The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the creation
and possession of the brilliant Rumiko Takahashi. They belong to
Rumiko Takahashi and her licensees (Shogakukan Inc., Kitty-Fuji
TV, Viz Communications Inc.)
     No copyright infringement is intended.


Torn

=====
Chapter One:     Enough is Enough
=====

     Yuka glanced down at her watch and sighed. 'They're late.'
     An empty cup with soft pastel strips on it sat on the table
in front of her. Akane and Sayuri were supposed to meet her at
this coffee shop fifteen minutes ago. The Nerima station was just
across the street. They had planned to go down into the Shibuya
district. There was a new CD out by Teen Idol Hayakawa and she
wanted to get there before they all sold out.
     Another sigh escaped her lips. She had picked a seat by the
window so she could see them approach. A quick glance around the
shop told her what she already knew: they weren't waiting at some
other table.
     As she stood, she began going over all the things she wanted
to say to them once she finally found them. Tossing her cup in
the trash, she made her way to the exit. After one final look,
she walked out the front door.
     Outside, there wasn't any sign of them. With a frown, she
started back the way she hoped they'd be coming.
     "So help me, if they are sold out by the time we." she began
mumbling under her breath when she heard a scream. Like most
students of Furinkan High, she got use to running toward a
disturbance and thusly went to investigate.
     She reached a cross alley and glanced down. Every muscle in
her body froze as she immediately rethought that instinct. Just
down the way, she could see three men perhaps a little older and
a lot bigger than she was. They stood in a semi-circle around a
girl she recognized as Shiori.
     Shiori lived closer than Akane or Sayuri. The two had been
friends until the end of junior high. They hadn't placed in the
same high school; thus, they had seen less and less of each other
as they made friends in their respective schools.
     Yuka felt a huge lump form in her throat. Shiori was on her
knees crying. Her clothes were mussed, but otherwise intact for
the moment. Yuka looked on in disbelief. It felt more like she
was watching some movie than her old friend. People just didn't
really do this kind of stuff. Even if they did, it wouldn't
happen out in broad daylight, and not to people she knew.
     "Hey, Yuka! You seen Akane?" a soft feminine voice huffed in
the rough mannerisms that announced to the world that Ranma-chan
was here. The three older boys and Yuka turned to look at the wet
red-headed pig-tailed source of that interruption.
     Ranma-chan looked down the alley, trying to see what had so
caught Yuka's attention. Her eyes flashed then narrowed, taking
in the scene presented before her. Her body tensed enough that
even Yuka's untrained eye noticed.
     "Hey, look! It's that red-headed slut. An' she brought a
friend," the closest of the three boys sneered. "Think they wanna
party to?"
     Ranma began marching down the alleyway. Yuka watched on,
wide-eyed, unable to run or look away.
     "Stop right there, sister," another of the boys called. With
a quick hand motion and a flash of metal he pressed a knife
against Shiori's neck.
     Ranma stopped. Her eyes flicked to each of the men and the
sobbing girl. Then she vanished.
     Having seen, or almost seen, several of Ranma's school yard
exhibitions, Yuka watched, not for Ranma's moves, but for their
effects.
     The boy holding the knife against her friend's throat
snapped his arm back. His wrist twisted while the knife went
flying wide. Pain ballooned in his face as he suddenly gained the
power of uncontrolled flight. His landing was rough. The good
meter he slid was guaranteed to leave a mark.
     The second boy stumbled back. Colors and shapes could almost
be seen dancing around his head. He blinked twice then his feet
flew out from under him.
     The third boy actually got to throw a punch at the red blur
that snaked through his comrades. With a yelped, his arm was
dislocated. He bounced off of the second, returning them both to
the ground.
     "That's lesson one," the red-headed oni said as she stopped
and knelt next to the girl. She glared death at the three boys.
"Do ya need another one?"
     The boys took the hint and took off running down the street.
     "There you are Yuka, we've been looking all over for you,"
Akane called as she and Sayuri walked up to greet her.
     As they looked down the alley, they saw Ranma-chan bent over
a girl who was in obvious distress. It took less than half a
second to reach the obvious conclusion.

