Ranma alternate fanfic
Started - 15 October 2003 Completed – pending
Last revised - 18 June 2004 Reason – new chapter added
Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and all associated characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi and are used without permission. This fan-fiction isn't intended for commercial use but is rather a tribute to the Ranma ½ universe.
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Lonely Match by Cloud Dreamer
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Chapter Five – Fun With Fold-Space
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Genma nodded sagely to himself, with Soun at a Ward meeting and 'the four teenage girls' (he shuddered at the thought) out shopping; he could at last complete the search he'd started a couple of days ago.
Even now he still felt a sense of fury at his son's betrayal. 'Imagine it! His own son stealing from his honorable father.' He grimaced as he recalled the frustration of failing to find where the boy had hidden his scrolls. He'd been foiled at his attempts to search the house by one or the other of the Tendous each time. But now . . . now he would find them.
A clean sweep of the house had turned up nothing. He'd even gone back over it again using his ki senses just in case the boy had somehow managed to learn how to fold space. He sighed to himself, 'dishonorable boy' he muttered. He started his search of the dojo only to strike pay-dirt almost immediately. Genma grinned in appreciation of his own cunning as he studied the faintly sensed fold space high on the dojo wall.
'To think that his good for nothing son actually thought he could hide something from his own father;' he grinned as the opened up the fold space and reached in and pulled out . . . a hornet's nest with lots of angry hornets.
After several laps around the dojo he managed to dive into the koi pond where he hid until the hornets finally tired of him and left to build a new nest elsewhere. He was not a happy panda.
= = = = =
Kasumi paused in the middle of the mall walkway and waited until the three younger girls stopped and gathered about her questioningly. She knew that she really didn't have any part in this challenge but felt that she needed to take the position of 'referee' in this case. She sighed and said, "Ranma, sisters, you three are all participants in this challenge yet you also are the ones making the rules and judgments as well. I ask you to allow me to be the judge or referee for you instead. Will you allow me to do this? I ask because I want to avoid hard feeling developing among you or any one person being ganged up on."
Ranma shrugged indifferently, it really didn't make any difference to her.
Nabiki and Akane paused, both a little bit surprised since Kasumi almost never actively interposed herself in their activities. They glanced at each other and then both nodded and Nabiki said, "Alright sis; I can see how that might help."
"Ok then," Kasumi started, "ground rules for 'girl training' are that we do nothing just for the sake of humiliating Ranma. Anything we ask her, we have to be willing to do also; any questions?"
Akane muttered a soft 'shoot' and scuffed the toe of her foot on the pavement as she gave up the idea of sending Ranma into a sex toy shop.
Nabiki grimaced and thought to herself, 'darn, did big sis guess that I was going to have Ranma-chan go skinny dipping?'
Kasumi smiled at the three younger teens and then grabbed Ranma's hand and started pulling her into a nearby store. "Come on Ranma-chan, I need some new underwear and you could use some too."
Nabiki and Akane got wide grins as they noticed the store was named 'Victoria's Secrets'.
Two minutes later, Ranma was blushing almost as red as her hair. She hesitantly asked Kasumi, "Kasumi, I don't understand. Isn't this kind of perverted? Why do ya want me to learn about this stuff?"
Akane blushed as well as she really hadn't thought of this as, well, perverted before but could see what Ranma might be getting at.
Nabiki was the one to answer though. "Ranma, in some ways you are right. This type of apparel does have a potential for perverted impact. But it comes down to the 'why' of wearing it." Seeing the lack of comprehension on Ranma's face and noticing that Akane was frowning in confusion as well, she continued, "Ranma, culturally, it is important to girls to look good. Part of that is being able to 'feel' sexy. These clothes help a girl to achieve those types of feelings. A large part of that feeling is the response that such clothes cause in some one who sees them wearing them. Usually that is reserved for someone close like a husband or lover but sometimes girls also sort of brag to each other by showing off stuff like this during sleepovers just to affirm their femininity. It is the misuse of the sexy concept that can cause these clothes to become perverted, perverted not in themselves but in their use."
"Oh," was Akane's response though Ranma just shook her head in confusion and then shrugged in acceptance.
Nabiki sighed and then selected a Teddy for Ranma. "Here try this on and tell me how it makes you feel."
Ranma hesitantly accepted the almost garment. She looked into Nabiki's eyes for confirmation and gingerly smiled back when Nabiki grinned at her. Ranma slowly made her way into one of the dressing booths in the 'girls' only part of the store.
Akane was grinning as well until Kasumi handed both her and Nabiki each a Teddy as well. There was a look of panic on her face until she heard Nabiki sigh and say, "Yeah, I guess that is fair. If Ranma has to try it so do we." Akane got a wide grin as Nabiki silently handed Kasumi her own Teddy. Kasumi started to protest but slumped into silent acceptance when Nabiki only arched an eyebrow at her.
Ten minutes later, Nabiki was starting to get frustrated as she waited for Ranma and her sisters to make their 'appearances'. She finally walked over to the booths that the other three had entered and rapped sharply on them. "Come on. We've got other shopping to do today."
