Author's Notes:
Wow, you guys have been awesome; it's really making me feel welcome to be back here again now. I'll have to try to keep things coming more regularly!
To those who pointed out that this idea seems to be unique... I have to admit, I kind of expected that, but it still surprises me a little. But then, the alternative love interests pool for Ranma was never the largest part of the fandom, sadly.
And to those who asked about Shampoo & Ukyo? I'm afraid that would be spoilers. Suffice it to say that Nabiki is not Akane, but Ranma is still Ranma, and that means his life will always be weird and chaotic...
Also, to those who've been bringing up Ranma's shyness... firstly, he's going to move away from that now. Secondly, it's actually canon; look at the first episode of the series (or the first chapter of the manga). When Ranma initially arrives, he's very shy, meek, even timid when he's first interacting with the Tendos. Even after first revealing his true gender to them, he's shy and polite. It's not until Akane starts denouncing him as a pervert for their seeing each other naked in the bathroom that he gets aggressive in response. In this universe, with the less hostile Nabiki as his fiancee, Ranma is not pushed as sharply to act assertive. Now that he's had some time to really bond with Nabiki, to confirm that she's not going to lash out at him for being him, he's going to be more confident and assertive... whilst also having a far more positive opinion of her and a stronger bond with her than he had with Akane around this point in canon.
Finally, I'm really sorry about the delay in getting this out, but real life has just been kicking me and especially my editor around.
Chapter 3: Revenge! Rematch with Kuno!
It was not, as Nabiki would later reflect, your typical first date. And she would know, having been in her fair share of paid dates and date-like environments as part of her business dealings. Sitting on a circular bench beneath a tree, gulping down American-style greaseball burgers with fries and coca-cola from McDonalds as she and her companion chattered about trivialities from their lives would never have crossed her mind as the first option when it came to having a date.
...Maybe that was partially why it was so much fun?
"You're kidding!" Nabiki giggled, the last mouthful of her burger temporarily forgotten to prevent choking. "He actually stole the general's medals?"
"Medals, nothing!" Ranma grinned in response, taking a swift slurp from his coke. "He took the man's shirt, his pants, his underwear... only thing he left him with was his hat!"
Now Nabiki burst out laughing openly, shaking her head in disbelief. "He must have just loved that," she chuckled, before chomping down on the last mouthful of sauce-dripping bread, meat and cheese.
"Oh, yeah - we had to hightail it before his men gave us some extra holes. He even tried to hit us with an artillery strike! Lucky for us that we were faster than he was... still, those medals paid for a good night's sleep and a decent meal at the next village we came to," Ranma smirked. As paper rustled, he glanced at the takeout bag between them, raising an eyebrow inquisitively as Nabiki withdrew another burger from it. "Still hungry?" he asked, audibly bemused.
"Hmm?" Nabiki gave him an innocent look. "What's that?"
"That's your third Big Mac," Ranma pointed out.
"So what? That's your third Big Mac too," Nabiki replied cheerfully with a smirk on her face, pointing at the half-eaten burger - with fries piled inside of it - in Ranma's lap.
"Yeah, but I am a big strong martial artist who works his ass off in training every single day. You are a sweet, dainty schoolgirl with a cute little blob of sauce on her nose," Ranma quipped back, grinning at her before he promptly gulped down what was left of his burger in two bites.
Nabiki blinked as Ranma's words registered, trying not to betray the way her heart fluttered at his flirtations. A quick swipe of her fingers and the sauce was gone, allowing her to focus on giving Ranma a sultry smile. "Flattery will get you nowhere, handsome," she teasingly retorted, before unwrapping her food. "As for the burger... well, what can I say? I've always had a healthy appetite, and this is a rare treat for me. Besides, I always say you should get your money's worth when eating out."
'Or somebody else's money's worth,' she privately added to herself. That had been partially where she'd developed the stomach capacity; if she was getting somebody else to pay for it, then she intended to stuff herself as full as she could get. Applying the same principle to when she was forced to shell out her own precious pocket money was a natural extension.
"Huh. Maybe our families aren't so different after all," Ranma commented, looking thoughtfully at his food.
"What?" Nabiki asked, baffled by his statement.
"It's just that my old man has similar sayings," Ranma explained with a nonchalant shrug. "You're much prettier than he is, though."
"You're cute... but you're not getting my burger," Nabiki teasingly retorted, before biting into her burger with an exaggeratedly enthusiastic 'nom!'.
Ranma replied by poking his tongue out at her, and promptly stole the last box of fries, for which his fiancee playfully swatted his shoulder.
That evening, at the Tendo residence...
"Where are they? It's almost dinner time - what could they possibly be doing out so late?" Akane complained, glancing back in the direction of the hallway for the umpteenth time. Despite her best efforts to remind herself that Nabiki usually seemed to know how to handle guys, she was still worried about her. She tapped her pencil on her homework absent-mindedly as she looked back to her homework.
"Oh, Akane, ease up; Ranma's a nice boy, I'm sure he and Nabiki are fine," Soun replied easily, trying to sooth his temperamental youngest daughter over what he was sure was baseless concern.
"Indeed; I raised Ranma to know how to treat women right," Genma interjected from his position at the deck, where he and Soun were playing a game of go. "Your sister will be perfectly safe. Didn't you say Ranma got into a fight to defend her honor at school today? Do you really think he'd then turn on her after that?"
Akane tried to come up with an answer to that, but even her protective sisterly instincts had to falter in the face of that logic. There was nothing she could think of to say that wouldn't make her sound like Kuno, and who wanted that? "I suppose not," she reluctantly conceded. "But where are they, then?"
And just then, as through she had been listening in for just the right moment, Nabiki's voice rang out from the doorway. "We're home!"
"Oh, welcome home, Nabiki, Ranma! Dinner will be ready soon," Kasumi called out from the kitchen, delicious smells an aromatic emphasis on Kasumi's assurance.
Akane twisted around from the TV as her sister and Ranma entered the living room, watching them both like a hawk. When she saw that Nabiki was perfectly fine, even smiling a little, she let herself become a little more relaxed, though she still wasn't happy about her sister's prolonged absence. "Where have you two been?" she demanded tartly, more out of form than any real concern at this point.
