"Ranma, hurry up!" A cobalt haired girl yelled behind her as she raced along the roadway with her short haircut bobbing behind her. She was dressed in her blue school uniform whose skirt fluttered behind her. The teenager she spoke to was dressed in a red shirt and black pants both of which were silk. His raven black hair was tied back into a short pigtail which was tossed along as he raced beside her atop a chain link fence. But what was most interesting was that he seemed to be pulling off this extraordinary feat of balance without even thinking about it. The boy shook his head as the girl yelled at him.
"Sorry Akane, what did you say?" Akane growled.
"Ranma, we are going to be late! Honestly, you would think after two years you would be used to this." The girl huffed and turned away, concentrating on running.
"Gonna be late!" a black haired girl yelled as she ran along the street. She had overslept, and as such didn't have time to eat or train much to her annoyance. She had thrown on some blue jeans with a black shirt. Currently she was all out running alongside a canal trying to make up time.
This wasn't gong to happen following this road, as the canal beside her curved around and away from her destination. Gritting her teeth she jumped up to the chain link fence beside her and leapt across the canal…right at a guy running on a chain link fence. Right where she was going to land.
"Aw shit! Lookout!" She screamed.
Ranma looked up at the yell and saw a girl flying at him out of control.
Moving quickly he jumped off the fence and moved into a defensive posture to defend Akane.
The girl meanwhile landed on the fence, but in her panic her foot had landed wrong and slipped off the slick surface. This caused gravity and momentum to take over with the girl going face first for the pavement. She braced herself for the impact.
This never came. Opening one eye, she watched an ant crawl away on the pavement, which she still had an up-close view of. She felt someone holding her around the waist.
"You ok?" The masculine voice caused her to look over her shoulder. Ranma stood there holding her easily. Carefully he put her back on her feet, keeping one hand on her shoulder to steady her.
"Y-yeah, thanks for the save." She shook herself and forced the fear she had felt from her mind. Straightening up she saw a girl standing a few feet away, looking concerned for some reason. The girl looked back at her rescuer and asked, "Hey, do either of you know where Furinkan High is?"
"Yeah, me an Akane here go there." The boy carefully took his hand off and backed away wearily. Akane noticed this and looked closer at the girl in front of them. She didn't look special; though her face held traces of a mixed heritage she looked Japanese. Her hair was black and cropped short covering one eye, whose color was green. She carried an American style book bag which she had slung over her shoulders and tightened down to remove slack. Other then that she looked like a normal Japanese high school girl. So why did Ranma react like that?
"You know if you take a picture it will last longer." The mystery girl suddenly said, snapping Akane out of her pondering. Blushing Akane bowed.
"I'm sorry, that was rude of me wasn't it?" The girl laughed, it was a bit deeper then the average girl, almost masculine. "I'm sorry, what was your name?"
The girl gave off a bright smile and extended her hand. "My name is Rei Hibiki, I'm an exchange student from America." She suddenly became nervous as both gave her appraising looks and dropped her hand.
"You related to a Ryoga Hibiki or somthin'?" Ranma asked.
"Or somthin, who are you? You introduced your girlfriend but never yourself." She looked him over, something nagging at the back of her mind. The boy drew himself up and with a practiced air stated his name.
"Name's Ranma Saotome of the Saotome school of "anything goes"." The girl giggled. Akane again noticed something was off about it, she also noticed that Ranma didn't react to the girlfriend crack.
"Anything goes martial arts huh? Sounds very interesting." Rei looked down at her wristwatch. "But that will have to wait; can you both show me to the school now? We are going to be late." With a gasp the two other teens looked at each other and took off down the street, leaving Rei to bring up the rear.
Ranma Saotome huh? This will make things …interesting. The raven hair girl gave a feral grin as she headed to school.
"You mean you really don't know how you arrived here Miss Hunter?" Dr. Tofu asked as he handed a cup of tea to the woman on his couch. A short explanation in the waiting room downstairs revealed that Rachel was from another country. America to be precise.
"Yes, I was driving my scooter to the school where I teach and then everything went black. I remember…something from the blackness and then the last thing I remember is being surrounded by blue." Dr. Tofu cleared his throat.
