The Mightiest Disciple 1/2
(A/N: And we're back. For those who're still wondering about pairings I'll hopefully be able to shed some light on that little issue by the end of this chapter. I have ideas for where to go down that route, but I'm not entirely sure. For now, I'm just gonna wing it.)
[I made edits to Chapters 1, 4 and 5. Chapter 1 is just a restructuring of the text. Chapters 4 and 5 have parts of the story COMPLETELY changed. Re-read the last half of Chapter 4 and the first half of Chapter 5 before coming back here.]
Visitor From Another Dojo? The Worst Week Ever
Akane looked at her older sisters with a look of suspicion. Nabiki had just offered her a bus ticket to the district in Tokyo where the Saotome family now resided. There was no way there wasn't some kind of catch.
"Okay I'll bite, what's the deal?" Akane asked.
"Akane," Kasumi intervened. "We know how rough things have been for you at school so we figured maybe going to see Ranma would be a nice break," she said.
Akane narrowed her eyebrows. "How's visiting that jerk supposed to make me feel better?" Akane asked in a displeased tone.
Nabiki smirked. "Because he's probably the only guy you know who won't try and fight you for a date," she said.
Akane took a moment to think about what Nabiki just said. 'Nabiki's right. He obviously has no interest in me at all, and for the first time, that might actually be a good thing,' Akane thought.
Sighing in mock defeat, Akane replied, "Alright I'll go visit Ranma tomorrow." Grabbing the ticket from Nabiki's hand, Akane headed upstairs to her room.
"I hope we're doing the right thing Nabiki," Kasumi said.
"Don't worry about it big sis," Nabiki assured her. "Best case scenario, Ranma moves back into the dojo alone and we go back to the way things were before. Worst case scenario, they fight again, but that's nothing new."
Kasumi put a hand to her chest and sighed. 'I hope the two of them will be able to patch things up at least.'
[]
The next day, Akane arrived in Tokyo with a slip of paper with the Saotome's new address, and a box of cookies Kasumi had baked for them.
'It's been almost a full week since Ranma and his parents moved away,' Akane realized. 'I admit I wonder if he's doing alright so far.' With curious thoughts, Akane continued to her destination on foot.
[A short moment later]
It took a while, and some wrong turns, but Akane finally managed to find the Saotome residence. With a mix of anticipation and nervousness, Akane exhaled and rang the doorbell.
A few seconds later, Akane was greeted the familiar face of Nodoka Saotome. "Oh! Akane!" Nodoka greeted. "This is a welcome surprise. Please come in."
"Hello Aunt Nodoka," Akane greeted while entering.
[]
Akane took a seat on the living room sofa while Nodoka brought in a kettle of tea. "So Akane, what brings you here?" Nodoka asked.
Nervously sipping her cup of tea, Akane softly said, "I was hoping to see Ranma."
"Oh! I'd hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Ranma's not here right now," Nodoka informed her.
Akane raised her eyebrows. "Wait, what!?"
"Yes. Lately, Ranma's been spending his free time at nearby dojo not far from here," Said Nodoka.
"A dojo?" Akane asked.
"Yes. If you want to see Ranma, you'd best head there." Nodoka told her. "I seem to recall Genma drawing Ranma a map there when he couldn't figure how to find it, so if you want to know it's location, talk to him."
"Sure thing. Thanks," Akane said, slightly narrowing her eyes. 'Ranma's at a dojo? Why does that make me feel so uneasy?' Akane asked herself.
Heading to the kitchen, Akane found Genma, in panda form of course, eating a bowl of rice.
"Mr. Saotome?" Akane announced her presence.
"Oh Akane! Didn't expect to see you here," Read Panda Genma's sign.
"Would you change back to normal and speak!?" Akane said while irritably throwing a kettle at him.
"Well, good to see you're still in good shape girl," the now human Genma commented. "I assume you want to know the location of that dojo Ranma's been going to this past week?" Genma guessed.
"Y-yes," Akane answered.
"I'll tell you, but be warned. I don't know what Ranma's been learning at that place, but I can say that it's scarily effective." Genma noted.
"What do you mean by that?" Akane asked.
"Simply put, Ranma's actually become a challenge during each of our morning workouts," Genma said.
"So basically he's been trouncing you?" Akane translated.
Genma headed to the kitchen sink and turned the faucet on over his head. "I'm just a harmless panda."
Akane sweatdropped. "Could you just give me the address to this 'mysterious' dojo please?" Akane asked, sarcastically emphasizing 'please'.
