Aeris grumbled in frustration as she came upon yet another question she couldn't possibly know the answer for. How was she supposed to know who Miyamoto Musashi was? For her it sounded like any other Japanese guy. The girl pursed her lips, hazarded a guess and thought about her exam so far. She was fairly certain she did well on the science section. Now that she was in history she was having a really hard time, though. It was hard knowing about a world's history when you weren't native to that world.
Next to her Ranma answered another question and turned the page, distracting her once again. Aeris tried hard to focus and answer as quickly as possible. She was aware that the exam had a time limit and she was falling back wasting so much time on questions she couldn't know.
Five minutes later Aeris was once again distracted by Ranma, but this time because he finished his exam and went to the front of the classroom to hand it in. The girl shook her head in resignation and didn't bother with the history section anymore, rather picking answers at random and jumping to the math section.
The teacher that was applying the exam looked up when she heard the steps and was slightly surprised to see the man give her the exam. "You're already done" It had only been half an hour since the exam started and they had a period of four hours to finish it. "You can go out to the school yard to relax, Ranma-san" the teacher said after seeing Ranma nod.
The pigtailed man smiled faintly at that and walked out of the classroom, utterly bored with the exam and glad that it was over.
Once Ranma went out the teacher decided to grade his exam already to save time. Since it was the middle of the school year placing exams were really out of time. It was only because Ninomiya Hinako insisted that Ranma and Aeris take their exams to enter that the principal even considered it.
As the time passed the teacher shook her head at the lack of knowledge Ranma possessed on Japanese History. He did remarkably well on Science, but the second subject clearly wasn't his domain. The woman caught a desperate glance from Aeris and smiled faintly to herself. The poor dear was probably sweating bullets through the Math section of the exam, since the school administration decided to make it harder after Mizuno Ami nearly aced it. Now most of the students barely passed those tests.
Aeris turned back to her exam and glared at the offending question. Geography wasn't her favorite subject even if she was in her own world.
Well, that could've gone better, the teacher thought as she finished grading Ranma's History test and turned the page to the Math section. Five problems later she was slightly surprised at seeing Ranma got all the questions right. Half-way through the section she had her jaw on the floor. They're all right! Every single one! She thought in disbelief. Unable to resist the curiosity she went to check the last two problems, the ones not even the University teachers could solve without a full day of work in her opinion. Her shock only increased when she saw Ranma's answers matched the ones on the solution sheet.
The girl currently about to give up on geography and go to the last section of the test looked up and stifled a giggle at the look on the teacher's face. It was obvious to her the woman had just stumbled across her brother's talent with numbers. It wasn't the first time she saw the reaction and she was certain it wouldn't be the last.
-
Hinako blinked when she saw Ranma walking down the hall and looked at her watch. It was still too early for him to be finished with his placing exam. She was currently in the middle of a class and couldn't ask him what he was doing outside already, but she decided to ask as soon as she had a free period. So far her classes had been somewhat dull. The students were all pretty normal, compared to Nerima standards, and the teacher found herself almost wishing for one of them to be a delinquent. Sure, some of them openly ogled her body, but she could hardly blame teenage boys for being unable to control their hormones.
"Ninomiya-sensei" one of the girls called as she raised her hand.
"Can I help you, Takagi-san" Hinako was brought out of her thoughts and resumed imparting her third class of the day. One more after this one before she could take a break and talk to Ranma and Aeris and see how they did.
-
Ranma sat back against a tree and smiled faintly. The school was nice, at least what he'd seen so far, and spending time in it didn't sound so bad now. Sure, he'd have to deal with being a student when he looked old enough to be a teacher, but he always stuck out no matter where he went. He could put up with it here if it meant he was close enough to Hinako and Aeris to protect them.
As he sat there he wondered back to Kasumi and Nabiki, thinking of what they must be doing right now. The eldest Tendo sister was probably working on her daily chores right now, her seemingly permanent smile on her face. Nabiki would be at school, if it was already open after the attack. He didn't spare a thought for anybody else in Nerima. There was Kaze, of course, but he was pretty sure she wasn't linked to Nerima. In fact he believed the woman was interested solely on him. Why and how he knew, that was anybody's guess.
