Quantum Destinies
A Ranma � Fanfic
By Steven Thesken (jurai-knight@home.com)
This is purely a work of fanfiction done for fun, so please read and
enjoy. Comments and Criticisms are always welcome. It helps me to know
what is working, and what I need to work on to improve my writing.
Flames are ejected into an appropriate receptacle.
This story is inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi, creator of one
of the first of many anime and manga that I have enjoyed over the years.
It is also inspired by the stories of some of my fellow fanfic authors,
creators of wonderful alternate realities that I have enjoyed reading
about (and I don't say that just because some of them are my pre-readers
^_^ ), such as D.B. Sommer's "Shampoo �", Jim Bader's "A Very Scary
Thought -aka- Nabiki �", and John Biles' Elseworlds series. It is also
partially inspired by the science-fiction novel "Paths to Otherwhere" by
James P. Hogan, an author I have long liked.
Ranma and all other associated characters are owned by Kitty and the
ever-creative Rumiko Takahashi. This is primarily a Ranma fanfic, but I
will be bringing in some characters from other series for added color.
They will mainly be used for lesser roles or villains. Any new
characters are the property of the author.
Previous chapters of this story may be found at these websites, or you
can email the author for them:
Azatlan has given Quantum Destinies a home at:
http://www.geocities.com/~azatlan/Special-Series/quantum-destinies.html
Blood Blade has put it on his webpage at:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/5920/stories.html
Cursed One has it at his Anime Fanfiction page at:
http://members.xoom.com/Cursed_One/fanfic.html
It is also at Fanfiction Selections at:
http://members.tripod.com/DNyx/index.html
A brief explanation of some of the terminology and pseudo-science used
in this story appeared in the Appendix at the end of Chapter One, as
well as the meaning behind the Earth designations.
Thoughts will be bracketed by a * on each end. Any speech other than
Japanese will be bracketed by < and >.
**LIME WARNING**: Please be advised that there is some sexual content in
this chapter. I don't see the scenes as being graphic enough to warrant
a Lemon tag.
The list of worlds reoccurring in this chapter:
Earth 0.000,0.000 - The world of Scholar Ranma (Baseline cluster)
Earth +0.016,+0.014 - The world of Scholar Ranko (Baseline cluster)
Earth +1.612,+1.509 - The world of Shampoo � (Ranma � cluster)
What has gone before in this story (or at least what will help you
understand what is going on):
On a parallel Earth that diverged from the standard Ranma timeline over
five hundred years ago, the Empire of Japan rules almost half the world
and has done so for almost a century. A young scientist named Ranma
Saotome, through a device of his invention, is now possessed of the
skills and memories of a martial artist version of himself. That same
device has also given the Nabiki of this timeline an accidental copy of
the skills and memories from an alternate version of herself, one who
went on the ten-year training journey with Genma instead of Ranma. An
unexpected accident has now switched the mind of Professor Genma Saotome
with that of his counterpart from the "Shampoo �" timeline. Ukyou
Kuonji is now on her way to her destiny with the young scientist, and
she is pursued by the warrior, Ryouga Hibiki, who has known her since
childhood and believes her to be male. Ranma, after failing to reclaim
his true father, must now deal with this altered Genma, who has already
engaged Ranma to Nabiki. And now Nabiki is determined to show Ranma
that it is she, not he, who is the stronger fighter.
Chapter 9 - The Rules of Engagement
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not
fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know
yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained
you will also suffer a defeat.
Sun Tzu "The Art of War"
***** Earth +1.612,+1.509
Genma felt Nodoka shift against his side, jarring him awake once
again. Her leg rested atop his own, and one of her arms was draped over
his chest. To the best of his knowledge, she had been cuddled against
him like that all night, and he had nervously awoken every time she
shifted her position. He blinked bleary eyes at the ceiling of the
semi-familiar bedroom and listened to her sleepy mutterings, mostly of
her love for him and Ranma, judging by the words. Sunrise was still a
long time away, as far as he could tell, but he could not see the clock
without his glasses. He prayed that he could get another few hours of
sleep, and he wondered once again if he might not have made some sort of
miscalculation in coming home to his 'wife'.
Meanwhile, Nodoka's hand slowly moved across Genma's chest in her
sleep, gently caressing him. Her dreams were pleasant, and her body
luxuriated in the feel of her husband lying next to her. For over ten
long years, her sleep had been troubled by her loneliness, but now she
was content. The love of her life had returned to her, changed by his
time on the road, matured into the man she always hoped he could be, but
he was still her Genma. She snuggled against him, feeling warm and safe
for the first time in a very long while. Her breathing steadied as she
fell back into a deeper slumber.
Genma closed his eyes when Nodoka's breathing changed, and he tried
to imagine that it was his own wife who now slept pressed up against
him. Trying to embrace that illusion was an easy task, but the struggle
was in how far he could bring himself to pretend. He knew that, come
the dawn, his reality would be far different from his fantasy, and he
would have to deal with this Nodoka, not his own wife. A lump formed in
his throat as he worried about his own Nodoka. She would not suspect
that a stranger now slept in their bed. That concern had been partly
responsible for his restless night, and the other part had been the
great temptation given him, to forget his own troubles for a time with
the obviously willing woman at his side. He could still picture the
disappointed look on her face when he refused her as gently as he was
able to as they went to bed.
Fending Nodoka off had not been an easy task, as she had taken his
refusal initially as some sort of game on his part. The sheer, silken
nightgown she chose to wear to bed had not helped matters, an outfit
that was clearly chosen to reveal her figure to his gaze and entice him
to action, and it was so tempting. But he kept feeling it would be a
betrayal somehow, and that nagging worry refused to leave him. He had
finally claimed a need for rest due to his recent injuries and the long
trek across town, and she eventually relented. However, she then had
immediately snuggled tightly up against him as they laid down to sleep,
and Genma had found himself unable to relax. Sooner or later, he would
have to give in to her ardorous demands, and that foregone conclusion
raised an interesting philosophical question: would that be considered
adultery?
Genma heard Nodoka sigh with contentment once again. As far as he
could tell, Nodoka's dreams were apparently pleasant ones for her, and
the feel of her body against him soon lulled him back to a fitful sleep.
He was grateful that his dreams were uneventful and quiet so far. After
a time, the soft sounds of his breathing changed to a rumbling snore.
******************************
Meanwhile, Ranma slept the sleep of the blessed. His eyes had
closed the moment his head hit the pillow. However, instead of being
awake and agitated like his father, the pig-tailed boy foundered in the
sea of someone else's dreams and memories.
Troubled by the disturbing images all night long, the young man's
dreams verged on nightmares. Some were scenes that, almost, reflected
his own past, yet verged disturbingly at seemingly random points. In
one, he and his father ran from Shampoo all the way from her home
village to the Tendou home. The reason being that the young Amazon had
to kill the 'girl' that defeated her in front of her village. But, in
yet another sequence, he defeated her while in male form in the Tendou
home, and she then declared that he was her husband. It continued as
Shampoo, Akane, Ukyo, and even Kodachi all fought to be his bride.
However, after a brief period of respite in his dreams, the images
changed in his slumbering mind. Now Ranma found himself caught up in
vivid scenes of a very different type with Shampoo, beginning with the
two of them locked into a passionate embrace. He felt both of her
callused hands caressing his body as he returned the favor upon her own,
a softly-whispered 'Airen' repeated into his ear as she nuzzled at his
neck. The dream quickly turned far more erotic and intense, images
swiftly crossing his mind of another life with Shampoo, the two of them
married and loving each other with all of their being.
Ranma grumbled and rolled over onto his side, his mind now assailed
with ardorous images of himself and Shampoo, their bodies intertwined in
the throes of passionate intercourse. He groaned softly as a phantom of
Shampoo continued to pleasure his dream self.
The imagery was so vivid and felt so real that Ranma snapped awake
from them, uncertain for a long moment in the darkness where he was, or
even who he was. His breathing was hard and panting, as if having just
run a marathon, and his manhood was very solidly erect. All he could
recall of his dream was that it concerned Shampoo and him and had been
very pleasant.
A deep, slow breath filled his lungs and was gradually released
while Ranma calmed himself, willing his body to relax. He stared at the
unfamiliar walls of his room, the same room he had apparently once lived
in as a child, and he tried to make sense of things. All of the events
that occurred yesterday were jumbled in his mind, and many of them were
oddly distant, as if he was watching someone else doing them. He could
see all of his actions and remember every event now, but that was all
that he could recall of them. None of his thoughts or feelings were
available to him, like he had been some sort of a marionette on strings.
He shrugged off the notion that suddenly occurred to him, that the hard
impact with the wall while skating with Shampoo might have affected him.
He had taken much more severe injuries than that and still been able to
function normally.
*What happened to me?* wondered Ranma in the solitude of the night.
He rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, grateful that his
erection had gone away during his musings about yesterday. He turned
his head and stared out at the night beyond his window. His mind kept
drifting back to Shampoo, and he resolved to ask her if she thought
there was anything strange about how he was acting yesterday. As his
thoughts went back to his dreams and his reaction to them, he shivered
with disgust as he imagined what it would have been like had he slept in
his girl form.
*I'm no longer engaged to Akane or Ukyou,* noted Ranma idly, but he
did not quite know how he felt about that. It was a relief to not have
any engagements being forced upon him, but it still felt strange to no
longer be at the Tendou Dojo. He yawned as he watched it begin to rain,
the sound lulling him back to sleep. He closed his eyes and slipped
back into a dreamless slumber.
******************************
***** Earth 0.000,0.000
Hikaru Gosunkugi walked quietly within that region of the Mobius
Institute known as 'The Stacks'. This place was where many of the
various books and tomes on all things mysterious and magical were kept
for reference use by its agents, except for the powerful and dangerous
ones. Each of those codices were kept very securely locked up and
spell-warded in the vault, accessible only with permission of Director
Kasuga himself.
