Introduction: Well, here it is. My very first Ranma fanfic. I've read at least 90 percent of the manga (Not to mention a LOT of other fanfics) and a fair amount of the anime, so I feel I have a pretty good grasp on Ranma's character. Of course, I never said anything about the other characters, but I'll try my best to keep them in character within the plotline of the story. Speaking of which, The character Randy is a character from a story of my own creation (which is still in the making), so it's kind of a crossover/self-insert, but before you start flaming me about self inserts and the like, I'm also trying to make this as UNlike every other self-insert as possible, so read first, then judge for your self.
Disclaimer: Oh yeah, I guess I have to have one of these in here, don't I? Ok, then, Ranma and all related characters, locations, situations, quotes, and props are not mine. The character Randy Donahue is, though, as are any other new characters I may or may not bring into the story later on. Feel free to use him in any stories you might write (As if anyone would bother), on the condition that you let me know about it so I can read your story.
The story starts approximately a month after the end of the manga, which means that all events from the manga have occured. Anyway, on with the show.
------------------Finishing Moves-------------------
------Day 1: New Arrival or The Chaos Starts Again-
A nice quiet day in Nerima. Those persons unfamiliar with Nerima probably would not think anything about those particular words. However, one that was familiar would know that a "quiet day in Nerima" was a chance to sit back, relax, and try to enjoy the break while it lasted. Of course, if this went on for too many days, people began to board up their windows and lock themselves inside, preparing for the impending explosion. And, with all the roof-hopping martial artists in the area, many also reinforced their roofs.
While Ranma Saotome was one of those people trying to enjoy the peace while it lasted, he also felt like trying to build a titanium box and then locking himself inside it. Not that he thought it would help any, mind you. Being the center of all the chaos in Tokyo sucked.
It had been a fairly normal day for Ranma so far. Then again, that wasn't saying much. The chaos could start again at any time. Ranma's eyes flitted to the horizon, scanned the rooftops, drifted down to the streets, scanned the corners, and finally settled on his fiance, Akane Tendo. Who was looking at him with a mildly irritated expression on her face.
"What are you doing, Ranma?"
"Nobody gonna get ya." he mumbled as his eyes drifted back up to the horizon. "Not while I'm around." Akane blushed as she realized who he was talking about, then realized she was supposed to be angry.
"Ranma!!" she yelled.
"Huh, what??" he looked around, startled, then realized Akane was steaming a little. "Uh, did I say that out loud?" he asked sheepishly.
"Yes!" she replied loudly, "I can take care of myself just fine, you know."
Once again, his mouth jumped ahead of his brain, "Oh, yeah? What about that incident with Saffron? Could you- " he cut himself off.
"I'll have you know I was working my way out of that mess just fine. I- " she drifted off as her steamed expression slowly changed into somethimg else and hot tears stung her eyes. "I- I was just- I was just trying to help." She suddenly realized she was crying. She brought a hand up to wipe the tears away. "I'm go- " her voice caught, "I'm going home." With that she burst into a run, leaving Ranma to stand there on the fence with a pained expression on his face. Ah, man. There I go again. I have got to get better control of my mouth.
"Now what?" he asked the sky plaintively. The setting sun had no answer for his question.
Someone else did though. Ranma's sixth sense suddenly warned him of a hostile aura approaching and he looked down the street to see a boy his age clad in a yellow traveling shirt and black pants with cords tied around the lower legs. A yellow and black tiger-striped bandana was keeping his hair out of his face, a large hiking pack was strapped to his back and he was brandishing a red bamboo umbrella, "Ranma, you apologize to Akane this minute!"
"Ah, good old Ryouga Hibiki. So, P-chan, what brings you back in town?" Ranma jumped down off of his perch on the fence to meet Ryouga's charge with a tired sigh, although inwardly he was relieved that the chaos had finally broken loose. Little did he know that this was not all that would break loose. "Did widdle piggy-wiggy get lost again?" he asked half-heartedly. The insult was familiar, but his heart wasn't in it.
"Of course not!!" Ryouga angrily swiped at him with the umbrella, "I'll have you know I was shopping for Akari-chan and I- Hey!! Don't change the subject!" He stabbed at Ranma, who slipped under the umbrella. He switched the stab into a downward strike which resulted in Ranma snapping his foot up from his position on the ground, kicking the heavy weapon out of Ryouga's hand. Continuing his first strike, Ranma snapped his other foot up, hitting the bandanaed boy under the chin. The force of the strike lifted Ryouga several meters in the air, stunning him for a moment.
