Legal: The characters of Ranma � were created by the great Rumiko Takahashi.
I am using them without permission, hopefully for the purpose of entertaining someone. If anyone who has a right to sue me has that desire, I have almost no money.
C&C is appreciated, you can contact me at brendan@wiltonnewyork.com. And if you want to see the earlier parts of this and my other stories, you can find them at http://www.wiltonnewyork.com/Brendan
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Ranma Saotome: Master of the Mystic Arts
By Brendan O'Donnell
Chapter 2
"You've never even met this Ranma? And one of us is getting engaged to him?!" Akane proclaimed, glaring at her father across the table.
"Hey look at this as an excuse to tell Kuno to get lost," Nabiki commented in a conspiratorial murmur to her sister.
"Would you quit it about Kuno! My boyfriend is my own business."
"Well seeing as how you refuse to kiss him, hug him, or hold hands with him, and hit him every time he come within three feet of you..." Nabiki commented looking at her sister.
In response Akane crossed her arms before her chest and turned away with a loud "Humph!"
The doorbell rang.
"That must be Ranma!" Nabiki said excitedly as she ran to the door, closely pursued by her father. A second later they ran back around the corner, followed by a panda that calmly walked into the room.
"Stupid excuse for a father," Muttered a red haired girl as she walked around the bear, taking off her backpack with one hand. "I told him we should get some hot water first but oh no, go to the Tendos' first, and by the way you're getting engaged to one of them." Rooting through the backpack she pulled out a large metal thermos.
Soun blinked. "You wouldn't be..."
The red haired stranger looked at him and responded, "Ranma Saotome, sorry about the confusion."
Soun grabbed her and pulled her into a fast hug, knocking the thermos and backpack from her hands. "Oh I'm so glad you're finally here! I've waited for this day for so..." Blinking he grabbed Ranma by the shoulders and pushed her to arms length to look at her. Staring at her chest he backed away.
"Oh what a cute girl you've found for us to marry," Nabiki commented sarcastically.
"Girl..." With a small yelp Soun collapsed into a faint.
"Ah great," Ranma commented as she picked up the thermos. Tossing it to her left hand she walked over to Soun, and crouched down to touch his forehead with her right hand. "Hmm." A low-level probe showed her no obvious problems so she directed a light trickle of power through her hand. "Wake up."
With a start Soun woke. "Uh, what? Saotome? Ranma? Girl!?"
"Calm down," Ranma stated as she stood and opened the thermos. "It's a strange story," she said pouring a cupful of hot water. "But it's got simple consequences." She poured the hot water over her head. And changed into a taller black haired boy. "Spring of Drowned Girl." He poured another cup, which he immediately flicked into the Panda's face. "Spring of Drowned Panda."
"Oh my," Kasumi commented, the only Tendo in the room not frozen with shock.
Genma wiped the hot water from his face and commented, "Weren't you concerned about going too fast, boy?" He glanced at Soun and extended a hand for him to grab. "Don't worry old friend, I can explain everything."
Soun pulled himself to his feet with Genma's help. He looked at his old friend. "Explain. Yes, an explanation!" He paused and looked at Genma. Tears streamed down his face. "It's been so long since I've seen you, old friend. Come into the living room, and we can all hear your story."
"So that's what happened," Soun commented softly as he stood and walked to the door overlooking the garden. "The true horror of Jusenkyo has been shrouded in mystery for so long."
Ranma snorted and looked at his father. "Nope, the true horror's described in the brochure where Pop got the idea of training at Jusenkyo. And if he actually spoke a word of Chinese or had thought to ask the guide about the place it might have mattered."
Genma scowled. "Ranma, stop whining like a girl!" He reached out and grabbed Ranma by his shirt and threw him into the Tendo pool. "The path of a true martial artist is the path of peril and conflict! Have you forgotten, aren't you prepared to lay down your life for the art?"
Ranma stood in the pool. His eyes narrowed. "Life, not manhood!" Focusing his energy Ranma quickly sliced his hand through the pond's surface in a semicircular pattern. He brought the hand up in an arc ending with his hand pointed at his father. A fierce stream of water shot along that path crashing into Genma, knocking the panda on his back.
