Gods and Devils and Wild Horses, Oh My

by Vimesenthusiast

Ranma leaves after the events with Saffron to find a cure. Thinking he might have he heads to Rome and instead winds up adopting Asia, and getting introduced to the world of the Threeway War. Being his usual self Ranma befriends Asia and fights off the Fallen. Ranma and a few new friends will enter this conflict and make their mark. Paring: Ranma/Rias/Saeko-hotd/Gabriel

4. Getting To Know You

I don't own the bouncing beauties or Ranma. Damn it.

Here is chapter 4 of a story that may, or may not depending, become my guilty pleasure. I like guilty pleasures, and Highschool DxD is chuck full of them. However, I'm still debating going down that road, or just go for more of a comedy violence sort of thing rather than a romance/lemony goodness/violence thing.

Oh, and please do remember this story doesn't have a beta reader, so there will no doubt be DNS related issues.

Chapter 4 Getting To Know You

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"Interesting." said Sona Sitri, pushing her glasses back up her nose as she stared across student president's desk at her friend/rival Rias Gremory. "Does she really look like you that much? Ranma's curse form I mean."

"Not if you're close enough," Rias said rather irritated as the question brought to mind the prank Ranma had played on her. "She isn't as big as me in the chest and her hair isn't quite the color of mine, nor as long. Still, it's easy to see how Ranma could start up those rumors about me." The redhead continued to scowl at that, but thanks to her reputation in school those rumors hadn't had much staying power. She hadn't heard any of them when school let out or during last period. Hopefully even the Perverted Trio will have forgotten them by tomorrow.

Sona shook her head ruefully. "While I like the idea of a man knowing a woman's pain, I've never heard of a curse that can do that. A full body change like that, triggered by an exterior element coming into contact with his skin? And you say you felt only a slight whisper of magic? That kind of thing would take quite a bit of power by any means I know of. We definitely have to look into this Jusenkyou place. And I wish to talk to Mr. Saotome personally." Sona's eyes glinted dangerously behind her glasses. "There are rumors floating around that he jumped out of a third story window during the lunch break."

"Is that actually against the school rules or just against common sense?" Rias asked with a laugh, smirking at her friend. "I also have to tell you that he has basically said he'll simply refuse to try and act normal in public."

"We'll see about that." Sona said grimly. "At least Busujima-san seems a little more normal. Pity they both turned us down, but what can you do?" Besides, I already have another recruit to target, one who will certainly be more pliable than Saotome at least.

"I'm not giving up just yet." Rias replied shaking her head. "First, I think we need to look up this Nerima place, and check the demon database, see what it has about Jusenkyou. I know I've heard of that name before."

Sona frowned, turning to her desktop computer. Accessing the Under-web she logged into her family's online search engine. The she punched in a few queries, and frowned again. "I think I've heard that name before too, but my search engine isn't picking up anything. I'll send a message to my father, will you do the same? If we both heard the name it's probably from a history of some kind. And not to put too fine a point on it, I think our parents would be a better bet for that than either of our older siblings."

"If for very different reasons," Rias quipped, causing Sona to chuckle darkly before going. "I'll do that about Jusenkyou, but I also want to find more about this Nerima place. I find it bizarre that neither of us have ever heard about Ranma before, since he's apparently rather well known in martial arts circles, or his curse. Something the human government is doing to keep knowledge of it from spreading? I'll hack into their systems, see what I can find if you follow up on the demonic side of things?"

After a moment, Sona nodded, and Rias left the student Council room. Once her frenemy was gone, Sona turned to her queen, looking up into the other girl's hecto-chromatic guys. "You were awfully quiet during that, something bothering you?"

"I don't know," Tsubaki answered, pursing her lips and thought. "Something about the name Saotome and Ranma's looks stirs up my memory. As much as I don't like the idea after how they treated me, I think I need to write to my family about it. If that's all right I mean? Maybe they have something about him. It just feels as if I've met him before."

Sona blinked at that. Tsubaki came from an ancient family of exorcists, but her power was not like anything the rest of the family had, attracting such spirits rather than sending them on. They had responded to this by ostracizing her within the family, and Sona often felt baleful thoughts towards the stupid assholes behind that idea.

"Saotome must really be bothering you if you wish to actually contact your family." She observed, to which Tsubaki shrugged, muttering about a mystery being like a itch you couldn't scratch. Sona shrugged. "If you wish, that's fine by me. Remind me tomorrow to call him to the Student Council room though, we can't let him flout the rules like he's been doing. And I'm not talking about just the dress code either but the rules of physics and common sense." Her vice president chuckled, but nodded and the two returned to their work.

OOOOOOO

The next day rather than carrying Asia to school once more Ranma woke up early to go check in at the police precinct, the inspector that was looking into the issue of the missing persons in the district wanted to talk to him about his abilities.

"I wish we didn't have to do this my son." Ranma looked up from where he was pulling on his shoes to find his mother standing in the kitchen doorway, shaking her head at him.

Nodoka wasn't happy about the fact that Ranma was still working. For one, she wanted him to concentrate on her studies and finish high school. For another, she didn't feel right about relying on her son to raise money for the house and the furniture they wished to add to it.

"We've been over this mom." Ranma said standing back up from where he had pulled on his shoes smiling at her faintly. "You're not going to get a job easy like Kasumi because you've been out of the workforce for so long. Kasumi, well she's Kasumi, I don't think anyone could have said no to her anyway. Besides, it ain't like I'm a normal beat cop or anythin', I'm there ta help solve issues the normal police can't."

Nodoka still pouted, looking at him with her head cocked to one side and her eyes big and sorrowful. Ranma learned right then that the 'puppy dog eyes' attack had nothing on the 'sad mother' attack. He stammered a little as he responded. "A, as soon as you h-have a job, I'll tell the police that I can't work patrols anymore, they'll just have to call me in for any trouble that needs my skills."

At that Nodoka smiled brightly, and patted him on the cheek. "Such a good boy." she cooed. Realizing he'd been had Ranma rolled his eyes, but hugged her anyway before leaving.

It turned out that the inspector had found two more missing persons that hadn't been seen at all since, both of them decent looking men in their early twenties. Again there was no history of running away, no history of suicidal tendencies or anything really that could make them run away. The man looked at Ranma as he went over the map, trying to see a pattern in the disappearances, but if there was one it eluded him.

"It's getting to the point where it should have already leaked out to the media, not that I'm complaining mind you." The man said. "It just seems odd to me that it hasn't. And the fact none of them have shown up at all, not even their bodies is bothering the hell out of me and mine. You don't have any idea what it could be?"

"Plenty of ideas, most of 'em with nothing to back 'em up." Ranma turned away from the map, shrugging his shoulders. "I know monsters like vamps who'd drain their victims of their blood, but most of those'd go for younger victims, and only one gender. I know some people who can drain ki from people via certain emotions, but again none of 'em would go for both guys and gals. Could be an oni or a demon, but I don't know."

The man scowled angrily, not liking how blasé Ranma was about the supernatural existing, but knowing he had reason to be. "Anyway, I'd just like you to make certain there isn't something out there in the city that could be the cause of this. I'd like you to start doing a run through of the city every other day with your ki sight active. I… I don't need to know everything unusual you find, but if you think it could shed some light on this, I expect you to come forward with that information."

Nothing happened on Ranma's patrol that morning, despite blinking his ki sight on and off occasionally. He scared a few would-be bullies, stopped what looked like a dine and dash, which was ironic really considering the prank he had pulled on Rias the day before and how often he and his father had done the same thing, but that was all. All the unusual auras in the area at the moment were at Kuoh.

After clocking out Ranma arrived at school during the lunch period, moving to the same tree he had used last time. Leaping up into its branches, he pulled out the small lunchbox that Kasumi had made for him. No sooner had Ranma laid back when he felt a presence above him, and he looked up warily to see Koneko there.

"Good afternoon sempai." She said in her quiet voice, slinking down from the branch she had been sitting on to be near him.

Ranma gulped nervously, once again getting the feeling of being near a cat from the white haired girl. "H-hi Koneko, you, you want something to eat?" He asked holding out a small bar of homemade chocolate from Kasumi.

One second the bar was in his hand the next he was in Koneko's, and she was raising it to chomp on. She seemed to go all stiff for a moment, then nibbled on it quickly like a mouse with a treat, everything but her face radiating happiness.

"Ranma-nii!" said Asia from below, her voice slightly strained for some reason but she was smiling up at him. "Do you always have to eat lunch up there? Don't you like eating lunch with us?"