The smell of old paper and preservative agents permeated the air in
this section of the Institute, but Gosunkugi ignored the odd odors as he
poked among the various books, seeking some means for exacting revenge
upon that 'pure-bred' bitch that Ranma has on his leash, Kodachi Kunou.
If he could hurt the girl Ranma 'loves' for hurting the woman of his
dreams, poetic justice would be served. So the young esper had gotten
up well before dawn to have peace and quiet during his search. The
population of magic-wielders working for the Institute was composed of
many notoriously late-risers who preferred to do their studying at
night, so he felt reasonably assured of solitude as he searched for the
instrument of his vengeance. He was perusing an index when a finger
poked him in the back.
"Ahhh!" cried Gosunkugi, certain he had just lost a dozen years off
of his life. The older cadets often told stories of the creatures that
were rumored to wander around loose through the lower halls (aside from
the elderly Director Kasuga), and he was certain that one of them had
just come for him.
"Gotcha," snickered a female voice behind him.
Gosunkugi whirled around, clutching the index book to his chest like
a shield, to see a girl who was quite familiar to him standing there and
looking very smug. She was currently dressed in the white and red robes
of a Shinto shrine maiden, and a somewhat thick pair of glasses perched
on her snub nose, giving her a more mature look. Her lustrous, tawny
hair was tied back into a loose ponytail.
"M-Minami-chan," stuttered Gosunkugi when he recognized the young
ghost sweeper standing where he had been certain a fiend from the lower
pits of Hell would be. "What's the big idea, scaring me like that?"
"Oh, Gos-kun," said Minami sarcastically, "you are such an easy
target." She smiled brightly at him, pushing a lock of loose hair back
behind one ear. "What brings you down here this early in the morning?"
"Research," mumbled Gosunkugi.
"What was that?" asked Minami, wondering when he was going to ask
her about the changes to her appearance. Feeling a little hurt and
annoyed by his lack of perception, she turned so that he could better
see her.
"Just some research," said Gosunkugi more clearly. The small lie he
had worked out in advance came easily to his lips, so it was unfortunate
that she had a spell of Lie Detection on him. "I'm falling a bit behind
in one of my courses here at the Institute, so I'm looking for some more
reading material." A brief fantasy of enchanting Akane Tendou into his
arms rose unbidden to his mind, so he failed to notice that the young
ghost sweeper was twirling a lock of her hair and now looking more
crossly at him. "So, uhm, what brings you here this morning? I thought
your first class wasn't until nine?"
"I was doing some early reading before classes when I happened to
notice you back here," replied Minami, briefly wondering what his real
purpose here was, even as her finger tucked her hair back into place.
*For a telepath, he certainly doesn't make it easy on a girl,* she
thought, mildly exasperated with the thin boy. *I spent over two hours
yesterday with that book on cosmetic sorcery, and the idiot hasn't even
noticed.* She briefly recalled the efforts it had taken to recolor her
hair to its present shade from its normal, duller brown, altering her
eyes to an enticing shade of green, and, for the final touch, she had
reconfigured her torso a bit to trim her waist, hips, and thighs of a
few kilos of excess mass and enhanced her bustline with some of the
displaced matter. She knew she wasn't skilled enough with this sort of
magic to remake herself into a supermodel's measurements, but she was
rather pleased at the results. However, all of that was apparently to
no avail where a certain esper boy was concerned, and it made her feel a
little hurt.
"Oh, that's nice," said Gosunkugi absently, feeling a little nervous
with Minami around to watch what he was up to. Strictly speaking, using
any Institute resources for personal reasons was very much against the
rules, and it could result in severe penalties if it was learned that he
had done so. He also felt wary due to the intense looks that she was
giving him, as if she expected him to do something, and he wasn't doing
it.
"Hikaru Gosunkugi," said Minami finally in irritation, "aren't you
going to say anything about my appearance? I'm trying out a new look,
and you have yet to say a single word about it."
"Uh-uhm," stammered Gosunkugi, caught flat-footed by her accusation.
He was doing a good imitation of an animal surprised by the headlights
of an oncoming car. "Y-you look nice, Minami-chan. You did something
with your hair?" He saw her eyes narrow ever so slightly. "Did you try
a new nail polish?" Her eyes began to blaze with an inner light, and he
knew that wasn't a good sign. He made one last attempt and said, "Uhm,
I know! You're wearing new shoes." He smiled at her hopefully.
The glare he received in return could have frozen a supernova, and
Gosunkugi mentally kicked himself as his esper senses picked up a stream
of invectives directed at him, most of them variations on calling him an
idiot. He watched as Minami whipped her glasses off with one hand and
stared angrily into his eyes with a glare. Uncertain what to do or say,
Gosunkugi just stood there. He felt himself begin to sweat from the
stress of her gaze. He always felt this way around Minami, a fact that
the ghost sweeper sometimes used to her own advantage. However, she did
not appear to want to ask him for any sort of a favor now, and he could
not figure out what he had done to make her mad.
"You might be interested in knowing that I am going to be attending
the Academy alongside you and Kasuga-sempai," said Minami icily. "I
just got my transfer papers yesterday, not that YOU care. Perhaps SOME
boy there will know how to show the proper sort of appreciation for an
intelligent and understanding girl like myself, not like the insensitive
wretch currently standing before me." With that said, she replaced her
glasses, turned on a heel, and stalked off back the way she came with a
feminine harrumph.
*Girls,* thought Gosunkugi, confused by what had just happened to
him. He liked Minami, but the young ghost sweeper was often an enigma
to him, and she wasn't nearly as interesting to him as Akane Tendou.
With a shrug of his thin shoulders, he began searching once again for an
appropriate book, not noticing one on the shelf above him beginning to
move. It twitched slightly as he examined some of the tomes directly
underneath it.
The slender book quivered again a second time, the sorceries bound
up within it triggered by the emotional emanations from the young man
now seething below it with his desires for vengeance. It slowly slipped
forward a small amount, the plain brown cover disintegrating to reveal a
gold-trimmed, black leather beneath. When the last of the brown cloth
had finished fading into ash, the book slipped forward another small
distance and paused for a moment. Then, with a final surge, the book
leaped clear of the shelf, falling free of the volumes to either side of
it, and plummeted the short distance to whack Hikaru Gosunkugi squarely
on the top of his head.
The sunken-eyed youth collapsed to the ground, stunned by the
unexpected impact. After a moment, he shook his head, stared at the
book resting in his lap, and almost heard it purring there. He noted
the faded black leather and the very scuffed gold trim. Kanji symbols
in more worn gold were revealed when he picked it up and looked at the
binding, brushing aside some of the remaining ashes of the brown cloth
that once covered it.
The kanji read, "Codex of Ineffable Sorcery - A Primer Into The Arts
Arcane - Six Hundred Sixty-Sixth Revised Edition."
When Gosunkugi saw these words, he began to chuckle softly. Then
the chuckles slowly became louder and more menacing, until he broke off
into a fit of coughing. After catching his breath, he whispered, "Soon,
Ranma Saotome, I shall destroy that bitch of a noblewoman, and then you.
Prepare to face the doom I shall prepare for you." He could hardly wait
to start reading the book.
******************************
As Ranma dressed, he sneezed. He heard his mother downstairs in the
kitchen already preparing breakfast, but so far he had not heard any
motions from his 'father'. That was perfect. He was looking forward to
a private 'discussion' with Genma Saotome when his mother was not around
to disturb them. Luckily, the injury to his jaw was already healed, or
he would be feeling even less charitable towards the man than he was at
the moment. Grabbing his red, Chinese-style shirt and quickly slipping
it on as he walked, Ranma left his room and quietly paced the distance
to his parent's room. His ears detected some faint sounds as he drew
nearer to it even as a stray thought occurred to him as he paused
outside the door. He would have to leave soon if he was going to make
his scheduled appointment for the duel with Nabiki.
*I guess the old fool is learning the effects of an alcohol binge on
a body that isn't prepared for it,* thought Ranma without any sympathy.
A small smile lit his face as he placed his hand on the doorframe.
Inside the bedroom, Genma rolled over on his futon and sincerely
wished that he was dead. The din caused by Nodoka's movements in the
room a short while ago had set off a pounding in his head worse than
anything that Happosai had ever caused him. The pain was unimaginable,
and the room kept shifting in uncomfortable directions. When the door
slid open, the noise was like the sound of fingernails scraping down a
chalkboard. And when the voice spoke, it lanced through his skull like
the wrath of ten thousand angry gods.
"Good morning, Father," said Ranma cheerfully. "I trust that you
slept well?" He walked over and slipped the comforter from off the
supine form on the futon. This was after he raised the drapes in the
room to achieve the full effect that he sought in this action.
The early morning sun caught Genma squarely in the face, bringing
with it an entirely new concept of pain, and his desires to expire on
the spot multiplied at least tenfold. He whimpered like a baby and
snatched the covers back as quickly as he could. He caught sight of the
face of his son smirking at him in that brief moment, dressed in a very
familiar outfit, and he briefly wondered if the events of yesterday had
been some sort of a nightmare. However, that didn't explain Nodoka's
presence, nor did it explain how drinking could have affected him as
badly as it had. For decades, he had rigorously conditioned his body to
consume very large quantities of liquor without suffering any lingering
effects. Now, he felt like his head was an anvil being used to forge
sword blades for an army, and he wished that he felt well enough to wipe
the smug expression from the boy's face. He heard Ranma settle himself
nearby and yank the cover back from protecting his face from the harsh
light of dawn.
"You and I need to have a little chat, old man," said Ranma calmly.
"Ranma!" shouted Genma, but he immediately regretted it, another
small whimper escaping his lips. He continued much more softly and
said, "You should give your father more respect than this, especially
when he is lying on his deathbed."
