This is a repost, (I hope it works right this time!)

All Ranma characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, first
published
by Shogakugan in Japan and brought over to North America by Viz
Communications.



                                             From a Different Viewpoint.

                                                          Part 1.

     It was the first day of school at Furinkan High. A group of punks
had decided to start the school year off right by picking off the first
few students getting to the school for lunch money and just for kicks.
Dressed in the common high school uniform and wearing masks of  various
animals, they figured no one would be able to identify them.  Hiding in
an alley near the entrance they waited for a student walking alone. Soon
they spotted a likely target. A tall, thin gajin dressed all in black
turtleneck and pants, walking alone. As one they charged out of the
alley to surround him. "Ok gajin, give us all your precious metals and
yah won't get hurt!"
     The man had barely reacted to their charge, seemingly lost in
thought. As they surrounded him he stopped walking and took a long
glance around at them, apparently unconcerned, and without missing a
beat, walked quickly forward, slipping between two of them with casual
grace. His response was so puzzling that they failed to act until he had
already gotten a couple of yards away.
     The leader snapped "Hey! Stop!", and getting no response from the
gajin, pointed at him. "Get him!" he roared to his gang. Their
indecision broken, they again charged as a group. As they did, the gajin
turned about with a snap and faced them. They came to a halt before him.
He stood calmly, arms at his sides, his only reaction a mildly annoyed
frown.
     They stopped confused, where was the fear? Was he just stupid?
"What's wrong gajin?" The leader taunted "don't speak Japanese?"
      The strange gajin looked at him and slowly replied in a heavy
accent. " I-speak a little Japanese, I-understand-you".
     Yup, decided the group, an idiot. "Baka. baka! ha ha ha!". The
gajin's frown deepened for a second then disappeared, replaced by a
slowly widening smile. His foot moved back as his body eased into a
martial arts stance. His hands rose a bit and his grin reached his eyes.

     "You-are-making-a-mistake." he said haltingly, the grin never going
away.
     "Get him!" The leader cried and they charged again. The tall
gajin   sidestepped a clumsy attack and sticking out his leg, gave a
hearty shove to a punk wearing a cat mask, throwing him into two others.
The leader came in on his left, trying to grab him and got an elbow to
the face for his trouble. As he staggered back the tall stranger pivoted
to punch him in the gut. He collapsed and the fifth member of the gang
came around on his right. The black clothed man lashed out with a side
thrust kick to the chest and the last man went down.
     The gajin started to step back to survey the situation as the first
three he knocked down started getting up. They spread out to keep him
from taking them all down at once again and came at him more cautiously.
This time he took a couple of hits before getting loose. Uh oh, he
thought to himself, either I've gotten rusty or they breed a higher
quality punk around here. Five minutes later he was walking into the
school, wincing and limping a bit. He had given better than he had
gotten, barely; perhaps it was time to brush up on his martial arts.
     Johnathon had come to Japan from America to teach English at
Furinkan High, and his first day was shaping up to be pretty lousy. He
was directed to the principals office by a helpful janitor and met  the
vice principal there. At first the vice principal mistook him for an
exchange student and Johnathon had to break out his picture ID to prove
he was who he said he was. People tended to take him for about eighteen
instead of his actual twenty-five years of age. He should have kept the
mustache, he mused to himself. His first class  was during the second
period so he killed time wandering about the school checking out the
grounds. He noticed the Kendo Club sign and was a bit wistful. <Maybe I
can practice with them?>
     When he arrived he went to the front of the class and stood there.
He got some strange glances from the students as they sat waiting for
the teacher.  The tall gajin walked to the desk and spoke. "Hello class,
I am Johnathon Dwire, I will be your English instructor." Silence
reigned for several moments and then a spate of incredulous whispering.
After a minute of this he rapped a ruler against his desk to get their
attention and spoke up. "All right, does everyone have the required
text?.... Good, turn to page 8 and we will begin." The class went
relatively smoothly after that, even though his Japanese was rough and
he appeared young. The students of Furinkan High were better behaved
than those in an American high school and Johnathon
was pleased at the conclusion of his first day.
     The rest of the week was relatively uneventful. He had joined the
Kendo club at practice without too much trouble. The leader of the Kendo
club, Tatiwaki Kuno, was in his English class and "graciously allowed"
Sensei Dwire to practice. Kuno was good too, at Kendo at least, though
he wasn't much of a teacher. His Japanese was often too flowery for
Johnathon to understand:  he did only moderately well in his English
class, often popping up with something to say in english that was
usually incorrect. Johnathon did enjoy the sparring sessions with the
other students although he was disappointed that Kuno never sparred with
him. After a week Johnathon was winning almost every match but still
couldn't get Kuno to spar with him. Kuno was the best kendoist Johnathon
had ever seen and he knew that Kuno could teach   him many things about
the art, but he was impossible to pin down.       Johnathon preferred to
spar a superior opponent once in a while. That was when he learned the
most, but Kuno just wasn't interested in teaching a "gajin" anything.
