Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2.


Chapter 7

A Pillar of Light Explodes In The Sky!

"No fucking way!"

"Yes way!"

"I don't believe it!"

"You better believe it!"

"Your old man actually dressed you as a tuna-fish sausage and left you to a tribe of hungry cats?"

"That's the gist of it," Ranma shrugged, stuffing a mouthful of ice cream in her mouth that Yusuke had bought her, while said boy laid flat on the double seats of the ice parlour with his arms folded behind his head in a relaxed fashion.

Yusuke pursued his lips with a frown, "Lard-ass needs to get his head sorted out if he thinks throwing a lil squirt to a ton of crazed hungry fuzzy-balls will make him master a style," Yusuke shifted his arms for good measure and sighed, "Dumbest freaking thing I've ever heard."

Ranma dived into her strawberry-flavoured ice cream once again, "Right. I can't even go near a fuzz-butt without going into flashback-mode."

"Who can blame ya?" Yusuke asked with a deadpan look on his face, "With the shit you went through I'm half surprised you didn't ditch your old man, and go fugitive."

Ranma paused her devouring of the sugary treat in front of her to address Yusuke with a small tremble in her hand, "L-l-leave P—Pops? I-I-I d-dunno if I could do that. He's been in my life for like forever, y'know. How would I manage without him?"

Yusuke resisted the urge to roll his brown eyes. Genma had really done a number on Ranma's mentality during the years he had been training his son-turned-daughter, making her believe she needed him at all costs. That was probably all due to his twisted plan to mooch off of Ranma forever once he went through with marrying Akane, thus uniting the Saotome and Tendo schools!

"Meh. You'd soldier on, champ. After all you done swell without Lard-ass this past month eh," Yusuke said soothingly.

"Yeah! But that's only 'cause I had my mind set on surviving Granny's training, which was kinda lax in comparison to Pop's. Plus-," A red tinge appeared on Ranma's cheeks, "I had a pal with an ass just waitin' to be kicked once I got back here y'know."

Yusuke simply took out a box of cigarettes, put one cigarette in between his lips, put his cigarette box away, and then brought his lighter from his pocket which he used to light his cigarette, "Oh really? Who was that? Musta be one stable guy to keep you from goin' crazy, Red."

"You're a dummy."

"Huh?"

Yusuke peered at the miffed expression on Ranma's face and put the pieces together.

"Oh! You mean me!" Yusuke said with a startle, then let out a sheepish chuckle, "Haha. My bad, Red."

"Dummy."

"Only when you're around."

"What?"

"Yeah. You know they say beauty is the sun which blinds the dumb."

Yusuke easily lifted up his hand; a martial arts shoe clad foot now in his grip.

"Do you get a fix outta spraying cheese from your ass?!"

"Meh. Only if it's gonna get me some touchy-touchy," Yusuke grinned, letting his hand run up Ranma's smooth leg. There was no hair or spots on the redhead's leg; it felt really divine to be feeling up Ranma's leg, "Ace."

Ranma flinched, "You perv!" She wrestled her leg away from Yusuke and pouted in annoyance at the chuckling teenage boy, momentarily crossing her arms to turn away from Yusuke before continuing to eat her ice cream without saying another word to the rude-boy across from her.

It was only after a while did Ranma look back at Yusuke and with a look of uncertainty, making the cheeky boy give the redhead a probing look.

"Uhm. Yu-chan, I don't think you can sm-." Ranma began in an uncharacteristic timid tone of voice, her free index finger slowly, albeit shakily raising to point at the cancer-stick in Yusuke's hand.

Gosh Ranma felt as nervous as the day her father took her to the Tendo Dojo. Requesting someone of such high power to quit doing something he enjoyed in a place which appeared to prohibit that seemed to be the cause of Ranma's meekness.

Ranma didn't quite finish her sentence, but it was enough to catch Yusuke's attention; the half demon sitting up and trapping the red haired girl in an intense steely gaze.

'Boy, just lookin' into Yu-chan's eyes is almost enough to hypnotize a gal,' Ranma mused, staring at Yusuke as if seeing him for the first time. Just how could Yusuke do that, mesmerize her with those battle-hardened brown orbs of his alone? There was no doubt in Ranma's mind no girl could keep Yusuke whipped. If anything, he kept them in line.

Yusuke could tame Akane if he wanted to, Ranma would bet her life on it.

"Yes, dear, what's eating ya?" Ranma's legs almost turned to jelly.

That confidence of Yu-chan. Just how could he speak with such conviction despite openly addressing Ranma in such an affection manner?

Taking a quick glance at herself, Ranma pouted at her assets. Maybe that was why Yusuke's tone was so endearing, yet confident to Ranma in public for all to hear, because Ranma was in girl-form.

Yusuke had made it conspicuously clear that he found Ranma's girl form attractive, and unlike Kuno and his sister, who both foolishly believed boy-Ranma and girl-Ranma weren't the same person, Yusuke knew the boy-and-girl-Ranma were Ranma and still dug girl-Ranma nonetheless.

Throwing Pu in the mix just added a whole new set of butterflies in Ranma's stomach since she got knowledge of how deep Yusuke's feelings ran for her.

But being anti-social due to the number of years of being isolated of social interaction from her own pops, Ranma wasn't ready to tackle that subject yet.

"Yo, you in there, Red?"

Wonderful. Ranma spent so long musing of Yusuke and his confidence she forgot to confirm the fact he shouldn't really be smoking in the ice parlour.

How will she do that?

Yusuke wasn't Akane by any means. Akane was an ant next to Yusuke and so was Ranma. If he got mad and decided to take out his frustrations on Ranma, he could seriously hurt Ranma as much as that pained Ranma to admit; Yusuke's strength and power massively outclassed hers.

