Second Chances

Chapter 23 - Old Man On Campus

Ranma 1/2 and all characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi-sensei,

Shounen Sunday, Viz Entertainment, and yet more companies. I have

borrowed them through an exorbi...

(Nabiki taps her foot)

...ah... mutually beneficial contract with Nabiki-sama. Which she can

nullify at any time.

----------------------

Akane sighed as looked out the window of an ice cream parlor. She politely 
told the clerk that she would be waiting for a friend, but had no idea when 
that friend would show up, so she might be there all day. That wasn't 
exactly a lie. While she had gone here to avoid going to school where 
Happosai was inevitably going to show up, she also wanted to talk to a 
certain goddess with a passion for ice cream.

The day dragged on. By lunch she had three sodas and an ice-cream sundae. 
The roar of a motorcycle broke the monotony, especially after the young man 
that had been riding it entered the store. "Is there a Tendo Akane here?"

Akane stood up. "That's me."

"Skuld told me to give you this," the man explained, handing her a letter.

Akane eyed him carefully. "How do you know her?"

The man blushed. "I'm kind of dating her older sister."

Akane blinked. "You're dating Urd?"

The man shook his head. "No, her other big sister, Belldandy."

"She's a goddess too? How did you get her for a girlfriend?" Akane asked, 
keeping her voice low so others could not hear her.

"She granted me a wish and, well, I wished she was my girlfriend," the man 
answered sheepishly. "I've got to get back home. Nice meeting you."

"Same here," Akane replied. She then opened the note and frowned.

'We are no longer able to give you assistance unless approved by God or 
Yggdrasil. Sorry. - Skuld.

'P.S. Staying away from Happosai is a GOOD idea.'

Akane plopped down in her seat and ordered the Devil's Delight special. 
There was nothing better to drown one's sorrows in than chocolate.

----------------------

Nabiki casually strolled into the ice-cream parlor and eyed the stack of 
dirty dishes next to her sister. "Guess you saw Skuld," she commented.

"No, I didn't." Akane pouted before burping.

Nabiki blinked. "You didn't get yourself knocked up, did you?"

"What?! No!" Akane protested.

"Did you do anything before going back in time?" Nabiki pressed.

"Nabiki..." Akane trailed off in a deadly tone.

Nabiki held up her hands. "Sorry. It's just you were obviously eating like a 
Saotome. Why did you eat so much?"

Akane folded her arms. "What else am I suppose to do? Skuld can't help me 
anymore and I'm not about to go to school and see Happosai again."

Nabiki sighed. Depression and chocolate were good friends that added many 
centimeters to ones waist.

"How did things go today?" Akane asked, trying to change topics.

"Basically, I took your place during Ranma's fight with Happosai. Though, I 
suspect you covered his eyes when we watched Happosai take off and go into 
the girl's locker room." Nabiki sat back and smirked. "I'm sure you'd 
appreciate it if it gave him some ideas of things to do with you."

Akane glared. "Like that's going to happen any time soon."

----------------------

Happosai knew something was amiss. The youngest Tendo daughter was avoiding 
him like the plague and he had yet to truly meet this girl. He was sure she 
was the one who cruelly hurled him against a wall with some sort of chi 
shield. The girl was obviously talented to do that. While Ranma had shown a 
remarkable control of his own chi, he couldn't yet manifest his chi outside 
of his body like that little lady had done.

Happosai tapped his pipe. He should properly introduce himself to the lass. 
But how would he go about doing that? Well, he could just go and give her a 
welcoming hug. Who could deny such a simple thing from an old man? He stood 
up to carry out his plan, but stopped when Ranma walked past him.

"Aw, man. Why'd the stupid panda have to break the tub?" Ranma grumbled. 
"Now we'll have to use the public baths."

Happosai turned around to get his own bathing supplies. He would greet the 
girl some other time. There was a bathhouse filled with fine young ladies 
waiting for him.

----------------------

Nabiki smirked at the mess of a bathhouse. She was starting to understand 
why the Nabiki of the other timeline had gone to such extremes. She had 
gotten a definite thrill from this. And not just over watching grand 
displays of physical skills and seeing Ranma fighting in his birthday suit. 
She had managed to play with the battle by distracting the perverted master 
when Ranma needed help. Here she was, this little girl making martial arts 
gods do as she wanted.

It was such a shame Ranma was all body and no brain. Akane might see 
something in him beyond his bronzed physique, but she certainly didn't. 
While the boy was likely to be a fun ride in the bed, she wanted nothing to 
do with the excess baggage he'd bring with it.