She pouted, turning the puppy dog eyes on him, and despite the attack of his mother that morning Ranma still didn't have any immunity to it. He jumped down, then began to almost frantically reassure her that he liked to eat lunch with her, patting her on the head desperately trying to stop her from continuing to look at him like that. After a moment Asia smiled brightly then took one of his arms and pulled him down to sit beside her.

Ranma didn't notice the fact that she gave Koneko the evil eye behind his back, or that Koneko growled again. He shivered at that sound looking around wildly but it had been so low he couldn't find where it came from. Looking around he also noticed someone was missing. "Where's Saeko-chan?"

"She said she might be talking with some of her new friends during lunch today, that's all I know." Asia shrugged

Ranma nodded then flinched as Koneko landed in front of them, scooting forward slightly to be near the Sunbeam Boy. Asia scowled but before she could say anything a voice from behind them spoke up. "May I join you?" They all turned to see Rias standing there, a bento held in one hand.

"Sure Rias-chan." he said gesturing to her to sit on his other side. "Yer not gonna try and chase me again are you? I'd hate to make you look bad again…" he teased.

"No I've gotten that out of my system I think, so long as you have gotten the need to prank me out of yours?" Rias said, though inwardly she scowled at the 'try' part of that question. No matter how accurate, it was irritating to realize Ranma the human had been outperforming her the noble demon in their little game of tag.

Ranma laughed, easily ignoring the mutters and glares from all around them as the two of them started to talk. They talked mostly about what to do in the city with Asia and her friends joining in, ecstatic to have this opportunity to talk to one of the academy's Great Ladies. Rias also took the opportunity to speak about the paranormal investigation club, which Asia thought sounded interesting. Ranma however laughed. "I deal with enough paranormal stuff as it is. I'd hate ta think what'd happen if I actively went out lookin' fer that kind of thing. Heh, most of it'll find me whatever I do. And that ain't even mentionin' my job for the police."

"Oh, care to give us some examples?" Rias asked archly.

Despite knowing the devil gal was fishing for information, Ranma saw no reason not to answer her question. "Hmm…there was the wishin' sword, the combat douji that moved on it's own, the super-soba, though that ya could blame on Happosai… Well I guess the weirdest ones, note I said weird, not life threatenin', just flat out bizarre, revolved around the time when this weird curio shop was open in Nerima. There was a lot of junk in that store, and one of it was this phoenix egg…"

Halfway through that tale, Rias and Asia were forced to lean against one another to remain upright as they laughed. Even Koneko's lips were twitching in her version of a chuckle. Asia's friends merely thought Ranma was making up stories for them all, but even so, they laughed along as Ranma described how the fat phoenix refused to leave Kuno's head.

So the lunch passed uneventfully, despite the growing anger or fascination the student body felt at the friendship between the admittedly handsome yet rather boorish martial artist with the utterly bizarre skill set, and one of the royal queens of the school. Everyone had an opinion about it, ranging from the normal 'opposites attract' to Ranma blackmailing Rias somehow, to her trying to 'tame' him. Those were among the girls, the male students didn't care, they were too envious to look for real reasons for their friendship, they just wanted to wreck it. But all of them were too terrified of Ranma's physical skills to try anything.

OOOOOOO

"And that concludes the paperwork for you to take over as captain of the kendo club," Sona said stacking the papers together on one side of her desk. "Are you certain I can't interest you in joining the Student Council? I assure you it won't be that much more of a burden on your time."

Saeko laughed. 'Ranma warned me that you and Rias-san are looking to recruit us into your peerages Sitori-san. I'm sorry, but I value my humanity, becoming a devil would be akin to cheating."

The black-haired girl sighed, but nodded and waved the other girl off. It was a pity. Saeko wasn't nearly as strong as Ranma seemed to be at this moment, but she had potential to become much stronger, and she had combat instincts that were beyond any of Sona current peerage members despite the training they had all done since being turned. Still, Saji is a good fall back option.

Akeno had waited by the doorway from where she had walked Saeko to the Student Council room. "Congratulations I suppose, but your new duties are going to include a few oddities you know?" she said as her new friend rejoined her. "For one, you're going to have to be on guard for the Perverted Trio every time you start change. Hmmm… I wonder how much pain you would have to cause them to finally get those three to realize that some things aren't worth it?"

She looked sideways at Saeko, trying to gouge her reaction to that. Akeno saw no hint that Saeko was thinking along the lines that she was herself, of whips and other implements of pain used on the trio of perverts that was the bane of every female student they came across. Really, it's a wonder they even got into Kuoh at all, and that wouldn't have happened for at least two of them if Rias-sama hadn't padded their way.

Saeko only smiled slightly. "I think I'll let that up to Ranma, he's much more inventive when it comes to punishments than I am. I would simply beat them up with my bokken as the rest of the girls have done. In any event, they're relatively harmless in comparison to one or two perverts I've dealt with in the past. So long as they don't actually try anything, like taking pictures or stealing our panties or what have you, I won't hurt them… permanently."

"But that leaves such a wide range of things to do to them?" Akeno murmured, as if she was discussing a science project. Her eyes however were lighting up with glee at the thought.

Unbeknownst to Akeno, Saeko was a past master at reading people in or out of combat, since it was a main tenant of her family's school. She could sense that her acquaintance was becoming aroused by the idea of hurting someone, which bothered her slightly, but not a lot. She had heard of sadists before, though Akeno was the first Saeko had actually met. "If I thought they could actually make me sweat a little, I might force them to dress up in kendo outfits and fight every time I find them, but I doubt it would be anything more than a massacre."

"Yes, that's exhibition you and Ranma-san put on was most impressive. Will that become a regular occurrence?" Akeno said, abruptly changing the subject.

"I can hope so." Saeko said, her eyes flaring with eagerness and her sword hand twitching slightly. Seeing that, Akeno sighed. It seemed as if Saeko was indeed just a combat junkie rather than the sadist. It would've been nice to have someone else around to talk to about certain topics, but it would appear that was not to be.

OOOOOOO

After school that day, Ranma had to go around picking up the assignments from the classes he had missed from the morning sessions. As he was finishing up that irritating task and just about to make a bid for freedom, he was addressed by a formal female voice. "Saotome-san?"

He turned, nodding his head to the girl who had walked up behind him. "The student Council President would like to talk to you. If you could follow me please?"

Ranma's eyebrows went up, but he shrugged and followed the girl. He remembered what Rias said about Sona, and wondered if the girl is going to try and recruit him. Or is this about me trying to conform or something?

Soon enough the two of them reached a closed door on the fourth floor of the main school building marked with a small, tasteful plaque that stated 'Student Council'. At the girl's knock another girl's voice responded from inside, its tone cool and detached. "Come in."

Inside were five girls, four of whom were standing up lined up against the walls. A fifth sat behind a desk at the far end of the small room. She had black hair cut short to her ears and a pair of glasses glinting in the light from the window behind her. Her hands were steepled in front of her as she stared at him from above them. Since she was sitting down Ranma couldn't tell anything about her figure or size, nor did he particularly care to.

He nodded to them all then said, "Yer messenger girl said ya wanted to speak to me?"

Many of the girls twitched at his tone of voice, which seemed rather insolent, especially since he didn't address Sona as buchou. But it was just Ranma's normal mode of speech, no worse of better than normal. If they thought that was bad they should've heard me before Kasumi started ta try an' change how I talk.

Sona however took it in stride having had a good read on Ranma's attitude before this. "I've heard from Rias that you know about the supernatural and about us being devils, so I'll simply say that I wish I could convince you to join my peerage. That's not the main reason I called you here however. Despite what you might think, devils and those who know of the supernatural do not make up the majority of our classmates. Stop breaking the laws of physics in front of them please. And you will find that the school store is still open for another forty minutes. Go get yourself a uniform. We have a dress code here."

"Yeah I've seen those uniforms, they're not me, sorry." Ranma said, shaking his head. "My last school had a dress code too, and if a principle that liked ta throw exploding pineapples and could make all the teachers obey his every whim couldn't get me ta wear one, you're not going to have any luck either."

He smirked, every bone in his body screaming unconcern but he was tensed and ready for action. Ranma wanted to see how this girl would react to someone who didn't respect her position, and who didn't conform to her rules. Better to get her used to it now he thought to himself. Her mind might break otherwise if a few of my old rivals show up.

Sona's fingers twitched where they were steepled in front of her, and Ranma could almost see one of her eyebrow twitching as well behind her glasses. "I see..." she said her teeth obviously clenched though he couldn't see them because hands were in the way. "And my request that you try to stop breaking the minds of our fellow classmates?"

