Ranma 1/2 Fanfic "Ranma Gets a clue"
Written by Asayogure5@att.net
First Draft (8/10/1999)
Last modified (1/14/2000)
Chapter 3, "The tickle wars."
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Begin.
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From a distance any casual onlooker who saw the two figures
standing on a nearby rooftop would simply dismiss them as city workers.
However if you lived in Tokyo's Nerima district and recognized the two,
you would probably turn down the first street going in the opposite
direction. One does not cross by the site of a soon to be battle. At
least that was what usually was happening whenever one of these two
figures was spotted in public. The figure in red seemed to be listening
to the white robed figure nodding his head from time to time as he did
so... then he nodded his head a final time and shouted something
unintelligible like, "thanks", and turned and leapt to a nearby roof,
breaking into a run as he did so. A casual onlooker would simply shrug
and go about their business. This was Nerima after all.
Ranma hopped down off of the rooftop and sprinted his way to school.
Now that he had a plan in mind, Ranma meant to act on it. He just
managed to get into the gates of Furinkan before they closed. Well not
really in the gates; sort of over actually.
Pausing, Ranma stood on the right side pillar of the gates. The
early morning breeze was blowing his hair and clothing around. The wind
started low and ran funnel-like currents up his body, whipping his shirt
tails around and blowing his hair into his face. Looking up Ranma
noticed that the sky was getting darker and, when he sniffed the air, it
didn't smell right.
The air smelt like the misty interior of a wet cave, an ill omen
indeed.
The hairs on his arms prickled like an electric current was running
through the air.
Running like he did, Ranma had actually managed to make it to
school right behind Akane. His breath caught in his throat as he
watched her making her way towards the schools entrance.
Tatewaki Kuno was not known to be a reasonable person. At the
moment he held himself with a bearing that cast the illusion that he had
just stepped out of ancient Japan. Hardly an era ruled by reason. He
stood on the steps leading into the high school with his arms crossed,
leaning against one of the pillars for the archway with an imperious
expression on his face. His bokken was tucked into the proper position
for a real sword in the sash he was wearing.
The wind was playing with his hair and clothing as well. Whipping
it
into a frenzy for a time only to let it go moments later. The effect
was chilling in that it appeared Kuno could call the winds to help him
punctuate his own self important words.
Glancing up again Ranma saw clouds gathering seemingly trying to
choke away the sun. Deprived of the suns rays the Earth started to
grow colder. An icy blast of wind lanced through Ranma's clothes
and made his spine tingle. Ranma started to chant silently to himself,
'rain rain go away, come again another day...'
Kuno started his self important monologue as soon as Akane came
within ear shot, watching him warily. Drawing himself into what he
thought was a noble pose, Kuno tossed his head back and dragged
his fingers through his unruly hair. The effect of which was
immediately lost to the wind. Directing his gaze to a point off into
the horizon only he could see he began.
"The noble scion of the house of Kuno has a mission this day."
Lightning struck behind him, so close that the thunder clap seemed
immediate. Kuno unfazed, continued to speak.
"Akane Tendo thy honor hast been defiled and 'tis my duty to
set matters straight." Glancing up to Ranma's perch Kuno pointed to
him with his bokken and sneered. "This cur hast stole into our stead,
defiled the honor of numerous young maidens, and hast proven himself
unworthy of asking for your hand in marriage!" Lightning struck again
and the thunderclap was again immediate.
Ranma, already tired of this little speech, and REALLY wanting to get
indoors before it started to rain, made a move as if to jump kick the
annoying kendoist in the head. However Akane glancing in his direction
caught his intended actions, cleared her throat to draw his attention
and froze him in his place with THAT look. Her message was clear, do
NOT interfere. Ranma studied his proud fianc� for a second, clenching
and unclenching his fists, causing his knotted muscles to strain all up
and down his arms, but he nodded and held his ground.
Akane was standing facing Kuno. Her feet planted firmly a shoulders
width apart. Her grip around her satchel was white knuckled and, with
the wind and cold playing over her, she looked like any warrior princess
out to do battle on a field destined for legend. Ranma almost felt
sorry
for Kuno. Almost. Shifting his gaze back to where Kuno stood, Ranma
got a little worried. Young men were coming out from behind gates and
doors, stepping out from behind the bushes and trees, it was an ambush!
Most carried some piece of sports equipment. The smarter ones wore
protective padding as well. Kuno continued to speak.
"Whilst I admit the cur Saotome hast bested me in combat before, due
to his use of the black arts, I hereby decree this day that I will
stand for
it no more. I say let Saotome prove his worth and fight for her hand.
Akane's steady gaze narrowed into a glare. Ranma's hands clenched
into frozen fists as he grit his teeth. If you listened quiet enough
you could almost hear him growl. This was NOT what Ranma had
expected this morning. But fine, if Kuno wanted a fight, he would get
one. He had thought Kuno and all these other idiots had stopped this
foolish behavior long ago.
