Subject: Re: [FFML] [ranma 1/2][repost]Ranma gets a clue part 1of 2
From: David Johnston
Date: 9/3/1998, 4:45 AM
To: Rnmalvsakn@aol.com
CC: ffml@fanfic.com

Rnmalvsakn@aol.com wrote:

Ranma 1/2 Fanfic "Ranma Gets a Clue"
Written by Asayogure

Chapter 1  of Series Ranma Gets a Clue"

* I refuse to put any standard disclaimers here, You all know who created
 Ranma,  and we all know that the chances of me being successfully
prosecuted are like 1000000000-1, so there!*

***authors note, THIS IS NOT! a lemon, it is only a romantic fanfic, if it
 was a movie I would rate it PG, okay maybe PG-13, also please keep in mind
that I wrote this entire thing while grinning insanely, and listening to
happy upbeat Ranma soundtracks! ^_^***

You might want to lose the author's note.  The moment I read it, I was 
less interested, if only because it told me how the story was going to 
turn out.


*Start*
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        Pre-dawn in the tendou dojo.  A traditional Japanese room, floored with
tatami and outfitted with shoji doors.  Ranma is lying on his back with one
arm draped over his eyes and the other sprawled at a 90 degree angle from his
body.  Genma preferring to sleep as a panda, since it is so much warmer, is
curled up about a meter from Ranma facing away from him, snoring loudly.
Ranma miraculously enough, has managed to stay male throughout thenight, but
has however, managed  to kick the covers off of himself, and is shivering
slightly on his futon.  The window is open to the crisp spring-like air, and
the beginnings of the daily chirping of the neighborhood birds can be

Too wordy.  Saying something like "the first chirps of the day can be 
heard" would work better for me.  

 heard
faintly.

        Genma raises a massive paw to scratch an itch idly in his sleep,
letting it fall with a *thump*.  While not a loud noise, with Ranma's
life-time of training, it was enough to wake him instantly.

On the other hand when Ryoga shouts and tries to punch him Ranma remains 
sound asleep.  I don't really mind though, since it's nice to see a 
Ranma who for once doesn't sleep in.  I've never actually noticed him 
sleeping in, in the source material, and he does train before breakfast.
Oh yeah, you have tense confusion.  Pick a tense and stay with it.

Sitting bolt upright, his eyes snapped open, his hands up in a
defensive position, and his heart beat wildly as his still groggy
mind and eyes scanned the room for the unknown threat.  Glancing over
at Genma realization hit him, "Stupid old man!" he thought, glaring at
his father, " he just lives to torment me, "he mumbled.

        Ranma debated with himself whether or not to attack his father for
awaking him, or to try to go back to sleep, sleep won.  Rolling over he
pulled the covers back up and  closed his eyes trying to go back to sleep.
His mind however was now wide awake and ready for action.  Rolling back to lie
flat on his back with a resigned *sigh*, Ranma allowed his thoughts to
drift where he usually forbade them.  He started to think about the one thing
in his life that he had no control over, and had absolutely no idea how to
deal with..............he thought of Akane.  

The one thing, huhn?  You mean he feels totally in control of Kodachi, 
and his curse?

Images and memories of her
flooded his mind in rapid fire, her beautiful smile, her cute haircut,

Delete "in"

 every
detail of her face , mind and body, his minds eye traced every detail

delete space after "face"

 that
he knew of her, and he blushed when he remembered just how much he knew,
remembering their first encounter as opposite sexes.  How shocked he had been
to see her out of her gi, and her turning out to be so.......well cute! With

I'm inclined to think that Ranma first noticed Akane's "cuteness" when
she turned to him and said, "I'm Akane.  Want to be friends?"

another *sigh* Ranma let his fantasy of her speak to him, not really anything
intelligible, all he really wanted was to hear her soft lilting
voice speaking to him, as he had heard her speak to her other friends and
loved ones.  He just wanted to have a conversation with her, to hear her
speak with neither anger nor sarcasm.  Just to have a normal conversation
with the girl he was supposed to marry.

"Hey!  Uncute Tomboy!  I wanna have a nice conversation with ya!"