"Actually I can explain about that last one, I was practicing my art behind my clinic when I saw something falling from the sky. At first I thought it was a regular patient of mine, but I realized quickly it was something else." He paused as he saw the woman staring at him.
"You have patients fall from the sky?" She sputtered out, shock very evident on her face.
Adjusting his glasses Tofu sat on another couch opposite of Rachel's. He brushed aside a few charts on the coffee table and set his tea cup down.
"I have some unusual patients Miss Hunter. But I managed to catch you before you fell to the pavement. However it looked like you had already sustained injuries. Your body was covered in abrasions, and several lacerations. Worst was that your left femur was shattered. Rachel gasped.
"Why wasn't I in a hospital?!" She demanded as she stood up, looming imposingly over the good doctor. Tofu wasn't perturbed and simply drank from his tea cup with his eyes closed. Rachel quickly composed herself and continued, "I was obviously seriously injured, why am I in a clinic, and why am I not bandaged or in a cast? I couldn't have been out to long as I'm not fatigued in the manner that would be common of a patient being unconscious for an extended time." She sat down, carful to keep her calm as she waited or the doctor to explain himself.
Tofu gently replaced the cup onto the table before opening his eyes. "I apologize, Miss Hunter, if you feel I acted inappropriately. I normally would have done just what you stated, however I felt something…unique about your condition." He looked her over once, in a manner of a scientist being shown a unique problem. "I know what you are, or rather what you were Miss Hunter. It has been at least one year since your surgery has it not?"
"H-how did you know about that?" She brought her hands over her body protectively. Her gaze showing a fear that one only has for those who violate them. Dr. Tofu quickly began to ward off her as he realized what she implied.
"N-no, you got it all wrong. I would never violate someone like you. I mean not that you aren't pretty but I have someone else I want to violate." With a look of horror at what he just said he continued, this time the words spilling out even faster, "That's not what I meant, I meant-" He was cut off by the woman beginning to laugh.
"I believe you Dr. Tofu. But how did you know?" Tofu sat down as the woman continued to giggle, her posture more at ease. He straightened his glasses and with a sigh continued.
"I observed your aura. On most people it is like a flame or nimbus of color. Denoting a few basic facts about a person, such as their mood or if a sickness is present. You however have two auras. It is a rather unique indicator of your condition as a 'two-spirit'."
"Two auras? You claim you can see auras plain as day?" The look she leveled at the doctor was one of disbelief. "Last I heard you need a special camera to do that." Rachel shook her head, "Next you will say that magic, demons, and crazy high wire martial arts moves exist." She started to laugh.
"They do." Was the simple reply, abruptly Rachel stopped laughing.
"Right then, I think it would be best to be on my way. So if you could direct me to the American Embassy I would appreciate it." She stood and placed the tea cup on the table. Turning to leave she managed three steps before the pain in her leg and sudden vertigo overcame her.
Diving Tofu managed to catch her before she hit the ground. He helped her stand and sat her back onto the couch. This time he sat next to her. "Are you ok Miss Hunter?"
Rachel tried to get the world back into focus, after a few moments it decided to settle down. "I think so doctor." She managed to weakly get out. "What is wrong with me?"
"I hadn't finished explaining yet. Quite honestly, from my examination you should have been dead. Obviously and thankfully this was not the case."
"You still haven't answered my question, directly."
Dr. Tofu seemed to hesitate, "Miss Hunter, do you know what Ki is?"
She struggled for an answer, "Ki…a kind of spiritual energy right? Our bodies produce this energy." Dr. Tofu nodded.
"Right, everything living and to a point un-living produces it. Some produce excess of it, but that isn't the case with you." He leaned back in his chair, "Miss Hunter, your levels of Ki are low compared to most normal people. However from the time I brought you here to even now, your body has been adapting to produce more Ki. In fact, in the three days since you've been here your wounds have healed at a remarkable rate. Only one other person I know of can heal this quickly and he studied martial arts for years."
"While I haven't in my life, and it shows. Correct?" Rachel finished for him. He nodded. She sighed and reached into her jacket and pulled out a pendent. The woman was glad that it had survived her trip, whatever it was.
