Power and Responsibility: Chapter 6
"Sasuke, mine enemies surround me, I must discover a solution
and percevere for my loves'. They would be lost without me,"
Kuno ranted as he angrily slashed through several wooden
training dummies with his bokken.
"Yes master, but what can you do?" Sasuke asked nervously.
Apparently the young master had been defeated by another dark
sorcerer. What was the world coming to when a man couldn't turn
his back for fear of being attacked by a dark sorcerer? Poor
master Kuno.
Kuno struck a pose with his bokken held high."There must be a way
for the Mighty Blue Thunder to best his vile opposers!" Several
minutes passed as Kuno and Sasuke stood among the graveyard
of destroyed dummies. Finally Kuno proclaimed,"I have discovered
the solution, my faithful servant."
"The young master is wise beyond his years," Sasuke assured
Kuno.
And so Kuno began a long and colorful description of his plan. By
the time it was over, Sasuke was visibly shaking and tears were
leaking down his face. Oh how brave the master was.
****
"Ranma, the Tendos are here!" Nodoka called from the bottom of
the stairs.
Nodoka turned back to the Tendos and beckoned them inside."You're
all looking well. I'm sorry if Ranma's absence distressed you
Tendo-san."
Soun laughed weakly."Just worried about the heir to the school.
I don't know what I would do if something happened to him."
Nodoka turned to examine a flower arrangement on a nearby table so
that no one would see her grimace. Soun and her husband only seemed
to care about uniting the schools of anything goes. They could
care less about Ranma's feelings, or all the grandchildren that
she wanted. What good was uniting the schools if there was no heir
to carry it into the next generation.
Akane nervously stepped forward."Um, Auntie Nodoka, is it all right
if I stay, too? I know that you said that Ranma's fiances
couldn't come over, but I promise I'll behave." Her eyes silently
plead with the Saotome woman.
To Nodoka's wonder, the girl sounded almost like she cared
about something. Could she want to see Ranma?"Yes dear, I trust
that you'll be on your best behavior." Further conversation was
halted when a sound was heard in the kitchen. Nodoka told everyone
to make themselves comfortable, and raced into her kitchen to
find Genma rading the refridegerator.
Genma's head came into view. He had a piece of chicken clenched in
his teeth, a tub of butter under one arm, and a pack of hot dogs in
the other.
"Genma," Nodoka growled.
In an instant Genma's pilfered goods returned to their resting
places and he was innocently smiling at her from the other side of
the room."Nodoka, so happy to see you. I brought all Ranma's
stuff." He began to whistle tunelessly.
Nodoka shook her head sadly, pointed to the kitchen door, and
followed her sulking husband into the living room. Too her
suprise, Nodoka found a skitish looking Satori standing in the
other doorway. Hmm, if what they said was true, Satori really
had nothing to fear from Akane, so letting it play out wouldn't
hurt anything, except maybe Akane's pride.
Akane was staring at Satori very, very intensely. Her knuckles
were white from clenching her fists so hard and a muscle in her
cheek had begun to twitch. It was obviously taking every bit of
her willpower not to lash out at someone, most likely Satori or
Ranma.
Might as well add a little fuel to the fire."Oh, how rude of me
to neglect the introductions. Satori, these are the Tendos."
She introduced them each by name in order of oldest to
youngest. Then,"Everyone, this is Satori, a friend of Ranma's.
She's going to be staying here for a few days." Bingo. Akane
was beginning to show visible signs of a battle
aura.
"A friend of Ranma's?" Kasumi asked gently."Come have a seat,"
she patted the sofa beside her,"and tell us how you met Ranma."
Maybe Kasumi didn't want Ranma and Akane to marry, either. Or
maybe she even wanted him for herself! She was so proud of her
son.
Satori joined Kasumi and said,"You probably won't believe me."
Oh no, she couldn't tell. It could ruin everything!
"Give it a shot, we're open minded," Nabiki, who up to then had
been silent, said.
"Well, I met Ranma a few days ago when I was practicing in at
empty consrutuction site. I guess the explosions drew his
attention. We talked for a minute, but he had to go to school.
I didn't see him again till today. He saved me from these people
who have been trying to kidnap me. Auntie Nodoka sorta insisted
that I stay here until my parents get back to the country."
Whew, that was close. Nodoka obviously didn't give the girl
enough credit. She had used just enough half truth to make the
little lies believable.
****
Nabiki didn't question Satori's story, even though it was
extremely vague. That part about practicing in the construction
yard and explosions must mean that the girl was either a very
skilled martial artist or a hobby demolitionist, so someone that
Ranma would have to rescue her from would be very strong
indeed. Besides, she could find out all she needed to know
later. Nabiki looked over at her younger sister. Wow, she was
looking really pissed.
The sound of Ranma slowly walking down the stairs drew
everyones attention in much the same way as Satori's arrival had.
"Oh, hey," he said casually."Guess I should have called to say
I wouldn't be coming over or something, heh?"
