Kodora was doing the basic time steps for tap dancing.
*shuf-fle-HOP-brush-step-brush-ball-change. Shuf-fle-HOP-brush-step-brush- ball-change. Shuf-fle-HOP-brush-step-brush-ball-change. Shuf-fle-HOP-fa- lap-ball-CHANGE.*
On to the second set.
*Shuf-fle-HOP-shuffle-step-brush-ball-change. Shuf-fle-HOP-shuffle-WAK!*
"So sweet a kiss the golden sun gives not
To those fresh morning drops upon the rose,
As thy eyebeams, when their fresh rays have smote
The night of dew that on my cheeks down flows;
Nor shines the silver moon one half so bright
Throught the transparent bosom of the deep,
As doth thy face through tears of mine give light."
Kodora picked up Kuno's bento, unseen by the ersatz kendoist, who was reading from a scroll he had written.
"Hey, Kuno!"
Kuno looked up. "Yes, ommmmph??"
It was hard to praise someone through a whole bento jammed in your mouth.
"Stop ripping off Shakespeare! I'm flattered that you want to write poetry about me, really. BUT DON'T PLAGIARIZE!!"
"Mmph curph mff wmd km-mph. Mwu mwll mwph umm mmph wmph w-wmph."
Kodora massaged her temples with her right hand. "I'm pretty sure I don't even want to know what you just said."
**************************************************************************** *************
Passenger
Chapter 23: This City's Going to the Kunos.
A Ranma 1/2 fanfiction by S. Starblade
Dedicated to a good hand of Dragon Poker... speaking of which, who has my rulebook? Skeeve? You seen it?
Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer. I own Kodora, Noriko, Yumi, Sin Ku, and that's it so far. Yawanna use them in your fics, please ask first. Oh, and the rest of them all belong to Takahashi-sama. I swear, I could never come up with so many cool and funny people on my own.
Key:
= English
" " = Japanese
{ } = Chinese
[ ] = Jusenkyoo Cursed Signs
* * = Ranma/Kodora conversation
**************************************************************************** *************
It may need to be noted at this point that Nerimans hardly ever say "Go to Hell!"
This has nothing to do with the unusually high probability that a god or demon may be wandering by and cause the speaker, or the speakee, respectively, to do just that. Although, actually, some demons will send BOTH people to Hell.
To some people in Nerima, saying this is a way of wishing someone well. Not many, but a few of them.
No, a Neriman doesn't say "Go to Hell!"
They say "Go live with the Kunos!"
'Cuz ain't NOONE wanna do that.
******
"Mmph mmphmm fmm. Mmph mm fmmf ummph mff."
"ARGH! I give up!"
Kodora turned, braced one foot against Kuno's neck, and grabbed the bento with both hands.
"Glkk..." Gurgled the semi-sentient swordsman, dismayed at the lack of oxygen.
"This might hurt."
With a mighty pull, Kodora yanked the bento free of Tatewaki's mouth. The force of her pull sent her flying towards the edge of the clock tower.
"CRAP!!!!"
*SHIT!!!!!*
"Oh Wild One, do not attempt to fly! I shall carry you..."
Kodora tuned out Tatewaki, concentrating on shifting her balance just so...
She began somersaulting the opposite direction from the empty air she was currently flying towards. Her feet caught on the small lip of concrete, and she shoved as hard as she could.
Now she was going the OTHER direction.
Straight towards the open-armed Kuno.
"CRAP!!!!"
*SHIT!!!!*
"Oh, Wild One, I am honored that you entrust yourself unto these arms...."
Kodora had just enough time to get a distinct sense of deja vu before she ran smack into the kendoist.
Kuno, stumbling, dropped the bento and caught the small, demonlike martial artist. Then he caught his balance, and his wind, but his mind (which had gone wandering many years earlier) continued to elude him.
Finally no longer suspended midair, Kodora relaxed a moment, trying to catch her breath. Her mind had been temporarily derailed by the deja-vu and the excitement, but Ranma the big crane was right there to put the cars back on the tracks.
*Uh, imooto-chan?*
*Yes, oniisan?*
*Do you... like Kuno?*
*Well, he's okay. Kinda annoying sometimes, but I guess he could make a good friend.*
*No, no... I mean, do you LIKE Kuno?*
*Ewwww! Tatebaka? No, of course not!*
*Um... Then why are you letting him carry you?*
Kodora blinked.