"Oh right. Of course."
[]
A moment later, with a map drawn by Genma, Akane eventually arrived at the Ryozanpaku dojo. 'So this is the place, huh?' she thought. 'I have to admit, this place looks bigger than our dojo. Well, standing around isn't gonna help anything.'
Akane pushed on the gates, attempting to open them. While she wasn't making any progress, she halted completely when she heard a high pitched scream.
Backing away from the gates, Akane dashed to the side of the dojo and stood up on a nearby trash can to stealthily see what all the commotion was. Peering over the wall, she witnessed a large man in boxing gloves punch a guy who looked her age, into the opposite wall.
[]
"Apa! Kenichi! Why you no like to dodge!" Apachai hystarically exclaimed. "Akisame! Kenichi died again!" Apachai called.
Akisame appeared with an exasperated sigh. "Well it is time for you to switch with me, so leave everything up to me Apachai," he said.
Apachai carried Kenichi back into the dojo, with Akisame close behind. Unbeknownst to them, they're actions were being witnessed by a young girl.
Akane ducked back below the wall, with a hand on her chest. "That was insane!" she said out loud. 'What do those two think they were doing to that poor guy?' she thought, referring to Kenichi. 'I think a better question is, why would Ranma come to this place?' she thought putting her hand to her chin.
Akane was jarred from her thoughts by the familiar sound of Ranma's voice. She could hear her talking to someone, but couldn't make out what he was saying. Something else that caught her ear was the other person's response. Akane couldn't make out any words, but as far as she could tell, the voice was clearly feminine.
Narrowing her eyes, Akane started 'putting pieces together'. 'That Ranma! Figures he'd be here because of a girl!' she thought. Akane started getting irritated at the thought of Ranma adding someone else to his 'harem'. She was tempted to just walk away and try to not think about whatever Ranma could be up to, when she heard a girlish shreik. Instinct and curiosity getting the better of her, Akane hopped back onto the trash can and looked over the wall, and what she witnessed made her see red.
In her eyes, Ranma was on top of a blonde girl wearing a tight purple leotard that showed off her VERY noticeable assets. There was no doubt in her mind Ranma had the most lecherous intentions, and most likely that girl did too. In that moment, time seemed to stop and Akane reacted the same way she always does in these situations.
[A couple of minutes earlier]
Ranma and Miu stepped into the dojo's backyard. The two had become rivals of sorts when it came to their sparring matches. Currently, Ranma was leading their little competition 4-3, and Miu was hoping to seal that gap, and hopefully overtake him. Before they began however, Ranma had to address his concern for Kenichi.
"Are we sure Kenichi's okay?" Ranma asked. "He hit that wall pretty hard,"
Miu waved her hand. "Oh don't worry. Even if Kenichi took a serious hit, Akisame will make sure he stays alive."
Ranma sweatdropped at Miu's nonchalant response. Deciding tolet it go for the time being, the two took their respctive stances and began sparring. The young martial artists exchanged blows, striking, defending and countering each other. The two eventually got themselves caught in a lock again. This time however, Miu lost her balance and stumbled backward, with Ranma landing on top of her.
"S-sorry!" Ranma quickly apologized.
"No don't, it was my fault Miu responded.
Ranma was about to get off of Miu and help her back up, but he froze when he felt a familiar ominous presence. It was a foreboading he hadn't felt in at least a week, but no matter how long ago it was since he felt it, it was unmistakable. 'Oh my GOD!'
Ranma quickly flipped over Miu, taking her with him, both of them narrowly dodging a large mallet. When the two landed back on their feet, they were face to face with a girl their age with short hair, wearing shorts, raising the mallet that struck at Ranma and Miu, off of the ground. It was a girl Ranma knew all too well.
"A-Akane!?" Ranma exclaimed.
"RAAAAANMAAAAAAA!" Akane yelled.
"Who's that?" Miu asked Ranma.
Sighing with an embarrased look on his face, Ranma answered. "My fiancee."
"F-FIANCEE!?" Miu exclaimed in extreme shock.
"Akane, what're you doing here? How'd you find this place?" Ranma asked.
Ranma's question was on deaf ears as Akane charged at him and attacked with her mallet again. Ranma flipped out of the way and did the only sensible thing in this situation: The Saotome Final Attack[Ready, set, RUN AWAY!].
