Teachers

by d3jake

Well, here is the second story in Rod's stay at his Uncle's house. Things have been going quite well, Rod even helped Ranma and Akane's engagement go quite a bit smoother than it had been. But will it hold? Read to find out.

3. Life's Little Bumps Along the Way

Ranma 1/2:Teachers By: d3jake

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 characters except for Rodney Tendo in this Fan Fiction are creations of Rumiko Takahashi and are hereby used without permission.

This Fan Fiction may be freely redistributed as long it is not changed from it's original form unless permission is granted from the author. Notification must be given to the author when this Fan Fiction is redistributed.

A few things happen in this fanfic that you will understand better if have read 'Ranma 1/2:Adjustments.' Those who haven't read it to give you a quick summary: The narrator Rod Tend" and his family decided to go on a vacation to China, and one of the last places they decided to visit was the Accursed Springs at Jusenkyo only because his dad received a brochure for the place and decided that it should be a safe place since an Amazon village was nearby and, 'it's gotta be safe, since somebody built a village nearby.' And Rod fell into Spring-of-Drowned-Girl. Afterwards Rod has to go live with his cousins, yup you guessed Akane, Nabiki, and Kasumi, because his family ran into a few financial troubles.

This chapter is best understood if Chapters 1 and 2 of "Ranma 1/2:Teachers"
as been read first.
They can be found at: .

Start Date: 03-07-2005, --:-- CST End Date: 05-30-2005, 00:11 CST Chapter 3: Life's Little Bumps Along The Way

