Disclaimer: You know the drill. This is a nonprofit work of fiction made for fun. I own nothing!
Interesting note: Ranma 1/2's canon start takes place in 1989.
Chapter 1: Spanner in the Works
It was perfect.
He, Tatewaki Kuno, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, had done it! As he stepped off the stage of the school auditorium, he smiled victoriously at the bellows and jeers of the simpletons below. They, his fellow students, could feel free to call his bluff. Troublesome though it might be, he would nonetheless show them that his words were far from empty.
With this, the stage was set, the challenge laid down! His darling sweet flower was now safe from the depredations of the rabble! For he knew... Yes, he was certain! Not a one of the rabble could overcome the beauteous Akane Tendo! In battle, he knew well that she blossomed all the greater! There was no commoner among them who could defeat her...
None... but him!
With this, the unworthy would be weeded out, those unfit to even challenge him for her fair hand. Yes, even if they were to come at her all together, he knew his flower would prevail! And then, when the time came... he, Tatewaki Kuno, the Shooting Star of Furinkan, would defeat her! He would prove himself to be above the rest! And with his victory, he would inscribe his love upon her heart! She would finally see that he was the only suitor worth her divine gaze, and they would date and become man and wife thereafter!
This plan couldn't possibly fail!
"Hey! You shouldn't be up there!"
A commotion from the stage brought Tatewaki back from his visions of glorious triumph. "Hmm?"
"What's the issue?" a strange girl with a flamboyantly pink shoulder-blade-length hair asked casually, side-stepping the student that tried to stop her, as she strode up to the mike. "That was the last speech, right? So, it's not like it's reserved."
"You aren't on the list!"
"What?" snorted the pinkette. "Never heard of a late entry?" She waved them off and took a loud sip from the soda can she currently held in one hand. By now, she had reached the podium, and a long, ungracious slurp echoed through the mike for all to hear. Setting the can down on the podium, she smacked her lips with a flat look in her green eyes, panning her gaze over the crowd that had mostly quieted in the wake of her little show. "So..." She rolled her jaw, taking a slow, deep inhale. "Wasn't going to enter, but after that rather... bracing speech from the local samurai..."
Kuno smirked, puffing up his chest. Truly, it had been a grand gesture. Clearly, this improper young lady had been as taken with him as his lovely flower would be! But alas! It was a true shame that his heart only belonged to one!
"I hope none of you are planning to take that idiocy seriously."
What?
"You can date whoever you damn well please, combat capacity be damned... just like anyone you want to date has every right to tell you 'no'. Ridiculous concepts like 'might makes right' are for barbarians and thugs, and for the sake of my flagging faith in humanity, I would like to think the lot of you are above being the sort of inbred chimps that would think otherwise."
This wasn't happening!
"Your capacity to be a successful abusive asshole one step short of a rapist does not in any way determine your suitability as an SO. So, I really hope you aren't the sort of scum that likes to beat the shit out of women in order to 'subdue' them for... 'activities'." Her tone was a growl of livid revulsion that was now being echoed by many a fellow female in the crowd.
That-! That wasn't what he said! And hey! Wasn't this a little far?! He just wanted to scare off the unworthy!
"I realize that Furinkan is not a normal High School. We've got some real eccentrics being freaky around here. I realize that we have some weird-ass fuckers fucking around and generally finding out about here and way too many bullshit combat styles in really stupid things. But irregardless, I hope you also realize that there is a real world with real consequences out there, and it doesn't just start existing after you graduate."
This was-! No! She -this harlot, this harpy of poisoned words! She was stealing his glorious thunder! He had requested to have his speech be last, to maximize impact! To inscribe his truths upon the minds of his subjects! And this she-devil with her wicked silver tongue and deceptions was undoing all of it!
"What I'm trying to say is that if you start going around harassing Akane Tendo, assaulting Akane Tendo, without her consent... then well... I'm not going to stop you, not personally anyway." Her voice was dangerously casual, as she took another sip of her drink. "I'm just going to call the police."
That fiend!
