Chapter 3
A Master of Vengeance
Kunou walked with Ranma, Akane, and Nabiki to school. He noticed how relaxed
they appeared, especially Ranma. He listened to her humming a tune. He
couldn't quite make it out, but it sounded familiar.
He had listened to his favorite women trading their names at breakfast. It
had become amusing when they started combining their family names into
improbable combinations. It was even more amusing when they added their
given names to the puzzle.
Even the older Tendou daughters were amused. He had rarely seen any emotion
in Nabiki. He had often heard, and seen, that Kasumi had remarkable
composure. Though Nabiki often referred to her older sister as being
"blissfully unaware of what was happening."
He had come to realize that that was how he was before Ranma actually
inflicted pain. The previous fights were painful, usually just a sharp or
dull pain that lasted a few minutes. The last attack left him in
excruciating pain for hours.
It was through this pain that his denials left. His denials of Akane's
rejections. His denials that the male and female Ranma were the same person.
The denials of his attraction to Nabiki.
Though he never truly treated her as a friend, she was always there when he
needed her. He paid any price she asked, often without question. At times,
he even confided in her. Now, she needed him. That much he could tell.
He could tell from her mannerisms around him. He could tell because of the
stress she was under from Ranma's present condition, and the fact her father
had left in the middle of the night. It was the same need, though different
in many ways, that Ranma had.
Nabiki was too much of a business woman to come out and ask for or accept his
help. He knew she would come, when she was ready. He also knew that Ranma
and Akane would come to him freely, if they needed him for anything.
He would do anything to help his friends. His first, genuine friends he had
had in years. Now, all he had to do was keep his twisted sister from finding
out about Ranma's condition. His sister, Kodachi, the Black Rose, would be
coming home this upcoming weekend. She would expect him to have more
pictures of the women he "loved."
He had the answer to his dilemma. "Nabiki, I wish to purchase some pictures
from you," he said calmly, ignoring their stares. "I don't care what they
are. My sister is coming home this weekend. There is still a delicate
illusion to be maintained. Together, we can plan its effectiveness.
"Perhaps it would benefit all of us. If these pictures are of Akane and
Ranma, they will be respectful, not as I have previously asked for or
received. Would that be acceptable?"
Ranma nodded. Reluctantly, Akane and Nabiki nodded as well. Kunou smiled to
himself. He would save his other surprise for another time. Experience had
told him that too many surprises at once were dangerous. The last thing he
wanted to do now was hurt his friends.
They entered the gates of the school. Almost immediately, all eyes fell on
them. The men exchanged knowing glances. The women began giggling. Kunou
was about to say something when he felt a hand gently touching his arm.
Nabiki smiled and shook her head slightly. This was enough to restrain his
actions. He and Nabiki walked off towards their class, leaving Ranma and
Akane alone.
They were immediately surrounded by students. The boys pulled Ranma to the
side while the girls moved to Akane. Each asked their own questions.
"Did Kunou sleep at your place?"
"Yes."
"How was he?/No wonder you dress like a girl."
"It wasn't like that./I ain't that kinda guy!"
"Was he with Nabiki then? Or Ranma?/You don't look or act like a guy
anymore."
"He slept in the guest room./I hafta dress like this. I'm stuck like this.
Remember?"
"Come on, Akane. Nothing happened between you three and Kunou?/Come on,
Ranma. Don't you think this has gone on long enough?"
"I bet he's gay."
"Nothing happened! Our fathers' master came to stay with us We asked Kunou
and Ranma's friend, Ryoga, to spend the night. We're afraid of the Master./I
am not gay! Kumiko proved yesterday that I can't become a man without being
in constant pain."
"You and Ranma afraid?/Sure, Ranma."
"Sakura, you saw what that man did yesterday. You heard Ranma scream./You've
seen me get up after being hit hard, or recover from Kunou's attacks, or a
number of other things. When have I ever had more than a moment's pain?"
"She's right, that old man is creepy. Why Kunou and Ryoga?/You don't.
Let's say we believe you, this time. Why was Kunou at your home?"
"Because our fathers are out of town, so they couldn't advise us. My
sisters, Ranma, and I trust Kunou and Ryoga with our lives./To help keep our
fathers' master from causing problems for us."
"But wasn't he trying to marry you and Ranma?/We understand."
