Chapter 4: To Yagami We Shall Go
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Yes, I'm still alive, so I have a two chapter special for you as a way of saying sorry!
Morning came for the Tendo Dojo, but not everyone was happy with the format for the day. Akane guys remembered that she was going to be dragged to a mountain with her ex-pet whilst her boyfriend was leaving for a distant town with an ex-fiancé. However, she also overlooked the fact that said ex-fiancé had a boyfriend, namely, said ex-pet.
After a rather subdued breakfast (subdued meaning fast, but silent, accompanied with the normal fight), Akane had her pack at the door and was waiting for Ukyo and Ryoga to come. Ranma stood next to her and tried his best to console her.
"Akane, I'm sorry about the fact that I had to trick you, but this trip really is necessary in order for you to progress with the Saotome School of Anything Goes. I can only do this if you learn Bakusai Tenketsu," he said solemnly.
"I know. But couldn't we have done this on another day?" she asked.
Ranma was slightly insulted at the point. "Do you really trust me so little, Akane?" he said with a look of hurt in his eyes.
She was taken aback. "No, Ranma, I trust you."
"Then trust me not to take another girl and leave you," he said. Akane pondered at the point, then nodded, but very slowly.
Ryoga arrived at the Dojo being dragged along by a blushing Ukyo. She was surprised at how his touch enlightened some other parts of her body. She was subdued when they finally arrived at the dojo and missed his touch almost immediately when he let go and stumbled forth and met Ranma with a handshake.
"Hey, buddy," he said, flustered, pulling away from Ukyo the first chance he got. Ranma looked him the fast and nearly laughed out loud when he saw him holding his nose, trying to prevent a nosebleed. Ranma, though, just kept it to a grin.
"Man, you need to go out with her a bit more. It wouldn't do to have you on your wedding night and passing out before you even made it to the bed."
Ryoga took one swipe at him and missed before turning to Akane. "You ready to go?"
She nodded and hefted the backpack onto her back. "How long is this gonna take?"
"Well, I took a little over a weak. Since you're a girl, it might take about two and a half weeks to learn. No offense."
"None taken." She kissed Ranma and waved to Ukyo and before long they saw were watching the back of their packs disappear into the distance.
"Well, since that's taken care of, why don't leave?" asked Ukyo. "We've got a lot of time and more ground to cover. We'll need to take a train."
Ranma nodded. "The last time I went there, it took only a few minutes by Mallet Airs™ and I have no desire to repeat the experience."
"Well, since that's taken care of, why don't we leave?" asked Ukyo. "We've got a lot of time and more ground to cover. We'll need to take a train."
Ranma nodded. "The last time I went there, it took only a few minutes by Mallet Airs™ and I have no desire to repeat the experience." He laughed at his own poor attempt at a joke, and they began roof hopping to the train station.
Another day dawned on the humble town of Yagami as Tsukamoto Yakumo rose to prepare breakfast and the bentos she and her sister required for lunch at school. She began the day as she normally would: After her shower, she would put on her apron and tie her hair back to start her western crossed traditional style breakfast. She would fry the eggs, get the tsukemono (pickles), simmer the miso soup (this soup is not meant to be boiled) and prepared the bentos. As per her sister's request, she made curry. As a result, she had four boxes out: two for rice, two for curry.
As Ranma and Ukyo arrived at the train station, Ranma was dazzled by all the modern conveniences that had been installed since he last came here. The Nerima Train Station now had digital screens showing all arriving and departing trains instead of the old flip panel boards. Phones now had video screens for traveling businessmen, and even the chairs and benches were made of new age material. The whole thing was very modernized.
Ukyo glanced around and saw Ranma gawking at all the shiny new equipment. 'Well it looks like Ran-ch… I mean Ranma, will be occupied for a while so…' She decided to go get their tickets. She walked up to the appropriate ticket box and made her request.
As she was walking back with their tickets, she found Ranma staring a hole through one of the new plastic waiting benches. Tentatively, he reached out and prodded it with what to him seemed like an insignificant amount of force. There was a screeching sound and the bench collapsed inward, somewhat like a finger pushing through a plastic sandwich bag. Where he had prodded, it seeming like a small meteorite had made the cave in.
"Psh, they just don't make 'em like they used to." Ranma stood up and shook his head in disappointment. He then joined Ukyo and they set off towards platform nine.
When they reached the aforementioned platform, they took seats on a bench nearby. They discussed the ins and outs, the ups and downs, and the whys and the wherefores of Yagami.
