Ranma's Secret Admirer 2/4
by Trisha L. Sebastian


[Most of these characters are copyrighted to people who are not myself;
therefore, I am not getting any renumeration for this piece of fiction.
Yah hear me?  I'm broke, flat, stinkin' broke!!!]



	Nabiki slipped down the stairs with a telephoto lens in her hand.
She grabbed her bento from the counter where Kasumi was preparing break-
fast.  Quickly she picked out an apple and a small bag of chips from the
pantry and turning, she was about to leave when Kasumi stopped her.

	"Nabiki, aren't you going to have breakfast this morning?"

	"Nope," she said, taking a large bite out of the apple.  "I've got
some work I have to do this morning before school starts.  If Ranma and
Akane ask, tell them that I left early to meet with some associates of mine."
She spit a seed out into the wastebasket and opening the refrigerator door, 
she snagged a can of soda.  "Gotta run!"  She sped her way out the door, 
grabbing her camera bag and her book bag at the same time.  The door slammed
shut and Kasumi shook her head with a smile.


************************


	"Ranma!  Hurry up, we're gonna be late!"

	"In a minute, Akane!"  Ranma hurriedly stuffed some clothing into
his book bag, taking out his kanji book and his math book.  He mentally
checked his items, then satisfied, he shut his bag and tore open his door,
colliding with Akane.

	"Let's go!" he said, grabbing her arm and tugging hard on it.
Before she could protest, they had flown out the door and were running hard
down the street.

	"Hey, what's the rush?" she asked, trying her best to keep up with
him.

	"It's nothin' Akane, I just don't want to be late for school," he
muttered, his eyes darting from left to right, on the lookout for obstacles.
He vaulted over an overturned garbage can, veered right to avoid a telephone
pole and leapt to the top of an enbankment, scrambling down the other side.

	Akane shrieked, as she missed the pole by a mere centimeter and 
struggled to maintain her balance down the slope.  "Ranma, stop!" she
shouted.

	"No time for that, Akane!"  He poured on the speed, leaping to the
top of a fence and running full tilt across it, Akane shrieking and holding
his hand in a death grip.  His eyes were scanning the tops of the houses to 
the left of him when he heard a female voice shout, "Nihao, Ranma!"  

	Jumping off the fence, Ranma vaulted over a wall, just barely avoid-
ing a rapidly descending Shampoo.  Surprised by his sudden disappearance, 
she missed the rail of the fence and tumbled into the canal.  Surfacing, she 
gave a little start to see Ranma leaping from rooftop to rooftop, holding 
Akane's hand.  She cursed, hissing and crawled out of the canal.

	Ranma spied the gates from the top of the last house and jumped
off the roof.  Akane screamed and grabbed a hold of his back convulsively.
That's how the whole school saw them, Ranma falling from the sky, Akane's
arms and legs wrapped around him tightly.

	He landed with a thud, his legs bending deeply to absorb the fall,
his arms reaching back to shield Akane's legs and without pausing, he ran 
through the open gates.  Kunou stood flabbergasted in the middle of the path
and didn't even raise his bokken in a token defense before Ranma leaped to
the top of Kunou's head, bearing down with all his weight, causing
the kendoist to crumple in his tracks.  He dashed into the building and 
screeched to a halt in front of their lockers.  Ranma dropped Akane and she 
slid bonelessly to the ground.

	Quickly, he stuffed his bookbag into his locker and turned around,
seeing Akane slumped to the floor.  "Hey, what's wrong, Akane?" he asked, 
crouching down to her level.  Akane worked her mouth slowly, but he couldn't
hear a thing she said.  He leaned closer.

	"CRAZY BAKAYAROU!"  Akane scrambled to his feet and cuffed him on the
back of the head.  "You could have gotten us killed!  What in the world
did you think you were doing?"

	Ranma recoiled and shouted back, "Hey, you're always going on and
on about us being late for school.  Well, we're right on time, and you don't
even thank me for it, stupid tomboy!"  He put his hands into his
pocket and smiling secretly, he strolled down the hall.

