Akane's anger subsided. Ranma seemed genuinely apologetic, but she still
didn't trust him. There was defiantly more to him than meets the eye.
definately
"Besides, I thought that being a martial artist an' all, you would have been
able to handle a move like that." Ranma added, but in the same apologetic
tone.
Here's the Ranma we know and love. Open mouth, insert foot.
Akane's blood began to boil; no one questioned her martial arts abilities,
especially some BOY! "You IDIOT!" she screamed and knocked him over the
Some Boy who recently whooped her but good.
head with the table. Only his father heard the soft "Shan . . .Pu . . ."
>from under the upturned table.
Press me, do I not squeak?
"What was that all about?" asked Genma.
You mentioned he was dense before but c'mon now.
* * * * *
Ranma woke up, the world a blur slowly coming into focus in front of him,
with two big brown eyes staring strait into his. Looking behind himself, he
Eyes in the back of his head or really good use of martial art abilities?
noted that Nabiki was kneeling there, and that Kasumi was kneeling at the
side of his head. In Kasumi's hand was washcloth that she used to cool his
forehead. He absently noted that Akane was not there.
"Look Kasumi, he's awake." Nabiki said.
awake," Nabiki
"Oh my. How observant of you."
"Oh my, I hope you don't think too little of Akane, she really is a sweet
girl, she's just a violent maniac." Chimed Kasumi.
maniac," chimed
"Oh, like that really helps." Nabiki said sarcastically.
help," Nabiki
"It no problem, really, I know that she doesn't have it in her to actually
It be nuthin, really.
kill people like I have, that's why I'm not mad." Ranma quipped.
mad," Ranma
They, what was it poignantly? left out the trail of bodies earlier and now
he drops it in like it's popcorn.
"What?"
Nabiki: That explains a lot, actually.
"Oh my."
"Well, you see, while practicing in the dojo with her, I was able to
determine that she may be a little temperamental, but she could never kill.
Was this before or after she bashed you with a table? And who says
circumstances couldn't bring almost anyone to kill.
I'm glad of that, and I wish I made that assessment on many others before."
He said in a lower tone.
"Oh my, what do you mean?" Kasumi asked, concerned.
"I think he saying he's killed some people in his time, sis." Nabiki
answered for the boy. "Besides, it was probably in self defense and only a
couple of people, right?" No answer came from the boy, who looked down
meekly. "Right?" Nabiki's eyes widened. "Right?"
"I mean, you havn't been sneaking into people's homes, slaughtering them
before setting the family up around the dinner table. All this and then going
round, cleaning up the place, preparing dinner, leaving no clues except an
enigmatic message written on the inside of the pot-roast?"
In a low voice, filled with grief, Ranma answered, "I have killed fifty five
people, all in honorable combat . . . some of them were earnestly trying to
kill me, others were just idiots wanting their titles back as village
champion. Though I'll never forget what I've done, I am going to start anew
here, if all of you will let me, and I would like to never have to kill
I've never even seen Rorouni Kenshin but this reminds me of him.
again, but I make no promises . . . there are several out there who would
like revenge for their lost loved ones." Silence filled the room for a few
Ryoga doesn't perhaps have a brother or a shotgun toting sister in this,
does he?
moments.
"Aren't any authorities after you?" prodded Nabiki.
Authories, no. Amazons, yes.
"No," Ranma said, "they all tend to look the other way when it's all hand to
hand, if I had a weapon, but they just chalk it up to a mishap in the fight.
When there are no rules to restrict you in a fight, people are expected to
get hurt. If anyone does question anything, it always helps that someone
witnesses the attacker yelling about how they're going to kill me. It's
kind of hard to say I wasn't defending myself when five or six people all
heard, 'Ranma Saotome, Prepare to DIE!'"
"So you're not a danger to us then? Your not a psychopath?" snapped Nabiki.
You're
"No, in fact, I'm not. When you've seen what I've seen, and done what I've
done, you develop an appreciation for life. You learn what is really
important. Very little makes me angry, though I don't know if that's my
subconscious penance or if that's just how I am now. Akane's reaction to my
This is a little deep for Ranma. Particularly after Genma seems to have
pushed him even harder in this than the original. I'm assuming less schooling
though who knows.
criticism was petty, but I can't be angry with her because she's never
learned to appreciate it. I will assume that before I came, she was the top
fighter of her age group. I have seen that very same reaction on very
How very astute.
champion I've humbled. I can see the pride she has in her abilities, and I
knocked her down like all the rest. To her, I was being arrogant, making
fun of her failure, even though I was not. Before me, no one had any place
to question her abilities, and now someone does. I will be more considerate
of her feelings in the future, but it is her that needs to learn to accept
criticism." Ranma reassured them.
but it is her ... awkward.
