Ranma & Kaneda
By Ron Dow75
From an idea by James M. Zema,
Unauthorized, but allowed.
[Note: This story is on the anime's timeline.]
05: The Tendou Trick
A scratched and tattered Kuno stood there for a moment with tree
branches sticking out of his kendo-gi. He was trying to
understand what had just happened, "T, Te, Tendou!? His, his
name is, TEN,DOU!!?!"
His bookbag on his back, Ranma-kun protested, "My name is--"
Kane-chan put her hands up against his mouth; in her best 'girl'
voice, she said, "I just HAD to tell him. I'm SO sorry. I know
we promised to keep our real names a
SECRET."
She frowned into his eyes, trying to get her message through to
him. Her voice hardened, "We DO want to keep our secret, don't
we?"
In answer, Ranma-kun dropped the girl in the boys' uniform. She
landed on her feet, her hands still over his mouth. She asked,
"Well?!" taking the risk of taking her hands off.
Ranma-kun asked, his voice slowed by him controlling his anger,
"And how is me bein' a Kei Tendou gonna help keep a secret?"
The black haired girl relaxed a little, "Two names implies TWO
people."
Ranma-kun had thought of that before. But as a martial artist,
his name was important. He didn't WANT people to know he became
a girl. But he did want his opponents to know Ranma Saotome beat
them. It was a dilemma he hadn't settled to his satisfaction
yet. Now this guy girl wanted to settle it for him! Ranma-kun
grumbled, "But why Kei Tendou?" And shouldn't it be the girl
that had the different name?
That was when Kuno attacked, "Nay, I say!! One scourge of
Furinkan is too many!!"
Ranma moved the girl around out of the way. He said to the guy
with the raised sword, "Hah! A fight I can deal with!"
Kane-chan looked on a little amazed. "He's not fighting under
the her own name.... Nabiki's plan is better than I thought."
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It has started on that first night, when they'd discovered the
truth about Ranma AND Kaneda. Nabiki had told Kasumi "Akane
Saotome" would be staying with her.
But when it came time for Kane-chan to go to Kaneda's room,
Nabiki had redirected her.
Sitting Kane-chan down, Nabiki said, "We have to talk.
You WERE serious when you volunteered to be Ranma's
fiancee?" Before Kane-chan could interrupt, she held up her
hand, "I didn't say marriage. That's a step or two down the
line."
Kane-chan made no move. She was still overwhelmed by all that
had just happened. Despite finding out she was really a girl,
Kane-chan could not yet imagine marrying 'another' guy. Just
thinking the cute redhead could disappear into a guy irritated
her no end. And as a guy, Ranma-kun brought out her natural
antipathy towards 'other' guys. And there was something about
the person, whether guy or girl, that got on her nerves.
And yet....
Nabiki said, "I'll take that as a yes. Look, *I* don't want to
get stuck with the guy. He won't even be able to afford the
inheritance tax, the marriage tax, and ALL the other taxes
that's be dropped on a Japanese couple, let alone the life-style
I'd like to become accustomed to."
Kane-chan'd forgotten about all the taxes waiting for them.
Ranma'd be an asset. She's such a great martial artist her
reputation would bring people into the dojo to learn from a
master like her. The women would come thinking, "If a cute
little thing like that can do it, so can I". While the guys
would.... Suddenly Kane-chan became angry at the thought of
other guys ogling Ranma-chan, even in her loose martial arts
uniform.
Nabiki continued with HER logic, "That means without you, KASUMI
is the one left to fulfill dad's promise."
Kane-chan blurted out, "Kasumi engaged to a girl?!" Kane-chan
saw, that her guy-issues with Ranma were on the surface. She
could not fundamentally accept Ranma as a guy. She had a far
better chance accepting HERSELF was really a girl. Little did
she know she had received the "Juusenkyo Blow to the Soul". It
had fixed Ranma's girl-image in her mind, just as it had done to
Kuno. The two would do mental contortions rather than admit they
were stuck on a guy.
Nabiki gave herself a congratulatory smile at Kane-chan's
response, and said, "Kasumi WOULDN'T become engaged to a girl."
Then, playing to Kane-chan's male feelings, "NOR would any
normal girl. Therefore, we must make sure Ranma is thought of as
a girl. And it all begins by making the guy somebody else
BESIDES Ranma."
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Kane-chan hadn't understood Nabiki's reasoning, it just seemed
too complicated. She had put it aside. But when the great idiot
Kuno showed an interest in Ranma-chan, she knew she had to do
SOMETHING. Okay, it kept Ranma a girl to Kuno, but Nabiki's was
the only plan Kane-chan had! But if it worked, Ranma would be a
girl to more than just Kuno. And Kuno would help by spreading
the word about "Kei Tendou".
Each slash of his bokken at Ranma-kun was an accent on Kuno's
words, "I am the undefeated captain of this school's kendo club:
The raising new star of the high school fencing world. The sound
of my voice strikes fear into the hearts of my enemies. My peers
call me the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High! Tatewaki Kuno, age
17."
Only Ranma-kun paid much attention to the fallen athletes they
were stepping on in the midst of their battle.
Ranma-kun was on the defensive only because he hadn't decided
WHO was going to respond to the challenge, "Well,
I'm uh... Well, I'm um, I'm uh, um, I'm stayin' at--"
It was time for Kane-chan to step in between the two, "I
challenged you first, Kuno!"
Ranma-kun spoke up, "*I* have first claim: Me, Ran--"
Kuno hadn't bothered to wait to be interrupted, "The intruder is
correct, my lady. A fight between men always takes precedent
over a woman."
Kuno was correct, but that did not ease Kane-chan's indignation.
I have enough memories as a girl to know how being patronized
feels. Not that she wanted her feelings eased at the moment:
"Oh! Is that so!?! Then you say you'd rather fight Kei Tendou
than Ranma Saotome?!"
Kuno answered, "Ranma Saotome is a girl."
Ranma-kun cried, "Now, just a minute there! Ranma Saotome AIN'T
a girl!"
Kane-chan said, "Ranma certainly doesn't ACT like a girl."
Kuno said with a look of contempt, "That is because the infamous
reveler in the perverse, Kaneda Tendou, gets his sick thrills
denying Ranma her femininity!"
Ranma-kun cried, "The only one denyin' my femininity around here
is me!"
Kuno turned his contempt on him, "So like a Tendou! Insecure in
your masculinity, you chase women beyond the limits of what is
morally, socially acceptable." Kuno pointed his sword at Kane-
chan, "THEN when one succumbs to your guile and traps you by
your own empty promise of betrothal," his sword moved from her
neck to her feet, "you have her dress in male clothes so that
your next prey will not be warned off by the sight of THIS
victim!"
Kane-chan looked down at the white shirt and, past her bust, the
gray slacks she was wearing, "The idiot makes sense. If he were
a lecher like Ataru Moroboshi, how much luck could I have being
followed by a girl in a dress?" She then thought of what the
character had to go through, "...Let alone in a tiger-striped
bikini."
Kuno asked in befuddlement, " "Tiger-striped bikini"?"
Kane-chan answered without thinking, "Yes, that's what
his live-in wears when not in human clothes."
Kuno exclaimed, "Human clothes!? Live-in!?!" His voice became
mournful, "Oh, not even to be allowed the dignity of the first
person."
Kane-chan asked, "What's gotten into you head now, Kuno!?!"
Kuno's voice then became low and threatening, "The vengeance of
Heaven is slow, but sure. Making her a cross-dresser isn't
enough, you ALSO force her to go about nearly unclothed, eh? I
Tatewaki Kuno shall bring you to justice."
Ranma-kun cried, "Forcin'!!?! I'M not the one donin' any
forcin'!!"
"Silence, Fool!!" Kuno yelled, charging with is bokken.
Kuno put all of his righteous anger into the blow. But Ranma
leaped over the latest in generations of samurai. Kuno's strike
tore into the foot-thick concrete wall, creating a cleft that
reached down to his knees.
Ranma-kun landed up on the rungs of a nearby concrete power
pole.
Kuno turned his sword on that.
His sword broke deep into it.
Ranma jumped off of the pole as it fell.
