Chapter 7: Old fool, New rules
The people in Nerima might have been used to weird occurrences happening but seeing people walking on fences was a new one on them. Especially considering that the fence was next to a brand new pavement. However this did not deter a certain pigtailed martial artist who at the moment was deep in thought about his new situation. Fiancée? What do I do? All I know is martial arts. I have no experience with how to deal with these situations. At least I managed to get mom to agree that I should get to meet her before the engagement is recognised. I wonder if I know her. Probably not! It was an engagement at birth and even if I knew her I would have forgotten her long ago. Suddenly a flare of battle aura brings Ranma from his thoughts. Under normal circumstances Ranma would have gone straight towards the battle to see if he could learn some new moves. However at this moment he was running a bit late and it wouldn't look good being late on the first day. Continuing on, Ranma thinks nothing of it until he senses the same battle aura. Damn whoever is fighting must have some great control over their aura to be able to flare it twice. Ki sight activated, Ranma takes a look in the direction of the battle before noticing an anomaly in the aura. Immediately he starts to run. Not good! NOT GOOD! She's gonna lose that hand if she keeps fighting like that.
Ranma reaches the school to see a pair of girls taking down the last of a group of perhaps 3 dozen boys. Whew, he whistled. These girls must be good. There she is. Why is her aura so familiar? He walks forward towards the injured girl before the other brown haired girl turns around and screams "ANOTHER PERVERT!". Both girls face their pigtailed opponent before launching a barrage of kicks and punches. Ranma looks at the pair with some resentment. Just a pair of amateurs. That aura must be emotion based. Snapping out of his thoughts, Ranma bends back supporting his entire body on just his knees before using his incredible muscle control to pull his body upright. The students merely watch in awe as this new kid dodges the blows of Furinkan High's martial arts elite, with minimal effort.
Ranma sways and flows around the blows, always out of reach of the two increasingly frustrated girls. Suddenly the brown haired girl pulls back before yelling "OUT OF THE WAY AKANE! HE'S MINE!". Pulling a giant fan from out of nowhere, she immediately launches a gust of frigid wind towards Ranma. She seems to have some experience with Ice Ki. No wait it's just her fan. What a drag. This is getting old but these girls are getting serious. Jumping easily out of the way of the icy miniature tornado, Ranma moves into a loose stance, feet shoulder width apart with his left hand in his pocket and his right hand pointed at the girls, palm facing the sky. I can't use too much power. I guess the Iron Lotus should do.
Taking this stance as an insult to their capabilities, both Akane and this brown haired girl run forward. Suddenly Ranma's hands blur as he catches every single blow they attempt to land. Ranma concentrates solely on Akane ensuring that he catches her blows carefully so as not to aggravate her injury. Honestly I told her to take it easy for the first hour. By the looks of it she waited 20 minutes then started her training again. Gotta make sure that I don't strain her hairline fractures. Thinking that Ranma is giving Akane a perverted look, the brown haired girl immediately launches a gust of frigid wind at him. Ranma simply brings his right hand forward and shrugs off the wind as if it were nothing more than a cold breeze. "Your attacks have little effect when you are angry. Calm down!"
"Don't tell me what to do pervert. I know exactly what to do with your pervert kind." the brown haired girl retorted, voice seeping with venom. Clearly the wrong approach. I'll need to defeat them now. Suddenly Ranma brings both his right and left hands forward and blocks both Akane's and the brown haired girl's punches with a single finger before charging his hands with Ki and shoving them 10 feet back. Standing upright, He simply dusts himself off before looking at both girls. "I think this proves that I am stronger."
"Yeah right. We're just …"
"Natsume, calm down. He took on both of us and held us to a standstill without breaking a sweat and I have a sneaking suspicion that he held back all this time."
"WHAT! That's impossible. No one can be that strong.". Walking forward, Ranma stops in front of Akane and lifts her hand before forcing her fist open. Looking carefully, Ranma immediately takes two fingers before drawing them across her hand with an almost sensual slowness. Akane simply gasps whilst Natsume brings up her fan to hit Ranma. "Stop!". An outraged Natsume looks at Akane before asking "Are you CRAZY! You're letting a boy touch you like that IN PUBLIC?". Ranma simply drops his fingers from her hands before tracing a line to across her forearm before quickly striking 3 shiatsu points and letting go of her hands. "Sorry about that. Those points are really close to some vital spots so I try to be slow when I have to deal with them."
