatants. Remembering Tenma's
earlier warning and realizing its true meaning, he scanned around the
schoolyard to find a safer spot.

Apparently most of the school population had gathered to witness the
fight, watching in small groups left and right. None of them seemed
surprised at what was going on, or concerned about the outcome. Except
probably the school bookies who were obviously taking all sorts of bets.

Then Shinji's attention was drawn by something just a bit weirder than
the rest. One girl was sitting by herself. The fact that she was sitting
on a large tree branch about 3 meters above the ground was probably a
good explanation as to why she was alone. She wore the school uniform
and seemed to be about his own age. From this distance he could only see
that she had long black hair that reached past her waist.

He walked a bit closer, something about her intrigued him. He could soon
see she was quite pretty, but her attention was fully focussed on the
fight that was still going on, although the noise level was starting to
die down. A number of unconscious bodies had already been forcibly
expelled from the action and quite a few others were limping, 
staggering, or crawling away.

It didn't take long for the battle to come to an end. As the dust started
settling, more and more of the bruised and battered mob was revealed.
Only one man was left standing: Tenma! He had a big grin on his face and
as far as Shinji could tell wasn't even hurt. He hadn't even broken a sweat!

"Ah hah hah hah haaa. Oh my darling Tenma. Why do these mongrels keep
trying to defeat you, my dear? They should know by now that you are
undefeatable."

It had been the raven-haired beauty that had spoken, after apparently
jumping from the tree all the way to where Tenma was shaking the dust
off his uniform. There was something to her voice that slightly ruined
the image Shinji had formed of her by now, though. It felt like a river
that looked very inviting at first sight but was actually ice cold once
you jumped in. She was smiling broadly at Tenma and even leaned closer
to him, opening her arms for a hug.

Tenma's expression, however, had gone sour at the first sight of her and
he swiftly dodged out of her grasp. "Can't you take a hint, Kosugi? I'm
totally NOT interested in you. Leave me alone. And give these guys a
break before I end up hurting someone by accident!"

The girl just shrugged her shoulders. "Oh dearest Tenma, do not concern
yourself with this rabble. They mean nothing to the hearts of lovers
such as we."

It looked to Shinji as if Tenma was about to have a nervous breakdown
when the bell rang. The girl blew Tenma a kiss and then walked off
towards her class. Tenma relaxed visibly as the distance between them
increased. Shinji walked up to him and handed him his bag, trying to
figure out what question he would ask first.

He decided to go with the most important one at that very moment: "Do
you know what classroom I'm supposed to be in?"

Tenma grinned. "Same one as me. This way."

"So... Who was that girl?"

Tenma sighed. "Kuno Kosugi. Most desirable girl in school. Most insane
too. Dad says that runs in the family, apparently he knew her mother or
something. Anyway, she's got it into her head that she will only go out
with the strongest guy in school. She made a whole public declaration
about it and pretty soon everybody was fighting everybody just to prove
they were the strongest. At first I didn't get involved, but then one day
Touji, who was not doing too bad in the standings, decides to challenge
me. The idiot knows that I had been trained in the Arts since I was a
kid, he knows that I have no intention of getting involved in this, and 
he *still*
challenges me."

Tenma was silent for a moment as they went up the stairs in the
building. "Anyway, I beat him. Next thing I know, there's more and more
guys that are coming after me, eventually leading to the mess you saw
this morning, just like every other morning. At least they leave me 
alone the rest
of the day. And of course Kosugi has decided she will date me, although
I don't care about her at all."

He punched the wall in frustration. Shinji noticed that a few flakes of
plaster fell off. Then again, after the demonstration this morning, he
wondered if Tenma hadn't actually held back his punch...

"Curse that Kosugi and her stupid ideas!"

"Is it so bad? I mean, you don't look like you had any trouble with
them."

"That's not it. Ever since this started, all the guys are out to defeat
me and all the girls are too scared of Kosugi to come near me. Trust me,
it's been hell."

They reached their classroom and Tenma pointed out a desk to
Shinji, next to his near the back of the class.

"Say, Tenma, I have an idea. If it's that bad, why don't you just throw
the fight? You know, lose on purpose?"

Tenma stared at him as if he had just declared that he was actually a
girl. "What sort of cockamamie idea is THAT?"


[That afternoon]


Shinji walked out of the school, accompanied by Tenma and Aida Kensuke.
Kensuke had finally stopped asking him pretty much all the same
questions that Tenma had the day before. The two boys were both quite
obsessed with the Evangelion, although Kensuke seemed more interested in
the technical aspects of the machine.

Shinji sighed. Yes, it was his own fault. He should have asked Tenma to
keep silent about the fact that he was the Evangelion pilot. Now the
whole school knew. Well, okay, it would have been hard to keep it a
secret, but still.

His musing were interrupted when a shadow suddenly appeared in front of
him. As he looked up, he found himself face to face with Kosugi, the
girl from earlier whom Tenma had referred to as 'crazier than a flock of
lemons'. He didn't know what Tenma meant exactly but he got the gist of
it. She did look pretty though, with her dark blue eyes and her black 
hair, flowing around her face.

"So, you're the pilot of the Evangelion?"

Shinji gulped and just nodded his head, wary of what she had in store
for him.

"And you're the one that saved us from that horrible Angel two days
ago?"

"Yes." She was smiling at him. For some reason that made Shinji even
more uncomfortable.

"Oh, what a devastating choice I must now make." She struck a dramatic
pose that would not have been misplaced in a daytime soap. "On one hand,
I have the strong and muscular Tenma who has defeated so many a suitor
to prove his love for me."

Tenma tried to start objecting, but she was obviously totally ignoring
him. "And now you have arrived, dearest Shinji, you who saved our city,
nay our country, possibly the entire world. My heart is torn between you
both. You are both so worthy of my love. How must I choose?" A small
tear trickled down her cheek as she lifted her head to the heavens and 
clasped her hands together, as
if she were praying for an answer from above.

Tenma raised an eyebrow at her words, while Shinji's mind was trying to
figure out what the hell she was talking about.

"I must think about this. I am sorry, Tenma, Shinji, but I cannot leave
either one of you just yet. I must search my heart for the one that I
will love. But I shall bring you my answer soon, do not despair.
Goodbye, darling Tenma. Goodbye, darling Shinji."

She leaned closer to him, put her hands on his cheeks and softly pressed
her lips against his. Then she tried to do the same to Tenme who managed
to pull Kensuke in front of him and escape her embrace. She seemed
totally oblivious to his refusal and skipped away.

Shinji's mind had by now totally shorted out. One part of it was happy
he had been kissed by a pretty girl. The other one was screaming that he
was in a whole load of trouble. Tenma telling him that he was SO totally
screwed didn't quite help to put him at ease.


[Home again]


On their way home, a small rainstorm decided to set up camp over
Tokyo 3, leaving the boys totally drenched when they reached the Saotome
residence. Akane greeted them with a few towels to keep them from
dripping all over the floor. After being inspected and cleared for
entry, they went to the living room so they could play with Tenma's
GameStation(TM) until Ranma came home. Shinji was supposed to have his
first martial arts lesson that evening and he was getting slightly
nervous at the prospect.

"Stupid weather!" Ranma closed the door behind him and added some extra
curses under his breath.

"Welcome home. How was your day?"

"Hello Akane. Work was pretty normal. Getting home proved to be a bit...
How shall I put it? Wet?"

She smiled as she tossed her husband a towel. "Here, try to dry off a
bit before coming in."

"Are the boys home yet?"

"Yeah, they were pretty soaked as well. Oh, I went out and bought Shinji
a gi today, since I knew you'd be starting his lessons tonight."

"Excellent. I'll just go say hi and then we can get started."

She took the towel back from him and walked back to the kitchen where
she was working on the evening meal. There was something in the back of
her head that was trying to get her attention, though. As if she was
forgetting something.

Ranma walked into the living room to find Tenma and Shinji sitting in
front of the TV, playing some game. "Hi kids. How was your first day at
school Shinji?"

Tenma just grunted "Hi dad" without taking his eyes off the TV.

Shinji just stared and blinked at the red-haired woman that was talking
to him.

Ranma looked back at Shinji, not realizing immediately what had the boy
so puzzled.

Then Akane appeared from the kitchen, holding a kettle. "Oh Ranko-chan,
I believe we forgot to tell Shinji something."

Ranma looked from his wife back to Shinji and then to his own female 
body. "Oh.
Yeah. Drat."


[Ten minutes later]


Shinji looked in the mirror, staring at his own reflection while his 
brain tried to catch up with the rest of the universe. Ever since he had 
arrived here in Tokyo 3, things had been... Well, even 'hectic' would be 
an understatement. First the Angels and the Evangelion. Then his new 
home, with Ranma transforming in hot or cold water. School had been 
quite an experience as well. And now, now he stood there, wearing a gi 
and about to receive his first martial arts lesson. He closed his eyes 
and took a few deep breaths. Maybe with a little luck things would start 
making sense one of these days...

The weather was pretty nice, so the short walk outside to reach the dojo 
wasn't too uncomfortable. The dojo itself was rather impressive. It was 
almost as tall as the house, though it had no second floor. It did look 
a lot more recent than the house. When he took a closer look, Shinji 
noticed that it actually seemed to be quite a patchwork, almost as if it 
was in a near-constant state of repair.

Inside, it was mostly empty. A few trunks probably contained equipment 
for training. For the rest, only the far wall contained some decoration: 
a large banner announcing the Saotome and Tendou Anything-Goes Ryuu. 
Underneath that, sitting on a small stand hanging on the wall at about 
chest height, were two swords.

Ranma was already there, dressed in a white gi and kneeling towards the 
banner, meditating. Next to him, Shinji saw a small pile of wooden 
boards. He had turned back to his male form after the explanation and 
demonstration he had given Shinji earlier. Shinji didn't quite know what 
to think about it. His first reaction was still that it was simply 
impossible, and that there had to be a different explanation. But he had 
seen it with his own eyes. As he cleared his throat slightly, hoping to 
gain Ranma's attention without making too much noise, he decided to try 
and forget about it, for now at least. After all, neither Ranma nor his 
family seemed to make a big deal out of it, perhaps it simply wasn't 
very important.

Ranma remained in the same position for just a few more moments, before 
turning around and calling Shinji over. He took one of the boards in his 
hands, and showed it to Shinji. "Okay, Shinji, first lesson. This is a 
piece of quite thin wood. You
should be able to break it with your fist if you put some strength into
it. Go ahead and try."

Shinji nodded and came a bit closer, trying to gauge the best distance
for his punch. He closed his eyes for a second and focused on the task
at hand. He also remembered from the action series on TV that he would
have to scream something.

"KIYAAAAA!!!"

The board broke quite easily under his attack. Shinji looked at Ranma,
hoping for a positive reaction. But Ranma simply discarded the two 
pieces and picked up a new board. "Again."

"KIYAAAAA!!!"

Shinji almost lost his balance when his momentum was not stopped by the
expected impact. Ranma had swiftly moved the board out of the way of his
fist and was now looking at him with a smile on his face.

"Martial arts are not about strength. They are not about speed. They are
not about winning or losing. They are about control."

He put down the board and sat down, motioning for Shinji to do the same.
"In a fight, it doesn't matter how strong you are if you can't hit your
opponent. And being fast will not guarantee a hit either. All that
matters is control. If my opponent has a small weakness in his defense,
I have to be able to land a blow in that exact spot. If I do not have
control over my movements, that will never happen. Do you understand?"

Shinji nodded.

"For you, it will be even more important. You don't have the luxury of
staying in this dojo and training in ideal circumstances. You will have
to fight the Angels, in a real fight to the finish. Control becomes
vital. You cannot afford to drop your guard. You have to know what you
can do and what you cannot do. What you should do and what you should
not do. You cannot afford to make mistakes. And the only way to avoid
mistakes is having control over your actions, your thoughts, your
emotions. And that is what training is all about. Control has to grow."

Ranma did a quick punch, leaving his arm extended. "It doesn't actually
matter how you punch. There is not one form that is inherently better to
all others. Although there are of course right ways and wrong ways. It's
just that there is not one right way, but many. What matters is knowing
how you punch. I know exactly how far I can reach. I know exactly how
fast I punch. I know exactly what every muscle in my arms does as I
move. I know this because I have performed this punch a million times,
over and over again, always the same. I know it. I have mastered it. I
control it. Do you understand?"

Shinji simply nodded again. He grasped the basic thought behind it but
wondered if Ranma wasn't being just a bit melodramatic. It all sounded a
bit over the top.

"Anyway, let's start. Put yourself in a position you feel comfortable
with and punch into my hand. I won't move it, but it's already a much
smaller target than a board. So you'll need to control where you punch.
Begin."

Later that night, Shinji collapsed on his futon, totally exhausted,
cursing whoever it was that had invented martial arts in the first
place.


[End of this chapter]



POST-FIC NOTES:
- I don't like writing scenes that contain absolutely nothing new. This 
is why I glanced over Ranma's explanation of his curse.

TEASERS:
How much trouble can Tenma get himself into? How will Shinji react after 
the next Angel attack? And what exactly happened to Ranma and Akane in 
all those years? Answers to these questions and many more in the next 
chapter.


-- Falc _ AKA Soshi Dai-Taka ~\\_ \\\\ Ancestral Math Teacher of the Hantei `\\\\\ "But of course, Shining Prince, 2 + 3 is indeed 8." |\\\\\ L5R(R1.3): \\\\\|__.--~~\ GM+++ PR+++ CC++ P SC++ S++ G+++ Y+ C++ CG++ U++ _--~ / /~ ////// _-~~~~' ****************************************** ('-//////-// * http://homeusers.brutele.be/bvannitsen * //////(((-) * Aut ultimum, aut nihil * /////" * ICQ n� 84535761 * _///" ****************************************** ~ .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----. | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com | | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com | | Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject | `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'