Disclaimer: As you are probably well aware of, I DO NOT own Ranma ½, a bunch of rich people do. Suing me will result in a gum drop and an overdue phone bill. You've been warned!
This chapter is dedicated to J.P. - May you Live Long and Prosper (Before getting run over by a small monkey or two.) Hehe, just kidding.
Chapter 5
Roses are Red, Thunder is Blue
The rest of the walk was uneventful, and soon Ranma and Ryouga strolled through the open iron gates of Furinkan High School. The school itself was a relatively simple boxlike structure with a row of windows on every floor and a clock tower in the center.
But what caught their full attention was the courtyard in front of the building, which was scattered with dozens of unconscious, injured young men. Judging by their clothing, Ranma could tell that at least a few were probably martial artists.
She let out a low whistle. "Man, what happened he- agh!" The rest of Ranma's sentence disappeared when she tripped over one of the fallen men, landing on him so that their faces were only inches apart.
The man groaned softly as his eyelids fluttered open, a wide eyed redhead meeting his vision. He gasped, snapping his eyes open as he drank in the sight. "I've been resurrected by a goddess!" he yelled as his arms encircled her. "A…pigtailed goddess!"
Ranma, over the initial shock of the precarious position she had found herself in, rolled her eyes. "Dream on," she muttered, delivering an open palm strike to his forehead.
"Fiery…" he whispered before falling back, unconscious once again.
Ryouga shook his head sadly. "We've been here less then thirty seconds and you're already beating people up," he said as he helped her stand.
"He deserved it!" she yelled, brushing herself off. "Hmph…'Pigtailed Goddess'- what a loon." With that, she strode into the school with Ryouga following close behind.
Nabiki, who had been watching the proceedings from the second story window, grinned slyly as she noted the man's reaction to Ranma. "Interesting…" she muttered.
***
A short time later Nabiki was sitting besides the cot in the nurse's office, impatiently waiting for its occupant to awaken. Until she got bored with the view though, she allowed her eyes to wander over the Kendoist's well toned body.
He stirred slightly, though didn't wake up. "Pigtailed girl…" he murmured. "Such divine beauty…"
She got bored. Picking up a bedpan from the counter, she smashed it over his head with a metallic clang. "Rise and shine, Kuno-baby," she sung in mock cheer.
Tatewaki Kuno opened an eye and glared at Nabiki. "That hurt you know," he said, sitting up as he rubbed the reddening welt on his forehead.
She crossed her legs. "So, I take it you've dropped my sister for a certain 'pigtailed maiden'?"
"Don't be so foolish!" He clenched his right fist and bowed his head. "I could not bear to see the fair Akane Tendo's heart crushed. But the pigtailed girl…" Kuno looked up at Nabiki, his eyes burning with passion. "I will do the honorable thing and love them both! But first, I must find my fiery goddess and tell her of my undying devotion!"
He took a breath to steady himself, the wave of emotions threatening to overwhelm him. "Nabiki Tendo, surly you have information on the whereabouts of my new love?"
She stared at him impassively for a few moments before Kuno got the idea and pulled out his wallet.
He counted out some bills. "As I was saying, the funds of house Kuno can reward quite handsomely for a cause as noble as the one I pursue!"
Nabiki smirked, grabbing the Yen.
***
Ryouga, now wearing a dark blue school uniform, stood outside of his class holding a water filled bucket in each hand. Standing beside him was a somewhat peeved Ranma holding two buckets as well.
She sighed for the hundredth time, readjusting her grip on the buckets. "This is all your fault, you know."
"I've apologized enough already," he replied, slightly annoyed. "Besides, you didn't have to come find me. You could have just gone to class and you wouldn't have been late."
She snorted. "Ha! Who knows where you would've ended up? I might've never seen you again."
Ryouga glanced sideways at her. "I thought you'd be glad to see me gone after this whole engagement mess," he said evenly.
She looked away. "Yeah, well, you're still my fr-"
Suddenly, her danger sense alerted her to an incoming projectile. Dropping the buckets, she caught the speeding object between two fingers.
Dumbfounded, Ranma stared at the red rose, not even noticing that her feet were now soaking wet.
Looking up, she saw the man she had tripped over, standing stoically in his blue and black hakama, holding a bokken over one shoulder.
"Pigtailed girl, they call me the Blue Thunder of Furinkan high," he said deeply to convey a sense of great importance, which he utterly failed at. "And I, Tatewaki Kuno, age seventeen, am here to declare that I love you!"
She gaped at him. Her first day of school wasn't even over yet and someone was declaring his love for her. Ranma had started to say something but Kuno's eyes settled on Ryouga and noted his proximity to Ranma.
"You there! Who might you be, knave?"
Ryouga, who had been watching the exchange silently up to this point, answered. "Ryouga Hib…uh- hmm, I guess its Tendo now, isn't it?" he said aloud, more to himself then to Kuno.
The kendoist glared at him. "You dare take the name of my beloved?" He glanced at Ranma. "I mean my other beloved."
She rolled her eyes. "I don't care who your beloveds are, as long as I'm not one of them!"
Kuno selectively ignored that statement, focusing on Ryouga. "Explain yourself! Are you of relation to the fair Akane Tendo?"
"Not really. I've been adopted by her father as an, uh, honorary member I guess."
He glared at him, his voice dropping dangerously. "And what business does a foul cur such as yourself have being in the Tendo clan?"
Ryouga didn't seem to notice Kuno's growing anger and continued nonchalantly. "Oh, well, I'm supposed to fulfill this engagement to-"
"What?!" Kuno yelled, interrupting him as he jumped to a conclusion. For once, he was right. "You're engaged to my pigtailed goddess?!"
