The Binding of Ranma Saotome
Chapter one
It was a beautiful morning, the sun coming through the trees and dappling everything around in bright patches. The pollen in the air sparkled, and the narrator was thankful for no allergies. There was an artificial river, with a fence right on the side of it, protecting innocent people from falling in. The surface of the river was nearly glowing as the little spots of light hit it, making its deep, rich blue color look even more alluring. Even the fence had beauty. Girls on their way to school would chatter about how lovely it was.
The boy running across the fence, however, didn't care. He was tall, and fit, with dark hair pulled back into a short braid. He wasn't smiling at the scenery, nor was he looking like he was enjoying his quick paced run. In fact, it appeared that he was angry. The thoughts that looked like they were going through his mind were along the lines of 'Stupid Akane,' or perhaps even 'Maybe I'll actually get to school on time if no one challenges me this morning.'
"Saotome!" Drat, no such luck. The boy labeled at 'Saotome' leapt to the side. It was beyond routine now. There had only been a few occasions when Kuno of all people had beaten him. He continued his stride without missing a beat when he came back to the ground, effortlessly. Some people would have described his way of moving 'cat-like', or maybe even 'beautiful', but those same people would eat through tubes for at least a month, as well.
"Saotome, come back here!" Bellowed the senior student. The boy continued to ignore him.
3… 2… 1… Bam, right on time. Ryoga Hibiki had dropped from a nearby tree. Well, that was an unusual way to be attacked by Ryoga.
"Ranma!" He yelled. Ranma sighed, and ignored them both. At least he could loose Ryoga easily. All he had to do was go out of sight and the pig-man would loose his way instantly.
"Ah, the high school… Finally!" Said Ranma. Now at least he'd have an excuse for being late to class, if it even took him that long. He turned, tossing his little briefcase to Akane, who was loyally standing there, aware of the routine as well. The two men swooped in, but Ranma dodged left. They came in for another attack. Once again, Ranma dodged left. Again, and again. Then, after a while of this, Ranma's fist struck.
"Heaven's Dragon Blast!" He roared. The two challengers went flying. Ranma Saotome smiled, then dusted his hands. He caught the case that was whizzing to his head. He groaned.
"What did I do this time!" He shouted after the girl who was retreating into the school.
…
"Now class, I'll take attendance." Said their teacher. Any time there was a new student, they always thought that Miss Hinako was a rather young student. The reason being that Miss Hinako had the appearance of an eight-year-old, and perhaps a similar IQ. Ranma was, for no reason – Well, other than the amazing heat – one of the only students awake. He glared.
"Hey, aren't you supposed to be teaching us?" He yelled, at the same time as throwing an eraser at the sleeping teacher.
Pop"Whu..?" Said the little girl, eyes still half closed.
"Hmf." Said Akane, to the world in general. Ranma rolled his eyes. Akane was so unfair. If she wanted him to not do something, she'd tell him to do it. But she'd get mad if he didn't do something she told him to do. He decided that until she calmed down on her own, it wasn't worth it to get a dent on his head from Akane's mallet.
…
The stew bubbled. Kasumi was one of the best cooks around, and she could make a stew taste good out of nearly anything. She was a talented chief, and she knew it, too. It was a shame she wasn't cooking tonight…
Akane smiled. She knew, somewhere in the back of her mind, that she was a horrid cook. But this was only because her recipes tended to go wrong… this time she had followed the recipe to the T. It couldn't go wrong. She remembered Ranma's reminder to taste before she served. She dipped the spoon in and pulled it out, blowing on the chunk of meat that she had disentangled from spaghetti. Okay, only a few deviations from the recipe. She gave it a few seconds to cool and put it to her lips, tasting a small sip of the broth along with a long strand of spaghetti before chewing the meat. "Hey!" She exclaimed happily. "This is actually quite good!" she smiled. "Needs a little salt, though…" She pulled a large container from the shelf labeled "Salt." She unscrewed the lid, wondering idly why the salt was red… she had heard of that somewhere, Hawaiian sea-salt or something… she tried to pour a little in, but the substance was stuck in a and wouldn't move. She shook it harder, tuning it upside-down and finally hitting it on the side of the pot to get it out. The stiff top layer broke and fell into the pot, taking the rest of the rather large bottle with it. Akane fished the now empty plastic bottle out of the pot, only letting a little of the plastic melt into the stew. It was a large pot, she decided. It probably needed that much salt. She stirred it in, turning her head to listen to what her sister Kasumi was shouting.
"Akane?" she said, the sound muffled by distance a little.
"Yeah?" Akane replied.
"You know that the bottle marked as salt is Cayenne pepper, right?" But the sound was muffled, so she thought her sister had said, "Add some pepper." So she did, and then served the stew into several bowls, turning off the burner and letting it cool before she called the rest of the family for dinner.
…
Rain poured. The rain was a dreary change from the beautiful weather they'd had in the morning. They did have something in common, though. They both dappled things different colors, at least for a little while. This rain was heavy, and big. It was as if someone had turned the sea over onto them, only the water wasn't salty. It was terribly lucky for Nabiki Tendo to have gotten the last loaner umbrella. It was also lucky for her that the umbrella of love was broken, and had been sent back for repairs, so this wasn't it. She left.