=====

     On the train bound for Shibuya station, Yuka vaguely
listened to her friends talk about all the stores they planned to
visit and the things the were looking to purchase. Yuka's
thoughts of a certain CD's, had long since been forgotten.
     She hadn't really felt like shopping after what she had
witnessed. That she hadn't done anything but stand there and
watch didn't help her mood any either. However, Shiori had
insisted that she go with her friends. Yuka wanted to talk to
her, but they were no longer as close as they once had been.
Something nagged at the back of Yuka's mind that there was more
going on, but with Akane and Sayuri there she wouldn't have the
chance to get her one time friend to open up.
     Yuka and Shiori had explained what had happened to Akane and
Sayuri. Unfortunately, not before Akane had blown up at Ranma.
Akane had been about to go look for Ranma to apologize, but
Sayuri had talked her out of it. 'Not that that was a hard thing
to do,' Yuka thought sourly. She didn't know what Sayuri had
against Ranma. Increasingly, to Yuka's mind, she was always ready
to remind Akane of all the insults and what-not every time they
got together. Thinking about it, made Yuka wonder even more why
her friend seemed to be really pushing for them to break up.
     All this inevitably left Yuka in the position to either side
against Sayuri and for Ranma or, like most times, just to remain
silent. Everyone knew they cared for each other. 'If only they
would admit it.' Of course everyone in the school had an opinion
as to wither they cared for each other enough to actually make it
work or not. And at this pace, Yuka was definitely having her
doubts.
     "Why do you always call Ranma a pervert?" Yuka asked,
breaking into a conversation she hadn't really been listening to.
     "What do you mean? He's the biggest pervert at the school!"
Sayuri responded heatedly.
     "I asked Akane." Yuka replied, sending a quick glare at her
friend.
     "He just is," Akane answered. Her anger and some guilt
returning at the reminder.
     "What is the most perverted thing he's done?"
     'He saw me naked in the bathroom,' she almost replied, but
that would be saying too much. Besides she did acknowledge that
she was the one to walk-in on him, just not to him. "I-I can't."
she replied lamely.
     "Sounds like a real pervert to me," Yuka commented with a
grin.
     "How about he turns into a girl!" Sayuri volunteered.
     "Does that mean we're perverts because we're girls?"
     "That's not the same thing! We are real girls."
     "It isn't like he has any choice."
     "Nobody gets splashed as much as he pretends."
     "Squirting drinking fountains and everybody and their dog
throwing water out their windows at him is hardly something I
think he can control."
     "I still say he spends far more time as a girl than he has
to."
     Akane just quietly watched the match bounce back and forth
between her friends. She had never noticed they both felt so
strongly about Ranma before.
     "It's not like he enjoys it."
     "That's a laugh! I am sure he 'enjoys' it every night!"
     "If he was my fianc�e, I would hope so!"
     "Yuka!" Akane and Sayuri shouted, scandalized. All three
blushed at the unvoiced implications. Akane had been teased
enough by most of the other girls, once the curse became somewhat
known.
     "Unless Akane has caught him, though, I would doubt it,"
Yuka added into the uncomfortable pause.
     "What? Because of all that BS about how much he hates the
curse? That's probably all an act so no one would suspect."
     "I would say it doesn't work since everyone in the school
seems to think so anyway."
     "I never accused him of being the brightest star."
     Yuka smiled when Akane glared at Sayuri. Akane insulting
Ranma was one thing. Going along with her insulting Ranma usually
wasn't too bad. However, Sayuri had made this between them, Akane
was just along right now. That put Sayuri in that other category:
insulting the man she loved, even if she hadn't admitted it yet.
     "Anyway, if he did, you don't think Nabiki would have sold
that information yet? And probably have blackmailed the
differences out of him." The three giggled at that.
     "Okay, he is always trying to sneak into the girls locker
room," Sayuri came up with after about a minute's worth of
silence.
     "That's only to stop that old pervert. If it weren't for his
help, I don't want to imagine how bad it would be here."
     "Help? He probably is the one that puts him up to it."
     "Come on. If he really was that much of a pervert, why would
he need to sneak into the girls locker room. He can safely look a
girls body any time he wants." 'Oops, from the darkened look on
Akane's face, that was a point for Sa-chan.'
     "Like any pervert would settle with just one."
     "Then why try to sneak in to a place where everybody knows
he is really a boy. Why not sneak off to the other side of town
or try some public baths or something." Yuka looked puzzled at
Akane's expression. Did she just lose another point?
     "Believe whatever you want to believe, but trust me he is a
pervert." Sayuri sat back, arms crossed and a frown across her
face.
     "What if we make a bet," Yuka ventured after a moments
thought.
     "What kind of bet?" Sayuri inquired.
     "What if we put him in a situation, we can control, where he
has every opportunity to prove himself?"
     "Sounds interesting. What do you have in mind?"
     The three girls continued on their way. Thoughts of shopping
replaced by the Ranma planning sessions that had become ever so
popular ever since he first arrived.

kit                 http://jeruind.i8.com/
=====================================
We the unwilling, led by the unknowing,
  are doing the impossible, for the ungrateful.
We have done so much, for so long, with so little
  we are now qualified to do anything with nothing


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