Ranma & Kaneda
By Ron Dow75
14: When Martial Artists Assemble!
The word was going around the Furinkan Assembly Hall:
"Did you hear what Nabiki Tendou just said!?!"/ "She
told Ranma Saotome something about "Welcome to my
gender". What does that mean?"/ "It means, idiot of a
boyfriend, she just let the cat out of the bag. Ranma can
no longer pretend she's a guy."/ "I may be an idiot,
but I never thought that cute redhead was a guy. Ow! Your
elbow is sharp."/ "She has to be delusional to think
people'll think she's a guy."/ "But look at the way she
acts and dresses!"/ "Oh! Well, then. She is
delusional."
The girl in the Chinese shirt and pants standing in the
area between the front row and the stage threatened, "I'm
gonna get you for this, Nabiki!! NOBODY takes my manhood
away!!"
(Up on stage, new Acting-Headmaster Miss Hinako cried, "I
sense battle aura! Oh, it's VERY naughty to fight in an
auditorium!")
Nabiki, out of school uniform in slacks, shirt and
necktie, calmly threatened back, "Free room and board,
Kei Tendou!"
Ranma-chan yelled back, "I can LIVE without room and
board-But not MY identity!!"
(The little girl in the yellow dress herself threatened,
"Miss Saotome! You will cease your violent tendencies at
once!")
Kaneda was coming from his seat, ready to get between his
fiancée and sister, "Ranma: You can take your fight with
Nabiki home!"
Ranma-chan told him, "No, I can't! She shamed me in front
of everybody here!!"
(Miss Hinako produced something between her index and
middle finger, "I warned you, Miss Saotome!")
Kaneda grabbed Nabiki under her thighs and back. She told
him coldly, "Put me down. I can take care of myself."
Kaneda told her, "You can prove it outside--AWAY from all
these bystanders!"
(Miss Hinako held the circle between her fingers at
Ranma-chan, "...Happo 5-yen Satsu...")
Ranma-chan followed, "Only if she comes back and tells
everybody the truth!!"
(Miss Hinako was saying, "...Good girl's exercise step
one...")
As the three headed for the door in the back, people in
the audience like Daisuke and Hiroshi were getting out of
their seats, "Come on! Let's watch the martial artists
fight!"
Miss Hinako finished what she had to say, "...Ja! Byo!
Tsu! Aku! Ma!" completing her arm's large circle in the
air.
The three were out of the lobby and the outside doors
ahead of the sickly green explosion without smoke but
with dust that blew the inner auditorium doors against
their wall.
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The three were too wrapped up in their own concerns to
notice what had happened:
Nabiki grabbed a handful of Kaneda's long, red hair and
pulled. "I told you I can handle it."
Kaneda winced, "Ow, ow-kay!" He came to a stop and set
his big sister down.
Ranma-chan yelled, "Now, I'm gonna see that you NEVER
mess with my life again!!"
Nabiki took her stance: At ease. "Some man!"
Ranma-chan stopped a meter close to her; "According to
you--I'm NOT a man!!"
Nabiki said as coolly as she could, "You are a man. When
you're Kei Tendou."
Ranma-chan brought her fist back, ready to put real power
into her blow. "I'm RANMA Saotome!! Of the SAOTOME School
of Martial Arts!"
Nabiki raised her chin bravely, and challenged her,
"Then, Saotome, go ahead. Ruin a girl's pretty face, and
life."
Ranma-chan told her, "I wil-l...." She snarled in
frustration. This weak girl was no match for her! Ranma
had to first fight a lifetime of the Code being drilled
into her, with the reason WHY the Code was so important
being demonstrated by the BAD example of her sensei, her
pop...
But her rage didn't want the WORSE-than-dojo-destroyer
get away with what she'd done. Ranma-chan lowered her
fist, aiming it for her gut.
Nabiki said, "Go ahead. Destroy any baby that may be
waiting to be born."
Ranma-chan nearly lost her fist. She screamed, "You don't
have any baby!!"
Nabiki looked at her with steady, level eyes, "How do you
know? Do you even know how babies are made?"
Ranma-chan DID lose it: "Of COURSE I know!!" Her face
became red proving that she did. And further flustering
her.
Nabiki suggested, "You could just cripple me." Then she
took one of her dramatic turns, underplayed this time,
"But what kind of a mother could I be like that?"
Through clenched teeth, Ranma-chan screamed, "N-n,
Nyah!!!"
Kaneda thought, Nabiki, a mother? Ranma obviously
doesn't know my sister at all. And this is not the time
to tell Ranma about her.
There was screaming, as dozens and more behind them,
mostly girls, ran out of the Assembly Hall. Among them
were Sayuri and Yuka, "Kaneda!! You guys! Something's
happened to the guys inside!!"
Sayuri cried, "You're martial artists!! Maybe you can
help!!"
Yuka said, "What we NEED are doctors, nurses--MEDICS!!"
Sayuri told her, "Then go get some! Meanwhile, what we
have here is a guy who can fight whatever did, did--" She
couldn't put her fears into words. Instead she grabbed
Kaneda's arm and pulled, "Come on!! Get in there and DO
something!!"
It took a second for Ranma-chan to be insulted. Then,
"HEY! I'M a better martial artist than that jerk!!" and
ran to get ahead of them.
Nabiki let them go, "I'll stay here, and organize
things!"
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Just entering the building gave everybody a bad feeling.
It saturated the whole place.
In the auditorium, it looked like a scene out of "Night
of the Multiplex Zombies". The center aisle and the rows
near it were clogged with the bodies of mostly guys. Most
of the girls with them looked as if they were with their
boyfriends. Lucky of them, they were near the top of the
pile. They were the ones doing the most groaning. Some
were even lifting themselves up and off the guys. Ranma-
chan said, "I guess whatever took out the crowd was
focused mainly on the guys."
Away from the center, the bodies became less. There were
guys draped over the backs of seats, wedged in seats, or
upside down under the seats, their legs up in the air.
Those not further away from the center were hiding or
cowering, stifling their cries of panic and fear. Those
near the far aisles had or were making their way quickly
but quietly towards the exit.
Behind Ranma-chan, Kaneda noted, "At least they're still
breathing."
Sayuri was holding onto the back of his shirt; "That'
good!"
Ranma-chan had completed her first reconnaissance, "It
looks like the attack came down the center aisle, from in
front of the stage."
Kaneda did his own survey, "It even got the teachers ON
stage."
Sayuri said, "That poor little girl, Hinako! It looks
like she's really hurt!"
Kaneda headed for the aisle to the right of center, "I'll
check--"
Ranma-chan took his arm and halted him; "There's a faster
way! AND I want to see what I can sense from the stage!"
Kaneda looked at her for a second. "You mean," he
swallowed, "The Anything-Goes Obstacle Eliminator!?!"
Ranma-chan nodded, "You ARE able to at least do that!?!"
Kaneda frowned, his competency as a martial artist had
just been challenged! "Okay! Let's do it!"
Sayuri asked, "What are you two talking...." She saw
Kaneda take Ranma-chan by a wrist, and, then, squatted
down to take her ankle in his other hand.
Kaneda lifted the small redhead up in the air--and start
spinning her!
Sayuri did NOT want to believe her eyes, "An airplane
ride!!?! That fancy martial arts name was for a little
stunt bigger kids do to littler kids!?!!"
Kaneda pushed off one foot, pivoting around and around on
one heel, building up momentum. While Ranma-chan said
with clenched teeth, "I hate boobs."
Kaneda let go of small redhead, sending her flying:
"Hyaah!!" While Ranma-chan added, "--Make that all girl-
fat!"
Sayuri shaded her eyes with her hand, "Ohoa!"
While the red Kaneda got redder, and a little angry with
himself, I should've been able to throw Ranma
straighter!!
Ranma-chan went high over the bodies and seats on the
slope of the auditorium. Bending her elbows sharply
around her head and using her toes as ailerons, she made
her body an airfoil.
She didn't go as far as she thought she should've gone in
this lighter body. "A girl's body is a real drag!"
When she reached the top of her flight's arc, she saw
that she wasn't going to make it past the third row. In
fact she was going to land against hard seat edges, not
soft bodies! "I KNEW Kaneda wasn't gonna be that good!"
Ranma-chan tucked herself in, and tumbled! Using her
Saotome mid-air skills, her trajectory bent upward which
in effect lengthened her flight. She was going to easily
pass over the seats.
But, "Now I'm gonna hit the rim of the stage with my gut-
-worse: My boobs!!"