Some might say that what Rod did to Ranma was unwarranted, some might also say that what he did was hilarious. It did have the desired effect. A, it scared the crap out of Ranma; B, it showed that Rod would always get evener despite what it might take.
When Akane heard of what happened the following day she about busted a gut laughing, even Kasumi got a small chuckle out of it.
"Just wait until he gets you," Ranma said smugly.
"I'm not going to. She's seen what I did to you, so I got my message across"
"Hey, that isn't fair!" Ranma protested.
"Life's tough, get a helmet. Also last night we found out that Nabiki is quite the cook," Rod said.
"It was nothing," Nabiki said. "Even Akane could do it"
Ranma and Rod decided to leave that one alone for the sake of their health. "So did you have fun at your friend's house"
"Yup," Akane replied, "all of the usual girl stuff"
"Which I'm planning to never come in contact with"
"Seems you already have from what you said"
"Allow me to rephrase that: Which I'm planning to never come in contact with again.," Rod looked at his watch. "Oh geez! I'm late"
"For what"
"My next training session with Shampoo," Rod went off toward his room,
followed by Kasumi who knew that Rod would need help with his...her chest bindings which she had kinda gotten the hang of doing by herself. And in no time she was out the door, in the process of braiding her hair like Shampoo suggested, instead of the binders that she found to take too long to get them spaced right.
'I hope that Shampoo's not going to be too pissed about me being late'
she made it to the empty lot, not too far from the Cat Cafe, where she got training from Shampoo, who was none too happy to see him late.
"Sorry for being late," Rod apologized.
"Is you knowing what late people have to do?" Shampoo asked.
"Not really"
"They is told to do fifty-five push-ups"
"F-Fifty! My arms will fall off before I get done with all of them"
"Wanna try for sixty"
"Okay, okay," she got down and started to do a few push-ups.
"Go closer to the ground"
"I can't go any lower"
"Sixty it is"
"Wait! I'll go lower." Three restarts later Rod got all of them finished.
"Now is time for training"
"I won't be able to much on account of the fact that my arms are feeling like they're made from rubber"
"Is your problem. Defend"
"Huh?" Shampoo charged at Rod and landed a few blows on her before she could process the statement.
"You is losing it"
"Well ex-cuse me Miss Perfect. You haven't just finished...one hundred-
thirty-five push-ups"
"Don't be late next time. I is giving you a warning, ready"
Rod's arms reluctantly raised up to their place, "Thank you, lead on"
A warning did help Rod out, not too much considering her current physical condition. Afterward she told Shampoo of the past night's events.
"And you should've seem the look on his face!" Rod said, laughing. "The expression was priceless"
"I is sure it was," Shampoo said, amused at what Rod did.
"Aside from scaring the crap out of Ranma, I learned something"
"What"
"I am damn lucky to be a guy"
"Oh"
It sunk in with Rod that she just may have offended Shampoo, "Sorry, it's just all the stuff that y'all do from every morning seems a bit much. Even the one time I did it, to me it doesn't seem worth doing every day. Now you, most likely, will give reasons pertaining to Ranma that you get up every day and do you're hair and whatever all else. And other girls would have different reasons. So, I guess it boils down to what you're going after to have the right bait set up every morning.
"Whereas guys see what the market offers and choose from that. I personally go for girl that don't wear heavy make-up. But if you look out nowadays there's a lot of...sluts out there"
"Like Ak"
"Don't. I cannot allow you to insult her, especially behind her back"
"I is respecting that"
"Alright, so is that for today"
"Yes"
"Didn't seem like we did a lot"
"Well, you learned something, yes"
"Regrettably. If that's all, I know a bath tub with my name on it see ya," she bowed toward Shampoo and left, her braid swaying behind her.
After a few blocks she jumped onto the fence that paralleled that street.
Despite the fact that Rod doesn't normally wear slippers like Ranma does, she did a pretty good job of staying on top of it, even on many occasions she did do her impression of a pinwheel. As a guy she could wear her normal hiking boots, that might not seem to be the best choice for speed and such but in her previous school she could beat out more than four-fifths of her gym class when they had to do a lap for a warm up.
'Ranma makes this look too easy,' Rod said swaying from side to side.
'Then again, he's probably done this more often than me. It sure is a good way to get away from puddles too.' She rubbed her arms. 'I don't think I could handle that many push-ups. There's no way I'm being late next time'
Just as she took her next step, the section of fence she was on fell inward toward the street. Luckily enough for Rod a young man caught her before she met the ground butt-first.
"Excuse me madam, are you okay?" the man asked.
"Yeah I'm okay." She looked up, "Ack! Kuno"
Kuno looked surprised, "Have we met before?" It took him a while before he remembered, "Oh yes, you're the young woman I fell in on a while back. I have yet to formally apologize for that"
"Well, you can start by letting me down"
"Why yes, but of course," Rod slipped onto the ground.
She was sure to put a good distance between herself and Kuno, knowing him he might try to make a grab for her like he does with Akane and Ranma, 'The last thing I need is to have him make a grab for me for his "apology'
"As for my apology," Kuno said bowing toward Rod. "Please forgive me for my rude intrusion"
Rod, who wanted to kick Kuno in the head, restrained herself and answered, "Okay, apology accepted. Just make sure it doesn't happen again"
she patted Kuno on the head.
He looked up, "Of course madam. If you don't mind me asking, what is your relation to Rodney Tendo"
"Uh, well," Rod couldn't think of what to say. She couldn't tell him about her curse, Kuno was the last of people he wanted to be aware of it. So she decided to run away. Not the best answer to give, but it got Rod out of the situation.
"Hey!" Kuno yelled after her. "Where are you going"
"Sorry! I just remembered I left the gas on!" As soon as she was sure that Kuno couldn't see her anymore, she slowed to a stop and sat against the street wall.
'I didn't get the lovely maiden's name...' Kuno thought. 'Not to worry, fate will make our paths cross I'm sure.' Kuno walked away waiting for the next maiden to walk by and admire his self.
'I can't let Kuno about my...condition. He's the last person I want to have knowing about it,' she stood up and made sure that Kuno wasn't in the area. 'Well, that's enough excitement for today'
Rod heard some commotion in an alleyway next to her and decided to check it out despite her want for a bath.
"Come on, give us your money," one of three masked men said as they towered over a teen-aged boy in the alley.
"S-Sure," the boy said not wanting any trouble, Rod thought she recognized the voice from somewhere.
"Hey!" Rod said. "Leave him alone"
The men in masks turned in surprise, "And why should we do that?" one of of them asked. "What do you think a little girl like you can do about it"
Rod cracked her knuckles, "Oh, wouldn't you like to know?" And within a short amount of time she quickly dispatched the thugs. Nothing fatal of course.
"Uh, thanks ma'am," the boy who the thugs were roughing up shakily stood up.
"It's no problem Hikaru"
"H-How do you know my name"
'Oops...' "Uh, well, you kinda look like a Hikaru"
"I do?" he bent down and started picking up groceries that had spilled out of a bag he had.
"Here, lemme help you with that," she smiled at Gosunkugi who's face turned a light red color. 'What wrong with him? It's not even that hot out today'
"Thanks..." soon enough they had everything collected up and they were off to their respective houses.

