Exit, Pursued by a Bear
By Lord Raa
Disclaim-me-do: We don't come to Canada for our health. We can think of other ways of enjoying ourselves.
Part 2
Ranma yawned loudly as he woke up to the morning sunshine. He'd been "convinced" by Mr. Tendo to spend the night in the dojo to preserve Shampoo's modesty.
Of course, Shampoo had been happy to share the same room as Ranma, and was going to until Kasumi declared that it was improper. And while the Tendo sisters were friendly enough, they decided that they didn't want to disturb Shampoo's sleep before the big fight to settle the engagement to Ranma.
That left him sleeping downstairs with his old man in the dojo.
Genma had convinced his friend to let him sleep on his bedroom floor on the last of the bedding, much to Ranma's annoyance. The response to Ranma's protests about the perceived injustice was a swift application of cold water.
And that was why he woke up as a bear.
It was a strange sensation to wake up in his cursed form, especially after a heavy sleep. Normally, he was able to wake up pretty quickly in the morning, as lie-ins weren't something Ranma was used to. But when he slept as a bear, things took much longer for him to gain the motivation to get up and start moving around.
He yawned again, running his long tongue over his pointy teeth.
'Definitely time for something to eat,' he thought. 'But first, the bathroom…'
Nabiki had not slept well. It wasn't thinking about the upcoming match between her younger sister and the Chinese girl that had disrupted her sleep.
Nor was it the suspicious man her father called a friend.
No, it was the fact that Genma Saotome had splashed Ranma in the face with a cold drink and turned him into a bear before telling him to sleep in the dojo.
Sure, the door to her room was kept locked, but who knew how strong the bear was? Popular martial arts manga often had the protagonist train in the mountains and spar with bears.
'They wouldn't put that in if bears were pushovers,' the money-loving girl had mused.
The alarm sounded, further souring her mood.
"Stupid mornings, stupid engagement, stupid Ranma," she grumbled. Slipping on her dressing gown, she unlocked the door and peered out.
The coast was clear.
Shampoo had long learned that the ability to get some rest in even unfamiliar and uncomfortable surroundings, and the spare room of the Tendo home certainly was unfamiliar to her.
It wasn't quite as comfortable as her bed back in China, but this was a spare room. At least they weren't sleeping rough by some rain soaked riverbank.
That had not been a pleasant experience.
Shaking her head to clear it and focus on the latest problem on her way to winning Ranma's heart, Shampoo took several deep breaths and started to stretch her muscles.
The two masters of Anything Goes martial arts were next to wake.
Soun had his doubts about his friend's plan and he turned to him
"Saotome-kun, do you really think that Shampoo will give up on Ranma if she loses?"
"Probably not, she's taken a shine to the boy," the balding man replied. "Understandable, really, given the old Saotome charm."
"You're hardly the classical definition of charming, Saotome-kun," Soun muttered under his breath. "Still, what will we do if she doesn't give up?"
"Shampoo knows that Ranma holds anyone who goes back against their word in low regard," Genma answered. "If she wants to keep in his good books, she'll play by the rules."
Nabiki was feeling better now that she had finished in the bathroom. She'd combed her fingers through her hair, working out the more severe tangles and so felt that she looked a little more presentable.
However, the cool look she'd been perfecting over the school term was about to be shaken as she opened the door and saw Ranma standing there.
"B-b-b-b-b-bear!" the girl screamed, trying to draw the attention of her family. "I won't let you eat me!"
Ranma folded his arms and shook his head. There had only been one person he'd attacked as a bear – his father. And there were good reasons for that.
Before the trip to Jusenkyo, most of the plans Genma Saotome had made were terrible. Sure, when it came to martial arts, he was possibly the most effective teacher around, but certain parts of this training were, well stupid.
The training at the cursed pools of Jusenkyo sprang to mind. Ranma got through no end of shirts now that he seemed to spend half his time as a bear.
The latest seemed to be the arranged marriage that brought them here to Nerima.
While it did have the advantage of delaying things with Shampoo, being screamed at by a girl when he really needed to use the bathroom was going to get old real fast.
Akane Tendo was the first one to arrive on the scene.
"What's up, Nabiki?"
The brunette could only point incredulously at the white-throated bear on the landing.
"Oh, that. Ranma, please move out of the way," Akane said pleasantly.
Shrugging, the hairy beast shuffled backwards to allow Nabiki to escape to her room.
"So, why are you a bear, anyway?"
Ranma mimed a shiver to indicate that it had been a chilly night.
"Oh yeah, it can get cold in the dojo," Akane nodded.
The bear nodded before strolling into the bathroom. He grabbed the rinse bucket and filled it with water from the bath. Moments later, a shirtless young man closed the door and attended to his business.
