Chapter Fifteen
"See? This isn't so bad Ranma." Akane told the boy next to her as they walked thru the market. It was a sunny Sunday, bright skies that in no way made one think winter was on its way. Taking Tofu's advice Ranma was making an effort to spend some time alone with Akane each week. It wasn't like he had anything better to do given it wasn't a school day and Haruna was trying to get ahold of Nodoka, but he looked like he was outside his comfort zone.
"It's shopping Akane. How can girls call this fun?" He complained.
"Because you can see what's available and feel the thrill of hunting for a good price." She explained.
Ranma rolled his eyes. "Shopping is what you do when you run out of what you already have, not just for the heck of it. The only thing about shopping that's fun is getting it over with."
"You are such a boy." Akane told him, this time it was a compliment though, not an insult. She even said it with a smile.
"A boy that's never been allowed to buy anything." He added.
That made Akane drop her smile. "Seriously? You've never bought anything for yourself."
"I've never bought anything for anybody. Pop's wallet was locked up tighter than a Yakuza's safe. Why do you think I had to fight Ucchan for okonomiyaki each morning? Because I couldn't afford it."
Akane's eyes widened. "Really? You've never even been able to buy yourself a candy bar on occasion?" 'No wonder he never turned away Shampoo's and Ukyo's food offerings in the dream. He was probably taught by his father to never refuse free food.'
Ranma shook his head. "Nope, Pop made every decision with money. And we didn't have a lot so if it wasn't necessary, or alcoholic, then it wasn't worth spending a yen on. So excuse me if I don't see shopping as something to do just because you can."
Akane carefully looped her arm around his, allowing her to lean on him comfortingly. "Sorry Ranma, sometimes I forget you didn't grow up in the same lifestyle I did. Sometimes I forget you were raised on the road and in the wild and all over Japan and China, not in a home going to school and being like the rest of us in school."
"Even with the dream?" He asked, somewhat in jest.
Akane slowly nodded, then tried to cheer herself up with an idea. "Well for once let me show you what you do when you can shop for things other than supplies. I'll treat you to one thing you want just for the fun of it, as long as it's affordable of course. You name it, but it can't be something you just need to replace. Come on, think of something."
Ranma looked up and put his free hand on his chin. "Anything you say?"
"Yep. Within reason of course."
"How about some ice cream?"
Akane was shocked and came close to laughing. "Out of all the things you could have requested, you chose ice cream?"
"You said anything and it sounds good." He justified.
"I didn't say no Ranma. You just surprised me." The young Tendo replied. "You sure that's what you want?" He nodded. "Alright, but eat it in your boy form. No using your girl form to weasel free treats out of weak-willed vendors."
"Hey if they're dumb enough to give away free food just because a girl smiles at them they deserve to have it come out of their pay." He replied.
"I guess you've got a point."
The young couple bought some ice cream cones, Akane got neopolitan while Ranma got chocolate chip, they ended up walking past a lot with a fence around it.
"You're Furinkan High students I presume." A girl's voice was heard on the other side of the fence.
Ranma and Akane bought looked towards the source, since they wondered if someone was referring to them, and immediately Akane realized what was going on.
"Oh great. It's her, Kuno's sister." She commented in disgust.
"How can you tell?" Ranma asked since they could only see her from behind. He saw a ponytailed girl wearing a beige school uniform, standing before three girls wearing yellow gym shirts and red gym shorts, brandishing gymnasts clubs and covered in bandages, but not as much as Akane remembered from the dream. This time they didn't look like mummies.
"Trust me, it's her, Kodachi Kuno. I remember this part of the dream very well. Just try not to let her see you Ranma, or she might fall in lust with you today." Akane warned, bothering Ranma greatly. He didn't know the girl, but he didn't need Akane's vision to know dating Kuno's sister had about as much appeal to him as being given an enema.
