Ranma One-Akane
By Ron Dow75
05: It Takes a Fiance
In the Furinkan High Infirmary, the nude body of Akane
Tendou was surrounded by a mob of girls in school-dress:
The short girl with big brown eyes that showed little
white told the one they thought was Akane Tendou, "Your
fiance does not have to be Sempai Kuno."
The tall girl with long, stiff hair told her, "But you
have to decide who IS your fiance TODAY."
The girl with the perm and perfect figure said, "If you
don't, Kuno WILL be your fiance."
(A girl in the back whispered to her friend, "I would've
thought Yuumei would want somebody rich and handsome."
Her friend answered, "I guess even for her the only
craziness you want your boyfriend to have is over you.")
Ranma-and-Akane had already threatened to use martial
arts force on them. -{It looks like there's at least one
girl from every class in here!}- "And if I DON'T go along
with your plans!?!"
The girl still with the gift in her hands pleaded,
"Please, Akane-chan, it will make things easier." She,
far more than any of the others, kept looking at more
than Akane's face.
The school beauty queen said, "We all know you're a
martial artist--"
(Girls in the back said among themselves, "How could
anyone NOT know! She has a fight with the guys EVERY
morning!"/ "Right! And it's made them obsess over her!"/
"It hurts their weak masculine pride they can't beat a
girl."/ "If Akane acted like a REAL girl, she'd let the
poor pathetic monsters win."/ "THEN they could stop
obsessing over her, and get to US!"/ "Maybe we've been
doing it wrong.")
Ranma had been paying attention to what the chorus had
been saying. -{This Akane fights??! That wasn't me
beatin' up that bunch a guys this morning?}- Ranma
brought all of her knowledge of girls to bear. It still
had to go through the bottleneck of his heightened
prejudice. -{Naw! She fought them dirty, like a girl, I
bet. I fought them like a martial artist!}-
The Yuumei yelled, "Akane!! If we're going to threaten
you, you could at least have the courtesy to listen to
it!"
Both Ranma and the Akane identities said, "Sorry."
Satisfied that she had the spotlight again, the beauty
pageant-type said, "There is nothing your notorious
fighting ability can do. We the females of Nerima have
vowed to use every feminine trick in the arsenal if we
have to."
Ranma thought, -{I KNEW girls played dirty! This could
give me a chance to learn their special techniques and
figure out defenses for when I become a guy again. My
code does kinda limit what I can do with my martial arts
against them.}-
The tall girl cracked her knuckles, "And some UNfeminine
ones, too. For every Gang Girl, there's three Gang Guys."
Ranma thought, -{Now that sounds like it might be good a
workout.}-
It was the turn to speak of the strange girl that set the
hackles up on Ranma's and so Akane's neck, "Then there
are...unconventional methods." She stepped forward,
"Nyan?"
Ranma's training let her use Akane's senses to zero in on
what was bothering her about the girl that smelled odd
and needed a lint-brush. Ranma turned to jello, "Okay!
Okay! I'll choose!!" Ranma had found something that could
overpower the grip the Akane-identity had her body in.
= = =
In the basement of his clinic, Dr. Tofu was operating.
Using an antique instrument that dated back to dawn of
history, he sawed through his Diagnostic. It was meant to
amputate legs. Now it was being used to dissect a
precious treasure from Juusenkyo. The red lump of clay
with the green stripes and gold flecks was sensitive to
the fluctuations of the chi/personality energies of the
area, distinct from the ki/animate energies. Unless it
was quickly dried out, those forces would shift the
readings a skilled augur like the doctor could elicit
from it. Cutting it, of course, traumatized the clay,
too. Tofu Ono worked as swiftly but as carefully as he
could.
He paused only to remove the antique bronze acupuncture
needles that would have gotten damaged.
When he was through, a third of the clay was laid gently
on its rough side. Inside the green lines in the red clay
seemed to form a longer text written in shousho, a very
cursive way of writing ideographs. And this style was so
unique few people could read it.
Dr. Tofu himself had to struggle to interpret it: "The
Great Curse is once more...delayed..." Dr. Tofu paused. "
"The Great Curse"? For some reason, that should be mean
something to me..." But he didn't have the time to ponder
it. The writing was blurring and running even now. "From
Judgment upon the world...to judgment upon heroes (or is it
"hero"? It could mean "heroine".) ...From Great Curse to a
curse upon the great. May a new course for the River be
found..."
Tofu stared away at a darkness he was too well familiar
with, "Akane! ...And this boy that possesses her body now!
The demons seek to punish them!"