"…" the Tendo heir stood still, trying to process what she'd seen.
"You watch Ranma wash?" Shampoo asked, unsure of how her opponent felt about Ranma.
"What?" Akane asked, spinning around in surprise. "Watch a boy washing? What kind of person wants to do that?"
"Is Ranma," the Amazon countered, "He different to other boys."
"He turns into a bear, how many boys do that?"
"Jusenkyo near my village, some people there turn into animals. But that not what Shampoo mean. Ranma strong, handsome, help people out of trouble."
"Oh, but that doesn't mean-"
Akane's comment was cut off as Ranma opened the bathroom door. The pigtailed martial artist was towelling off his well-toned torso.
"Is something up?"
"Put a shirt on!" Akane spluttered in protest.
Ranma shrugged. "You're lucky I'm still wearing pants."
The youngest Tendo's cheeks turned scarlet, her mouth seemingly unable to work properly and voice her protests at such an outrageous comment.
"Whatever, I'm going to practice in the dojo before breakfast."
"Shampoo be down soon, we practice together, ok?"
"Sure thing," the cursed youth said as he made his way to the dojo.
As Kasumi cleared the breakfast table, Soun gave his old friend a look and rose up from his seat to assist.
"Is something the matter, Father?"
"It's alright, Kasumi, I just wanted to help out."
It was unusual for anyone to offer to help out, but Kasumi accepted the offer. It would allow the important match to get started sooner. 'Nabiki seems rather upset about Ranma-kun's presence.'
"Of course, Father," the homemaker smiled.
As they placed the empty pots into the kitchen, Soun coughed nervously.
"What is it, Father?"
"Kasumi, I…" the moustachioed man struggled for words for a moment. "I'm worried about Akane."
"You're worried about Akane? Why is that?" Kasumi asked, turning to see the look on her father's face.
"Well, it's more about the pledge to unite the schools of Anything Goes," Soun admitted. "If Akane loses, Ranma-kun will have no reason to stay here. Shampoo will go off with him and the legacy of the Tendo Dojo will... And family honour…"
He started to sob, causing Kasumi to gently hold his upper arms.
"I'm sure that everything will work out fine, Father. But I have to ask, which one of us were you planning to engage to Ranma-kun? Nabiki doesn't like him very much."
"That leaves it up to you and Akane, Kasumi," the emotional man replied.
"I think Akane would be best, they're the same age and would have more in common," Kasumi opined.
Soun's face lit up as he realised that Kasumi was going along with his plan. "Yes, I see that too. But Saotome-kun seems to think that Shampoo's quite the skilled fighter, what do we do if she defeats Akane?"
Kasumi looked thoughtful as she cleaned up in the kitchen. Family honour demanded that an arranged marriage between a Saotome and a Tendo took place, but if Shampoo won, Ranma would leave.
Cheating wasn't an option, as it would bring dishonour and shame upon everyone involved. That meant that the rules would have to be obeyed.
It was then that the homemaker was struck by a flash of inspiration. "Father, we have to obey the rules."
"Yes," Soun nodded sadly.
Ranma interrupted the conversation to bring Soun and Kasumi to the dojo. "Sorry about this, but everyone wants to get this over with as soon as possible. Well, I say 'everyone', but it's really Akane, Shampoo and Nabiki. My old man's quite happy to delay this until tomorrow."
"And what about you, Ranma-kun?" the widower asked.
"I'm not that bothered, to be honest," the cursed youth shrugged. "I mean, sure, you have a nice house and whoever cooked dinner and breakfast did a great job, but if I've got to move on, I've got to move on."
"I see," Soun nodded. "Well, let us get this little challenge solved as soon as we can, shall we?"
As Akane performed a few warm up exercises in the dojo, her sister sidled up to her.
"Akane," Nabiki said in a conspiratorial whisper. "About this match you're having."
"What about it?"
"Are you sure you need to go all out against Shampoo?"
"I think I better," the martial artist answered. "From what she says about her village, they train everyone in martial arts.
Nabiki's poker face remained intact as she followed up. "But how much of that is like Kuno's hot air? No-one trains their entire village to fight, it's just not practical. I mean what about the old and infirm? I don't see someone like Kasumi being a dead-eye shot with a bow."
The mental image of their older, kind and most definitely non-violent sister taking down animals and marauding warriors with a few well-placed arrows brought a smile to Akane and Nabiki's faces.
"Ok, so maybe they don't teach everyone to be assassins. What's your point, Nabiki?"
"I was thinking that I might make it worth your while to not push yourself too far," the mercenary girl hinted.
Akane's face fell. "You're… you're asking me to lose on purpose?"