At that moment, there were several screams from the far side of the school
yard. The crowd surrounding Ranma turned, but did not leave. Ranma was too
short in her current state to see what was happening. She jumped to the
overhanging branch of a tree.
She cursed when she saw Happosai running with a large bag, followed by
several female students swinging objects at him. Ranma jumped down, running
toward the old man.
"Ah! Ranma, my dear, have you come to share your bounty with me?"
"No way, Old Man!"
Ranma leapt to intercept Happosai. The Master simply touched Ranma with his
pipe, sending her flying into the air, toward the pool. She couldn't control
her descent. She landed in the deep end of the pool. Returning to the pool
edge, she quickly exited, muttering, "Too hot! Too hot! Too hot!"
She ran off the deck, back into the courtyard, towards the Master. Her wet
clothes weighed her down. Happosai bounced onto a water fountain, watching
with amusement the red headed girl who commanded the respect of two martial
artists.
"You don't have the skill or endurance to keep me from my crusade."
"I don't care about no crusade. You ruined a VERY expensive school uniform I
cannot afford to replace. You assault students at my school. And you made
me wet. You have gone too far, Old Man," fumed Ranma as she assumed her
traditional stance.
"I assault no one. I merely recovered these lost treasures," Happosai said,
removing an object from his bag, flinging it toward Ranma.
She caught the object, altering her stance. The object felt soft and
familiar, in an alien sort of way. She chanced a glance at it. It was a
white, lacy panty. Her face reddened, both from embarrassment and rage.
A crowd had gathered around the two warriors. Ranma put the panty quickly in
her pocket, much to the dismay of the female students. Ranma again adjusted
her stance, this time to a visible offensive one.
"You've insulted my honor, Old Man. By possessing these items, you have
proven my claims. I challenge you to honorable combat!"
Kunou was about to join Ranma when Nabiki stopped him. "This is something
she has to do alone. Look at the girls."
Kunou observed the female students. He felt a shiver when he saw hatred in
their eyes. Their hatred was directed at the two combatants. He couldn't
tell who was receiving more, the Master or Ranma. He relaxed enough to let
Ranma fight her own battle.
The old man regarded his opponent carefully. He noted the unique qualities
of her movements. He noted the excellent control she had over her body,
especially her face. She was relaxed, yet ready to spring. She had no
apparent defense, yet he knew nothing short of a mob would get by her.
These were all techniques he had taught Soun and Genma so many years before.
It took them years to get to a reasonable level of competence. To Happosai,
this girl had the Art down solid. At least in terms of the basics. There
were some things he could still do to get past her defenses.
"Are you sure you're ready to challenge me, Dearie? I must warn you, I am
the oldest living master of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. You
are just a third rate student," Happosai said, narrowing his eyes.
Ranma forced herself to remain calm. She knew she couldn't win a direct
confrontation, but she had to fight anyway. She had already issued the
challenge. She had actually claimed insult to her honor.
"I may be third rate, but I ain't about to give up or back down," spat Ranma.
The Master sighed, "So be it."
He lunged at his opponent. As he traveled, he appeared to grow. Fear rose
within Ranma as she prepared to defend herself. In the blink of an eye, the
old man was gone.
Ranma never felt an attack. In fact, she felt nothing. Still, she was
weakened. All of her energies were focused on defending herself from the
Master. The incident overwhelmed her. She collapsed into Kunou's arms.
He looked at her with concern. She smiled at him. Nabiki and Akane were
there as well. They were concerned with Ranma's well being. One of the
observing girls came over to Ranma, glaring at her.
"You have something of mine," the girl spat.
Ranma cringed. She felt Kunou tense. She watched Nabiki and Akane stare
down the girl.
"Now listen here, Natsumi-chan, Ranma just challenged the man who taught our
fathers how to fight. Didn't you pay attention to what happened? Did you
notice what Ranma did?" Nabiki asked, forcing the girl back into a tree.
Akane picked up where Nabiki left off, "No. Of course not. All you can see
is someone you feel is shameless. You don't care that she tried to stop that
old man, or how quickly she hid your belongings, or how fast she tried to
defend you."
"After all of this time, you can't accept Ranma as being sincere, can you?"
concluded Nabiki.
Natsumi stood next to the tree, shaking in the gaze of the Tendou women.
