For the few of you who are reading this, sorry it took so long. Like I
said, I was reconsidering my decision on what gender to bring Akane to
school as...
I had origanally brought her to school as a guy, but reconsidered, wanting
to diverge from Ranma 1/2 as soon as possible... I re-outlined the whole
series, bringing her to school as a girl, but that plot line kinda dead
ended.
Plus, I kinda viewed upon it as crucial that their engagement be public
knowledge. More on why later.
C&C, MST, anything at all... Please?
=======================
Michael Won <skeezy5@geocities.com>
=======================
Akane 1/2
by skeezy5
=======================
Ranma 1 / 2 etc. all belong to Rumiko Takahashi...
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Part Three - Welcome to Furinkan
=======================
"School?" Akane-kun looks up at the eldest Saotome son.
"Yes, you know, as in place of education?" Akama replies with
sarcasm. "Looks like you're going to be here for a while, might as well
go, ne? I thought about your curse a bit and registered you as a boy.
It'll be easier to avoid hot water than it will be to avoid cold water,
especially with the weather as it is."
"But I'm a girl!"
"Akane, would you like to have your curse revealed in public?"
Akama raises an eyebrow at Akane-kun.
"Err... no."
"Then you'll go to school as a guy. Go get ready. Tenma and
Ranma will be leaving soon."
"Actually, I'll be seeing you there Akane, I'm leaving right now."
Tenma smiles and runs by, dressed in a school uniform instead of his
usual robe.
"Tenma, wait! I'll go with you!" Ranma comes running down the
stairs, his skirt billowing as he jumps the last five steps.
"Ranma, Akane is your fiancee, remember? You should walk her...
er, him to school." Tenma waves and leaves the house. Ranma and Akane-
kun turn to look at each other, then spin away with matching scowls on
their faces.
^_-
"We are not going to get married, you know." Ranma grumbles,
glancing at Akane-kun, who is walking on the fence next to the road.
"You're tellin' me?" Akane-kun looks at Ranma in disbelief. As
if she was interested in the jerk.
"So don't hang around me in school."
"What, you afraid I'll tell all your friends that you're a
transvestite?" Akane-kun readies herself for a counter-barb, but Ranma
is no longer paying attention to her. She watches in curiosity as Ranma
enters through the gates of a clinic and knocks on the door.
"Oh, hello, Ranma." A tall man wearing glasses opens the door and
greets him.
"Doctor Tofu, I was wondering if Kimiko's still here?"
"Oh, no. She left a while ago with Tenma." Dr. Tofu adjusts his
glasses and looks up at the strange boy standing behind Ranma. "Is this
your betrothed?"
"Uhh... I guess Tenma told you." Ranma makes a mental note to
yell at his brother later.
Dr. Tofu frowns and whispers to Ranma, "Does he know that
you're..."
"Umm... Yeah. Its a long story. Can I tell you later?" A large
bead of sweat forms on the back of Ranma's head. *Barely going to make
it to school on time as it is. No time for lengthy explanations.*
"Sure, Ranma." Dr. Tofu merely shrugs.
Ranma begins to turn away, then a frown creases his face. "Did
Tenma tell Kimiko too?"
"Why yes. Kimiko asked where you were, and Tenma told us you'd be
coming with your 'fiance'."
Ranma grimaces at this news, and makes a mental note to do
something really nasty to his brother later. "Thanks, Doctor."
Once they are back on their way to school, Akane-kun asks, "Who
was that guy?"
"Doctor Tofu, the chiropractor."
"Martial arts master, too, isn't he?"
"Huh? How could you tell?" Ranma looks up in surprise at Akane-
kun, who is walking on a wall now.
"He was radiating ki like a master. His aura was very smooth."
*Show off. Pretending like she knows something.* Ranma grumbles
inwards but decides he doesn't have enough time to get into a fight at
the moment. "Yeah well, he's been the family Doctor since I was born.
He's really good at that too."
"I see. So who is Kimiko?"
"Nobody." Ranma feels the slight blush form on his face, but
angrily shakes his head. Though he was going to say something more, he
frowns inwardly, seeing the school gates coming up. Ranma breaks into a
sprint, watching the crowd that is waiting in the courtyard take notice
of his arrival.
Akane-kun picks up her pace and runs after Ranma. Her eyes bug
out as she sees the stampede that is emerging from the school gates.
"Huh?"
"Ranma! Don't come any closer!" Closer inspection reveals a
sizable crowd of boys, mostly dressed in various marital arts and
athletic attire. The boys are running at Ranma and various ones at the
front are yelling. "They all want to beat you!"
"Out of my way! I'm late!" With that cry, Ranma dives upstream
into the flow of testosterone charged teenagers. Akane-kun jumps on to
the post of the school's main gate, watching in amusement as Ranma
proceeds to flatten each and every one of the boys.
