Ranma sat on the floor of his and Pops' bedroom, trying to hide his excitement about what he just heard. Pops had just told him that he would be going to school, starting today.
"School?" he asked, hopefully sounding as confused and uninterested as he had the first time that he had been told about school. In truth, even though he wasn't looking forward to sitting through the lessons a second time around, he was looking forward to the training that school would give him. Between the two Kuno's and Hinako sensei, he would become stronger then ever.
"Well, we are going to be staying a while," Pops explained reasonably.
"It's the same school me and Akane go to," Nabiki said as she passed the doorway to their room. She was in her uniform with her back pack slung over her shoulder. "We'll see you there."
Akane ran up behind Nabiki, clutching her backpack. She skidded to a halt when she arrived at the doorway.
"Hurry up," she ordered smiling, "I don't want to be late."
"Uh, give me a minute," he said, shutting the door and changing from his sleeping clothes into a sleeveless Chinese shirt and black slacks. He glanced over at Pops, who was looking at him quizzically.
"You seem rather eager to get to school," Pops said casually.
Ranma shrugged, "Whatever." Then opened the door and followed Akane to the front door.
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Akane glanced at Ranma, who was walking beside her even though there were chain linked fences that he could be walking along. Up until the failed wedding, Ranma had always walked along fences wherever he went. 'I wonder if this means that he likes me better this time around, because I definitely like him better.' There was also a nagging voice in the back of her head telling her that she was forgetting something.
'Probably the homework that's due today,' she thought, shaking her head slightly, 'I don't even know if I finished it or not.' They passed the house with the little old lady who always splashed Ranma while watering her garden. Akane heard Ranma sigh as she started to ring her shirt out.
"Common Ranma," Akane said, "We'll stop at Dr. Tofu's."
"Sure thing Akane," Ranma replied cheerfully as she walked with Akane down the streets. Akane found it a little weird that it seemed that Ranma knew where she was going even though this was the first time she'd ever been in Nerima.
When they reached the doctor's office, Akane turned to Ranma, "Wait here. I'll be right out with your water." She turned away before Ranma could answer her. When she returned with the kettle in her hand, Ranma was introducing herself to Dr. Tofu.
"Ranma, here's the hot water," she said, passing the kettle to the short girl. "Good morning Doctor," she greeted cheerfully. Akane had almost expected her feelings for Dr. Tofu to return along with her hair. She was a little relieved to know that any feelings she had had for him stayed in the past, even when the past was the present.
"Good morning to you," Dr. Tofu returned her greeting. "You haven't been by recently. No new injuries?"
Akane blushed a little at this. 'Ranma always used to tease me about my tomboy ways, at least Dr. Tofu was nice about it.' "No sir. I haven't really been doing anything to acquire new ones."
"Good to hear," he said cheerfully. Akane exchanged some more pleasantries with Dr. Tofu before she excused herself and Ranma. Akane knew that they would have to jog a little so they wouldn't be late.
"Who was that guy?"
"Dr. Tofu, the chiropractor," Akane replied, "Ever since I was little, he's taken care of all my injuries." She smiled a little at some of the more memorable injuries she had gotten over the years.
"You like him," Ranma accused. Akane shot him an unbelieving look. 'Was Ranma jealous?'
"Are you jealous Ranma?" she teased, echoing her thoughts.
Ranma sputtered a little, turning a little red, "Why would I be jealous of a tomboy like you?"
They were about a block away from the school when they heard the shouting. "Today is the day that Akane Tendo will be mine!" "I shall defeat Akane Tendo!" "Be my girlfriend!" Akane was momentarily confused about what was going on, but then she remembered what school had been like before Ranma had come to Nerima. "Akane Tendo's here!" someone shouted right before the horde of horny high school boys charged.
'Stupid Kuno,' she thought darkly. Then she realized that it was just the thought she needed for a power boost, "Stupid Kuno!" she shouted as she hurtled herself towards her opponents, all eagerly waiting to beat the crap out of her so they could ask her out.
"Hold this," she shouted to Ranma, tossing her book bag to the boy. When the fights had first started, she had held her bag as she fought, because there was no one there to hold it. She had noticed that by doing so she was slightly unbalanced. If the enemies had been better at martial arts they would have used it to their advantage.
"Akane! Don't come any closer!" "They all want to defeat you!" "I won't let another guy beat you. I'll do it myself!" Akane was getting a little tired of everyone shouting at her. She had told them all many times that she wasn't going to date any of them like this, but they had never listened.
