Chapter Eleven : The Encounter
Furinkan
Lunch Period
"Well, at least the fight this morning was a lot easier," Akane said.
Ranma grumbled.
"Oh, come on," Akane said, "It isn't that bad. Sure it's annoying, but it could be worse."
"How?" Ranma asked.
Akane paused for a moment. Thinking hard. Harder. Harder...
And for the life of her, couldn't think of any way it could be worse.
"Well, it could," Akane finally said.
Ranma just looked downward into her bento, not saying anything.
Truthfully, she wasn't even thinking about Kuno or the Date Mob, as Shampoo christened them. Truthfully, she was thinking about last night. About how her life had gotten kinda... unsettling ever since they got to Nerima. First, she was pretty much forced into much more feminine clothing and such. That alone rocked Ranma's internal picture of who she was. She had pretty much gotten used to being a girl, but she hadn't really gotten used to thinking herself as a girl. She knew she was, but had not previously labeled herself as such.
Probably, if she was still wearing what she used to wear and didn't have to wear this damn uniform, last night wouldn't of bothered her. It would have freaked her out, but it wouldn't of bothered her. It would have just been 'oh, Ryoga caught me, that's all good, what are friends for?'.
She had thought that most of her issues about being a girl were solved when she had realized the answer to Nabiki's question a few days ago. She hadn't dreamed that it would have just opened the flood gates. She had come to accept, if not unwillingly, that she was a girl and was thought of as such. She had come to accept that it was okay and sometimes expected of her to wear a dress or a skirt. She had come to accept that she was to wear a bra, if not just a sports bra. She had not come to accept... that.
She was actually too uncertain about it to even think it. It was simply... that. And as much as she tried to calm herself down, that was extremely unsettling.
"Ranma!" She suddenly heard Akane yell out.
Ranma looked up quickly, surprised at the supposed sudden outburst.
"Wh-what!?" She said, looking at her.
"You were all spaced out," Akane asked, "Nabiki needs to tell you something."
"Huh?" She looked up at Nabiki, "What is it?"
"I was told to give you this," She said, holding out a small piece of folded paper.
"What is it?" Ranma asked as she took it.
"Read it and find out," Nabiki answered.
Ranma turned it over to read the writing that it had on the outside of the fold.
"To my beautiful red-haired lupine goddess," Ranma said, before becoming very annoyed, "Oh... it's from Kuno."
"And what does that idiot want to say?" Akane asked.
Ranma opened the note.
"On the morrow, in the fourth hour," Ranma read, "Meet me on the second field of Furinkan High school. Sincerely, upperclassman Kuno, Junior, group E, Captain of the Kendo Club, undefeated rising star of the blah blah blah... Gees, he even signs his letters that way."
"Sounds like a duel," Akane said, "Kuno does really hate to lose."
"Hmph," Ranma said, crumpling up the note, "If he wants a fight, then a fight I'll give 'em."
"He really made a impression, didn't he?" Nabiki arched and eyebrow.
"Eh," Ranma said, "I could use a punching bag at the moment."
"What wrong?" Shampoo asked, "You all tense and finicky."
Finicky? Finnicky? Fenicky? Eh, screw it...
"Nah, I'm fine," Ranma said, "Just got something on my mind."
"Oh, this wouldn't be about..." Nabiki said, "Last night... would it?"
Ranma looked up at her sharply.
"Oh, it was so romantic," Nabiki said, "Ranma falling into her savior's arms!"
"Sh-shut up!" Ranma said, "I-it wasn't l-like that! I-I tripped!"
Ryoga just looked embarrassed
"Yeah, whatever," Nabiki said, "I was just pulling your feathers."
Ranma just blushed and looked down.
"What?" Akane asked, looking clueless.
"I..." Ranma said.
"Ranma was just... uh..." Ryoga said, "Telling me about something she had seen yesterday! Yeah! And she tripped on one of the stones around the koi pond."
