Chapter 3
It is a bright sunny morning at the Tendo residence. Unfortunately, the tranquil peace does not last, as a little black pig goes barreling down the stairs being chased by Ranma in his male form carrying a teakettle.
"Get back here Ryoga! Its time to face the music." Ranma sloshes the kettle, trying to hit the pig with the water.
The pig dodges from side to side, barely missing the water. "Bwwweeee!"
Running after them, is Akane with the mallet of doom and destruction in her hands. "RANMA! Stop picking on P-chan!"
As the rest of the family sit at the table having breakfast, they watch as the pursuit is taken into the kitchen. Nobody seems to take notice of the fight, or the large sign on Akane's mallet from the surgeon general stating that it should not be used on living creatures.
Kasumi hears crashes from the kitchen as the war wages on. "Oh my!"
Soun turns to his friend next to him. "You know Satome, I am really starting to tire of these peaceful morning being ruined by that boy."
Genma pauses a moment from shoveling food in his face. "I hope you don't mean Ranma."
"No, although he doesn't help much. I was referring to that pig."
A bucket of water comes flying out of the kitchen and land in top of Genma, turning him into a panda. Genma holds up a sign that says (You know Tendo, I'm getting tired of all the cold baths I get when they fight.) The war party runs by again, heading back into the living room. Loud crashes, a pig going "bwwweee," Ranma in female form demanding Ryoga to give up, and Akane telling Ranma to leave P-chan alone can be head by the family.
Nabiki was already figuring out how much this was going to cost to repair. "Why doesn't Ranma just tell Akane out right that that her beloved P-chan is really Ryoga?"
Genma holds up another sign. (Ryoga made Ranma swear on his honor not to tell Akane.)
Nabiki just glares at him. "Well.. his honor is doing nothing but destroying the place." Guess I'll have to take care of this problem myself.
Sounds of the war party move closer. "Akane, if you would stop being so stupid and listen for once."
Everyone at the table stopped and ducked. They knew what was coming next. "RANMA, NO BAKA!!!!" A loud thud was heard, and everyone watched as Ranma went flying over their heads out the open door.
Nabiki just marked an item off her repair list. "At least Akane's aim is getting better. We don't have to fix another hole in the wall."
Both Soun and Genma nod in agreement.
Ranma walked on the fence on the way to school. Akane was a little was ahead of him, still angry about this morning. Uncute tomboy. If you would only listen to me we wouldn't fight so much. It's all Ryoga's fault anyways. Not only is he keeping his curse a secrete from her, but he is making me do it as well. Ranma clinches his fist in anger. And we were getting along so well, I wasn't even getting malleted. That is, until P- chan had to show back up and crawl into her bed. He looks down at Akane. I even got her to smile at me before he came back.
Akane ran the morning's events through her mind. BAKA! Why did he have to ruin it? We were getting along without fighting for a week, until P- chan showed back up. Why is he so jealous of P-chan? It seems like he goes out of his way to make me mad. And, what was the deal of chasing him around with the kettle? I swear! Ranma thinks everybody has a Jusenkyo curse anymore.
Nabiki sat in the computer lab, adding the final touches to her plan. This morning's events was the final straw, the repairs was going to cost her three months worth of work. That big of a withdraw from her account cannot be allowed to go unanswered.
She quickly saved the document to a disk, and placed it in the "In" box on the desk in the rear of the room. Today, at lunch, everyone will see it in the school's paper. Nabiki then exited the room, turning off the lights on the way out.
As soon as the door closed, a figure in a hooded gray robe appeared next to the desk. He held his hand over the disk until it turned gray. Then, the figure faded out of existence.
Nabiki exited the room and immediately bumped into Ted, the exchange student from America that was also the paper's editor. Nabiki allowed a smile to creep on her face. "Ted, just the guy I was looking for. I have a proposition for you."
Ted's grin vanished as soon as Nabiki said "proposition." "The last time you said that, I ended owning you 50,000 yen."
Nabiki flashed him her patented "Oh, I'm hurt" look. "Trust me. All you have to do is print the file on a disk in there on the front page today, and you can say goodbye to your debt."
He looks at her puzzled. "That's it?"
"That's it."
"Deal!"
Ranma and Akane approached the front gates to the school and notice Kuno was blocking the path again, waiting for his daily beating. Ranma was in no mood to put up with him on normal days. He definitely didn't want to see him today.
"Ranma Satome, I..." Kuno never had a chance to finish. Ranma's fist hit Kuno directly on the chin and sent him flying through the air.
Meanwhile, back in Houston Texas at NASA's mission control, a technician calls over his supervisor to look at something on his monitor.
"What is it?"
"Sir, Japan has just launched another satellite into orbit."
"What does it look like?"
Looking at the screen carefully. "It looks like a guy holding a stick."
The supervisor looks at his watch. "Damn, my watch is running slow today."
Mission control face faults.
Ranma and Akane got to class just in time. Kuno wasn't so lucky. It took him longer than usual to apply the burn cream and change clothes (what was left of them) after experiencing re-entry.
All during class, Ranma couldn't help but notice that Ukyo didn't show up. Maybe she's sick. I'll stop by after school and see.
Akane watched Ranma looking over at Ukyo's empty desk. BAKA! I know he would rather be with her or Shampoo. But he doesn't have to rub it in!