        Drifting back to the night before in his thoughts, he winced as he
recalled it's outcome, smacking himself mentally, and cursing himself
for his ineptness concerning interaction with other people.  Ranma

If this is from Ranma's point of view, then "his ineptness..." is 
totally wrong language for him.  

replayed the night before in his mind, trying to see what he had done
wrong, and how he should have done things differently............

        ::Early evening at the Tendou dojo, Soun and panda Genma are on the
 porch playing GO as usual, and cheating as usual.  Nabiki in her trademark
"lazy" clothes, IE short shorts and an off the shoulder halter top, is in a
corner of the family room, doing her leg exercises, neither Akane nor Kasumi
are anywhere to be seen. Ranma is outside in the yard next to the koi pond,
wearing a blue version of his silk traditional Chinese sleeveless
shirt, and his trademark black pants, he is standing with his feet shoulder
width apart, facing a wooden pole exactly his height wrapped with rope on
the top.  He is rotating his body and alternating smashing his left and
right steel-like fists into the rope wrapped part.  The wind is blowing
faintly carrying the scent of flowers and the promise of a beautiful
spring, a fish in the koi pond leapt, and the wind chimes ring.
Shattering this perfect moment of tranquillity came the feminine cry of
"Dinner's ready!"  Ranma without missing a beat recoiling his left fist
from a punch, changed the right strike to a chop, his palm facing

Tense confusion.  

 upwards
and his hand like a knife edge, the pole looked unaffected for a moment,
then a hairline angled cut appeared, and the top of the pole slid off
slowly, hitting the ground with a *plop*.  With a self satisfied grin on
his face, Ranma turned and leapt the few meters from his spot to his
customary seat at the table, next to Akane.

        The rest of the family converging at the table as well, Nabiki
plopping herself unceremoniously at her spot, Soun taking his place at the
head of the table with dignity, leaving Genma the opportunity while his
back was turned to move a few of the game pieces.  Genma taking his seat
next to Soun grabbed a kettle of hot water seemingly out of nowhere and
poured it on himself, changing back to his human form, but most importantly
gaining the hands with which he could feed himself the fastest.  Ranma moving
his head back and forth quickly scanning the room for something, voiced his
growing dread hesitantly, " W- where's  ...A-akane?"

        "Why, she's right here." Kasumi said coming rounding the kitchen
entrance, gesturing behind her.  As Kasumi started setting everyone's
places Ranma glanced over her shoulder, Akane was standing sort of uneasily,
and was clutching a steaming plate, containing he could only guess, was some
sort of food substance... hoping against hope, Ranma looked back at Kasumi to
see if she had set his place yet, seeing the table all set out and Genma
already doing his impersonation of a vacuum cleaner, Ranma noticed a
conspicuous absence of a plate in front of himself.

Right.  Akane's cooking.  This is not the most unexpected pretext for a 
quarrel.  



        A large sweat drop formed on the back of Ranma's head.  Akane, not
having said a word during this small pause, stood rather stiffly.  A faint
sheen of sweat kissed her forehead, and she looked somewhat worried. Ranma
however missed all these details as his eyes and nose informed him that Akane
had been cooking again.

        A sickly grimace appeared on his face, as his brain sorted rapid
fire through a list of possible excuses he could use to leave the table.
"Akane has been working really hard all evening, Ranm�" she pronounced

I'm sure she has, Kasumi.  But I don't want to be greedy.  You have 
some.  And, incidentally, "she" should be replaced by "Kasumi".

 the
last A in his name harder, snapping him out of his "deer-caught-in-the-
headlights" impersonation.  "She made it just for you, isn't that sweet?!"
Again that hard tone to Kasumi's voice indicated to Ranma the he had

That isn't Kasumi's way of doing things.  She'd be gently reproachful, 
or inhumanly cheerful.  

 better
behave.  Stuttering he managed to choke out, "T-thank Y-you, A-akane"  Akane
knelt beside her future husband, and hesitantly placed the plate of weird
looking food before him, along with a pair of chopsticks.  Soun from behind a
fountain of tears sputtered out, "Oh my girl, my girl, is growing  up, wah ha
ha, I'm so proud!" Tears streamed down his face as he looked upon his youngest
daughter's obvious display of affection for Ranma.  Nabiki just stared
expectantly, and Genma's munching slightly registered in the back of Ranma's
mind.