Reorienting himself in mid-air, he looked down just in time to see Ranma launching himself from the ground with his hands, flipping upright in mid-air. Thinking quickly, he slipped his pack off and threw it at the pigtailed boy. "You cad! You made Akane-chan cry again, and now you're going to apologize to her!"
Ranma was forced to flip again to avoid the large obstacle and in doing so he left an opening for Ryouga, who took advantage of it and, locking his hands, hit the unprepared boy with a downward smash. Ranma lost control of his leap and careened wildly toward the ground, landing hard on his stomach and cracking the pavement of the street.
Struggling to regain his breath, Ranma looked up to see that Ryouga had landed a short distance away and was running toward him, an exended index finger an early warning of his next attack. Pushing himself to his feet, Ranma waited until the lost boy had commited to the move, then flipped low over the fanged boy's head, not passing up the oportunity to rap it around fifty times at Amaguri-ken speed.
Stumbling forward, Ryouga followed through with the technique anyway, "Bakusai Tenketsu!" Index finger met pavement and with a small stab of ki, the ground erupted violently, sending debris hurtling everywhere and destroying a part of the canal fence. Unaffected by the proximity of the explosion, Ryouga brushed off the blast and turned around, searching for his rival, who had used him as a shield from the blast and was currently behind him. "Ranma! Where'd you go?! Stop hiding like a coward and- "
" -Fight like a man." Ranma finished, rolling his eyes, "Do you rehearse them lines or somethin'? You're gettin' predictable. Pork-breath." he added as an afterthought. Ryouga tracked the sound of his voice and turned in the right direction, face flushed with anger (and embarrassment, though he would never admit it), "Now you make fun of me, too?! Die, Ranma!!" he reached up and pulled a bandana from his head, and, infusing it with a small amount of ki to stiffen it into a blade, began spinning it like a propeller.
"S'been a while since ya used that trick." Ranma commented. Ignoring him, Ryouga flung the whirling object at Ranma, who caught it in the center with his index finger like a frisbee. Letting it spin around his finger a few times, he threw it back at Ryouga, "How 'bout a taste of your own medicine, Bacon-butt?"
The projectile was snapped out of the air, drawing Ranma's attention to Ryouga's hand which held a whip-like cord, "I have a suprise for you, Ranma." he grinned evily.
"Oh, goody. I love suprises. 'Specially nasty suprises." the pigtailed boy replied sarcastically. Inwardly he was slightly uneasy, Ok, that's a new one. But where did he get it? his gaze was suddenly drawn to Ryouga's pantleg, which was no longer wrapped with cord. Okay, so that's what that's for. I always wondered why he did that. He shifted into a defensive stance and motioned to Ryouga, "Well, bring it on."
Ryouga raised his whip arm, "Gladly!" He took a step backward to stablize himself- and fell through the open section of the canal fence into the canal.
Ranma smacked his face with a palm in exasperation, "Why am I NOT suprised?" He walked over to the gap in the fence and watched Ryouga float off down the canal, a cute little black piglet riding on his makeshift raft, an airtight hiking pack.
"Well, that was rather anti-climatic." remarked an unknown voice. Startled, Ranma whipped his head toward its origin, and saw a young man about his age casually drop to the ground several yards away from him, a long black sash trailing behind him and hands in his pockets. Where did HE come from??! Why didn't I sense him?? "Who're you??!" he asked, slipping into a defensive stance.
The stranger chuckled and smirked, revealing prominent canines, "Heh. Name's Randy Donahue." He sketched a sloppy bow, making a sweeping gesture with one hand and folding the other behind his back, "At your service."
Ranma relaxed a little, straightening from his stance, At least he don't seem to be a threat Then, as Randy's hair fell forward, Ranma suddenly noticed two long, pointed- Pointed ears?!! What IS this guy?
The still smirking boy straightened, his gaze sweeping the surrounding area. Apparently finding what he was looking for, he pointed, "Meet me in that vacant lot over there, this time tomorrow."