"Uh, yeah," Ranma said, "Ryoga just caught my fall, that's all."
"Really?" Shampoo asked, "What you see?"
"Um..." Ranma said, "Just... that weird thing that me and Nabiki saw! That guy who looked like a crow!"
"Oh, the Tengu?" Shampoo said, "But... I thought you tell us all at once."
"I... uh..." Ryoga said, "Wasn't paying attention?"
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeak...
"Oh, okay," Shampoo said.
Akane just blinked a few times before she decided to drop it. Not her business, anyway.
"Well, I'm going back in side," Nabiki said, "Have a nice rest of the lunch period."
Ranma just went to looking down and twiddling the fabric of her skirt with her fingers.
She...
She didn't really think of Ryoga... that way.
...Didn't she?
(Note: Just to say, if you don't understand any of the lingo I'm using, feel free to ask. I mean, my family almost has its own damn language. Deadpanned. Quipped. Irked. Befuzzled. Hmph. Bumbled. Muf-tumberlon. Although I'm not sure I've used irked or quipped yet.)
(Note v1.1: Bungalooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!)
The Morrow, On the Fourth Hour, On the Second Field of Furincan High School
Ranma stood there, still in her uniform. She hadn't had enough time to go back and change clothing. The field was basically empty. There was a stray soccer ball a small ways off. She had her arms crossed in front of her. She was thinking about nothing in particular Or at least she was trying too. Her mind was still on the same issue as it had been the previous day.
"Ah, my beautiful lupine goddess," Kuno's voice came from behind her. She opened her eyes and turned around.
"Whadda ya want, Kuno?" She deadpanned.
"I have come to face you yet again," Kuno said simply.
"Ya must be confident in yourself," Ranma quipped, "If ya would come without a bokken."
"Yes," Kuno said, "Confident enough to give you this!!!"
Kuno then threw something at her. She grabbed it easily.
She found herself staring at a bundle of roses, dumbfounded.
"I love you," Kuno said, before turning around and walking away.
Ranma just blinked.
Ranma was walking slowly back to the Tendo dojo. The roses had been discarded long ago. She didn't want anything to do with that moronic creep. It sent shivers down her spine.
How anyone could be that stupid and not be under some sort of demonic control, she has no idea. She simply walked, staring down at the sidewalk, deep in thought.
However, even as deeply engrossed in her own thoughts as she was, she still heard a small commotion up ahead of her.
Looking up, she saw that something was happening just barely inside of an alleyway. It looked like three thugs were surrounding a woman, leering at her. The woman didn't look terribly afraid, but she was clutching the long parcel that she had in a way that looked like she was about to swing it at them.
Ranma picked up her pace.
"Heh," One of the thugs, the typical thin and wiry thug, said, "Lookie lookie. She wants to hit us with her little stick there!"
"Hah!" The typical big, tall, and fat thug said, "Look here lady. Just do'z what we say'z and nothing will happen to ya'z."
Yes, a Japanese person with a New York accent. But I digress...
"Mind showing us what cash ya got in your little purse there?" The thin thug said.
The third, the typical extremely buff thug, simply stood there watching.
"Hey!" Ranma said as she got close, "Leave her alone!"
The thin one turned to her first.
"Ey, look!" He grinned, "Another you girlie wants ta have fun too."
"Heh heh," The fat one said, "Today's a good day, boss!"
The third one just 'harrumphed'.
"I guess if you want to play too..." The thin one said, "But by the way of your little dress, ye ain't got any cash. Looks like we're gonna be taking something else."
Ranma flinched slightly, turning to look at the thin one with a very cautious yet very very angry look.
"Ooohohohoo," He said, "I likes 'em spicy!"
He then reached out to grab her.
The next thing he did was yell out in pain as Ranma simply grabbed his wrist and wrenched it, twisting it and easily breaking the bone. He was put out of his misery a split second later as she lifted him off his feet with a kick that sent him flying backwards. The woman with the parcel had to duck out of the way.