Ranma leapt from the pond, and with two steps was on the walkway at the door. Genma rose to his feet and assumed a defensive stance. Ranma remained at the doorway in a guarded cat stance.
Soun stood and stepped between the two cursed martial artists. "Calm down you two. Ok, let's see if I have this right." He turned to Genma. "Cold water turns you into a panda." Holding up a steaming kettle he poured it over the panda's head. "But hot water returns you to normal."
"No need for it to be that hot, Tendo."
Soun walked to where Ranma had switched to a more causal posture. "Cold water turns you into a girl, and hot water turns you into a boy." He extended the kettle toward Ranma, who grabbed it out of his hands.
"Hot, not boiling!"
With a grin Soun Tendo clasped Ranma on the shoulder. "Well, it's no problem after all." With a grin he turned Ranma to look where his three daughters were sitting. "My eldest daughter Kasumi, my middle daughter Nabiki, and my youngest daughter Akane. Whoever you choose, she's your new fiancee."
"He wants Akane," Nabiki stated simply. Her sisters looked at her.
"I have to agree Nabiki," Kasumi responded with a nod of her head.
"What, why would I... It's bad enough with Kuno!..."
"Well, isn't a fiancee the perfect excuse to dump Bokken Brain?"
"Quit reminding me about everything that's wrong with my boyfriend! Besides what proof do I have that mister boy-girl here isn't worse than Kuno?"
"Haven't you kept saying that no one could be worse than Kuno?" Nabiki responded.
"First off!" Ranma stated raising his hand. "I have no intention of getting engaged to someone I met twenty minutes ago!" He looked at Soun. "I respect family honor, but if you can't wait a few months for the sake of your daughter's happiness..."
"I... " Tears began to stream down Soun's cheeks as a brief look of shame was swallowed by a look of desperation. "Please! For the sake of the art! At least think about..."
"It's family honor so I'm not saying no. It's the rest of my life so I'm not saying yes. I just want to wait."
"And what about me!?" Akane shouted with an angry glare at Ranma. "There is no way I am getting engaged to some weirdo like you!"
Ranma looked at Akane. He felt the anger building inside him. "Then we won't get engaged! Even if I believed in coercion, I don't want to marry some short tempered tomboy!"
"What did you call me!!"
*Anger can be a potent tool, but if you let it control you, you risk destroying part of yourself.* Taking a breath and releasing it, Ranma closed his eyes and reached up a hand to massage his forehead.. "Sorry, insults are too easy." Lowering his hand he looked Akane in the eye. "All I want is to pretend that this entire engagement agreement doesn't exist for a few months. Is that ok with you three?" He glanced past Akane to direct a stare at her two sisters.
"As far as I'm concerned I don't even know you!" Akane responded as she turned and stormed upstairs.
Ranma glanced after her, then directed his attention to Mr. Tendo who was now grasping his arms and staring into his face, tears flowing down his cheeks. "Promise me you'll choose a fiancee in a month. If you don't... The Dojo..."
"Three months. Then I'll make a decision about the engagement question," Ranma replied pulling his arms free.
"We mainly use the attic for storage, but there should be enough room so that you can set up whatever you need. Just ask me before rearranging anything please."
"Thank you," Ranma replied looking around the compact room with it's sharply angled ceiling. Closing his eyes he extended his perceptions. The house was well located, with strong currents of mystical energy circulating through the entire area. And as he reached out his mind he felt the presence of benign spirits suffusing the entire house. "This'll be perfect." *Yes. It'll take a few days to set things up for the spell, but then I shouldn't have any worries about someone trying to sabotage my equipment. Baka Oyaji.*
"What did you want to set up here?" Kasumi asked.
"Hmm?" Ranma glanced at her. "Oh, I just need someplace quiet and private to decipher the secrets of the universe."