"Ranma," Akane drew the name out and made it sound like the worst
of curses,"We were worried." The youngest Tendo didn't sound
remotely worried.
Nabiki began to wonder if any of the nearby furniture was
very flammable, because her sister was giving of waves of heat
and anger. Oh great, she obviously had jumped to the tired and
much used 'Ranma must be cheating on me because he's breathing in
the same room as another girl' excuse. Really, it shamed Nabiki
to think that her sister could be so tempermental. Even with
his reputation, Nabiki couldn't see exactly how Akane was stringing
her fiance and Satori together. Oh well, might as well sit back
and watch the show.
****
The only reason that Ranma had come downstairs as early as he had
was because of the fairly large amount of unfocussed chi that
was beginning to permeate the house. It felt distinctly like anger,
so it didn't take three guesses to figure out who the energy
belonged to.
Now Akane was sounding like she wanted to do very unpleasant things
to him, and the entire group had fallen into an uneasy
silence. Although he would admit it was stupid later upon
further thought, Ranma asked,"Hey Akane, you want to go out back
and maybe spar with Satori? What about it Satori?" It didn't
even occur to Ranma that he had just stuck a short and already lit
fuse into the powder keg.
Satori looked relieved just to get away from all the curious
glances and outright open stares being directed at her. She was
so relieved that she too didn't think about the consequences
of agreeing.
****
Akane managed a slight smile and began popping her knuckles. She
had known that Ranma would go out and get himself other girls as
soon as he was living at his own home and wasn't under her
protection. Now she had an opportunity to pound on Ranma's
newest little bimbo, and possibly Ranma himself, with it all
being attributed to 'sparring'.
Akane was the first one out the door.
****
It began to dawn on Satori that she had done something stupid when
she found herself facing off against Akane. From Auntie
Nodoka's stories, Akane was a very emotional martial artist who
tended to take her displeasure out on people around her. Right
now Akane was directing a large amount of displeasure her
way.
"Take it easy on her, Akane. Satori has never had any
formal training," Ranma said from his place on the porch. The look
on Akane's face when Satori kicked her ass was going to be
priceless. She deserved it for even accepting the offer to spar
with Satori. How could you possibly spar against someone who
didn't even know how to fight? Akane, though, chose too ignore
such small inconveniences.
Once it again it must be stated that Ranma wasn't thinking of
the consequences of his actions.
"No training. Take it easy. Right." Then Akane charged.
Satori had been waiting for some signal from Ranma and was preparing
to run away as soon as it was given. She didn't want to
embarass herself in front of Ranma. Unfortunately, it's hard to
say for whom, Satori was totally unprepared for Akane's suprise
attack, so she acted on instinct when Akane lunged at her.
Instinct told her to 'eep' girlishly and throw up her arms to
protect her face. She did this, of course, but at a much higher
speed and with a significantly larger amount of power behind it.
****
Akane's face held a savage intensity as she bore down on Satori.
She wasn't planning on giving the little slut time to cringe.
Would Ranma like his little plaything if its jaw was broken?
Deciding to find out, Akane levelled what would have been a
devastating uppercut at Satori's chin, but at the last
possible instant, an indistinct, blur shot up and, with amazing
force, deflected the blow.
Akane was thrown back onto her rear by its force and was left
clutching her right arm which was bent in a direction that it
shouldn't be able to.
****
Ranma almost interferred when Akane jumped the gun and attacked
Satori with a fury. So much for taking it easy. But then
he remembered that Satori was pretty much invulnerable to
anything Akane could do. He watched as Akane's fist closed on
Satori's jaw, and almost felt sorry for Akane. She was probably
going to break her hand on the Satori's face.
When Satori threw up her arms to block Akane, Ranma had no
trouble seeing the girl's super fast movement, but he was suprised
when the very sloppy block caught Akane on her forearm. His
fiance went down hard, and didn't get up. She sat on the
ground, pitifully holding her broken arm and crying.
****
Akane wasn't crying from the pain of her broken arm, although it
hurt terribly, but from the realization that Ranma had been cheating
on her with Satori. How else could the girl have moved with such
speed when up to the very moment of attack she had looked and
acted like the furtherest thing from a fighter, something Ranma
did regularly? Ranma must have been training her in secret. He
had probably set this whole thing up just to humiliate her. She
turned her head away, unable to look into Ranma's eyes as he picked
her up and carried her into the house. Akane momentarily caught
sight of Satori's face. Were those tears on the girls face? No,
she was only seeing things through her own tear-streaked
eyes.
Ranma carried Akane into the living room and gently laid her in
an empty chair. Kasumi gasped when she saw her sister's arm and
Nabiki turned pale.
"What's wrong?" Soun asked. He stood up and looked over
Ranma's shoulder, seeing Akane's broken arm in the process. Soun
let out a long, almost animal wail, and collapsed at his
daughter's side.