The pigtailed man leaned back and closed his eyes to relax. He still kept a small part of his mind alert for any attacks coming his way, but it was only enough to keep a general idea of his surroundings. Time passed and he felt someone walking towards him. He opened his eyes to see it was Aeris. "How did you do" He asked and smiled slightly when he saw her sigh in frustration.
"I totally flunked History and Geography. How am I supposed to know about them" The brown-haired girl asked tiredly as she plopped down next to him.
Ranma shrugged. "Welcome to the club. I did pretty badly on them myself."
Aeris gave him a sideways glance. "At least you have Math and Programming to fall back into."
"You always do well in those" he protested.
The girl snorted. "Please! That's only because you've tutored me for years." She pouted. "And I'm sure I flunked Programming as well. Something tells me they don't have Gyshal Language here." They sat there in silence for a moment before Aeris spoke. "Mom cried a lot when you were sent here..."
Ranma wasn't surprised to hear Aeris say that. He was sad, but not surprised. "Did she do good on her promise"
Aeris giggled softly at that. "No. She was just upset when she threatened dad." The girl sighed. "We all knew it was the only way out."
The pigtailed man raised an eyebrow when Aeris started fidgeting. "What is it, Aeris"
"Well... I'm still a little angry at you" she said softly.
That made Ranma blink. "Angry? About what"
"You forgot your promise" the girl said and turned to look at him with an amused smile.
"... Promise" Now Ranma was confused. What promise did he ever make to Aeris that he forgot? He couldn't forget things, for starters.
The girl nodded and turned to regard the school building. "You said you'd help me with math till I graduated school."
"Aeris? But I never promised..." The pigtailed martial artist suddenly stopped speaking as her words hit him with their true meaning. She wasn't upset about a broken promise, but rather at what caused him to break his word. After he was found and taken in, both he and Aeris had become very close, mainly because of her efforts and friendly nature, and they had been forcibly separated because of what happened. The effect on Ranma was so harsh it drove him into a nearly vegetative state. But I never considered...
Aeris was a little startled when Ranma placed a comforting arm around her shoulders. She relaxed almost instantly, though, and smiled as she leaned her head on his shoulder. There was no blood relation between them but Aeris had learned to love Ranma, or Zack as she knew him, as if he was her real brother.
Ranma closed his eyes and relaxed, leaning back against the bark of the tree, as he held his sister close. "I never wanted to leave."
"I know" she said softly. "It hurt, anyway. A lot."
Time passed as the two remained there, enjoying each other's presence, and soon students started to pile out of the school for their lunch break. Even as it became obvious that some of them were interested in seeing who the guy and girl sitting under the tree were, Ranma and Aeris remained undisturbed. Or at least they remained that way till Hinako approached them.
The teacher was on her way to talk with Ranma when she caught sight of the siblings. Seeing them together like that, with Aeris leaning on Ranma, brought a small smile to her face. It was with that very same smile that she walked up to the couple and sat down next to Ranma as well, being careful not to give a free show to the students as she did so. "So how did you two do"
Ranma shrugged slightly, smirking as his action made Aeris to pout. "We're supposed to meet the school councilor later today."
-
"Are you sure that's the guy, Mako-chan" A blonde girl asked as they sat under a tree having lunch, stealing glances of the black-haired young man sitting not too far away. It came as a surprise when her friend, who had no trouble staring death in the face, told the girls of the event with the thugs that attacked them in the Nerima ward. It wasn't that she thought it unusual for things like that to happen, as much as she would like otherwise, but that Makoto reacted so strongly because of it.
Makoto glanced in Ranma's direction and nodded, feeling slightly nervous. She couldn't really understand why. It was something in his eyes... that day. When she was about to attack the thugs she felt angry, and a little nervous, but all that anger was washed away when she gazed into those unnatural blue-green eyes. Eyes that were filled with a cold rage, a dispassionate hatred...