Again he moved as if to jump on Kuno, and again Akane sensed it
and shifted her glare to him. He stopped only because he knew he
would never hear the end of it if he insulted THIS young womans' pride.
Kuno finished his speech. "So it shall come to pass, that I shall bring
about your downfall this glorious day Saotome!"
With that the rest of the young men sprinted forward into battle.
Akane with a silent thought of, 'oh no you don't!' Was not about to let
Ranma fight for her, and she moved to stand between the oncoming
horde and Ranmas' perch. Ranma tensed as he watched. Silently
he begged her to move. 'Oh please, oh please, oh please, they really
need a head kicking. Oh please, oh...' If it wasn't so potentially
dangerous Ranma would have laughed out loud with how bizarre the
whole situation was. Somewhere up there, he just knew a god or two
was just laaaaaaaaughing his ass off. Akane simply stood and eyed
them as they charged with cold disdain.
As the first of their numbers leapt to try to get past her she
nimbly
side stepped them and lashed out twin back knuckles catching them in
their noses. She dropped her satchel and spun away from them. She
then leapt into the midst of the surging crowd, and punched and kicked
herself a path out of the press of idiotic bodies. The crowd was forced
to turn and fight her, or chance getting struck from behind.
Ranma stood and watched crankily as his fianc� struck down another
two would-be attackers. 'I could handle this juuust fine. But will she
let me take care of my business, nooo. But just watch and let me try to
interfere in her business and . . .WOMEN!' He muttered angrily to
himself.
His hands still clenched into fists at his sides, he grumpily
watched Akane use a good portion of Furinkan's male student body as
target practice. 'At least she hasn't managed to get hurt. Yet.
Soun'll rip my leg off and beat me to death with it, if I let his
"little girl"
get hurt. "Little girl" my ass.' Ranma thought unhappily. 'Story of my
life I suppose.'
So, silently, he watched her from his perch and grudgingly admitted
that she was getting better. Much better than when he had first met
her. Grinning slightly as he noticed that her footwork was almost
exactly
in sync with the kata that he had showed her this morning. His worry
decreased as the number of attackers dwindled steadily. He even
laughed out loud when about twenty of the attackers turned and
hightailed it out of the courtyard. Realizing that she was no easier to
beat now then she had been the long time ago that they had been foolish
enough to do this.
Ranma was amazed with how well she had picked up the kata he
had been showing her earlier and how quickly she had learned to apply
it. It gave him a warm feeling to know that he had been the one to
teach
her.
Two minutes later the courtyard was littered with the slightly broken
bodies of a good portion of the male student body of Furinkan High.
Ranma was about to leap down and join Akane when he noticed that
Kuno was still standing. Standing by the gates he leveled his bokken at
her as he spoke.
"Truly this boorish lot deserved their fate. To attack one as lithe
and dangerous as thyself, quickly and unthinking, hath brought about
their own pitiful downfalls, now, these fools may see what their folly
hath wrought. I, however, hath waited and watched thee Akane
Tendo. En sooth I doth believe thou art now quite spent. Shalt the
serpent dance with the mongoose this morn mon cheri?" Kuno then
grinned the grin of a serpent. Ranma tensed up again.
He sprinted towards her with his bokken held high. Shouting battle
cries for the honor of days and ideals long since past. Akane, for her
part, didn't even pause as she executed the finishing move to the kata.
A jump spinning outside crescent kick that she viciously whirled into
Kuno's temple with the knife edge of her foot, the kick carried her past
Kuno and Akane landed gracefully in a low crouch, her back to her
vanquished foe. To Kuno's credit, he did manage to stay standing a few
seconds before he fell, the bokken skittering across the ground in
a clattering testiment of his defeat.
Pausing a second, Akane surveyed the damage. Then, throwing a
quick thumbs up to Ranma she retrieved her satchel and headed off to
class. Late for class, but with an obviously happy gait to her step.
Sighing to himself, Ranma hopped down from the post and waded
through the wreckage. The schools massive janitorial staff was already
carting off the broken shrubbery and destroyed sports equipment.
They also had a routine to follow every day, and it usually started with
garbage duty. Frequently the destruction was caused by Ranma
these days. But either way it didn't matter to them. Ranma grinned
a little as he stood and watched some of the first guys stagger to their
feet. Most of them muttering curses and favoring certain limbs.
Passing by Kuno, Ranma bent down and grabbed his bokken for
a trophy.
The wind died down a little just then. Looking up Ranma caught
sight of a single bird in a nearby tree branch, and as he watched that
bird broke into a cautious song. A good omen indeed. Maybe today
wasn't going to be another trip to hell.