Ranma shook his head at that as well. "Sorry, but well here let's just say I'll be bringing a lot of baggage eventually. I've got rivals and other people that really don't care about your idea of normal," he said holding up his fingers and making quote signs in the air at the word 'normal'. "If you guys don't get used ta me breaking the laws of physics and common sense, what'll ya do when one of my rivals comes smashing through the walls to get at me?"

"Is that likely to happen?" said the vice-president before Sona could speak, her voice incredulous.

"Oh yeah, happened all the time at my old school. Well I say 'school' Furinkan was more a battleground than a school really. I think we'd have something like two hours a day of classes, before class was interrupted by one reason or another. "

Not even talking to him for five minutes and I can already feel a headache coming on, Sona thought, shaking her head. I really have to find something about this Nerima place, but everything on it in Demon-web is under Satan's seal. That was all Sona had discovered last night that everything about the 'Nerima special district' as it was called, was inaccessible through normal daemonic channels. Even being the sister of a Maou hadn't given her access. Sona would have to wait for Rias to break into the Japanese government's files.

"Will you at least wear a shirt or the pants, please?" she asked, still staring at him through her light-tinted glasses. "Something that conforms to the dress code. I can't let you flout the dress code without opening the door to other people doing the same, regardless of anything else."

"Since you asked rather than demanded this time, I'll look into it I guess." Ranma said nodding his head. "One or the other might be okay."

"You're too kind." Sona drawled irritably. "Now get out of here."

Ranma grinned then turned to leave. At the doorway he turned pointing at her. "Oh, and ya might want to work on yer 'menacing pose' a little. I've watched Neon Genesis Evangelion and I gotta say that Ikari guy does that pose a lot better than you do right now."

With that Ranma ducked out, barely missing getting hit by the stapler that Sona had on her desk as it smacked into the door right behind him. All around Sona the girls were looking at her in shock at how quickly she had lost her temper. She ground her teeth irritably, wondering how the hell he knew she had used Gendo as her inspiration for that pose. Damnit! And to say I can't do it right on top of all his other insolence!

It took Sona a few moments to regain control of herself and she sat back down, handling the paperwork on her desk as she tried to get over her irritation. "That," she said after moment. "Is one of the most irritating human beings I've ever met, I'd rate him a seven on the Serafall scale."

Tsubaki shook her head. "If he really does have rivals along, he might not be the last to, um score so high, my king."

"Don't remind me." Sona said removing her glasses for a moment to rub at her nose irritably.

OOOOOOO

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Unfortunately, Saeko had to work out with the rest of the kendo club that day, so they didn't get to spar. Instead Ranma walked Asia home after having bought a pair of pants from the school store. The pants were okay, but he would fight tooth and nail to keep his silk shirts.

The next day it rained all morning, and Ranma was rather irritably certain that if she tried to change back into her male form that it would rain the rest of the day as well. Worse, she wasn't working for the police that morning, so had no excuse her mother would accept to get out of going to school.

"I would've thought I'd been in female form enough lately," Ranma muttered to herself as she jumped over the school's outer wall. Landing, she casually wrung out the bottom of her shirt, not noticing it how several boys nearby stared as this revealed her toned, flat stomach, as well as emphasizing her bust.

Nearby Rias laughed, catching Ranma's attention and making her turn to the other redhead. "My God you do really look like me don't you?" she murmured, moving to walk beside her fellow redhead. "Especially when your hair's wet, it makes it darker. But is there any reason why you're not changing back?" Rias asked in a low voice, having walked up to the other redhead and linking arms with her. Behind her Akeno nodded to Saeko, who had landed a second after Ranma and Asia.

"The rain." Ranma said pointing up in the sky, trying to fight back a blush at the other redheads chest pressed into her side. How the hell can breasts affect me for Buddha's sake, I have a pair myself half the damn time! Then again, I suppose it's better than the alternative. "For some reason I know that if I try ta transform back it'll start raining again. Remember, I told ya about there bein' a water attraction part of the curse. Sides, it's not as if staying in this form is a big hardship 'cept fer…."

They both looked over to where the Perverted Trio were shouting at the top of their lungs is to get its downsides. "Oh my God there's two of them!" Issei finally shouted. He was the first of the crowd of students to break out of their shock at seeing two stacked redheads, one of whom had arrived at school like the new boy Ranma did. "Astonishing, amazing look at how they only bounce a little, they're so firm! I would love to sink my fingers into them! Mahotama, what are her numbers!"

"B32-W20-H33!" Mahotama said, his voice a mere gurgle as the blood from his nose flowed down his face.

"Damn she's hot, pity she isn't a loli like Asia-chan. Hi Asia-chan, would you like some candy?" Matsuda, the third of the Pervert Trio, bellowed, causing Asia to blanch and duck behind Ranma's waist. "Oh, she's so innocent that adds to the moe level!"

"Oh come on, you can't say that seeing those two redheads next to one another doesn't give you ideas. Look at their amazing oppai pressing against one another, so hoaiiiiii!"

Issei's response to his big-eared friend's words was interrupted by the feeling of being propelled backwards and a certain weightlessness, then pain as his back slammed into the tree behind him. Nearby two other trees were now adorned by a pervert, and wondering what they had done to deserve this. They were each stuck there by a thrown piece of wood that had slammed into and through their uniform's slacks right below their underarms. The impact of them hitting had carried the trio backwards to slam into the trees, where the sticks imbedded themselves.

Ranma had grabbed those stick from the trees the other day when Rias was chasing him. He had thought they'd make good makeshift weapons, but this was a far better use. He/she growled now, stalking forward like she was wishful to tear them all to pieces but stopped as Asia touched her hand. After a moment Ranma simply growled again then moved off, shouting over her shoulder. "The next time I'll aim a lot lower and closer ta yer center of gravity, bloody pervs."

With the faintly smiling Rias, following Ranma moved towards the school, asking her fellow redhead. "Is your waist really that size?"

"I don't know, maybe? I've never even looked at my sizes, I just, you know if somethin' fits, it fits." Ranma shrugged.

"Oh dear." said Akeno laughing while covering her mouth with one hand, her eyes showing a slight bit intrigue at his dealing with the perverts. "Are you a tomboy then? With a body like that, that's criminal."

"Well I'm not about to be a girly-girl, now am I?" Ranma asked, looking at the girl who according to rumor was the Yamato Nadeshiko of the school, wondering at the weird aura he could see emanating from her.

On Ranma's other side Saeko laughed, gently taking Asia's hand to stop her from going over to the perverts to try and help them. "Sorry Asia-chan, but the point of punishment is to make certain the person punished has learned their lesson. If you help them, what will they learn?"

Asia pouted, not liking to see anyone injured, but allowed herself to be pulled away by Saeko. The two of them followed Ranma into the school along with their new friends. Slowly the rest of the student body followed, murmuring about what they had seen.

A moment later the three perverts were left totally alone, still stuck to their tress, held about two feet off the ground by the sticks under their armpits. Issei gulped, trying to pull the sticks out of the tree and then giving up, the wood not having even budged. He sighed looking around at his two fellows. "Um, so… any idea how we get down?"

OOOOOOOO

"Yo, I'm Ranma's sister Ranko, he's busy with police stuff all day today so our mom made me come in his place fer the day. I don't normally go ta school 'cause we can't pay fer both of us going at the same time yet. I'm as good a martial artist as he is, I ain't interested in datin' or boys or junk like that, and anyone who flirts with me will learn a whole new meaning for the phrase 'world of pain'." Ranma said, standing in front of the classroom.

He knew his secret would come out eventually, but right now he didn't want to deal with the crap his curse would cause from the student body. Besides, he knew most wouldn't believe the magic unless they saw it, and he wasn't about to put himself on display like that for so many strangers. He figured so long as he didn't use his female form for anything perverted, he could get away with this for today.

"Um, well it is rather unusual, but you may take your brother's seat for the day I suppose. I expect however that you will at least try to pay attention more than your brother." The teacher said, staring at the short and very busty redhead sternly.

"Don't know why'd ya think that." 'Ranko' replied, moving quickly through the desks, one hand flashing out to smack with punishing force a boy's hand that was trying to 'accidentally' rub the side of her thigh as she went. Moments later while Algebra happened to other people, 'Ranko' fell asleep.

OOOOOOO

Astonishingly Ranma's act of aggression seems to have taken the wind out of the sails of the perverted trio for the day so the kendo club didn't have any trouble changing. Saeko exited the training room to find Ranma still in his female form waiting for her. "Since yer captain and all now, does that mean we can spare here more often?"

Saeko grinned, dropped her bag and without another word charged the redhead. That startled some exclamations of shock from the other kendo girls, but seeing Ranma move and dance around like the male Ranma had done two days before, they subsided and simply stood around watching, commenting on one move or another.