*Come again?*
Then she became uncomfortably aware that Tatewaki was carefully holding her under the backs of the knees and the middle of her back, and staring lost into her eyes, which had been pointing an altogether different direction.
"ACK!!"
Till the end of her days, Kodora would never be able to figure out how she'd done it, but within three seconds of that revelation, Kuno was embedded facefirst in the wall of the stairway shelter, and she was down a whole floor. Stopping on the landing, she shuddered violently.
"YUCK! IckyuckackickyickickICK!!! Bleah!! Nasty!!"
Ranma got a mental sweatdrop.
*I'll admit it was a little gross, but aren't you going overboard?*
*Ranma, we have a choice. You can promise not to look at anything you've never seen before, and I'll go use the showers, or we can go home. Either way, I NEED TO CLEAN MYSELF OFF.*
Ranma's thoughts became puzzled.
*Why, was he muddy?*
Kodora sweatdropped. *It's psychological, Ranma. It's for my peace of mind, not because of dirt.*
*Ohhhhhh.... I get it.*
******
Kodora stepped out of the shower area and into the locker room to find a number of other girls in there, changing into PE uniforms.
Apparently the bell had rung while she was in there.
*Oops.*
Ranma, eyes 'closed', became worried. *Oops? Oops what? What's wrong?*
Kodora was treated to an up-close view of the faces of all the girls in her classroom and the next one over to either side.
"Aheh... the... uh... bell rang while I was in there, didn't it?"
Akane stepped into the locker room.
Kodora paled. "crap" She opined, in a very small voice. Her tail hung down, looking almost limp, her ears moved back slightly, and all her quills stood down slightly.
Akane turned to the others. "Hey, what's so...." Akane did a double-take. "Inter...est....."
Kodora nervously waved hi with three fingers.
"...ing??? What are YOU doing in here?"
Kodora, getting cold by this time, hoped someone might notice her shivering and hand her her clothes, a towel...
Hell, she'd settle for a washrag at this point.
"Um... splashed... er... muddy... um..."
Akane peered at her veeeeeery close in the eyes.
Sincerely afraid, Kodora began to tear up slightly.
"please don't hurt me?"
Akane sighed. She may be in competition with the girl, but she was Kodora's... older sister. Felt wierd to think that.
"It's... okay. Everyone keep getting changed. I'll explain meanwhile."
Noone moved.
"Do you want to be late on the field?"
There was a sudden flurry of motion. Mrs. Isshii gave two laps for every minute you were late.
Of the football field.
Kodora whispered to Akane.
"Okay, who's got Kodora's clothes?"
There was no response.
Akane raised one eyebrow, and her voice got an edge to it.
"Who has MY LITTLE SISTER'S CLOTHES."
The boxers, kung-fu-pants, softsoled slippers, and tang assaulted Kodora from different parts of the room. She was about to put on the clothes when Akane stopped her.
"Hold on. Mrs. Isshii requires uniform. Hmm. Yuka-chan, come here."
Yuka stepped up next to Akane. "Ah... yes, Akane-chan?" She queried, eyeing the miniscule martial artist carefully.
Akane whispered something in her ear.
Yuka eyed Kodora again. "You sure that's the right size?"
"If it's a little big, she'll probably grow into it. Physically, she's about eleven or twelve."
The room performed a unified blink.
Yuka gave Akane a look. "You'll tell me later, right? 'Coz I'm not leaving if I'm gonna miss out on the explanation."
Akane nodded. "Of course."
Yuka rushed out. Akane was surprised to note Kodora sitting on a bench, folding her clothes, tail slowly lashing at the tip.
Kodora looked back at Akane.
"Gym clothes, right?"
Akane nodded, and moved to her locker, taking out her clothes. Everyone else was mostly done changing.
"Anyways, to put it simply... Kodora's a girl and Ranma's a boy."
The floor cracked in several places from the mass flying facefault.
Akane sweated. "No, no, I KNOW that's obvious. But that's not what I mean. I mean, like in the mind. Kodora's COMPLETELY a girl, and Ranma's COMPLETELY a boy."
A few people noted that Kodora wasn't actually staring at anyone, and when she did look at the other girls, it was in the face. She seemed totally uninterested in their bodies, underwear, or clothing.
Besides, Akane was the big AP.
The Anti-Pervert.