Later that night, Ranma knocked on Akane's door. "Come in." chimed a sweet
voice. Ranma slowly entered, cautiously. Akane's voice became angry. "Oh
better than becoming sour....
its you," she spat out, "what do you want?"
it's
"I was hoping, that is if you don't mind, to talk to you, and apologize once
again for my words." Ranma stammered out.
words," Ranma
Akane's anger faded quickly because of his words. She decided to let her
It had nothing to do with his cute butt, or so she told the voice in her head.
guard down . . . a little.
Ranma continued when he got no order to leave. "Akane, first and foremost,
I apologize for phrasing my words so critically, though I do not take them
back, as I was simply stating what I felt. I realize that I did embarrass
you in front of your family and seemed it came off as making fun of you. I'
m sorry."
Might wanna connect the word I'm.
Akane paled. Ranma had read her like a book. She wondered what else her
This is Akane. This is Ranma. See Ranma hit Akane. Run, Akane, Run.
new fiancé had up his sleeve. On the other hand, he was hardly being the
He's got an ace of spades tattood on his arm.
arrogant jerk she had imagined him. She smiled and said, "Apology accepted,
Ranma, I'm sorry I hit you over the head with the table."
Apology accepted, Ranma. I'm sorry
"Secondly," Ranma continued, "I would like us to be friends, not enemies,
and maybe down the line, we can make this engagement thing work. Also, if
it's okay with you, I would also like to participate in your training."
Ranma noticed Akane's smile lessen. "You have a lot of good potential, but
it has been left untapped. You have a lot of brute strength, but you lack
That's what happens when you don't kill people. Now we can train you, go
off on adventures fighting overlords of hell, you can lose an eye... and we
can sing showtunes the whole time! ^_-
the finesse necessary to use it effectively." Akane brightened again.
"That is where I would come in, I can help you develop that finesse. By the
way, by your fighting style, you seem to be use to multiple opponents, all
All that from a beginning stance and one thrown punch. hmm.
of which are slow and unskilled. While field experience is good, it that
kind can make you slow and sloppy, the way you were in the dojo. You also
underestimated me, which will only get you hurt with other opponents. I
over estimate them; if I cant already tell their skill level exactly. This
overestimate, lose the semi-colon
way, I wont do something stupid, like let up on a possibly superior
opponent. How long have you been training Akane?"
won't, wont means something else entirely. training, Akane?
The question caught Akane off guard. "Um since I was about six. Why?"
"I've been training, and pretty much nothing but, since I was three, so
naturally, I would have more skill than you, which is nothing to be ashamed
of. Would you feel the same if your father defeated you?" asked Ranma.
"Well no, but that's different, he's a master, of course he's better than
me!" Akane retorted.
"There's no real difference, I have three years on you, and when you started
training, I was being taught a supposedly unbeatable technique called the
Cat-fist! There's nothing to be ashamed of, and I think that you might
There is a superior technique. The Otaku-Ken. Which in turn can be defeated
by the Mokono-Ken.
enjoy working with me, besides, don't you want a sparing partner." Ranma
added.
Seems like a mild question to me.
"Yes, your right . . . cat fist . . . never mind I'll ask later, but yes I
as opposed to your left? should be you're
would like a sparing partner, but no more of that freaky stuff, okay? And I
Taking me down in one fell swoop was freaky! At least the guys at school
use roses, chemical bombs, ice skates, hockey sticks, net-balls and tennis
rackets.
guess you can help train me, but don't even try to be a pervert about it!"
"Wonderful, I'm glad you agreed, but what do you mean 'pervert?'" said
Ranma. Before Akane could answer, Ranma bounded out of the room.
Akane began to realize that Ranma might not actually be all that bad a
person, and she regained the friend that she thought she lost this
afternoon. Was Ranma really that naive that he didn't know what a pervert
was? Or maybe he didn't care one way or the other because of his other
half. After all, it's not too unreasonable to think that he might have a
good appreciation for women's problems. With those thoughts, Akane drifted
off to sleep.
* * * * *
Ranma and Akane walked to school together, with Ranma walking on the fence,
and Akane on the sidewalk.
"Why are you up there?"
"Balance practice, wanna join me?"
"Uh, well, maybe some other time, but not right now, okay?"
Although I'm sure the water lady would appreciate my micro-mini.
"Um, sure, okay."
Ranma noticed Akane's expression start to change, from placid contentment to
hateful rage. Ranma absently asked her what was wrong. "Hey, Akane, what's
wrong, you look like your about to fight someone."