Three panicked shrieks responded. Ranma hesitantly exited. Nabiki froze; her heart in her mouth as she goggled the redhead in the almost transparent pale emerald Teddy. She barely noticed Akane and Kasumi leaving their booths a moment later.
Kasumi giggled as she grabbed a Kleenex and wiped Nabiki's chin. This brought her back to reality with a deep blush of her own.
Ranma was frozen in place as her eyes rapidly switched between the three sisters. Kasumi chuckled slightly as she approached the neo girl. Ranma flinched as Kasumi reached out to her but all the older girl did was deftly turn the short redhead until she was looking into a mirror.
"Ranma," began Kasumi, "tell me what you see there?"
Puzzled, Ranma turned her head to look up at Kasumi then back at the mirror again. She scratched her head and weakly said, "Us?"
Kasumi leaned over and kissed the top of her head, "Try again. This time using feeling words and expand the description as well."
Ranma relaxed under Kasumi's positive reassurance. She grinned and said, "Well, there are a couple of really hot chicks in some really skimpy underwear."
Kasumi arched an eyebrow in a Nabiki like manner, "Oh, and how does seeing that make you feel?"
Ranma blushed deeply and hesitantly answered in a soft voice, "I sort of like looking at us but I also feel kind of embarrassed as well. Sort of like I was doing something naughty."
The other three turned to her when Akane started to giggle. They noticed she was posing in front of another mirror and mostly ignoring the others.
"Akane," interrupted Kasumi, "Tell us all how you feel when you are wearing something like this."
Akane blushed but answered, "Well, I . . . I feel good about being a girl." She struck a seductive pose, "Some guy is going to faint when I pose for him, but at the same time, it is reserved for him alone. I feel good to know I look really nice, pretty even.
Ranma grinned and responded, "Ya do look good." She chuckled and added as she mimicked Akane's pose, "Not as good as me, but really nice."
Akane froze as she tried to determine if she'd been insulted or complimented. Nabiki just snorted; seeing she had the others attention, she slowly stretched into her own seductive pose as her eyes locked with Ranma's.
Nabiki held the pose for a few moments and then slowly inhaled as her nipples visibly hardened beneath the thin silvery Teddy. A few seconds later Ranma's eyes rolled up into her head as she fainted.
Akane looked between the redhead on the floor and her still posing middle sister a few times before she snickered, then she and Kasumi chuckled and finally all three Tendou sisters were softly laughing together.
Nabiki sighed and commented, "Yep, definitely a guy under that red mop." She gently shook Ranma awake and helped her to one of the nearby chairs. "Ranma," Nabiki asked, "how come you fainted? I mean we've bathed together so you've seen it all before. What difference did the Teddy make?"
Ranma hung her head in embarrassment and replied, "Dunno, all I know is that seeing me or Kasumi or Akane is sort of like looking at a nice picture. I like the way it looks but it don't really bother me none." She stole a glance at the other girl and then softly continued, "Somehow, seeing you like that and hoping that . . . that . . ."
"It was for you?" Nabiki asked.
"Yeah," Ranma whispered, "I sort of thought that. Sorry about that, I mean we ain't engaged or nothing so I shouldn't of even thought that," she ended miserably.
Akane chuckled and interjected, "Ranma, I've got news for you. I'm not going to marry you, but you ARE going to marry a Tendou."
Kasumi sighed loudly and uncharacteristically whapped Akane upside the head gently, "And you say Ranma talks without thinking. One would believe it was starting to rub off on you."
"Huh?" asked a confused Ranma.
Nabiki grinned a little as she looked at the surroundings, "Sheesh Akane, the only good thing I can say about your timing is that you've found one of the few places that those two old farts at home couldn't spy on us at." She sat beside the redhead and took her chin in one hand and turned her face to hers. "Ranma, what my sisters mean is that you are going to marry me. The only reason that we haven't told our fathers is that we didn't want to panic either of them just yet."
"Me! Why me?" Ranma hesitantly responded.
"Several reasons," began Nabiki, "First, we are friends. That's always a good start and necessary as far as I'm concerned. But most importantly, I also love you." She leaned over and gently kissed the smaller girl on the lips, "both of you. I love everything about you Ranma, even when you say dumb things and I'm tempted to use my mallet on you, I still love you, all of you."
Ranma's lower lip trembled as she struggled with her emotions, "Really? I mean I don't really got nothing to offer a neat girl like you. I mean you deserve somebody rich and handsome and . . . and not a freak like me," she finished softly with downcast eyes.
Nabiki reached behind her and pulled out a small mallet. She bopped Ranma lightly on the head and remarked, "Don't you dare say such things about the man that I fell in love with." She grinned as Ranma stared at her with wide eyes, "MY man is an honorable world class martial artist who is a hunk and is really well hu . . ."
Her last words were garbled as Ranma quickly slapped a hand over Nabiki's mouth. The redhead blushed deeply as she quickly glanced between the other two sisters.
Akane grinned mischievously and said, "Don't worry about it Ranma, I saw you that first day and besides, Nabiki's already been bragging."
Ranma sighed and hid her face in both hands. It didn't help when Kasumi absently remarked, "You know, I'm not sure I really believe my sisters though. Would you mind if I shared a bath with you next time so I can see for myself?"
