I APOLOGIZE FOR THE FORMATTING ERROR!
PLEASE REVIEW! I think I got this message across in the post of chapter
one.
Thanks,
Nuclear Twinkie (nucleartwinkie@mindflayers.net)
P.S. After saying this, try to keep those C&C replies to personal e-mail
only. I am hoping for a lot of them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>From the Mind's Eye
Chapter 2: Akane Tendo
Disclaimer: That's right. I own all the Ranma1/2 characters. Mwa-ha-ha-ha.
Hey, wait a minute. Put down that mallet. It was a just a joke. A JOKE!
AARRGGHH! --SMASH-- I would now-ow-ow-OW THAT HURT! Wait, I'll tell them,
just don't hit me again! I would now like to change my previous statement.
I do not own any Ranma1/2 characters. I think Rumiko Takahashi does....
All right! I think Takahashi-sama does. I am just a hopeless otaku with no
life. Are you happy now, you violent tomboy? Wait! Not again! --SMASH--
Uncute!!
{ } = Character Thoughts
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bzzzzt! Bzzzzt! Bzzzzt!
"RANMA YOU JER...oh." {Stupid alarm clock.}
Akane reaches over and drops her hand on the evil device that has so rudely
interrupted the peaceful serenity of sleep. Akane sits up, and stretches
her arms out in opposite directions. Slightly yawning, she drags herself
out of bed in preparation of a new day. She stumbles over to her dresser
and closet to collect some clothing, and slowly walks out of her room
towards the bathroom to prepare for the day.
"Good morning, Akane. The bath is ready. Please hurry, because breakfast
is almost ready." Kasumi is walking down the hall past Akane's room. She
has the same happy, cheerful, glow that seems to emanate from her very being
anytime she's doing housework or helping her family. She's dressed in a
conservative yet fashionable dress that reaches down just past her knees.
Her hair is being held in a ponytail by a small yet cute looking light blue
bow. She is wearing a white apron with a very faint, small, pink bunny
print on it.
"Morning, Kasumi. Ok, I'll hurry." {Kasumi is always up so early. Ranma,
on the other hand... Ugh. I don't want to think about that jerk this
early.}
Akane walks out of the bathroom cleaned and groomed in her usual school
uniform. It's a white blouse with a plain blue jumper, white socks, and
simple black shoes. Her short, black hair playfully dances just past her
jaw line. She picks up a large bucket of cold water and turns to look down
the hall. {That's just what I needed. I feel much better. Now for the
inevitable daily awakening.} Akane walks down the hall, opens the door, and
looks down at Ranma. He's sprawled across his bed, wearing nothing more
than boxer shorts and a muscle shirt, virtually dead to the world.
{Someday, he's going to learn to wake up on his own. Until then...}
SPLASH!
"You un-cute tomboy! What did you do that for?" Ranma splutters as he, now
she, abruptly sits up and looks at Akane.
"You have to wake up and get ready for school, unless you want to miss
breakfast?"
"Breakfast?!?!" Ranma jumps up, yanks some clothes out of the dresser, and
sprints out of the room.
Akane looks over her shoulder at Ranma as she runs down the hall and springs
into the bathroom. A small smirk appears on her face. {Sometimes, waking
that idiot up is almost fun.} Akane sets the bucket down next to Ranma's
door and heads downstairs for breakfast. {So far, this has been a good day.
I hope it continues.}
"Morning, Sis."
"Good morning, Nabiki. How are you?" {She's probably going to complain
about it being morning.}
"It's morning." Nabiki is still dressed in light green pajamas with little
red paw print design, and house slippers. Her mussy hair and squinting eyes
reflect her clearly visible lethargic state of being. "Bleargh, I hate
mornings."
{Ha, I knew it.} "Nabiki, you can't hate mornings forever."
"Watch me," says Nabiki as she sluggishly passes Akane on her way upstairs.
The same small smirk that was there earlier appears on Akane's face. {I
wish everyone were having as good a day as I am. Oh well, time for
breakfast.}
{I wonder if Kasumi needs help with anything in the kitchen. Maybe I can
help her finish cooking breakfast.} Akane walks into the kitchen. "Kasumi,
is there anything I can help with?"
"Well, I've already cooked breakfast. Could you help me set the table?"
Kasumi motions over to an orderly stack of dishes and silverware. Kasumi
has the morning meal laid out and is preparing to carry it into the family
room for breakfast.
