Ranma 3/2

By: Jaqui K

Chapter 3: Blind Tag

"Wait, we're doing school again?" The dark haired martial artist stared at their pops in confusion as the two sat in Ranma's room after breakfast was finished. Really? This is why the idiot wanted us to join back up in our guy body? I should be downstairs helping Kasumi with the dishes. It's the least I can do for her after all that cooking she did for us and her sisters.

Their pops interrupted their thoughts with a loud affirmative grunt. "Yes, well we are going to be staying here for quite some time, so it only makes sense. Of course, with the way the records are, you will need to attend in your true, single form."

"Uh huh," Ranma said with half lidded eyes. "More like you were too cheap to pay for all three of us to go. You know this is just gonna end in disaster, right?"

"No time for arguments, boy," their pops said back. "Hurry up or you'll be late for your first day."

Ranma tilted their head at that. "Wait, you mean today? Isn't there supposed to be, like, a test or a signup or something to get into high school?"

"Looks like you've underestimated your old man again," their pops said with a laugh. "I've already handled all that for you."

"Actually, it was Daddy who took care of everything," the middle Tendo sister, Nabiki, casually stated from the doorway as she tossed a school bag over to Ranma. "You'll be going to the same school as Akane and myself. Although, if I were to be perfectly honest, I would much rather have a certain redhead join us instead, only a little offense there."

Ranma couldn't help but give an amused grin. "Well, I have some good news for ya, 'future sister-in-law'." They then tapped the side of their head. "Your precious little fiancé will be coming along, whether he wants to or not." They had a big laugh as they could practically hear the annoyed grumbling coming from somewhere in their mind.

Nabiki for her part raised an eyebrow as she appeared to contemplate that information. Before she could speak up, the sound of the youngest Tendo sister came from down the hallway.

"Hold on, Nabiki, I'll go with you. I just need a few more minutes to get ready!"

Nabiki looked towards the direction of her sister for a couple of moments, then turned back towards Ranma, giving an expression the currently unified Saotome couldn't quite figure out. "Alright, let's get going," she stated as she casually started to leave.

"Huh?" Ranma blinked at the now empty doorway, then grabbed the school bag and scrambled to their feet, chasing after the girl. They caught her at the stairs, hopping the railing and meeting her at the bottom. "Hold up, aren't we supposed to be waiting for your sister?"

"Don't worry, Akane can take care of herself," Nabiki answered while not even breaking stride as she walked past Ranma. "Besides, we'll need to hurry if you want to get a good view."

Ranma grumbled a bit as they followed after. "You know, you could at least try and be nicer to your younger…wait, a good view of what?"

As Nabiki continued along to the entrance of the house, her only response was a cryptic, "Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough."

It was truly amazing just how much a mere 24 hours could introduce so many new and interesting surprises for a young and purely innocent girl. Nabiki couldn't help but think about that as she biked along her usual route to school, the majority of her musings being one (or perhaps as many as four, she speculated) of those surprises from yesterday who was currently running on top of river-side fences and house gate walls, keeping up with her with seemingly no effort. Which, to be fair, really shouldn't have surprised her at this point. She listened in on the various braggart heavy stories that the one named Kuroma regaled to Kasumi the previous night. And even if one were to discount the clear embellishments given, Akama's performance that afternoon prior more than demonstrated the potential power of this apparently gestalt boy coming to school with her. Although, the more she thought of it, the more she couldn't help but wonder if either of those qualifiers were completely accurate. Right, best to clear that up before they made it to their destination. She did have a reputation to maintain after all.

"So," Nabiki casually called out, "now that I have the chance to talk with just the two of us, more or less, there's a few things I'd like you to clarify for me."

"Yeah, figures you'd still have a buncha questions," the dark haired martial artist sighed as he or maybe she looked down at Nabiki while not missing a step. "Alright, what do ya want to know?"

"Well, first off…" Nabiki drawled out, deliberately pausing for just the exact amount of time to get her target's interest piqued and vulnerability to its maximum before striking. "It would be good to know who it is I'm actually addressing."