"W-Well you shouldna be puffin' in here," Ranma clarified quietly, causing Yusuke to blink his eyes in confusion before he looked around the Ice parlour. He noticed the uncomfortable postures of the other customers and the cashier that had served Ranma her ice cream.

How he understood.

Yusuke smiled, using his thumb to put out his cigarette to the relief of those around them, "Ah, I see now, shoulda just said so, dear," Ranma could feel the strength in her knees drain away. Damn him. Damn him and his overwhelming amount of confidence.

"Woulda saved a lot of time in the bud, ya know?" Yusuke asked, but the small nod of Ranma's head left him unconvinced she was okay, so he reached his right hand over to hers, and laid it atop of hers in a comforting manner, much to Ranma's shock as she gasped, "You okay, Red?"

"I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I," Ranma stammered, not sure what to say at this point. She had never been a speaker, more of an actionist, someone who lets their fists do the talking.

Ranma had been speechless after first meeting Kuno when the kendo-warrior made his dramatic introduction and gaped like a fish to match his, fully grateful to Kuno when he attacked him, thus putting Ranma back into his comfort zone.

Fighting.

It was all Genma had been good for, teaching his child how to fight.

But how to hold up a decent conversation with the opposite sex was not on Genma's list of things to teach Ranma.

End result – Ranma and Akane could potentially make drama out of a really simple situation that could be resolved with something as simple as a few words.

'Damn ya! Damn ya, Yu-chan! Damn ya to hell!' Ranma stressed mentally, but on the outside she was as shy as a cat, 'Just how can he be like that in front of an… audience?! Damn…'

"Red?" Yusuke tried again in a soft tone, slightly tightening the hold he had on Ranma's free hand.

"A-Ah, u-uhm, it's nuthin Yu-chan!" Ranma said hastily, pulling her hand away from Yusuke who coolly folded his arms over his chest, "I-I just had a question to ask you is all."

"Fire away, Red," Yusuke accepted.

Ranma took a deep breath, "Do you find it easy to be a guy, Yu-chan?"

Confusion drowned on Yusuke's features, "Say what?"

"I said… do you-."

"Yeah, I hear ya, honey, just stallin is all," Yusuke admitted with a hand raised up in frustration and Ranma fidgeted in place, "Oh yippy, I guess Lard-ass' constant pressure of you being a man among men finally got to ya, huh?" Ranma just got shrugged and waited patiently for Yusuke's answer.

"Well for me personally it's always been a breeze to be a guy, even when I was fourteen. I don't believe there was a day when I was a squirt when I didn't think I was all a grown up of masculinity," Yusuke answered truthfully, a clattering sound rang out through the air, making Yusuke look to see that Ranma had let go of her spoon and allowed it to hit the edge of her empty ice cream cup.

"Figures," Ranma mumbled, "So it's just me, eh?"

"What is?" Yusuke asked.

Ranma shook her head, "Forget it." Ranma stood up and grabbed her empty ice cream cup, "Forget I said anything. Okay?"

"Fuck no," Yusuke stood up and ensnared Ranma's free wrist in a tight grip, which made Ranma grit her teeth in exasperation because she knew she couldn't break it, "You've gotta let whatever's on your chest off, otherwise it'll just build up until you're ready to erupt like a volcano."

Ranma looked at Yusuke with surprise written all over her face. Nobody had ever cared to listen to what she wanted to say. Her own pops seemed content for her to go along with whatever scheme he had cooking up for them without her thinking her life over.

"Red?"

"Sorry," Ranma excused herself, "It's just that no one around here really lets me open my trap, and actually pays attention to what I have to say."

"I'm all ears," Yusuke said, "Lay it on me."

Ranma nodded slowly, taking in another deep breath, "I guess what I meant to get off of my chest is bein' a girl requires no expectation from pops, y'know."

Ranma looked at Yusuke to see if the half demon understood, but Yusuke only pursued his lips and rolled his free wrist in a clueless manner.

"Y'know, being all macho, marrying a tomboy, and having a no-bullshit attitude; the works," Ranma explained.

"Oh. I think I got my ticket now," Yusuke grumbled, shrugging, "So what? Don't you like being a fake badass?"

"Shaddup!" Ranma commanded and Yusuke zipped his lips shut, "It's not that I don't like being all macho, and slamming my foot up most guys' asses, it's just that as a gal it's so much more simple cracking jokes, smiling, and being cheerful," Ranma said, hanging her head with a forlorn air around her, "Almost like, like, like, like-."

"Like the world ain't on your shoulders?"

"'Xactly."

"So what point are you trying to make here, Red, that you prefer to roll gal?" Yusuke asked.

"Dunno," Ranma confessed, "But it does feel like I'm flying on cloud nine when I'm a gal. I can even get stuff for free when I'm a gal," From the impressed look on Yusuke's features, Ranma couldn't resist going for the kill, "Here I'll show you."

Yusuke loosened his grip on Ranma's arm and watched the girl saunter over to the counter where the guy was waiting to serve a customer. Ranma's posture became rather kittenish and the guy became flustered with a bright red blush and a smile on his face before he took Ranma's cup away from her.

The man gave Ranma a bigger cup with a mixture of banana and strawberry ice cream with a cherry on top, three scoops of strawberry and three of banana.

He then waved her off with a dreamy smile on his face.

"Ha. You made him your bitch!" Yusuke laughed while a victorious Ranma sat down with her new ice cream and drove into it right away.

"Works like a charm every time," Ranma said contently.

"I can see why that happens," Yusuke deadpanned, eyeing the guy who served Ranma free ice cream with a hardened look, "I bet I can get free ice cream too."

Ranma looked up at Yusuke, "Be my guest."

"Righto," Yusuke said coolly, stabbing his hands into his pockets and walking over to the starstruck man.

