Chapter 2
Rage Released
He left the dojo in a much better mood, but since he didn't want to offer any explanations he didn't have, he left through the back of the house and made his way to school that way. For once, he didn't miss walking with Akane. Usually, even if he didn't admit it to anyone, he liked to walk to school with her, even in her worst moods. It was something he kind of looked forward to. But not now. Now he felt he wanted to be alone, very alone. It was a very un-Ranma like thought, but he gave it not a second thought.
He walked towards school with his mind wandering. His feet took him there automatically as his mind wandered down avenues that weren't all Ranma's. He didn't notice the difference. Most of the other's avenues were very similar to Ranma's and since he didn't expect to find any variations in his mind, he took no notice of them. Which was good, in the other's opinion. The other was still in the process of waking up, and didn't yet have the ability to speak, or think clearly. It was pure impulse now, and would remain that way for awhile yet.
The avenues that Ranma's mind took were the usual ones. Down one, he saw his various fights and how he won them. Down another, he saw his various relationship troubles and he could see no way out of those. Down yet another, were the vague and distant memories of his childhood. For some reason, he strayed down this lane the most. The other was curious and wanted to know more of the person he had come to inhabit.
Soon, too soon in the other's opinion, the gates of the Furinkan appeared before him and he entered the school, going about his day as if nothing had happened earlier that morning. In the courtyard, he saw the batter and bruised bodies of Akane's other suitors. He had arrived not long after her, it would seem. He chuckled, and unknown to him, it was a malicious chuckle. He entered the cool darkened corridors of the school and forgot all about strange angers and wrathful residues. For the moment.
*****
Ickzil looked at the pony-tailed boy as he walked into the school. There was something dark about that boy that made the imp pause in it's search. There was something happing within the boy that sparked the demon's interest. It might be a good thing to watch this one for awhile and see what happens.
It's master might have been knowledgeable, but he had been rather stupid when he gave Ickzil his orders. He hadn't placed a time table upon the imp, which meant that Ickzil could have taken his own sweet time about the search and the human would have died of old age before he returned. Ickzil pondered doing this, but decided against it. The summoner knew the agony runes and if he knew that spell, then it was possible that he knew other, more powerful spells as well. It didn't want to take that chance, and besides, it hated the way the human world was now. It much preferred it's infernal home to this realm anymore.
It was going to go and find the blasted item it had hidden a millennium ago as quickly as possible when it sensed the malign energies the boy was emanating. They were weak, not much stronger than a newly formed imp's energies, but they were growing. They had a different taste than any other energies it had encountered before, and since it seemed to be popular among the various worlds of the multiverse recently, it had encountered a variety of energies with which to compare.
Yes, it thought, let's see where this one leads. Maybe he'll be fun? Maybe he'll make a good recruit for my other masters? Let's see what happens.
*****
The first half of Ranma's day at school passed pretty much as usual, except for the fact that Akane avoided him more than usual. He didn't really notice. His mind continued to stray, and he felt no differently than he did the day before, except for the one spike of irrational anger he felt at getting a failing grade on an English test. He felt as though he should have passed it with flying colors, but he knew he was going to fail it. He couldn't speak English very well, and even the teacher knew it. He shrugged off the anger and went about his day as usual.
The only other event worth note that happened during the day happened during lunch. He was sitting outside under a tree, enjoying the relative solitude he was granted. Akane sat on the other side of the tree, near him, but away from him. He didn't mind. The other liked it as well, he didn't want any unnecessary distractions while he continued to regain consciousness.
Ranma sat there, nearly napping when he heard a voice he was hoping he wouldn't hear. He heard Tatewaki Kuno somewhere near, but he wasn't close. He could hear his voice, but not the words, which was probably good because usually when Kuno spoke, Ranma got mad. He hoped Kuno would just stay where he was, and not come near, but he knew it was a pointless hope. Hell, even the other knew it was a useless waste of energy to hope that.
Sure enough, within minutes he heard Kuno's cultured, and urbane voice coming from the other side of the tree. Akane's side of the tree. He ignored what he said. He had to. Neither of them wanted to deal with Kuno then, but the other suspected a confrontation was eminent. The other didn't want the confrontation because the more hate it fed to Ranma, the longer it would take to awaken. He wanted to be awake soon and if Ranma and Kuno got into it, he knew it would take just that much longer to become fully conscious.