Akane jogged down the street, and at the entrance to the Tendo Dojo she pivoted to enter, a contented smile on her face. The grin was swallowed by an expression of shock as she looked into the yard where a series of loud shouts had erupted. "What?" She ran to look.
Genma was unleashing dozens of blows at Ranma, all of which were blocked by his son as he retreated toward the pond. Suddenly Ranma crouched under the barrage and kicked at his father's legs, knocking them out from under him. Genma caught himself with his hands, then pushed off to vault over the pond. He landed in a defensive posture, then blocked his son's flying kick.
Akane looked on. "Hmm, they're pretty good."
"High spirited." Kasumi smiled as she looked up from setting the table for breakfast.
The two combatants leaped, clashing together over the pond in a flurry of punches and kicks, which ended with Ranma knocking his father into the pond with a kick that threw himself to the rocks.
"I win, Oyaji," Ranma commented with a smug grin on his face.
"Oh my!" Kasumi declared, looking at Genma. "What do panda's eat? Oh yes!" She pulled out a large plate of bamboo and set in on the table.
"I don't want any arguments from you, boy. We'll be staying for a while and you'll be going to school!" Genma declared.
"Ok," Ranma responded. "Did you happen to pick up some books and that, or will I have to shop for myself?"
Genma blinked a second, then pulled out a leather backpack/satchel. "Uh, here."
"Hey Ranma, time to get going," Nabiki commented as she glided around him with a grin on her face.
"You sure seem to be pushing Akane to get engaged to me," Ranma commented to Nabiki as he hopped from the fence to where she was walking a dozen feet ahead of Akane. "I don't suppose you're interested in getting this Kuno guy unattached?"
"Kuno!?" Nabiki proclaimed in a thoroughly disbelieving tone. "Well you haven't met him yet. Trust me only an idiot would want him for a boyfriend." With a worried look she glanced backward for Akane, then sighed in relief as she saw her sister hadn't gotten close enough to overhear them yet. "Do you know anything about magic?"
Ranma just managed to force himself not to freeze in shock. "What do you mean?"
"Well since Akane suddenly decided Kuno was her boyfriend last month I've tried to find some reason she'd suddenly stop hating him for being such a complete jerk and deciding to accept his 'date me' offers. Not that she's actually dated him mind you. Or even stopped hating him really." She shook her head. "It can't be drugs, and hypnosis shouldn't work like that by what I've read. Of course magic isn't possible, or at least wasn't supposed to be possible." She glanced at Ranma with a wry grin on her face.
"My curse is proof that magic isn't impossible, and you're hoping to learn that I've spent the last eleven months studying magic under the earth's sorcerer supreme, right?"
Nabiki looked at Ranma, then laughed, putting her hand to the back of her neck. "Yeah, silly huh."
"Beloved Akane Tendo!"
Ranma glanced away from the gates to the school to look at the source of the cry, a tall student wearing the traditional Kendo uniform and holding a large bouquet of red roses who was running toward the trio.
Akane's sigh was full of resignation and a little tiredness. "Kuno."
With a flourish Kuno tossed the bouquet to Akane who casually caught it. "Truly the beauty of these perfect blossoms pales before your radiance, Akane Tendo."
Akane glanced at them. "They're as cute as all the other roses."
Kuno stepped forward and grabbed Akane's hands, which involuntarily jerked away. "Hands off!" Akane declared with a scowl as she dropped the bouquet and knocked his arms away.
"But, my love!" Kuno responded stepping forward while spreading his arms to hugging position. Akane responded with a kick knocking him back to the school.
"This is the way you treat your boyfriends?" Ranma asked as he stepped up to her.
"Shut up."
"Hold, how dare you stand so close to my beloved Akane Tendo?!" Kuno stated as he rose to his feet, shifting his grasp on a bokken he hadn't been holding a second before.
"Hey I'm..."
"Wait! Before a challenge can be issued it is first proper to offer ones own name. Therefore listen well, I am the mightiest warrior of this school, undefeated master of the sword, the rising star of the World of Kendo! My peers call me the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High! I am Tatewaki Kuno."
