Ranma Sekirei - 3

Ranma trudges up to the gates of Furikan High School, her hair plastered to her face, and her silks sodden with water. Glowering next to her is a damp Akane, who got caught in the same splash as the washer woman threw out a bucket of water rather than the normal ladle that she normally does. Unknown to Akane, adding to Ranma's discomfort is a trickle of liquid seeping down the inside of her leg, along with a slight cramping feeling in her abdomen.

"Ho fair maidens, I am glad to see that the evil sorcerer Saotome has released thee from his grasp for a moment. I, The Blue Thunder, wish for you to date me…"

Ranma growls, "Not today Kuno, go and annoy someone else."

Kuno instead draws his bokken and steps forward, "I strikkkeeeee"

Almost faster than the eye could see, Ranma covers the distance between them and launches Kuno over the school with a kick to the belly. As she stalks into the school and heads for the boys' toilets Akane look around in confusion.

A few minutes later, Akane is talking to her friends, Sayuri and Yuka, when Ranma nervously approaches. She leans over to Sayuri and softly says, "I'm really sorry, but do you have any spare, uh, hygiene products? As I wasn't expecting that… to start today."

Sayuri nods and discretely hands over a tampon and pad from her bag.

Once Ranma's left again, Akane asks, "What was that about?"

"She didn't expect to be celebrating womanhood today."

Akane's eyes widen, as she has never known Ranma to have a period, except when the curse is locked. Even during the cat tongue, she was period free for the entire 3 months. "I wonder why she didn't just change back to a guy."

Behind her, Ranma speaks up, "Because it didn't work." Akane spins around, mallet at the ready, and Ranma just takes it out of her grasp, "Baka, what did you do that for?"

Akane looks at the mallet in Ranma's hand, before exploding, "You pervert, how dare you."

Ranma steps back, "Hey, it's not like I wanted this. 's not like a jock like you would understand anyway." Ranma snatches another mallet out of her grasp, "Hey, are you slowing down in your old age?"

"Ranma! Stop doing that and let me hit you, you pervert!"

Somehow, they manage to get to class on time. As Ranma sits down, Daisuke drapes over her shoulder, his arms hanging over her breasts, "So, Ranma. You don't feel like being a guy tod…oooohhh."

The teacher, Hinako Ninomiya, looks over as Daisuke crumples to the floor holding his stomach, "Miss Saotome, what do you think you are doing?"

Ranma shrugs, "He touched my boob, and it's that time of the month."

Hinako looks a little "Oh, carry on then."

By lunchtime, the entire school knows that Ranma has PMS, and to keep well clear.

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A bruised and battered purple cat scratches at the door to the Nekohaten until Cologne opens the door and it limps in. Seeing the state of her great-granddaughter, Cologne gently picks her up and carries her to the kitchen, where she pours some hot water over her head. Where the cat was, Shampoo now sits, one eye already swelling shut, a massive bruise running the length of her face. Her clothes have been cut to ribbons, and she also has numerous shallow cuts and bruises all over her body. As she breaths in, she winces as one of her ribs doesn't move right.

"Granddaughter, what happened?"

"Two women wanted to take me to someone they called an Ashikabi to join their flock. I told them I already had an Arien, so they attacked me with intent to eliminate me."

"I see, this is troubling. How capable were they?"

Shampoo wilts, "Better than me, almost as good as Arien."

Cologne nods, "That word, Ashikabi, seems familiar. I'll send a letter back to the village to check out histories. Then we will increase your training again."

Shampoo winces at the idea of increased training. However, Cologne just turns the sign on the restaurant to closed, and starts to tend to Shampoo's wounds.

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Ryoga wakes up with a squeal as he smells a campfire nearby. Rolling to his feet he looks around wildly before he sees his backpack open, and the thermos of hot-water he keeps for these occasions sticking out. Looking around for any threats, he runs over and with practiced movements, pulls the lid off the thermos.

"Oh, hello Mr Piggy."

The sound of the voice behind him causes him to startle and fall backwards. The thermos falling backwards with him. As the hot water lands on him, he transforms back into the young man he is, on his back, and looking up the skirt of the woman that just spoke. As he does, his nose once again explodes with blood.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to… This is all Ranma's fault."

Ebinuma steps over Ryoga's head before crouching down beside him, "Oh, hello. Do all Ashikabi change into pigs? And I don't know who Ranma is, but thank you for protecting me from those Sekirei."

"Um, I don't know what an Ashikabi is."

Ebinuma giggles, "You are silly, you're my Ashikabi. Though I seem to have got us lost, I'm sorry. I heard about this inn people could stay in, and well. I looked down to check on you and, here we are."

Ryoga looks chagrined as her expression drops at the end, "Um, actuallythatisprobablymyfaultasmyfamilyiscursed."

Finally gathering his wits, he gets to his feet and looks at the sky to estimate the time. Midday, time for lunch then, "Hey, um, sorry I didn't get your name."

