Legal: The characters of Ranma ½ were created by the great Rumiko Takahashi.
I am using them without permission, hopefully for the purpose of entertaining someone. If anyone who has a right to sue me has that desire, I have almost no money.
C&C is appreciated, you can contact me at brenda02@sprynet.com. And if you want to see the earlier parts of this and my other stories, you can find them at http://home.sprynet.com/~brenda02/Keith/Animeff.htm
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A Ranma ½ Fanfict
Surreal Genius
By Brendan O'Donnell
Part three
Ranma and Akane walked to school together the next day. About a block from the school Ranma asked "Do you want some help today?"
"I can handle them myself!" she said angrily.
"I know that. It's no crime to ask for help, though."
Akane paused and looked at Ranma. With a slight smile she replied "Thanks for worrying, but if I can't handle them I'll know it's time to worry." She began her final acceleration toward the school.
Ranma kept himself exactly five feet behind her until she took out the last of her admirer's.
"I told you I don't need any help!" she said to Ranma with a scowl.
"I know that, which is why I didn't do anything."
"What were you doing then!"
"Watching the fight," he responded calmly. "Just watching and dodging."
"Humph!" She paused and looked around. "Hmm, Kuno usually shows up around now. Maybe he's finally given up on me," she said with a hopeful voice. Then she added "Probably not."
On the roof Tatewaki Kuno stood, looking at the crowd of students entering the building and asking himself "Whither the pigtailed girl?"
"So, I hear you're interested in that girl who kicked your butt yesterday," Nabiki said as she sat on Kuno's desk looking at him over his lunch.
"Nabiki Tendo, you should have a care not to trifle with me."
Nabiki had known Kuno for many years, and thus she knew when he was saying something worth listening to. These were rare occasions, and this was not one of them. "Red hair tied in a pigtail, about Akane's height, same clothes as Ranma. Sound familiar?"
Kuno handed her a small envelope and said, "I only need you to deliver this for me. If she thinks she can beat me and have it end she thinks wrongly indeed." With this he began laughing, not noticing the stares coming from everyone else in the room.
Ranma skimmed through Kuno's letter. It took pieces from great poetry and mixed them into a second rate piece. Filtering out this there was a message asking "The pigtailed girl" to meet Kuno outside the school that evening.
"Sounds like a formal challenge," Akane said, a worried expression on her face.
"Kuno's a real sore looser," Nabiki added.
"Well, a few months ago Kuno'd be a cause for worry but I'd say I've got a considerable edge now myself," Ranma responded. Then he sighed and added "Unfortunately I've got to meet someone so I can't be there," He said, slipping a black tie through the collar of the button down shirt he was wearing.
"Got a date?" asked Nabiki with a grin.
"Nothing of the kind," Ranma responded. "I just have to meet with a guy I know at the Museum." He paused and thought a moment. "That might not be a bad idea though." He pulled out a piece of paper and a ball-point pen and started writing.
"What? . . ." asked Akane, but Ranma raised a hand and she listened as Ranma dictated the letter he was writing.
"'Dear Kuno;
I am willing and ready to accept your challenge, however I cannot make your chosen time as have a date planned and cannot justify breaking it to fight a pompous idiot like you. I will meet you after school tomorrow instead. And I ask that after I beat you, you end your harassment of my friend Akane.'"
"Kuno'll REALLY be out for blood when he reads that," said Nabiki.
"Nothing I can't handle," responded Ranma as he folded and sealed the letter. "Uh, could you deliver this for me? I really do have that meeting to attend."
Nabiki smirked slightly "The look on Kuno's face when he sees this should be priceless. For that plus five hundred yen you've got yourself a messenger."
"Hi Nabiki!" said Noriko as the middle Tendo sister walked into the room.
When Ranma's true nature had been revealed Kasumi had requested that one of her sisters share their room with Noriko, and Akane had used it as a means to avenge Nabiki's decision to push for her engagement to Ranma.
*Not all that effective revenge,* Nabiki thought to herself as she smiled at her young roommate. She might share Akane's love for martial arts, and she might have Ranma's strong sense of honor, but she had a devious streak that Nabiki could really relate to. "Hi Noriko! How was school today?"