"You aren't really my father, and you aren't really dying," said
Ranma coldly. He reached down and hauled Genma up by his lapels. "You
really don't want to test me, old man. I know the troubles that you've
caused in the past, and you aren't going to do it here. This is a whole
new world, and you don't know the rules. I'm not the same sort of Ranma
that you're used to dealing with, and I'm far more intelligent than that
ignorant jock you raised."
Genma groaned as the room whirled, and his stomach made disturbing
noises. It appeared that Ranma was already on to him, and he hastily
began to try and come up with some sort of backup plan, but failed. So
he decided to improvise. In addition to that problem, the pain in his
head seemed to be getting worse, and he swore a most solemn oath to the
heavens that if he somehow was able to survive this hangover, he would
never ever drink again. He managed to focus his blurry vision on Ranma
and frowned, deciding to brazen it out.
"How dare you speak to me this way, you lazy boy?" scolded Genma.
"You should be grateful to have me around now. My example will make a
real man out of you, not some pathetic scribe like you've been so far,
and I can teach you many things that this other Genma never knew."
"Like what? How to dodge out of a bar bill?" asked Ranma in a very
sarcastic tone. He tightened his grip on Genma's clothes. "My father
is a great man, a great scholar, and you have no right to belittle him.
He's never done anything to me that could ever compare to what that
other version of myself has undergone."
A memory briefly flashed across Genma's mind, the reason why Ranma
had spent ten years training his mind and learning all the knowledge
that the world had to offer. Genma blinked at the memory, knowing that
he now held a valuable trump card to be played, one to show the arrogant
boy now threatening him that his father was not the great man he thought
him to be. He was so tempted to tell Ranma now, but something made him
stay silent and listen to the pigtailed boy who was still ranting at
him.
Ranma continued, not seeing the gleam appearing in Genma's eyes for
a moment. "I've seen the world that you came from, and now my own
father is trapped there with all of your moronic mistakes! So don't you
dare even think about making yourself comfortable here! As soon as I
can, I'm going to send you back there and rescue him."
A wicked grin crossed Genma's face, and he said, "Oh really, boy? I
think I like it fine here in this life. And besides, you're soft. You
aren't even a real martial artist, Ranma, and I'd bet even a girl could
beat you up."
Ranma winced, ever so slightly.
Genma kept talking without appearing to notice, "Face it! You're
just a punk kid playing dress up in that outfit, but I can make you the
real thing. I can make you into a real martial artist, even better than
that ungrateful boy I used to call my son. How does that sound... son?"
For a single moment, Ranma was actually tempted by that, and then he
hated himself for even considering betraying his own father in favor of
this... creature who now wore his face. A low growl emerged from his
throat, and anger filled his being. Before he could stop himself, his
fist slammed across Genma's face, knocking him into the wall and leaving
cracks in the plaster there. He started towards the fallen man, who was
even now gathering himself, but he stopped suddenly and glared at Genma
instead.
"You aren't worth it," said Ranma in disgust, partially at his own
loss of control, partially in shame at feeling tempted by the offer. He
turned to leave, pausing for a moment to say, "And don't you even think
about trying anything with my mother." He walked out.
After Ranma left, Genma suddenly had a clever idea strike him, and
he rubbed his jaw in thought as he stood up. A nasty smile crossed his
face as he quickly picked up the telephone receiver and started punching
buttons. He listened to it ringing on the other end several times, his
eyes wincing in pain at each one, before being answered.
"Hello? Fuyutsuki-san? Genma Saotome here. I have something I
wish to discuss with you...."
As he went on to speak in serious tones with the man on the other
end, a longtime friend to his counterpart, Genma Saotome smiled evilly.
His headache was still almost unbearably painful and pounding, but this
phone call would neutralize any threat that this Ranma could offer him.
A short while later, after Ranma had left for classes, Genma heard
Nodoka enter the room bearing a tray of tea. He moved around a little
on his futon and cursed softly at the lack of conditioning in this body
for such manly pursuits as drinking. His new position had again brought
the morning sun straight into his eyes like the wrath of the gods, and
he hid his face under the covers and whimpered in pain.
Nodoka sighed. Genma had come home stinking drunk last night, and
it was the first time that she could recall ever seeing him in such a
condition. Even at the celebration party after their marriage, he had
remained very sober, and his strong sense of self-control had always
been one of the things that had attracted her to him. She set the tray
of tea down and knelt by his side.
"Genma dearest," Nodoka said softly. She heard him groan under the
covers while she poured some hot tea into a cup. It was a special blend
that her mother had always used whenever her father was recuperating
from one of his occasional drinking bouts. She deftly whipped the cover
off Genma's body, pinched his nose shut, and poured the whole cup down
his throat in a single smooth motion. Then she waited, patiently
kneeling beside her husband.
When the herbal concoction hit his system, Genma sat straight up,
and his eyes went wide. He blinked rapidly, and he felt like someone
had just stuck a firehose in his mouth and turned on the water full
force. All of the remaining pains of his hangover were experienced in a
single, blinding instant, rather than gradually over a period of time.
When it was over, he sat there, panting like a bellows.
"Feeling a little better, Genma dearest?" asked Nodoka sweetly.
Genma grunted, his mind fogged from a reaction to the herbal mixture
he just drank combined with the remaining hangover.
Nodoka narrowed her eyes slightly at Genma in displeasure. Her
husband didn't look to be in any shape to instruct his classes for the
day, so she made a mental note to contact his teaching aide to take over
for him. She poured another full cup of hot tea and shoved it into his
hands as she said, "I want you to drink down this entire pot of tea that
I made. Now." The sweet tones had been replaced with steel.
Genma swallowed the tea, and his eyes only bulged a little at the
reaction it caused in his body this time. Seeing Nodoka's unforgiving
eyes upon him, he meekly held out the cup for a refill. He drank down
six more cups of tea before the pot was empty. By the time he was done,
he felt almost normal.
"Now, will you tell me whatever made you make such a disgusting
spectacle of yourself last night?" asked Nodoka calmly. She took the
empty teacup from his hand, set it on the tray, then waited with folded
arms for his answer.
Genma felt that lying would be a prudent course of action right now,
so he said, "I-I don't exactly remember, Nodoka-chan."
Nodoka did not look convinced, and her arms remained folded across
her chest. She hoped that this was not some sort of middle-aged crisis
like her father had gone through when he was Genma's age. With her
son's future happiness riding on the next few days, the last thing she
wanted to contend with was Genma acting differently. She frowned at him
deeply.
"Nodoka-chan?" said Genma, beginning to panic, visions of a sword
taking his head filling his mind for a moment.
"I want you to listen to me well, Dearest," said Nodoka, her voice
sounding like plush velvet covering a steel gauntlet. "I know that you
have not been happy with the thought of Ranma becoming engaged at his
age, but I will not have you sabotaging things by purposefully acting so
disgracefully at this time." She leaned in closer, her eyes now blazing
with anger, and her finger firmly stabbed into his chest to punctuate
her statements. "You _will_ refrain from drinking, unless it is with
one of the fathers of the families that we will be meeting this week,
and you _will_ agree with my decision for the girl I feel would be best
for Ranma. Do you understand me, Dearest?"
Terrified at that moment, Genma could only nod mutely. He then saw
Nodoka's expression become its usual pleasant one once more, the power
of her will hidden behind it. He almost leaped out of his futon when
her arms came up at him, but he relaxed when she only gave him a hug.
"I just want everything to go right this week, Dearest," said Nodoka
quietly, and then she kissed him on the lips.
Genma blinked in surprise, but the kiss was unexpectedly arousing.
It had been a very long time for him, and now that his headache was
gone, he felt up to other activities. Ranma's recent warning was
already forgotten as he pulled Nodoka in for a deeper kiss, an act that
apparently surprised her.
"Dearest?" asked Nodoka, confused. "What are--umph!" Her question
was cut off by the very passionate kiss, and she was surprised to feel
Genma's hands quickly moving to the ties of her yukata. She was more
than a little astonished at his sudden ardor, and she wondered if it was
some sort of a side-effect of the tea. If so, she would have to make
more, she thought in a brief period of clarity.
A brief time later, both of them were far too occupied to think
about much of anything other than what was currently going on.
******************************
Kinnousuke Kashuoh yawned slightly as he blinked his eyes open at
the morning sunlight, and he stretched his arms as he enjoyed the feel
of the silken nightclothes he was wearing. A warm body was snuggled up
against him in sleep, murmuring in gentle protest at his movements. It
took him a moment to remember which of his three 'pets' it was. He
looked down to see red hair, for it was Tiger's head now nestled against
his side. One of her trimly-muscular arms was resting across his torso,
and the sensation was arousing him, not to mention how good the rest of
her body felt to be pressed against him like it was.
Tiger yawned much like her feline namesake, blinking sleepily as her
jade-green, slit-pupilled eyes adjusted to the early morning sunlight
streaming in through the window. Her tapering, cat-like ears perked
forward as she smiled upwards at her 'Kinnousuke-sama'. She was wearing
a sheer silk teddy in deep blue, because she knew that he liked seeing
that color on her. She was so happy that she had been the one chosen to
share his bed the previous night, and a pleased smile caressed her lips
as she recalled the jealous looks that Lynx and Panther had given her.
"Good morning, Kinnousuke-sama," said Tiger softly, a gentle purring
undertone to her voice that was highly sensual-sounding. "Did you sleep
well?"
"Quite well, Tiger," said Kinnousuke in an almost perfunctory tone
of voice, his eyes glancing at the clock. He saw that he had some extra
time this morning before he needed to bathe and get himself ready for
classes, and he looked downwards at the loving face looking upwards at
him, feeling a strong stirring of desire within him at the sight. He
had not done anything with Tiger the night before, preferring to focus
his mind on his plans for his conquering of Nabiki and her organization
to the exclusion of much else, but this morning was a different matter.
He had not played with any of his toys for a number of days now, and his
body was telling him that it had been long enough.
