Ranma 1/2
Of Lesser
Chapter 4
Ranma paid no attention to the folded note tossed at his head, being on the other side of consciousness tended to leave awareness back in jolly ol' reality a bit lacking. Akane fumed even more so than she had for the past half hour and turned back to pay attention in class, finding the teacher's lecture nowhere near as enticing as finding something a bit blunter to toss at escape velocity towards her fiancée. The teacher himself was still turned towards the board, writing little squiggly lines that humanity utilized to communicate non-vocally, but was well aware that the most disruptive student in class was asleep and his raging demon of a fiancée was occupying thoughts of ending their engagement with Ranma's funeral march. After all, it was his classroom, nothing escaped his notice. Within it he was Kamisama himself. NOTHING could harm him in his own classroom.
Ranma was shocked awake by the insane crackling of the teacher. Poor Hayashi-sensei, ever since the incident he was caught in a crossfire between Ranma's Mouku Takabisha and one of principle Kuno's improved pineapple pipe bombs, he barely came out of his classroom, even when other teachers had to lecture.
Finding sleep about as possible as slumber during a concert of steel mills, Ranma shifted gears from lax to lax/bored before he noticed the triangle folded note lying at the head of his desk. The pigtailed martial artist looked around to see whom it belonged to, and noted Akane flaring a light battle aura as she looked towards the head of the class.
"Hmm, must be from Akane," lightly mused Ranma as he unfolded the note;
Ranma. What the HELL do you think you're trying to do, gain another
Fiancée? You're such an idiot if you think anyone wants you. But if you
want the foreign floozy then you can just run off together for ALL I care!
I hate you I hate you I HATE YOU!!
The note went on to mention different grapples Akane intended on her fiancée, all sounding rather kinky to those less naive than Ranma Saotome. Unfortunately Ranma Saotome was as naive as Ranma Saotome, and took the descriptions at face value. "Ranma, would you like to go to the nurse's station? You're looking rather pale," inquired Hayashi-sensei. He couldn't allow someone to be sick in his class, his world was too perfect. The Saotome kid MUST be ejected from Hayashi-san's Eden.
"Er, sure teach. I, uh, think I'll just go on home," said Ranma hoarsely, obviously still trying to recover from Akane's elaborate and creative description for utilizing a basic Anything-Goes school chokehold. "Fine, whatever," dismissed the teacher nonchalantly; silently glad to rid his perfect little world of the disease-ridden vessel. Akane looked on extremely upset that Ranma once again today escaped her holy and wrathful vengeance. How dare Ranma not wake up immediately from his first malletting when she realized that he had given her a sincere reason to hit him? Her honor as a martial artist wouldn't allow her to punish a comatose fiancée, even if he deserved it. Besides, there just was no satisfaction that way. Ranma went sheet white as he noted the glower becoming even darker on the raven-haired girl's face, and made haste for the classroom exit.
Becky gratefully accepted her second cup of tea, even the most minor of a distraction taken with great enthusiasm from Soun's incessant prattle. After spending a good fifteen more minutes listening to Soun's verbal essay of why the uniting of the Tendou and Saotome schools would bring about a worldly utopia, the blond girl sighed in relief as the front door opened and closed with a masculine cry of 'I'm home' accompanying it.
"Hello Ranma, why are you home from school so early?" inquired Kasumi as she went to greet the young man. "Hayashi-sensei thought hanging around wasn't gonna be good for my health," Responded Ranma, though he didn't mention the reason he agreed with that statement. The battle aura that Akane was suppressing easily rivaled Ryoga during a full berserker mad-on. Besides which, his hiatus from class just allowed him to sooner get on with his new challenge...
"Hey, yo, Becks-chan!" Rebecca grimaced at the familiarity the pigtailed boy displayed; she didn't recall any mention of new acquaintances using pet names in her 'Understanding Japan the Gaijin Way' handbook. "Uh, what's up, Ranma-'san'," replied the girl, making sure to emphasize the 'San'. Undeterred, Ranma barreled forth, "Heh, I just thought of this funny story I have to tell ya..."
