Hi, I just felt like reposting this little piece with some of the
changes I have made, I guess I just don't want you to think I've given up on
writing it. BTW, for those who liked my replacing Ranma's forcefield with a
pair of pens, I thought it was better myself, but I still wasn't satisfied so I
changed it again. What do you think of this version?
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Legal: The characters of Ranma 1/2 were created by the great Rumiko
Takahashi.
I am using them without permission, hopefully for the purpose of
entertaining someone. If anyone who has a right to sue me has that
desire, I have almost no money.
C&C is appreciated, you can contact me at
brenda02@sprynet.com
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A Ranma 1/2 Fanfict
Surreal Genius
By Brendan O'Donnell
Part two
"He's in your class, you show him to school." Nabiki called
back to Akane as she ran out of the house.
"Hey Nabiki, that's not fair." Akane shouted as she ran down
the hall, right into Ranma, who was wearing his red and black Chinese
clothes and closing his schoolbag.
Ranma looked at her with an apologetic look on his face and
said "I do need someone to show me the way to school."
Akane took a deep breath and relaxed. "Ok let me be your
guide." She responded with a big smile.
"Thanks."
The pair walked to school, Akane on the sidewalk, Ranma
striding on top of the fence.
"Remember don't say a word about any engagements. I don't
want people getting the wrong idea." Akane said to Ranma.
"Don't worry, As I see it, the whole engagement thing is not to
be considered for an entire year."
"Ok." Akane walked a few more feet in silence. Then she
slowed down slightly and said quietly "You were serious, right? About
calling the engagement off if we didn't want it?"
"Of course. That's the right thing to do."
"Good." She increased her pace again. Looking at Ranma she
saw him effortlessly matching her on the fence. "Why are you up there
anyway?"
"Dad always used to make me do a lot of balance exercises.
It's... reassuring to know they're still second nature."
"You've been training for a long time?"
"Started before I could walk. And Pop's always trying to come
up with different challenges to make sure I keep improving." He
jumped off the fence and started walking next to Akane. "He
sometimes shouts at me about my not devoting myself wholeheartedly
to the Arts, but Mom knows how to calm him down. Besides I've
always surpassed whatever standards he's tried to impose on me."
The two continued their trip quietly.
"Well there's the school," Akane said as they picked up the
pace and started jogging down the final block. "Oh yeah, don't get in
my way."
"Are you expecting something to happen." Ranma said as he
looked at the school. There seemed to be a large crowd standing in the
courtyard, and all of them were looking their way.
"It's all that damn Kuno's fault!" Akane said as she broke into a
run. The figures in the courtyard began running toward them as well.
"When will you give up and leave me alone!" She screamed at the mob
as she met it.
Ranma had held off on matching her last bit of acceleration, and
when the mob reached Akane he recalled her request and jumped over
the crowd landing on the wall around the school. He then looked over
the two to three dozen students in athletic outfits, all fighting Akane, and
he could almost immediately see how the odds stacked up. The mob
didn't stand a chance. A few seconds later Akane finished confirming
his assessment.
"I wish they'd all give up one of these days." Akane said to
herself as she looked at her opponents and caught her breath. She
glanced at Ranma who was squatting on top of the wall looking at her
with an analytical look on his face
She looked away from Ranma and started toward the door
when she sensed something being thrown at her. She caught it and saw
it was a red rose. With a little groan she turned and looked at the
source of the projectile.
"Once again these churls fought for the chance to ask for your
hand, what fools!" Said a tall kid in a Kendo outfit as he stepped from
around the tree, holding a wooden practice sword in his hand. He
continued "And now it is time for..." And his monologue stopped, as he
saw Ranma Jump down to land at Akane's side.
"And who might you be who dares to stand so close to the fair
Akane Tendo?"
"Ranma Saotome." Ranma replied as he looked Kuno over.
