Obligatory author's waffling:
Almost a year ago I was struck by a fanfic idea. "What if Ranma and
Ryouga were brothers?" I started writing it, and even posted a version
to the ML for perusal.
And then I stopped writing it, for various reasons.
Time passed, I came across the old draft, had a look, and thought
'hmmmm, spelling mistake, this here could be written better', and before
I knew it the fic had almsot doubled in size. And then I ran into
problems again.
But I decided to post it to the ML for comment anyway. I'm weird
like that.
Known problems:
* Beginning VERY much a retelling of the original story with 'and
Ryouga' tacked on.
* Feels like it's covering and will cover much of the same ground
Mark Doherty did with 'Ryouga and Ukyou'.
Anyway, enough of my rambling. On with the fic.
RANMA AND RYOUGA
by Steven Scougall
(insert standard legal copyright disclaimers here)
It was a beautiful autumn morning in Tokyo. There were only a few
wispy clouds high in the sky, allowing the sunlight to stream down and
light up the city. The sun was nice and bright, but not so hot as to be
overbearing, as in summer. It was strange to think that, according to
the weather forecast, it was supposed to rain later in the day.
"Tendo-san! The mail!"
Soun Tendo yawned and stretched, and rubbing the sleep from his eyes
he shuffled out to the main gate of the Tendo household.
"Here you are, Tendo-san. You have a lot of mail today, I see. It's
a lovely day today, isn't it, Tendo-san?"
"Yes, it certainly is. Strange to think it's supposed to rain later
on today."
"You know how the weather is, changing its mind from hour to hour and
accountable to no-one."
"Yes."
"Must go, lots more mail to deliver."
As the postman walked off to deliver the rest of the morning mail,
Soun walked back to the house, sorting through his mail. Some bills,
nothing very exciting about them. He'd have to see about paying them in
the next few days. There was a letter for his daughter Kasumi, some
strange looking parcels for his daughter Nabiki that would best be left
alone, knowing her strange hobbies, and a postcard from China.
It was the last one that really caught his attention. Hands
trembling, and starting to sob quietly with tears of joy, he read the
simple, messily written message on it:
Tendo,
Bringing Ranma and Ryouga from China.
- Saotome
Mount Qinglang by mist and morning.
"Ra... Ranma? And Ryouga? Coming here? Oh, how I've waited for
this day!"
This was news of the utmost importance. Soun had to impart it to his
daughters as soon as he could. Especially considering how drastically
it would affect their futures.
His eldest daughter was in the kitchen preparing breakfast.
"Kasumi!"
"Yes, Daddy?"
"I have very important news for all of you. I'll just go and get
Nabiki and Akane, and then we'll talk in the living room."
"Yes Daddy."
Naibiki was in her room, reading one of her manga. "Nabiki!"
"Hmm?"
Once he'd finished talking to her, he went searching for his youngest
daughter. "Akane!" She wasn't in her room, she wasn't in the bath, and
she wasn't practicing in the dojo. "Akane! Where is that girl?"
Only a few minutes later, Akane, a young girl with long hair tied
back with a ribbon, and dressed in running clothes came jogging through
the main gate. "I'm hoooome!" she called.
Inside, she went straight to the dojo and changed into a practice gi,
set up four concrete blocks on the supports, then with a shout and a
mighty blow, she drove downwards and smashed through all four blocks
with apparent ease. "Ah," she said, wiping her forehead and with a
contentd smile on her face. "That was nice."
"There you are, Akane."
"Good morning Nabiki."
Nabiki looked at the remains of the blocks and shook her head. "And
there you go again. No wonder all the boys think you're so weird."
"Why should I care? Not everyone thinks the world revolves around
boys, Nabiki."
"No? Then what Daddy has to tell us won't interest you."
"What is it?"
"Come along to the living room and find out."
***
It was a few minutes later. Outside, the promised rain was just
starting to fall, and large dark ominous clouds were visible in the east
sky. People muttered to themselves and thanked their lucky stars the
weather forecast had been right, and that they'd brought their
umbrellas.
Inside, another storm was brewing. The three girls and Soun were
seated at the table in the living room.
"FIANCE?"
"Yes. The sons of a very good friend of mine. Their names are Ranma
and Ryouga Saotome. If one of you three girls were to marry one of
them, and carry on this dojo, then the Tendo family legacy would be
secure."
"Wait a minute!" said Akane. "Don't *we* have some say in who we
marry?"
"Akane's right, Daddy," said Kasumi. "We've never even met Ranma or
Ryouga."
