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Ranma was waiting for them when they reached the corner to the path up to the school. His clothes had dried a little, but his red hair was still damp. He had untied it to wring it out while waiting and absently tied it into a loose ponytail, instead of his usual tight pigtail. Akane was only mildly surprised to see that Ranma had remained in his female form, instead of stopping by the clinic for one of the several kettles Dr. Tofu kept on the small stove of his kitchen. Though he lived above the clinic in a full apartment larger than what many could afford, he prefered cooking in the small kitchen of the clinic. It allowed him to be more readily available in case of emergencies since the kitchen in the clinic was a sealed room with a separate sprinkler system in case of fire while the apartment above had no such system as of yet.
Akane discretely studied her currently female fiancee. She was again surprised by the intensity of her reactions towards the other girl. Before Ranma, she had only had a very mild curiosity about other girls, but with Ranma's arrival, she was as attractive to Akane as Ranma's very masculine male form. The soft curves and musculature of Ranma's form were endlessly fascinating to her and she hoped to one day be able to explore both of Ranma's forms freely. But until that day, she had to control herself, and remember that there was a chance of some type of problem with Ranma, though she didn't see what could have hurt him so badly as to cause a permanent injury in the fast healing youth. She had seen Ranma heal from broken bones and cuts that would cripple anyone else in the time it would take a normal person to heal from a papercut.
As they passed through the gates of the school, Akane absentmindedly jabbed to her left, sending the charging Tatewaki Kuno flying to slam once again into the brick wall. It had become so ingrained in them all, that conciously, she noted nothing of the incident, from Kuno's charge, to her own punch or the racket Kuno made when he impacted into the wall. The only one to notice at all, was the groundskeeper, who once again took out his frustration on the inept kendoist with a few swift kicks and slams of a rake to the youth's kidneys. This too was so common, no one noticed anything about it.
Once inside the grounds the three split up, Nabiki sauntering to her cohorts who waited impatiently for her. Akane joined her friends by the doors, joining the conversation about the new clothing store with a last glance at her fiancee. Ranma joined a group of boys who were tossing a ball around. No one gave any indication of noticing Ranma's current female state. Occassionaly, a boy would glance down to stare at Ranma's impressive chest, but for the most part, they treated the red head as one of their own. Many had had to learn the hard way that Ranma had no interest in them simply because he was physically a girl.
The morning passed quickly, Ranma sleeping through the courses while Akane struggled to keep from bashing him for doing so. The only sore spot was Ukyo, who kept trying to monopolize Ranma during the short breaks between classes. Ranma slept through the chefs repeated attempts to waken him, even when she poured some heated water over him, changing him back to his male form. Seeing that it wasn't working, she stared angrily at Akane muttering threats under her breath. Akane ignored her, more interested in finishing the morning classes and the appointments for the afternoon.
Finally the final morning class ended and she packed up her books. Ukyo had again gone to try and wake Ranma, with no success. That was mildly surprising to Akane, for she was sure that Ranma's stomach would wake him for lunch at least. But Ranma slept on and Ukyo, with a final hate filled glare at Akane, stormed out of the room, fingering a sharpened throwing spatula. Akane waited until the class was empty before going over to her sleeping fiance. She picked up his book bag and started to the door.
"Everyone's gone, Ranma, you can stop faking now." she said over her shoulder.
Ranma's head raised sleepily from the desk to glance around the room. Seeing no one, his expression went from one of drowsiness to one of alertness. He silently stood and moved to stand behind Akane, grabbing the bag she held out for him. "How'd ya' know?" he asked as they started walking through the deserted halls.
Akane giggled, causing Ranma's heart to give a little flip like it always did when she was happy. "I know you better than anyone else, Ranma. I saw how your eyes were slightly open while you were snoring away. You have a completely different snore when you're really sleeping. It's softer and not as gross sounding. When you're faking, it sounds like you're about to hack something up any second."
Ranma frowned a little. 'When did Akane ever spend enough time studying me to notice that?' he thought to himself. Aloud, he changed the subject. "So do we eat first or go to the clinic?"
Akane giggled again, noting Ranma's attempt to change the subject. "We go to the clinic. You might not have noticed this morning, but we don't have bento's. After your appointments, we're going to eat in the city. Depending on how long it takes, we might even have time to see a movie before Dr. Tofu brings us home."
"That's fine by me, as long as it isn't one of those silly American romantic comedy's you like so much. I'd rather see a bad chinese martial arts movie than one of those." Ranma comlained halfheartidly.