"Jeeze, Tendo, it's just a little broken bone. Nothing to get
so worked up about," Ranma said as he propped the arm up with
some cushions.
Akane was still avoiding looking up, fearful of seeing
Ranma's triumphant face, so she endured Kasumi's gentle mothering
and Nabiki's awkward patting of her shoulder without actually
seeing who was comforting her.
****
In short order, Dr. Tofu, called by Nabiki, arrived. Using
several shiatsu points he deadened feeling in the arm and reset
the bone, filling the room with a disturbing grating sound.
After affixing a temporary splint to the arm, he said,"I'm going
to drive her ahead to my clinic and get x-rays, why don't the rest
of you catch up when you can?"
They all agreed, for one reason or another, and watched as Dr.
Tofu pulled out of the driveway.
****
As soon as the car was out of sight, a red-eyed and weeping
Soun, rounded on Satori."How dare you attack my daughter!" He
screamed.
Ranma recognized a demonhead in the making and came to
Satori's defense."Leave Satori alone, Tendo. She's already
apologized more times than I can count and I told you, Akane
attacked her full out when I told her that Satori wasn't very
skilled. Akane didn't even give Satori time to prepare. It's her
own fault."
Angrily, Soun demanded,"If she's so unskilled, how did she hurt
my little baby?"
"Instead of thinking, Akane just attacked Satori blindly, but
Satori got a lucky block in that hit Akane in just the right
spot," Ranma replied.
Soun's anger was diminishing as he realized that how he was treating
an innocent girl."I'm sorry, Satori, I just can't stand the thought
of my little baby hurt. Wahhhhh!!!" He grabbed onto Genma and
began crying all over his shoulder. Kasumi went over to comfort
him.
Silently, almost forgotten in the wake of recent events,
Nabiki scrutinized Satori and Ranma. The girl was standing
behind Ranma, still crying softly, and hugging herself. To be
expected of an obviously softhearted girl who had just
acidentally broke another girl's arm. Ranma on the other hand,
was behaving in a number of unexpected ways. He was being
assertive against her father, defending another girl, and
most unusually, behaving indifferently to Akane's plight. That
really didn't fit in with any preconceived notions of the young
man. And why in the world would Ranma suggest that Akane and
his latest admirer, who had admitted to having no training
whatsoever, spar together? He had to have known Akane's mood and
how she would react to the opportunity to maim one of her rivals all
in the name of sport. Revelation came in the form of blazing
fireworks and a veritable marching band of mental sensation. How
had she not seen it?! Nabiki slapped her hand to her forehead, a
bit to hard though, bringing about the beginnings of a
headache. Ranma's affection had somehow switched from Akane to
Satori. How though? His devotion to her sister seemed absolute.
He had stuck to her through thick and thin, up and down,
kidnappings and attempted homicide. It didn't seem probable that
his loyalties, always firm before, had altered so dramatically
and become affixed to a normal girl. Satori wasn't a fighter.
That alone should have ruled her out. All the other girls were...
all the other girls were! The answer couldn't be so simple.
But unless Shampoo was up to her old tricks and was messing around
with some magical spice or other, Ranma had fallen for Satori
because she 'wasn't' a fighter. The girl also, from the short
time Nabiki had known her, appeared to be very kind and gentle.
Akane too was mostly a kind and gentle person, that is when she
wasn't around Ranma. Maybe that was why Ranma had made Akane seem
to be the preferred fiance. She didn't throw herself at him, or
try to snag him with honor or duty. But still, to think that
Ranma would choose another girl besides Akane, felt unnatural.
Her attention was drawn back to the scene by Kasumi's words.
"Oh my, we'd better be going Auntie. Father isn't in very good
shape and Nabiki and I should really check on Akane." Turning
to Satori, Kasumi said,"I'm sorry that everyting has turned out
so badly, but we understand that it was an accident." She left
Soun's side and walked over to Satori and embraced her warmly.
"I understand. Go on then, I'm sure Akane would like to be with
her sisters. We'll come and visit, tomorrow perhaps?"
"I'm sure Akane would like that."
****
After they were all gone, Ranma turned to Satori and exclaimed,
"That was great Satori! You really let her have it!"
Nodoka was the only adult present, Genma having been turned loose
in the kitchen, so she was the only witness to Ranma being slapped
very hard by Satori. She winced in sympathy as her son sailed
across the room. He really did deserve that after tricking Satori
into hurting Akane like that. Fortunately for her wall,
Ranma disappeared before hitting it. That was a relief. At the
speed he had been going there was little doubt that Ranma would
have continued on his path through several more houses. Satori
was a very strong girl.
Ranma reappeared instantly across the room with a baffled expression
on his face."What was that for?" he asked.
Satori choked back a sob, and in a blur that Nodoka could
barely follow, rushed up the stairs.
"Son, you don't have any clue what has Satori-chan so upset, do
you?" Ranma was very resilient, she noted, not even having a mark
on his face where Satori had slapped him.