"It's Ok Ranma you didn't do anything wrong. Thanks!"
"Thanks! THANKS! You're thanking this pervert? After what he did in public to you …"
"Miss Natsume, I would appreciate it if you didn't insult my practise. Had I not have intervened she would have lost the ability to use her hand at all.". Shocked by this revelation, Akane simply looks speechless before saying, "I thought you healed my hand.". Ranma simply sighs before saying "I did. However I expressly told you not to use it for any martial arts for an hour so it could set. You didn't listen and instead used it less than a half hour after the healing. The reason I told you to be careful was that your bones would remain a bit weak after the Ki treatment."
"I'm sorry Ranma."
"That's ok Akane."
Suddenly Akane and Natsume turn around to pluck something out of the air. Both sigh in exhaustion before a young man in a hakama comes forward. This guy is good. Though by his stance he only knows kendo. "Who is this guy Akane?"
"That's Kuno. He's the idiot who made an announcement that caused all these boys to keep ganging up on us every morning."
"What did he say?"
"He said he would only accept someone going on a date with me and my sister Natsume if they beat us in a fight. Every boy mistook that to mean that they would get a date if they beat us."
"Now that's just stupid. Maybe I should …"
"Who are you to speak so familiarly to Akane?" Kuno quickly stated turning towards Ranma.
"Honestly we aren't that close. We barely know each other but I don't know her surname so I cannot address her with the proper respect."
"Tendo. My name is Akane Tendo and this is my sister Natsume Tendo."
"Pleasure. I'm Ranma Saotome. Just so you know, I'll let you guys off on that date if you take me to the school office.". Suddenly Kuno moves towards Ranma and stares at him before saying "You expect me to believe that you yourself beat my fierce tigress Akane Tendo and her cold yet beautiful sister Natsume? I refuse to accept this. I will beat you and free these young maidens from your spell Saotome."
"And who exactly are you?" Ranma asks politely but with a hint of self-loathing for asking this question. "I am the rising star of the kendo world. The undefeated champion of Furinkan High. My peers call me the Blue Thunder. I am Tatewaki Kuno, age 17.". Kuno turns around shocked to see that Ranma is barely paying attention and simply talking to both Natsume and Akane. Hearing the monologue ending, Ranma turns around before looking critically at the kendoist. "Would you mind if I gave my opinion on the situation?". Kuno, assuming that Ranma is about to kneel and grovel in front of him, accepts. Ranma takes a deep breath, then staring directly at the kendoist begins. "You fashion yourself to be some sort of samurai, correct?"
"Not some sort of. I am a samurai!" Kuno replies. Ranma however simply looks at Kuno with disgust. "Do not insult the title samurai. I know of the samurai and you are definitely not worthy of claiming to be one. You are not even worthy to be ronin."
"YOU DARE ADDRESS TATEWAKI KUNO AS …"
"Yes I do. As a samurai, you must follow the code of Bushido. However from my first 10 minutes in this school, all I have seen is a young man who is too much of a coward to accept the rejection of these two girls in front of him. Rather than respect their wishes, you force them into fighting all these men giving them a promise that you couldn't keep and jeopardising their integrity. You are a misogynistic, chauvinistic pig who lives in a dream world thinking that just because you possess some fighting skill, women are swooning in your presence. Then you go back on your word when you hear something that you do not want to occur and attack from behind. You have broken four of the seven ideals of Bushido and yet you honestly think yourself worthy of that uniform?". The entire school simply looks at Ranma with awe as they see this young man who held of Nerima's best singlehandedly, quite literally, and is now berating Kuno. What's even more amazing is that he's making Kuno see sense.
Ranma looks at the stunned kendoist before turning around to face the girls behind him. Noticing their stunned faces, Ranma simply walks towards the school muttering to himself about letting the new kid find the school office by himself. Akane and Natsume simply stand there. Kuno regains his composure before announcing to no one in particular that he must have time to think, before he walks towards his own class. Suddenly the students are in a buzz about the new kid in school.