Chapter 7: Autumn Wind

An hour had passed since lunchtime and nothing much had happened. Apparently, Shiro felt sleepy while chasing Ranma around (she thought it was a game of tag) and decided to take a nap. She was off guard so Ranma didn't have to worry about her that much. The annoying part was that she fell asleep under a sakura tree in the garden.

"Stupid cat," said Ranma under his breath. "Of all places, why outdoor?!" He couldn't believe he had to wait until the cat woke up. It was pretty cold outside since winter was already peeking at the corner of the month. Moreover, the wind seemed to be howling in his ears.

"Nee, Ranma, how is it going?"

Ranma looked around to find the source of the voice. It was Akane, shouting and waving from her room. He sulked and turned his head around.

"This is all her fault."

"Here, Ranma, I think you could use some help."

Ranma turned around. There was nobody behind the window. There was nothing he could do at that time so he waited for Akane to show up again.

It was quite a long wait until Akane popped her head from the window again. "Sorry for the long wait! Catch this!"

The "parcel" Akane threw landed safely in Ranma's hands. It was pretty heavy, but for a martial artist like Ranma, that was nothing. It was a blanket with something hard wrapped inside. He looked up to Akane questioningly.

"Just see for yourself," said Akane before closing her window. Her voice could hardly be heard but Ranma knew what she said through her mouth gesture.

Without waiting any longer, Ranma untied the bundle to find his books and pencils inside. "This… isn't going to do me any good…" He unloaded the books with a hope of finding something interesting. There was a note.

Hey, Ranma,

I see that you had nothing to do and I thought you might want to do your homework. You missed quite a lot at school so I've taken the notes for you. If you happen to have any problems, just check your notebook. Oh, use the small piece of cloth to warm Shiro, okay? I slipped it in your math book. Anyway, you're doing great and I want you to know that. Fight and good luck!

P.S. Warm yourself with the blanket

Ranma folded the note and put it in his trousers pocket. "Well… I didn't expect that," muttered him with a little hint of guilt. He took a piece of cloth out of his math book and slowly put it on Shiro. The wind blew wilder, making him shiver. He looked at his books and sighed heavily.

Left with no other choice, Ranma sat with his leg crossed on the grassy land, his body wrapped in a warm blanket. He was lucky it didn't rain the day before or his trousers would be wet by then. It wasn't more than three minutes when Ranma let out a depressing sigh of frustration.

"What are the schools nowadays trying to do?! Have us students stuck in the chairs trying to solve something by the rule of someone dead decades ago?" The wind stopped blowing for a second, as if giving Ranma some personal space before howling again. "Ugh, I'm completely clueless," admitted him after flipping the same pages over and over again.

Ranma glanced at the cat beside him, making sure everything was still under control. The kitten was still sleeping. Seeing that his threat was inactive, Ranma continued flipping pages of his book with the wind still blowing around. The next thing he saw was a panda sliding the terrace door open.

"Oh. Someone I don't know."

Ranma was pissed off for no reason. "That's it." He took a bucket of water out of nowhere and splashed the water far to the west, away from his target.

"You miss-"

But in no more than two seconds, the wind blew the flying water straight to the panda.

"That's it, I'm out."

And the door slid close with an unpleasant thud.

"Really, what was his problem?!" With that, Ranma continued staring at his book. He hadn't done anything yet. Suddenly, he clasped his hands. "Oh yes, I just remember! The note, I think Akane mentioned something about taking me notes of the lesson." The pages of a green notebook flipped quickly.

"Everything's readable," muttered Ranma in amazement. He turned the page behind to compare his barely-recognizable-hand-writing. That wasn't his fault since he had never really experienced proper education. All he did was train and train from one place to another with his father. It's a miracle (I personally take that as a mistake) the Furinkan High School let him in the same class as Akane.

Ranma laid his eyes on a page.

Watch out for this part!

He turned to another page. His eyes caught another small note written in purple ink.

Make sure you pay attention to this

And another one. It's in dark green.

Hang in there!

"Akane sure put a lot of effort into this," thought Ranma, flipping the pages of his notebook one after another. Everything was in perfect order. He couldn't believe that tomboy did all those taking notes for him. The flipping continued for at least ten minutes until what was left were blank papers.

Ranma closed his book and sighed. "It's hopeless; it's just not my thing." The autumn wind gave a hard blow and the notebook rustled open. There wasn't much to see for it stopped at the blank, unfilled section. With his lazy eyes, Ranma stared at it.

"Fine, it's better than nothing."

The terrace door slid open. Kasumi's ears caught the sound of it closing again. She turned her head from her knitting.

"Ah, Ranma, would you like a cup of tea?" asked her as she put aside her unfinished knitted-scarf.

"Oh, that'd be nice. Thanks, Kasumi," said Ranma, carrying a pile of books as he tried to dodge Shiro who's been running between his legs since the moment she woke up. "You'd better stay still unless you wanna be trampled on," he warned the cat. "I'll be back, Kasumi."

Planks of the stairs creaked as Ranma made his way up.

"I TOLD YA TO STAY STI-"

Thud. The books fell straight to the floor and lied there. They didn't get the cat but those books sure gave her a fright.

"See?! Look what you've done!" scolded Ranma. He walked to get the furthest book and realized it was right in front of Akane's bedroom. He stood up and knocked the door. There was no answer.

Ranma knocked again. "Oi, Akane, you there?"

Again, no one answered.

With much hesitation, Ranma turned the door knob and pushed the door softly. There she is. Akane was sitting on her desk with a pencil in her hand, tapping on the table rapidly. She wasn't asleep.

"I guess I'll just leave this on the floor," Ranma said to himself. He left the room, leaving a piece of folded paper behind.

A pair of arm stretched high in the air. "Okay! I'm done! Finally!" exclaimed Akane. She unplugged her earphone and put it away along with her books. She was about to walked out her room when she noticed something lying flat on the floor. "What's that? My paper?"

Akane picked the paper up and unfolded it.

Akane,

Thanks for taking me notes back then. I didn't finish my homework, but I tried my best. There are some things that I don't understand and I wonder if you could teach me, sometime, maybe?

Ranma

Akane's lip made a smile, she was glad Ranma appreciated her. She wouldn't wonder if Ranma surprised her teacher.

Still with satisfaction in herself, Akane folded the letter back and kept it in her drawer.

Author's note: Greetings, fellow readers! Don't mind the title, please, I insist. I could use some reviews, you know, I'm kinda upset (no offense here, don't get me wrong, I really appreciate you readers ^_^) that nobody really tells me what to do or fix. People in my country don't really appreciate literature things so I guess I'll leave it to you guys. Anyway, I'm leaving for a family reunion tomorrow and I have no idea whether I'll be posting new chapters meanwhile. That's it, thanks for reading!