"Rod! Rod!" Gosunkugi called to his friend across the school yard the next day at school.
"What? What?" Rod responded as Gosunkugi came to a screeching halt in front of him.
"I met one of the most beautiful girls over the weekend"
"You did? C'mon, spill it, what's she look like"
"Well, she's got way long brown hair that was in a long braid, and she has the best smile, close to Akane's-no, better than Akane's! Doesn't she sound like the best girl on Earth"
The pieces immediately fell into place, 'Great, he has a crush on me.
Yuck!' "She didn't happen to've saved you from three thugs, did she"
"Why yes she did! How'd you find out? Do you know her"
"You could say that"
"Where does she live? What's her name? What kind of candy does she like"
"Hold on Romeo. You barely know her. How do you know that she even likes you"
"I never said that she does. But if I could just meet her once more I'm sure she'd fall for me"
Rod had to hold in a laugh, "I kinda doubt it"
"But, you never know until you try"
"True. I'll give you a tip, make sure she doesn't find out about your camera fixation, or all the voodoo stuff you know, it might scare her." 'It shouldn't be that hard to make sure that he doesn't see me as a girl so these pointers shouldn't do that much harm. If anything it'll give him a better chance with somebody else'
"You think"
"Well, evidence is prevalent around here. Have you ever noticed the people talking about you behind your back"
"Not really"
"Well, just keep those things in mind," Rod turned and went around the corner of the school where he was promptly doused by water from above.
"Hey!" she heard a girl's voice say from above. "Don't dump that water out the window"
"Don't worry!" said another voice from above. "Ranma's just walking through the front gate now"
'Could they ever bother to check if there's anybody under them before dumping the water out? No, of course not!' she reflexively pulled out her piece of green twine and tied back her hair.
"Say Rodney," Gosunkugi said going around the corner hoping to catch up to his friend, but instead, finding the girl from the weekend. "Hey, it's you again"
"No it's not, I'm just a figment of your imagination"
"Hey, why are you wearing a guy's school uniform"
"Uh, no reason"
"You're kind've a tomboy aren't you"
"No! It's not that"
"Don't worry, there's another girl who does too, Miss Kuonji I believe"
The school bell rang signaling that all students should get to class,
"I gotta go! See ya!" and with that Rod ran off away from her admirer.
'I, didn't even get your name...' Gosunkugi thought, 'green-twine girl.'

