Note: This story takes liberties with the Ranma ½ timeline. I don't know what
year Ranma, Akane, and everyone else are in, but I'm going to stick them in
second year to match it up with KimiKiss Pure Rouge's timeline. We'll just
consider it as if the Ranma manga is over already, even if my timeline's off.
Your Kiss
By Tari
Prologue
Summer break was drawing to a close. The sun sank slowly below the horizon, red
rays still softly illuminating the streets of Nerima as people retired to their
homes for the evening.
It was Sunday, and Furinkan High School was slated to start again on Monday.
Ranma had yet to touch his summer homework, and though there were only a number
of hours until school was in session again, he was reclining on the roof of the
Tendo home, watching the clouds.
Homework was a bother that he had never found any reason to care about, and so
he rarely ever completed any of it. He had tried, once, to do his homework,
early in his first year of high school, but he quickly discovered that between
fighting off his many amorous suitors and being knocked across the town by his
somewhat volatile fiancée, what little free time he had he wanted to use for
relaxation, not busywork.
He lay on the roof for another few minutes, watching the sky and smiling softly.
Finally, he sighed and rolled to his feet, stretching. "Mm," he mumbled, shaking
his head, "I guess I should get to sleep." He stepped off of the roof and fell
two stories to the ground below, landing softly before walking into the house.
He shut off the lights behind him and retired to the guest room he had shared
with his father for the past year and a half, yawning and wondering what lay in
store for him tomorrow.
As it turned out, the next day appeared to be a relatively normal, peaceful one.
A few scuffles broke out in the courtyard in front of the school building, but
ended prior to the first bell. None of the students wanted to incite the
decidedly crazy principal's wrath by being late to the welcome-back assembly.
It was a peaceful way to start the day, and it was something Ranma wasn't well
acquainted with. He idly fingered his pigtail as he made his way to the second
floor and into his classroom. Well, he decided, nodding and dropping his hand to
his side, he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He slipped into the
room as the bell rang, and quickly found his seat.
Roll was called, and the few missing students were marked absent. Ranma took a
moment to glance at the desk to his right, where his fiancée would have been
sitting, had she not fallen ill earlier that morning. 'Huh,' he thought, shaking
his head, 'Well, at least she isn't here to scream at me, I guess…' He looked
around the classroom and paused as he noticed another empty seat. 'And where's
Ucchan…?'
The chairs around him scraped across the floor as his classmates stood, and he
realized they were heading down to the auditorium for the assembly. He shrugged
again, shoved his chair back and hopped to his feet, and joined his classmates
on their way out.
It seemed like it was going to be a peaceful day, and Ranma was planning to
enjoy it to its fullest.
"Saotome-kun, stop sleeping! Please!" Yamanaka-sensei let out an exasperated
sigh as the boy in question simply groaned in his sleep and began to drool on
his desk. "Okay, fine, have it your way," she mumbled, pinching the bridge of
her nose. She flipped a short stick of chalk from her left hand to her right and
threw it across the three feet that separated her from her dozing student's
head.
There was a meaty thwack as it rebounded from his noggin. "Aaagh!" Ranma sat up
and rubbed his head, wincing. "What was that for!?"
"It's your turn to—" Yamanaka began, only for the bell to cut her off and
signify the end of sixth period. She dropped her head and sighed. "Never mind,
Saotome-kun."
"Un," he responded, nodding at her. She looked at him for a moment, then dropped
her head again and made her way back to the front of the classroom.
"Alright, class, today was mostly review, but we'll cover new things on
Wednesday, alright?" Yamanaka waited until most of the class had acknowledged
her, then grabbed her bag and left the classroom as quickly as she could.
Hopefully, she'd be long gone before their homeroom teacher showed up for—"Oof!"
What? What had she run into? "Oww," a childish voice warbled up from close the
floor. Yamanaka looked down and immediately bent over to help the young girl
stand, but froze halfway down as she realized who she had run into. "Aah," the
girl mumbled, "that was mean, Arumi-san."
"Ah," Nakayama mumbled, straightening up again, trying not to shiver, "Aha… ha.
Sorry, Hinako-chan."