He asked her what was wrong.... then he asked her what was wrong.
Repetative. You could probably just lose the last sentence. like you're
"Nothing! Nothings wrong! Its just that I . . . HATE . . . BOYS!"
Nothing's wrong! It's just
"You what? Oh!" Ranma began to retort, but from his vantage point, he saw
all the boys gathered in the front of the gate. He figured out pretty
quickly what was about to happen next. " . . . By your fighting style, you
seem to be use to multiple opponents, all of which are slow and unskilled .
. ." Ranma remembered what he said the night before. Although this made him
angry that all those guys were ganging up on his fiancée, he had confidence
in her abilities, and wanted to see her in action, and this would provide
the perfect opportunity to critique his student's style more accurately.
Ranma perched onto the wall, and watched, carefully as his fiancée plowed
through the herd of boys. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the point of
a bokken move out from behind a tree and right back I the blink of an eye.
back in the blink
Ah, the leader of the group, a kendoist . . . and a coward, easy . . .
Ranma jumped down to where Akane was standing. He inspected the carnage on
carnage one
last time before tuning to her. "Wow Akane, that was great, though they're
before turning to her. "Wow, Akane, that
just bringing you down."
bringing her down, how exactly?
Akane just beamed. Here her friend, her fiancé who was light-years ahead,
That's what happens when you learn the Chestnut Fist. Light years ahead ...
of who or where and in what way.
just complemented her on her skills. "Thank you Ranma!" Akane
you, Ranka
instinctively caught the rose missile headed her direction.
Only to die a few hours later due to the Honta Virus which was liberally
applied to the thorns.
For the first time, Ranma saw Akane truly smile. His heart melted, she was
so cute, and even though she was a little temperamental, she really was
sweet. He felt himself luck to have her as a friend, as wall as a fiancée.
well as
She might not be another Shampoo after all. He was brought back to the real
world when the kendoist stepped from behind the tree.
"Such a boorish lot, trying to win the hand of aka . . . what's this?" the
Aka
boy asked noticing that his audience, namely Akane, was not paying attention
to him, but was talking amorously with some miscreant. Aren't you being a
little too familiar with Akane?" he asked the pigtailed boy.
"I don't see why I shouldn't be, seeing as I live in her home, and will soon
start retraining her." Ranma said confidently, but not arrogantly.
As apposed to softly, but not quietly?
Akane, though slightly miffed at Ranma for saying that he would be her
sensei out loud, realized that Ranma was only answering the question
honestly, and also saw an opportunity to get Kunou off her back.
"Staying with the Tendous? RETRAINING? Who do you think you are to
question Akane's prowess and skill, even if it is not of my level?" demanded
Kunou.
"And you are?" Ranma asked.
"I am Kunou Tatewaki, Junior, group E, rising new star of the high school
You had Ranma say it last name last, first name first. Why change with
Kunou?
kendo world, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!" he stated arrogantly,
pointing his bokken to the sky, while thunder and lightning crashed around
him.
"I'm Ranma Saotome, of the Musabetsu Kakutou Ryuu, same style as Akane's."
See. And actually, there are two schools of Anything Goes Martial Arts.
Tendou and Saotome.
Enough talk, fiend, I shall teach you not to be so cocky towards Akane!"
While Akane knew that Kunou was good, she knew that Ranma was far better.
Also, if he came within a millimeter of killing Akane during a friendly
match, he would probably not be so kind during a real fight. "Kunou your
Kunou, your
fight is with me, if you fight him, you'll only get hurt!"
"Ah, so the low borne Saotome needs a girl to protect him, well mark my
words, fiend, will challenge you, be ready for it! Akane, if I should win,
Who will challange him? him. Mark my words, fiend, I will challenge
I would date with you, but should I loose, I will allow you to console me by
lose
accompanying me on a date.
"Who said I wanna date you?" Akane screamed as she proceeded to thrash
Kunou.
When Kunou woke up, a few seconds later, he was staring into Ranma's eyes.
Ranma just looked at him and said one thing: "You're lucky to have a woman
such as Akane protecting you, if your fight had been with me, if you had
woken up, it would have been in a hospital room . . . in a full body cast.
Ja!" With that said, Ranma turned toward the school and gingerly entered
its doors as the rain began to fall on the students still to stunned to
move.
That's quite a long 'one thing.' protecting you. If your fight had been with
me, and I'd allowed you to live, you would have
* * * * *
Kunou looked into the mirror, admiring the handy work of the fiend Saotome.
admiring? hardly.