"I wonder how'll Yu-chan convince that lame-brain to give him free ice cream," Ranma pondered to herself as she shoved a mouthful of ice cream in her mouth. She gained a curious expression at the look of fear which appeared on the cashier's face as he held his hands up in a placating manner, "What's going on over there?"

Looking at Yusuke, Ranma could tell his posture spoke of a threatening one before he was handed something from the till.

A cocky, snickering Yusuke came strolling back up to Ranma and sat down across from her.

"What'd you d-."

"Ah," Yusuke cut the redheaded girl off, "Wait for the fireworks to begin."

Ranma shrugged, "Whatever you say."

An alarm soon sounded out, followed by a red light which startled most of the customers in the ice parlour, all except one half demon. Ranma looked to see Yusuke with his arms folded behind his head and a cocky grin on his face.

She lipped the words, "This is your doing?" But he only gave her an innocent look before several employees rushed from the back room carrying a huge brown boat with a ton of ice cream on it over to Ranma and Yusuke.

They dropped the mini boat load of ice cream in front of a gawking Ranma who quickly lifted up her own one to avoid it getting squished, "Oh snap."

"Enjoy your ice cream," The same cashier who gave Ranma her free ice cream in the first place said quickly, reaching forward to take the one he gave to Ranma.

"Hey, I didn't say you could take that!" Yusuke said harshly, making the scared man retract his hand.

"S-Sorry, milord!" He said and ran off along with his follow employees.

Ranma gaped at Yusuke, "How'd you-?"

Yusuke winked at Ranma, wiggling his index finger, "Ah-ah-ah. A magician never reveals his tricks."

xXx

(Later)

xXx

"Seriously, how'd you swing that?" Ranma asked as she and Yusuke sauntered out of the ice cream parlour.

"My lips are sealed," Yusuke said, "Let's just say from now on whenever you go in there just don't expect to pay."

Ranma shook her head with a dry grin, "Friends with benefit huh?"

Yusuke's grin turned lecherous, "Maybe we can make that lite-."

The sound of a bell ringing through the air cut off Yusuke.

"Aiyaa, Ranma!"

"Here we go again," Ranma groaned dryly, shutting her eyes as if preparing herself to take pain. In reality, she really was getting ready to tank pain. It happened every time she heard the sound of that bell followed by her name; a thunderous pain would come crashing down on her face.

Only this time it never came.

Opening her left eye a touch, Ranma sputtered in surprise at the sight of a bike wheel trapped in a tanned hand just above her face, "Yu-chan?" Ranma turned her head to see Yusuke with his arm stretched over and held above her head to keep the bike wheel from landing on her face.

"Aiyaa! What stupid boy doing?" Shampoo asked, surprised how this strange boy could keep her held up in the air as if her and her bike weighed nothing.

Shampoo had long blue hair which fell to her mid back, two buns styled on her head and kept that way by two hair ribbons, and two strands of her hair hung at her sides. She wore a pink Chinese-styled blouse matched by pink Chinese-styled pants, and Chinese-styled shoes on her feet.

It was clear she was out making a delivery run since she had a package neatly wrapped up in the basket on her bicycle.

"I could ask you the same question, lady," Yusuke responded darkly, "I was just making sure Ranma-chan's face weren't used as a ram. What the fuck was you doing?" Unknown to Yusuke, a bright blush appeared on Ranma's face.

Just how many more times was Yusuke going to keep her from harm?

Before Shampoo could answer, however, she felt her whole body begin to tremble. Her hands immediately gripped the pedals of her bike as if it would help keep her balance, "What you doing?" Shampoo asked Yusuke who was trying to shake her off of her bike.

He soon succeeded as Shampoo wobbled off of her bike and fell to the ground with a, "oaf!"

"That hurt!" Shampoo said, rubbing her backside. She then blinked and widened her eyes when she remembered the package she had in her basket, but as she looked up, she saw Yusuke digging into a steaming hot bowl of ramen with a confused Ranma standing by his side; Shampoo's bike nowhere to be seen.

"Aiyaa! That not for stupid strong boy! It customer meal! Give back!" Shampoo panicked, trying to grab the bowl off of Yusuke, but the cheeky boy merely dodged Shampoo by simply stepping to the side and leaving his leg out for Shampoo to trip over.

"Ouch!"

"This is the first I'm hearing about it," Yusuke quoted, stuffing more noodles in his mouth with the chopsticks he found inside of the package, "You should really put nametags on these things."

Shampoo glared at Yusuke and rubbed her backside before standing up, "You pay for that. Great grandmother be mad at Shampoo."

"Sorry," Yusuke said, sounding very unapologetic as he slurped up the last bit of ramen with a content grin on his face, "But I'm skint. But hey, since you seem to know Ranma, I figured you could cut a guy some slack, eh," Yusuke burped, "Ah. That hit the spot."

Shampoo pouted at Yusuke, then looked at girl-Ranma, wishing she had some hot water to dump on the redhead so she could get her sexy fiancé, "What Ranma to you?"

Yusuke blinked at the girl's messed up grammar, "Uhmmmm. A friend, I guess."

Ranma, seizing her chance to rid herself of another fiancé, hooked her arm around Yusuke's, making her eyes glow in a sparkling radiance of cuteness, "Oh don't be so shy, Yu-chan!"

"I ain't," Yusuke deadpanned while Shampoo looked on in confusion.

"Ignore this one, Shamps," Ranma said to Shampoo, rubbing her head against Yusuke's arm to Shampoo's ever growing jealously, "It's just so darn hard to get him to open up and be all lovey-dovey to me out in the open y'know?"

"What?" Both Shampoo and Yusuke exclaimed, with Shampoo gawking.

"Well at least Yu-chan brought me ice cream and fed it to me like the gentleman he is," Ranma giggled, smirking internally at the horrified look on Shampoo's features, 'Sucker! This is too easy. Snap, I should get an award for all this acting!'