So, some grudgingly, some not, the girls in the PE class accepted that Kodora would be a part of their class, at least for now.
******
Nabiki looked out her window, at her sister's PE class, and fell out of her chair.
******
Kodora, in the outfield, flexed the mitt she was wearing, and kept her 'ready to run' stance. This consisted of standing pretty much normally, but on the balls of her feet.
Mrs. Isshii had looked her over a couple of times, shrugged, and asked if she knew anything about softball. She'd wound up on Akane's team, but in the outfield, where Akane was the shortstop.
She waited. She could barely see the batter clearly from this distance, but she kept her eyes sharp for the moving object that the ball would soon become.
It was the third inning. Her one time up at bat, she had struck out. So far, no balls had gone in her general direction, and there was one out and one strike.
The pitcher moved.
KRAKK
Within half a second, she realized the ball was heading in her direction. She flashed its arc into her mind as she turned and ran the direction it had been heading.
It was waaaaaay out there.
Matter of fact, it was going to land in the stands, making it a home run.
Not if she could help it.
Sprinting, she judged the distance between her and the wall, and focused her chi.
*Hope this works...*
She sprang from her sprint into a rather large leap. Too large, in fact.
Clearing the wall by a foot too much, she narrowly avoided a crash landing, by bouncing off the seat of the folding chair. As she bounced up, she spun 180. The ball was... THERE! Heading for a seat four-no, five rows back and three seats over.
Kodora bounced in a series of short hops, to all appearances floating from seat to seat, and held out her mitt.
The ball finished its descent, right into the palm of the mitt.
And kept going.
The center-outfielder winced as Kodora folded much like the chair she was standing on, which folded under her. The chair folded so hard, as a matter of fact, that the small girl got doubled under, calves even with her head, her eyes wide as her legs folded further up than ever before.
She took a deep breath.
******
SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ryoga, currently recuperating somewhere on the edge of Tokyo, winced at the sound of the loudest obscenity he'd ever heard.
******
The center-outfielder had just managed to run the stairs into the stands in time to watch as Kodora tried one last time to force her way out of the seat.
The hinges finally gave, and the small demon-girl slumped completely out of the seat. By the time her teammate had made it to her, she was already kneeling. Tears of pain in her eyes, she held up her mitt, and spoke two hoarse words.
"Got it...."
******
"Lousy slippery metal chair." Kodora grumbled to herself as she departed the school building.
*At least you're probably more flexible now, right?*
*Shut up, Ranma.*
"Wild Kami!" Declaimed Tatewaki, emerging from the school behind her. "Wait but a moment!"
Sighing, Kodora turned to face the ersatz kendoist. "Whadda ya want, Kuno?"
"O, fairest of wildflowers, it hath come to my attention that you intend to compete in a match of gymnastical prowess and martial sparring in a constructed ring using implements of the Rhythmic Gymnastic variety in direct opposition to my sister Kodachi, who holds the unique distinction of being the champion Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnast in her school of St. Hebereke High School for the Instruction and Education of girls. As such, I do believe it wouldst behoove you to embark upon a mission of training for this match, and indeed it might be advantageous for you and your opponent to know each other so that each may better prepare to compete fairly in the upcoming match. My grand domicile possesses facilities of the highest quality for heightening one's skills in the esoteric martial art to which you aspire familiarity with. I seek to know if thou dost wish to embark upon your mission of training in the domicile of the Kuno family, such that you might employ our specialized facility to improve your skills in combat, that you might have a better opportunity to defeat my sister in combat, or at least to avoid potentially disfiguring injuries, as you have made it apparent that you wish to compete as if on a par with us mere mortals?"
Kodora replied simply: "Yes, of course, so long as you do not interrupt my training."
Kuno grinned magnanimously. "Verily, I shall not impinge upon thine ability to enhance your learning of the art in question, as I do most earnestly give my wholehearted backing to your side of this encounter. And, as you seem to prefer, I shall endeavor not to allow my poetic pursuits to perpetrate perplexion on your pulchritudinous practice of multifold art."
"Thank you. You don't look particularly ugly yourself."
*Huh?*
Kodora followed the bokken buffoon, tuning out his longwinded rants. *He said that his mansion has a training facility for Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics, that Kodachi is his sister, and offered to let me go over to his house for the afternoon to train there and meet Kodachi in a noncombat situation. I accepted, on the condition I stated, and he agreed to try and not bother me, while stating that I was physically attractive to him.*
*Ooooohhhhh....*
They walked past Nabiki.
