Author's Notes:
Email: kijin101@hotmail.com
Fixed formatting. There are no new or original characters in this fic. All characters that have an active function in progressing the storyline are either Great Teacher Onizuka or Ranma 1/2 characters.
I am NOT a disciplined writer. I am an inspirational writer. If I don't have inspiration, it is very hard for me to write. That being said, I apologize for the lengthy waits between each chapter.
Just to clarify the ages, Ranma is 22 while the Tendo daughters are all a year older.
= = = = = = = =
What happened previously:
Ranma returns to Japan after being in China for 4 years, meets with his parents and Ryoga, and decided to be a teacher. He also meets with his new fiances, the Tendo daughters, and they find out that Ranma is going to be a new teacher at their school. Ranma discovers that teaching isn't all it's cracked up to be as he meets his students, but has its perks, such as working with cute teachers like Fuyutsuki.
= = = = = = = =
GTS
Great Teacher Saotome
Lesson 2: A Sudden Storm of Love
by Tristan Wright
= = = = = = = =
"Ohayo, Kasumi-chan," Ranma said, seeing Kasumi walk down the stairs.
"Ohayo, Ranma," Kasumi replied. She walked over to the kitchen and began breakfast.
The Tendos, more prepared to see Ranma this time, went about their typical morning rituals and eventually sat down to eat breakfast.
"Mmm, that was good Kasumi-chan!" Ranma said genuinely. He hadn't home cooked Japanese meals in quite a while. An idea popped into his head as he wondered if Kasumi would be willing to prepare him daily bentos. He certainly would prefer her cooking as opposed to the school's cafeteria. He'd have to ask her later.
"Why thank you," Kasumi said, smiling.
As Ranma stood up, Nabiki said, "Wait up Ranma."
"Eh?"
"We'll walk with you. Come on Akane," Nabiki said. She doubted anyone would notice he walked to school with them and if they did, she could just tell them that he lived by them or something. It was logical that they travelled together since they went to the same school anyways. Not only that, but it was a good chance to bond with Ranma. He certainly was turning out to be an interesting guy. Handsome, strong, and, well maybe not rich, but definitely had some money stashed away somewhere. What more could she ask for?
Akane 'hmphed'. "Why do we have to walk with him?" she said, but still followed her sister and Ranma out the door.
"Ittekimasu," the three said in unison.
"Itterasshai," Kasumi replied.
"Have fun at school you three," Soun said while still reading his newspaper.
Once outside, Nabiki whispered to Ranma, "Don't mind Akane, she just really hates guys."
Ranma nodded in understanding. "I can see why."
After Akane caught up with them, she took to Nabiki's side, trying to distance herself from Ranma as much as possible. Ranma casually hopped on to an adjacent fence and started walking on it. The Tendo sisters gave Ranma an odd glance.
"Why are you up there for?" Nabiki asked.
Ranma shrugged. "I dunno, habit. Good balance practice."
"Can't you walk on the ground like normal people?" Akane asked, irritated.
"Yeah, I could," he replied, but still stayed on fence.
"Showoff..."
"Only for you Akane-chan," he said grinning.
'I'll show him!' Akane thought. Hoping to knock him off the fence, she swung her bag at Ranma's feet but he lazily avoided it with a small hop and somersault. Akane growled as he stuck his toungue out at her.
"So what was life like in China?" Nabiki asked Ranma, hoping to dissolve some of the silent tension between her sister and Ranma. As much as she was the Ice Queen of Furinkan, being right in between the two was not a desired situation. It was somewhat ironic, and just plain bad luck, that Ranma emboddied everything Akane hated in boys; a bit arrogant, a bit of a pervert, and, worst of all, a better martial artist than her. "You were training there for a couple years, right?"
Ranma nodded and pondered on the question. "China was, well...it's hard to summarize. It was one big adventure."
"Really? I'd love to hear about it sometime."
"Sure, I'll tell ya about it later."
Akane grumbled to herself, ignoring Ranma and Nabiki, as she walked into the gates of Furinkan and prepared herself.
"Akane, I love-- eh?" The soccer boy paused as Ranma stepped in front of Akane with a firm look on his face. Glaring at his sensei, "What do you want, Saotome?"
Ranma, grinning evilly but with his overly dramatic and serious face, held up his hands and announced, "From now on there will be no mobs attacking Akane Tendo for a date! This is a deliquent activity and will end right now! Should you still continue, I will take the neccessary actions as a teacher and suspend all of you from the school grounds. Of course, you can ignore me and still choose to attack her, but then I'll have to deal with you PERSONALLY." He cracked his knuckles to emphasize the point. He REALLY did hope they chose the latter just so he could teach them a very long lesson that their body wouldn't forget for at least a week.
Realizing that they could not taunt Ranma as they did in the classroom, many of Akane's would-be suitors stepped back nervously and gulped.
