Ranma; Hard Core
Akane took fleeting glances towards Ranma, who had regained his usual scowl for the world. She was hesitant to speak, as mad as he seemed right now. The raven-haired girl contemplated in the silence, staying just ahead of Ranma to lead the way; trying to drill up the courage to bring up the subject on her mind. Finally, buiding up on her earlier agitation for Ranma running away; without turning around, she spoke, "Why did you leave?"
Ranma, surprisingly, answered almost immidiately, "I wasn't in the mood to deal with your sister, alright? I don't know why I'm going back with you anyhow, just so she can bitch some more."
Akane held her tongue at Ranma's reference to her sister; it was accurate, in the girl's mind, "I mean, the other night."
"Huh?" Ranma replied, caught off-balance, before his face became even more fierce, "You practically TOLD me to! Why in the Hell are you asking about that?"
Akane turned around with her own angry expression, "I was wrong, alright? I shouldn't have told you to do that!" Akane forced herself to calm down, "I... I was worried for you, alright?"
"Like you really care," Ranma replied sullenly, while observing anything else but Akane.
The girl paused, almost causing Ranma to bump into her, "Ranma, have you ever had any friends before?" The pigtailed boy didn't reply, recalling to himself one friend he'll probably never see again, and another 'friend' that...
Akane took his silence as confirmation to his suspicions. She realized Ranma apparently did not know how to react to others socially, or how to handle situations with anything other than violence. With that thought, her own mood darkened; what did that say for her? At least Ranma had an excuse. Sure, being attacked by a hoard of boys gave her just reason to beat the crap out of them, but when Ranma first explained his curse to her, she reacted severely, which in turn set him off.
"Hey... Ranma?"
"What?"
"What do you like to do to relax? I mean other than practice martial arts all the time?"
"I..." Ranma couldn't continue.
"Want to go get some icecream? My treat!"
"No," Ranma said simply,walking past Akane.
"Come on, it'll cheer you up a bit!"
"Guys don't eat icecream," Ranma stated back to Akane. The girl blinked, and began to giggle. Ranma stopped in his tracks, and turned an annoyed expression to her, "What's so funny?"
"That just sounded typical..." Akane had to fight a new series of giggles down, "typical of a guy thing to say. You aren't like the typical guys I know."
Ranma snorted, and continued to walk towards the dojo. "Wait, Ranma, I didn't mean anything by it!" Akane pleaded towards him, and biting back her irritation at suddenly being ignored.
Hidden up in a tree the two had passed, a young man with long ink black hair and glasses smiled sinisterly. Ranma was being put off balance as of late, losing much of the intense edge that made him infinitely dangerous. With the way things are going, Mousse may not have to wait so long for his revenge, after all.
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In another part of town...
"Where is Furinkan High?"
________________________________
"We're home!" Akane called out, entering after Ranma, and removing her shoes.
"Welcome back, sis," Nabiki called out from the living room, "Ranma come back with you?"
Akane looked towards the boy, who just simply walked towards the entry to the dojo, "Yes."
"Good, I need to talk to him," Nabiki replied, a bit closer to Akane this time. Ranma paused, but then kept going.
"Um," Akane started tentatively, "I'm not sure he's in the mood to talk, right now I mean."
"What do you want, Nabiki?" The girl almost jumped, when she realized Ranma was near her.
"Saotome.... Ranma, my Dad's up to something, and I don't know what it is, so I thought I would give you the heads up on that."
"Uh, thanks."
"So... you *do* have manners!" Nabiki replied with a wry grin, causing Ranma to scowl even more. Nabiki looked over to where her sister was happening upon the two, and turned back to Ranma, "Looks like you were heading for the Dojo, I have a few other things to discuss..." She turned to her youngest sister, "in private."
A flash of annoyance appeared on Akane's face, before she casually waved it off, "Fine, I want to get something to snack on, anyway." With that, Akane turned to the kitchen, in hopes of finding something to make up for the loss of breakfast earlier.
"Ranma... It's been a week now, you weren't actually suspended, and Kuno's not going to be in classes for some time yet. Are you going to be going back to school, tomorrow?"
Ranma was genuinely surprised by the question, "Why?"
