Chapter Seven : "My Lupine Goddess!"


Furinkan

"Attention class," The teacher said, "We have three new students today. Now, please, introduce yourselves."

"Um... I'm Ryoga Hibiki of the Hibiki School of Martial Arts. I've just recently returned from China."

"I'm Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. My father and I were traveling with Ryoga and Xian here in China."

"Hello," Shampoo nodded, "I am Xian Pu from village of Joketsuzoku, China."

The classmates had, generally, the same response. The guys were googly eyed about two hot babes joining the class and the girls were googly eyed over the handsome boy joining the class.

"However," the teacher said, "Even with it being your first day, it does not excuse you from being late. Akane Tendo and Ranma Saotome, please wait in the hall."


"I was wondering why I didn't miss high school," Ranma said, "Bucket Duty."

"This is your fault, you know," Akane said.

"My fault?" Ranma asked, "How is this my fault?"

"I fight Kuno every day and I'm never late," Akane told her.

"I didn't want to fight him!" Ranma said, "He attacked me! And what the hell was he talking about dating!?"

"At the beginning of this quarter," Akane said, "Kuno gave a speech to the entire school telling how somebody had to defeat me in battle before they could date me. That's why all those boys are out there every day. And from what Kuno said, you're in the dame boat as me now."

"Ah man..." Ranma said, mostly to herself, "I don't want to date anyone... I have way too much to do..."

"Too much to do?" Akane asked, "What could you have to do? You only arrived yesterday."

"Something that happened in China," Ranma told her, "I'm sorry, I can't tell you any more than that."

"Wha...?" Akane asked, "What do you mean, can't tell me? Is it some weird secret or something?"

"Yeah," Ranma said, looking down, "The only person who knows that's in Japan in Shampoo. I can't tell you, at least not yet. I don't know you well enough."

"Jees, it must be serious then," Akane said, looking only a small bit annoyed.

"Yeah, pretty serious," Ranma said, " Sorry..."

At that moment, the two of them suddenly heard the sound of someone tear assing through the hallway towards them. They both looked to see Kuno running towards them.

"K-Kuno!?" Akane said.

"Ah, hell, this freak again!?" Ranma yelled out.

"My fierce tigress!" He said, gripping Akane by the shoulders, "Tell me it isn't true!"

"Um... what isn't true?" Akane asked.

"Tell me that you aren't engaged to Ranma Saotome!!!" Kuno yelled out.

This, in a matter of seconds, caused the classroom windows to bust open rather quickly.

"I didn't know you swung that way, Akane!"

"I always knew she liked chicks."

"It was probably all those fights every morning."

"She does proclaim that she hates boys a lot."

"Noo! Why must all the cute ones be lesbians!? Why God!? WHY!?!?!?!?!"

"...Gees, Hiroshi, chill out."

"I-It isn't true!" Akane yelled out.

"Y-yeah!" Ranma agreed, "I'm not engaged to her! No way!"

"Then my worries are ill-placed!" Kuno replied, "And so, I have only one thing left to do."

His face went all stoic. Ranma and Akane glanced at each other.

"My Red-Headed Lupine Goddess!" Kuno yelled, turning towards Ranma.

"M-me?" Ranma said, while she thought, 'Please let him say that because of my shirt, please let him say that because of my shirt.

"To commemorate this glorious moment," Kuno said, reaching back and pulling a new wooden sword out of somewhere, "We shall again do battle! If you are able to defeat me, I shall allow you to date me!"

"What!?!" Ranma yelled out, just before she had to duck a strike aimed at her head, "Th-this isn't any place to fight!"

Ranma then started to move away from Kuno.

"Ah, you are right," Kuno said, "Then lead and I shall follow!"

He then started to run after her. Ranma headed towards the closest exit.

It happened to be a window.

Ranma and Kuno had already jumped out by the time they heard Akane yell.

"You idiots! This is the third floor!"

"At least they jumped out over the swimming pool," Shampoo said.

At that, Ranma looked down at the pool.

"Ah hell!" She yelled before she concentrated on the water surface for a moment.

Ranma landed lightly on what looked to be a giant lily pad.

"Whew," She said, "I'm glad I didn't get..."