"Uh, no." Ranma knew that he was missing something important,
but couldn't figure out what it was. He couldn't understand why
Satori had hit him or why his mother had that reproving scowl on
her face. It hurt his feelings a bit to be treated by Satori the
same way Akane had.
"Okay son, I can see that this may take a while so why don't we have
a seat." Once they were seated she continued,"You tircked Akane
into sparring with Satori didn't you?"
"I didn't trick her mom, all I did was ask," Ranme replied
defensively.
"But you knew her state of mind and you knew how she would react to
the chance of hurting another girl she felt was close to you?"
Ranma nodded."So you tricked her. Tricking her wasn't all that
bad, even if it did lead to Akane being injured. She's a tough
girl and can deal with a little broken bone. But you tricked
Satori into hurting Akane, do you see?"
"But why should she care if Akane has a broken arm? That's
probably the least of what Akane was planning to do to her."
Nodoka shook her head."Satori isn't in any way violent. She may
now have fantastic abilities that far exceed those of other people,
but the thought of hurting others is very disturbing to her. You
set her up to hurt Akane. Understand yet?" Nodoka was very happy.
Of course she wasn't letting it show on her face, that would
only confuse Ranma. Her son probably hadn't even realized how he
was talking about Akane yet. There was no concern in his voice,
no care, only distaste and contempt.
Okay, he had used Satori to harm Akane. He'd tricked Akane into
trying to hurt Satori so that Satori could hurt her. Slowly
he realized what his mother was saying. Even though he couldn't
see why, Satori was mad at him because he had somehow abused
his friendship with her, or something like that. This was another
of those times where he just had to apologize as sincerely as
possible and hope for the best."Um, I think I'll go apologize
now."
"Do that."
****
Good going Ranma, Chiron commented as Ranma ascended the stairs.
Huh?
You really upset Satori. Shara has been screeaming at me for the
last five minutes telling me how bad a person you are and
generally cursing her existance.
That bad?
Worse. She says that Satori is distraught. Satori can't see why
you tricked her into hurting Akane, even though I think it was
pretty smooth, and is crying her pretty little eyes out right
now.
It was becoming obvious that he had f#%$ed up good this time.I'm on
my way to apologize now.
Well, you better do a good job, because the next time Shara
starts screaming, I'm going to transfer her straight to you. At
least it'll save me a headache or two.
****
Shhhh, calm down, it's all right. Shhhh. He didn't really mean
it, you know how men are, he just didn't think about what he was
doing, that's all, Shara told her host gently. Really she didn't
know how men were and she had no idea whether Ranma had planned
his little stunt or not, but Satori needed to hear some
comforting words or she would cry all night.
"But I broke her arm," Satori sobbed."And Ranma knew that
something like that would happen when he convinced me to spar with
her. I hate him!" She buried her head in a pillow and continued
to sob.
The sound of someone knocking on the door went ignored by Satori,
but Shara was well aware of it. She let Ranma stand at the
door, knocking intermittely, until he started asking Satori to let
him into the room in a pitiful voice. Then she began nagging
Satori. Finally, Satori sat up and rushed over to the door,
unlocked it, and ran back to the bed where she busied herself by
crying some more.
Ranma entered the room and stood at the side of Satori's bed. Damn
it was awkward."Satori, will you listen to me for a minute, please?"
he eventually asked.
Satori ignored him.
This wasn't working all that well. Maybe a different approach."I
know that what I did was stupid and insensitive," that
sounded good,"but I'm sorta dense when it comes to girl things.
I really didn't think breaking Akane's arm would upset you like it
did. Not that I meant for you too do that. All I really wanted
to happen was for her to attack you and realize that she couldn't
hurt you. I figured that it would make her leave you alone since
we're friends and she doesn't really react too well other girls
around me." He floundered around for more, but decided upon
a simple,"I'm really sorry."
Satori gave no indication that she had heard Ranma.
Ranma apologized several more times, but got no response, so, giving
up for the day, he went to report his failure to his mom.
****
Shara felt like screaming. Ranma had really tried to apologize,
but Satori paid no attention. Their relationship was still to new
and fragile to allow this matter to go unresolved. She would have
to do something herself. A few moments of thought brought the birth
of an idea, and a minute of digging around in Satori's memory
the material to carry it out. Within another minute Ranma's
apology was playing repeatedly in Satori's head, along with
various pictures of Ranma that Satori had mentally catalogued.
There, that had to work.
****
Author's notes: Here is the completed chapter 6. I know that it's
not much more that what I posted at first, but some really bad
computer problems have been killing any desire I had to write.
Things are about fixed though, and I should be writing regularly
within a couple of days. Don't worry, the next chapter is gonna have
a lot more action and comedy in it, with a lot less emotional
crap. C&C always welcome. It really helps and the encouragement
might get a chapter out a day faster, ya never know.
dark_phoneix@hotmail.com
"Sasuke, mine enemies surround me, I must discover a solution
and percevere for my loves'. They would be lost without me,"
Kuno ranted as he angrily slashed through several wooden
training dummies with his bokken.