"Oneechan, I'm going to the Kunos' to meet Kodachi and train. I'll be home in time for dinner!"
Nabiki nodded absently. "Of course, Imootochan." She returned to sorting the win and loss slips from the bets regarding Ranma and Kodora's actions for the day.
She stopped short.
"Going to the Kunos'????"
**************************************************************************** *************
Oy, big notes here.
About the whole 'out-angsting Ryoga' thing. Sorry if I sounded a little harsh, but I honestly feel like that. Not once in the manga has Ryoga acted truly depressed, mostly he just bemoans his problems (most of which he himself could fix if he had a little bit of spine). I do appreciate the reviews, I just don't agree with your point.
As far as 'Dissertation' is concerned, I know I'm going to continue it. It's just a matter of will it be interludes to this fic, or one of the others I've got in the works?
Thank you, Ed Becerra, for pointing that out before I had to. It is true. A wild rabbit is considerably more dangerous than a tame one. Not to mention more dangerous than a little piglet. On top of that, it's a GREEN rabbit. Now, I don't know about all you people, but I sure don't know anyone that would just run out and try to cook a green rabbit when they didn't know WHY it was green. For all anyone else knows, Ryoga's rabbit- form has been irradiated or is poisonous or something. Besides, a rabbit is a considerably more common pet than a piglet, particularly considering that wild piglets can grow up to be rather large and somewhat dangerous boars. Of course, Ryoga's curse being that of drowned PIGLET usually, his cursed form likely won't grow up.
Anyhoo.... So far, I've only seen one person's opinion on who Ranma should/is going to end up with. More opinions! Not that they're likely to affect much about what I write to that effect, but still.
Some of you may have noticed my other fic, "I Must be Out Of My Hair". Since that one's going to be written pretty slowly, I'm putting a note about it here.
On a review for that, one person complained that I oughtn't to let the continuation of the fic rest on the readers. I wasn't doing that. I was letting the fic's continued posting on FF.net rest on the readers.
That out of the way, something else comes to mind.
Sorry, but this fic was written in chapters, and not just because of FF.net. Notice how I'm organising it into books (sort of)? I intended to do that in the first place. So it's all in individual chapter text files....
That means that I CAN'T post it as a single text file on the FFML for Ranma. So very sorry, I am... but that's how it goes, ne? Incidentally, if you MUST have all the text files of this, Email me, and I'll see if I can send them to you as an attatched zip file. BTW, they are all in WordPad format. (Archaic, ne?) That's WordPad for Win95, so pretty much any word processor can translate them for you.
On top of that, if anyone has a website they'd like to host my fic at, tell me please. Why? So I can send it, and the matching art for it. That's right, I draw who I write. Matter of fact, the people I write about, I usually draw first, to get a good idea of who they are. So far, I have only one post-quality piece of art for this fic, but there will eventually be more, and there will be other fics with other art.
Is that everything? Hmmm....
Oh, just a note. I haven't seen much of the anime, but I have all 19 of the american-translations of the Ranma manga that have come out so far. At this rate, though, this fic will never catch up.
Just as well. I'd hate to run out of Takahashi characters to throw into this and coming to a total stall. Incidentally, the things not directly affected by Kodora will probably happen at close to their usual times. But no guarantees.
Oh, and just a surprise for alla you out there.
This fanfiction has no plan. That's write, this IS a fic written to 'see where it goes'. I have no plans for anything more than maybe a chapter or two ahead, and seldom even that far.
Which means that some of the comments I've gotten in reviews can really give me a good laugh. Sorry for not mentioning that earlier.
It's just as well. Any plan I wrote would get totally rewritten after every chapter anyways. This works better, I think.
Just so long as I don't give up on it, which I specifically plan NOT to do.
So, until the next chapter, Jaa ne!
"Hi ya, Akane," Ranma said. "This is my friend Ryoga
Hibiki. He lives next door to me and has a real problem with
finding places."
"I do not!" Ryoga said.
"Then explain why you ended up in the closet when you were
trying to leave your house by the front door," Ranma said.
"The doors were too similar," Ryoga replied.
"A pine plywood sliding door verses a solid oak swinging one
. . . really similar, Ryoga," Ranma said.
-"A Little Earlier", by someone whose name
escapes me at the moment.