Without another word, Kinnousuke bent down and placed a firm kiss on
Tiger's lips, feeling them parting for him immediately and with abandon,
her hands moving to caress his neck and the back of his head as she knew
he liked. He felt her body roll on top of his as she opened her mouth
and let his tongue duel with her own.
Things became more and more heated between them, Kinnousuke lightly
growling with pleasure as Tiger's roaming kiss hit just the right spot
on his neck. Both of his hands gently ran along the length of her ears
as he stroked her hair, and he felt them twitching gently at his touch,
a sure sign of her enjoyment of his caresses. He felt her soft lips
nuzzling below his ear, her body's every movement exciting him just as
it was designed to excite any man who owned her. Knowing that she was
his to command, her only desire to love and serve him with all of her
being, was a most powerful aphrodisiac to him. He put his arms around
her and hugged her to him, feeling her tongue caressing his neck and up
under his jaw.
"Kinnousuke-sama," purred Tiger, her passions feeding on her love
for him and growing more and more intense. Subliminal programs awoke in
the depths of her mind, and her hands began moving to touch certain
shiatsu pressure points on his body, those which would enhance sensual
excitement in the human male. She felt his hands moving slowly about
her body, and a sigh of bliss escaped her lips. Her ears rotated back
in pleasure as she sat up, her legs straddling his waist, and her hands
continued to probe around his torso.
"Oh, yes," murmured Kinnousuke, enjoying every moment of Tiger's
touch upon him, feeling his own desires awakening even further at her
direction. When their two bodies were finally joined in coitus, the
pleasurable sensations almost overcame his control, but he felt the
redheaded catgirl's hands calmly touching and moving about his torso,
each gentle but firm press of her fingers somehow slowing and dampening
the urgency of his responses.
"Kinnousuke-sama," sighed Tiger, feeling her own pleasure gradually
rising up within her like a tide as they moved together, and her ears
remained flat to her head as the intense sensations consumed her
attention. Her trim body was now acting almost totally on its own,
under the guidance of her subliminal programming, and she luxuriated in
the touches of the man she loved so deeply, feeling him moving beneath
and within her. To Tiger, this was the fulfillment of the measure of
her existence.
A short time later, an intense orgasm reached out and embraced Tiger
as she felt her body buck against his for several moments. Even as that
happened, her hands moved to firmly touch various points on his body,
quelling the urgent fires burning inside of him and keeping them from
peaking just yet. Her movements slowed for a short time as she caught
her breath, but then they began gradually speeding up again.
As he hovered on the brink of his own release, Kinnousuke lost
himself in the fantasies his mind conjured up by the motions of their
two joined bodies, and he passionately whispered, "Oh, Nabiki-chan...."
Anger soured the sweetness of the intense sensual pleasures once
again washing through Tiger's body a second time, but her programmed
responses judged that her master was at the right point to let her send
him off the edge into his own climax. Her hands gently moved to touch
certain pressure points, releasing the blocks on his internal energies
that had been established. However, when she felt his body shuddering
beneath her in his pleasure, he whispered that hated name again, and
rage filled her. Intricate mental conditionings would not allow her to
feel anything of a negative nature against her master, so the sum total
of all that jealous anger was then channeled against the sole target
remaining, even as their two bodies slowly relaxed after the release of
passions. Tiger breathed evenly, her eyes barely open, as she remained
sitting straddled on the man she cared for with all of her being.
*Damn you to hell, Nabiki Tendou,* thought Tiger angrily, even as
she felt her beloved's body slowly calming beneath her. *Tearing down
your precious organization will be a pleasure, and I swear I will see
you brought low before Kinnousuke-sama. However, I do hope it is after
intense resistance on your part.* A wicked smile crossed her lips as
she gently moved herself off of her master, gathering up her clothes in
an idle fashion and pulling on her yukata. *Please resist me with all
your might, so that I can have the pleasure of shattering your will even
as my fists break your body.*
Unaware of the thoughts running through Tiger's mind as he absently
watched her dress, Kinnousuke was enjoying the pleasant afterglow of his
recent activities, endorphins now running strong throughout his body.
He studied Tiger, picturing Nabiki's face atop the catgirl's exquisitely
toned shape, and smiled. Perhaps after classes were over he would enjoy
Lynx's more quiet charms, or maybe he would entertain himself with some
playful wrestling with the statuesquely beautiful Panther before he took
pleasure from her body in intercourse. Or maybe he would take both to
his bed, or perhaps even all three of them. All in all, it looked to be
a very good day. He knew that the time spent away from the trio only
enhanced their desires to please him, and that was partly why he would
occasionally forego the many diversions that they offered him. It gave
him a sense of power that was almost as enjoyable as the pleasures of
the flesh that they presented him.
The door suddenly opened, and Lynx and Panther entered the room, the
tall, blonde catgirl bearing a tray with his breakfast. Both of them
were dressed in traditional yukata and obi, barefoot, and with their
hair pinned up.
"Good morning, Kinnousuke-sama," said the two catgirls brightly in
two-part harmony. They paused for a moment in the doorway, their noses
catching the scent of recent sexual activity in the room, and the duo
shot brief glares at Tiger. But, a moment later, they were all smiles
again as they presented themselves to the man they loved with all of
their being.
"With your leave, Kinnousuke-sama, I will go and prepare your bath
for you," said Tiger very respectfully while kneeling, one arm held
across her chest as she kept her head bowed. She arose when he grunted
his assent, and she watched for a brief time as he began to eat his
breakfast. The redhead then quietly withdrew from the room, the other
two catgirls watching her departure out of the corners of their eyes.
While Tiger's inner thoughts filled with bloody images of beating
Nabiki Tendou to a pulp, she walked the length of the corridors in the
west wing of the manor house. Her ears laid back and a very quiet snarl
escaping from her throat, she walked along with a purposeful stride.
Her eyes were set in a narrow gaze, the green of her irises filled with
a jealous anger. She entered the bathing area and proceeded to get it
ready for her master's use, as well as taking the time to bathe herself
if he desired her to join him in the tub, as he occasionally did.
Meanwhile, back in the bedroom area, and taking the subservience of
the remaining two catgirls as his due, Kinnousuke ate his breakfast at a
leisurely pace. He fended off Lynx's brief attempts at trying to feed
him with a cool-eyed glare. He enjoyed the cowed look she gave him in
return, feeling a heady surge of power at his ability to control such a
woman so easily.
*Soon, Nabiki,* Kinnousuke thought with glee, *you too will kneel
before me and take your proper place as a woman, serving me as is my
right as a man. Soon.*
******************************
***** Earth +0.016,+0.014
Ranko slid into her usual place at the breakfast table and yawned.
For the last couple of nights, her sleep had been a bit troubled, but
her dreams always went unremembered come the dawn. However, last night
was a different story. It was almost a repeat of the dream from two
years ago, and it was filled with the schematics and equations composed
of cerulean fire. But there was more this time.
Now inscribed in her memory were extra circuit diagrams and several
completed versions for what had previously been partial equations in her
notes. The new information told her that she had been wrong about her
initial interpretations of some of the equations and schematics before.
The dream sequence on the resonator was the same, but what she had once
taken for a near-solution to an anti-gravity device was something else
entirely. She was contemplating that as she began serving breakfast to
her mother and father. She did not notice the smile on Nodoka's face,
nor the troubled look that was on her father's.
"Ranko-chan, I have good news," said Nodoka with a smile.
"Hmm?" mumbled Ranko, looking up from her rice bowl. She met the
other woman's gaze and felt a quiver of worry. "What is it, Mother?"
"This week, I've arranged for you to meet with three nice boys and
their families to discuss a possible marriage between one of them and
yourself," said Nodoka very pleasantly, clearly expecting her daughter
to respond with joyous enthusiasm. Or at least that was the hope. She
was wrong.
"WHAT?!" shouted Ranko, stunned. The pleasant look on her mother's
face changed to a stern glare, and so she lowered her voice in volume
but did not cease her resistance. "But, I don't want to get married to
anyone right now."
"Nevertheless, this is what you will do," said Nodoka with a brief
quiver in one eyelid. She locked gazes with Ranko and a battle of wills
broke out, neither woman giving a single inch to her opponent.
"I won't," said Ranko firmly through gritted teeth.
"You will," responded Nodoka, her voice as sharp as the edge of a
drawn katana.
"I tell you, I won't," replied Ranko, her clear-blue eyes meeting
her mother's gaze. If it was possible, they were filling with even more
defiance.
Genma sat at his place at the table and began to sweat a little.
This 'discussion' between his wife and only daughter was looking like it
was going to be a bad one. He hid behind his newspaper and prayed that
the situation would not require any input from him. He did not move a
single muscle, not daring to call any attention to himself.
"As my daughter, I say you will obey me in this, young lady," said
Nodoka, perhaps a hint of a growl now entering her voice. She narrowed
her eyes fractionally as she gazed at her daughter, even as her hands
closed into fists beneath the table. She felt the pace of her breathing
increasing slightly at Ranko's continuing defiance of her will.
"I'm not going to just marry some guy that you pick out for me, just
because you want me to," said Ranko, her own expression a mirror image
of the one on her mother's face. "Besides, I'm not old enough to get
married." Then, a wry smile appeared on her face, and she said, "After
all, you didn't get married until you were nineteen."
"How old I was is not an issue here," said Nodoka crossly. "You
need a young man in your life to calm you down and give you direction,
young lady. Marriage will give that to you. Kami-sama knows that I was
not nearly as wild and willful as you are when I was your age, Daughter.
I was a dutiful child, and I married your father out of obedience and
love for my family's wishes. You are a little younger than I was, but
you will do the same and be a dutiful daughter."
Genma continued to remain silent, but the paper barrier crumpled
ever so slightly in his grip.
Realizing that the situation was not going to be changed with words,
Ranko muttered, "So who have you chosen for me to see?"
Thinking she had won the battle, Nodoka smiled victoriously and
said, "Well, one of them you already know. Kaneda Tendou. I know he's
a little younger than you are, but he comes from a fine family."