Laughing now, Ranma was a picture of grace and speed as he slipped
past the comatose Kuno and jumped up into a tree and then ricocheted
off a few benches and buildings and jumped-flew right into his homeroom
window. Landing with a forward somersault and a plop only rubber soled
Chinese shoes can make, he quickly hid the bokken and his gear under
his desk.
He grinned at those who were openly gawking at him, as he took his
seat. Those that were staring were apparently still not used to having
someone jump INTO a third story window. Akane, who was sitting
across the aisle from him, muttered, "Show off."
Ranma was just thankful that the teacher hadn't arrived yet. He
really did not feel like another session of "water bucket sentry duty".
Akane took that moment to look up from her book and give him "the look",
the look that only women close to you can give and which men to this day
do not know what it is supposed to mean.
Homeroom flew by for Ranma seeing as he slept through it. Akane, on
the other hand, was busily scribbling notes and shooting exasperated
looks at her fianc�. 'Honestly', she thought, 'it's not like he doesn't
get enough sleep at home as it is.'
At the end of class the bell rang and Ranma shot out of his desk
already running for the door, completely forgetting his book bag and the
prize bokken . . . he had to throw his weight onto his heels in order to
stop short of running into Akane though, who was waiting for him in the
doorway. Puzzled, Ranma stepped out of her range and looked at her
quizzically. She was looking at him thoughtfully.
"Yo Akane, whatcha want . . .?" He asked.
"Ranma..." she began. Ranma eyed her warily. If this was about him
taking the first bath today he would have none of it, it had been his
turn and . . .
"Ranma, I . . . want to thank you for not interfering today. That
meant a lot to me." Akane seemed to literally stumble on the words.
Ranma looked at her funny and then shrugged.
"Yeah well Akane, I was pretty surprised you beat them so quick,
but I figured you could handle Kuno, you are at about his skill level.
Look I gotta go, ok? I'm gonna miss gym..." He trailed off. He turned
to leave but Akane's hand was suddenly resting on his shoulder. "Ranma,
why do you sleep through class? Don't you care if you get a good
education?" She had assumed her best 'Kasumi' stance, and was
trying hard to look scolding, but understanding.
"Hey look Akane just cuz you are good at school and like to play the
"perfect" student, don't mean I gotta, I hate school." He protested.
He left that last statement hanging in the air. She watched him set
his jaw firmly in his 'don't mess with me' expression. Then he crossed
his arms in front of his chest as he leaned against the door frame.
Akane caught his body language message loud and clear.
'Back off' he was saying in the best way he knew how. However Akane
was not one to back away from a fight. Looking away from him for a
second she put her arguments and her fighting spirit in check with a
deep breath...and turned back to him.
"Yes but Ranma if you only applied yourself, I'm sure you could..."
As she looked back to where Ranma had been she found she was only
speaking to a Ranma-less door frame. "How in the HELL does he DO
that?!!" She practically screamed as her self control left her, drawing
stares from some of those in the hall, and sympathetic looks from
others.
As she started to walk away to her next class she muttered to
herself. "I swear it's like trying to talk with a damn puppy, he won't
hold STILL!" She continued to grumble to herself as she made her
way through the crowds.
Ranma let go of the ceiling and plopped back down to where he had
been standing. Grinning to himself, he chuckled and silently thanked
Kodachi for showing him indirectly how to do that. With that, he turned
and hopped out the nearest window. Hitting the ground, he sprinted
across the school grounds trying to make his favorite class, PE, in
time.
So intent was he on reaching his class that Ranma failed to notice
that the wind had died down, and the cool air was now still and quiet,
his little bird was nowhere to be seen either. Definitely a bad omen.
Back in the classroom, the girl who sat behind Ranma bent over and
picked up his satchel and the bokken.
'I should probably give this to Akane or someone, or maybe I can find
Ranma ...' her thoughts trailed off as she blushed mightily at the
thought of Ranma thanking her for her trouble and giving her one of
those
smiles that were known across campus to make women swoon... ' Yes I
think I'll go look for Ranma...' she thought as she shouldered the pack
after
placing the bokken through the straps so she could carry it all at once.
Taking a step she promptly fell over backwards.
'Good lord what does he have in here? Bricks?' Grimacing with a
determinded scowl the girl set about dragging the pack out the door,
drawing a few curious stares of her own.
Jogging into the schools athletics area, Ranma noticed that the
Kendo club was already out and stretching. The girls track team was out
and jogging and the general area was crowded with students geared up for
PE. In other words...Ranma was in his element, and he was also LATE!
Jogging towards the boys locker room. He suddenly heard scuffling
sounds coming from the roof of a nearby equipment building.
With barely half a second to brace himself, Ranma threw his arms up
crossed in front of his face, just blocking the kick sailing towards his
head. Quickly Ranma leapt back and letting all the air out of his lungs
with a *woosh* of surprise. Sizing up his unexpected opponent as he
did so. And so Ranma came to be gazing rather crankily at Ryouga.
