The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the creation and possession of the brilliant Rumiko Takahashi. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi and her licensees (Shogakukan Inc., Kitty-Fuji TV, Viz Communications Inc.) No copyright infringement is intended.
Author Note: Story take over and touch up and relaunch Authorized by my friend and fellow Author:Kit'ari.
(I would like to say before anyone gets up and arms I was given permission to do this rebuild and re-launch, and the plan is to keep as much to the original as possible making minor edits and touch-ups.)
Some data was corrupted so I lost some content since this story had sat in my archive drive for the better part of eight years I will be making inquiries especially to the original author to get the missing data should she have kept a backup of any chapters past the 19th chapter. However if she did not, and I cannot find any backup copies of said content I will improvise with my own vision that will closely mirror Kit'ari's vision of what the story is and drive it to its conclusion.
Ranma 1/2: Torn
By Kit'ari
Chapter 1: Enough is Enough
Yuka glanced down at her watch and sighed. "They're late..." she trailed in a mere whisper.
An empty cup with soft pastel strips on it sat on the table in front of her. Akane and Sayuri were supposed to meet her at this coffee shop fifteen minutes ago. The Nerima station was just across the street. They had planned to go down into the Shibuya district. There was a new CD out by Teen Idol Hayakawa and she wanted to get there before they were all sold out.
Another sigh escaped her lips. She had picked a seat by the window so she could see them approach. A quick glance around the shop told her what she already knew: they weren't waiting at some other table. As she stood, she began going over all the things she wanted to say to them once she finally found them. Tossing her cup in the trash, she made her way to the exit. After one final look, she walked out the front door.
Outside, there wasn't any sign of them. With a frown, she started back the way she hoped they'd be coming.
"So help me, if they are sold out by the time we..." she began mumbling under her breath when she heard a scream. Like most students of Furinkan High, she got used to running toward a disturbance and thus went to investigate.
She reached across the alley and glanced down. Every muscle in her body froze as she immediately rethought that instinct. Just down the way, she could see three men perhaps a little older and a lot bigger than she was. They stood in a semi-circle around a girl she recognized as Shiori.
Shiori lived closer than Akane or Sayuri. The two had been friends until the end of junior high. They hadn't placed in the same high school; thus, they had seen less and less of each other as they made friends in their respective schools.
Yuka felt a huge lump form in her throat. Shiori was on her knees crying. Her clothes were mussed, but otherwise intact for the moment. Yuka looked on in disbelief. It felt more like she was watching some movie than her old friend. People just didn't really do this kind of stuff. Even if they did, it wouldn't happen out in broad daylight, and not to people she knew.
"Hey, Yuka! You seen Akane?" a soft feminine voice huffed in the rough mannerisms that announced to the world that Ranma-chan was here. The three older boys and Yuka turned to look at the wet red-headed pig-tailed source of that interruption.
Ranma-chan looked down the alley, trying to see what had so caught Yuka's attention. Her eyes flashed then narrowed, taking in the scene presented before her. Her body tensed enough that even Yuka's untrained eye noticed.
"Hey, look! It's that red-headed slut. An' she brought a friend," the closest of the three boys sneered. "Think they wanna party to?"
Ranma began marching down the alleyway. Yuka watched on, wide-eyed, unable to run or look away. "Stop right there, sister," another of the boys called. With a quick hand motion and a flash of metal, he pressed a knife against Shiori's neck.
Ranma stopped. Her eyes flicked to each of the men and the sobbing girl. Then she vanished.
Having seen, or almost seen, several of Ranma's schoolyard exhibitions, Yuka watched, not for Ranma's moves, but for their effects.
The boy holding the knife against her friend's throat snapped his arm back. His wrist twisted while the knife went flying wide. Pain ballooned in his face as he suddenly gained the power of uncontrolled flight. His landing was rough. The good meter he slid was guaranteed to leave a mark.
The second boy stumbled back. Colors and shapes could almost be seen dancing around his head. He blinked twice then his feet were knocked out from under him.
The third boy actually got to throw a single punch at the red blur that snaked through his comrades. With a yelped, his arm was dislocated. He bounced off of the second, returning them both to the ground.
"That's lesson one," the red-headed oni said as she stopped and knelt next to the girl. She gave a death glare to all three boys. "Do ya need another one?" she queried menacingly.
The boys took the hint and took off running down the street. "There you are Yuka, we've been looking all over for you," Akane called as she and Sayuri walked up to greet her.
As they looked down the alley, they saw Ranma-chan bent over a girl who was in obvious distress. It took less than half a second to reach the obvious conclusion.
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On the train bound for Shibuya station, Yuka vaguely listened to her friends talk about all the stores they planned to visit and the things they were looking to purchase. Yuka's thoughts of a certain CD had long since been forgotten.