Noriko giggled slightly. "Pretty good. No one tried to challenge me, but I learned that the girl who sat next to me had a crush on a guy in the next class up." Noriko cheerfully describe in precise detail the scheme she had planed and implemented which ended with the pair locked in a closet together for a solid hour. "Of course she was too shy to take advantage of the opportunity, but she ought to do better next time."
Nabiki laughed at Noriko's matchmaking attempt. *Ah to be young again. I can't believe I just thought that!* "By the way your brother mentioned that you're a bit of a photographer."
"Well, I loved playing around with the Polaroid when I was young; so mom got me a more sophisticated camera, and Oniichan helped me build and use a darkroom."
"Wow! You must be pretty good!"
Blushing slightly Noriko responded "Well, adequate."
"Hmm, say have you taken any pictures of your brother since he got that curse? I'll bet it's a really strange subject."
"Your not kidding," Noriko replied. She pulled a photographic album from one of her bags. "I've started a whole portfolio on it."
"Ranma, time for school!" Akane opened the door to Ranma's room and looked in to see nothing to tell it had a guest except for the peripheral equipment for Ranma's laptop on the desk.
"He already left," Nabiki said as she walked past her sister.
"Oh," Akane replied and the two sisters started toward the high school.
"Stupid jerks," Ranma muttered to himself as he looked over the prone forms groaning in pain before him.
"RANMA!" came a loud voice from the gate. Looking up he saw Akane running toward him with a angry expression on her face.
*Ah yes, the pride of a martial artist. Still seeing all these guy's thinking that they could win love with their fists really turns my stomach,* Ranma thought as he turned to face Akane.
"I told you I don't need your help!" Akane shouted.
"So you enjoy beating these guy's up every morning?"
"OF COURSE NOT!!" Akane screamed. In a quieter but still anger filled voice she added "I fight my own battles Ranma, I don't want or need you to fight for me!"
"I wasn't fighting for you, I was just trying to explain to these guy's that it this morning battle was intrinsically wrong and they took offense." Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "I don't like to start fights, but I always finish them."
Akane looked around, sighed slightly, and with a grined. "Well, it is nice to get a break from always having to fight them. Just don't do it again." Akane started her walk to class.
Ranma walked in next to her "Hey, It's your fight so it's your business. I just . . ."
Ranma's statement was cut off as Kuno stepped in front of the pair a rage filled expression on his face. "Ranma Saotome . . . Tell me now!" he screamed as he raised his boken in a menacing manner.
"Tell you what?" Ranma asked in an unmenaced tone.
"Where was the Pigtailed girl this past night! I know her absence was somehow linked to you!"
"Ask her yourself after class," Ranma responded. "I have an aversion to being late."
"NO! You shall URK!" Kuno's response was interrupted as Ranma stepped up to him and punched him. At least it looked like a single punch to the observers, Akane saw something strange about the form.
Kuno fell to the ground unconscious and Nabiki walked up to look him over. "Wow, How many times did you hit him?" she commented as she saw the marks from Ranma's fist covering Kuno's upper body.
"150, I'm still working on the technique," Ranma replied. "It's one of the reasons we extended our stay in China for a month and a half after Jusenkyo."
Nabiki dragged Kuno into the Nurses office and put him onto one of the beds. "Face facts, Kuno-chan, you're totally outclassed."
Kuno opened his eyes, sat up, and made a two armed grasping motion at the air in front of him while saying "Oh Pigtailed Girl My love for you is pure and true." He then collapsed back to unconsciousness.
Nabiki looked down at Kuno.
Once again Kuno rose to a seated position, this time saying "Akane I love you as I love no other." Once again he collapsed.
Nabiki folded her arms across her chest and looked on her eyes half closed.
Kuno sat up and looked at her saying "Pigtailed girl I wish nothing more than to date with you!" Collapse. Rise "Akane please let me date with you."
Nabiki got up and walked away. *What a moron. Hmm, a rich moron though.* She looked back and glanced at him with a half grin on her face.