The Saotome youth seemed to think about this for a moment. "Well, when we're like this, I guess it'd be easiest just to refer to us as Ranma, since that is who we are after all."

Nabiki couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that response, noting that this Ranma appeared to be directing that last part more towards herself or himself rather than towards her. "Interesting, Saotome, but that doesn't actually answer my question. Namely, which one of the three siblings am I talking to, that is if you really are any of them."

"Huh? What does that mean?" Ranma asked.

"Oh nothing much." Nabiki gave a slight smile as she leaned back slightly on her bike with her eyes closed for a moment. "Since you are now living with us, not to mention engaged to myself as well as my sisters, it would probably be a good idea to at least know just how many of you actually exist." She glanced over to the wall, only to find the ponytailed martial artist suddenly missing. Before she could wonder where Saotome ran off to, she was shaken as her bike suddenly collided with something, the rear wheel lifting into the air by several centimeters. As the bike settled back on the ground, she looked forward to find Ranma standing in front of her, gripping hard on the handlebars of the bike, clear anger on the dark haired boy or girl's face.

"Gonna just say this once, so you better pay attention," Saotome growled out. "We. Are. All. Real. All of us! Me, Akama, and Sakura. I never want to hear you try to say that any of us, especially my little siblings, might be fake, you got it?!"

Internally, Nabiki's smile grew even more. Well, well, well, that's quite the overprotective nerve just touched. Good to keep in mind. Externally she gave a scoff and dismissive wave of her hand. "Oh perish the thought, Saotome. Of course I know you are all real. I had a pretty good hands on confirmation of that yesterday after all. I was simply wondering if there was anyone else besides you three that's swimming around in that little space between your ears."

"O-oh…" The Ranma that was almost certainly Kuroma let go of Nabiki's bike and looked off in some random direction, the anger having completely evaporated away. "No, it's just us."

Nabiki hummed in reply as she started back on her way to school, the ponytailed boy or girl following along once again, although this time on the ground next to her. "Are you fully certain about that?"

"Yeah, of course!" Saotome quickly answered back, a bit too defensively in Nabiki's opinion. "I mean, who else would be in here?"

"Well," Nabiki mused as they finally reached the gates to Furinkan High School, "how about the Ranma Saotome that existed before falling into that spring?" She coasted over to the bike rack area where she parked her bike, then turned back to see what type of answer she would receive. Instead she found Saotome looking around the school courtyard with confusion.

"What's up with them?" Ranma asked, pointing out the large group of boys clad in various sporting equipment hanging out by the entrance. "Looks like they're all waiting for someone."

"Not to worry, all of that will be explained soon," Nabiki said in a slightly sing-song voice, directing the girl or maybe boy towards the school. "If we move, we can still get a good view." As they passed the tree that her hapless classmate was currently hiding behind, she quickened her pace slightly, hoping the wannabe samurai would simply ignore her as per usual.

"Halt there, unknown vagabond!"

Nabiki allowed herself to let out a sigh. Should have known Saotome would have a different kind of luck.

"Huh? Are you talking to me?" Ranma asked, giving a confused look and a head tilt to the kendo clad technically prettyboy who was pointing his wooden sword right at him or maybe her.

"Correct, it is you to whom I am addressing," the rich idiot confirmed, giving what he probably believed was a threatening glare. While Nabiki had to admit that simulacrum of intimidation worked well enough on the common Furinkan boy, she couldn't help but doubt that it would have a similar effect to the girl or perhaps boy next to her.

Indeed, Saotome's reaction was to continue the head tilt until it was basically horizontal. "Look, if you wanna have a duel, can we schedule it for later? I'm kinda a little busy at the moment," he or she said, gesturing towards Nabiki.

Nabiki put up a guise of casual disinterest, which wasn't all that hard when dealing with her favorite mark. "Don't worry, Kuno babe, I'll give you the info on the new kid later. For now, I have important business to attend to." She then grabbed said new kid by the arm to start moving again.