Quickly, Ranma-chan focused on the feel of a gymnastic
springboard. She slammed her feet down onto air, and rose
up into the air. She straightened her form out until she
had come as high as she was going to go. She
summersaulted, bring her feet around her head and back
down.
Ranma-chan's feet did a perfect dismount on the stage
beside the Hinako kid. She refused to do the hand
flourish.
(There was a smattering of applause from the few that
were conscious and paying attention.)
Ranma-chan did a quick, intense recon; the teachers on
stage and in the wings were like the students out front.
They weren't in ready to tell her what had happened. She
had to look for the answers somewhere; she squatted down
to examine the kid with the long, brown hair, in the
yellow dress.
Only there was something different. She didn't look the
way that Ranma remembered: "Hunh?? I thought she was
younger? She has breasts. They're not all that big, but
there. Up close, she looks like a girl in junior high."
Ranma-chan frowned at the thought. "She STILL shouldn't
be put over high school students. It's an insult!"
Ranma-chan patted the adolescent's cheek, "Hey! Wake up:
Tell me what happened!"
Hinako slowly opened her big, blue eyes.
Suddenly, the girl bolted away from Ranma-chan. Sitting
straight up and pointing, she accused, "You attacked me,
you bad delinquent!" (With her other hand she was
reaching for something in one of her almost invisible
pockets.)
Ranma-chan didn't like being accused of something she
didn't do, "I did not!! I came back to help!" She
motioned towards the seats, "Look: Something took out the
whole school!"
Hinako seemed to no longer distrust the redhead,
"Something did??" She looked, and saw her students, who
were just now coming to. She leaped to her flats,
"Something did!! Whoever did this is a very BAD person!"
She raised a yen coin out in front of her, "They must be
severely punished!!"
Ranma-chan had rose to her own feet. "Oh-kay. But first
tell me who it is."
Hinako was about to tell her. She then looked over her
shoulder; "Don't you know?"
Ranma-chan almost did a face-fault. Steadying herself,
she said, "That kid's useless." She looked around at the
teachers that were waking up, too. "I'll ask an adult;
somebody who CAN be responsible."
But before she could, Sayuri told her, "Traumatic
situations often affect people's short-term memories!"
She and Kaneda had jogged the long way, down the right-
hand aisle.
Giving off sparks, a shrinking Hinako looked suspiciously
at the two headed for the stage, "Who are these
children?!"
Sayuri said, "Me? I'm just part of the Greek chorus."
Kaneda asked, "The school teaches Greek songs??" Neither
of them had been close enough to notice the girl getting
smaller.
Hinako said, "A "Greek chorus" provides information and
comments that the audience wouldn't otherwise hear. I'm
also an English teacher."
Sayuri had to say, "I was just making a joke. (One I HAD
thought would go over this little girl's head.)"
Ranma-chan said, "Take it easy, 'teach'; they came back
to help, too. I guess we're gonna have to ask if anybody
still has a memory of what happened." She saw that those
that had fallen on the floor were now helping up those
who were still down. She also saw that Hinako was back to
looking like a little kid! Ranma-chan put her fingertips
to her temple and shook her head; "Could my own memory
have been affected by this fog of chi? I could have sworn she
had.... Well, that doesn't matter."
And Ranma-chan prepared herself; "What matters is--"
Hinako cried with a start, "Sirens!! Somebody called the
police and ambulances!"
Sayuri said, "Yuka!"
The Ninomiya kid's arms and legs became a hyperactive
blur as she quickly ran to rally the teachers,
"Outsiders! Outsiders! Rise and shine, all my teachers!
We have to band together and protect the name of the
school from Outsiders!"
Hearing that outsiders were coming to report on the way
they ran things at the high school the faculty did rouse
themselves. Mr. Fujiwara, the old history teacher called
on them to, "Come together! We must provide a solid
front! Furinkan is OUR domain!"
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Of course classes were late getting started. But by the
middle of 2nd period all but a few of the students were
now in their classrooms. Of course, that didn't mean they
were studying.
It was like free time, with everybody asking questions,
comparing notes, and offering opinions: "Nobody was
hurt??"/ "Only those that bumped something when they
fell."/ "Or had somebody fall on them-Owr, my back!"/
"Speak for yourself. I feel weak and tired, like the
energy has been drained from my body."/ "As opposed to
when, Gosunkugi?"/ "Well, something happened. My skin
is prickly, almost like it's sunburned."/ "Just your
skin? Mine feels like it goes through me."/ "And I'm
still seeing spots."/ "And you don't remember what
happened, either?"/ "I remember getting whomped hard
from behind."./ "--And feeling like a flat inner
tube."/ "The last thing I remember is Nabiki Tendou
getting up and saying something."/ "Something about,
changing the dress code to allow Chinese clothes??"
More than one in the class looked towards Ranma-chan.
Things had been so busy, and hectic with people
everywhere Ranma hadn't had an opportunity to get away.
Ranma was still a girl. The redhead was lost in a
thought, "There was something very suspicious about that
energy I felt in the auditorium. If I didn't know better,
I would think the place was filled with battle aura
residue."
Ranma didn't want to sit still, so Kaneda had to stand
by; he said, "I felt it, too. It was like when you walk
into a place and just KNOW there was trouble. But it was
low-grade trouble."
Ranma-chan confirmed with what her more highly trained
senses had told her, "If I didn't know better, I would
say that everybody that got hit were stoked by a fight."
Kaneda uncrossed his arms, "...But without the fighters!
THAT'S what I was feeling!"
Sayuri had been trying to follow what the martial artists
were discussing, "Do you think I might have the sense,
too?! It wasn't just seeing everybody like that; I felt
the trouble. That's why I ran looking for you guys!"
Daisuke said, "If there was a fight, I'm surprised Sayuri
wasn't with those who got flattened."
Sayuri told the jerk, "I've told you! I appreciate the
ART, not the violence."
Hiroshi said, "Well, *I* don't appreciate the violence. I
woke up folded in a seat three rows from where I started.
And I mean FOLDED! It was like the water was wrung out of
me."
Yuka asked, "But you weren't thirsty?"
Daisuke reminded everybody, "*I* was thrown into a pile
of guys half way across the auditorium. I woke up with my
head and shoulders under the dogpile."
Kaneda made no comment about his friend's smoldering
anger. Kaneda's anger flared, and then was basically
gone. Daisuke's seldom flared. And was seldom entirely
gone.
Yuka asked, "Is it true about what Nabiki said about your
father, Ranma?"
Sayuri told her friend, "Yuka, the topic is figuring out
what happened."
Yuka said, "But I'm tired of that one. It scares me."
Hiroshi asked, "Yuka, you remember what Nabiki and Ranma
were doing up front? Hardly anybody can tell us what
happened then."
Yuka thought about what she thought she remembered,
"Well, I guess it was because I wasn't interested in
going to see Ranma, Kaneda, and Nabiki fight." She
frowned at the two boys, "Like everybody who DID get
wiped."
The class shifted its attention her way, just as the
intercom was turned on: That Hinako kid announced, "The
Tendous and Ranma Saotome are to report me. And you
better not be late, if you don't want to be bad boys and
a girl!"
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Ranma-chan and Kaneda were late. Or too late: The kid was
gone from the office. She wasn't anywhere near the
office. She was in the trees that separated the school
buildings from the playing fields. When they saw her, she
was patting one of the largest trees. When she turned
around, the little girl happily said to them, "This will
make the best one, don't you think?!"
Ranma-chan didn't like playing 20 questions with a kid,
"Best for what?"
Nabiki, back in her uniform, stepped into view, "Why a
tree house, of course."
Ranma-chan didn't want to believe her ears, "A tree
house?"
Kaneda asked, "I thought tree houses were more for, like,
little boys."
Hinako smiled, already imaging it in her head, "Not when
their gingerbread houses!"
Nabiki said, "I do hope she means gingerbread VICTORIAN
houses; meaning with a lot of ornamental woodwork."
Little Hinako nodded, "Just like in the English fairy
tails that first interested me in learning English!
Fantasy themes make the BEST playhouses for girls!"
Nabiki said, "But this "playhouse" will be your office,
right?"
Hinako managed to become serious, "My office will be in
the best position to be on the lookout for delinquency!"
Kaneda and Ranma-chan briefly noted the number of trees
all around. Well, if the little kid could get a tree
house built on school property, how big of a problem
would she have getting rid of a few trees so she could
use her "Little Astronomer" telescope?
Ranma-chan said, "Whatever. So why did you get the office
to call us out of class, 'Headmaster'."
Hinako asked, " "Headmaster"? I thought I was just the
principal."