        "Well go on, Ranma," Kasumi prompted, her voice again gentle. With
an audible *gulp* and a visible reluctance, Ranma separated his chopsticks
and lowered them down slowly to the steaming mound of whatever-it-was.
Akane unnoticed by the rest of the family still kneeling beside Ranma
clenched her tiny hands into fists and felt her whole body go ridged. Her
face animated with hope. "I hope, I hope, I hope, please, please, please,
please," she thought to herself.   As he raised the parcel of food to his
mouth, a collective gasp was heard, as everyone (except Genma, who at the
moment was moving his hands so fast feeding his face, that they were
becoming a blur.) held their breath.  Placing the food in his mouth he let
it rest on his tongue, trying to use will power to swallow it.  But the
sensations overcame him, and he fainted, falling backwards.

        Sitting up he politely pushed the plate away from himself mumbling,
"thank you Akane it is  errr, good, but I'm not feeling to well all of a
sudden, I think I'll skip dinner, and um *with his hand behind his head* and
go see if Ryouga is around anywhere."  "At least I know he can eat this
stuff," Ranma thought to himself.  Ranma, as he moved to get up, completely
missed the single tear sliding down Akane's cheek.  Akane was thinking to
herself, "NOW what did I do wrong?!" Her emotions in upheaval she replaced
these unfamiliar feelings with those that she knew, she started to grow angry.
"He didn't even give it a chance and I worked really hard, TOO," she thought
to herself. Turning to face him as he made his get-away, she whipped out her
trusty mallet and punted him into next week, yelling,
"Ranma you jerk!!!!"  As he sailed away, Ranma managed to yell back,
"Uuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnncuteeeeeeeeeeee!"  ::

Damn that scene ran on rails.  Do something different, if you're going 
to write an "Akane's cooking scene."  Have him try to switch food with 
Genma or something.  And there is absolutely _no way_ that Ranma would 
consider anything about that scene his fault, in any indicative of his 
ineptitude rather than Akane's.  


        Snapping back to himself, Ranma again mentally smacked himself for
his knee-jerk-foot-in-the-mouth reaction that Akane's cooking seemed

But...he didn't put his foot in his mouth.  He was unnaturally polite, 
in fact.  

 to
bring out in him.  He knew damn well in his secret heart, that she was
trying so hard to cook for HIM, and if not out of, L-love, then out of a
genuine wanting to show Ranma affection somehow.

Really?  I tend to think that she does it to prove she can.  


        Muttering to himself, Ranma rolled back till his lower body,

"until"

 and
legs were off the floor, then placing his hands astride his head, he
reversed his momentum, and pushed with his hands at the same time,
effectively launching himself onto his feet, perfectly balanced and poised
as usual.  Ranma headed off in the direction of the bath, intent on soaking
away his worries as well as any dirt.  Passing Genma on the way out he
swiftly kicked the Panda in the butt. *Smirking to himself* Ranma walked out.
Genma still sound asleep, simply scratched the injured area absently and
rolled over again.

        Silent as a ninja, Ranma practiced his stealth as he slinked

"practised his stealth" is redundant here.  

 down
the hallway.  Not one to ever tell the old man, but Ranma did listen to the
things that Genma said, and while he knew that most of it was just his
stupid rambling, some things Genma said rang true.  One of them being his
saying, " A true martial artist can turn any experience, no matter how
difficult or unpleasant into training...."  Ranma early in life had taken
that to heart, running along fence tops to practice his balance, and in
situations such as this early morning when everyone was still asleep, he
liked to practice stealth, or ninjitsu.