Akane grinned. "I'm sure we'll find something, Ranma." she was much more woried about what the tests might show than she was letting on. She didn't want there to be something wrong with Ranma. She loved him too much to hope that he was injured in any way. She just prayed that if the doctor's did find something, that it wasn't too serious and that it wouldn't take a major operation. She still vaguely recalled seeing her mother in a recovery room after her surgery. Her mother had never returned home, even after two more surgeries. She had hated hospitals ever since.
They walked in silence, Akane carrying both sets of bags. Ranma's eyes were constantly scanning the area around them, on guard against any attack. He had not allowed Shampoo to grope him since the bombed wedding and he didn't want to risk her sneaking up on him. Mousse had also been absent since the wedding. In fact, now that he thought of it, he hadn't really seen much of any of the suitors, save the Kunos. He was ignoring Ukyo at school, reasoning that that would be a more effective punishment for her part in the whole mess than a tongue lashing or fight.
They reached the clinic with no incidents, though they did pass a few of Akane's friend who were playing hookey from school. They had spoken for a few minutes, while Ranma leapt to the top of a fence and panned the horizon. He had heard several bike bells, but none had been from Shampoo's delivery bike. The only sighting of her he'd had was seeing her riding along the rooftops several blocks away in the direction of the school. Judging from the direction she was coming from, he guessed that she must have had a delivery on the far side of town. He was thankfull for that for today was not a day he wished to have anything to do with any of the fools chasing him. He wanted to be in good shape for the tests, since Akane had told him that they'd be taking pictures of his bones and insides.
They entered the clinic to find the waiting room empty. A sign hung on the door stating that the afternoon and evening appointments were moved to the next day due to family obligations. Ranma chuckled at that, seeing that in a very real way, Tofu was indeed a member of the Tendo family. If he could ever get the courage to ask Kasumi out, anyway.
"Hey doc? You here?" he called out as Akane nervously took a seat in a chair. He watched as she grabbed a pamphlet from the little rack, blushing at the subject. 'So you're having your first period: Myth's and Facts about puberty in the teenage girl.' God, who writes these things? he thought to himself, turning to face the door leading to the back.
Dr. Tofu walked out of the back, a smile on his face as he calmly wiped his hands on a towel. "Sorry for the little delay, you two, but I have a patient who broke a leg this morning. I had to set the bone before putting on the cast, and then I had to clean up after they left. Just give me a few minutes and I'll be ready to go." So saying, the mild-mannered doctor returned to the back to finish changing out of his gown and into a somewhat casual suit of dress pants and a loose, silk shirt. He returned about five minutes later, and silently studied his two favorite patients as they fiddled about his waiting room.
He had known Akane Tendo for nearly 12 years. Her family had been among the first he was introduced by the doctor who used to run this clinic when he first finished his medical training. He had known that they had been chosen as his first patients for a reason, though it wasn't until later that he had heard tales of Soun Tendo's position in the community. The Tendo's had lived in Nerima for many generations. They served the unofficial role of councillors for the community, solving disputes among their neighbors that might otherwise had led to physical conflict and government interference in their lives.
Soun's wife, Kimiko, had been a beautiful and kind woman. She had also been a shrewd businesswoman and an excellent martial artist. Whenever someone in the community had financial problems or needed legal advice, they went first to Kimiko Tendo. She was a softspoken woman, who could hold her own in discussions with even the most pigheaded Japanese man. In a time when woman were still looked at as second class citizens, she had graduated college with degrees in both law and business. She came from a moderatly wealthy family, who had selected Soun as her husband due to his martial prowess and a rather substantial income of his own as a member of a covert government squad, along with his lifelong friend and training partner, Genma Saotome. The Tendo's had been proud to accept Soun into their clan, though it meant associating themselves with Genma.
Tofu could easily see Kimiko reflected in each of her daughters. Kasumi had the same gentle exterior and iron core of her mother. She had rapidly filled the void left in the community by Kimiko's death. She was more interested in the medical arts than the study of law, something which Tofu attributed to his own influence on a young girl thrust into adulthood before her time. She was the one people sought to settle their disputes or to receive advise on a variety of matters. While a decent haggler and good with bargains, she knew her limits- When people needed advice on financial matters, she quickly directed them to Nabiki.