"So Kuno, I understand you're interested in that Pigtailed girl?" Nabiki said as she pulled her seat up by his desk at lunch time.
Kuno looked at her and responded, "Trifle not with me Nabiki Tendo, I shall meet with her after classes and reveal my love to her and the whole world."
Nabiki took out a small packet of pictures one she had made using some of the Negatives from Noriko's portfolio. Looking them over she said "Yeah, going by these photos I can definitely see your interest in her."
"Photos!?" Kuno said leaning forward to look.
Nabiki put the five pictures down on the desk and spread them like cards. "If you're interested they're a thousand yen each."
Kuno was devoting all his attention to studying the pictures. Most of them were of Ranma's female form at various places in China, except for one showing Ranma after Kasumi had accidentally sprayed her in the Tendo's garden. The water on her tank top made it plainly visible that she wasn't wearing a Bra. Indeed the thing all the pictures had in common was their depiction of Ranma's slow reaction to a situation that would have provoked instant embarrassment from any true woman.
"So are you interested?" Nabiki asked.
"The heavens themselves would balk at the price you state," Kuno responded.
"Oh, you don't want them then?"
Kuno handed her five 1000 yen bills and said "I'll take them all."
Nabiki counted his money and commented "Well, you're giving up on Akane then?"
"I said no such thing."
"Ah, so you'll be two timing her then?" responded Nabiki with a neutral expression on her face.
"I mean nothing of the sort. Akane is filled with a beauty of grace and dignity, while the pigtailed girl's vitality and innocence is a gift from the heavens themselves. They are both so dear to me that I cannot part with either. Is it deception for me to openly pursue them both?"
"Nope, it's called two-timing," responded Nabiki with a grin. She pulled out a set of Polaroid's. "How about some of Akane to even out your collection? A thousand yen each." She put the Polaroid's on the desk. These were of Akane during her training sessions.
"Sold."
As the school day ended, Ranma walked behind the tree with a cup of cold water he had filled in the fountain. Emerging in her newer body she walked to her meeting with Kuno in the front courtyard.
Ranma stood in the courtyard with a bored look on her face. She glanced back at where Akane and Nabiki were standing by the wall. She looked forward and saw Kuno approaching. *Hmm, didn't feel him there, he must be better at hiding his hostility than I thought.* Ranma began looking him over in analysis to prepare for the fight.
"Pigtailed girl," Kuno began. "This past evening your rejection of my invitation hurt me greatly. I am here now to honor your own summons."
"I've got things to do, so let's get started," Ranma said in a bored tone.
"I am not here to challenge you," Kuno stated.
Ranma looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"Rather I am here to give you this!" Kuno cried, tossing something at Ranma.
Ranma easily caught the bouquet of red roses. She looked at them, recalled some of the times she had been hit on in her female body and fought down a sense of nausea.
"Pig tailed girl, I love you," Kuno said.
Ranma threw the bouquet away. She turned and walked out the gate. Pausing she called back to Kuno, "You're an egotistical jerk and I have no interest in you!" Pulling a thermos from her backpack she stepped round the corner.
Kuno blinked a moment, then ran after her shouting "My love! Your devotion to the one you were once with is a noble thing, but how could you have known that you would find true love in me! You must not hide these feelings . . ." Kuno rounded the corner, and caught up to the wet haired figure in the pig tailed girls clothes. He moved to embrace Ranma, and was met with a fist in his face.
"Back off Kuno!"
"Ranma Saotome! You . . . What hold have you on the beauteous pig tailed girl! It is you who forced her to reject her true feelings toward me! Now . . ."
"Quit it Kuno!" Ranma responded, glancing at the kendoist in annoyance. "She's not your concern." Ranma picked up his pace, and walked round the corner of the wall surrounding the school. "Hey!" he screamed as a passing car splashed him with water from a puddle in the street.
Kuno ran around the corner and saw Ranma. She was grasping the edge of her shirt and wringing some of the water from it. Kuno ran up and grabbed her. "MY LOVE! I have found you again!"
"BUZZ OFF!!" Ranma responded, punctuating her statement with a ferocious kick, knocking Kuno back into the street. Pulling out his thermos Ranma upended it, dumping the rest of the hot water onto his head.
