Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Ranma ½ , apart from the DVDs, but that's all, unfortunately!
Chapter Four: Discoveries.
"So what are you saying, kid," said Harry, as the 'Three' stood in the grimy alleyway out of the way from the parade route of the Chinese New Year celebrations, "is that you want to fight me?"
"Yeah, that's what I'm saying," said Ranma, standing at the mouth of the alley, "so are you gonna fight, or what?"
"Alright then," said Harry, stepping forward, "I don't usually fight teenagers, but since you asked, you're on."
Both fighters jumped into the air, going in for the attack.
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Harry jumped back, as Ranma deftly missed landing into a trashcan.
"Wow, kid," said Harry, impressed, swiping sweat from his forehead, as Ranma was barely even breathing hard, "you got some skill there, but you need to refine some of your techniques."
As Harry was picking up his assorted weapons and hiding them back in his robe, Gary approached Ranma.
"Very good, Ranma," he said, "but why did you challenge us?"
"Because I wanted to see what you could do," replied Ranma, "I - er - heard 'bout yer and wanted to see for myself."
Gary smiled, "Heard of us have you?" he said, and looked at the other two, "maybe we should introduce ourselves properly-"
"Er - no, no, - that's fine, really," said the teenage martial artist, a slightly frightened look in his eye, "I just want to learn stuff, any techniques you're willing to share."
"You know something, Ranma," said Gary, leading Ranma further into the alleyway, "if I had not seen your skill before hand, I would not be showing you some of these techniques."
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"So, cur, you wish to challenge the mighty Blue Thunder?"
"You do wanna fight then, I won't let you run out on this one!"
"I shall tear you apart for Shampoo's heart!"
Ranma mentally rolled his eyes, "I called you all here for a reason," he looked at them all, as they stood on the rooftop of the hotel, "Kuno, if I defeat you, then you will stop bothering both Akane and the pigtailed girl, agreed?" Ryouga smirked, as Kuno glared but nodded, "Ryouga, if I defeat you, then you'll not come back, as either yourself or P-chan, to challenge me again or hurt Akane, agreed?" the bandana clad boy smirked again, but also nodded, "Mousse, if I defeat you, then you'll stop putting the blame of your problems on me and do what you have to do to defeat Shampoo and win her, I'm not your obstacle."
"Fine." Said Mousse, his glasses in place so that he was glaring at Ranma, rather than a television aerial, "but what if one of us, or even all three of us win?"
"OK," Ranma thought for a moment, "Right, Kuno if you win, then you can try and date the pigtailed girl and Akane. Ryouga, you can ask Akane out and Mousse, - well, you can go back to what you were doing before, if yer like." He shrugged, not really coming up with anything better on the spot, because he was sure he would win.
"Then let us fight!!" yelled Kuno, raising his bokken in challenge,
"For once Kuno," said Ranma, grinning, as the four leapt into battle, "I agree with you."
The four fighters charged in, but something felt wrong to Ranma. As he was dodging Kuno's bokken, parrying Ryouga's heavy umbrella and Mousse's assorted weapons, which strangely included a metal duck-shaped potty. Ranma realised that his movements were to slow for his highly trained body.
Then like a ton of bricks, the realisation hit him, or rather like a bokken blow to head, an umbrella jab to the gut and chains latching around his neck and legs.
He blacked out...
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"So I can't learn any new techniques?" exclaimed Ranma, horrified.
"'Fraid not," said Gary, "you see, if what you said is true, -"
"- it is -"
"- yes, I'm not disputing that, anyway, if that is the case, then any techniques you have learned the previous day, will not be available to you on the next, the only thing, as I understand how this works, I think," said Gary, with a shrug, "then all the training you did will have to be done again, but you said that took up most of the day and by then you were to tried to challenge them, right?"
"Look, I've been through this day over a hundred times already," said Ranma, annoyed, "it seems that nothing I do changes it. If I can't do this by martial arts, how can I do anything?"
"I think there is one area you have over looked," said Gary, with a slight smile, "this area has helped you remember what has come to past over this recurring day and helped you deal a little better with the situation that it presents to you."
Ranma looked at him for a minute, "What?"
"What!" Gary exclaimed, he pointed at Ranma's head, "I meant 'that'!"
"Oh, heh-heh, right." Said Ranma, with a grin, then looked confused, "what about my head?"
Gary face-faulted.