Ignoring Ranma's stare- I mean suspicious look, the auburn haired boy casually walked up to the fence and watched Ryouga in pig form continue floating down the canal, returning one hand to his pocket and shading his eyes with the other, "You get a lot of transformers around here?" he questioned Ranma.
"Huh??" he said intelligently, and stopped st- glaring, only to resume when he noticed Randy's eyes shining purple in the sun.
Noticing the pigtailed boy's state of mind, Randy waved it off, "Never mind. I'll find out eventually. See ya." With that he leapt across the canal, turned to wave jauntily over his shoulder, then leapt from there to a rooftop, bouncing from one to the other until he faded from sight. But the chaos had just begun...
With the distraction out of sight, Ranma's mind focused on more important things, like, Who the heck wears PURPLE??
Shaking himself out of his reverie, he looked around as he remembered somthing strange about Randy's entrance, Where did he come from? He dropped straight down beside me, but there's nothing to drop from!! Maybe I'll find out tomorrow when I meet him. Putting the incident out of his mind for the moment, he made his way home to the Tendo Dojo.
Upon entering the gate to the yard, Ranma's danger sense warned him of another hostile aura in the area. Expanding his senses, he sighed as he recognized his father's angry aura. Boy, you've done something to make Akane-kun cry again! Apologize immediately! he mouthed to himself, then stepped to the side as Genma aimed a jump-kick at him from the top of the gate, "Boy, you've done something to make Akane-kun cry again! Apologize immediately!"
"Gee, I'd love to, Pops, but she's gonna clobber me as soon as I step inside her door." He said dryly, "Giv'er some time ta cool off first." He side-stepped the fat man's half-hearted charge and stuck out a foot, watching disgustedly as Genma tripped and fell into the koi pond, re-emerging black and white, hairy, sopping wet and even fatter. Hey! go easy on your old man! read the sign that Panda produced from nowhere.
The pig-tailed boy glanced at the sign and snorted derisively, "Yeah right. If I went any easier on ya, I'd hav'ta be a sloth. On the other hand, a sloth can move faster than you. What'sa matter, old man, Arthiritis actin' up?"
Panda flipped the sign around to read, Oh, the shame! The humanity! My only son has no respect for his father! ,all the while making sobbing noises, which sounded ridiculous coming from a panda.
Ranma just rolled his eyes, "Jeeze, you're pathetic, Pops. I'm goin' to the dojo. Got a fight tomorrow."
Making his way to the dojo, he slipped off his shoes and began a kata, one that he had learned years ago. His mind slowly slipped into a meditative state as he finished that kata and began another slightly harder one, blending them together seamlessly. Flowing from one to the other, he began to switch katas in the middle, still seamlessly blending them together, despite the difference in style. Working himself up the difficulty scale, he drove himself faster and harder, a rich golden aura blooming into existence around his body as he brought his ki into play. Moving fast enough to blur, and striking hard enough to break stone, he continued performimg his katas flawlessly, switching styles again and again, until they too began to blur together, creating a crashing wave of chaos that surged on relentlessly.
His sixth sense alerted him to a presense approaching the dojo, but he continued practicing, slowing only slightly as the eldest Tendo daughter, Kasumi, entered the dojo, "Supper is almost ready, Ranma. You still have time for a quick bath, though."
A muffled, " 'Kay." was all the acknowledgement she got from the human tornado in the middle of the dojo, but she seemed content with that, and left the building, the breeze generated by the blur of motion that was Ranma ruffling her clothes.
Pushing himself even harder, he waited until Kasumi was out of range, then streaked for the entrance. Golden energy coalesced around his clenched fists as he bounced high into the air outside the dojo, then threw a large sphere of ki into the night sky, "Mouko Takabisha!" then immediatly threw the other one, "Times Two!" Touching down on the porch of the house, he smirked, THIS is the Saotome School of Anything-goes Martial Arts! he remembered the strange boy whom he had met today, I'd like to see ya try an' beat that!
After finishing his bath, Ranma moved to the main room of the Tendo house, where the rest of the family had already gathered at the table. Taking his usual spot beside Akane, he winced as he noticed that she sniffed and scooted away from him several inches, Aw, man. She's still mad. I gotta do something, but what? He wracked his brain, trying to come up with a solution, even as he dug into his meal with less than normal enthusiasm.