"We need not rush this." Kodachi warned the girls before her as she moved to sit on her knees, unzipping her handbag. "The gymnastics competition isn't until next week." From out of the bag she withdrew a dark purple ribbon and got back on her feet, and the look on her face made the rival gymnasts get defensive. "Is it not?"
"What arrogance." The gymnast at Kodachi's right insulted.
"How can you say that? Don't pretend you don't know." The one right in front of her added.
"You're the reason we can't be in the contest." The one at Kodachi's left claimed. "Ambushing us before the tournament."
'I wonder if I have to step in for them again.' Akane wondered. 'If so, can I actually do it this time?'
"Ambushing before the tournament?" Ranma repeated to himself.
Akane nodded. "Yeah, Kodachi's got a thing for weakening the competition before the official fight can start."
Ranma frowned. "She's gotta be a coward then. Sounds like she's afraid she can't win any other way."
"I've never seen her win a fight so you may be right." Akane added.
Back in the lot the group of girls had yet to notice they had an audience. All three girls from Ranma and Akane's class were ready to take down Kodachi, who looked just as ready to fight them off. "Now you'll know how we felt." They said before charging in.
"Haven't you learned yet?" Kodachi rhetorically asked as she swung her ribbon, moving it like a leather whip and to Ranma's surprise it appeared to have that type of impact on the three girls.
"Wait, it's just a ribbon. How can it hurt to be hit by that?" He asked.
"I don't know. Maybe it's like with Ryoga's headbands. Or maybe it's got wires woven into it somehow to give it a harsher impact." Akane guessed.
After making the girls drop their clubs Kodachi twirled the ribbon to create a cyclone of sorts all around her. It was actually impressive to see, but confusing as hell to explain. "If you haven't..." She stopped spinning it and started hitting the girls like some sort of sadist. "This! This! This! This! This will teach you!"
"Hold this." Ranma said as he held out his half-eaten ice cream cone. Akane took it by impulse before she could ask him why, but by then her fiancee had already done what she feared he was going to.
Ranma, as a man this time, caught the ribbon and stood up to Kodachi. "Cut it out. You've already won, beating them up more just makes you look like a child."
Kodachi was surprised that someone had managed to catch her favored weapon, but even more than that she was enchanted by the man that made himself known. Being part of an all girls school, and a boring one at that in her opinion, she didn't have many opportunities to find eligible men. So few she had practically given up on trying until she someday went to college, a co-ed one no matter what her brother said on the matter. But now an opportunity had presented itself to her, so she wasn't going to just give it up without a fight.
'What a man.' Blushing coyly and smiling as sweetly as she could, which didn't have the affect she wanted it to, she addressed the pigtailed boy. "Why hello there sir. My name is Kodachi the Black Rose Kuno. May I know your name?"
"My name's not important. Why were you bullying these girls?" He told her.
"Bullying? I did no such thing. We were in the middle of a spar."
Ranma did not look convinced. "Spars are when the other side can fight back. These girls couldn't yet you kept attacking them. That's bullying in my book."
'He's virtuous, that's good. But unfortunately he's supporting the wrong side.' Kodachi told herself. "My apologies. I got carried away in my excitement." She said as she went into her bag. "As a token of my apology, please accept these." She put a bouquet of black roses in Ranma's hands.
Akane's eyes went wide and her blood went cold at the sight of those trademark flowers. "RANMA DROP THEM!"
He did, but they burst out a cloud of gas before they hit the ground and unfortunately some of it was boosted by the wind enough to get in his face, as well as the three girls behind him. Ranma fell to his knees with his body twitching, the three girls on their sides reacting the same way.
"I put paralysis powder in those flowers." Kodachi explained, looking like it was normal for her to do this sort of thing.
"What were you thinking?" Ranma asked angrily while he lost more control over his body.
Seeing red, Akane dropped the ice cream and ripped the chain link fence open, drawing Kodachi's attention. "You bitch!" Akane screamed charging at the younger Kuno.
"How unsporting of you to ambush me like this." Kodachi noted as she swung her whip-like ribbon but Akane used the fence segment to block it.