"The same goes for Tatewaki, of course, but I don't think that much dilutes my point. You can date Akane Tendo all you want, like any other normal fucking girl. And like any other normal girl, she's got the right to have her opinion respected. She tells you 'no'? You back the fuck off. Maybe you can finagle a 'just friends' relationship out of it if you're particularly cordial... or cunning. Whatevs. And of course, if you happen to be a decent fucking person and Tatewaki still takes umbrage with even that much, then you'll get the same protections. Fair's fair."
This was a declaration of war! Normally, he'd not dare strike a woman! But these words were not of any righteous human! No! Her hair alone and cold, pitiless gaze laid her truths bare! This was no woman!
"All that said, I hope you'll remember that Akane isn't the only fish in the sea, and pretending like she is does a disservice to all the other equally wonderful girls you could be dating... and yourselves." She inhaled, exhaled and then took another sip of her beverage, stepping back from the podium with a jaunty two-fingered salute. "This has been your Ted talk on how to have moderately less disastrous love lives. Thanks for listening."
The applause from the girls -and a fair few boys- was deafening, as Kuno seethed. He shoved his way back up towards the stage, and none seemed fool enough to waylay him at the sight of his tightened grip upon his bokken. But by the time he had reached the elevated platform, the pink devil had made good upon her treacherous escape. Gritting his teeth, Tatewaki swore.
This would not be the end of it!
His demands to other students to point him in her direction met with limited success, and the looks he was receiving were far from appreciated, fearful and disgusted in equal measure. And yet, even with the devil girl's promise, they knew better the reality. So, he manged to pursue her, found her trail, and yet, at every turn, it seemed all he could glimpse was the fleeting sight of her pink hair turning just out of sight.
Vexing.
But not for long!
Akane Tendo's face had run through every shade of the crimson rainbow today. Anger. Mortification. Flattery. And more besides. Admittedly, she'd not quite comprehended Kuno's speech beyond that fact that he was staking a claim, but the implications... Sure, she knew she was... desirable? Err... She almost refused to believe it, not that she wasn't pretty, but that all the boys of the school wanted her.
That was too much interest, right?!
But as the new transfer student as of three months ago had pointed out, the people in this school tended to be, pardon her French, "fucking weird". You would think that no-one rational would take Kuno's speech the way the new girl had assumed it would be, but in hindsight... Akane had a bad feeling that intuition was all too correct.
Sure, as an heir of the Tendo Anything Goes Martial Arts School, she was as stoked to take on challengers as the next person, but of course, only in a proper capacity. It's not like she fought for the sake of fighting. Considering it seriously and taking Kuno's example of challenging her abruptly in broad daylight whenever the whim took him, the idea that the other boys in school might follow suit sent a shiver up her spine. Of course, she was sure she wouldn't lose. After all, she still regularly handed Kuno his ass, and he was, for all his bluster, the otherwise strongest "martial artist" in the school behind her. So, she was confident that she could handle whatever anyone threw at her, but it would be... trying if they somehow turned out to be as persistent and obsessive as Kuno.
So, in hindsight, she might have a lot to thank the new girl for.
If only she could get to her before Kuno.
Biting her lip, Akane nodded at a classmate's instructions... and then deviated sharply. Somehow, she wasn't managing to catch up, which gave her the distinct impression that she was being avoided. Following the pinkette's path didn't seem to be working, so she'd just cut her off at the pass. She wasn't running. That would make this matter seem altogether more urgent than she'd like it to be, but honestly? She was a little worried. The new girl didn't seem to have any martial talents that she'd seen these past small handful of months, and Akane had little doubt that Kuno would challenge her regardless. After all, he regularly challenged her, the subject of his amorous obsession.
Ducking into a classroom and sliding open one of the windows, Akane quickly clambered out, readjusting her grip on her schoolbag. Glancing around and making note of her isolation, she allowed herself to pick up the pace, sprinting in a manner that would have raised a brow from the track team. Skidding back down to a brisk walk, she rounded the corner of the school to the sight of the front gates.
A shock of pink hair was making its way towards them.
Jackpot!
Allowing her pace to be a little more hurried, she finally got into comfortable speaking distance.
"Hey! Sakura Nakano, yes?"