"My . . . Ranma?" Kuno said as he halted his next charge. He stared at Ranma a moment.
"Well, I guess you've got questions," Ranma said as he closed his eyes and focused on his breathing in an effort to purge his anger from himself.
"I have but one question, Ranma Saotome," Kuno responded, pulling his boken from the same place other folk store hammers. "Where have you hidden the pigtailed girl!?"
Ranma stared at Kuno in shock. "Kuno, THERE IS NO PIGTAILED GIRL!! She's just a temporary thumaturgical aberration, brought on by Jusenkyo's Nyanichuan! Nothing but the manifestation of a curse I have. Is that clear?" *How stupid is this jerk?*
"Silence, vile sorcerer! You clearly have some form of magic control over her but I shall smite you and rescue her from your unwholesome clutches." Kuno lashed out at Ranma, who dodged the attack and kicked Kuno in the chest, knocking him backward. From his top fluttered the photo's he had purchased that morning. Ranma grabbed one.
His eyes widened at the sight of his female form, wringing out the top of her red shirt in China. The angle made it very clear that she wore no bra.
Kuno stepped forward. "An opening!" he said as he slashed at Ranma again, this time connecting with the martial artist's side.
The pain of the hit pulled Ranma's attention back to the fight. He avoided another slash, and leaped backward, landing by the corner. He looked to his side and saw Akane and Nabiki arrive. "Hi!" he said, displacing his pain through long practice.
"Ranma, just so you know, Kuno's really hard to beat when he's this mad. You have to pay more attention," Akane said.
"No problem," Ranma responded, walking forward to meet Kuno's own slow advance.
"And now it ends," Kuno stated, a look of confidence on his face.
Ranma looked at Kuno, waiting to see what he felt so confident about.
Kuno took one more step forward, bringing Ranma into range of his strikes.
Ranma focused his attention on dodging the flurry of straight thrusts Kuno was striking at him. The technique was noticeably slower that the chestnut plucking technique he had been studying the past two months. However thanks to the heavier sword, the thrusts had to pack dramatically more power. Hearing a crack behind him, he glanced back and saw that he was right, the air pressure generated by the strikes was cracking in the wall. Ranma focused his attention back to Kuno, feeling for the rhythm of the attack.
Kuno was drawing on the full strength of his rage. He had been drawing on the rage since the moment the fight began, and it was what enabled him to maintain this strongest attack longer than he had ever maintained it before. *You WILL fall before me!* Kuno thought, being to focused on attacking to voice the sentiment. Then he saw a foot pass before his face, and realized that Ranma had somehow penetrated his technique.
Ranma had acted as soon as he was sure he had the rhythm right, swinging his right foot along an arc just in front of Kuno, and using his other leg to push himself off into a leap as his first reached Kuno's face. He landed by Akane his back to Kuno. Glancing over his shoulder he said, "You loose Kuno."
"Address me as uppercla . . ." was all Kuno had time to say before he collapsed.
Ranma walked over and picked up the rest of the photos, pausing to quickly search Kuno's shirt for the rest.
"Well, I guess you've got fast feet too," commented Nabiki as she looked at the footprints from Ranma's kicks up Kuno's upper body.
"I told you I had a significant edge against him," Ranma responded with a shrug.
"But you took a hit too," Akane commented.
"Oh it hurts, but I can handle it," Ranma responded calmly.
"Well what distracted you so much anyway?"
Ranma handed her a set of Polaroid's of her. *He got distracted because of me . . . HEY WHY WAS HE???!!!* "What were you doing with these Photo's of me!?"
"Kuno dropped them during the fight. These too," he added handing her the pictures of his own female form.
Akane looked at the pictures, then turned her attention to her sister. "NABIKI!"
"Hey, you can't blame a girl for making a little cash, can you?"
Akane glared at her sister for a moment then turned away in anger. Ranma looked between the two of them and asked "Uh, do either of you know a good doctor in the neighborhood? Mom's pretty good at patching me and dad up, but it's still good to know where a professional is."
Akane glanced at him and grinned. "Come on!" she said, starting off at a slow jog which Ranma easily kept pace with.