	Akane growled and ran after him, mallet held high.


*********************


	I watched him all during class, replaying the scene from that 
morning, seeing him falling from the sky like a graceful swan... with Akane
stuck to his back, hugging him like a leech.  Why does Akane always have
to be so close to Ranma?  She noticed that he was holding her legs, too.
What could that mean?  Does Ranma really like Akane?

	I snorted.  By the way that they had entered the classroom, it
looked like they were anything *but* close.  Akane was chasing after Ranma,
batting him around with that gigantic mallet and he was hurling names at her.

	No, he could never like Akane, because he was always saying how he
hated tomboys like her.  He needed a girl like me, sweet, kind, gentle,
not someone who would bash him over the head and shriek in his ear.
He couldn't like any of them, because they beat him up so much.

	"Five minutes, and then the quiz will be over."

	I gave a guilty start.  Frowning, I looked down at the paper
in front of her and the doodles all over it.

	"Mrs. Saotome...  I love Ranma forever...  Death to Akane, Ukyou,
Shampoo and Kodachi..."  I sighed and crumpled up the paper, taking out
a new sheet and finishing up her math quiz.  I was so engrossed with the
last question that I didn't notice a hand reach over and steal the
crumpled ball of paper.


*************************


	Akane tapped her foot impatiently.  Where could that baka be?
Ukyou leaned against the lockers and sighed.  "So what was that all about
in class, Akane?  He acted like he had been poisoned."

	"Stupid Ranma, how dare he say that I made him sick!  My cooking's
not *that* bad!" she growled.  "He probably just wanted to get out of class
early.  When he gets back from the infirmary..."  Akane made a 
menacing gesture with her hands.

	Megumi laughed.  "He has been gone an awful long time.  Isn't he
going to be late for gym?"

	Ukyou grinned.  "What?  And miss a chance to show off in front of 
his friends?  Don't worry, he'll be there.  Come on, Akane, let's
go change."

	Akane sighed and let Megumi and Ukyou lead her off to the girls'
locker room.


*************************


	A figure stole out from the shadows.  She peeped around the corner,
and carefully adjusted her hair and blouse.  She took big breath and crept
into the quad.

	Ranma was in disguise.  Normally, Ranma's disguises are silly,
consisting of a large pair of horn-rimmed glasses, "borrowed" from her dad,
and a straw-colored wig.  This disguise was no different.

	To this, she added a black kerchief, tied under her nose, for this 
was no ordinary disguise.  This was Ranma's 'I'm being sneaky' disguise.
She tiptoed around the building, hugging the walls.  Spying a bush near her 
target, she sprinted towards it and dived into the bush.  She took some of
the branches and crawled over to the small building, shielding herself with
the branches.  When she reached the wall, she threw away the branches and
leapt to the roof, trying to make as little noise as possible.  She
crawled over to the center of the building and peered in through the skylight.

	There they were, all the girls in her class, chatting happily amongst
themselves.  Once in a while, one of them would say something that would
make them all roar with laughter, and then they'd continue undressing.
Carefully averting her eyes, Ranma eased over to the open pane
of glass for a better listening point.

	"Nihao, Ranma!"  Ranma gave a start as a black tire loomed ominously
overhead.  She tried to get out of the way, but Shampoo landed heavily on
her chest, sending them crashing through the skylight.  A chorus of terrified
screams greeted her as she landed on a bench, Shampoo on top of her.

	Shampoo threw down her bike and cuddled Ranma's head to her chest.
"Ranma is okay, now?  Why you run away from me when I come to go on date?"  
She hugged him more tightly to her, Ranma's arms pinwheeling, her vision 
getting blurry from the pressure to her temples.

	"Oh, I see what your game is now, Ranma!"  Akane strode up to them,
her shirt hastily buttoned.  "You pretend to get sick and then you take her
out on a date?"  She held her mallet up high.  "Die, Ranma!"