"Sorry we're late; I was showing Ranma around Nerima a little and we lost track of time," Nabiki replied casually, before she and Ranma sat down at the table.
Akane's eyebrow raised at the notion of what could have caused her usually punctual and precise elder sister to 'lose track of time' with a boy, but she chose to leave it alone for the moment.
Soun glanced up from his game board to look at his daughter and his soon-to-be son-in-law. "So, Nabiki, I heard that Ranma stood up from you in the face of a school-mate's insults?" he asked probingly.
Nabiki simply shrugged as she replied, "Yeah. It was just Kuno being a moron, nothing major." With Kuno, there were a lot of ways it could have gone worse, after all.
"Still, it seems like the two of you are growing quite close already. That's good. Fiancees should be close to each other-" Soun declared proudly, visibly puffing up in pride.
Before Soun could fully launch into his spiel, Nabiki held up a finger to cut off her father's grandstanding. "Ah-ah-ah, daddy. Don't go planning the wedding just yet. Ranma and I are still getting to know each other. I think we're going to be good friends, but don't you get carried away and try to rush things, understand?" She gave him a glare that reminded Soun of when his darling departed wife knew he was getting ahead of himself.
"Of course, Nabiki, I understand," Soun replied, his tone dripping with a benevolent patronization that made Ranma's own hackles stiffen, used as he was to violently correcting his own father when he felt he wasn't being taken seriously.
Perhaps fortunately for both parties, Kasumi chose that moment to come out and serve dinner, and Soun's words were forgotten in the face of something more important.
After an uneventful meal, the teens watched some television and ultimately went to bed.
The next morning...
Nabiki sat up in her bed, glowering fiercely at the window as the sounds of battle-cries and fist-fighting woke her up for the second morning in a row. "Again?!" she growled to herself. She had no complaints about Ranma, but Genma was starting to get on her nerves. Reluctantly conceding defeat - she hadn't a chance of getting back to sleep in that racket, and it would just make her late for school if she tried - Nabiki threw on her slippers and groggily shuffled down to the dining room.
"Come on, pop; didn't you promise Mr. Tendo we'd stop doing this so early? The Tendos want to sleep!" Ranma pointed out, emphasizing his words with an attempt to to deliver a snap-kick to his father's head.
"I did, and we have - we started a good fifteen minutes later today than we did yesterday!" Genma replied, simultaneously blocking Ranma's kick with a swift forearm and punching at him with the other, which Ranma dodged.
"That's a technicality and you know it!" the cursed youth pointed out, leaping backwards to get more room to maneuver.
Watching from the dining room, Nabiki couldn't help but smile at Ranma's willingness to side with her on the matter. It was a small comfort in the wake of being so rudely awoken, but at least it was some comfort. She and Akane watched as the two Saotomes leapt straight into the air to nearly two stories height, meeting in the middle of the yard and exchanging a rapid-fire flurry of punches, kicks and blocks whilst hovering in mid-air. It was a scene straight out of a shonen anime, and the Tendo girls could only marvel as they continued to defy gravity. Five seconds. Ten seconds...
"...Are you telling me he can fly?" Akane asked, skepticism, curiosity and amazement all warring in her face and voice.
With perfectly ironic timing, gravity caught up to both Ranma and his father right at that moment, and they dropped like stones into the koi pond, sending up an enormous splash.
"Guess he hasn't quite mastered that technique," Nabiki noted conversationally.
A sopping wet girl and a soaking panda clambered forth from the pond. Evidently, that was the signal for the end of their morning sparring match, as Ranma marched over to them, scowling all the way, whilst Genma found himself a large rock in the sun to sit on and try to dry some of the excess from his fur... once he'd had a good shake.
"Stupid old man… you got a nice koi pond, but I could really do without seeing so much of it from a koi's eye view," Ranma complained to the Tendo sisters, even as the neo redhead parked her tuckus down on the patio to the sound of a wet squelch from her sodden pants.
"Couldn't you just talk to him about it?" Akane asked,unable to resist her curiosity. Her father could be stubborn at times, yeah, but it wasn't like he was completely distant to reason.
"Pfft. Fat chance. Pops never has been too good about listening to others," Ranma replied conversationally... and then, with equal casualness, she pulled her soaking wet shirt up over her head and rung it out onto the lawn, letting her newly manifested breasts bounce freely in the morning sun before gravity settled them in their natural tear-drop shape.
"Gak!" went Akane, whose eyes practically doubled in size at the sight, her face flushed with mortification. "What do you think you're doing?! Don't you have any feminine modesty?!" she spluttered.
Ranma just gave the youngest Tendo a flat look. "Do I look like I should?" she asked dryly, letting the phrase 'considering I am a guy' go unsaid.
Akane let out a strangled, inarticulate noise of less than coherent thought, and then stormed off towards the kitchen, grumbling under her breath about things that Nabiki wasn't paying attention to.
Nabiki tried not to stare, honestly, but... it was just too hard. This wasn't her first time seeing Ranma's boobs out in the open, technically, but it was the first time the situation was letting her look at them calmly. "Um... Ranma? I'm sorry, but I just gotta ask..."
"Hm?" Ranma looked at Nabiki, followed her gaze, and then sighed in resignation, "No, I don't know why they're so big. I don't know where the red hair comes from, either. I think it's part and parcel of the curse, myself."
"Really? Why?" Nabiki asked, finally managing to wrench her gaze away from her boyfriend's most impressive rack. She was not a perv but it was still like the things had magnets attached to her eyes, dammit.
"Well, it's supposed to be a curse, right? So it should make your life harder when it turns on... well, are you telling me that guys aren't going to notice a girl with hair like this in Japan?" Ranma paused to gently tug a crimson forelock, "And tits like these?" she added, cupping and hefting the bountiful mammaries momentarily gracing her chest.
"Besides, big boobs like this means I gotta worry more about how I dress - you have any idea how hard it is to find a shirt that will even try to fit me in both forms? Forget trying to pass myself off as a guy on the fly!"