Nabiki was what could only be described as a financial phenom. She dealt with money and the making of money as easily as a musical prodigy could play the piano or a star athlete could play their position. She had a mind like a steel trap. She could remember practically everything she heard or read and recite it verbatim to anyone she encountered. She had taken over the financial aspects of the Tendo household, increasing them to a substanctial amount. She hid the Tendo wealth, not wishing to be like the other wealthy youths she knew.
She saw the dangers in allowing yourself to give in to greed. Though she often seemed greedy to her colleagues, she kept very little of the profits her various enterprises made. She took most of the money and reinvested in various projects, including real estate and construction companies. This only served to further increase the Tendo clan's wealth. She had set up accounts that would allow her and her sisters to live in perpetuity for the remainder of their lives and the lives of any children they might have. Only Kasumi knew of the true extent of the Tendo's wealth, a wealth made only greater by their love and genuine affection for each other. It was often said, in some circle's, that the family would have vanished with Kimiko's deaths if it wasn't for the strengths of the elder two Tendo girls.
In Akane, he saw the side he had least seen in Kimiko. He had never known her to be angry himself, though he had treated several injuries people proudly acreditted to her in his first few months in Nerima. She was a diplomat, someone who solved problems. If people didn't like her solutions, they sometimes tried to bully her into their side, but they soon learned that it was folly to try and intimidate a daughter of a samurai clan. Her family had been martial artists and samurai for as far back as they could trace, and they had chosen her a husband who could match her skill. She had a temper, unlike her eldest daughter, and unlike her middle daughter, she often allowed her emotions to control her actions, keeping favorite stocks or investments past their peak values.
This trait of loyalty and emotionality was passed to her youngest daughter. Akane had inherited her mothers quick temper and easygoing nature. These two traits seemed at odds, but they served to control each other quick well. Akane might get angry quickly and lash out at those who angered her, as she did with Ranma so often, yet she almost never held any real grudges. There were a few obvious exceptions, such as Kodachi and Shampoo, but given that those two had several times sought to kill her or maim her in some way, that was understandable.
Together, her daughters had continued to live as Kimiko had wished them too. At their own pace and to live the life they chose, not one forced on them by society.
"So let's get going." he stated, causing Ranma to spin in place, fists clenched and Akane to drop the pamphlet she was reading and stand up.
Ranma was waiting for them when they reached the corner to the path up to the school. His clothes had dried a little, but his red hair was still damp. He had untied it to wring it out while waiting and absently tied it into a loose ponytail, instead of his usual tight pigtail. Akane was only mildly surprised to see that Ranma had remained in his female form, instead of stopping by the clinic for one of the several kettles Dr. Tofu kept on the small stove of his kitchen. Though he lived above the clinic in a full apartment larger than what many could afford, he prefered cooking in the small kitchen of the clinic. It allowed him to be more readily available in case of emergencies since the kitchen in the clinic was a sealed room with a separate sprinkler system in case of fire while the apartment above had no such system as of yet.
Akane discretely studied her currently female fiancee. She was again surprised by the intensity of her reactions towards the other girl. Before Ranma, she had only had a very mild curiosity about other girls, but with Ranma's arrival, she was as attractive to Akane as Ranma's very masculine male form. The soft curves and musculature of Ranma's form were endlessly fascinating to her and she hoped to one day be able to explore both of Ranma's forms freely. But until that day, she had to control herself, and remember that there was a chance of some type of problem with Ranma, though she didn't see what could have hurt him so badly as to cause a permanent injury in the fast healing youth. She had seen Ranma heal from broken bones and cuts that would cripple anyone else in the time it would take a normal person to heal from a papercut.
As they passed through the gates of the school, Akane absentmindedly jabbed to her left, sending the charging Tatewaki Kuno flying to slam once again into the brick wall. It had become so ingrained in them all, that conciously, she noted nothing of the incident, from Kuno's charge, to her own punch or the racket Kuno made when he impacted into the wall. The only one to notice at all, was the groundskeeper, who once again took out his frustration on the inept kendoist with a few swift kicks and slams of a rake to the youth's kidneys. This too was so common, no one noticed anything about it.
Once inside the grounds the three split up, Nabiki sauntering to her cohorts who waited impatiently for her. Akane joined her friends by the doors, joining the conversation about the new clothing store with a last glance at her fiancee. Ranma joined a group of boys who were tossing a ball around. No one gave any indication of noticing Ranma's current female state. Occassionaly, a boy would glance down to stare at Ranma's impressive chest, but for the most part, they treated the red head as one of their own. Many had had to learn the hard way that Ranma had no interest in them simply because he was physically a girl.