Ranma leapt on top of the dojo to try and keep his distance from Akane. With her eyes narrowed dangerously, Akane followed after him. Ranma, with his usual great agility, kept dodging Akane's fierce strikes, each miss shaking the dojo. Ordinarily, Miu would've stepped in to try and help quell the situation, but she was still stuck on Ranma and the mysterious new girl being engaged.
Ranma was starting to run out of room to dodge. Akane had chased him around the perimeter of the dojo's roof at least three times by now, and while Ranma was beginning to get a bit winded, Akane was fueled almost purely by adrenaline, especially when it came to 'punishing' Ranma.
While Ranma was attempting to catch his breath, Akane moved in to deliver a decisive blow. However, she was stopped by a chain wrapping itself around her mallet. Akane tried to free her weapon from the chain's clutches, but the chain was eventually pulled in the opposite direction, pulling Akane's mallet out of her hand.
Akane turned to face her assailant, and her temper flared even more. She was face to face with a young woman in a pink robe, with a sword on her back, wielding the chain in one hand and carrying Akane's stolen mallet in another.
"You're not very...skilled," she commented.
That was last button that needed to be pushed. Akane was about to try and attack the new woman who just appeared, but quickly turned her attention back to Ranma who was now sweating profusely.
"Ranma, it's been a week since we've last seen each other," Akane said in a low tone. "I should've guessed you'd manage to find yourself, not one, but TWO new girls to string along! You perverted jerk!"
"Akane, hold up!" Ranma said trying to calm her down. At this point however, he knew it wwas futile.
Akane threw a sloppy, yet enraged, punch at Ranma who was preparing to dodge. However, before Akane could get close enough to strike, she was 'attacked' from below. Her assailant this time; the guy who had gotten punched into the wall before.
He had been launched into Akane from through the roof, and the two were taken upwards. Ranma, seeing this, moved to try and catch them on their way down. Luckily, he succeded. Unluckily, he jumped off of the roof to do so, and he couldn't put himself in a favorable position to absorb the inevitable impact. Luckily again, the trio's landing was surprisingly soft.
Why you may ask? Ranma, Akane, and an unconscious Kenichi had inadvertantly landed on Miu, leaving the four teenaged martial artists in a huge dogpile on the dojo lawn with a loud THUD!
The sound didn't go unnoticed by the masters as Akisame and Sakaki appeared to find the kids all looking extremely shaken up.
"Now what's all the commotion out here about?" Akisame asked. He received his answer in the form of three strained groans.
[A few moments later]
Everyone was assembled inside of the dojo's living room, the surrounding aura eerily tense.
Akisame cleared his throat in an attempt to ease the tension. "Well, now that that little episode has ended, perhaps our new guest would like to introduce herself?" he said motioning to Akane.
"My name is Akane Tendo. A patron at the Tendo Branch of the School of Indiscriminate Grappling," she said while bowing.
'Indiscriminate Grappling? Didn't Ranma say something like that too before?' Kenichi mentally noted.
"If you don't mind my asking Ms. Tendo, why exactly have you come here?" Hayato asked.
Attempting to fight off a blush, Akane answered softly. "I actually came here looking for Ranma."
"What was that?" Ranma asked in a teasing voice.
"I said I came here to find YOU you jackass!" Akane exclaimed pinching Ranma's cheek
"Oh, so you're one of Ranma's friends?" said Hayato. When he said that however, he couldn't help but notice his granddaughter tense up and flinch a small bit.
"Uhh...actually um," Akane stammered out.
"She's my...fiancee," Ranma finished.
Everyone in the dojo instantly froze.
"You two are engaged!?" came the simultaneous cries of Sakaki, Kensei, and Akisame.
"Not by choice!" Ranma and Akane quickly added.
"It's something our fathers decided," said Ranma. "Some crap about uniting the two branches of Anything Goes Martial Arts." he explained.
"Ohohoho, so that's what Happy's boys have been up to," Hayato commented.
Akane crossed her arms over her chest. "Please don't mention him," she said. "I've had a crazy week at school, and that old freak is the last person I want to think about right now."
Ranma raised an eyebrow at Akane's statement. "Really? What's been happening since I've been gone?" Ranma asked.
Akane turned away. "Nothing you need to be concerned about, Ranma," she answered.
"Alright you two, that's enough." Akisame interrupted waving his hand. "Now I do believe we've yet to introduce ourselves, so allow me. My name is Akisame Koetsuji, better known as the Philosophical Jiujitsu master. The man with the scars is Shio Sakaki, the 100th Degree Street Fighter. The large dark skinned man is Apachai Hoppochai, Grim Reaper of Muy Thai. The short man adjacent to you is Kensei Ma, master of Chinese Kenpo. The young woman above us is Shigure Kosaka, our resident weapons mistress. Last, but certainly not least, our dojo's elder, Hayato Furinji."