Then he had a worse realization: "If the balance is not
maintained in the Tendou property, a judgment will be
released on Japan! It may not be the world, but it will
do!"
= = =
Ranma was finally allowed to put on clothes. It was
almost a relief to get into dry panties, bra and dress. -
{And, hey, it's not ME puttin' the stuff on: It's this
Akane-chick's identity! If I had any say in it at least
I'D get one a the school's guy uniforms.}-
The delegation was gone, but Ranma was not allowed to be
alone:
Sayuri asked like the schoolgirl she was, "Well, Akane?
WHO is it going to be?! You know you can have ANY boy
that's attacked you!"
Tsugako said, "Not just one of those jerks. What guy
wouldn't like the idea that THEY had beat out all the
other guys and won the unattainable girl? That would make
THEM the best man."
Sayuri said, "You mean the BETTER man. The best man isn't
the one engaged to the girl."
Ranma's mood wasn't helped by the bad fit of the spare
girl clothes. The bra pinched and pressed her boobs, the
blouse was binding across the shoulders, and the panties
wanted to ride up.
Tsugako's eyes lit up at an idea, "Oh: Hey! We can have a
lottery!"
Sayuri protested, "You CAN'T raffle off a girl! That's
next to prostitution!"
Tsugako said, "Only if she does anything BEFORE the
marriage." She looked at Akane.
Sayuri looked at Akane. She agreed, "Nothing would
happen."
Hearing the idea of being sold off to another guy while
in a dress did nothing to boost Ranma's already disgusted
male ego. "The deal is *I am the one to choose!"
Tsugako said, "--Wait! At least consult Nabiki? She IS
your sister."
Sayuri said, "You just want to give Akane's sister enough
time to organize the lottery, or whatever money-making
scheme she can come up with."
Ranma had picked up the shoes with the socks inside and
got away from the pair:
SLAM!! Ranma closed the door to the infirmary so hard
anything loose fell. By luck(?) an acoustic tile fell
from the ceiling and hit Tsugako on the head.
Just being missed getting hit herself, Sayuri did the
Takahashi hand gestures, end fingers up, middle fingers
down.
= = =
Dr. Tofu finished carefully cutting open the middle of
the Diagnostic. He read slower, as the cursive scrawl was
already becoming illegible: "Places changed
By Ron Dow75
05: It Takes a Fiance
In the Furinkan High Infirmary, the nude body of Akane
Tendou was surrounded by a mob of girls in school-dress:
The short girl with big brown eyes that showed little
white told the one they thought was Akane Tendou, "Your
fiance does not have to be Sempai Kuno."
The tall girl with long, stiff hair told her, "But you
have to decide who IS your fiance TODAY."
The girl with the perm and perfect figure said, "If you
don't, Kuno WILL be your fiance."
(A girl in the back whispered to her friend, "I would've
thought Yuumei would want somebody rich and handsome."
Her friend answered, "I guess even for her the only
craziness you want your boyfriend to have is over you.")
Ranma-and-Akane had already threatened to use martial
arts force on them. -{It looks like there's at least one
girl from every class in here!}- "And if I DON'T go along
with your plans!?!"
The girl still with the gift in her hands pleaded,
"Please, Akane-chan, it will make things easier." She,
far more than any of the others, kept looking at more
than Akane's face.
The school beauty queen said, "We all know you're a
martial artist--"
(Girls in the back said among themselves, "How could
anyone NOT know! She has a fight with the guys EVERY
morning!"/ "Right! And it's made them obsess over her!"/
"It hurts their weak masculine pride they can't beat a
girl."/ "If Akane acted like a REAL girl, she'd let the
poor pathetic monsters win."/ "THEN they could stop
obsessing over her, and get to US!"/ "Maybe we've been
doing it wrong.")
Ranma had been paying attention to what the chorus had
been saying. -{This Akane fights??! That wasn't me
beatin' up that bunch a guys this morning?}- Ranma
brought all of her knowledge of girls to bear. It still
had to go through the bottleneck of his heightened
prejudice. -{Naw! She fought them dirty, like a girl, I
bet. I fought them like a martial artist!}-
The Yuumei yelled, "Akane!! If we're going to threaten
you, you could at least have the courtesy to listen to
it!"
Both Ranma and the Akane identities said, "Sorry."
Satisfied that she had the spotlight again, the beauty
pageant-type said, "There is nothing your notorious
fighting ability can do. We the females of Nerima have
vowed to use every feminine trick in the arsenal if we
have to."