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"Why aren't you coming with us?" said Akane, in a mildly angry tone.
"'Cos I'm doin' somethin' else." said Ranma, simply, he realised that there would have been a time, that he would put an insult or two at the end of that, but did not want to be slammed into the wall.
"Oh, something better to do then go with Akane, eh, Saotome?" smirked Nabiki.
Ranma grinned, "Something that is important enough get done today, 'sides haven't you got to collect from the Kuno's?"
"WHAT!!" exclaimed Akane, turning on her sister, a deadly look on her face.
Nabiki ran from the shared bedroom, throwing a 'You'll pay for this later' look at Ranma, as she went.
Ranma waved the Tendo's off, kicking his father out of the room, as he moaned about protecting Akane and family honour.
After waiting an hour or so, to make sure they were truly gone, he made a quick trip over the rooftops, depositing P-chan into a rubbish bin as he went, he entered the city library.
He gathered a stack of books, ranging from D.I.Y., something he knew a little about having fixed the Tendo roof and occasionally the Dojo, to mediating techniques, that required the use of the mind only.
He read through half of them and then loaned out the rest, taking them back to the hotel and before the Tendos and his father returned, he committed the booklist and author's name to memory, by coupling them with martial arts techniques in his visual memory, then hid them under his and Akane's bed.
He smiled thinking, Well, at least they won't be late going back!
The next day, he went out with the family, who were quiet surprised at his choices of venue, as they went out shopping getting a few items cheaper than most other places sold them. oddly this did not seem to please Nabiki, not until Ranma was splashed from high above.
To the bemusement of the family however, he just shrugged it off and took the flask that Kasumi offered him to change back.
Akane called him a pervert as she had almost lost all her shopping when she tripped, but again Ranma shrugged it off, putting her back on her feet and walked on.
It was the first time, to Ranma's memory, in a long time, that he was allowed to relax, with no one attacking or declaring their love for him.
He knew it could not last.
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"Why do you hate me so much?"
Nabiki blinked, "I don't hate you, Saotome," she said, "I just don't trust you, especially with all those girls hanging off you," she held up a hand to stall any coming argument, "I know you don't do anything with them, even if my sister thinks you do. But, that's exactly the point isn't it?"
"What can I do about it, then?" said Ranma, thoughtfully. More thoughtful than Nabiki had ever seen the pigtailed martial artist.
"Commit suicide?" she offered, Ranma face-faulted, "well you did ask, but if I were you, I'd make a choice, things don't seemed to be sorting themselves out, and I doubt that you want to waste your entire life living like this. I know I wouldn't," she smirked, "but has been fun, but you could end up with no one, I wouldn't care, but you might."
"Thanks, Nabiki, I mean it."
"No problem," She replied smartly, "600 yen."
Ranma handed over the money with a stony expression.
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"What do you mean, Ranma?" asked Kasumi, politely, as he helped stack the plates from breakfast.
"Well, I mean, how can you put up with your father, with the way he treats Akane and me, getting us engaged, I understand Pops, he never cared about what I think, but Mr. Tendo doesn't seem like that, at least not all the time."
"Father has always been a little old fashioned," said Kasumi, with a slight smile, "I think he does want the best for us, to be happy, he cares about our futures, I'm sure," her smiled widened, "he especially wants Akane to be happy, she has not been this happy since mother died."
"Excuse me?" said Ranma, shocked, "she never seems happy to me, she's always so angry, especially with me."
"I have noticed that you look at her a lot, when she doesn't look at you," she said, with a chuckle, as Ranma's head threatened to come off if he shook it any harder. "I've also noticed that she looks at you, when you are not looking. I may spend a lot of time doing things around the house, but I have noticed a change for the better in my little sister, since a certain martial artist arrived."
"Are you saying," said Ranma, slowly, "that Akane l - lo - loves me?"
"Maybe," she shrugged, "but tell me Ranma, do you really know what love is? Do you think Akane really knows? Because only when both of you are in the same place, can you truly know anything. Don't you think it's time you found out?"
All Ranma could say, as he heard the rest of the family approaching to go off to town was "No. Possibly. Yes."
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"You want to learn a technique from me?" said Soun Tendo, looking up from the game board in shock, Genma was also to surprised by his son's words to cheat.
"Yes, it's a technique I've seen you use only a few time," said Ranma, "but I want to learn to use it."