Both had reputations. Nabiki had a cunning that made people nervous. She
knew things others would have preferred kept hidden. And her ruthlessness as
a businesswoman was legendary.
Akane's reputation, on the other hand, was that of being stubborn and
obsessive. Once she got an idea in her head, it was almost impossible to
change her mind. She was also strong and skilled in the martial arts. That
was obvious with her morning fights. Then there was her legendary anger.
To have Akane mad at you was to live dangerously. To have Nabiki mad at you
left you sleepless for months. This was an entirely new experience. No one
had ever succeeded in getting them mad at the same person at the same time.
Natsumi was about to do something she thought she would never have to do,
plead for forgiveness from a Tendou. It was then that Ranma came forward,
her eyes lowered. Ranma presented her the undergarment and silently left.
She noticed the pained expressions on the Tendou sisters' faces as they
watched Ranma. She slid to the ground, sobbing, ignoring the looks from her
classmates. She failed to notice Akane and Nabiki leave.
"Where could the Master have gone?" asked Kunou to the three girls.
When they heard screams from the school, Ranma collected herself. "Three
guesses."
She ran off to the locker rooms, followed by Akane, Nabiki, and Kunou. Sure
enough, the screams were coming from inside. Ranma steeled herself before
going in.
The old man was bouncing around the room, gleefully flipping up skirts,
pulling away towels, and snatching loose clothing. The students were too
panicked to notice Ranma. At the moment, her reputation as the best martial
artist in school was more important than the fact she used to be a man.
Ranma watched the old man, studying him. Suddenly, she knew how to stop him.
She quickly undid the top of her jumper and loosened the buttons on her
blouse. She ran over to a corner. She stopped, waiting for the Master to
make another round.
"Hey! Old Man! Catch this!" yelled Ranma, opening her blouse slightly.
Her plan was working. The old man leapt for her breasts. She waited until
he was within the range of her arms. She let loose her full strength, full
speed amaguriken, knocking the man into a wall. Before he had time to
recover, she renewed her attack, pinning him against the wall.
The concrete wall started to crack, then chip, from the force of her blows.
There were some liquidy cracks being heard over Ranma's near guttural cry.
Blood started to spray as the flesh became raw and red. The wall crumbled
even more under the stress.
It was when the blood splashed her face that she stopped. For the first
time, she saw the red, misshapen mass embedded in the wall. Ranma turned
pale.
She ran to a shower stall. She turned on the cold water, desperately trying
to wash the blood from her. No matter what she did, she could not feel
herself getting clean. She sobbed hysterically, collapsing to the floor.
She never saw the young women watching her.
***
Akane held the exhausted Ranma. They were sitting on the bench outside of
the locker room. The ambulance pulled away. The police were questioning the
students who were in the locker room with Ranma. They often pointed to her.
One of the detectives came over to the couple. "Excuse me, Saotome-san?"
Akane nudged Ranma. She focused her vacant eyes on the detective, "Yes?"
"Are you ready to give a statement?"
"I went too far."
"Pardon?"
"I hit him too hard, too fast."
"I see. Your schoolmates say you stopped him from assaulting them, or worse.
Now, in your own words, what happened here today?"
Ranma's mind started to work slowly. She began thinking through her fights.
"I heard screaming. I saw him with a bag. Several girls were chasing him.
He was laughing. I tried to stop him, but he threw me into the pool.
"I chased after him. I found out what was in the bag. I tried to fight him
again, but I knew I couldn't win. He disappeared. We figured out where he
went. When I went in, he was bouncing from girl to girl, throwing up their
skirts, taking loose clothing from them, touching them.
"I couldn't take it. I lured him to the corner where I...I..." Ranma sobbed.
"Where you thought you killed him?"
Ranma nodded, tears coming again.
"What was in the bag that set you off?"
Ranma tried to collect herself, but failed. Akane looked at the detective.
He nodded.
"Girls underwear and gym clothes," she answered.
"Thank you. You'd both better go home and rest. If we need anything else,
We'll call."
"Thank you," replied Akane.
The principal came over after the detective left. He looked at the two girls
in sympathy. "Ranma, you should stay home for a couple of weeks. Let people
get used to what happened. I'm not punishing you. You did an excellent job,
and you need the rest.
"I'm going to close the school for the day. We'll send your assignments home
with Akane. We'll have a talk in two weeks. Thank you, Ranma."