"Look lady, I know your game! And I ain't playing it! I've already got one nutter after my tail, I don't need another one!" Yusuke ranted.

"Oh really, you even won't help lil old me for a feel," Ranma said deviously, putting on her best seductive tone as she held Yusuke's arm in between her breasts.

"Fuck my life!"

Ranma giggled, "You see how well we get along, Shamps, almost like two peas in a pond. Wouldn't you say, sweetie-pie?"

"I dunno this lady," Yusuke said to an open-mouthed Shampoo.

"Nooooooooo!" Shampoo eventually lost it, "Aiyaa! No way Shampoo let stupid strong-boy take Ranma-airen, ruin all hard work!"

'Bingo,' Ranma smirked internally, watching Shampoo pull out a sword from out of nowhere.

"Now wait just a goddamned minute lady, let's talk about this here," Yusuke tried none to gently, watching Shampoo close the distance between them at a very familiar level of speed, 'Well this won't be any fun. She can roll with Suzaku at best.' Yusuke mused, lifting up his arm; sparks flying between his arm and a metal blade as Shampoo smashed her sword against Yusuke's forearm.

"Aiyaa! How you do that?" Shampoo asked, pressing her sword against Yusuke's arm and gasping at the sight of no blood pouring from Yusuke's forearm despite the fact it just clashed with a sharpened blade a moment ago.

"Hmm. Jeez wiz I dunno, maybe 'cause I rose my arm up," The rude-boy answered and Shampoo growled.

"You no get smart with amazon warrior!" Shampoo declared resolutely, hopping back, but she ended up crashing into a solid brick wall, "Aiyaa. Stupid wall wasn't there a-." Shampoo gasped, having spun her head and found out the 'wall' she slammed into was really Yusuke, 'How he get behind Shampoo so quickly?'

Yusuke smirked at the awed expression on Shampoo's face, about to open his mouth to comment until…

"Shampoo, oh Shampoo!"

"Oh boy, now ducky's come out to play," Ranma quipped dryly, rolling her blue eyes.

A boy with long black hair reaching his mid back like Shampoo, and wearing a pair of thick glasses just above his eyes, ran through Yusuke as he ignorantly tried to hug the half demon but Yusuke was merely too fast for him, and he ended up running towards his 'one true love:' Shampoo.

"You stupid Mousse!" Shampoo chided, dropping kick the boy now known as Mousse back to Yusuke, who casually rebounded him back to Shampoo with a finger-poke, causing him to end up with his arms around Shampoo's neck, to Shampoo's dismay, "Aiyaa! Stupid Mousse ruin everything!"

Mousse blushed, sniffing Shampoo's hair, "Oh Shampoo, I'm so glad you finally decided to return my affection for you!"

"Hey, do I hear wedding bells, eh?" Yusuke taunted, Shampoo scowling at him.

"No, stupid, only have eyes for boy-Ranma!" Shampoo said.

"OOO. So you're lookin' to two-time your spouse already, eh? How dirty of you," Yusuke taunted gleefully, making Shampoo huff at him in frustration while confusion appeared on Mousse's face as he adjusted his glasses over his eyes and let go of Shampoo to turn around and get a better look at the voice he heard.

"Who are you?" Mousse asked.

"Red's partner," Yusuke deadpanned and pointed to girl-Ranma with his thumb, a confused Mousse tracking his thumb with his head.

"What?" Mousse gasped and then scowled, "How shameful! As if it wasn't enough for you to swoon my precious Shampoo, now you've gone and charmed a man! You're disgraceful Sao-." Mousse's words died in his throat; his sense of danger was screaming at him to run away, 'What? How'd he get in front of me so fast?'

"Your fight's with me!" Yusuke said seriously, a powerful glowing blue aura shrouding his body, an expression of amazement appearing on Ranma's, Shampoo's, and Mousse's faces.

"Shampoo not see anything like this," Shampoo confessed, a look of determination on her face, "But Shampoo amazon warrior. She no give up, let Indestructible-boy have Ranma to himself!" But before she could do anything, Yusuke simply disappeared, reappearing behind Mousse and Shampoo, spinning around and unleashing a devastating back chop to Shampoo's neck so hard she crashed into Mousse.

The two amazon warriors went tumbling away, before rolling to an unconscious heap next to a fountain.

"Whoa," Ranma said, impressed with how fast Yusuke knocked out both Shampoo and Mousse, more so Shampoo than Mousse since Shampoo was a girl and Mousse was a guy, meaning Ranma would've dealt with Mousse in little more than 10 seconds, but would've let herself been owned like a little bitch by Shampoo, "Someone has anger problems. Care to talk about them?"

"I think I'm all spent." Yusuke admitted.

"Along with the emergency supply," Ranma added and the two shared a joyous laugh.

It didn't last long as an uncomfortable silence fell upon the two, Ranma rubbing her arm and refusing to meet Yusuke's gaze while said boy just nonchalantly kept his hands in his pockets, idly stealing glances at the beautiful redhead girl and wondering what was on her mind.

Eventually the silence became too much for Ranma who looked at Yusuke and found the boy staring right back at her, "So…" Ranma began with clear uncertainty in her voice.

"Yeah." Yusuke waited patiently, his posture relaxed.

"How do you feel 'bout duking it out with Shamps?" Ranma asked.

"Whaddya mean?" Yusuke wondered in return.

Ranma became agitated, "Ugh! Y'know, 'bout fightin' a girl, dummy!"

"Oh. Is that what's bugging ya?" Yusuke said with a relieved breath.

Ranma was starting to get angry now, "What the hell do you mean is that's what's bugging me? You just mowed a girl down!"

Yusuke shrugged, "Yeah. So what?"

Ranma's jaw dropped, "So what?!"

