Chapter 3 School Daze
The next morning, Ranma woke up to the sound of Akane's voice. "Ranma, breakfast is ready," she was saying as she shook him.
He opened his eyes, and gazed at her sleepily for a second. 'She's pretty cute', he thought, 'This is a much nicer way of waking up than Pop throwing me out of bed.'
"Thanks, Akane," he said, after a second, shaking the cobwebs out of his head. "I'll be down in a second, once I throw some clothes on. Don't let Pop eat everything in sight."
Akane smiled in acknowledgement, remembering what had happened the evening before.
Flashback
Gemna had attempted to steal the food off of Ranma's plate. Kasumi had simply reached over, swatted his hand with her chopsticks, and removed Gemna's plate. "I told you we weren't going to have any fights in the house. If you don't stop trying to steal Ranma's food, then I'll stop fixing you meals," she said sweetly. Gemna's face paled, and he apologized.
"Oh, My!!" said Nabiki. 'Did I just say that, well I guess someone had to,' she thought. Akane sat there stunned.
Ranma convulsed in silent laughter. 'Way to go, Kasumi,' he thought.
End Flashback
Akane left the room. Ranma got up, and changed into clean clothes. He left the guestroom and walked downstairs to the dining area. Soun was sitting at one end of the dining platform, Kasumi sitting opposite him. Akane sat down next to her father; Ranma sat between her and Kasumi, and opposite Nabiki. Gemna came in from outside and sat down in the remaining space, between Soun and Nabiki.
Kasumi handed the plates of food around and everyone began to eat, Gemna devouring everything in sight at warp speed. Ranma was copying his behavior, until Nabiki said sharply, "Why don't you at least taste it as it's going in?" Ranma looked abashed and slowed down.
Ranma looked surprised, and then said, "You're right Nabiki, thanks, this is entirely too good not to taste. I didn't know what I was missing. Kasumi, you are an excellent cook." Kasumi blushed, and then nodded her thanks.
"Come on, Ranma, we'll be late if you don't hurry!" Akane said.
He looked up, just in time to see a backpack heading toward him. He grabbed it, put it on, and got ready to leave. Remembering his manners, however, he turned to Kasumi, bowed and said, "Thank you for preparing such a nice meal." Gemna face faulted. Ranma turned and followed Akane and Nabiki out the door.
Ranma was walking with Akane, when suddenly an old lady watering her flowers splashed him. Akane just groaned, and said, "What are you, some kind of water magnet? Come on, I know where we can get some hot water to change you back." Ranma just shrugged and followed her to a small clinic on the way to school. She followed Akane in to the clinic's reception room. She was looking around, wondering who worked here, when suddenly she felt a bony hand on her shoulder.
A voice from behind her said, "Don't mind Betty, she's just trying to be friendly." Ranma turned and looked. She saw a young man, in his early thirties, or late twenties, in a lab coat, holding a skeleton. The skeleton's hand was what she had felt.
"This is Ranma Saotome, she is staying with us for a while. Ranma this is Dr. Tofu," Akane gushed. Ranma looked at the girl, while she wasn't sure, it sure sounded like Akane had a crush on the young doctor.
"Ranma, pleased to meet you. You're an extremely attractive young girl," Tofu said. Ranma winced.
"Doctor, do you have any hot water available?" Akane asked quickly. Tofu nodded, went into a back room and came out with a small teakettle. Ranma took it from him, poured the water over herself, and triggered the change. Tofu's eyes got very wide, and he had a major face fault. "I'll explain later, right now we need to get to school," Akane said, "Thanks." Ranma nodded. Akane pulled him out the door, heading toward the gates of the school.
"What's up with the doctor? Ya know, he's a pretty good martial artist," he asked.
"How could you tell?" she asked in some surprise.
"Yeah, he has good control or else I would have sensed him," he replied, "So he's the guy that Kasumi likes?"
"Yes, she likes him," she said, a little sadly.