Ranko's eyebrow twitched slightly.
"The second boy comes from a fine family of rural samurai stock, and
they have an excellent reputation for loyalty and honor," said Nodoka
pleasantly. "He is the heir to the Hibiki School of Martial Arts, and
his name is Ryouga."
Ranko was mildly intrigued at that one, but she refused to give her
mother any positive responses.
"Finally, the third boy comes from one of the Noble Families of the
Empire," said Nodoka quite happily. "He is the heir to the name and
title of his clan, and his name is Tatewaki Kunou. If you marry him,
then you will become a Lady of the Empire. Isn't that a wonderful
thought?"
*Wonderful,* thought Ranko sarcastically, trying hard not to twitch
a second time. "If you think it's such a wonderful thing, why don't you
marry him?" She paused to catch her breath, then said sarcastically,
"Of course, Mother, I will do as you ask. After all, you were such a
good judge of men." She rolled her eyes towards the man hiding behind
the shaking newspaper.
"You could show a little more enthusiasm," said Nodoka, irritated.
"Whether you like it or not, one of these three boys is going to become
your future husband, so I want you to be on your best behavior when you
meet them. Two of the families have invited us to have dinner with them
this week, so that was why we went shopping for clothes yesterday."
Ranko had wondered about that, and she did have fun with her mother
picking out pretty clothes to wear. Like most young women, she liked
shopping, and she knew her wardrobe was a little small for a girl her
age. So any chances to expand it were always welcome. Then, the reason
why she had been allowed to buy them came crashing back in upon her, and
she returned to the usual, mildly sullen look that she always seemed to
find on her face when talking with her mother.
"Very well, Mother," said Ranko with half-sincere cheer.
"I knew you would see things my way," said Nodoka, before beginning
to eat. She watched Ranko eat very quickly, but still just below the
borders of good manners. She decided to say nothing, content with the
small victory that this current exchange with her daughter had given to
her.
Ranko consumed rice and eggs at a rapid pace, and her thoughts were
turbulent. Thinking about her work calmed her, and so she returned her
attention to it. The new equations and diagrams she envisioned were
marvelous in their simplicity, and she was amazed at how wrong she had
been before.
The resonator was a window into other timelines, a chance to look at
the way her life might have been.
Now, she had been given access to a doorway, a portal into these new
worlds.
All she had to do now was build the key, and that doorway would be
hers to open.
******************************
***** Earth +0.000,+0.000
Nabiki arrived on campus a little over forty minutes before classes
were to begin, her uniform in her bag. She was dressed in a light-blue,
short-sleeved, Chinese-style shirt (a color she was finding that she
liked the most) and black gi pants. The trim muscles in her arms were
slightly tense with expectation. She took a moment and inhaled deeply
of the scent of cherry blossoms in the air, smiling. The sky was clear
except for a few scattered clouds. *It's just a perfect morning for a
martial arts duel,* she thought pleasantly.
Setting her bag down on the grass where the duel would take place,
Nabiki began to do some stretching exercises to loosen herself up. As
she limbered up her body for what would only be her second real fight,
she caught sight of some of her assistants approaching her: Yohko Mano,
and behind her two other associates, Yuka and Sayuri. All three of them
were dressed in Security-cadet gray. Nabiki nodded her head to them in
greeting as they came nearer, pausing for a moment in her warm-up.
"Good morning, ladies," Nabiki said pleasantly. She bent her body
double as she stretched out one leg, feeling the muscles in her calves
and thighs loosening up. "Is everything ready for the show today?"
"We spread the word about the fight," said Yohko calmly. "And from
the surprising number of cadets already on campus, it should be a pretty
respectable crowd to witness it. Word has spread about what the two of
you have been doing the last couple of days, and there are a few rumors
floating around. Is it true that you beat up a couple of guys on the
street a few days ago?"
Nabiki blinked in surprise, since she was sure that nobody had been
around to witness anything. Still, with would-be Security Directorate
operatives running around all over the place, it was not a very large
surprise that someone might have been following her for surveillance
practice. However, she was a little miffed at herself for not detecting
anyone doing so.
"That's true, actually," admitted Nabiki. "It was those two punks,
Akio Kuro and Kena Shishi. They weren't as tough as their reps would
say."
Yohko raised one eyebrow. She knew for a fact, based on how well
she knew Akane's level of fighting skills, that the youngest Tendou girl
could take on those two at the same time in a straight fight and likely
win, but she had not suspected that Nabiki was an even better fighter.
It was also pretty clear that Ranma was a tough combatant, since he had
battled Akane as easily as if the girl was almost standing still. This
fight was looking more and more interesting.
"So why the duel, Sempai?" asked Yuka in curiosity. "What has Ranma
ever done to you?"
"It's a private matter between him and me," said Nabiki as she did a
few more limbering-up exercises. Her body felt supple and strong this
morning, and she knew that she was quickly drawing near the level of
conditioning that her counterpart enjoyed. "Let's just say that both of
us are curious to see how we would each do in a real fight against the
other and leave it at that."
"Okay, Boss," said Sayuri with a nod. She glanced at the other two
girls with her and asked, "So what sort of odds do you want us to set on
the betting? Current opinion is favoring Ranma, since more people have
seen what he can do. Three to two odds?"
Nabiki thought about it for a moment. Based on her sparring matches
with Ranma, she assumed that his counterpart was not quite as skilled as
her own. Ranma seemed to be a fairly equal match for her physically,
and he was a bit stronger that she was, as well as being able to take a
little more punishment. However, she was faster, and her counterpart's
skills seemed to be a little better than those that Ranma obtained from
his own counterpart. She was certain that other Nabiki would be able to
take down that other Ranma in a one-on-one fight, so she was extremely
confident she would win here today. After all, she had already beaten
him once before, and going at each other in a real fight would only give
her the opportunity to prove her superior fighting skills to him even
more decisively.
"Those odds sound about right to me, only set them up in my favor,"
said Nabiki with a grin. If Ranma heard the odds, she was sure that
would rev up his fighting spirits a bit, and she wanted them both to be
at their best for this fight. She really wanted to settle the issue of
who was the tougher between them, at least at the point that they stood
now. "Oh, and don't forget to take bets on the length of the fight. I
should have Ranma put down in under fifteen minutes, but he may last as
long as twenty. Set your odds based on that."
"Gotcha, Sempai," said Yuka, jotting it down in her notebook.
"Go start setting up bets," said Nabiki. "Ranma will be here
shortly, and I want to get started as soon as he does."
******************************
Akane paused at the gates to Furinkan Military Academy and surveyed
the area. It was similar in appearance to the Imperial Academy, and she
was a little relieved at that. She tugged at the new uniform that she
was wearing, the jacket feeling a little snug at the collar. However,
the pants fit her all right, and it was only a very mild adjustment for
her to wear this much more masculine uniform design. She was grateful
to Kyouko for obtaining several in her size yesterday.
A commotion over by one of the cherry trees on campus drew her
attention, and Akane witnessed a fight between two cadets taking place.
*Now this is my kind of action,* she thought with a grin. She casually
strolled over to see what was going on.
A small crowd of cadets was gathered around the two struggling
figures battling between the wall and the large cherry tree. As she
drew nearer, Akane could see that they were both boys, first-year cadets
from the single stripe on their uniform sleeves, one currently beating
in the face of the other with economical strikes from his fists. She
noticed that there were a couple of other girls standing around as well,
but the vast majority was male. She licked her lips as she wondered how
quickly she could start testing herself against these other warriors-in-
training.
The loser finally crumpled to the ground, his face looking extremely
battered and one of his eyes was swelling shut. The other boy looked
not quite as beaten up, but he had taken a few solid hits. He enjoyed
the cheers of the crowd at his skills, and one of the two other girls
who had been standing in the small crowd looked at the victorious boy
with shining eyes. The other one, a girl with short brown hair and a
single stripe on her sleeve, appeared to be studying Akane casually.
Akane chuckled at the fighting skills demonstrated before her now.
She did not appear to notice or care that several sets of eyes were now
swiveling in her direction. The boy who had just won looked at her with
a very sour expression.
"What's so funny, little girl?" asked one of the upperclassmen, a
brawny youth wearing two stripes on his right sleeve. He was several
centimeters taller than Akane, and he marched up to her as he spoke in a
menacing tone of voice.
"I was just expecting to see better fighting abilities," said Akane
casually. "I could take on either of those two and win."
"The winner is my little brother," said the older boy angrily, "and
I don't appreciate you mocking his skills. If you're so very good, then
perhaps you might put your fists where your mouth already is? Girl, I
challenge you!"
"My pleasure," said Akane, and her body surged forward as her fist
struck the older boy up under his jaw before he could defend himself,
with almost her full power behind the blow. As his body sagged down,
stunned, her knee quickly followed up the first strike by slamming
upwards into his groin hard enough to lift him clear of the ground
several centimeters. Clutching himself in reflex, a greenish look now
filling his face, he fell to the ground and began retching while Akane
calmly watched his plight. Several boys looked pained in sympathy for
him.
Akane appeared disappointed. She absently brushed her fingers back
through her hair and sighed. As she straightened her uniform, a modest
rippling of conversation went through the crowd. She only half-listened
as she smoothed the cloth of non-existent wrinkles, ignoring the gasping
figure at her feet.
"She just took down Yatagi-sempai without working up a sweat."
"She's a beauty though."
"Try ball-buster, instead."
"The other upperclassmen won't put up with something like this."
"Do you think she might get invited to join the Combat Club?"
Akane's eyes brightened at that last one, and she whirled to face
the male cadet who had just spoken and asked, "What did you just say?"
The boy, a first-year plebe like herself, backed away from her
holding his hands up in submission. "I just wondered if you might be
invited into the Combat Club." Seeing that she wasn't attacking him,
his voice gained confidence. "Only the best of our fighters are allowed
to apply, so the club contains only master level fighters. It's said
that to join, you must defeat three of the current members." Eyes
shining with awe, he gushed, "I bet that you'll be the first plebe ever
to get in! See the Sergeant over there? That's Kasuganou-sama, she's a
member."