She shook her head to clear it of the memories of that day and nodded slowly. Even if there was any doubt in her mind about his identity, he was sitting down and looking calm and collected right now, the appearance of the woman convinced her that it was indeed him. "He's the one, Usagi-chan."
A blue-haired girl looked at the trio as well. "That woman must be the new English teacher I heard about."
"He doesn't look so bad" Usagi commented. It was actually kind of sweet how he was comforting the girl that was around their age.
"You didn't see him almost kill those guys..." Makoto muttered under her breath as the others agreed with Usagi. She couldn't understand it, it was completely irrational, but she was more nervous around Ranma after seeing him get angry at somebody else than fighting agents of the Negaverse. It was completely ludicrous; after all she dealt with things a thousand times more frightening than a man with blue-green eyes on a weekly basis. Right?
Ami noticed the way Makoto continued to stare nervously at the group of three, and particularly at the young man, and frowned thoughtfully. She took out her computer and started to type on it discretely, tuning out what Minako had to say about the young man. Her eyes widened shortly after in surprise. Thankfully her friends were too busy with each other to notice. It wouldn't do to make a scene here in school... again.
The girl turned from the numbers her computer was giving her to the young man with the pigtail. He seemed so normal, especially as he laughed at something the teacher said, yet what her computer revealed...
With that in mind Ami put her computer away and decided to have a serious talk with the others as soon as school was out.
-
Setsuna sighed as she leaned back on her chair and waited for Ranma to come into her office. The results of the placing exams had already been given to her, and she was none too pleased to learn of them. He did pretty well in science, one of the finest scores she'd seen so far in this school, but everything else was a complete mess. All the other subjects were failed, Programming with a big zero, and he cheated in Math. It was definitely not what she expected of him... and in a way it was, considering who raised him.
What had her confused, though, was the name he registered himself with. "Ranma Strife." Setsuna had to wonder what that idiot of Genma did to his son to have him renounce the Saotome name and take another one. Or could it be that she was wrong and Genma had nothing to do with Ranma's upbringing? She sighed again. Sometimes I really wish I could see into his past. Not only did she ignore just what happened to Ranma all these years, and how it was that he wasn't dead or at the very least crippled for life, but she also didn't know a thing about the girl that appeared with him. Aeris Strife.
The green-haired woman didn't have to wait long after that thought. Time to find some answers, she thought to herself as she caught sight of the tall form of Ranma, who was going to be her first interview. "Good afternoon, Strife-san" she greeted formally as she struggled with herself.
Everything that she didn't know about Ranma, and not knowing things was very hard on Setsuna, was nothing compared to the maelstrom of emotions she had to deal with in acting as if she didn't know him. She could do many things without regret, she had to, but hiding things from her flesh and blood was one of the hardest ones.
-
"Good afternoon, Strife-san" said the green-haired woman from behind her desk as Ranma entered the office. He didn't even bat an eye at seeing her hair color, but that was mostly because of the place he was raised in.
Ranma closed the door behind him and stared at the older woman calmly. "Good morning... Meio-san" he greeted after spying the woman's name from her desk.
Setsuna motioned for Ranma to sit down and made a show of taking his exam from her desk, giving it an appraising eye. She was slightly surprised when his calm wasn't broken by this action. He must've known just how poorly he did, and how glaring it was to have his Math score to be perfect. "I can see a slight problem with your placing exam, Strife-san."
The pigtailed man remained impassive at the words. It wasn't the first and it wouldn't be the last time he had this very same conversation. Because of that he could take an educated guess on what was to come and didn't beat around the bush. "Let me guess. You're going to say I cheated."
A viridian eyebrow was raised in surprise at that. She expected for him to dance around the subject and ultimately deny it, not for him to plain out spell it out. And with that smile of confidence on his face... Right then and there Setsuna had to revaluate her judgment of Ranma and decided to thread carefully. She wanted to be seen as a respected figure, and that wouldn't happen if she came off as too aggressive or accusing. "I take it, then, that you didn't"
Ranma was a little surprised by the woman's reaction. He was pretty sure she'd act like all the others he'd dealt with before. "Well... no. I didn't cheat."