"Sure!" {Oh, I was hoping to I got down here early enough to help cook
breakfast. Maybe tomorrow.} Akane collects the stack of dishes and
silverware, walks into the family room, and proceeds to set them down on the
table.
Once finished, Akane sits down at the table and looks up to see Soun already
there. He is dressed in his usual brown gi and is idly thumbing thru the
morning newspaper. His long straight hair falls down his back and a large
smile appears under his mustachioed face as Akane says, "Good morning,
Father."
"Good morning, Akane. How's my favorite little girl this morning?"
"Da-a-ad!!" {Geez, sometimes it's like he's in another world and other
times he dotes over us like we're just kids. At least he seems to be in a
good mood today.}
Akane feels a sudden rush of wind and turns to see Ranma, now in male form,
next to her. He's in his standard red Chinese shirt and pants. He has the
look of a starving man being taken to an all-you-can-eat buffet. Typical
Ranma. At the same time, Kasumi has sat down and is serving breakfast.
Genma and Nabiki also show up for breakfast. Genma is in his white gi. A
plain white scarf covers his bald head. He adjusts his glasses as he sits
down. Nabiki is wearing an identical school uniform to Akane's.
"Little is the last word I'd use to describe Akane, Mr. Tendo."
"What!! What exactly do mean by that?" {The jerk better not say what I
think he's going to say!}
"What do you think I meant? You're built like a..." Kasumi hands Ranma a
bowl of rice. "Thanks Kasumi!" Ranma begins to ravenously devour the food
he was just given.
"What were you about say? RRRAAANNNMMMAAA!!"
"Gee, Sis, isn't it too early for this. At least finish breakfast before
you beat on Ranma." Nabiki looks much more awake than earlier, but still
seems kind of grumpy as if the entire idea of mornings were thought up just
to offend her.
"Here you go Akane." Kasumi hands Akane a bowl of rice.
"Thanks, Kasumi." Akane starts to angrily eat her breakfast, as only Akane
can. She is violently attacking the rice in the bowl with her chopsticks,
while still managing to eat at normal, refined pace. Typical Akane. {That
absolute jerk! I know he was going to say something rude, inconsiderate and
mean just like he always does. Just once, I wish he would stop and think
about other people's feelings. He says one more thing though...}
"That was great Kasumi. Can I have some more?" Kasumi takes Ranma's bowl
and begins to fill it with rice. "What was I talking about? Oh well, must
not have been important." Ranma receives his full rice bowl back from
Kasumi and continues inhaling foodstuffs.
{How can he possibly forget what he said less than a minute ago? Is he
really that dense? He's probably denser than that, the idiot. I've had
enough thinking about Ranma. Since I couldn't help Kasumi with breakfast,
maybe I can help with dinner.} "Kasumi, if I come home early enough, would
it be alright if I help you with dinner tonight?"
Ranma turns to Akane with a look of fear on his face. "Akane don't do it!"
"What? You haven't even tried it!" {He dares to insult my cooking in any
way, and...}
The look on Ranma's face changes to a stern and serious glare. "I don't
have to eat it, to know it's toxic."
{THAT"S IT!!!} "DIE RANMA!!!" Akane's hand comes up for a violent backhand
to Ranma's face. Ranma springs into a front flip with a 180� twist so he
lands facing Akane. His back is towards the open door leading into the
backyard. Ranma looks at Akane, and is about to come up with another
insult, but only gasps. Akane is in mid-air flight over table and already
halfway thru a double handed, mallet swing. SMACK! Akane lands where Ranma
was standing as Ranma is now flying in a graceful arc thru the door, over
the outer wall, and into the sky.
{That... that... JERK!!!} "I'M GOING TO SCHOOL!" Akane quickly spins
toward around and stomps to the front door to go to school.
Kasumi momentarily cringes in sympathy as she watches Ranma dwindling from
sight. "Oh my. That's going to hurt."
Akane grabs her backpack, rips open the door, and slams it as she thunders
her way out of the Tendo household. She exits the gate and turns down the
street. The angry look on her face is readily apparent to any who see her.
Long-time neighbors and residents of Nerima quickly scatter and hide.
{I can't believe after all the times I have tried to cook for him he still
insults me! Doesn't he know how hard I work to make good food? Just once I
wish he would respect other people's feelings. He's acted like this since
the first day I met him. The first night he stayed here, after the pervert
saw me in the nude, he goes and insults me. At that point, he had never
even seen me before. I still remember what he said too. "And I'm better
built to boot."}
Akane stops momentarily, looks up at sky and screams, "AAARRRGGGHHH!!!" Her
head drops down so she now looking at the ground. {Yelling actually
helped a little. I think I'm starting to feel better...}
Akane suddenly looks up and starts walking to school again. {No I'm not.