Before Ranma could tell the kid WHY she called her a
"headmaster", Kaneda asked, "Does it have to do with what
happened in Assembly Hall?"
Hinako said as if she just remembered, "Yes: That's what
I wanted to ask!" She hurried over to Ranma-chan. "Did
you see me! Did I really look too old to be a kid, but
too young to be an adult!?! Did I, did I?!!"
Ranma-chan took a step back from the insistent kid, "Er,
something like that. I THOUGHT I saw you lookin'
different. I don't know how old you looked."
Hinako cried, "Yipee-eee!!" and started running around
hyper, "I CAN be in-between!! I HAVE a chance to go to
school like a normal child!! I just have to find the
way!!"
Nabiki had become impatient; stepping in front of the
little girl, she asked, "Wasn't there ANOTHER reason you
called us?"
Hinako was still distracted by her own thoughts, "There
was?"
Nabiki 'suggested', "Didn't you say something about Ranma
Saotome being your "special project"."
Ranma Saotome cried, "YOU'RE the reason for that, AREN'T
you!!?!"
(Hinako stopped acting like a small child, "I sense
battle spirit!! It's very strong, very violent battle
spirit!")
Kaneda put himself in front of Ranma-chan; he didn't
think Nabiki could talk her way out of it THIS time.
"Nabiki!! You OWE Ranma! And you're going to settle up!"
Nabiki said, "Oh? What are you going to do? Hold me while
Ranma "metes out some well-earned revenge" on me?"
Ranma-chan cried, "I don't NEED anybody's help to give
you what I owe you!"
(Hinako cried, "I will NOT be ignored!!" She held up a
50-yen coin between two fingers, "Happo 50-yen Satsu!")
Green tendrils formed around the child's aura and went
through the hole in the 50-yen piece. They reached out
for the nearest battle aura they were aimed at.
That was Kaneda's.
Ranma-chan had decided to get around Kaneda's
interference by leaping over him. And Hinako: Not wanting
to involve a kid in the payback, Ranma-chan landed on the
other side of Nabiki.
Before Nabiki, and even Ranma-chan could do anything,
Kaneda cried out, "Wha, what's ha-ppen-ing...!"
Ranma-chan cried, "His battle aura!! I can see his chi
energy being pulled into the coin and out into--"
Ranma, Nabiki, and even the sapped Kaneda gasped: The
child went through puberty and beyond in scant seconds!
She went from a little girl around 8 or 9 and aged into a
woman 27 or 28! There was no mistaking that this was the
adult form of Miss Hinako, she looked just like what the
girl would've been expected to look like when she grew
up. And grow up she did: There was no mistaking that she
HAD become an adult woman, the way her now too short and
tight yellow dress clung to her statuesque curves. The
beautiful woman would be any man's idea of what a mature
woman SHOULD look like!
Kaneda fell to his knees before stunning woman. Dried out
and emaciated but not thirsty, he couldn't will his martial
arts sense of balance to keep from falling face down onto
the ground before her feet.
Miss Hinako Ninomiya said, "I hope this will teach you to
respect your principal."
Ranma-chan cried, "YOU!! You're what happened in Assembly
Hall this morning!"
Miss Hinako turned herself around. Lifting an eyebrow,
she asked, "I am?"
Nabiki asked, "She is? Is she the reason for Kaneda being
like that?"
Ranma-chan said, "I get it, now: You drained the battle
aura out of TOO many would-be spectators. It was TOO much
for your body to absorb, you overloaded, and blew their fight lust
out of you back at them!"
Despite Ranma's threats to Nabiki, she'd been holding
back. Seeing a truly capable opponent, Ranma's battle
aura intensified to serious levels. She was ready to take
on the person who'd laid out hundreds of students!
Miss Hinako said, "You exude violent power! For the peace
of this school, I will take it away from you!" And she
held out the coin again.
Ranma-chan cried, "MY violent power!!?" But she held
herself back from attacking.
Ranma-chan studied her actions intensely. She was tensed,
her body ready to make her own move at the last moment.
First she had to learn as much about the transforming
girl's technique as she could. The better she understood
her opponent, the better she would be prepared to counter
her attack. If not this one, future ones.
Miss Hinako said, "Happo 50-yen Satsu/Obliteration!"
Her aura's tendrils again reached through the coin for
the closest aura it was aimed at...
Ranma-chan shoved Nabiki into them, "Here! You brought
her here! You should pay the bill!" But more important
than her revenge, it would give Ranma a chance to study
exactly how Ninomiya's technique affected its victim! If
only she hadn't been distracted when Kaneda was tapped.
What happened was... Nothing. The tendrils could barely
hold onto Nabiki's aura; the yellow-green energy it
brought out was dim and washed out.
...And all the while, Nabiki stood there as self-
possessed as ever looking somewhat disdainfully at the
older woman. When it was apparent nothing would happen,
Nabiki asked, "Is it Ranma's turn, now?"
Miss Hinako turned her coin on Ranma, "You KNEW that was
going to happen."
Ranma-chan said, "I did?"
Miss Hinako told her, "You should have taken the
opportunity to flee while you could."
Ranma-chan told her, "I DON'T run from a fight!!"
Miss Hinako told her, "Yes, I see it all clearly now.
Your battle aura is proof that you are a delinquent. I
see it was no mistake that you were made my special
project."
Ranma-chan protested, "What do you MEAN "special pro--"--
"
Miss Hinako cried, "Happo 50..."
Ranma-chan dodged and summersaulted away faster than she
could say her words. On her way back to her feet, Ranma-
chan had a pebble in her fingers. Even before she had
regained her footing, Ranma-chan flicked the pebble at
slingshot force at the coin.
The coin was knocked out from between the woman's
fingers.
Ranma-chan watched it land far enough away that with HER
speed, she could easily reach it first (if Miss Hinako
WAS as unprepared for real exertion as she looked).
Ranma-chan said, "Ha! Bet you're not so "respectable"
without your magic coin!"
Miss Hinako said, "You'd lose that bet, delinquent!" She
held up her hands and brought thumb-to-thumb, index-to-
index fingers. Looking through the circle they formed,
she cried, "Happo Tsurisen Gaeshi/Happy Change Returned!"
Ranma-chan was struck full on by a blast from a small
exploding yellow-green star!! It came into her and threw
her from the inside, her outside only following!
Feeling sunburned from the bone out, Ranma-chan landed
like a puppet-doll, meters away. Strangely, her breasts
and buttocks hurt the least. They were the furthest from
her core.
As Ranma-chan lay there, gathering her fighting spirit
from where it had been blown out of her, Miss Hinako came
to squat near her. The woman was gone; it was the little
girl patted Ranma's cheek, "You're the reason I agreed to
come here, My Special Project!" And she looked beyond the
redhead and frowned; sounding like a petulant little
child, she said, "I'll SHOW them I can, too, reform bad
girls and boys!"
Nabiki now stood beside her; looking down, she said, "If
I remember correctly, you said you've ALREADY cleaned up
two reform schools."
Miss Hinako pouted, "But I didn't REFORM them. My change
didn't change them. All I did was tame them. I only
sealed them off from all fighting energy so they couldn't
use it again."
Nabiki was startled, "You can do that?" It was clear this
was not something she had planned on. She actually seemed
concerned for others, and perhaps Ranma, as well.
Miss Hinako suddenly smiled, and became very pleased with
herself, "I can do all sorts of things with auras! I'm a
good girl!"
Nabiki said seriously, "Let's hope so."
Kaneda had recovered enough to have joined them; "WHAT
sorts of things!?! What do you MEAN seal off!?! HOW do
you plan to "reform" Ranma!?!! WHY wasn't Nabiki
affected, too!?!"
The little girl put her hands to the ears buried under
her long, brown hair, "Too many questions! I'm tired of
thinking about my power! I want to do something else!"
She looked at Nabiki, "Do you want to play with me?"
Nabiki said, "Uh... Ranma's your special project,
remember?"
Miss Hinako said, "That's right!" And she put her hands
on her knees as she bent over Ranma, "Do you want to play
a game with me? Do you have any toys?! Do you want to
play tag?!"
Ranma-chan felt her fighting spirit coming back to her,
"No!! I don't want to play!!"
Kaneda stepped in, "Er, we have to get back to class! It
is, Miss Hinako, still school time."
The little girl straightened up, "You're right. It is the
time for all good children to be in school. And I'm the
principal; it's the time for me to be in school, too."
Then she asked, "Perhaps we can play after school?"
Ranma-chan told her, rising to her elbows, "You have got
to be kidding, you little--" Kaneda flipped a coin into
her open mouth, forcing her to close it.