Morning classes took longer than normal due to the fact the clocks were messed up. School officials could never agree what time it was due to the fact that 10 o'clock came and passed without the usual group of angry girls chasing after an old freak shouting "What a haul! What a haul!" After several hours of debate, and confirming it with seven atomic clocks, they concluded that the time was 1:15.
Lunch went uneventful, except for the fact that every once in a while, a student would snicker at either Ranma or Akane. When asked what they were laughing about, the only response they would get is "Oh, nothing." Meanwhile, Nabiki is seen yelling at Ted saying that he broke the deal and would owe her ten times as much now.
What was left of the afternoon classes was canceled when the Chem. Club blew out most of the third floor. Nobody seemed to mind. In fact, just about everybody was laughing after seeing Principal Kuno missing all of his hair after being caught in the blast. Even the stupid palm tree was gone.
Ranma exited the building heading to Uuchan's to see if Ukyo was ok. As he passed by groups of students he kept hearing guys say "I never knew he cared, " and girls giggling saying "How sweet."
Ranma just keeps walking on, ignoring all of them. I wander what's gotten into them. His thoughts were brought to a halt by a well know battle cry.
"DIE RANMA!" Ryoga came jumping out of a nearby tree swinging his umbrella at Ranma.
Ranma nimbly dodges Ryoga's attack. "Why are you mad this time P-chan? If anyone should be mad its me mad at you."
Swinging wildly, ignoring Ranma's statements. "How dare you. You gave your word on your honor. But now I see that you have no honor."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Destroying a nearby tree, "Not only have you told Akane my secrete, but you told everyone else and on the front page of the paper no less. That's low, even for you. I see that you're becoming more like you father every passing day."
Ranma was getting tired of this. "I have never broke my word in my life! I am not like my old man!" Ranma's foot connected to Ryoga's jaw, sending the pig boy through a nearby wall.
Ryoga picked himself up and dusted his clothes off. Off to the side, he heard a faint voice ask, "Ryoga, is it true?" Ryoga turned to see who asked the question, what he saw made his heart freeze. It was Akane holding a school paper with the look of disbelief on her face.
Fear ran through him, causing every drop of blood to drain from his face. She knows. What am I suppose to do now? Without saying a word, Ryoga ran off and disappeared.
Ranma quietly walked over to Akane and took the paper from her hands. She was too much into shock to protest. What Ranma saw even shocked him. There on the front page was a headline that read "Top Ten Signs to the End of the World." At the very bottom, it read: "And the number one sign that the world is ending, Akane Tendo finally realizes that her pig P-chan is the cursed form of Ryoga Hibiki."
Ranma looked into Akane's as they began to gloss over with tears. "Ranma?" Her voice was a faint whisper, "I'll like to be alone for awhile." Akane took off running towards home. Ranma didn't bother chasing after her, this was one of the few times he knew it was better to keep his mouth shut.
Nabiki slowly walked home, re-reading the front page of the paper.
Top Ten Signs to the End of the World.
#10. Akane Tendo and Ranma Satome drop their hate act and admit they love each other.
#9. Kodachi Kuno is committed to an asylum for her insanity after realizing that Ranma wants nothing to do with her.
#8. Principle Kuno gives up trying to give everyone a hair cut.
#7. Upperclassman Kuno realizes the he has no chance in hell of ever beating Ranma Satome in a fight
#6. The boys at Furinkan High realize that Akane Tendo wouldn't date them even if hell froze over. (By the way, the demons like to thank all of those boys for the air conditioners that have been donated.)
#5. Shampoo can complete a sentence without referring to herself in the third person.
#4. Shampoo realizes that no matter what the temperature is in hell, she has no chance of ever getting Ranma. (In Shampooies: Shampoo no get Ranma ever, fates are against it.)
#3. Nabiki Tendo stops extorting everyone for every yen they're worth.
#2. Upperclassman Kuno finally gets it through his thick skull that his pigtailed girl and Ranma Satome are one and the same. (To make it easier for Kuno to understand, the pigtailed girl is Ranma Satome's cursed form.)
And the number one sign that the world is ending, Akane Tendo finally realizes that her pig P-chan is the cursed form of Ryoga Hibiki.
That wasn't the file she wanted printed on the front page. The one she had written was a trumped up article about how Ryoga had this "mysterious secrete" that involved Jusenkyo in some way. She even hinted that Ranma may of known about it but was force to keep it secrete. Her intention was to get Akane to ask the right questions and find out on her own, hurting her as little as possible.
But this article wasn't anything even close to what she typed up this morning. And Ted swore to her that there was only one disk in the inbox, and that was what was in the file on it. He claimed that he never even read it; he just threw it on the front page.
That did explain a lot when she thought about it. Ted knew better than to print anything that contained her name in it. But who was the person that changed the file? Whoever it is, they severely put her business at risks by revealing things that she was making so much money off of to keep hidden.
Nabiki really didn't care about keeping Ryoga's secrete anymore, after the fact that he wasn't paying her enough to make up for the damages he caused. It was the fact that it was a wakeup call to the Kunos, who refused to see the truth in front of their noses. Her main source of income was in jeopardy.
She was pulled out of her thoughts as she saw Akane run past with tears in her eyes. Folding the paper backup, Nabiki continued walking home, calculating the lost income.