I am using them without permission, hopefully for the purpose of entertaining someone. If anyone who has a right to sue me has that desire, I have almost no money.
C&C is appreciated, you can contact me at brenda02@sprynet.com. And if you want to see the earlier parts of this and my other stories, you can find them at http://home.sprynet.com/~brenda02/Keith/Animeff.htm
--------
A Ranma ½ Fanfict
Surreal Genius
By Brendan O'Donnell
Part three
Ranma and Akane walked to school together the next day. About a block from the school Ranma asked "Do you want some help today?"
"I can handle them myself!" she said angrily.
"I know that. It's no crime to ask for help, though."
Akane paused and looked at Ranma. With a slight smile she replied "Thanks for worrying, but if I can't handle them I'll know it's time to worry." She began her final acceleration toward the school.
Ranma kept himself exactly five feet behind her until she took out the last of her admirer's.
"I told you I don't need any help!" she said to Ranma with a scowl.
"I know that, which is why I didn't do anything."
"What were you doing then!"
"Watching the fight," he responded calmly. "Just watching and dodging."
"Humph!" She paused and looked around. "Hmm, Kuno usually shows up around now. Maybe he's finally given up on me," she said with a hopeful voice. Then she added "Probably not."
On the roof Tatewaki Kuno stood, looking at the crowd of students entering the building and asking himself "Whither the pigtailed girl?"
"So, I hear you're interested in that girl who kicked your butt yesterday," Nabiki said as she sat on Kuno's desk looking at him over his lunch.
"Nabiki Tendo, you should have a care not to trifle with me."
Nabiki had known Kuno for many years, and thus she knew when he was saying something worth listening to. These were rare occasions, and this was not one of them. "Red hair tied in a pigtail, about Akane's height, same clothes as Ranma. Sound familiar?"
Kuno handed her a small envelope and said, "I only need you to deliver this for me. If she thinks she can beat me and have it end she thinks wrongly indeed." With this he began laughing, not noticing the stares coming from everyone else in the room.
Ranma skimmed through Kuno's letter. It took pieces from great poetry and mixed them into a second rate piece. Filtering out this there was a message asking "The pigtailed girl" to meet Kuno outside the school that evening.
"Sounds like a formal challenge," Akane said, a worried expression on her face.
"Kuno's a real sore looser," Nabiki added.
"Well, a few months ago Kuno'd be a cause for worry but I'd say I've got a considerable edge now myself," Ranma responded. Then he sighed and added "Unfortunately I've got to meet someone so I can't be there," He said, slipping a black tie through the collar of the button down shirt he was wearing.
"Got a date?" asked Nabiki with a grin.
"Nothing of the kind," Ranma responded. "I just have to meet with a guy I know at the Museum." He paused and thought a moment. "That might not be a bad idea though." He pulled out a piece of paper and a ball-point pen and started writing.
"What? . . ." asked Akane, but Ranma raised a hand and she listened as Ranma dictated the letter he was writing.
"'Dear Kuno;
I am willing and ready to accept your challenge, however I cannot make your chosen time as have a date planned and cannot justify breaking it to fight a pompous idiot like you. I will meet you after school tomorrow instead. And I ask that after I beat you, you end your harassment of my friend Akane.'"
"Kuno'll REALLY be out for blood when he reads that," said Nabiki.
"Nothing I can't handle," responded Ranma as he folded and sealed the letter. "Uh, could you deliver this for me? I really do have that meeting to attend."
Nabiki smirked slightly "The look on Kuno's face when he sees this should be priceless. For that plus five hundred yen you've got yourself a messenger."
"Hi Nabiki!" said Noriko as the middle Tendo sister walked into the room.
When Ranma's true nature had been revealed Kasumi had requested that one of her sisters share their room with Noriko, and Akane had used it as a means to avenge Nabiki's decision to push for her engagement to Ranma.
*Not all that effective revenge,* Nabiki thought to herself as she smiled at her young roommate. She might share Akane's love for martial arts, and she might have Ranma's strong sense of honor, but she had a devious streak that Nabiki could really relate to. "Hi Noriko! How was school today?"