Ryouga just smirked and clenched both of his hands into fists as he
slowly walked through the early morning fog that was still drifting in
from the wet athletics' fields. The cloud vapors swirled and streamed
out of his way, almost as if he were wading through an intangible river.
His stride towards Ranma was causing his traveling cloak to twirl and
weave behind him so as to make him look like some caped lord from
ancient times traveling with a deadly purpose to his journey. Ranma's
mind didn't even pause to wonder where the fog was coming from.
In silence Ryouga started to circle and size up his greatest foe
in the early morning mist. Ranma, wearing a smirk of his own, took the
time to look Ryouga over. His shirt was torn and obviously well worn,
almost threadbare.
The leg bindings that usually wrapped around his calves to taper in
the cloth, were shorter than usual, looking like the cords had been cut
for
some reason or another. His hair was longer as well. Granted, it had
always been somewhat shaggy, but now it was almost touching his
shoulders giving him a dangerous unruly air. Silently Ranma ticked
off the months in his mind that Ryouga had been missing...the total
came to about 3 and a half.
"So Ryouga...what did I do to you this time? Did I pick an apple
that you wanted from some tree? Did I beat you up in a dream? Did my
great grandfather look at your great grandfather funny? Did I eat bacon
this morning?" He said that last comment with a barely contained smirk.
Ryouga did pause for a second, looking slightly confused. You need
a REASON for attacking Ranma? Yeah right. It was a simple fact.
Ranma was there, and therefore Ranma was the enemy and to be
attacked and beaten at all costs.
But to Ranma's surprise his normal verbal baiting of Ryouga wasn't
working. Ryouga just kept walking and stopped about 3 meters from
Ranma. It was then that he made eye contact with Ranma. Ryouga's
eyes were of a man with a grudge to settle. Well fine if Ryouga
wanted to fight, then Ranma could use a good workout, it had been
awhile since he had one anyway. Normally he would just fight with
him here and now, but there were a lot of people around, and if there
was one thing he was learning from living in Nerima, it was that people
tended to stop to watch a fight, and the last thing he needed was for
some kid to get hurt at school because he was fighting. Akane
definitely would never let him hear the end of that. Besides he was
LATE!
Ranma suddenly snapped his fingers saying "ah ha," you could tell
Ranma had just gotten an idea. You could almost see the little cartoon
light bulb going off above his head. As Ryouga pulled his battle
umbrella out from his back pack, Ranma did the exact same thing that
had stopped him back when he had first shown up at Furinkan. Holding
out his hand he said,
"Yo Ryouga, long time no see...wah cha been up to?" Ranma asked.
Ryouga simply swatted the hand away and swung his umbrella. Ranma
caught the weapon in mid air and held on. Ryouga simply swung Ranma
with the umbrella, which caused Ranma to slide back about a meter in
the dirt, he had forgotten just how strong Ryouga was.
"Say Ryouga I can see you are kind of angry, how would you like to
work out your aggressions?" That one got through to Ryouga a little.
"What are you talking about?!"
"Yeah well, here's the thing, I'm already late for my favorite
class. And while I would love to kick your bacon butt up and down the
school I would rather not miss this class. So maybe we could postpone
our little match here. If you'd like you can come with me. I will
just tell everyone that you are a transfer student." Ryouga, however,
looked doubtful.
"You want me to come to gym class with you? Whatever the hell for?"
He said looking at Ranma like he had just sprouted pink and purple
elephant ears on his head.
"Well, um ... yeah sure why not. This week is American Sports week,
and it is rather interesting. Besides, you are the strongest person in
this school next to me and it would be kind of fun to try some of those
sports with someone I don't have to worry 'bout breaking. That is if
you
aren't afraid that I am better than you."
With that said, Ranma turned on his heel and continued on his way to
the boys locker room. He knew that for pride's sake Ryouga would be
right behind him. As he entered the boys locker room though Ranma
got a sinking feeling in his stomach. Water was flying everywhere and
high school boys were running all over the place apparently having some
kind of a water war. Ryouga simply shouldered his way past him,
popping open his umbrella as he went. One poor guy made the mistake
of running into Ryouga. As he bounced off of his chest, Ryouga simply
picked the kid up by his shirt with his left hand and placed him out of
his way.
Ranma caught the kid before he stumbled into a wall and let him go.
The kid kind of went skidding off towards the bathrooms as though he
needed to go really bad all of the sudden. Ranma just continued on,
muttering under his breath,
"Jeez isn't he cranky today."
Ranma started to walk behind the other guys that were heading out the
back door which led to the schools outdoor fields. Ryouga followed, his
fists were still clenched and he was walking like a soldier on his way
to war. Ranma with Ryouga in tow joined the rest of the guys
congregated on the field and Ryouga became the instant center of
attention. Which considering the state of mind he was in, probably
wasn't the best of ideas.