"Hey! I told you I don't need your help!," Akane stated.
Ranma shook his head, firm in his reserve. "I ain't gonna allow this kind of unorganized, free for all to go on. It ain't right for guys to be ganging up on a girl. Someone could get hurt." He realized that he didn't care one bit actually if the male students did get hurt, but still, that was besides the point. He had his principles. Adding playfully, "I'm doing this for you, Akane-chan!"
"I can take care of myself!!"
"Eh? I didn't mean it that way! Well, I did kinda but I mean...ah geez, I just meant that one of THEM could get hurt too, besides just yourself. I noticed ya don't exactly hold back when you're being attacked by 20 guys all at once," Ranma said.
Akane was about to reply when Kuno's voice shouted, "What is this? What is going on here?" Kuno stepped out in front, his bokken pointed at Ranma. "What is the meaning of this, Saotome!"
"You heard what I said, Kuno. If you wanna date Akane, you'll ask her out the old fashioned way," Ranma stated.
"This...this is preposterous! You cannot do such a thing!" Kuno cried out.
Ranma was silent for a second, waiting for Kuno to finish then raised his eyebrows in curiousity when Kuno stopped there. Ranma would of thought that Kuno, with his pompous type personality and his ideals of a social heirarchy, would of proudly stated that his father is Head Principal and that he could get Ranma fired. Ranma had discovered earlier that Kuno was the principal's son which was why the young Tatewaki had been given such unlimited leniancy.
Seeing that Kuno wasn't going to use that power, which he thought was odd, Ranma said, "I challenge you, Kuno! After school, meet me at the lot next to the track and field area. If I win, you hafta promise to stop this whole thing. If I lose, I'll quit my job as a teacher here." Murmured gasps were heard from various students. Ranma knew Kuno's honor wouldn't let him refuse a challenge.
Kuno didn't hesitate and immediately accepted the challenge. "Very well then! I accept the terms of your challenge. Until then."
= = = = = = = =
"...and therefore, if you divide X over Y..." Ranma could barely hear his own voice over the unified conversation of the other students, who were completely ignoring him. The students had seemed to gotten tired of mocking him, at least for the time being. Maybe they actually thought that wannabe samurai was going to beat him. 'Hah, don't make me laugh.'
"Sensei, what happens if you use 1 as the denominator?" a girl student asked.
His eyes widened in amazement. Was that the voice of a cute girl that had just soothed his ears? Searching for the source of the cute voice and he found himself, surprisingly, ogling a beautiful young brunette in a short skirt. She smiled at him as she leaned forward, giving him a very nice view, and asked again, "What happens, sensei?" she asked in a sultry voice.
Ranma took a second to slap himself in the face to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Slap, slap. Nope. Wasn't a dream. There was no way he could of missed this girl yesterday so she must of been absent. Grinning lecherously, Ranma replied, "That would depend on the second set of numbers, Miss...?"
"Nanako Mitsuki," she told him, giving him a cute smile. He wondered if she was doing that on purpose or she was just a natural beauty like that. After Ranma explained her the answer, Nanako nodded in understanding and said, "Thanks, sensei! I'm glad you're my teacher."
Ranma nearly melted to the floor at her words. 'I love being a teacher!' he thought with a joyful smile on his face.
= = = = = = = =
Class had been pretty uneventful after Ranma's wonderous meeting with Nanako, though he spent most of his time peeking quick glances at her when he thought she wasn't looking. Sighing happily, he fantasized about her as he walked to the cafeteria to get some food. Blinking, Ranma paused in his steps for a second. Was it just him, or was nearly half the student female body looking at him? He looked around himself and did indeed discover that quite a handful of were actually ogling him as he walked through the halls. They giggled to themselves as he passed them, constantly looking at him and back to something they had in their hands, which appeared to be some type of cards or pictures perhaps. Shrugging, Ranma delved into the crowded lunch line. Being as modest as he was, the young martial artist knew that he was a pretty good catch. His experiences in China taught him that much.
With almost liquid like motions, Ranma skillfully swerved right to the front, got his food, and walked back out within seconds. Being a martial artist certainly had its advantages. Walking outside for some fresh air, he spotted Nabiki out the corner of his eye and decided to go greet her. There's nothing wrong with a teacher having a simple talk with his student. Nabiki, seeing Ranma coming over, motioned for her associates to leave her for the moment.
Smiling her usual sardonic smile, Nabiki asked, "Hello Ranma-sensei." She put extra emphasis in sensei playfully. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"
"Oh I just wanted to say hi. I don't really know anyone around here," Ranma said. 'Although, I wish I knew where Fuyutsuki-chan was right now. Maybe if I hang out in the teacher's lounge more I'll see her.' Just thinking about his young teacher colleague gave him butterflies in his stomach.