Kuno said, "Why you slippery, little...."
Ranma answered, "Hey, you hold on a second!" He rushed the
taller guy in the kendo-gi; he got within an arm's reach of Kuno.
The sword barely missing his moving head Ranma-kun told
him, "Let me make one thing perfectly clear!" Ranma was
on the attack now; in Kuno's face, Ranma-kun forced him to
retreat, "You've got the wrong idea about me and Akane!"
(Again Kane-chan was impressed, "Wow, he's fast: He was there
before Kuno could blink! No wonder he can create enough friction
to heat water!")
Kuno finally found room to slash out with his sword again and
again. Ranma-kun merely leaned back and moved his head aside
again. "Akane means nothing to me!" Like pronouns and nouns,
he found that he automatically matched the female-form to the
female-form. He had conditioned himself to do this on his long
trip back from China. The reflex extended to another cursed
person.
Kuno paused to reassess his opponent, He's good. He saw his
chance: "Hyah!!"
Centimeters from him, Ranma-kun did a flying back flip and
landed halfway between him and Kane-chan. Ranma-kun pointed at
her and said, "If you want a violent chick like her who's too
crazy to know how to be a girl, you can have her!" He was
serious. On top of everything else she'd done to him since he'd
met her, she'd done some desperate things yesterday when he was
trying to test his "Saotome Hot Water Attack". It would've
maimed a lesser guy.
(Kane-chan got mad, "Rrrmm!")
Kuno said, "It is obvious as the day follows the night, your
words carry no substance. I will not let you talk that way about
Akane!" And he charged again with his sword.
Kane-chan screamed, "Who are YOU to call me a violent chick!?!!"
With nothing but the schoolbag at hand, she threw it at Ranma-
kun.
Ranma leaped high, high above as Kuno's sword cleaved the
leather bag in half.
Everything seemed to be in stop motion as Kuno fixed his eyes on
the other guy, waiting for him to down close enough for him to--
Kane-chan slammed into Kuno, knocking him over with her
shoulder. Just then the school bell rang. Growling, she changed
the angle of her wooden mallet and smashed it up at the falling
Ranma-kun. He was sent flying over the school wall, yelling,
"Violent, crazy girl!!"
Twisting around for the crevice in the wall Kuno's sword had
made, Kane-chan ran as fast as she could.
She almost didn't notice she'd run over Kuno lying on the
ground. Barely able to breathe, he said, "She has defeated me."
On his forehead was the character for, 'not'.
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Kane-chan ran for where Ranma-kun had landed, "Kei! You can't go
to school like that!"
Ranma-kun spun around and struggled not to use his fists. He
challenged her, "And WHAT'S to keep me!?!"
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The substitute teacher a story above them said, "Nabiki Tendou,
what do you think you're doing with that bucket?"
Nabiki said, "Well, it's full of water."
The teacher made to take it away from her, "Of course it's full
of water. It's for when I send a student out in the hall as
punishment. Would you like to demonstrate how to hold--" The
weak, old substitute accidentally spilled the contents.
Spla-ash!
Kaneda told Ranma-chan, "Never mind. Ranma and Kaneda ARE
registered."
The red haired girl told the red haired boy, "Just because I'm
registered doesn't mean--"
The teacher called down, "You two! Just because you got wet
doesn't excuse you from your classes! You're late as it is!" The
man asked his class, "Does anybody know who they are?"
Nabiki smiled, "Oh, yes. I know."
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And so Ranma-chan and Kaneda found themselves out in the hall
with buckets a second day in a row.
Kaneda tried to explain, "If you were registered as a guy, you
couldn't also be registered as a girl, now could you?" He tried
to lighten things up, "Think of all the extra homework!"
Ranma-chan was not amused.
Kaneda continued, "At least this way you don't have to worry
about getting splashed with water. There'll be less chance of an
unregistered guy running about the school." And if they do
catch her as a him, Nabiki's given me an answer for that, too.
Ranma-chan looked at him, about to say something. She thought of
why she couldn't, and became even sourer.
Kaneda said, "Look, you're already registered as Ranma Saotome.
If there was a guy around with the same name, people might start
seeing how much the two Ranma-s look alike." Same answer as
above, Nabiki said. It'd be only a matter of time before they
figured out your secret."
Ranma snorted, "Hmf! You don't think anybody'll figure it out
when they see a guy change into a girl in front a their eyes?"
In the two long weeks she'd been changing, it had been a
constant worry of hers.
Kaneda looked at her, I want to be the man and comfort you.
....Only, then you wouldn't have to be the woman.The hurt made
him angry with himself. He looked away
Yes, I could tell her. I've lived with the secret all of my
life. I know how it's worked for me.
Normally the change happened quickly, even in the blink of an
eye. Unless there's a reason for somebody to be paying
attention, they missed the change. And since just about
everybody he'd met didn't believe magic was real, they didn't
make the connection.
He glanced back at Ranma-chan. Sure we have red hair. But it's
nothing too bizarre. It's just hair. A lot of Japanese dye their
hair. He had to look away from her again, She probably doesn't
know it disappearing and appearing acts to loose and get
attention. It further disconnects our bodies in the minds of
people. That's one of the reasons he had long hair.
There's really no reason for people to notice us: We look like
an ordinary guy, and girl...."
Ordinary?!
Kaneda had to look at Ranma-chan now, up and down: "Why DO you
wear Chinese clothes?"
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-
The first period was over, the teacher was already gone to his
next class. Everybody had a few minutes to break from the school
routine and get into their own. To some that meant snacking. To
others that meant playing games, either in their desks or out. To
most it meant socializing, and most in a friendly fashion. To a
very few, it meant catching up on homework.
Kaneda and Ranma-chan were not in that last minority. She said,
"We actually got away with missin' school yesterday."
The brown haired Hiroshi Tsujitani smiled at the cute redhead,
"This is Furinkan!"
On the other side of Ranma-chan, Daisuke Koyasu said, "Yeah!
Don't ask questions, just enjoy."
Other students took glances in their direction, and muttered
comments among themselves. Most were about how a babe like Ranma
could get stuck with losers. Only the reminder that Kaneda
wasn't a loser when it came to fighting kept them at a distance
for the present.
Kaneda had moved up from his desk a couple of rows in front of
Ranma-chan. Not wanting to irritate Ranma-chan any more, he
squatted to her eye-level, "This place isn't as strict as most
schools I've heard of. I sometimes wonder what would happen if I
didn't turn in my homework."
Hiroshi thought that was a stupid question, "What do you think
would happen."
Daisuke said, "Yeah! The same thing as happens to us: Bad
grades."
Ranma-chan groaned, "You mean I do gotta study? I've been on the
road so much a my life, I'm surprised I'm even allowed in a HIGH
school."
Kaneda brightened, "I can be your tutor."
Ranma-chan glowered at him, "So I can owe you?" That hurt
Kaneda. Without what he'd done to her already, he decided to
back off for a while.
Daisuke said, "*I* could give you special lessons."
Hiroshi said, "Idiot! You just told her you get bad grades."
Daisuke said, "Yeah, but she just said I knew more than she
does!"
Sayuri Toshio broke in, "But she's not dumb enough to think you
could help her with anything."
Yuka Sudou said to Kaneda, "She's YOUR fiancée. Why aren't you
keeping guys like this away from her?"
Kaneda said, "Uh, well... They're my friends?"
Yuka said, "Boys!"
Sayuri said to Ranma-chan, "Don't worry, Ran-chan, we're here to
rescue you!"
As the girls moved in on her, Ranma-chan looked up at the clock,
"Where's the next teacher? What's wrong with the clock!?! It
says barely three minutes have passed!"
Hiroshi said, "This is Furinkan!"
On the other side from the two girls, Daisuke said,
Yeah! Don't ask questions, just enjoy."
Ranma-chan did not enjoy the next two, long minutes. Only the
distractions of the stupid questions of the guys saved her from
the intelligent ones of the girls.
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Unlike free time, class time seemed to go by quickly. Too
quickly for Ranma-chan: Not only was Ranma-chan not following
what the teacher was saying she knew what was going to follow
the teacher.
