I was thinking about leaving all the spelling mistakes alone, but I didn't want to be bombarded with "You spelled this wrong..." comments.
I also notice I can't seem to remember Akane's friend's names. Watch as one girl's name changes with every sentence. :)
Spatulas and Bandannas by Shikoku
Chapter Two: Our First Day at Furinkan High
As usual, Ranma and Akane were late. Quickly, they both ran to school. Akane on the sidewalk, grumbling about stupid hentai bakas, and Ranma on the fence, grumbling about uncute violent tomboys. So basically it was a typical day for them.
Still, Akane, although she'd probably never admit it out loud, was worried. That boy had done a very good job in beating up Genma, and now there was a very good chance he would be doing the same with Ranma. Akane knew that Ranma was a ...pretty good martial artist, but Genma was, too. He had also been the one that taught Ranma everything he knew about martial arts. If the boy was good enough to defeat the master, shouldn't he also be able to defeat the student? Akane silently hoped that she would never have to find out. Not that she didn't want Ranma to be defeated. Actually, she kind of hoped he would be bested someday, just to shrink his giant ego down a bit. But she didn't want him to get hurt, either.
She glanced up at Ranma, discreetly, to see him still running and grumbling to himself. Still she couldn't help over hear him say the word "stubborn uncute girl" again.
She took it all back. She would love to see the stupid jerk hurt, but SHE'd be the one to do it. She lifted her book bag up so she could throw it at him.
But a piece of paper, blew by her, caught in the wind. Curious, she lowered her 'weapon' and caught the paper. It was an advertisement of some kind.
Ranma stopped running, having realized Akane was no longer by his side. Idly, he walked back to her and looked over her shoulder to see what she was reading. With a gasp, he tore the paper away from her.
"Hey, I was reading that, you jerk!" Akane shouted at him.
But Ranma ignored it, instead reading the advertisement out loud. "For the best okonomiyaki in the world, come to the grand opening of Uuchans Okonomiyaki. Come, and you will not be disappointed." He stopped reading, but paused thinking with a 'I know this is silly, but there's something familiar about this add, but I have no clue what it is' look on his face.
Akane noticed the look and forgetting her anger towards him asked almost worried: "Ranma... what's wrong?"
He shook his head. "Nothings wrong... this just kind of reminded me of something...I can't remember what." He folded up the paper and stuck it in his school bag. "Oh, I'm sure it'll hit me sooner or later." With that he took off running, but called over his shoulder. "Hurry up, Akane! I'll beat ya to school!"
Akane shook her head, amazed at the quick mood swings her fiancee had but raced after him anyway. "There's no way, I'm gonna let that jerk defeat me!"
The two raced off to school, the advertisement forgotten, but not for long.
As would be expected, Ranma did beat Akane to school. Even if Akane was on her best day, she still would never stand the chance of out racing him. Ranma hoped this would always be so. It would be embarrassing to lose to a girl.
Still Akane was one of the few people who could actually keep up with him. He had to give her credit for that.
A few minutes later, Akane ran into the school yard, panting a little bit from her excursion.
"Hey, Akane what took you so long?" Ranma asked, teasingly.
In answer, Akane glared at him. "Shut up, Ranma!" She shouted, lamely swinging her school bag at him. She was too tired to actually hit him, but she recovered quickly.
Jeeze, Ranma thought to himself, as he dodged the book bag. I was only joking. Why does she always have to take everything so personally, stupid tomboy He was about to say that out loud, when Akane saved him by spotting her friends.
"Oh, there's Saryuri, Hey guys!" Akane left her fiancee to talk to the group of girls with her two best friends.
Ranma watched her leave, feeling kind of disappointed for some reason. Stupid tomboy.. He began to walk away, still watching his fiancee actually looking sort of cute, as she talked to her friends, when he bumped into somebody. "Hey, watch it, man." He said, rubbing his head.