*Maybe he's not so bad... God, I'd hate to be fighting in a
skirt. But what the heck is this all about?* As if hearing her
thoughts, a voice rings out.
"Akane! Get in this school! Now!" Akane-kun looks up to see
Tenma leaning out a window.
"But... But..." She points at the ongoing melee.
"Don't worry about Ranma!" Even as Tenma yells, Ranma knocks down
the last of the boys. He adjusts his skirt as he catches his breath.
"For Pete's sake. Every morning! What a drag!"
"Truly. Such a boorish lot. Evidently each of them intends to
ask you out, Ranma..." Akane watches as a tall figure steps out from
behind a tree. His boken and manner of dress mark him as a kendoist.
"...on the dawn that he finally defeats you."
"Oh. Upperclassman." Ranma's exasperated voice is full of
derision at the title. "Good morning."
"And now, Saotome Ranma..." He flings an envelope which Ranma
catches between two fingers. "...Might you fight with me?"
Akane-kun jumps off the post and lands next to Ranma at this exact
moment. "Man. You're popular, aren't you?"
"Stay out of the way. You'll get hurt." Ranma glances at Akane-
kun with annoyance.
"What's going on?"
"You'll see." Ranma sighs.
Trying to regain the spotlight, the kendoist points his sword at
the new boy and asks, "You there!
"What?"
"Why are you interrupting a man to... a challenge?"
"Tell him Ranma. Ranma?" Akane-kun turns to Ranma, who has an
expression of absolute innocence pasted on his face. Obviously, Tenma
isn't the only one that inherited a bit of Mrs. Saotome's expressions.
"Tell him what?"
Seeing that the two teens' attentions are once again drifting away
from him, the kendoist yells out, "Who are you boor? Ah! But it is
custom to give one's own name first! Fine, then! Mine I shall give!"
"Huh?" Akane-kun, who had been ready to give her name, stalls.
"If you want..."
"My name is Upperclassman Kuno. Junior. Group E. Captain of the
Kendo Club. Undefeated new star of the high school fencing world. But
my peers call me... the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!" A crash of
thunder marks his statement, and Akane-kun looks up in wonder at the
clear sky.
"I'm heir to the Tendo school of Anything Goes Martial Arts."
Akane-kun tosses her bag at Ranma. "I am Tendo Akane. And I accept
your challenge."
Kuno brings his sword up engarde, and Akane-kun drops back into a
relaxed stance. The two of them eye each other, trying to gauge their
relative strengths. Watching this, Ranma buries his face in his right
hand. "You are so annoying."
"Eh? So you scoundrel, you are hounding Ranma here?" Kuno takes
a small step forward, readying to charge. His sword is placed high, in
a strong offensive stance. "I, upperclassman Kuno shall bring you to
justice."
"So who's 'hounding' anybody?"
"That's not who I was talking about, Kuno!" Ranma shakes his head
in exasperation, knowing that they are all going to be late. *Stupid
girl, why does she have to butt in on my fight?*
"Silence fool!" With a battle cry, Kuno charges in, bringing his
boken down in a vicious slash. Akane-kun almost seems to flicker as she
dodges out of the way faster than the eye can track. The wooden sword
cuts into the school wall, though, demonstrating the deadly force of
Kuno's attack.
"Blast!" Kuno pulls his sword out of the wall and attacks again,
slashing at the tree that Akane-kun jumped on to. The tree is cleanly
bisected by the blow, but again, Akane-kun has moved out of the way.
"Now hold on!" Akane-kun dashes in, getting under Kuno's guard
before he can even blink. "Let me make this perfectly clear..."
"Eh?" Kuno almost stumbles back, amazed that the boy had pierced
his defense before he could react. *This boy is good!*
"Ranma means nothing to me! If you want a flat chested,
unfeminine chick like her, you can have her!"
Intellectually, Ranma knows that there's no reason for him to get
mad, since he is flat chested and unfeminine - considering that he's a
guy - but he gets angry anyway, thinking that Akane-kun had been
throwing a calculated low blow at him. Winding up, he throws Akane's
bag straight at her. "Who are YOU calling unfeminine!"
"Will you just butt out?!" Akane-kun looks back, astounded that
he actually got angry by that.
"Silence, fool!" Kuno's boken cleaves through the bag as if it is
made of butter, but once again, his target is long gone. As he looks in
surprise, Akane-kun grabs his right forearm with one hand and pushes in
his elbow with the other. As his elbow grates, not being able to bend
backwards, he is forced to let go of his sword.
"Well that was easy." Akane-kun mutters with a bored expression
on her face.
*Show off.* Ranma grimaces, hearing the starting bell ringing.
^_-
"Well it does seem to be true, that you were in China until
recently." The teacher adjusts his glasses as he looks up from the
folder. "But that doesn't change the fact that both you and Saotome
Ranma were late. Stand in the hall."