"Shut up, Kuno and go away," the voice was Akane's and like a match sparked in a gas filled room, Ranma's own anger was burning. The other had forgotten that Ranma had his own angers, and he was glad he wouldn't have to feed Ranma too much of his own.
Ranma jumped up and was on the other side of the tree in an instant. There stood Kuno, in his outdated clothing, carrying a bokken as if it were an actual katana. Kuno turned to look at Ranma and sneered contemptuously at him. Ranma's anger grew a little, but the other didn't add to it yet. He wanted to see how angry Ranma would get, and it was curious how much of his earlier rage was still left.
"Hello, Saotome," Kuno said. "I was wondering where you were hiding." He had a way of speaking that made even the most innocuous of greetings an insult. Steadily Ranma's anger grew. The other was beginning to enjoy this.
"Go away, Kuno," Ranma said tightly. He had a tight reign on his anger, but his grip was slipping, slightly.
"Saotome, I noticed that you did not escort Akane Tendo to school today, but instead you slinked in after she did. Is that any way to treat the woman who should be my fiancé?" Akane looked at Ranma slightly fearfully, but the look she gave Kuno would have melted iron.
That did it. Even the other's patience with this idiotic fop had been worn away with those two sentences. He released all of the rage at his disposal, which was a lot. Ranma flew into action, his face a murderous mask of hate. A single punch to Kuno's stomach sent the older boy flying, to land in a sprawled heap a few feet away.
Ranma stood there, breathing heavily, even though he had barely exerted himself. Hatred poured out of him in almost palpable waves. The other was almost brought to consciousness early by the combined anger of the two. It wouldn't do to have him awaken too early.
*****
Cologne dropped the knife she had been cutting carrots with as she felt the unimaginable amounts of rage. She had never experienced anything like it before, not once during her long, long life. Her blood turned to ice as the hate continued. It hadn't grown, but it stayed constant and that worried her all the more.
Her thoughts turned to her one concern and she whispered one word.
"Granddaughter."
*****
Happosai almost fell from his perch outside the window of a women's locker room when the waves of hate and rage washed over him. His lust for a sight of the women in the locker room was instantly washed away. He looked around, afraid for the first time in he didn't know how long. He had felt hatred like this only once before, when he was young man. He had managed to banish a demon back to the netherworld and the waves of hate it emanated were similar to this, weaker, a lot weaker, but similar.
"Oh dear," he whispered as he jumped to a nearby roof top. He started off in the direction of the anger, hoping it wasn't another demon. He didn't know if he had the strength to fight it.
*****
Ickzil was knocked out of the tree he was perched on when the anger washed over him. It was stronger than it had imagined. It didn't think even it's demon masters were that strong. It grew terribly afraid, but at the same time, it was insanely drawn towards it. It didn't know what to do, run or stay and show itself. Instead of either, it went with it's natural instinct. It hid and watched.
*****
Ranma stood there staring at Kuno as he slowly got to his feet. That blow had hurt him more than he would admit. He looked at Saotome and was shocked at what he saw. The younger boy stood with his fists clenched at his sides and his clothes billowed around him as if in a breeze. His eyes, which usually showed only mild annoyance and very, very rarely a flash of anger, had changed colors. They were now a deep brown and were pools of liquid hate. Kuno found himself taking an involuntary step back. He knew he was the most skilled swordsman in the school and had even fought Ranma to a draw once or twice, but he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if he engaged this Ranma in battle, he would not only loose the fight, but most likely his life as well.
Luckily, Kuno wasn't the one to stop Ranma from fighting, and thus losing face. The small creature that the Tendos showed deference to, Happosai, he thought it's name was, came careening into the school yard.
Happosai quickly surveyed the scene and almost doubled over at the unholy amounts of anger and rage and hatred that poured like a veritable flood out of his student's son. Kuno was standing, he could see, but barely and stupidly reaching for his bokken. Akane still sat with her back against the tree, but now it looked more like she wanted to become a part of the tree instead of merely using it for support. And Ranma, to Happosai's eye, that saw more than even he wanted it to, looked like he was on fire. An aura of pure hate surrounded the boy in it's black halo. He could see the grass at Ranma's feet was flattened by it, and the boy's hair was standing almost straight up. He almost looked like something out of one of those stupid cartoons the TV is always showing, the ones where the heroes and villains fly around and destroy mountains.
Ranma took a step towards Kuno and Happosai jumped in front of him. He immediately knew what it was like to stare death in the eye. That face, which Happosai would have sworn on his life could never look like this, promised nothing but pain, agony and eventually, death. He swallowed hard.