        However he froze in his exercise as he caught out of the corner of
his eye, the blue woodcut duck scrawled with Akane's name hanging on her
door. Impulse overcame reason, and Ranma ever so quietly slinked up to her
door, and quietly let himself in.  "Just to check on her, and make sure
Mr. P isn't in there" he told himself.  Lowering his eyes to the floor as
he did so, in case Akane while sleeping, had managed to uncover any...
sensitive areas.  He closed the door behind himself, and just stood there,
at the doorway listening to her breathe.  Smirking inwardly to himself he
thought, "She would kill me if she found me in her room just staring at her."
Ever so slowly, he raised his eyes, starting at the foot of her bed.
Where her feet were, he raised his gaze, noting how unlike him she was, in
that she usually managed to keep her covers on herself while sleeping,
" I guess she isn't violent all the time," he thought.  With relief his
gaze reached her torso, and he noted that she was fully clothed in her
yellow pajamas with the pigs on them, letting out the breath he hadn't even
known he was holding with a *whew*  he froze, terrified that the sound had
awakened her.  Glancing at her face he relaxed as he saw her eyes still
closed.  He also smirked outwardly as he noted the absence of "P-chan", and
saw that instead she was cuddling one of her spare pillows to her tightly,
he also noticed that she was mumbling as she slept. Curious he crept closer to
her bed to hear what she said.

        Taking a seat gingerly on the edge of her bed. He took the time to
stare unashamedly at her beautiful features.  Noting how her soft hair
framed her face so perfectly on the pillow as she slept, and how even when
closed her eyes were still beautiful, and her lips were turned upward
slightly at the corners in a sort of half smile as she slept, then he noticed
something else, she was...Blushing!  Snapping out if his reverie, he

"blushing"

listened to what she was saying, most of it was too garbled to discern,
but a few bits and pieces managed to come through.  ......" R-ranma.....
.......why?!.......what ...........how can I?...............oh Ranma.....I
...............don't you know.............I L.........," rolling over the
last thing she was trying to say was lost into the pillow.  To himself,
"She's, ...........she's dreaming about...........ME??!"  Listening

Way too many dots.

 again
he caught his name again, this time followed by a sound he had never
heard from Akane before, after speaking his name, a sort of contented
*sigh!*

        A slow grin spread across his face as he heard that sigh, it was
the most beautiful sound he had ever heard in his entire life!  Reaching
down hesitantly he moved his hand to her head, and softly stroked her
hair out of her face.  "She's so cute sometimes...it's hard to believe
that this Akane and the one that is always hitting me in the head are
one and the same person," he thought to himself.  Worry of discovery was
starting to nag at his mind though, and with a disappointed *sigh* he got
up from her bed, not making a sound as he did so, he opened her door, all
the while keeping his gaze on her, and let himself out, just as quietly as
when he had entered, all Akane did was roll over again, and continue
whatever dream she was having.

        Now even more out of balance than before Ranma desperately needed
to unwind.  Intent on relaxing in the bath for awhile he entered the
changing room, and shucked off his boxers and tee shirt he had slept in,
tossing them casually over his shoulder as he went into the main bathroom.
Starting the flow of hot water that would fill the furo for the day,
Ranma sat down on one of the wash stools and began to thoughtfully scrub
himself clean.  "Why, oh why am I so shook up now?  Why should I care if
she dreams about me?  Can it be that I really do care for that uncute
tomboy?  Naw, it must be something else, maybe an aftereffect of her
cooking?"  He muttered to himself while scrubbing, after awhile the
furo was full and he dumped a pail of cold water over himself to rinse
away the soap, hardly even noticing the change now, as when by himself
and with no mirror present, and no one to remind him that he was now a
girl, the effects of the curse were subtle enough as to be unnoticeable
now to him.  Plodding over to the furo, Ranma slowly lowered himself
into the almost scalding water, wincing as it snaked it's way up his
nervous system, leaving a tingling sensation in it's wake, finally he
was up to his neck, and he collapsed against the furo wall and tried to
rebalance his now chaotic mind.

        An unknown amount of time passed, Ranma shutting out all outside
influence, and shutting out even his own thoughts.  Letting the warmth
of the furo soak into himself, ever since Jusenkyo, Ranma had hated
being cold, mostly because cold now to him meant changing the warmer the
better as far as Ranma was concerned.  Ever so slightly almost
hesitantly Ranma raised hishead up, then his torso out of the
inviting water.

Looking much calmer he climbs up the steps leading out of the furo.
Steam emanating off his now almost pink skin, in the chilled air of the
much cooler bathroom.  Wrapping a towel around his waist, he padded out
of the bathroom.  Still walking so as to make the minimal amount of noise,
Ranma headed for his room.