"SIS!" Yelped Nabiki, "that's mine. I mean . . . I mean . . . I, aw fuck!" Horrified Nabiki slapped a hand over her mouth.
Kasumi 'eeped' but had the presence of mind to remark, "Well, yes, eventually you two probably will, but honestly Nabiki, shouldn't you wait?"
Ranma and Nabiki quickly glanced at each other's crimsoned faces and then fled into their changing booths. Akane and Kasumi followed as soon as they could stand by themselves again though both continued to laugh a little every once in a while over the next hour.
Nabiki bought the Teddy she had tried on. At Akane's questioning glance she explained, "It's for our wedding night. I think it will be just right."
The quartet stopped at a few other stores and debated about feminine clothing for Ranma. Kasumi noticed that Ranma was actually shuddering as they looked at dresses and quickly derailed those plans to Akane's disappointment.
Kasumi explained to her sisters, "Just as you don't jump into smashing bricks the first day of training, Ranma needs time to 'train' into some of what you want to teach her."
Nabiki did insist that Ranma pick up a couple of swimsuits, a one-piece for swimming and a bikini for sunbathing.
All four of the girls did stop and allow an experienced salesclerk to do a complimentary 'color' check at the cosmetics counter. Ranma was stunned at the changes a little makeup could make.
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Nabiki quickly faded away from Akane's jab and went into the air over her sister to avoid her follow up punch. Akane spun in place with a sweeping kick only to find Nabiki low on the floor but rising into an uppercut that had her whole body behind it. Akane arched backward to avoid it and nearly succeeded. Though Nabiki barely connected, it was enough to send Akane sliding across the floor, an astonished look on her face.
"Finally!" Nabiki gleefully yelped and they both looked to their sensei for her comments. Ranma grinned at them both and then seemed to fade out of sight as she waved a towel in front of herself.
Nabiki turned a stunned face toward her younger sister. Akane carefully approached the towel and even went so far as to even pick it up and shake it as if hoping Ranma would somehow fall out of it.
Ranma flickered into sight against the opposite wall as she started giggling at the expressions on her students' faces. She asked, "I suppose you'd like to know what I just did?"
Akane and Nabiki glanced at each other before quickly taking seats in front of Ranma. Ranma sat down also and began her explanation. "I've been doing a quick read thru of all my school's scrolls so that I could map out a plan for learning them. You know, see if any of them are sequential or especially easy or hard or worth learning before the others."
"Makes sense," commented Nabiki.
"Yeah," added Akane, "I've been doing something along the same lines for the Tendou school scrolls but I'm not really finished yet."
Ranma nodded at their confirmation and continued, "Yup, that's why I picked out the 'fold-space' technique first. Not only was it something I needed as soon as possible to hide the scrolls but it seemed that some other really useful techniques depended on learning parts of it first." She paused and then said, "That technique was from the regular school scrolls, but the one I just demonstrated was from one of the scrolls that Genma actually created."
". . ." from the Tendous.
"Yeah," responded Ranma, "I ain't sure I believe it either." She sighed, "It seems to be a way to totally mask yourself from detection. It's sort of like folding space but instead of actually folding the localized chi into a pocket, you fold your own ki over your self and then turn it inside out sort of like a mirror, a one-way mirror. You can see out but it sort of reflects detection or attention from others."
"Shit!" suddenly snarled Nabiki. Seeing the other two looking at her, she explained, "That means Genma could be standing right next to us and we'd never know it."
Akane began to look about herself nervously and Ranma gulped in apprehension.
They sat there silently for a moment before Ranma stood up walked over to one corner of the dojo. She picked something up and when she sat down before them again the two sisters could see that it was an abandoned hornet's nest. Ranma explained, "I set a few traps for Genma with some of my guy-side fold space. This was one of them. He set it off about a week ago so I'd guess that is when he finally discovered that I had the Saotome school scrolls. Ever since then I've taken care to know exactly where Genma was before I got the scrolls." She sighed, "Then I found this technique a couple of days ago and now I'm not so confident that I can be sure that I know 'exactly' where the old fart really is for sure anymore."
Nabiki sighed, she looked between the other two and said, "It's going to be expensive, but I think we should make arrangements to have a couple of copies of both sets of scrolls made. The originals we will allow to be 'recovered' by the old men if it comes to that but I think each of you should have a copy of both schools." She thought for a moment and then said, "Actually, this idea came to me earlier just because I thought it might be worth having another copy, but now I think it's even more urgent. I did a little bit of research and found that there is a sort of archive temple in Kyoto that will copy martial arts scrolls for a reasonable fee providing they are allowed to keep a copy for themselves. They don't allow people outside their order to see the copies of these scrolls so our schools techniques should be safe."
"Damn," quietly said Ranma.
Seeing the other two girls looking at her, she explained, "Ya know how I said four of those scrolls had somebody named 'Happosai' written on them. Well, two of that set also said they were from the Kyoto Martial Arts Temple Archive; that means they were probably stolen from there." She paused, "Do you think that they will copy them for us or just seize them?"
Nabiki sighed and gently massaged her head; she wondered why things with Ranma never seemed to be simple. "I'll call them and ask. I need to see what will be the extra charge since we want several copies instead of just one."