The kids started to crowd around Ryouga, at first he just ignored
them and started to stretch and perform a modified version of Tai Chi.
But Ranma could tell that the guys were starting to get on Ryouga's
nerves with their insipid questions.
"Hey aren't you that guy that got hit in the head with a soccer
ball?"
"No stupid he's the guy that sells umbrellas out front!"
"Hey are you listening to me man?! I'm talking to you here! Sheesh
maybe that soccer ball to the head knocked the sense right out of him."
Ryouga grabbed a nearby fist sized rock while he was stretching.
Without breaking his pattern, he casually crushed it and dropped the
rock fragments and powder by the kids feet. The students warming
up fell silent as they crowded around the site of the expected fight.
Ranma was trying to decide if letting Ryouga beat up the entire PE
class could in ANY way be blamed on him, knowing Akane . . .
most likely. Even though it would probably be a great way to let
Ryouga work out his anger . . . naaaah. With a sigh Ranma
turned to face the assembled crowd, Ranma spoke so most of
them could hear him.
"Okay guys listen up, this is Ryouga and he's a transfer student, he
is kind of cranky right now so why dontcha leave him alone okay?"
There was a general stirring in the crowd, but before any more
trouble could be started a shrill whistle blow cut through the air.
And striding into their midst came their coach, obviously oblivious to
anything out of the ordinary.
"Okay men line up for roll call!", he trumpeted into the now still
air. There was a crazy scramble as all assembled tried to form up into
the rows and spaces that had been designated as their own at the start
of the semester. Ryouga simply stood where he was with his arms
crossed and a glare in his eye daring anyone to annoy him.
However, the coach didn't even seem to notice him. He just took him
as the student that was supposed to be there and continued down the
line taking roll. Then with another of those annoyingly shrill whistle
blasts he bellowed out, "Okay men take a knee." With that he started
to get into the rules of the American sport known as "futtobooru" as it
was pronounced in Japanese. Ranma paid attention with half an
ear as he watched Ryouga making sure he didn't kill anyone. Yet.
When the coach had almost finished speaking, he summarized the rules
once again. "So basically what you do is take a team and try to get
the ball down the field and into the scoring zone, following the rules
that I just mentioned. Now, let's have our two students with the best
grades in this course be the first team captains, they will get to pick
their
teams first, after they are done the rest of you can form into teams for
our little elimination match... Ranma and Nakajima stand up please.
Okay you two start picking your teams." Nakajima spoke first.
"I choose Ryouga."
"I choose Daisuke." And so it went until all the teams had been
made.
What followed next was one for the history books. Ranma, acting the
as the defensive line for his team would hold Ryouga back until the
quarterback could toss the ball. Flags got thrown on almost every play,
as it was explained to Ryouga that no he could not do drop kicks, and
no, uppercuts were also not allowed. All the teams soon gained a
healthy respect for Ryouga, if you want to call cringing terror respect.
When Ryouga got the ball he would just run over any of the people that
got in his way, like a run away freight train, working out his anger and
depression. It sometimes took up to six guys to tackle him. But as he
worked off some of his anger and depression, he started having so much
fun, that he got into the game despite of himself.
Ranma would make plays with his quarterback and have great fun
faking Ryouga out and catching the ball over his shoulder as he ran,
only
to be tackled by Ryouga with enough force to carry him the rest of the
way down the field.
The look on the coaches face as he watched the two was priceless.
You could practically see the yen signs in his eyes as he imagined being
their manager and negotiating contracts for them back in the USA. One
by one Ranma's and Ryouga's teams took on all the other teams. Until
only their two teams had the least amount of loses, one each to the
other. Lining up to see which team was better, Ryouga stared at Ranma
and grinned an evil grin, Ranma grinned back.
Suddenly the bell rang signaling the end of class, every single
student on the field except for Ranma and Ryouga sprinted for the
locker rooms, wanting to be free from the humiliation as soon as
possible. Ranma and Ryouga trotted back in from the now soggy and
torn field in tremendously finer spirits.
"So Ryouga, you feel better now? Or would you still like for me to
kick your butt up and down the school like I promised?" Ryouga took
the joke for what it was and laughed quietly.
"Yeah sure Saotome, be sure to invite lots of people, we'll sell
tickets..." Ryouga failed to notice Ranma's sudden cringe, Ranma
could just see Nabiki in a ticket booth shouting,
"Come one come all, see the battle of the century...",
quickly he looked around, his eyes darting frantically to see if Nabiki
or one of her minions were within earshot. Satisfied Ranma followed
Ryouga back into the locker room, a small part of his mind wondering
how Ryouga had managed not to get lost yet. Since neither one of
them had actually broken a sweat, they didn't need to shower so they
headed out of the locker room.