"Yes master, but what can you do?" Sasuke asked nervously.
Apparently the young master had been defeated by another dark
sorcerer. What was the world coming to when a man couldn't turn
his back for fear of being attacked by a dark sorcerer? Poor
master Kuno.
Kuno struck a pose with his bokken held high."There must be a way
for the Mighty Blue Thunder to best his vile opposers!" Several
minutes passed as Kuno and Sasuke stood among the graveyard
of destroyed dummies. Finally Kuno proclaimed,"I have discovered
the solution, my faithful servant."
"The young master is wise beyond his years," Sasuke assured
Kuno.
And so Kuno began a long and colorful description of his plan. By
the time it was over, Sasuke was visibly shaking and tears were
leaking down his face. Oh how brave the master was.
****
"Ranma, the Tendos are here!" Nodoka called from the bottom of
the stairs.
Nodoka turned back to the Tendos and beckoned them inside."You're
all looking well. I'm sorry if Ranma's absence distressed you
Tendo-san."
Soun laughed weakly."Just worried about the heir to the school.
I don't know what I would do if something happened to him."
Nodoka turned to examine a flower arrangement on a nearby table so
that no one would see her grimace. Soun and her husband only seemed
to care about uniting the schools of anything goes. They could
care less about Ranma's feelings, or all the grandchildren that
she wanted. What good was uniting the schools if there was no heir
to carry it into the next generation.
Akane nervously stepped forward."Um, Auntie Nodoka, is it all right
if I stay, too? I know that you said that Ranma's fiances
couldn't come over, but I promise I'll behave." Her eyes silently
plead with the Saotome woman.
To Nodoka's wonder, the girl sounded almost like she cared
about something. Could she want to see Ranma?"Yes dear, I trust
that you'll be on your best behavior." Further conversation was
halted when a sound was heard in the kitchen. Nodoka told everyone
to make themselves comfortable, and raced into her kitchen to
find Genma rading the refridegerator.
Genma's head came into view. He had a piece of chicken clenched in
his teeth, a tub of butter under one arm, and a pack of hot dogs in
the other.
"Genma," Nodoka growled.
In an instant Genma's pilfered goods returned to their resting
places and he was innocently smiling at her from the other side of
the room."Nodoka, so happy to see you. I brought all Ranma's
stuff." He began to whistle tunelessly.
Nodoka shook her head sadly, pointed to the kitchen door, and
followed her sulking husband into the living room. Too her
suprise, Nodoka found a skitish looking Satori standing in the
other doorway. Hmm, if what they said was true, Satori really
had nothing to fear from Akane, so letting it play out wouldn't
hurt anything, except maybe Akane's pride.
Akane was staring at Satori very, very intensely. Her knuckles
were white from clenching her fists so hard and a muscle in her
cheek had begun to twitch. It was obviously taking every bit of
her willpower not to lash out at someone, most likely Satori or
Ranma.
Might as well add a little fuel to the fire."Oh, how rude of me
to neglect the introductions. Satori, these are the Tendos."
She introduced them each by name in order of oldest to
youngest. Then,"Everyone, this is Satori, a friend of Ranma's.
She's going to be staying here for a few days." Bingo. Akane
was beginning to show visible signs of a battle
aura.
"A friend of Ranma's?" Kasumi asked gently."Come have a seat,"
she patted the sofa beside her,"and tell us how you met Ranma."
Maybe Kasumi didn't want Ranma and Akane to marry, either. Or
maybe she even wanted him for herself! She was so proud of her
son.
Satori joined Kasumi and said,"You probably won't believe me."
Oh no, she couldn't tell. It could ruin everything!
"Give it a shot, we're open minded," Nabiki, who up to then had
been silent, said.
"Well, I met Ranma a few days ago when I was practicing in at
empty consrutuction site. I guess the explosions drew his
attention. We talked for a minute, but he had to go to school.
I didn't see him again till today. He saved me from these people
who have been trying to kidnap me. Auntie Nodoka sorta insisted
that I stay here until my parents get back to the country."
Whew, that was close. Nodoka obviously didn't give the girl
enough credit. She had used just enough half truth to make the
little lies believable.
****
Nabiki didn't question Satori's story, even though it was
extremely vague. That part about practicing in the construction
yard and explosions must mean that the girl was either a very
skilled martial artist or a hobby demolitionist, so someone that
Ranma would have to rescue her from would be very strong
indeed. Besides, she could find out all she needed to know
later. Nabiki looked over at her younger sister. Wow, she was
looking really pissed.
The sound of Ranma slowly walking down the stairs drew
everyones attention in much the same way as Satori's arrival had.
"Oh, hey," he said casually."Guess I should have called to say
I wouldn't be coming over or something, heh?"