"Oh, I'm Sekirei Number 47 Ebinuma, and I'm an element type." Her shoulders sag, "Though my element isn't very good, as it's reflection."

Royga blinks, "Oh… Um my name is Hibiki Ryoga. I still don't know what an Ashikabi is though."

Ebinuma smiles, "An Ashikabi is our destined one. The other part of our soul. The person who will travel with us beyond the sky."

Ryoga, freezes where he's burrowing through his backpack for some jerky as the explanation works its way through his head. Then he panics, "But I already have a girlfriend. Akari is going to kill me."

"That's ok, you're a strong Ashikabi, it's to be expected that you'd collect many Sekirei to your flock. Oh, while I remember, I'm supposed to give this to my Ashikabi." Ebinuma fishes a black MBI credit card out of her bosom and hands it to Ryoga, who takes it as he holds his nose to stem the fresh nosebleed. Carelessly, he puts it in one of the pockets on his backpack before pulling out a couple of bundles of jerky, "Would you like some jerky?"

Ebinuma nods, and takes a bundle from him. As they're both eating, Ryoga boils some of his water reserves and pours it into his emergency thermos, "Um, if I turn into a pig again, could you pour some of this over me please?"

Ebinuma looks a bit confused, "Uh, sure."

Relief crosses his face, "Thanks, it's hard being a pig."

"Don't worry, I will protect you."

Ryoga sweat drops, "Right, anyway, I think we're north of Tokyo here, so if we head south it should take us back into the city."

Ebinuma follows Ryoga's pointing finger, to the forest further down the mountain, "Sure, do you want me to carry your backpack?"

Ryoga shakes his head as he hefts it onto his shoulders, "No, I've got it."

Together, they set off down the mountain and into the forest. As they're navigating around the trees, a branch catches on the pocket that the MBI card was put in and pulls the popper open. Still other branches catch on the pocket until one catches on a loop of string. As Ryoga walks away, the string pulls out until it goes taut, and then pulls the contents of the pocket out, along with the roll of string that was at the bottom of the pocket.

A few hours after they've left, a helicopter makes its way up the mountain, and some black clad soldiers rappel down and run into the forest.

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After school, Ranma leaps over the back wall to avoid any of the fiancés, and makes his way to a building site in nearby Itabashi City. Even though he's stuck as a girl, they have an extra mouth to feed, and he's not in the mood to do any of the things that Nabiki would want him to do, to bring in more money.

He hasn't even got out of Nermia before two women jump onto a rooftop in front of him.

The that raises her hand is tall and curvaceious, with short rusty red hair, and reddish eyes. "Halt, and come with us to be winged by our Ashikabi."

Ranma looks her up and down, noting her stance, before looking at the other woman, who is short, with straight purple hair and green eyes. While her black dress, white blouse, and heels look impractical to fight in, Ranma's trained eyes pick out the tell tale outline of weapons through out the various folds, probably disks or chakrams.

Ranma sighs, "Look, can we not do this. I need to see if I can get some work, and the building site will shut down in an hour."

The second woman curtseys, "I am Sekirei 101, Oriha, and I am sorry, but our Ashikabi wishes to add you to his flock. You can either come quietly, or we will need to subdue you. Either way you will be coming with us."

"Look, I'm not a Sekirei, no matter what Kusano thinks. Can we just pretend I beat you both, and I go on my way?"

The other woman sounds a little sad as she says, "I am sorry, but we cannot allow that. I am Sekirei 86, Katsuragi, and I will be your opponent."

Ranma sighs, "Fine, if we're doing this, I'm Saotome Ranko, and I'm in a hurry."

Immediately, Oriha starts to move to the side, launching the bladed disks that were dotted over her dress. Meanwhile Katsuragi tries to close in with Ranma, where her own martial arts abilities will be of more use. Having learnt from her last encounter, Ranma kicks into the air and fires a Moto Takabisha at the weapon user, forcing her to dodge frantically out of the way while he closes the gap. He almost overshoots as his ki enhanced movement carry him slightly faster than he's used to, even in this body. Pushing off of one of the disks, Ranma leaps over a kick, and over Oriha's head to send a punishing set of punches at her back while she's turning around.

"Hey! No fair going for our crests."

Ranma stumbles on her next landing, but recovers by using a hand to push off Katsuragi's knee, "Your what now?"

"Sekirei crests, between our shoulder blades."

Ranma dodges to one side around Oriha as her blades come down, her hands flickering out to touch pressure points down one arm, "Katsu, your form is far too sloppy, and you rely too much on your kicks. Oriha, you need to learn to deal with people up close otherwise this will happen."

As Ranma lands, behind Oriha, her fingers flash out in a complicated pattern up and down the back. Once she finishes, the woman freezes as her body locks up, and falls over in the direction she was trying to dodge.