Akane had a light blush as she asked, "Why are you worried about that. One of the scrolls that dad had was from this Happosai character and it was awful."
Ranma and Nabiki each cocked an eyebrow at her so she explained, "It was mostly about a technique to absorb residual ki from women's undergarments. It also explained how to produce a 'demon-head' and variations on it such as creating the appearance of a giant version of yourself with your battle aura."
"Undergarments?" asked Ranma.
"Panties," clarified Nabiki.
"Ah," said Ranma, "That explains the other fold-space technique I was curious about." Seeing the interested expressions the other two had, she continued; "It is a technique that can be used to remove panties and bras from a person without disturbing the rest of their clothes. You just wrap the garment with your chi and then fold it into a pocket in your palm. Of course this means you have to have your hand on the garment in order to do it."
"That's perverted!" exclaimed Akane.
"Maybe," responded Nabiki thoughtfully. She continued, "I've read up on the history of master thieves and this reminds me of how the very best of the pickpockets work."
"Yeah," Ranma agreed. "I thought of that too. It also occurred to me that this would be a great way to disarm a weapons user, especially somebody that might have a lot of throwing knives or something like that." She grimaced, "The only problem with learning it is that you almost always have to start the way the technique is described in the teaching scroll to learn it. Once you've learned the basics, then you can modify it."
Seeing the blank look on the Tendou sisters' faces, Ranma clarified, "If we wanted to learn it from the scroll, we would have to start off by stealing each other's," Ranma shuddered, "panties."
"Or boxers," snickered Nabiki.
Akane wanted to protest about the pervert, but couldn't help giggling at Ranma's shocked expression.
= = = = =
Ranma appeared on the school roof as she released the cloaking technique. She'd been using it to enter the school the past week ever since Kuno had attempted to accost her. Because Ranma had not yet demonstrated her fighting skill to him, Kuno had been restrained in his approach so far.
Ranma heard Akane's voice on the other side of a large HVAC unit. Curious she peered around the fan to see Kuno with a large walkie-talkie. Ranma heard Akane's voice again, "Hey Ranma, you there? Come back to me with status, over."
Ranma grimaced and spoke into her own cheap toy unit, "Yo Tomboy, code blue, freeze it."
"Damn . . ." responded Akane, "Ranma, Nabiki was worried about the way the bets are shifting; this must be why. I can't get tagged today without it costing her a lot."
Ranma sighed, "Be there in two. Wait."
Ranma jumped from the roof startling several of the waiting boys. She absently noticed that many of them also held walkie-talkies as well. She darted down the road and quickly found Akane.
Holding up a hand to forestall Akane, Ranma summarized the situation, "You've got four choices; one is stay home today, two is to use the cloaking technique if you are able to yet, three is just bull your way in hoping that between the two of us we can avoid them or," Ranma paused uncertainly but continued, "we can try something a little chancy."
Akane grimaced, "I can't skip today, big test." She glanced at the redhead, "You did study for it too didn't you?" Seeing Ranma nod she continued, "I've almost got the cloaking technique but not quite." She bit her lower lip, "How badly do you think our communications are comprised?" she asked.
"Totally shot," answered Ranma, "I saw a dozen sets of walkie-talkies in use. Not all of them can get in place in time, but enough to cause you problems." She grinned and suddenly responded, "That's what we'll do today. We will give out totally bogus information and when they are all in the wrong place, you go in the direction they think you are NOT coming from."
Akane grinned and asked, "West door for me?"
Ranma nodded, "Sounds good, get in place, just make sure you aren't seen since they are also using these radio's; they could catch on to our trick real easy."
Ranma raced back to the school roof and quickly announced over the walkie-talkie, "Hey Akane; circle wide and come via the rising sun."
"Affirmative, Red." Ranma grimaced; she just knew that she was going to hear that nickname in school too as well now.
After dinner that evening, the three high school students gathered for a war council. Nabiki started it off, "Good thinking today Ranma. If anybody had been in the way of Akane getting to school, I would have lost a bundle." She sighed and continued, "It's going to be tougher tomorrow. One of my 'agents' overheard Kuno giving instructions for your path to be watched outside the school and radioed in to the others. There will also be a small squad at each door waiting to stop you long enough for Kuno to get there as well."
Akane chuckled, "I can't believe that it took them almost two months to figure out how to get around my avoidance plan just by cooperating. What a bunch of dorks."
Ranma grinned, "Yeah, but then that was the way they were doing it in the first place. I mean it was every club or guy for himself. They did half your work for you when you were fighting them off."
Seeing the frown on the Akane's face, Ranma hurried clarified, "I mean you really did an ok job handling them all. Ya got good mob fighting skills."
Akane shook her head as Ranma babbled; she had to admit it. He really did try to be nice; too bad his mouth garbled it up.
Akane was puzzled though, "I don't get it. From what you said Nabiki, Kuno has known about our communications ever since Ranma kicked him off the roof three weeks ago. Why did it take so long for him to use it against us?"
Nabiki snickered softly, "I asked Sasuke about that. Apparently Kuno doesn't understand even the simplest technology. He was shouting directions into the radio he had not realizing he had to push the transmit button first plus it only worked if the other guys also had walkie-talkies as well." She paused and added, "Plus the simple code that you and Ranma used often had him confused as well."