"So Ryouga...see ya after school or something man?"
"No thanks Saotome, I have things to do...don't worry though I'll be
back to kick ya around a bit later...see ya!" And with that he leapt up
onto a nearby roof and then another, and soon he was gone.
"Oh well," Ranma thought, he never sticks around much anyway and
besides I am sure we would have ended up fighting eventually. The
rest of the day passed without many incidents to speak of.
As he was walking Akane home that day, Ranma broke his attention from
the fence he was walking along to look at her. She was maybe half a
step ahead of him and seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. The early
evening wind was swirling her glossy black hair around. The setting sun
catching and highlighting it as though she were a painting. Her hands
were held loosely in front of her, clasping her satchel. Ranma couldn't
help but notice how the cut of her school uniform made her very feminine
curves stand out.
The slender slope of the nape of her neck, the firmness of her calves
and legs in general and the way the jacket top accentuated her tiny
waist, which in turn highlighted her very curvaceous hips. All in all
Ranma in the most private corner of his mind thought, Akane was the
most attractive girl he had ever met. He would love to tell her that
actually, but he had no idea how to. At least not without insulting her
or sticking his stupid foot in his mouth as he always did. The only way
he knew how to approach a problem was physically.
Which is why he took such great pains to tease her, he knew she
would become riled, and he knew she would try to fight him, which
meant he could touch her. A fair price to pay he thought. But now
was not a time to fight so he contented himself with admiring her from
afar- for the time being.
Akane chose that particular moment in time to look back at Ranma,
and caught his lingering stare. Embarrassed, Ranma looked away.
Turning his gaze heaven ward he let the filtering sunlight play along
his
face and basked in it's warmth. Akane simply brushed his look off as
a coincidence, and kept up her gait. Soon they had reached the Tendo
home. Ranma headed up the stairs after shucking off his outdoor
shoes at the entryway and exchanging them for his indoor slippers.
Entering his room, Ranma changed into his training gi, then headed back
downstairs to look for Genma and start his afternoon training session.
Heading over to the porch, Ranma found Genma and Soun doing what
they usually did in the afternoons- playing shogi on the porch. The wind
picked up for a second and the wind chime rang, at that moment a fish
in the koi pond jumped. The sunlight glittering off of it's iridescent
scales. That fish still lived in that pond was in and of itself
amazing, since
either Ranma or Genma were somehow or another always doing headers
into it.
Genma looked up from the board to Ranma and groaned. Soun took the
opportunity to rearrange several of the game pieces while he was
distracted.
"Sorry boy but I'm not feeling too well today...I think I ate a bad
mushroom or something, you'll have to go practice by yourself today."
And with that said he turned back to the game and immediately grasped
his head with both hands as he sucked his breath in sharply. As Ranma
headed away, he could hear Genma saying...
"Do over, come on Tendo, do over..."
Ranma headed over to the dojo in somewhat more muted spirits. As
he entered the training hall though, he could see Akane in her trademark
yellow gi cinched up with her red belt. She was practicing the kata he
had shown her this morning. Ranma just leaned up against the west wall
in
the doorway letting the sun warm his back, and watched her. Well,
actually
he was watching her more than her form per say. He did, however, notice
that she had actually managed to remember most of the kata's steps as
well
as the intended rhythm to it. She ran through it eight times before she
finally
noticed that Ranma was in the dojo with her.
Blushing, she turned away from him. "How long have you been
standing there Ranma?" She asked with a sense of dread. She just knew
an
insult was coming. He would always make fun of her and belittle her
skills.
Or he would seem to be being nice to her and she would lower her guard.
Then he would shoot an insult her way and knock her self-esteem down a
notch or two. However she gave her thoughts pause here. 'That was not
how Ranma had acted this morning was it? No. She allowed herself to
dare
to hope, was he changing?'
However, Ranma either didn't hear her or chose not to respond.
Either way Akane breathed a sigh of relief. Ranma was still standing
there looking at her, staring actually. Not only was he staring at her,
but she could see his gaze was traveling all over her. Suddenly feeling
a
mental draft, Akane decided to break the mood and go over to a side wall
and
stretch.
Out of the corner of her eye Akane watched as Ranma walked out into
the center of the room and assumed a black belt, high crane stance.
Maintaining his silence and commanding a certain sense of dignity, he
began to practice. As Akane watched, Ranma proceeded to get into HIS
workout.
He was totally focused and in his center. He was so seriously into
his
training, that he was oblivious to his surroundings. The sharp plant of
his
feet on the hardwood floor, counter set perfectly the sounds of his
measured breathing. His motions continued to shift from that of what
looked like a half air born, half ground speed training kata to what
looked like single partner sparring.
'Of course.', Akane realized. Ranma usually sparred with his father
about this time. He was running through the routine he usually ran
through with his father. 'Where was Genma anyway?' Akane watched
from the wall as Ranma ran through his routine, going faster and faster.