Noriko giggled slightly. "Pretty good. No one tried to challenge me, but I learned that the girl who sat next to me had a crush on a guy in the next class up." Noriko cheerfully describe in precise detail the scheme she had planed and implemented which ended with the pair locked in a closet together for a solid hour. "Of course she was too shy to take advantage of the opportunity, but she ought to do better next time."
Nabiki laughed at Noriko's matchmaking attempt. *Ah to be young again. I can't believe I just thought that!* "By the way your brother mentioned that you're a bit of a photographer."
"Well, I loved playing around with the Polaroid when I was young; so mom got me a more sophisticated camera, and Oniichan helped me build and use a darkroom."
"Wow! You must be pretty good!"
Blushing slightly Noriko responded "Well, adequate."
"Hmm, say have you taken any pictures of your brother since he got that curse? I'll bet it's a really strange subject."
"Your not kidding," Noriko replied. She pulled a photographic album from one of her bags. "I've started a whole portfolio on it."
"Ranma, time for school!" Akane opened the door to Ranma's room and looked in to see nothing to tell it had a guest except for the peripheral equipment for Ranma's laptop on the desk.
"He already left," Nabiki said as she walked past her sister.
"Oh," Akane replied and the two sisters started toward the high school.
"Stupid jerks," Ranma muttered to himself as he looked over the prone forms groaning in pain before him.
"RANMA!" came a loud voice from the gate. Looking up he saw Akane running toward him with a angry expression on her face.
*Ah yes, the pride of a martial artist. Still seeing all these guy's thinking that they could win love with their fists really turns my stomach,* Ranma thought as he turned to face Akane.
"I told you I don't need your help!" Akane shouted.
"So you enjoy beating these guy's up every morning?"
"OF COURSE NOT!!" Akane screamed. In a quieter but still anger filled voice she added "I fight my own battles Ranma, I don't want or need you to fight for me!"
"I wasn't fighting for you, I was just trying to explain to these guy's that it this morning battle was intrinsically wrong and they took offense." Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "I don't like to start fights, but I always finish them."
Akane looked around, sighed slightly, and with a grined. "Well, it is nice to get a break from always having to fight them. Just don't do it again." Akane started her walk to class.
Ranma walked in next to her "Hey, It's your fight so it's your business. I just . . ."
Ranma's statement was cut off as Kuno stepped in front of the pair a rage filled expression on his face. "Ranma Saotome . . . Tell me now!" he screamed as he raised his boken in a menacing manner.
"Tell you what?" Ranma asked in an unmenaced tone.
"Where was the Pigtailed girl this past night! I know her absence was somehow linked to you!"
"Ask her yourself after class," Ranma responded. "I have an aversion to being late."
"NO! You shall URK!" Kuno's response was interrupted as Ranma stepped up to him and punched him. At least it looked like a single punch to the observers, Akane saw something strange about the form.
Kuno fell to the ground unconscious and Nabiki walked up to look him over. "Wow, How many times did you hit him?" she commented as she saw the marks from Ranma's fist covering Kuno's upper body.
"150, I'm still working on the technique," Ranma replied. "It's one of the reasons we extended our stay in China for a month and a half after Jusenkyo."
Nabiki dragged Kuno into the Nurses office and put him onto one of the beds. "Face facts, Kuno-chan, you're totally outclassed."
Kuno opened his eyes, sat up, and made a two armed grasping motion at the air in front of him while saying "Oh Pigtailed Girl My love for you is pure and true." He then collapsed back to unconsciousness.
Nabiki looked down at Kuno.
Once again Kuno rose to a seated position, this time saying "Akane I love you as I love no other." Once again he collapsed.
Nabiki folded her arms across her chest and looked on her eyes half closed.
Kuno sat up and looked at her saying "Pigtailed girl I wish nothing more than to date with you!" Collapse. Rise "Akane please let me date with you."
Nabiki got up and walked away. *What a moron. Hmm, a rich moron though.* She looked back and glanced at him with a half grin on her face.
"So Kuno, I understand you're interested in that Pigtailed girl?" Nabiki said as she pulled her seat up by his desk at lunch time.