"Now, look boy," he said a bit nervously. Ranma looked down at him, and continued his march towards Kuno. Happosai shrank a little. Then he realized what he was doing. How could he, Happosai, cringe in front of this stupid, young pup like that? He, Happosai, who had fought more times than Ranma could in his lifetime. He, Happosai, who had defeated enemies that would make Ranma's hair turn white. He, Happosai, who had once (or twice or more, it always changed in the telling) slept with Cologne, cringe from this ignorant little upstart?
"Now, look here, boy," he demanded. This time, Ranma stopped and turned the full force of his gaze on the little creature at his feet. "Now don't go looking at me like that, you young upstart. I'll not have any of your foolishness."
Ranma's foot moved faster than Happosai thought it would as he tried to kick the aged, shrunken master. But Happosai was the faster. He moved to the side and the foot barely missed him. The wind of it's passage caused his black, ninja-like outfit to ruffle. Happosai sprang forward and slammed the back of Ranma's other knee. The leg buckled and Ranma fell to his knee with his one leg outstretched in front of him.
Happosai smiled smugly. His smile disappeared a moment later when Ranma's fist clipped the end of his nose. He jumped back and cupped his nose with both hands. That stung! Ranma stood slowly and turned fully to face the old man. Then, without any warning, he exploded into motion. He launched attack after attack at the small creature. Happosai dodged all of the attacks with ease. Although Ranma was faster than usual, and hit a helluva lot harder, he was clumsy and his attacks easily anticipated.
During the attacks, Happosai taunted the boy. That was probably a mistake on his part, but hindsight is twenty-twenty. Every time a punch or kick missed, the anger emanating from Ranma grew. Happosai was afraid that it would set the grass on fire if it didn't stop soon. He knew he had to stop him somehow, and a glimmer of an idea occurred to the old man.
He reached into a pouch concealed on the inside of his shirt and pulled out a small packet of powder. He jumped and threw the packet into Ranma's face. White powder flew everywhere as Ranma's fist intercepted it. The powder fell on everything, and even flew into Ranma's eyes as Happosai had hoped it would. He stepped back, shaking his head, trying to clear his sight. When he got enough of it out to see, he opened his eyes to see Happosai flying towards his face with one tiny fist out forward. His fist glinted slightly in the sunlight. Brass knuckles!
Happosai hit Ranma between the eyes with his knuckles and watched with satisfaction as he fell to the ground. It was a dirty trick, he knew, using flour like that, but when you've lived as long as Happosai had, you learned that playing fair wasn't always the best way to win.
All of this took less than two minutes, and no-one in the school seemed to have noticed, which was probably a good thing. Happosai turned towards Akane, and saw she was looking behind him with a stunned look on her face. He turned and almost fell over. Ranma sat up and looked at Happosai with those same hate filled eyes.
"Nice try, old man," he said in perfect English. Happosai was shocked. He didn't even know Ranma knew how to speak that much English. "You should have hit me harder than that. A lot harder." Again he spoke in flawless English. If his teacher had been there, he might have reconsidered that failing grade. Ranma slowly stood and dusted himself off. "Playtime's over, now."
Happosai stepped back in a defensive crouch. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew he could beat the boy with all the tricks at his disposal, he just hoped Ranma would live through it. Thankfully, he wouldn't have to find out.
Akane rushed past him and ran up to Ranma. She used her own not inconsiderable strength, and the momentum of the run to push her slap just that much harder. The sound of her hand hitting his face reverberated throughout the school yard. His head snapped back and his eyes closed. To Happosai's eyes, the aura of rage surrounding the boy winked out in an instant. He heaved a sigh of relief.
"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded. She was shocked, scared, and angry, all rolled up into one. She continued her verbal tirade for several more minutes while Ranma's head remained back and his eyes closed. She called him everything she could think of, and when she ran out of Japanese insults, she threw in the few English ones she knew as well.
After she started repeating herself, Ranma's head finally came back down. He opened his eyes, and she was relieved to see his eyes had returned to normal. He stared at her with a confused expression on his face and then he looked past her and saw Happosai. He looked behind him and saw Kuno leaning heavily on his bokken looking back with a look of concentration on his face, as well as a slight touch of fear.
"A-Akane," he said. His voice was hoarse and child-like. "Wha-what happened?" Then his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he fell into her. She caught him and gently lowered him to the ground. Tears stood in her eyes as she looked at him.