His hands were going so damn fast she couldn't even see them, making
her all the more jealous of his skill and speed. And it only got worse!
He kept going faster and faster, and his movements got smoother and
better. It made her so mad that he could do that and she couldn't! He
was bouncing around the room like some kind of insane grasshopper!
And she wanted to as well!
When he finally stopped. Akane was standing in front of him holding
out a package. Wiping the sheen of sweat from his brow Ranma took the
package from her with a quizzical look on his face.
"And what do we have here Akane?", he asked, unwrapping the package
that said on the outer wrapping "Wild Stallion Professional Martial Arts
Supplies." Akane had her hands clasped behind her back and was sucking
her bottom lip in nervously, waiting for him to finish unwrapping.
Looking surprised, Ranma held up a pair of heavily padded hand pads and
a pair of equally padded foot pads.
"Okay Akane I give up what is this for?"
"So we can spar silly!"
"Why do I have to wear pads huh? I'm not afraid of getting hurt."
"They're not for YOU idiot. They're for me. You say you don't like
to hit girls right? Well this way you can hit me and I'll hardly feel
it. You can use your full speed and actually spar with me, and I'll be
able
to learn from where and how you hit me!" She beamed at him. Ranma
actually started to open his mouth to argue with her but she silenced
him
with 'the look.' So, shrugging his shoulders, he put the pads on.
Akane
took up a ready stance before him and they both bowed.
"All right then, here I come!" With that shouted challenge Akane
charged at Ranma full speed, throwing the best she could at him.
Ranma wove back and forth through her attacks but he still had yet to
lay a finger on her. He was falling back on his old pattern of evasion,
and Akane would have none of it, so she decided that injuring his pride
was the way to go. Backing off, she put her hands on her hips and
taunted.
"What's the matter Ranma! Can't seem to lay a finger on me today?!"
"Hah, you wish Akane, I could beat you with one arm behind my back!"
"Oh really?! Well why don't you shut up, stick your arm behind your
back... and come over here and try me for real?!"
Ranma did shut up. He looked at his fianc� and thought, 'what the
hell. . .might as well give her what she wants, she is asking for it
anyway...' And with that thought he crossed the space between them
rather quickly and threw a round kick at her torso which Akane easily
blocked. She countered by dropping to a knee and attempted to sweep
Ranma as he landed. Ranma barely had time to backflip to safety.
Rebounding off his hands Ranma re-evaluated his opponent with new
respect. Very rarely did Ranma have to make those kind of evasions.
Openly grinning now, Akane and Ranma both met each other in their
mock combat as they did everything else together, full of pride,
passion,
and barely contained emotion. This was actually fun for both of them.
It was probably one of the only things they could do together that
allowed them to touch each other, not have to say anything, and both of
them knew what they were doing, and didn't have to look akward or
clumsy. Or to bare any feelings that might get hurt. In effect, they
were playing with each other.
When they had both had enough, they stopped and bowed to each other.
Then Ranma went back to the west wall where he had left a towel and
Akane wandered off to her gear. As Ranma slumped down against the
wall and began to take the pads off, he saw a pair of legs enter his
field
of vision. Ignoring her for the moment so he could take off the sweaty
pads was a grave mistake in judgment. He heard her say just before
she did it,
"Ya know I have always wondered if you were ticklish." With that
said, Akane began to mercilessly search for Ranma's ticklish spot.
Unfortunately for him, he had lots! He began to laugh and tried to
fight her off. But, as he found out, and as any ordinary person who
has ever been the victim of a rogue tickler can tell you. Once you
start
laughing, and especially if you are tired, you are basically helpless.
Unfortunately for Akane, Ranma was no ordinary person. With great
strength Ranma brought his own hands into play. Pinning both of her
slender wrists together, he began to tickle her tummy and used his body
weight to force her down. Akane squirmed like some kind of deranged
fish, squealing with delight. She managed to get her hands free and
shot
a sucker punch to his stomach muscles.
Stumbling out of the dojo and into the crisper evening air, they
shrieked across the Tendo's lawn. Letting the wind carry their dreams,
and the soft grass caress their feet. Akane in the lead as Ranma would
occasionally catch her and tickle. She would in turn tickle him and get
a kick or a punch in and he would let her go, so he could chase her
again... until she would let him catch her again.
Their commotion caused everyone in the household to come outside
to watch Akane kill Ranma again. Soun was hell-bent on killing Ranma.
Again. For whatever grievance he had caused with his baby this time.
What the family saw stopped them all in their tracks. Nabiki rounded
the corner and all she could think to say was..."What in the..." As
Kasumi came outside she clasped her hands next to her cheek and
sighed, "Oh how sweet they're playing with each other!"