"I see. By the way, you wouldn't mind answering some questions for me would you?" Nabiki asked, trying to sound casual about it. She took out a pad and pencil.
"Sure, ask away."
"Okay. What's your favorite food?"
"Ah, um..." He really did love ice cream, but that wasn't really a manly thing to say. "I like all kinds of food, hard to pick just one."
"What's your favorite color?"
"Red."
"Do you have any hobbies?"
"Martial arts and pa--" Ranma barely caught himself. "...and um, motorcycles."
"What are your meassurements?"
He wondered why Nabiki would want to know that, but answered her nonetheless.
"How much can you bench?"
"Uh, I dunno. Never tried. I lifted a car once before though," Ranma answered truthfully.
"What type of girl do you like? You know, like do you like smart girls? Athletic girls? Girls with blue eyes? Girls in short skirts? Girls with big bust?"
"Hmm, ah I like all kinds of girls..." Ranma began to babble as he slipped into his lecherous reverie with a silly grin. "Athletic girls are definitely a plus, but smart girls can be cute too. I like girls with red hair and I love short skirts cuz--" It finally sunk as to what kind of question he had been asked causing a light blush of embarrassment to form. "H-HEY! What kind of question is that? Especially for a student to be asking a teacher!"
Nabiki smirked. Her scheme, while simple and straight forward, had a strong psychological base. When asking him normal questions, she got him relaxed and he began to answer questions without really thinking too much on it. That was when she caught him off guard. He was simple like most men, it was almost dissapointing. She discarded the thought. "Oh, nothing, nevermind," Nabiki said, trying to sound innocent. "Besides," she whispered, "I am your fiance."
Ranma looked around nervously. "Shh, you said you wouldn't tell anyone!"
"For a price..."
He looked at her incredulously. "But I just paid you rent!"
"You paid for only yourself. I still have to take care of the house and my family you know."
"You don't REALLY want me to get in trouble do ya?"
Nabiki played with his emotions for a bit, pretending to ponder the question, before answering, "No, I don't. I guess I'll let you have that one as a freebie." She had never seriously considered blowing Ranma's cover. There was still too much money that had yet to be milked. "You owe me one then."
Ranma grumbled. 'Is this how she gets most of income?" he wondered.
"One more thing."
"Huh?"
"You better not lose today's fight with Kuno," Nabiki stated. While many of the students had seen Ranma's fight with Kuno, she guessed that probably more than half of them had written off the victory as nothing more than a fluke. In other words, Ranma winning equaled money.
"Heh, don't worry, I can handle Kuno any day," Ranma said with a carefree wave of his hand.
= = = = = = = =
"Dadadadada!" Kuno's battle cry rang.
Ranma easily dodged each strike. "Give it up, Kuno."
"Never! This battle is not yet lost!" Kuno lunged forward and struck at Ranma, only to find he was no longer there. A couple pictures slipped out of Kuno's shirt as he had slashed. They landed at Ranma's feet. Curiously, Ranma picked up the photos and looked them. A silly grin came onto his face as he examined Akane's beautiful form (well, her body anyways, not her technique) as she worked out in the dojo. Meanwhile, Ranma dodged Kuno's strike unconciously.
"Your going to get hurt if you don't take him seriously, Ranma!" Akane shouted at him as he lept next to her. Peeking over his shoulder, she asked, "What are you looking at anyways...? HEY! Those are pictures of me you pervert!!"
Ranma stumbled in surprise as he barely managed to dodge her fist. "Er, wait, it ain't what it looks like! These ain't--" his mouth stop working when Akane's second strike slammed into his jaw, sending him flying into the crowd behind. A few girls 'eeked' as they saw Ranma's body bounding towards them and scattered quickly in order to avoid it.
"Ouch..." Ranma rubbed his chin. "Ya didn't hafta hit me so hard, Akane-chan! Students should be nice to their teachers!" Akane 'hmphed' at that. "'sides, the pictures were Kunos! He dropped them."
Realizing her fault, Akane turned a glare to her sister. "Nabikiiii!" She should of known. After all, it hadn't been the first time Akane had found one of her obssessed admirers with pictures of her.
Nabiki gave Akane an innocent look. "What?"
"Geez...eh?" In the crowds haste, a few of the girls had left a set of photos on the ground. "Wh-what the heck?! Wha-- ack!" Ranma cried out as Kuno's bokken grazed the air an inch in front of Ranma's chest, the air pressure making a cut into his shirt. Ranma rolled backwards on the ground in a crouch, back to Akane.
"See! I told you you should of been more serious!" Akane stated with a frown, looking down at the martial artist slash school teacher below her. Inwardly though, she was a bit happy at the fact that she was right.
"I was distracted! The--...ya know, pokey dots don't really suit you Akane-chan," he blurted out. "Personally, I prefer red with-- er..." Ranma stopped and cringed when Akane's aura flared. He had yet again put his foot in his mouth.