"Ya like him too, don't ya," Ranma said.
She blushed. "He's been our doctor for a long time. Every time I got hurt, I would go to him and he would make it better, so yeah, I have a bit of a crush on him," she admitted.
"I thought you didn't like guys," Ranma teased.
Her eyes flashed. "No, I just don't like boys!" she exclaimed angrily.
As she got closer to the gates, and started saying, almost like a mantra, "I hate boys! I hate boys!" She pulled away from him and entered the schoolyard. He began hearing the sounds of combat from the behind the walls. As he entered the gates, he saw what looked like the entire male student population of the school stretched out in pain all over the yard. As he watched, Akane finished knocking out the remaining boys. 'Nice form; actually, for group combat. I can see why she has a poor opinion of boys," he thought. He remembered then what Nabiki had said yesterday about the Hentaii Horde, and the little speech she had written for him to memorize. He hoped it worked.
As he walked toward Akane, a rose came flying out from behind a tree. She caught it, dropped it on the ground, and crushed it beneath her foot. A figure in flowing robes, carrying a bokken, stepped out from behind the tree. "Ah, the fair Akane Tendo, I see your love for me is still as strong as ever," the figure said.
Akane screamed at him, "I don't love you Kuno, I will never date you!!! Leave me alone!!!!"
Ranma interrupted Akane, as she was about to attack Kuno. "Akane, may I handle this please?" he asked pleasantly. She glared at him angrily for a moment, and then nodded. Stepping between Akane and Kuno, Ranma asked with a smile, "It appears the lady does not return your affection. It also appears that you are beginning to annoy her. I see by your robes that you consider yourself a Samurai. Men of honor, such as you seem to be, would certainly not force their attention where it is unwanted. I would ask that you honor her request to leave her alone." Ranma was proud that he had managed to get through all of Nabiki's speech without stumbling. 'Ugh if I have to talk much more like that, I'm gonna need to wash out my mouth,' he thought.
"Peasant, how dare you interrupt, but pardon, it is not right for this to continue without introducing myself. I have the honor and privilege to be Tatewaki Kuno, upperclassman, the Rising Star of Furinkan High, the undefeated champion, also known as the Blue Thunder." As he finished talking, thunder roared in the background.
"Nice special effects," Ranma smirked. "I am Ranma Saotome, of the School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. I'm one of the new senseis at the Tendo School. You must be the pompous fool who came up with the idea of the male students having to beat Akane in order to ask her for a date. That is the stupidest thing that I have ever heard of. I don't know much about women, but even I know that's not how you impress a girl. If you want to ask a girl out, you do it like " Ranma said evenly.
Kuno interrupted, "Ill mannered oaf, only I may determine who may date Akane, you do not have that right!" Akane began seething in anger.
"I believe you are wrong there on both counts. Akane alone makes that decision. And anyway, according to your own stupid rule, I can ask her for a date. After all, I beat her in a fight yesterday, what was it Akane, three times out of five, I think," he said with a wink to Akane, hoping she would play along. 'After all, they don't have to know it was shogi,' he thought. Akane glared at him, but then she remembered what he was doing.
"Yes, that's right, Ranma, you beat me three times out of five," Akane said with a thin smile. Then she screamed, "Ranma, watch out!!" as Kuno attacked, swinging his bokken. Ranma snatched it out of his hand, spun it around and broke it into four pieces. He then proceeded to dance around Kuno, touching all of his pressure points and paralyzing him without getting hit in the process. Finally, Kuno fell to the ground. Ranma thought, 'Now that wasn't much of a fight, I guess he's not much without his bokken.'
"Kuno, do you yield?" Ranma spat through clenched teeth, trying to keep his temper under control.
Kuno attempted to stand, but fell back onto the ground. He nodded and said, "Yes, your foul sorcery has bested me."