Akane ran into the house and right up to her room. Kasumi noticed that Akane looked upset and went up to check on her. Knocking on Akane's door, "Akane, may I come in?" Hearing only silence, she slowly opened the door and stepped in. Akane was laying face down in her bed sobbing. "Akane, what's wrong. Did you and Ranma get into a fight again?"
Akane looked up at her older sister. Though the tears, she saw her sister's smiling face. It made her feel a little better, not much, but a little. "He lied to me Kasumi. His whole friendship was a lie. I thought he was a nice guy with a kind heart, but it was a lie. He is nothing but a sick pervert."
"What did Ranma do?"
Akane just shakes her head. "No! It's not Ranma, its Ryoga. Kasumi, I found out that P-chan is really Ryoga."
Kasumi's smile vanished, "Oh my! Did Ranma tell you?"
Akane froze. "Why would Ranma tell me? Its not like he knew." The look on Kasumi's face told her otherwise. "Ranma knew? Ranma knew and didn't tell me?! THAT BAKA!" Pausing a moment to collect herself. "Kasumi, I'd like to be alone."
Kasumi calmly walked out of the room and closed the door. Akane watch the door close. She knew too? Did everyone know but me? And if so, why didn't they tell me?
Kasumi walked slowly down the stairs. As she reached the bottom step, she heard Genma shout "Nodoka!" followed by a loud thud. When she arrived to the dining room, all she could say is "Oh my!"
Ranma slowly walked to Uuchan's, figuring that he'll kill time until Akane calmed down by checking on Ukyo. Alone the way, he could think nothing of what the list said. It seemed to be centered on his life, but then again a lot of weird things in Nerima seem to revolve around him.
I wonder who's out to get me this time. Its definitely not anyone I know, just about all of them were slammed in the article. Maybe it was someone that I know that wasn't on it.
Ranma pulls out the paper and looks at all the people that it lists. Lets see, I defiantly know it's not Akane because: A. She doesn't love me, and B. she had not clue until now that Ryoga is P-chan. Searches for another name, not any of the Kunos, and definitely not Nabiki. She would never put her name on something like this. Besides, she maybe a cold- hearted money-grubber, but she would never hurt Akane like this.
Suddenly stops as a thought hits him. "That's it! The old man has something to do with it." Nah. Pops may have done some stupid things, but he would never do something to hurt Akane. Maybe it's someone from my past that I forgot about. Either that, or it's someone that pops or the old freak pissed off and got to take their revenge out on me.
A ringing bell cut Ranma's thoughts short. "Oh no, not today." Smash! As soon as Ranma regain his senses, he realized he was trapped under Shampoo's bike. Why me? What did I do in my last life to deserve this? It's probably wasn't me, I bet pops or Happosai pissed off a goddess and got me the "get ran over by a Chinese Amazon riding a bike" curse.
Shampoo jumps off her bike and pulls Ranma up. Shoving a copy of the paper in his face "Is no true! Ranma loves Shampoo! Ranma marry Shampoo!"
Oh no, here it comes. How to get rid of her? "Hey, Shampoo. What's up?"
"Tell Shampoo truth. Say Ranma love Shampoo. Tell Shampoo Ranma marry her."
Defeat washed over Ranma's face. She asked for it. "I can't."
Shampoo releases Ranma and drops to her knees, tears filling her eyes. "Why Ranma not want marry Shampoo?"
I hate it when girls cry. But I don't have time right now. Leaping to the rooftop and taking off running, Ranma yells back "It just wouldn't work out because you turn into a cat."
She watches Ranma ran away through her tear filled eyes. No Ranma. You no get off that easy. You bound to marry Shampoo by Amazon law. You marry Shampoo or die. A demented smirk crept over her face. Shampoo grabbed her bike and took off to the Nekohanten; she had much planning to do.
After a quick stop at Uuchan's, only to see a Closed due to family emergency sign, he continued on his trek home. That's weird, Ucchan usually tells me that's she's leaving before she goes. Maybe she just didn't have time to. I'll ask he when she gets back.
As Ranma approached the ladle lady's house, he slowed his pace. After spending much time looking around to make sure that she was nowhere in site, he started to walk past. Ha! She's not gonna get me this time Splash!! Looking down at her now dripping wet female form, Ranma looked off to the side and saw the old lady. How does she do it? It has to be some special technique. Hanging her head in defeat, she continued back to the dojo.
The old lady just smiled at Ranma, and as mysteriously as she appeared, she vanished into thin air.
Akane sat in her room, replaying the day's events in her mind. The weird paper telling that Ryoga was P-chan, followed by Ryoga showing up blaming Ranma for letting his secrete out. "Ranma knew, and he didn't tell me. BAKA!!"
"Maybe if you listened better sis, you would have realized that he has been trying to tell you." Akane startled, looked over at the open door with Nabiki standing inside the doorway.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN ABOUT THAT!"
Nabiki steps inside the room, closing the door behind her. What she had to say should not be interrupted by anyone. "Akane, haven't you noticed that Ranma kept calling P-chan Ryoga and Ryoga P-chan? Have you ever notice how Ryoga and P-chan don't like water? Come on Akane, with all the Jusenkyo curses that are around Ranma, one would figure you'd put two and two together." Crossing he arms and leaning against the door, "You're always calling Ranma a idiot, well you seem to just as big of one."