Kuno's less graceful landing (ie. face first smack into the water) caused a small tidal wave to wash over Ranma and her lily pad. Ranma was left sitting there, drenched.

"...Wet..." Ranma finished in an annoyed voice.

Ranma shook all of the water she could from her head before something bumped up against the lily pad she was sitting on. She looked to see that it was Kuno's limp form, still face first in the water.

Ranma sighed.

"I guess I can't let you drown," Ranma said, reaching over and pulling Kuno onto the lily pad. She had to lift him up onto her back to get enough leverage to pull him up without capsizing the small lily pad.

To bad Kuno decided to wake up at that point.

"I fight on...!" He mumbled somewhat loudly into Ranma's sensitive ears, causing them to ring painfully for a moment. And if that wasn't enough, in Kuno's half conscious stupor, he happened to grope Ranma.

Really hard.

"Pervert!" She yelled out, flinging him the rest of the way over her shoulder. He actually got a decent amount of height, almost enough to get back into the window if he hadn't been going the opposite direction.

No, Kuno landed face first into the concrete surrounding the pool.

Ranma put her arm over her chest a small bit, looking rather pissed as she jump over to Kuno's now completely unconscious form. Glancing down at him with a glare that could melt steel, she walked away, her arms still over her chest as she headed to go back into the school building.


By lunch, Kuno had recovered, like always. And Nabiki, who had been enjoying a rather uneventful meal, was suddenly disturbed.

"Tendo," Kuno said.

"What is it Kuno-baby?" She asked.

"I hate it when you call me that," Kuno said.

"I know," Nabiki said, "Well, what is it?"

"The Red Headed girl," Kuno said, "I must know where she lives! I must know so I can shower her with love!"

Nabiki held out her hand. Kuno, not going out of the strange pose he was in, placed a small wad of bills in her hand. Nabiki counted it quickly, before she looked up.

"She's actually staying at our house," Nabiki said, "Along with her father and her two traveling companions Ryoga Hibiki and Xian Pu."

"Ryoga Hibiki!?" Kuno yelled, "Traveling with the red-headed lupine goddess!? You must tell me of this!"

"Hmm..." Nabiki said, "They've been traveling around on foot together for a while now. You know, sleeping in tents at night, bathing in the river. They seem to be pretty close."

"This...!" Kuno yelled, "This will not stand! I will not...!"

He looked down. Nabiki just raised an eyebrow.

"Who is this Shane Poe?" He asked.

"Xian Pu," Nabiki corrected, "The purple haired girl that came in with Ranma this morning."

Kuno seemed to think for a moment.

"Two women so beautiful..." Kuno said, "Surely the foul sorcerer Hibiki has them enslaved under his vile dark spell!"

Nabiki just raised the other eyebrow at that.

"I must defeat this foul sorcerer and free the two maidens!" Kuno yelled, "And worse, he now plans to enslave the fierce tigress Akane! There could be no other reason why he would have came to the Tendo home! I will not allow this!"

Kuno then bolted from the room.

Nabiki just took another sip of her drink.


"That Kuno guy is the biggest idiot and biggest pervert I've ever seen!" Ranma said loudly, "He's even more idiotic than my old man!"

"Yeah, but he's the son of the principle," Akane said, "So no one can really get him in trouble. And the other officials tend to ignore Nerima, especially Furinkan, because so much weird stuff happens here."

"Wonder how he found out about the engagement thing?" Ryoga asked.

"Probably from Nabiki," Akane sighed.

"Well I'm not going to stand for this," Ranma said, "As soon as I figure out how, I'm gonna put a stop to this whole deal. I definitely don't want a mob of boys trying to beat me up every morning."

"Yeah, well, when you do figure it out, tell me," Akane said, "At least I'm not the only person that this..."

At that point, the sounds of yelling and shouting could be heard coming their way. They all turned to see Kuno running strait at them, wooden sword held high above him.

"Oh great, he's conscious again," Ranma sighed.

As soon as Kuno got near them, he stopped.

"Hibiki!" He yelled.

"Plur...?" Ryoga looked confused, "Me? What?"

"I command you to release these fair maidens from your vile grasp!" Kuno said, "Have at thee!"