As she'd said this, Ranma had been scowling... but, after a moment, her face lightened and she playfully added, "Still, at least they have their perks too, right, Nabiki?" she chuckled, playfully bobbling her chest and making Nabiki's own heart beat a little faster. Not that she was into girls, or anything like that! She just... ah... had learned to understand what boys saw in girls to help with her photo-shoots, that was all. She was about to speak when she was cut off by a familiarly strident voice.
"You're unbelievable!" Akane shouted, making Nabiki jump - she hadn't even noticed her sister's return. But not as much as Ranma did when Akane suddenly poured a kettle full of boiling hot water.
Ranma might have started arguing with Akane then, but Nabiki didn't notice. She was too fascinated with the way water glistened as it slid down newly returned muscles, giving the now-masculine Ranma's chiseled torso the sort of shimmering gleam that visual arts aimed at attracting horny young women so loved to capture.
'...Yummy...' Nabiki absently thought to herself, restraining the urge to reach out and give Ranma's nearest pectoral a thorough lick. And fortunately she did, as a newcomer entered the scene.
"Ranma? Would you please put a shirt on? It's time for breakfast," Kasumi gently chided her guest. Or perhaps she should start thinking of him as her new brother? From the look on Nabiki's face as she stared at the...admittedly well-built and distractingly topless youth, the eldest Tendo had her doubts that the wedding was going to be called off any time soon.
'All I will need is the right time with a camera, and I'll have my own 'incriminating evidence' mufufufufu...' Kasumi mentally chortled. She may be the 'good girl' of the family, but that didn't preclude her wanting the chance to tease her normally unflappable younger sibling. It was the eldest's duty to embarrass the younger...or was it the mother's job...hmm..
"Huh? Okay, sorry Kasumi," Ranma said, giving his shirt another quick squeeze of moisture and then pulling it on. Not his favorite way to deal with being splashed, but he'd grown used to wearing damp clothing - another reason why he preferred silk.
It took everything Nabiki had not to call Kasumi a party pooper and had to settle for giving her elder sibling a quick scowl before smoothing her expression. Though Nabiki supposed that it was at least nice for giving her a distraction to collect herself... then again, could anyone really blame her for staring? Especially when Ranma chose that moment to stretch out and pull his still-wet, but apparently acceptable, shirt back on, which did very interesting things to his abs.
'Oh my god, you could grind meat on them...' Nabiki caught herself thinking, then discretely tried to shake that image out of her head once Ranma sadly - safely, she meant safely - had them covered again.
Feeling her own stomach growl, Nabiki hastened over to the table. This time, she and Ranma sat down together in a way that made it obvious Genma was not welcome to interject himself this morning. The panda took the hint, fortunately, and instead seated himself at one of the shorter table ends.
Kasumi frowned gently at the sight of Genma's shaggy alternate body. "I'm sorry, Mr. Saotome, but I'm out of bamboo," she apologized, which made Nabiki sigh in relief internally, as a part of her was wondering if her eldest sister was pulling the oversized shrubbery out of hammerspace or something..
Genma let out a harsh growl and snatched up a bowl of rice and miso soup, hugging it possessively to his chest, a few hairs falling into the broth.
"Ah, don't worry about it, Kasumi - he can eat people food just fine. Heck, eating bamboo means he's got to stay a panda for a couple of hours, or he'll get a horrible stomach-ache," Ranma said, waving a hand in symbolic dismissal of her concerns, Genma giving a nod and 'growf' of confirmation.
"Um... how do you...?" Kasumi began to ask, curiosity managing to push back her politeness just this once, leaning over in her interest.
"We hiked back from Jusenkyo, living off of our wits and out of our pockets. Of course the old man tried to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear by seeing if his curse would let him eat bamboo," Ranma replied, before nonchalantly chowing down on his rice, Kasumi's attention keeping his manners in display, with rice flying only into his mouth.
Genma visibly shuddered, letting out a plaintive sounding growl, before tucking into Kasumi's food with an air of reverence, he too displaying manners that many who knew him would swear were never borne to begin with.
Appeased by Ranma's words, Kasumi demurely began eating her own meal, which was the unofficial signal for all that the meal had begun, and the rather odd family unit enjoyed a quiet, peaceful breakfast.
Once the food was all eaten, the three teens set off - the Tendos on foot, Ranma on the fence-line. As they walked along at a leisurely yet brisk pace, Akane couldn't resist glancing at Ranma. "What, you too good to walk down here with us?" she asked, half snidely, half legitimately curious. At this point there was no real heat behind her dislike of Ranma, and Nabiki could tell the sneer was more out of form's sake from her youngest, and most stubborn, sibling.
"Huh?" Ranma responded, casting her an genuinely bamboozled look - and yet he still seemed to keep his balance without even trying, jogging along at the same pace on a narrow pipe as most would walk solid ground.
"I think she's asking what you're doing up on the fence. We don't have cooties you know," Nabiki explained archly, mildly curious herself.
"Oh! Sorry, Nabiki, it's sort of instinct at this point," Ranma replied, leaping down from the fence without missing his stride, to the approving nods of both Tendo sisters. "Midair combat is my school's specialty, so I've been training to balance all my life. I learned to climb probably before I learned to walk. Going high's just kind of second nature to me by now."
Akane blinked, torn between her interest at this insight into Ranma's life and annoyance that he was addressing Nabiki when she'd been the one asking the question in the first place. Nabiki simply smiled and nodded. "It's nothing, Ranma. Thank you for explaining." Akane shrugged to herself and let the matter go, so the three continued on their way to school in amicable silence
Within minutes, the trio were coming through the gates into Furinkan High School. As Akane expected, the usual crowd of idiot boys were there, waiting for their beating, and she charged straight into their ranks, ready to punch the first of them in the face.
