Do you really need me to say it again?
Honestly, I don't own Ranma 1/2 or Sailor Moon!
Panda signs
Sound Effects
'Thinking'
--
"Halt, foul Sorcerer!"
Ranma sighed as the shout rang around the schoolyard, even as he suppressed a smirk.
'Heh. Kuno's half-right for once.'
"What is it today Kuno?" 'As if I didn't know'.
"Tremble at my wrath, thou enemy of women! I, blessed by heaven…"
Sensing that this speech would likely go on for a while, Ranma tuned the deluded wannabe-samurai out and continued into school.
"…smite you with the swift justice…"
Surely Kuno would get to the point soon.
"…flashing steel! I, the scion of House Kuno…"
Nope, didn't look like it.
Ranma thought back to the previous night with a smile. Who'd have thought he'd end up with two new sisters and a new fiancée even a week ago?
'Not me, that's for sure'.
"…Face me, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!"
Ranma stared at the crazed Kendoka with no small amount of amazement.
"How did you get all that out in one breath, Kuno?"
"Silence knave! The speechmaking techniques of the noble House of Kuno are not for one such as you to learn! Enough, I strike!"
With a yell, Kuno bounded to the attack…
To be met with a crescent kick that snatched the bokken from his hands.
"Huh? Did you say something Kuno?"
Drawing his spare bokken, Kuno was about to smite the evil that was Saotome Ranma (who had surely used an Evil Spell to take his Sword of Justice from his Manly Grasp) when he spotted the newly-arrived Akane.
"My Fierce Tigress! Come, I shall beat thee to date with thee!"
The only person surprised at Kuno's abrupt introduction to low earth orbit was Akane herself. She had been dreading her arrival at school, the weakness effect still being present (as she'd discovered during her morning brick-breaking. Her hand was still throbbing!), and she just knew that Kuno would try something perverted. Without her usual strength she'd never be able to…
Smack the perverted hentai into the sky?
Staring at her clenched fist, Akane's mind began to make connections. Conclusion reached, a grin spread across her face as she gazed intently at the departing form of her former fiancée.
Time to pay the pervert back!
Hearing a familiar roar, Ranma turned just in time to collect Akane's punch full on the face. As such, he was in an ideal position to see her shock at the blow's utter lack of effect.
"You didn't really think I'd leave you defenceless did ya, Akane? I'd never forgive myself if you got hurt because of something I did, much less how Kasumi'd feel."
"Why am I weak again?" growled Akane, anger gradually edging out shock.
Ranma grinned. "Like I said last night, I'm tired of being your punching bag and stress ball, but I'm not gonna leave ye defenceless. So, if you attack someone your strength will go. Defending yerself, it comes back. Simple."
"You bastard! Take it off me!" Akane screamed, fury flushing her face an unpleasant red.
"When you can control your temper, or at least deal with it without violence, and not before", replied Ranma, his tone abruptly serious. "All I've done is remove your ability to blindly lash out at people, which is what a bully does. You are a Martial Artist, right?"
"Yes." grated the seething girl.
"Then realise this Akane. The goal of the Art is to defend the defenceless. You lashing out at the drop of a hat is what's holding you back. If you can get past your temper, you'll be miles better, and I wanna see that, Akane. All you can do is defend now, and that's what a Martial Artist does."
Turning to enter the school as the warning bell rang, he looked over his shoulder.
"Leave the anger behind and I'll fight ya for real, ok?"
With that said, Ranma strolled into the entrance hall, a wide-eyed Akane staring after him.
--
Time passed, classes were taught (with varying degrees of success with regards to a certain pigtailed youth) and eventually it was lunch time.
"Did you enjoy that little scene this morning, Ranma-kun?"
Pausing on his way to the roof, Ranma turned to see Nabiki and Ukyo, each with a bento in hand.
"No Nabiki", he replied with a sigh. "No, I really didn't. It had to be said, though".
Nabiki nodded slightly, accepting the point. "Let's head to the roof and you can explain."
About to say more, Nabiki was cut off as Ukyo abruptly shouldered her aside and offered one of the bentos to Ranma.
"Here, Ran-niichan, your favourite lunch okonomiyaki. Kasumi-neechan said you'd like it."
Ranma blinked. "You're really getting into mum's solution, huh Ucchan?"
Ukyo was practically sparkling as they reached the stairs. "Mm! I never had any siblings, so it's nice to have a big brother. Plus, now you can ea my okonomiyaki without feeling guilty. Everyone wins, Ran-niichan!"