Ranma looked at him quietly a moment. "I'm Ranma Saotome, heir of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. My father's a friend of the Tendo family and we're their guests for a few months."
"You think yourself worthy to share the roof of my Akane Tendo?" Kuno stepped foreword slashing at Ranma with his bokken. Ranma calmly flipped backward, landing casually on the trunk of a nearby tree. Kuno's follow up slash missed Ranma and cut the tree in half.
"Would you cut that out!" Ranma shouted angrily as he avoided Kuno's thrusts and stepped close to the kendoist. "Whatever your problem with that violent girl is, I have nothing to do with it! And I want nothing to do with it!"
"How dare you speak that way about Akane Tendo!" Kuno screamed as he attacked with a flurry of thrusts, which Ranma avoided, with a short set of backflips followed by a leap into the air. As he descended Kuno thrust upward, while Ranma struck out with his fingers.
It started to rain.
"Mr. Saotome?" Akane asked as she walked into the shed she had seen the panda carry Ranma into. "Ranma?"
"Damn rain," Ranma muttered to herself as she considered a small kettle. "I was winning too.
"Check your throat," Akane responded.
"Akane?" Ranma glanced at her, then raised his hand to a thin bruise just next to her collarbone. "Hmm, Better than I thought." She picked up the kettle and poured it over her head.
"Even match I guess," Akane commented.
The now male Ranma quickly toweled his hair and responded, "Not really." He smirked, remembering his own 'signature' move before the rainfall had begun. "Why are you here anyway?"
"We have the same homeroom, and I don't want you to be late for your first day."
"Well I figure being male for my first day is more important, but you're right." He walked out of the shed, and paused at the door and glanced at the panda. "Thanks for actually being helpful this time Pop."
*So much for not being late,* Ranma thought as he contemplated the two buckets of water he and Akane were currently required to hold in the hallway.
"It's your fault we're late, you know." Akane glanced sideways at him, frowning.
Ranma looked at her. "I'd be more inclined to blame Kuno myself." He saw her eyes narrow in annoyance. *I'm not saying anything more on that subject.*
Akane sighed. "I guess I must look crazy, having someone like that as a boyfriend."
"Everyone has hidden depths."
"If Kuno does, they're well hidden. Well he does have a decent sense of romance, and he really knows how to make it seem like you're the only person in the world, but whenever he tries to hold my hand or anything..." Akane grimaced and rubbed her hand with a slightly disgusted expression. "I mean, why am I telling you this!?"
Ranma looked and saw himself targeted by a gaze filled with anger and a little confusion. "Um, whoa!" He jumped to avoid a splash of water from down the corridor.
"Ranma Saotome!" Kuno declared as he threw aside his now empty bucket and drew his bokken. "I shall never accept your engagement to Akane Tendo!"
The windows of the classroom exploded open, allowing the students to inundate the corridor with questions.
"Wait, we're not engaged," Ranma said, hands raised in a non-martial defensive posture.
"It was all our fathers' idea," Akane added.
Kuno stepped forward, slashing Ranma's bucket in half. Ranma dodged the thrusts following, then jumped past the kendoist. "This is no place to fight, Kuno. This way!" He ran down the hallway, Kuno following.
"I don't believe this!" Akane commented as she ran after the pair.
"Let's finish this outside," Ranma declared as he opened a window and leaped out.
"I follow!" Kuno declared as he leaped after Ranma.
"Wait! This is the third floor!" Akane called after the pair.
"No problem... Ahrgh!!" Ranma commented as he looked down at the swimming pool he and Kuno were falling toward.
"Lucky there's a pool there," a student standing beside Akane commented.
"NO WAY!" Ranma stated, as he brought his hands together before him and concentrated, chanting softly to himself. His decent slowed. Kuno shot past him into the pool. Ranma drifted down, halting an inch above the still agitated waters. "Whew!" He frowned and glanced at the school. "Now what do I..." A hand shot from the pool grabbing him by the ankle and pulling him in.