The morning passed quickly, Ranma sleeping through the courses while Akane struggled to keep from bashing him for doing so. The only sore spot was Ukyo, who kept trying to monopolize Ranma during the short breaks between classes. Ranma slept through the chefs repeated attempts to waken him, even when she poured some heated water over him, changing him back to his male form. Seeing that it wasn't working, she stared angrily at Akane muttering threats under her breath. Akane ignored her, more interested in finishing the morning classes and the appointments for the afternoon.
Finally the final morning class ended and she packed up her books. Ukyo had again gone to try and wake Ranma, with no success. That was mildly surprising to Akane, for she was sure that Ranma's stomach would wake him for lunch at least. But Ranma slept on and Ukyo, with a final hate filled glare at Akane, stormed out of the room, fingering a sharpened throwing spatula. Akane waited until the class was empty before going over to her sleeping fiance. She picked up his book bag and started to the door.
"Everyone's gone, Ranma, you can stop faking now." she said over her shoulder.
Ranma's head raised sleepily from the desk to glance around the room. Seeing no one, his expression went from one of drowsiness to one of alertness. He silently stood and moved to stand behind Akane, grabbing the bag she held out for him. "How'd ya' know?" he asked as they started walking through the deserted halls.
Akane giggled, causing Ranma's heart to give a little flip like it always did when she was happy. "I know you better than anyone else, Ranma. I saw how your eyes were slightly open while you were snoring away. You have a completely different snore when you're really sleeping. It's softer and not as gross sounding. When you're faking, it sounds like you're about to hack something up any second."
Ranma frowned a little. 'When did Akane ever spend enough time studying me to notice that?' he thought to himself. Aloud, he changed the subject. "So do we eat first or go to the clinic?"
Akane giggled again, noting Ranma's attempt to change the subject. "We go to the clinic. You might not have noticed this morning, but we don't have bento's. After your appointments, we're going to eat in the city. Depending on how long it takes, we might even have time to see a movie before Dr. Tofu brings us home."
"That's fine by me, as long as it isn't one of those silly American romantic comedy's you like so much. I'd rather see a bad chinese martial arts movie than one of those." Ranma comlained halfheartidly.
Akane grinned. "I'm sure we'll find something, Ranma." she was much more woried about what the tests might show than she was letting on. She didn't want there to be something wrong with Ranma. She loved him too much to hope that he was injured in any way. She just prayed that if the doctor's did find something, that it wasn't too serious and that it wouldn't take a major operation. She still vaguely recalled seeing her mother in a recovery room after her surgery. Her mother had never returned home, even after two more surgeries. She had hated hospitals ever since.
They walked in silence, Akane carrying both sets of bags. Ranma's eyes were constantly scanning the area around them, on guard against any attack. He had not allowed Shampoo to grope him since the bombed wedding and he didn't want to risk her sneaking up on him. Mousse had also been absent since the wedding. In fact, now that he thought of it, he hadn't really seen much of any of the suitors, save the Kunos. He was ignoring Ukyo at school, reasoning that that would be a more effective punishment for her part in the whole mess than a tongue lashing or fight.
They reached the clinic with no incidents, though they did pass a few of Akane's friend who were playing hookey from school. They had spoken for a few minutes, while Ranma leapt to the top of a fence and panned the horizon. He had heard several bike bells, but none had been from Shampoo's delivery bike. The only sighting of her he'd had was seeing her riding along the rooftops several blocks away in the direction of the school. Judging from the direction she was coming from, he guessed that she must have had a delivery on the far side of town. He was thankfull for that for today was not a day he wished to have anything to do with any of the fools chasing him. He wanted to be in good shape for the tests, since Akane had told him that they'd be taking pictures of his bones and insides.
They entered the clinic to find the waiting room empty. A sign hung on the door stating that the afternoon and evening appointments were moved to the next day due to family obligations. Ranma chuckled at that, seeing that in a very real way, Tofu was indeed a member of the Tendo family. If he could ever get the courage to ask Kasumi out, anyway.
"Hey doc? You here?" he called out as Akane nervously took a seat in a chair. He watched as she grabbed a pamphlet from the little rack, blushing at the subject. 'So you're having your first period: Myth's and Facts about puberty in the teenage girl.' God, who writes these things? he thought to himself, turning to face the door leading to the back.