WHAT! I'm an idiot? How dare she. Then the various events replayed in her mind. All the times that Ranma was picking on P-chan calling him Ryoga, and calling Ryoga P-chan. Akane felt some of her anger begin to slip away. He was trying to tell me. "Why did he just tell me? Why did he only drop hints?"
Nabiki's poker face was replaced with a frown. "What I am going to tell you here does not leave this room. You can never let Ranma know that you've been told this or it'll betray his trust that he has placed in Kasumi and me."
Receiving a nod from Akane, she continued. "Ranma was forced to keep it a secrete by his honor. In fact, all of us were forced. Ryoga forced Mr. Satome and Ranma; Ranma forced Kasumi and me. I wanted to tell you, hell, Kasumi wanted to tell you. But if we did, we would betray Ranma's trust."
Disbelieving what she was hearing, "Why would Ranma tell you?"
Sliding down the door to sit on the floor. This is going to take a while. Might as well get comfortable. "Akane, he wanted to tell you but he couldn't. So he did the next best thing, he told your sisters." Noticing the anger boil in her eyes, "Akane, its not like we sat by and did nothing. Every time you and Ranma would get into a fight over P-chan and you knocked him into the koi pond, did you ever notice that whenever Kasumi came out with the hot water to change Ranma back that he was always close enough to you that some of it would get on you? She was hoping that some would get on P-chan and make him change. I just decided to make Ryoga's life miserable by charging him outrages fees to keep his secrete. I was hoping he would get tired of it and either tell you or never show up as P- chan again."
"Didn't dad know? Couldn't he do anything?"
Why did you have to ask the hard question? "Dad knew, BUT before you get mad, there was nothing that he could do." Putting a finger to her chin thinking, "How did he put it? Oh yeah. 'Even though Ryoga is tarnishing Akane's honor by being dishonorable, it is no longer my place to defend it. That duty is Ranma's, and his alone.'"
Akane couldn't believe what she has heard. Her father wouldn't defend her honor; instead he gave that job to Ranma. "How could he?! How could he have let that PERVERT defend my honor?! Especially after all those times he snuck into my room at night!"
Nabiki had enough. She stood up and before Akane could react, she closed the gap, screamed "AKANE NO BAKA!!" and slapped her sister.
Akane was shocked. Nabiki has never hit her before. She gently placed her hand to her cheek, still feeling the sting from the slap. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT FOR?"
Nabiki had her poker face back, but there was no mistaking the anger in her voice. "You find out that P-chan and Ryoga are the same, even after ignoring all of Ranma's clues. I tell you why everyone knew, and why dad especially couldn't tell you. And yet you still can't add sis. All those times Ranma came into your room, it wasn't to be a pervert, it was to get Ryoga out and save your honor. In fact, I don't think he knows how to even be a pervert, let alone be one. No sis, if anyone is a pervert here, it's you. You chose to ignore everything, let Ryoga sleep with you. And on top of that, you knew that it made Ranma mad and you enjoyed doing it." Turning to leave, "You don't deserve Ranma, in fact, you and Ryoga make a better pair. You both like blaming Ranma for things that happen that are nothing but your own fault. And then, you jump to conclusions and make accusations against Ranma without opening your eyes and getting all the facts. I'm still surprised that Ranma hasn't said 'to hell with it' and left yet. I'm sure none of us would blame him if he did." She quietly exited the room, leaving her sister sobbing on her bed.
"That was a little harsh, wasn't Nabiki?"
Nabiki didn't have to turn around to know it was Kasumi behind her. "I had to. It was time that she realized what the truth was. Why aren't you making dinner?"
"Auntie Satome showed up, she knows about the curses. She has father and Uncle Satome tied up and gagged and asked me to stay up her until Ranma came home. Could you order dinner while I go and talk to Akane?"
"Sure." Nabiki heads to her room to make the call. Good luck Ranma, you're going to need it.
Ranma finally reached the dojo after a long fight with Moose over how he "insulted Shampoo." Geez! When will he get it in his head that I DON'T LIKE Shampoo? In fact, I want him to have her. That way, she'll stop bothering me. How much worse could this day get?
With a leap, Ranma jumped over the wall and ran along the side of the house to come in through the dinning room doors. Kasumi would be waiting there, like everyday, with hot water to change her back. I can't wait to be a guy again.
As soon as she stepped into the dinning room, what she saw caused her to stop in mid-step. In the far corner, was his dad in panda form and Mr. Tendo. Both of them were tied up and gagged. Ranma walked up to Genma and looked down at him with a smirk on her face. "Ok pops, what did you do this time. No wait, let me guess. Back on our training trip you stole some food, got caught, and promise that I'll marry another girl. JUST HOW MANY FIANCEES HOW I HAVE CUZ OF YOU OLD MAN!"
Ranma heard someone come up behind her and pour hot water on her. He turns to face the person, assuming it was Kasumi. "Thanks Kasum..." What he saw caused him to turn pale with fear.
"You're welcome Ranko, or should I say RANMA." Nodoka's face didn't show a hint of emotion.
"M..m..mom?" was all Ranma could stutter. Oh man, I'm dead. I'm so DEAD. Thanks a lot pop. You're stupid training trip has finally gotten me killed.
Nodoka just looked down at her son. "I hope you're not as stupid as your father and are going to try and weasel out of telling me truth. If so, the Satome line ends tonight."
