Ranma slipped out of the school after his talk with Mitsuri-sensei. He had been thrown off balance by his sensei's concern and couldn't face the normal lunchtime madness right then. It had been so long since anyone had worried about him. Stopping to think, he revised that to no one had ever worried about him. It caused him to smile and a warm tingle to start in his belly.
A rustling noise alerted him to the fact that he was no longer alone. Noiselessly, he jumped up a nearby tree and scaled several branches. Crouching down, he stilled and watched, assessing the chances of an ambush. He relaxed slightly as the five new transfer students wandered into view. Their expressions were dazed and blank. With a brief spark of amusement, he realized they must have been introduced to Furinkan High lunchtimes. They didn't look ready to repeat the experience any time soon.
He watched them settle on the grass, take out sack lunches, and begin eating. They were silent as they ate, none of them looking at any of the others. Puzzled, he wondered if this was normal before he finally realized what was happening. The first giggle came from the slender braided boy, Duo, and soon all five of the boys were shrieking with laughter. The small blond, Quatre, had his arms around the braided boy who was laughing so hard he had tears running down his face. The rude, Chinese boy had his face buried in the shoulder of the boy with slanted bangs.
Ranma's attention however, was inexorably drawn to the chuckling Heero. The cobalt eyes were lit and the handsome head was thrown back, causing the sunlight to highlight striking features. Ranma's gaze slid along the length of the muscled, tight frame as Heero lay back in the grass. The green sleeveless shirt and charcoal gray pants emphasized a powerful body that looked as lethal as it was beautiful.
Lethal? Where had that thought come from? Ranma looked closer at the lounging form and discerned a coiled wariness even when the youth was relaxing, and there was a knowing glint in deep ocean blue eyes that spoke of dangerous experience. With a frown, he turned his attention to the others and after observing closely concluded that, they were all dangerous, if not to the same degree as the raven-haired warrior. And warrior he was, unlike the residents of this town who harassed and boasted and threatened death, Heero carried the impression that he not only had threatened death many times but had also carried it out.
Swallowing dryly, Ranma hoped that he never crossed him or any of the others. He was suddenly thankful he had held his temper earlier when the Chinese boy had berated him. With a regretful glance at Heero, he resolved to avoid the five friends if possible. He had enough trouble in his life without adding anymore. Silently, he watched until the students rose and ambled back in the direction of the school. When they were out of sight, he slipped from concealment and reluctantly went to his next class.
The rest of the school day passed without incident and he was thankful the new students weren't in any more of his classes. He almost wanted to hold his breath in fear of shattering the fragile peace of the afternoon. Maybe the confrontation earlier would be the worst this day had to offer. Immediately after that thought, he darkly wondered if he had just jinxed himself.
When the last bell rang, he quickly made his way outside, but there his luck failed him. Akane was waiting on the steps, and by her expression, she was no happier than she had been this morning. Her toe was tapping slightly and her fingers twitched as if she itched to fill her hand and begin hitting. Sighing, Ranma resigned himself to another tirade and hoped she would run out of steam quickly.
Unfortunately, his hope proved futile and Akane in full rant mode seemed likely to continue well into the afternoon. He wasn't even interested in finding out what she was angry about this time. She was probably still upset that he had missed eating her poisonous food last night. Finally, he just detoured around her to walk back to the dojo. He discovered rather quickly that that had been the wrong move to make. Akane latched onto his arm, causing him to wince with the pressure on fading bruises. Her voice was a low growl as she snapped and snarled. But what caused him to finally snap was the familiar and hated word, pervert.
He got so sick of being called a pervert just because of his curse. It wasn't his fault he changed into a girl. Of course, the real reason the slander cut so deep was something else. He thought it was ironic that a guy that had multiple fiancées didn't even like girls. At least he was consistent, as a guy, he liked guys and as a girl he liked guys. He couldn't figure out what label this put him under. Were you bi-sexual if you only liked one sex but changed into both sexes? It didn't really matter, but it was this, along with a fleeting sense of shame instilled in him by his father, that made being called a pervert so painful.
With a snarl, he shook Akane's hand off his arm and glared at the shorthaired un-cute irritating tomboy he had the extreme misfortune to be saddled with.
"Will you shut up! I am not a pervert. I am completely sick of listening to you scream at me. Go find someone who cares and scream at them for a while," Ranma yelled.
Akane's face fell in astonishment and she gaped like a fish. He had yelled at her before but never had he been so harsh. With extreme disgust, Ranma saw jewel like tears begin to form in Akane's eyes and drip down her face. Her chin quivered slightly and she had her hands to her chest like he had mortally wounded her. Well if he had wounded her, maybe she would think twice before throwing hurtful words at him, but he doubted it.
Ranma turned to go, only to come face to face with the Chinese transfer student. The youth's posture was rigid and his face was stiff with disapproval and outrage. With a sick sense of unreality, Ranma knew exactly what was coming.
"How dare you cause this girl to cry! Have you no sense of honor? First, you are sarcastic with the sensei and now you are yelling at a lady. Someone should beat some manners into you and I would be happy to be the one to do it."
The Chinese boy's black eyes blazed with the force of his feelings leaving Ranma feeling tired and bitter. Why was it always his fault? And when did a beating ever instill manners?
With a sigh, Ranma assessed his surroundings trying to determine how many of the bystanders would join into the fight. Fortunately, none of his usual opponents were present. The few people standing around watching were not fighters and weren't likely to join in the battle, with the exception of Akane and the Chinese boy's companion. Hopefully, the brown haired boy with the neutral expression and cautious eyes believed in a fair fight. He was briefly grateful that Heero wasn't with his friends; he wanted a small amount of time to savor the memory of that laughing face before it was replaced with anger towards him.