But... none of them moved. They all held their ground, and Akane found herself skidding to a stop, feeling quite confused at the lack of imminent violence. "What's going on?!" she demanded of them, ready to punch them if they didn't explain. The 'logic' of punching them out for not trying to punch her was lost on Akane
The boys didn't respond, instead shuffling about nervously and refusing to meet her gaze. Then, as one they stepped aside, allowing for one of their own to step forth; a bombastic figure in blue uwagi and black hakama, carrying a bokken at the ready, whose presence made Akane groan with visible dismay, face falling in an expression of exhaustion. "What is it, Kuno?" she sighed, despair filling her voice and body language at what dreaded leavings of mental decay was collected into what Kuno considered a 'good idea'.
"Forgive me, my tigress, but I will be unable to spar with you this morn. For I must save my strength to deal with a most base and lowly scoundrel, a rascal whom laid me low in front of my peers through the use of deceit and has shattered their faith in my prowess by making me appear too weak to continue being their shining light," Kuno declared, striking up a pose straight out of a shonen manga complete with breeze blown hair. He was oblivious to the incredulous looks of the boys surrounding him, and the susurrus of comments as to the inaccuracy of his words.
"Hey! I beat you fair and square, you lying jerk!" Ranma shouted angrily from the gate, Nabiki raising an eyebrow in mild curiosity at Kuno's actions. This was unusual behavior for the bombastically boisterous buffon, and she was intrigued to see where it went and how she could profit from it
Kuno's head snapped up to glare fiercely at the newest attendee of Furinkan High. "Lo and behold! Speak of the devil and he doth appear; thou base scoundrel, today, we shall see you punished for your misdeeds!" He declared, leveling his bokken at Ranma who looked about as impressed by the 'threat' as an ocean is by a drop of water.
'Pft. Another school bully who thinks he's so great. Gonna stomp him into... wait a minute...' Ranma glanced at Nabiki's calculating look towards Kuno. 'Hmm...maybe I can do something nice for Nabiki...'
So, Ranma simply folded his arms across his chest and sneered at Kuno. "Why should I fight you? I already kicked your ass yesterday in front of everyone." He added in a cocky smirk for good measure, having pegged Kuno as the easily riled type
"Vile slander, villain!" Kuno shouted incesed, making Ranma's smirk widen with smug satisfaction. "Have you no honor? Will you refuse my invitation of challenge?"
Nabiki blinked. She could have sworn the air suddenly felt warmer standing next to Ranma... and she could easily see the way he tensed at Kuno's words, the quiet crackle of knuckles being clenched overly tight echoing in her ears. Obviously, Kuno had touched a nerve...
"Fine... you want to call it a challenge? Then we'll make it a formal challenge," Ranma declared in a tight voice that matched his coiled muscles perfectly. "And that means we're going to need some stakes for the winner."
"You slander me, and then speak of prizes? Reduce our noble conflict to a tawdry brawl for profit? Truly, thou art a good mate for Nabiki Tendo!" Kuno spat, earning himself yet another price mark up in Nabiki's books.
Rage kept the blush from Ranma's cheeks. "You want a rematch? Fine, but we'll do it on my terms. I could just walk away..."
"Base lowborn knave! ...Fine. What are your terms?" Kuno conceded, glowering at Ranma, not liking the situation but being in too deep to pull out now.
"When I win-" Ranma began to say.
"You mean if you win," Kuno interjected with a job of his bokken.
"When I win," Ranma reiterated, ignoring Kuno's indignation in his own ire, "You're going to call off this stupid morning brawl session."
The Tendo sisters - and the boys who made up the Hentai Horde, but who really cared about their opinion? - were shocked, staring at Ranma in surprise. Now Ranma was blushing - just a little, as he'd carefully clarify to anyone who asked. But Kuno rallied first, jabbing his bokken at the new student with righteous indignation.
"Swine! Have you tired of your base mistress's tawdry affections already? Now you would seek to claim the fair Akane Tendo for yourself?! I, Tatewaki Kuno, will never permit it!" he bellowed, the wooden practice tool in hand positively vibrating in outrage at the idea of a rival that he couldn't just push around in the pursuit of Akane.
"Oh get over yourself!" Ranma snapped immediately. "I don't want nothing to do with that tomboy!"
"Hey!" Akane squawked, not sure if she should feel more indignant or annoyed...so she settled for indignantly annoyed in a masterful display of multitasking that had Nabiki absentmindedly poking her sister's side to hush her up. Akane acquiesced with ill-grace and sulked as the pair watching for further developments.
"But just because I don't want her doesn't mean that I think she deserves what you're doing to her! I mean, come on; you guys try to beat the snot out of her every morning? No wonder she's so grumpy!" Ranma continued in a more moderate tone of voice, seemingly oblivious of said person's irritation rising almost exponentially.
"I'm standing right here, jerk!" Akane protested, the annoyed part of her getting more huffy when nobody seemed to care, too focused on the imminent fight. She settled down with a grumble at another, more forceful, jab from her sister.
"So, yeah, you want this rematch? Fine. But if I win, then you're cancelling this stupid best her to date her nonsense," Ranma concluded, with a level look at the upperclassman.
"Hmph! It is clear you lack the wits to see the truth purpose behind our morning sessions... but very well. It is a bargain. And should I win..." Kuno trailed off, then scratched his chin as he thought it out. Come to think of it, what did he want from Ranma? He was blind enough to not see the beauty of Akane Tendo, so it wasn't like there was any point in ordering him to stay away from her. Extract something from Nabiki through Ranma? Pfeh, there was no way that would work, trying to extract concessions from her 'emotional entanglements' was akin to trying to squeeze blood from a stone. Order him to acknowledge Kuno's obvious superiority in front of their classmates? No, not good enough... ah-hah!
"Well then, Ranma Saotome; should I win, then you are to publicly acknowledge me as your superior," Kuno declared with aplomb, as if making a decree of the Sun Throne itself, not noticing the rolled eyes of the many onlookers that were unsurprised with Kuno's condition.
"Fine, it's a deal, now-" Ranma replied promptly, not really seeing the big deal, even if he lost (which he wouldn't) he could get a rematch and demand the same thing..
"And," Kuno added, continuing over the top of his new enemy's words, "You will register yourself as a formal member of the Furinkan High Kendo team!"
The resounding "...What?!" from all present practically shook the trees.