"Hold it!" Oh of course the idiot wasn't done yet. "I see the game you are trying to play, you fiend. Pretending to get close to the fair and noble Akane's wicked sister in order to try and ascertain an advantage in this battle!"

"What? What are you talking about?" Saotome asked, even more confused, while Nabiki merely turned towards the still open school gate and leaned forward with a hand up to shield against the sun that was currently blocked by the incoming dark clouds.

"Oh, speaking of which," she noted as she squinted to look past the gate and into the completely empty street, "I think that's my little sister arriving right now."

Instantly the mood in the courtyard changed with several shouts of "Akane Tendo is coming" as the crowd of boys directed their attention towards the gate. Kuno as well immediately dropped his gaze on the two and got back in his usual waiting position, peeking around the tree to probably try and get a better view of his self proclaimed 'fair and noble goddess', who in reality was most likely still several blocks away. Nabiki for her part allowed a small smirk as she went back to leading Saotome to the school entrance.

"Um, shouldn't we wait up for Akane?" Ranma asked as she or possibly he let himself or herself be dragged along by the arm.

"Relax, Saotome. By my estimate, we should still have a couple of minutes for you to still get that good view of the upcoming action." Nabiki gave just enough of a pause for her words to sink in before she quickly spoke up again to curtail any incoming questions. "Besides, if you really are who you say you are, and I am starting to believe that, do remember that you're meant to be engaged to my older sister."

Ranma's face started to turn red and he or she quickly looked away. "Yeah, I know. And I do have every intention to be with Kasumi…for the plan I mean. Of course it's for the plan. But I can still be worried about my future sister-in-law, you know."

Nabiki allowed a happy grin to show on her face. "Awww, so you do care about me."

"Hey, I didn't say that," Ranma shot back, prompting a small laugh from Nabiki as they entered the school proper.

There were a few people in the locker area that tried to inquire about the new student, but all it took was a simple look from Nabiki and a single hand held out palm up that caused every single one to shut up and go about their business. It seemed that none believed the entry level fee worth the information about this unassuming looking boy (who was potentially a girl). Oh well. Their loss for not getting in on the ground floor before interest, not to mention information value, would skyrocket. Oh, and speaking of information.

"You know, you still haven't answered the question," Nabiki pointed out while directing Ranma to the stairway. "About what exactly happened to that boy and then girl that fell in those two springs."

Saotome gave an eyeroll. "I already told ya. We are all Ranma."

"And yet," Nabiki pointed out, "I appear to be only talking to Kasumi's arm candy when we both know there's a cute little red haired boy toy with an amazing set of man boobs that I would prefer to discuss business and miscellaneous with."

"Oh," Saotome said with a big laugh. "Now I can't wait to see my little bro have to talk with you with that line going through his head."

Nabiki stopped and blinked once at that new information sunk in. She then reached up and grabbed Saotome's head, pulling the ponytailed martial artist down to eye level and staring straight into one of her or his pupils. "So you really are in there? Quick, Makkun, wave to me if you can hear this."

"Hey, knock it off," Saotome quickly pulled back, shooting an annoyed glare. "It's not like he can actually…" The ponytailed boy or girl paused and glanced to the side for a moment before then shaking her or his head. "Look, I'm just saying he'll probably remember our little talk when we split up again."

Nabiki gave a click of her tongue as she continued up to the next floor, "Hmmm. Shame, that." Making it really hard fully opening up my pure maiden heart, not to mention business opportunities, to a certain red haired hottie, aren't you.

"Why's it a shame?" Ranma asked, once again genuinely confused.

"You're serious, Saotome?" Nabiki shot a glance over to the girl or boy. "Look, I may not know everything about magically conjoined triplets…yet, but I do know that I would absolutely hate it if my sisters could read my mind."

Ranma shrugged with hands resting behind his or her head. "Eh, it's kinda a cool way for us to work out cool new moves together. Plus, it makes it a little easier for me to protect them."