Nabiki turned away, as Ranma went into stance to begin a kata, "Because, you really should..."
Ranma scoffed, as he began the highly isometric kata with a strained reverse punch with his right hand that turned into a hard but slow low parry, "I don't see the point, nobody wants me there."
"Ranma, quite frankly, those 'nobodies' can go screw themselves," ther girl replied almost instantly, momentarily surprising herself with her harsh tone, "I mean, most of the school was glad you put Kuno in his place, they're just not used to someone who was willing to do it so effectively."
"They sure didn't act like it, HAH HAH KYAH!" Ranma exploded into two quickly controlled punches, and then a forward right thrust kick, before stamping his right foot down with the largest toe pointing straight ahead while his back left foot was pointing forward and outward at a 45 degree angle. His left forearm was against his lower ribs with the fist facing upside down and the elbow sharply bent, while his right arm's upper arm was against his other side with his fist straight out and verticle, as the right side of his torso was twisted forward. Ranma audibly expelled air in his lungs, as she sunk into a deeper horse stance, straining and flexing his muscles as hard as he could, as he did so.
Nabiki caught this out of the corner of her eye, and even out of her perepheral vision, she was able to make out the wiry mass of muscles that composed her potential fiancee. She forced herself to concentrate on the conversation, instead of letting hormones take over, "Don't worry so much about it, they're just not used to you, is all. I'll tell you what, I'll walk with you and Akane to school tomorrow, just in case anyone decides to make an issue of your return."
"What good is that going to do?" Ranma asked with a strained voice, still holding his stance.
"Well, I'll tell you right now, you, Akane, and I are considered the most dangerous people at school. If we go in there on a united front, they'll be too scared to make an issue of it." She didn't notice Ranma slightly flinch, or if she did, assumed it was because of the strain Ranma was putting himself through.
"What if I don't want to go back?"
"You have to. I don't want any social workers showing up on our doorstep, causing more problems than they want to fix."
"I can leave, and that'll solve a lot of your problems."
"Big talk, Saotome. Where did you go, anyway? I presumed you'd be in China by now, trying to get a cure for that curse of yours."
"I... didn't have any money, and no one would give me passage," Ranma replied a bit more quietly than he had been speaking. Outwardly, Nabiki seemed to accept the answer.
"Lastly, don't worry about Kasumi. She's upset about the other night, and not used to more 'realistic' violence around here."
"How can she not? She lives in a dojo," Ranma snapped back, rising from his stance to relax, and cutting the kata in half.
"Yeah, but it's always been controlled violence here. Oh sure, there have been a few accidents, like when Akane broke her ankle, but nothing done maliciously...." Nabiki's eyes widened at her slip up, "I mean..."
"I know what you mean," Ranma replied tersely, finding that he no longer had the urge to work his stress off with the other girl around, "I'm going to take a nap, you mind?"
Chagrinned for managing to upset Ranma, Nabiki honored his wishes, while silently berating herself.
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Soun watched, as Akane, Nabiki, and Ranma got ready for school. He wasn't sure of the wisdom of allowing Ranma to go so soon, but decided to trust his middle daughter's judgement. Still, from the five cigerette butts in the ash tray, he didn't like it any.
With a shrug, he picked up his paper again; Genma should be returning today, and as much as he respected Genma, they were going to have to have a little talk about Ranma. It probably wouldn't be the most pleasant one, either.
Nabiki's plan for the following morning possibly worked too well, as everyone gave the three wide birth. Akane herself didn't like it; she wasn't intentionally trying to be intimidating, and it was bothering her quite a bit. Nabiki, on the other hand, was glaring all around, non-verbally daring anyone to look at them wrong. If she had thought better, she would have realized how much it seemed that she was extremely protective of Ranma. Ranma himself kept his eyes down, while scowling at the ground. What did he care about the idiots around here? They don't know what it's like for him, so they had no right to judge..."
"AH!" Akane screamed, as Ranma kicked her out of the way, and then roughly shoved Nabiki away immidiately after. He then, just barely in the nick of time, dove away before a thunderous, reality shaking crash was heard where he had been standing, signaling the arrival of someone a great deal more dangerous than Kuno had been...