Setsuna remained impassive as she looked down at the exam in her hands. "I have your exam right here, Strife-san. It seems to me that you either are the most gifted student for Math I have ever had the pleasure of meeting or..."
"Or I'm a liar" Ranma finished for her. Seeing Setsuna stare at him calmly, without outright saying he was lying, was strangely satisfying for him.
Setsuna reached for another paper on her desk and handed it over to Ranma. "I believe you won't have a problem solving those." It wasn't the first time she had to deal with a student cheating on an exam, not by a long shot, and in her experience it was easy to expose him or her by simply asking to have a series of problems solved. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Ranma take a pencil and write down the answers one after the other with no thought given to them whatsoever. The correct answers!
Ranma handed the paper back and leaned back on his chair. His respect for Setsuna rose a little more when he saw her regain control of herself almost instantly.
The green-haired woman remained silent for a moment as she looked down at the paper in her hands. At the correct answers to problems that would take even Ami at least five minutes to solve. He couldn't possibly know the answers. I just wrote these problems down. She looked up and into those blue-green eyes. Eyes that were new to her, since she remembered the beautiful blue-gray color they were when he was but a baby. What happened to you, Ranma? She asked herself internally, emotions raging even as she calmly set the piece of paper down. "That answers the question as to whether or not you cheated on Math. There is still the issue of your poor performance in the other subjects."
The pigtailed man blinked in surprise as that was all the reaction he got out of the woman in front of him. "Well... I've never been in school before..." Not in this world, at least, he thought to himself.
Setsuna nodded in understanding. "I see..." She frowned slightly. Admitting Ranma in school would be hard with his non-existent academic record and his poor performance in the placing exam. He seemed to be a genius for math and possessed a good knowledge of science, something she wondered about, but outside of those he was hopeless in the academic department. The girl, Aeris Strife, was in the same situation even if her test results were under Ranma's. "We may admit you in this institution, but you'll have to work hard to raise your grades." There was no way she was allowing Ranma out of her sight. She had to learn more about him, both for the future and for... herself.
The pigtailed man nodded slowly. He wasn't exactly thrilled about attending school, but it was the only way to stay close to Hinako during school hours. Or at least close enough to reach her if anything happened.
The green-haired woman caught the look of reluctance in Ranma's face and tried to soften the blow to his pride somewhat. Instead of assigning him a tutor, namely Ami, as she originally intended she decided to tutor both him and Aeris herself. It would also give her the perfect excuse to keep a close watch over him and learn all she could about the past ten years of his life. "Strife-san, I might have a solution for our problem..."
-
"That went well" Aeris said sarcastically as she walked out of Juuban High with Ranma and Hinako. "Spending two extra hours in school sounds like a lot of fun."
Hinako and Ranma exchanged an amused glance at Aeris' words and continued walking silently, with the pigtailed man carrying Hinako's things for her. As an unspoken agreement the teacher would always hand her things over for him to carry and take his free arm. It was such a natural action for them that neither noticed the way the students all looked at them, or the possible consequences Hinako dating a student would have.
As it was they didn't have to worry about it for now. Their planned afternoon, unpacking everything in the new house, would have to wait till they finished with the current business.
For across the street from them, barely a dozen feet away, stood the feared white-haired man...
Aeris' eyes widened in horror at seeing him so close as she assumed a defensive stance. How did he...? Ranma had always been able to feel him before!
Hinako shivered at the cold look they were all recipients of and instinctively stood a little behind Ranma. Talking about facing this guy together was one thing... actually having him in front of you was another. She did brace herself for a fight, though. There was no way she was allowing Ranma to fight him alone.
The pigtailed man narrowed his eyes as his fists clenched by his sides. He was about to attack when he felt an energy surge from behind.
The white-haired man's features settled into an evil smile as the first cries were heard, coming from Juuban High.