The pinkette's stride seemed to reluctantly stutter to a halt, as she turned to regard the raven-haired girl. "That's right." She hummed quietly in her throat. "And you'd be Akane Tendo then? Admittedly, I've only seen you from a distance, but you tend to hear plenty about "school beauty" types from everyone else."
Akane flushed, but nodded, smiling. "Yes. And I did want to thank you for what you did back there."
Sakura (And was that seriously her name with that hair?) snorted and waved off her gratitude. "There's no need to thank me for exercising common human decency. I did what anyone else would -should- have"
"Well..." Akane cleared her throat. "They didn't, and you did. So, thank you regardless." The pinkette nodded, but her brows pinched at the look of growing concern on Akane's face. "You... wouldn't by chance practice martial arts, would you?" To Akane's dismay, the other girl shook her head.
"Not in the sense that I suppose some people would consider 'martial arts'," Sakura replied, scratching the back of her neck with the hand that wasn't still occupied with her far less full soda can. "I keep in shape, sure, but martial arts is... Well I don't attend any formal dojos or anything anymore. It was a hobby, and I learned enough to defend myself. That's all."
Akane had to restrain a grimace. Martial arts as a hobby? That wouldn't hold up to Kuno. He might have been a lunk-head, but he was admittedly dedicated. Predictable, but very refined, potentially more than a little dangerous to the average person. There was no way Sakura could handle him, but she had earned his ire anyway. It was hard not to know about Kuno and his martial prowess with him all but screaming it from the rooftops, so even as a relatively new student, Akane had good reason to believe this girl would know how out of her depth in a real fight she might be.
And Sakura had tried to help her anyway.
Akane wouldn't allow that debt to go unpaid, and favors aside, she was a martial artist. It was her duty to protect the we-
"Ahah!" came a far from welcome voice. "So you reveal your true colors, foul temptress?!"
With a cordial expression on her face that she definitely didn't feel, Akane turned to face Tatewaki Kuno, who now stood with his bokken brandished in a kendo stance, shoulders rising and falling lightly with exertion. "Kuno, this really isn't the best time-"
"Akane, if thou values thine chastity, make haste from that succubi's presence!" Kuno declared without a smidge of irony. Although, clearly there was some humor to be found in the situation in and of itself, if the single raised pink brow of Sakura was anything to go by.
"What." It was less a question and more a flat utterance of disbelief on Akane's part.
"Heed not her silvered tongue and honeyed words, my dearest flower!" Kuno proclaimed, firming his stance. "For this serpent shall lead thee to the deepest depravity! Did you not hear?! Hear how her words poisoned the minds of this august student body! See how her flagrant disregard for the trappings of mortals bleeds through to her inhuman follicles!"
"My hair is, uh... actually natural," Sakura interjected with a single raised finger, looking like she wasn't sure if to be insulted or not. Akane couldn't help but share Kuno's expression of disbelief. That wasn't dye? Surely not.
"Lies! Thine foul mien shalt not overtake my sense and reason!" Kuno snapped. Personally, Akane felt his "sense and reason" had been overtaken long ago.
"No, seriously," Sakura said with a long-suffering expression on her face. "It's on my birth certificate or whatever. Don't even begin to ask me how it works, but the best it can be classified as is 'strawberry blonde'." She made quotation marks with her fingers for emphasis.
"Then..." Kuno's brow scrunched up as if his brain was overworking itself trying to connect some unseen dots, before his eyes widened. "You really are a demon!"
"That's uncalled for," Sakura remarked with a tone that indicated she was struggling between irritation and frank amusement.
"Speaking of," Akane jumped in, "I guess that means you were just blowing hot air before about her being a 'succubus'?"
"I can see that your mind has been enthralled by her deceptions," Kuno said with disproportionate grimness, as his expression hardened, "But fear not! For I, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan, shalt liberate thee!"
Pinching the bridge of her nose, Akane sighed in resignation and then lightly chucked her schoolbag to the side, cracking her knuckles. Well, if it was a fight Kuno wanted, then it was a pounding he was gonna' get. If he didn't want to see sense, she'd knock some into him!
Shaking her head, Sakura reached into her school bag and retrieved a small device, a microcassette recorder like the sort Akane had sometimes seen Nabiki use, clicking one of the three buttons on the side. "You don't want to do this, Kuno," she seemed to warn, her voice level. "I'm not going to fight you."