*shuf-fle-HOP-brush-step-brush-ball-change. Shuf-fle-HOP-brush-step-brush- ball-change. Shuf-fle-HOP-brush-step-brush-ball-change. Shuf-fle-HOP-fa- lap-ball-CHANGE.*
On to the second set.
*Shuf-fle-HOP-shuffle-step-brush-ball-change. Shuf-fle-HOP-shuffle-WAK!*
"So sweet a kiss the golden sun gives not
To those fresh morning drops upon the rose,
As thy eyebeams, when their fresh rays have smote
The night of dew that on my cheeks down flows;
Nor shines the silver moon one half so bright
Throught the transparent bosom of the deep,
As doth thy face through tears of mine give light."
Kodora picked up Kuno's bento, unseen by the ersatz kendoist, who was reading from a scroll he had written.
"Hey, Kuno!"
Kuno looked up. "Yes, ommmmph??"
It was hard to praise someone through a whole bento jammed in your mouth.
"Stop ripping off Shakespeare! I'm flattered that you want to write poetry about me, really. BUT DON'T PLAGIARIZE!!"
"Mmph curph mff wmd km-mph. Mwu mwll mwph umm mmph wmph w-wmph."
Kodora massaged her temples with her right hand. "I'm pretty sure I don't even want to know what you just said."
**************************************************************************** *************
Passenger
Chapter 23: This City's Going to the Kunos.
A Ranma 1/2 fanfiction by S. Starblade
Dedicated to a good hand of Dragon Poker... speaking of which, who has my rulebook? Skeeve? You seen it?
Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer. I own Kodora, Noriko, Yumi, Sin Ku, and that's it so far. Yawanna use them in your fics, please ask first. Oh, and the rest of them all belong to Takahashi-sama. I swear, I could never come up with so many cool and funny people on my own.
Key:
= English
" " = Japanese
{ } = Chinese
[ ] = Jusenkyoo Cursed Signs
* * = Ranma/Kodora conversation
**************************************************************************** *************
It may need to be noted at this point that Nerimans hardly ever say "Go to Hell!"
This has nothing to do with the unusually high probability that a god or demon may be wandering by and cause the speaker, or the speakee, respectively, to do just that. Although, actually, some demons will send BOTH people to Hell.
To some people in Nerima, saying this is a way of wishing someone well. Not many, but a few of them.
No, a Neriman doesn't say "Go to Hell!"
They say "Go live with the Kunos!"
'Cuz ain't NOONE wanna do that.
******
"Mmph mmphmm fmm. Mmph mm fmmf ummph mff."
"ARGH! I give up!"
Kodora turned, braced one foot against Kuno's neck, and grabbed the bento with both hands.
"Glkk..." Gurgled the semi-sentient swordsman, dismayed at the lack of oxygen.
"This might hurt."
With a mighty pull, Kodora yanked the bento free of Tatewaki's mouth. The force of her pull sent her flying towards the edge of the clock tower.
"CRAP!!!!"
*SHIT!!!!!*
"Oh Wild One, do not attempt to fly! I shall carry you..."
Kodora tuned out Tatewaki, concentrating on shifting her balance just so...
She began somersaulting the opposite direction from the empty air she was currently flying towards. Her feet caught on the small lip of concrete, and she shoved as hard as she could.
Now she was going the OTHER direction.
Straight towards the open-armed Kuno.
"CRAP!!!!"
*SHIT!!!!*
"Oh, Wild One, I am honored that you entrust yourself unto these arms...."
Kodora had just enough time to get a distinct sense of deja vu before she ran smack into the kendoist.
Kuno, stumbling, dropped the bento and caught the small, demonlike martial artist. Then he caught his balance, and his wind, but his mind (which had gone wandering many years earlier) continued to elude him.
Finally no longer suspended midair, Kodora relaxed a moment, trying to catch her breath. Her mind had been temporarily derailed by the deja-vu and the excitement, but Ranma the big crane was right there to put the cars back on the tracks.
*Uh, imooto-chan?*
*Yes, oniisan?*
*Do you... like Kuno?*
*Well, he's okay. Kinda annoying sometimes, but I guess he could make a good friend.*
*No, no... I mean, do you LIKE Kuno?*
*Ewwww! Tatebaka? No, of course not!*
*Um... Then why are you letting him carry you?*
Kodora blinked.