Remaining contemplative throughout his meal, he didn't notice that all the others around the table had also subtly scooted away from him, alarmed at at his silence. The pigtailed boy continued eating, oblivious, as the others slowly stopped eating and watched him nervously. The tension was almost to a breaking point, when he suddenly slammed down his bowl and smacked his palm with a fist, "Aha!"
A clatter of bowls arond the table drew Ranma's attention to the rest of the family, who had dropped their dishes and had hands clutched to their chests, trying to calm their rapidly beating hearts and frazzled nerves. He looked on in puzzlement, "What's wrong with you guys?" When nobody answered, he shrugged, "I'm gonna be gone for a bit tonight." He glared at Genma and Soun from across the table, "And if anybody wants ta end up like Saffron, feel free to follow me."
The fathers flinched and nodded hurriedly, which seemed to appease Ranma and he began finishing his meal with his usual gusto, at which the rest of the family sighed collectively and resumed eating.
Later that night, Akane settled into her bed, disturbing images haunting her thoughts. I wonder where Ranma went? Probably to Ukyo's or maybe Shampoo's. That jerk! He didn't even apologize for that comment on the fence!... She sighed to herself, Yeah right, who are you kidding. He's never apologized before, don't expect him to start now. Still, I just wish that for once- She broke off as her window cracked itself open and the curtains obscured her vision as a cold draft blew into the room, making her draw the blankets up reflexively. Just as suddenly as it had cracked open, the window closed itself, and she quickly jumped out of bed to see what had happened. As she leaned over her desk to look out the window, her fingers brushed something sharp and she looked down to see a single rose with a piece of paper attached. She turned on her desk lamp and tears came to her eyes as she read the single word written on the paper.
"Oh, Ranma..." she said softly, then turned and snuggled back underneath the covers, the rose clutched to her chest. Looking over at her desk where the paper lay, she remembered that lone word.
Sorry.
------End Day 1------
Well, there it is. What do you think? Please R&R. Constructive criticism would be helpful, flames will be deleted. (Thanks to Zero() for letting me know about the formatting problem.)
--- Current list of Finishing Moves ---
Ranma: Katsu Tenshin Amaguri-ken - Ki is channeled to Ranma's arms and upper body to greatly increase his punching speed.
Ryouga: Bakusai Tenketsu - Ki is channeled into the tip of Ryouga's index finger, then jammed into the breaking point of a solid object to cause an explosion.
Hello??
Anyone out there??
Anybody??
sigh
Disclaimer: Oh yeah, I guess I have to have one of these in here, don't I? Ok, then, Ranma and all related characters, locations, situations, quotes, and props are not mine. The character Randy Donahue is, though, as are any other new characters I may or may not bring into the story later on. Feel free to use him in any stories you might write (As if anyone would bother), on the condition that you let me know about it so I can read your story.
The story starts approximately a month after the end of the manga, which means that all events from the manga have occured. Anyway, on with the show.
------------------Finishing Moves-------------------
------Day 1: New Arrival or The Chaos Starts Again-
A nice quiet day in Nerima. Those persons unfamiliar with Nerima probably would not think anything about those particular words. However, one that was familiar would know that a "quiet day in Nerima" was a chance to sit back, relax, and try to enjoy the break while it lasted. Of course, if this went on for too many days, people began to board up their windows and lock themselves inside, preparing for the impending explosion. And, with all the roof-hopping martial artists in the area, many also reinforced their roofs.
While Ranma Saotome was one of those people trying to enjoy the peace while it lasted, he also felt like trying to build a titanium box and then locking himself inside it. Not that he thought it would help any, mind you. Being the center of all the chaos in Tokyo sucked.
It had been a fairly normal day for Ranma so far. Then again, that wasn't saying much. The chaos could start again at any time. Ranma's eyes flitted to the horizon, scanned the rooftops, drifted down to the streets, scanned the corners, and finally settled on his fiance, Akane Tendo. Who was looking at him with a mildly irritated expression on her face.
"What are you doing, Ranma?"
"Nobody gonna get ya." he mumbled as his eyes drifted back up to the horizon. "Not while I'm around." Akane blushed as she realized who he was talking about, then realized she was supposed to be angry.
"Ranma!!" she yelled.
"Huh, what??" he looked around, startled, then realized Akane was steaming a little. "Uh, did I say that out loud?" he asked sheepishly.
