Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Ranma 1/2 or Love Hina.

Pre-Read by: Zenapax

The Girls' Newest Rival: School Day

Both Ranma and Akane could tell that Shinobu is a bit nervous as she stands up in front of the class next to Mr. Hayashi. Face red as a strawberry while looking down to the floor, hands together out in front of her, knees shake wildly.

"Everyone, this is Shinobu Maehara. She is the new transfer student from Hinata." The whole class stares at her, feeling even more nervous. "Miss Maehara. Why don't you take a sit next to Mr. Saotome." She nods and begins to walk to her desk when she trips and falls down onto the floor, exposing her rear. Everyone but Ranma and Akane laugh at her while he helps her up to her feet and sits her down.

"You OK?" he whispers to her.

"Yes. Just a bit nervous. Thanks for the help," she tells him. Once he gets back to his sit, Ukyo, seating behind him, starts poking him with the eraser head of her pencil. Quickly, he turns around.

"What is it?"

"Are you trying to flirt with the new girl in front of me?"

"What are you talking about? She fell to the ground. All I did was help her up." They start having a verbal argument that Akane, who's sitting next to Ranma, can't concentrate on Mr. Hayashi's lesson plan."

"Will you two knock it off?! I'm trying to listen." Shinobu turns her attention from the lesson plan to the conversation. She looks at the girl behind Ranma and wonders why she's carrying a spatula on her back.

"Ranma," she says, tapping his desk. "Who is she?"

"Her? That's ..." Suddenly, they hear the table smacked, echoing around the room. They all turn to the front of the class to see an upset Mr. Hayashi.

"Mr. Saotome! Miss Tendo! Miss Kuonji! And Miss Maehara! Do you want to share to the class what you're all talking about or should I send you all into the hall?" Before they can think of an excuse, Shinobu stands up from her desk.

"Sensei. We were discussing about Tokugawa Ieyasu role before becoming Shogun."

"You are?" Looking at the group in confusion.

"Yes Sensei. We figure that if we are going to talk about the Edo Period, we should understand how and why he fought against the Hideyori loyalists and other Western rivals in the Battle of Sekigahara and events before then."

"Well, I guess you all were paying attention. Anyway..." Mr. Hayashi turns around to the board, continuing his lesson plan. All four of them turn away from one another and listens to his lecture. About a few minutes into it, Ranma hands Shinobu a note. She carefully opens it, seeing only the Japanese character Thanks. She makes sure that the teacher isn't looking before leaning towards his desk. "Don't mention it," she whispers in his ear.

^_^

The rest of the classes goes by smoothly as lunch finally arrives. Everyone in the classroom rushes out the door, leaving Shinobu behind. She steps out of the classroom and walk around the hallway, trying to find either Ranma or Akane. After five minutes looking for them in the building, she gets to the outside and see some of her other classmates feasting on their food.

"Hey there!" She turns around to see Ranma with some food. Seeing the sight of food make her stomach growl. "Whoa. Didn't you eat already?"

"I actually thought that you and Akane were going to have lunch with me."

"Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Neither did she. I can't find her."

"Well...do you want to eat together? There might be some food left in the cafeteria."

"That would be great! But I brought my own food." She grabs the bento from her backpack, showing him.

"OK." Ranma scans the area. "Why don't we sit there?" Pointing to a nearby tree, next to the soccer field. Shinobu nods and the two of them start walking. They sit down next to the tree, quietly eating their food while watching the soccer match.

"Ranma?" She asks, watching them chomp down a mouthful of bread.

"Yes?"

"Do you..." Before she can say anymore, a soccer ball flies over her head, bouncing off the tree and sit next to Ranma.

"Hey!" One of the boys yells from the soccer field. "Can you give us back our ball?" Ranma gets up and kicks the ball straight into one of the goals, 80 to 100 yards away.

"WOW! That's amazing!" Shinobu says.

"Not really. I can do that with my eyes closed." He sits back down and continues with his meal. "So, what were you going to ask?"

"I was wondering why you're so mad at Akane? She seems like a nice person." Ranma almost chokes on a potato chip. "Are you OK?" he nods, making a swallowing sound.

"I'm not really mad at her. It's just we're on really hard circumstances."

"Oh? Like how?"

"You see, both our fathers arranged to have us marry each other and..." He stops when he see Shinobu's look of dejection. "You okay?"

"Oh. Yes. Yes," she says, blushing all over. "I just didn't know. That's all." She twist opens her bottle of juice and drinks half of it in one gulp. "So, you're engaged to her?"

"Yeah, but then again, I'm somehow engaged to a lot of other girls." Shinobu spits out the remaining juice from her mouth onto Ranma.

"I'm...I'm sorry." She searches in her bag for something to dry him off with.

"It's OK. I'm not that wet."

"If you say so. Ranma?" She stand up, brushing off the dirt from her school uniform. "Do you think you and Akane can show me around? I like to know where everything is in this place."

"Sure. I don't mind." They both hear the bell that signals lunch is over. "Come on, we better get going." Both of them pack of their things and head back to class.

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