She handed it to Doctor Tofu. It was a silver pendent. The shape of the pendent was that of a pentacle which lay upon an onyx ring. It was of high craftsmanship and had astrological signs in a silver ring around the star.
"So you are a pagan I take it?" Tofu handed it back to Rachel, who then put the necklace around her neck. "Why did you show me that?"
Rachel sighed, "Ok, first I want to make it clear that I do not worship devils or anything like that. I am a Wiccan, but if anything I could be described as a White Witch."
"I understand what a Wiccan is Miss Hunter. I think I also understand where you are going with this. You think that the healing might have come from frequent use of your magic, right?"
She nodded, "Yes, but it still doesn't quite add up." She shook her head, as if in denial about what she was about to say. "Magic does not work like this, it supports or guides. What you are saying about my leg would mean that it was powerful enough to supersede my bodies healing process. None except the gods can do that, and they usually don't."
"You think magic of this level doesn't exist?" Dr. Tofu had a surprised look on his face as he pondered what the woman was talking about. He stood up and walked over to the window and looked down onto the street.
"Dr. Tofu, what's wrong"
The doctor turned back to his guest, "Tell me, does anything feel odd to you right now? Anything feel off?"
"You mean beside the fact I'm in a different country then I woke up this morning talking about magic in Japanese? Not much." She managed to deadpan.
"Please bear with me Miss Hunter, this is very important. Is there anything that you can feel that is off with say how the energy in this room feels? Tofu insisted.
Rachel tilted her head, "Well I can try to 'feel' the room if that is what you are implying." She didn't know where Tofu was taking this but she closed her eyes and focused. "Ok, give me a second."
Rachel had been a practicing Wiccan for years. As such she had come to understand some things about the world and how it worked. Most people don't think that words or thoughts matter or can alter the world. They feel it can inspire change, but not be change.
But a wiccan feels differently. With sufficient Will and Imagination you could effectively make change. It was mind over matter in its purist sense. Thus one had more control over their world then they originally thought. When you start to accept this, it means that you begin to pick up on other things as well. Such as how everything is connected and how everything resonates to some degree with energy and life.
But to work with this energy required training and dedication. Both of which could be done on one's own, as Rachel had done. But the first thing you had to learn was to 'see' and 'feel' the energy. This was what Rachel was currently trying to do.
She extended her senses out and felt her surroundings. Gently she began to feel the room and its dimensions. She felt the warmth of the office from the many visitors that had come and gone over the years. Reaching out she felt the energy itself, and immediately she felt something was different. It must have shown on her face.
"Is something wrong?" Dr. Tofu asked, but somehow not sounding surprised.
"It feels strange, the energy I mean." She kept her eyes closed. "It is almost like it is more potent or denser. I've never seen this before." She paused, "I'm going to try and pull some to me."
At first there was no sign of anything happening. Though Tofu could sense the woman doing something, it was almost an imperceptible tugging from her encouraging the energy to her. Suddenly the gentle tugging turned into a whirlwind as Rachel screamed. Lines all along her body suddenly flared into visible light as she writhed in pain.
Tofu struggled against the wind to reach the screaming woman. After a moment he made it and reached out, quickly tapping a point on her neck. Instantly she slumped and the winds died instantly. Pieces of paper still fluttered down as Tofu looked upon his patient, and most notably the lines that now seemed to travel all over her visible body. To the casual observer it would seem like the woman had gotten a very tacky tattoo. But Tofu recognized them as Ki lines for the body, clearly marked out as if on a chart or a practice dummy. All of this left one burning question in the doctor's mind.
Who was this woman?
Rei dodged to the left as her opponent looked for an opening. Quickly blocking the attempt to pass her defenses she followed up with a return kick. Both opponents were sweaty and tired. The match had been on for three minutes without a break for either one. The cheering crowd calling to both opponents, hoping their side would win.
"Common Akane, you can do it!"
"Rei, hang in there!"
Rei looked Akane in the eye and smirked, "Gonna give in or what? You can't beat me you know." Akane growled in response.
"You haven't won yet! I'm not going to lose!" To prove her point she slipped her foot under the soccer ball and flipped it into the air. Jumping after it she managed to do a circle kick to the ball, sending it screaming through the air at the goalie. The girl simply dove to the side as the ball slammed into the ground first and then tore into the net, tipping the entire goal over onto it's side.