Hinako nodded at her, then stood smiled. "I hope you're ready," she said
happily, reaching into her pocket. Arumi Nakayama suppressed a shiver as she
watched the little girl in front of her. Surely she wasn't still angry over that
little mistake? Hinako retrieved a five-yen coin from her pocket and pointed it
at the older woman. Apparently, she was.
"Have mercy, Ninomiya-san!"
"Happo go-en-satsu!"
Ranma and his classmates cringed as Hinako called out her attack. There was a
flash of light in the hallway, and then silence.
The heel of a shoe clicked against the tiled floor, and Hinako Ninomiya stepped
into the classroom, no longer a child, but a fully grown woman. "Hello, class,"
she said, coming to a stop behind the desk at the front of the room.
"Hello, Ninomiya-sensei," the class finally intoned after a few, painstakingly
long seconds. Most of the students were still glancing into the hallway every
now and then, wishing their previous teacher luck.
"Alright, well, the only announcements we have today are that the principal
wants…" She blinked at the paper in her hand, then scowled and crumpled it into
a ball. "Never mind," she said, "there are no announcements today. Cleaning duty
is relegated to Saotome, since he seems to be asleep, and the two of you." She
nodded towards two boys who were sitting in the back of the room, laughing at
some private joke.
"Eh, what?" One of them stood and shook his head. "Aw, maaan, why us?"
"Because you're being delinquents," Hinako said, smirking. "Or would you like me
to use this, Daisuke-kun?" She flipped her five-yen coin into the air and caught
it in a fist.
"Aha, no, no that's okay," the boy responded, sweating and sitting down again.
"Nice one, Dai," the other boy teased, laughing quietly.
"Shut up, 'roshi," he grumped back. "Just shut up." Hiroshi laughed some more.
"Good," Hinako nodded, pocketing her coin. "Class is dismissed."
In the hallway, the withered, drained form of Arumi Nakayama dragged itself to
its feet and began to stumble down the hall. She was hoping she could make it to
the nurse's office before she fainted.
Luck was not on her side.
The bell rang again, and students flooded from the classrooms, bowling her over
and leaving her in a crumpled heap in the hallway on the second floor of the
school.
She didn't wake up until nearly seven o' clock in the evening.
"Alright," Ranma said, pushing a mop into the cleaning closet, "I think we're
done, huh?" Hiroshi and Daisuke nodded as they returned their mops, as well.
"Yup, that's it. Time to go home!" They laughed and made their way to the door.
"Say, Ranma," Daisuke began, turning to face his friend, as he turned the
lights off and stepped into the hall, "Where were Akane and Ukyo today?"
Ranma shrugged. "Dunno. 'Kane's sick, and I don't know about Ucchan. I think she
might be at one of those food contest things again." He waved his hands
dismissively before clasping them behind his head. "Whatever, though, at least I
got some sleep today."
Hiroshi and Daisuke chuckled as they followed their friend down the stairs and
to the front of the school, where their lockers were located.
"Ugh, again?" Ranma groaned tiredly. Both of the other boys glanced over at him and
ruefully shook their heads. A few love letters slipped out of Ranma's shoe
locker, and he sighed as he bent down to pick them up. "At least most of them
gave up after Akane started screamin' about it," he mumbled, jamming them into
his bag.
"Only you'd complain about stuff like that, man," Hiroshi jibed, stuffing his
school shoes into the locker. "Any normal guy'd be happy to be getting that many
love letters!"
Ranma simply groaned again and shot Hiroshi a disbelieving look. He closed his
locker behind him and shook his head. "Man," he said, "anyone who lives with
that tomboy's not gonna like this sorta thing."
"Akane's still on your case about them?" Daisuke shrugged his bag onto his
shoulder as the three teens made their way out of the school.
"Yeah, no kiddin'," was the tired response. "She just doesn't stop harpin' on
about it."
Daisuke glanced at Hiroshi and they both laughed lightly. "We feel for you, man.
We really do," he finally said, dropping a hand on Ranma's shoulder. "Seriously,
you've got so many girls after you, but you always seem to end up with somewhat
crazy ones." Ranma laughed and opened his mouth to respond, only to be cut off
by Daisuke continuing, "They're all hot, though."