Sayuki and Yuka were out of their seats as soon as the bell
rang. They got to Ranma-chan before Hiroshi and Daisuke, or
Kaneda. They picked up the conversation where they'd left off,
"You still haven't told us why you're wearing clothes like
that," Yuka said.
Sayuri asked, "The rumor about Kaneda making you wear them isn't
true, is it?"
Daisuke said, "Kaneda'd never do something that stupid with a
girl with a body like Ranma's!"
Ranma, using her martial arts speed and skill, got out of her
desk before she could be surrounded again. "No! I just got back
from a training mission in China." She was at a loss whether to
go into her attack-or-defend stance.
Hearing a topic they could get into, more of the other guys in
class joined in: "That's right! I've seen costumes like that in
Hong Kong kung fu movies!"/ "But not in modern ones, dummy!
Jackie Chan only wears Chinese clothes in period ones!"/
"Maybe not Jackie Chan, but others! --It's like a...gi, a
uniform for disciples of the, uh, Shao-lin Temple!"/ "Ha! The
big expert."/ "Well, I think it's unpatriotic. She should wear
the kind of gi the Japanese martial artists are known for."
Daisuke's eyes lit up, "Yes: Like Chun-li's gi in "Street
Fighter"!" Then he added, "--Or Mai's in "King of Fighters"!"
thinking of one that showed more flesh.
Hiroshi reminded him, "They wear Chinese-style costumes."
Daisuke told him, "But they were made by Japanese!"
Hiroshi only disagreed with his friend's logic in, "The Mai's of
"Fatal Fury" is way better."
Sayuri, disgusted, said, "OR she could just wear a costume like
Sakura of "Street Fighter"? At LEAST it would be a 'fuku'
uniform."
Before they got outnumbered, other girls reinforced Sayuri and
Yuka. They got between the guys and the new girl. "Never mind
them. You know how boys are."
Ranma-chan thought, This is how boys are? Of COURSE she'd been
around guys far than she had girls. Most of them had been
adults: martial artists, monks, priests, and the odd-job
employer. But she had had chances to meet other kids. Most of
them had been boys. In the more traditional parts of Japan, her
being a poor stranger with a strange dialect and strange clothes
didn't encourage much contact with girls. If she did, that was
ANOTHER excuse for the boys to fight her. She was a trained
fighter. If they could beat her, they would prove themselves,
with no disgrace in losing. She also had fights forced on her
when she HAD gone to school. And it was an all-boys school more
often than not. Again, always being the new kid didn't help.
Ranma-chan was beginning to realize just how much of an outsider
she'd allowed herself to be. Of course she knew guys were
interested in girls. But she wasn't. She'd never followed too
closely what they had said. She was kept out of their cliques,
anyway. Since she didn't allow herself to be interested in their
patter, she hadn't realized just how important girls were to
them.
But, now, she was no longer an outsider. She was at the CENTER
of their thoughts.
Ranma-chan told them, "Back off, jerks!"
One girl in the back buffing her nails was amused, "I think it's
cute guys think like that."
Ranma-chan exclaimed, "What kind of a nut is she!?"
Yuka told her, "Never mind the class-pageant-contestant." It was
only then Ranma-chan noticed how beautiful that girl in the back
was.
Sayuri said, "Yuumei hasn't won as many as she claims. She has a
Miss Congeniality problem."
Moving to keep shrug her shoulders away from either of the
girls' friendly touches, Ranma-chan asked, "A what?"
Yuka explained, "She isn't congenial."
Sayuri said, "At least to girls."
A guy cried, "Cat fight!"
Ranma-chan turned pale. It, it's just an expression. No need to
panic.
Yuumei said with a haughty air, "I DON'T cat fight."
Kaneda finally broke through the wall of guys; "Ranma-chan
doesn't cat fight. It'd be an unfair fight."
Yuumei said, "You've got that right."
Ranma-chan pulled Kaneda towards her by the front of his white
shirt. "Where have you been, pervert!?"
Kaneda asked, "Pervert!?!"
Ranma-chan used him as a shield between her and where most of
the class were, "Yeah: Pervert! You enjoyed watchin',
didn'tcha!?!"
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At the end of the third period it was Ranma-chan that was the
first one out of the seat with her bookbag. She DID not want to
be trapped with people, of either sex. Being an outsider all of
her life had only prepared to BE an outsider. But it looked like
that remaining one would be harder as a girl.
Using her speed and agility, Ranma hopped from one desk to
another, over a girl, and off the heads of two guys who had
stopped to watch her bouncing body parts. Another desk, and
she was out the door with a clear head start.
Kaneda ran after her, "You know we have another class before
lunch?!" I didn't find out if her travels took her to foreign
countries! "--And we EAT that in the classroom!" Japanese
school kids dreamed of a cafeteria system. And the best this
school had was a school store.
Ranma-chan wasn't about to tell anybody where she was going.
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By the time Kaneda had reached the hall Ranma was gone from
sight. He looked both ways, and up, and checked to see if any
windows were open. Kaneda said through gritted teeth, "I hope
she hasn't skipped school again."
He took off for the nearest stairwell. Then he turned around,
"The lav!"
When Kaneda got there he had to stop. He punched the air in
frustration, "She went into the girls, I bet!!" Only the
smallest voice tried to argue Ranma was a guy.
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To go into the girls' restroom, Kaneda had to first use the
boys' to become a girl.
A student in a buttoned-up navy plebe coat with an armband blew
his whistle. "Halt! You are in violation of the rules of this
school!"
The black haired girl had just come out of the boys' lav on her
way to the girls'. It took her a second to realize, "Since when
does Furinkan have hall monitors?!"
The boy said in the manner of a soldier, "You are ordered to
report to the infirmary."
Kaneda glanced at the windows to the outside. It was only the
third floor. --Then: "Infirmary!?" Maybe Ranma DID jump out a
window.
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Kane-chan had been caught out of uniform; that is, in a boys'
uniform. That was how she found herself now in a Furinkan girls'
uniform. And the dress code included the requirement that girls
wear a slip, bra and panties. The thought that she was now a
GIRL only lessened her shame.
Of course, this wasn't the first time Kane-chan'd worn a dress.
But it had always been for a better reason than this one:
The guy who'd been acting like a hall monitor said to the School
nurse, "See, Aunt Hatsumi? I staked out the area of the
yesterday's disturbance. That's how it's done at Komatane High!"
The attractive brown-haired woman in the white lab coat said,
"And I DO think the rules should be enforced more around here.
But Koshiro, you're not a student here. You're not even in the
correct uniform." She looked at her nephew more closely. "And
shouldn't you be out of your winter uniform by now?"
Not a hall monitor; not even a student? Kane-chan felt stupid.
She tried to sneak behind the nurse and get her pants and shirt.
Once she had them on, this strange girl could just disappear.
The nephew was an establishment-type clean through, "Aunt
Hatsumi."
The nurse turned to talk to Kane-chan, "Is that your uniform,
Miss?"
Kane-chan went on offense, "Does it look like it belongs to me?"
The nurse picked it up from where she'd placed it over the back
of her chair, "As a matter of fact, it does. It fit you quite
well. I take it you find a need to wear a boys' uniform?"
Kane-chan frowned gripping the skirt she was in. She still
wanted to avoid answering, "Why do girls have to wear STUPID
clothes!?! Why can't they wear normal ones, like guys?!"
The nurse said, "I would've thought you would know about
hormones by now. And it's not just those of the males. You HAVE
taken gym class?" Kane-chan just nodded, Let her think I mean
the girls'. "The girls' shorts are that short and tight because
that's the way THEY wanted them. They weren't that way when I
took gym. And my mother wore bloomers."
She saw how Kane-chan's face had gotten red. She saw the mixed
emotions of anger, disgust and modesty but missed arousal.
Sympathetically, she said, "At least you don't have to wear a
mini fuku."
The nephew smiled, "Like Street Fighter's Sakura!"
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After a battle of wills, the nurse let Kane-chan go without
finding out her name. She was satisfied that she had gotten the
girl into the proper uniform. "But the next time I see you not
meeting the school dress code, I WILL report you." Kane-chan,
though, didn't think that was the real reason she escaped. The
nurse probably didn't want the administration finding out about
her nephew being on school grounds.