"You're one to talk Miss Fight-in-all-fairness-before-the-fight!" Akane countered when she pulled out her mallet to try and hit her.
Kodachi jumped to avoid it and landed outside the lot. "I suppose I should withdraw for now. Pity, my time with my new man was cut short and I never got to learn his name. But I will find out." She said before jumping away, using the roofs to get around much like Ranma liked to do, laughing as she did so.
"Ugh, I hate that laugh. It sounds like the Wicked Witch of the West if she were a teenage dominatrix." Akane rued, then looked at her downed fiancee and classmates. Her first priority was Ranma of course and she knelt down beside him. "You okay Ranma?" He struggled to shake his head no and could only grunt at best. "Damn, I was afraid of this. But don't worry, I'm here to help you." 'No way I'm leaving him up on a cold windy roof again with a thin blanket I deliberately refused to anchor down for him.'
She stood up and looked over all four of Kodachi's victims. "Hold on guys, I'll go get help. I'll be right back." She hated to leave them, but she had no other way to help them. So she ran off to Tofu's, hoping he could help them move again if nothing else.
Luckily Tofu was able to help move the paralyzed people to his office, with Genma and Akane helping him. This was a struggle but it took less than a half hour to accomplish and no threats came to them during the time. Tofu managed to find some of Kodachi's discarded roses and used them to synthesize an antidote, which Akane decided to keep in mind for later on, assuming Kodachi didn't use different poisons each time.
"What was going on? You're all covered in bruises." Akane asked the three girls, playing dumb.
"Akane, we got beat up. All of us." They said together, looking determined. "The entire gymnastics team."
"Why?" Ranma asked.
"We were scheduled to fight St. Hebereke in a tournament, but their star contender ambushed us and made all of us too injured to participate. We were the least hurt but we were still declared unable to participate, so we tried to do to her what she did to us."
"But it didn't work, did it?" Akane asked sympathetically.
"We're out of options now Akane. We need a new contender or else this cheater wins by default. Please Akane, you're the only one we can turn to now."
Akane was silent for a moment. "You want me to fight in the tournament for you?"
The three girls nodded in unison, one of them clasping her hands together like she was pleading. "Please Akane? You're the only one we can count on."
"Why me? I have no training for this fighting style." Akane reminded them. "It's not that I don't want to help, but-."
"But you're the strongest female martial artist at school. You're the only one who even has a chance at learning martial arts rhythmic gymnastics before the match in two weeks."
Akane got an idea. "Actually, there is someone better."
Outside the clinic, a girl in a green leotard was listening in on the conversation, until she heard someone approach.
"Can I help you?" Genma asked.
Rather than answer, the girl just silently left, and Genma saw no reason to go after her.
"Welcome to Fox Cafe." Shampoo greeted the new arrivals. "Oh hi Akane."
"Hi Shampoo. Listen, I've got a favor to ask you."
"What that?"
"How would you like to fight off a girl that wants to keep Ranma all for herself and isn't afraid to hurt him or us to get him?" Akane asked.
Shampoo almost growled despite the fact she was in full human form right then. "Have to ask?"
Akane smiled. "One problem though, you have to fight her in an official match and use the next two weeks to train in the fighting style. But if either of us can do it, you can. Maybe Ranma, but let's save that for a last resort."
"What Shampoo need do?" The Chinese girl asked.
"Come by my place tonight and we'll instruct you."
That night Shampoo came by the Tendo dojo followed by Cologne, who wanted to see what was going on. They were led to the dojo by Ranma, where they saw Akane wearing her yellow gi holding gymnastics tools.
"Glad you could make it." Akane greeted before revealing the story behind Kodachi and the gymnastics competition. "Normally I'd do it myself but I'm not exactly suited for this fighting style and I thought Shampoo would be a better choice. Interested?"
"Is there more to this?" Cologne asked.