While Ranma-chan tried to cough the 5-yen piece out,
Kaneda said, "Miss Hinako, WE'RE martial artists! After
school we have to do are kata drills, practice spars, and
endurance exercises. That on top of all the homework we
have to do! Of, er, course, if YOU want to join us in our
routines...." he did a silent prayer that he hadn't gone
too far.
Miss Hinako wrinkled her little nose, "That doesn't sound
like fun."
Nabiki told her, "That's right. Nothing a little girl
would be interested in."
Miss Hinako sighed, "Sometimes I wish I wasn't little. I
wish I were an adult."
Ranma-chan finally spit out the coin. Getting one deep
breath, she was up on her feet, clutching Kaneda by his
shirt front, "Why you, I ought to pound you for that!"
Miss Hinako was on alert, "Spontaneous aggression!"
Ranma-chan screamed, " "Spontaneous"!!?!"
Kaneda wrapped an arm around Ranma-chan's waist, "It's
okay, Miss Hinako! We're engaged! You know how some
couples are, uh, don't you?" How much of a little kid was
she??
Ranma-chan hit Kaneda's hand at a nerve junction, forcing
it off of her hips, "Don't "couple" me." Then she told
him, "Pathetic! Afraid of a little girl."
Nabiki said, "Excuse Ranma, Miss Hinako. She's a bit slow
on the uptake."
Miss Hinako agreed, "Delinquents have a hard time
learning! That's why they're delinquents. I shall set up
a remedial program for her."
Ranma-chan cried, "What do you mean HER!!?!"
The school bell rang. Nabiki said with a trace of humor,
"Saved by the bell. You'd better get back to class,
Ranma. You don't want to get any further behind in your
study. How many years is it, now?"
Kaneda told her, "Nabiki! I thought you KNEW better."
Nabiki said, "I know that students are TESTED first
before they're put in any special program."
Ranma-chan asked suspiciously, "And YOU'RE offerin' to
help me pass this test!?"
Nabiki was pleased her little tactic had sidetracked
Ranma away from a confrontations over her sex; "ONLY if
you want me to. But I guarantee you I CAN help any NORMAL
person pass a test."
Miss Hinako said, "Hurry, Children! You mustn't be late
for your classes!" Luckily she didn't hear the hint of
cheating in Nabiki's offer.
Nabiki said, "And you'll want to get back to planning
your office. These trees will be perfect for it. Aren't
there woods in many fairy tales?"
Miss Hinako bounced up and down in place, "Oh, yes!! And
I shall decorate my office with stars, and flowers, and
giraffes and..." Apparently her idea of "fairy tales" had
shifted over to that in "Hello, Kitty".
All that outpouring kawaii energy was just too much for
the chi-sensitive Ranma to take. She retreated.
Nabiki, on the other hand, was more sensitive to Ranma-
chan's barely suppressed energy. She decided to humor the
new principal a while longer. "You know, as Headmaster of
a HIGH school, I think it'd be a good idea if your office
had more of an "institutional" look..."
Miss Hinako said, "Hmm, yes, you're probably right."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ranma-chan went looking for hot water. "That does it!! If
I'm gonna be 'reformed', it's gonna be 'cause I'm a
pervert GUY! Let her 'teach me' not to be a girl."
Kaneda ran beside her, "You actually think she's a
threat!?!"
Ranma-chan growled, "Not a threat: A menace! Imagine
somebody teachin' a dangerous technique like those to a
little kid! Why not give her a loaded bazooka!?"
Kaneda asked, "Are you sure it's a technique, and not
her?"
Ranma-chan had reached the door that led to the shoe
lockers. "Of course it's a technique! She gets into her
position, gives the name, and makes her move! Don't YOU
do your techniques that way?"
Kaneda said, "Yes. (Even though I've always thought it
was a stupid thing to do; it tells your opponent exactly
what he has to counterattack.)" As they were headed for
the lockers they'd left their indoor shoes, Kaneda asked,
"Who WOULD teach a little kid those reckless skills?"
Ranma-chan said, "Somebody who HATES adults! She drains
the energy out of you so you can't get away from her
Candyland World."
Kaneda said, "Make that "Cocoa Land", as in "koukou",
Japanese for high school?"
Ranma-chan went right through the shoe locker area
without stopping. "I not in the mood to laugh."
Kaneda asked, "But she's after delinquents, not adults."
They WERE going to track mud like delinquents.
Ranma-chan told him, "Delinquents think they know better
than adults, think they act better than adults!
Delinquents are SUPER adults. They'd hate her elementary
cartoon playland WORSE than adults!"
Kaneda followed, "I guess that makes sense. And if she
absorbs their negative aura, her positive, innocent
energy protects her!"
Ranma-chan was headed towards the office, "Like I said,
her "sugar-and-spice-and-everything-nice" suffocates the
rest!"
Kaneda thought he understood, "But until it does, she has
to grow up. Being an adult is a negative."
Ranma-chan told him, "NOT to me it ain't! --And bein' a
guy AIN'T, either!"
Kaneda realized, "What, a guy isn't.... Of course: That's
it! Guys ARE negative! THAT'S why Nabiki wasn't affected!
--And that's why hardly any of the girls were affected in
Assembly Hall! She gets her energy source from the
negative side of yang!" Over all yang was positive to
yin's negative; but not all male things were positive.
Ranma-chan stopped in front of a room near the office.
She spun around, "Good! Then that means I'm REALLY a guy,
even when I don't LOOK like one! 'Cause she hit me real
good with that "Happo Change Returned" attack, as hard as
the other guys got hit!" And she spun around to go into
the room.
Kaneda read and asked, "Why are you going into the
"Faculty Room"?"
Ranma-chan told him as she went inside, "It's my first
act as a delinquent: And I'm STEALIN' a teakettle! Let
that brat "reform" a girl she can't find!"
As the hydraulic arm eased the door shut behind Ranma-
chan, Kaneda said casually, "I wonder if AKANE Saotome
can learn Miss Hinako's martial arts techniques."
No sooner had the door closed than it opened again.
Ranma-chan asked, "...learn new martial arts
techniques?..."
Kaneda said, "More powerful ones than any I've seen you
use." He took the teakettle from Ranma-chan, "Thank
you," and poured its hot water on herself. She was back
in her Furinkan girls' uniform.
Ranma-chan cried, "Hey! I got that!"
"Akane" handed the kettle back, "There's still enough in
there to change back into a guy. Bye! I'm off to see
Little Miss Small Change." She passed one of the
secretaries in the hall.
Ranma-chan struggled with herself. But in the end it came
down to what was the most important thing in her life. If
she had been a guy at the time, she may have made a
different choice. But she was using a girl's brain.
"Here!" she said, pushing the kettle into the secretary's
hands.
As Ranma-chan sped back the way they'd come from, she
muttered to herself, "I KNOW I'm gonna regret this. But
if it means bein' a better martial artist, I GOTTA take
the chance!" And taking chances was what being a martial
arts master was all about.
Ranma-chan called out to her rival, "Why do YOU have to
be a girl?!"
"Akane" told her, "If her power DOES feed off of negative
male energy, it only makes sense that a FEMALE would
attract it!"
Ranma-chan grumbled at the logic, "I hope that doesn't
mean I hafta be POSITIVE about bein' female."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
They passed Nabiki near the stairs up to the classrooms.
"What in the world?? What do those two idiots think
they're up to?" She called out, "Kane-chan, you KNOW
you're not registered as a student?!"
"Akane" told her, "Miss Hinako doesn't know that! By the
time she does, maybe I'll have the secret to her
techniques!"
Ranma-chan had caught up with and was passing "Akane";
"HA! Ranma Saotome IS registered! I'll be able to stay
around the brat, when YOU can't, Mr. Absent!"
It was Kane-chan's turn to growl at the unfairness of it
all.
Nabiki headed up to Classroom 2-E shaking her head. "All
that over a martial arts technique. I'm glad they don't
know about MY special technique." Then she had a thought
that really made her glad they didn't know about it, "If
Ranma had known I used it on her today--twice, no less,
she would've countered it and KILLED me. And my technique
must be the reason Miss Hinako's didn't affect me."
Unlike SOME idiots, I will be not blurt out the name of
MY technique. I'm not telling anybody I even HAVE a
secret technique.
The End of this chapter
[Okay. Ranma and Kaneda misunderstand a lot about Miss
Hinako. They are right, though, that girls ARE less
susceptible to her techniques. Study what happens to the
girls verses the guys in the Takahashi-sama stories.]
[And both Miss Hinako and I don't want to be visiting
kiddieland any more than the story says we have to.]