Genma and Soun looked overjoyed and hightailed it over to a corner of
the house so they could watch and not disturb. Nabiki shrugged and
chalked it up to the absurd, and Kasumi, humming to herself, went back
to her kitchen.
Dinner came and went with the whole household walking on eggshells
around the two. While they had since calmed down and changed into their
evening wear, they were neither hanging on each other like lovers, nor
were they fighting. All in all not a bad arrangement. They looked like
they had a wall up between them again as usual though. The rest of the
family could see them sneaking embarrassed looks at each other, but they
had yet to speak to each other since the early evening, as if afraid to
break the spell.
Kasumi was clearing the dishes from the table and most of the people
had left the room, the TV in the background could be heard announcing
that the nightly movie would be a ghost story. Soun and Genma scooted
out of the room as neither of them liked that sort of thing, seeing as
neither of them had an actual backbone. Nabiki had already retired to
her room to see to her ledgers for the day, and Kasumi was in the
kitchen cleaning up for the day. That left...just the two of them.
Akane gulped, mostly because she hated horror movies, but watched
them out of morbid fascination anyway. Also because she knew Ranma
was still in the same room with her. Out of the corner of her eye, she
could see him leaning on his side propping his head up with his hand.
He was reading a manga, she couldn't make out the title, but she knew
it was probably something dirty...'the pervert', she thought.
Getting up, she went and turned the lights off. Then, returning to
the table, she grabbed a blanket from beneath it and propped herself up
against a few pillows. Settling in to watch a movie she knew would
scare her to death.
Sighing, she reached up across her body to her shoulder with her hand
and tried to ineffectually rub the kinks out of her already sore
muscles.
Although she would never admit it to Ranma, she had gone all out today,
and now she was paying the price. She suddenly realized that Ranma
had not left the room to find another source of light, when she felt his
warm strong hands tenderly brush her shoulders as if seeking permission
to touch her.
Smiling to herself, Akane responded by reaching back and removing the
pillows, then scooting back until her head was resting on his chest.
Ranma also smiled at her response and with great care started to caress
her shoulders. Going not too fast but not too slow, and paying equal
amounts of attention to her back and shoulders, he used all sorts of
pressure techniques to work the kinks out of her muscles. He also
managed to find a few knots as well. Those hurt like hell, but Akane
bit her lip and said not a word. Ranma knew he must be hurting her
though, so he did those areas the fastest and using the most efficient
techniques to soothe the muscles as soon as possible.
They sat like that for the duration of the movie, with Ranma rubbing
and caressing her shoulders and back. Every now and then, Ranma would
get bored and would run a finger lazily from the base of her ear along
the edge of her jaw. He had no idea how erotic that was to Akane, and
Akane had to fight herself to keep from turning into his arms and
kissing him until morning. He did however think to himself, 'God her
hair
smells great... she smells just like a flower.'
Eventually, his tender ministrations slowed to a stop as he noticed
that the movie was over. She was slumped against him with all her
weight, while her head lolled to the side. Grinning Ranma took his left
arm and shifted her weight so that her shoulders lay across that arm.
Then, sweeping her legs up in his other arm and cradling her body he
stood up, he headed toward the stairs.
The house was already pitch black, and he heard no noise. Realizing
that everyone was already asleep he quietly carried Akane up the stairs
and towards her room. Using his foot, he opened her door and carried
her to her bed. Grinning, he noticed it was bacon free. Absently he
wondered if anyone sold pig traps. Using his foot, Ranma slid the
covers aside and lay his fianc� on her bed. She usually slept in
pajamas,
but Ranma really did not feel like getting the beating he knew he would
get if she woke up and caught him undressing her.
So he just lay her down and smoothed her hair out from beneath her
head. Leaning in one last time to smell her hair, Ranma started to
stand up to leave but found he was caught in a vise-like grip. Smiling
beautifully with her eyes still closed, Akane pulled him down and kissed
him on the lips quickly and then holding him so his lips were still
millimeters
apart from her own, she whispered in a voice so small that only he could
have possibly heard her, "Thank you...my fianc�..."
Then, laying her head back down, she turned over in the bed, hugged
the blankets close to her, and promptly fell asleep. Ranma left the
room, his head spinning with her last words 'fianc�...the word had been
used so often, with so many different meanings since he had shown up at
the Tendo dojo, that he hardly ever gave it a second thought. Now it
echoed in his mind over and over being repeated in her voice...' Slowly,
he plodded to his room and his futon.
That night he didn't sleep all that much, but he did have a warm
vibrating feeling centered in his chest, spreading out and tingling even
to
his toes. His hands were shaking with either delight or raw fear, he
couldn't decide which, causing him to clasp them over his chest to still
them. He could still smell her scent all over him as he lay on his
futon
in thought...'I wonder...' he thought, 'is this what love feels like?'
_______________________________________________________
End.
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