"You know, I really got to be more careful," Rod told Nabiki after that day of school.
"Really? Why's that?" Nabiki asked half paying attention.
"Well, I happen to have a guy with a crush on me now, as a girl of course"
"How'd you manage that"
"Well, after my rather short lesson from Shampoo I found my friend Gosunkugi being roughed up by a few thugs so I got rid of them"
"And in your shining glory, he realized that you're the coolest thing since Akane"
Rod hung his head, "Yup, lucky me huh"
"Believe it or not, that's not the only guy that's fallen for you"
Rod's head shot up, cracking his neck, "Please tell me you're joking"
"A thousand Yen please"
"Yeah yeah," he placed the money in her hand.
"Well, apparently you also had a run in with Kuno as well yesterday"
"How do you know that"
"All Kuno could talk about during homeroom was about a third girl that had stolen his heart, a certain 'green-twine girl"
"Oh geez." "Don't you feel special"
"Not really. You know, there really needs to be a 'do over' button for weeks that start out by sucking this much"
"Ah, but that would life too easy"
"If only. All I know is that I won't have so many troubles with random attacks of water after tonight"
Nabiki actually looked a bit surprised, "What are you talking about"
"Well, do you remember the package I got a little while back"
"Sure"
"You see I ordered a roll of light-weight rubber and I've been modifying one of my school uniform jackets"
"What are you doing? Lining the inside with the stuff"
"Kinda. That would look too obvious and wouldn't be too comfortable. So I ripped the jacket open, placed the rubber between the pieces two halves (the lining and the outside part) and I'm currently sewing it back together. So whaddya think"
"It certainly is clever, heaven help you when the temperatures get really high when you'd get heat stroke by wearing it"
"It'll work for now. I figured that it would be smarter to try and stay dry when it's colder, when I could get frostbite or something"
"Good thinking. You know what you could do to really cash in"
"I shoulda thought you'd think of such a thing. What is it"
"You could, for a nominal fee of course, do the same to a couple of Ranma's shirts"
Yen signs popped up into Rod's eyes, "Oh, you're good"
"For forty-five percent of what you charge Ranma, I get that way"
"That's not all you're going to do for forty-five percent"
"Oh"
"Yup, under no circumstances will you tell anybody else that two guys like me"
"Fair enough," they shook on it.
"So why are you walking to school with us today?" Akane asked.
"Did you get into a fight with Nabiki?" Ranma asked.
"Of course not," Rod responded. "I just haven't walked with you two in a while and I wanted to, that's all"
And as many times before, when they passed a particular house a particular wave of water came from a particular elderly women's ladle, hitting the trio, particularly Ranma and Rod.
"Ya know what?" Ranma asked squeezing water from her braid. "One of these day we really gotta get revenge on her"
"Why's that?" Rod asked, his school uniform jacket dripping.
"Hey! How come you're not a girl"
"Huh?" he looked down at his chest. "Wouldja look at that, or more accurately, what's not there"
Ranma jumped down from the fence and patted Rod's chest, "Well, they sure don't seem to be there"
"That's because I'm a guy"
"How the heck did you do that"
"Magic"
"Really"
"No. I just modified my uniform jacket"
"How"
One explanation later.
"Hey, that's pretty smart," Akane commented.
"Well, I had to do something about it instead of standing around and griping about it"
"How long would it take you to make one for me?" Ranma asked eagerly.
"Maybe a week, assuming my finger tips survive. I lost count how many times I stabbed myself with the needle"
"Why can't I do it for you?" Akane asked.
"It's a bit complicated, and if it gets messed up I know who to blame.
Thanks for the offer though"
"Could you get started right when we get home?" Ranma asked.
"Sure, homework permitting."