By Ron Dow75
14: When Martial Artists Assemble!
The word was going around the Furinkan Assembly Hall:
"Did you hear what Nabiki Tendou just said!?!"/ "She
told Ranma Saotome something about "Welcome to my
gender". What does that mean?"/ "It means, idiot of a
boyfriend, she just let the cat out of the bag. Ranma can
no longer pretend she's a guy."/ "I may be an idiot,
but I never thought that cute redhead was a guy. Ow! Your
elbow is sharp."/ "She has to be delusional to think
people'll think she's a guy."/ "But look at the way she
acts and dresses!"/ "Oh! Well, then. She is
delusional."
The girl in the Chinese shirt and pants standing in the
area between the front row and the stage threatened, "I'm
gonna get you for this, Nabiki!! NOBODY takes my manhood
away!!"
(Up on stage, new Acting-Headmaster Miss Hinako cried, "I
sense battle aura! Oh, it's VERY naughty to fight in an
auditorium!")
Nabiki, out of school uniform in slacks, shirt and
necktie, calmly threatened back, "Free room and board,
Kei Tendou!"
Ranma-chan yelled back, "I can LIVE without room and
board-But not MY identity!!"
(The little girl in the yellow dress herself threatened,
"Miss Saotome! You will cease your violent tendencies at
once!")
Kaneda was coming from his seat, ready to get between his
fiancée and sister, "Ranma: You can take your fight with
Nabiki home!"
Ranma-chan told him, "No, I can't! She shamed me in front
of everybody here!!"
(Miss Hinako produced something between her index and
middle finger, "I warned you, Miss Saotome!")
Kaneda grabbed Nabiki under her thighs and back. She told
him coldly, "Put me down. I can take care of myself."
Kaneda told her, "You can prove it outside--AWAY from all
these bystanders!"
(Miss Hinako held the circle between her fingers at
Ranma-chan, "...Happo 5-yen Satsu...")
Ranma-chan followed, "Only if she comes back and tells
everybody the truth!!"
(Miss Hinako was saying, "...Good girl's exercise step
one...")
As the three headed for the door in the back, people in
the audience like Daisuke and Hiroshi were getting out of
their seats, "Come on! Let's watch the martial artists
fight!"
Miss Hinako finished what she had to say, "...Ja! Byo!
Tsu! Aku! Ma!" completing her arm's large circle in the
air.
The three were out of the lobby and the outside doors
ahead of the sickly green explosion without smoke but
with dust that blew the inner auditorium doors against
their wall.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The three were too wrapped up in their own concerns to
notice what had happened:
Nabiki grabbed a handful of Kaneda's long, red hair and
pulled. "I told you I can handle it."
Kaneda winced, "Ow, ow-kay!" He came to a stop and set
his big sister down.
Ranma-chan yelled, "Now, I'm gonna see that you NEVER
mess with my life again!!"
Nabiki took her stance: At ease. "Some man!"
Ranma-chan stopped a meter close to her; "According to
you--I'm NOT a man!!"
Nabiki said as coolly as she could, "You are a man. When
you're Kei Tendou."
Ranma-chan brought her fist back, ready to put real power
into her blow. "I'm RANMA Saotome!! Of the SAOTOME School
of Martial Arts!"
Nabiki raised her chin bravely, and challenged her,
"Then, Saotome, go ahead. Ruin a girl's pretty face, and
life."
Ranma-chan told her, "I wil-l...." She snarled in
frustration. This weak girl was no match for her! Ranma
had to first fight a lifetime of the Code being drilled
into her, with the reason WHY the Code was so important
being demonstrated by the BAD example of her sensei, her
pop...
But her rage didn't want the WORSE-than-dojo-destroyer
get away with what she'd done. Ranma-chan lowered her
fist, aiming it for her gut.
Nabiki said, "Go ahead. Destroy any baby that may be
waiting to be born."
Ranma-chan nearly lost her fist. She screamed, "You don't
have any baby!!"
Nabiki looked at her with steady, level eyes, "How do you
know? Do you even know how babies are made?"
Ranma-chan DID lose it: "Of COURSE I know!!" Her face
became red proving that she did. And further flustering
her.
Nabiki suggested, "You could just cripple me." Then she
took one of her dramatic turns, underplayed this time,
"But what kind of a mother could I be like that?"
Through clenched teeth, Ranma-chan screamed, "N-n,
Nyah!!!"
Kaneda thought, Nabiki, a mother? Ranma obviously
doesn't know my sister at all. And this is not the time
to tell Ranma about her.
There was screaming, as dozens and more behind them,
mostly girls, ran out of the Assembly Hall. Among them
were Sayuri and Yuka, "Kaneda!! You guys! Something's
happened to the guys inside!!"
Sayuri cried, "You're martial artists!! Maybe you can
help!!"
Yuka said, "What we NEED are doctors, nurses--MEDICS!!"
Sayuri told her, "Then go get some! Meanwhile, what we
have here is a guy who can fight whatever did, did--" She
couldn't put her fears into words. Instead she grabbed
Kaneda's arm and pulled, "Come on!! Get in there and DO
something!!"
It took a second for Ranma-chan to be insulted. Then,
"HEY! I'M a better martial artist than that jerk!!" and
ran to get ahead of them.
Nabiki let them go, "I'll stay here, and organize
things!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Just entering the building gave everybody a bad feeling.
It saturated the whole place.
In the auditorium, it looked like a scene out of "Night
of the Multiplex Zombies". The center aisle and the rows
near it were clogged with the bodies of mostly guys. Most
of the girls with them looked as if they were with their
boyfriends. Lucky of them, they were near the top of the
pile. They were the ones doing the most groaning. Some
were even lifting themselves up and off the guys. Ranma-
chan said, "I guess whatever took out the crowd was
focused mainly on the guys."
Away from the center, the bodies became less. There were
guys draped over the backs of seats, wedged in seats, or
upside down under the seats, their legs up in the air.
Those not further away from the center were hiding or
cowering, stifling their cries of panic and fear. Those
near the far aisles had or were making their way quickly
but quietly towards the exit.
Behind Ranma-chan, Kaneda noted, "At least they're still
breathing."
Sayuri was holding onto the back of his shirt; "That'
good!"
Ranma-chan had completed her first reconnaissance, "It
looks like the attack came down the center aisle, from in
front of the stage."
Kaneda did his own survey, "It even got the teachers ON
stage."
Sayuri said, "That poor little girl, Hinako! It looks
like she's really hurt!"
Kaneda headed for the aisle to the right of center, "I'll
check--"
Ranma-chan took his arm and halted him; "There's a faster
way! AND I want to see what I can sense from the stage!"
Kaneda looked at her for a second. "You mean," he
swallowed, "The Anything-Goes Obstacle Eliminator!?!"
Ranma-chan nodded, "You ARE able to at least do that!?!"
Kaneda frowned, his competency as a martial artist had
just been challenged! "Okay! Let's do it!"
Sayuri asked, "What are you two talking...." She saw
Kaneda take Ranma-chan by a wrist, and, then, squatted
down to take her ankle in his other hand.
Kaneda lifted the small redhead up in the air--and start
spinning her!
Sayuri did NOT want to believe her eyes, "An airplane
ride!!?! That fancy martial arts name was for a little
stunt bigger kids do to littler kids!?!!"
Kaneda pushed off one foot, pivoting around and around on
one heel, building up momentum. While Ranma-chan said
with clenched teeth, "I hate boobs."
Kaneda let go of small redhead, sending her flying:
"Hyaah!!" While Ranma-chan added, "--Make that all girl-
fat!"
Sayuri shaded her eyes with her hand, "Ohoa!"
While the red Kaneda got redder, and a little angry with
himself, I should've been able to throw Ranma
straighter!!
Ranma-chan went high over the bodies and seats on the
slope of the auditorium. Bending her elbows sharply
around her head and using her toes as ailerons, she made
her body an airfoil.
She didn't go as far as she thought she should've gone in
this lighter body. "A girl's body is a real drag!"
When she reached the top of her flight's arc, she saw
that she wasn't going to make it past the third row. In
fact she was going to land against hard seat edges, not
soft bodies! "I KNEW Kaneda wasn't gonna be that good!"
Ranma-chan tucked herself in, and tumbled! Using her
Saotome mid-air skills, her trajectory bent upward which
in effect lengthened her flight. She was going to easily
pass over the seats.
But, "Now I'm gonna hit the rim of the stage with my gut-
-worse: My boobs!!"