Rebecca's blood ran cold at that phrase; it was one of those lines she always dreaded for the longest time from any guy. "Not another one," she mentally whined to herself as she held up a hand before Ranma could continue, "look, um, hold on, stay right there and hold that story for when I get back, okay?" "Uh, sure," the pigtailed boy replied dumbly as Becky flashed him a smile and headed elsewhere...
Four Hours later, Akane arrived home from school to see Ranma sitting sullenly on the couch, watching TV. The Raven-haired girl let go of the ripcord to start up her temper until she could find out what had gotten Ranma so down. She owed him that at least before she bludgeoned him into a cream. Akane walked around behind him and was ready to smack the inattentive boy in the back of the head and comment on how little attention he's paying to his surroundings, when she was forced to give a startled scream from Ranma's abrupt turn.
"Now, about that stor... oh, hey 'Kane, you seen Rebecca around?" Asked Ranma curiously, his split moment of animation becoming morose once again. Akane became visibly peeved as her fiancée made mention of the new guest to the Tendou Dojo as she turned and stomped away. She was afraid that she was far too ticked to hit Ranma at the moment; since it would be likely she'd kill him in the attack.
Rebecca continued down the business street, hoping to kill some time before dinner. The strawberry blonde waived a few strands out of her face, mumbling for the umpteenth time since she left Ranma standing how she manages to always attract the weird ones. Sure Ranma seemed like a nice guy whenever his mouth stayed in neutral, but he was almost as obsessive as...
Becky stopped that line of thought, as if realizing to think of that one would herald her return in some fashion. Surly Ranma isn't as bad as she was thinking; many guys had attempted the pigtailed boy's current objective. Hopefully with the time she gave him to cool off, he'd already forgotten about it. Feeling a bit lighter with that thought, the American born girl decided it was time to return before they got too worried about where she was.
Standing atop a building, a girl obviously not native to the land observed the American girl. She had followed a lot of leads for a good long while, now she found her goal in site. "Soon," mouthed the girl to herself, the world whetting her appetite for vengeance. If not for the crowd below her, nothing would stop her from taking her pound of flesh. Fantasizing about the brutal ways she would gain her retribution, the voyeur didn't notice when the flaxen haired girl turned a corner and out of site.
Rebecca was wrong. "He'd already forgotten about it," she mocked her earlier thoughts, "surely Ranma isn't as bas as I was thinking." If she wasn't so exasperated with the situation, she would had been in hysterics, not that her aggravation level isn't close to pushing to that level. She peaked around a corner for any sign of the pigtailed boy and saw the coast was clear, maybe if she could get her gear outta the dojo, she could make a clean break for it. As soon as she started to tiptoe towards the practice hall's door, a rustle came from the tree above her, and she silently cursed as she turned around and found Ranma's face upside down in front of her. "Okay, so this guy walks into a bar with a pet shark..."
Rebecca would have been proud of herself; it had to be the fastest dead start run she had ever made, including that rather unpleasant incident in Paraguay. At that point unfortunately, her mind was focusing on the same acute panic cocker spaniels feel when at an Asian budget gourmet convention.
Getting over the surprise at the cartoonish cloud of smoke in the same of a buxom American girl, Ranma pressed to gain up with his current target of accomplishment, "Wait a sec, you haven't even heard the best part yet!"