"You...you perverted JERK!" Akane flustered in embarrassment and angrily kicked him away like a soccer ball.
"Gah!"
Akane picked up the second set of photos Ranma dropped. Her mouth gaped in surprise when she found that the pictures were not of her, but of Ranma. There were a few photos of him training in the morning that his well toned body and another of him sleeping, which, Akane had to admit, made Ranma look incredibly adorable. She would never admit that outloud of course. Trying to overwrite the warm feeling with anger, Akane glared at Nabiki again. "N-Nabiki! How could you!"
Nabiki shrugged. "By popular demand."
"What sorcery are you using, fiend!" Kuno said as yet another attack missed Ranma.
"Sorcery? I ain't using nothing. C'mon Kuno, try harder. This is getting boring," Ranma said. Dashing in under the bokken, he pivoted his left foot and thrusted upwards, uppercutting Kuno and sending him sprawling into the ground. He was out cold.
"How anti-climatic," Nabiki commented. It had been quite obvious to even the most inadept person to martial arts that Ranma had been playing the younger boy the entire time.
Ranma stood over Kuno's prone body, scratching the back of his head with wonder as he had expected the young samurai prodigy to get back up, but he hadn't. Guess Ranma had put a bit too much power into that last one. Still, he supposed he should of expected that seeing how Kuno was five years too early to have any chance at him. Even then, his younger self probably could of taken him without any trouble.
"...that's it?"
"Well that was boring!"
"Hey! I want my money back! I wanted a martial arts duel, not a boxing match!"
Nabiki shook her head at the students, saying "Too bad, the tickets are non refundable." With the betting pool, she had also charged admission. She smiled greedily to herself. Today had certainly been profitable for her enterprise.
"Huh? What tickets?" Ranma asked.
"Oh, nothing much..." Nabiki replied off-handedly. "Just minor admission fee to watch your fight."
"You CHARGED them just for that?!"
"Obviously you don't know my sister," Akane said dryly. "She'll do almost anything for a buck. Even sell pictures of you."
Nabiki faked a hurt expression. "How can you say that about your own sister?"
Ranma blinked as his thoughts slowly dawned on him. "Sell pictures of...H-HEY! So THAT'S what they were doing with them!"
Nabiki decided to make her exit there. Smiling slyly as she fled, Nabiki shouted to Ranma from a distance, "Don't take it personally Ranma-chan!"
"Ranma-chan?"
= = = = = = = =
"...and then I found out the girl had been selling pictures of me!" Ranma complained to his friend, who was tweaking a motorcycle. "Oh well, I knew I was good looking, but now I got fans! And at least the all girls are cute. They almost make me lose control!"
Ryoga chuckled and shook his head. "I hate to spoil your good mood Ranma, but seriously speaking...Onibaka's Ranma Saotome, the strongest in the Shounan district. Do you really want to be a teacher? I don't think that's too possible. The kids these days are really messed up, especially from what you've already told me. They're difficult to teach, and if you mess up in any way as a teacher, you'll get fired."
Ranma just grinned. "Ha, I'll be the best teacher in all of Japan! Just you wait and see. I'll use my own technique to prove it to you."
"Right..." Ryoga said, rolling his eyes. "I don't see why you want to be a teacher, a SCHOOL teacher, in the first place. A martial arts teacher I could see, but a school teacher? Considering our experiences with teachers or with school in general..."
"Heh, I have my reasons," Ranma said. His smile almost seemed a bit nonstalgic.
= = = = = = = =
Ranma cheerfully whistled to himself as he walked back to the Tendo Dojo. "A teacher, huh? Better get home and prepare tomorrow's coursework," he said to himself. 'Eh? Is that Nanako-chan?' he thought, spotting her sitting on the railing. Were those tears in her eyes? Ranma walked over to her. "Is that you, Nanako-chan?"
She looked up at him with sad, glistening eyes. "Sensei..."
"Wh-what is it? What's wrong?"
"I, um..." Nanako was silent for a moment, before shaking her head to herself, as if firming her resolve in a decision she knew she couldn't back out of. "Can you come to my house and tutor me?"
If guys were allowed to cry, Ranma would be crying right then. "I'd love to!"
= = = = = = = =
"Wow, nice house ya got here," Ranma told Nanako. It was a rather high-end house, quite big, with two stories. "Reminds me one of those houses you see on TV. Your family must be pretty wealthy. No one home?" Ranma asked, looking around the house. He spotted a large plate of expensive sushi on the table next to the them. Drooling, he gasped, "Oooh! Salmon! Shrimp! And eel!"
Nanako didn't say anything. She walked over to the plate, glanced at the note on top of it, then crumpled it up. She picked up the plate.
Restraining his hands from the plate, Ranma asked, "Hey, you're not gonna eat all of that by yourself are ya?"
His student still didn't say anything as she walked to the trash can.