Fighting Ranma in female form was somewhat tougher for Saeko in one way, though easier in several others. Ranma wasn't quite as strong, nor did he have quite as much reach in this form as a his male form and reading the female body was actually much easier for Saeko considering that the vast majority of her friends had been female giving him a wider base to study. That made her able to read Ranma's moves easier, but that was not so much help if she couldn't keep up with her/him.

In his female form Ranma was simply faster, almost moving as fast normally as Ranma did when he really tried in his male form. Of course Ranma had done that deliberately, b to be faster in one form and stronger in the other. It helped him dozens of times in his fights, always serving to throw off his opponents when he suddenly changed from one to another.

Thus Saeko had a great deal of trouble fighting Ranma in this form. However, by the end of the training session Saeko could tell that her moves were crisper, there was less wasted motion, and she was learning to anticipate her opponent's moves even better than before, all of which added to a slight but marked increase in speed. That was well worth the bruises.

"Good bout Saeko!" Ranma said pulling the other girl into a hug. Saeko returned it, her body still aroused from the fight and enjoying the feel of the other girl's body against her own. Normally she wouldn't be one for public displays of affection, but she realized this could be another plus from having a boyfriend who had a female form. Girls could hug in public like this, and few people would complain or think it improper. So long as we tone it down a little more than we are now, she thought to herself amused, as their breasts squished against one another and her hands rested at the small of the smaller girl's back.

The two of them spent a few moments going over the bout, with Ranma showing Saeko some katas that Saeko hadn't been able to get when he was in his male form. The female body just moved slightly differently than the male one. This was most true in the sense of balance, and Ranma was so used to his form by this point that he didn't realize the difference.

As Ranma was talking to Saeko, Kiba walked into the gym dressed in exercise clothing. Smiling, he waved politely at the kendo girls and the small audience that had gathered during Ranma and Saeko's bout but continued moving towards Ranma and Saeko even as some of the audience began to exclaim about how good he looked. "Oh my God, it's Kiba-kun he looks so good regardless of what he's wearing!"

"EEH, its is the Prince, and he's wearing exercise shorts. He normally looks so dashing, but this is good too!"

"You don't suppose easier to get all sweaty do you, soooo Hot!"

"Wait you don't think he and Ranko-chan are going to fight? Don't do it Kiba! It would be a travesty to injure that face! Let alone that hot body!"

"Yeah, especially when it's only Ranma's sister, not Ranma himself." Many of the other girls turned to the one said that and shrugged her shoulders. "Well come on, two guys facing one another in the martial arts match… possibly grappling with one another while getting all sweaty, what's not to like?"

Several of the girls paused for a moment as if considering that, and then little drops of blood began to appear from one or two of their noses.

"I think that would actually be interesting, and not just because it would be hot." said one of the kendo girls, murmuring to Murayama. "You think he has a chance?"

"Against Busujima-taicho possibly." The ex-captain replied. "Against Ranma-san I'm getting the impression that he's on a whole other level, almost inhuman. While Kiba-kun is extremely good, I don't think he's good enough to him face Ranma or his sister."

As a devil Kiba had advanced senses, which included hearing well above human norm. This was sometimes, well most of the time really given what his fan club sometimes said when they thought they were out of his hearing, a detriment. This time his ears picked up Murayama's opinion of his chances against the newcomer, and for once Kiba felt his pride pricked. After all, he wasn't exactly human himself was he? For someone to think that he didn't have a chance against a normal human, even one who had been able to keep up with his king in a game of tag was somewhat insulting. Especially since Buchou seems to agree with that considering her warnings on the matter.

Ranma shook her head, murmuring to Saeko. "You know, I wish the fact that girls could also be perverts came as a surprise ta me, but given some of the tricks Shampoo tried to play it really doesn't." While Saeko laughed aloud the redhead nodded cordially to the blonde boy as he walked up to them. "I don't think we've been introduced, I guess from the shouts ye're this Prince of the Academy I've heard about?" I really hope he isn't going to hit on me or anything…

"That is an appellation that the girls have given me, though I don't believe I'm worthy of it." Kiba said smiling politely. "But I am a bit of a swordsman, I often help out with the kendo club, and I was wondering if you would like a little bit of the match, Saotome-san? You seem to be as good as your brother, and I was hoping to challenge him at some point. But I can understand if you think feel you aren't up to it today, considering you've already exercised with Busujima-san."

Though his tone and manner was polite, something in Kiba's words came off as a little condescending, and Ranma's eyebrows twitched. "Oh, don't worry 'bout little old me, I'm still good to go." Her knuckles cracked a bit as she flexed her hands. "Are we gonna have a kendo match, or are we going to have a real match?"

"Now wait a moment." Saeko said looking at the both of them. "While I am fine with Ranko-chan practicing against me as I know how good we both are I don't know the same about you Yuuto-san. As the captain of the kendo team I must insist if you're going to use a bokken in this gym that you also wear protective gear."

"And will Ranma do the same?" Kiba asked, his pride once more slightly pricked.

Ranma and Saeko looked up at one another, and Ranma shrugged. "I suppose I could if it would make you feel better." Ranma said.

Now it was Kiba's eyebrows turn to twitch at Ranma's tone. The words were nothing special, but the redheaded girl put just a little bit of condescension into the tone, just enough for Kiba to hear it. "I think that would be a very good idea, as that way I wouldn't feel obligated to hold back."

Ranma watched as the blonde move off a bland smile, and a smirk that had driven his/her rivals crazy in Nerima appeared on Ranma's face. She turned to Saeko, nudging her in the side. "I think he's another one of the devils here, which means he should be able ta take some punishment. I wonder if he's part o' the class president's or Rias' chess set?"

"The phrase is 'peerage' Ranma." Saeko said drolly. "But if that is the case, I wonder which piece he would be?"

"Would it matter?" Ranma asked shrugging her shoulders. Asia hadn't known the differences between the different pieces in a demon's peerage, and Ranma hadn't asked Rias about that yet so had only the vague idea of what the pieces meant. And the demons he had fought back in Nerima hadn't lasted long enough for him to get a good idea of their piece-given abilities.

With that Ranma moved over to the storage locker as well, picking out a kendo-style chest plate for herself. She winced a little as she put it on, not used to wearing it and not knowing, well, how to tuck her chest in really. Saeko came over to help her, shaking her head. "We might need to practice this at home 'Ranko', the last few years have been rather kind to you and you need to make adjustments beyond refining your stance and balance."

"It's not like I've ever worn armor before, that kinda thing only slows me down most o' the time." Ranma muttered flushing as Saeko's fingers tucked the sides of her breasts in all on the sides and then tightened the synch of the chest protector. Damn things are too sensitive!

After a moment she turned back, refusing the helmet saying it only included her vision moving to stand across from Kiba, who had done the same. Saeko moved to take the referee position, raising her hand. "All right, I want a good, clean match. This means nothing below the belt for either of you, and nothing towards the eyeballs or throat either. "Other than that, I suppose anything goes." She smirked at Ranma who smirked back then looked over at Kiba who simply nodded. "Begin."

The two stood still a moment sizing one another up, with Ranma in his normal lackadaisical stance giving no hint as to his intentions or readiness. Kiba stood in a traditional kendo stance, sword held out in front of him arms extended in both hands while he scrutinized his opponent.

After a moment he realized that Ranma wasn't going to make the first move, and he quickly stepped forward, one step, two-steps, then a straight thrust. Kiba moved so fast and so precisely that it drew a murmur of appreciation from the kendo team.

But Ranma simply dodged to one side, his smirk still on his face. Kiba continued to attack however executing a series of strikes, mostly thrusts with two controlled slashes at Ranma's side mixed in while he tried to get a handle on Ranma's speed.

Ranma matched her opponent's speed, dodging mostly for now, only striking her opponent's wooden sword with her hands occasionally. Damn good speed, she thought to herself. Way above most of my opponents back in Nerima. Not up to the standard of Ryu or Konatsu but a little above Shampoo's. His skills and form are good too, not a lot of tells, each blow is controlled, very nice technique. Let's see how he does on the defensive.

As Kiba executed another slash towards Ranma's face, Ranma blocked it instead of dodging for once. Then he moved in getting in under Kiba's reach, his hands flashing out.

Kiba dodged most of them, only getting clipped in the side by one before he brought his sword back to help guard, blocking and now riposting as he could. Amazing speed Kiba thought then smirked internally. For someone who is still human anyway. With that thought Kiba went on the offensive once more, his blows coming out faster and faster with each different series of strikes.