It is a bright sunny morning at the Tendo residence. Unfortunately, the tranquil peace does not last, as a little black pig goes barreling down the stairs being chased by Ranma in his male form carrying a teakettle.
"Get back here Ryoga! Its time to face the music." Ranma sloshes the kettle, trying to hit the pig with the water.
The pig dodges from side to side, barely missing the water. "Bwwweeee!"
Running after them, is Akane with the mallet of doom and destruction in her hands. "RANMA! Stop picking on P-chan!"
As the rest of the family sit at the table having breakfast, they watch as the pursuit is taken into the kitchen. Nobody seems to take notice of the fight, or the large sign on Akane's mallet from the surgeon general stating that it should not be used on living creatures.
Kasumi hears crashes from the kitchen as the war wages on. "Oh my!"
Soun turns to his friend next to him. "You know Satome, I am really starting to tire of these peaceful morning being ruined by that boy."
Genma pauses a moment from shoveling food in his face. "I hope you don't mean Ranma."
"No, although he doesn't help much. I was referring to that pig."
A bucket of water comes flying out of the kitchen and land in top of Genma, turning him into a panda. Genma holds up a sign that says (You know Tendo, I'm getting tired of all the cold baths I get when they fight.) The war party runs by again, heading back into the living room. Loud crashes, a pig going "bwwweee," Ranma in female form demanding Ryoga to give up, and Akane telling Ranma to leave P-chan alone can be head by the family.
Nabiki was already figuring out how much this was going to cost to repair. "Why doesn't Ranma just tell Akane out right that that her beloved P-chan is really Ryoga?"
Genma holds up another sign. (Ryoga made Ranma swear on his honor not to tell Akane.)
Nabiki just glares at him. "Well.. his honor is doing nothing but destroying the place." Guess I'll have to take care of this problem myself.
Sounds of the war party move closer. "Akane, if you would stop being so stupid and listen for once."
Everyone at the table stopped and ducked. They knew what was coming next. "RANMA, NO BAKA!!!!" A loud thud was heard, and everyone watched as Ranma went flying over their heads out the open door.
Nabiki just marked an item off her repair list. "At least Akane's aim is getting better. We don't have to fix another hole in the wall."
Both Soun and Genma nod in agreement.
Ranma walked on the fence on the way to school. Akane was a little was ahead of him, still angry about this morning. Uncute tomboy. If you would only listen to me we wouldn't fight so much. It's all Ryoga's fault anyways. Not only is he keeping his curse a secrete from her, but he is making me do it as well. Ranma clinches his fist in anger. And we were getting along so well, I wasn't even getting malleted. That is, until P- chan had to show back up and crawl into her bed. He looks down at Akane. I even got her to smile at me before he came back.
Akane ran the morning's events through her mind. BAKA! Why did he have to ruin it? We were getting along without fighting for a week, until P- chan showed back up. Why is he so jealous of P-chan? It seems like he goes out of his way to make me mad. And, what was the deal of chasing him around with the kettle? I swear! Ranma thinks everybody has a Jusenkyo curse anymore.
Nabiki sat in the computer lab, adding the final touches to her plan. This morning's events was the final straw, the repairs was going to cost her three months worth of work. That big of a withdraw from her account cannot be allowed to go unanswered.
She quickly saved the document to a disk, and placed it in the "In" box on the desk in the rear of the room. Today, at lunch, everyone will see it in the school's paper. Nabiki then exited the room, turning off the lights on the way out.
As soon as the door closed, a figure in a hooded gray robe appeared next to the desk. He held his hand over the disk until it turned gray. Then, the figure faded out of existence.
Nabiki exited the room and immediately bumped into Ted, the exchange student from America that was also the paper's editor. Nabiki allowed a smile to creep on her face. "Ted, just the guy I was looking for. I have a proposition for you."
Ted's grin vanished as soon as Nabiki said "proposition." "The last time you said that, I ended owning you 50,000 yen."
Nabiki flashed him her patented "Oh, I'm hurt" look. "Trust me. All you have to do is print the file on a disk in there on the front page today, and you can say goodbye to your debt."
He looks at her puzzled. "That's it?"
"That's it."
"Deal!"
Ranma and Akane approached the front gates to the school and notice Kuno was blocking the path again, waiting for his daily beating. Ranma was in no mood to put up with him on normal days. He definitely didn't want to see him today.
"Ranma Satome, I..." Kuno never had a chance to finish. Ranma's fist hit Kuno directly on the chin and sent him flying through the air.
Meanwhile, back in Houston Texas at NASA's mission control, a technician calls over his supervisor to look at something on his monitor.
"What is it?"
"Sir, Japan has just launched another satellite into orbit."
"What does it look like?"
Looking at the screen carefully. "It looks like a guy holding a stick."
The supervisor looks at his watch. "Damn, my watch is running slow today."
Mission control face faults.
Ranma and Akane got to class just in time. Kuno wasn't so lucky. It took him longer than usual to apply the burn cream and change clothes (what was left of them) after experiencing re-entry.
All during class, Ranma couldn't help but notice that Ukyo didn't show up. Maybe she's sick. I'll stop by after school and see.
Akane watched Ranma looking over at Ukyo's empty desk. BAKA! I know he would rather be with her or Shampoo. But he doesn't have to rub it in!