"Heh heh. That's easily fixed. They're coming here."
"When?"
"I've no idea."
"WHAT?"
"Nabiki, look," said Soun desperately, "all I know is that they're
supposed to be coming soon. All that happened is that I finally got a
postcard from Saotome saying he'd be bringing them, he doesn't say
when."
"May I see it, then?"
"Nabiki..."
"It's only my whole future life, I think I have a right to see this
stupid postcard."
Soun sighed. She did have a point. He retrieved the postcard and
gave it to her to look over. Kasumi and Akane crowded in to look over
her shoulders.
"His handwriting needs work," observed Kasumi.
"From China, huh?" mused Nabiki. "Wow!"
"Yes," said Soun, "they've been on a voyage of training for the past
ten years. I guess they recently crossed into China."
"What's so great about training in China..." muttered Akane. "It's
not THAT far away..." She was still angry with her father for this
whole arranged marriage business.
"How old are they?" asked Kasumi. "Younger men bore me."
"What are they like?" asked Nabiki. "Are they cute?"
"Eheheh." Soun cleared his throat. "I've no idea."
"No idea?" asked Nabiki suspiciously.
"I've never met them."
Soun was saved any further embarassment, as all of a sudden there was
an incredible commotion from outside. There were extremely heavy
running footsteps. "Leggo, you old fool!" shouted an extremely angry
voice. There was an angry squealing, and the sound of a dog barking.
"What on Earth?" shouted Akane, covering her ears.
"Hmm?"
"We have visitors!"
"That must be them!"
Soun and Nabiki went out to the porch to greet their visitors. Akane
and Kasumi were left behind, Kasumi hoping Ranma and Ryouga would be
older than her, and Akane depressed because this was all about boys.
Instead of an old man and two boys they were expecting, though, there
came a giant panda. It ambled into the yard, holding both a pigtailed
redhead and a little black pig, both protesting. Behind the panda came
a dog, that was white on one side of its body and black on the other.
"Let... me... GO!! Stupid old man!" shouted the redhead angrily.
The pig squealed and the dog started barking again.
"Daddy... THESE... are your friends?"
"Of course not!" said Soun vehemently, shaking his head. "I've never
met any of them before in my life!"
"Oh, so this panda just decided to visit! With a whole zoo!" shouted
Nabiki. "It happens all the time!"
The panda looked over at them on the porch, ambled over to them, and
set the redhead and the pig down in front of Soun. It was as if the
panda was... offering them to him? Perhaps the redhead was Ranma or
Ryouga, and the other was supposed to be coming later? "You...
you're..." he started.
"I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry about this."
He was overjoyed, and took Ranma in his hands. "At last! You've
come!"
Behind him Nabiki squealed with delight. "Ooo! He's cute!"
"But what about Ryouga? And your father?"
"They're... er... they're coming," said Ranma.
"It's so good of you to come!" said Soun, hugging Ranma. "So goo-"
Then he stopped. Something didn't feel right. This felt eerily like
when he was hugging one of his daughters. Ranma felt like... felt like
a GIRL. He held Ranma away from him, looking at him closely. Yes,
Ranma was definitely female. "You... you're a..." He stared,
unbelivengly, his whole world collapsing.
Nabiki looked closely at Ranma, specifically, at Ranma's chest.
"Hmm?" Nabiki poked Ranma's breast.
"Um... could you please stop that?" asked Ranma.
"He," announced Nabiki, "is a girl."
Soun fainted.
***
It was much much later. The rain had stopped, the sky was clear, the
birds chirped, and a light breeze blew. The storm had passed.
Inside the Tendo household, Soun was lying down in the middle of the
living room, roughly where he had fell before. He was conscious, but he
hadn't moved a muscle since he woke up. He'd just laid there,
completely unmoving, tears streaming from his eyes. Beside him sat all
three of his daughters, Ranma, the pig, the dog and the panda.
"Oh, poor Daddy," said Kasumi. "He's so disappointed." She dipped a
towel into a bowl of hot water, then placed it on his head. "I can only
hope for better when Ryouga comes."
"HE'S disppaointed?" said Nabiki. "Some fiance this is! I'd sure
hope that Ryouga is better than THIS! This is all your fault, Daddy!
You should have made SURE!"
"Well, he said he had a SON!!"
"Do you see a son here?" Nabiki grabbed Ranma by the breast and
squeezed it. "Huh? Do you?"
"Uh... could you stop that, please," requested Ranma quietly, going
unheard.
