Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any of the characters. This is simply a what-if situation. What if this had happened? Also, I would like to apologize to those that are waiting on me to work on "Evil Kasumi Returns" and "Ranma and the Outers." Although I have not had many ideas for them lately, I will not let them die as I have some of my Previous Tenchi Muyo stories. I'm just taking a slight break from them to work on some other ideas that won't get outta my head until I write them down.
Primal Ranma at School
It was too late, too late to do anything other than wish. Wish that she, Nabiki Tendo, had last night and today to do over again. She looked around the schoolyard at the shocked faces of the student body and she could sympathize, as she too was in a state of shock. Looking back at the reason for the shock was difficult, but it had to be done.
Hanging from the side of the school building, was Kunö, and not in a pleasant way. The kendoist had a silver katana sticking though his right shoulder which was pinning him to the wall. Kunö's feet were dangling just a few inches off the ground and she was glad that he was unconscious; otherwise, he'd be screaming in extreme pain.
Sighing, she thought about how this would affect Kunö and his idea that he was a noble samurai. Especially since he may never hold a sword again. His hand was proof enough of that. Nabiki could not bring herself to look at his hand; she had seen it once and it almost made her sick to her stomach. Even with her eyes closed, she could still picture his hand… hanging limply and contorted as though there were no bones in it.
When the attack came, it had been unbelievably fast. First Kunö's sword had been removed from his hand… and before Kunö could react, he'd been impaled on his own sword. She guessed it was lucky that it was in a non-fatal area, but it still looked quite painful. And then the last strike… Nabiki had watched, as the last punch was thrown, not at Kunö's face or chest… but his hand. The hit had been hard, and fast, but the sounds of bones breaking were clearly audible. Scant seconds after that Kunö had passed out from shock.
Trying to compose herself, Nabiki remembered what happened next. She watched in horror as Ranma drew back his hand like a cat would draw back its paw. But before the hit could connect, she had screamed his name. A shudder ran though her as she recalled that moment as it was frozen in her mind.
"RANMA!" Nabiki had shouted. Ranma turned to look at her, but his eyes just bored into her own. Catching her breath, she noticed that his pupils were now slit, and no longer appeared human. He held her gaze as she tried to say something, anything. And then suddenly his eyes returned to normal and he ran away.
'Damn it… why didn't I listen last night.' She thought angrily as she willed herself to turn and walk away from the gruesome site. As she tried to leave the school campus, Nabiki thought about what to do. "There's no doubt that school's going to be canceled today."
Just as Nabiki was about to go she heard a familiar but shaky voice, "Nabiki?"
"Kuso… Yes Akane?" Nabiki wasn't sure how her sister was going to handle this.
"What… what…"
"What happened?" Nabiki asked to which Akane nodded as she looked at Kunö's hanging form and tried to keep her breakfast down. "Kunö didn't learn anything. He thought that Ranma was 'Showing his true colors' so he decided to 'bring the wrath of heaven down on the foul demon Saotome,' or some such gibberish." Nabiki was thankful that she was looking at her sister so that she didn't have to look at Kunö.
"But… but…"
"The sword?" Again, Akane nodded her head. "That's the Kunö family blade that Kunö decided to use against Ranma, but… after he made his speech and charged Ranma…" Nabiki left the description hanging as all she had to do was point behind her to something else that was hanging.
"I… I... I'm…"
"Gonna be sick… join the club, no one's made it inside the building yet and I think schools going to be canceled for a while."
"Kami-sama… what happened here?" Another female voice said softly drawing Nabiki's attention.
Nabiki smiled thinly. "Ah Ukyo… I need to talk to you."
"Whatever it is I…"
"This is free, and it concerns Ranma… and the hanging Kunö."
Ukyo blinked a few times. "Say that again?"
"I'm going to ignore that for now," she said with a slight frown. "The information I have is for your own protection…"
"From who?"
"Ranma…" Akane said as she turned and ran to the other side of the school wall where Ukyo could hear Akane loosing her battle to keep food in her stomach.
"Um…"
"A lot has happened…" The mercenary said with a tired sigh. "Suffice it to say that yesterday Ranma was attacked by Kunö, Mousse and Ryoga at the same time and…"
"Is Ran-chan ok?"
"You'd better be worried more about others," she replied cryptically causing Ukyo to blink. "Anyway, Ranma was doing fine until Happosai showed up again." Seeing Ukyo look a little worried Nabiki pressed on, "Anyway, Happosai used that ultimate weakness moxibustion on Ranma again."
"Not that again."
Sighing, Nabiki could only nod her head. "Yes but what happened next was anything but normal."
"What was that?"
"Ranma somehow entered the neko-ken without there being a cat around and he cut off one of Happosai's arms."
Ukyo stood there dumbfounded. "He… he…"
"Entered the Neko-ken and cut off Happosai's arm."
"But he's never done anything like that before…" Ukyo replied in shock.
"He's also never tried to take off Shampoo's head, or kicked Akane across the room."