"Yes!" she replied loudly, "I can take care of myself just fine, you know."
Once again, his mouth jumped ahead of his brain, "Oh, yeah? What about that incident with Saffron? Could you- " he cut himself off.
"I'll have you know I was working my way out of that mess just fine. I- " she drifted off as her steamed expression slowly changed into somethimg else and hot tears stung her eyes. "I- I was just- I was just trying to help." She suddenly realized she was crying. She brought a hand up to wipe the tears away. "I'm go- " her voice caught, "I'm going home." With that she burst into a run, leaving Ranma to stand there on the fence with a pained expression on his face. Ah, man. There I go again. I have got to get better control of my mouth.
"Now what?" he asked the sky plaintively. The setting sun had no answer for his question.
Someone else did though. Ranma's sixth sense suddenly warned him of a hostile aura approaching and he looked down the street to see a boy his age clad in a yellow traveling shirt and black pants with cords tied around the lower legs. A yellow and black tiger-striped bandana was keeping his hair out of his face, a large hiking pack was strapped to his back and he was brandishing a red bamboo umbrella, "Ranma, you apologize to Akane this minute!"
"Ah, good old Ryouga Hibiki. So, P-chan, what brings you back in town?" Ranma jumped down off of his perch on the fence to meet Ryouga's charge with a tired sigh, although inwardly he was relieved that the chaos had finally broken loose. Little did he know that this was not all that would break loose. "Did widdle piggy-wiggy get lost again?" he asked half-heartedly. The insult was familiar, but his heart wasn't in it.
"Of course not!!" Ryouga angrily swiped at him with the umbrella, "I'll have you know I was shopping for Akari-chan and I- Hey!! Don't change the subject!" He stabbed at Ranma, who slipped under the umbrella. He switched the stab into a downward strike which resulted in Ranma snapping his foot up from his position on the ground, kicking the heavy weapon out of Ryouga's hand. Continuing his first strike, Ranma snapped his other foot up, hitting the bandanaed boy under the chin. The force of the strike lifted Ryouga several meters in the air, stunning him for a moment.
Reorienting himself in mid-air, he looked down just in time to see Ranma launching himself from the ground with his hands, flipping upright in mid-air. Thinking quickly, he slipped his pack off and threw it at the pigtailed boy. "You cad! You made Akane-chan cry again, and now you're going to apologize to her!"
Ranma was forced to flip again to avoid the large obstacle and in doing so he left an opening for Ryouga, who took advantage of it and, locking his hands, hit the unprepared boy with a downward smash. Ranma lost control of his leap and careened wildly toward the ground, landing hard on his stomach and cracking the pavement of the street.
Struggling to regain his breath, Ranma looked up to see that Ryouga had landed a short distance away and was running toward him, an exended index finger an early warning of his next attack. Pushing himself to his feet, Ranma waited until the lost boy had commited to the move, then flipped low over the fanged boy's head, not passing up the oportunity to rap it around fifty times at Amaguri-ken speed.
Stumbling forward, Ryouga followed through with the technique anyway, "Bakusai Tenketsu!" Index finger met pavement and with a small stab of ki, the ground erupted violently, sending debris hurtling everywhere and destroying a part of the canal fence. Unaffected by the proximity of the explosion, Ryouga brushed off the blast and turned around, searching for his rival, who had used him as a shield from the blast and was currently behind him. "Ranma! Where'd you go?! Stop hiding like a coward and- "
" -Fight like a man." Ranma finished, rolling his eyes, "Do you rehearse them lines or somethin'? You're gettin' predictable. Pork-breath." he added as an afterthought. Ryouga tracked the sound of his voice and turned in the right direction, face flushed with anger (and embarrassment, though he would never admit it), "Now you make fun of me, too?! Die, Ranma!!" he reached up and pulled a bandana from his head, and, infusing it with a small amount of ki to stiffen it into a blade, began spinning it like a propeller.
"S'been a while since ya used that trick." Ranma commented. Ignoring him, Ryouga flung the whirling object at Ranma, who caught it in the center with his index finger like a frisbee. Letting it spin around his finger a few times, he threw it back at Ryouga, "How 'bout a taste of your own medicine, Bacon-butt?"