Mostly unheard. "Stop it!" said Akane. "She's our guest!" Akane
turned to smile at Ranma. "I'm Akane. Do you want to be friends?"
Ranma looked up at Akane, a return smile on her face. "Thanks. I'd
like that."
"Join me in the dojo?"
Ranma leant over to the pig, picked him up, and set him on her
shoulder. "Sure."
They walked over to the dojo.
"That's such a cute little pig. Pet of yours, is it?"
"Um... yeah."
"What do you call him?"
"Ryo... er, nothing at the moment. He's very new. I only just got
him."
"Why don't you call him P-chan?"
"Huh?"
"You know, P for 'pig' in English."
"Oh."
By now they had arrived at the dojo.
"You learnt martial arts from your father, right?"
"Yeah. Some."
"Then let's have a sparring match, okay? Just for fun. I won't hurt
you."
By this time they had arrived at the dojo. Ranma set P-chan down on
the ground. Akane went into her fighting stance, but Ranma just
continued to stand there, hands behind her back.
"If you say so."
They stood there for a moment, Akane waiting for Ranma to get into a
ready stance, but Ranma just kept standing there. She very quickly grew
tired of waiting and suddenly ran forward and with a strong kiai she
punched straight at Ranma. Ranma leaped straight up over her arm.
Akane followed it up with a kick, but Ranma twisted in the air and
avoided it. The match continued on like this for a while, with Akane
striking and Ranma just dodging, never attacking.
"What's wrong?" panted Akane. "Come on, swing at me!"
Akane struck out again and again, but Ranma was never there.
Why was she missing her? Was she reading her moves? Okay. This
time, she'd attack for real. She charged forward, exactly as before,
and then struck, this time putting all her weight and power into it.
And just as easily as she had before, Ranma jumped over and avoided
that one as well. Akane's fist continued on and smashed into and then
through the wall.
Behind her, Ranma landed and tapped Akane on the back of the head.
This was... unbelievable. She'd never been beaten like this before.
Ranma chuckled, amused. Akane, after a moment's stunned silence,
joined in. She stopped and cleared her throat. "You're pretty good."
She adjusted and retied her jacket and belt. "I'm just glad you're a
girl."
"Huh?"
"It's just... I'd really hate to lose to a boy."
Ranma's expression changed - she now looked a bit guilty and
apprehensive, but only for a moment. Akane missed it completely.
***
Kasumi was in the kitchen, preparing the preparations for dinner.
The dog sat beside her, wagging her tail.
She'd learned from Ranma that the dog's name was Shirokuo, and was
really Ryouga's dog. She smiled to herself at the humour of it and how
appropriate it was, given the dog's unusual colouring. The dog had
instantly taken to her and had followed her around the house as she went
about doing the household chores. Kasumi didn't mind.
She had heard the sounds of a practice match from the dojo.
Surmising that Akane and Ranma would be all hot and sweaty after their
workout, she had run a hot bath. Shirokuro had been very well behaved
and stayed outside the bathroom door. Kasumi smiled - Shirokuro had
been well trained.
Later on, as she passed the living room, she saw her father and a
strange old man sitting together. They were just sitting there, not
talking to each other, just sitting there with tears streaming down
their faces. That was odd. She hadn't heard anyone new come in
recently...
She went on into the kitchen and quickly prepared something for the
two men and took it out to them.
The dojo was now silent. Ranma and Akane must have finished. She
saw Ranma first, out on the porch.
"Ranma!"
"Yes?"
"Wouldn't you like to take a bath?"
"Huh? NO! I mean... it's okay. I don't need one."
"It's not okay! You must be all sweaty from your workout!" She sent
Ranma on her way to the bathroom to clean up.
She saw Akane a couple of minutes later.
"Oh, Akane. The bath is ready!"
"Thanks." Akane headed off to the bathroom.
"Ranma's in there."
"That's okay."
***
It turned out to not be okay. Intending to surprise Ranma in the
bath, Akane had quickly undressed, trying to be as quiet as possible,
picked up a towel, and had slid open the bathroom door.
She opened the door just in time to see two boys starting to get out
of the bath. One had his hair tied in a pigtail much like Ranma's. In
fact, he looked very much like Ranma. The other had shorter hair and a
yellow and black tigerstripes bandana, and as his mouth opened in
surprise and shock, she saw that he had cute little fangs.
The boy with the bandana stared for a moment, his eyes and mouth
going VERY wide. He then spurted a massive nosebleed and fell backwards
into the water, unconscious. The other one, however, just stood there,
completely naked, looking at her with surprise in his eyes.