"Ranma Saotome know that you address the greatest fighter of
this school. I am the rising star of the high school Kendo world, my
opponents tremble at the sound of my name! My peers call me the
Blue Thunder of Furinkan High! I am Tatewaki Kuno, age 17. And
what, Ranma Saotome, grants you the courage to approach Akane
Tendo."
"I'm the heir of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial
arts." Ranma replied, adding "And I'm a guest of the Tendo's while I'm
attending school."
"What! You think yourself worthy to share a dwelling with the
Beauteous Akane!" Kuno shouted as he ran toward Ranma.
Ranma casually jumped out of the way as Kuno's downward
slash with the wooden practice sword passed through the air where
Ranma had stood and sliced a large gash in the wall. Ranma took off
his schoolpack as he moved through the air and tossed it to Akane as
he landed. "Hold this please."
"Is there any particular reason you're attacking me?" Ranma
asked as he dodged another series of strikes by Kuno.
*He's Good* Thought Kuno as he contemplated Ranma's
evasion of his attacks.
"My father is an old friend of her fathers from their training days.
I'll be staying at the Dojo for a while. And why are you so concerned
about Akane and who she associates with?"
"On the day I prove my worthiness by defeating her in combat
she will be free to admit her love for me, and I will not allow you to put
that day off by your interference!"
Ranma glanced ad Akane who was looking at Kuno with an
increasingly angry look and said, "Have you ever considered what
she'd say about that prediction?"
"Enough talk!" Kuno responded as he rushed Ranma sword
swinging down. Ranma avoided the slash by jumping into the air.
Kuno looked up to see Ranma dropping from the height he had
risen to, and swung his sword up in another attack. Ranma struck at
Kuno with the first two fingers of his right hand. Both aimed for their
opponents heads.
It started to rain.
Ranma felt the change occur, and decided that the fight needed
to be ended. As his feet touched the ground, he swung up his left leg in
a fast circular kick which knocked Kuno across the schoolyard.
Ranma immediately ran into the school.
"Hey didn't Ranma look a little different all of a sudden?"
"I could have sworn he shrank, but that's impossible."
"Yeah, must have been an illusion."
"Damn, the rain wasn't due till around ten." Ranma commented
as she took her pack back from Akane. Reaching into it she pulled out
a thermos with which she shifted back to his original form.
"How would you know?" Akane asked as they walked to their
classroom.
Ranma pulled out a small radio tuned to the weather channel
and said "I've had a good motivation to learn about Meteorology."
"HE'S HER FIANC…E?!" Kuno screamed in the class.
"Kuno, that's not what I said." Nabiki responded.
"Then..." Kuno started but was cut short by an eraser thrown
by the teacher.
"KUNO stand in the hall!"
"yes sir"
"And so... Mr. Saotome, if this is so simple what do you think
the answer is!?" The teacher said as he glared at Ranma's Yawning
face.
Ranma blinked in surprise a moment, then glanced at the
equations on the board. "935 units squared, right."
"... Uh, yes, but it's the process that's important."
Ranma silently stood and walked to the board. Pausing to put
on a pair of reading glasses he wrote out a very quick and accurate
solution to the extensive integral equations. "Any questions?"
At this moment the door of the room slammed open and Kuno
stormed in dressed in the mornings kendo outfit again. "Ranma
Saotome, I WILL NEVER ACCEPT YOUR ENGAGEMENT TO
AKANE TENDO!!"
Immediately all the boys in class were shouting at Ranma for
becoming engaged to Akane while all the girls were pestering Akane for
details.
"HOLD IT!" Ranma called out, then he stepped backward to
avoid a downward slash from Kuno's wooden practice sword. *Damn,
I can't let this disrupt class! Hmm...* He dropped the piece of chalk
he was holding onto his foot. With a sigh he closed his eyes, raised his
left hand and rubbed his forehead as though trying to ease a headache.