Rage Released
He left the dojo in a much better mood, but since he didn't want to offer any explanations he didn't have, he left through the back of the house and made his way to school that way. For once, he didn't miss walking with Akane. Usually, even if he didn't admit it to anyone, he liked to walk to school with her, even in her worst moods. It was something he kind of looked forward to. But not now. Now he felt he wanted to be alone, very alone. It was a very un-Ranma like thought, but he gave it not a second thought.
He walked towards school with his mind wandering. His feet took him there automatically as his mind wandered down avenues that weren't all Ranma's. He didn't notice the difference. Most of the other's avenues were very similar to Ranma's and since he didn't expect to find any variations in his mind, he took no notice of them. Which was good, in the other's opinion. The other was still in the process of waking up, and didn't yet have the ability to speak, or think clearly. It was pure impulse now, and would remain that way for awhile yet.
The avenues that Ranma's mind took were the usual ones. Down one, he saw his various fights and how he won them. Down another, he saw his various relationship troubles and he could see no way out of those. Down yet another, were the vague and distant memories of his childhood. For some reason, he strayed down this lane the most. The other was curious and wanted to know more of the person he had come to inhabit.
Soon, too soon in the other's opinion, the gates of the Furinkan appeared before him and he entered the school, going about his day as if nothing had happened earlier that morning. In the courtyard, he saw the batter and bruised bodies of Akane's other suitors. He had arrived not long after her, it would seem. He chuckled, and unknown to him, it was a malicious chuckle. He entered the cool darkened corridors of the school and forgot all about strange angers and wrathful residues. For the moment.
*****
Ickzil looked at the pony-tailed boy as he walked into the school. There was something dark about that boy that made the imp pause in it's search. There was something happing within the boy that sparked the demon's interest. It might be a good thing to watch this one for awhile and see what happens.
It's master might have been knowledgeable, but he had been rather stupid when he gave Ickzil his orders. He hadn't placed a time table upon the imp, which meant that Ickzil could have taken his own sweet time about the search and the human would have died of old age before he returned. Ickzil pondered doing this, but decided against it. The summoner knew the agony runes and if he knew that spell, then it was possible that he knew other, more powerful spells as well. It didn't want to take that chance, and besides, it hated the way the human world was now. It much preferred it's infernal home to this realm anymore.
It was going to go and find the blasted item it had hidden a millennium ago as quickly as possible when it sensed the malign energies the boy was emanating. They were weak, not much stronger than a newly formed imp's energies, but they were growing. They had a different taste than any other energies it had encountered before, and since it seemed to be popular among the various worlds of the multiverse recently, it had encountered a variety of energies with which to compare.
Yes, it thought, let's see where this one leads. Maybe he'll be fun? Maybe he'll make a good recruit for my other masters? Let's see what happens.
*****
The first half of Ranma's day at school passed pretty much as usual, except for the fact that Akane avoided him more than usual. He didn't really notice. His mind continued to stray, and he felt no differently than he did the day before, except for the one spike of irrational anger he felt at getting a failing grade on an English test. He felt as though he should have passed it with flying colors, but he knew he was going to fail it. He couldn't speak English very well, and even the teacher knew it. He shrugged off the anger and went about his day as usual.
The only other event worth note that happened during the day happened during lunch. He was sitting outside under a tree, enjoying the relative solitude he was granted. Akane sat on the other side of the tree, near him, but away from him. He didn't mind. The other liked it as well, he didn't want any unnecessary distractions while he continued to regain consciousness.
Ranma sat there, nearly napping when he heard a voice he was hoping he wouldn't hear. He heard Tatewaki Kuno somewhere near, but he wasn't close. He could hear his voice, but not the words, which was probably good because usually when Kuno spoke, Ranma got mad. He hoped Kuno would just stay where he was, and not come near, but he knew it was a pointless hope. Hell, even the other knew it was a useless waste of energy to hope that.
Sure enough, within minutes he heard Kuno's cultured, and urbane voice coming from the other side of the tree. Akane's side of the tree. He ignored what he said. He had to. Neither of them wanted to deal with Kuno then, but the other suspected a confrontation was eminent. The other didn't want the confrontation because the more hate it fed to Ranma, the longer it would take to awaken. He wanted to be awake soon and if Ranma and Kuno got into it, he knew it would take just that much longer to become fully conscious.