"Hey!" The fat one said as he came at her, much to slow.
Ranma simply stepped forward and slammed her knee into his gut. And even with his ample layer of fat on his belly, he still almost puked as he fell to the ground, gasping for breath.
Ranma barely had enough time to move out of the way as she heard a small click followed by a loud booming noise. She leaned back as she saw something rip past her, nearly hitting her nose.
She quickly looked at the last thug. His face was shrouded, not even looking at her. His hand was holding a rather large pistol, with Ranma in its sights. As she looked at him, she could see a definite aura around him. A chill went down her spine.
There was another loud bang as the possessed man fired again. Ranma also barely managed to get out of the way of that bullet as well by continuing to fall back. She, as quickly as she could, set Tachigami's blade on the gun.
Sadly, the blade didn't slice through the strong reinforced metal of the pistol. It did, however, send it flying out of the mans hand and put a good dent in it, probably ruining it.
The man didn't even react. His hand just dropped limply as Ranma cleared the gap between them in a flash. She hit him twice in the chest and once in the jaw. Not enough to knock really hurt him, but enough to hopefully bring him to his senses.
As she did, she saw that the black aura was driven back from where she hit him. It blew away from the man, collecting nearby in the form of a small... highly deformed monkey... thing.
As it struggled to stand up, Ranma just walked over to it and smashed it into oblivion with her foot.
She then turned back to the woman and the still highly dazed thug.
"Ugh..." The thug said, "Wha happen?"
The woman stood up, quickly moving away from the thug.
"You were cursed," Ranma said, "Possessed."
"What?" The thug asked, rubbing his jaw, "Why does my jaw hurt?"
"Hey, what day is it?" Ranma asked.
"Uh..." The thug said, "September 3rd?"
"Hmm," Ranma said, "That's five months..."
"1979?" The man asked.
"And almost seventeen years ago," Ranma said, looking kinda amazed, "I'd get up if I were you. Get you're two buddies here out of here."
"B-buddies?" The thug looked at the fat guy and the thin dude, "Who the hell are they?"
"Leave them then," Ranma said, walking over to the woman.
"Oh, Miss," The woman said, bowing, "I cannot thank you enough."
"That's okay," Ranma smiled, "Just helping out."
The woman leaned back up to look at her.
The woman's face went pale.
This caused Ranma to become confused.
"You..." She said, stepping back, "You have..."
Ranma just grimaced and looked down. She awaited the words 'freak' and 'dog girl'.
They never came.
"Amaterasu..." She heard the woman said quietly.
This made her look back up at the woman.
She wasn't there anymore.
Ranma looked down.
Oh, there she is.
The woman was bowing to her, completely on the ground.
"Uh..." Ranma said, looking up at the people that were gathering around after hearing gun shots. Ranma bent down and took the womans shoulder, "D-don't do that. Come on, stand up."
The woman did so, looking confused.
"B-but..." She muttered.
Ranma glanced at the people behind them, looking embarrassed and concerned.
"I'll tell you later, okay?" Ranma said.
The woman slowly nodded just as a pair of policemen came running into the alleyway.
At that point, Ranma was pressed to come up with something so say to possibly get the possessed man off the hook. His physical appearance had completely changed, so it was kinda easy to convince them that the shooter had run off after this guy came in. Ranma was glad that the woman didn't say anything about this blatant lie. Ranma was also glad the cops believed her, since she was an absolutely horrible liar.
After the hullabaloo was over, the woman walked up to Ranma again.
"Um... Ama..." She started.
"Please," Ranma cut her off, "D-don't..."
Ranma sighed.
"Look," Ranma said, turning to her to see the woman was very confused, "I'm... kinda tryin' to keep a low profile so..."
"Okay then," The woman said, "Please, you must allow me to invite you to have tea with me. You did save me."
"Uh, okay," Ranma smiled a little.