"Quit being such a drama queen Red? Shampoo's a fighter, and the way I see it if a fighter challenges me then I'm gonna kick one's ass, regardless of rather he's a she or a he!"

Ranma was almost speechless, "B-But guys ain't meant to hit girls!"

"Oh yeah? How you figure?" Yusuke challenged with a deadpan look on his features.

"Cause girls are we-."

"I may I suggest you shut your trap and hold off on that info until you meet some real strong women," Yusuke suggested.

"Huh? Real strong women?" Ranma wondered with a confused look on her face.

Yusuke gave Ranma a hard look, one hard enough to make the girl flinch, "I dunno how Lard-ass has influenced your baby brain so badly, but I'm gonna laid on ya straight Red, there's gals who can go toe-to-toe with me every day, and have a good chance of whooping my ass."

Ranma was in debrief, "N-No w-way," Ranma shook her head, slowly taking a step back, "T-That's i-impossible."

Yusuke sped up to Ranma, grabbing the redhead by her throat with a furious expression on his face, "Ugh! What the hell is wrong with you, Red!? Has Fat-ass really fucked up your mentality so bad you can't even accept the fact there's women out there who can laid your ass out with both hands tied behind their backs, huh?!"

Ranma gritted her teeth, pushing her forehead against Yusuke's, "Well excuse me for having a chivalrous attitude, bub! I thought that was one positive thing I picked up for my damn self-training with my pops!"

"Stupid more like," Yusuke scoffed, making Ranma growl at him, "And whaddya do when Akane gets mad and leashes out at ya? Hmm. Lemme guess, stand there pleading for forgiveness like a little bitch, 'Akane, Akane'," Yusuke mocked, mimicking scared-Ranma's voice.

"You jerk!" Ranma raged, trying to pry Yusuke's hands from her throat but failed miserably, "And here I thought I actually found a friend in you!" Those words cut deep into Yusuke; deeper than any knife could; to the point where he found his hands loosening on Ranma's throat and his angry expression softening to show Ranma a look of remorse and regret.

"Look, Red, I didn-."

"Shove it!" Ranma seized her chance and bitch-slapped Yusuke's hands away from her throat, turning around and running away from Yusuke who made no attempt to stop her, "You've made yourself perfectly clear, douche!"

Yusuke slammed his hands on his hips as Ranma disappeared, "Well that coulda blown over better."

Okay, so perhaps Yusuke could've been more gentle with Ranma, after all he did know Ranma had a shoddy father who wouldn't think twice to force his son's/daughter's hand in marriage to a girl who'd the mentality of a seven year old girl.

But Yusuke really wanted his friend to see sense, that there was nothing wrong with fighting girls so long as they were warriors, and had a significant amount of reiki (spirit energy) to do battle against. Yusuke would never just fight anyone, and by anyone he meant people who didn't have a lick of reiki in them, boy or girl.

Yusuke feared for Ranma, he really did. Obviously fat-boy Genma had failed to inform his son/daughter it was alright to defend himself from girls, because Ranma was jst stupidly standing still and letting girls whale on him for no reason; just like today for example.

Ranma did nothing to warrant a bicycle wheel on his face from Shampoo, but she would've taken the blow anyway. For what Yusuke didn't know, and didn't want to know. Yusuke did not want Ranma to be any girl's punching bag.

Yusuke didn't know rather or not Ranma let herself be beaten on by females, but judging by her reaction Ranma was Akane's punching bag, something that completely miffed Yusuke out since he wasn't particularly fond of Akane and only put up with the youngest Tendo for Ryoga's sake.

No one should put their filthy hands on Ranma's skin. Just the thought of Ranma getting hurt was enough to send Yusuke over the edge, making him almost or just as angry as if Keiko herself had gotten hurt!

"Damn!" Yusuke snarled. He was beginning to get frustrated with himself now, as he didn't understand these feelings he was having for Ranma. They felt somehow similar to his ones for Keiko, but still different in a sense.

Why did Yusuke care if Ranma got hurt to such an extent? Why did he naturally prefer to Ranma as a girl instead of a boy? Yusuke knew Ranma was born a boy, but chose to block Ranma's guy side from his mind and concentrate solely on his girl-form, feeling part happy and part sad when Ranma confessed she found being a girl easier than being a guy.

Yusuke was happy because he liked thinking of Ranma as a girl and sad because Ranma was clearly having identity problems.

Ranma needed help.

"Me and my big flipping mouth. I gotta find her and apologize," Yusuke said.

"WHAT A HAUL! WHAT A HAUL!"

A dark look appeared on Yusuke's face.

"But first the garbage is need of removing."

XxX

(Elsewhere)

"Akane-chan!"

A badly injured Akane looked up from where she sat on a bed fit for patients in a small clinic at the sound of a distinctive squeaky voice to see her father burst through the door with tears in his eyes.

"Daddy," Akane murmured in an uncharacteristic timid tone of voice.

Akane's pride of a martial artist was in shatters knowing how injured she became just by receiving one bitch-slap in the face by the powerful Mr S, yet when he hit Ukyo, the girl was able to tank the blow with relative ease.

Being as arrogant as she was, the youngest Tendo spent most of the day trying to convince herself that Mr S had gone easy on Ukyo, but given her his hardest blow.

It failed miserably, because Mr S confirmed in a cold manner that the blows he gave the girls were of the same power, there was just a massive gulf between Ukyo's power, and Akane's.

And that really broke Akane since she knew Ranma's power was above all the martial artists who attended Furinkan High School. The rude boy/girl had proven so time and again with his victories over Kuno and Ukyo.

Akane had always considered herself Ranma's equal. After all Ranma had never defeated her before in battle and Ranma was smart enough to know when Akane got angry he had to stand still and let the youngest Tendo take out her frustrations on him.

But if Akane couldn't even compare to Ukyo, what chance did she have of comparing to Ranma?