"Pleeeaaassssee, let me have some your sushi Nanako-chan! I love sa-- AH?! What are you doing?!" Ranma cried out in agony as Nanako dropped the entire plate into the garbage.
"Noooo!" He stood over the trash, staring down into mess with a depressed expression. He really had been really hungry, it was almost dinner time. "Watcha do that for! That was a waste of expensive food ya know."
Nanako stared blankly at the trash with a hidden sadness behind her eyes. "We didn't always used to live in this big house," she said quietly. Ranma, noticing the seriousness in her face, instantly calmed and listened to her curiously. "My poppa is the owner of a Japanese restaurant franchise. My momma owns four supermarkets. They worked hard to get get this home, but now..."
"What?" Ranma asked.
Nanako said nothing. After a moment, her cheery smile returned and she said, "Sensei, let's go to my room so you can start tutoring me." She motioned to follow her upstairs. Ranma gulped. Truth be told, he had never been in a girl's room before. Actually, that wasn't true, but no girl had ever intentionally invited him. Actually, that wasn't true, but no typically normal school girl had ever invited him. When they entered, he was greeted with a sweet aroma that tickled his nose. 'It smells so nice in here,' Ranma thought. The room was a bit what he expected; it was a room filled with bright colors, a few stuffed animals on her bed and a couple pictures on her desk. A normal, schoolgirl's room. Kind of reminded him of Nabiki's room but with a bit more fluff. He heard some shuffling from behind him.
"So what do ya wanna wo-- N-Nanako-chan?!" The young teacher's eyes bulged when he saw that his student was taking off her clothing and was now half naked in a bra and panties. A red flush heated his cheeks. "Wh-what are you doing?!"
Nanako smiled at him playfully. "I want you to tutor me in biology, Senseeiii," she said in a seductive voice.
Ranma backed up to the wall in fear and shock. "A-ah, um, I'm not very good with b-biology," he managed to stutter out. Looking for any distration he could find, he picked up a near by picture and put it in front of his chest defensively. "Wh-what a nice picture this is!"
Nanako's mood darkened suddenly as she saw it.
Wondering what the cause was, Ranma took a look at the picture. It was a younger Nanako with two older people, most likely her parents, next to her. All of them were smiling cheerfully. He wondered what Nanako had been talking about before. The martial artist became a bit envious as he stared at the picture more, seeing how happy they were. Ranma had never had a real family growing up as a child. Why would she be sad at such a peaceful photograph? Maybe one of her parents were dead? But he remembered Nanako mentioning her mom and dad so he doubted that.
"...I...We used to always eat together before my momma and poppa got better jobs," Nanako started slowly in a sad tone. "Now I hardly get to see them and, whenever I do see them, together, they're always argueing." Tears welled up in her eyes. "I ran away once because...because I couldn't stand living in this cold, lonely house that's changed my parents!" She burst into tears and clutched his chest. Hesistantly, Ranma wrapped his arms around the crying girl in hopes of comforting her.
"Bingo!"
Ranma saw a few flashes come from behind the curtains, outside, on the balcony to his left. The shades opened up revealing three of his students, one holding a camera and all with cocky smirks on their faces.
"Look what we have here! You shouldn't be doing such shameful things like this, Saotome-sensei," the guy with the camera said. He dangled a polaroid in front of Ranma and laughed. "We can make a lot of money if we sell these to magazines. We could get a million yen of them!" The three of them laughed. "What should we do, sensei?"
Ranma whipped his head to Nanako, who was putting on her clothes back on. "N-Nanako, you couldn't have...did you...?" he asked, fearing the truth.
"Sorry, sensei, but they said they would split the money with me if they got it," Nanako admitted with an apologetic smile.
"You know, once these pictures get out, even if you die you'll still never be a teacher again!" one of the boys said. "Give us a million by the end of the week. If you don't, these pictures will be posted everywhere, haha."
"......" What could Ranma possibly do? Beat them up and take the pictures? That would end in the same result as if the photos were distributed out. A teacher viciously mugging three of his students. It would of been his word against theirs.
"Haha, look at this, big tough martial artist scared speechless!"
Ranma had his head down, his bangs covering his eyes in a dark shadow. "Nanako...did you plan this from the start?"
"Hm?"
"Was it all just an act?" he asked in a dark tone.
Unfazed, Nanako said pleasantly, "Why would I hook up with an old man like you?" It almost seemed as if she had avoided the question though. Almost.
Her accomplices laughed again at Ranma. "What an idiot!"
Ranma stood up and left out the room. "Don't forgot, one million within the week!" he heard from behind him. A couple blocks down the road, after leaving Nanako's house, the martial artist calmly thrust his fist through a wall. Ranma Saotome was mad.
= = = = = = = =
The three students sat on a bench and discussed their victorious blackmail operation.
"It's halirious, the way he looked!"