The other boy, who was also rubbing his head, glared at him showing sharp canine teeth, which resembled fangs. The boy was about
Ranma's height, well built with dark, shaggy hair held away
from his face with a yellow bandanna with black squares
decorating it, just barely keeping his long bangs away from
his brown eyes. Like Ranma, the boy didn't wear the Furinkan
high uniform, but was instead dressed in a long-sleeved
yellow peasant shirt tied at the waist with a black belt
over black pants which were tied at the shins crisscrossing
to his ankles. He also carried a heavy looking backpack with
a red ornamental umbrella attached to it.
The two boys didn't say anything, instead they merely stared
at each other for a long tense moment. The boy looked like
he wanted to, but he didn't. Instead he turned and strode
away, heading towards the soccer field. Ranma stared after
him for a sec, wondering why that boy seemed so familiar,
but he was interrupted from his thoughts by a very familiar
bokken.
"Curse, you Ranma Saotome, today I, Tatewaki Kuno shall release the fair Akane Tendo and the innocent Pigtailed-girl from your villainous grasp. Prepare thyself!"(I probably don't have to tell you who said that, now do I? )
Ranma smiled as he fell into a defensive stance. Finally, we get some action here.
Kuno charged at Ranma, prepared to strike...
Okay, by now, we're all familiar with a typical Ranma/Kuno fight. Kuno spouts off bad poetry and Shakespeare which had probably been performed by a drunk, while swinging his bokken in hopes that he would actually hit something. While this is going on, Ranma would be dodging all of Kuno's bokken swings, casually, adding a cool catch phrase or jab at Kuno once in a while ending with a punch or kick that knocks Kuno away, thus ending the fight. It gets pretty mundane after awhile. So I'm not gonna bother describing the fight between the two. It may just bore you. Instead why don't we see what Akane and the girls are doing, shall we?
A large group of girls surrounded Sakuka and Yuri as they told their latest juicy story: "Did, you hear?..."
Oh, it looks like they're gossiping.
"Furinkan High is getting some new students," Sakyura finished, ignoring the narrator.
The girls oohed and aahed...oh, and played twenty questions.
"How many new students"
"Boys or girls?"
"Are they cute?"
"Do you think they'll be in our class?"
"How much you wanna bet that they'd either fall for Ranma or Akane?"
Akane blushed at that one, while Nabiki appeared out of nowhere to take down the odds. The odds were pretty good actually, considering how about ninety percent of the characters in this series are in love with one of the two. (Sometimes both, i.e. Kuno), but as this is my story and I get to decide who likes who, the odds are a bit lower. Hmmm, maybe I should join in Nabiki's betting pool... I can make a fortune... Nah! She'd probably cheat me in the end anyway.
Uh, where was I?...
Oh, yeah!
Anyway, the girls were all excited about the prospects of fresh blood at their school, particularly, the girls who have actually seen the boys.
Yuka was one of the lucky ones. "I saw one of them arrive! He was sooo cute. He had long brown hair and the dreamiest green eyes ever." She sighed picturing Ukyo's eyes, once again. The other girls sighed with her, trying to picture Ukyo's dreamy eyes. All jealous that Yuka claimed him first.
"And what about the other guy..." Another girl spoke up. "He had the most kawaiest fangs..." All the girls switched from sighing about Ukyo's eyes to sighing about Ryoga's kawai fangs.
Akane was the only one not sighing about Ukyo's eyes or Ryoga's fangs. She still didn't understand what her friends saw in boys. She will admit that lately she didn't hate them as much as she used to, although she sometimes thought of changing her mind when Ranma insulted her or Kuno glomped her. It did help that all the boys in her school have finally stopped trying to beat her up each day. But she still didn't really see the point in sighing about them...Although, she did love it when Ranma grinned at her just so...but that's different! She hoped.
So basically Akane was getting bored quickly of this whole conversation. She soon found herself glancing around the school yard, hoping that school would start soon. Doing so enabled her to catch a glimpse of a boy with a long brown ponytail walking around the yard, as if he was searching for something... or someone.
Akane gasped when she realized that she had seen the very same boy at the vacant lot the other night. He was the one who had beaten up Genma! She broke apart from her friends to track the boy down but wasn't able to find him again, before school started.
Oh, and thanks to Ukyo who had finally found him a block away, Ryoga was able to arrive at school for the first time in two years... only thirty minutes late.