Unless Mr S was lying, and he really did hold back a ton of his strength when he hit Ukyo.

Yes, that must be it. Akane wasn't that weak. She was a martial artist after all.

'I am just as strong as Ranma-idiot,' Akane mused arrogantly, a determined expression marking her face.

"Akane-dear," Soun cried, tears pouring down his eyes as he ran to his daughter's side and grabbed her hand, stroking her beautiful face. It broke the man's heart to see his pretty baby girl in such a condition. Saotome's son was meant to be there to protect her! Where was he!?

"I got here as soon as I could when I heard the news from Nabiki-dear," Soun continued. The aforementioned middle daughter nodded her head from where she stood near the wall with her arms coolly crossed over her chest; desperately trying to keep her cool with the hidden malevolence in the room.

"Really daddy, I'm fine," Akane insisted quietly, concern immediately coming to Soun's face as Akane winced and held her ribs, "I-It's n-nothing t-to worry about papa. Honest." Soun didn't look convinced and a bespectacled brown haired man tried to hide his emotions with a mask of professionalism as he stared at Akane and occasionally stole glances at the cause of young Akane's injury, fear evident in his eyes.

"Tell papa, Dr Tofu. Tell papa I'm fine," Akane pleaded, and the brown haired man now known as Dr Tofu, aka Akane's former crush, wanted to broke down into tears hearing the once fiery girl beg so demurely; with every second that passed Dr Tofu could feel his hatred for Mr Suraisa (Slicer) grow.

He only wished he'd the power to make the man leave, but Dr Tofu knew, for as skilful as he was in the martial arts, he was no match for the powerful Mr S, whose power level completely dwarfed his, to the point it felt like reiatsu was crushing Dr Tofu once Mr S walked in here harshly holding Akane on his shoulder.

Dr Tofu coughed into his hand, the attention now on him, "Ahm. Yes. I've given Akane here a scan. I fear her injuries are quite severe. She has three broken ribs, a swollen cheek, both of her legs are bruised severely, and her skull's rather sore." Dr Tofu said informatively, earning himself a cute half-hearted pout from Akane for telling her daddy all that.

"Oh Akane-dear!" Soun whimpered, falling to his knees, and burying his head on Akane's lap.

"Daddy, it's okay, I'm fine. Really," Akane insisted weakly, "Please don't cry, papa. I'll recover soon."

"Yes. Akane should recuperate in due time. Probably four or five months, give or take," Dr Tofu said.

Soun held up his head, sniffing, "Who could do such a thing to my lovely daughter?" Hesitance appeared on Akane's face and she shifted her head away from her papa, not wanting to tell him of the man who'd eradicated her and injured a huge majority of her bones with one simple backslap to her face.

"It was me." But unfortunately for Akane, Mr S had no such problems, which in return forced Akane to widen her eyes, and gasp in shock and fear, as if she had forgotten all about Mr S' presence.

Soun felt his blood run cold, as he slowly stood up, and turned around to face the voice, a little bit of anger appearing on his face, "Y-You did this to my lovely daughter, Akane-chan?"

Akane closed her eyes at the anger appearing in Mr S' eyes, "Don't make me repeat myself, worm."

Soun gritted his teeth, trying to keep his courage from leaving him in the face of such a scary man, "W-Why? W-Why would you do such a thing to my Akane-chan?"

"Because," Mr S reasoned partly.

"Because what lad?" Soun asked with a gulp.

"I can lure that Jusenkyo freak to me by attacking his precious 'Akane-chan'." Mr S explained, a smirk forming across his features, "You see? It's really quite simple when you think about it rationally."

Akane gasped, 'H-He must be talking about Ranma-idiot! B-But Ranma-idiot hasn't been in Nerima for a month now, we're not even together, we never have been!'

Quite freaky, Akane would admit she never had any feelings for the pigtailed martial artist, but she knew she'd to try, and force herself to like him because papa needed her to marry him to merge his school with Uncle Saotome's one.

Ranma couldn't do likewise and couldn't stop insulting her, or at least try, and taste her cooking.

Still Ranma and Akane had been forced to spend a lot of time together by their selfish parents, who inadvertently made Akane and Ranma develop a brotherly/sisterly rivalry relationship, so it went without saying Akane was missing her brother-sometimes-sister now that he/she no longer lived in the Tendo Dojo.

Tears poured down Soun's eyes, "So you attacked my dear Akane-chan to lure someone else here. How dare you! My Akane-chan didn't do anything to deserve such a punishment. You're a monster."

Mr S' smirk turned devilish, "Maybe you're right, but the question now is, what are you going to do about it, daddy?" Soun gulped, his legs turning to jelly, his heart beating a million miles a minute, and his skin turning cold. He wasn't expecting that. The man rattled his teeth together as Mr S focused his malevolence on him.

'Oh no, this isn't good. I fear Soun-san has little confidence to do battle against Suraisa-san!' Dr Tofu mused, a bead of sweat running down his face.

"Saotome! Saotome! Someone is here to see you!" Soun yelled out desperately, hoping his friend would quickly run in here to protect him.

Mr S smirked devilishly, while Akane and Dr Tofu both sighed.

Dr Tofu's fears of Mr S were momentarily forgotten once he heard that angelic voice speaking from outside.

"Oh my, Akane-imouto, father mentioned you were in the hospital. So I stopped by to drop you off some stuff," Big sister Kasumi's voice rang out from outside.

"Oh thank you, Kasumi-oneesama. You didn't have to, but I appreciate that," Akane said, smiling sheepishly as she saw Dr Tofu's glasses stream up and cover his eyes, his goofy persona in play as Kasumi-oneesama walked into the room, 'Honestly, why does Dr Tofu always have to act that way around Kasumi-oneesama?'