Dr. Tofu walked out of the back, a smile on his face as he calmly wiped his hands on a towel. "Sorry for the little delay, you two, but I have a patient who broke a leg this morning. I had to set the bone before putting on the cast, and then I had to clean up after they left. Just give me a few minutes and I'll be ready to go." So saying, the mild-mannered doctor returned to the back to finish changing out of his gown and into a somewhat casual suit of dress pants and a loose, silk shirt. He returned about five minutes later, and silently studied his two favorite patients as they fiddled about his waiting room.
He had known Akane Tendo for nearly 12 years. Her family had been among the first he was introduced by the doctor who used to run this clinic when he first finished his medical training. He had known that they had been chosen as his first patients for a reason, though it wasn't until later that he had heard tales of Soun Tendo's position in the community. The Tendo's had lived in Nerima for many generations. They served the unofficial role of councillors for the community, solving disputes among their neighbors that might otherwise had led to physical conflict and government interference in their lives.
Soun's wife, Kimiko, had been a beautiful and kind woman. She had also been a shrewd businesswoman and an excellent martial artist. Whenever someone in the community had financial problems or needed legal advice, they went first to Kimiko Tendo. She was a softspoken woman, who could hold her own in discussions with even the most pigheaded Japanese man. In a time when woman were still looked at as second class citizens, she had graduated college with degrees in both law and business. She came from a moderatly wealthy family, who had selected Soun as her husband due to his martial prowess and a rather substantial income of his own as a member of a covert government squad, along with his lifelong friend and training partner, Genma Saotome. The Tendo's had been proud to accept Soun into their clan, though it meant associating themselves with Genma.
Tofu could easily see Kimiko reflected in each of her daughters. Kasumi had the same gentle exterior and iron core of her mother. She had rapidly filled the void left in the community by Kimiko's death. She was more interested in the medical arts than the study of law, something which Tofu attributed to his own influence on a young girl thrust into adulthood before her time. She was the one people sought to settle their disputes or to receive advise on a variety of matters. While a decent haggler and good with bargains, she knew her limits- When people needed advice on financial matters, she quickly directed them to Nabiki.
Nabiki was what could only be described as a financial phenom. She dealt with money and the making of money as easily as a musical prodigy could play the piano or a star athlete could play their position. She had a mind like a steel trap. She could remember practically everything she heard or read and recite it verbatim to anyone she encountered. She had taken over the financial aspects of the Tendo household, increasing them to a substanctial amount. She hid the Tendo wealth, not wishing to be like the other wealthy youths she knew.
She saw the dangers in allowing yourself to give in to greed. Though she often seemed greedy to her colleagues, she kept very little of the profits her various enterprises made. She took most of the money and reinvested in various projects, including real estate and construction companies. This only served to further increase the Tendo clan's wealth. She had set up accounts that would allow her and her sisters to live in perpetuity for the remainder of their lives and the lives of any children they might have. Only Kasumi knew of the true extent of the Tendo's wealth, a wealth made only greater by their love and genuine affection for each other. It was often said, in some circle's, that the family would have vanished with Kimiko's deaths if it wasn't for the strengths of the elder two Tendo girls.
In Akane, he saw the side he had least seen in Kimiko. He had never known her to be angry himself, though he had treated several injuries people proudly acreditted to her in his first few months in Nerima. She was a diplomat, someone who solved problems. If people didn't like her solutions, they sometimes tried to bully her into their side, but they soon learned that it was folly to try and intimidate a daughter of a samurai clan. Her family had been martial artists and samurai for as far back as they could trace, and they had chosen her a husband who could match her skill. She had a temper, unlike her eldest daughter, and unlike her middle daughter, she often allowed her emotions to control her actions, keeping favorite stocks or investments past their peak values.
This trait of loyalty and emotionality was passed to her youngest daughter. Akane had inherited her mothers quick temper and easygoing nature. These two traits seemed at odds, but they served to control each other quick well. Akane might get angry quickly and lash out at those who angered her, as she did with Ranma so often, yet she almost never held any real grudges. There were a few obvious exceptions, such as Kodachi and Shampoo, but given that those two had several times sought to kill her or maim her in some way, that was understandable.
Together, her daughters had continued to live as Kimiko had wished them too. At their own pace and to live the life they chose, not one forced on them by society.
"So let's get going." he stated, causing Ranma to spin in place, fists clenched and Akane to drop the pamphlet she was reading and stand up.