She hadn't really felt like shopping after what she had witnessed. That she hadn't done anything but stand there and watch those guys threaten her one-time friend didn't help her mood any either. However, Shiori had insisted that she go with her friends.
Yuka wanted to talk to her, but they were no longer as close as they once had been. Something nagged at the back of Yuka's mind that there was more going on, but with Akane and Sayuri there she wouldn't have the chance to get Shiori to open up.
Yuka and Shiori had explained what had happened to Akane and Sayuri. Unfortunately, not before Akane had blown up at Ranma. Akane had been about to go look for Ranma to apologize, but Sayuri had talked her out of it.
'Not that, that was a hard thing to do,' Yuka thought sourly.
She didn't know what Sayuri had against Ranma. Increasingly, to Yuka's mind, she was always ready to remind Akane of all the insults and what-not every time they got together. Thinking about it, made Yuka wonder even more why her friend seemed to be really pushing for them to break up.
All this inevitably left Yuka in the position to either side against Sayuri and for Ranma or, like most times, just to remain silent. Everyone knew they cared for each other. 'If only they would admit it.' Of course, everyone in the school had an opinion as to whether they cared for each other enough to actually make it work or not.
And at the current pace of things, Yuka was definitely having her doubts.
"Why do you always call Ranma a pervert?" Yuka asked, breaking into a conversation she hadn't really been listening to.
"What do you mean? He's the biggest pervert at the school!" Sayuri responded heatedly.
"I asked Akane," Yuka replied, sending a quick glare at her friend.
"He just is," Akane answered. Her anger and some guilt returning at the reminder.
"What is the most perverted thing he's done?"
"He saw me naked in the bathroom," she almost replied, but that would be saying too much. Besides she did acknowledge that she was the one to walk in on him, just not to him. "I-I can't," she replied lamely.
"Sounds like a real pervert to me," Yuka commented with a grin.
"How about he turns into a girl!" Sayuri volunteered.
"Does that mean we're perverts because we're girls?"
"That's not the same thing! We are real girls."
"It isn't like he has any choice."
"Nobody gets splashed as much as he pretends." "Squirting drinking fountains and everybody and their dog throwing water out their windows at him is hardly something I think he can control."
"I still say he spends far more time as a girl then he has to."
Akane just quietly watched the match bounce back and forth between her friends. She had never noticed they both felt so strongly about Ranma before.
"It's not like he enjoys it."
"That's a laugh! I am sure he 'enjoys' it every night!"
"If he was my fiance, I would hope so!"
"Yuka!" Akane and Sayuri shouted, scandalized. All three blushed at the unvoiced implications. Akane had been teased enough by most of the other girls, once the curse became somewhat known.
"Unless Akane has caught him, though, I would doubt it," Yuka added into the uncomfortable pause.
"What? Because of all that BS about how much he hates the curse? That's probably all an act so no one would suspect."
"I would say it doesn't work since everyone in the school seems to think so anyway."
"I never accused him of being the brightest star."
Yuka smiled when Akane glared at Sayuri. Akane insulting Ranma was one thing. Going along with her insulting Ranma usually wasn't too bad. However, Sayuri had made this between them, Akane was just along right now. That put Sayuri in that other category: insulting the man she loved, even if she hadn't admitted it yet.
"Anyway, if he did, you don't think Nabiki would have sold that information yet? And probably have blackmailed the differences out of him." The three giggled at that.
"Okay, he's always trying to sneak into the girl's locker room," Sayuri came up with after about a minute's worth of silence.
"That's only to stop that old pervert. If it weren't for his help, I don't want to imagine how bad it would be here."
"Help? He's probably the one that puts the old pervert up to it."
"Come on. If he really was that much of a pervert, why would he need to sneak into the girl's locker room? He can safely look at his own body any time he wants." 'Oops', she thought observing from the darkened look on Akane's face, she had only doused the subject with fuel that kindled the fire that was a point for Sa-chan wanted to drive home.'
"Like any pervert would settle with just one."
"Then why try to sneak into a place where everybody knows he is really a boy. Why not sneak off to the other side of town or try some public baths or something." Yuka looked puzzled at Akane's expression. Did she just lose another point? she wondered to herself.
"Believe whatever you want to believe, but trust me he is a pervert," Sayuri said sat back, arms crossed and a frown across her face.
"What if we make a bet?" Yuka ventured after a moments thought.
"What kind of bet?" Sayuri inquired.
"What if we put him in a situation we can control, where he has every opportunity to prove himself?"
"Sounds interesting. What do you have in mind?" The three girls continued on their way. Thoughts of shopping replaced by the Ranma planning sessions that had become ever so popular ever since he first arrived.
I will be launching the other chapters as I finish editing them. -Zeltronica