Kuno smirked and nonchalantly leaned his bokken against his shoulder. "It is clear that you have some small talent for the martial arts, even if you do disgrace yourself with the morals of a backstreet brawler. As the captain of Furinkan High's Kendo team, I would be remiss in my duties if I did not secure those skills of yours for my squad, before you fell in with such riffraff as the wrestling, karate or sumo teams," he explained bombastically, as if the offer itself was a favor beyond Ranma's merit.
The various members of those clubs, openly glared at Kuno, and other members of other clubs looked thoughtful. Now that they thought about it... if Ranma really was anywhere near good as the gossip said, then he'd be a prize score for any of the school's combat or sports clubs!
"I don't intend to join any of 'em," Ranma bluntly drawled. "But if those are yer terms...? Then fine, it's a deal."
"Very well then!" Kuno declared, shifting instantly into a kendo attack stance. "We begin!" he shouted, and sprinted towards Ranma
"No! Wait, you idiot!" Ranma shouted, throwing up a hand in a classic "stop" sign, with Kuno instinctively screeching to a halt. "We don't have time to battle right now!" Ranma pointed out, his words underscored as the first of the "get to class" bells began sounding from Furinkan's clock tower. "We'll fight this match after school, when we can give it our all, understand?"
"You are a base and cowardly cur... but, in this, I suppose you are correct," Kuno grudgingly conceded, magnanimously ignoring a wave and look from Ranma that plainly stated 'why thank you so much pal'. "But know this; you can only delay the inevitable, not change it!" He declared, pointing his wooden sword at Ranma for emphasis, before turning and striding away.
The rest of the Hentai Horde quickly broke up and filed inwards, murmuring to each other as they went; it was a novel experience to have not missed at least some part of class due to being injured. The denizens of the Tendo Dojo followed in their heels, the two Tendo sisters eyeing Ranma curiously, who was doing his best to not look at either of them.
Come lunchtime...
As soon as the first break of the day was announced, Akane wasted no time in sweeping over to Ranma's desk. "Alright, what's the big idea?" she demanded, positively slamming her hands on his desk in the hope of startling him into being off-guard.
Ranma just looked back at her coolly, earning a pout from Akane. "I need a reason?"
"Most people don't go picking fights with guys as skilled as Kuno for 'no reason', Ranma," she dryly responded, much as she was loathe to admit, Kuno had enough skill for the statement to be true.
"I'm not 'most people'. But it's just like I told the stick-for-brains; I don't like you any more than you like me, but that doesn't mean I think it's right what he's got you doing... or are you saying that you enjoy having to beat up all those morons every morning?" Ranma asked wryly with a raised brow for added emphasis.
"You kidding? I'll be glad to have things go back to normal!" Akane replied firmly. She looked at Ranma, silently studying him, but ultimately conceded defeat; either he had a poker face to match her sister's, or he was telling the truth. "I guess... maybe you're not such a jerk after all," she admitted, thinking back over that scene at the front gates and replaying it in her head. Then she stopped as a memory stood out, and she gave Ranma a knowing smirk. "But then, you're not entirely doing this to be my knight in shining armor, are you?"
"What?" Ranma asked, dumbfounded, his eyes shifting around as if looking for where that observation came from.
"You're doing this to impress my sister, aren't you?" Akane elaborated as she crossed her arms in confidence, still smirking. Ranma visibly tensed up at that, eyes going wide, and she knew that she'd hit the nail on the head.
"You really do like her, don't you?" She asked, almost in wonder.
"S-so what if I do? Our dads engaged us, remember? I figured trying to be nice with her was the least I could do," Ranma replied defensively, refusing to look Akane in the eye.
Akane simply laughed softly to herself; so, the scarily skilled stranger had a soft spot for her sister? That actually made him a little less intimidating than he had been... he was still a jerk, as that morning had shown, but... maybe she didn't need to be so fired up about his presence. Besides, being so mad all the time was getting really old, really fast.
And so, with that logic in mind, she turned and left Ranma to his thoughts. She just hoped he could actually win this fight now... yes, he'd taken Kuno down so effortlessly yesterday, but that could just have been a fluke...
Meanwhile, in Homeroom 2-E ...
Nabiki had arrived too late for her henchwomen to grill her like they had hoped. But the second the lunch-bell gave them the chance, they were on their leader like a pair of starving hounds, their gossip-hunting instincts mercilessly indiscriminate of whom they preyed on in their pursuit of news.
"Alright, Nabiki, spill it! What's the story with you and that Ranma kid?" Kikuko asked, grinning excitedly, brows waggling.
"Yeah; are you really engaged?" Ryonami added, looking at her inquisitively.
"Steady there, ladies; remember what I always told you about pressing your peers for information - being too blunt makes them skittish." Nabiki scolded them, earning a contrite bow from both. "But... yes, what my little sister ever so tactfully blurted out is true. Our fathers arranged it for us to marry."
"How old fashioned," Ryonami mused, slightly nonplussed that was even an option in this day and age.
"Yeah, but isn't it also romantic? Two souls bound together by the whims of fate, childhood crushes finally united..." Kikuko sighed longingly, brushing a hand absently through her long, orange-tinted curls, sparkles seeming to dance around her eyes as she presumably imagined some lovey-dovey scenes.
It never ceased to amaze Nabiki how somebody better known for being one of the school's math geeks could be such a cheesy romantic... but then, most math geeks didn't have quite the same feminine charms that Kikuko tried so strongly to downplay out of shyness. "I hate to burst your bubble, Kikuko, but it was nothing like that. I'd never even heard his name before he and his father showed up at our house the evening before last," she patiently explained, while still focusing her needles of reality for maximum bubble popping.
Both of her partners-in-profit stared at her, visibly dumbfounded. "But... that's so dumb!" Ryonami protested, her eye twitching at how much worse it was than she'd originally thought.
Nabiki shrugged. "I never claimed our fathers were brain surgeons." 'Especially not Ranma's; there's still something fishy going on with that one...' She privately noted to herself.
Kikuko wilted, before rallying a bit. "Oh... well, uh, I guess he seems nice?" she responded with a meek smile.