Akane watched the other girl approach a moment after their eyes met.
She studied her as she strode over, the girl's walk having the rather
distinctive sort of grace that a well-trained fighter had, and her body
was leanly built. The girl's short brown hair blew freely in the sudden
breeze that arose.
The girl stopped within a pace of Akane, and then neither one moved.
Their gazes locked for several moments, as an unspoken communication
occurred between them. Akane idly noticed that the girl's height was a
few centimeters shorter than her own, perhaps a hundred and sixty at the
most, giving her a slight reach disadvantage against Akane. Neither
girl appeared to notice when the boy Akane was speaking to scurried away
as quickly as he could without attracting attention.
"I'm Sakura Kasuganou," said the other girl neutrally. "Seventh Dan
of the School of Holy Imperial Fighting."
"I'm Akane Tendou. I'm unranked but mostly use the same school as
yourself."
"You fight well, Plebe," Sakura said with a friendly grin. "It took
great speed and skill to defeat Yatagi-baka as quickly as you did.
Perhaps you might like to test your skills against me sometime soon."
She held out her hand. "Would you like to be friends?"
"I think I'd like that," replied Akane sincerely, taking the hand
and engaging in a brief test of grips that she only narrowly won. She
saw Sakura nod once.
"Welcome to Furinkan Military Academy, Akane Tendou," said Sakura
with a slightly broader smile. "Come with me, and I'll show you around
the campus." With that, the lean-built girl walked off, displaying a
relaxed military posture in her spine. Her hair waved about a little as
she strode away.
Akane smiled. The day had just begun for her, and things were
already looking very promising. She hurried after her new-found friend.
******************************
As Ranma entered the gates of the Academy, he wore the fighting
outfit Nabiki had gifted him with. His uniform lay neatly folded in the
bookbag slung over his shoulder as he intended to shower and change
after this morning's foregone victory. Grateful that his sleep had been
peaceful, he felt ready for the coming challenge. In fact, his body
hummed with suppressed excitement. A look of mild surprise crossed his
face as his gaze took in the many knots of students, many more than
should be there that early. Dismissing them as an unneeded distraction,
he walked towards the practice field and his 'date' with Nabiki.
Anji Kyuuzan and Soujirou Seta watched Ranma from one side of the
main building as he made his way past them. Anji's eyes blazed with
hatred for Ranma, for making him look bad to his boss. He knew that
today was going to be his last chance for redemption. *Ranma Saotome,
soon I shall redeem myself, with your broken body as the coin,* he
thought darkly. *Enjoy your little match with Nabiki, because she's
going to be next after I take care of you.*
Soujirou was keeping his own counsel today. His trademark smile was
on his face as he kept Anji company. The two members of the Wolf Pack
began following along behind Ranma silently, keeping their distance for
now.
Ranma continued his walk out to the field, absently counting the
number of cadets in the area. He saw them forming a rough circle a good
distance away from where Nabiki was warming up with some punching and
kicking exercises, every movement economical and lean of any wasted
motions. Her short-sleeved shirt showed off the compact and pleasantly
well-defined musculature in her arms, especially when they were covered
in a light sheen of sweat like they now were.
A slight increase in the buzz of conversations going on around her
signaled Ranma's arrival on the scene. Nabiki paused in her efforts as
she watched her challenger approach. As she continued to watch, their
gazes locked. The intensity of the look caused a brief shiver of
...need ...anticipation ...aggressiveness to whisper through her as she
responded to the strength and confidence of the man in front of her.
But there was also now something more present, something that she had
simply not noticed in him before, even when they had been engaged in
fierce combat with each other.
Nabiki quickly lowered her gaze as a flush appeared on her face, and
she hoped that Ranma had not noticed her unexpected reaction to him.
She had always been aware of Ranma's physical attractiveness, and his
blue eyes and handsomely-carved facial features had always been quite
pleasing to her. But the personality now lying behind his face - the
intelligence, the character, and the strength of will - gave it a life
and energy that had just struck her almost like a physical blow. It was
the first time the sight of a boy had ever taken her breath away. What
he had gained for himself so very recently, something that Ranma had
never displayed so openly to her before, was a measureless vitality that
warned anyone who saw him that this young man was a force to be reckoned
with. The athletic grace that he now carried himself with as he slowly
approached her only added to that image.
However, despite her strong feelings for him, Nabiki intended to
fight Ranma as if nothing had changed. It would be a severe insult to
his abilities if she eased up on him in the slightest way, and she
suspected that Ranma was feeling much the same. Disregarding who and
what they were only days before, both of them were warriors now, martial
artists, and that carried a code of conduct that went beyond feelings of
love or friendship. If Ranma intended to defeat her, he would have to
take that victory from her. However, Nabiki was certain that she would
win, despite the bravado that Ranma was now displaying, for she knew
that her skills were greater and her reflexes were better.
At the moment of meeting Nabiki's gaze, Ranma had a cocky look on
his face, feeling deeply confident in himself this morning. After all,
despite the taunts that Genma had spoken to him just a short time ago,
he knew that he would win. He refused to believe that any girl, even
one possessed of the skills of an heir to the Anything-Goes School, even
his female counterpart, Ranko, was better. His male ego, now backed up
by the memories of those other lives, would not allow him to. He was
Ranma Saotome, and knew to the core of his being that he never lost when
it counted. An intense clarity of purpose had come over him.
Then the moment was gone. Returning to himself, Ranma briefly shook
his head to clear it. He paused in his approach to Nabiki, and he felt
that familiar tingling sensation starting up as he came near her. He
ignored his feelings of attraction with some difficulty. It did not
matter what he might or might not feel for Nabiki at this time; she was
only his opponent now. In a sense, she represented the ultimate test of
his martial arts skills; a warrior who was trained to an equal degree as
himself, and an opponent who would know all the same tricks that he
knew. Defeating her would be to ascend to the top of the final mountain
and embrace the new life he had found for himself, and he wanted to win
against her more intensely than he had ever wanted anything else in his
life. This would be his test, and he would not fail.
"Ready, Ranma-kun?" asked Nabiki pleasantly. "You can always choose
to back down, you know, and take your place in my shadow. Or, if you
think you can, you could show me how much of a man you are. Not that I
think you have any chance of defeating me." She knew that was a cheap
shot, but unsettling an opponent's mind with insults was sometimes just
as effective as a strike to the ribs.
"Let's get to it, Nabiki," said Ranma calmly. Without bothering to
warm up, he settled into an almost relaxed combat stance.
Things began, and Nabiki could immediately sense that something was
different about Ranma this time. Her fists and feet lashed out at him,
probing his defenses as they maneuvered around each other for advantage.
Ranma responded in kind, his punches and kicks flowing against Nabiki's
own defenses. She could sense intense purpose in his movements, but
there was also something more that unexpectedly began swirling between
them, a powerful feeling of rightness. This was what they were both
born to be, to do, and yet there was also an almost sensual undertone to
their struggle. In a sense, they were Yin and Yang personified, and
this was their first real battle with each other. There was almost a
feeling of expectancy in the air, as if anything was now possible.
"This is so exciting," said Yuka, now that all of the betting was
taken care of. She was standing next to Sayuri and Yohko, watching
Nabiki and Ranma seemingly dancing with each other at incredible speed.
It was like being down on the Arena floor during a match.
"Uh huh," muttered Yohko, her gaze locked on observing the almost
patternless motions that the two martial artists were using. She caught
a brief glimpse of Kyousuke coming towards her, but she very purposely
ignored him as he slowly approached. She had forgiven him over the
weekend, but she enjoyed having him feel the need to pursue her. She
glanced at a couple of third-year cadets from the Video Club following
the action with a portable video camera, and smiled. "I'm so glad that
Nabiki decided to film this fight. We'll make a killing on selling
this."
"Come on, Nabiki-sempai!" shouted Sayuri, pumping a fist into the
air in her excitement. She cheered for her friend with all of her heart
and soul, feeling a heady thrill fill her at seeing Nabiki fighting so
fiercely. "Kick Saotome's ass!"
Ranma ducked under Nabiki's spin kick, his eyes and other senses
watching the flows of her motions, and he waited for the proper moments
to attack. He somehow knew that she was doing the same, as they both
became more and more focussed on their efforts against each other. He
blocked two of her punches, lashing out with a punch and kick of his own
in return. He could feel a sort of energy coalescing around the two of
them, and it was growing stronger as the struggle between them became
more intense and heated. It was like what he had once felt during his
fight with Akane, an almost overwhelming need to exert his dominance,
one that apparently was also felt by Nabiki. Yet he did not feel the
same purely animalistic, almost sexual drive here. That was present,
but it was only part of what he was feeling, mixed in with a desire to
prove himself to Nabiki as well as to himself.
Nabiki feinted, a move she sensed Ranma notice fractions of a second
before she could strike him with her opposing hand. Instead of a punch,
her right foot lashed out as they continued to dance with each other.
It was deftly parried by a leg block, and she felt her desires to defeat
him growing ever stronger as Ranma proved himself more capable with each
passing exchange of blows. She gloried in the struggle going on between
them, finding in this version of Ranma the opponent that her counterpart
would never know, possibly even a true equal in skill, and she redoubled
her efforts to overcome him. Her hands and feet flew even faster and
harder against Ranma, battering away at his defenses with relentless
energy.
Ranma leaped into the air, earning a loud gasp of amazement from the
crowd watching them, and Nabiki joined him there. For several seconds,
freed from contact with the ground and possibly in defiance of gravity,
their bodies wove into and out of each other's defenses with incredible
speed. Blows that could easily break bone were turned aside with swift
parries and dodges as their struggle continued to grow ever more heated.