Aeris cursed under her breath as she realized what was truly happening. She should've expected it, it was so obvious. Their opponent was a highly recognized general, or at least he was before he turned into the monster before them. It was obvious he would employ tactics meant to make his victory all the easier, namely weakening Ranma's will through constant attacks like this one.
"Hinako! Aeris" Ranma said and turned to run back into the school grounds, but not before giving his opponent a death glare.
-
Students ran erratically through the school yard in a vain attempt to escape the flying monsters that started to emerge from the gym. While the creatures were relatively small, they did have a very intimidating set of acid-dripping teeth. The moment the first teenager fell, his cries of pain served as a catalyst to have everyone panic.
The sheer number of flying creatures was enough to make them a threat. That they dropped someone with a single bite was terrifying.
As the panic continued to increase, and more students were dropped like flies, the Sailor Senshi made an appearance. Sailor Moon was about to break into one of her speeches about love and justice when she caught sight of the massacre taking place. The words died in her lips as she the creatures killed her peers, no attempt to gather energy made at all, just outright killing.
Sailors Jupiter, Venus and Mercury didn't wait for a command and instantly went into action. They let loose with their attacks in an attempt to draw the creatures away from the students while Sailor Moon regained her wits and joined them; or rather she joined them in distracting the flying monsters as she asked of Mercury"Where are they coming from? How can we fight so many"
Sailor Mercury had covered the area in a deep mist in an attempt to diminish the visibility of the flying creatures. So far it seemed to have worked, yet the ones that were already downed were in a very bad situation. Right now the Senshi of Mercury was typing frantically in her computer. "I'm getting a distinct energy signature coming from these creatures. There are three very large concentrations of energy." She looked towards the yard and cursed inwardly. The strongest of the concentrations was currently advancing through the school yard, blanketed in the shroud of mist she herself conjured, and was directed towards another one.
"Keep on firing" Makoto yelled as the monsters zeroed in on them.
-
The doors blasted open and off their hinges as Ranma rushed into the school gym, mist leaking into the huge darkened room, followed by Hinako and Aeris. "There it is" Aeris cried as she noticed a huge form in the middle of the gym surrounded by more of those flying monsters.
Hinako steeled herself to what would be her first true battle by Ranma's side. As they ran through the school yard more than once she wanted to stop to heal the poor students they did manage to see, yet Ranma told her they needed to destroy the source first or more of those would come out. Upon entering the gym she caught sight of the huge silhouette in the darkness as well, her eyes widening at seeing such monstrosity. It didn't matter how weird the things she was used to were, this certainly made them all tame in comparison. The monster was nothing the Senshi hadn't seen before, at least in looks, but for a school teacher used to dealing with problem students or pervert martial arts masters at most it was quite a drastic change.
The pigtailed man looked forward at the twelve feet tall creature and narrowed his eyes. "Aeris, freeze the floor"
"What" Aeris asked in surprise at the command and her eyes widened as the many flying creatures started to approach them.
"Do as I tell you" Ranma ordered and shot forward, fists flying, to keep the smaller monsters from reaching the women. He lashed out as fast as he could, yet there were so many that a few got past him even as his clothing started to smoke from the acid dripping over his body.
Hinako jumped in front of Aeris, who was almost done with her preparations, and intercepted the few creatures that managed to get past Ranma. Unfortunately her attacks were nowhere near as effective as the man's, resulting in her skin being pierced by the unbelievably sharp fangs. She screamed in agony as she felt not only the pain of being bitten, but the searing burning that started to flow through her veins.
"Hinako" Ranma cried upon hearing the bellow of pain and turned to help the woman. He was, instead, lifted off the floor as something snared him by the midsection.
Aeris finished focusing her energy and jumped over Hinako's struggling form to land with her hands on the floor. Instantly ice started to spread towards the creature that had taken a hold of Ranma with what appeared to be a tentacle of some sort. No sooner was she starting to stand when she felt something sharp pierce her back, followed by a pain she'd come to identify as the one caused by poison. She screamed as she started to concentrate on fighting it off with another spell.