"So Ucchan, what is it you are looking for in your new shop exactly?"
"Well, I was looking for for a place big enough to support the four of us, somewhere there is a lot of publicity, a place with lots of competition…" and so it went on.
When the train pulled into the station, Ranma bent his knees and prepared to jump.
"Ranma," Ukyo called out in shock, "what are you doing?!" Catching himself, Ranma sheepishly stood up and scratched the back of his head nervously.
"Sorry Ucchan, with Pops being so cheap an' all, it just became a force of habit." Ukyo rolled her eyes in frustration with men in general.
'Just another reason to skin that Panda.' She filed it away in her head for another time and gently but firmly pushed Ranma onto the train.
As she cooked breakfast, her sister sauntered into the living room, looking very drowsy and dressed in her uniform. She was never a morning person.
"Ohayo, Yakumo," said Tenma drowsily.
"Ohayo, Nee-san," she replied. "Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes."
"Hai," she said in the same voice
As Yakumo laid out the dishes, Tenma's mood suddenly cleared up and soon, she was yelling "ITADAKIMASU!"
They ate silently until they finished and Yakumo cleared the dishes away. Tenma grabbed two of the bentos that Yakumo made and left two for her. Without further ado, she yelled, "I'm going, Yakumo!" and ran out the door.
As Yakumo grabbed her own bentos, she heard a knock on the door and she ran to it, holding her bookbag. She opened the door to find a familiar and an unfamiliar face.
"Ano…Ranma-san?"
"Hai. Sorry about coming here this time of day, but me and my friend need instructions to go to Yagami High."
She blinked. "Ano…That's my school."
It was Ranma's turn to blink. "Really? Can you show me the way?"
She nodded and walked of the doorway and locked the door. Soon, Ranma made plans to catch up with Ukyo at lunch after she consulted a local real estate agent about available shops. Ranma and Yakumo went one way, Ukyo, the other.
Ranma and Yakumo walked away in silence, but it wasn't long before Sara Adiemus caught up with the pair.
"Ohayo, Yakumo," she said.
"Ohayo, Sara," she replied. Sara then noticed the man next to her.
"I'm Saotome Ranma," he said. "Sorry bout this." He scratched his head in his trademarked fashion. (If I get any queries about this, the answer is simple: Ranma had never been good with formal introductions. Also, he could be apologizing for the fact he was intruding on her friend's time)
"I'm Sara Adiemus. Nice to meet you," replied the British nun.
"Nice to meet you to," he replied, smiling. He leapt onto the brick wall next to them and stood up there to practice his balance. Sara looked surprised he could leap such a height without much, trouble, but soon saw her friend walking forward, so she followed. Not surprisingly, Ranma followed behind them.
Soon, after a few minutes, they trio reached the school, Ranma still on the fence and the pair talking to each other. However, as they reached the front gate, a black limo pulled up and a butler stepped out. Soon, he went around to the opposite door and opened it for a woman with golden curls and an extremely well built figure.
From Ranma's (and probably yours, too) point of view, the woman seemed to be of British descent, or at least mixed blood. She was about a year older than Yakumo and her friend and was dressed in the same uniform as Yakumo, suggesting that she was a student. She held herself like a princess and held her book bag in front of her. (This part is referring to the girl who stepped out of the limo, not Sara)
She looked once at the pair of first graders and said, "Ohayo gozaimasu." She looked at Ranma and raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.
"Ohayo gozaimasu," replied the girls, before all three walked into the school. Ranma jumped off the wall and followed Yakumo and soon, the group reached an intersection.
"The office is down there, Ranma-san," she said, pointing to a building that was detached from the school.
"Arigat-"
Ranma didn't get further than that since he sensed someone charging from the entrance to where he was. The look on his face suggested Satan himself would've been scared.
As he looked around, Ranma noticed that only two of the three girls remained. Yakumo had disappeared. Ranma probably took him a suitor of sorts. He would have been correct.
"Ohayo, Sara," he said. Ranma looked at him and found he was probably around the same age as the unknown girl. He had a mushroom bowl cut, wore his uniform impeccably and wore bottle thick glasses which were probably matched by Mousse's glasses, give or take a few degrees of blindness.
"Ohayo, Hanai-san," she replied. "I'm afraid that Yakumo has gone to the faculty building."
"Ah, arigato. Ja!" He ran off as fast as he arrived.
Meanwhile, after seeing him leave, Yakumo stepped out from behind a tree where she had managed to hide.
"Well, ja mata," said the unknown girl as Yakumo stepped out from behind the tree.