Hoping to lose Ranma with some classic American Football skills, Becky dashed into the first opening she came across, namely the Tendou household's back door. "Coming through, 'scuse me, looks good Kasumi, look'n good Nabby, duck a bit Tendou-san, gain way big guy," Becky commented almost cheerfully as she twisted around Genma, somersaulted over Akane, spun around Kasumi, darted around Nabiki, leapt over Soun, dove between Ryoga's legs, took a bit of time to calmly open the front door, then slam it shut as she continued to run. Ranma was in hot pursuit, avoided all the obstacles, except for two, and suddenly irate girl with short hair and an utterly furious boy with his face planted three inches into the Tendou floor. In sound so clear you'll swear its Memorex came a duel cry of "RRRRRRAAAAAAANNNNNNMMMMMMAAAAAAAA"
Rebecca ran as if her very life depended on it (or at least what was left of her sanity), unbeknownst to her that she had gained two more pursuers. Two doubled to 4 as Ukyo and Shampoo started running after Ranma (they always found this a fun game to play with their fiancée), then it became 8 as Tatawake and Kodachi Kuno, Asuza, and the neighborhood barber gave chase. The impromptu marathon kicked up several notches as a ferret craving vengeance descended from a nearby building cloaked in the skin of a cat (skinned and tanned with it's own hands, one of the ferret's proudest talents) and clung Ranma's face like a starving leech to the side of an IV bag. "GETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFF!!ISWEARI'MGONNALOSEITGETITOFF!!!"
Rebecca didn't know how, but suddenly she found the will to run *faster* as she heard Ranma's muffled cries of Japanese being spoken so fast it was gibberish to her ears. The flaxen haired girl feared Ranma's obsession more than ever, her mind briefly flickering to a certain rival who was after her for different reasons.
As physically fit as she was, she couldn't run forever. Almost ready to give in to fate, a very small yet prominent part of her survival instinct civilly advised her, with a bull horn; "GOOD LORD GET THE HELL OUTTA THE WAY!!!!!"
Becky just barely twisted her head then torso out of the way of a descending heel that would have crunched her like well worn accordion, and rolled away into a defensive stance. The Nerima crew stopped as concrete was pulverized and sent flying in their direction.
"No, no, of course, it can get worse, life ALWAYS gets worse," stated Rebecca in a maniacally giddy voice as she looked back towards the dark skinned girl wearing burgundy pants with a black stripe down the sides and a black sports bra who had at same cheerful smile as a death's head ready to begin a slaughter.
Of Lesser
Chapter 4
Ranma paid no attention to the folded note tossed at his head, being on the other side of consciousness tended to leave awareness back in jolly ol' reality a bit lacking. Akane fumed even more so than she had for the past half hour and turned back to pay attention in class, finding the teacher's lecture nowhere near as enticing as finding something a bit blunter to toss at escape velocity towards her fiancée. The teacher himself was still turned towards the board, writing little squiggly lines that humanity utilized to communicate non-vocally, but was well aware that the most disruptive student in class was asleep and his raging demon of a fiancée was occupying thoughts of ending their engagement with Ranma's funeral march. After all, it was his classroom, nothing escaped his notice. Within it he was Kamisama himself. NOTHING could harm him in his own classroom.
Ranma was shocked awake by the insane crackling of the teacher. Poor Hayashi-sensei, ever since the incident he was caught in a crossfire between Ranma's Mouku Takabisha and one of principle Kuno's improved pineapple pipe bombs, he barely came out of his classroom, even when other teachers had to lecture.
Finding sleep about as possible as slumber during a concert of steel mills, Ranma shifted gears from lax to lax/bored before he noticed the triangle folded note lying at the head of his desk. The pigtailed martial artist looked around to see whom it belonged to, and noted Akane flaring a light battle aura as she looked towards the head of the class.
"Hmm, must be from Akane," lightly mused Ranma as he unfolded the note;
Ranma. What the HELL do you think you're trying to do, gain another
Fiancée? You're such an idiot if you think anyone wants you. But if you
want the foreign floozy then you can just run off together for ALL I care!
I hate you I hate you I HATE YOU!!
The note went on to mention different grapples Akane intended on her fiancée, all sounding rather kinky to those less naive than Ranma Saotome. Unfortunately Ranma Saotome was as naive as Ranma Saotome, and took the descriptions at face value. "Ranma, would you like to go to the nurse's station? You're looking rather pale," inquired Hayashi-sensei. He couldn't allow someone to be sick in his class, his world was too perfect. The Saotome kid MUST be ejected from Hayashi-san's Eden.