Her mind froze over, becoming numb. This... this BOY was staring at
her, and, and... she looked down, he... he... She looked down, really
embarassed.
Completely quiet, she turned around and slid the door shut behind
her, and quickly changed back into her gi. She stood there, completely
silent, trembling and biting her lower lip, for a few moments.
The tension building inside her finally snapped.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
she screamed. She ran all the way through the house, out onto the porch
and into the yard, only dimly registering her sisters and her father
talking with some old guy. If she had been in a more coherent frame of
mind she would have wondered why the old guy was here, but not right
now. She had only one purpose in mind. She had to kill that pervert.
The other one, the one with the bandana, never once crossed her mind.
She spat on her hands, rubbed them together, and ripped the top off
an old ornamental lantern. She could bash his head in with it, perhaps,
or maybe weigh him down and drown him in the bathtub.
"Akane! What's wrong?"
"There's a... a... a PERVERT in the bathroom! He... he looked at
me! I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!"
"That's odd, Ranma was supposed to be having a bath right now," said
Kasumi.
"Maybe the pervert scared her off too," suggested Nabiki.
"I don't care!" With that, Akane stomped off towards the bathroom.
She'd only gone a few stops before stopping dead. There in the hallway,
not more than a few paces away, was the same boy who had looked at her -
in Ranma's clothes? Beside him was the other boy who had been in the
bath, she'd temporarily forgotten about him. He was wearing some black
pants and a yellow shirt, of a different Chinese design.
"Who..." started Kasumi.
"...are you?" finished Nabiki.
"Er..." started the pigtailed boy. "I'm Ranma Saotome."
The other one looked at Akane nervously. "And I'm Ryouga Saotome,"
he said. "We're very sorry about all this."
***
It was only a few short minutes later. Ranma, Ryouga, and their
father were seated at one end of the living room, just in front of the
door outside to the yard. Sitting around them were Soun and his
daughters, watching them curiously. Shirokuro sat beside Kasumi,
looking between Kasumi and Ryouga, and being absently petted by Kasumi.
"Are you really her?" Kasumi asked Ranma. "That same girl?"
"Where did you two come from, anyway?" asked Nabiki of Genma and
Ryouga.
Akane was just watching the three of them suspiciously. And angrily.
Mr. Saotome cleared his throat. "Where shall I begin?"
"How about from the beginning?" growled Akane.
Mr. Saotome blanched. "Well, I suppose so. Hmmm." He cleared his
throat. "Let me begin... with this demonstration." With that he
quickly grabbed his sons Ranma and Ryouga and tossed them through the
open doorway into the carp pond.
The same redheaded girl from before broke the surface. "What did you
do that for, old man?" she yelled, spitting water.
The same little pig from before, with the yellow and black
neckerchief, dragged itself ashore, squealing angrily.
"Oh look, now he's a girl!" said Kasumi.
"And Ryouga's turned into a pig," said Nabiki.
Akane just stared.
"Oh, my own sons. How humiliating... how humiliating." Genma stood
at the edge of the porch and sobbed mightily.
Ranma leaped from the pond to the porch and threw Genma into the
pond. He turned into a giant panda with one of the loops of his glasses
around one ear and the jacket of his gi stretched across his body - the
same panda from before.
Glaring defiantly at her father, Ranma said "Who are you to talk?"
Ryouga jumped from the ground onto Genma and chomped him viciously on
the shoulder. The panda started waving his arm about wildly trying to
dislodge the enraged pig. As he did so he started waving signs about.
On the signs were written such things as "Not so hard!", "I'm your
FATHER, boy!", "That's really going to hurt in the morning", "HELP!",
and "Ranma, deal with your brother, please?"
"Daddy, why are you friends with them?"
"They weren't like this before! Not before they went to China, and
Jusenkyo..."
"Jusenkyo?"
"Yes," spat Ranma, "Jusenkyo. The valley of cursed springs."
"Cursed springs?"
"Yeah. There are hundreds of pools there, and something drowned in
each one. Like a young girl, or a pig, or a panda, or a snake, or
whatever. Whoever falls into a pool takes the form of whatever drowned
there."
"So you," started Nabiki, "fell into a pool where a young girl
drowned."
"Yeah, the Nyannichuan."
"He," she indicated Ryouga, "fell into a pool where a little black
pig drowned, and your father in a pool where a panda drowned."
"Yeah."
"Whatever made you go to a place so dangerous?" asked Kasumi.