"What a big fish we caught, haha!"
"I can't believe that Nanako is such a good actor. I thought she was really crying!"
"When I heard her sad story, even I wanted to cry!"
"No kidding! And now...we're a million yen richer!"
All of them laughed with glee. A lone motorcyclist travelled the street, cutting through their laughter. Annoyed, one of them said, "Shut up already! Get lost!"
Two more men on motorcycles joined the other.
Standing up, seeing the challenge, the student said, "What do you guys want? You looking for trouble?"
The other two grabbed nearby pipes. "You wanna fight? Bring it on!"
Three more joined the other motorcyclist. Then four more. And five more. And six more. Finally, the park was sprawling with gangsters on motorcycles. The students were completely surrounded.
All of the students mouth dropped and cowered back in dread.
One of the gangsters hopped off the back of vehicle and made his way toward the students with an angry expression. "Who are you? Didn't you know that this is our territory? Your pretty brave! coming here and raising a ruckus."
"W-we didn't know any better! Please forgive us!" the students pleaded. The interrogation was cut short as someone shoved their way through the crowd. Ranma stepped through casually, a cigarette in his mouth.
"S-Saotome!" one of the students said, surprised.
There was a murmured hush among the crowd as they recognized Ranma.
"No way..."
"Is that really him?"
"Is has to be! That's Ranma Saotome, one of the legendary Onibaka!"
The crowd of gangsters gasped. The three students look around in wonder. "They know him?"
"Did you do anything to them?" Ranma asked.
"N-no, we didn't do anything!"
"Really? That's good," Ranma said, relieved.
Seeing their savior, the students scampered to Ranma. "S-sensei!"
"These guys are my..." Ranma's tone got darker with each word. He took off his shirt and cracked his knuckles. "...prey."
= = = = = = = =
"Lift them up. So, does the park's water taste good?" Ranma said in a low growl. "Hmm?"
"Saotome-sensei, please don't kill us!" one of the students pleaded.
"Ya don't hafta worry about that, I ain't gonna kill you...I still want to torture you some more."
A student dared to contradict him. "You're an educator! Don't you know as a teacher you can't treat your students like this?"
Ranma didn't look amused. "Don't be naive! An educator is an educator, but you guys have been messing with me from the start. An educator is a human being too. Even we have our limits and there are times when we are pushed over the edge. This is one of those times. When that happens, I ain't no teacher no more!" Ranma kicked the rope that held them up and sent them into the pond once more.
He let them savor the ice cold water for a bit before giving the other gangsters the signal for them to be pulled up. "That's enough."
"We're sorry! We'll never do it again!"
Ranma ignored their pleas and looked off with a distant look. "Why don't we try to tear down this wall? This wall that always exists between teachers and students." He blew a puff smoke into the air, looking up at the sky, thinking to himself. "It ain't that hard to improve human relationships, right? BUt if you guys insist on being childish, then I don't got nothing more to say. You gotta take responsibility for your own actions. Nobody...Nobody's going to feel sorry for you."
No one said a word as they listened to Ranma's lecture quietly.
Ranma gave a forgiving smile at the bruised students. "So think clearly next time."
"Sensei..." they cried in happiness. Happiness at realizing their mistakes and happiness that the torture was finally ending.
"Anyways...let's continue our game now shall we!" Ranma cackled evilly.
"EHH?!" the students shrieked. "AHHHHHH!!"
= = = = = = = =
Ryoga dragged the mildly drunken Ranma along to the Tendo Dojo as Ranma told his problems to his friend. When his friend had suddenly called him up and asked him to meet him at a bar, Ryoga could easily tell something was wrong. After all, they had just finished talking hours before. Ranma had gotten himself into a drunken stupor and began confessing the events that had happened earlier. Ranma had actually only had a couple drinks but, even as a top martial artist, he couldn't hold his liquor well at all.
"I've really done it now..." Ranma said with a sigh.
Ryoga shook his head at Ranma. "I told you being a teacher just isn't cut out for you. Do you really want to be one that badly? Take my advise and give it up, Ranma," Ryoga said, consoling Ranma. "As a teacher, your wages are low and it's a real hasle. It's not that great. You'll have to deal with problematic students like that all the time. Can you really do that?"
"I admire you, Ryoga..." Ranma said with a sad smile and mellow tone. "You went to Tokyo for five years and you were able to get all the special qualifications in such a short amount of time. Then you opened up your own store so quickly and turned your dream into a reality. What have I accomplished? Compared to you...I'm..."
Ryoga frowned and gave Ranma a hard pat on the back. "Come on Ranma, this isn't like you. When did you start losing your fighting spirit? What happened to the 'Wild Steed' Ranma Saotome? 'Saying pathetic things ain't my style.' Isn't that what you said when we came to Tokyo?"