The projectile was snapped out of the air, drawing Ranma's attention to Ryouga's hand which held a whip-like cord, "I have a suprise for you, Ranma." he grinned evily.
"Oh, goody. I love suprises. 'Specially nasty suprises." the pigtailed boy replied sarcastically. Inwardly he was slightly uneasy, Ok, that's a new one. But where did he get it? his gaze was suddenly drawn to Ryouga's pantleg, which was no longer wrapped with cord. Okay, so that's what that's for. I always wondered why he did that. He shifted into a defensive stance and motioned to Ryouga, "Well, bring it on."
Ryouga raised his whip arm, "Gladly!" He took a step backward to stablize himself- and fell through the open section of the canal fence into the canal.
Ranma smacked his face with a palm in exasperation, "Why am I NOT suprised?" He walked over to the gap in the fence and watched Ryouga float off down the canal, a cute little black piglet riding on his makeshift raft, an airtight hiking pack.
"Well, that was rather anti-climatic." remarked an unknown voice. Startled, Ranma whipped his head toward its origin, and saw a young man about his age casually drop to the ground several yards away from him, a long black sash trailing behind him and hands in his pockets. Where did HE come from??! Why didn't I sense him?? "Who're you??!" he asked, slipping into a defensive stance.
The stranger chuckled and smirked, revealing prominent canines, "Heh. Name's Randy Donahue." He sketched a sloppy bow, making a sweeping gesture with one hand and folding the other behind his back, "At your service."
Ranma relaxed a little, straightening from his stance, At least he don't seem to be a threat Then, as Randy's hair fell forward, Ranma suddenly noticed two long, pointed- Pointed ears?!! What IS this guy?
The still smirking boy straightened, his gaze sweeping the surrounding area. Apparently finding what he was looking for, he pointed, "Meet me in that vacant lot over there, this time tomorrow."
Ignoring Ranma's stare- I mean suspicious look, the auburn haired boy casually walked up to the fence and watched Ryouga in pig form continue floating down the canal, returning one hand to his pocket and shading his eyes with the other, "You get a lot of transformers around here?" he questioned Ranma.
"Huh??" he said intelligently, and stopped st- glaring, only to resume when he noticed Randy's eyes shining purple in the sun.
Noticing the pigtailed boy's state of mind, Randy waved it off, "Never mind. I'll find out eventually. See ya." With that he leapt across the canal, turned to wave jauntily over his shoulder, then leapt from there to a rooftop, bouncing from one to the other until he faded from sight. But the chaos had just begun...
With the distraction out of sight, Ranma's mind focused on more important things, like, Who the heck wears PURPLE??
Shaking himself out of his reverie, he looked around as he remembered somthing strange about Randy's entrance, Where did he come from? He dropped straight down beside me, but there's nothing to drop from!! Maybe I'll find out tomorrow when I meet him. Putting the incident out of his mind for the moment, he made his way home to the Tendo Dojo.
Upon entering the gate to the yard, Ranma's danger sense warned him of another hostile aura in the area. Expanding his senses, he sighed as he recognized his father's angry aura. Boy, you've done something to make Akane-kun cry again! Apologize immediately! he mouthed to himself, then stepped to the side as Genma aimed a jump-kick at him from the top of the gate, "Boy, you've done something to make Akane-kun cry again! Apologize immediately!"
"Gee, I'd love to, Pops, but she's gonna clobber me as soon as I step inside her door." He said dryly, "Giv'er some time ta cool off first." He side-stepped the fat man's half-hearted charge and stuck out a foot, watching disgustedly as Genma tripped and fell into the koi pond, re-emerging black and white, hairy, sopping wet and even fatter. Hey! go easy on your old man! read the sign that Panda produced from nowhere.
The pig-tailed boy glanced at the sign and snorted derisively, "Yeah right. If I went any easier on ya, I'd hav'ta be a sloth. On the other hand, a sloth can move faster than you. What'sa matter, old man, Arthiritis actin' up?"
Panda flipped the sign around to read, Oh, the shame! The humanity! My only son has no respect for his father! ,all the while making sobbing noises, which sounded ridiculous coming from a panda.
Ranma just rolled his eyes, "Jeeze, you're pathetic, Pops. I'm goin' to the dojo. Got a fight tomorrow."