Morning classes took longer than normal due to the fact the clocks were messed up. School officials could never agree what time it was due to the fact that 10 o'clock came and passed without the usual group of angry girls chasing after an old freak shouting "What a haul! What a haul!" After several hours of debate, and confirming it with seven atomic clocks, they concluded that the time was 1:15.
Lunch went uneventful, except for the fact that every once in a while, a student would snicker at either Ranma or Akane. When asked what they were laughing about, the only response they would get is "Oh, nothing." Meanwhile, Nabiki is seen yelling at Ted saying that he broke the deal and would owe her ten times as much now.
What was left of the afternoon classes was canceled when the Chem. Club blew out most of the third floor. Nobody seemed to mind. In fact, just about everybody was laughing after seeing Principal Kuno missing all of his hair after being caught in the blast. Even the stupid palm tree was gone.
Ranma exited the building heading to Uuchan's to see if Ukyo was ok. As he passed by groups of students he kept hearing guys say "I never knew he cared, " and girls giggling saying "How sweet."
Ranma just keeps walking on, ignoring all of them. I wander what's gotten into them. His thoughts were brought to a halt by a well know battle cry.
"DIE RANMA!" Ryoga came jumping out of a nearby tree swinging his umbrella at Ranma.
Ranma nimbly dodges Ryoga's attack. "Why are you mad this time P-chan? If anyone should be mad its me mad at you."
Swinging wildly, ignoring Ranma's statements. "How dare you. You gave your word on your honor. But now I see that you have no honor."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Destroying a nearby tree, "Not only have you told Akane my secrete, but you told everyone else and on the front page of the paper no less. That's low, even for you. I see that you're becoming more like you father every passing day."
Ranma was getting tired of this. "I have never broke my word in my life! I am not like my old man!" Ranma's foot connected to Ryoga's jaw, sending the pig boy through a nearby wall.
Ryoga picked himself up and dusted his clothes off. Off to the side, he heard a faint voice ask, "Ryoga, is it true?" Ryoga turned to see who asked the question, what he saw made his heart freeze. It was Akane holding a school paper with the look of disbelief on her face.
Fear ran through him, causing every drop of blood to drain from his face. She knows. What am I suppose to do now? Without saying a word, Ryoga ran off and disappeared.
Ranma quietly walked over to Akane and took the paper from her hands. She was too much into shock to protest. What Ranma saw even shocked him. There on the front page was a headline that read "Top Ten Signs to the End of the World." At the very bottom, it read: "And the number one sign that the world is ending, Akane Tendo finally realizes that her pig P-chan is the cursed form of Ryoga Hibiki."
Ranma looked into Akane's as they began to gloss over with tears. "Ranma?" Her voice was a faint whisper, "I'll like to be alone for awhile." Akane took off running towards home. Ranma didn't bother chasing after her, this was one of the few times he knew it was better to keep his mouth shut.
Nabiki slowly walked home, re-reading the front page of the paper.
Top Ten Signs to the End of the World.
#10. Akane Tendo and Ranma Satome drop their hate act and admit they love each other.
#9. Kodachi Kuno is committed to an asylum for her insanity after realizing that Ranma wants nothing to do with her.
#8. Principle Kuno gives up trying to give everyone a hair cut.
#7. Upperclassman Kuno realizes the he has no chance in hell of ever beating Ranma Satome in a fight
#6. The boys at Furinkan High realize that Akane Tendo wouldn't date them even if hell froze over. (By the way, the demons like to thank all of those boys for the air conditioners that have been donated.)
#5. Shampoo can complete a sentence without referring to herself in the third person.
#4. Shampoo realizes that no matter what the temperature is in hell, she has no chance of ever getting Ranma. (In Shampooies: Shampoo no get Ranma ever, fates are against it.)
#3. Nabiki Tendo stops extorting everyone for every yen they're worth.
#2. Upperclassman Kuno finally gets it through his thick skull that his pigtailed girl and Ranma Satome are one and the same. (To make it easier for Kuno to understand, the pigtailed girl is Ranma Satome's cursed form.)
And the number one sign that the world is ending, Akane Tendo finally realizes that her pig P-chan is the cursed form of Ryoga Hibiki.
That wasn't the file she wanted printed on the front page. The one she had written was a trumped up article about how Ryoga had this "mysterious secrete" that involved Jusenkyo in some way. She even hinted that Ranma may of known about it but was force to keep it secrete. Her intention was to get Akane to ask the right questions and find out on her own, hurting her as little as possible.
But this article wasn't anything even close to what she typed up this morning. And Ted swore to her that there was only one disk in the inbox, and that was what was in the file on it. He claimed that he never even read it; he just threw it on the front page.
That did explain a lot when she thought about it. Ted knew better than to print anything that contained her name in it. But who was the person that changed the file? Whoever it is, they severely put her business at risks by revealing things that she was making so much money off of to keep hidden.
Nabiki really didn't care about keeping Ryoga's secrete anymore, after the fact that he wasn't paying her enough to make up for the damages he caused. It was the fact that it was a wakeup call to the Kunos, who refused to see the truth in front of their noses. Her main source of income was in jeopardy.
She was pulled out of her thoughts as she saw Akane run past with tears in her eyes. Folding the paper backup, Nabiki continued walking home, calculating the lost income.