Ryoga just stared at him as he charged strait at him, completely confused. As soon as Kuno started to come down with a wicked slice, Ryoga managed to move out of the way, snapping out of his confusion.

Kuno's sword sliced the table the four had been sitting at in two.

To get out of the way of the collapsing table and the now flying food; Ranma, Shampoo, and Akane were forced to leap away from the table as it fell in twain.

"What the hell are you talking about!?" Ryoga asked falling back away from Kuno's strikes.

"Do not act the fool!" Kuno shouted, "Release the evil spell that you have casted over them!"

Ryoga, not being as fast as Ranma, could not dodge all of the strikes, resorting to using his sturdy bracers to deflect the blows away. However, he was still slightly hard pressed to deflect them. Kuno might be crazy as all-get-out, but he was very skilled with a sword and swift to boot.

Finally, a blow slipped back his defenses. Kuno's bokken slammed into the side of Ryoga's face, causing Ranma to reel back slightly.

"You're foul spells cannot block my holy fury, foul sorcerer!" Kuno shouted in triumph.

"Oh man," Akane said, "I hope he's okay. Kuno is very skilled when he fights a guy."

"Don't worry," Ranma said, "Ryoga is the toughest person I've ever met. The guys got skin like stone."

"And now, for my final strike!" Kuno said, "Huzzah!"

Huzzah!

Ryoga glanced at him at that point, with a look that promised death.

"Is... Ryoga okay?" Akane asked, "You said he was tough, but nothing about glowing."

It was true, Ranma was surrounded by a slight bluish aura that wavered slightly in the breeze. His eyes flashed in the sunlight, almost making it look like they were glowing slightly.

As he watched Kuno draw closer, all Ryoga did was clench his right hand into a fist.

Eventually, Kuno swung a verticle strike to hit Ryoga in the head. It was then, as the strike neared him, that Ryoga acted.

Ryoga flashed into motion, sending his clenched fist up towards Kuno, his hand leaving a slight bluish afterimage.

At first, his fist met Kuno's wooden bokken. As they connected, the sound of splintering and shattering wood could be heard as Ryoga's fist went strait through it without even slowing down in the slightest. Kuno didn't even have time to register this before Ryoga's fist continued on to slam into his face.

Kuno flew back. And when I say flew, I mean flew. Across the entire courtyard only to hit the side of the building, almost going through a second floor window. Kuno stayed implanted into the wall for a moment before he fell to the ground.

"Whoa, Ryoga," Ranma said, walking up to him, "That was a hell of a punch."

Ryoga just shook his head before rubbing his temple for a small moment.

"Eh, that was weird," Ryoga said, "When I got mad after he hit me, it made me feel funny."

"Whadda ya mean?" Ranma asked.

"It tingled, all over," Ryoga said, "It was like something in me was wanting to get out or something."

"Well, you were glowing," Shampoo said, "That not normal."

"Glowing?" Ryoga asked.

"Like a freakin' light bulb," Ranma said, smiling warmly, "It was pretty cool."

Ryoga glanced at her and blushed.

"Well, anyway," He said quickly, "At least he's not bothering us anymore. Did all of the food spill?"

"Nope," Ranma said, going back to sit down at the table, which had miraculously fixed itself.

"Wait..." Akane said, "Didn't Kuno slice the table in two?"

"Maybe Gods fixed it," Shampoo said.

"You too?" Akane asked, "Ranma was talking about the gods last night."

"In Joketsozuko," Shampoo said, "Everyone believe in gods. We pay honor to Hanagami gods of flora for good harvest and to Amaterasu for warm summer."

"Yeah, I mean," Ranma said, looking convincingly confused as she scratched the back of her neck, "Can you come up with a better explanation as to why the table fixed itself, because I sure as hell can't."

"I guess," Ryoga said, sitting down, "There has been a bunch of weird stuff going on lately. Maybe it was the gods."

"Yeah," Akane said, sitting down as well.


(Note: 'Plur' is just one of the random sound effects that I use to answer when someone calls my name. 'Plur', 'Za', and 'Da' are the ones I normally use. If you see any of these, ignore them at your own digression.)