"I know...I know...turn left here and we should be there," Ranma directed Ryoga. Even if he was drunk, there was no way Ranma was going to let Ryoga take him on one of his lost journeys again.
"I'll see ya around, Ranma," Ryoga said as he left his friend at the door step to the Tendo residence.
"Yeah...see ya..." Ranma sighed again. 'Okay, time to wake up,' he thought. Ranma slapped himself in the face a couple times and used his ki to burn off some of the alcohol. It wouldn't look good for his image if he came into the house looking and acting like a drunk. He still had a couple of fiances to impress.
"Tadaima," Ranma said as he took off his shoes and walked to the living room. When he arrived there he found three very angry fiances. Well, perhaps not all of them were angry. Akane definitely was by the look on her face. Nabiki looked indifferent, though mildly annoyed. Kasumi had her motherly admonishing expression on. He saw both of his parents at the table along with Soun. His mother was looking calm as usual, but Genma on the other hand looked like he had been strangled by Soun before Ranma made his appearance. "Um...what'd I do?"
"What did you do!?" Akane shouted angrily. "We just found out you're a two-timing pervert, you jerk!" Her belief on boys had once again been reinstated.
"Eh?"
Nabiki shook her head at Ranma. "Ranma, Ranma, Ranma...I knew you were a playboy, but this takes the cake."
"It's not right to so many fiances, Ranma-kun," Kasumi stated in her admonishing voice.
Ranma sweated, seeing what they were talking about. "Er, oh, that...well, it ain't my fault!" He pointed at Genma who had an expression that said 'don't hurt me please!'. "He's the one that engaged me!"
Soun resumed his previous activity and wringed Genma's neck. "Saotome, how could you!"
"GAAH!"
Nodoka sighed. This had been what she wanted to avoid. She decided to put it off at least a day before telling the Tendos, so as not to invoke any bad impressions the Tendo daughters had about her son. The sooner she told them though, the better. They would have found out eventually. Nodoka continued what she had been saying before Ranma came. "Ukyo will be arriving here tommorow. She has made arrangements to live at one of her restaurant stationed here. Until a way can be figured out how to appease everyone's honor, Ukyo will now, officially with my blessing, also be Ranma's fiance."
"Ucchan's coming here tommorow?" Ranma said in surprise. He hadn't seen her in three years. Guiltily, Ranma knew he should of told her that he had come back from China already, but the words Ukyo had spoken to him on the day of his departure to China made him decide otherwise. Although he gulped, he still got butterflies in his stomach when thinking about her. Ranma knew that Ukyo would probably escalate his female troubles but...it would be nice seeing her again. He had missed her.
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "Ucchan?"
Ranma nodded with a bit of embarrassment. "Er, yeah, it's my nickname for her."
"You knew her?" Nabiki asked. That had been new to the story Genma had told them. "How come you didn't stop the engagement then?"
"'cause I didn't know about it!" Ranma retorted. "I wasn't even with the old man when he engaged me to her when I was like seven or something. Gramps was training me then. I met her later in high school and we became friends. I didn't wanna break the engagement then because it would hurt her honor."
'Gramps?' Soun thought. He didn't know Saotome had a grandfather and he doubted that Genma would allow his son to be trained by one of Nodoka's family. The whole reason Genma had run off was to escape Nodoka's influence as his friend had told him in numerous postcards. Soun would have to ask him about it later.
Akane threw her hands up in exapseration. "This is just great! I'm going to bed!"
"I suppose it is getting rather late," Nodoka said. She stood up and motioned to her husband like a pet. "Come husband. We will retire for the night."
"Yes, dear..."
"That reminds me," Nabiki began suspiciously, "Where have you been this whole time?"
Ranma coughed nervously. "I was, ah, tutoring a student then I went out with a friend, heheh..."
"Right..." Nabiki said with narrowed eyes. That would explain the scent of alcohol she could smell off him, but something didn't add up. Tutoring and going out with a friend didn't take that long. Shrugging, Nabiki retired upstairs. She'd find out what it was sooner or later.
"I suppose I should be getting some rest as well," Soun stated after returning to his normal state. "Goodnight."
Kasumi nodded. "Goodnight father. Oh, Ranma-kun, I saved you some dinner if you still want it."
"Sure!" he said. Taking the plate of food, he sat down and began eating. Remembering something, Ranma asked, "Oh yeah, do ya think you could make a bento for tommorow? If...if it's not too much trouble that is..." He hated relying on others, but Kasumi's gourmey cooking was too much to pass up.
Kasumi smiled. "Sure, it's no trouble at all."
"Thanks!"
Ranma continued to eat as Kasumi went of too her room and came back with a book in her hands. She brought a chair close enough to the outside that she could feel the cool breeze upon her skin. She sat down and began to read. Ranma looked up for a moment and decided to strike up a conversation. "Watcha doing?"
"Reading. I enjoy reading at night."