Akane took fleeting glances towards Ranma, who had regained his usual scowl for the world. She was hesitant to speak, as mad as he seemed right now. The raven-haired girl contemplated in the silence, staying just ahead of Ranma to lead the way; trying to drill up the courage to bring up the subject on her mind. Finally, buiding up on her earlier agitation for Ranma running away; without turning around, she spoke, "Why did you leave?"
Ranma, surprisingly, answered almost immidiately, "I wasn't in the mood to deal with your sister, alright? I don't know why I'm going back with you anyhow, just so she can bitch some more."
Akane held her tongue at Ranma's reference to her sister; it was accurate, in the girl's mind, "I mean, the other night."
"Huh?" Ranma replied, caught off-balance, before his face became even more fierce, "You practically TOLD me to! Why in the Hell are you asking about that?"
Akane turned around with her own angry expression, "I was wrong, alright? I shouldn't have told you to do that!" Akane forced herself to calm down, "I... I was worried for you, alright?"
"Like you really care," Ranma replied sullenly, while observing anything else but Akane.
The girl paused, almost causing Ranma to bump into her, "Ranma, have you ever had any friends before?" The pigtailed boy didn't reply, recalling to himself one friend he'll probably never see again, and another 'friend' that...
Akane took his silence as confirmation to his suspicions. She realized Ranma apparently did not know how to react to others socially, or how to handle situations with anything other than violence. With that thought, her own mood darkened; what did that say for her? At least Ranma had an excuse. Sure, being attacked by a hoard of boys gave her just reason to beat the crap out of them, but when Ranma first explained his curse to her, she reacted severely, which in turn set him off.
"Hey... Ranma?"
"What?"
"What do you like to do to relax? I mean other than practice martial arts all the time?"
"I..." Ranma couldn't continue.
"Want to go get some icecream? My treat!"
"No," Ranma said simply,walking past Akane.
"Come on, it'll cheer you up a bit!"
"Guys don't eat icecream," Ranma stated back to Akane. The girl blinked, and began to giggle. Ranma stopped in his tracks, and turned an annoyed expression to her, "What's so funny?"
"That just sounded typical..." Akane had to fight a new series of giggles down, "typical of a guy thing to say. You aren't like the typical guys I know."
Ranma snorted, and continued to walk towards the dojo. "Wait, Ranma, I didn't mean anything by it!" Akane pleaded towards him, and biting back her irritation at suddenly being ignored.
Hidden up in a tree the two had passed, a young man with long ink black hair and glasses smiled sinisterly. Ranma was being put off balance as of late, losing much of the intense edge that made him infinitely dangerous. With the way things are going, Mousse may not have to wait so long for his revenge, after all.
________________________________
In another part of town...
"Where is Furinkan High?"
________________________________
"We're home!" Akane called out, entering after Ranma, and removing her shoes.
"Welcome back, sis," Nabiki called out from the living room, "Ranma come back with you?"
Akane looked towards the boy, who just simply walked towards the entry to the dojo, "Yes."
"Good, I need to talk to him," Nabiki replied, a bit closer to Akane this time. Ranma paused, but then kept going.
"Um," Akane started tentatively, "I'm not sure he's in the mood to talk, right now I mean."
"What do you want, Nabiki?" The girl almost jumped, when she realized Ranma was near her.
"Saotome.... Ranma, my Dad's up to something, and I don't know what it is, so I thought I would give you the heads up on that."
"Uh, thanks."
"So... you *do* have manners!" Nabiki replied with a wry grin, causing Ranma to scowl even more. Nabiki looked over to where her sister was happening upon the two, and turned back to Ranma, "Looks like you were heading for the Dojo, I have a few other things to discuss..." She turned to her youngest sister, "in private."
A flash of annoyance appeared on Akane's face, before she casually waved it off, "Fine, I want to get something to snack on, anyway." With that, Akane turned to the kitchen, in hopes of finding something to make up for the loss of breakfast earlier.
"Ranma... It's been a week now, you weren't actually suspended, and Kuno's not going to be in classes for some time yet. Are you going to be going back to school, tomorrow?"
Ranma was genuinely surprised by the question, "Why?"
