Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Ranma 1/2 or Love Hina.
Pre-Read by: Zenapax
The Girls' Newest Rival: Secret's Out
Shinobu sits in her room, doing her math homework on a Saturday evening. Once she finishes, she slams her books close and jumps on her bed. 'Finally!' She thinks. 'I'm done!' She looks up at the ceiling, remembering the past month in her new home.
With replacing Happosai as a member of the household, she has been helpful around the house doing the cleaning, grocery and laundry either with Kasumi or by herself. But what she has been doing the most is the cooking, making food masterpieces from scratch. The taste out does anyone's cooking they ever tasted.
In school, she is one of the smartest students. Her classmates come to her whenever they need to know something. Sometimes she forms a study group so that anyone who doesn't get a certain area, she will show them how until they can fully understand. Most of the time, Ranma is with her. Everyone thinks that he needs to because of all he does is training, but Shinobu knows he's smarter then that.
But as helpful as she is, she also gets in trouble. But none of which is her fault. Sometimes when she walks home from school alone, she gets attacked. Even when Ranma and Akane are with her, it still happens. The attackers only go after her, but Ranma and Akane step in before any harm can be done. They're too quick for Shinobu to actually get a good look at them, but Ranma tells her that they were wearing masks. He seems to be holding back information from the way he tells her, but never questions it.
The surprise attacks are happening more and more often. She doesn't want to depend on either Ranma or Akane protecting her. Shinobu remember that she has a gi from Motoko when she told everyone back at the Hinata Sou about the people living with her. She knows that Ranma and Akane always spar with each other on the weekend. Deciding that she wants to learn how to protect herself, she puts on the gi and goes to the dojo.
Opening the door, she's a little surprised to only see Ranma fighting by himself. She quietly closes the door and screams when she turns around to see Ranma in her face.
"Whoa Shinobu!" he says, covering his ears. "Stop screaming! You'll wake up the town!"
"I'm...sorry," she says, blushing all over in embarrassment. Once Ranma stops hearing bells in his head, he notices her get up.
"What's with this? Are you here to challenge me?" Shinobu sweatdrops.
"Me?! No! No! I came to...hmmm...learn how to protect myself." Ranma seems to understand.
"You mean from the attackers when you walk back home?" She nod. " OK. I'll teach you."
"But where is Akane?"
"She want to bed early. Lazy girl." Ranma starts their training process with Shinobu. He teaches her the basics: punching, kicking, blocking. An hour goes by and he's a little amazed on how quickly she picks up the moves, like she had done this before. He contemplates if he should teach her more harder stuff when she surprises him with a spinning back fist to the head. Dazed and seeing stars, he slowly shakes off the attack. "Where did you learn that move?"
"I'm sorry!" Shinobu bows her head down. "I didn't mean it. I remember when Motoko was teach me kendo and..."
"Wait. Who's Motoko?" Shinobu pulls up her head, noticing that he isn't mad.
"Motoko is a friend of mine who lives in the Hinata Sou. She also gave me this gi when I wrote everyone back, telling them I was staying with a family of martial artists."
"And she taught you kendo moves?"
"A little. She taught me some moves before I left to come here." Curious on her moves, Ranma grabs a kendo stick and hands it to her.
"You remember Kuno, right?" She gives a little sigh.
"How can I forget?" She remembers him handing her two dozen flowers, asking her to date him. She told him 'no', but he kept following her around, asking for a date until Nabiki pulled him away by the ear. "Why do you ask?"
"If you haven't heard, he's captain of the kendo club. Since you know a little kendo, I want some practice."
"Sure."
The two of them go opposite from each other and start to spar. Because Shinobu has some kendo training, Ranma doesn't take her lightly. But also goes easy on her since she's still learning. He ducks and dodges all her attacks. She may not be as fast as Kuno, but he admits she's good for a beginner. The more the sparring goes on, the quicker she becomes. As Ranma ducks a side swing, he notices a smile from her.
"I got you." She quickly moves the kendo stick down, then up, hitting him under the chin and causing him to fly across the room. "Sorry, but Motoko taught me that one." She isn't concern with him being hurt from the fall until he hits the wall, causing a bucket from a high shelf to fall on his head and drenching him with water.
"Ranma!" She drops the kendo stick to the floor and hurries to pry off the bucket. "I'm sorry Ranma. I'm so sorry. I didn't..." When she finally pulls off the bucket from Ranma's head, she is shock to see a red-headed girl. "What?! Who are you? What have you done with Ranma?"
"Shinobu. It's me. Ranma." She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"You're lying! Ranma's a boy. You're a...a...girl!" She throws the bucket at her and begins to punch at her. "Where's Ranma?! What have you done with him?!"