Akane ran into the house and right up to her room. Kasumi noticed that Akane looked upset and went up to check on her. Knocking on Akane's door, "Akane, may I come in?" Hearing only silence, she slowly opened the door and stepped in. Akane was laying face down in her bed sobbing. "Akane, what's wrong. Did you and Ranma get into a fight again?"
Akane looked up at her older sister. Though the tears, she saw her sister's smiling face. It made her feel a little better, not much, but a little. "He lied to me Kasumi. His whole friendship was a lie. I thought he was a nice guy with a kind heart, but it was a lie. He is nothing but a sick pervert."
"What did Ranma do?"
Akane just shakes her head. "No! It's not Ranma, its Ryoga. Kasumi, I found out that P-chan is really Ryoga."
Kasumi's smile vanished, "Oh my! Did Ranma tell you?"
Akane froze. "Why would Ranma tell me? Its not like he knew." The look on Kasumi's face told her otherwise. "Ranma knew? Ranma knew and didn't tell me?! THAT BAKA!" Pausing a moment to collect herself. "Kasumi, I'd like to be alone."
Kasumi calmly walked out of the room and closed the door. Akane watch the door close. She knew too? Did everyone know but me? And if so, why didn't they tell me?
Kasumi walked slowly down the stairs. As she reached the bottom step, she heard Genma shout "Nodoka!" followed by a loud thud. When she arrived to the dining room, all she could say is "Oh my!"
Ranma slowly walked to Uuchan's, figuring that he'll kill time until Akane calmed down by checking on Ukyo. Alone the way, he could think nothing of what the list said. It seemed to be centered on his life, but then again a lot of weird things in Nerima seem to revolve around him.
I wonder who's out to get me this time. Its definitely not anyone I know, just about all of them were slammed in the article. Maybe it was someone that I know that wasn't on it.
Ranma pulls out the paper and looks at all the people that it lists. Lets see, I defiantly know it's not Akane because: A. She doesn't love me, and B. she had not clue until now that Ryoga is P-chan. Searches for another name, not any of the Kunos, and definitely not Nabiki. She would never put her name on something like this. Besides, she maybe a cold- hearted money-grubber, but she would never hurt Akane like this.
Suddenly stops as a thought hits him. "That's it! The old man has something to do with it." Nah. Pops may have done some stupid things, but he would never do something to hurt Akane. Maybe it's someone from my past that I forgot about. Either that, or it's someone that pops or the old freak pissed off and got to take their revenge out on me.
A ringing bell cut Ranma's thoughts short. "Oh no, not today." Smash! As soon as Ranma regain his senses, he realized he was trapped under Shampoo's bike. Why me? What did I do in my last life to deserve this? It's probably wasn't me, I bet pops or Happosai pissed off a goddess and got me the "get ran over by a Chinese Amazon riding a bike" curse.
Shampoo jumps off her bike and pulls Ranma up. Shoving a copy of the paper in his face "Is no true! Ranma loves Shampoo! Ranma marry Shampoo!"
Oh no, here it comes. How to get rid of her? "Hey, Shampoo. What's up?"
"Tell Shampoo truth. Say Ranma love Shampoo. Tell Shampoo Ranma marry her."
Defeat washed over Ranma's face. She asked for it. "I can't."
Shampoo releases Ranma and drops to her knees, tears filling her eyes. "Why Ranma not want marry Shampoo?"
I hate it when girls cry. But I don't have time right now. Leaping to the rooftop and taking off running, Ranma yells back "It just wouldn't work out because you turn into a cat."
She watches Ranma ran away through her tear filled eyes. No Ranma. You no get off that easy. You bound to marry Shampoo by Amazon law. You marry Shampoo or die. A demented smirk crept over her face. Shampoo grabbed her bike and took off to the Nekohanten; she had much planning to do.
After a quick stop at Uuchan's, only to see a Closed due to family emergency sign, he continued on his trek home. That's weird, Ucchan usually tells me that's she's leaving before she goes. Maybe she just didn't have time to. I'll ask he when she gets back.
As Ranma approached the ladle lady's house, he slowed his pace. After spending much time looking around to make sure that she was nowhere in site, he started to walk past. Ha! She's not gonna get me this time Splash!! Looking down at her now dripping wet female form, Ranma looked off to the side and saw the old lady. How does she do it? It has to be some special technique. Hanging her head in defeat, she continued back to the dojo.
The old lady just smiled at Ranma, and as mysteriously as she appeared, she vanished into thin air.
Akane sat in her room, replaying the day's events in her mind. The weird paper telling that Ryoga was P-chan, followed by Ryoga showing up blaming Ranma for letting his secrete out. "Ranma knew, and he didn't tell me. BAKA!!"
"Maybe if you listened better sis, you would have realized that he has been trying to tell you." Akane startled, looked over at the open door with Nabiki standing inside the doorway.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN ABOUT THAT!"
Nabiki steps inside the room, closing the door behind her. What she had to say should not be interrupted by anyone. "Akane, haven't you noticed that Ranma kept calling P-chan Ryoga and Ryoga P-chan? Have you ever notice how Ryoga and P-chan don't like water? Come on Akane, with all the Jusenkyo curses that are around Ranma, one would figure you'd put two and two together." Crossing he arms and leaning against the door, "You're always calling Ranma a idiot, well you seem to just as big of one."