Quickly, Ranma-chan focused on the feel of a gymnastic
springboard. She slammed her feet down onto air, and rose
up into the air. She straightened her form out until she
had come as high as she was going to go. She
summersaulted, bring her feet around her head and back
down.
Ranma-chan's feet did a perfect dismount on the stage
beside the Hinako kid. She refused to do the hand
flourish.
(There was a smattering of applause from the few that
were conscious and paying attention.)
Ranma-chan did a quick, intense recon; the teachers on
stage and in the wings were like the students out front.
They weren't in ready to tell her what had happened. She
had to look for the answers somewhere; she squatted down
to examine the kid with the long, brown hair, in the
yellow dress.
Only there was something different. She didn't look the
way that Ranma remembered: "Hunh?? I thought she was
younger? She has breasts. They're not all that big, but
there. Up close, she looks like a girl in junior high."
Ranma-chan frowned at the thought. "She STILL shouldn't
be put over high school students. It's an insult!"
Ranma-chan patted the adolescent's cheek, "Hey! Wake up:
Tell me what happened!"
Hinako slowly opened her big, blue eyes.
Suddenly, the girl bolted away from Ranma-chan. Sitting
straight up and pointing, she accused, "You attacked me,
you bad delinquent!" (With her other hand she was
reaching for something in one of her almost invisible
pockets.)
Ranma-chan didn't like being accused of something she
didn't do, "I did not!! I came back to help!" She
motioned towards the seats, "Look: Something took out the
whole school!"
Hinako seemed to no longer distrust the redhead,
"Something did??" She looked, and saw her students, who
were just now coming to. She leaped to her flats,
"Something did!! Whoever did this is a very BAD person!"
She raised a yen coin out in front of her, "They must be
severely punished!!"
Ranma-chan had rose to her own feet. "Oh-kay. But first
tell me who it is."
Hinako was about to tell her. She then looked over her
shoulder; "Don't you know?"
Ranma-chan almost did a face-fault. Steadying herself,
she said, "That kid's useless." She looked around at the
teachers that were waking up, too. "I'll ask an adult;
somebody who CAN be responsible."
But before she could, Sayuri told her, "Traumatic
situations often affect people's short-term memories!"
She and Kaneda had jogged the long way, down the right-
hand aisle.
Giving off sparks, a shrinking Hinako looked suspiciously
at the two headed for the stage, "Who are these
children?!"
Sayuri said, "Me? I'm just part of the Greek chorus."
Kaneda asked, "The school teaches Greek songs??" Neither
of them had been close enough to notice the girl getting
smaller.
Hinako said, "A "Greek chorus" provides information and
comments that the audience wouldn't otherwise hear. I'm
also an English teacher."
Sayuri had to say, "I was just making a joke. (One I HAD
thought would go over this little girl's head.)"
Ranma-chan said, "Take it easy, 'teach'; they came back
to help, too. I guess we're gonna have to ask if anybody
still has a memory of what happened." She saw that those
that had fallen on the floor were now helping up those
who were still down. She also saw that Hinako was back to
looking like a little kid! Ranma-chan put her fingertips
to her temple and shook her head; "Could my own memory
have been affected by this fog of chi? I could have sworn she
had.... Well, that doesn't matter."
And Ranma-chan prepared herself; "What matters is--"
Hinako cried with a start, "Sirens!! Somebody called the
police and ambulances!"
Sayuri said, "Yuka!"
The Ninomiya kid's arms and legs became a hyperactive
blur as she quickly ran to rally the teachers,
"Outsiders! Outsiders! Rise and shine, all my teachers!
We have to band together and protect the name of the
school from Outsiders!"
Hearing that outsiders were coming to report on the way
they ran things at the high school the faculty did rouse
themselves. Mr. Fujiwara, the old history teacher called
on them to, "Come together! We must provide a solid
front! Furinkan is OUR domain!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Of course classes were late getting started. But by the
middle of 2nd period all but a few of the students were
now in their classrooms. Of course, that didn't mean they
were studying.
It was like free time, with everybody asking questions,
comparing notes, and offering opinions: "Nobody was
hurt??"/ "Only those that bumped something when they
fell."/ "Or had somebody fall on them-Owr, my back!"/
"Speak for yourself. I feel weak and tired, like the
energy has been drained from my body."/ "As opposed to
when, Gosunkugi?"/ "Well, something happened. My skin
is prickly, almost like it's sunburned."/ "Just your
skin? Mine feels like it goes through me."/ "And I'm
still seeing spots."/ "And you don't remember what
happened, either?"/ "I remember getting whomped hard
from behind."./ "--And feeling like a flat inner
tube."/ "The last thing I remember is Nabiki Tendou
getting up and saying something."/ "Something about,
changing the dress code to allow Chinese clothes??"
More than one in the class looked towards Ranma-chan.
Things had been so busy, and hectic with people
everywhere Ranma hadn't had an opportunity to get away.
Ranma was still a girl. The redhead was lost in a
thought, "There was something very suspicious about that
energy I felt in the auditorium. If I didn't know better,
I would think the place was filled with battle aura
residue."
Ranma didn't want to sit still, so Kaneda had to stand
by; he said, "I felt it, too. It was like when you walk
into a place and just KNOW there was trouble. But it was
low-grade trouble."
Ranma-chan confirmed with what her more highly trained
senses had told her, "If I didn't know better, I would
say that everybody that got hit were stoked by a fight."
Kaneda uncrossed his arms, "...But without the fighters!
THAT'S what I was feeling!"
Sayuri had been trying to follow what the martial artists
were discussing, "Do you think I might have the sense,
too?! It wasn't just seeing everybody like that; I felt
the trouble. That's why I ran looking for you guys!"
Daisuke said, "If there was a fight, I'm surprised Sayuri
wasn't with those who got flattened."
Sayuri told the jerk, "I've told you! I appreciate the
ART, not the violence."
Hiroshi said, "Well, *I* don't appreciate the violence. I
woke up folded in a seat three rows from where I started.
And I mean FOLDED! It was like the water was wrung out of
me."
Yuka asked, "But you weren't thirsty?"
Daisuke reminded everybody, "*I* was thrown into a pile
of guys half way across the auditorium. I woke up with my
head and shoulders under the dogpile."
Kaneda made no comment about his friend's smoldering
anger. Kaneda's anger flared, and then was basically
gone. Daisuke's seldom flared. And was seldom entirely
gone.
Yuka asked, "Is it true about what Nabiki said about your
father, Ranma?"
Sayuri told her friend, "Yuka, the topic is figuring out
what happened."
Yuka said, "But I'm tired of that one. It scares me."
Hiroshi asked, "Yuka, you remember what Nabiki and Ranma
were doing up front? Hardly anybody can tell us what
happened then."
Yuka thought about what she thought she remembered,
"Well, I guess it was because I wasn't interested in
going to see Ranma, Kaneda, and Nabiki fight." She
frowned at the two boys, "Like everybody who DID get
wiped."
The class shifted its attention her way, just as the
intercom was turned on: That Hinako kid announced, "The
Tendous and Ranma Saotome are to report me. And you
better not be late, if you don't want to be bad boys and
a girl!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ranma-chan and Kaneda were late. Or too late: The kid was
gone from the office. She wasn't anywhere near the
office. She was in the trees that separated the school
buildings from the playing fields. When they saw her, she
was patting one of the largest trees. When she turned
around, the little girl happily said to them, "This will
make the best one, don't you think?!"
Ranma-chan didn't like playing 20 questions with a kid,
"Best for what?"
Nabiki, back in her uniform, stepped into view, "Why a
tree house, of course."
Ranma-chan didn't want to believe her ears, "A tree
house?"
Kaneda asked, "I thought tree houses were more for, like,
little boys."
Hinako smiled, already imaging it in her head, "Not when
their gingerbread houses!"
Nabiki said, "I do hope she means gingerbread VICTORIAN
houses; meaning with a lot of ornamental woodwork."
Little Hinako nodded, "Just like in the English fairy
tails that first interested me in learning English!
Fantasy themes make the BEST playhouses for girls!"
Nabiki said, "But this "playhouse" will be your office,
right?"
Hinako managed to become serious, "My office will be in
the best position to be on the lookout for delinquency!"
Kaneda and Ranma-chan briefly noted the number of trees
all around. Well, if the little kid could get a tree
house built on school property, how big of a problem
would she have getting rid of a few trees so she could
use her "Little Astronomer" telescope?
Ranma-chan said, "Whatever. So why did you get the office
to call us out of class, 'Headmaster'."
Hinako asked, " "Headmaster"? I thought I was just the
principal."