Kane-chan learned a lesson at school, Rules can work against
those who want them. Still, she WOULD have liked to have turned
in the fink that had gotten her into this dress.
With no guys' uniform, Akane the unregistered student couldn't
return to Kaneda's class. There was only one thing she could
think to do. It had worked before.
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The quietest way into the house was through the kitchen door.
Kane-chan looked in the window, first. It WAS too early for
Kasumi to be in there, right? But that left getting to the
stairs and then to her room. Kane-chan had no idea where
Kasumi's schedule had her. With any luck, she'd be out grocery
shopping.
But first she had to get some water to change her body after
she'd changed her clothes...
And that's when Kasumi walked in, "Oh, Akane!"
Kane-chan's nervousness made her slosh the water out of the
glass onto herself.
Kaneda cried as he grew wider than the clothes. The elastics
were stretched to their limits; the seams of the panties, slip
and dress split. Finally, flexing his muscles, the constricting
bra's fasteners gave. And so did some of the seams.
Kasumi blushed, "Oh, my!" and turned around. She continued to
keep her back on him as he hurried out the door for the stairs.
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Fifteen minutes later, Kasumi knocked on her young brother's
door, "Kaneda? You haven't given me the uniform to mend."
It took a moment before he could find his voice, "You,
remember?"
Kasumi said, "If you mean about...Akane, yes, I do. May I come
in?"
When he didn't say no, she opened the door and came in, nodding
politely as she crossed the threshold. Kaneda was dressed in his
typical afterschool clothes of white socks, loose blue jeans and
a red striped shirt. He stayed where his restless movement had
last placed him, at his desk's chair. He couldn't look his
sister in the eyes.
Kasumi saw the ripped girls' uniform and lingerie where it had
been kicked. She sighed, "Oh, my, that will take no little
sewing." She went and picked them up, "It is not yours. May I
assume it's the school's property?" Kasumi gave her only the
smallest of gestures. "We will just have to replace it. I still
have my uniforms. Since it should be in your size, we will give
one I've altered for you."
NOW Kaneda looked at her: " "Altered"??"
The garments over her arm she walked over towards him, "It was
mother's idea. I learned to sew mainly from watching her alter
Nabiki's and my hand-me-downs so that they could fit you...if
you decided you wanted to be a girl." She smiled. "She didn't
want us to know, but she even bought new things just for "Akane"
when she could afford it. They were her "whims"."
Kaneda was stunned, "I, never knew any of that."
Kasumi sat on his bed. "She knew how important having a son was
to Father. She already had her daughters. As long as you were
happy being a boy, that's the way she said you should be
treated. But she told me to pretend you were somebody else when
you were a girl. That way you we would not have to think of
Father's wishes, but yours. I always did my best to treat you
like a girl then, so you could see if you liked it better."
Kaneda's ears burned red. He frowned, "Well, I--" didn't. He
didn't finish the sentence. There HAD been times he liked being
thought of as a girl. But he had Dad and the other guys around
him to think about. He had to measure up to what they wanted.
The things he didn't like about being a girl did help him
convince himself he liked being a guy better. Mom and Kasumi by
treating him differently had helped him see that.
Still, he had always been self-conscious as a girl, and afraid
that people would find out. What if she HAD been able to
separate Akane from Kaneda; would she have liked being a girl?
Kaneda looked back at her, "So all this time you've just been
pretending not to recognize me?"
Kasumi smiled, "It was simpler. But Ranma doesn't make things
simple."
Kaneda nodded, "That's for sure."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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The clock said school was out.
Kaneda, now in his yellow kempo-uniform, was out in the dojo
preparing for when Ranma came home. He was going through his
katas. They were a little better than the standard routines most
martial artists used. If Ranma WERE like most martial artists,
he would stand a chance. He frowned, "Compared to her, I'm slow
and clumsy." He still had his pride. It hurt to admit that.
But this was the School of Anything-Goes. The way Mr. Saotome
acted reminded him of his dad's lesson: "Pride does not feed the
evil, little bulldog in master's clothing."
Kaneda took a deep breath, and start coming up with a new line
of attack for Ranma. I need something to throw her off
balance. "When you're cranky you don't look that cute, you
know!" Okay, it's a lie. But she doesn't WANT to be cute, yet.
If I told her she WAS cute, it'd only increase her anger. And
THAT would just add energy to her martial arts skills!
Just then the door to the dojo opened, and a hand with a letter
came through it. Nabiki was holding it, "Here you go!" she
smiled.
On the envelope was written, "To Ranma Saotome".
Kaneda asked her, "Why are you showing me this?"
Nabiki smiled, "I thought you might want to be on hand: To run
interference. Ranma still might show up as a guy."
Kaneda looked at the challenge letter and nodded, "At least it's
not addressed to "Kei Tendou". Fighting under a name other than
his own could be the straw that breaks the martial artist's
back." He hadn't actually answered to it this morning.
Nabiki recited, " "To Ranma Saotome; Please come to the second
field of Furinkan High School this evening at 5:36 pm"."
Kaneda said, "It SOUNDS like a duel."
Nabiki agreed, "You know Kuno's a real sore loser. He's out for
blood."
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But Kaneda didn't wanting Ranma to think he was trying to take
over his fight. His temper had already caused him to interfere
in one, that morning. He hurried into the house to change out of
his gi.
Kasumi was just delivering a load of laundry upstairs. On top
was one of his school uniforms. He quickly ducked into the
living room and put that on.
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Kaneda was there behind the school ahead of the appointed time.
He spent that time first hiding then searching for Ranma.
Finally, he stopped to scratch his head, "Don't tell me Ranma
didn't hear about it? When Nabiki checked, the class told her
Ranma had returned to class." He frowned again at his how Ranma
had made a fool out of him. "She just disappeared during the
free times."
That DIDN'T explain why she hadn't returned home. "She hasn't
taken off entirely!?!" Kaneda realized that was a real
possibility. Ranma had spent her whole life on the road. She
didn't NEED a place to call home. He cursed her martial arts
abilities, now. "She can protect herself. And that has got to
give her the confidence to face the challenge of going it
alone."
Kaneda almost fell over the sign in the field. It wasn't made
like any of the normal school signs. It looked like-- Kaneda
hurried to read the panda's sign, [To change the home rules,
change home ground!] Baseball? Why is it doing referring to
baseball?!
Something was thrown towards him. The sudden movement caused his
hand to go out to attack or catch it. It was a water balloon.
Splash! It was a hot water balloon.
This time not only didn't she change her body, she changed her
clothes. She looked in shock at the Furinkan girls' uniform she
found on her. "How, how...?"
And somebody was coming! ...Speaking poetry? "A better prize,
perhaps?" Kuno said. "For it so falls out what we prize not the
worth whiles we enjoy it. But being lacked and lost, why then we
rack the value. Then we find the virtue that possession would
not show whiles it was ours."
He stopped before her. "It is now exactly 5:36 pm, the moment
when the sunset is at its most beautiful: For it is the raising
young star of the high school kendo world who shines before
you." In a show of false modesty, he had turned his head away.
"It is the one renowned as the Blue Thunder. Tatewaki Kuno."
Kane-chan's history of conflict with the idiot pushed all other
thoughts from her mind, "Hey, where's that stick you're always
waving around?"
Kuno put his face in profile again, and said quietly, "I have no
need of it."
Kane-chan thought, That's different. "Ha-nh! Pretty confident,
aren't you?"
Kuno said, "Confident enough to give you..." And he threw
something at her: "This!"
Like a fool she'd caught yesterday's gauntlet before knowing
what it was; like a fool she caught this.
It was a paper wrapped bouquet of a dozen red roses.
Before she could recover, Kuno was already walking away. "Akane
Tendou, My Wild Haired Girl..." He looked over his shoulder
directly at her. "...I love you." And he continued his dramatic
walk away from her.
He was almost gone before Kane-chan could think to move.
But she couldn't move. She fell to her bare knees in the dress,
the bouquet of flowers still cradled in her arms.
The End of this chapter.
[Note: Komatane High will be the school of "Futaba-kun
Change!". Future tense. No crossover is planned.]
