Akane's eyes widened at the boy, who was currently trying to hide himself behind a nearby bush. She whirled around, calling him a pervert, her cheeks flaming. Watching this, Ranma did her best not to growl, and pulled off her pants, the oversized Chinese shirt hiding her boxers. She handed them to the boy in annoyance. He took them gratefully, but looked about to faint at the sight of Ranma wearing only a shirt.
It was then that Kuno, who had been watching the proceedings with a thoughtful look on his face, decided that it was up to him to protect the two 'visions of loveliness' before him from the vile cur that dare expose himself in front of such innocence and purity. He began a speech that promised much justice brought upon the boy, however, this did not last long as he became sidetracked and his speech transformed into one that clearly stated all the faults and evils of Ranma Saotome. Ranma fumed silently behind him, a low growl rising in her throat. Once the words: "He is no man!" passed Kuno's lips, Ranma calmly tapped him on the shoulder and punched him square in the face. Kuno didn't move for some time.
A happy smile appeared on Ranma's face as she brushed imaginary dust from her hands, heaving a self-satisfied sigh. "Okay. Let's go home."
Akane raised an eyebrow at him. "School isn't over yet, you know," she said as they began to walk off. They had almost forgotten about the other boy when he reminded them of his presence with a shout.
"Hey! Wait," he called, running up to them. Ranma assessed him casually. He was about Ranma's height in male form and he looked strong. He also looked very serious. He's got demon blood…but not as much as me. "Do you know Ranma Saotome?"
Ranma scratched her head confusedly. "Uhmm…"
Akane took as sidelong glance at him. "Someone you know?"
"He smells like… Ryouga Hibiki!" Ranma smiled. She hadn't seen Ryouga for a while. "Hey, how's it goin', man?"
"Ranma…" Akane said, noting the blank, confused look on Ryouga's face. "He's not going to recognize you."
"Wh – oh. Yeah…" she glanced down at her chest. Aghh, how could I forget?
"R – Ranma…?" Ryouga blinked a few times, as if the redhead in front of him would become the male Ranma he had met in school.
"Um… no?" Ranma looked at him hopefully. The curse was embarrassing, and maybe he didn't have to know about it. Her hopes were dashed when Ryouga burst out laughing. "Oh, shut up," she said sullenly. At least I'm not the only one with a curse.
Akane brought a plate of Kasumi's snacks from the kitchen up to the shrine. Once they had decided to forget school and come home with Ryouga, Ranma had explained that Ryouga went to his old school. Apparently, Ryouga's sense of direction was a bit lacking and Ranma helped him find his way to school. As far as she could tell they had formed a sort of rivalry/friendship and just before Ranma and his father left for China, they had a duel. Ryouga almost didn't make it to the appointed place, but Ranma was able to track his scent when he didn't show up. Ranma won, and when he left for China, Ryouga was unable to make it to school anymore so he went after Ranma on a training mission, though it seems he was lost most of the time. He met Ranma a few times in China and they fought whenever they met. A friendship based on combat…?
Ranma seemed friendly towards Ryouga, but he never acted like that with her. Was there something wrong with her? Akane sighed. He was friendly, sometimes, but then he acted like some macho jerk. And then, he would be kind and understanding. And then, he would go back to being a jerk again. She was beginning to think he was doing it just to spite her.
She carried the tray up the shrine steps to where Ranma was waiting alone. Sitting beside him, she put the tray between them and glanced around.
"Where's Ryouga?"
"Oh, he got lost," Ranma said absently. Then he chuckled. "Good thing we found his pack." Akane smiled. They had found his pack on the way home… right in front of the house that belonged to an old lady who enjoyed keeping her sidewalk clean.
"Ryouga is part demon, isn't he," Akane observed. It wasn't a question.
"Yeah. I guess he's about one eighth part demonic, so he didn't get all the traits. Just the fangs and the strength and endurance. One of his ancestors was a wolf youkai."
Ranma looked thoughtful as they ate in comfortable silence.
"Akane…" he began hesitantly. "Do you have to fight all those guys every morning?"
"Yeah," she said slowly. Why is he bringing that up? "But I can take care of it easily."
"I know you can, but next time… let me do it."
"You… want to fight for me?" Akane asked, surprised. Ranma whipped his head away from her, but she could hear his heart beating faster. He's embarrassed…?
"No! That's not it!" he said quickly. Akane frowned slightly.
"You don't think I can do it, then?" she said, her face darkening. Ranma turned back to her trying to make pacifying gestures with his hands. A breeze blew by before he could say anything – which was probably a good thing for him – and both their attention was turned to the human scent and the quiet tightening of a bow string that came with it. They leapt to their feet and an arrow whizzed by Ranma's head and embedded itself in the shrine gate behind him with a dull thunk. Akane barely saw him move as he freed the arrow and sent it behind the shrine like a miniature spear.
From the foliage a girl Akane's own age appeared, dressed in Chinese, leather battle armor. Her long purple hair flew out behind her, and her amethyst eyes were as cold and hard as diamonds. She was beautiful and exotic, with her weapon of choice – what looked like an oversized maraca, but Akane recognized as a bonbori – in her hand and a bow slung across her back. Akane felt more self-conscious than ever as she fell into a defensive stance and prepared to face off against what was obviously a seasoned warrior.
Just before Ranma took up a stance similar to her own, Akane observed his eyes narrow in recognition as he muttered a curse. The girl leveled her bonbori at them.
"I Kill!"
And with that she attacked both of them.
Nabiki closed one of her many notebooks – they were useful for keeping track of things – and glanced out the window to watch her little sister heading towards the shrine with a tray from Kasumi. Presumably, Ranma was waiting for her. And maybe Ryouga Hibiki, too. She had wasted no time in finding out who he was.
She sighed, and once again cursed her father's dedication. He always managed to find her bugs before they could be useful. Nabiki briefly entertained the thought of going out and spying the old fashioned way, but dismissed it quickly. She had given up spying on Akane a long time ago, and resorted to using electronics to take pictures, rather than doing it herself. It worked much better. If only she could find a way to bug the shrine! Nabiki would try anything short of murder to know what Ranma and her sister were talking about.
Ranma seemed to take up a lot of her time, and Nabiki couldn't understand why Akane wasn't booting him over the horizon just to get rid of him. That's what she had expected. Instead, Akane seemed to… connect with him. Sure, they fought frequently, but she didn't think Akane had ever spent so much time with a boy, except Doctor Tofu. They had something in common, those two, and she was going to find out what it was. No one could keep a secret from Nabiki Tendo.
Then she heard an unfamiliar voice coming from the shrine and wondered if it involved both of them. She stood from her chair and went to investigate. Bugs or no bugs, she wouldn't miss this.
A/N: I realize that the last chapter was mostly just stuff I re-wrote. Sorry, about that, but this chapter is (almost) completely original. Anyway, I got this out as fast as I could because the last few chapters were pretty boring (in my opinion) and I hope this one is better. It's pretty short, but all my chapters are. Ok, anyway, any suggestions are welcome, PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks, bye!