'Ranko's' eyebrows rose in surprise but she matched Kiba easily, blow for blow and speed for speed. Her hands were beginning to tingle slightly, almost as if she had been trading blows with Ryoga, but she knew it was because of their combined speed. It wasn't anything she couldn't handle however. Okay, so he can handle speed at this level, let's see what happens when I take my game up a notch.

"Katchu Tenshin Amiguriken!" She said then the redheads hands became a blur even to Kiba. In female form this move was even faster than in his male form, yet another thing he had trained himself for. Kiba could only block a few of his punches now, most of the others impacting his chest shoulders and one at one point his jaw.

That punch smashed his head backwards, and Kiba saw stars for a moment. By the Maou she hits hard! Not as hard as a Rook, but that punch reminded me of that one time Gremory-sama tagged me once when we were younger. But is that because of the speed of the blow or her strength? That question wasn't a rhetorical one, Kiba had never realized that speed itself that momentum could add more damage to a punch then strength. It was definitely something for him to keep in mind for the future.

For now, it was all Kiba could do even with his Knight given speed to keep up, barely blocking the blows that were trying to impact on his center of gravity. Mentally he shook his head. I was overconfident even with my King's admonishment. This is my loss, and a well-deserved one too. Between one blow and the next Kiba backed away, holding his bokken to one side. "I concede." he said simply.

"I also apologize," he went on in a low tone. "I was overconfident and derogatory to you, such an attitude is beneath a true knight."

"Knight?" Ranma asked Kiba softly, cocking her head as she lowered her hands. "Is that your spot in Rias' chess set?"

Kiba blinked. "You mean Rias didn't tell you? Yes, I'm part of Buchou's peerage, along with Koneko-san. I am her knight, and as a knight my speed is enhanced."

"Interestin'." Ranma said. "I hope you learned something from this, he said motioning with one hand as it once again disappeared to normal human senses, going too fast for their eyes to track. The redhead smirked at him.

Kiba laughed nodding his head. "It has definitely given me food for thought you could say. Can I ask how you trained yourself in that manner?

Ranma shrugged, then described both of the ways she had been trained in that move, the fish in the dunking pool and not getting her hands wet, as well as the original way plucking chestnuts out of fire without getting your hands burned. "I would recommend the first one obviously." 'Ranko' said drolly.

"Obviously." Kiba said, a little disturbed by the idea of thrusting his hands into a roasting fire for any reason. He was also a little disturbed that Ranma was so blasé about the idea. There needs to be limit to what someone could do to become better, especially a human with human problems. What kind of life did Ranma lead that such a thing seemed a good idea?

"Good match anyway." Ranma said in a louder tone. "Now excuse me, I need to get this torture device off made." Ranma tried to reach inside the chest plate to again rearrange herself, wincing. "Next time I think I'm going to have to look for a bigger one. This one doesn't fit."

From the crowd that had enlarged during this spar a male voice shouted, "That's what she said!"

Mahotama looked around him at the sudden glaring faces. "OH crap did I say that out loud?"

Next to him is fellow pervert Matsuda nodded, then gulped as the girls all around them turned angrily towards him. "Die perverts!"

Ranma looked over at Saeko having just finished taking off her chest plate and now stretching irritably. "Was it something I said?"

I'll explain it to you sometime. Saeko replied, smirking as she put her arm around the shorter girl's shoulders. " Although, I don't think it's ever going to have to be something I will say, at least that first line at any rate."

For some reason Ranma felt she was missing out on a joke, a dirty joke to be exact, but she shrugged it off. After that Saeko went to work with the kendo girls again, and Ranma left looking for Asia to take her home. She saw Rias and her friend Akeno in the audience and waved at her. The other redhead waved back smiling glad she had come to watch this match herself, and even more interested in Ranma than she had been before.

OOOOOOO

Rias was not smiling later evening as she leaned back from her computer screen. Pushing away from her desk the red-haired devil moved over to the chess set which laid on a small table in the corner of the Occult Research Club room. Absentmindedly she noticed that Akeno had set a new problem out on the board. But even as her hands moved to solver it, Rias' mind was on other things, specifically what she had found about Nerima hacking into the government databases.

'Nerima Special District. Located on a chaotic loci it is home to over two dozen martial artists whose abilities surpass human norm. Two or possibly even three of the year round residents fall under the heading of A class threats. All information about them and the district is to be restricted by the special authority of the DIET.'

From there it went into the details of how the government kept news of the superhuman martial artists and everything else they dealt with there from spreading: by adding to it, a rather amazing bit of counter-psychology. There were videos, written news reports, even pictures of the fights that went on in Nerima, but the government, rather than trying to block such from getting out let it all out and then added their own twist to it, adding a little more special-effects to online videos, and some other additions that made it all look fake rather than real. Thus it became tabloid gossip rather than fact.

Whoever came up with that idea was a genius! Rias thought to herself, moving away from the chessboard after once again solving the problem Akeno headset her, this time without even thinking about it. The information they gathered on some of the players in Nerima was interesting, in particular their abilities and Jusenkyou given forms. To think there would be so many of those as to deserve their own special heading! I would have preferred to see some kind of psychological profile on Ranma's rivals, that way I could know if he was exaggerating or not about the dangers that might be coming after him here. But I suppose getting such as that would be rather difficult to do without their consent.

Rias laughed suddenly shaking her head. The list of martial arts styles though was fascinating! Martial arts calligraphy, martial arts tea ceremony, martial arts construction, bathhouse food? I really want to hear more about Ranma's adventures, they sound hilarious, better than any manga or anime I've ever seen!

She sobered after a moment however, remembering some of the notes about Genma, who apparently had been arrested by 'martial arts accountants'. That idea disturbed her a little, but what really disturbed Rias were some of the notes about Genma's activities. In the brief blurb the file contained it stated his past deeds had tainted the honor of over two dozen families, several of which she recognized as human noble families while others were somewhat important in the business world, specifically the restaurant business. The fact that he was no longer listed as part of Ranma's family was also telling.

Still, the file also gave me some idea of his rivals abilities, and of course their curses. Those are astonishing, this Jusenkyou place must be even more powerful than I thought if we can change someone from a human into a duck or a cat. There are were-creatures that can change into their 'base' forms, but that is energy intensive, and certainly isn't based upon an exterior element coming into contact with their skin, not even werewolves work like that. And even then, there is a distinct flash of magical power when they change forms, not the bare whisper that there is with Ranma's sex change.

I wonder if when one of his rivals shows up there will be a noticeable magical noise when they change forms? I'm almost hoping there is. Rias thought darkly. The amount of magic it would take to change someone to something so much smaller than their normal form is one thing, the amount of magic needed to do it and not create a energy splash.., the control for that, that's even more disturbing.

Rias shook her head suddenly speaking aloud. "Enough of that, Jusenkyou's a place, not a person. It can't control anything, it doesn't have a will like that. There must be some other explanation, some other reason why the magic of the transformation doesn't register as more than a whisper."

"Buchou." said a soft voice.

Rias turned, smiling at Koneko who was standing by the doorway. "Sorry Koneko-chan, I didn't see you there. I take it Issei is safe at home then?"

The younger girl nodded, her nose wrinkling in a distinctly catlike way for a moment as she looked down at the ground. "Had a magazine from one of his friends." she said in a monotone, though discomfort still shone through easily enough. "Didn't want to stay around."

Rias chuckled. "Understood, though I wouldn't think the smell of that would be able to get to you outside from his room." She didn't really have a problem with Issei being a pervert, the antics of the trio at school were amusing, and she certainly had never been shy about flaunting her body though she did of course wish to be known as more than a walking chest.

"Leaves the window open." Koneko muttered. "Let's the smell out." Worse there was a tree directly outside of the pervert's room which would've been the perfect place for Koneko to keep watching him. It would've given her a view into his room but it would have been more than close enough for her to smell what was going on even if she couldn't see it.

"All perverts should die." she muttered moving over to where a small bag was sitting on the couch. She opened it, pulling out a piece of manju then quickly biting into it. Slowly the tension drained out of her as she kept munching on her snack.

"I'm sorry we had to ask you to do that Koneko-chan. I know you don't like to think about it, but we're you able to discover anything else from his scent?"" Rias murmured, moving over to the girl and rubbing her head.

Koneko purred under her touch, arcing a little under Rias' hand. Rias was one of the few people that she allowed to touch her like this, and her king was very good at finding the right spots. "Hint of lizard." The younger girl answered, pressing her head against Rias' hand when she stopped rubbing her head.

