You've Got Mail
AN/Disclaimer: the characters and settings of Gundam Wing and Ranma ½ are not mine and never will be. I'm just borrowing them to play with. This is and AU crossover fic. Look out for het and yaoi relationships as well as for OCC ness.
Chapter One: The arrival of Dana Maxwell
It started just like every other damn day has since me an' Pops started livin' with the Tendo's, with me getting' wet and turnin' inta a girl.
SPLASH!
One three point landing in the koi pond. Least this time I landed face up, always a good thing. Less chance of swallowing water if I hit my head and get knocked out again. Damn near drowned a couple a times, at least after the last time Pops started fishing me out if I didn't surface quick 'nough.
Any ways back to the story.
It started like most days at the Tendo's. A quick trip to the koi pond followed by sparring with Pops until Kasumi called us for breakfast. A quick splash of hot water, a change of clothes, eating quick while fighting Pops for food, then grabbing my school bag and out the door to school.
The first sign that it was gonna be a weird day was my gettin' to school early. Akane had pissed me off so I ran on ahead and got a good seat to watch her bash the hentai hoard like she did every mornin'. She was doin' good, smashing through those geeks like a freight train, guys and equipment flyin' every where. I settled back to enjoy the show 'til I saw that one of 'em was gonna land on a girl with a long braid who was hangin' out by the main doors into the school. I jumped outta the tree an' hauled her an' the guy she was talkin' to outta the way just before the soccer player Akane bashed their way landed on 'em.
Ya know, I usually didn't pay much attention to girls, but man she was pretty, big purple eyes, a cute nose, nice lips, and the longest braid I'd ever seen. She was prettier than Shampoo, an' I'd never seen her before. It wasn't 'til she asked me to put her down that I realized I was standin' there starin', with her in one arm and the fella she'd been talkin' to about to blow a fuse in the other. I can remember her giggling when I blushed and stuttered while I put 'em both down fast as I could without dropping 'em. I remember sayin' sorry and backin' away red as a beet before turnin' and headin' up to class in a daze.
The second crush I'd ever had, not that I realized that's what it was, and as I found out later, She was a He…
But never mind that, I'll explain later, back to the story.
The girl with the braid was the second person I'd ever had a crush on, and the first one just about bust a gut when she came in to the classroom only to see me starin' outta the window with a silly grin on my face. Soon as she saw me, Akane started yellin' and callin' me a pervert. Seems she saw me pull the girl outta the way and forget to let go. If Miss Hinako hadn't come in right then, she woulda used that mallet of her's to send me flyin' out the window. But the teacher did show up, an' she had to sit down like everyone else.
Miss Hinako did all the usual things, announcements and such, same old thing as every day, 'til she said that we had a couple of new exchange students coming in to the class, Dana Maxwell and Chang Wufei. For a second I thought what if… then shrugged it off, knowin' my luck was too shitty for somethin' like that to happen. Course who walked in to the classroom but the pair I'd grabbed outta the way earlier.
Up 'til that point, I'd been slouched down starin' at the front of the room bored outta my mind. I was surprised enough to end up sittin' straight at my desk for once. Lookin' at 'em at the front of the room, I noticed somethin' I'd missed before. The guy, Chang, had a sword strapped to his back. This told me just how flustered Dana Maxwell had me, 'cause the sword an' the way Chang moved weren't the sort of things I usually missed.
In any case, as it turned out, the only free seats in the room were next to me and Akane. I could feel the glares from all of the guys in the class, I got to sit next to not only the most sought after girl in school, who I just happened to be engaged to, but I also got to sit next to the pretty new girl too. But hell, guys glarin' at me was something I was pretty well used to by then, so it really didn't bug me at all.
The way Chang glared at me as he sat down at his desk was somethin' else altogether. Not even Ryouga at his worst could match this guy. I just hoped that he wouldn't decide he had to attack me every chance he got like Ryouga, Mousse, and Kuno. If he did, hopefully he'd at least make a half decent sparring partner, one Kuno wasa more than enough. All he was good for was a punching bag, occassionaly useful as a way to get rid of frustration, but usually just in the way. Chang on the other hand looked like he might actually put up a decent fight.
At the moment though, I was more interested in the girl following him, so after a quick assesment to figure out if he was going to be trouble, I focused on her. As she got closer to the empty seat next to me she shook her head, rolled her eyes at Chang and grinned at me. I couldn't help but grin back and for some reason she turned a bit pink, lowered her eyes, and hurried to sit down. Man she was so cute.
Of course Akane just had to tell them I was her fiancée just as soon as she possibly could. She'd seen how I'd looked at the girl, and even though she didn't want me herself, she wasn't about to let anyone else have me either. What a pain in the ass that girl was. At least while I was engaged to Nabiki she pretended to want me. Yeah, I knew it was a lie when she said she loved me, only thing that girl loves is money.
After that, besides the occasional blistering glares from Chang, and U-chan, class went same as usual till lunch time. Rather than sit in nany of my usual places where Akane, Ukyo, or Shampoo would be able to find me, I sat about half way up one of the trees near the school, in a spot where I could see preety much everything in front of the school but where no one could see me. I even did my best to supress my ki signature so Shampoo couldn't track that either. At the time I wouldn't have admitted it, but I was lookin' for Dana Maxwell. Even then I had it bad.
It was nice eatin' alone, not bein' bugged by my fiancées, and even better, I got to watch the new girl with out anyone knowing what I was doin', which was exactly what I did. I was kinda surprised to find myself pissed off when most of the guys around my age who were crowded around her and trying to get close enouogh to flirt. Chang chased 'em off pretty quick though, so it didn't bug me too bad. Idiot that I was I didn't figure out 'til later that I'd been jealous.
Back in the class room after lunch, but before Akane and Ukyo got back, I got up the nerve to go over to her, even with Chang nearby, an' apologize for what I'd done that morning. She just laughed and thanked me for getting her and the big grump outta the way of the gut who was gonna hit 'em. Then she started flirting with me an' I found myself flirting back until I couldn't stand Chang glarin' at me anymore. So I asked him what his problem was. Dana, she asked me ta call her that, just elbowed him and called him grumpy and overprotective. He just scowled at her and told her that that was his job.
She laughed at him and told him he wasn't really her older brother and that she could take care of herself. He raised an eyerbrow and asked if she really thought that would stop him.
The two of them had fun arguing back and forth until Miss Hinako came back from lunch. In the meantime I was doin' my best not to laugh. I also learned that the two were best friends, that they'd both attended the same school in the US, and that they were living with some other exchange students from different countries. We were havin' fun until Akane showed up, started yellin at me about not being around to eat the lunch she made me and demanding that I eat it now. I told her no way was I gonna eat it, that I didn't want to end up in the hospital again thanks to one of he biological weapons, and that in any case it was too late to eat anything since class was about to start.
I'm sure she would have sent me flying if Miss Hinako hadn't walked in the door at that moment. As it was Akane huffed back to her seat after the teacher forced her to put away that damn mallet of hers. As a result I was feelin' pretty good as I settled in and prepared to spend most of the afternoon bored out of my mind.
I spent more time awake and listening than usual that afternoon. Chang kept poking me awake whenever I started dozing off, he claimed my snoring was too distractin'. Akane glared and Dana just giggled at us.
ooOOoo--
After class, me and Chang left together, arguin' about somthin' from the history lesson while Dana followed us tryin' not to laugh and Akane stomped along in the read fuming at the lack of attention.
I knew Akane and U-chan were mad at me, but to tell you the truth, I couldn't have cared less. Turned out that Dana an' Chang had to go the same way I did, so we kept on a talkin' 'til we got to the dojo, where I stopped and said I'd see 'em tomorrow. By then Akane was really pissed off. She'd been followin' us since we'd left school, and seemed to feel that my not walkin' on the fence like I usually did was an insult to her. So of course she hit me with that damn mallet of hers as soon as Dana and Chang were out of sight, sendin' me flyin' as usual, this time towards Juuban.
As I flew over Nerima, I saw Dana an' Chang goin' up to a house. After what Dana had told me at school I wasn't surprised to see two more boys turn into the same yard. Since both looked foreign, I figured they were the other exchange students Dana had talked about. As I continued my flight to Juuban I realized that while I wished she didn't live with so many guys I was happy that I knew where Dana lived.
That evening at supper, after I finally got back to the dojo, Akane starated bitchin' about me ignoring her and 'fawning' all over the new girl. Naturally the little bitch left out the fact that I spent at least as much time talking to the new boy. As usual I didn't get a chance to explain, much less defend my self, before Pops and Akane's dad were accusing me of being unfaithful, yelling and wailing about what a horrible, honorless son/fiance I was.
Much to my suprise Nabiki came to my rescue. She poured the rest of her lemonade on Pops and asked her dad if he was going to accuse me of flirting with the new boy in my class as well since her sources told her I spent more time talaking to him than I did talking to the new girl. She also told Akane to quit being such a whiny, jealous little girl because it wasn't like she wanted me for herself anyway. Then she got up and left.
Other than Kasumi's "Oh My", there wasn't a sound to be heard around the table other than Pops grumbling to himself as a panda. I was almost scared to look over and see Akane's response to Nabiki's last comment. Of course the lack of a demand from Nabiki regarding payment for helping me did nothing to make me less nervous, in fact it made it worse because I knew she was going to eventually ask for something worse than money. When I finally did peek in Akane's direction, I was just in time to see her mouth snap shut as a red flush of fury crept up her face, and I knew exactly what was going to happen next if I didn't get out of mallet range right away.
I was almost too late. I saw her mallet appear just as I started to run.
Later that evening I asked Nabiki what I owed her for her help. All I could do was groan when she waved away my wallet and told me that I owed her a favor in return for her aid at supper, and that she'd call it due when she needed it.
I really wished she'd emptied my wallet instead.
AN: First things first. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the prologue. Just a couple of things that might help this make more sense. First of all this story is written from Ranma's prespective after he's left Nerima for good. It's meant to read like he's telling you what happened from his point of view. From his perspective the events in this chapter happened more than a year ago while the events in the prologue, the email from Duo telling him they are getting him out of Nerima, happened less than two months ago. Secondly, you have to remember that Ranma at the time of his deciding who he wanted to father the baby he was going to use to get rid of the fianees was slightly mentally unhinged, a bit around the bend if you will. At least that's how I'm trying to portray him at that point. Driven to desperation and starting to go a little nuts.
Also I'd like to thank Honor and lilmizflashythang for their offers to beta. unfortunately I'm having a bit of trouble accessing you email addresses in your profiles so I'd really appreciate it if you'd be willing to put them in the reviews for this chapter so I can contact you. Thanks.
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