"Ranma," Akane drew the name out and made it sound like the worst
of curses,"We were worried." The youngest Tendo didn't sound
remotely worried.
Nabiki began to wonder if any of the nearby furniture was
very flammable, because her sister was giving of waves of heat
and anger. Oh great, she obviously had jumped to the tired and
much used 'Ranma must be cheating on me because he's breathing in
the same room as another girl' excuse. Really, it shamed Nabiki
to think that her sister could be so tempermental. Even with
his reputation, Nabiki couldn't see exactly how Akane was stringing
her fiance and Satori together. Oh well, might as well sit back
and watch the show.
****
The only reason that Ranma had come downstairs as early as he had
was because of the fairly large amount of unfocussed chi that
was beginning to permeate the house. It felt distinctly like anger,
so it didn't take three guesses to figure out who the energy
belonged to.
Now Akane was sounding like she wanted to do very unpleasant things
to him, and the entire group had fallen into an uneasy
silence. Although he would admit it was stupid later upon
further thought, Ranma asked,"Hey Akane, you want to go out back
and maybe spar with Satori? What about it Satori?" It didn't
even occur to Ranma that he had just stuck a short and already lit
fuse into the powder keg.
Satori looked relieved just to get away from all the curious
glances and outright open stares being directed at her. She was
so relieved that she too didn't think about the consequences
of agreeing.
****
Akane managed a slight smile and began popping her knuckles. She
had known that Ranma would go out and get himself other girls as
soon as he was living at his own home and wasn't under her
protection. Now she had an opportunity to pound on Ranma's
newest little bimbo, and possibly Ranma himself, with it all
being attributed to 'sparring'.
Akane was the first one out the door.
****
It began to dawn on Satori that she had done something stupid when
she found herself facing off against Akane. From Auntie
Nodoka's stories, Akane was a very emotional martial artist who
tended to take her displeasure out on people around her. Right
now Akane was directing a large amount of displeasure her
way.
"Take it easy on her, Akane. Satori has never had any
formal training," Ranma said from his place on the porch. The look
on Akane's face when Satori kicked her ass was going to be
priceless. She deserved it for even accepting the offer to spar
with Satori. How could you possibly spar against someone who
didn't even know how to fight? Akane, though, chose too ignore
such small inconveniences.
Once it again it must be stated that Ranma wasn't thinking of
the consequences of his actions.
"No training. Take it easy. Right." Then Akane charged.
Satori had been waiting for some signal from Ranma and was preparing
to run away as soon as it was given. She didn't want to
embarass herself in front of Ranma. Unfortunately, it's hard to
say for whom, Satori was totally unprepared for Akane's suprise
attack, so she acted on instinct when Akane lunged at her.
Instinct told her to 'eep' girlishly and throw up her arms to
protect her face. She did this, of course, but at a much higher
speed and with a significantly larger amount of power behind it.
****
Akane's face held a savage intensity as she bore down on Satori.
She wasn't planning on giving the little slut time to cringe.
Would Ranma like his little plaything if its jaw was broken?
Deciding to find out, Akane levelled what would have been a
devastating uppercut at Satori's chin, but at the last
possible instant, an indistinct, blur shot up and, with amazing
force, deflected the blow.
Akane was thrown back onto her rear by its force and was left
clutching her right arm which was bent in a direction that it
shouldn't be able to.
****
Ranma almost interferred when Akane jumped the gun and attacked
Satori with a fury. So much for taking it easy. But then
he remembered that Satori was pretty much invulnerable to
anything Akane could do. He watched as Akane's fist closed on
Satori's jaw, and almost felt sorry for Akane. She was probably
going to break her hand on the Satori's face.
When Satori threw up her arms to block Akane, Ranma had no
trouble seeing the girl's super fast movement, but he was suprised
when the very sloppy block caught Akane on her forearm. His
fiance went down hard, and didn't get up. She sat on the
ground, pitifully holding her broken arm and crying.
****
Akane wasn't crying from the pain of her broken arm, although it
hurt terribly, but from the realization that Ranma had been cheating
on her with Satori. How else could the girl have moved with such
speed when up to the very moment of attack she had looked and
acted like the furtherest thing from a fighter, something Ranma
did regularly? Ranma must have been training her in secret. He
had probably set this whole thing up just to humiliate her. She
turned her head away, unable to look into Ranma's eyes as he picked
her up and carried her into the house. Akane momentarily caught
sight of Satori's face. Were those tears on the girls face? No,
she was only seeing things through her own tear-streaked
eyes.
Ranma carried Akane into the living room and gently laid her in
an empty chair. Kasumi gasped when she saw her sister's arm and
Nabiki turned pale.
"What's wrong?" Soun asked. He stood up and looked over
Ranma's shoulder, seeing Akane's broken arm in the process. Soun
let out a long, almost animal wail, and collapsed at his
daughter's side.