"Hah! Cowardice!" Kuno grinned confidently, edging forward with his bokken bared. "I would expect nothing less from thine kind! But presume not that thine wise fear of my righteous wrath shall save thee!"
"A fight implies we're equals," Sakura muttered flatly with an unamused, sobered tone, her body shifting sideways, as she adjusted the strap of her own schoolbag to cross her chest instead of hanging off one shoulder.
"Hah?" Akane echoed Kuno's incensed utterance, before really thinking about it. Of course. It made sense. Sakura wasn't a martial artist. Of course, she would refuse to fight Kuno! In fact, it looked like she was getting ready to run away, having adjusted her bag to make it easier to run without it falling off. And honestly? Good. It would be less troublesome to put Kuno in his place if she didn't have to worry about protecting someone else simultaneously.
Sakura slowly inhaled. "I'm serious. Kuno, please, think about this. If you stay your hand, I will choose to forget this, but if you don't... I'm a woman of my word." Her hand dipped into her bag again, placing the microcassette within.
"Enough deception! I strike!" Akane's attention snapped to the kendo practitioner, as Kuno lunged without pause towards Sakura.
Akane's feet glided across pavement, as she slid between him and his target bodily, deflecting the downward blow with a sweep of her left forearm. She tsk'ed her tongue at the sting of the wood; it seemed Kuno was in a feisty mood today. In response, Kuno's assault seemed to hesitate, before he grit his teeth and committed. "So you would defend the devil in such a manner?! Forgive me, my flower, but I shall have to go all out, just this once!"
To his credit, he actually sounded remorseful. Akane, however, was ready to dismiss his words as hot air, moving to deflect his next strike... only to find herself stumbling backwards bodily off the concrete walkway and onto the academy lawn, forearm stinging. She almost toppled over, the arm that hadn't blocked windmilling.
What? Since... when...?
"-was he this strong?!" Akane muttered, as Kuno moved to pass her, fully intent on ignoring her for his true target. Teeth clacking together in anger at being dismissed, Akane pushed off the ground, right leg sweeping for Kuno's, aiming to entangle and trip him. If she could get him on the ground, grapple and disarm him, she was sure she could put him in the mother of all submission holds!
Unfortunately, Kuno didn't seem to have any plans of following the usual script, vaulting over her attack without breaking stride. Akane switched gears, breaking into a sprint to pursue his charge.
"Oi!" Sakura had already been running to the front gate and seemed to have a camera in hand, but Kuno was on her in moments. With a yelp, she dodged, his attack whizzing by her to crack sharply against the wall surrounding the school. "Watch the merchandise!" she snapped, most likely referring to the device in her hand. "It wasn't cheap!"
"Silence, harpy!" Kuno shouting, swinging and thankfully missing again, though not for any particular lack of skill on his part.
As Akane closed the distance, wringing her stinging forearm, she had to give it to Sakura. For all that the pinkette claimed to have given up the martial path, she was an agile thing. Or at the least, she was pretty lucky. Sakura skittered, dropped ducked and rolled, her camera carefully cradled, as she managed to evade Kuno's assault by inches, if even that.
"Enough!" shouted Akane, as she skidded into the fray once more, planting herself defensively with a wide, stable stance. Her father had sometimes referred to the Tendo style of Anything Goes as the earth to the heavens. It was all about achieving firm footing with room to maintain that wide, solid stance. Achieve stability and hold it by whatever means necessary. It was hard, direct and unrelenting.
She was the rock. Be the rock!
This time moderately better prepared for the uncharacteristic strength Kuno was exhibiting, Akane did not try to block his blow exactly head-on so much as she redirected it. Taking the hit on her right forearm at an angle, she did her best to slide the blow down the limb, aiming to clasp her hand around it and create an opening. Against a real sword, the move would have been pure foolishness, but thankfully, her opponent was not quite that crazy.