Ranma thought, -{I KNEW girls played dirty! This could
give me a chance to learn their special techniques and
figure out defenses for when I become a guy again. My
code does kinda limit what I can do with my martial arts
against them.}-
The tall girl cracked her knuckles, "And some UNfeminine
ones, too. For every Gang Girl, there's three Gang Guys."
Ranma thought, -{Now that sounds like it might be good a
workout.}-
It was the turn to speak of the strange girl that set the
hackles up on Ranma's and so Akane's neck, "Then there
are...unconventional methods." She stepped forward,
"Nyan?"
Ranma's training let her use Akane's senses to zero in on
what was bothering her about the girl that smelled odd
and needed a lint-brush. Ranma turned to jello, "Okay!
Okay! I'll choose!!" Ranma had found something that could
overpower the grip the Akane-identity had her body in.
= = =
In the basement of his clinic, Dr. Tofu was operating.
Using an antique instrument that dated back to dawn of
history, he sawed through his Diagnostic. It was meant to
amputate legs. Now it was being used to dissect a
precious treasure from Juusenkyo. The red lump of clay
with the green stripes and gold flecks was sensitive to
the fluctuations of the chi/personality energies of the
area, distinct from the ki/animate energies. Unless it
was quickly dried out, those forces would shift the
readings a skilled augur like the doctor could elicit
from it. Cutting it, of course, traumatized the clay,
too. Tofu Ono worked as swiftly but as carefully as he
could.
He paused only to remove the antique bronze acupuncture
needles that would have gotten damaged.
When he was through, a third of the clay was laid gently
on its rough side. Inside the green lines in the red clay
seemed to form a longer text written in shousho, a very
cursive way of writing ideographs. And this style was so
unique few people could read it.
Dr. Tofu himself had to struggle to interpret it: "The
Great Curse is once more...delayed..." Dr. Tofu paused. "
"The Great Curse"? For some reason, that should be mean
something to me..." But he didn't have the time to ponder
it. The writing was blurring and running even now. "From
Judgment upon the world...to judgment upon heroes (or is it
"hero"? It could mean "heroine".) ...From Great Curse to a
curse upon the great. May a new course for the River be
found..."
Tofu stared away at a darkness he was too well familiar
with, "Akane! ...And this boy that possesses her body now!
The demons seek to punish them!"
Then he had a worse realization: "If the balance is not
maintained in the Tendou property, a judgment will be
released on Japan! It may not be the world, but it will
do!"
= = =
Ranma was finally allowed to put on clothes. It was
almost a relief to get into dry panties, bra and dress. -
{And, hey, it's not ME puttin' the stuff on: It's this
Akane-chick's identity! If I had any say in it at least
I'D get one a the school's guy uniforms.}-
The delegation was gone, but Ranma was not allowed to be
alone:
Sayuri asked like the schoolgirl she was, "Well, Akane?
WHO is it going to be?! You know you can have ANY boy
that's attacked you!"
Tsugako said, "Not just one of those jerks. What guy
wouldn't like the idea that THEY had beat out all the
other guys and won the unattainable girl? That would make
THEM the best man."
Sayuri said, "You mean the BETTER man. The best man isn't
the one engaged to the girl."
Ranma's mood wasn't helped by the bad fit of the spare
girl clothes. The bra pinched and pressed her boobs, the
blouse was binding across the shoulders, and the panties
wanted to ride up.
Tsugako's eyes lit up at an idea, "Oh: Hey! We can have a
lottery!"
Sayuri protested, "You CAN'T raffle off a girl! That's
next to prostitution!"
Tsugako said, "Only if she does anything BEFORE the
marriage." She looked at Akane.
Sayuri looked at Akane. She agreed, "Nothing would
happen."
Hearing the idea of being sold off to another guy while
in a dress did nothing to boost Ranma's already disgusted
male ego. "The deal is *I am the one to choose!"
Tsugako said, "--Wait! At least consult Nabiki? She IS
your sister."
Sayuri said, "You just want to give Akane's sister enough
time to organize the lottery, or whatever money-making
scheme she can come up with."
Ranma had picked up the shoes with the socks inside and
got away from the pair:
SLAM!! Ranma closed the door to the infirmary so hard
anything loose fell. By luck(?) an acoustic tile fell
from the ceiling and hit Tsugako on the head.
Just being missed getting hit herself, Sayuri did the
Takahashi hand gestures, end fingers up, middle fingers
down.
= = =
Dr. Tofu finished carefully cutting open the middle of
the Diagnostic. He read slower, as the cursive scrawl was
already becoming illegible: "Places changed