"Er, sure teach. I, uh, think I'll just go on home," said Ranma hoarsely, obviously still trying to recover from Akane's elaborate and creative description for utilizing a basic Anything-Goes school chokehold. "Fine, whatever," dismissed the teacher nonchalantly; silently glad to rid his perfect little world of the disease-ridden vessel. Akane looked on extremely upset that Ranma once again today escaped her holy and wrathful vengeance. How dare Ranma not wake up immediately from his first malletting when she realized that he had given her a sincere reason to hit him? Her honor as a martial artist wouldn't allow her to punish a comatose fiancée, even if he deserved it. Besides, there just was no satisfaction that way. Ranma went sheet white as he noted the glower becoming even darker on the raven-haired girl's face, and made haste for the classroom exit.
Becky gratefully accepted her second cup of tea, even the most minor of a distraction taken with great enthusiasm from Soun's incessant prattle. After spending a good fifteen more minutes listening to Soun's verbal essay of why the uniting of the Tendou and Saotome schools would bring about a worldly utopia, the blond girl sighed in relief as the front door opened and closed with a masculine cry of 'I'm home' accompanying it.
"Hello Ranma, why are you home from school so early?" inquired Kasumi as she went to greet the young man. "Hayashi-sensei thought hanging around wasn't gonna be good for my health," Responded Ranma, though he didn't mention the reason he agreed with that statement. The battle aura that Akane was suppressing easily rivaled Ryoga during a full berserker mad-on. Besides which, his hiatus from class just allowed him to sooner get on with his new challenge...
"Hey, yo, Becks-chan!" Rebecca grimaced at the familiarity the pigtailed boy displayed; she didn't recall any mention of new acquaintances using pet names in her 'Understanding Japan the Gaijin Way' handbook. "Uh, what's up, Ranma-'san'," replied the girl, making sure to emphasize the 'San'. Undeterred, Ranma barreled forth, "Heh, I just thought of this funny story I have to tell ya..."
Rebecca's blood ran cold at that phrase; it was one of those lines she always dreaded for the longest time from any guy. "Not another one," she mentally whined to herself as she held up a hand before Ranma could continue, "look, um, hold on, stay right there and hold that story for when I get back, okay?" "Uh, sure," the pigtailed boy replied dumbly as Becky flashed him a smile and headed elsewhere...
Four Hours later, Akane arrived home from school to see Ranma sitting sullenly on the couch, watching TV. The Raven-haired girl let go of the ripcord to start up her temper until she could find out what had gotten Ranma so down. She owed him that at least before she bludgeoned him into a cream. Akane walked around behind him and was ready to smack the inattentive boy in the back of the head and comment on how little attention he's paying to his surroundings, when she was forced to give a startled scream from Ranma's abrupt turn.
"Now, about that stor... oh, hey 'Kane, you seen Rebecca around?" Asked Ranma curiously, his split moment of animation becoming morose once again. Akane became visibly peeved as her fiancée made mention of the new guest to the Tendou Dojo as she turned and stomped away. She was afraid that she was far too ticked to hit Ranma at the moment; since it would be likely she'd kill him in the attack.
Rebecca continued down the business street, hoping to kill some time before dinner. The strawberry blonde waived a few strands out of her face, mumbling for the umpteenth time since she left Ranma standing how she manages to always attract the weird ones. Sure Ranma seemed like a nice guy whenever his mouth stayed in neutral, but he was almost as obsessive as...
Becky stopped that line of thought, as if realizing to think of that one would herald her return in some fashion. Surly Ranma isn't as bad as she was thinking; many guys had attempted the pigtailed boy's current objective. Hopefully with the time she gave him to cool off, he'd already forgotten about it. Feeling a bit lighter with that thought, the American born girl decided it was time to return before they got too worried about where she was.