Regardless of whether Kuno had read her intent or not, he did not fall into her trap, his bokken withdrawing halfway to her hand and chambering anew for a powerful overhead strike. Akane half-way considered trying to catch the blow head-on, but thought better of it, bouncing on the balls of her feet to show Kuno only her right shoulder. Her raised and angled right arm managed to slide his blade past and behind her, as she kicked off with a skid, trying to dive past his guard.
But Kuno, once more displaying an almost preternatural skill that was starting to get scary, was on the ball as well, giving ground as fast as she could take it. His bokken swiped for her neck, and Akane found her pace staggered by the need to avoid blocking another hit head-on. And then his bokken took her in her left leg, overextended by her pursuit, and with a powerful sweep, Akane found herself eating dirt, tumbling uncontrollably for a brief moment before she regained her bearings. He was fast to go with that strength too, Akane couldn't help but note, shaking the stars from her vision. What the hell was this?!
Grimacing at the grass stains now marring her school uniform, Akane staggered to her feet in time to see Sakura clamber up on top of the school wall, barely evading a swipe at her feet. The pinkette was still clutching the camera in one hand. "Kuno!" Akane shouted. "What the hell has gotten into you?!" She didn't know if he had gone on some bullshit training arc while she wasn't looking or -worse and unfortunately perhaps more likely and insultingly- had just been been holding back against her all this time due to his obsession with her... but she wasn't about to lay down and take this!
"Worry not, flower!" Kuno declared pompously, as he cleared the distance up to the top of the wall with the frightening swiftness of a fanatic. Sakura was already backing away further down the length, but Akane couldn't expect her balance to supersede Kuno's in this situation. The pinkette was screwed either way, on the wall or the ground. Kuno was too fast to escape on foot, and as much as Akane really didn't want to admit it... she might be outmatched. "Once I have freed your mind from the devil's clutches, we may continue our fateful bout with clear minds and hearts!"
"Bruh, she's not interested in you," Sakura bluntly pointed out, correctly, even if not particularly wisely.
As expected, this nicely roused Kuno's ire. "I strike!" He lunged with a jab.
"You know, that would probably work better if you weren't all but screaming your next move," the pinkette suggested idly. Sakura all but danced away, rapidly giving ground down the wall's length with Kuno in hot pursuit, displaying a grace and balance upon the narrow walking space that Akane wasn't sure she'd have easily emulated. It occurred to her then, in all honesty, that Sakura might have been the self-depreciating type... That, or she'd taken up gymnastics or something after the martial arts didn't pan out. Whatever the case, Sakura wasn't necessarily holding her own, but she wasn't making it easy for Kuno either. The platform was too narrow for her to hope to break through Kuno's furious assault to counterattack, but similarly, it seemed as though Kuno's wider bulk left him without enough footing to put his speed to best use.
Akane was hardly an idle bystander in all this. Scrambling towards the wall, Akane scooped up her discarding schoolbag and began to whirl it about like a sling. "Hrrrrraaaaagh!" With a spin, the bag filled with books was slung at Kuno with surprising accuracy, as she aimed to send him tumbling off the wall from the impact. Unfortunately...
Bokken met bag in an almost reflexive warding move. "Alas, my sweet!" Kuno lamented in a way that set Akane's already grit teeth on edge. "As like a sparrow, that which is inferior by any measure could hardly ho-hwack!"
Sakura seemed to have taken Akane's action as inspiration, and in the precious moment that Kuno's weapon was not occupied with her, she dropped into a crouched spin, her own schoolbag's strap slid over her head by her free hand to sling into Kuno's leg from behind. The "Blue Thunder" tumbled, his foot catching into the strap of the bag, but due to the haste with which her maneuver had been performed, Sakura unfortunately found her hand tangled where she had grasped it, yanking her down with him. Both hunter and prey tumbled over the edge onto the sidewalk outside the gates.
Akane's sprint quickened, as she ran out the gates to see the sight of pest and pinkette picking themselves up.
"Hrrk-! A dishonorable strike while my back was turned?!" Kuno raved with one hand rubbing the back of his assuredly thick skull, before quickly retaking his stance. "Truly, your evil knows no shame! But now, you cannot escape! I, the Blue Thunder, shall vanquish this threat!"