Akane-kun and Ranma are standing in the hallway, holding buckets
in their hands. Ranma fumes at Akane-kun, "This is all your fault."
"My fault? It was your fight, remember?" Akane-kun looks down at
him in disbelief.
"Yes, but every morning..." Ranma glares back into her dark brown
eyes. "...I finish my fight before school starts."
"What was that all about, anyway?" Akane-kun shrugs, never having
seen such wild battle at school. What were the teachers thinking?
Sighing, Ranma says, "Kuno told them that if any of them wanted to
date me, they'd have to defeat me first."
^_-
"What?! Engaged?!" Kuno's words explode out of his mouth,
bringing the class to a screeching halt.
"Uh huh. My dad and his dad agreed to marry their children
together. Mother decided to follow dad's will, and engaged Akane and
Ranma together." Tenma looks up and repeats what he had just said,
wondering which part of that Kuno isn't understanding.
"That is the most vile, disgusting thing that I've ever heard!!!"
Kuno shakes his head in revulsion as the rest of the class watches on.
"Kuno. Go stand in the hall."
^_-
"I forbid such a vile arrangement to take place!" Kuno runs down
the hall, dressed again in his Kendo garb, still carrying the two
buckets in his hands.
^_-
"You mean you fight with Kuno every morning?!" Akane-kun shakes
her head in disbelief at the boy's story. She would've gone nuts if in
the same situation. Then, she breaks out laughing. "Wouldn't he be
surprised if he knew that you were actually a boy."
"Shh! Not so loud." Ranma pauses for a few moments before going
on. "Besides, Kuno knows."
"You mean... he plays for the other team?!" Akane-kun looks
shocked and takes a step away from Ranma. "I mean, he seemed to like
that sword of his a lot, but..."
"Oh please, you are so passe. Where'd you come out of, the
nineteenth century?" Ranma rolls his eyes at the girl's old fashioned-
ness. "And no, he isn't that way. He isn't trying to date me."
"Huh?"
"He was probably thinking that he was doing me a favor, since I
can beat those idiots any day of the week. That way guys wouldn't be
hounding me around all the time." Ranma shakes his head again at Kuno's
idiocy. "What an idiot. At least I could just reject them instead of
having to deal with that stampede every morning..."
"Then why did Kuno try to fight you?" Akane-kun looks at the
envelope Ranma hands her. "A sign up form for the Kendo Club?"
"We made a deal that if he beats me, I'd join the Kendo Club. I'm
better than anybody else in the school. Maybe even better than Kuno."
"Why'd you agree to a stupid deal like that?"
"Because he said he'd stop bothering Kimi..." A spout of water
suddenly appears and Ranma gets soaked. Akane-kun had jumped out of the
way, having developed a reflex to avoiding water. Not that it matters,
since she's already in guy form.
"Never, Tendo Akane!" They look up the hall and see Kuno standing
there with an empty bucket in his hands.
"What do you think you're..." Akane-kun glares back, surprised
that Kuno had been able to sneak up on them.
"Upperclassman Kuno..."
"I shall never accept your engagement to Ranma! And you, Ranma!
How in the world did you ever agree to such a foul arrangement?!" As
the two of them try to shush Kuno, the windows out into the hallway snap
open, and all the students in the classroom are bursting out of them.
"What? Engagement?!" The boys scream, many of them feeling that
their lives are over.
"How could you Ranma! And you said you weren't interested in
guys!" The girls yell, slightly disappointed that the handsome new guy
had been taken even before they got a fair shot at him.
"Wait, its not true! Its..."
"Out parents decided! We never..."
Their protestations are cut off as Kuno wildly swings with his
boken, narrowly missing Akane-kun. "Stand your ground!"
Akane-kun runs down the hall, wanting more space to maneuver.
"This is no place to fight! Follow me!"
"That I shall!" As Kuno yells and follows, the rest of the class
pours out into the hallway.
"This is great!" They rush down the hall, chasing after Akane-kun
and Kuno. "And the winner gets to go out with Ranma!"
Seeing an open window, Akane-kun decides to take the shortcut.
"Let's get outside! Follow me!"
"Fear not!" Following Akane-kun, Kuno leaps through the window
also...
=======================
[Author's Notes]
Yes, I know, it still hasn't diverged much. That's cause I
was mistaken about where the chapter breaks were. I swear to God,
though, that it will pick up, so please, please, please keep on reading.
The interesting parts of the story will pop up once I start
explaining the past. Trust me.
FYI, I'm using the Manga almost verbatim in my dialogue, so if
you find a discrepancy, it'll probably be some indication of a differing
plot point...
"Kimiko, Kimiko, Kimiko." Just who the heck is Kimiko? Well,
obviously, she's taking Dr. Tofu's place as Ranma's hopeless love
interest. You'll be surprised when you meet her though. (She's not a
female version of Dr. Tofu, if that's what you're thinking...)