What was unlucky was that Ranma Saotome had been left without an umbrella, and he was the one who really needed one. He sighed, and stepped out into the rain. He felt a slight prickling sensation all over his body for a moment, then it stopped. She sighed again.
"Well, looks like I'm off." She said, making her way back to the Tendo Dojo.
…
Mousse checked his mail. Finally it had come! He was more than excited… The staff of binding… This was his way to get Shampoo, at last! Shampoo would love him, be it by his trickery, or any other way. This was the way…
He held the metal staff in his hands. It was surprisingly light, but other than that, it was rather ordinary. Shampoo would drop Ranma as her husband to be, and she would have him! Yes! This was the answer!
Splash.
"Quack quaak qu quaaack!"
…
"I'm home!" Said Nabiki as she walked in the door. She nearly shut it, but Ranma had made it in just before it was too late. She shook herself off, then went further into the house.
"If you need me, I'll be in the bath." She said. Then, mentally she added, And I sincerely hope you don't. With that, the girl went to the bath, which turned out was still hot. That Kasumi, gotta love 'er. She thought with a smile, taking just a quick dip into the hot liquid.
"Ranma! Nabiki! Dinner!" Called Soun, Nabiki, Akane and Kasumi's father.
With a sigh, Ranma pulled himself out and got dressed again. Oh well, it was nice to be a guy again. He walked through the house, a towel loosely draped around his shoulders to shield the cloth of his shirt from his still dripping hair. His hair was down for once. Since after he freed himself of the effects of the dragon's whisker, he had begun tentatively letting his hair down on occasion. It was strange, but that constant state of braid was getting on his nerves, and he wasn't all that interested in keeping his hair up in a bun. He sat down at the table and looked at the strange concoction that had been set in front of him. Spaghetti Stew? He thought, before grabbing his spoon and twirling the spaghetti around it. It was a strange thing, but he trusted in Kasumi's cooking skills. He glanced around briefly, wondering why Akane was staring at him, before shoving the huge spoonful in his mouth. Fireworks exploded in his head, and he reached for his water glass. He downed it and stuck his head under the cold water faucet. She spluttered and came up, her face dripping, the towel forgotten on the floor.
"I take it Akane cooked tonight?"
…
A hand reached out to flip over the sign on the door so that it read 'Neko Hanten. Closed Now, Come Back In Morning' Instead of the previous and much simpler 'Open'. The hand then walked away, its owner, happily, firmly attached. The owner of the hand was quite happy, despite being stuck with the unfortunate name of 'Shampoo'.
"Tomorrow be the day Ranma finally date with Shampoo!" she exclaimed happily. "With new plan, Ranma definitely say yes!" she added, sure of herself, though the plan was only to run Ranma over with her bike and then offer him flowers and ask him out. The plan was nothing new of course, and hadn't worked in the past, but this time she was sure it would. Of course, if the man standing behind her with a large metal staff had anything to say about it, the plan would fail…
…
Ryouga was lost, as usual. "Moribashi Forest, Moribashi Forest, Moribashi Forest…" he muttered, looking around him for the proper sign. Of course, he wasn't bound to find it anywhere around here, seeing as he was 500 miles away and heading the wrong direction.
What he was bound to find was Mousse swinging the staff of binding straight at poor unsuspecting Shampoo's head. As usual, nice guy that he was, he moved in to knock the staff out of Mousse's hands and into his own. At the sound of metal clanging against umbrella, Shampoo finally turned around. She gasped when she saw the rod that Mousse was holding out.
Her eyes filled with tears as she looked up at Mousse, standing there with a dazed expression. "But… but… I thought Mousse love Shampoo!"
Her words and her tears finally made there way through his dazed expression. "But, Shampoo, I…"
She turned her head away, wiping her tears on her sleeve. "Shampoo understand! Mousse trick Shampoo, say he love, but is only assassin sent to kill Shampoo!" She held out a microphone that appeared from nowhere, and looked up into the sky, speaking straight into it. "Oh what tragic girl I is…"
"Umm… Excuse me?" Ryouga broke in. "Am I interrupting something?" at the same moment Mousse said "My staff!" and grabbed for it.
Ryouga held the staff carefully out of Mousse's reach, ignoring the fact that he was jumping to grab it from the slightly taller man. He fended off Mousse's blows and sighed.
"I don't think that I should give this back." He said, keeping his voice reasonable. "People who attack innocent young women should not have there metal rods returned." He said, every inch calm despite the fact that he was now fending off blows from an assortment of strange objects on chains. "Is that a fish?" He asked.
"Ye-es…" Replied Mousse.
"Anyway, this staff should be good for hitting Ranma with." He said, musing out loud.
Mousse Sweat dropped. "Somehow, I think that would be a bad idea…" He said. But Ryouga was gone, and he was left with an angry Shampoo. End Chapter One "This is a colaboration story, so it may seem a little Wonky... Shinoru Aki Ameagari and I are still working on our techniques, so bear with us. And, er, I was going to have Shino put in an author's note too, but I can't get ahold of her, so that won't work. Miko-Chan"