Since there was some mention of the controversial nature of the results of
the contest between Ranma and Kachiko in the opening of Chapter 12 (which I
sort of knew would be coming) and while I really wanted to attach it to the
last chapter, I couldn't  without ruining the end scene, I'll go ahead and
post the opening to chapter 13, which resolves once and for all the sparring
matches between the two (and to which the whole series of fights had been
building up to)

The Things We Wish For...
Chapter 13


Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ranma squared off against his opponent for what would be the final and
deciding conflict. After months of deception, evasion, and outright
cowardice, he had trapped his foe right where he wanted.

"It's ten o'clock already, I want to get this over with and get to bed,"
Kachiko yawned for emphasis.

It was a trick of some sort, everything was when it came to her. But he had
gotten her to agree to one last sparring match in exchange for willingly
going on a date with the intention of having a good time. It was an
incredible sacrifice on his part, but that was what the path of the martial
arts sometimes required.

"Let's get a move on here."

Dating was one of the worst things he could do. It only led to a host of
irate people, including romantic interests, parents, and even total
strangers. At least there didn't seem as though Kachiko would be any making
any demands of him, beyond him trying to make it a good time for both of
them. The upcoming could have been much worse, as past experience had taught
him.

"You're internally soliloquizing, aren't you?"

If anything, it was the exact opposite, as Kachiko had laid a set of
specific ground rules beforehand, rules which expressly forbade him from
trying anything, not that he wanted to, of course. But it implied she would
not be engaging in such behavior either. There was a reassurance in that.

"You are. Great. Just !#$% great."

And there was one other problem bothering him like few things ever had.
Kachiko had the audacity to compare Kunou to him. No, worse. She said Kunou
was better than him. It was as inconceivable as snow in July, or talking his
way out of a fight. He could not rest knowing someone believed in such a
boldfaced lie. He had to set her straight and prove he was the manlier of
men. For if Kachiko thought Kunou was better than him, who else might come
to believe the same thing? No, this was a problem that had to be settled
now, before it grew out of control, like a contagious disease.

But that was for later. Right now he there was something more important to
worry about; finally showing Kachiko once and for all who the more talented
martial artist was. Everyone else in the house was asleep, and Ranma had
nailed the doors to the dojo shut, ensuring there would be no outside
interference. This time it would be a clean one-on-one battle with the
winner being permanently declared the better martial artist while the loser
would be just another defeated foe. Ranma trembled in excitement at the
opportunity to finally show his superiority.

Ranma went into his standard attack stance. "All right. I'm read... Hey!" he
shouted at the girl who was now resting in a curled up position on the floor
with her eyes closed.

Maintaining his distance, wary of a trap from such a tricky foe, he shouted,
"Wake up!"

Kachiko's eyes fluttered open. "So, finally done with your mental rambling
and ready to fight?"

"I was not mentally rambling and I'm always ready for a fight. And remember
your promise. No tricks this time, got it?"

"I got it, I got it." Kachiko stretched out, raising her arms above her head
as she yawned. For just a moment, the belt on her gi loosened, allowing an
opening of flesh from her neck to slightly below the center of her chest to
show. It displayed the fact that she was choosing to fight without a shirt
or bra underneath her uniform.

The sight made Ranma slightly uncomfortable. Undoubtedly that was the exact
reaction Kachiko had been hoping for. Luckily, Ranma had come up with the
perfect counter of his own, one that had worked every time he had used it..

Kachiko took on a more serious demeanor, as she matched Ranma's own stance.
"Are you ready?"

"Let's do it." Ranma said. Eager to end things, he ran forward to attack.

Kachiko responded by turning around and running in the opposite direction.

"Hey, you can't do that!" Ranma shouted as he chased after her.

"Sure I can. I like to refer to it as the Tendou School of Martial Arts
Ultimate Defense: Strategic Relocation."

"All you're doing is running away."

"From someone stronger and slower than me, the ideal situation to employ
Strategic Relocation." Kachiko maintained her speed.

Well, Ranma mused, it wasn't like The Saotome School of Anything Goes didn't
have its own version of that 'defense'. Luckily, despite being slower, they
were in an enclosed space, and in the time it would take for Kachiko to
crack open the door or destroy a wall, Ranma would be upon her.

Kachiko must have come to the same conclusion, as she suddenly stopped
running and reversed direction, running backward and lashing out with an
elbow toward Ranma's head.

He ducked under the blow, but Kachiko having anticipated the evasion,
suddenly went low, spinning and lashing out with her leg. She caught Ranma
with a leg sweep and knocked him off his feet. She tried following up with
an axe kick into his stomach, but Ranma had barely hit the floor before
springing back up and out of the way of the blow, allowing it to break a few
floorboards.

Her lack of restraint irked Ranma. He was holding back rather than risking
he hurt the  time-lost girl and incurring the wrath of the Tendous. Though
even with him holding back and her not, the outcome still wasn't in doubt.
Not this time.

Since she had chosen to close the distance, Ranma was not about to let her
run from him again. He immediately went on the offensive with a flurry of
punches aimed for various disabling areas of her body.