"It seems this idiot," she said, indicating the panda, "read about it
in this..." She produced a guide book in Chinese. The title looked
like it was something about training grounds. "...and decided it would
be a good place to go. Because he can't read Chinese, he didn't get the
full story until it was too late."
"And cold water turns you into your cursed form," finished Nabiki.
"That's almost everything, except for one thing. We know the background
of and how you got the curses, and what activates the curses, but we
don't know how you change back."
"Hot water changes us back."
From the kitchen could be heard the sound of the kettle boiling.
"I'll just get that," said Soun and went out the door. In just a
moment he was back with an obviously very hot kettle. "Hot water turns
you back, you say?" And with that, he poured some hot water over the
panda. Some spilled over the pig, which was still ineffectually
attacking the panda.
In an instant the panda was replaced with a thoroughly scalded Genma
and the pig with a not quite as burned Ryouga. Mysteriously, Genma had
somehow managed to retain his clothes, but Ryouga hadn't. Ryouga
flushed a beet red and tried to hide himself behind his now human
father, and failed miserably.
Ranma picked up Ryouga's clothes that she'd retrieved from the pond
and threw them at her brother. "Oh, put these on, for crying out loud."
"Thanks bro," muttered Ryouga, moving over next to his 'sister.'
"And now for you." Soun tried to pour some hot water over Ranma, but
she dodged it.
"Woah! Hot water, not boiling!"
Soun tried again, but the kettle had run out of water. Defeated, he
set the kettle down and set an arm around both Ranma and Ryouga. "Your
curse problems aren't so bad after all!" he said heartily.
"Huh?"
"Wha?"
"Here, my daughters. Kasumi, aged nineteen. Nabiki, she's
seventeen. And Akane, sixteen. Now boys, wouldn't one of you want to
marry one of them?"
This sparked outrage from all five children:
"WHAT?"
"NO!"
"No way, Daddy!"
"Father, that's a little..."
"Huh?"
"I'm not marrying someone who's a GIRL half the time! And the pig
isn't much better!"
"Who's a pig?"
"WHO'S A GIRL!?"
"You are!" shouted Akane.
"OH YEAH?" shouted Ranma. "Well, you're just a violent uncute
tomboy!"
"WHAT?!" screamed Akane.
"You heard me! A violent uncute tomboy!"
"WHY YOU... IDIOT!" Akane started viciously attacking Ranma but he
easily dodged all of her attacks.
"Ranma, you jerk! Be nice to her! We're their guests!"
"Be nice to that macho chick?"
At this, both Akane and Ryouga growled "Why you..." in perfect
unison. They stared at each other for a moment, and then both started
attacking Ranma. Ranma had her work cut out for him, trying to dodge
two attackers now. Occasionally she'd try to hit Ryouga but then Akane
had a clear shot at her, and she'd end up more more distracted than
either of them. In the end she just dodged. And she was a good dodger
- neither of them could land a blow.
The others stood aside, watching the little scuffle play out.
"Incredible, Saotome. Ranma is avoiding everything BOTH Akane and
Ryouga are throwing at him."
"Ryouga's speed is not as good as Ranma's, and it seems Ranma is even
faster in his female form. Mind you, Ryouga's real strength is his raw
physical power... One hit from him can break
boulders."
"Oh?"
Back at the battle, Ryouga missed Ranma and hit the wall instead. He
smashed right through it. Soun winced.
"All right, stop this foolishness, children!"
"What?"
"I told you, stop. I don't want my house broken beyond repair."
"Oh..." said Ryouga, looking guiltily at the hole he'd made in the
wall. "Eheheh... I'm sorry about that, Tendo-san. I was aiming," and
his voice rose a notch in anger, "for Ranma."
"You shouldn't fight with your brother, anyway, Ryouga."
"Why not?" asked both Ranma and Ryouga in unison. "We do it all the
time."
"That they do," Genma said heartily. Both boys glared at him, and he
cowered back.
"Well you should fight less, especially when in the house, hmm?"
"What do you mean, 'when we're in the house'? You don't mean we're
actually going to STAY here?"
"Yes boy!" snapped Genma. "Tendo is an old friend of mine, and
either you or Ryouga will marry one of his daughters. That is final!"
"I'm not getting married to ANYONE, especially not now. This is NOT
the time for a fiancee." Ranma spun on his heel and started walking for
the door. "Come on Ryouga, we're leaving." Ryouga followed him without
a word.
"Where are you going, boys?"
"Back to China! We're going to fix these damn curses or die trying!"