While he was out, only a few seconds, the boy had managed to bruise the
words, "spared by a girl" on his forehead. "For this humiliation, I will
have my revenge!" cried Kunou.
Akane and Ranma both kept exchanging glances at each other. When one would
see the other looking at them, both would look away and blush. To Ranma
That hard-hearted bastard!
this was a dream come true. He had made a friend, and a fiancée; all in
one, who was cute, and sweet, and someone he could help learn the Art.
To Akane, this was simply incredible. She had a friend, and a fiancé, all
in one, who was good looking, polite, and not perverted. He was also
several times better than her, but rather than be a jerk about it, he
offered to help her improve. He even didn't interfere with her fights.
Suddenly, Kunou burst into the room, in full kendo garb, with bokken
Kunou burst into the room wearing his full kendo garb, bokken in hand.
extended. "I shall never allow this travesty of justice! What foul sorcery
have you used Saotome to trap the beauteous Akane into your web of deceit?
How dare you claim Akane as YOUR fiancée?"
At this point, the entire class exploded into various cries of "Oh Akane, we
thought you hated boys" . . . "how dare you take Akane for yourself" . . .
"Congratulations Akane!" . . . "You lucky dog!" . . . etc . . .
And poor Yuka in the corner crying how she thought Akane loved only her.
"I shall smite thee, and release Akane from your wiles!" Raged Kunou as he
charged Ranma.
thee and - wiles!" raged
Ranma jumped over a few desks, yelling over his shoulder, "You idiot, you
could have hurt someone, if you really wanna fight, follow me!"
"That I shall!"
Akane ran after her fiancé until he jumped out of the third floor window,
followed quickly by Kunou. "You idiots, this is the third floor!"
"No problem Akane! I'll be fi-" [SPLASH]
Kunou screamed as he free fell over forty feet strait into the pool. He saw
straight
Saotome swimming away, and so swam to intercept him. When he grabbed hold
Ranma, his hand tightly squeezed Ranma's right breast, only to be flung out
of the pool and slammed on to the surrounding walk. Ranma then shot out a
spear-fist and broke three of Kunou's ribs on his right side in succession.
When, exactly, did Ranma leave the pool?
"Don't ever touch my breasts again! I shouldn't let you live for just
live, just for that!
that!" Ranma screamed at him. She then knocked his head into the side of
the pool effectively knocking him out. She ran into the trees for cover to
wring out her clothing.
Ranma sat in a tree wringing out her clothes. "That ASSHOLE! He didn't
have to squeeze me so hard. Too bad I can't kill him! I'm sure he'll get
I don't wanna kill anymore people. Too bad I can't kill him... Why, exactly?
the message from the broken ribs, I hope."
When Akane found her, she held out the teakettle and motioned for Ranma to
catch it. "Hey dummy, what were you thinking jumping into that pool, now
the whole school probably knows about your curse."
"Well I'm not really concerned about that, its Kunou you should be concerned
it's
about. I broke three of his ribs for groping me."
"Ranma . . ." was all Akane could say as she held her hand up to her mouth.
"Come on Akane, lets get out of here, I don't really wanna deal with the
other students right now, and it wouldn't be right to leave you to them as
well."
TO BE CONTINUED . . .
Author's notes:
Well, I can only hope you enjoyed this fic; I enjoyed writing it. Several
of my friends liked it, but I don't really know if they genuinely liked it,
or were just humoring me (never trust your friends' opinions on things like
this; its their job to make you feel good about your work). On the other
hand, my English teacher happens to like it too, so go figure.
I finished it sometime around last week, around 3:00 in the morning.
Well, it seems alright. Could use a little work and tightening up in places
but not bad. I can see how Ranma would want this new life but he's not
exactly acting like someone who's killed lots of people. Not that I'd know.
Anywho, keep em coming. Interested to see where this goes.
Ja ne.
Warr
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My webpage, front page updated 1/7/99:
http://welcome.to/nifflheim
http://members.xoom.com/Tengpow/front.html
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Tom Morello: Are you a fan of any particular kind of music,
and can we play a request for you?
Noam Chomsky: If I told you what my tastes where, it would
shock you.
TM: Oh no, you go right ahead. Shock me.
NC: Almost nothing. I am very much restricted to things in my
childhood or before. Far before.
TM: Our CD catalog is pretty large, try me.
NC: I wouldn't even know what to say. Beethovens Late Quartets.
TM: Anything in R&B or pop music. Anything that rings a bell?
NC: I am so ignorant, it isn't even worth asking me. I sort of knew
something when my kids were around, but that's a lot of years ago.
TM: Well, Noam, thank you so much for being on the show and
have a great summer.