Akane weaved her way through her multiple opponents, kicking and punching all who came into her reach. 'I haven't felt this good in a while,' she mused as the number of standing opponents became less and less. 'I missed fighting like this. Not beating someone because they ticked me off, but having an actual battle.'
When the last boy fell, Akane stood panting slightly from the exertion. "That felt good," she said, smiling up at Ranma, who was perched on the fence railing, dutifully holding her book bag.
"Truly such a boorish lot," Kuno announced from his usual place behind a tree. "Evidently each of them intends to ask you out, Akane, on the dawn that he finally defeats you."
"Good morning Kuno sempai," Akane said in a bored tone of voice. Before he could continue his boring speech and make her late for class, Akane rushed him and planted her foot on his face as she made her way into the building. "Common Ranma, we don't want to be late," she called over her shoulder. Dutifully Ranma hopped off the fence and followed.
They made it to class and took their seats, then Ranma handed Akane her book bag. Akane set out her supplies for the first class and turned to talk with her friend, who was giving her a weird look.
"Morning Akane," Sayuri greeted her, "Who's the stud?"
"Huh?"
"The new guy. You two seem pretty friendly. Is he your boyfriend?" she whispered mischievously.
"What?!" Akane shrieked. "Ranma is not my boyfriend!"
"Ranma huh?" another girl giggled. "Does that mean he's single?"
"Not really," Akane answered cautiously. This kind of talk always made her feel uncomfortable. She and Ranma were definitely not dating, but she didn't want to consider him dating anyone else. Akane saw the teacher come into the room, saving her from having to answer any embarrassing questions.
"Good morning class," the teacher said, "I see we have a new student. Come forward and introduce yourself."
Ranma stood in front of the class and bowed respectfully. "My name is Ranma Saotome. I am heir to the Saotome school of indiscriminate grappling. I've recently returned to Japan from a training trip to China."
"Thank you very much Mr. Saotome. Please take the seat next to Miss Tendo," the teacher said, indicating the spot that Ranma's bag was at. 'How did Ranma know where to sit?' Akane asked herself, watching Ranma return to his seat suspiciously.
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Ranma didn't remember his first first day of school being so boring or so long. He tried to pay attention to what the teacher was saying, hoping that the second time around would make the lecture make more sense. It turned out that it just made it more difficult to pay attention to. His mind started to wander as the ticks of the clock seemed to slow down.
Ranma's eyes passed over Ukyo's empty seat. 'What am I going to do about her?' he wondered idly. 'If she beats me in the fight, she'll keep her honor. But then I lose and will probably have to eat Akane's cooking or pay for all the okonomiyaki.'
He must have made some noise, because he felt a light tap on his arm. He looked up to see Akane glaring at him and making a shushing movement. Ranma decided to be mature about the reprimand by rolling his eyes and sticking out his tongue at her. Akane glared at him even harder then stuck her tongue out at him. Simultaneously they started giggling. Ranma thought that they were being quiet, but apparently they weren't, because the teacher sent them out into the hall.
Ranma stared at the ceiling in the hall, thinking back at the fight he had just witnessed. This was one of the first times he'd gotten to see just how good Akane was at martial arts. The first time he had seen her take on half of the school he hadn't really been paying attention. What he had seen was an efficient use of motion against multiple opponents. He'd also seen that she was a little unbalanced, but none of her opponents were skilled enough to notice, let alone use it to their advantage.
This morning however, Akane had lost the imbalance. 'Her dad probably didn't get around to teaching her how to fight with non-weapons in her hand,' he thought, remembering the lack of book bag during the fight today.
"So, this morning..." Ranma said, not looking at Akane, "What was it about?"
"Kuno told them, 'If you wish to take Akane out, defeat her! I will permit no other terms!'" Akane explained. As she spoke Ranma pictured Kuno standing in front of a crowd of high school boys, hand clutching the hilt of his bokken.
"So, that happens everyday?" Ranma mused, looking at the ceiling. He definitely couldn't say this while looking at her, "You're pretty good at fighting lots of enemies."
There was a startled pause and Ranma could feel her stare. Eventually the strength dimmed a little, and he could practically hear the blood rush to Akane's cheeks. "Than-"
"You aren't that good at individual fights though," Ranma rushed to say before Akane thought that he liked her or something. 'If she knew how I felt, she would laugh at me.'