This got Ukyo's attention. "W-what?"
"Whatever happened, Shampoo saw it, and last night when we talked, she was scared of him. She even plugged her ears and closed her eyes when even a description of it was given."
"T-That's not possible!"
"I was there, I saw it." Nabiki waited as she let that sink in. "And then last night before dinner when Akane tried to hit him with her mallet again… well lets just say that Ranma used it as a scratching post and the thing had to be picked up in pieces."
"H-he… attacked them… both…" Ukyo said in astonishment.
"Yes and…" but before she could finish Ukyo was dancing around.
"Oh happy day! Finally, Ranma's decided to get rid of them and marry me! Oh Ran-chan… your U-chan is looking for you!" Ukyo shouted in a singsong voice as she began earnestly looking for her fiancée.
"Wait! Ukyo!" Nabiki cried out and ran to catch up to the girl who had run away from the school. "No… this isn't good…" she said worriedly.
After running for several minutes, not only had Nabiki lost sight of Ukyo, but she also didn't think she could take another step. "I need… to get… into… better shape…" Nabiki said as she came to a stop on top of a bridge. Heaving, Nabiki staggered over the side of the bridge and leaned over the edge incase her breakfast finally came out.
'This is bad… Ranma's out there somewhere… and Ukyo's trying to find him, but she hadn't listened to me at all…' Nabiki would have continued her mental ranting if her ears hadn't picked up the sound of someone crying. "Just ignore it…" she said softly, but the crying only continued. "It could be Akane… or maybe Shampoo… or… what am I thinking, it could be someone I don't even know."
No matter how much she wanted to ignore it, the more she felt compelled to at least see who it was. 'I'm getting too nosy…' she thought as she made her way to the end of the bridge and then down the bank towards the source of the crying. What she found under the bridge though, was not what she was expecting. "Ranma?"
Ranma was on his knees with his face almost touching the mud as the tears flowed freely out of his eyes. His hands were gripping the mud as though he had been trying to crush the mud in his hands, only to have it slip though his fingers. However hearing her voice he shot up from where he had been kneeling over and almost fell onto his back. "N-Nab-iki…"
"Oh… gods… Ranma what happened?" She asked as she shakily approached him.
"No… don't…" he begged as he fell backwards. "I could hurt you too…"
"Ranma… what… what happened?" Nabiki's world had been shaken to its very core these past two days, and seeing Ranma like this was the final straw.
"I… I can't control it… I… I'm so tired of it all…" He said as the tears kept coming, he just couldn't seem to stop them. "I… I hurt them… I almost killed Shampoo… oh gods… I attacked Akane… and… and… Kunö… kuso… I don't like him, but I don't want to kill him!"
'He knows…' she thought with more than a little fear. 'He knows what he did, but why can't he control it?' Steeling her resolve, she approached him, "But you won't… will you?"
"I… I don't want to… not even Happosai… I… I cut off his arm!" Ranma at this point fell forward and propped himself up on his hand and knees. "I almost killed him… and Kunö…" Ranma's strength gave out and he fell forward bringing his hands up to his face while propping himself up on his elbows.
Nabiki couldn't stand still; she had never seen anyone in so much torment. Striding forwards, she lifted him up off his arms. "Ranma…" she said softly as she looked at his tear-streaked face. He didn't reply with words; instead, Ranma threw his arms around her and let the tears fall. He didn't try to stifle them this time as crying wasn't manly; instead, he let the tears fall and fall they did, hard and fast. She'd never been good at helping anyone who was crying as she let Kasumi take care of that whenever Akane cried. But despite that, there was one thing she knew, to leave now would be worse than anything she'd ever done in the past.
It took some time, but Ranma finally started to calm down. "Feel better?" Nabiki asked as she tried to smile and hoped that he was ok now.
"I… I don't know…" he replied weakly.
Nabiki chuckled, "I guess that's better than…"
"NABIKI!"
"Ah damn…" Nabiki swore softly as she heard Ukyo's voice.
"I see what you're trying to do! You told me to beware of Ranma and that he's getting rid of Shampoo and Akane… so that you can steal him from me!"
"No! It's not like that!"
"Oh sure, its not like you and Ranma are holding each other and covered in mud… so how long have you two been making out? How long has this been going on?"
Nabiki blinked and looked at herself and Ranma then cursed her carelessness. Since Ranma had been crying in the mud… his arms and face had mud on it, which mean that she now had mud on her chest and her back. Unfortunately, her silence was taken as an admission of guilt since Ranma was unable to get his mouth to start working from the accusations he'd just heard.
"You were just trying to keep me away from my Ran-chan! You've always been in my way… but not any longer!" Ukyo said menacingly as she drew her battle spatula.
"W-what?"
"So this is where my Ranma-sama is!"
"Kodachi!" Nabiki's voice almost squeaked as she heard the mad voice of the insane gymnast.
"So mercenary one, you are trying to steal away my Ranma-sama from me!"