"Thank you for the gracious introductions Akisame, but I believe you may have missed two of us," Hayato joked, gesturing to Kenichi and Miu.
Miu took her grandfather's cue and bowed. "My name is Miu Furinji. Hayato's granddaughter, and the dojo's housekeeper," she introduced herself.
"And I'm Kenichi Shirahama, Ryozanpaku's first disciple."
[]
Akane took a moment to take in her surroundings. She was currently inside a dojo inhabited by 6 different masters[and a(nother) girl her age who was far more skilled than she was]. Needless to say, part of her was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Regardless, she remembered her manners and shakily replied, "Nice to meet you."
After introductions, the dojo patrons became eerily silent. The one who attempted to break the silence turned out to be Kensei.
"So Ranma, why did you fail to mention that you were engaged?" Kensei asked pulling out his camera.
Ranma sweated nervously. He didn't wanna say the wrong thing or risk setting Akane off again. Luckily, Akane decided to answer for him.
"Because we have no intention of seriously getting married!" Akane interjected.
Ranma crossed his arms and turned away. "Yeah, what she said," Ranma agreed.
"Really? That's kinda a waste," Kenichi said throwing in his two cents.
"Whadaya mean by that?" said Ranma.
"Well I'm just saying, that even if it were arranged, having such a cute girl as my fiance probably wouldn't be all bad," Kenichi said causing Akane to blush.
"Oh please, this violent chick ain't cute," Ranma scoffed under his breath.
"What did you say!?" Akane yelled.
"You heard me!" Ranma exclaimed back.
"Of course YOU'D say that after hitting it off with that blonde hussy!" Akane accused.
Miu, who had recently stayed out of these arguments until now, took her cue to cut in at Akane's last statement. "Who're you calling a hussy!?" Miu yelled.
"I saw you two making out earlier!" Akane accused turning to Miu.
Ranma and Miu both blushed. The masters' mouths hung open as Kenichi's hit the floor. Hayato's reaction was his eyes beginning to glow.
"What the hell are you talkin' about ya moron!?" Ranma exclaimed.
"Don't play dumb you pervert! I saw you on top of her!" Akane yelled pointing a finger at Ranma.
Ranma started calming down. "Wait, you were watching that?" Ranma asked. "Tsk. You really are a moron," Ranma insulted.
"Raaanmaaaa!"
"Earth to Akane! We weren't making out, we were having a sparring match! I just managed to pin her down." Ranma explained.
Miu gave a 'hmph'. "Pin me down nothing! You just fell on me!" Miu corrected.
"Yeah, maybe...but YOU'RE the one who fell down first!" Ranma argued.
"That's enough!" Akisame yelled breaking up the teens' argument.
"Miss Tendo, as a representative of the Tendo Dojo, am I correct in assuming that you're a martial artist, correct?" he asked.
"Yeah?" Akane answered.
"If you have any issues, I might suggest the three of you take it outside and spar it out," he suggested.
Sakaki smirked. "Not a bad idea. Like I say, talking with your fists makes your words hit harder."
Akane and Miu looked each other and the eye and glared. The tension causing a collison of sparks to fly between them. The tension was so thick, it caused Kenichi, Apachai and Kensei to take cover.
"Master Kensei, why is it that girls are so scary?" Kenichi asked.
"You'll understand it someday young Kenichi," Kensei answered.
"But Apachai is all grown up and he doesn't know why either," Apachai answered.
[]
Some time later, both Miu and Akane stood a distance from each other both in their training gear, and in a defensive stance.
'There's no way in hell I'm gonna lose to some blonde cow!' Akane thought.
'I'm not gonna let her get away with calling me a hussy!' Miu thought.
Ranma, acting as referee this time around, gave the signal for the two girls to begin their match.
Akane quickly rushed at Miu and threw a fierce looking punch. Miu stood at the ready, seemingly going to try and block the attack. To Akane's surprise, Miu vanished from her line of sight.
'What!? Where'd she go!?' Akane received her answer in the form of a kick to the back of the head. 'What!? How!?' she thought as she hit the ground hard. Rubbing the spot where she was struck, Akane rose to her feet again. Turning around, she witnessed Miu in a different stance than before.