"It wasn't sorcery, it was skill, you dishonorable cur. Attacking from behind, I thought a Samurai was better than that, you are not worthy of the uniform you wear," Ranma growled. Then turning to Akane, he asked, " Now, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted. Akane, I like you, I think you're cute. Would you care to go out with me Friday night?"
Akane thought for a long second, and then replied, "No, I wouldn't." Ranma's face fell. She waited for a long pause. "However, I believe Saturday would be good," she said with a giggle.
He mouthed the words "Thanks" to her, and then turned to the mass of bodies on the ground. He said, "See that is how a honorable man asks a woman out. Now, Akane, is there anything else we need to discuss with these gentlemen?"
She smiled a shark-like grin. "Yes, there is. I am tired of having to fight all of you every morning. If you don't stop, Ranma and I will have to start taking shall we say stronger measures. Kuno was selling something that he didn't have to offer. As Ranma said, I decide whom I will date. And it won't be any of you. Why don't you take a look at all of the cute girls around school? You might find one you like that likes you as well."
Ranma smiled. "You heard the lady, gentlemen. Oh by the way, Akane is the other sensei for the Tendo dojo. I intend to teach her all my skills, so you might want to consider that. We'd better run so we're not late, Akane." They ran into the school and up the stairs to their third floor classroom, just beating the bell.
Nabiki watched the entire scene from the second story window. 'Way to go, Ranma, you did remember everything I told you. This might have just worked," she thought with a smirk.
"Class, we have a new student joining us. His name is Ranma Saotome, he just came back from China," said the teacher, "Can you tell us anymore about yourself?"
"Hai, sensei. Uh, I'm a martial artist. My Pop is a friend of Mr. Tendo and we are staying there for a while. We are also reopening the Tendo dojo for students, if any of you are interested."
"Thank you, now since you know Miss Tendo, why don't you take the empty seat next to her?" the teacher said. Ranma bowed, then went and sat beside Akane. He started listening to the lecture, unfortunately, this was algebra, and his grasp of math, was to say at best, shaky, so he soon found himself not paying attention. Shortly, he woke up after being hit on the head by an eraser, thrown at him by the teacher. Soon he found himself outside in the hall, holding two pails of water, which he was eying nervously.
Suddenly, Kuno came charging at him, yelling, "How dare you date the beautiful Akane Tendo!"
Ranma dropped his buckets, ducked out of the way, and said, "This is not the appropriate place to fight, follow me," as he ran down the hall. Heads popped out of every classroom trying to see what was going on. Kuno followed him down the hall, Akane and her class close behind. Ranma jumped out the window, Kuno hesitated for a second and followed.
Akane gasped, "This is the third floor," as she rushed over to the window.
Ranma looked below his and cursed. 'Just my luck, there's a swimming pool below me.' He fell into the water and transformed. Shortly thereafter, she felt the impact as Kuno fell into the water too. He landed somewhat awkwardly and started sinking to the bottom of the pool. Ranma swam down to him, and grabbed him and began pulling him over to the side. She got out, and pulled Kuno from the pool. Then she ran off.
Above, the students were watching. One of them said, "There's Ranma and Kuno now. But isn't Ranma's hair a lot redder than it was?" Everyone looked puzzled. Akane ran downstairs, grabbing a kettle of hot water and a towel from the nurses' office as she passed by it. She ran outside looking for Ranma. She finally found her up in a tree, trying to wring the water out of her clothes. Ranma saw Akane, jumped down from the tree, and poured the water over her.
"Thanks, Akane, you're a lifesaver," Ranma said as he dried himself off, "Next time I'll know about the pool."
"You're welcome, Ranma," Akane said, "Here's your bento. It's time for lunch, anyway. We can sit and eat out here if you want." Ranma nodded, they sat down and began eating. "Ranma, do you really think we did anything this morning?" Akane asked finally.