"Ja mata, Sawachika-san," said Sara politely. However, the girl barely moved when a motorbike zoomed past them. After realizing who the rider had passed, they turned around and stopped in front of the group.
"Ohayo, Harima-san," said Yakumo, as the rider took of their helmet.
It turned out to be a young man of about seventeen years of age. He wore glasses and had a tan, was dressed in a leather jacket and slacks. His wore a beret underneath, but Ranma soon noticed he was bold.
"Yo, Imouto-san," the man named Harima replied.
However, no words were passed as one dangerously blue aura flared.
"HIGE!"
Harima sighed and turned to face the girl. "What d'you want, Oj-" He got cut off as he suddenly burst out laughing and Ranma also resisted the urge to laugh.
What Harima had closely neglected when he roared past the group suddenly came into full being. The girl named Sawachika was covered in dust, leaves, sticks, rocks and what other natural debris lay around. However, it wasn't that which cracked Harima up.
It was the fact that Sawachika's hair was puffed up like a poodle. Therefore, her locks now resembled something like yellow cotton candy.
Ranma, though, tried to console the girl. "It's not like anything else can go wrong."
(PAUSE! As we all should know, Murphy's law has an exclusivity in the Ranmaverse. What is this law, you may ask? The following: If one should say or think anything along the lines of 'Nothing else should go wrong,' something WILL go wrong. It's just a matter of time. This explains why Ranma changes at the most inopportune times. Therefore, we can only grace the next line upon the small group for the following disasters that are about to happen: Damn you, Murphy)
A sudden flash shower appeared. It just happened to be of consequence that Sawachika was standing OUTSIDE the shade of the trees and so now, the cotton candy hair so much as resembled strips of beef which had gone through the Akane treatment.
'As least it wasn't me,' thought Ranma.
Famous last words. Ergo, Murphy's law.
A pipe from behind Ranma exploded, turning the unfortunate he into a she. As he was also standing partially in the garden bed at the time, she was covered in dirt and flowers and leaves and every other plant in that bed available. Ranma-chan looked at herself and sighed.
'Least I got my thermos,' she thought and pulled it our, opened it up and upended it on herself.
Only to find out that the she remained a she after pouring the water on herself.
"Ah, shit. I guess the thermos cooled after being blasted on with cold water," said Ranma-chan and she put the empty thermos away. She looked up to find everyone's eyes, sans Yakumo, on her.
"Weren't you a guy before?" asked the girl named Sawachika.
"Long story short, I got a curse when I went to China," he replied. "Yakumo, do you know where I can get some hot water?"
She nodded. "Follow me, Ranma-san." She turned and walked off to the faculty building, Ranma-chan in tow. Sara, Harima, and Sawachika stared after them
"Why do I get the feeling that lady fate is toying with us?" asked Sawachika, still miffed at her current state.
No one replied as Harima roared off and Sara walked off to the classrooms. Sawachika walked off out of the gate and called her butler. She wasn't going to school as she looked.
"Sure, Tsukamoto, but why hot water?" asked Tani-sensei.
"Uh…Ano…"
"Don't worry about it, then," he said and gave her a cup of clear liquid with steam rising from it.
Yakumo had asked Ranma-chan to wait outside. However, she forgot the repercussions of who was here before she came here herself with Ranma.
As a result, Ranma-chan was standing over the man Sara had referred to as Hanai, her chest heaving and looking extremely pissed. And, as well all know, a pissed Ranma-chan makes no exceptions on damage.
The result of her temper meant that 'Hanai' had several severe lacerations, cuts, bruises, broken bones and a pair of normally reinforced, custom-made glasses being smashed beyond repair.
Yakumo sweat-dropped. "Ano, Ranma-san…"
The he turned she looked up. "Ah! Gomen, Yakumo. I don't know my own strength sometimes."
"Iie, don't worry about it," she said, handing 'her' the cup of water and she turned back to get the school nurse.
It was a male Ranma giving the man cursing, evilized (Is this even a word?) looks at the unfortunate mushroom bowl cut man when Yakumo returned with the school nurse.
"Anegasaki-sensei, over here," said Yakumo. The nurse had brought her first-aid kit, but one look at the brutally hurt man nearly made her faint.
"What happened?" she asked, clearly in a panic to stitch up some of the more serious wounds.
"He tried to hit on me and I did this to him," said the male Ranma, not aware of the implications the sentence gave off.
"Oh my! I never knew Hanai-san was like that," she said. Yakumo had to stifle a giggle at that.