	Shampoo stopped Akane's swing with one hand.  "What you want, 
ugly tomboy girl?  You stay away from airen."  Shampoo pulled out her maces
and getting up to her feet, she faced off against Akane.  Ranma slumped
down, cracking her head against the floor.  "Is ready."

	Akane and Shampoo circled each other warily, with the rest of the
girls cheering on.  Ukyou and Megumi dragged Ranma out of the crossfire
and were trying to wake her up.  With a cry, Akane and Shampoo rushed at
each other, swinging away.  In the commotion and the fight, no one noticed
the black and maroon blur enter the girls' locker room.

	Happosai whizzed around in and out of the lockers, feeling
up all the girls, shouting, "What a haul, what a haul!"  He noticed Ranma
laying unconscious on the floor.  "Come to me, my dear!" he cried
out, leaping towards her chest.

	Simultaneously, Ukyou and Megumi launched high kicks at him, dropping
Ranma's head back onto the floor and booting Happosai back towards Shampoo's 
direction.  Without missing a beat, Shampoo parried one of Akane's thrusts
and with the other mace hurled him out the door, where the rest of the girls,
who had finished dressing, chased him with brooms, mops and large heavy 
objects.

	Kunou rushed in to the room, covering his eyes and loudly proclaimed,
"Ah! I know the villain Saotome is near at hand!  Doubtless he has defiled
all these girls in an attempt to add them to his harem.  Nonetheless, I,
Tatewaki Kunou, shall smite thee, O foul sorceror!"  He peered through a 
crack in his fingers.  "Where is the foul sorceror?"

	Unfortunately, Ranma chose this time to wake up.  She shook
her head to clear the cobwebs and saw Kunou standing valiantly 
at the entrance, with one hand over his eyes, the other clutching his
bokken dramatically.  She groaned, and his head swiveled towards the sound.

	"Dost mine ears deceive me, or do I hear the voice of my lovely 
pig-tailed goddess?"  Kunou uncovered his eyes and his face lit up with joy.
"Come with me, fair princess, and I shall save you from your torture!"
He ran towards her, just in time to be clocked by Akane's mallet, as
she over-extended a blow to Shampoo's torso.  Kunou fell towards Shampoo,
causing her to lose her balance and her grip on her mace, sending it flying
towards Ukyou, hitting her in the face.

	"Why you--!"  Ukyou scrambled towards Shampoo, flinging her
spatula-shuriken at the Amazon, who merely leapt out the door and taunted
both Akane and Ukyou from outside.  The two girls rushed out the door,
Megumi trailing behind, shouting after Ukyou.

	Ranma struggled to her feet, surveying the damage done to the
locker rooms.  Pausing to give Kunou an absent-minded boot into the 
stratosphere, she weaved her way to the door.

	"Well, that was effective," an amused voice spoke in Ranma' ear.
Ranma whirled around to find Nabiki grinning smugly, a camera with a tele-
photo lens in her hand.  "It wasn't a bad idea, eavesdropping on the girls
in your class to try and find out who your admirer is, but quite frankly,
scheming isn't your strong point."  She laid a friendly hand on his shoulder.
"Besides, I think I know who it is."

	"You do?  Who is it?"

	"I'm not exactly sure, but I've got a good suspicion."  Nabiki
steepled her fingers under her chin.  "Remember that favor you owe me
from yesterday?"

	Ranma grimaced.  "Yeah?" she asked, a wary tone in her voice.

	"I'm calling it in right now.  There's some things I need you to
do tomorrow.  Don't question it, just do it."  Nabiki smiled at Ranma.
"Trust me; I've got everything under control."

	Ranma sighed, "That's what I'm afraid of."  She shuffled off,
weaving slightly.  "What's the plan?"


****************************


TO BE CONTINUED......


AUTHOR'S NOTES:

06-09-98:  This is coming along quicker than I thought it would.  Changes
made to the first chapter is a switch from third person to first person
when the 'mystery girl' is mentioned.  Thanks to some comments made
on the first chapter, this will be a comfortable four chapters long,
with epilogue.

Any one have comments?  Send them to sebast5228@earthlink.net


Trisha L. Sebastian