Ranma socked his friend in the shoulder lightly and laughed. He blew out a
content puff of air and tilted his head back to watch the clouds floating lazily
by. Heh, that one looked sorta like a duck, and that one looked like a house,
and that one looked sorta like a pair of scissors. He wasn't too sure about the
last one, though; a paper airplane was blocking his view of the cloud.
He blinked. A paper airplane? Huh, someone was probably pretty bored, if he was
tossing those around. He brought his eyes back down to street level and noticed
that Hiroshi and Daisuke had pulled ahead while he'd been cloud-gazing. He
snorted softly and sped up to catch up to them.
"Ack!" he yelped, rubbing the back of his head. What was that? He glanced behind
him. Nobody there. He looked down. Ah, the paper airplane. He reached down and
picked it up. He blinked. There was something printed on the inside of the
airplane.
He glanced around surreptitiously, then unfolded the plane and stared. It was
the second-year examination test! He remembered taking it before summer break
had begun around two months ago, and he'd done poorly, but not quite this badly!
This student hadn't even answered any of the questions!
He sighed and shook his head. Maybe there really were people who were worse off
than him when it came to schoolwork and studying. Eh, he might as well find the
student and give the test back. Personally, he'd just trash it or something, but
leaving it on the school grounds was asking for trouble if Ninomiya-sensei were
to find it.
He shifted his gaze to the top of the paper, where "Futami Eriko" had been
written in precise, measured strokes. Somehow, he couldn't imagine someone could
write that neatly and yet do badly enough in school to not know the answers to
any of the questions on the test. Ah, well, it wasn't his problem.
Now, where could that airplane have been thrown from? He studied the front of
the school, looking for an opening, a window maybe. There! On the right side of
the second floor, an open window with a girl leaning on the sill.
The girl certainly looked bored enough to have tossed the airplane. Ranma
nodded, relatively confident that the girl in the window was both the test taker
and the airplane thrower.
"Oy, Ranma, you coming?" Daisuke called from the gate. He waved lazily at the
pigtailed martial artist. Hiroshi stood next to him, speaking animatedly about
something. He glanced over at Ranma and shrugged at him, waiting for an answer.
"Nah," Ranma called back, glancing at the test in his hands. "Gotta give this
back to someone," he said, waving the paper at his friends. "I'll see ya'
tomorrow!"
Hiroshi and Daisuke nodded and waved at him as he jumped up to the second floor.
"Huh," Hiroshi grunted, "I wonder what that paper was?"
"Meh. None of our business, I'm sure," Daisuke said, turning and making his way
down the street. "C'mon, man, let's go. There's a discount at Gamers today, and
I don't wanna miss it."
"Right, right." They turned the corner, their laughter trailing behind them.
Boredom was etched clearly into Futami Eriko's face as she leaned on the open
windowsill and watched the other students leave. School had started again, and
she wasn't expecting much from it. She'd already opted out of the first day of
classes, slipping away to the nurse's office immediately after the assembly
ended and staying there, reading, until the end of the school day.
A teacher had caught her as she left the health office, and she'd been forced to
take her second year examination test. She'd decided to fail it as badly as
possible, just to gauge the teacher's reaction, but he'd simply sighed and given
her back the test.
A foot entered her field of vision and she started back, nearly falling off of
her stool. She let out a surprised "What?" before she stabilized herself enough
to take a look at the person in the window.
A boy was crouching hanging onto the outside of the window, his left hand
latched tightly to the top of the frame, his feet balancing on the edge of the
sill. His black hair was tied back into a pigtail that was flapping lightly in
the wind. He blinked at her.
"Ah," he said, after a moment, "Are you Futami Eriko?"
She blinked, then nodded. "That I am."
"Great!" He slipped into the room and landed lightly on his feet, the black
slippers making little noise as they hit the floor. He wiped his left hand
across his red shirt a few times, then looked up at her and smiled. "I'm Saotome
Ranma. This's yours, I think."
Her gray eyes locked with his blue ones for a moment, and then she shrugged. "I
was sick before the summer vacation, so I missed the test," she explained,
turning to look back out the window. "They had me take it when I got back
today."