He had other things on his mind, primarily a certain 16 year old girl by
the name of Akane Tendo. Johnathon learned of Tatiwaki's obsession after
the speech contest held on the last day of the first week of school. He
had declared to the school that only someone who defeated Akane in
combat could date her. This seemed to galvanize the male population of
the school. She had been popular for a while, but Kunos' challenge had
fired the spirit of dozens of  guys who otherwise would have been afraid
to approach her on normal terms. The first day that next week, they were
out in front of the school waiting for her arrival.
     Johnathon heard the ruckus and ran to the front doors to find out
what was happening. He saw the crowd running around outside and started
out to end the fight, but stopped as his elbow was lightly caught.
     "Don't worry sensei," said a girl with short brown hair and longish
bangs, "Akane can handle herself." Johnathon paused to look at her,
placing her as a student in one of his classes.
     "Tendo...Nabiki?" he stammered unsure of himself, "Are you
Akane's.....?"
     "Sister," she supplied helpfully, "and yes, I'm sure." she
pointed back outside and he turned to see that Akane Tendo was standing
amid the fallen bodies of perhaps two dozen male students.
     She started toward the front door after straightening her skirt,
but   stopped as a familiar form stepped into her path. It was Kuno,
carrying a boken.
     "Uh oh." Johnathon knew Kuno was very good, and was surprised when
Nabiki again stopped him.
     He looked back at her and she just winked and said, "Trust me."
Sure enough, as he turned back around Akane had gotten inside Kuno's
guard and punched him solidly in the face. Down he went and Akane walked
inside.
     Johnathon watched her go by bemused. What had happened out there?,
he wondered  to himself as he headed to the classroom. The next morning
he heard the noise of fighting outside again, but missed the action. He
decided to get a good view the following day, assuming this would happen
again. That morning, he went to a third story window before the school
opened and waited. Somehow he was not surprised when he was joined by a
small crowd of students, including Nabiki Tendo.
     Johnathon had noticed her more during class the last couple of
days. She was an excellent student, and seemed to have a small group of
close friends who consulted with her at every opportunity. They were
there too, and, he realized, they were taking bets! "Hmmm, interesting."
he murmured to himself. He looked down and saw the horde of male
students outside,  wielding various athletic gear. Members of every
sports club in the school, save the Kendo club, were there. Kuno had
probably fought them for the right to challenge her, or simply forbade
their coming, Johnathon wasn't sure.
     Johnathon had missed several meetings recently, having decided that
he couldn't learn much more without a superior opponent like Kuno, who
still ignored his requests to spar. He had considered joining the
fencing or Karate clubs but not too seriously. He was still pretty much
an outsider and not very welcome. Besides, he had been the number one
fencer at school for the three years he had studied fencing. Also, half
of the martial art styles he was familiar with were karate based. He
really wanted to learn something new....
     Akane showed up at the gate and charged in. Johnathon watched
intently and was amazed. She was dropping them like flies! Every blow
disabled an opponent, she was quite fast. <Faster than me?> Johnathon
wasn't sure, but he was certain that she was stronger than him. It was
incredible that she could be so powerful. She was about average height
for a Japanese woman and looked to be no more than 120 to 130 pounds,
but it was evident from the damage she was doing that she was very
strong. <Incredible.>
     He shook his head in astonishment. It seemed to him that her male
opponents were not fighting fully, and she was giving everything she
had, but still she was the best martial artist he had ever seen. <Wow.>
She was done in time to beat the bell, and today Kuno hadn't shown up,
so everyone started heading for class.
     The next day he was there on the third floor again, trying to
identify her martial arts style as she fought. She used mostly basic
moves, karate, jujitsu, kung fu...but did them so well he was again
amazed. He decided to talk to her. As his forth period English class let
out for lunch he motioned to Nabiki Tendo to come over to his desk. She
walked over, an interested expression on her face.
     "Tendo-san," he began politely, "I would like to talk to your
sister, could you arrange it?" She looked mildly interested and tilted
her head as if waiting for something. After a moment's pause, he got the
idea. "I will treat you two to coffee after school...if that is
acceptable?"
     She nodded and returned with a wry smile "Four  o'clock at the
coffee shop on the corner of eighth and main, all right?"
     "Yes," he replied,
     Nabiki smiled again and left. <Hmmm,> she thought to herself, <this
could be interesting.>
     At four o'clock he arrived at the coffee shop. Nabiki and Akane
were sitting in a booth and were both halfway through an appetizer.