"Code?" asked Ranma.
"Your slang terms for stuff," responded Akane.
Nabiki's deep sigh returned their attention to the matter at hand. "So what do we do now?" she asked.
Akane shrugged and turned to Ranma. He looked thoughtful for a moment before he said. "Well we really have only two choices. The first is the cloaking technique but Akane isn't good enough with that for it to be used yet. The second, well . . . the only other chance is for either I or Nabiki to carry Akane into the school in a fold-space pocket."
Both Tendou girls blanched at the thought; but they were of warrior stock. "Blow it out your ass Saotome!" they responded in stereo.
Ranma picked himself off the floor. He gulped audibly and reluctantly said, "Hey, I'll volunteer to test it."
The next morning in the girl's bathroom at school, Ranma-chan carefully opened up the fold-space she'd made in her backpack. Akane tumbled out hair 'toinged' in all directions.
A few moments later Akane shakily said, "I see what you mean Ranma. That was just plain weird. I mean, my heart was stopped and I couldn't breathe or even move anything. Yet at the same time, my mind was awake and I could see the outside world, well, sort of." She paused, "I think I was seeing the ki of the people and the ambient chi. Everything was hazy and had weird colors." She shuddered and added, "I'm glad I could at least see. If not that then I think I would have experienced something called sensory deprivation. I've heard that can drive a person insane. I can believe it now."
Ranma cautiously leaned in and hugged the younger girl. "Ya ok now?"
Akane sighed and quickly returned the hug before pushing Ranma away embarrassed. "Yeah, I'm fine thanks." Noticing the absent looking expression that had appeared on the redhead's face, she asked, "Ranma, what are you thinking about?"
Ranma hesitantly responded, "I just realized that you were probably seeing auras just like you guessed. When I want to see a person's aura, I fold my ki over my eyes. That is sort of like what happened to you in fold space." Ranma added, "Good call."
Akane grinned happily, "Thanks. That also explains how I can learn to see auras too." She paused and added, "You know, I still don't think that I would have agreed to do this if you hadn't discovered that you can open fold-space from the inside if you know about the technique or can use your ki well enough."
Ranma nodded in understanding, "Yeah, I know what you mean. It's good in a way that we are still aware and can use our ki while in fold-space otherwise somebody could trap us there though I'm sorta surprised that those gender limitations don't apply when opening it from the inside."
Akane shrugged and replied, "Yeah that was a surprise. Come on, I don't want to be late."
= = = = =
Akane and Nabiki watched Ranma as he restlessly started another kata. Nabiki casually observed, "That's the fifth advanced kata he's started since we finished breakfast."
"Yep," Akane agreed. "That thing with Kuno last night must have really upset him. I wonder what happened. I mean it must have been pretty bad since he woke us up with his nightmare about it."
Nabiki sighed and softly said, "That letter I delivered to Ranma from Kuno wasn't a challenge. It was a sort of rendezvous invitation for the girl side. Ranma told me this morning that he felt freaked out by Kuno telling his girl side that he loved her." She paused and added, "I think we should go a little light on the girl stuff for a little while. He's a bit vulnerable just now."
"Yuk," shivered Akane in sympathy. "My skin crawls when Kuno tells me he loves me and I'm a real girl. Kami, no wonder Ranma had a nightmare about it."
"Ranma insisted on being a guy when we were in the dojo for class with him this morning too," observed Nabiki. "Said it was because we needed some practice against a guy, but I'm not sure that was the real reason."
"Hummm," sighed Akane before saying, "You know, I think we need to do something different from what we normally do; something that is guy-girl too."
Nabiki thought about it a moment. "Yup, I think you're right. The last thing like that was your 'double date'. Movie might be nice, but you don't really interact much. If it's eating, that's all he'll be focused on which sort of sucks for me. There aren't any fairs nearby."
Akane thought about it and then said, "Wonder if Ranma has ever ice skated?" She grinned, "If I recall correctly, that used to be a real skill of yours."
Nabiki thought about it for a moment, then a wide smile graced her face. "I like the idea. Let's grab him and go."
Ranma hesitantly stepped onto the ice and immediately caressed it with his face. Akane and Nabiki laughingly picked him up and held him between them as he struggled to master the art of controlled sliding.
His face glowing in embarrassment, Ranma reached for a cold drink to change into girl form when Nabiki stopped him. "Ranma, I want to spend time with my boyfriend and fiancée instead of my best girlfriend." Ranma was going to protest when his gaze was captured by her large expressive eyes that were hopeful with a glimmering of suppressed tears. He sighed knowing he was totally lost to her will. He tried though, "Ain't I just gonna embarrass ya though?"
She smiled, "Ranma, the way to keep from falling till you learn how to skate is to hold onto me."
Ranma gulped, he suddenly had the feeling that Nabiki didn't really care if he learned all that quickly. At first, Ranma was held between the two sisters until he gained a little balance skill. Then Nabiki demonstrated the cross hand hold often used by couples skating and slowly used it to gently pull Ranma around the rink as he focused on staying upright. In an hour he was ready to skate on his own. Nabiki was obscurely pleased that he still wanted to skate with her instead.