"Your delusions are a greater threat than I could ever be," Sakura, regaining her own bearings apparently more slowly in return, nonetheless seemed keen to get the last word in, no matter how much further it might rile Kuno. If nothing else, Akane had to admire that sort of stubbornness.
"I strike!" Kuno attacked.
"Kuno, stop!" Akane demanded.
He did not. Sakura managed to cross her arms to brace for the impact, but by no means did the result imply she was as tempered as Akane. The blow didn't just knock her back. It sent her to the ground with a sharp crack of wood, her head rocking back slightly, as her arms gave enough from the impact to see the tip brush her forehead. The pinkette went down in a pile, her camera skidding away, and Akane saw red.
Kuno wound up for a two-handed strike on the downed girl. "And now! To administer the justice of the heavens!"
Akane plowed into his back like a pile-driver. Her right arm was around his neck before they even hit the ground, skidding for several feet from the sheer momentum of her charge. Kuno flailed, probably trying to say something stupid, but Akane had him in her world now. One knee jabbed into his lower back while the other went to his side, as her left arm moved to "secure the kill", as it were, joining with her right to complete the formation of a choke-hold.
She had him! Grappling was one of the staples of the Tendo School of Anything Goes! Now that she had a controlling position outside of his easy attack range, she should be able to end this! Kuno was a kendo specialist, a scary one for sure, apparently, but a specialist nonetheless! He should have no way to-!
Eh...
"You-!" Akane gasped in a potent mixture of disbelief, frustration and effort. "-can't be serious right now!"
Kuno's tenacity was truly something... legitimately frightening to behold. A shiver of adrenaline shot up Akane's spine at his growl of effort. And even with nearly her entire weight atop him, even with the awkwardly arched position of his spine... Not only didn't his grip on his bokken relent, but he began to actually rise. First to all fours, arms shaking, then a crouch, as Akane struggled to maintain her balance from his unrelenting struggles. And then she felt herself slipping to land on her own two feet, as Kuno -of all things- brute forced her hold. Akane stumbled to her knees and then quickly stood, briefly fumbling to maintain her hold's integrity, to shift it to account for the new positioning.
But it was too late. Kuno was on his feet, and she heard him suck in several gasps of oxygen, totally reducing her progress to zero. Gritting her teeth in frustration, Akane in turn did not relent, still with her right arm wrapped around his throat, as Kuno's free hand slapped into an iron grip on her wrist, trying to pry her off.
"Give it up!" Akane hissed, feeling the bruises on her forearms now more than ever, as Kuno's grip tightened evermore.
"I-! Shall. Not!Yield!" bellowed Tatewaki, as he, against all odds, began to straighten out his still arched back through what might as well have been sheer force of will. His still clenched bokken wound up before reversing grip. "Forgive me, dearest Akane!" he hissed out with what air he could manage, before thrusting back.
Akane's eyes bulged, the blow taking her in the solar plexus, and for a moment, she felt like she was the one in the choke-hold, scrabbling for the breath that had suddenly been driven from her lungs, struggling to maintain her crucial, precious hold! She had no doubt... that if she lost this foothold, Kuno would never let her regain it! She-! She was going to lose! Gritting her teeth, Akane struggled with everything she had to tighten her grip, and if the frantic jerks of Kuno's hand on her forearm were any clue, it seemed she'd managed a bit-! And yet, the pull of exhaustion was inexorable. Struggling for breath, she found her own oxygen deprivation robbing her of strength she'd once had in spades! Kuno's bokken wound up for a second blow, one she'd not be able to dodge without compromising her hold!
She was going to lose!
Sakura rammed into Kuno's right side with a shoulder-check, the combatants' unstable position and combined weight driving Kuno back down to one knee with a grunt. Kuno flailed for a moment, his left arm's iron grip briefly loosening, before his struggles resumed anew, as the pinkette bodily wrapped herself around his right arm and bokken like a limpet, weighing down his weapon. Sakura's hands clasped around the wooden shaft with a grunt of effort, seemingly putting everything she had into just keeping it oriented away from Akane.