Ranma took a firm hold of the tentacle holding him up and tore it apart, causing himself to fall to the floor and crack the ice under his feet. He struggled with himself on whether to take advantage of the creature's weakened state or rushing to Hinako's aid. Already the teacher's struggles were weakening in force. In the end he couldn't leave Hinako to suffer any longer and went to help her.
Hinako's world was nothing but pain as she continued to struggle, with only a small part of her mind focused on starting an Antidote spell. If her attacker had only been one she would've kept enough control over herself to do just that, being injected with a searing acidic poison by several monsters was too much for her. She was about to give into the darkness when her body started to feel warm and the pain vanished.
Ranma held Hinako's body in his arms after healing her and turned, Aeris standing up by his side, to regard the struggling monster. All the smaller ones had converged on it after Aeris froze the ground and they registered the danger.
It was then that the girl blinked upon noticing something. "It's a plant" Now she understood why Ranma told her to freeze the ground.
The pigtailed man nodded slowly. "Some sort of plant, at least. It's built with a part of Jenova's body, but even then it has roots, and so, weaknesses other plants have." He looked down from the plant to regard Hinako, who was opening her eyes. He was extremely angry about having Hinako get hurt, but for the moment he refrained from destroying the monster and concentrated on the recovering teacher.
Hinako opened her eyes and smiled in relief upon seeing Ranma's blue-green eyes looking down at her. The realization of how close she came to dying was dampened somewhat thanks to the warmth she felt as she was held by the pigtailed man.
Aeris smiled slightly when she saw Hinako and Ranma continue to stare at each other and decided to finish things here. She started to concentrate deeply into a red gem in her glove.
-
The fight in the school yard was still going on even after the mist dissipated. While the Senshi were doing a remarkable job of downing the flying monsters like flies with their powers, especially since Sailor Mars arrived to help, there were still too many of them. Thankfully the monsters seemed to perceive the threat and were zeroing in on them, ignoring the downed students and forgoing any attempt to fly off the school grounds.
In the meantime Sailor Mercury kept on taking readings from inside the Gym building, or rather her computer kept getting readings, as she fought for all that she was worth. Her attacks weren't as powerful as those of her friends, so she had to make up for them with careful planning and positioning. Her attacks weren't at all enough to defeat the creatures, but they did make a remarkable job of conducting Jupiter's to affect more monsters. It was all in the planning, really.
Suddenly, as quickly as they appeared, the monsters started dropping and disintegrated on the floor. "Mercury" Sailor Moon asked as she stared at the battlefield. She wanted to know if it was safe to charge in to help the wounded. The fight this time had been very different to previous ones in all aspects, so even she was being a little cautious.
Sailor Mercury typed a few commands in her computer and frowned. "Their energy source was cut off." What was weird was that the monsters dropped after a huge spike of the very same energy that powered them. Any further comments she could make would've gone unheard as the leader of the Sailor Senshi rushed to aid the wounded, quickly joined by her followers.
-
Hinako stared at Aeris in shock as she was held in Ranma's arms. She couldn't believe what she'd just witnessed, not even after learning of Ranma's true nature or seeing some of the things he was capable of. "... How"
The girl took a deep breath and smiled as she pointed at a red gem in her glove. Behind her the entire gymnasium was completely frozen, bits and pieces of frozen plant scattered all over. She was relieved since she saw another piece of Jenova's body was destroyed during her attack, meaning one less weapon to be used against the pigtailed man. After making sure there were no more monsters inside she rushed to the door to check outside.
Hinako shook her head slightly, still in disbelief, and turned to regard Ranma. It was then that she realized her current position, held closely in his arms as he stared at her intensely with those blue-green orbs. Despite herself she blushed under the close scrutiny, forgetting all about the previous fight and the world in general as she was overcome by the warmth of his embrace and the protectiveness plain in his facial expression.
Ranma frowned in concern when he saw Hinako's face become red. "Are you alright" His worry only increased when Hinako reddened further.
Before the teacher could open her mouth Aeris jumped in with a smile on her face. "Maybe you should carry her to the house, bro."