By Ron Dow75
From an idea by James M. Zema,
Unauthorized, but allowed.
[Note: This story is on the anime's timeline.]
05: The Tendou Trick
A scratched and tattered Kuno stood there for a moment with tree
branches sticking out of his kendo-gi. He was trying to
understand what had just happened, "T, Te, Tendou!? His, his
name is, TEN,DOU!!?!"
His bookbag on his back, Ranma-kun protested, "My name is--"
Kane-chan put her hands up against his mouth; in her best 'girl'
voice, she said, "I just HAD to tell him. I'm SO sorry. I know
we promised to keep our real names a
SECRET."
She frowned into his eyes, trying to get her message through to
him. Her voice hardened, "We DO want to keep our secret, don't
we?"
In answer, Ranma-kun dropped the girl in the boys' uniform. She
landed on her feet, her hands still over his mouth. She asked,
"Well?!" taking the risk of taking her hands off.
Ranma-kun asked, his voice slowed by him controlling his anger,
"And how is me bein' a Kei Tendou gonna help keep a secret?"
The black haired girl relaxed a little, "Two names implies TWO
people."
Ranma-kun had thought of that before. But as a martial artist,
his name was important. He didn't WANT people to know he became
a girl. But he did want his opponents to know Ranma Saotome beat
them. It was a dilemma he hadn't settled to his satisfaction
yet. Now this guy girl wanted to settle it for him! Ranma-kun
grumbled, "But why Kei Tendou?" And shouldn't it be the girl
that had the different name?
That was when Kuno attacked, "Nay, I say!! One scourge of
Furinkan is too many!!"
Ranma moved the girl around out of the way. He said to the guy
with the raised sword, "Hah! A fight I can deal with!"
Kane-chan looked on a little amazed. "He's not fighting under
the her own name.... Nabiki's plan is better than I thought."
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It has started on that first night, when they'd discovered the
truth about Ranma AND Kaneda. Nabiki had told Kasumi "Akane
Saotome" would be staying with her.
But when it came time for Kane-chan to go to Kaneda's room,
Nabiki had redirected her.
Sitting Kane-chan down, Nabiki said, "We have to talk.
You WERE serious when you volunteered to be Ranma's
fiancee?" Before Kane-chan could interrupt, she held up her
hand, "I didn't say marriage. That's a step or two down the
line."
Kane-chan made no move. She was still overwhelmed by all that
had just happened. Despite finding out she was really a girl,
Kane-chan could not yet imagine marrying 'another' guy. Just
thinking the cute redhead could disappear into a guy irritated
her no end. And as a guy, Ranma-kun brought out her natural
antipathy towards 'other' guys. And there was something about
the person, whether guy or girl, that got on her nerves.
And yet....
Nabiki said, "I'll take that as a yes. Look, *I* don't want to
get stuck with the guy. He won't even be able to afford the
inheritance tax, the marriage tax, and ALL the other taxes
that's be dropped on a Japanese couple, let alone the life-style
I'd like to become accustomed to."
Kane-chan'd forgotten about all the taxes waiting for them.
Ranma'd be an asset. She's such a great martial artist her
reputation would bring people into the dojo to learn from a
master like her. The women would come thinking, "If a cute
little thing like that can do it, so can I". While the guys
would.... Suddenly Kane-chan became angry at the thought of
other guys ogling Ranma-chan, even in her loose martial arts
uniform.
Nabiki continued with HER logic, "That means without you, KASUMI
is the one left to fulfill dad's promise."
Kane-chan blurted out, "Kasumi engaged to a girl?!" Kane-chan
saw, that her guy-issues with Ranma were on the surface. She
could not fundamentally accept Ranma as a guy. She had a far
better chance accepting HERSELF was really a girl. Little did
she know she had received the "Juusenkyo Blow to the Soul". It
had fixed Ranma's girl-image in her mind, just as it had done to
Kuno. The two would do mental contortions rather than admit they
were stuck on a guy.
Nabiki gave herself a congratulatory smile at Kane-chan's
response, and said, "Kasumi WOULDN'T become engaged to a girl."
Then, playing to Kane-chan's male feelings, "NOR would any
normal girl. Therefore, we must make sure Ranma is thought of as
a girl. And it all begins by making the guy somebody else
BESIDES Ranma."
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Kane-chan hadn't understood Nabiki's reasoning, it just seemed
too complicated. She had put it aside. But when the great idiot
Kuno showed an interest in Ranma-chan, she knew she had to do
SOMETHING. Okay, it kept Ranma a girl to Kuno, but Nabiki's was
the only plan Kane-chan had! But if it worked, Ranma would be a
girl to more than just Kuno. And Kuno would help by spreading
the word about "Kei Tendou".
Each slash of his bokken at Ranma-kun was an accent on Kuno's
words, "I am the undefeated captain of this school's kendo club:
The raising new star of the high school fencing world. The sound
of my voice strikes fear into the hearts of my enemies. My peers
call me the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High! Tatewaki Kuno, age
17."
Only Ranma-kun paid much attention to the fallen athletes they
were stepping on in the midst of their battle.
Ranma-kun was on the defensive only because he hadn't decided
WHO was going to respond to the challenge, "Well,
I'm uh... Well, I'm um, I'm uh, um, I'm stayin' at--"
It was time for Kane-chan to step in between the two, "I
challenged you first, Kuno!"
Ranma-kun spoke up, "*I* have first claim: Me, Ran--"
Kuno hadn't bothered to wait to be interrupted, "The intruder is
correct, my lady. A fight between men always takes precedent
over a woman."
Kuno was correct, but that did not ease Kane-chan's indignation.
I have enough memories as a girl to know how being patronized
feels. Not that she wanted her feelings eased at the moment:
"Oh! Is that so!?! Then you say you'd rather fight Kei Tendou
than Ranma Saotome?!"
Kuno answered, "Ranma Saotome is a girl."
Ranma-kun cried, "Now, just a minute there! Ranma Saotome AIN'T
a girl!"
Kane-chan said, "Ranma certainly doesn't ACT like a girl."
Kuno said with a look of contempt, "That is because the infamous
reveler in the perverse, Kaneda Tendou, gets his sick thrills
denying Ranma her femininity!"
Ranma-kun cried, "The only one denyin' my femininity around here
is me!"
Kuno turned his contempt on him, "So like a Tendou! Insecure in
your masculinity, you chase women beyond the limits of what is
morally, socially acceptable." Kuno pointed his sword at Kane-
chan, "THEN when one succumbs to your guile and traps you by
your own empty promise of betrothal," his sword moved from her
neck to her feet, "you have her dress in male clothes so that
your next prey will not be warned off by the sight of THIS
victim!"
Kane-chan looked down at the white shirt and, past her bust, the
gray slacks she was wearing, "The idiot makes sense. If he were
a lecher like Ataru Moroboshi, how much luck could I have being
followed by a girl in a dress?" She then thought of what the
character had to go through, "...Let alone in a tiger-striped
bikini."
Kuno asked in befuddlement, " "Tiger-striped bikini"?"
Kane-chan answered without thinking, "Yes, that's what
his live-in wears when not in human clothes."
Kuno exclaimed, "Human clothes!? Live-in!?!" His voice became
mournful, "Oh, not even to be allowed the dignity of the first
person."
Kane-chan asked, "What's gotten into you head now, Kuno!?!"
Kuno's voice then became low and threatening, "The vengeance of
Heaven is slow, but sure. Making her a cross-dresser isn't
enough, you ALSO force her to go about nearly unclothed, eh? I
Tatewaki Kuno shall bring you to justice."
Ranma-kun cried, "Forcin'!!?! I'M not the one donin' any
forcin'!!"
"Silence, Fool!!" Kuno yelled, charging with is bokken.
Kuno put all of his righteous anger into the blow. But Ranma
leaped over the latest in generations of samurai. Kuno's strike
tore into the foot-thick concrete wall, creating a cleft that
reached down to his knees.
Ranma-kun landed up on the rungs of a nearby concrete power
pole.
Kuno turned his sword on that.
His sword broke deep into it.
Ranma jumped off of the pole as it fell.