'How did she do that?' Akane wondered. Shaking her head to lessen the pain she was feeling, she thought, 'Doesn't matter! I'll just have to try again!'
Akane rushed at Miu once more, throwing a punch. This time, she stopped just before she was in striking range. Feinting, sloppily I might add, she quickly switched her attack to a sweeping leg kick. Miu easily avaoided it by flip-jumping over Akane.
'She's so fast! And nimble!' Akane mentally noted. 'I swear it's almost like fighting...like fighting..." Akane looked at Miu once more. For a brief instant, Akane saw the familiar form, and grin, of female-Ranma in Miu's place. Though just her imagination, Akane's temper flared as she attacked her opponent once more.
Akane was on Miu with a barrage of punches. Miu effortlessly dodged all of them. Getting even more irritated, Akane raised a fist and punched at her opponent once more. Miu once again avoided, but this time noticed that her dodge caused Akane to punch the groundand create a hole in the ground about twice the diameter of her fist.
Miu raised her eyebrows in surprise. 'Whoa! She may not have as much skill as me or Ranma, but I can't deny that she's pretty strong!' Miu noted. 'I'd better end this before I slip up or she gets lucky!'
Akane launched a high kick at Miu, which the blonde girl blocked. However, the impact still managed to shake Miu's limbs. Grasping her arm, Miu prepared herself for her opponent's next attack.
Akane attacked with a flying side-kick. Though shaken up, Miu was more than prepared. Miu countered by launching a high kick which knocked Akane onto her backside. Akane was about to get up, but was stopped by a foot pinning her down.
"You should give up," Miu said, towering over the downed Akane. Akane wasn't ready to give up yet and desperately tried to push Miu off of her. After a minute or so of trying and failing to get back up, Akane finally accepted her defeat and lay flatly on the ground. Sensing that her opponent had conceded, Miu took her foot off of Akane.
Akane sat up on her knees, her head down. Miu approached her fallen rival. Ranma, who'd been watching from the sidelines let out a relieved sigh. 'Thank the gods, that's over,' he thought.
Miu stood over Akane once more, this time with a smile, extending her hand in good sportsmanship. Akane looked up at Miu, and with a defeated sigh took her hand. Though Miu helped her up, Akane stumbled back onto the ground clutching her leg.
"Hey, are you okay?" Miu asked
"It's my leg. I don't know why, but it hurts," Akane replied.
Miu put her hands to her mouth and gasped.
"Oh God, I'm so sorry!" she quickly apologized. "I didn't mean to seriously hurt you. I should've held back a bit more." she added.
Akane swiftly shot a surprised look in Miu's direction. 'She was holding back!? Seriously!? How much!?'
Ranma hopped off of his vantage point where he was watching the match(internally thanking whatever deity he could that the fight was finally over) and landed between the two girls. Before either girl could say another word, Ranma hoisted Akane on his back.
"What're you doing!?" Akane exclaimed
"Excuse us," Ranma said to Miu. He then began walking off.
"Ranma! Where're you going? Put me down!" Akane yelled.
"Would you pipe down!?" Ranma exclaimed. "Akisame is a doctor. I'm taking you to his clinic in the back to have him take a look at your leg," he explained.
Unable to come up with an intelligent response, Akane sighed and let Ranma take her to Akisame's Bonesetter's Clinic.
(A/N: First off, I wanna remind you that I made major edits to Chapters 1, 4, and 5, and ask to send feedback on those along with any reviews for this chapter. Speaking of this Chapter, it's the return of the classic Ranma 1/2 scenario of Ranma with a [hot] girl, and Akane misunderstanding the situation and 'exploding'. Hey, it wouldn't be a Ranma story without it happening at least once. Anyways, Akane vs. Miu...yeah we all knew who'd win. Recently, a number of people have been asking about pairings. The only ones I have even considered at this point are Ranma x Akane, Ranma x Miu, Kenichi x Miu, and Kenichi x Akane. To quote Danny Phantom, "I'm in the middle of a love rectangle!" In future reviews, I ask that you NOT give me suggestions as to who should be with whom. I'll decide who pairs up with who when I get to it because at this point, it could go either way and still work. Finally, I will eventually bring in more of the cast of both Ranma and Kenichi. I don't know how long I'll keep this story going, but as long as I have ideas on what to do with all the characters, they will in someway, eventually, be brought into the story.)
[Update! Chapter Edited! Next Chapter being delayed due to writer's block and personal matters!]