"I'm not asking you to go all TV fight scene on me, but maybe not try as hard as you would against Kuno," Nabiki replied.
"I have my pride as a martial artist!"
"What good is your pride as a martial artist if you have to marry Ranma?"
The door to the dojo opened and Shampoo stepped inside, cutting off that argument.
"Nice dojo," the purple-haired girl commented, running her fingers over the walls and floor. "Is sturdy construction and well looked after."
After placing a towel and water bottle in a corner, Shampoo started to stretch her major muscle groups. While the warm up exercises were important, a casual demonstration of her flexibility could help give her a psychological edge.
Many animals did things to make themselves look more dangerous to their opponents and this was no different.
Nabiki looked on in awe at the Amazon's movements. 'Maybe I won't have to worry about hurting Akane's feelings about her throwing this match after all. Should save me a few yen, too.'
Genma Saotome walked into the dojo and looked around. He nodded at Shampoo before taking lap of the building, taking in the details of woodwork and the levels of wear and tear on the weapons on the walls.
"Can we help you Mr. Saotome?" Nabiki asked.
"Just looking at the moment," the portly man answered with a wistful look on his face. 'What a difference a connection or two makes… Wait, why aren't there more students on the list?'
Sighing, Genma approached the two sisters. "Are you ready, Akane?"
"Yes, I am," the long-haired Tendo nodded positively.
"Good, Shampoo tends to use weapons out of habit, so I hope your sensei taught you how to counter them if you lose your own."
"Weapons? But I focused on unarmed techniques," Akane sighed.
"Oh well, I'm sure that your best will be enough today, Akane," Nabiki said in a voice filled with insincere support.
"Really? Well, in that case we should make the fight an unarmed match," Genma said as the door opened again.
Soun was the first in and he made a beeline over to his old training partner.
"Ah, Tendo-kun, I think we should make this match an unarmed contest."
"You do? Why is that?" the moustachioed asked. He was turned around to see the practice swings Shampoo was taking. "Oh."
"Don't worry, she's a bit sloppy when it comes to unarmed combat," Genma explained.
Ranma held the door open and Kasumi stepped inside, just as the rain started, turning the pigtailed martial artist into a bear.
"Bear!" Nabiki screamed in panic.
The black-furred beast sighed. 'If only I'd fallen into that panda spring; everything would be alright. No-one runs scared from pandas!'
Ranma slunk off to a corner to watch the match. He was beginning to hope that Shampoo won easily. Not that he wanted to go back to China with her, but it would mean that he wouldn't have to deal with Nabiki's hostility.
Frowning ever so slightly, Kasumi looked down and saw a shredded shirt on the floor. "Has anyone lost a shirt?" she asked holding up the ruined garment.
"We're all fine here, Kasumi," Akane said having checked her family, Genma and Shampoo.
A loud sigh from the far corner seemed to answer the homemaker's question as to the owner of the shirt.
"Ranma lose another shirt? Maybe Ranma have to stop wearing shirts altogether," Shampoo said, a smile on her lips as she thought about the merits of her beloved walking around shirtless all the time.
Kasumi's cheeks turned pink as she also considered Ranma's physique, having seen it the previous day. "T-that's just not practical. Tokyo gets cold in the winter months."
"Plenty of ways to keep warm," the Amazon smirked before taking a swig of water from her bottle. "Shampoo ready to begin. Let's fight."
Akane nodded. This would be a good test of her skills; as skilled as he was, Kuno seemed to hold back against her.
Soun embraced his youngest daughter. "I want you to try your best, but don't try so hard that you hurt yourself."
"Of course, Daddy," the Tendo heir nodded. Not that she had any intention of doing this or anything half-heartedly. It just wasn't her style.
The two combatants approached the centre of the dojo and bowed to each other. The fell into defensive stances and waited for the signal to begin.
Tears were now welling up in Soun's eyes as he gave the command to start the match.
"Begin!"
The two girls circled each other, each waiting for the right moment to strike. This went on for nearly a minute, slowly increasing the tension levels before Shampoo lashed out with a flurry of strikes open palm strikes, each of them forcing Akane backwards as she attempted to avoid them.
Mindful that she was overreaching and off balance, Shampoo stopped to give herself the chance to rebalance.
It was then that Akane struck back with a simple, but powerful haymaker.
It was child's play for the Amazon to avoid such a strike, and she punished her opponent with a sharp blow to the side of the ribs.
"Oof," Akane gasped, unused to serious contact in her training.
The doorbell rang and Kasumi looked at her father before announcing that the match would have to be put on hold for the moment.
"But…" Nabiki tried to protest.