Nabiki frowned as the battle drew closer to the end that the other Ranma had 
written about. Where he'd spend a sentence writing about school or problems 
his 'his girls,' he spent pages analyzing his fights. If she let things drag 
on, there was no telling how this could end. And uncertainty with Happosai 
was the LAST thing anyone wanted.

"Wow! Ayashi, your breasts are so BIG!" Nabiki called out loudly.

Less than a second later a water tub appeared next to her and Happosai 
peeked out from it. He then stared in abhorrent disgust. "Where's the girl 
with big breasts?! Hell, where are all the pretty girls?!" he whined. There 
was no way he was going to touch the remaining pair of horribly wrinkled old 
women.

"Like they would hang around knowing a pervert was here," Nabiki informed in 
a superior tone, her modesty protected by a one-piece swimsuit.

Happosai's gaze turned lecherously evil. "Ah! Well, there is one pretty girl 
left!"

Nabiki stood still in absolute shock. Happosai had blurred, moving faster 
than she could see. Now he was a few meters away rubbing his cheek against 
the crotch of a swimsuit. She slowly looked down to confirm that it was HER 
swimsuit and that she now stood stark naked in front of the ancient lech. It 
didn't help matters that Ranma was gawking at her.

Ranma had tried to trap the old fart using his female form, but either the 
lech saw through it or just didn't notice. Now Saotome was certainly getting 
an eyeful of Nabiki's lithe form. He wrenched his gaze off the stunned girl 
and then glared venom at the swimsuit thief. Bursting into action, the 
redhead growled angrily as he punched Happosai through the roof and off into 
the distance.

"You could've gotten my swimsuit back," Nabiki muttered, upset.

Ranma scratched the back of her head, trying to look away from the naked and 
relatively unashamed girl. "Sorry.... At least he's gone now...."

Nabiki nodded. That was a BAD thing. Now they didn't know when Happosai 
would return. He might even be pissed at Ranma, which would cause untold 
problems. The next several days, they would be flying blind as events have 
certainly gone differently than they had in the other timeline.

The Tendo girl then scowled. "Hurry and change back and get to YOUR side of 
the bathhouse."

Saotome looked like a tomato from her fierce blushing. "Right, sorry."

Nabiki's frown deepened. There was something decidedly wrong with Ranma's 
reaction toward her, and she didn't like it at all.

----------------------

Kasumi frowned at the hectic pace her father and Genma were moving. The two 
grown men were running around like frightened little children. Only these 
two 'big kids' were taking nails and boards to the house as if a typhoon was 
baring down on them. "Father, is this all really necessary?"

"Ranma has done the unthinkable! He has angered the master!" Soun cried out. 
"We have to prepare for the worse!"

"Shouldn't he be treated as a guest?" Kasumi questioned.

"Hello, have you received a food order for the Tendo dojo?" Akane scowled. 
"Please cancel it. We're being pranked by an old man. If he ever calls you 
again, please don't take the order. Sorry for any trouble." She then hung up 
and dialed the next number in the phone book.

Nabiki smirked sadly at her eldest sister. "I think that's a 'no.' He's gone 
past being a 'guest' and is now a 'pest.' He should be treated like a 
cockroach. Especially after he molested me."

Ranma huffed as he sat at the table in the dining/living room. "Not my 
fault."

----------------------

Author's Notes:

Next: Chapter 24 - The Revenge of Happosai

The lech returns, and he seeks to have his anger soothed in the bosom of 
Ranma's fiancee.

This story isn't dead yet. On life support, but not dead. This is the one 
Ranma series that I want to work through. I have a lot of surprises in store 
for later, I just have to get there.

I'm really sorry for the serious delay in writing this part. The problem was 
I had written myself into a corner. By making Happosai responsible for 
Ranma's death, it makes his appearances here extremely problematic. However, 
I will be trying to use that for the story. It forces me to go away from the 
manga and make the events different. Happosai isn't done yet, but the 
remainder of his intro arc here will be very different from the manga. The 
next chapter will not be out soon as I'll need to plot out the future events 
and how what has happened affects them.

I'd like to thank Kara-Ohki and Jeremy Mullin for pre-reading this story. 
(Sorry, Kara-Ohki if I missed one of your corrections, your email somehow 
disappeared on me. ^^; )

And I'd like to thank everyone who has encouraged me to finish this part. 
Hopefully it won't take a year or more for the next one.





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