"We're still getting to know each other," Nabiki told her. Then, after letting her sweat a moment, she smiled and added, "But, yes, he does seem to be a nice guy... and if all goes well, he's going to make us a nice bit of extra pocket money this afternoon..."
Once school ended...
Naturally, with a whole school day to percolate, the story of Ranma and Kuno's arranged duel was flying throughout Furinkan High School - it'd even managed to drown out the rumors and gossip over Ranma and Nabiki's engagement, a small marvel considering the way gossip would linger in the school.
Kuno was not precisely the most liked student at Furinkan High - truth be told, even most of his Kendo teammates couldn't stand him - but he had earned the grudging respect that comes from being the most feared fighter on campus.
The year before, the other self-proclaimed strongmen and martial artists of Furinkan High had all taken their shots at dethroning Kuno, but he had triumphed over them all with pompous proclamations and showboating after each victory. That was partially how the Hentai Horde had come to be in the first place.
So the mysterious new kid, who rumor had it had already managed to floor Kuno with two blows, declaring he'd take Kuno on in a formal fight? Well, there wasn't a kid in Furinkan who wanted to miss that match!
So it was that one of the more out-of-the-way sports fields had been commandeered as a makeshift arena - nobody wanted any dull adults spoiling things after all - and it was now thronged with students, milling about and waiting excitedly for the duel to begin, Ranma and Kuno already having taken up positions at the center of the field.
Which of course meant that Nabiki, Kikuko and Ryonami were being run off their feet setting odds and taking bets on the outcome, much to Akane's chagrin.
"You're unbelievable, Nabiki - betting on your own fiance's victory?" The youngest Tendo complained, unable to decide if she was legitimately surprised...or surprised that she was surprised at all...it was giving Akane a headache.
"Hey, it's not like he minds - right, Ranma?" Nabiki chirped, flashing a winsome grin at her fiance as she counted yen notes with a cheerful hum and a glint in her eye
"A bit of extra pocket money is always welcome in my books," Ranma chuckled; as he'd told Nabiki the previous afternoon, this sort of prize fighting wasn't something he was unfamiliar with. Yes, he'd had to run more than one hustle himself in his trek across Japan and China... especially on those occasions when Genma had decided to gamble, because he tended to wind up losing.
"And who says that you're going to see one red yen of that money?" Akane pointed out, rather factually considering her sister's stingy ways.
"How could you think so little of me?" Nabiki replied, affecting a wounded mien that only got a flat look in response from Akane. Giving her younger sister a maturely stuck out tongue, Nabiki got to the point, adding "Of course Ranma will be getting a cut of the profits - 10% of it, in fact," she clarified, smirking at her 'magnanimity'.
"Gee, how generous of you," Akane drawled dryly, rolling her eyes for good measure.
"I'll say - I'm doing the dangerous part! I should get at least 50%!" Ranma chimed in, giving his fiance an askance look; even his pops wasn't that gougey when it came to money. Looks like he was going to have to stay on his toes with his fiancee when it came to money
"But I'm handling all the business affairs - plus, I need to pay Kikuko and Ryonami their share, too," Nabiki pointed out, her grin getting hungrier at the prospect of a good haggling session. She was curious how well Ranma would last before she inevitably swept the field
"Do you intend to keep me waiting forever, you honorless cur?!" Kuno's voice rang out suddenly startling the trio out of their own little world. The upperclassman had done his best to be patient, but had swiftly reached his limits for being ignored by his enemy, his 'love' and the woman he hated as much as he 'needed' her.
Ranma scowled at Kuno's rude interruption, then turned his attention back to Nabiki long enough to say to her, "We'll talk about this after I'm done," before facing his opponent again. Nabiki's smirk was full of anticipation for the event, she was definitely not going to let Ranma off easy just because their parents matched them up. He wanted that money, he'd have to prove he deserved it.
With deliberate, precise motions, Ranma loudly cracked his neck and popped his knuckles, visibly loosening up before adopting a fluid, hunkered down posture, with his arms held up before his chest in a position to strike or block. He waited for the Tendo sisters to scamper back to join the rest of the students before finally responding to Kuno. "Alright, big mouth; ready when you are."
"You have an insolent tongue, whelp! It shall be my pleasure to teach you some manners!" Kuno shouted, and then charged at Ranma. Despite his protestations in front of the gates that morning, he privately acknowledged the speed of his adversary - as deceitful as the blow that felled him had been, Ranma's ability to dodge attacks before that was well proven. He could not afford to take this ruffian lightly a second time! And so he struck with all the speed he could muster, slashing ferociously at the youth who had so insulted him.
Ranma was actually mildly impressed; this was a clear leap above the speed Kuno had been displaying the previous day! But it still wasn't enough to overwhelm him, and the onlookers watched with open mouths and gasps of shock and awe as Ranma seemed to flow around the blurring strikes of Kuno with the grace of a dancer.
"Okay, I'll admit it, he really is almost as good as he thinks he is," Akane murmured to her sister, what she was seeing dragging her backhanded compliment out of her.
Nabiki simply watched silently, feeling unusually tense. She was feeling something... weird. Worry, maybe? She couldn't really recall feeling it before. But she didn't like it, she knew that much. Though when Ranma suddenly lashed out and kicked Kuno in the face, sending the swordsman staggering backwards, she did feel a little better.
Kuno instinctively clasped his face, biting down a curse at the pain. "You dare..." He growled between his fingers, before shrugging off the pain of his bruised face to clasp his sword again. "I strike!" he roared, and began jabbing at Ranma with all his might. To his increasing fury, Ranma still dodged even his most fervent thrusting attacks, flipping nimbly from leg to leg and even arm to arm in order to dodge Kuno's strikes.
But just because Ranma could dodge them, that didn't mean others were so fortunate. The students unfortunate enough to be sitting on the sidelines behind Ranma suddenly began to yelp and howl, feeling stinging impacts slapping against their limbs, torsos, even faces.
"Hey, what gives? Ow! That hurts!" hollered one student, trying to shield his face with his arms.
"It's gotta be the air pressure - he's trying to stab Saotome so hard the thrusts are hitting us all the way over here!" squealed another, curling into a ball to try and minimize the target she presented.