"I don't know. I hope so. All we can do is see what happens tomorrow," Ranma said, "I doubt we chased Kuno away. You're right about him, by the way; he is a pervert. His hands were all over me as I was dragging him out of the pool. I guess the only thing we accomplished this morning is that we got a date out of it, that is if you were really want to go. We can just say we did if'n ya want. I know ya don't think much of boys."
"I think I do if you want to. I'm kinda looking forward to it; you're different from the others. We'll really have to play it down with our parents," Akane said.
"Yeah, I know. If we look like we're too friendly, they'd have us engaged before we could blink, and married the day after," Ranma said with a wry smile, "Even in spite of the contract they signed with us."
Akane sighed. "Yeah, I know. I still mad at him for the stupid engagement idea. How do you plan on fooling them?"
"I could tell them it was a reward for doing well in training, that we're going out as sensei and student, I suppose, but you're going to have to tell me what you want to do and where you want to go. I don't have any idea of what's fun to do around here," he said with a laugh.
"Ranma, Akane, there you are," Nabiki said as she sat down next to them. "That was a pretty profitable morning for the family finances. Everyone sure wanted to pay a lot to know about you. I hope you don't mind too much about that. I didn't say anything about the engagement or Jusenkyo. I also made a killing on the fight this morning. We do have a little problem, though. I took Kuno to the nurses' office after you dragged him out of the pool. He was asking about a red-haired, pig-tailed goddess. I told him I didn't know anyone like that," she smirked. "I don't know any goddesses, do you Ranma?" she said with a laugh.
Ranma just smirked, Akane giggled. "Obviously, I don't want anyone to know about that. Why don't you just tell him you're not having any luck finding out anything about her for a while?" Ranma said.
"We can probably milk that for about a week before I have to come up with something else. Are you two serious about the date Saturday?" Nabiki asked.
"Yeah, we are, it'll just be as friends though. The only way I'll get to know each of you is to do things with you, though I hadn't really planned to start so soon. It kinda just happened, ya know? Actually, since you planned my speech, you probably do know," Ranma answered. "Something else I just figured out, I haven't had much formal education, but I tried to read everything I could get my hands on. I didn't understand much of what was going on in class today, though. I just didn't have enough background to follow much of what the teachers were saying. I need to ask you two for help if I want to pass."
Nabiki thought for a second, "Akane can probably help you with studying. I can pitch in some, though I don't know how much time I will have and don't underestimate Kasumi." She sat there deep in thought for a while, and then asked, "Hm, tell me Ranma, how easy do you pick up martial art techniques?"
After a few minutes, Ranma said, "Pretty quickly. I can usually watch someone for a while and pick up on what he is doing real fast. That's why I never lose"
"Never lose, huh. That's what I thought, you aren't a dumb jock; you just need a focus. Therefore I challenge you to pay attention in class and learn the material. All good martial artists need a good education," Nabiki said.
"Damn, you're good, Nabiki, using my own conceit and pride against me like that," Ranma laughed, "I accept, I never turn down a challenge. Maybe that's really the secret; I need to treat school as just another martial art skill. If it's martial arts, I can do it. So here's to learning the art of Martial Arts Education."
Author's Notes:
I want to thank all of you who have reviewed this piece. I certainly appreciate all of the comments.
Remember, Ranma is going to be a bit o-o-c in this. He does come across as a bit more intelligent than I had originally intended, though I think a martial artist of his caliber really can't be a dumb jock.
In the first episode, which roughly corresponds to my first two chapters, Akane didn't really show a lot of anger except when she walked in on Ranma in the furo, and then when she was selected as the fiancée. I removed both of those issues deliberately in those chapters, so she does come across a bit passive. I think this chapter brings her back more in character. As to her not liking boys, that's still true, but since so far Ranma is being reasonably polite to her, he should come across as more mature.
I also haven't really resolved any thing about Ranma's problem as far as the engagement is concerned. Remember, right now he is effectively engaged to all three of the girls.
Again, thanks for reading and reviewing. I hope you continue to like how this turns out.