Ranma groaned loudly, putting her face in her hands. She had hoped that none of this would get out, but this deluded idiot had just ruined that little fantasy.
The door to the classroom beside them burst open as their classmates emerged, blasting them with their questions and comments.
"Aww, the new girls taken already…"
"Right, like you would've had a chance anyway."
"Ryouga Tendo? What's this about Akane?"
"Uh, it's a long story…"
Kuno had burned with anger when he heard Ryouga say he was engaged to her, and had spent the last few moments stewing in the rage. Finally, he fell into an offensive crouch. "I will not allow my goddess to be defiled by an unworthy peasant such as yourself!" Kuno thrust the bokken at him. "Prepare to die, cretin!"
He dodged, and the wooden instrument cut violently through the wall behind him, sending debris everywhere.
Ranma coughed as she shook the cement dust out of her air. "Eesh, take it outside," she said.
"She's right, Kuno. Follow me!" Ryouga said running down the hall.
"That I shall!"
Ranma rolled her eyes. "Hey, Ryouga!" she yelled. "That's the wrong way!"
Laughing nervously, he turned around and started running in the opposite direction with Kuno close behind.
The class stood in silence for a moment before Akane broke it. "They have got to be kidding!" she yelled and started following. With shouts of agreement, the rest of the class followed suit.
Akane noticed a certain redhead staying behind. "Aren't you coming?" she asked Ranma.
"Like I care what those two jerks do," she said, sounding annoyed. But with an exaggerated sigh, she followed anyway.
***
Three hours later, Ryouga finally made it outside. Kuno was right behind him, along with the entire student body that they had picked up along the way. Many of them were out of breath and covered with sweat after the run.
Nabiki, who had more than a few IQ points over the rest of her peers, had patiently waited under a tree, reading the business section while she waited for everyone to arrive outside.
Ranma, who took Nabiki's lead, was sitting besides her and eating some lunch she had picked up. As she didn't have to defend it from a greedy father, she ate at a leisurely pace. When Ryouga burst out into the courtyard, she quickly consumed the rest and yelled some helpful advice to him. "Use a window or something next time!"
Ryouga turned to face Kuno, falling into a ready stance. With a battle cry, Kuno charged immediately and thrust the bokken at him over and over again, delivering what had to be dozens of strikes a second.
Ryouga managed to evade each one, but his jacket wasn't so lucky and was quickly torn to shreds, leaving him in the tattered remains of his white button up shirt. Damn, he's faster than I thought.
Kuno, unable to keep us such a high energy attack for long, backed off for just a second, giving Ryouga a moment to quickly assess the situation.
He wanted to end this now; he didn't want to try his luck against another attack like that. He's pretty good with that bokken, but I'll bet he's not much without it. Thinking quickly, Ryouga untied one of his bandanas and, holding it between his fingers, began spinning it at near impossible speeds. Lining up his shot, he let it go and it flew towards Kuno. Remove the weapon, remove the threat.
The bandana, just a blur, raced towards it target. But instead of cutting the bokken in half, Kuno actually deflected the projectile away with a swipe. "Did you believe that I could be beaten with your childish tricks?" he shouted, laughing maniacally. "You underestimate me!" So intent was he on complimenting his own skill that he didn't notice the bandanas new path was straight towards Ranma.
She saw it coming with plenty of time to spare, and tensed her muscles to easily jump out of the way. But with a sharp yell of surprise, she soon found herself on the ground.
When her eyes opened, the first thing she noticed was the bandana flying over her. Less then a second after it passed, it lost momentum and floated harmlessly to the ground.
The second thing she noticed was Ryouga on top of her, who had dove on Ranma to get her out of the way.
And finally, the third thing she noticed was that the strain was too much for Ryouga's shirt, and the last of it had fallen away leaving him bare-chested.
The students around them began talking loudly among themselves.
"Wow, they are close."
"Look how he saved her; isn't that just so romantic?"
"Hey, you suppose they've already 'done it'?" a male said, which elicited a lot of laughs and giggles.
Ranma didn't think her face could get any redder. "Ryouga, you moron! Get off of me!" she yelled angrily, shoving him as hard as she could.
He flew off but managed to land on his feet awkwardly while she got up and stomped away.
"How dare you force yourself upon my goddess?" Kuno yelled furiously, charging once again, bokken held high.
Ryouga sighed and used one of the techniques that Ranma had taught him. When Kuno was at the right distance, Ryouga flipped forward onto his hands, kicking a couple of Kuno's vital areas and knocking the bokken out of his hands. "Back off!" he growled as the wooden sword spun towards the sky and the kendoist fell down unconscious for the third time that day.
"Ranma, wait!" Ryouga said, jogging after her. "I- I'm sorry. I was just-"
She stopped, keeping her back to him. "Do you think I can't take care of myself or something? I'm a better martial artist then you for crying out loud!" She spun around to face Ryouga. "Just…just leave me alone!"
At that moment the rapidly spinning bokken fell behind her, embedding itself in the ground. Half a heartbeat later, a red pigtail landed beside it.
Everything seemed to freeze for a moment, a quiet breeze the only indication that time was moving forward at all. Her mouth hung open as she tentatively felt the back of her head and felt what she had expected- not much.
Then her eyes hardened and she glared at everyone, most of whom were giving her wide eyed stares. All were silent. "What are you all staring at? It's just hair!" With a snort of disgust, she turned on her heel and marched towards home.