"What happened?" she asked Ranma.
"Well…"
Flashback
'I hope she gets back soon,' thought Ranma-chan. 'Hopefully no one sees me.'
Oh, Ranma, Ranma, Ranma. When will you learn never to tempt fate? Ergo, Murphy's Law again.
As she thought that, a dejected Hanai walked out of the faculty building, feeling depressed at the fact that he couldn't find Yakumo. As he walked out, he saw possibly the most beautiful woman to walk the earth.
'Oh, is this a goddess? Was Yakumo just a test of my faith, and fate has rewarded me with this shining goddess?'
Does anyone think this is WAY too nostalgic? If you don't know what I mean, perhaps someone could point the way out for the poor souls who are clueless about who says words similar to those above from Nerima? Oh, say, a bokken wielding idiot?
Over in Nerima, said bokken wielding idiot sneezed. (Okay, getting a little off track here. Back to the story)
"My pigtailed GODDESS!" he screamed.
As soon as Ranma-chan heard this, she screamed and starting beating the crap out of him.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE, KUNO?"
The biggest flaw here, of course, is that she is not beating up said bokken wielding idiot: She is beating up and poor (at least when compared to the NWC) martial artist.
End Flashback
"…and so, here we are," finished Ranma, somewhat lamely.
Yakumo and Anegasaki-sensei sweat dropped.
"I know you mean well and all, but couldn't you have used some restraint?" asked the nurse as she tended to his wounds.
"If you knew the guy I was thinking of, you'd wanna beat the crap outta him," he responded.
"Ano…Ranma-san, shouldn't you register yourself into Yagami High?" asked Yakumo.
"I guess I better do. Ja, Yakumo." He bounced off into the main building.
Kuonji Ukyo was walking to the nearest real estate agency she could find to look up some potential shops that she could use for her own franchise when a man with a kappa costume walked passed her.
'What the heck was that?' she thought, looking at the man from behind him. He looked like he was wearing a school uniform, holding a huge leaf over his head and had a shell strapped to his back.
'Why on earth is he wearing that for?' she thought to herself.
Moments later, a flash shower unleashed it's payload on the city and soon, the strange kappa dude took off his strange clothing and put it away into his book bag, save the huge tortoise shell, which he tucked under his arm.
The boy had a mushroom bowl cut, black hair and had poker face on. His huge, black eyes were wide and unblinking. He seemed to be of slightly muscular build, but otherwise, he seemed like a normal person.
Stopping only to glance at her, he turned back and walked on, despite having Ukyo's stare at him.
Ukyo herself was drenched with water. The flash shower had done a number on her hair it was sticking up in frilly way. She cursed and continued to walk onwards to the real estate agent.
She was so entranced in her thoughts that she passed a huge red building which should have looked familiar to her.
"So, you say you're from Furinkan High?" asked the secretary.
"Hai," said Ranma respectfully.
'Well, it can't get any worse. I'll just stick 'em into 2-C if they pass,' she thought. "You say you want to register three others, right?"
"Hai," he replied.
"Well, I'll have one of the teachers give you the entrance test and you'll know if you made it through by the end of the day," she replied and pulled out a form. "Meanwhile, please fill in this form for personal details."
She walked out of the room, handing Ranma a clipboard and pen as she left. Ranma soon took to filling in the form and he was done by the time she returned.
"Are there any questions?" she asked as she took the clipboard back.
"Can I have more forms for my friends? I'll give them back to you once they're filled out," said Ranma.
"Sure," she said and gave him three more. She then walked out of the room. "Follow me, please. I'll take you to your new homeroom teacher if you pass."
Ranma followed her out of the room, his ki senses on full alert to see what was in the school. He sensed mainly students, but there seemed to be a rowdy aura coming from one of the rooms, but he dismissed it.
She followed the secretary into the staff room, passing a young teacher with purple hair, a very good reminder of Shampoo. He regarded her with caution and made a mental note not to cross her. 'With all too good reason, too, if she's anything like Shampoo,' thought Ranma.
He passed a man dressed impeccably in a green suit. He had pronounced cheekbones and looked like a vampire, considering his pale skin. His hair, dark brown, was combed in precise perfection, to the point it was almost abnormal. His posture was that of unrelenting authority. 'Better not cross him,' thought Ranma.
They finally reached the desk of a young teacher, about mid 30's. He was dressed more casually than most teachers, but he seemed a lot weaker than others. He was dressed in a white business shirt, tucked into brown pants, wore glasses and had light brown hair. Overall, this man seemed a lot friendlier than other teachers.