Kuno said, "Why you slippery, little...."
Ranma answered, "Hey, you hold on a second!" He rushed the
taller guy in the kendo-gi; he got within an arm's reach of Kuno.
The sword barely missing his moving head Ranma-kun told
him, "Let me make one thing perfectly clear!" Ranma was
on the attack now; in Kuno's face, Ranma-kun forced him to
retreat, "You've got the wrong idea about me and Akane!"
(Again Kane-chan was impressed, "Wow, he's fast: He was there
before Kuno could blink! No wonder he can create enough friction
to heat water!")
Kuno finally found room to slash out with his sword again and
again. Ranma-kun merely leaned back and moved his head aside
again. "Akane means nothing to me!" Like pronouns and nouns,
he found that he automatically matched the female-form to the
female-form. He had conditioned himself to do this on his long
trip back from China. The reflex extended to another cursed
person.
Kuno paused to reassess his opponent, He's good. He saw his
chance: "Hyah!!"
Centimeters from him, Ranma-kun did a flying back flip and
landed halfway between him and Kane-chan. Ranma-kun pointed at
her and said, "If you want a violent chick like her who's too
crazy to know how to be a girl, you can have her!" He was
serious. On top of everything else she'd done to him since he'd
met her, she'd done some desperate things yesterday when he was
trying to test his "Saotome Hot Water Attack". It would've
maimed a lesser guy.
(Kane-chan got mad, "Rrrmm!")
Kuno said, "It is obvious as the day follows the night, your
words carry no substance. I will not let you talk that way about
Akane!" And he charged again with his sword.
Kane-chan screamed, "Who are YOU to call me a violent chick!?!!"
With nothing but the schoolbag at hand, she threw it at Ranma-
kun.
Ranma leaped high, high above as Kuno's sword cleaved the
leather bag in half.
Everything seemed to be in stop motion as Kuno fixed his eyes on
the other guy, waiting for him to down close enough for him to--
Kane-chan slammed into Kuno, knocking him over with her
shoulder. Just then the school bell rang. Growling, she changed
the angle of her wooden mallet and smashed it up at the falling
Ranma-kun. He was sent flying over the school wall, yelling,
"Violent, crazy girl!!"
Twisting around for the crevice in the wall Kuno's sword had
made, Kane-chan ran as fast as she could.
She almost didn't notice she'd run over Kuno lying on the
ground. Barely able to breathe, he said, "She has defeated me."
On his forehead was the character for, 'not'.
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Kane-chan ran for where Ranma-kun had landed, "Kei! You can't go
to school like that!"
Ranma-kun spun around and struggled not to use his fists. He
challenged her, "And WHAT'S to keep me!?!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The substitute teacher a story above them said, "Nabiki Tendou,
what do you think you're doing with that bucket?"
Nabiki said, "Well, it's full of water."
The teacher made to take it away from her, "Of course it's full
of water. It's for when I send a student out in the hall as
punishment. Would you like to demonstrate how to hold--" The
weak, old substitute accidentally spilled the contents.
Spla-ash!
Kaneda told Ranma-chan, "Never mind. Ranma and Kaneda ARE
registered."
The red haired girl told the red haired boy, "Just because I'm
registered doesn't mean--"
The teacher called down, "You two! Just because you got wet
doesn't excuse you from your classes! You're late as it is!" The
man asked his class, "Does anybody know who they are?"
Nabiki smiled, "Oh, yes. I know."
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And so Ranma-chan and Kaneda found themselves out in the hall
with buckets a second day in a row.
Kaneda tried to explain, "If you were registered as a guy, you
couldn't also be registered as a girl, now could you?" He tried
to lighten things up, "Think of all the extra homework!"
Ranma-chan was not amused.
Kaneda continued, "At least this way you don't have to worry
about getting splashed with water. There'll be less chance of an
unregistered guy running about the school." And if they do
catch her as a him, Nabiki's given me an answer for that, too.
Ranma-chan looked at him, about to say something. She thought of
why she couldn't, and became even sourer.
Kaneda said, "Look, you're already registered as Ranma Saotome.
If there was a guy around with the same name, people might start
seeing how much the two Ranma-s look alike." Same answer as
above, Nabiki said. It'd be only a matter of time before they
figured out your secret."
Ranma snorted, "Hmf! You don't think anybody'll figure it out
when they see a guy change into a girl in front a their eyes?"
In the two long weeks she'd been changing, it had been a
constant worry of hers.
Kaneda looked at her, I want to be the man and comfort you.
....Only, then you wouldn't have to be the woman.The hurt made
him angry with himself. He looked away
Yes, I could tell her. I've lived with the secret all of my
life. I know how it's worked for me.
Normally the change happened quickly, even in the blink of an
eye. Unless there's a reason for somebody to be paying
attention, they missed the change. And since just about
everybody he'd met didn't believe magic was real, they didn't
make the connection.
He glanced back at Ranma-chan. Sure we have red hair. But it's
nothing too bizarre. It's just hair. A lot of Japanese dye their
hair. He had to look away from her again, She probably doesn't
know it disappearing and appearing acts to loose and get
attention. It further disconnects our bodies in the minds of
people. That's one of the reasons he had long hair.
There's really no reason for people to notice us: We look like
an ordinary guy, and girl...."
Ordinary?!
Kaneda had to look at Ranma-chan now, up and down: "Why DO you
wear Chinese clothes?"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
The first period was over, the teacher was already gone to his
next class. Everybody had a few minutes to break from the school
routine and get into their own. To some that meant snacking. To
others that meant playing games, either in their desks or out. To
most it meant socializing, and most in a friendly fashion. To a
very few, it meant catching up on homework.
Kaneda and Ranma-chan were not in that last minority. She said,
"We actually got away with missin' school yesterday."
The brown haired Hiroshi Tsujitani smiled at the cute redhead,
"This is Furinkan!"
On the other side of Ranma-chan, Daisuke Koyasu said, "Yeah!
Don't ask questions, just enjoy."
Other students took glances in their direction, and muttered
comments among themselves. Most were about how a babe like Ranma
could get stuck with losers. Only the reminder that Kaneda
wasn't a loser when it came to fighting kept them at a distance
for the present.
Kaneda had moved up from his desk a couple of rows in front of
Ranma-chan. Not wanting to irritate Ranma-chan any more, he
squatted to her eye-level, "This place isn't as strict as most
schools I've heard of. I sometimes wonder what would happen if I
didn't turn in my homework."
Hiroshi thought that was a stupid question, "What do you think
would happen."
Daisuke said, "Yeah! The same thing as happens to us: Bad
grades."
Ranma-chan groaned, "You mean I do gotta study? I've been on the
road so much a my life, I'm surprised I'm even allowed in a HIGH
school."
Kaneda brightened, "I can be your tutor."
Ranma-chan glowered at him, "So I can owe you?" That hurt
Kaneda. Without what he'd done to her already, he decided to
back off for a while.
Daisuke said, "*I* could give you special lessons."
Hiroshi said, "Idiot! You just told her you get bad grades."
Daisuke said, "Yeah, but she just said I knew more than she
does!"
Sayuri Toshio broke in, "But she's not dumb enough to think you
could help her with anything."
Yuka Sudou said to Kaneda, "She's YOUR fiancée. Why aren't you
keeping guys like this away from her?"
Kaneda said, "Uh, well... They're my friends?"
Yuka said, "Boys!"
Sayuri said to Ranma-chan, "Don't worry, Ran-chan, we're here to
rescue you!"
As the girls moved in on her, Ranma-chan looked up at the clock,
"Where's the next teacher? What's wrong with the clock!?! It
says barely three minutes have passed!"
Hiroshi said, "This is Furinkan!"
On the other side from the two girls, Daisuke said,
Yeah! Don't ask questions, just enjoy."
Ranma-chan did not enjoy the next two, long minutes. Only the
distractions of the stupid questions of the guys saved her from
the intelligent ones of the girls.
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Unlike free time, class time seemed to go by quickly. Too
quickly for Ranma-chan: Not only was Ranma-chan not following
what the teacher was saying she knew what was going to follow
the teacher.