"I fight on, Saotome!" Kuno proclaimed, his words garbled by the water. He grabbed his opponent, and froze as his hands grasped somewhat more than expected on Ranma's chest.
"You pervert!" Ranma screamed as she reached behind herself to grab Kuno by the head. Focusing on the still active levitation spell, she willed herself to shoot into the air, spinning to dislodge Kuno. Fifteen feet above the pool, she flexed her ready arms and threw him back into the water. She raised her hands just above her forehead.
"Winds that blow from west to east, I summon you by my command."
She raised one hand, it's now glowing palm facing the sky.
"Deliver your might as I request, the power of lightning into my hand!"
With a final gesture, Ranma released the lightning bolt into the pool.
Ranma sat on a limb of a tree. She was holding her pants in her hand. "That was an overreaction," she commented as she folded the wet cloth. "Reacting out of anger like that in an important battle could turn victory into defeat." Grasping the cloth at both ends of the roll she twisted it, wringing a small cascade of water from the fabric. "The fact that it felt good to blast that pervert has no bearing." She unrolled her pants and snapped them out.
"Ranma!"
Ranma looked down and saw Akane standing behind a rather irate looking Nabiki. "This morning you said you didn't know anything about magic," Nabiki stated angrily.
Ranma grinned and leaned foreword on the branch. "No I said I'd studied magic for the last eleven months and you decided I was being ironic." Akane giggled in response.
With a scowl Nabiki responded, "Ha ha ha." Holding up a kettle she tilted it pouring a slow stream of water from the spout. "I guess you don't want any of this."
"WAIT!" Ranma responded, grabbing her pants and jumping down from the tree. She looked at Nabiki. "Can I have that kettle?"
"Hmm," Nabiki responded. "Let me think. Hot water has value to you, so I should be compensated. What would be appropriate?" she said in a very matter-of-factly tone.
"Hold!"
The three girls looked at Tatewaki Kuno who strode up to them. "Ah, fair Akane Tendo. Tell me, have you seen that base coward Ranma Saotome? The wretch fled my wrath, forcing another to take his place in his cowardice! No matter I shall..." Ranma stepped in, quickly kicking Kuno in the face. "That hurt."
"Alright, you want to fight? Let's go!"
"How amusing," he responded raising his bokken. "If you defeat me I agree to date with you!" he said, lashing out at Ranma with a quick thrust. Ranma stepped back easily avoiding it.
"Nabiki, did Kuno just offer to go on a date with Ranma?" Akane quietly said to her sister.
"That's what I heard." She pulled out a small notebook, and flipped through several pages. "Kuno acting like a supreme jerk event 98, offering to date a girl in front of my sister who he considers his girlfriend."
"Hey you..." Akane started, trailing off as she saw Ranma step in avoiding Kuno's thrust and jumped up and backward circling a leg to smash into his face on the way.
Kuno hit the ground three feet back and rolled another four feet more. *She is formidable! Even more so than Akane Tendo!*
"Ranma Saotome's even better, by the way." Kuno heard her call to him as she dodged past Nabiki Tendo and walked toward the school.
"Hey!" Nabiki cried as she ran after the pig-tailed girl.
Akane glared angrily down at him. "I keep thinking you can't make yourself look like more of a jerk and you keep proving me wrong." With a sharp 'humph' of disdain she pivoted and walked back to school.
Kuno thought about the strange girl. He remembered seeing her floating above the pool, her power and beauty stunning him like a thunderbolt. "Truly I am blessed by the gods," he said, then pulled himself to his feet. Walking to where he had faced her he knelt to pick up his bokken. Looking down he ran his fingers through the grass, then raised the single hair he had seen. It was the same unusual shade as the girl's. "Truly blessed."
Ranma stood in the attic, examining the papers he had attached to the four walls. "Ok." He turned to the three interconnected circular diagrams drawn on the floor in the center of the room. "Right, now to get started." Stepping into one circle he faced the other two. Gathering his mystical energy he began directing a flow through the diagram. "I walk with the light. I walk with the wind. I embrace the flow of the water. My strength rises up from the earth. Spirits who protect and powers that preserve, I call you to me."