Kuno looked at her and responded, "Trifle not with me Nabiki Tendo, I shall meet with her after classes and reveal my love to her and the whole world."
Nabiki took out a small packet of pictures one she had made using some of the Negatives from Noriko's portfolio. Looking them over she said "Yeah, going by these photos I can definitely see your interest in her."
"Photos!?" Kuno said leaning forward to look.
Nabiki put the five pictures down on the desk and spread them like cards. "If you're interested they're a thousand yen each."
Kuno was devoting all his attention to studying the pictures. Most of them were of Ranma's female form at various places in China, except for one showing Ranma after Kasumi had accidentally sprayed her in the Tendo's garden. The water on her tank top made it plainly visible that she wasn't wearing a Bra. Indeed the thing all the pictures had in common was their depiction of Ranma's slow reaction to a situation that would have provoked instant embarrassment from any true woman.
"So are you interested?" Nabiki asked.
"The heavens themselves would balk at the price you state," Kuno responded.
"Oh, you don't want them then?"
Kuno handed her five 1000 yen bills and said "I'll take them all."
Nabiki counted his money and commented "Well, you're giving up on Akane then?"
"I said no such thing."
"Ah, so you'll be two timing her then?" responded Nabiki with a neutral expression on her face.
"I mean nothing of the sort. Akane is filled with a beauty of grace and dignity, while the pigtailed girl's vitality and innocence is a gift from the heavens themselves. They are both so dear to me that I cannot part with either. Is it deception for me to openly pursue them both?"
"Nope, it's called two-timing," responded Nabiki with a grin. She pulled out a set of Polaroid's. "How about some of Akane to even out your collection? A thousand yen each." She put the Polaroid's on the desk. These were of Akane during her training sessions.
"Sold."
As the school day ended, Ranma walked behind the tree with a cup of cold water he had filled in the fountain. Emerging in her newer body she walked to her meeting with Kuno in the front courtyard.
Ranma stood in the courtyard with a bored look on her face. She glanced back at where Akane and Nabiki were standing by the wall. She looked forward and saw Kuno approaching. *Hmm, didn't feel him there, he must be better at hiding his hostility than I thought.* Ranma began looking him over in analysis to prepare for the fight.
"Pigtailed girl," Kuno began. "This past evening your rejection of my invitation hurt me greatly. I am here now to honor your own summons."
"I've got things to do, so let's get started," Ranma said in a bored tone.
"I am not here to challenge you," Kuno stated.
Ranma looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"Rather I am here to give you this!" Kuno cried, tossing something at Ranma.
Ranma easily caught the bouquet of red roses. She looked at them, recalled some of the times she had been hit on in her female body and fought down a sense of nausea.
"Pig tailed girl, I love you," Kuno said.
Ranma threw the bouquet away. She turned and walked out the gate. Pausing she called back to Kuno, "You're an egotistical jerk and I have no interest in you!" Pulling a thermos from her backpack she stepped round the corner.
Kuno blinked a moment, then ran after her shouting "My love! Your devotion to the one you were once with is a noble thing, but how could you have known that you would find true love in me! You must not hide these feelings . . ." Kuno rounded the corner, and caught up to the wet haired figure in the pig tailed girls clothes. He moved to embrace Ranma, and was met with a fist in his face.
"Back off Kuno!"
"Ranma Saotome! You . . . What hold have you on the beauteous pig tailed girl! It is you who forced her to reject her true feelings toward me! Now . . ."
"Quit it Kuno!" Ranma responded, glancing at the kendoist in annoyance. "She's not your concern." Ranma picked up his pace, and walked round the corner of the wall surrounding the school. "Hey!" he screamed as a passing car splashed him with water from a puddle in the street.
Kuno ran around the corner and saw Ranma. She was grasping the edge of her shirt and wringing some of the water from it. Kuno ran up and grabbed her. "MY LOVE! I have found you again!"
"BUZZ OFF!!" Ranma responded, punctuating her statement with a ferocious kick, knocking Kuno back into the street. Pulling out his thermos Ranma upended it, dumping the rest of the hot water onto his head.