Sayuki and Yuka were out of their seats as soon as the bell
rang. They got to Ranma-chan before Hiroshi and Daisuke, or
Kaneda. They picked up the conversation where they'd left off,
"You still haven't told us why you're wearing clothes like
that," Yuka said.
Sayuri asked, "The rumor about Kaneda making you wear them isn't
true, is it?"
Daisuke said, "Kaneda'd never do something that stupid with a
girl with a body like Ranma's!"
Ranma, using her martial arts speed and skill, got out of her
desk before she could be surrounded again. "No! I just got back
from a training mission in China." She was at a loss whether to
go into her attack-or-defend stance.
Hearing a topic they could get into, more of the other guys in
class joined in: "That's right! I've seen costumes like that in
Hong Kong kung fu movies!"/ "But not in modern ones, dummy!
Jackie Chan only wears Chinese clothes in period ones!"/
"Maybe not Jackie Chan, but others! --It's like a...gi, a
uniform for disciples of the, uh, Shao-lin Temple!"/ "Ha! The
big expert."/ "Well, I think it's unpatriotic. She should wear
the kind of gi the Japanese martial artists are known for."
Daisuke's eyes lit up, "Yes: Like Chun-li's gi in "Street
Fighter"!" Then he added, "--Or Mai's in "King of Fighters"!"
thinking of one that showed more flesh.
Hiroshi reminded him, "They wear Chinese-style costumes."
Daisuke told him, "But they were made by Japanese!"
Hiroshi only disagreed with his friend's logic in, "The Mai's of
"Fatal Fury" is way better."
Sayuri, disgusted, said, "OR she could just wear a costume like
Sakura of "Street Fighter"? At LEAST it would be a 'fuku'
uniform."
Before they got outnumbered, other girls reinforced Sayuri and
Yuka. They got between the guys and the new girl. "Never mind
them. You know how boys are."
Ranma-chan thought, This is how boys are? Of COURSE she'd been
around guys far than she had girls. Most of them had been
adults: martial artists, monks, priests, and the odd-job
employer. But she had had chances to meet other kids. Most of
them had been boys. In the more traditional parts of Japan, her
being a poor stranger with a strange dialect and strange clothes
didn't encourage much contact with girls. If she did, that was
ANOTHER excuse for the boys to fight her. She was a trained
fighter. If they could beat her, they would prove themselves,
with no disgrace in losing. She also had fights forced on her
when she HAD gone to school. And it was an all-boys school more
often than not. Again, always being the new kid didn't help.
Ranma-chan was beginning to realize just how much of an outsider
she'd allowed herself to be. Of course she knew guys were
interested in girls. But she wasn't. She'd never followed too
closely what they had said. She was kept out of their cliques,
anyway. Since she didn't allow herself to be interested in their
patter, she hadn't realized just how important girls were to
them.
But, now, she was no longer an outsider. She was at the CENTER
of their thoughts.
Ranma-chan told them, "Back off, jerks!"
One girl in the back buffing her nails was amused, "I think it's
cute guys think like that."
Ranma-chan exclaimed, "What kind of a nut is she!?"
Yuka told her, "Never mind the class-pageant-contestant." It was
only then Ranma-chan noticed how beautiful that girl in the back
was.
Sayuri said, "Yuumei hasn't won as many as she claims. She has a
Miss Congeniality problem."
Moving to keep shrug her shoulders away from either of the
girls' friendly touches, Ranma-chan asked, "A what?"
Yuka explained, "She isn't congenial."
Sayuri said, "At least to girls."
A guy cried, "Cat fight!"
Ranma-chan turned pale. It, it's just an expression. No need to
panic.
Yuumei said with a haughty air, "I DON'T cat fight."
Kaneda finally broke through the wall of guys; "Ranma-chan
doesn't cat fight. It'd be an unfair fight."
Yuumei said, "You've got that right."
Ranma-chan pulled Kaneda towards her by the front of his white
shirt. "Where have you been, pervert!?"
Kaneda asked, "Pervert!?!"
Ranma-chan used him as a shield between her and where most of
the class were, "Yeah: Pervert! You enjoyed watchin',
didn'tcha!?!"
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At the end of the third period it was Ranma-chan that was the
first one out of the seat with her bookbag. She DID not want to
be trapped with people, of either sex. Being an outsider all of
her life had only prepared to BE an outsider. But it looked like
that remaining one would be harder as a girl.
Using her speed and agility, Ranma hopped from one desk to
another, over a girl, and off the heads of two guys who had
stopped to watch her bouncing body parts. Another desk, and
she was out the door with a clear head start.
Kaneda ran after her, "You know we have another class before
lunch?!" I didn't find out if her travels took her to foreign
countries! "--And we EAT that in the classroom!" Japanese
school kids dreamed of a cafeteria system. And the best this
school had was a school store.
Ranma-chan wasn't about to tell anybody where she was going.
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By the time Kaneda had reached the hall Ranma was gone from
sight. He looked both ways, and up, and checked to see if any
windows were open. Kaneda said through gritted teeth, "I hope
she hasn't skipped school again."
He took off for the nearest stairwell. Then he turned around,
"The lav!"
When Kaneda got there he had to stop. He punched the air in
frustration, "She went into the girls, I bet!!" Only the
smallest voice tried to argue Ranma was a guy.
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To go into the girls' restroom, Kaneda had to first use the
boys' to become a girl.
A student in a buttoned-up navy plebe coat with an armband blew
his whistle. "Halt! You are in violation of the rules of this
school!"
The black haired girl had just come out of the boys' lav on her
way to the girls'. It took her a second to realize, "Since when
does Furinkan have hall monitors?!"
The boy said in the manner of a soldier, "You are ordered to
report to the infirmary."
Kaneda glanced at the windows to the outside. It was only the
third floor. --Then: "Infirmary!?" Maybe Ranma DID jump out a
window.
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Kane-chan had been caught out of uniform; that is, in a boys'
uniform. That was how she found herself now in a Furinkan girls'
uniform. And the dress code included the requirement that girls
wear a slip, bra and panties. The thought that she was now a
GIRL only lessened her shame.
Of course, this wasn't the first time Kane-chan'd worn a dress.
But it had always been for a better reason than this one:
The guy who'd been acting like a hall monitor said to the School
nurse, "See, Aunt Hatsumi? I staked out the area of the
yesterday's disturbance. That's how it's done at Komatane High!"
The attractive brown-haired woman in the white lab coat said,
"And I DO think the rules should be enforced more around here.
But Koshiro, you're not a student here. You're not even in the
correct uniform." She looked at her nephew more closely. "And
shouldn't you be out of your winter uniform by now?"
Not a hall monitor; not even a student? Kane-chan felt stupid.
She tried to sneak behind the nurse and get her pants and shirt.
Once she had them on, this strange girl could just disappear.
The nephew was an establishment-type clean through, "Aunt
Hatsumi."
The nurse turned to talk to Kane-chan, "Is that your uniform,
Miss?"
Kane-chan went on offense, "Does it look like it belongs to me?"
The nurse picked it up from where she'd placed it over the back
of her chair, "As a matter of fact, it does. It fit you quite
well. I take it you find a need to wear a boys' uniform?"
Kane-chan frowned gripping the skirt she was in. She still
wanted to avoid answering, "Why do girls have to wear STUPID
clothes!?! Why can't they wear normal ones, like guys?!"
The nurse said, "I would've thought you would know about
hormones by now. And it's not just those of the males. You HAVE
taken gym class?" Kane-chan just nodded, Let her think I mean
the girls'. "The girls' shorts are that short and tight because
that's the way THEY wanted them. They weren't that way when I
took gym. And my mother wore bloomers."
She saw how Kane-chan's face had gotten red. She saw the mixed
emotions of anger, disgust and modesty but missed arousal.
Sympathetically, she said, "At least you don't have to wear a
mini fuku."
The nephew smiled, "Like Street Fighter's Sakura!"
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After a battle of wills, the nurse let Kane-chan go without
finding out her name. She was satisfied that she had gotten the
girl into the proper uniform. "But the next time I see you not
meeting the school dress code, I WILL report you." Kane-chan,
though, didn't think that was the real reason she escaped. The
nurse probably didn't want the administration finding out about
her nephew being on school grounds.