"If you say so," Nabiki casually stated, internally readjusting several of her upcoming projects while she pulled the currently singular Saotome into her classroom of 2-E.

"Hey, wait a sec. I'm in your class?" Ranma asked, brow furled. "How's that work? I'm still only 15. Or, maybe I'm 16 now, I'm not sure. Pops has never been fully clear on that kinda thing for me."

"Eh, we can try to figure out those lesser details later," Nabiki said with a dismissive wave, "and no, you're actually in Akane's class. I'm just keeping my promise to give you a nice box seat for the show."

As they went through the classroom over to the sliding glass window that led to the small outdoor balcony, she could feel pretty much every present eye upon her, most likely wondering about the new kid she was leading along. None however even bothered to even voice the question, her reputation making sure of that.

Yes, that reputation. Nabiki Tendo, well known throughout the school and especially her own classroom as The Ice Cold Queen of Furinkan High. Rumors floating around about just how huge and expansive her great empire truly was. A massive collection of information with complete files on every single student as well as the teachers and even the janitors, all for sale if you have the right price. Secret gambling rings that everyone has taken part in at least once, even if they don't dare to actually admit it out loud. A vast network of underlings, gophers, and spies under her command, the identities of whom no one was exactly certain of. Speculation that such a grand enterprise was necessary to single handedly support the Tendo family, the middle Tendo daughter painstakingly working to keep them all constantly floating just above complete financial disaster.

And, of course, all of it was 100% complete and total bullshit.

Oh sure, it wasn't like she was unwilling to accept a simple and always much appreciated tip whenever she passed along a bit of news she just so happened to acquire. And fine, she would on occasion bring in a girlfriend or two for one of her little projects, although now she'd perhaps reserve a spot much more often for a certain boy with gorgeous red hair and the cutest little butt she'd ever laid her eyes…where was she going with this again? Ah, right. The point was that a few hundred yen from some information and a few thousand from gullible jocks and an even more gullible wannabe samurai wouldn't even cover Kasumi's normal grocery outing, much less the entirety of the household bills. Honestly, she was just a simple (and of course pure and innocent) teenage girl that, on occasion, liked to indulge in simple hobbies and maybe get some nice spending money from time to time. Running and being responsible for a whole gambling ring? That sounded far too much like an actual job, with paperwork and everything. Plus, it would be far too much time and effort to put in for the sadly paltry potential net gains available from the average Tokyo teenager's allowance. Especially when just sitting back and watching the chaos was way more fun. And speaking of which.

"Ah, perfect," Nabiki said as she leaned on the balcony railing. "We're right on time."

Saotome gave a mostly noncommittal grunt while walking up next to her. "Kay, so what's this big show s'posed to-"

The black haired boy or girl was interrupted by a loud shout from down below. "She's here! Akane Tendo is coming! For real this time!" Indeed, the tiny figure of a seemingly more grumpy than usual little sister was charging down the road towards the school gate. Right there to greet her, per usual, was half of the male student body, almost all of whom were shouting their little declarations of love or whatever as they rushed in to attack the teenage girl. And, again as per usual, the little teen girl responded in kind by knocking each and every one of those big strong jocks away like faceless henchmen in a cheap ass Hong Kong flick.

A small smile appeared on Nabiki's face as she kept one eye on the action and one on the person next to her, curious to see just how this self-proclaimed protector would react to what was happening to her or his future baby sister-in-law. The smile then dropped slightly as what she found wasn't anger or even bewilderment on Saotome's face, but instead a smile of her or his own.

"Oh wow, that's amazing. I mean, I already know from Sakura's spar with her that she's got some good power going on, but she's really doing a number on all those guys." The dark haired boy or girl then paused and looked down slightly with brow slightly furrowed. "No, we…see, she's doing just fine. She's got this. Heck, I'm more interested to know how she managed to get so many of those guys to help her train like that."

"Ah, that one's actually really easy," Nabiki chimed in. "They're all trying to get the chance to date her."