Akane was saying something as he came up. "Your treat huh?"
     Nabiki responded as she waved for him to join them "You could say
that...Sensei, join us!" Johnathon did so and took one glance at the
empty dishes and coffee cups. He nodded to himself in resignation and
Nabiki smiled at an easy win. He looked at Akane then, who was looking
back at him suspiciously. He turned to the waitress who had come up and
ordered a Cream soda (he wasn't very fond of coffee) and turned back to
Akane.
     "Ah, Akane-san," he began, Nabiki had an amused look on her face
and Akane looked annoyed and a little confused. "I couldn't help but
notice your fights every morning..."
     Akane was wondering who this guy was. <Why did sis call this gajin
sensei?>
     He contniued,  "You are very skilled, I was wondering where you
were taught." Now it was Nabiki turn to look a little confused.
     Akane answered politely after a pause, looking less annoyed. "I
have been training since I was little in my father's dojo."
     "Ah!" Johnathon smiled appreciatively. "I have been looking for a
place to improve my martial arts. Would your father be willing to take
on a new student?" Both Nabiki and Akane looked surprised, then Akane
smiled while Nabiki looked a bit disappointed. Johnathon wondered what
they had been expecting.
     Akane was cheerily talking, "I'm not sure if my father will be
willing to take on new students, but if you'd like I could introduce
you. Have you studied any martial arts before....?" She paused,
realizing she did not know his name.
     Helpfully Nabiki supplied it.  "Sensei Johnathon Dwire, my English
teacher." Akane looked like she wanted to ask him a question, but
changed her mind.
     Johnathon broke the sudden silence. "Yes I have, a few different
styles, ever since I was eight."
     Akane and Johnathon chatted about various martial arts styles while
the waitress brought the bill. Nabiki, bored, excused herself, and
Johnathon paid the bill. He and Akane left together, still talking. She
lead him to her home, the Tendo dojo, and took him inside to meet her
father.
     "Father, this is Johnathon Dwire. He would like to become a student
here." Mr. Tendo politely asked about his prior training.
     Johnathon listed them off on his fingers. "Three different forms of
karate; jujitsu, boxing and wrestling, fencing and recently, kendo."
     "Why so many styles?" Mr. Tendo wanted to know.
     The young man answered simply  "At first it was because I moved
around a lot when I was a kid. When I got to a new place I would have to
start over again. Each time it got easier to learn the new style, and
each added to the next. In my third karate class I was ready to advance
to a belt in three days even though it was quite different than the
styles I had taken before.  I finally concluded that each style
complemented the others. I was thinking about a new style to take,
perhaps Aikido or Tai-Chi, but after I saw Akane fighting at the
school..." Johnathon nodded to Akane and shrugged "What can I say?"
     Mr. Tendo had nodded slightly to himself during Jonathan's
explanation. "Hmmm, all right Dwire-san let me show you the dojo and
I'll tell you a little about the School of Indiscriminate Grappling."
     They got up to go and suddenly Johnathon face faulted "The school
of what?"
     Akane grinned as she watched them go, then walked off to put on her
gi.  Dressed in her gi, she found "Dwire-Sensei" and her father in the
dojo.  Her father was earnestly expounding his school's tenets.
Johnathon was listening intently so that he wouldn't miss a word, (his
Japanese was still far from perfect).  Akane walked up to Johnathon.
"John-san, would you like to spar with me?"
     Mr. Tendo nodded happily "Excellent suggestion Akane."
     Johnathon turned to her his eyebrows raised in pleased surprise, "I
would love to Akane-san." he gave her a short bow and a pleased smile.
     Akane strode over to the center of the dojo. She got into a ready
stance, fists clenched, Johnathon stood casually, knees just slightly
bent, hands open at his sides.  He gave a formal bow, keeping his eyes
on her.  She was a lot shorter than him, and a bit lighter, but he had
seen how strong she was, how skilled.  He started thinking furiously
about how to hold his own.  She cried "Begin!" and charged with a
straight punch.  He started with his most recent style, blocking across
the body with a forearm.  She attacked again and again, the third time
with a kick, catching him in the side.
     <Too slow!> his mind screamed at him and instinctively he
backpedaled, switching styles.
He went back to the beginning, a style of blocking he called the "house"
defense that he had learned when he was eight years old.  It was a
nearly perfect defense, but left no openings to attack with.  Akane
continued to attack, while Johnathon defended frantically, slowly
gaining confidence, but still steadily retreating under her assault.