The circles began to glow brighter and brighter, and around the circles shimmering barely visible forms began to appear, circling around him. {Who are you?}
Ranma heard the echoing voices and looked to the forms circling him. "I am a servant of the sacred fire. I am one who knows the color of magic. I am a seeker of your aid."
{Aid?}
"The diagrams are drawn. The powers are aligned. Will you bless my goal with your acceptance?" The spirits circled around him faster and faster, the circles glowed more brightly.
{Yes.} The glow from the circles built as the diagrams attached to the walls blazed into light. The light faded.
"Ok." Ranma commented as he stepped out of the circle and walked to the stairs. "Twenty four hours, and then I can finalize the enchantment." Suddenly he felt the low level magic defenses he had built up over the year deflect an incoming surge of magic. He froze as he shifted his attention inward and directed his efforts to augmenting his existing defenses. Then he relaxed as he felt the attack more clearly. It was a very minor compulsion spell, and easy enough to fend off. "I wonder who I've managed to piss off now?" He shook his head.
"Ranma, Dinner's ready," Kasumi called up to him.
"Coming!" Ranma responded.
Ranma closed the doors of the dojo. Opening a small leather pouch he poured a small line of white sand before the doors. Speaking quietly he traced a symbol on the doors with his finger, then stepped back and watched the glowing character fade into nothingness. "Ok, dojo's sealed." He walked to the center of the room, and sat hands on his knees, palms up in a classic meditative position. Closing his eyes he focused inward as he had learned several months ago. Controlling his breathing he felt the power flowing through himself, gathered it, and pushed. Feeling the sudden sense of separation, he opened his astral eyes, and willed his astral body to float to three feet above the floor.
"Now to business." He reached out and focused his senses on the compulsion spell that had failed to snare him earlier. It was crude and weak, and it was apparently linked to some sort of focus. With a smirk Ranma felt the link and flew through the ceiling, following the link back to the other part of the spell.
"My oh my." Ranma commented as he looked at the room. The focusing object he had sought was easy to find. A straw doll with a single strand of his hair placed inside it sat on a small shelf, with three Polaroid's of his girl form at school pinned to the wall adjacent to it. Next to it was another straw doll. Ranma couldn't perfectly identify the hair inside the second doll by its aura, however the larger high quality photographs of Akane pasted to the wall surrounding it matched his best guess. "I guess that answers Nabiki's question about some sort of magic on Akane. Now what to do?" Ranma floated around the room and through several adjacent rooms, contemplating his options. "Ok," he concluded grinning to himself.
Floating before the window in the room, he held his hands before the latch and focused his energy. The latch turned and the window slowly slid halfway open. Ranma floated to the two dolls. "So long," he commented as he released a quick spike of mystical force into the doll with his hair. The spell it was trying to snare him with dissipated as the hair evaporated, blackening the surrounding straw as it went. "Ok, now for the tough part." Inflating his chest in habitual imitation of taking a deep breath, he positioned his hands on either side of the second doll as though grasping a ball with the doll at its center. Then he rose, the ball floating between his hands. Turning to the window he floated out, making sure the doll passed through the open window.
"Sloppy Ranma, I told you that chanting and hand waving would compromise your skills." Genma commented with a smirk as he looked at his son turned daughter as she pulled herself out of the pool.
Ranma glared at her father and calmly walked to the breakfast table. As the combat rush faded she stifled a yawn. *I hate it when he's half right, but until I've built my mystic strength a bit more I'll have to get used to being tired for a while after I do anything big magically.* She thought about her astral experience the previous night. *Or in this case, maintaining something small for too long.* Glancing up she saw Akane sit opposite him.
"Ah," Ranma said, pulling the straw doll out of her pocket, "Here, hold this a moment."
Akane gingerly picked up the soggy doll. "What is it?" Ranma held his hands before him, his eyes narrowed in concentration. He made a quick grasping and tearing gesture, and Akane flinched as she saw sparks appear around both the doll and Ranma's hands for an instant. "What are you doing?"