A look of determination appeared on Akane's face, 'I promise I'm going to help Dr Tofu get with Kasumi-oneesama.'

"K-Kasumi! What a pleasant surprise it is t-." But before Dr Tofu could start doing dumb stuff in a sad attempt to hide his childish crush on the eldest Tendo, Mr S appeared in front of him in a show of speed.

"I do not believe it is professional for a doctor to act in such a way while he is tending to his injured patient," Mr S explained in an eerily sensible manner, sending chills up Dr Tofu's spine who instantly snapped out of his Kasumi-induced stupor, staring up at Mr S with clear fear in his eyes, "Wouldn't you agree… Doc?"

"Y-Yes," Dr Tofu said after a while, dipping into a small bow, "Please forgive me for my show of indignity, it shall not happen again. If anything happens to Akane I wouldn't be able to forgive myself," Akane glared hard at Mr S for interrupting Dr Tofu's moment with her precious big sister as Dr Tofu offered her more meds, to which she declined.

"Oh my, Dr Tofu's acting normal for once," Kasumi said in surprise and Dr Tofu winced at the object of his affections calling him out on his antics.

"Yes, well, he is a doctor, as such he needs to remain focused at one hundred percent proficiency consistently, if he wants to keep his patients alive," Mr S said emotionlessly, a bead of sweat running down Kasumi's cheek as she gulped at the man's merciless way of forcing Dr Tofu to act normal around her.

Kasumi had always liked Dr Tofu as a friend, but disliked the way the man acted around her. Kasumi had always liked older men, which was why she offered Akane as a scapegoat to Ranma to marry, because he was young and still very much immature.

Kasumi wanted someone who she could sit down with and have a mature conversation with, someone who she could spill her problems to, and would listen sensibly, and give her helpful advice.

With Dr Tofu Kasumi could never get that, and although it was nice he was acting normal around her for once Kasumi knew it was wrong to force him to.

"This way, sugar, she's in there!"

"Ukyo? What's she doing here?" Akane wondered while Kasumi walked over to her and laid a basket full of fruit down on her bed and another bag full of clothes on her bed rail.

"I requested Kuonji-san to find the freak boy and bring him here," Mr S explained coldly, making Akane flinch.

"What do you want with Ranma?" Akane asked.

Ranma was really the only boy Akane could think of who had a Jusenkyo curse and would remotely care enough about her to stomp a mud-hole in the one who had hurt her. Sure Akane knew Musu, alias Mousse, had a Jusenkyo curse, but he didn't give a rat's rear end about her. His girl was Shampoo.

Ryoga might have cared for her like Mousse did for Shampoo, but he didn't have a Jusenkyo curse.

Did he?

No of course not.

Hearing Akane ask the devilish man what he wanted of Ranma put a small glimmer of hope in Soun's stomach and eyes, 'T-The l-lad! P-Perhaps h-he's come back to declare his love for my Akane! O-Oh how I've longed for this day! Thank you Yusuke-kun! Than-."

"Akane-chan!"

Ryoga's voice killed the hope in Soun and filled the selfish man with depression while Akane gasped and Mr smirked malevolently.

"I wasn't talking about the she-boy, girly," Mr S said devilishly, Akane whimpering and watching Ukyo run into the room followed by the lost-boy.

"You see. There's the jackass who hurt Ak-." Ukyo's words fell on deaf ears as Ryoga bum-rushed past her and headed straight for his injured angel.

"Akane-chan!" Ryoga ghosted to her side, Mr S' eyebrow raising in surprise as he felt Ryoga's power, "Oh dear Akane-chan, I'm so sorry I wasn't there to protect you." Ryoga fell to his knees, his hands falling on Akane's legs.

"Oh Ryoga-kun," Akane murmured, her hands softly massaging Ryoga's hair. Her heart was touched with how much passion and concern Ryoga showed for her well-being, "You don't have to worry about me, Ryoga-kun. I'm fine. Really I am. Honest."

Akane gasped once Ryoga rose his head up, shocked to see tears in the boy's eyes, "Dear Akane-chan," Ryoga was breaking down as his hands clasped Akane's waist, "I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you. I should've been there to protect you. How can you ever forgive me Akane-chan?"

"Ryoga-kun…" Akane whispered, her hands delicately grasping Ryoga's face, a blush lighting up the humble boy's face at his crush's touch as Akane raised his head and stared into his eyes, "I never knew you felt so strongly about keeping me safe Ryoga-kun."

Soun winced while a look of shame appeared on Dr Tofu's face.

'P-Please stop lad. My Akane's desired for Ranma. She's meant to have a moment with him!' Soun begged mentally. Truth be told his school and legacy would be carried on if Ryoga got with Akane and stayed with her until they were old enough to marry each other in the near future, but he wasn't a Saotome and thus wouldn't be able to merge his school with Genma's.

'I've been a fool. It was wrong of me to try and force Ranma and Akane together. I believe I owe the two an apologise.' Dr Tofu admitted to himself. Dr Tofu believed he was doing the right thing for Ranma and Akane's relationship when he cut off Ranma's legs, knowing Akane's sweet persona would come into play so Ranma could get home… until now. During the months he had known Ranma and Akane Dr Tofu had never seen them display such love for each other, on the contrary the two acted like siblings.

Akane and Ryoga acted like lovers.

"Dear Akane-chan, I'd give up my soul if it meant keeping you safe and sound," Ryoga said, making Akane smile dreamily at him, "I just wish I knew where the jerk who hurt you was, so I could teach him a lesson he'd never forget!" Akane softly brushed the bangs of Ryoga's hair out of his eyes, meekly holding the lost boy's head to her shoulder, "Akane-chan?"

Ukyo smirked. Ryoga was finally beginning to woo Akane which meant she had less competition for her Ranchan's heart. All she would need to do is point Ryoga in the direction of Akane's attacker, watch Ryoga take the guy to the cleaners, and scoop Akane off of her feet after all was said and done.