Akane nodded. "Yes, in my dream Kodachi gained interest in Ranma, and unfortunately this time around she still has. She's going to be a bit of a pain later on, not a big one but an annoying one. I'm hoping that if we do this right maybe we can stop her early."
"What went wrong the first time?" Ranma asked.
"I tripped and sprained my ankle so I needed you to substitute for me. You did surprisingly good, but Kodachi never seemed to run out of tricks. I think the only real reason you won was because you gave yourself a terrain advantage in the ring and forced her to become disqualified. Either way, she had promised to lose interest in you, but she basically ignored that and said she had a whole new interest in you instead."
"Sounds like the type of competitor who intends to take the prize whether or not they earned it." Cologne dryly stated.
Akane nodded. "Her family doesn't exactly know when to stop so I'm not holding my breath that she will behave any differently this time, but since I was able to trap Kuno and make him at least slow down I'm hoping we can do the same here."
"What I do?" Shampoo asked, pointing at herself.
"You fight instead of me." Akane told her. "With you being a student of furinkan there's no rule that says you can't, and unlike me you're more likely to be a natural at this and avoid hurting yourself in the process. And unlike Ranma you won't have to destroy the ring to defeat her and there should be no scandal if she uses water against you. We certainly don't want Ranma turning into a boy in front of everyone wearing this now do we?" She picked up a leotard at the word 'this'.
"Good point." Shampoo said. "So who train Shampoo?"
Akane smiled. "I remember enough to give you the basics, and if we need more instructions I'll call in the team for further help."
"Sounds good. Shampoo get ready."
Akane handed her the leotard. "I hope this fits."
Shampoo went behind a privacy screen to change and came out wearing a pink leotard with pinkish-white arms and shoulders. She frowned in frustration as she adjusted the top. "Chest too tight."
Akane sighed. "I was afraid of that. Can you make due for tonight until we can get a better one tomorrow?"
"Suppose have to. Where start?"
Akane tossed her some clubs which Shampoo easily caught. "We'll start off here and work our way up from there. Since they're a lot like your bonbori in shape this should be easy for you."
"Actually, those weapons you're thinking of are called chui." Cologne corrected.
"Really? I always thought they were bonbori." Akane said, then shrugged. "Either way the principle applies. Oh, can you help keep a look out while we're training? In my dream Kodachi attacked me before the match trying to keep me out of it so she might do the same to Shampoo if she finds out."
"I'm certain Shampoo can handle herself." The old woman said.
"Maybe, but Kodachi fights about as dirty as Mousse does, only more effectively, so it's better to be on the safe side."
"I'll believe that when I see it." Cologne stated, though she was taking the warning seriously.
"Alright, that's all for today." Kodachi told the other girls in the St. Hebereke gymnastics team after they had been working all evening. Many were tired and sweaty, and stretching their sore muscles to soothe them. Yet overall the mood was good, as everyone knew with Kodachi on their side they couldn't lose the upcoming match, default or otherwise.
"Excuse me Kodachi," The girl who had been spying outside Tofu's clinic only to be caught by Genma said as she approached the ponytailed girl. "It appears Furinkan has found a substitute to fight you."
"You don't say. Who is this substitute?"
"They were talking to someone named Akane. According to my sources, a girl named Akane Tendo is well known in that school as a tough fighter."
"Akane Tendo, hmm... that name rings a bell for some reason." Kodachi muttered, forgetting that this was the girl her brother was fixated on. Normally she didn't pay attention to that so she didn't have the name committed to memory. "Perhaps I ought to pay her a visit like the rest of the Furinkan girls."
With that thought she went to her locker, which was even labeled as 'Kodachi the Black Rose' in case someone on school grounds didn't know who she was. She opened it to check on her array of weapons that had no place in a gymnastics competition, ranging from kunais to cleavers, shuriken to halberds. Grabbing a purple cloak and one of the weapons, she looked ready for business.
"Fear not Miss Tendo, I'll be dealing with you very shortly."