"Breaking a spell." Ranma responded lowering his hands and sighing tiredly. "I grabbed that from Kuno last night. It's the focus of a very minor compulsion spell. Do you actually want to be his girlfriend?"
"No." Akane froze, blinking for a moment. "Hold on, you're telling me Kuno cast a love spell on me!?"
"No, it's a compulsion spell. Specifically, it compels you to 'Embrace your true feelings, and date with him.'" Ranma shook his head disgustedly. "That kind of language is one of the mistakes that tends to kill off beginners."
"My love!" Kuno ran from the school building, a bouquet of roses in his hand.
Akane accelerated, running from where Ranma walked with her sister toward Kuno. "YOU STUPID JERK!" Akane screamed as she slammed a fist into Kuno's stomach. "I am not some sort of doll!" Akane knocked Kuno back with a fast roundhouse kick. "I do not and have never wanted to be your girlfriend!!" She grabbed him, smashed him against the ground then kicked him over the school.
Nabiki looked at the path Kuno traversed past the clock tower. "If we hurry we should just make it." She commented, jogging past Akane into the school.
"Ranma Saotome!" Kuno screamed as he charged the tree where Ranma, Akane, and Nabiki had just sat.
Ranma calmly looked up from his half-devoured bento. "What is it Kuno?" Behind him Akane clenched her fist, breaking her chopsticks in half.
Kuno raised his bokken and pointed it at him. "You shall release Akane Tendo from your vile enchantment, sorcerer."
"Wait a second, you were the one who put the spell on her."
"Fool! The fair Akane Tendo is a shy and demure maiden who feared the strength of our love. I merely freed her to express her true feelings for me!"
*I think he actually believes that.* Ranma shook his head. "Go away Kuno, I've got better things to do than mess around with you."
"HAAA!" Kuno yelled as he jumped forward, slashing downward as though to cut Ranma in half. Ranma sidestepped the attack, then the upward slash that followed. Kuno initiated a flurry of thrusts and slashes, which Ranma calmly avoided. Then Ranma stepped in close to smash a kick into Kuno's midriff.
"You're a hell of a lot worse at magic." Ranma turned and walked around the school building. There was a splash and a very feminine "HEY!"
"Hold, Ranma Saotome!" Kuno screamed as he stormed around the corner, stopping at the sight of the wet-haired girl who was glaring angrily up at the windows on the second floor. "My goddess of thunder!" He pulled out a bouquet of roses.
"Kuno," Ranma said angrily. "When will you just go away?"
"Take this!" Kuno proclaimed, rushing forward.
Ranma raised her hands defensively, then realized that Kuno had dropped a bouquet of roses on her arms. Awkwardly she looked at them, feeling for any sort of magic. *Nada, what's he playing at?*
"Pigtailed thunder goddess, I love you," Kuno declared as he turned and walked around the corner.
*HUH?* He looked at the roses he was holding, then with a shudder tossed them away. "Jeez." Ranma turned and walked down the side of the building returning to class.
Around the corner Kuno stood leaning against the building, arms folded in what he saw as a manly posture.
{ "Kuno Sempai, wait!" the pigtailed girl from the pool cried as she rounded the corner.
Kuno turned to look at her, "Beauteous one."
"Kuno, the moment I saw you; I fell in love with you!"}
His face distorted in a lecherous grin, Kuno laughed to himself. Composing himself and running a quick comb through his hair, he settled back to his wait. *Ah she is shy and needs to prepare herself to face me. Fear not my beauty, I can wait.*
"I cannot believe that jerk made a pass at me," Ranma commented with a shudder. He glanced at Akane who was walking besides him.
"That stupid jerk's capable of anything."
"Besides, you do make a pretty hot-looking girl." Nabiki added in an amused tone from behind them. "Still are you sure neither of you hit him or anything? He wasn't in any of the afternoon classes."
Kuno stood by the school building. He glanced up at the night sky, the myriad stars shining in the blackness. "Alas, so fierce in battle yet so timid in the ways of the heart."