At the door, Ranma turned around and faced Akane. "By the way...
back there in the bath, you took a good look at me, too. I'm not the
only pervert in this house."
"Why, you..."
"And why should I want to look at a naked girl? I mean, I've seen
myself plenty of times, right?"
Akane hissed, sucking air backwards through her teeth,
"Ranma, leave her alone," said Ryouga.
"Why? You couldn't possibly... gasp! You couldn't possibly LIKE
that macho chick, could you?"
"I am NOT a macho chick!"
"Stop insulting her!"
"Why? She's a violent, crazy tomboy! I don't see why you like her
so mu- Urk."
Akane had finally had enough, and smashed Ranma over the head with
the table. Unfortunately for Ryouga, he'd been standing right next to
Ranma and gotten smashed into the floor as well. Akane felt a little
guilty about that - after all, he had been defending her. But only a
little. He had after all looked at her, back there in the bath.
Perhaps not as long, perhaps he was embarassed by it, but he was still a
pervert.
"He had that coming anyway," said Genma. "To be so ill-mannered to
the one who one day may be his bride."
Akane glared at him, and he shrank back in fear. "Hmph. Why should
I care?" So saying, she spun on her heel and header to the dojo to
smash some bricks and vent some anger.
***
Ranma awoke to the feeling of her face being slapped, and the shout
of his brother.
"WAKE UP, JERK!"
The slapping was getting annoying. Ranma grabbed her brother's
incoming arm and gave it a good yank just so, and Ryouga was pulled off
his feet to land heavily on the floor. Only then did she realise just
how her head was throbbing.
"Oooh, my head. What hit me?"
"The table. Which ALSO hit me, jerk."
Ranma started to get angry. "Why blame me?"
"You're the one she was angry at!"
"You looked at her too, you know!"
"For about a second!"
"WOOF!"
"Shirokuro?"
Ryouga's dog leapt at her master, bowling him over.
Shirokuro was followed by Kasumi and Nabiki.
"Oh good, you're both awake."
"Finally..." mumbled Nabiki.
"You needn't mind Akane. She's really a very nice girl... she's just
a violent maniac."
"As if," said Ranma. "She's nothing more than a violent maniac."
"Ranma," growled Ryouga.
"So if you like her so much, bro, why don't YOU marry the tomboy, and
get this all over with?"
"WHAT?"
"That sounds like a wonderful idea," said Kasumi.
"NO!"
"You don't like her then, huh, bro?"
"YES!" Ryouga realised what he'd said. "I MEAN NO! Er... I mean...
what do I mean? I'm confused."
"You're ALWAYS confused," said Ranma. "I'm off to take a bath. I
really need to unwind."
"The bath's full," said Kasumi.
"Good," said Ranma, and she walked off.
About a minute later there was Akane's shout of "PERVERT!" and the
sound of a mighty slap.
"Oh dear," said Kasumi, "I forgot to tell her Akane was already in
the bath."
***
(end chapter 1?)
***
The night passed and the next day came. As days tend to do.
It was a Monday. That meant school.
"School?" came Ranma and Ryouga's voices.
"Well, yes," said their father. "We are going to be staying here a
while. Perhaps a very long time. You might as well go to school
again. Oh, and Ryouga?"
"Yeah Pop?"
"Remember to stay with Ranma. We don't want you getting lost."
Genma said this just in time for a passing Nabiki to overhear.
"Lost? It's not too hard to get to school, you know."
"Nabiki, my second son could barely find his way out of a paper bag,
even if he had a map. In fact, if he had a map, it would probably be of
the Imperial grounds, and he wouldn't know the difference."
"POP!" roared Ryouga.
"They have to find out sometime, boy. So you see Nabiki, he always
needs one of us to direct him. Otherwise he would be in Hokkaido in two
days. And he would be thinking he's in Okinawa."
By now Akane had shown up, also in her school uniform and with her
bag.
"Come on. Nobody can be that bad," said Akane.
"He IS that bad," said Ranma. "Unlike me."
"Well at least I don't get asked out on dates... by drooling
perverted guys."
Ranma calmly hit Ryouga over the head. "Don't ever bring that up
again, bro. And besides, if you hadn't gotten lost and we hadn't found
you just in time to save your bacon, you'd be dinner in an expensive
Chinese restaurant."
Kasumi saw the little crowd by the entrance to the guest room, looked
puzzled, and then looked at the clock. "Oh no!" she cried, hands over
her mouth. "You're all going to be late!"