*I can do this,* thought Ranma with assurance. *I'm as good as she
is. No, I'm better.* With that thought, his fist slipped through her
defenses and cracked into Nabiki's face, sending her back earthward with
a short, thin stream of crimson fluid trailing from her nose like the
fire of a comet. First blood was Ranma's, and the crowd was enthralled.
Nabiki landed easily on her feet, flipping her body around in midair
at the last possible moment. She brushed her thumb against her nose,
and it came away with several brilliant drops of blood on it. It was a
minor injury, and she knew it. Without waiting for Ranma to land, she
leaped into the air, aiming herself where he would touch down. Her foot
came down across his chest in an axe kick, catching him at the single
moment when his defenses were weakest, while he recovered from landing.
She lashed out again and again, raining a series of punches and kicks
into Ranma, only a very few getting through his defenses before he was
able to fully lock them back into place.
Then Ranma came back on the offensive, somehow finding the almost
nonexistent holes in her defenses allowing him to land an occasional
punch or kick of his own. As minutes passed, he managed to strike a few
hard blows into her face and body, roughly as many as he had just taken,
and then the two broke apart for a momentary respite. The crowd was
cheering loudly around them, both of them having earned supporters from
among them. However, instead of dividing on gender lines, there was a
fair number of girls shouting for Ranma's victory, just as there were
appreciative cheers for Nabiki's efforts by several boys.
Nabiki sucked in a breath, feeling a sharp pain in her ribs from one
of Ranma's hits. She feigned disinterest with her few injuries, and she
could see Ranma doing the same as they slowly circled each other, their
gazes locked. Nabiki could not recall any fight she had ever relished
as much as this one, in either life. Even her defeating of Kasumi had
not given her such a thrill, and she was enjoying the struggle before
she finally managed to defeat Ranma in front of all these witnesses.
She remained supremely confident of that. The only thing that concerned
her was that many new techniques were in his arsenal, Chinese Amazon
techniques, and she suspected they were a result of his most recent use
of the resonator.
Meanwhile, Ranma studied Nabiki, feeling aches in his jaw and other
places on his body. He felt a wetness on one cheek, and he touched a
hand to it, coming away with some blood. He recalled her fist passing
by his face very closely a few times, and her thumbnail had apparently
caught him once as it went by. He spit on his finger and wiped some
saliva on the wound to try and inhibit the bleeding.
Nabiki suddenly sprinted at Ranma, determined to finish this quickly
before Ranma could catch her with any new surprises. *My body still
isn't quite fast enough to pull off the Chestnut Fist, or this would all
be over now,* she thought. However, it was just as well, for she wanted
to defeat Ranma this way, not simply end things quickly with a special
technique. Overcoming him with her regular skills, proving to him that
she was simply his better at martial arts, that was how she wanted to
win this fight.
Rushing forward equally quickly, Ranma engaged Nabiki in a new
series of rapid-fire punches and kicks, blocks and counterstrikes. The
crowd watched in mild awe around them. His right fist struck forward
with a lightning-fast punch, his knuckles catching Nabiki to one side of
her nose. Her head rolled with the blow instinctively, and he moved to
press his advantage as hard as he could.
Nabiki swiftly replied with a combination move, blocking his snap
kick and counterpunching solidly into his abdomen before he could spin
away from the hard blow. She saw his breath forced out of his lungs in
reflex, and his reflexes slowed for a critical moment as she spun her
body around in a tight, reverse spin kick. Her foot impacted hard just
below his ear, catching him along the jawline with her heel, a blow he
was not able to block quickly enough.
Pain exploding across his face, Ranma's body flew back almost twenty
meters to impact hard into the chainlink fence. He dimly heard the
crowd gasp in amazement, more cheers from Nabiki's supporters ringing
out for her. He fell to his knees as Nabiki paused, smirking in his
direction.
*You're done for, Ranma-kun,* Nabiki thought confidently. *I've
taken your full measure, and you're no match for me. I'll make the end
of this fight swift. It's the warrior's code, after all.*
Ranma felt woozy, and he shook his head as he rested on hands and
knees on the ground. The pole holding up this section of the chainlink
fence was bent from his body's impact against it. He tasted blood in
his mouth from one of Nabiki's strikes, and he could not seem to rise.
The world faded away into that vague region between wakefulness and
unconsciousness.
"Get up, Ranma!" shouted a voice to his left. "Get up and fight
her. I ain't never lost to a girl, and I ain't gonna see you lose now.
It's embarrassing!" There seemed to be a ghostly figure hovering on the
edge of his vision, but he saw nothing when he turned his head to look.
He lifted his head up and saw Nabiki as the voice suddenly spoke once
again, shouting at him, "Get up, you wimp! Don't prove that old fool
right!"
Nabiki began charging at Ranma, determined to finish this. She was
going to show him that she was the true (albeit unofficial) heir to the
Anything-Goes School in this world, and she would prove herself to be
its strongest fighter when she put Ranma down. Her body quickly hit its
full running speed, and she took to the air in a long, leaping kick. A
confident smirk crossed her face as she anticipated her victory over
Ranma, and she knew it was only seconds away.
"You're not gonna lose to her!" screamed that voice once again, this
time coming from somewhere behind him. "You're Ranma Saotome, and you
ain't gonna lose to Nabiki Tendou, you hear me!" He saw Nabiki's body
was now a little closer to him, the heel of her foot extended out before
her. "So get up and FIGHT!"
Nabiki's foot just missed Ranma by the narrowest of margins when he
suddenly rolled to one side. Her kick sheared through the steel pipe
holding up this section of chainlink fence, and it fell outwards as she
bounced off of it to land on her feet. She saw Ranma standing a short
distance away, and her senses detected a bluish glow rising up around
him, the power of his chi filling the air in a bright aura that was
almost visible even to the untrained eye.
"I'm not finished yet, Nabiki," growled Ranma, clothed in the aura
of his chi as it glowed around him. "I'm going to win this time."
"Oh, yeah, Ranma-kun?" asked Nabiki, feeling her own aura rising up
around her in response to his. In her mind, his defeat has already
happened. "You're already beat. You just haven't realized it yet. I'm
faster and more skilled than you are, so how do you figure you're gonna
win?" Her feet were light on the ground as she ran over to Ranma.
"Simple," said Ranma with a cocky grin. He ran right at her, head
on. "I'm Ranma Saotome, of the Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts,"
his voice rose as he loped at her, "and when I really need to win, I
NEVER LOSE!" He suddenly flipped over Nabiki's head, in a move that
many blue-uniformed cadets swore was physically an impossible act, and
his foot came around in a blurring arc while he was still in midair.
The kick caught her hard across the face when she half-turned to follow
his movements.
Nabiki's head snapped to one side, her body instinctively rolling
with the blow to minimize the damage, but a sharp cry of pain escaped
her lips anyway. She had lost the initiative, and she struggled to get
it back quickly. But Ranma was relentless in his attacks against her.
They traded more strikes, and a grim determination filled Nabiki that
she was not going to lose, not to him. She was the faster one, and her
skills were a bit better. She knew this to be true. So why was she now
losing? She doubled and redoubled her efforts to put him down, pushing
her body to its present limits.
A hard punch from Nabiki's fist sank into Ranma's abdomen when it
slipped through his guard, and he quickly responded in kind, his punch
catching her across the jaw once again. He felt her other hand firmly
tap against a nerve point along his side, and his movements briefly
faltered, allowing Nabiki to retake the initiative for a time. He then
received several more solid blows from her fists and feet before he was
able to get it back from her. When he did, he immediately exploited it
with a vengeance and grimly kept up the pressure against Nabiki as hard
as he could. He knew that he could not falter for a moment with her, or
she truly would finish him.
******************************
Kodachi Kunou walked through the main gates of the Academy with a
bright smile on her face. Today, she was happily wearing a uniform
composed of what she felt were more appropriate fabrics for someone of
her station in the Empire, hand-tailored, and she was looking forward to
seeing Ranma once again now that she was properly garbed. *Today, Ranma,
I will tell you the truth about me,* she thought with a faint quiver of
nervousness in her stomach.
Waving at the car for the driver to take her brother to Whitehall
Academy, Kodachi smiled at seeing his unconscious form slumped in the
back seat. Within moments after leaving Kunou Manor, Tatewaki had begun
another tirade against 'the vile Ranma Saotome'. After listening to
this for almost five minutes, she had knocked him unconscious with a few
well-placed strikes from her fists and spent the remainder of the trip
in blissful quiet. Their driver had wisely said nothing about that.
Kodachi, while pausing to straighten her uniform skirt, was puzzled
by all of the commotion going on this morning. A few students hurried
past her, and she quickly learned that some sort of a fight was going on
over behind the main building. Not interested in any kind of plebian
activities as watching what must have been two boys beating each other
up, Kodachi turned her footsteps to the main building and settled in at
the front steps to wait for Ranma to arrive. She pulled a thin book of
poetry out to pass the time and lost herself in the words.
******************************
After over twenty minutes of fighting like this, both Nabiki and
Ranma were still going strong, and the crowd was growing amazed at their
stamina. Minor injuries were gradually accumulating on both of them in
the struggle, mostly scrapes and bruises, and each of them was oozing
blood from nose and mouth. Every now and then, a punch to one face or
the other would speckle crimson fluid upon the grass beneath their feet.
All around them, the crowd of cadets watched in fascination, since this
was even better than an Arena match. This was two of their own battling
against each other for victory.
"Damn it, Ranma-kun," grunted Nabiki fiercely as they moved to
grapple with each other fiercely, "you aren't going to win. I'm the
better fighter between us. I know I am." She deftly slipped a hand
around his shoulder, trying to lock his arm into place and secure the
hold she had on him, but he was somehow able to keep slithering free of
her grip. It was frustrating her immensely.