Making his way to the dojo, he slipped off his shoes and began a kata, one that he had learned years ago. His mind slowly slipped into a meditative state as he finished that kata and began another slightly harder one, blending them together seamlessly. Flowing from one to the other, he began to switch katas in the middle, still seamlessly blending them together, despite the difference in style. Working himself up the difficulty scale, he drove himself faster and harder, a rich golden aura blooming into existence around his body as he brought his ki into play. Moving fast enough to blur, and striking hard enough to break stone, he continued performimg his katas flawlessly, switching styles again and again, until they too began to blur together, creating a crashing wave of chaos that surged on relentlessly.
His sixth sense alerted him to a presense approaching the dojo, but he continued practicing, slowing only slightly as the eldest Tendo daughter, Kasumi, entered the dojo, "Supper is almost ready, Ranma. You still have time for a quick bath, though."
A muffled, " 'Kay." was all the acknowledgement she got from the human tornado in the middle of the dojo, but she seemed content with that, and left the building, the breeze generated by the blur of motion that was Ranma ruffling her clothes.
Pushing himself even harder, he waited until Kasumi was out of range, then streaked for the entrance. Golden energy coalesced around his clenched fists as he bounced high into the air outside the dojo, then threw a large sphere of ki into the night sky, "Mouko Takabisha!" then immediatly threw the other one, "Times Two!" Touching down on the porch of the house, he smirked, THIS is the Saotome School of Anything-goes Martial Arts! he remembered the strange boy whom he had met today, I'd like to see ya try an' beat that!
After finishing his bath, Ranma moved to the main room of the Tendo house, where the rest of the family had already gathered at the table. Taking his usual spot beside Akane, he winced as he noticed that she sniffed and scooted away from him several inches, Aw, man. She's still mad. I gotta do something, but what? He wracked his brain, trying to come up with a solution, even as he dug into his meal with less than normal enthusiasm.
Remaining contemplative throughout his meal, he didn't notice that all the others around the table had also subtly scooted away from him, alarmed at at his silence. The pigtailed boy continued eating, oblivious, as the others slowly stopped eating and watched him nervously. The tension was almost to a breaking point, when he suddenly slammed down his bowl and smacked his palm with a fist, "Aha!"
A clatter of bowls arond the table drew Ranma's attention to the rest of the family, who had dropped their dishes and had hands clutched to their chests, trying to calm their rapidly beating hearts and frazzled nerves. He looked on in puzzlement, "What's wrong with you guys?" When nobody answered, he shrugged, "I'm gonna be gone for a bit tonight." He glared at Genma and Soun from across the table, "And if anybody wants ta end up like Saffron, feel free to follow me."
The fathers flinched and nodded hurriedly, which seemed to appease Ranma and he began finishing his meal with his usual gusto, at which the rest of the family sighed collectively and resumed eating.
Later that night, Akane settled into her bed, disturbing images haunting her thoughts. I wonder where Ranma went? Probably to Ukyo's or maybe Shampoo's. That jerk! He didn't even apologize for that comment on the fence!... She sighed to herself, Yeah right, who are you kidding. He's never apologized before, don't expect him to start now. Still, I just wish that for once- She broke off as her window cracked itself open and the curtains obscured her vision as a cold draft blew into the room, making her draw the blankets up reflexively. Just as suddenly as it had cracked open, the window closed itself, and she quickly jumped out of bed to see what had happened. As she leaned over her desk to look out the window, her fingers brushed something sharp and she looked down to see a single rose with a piece of paper attached. She turned on her desk lamp and tears came to her eyes as she read the single word written on the paper.
"Oh, Ranma..." she said softly, then turned and snuggled back underneath the covers, the rose clutched to her chest. Looking over at her desk where the paper lay, she remembered that lone word.
Sorry.
------End Day 1------
Well, there it is. What do you think? Please R&R. Constructive criticism would be helpful, flames will be deleted. (Thanks to Zero() for letting me know about the formatting problem.)
--- Current list of Finishing Moves ---
Ranma: Katsu Tenshin Amaguri-ken - Ki is channeled to Ranma's arms and upper body to greatly increase his punching speed.
Ryouga: Bakusai Tenketsu - Ki is channeled into the tip of Ryouga's index finger, then jammed into the breaking point of a solid object to cause an explosion.
Hello??
Anyone out there??
Anybody??
sigh