*That's a Deception Stance.* Akane thought to herself. *If
Ranma's fast enough to pull it off...*
With a cry of "I have you now!" Kuno stepped forward raising
his shinai in preparation for a fierce downward strike. With a quick
motion of his foot Ranma tossed the chalk under Kuno's descending
foot. Kuno was good enough not to stumble, but the distraction of
keeping his balance kept him from noticing Ranma grabbing his Shinai
with both hands while swinging up his right leg to kick him in the face.
Kuno stumbled backward disarmed.
"Heh, no real challenge." Said Ranma *Damn, I shouldn't
antagonize him!* He thought to himself. *Always try to avoid creating
enemies unnecessarily.*
"You dare mock the Tatewaki Kuno! The vengeance of
heaven is slow but sure, and I am the most favored warrior beneath the
heavens!"
*Of course this moron's likely to see me as a rival no matter
what I do. Well, maybe I can slow it down.* "Hold it! I was just
trying to keep class from being too badly disrupted. Now as to your
reason for barging in here, Akane and I are not engaged. I'm merely a
guest of the family at this time."
"But Nabiki Tendo said,"
"When I arrived my father and hers wanted to engage us, but I
talked them out of it. I'll stay there for one year, and then if there's any
engagement to be made we'll be the ones to make it."
Kuno stood still trying to figure out what was going on. This
ended when the teacher whacked him on the head with a ruler while
stating "You have Detention for the rest of the week! Now go stand in
the hall!!"
"yes sir."
After an otherwise quiet day Akane, Ranma and Nabiki started
home, Ranma wringing water from her pigtail as she walked toward the
gate. "Damn, why don't they look where their throwing that water."
She sighed and added "If only I hadn't used up all my hot water this
morning. I'll have to work on something to deal with that. Oh great."
the final statement was a reference to Kuno's decision to stand in front
of the gateway.
"Where is Ranma Saotome." He called out.
Akane looked at Ranma and said, "He got called away."
"Ha, the cowardly cretin fled in fear of my invincible skill! Truly
he is no real man!"
Ranma responded to this statement with a quick kick to Kuno's
stomach. "If you want to fight me, Tell Me!" She added angrily.
Kuno shook his head and stepped back up to the trio. "How
amusing." Kuno replied as he readied his Shinai. "Very well, I shall
accept your challenge, and if you win I shall allow you to date with me!"
he said as he stepped forward slashing at Ranma.
"I don't want to date with you!" Ranma replied as she jumped
over the blow and landed on Kuno's sword with her left leg. As Kuno
stared at her leg, she leaned forward and kicked him in the face with a
hard blow by her right leg.
Kuno collapsed and just lay there as the trio walked past (and
on in Ranma and Akane's case) him. *She is formidable! and such
beauty!* he thought just before passing out.
"Well, I hear you two had a full day." Nabiki said to Akane
and Ranma as they walked together from school.
"Well, it was nice to see that even after a two year break the
subjects are still so easy." Ranma said with a grin. "But I expect you're
talking about Kuno's reaction when you told him that Akane and I are
engaged?" He added with a serious look which was echoed by Akane.
Nabiki took a step back from the two glares and responded
"Hey, I was just explaining why you were at the Dojo and he ran off
right after I mentioned that Daddy was thinking of engaging you and
Akane."
"Actually that was you." Akane replied in an annoyed tone.
"Well I managed to explain the full story to Kuno later, and I
think he's got it. Of course you can never tell with Kuno."
Ranma glanced at her watch. "Excuse me, I've gotta drop by
Noriko's school."
"Expecting trouble?" Nabiki asked.
"Noriko's a good kid!" Ranma said in an annoyed voice.
"Although she does have a bit of a temper and a tendency to overreact.
Anyway Mom wanted me to walk her home her first day."
"Well, do you need someone to show you the way?"
"Actually dad and I passed in on our way to the Dojo
yesterday."
"So what do you think?" Nabiki said as she and Akane
continued on to the Dojo alone.
"What do you mean, Nabiki?" Akane responded.
"About Ranma! Are you sorry he messed up that engagement
thing yesterday?"
"No way!" Akane responded angrily. Then she smiled and
added, "He is a lot nicer than I was expecting, but I don't intend to
marry anyone I don't want to."