"Ok", said Nabiki as they reached the roof, "explain the scene from this morning. Actually, explain what you did to Akane in the first place".
Looking up from Ukyo's bento (and smirking slightly at the slogan "Best Big Brother" written in okonomiyaki sauce), Ranma thought for a moment. "How much for you to keep this to yourself, Nabiki? I've told Mum and Kasumi, but I'd really rather this info not be sold or told to anyone. Ever."
After a moments thought herself, the mercenary middle Tendo waved airily. "No charge Ranma-kun. Just make sure Kasumi stays happy and we'll call it quits.
Don't stare at me like that", she admonished in answer to their wondering looks. "Kasumi deserves to be happy and you, Ranma, make her happy. Keep it up and your debt's gone."
'This can't be Nabiki' thought Ranma.
"Make her sad, though, and I'll own your arse until you die".
'My mistake, that's her alright'.
"So," said Nabiki briskly, "now that we've established that I'm not going to sell you out, time to start talking, Ranma-kun."
Sharing a relieved look with Ukyo, Ranma began.
"Ok, about a week ago I learned about a type of magic called 'Chaos Magic' that works through willpower and imagination. Basically, ya get an idea of what ya want to happen and use your will to force the idea into being. At first I used a kata to get me into gnosis-"
"'Gnosis'? What's that, Ran-niichan?"
"Sorta a moment of mental emptiness to get the conscious mind out of the way of the magic happening. Lotsa different ways to get there. I used a kata, and it worked."
This time it was Nabiki who spoke. "What was the 'Idea', Ranma-kun?"
Ranma grinned sheepishly.
""The next time I'd get splashed, I won't". Ended up being me tripping on a crack in the pavement and having the Ladle-lady miss me. Anyway," he said with a shake of his head, "I've been practicing since then, working on reaching gnosis easier, putting ideas into ki-blasts and stuff like that. It works pretty good so far."
"Ok, groundwork's established" said Nabiki after a moment's thoughtful silence. "Now, tell us what you did to Akane and why."
"Right. What I did was send a pulse of ki into her with an idea attached. "Strength to defend, none to attack" was how I phrased it in my head".
His gentle smile faded somewhat as he continued.
"The 'How' is easy, the 'Why'…Ok, Akane needs, more than anything, to learn to control her temper. At the moment, her self-control is laughable. Couple that with her strength and it's only a matter of time before she seriously hurts someone."
He sighed. "It's even partially my fault for just accepting her hitting me right from the start. At first I thought I deserved it, and I know I did more than my share of insulting her, right? And hey, I could take it, after all. The thing is, because of that she's gotten used to hitting me full force and me getting up. Imagine her doing that to someone who's not a Martial Artist."
Both his companions paled as the image presented itself.
"Right. Not a pretty thought, is it? She's been conditioned to react to pretty much any kind of stress with violence, so we need to condition her out of it. Not being able to attack anyone should help with that."
Ukyo had been frowning slightly. "I agree she needs help Ran-niichan, but sealing her strength is pretty harsh. Remember how you were?"
"I do remember" Ranma nodded. "There are a few differences in the situation, though. First, I haven't sealed her strength fully. Second, I've given her a way out. She calms down and I'll take off the effect. In truth, I wouldn't even have gone this far except for one thing."
"What 'one thing', Ranma?" asked Nabiki, her tone suggesting she already had an idea.
"At dinner, Saturday night. She nearly hit Kasumi. She nearly hit Kasumi with the force she uses on me. That told me all I needed to know about her self control right there. Which led ultimately to last night's events."
A contemplative silence fell over the trio at that, each absorbed in their own thoughts until they were roused by the warning bell.
Bidding the two new siblings a laconic farewell, Nabiki wandered back to class.
She had odds to adjust.
--
As Ranma bounded over the rooftops he thought back over the events of the day. Truth to tell, it had gone better than expected. While still casting him an odd glare or two, Akane seemed to have thought on his words a little, at least enough to calm down a bit.
Still giving him the silent treatment, though.
Calmer or not, though, no one could miss the changed dynamic between him and the youngest Tendo, nor the different mode of address from Ucchan, and Ranma had been bracing himself for an explosion of rumour-mongering and misunderstandings (as per Standard Nerima Operating Procedure).