What is with that idiot? One moment I think, impossible, as it seems, we
might be connecting, then the next he's back to his rude and obnoxious self.
I thought he actually had some feelings for me. Why is he still always like
this? I remember what happened on Mount Phoenix. I was hurt. I felt so
helpless, and then I heard him. "I wanted to tell you that I love you!" I
heard him say it. At least I thought I did. I was conscious the entire
time, but wasn't able to move. When Ranma said that, I was able to move and
react again. Later, he denied ever saying anything like that. Did he
really say it? If so, did he really mean it?}
Akane stops again and sighs deeply. She doesn't seem nearly as angry
anymore. She's appears to be deep in thought, paying very little attention
to the world around her as she continues walking to school. {I wish I knew.
Sometimes he makes me so angry that I wish he never came to Nerima. I
absolutely HATE him when he's like that! There are other times when it's
different though. Those times, I wish that he... hope that he would...}
"Akane Tendo?" Akane slowly brings herself back to reality to see four boys
in school uniforms now surround her. They don't appear to be Furinkan
uniforms, and all the boys are wearing masks over their face to cover their
appearance. They also seem rather large for high school students.
"Huh?" {Who are these guys, and what the heck do they want? I'm not in the
mood for this today.}
"Are you Akane Tendo?" the boy in front of her says.
"Yes, I am." {What is this about? These guys better back off; I am REALLY
not in the mood for this today. After dealing with Ranma, if these guys try
and start a fight...}
Without warning, all four of the boys drop into fighting stances and
immediately attack. Akane, being much faster and skilled than the boys
attacking her, immediately defends herself. She jumps forward at the boy in
front of her that was talking and passes him. Well, all of Akane but her
fist pass him. Her fist gets the speed of her move and her strength into
the boy's solar plexus. He flies into the air and lands in a heap about 10
feet behind where he just was. He won't be moving or breathing anytime
soon.
{What the heck is going on? I thought this ended when Ranma defeated Kuno.}
A second boy comes at Akane from her left side. Akane jumps into a spin
kick and solidly connects to the second boy's head. He crumples to the
ground unconscious. Akane lands facing the two remaining boys in the fight.
One pulls a collapsible baton and the other pulls out a simple yet dangerous
looking knife. They both start to slowly separate as they cautiously
advance on her.
{I don't know who these guys are, but I they sure aren't ordinary high
school students. I've got to take care of them quick, and watch out for
that knife in the process. I'll take out baton boy first so I can focus on
that knife.}
Akane charges the boy, ducking under a swing at her upper torso. Now in a
crouching position, Akane kicks a foot up into the boy's abdomen. As he
goes flying backwards out of the fight, the fourth boy dives in and attempts
to cut her with the knife. Akane rolls out of the way and comes up into a
fighting stance.
{These guys are seriously trying to hurt me. Why?} Akane screams, "Why are
you doing this?"
Without a word, the boy comes in for another attack. He attempts a
straight, quick jab at Akane's stomach. Akane swiftly dodges to the outside
and grabs the boy's arm before he can even finish the attack. Akane deftly
twists the boy's arm until he drops the knife, and then throws him across
the street into a wall. He slides down the wall unconscious.
Akane turns around to find the two boys that she left conscious have
vanished. She quickly looks around and runs off to school. {This is
serious. These guys actually tried to hurt me. I have to tell someone.
Wait, if I tell Ranma, he'll be stalking me for the next two weeks just to
make sure I'm OK. If I tell daddy, he won't even let me leave the house. I
have to tell someone who won't freak out about this whole thing. Maybe
Nabiki can help. If I can keep her calm long enough to explain nothing
really bad happened, she would probably help me without blowing it out of
proportion.}
Akane approaches the entrance to Furinkan and sees students all over the
courtyard. They seem to be standing around idly chatting and talking. Most
are in the grass, huddled in small groups under trees or near the entrance
to the school. {Usually, the courtyard is fairly empty when I get here.
What's going on? Fire drill? Broken water main?}
"Akane!"
{It's Yuka and Sayuri. They'll be able to tell me what's going on.} "Why
is everybody out here? What's wrong?"
Yuka and Sayuri are standing near the entrance with a couple of other girls.
They are all in school uniforms. Sayuri's dark brown hair tied into a
ponytail with a red ribbon and Yuka's long, light brown hair hangs straight
down her back.