WHAT! I'm an idiot? How dare she. Then the various events replayed in her mind. All the times that Ranma was picking on P-chan calling him Ryoga, and calling Ryoga P-chan. Akane felt some of her anger begin to slip away. He was trying to tell me. "Why did he just tell me? Why did he only drop hints?"
Nabiki's poker face was replaced with a frown. "What I am going to tell you here does not leave this room. You can never let Ranma know that you've been told this or it'll betray his trust that he has placed in Kasumi and me."
Receiving a nod from Akane, she continued. "Ranma was forced to keep it a secrete by his honor. In fact, all of us were forced. Ryoga forced Mr. Satome and Ranma; Ranma forced Kasumi and me. I wanted to tell you, hell, Kasumi wanted to tell you. But if we did, we would betray Ranma's trust."
Disbelieving what she was hearing, "Why would Ranma tell you?"
Sliding down the door to sit on the floor. This is going to take a while. Might as well get comfortable. "Akane, he wanted to tell you but he couldn't. So he did the next best thing, he told your sisters." Noticing the anger boil in her eyes, "Akane, its not like we sat by and did nothing. Every time you and Ranma would get into a fight over P-chan and you knocked him into the koi pond, did you ever notice that whenever Kasumi came out with the hot water to change Ranma back that he was always close enough to you that some of it would get on you? She was hoping that some would get on P-chan and make him change. I just decided to make Ryoga's life miserable by charging him outrages fees to keep his secrete. I was hoping he would get tired of it and either tell you or never show up as P- chan again."
"Didn't dad know? Couldn't he do anything?"
Why did you have to ask the hard question? "Dad knew, BUT before you get mad, there was nothing that he could do." Putting a finger to her chin thinking, "How did he put it? Oh yeah. 'Even though Ryoga is tarnishing Akane's honor by being dishonorable, it is no longer my place to defend it. That duty is Ranma's, and his alone.'"
Akane couldn't believe what she has heard. Her father wouldn't defend her honor; instead he gave that job to Ranma. "How could he?! How could he have let that PERVERT defend my honor?! Especially after all those times he snuck into my room at night!"
Nabiki had enough. She stood up and before Akane could react, she closed the gap, screamed "AKANE NO BAKA!!" and slapped her sister.
Akane was shocked. Nabiki has never hit her before. She gently placed her hand to her cheek, still feeling the sting from the slap. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT FOR?"
Nabiki had her poker face back, but there was no mistaking the anger in her voice. "You find out that P-chan and Ryoga are the same, even after ignoring all of Ranma's clues. I tell you why everyone knew, and why dad especially couldn't tell you. And yet you still can't add sis. All those times Ranma came into your room, it wasn't to be a pervert, it was to get Ryoga out and save your honor. In fact, I don't think he knows how to even be a pervert, let alone be one. No sis, if anyone is a pervert here, it's you. You chose to ignore everything, let Ryoga sleep with you. And on top of that, you knew that it made Ranma mad and you enjoyed doing it." Turning to leave, "You don't deserve Ranma, in fact, you and Ryoga make a better pair. You both like blaming Ranma for things that happen that are nothing but your own fault. And then, you jump to conclusions and make accusations against Ranma without opening your eyes and getting all the facts. I'm still surprised that Ranma hasn't said 'to hell with it' and left yet. I'm sure none of us would blame him if he did." She quietly exited the room, leaving her sister sobbing on her bed.
"That was a little harsh, wasn't Nabiki?"
Nabiki didn't have to turn around to know it was Kasumi behind her. "I had to. It was time that she realized what the truth was. Why aren't you making dinner?"
"Auntie Satome showed up, she knows about the curses. She has father and Uncle Satome tied up and gagged and asked me to stay up her until Ranma came home. Could you order dinner while I go and talk to Akane?"
"Sure." Nabiki heads to her room to make the call. Good luck Ranma, you're going to need it.
Ranma finally reached the dojo after a long fight with Moose over how he "insulted Shampoo." Geez! When will he get it in his head that I DON'T LIKE Shampoo? In fact, I want him to have her. That way, she'll stop bothering me. How much worse could this day get?
With a leap, Ranma jumped over the wall and ran along the side of the house to come in through the dinning room doors. Kasumi would be waiting there, like everyday, with hot water to change her back. I can't wait to be a guy again.
As soon as she stepped into the dinning room, what she saw caused her to stop in mid-step. In the far corner, was his dad in panda form and Mr. Tendo. Both of them were tied up and gagged. Ranma walked up to Genma and looked down at him with a smirk on her face. "Ok pops, what did you do this time. No wait, let me guess. Back on our training trip you stole some food, got caught, and promise that I'll marry another girl. JUST HOW MANY FIANCEES HOW I HAVE CUZ OF YOU OLD MAN!"
Ranma heard someone come up behind her and pour hot water on her. He turns to face the person, assuming it was Kasumi. "Thanks Kasum..." What he saw caused him to turn pale with fear.
"You're welcome Ranko, or should I say RANMA." Nodoka's face didn't show a hint of emotion.
"M..m..mom?" was all Ranma could stutter. Oh man, I'm dead. I'm so DEAD. Thanks a lot pop. You're stupid training trip has finally gotten me killed.
Nodoka just looked down at her son. "I hope you're not as stupid as your father and are going to try and weasel out of telling me truth. If so, the Satome line ends tonight."