"Really? Hmmm…" Rias wondered what kind of sacred gear would smell like a lizard, and the possibilities were… interesting to say the least. She thought for a moment then said. "Stay near him when you can at school, I'd like to see if you could tell me anything more about that scent, but you don't have to follow him home anymore. I'll assign a few of my familiar to that."

Koneko nodded, nearly drooping with relief, or was that Rias' continued petting? Koneko wasn't about to tell anyone either way.

OOOOOOO

The next day Ranma showed up at school in his male form, and went to class as normal, though of course he had to deal with a few guys in particular the pervert trio asking him about his sister, despite 'her' display of aggression towards them the day before. That only stopped when Ranma threatened them with tying them up somewhere and using them as so many piñatas.

When he leaped out of his classroom however, he was almost immediately hailed by sonar. "Saotome-san, students are not allowed to jump out of windows!"

He turned, smirking at Sona Sitri who had just exited the school building in the normal way (or as he thought of it, the boring way). "Y'know, I don't think that's actually been written down anywhere SBP-kun."

Despite her habitual self-control Sona's face actually twitched at the '-kun' part of that, though she controlled it quickly. "A childish and rather silly nickname for my position Saotome-san. I would much prefer for you to use my name or simply Buchou as many do. And I am serious, if you don't start to use the actual doors for what they were created for I will be forced to ask the teachers to take disciplinary action. Other students might try to emulate you after all."

"Only if they were so stupid that their removin' themselves from the world'd be a good idea." Ranma replied dryly. "I'm wearin' the dang uniform pants ain't I, that should be enough for ya. And besides, I was serious when I said this was the least you all would need to get used to. If you can't handle this, you'll never be able ta handle the chaos o' my rivals and others can cause."

"Nonetheless, I must insist you start to at least try to obey the common laws of physics and normality." By this time Sona had gotten close to him, and she glared up at the slightly taller Ranma through suddenly flashing glasses as she whispered. "I have worked very hard to make my life here Ranma, and to make it as normal as I can, I had more than enough insanity when I was growing up. I refuse to let you ruin my 'normal' life!"

Ranma sighed then answered in the same low tones, not knowing Sona had covered them with a sound dampening illusion that made it seem as if Sona was continuing to read him the riot act. "Well if ya put it like that I'll try, but I'm warning ya, my curse is gonna come out at some point, or one of my rivals or worse are gonna come after me, and then you can kiss normal goodbye."

With that he turned away, leaving Sona to fume a little, because deep down she knew he was right. Rias had shared what she had learned with Sona, and she knew Ranma was actually one of the most normal. But the rest of her irritation with Ranma came from his attitude toward her. She had never met a human before who didn't respect her position as student council president, she had never met a human before who knew about her being a demon and who seemingly couldn't care less.

In fact this was possibly the first time in her life that she had been treated as completely, well, normal, not even special in her own right. Sona wasn't certain she liked that. Rias on the other hand had noticed that very thing already, and liked it, she liked it a lot.

Ranma moved towards what had become his and Asia's normal lunchtime spot sitting next to Asia on the grass, making no effort this time to jump into the tree, though he did look up into its boughs when he noticed that Koneko had not arrived yet. He rubbed Asia's head for a moment. "Hey, Asia-chan, anything new happenin' in yer classes?"

Asia shook her head, smiling brightly as she saw Rias and Akeno moving towards them. "No, not really Ranma-nii. We have our first math quiz next week, and we need to choose which club we're going to be joining by next weekend. I, um…" she paused, looking down bashfully. "I'm thinking of joining the home economics club. I really like it when Auntie and I cook together, and I've enjoyed the home economics class so far."

So long as you enjoy what yer doing Asia-chan, that's fine by me." Ranma replied, cocking his head quizzically. "Though it's not like we need another cook in the house, my mom and I can cook, and so can Saeko-chan so if you want to do something different go right ahead. Why don't you join a club with your new friends?"

"Rin-chan is on the track team, and Misa-chan is part of the student newspaper club. I don't like running that much, and um…" she blushed. "The student newspaper isn't really for news. It's more well…" she paused not willing to speak ill of anyone else.

"A gossip column." Rias stated archly from above them she sat down, and gestured to Akeno to join them. "I don't blame you for not wanting to join that group Asia-chan. Home Economics is fun, but my advice is don't make a decision just yet, you still have a week to make that choice, I'd recommend you look into joining the foreign language club. Their name is misleading, since they really just talk about different places in the world and make pamphlets about them. Being from Italy that would give you a unique insight to that. Then there is the Sweet Shop, they're a sort of offshoot of the home economics club that specializes in creating new and interesting sweets. Some of their work is strange and awful, but some of it turns out to be very good."

Asia nodded taking in her senpai's suggestions, grateful that Rias understood why she didn't want to follow Misa-chan's suggestion. It wasn't that she didn't like writing, but she had met some of the club members already, and 'gossip column' was putting it mildly. She'd gone with her friends to meet the other club members and some of the questions she'd been asked about her brother had been so bad Asia felt her head would explode from blushing so much. It was only Rin-chan and Misa-chan stepping in that stopped them. Misa-chan was serious about becoming reporter eventually, but sometimes forgot the rest of the club wasn't so serious about it.

"Or you could join the Japanese Society Research Club?" Akeno asked, smirking lightly at her friend. "Their title is a bit ridiculous, since it's just a cover for a anime anf manga watching society. I understand you are interested in manga and Japanese food after all."

Rias nudged her friend, frowning for just a moment. She loved manga, anime and stuff like that, and would have loved to join that club herself. But her duties as one of the two Kings in this shared territory had to have a cover, and that meant leading her own club. "I don't believe you've been formally introduced to my friend Ranma, this is Akeno Himejima." She looked around, surreptitiously casting a spell that would keep the people all around them from listening in. "She's also my peerage's queen."

She watched Asia's face, and didn't even see a single bit of tightening of the eyes or anything else to indicate concern, which was astonishing considering that Asia was a follower of the Bible's God. It also made Rias very happy. Making purely human friends who could see past her devil background and not care a whit about it was something Rias had longed for and was learning to greatly enjoy.

Ranma nodded cordially at the newcomer. She had long black hair, tied in a long ponytail that reached all the way down to her ankles with two strands sticking out from the top, an orange ribbon keeping it in place, violet eyes, oh, and lest he forget, breasts that were larger than even Rias'. Good god, what the hell do demon girls eat!? Rias is larger than Shampoo, and she was the chestiest girl I'd ever met before coming here, and now this girl!

None of those thoughts showed on his face however, indeed Ranma was more concerned about the girl's very strange aura. He wanted to bring it up, but wasn't close enough to the girl to ask about it. "Pull up a bit of grass I suppose. But what's this about a queen?"

"You know about the peerage system, but you don't know about the pieces?" Rias asked.

"I know what a queen does in regular chess, I have no idea what it means in your little clique no." Ranma drawled, smirking a little as Rias eyebrow twitched for just a second at the phrase he used to describe her peerage. Akeno on the other hand merely laughed, one hand over her mouth, though her violet eyes glinted slightly.

"The Queen is the most powerful piece in a peerage. It heightens all three of the normal areas the other pieces address, strength and durability, speed, and magical reserves. Akeno is my most powerful piece and my oldest friend." Rias said smiling at the other girl, who smiled back, then took out their bentos. "Kiba, the boy you fought yesterday is my knight."

"Is Koneko one of yours are one of Sona's?" Ranma asked, having noticed the girl who so reminded him of a furry demon from the darkest depths of hell wasn't here.

"One of mine, Koneko-chan is my rook." Rias replied nodding her head. "She's unfortunately performing a small task for me at the moment. Hopefully it won't take too long."

Ranma nodded agreeably, simply happy Koneko wasn't here to make his affliction act up while Asia moved slightly so that she was closer to Ranma pouting at the thought of her rival for the 'imouto' position returning, while also now looking at her two senpais somewhat suspiciously. Hopefully I'll have Ranma-nii all to myself for today at least. Asia didn't like being in competition with someone, but she wasn't about to give up her position with Ranma to anyone else. It's bad enough sharing him with Saeko at times. Asia was very worried that if more girls became interested in Ranma he wouldn't have much time to spend with her. She liked having a big brother way too much to let that happen.

"I thought your little show in your female form when you dealt with the Perverted Trio the other day was interesting." Akeno said. "It actually seemed to have frightened the perverted trio into acting normally for the day and considering what all that has been done to them in the past, that's astonishing. Tell me, what are you going to do for an encore?"