That one actually got Saotome's attention. "What? Date her?" the martial artist asked, voice rising slightly in pitch as his or her grip on the railing noticeably tightened. "Did she promise to go out with the strongest person in school or something? Cause…um…if that's the case, then…"

Aww, are you looking out for your baby sister's love life? That's a little sweet I suppose. "Oh, not exactly," was Nabiki's actual response. "One of my own classmates ended up making that decision for her. At the start of the year, he basically declared that 'Anyone who wished to date Akane Tendo must first defeat her in combat'. So now she gets to deal with this every morning. Oh, and speaking of the guy who started all this."

Nabiki watched as down below her little sister was now surrounded by the knocked out bodies of all her would-be suitors and looking completely fed up with the whole endeavor. Well, all knocked out except for one as her primary source for entertainment, up to now at least, came out of his hiding spot right on cue to go up to Akane in his regular smug manner and toss a rose towards her. "Yup, and there's the instigator in question, right on time." She looked over, the smile returning as Saotome's attitude had clearly changed and was now appearing quite angry while looking at the scene below. In fact, it almost looked like his or her eyes were actually turning red.

"What does that…that…jerk think he's doing?" Ranma's voice went up in pitch even more as the railing started to groan slightly under her or his grip.

"Oh, the usual, being a regular teenage boy and trying to get under my little sister's skirt," Nabiki casually commented while leaning forward on the balcony and watching the idiot about to once again fail completely. "Of course, if you made the mistake to ask him, he would end up using several hundred more words to-"

A flash of red and black suddenly flew by her vision as Saotome stepped up on the balcony and took a huge leap towards the school yard below. It wasn't the spontaneous action that caught Nabiki's attention though. No, observing the descending girl or maybe boy's ponytail fluttering in the wind, well maybe it was just a trick from the light of the sun, which was still obscured behind heavy cloud cover, but she could swear the black hair now had a bit of pink mixed in.

Akane Tendo was now, more than ever, completely done with this crap. Oh sure, she'd been sick of the whole half the school attacking her every morning to get a 'date' thing for days now. Weeks even. Since Kuno's initial declaration during opening day orientation actually. Today of all days though, as she stood with half lidded eyes, holding the stupid rose that was tossed to her and ignoring whatever stupid speech that stupid upperclassman Kuno was spouting off this time, she couldn't help but wish more and more that she just decided to skip today. Yes, after everything that happened recently, she would much rather stay at home today, perhaps getting the chance to spend time with a certain pretty pink haired girl. For the girl's sake of course. Obviously. She could definitely use a girl her own age to be friends with and teach her all about girlhood, since her stupid older brothers and stupid panda of a father wouldn't be any help.

But no, Akane just had to go to school today. Somehow she got it in her head that at the very least she could talk with her older sister on the way to discuss the new people that have suddenly dropped into their lives. Of course Nabiki went and ditched her to do whatever secret underground organization stuff she apparently got up to, so once again here she was, standing alone, surrounded by a bunch of stupid perverted boys, waiting for stupid Kuno to finish his stupid speech so she could finally get to stupid class and dammit, she really, really wished that Sakura was here right now!

Suddenly, just as Kuno finished his stupid declarations of love or whatever he called them and was about to attack, he was stopped by something landing on top of him, causing him to collapse to the ground. It took a moment for Akane to realize the object that so quickly felled the kendo champion was in fact a person, a person that immediately hopped off the prone upperclassman and over to Akane's side, the whole while keeping their attention fully on Kuno.

Hope momentarily sparked in Akane's chest as she thought she saw a flash of pink go by her. That spark faded as she had to look up towards the face of the very obvious boy next to her and she recalled that, no, this was in fact the eldest of the Saotome triplets. Kuroma, that jerk. The same one that thought it was perfectly fine to just stroll out of her bathroom right in front of her. The one that was most definitely not her…her friend, Sakura.

"You…you…" Kuroma angrily sputtered out, his anger causing his voice to sound somewhat higher pitched than she remembered from yesterday. "How dare you think you could just go and decide who Akane is allowed to date. That's not your call to make!"