Duh. Why did he ask a stupid question like that? For all his years on the road, Ranma wasn't too good with social interactions on the casual level. Flirting, which he'd like to pride himself at being good at, was a completely different thing from casual conversation. "Watcha reading?"
"A medical book on brain surgery that Tofu-sensei lent me," Kasumi replied.
"Eh? Brain surgery? Why ya reading about that for?"
"I find it interesting," Kasumi said, not at all bothered by Ranma's constant questioning. "I used to want to a doctor when I was young."
Ranma scratched his forehead in wonder and asked, "Well...why ain't ya? Why aren't you a doctor I mean? Or trying to be one."
Kasumi looked hesitant for a moment, before saying, "When...when mother died, I made a decision that I would take care of the family from now on. I would try as best as I could to do all the things that mother couldn't do now that she was gone. I've been taking care of my sisters ever since I graduated from high school." She tried to smile and cover up her sadness. "Besides, I'm too old now to be chasing after dreams," she said, a bit jokingly.
"No."
"What?" Kasumi asked, a bit surprised at the firmness in which he stated that.
Ranma walked over to Kasumi and placed his hand on her shoulder. "No, you're not too old to be chasing dreams. Never believe that. I'm 22 and look at me. I'm still chasing after dreams. I ain't a great teacher yet. You're a young, beautiful woman, Kasumi. You still have your whole life ahead of you. It's not too late. It's never too late." Despise his earlier complaints, Ranma would never give up. He had faced too many hurdles, been through too much, to give up his new dream now. He had turned his life around completely, from a life of crime to being a school teacher, against all odds. Everyone said that he couldn't do it, but he proved them wrong.
A rosey blush touched Kasumi's cheeks, both at his hand on her shoulder and at his words. "B-But..."
Ranma gently squeezed her shoulder, trying to dispel her pessimisms. "Your sisters can take care of themselves now. Akane's an up and coming martial artist and Nabiki has a great business mind on her shoulders." Ranma said the last bit with a bit of wryness, but continued. "You're only 20 years old. You have plenty of time to start your path on becoming a doctor. It's too late to try enrolling this semester, but next semester I want you to apply to some universities."
"But I don't have the money..." Kasumi began to protest.
Ranma grinned like it wasn't a problem. "I'll pay for ya."
Kasumi's eyes widened. "How...?" She shook her head. "I couldn't take such money from you."
He knew from her tone that Kasumi would feel indebted to him and couldn't accept that. It was a feeling Ranma knew well. "Okay, tell ya what. If you study as hard as you can to pass the college entrance exams, then I'll help ya out financially. And I'm sure Nabiki has some stuffed away somewhere that could aid you." Ranma was pretty positive that not all of Nabiki's business activities went to funding the house, if today was any indication. He was sure that she had some excess money.
"Your family will definitely support you," Ranma said. "You've given them so much, I think it's time that they gave something back." He had been a bit suspicious as to why Kasumi stayed home all the time and did all the house work. He highly doubted that Kasumi enjoyed always having to play mother for her family while never having a life of her own.
Seeing her begin to protest again, Ranma put a soft finger on Kasumi's lips and smiled at her. Surprised, she instantly relented at the smile that seemed to drown away all of her worries. Letting go of her final resistance, Kasumi simply nodded at Ranma's statement and request. For once...just this once...she'd let someone else take care of her. Take care of her problems she quickly corrected herself, blushing.
Ranma released his hold on her lips and stood up, grinning. "Great! It's a deal then." He proceeded to clean up his finished dinner and head to his room.
"Ranma?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you..."
"Heh, no problem. Night, Kasumi-chan."
"Goodnight, Ranma-kun."
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V1.22
JAPANESE DEFINITIONS:
"-san": Mr., Ms., Mrs., Miss.; The suffix denoting that the person being spoken to is of equal or nearly equal social status. It is not used for people you know well.
"-kun": familiar title after name of colleague or student, usually male. Used for male friends and relatives. It can be used for women as well, but typically is not.
"-sama": an honorable suffix used for royalty ("Lord", "Sir")
"-chan": cute; baby talk. Children who grow up together may keep using the -chan honorific into adulthood. For close friends and relatives, especially female ones.
"-sempai": one's senior (colleague, fellow student).; Upperclassman, or more generally somebody in the same social class but superior to you (ex, 'Kuno-sempai')
"Ohayogozaimasu": polite way to say "Good morning"
"Ohayo": means "Good morning"
"Itterasshai": used to a family member when he or she leaves the house. Used to expresss their hope that family members will come back to the house safely.
"Ittekimasu": reply to itterasshai, means "I'll be back"
"Tadaima": means "I'm home"
"Okaeri": reply to tadaima, means "Welcome home"
"Okaerinasai": polite form of "Welcome home"
"Bento": box lunch
"Sensei": teacher, master
"Yatai": food cart