To nobody's surprise, two new students arrived thirty minites late for class. The teacher glanced up and adjusted his glasses. "Aw, Hibiki, Kuanji, so nice of you to join us."
Ukyo dragged Ryoga into the room and bowed respectfully to the teacher. "Sorry that we're late, sensei." He said, politely.
The teacher, obviously touched by the new students
politeness, merely said. "Just don't make a habit out of
it." This was a surprise since usually, he threw tardy
students into the hall to hold buckets of water. He smiled,
pleasantly, before turning to the rest of the class with a
stern look on his face. "Class this is Ukyo Kuanji and Ryoga
Hibiki. Try to welcome them instead of bashing their brains
in," This remark was for Akane and Ranma. Like they could
help that the last new student was stupid enough to walk
between them right after Ranma called Akane "uncute" again.
Really, there's no justice in this world!
Ukyo ignored that remark, instead pulling a grill out of
Hammerspace. He twirled his spatulas, expertly then began
making okonomiyaki. "Ukyo's the name, okonomiyaki's the
game. Charmed I'm sure." As an afterthought, he added: "Oh,
and this is Ryoga. He's good at breaking stuff"
The dark haired boy laughed nervously with a hand behind his
head in embarrassment. He wasn't used to being the center of
attention, and it clearly showed. He did wave a little to
the class and stuttered a "Hi". The girls sighed,
like he just said the cutest thing ever.
Ranma, meanwhile was staring at the two people before him. Why do those two seem so familiar He thought, wishing he had a better memory. But he had traveled so much as a kid everything was fuzzy. He decided to take this situation very subtle like. He stood up and pointed at them. "Hey, do I know you from somewhere?" As subtle as an elephant hiding in a crowd of kitty cats.
Ukyo and Ryoga looked at each other in shock. They then turned to face Ranma and said as one: "HELL, YES!"
Ranma nodded, "I thought so." He then broke the mood by
asking. "Uh, how do I know you"
Everyone facefaulted, but nobody fell as hard as Ukyo...
well maybe Ryoga fell just as hard.. Oh, well, it doesn't
matter anyway. They were all shocked, got it?
The two struggled to get up. "Because of you, I've seen HELL!" They both shouted as one again. Funny, how they keep doing that.
Ranma just stared at them blankly. "Huh?"
Akane glared at him. "Just what did you do to these people, Ranma!"
Ranma glared back at her. "I didn't do nothing to em, Akane! I don't even remember where I've seen them before!"
Ukyo sighed and flipped the okonomiyaki he made at Ranma, who caught it and began eating, suddenly without a care in the world.
If he didn't remember Ukyo right away, he did remember his cooking. Slowly, the taste of the okonomiyaki brought forth memories out of the cluttered mind that is Ranma's. "Hey, you're that okonomiyaki chef, Uuchan, ain't ya?"
Ukyo smiled, grimly. "Glad you finally remember me, Saotome."
Ryoga stepped forward, cracking his knuckles and glaring at Ranma. "Do you remember me, yet?"
Ranma stared at Ryoga for a moment with a blank look on his face." No... not yet... did you cook me good stuff, too?"
"NO!" Ryoga yelled, "But YOU DID STEAL MY BREAD!"'
Once again, the mention of food brought back Ranma's memories. "Ryoga! I remember now! Junior High school."
Ryoga chuckled darkly to himself, pleased that his sworn enemy finally remembered him.
Akane watched everything in an exasperated silence. "So you remember them now, Ranma?"
Ranma was all smiles now. "Yeah! They were my best friends!"
Ryoga and Ukyo, okay and everyone else in the classroom, almost facefaulted again but stopped them selves in time. "WE'RE NOT YOUR FRIENDS! WE'RE HERE TO KILL YOU! PREPARE TO DIE!"
Ranma's smile faded. So much for the happy reunion.
The Sensei didn't like the idea of students killing students in his classroom. So that's how Ranma, Ryoga, Ukyo, and even Akane found themselves standing in the hall holding two buckets of water each.
Akane turned and glared at Ranma. "This is all your fault!" She shouted at him, clearly not happy.