"Hey, freak-boy," Ryoga paused and Akane panicked as she watched Ryoga gently pull away from her embrace to look at Mr S.

"Who are you?" Ryoga asked curiously.

"Your girl's attacker," The smart-mouthed strict teacher told Ryoga.

Ryoga froze and Akane flinched, "Y-You were the one who attacked Akane?"

Mr S rolled his eyes, "Don't make me repeat myself, freak-boy."

"Y-You attacked Akane-chan," Ryoga murmured, his hair beginning to wave as his head lowered, his hands balling up into fists so tightly the veins in his arms became visible, "…Monster." Anger was beginning to envelop Ryoga to the highest calibre.

"Yes, I think we've established that already," Mr S said, gritting his teeth at the feel of Ryoga's power increasing, 'The freak boy's power is dangerously nearing upper B-class levels. The boss won't be pleased about this. I must kill him now.'

'Hmm. I didn't realize sugar was packing that much power in him. If I didn't know any better I would say he's nearly as strong as my Ranchan,' Ukyo evenly rationalized. As the established chef could feel the boy's anger just radiating off of him in shades, she could see the semblance of Ryoga's furious temper shrouding his body, making his hair stand on ends as if Ryoga had just gone Kaio-ken. Additionally, Ryoga's up-heaving power also had the effect of causing tremors throughout the small clinic of Dr Tofu.

"Ryoga-kun…" Akane murmured, completely amazed by the sheer magnitude of Ryoga's power. Was she wrong to be worried about a potential fight between Mr S and Ryoga?

XxX

(Outside)

On the outside those who were walking past Dr Tofu's clinic would've seen the roof blown clean off, followed by a bright red pillar of light that shot up to the sky, and roofed the sky apart.

"PREPARE TO DIE BASTARD!"


And that does it for this chapter, and hopefully I can start developing Akane's character somewhat; because let's be honest people Rumiko is... ugh. That woman is truly incompetent at developing her characters, or even just creating original characters. Akane and Ranma in particular really spoiled the manga for me. They shared an obnoxiously abusive, cliched relationship. Why the fuck would a woman want her female to be overshadowed to such an extent by her significant other? I can understand why Sakura-baby, from Naruto, is a shoddily written, generic female character of incompetency, because at the end of the day, she was written by a man.

What was Rumiko's excuse?

...Uh. She always dreamt of being carried in the arms of a big, strapping lad?

Stupid.

Personally, I don't fucking dig pairings which involve two domineering "characters" (because we all know they weren't characters, they were robots fuelled on exaggerated emotions) because the characters in question will almost always be unhappy in their interactions. You can tell this was the case with the retard duo, Ranma and Akane. Ugh. Rumiko, that stupid woman, drove me up the wall with all the nonsensical arguments she put Akane and Ranma, more or less showing us that they have NO trust in each other, yet Rumiko till insisted on telling us they were in love?

Fuck off, you bitch.

Sorry, peeps, it's just I can't stand abuse in a relationship. It should not be exaggerated to the extent that it was in "Ranma 1/2". Exaggeration isn't funny, it's infuriating. I'm also not fond of the fact that the Ranma/Akane pairing turns Akane into the generic damsel-in-distress. Not cool, considering at the start of the series Akane hated men (or boys. Whatever.) save for Dr Tofu because she saw them as monsters who wanted to conform her to Kasumi's role; a generic housewife. Yet Ranma, Mr generic tough guy, rolls in and makes her want to be Kasumi in order to be with him.

No. No. That's terrible fucking writing. Akane was a martial artist. She should not have to accommodate for a fucking impudent sexist clod who frequently looked down on her martial skill, (which she had great pride in, mind you). She should find her own role. Standard. Fuck male-Ranma. Fuck that douchebag to the ninth degree of fucking hell.

I have nothing nice to say about the other robotic-characters, barring my favourites, Ukyo and Ryoga, who ironically want on to spawn my other favourite anime characters from Rumiko's far superior manga, Inuyasha. Those are Sango and Koga. I find these four characters endearing enough to give them a mention on my profile as four of my favourite anime characters, so there's something positive about Rumiko, for ya.

The other characters were just too selfishly obnoxious for my liking.

Tatewaki Kuno was a pretentious prick who should've died.

I found Principal Kuno offensive and just painfully unfunny.

Genma was an ass and a terrible father on the level of Gendo Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion

Nabiki was... okay. She was clever enough to see the characters as a legion of cowardly morons who she could make a quick buck off of, smart girl. She can slide. Tho, I must say I didn't like that the main character was essentially her bitch, but then again Ranma-bitch was basically every girl's bitch. (That's what he gets for being sexist)

Shampoo. No, just... no. Too cold. I also wasn't fond of her stooping to poisoning Ranma's friends and landing on his fucking face with her bike.

Soun was a boring wimp.

Kasumi... ugh. Besides Flanders, she's the textbook definition of flanderization - nothing but a blank zombie powered by an unrealistic level of kindness.

Happosai's self-explanatory. The level of douchebaggery he displayed throughout the series is enough to make me forever despise him regardless of authors portraying him in a better light.

Kodachi sucked... nuff said.

I don't care about Ukyo's fruity ass ninja-friend or Ryoga's plot device of a bird named Akari. (-_- - Really, Rumiko, you stupid bitch. What'd you take your fans for, huh? Idiots?)

Andddddd... That's pretty much it. My hatred of "Ranma 1/2" stems from the rampant stupidity and overall inhumane-tendencies of the cast. If you like the series, then hey, don't let me stop ya. I can't force feed my opinion down your throats. I prefer my series to have a little bit of character development and actual humanized-characters I can relate to and admire.

Rant over, going back to Getbackers.