"My . . . Ranma?" Kuno said as he halted his next charge. He stared at Ranma a moment.
"Well, I guess you've got questions," Ranma said as he closed his eyes and focused on his breathing in an effort to purge his anger from himself.
"I have but one question, Ranma Saotome," Kuno responded, pulling his boken from the same place other folk store hammers. "Where have you hidden the pigtailed girl!?"
Ranma stared at Kuno in shock. "Kuno, THERE IS NO PIGTAILED GIRL!! She's just a temporary thumaturgical aberration, brought on by Jusenkyo's Nyanichuan! Nothing but the manifestation of a curse I have. Is that clear?" *How stupid is this jerk?*
"Silence, vile sorcerer! You clearly have some form of magic control over her but I shall smite you and rescue her from your unwholesome clutches." Kuno lashed out at Ranma, who dodged the attack and kicked Kuno in the chest, knocking him backward. From his top fluttered the photo's he had purchased that morning. Ranma grabbed one.
His eyes widened at the sight of his female form, wringing out the top of her red shirt in China. The angle made it very clear that she wore no bra.
Kuno stepped forward. "An opening!" he said as he slashed at Ranma again, this time connecting with the martial artist's side.
The pain of the hit pulled Ranma's attention back to the fight. He avoided another slash, and leaped backward, landing by the corner. He looked to his side and saw Akane and Nabiki arrive. "Hi!" he said, displacing his pain through long practice.
"Ranma, just so you know, Kuno's really hard to beat when he's this mad. You have to pay more attention," Akane said.
"No problem," Ranma responded, walking forward to meet Kuno's own slow advance.
"And now it ends," Kuno stated, a look of confidence on his face.
Ranma looked at Kuno, waiting to see what he felt so confident about.
Kuno took one more step forward, bringing Ranma into range of his strikes.
Ranma focused his attention on dodging the flurry of straight thrusts Kuno was striking at him. The technique was noticeably slower that the chestnut plucking technique he had been studying the past two months. However thanks to the heavier sword, the thrusts had to pack dramatically more power. Hearing a crack behind him, he glanced back and saw that he was right, the air pressure generated by the strikes was cracking in the wall. Ranma focused his attention back to Kuno, feeling for the rhythm of the attack.
Kuno was drawing on the full strength of his rage. He had been drawing on the rage since the moment the fight began, and it was what enabled him to maintain this strongest attack longer than he had ever maintained it before. *You WILL fall before me!* Kuno thought, being to focused on attacking to voice the sentiment. Then he saw a foot pass before his face, and realized that Ranma had somehow penetrated his technique.
Ranma had acted as soon as he was sure he had the rhythm right, swinging his right foot along an arc just in front of Kuno, and using his other leg to push himself off into a leap as his first reached Kuno's face. He landed by Akane his back to Kuno. Glancing over his shoulder he said, "You loose Kuno."
"Address me as uppercla . . ." was all Kuno had time to say before he collapsed.
Ranma walked over and picked up the rest of the photos, pausing to quickly search Kuno's shirt for the rest.
"Well, I guess you've got fast feet too," commented Nabiki as she looked at the footprints from Ranma's kicks up Kuno's upper body.
"I told you I had a significant edge against him," Ranma responded with a shrug.
"But you took a hit too," Akane commented.
"Oh it hurts, but I can handle it," Ranma responded calmly.
"Well what distracted you so much anyway?"
Ranma handed her a set of Polaroid's of her. *He got distracted because of me . . . HEY WHY WAS HE???!!!* "What were you doing with these Photo's of me!?"
"Kuno dropped them during the fight. These too," he added handing her the pictures of his own female form.
Akane looked at the pictures, then turned her attention to her sister. "NABIKI!"
"Hey, you can't blame a girl for making a little cash, can you?"
Akane glared at her sister for a moment then turned away in anger. Ranma looked between the two of them and asked "Uh, do either of you know a good doctor in the neighborhood? Mom's pretty good at patching me and dad up, but it's still good to know where a professional is."
Akane glanced at him and grinned. "Come on!" she said, starting off at a slow jog which Ranma easily kept pace with.