"This could be important, Nabiki, I'll be right back," the homemaker said, completely missing her sister's point.
Shampoo backed up, allowing her opponent to regain her breath. She reappraised the girl, and she was not impressed with what she saw.
Deciding that it was time for a little trash-talk, she asked Akane, "You really think you're suitable to be Ranma's bride?"
Unfortunately, this question coincided with the return of Kasumi and the visitor, one Tatewaki Kuno.
"What?" the kendoist demanded. "What was that about Akane being someone's bride?"
"Who are you?" Shampoo asked, unhappy at the interruption.
"Who am I? I am none other than the rising star of the kendo world, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High School!" Kuno declared.
"Weren't you the 'Shooting Star' last week?" Akane asked, also unhappy with Kuno's presence.
"Akane Tendo, you cannot know how much joy it brings to my heart to know that you follow my progress in the kendo world!" the young man declared before rushing to embrace the love of his life.
The Chinese girl casually stuck out a foot and tripped up the blowhard, causing him to plant his face into the hardwood floor of the dojo.
"Whoops," Shampoo said with a totally insincere look on her face.
"Who…." Kuno trailed off as he finally got a good look at Shampoo. "Who is this beautiful fighter, capable of matching even the fierce tigress that is Akane Tendo in honourable combat?"
"Shampoo," the Amazon answered. "And you're interrupting the contest to be Ranma's bride."
"What? Who could have the audacity to try to engineer the situation where two glorious visions of beauty would fight for the right to be his mate?" Kuno asked, his face completely straight as he looked around for a likely culprit. "Who is this 'Ranma' person?
"That's Ranma there," Shampoo said, pointing at the bear in the corner.
"A bear? Surely this is some kind of a joke? What kind of bear could have some sway over the glorious flower that is Akane Tendo?"
Ranma had quickly grown tired of the newly arrived idiot and wanted to silence him soon after he'd introduced himself. And now he was bad-mouthing bears in general.
Shaking his ursine head, Ranma rose up onto his hind legs and let out a growl.
"He's going to attack us! Run for your lives!" Nabiki screamed before rushing out of the dojo.
"Truly this bear must be some demonic monstrosity for it to scare the unflappable Nabiki Tendo," Kuno opined as he pulled a bokken from nowhere and took up a stance to challenge Ranma. "The heavens have smiled up on you, Akane Tendo, for I shall now defeat this unholy bear!"
Ranma looked at the idiot with the wooden sword and sighed. He grabbed Kuno by the lapels and tossed him against the dojo wall, causing the whole building to shake.
The black-furred beast folded his arms and nodded in triumph.
"Well, of course you're strong enough to throw Kuno around like a rag doll, you're a bear!" Akane countered.
"You think that Ranma's only strong when he's a bear?" Shampoo asked, almost laughing in disbelief. "We show you how wrong you are."
The Amazon walked to where several wooden weapons were stored and pulled out a bokken before tossing it to Ranma.
The bear caught the weapon and began to work through a kata that made Shampoo's earlier warm-up exercises look like an arthritic old man struggling to get out of an easy chair.
Shampoo pulled out a wooden naginata and took a few practice swings of her own before she announced her readiness to Ranma.
The bear snorted before taking up a stance designed to minimise his profile, his weapon held in his right paw before he charged his opponent.
Shampoo struggled to block the flurry of strikes, much in the same was as Akane had struggled during the earlier match. Before she knew it, she was reacting on instinct to avoid the infrequent leg sweeps that Ranma had started introducing to unbalance her.
Kuno woke up from his nap and shook his head to clear it. What was this scene before him?
Had he been knocked unconscious by Akane Tendo and he was now dreaming as he saw the bouncy girl fighting with a bear?
He turned to look at Akane, who also seemed to be focused on the unusual combatants.
"Akane Tendo-"
The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High School was cut off when Shampoo had been launched into him by Ranma.
The bear let out a triumphant roar that would have caused Nabiki to soil herself if she had been there to hear it.
"I… Forgive me, Miss Shampoo, but I must avenge your defeat at the hands of the Devil Bear!" Kuno declared as he rushed to his feet.
Only to be smacked down again by the so-called Devil Bear, this time into unconsciousness.
"Oh my, well, we can't continue the match now," Kasumi said as she noticed that Shampoo was still slightly stunned from her impact with Kuno. "We should continue this another time."
"Yes, it wouldn't be fair if one of the participants was carrying an injury," Soun said, nodding his head. "Don't you agree, Saotome-kun?"
"Of course, Tendo-kun," the portly man readily agreed. 'It will also give us a chance to train Akane so she has a chance against Shampoo.'
To be continued…
Pre-read by Chi Vayne and previewed on certain intertubes.
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