Kane-chan learned a lesson at school, Rules can work against
those who want them. Still, she WOULD have liked to have turned
in the fink that had gotten her into this dress.
With no guys' uniform, Akane the unregistered student couldn't
return to Kaneda's class. There was only one thing she could
think to do. It had worked before.
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The quietest way into the house was through the kitchen door.
Kane-chan looked in the window, first. It WAS too early for
Kasumi to be in there, right? But that left getting to the
stairs and then to her room. Kane-chan had no idea where
Kasumi's schedule had her. With any luck, she'd be out grocery
shopping.
But first she had to get some water to change her body after
she'd changed her clothes...
And that's when Kasumi walked in, "Oh, Akane!"
Kane-chan's nervousness made her slosh the water out of the
glass onto herself.
Kaneda cried as he grew wider than the clothes. The elastics
were stretched to their limits; the seams of the panties, slip
and dress split. Finally, flexing his muscles, the constricting
bra's fasteners gave. And so did some of the seams.
Kasumi blushed, "Oh, my!" and turned around. She continued to
keep her back on him as he hurried out the door for the stairs.
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Fifteen minutes later, Kasumi knocked on her young brother's
door, "Kaneda? You haven't given me the uniform to mend."
It took a moment before he could find his voice, "You,
remember?"
Kasumi said, "If you mean about...Akane, yes, I do. May I come
in?"
When he didn't say no, she opened the door and came in, nodding
politely as she crossed the threshold. Kaneda was dressed in his
typical afterschool clothes of white socks, loose blue jeans and
a red striped shirt. He stayed where his restless movement had
last placed him, at his desk's chair. He couldn't look his
sister in the eyes.
Kasumi saw the ripped girls' uniform and lingerie where it had
been kicked. She sighed, "Oh, my, that will take no little
sewing." She went and picked them up, "It is not yours. May I
assume it's the school's property?" Kasumi gave her only the
smallest of gestures. "We will just have to replace it. I still
have my uniforms. Since it should be in your size, we will give
one I've altered for you."
NOW Kaneda looked at her: " "Altered"??"
The garments over her arm she walked over towards him, "It was
mother's idea. I learned to sew mainly from watching her alter
Nabiki's and my hand-me-downs so that they could fit you...if
you decided you wanted to be a girl." She smiled. "She didn't
want us to know, but she even bought new things just for "Akane"
when she could afford it. They were her "whims"."
Kaneda was stunned, "I, never knew any of that."
Kasumi sat on his bed. "She knew how important having a son was
to Father. She already had her daughters. As long as you were
happy being a boy, that's the way she said you should be
treated. But she told me to pretend you were somebody else when
you were a girl. That way you we would not have to think of
Father's wishes, but yours. I always did my best to treat you
like a girl then, so you could see if you liked it better."
Kaneda's ears burned red. He frowned, "Well, I--" didn't. He
didn't finish the sentence. There HAD been times he liked being
thought of as a girl. But he had Dad and the other guys around
him to think about. He had to measure up to what they wanted.
The things he didn't like about being a girl did help him
convince himself he liked being a guy better. Mom and Kasumi by
treating him differently had helped him see that.
Still, he had always been self-conscious as a girl, and afraid
that people would find out. What if she HAD been able to
separate Akane from Kaneda; would she have liked being a girl?
Kaneda looked back at her, "So all this time you've just been
pretending not to recognize me?"
Kasumi smiled, "It was simpler. But Ranma doesn't make things
simple."
Kaneda nodded, "That's for sure."
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The clock said school was out.
Kaneda, now in his yellow kempo-uniform, was out in the dojo
preparing for when Ranma came home. He was going through his
katas. They were a little better than the standard routines most
martial artists used. If Ranma WERE like most martial artists,
he would stand a chance. He frowned, "Compared to her, I'm slow
and clumsy." He still had his pride. It hurt to admit that.
But this was the School of Anything-Goes. The way Mr. Saotome
acted reminded him of his dad's lesson: "Pride does not feed the
evil, little bulldog in master's clothing."
Kaneda took a deep breath, and start coming up with a new line
of attack for Ranma. I need something to throw her off
balance. "When you're cranky you don't look that cute, you
know!" Okay, it's a lie. But she doesn't WANT to be cute, yet.
If I told her she WAS cute, it'd only increase her anger. And
THAT would just add energy to her martial arts skills!
Just then the door to the dojo opened, and a hand with a letter
came through it. Nabiki was holding it, "Here you go!" she
smiled.
On the envelope was written, "To Ranma Saotome".
Kaneda asked her, "Why are you showing me this?"
Nabiki smiled, "I thought you might want to be on hand: To run
interference. Ranma still might show up as a guy."
Kaneda looked at the challenge letter and nodded, "At least it's
not addressed to "Kei Tendou". Fighting under a name other than
his own could be the straw that breaks the martial artist's
back." He hadn't actually answered to it this morning.
Nabiki recited, " "To Ranma Saotome; Please come to the second
field of Furinkan High School this evening at 5:36 pm"."
Kaneda said, "It SOUNDS like a duel."
Nabiki agreed, "You know Kuno's a real sore loser. He's out for
blood."
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But Kaneda didn't wanting Ranma to think he was trying to take
over his fight. His temper had already caused him to interfere
in one, that morning. He hurried into the house to change out of
his gi.
Kasumi was just delivering a load of laundry upstairs. On top
was one of his school uniforms. He quickly ducked into the
living room and put that on.
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Kaneda was there behind the school ahead of the appointed time.
He spent that time first hiding then searching for Ranma.
Finally, he stopped to scratch his head, "Don't tell me Ranma
didn't hear about it? When Nabiki checked, the class told her
Ranma had returned to class." He frowned again at his how Ranma
had made a fool out of him. "She just disappeared during the
free times."
That DIDN'T explain why she hadn't returned home. "She hasn't
taken off entirely!?!" Kaneda realized that was a real
possibility. Ranma had spent her whole life on the road. She
didn't NEED a place to call home. He cursed her martial arts
abilities, now. "She can protect herself. And that has got to
give her the confidence to face the challenge of going it
alone."
Kaneda almost fell over the sign in the field. It wasn't made
like any of the normal school signs. It looked like-- Kaneda
hurried to read the panda's sign, [To change the home rules,
change home ground!] Baseball? Why is it doing referring to
baseball?!
Something was thrown towards him. The sudden movement caused his
hand to go out to attack or catch it. It was a water balloon.
Splash! It was a hot water balloon.
This time not only didn't she change her body, she changed her
clothes. She looked in shock at the Furinkan girls' uniform she
found on her. "How, how...?"
And somebody was coming! ...Speaking poetry? "A better prize,
perhaps?" Kuno said. "For it so falls out what we prize not the
worth whiles we enjoy it. But being lacked and lost, why then we
rack the value. Then we find the virtue that possession would
not show whiles it was ours."
He stopped before her. "It is now exactly 5:36 pm, the moment
when the sunset is at its most beautiful: For it is the raising
young star of the high school kendo world who shines before
you." In a show of false modesty, he had turned his head away.
"It is the one renowned as the Blue Thunder. Tatewaki Kuno."
Kane-chan's history of conflict with the idiot pushed all other
thoughts from her mind, "Hey, where's that stick you're always
waving around?"
Kuno put his face in profile again, and said quietly, "I have no
need of it."
Kane-chan thought, That's different. "Ha-nh! Pretty confident,
aren't you?"
Kuno said, "Confident enough to give you..." And he threw
something at her: "This!"
Like a fool she'd caught yesterday's gauntlet before knowing
what it was; like a fool she caught this.
It was a paper wrapped bouquet of a dozen red roses.
Before she could recover, Kuno was already walking away. "Akane
Tendou, My Wild Haired Girl..." He looked over his shoulder
directly at her. "...I love you." And he continued his dramatic
walk away from her.
He was almost gone before Kane-chan could think to move.
But she couldn't move. She fell to her bare knees in the dress,
the bouquet of flowers still cradled in her arms.
The End of this chapter.
[Note: Komatane High will be the school of "Futaba-kun
Change!". Future tense. No crossover is planned.]