Nabiki shrugged her shoulders and responded. "OK, no
engagement talk. But I hope you don't mind if I take that as an
invitation to see what he's like myself?"
"I thought you didn't want him?"
"I didn't want to be engaged to him. I don't mind getting to
know him. I'd especially like to know if there's anything profitable in his
future." Nabiki responded with a smirk and a wink.
"I might have guessed." Responded Akane as she rolled her
eyes.
*This is the place.* Ranma thought as she approached the
elementary school. Hearing a loud Kiah she thought *And that confirms
it.* She ran along the street to the source of the little battle cry, a tight
circle of school kids. Her six year height advantage allowed her to see
into the center of this circle, where Noriko was circling with a boy who
was about a foot and a quarter higher than her. Noriko was smiling, the
sun glistening off the faint sheen of perspiration from a workout. The
boy had a very uncertain look on his face and seemed to be sweating
enough to fill a bathtub. Ranma decided the older kid could use a way
out.
"Hey sis!" She called out as she casually leaped over the crowd
to land next to Noriko. Her opponent flinched away from Ranma's
sudden appearance, Noriko turned her head at her and told her to butt
out of the fight.
Her opponent took this opportunity to back up to the crowd,
and pausing he said "You're lucky she showed up!"
Ranma didn't want to let some honor feud develop between
Noriko and this kid, but she also knew how Norkio felt when she
interrupted her fights. "Hey, when she tells me to back off, I back off."
she said as she stepped back from Noriko.
The older kid regarded Noriko with a slightly alarmed
expression which he quickly suppressed. "We'll finish this another
time!" He shouted as he turned and made his way through the crowd
and down the street as fast as he could without actually seeming to run.
With his departure the crowd began to disperse and wander home
Noriko looked after him with a furious expression, which she
quickly turned on her elder brother. "What's the idea of interfering
Oniichan?!"
Ranma sighed and shook her head. "Noriko, you should
always leave your opponent a way to retreat honorably unless you want
to begin a blood feud. That kid knows you're better than he can
handle, but you haven't beaten him up so he doesn't have to retaliate to
save face. I don't think either of us want to deal with Mom learning that
your grades are suffering because your too busy fighting your
classmates."
Noriko still looked annoyed, but she deflated her anger and
said "Ok, Oneechan." She then glared at her and added. "But if you
interfere with a fight of mine again..."
"Don't worry I'm not that sort of brother." Ranma responded
as the two of them set off for the Tendo home.
"Hello Mrs. Saotome," Nabiki and Akane said as they entered
their home and saw her sipping tea with Kasumi.
"Ah hello, Nabiki, Akane." Nodoka responded to the pair with
a smile. "But no need for the formality, just call me aunt." She looked
past them and asked "Where's Ranma?"
"He went to walk Noriko home." Akane replied.
"Ah, I hope she hasn't gotten into any fights." Nodoka replied
with a worried look on her face. "Maybe I should have been more
firmly against her training with Genma."
"You didn't want her training?" Said Nabiki in a curious voice.
"Noriko became interested in training when she was five. I
thought the art wasn't appropriate for a young lady, but she refused to
let go of the idea. I did teach her Kendo, and she showed definite
talent, but she secretly asked Ranma for training and spied on his
training with Genma." Nodoka smiled and shook her head. "After she
tried to follow Ranma and Genma on one of their training trips I let her
study with Genma, but the big trip to China was the first real training trip
she's been on."
Akane looked down and said "I haven't been on any kind of
training trips myself." in her mind she was replaying her match with
Ranma, and considering all the small ways Ranma kept demonstrating
how much better he was at Martial arts than she was.
"We're back!" Cried Noriko from the front door.
"Welcome back!" Called Nodoka as she rose and walked to
meet her two children. Leaning over she asked Noriko "So, how was
your first day of school!" She said, then she frowned and looked closer
at Noriko. "Noriko! you got into a fight again, didn't you?!"