"Jeeze, Tendo, it's just a little broken bone. Nothing to get
so worked up about," Ranma said as he propped the arm up with
some cushions.
Akane was still avoiding looking up, fearful of seeing
Ranma's triumphant face, so she endured Kasumi's gentle mothering
and Nabiki's awkward patting of her shoulder without actually
seeing who was comforting her.
****
In short order, Dr. Tofu, called by Nabiki, arrived. Using
several shiatsu points he deadened feeling in the arm and reset
the bone, filling the room with a disturbing grating sound.
After affixing a temporary splint to the arm, he said,"I'm going
to drive her ahead to my clinic and get x-rays, why don't the rest
of you catch up when you can?"
They all agreed, for one reason or another, and watched as Dr.
Tofu pulled out of the driveway.
****
As soon as the car was out of sight, a red-eyed and weeping
Soun, rounded on Satori."How dare you attack my daughter!" He
screamed.
Ranma recognized a demonhead in the making and came to
Satori's defense."Leave Satori alone, Tendo. She's already
apologized more times than I can count and I told you, Akane
attacked her full out when I told her that Satori wasn't very
skilled. Akane didn't even give Satori time to prepare. It's her
own fault."
Angrily, Soun demanded,"If she's so unskilled, how did she hurt
my little baby?"
"Instead of thinking, Akane just attacked Satori blindly, but
Satori got a lucky block in that hit Akane in just the right
spot," Ranma replied.
Soun's anger was diminishing as he realized that how he was treating
an innocent girl."I'm sorry, Satori, I just can't stand the thought
of my little baby hurt. Wahhhhh!!!" He grabbed onto Genma and
began crying all over his shoulder. Kasumi went over to comfort
him.
Silently, almost forgotten in the wake of recent events,
Nabiki scrutinized Satori and Ranma. The girl was standing
behind Ranma, still crying softly, and hugging herself. To be
expected of an obviously softhearted girl who had just
acidentally broke another girl's arm. Ranma on the other hand,
was behaving in a number of unexpected ways. He was being
assertive against her father, defending another girl, and
most unusually, behaving indifferently to Akane's plight. That
really didn't fit in with any preconceived notions of the young
man. And why in the world would Ranma suggest that Akane and
his latest admirer, who had admitted to having no training
whatsoever, spar together? He had to have known Akane's mood and
how she would react to the opportunity to maim one of her rivals all
in the name of sport. Revelation came in the form of blazing
fireworks and a veritable marching band of mental sensation. How
had she not seen it?! Nabiki slapped her hand to her forehead, a
bit to hard though, bringing about the beginnings of a
headache. Ranma's affection had somehow switched from Akane to
Satori. How though? His devotion to her sister seemed absolute.
He had stuck to her through thick and thin, up and down,
kidnappings and attempted homicide. It didn't seem probable that
his loyalties, always firm before, had altered so dramatically
and become affixed to a normal girl. Satori wasn't a fighter.
That alone should have ruled her out. All the other girls were...
all the other girls were! The answer couldn't be so simple.
But unless Shampoo was up to her old tricks and was messing around
with some magical spice or other, Ranma had fallen for Satori
because she 'wasn't' a fighter. The girl also, from the short
time Nabiki had known her, appeared to be very kind and gentle.
Akane too was mostly a kind and gentle person, that is when she
wasn't around Ranma. Maybe that was why Ranma had made Akane seem
to be the preferred fiance. She didn't throw herself at him, or
try to snag him with honor or duty. But still, to think that
Ranma would choose another girl besides Akane, felt unnatural.
Her attention was drawn back to the scene by Kasumi's words.
"Oh my, we'd better be going Auntie. Father isn't in very good
shape and Nabiki and I should really check on Akane." Turning
to Satori, Kasumi said,"I'm sorry that everyting has turned out
so badly, but we understand that it was an accident." She left
Soun's side and walked over to Satori and embraced her warmly.
"I understand. Go on then, I'm sure Akane would like to be with
her sisters. We'll come and visit, tomorrow perhaps?"
"I'm sure Akane would like that."
****
After they were all gone, Ranma turned to Satori and exclaimed,
"That was great Satori! You really let her have it!"
Nodoka was the only adult present, Genma having been turned loose
in the kitchen, so she was the only witness to Ranma being slapped
very hard by Satori. She winced in sympathy as her son sailed
across the room. He really did deserve that after tricking Satori
into hurting Akane like that. Fortunately for her wall,
Ranma disappeared before hitting it. That was a relief. At the
speed he had been going there was little doubt that Ranma would
have continued on his path through several more houses. Satori
was a very strong girl.
Ranma reappeared instantly across the room with a baffled expression
on his face."What was that for?" he asked.
Satori choked back a sob, and in a blur that Nodoka could
barely follow, rushed up the stairs.
"Son, you don't have any clue what has Satori-chan so upset, do
you?" Ranma was very resilient, she noted, not even having a mark
on his face where Satori had slapped him.