As Akane landed Rei whistled, "Remind me never to piss you off." She smiled at Akane and held out her hand. "Good match!"
Akane shook her head. "Rei, remember you are in Japan now. You are supposed to bow." Akane matched words to action and Rei followed, speaking her thanks.
It had been an interesting morning as Rei made the rounds for the first day of school. It turned out that she had been put into the same class as Akane and surprisingly Ranma. She had been happy as it meant she wouldn't have to manipulate anyone to get to that position to begin with.
It had been hard to change into her gym clothes for PE, Rei swore that all girl's uniforms were designed by perverts. The extremely short cropped bikini style shorts had made it difficult to change in the open locker room, forcing her to wait until most of the girls had left already. But she made it out to the field where the girls were playing soccer. Being the outsider she was picked last, and placed on the opposite team as Akane.
Rei had planned to hold back for most of the match as to not draw attention to herself. But her competitive nature was stirred as iy became Akane was well past the girls in terms of skill and power. Stepping up the level gradually had Akane matching her toe to toe, until eventually they stalemated. At least until Akane had pulled that last stunt and won the match.
"Only a tomboy like you could pull that off Akane! Better be careful, looks like Rei is nearly as good as you." Rei looked over to see Ranma walking up. She also felt Akane getting rather mad beside her.
"Shut up Ranma! What would you know?" Akane retorted.
"More then a sexless tomboy like you!"
"Rannmaaa!" Rei could see the air around Akane begin to shimmer a deep red. Oh boy, she was going to kill Ranma before Rei could get the info she needed!
"Um, aren't you two dating?" Rei interrupted. Akane blanched and surprisingly Ranma did too. But it succeeded in getting Akane to break off that battle aura.
"Me? Marry that pervert?" Akane stated loudly.
"No way would I marry an uncute tomboy like Akane!" Ranma stated equally loud.
Rei just looked between the two and calmly asked, "Um, I just asked about dating, what were you two talking about?" Both teens suddenly got red and twiddled their fingers. It seemed that anything that didn't involve looking at each other was more interesting.
"Um, nothing. Forget about it." Ranma said hurriedly.
"Yeah, we need to get going anyways. Come on Rei." Akane said before going off with the other girls. Ranma hurried over to the guys. He glanced back with one last look. Rei didn't like it.
Standing alone Rei simply stared after them dumbly. "Ok, that was weird." She walked slowly after the girls.
"…you're kidding, right?" Rei looked over at Akane for confirmation, she shook her head sadly. Akane, Ranma, and Rei were sitting under a tree eating lunch. Rei had bought a boxed lunch since she hadn't had time to bag her own that morning. It remained mostly untouched as Ranma and Akane explained the confusion from earlier on the field.
It turned out that Ranma had a bit of a girl problem. This is like saying that Niagra Falls is a waterfall. He was engaged to at least three known girls, another girl simply claimed him, and more girls were showing up every now and then. Turns out that Ranma's father had bartered his son off during a ten year training trip. Rei still felt like they were holding some important details back, but decided not to pry…yet. Especially with Ranma still having that untrusting look in his eyes towards her.
What's his problem, does he suspect me? Rei wondered.
"So then, tell us about yourself Rei." Akane said, making note of Ranma piquing up at this and tried to hide her growl. Rei leaned back as she put her finger to her lips, very much a cute pose.
"Gee, I don't know, what would you like to know? She answered. "I guess I'm just a normal girl." She smiled.
Ranma's eyes narrowed. "So how long have you practiced martial arts?" Rei jumped at this.
He does suspect me. Great, time for some improv. Rei thought quick.
"Well my Granny taught me kempo from an early age. She pretty much was an expert with fighting, but taught me mostly how to use the environment to my advantage." Rei tried to downplay her past, giving only what was needed. "She also taught me to read and write Japanese, she didn't want me to forget my heritage. Guess that's why I've always wanted to come here!" Rei smiled but noticed that Ranma was continuing to look at her strangely. Akane then spoke up next.
"Where were your parents?" Rei, who was about to eat a piece of sushi, put down her chopsticks.