Genma grabbed the boy's bags and threw them at his sons. "Now get
going, boys! Have a good day at school!"
"Huh?"
"We have to get going, Ranma! We'll be late!" So saying, Ryouga
grabbed Ranma by the pigtail and ran for it.
Not through the front door, but into the linen closet. An embarassed
moment passed, and he came out sheepishly.
"Er... where's the front door?"
"Just follow us," said Nabiki.
And then they were out the door and running for school.
"Oh dear," commented Kasumi, "neither Ranma nor Ryouga are wearing
the school uniform."
***
Running the entire distance to Furinkan high school at high speed
might have been nothing to experienced martial artists such as Ranma,
Ryouga and Akane, but it was too much for Nabiki. After only half a
minute, she started to fall behind the other three.
And if she couldn't keep up, she was going to be late, and have to
stand in the hall holding buckets. Something she was not looking
forward to. Something she'd never had to worry about before because
she'd always been a good student and never had to worry about being held
up talking to sons of a friend of her idiot father.
She tried to start running again, but after only a few seconds her
breath pounded in her chest and there was pain all down her sides, and
she had to stop.
Then she was being lifted into the air and the scenery was blurring
past her. She heard the calm, measured breathing of an experienced
runner. She looked up and saw Ryouga's face, with its cute fangs,
determined eyes, and bandana'd hair. He looked sort of handsome like
this.
She then realised Ryouga was probably going entirely the wrong way
and she'd be late anyway.
"Ryouga you idiot! Stop right this instant!"
Ryouga skidded to a halt. "What's the matter Nabiki? Is something
wrong? Am I hurting you?"
"You're going the wrong way!"
"That's funny, I was right behind Ranma and Akane... They were going
the wrong way?"
Nabiki facefaulted.
"Nabiki! Are you alright? That looks painful!"
"We're really going to be late now..."
"Well... if I stay by this fence here, does that help?"
"I think so... At the end of the fence you can see the school. If
you can't get to it from there you're an even bigger idiot than I think
you are."
"Gosh, thanks." Ryouga then picked her up again, and jumped to land
running on top of the fence.
"STOP!"
"What?"
"Other way, dolt!"
"Oh."
***
Nabiki staggered into the school grounds, with a few minutes to
spare.
"I NEVER want to do that again, Ryouga."
Silence.
A wave of dread crashed through her. Oh no, he couldn't have...
She turned around to look. He had. In the hundred meters from the
end of the fence to the school gate, during which he was supposed to be
right behind her, the fool had somehow gotten himself lost.
"Stupid idiot," she muttered.
"Nabiki!" came a friend's shout from a classroom window. "Why're you
so late?"
She ignored the shout and headed into the building.
Ranma turned his attention from the huge fight she'd just walked past
and watched her enter the building. "Wow. Her sister's busy fighting a
mob of guys and she can ignore it? How coldhearted." A full minute
went by and he then thought of something. "Hey, wait. If Ryouga's not
with her, then where is he?"
***
"WHERE ON EARTH IS FUURINKAN HIGH SCHOOL?!?"
"Growrf?"
"Oh, Ryouga! Why are you home so early?"
"Did you forget something, Ryouga-kun?"
His father held up a sign. "Lost again, huh?"
"The Tendo house... ? OF COURSE! If I just follow that fence, I can
get back to the school easy!" He started to run off, completely in the
wrong direction, of course. "Now where's that stupid fence?"
***
Time passes, during which the usual mob of screaming guys and Kuno bits
happen. I REALLY don't feel like writing them now. Besides, it's not
much different to what happens in the manga/anime, so why write it?
***
Ranma stood at the front of the classroom, the rest of the class
looking interestedly at him. Except for Akane. She just looked angry,
as usual.
"Well, class, we have a new student in our homeroom today. His name
is Saotome Ranma."
"Pleased to meetcha all."
The teacher winced. "Please do not talk so roughly in class,
Saotome. Now..." the teacher tapped the transfer papers, "this says
your brother should be here as well. Where is he?"
"He's... uh... kinda lost."
"Indeed?"
The door slammed open with great force, and a disheveled figure burst
into the room. "WHERE ON EARTH IS FUURINKAN HIGH SCHOOL?!?"
"Hey bro."
"Ranma... ? That means... I made it! I'm here! This IS Fuurinkan
High School! And even the right homeroom! I'm no longer lost! YES!"
The teacher used his desk to pull himself upright, re-arranged his
glasses, and goggled at the new arrival. "Would you happen to be Ryouga
Saotome?"