Having determined that Saeko, who at this moment was busy talking to the gym teacher and doing some paperwork as captain of the kendo team, was not a sadist Akeno was wondering the same thing about Ranma. He seemed sadistic enough in coming up with new and interesting threats towards perverts…

"That depends." Ranma shrugged. "If they learn not to perv on girls, then I'll let 'em go. I'm not going to try and stop them talking about whatever it is they talk about, it's just when they cross the line into invading other people's privacy that I'll stop 'em if I see it happening." He grinned suddenly, rubbing Asia's head again. "As long as they stay away from my little sister here, they'll be able to retain all of their limbs. Well, them and any other boy."

Asia giggled, resting her head against Ranma's arm for a moment before leaning backwards. She was not interested in dating just yet, she was still getting used to being around boys in general, and Ranma easily filled her need for a male friend. Most of the time anyway, she thought with a giggle. I can't really think of him like that when he's in his other form.

Akeno's eyes flashed with interest and she leaned forward, noticing first with amusement and then with shock as Ranma glanced down just once at her swaying breasts and then fixed his gaze on her face once more not looking down again. Well he does have his own pair I suppose he is a little more controlled to at least seeing them. "Would you actually go through with some of your threats?"

"Depends on the severity of what they've done," Ranma said with another shrug. "I had to deal with this old pervert back in Nerima, and for most of the time I was there he was too strong for me to do anything permanent about him. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I'd like to do him, so it gave me quite a few interesting ideas."

"Wait?" Rias said pulling Akeno back before she could lean even further into Ranma's personal space. "What do you mean this 'old pervert' was too strong for you to do anything about?"

Is that the old man you were worried would see Saeko-san and I on the train?" Asia asked looking at Ranma from where she had just taken out her small desert. "You seemed really worried that he would spot us."

"I was, and yes." Ranma growled. "He's the master of my family's school of martial arts, Anything Goes. He taught both my father and Mr. Tendo, you remembmer him?" Asia nodded, though Rias and Akeno both looked blank. "Happosai's a tough bastard, could take anything you threw at him and simply keep on coming back. I can't remember the amount of times I tried to bury him under houses, or saw him explode when one of his fireworks went off too quickly. Heck he even survived being thrown around in a tornado more than once."

"Really he was that durable?" Akeno mused, one finger coming up to her lips where she licked the end of it thoughtfully. "Sounds interesting." Even if you discount the tornado thing, that is obviously some kind of exaggeration.

Rias shuddered, the only one there who understood what Akeno was really talking about. "Is he liable to show up here?"

"If he learns this is an all-girls school, and that there are girls as beautiful as you two are here, yes." Ranma replied without thinking.

The compliment coming out as it did so matter-of-factly actually caused both of the Two Great Ladies of the school to actually blush in pleasure for the first time in a long while at such a simple comment. This was seen by many of the onlookers around them. Unable to hear what the discussion was about but seeing Akeno join Rias in sitting near Ranma and now seeing both of them blush caused the rumor mill to once more go into overdrive.

"What's worse, is even now I'm not certain I could beat him. Keep him from acting out maybe, but he's too good an escape artist, and way too good at masking his presence fer me to stop. If you see a guy about yay high…" he said holding out his hands to about 2 feet off the ground. "That looks like a cross between a gnome and a wrinkled old prune, run. There are a few ways of slowing him down, but if he sees either of you two, he'll gain even more power."

"What?" Rias asked confused, while Akeno came out of whatever fantasy she had entered for a moment. "What do you mean by that?"

I have no idea how old Happosai is, but he's a lot older than he looks and since he looks older than dirt that's sayin' somethin'. He's got this ability to take energy from…" Ranma paused blushing. "Er, fondling girls and taking their, um, their underwear." Both Akeno and Rias blinked in shock at that idea, while Asia blushed thankful that Ranma had hidden her and Saeko from the little creature.

"What's worse is the more you hurt him and stop him from doin' what he wants, the more he's interested in getting one over on you. I think he's a little bit of a masochist frankly but then again, I think I could say that about a lot of people back in Nerima."

"Oh?" Akeno said leaning forward further one hand moving across to rest on Ranma's knee. "Would that include you? Either giving or receiving?"

Ranma blinked, cocking his head thoughtfully even as he moved his leg out from under Akeno's hand. Asia scooted forward, trying to put herself in between Akeno and Ranma without seeming too. Rias reached forward, grabbing her friend's shoulder and pulling her back slightly causing Asia to nod at her in relief.

"I think that as a martial artist you need to be able to take and give out pain, but you can't be in love with it if that's what you're asking." Ranma said finally having finished thinking of what he wanted to say and how to say it. "I have only very rarely met anyone I really wanted to hurt, the old pervert was one of them I'll say that. But there's a thin line between wanting to fight someone, and wanting to hurt them. I'm a combat junkie but there's a big difference between that and being into pain or thinking pain is pleasure."

"Such a pity." Akeno muttered under her breath then smiled brightly. "That's an interesting insight into the martial artists mind, I can understand that I suppose."

Ranma laughed, now looking at her with one of eyebrow cocked. "Sorry, I'm not into that kind of thing. If Mousse shows up, I might introduce ya to him though. Given what all Shampoo's done to him over the last year he's got to like pain at least a bit ta still be chasin' her as he is."

"That would be most thoughtful Ranma, thank you." Akeno said without batting an eyelash at having been caught out on her sadism. Asia however simply blinked her eyes, not understanding what the two of them were talking about.

Never at home with her friend's particular kink and desperate to change the subject Rias asked "So are you still a student of this Anything Goes martial arts school, or are you a master of your own school?"

"Somewhere in between actually," Ranma said, waving his hand at Saeko who was moving across the grounds towards him. She smiled and waved back slightly, adroitly moving around a young boy who was trying to talk to her responding sharply though her response couldn't carry to where Ranma was sitting. "I've incorporated a lot of different styles, but that's part of anything goes, adapt, improvise and constantly add to your repertoire."

Saeko sat down beside Rias, nodding politely at the girl who smiled genially. "Sorry I'm late, paperwork waits for no one. What are we talking about?"

"Martial arts, old perverts and justifiable punishments for said," Rias said with a laugh. "Speaking of martial arts, are you two going to continue those matches of yours? There quite impressive, even to us."

"Even to us, Rias?" Ranma laughed, reaching over to poke her in the forehead. "Are you forgetting how easily I outdid you in our little game of tag?"

"Hand to hand isn't my thing." Rias said simply. "I'm a magic user." Her eyes glinted. "If I had used magic, I could've beaten you easily."

"You just keep telling yourself that." Ranma said with a laugh. "See, the problem with magic spells is, you have to tag your enemy with them. If yer not quick enough to do that, and yer opponent's good enough to get in close, you're out of luck."

"I think you'd find dodging my spells a lot harder than it was trying to dodge my fists." Rias replied now a little angry at how Ranma was dismissing her abilities.

"I'm not sayin' I'd be easy." Ranma said looking a little surprised at how Rias had taken it. "I'm just saying that everyone needs to be able to handle themselves in hand-to-hand regardless of their skills at long-range. It's like an archer in the Dark ages or a musketeer before bayonets were invented. If yer enemy is able to close with you, you're out of luck. Can you honestly say you'd be able to fire off spells when someone's trying to beat your head in up close and personal?"

Akeno and Rias exchanged a glance at that, since that actually made good sense to them. While Akeno was stronger and faster thanks to being Rias's Queen, she wasn't actually a trained hand-to-hand combatant, and while Rias had good reflexes and the Power of Destruction, she didn't have any hand-to-hand training either. And there will be times when Kiba and Koneko aren't or can't be around to defend us up close. Why didn't this occur to me before?

That, she realized, was because she had never run into someone who could force that to be an issue. Her magical abilities were such that she had never needed to think about it. But if my magic doesn't work on someone, like a certain asshole, I might need something to fall back on. "Would you be willing to take on a few new students then?" Rias asked.

"Not right away." Ranma replied, shaking his head. "I'd like to get Saeko able to do a Amiguriken attack before I take on anyone else, though if you told me what you're bothered about I might have some suggestions Rias." Ranma asked looking across at the redhead, his blue eyes serious for the first time in this conversation.

Rias flinched, looking away. "You're a lot more observant than that 'typical bumpkin' act of yours lets on." She muttered then she looked back at Ranma. "I haven't known you even a week yet so even if we are friends I'm not about to bare my soul to you. I might tell you eventually, but please don't push me."

"Wasn't going to." Ranma said with a shrug. " Just was thinking that one of the areas that a lot of people seem ta miss when looking at martial arts and in particular some of my fights is that they're all 50% physical and 50% mental. Adaptation isn't just of the body or of a particular style. It's about analyzing your opponent, figuring out his weaknesses both mental and physical and tailoring your attack to them."