Much to his surprise, she managed to deflect or evade the blows, some by
only the slimmest of margins. He turned up his speed, but she managed to
keep up with him, though it was taking obvious effort on her part. As
frustrating as his inability to land a clean blow was, to his trained eye he
perceived that the only reason she could keep up was because she was putting
everything into defense, while he was holding slightly back in case of
retaliation on her part. Still, it was something of a revelation that she
could defend herself so well. She might not have been anywhere near as
strong him, or as skilled, but she possessed superior reflexes. It made
things challenging.

"Not bad," Ranma tried distracting her with his talk, but Kachiko didn't
rise to the bait, and remained silent as she continued blocking his rain of
blows.

The stalemate continued for nearly an entire minute before Ranma felt the
first burning sensation of exhaustion set in. He could still fight for a
while, but his attacks would become progressively slower as the match wore
on. Kachiko was breathing hard, but still remained as fast as ever. Rather
than letting her flee at the first sign of an opening, or worse, come up
with some trick to remove her from the fight altogether, Ranma went with the
plan he had concocted and the counter to her trickiness that would lay her
low.

Ranma let a smile creep across his features, one that came surprisingly easy
despite its premeditation. "It's funny. I never realized it until now, with
us fighting like this, but that look of concentration on your face actually
makes you looks cute."

For just a moment, Kachiko hesitated. That was the only opening Ranma
needed. He snared one of her wrists and jerked her toward him, knocking her
off balance. He pulled her past his body and sidestepped, allowing her to
trip over his extended leg while keeping a firm grip on her arm as she
struck the floor. It was all over at that point, Ranma had both superior
strength and leverage. Within seconds he was sitting on the small of her
back, twisting both her arms behind her back and muscling them high enough
to ensure she didn't try breaking out or twisting her body to remove him
from her.

"Give up?" Ranma offered.

Kachiko snarled once. An increase in pressure changed it to a squeal. "Fine,
I yield."

"Who's the better fighter?"

"You are."

"That sounded good. I want to hear it again."

"You are oh great and invincible martial artist, now get off my back before
I get really mad."

Ranma did as she requested and leapt into the air, shouting in glee at his
triumph. After celebrating for several minutes with his 'Happy Martial
Artist' dance, he threw open the door to the dojo, ripping the boards nailed
over them off, and raced into the house as he continuously chanted how he
was the better man.

Kachiko rubbed her sore arms, staring at where Ranma had exited the dojo.
Despite her contention, she did not seem angry, but rather perplexed, and
perhaps a touch distressed.

"Did he mean it when he called me cute?"

She was left without an answer.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was not until the next day, after a restless night with little sleep,
that Kachiko considered ripping Ranma's lips off his mouth for causing her
such grief. It was curious, and more than a little annoying. All it had
taken was him saying a single compliment and turning her into a downward
spiral of uncertainty and confusion. It didn't make sense. Guys had called
her cute before. Lots of them, and some of them had been cute too. Kunou
complimented her continuiously and in much more flowery language when he was
in her presence, and on a basis strictly of looks, he was more handsome than
Ranma (though not by much). So why was it when Ranma said something as
simple as calling her 'cute' it made her feel warm inside?

Of course, it might have been nothing more than an attempt to throw her off
her game and lose the match, which it had done. She would have tried the
same thing if she thought it would work. Maybe Ranma had finally learned to
be shifty. Actually, she was certain the timing of the remark was to do
precisely that. But that wasn't what was really troubling her. 'Was he
sincere?', that was what she was concerned about. Just because he had been
opportunistic didn't mean he was lying.

The more she thought about it, the more she thought Ranma's might have been
true. He didn't seem like the type that could say something like that
casually, or convincingly. He was a terrible actor on the few times she
could recall him trying to pretend to be something he wasn't. But there was
no strain or hesitation when he called her cute. It was as natural as saying
she had black hair. So that meant he was being honest. Probably.

But why did it matter? Why did his words affect her more than Kunou's? Maybe
it was because they meant more, since he never spoke that way. One of
Kunou's more distinctive traits was a glib tongue that passed out praise
freely. He made the same flattering comments about Akane and some pig-tailed
girl he had the hots for as he did about Kachiko. While she enjoyed the
flattery, it wasn't as though it was exclusively meant for her, which made
it less important. While she felt appreciated, his words hadn't made her
heart flutter or cheeks warm the way Ranma's had.

"Stupid jerk," she grumbled to herself. They hadn't even gone out on a date
yet, and she was not fixated on him they way she had been on Bosatsu. There
was no way he should have been able to make her react this way. She didn't
care for it. Not one little bit. Guys were supposed to jump when women said
jump, not the other way around. She wanted Ranma to react to her flattery,
not her reacting to his. She wanted to control the direction of the
relationship, if they were going to have one, which she had not even decided
on yet since they hadn't even gone on a date to see if there was any
chemistry between them. Now Ranma had thrown the whole plan out of whack
with his stray compliment, which might not have even been a sincere one. It
made her angry.

Kachiko wondered if there were any other girls that found Ranma as alluring
and annoying at the same time as she did.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[End Teaser] Come on, folks, you should have known Ranma would clearly come
out on top in the end, like he always does. It was just a matter of time and
inginuity (and for the writer timing and build up so that all the plot
points hit at the exact moment in an attempt to make everything work). As to
the rest of the chapter, it still needs revising, then will be sent to the
prereaders.



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