"Shut up, Kuno and go away," the voice was Akane's and like a match sparked in a gas filled room, Ranma's own anger was burning. The other had forgotten that Ranma had his own angers, and he was glad he wouldn't have to feed Ranma too much of his own.
Ranma jumped up and was on the other side of the tree in an instant. There stood Kuno, in his outdated clothing, carrying a bokken as if it were an actual katana. Kuno turned to look at Ranma and sneered contemptuously at him. Ranma's anger grew a little, but the other didn't add to it yet. He wanted to see how angry Ranma would get, and it was curious how much of his earlier rage was still left.
"Hello, Saotome," Kuno said. "I was wondering where you were hiding." He had a way of speaking that made even the most innocuous of greetings an insult. Steadily Ranma's anger grew. The other was beginning to enjoy this.
"Go away, Kuno," Ranma said tightly. He had a tight reign on his anger, but his grip was slipping, slightly.
"Saotome, I noticed that you did not escort Akane Tendo to school today, but instead you slinked in after she did. Is that any way to treat the woman who should be my fiancé?" Akane looked at Ranma slightly fearfully, but the look she gave Kuno would have melted iron.
That did it. Even the other's patience with this idiotic fop had been worn away with those two sentences. He released all of the rage at his disposal, which was a lot. Ranma flew into action, his face a murderous mask of hate. A single punch to Kuno's stomach sent the older boy flying, to land in a sprawled heap a few feet away.
Ranma stood there, breathing heavily, even though he had barely exerted himself. Hatred poured out of him in almost palpable waves. The other was almost brought to consciousness early by the combined anger of the two. It wouldn't do to have him awaken too early.
*****
Cologne dropped the knife she had been cutting carrots with as she felt the unimaginable amounts of rage. She had never experienced anything like it before, not once during her long, long life. Her blood turned to ice as the hate continued. It hadn't grown, but it stayed constant and that worried her all the more.
Her thoughts turned to her one concern and she whispered one word.
"Granddaughter."
*****
Happosai almost fell from his perch outside the window of a women's locker room when the waves of hate and rage washed over him. His lust for a sight of the women in the locker room was instantly washed away. He looked around, afraid for the first time in he didn't know how long. He had felt hatred like this only once before, when he was young man. He had managed to banish a demon back to the netherworld and the waves of hate it emanated were similar to this, weaker, a lot weaker, but similar.
"Oh dear," he whispered as he jumped to a nearby roof top. He started off in the direction of the anger, hoping it wasn't another demon. He didn't know if he had the strength to fight it.
*****
Ickzil was knocked out of the tree he was perched on when the anger washed over him. It was stronger than it had imagined. It didn't think even it's demon masters were that strong. It grew terribly afraid, but at the same time, it was insanely drawn towards it. It didn't know what to do, run or stay and show itself. Instead of either, it went with it's natural instinct. It hid and watched.
*****
Ranma stood there staring at Kuno as he slowly got to his feet. That blow had hurt him more than he would admit. He looked at Saotome and was shocked at what he saw. The younger boy stood with his fists clenched at his sides and his clothes billowed around him as if in a breeze. His eyes, which usually showed only mild annoyance and very, very rarely a flash of anger, had changed colors. They were now a deep brown and were pools of liquid hate. Kuno found himself taking an involuntary step back. He knew he was the most skilled swordsman in the school and had even fought Ranma to a draw once or twice, but he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if he engaged this Ranma in battle, he would not only loose the fight, but most likely his life as well.
Luckily, Kuno wasn't the one to stop Ranma from fighting, and thus losing face. The small creature that the Tendos showed deference to, Happosai, he thought it's name was, came careening into the school yard.
Happosai quickly surveyed the scene and almost doubled over at the unholy amounts of anger and rage and hatred that poured like a veritable flood out of his student's son. Kuno was standing, he could see, but barely and stupidly reaching for his bokken. Akane still sat with her back against the tree, but now it looked more like she wanted to become a part of the tree instead of merely using it for support. And Ranma, to Happosai's eye, that saw more than even he wanted it to, looked like he was on fire. An aura of pure hate surrounded the boy in it's black halo. He could see the grass at Ranma's feet was flattened by it, and the boy's hair was standing almost straight up. He almost looked like something out of one of those stupid cartoons the TV is always showing, the ones where the heroes and villains fly around and destroy mountains.
Ranma took a step towards Kuno and Happosai jumped in front of him. He immediately knew what it was like to stare death in the eye. That face, which Happosai would have sworn on his life could never look like this, promised nothing but pain, agony and eventually, death. He swallowed hard.