Johnathon had to turn to the right to keep from being driven up against
the wall.  Akane broke off her assault for a moment to gauge her
opponents defense.  <He is fast, just about as fast as me, but I think
my skill is greater, and I'm stonger than he is.>  His initial blocks
had been intended to drive her off balance and give him an opportunity
to counter attack, but they had been a bit too weak to do the job.
     Even as she paused, he attacked, going up on one leg, and lashing
out with the other again and again very rapidly.  She parried quickly,
moving back, and he followed, hopping on his left leg as he kicked again
and again with the right.  She blocked the fourth kick forcefully,
driving him off balance.  His fifth kick was sloppy and she snagged his
foot as it went by.  Before she could yank him off balance he dropped
his upper body like a rock, landing on his forearms and snapping his
left leg out to join his right.  It nearly caught her in the face, she
managed to dodge it but lost her grip on his leg.
     Akane was impressed with his quick reaction but was confident that
she had him pegged.  <He is was weaker than me, and not as skilled.>
She pursued him as he rolled backwards to his feet.  Akane struck,
knocking him backwards, even though he blocked her attack. He landed on
his back and rolled to his feet again.  Johnathon had to dodge and block
immediately, going fully on the defensive again.  He was starting to get
winded.  Johnathon started to grin wider and wider, feeling a serious
adrenaline rush starting as his unconscious realized how badly out
matched he was.
     Akane had been holding back a bit, at the smile she accelerated her
attack, going full out, and was a little surprised that Johnathon
continued to block her attacks.  She could tell that he was weakening
though, she would have him in a few minutes for sure.  She jumped over a
leg sweep and backed off for a second.  "You're pretty good," she said
cheerfully "are you sure you aren't here just so you can date me?"
     "Date-you?" he wheezed between breaths.  He was exhausted and Akane
was still fresh.  "You-are-a-bit-young-for-me."  With that he charged,
focusing all his energy into one final attack.  "Kiiaaa!" as he moved in
he started punching faster and faster, Akane could only block and dodge
the barrage.  Mr. Tendo on the side was counting under his breath,
"20-30-40.." Akane was driven back as one punch got through, then a
second, both only partially blocked.
     After about fifteen seconds Johnathon's attack faltered.  Akane
attacked with her own flurry of punches.  He was hit in the gut almost
immediately, even as he started to bend over from the blow a second
punch caught him in the cheek.  Johnathon dropped, barely managing to
roll enough with the blow to remain conscious.  He felt his head hit the
floor and shook it to fight back a wave of blackness.
     He was aware of Akane standing over him saying something but the
roaring in his ears drowned her out.  After a few minutes he sat up
slowly.  Akane knelt next to him looking relived.  He looked around, Mr.
Tendo was gone, and a beautiful woman holding an ice pack was walking
into the room.
     "Kasumi, this is Johnathon Dwire-san.  John-san, this is my older
sister Kasumi."  Akane made the introductions.  Kasumi put the ice pack
on his cheek and started to apologize for her violent sister.
     "That's all right," Johnathon stopped her, "best workout I've had
in years."
     Kasumi excused herself explaining that she had to prepare dinner.
"Would you care to join us for dinner Johnathon-san?"
     "Yes." he replied. "Thank you."  She bowed and left.
     Akane grinned at Johnathon and said "So what were you saying about
my being too young?"
     He looked at her, still a bit muddled.  "Hmmm?  Oh yes, well you
are sixteen right?  I am twenty five so sixteen is a little..." he broke
off. "Yes?" she was looking incredulous "No really, I am!"
     "Ok, if you say so."  Akane shrugged acceptance.  "You look
eighteen or so you know."
     He nodded "Yeah, I know, when I was sixteen I could still get
children's prices to get into places."  He laughed in remembrance, then
sobered.
     Johnathon looked seriously at Akane "Your father left do you think
he will agree to train me?"
     She laughed at his worried look.  "He left saying something about
90 punches in 15 seconds, I think he was impressed."
     "I'm glad to hear it."  Johnathon said as he rolled to his feet.
He winced and his chest twinged in pain.
     "Are you ok?" Akane asked, concerned.
     "I will be soon enough,"  he answered, "I just strained myself with
that last series of punches."
     Akane looked at him thoughtfully.  "I could sense your "chi"
focusing when you did that attack, you were really putting everything
into it."
     "I figured you could handle it."  Johnathon replied confidently.
"But doing that always strains the muscles in my chest, sometimes
afterwards it hurts to breath.  It's a bit beyond my skill  I'm
afraid."  Akane giggled and they walked out of the dojo, talking about
martial arts.  Dinner turned out to be excellent and afterwards Mr.
Tendo arraigned to train Johnathon two days a week, for a modest fee.

                                  The end of part 1.   Part 2 follows.