Akane was stunned for a moment by this outburst. On the one hand, Sakura's older brother actually trying to look out for her was kind of sweet in its own way.

The other hand became a fist that she used to slug the meddling boy right in the shoulder.

"Huh?" Kuroma looked over to her with an oddly hurt expression. "Akane? W-why…why did you…?"

The youngest Tendo quickly bit back her guilt at the boy who was actually trying to help and made sure to stand her own ground. "Let's get one thing clear. Yes, this guy is a complete jerk and I never asked for this, but I can also handle him just fine, and I definitely do not need some boy to fight my battles for me, Kuroma!"

The ponytailed boy acted like he was just slapped and he looked down at his hands with a confused expression on his face. Akane was somewhat confused now as well, as she could almost swear there was something off with the boy's eyes. She blinked a few times and shook her head, but when she looked again, his eyes were just the normal steel grey she remembered from yesterday.

Kuroma then looked back up at her, a furrowed brow added to his still confused expression. He looked like he was about to say something when he was interrupted by Kuno, who apparently had managed to recover and get back to his feet while neither of them were paying attention.

"It seems my suspicions have indeed been confirmed," the annoying kendoist bellowed out while pointing his bokken right towards Kuroma. "Tell me, fiend, who are you that would dare to interrupt my noble fight with the fair and graceful Akane Tendo!"

"Huh?" Kuroma looked to be even more confused now at the over the top accusation and began to blink rapidly. "Um, I'm…I'm…"

Kuno interrupted once more. "Oh, but it is customary to give one's own name first. Therefore, I shall provide mine!"

The ponytailed boy paused, then gave a gesture for the upperclassman to proceed. Akane in turn just rolled her eyes as Kuno went through his big bloated introduction. This time, for his self important, made up title, he went with calling himself 'The Blue Thunder', which somehow managed to be accompanied by an actual bolt of lightning in the distance.

Kuroma, for his part, didn't even seem to be paying attention, which was a perfect reaction to one of Kuno's speeches. However, instead of being bored, he looked lost in thought, as if a jerk like him actually had something to think about. Then, as Kuno was just finishing up his introduction, a flash of surprise crossed Kuroma's face and he looked straight up in the sky.

"So, fiend, I ask again," Kuno declared, "who are you and what business do you think you have with the fair Akane Tendo?"

"I…" Kuroma looked back at Kuno and after a beat of silence gave a deep sigh. "I don't have time for this right now," he said with apparent frustration in his once more semi deep voice.

Akane started to ask what he meant by that, but all she managed to get out was a yelp as Kuroma suddenly picked her up and flung her over one of his shoulders.

"You! How dare you treat the maidenly Akane Tendo like-"

Kuno's rant was cut off by Kuroma charging forward, planting a foot right in the kendoist's face and knocking him right back into the ground. The dark haired Saotome kept running ahead, not missing a step as Akane started screaming in surprise, only stopping once they were inside the school and she was somewhat unceremoniously set back down on her feet.

"What was that for, you jerk?" Akane asked while glaring at said jerk.

Said stupid jerk gave a stupid little shrug and pointed to a window, showing that it was now pouring rain outside. "Helping you not get soaked. Darn it, I told Pops this would be a disaster." He gave another sigh and ran a hand through his hair before glancing back to her. "Oh, you're welcome by the way."

Yeah, of course. Just like a typical boy, he expected her to automatically lavish him with praise and probably something that was perverted. "I told you already," she shot back, "I can handle things just fine on my own."

"Ugh, whatever," he said, turning away and crossing his arms. "See if I ever decide to help a slow, bratty tomboy like you ever again. Honestly, I'm starting to wonder what my little sister even-"

Akane finished the kick that managed to finally silence the jerk and let out a little huff before walking over to the shoe lockers. "Oh, speaking of slow, you better hurry up before you're late on your first day," she casually commented as she strolled by said jerk who was now embedded face first into the side of the lockers. The only response she received was a muffled grunt.