"That's why Saeko here can be so dangerous." He said taking the girl's hand and squeezing it. "She's able to read her opponent's moves before the opponent even starts them, give her a heads up if her body's speed and strength can let her take advantage of it."

"Interesting," Rias said nodding. "But for now, I'll still keep that as a secret." She didn't see any way she could use Riser's Phoenix given abilities against him, his arrogance though, that could be of use.

"Well you could always join in our spars, it'd be interesting and seeing you in action might give me an idea of what you need help on. And since your base stats as demons are so high, starting from scratch wouldn't really be of much help to you. Reaction time, ability to think ahead, and endurance could all help though, and would carry over ta long range battles too."

"I'll think about it, but either of us joining your little spars is impossible. We both have reputations to maintain here after all." Rias replied, with Akeno nodding agreement.

"You mean images to maintain don't you?" Saeko said, curling her lip distastefully. "I had such in my last school, I refuse to fall into such a pattern again."

"Yeah," Ranma said smirking at them both. "That whole Great Lady crap." He smirked leaning forwards towards Rias. "I rather liked the you chasing me the other day more than the 'Great Lady' I see walin' round school. I wonder what it'd take to break you out of that role permanently."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Rias said arching her eyebrow and looking away. "This is just the way I act all the time."

"Yeah, Somehow I don't believe you." Ranma replied, laughing along with Saeko, who was also interested to see Rias' true self. Rias twitched, but thankfully at that point lunch ended, and they all headed back to their classrooms.

OOOOOOO

The next day, Kasumi asked Ranma to stop by her work because she needed some help moving things in the schoolhouse. He did so after school after sparring once more with Saeko. About half a street away from the school however Ranma paused, having just routinely turned on his ki sight he felt something in the air. Following the sense of it, he found a woman standing on top of a nearby building overlooking the school staring into the room where Kasumi was currently working.

The fallen Angel Raynare had decided that with all the devils at school as well as the two new strange humans there, it was better for her to go after the new target that had appeared in the city that didn't seem to have a guard like Argento did. It'd taken their a few days to find said target, though the feeling of it had been in the air of the entire city for days now. Whatever the tool that this girl had was powerful but subtle, yet Raynare couldn't think of what it could be. Still, she was determined to figure it out. I'll move after the sacred gear in the perverted boy, once my back up arrives, for now this girl makes a easier target.

That thought brought a scowl to Raynare's face. Where the hell are they, it shouldn't have taken them this long to get here from Sasebo, and not a one of them have shown up, not even that old fart Grimaldi, he's normally so punctual all the time. I don't particularly like any of them, but with this many powerful demons around I'm beginning to feel fucking naked without some backup, and it'll be another two weeks before the fallen exorcists arrive.

"You know, if this was back in Nerima I could simply point out that you're stalking Kasumi, and I would have practically every person there wanting to beat on you." A voice said from behind Raynare, causing her to turn automatically summoning up a light spear as she did.

A fist that was glowing blue and gold shattered it, and before Raynare could even get a good look at the bastard that had snuck up on her she found herself hogtied and upside down. Raynare tried to get out of whatever was holding her in place, but she couldn't tfar enough, the way she was tied up. "When I get out of here, whoever the hell you are I'm gonna…"

Ranma moved to where Raynare could see him and smirked at her. "That's nice, go on an' insult me more, that makes me really want ta release you."

The Fallen Angel growled again yet didn't continue insulting him. "How the hell can you even see me? I'm covered in an illusion veil!"

"Yer not the first Fallen Angel I've seen, nor the first one whose ass I kicked." At those words Ranma became more serious leaning close. "The only reason I'm not hurting you right now is because Kasumi wouldn't like it, and because you haven't actually attacked her. However, this is your only warning. You don't get strike two and three, you just get one. Come after Kasumi again, I'm going to beat you down so hard your own mother wouldn't recognize you."

Ranma's blue eyes held Raynare's brown ones, and she shivered, nodding convulsively. Raynare was convinced she was dealing with a powerful Sacred Gear user or demon who was an expert at hiding his aura. It would have shocked her to realize Ranma was purely human, no additives necessary.

Seeing her nod, Ranma nodded, then went on in a more normal tone. "As it is, you have a choice. You can either deal with a really humiliating punishment or a little humiliation and answer a few questions."

Having seen what Ranma had threatened the perverted trio with at school where she was still using her Yuuma persona Raynare was a little worried about what he would consider humiliating punishment. But she wasn't about to give any secrets away. "What kind of questions?"

"There's been a string of missing persons in the district, about fifty all told. You know anything about it?"

Raynare blinked, then tried to shake her head, but failed thanks to the amount of rope covering her body. "No, I don't know anything about that. I'm not a mass murderer, why would I go after normal humans like that? Sounds much more like a stray devil."

"Stray devil?"

"Devils that have broken from or even killed their kings and made their way to the human world. They feed on humans so…" Raynare trailed off, trying once more to shrug, but again found such movement impossible.

Ranma frowned, not having heard of stray devils before. That was interesting, and fit the profile, but… "Don't demons police themselves?"

"Oh sure, but only if the stray devil actually enters a normal demon's territory, and if that demon can deal with the stray at all. Otherwise they can't do anything."

"I see." Ranma nodded, thinking that might be why the killings, and he knew that was what they were, hadn't yet spread to the city yet. "Next question, are you here in the first place for Kasumi, or somethin' else?"

Raynare stared silently at him, and Ranma smirked, but there was no humor in it. "So it's major humiliation is it?"

"Not Kasumi!" Raynare replied quickly, now a little panicky. "I didn't even know her name, I was just trying to figure out what her Sacred Gear was, I swear! My job is just observation that's all!" That was the truth for now after all, she wasn't supposed to move after the pervert and his Sacred Gear until she figured out what his Sacred Gear was, and her backup arrived. The exorcists too, since they were supposed to take the fall for this, though she doubted now if that would work.

Staring at her face Ranma was silent for a moment, trying to figure out if the girl was lying. After a moment he nodded. "Alright then like I said, I'll let ya off with a bit of humiliation and a warning. You don't try anything against Kasumi or Asia or against anyone who can't fight back, we won't have problems. You attack a civilian, we're going to meet again, and ya won't like what happens then."

Raynare barely had time to nod before she found herself flipped upside down, then just as suddenly Raynare was hanging down from a street light from her feet. She felt the rope she was tied with moving, and then a gag of some kind being pushed into her mouth. Before she could get her bearings Ranma was finished. Raynare looked down, or rather up at herself, and stared. While she was still wearing the clothing she had been wearing, on top of that was a clown suit in bright, merry colors, and over that the rope that had been tying her up. I knew he was fast after watching him fight that demon boy, But this fast!?

Jumping down from where he had been standing on the top of the light post Ranma looked up at his handiwork with a nod. "I think yer still covered by that illusion veil of yours, so only a set few people should see ya, but if they'll help ya, well that's up to luck." Raynare glared down at him, then shivered as Ranma's blue eyes locked onto hers a faint chill in the air touching what little of her skin was still able to be seen. "And remember what I said feathers. You attack my friends or a civilian you won't like what'll happen."

Watching Ranma move toward the elementary school where Kasumi was just opening the door, Raynare shivered for a moment. But only for a moment. The second Ranma was out of sight she began to frantically wriggle trying to get free. At the same time she vowed to first smack Mittelt, Kalawarner and those other two idiots around for being late, then she vowed to train harder than she ever had and take Ranma up on his challenge. No human was ever going to get the better of her, not if she could help it.

End chapter

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Hey all. This chapter won my poll this time. To restate it, every time I reach my first goal, I will put out a story. Since it goes by a monthly charge, that means now I'm going to put out a new chapter for one of my side stories every month. I'll try to get them out a week after I put out a chapter of my two major stories. If I reach my second goal - see my account for more information, just go to then type vimesenthusiast in the URL - I will then put out a intro chapter for a new story from my profile or take up one of the side stories full time, whichever wins the poll, which I'll put out when I get to that second goal, a week after i reach it.

Hope everyone liked this chapter even if nothing major happened. Needed some, well getting to know you time between the group. Rias and Saeko and the rest are much more emotionally all there than Kanu Unchou or the Sekirei, so they all need some normal conversations and stuff for now. Not to say that was the only reason nothing big happened, travel times do need to be allowed for after all, heh.

Oh, if you think Raynare was beaten too easily, remember surprise and speed, and the fact Ranma's skill set is well above her own. Ranma won't really be challenged, for a few reasons, beyond Rias, losing her temper a time or two, until Kokabeil (sp) I know shows up for various reasons. After that events will pick up.