Hinako would've given Aeris a glare if she wasn't so flustered. She's enjoying this a little too much, she thought as she turned to Ranma. The teacher felt well enough to stand, if her knees didn't give way under her since they felt like Jell-O right now.
Aeris saw the change and smirked. "You two go ahead. I'll stay behind and help with the wounded."
Ranma instantly turned to the girl. "Aeris..."
"Don't Aeris me, bro! Hinako is hurt and you should take care of her" the girl said firmly. "I can take care of myself for a few hours, and we both know Sephiroth won't attack so soon after this."
I'll get you back for this, Hinako thought as Ranma reluctantly agreed, obviously his decision having been influenced by her name added in the phrase.
When they walked out of the building, with Aeris running to help what Hinako recognized as the infamous Sailor Senshi, the pigtailed man continued walking towards Hinako's new house. As he walked the sense of alertness was obvious for everyone to see, as was his protectiveness of the woman he carried. As if she was the most valuable thing in the whole world.
What made Hinako's heart pump in her chest all the harder was the fact that Ranma didn't even seem aware of what he was doing, an unconscious behavior from a man that was clueless about the interactions between men and women but was doing everything right. She shifted slightly in his arms and was rewarded with a slight squeeze, almost imperceptible, and a look of concern.
"You feeling better" Ranma asked as he stared at Hinako's still redder than usual face. She should've been completely recovered after he healed her from those attacks. So why is she still so out of it?
"I-I'm... fine, Ranma. I just feel a little lightheaded" she lied and took a deep breath. Well, she wasn't exactly lying since she did feel lightheaded. It was just that she was feeling that way for reasons different to what Ranma believed. She'd already firmed her resolve about pursuing a relationship with him, even knowing that he was barely seventeen though he appeared to be older, and was taking active steps for them to become even closer than they already were. After meeting in the life stream they seemed to share a connection that went beyond anything she'd ever encountered or heard of, so she was pretty certain it was only a matter of time. Even then she was ill prepared for the treatment she was recipient of, to the care in Ranma's behavior. Ninomiya Hinako had seldom been cared for in her life, so she was unused to the current situation. I could definitely grow to like it, she added mentally to herself as she snuggled closer to Ranma, laying her head on his shoulder.
Ranma looked down at the woman in his arms and every instinct in his being told him to protect her, to fight anything that might be a danger to her well-being. He'd known people that cared for him, and that he cared about enough to fight for. His family was the prime example. The image of Aeris standing next to a blond man and a woman in skimpy clothing, all with smiles on their faces, came to his mind instantly. Several others came to him as well, all images of the world he had to leave behind. Then there was the more recent image of Kasumi, with her true shining smile that she so seldom sported.
But none of them compared, could compare actually, to Hinako in that aspect. The teacher was the first and only person to stop him from leaving, even at the risk of her own life, and was the only one that could truly, completely, sympathize with him. Not even Aeris, even if he was being unfair to her since she'd never wanted him to leave, had gone so far for him. Maybe Hinako had her own reasons for doing those things, she most likely did, but that was irrelevant. What mattered was the result, and in right now Hinako stood by his side. Even after what happened, with her being so viciously attacked, she didn't reproach him for placing her in danger. In fact he was pretty sure she'd tell him it wasn't his fault, even if it was.
The rest of the walk home was spent in silence, not the uncomfortable kind of silence either, as the two rejoiced in the presence of the other.
It was that very same picture of serene companionship that made a couple of blue-green eyes narrow in anger.
END PART 10
Author's notes: After a LONG wait I've finally gotten back to writing, somewhat. I originally intended to write a huge chapter to post, but realized I'd probably spend a year in between updates. I'm getting more used to the job I'm in and should be able to squeeze some more time for fanfiction writing from now on. Hopefully the next update won't take this long.
I know I said Nabiki would take her decision in this chapter, but I'm still some scenes behind from that happening and wanted to post this. I'll deal with the Tendos and Amazons in the future.
Anyway, that should do it for now. Talk to you all later.