*Come again?*
Then she became uncomfortably aware that Tatewaki was carefully holding her under the backs of the knees and the middle of her back, and staring lost into her eyes, which had been pointing an altogether different direction.
"ACK!!"
Till the end of her days, Kodora would never be able to figure out how she'd done it, but within three seconds of that revelation, Kuno was embedded facefirst in the wall of the stairway shelter, and she was down a whole floor. Stopping on the landing, she shuddered violently.
"YUCK! IckyuckackickyickickICK!!! Bleah!! Nasty!!"
Ranma got a mental sweatdrop.
*I'll admit it was a little gross, but aren't you going overboard?*
*Ranma, we have a choice. You can promise not to look at anything you've never seen before, and I'll go use the showers, or we can go home. Either way, I NEED TO CLEAN MYSELF OFF.*
Ranma's thoughts became puzzled.
*Why, was he muddy?*
Kodora sweatdropped. *It's psychological, Ranma. It's for my peace of mind, not because of dirt.*
*Ohhhhhh.... I get it.*
******
Kodora stepped out of the shower area and into the locker room to find a number of other girls in there, changing into PE uniforms.
Apparently the bell had rung while she was in there.
*Oops.*
Ranma, eyes 'closed', became worried. *Oops? Oops what? What's wrong?*
Kodora was treated to an up-close view of the faces of all the girls in her classroom and the next one over to either side.
"Aheh... the... uh... bell rang while I was in there, didn't it?"
Akane stepped into the locker room.
Kodora paled. "crap" She opined, in a very small voice. Her tail hung down, looking almost limp, her ears moved back slightly, and all her quills stood down slightly.
Akane turned to the others. "Hey, what's so...." Akane did a double-take. "Inter...est....."
Kodora nervously waved hi with three fingers.
"...ing??? What are YOU doing in here?"
Kodora, getting cold by this time, hoped someone might notice her shivering and hand her her clothes, a towel...
Hell, she'd settle for a washrag at this point.
"Um... splashed... er... muddy... um..."
Akane peered at her veeeeeery close in the eyes.
Sincerely afraid, Kodora began to tear up slightly.
"please don't hurt me?"
Akane sighed. She may be in competition with the girl, but she was Kodora's... older sister. Felt wierd to think that.
"It's... okay. Everyone keep getting changed. I'll explain meanwhile."
Noone moved.
"Do you want to be late on the field?"
There was a sudden flurry of motion. Mrs. Isshii gave two laps for every minute you were late.
Of the football field.
Kodora whispered to Akane.
"Okay, who's got Kodora's clothes?"
There was no response.
Akane raised one eyebrow, and her voice got an edge to it.
"Who has MY LITTLE SISTER'S CLOTHES."
The boxers, kung-fu-pants, softsoled slippers, and tang assaulted Kodora from different parts of the room. She was about to put on the clothes when Akane stopped her.
"Hold on. Mrs. Isshii requires uniform. Hmm. Yuka-chan, come here."
Yuka stepped up next to Akane. "Ah... yes, Akane-chan?" She queried, eyeing the miniscule martial artist carefully.
Akane whispered something in her ear.
Yuka eyed Kodora again. "You sure that's the right size?"
"If it's a little big, she'll probably grow into it. Physically, she's about eleven or twelve."
The room performed a unified blink.
Yuka gave Akane a look. "You'll tell me later, right? 'Coz I'm not leaving if I'm gonna miss out on the explanation."
Akane nodded. "Of course."
Yuka rushed out. Akane was surprised to note Kodora sitting on a bench, folding her clothes, tail slowly lashing at the tip.
Kodora looked back at Akane.
"Gym clothes, right?"
Akane nodded, and moved to her locker, taking out her clothes. Everyone else was mostly done changing.
"Anyways, to put it simply... Kodora's a girl and Ranma's a boy."
The floor cracked in several places from the mass flying facefault.
Akane sweated. "No, no, I KNOW that's obvious. But that's not what I mean. I mean, like in the mind. Kodora's COMPLETELY a girl, and Ranma's COMPLETELY a boy."
A few people noted that Kodora wasn't actually staring at anyone, and when she did look at the other girls, it was in the face. She seemed totally uninterested in their bodies, underwear, or clothing.
Besides, Akane was the big AP.
The Anti-Pervert.