Before Ranma could tell the kid WHY she called her a
"headmaster", Kaneda asked, "Does it have to do with what
happened in Assembly Hall?"
Hinako said as if she just remembered, "Yes: That's what
I wanted to ask!" She hurried over to Ranma-chan. "Did
you see me! Did I really look too old to be a kid, but
too young to be an adult!?! Did I, did I?!!"
Ranma-chan took a step back from the insistent kid, "Er,
something like that. I THOUGHT I saw you lookin'
different. I don't know how old you looked."
Hinako cried, "Yipee-eee!!" and started running around
hyper, "I CAN be in-between!! I HAVE a chance to go to
school like a normal child!! I just have to find the
way!!"
Nabiki had become impatient; stepping in front of the
little girl, she asked, "Wasn't there ANOTHER reason you
called us?"
Hinako was still distracted by her own thoughts, "There
was?"
Nabiki 'suggested', "Didn't you say something about Ranma
Saotome being your "special project"."
Ranma Saotome cried, "YOU'RE the reason for that, AREN'T
you!!?!"
(Hinako stopped acting like a small child, "I sense
battle spirit!! It's very strong, very violent battle
spirit!")
Kaneda put himself in front of Ranma-chan; he didn't
think Nabiki could talk her way out of it THIS time.
"Nabiki!! You OWE Ranma! And you're going to settle up!"
Nabiki said, "Oh? What are you going to do? Hold me while
Ranma "metes out some well-earned revenge" on me?"
Ranma-chan cried, "I don't NEED anybody's help to give
you what I owe you!"
(Hinako cried, "I will NOT be ignored!!" She held up a
50-yen coin between two fingers, "Happo 50-yen Satsu!")
Green tendrils formed around the child's aura and went
through the hole in the 50-yen piece. They reached out
for the nearest battle aura they were aimed at.
That was Kaneda's.
Ranma-chan had decided to get around Kaneda's
interference by leaping over him. And Hinako: Not wanting
to involve a kid in the payback, Ranma-chan landed on the
other side of Nabiki.
Before Nabiki, and even Ranma-chan could do anything,
Kaneda cried out, "Wha, what's ha-ppen-ing...!"
Ranma-chan cried, "His battle aura!! I can see his chi
energy being pulled into the coin and out into--"
Ranma, Nabiki, and even the sapped Kaneda gasped: The
child went through puberty and beyond in scant seconds!
She went from a little girl around 8 or 9 and aged into a
woman 27 or 28! There was no mistaking that this was the
adult form of Miss Hinako, she looked just like what the
girl would've been expected to look like when she grew
up. And grow up she did: There was no mistaking that she
HAD become an adult woman, the way her now too short and
tight yellow dress clung to her statuesque curves. The
beautiful woman would be any man's idea of what a mature
woman SHOULD look like!
Kaneda fell to his knees before stunning woman. Dried out
and emaciated but not thirsty, he couldn't will his martial
arts sense of balance to keep from falling face down onto
the ground before her feet.
Miss Hinako Ninomiya said, "I hope this will teach you to
respect your principal."
Ranma-chan cried, "YOU!! You're what happened in Assembly
Hall this morning!"
Miss Hinako turned herself around. Lifting an eyebrow,
she asked, "I am?"
Nabiki asked, "She is? Is she the reason for Kaneda being
like that?"
Ranma-chan said, "I get it, now: You drained the battle
aura out of TOO many would-be spectators. It was TOO much
for your body to absorb, you overloaded, and blew their fight lust
out of you back at them!"
Despite Ranma's threats to Nabiki, she'd been holding
back. Seeing a truly capable opponent, Ranma's battle
aura intensified to serious levels. She was ready to take
on the person who'd laid out hundreds of students!
Miss Hinako said, "You exude violent power! For the peace
of this school, I will take it away from you!" And she
held out the coin again.
Ranma-chan cried, "MY violent power!!?" But she held
herself back from attacking.
Ranma-chan studied her actions intensely. She was tensed,
her body ready to make her own move at the last moment.
First she had to learn as much about the transforming
girl's technique as she could. The better she understood
her opponent, the better she would be prepared to counter
her attack. If not this one, future ones.
Miss Hinako said, "Happo 50-yen Satsu/Obliteration!"
Her aura's tendrils again reached through the coin for
the closest aura it was aimed at...
Ranma-chan shoved Nabiki into them, "Here! You brought
her here! You should pay the bill!" But more important
than her revenge, it would give Ranma a chance to study
exactly how Ninomiya's technique affected its victim! If
only she hadn't been distracted when Kaneda was tapped.
What happened was... Nothing. The tendrils could barely
hold onto Nabiki's aura; the yellow-green energy it
brought out was dim and washed out.
...And all the while, Nabiki stood there as self-
possessed as ever looking somewhat disdainfully at the
older woman. When it was apparent nothing would happen,
Nabiki asked, "Is it Ranma's turn, now?"
Miss Hinako turned her coin on Ranma, "You KNEW that was
going to happen."
Ranma-chan said, "I did?"
Miss Hinako told her, "You should have taken the
opportunity to flee while you could."
Ranma-chan told her, "I DON'T run from a fight!!"
Miss Hinako told her, "Yes, I see it all clearly now.
Your battle aura is proof that you are a delinquent. I
see it was no mistake that you were made my special
project."
Ranma-chan protested, "What do you MEAN "special pro--"--
"
Miss Hinako cried, "Happo 50..."
Ranma-chan dodged and summersaulted away faster than she
could say her words. On her way back to her feet, Ranma-
chan had a pebble in her fingers. Even before she had
regained her footing, Ranma-chan flicked the pebble at
slingshot force at the coin.
The coin was knocked out from between the woman's
fingers.
Ranma-chan watched it land far enough away that with HER
speed, she could easily reach it first (if Miss Hinako
WAS as unprepared for real exertion as she looked).
Ranma-chan said, "Ha! Bet you're not so "respectable"
without your magic coin!"
Miss Hinako said, "You'd lose that bet, delinquent!" She
held up her hands and brought thumb-to-thumb, index-to-
index fingers. Looking through the circle they formed,
she cried, "Happo Tsurisen Gaeshi/Happy Change Returned!"
Ranma-chan was struck full on by a blast from a small
exploding yellow-green star!! It came into her and threw
her from the inside, her outside only following!
Feeling sunburned from the bone out, Ranma-chan landed
like a puppet-doll, meters away. Strangely, her breasts
and buttocks hurt the least. They were the furthest from
her core.
As Ranma-chan lay there, gathering her fighting spirit
from where it had been blown out of her, Miss Hinako came
to squat near her. The woman was gone; it was the little
girl patted Ranma's cheek, "You're the reason I agreed to
come here, My Special Project!" And she looked beyond the
redhead and frowned; sounding like a petulant little
child, she said, "I'll SHOW them I can, too, reform bad
girls and boys!"
Nabiki now stood beside her; looking down, she said, "If
I remember correctly, you said you've ALREADY cleaned up
two reform schools."
Miss Hinako pouted, "But I didn't REFORM them. My change
didn't change them. All I did was tame them. I only
sealed them off from all fighting energy so they couldn't
use it again."
Nabiki was startled, "You can do that?" It was clear this
was not something she had planned on. She actually seemed
concerned for others, and perhaps Ranma, as well.
Miss Hinako suddenly smiled, and became very pleased with
herself, "I can do all sorts of things with auras! I'm a
good girl!"
Nabiki said seriously, "Let's hope so."
Kaneda had recovered enough to have joined them; "WHAT
sorts of things!?! What do you MEAN seal off!?! HOW do
you plan to "reform" Ranma!?!! WHY wasn't Nabiki
affected, too!?!"
The little girl put her hands to the ears buried under
her long, brown hair, "Too many questions! I'm tired of
thinking about my power! I want to do something else!"
She looked at Nabiki, "Do you want to play with me?"
Nabiki said, "Uh... Ranma's your special project,
remember?"
Miss Hinako said, "That's right!" And she put her hands
on her knees as she bent over Ranma, "Do you want to play
a game with me? Do you have any toys?! Do you want to
play tag?!"
Ranma-chan felt her fighting spirit coming back to her,
"No!! I don't want to play!!"
Kaneda stepped in, "Er, we have to get back to class! It
is, Miss Hinako, still school time."
The little girl straightened up, "You're right. It is the
time for all good children to be in school. And I'm the
principal; it's the time for me to be in school, too."
Then she asked, "Perhaps we can play after school?"
Ranma-chan told her, rising to her elbows, "You have got
to be kidding, you little--" Kaneda flipped a coin into
her open mouth, forcing her to close it.