"But Shinobu. I'm Ranma." Shinobu continues to swing at her, wanting to know what happened. Ranma needs to explain to Shinobu about her problem, but needs for Shinobu to stop fighting first. She figures a way to hold Shinobu down. When Shinobu takes another swing at her, she moves to the side and grabs Shinobu. Surprised by the attack, Shinobu tries to back elbow her, but she puts her arm under Shinobu's, holding her in place. To make sure Shinobu doesn't kick, Ranma wraps her legs around hers, causing them to fall to the floor. Shinobu tries to get out of the hold.
"Stop struggling Shinobu. I'm telling you I'm Ranma."
"Oh yeah? Prove it! Tell me something only Ranma would know." She begins to think hard about this.
"Remember when I picked you up? We were walking down the stairs when you slipped on the last step and expose yourself in front of a couple of other people." Shinobu laughs at her
"HA! You might have been one of those people or peeping through the window. Now, what have you done with Ranma?" She thought for sure that would convince Shinobu who she really was. Shinobu continues to struggle while Ranma thinks of something else to tell her that will make her believe that she is Ranma. Then she remembers something she once told her. She's hoping that she told no one else since it seem like a big deal to her at the time.
"Maybe he is with your crush. That Keitaro Urashima guy." Shinobu stops struggling, taking in what the red-headed girl just told her. Ranma knows that she got through to her, so she lets her go. She brushes herself off and notices that Shinobu is staring at her. "Are you OK?"
"It's really...you. What...what happen?" With Shinobu knowing now, Ranma tells her everything about his training in Jusenkyo, how he got his curse and how he can change back when they go to the kitchen and pour some hot water on himself. Shinobu, still in shock, takes a sit in the living room to calm down. He goes and sits next to her.
"Are you OK with all of this?" She turns to him with an uncertain look.
"Well, it will take sometime getting used to the fact that you can...do what you do." She shakes her head a bit, still not believing. "And your father, does he also have the curse too?"
"Yeah. He changes into a panda." Shinobu can't help but laugh. "What's so funny?"
"I'm sorry. I just pictured your dad eating bamboo."
"He actually does eat bamboo."
"As a human?" Ranma now pictures that, then laughs. He notices Shinobu smiling. "So, does everyone in school know about your condition?"
"Not everyone. Kuno's too stupid since he wants to date my girl half." She giggles. They continue to talk about some of the stuff he has done as a girl. He can tell that the more they talk about it, the calmer she seems to be. "You know Shinobu? I like the way you handled yourself with this. Nearly everyone else I told either tried to beat me up or use me as their personal bath toy." She giggles again.
"Well, I like you Ranma." Both of them are in shock that she said that. With Kasumi over at Dr. Tofu's because she twisted her ankle, Nabiki over at a friend's place, Akane sleeping and both Mr. Tendo and Mr. Saotome out on a training mission, Shinobu is just glad no one else heard it, possibly yelling and opposing her feeling towards him.
"You...like me?" Ranma asked. She nodded. "What about that guy you told me about? Keitaro?"
"I guess I know how to pick them." She gives him a funny look. "I mean, I keep having a crush on guys that like someone else or...in your case...engaged to someone else." She stands up and looks like she's about to cry. "I'm sorry Ranma. I didn't mean to tell you this. I...I..." She tries to get away from him, but gets her wrist grabbed by him when she tries to pass him.
"Don't be Shinobu," he tells her. "I'm glad you told me." She doesn't know what he means by this, but it puts a smile on her face. He lets go of her hand, watching her go in her room.
^_^
Akane woke up from the morning sun shining in her face. Stretching her arms and yawning, she notices that it's 9 o'clock. Remembering there is no school, she slowly gets out of bed and dresses in her pink blouse and long white skirt. She thinks of what to cook before remembering that Shinobu is in the house. Not wanting for her food to get cold, she hurries down the stairs.
When she goes into the living room, she isn't surprise not to see either Ranma or Shinobu. But is surprised to not see any food. Thinking that she's still cooking, she goes into to the kitchen. When she arrives, she doesn't see her or anything cooking. She knows Shinobu never sleeps in late. Worried that something has happened to her, she makes a mad dash to her room. When she opens the door, she's bewildered to see her under the same blanket with Ranma.
Note: Some of you kept asking about the juice Shinobu spit at Ranma in Chapter 3. Well, I thought that a juice can would be somewhat warm if sat in natural temperature. I decided to do an experiment. I took a can that's been in the ref for 12 hours with me to school. I took it out around 6:45 am & I checked it every two hours because I was bored in class. Once it was lunch time for me (1:00 pm), the damn thing was still cold! However, I happen to being a glass bottle also & that was warm. I did a little correction in Chapter 3 using a bottle instead of a can, so hopefully, you can stop asking if the juice was cold.
GOOD OR BAD, PLEASE REVIEW =)