"To be honest, I don't know." She looked up at Akane, "My Granny never said that they were dead, alive, or anything. She would always avoid answering, so I gave up asking after awhile." Her voice was flat and sad. There was no acting or truth bending here.
"Oh I'm so-" Rei cut her off, looking off to the side at the other students.
"Sorry? Don't be, I think they are alive, I never could find an obituary. So either I got dumped on Granny or something else. Either way, they didn't put much effort into finding me so I gave up on them a long time ago." She looked back over at Akane, "They didn't want me as a kid, and I really doubt they would want me now." She looks at her food before packing it up, Rachel then picked up her stuff.
"I think I'm gonna take a look around, see you two later." She called out over her shoulder as she walked away.
"Poor girl." Akane said quietly after Rei was gone. Ranma looked down at his bento lunch.
"I don't trust her."
"Ranma!"
"Akane, did you notice anything strange with how that girl moves?" Akane was taken aback. Ranma wasn't usually this distrustful, but then again Ranma had been changing since…
"Ranma, what do you mean?" Ranma looked up at Akane, and then leaned back against the tree behind him.
"She don't walk like a normal girl, I'm not sure how, but she does. This morning when I caught her I saw something glint in her pants."
"So? What does that have to do with anything. Why were you-" Ranma cut her off.
"Akane, Rei is pretending to be a regular girl. Don't know what but she is hiding somthin from us."
"Ranma! Why are you accusing her?" Akane was starting to get mad. They had just meet the girl, why was Ranma so distrustful.
"Akane, her eyes…" He trailed off, undecided if he wanted to tell her. Akane was about to continue in a violent fashion when he looked at her. "'kane, never mind. I need ta go." With that he stood up and walked away, leaving Akane to sit alone under the tree.
"Ranma." She breathed softly after him. A question unspoken remained upon her lips.
Great, you get close, and then you get scared away. Good going girl! Rei silently berated herself. Course I guess with the 'poor Rei' story I will get some brownie points, though Ranma definitely isn't buying.
She walked around the school campus, and she had to admit it was both impressive and large. From Furinkan High's multistory main building to the athletic fields it was probably better funded them most American schools. It was strange though that several areas looked recently repaired, and rather hastily at that. But any further thought on the campus was interrupted by a shout.
"Hey there, you are Rei Hibiki right? New transfer student?" A voice called out from the school entrance. Shaking off her thoughts she looked up to see a brown haired girl walking towards her.
"Yeah, who are you?" The girl stopped in front of her and bowed.
"Nabiki Tendo. I think you already meet my sister." Rei bowed back, but was weary; the girl wasn't a physical threat but her senses warned danger.
"Yeah she is rather nice, though her fiancée situation was is a little weird." Rei supplied. "Ya know, it seems though they were still hiding something from me. That and I've heard some, um, interesting rumors about Saotome. Know anything?"
Nabiki chuckled, " I could tell you, though it might cost you." She held out her hand, "Ten thousand yen and you get the info; it's a juicy story after all."
Rei narrowed her eyes, "let me get this straight, you want me to pay you for info I could get far cheaper? As in free?"
Nabiki's eyes narrowed, and the cheerful smile lost it's friendliness as she crossed her arms. "You could, but it would be far more…difficult."
Rei's eyes narrowed as she picked up the subtext. She too wore a cheerless smile and crossed her arms. "Oh I don't know, I'm always up for a challenge."
Students began to pick up on the atmosphere and like any high school began to surround the two girls. The tension was becoming thick enough for a student to cut with a knife. Nabiki's entourage formed up behind her, and all were focused on the girl that would dare to challenge the Furinkan Ice Queen.
"You might find this challenge to be more then its worth. It could cost you much more to get this info in the end then you might think Hibiki."
"Really? Because I know plenty of ways to get around things others might not think of Tendo."
"I will enjoy seeing how well you do here Hibiki."
"I'm sure that I will surpass your expectations Tendo."
Both girls waked past each other without touching, the crowd parting as they passed. After Rei had walked into the building Nabiki turned to her followers.
"Find out what you can about her. Get me everything." With that she walked away. Rei Hibiki had issued a challenge to her, one that Nabiki would not only see but beat.
Nobody messes with the Ice Queen.