Thankfully, Nabiki's network was, for perhaps the first time ever, on Ranma's side. Rather than allow half-truths and speculation to rule, Nabiki had simply announced the truth, minus a few confidential details. The results of this intervention were, quite frankly, surprisingly mild. An occasional "Good job, Saotome" directed at him, commiserations for Akane (generally ignored with a snort), and (oddly to his mind) congratulations for Ukyo. Apparently, being Ranma's 'Little Sister' was a role many of Furinkan's female population desired with a certain wistful intensity.
'I will never understand women, and half the time I am one!'
Chuckling at the thought, he noticed he was approaching the shrine Ami-san had mentioned.
'Martial Arts instructor to a group of magical girls. Glad I told mum and Kasumi about this. Hiding something like this'd be dangerous'.
Ranma had made a promise on the night he and Kasumi had gotten together to tell Kasumi the truth and the WHOLE truth. If anyone deserved to be in the know it was her, and he'd been in too many disasters that started from lies or misunderstandings.
Which had meant telling her about his new teaching role.
In truth Ranma had been a little surprised when he told her. It was not the fact that she'd believed him, oh no (being around Ranma made believing in magical girls a very small leap of faith), but at how accepting she had been of the notion of her fiancée spending time around attractive, skimpily-dressed young women.
"I trust you, Ran-kun," she'd said. "I know you'll never willingly hurt me, and you didn't try to hide this from me. Go and teach these girls the Art. And get me autographs!" she'd called after him as he'd left for school.
'I love that girl so much' he thought as he dropped to the ground at the shrine's Torii gate. Composing himself (and doing his best to smooth out the dopey grin thoughts of Kasumi always seemed to summon), he set off up the stairs.
--
"Come on Saotome, tell me! TELL ME THE SECRET OF THE SIGNS!"
"Growf!"
--
Author's Notes:
Well, here's chapter 6. Thanks for your patience, everyone.
Ok, before i get a mass of reviews telling me Ukyo was OOC, imagine being honour-bound to forsake your own gender and all the human contact inherant in that. Now imagine being offered a solution on a plate. I see Ukyo's vendetta as having essentially kept her at arms length from any other contact for a long time. now she has the support of Ranma, demonstrably strong, protective and faithful Ranma, as a big brother. with this in mind, i don't think it that unlikely that Ukyo would try to live up to the role of Little Sister a bit.
anyway...
the Con was a blast, though a little disorganised. saw some great anime, some excellent cosplay and some awesome AMV's. i can't wait until next year!
ok, reviews now.
moritynz: yeah, i realise it's a little vanilla, but that's how i see the characters reacting. as for the sign flips, that's a secret!
ranko lina Inverse: Yeah, it's an old idea, but the best i could think of. the plot i'm imagining requires having the fiancee's onside, and it seemed the best option, aside from Ranma going the mistresses rout, which i have a hard time seeing even someone as tranquil as Kasumi going along with. As for the 'Bimbo Laws', well, Cologne's bending laws here and there. it's a reasonable assumption that she could be persuaded to bend a few more. expect a delve into her motivations in later chapters.
Jerry Unipeg: thanks! hey, better two sisters than a slightly-psychotic sex-kitten and an honour-bound, okonomiyaki-obsessed fiancee, ne?
Hiryo: Glad you liked it. well, as you can see above, Nabiki did in fact notice something. rest assured, at least one other person present noticed. guess who!
deathgeonous: Yeah, i've come to realise that. gomen. all i can say is that cliche's are useful. that's how they become cliches in the first place. thanks for the review!
Dumbledork: Oh, Ranma will still have a few problems on the domestic front, but yes, i did aim for him to have the most grievous ones sorted out. Good to know my memory's not gone yet. thankee.
Rose1948: Thank you.
Six-string Samurai: Ah, constructive feedback! my reasoning behind the phrasing was that Ami's basically seen someone she knows tear a youma to shreds, someone who shouldn't be able to. her friends are off in la la land, this is a hunk, and she's nervous, so she wants to get her piese said as quickly and clearly as possible. i have to remind myself when writing that perfect grammar can look odd when presented as dialogue. guess i went too far there?
RanmaChao: will do!
GeorgeTobor: some interesting ideas there, mate. i've already figured out the character relationships for this story, but aye, that could be an interesting idea for a future tale. Sadly, the only way i can picture senshi chasing Kuno is by mistaking him for a youma. Yeah, the senshi are going to remain in the 'just friends/allies' category for this story. this story's strictly Ran/Kas!
Phnx: well, i hope you liked it.
well, expect another chapter in a week or so. and stay tuned for Smylingsnake's exciting second fanfic, luxuriating in the title of "Oops!", appearing once i can get the flow of the first and second chapters sorted out.
later.