So, some grudgingly, some not, the girls in the PE class accepted that Kodora would be a part of their class, at least for now.
******
Nabiki looked out her window, at her sister's PE class, and fell out of her chair.
******
Kodora, in the outfield, flexed the mitt she was wearing, and kept her 'ready to run' stance. This consisted of standing pretty much normally, but on the balls of her feet.
Mrs. Isshii had looked her over a couple of times, shrugged, and asked if she knew anything about softball. She'd wound up on Akane's team, but in the outfield, where Akane was the shortstop.
She waited. She could barely see the batter clearly from this distance, but she kept her eyes sharp for the moving object that the ball would soon become.
It was the third inning. Her one time up at bat, she had struck out. So far, no balls had gone in her general direction, and there was one out and one strike.
The pitcher moved.
KRAKK
Within half a second, she realized the ball was heading in her direction. She flashed its arc into her mind as she turned and ran the direction it had been heading.
It was waaaaaay out there.
Matter of fact, it was going to land in the stands, making it a home run.
Not if she could help it.
Sprinting, she judged the distance between her and the wall, and focused her chi.
*Hope this works...*
She sprang from her sprint into a rather large leap. Too large, in fact.
Clearing the wall by a foot too much, she narrowly avoided a crash landing, by bouncing off the seat of the folding chair. As she bounced up, she spun 180. The ball was... THERE! Heading for a seat four-no, five rows back and three seats over.
Kodora bounced in a series of short hops, to all appearances floating from seat to seat, and held out her mitt.
The ball finished its descent, right into the palm of the mitt.
And kept going.
The center-outfielder winced as Kodora folded much like the chair she was standing on, which folded under her. The chair folded so hard, as a matter of fact, that the small girl got doubled under, calves even with her head, her eyes wide as her legs folded further up than ever before.
She took a deep breath.
******
SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ryoga, currently recuperating somewhere on the edge of Tokyo, winced at the sound of the loudest obscenity he'd ever heard.
******
The center-outfielder had just managed to run the stairs into the stands in time to watch as Kodora tried one last time to force her way out of the seat.
The hinges finally gave, and the small demon-girl slumped completely out of the seat. By the time her teammate had made it to her, she was already kneeling. Tears of pain in her eyes, she held up her mitt, and spoke two hoarse words.
"Got it...."
******
"Lousy slippery metal chair." Kodora grumbled to herself as she departed the school building.
*At least you're probably more flexible now, right?*
*Shut up, Ranma.*
"Wild Kami!" Declaimed Tatewaki, emerging from the school behind her. "Wait but a moment!"
Sighing, Kodora turned to face the ersatz kendoist. "Whadda ya want, Kuno?"
"O, fairest of wildflowers, it hath come to my attention that you intend to compete in a match of gymnastical prowess and martial sparring in a constructed ring using implements of the Rhythmic Gymnastic variety in direct opposition to my sister Kodachi, who holds the unique distinction of being the champion Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnast in her school of St. Hebereke High School for the Instruction and Education of girls. As such, I do believe it wouldst behoove you to embark upon a mission of training for this match, and indeed it might be advantageous for you and your opponent to know each other so that each may better prepare to compete fairly in the upcoming match. My grand domicile possesses facilities of the highest quality for heightening one's skills in the esoteric martial art to which you aspire familiarity with. I seek to know if thou dost wish to embark upon your mission of training in the domicile of the Kuno family, such that you might employ our specialized facility to improve your skills in combat, that you might have a better opportunity to defeat my sister in combat, or at least to avoid potentially disfiguring injuries, as you have made it apparent that you wish to compete as if on a par with us mere mortals?"
Kodora replied simply: "Yes, of course, so long as you do not interrupt my training."
Kuno grinned magnanimously. "Verily, I shall not impinge upon thine ability to enhance your learning of the art in question, as I do most earnestly give my wholehearted backing to your side of this encounter. And, as you seem to prefer, I shall endeavor not to allow my poetic pursuits to perpetrate perplexion on your pulchritudinous practice of multifold art."
"Thank you. You don't look particularly ugly yourself."
*Huh?*
Kodora followed the bokken buffoon, tuning out his longwinded rants. *He said that his mansion has a training facility for Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics, that Kodachi is his sister, and offered to let me go over to his house for the afternoon to train there and meet Kodachi in a noncombat situation. I accepted, on the condition I stated, and he agreed to try and not bother me, while stating that I was physically attractive to him.*
*Ooooohhhhh....*
They walked past Nabiki.