Yuka looks unusually happy to see Akane. "I knew today was going to be a
good day. Thanks for showing up early. I told you she'd be here, Sayuri.
I'm going to go collect my winnings from Nabiki. Thank again, Akane!" Yuka
waves goodbye as she runs across the courtyard.
Akane is starting to look annoyed. {The day was starting out so good. Then
I had to deal with Ranma, those boys, and now Yuka is acting really weird.}
"Sayuri, could you please explain what Yuka was talking about."
"She was feeling lucky this morning and placed a bet with Nabiki saying you
would be 15 minutes or more early today. The return on that bet is quite
large I hear. She'll probably end up buying lunch for you today with the
winnings."
"Early?" Akane looks up at the large clock on the front of the school.
{Wow, I'm almost 20 minutes early. How did that happen? I guess between
almost skipping breakfast and running all the way from that fight I actually
got here on time. Not even on time, but 20 minutes early. I don't think
I've done that since Ranma showed up. The idiot. Oh yeah, I need to talk
to Nabiki. Wait, I can't do that here at school. I better wait until I get
home today.}
"I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it for myself. I figured you
would have gone off after Ranma this morning like you usually do." Akane
turns and looks at Nabiki. She's in full business mode, with a serious,
almost unemotional glare. There is a slight bit of surprise and shock
hidden behind that mask of business-like efficiency.
{Go after... Wait, she's not thinking I think she's thinking, is she? This
is Nabiki, which means she probably is.} "Nabiki, why in the world would I
go after that insensitive jerk? Especially after what he said this morning!
I hope he landed a nice large body of cold water."
"Really? You're not even the slightest bit concerned about him?" Nabiki
had that tone of voice that indicated she was teasing her sister, and
enjoying it.
"Of course I'm not concerned about that jerk. Why would I be?" {Oh yeah,
got to make sure Nabiki is home after school today.} Akane proceeds to grab
Nabiki's arm and drag her off away from the other girls. Akane then
whispers, "Nabiki, there's something important I have to talk to you about
after school. Could you go home right after school today?"
A smile appears on Nabiki's face as she continues to talk in that same,
teasing tone. "This doesn't have anything to do with your fianc�, does it?"
{Geez, she's still teasing me.} "Nabiki, it has nothing to do with Ranma.
I just need to talk to you right after school today. It's really important.
Please, sis?"
Nabiki's teasing tone disappeared. "OK sis, I'll be there. You're usually
not this serious, Akane. Is something wrong?"
"Everything's fine, Nabiki. I'll talk to you later." Akane walks back over
to Sayuri and sees that Yuka has returned. Yuka now has a rather large
smile on her face.
"Sayuri, this is great! I got a 5-1 return on that bet, and I put down 2000
yen! Hi, Akane. Thanks again for showing up early today. Please let me
buy you lunch. It's the least I can do."
{Well, at least Yuka is happy. My day started good. I should be happy too.
I'm just going to forget about Ranma and the bullies and worry about that
stuff later.} "Thanks, Yuka. Wait, you just said 5 to 1 odds against me
being here early? Which means you've got quite a bit of money. Hmm, which
expensive restaurant should I choose for lunch?"
Sayuri starts giggling, as Yuka seems to panic. "Akane, I meant I'd buy you
lunch here. Please don't make me take you to some expensive restaurant."
Sayuri, restraining the urge to giggle further, says, "Sayuri, you're taking
Akane out? I didn't know you were that way." This sends both Akane and
Sayuri into another round of giggling.
Yuka now looks slightly hurt, even though it appears she is trying not to
laugh with her friends. "Hey! It's not like that!"
Akane stops laughing and puts a hand on Yuka's shoulder. "We know Yuka. We
were just teasing." Akane then puts both her hands over her heart and bats
her eyelashes at Yuka. "It's just... this all so... so sudden."
"AKANE!!!" Yuka states loudly. After a second or two, all three girls burst
into gales of laughter as they walk into school.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEXT CHAPTER: Akane Tendo - Part 2 of 2
Author's Notes: [UPDATED 04/07/02] This is the first part of the second
chapter in my continuing series. Each chapter is taken from the viewpoint
of a specific character while a greater plot unfolds. I don't know if this
has been done before, but I thought I'd try. Please e-mail me with
opinions, criticisms, and suggestions. This is my first fanfic, so please be
constructive with all C&C. I don't mind being told what someone doesn't
like, as long as they provide some direction to make it better. Thanks.
(NuclearTwinkie@MindFlayers.net)
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