Nabiki was faintly blushing as she heard the whispered comments about her hunk. She was startled to hear more than a couple of flattering comments about herself as well.
Akane was in the snack bar area watching Nabiki and Ranma skating together when her friends Hiroshi, Daisuke, Yuka and Sayuri stopped at her table.
"Who's the hunk your sister is skating with?" asked Yuka.
"Ranma Saotome, her fiancée," absently responded Akane.
Daisuke sputtered, "Wait a moment! I thought Ranma Saotome was a red headed girl."
Akane blushed to realize she'd just blown it. She gulped audibly and then focused on salvaging the situation. She knew asking these four to say nothing was a waste of breath. Tomorrow the news about Nabiki would all over the school. "That's his twin sister. For some reason, their parents named them the same; only the spelling of their names is different. He is 'wild horse' while she is 'wild flower'." Akane made a note to inform Ranma of this development.
"You know, we haven't seen him in school. Has he dropped out or something?" wondered Yuka.
Akane wondered just how deep she was going to have to dig this hole to hide Ranma's curse. "Ah, well, his sister is staying with us 'cause we are all girls and we are also cross training in martial arts, but Ranma-kun is staying with his mother in another district. But he does visit on weekends."
Sayuri's brow was furrowed, "Why haven't we heard about this before?"
"Humm, maybe because it wasn't any of your business," hazarded Akane.
She got four looks of total disbelief.
"Spill it!" demanded the other two girls.
Akane sighed, looked over at her sister and got an idea. She held out her hand, "Ten-thousand yen from each of you." Seeing the stunned looks on their faces, she added, "Nabiki will charge you twice that."
The other four grumbled, but they did shut up.
A little later, just as Ranma and Nabiki were taking their seats with the others; Akane noticed the blond bombshell that had harassed her on the ice earlier was carrying a rather familiar pig. She chuckled as she noticed the characteristic bandana. "Hey Ranma and Nabiki," she snickered, "look who's got Ryouga."
"Huh," Ranma peered and sighed, "darn. I'm tempted to leave him with her, but I sort of do owe him a favor or two plus Kasumi has been wondering where he was."
Nabiki sighed and added, "I don't think Kasumi will be pleased with us if we leave her 'pet' pig out either."
Akane sighed, "Yeah, I hadn't thought of it that way." She got up, paused a moment before a mischievous expression graced her face. She picked up her coat and waved it as if to shake some dust off it and simply disappeared before the startled eyes of her school friends.
There was a startled shriek then Azusa was yelling for 'someone' to return her Charlotte. A moment later, Akane reappeared; she was holding the pilfered pig.
"Thief!" yelped Azusa as she attacked Akane.
"Hypocrite," retorted Akane as she ducked the first strike. "This is my sister's pet pig. Not yours." Akane tossed the unconscious pig to Ranma who deftly 'stored' him out of sight.
Akane was rapidly becoming angry with the blond ditz. First was the harassment on the ice, then stealing the pig and now the attacks. Finally loosing her temper, Akane impulsively 'bagged' Azusa in the fold space pocket she normally carried her books in. Fortunately it was empty at the moment. Akane had moved so fast that nobody except Nabiki and Ranma were sure what she'd done. The others assumed that the ditz had fled Akane . . . somehow.
Her partner Mikado hesitantly glanced around before smiling widely, "Beautiful one, I feel I must apologize for my partner's unseemly behavior. She has a bad habit of taking things she considers cute and then giving them French names. Allow me to apologize properly." As he quickly leaned in for a stolen kiss; Akane brought her knee up sharply between his legs with enough force to lift him bodily from the flood a bit.
The other six at the table quickly held up signs; 10.0 all across the board to the chuckles of the rest of the snack bar as Mikado squeaked and slowly collapsed in pain.
= = = = =
That evening Nabiki and Ranma asked Akane, "What are you going to do about Azusa? You know she's probably frightened out of her half wits by now."
Akane held up a black wig and an old school uniform of hers that was too small now. She grinned, "Decoy," she said as she added blue highlights to the wig. She frowned as she watched Ryouga wander by on an expedition to the bathroom. "Besides, she'll be ok. After all, I've been doing this for over a week now so I know what she's going through."
Nabiki wanted to argue but really wasn't happy with the girl that had dumped her and Ranma on the ice twice. "Yeah, but you knew what was happening. She doesn't really have a clue."
Akane only grinned, "Yup, clueless about reality does fit her."
The next morning Akane waited until she was sure that the hentia horde spies had spotted her approach path before she dodged out of sight and cloaked herself. She jumped over the school wall and hid behind a small shed. She released Azusa from fold space and taking advantage of her disorientation, quickly dressed her in the old school uniform and jammed the blue-black wig over her blond locks. Just as the ditz was recovering, Akane pushed her toward the school.
The horde charged her with yelps of "I love you! Date ME! I'll defeat you yet!"
Azusa may have been a ditz, but she was a martial artist nonetheless. Between shrieks of despair and outrage, the small girl laid out various members of the attacking mob in a hurry. Akane meanwhile had casually walked around the battle area and quietly entered the building almost unnoticed. Kuno looked between the fake Akane and the real one unable to decide until a hockey stick caught the locks of the wig and removed it.