"So how exactly do you want to do this?" Ranma asked with weary sarcasm. "Doesn't matter to me, but if we're going to fight, you're going to have to start it."
He watched the pale face redden with anger at his flippant words, but he couldn't bring himself to regret them. Without warning, a fist lashed out at his face. Ranma pulled back but was impressed with the other youth's speed; the Chinese boy was as fast as Ryoga. He let the other boy make the next several moves, studying his style, speed, and strength. Jeers were beginning to come from the crowd as he ducked and dodged but Ranma ignored them.
Quickly turning to the side, he barely missed a kick aimed at his face. He was having a difficult time discerning the other's school. The Chinese youth moved fluidly and flawlessly, he had obviously been well trained but a great many of the moves were unfamiliar to Ranma. The puzzle caused him to lose focus for a moment and a fist almost got through to him.
Ranma decided it was time to take the offensive. The next time the boy struck out, he twisted around and aimed a quick decisive blow to the back of the other's head. The move was snake-quick, unexpected and the Chinese boy was stunned into unconsciousness before he could blink. Only Ranma's quick grab prevented him from landing face first upon the ground. Carefully lying the youth down, he moved out of the way as the brown haired boy rushed forward.
Having had enough for the day, Ranma retreated before the boy with the slanted bangs decided to revenge his friend. Akane's attention was also on her downed savior so he was able to slip away unnoticed.
Well, now he had one more person to add to the list of people who had a grudge against him. More likely, he had two, and if the other three were as protective as he suspected, then he had five. He had lost count of the number of people who attacked him on a regular basis.
Stomping along the streets, he muttered imprecations under his breath. Suddenly, a brief wave of dizziness caused him to lean against a nearby building. He'd had little to eat in the past two days and it was finally catching up to him. Food became his next priority as he slowly walked to the nearest café.
Before he could reach it, he tripped over something and landed face down on the sidewalk. Briefly, he rested his head on the concrete, before he heard angry squealing and looked up to see P-chan glaring angrily at him. He slowly climbed to his feet, staring down at the black pig.
"Sorry, man. Didn't see you. What's up?"
Tiredly, Ranma leaned down and picked Ryoga up with one arm while he continued down the street. At least that was the plan, but when he leaned down to pick P-chan up, the pig bit deeply into his outstretched hand and refused to let go. Ranma screamed before he tore the pig from his hand, sending P-chan bouncing off a nearby wall.
"Ryoga, what is your problem?" Ranma glared dangerously at the dazed pig and took a threatening step in his direction but Ryoga quickly darted off down an alley and out of sight.
"Stupid pig. Should have knocked him into next week." Ranma was angry with Ryoga but even more, he was angry with himself. He should have known better than to make friendly overtures to Ryoga after he'd fought with Akane. The Lost Boy defended her fanatically, despite the tomboy barely noticing he was alive unless he was in his cursed form as her beloved pig, P-chan.
Cradling his injured hand, he turned only to be confronted with an unwelcome sight. Winner Quatre and Maxwell Duo. Are they following me? Stalking me? Why is it every time I have a confrontation lately, the new guys show up afterwards to berate me for it? And why do I have the feeling this one is going to end up being my fault too? The sinking feeling was confirmed by the expressions on the faces of the frowning boys facing him.
It was the little blond, Quatre, who spoke. "That wasn't very nice. It wasn't the pig's fault you tripped. And he probably only bit you because he was scared. There was no reason for you to throw him into the wall, it was uncalled for and cruel."
"Yeah, man," Duo chimed in, "it was just an animal, it didn't know any better."
Ranma stared at the two boys, trying to work up some self-righteous anger but he was too tired. Besides, the little blond's eyes were so gentle and he really believed what he was saying. He had no way of knowing that a human's intelligence was behind the pig's animosity.
Finally, Ranma just shook his head. "Never mind. I just can't seem to win with you guys, can I?"
He walked off while the other two exchanged confused glances. Ranma was quite grateful when they didn't follow him. At least he hadn't ended up fighting either of these two. Which was a very good thing considering he felt awful. His hand was throbbing in time with his head and blood was dripping onto his shirt where he had his hand cradled. He was afraid a visit to Dr. Tofu was in order, the wound wasn't extremely serious but he couldn't bandage it himself.
Longingly he stared at the café, before he turned to trudge to the clinic. He carefully watched his feet on the way there. The sidewalk was showing a disturbing tendency to want to trip him and it was taking a great deal of concentration to thwart it. He was relieved when he finally reached the doctor's and sent a fervent prayer to anyone that would listen that Kasumi hadn't been anywhere near the place in days, otherwise Dr. Tofu would be more likely to kill him than help him.
The amiable doctor was in and quickly cleaned and bandaged his wound. The man wanted to talk and Ranma patiently listened as he chattered about the latest happenings around town. A lot of the gossip focused on the new students. It seemed everyone was curious about them and already rumors had begun about a feud between him and the other youths. At this point, Ranma grumpily cut the physician off and started for the door of the clinic.
Dr. Tofu reached out to pat his back, but Ranma, remembering a similar stroke weeks back, dodged him. The touch a few weeks back had caused him to lose all feeling in his legs and he had had to be carried home by Akane, the good doctor wanted to prove what a sweet gentle person she was. And if that wasn't humiliating enough, he had been in an altercation the next day with Kodachi that had nearly resulted in serious injury because of the residual weakness.
With a mild smile, Ranma returned to Dr. Tofu and patted him on the cheek. "Doc, you're a great medic and I like you. But if my legs collapse on me again because of something you did, I'll crawl back in here and break your wrist." He punctuated his comment with another gentle smile before he turned and left.
oOOo