"Oneechan, I'm going to the Kunos' to meet Kodachi and train. I'll be home in time for dinner!"
Nabiki nodded absently. "Of course, Imootochan." She returned to sorting the win and loss slips from the bets regarding Ranma and Kodora's actions for the day.
She stopped short.
"Going to the Kunos'????"
**************************************************************************** *************
Oy, big notes here.
About the whole 'out-angsting Ryoga' thing. Sorry if I sounded a little harsh, but I honestly feel like that. Not once in the manga has Ryoga acted truly depressed, mostly he just bemoans his problems (most of which he himself could fix if he had a little bit of spine). I do appreciate the reviews, I just don't agree with your point.
As far as 'Dissertation' is concerned, I know I'm going to continue it. It's just a matter of will it be interludes to this fic, or one of the others I've got in the works?
Thank you, Ed Becerra, for pointing that out before I had to. It is true. A wild rabbit is considerably more dangerous than a tame one. Not to mention more dangerous than a little piglet. On top of that, it's a GREEN rabbit. Now, I don't know about all you people, but I sure don't know anyone that would just run out and try to cook a green rabbit when they didn't know WHY it was green. For all anyone else knows, Ryoga's rabbit- form has been irradiated or is poisonous or something. Besides, a rabbit is a considerably more common pet than a piglet, particularly considering that wild piglets can grow up to be rather large and somewhat dangerous boars. Of course, Ryoga's curse being that of drowned PIGLET usually, his cursed form likely won't grow up.
Anyhoo.... So far, I've only seen one person's opinion on who Ranma should/is going to end up with. More opinions! Not that they're likely to affect much about what I write to that effect, but still.
Some of you may have noticed my other fic, "I Must be Out Of My Hair". Since that one's going to be written pretty slowly, I'm putting a note about it here.
On a review for that, one person complained that I oughtn't to let the continuation of the fic rest on the readers. I wasn't doing that. I was letting the fic's continued posting on FF.net rest on the readers.
That out of the way, something else comes to mind.
Sorry, but this fic was written in chapters, and not just because of FF.net. Notice how I'm organising it into books (sort of)? I intended to do that in the first place. So it's all in individual chapter text files....
That means that I CAN'T post it as a single text file on the FFML for Ranma. So very sorry, I am... but that's how it goes, ne? Incidentally, if you MUST have all the text files of this, Email me, and I'll see if I can send them to you as an attatched zip file. BTW, they are all in WordPad format. (Archaic, ne?) That's WordPad for Win95, so pretty much any word processor can translate them for you.
On top of that, if anyone has a website they'd like to host my fic at, tell me please. Why? So I can send it, and the matching art for it. That's right, I draw who I write. Matter of fact, the people I write about, I usually draw first, to get a good idea of who they are. So far, I have only one post-quality piece of art for this fic, but there will eventually be more, and there will be other fics with other art.
Is that everything? Hmmm....
Oh, just a note. I haven't seen much of the anime, but I have all 19 of the american-translations of the Ranma manga that have come out so far. At this rate, though, this fic will never catch up.
Just as well. I'd hate to run out of Takahashi characters to throw into this and coming to a total stall. Incidentally, the things not directly affected by Kodora will probably happen at close to their usual times. But no guarantees.
Oh, and just a surprise for alla you out there.
This fanfiction has no plan. That's write, this IS a fic written to 'see where it goes'. I have no plans for anything more than maybe a chapter or two ahead, and seldom even that far.
Which means that some of the comments I've gotten in reviews can really give me a good laugh. Sorry for not mentioning that earlier.
It's just as well. Any plan I wrote would get totally rewritten after every chapter anyways. This works better, I think.
Just so long as I don't give up on it, which I specifically plan NOT to do.
So, until the next chapter, Jaa ne!
"Hi ya, Akane," Ranma said. "This is my friend Ryoga
Hibiki. He lives next door to me and has a real problem with
finding places."
"I do not!" Ryoga said.
"Then explain why you ended up in the closet when you were
trying to leave your house by the front door," Ranma said.
"The doors were too similar," Ryoga replied.
"A pine plywood sliding door verses a solid oak swinging one
. . . really similar, Ryoga," Ranma said.
-"A Little Earlier", by someone whose name
escapes me at the moment.