"What? NO! It's not what it looks like!"
"Oh, it looks like you have enjoyed your little romp in the mud with my Ranma-sama, but that was your last time with MY Ranma-sama!"
"MOVE!" Ranma shouted as he shoved Nabiki backwards.
Though her breath was taken away from the harsh push… the ground she was just in was torn apart by a battle spatula and several spiked clubs. "What…" she gasped out.
Ranma though had thrown himself backwards and now Ranma-chan was sitting in a few inches of water along the bank. But before she could say a word, she heard Kodachi gasp. "How…"
"So yoouu get it noww…" Ranma-chan said with a slight growl.
"It's not possible… how… what happened to Ranma-sama… where'd you… I mean… you were a boy… but now you're…"
"It's a curse Kodachi," Nabiki said as she glared at her. "Ranma has a curse that turns HIM into HER when splashed with cold water."
"No… it's not possible…"
Nabiki just shook her head as she looked at her. When she heard a growl, she looked at Ranma-chan and nearly screamed in terror as Ranma looked ready to jump towards her with those purple claws extending from her fingers. When Ranma-chan's body suddenly shot up and began descending towards her, Nabiki did scream and threw her arms up over her head with her eyes closed. However, when she didn't feel any pain she opened her eyes and saw small metal strips of confetti. "What?" Looking up, she saw Ranma-chan standing over her, with her claws still extended and glaring at Ukyo, who was holding a metal stick in her hands.
Ukyo looked at the remains of her battle spatula, a weapon that had been made of hardened steel and sharpened to be razor sharp… was now no more than a metal handle with the blade being reduced to hundreds of little bits of metal. "Ran-chan…" she asked as she looked at the angry redhead. However, instead of answering, the redhead just growled and flexed her claws. "Ran-chan?" Ukyo asked again with wide eyes.
"NO! I won't believe it!" Kodachi suddenly yelled. "I'll kill you both! Nabiki Tendo, you'll never touch MY Ranma-sama again and you… you red-haired trallop… I will not accept this… I will remove you from Ranma's existence!"
It was then that Kodachi attacked, but she soon learned that her ribbon, clubs and other equipment were like paper to Ranma-chan's new claws. Ukyo and Nabiki looked on in shock as Ranma suddenly leaped at Kodachi, which was followed by a terrified scream, and a spray of red as Kodachi fell backwards.
"Oh gods…" Ukyo said in shock.
Nabiki though was scared, "Ranma!"
"Get... outta myyy sight…" Ranma-chan growled out as she stared down at Kodachi.
Kodachi had never felt fear before, but right now, she knew true terror. No one had ever walked though her attacks as though they weren't there… but it's just happened, and then the red-haired girl had leaped for her and she screamed. What followed then was a searing burning pain in her face before she fell to the ground. The voice she heard was that of a demon… a demon she knew she'd never want to hear again. Leaping to her feet, she began running as fast as she could away from here.
Seeing Kodachi run off, Ranma-chan turned back towards Nabiki and literally stalked back towards the Tendo girl. For a brief moment Nabiki looked around and noticed that she was alone and Ranma did not look happy, 'Great, what happened to Ukyo?' she mentally asked before she looked back at the girl stalking towards her with the purple claws still extended.
"I smellll yourrrr fearrrr…"
She couldn't help it, she shivered at the tone but Nabiki just stood up straight and faced the girl. "I may be scared, but I know you're scared too." Ranma-chan just nodded her head and released the claws before padding towards Nabiki on four legs. Even if Nabiki had seen Ranma-chan act like a cat before, it was still unnerving. "Come on Ranma… we've got to get out of this mud."
Just after the words left her mouth, Ranma-chan had scooped her up and was airborne which caused Nabiki to let out a shriek of panic. Her panic lessened when she heard Ranma-chan chuckling. "Youuu wanted out of that mud."
Nabiki just groaned as she was set on her feet just moments later. This time she was on top of the bridge instead of under it. "I'll never understand how you do that."
The red-haired girl just shrugged and made an effort to stand on two legs beside Nabiki. "Wherrrrr to now?"
Looking around Nabiki discovered that they weren't far from the Cat Café, and she knew that at least Cologne would be able to help right now, though she was concerned about Shampoo. "Oh well, it's not like he's my fiancée or anything," she mumbled as she remembered what had happened the last time she had been engaged to Ranma and the Amazon had found out about it. Letting out a sigh, Nabiki looked at Ranma-chan and blinked at how the girl was licking her hand clean. "Ranma… stop that and let's get going. At least at the Cat Café we'll be able to get this mud off us." The cat-girl let out a low growl but followed Nabiki along.
More will be added in the next chapter, but I wanted to get this out so that Rubberneck, Wonderbee31 and glazedlookineyes101 get their quota for violence. I would like to thank Innortal, Silverscale, Dennisud, DerektheRogue, JohnnyG, Ranko and TopQuark for their encouragements.