Here's part 4, 5 will follow. Following this I'll go back
and work on 3 and hopefully expand 4. All the parallel
universe chapters so far have been A LOT smaller!

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Crossed Lives - Part 4
     Ranma Sensei
----------------------

Ranma straightened the belt on the gi that Akane had proudly presented
him with a few minutes ago and examined his reflection in the mirror.
The gi was red with an intricate dragon motif on the back which stretched
over his right shoulder. <Did Akane make this for me?>, he thought as he
struck a fighting pose and smiled.

"Stop posing!" Akane scolded him as she entered the room, "Your students
have started to arrive."

"Hai." He replied starting walking past her though the door.

"Hey, not so fast.", she grabbed him and kissed him before pushing him along 
ahead of her, "For luck!" She said.

----

The sun shone through the thin walls of the dojo casting a grid of
shadows over the floor. Ranma stood nervously in front of his new
students, he cast his mind back to what his and Akane's father had
said before he left the house for the dojo.

"Good luck, son!" Soun had said patting him on the back.

"Start with some kata's and work from there, I have faith in your abilities,"
his father had said.

<Even if something is very wrong here I can't fail them. Not with them
putting their trust in me to teach their first new batch of students
in months.> Ranma thought, swallowing his nerves.

"Good afternoon, I am to be your sensei as you learn the art of kenpou, you
may call me Ranma Sensei or just Sensei," Ranma told his students, starting
to feel more confident as he looked at them. Some of them were gazing up at
him in awe, others with boredom and one girl near the back had a glint in
her eyes that he recognised with a gulp.

"I will start by demonstrating a few warm up kata's that we will perform
every week before proceeding, watch me closely and then try to duplicate
my actions."

Ranma started to perform one of the simplest kata's he knew, out of the
corner of his eye he could see a few of the more eager students try to
copy his moves immediately. As he finished, the bored looks were gone
replaced with looks of marvel.

"OK now you try." Ranma watched as his students clumsily tried to duplicate
his moves, he couldn't help a small smile as one of them fell over after
losing his balance. This soon vanished and he went over to help him up and
then proceeded to show him where he had gone wrong...

----

Akane sat at her desk doing the homework she was unable to do earlier because
of her trip to doctor Tofu's. Nabiki lay on the bed reading a magazine she had
brought in with her.

"So what was wrong with Ranma this morning?" She asked looking up at Akane.

"Oh, just a touch of temporary amnesia," she replied quietly.

This made Nabiki sit up and stare at Akane, "You don't seem too bothered about
it."

"Oh, doctor Tofu sounded slightly surprised but gave me something he said
would help."

"And has it?"

"Well Ranma seems to be acting perfectly fine now, so it must have done," she
turned around to look at Nabiki, who did not look convinced.

<Something's not right here and I intend to find out what, she's my sister and
besides there might be some money in it!>, Nabiki looked back down at her
magazine but her mind was on other things.

Akane just shrugged and went back to her homework.

----

A few hours later Ranma sat on the steps of the dojo as he watched his 
students leave, he gave a contented sigh.

<Wow, I never realised how satisfying teaching would be, I wonder if pop
felt like this while watching me learn>, he leaned back and closed his
eyes.

"From your expression I assume it went well?"

Ranma opened his eyes to see Akane peering over him, one of her
stunningly cute smiles on her face.

"Un", he replied and started to close his eyes again.

"You're all sweaty and you're just lying there, Bathroom. Now!" She told
him trying to look stern, but failing.

"Oh all right", he replied.

<Why am I not arguing with her>, He thought to himself as he walked back
towards the house. <I'm not starting to like this place, am I?>

Confused and trying to sort things out in his mind, Ranma opened the door
to the bathroom stepped inside and slid the door shut behind him.

----

Ranma lay on the roof of the Tendo house gazing up at the stars, thinking.

<I can't tell Akane what has happened, she probably wouldn't believe me
anyway. No one else seems to think anything is wrong, so it must just be
me, anyway what is there to go back for?>

A series of pictures went through his mind, Akane's smiling face in the
morning, Akane looking worried in doctor Tofu's clinic, the eager look
in his students eyes.

<It almost makes me wish I had married Akane>, he couldn't help but laugh
at this, <marry that uncute, tomboy what am I thinking?>

As sleep slowly took him, he sees another series of pictures, the Akane he 
knows spraying him with water so she can carry him home, slapping him during
his fight with ryouga, hitting him with a mallet for insulting her cooking.

<I wonder what made the difference....>

A few minutes later Akane's head appears peering over the edge of the roof.

"I thought you might be here," she says quietly almost to herself, putting
down the blanket she had brought with her she settled down next to him and
pulled it over them both.

"Still it is a nice night, goodnight Ranma." She says kissing him on the
forehead before she too drifts off to sleep.

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Yes Nabiki's on the case now! Can Ranma keep his secret?
This chapter flowed a bit more smoothly than the third, are the chapters too
short though? I'm having difficulty keeping them the size they are now.
Perhaps when I've finalise the plot, I can come back and insert some more?

Anyway, did the teaching part work, having only memories of what my brother
told me about his kick boxing lessons!, I am unsure of the accuracy. Any
pointers here would be appreciated, basically I was just trying to show a
different side of Ranma. Hopefully this whole experience will change him
slightly for the better? Well maybe!


+-----------------------------------------------------------+
|   csuos@csv.warwick.ac.uk   matbad@dcs.warwick.ac.uk      |
|    http://www.csv.warwick.ac.uk/~csuos/default.html       |
|        Student of Akane's Cookery Masterclass!            |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+