Now able to focus on just the one opponent, Katsuragi quickly finds out just why Ranma is known as the preeminent martial artist of his generation. In less than a minute, she's left lying bruised and battered on the rooftop as Ranma races away into the distance.

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In the MBI control room, Minaka smashes his fist on the desk as the screen follows Ranma through the city, "Someone, please tell me we have a file on Ranko."

One of the technicians manning the computers stutters, "N…No sir, but there seems to be a website for her."

Minaka looks down at his tablet as he gets the link, browsing through it he sneers in disgust, "Useless, absolutely useless. None the less, buy the pictures and distribute them to the Discipline squad. Also update the information we have on 109."

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Rather than heading to the building site, Ranma instead makes her way to a public toilet and swallows as she makes her way into the womens side. After loosening her top, she pulls it down around her shoulders, and tries to look at her back in the mirror. She's still at it a few minutes later when another woman comes in and spots her.

"Hey, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm just trying to see if I've got any new tattoos on my back."

The woman winces, "A good night that turned out to be too good?"

Ranma looks over as she registers just what she said, "Er, something like that."

"Well, good news then, your back is clear."

Ranma sags with relief that she hasn't just sprouted an easily exploitable weakness, "Thank you, I just found out it was a possibility."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. A friend got a star on her ankle one night, she was absolutely frantic for weeks about what the men might think of her. What was worse is that it's so hard to hide in the summer, and she can't go to public onsen or gyms anymore."

Ranma nods as she pulls her top back up, not having had any idea about much of this due to her upbringing on the road.

"Oh, hey, I'm Sadow Nori, do you want to grab some tea together?"

"Um, Saotome Ranko, sure?"

"Great, I'll be right back."

While the older woman is in the cubicle, Ranma looks at her reflection, trying to see what made Nori even talk to her. Once Nori has finished, she leads Ranma to a small shopping district nearby where, after a quick detour into a pharmacy to buy hygiene products, they go into a small tea house that's styled after a western cafe. As Ranma looks around curiously, Nori asks the server for a table for two, and sencha tea.

As they take their seats, Nori smiles at Ranma, "Have you not seen a Tea Café before?"

Ranma shakes her head, "No, there aren't any in Nermia, and my mother lives in Ome."

Nori nods understandingly, "They're becoming more popular in the rest of Tokyo. But it begs the question, what brings such a young and attractive woman this far away from her home?"

Ranma reaches up and tugs her pigtail nervously, "Uh, we've recently got a young girl living with us, so I was going to try to get a job at a building site."

The server walks over carrying a tray with a pot of water and two small cups on a tray. As he gets closer to the table, he trips over a chair leg, and the tray lands hard on the table, the jug falling over and spilling hot water across the table and into Ranma's lap. As Ranma pushes backwards and stands up, the Server bows deeply, "I am sorry, what I did was inexcusable." Pulling a towel off his belt, he starts to mop up the spilled water.

Ranma shakes her head, "It's fine, see no harm done."

Nori shakes her head at the young woman's attempt to allow the server to save face, "Young woman, those are fine silks, and if not cared for properly will dry badly. Come, I was on my way home anyway so we can see if there I have anything that will fit you."

As they are standing, the manager hurries over with two slips of paper promising a complementary drink for two. At the bottom of the paper is the café's chop.

"Please, accept these as an apology on behalf of the café"

It's already dark by the time Nori calls the Tendo Dojo on the number that Ranma, the young woman's real name, slurred out after the last glass of umeshu.

"Tendo Dojo, how can I help you?"

"Hello, is Tendo Kasumi there?"

"Speaking."

"I am Sadow Nori. I'm calling to let you know that Saotome Ranma will be staying the night."

Ranma calls from the table, "I can get home."

"As I was saying, Miss Saotome will be staying with me, as it's unsafe to allow an inebriated young woman to attempt to traverse Japan on her own."

"I see, I will let the others know, and thank you for the call."

As she hangs up, the pleasant smile she held for the conversation falls as Nori looks at the massive pile of stuff by her front door. Stuff that came out of Ranma's sleeve while she was looking for a change of clothes, including several sets of silks that have seen better days.

Gently she helps the young woman up, before putting the table away and moving the room around to expose the bed room that was rolled away against the wall.

"Hey, I can burn the alcohol out of my system with my chi. Then I can go home fine."

Nori shakes her head, and points to the pile by the door, "Not before you've put your stuff away you can't."

Once she's wrangled Ranma into the spare futon, and she's fallen asleep, Nori watches the young woman with a bemused expression on her face. If even half of the things she said while drunk are true, the poor girl has had a hard life. Raised on the road by her father, thinking that her mother was dead. Only to find out that she's still alive when they finally get back to Tokyo. Not that it's Tokyo anymore, with MBI having bought out the special wards from the national government, and, with the exception of Nermia, all of the property too. Shaking her head, she climbs into her own futon before going to sleep.