"Here you go," Rod said handing over one of Ranma's the modified shirts about a week later.
"Thanks a ton," Ranma said. "This'll make my life a bit easier. What's the charge"
"Yes," Nabiki said walking up behind Rod. "What's the charge Rod"
"There's no charge," Rod said simply.
"I guess I misunderstand you. Do you happen remember our agreement"
"Why yes I do. I agreed to give you forty-five percent of what I charge Ranma for the shirt, assuming I charged him anything"
Both Akane and Ranma stared at Rod who as far as they know was the only one alive that had out smarted Nabiki.
Nabiki herself was taken aback. She been outsmarted by her own cousin, not only that but it was on a deal that was much simpler than other ones that she had pulled off.
"I suggest that you be more careful when making deals with me," Rod said.
"Carelessness is your enemy. Hey Ranma, you wanna spar a bit before dinner"
"Sure, why not," Ranma replied. "Believe it or not I've finished my homework"
"Well, miracles happen every day... Besides, I have some time before Hikaru comes over so we can work on our project," they walked up to their rooms, leaving Nabiki to her thoughts.
'It seems that I've underestimated him,' she thought. 'That'll teach me to make assumptions like that. As for our agreement, I can't do anything about it, he found a valid loophole that I didn't plug. I'll have to be more careful in the future'
"I can't believe you did that to her," Ranma said while stretching out.
"To tell you the truth I didn't think of it until just then," Rod responded.
"It's been a while since I sparred with you last," Ranma said going into his battle stance. "This will prove to be interesting"
"We shall see." And with that they started off.
Ranma started by checking out Rod's defenses, certainly Ucchan and Shampoo helped to strengthen that as one of the first things, he reasoned. But he found that Rod wasn't nearly as easy as he remembered, he wasn't nearly haphazard as before, each strike, or attempted strike, was planned as much as time would allow. Also, he wasn't nearly as foreword as before, he would wait until his enemy made a movement; he reacted, not acted.
"Seems that you've learned a thing or two"
"I learn from the best," the sound of rain could be heard starting to fall outside of the dojo. "Can I show ya somthin"
"Sure"
Rod back about fifteen feet away from Ranma, then closed his eyes. After ten seconds he raised one of his arms and shouted, "Zephyr!" His eyes flashed open and a rather small burst of air came off his arm and toward Ranma. Granted yes, it did little more than ruffle a few of Ranma's hairs.
"So what do you think"
"Very interesting. You have enough control of your energy that you can make a small amount of it project from your hand"
"That about covers it. Shampoo read some of the scrolls from her village to me, they were describing basic ways to gain, control and concentrate energy. That was one of the first things it said you should learn to do before progressing onto levels of skill like where Ukyo, Shampoo and you are at. I would've liked to barrow a few of them to read, but even if Cologne would've allowed it, there would've been one problem, they're written in Chinese"
"That could be a problem"
"Sligh-" he was cut off by a pain induced loud scream from right outside the property wall. "What the hell"
Ranma and Rod ran out of the dojo and to the source of the yell. There, to the horror of Ranma and Rod they found Gosunkugi seriously hurt.
"What happened?" Rod asked her friend. "C'mon buddy, who did this to you"
All he could manage was to point down the street where a dark shape was standing then quickly disappeared around a corner.
"Ranma, take care of him. I'm going after whoever did this to him," Rod's emotions were churning, anger being the top one. "But"
"Don't argue, just do it!" and with that she sprinted off in chase of the person who dared attack her friend.

End of Chapter 3

Well, so what do ya think? A little pulse raising I trust. I'm just worried that y'all are going to think that Rod is going through so much, too much. I realized that he seems to be twisted into a few emotional pretzles. I don't even think that Ranma goes through that many during the entire series. I'd be cool to hear what your take of it is.
I may have gone a bit too far with Rod's agreement with Nabiki. As for the thing with Kuno, I'm sure that some of y'all are about ready to come knocking on my door with pitchforks and torches because of that, But do you really think I'd let Rod skate through his year with his family and the Saotome's did you? This way he'll have problems of his own to deal with.
It's probably gunna be a while, while I probe ideas from my brain for the next chapter so keep scanning for any updates. And if you have any ideas that aren't too incredibly sick and twisted I'd be glad to hear them.

Questions? Comments? Threats? Please direct to Special Thanks:to my 9th and possibly 10th grade English teacher who offered to read my main series...as soon as he gets around to it... He happens to be the only person above the age of 17 (that I know of, the people at don't often have their ages listed) who has read them(will read them.

Newest Pet:
Spike the Cactus

People Who Keep Me Laughing Everyday: all of which I don't think I'll ever forget as well as the fun times we've shared. I thank them all for those moments and those yet to come.
A Good Portion of My Teachers, Past And Present Kaiko JDHack Joseph C.
Misa My Parents and Relatives Starath Squall vergessen And Two Girls From the School Bus

"The body will do wonderous things if the mind will let it." - Col. Sherman T. Potter, "MASH"

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