"Uh, no." Ranma knew that he was missing something important,
but couldn't figure out what it was. He couldn't understand why
Satori had hit him or why his mother had that reproving scowl on
her face. It hurt his feelings a bit to be treated by Satori the
same way Akane had.
"Okay son, I can see that this may take a while so why don't we have
a seat." Once they were seated she continued,"You tircked Akane
into sparring with Satori didn't you?"
"I didn't trick her mom, all I did was ask," Ranme replied
defensively.
"But you knew her state of mind and you knew how she would react to
the chance of hurting another girl she felt was close to you?"
Ranma nodded."So you tricked her. Tricking her wasn't all that
bad, even if it did lead to Akane being injured. She's a tough
girl and can deal with a little broken bone. But you tricked
Satori into hurting Akane, do you see?"
"But why should she care if Akane has a broken arm? That's
probably the least of what Akane was planning to do to her."
Nodoka shook her head."Satori isn't in any way violent. She may
now have fantastic abilities that far exceed those of other people,
but the thought of hurting others is very disturbing to her. You
set her up to hurt Akane. Understand yet?" Nodoka was very happy.
Of course she wasn't letting it show on her face, that would
only confuse Ranma. Her son probably hadn't even realized how he
was talking about Akane yet. There was no concern in his voice,
no care, only distaste and contempt.
Okay, he had used Satori to harm Akane. He'd tricked Akane into
trying to hurt Satori so that Satori could hurt her. Slowly
he realized what his mother was saying. Even though he couldn't
see why, Satori was mad at him because he had somehow abused
his friendship with her, or something like that. This was another
of those times where he just had to apologize as sincerely as
possible and hope for the best."Um, I think I'll go apologize
now."
"Do that."
****
Good going Ranma, Chiron commented as Ranma ascended the stairs.
Huh?
You really upset Satori. Shara has been screeaming at me for the
last five minutes telling me how bad a person you are and
generally cursing her existance.
That bad?
Worse. She says that Satori is distraught. Satori can't see why
you tricked her into hurting Akane, even though I think it was
pretty smooth, and is crying her pretty little eyes out right
now.
It was becoming obvious that he had f#%$ed up good this time.I'm on
my way to apologize now.
Well, you better do a good job, because the next time Shara
starts screaming, I'm going to transfer her straight to you. At
least it'll save me a headache or two.
****
Shhhh, calm down, it's all right. Shhhh. He didn't really mean
it, you know how men are, he just didn't think about what he was
doing, that's all, Shara told her host gently. Really she didn't
know how men were and she had no idea whether Ranma had planned
his little stunt or not, but Satori needed to hear some
comforting words or she would cry all night.
"But I broke her arm," Satori sobbed."And Ranma knew that
something like that would happen when he convinced me to spar with
her. I hate him!" She buried her head in a pillow and continued
to sob.
The sound of someone knocking on the door went ignored by Satori,
but Shara was well aware of it. She let Ranma stand at the
door, knocking intermittely, until he started asking Satori to let
him into the room in a pitiful voice. Then she began nagging
Satori. Finally, Satori sat up and rushed over to the door,
unlocked it, and ran back to the bed where she busied herself by
crying some more.
Ranma entered the room and stood at the side of Satori's bed. Damn
it was awkward."Satori, will you listen to me for a minute, please?"
he eventually asked.
Satori ignored him.
This wasn't working all that well. Maybe a different approach."I
know that what I did was stupid and insensitive," that
sounded good,"but I'm sorta dense when it comes to girl things.
I really didn't think breaking Akane's arm would upset you like it
did. Not that I meant for you too do that. All I really wanted
to happen was for her to attack you and realize that she couldn't
hurt you. I figured that it would make her leave you alone since
we're friends and she doesn't really react too well other girls
around me." He floundered around for more, but decided upon
a simple,"I'm really sorry."
Satori gave no indication that she had heard Ranma.
Ranma apologized several more times, but got no response, so, giving
up for the day, he went to report his failure to his mom.
****
Shara felt like screaming. Ranma had really tried to apologize,
but Satori paid no attention. Their relationship was still to new
and fragile to allow this matter to go unresolved. She would have
to do something herself. A few moments of thought brought the birth
of an idea, and a minute of digging around in Satori's memory
the material to carry it out. Within another minute Ranma's
apology was playing repeatedly in Satori's head, along with
various pictures of Ranma that Satori had mentally catalogued.
There, that had to work.
****
Author's notes: Here is the completed chapter 6. I know that it's
not much more that what I posted at first, but some really bad
computer problems have been killing any desire I had to write.
Things are about fixed though, and I should be writing regularly
within a couple of days. Don't worry, the next chapter is gonna have
a lot more action and comedy in it, with a lot less emotional
crap. C&C always welcome. It really helps and the encouragement
might get a chapter out a day faster, ya never know.
dark_phoneix@hotmail.com