Their cries wrung a pang of guilt and anger from Ranma - getting bystanders mixed up in your fights was literally one of the worst things a martial artist could do, according to his father. Well, he'd been planning on playing this out, give Nabiki better odds to clean up with, so this just gave him an excuse to take that ploy in a whole new direction.
He wove his way towards Kuno, dodging each blow, until he was close enough to grab Kuno's wrist and use that to pull Kuno off balance. Ranma slugged Kuno in the gut - not hard enough to knock him out, like Ranma had the other day, but definitely hard enough to wind him. As Kuno gasped for air, Ranma released Kuno's wrist and sprang away.
"Alright, you're pretty fast, stick-boy - let's see how fast you really are! Catch me if you can!"
"What?!" Kuno wheezed out, his expression both pained and confused.
Ranma promptly stuck out his tongue and then sprang backwards again, casually clearing a distance that made Furinkan's long jump champion stare in dumbfounded wonder. With that single bound, the heir to the Saotome school of martial arts had made it almost to the slope where the students were sitting. Kuno snarled in fury and charged towards him, but Ranma simply sprang backwards again, leaping clearly over the students to apparent safety behind them.
Kuno sprang forward, actually managing to leap the students himself, but Ranma was already in motion again, bounding away like a human flea, leaping backwards away from the charging swordsman, who continued in hot pursuit. "Coward! Come back here, you scoundrel!"
The students watched, dumbfounded. This was not how they had expected the fight to go - although those who had been pelted with Kuno's air pressure bullets were grateful to at least be out of the line of fire.
Kikuko leaned over to her boss and long-time friend. "Um... Nabiki? Was that supposed to happen?"
If it were anyone else, Nabiki would have bluffed. But Kikuko was one of the very small handful of people to deserve Nabiki's honesty. "I have no idea what Ranma is doing," Nabiki admitted to Kikuko, keeping her expression even. If the marks saw her put off, they'd be sure to take advantage.
"Hey - I want to change my bet to Kuno!" one of the students nearby suddenly spoke up.
"Yeah, me too!" chorused several others.
And the next thing that Nabiki and her partners knew, they were swarmed with students who wanted to change their bets. Originally, there had been a fairly even split between those betting on Kuno and those betting on Ranma; now, Kuno was becoming the hot favorite to win. Which was good news for Nabiki's profit margin, if Ranma could win...Nabiki grinned mentally; she had a feeling things were going their way.
Unaware of what was happening back at the field, Ranma continued leading Kuno onwards across the grounds of Furinkan High. Racing and leaping backwards, guided only by the occasional brief glance and one's peripheral vision, was a tough skill to master, but it was one that Ranma had sought expertise in. As such, he was quite confident in his flight - and certain of the outrage he was engineering in his adversary.
"Come on, Kuno! If you can't catch me, then I win!" Ranma jeered, practicing another staple of Genma's school of Anything Goes: Cheesing your opponent off so much they have an apoplexy, so then you can win by default.
"Suh-puff! -Silence, wretch!" Kuno snarled viciously, thrusting his bokken in an effort to catch Ranma with an air pressure bullet, a lucky stab...anything to get the obnoxious little peasant to stand still and be pummeled!
The gust of wind simply whistled harmlessly through Ranma's legs as the infuriating martial artist sprang over it in another mighty backwards leap. "Need to do better than that!" He mocked Kuno... and then he screamed in horror as he glanced down and saw that what he was sailing over was not trusty earth and concrete, but the treacherous crystal-blue glint of water! "Nobody told me they had a pool here!" He howled, flailing his arms to try and arrest his descent... but to no avail, as he hit the water with a mighty splash and felt the cool liquid envelop him in its fluid embrace.
Kuno was too mad to wonder about his foe's strange outburst of panic, instead racing over to the pool's edge. "You won't escape me that way! A true samurai is a master swimmer!" he bragged completely disregarding that swimming had nothing to do with bushido, right before he dived into the water - oblivious as he did so to the sound of students racing to catch up to him and Ranma.
At the bottom of the pool, Ranma kicked off her now too-large shoes and started to frog-stroke to the other end of the pool. "Gotta get outta here... I gotta get outta here!" she gurgled to herself.
"Saotome!" Kuno gurgled... well, it would have been a snarl, had he not had a mouth full of pool water. Kicking madly, he managed to catch up to Ranma and lashed out with his hand, grabbing hold of his foe's pigtail to stop Ranma's flight.
Ranma let out a burble of mixed pain and displeasure as Kuno's fingers tugged at her scalp. "Gerroff!" she bubbled, trying to drive him back with kicks or elbows. Unfortunately, whilst midair combat was the Saotome School's speciality, the same could not be said of underwater combat, and her blows were robbed of a vital amount of power. Kuno instead hauled Ranma close, grappling with her as he tried to take her firmly in his arms and wrestle her into submission - which was when one of his hands wrapped itself around a newly formed breast and squeezed it hard.
Ranma's eyes widened as the pain from being manhandled ripped through her awareness - only to be dulled by the upswelling of rage and shame that roared up from deep within the core of her being. She gritted her teeth and snarled, despite the water that flooded her mouth; "Why you... pervert!" She burbled, unconsciously echoing a cry that in a different world would become commonplace
Twisting like an eel, she wrapped an arm around Kuno's neck, holding him fast in a headlock whilst deliberately tilting her center of gravity against Kuno, with as much speed as she could. She dropped down until she hit the bottom of the pool, sinking to her knees as she built up power in finely honed thighs... and then, with the solid floor of the pool for leverage, she leapt upwards with all of her might.
By this point in time, the students had gathered around the pool, pointing at the distorted shapes clearly grappling in its depths and chattering to each other excitedly. Gasps of awe and wonder filled the air as the combatants seemed to explode out the air, a pillar of water rising several times a man's height as Ranma and Kuno hurtled from the depths and over a storey into the air, simultaneously leaping all the way to the other end of the pool.