        Sliding open the shoji he entered the Tendou guestroom made into
an almost-permanent residence with the Saotome presence in it. Moving over to
the dresser where he kept his clothes, no longer quieting his movements since
he didn't care if he woke the old man up or not, and besides he could sleep
through anything.   Quickly dressing himself, choosing his traditional outfit,
but with a ivory white version of his Chinese silk  sleeveless shirt, with
gold ties in front and an ebony black interior.

        Now suitably dressed for the day.  Ranma's stomach rumbled,
reminding him that not only did he skip dinner last night, (due to the
fact that he was in low earth orbit, playing human satellite) but he needed
breakfast as well.  He steeled himself against the hunger however since he
knew that Kasumi although usually first up in the household, wouldn't have
breakfast ready for at least another hour and a half, half an hour after
she woke up as usual.  So he headed downstairs to think.

        Walking down the stairs a mischievous grin appeared on Ranma's face
and he hopped up onto the banister and with his indoor house slippers on,
sliding down the rest of the way.  Reaching bottom much faster. "Heh, still
got it!" he remarked to himself.  Ranma usually refrained from any
acrobatics in the house, since that one time when he had plowed into
Kasumi almost knocking her over, when he was leaping down the stairs,
since his code of honour would never allow him to injure anyone whom
could not defend themselves, even accidentally, especially a woman,
and especially someone as sweet and innocent as Kasumi.  Ranma started
to wander in and out of the various rooms of the Tendou residence,
memories overtaking him as he recalled all the things that had happened
there.

        Stopping in front of the frame to the shoji leading to the backyard,
he ran his hand over the noticeably newer wood of the left side, where
Shampoo's bonbori had smashed through, when she was trying to kill Akane that
day she had showed up from China.  In fact there were little patches of new
all over the Tendou residence, especially in the dojo, where either due to
circumstances beyond their control or overeager training, Ranma or others had
managed to destroy parts of it.

        Ranma's wandering lead him back to the shoji again, and he opened
them this time.  Stopping just to look.  He had intended to go to the
dojo and run through a few katas, but he just started to stare at the
beauty that confronted him.

        With dawn just barely starting to alight the sky, the world was
truly a beautiful place.  The wind had died down to a whisper, and
everything was silent.  The pink buds on the cherry tree were silhouetted
in what little light the dawn was giving, and seemed to be glowing with a
life of their own, contrasting sharply with the greener but dull new leaves
that were also growing.  The koi pond was an odd shade of blue-green.
It seemed to be made of ice, and with such crisp air the entire world seemed
to be sharply in focus.       "Wow" Ranma murmured.

        Almost as if in a trance, he walked solemnly to the edge of the koi
pond and stared into its depths, hardly even breathing.  Ranma tried to
become part of the silence as he sat down on a nearby rock and began to
meditate, the world seemed to freeze as Ranma slipped into himself.

        Time passed and the wind picked up, and the sun's hues became more
radiant, the birds began their daily serenade. Ranma came back to himself
with a start, when he felt the suns first rays peeking over the boundary
wall.  Stretching and yawning, he looked around as he did so.  The bird's
song's lifting his spirits noticing that the silent world had fled and a
more vibrant and alive world had taken it's place.

        His heart froze though as he shifted his gaze to his left and
beheld what was there.  Akane was sitting on a rock right next to his!
In the same kind of meditating trance that he had assumed moments earlier.
"She must have come down when I was meditating," he thought to himself. Taking
another opportunity to stare, Ranma allowed his eyes to play over her delicate
features.  Her eyes were shut, and fluttering slightly, her hair had obviously
just been brushed, as it was shining vibrantly in the
early morning light, the light bouncing off of her hair making it seem
alive.  Her skin    (all that was visible to Ranma outside of her standard
red belt clad gi, anyway,) was covered with goose pimples, reacting to the
cool morning air, he supposed.

        Akane had come out of her own trance the second Ranma had yawned
and stretched, some instinct though had urged her to remain as she was.
So she stayed motionless, her back straight and her legs crossed
underneath her, with her head lolling down onto her sternum.  A small
shiver of electricity ran down her spine as she thought to herself,
" Why is he looking at me like that?  Can it be oh, can it be that he
really doesn't think that I am all that uncute?"  Her breath came in
shallow heaves and her skin was going all goose pimply, not because of

"Heaves" are automatically deep.  You probably mean "gasps"

the cold, but because of the attention that Ranma was paying her.