"Now, look boy," he said a bit nervously. Ranma looked down at him, and continued his march towards Kuno. Happosai shrank a little. Then he realized what he was doing. How could he, Happosai, cringe in front of this stupid, young pup like that? He, Happosai, who had fought more times than Ranma could in his lifetime. He, Happosai, who had defeated enemies that would make Ranma's hair turn white. He, Happosai, who had once (or twice or more, it always changed in the telling) slept with Cologne, cringe from this ignorant little upstart?
"Now, look here, boy," he demanded. This time, Ranma stopped and turned the full force of his gaze on the little creature at his feet. "Now don't go looking at me like that, you young upstart. I'll not have any of your foolishness."
Ranma's foot moved faster than Happosai thought it would as he tried to kick the aged, shrunken master. But Happosai was the faster. He moved to the side and the foot barely missed him. The wind of it's passage caused his black, ninja-like outfit to ruffle. Happosai sprang forward and slammed the back of Ranma's other knee. The leg buckled and Ranma fell to his knee with his one leg outstretched in front of him.
Happosai smiled smugly. His smile disappeared a moment later when Ranma's fist clipped the end of his nose. He jumped back and cupped his nose with both hands. That stung! Ranma stood slowly and turned fully to face the old man. Then, without any warning, he exploded into motion. He launched attack after attack at the small creature. Happosai dodged all of the attacks with ease. Although Ranma was faster than usual, and hit a helluva lot harder, he was clumsy and his attacks easily anticipated.
During the attacks, Happosai taunted the boy. That was probably a mistake on his part, but hindsight is twenty-twenty. Every time a punch or kick missed, the anger emanating from Ranma grew. Happosai was afraid that it would set the grass on fire if it didn't stop soon. He knew he had to stop him somehow, and a glimmer of an idea occurred to the old man.
He reached into a pouch concealed on the inside of his shirt and pulled out a small packet of powder. He jumped and threw the packet into Ranma's face. White powder flew everywhere as Ranma's fist intercepted it. The powder fell on everything, and even flew into Ranma's eyes as Happosai had hoped it would. He stepped back, shaking his head, trying to clear his sight. When he got enough of it out to see, he opened his eyes to see Happosai flying towards his face with one tiny fist out forward. His fist glinted slightly in the sunlight. Brass knuckles!
Happosai hit Ranma between the eyes with his knuckles and watched with satisfaction as he fell to the ground. It was a dirty trick, he knew, using flour like that, but when you've lived as long as Happosai had, you learned that playing fair wasn't always the best way to win.
All of this took less than two minutes, and no-one in the school seemed to have noticed, which was probably a good thing. Happosai turned towards Akane, and saw she was looking behind him with a stunned look on her face. He turned and almost fell over. Ranma sat up and looked at Happosai with those same hate filled eyes.
"Nice try, old man," he said in perfect English. Happosai was shocked. He didn't even know Ranma knew how to speak that much English. "You should have hit me harder than that. A lot harder." Again he spoke in flawless English. If his teacher had been there, he might have reconsidered that failing grade. Ranma slowly stood and dusted himself off. "Playtime's over, now."
Happosai stepped back in a defensive crouch. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew he could beat the boy with all the tricks at his disposal, he just hoped Ranma would live through it. Thankfully, he wouldn't have to find out.
Akane rushed past him and ran up to Ranma. She used her own not inconsiderable strength, and the momentum of the run to push her slap just that much harder. The sound of her hand hitting his face reverberated throughout the school yard. His head snapped back and his eyes closed. To Happosai's eyes, the aura of rage surrounding the boy winked out in an instant. He heaved a sigh of relief.
"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded. She was shocked, scared, and angry, all rolled up into one. She continued her verbal tirade for several more minutes while Ranma's head remained back and his eyes closed. She called him everything she could think of, and when she ran out of Japanese insults, she threw in the few English ones she knew as well.
After she started repeating herself, Ranma's head finally came back down. He opened his eyes, and she was relieved to see his eyes had returned to normal. He stared at her with a confused expression on his face and then he looked past her and saw Happosai. He looked behind him and saw Kuno leaning heavily on his bokken looking back with a look of concentration on his face, as well as a slight touch of fear.
"A-Akane," he said. His voice was hoarse and child-like. "Wha-what happened?" Then his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he fell into her. She caught him and gently lowered him to the ground. Tears stood in her eyes as she looked at him.