Ranma expected her to explode at him. He expected her to threaten him or splash him or beat him. What he didn't expect was the silence that followed his remark. Gingerly he glanced over at Akane and saw her staring at the ground.
"You're not that bad," Ranma spluttered, knowing he had hurt her feeling, which was worse then making her mad. "You just need to work on your speed and balance. Also your control, temper, and attitude."
"What's wrong with my attitude?" Akane spat, glaring at him.
"Nothing that a lobotomy couldn't fix," Ranma chuckled at his cleverness. Akane's glare intensified and her breathing deepened.
"You're an idiot," she muttered. Ranma assumed that she was talking to him, and would have given as good as he got, but Akane continued, "You're right though."
"Huh?" Ranma wasn't sure he had ever heard Akane admit that he was right before, at least in a non-sarcastic way.
"I'm not as good at fighting individuals as I am at fighting a group. I have pretty good balance, when I concentrate, but it's not really second nature to me like it is for others. I know I'm slow, but I've always made up for it by being really strong, so that when a hit gets in it does the most damage possible. I'm working on it, but it doesn't seem to help anything..." Akane trailed of suddenly, which was the only warning Ranma had that they were no longer alone.
"Where is the coward known as Ranma Saotome?" Kuno shouted pompously.
"What's this about Kuno sempai?" Akane asked tiredly. Kuno's attention turned to her, and he made as though to hug her. Akane's fist shot out and connected with his chin before he could.
"Oh, beauteous Akane," Kuno declared around her fist, "Please tell me that it isn't true?"
"What isn't true?"
"Why, the vile rumors that you are engaged to a coward know as Ranma Saotome," Kuno stated. Predictably the windows to the classroom were flung open and the entire class hung out of the windows and into the hallway.
"What?! Engaged?!" some boys shouted. "How could you Akane! And you said you despised men!" a girl demanded.
Ranma was wondering what it was that he should do. A part of him demanded that he deny the engagement because if he didn't Akane would get mad at him. The other part of him demanded that he acknowledge the engagement because if he didn't Akane would get mad. Either way he would have to deal with an angry Akane.
"Ranma's not a coward," Akane told Kuno coldly. "And who I'm engaged to is none of your business." Ranma's eyes nearly popped out of his head when Akane didn't deny their engagement. 'Who is this and what did she do with my fiancé?' Ranma decided to file that last thought away for when he was really bored and had more time to explore it.
"This man stands between you and your love for me," Kuno declared dramatically. "Come forward Ranma Saotome so that I might smite you!"
"I'm Ranma Saotome," Ranma said stepping forward slightly, casually holding his water bucket. "I accept your challenge. Name the time and place."
"The place here, the time now!" Kuno shouted, thrusting his bokken forward. Ranma dodged easily and started maneuvering away from the crowd, so no one else could get hurt.
"Mr. Kuno," the teacher from inside the classroom questioned "Why are you not in your class?"
Kuno froze, then instantly changed into his school uniform. "Forgive me sensei, I was but trying to teach this cur a lesson."
"You are not a teacher Mr. Kuno," the teacher answered dispassionately. "Return the your class and leave my students be."
Kuno glowered at the teacher, then spun dramatically, pointing his bokken towards Ranma. "You have staved of defeat for now. Meet me after school in the soccer field. There you shall meet your end."
Eventually everyone returned to their lesson and Ranma and Akane returned to holding buckets in the hall.
"Who was that teacher and why didn't he show up before?"
"What do you mean before?" Akane asked innocently.
"Huh?"
"You asked where the teacher was before. What did you mean by that?"
"Uh... I meant that he could have stepped in sooner?" Ranma asked, hoping that she wouldn't catch on to the fact that he was nervous. 'All though this is the girl who didn't know that P-chan and Ryouga are one and the same.'
"Hmmm," Akane said, looking at him from the corner of her eye. Ranma grinned nervously at her, hoping that she would let the subject drop. 'If I told her that I had already lived through this day almost two years ago, she would think I'm crazy. Heck, maybe I am crazy and all the head injuries I've received have started affecting me.' "I guess," Akane said after a while, shrugging.
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Akane was wary of all the behavior changes in Ranma. He complemented her, walked on the ground, and didn't jump out of a third story window into the swimming pool. Ranma was acting very different;y then she remembered, and it was beginning to worry her.
'Who is he and what has he done with my fiancée?' she demanded internally.