Akane took full advantage of the distraction and improved leverage. Ramming both knees into Kuno's lower back, she threw her entire body weight into the choke-hold, leaning backwards, and with a strangled noise, Kuno was arched backwards into a position that faced the sky, Akane a veritable stone beneath him dragging him into the depths of unconsciousness. Kuno struggled and thrashed, but it was no use. Even his frightening strength seemed neutered in the face of oxygen deprivation, and after a long, tense moment, filled with uncomfortable noises... he finally slumped bodily atop the Tendo.
Admittedly, despite knowing the very real dangers of unconsciousness induced by oxygen deprivation, Akane couldn't find it in herself to relent her hold until another 10 seconds had passed, just for safety's sake. She wasn't sure if Kuno was the type to work up the last-minute cunning to fake defeat... but she couldn't chance it. Finally, with great trepidation, she released her hold, tensing at the sharp intake of oxygen from her opponent, before settling somewhat at him remaining inert. Similarly, Sakura flopped off Tatewaki and simply lay there, staring at the sky in a certain amount of mute probably shock.
Honestly, Akane understood that. Because that... That was- had been... She hardly had the words. Her heart was thundering in her chest from fleeting adrenaline, and sweat beaded across every inch of exposed skin, even after such an objectively short exchange. It felt like she had run a marathon; though, that might have had more to do with getting the wind knocked out of her, as she greedily sucked oxygen.
The cocktail of emotions churning within her felt nearly overwhelming. Fear of what Kuno had likely long been able to do and that she might not be able to beat him next time. Anger that Kuno would actually attack someone for daring to help her, that he'd never truly been taking her seriously, that her title as the strongest in Furinkan was nothing but an illusion propped up for his amusement. Frustration that she'd been handled so easily, that if he'd been truly focusing on her, she'd not have stood a chance... that she'd needed help in the end from the very person she was trying to protect. Gratitude for what Sakura had been trying to do for her... what she had done again in helping her overcome Kuno. Relief that both she and Sakura had come out of the conflict entirely intact it seemed, and that the conflict was finally over... at least for the time being. But above all, a sense of pride and triumph seemed to take front and center. She was battered and bruised and had needed help... but in the end... she had won.
Her head turned from where she lay to gaze at Sakura. A nasty bruise seemed to be forming on her forehead and across her forearms, and Akane winced at that. She was sure that she'd have her own, but she'd grown tougher over the years. She didn't bruise like she used to... nor take as long to recover for that matter.
As if sensing her gaze, Sakura's green eyes flicked to meet Akane's, a dry smile forming on her face. "I... might need to start training again..."
Akane's snort accompanied a commiserating smile of her own. "Honestly, I might need to as well." Her jaw worked, as she rolled her eyes and finally shoved Kuno's limp form off of herself. "Train harder that is... I never stopped to begin with."
Sakura grinned, seemingly not finding any offense to be had from the statement. "I noticed," she commented praisingly, and the two lapsed into a companionable silence. The muttering and clamor of other students approaching was rising from beyond the school gates, many surely keen to investigate the final result of the latest Furinkan madness. One hand flopping up to pinch her nose in resignation, Sakura sighed long-sufferingly and got up with a pained hiss, moving to grab her prone and likely still running video camera. "I'm calling the police."
Akane gave a hysterical little laugh. Her father was going to lose his mind.
AN: Honestly, never dipped my toes into the Ranma fanfic scene aside from lurking as a reader. I didn't want to have this story end up with Akane bashing (which would, honestly, be a little inevitable if I were to go by her canon self), so I figured the best way to avoid things being pushed that way was to cut off her worst tendencies by neutering one of the main catalysts. She's still got her flaws that have been nurtured by the babying of her family, but her worst habits shouldn't develop if Tatewaki's plan falls through.
Or, at least, that is the SIOC's thinking when they made this move...
In other news, if Ranma weren't around, Kuno would be low-key terrifying if he ever felt like getting serious. Man was literally strong enough to make wind blades that could cut into rock with his swings by the time canon kicked off. This guy had to legitimately be the tyrant of Furinkan before Ranma rolled in. It's no wonder all the boys that wanted to date Akane actually fought her instead of trying for the gentlemanly route. Kuno is stronger than Akane, who is stronger than all the other boys put together. He's an absolute beast with tenacity, power and the will to use it to further his delusions.