"Yes! I'm so glad to have finally made it here!"
The teacher wondered if Ryouga holding him tightly by the shoulders
like this could perhaps be considered assault. "Be that as it may, you,
your brother, and Akane Tendo were late. Please stand in the hall."
"What?"
"Buckets. You fill them with water. And then stand in the hall
holding them. Understand? Incidentally, you're crushing my shoulders."
"Sorry!" Ryouga let the teacher go and laughed embarassedly. "Don't
know my own strength sometimes."
***
Ranma, Ryouga, and Akane stood in the hall holding buckets of water.
"This is all your fault," she accused Ranma.
"Ryouga's the one who held us up this morning, you know."
"HEY! And anyway, you had more than enough time to make it here on
time, didn't you? So why were you late?"
"That's something I've been meaning to ask Akane."
"ME? I'M not the one who pranced and boasted and nearly got killed
by Kuno! And incidentally wasting five minutes."
"Uh... Kuno?"
"What's with all that, anyway?" asked Ranma. "The mob of screaming
guys and Kuno?"
"Mob of guys? And who's this Kuno?"
Akane sighed. "Kuno told them... a while back... that if anybody
wanted to date me, they had to defeat me in combat."
"WHO IS THIS KUNO AND WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?" Ryouga screamed
in frustration.
"SAOTOME!"
Ryouga turned to face the teacher, who was in the doorway to the
classroom, and looking at him angrily.
"Uh... yes?"
"Quiet in the hall!" The teacher then held up two more buckets.
"And you can hold these as well."
Ryouga grumbled, but took the filled buckets, and turned to Ranma and
Akane. "Now... if you don't tell me what you're going on about, I'll
kill you, after school."
"Well, Kuno is the captain of the Kendo club. He's very good at
Kendo."
"Yeah right," said Ranma.
"Shut up! As I was saying... he's a very good fighter - stop
snickering, Ranma - and so he holds a lot of power over the students at
this school. If they disagree with something he says or do something he
disagrees with, then he'll beat them up. Anyway." Akane sighed. "Kuno
fell in love with me and then told all the boys at the school that if
they want to date with me they first have to defeat me. I've been
beating up a large mob of screaming idiots every morning. And then I
fight Kuno. And I always win."
"So THAT'S what the large mob of screaming guys was all about, this
morning."
***
Not too far away, in room 2-E, there was a maths class on. Something
that Tatewaki Kunou had never been all that interested in nor had much
aptitude for. He tried to listen to the teacher, but the boring
constant monotone going on about... what was it? Some sort of
calculus? Whatever it was, both the subject matter and the dry delivery
were too much for the mighty Blue Thunder to handle.
Thusly Kunou took up his pen and doodled. First he tried drawing his
belived, Akane Tendou, in the classical style. It... lacked something.
Perhaps it was the interference of the lines on the paper. His attempts
at drawing thus thwarted, Kunou attempted a few haiku about Akane. But
they lacked his usual flair.
There was something gnawing at him. Why else would his drawing and
his poetry lack its usual vim and vigour? But what on earth could it
be?
Perhaps it was that accursed new boy from this morning. The new
arrival had much to answer for - inscribing a badly spelt word upon his
noble forehead, speaking ill of Akane, and he must have cheated, for how
else could the boy have defeated him?
What was his name again? Saotome, wasn't it?
Saotome had said he was lodging under the same roof of Akane. And
Nabiki Tendo, Akane's sister, was conveniently seated right next to
him. This was an opportunity he couldn't miss. Even though it would
probably cost him something.
In a low voice he spoke to her. "So, Nabiki, tell me of Saotome,
who lodges at your abode."
Without taking her gaze from her notes or the teacher, she spoke
back. "1000 yen."
"In order to obtain your fee I would have to leave my desk, and as we
are presently in the midst of a class I am unable to do so."
"Fine, fine, I'll give you credit just this once. Pay me back during
lunch."
"That I shall, Nabiki Tendou."
"Very well. Saotome is staying with us, along with his brother and
his father. They arrived from China yesterday."
There was something missing. A moment's thought and he realised what
it was. "And why would he be staying with your family?"
"Either he or his brother is to marry me or my sisters."
This last stunned Kunou, riveting him to his seat. Saotome had been
walking to school with Akane this morning. Had he already decided to
marry her? Horror of horrors, had he already forced himself upon her?
In only one day?"
He started to see red, then heard Nabiki's next statement. "It
hasn't been decided who'll marry who, yet."
And thus the torture ends.