"He started it! I was just minding my own business when this
big bully started picking on this kid sitting next to me at lunch. What
was I supposed to do, stand by and let him?"
"You're supposed to have a little more concern for your own
welfare, young lady." Nodoka said, standing up straight and glaring
down at Noriko.
"Well, from what I saw she totally outclassed him." Ranma
commented.
Nodoka turned her gaze on him. "So you just stood by while
your sister was assaulted by a pack of ruffians?"
"Ruffian, they were fighting one on one. And the first thing I did
was disrupt the fight." Ranma then grinned and added "I wouldn't
worry mom, Noriko's just shown everyone in her class that she's not
one to be messed with, it should help discourage further trouble this
year."
"Unless the class has someone like Kuno." Akane muttered.
Nodoka turned and looked at Akane.
Akane's sister Kasumi had acquired quite a few skills after
taking over keeping the house when their mother died. One of the less
used skills was a way of looking at someone that left them almost
paralyzed in fear. Akane and Nabiki had long since developed a strong
desire to avoid provoking this glance. Now Nodoka looked at her, and
Akane suddenly realized how much her sister could improve. "What
was that Akane?" Nodoka asked.
"Uh, I... I was just mentioning a guy in Nabiki's class, she can
tell you about him." Akane responded, provoking a quickly suppressed
glare from Nabiki.
Nabiki looked at Nodoka, and started explaining "Well, his
name's Tatewaki Kuno, and I guess he's got a bit of a martial arts fetish.
He keeps pestering Akane for dates, challenging her to fights, and is
absolutely convinced that she is interested in him despite being
constantly told that's not the case." She shook her head "Plus there's
the fact that last year he made this public announcement that no one
could ask Akane out unless he could beat her in combat, so now sis has
to deal with a mob at school every morning."
Nodoka looked at Ranma and asked him "Were you sitting this
fight out as well?"
"I was watching in case she needed help, she didn't. Of course
when I tried to talk to her afterward Kuno took it as a personal insult
and attacked me." Ranma thought a moment then added, "I'd say that
in skill terms he's a little better than Akane, but definitely not up to my
standards."
Akane glared at Ranma and retaliated "Excuse me?! I'll have
you know that I fight Kuno every morning, and I have never lost!"
"He lets you win." Ranma stated bluntly.
For a second all Akane could see was the color red. Then she
found herself looking into the backyard, at Ranma who she vaguely
recalled throwing into the pool.
"Why'd you do that!" Ranma called as she jumped from the
pool.
"All right, let's see if you're as good as you claim!" Akane
shouted as she walked into the yard and dropped into a preparatory
stance.
Ranma sighed and crossed her hands behind her back.
*Wouln't take me seriously, eh?* Akane thought as she started
toward Ranma. Then a voice held her back.
"Akane, Ranma. This isn't the time." Nodoka said as she
walked to the doorway. The pair looked at her.
"Uh, sorry Aunt Nodoka." Akane said, her face turning slightly
red.
Ranma sighed and looked at Akane. *Yeah, she lost her
mother a while ago.* he thought sadly to himself. Pushing the thought
aside he said "Akane, we can talk in the Dojo, OK?"
"Ranma," Said his mother in a calm tone with a undertone of
warning "We are guests in her house."
"Mom, I know the role of a guest." Ranma said looking at her.
Then he turned to look at Akane and added "And I know that Akane's
quite skilled at Anything goes with definite potential." He grinned and
with a raised eyebrow at Akane while saying "So feel in the mood for a
little practice?" Turning to his sister he said. "Noriko could use a little
at least."
"Huh! I'm going to knock you flat today Sis!" Said Noriko as
she walked into the Dojo.
"I keep telling you not to call me that!" Responded Ranma as
he walked in after her. He paused at the threshold and looked back.
"Coming Akane?"
Akane looked at the siblings, then with a scowl she followed
them into the Dojo with the words "This time I wouln't hold back any
Pervert! Wait, excuse me, Idiot!!"