Ranma rubbed the back of his head and laughed a little, confused. "Eh," he
managed, "Don't you want it back?"
She turned to face him again, coolly regarding him for a moment. "No," she
finally answered. "Not particularly."
The pigtailed martial artist was at a loss. He'd come up to return her test to
her, but she didn't want it? Well, he guessed, looking down at the paper, he
probably wouldn't want it if he'd gotten a zero, either. "Well, I guess I
understand why you wouldn't want it," he finally said, still looking at the
test. "A zero's not something I'd keep, either... but I wouldn't throw—"
"I didn't try."
"What?" Ranma looked up at the black-haired girl in front of him.
"I didn't try," she repeated, watching him. He stared back. "You… don't know who
I am?"
"Futami Eriko," Ranma replied, still staring at her.
"You… don't know," she repeated. She shook her head slowly, then looked at him
again. "I am the top student in this school, Saotome."
"Huh?" Ranma glanced down at the test again. "But, then…"
"I did not try," Eriko repeated again.
"But… gah, whatever." Ranma dropped his head and sighed. He'd never understand
girls. He took a step towards the door and glanced over his shoulder. "You sure
you don't want this?" he asked, lifting the test. Eriko nodded, and he nodded
back. "Alright," he relented. "Later, then." He let his hand drop back to his
side as he pulled the door open and stepped out.
"Wait."
He stopped and looked back at the strange girl. "What?" he asked, confused.
"Would you like to do an experiment?"
"What're you talking about?" He turned around fully and quirked an eyebrow at
the girl.
"An experiment," she repeated, standing slowly. "Do you know what love is,
Saotome Ranma?"
"Wait," he yelped, "what!?" He recovered quickly and huffed, "Of course I do!"
"Then please explain it to me." He stared at her, incredulous, but she appeared
to be honestly interested.
"Uh," Ranma started before pausing and thinking. "It's, like… well," he sighed
and rubbed his head, "It's… well…" He trailed off and laughed weakly, tugging on
his pigtail. "Maybe I don't, I guess…"
Eriko looked out the window again, her hair swaying against her back in the
wind. "I wish to learn what love is," she said after a moment. She glanced at
him from the corner of her eyes. "Would you like to do an experiment with me?"
Ranma tilted his head to the side. "About love?"
"Yes. About what love is."
Ranma stepped back into the room and looked over her shoulder into the courtyard
as he thought. He shook his head and finally turned to look at her. "What sort
of experiment?"
She turned around to face him and he glanced down. 'She's not very tall,' he
thought idly, as she stepped towards him. He blinked, then froze, suddenly
realizing how close they were standing to each other. 'Wait, what's she doing!?'
His thoughts became panicked as she laid a hand on his cheek and leaned up
towards him, eyes closing. 'What's going—'
His eyes widened momentarily as she leaned in further, and he opened his mouth
to protest. He never got a chance.
The test slipped softly to the ground, unnoticed, as their lips came together
and Ranma froze in utter shock.
AN:
I'm not sure I've done justice to the KimiKiss: Pure Rouge world. It's hard to
portray the Ranma world in any semblance of a normal world, and it's difficult
to properly convey the personalities of the KimiKiss characters. I'm also not
sure how I'm going to go about incorporating the KimiKiss story into the Ranma
world, or whether I'm going to be able to keep some characters (Kazuki, Kouichi,
Kai).
Please let me know if there are any parts of this chapter that don't flow well
or sound awkward (as I'm sure there are). It's going to take me a while to
figure out how to write this story, but I'll do my best! It's been a while since
I've written, as well, so there are bound to be problems everywhere.
C&C or R&R would be greatly appreciated, as always.
Next chapter is partially outlined. We'll see how quickly I can get it out. AMR
needs some attention, too, but I've hit a snag in writing it, so I'm going to
focus on this for the time being.
Also, FF-net is giving me a lot of formatting issues. I was trying something new
with this block-format, and it took me eight (nine, now) attempts to get it to work.
If anyone has a simple way of doing it, please, please let me know.
Till next time,
Tari
Thanks to Tama Saga for pointing out some spelling errors.