        Finally she couldn't stand it any longer, and playacting she
imitated his movements from earlier.  Opening her eyes she met Ranma's
gaze, and the two just looked at each other shyly.  Raising his arm behind
his head, Ranma cleared his throat.  "hu hmm, heh, wahcha doin' up this
early, A-Akane?"  , " W-What are you looking at?" he asked.  Akane blushed and
turned her gaze down, suddenly finding the grass very interesting.

        "Well since she's already up, and out here," Ranma thought to
himself.  "Um A-Akane?" He voiced hesitantly.  "Y-Yes" she answered.
Smacking himself mentally, Ranma forced the words out in a rush,
" Wouldyouliketogopracticewithme?" Once done he exhaled rather loudly,
*whew*  He thought, "Well, at least she can't say I never offered,"

For one thing, they already have practiced.  It was in their first 
practise that Ranma began to insult her.  

he fully expected a sarcastic remark or her refusal.  He stood up on
suddenly shaky legs.

        Ranma stood above her looking down at her with those blue-gray
eyes of his.  "He is waiting for an answer!" her mind shouted at her.
She was however, too confused to respond intelligently. "Why is he being
so nice to me?" she thought.  Chalking it up to the absurd, Akane simply
nodded her head.

        Shock emanated through Ranma.  He had expected her to refuse!
While training with his father for 10 years had made Ranma an excellent
and powerful martial artist, those years hadn't prepared him to interact
with other people.  Slowly and hesitantly Ranma extended his hand to Akane.
Akane for her part was beside herself, "Ranma is being so nice to me! Is this
his way of trying to say he is sorry?"

        Also as hesitantly, and overriding her pride, Akane extended her
hand, allowed Ranma to help her to her feet.  His touch was electric on
her skin, Ranma tightening the muscles in his arm, effortlessly lifted her
to her feet.  Embarrassed he dropped her hand and turned his back to her
and began to walk in the direction of the dojo.  Partly because he really
did need to train, and partly to hide the rampaging blush spreading over
his features.  Akane as well was still standing where he had lifted her,
also blushing furiously.  " I think that that is the first time Ranma has
ever touched me, without it being necessary!"  She was reeling.

Or accidental.

Unsteadily she walked on her wobbly legs to the dojo.  Peering inside she
saw Ranma was already running through a kata, warming up.

        So she decided to just watch for the moment.  Akane realized that
she had never really watched Ranma when he practiced.she was usually too busy
being jealous of his skill, or busy trying to beat him up for his
latest insult.  "Wow!" She thought, "He moves like a dancer..." Watching
Ranma move through a simple for him, but extremely acrobatic and difficult
kata for her, she couldn't help but admire his skill.  About five minutes
later Ranma finished his warm-up kata, and facing the dojo shrine bowed.
Akane couldn't help herself, as giddy as she was feeling, she clapped!
Ranma looked up, and seeing her there, broke out in a grin, and also blushed
slightly.

        "C-Can you teach me how to do that?" she asked.  Ranma now in
familiar territory replied more confidently, "Sure Akane, but first we
should stretch out your sleepy muscles, eh?"

        "Okay" she stuttered.  Stepping through the doorframe, Akane bowed
facing the dojo interior, and stepped onto the main floor.  Cinching her
belt up tighter and tucking the loose parts back into place, she sat down
and kicked out her legs, and started to reach for her toes on her left and
right sides.  Ranma just sat cooling his heels, well squatted actually,
and watched her stretch.

~~~~~~~~~AOL IS EVIL AND WONT LEMME SEND WHOLE THING AT ONCE.........part 2 of
this fic follows ^_^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just as well.

-Chapter 1  of series.
Please the first C&C I would like is how it made you FEEL!  Then go ahead
and rip apart my spelling and grammer if you must.  As always C&C
(comments and criticisms) are very welcome ::does #5 immitation....input,
need input!::  MST (Mystery Science Theatre) will be saved and cherished
and flames will be printed out and fed to the fire place monster ^_^
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|aka                                                                                                                            |
|Asayogure@aol.com                                                                                            |
|aka                                                                                                                            |
|ICQ#...8706336 nickname Ranma                                                                    |
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