In a blur that they could only barely follow, the red-clad form of Ranma Saotome swung Kuno around and down, slamming him onto the side of the pool with such force that the concrete buckled beneath him. And that still wasn't enough, because Ranma didn't release his grip, instead holding Kuno by the head and suspending himself aloft by his hands.
What the students couldn't see from their vantage point was that this left the stunned, barely conscious Kuno staring Ranma right in the eyes. Dazed as he was, he could hardly form a coherent picture - but he wasn't so battered that he was blind to some very key differences... especially two large torso-height ones. "A...girl?" he gasped out, his eyes starting to focus.
Ranma's eyes practically glowed with fury, and she twisted around with a contortionist's flexibility, delivering a powerful two-footed stomp right into Kuno's face. Kuno's nose broke with an audible crunch, the wave of pain pushing him past his limits and sending him tumbling into blackness, even as Ranma used her opponent's face as a springboard to leap forward again, clearing the fence around the pool and vanishing into the trees beyond.
"Oooh, that looked like it hurt!" One of the students noted, many of the others wincing or muttering their agreement. The empathy was muted however, as plenty of the spectators had wanted to do that to Kuno for a long, long time.
"Looks like Kuno's out cold!"
"Can you blame him after a blow like that? That Saotome's a beast!"
"Where'd he jump off to, anyway?"
"Who knows?"
"Hey, was it me, or did Saotome look different?"
"How could you tell? They were going so fast, I mostly just saw blurs!"
As the oblivious student body chattered, the Tendo sisters shared a knowing look. They knew why Ranma had run off at this moment... but, as the first of the gamblers came over to collect their winnings or, in much greater numbers, to hand over their losses, they couldn't go after her immediately.
Eventually, though, the students had separated, with some reluctantly dragging Kuno off to the school infirmary, and Nabiki was able to go after her missing fiance, with Akane tagging along for reasons that escaped Nabiki. Remembering Ranma's stunt from the previous afternoon, Nabiki led Akane into the trees, and soon enough, they found a now-damp rather than sodden redhead sitting sullenly in the fork of a tree.
"What's wrong, Ranma? Got too concerned with showing off to watch where you were going?" Akane called up, enjoying this opportunity to feel a little superior to Ranma - yes, she was calling it a formal truce now, but that didn't mean it wasn't nice to feel better than him in at least some way.
"Pfeh. At least I finished my fight for real," Ranma scoffed back.
"I'll say you did. They're going to need to reset Kuno's nose after what you did to it," Nabiki noted. To her private surprise, Ranma actually winced at that.
"I didn't really have a choice - I needed to end it quick after I fell in that stupid pool," she replied sourly, grunting in irritation at the slip up that led her to falling in the pool.
"What was with all the jumping and running anyway? Why didn't you just clobber Kuno the way you did yesterday?" Akane asked. Though she was legitimately curious, she was also a touch riled up; the display from before had reminded Akane of her own match with Ranma and how infuriating it had been to have to chase an opponent who seemingly couldn't be hit.
"For the show, of course. I mean, I bet Nabiki won a lot more money when I made it look like Kuno actually had me on the ropes," Ranma elaborated, it wasn't like it was the first hustle Ranma had pulled.
"He's right; once they thought Kuno had the upper hand, almost everybody wanted to bet on him instead. We made a mint," Nabiki added, grinning wickedly as she ruffled a bundle of yen notes, all but purring at the beautiful sound of money being shuffled.
"Pft. You two were made for each other," Akane scoffed sourly; she liked spending money herself, but really, the pair seemed to thrive on skinning other people's wallets.
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Nabiki quipped, getting a nod and shrug of agreement from Ranma.
"Now, why don't you come down here like a civilized person, hmm? We'll change you back and talk about your share of the profits," she told Ranma, holding up a still-steaming kettle of freshly boiled water.
"Sounds good to me," Ranma said, visibly perking up at the prospect of a return to her true gender. She slipped from the tree as easily as somebody stepping off of their back patio, with both Tendos doing their best to ignore the way her damp silk shirt clung to her bosom, and what the sudden impact of landing on the ground did to her free-floating breasts.
Once Ranma was back to normal - for the moment, at least - the triad split up. Akane took the kettle and returned it to the school grounds, while Ranma and Nabiki went off to enjoy their winnings whilst arguing happily about Ranma's share of the take.
Ultimately, though, their path brought them back home. "We're home!" They called out as they stepped into the house proper from the genkan.
"Welcome home, you two. You have a visitor," Kasumi called back, making them stop and blink in surprise.
"I wasn't expecting nobody - were you?" Ranma asked Nabiki, who shook her head.
Puzzled, they made their way to the dining room, where they both stopped in horror at the sight of Tatewaki Kuno, face bound in bandages, sitting formally at their dining room table.
"Saotome. Tendo." He declared with icy formality, eyes cold and steely as he stared at them accusingly. "I know the truth."
Chapter End & Closing Notes
And that's our chapter's end - and our first cliffhanger! If I'm going to try and get two of these out per month, I may have to start doing this more frequently, and I'm sorry about that.
All the same, I do hope that you're enjoying this story, and looking forward to seeing where we go from here. Because here is where the divergences really start to build up...
From what I've heard, Nabiki's two henchwomen, who I think first appeared as random schoolgirls in Nabiki's class in the 2nd episode and were first shown acting as henchwomen in the 8th episode, "School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga". I've heard that their official names are Kikuko (the orange-haired girl) and Ryonami (the girl with the light brown hair in a pageboy cut), but I don't know where the sources of these names are, so if anyone can find proof of that, I'd really appreciate it!
Now, Nabiki is, in canon, the Tendo sister most open to sex, and she has some of the more notorious "bi-curious" hints. Since this story is running with the precept that Nabiki is our central female protagonist and romantic lead, naturally, that side's coming a little more to the fore, but I do hope folks don't think it's being overdone.
Now that I'm starting to get back into the swing of writing for Ranma 1/2 again, I'm considering some other projects as well. I have a Ranma/D&D crossover planned that will be using the "Nabiki as Ranma's fiancee" arc from the anime as its pivoting point, and whilst I can't be certain of when it will debut, I hope folks will enjoy it.