Nabiki turned away, as Ranma went into stance to begin a kata, "Because, you really should..."
Ranma scoffed, as he began the highly isometric kata with a strained reverse punch with his right hand that turned into a hard but slow low parry, "I don't see the point, nobody wants me there."
"Ranma, quite frankly, those 'nobodies' can go screw themselves," ther girl replied almost instantly, momentarily surprising herself with her harsh tone, "I mean, most of the school was glad you put Kuno in his place, they're just not used to someone who was willing to do it so effectively."
"They sure didn't act like it, HAH HAH KYAH!" Ranma exploded into two quickly controlled punches, and then a forward right thrust kick, before stamping his right foot down with the largest toe pointing straight ahead while his back left foot was pointing forward and outward at a 45 degree angle. His left forearm was against his lower ribs with the fist facing upside down and the elbow sharply bent, while his right arm's upper arm was against his other side with his fist straight out and verticle, as the right side of his torso was twisted forward. Ranma audibly expelled air in his lungs, as she sunk into a deeper horse stance, straining and flexing his muscles as hard as he could, as he did so.
Nabiki caught this out of the corner of her eye, and even out of her perepheral vision, she was able to make out the wiry mass of muscles that composed her potential fiancee. She forced herself to concentrate on the conversation, instead of letting hormones take over, "Don't worry so much about it, they're just not used to you, is all. I'll tell you what, I'll walk with you and Akane to school tomorrow, just in case anyone decides to make an issue of your return."
"What good is that going to do?" Ranma asked with a strained voice, still holding his stance.
"Well, I'll tell you right now, you, Akane, and I are considered the most dangerous people at school. If we go in there on a united front, they'll be too scared to make an issue of it." She didn't notice Ranma slightly flinch, or if she did, assumed it was because of the strain Ranma was putting himself through.
"What if I don't want to go back?"
"You have to. I don't want any social workers showing up on our doorstep, causing more problems than they want to fix."
"I can leave, and that'll solve a lot of your problems."
"Big talk, Saotome. Where did you go, anyway? I presumed you'd be in China by now, trying to get a cure for that curse of yours."
"I... didn't have any money, and no one would give me passage," Ranma replied a bit more quietly than he had been speaking. Outwardly, Nabiki seemed to accept the answer.
"Lastly, don't worry about Kasumi. She's upset about the other night, and not used to more 'realistic' violence around here."
"How can she not? She lives in a dojo," Ranma snapped back, rising from his stance to relax, and cutting the kata in half.
"Yeah, but it's always been controlled violence here. Oh sure, there have been a few accidents, like when Akane broke her ankle, but nothing done maliciously...." Nabiki's eyes widened at her slip up, "I mean..."
"I know what you mean," Ranma replied tersely, finding that he no longer had the urge to work his stress off with the other girl around, "I'm going to take a nap, you mind?"
Chagrinned for managing to upset Ranma, Nabiki honored his wishes, while silently berating herself.
________________________________
Soun watched, as Akane, Nabiki, and Ranma got ready for school. He wasn't sure of the wisdom of allowing Ranma to go so soon, but decided to trust his middle daughter's judgement. Still, from the five cigerette butts in the ash tray, he didn't like it any.
With a shrug, he picked up his paper again; Genma should be returning today, and as much as he respected Genma, they were going to have to have a little talk about Ranma. It probably wouldn't be the most pleasant one, either.
Nabiki's plan for the following morning possibly worked too well, as everyone gave the three wide birth. Akane herself didn't like it; she wasn't intentionally trying to be intimidating, and it was bothering her quite a bit. Nabiki, on the other hand, was glaring all around, non-verbally daring anyone to look at them wrong. If she had thought better, she would have realized how much it seemed that she was extremely protective of Ranma. Ranma himself kept his eyes down, while scowling at the ground. What did he care about the idiots around here? They don't know what it's like for him, so they had no right to judge..."
"AH!" Akane screamed, as Ranma kicked her out of the way, and then roughly shoved Nabiki away immidiately after. He then, just barely in the nick of time, dove away before a thunderous, reality shaking crash was heard where he had been standing, signaling the arrival of someone a great deal more dangerous than Kuno had been...