While Ranma-chan tried to cough the 5-yen piece out,
Kaneda said, "Miss Hinako, WE'RE martial artists! After
school we have to do are kata drills, practice spars, and
endurance exercises. That on top of all the homework we
have to do! Of, er, course, if YOU want to join us in our
routines...." he did a silent prayer that he hadn't gone
too far.
Miss Hinako wrinkled her little nose, "That doesn't sound
like fun."
Nabiki told her, "That's right. Nothing a little girl
would be interested in."
Miss Hinako sighed, "Sometimes I wish I wasn't little. I
wish I were an adult."
Ranma-chan finally spit out the coin. Getting one deep
breath, she was up on her feet, clutching Kaneda by his
shirt front, "Why you, I ought to pound you for that!"
Miss Hinako was on alert, "Spontaneous aggression!"
Ranma-chan screamed, " "Spontaneous"!!?!"
Kaneda wrapped an arm around Ranma-chan's waist, "It's
okay, Miss Hinako! We're engaged! You know how some
couples are, uh, don't you?" How much of a little kid was
she??
Ranma-chan hit Kaneda's hand at a nerve junction, forcing
it off of her hips, "Don't "couple" me." Then she told
him, "Pathetic! Afraid of a little girl."
Nabiki said, "Excuse Ranma, Miss Hinako. She's a bit slow
on the uptake."
Miss Hinako agreed, "Delinquents have a hard time
learning! That's why they're delinquents. I shall set up
a remedial program for her."
Ranma-chan cried, "What do you mean HER!!?!"
The school bell rang. Nabiki said with a trace of humor,
"Saved by the bell. You'd better get back to class,
Ranma. You don't want to get any further behind in your
study. How many years is it, now?"
Kaneda told her, "Nabiki! I thought you KNEW better."
Nabiki said, "I know that students are TESTED first
before they're put in any special program."
Ranma-chan asked suspiciously, "And YOU'RE offerin' to
help me pass this test!?"
Nabiki was pleased her little tactic had sidetracked
Ranma away from a confrontations over her sex; "ONLY if
you want me to. But I guarantee you I CAN help any NORMAL
person pass a test."
Miss Hinako said, "Hurry, Children! You mustn't be late
for your classes!" Luckily she didn't hear the hint of
cheating in Nabiki's offer.
Nabiki said, "And you'll want to get back to planning
your office. These trees will be perfect for it. Aren't
there woods in many fairy tales?"
Miss Hinako bounced up and down in place, "Oh, yes!! And
I shall decorate my office with stars, and flowers, and
giraffes and..." Apparently her idea of "fairy tales" had
shifted over to that in "Hello, Kitty".
All that outpouring kawaii energy was just too much for
the chi-sensitive Ranma to take. She retreated.
Nabiki, on the other hand, was more sensitive to Ranma-
chan's barely suppressed energy. She decided to humor the
new principal a while longer. "You know, as Headmaster of
a HIGH school, I think it'd be a good idea if your office
had more of an "institutional" look..."
Miss Hinako said, "Hmm, yes, you're probably right."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ranma-chan went looking for hot water. "That does it!! If
I'm gonna be 'reformed', it's gonna be 'cause I'm a
pervert GUY! Let her 'teach me' not to be a girl."
Kaneda ran beside her, "You actually think she's a
threat!?!"
Ranma-chan growled, "Not a threat: A menace! Imagine
somebody teachin' a dangerous technique like those to a
little kid! Why not give her a loaded bazooka!?"
Kaneda asked, "Are you sure it's a technique, and not
her?"
Ranma-chan had reached the door that led to the shoe
lockers. "Of course it's a technique! She gets into her
position, gives the name, and makes her move! Don't YOU
do your techniques that way?"
Kaneda said, "Yes. (Even though I've always thought it
was a stupid thing to do; it tells your opponent exactly
what he has to counterattack.)" As they were headed for
the lockers they'd left their indoor shoes, Kaneda asked,
"Who WOULD teach a little kid those reckless skills?"
Ranma-chan said, "Somebody who HATES adults! She drains
the energy out of you so you can't get away from her
Candyland World."
Kaneda said, "Make that "Cocoa Land", as in "koukou",
Japanese for high school?"
Ranma-chan went right through the shoe locker area
without stopping. "I not in the mood to laugh."
Kaneda asked, "But she's after delinquents, not adults."
They WERE going to track mud like delinquents.
Ranma-chan told him, "Delinquents think they know better
than adults, think they act better than adults!
Delinquents are SUPER adults. They'd hate her elementary
cartoon playland WORSE than adults!"
Kaneda followed, "I guess that makes sense. And if she
absorbs their negative aura, her positive, innocent
energy protects her!"
Ranma-chan was headed towards the office, "Like I said,
her "sugar-and-spice-and-everything-nice" suffocates the
rest!"
Kaneda thought he understood, "But until it does, she has
to grow up. Being an adult is a negative."
Ranma-chan told him, "NOT to me it ain't! --And bein' a
guy AIN'T, either!"
Kaneda realized, "What, a guy isn't.... Of course: That's
it! Guys ARE negative! THAT'S why Nabiki wasn't affected!
--And that's why hardly any of the girls were affected in
Assembly Hall! She gets her energy source from the
negative side of yang!" Over all yang was positive to
yin's negative; but not all male things were positive.
Ranma-chan stopped in front of a room near the office.
She spun around, "Good! Then that means I'm REALLY a guy,
even when I don't LOOK like one! 'Cause she hit me real
good with that "Happo Change Returned" attack, as hard as
the other guys got hit!" And she spun around to go into
the room.
Kaneda read and asked, "Why are you going into the
"Faculty Room"?"
Ranma-chan told him as she went inside, "It's my first
act as a delinquent: And I'm STEALIN' a teakettle! Let
that brat "reform" a girl she can't find!"
As the hydraulic arm eased the door shut behind Ranma-
chan, Kaneda said casually, "I wonder if AKANE Saotome
can learn Miss Hinako's martial arts techniques."
No sooner had the door closed than it opened again.
Ranma-chan asked, "...learn new martial arts
techniques?..."
Kaneda said, "More powerful ones than any I've seen you
use." He took the teakettle from Ranma-chan, "Thank
you," and poured its hot water on herself. She was back
in her Furinkan girls' uniform.
Ranma-chan cried, "Hey! I got that!"
"Akane" handed the kettle back, "There's still enough in
there to change back into a guy. Bye! I'm off to see
Little Miss Small Change." She passed one of the
secretaries in the hall.
Ranma-chan struggled with herself. But in the end it came
down to what was the most important thing in her life. If
she had been a guy at the time, she may have made a
different choice. But she was using a girl's brain.
"Here!" she said, pushing the kettle into the secretary's
hands.
As Ranma-chan sped back the way they'd come from, she
muttered to herself, "I KNOW I'm gonna regret this. But
if it means bein' a better martial artist, I GOTTA take
the chance!" And taking chances was what being a martial
arts master was all about.
Ranma-chan called out to her rival, "Why do YOU have to
be a girl?!"
"Akane" told her, "If her power DOES feed off of negative
male energy, it only makes sense that a FEMALE would
attract it!"
Ranma-chan grumbled at the logic, "I hope that doesn't
mean I hafta be POSITIVE about bein' female."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
They passed Nabiki near the stairs up to the classrooms.
"What in the world?? What do those two idiots think
they're up to?" She called out, "Kane-chan, you KNOW
you're not registered as a student?!"
"Akane" told her, "Miss Hinako doesn't know that! By the
time she does, maybe I'll have the secret to her
techniques!"
Ranma-chan had caught up with and was passing "Akane";
"HA! Ranma Saotome IS registered! I'll be able to stay
around the brat, when YOU can't, Mr. Absent!"
It was Kane-chan's turn to growl at the unfairness of it
all.
Nabiki headed up to Classroom 2-E shaking her head. "All
that over a martial arts technique. I'm glad they don't
know about MY special technique." Then she had a thought
that really made her glad they didn't know about it, "If
Ranma had known I used it on her today--twice, no less,
she would've countered it and KILLED me. And my technique
must be the reason Miss Hinako's didn't affect me."
Unlike SOME idiots, I will be not blurt out the name of
MY technique. I'm not telling anybody I even HAVE a
secret technique.
The End of this chapter
[Okay. Ranma and Kaneda misunderstand a lot about Miss
Hinako. They are right, though, that girls ARE less
susceptible to her techniques. Study what happens to the
girls verses the guys in the Takahashi-sama stories.]
[And both Miss Hinako and I don't want to be visiting
kiddieland any more than the story says we have to.]