Akane giggled and the horde saw her waving to them from the school. The remaining boys collectively froze when they realized they had been attacking an 'innocent' girl. They were further shocked when she began to wail. In moments, a mob of sympathetic girls were stomping the horde as the other girls gathered to comfort the distressed girl.
Azusa finally found Akane at lunch time. She frowned cutely, still a bit hesitant to face this person but determined on revenge. "I challenge you. You and your partner are challenged to face my partner and I on the ice this coming Sunday for the insult you have given me." She huffed, "Honestly, demeaning me to be mistaken for you and this horrible uniform, it's an insult that must be corrected by team combat in martial arts ice skating."
Akane grinned, "No problem, just don't get 'lost' again like last night, 'kay?"
Azusa shuddered and fled. She had decided that last night's episode was a mere nightmare and refused to consider otherwise.
= = = = =
Nabiki, Ranma and Akane casually walked past the gates of the school heading toward another boring day. The assault on Azusa had prompted a formal police hearing as a result of both her family's influence and the cries of outrage from her fan club. The hentia horde had vanished into obscurity, the presence of the police officer who just happened to walk past the school every morning now had ensured they did not return.
Needless to say, Akane loved the resulting peace and all the other girls were hopeful of maybe getting some future dates now that the horde had been dispersed.
"Hold! Pray tell what wonders are these that mine eyes doth behold?" Kuno entered the scene, mouth in motion. "I see my pig-tailed goddess and low, my fierce tigress is also nigh myself. You are blessed by my presence, come, shower me with thyselves."
With that Kuno darted toward the three girls, arms out stretched. Nabiki calmly stepped aside while Akane dodged to the other side and took a defensive stance. Ranma-chan had turned toward Nabiki and was engulfed by Kuno's embrace as he darted forward faster than Ranma had anticipated. She froze in place as each of his hands energetically massaged a breast as he embraced her from behind. Ranma struggled to escape but Kuno held her arms to her side and had lifted her feet from the ground. For the moment she was helpless.
"MY LOVE," he screamed in excitement, "I knew the mercenary one did not speak truly of you, for you doth favor me with thy affection, behold, I do return thy love!"
Ranma managed to kick backwards into Kuno's groin enough to force him to release her. As she darted aside, Kuno was flattened by an immense chi mallet.
Ranma stared in awe at Nabiki's handiwork, "Wow, Nabs, that's the biggest mallet I think I've ever seen."
Still fuming, Nabiki angrily gestured the police officer over who had also witnessed the entire confrontation. "Officer, my friend wishes to file a formal complaint about this attack. Molestation like this is not tolerable!" She huffed, "My sister and I will gladly serve as witnesses as well."
The officer nodded, quickly handcuffed Kuno and escorted them all to the nearest station. Kuno was scheduled to be released on bail that afternoon but another confrontation at the station resulted in him being transferred to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation instead.
= = = = =
Nabiki hung her head as Ranma dashed by her, Akane in hot pursuit, mallet upraised. "Ranma! Akane! The two of you are supposed to be practicing your skating," she finally yelled in an effort to quell them.
The reluctant duo glanced back at her, glared at each other and then hesitantly held hands as they once again began to practice some simple paired moves on the skates.
Mikado and Azusa snickered as they effortlessly glided by. "I would not think them to be worth the effort of defeating save the chance it gives me to bestow my blessing on the maiden," Mikado observed.
Azusa was nervously glaring at Akane. She spotted a bright hair ribbon and darted forward to quickly snatch it out of Nabiki's hair causing her to lose her balance and fall on the ice. Seeing this Mikado smiled slightly and glided over to help the fallen girl to her feet. Unnoticed by the others, Akane and Ranma also hurried over.
"Allow me to help you," offered Mikado as he lifted Nabiki to her feet. "Permit me to apologize for my partner's offense," he said as he smoothly leaned in and kissed Nabiki.
He dodged Nabiki's angry jab, but backed into Ranma in doing so. "What the hell do you think you are doing kissing MY fiancée?" snarled Ranma.
Mikado sighed regretfully, "How sad that she will now pine for me, but such is the burden I bear."
Nabiki snorted, "Not likely, you reminded me of a toad, Ranma outclasses you completely."
Ranma reached for Mikado who just grinned mockingly and glided backwards out of his reach, well, that is until he tripped over Akane's outstretched foot. "Oh my, did I trip you, ssoooo sorry," she said.
Ranma picked him up off the ice with one hand and proceeded to beat him with the other before finishing with a brutal spin kick that sent Mikado into the wall, a bleeding crumpled heap mere seconds after the confrontation started.
Nabiki held Ranma back from following up. "Ranma, I think you went overboard with that last kick." Seeing the question in Ranma's eyes, she added, "You forgot you are wearing skates didn't you?"
Suddenly worried Ranma quickly glided toward the downed playboy. A quick glance and he hurriedly told Nabiki, "Call the paramedics; he's got a broken leg, jaw and nose." He grimaced, "Yeah, I guess you were right Nabiki, I did go a bit far." His attention was drawn to where Akane was still trying to retrieve Nabiki's ribbon from Azusa. "Well, I guess we won't be having the match later today," he concluded as he watched the frustrated tomboy pull out a large mallet and accidentally demolish the skating rink.