Standing atop a building, a girl obviously not native to the land observed the American girl. She had followed a lot of leads for a good long while, now she found her goal in site. "Soon," mouthed the girl to herself, the world whetting her appetite for vengeance. If not for the crowd below her, nothing would stop her from taking her pound of flesh. Fantasizing about the brutal ways she would gain her retribution, the voyeur didn't notice when the flaxen haired girl turned a corner and out of site.
Rebecca was wrong. "He'd already forgotten about it," she mocked her earlier thoughts, "surely Ranma isn't as bas as I was thinking." If she wasn't so exasperated with the situation, she would had been in hysterics, not that her aggravation level isn't close to pushing to that level. She peaked around a corner for any sign of the pigtailed boy and saw the coast was clear, maybe if she could get her gear outta the dojo, she could make a clean break for it. As soon as she started to tiptoe towards the practice hall's door, a rustle came from the tree above her, and she silently cursed as she turned around and found Ranma's face upside down in front of her. "Okay, so this guy walks into a bar with a pet shark..."
Rebecca would have been proud of herself; it had to be the fastest dead start run she had ever made, including that rather unpleasant incident in Paraguay. At that point unfortunately, her mind was focusing on the same acute panic cocker spaniels feel when at an Asian budget gourmet convention.
Getting over the surprise at the cartoonish cloud of smoke in the same of a buxom American girl, Ranma pressed to gain up with his current target of accomplishment, "Wait a sec, you haven't even heard the best part yet!"
Hoping to lose Ranma with some classic American Football skills, Becky dashed into the first opening she came across, namely the Tendou household's back door. "Coming through, 'scuse me, looks good Kasumi, look'n good Nabby, duck a bit Tendou-san, gain way big guy," Becky commented almost cheerfully as she twisted around Genma, somersaulted over Akane, spun around Kasumi, darted around Nabiki, leapt over Soun, dove between Ryoga's legs, took a bit of time to calmly open the front door, then slam it shut as she continued to run. Ranma was in hot pursuit, avoided all the obstacles, except for two, and suddenly irate girl with short hair and an utterly furious boy with his face planted three inches into the Tendou floor. In sound so clear you'll swear its Memorex came a duel cry of "RRRRRRAAAAAAANNNNNNMMMMMMAAAAAAAA"
Rebecca ran as if her very life depended on it (or at least what was left of her sanity), unbeknownst to her that she had gained two more pursuers. Two doubled to 4 as Ukyo and Shampoo started running after Ranma (they always found this a fun game to play with their fiancée), then it became 8 as Tatawake and Kodachi Kuno, Asuza, and the neighborhood barber gave chase. The impromptu marathon kicked up several notches as a ferret craving vengeance descended from a nearby building cloaked in the skin of a cat (skinned and tanned with it's own hands, one of the ferret's proudest talents) and clung Ranma's face like a starving leech to the side of an IV bag. "GETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFF!!ISWEARI'MGONNALOSEITGETITOFF!!!"
Rebecca didn't know how, but suddenly she found the will to run *faster* as she heard Ranma's muffled cries of Japanese being spoken so fast it was gibberish to her ears. The flaxen haired girl feared Ranma's obsession more than ever, her mind briefly flickering to a certain rival who was after her for different reasons.
As physically fit as she was, she couldn't run forever. Almost ready to give in to fate, a very small yet prominent part of her survival instinct civilly advised her, with a bull horn; "GOOD LORD GET THE HELL OUTTA THE WAY!!!!!"
Becky just barely twisted her head then torso out of the way of a descending heel that would have crunched her like well worn accordion, and rolled away into a defensive stance. The Nerima crew stopped as concrete was pulverized and sent flying in their direction.
"No, no, of course, it can get worse, life ALWAYS gets worse," stated Rebecca in a maniacally giddy voice as she looked back towards the dark skinned girl wearing burgundy pants with a black stripe down the sides and a black sports bra who had at same cheerful smile as a death's head ready to begin a slaughter.