Denying it, Ranma tried to point at the seething murderous duo with his two buckets. "Hey, it's not MY fault! THEY're the ones trying to kill me!" Uh, why do you want to kill me, anyway?" He asked, curiously.
"Despite the obvious reasons, of course," Akane added under her breath.
Ryoga and Ukyo didn't seem to hear her, too busy staring at Ranma in shock. "You mean you don't know?" Ukyo asked incredulously.
Ranma shook his head.
"TRY to remember," Ryoga demanded, venomously.
"Okay..." Ranma thought real hard. "It was back when Pop and I were on our training journey. I met Uuchan when I was five, and we had the best time together. We'd play, and he would make me some okonomiyaki. What a great time we had!" (We see, the familiar scene of chibi Ranma running towards a ticked off chibi Ukyo. Chibi Ranma jumps on top of chibi Ukyo and begins eating the okonomiyaki Ukyo's father had been making.)
"Oh, how sad was the day, we left! Remember, Uuchan how you cried?"
"Gee, I wonder." Ukyo muttered, sarcastically, as we see him as a kid running after his stolen okonomiyaki cart with chibi Ranma sitting on it, waving goodbye.
"So that's how I met, Uuchan." Ranma finished.
Ryoga stared at him confused. He had heard a slightly different version of this story. "Gee, Ranma, why don't you tell them how you met me." Actually, he was afraid to ask.
He should be. Ranma had an interesting version of their
first meeting, too. "Oh, Ryoga and I met in junior high
during lunch. We used to always compete for the last piece
of bread. I usually won. It was a lot of fun. (We see the
bread feud flashback. Young Ryoga reaches for the last bread
that was thrown into the crowd and was about to grab it,
when young Ranma jumps off his head and gobbles it up. Many
more scenes follow all with the same result)
"We were good buddies back then. I would help Ryoga find his
way to and from school, and he was always willing to spar
with me." (Young Ranma runs down the street heading for
Ryoga's house with an angry young Ryoga following. Young
Ranma glances back, yells, something, then laughs. Young
Ryoga growls and tried to punch him, but young Ranma dodges,
still laughing)
"Then came the day I had to leave. It was really sad,
especially since we never got to say goodbye." Ranma
finished.
By this time both Ryoga and Ukyo were growling to
themselves. Akane noticed this and asked her fiancee, "Is
that how it really happened?" Even Ranma could tell she was
highly skeptical, which meant it was very obvious.
Ryoga and Ukyo answered for Ranma. "NO!"
Ukyo turned to Ranma, eyes burning with rage. "You and your sorry excuse for a father had stolen my family's okonomiyaki cart!"
Ranma stared at shock at that revelation. My father would never do that! ...Then again, yes, he would. Come to think of it, I had been riding the cart when Pop and I left Uuchan...
Ryoga also glared at Ranma with the same hate in his eyes. "And we were never friends! You stole my bread and kept on picking on me! And then when I challenged you to a fight you never showed up!"
Hmmm, maybe that's why Ryoga was always in a bad mood... He did remember the fight, though. "Hey, I waited at the vacant lot behind your house for three days!"
"Three days!" Akane broke in.
"Yeah, but when I got there on the fourth day, you had already turned tail and ran!"
"The fourth day? What's wrong with this guy?" Akane broke in again.
"He doesn't have the world's best sense of direction" Ukyo answered her.
"So why do you want to kill me for?" Ranma asked, still not getting it.
"I want to finish our fight," Ryoga's smile was kind of scary.
"WE want to finish it." Ukyo added. "You almost ruined our lives."
"So we're gonna ruin your happiness." Ryoga finished.
pika pika Ranma blinked, "My happiness?" He turned to Akane. "Am I happy?"
"How am I supposed to know!"
Ranma shrugged and turned back to his ex-friends. "You're on!"
Ranma could never turn down a challenge, he's kind of dumb in that way.
Especially when he's about to fight two new opponents at the same time.
NEXT TIME: Can Ranma defeat both Ryoga AND Ukyo at the same time? Find out in the third chapter of Spatulas and Bandannas, coming as soon as I write it.
All Characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi!