Starting Over: Do You Want to be Friends?
Chapter 3: Enter the…Jerk?
By Senshi of Valis
Oh yeah, must not forget the disclaimer, right? As if anyone reads em anyways. I do not own Ranma or Cardcaptors. Rumiko owns Ranma and Cardcaptors belongs to Clamp.
Ranko ran as fast as she could away from the dojo, away from Akane. Her mind was overflowing with questions, how could Akane think that she would ever do THAT to anyone, just the thought of forcing herself on anyone made her ill. A part of her knew that Akane had her reasons, she didn't doubt for an instant that Akane had reasons for her fear … the hentai horde was reason enough. After all if they thought beating her gave them the right to date her, what else did they think that defeating Akane would buy them. Given how easily "Ranma" had defeated Akane in that sparing match the first night they meet had no doubt sent those fears into overdrive. Still, to actually hear Akane say that she was afraid that "Ranma" would force "his" lusts on her … well it just plain HURT.
She kept running even as the sky grew darker and the night more ominous, both from the coming dusk and the storm clouds moving into the city. Even the relatively friendly streets of Nerima were different, scarier at night. Ranko wanted time alone to think about everything, to consider her options, to decide if there was a glimmer of hope in the fact that Akane had discovered her secret. She knew she'd had no choice about telling Akane the truth, but now the other girl might let the truth slip … and that had the potential for disaster. If Akane revealed the truth it would bring Genma's wrath down on the red head. Of course if Ranko had refused to tell the truth Akane would have surely confronted the old man which directly, with disastrous results. She had faced her so called "father's" wrath, and had suffered greatly as a result. The petite redhead shuddered as she remembered just what the old man was capable of doing.
A loud bang caused her to jump in surprise effectively disrupting the thoughts which were growing more and more depressed and confused she realized. Looking up she recognized her surroundings and saw that she was inside the gates of Furinkan High. To her shock, the large iron gates were bent and twisted, nearly completely melted. The school itself was deserted she noticed as a flash of lightning lit up the darkening sky even more the darkness overwhelmed by the sudden quicksilver flash.
A cold shiver ran down her back as a gust of wind blew up some dirt and debris from the ground and ruffled her hair and clothes. It wasn't the wind that caused the shiver though, she was sure it was magic. It was a feeling, nearly indescribably, but one that had become familiar to her over the last few months. A feeling of power that was not easily controlled, of a power that most people either didn't (or wouldn't even admit existed. It was definitely magic that she felt possibly even that of a clow card…but which one?
"It's not safe here." A voice said, one she never heard before. Ranko slowly turned she aw a boy about her age standing there with unruly brown hair dressed in green Chinese robes. A boy who had the most wonderful brown eyes and the lithe build of a fighter. Ranko shook her head at that thought, where did that thought come from, what possessed her to think that? She couldn't stand thinking about boys like that not after …Shaking her head again Ranko tried to clear her mind. Like Akane she too feared that boys were perverts. Ranko sighed inwardly as she realized Akane was just acting like Ranko felt a lot of the time. Her musings were interrupted as the stranger spoke again.
"Are you okay?"
"Uh…Yeah, sure…" Ranko said nervously telling herself that, this boy wasn't affecting her, nope, she was just stressed out from everything that happened earlier. She kept telling herself that as her cheeks heated up in a blush and she fidgeted under his watchful gaze.
"Oh-Kay…Look, miss…" the boy said, after a rather long and uncomfortable pause.
"Ranko…" Ranko said, flinching when she realized her mistake.
"Ranko, there's something bad here and you need to leave now before something happens." The boy said.
Ranko finally noticed what she should have seen immediately. The boy held a rather impressive looking sword, and held it like someone who knew more than just the basics of its use. Before she could ask him about it a bolt of lightning struck the ground a scant few feet away, throwing the two back and onto the ground. Looking up Ranko's jaw dropped when she saw a huge wolf staring at them, his ears flattened and a snarl ripping from deep inside the large beast. The wolf isn't what shocked Ranko so much though, it was the fact that the wolf's shape wavered and popped. An ordinary wolf would have been bad enough, but this one was made out of what looked like electricity. She could feel her hair popping with static electricity and was undoubtedly standing straight up.
"Run!" the boy demanded as he stood up. Even as he spoke he was pulling a strip of paper from his sleeve and throwing it up in front of him. Holding his sword horizontally in front of him the boy pushed out towards the paper, one hand on the hilt, the other bracing the blade. "Force hear my plight, release the LIGHT! LIGHTNING!"
Ranko's jaw dropped when a huge blast of lightning shot out towards the wolf and stunned it for a second. Shaking her head to clear it, Ranko tried to remember what card cared this thing could be…Lightning...Electricity…Storm…"Thunder!"
"What?" the boy asked in shock as he sent another surge of lightning at the wolf. "Get out of here now, I only brought Lightning Scrolls with me and I don't have much left!"
"I am not running." Ranko said as she stood up, pulling out her charm…
"The Key of Clow?" the boy growled, his voice sounding much like that of the wolf. "How did you get that?"
""Key of Clow! Power of Magic, Power of Light, Surrender the wand The force ignite! RELEASE!" Ranko twirled the staff a few seconds staring at the wolf. She had some cards but she wasn't really sure what would be good to use against the Thunder Card.
"Never mind that…" the boy forgot about his question as to her possession of the key. "Do you have the Shadow Card?" the boy asked instead.
In answer Ranko pulled a card from subspace and flicked it into the air, twirling the staff around as the magic circle appeared under them as she called out, "Shadow Card, Bind the Thunder, SHADOW!" As she struck the card with the tip of the staff's beak it started growing larger until it looked like it was a large shadow, wrapped in a black cloak and looking like death personified. It shot forward past the boy towards the wolf and engulfed the electric wolf in a large ball of shadow which struggled to keep the beast contained.
"Hurry up and seal them!" the boy snapped.
"I'm on it Ranko snapped, "Thunder Card! Shadow Card! Return to your powers confined! THUNDER CARD! SHADOW CARD!" With that the writhing mass of shadows shrunk until two cards appeared and flew directly into Ranko's waiting hand. After she grabbed the floating cards as she restored the Key of Clow to its place around her neck and looked at her new Clow Card.
"Give me the cards." The boy demanded coldly as he held out his hand, "And the Clow Key. They belong to me."
"Like hell the do!" Ranko growled as she stored the cards in subspace. "Who do you think you are?"
"I am Li Showron, a direct descendant of Clow Reed … and the Book of Clow and the Clow Cards belong to the Showron family." Li said, "I don't know how you did it but I suppose you are the one that unleashed them on the city?"
Ranko was embarrassed because the boy did have a point, it was her fault the cards were now loose but she wasn't going to admit it to this pompous jerk. "Kero never said anything about you, he said they belong to me since I opened the book!"
"K-Keroberos?" Li asked, shocked. "The guardian beast?"
"Yeah, he said that the book belonged to me now so buzz off!" Ranko said.
"The book belongs to me!" Li snapped stepping forward which caused Ranko to flinch back as if expecting to be hit.
Cursing herself for letting the boy get to her in so many ways Ranko decided that enough was enough and just brushed past the boy. When he started to come after her she took off running then roof hopping a tactic which allowed her to quickly lose the pursing boy.
Everyone was sitting at the table eating when Ranko finally made it back to the dojo. As she dropped down next to her father she noticed his angry look as well as and Akane's and Kasuni's worried expressions. "Where were you, boy?" Genma demanded as Kasumi gave Ranko a dish filled to overflowing with the red heads normal servings.
"We were worried about you Ranma." Kasumi said, a little disapprovingly.
"Off seeing one of your other fiancées, eh Saotome?" Nabiki asked with a cold smirk.
"Now the schools will never be joined!" Soun wailed.
"Worthless boy!" Genma growled, "How dare you cheat on your true fiancé?"
Ranko looked down at her food not wanting to answer back, she had enough of everything today especially with having to deal with Akane and now that Li jerk demanding that she just hand over the cards she worked so hard for.
Shocked at what her own thoughts she missed Akane's words as the other girl spoke. Ranko looked up at the shocked table. "I said leave he-him alone!" Akane demanded, "I asked him to drop off some stuff at Yuka's for me!"
"Oh happy day, Saotome, the schools will be joined!" Soun cried happily as he broke out victory fans.
"They sure will, Tendo, they sure will!" Genma said happily, despite the slight angry and accusing scowl he shot the redhead.
"Ranma, Akane, would you help me with something in my room?" Nabiki asked as she finished her food.
Ranko looked at her plate sadly, hardly even taking a bite out of her food. Sighing she stood up to follow the other two girls. She trudged up the stairs and followed the Tendo sisters to Nabiki's room, the owner of which locked the door when the got inside. Ranko wanted to disappear when the older girl turned a hate filled glare towards her and cringed as the "Ice Queen" spoke, her tones filled with hate.
"Listen here you bastard," Nabiki growled, "I know what you and that stupid panda are doing and I won't let you take my family's home and throw us out!"
"Nabiki…" Akane said, vainly trying to interrupt her.
"It's true Akane, he's just playing with you…hell, there's not even a Ranma Saotome listed in existence. Either he's ronin or a fraud!" Nabiki growled as she stomped towards the frightened redhead. "This has gone on long enough and I have all the evidence I finally need to prove everything to my father and the authorities."
"NABIKI!" Akane growled, "I know all of that already!" If Ranko hadn't been so scared at the moment she would of laughed at the shocked expression on Nabiki's face.
"Then why the hell were you just protecting him?" Nabiki demanded.
"I can't tell you, I promised h … someone that I hope will become a very good friend that I wouldn't. But you can't tell anyone about this, please." Akane begged.
"Akane, I can't risk losing our home for a couple of freeloading frauds!" Nabiki said sadly. "I worked too hard to keep our home just to lose it now."
"I'm sorry Ranma." Akane said sadly, "We have to, so she won't tell."
"What are you talking about, Akane?" Ranko asked scared. If Nabiki found out she'd be selling the information the next minute to everyone who could pay a yen for it. Ranko didn't trust Nabiki at all and sure didn't believe the girl would keep a secret especially after the threats she'd just made.
"There's not a Ranma, Nabiki, but how about a Ranko?" Akane asked.
"Yeah but Ranko's a girl and Ranma's a guy, they're…two…please tell me this is some kind of sick joke." Nabiki said, "Ranko was kidnapped a long time ago and presumed dead…no…"
"Yes Nabiki, Ranma is Ranko." Akane whispered.
"That's bull, Akane, how do you explain the curses?" Nabiki demanded looking uncertainly into the redheads eyes as if she could draw the truth by sheer willpower from the frightened blue orbs.
"Nabiki…if Genma finds out about this…he might hurt her really bad." Akane whispered sadly, trying to keep her voice down and motioning for her sister to do the same.
"She won't keep this a secret Akane," Ranko said, her voice plainly frightened as her eyes watered. "Please, I promise I'll figure something out."
"Ranko, please, trust me…I want to help, I want to be friends." Akane whispered as she hugged Ranko tightly.
"Oh-okay Akane, but no one else, please." Ranko begged, "And please don't tell anyone else about this Nabiki."
The three sat, Akane and Ranko on the bed and Nabiki in her desk chair as she watched carefully and listened to the truth about Ranko's past, at least the parts that she was willing to tell … which was most of the truth, just not all of it. Ranko's voice was trembling as she revealed secrets long held and told nearly all of the story only holding back on Kero, the Clow cards. She didn't tell about all of Genma's actions either, she was to frightened … and to ashamed.
When everything was said and done Nabiki sat there rubbing her eyes not able to deny what was said. She could tell that Ranko was no actor despite pretending to be a boy. Acting like a boy came naturally to her after all, the girl was raised to be one so there really wasn't much acting needed. Nabiki was sure it was the truth, she was an expert at reading people and though the redhead was hiding some stuff Nabiki could tell it was just because they were very painful memories and not because the girl trying to trick them.
Nabiki hated to admit it but she did to herself, she had been wrong about "Ranma" Seriously wrong about the tiny redhead and she vowed to herself that she would do everything in her power to help Ranko and deal with Genma once and for all. Maybe, just maybe she thought, she'd found a new friend as well.
AN: Well, here's the next chapter, hope you enjoyed it.
I swear one of my reviewers is psychic about an idea I've been playing with and will probably use but for not I want to keep it a surprise and not give out to much info on the future for two reasons:
1 I don't want to give too much away so it will be a surprise
and
2 I know where I want to go basically with the fic but with readers input or even on a whim some things might change which will lead to chain reactions that will change the entire direction the fic takes. (Pairings is a very good example, I have several ideas but I'm not for sure.)
Also I want to thank my first pre reader ranger 5, thank you, thank you, thank you so much . You helped out a great deal, thank you so much for all the suggestions and help. It helped make this chapter a lot better.
Okay, on with the reviews:
xeno: I'm glad you think so and I'm very happy you like it so far.
Dragon Man 180: Believe me, the Panda will serve some kind of justice for all that he's done. And Ranko and Akane's friendship will grow especially since she's now realized that Akane just acted like Ranko felt deep inside where it came to boys.
SS4-link: Thank you so much, I will try my best to continue making this story even better.
SS4-link: Thanks again for your wonderful comments and don't worry, I'm sure Genma will gets whats coming to him.
ranger5: Unfortuanately, Akane had to break her promise somewhat at the end of this chapter. As for Nodoka, as also revealed in this chapter, it looks like Ranko was kidnapped so most likely she will be mad if not out for blood. And thank you so much for volunteering to preread this. .
TheWhiteMonk: Thank you very much for your comments, I'm very happy you seem to be liking this story so much. I also love Ranma angst stories, they are one of my favorite categories. As for the Genma is evil incarnate, I highly believe that sometimes. Genma is one of my least favorite characters from Ranma. As for Akane and Ranko's friendship, this chapter was a first step to rebuilding it. I tried to add a little more detail to this chapter add I will definitely try to expand even more on future chapters, both with details and Ranko's true past. I definitely will continue writing, especially with reviews like this one where I know some people are getting some enjoyment out of my writing which is something I'd love to do full time some day. .
Calamite: Aspects from both series will definitely play a big role in this story and Ranko will be judged to see if she is worthy of the Clow. One question though…do you like have esp? Just kidding, that was an idea I was playing with though I had three other candidates with one of them actually being a female Yue but I haven't decided yet. Thank you so much though and if you or anyone else have any other suggestions please feel free to bring it up because I love the help. .
Well, that's all the new reviews for now, I will try my best to reply to all reviews in one way or another so please leave some.
Thank you all for reading and reviewing, or even just reading (even though I truly love all reviews).
Until Next Time,
Ja Ne