"This is Tani-sensei," she said. "Homeroom teacher of 2-C."
He looked at Ranma with a very scrutinizing look. Finally, he said, "May I have your name?"
"Saotome Ranma."
"I see. I've heard a lot about you from Ninomiya. She asked me to keep tabs on you if you came here."
Ranma's eyes boggled. "You know Hinako-sensei?" he asked incredulously.
He nodded. "I did my teaching degree with her. Childishly delightful, but a bit of a handful at times."
'You don't the half of it,' he thought.
"Well, it's time for you to do your entrance test. If you'll follow me, I can lead you to a quiet place for you to sit the test."
Ranma followed him to an unused classroom and soon, he was sat down a table, given a pen and five booklets, each entitled with a different heading.
"You'll have three hours to do all the tests. That should take you to lunch, then you can explore the school after that. I'll have your result by the end of the day. Good luck."
He left the classroom and left Ranma alone, locking the door behind him. Without further ado, Ranma opened the first booklet.
"Is everything in place?"
A man in a room, completely blacked out, except for computer screens, commanded his team of coordinators to do his bidding.
"Yes sir," replied one. "On your signal, sir."
"Do it. Now."
"Yes sir!" He pushed the button.
Nothing scared Sagara Sousuke. Not even when faced with seemingly impossible odds, did he feel fear.
It was a signal which had emitted from his PDA which scared him. It was playing bagpipe music.
It was then that Sousuke froze. He never heard that tone, unless the orders were urgent. He had calibrated his cellphone to play songs at different speeds, depending on urgency. And judging from the speed with was playing, it was extremely urgent.
He was sitting in the living room with Kaname, Kagome, Miroku and Sango when the theme played off. Everyone stared at him, ignoring the movie which was currently playing.
Sousuke took out his cellphone, shaking. He flipped it open and read the message. What he read drained all the blood from his face.
"Kaname?" He asked the girl the girl tentatively. She was known to be a bomb at times.
"What is it, Sousuke?" she asked carefully. She had never seen the sergeant so pale.
"Pack your things and be ready to leave in 15 minutes. All of you. We can't come back here until further notice," he said. "The only information is that an assassin is coming. We're all in danger here."
The temperature dropped nearly 50 degrees. And that's not Fahrenheit, either. That was Celsius.
"What?"
"Pack your things. Mithril are planting false trails as we speak. They already have a safe house for all of us. Pack your things," he said, repeating the last part. He got up and prepared to pack his things.
"Wait, Sousuke," Kaname said. "Do you even have anymore information?"
"Leonard Testarossa," he said. "He's the one after you."
"Wait a second, Sousuke! You expect me to leave my family AND friends because of an assassin coming after my cousin?" yelled Kagome.
"Yes," he said, before leaving.
"Now, wait just a MINUTE! How do you expect my family and friends to survive this assassin, eh?" yelled Kagome.
"As with standard Mithril procedure, your friends and family will be evacuated at a later date," he said stoically.
Soon enough, despite the sketchy details and a hastily scribbled note from Kagome (which was destroyed by Sousuke when she wasn't looking) the group had their possessions in their carry bags (Kagome had hidden her friends' feudal weapons in her big yellow bag, after having Ranma modify her bag: he simply inserted ki into the bag and made it into something that could shrink the contents, similar to what Merlin had) and were on the fastest train out of central Tokyo.
As the countryside rushed by, Kaname silently pondered a sense of déjà vu, but couldn't put the experience in her head.
As Ranma finished the tests, Tani-sensei walked back into the classroom.
"Time's up," he said. Ranma put down the pen and looked relieved. His forehead was covered in a layer of sweat after racking his brain to come up with all the right formulas for subject X and meanings of certain words in subject Y.
"I'll have the results for you by the time the school day is out. Until then, you can explore the school." He walked out, taking the papers and pen with him.
Ranma left the room and walked into the corridors, trying to find the cafeteria in the school. However, despite his efforts, Ranma could not locate said food supplier. Later, at an unknown point in time, he would learn that there is no such thing in the school and would vent his anger out at a poor light post.
The light post did not survive.
He meandered about the school, until he found a familiar face.
'Hey, isn't that Yakumo's older sister?' he thought. He grabbed the door and he was met with an overwhelming aura.
Ranma remembered back to earlier in the day when he detected the chaotic aura he found lurking in the school.
'Oh shit.'
Ranma had just entered the hell known as 2-C.