= = = = =
Ranma-chan sat with Akane and Nabiki and watched as the paramedics hauled Mikado away. An official had tried to locate Ranma for a statement but a glass of water had taken care of that potential problem. The witnesses to the confrontation were being singularly unhelpful, seems most of them were girls unhappy about other stolen kisses. The official finally decided to write 'fell on ice' since that was what everyone was telling him.
About an hour after they left, Shampoo blew a hole in the ice cream shop wall adjacent to the ice rink. She glared about, she was sure she had sensed 'the outsider' girl's ki spike near here. Huffing in frustration, she jumped to the roof and trotted onward, hoping for another clue sometime soon.
Shampoo stared at the dancing panda with the funny hat with a speculative gleam in her eyes. She sized up the other two, the tall mustached man and a tall serene maiden before deciding this was a dead end and dashed out of the district.
= = = = =
Nabiki had an odd smile as she returned the original school scrolls to Ranma and Akane.
"Nabiki?" asked Akane. "You only kept the scrolls for a week. Did they refuse to copy them or something after you delivered them last weekend?"
"Nope," replied Nabiki as pulled two complete sets of all the scrolls out of her personal fold space and handed one to each of them. "Sometimes even I get caught up in stereotypes," Nabiki muttered. She explained, "When I delivered the scrolls, I assumed that there would be large rooms with dozens of apprenticed monks busily copying scrolls by hand." She chuckled, "Imagine my surprise when five days later they called to tell me they were done. They copied them using custom Xerox machines designed to produce duplicate scrolls of the same length. Of course they checked each scroll to make sure that the machine hadn't malfunctioned and to add watercolors where appropriate." She shook her head in disbelief as she held out a package of CD discs for their inspection. "They even scanned a copy of the scrolls onto photo discs for their own newest permanent archives to backup their printed copies. I was able to purchase a complete copy of the disc set for my own copy of the scrolls."
Ranma had been looking over his original scrolls when he noticed a change. "Hey, those two scrolls that had been stolen from them; I see that they kept the original but gave me a copy. That was nice of them."
Nabiki nodded, "Yeah, the head monk said the originals had been stolen about a hundred and eighty years ago. That was long enough for those techniques to be considered part of our school as well so he allowed us to keep a copy."
The three teen martial artists quickly placed their copies into storage, glad they'd been able to get copies without losing any of the materials to parent or monk.
= = = = =
Ranma peeked into Nabiki's room a week later. "Hey, girlfriend! What cha up ta?"
Nabiki grinned and motioned him into the room. She pointed to the computer screen and eagerly said, "I've been using the CD scroll copies to index all the techniques from all of the scrolls that we have. This way we have a complete list of the techniques, on what scroll they can be found, what techniques are related and how, just in case some are prerequisites for others."
"Wow, that's neat!" grinned Ranma. He held out his hand, "Come on, let's go get some ice cream."
Nabiki stared up at Ranma in shock.
He grinned and explained, "Not only are you my best friend, a girlfriend twice over, but you are my fiancée. I wanta take ya out, 'kay?"
Nabiki's answering smile quietly went nova burning itself into Ranma's heart.
As they walked along together hand in hand, Ranma casually asked, "Learn anything interesting when you were looking over the scroll stuff?"
Nabiki giggled and began to wave something in her hand. Ranma was puzzled until he realized she was twirling somebody's boxers around her index finger. He cautiously checked. Yep, his.
"Jeesh, Nabs," he snickered. "Of all the techniques listed, ya had to pick THAT one to learn."
She shrugged, "Actually, I thought I needed the skills for gathering information, but like you said, 'ya gotta learn it da way it's taught before ya can change it', right?"
"Yep," casually replied Ranma as he began to twirl a pair of panties around his fingers.
She snickered as she ducked into the opening of an alley and quickly put his boxers on under her dress. "Dare you to put my panties on," she teased.
"Ah come on, Nabs," whined Ranma, "ya know that's not the way I wanta get into your panties." He blushed crimson as she gaily laughed at his inadvertent innuendo.
= = = = =
Nabiki stared at Kasumi as she hummed in the kitchen. Nabiki leaned over to Akane and asked, "What's up with big sister. Why is she wearing hiking gear and is that a picnic basket she's packing?" Nabiki paused in shock as she watched Kasumi apparently stuff the whole basket into her own fold space.
Akane pointed to the backpack by the outside door. "Kasumi is getting ready for a date with Ryouga again. His mom phoned to say they were on their way so she's getting ready."
"Damn," grumped Nabiki. "That means I'm going to end up cooking dinner for a day or two or week or three." She glared at Akane's hopeful expression, "And don't you even think of volunteering again. It took me two days to recover from the last meal you made."
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Author's notes:
Additional Ranma fan-fiction can be found on my Web Pages.
C & C to clouddreamer2000yahoo.com
Main Web-page - www.geocities.com (slash) clouddreamer2000
And alternate - mysite.verizon.net (slash) cloud-dreamer/index.html
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