"What technique would that be, son?" said Genma, interested.
"The Demon-Head Attack." Genma and Soun face-faulted.
"Why would you want to learn that technique?" asked the Tendo and Saotome patriarchs.
"I have my reasons," he grinned, back at them, "I heard also that it's a technique that can be learnt in an hour of instruction."
"That's correct, son," said Soun, happy to show off one of his techniques to another martial artist, "now all you have to do is..."
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"Hey Ryouga," Ryouga spun around, pointing his umbrella at his foe. "I want a word with you."
"What about?" said Ryouga, checking the alleyway way that he was suddenly in, in case Ranma was not alone, he would not put a sneak attack past the coward.
"Well, you see it's like this," said Ranma, calmly, stepping forward with his hands in his pockets, "do you love her?"
"What?"
Ranma took a few deep breathes, then said a again, "Do you love Akane?"
"Yes, I do." said Ryouga, firmly.
"WHAT!?!" Ranma suddenly exploded, his head tripling in size, and it seemed to be suddenly wreathed in flame, "YOU DON'T LOVE AKANE, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW THE MEANING OF THE WORD!!!" Ryouga was backed up against a wall, by this point, "ALL YOU EVER DO IS TURN INTO A PIG SO YOU CAN SLEEP IN HER BED! YOU PERVERT! BECAUSE OF YOU, I WAS THE ONE BRANDED A PERVERT! IF YOU REALLY DID LOVE HER, YOU WOULD NEVER DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT!!!"
The Demon-Head attack vashined, Ranma was left glaring down at the crumpled heap of Ryouga Hibiki.
"Works like a charm." Said Ranma, with a wide grin.
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"Ranma? What are you doing in here?" asked Akane, as she entered the bedroom they had been forced to share by their fathers. "You don't usually leave breakfast without a second helping. Or are you ill?"
"No, I'm not ill," he said, with a rather strange smile on his face, "I've just come to a decision on a few things, mediation helped a lot actually, but before I tell you what I have decided upon, I need to tell you this."
Ranma took a breath, then shouted: "I DON'T LIKE THE WAY YOU TREAT ME, ALWAYS CALLING ME A PERVERT ALL THE TIME!! I HATE THE FACT THAT YOU HIT ME OVER THE SMALLEST OF THINGS!! WHETHER THERE ARE MY FAULT OR NOT!! YOU NEVER GIVE ME A CHANCE TO EXPLAIN!! AND I DON'T LIKE EATING YOUR COOKING!!"
Akane stared at him, her mallet which she had held ready to punch down on his head, was limp in her fingers as he continued.
"HOWEVER, YOU'VE ALWAYS HELPED ME OUT, EVEN WHEN I DIDN'T ASK FOR IT!! HELPED ME RECOVER FROM INJURY!! YOU'RE CUTE WHEN YOU SMILE, I'VE ALWAYS LIKED HOW YOU DRESS ... AND I LOVE YOU!!!!" he stopped, realising he had just combined the Demon-Head attack, with one of his older techniques, the old fabled Saotome Foot-in-Mouth technique. "I just said that out loud didn't I." it was not a question.
Akane, however, answered with a nod, then moved closer to him, smiling a brilliant smile.
I'm soooooooooo dead, he thought, miserably. He should of known better than to use this technique on Akane, will I be able to face her tomorrow, if I ever see another day again?
"I'm going to do something I should have done a long time ago," said Akane, brightly, her smile widening.
I'mdeadI'mdeadI'mdeadI'mdeadI'mdeadI'mdead, Ranma would have moved, but the look in Akane's face had him transfixed, a part of him wanted to run for the hills and far away from that look, another stronger part wanted to know what she was talking about.
"What?" he said, cautiously, trying to figure it out, as her face turned bright red.
"This!" and she did it, and Ranma matched her blush tenfold.
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Next Chapter: Getting To Know Them.
Author's Note (14/7/03):OK, hopefully I should be able to bring up another chapter within a fortnight of them going onto ff.net, I've decided to concentrate on Ranma and Akane, because I cannot work out any other realationships apart from theirs into one day. However I do have in mind some unlikely pairings, where one side of the pair will not want the attention of the other, so they'll get to see what it's like for Ranma, (heh-heh!) so until then, keep reviewing.
Also if you have read this far previously, please check out the other chapters for the revisions I have made to them.
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