"If that's so, then why am I the one winning?" whispered Ranma into
her ear teasingly, even as he felt his fatigue growing within him. He
took advantage of Nabiki's momentary indignation to reverse the hold she
kept trying to get him into, swiftly bearing her down to the ground with
a squawk of protest from her. They wrestled with each other across the
grass, the crowd beginning to make snide remarks that fortunately went
unheard by the two combatants. Nabiki's free elbow slammed solidly into
his ribs as she attempted to free herself, but he took advantage of his
greater strength to twist her arm up into a more painful joint lock.
"Ouch!" cried Nabiki as she felt her shoulder socket grind. "Damn
it, that hurts!" She savagely drove her free elbow back into his ribs
again, angry at him for the humiliation she was now feeling. Her hips
twisted around, and she attempted to free herself by locking her legs
around his waist even as he struggled to subdue her. Their actions at
this point of the fight earned more amused comments from the crowd, but
she could not get enough leverage to make a difference. With another
grunted cry of anger, she tried to flip him off her, punctuating her
efforts with more elbow strikes against his side. "I swear I'll get you
for this, Saotome!"
"Surrender, Nabiki!" demanded a tired-sounding Ranma. He somehow
managed to get a hold on her other arm, and he now had her in a most
compromising position against the ground. He was trying to get her to
yield before she noticed him getting aroused by their wrestling around
like this, filling him with surges of desire for her, so he shoved her
face into the ground, praying that she would surrender to him quickly.
His only other option was knocking her unconscious, and he was oddly
reluctant to hit her anymore.
"I'm not giving up, you jerk!" Nabiki growled. Unable to get the
reverse thigh hold around his waist she sought, in order to squeeze the
breath from him as she originally intended, she gathered herself and
somehow managed to get herself out from underneath Ranma. However, she
was still unable to free herself from the firm hold he had her in. Her
chi aura was now burning very fiercely in tune with her building fury,
and her muscles strained against the joint lock he had her in.
"Fine, we'll do this the hard way," Ranma growled back, and he very
briefly released his hold on one of her arms, just long enough to land a
quick punch into the back of her head. He had to end this quickly, or
he knew that she was going to pound him. Ranma heard Nabiki give out a
cry of pain, and then she somehow managed to contort herself free of his
hold, ending up facing him. He slammed a punch across her jaw as hard
as he could before she could attack, and he felt the blood from her
mouth and nose on his fist.
"You're not... gonna... beat me," grunted a weakening Nabiki, and
she gathered her strength for one last effort. Her body gathered itself
beneath him, but Ranma's next punch knocked her unconscious a moment
later.
Over on one side of the crowd, Anji narrowed his eyes as he watched
Ranma emerge victorious against Nabiki. He turned to Soujirou and said,
"When he goes into the locker rooms to change, then we take him. He's
injured and easy prey now."
Soujirou nodded and smiled even more broadly, looking forward to the
message they would send to the other cadets with Saotome's defeat. He
turned his head to watch the small group of girls heading towards their
fallen leader. His eyes seemed especially intent on watching Yohko Mano
in motion. His smile dimmed a little as he observed Kyousuke following
along behind Yohko, apparently keeping his distance but staying near
enough to her to be of assistance if he was needed.
Still kneeling over the fallen Nabiki, Ranma let his arms relax to
the ground as he took a moment to allow his body to regain some of its
strength. He took several deep breaths as the crowd went wild with
excitement all around him, and then, when his finally energy came back
sufficiently, he took some time to check over Nabiki for serious injury.
He was very relieved to see that she wasn't badly hurt. When he finally
stood up, he noticed several girls approaching him.
Yuka and Sayuri both knelt down to check over Nabiki, while Yohko
confronted Ranma.
"You fought well, Saotome-san," said Yohko with a nod of her head,
her voice a little tight with concern for her friend.
"Thank you, Mano-san," said Ranma tiredly, but even now he could
already feel more of his strength returning. He saw Yohko look a little
bit startled that he knew her name. "Nabiki did not give me any choice
but to do my best, but she should be fine though. We weren't really
trying to hurt each other much."
"You could have fooled me from the way I saw you two were fighting,"
said Yohko with a slight frown. "We'll take care of her from here,
Saotome-san," said Yohko, bowing slightly to him. "You go clean up.
You look like a mess."
"Thanks a lot," said Ranma, somewhat sarcastically. He endured a
fair amount of congratulations for his efforts from many other cadets
before he was finally able to break free. When he recovered his bookbag
from where he left it, he was relieved to finally have the chance to be
able to go clean himself up. He was going to be late for his first
class, but it could not be helped. He hoped Miss Kisaragi, his new
instructor, would not be too upset with him.
Ranma trudged into the quiet of the locker room, his step tired as
he walked. He was looking forward to nothing more than a hot shower and
a chance to clean the blood and dirt off of himself. What he received
were two menacing figures waiting for him within the locker area as the
door closed behind him.
Anji stepped forward, slowly cracking the knuckles of his hands as
he smiled coldly at Ranma and said, "So we meet again at last, Ranma
Saotome. You can't know how much I've been looking forward to this."
*These guys have got to be kidding me,* Ranma thought with no small
amount of irritation as he glared at the taller boy in front of him. He
noticed the one with a bokken moving to flank him. *I'm tired, bloody,
and hurt, and these two jerks want to pick a fight with me?*
"What the hell is this?" said Ranma tiredly.
"Let's just call it payback for smashing my head into a wall the
other day," snarled Anji, one hand making a gesture towards Soujirou.
"You two guys have picked the wrong person on the wrong day to go
looking for a fight," said Ranma, backing up towards the door when he
heard it locking behind him. He glanced back to see a figure in a gray
uniform moving away, but he could not see a face.
"I don't think so, Saotome," said Anji, his fist suddenly blurring
in with a powerful strike.
Ranma leaped up, momentarily using Anji's head as a springboard to
swing himself over, using his finger and thumb as the balance point atop
the larger boy's skull. As he was in the midst of his acrobatics, Ranma
saw Anji's fist smash right into the thick wall with a shower of dust
and chips of concrete. After clearing Anji, Ranma did an agile bounce
off of Soujirou's face with one foot and landed a short distance away,
facing the two of them.
Soujirou casually flicked a thumb along a stud on the haft of his
bokken, and the wooden blade suddenly split evenly down the middle along
its length, to reveal the gleaming steel of a katana. His smile turned
much colder, and a glittering appeared in his eyes as he gazed at Ranma.
The footprint on his face did somewhat diminish the intimidation factor
a little though.
Ranma blinked.
"Now, wait a minute, guys," said Ranma, eyeing the length of sharp
steel in the boy's hands. "Let's not do anything rash here." He very
agilely dodged the sword strike, but his bookbag did not survive the
attack. It split apart a moment later and fell into two halves. Ranma
blinked again. *Why me?* he wondered, starting to get angry.
"I'm going to teach you a new meaning of suffering, Saotome," said
Anji coldly. He advanced on Ranma, and gestured Soujirou to one side.
Something inside of Ranma snapped at that moment. Later on, he
wasn't sure if it was an aftereffect of his fight with Nabiki, or if it
was something else entirely. All he could recall of that time was
feeling the weariness in his body and the lingering pains of his wounds,
and all he could think of was that he wanted to get this over with as
quickly as possible, preferably without losing any more blood. Perhaps
triggered by the stress of the situation, an activation word touched the
back of his mind for the first time, a single subliminal command that
arose from the depths of his hindbrain and was just as quickly forgotten
again a moment after he subvocalised it, *-boost-.*
Blood suddenly thundered through Ranma's head, even as his heart
began to race in his chest. In the space of only a few moments, other
buried subliminal control programs then kicked in, flooding his system
with adrenaline and endorphins, as well as several other complex serums
from specially genetically engineered glands throughout his body. His
muscles surged and swelled with new vitality, his senses expanded, and
his thoughts began to fly lightning-fast through his mind. When it was
complete, his body was now stronger, faster, and more efficient in every
way. The pains from his recent injuries vanished, and the many cuts and
scrapes already present on his body clotted and ceased to ooze blood.
Ranma suddenly charged an astonished Anji, moving too quickly for
the human eye to keep up with. His right leg lashed out in a kick and
struck the taller boy across the jaw with a bone-crunching impact,
knocking loose several teeth, even before he had any chance to raise his
arms to defend himself. Even as Anji's body barely had time to react to
the first blow, Ranma was back between them. The two bullies barely had
time to realize that it was they who were trapped in here with him,
instead of the other way around, and that was not how the game was
supposed to be played.
The pair seemed to be moving in slow motion to Ranma. Soujirou's
sword rose at a glacial pace in his view, and then the pigtailed boy was
upon him, his body almost inhumanly fast and strong, supercharged to the
limits of the human frame's ability to bear. One hand ripped the sword
free from the boy's grip, dislocating the shoulder of the arm that had
been holding it, and Ranma's other hand knocked him unconscious with a
punch to the face that slammed the young bully hard against the wall.
Almost as an afterthought, the pigtailed boy pivoted and backfisted
Anji's chest, the sound of cracking ribs greeting his ears as the other
bully lazily flew back to crash into the wall. And as quickly as that,
it was finished.
His body suddenly snapped back to normal, and Ranma almost passed
out as the accumulated fatigue poisons and stress hit him all at once.
He had been using controlled hysterical strength, though not all of it.
Using his muscles to their full extent would have torn them clean away
from the bones. His abused heart hammered painfully fast in his chest,
his breathing was panting and strained, and he was soaked in sweat. He
fell to sit on the ground as the chemical cocktail flushed itself from
his system, leaving him feeling weak and shaky. The shock alone would
have killed him if he was an ordinary human.
Ranma stared at his two unconscious attackers and shivered slightly
as he felt his body recovering from what had just occurred. *What the
hell just happened to me?* he wondered, feeling another mild tremor run
through his body. However, he also felt oddly euphoric, a product of
the remaining endorphins floating around in his bloodstream. He was
strongly reminded of descriptions of the power inherent in the Cat Fist
technique when he unleashed it, but this seemed to be something else
entirely. And he had been fully aware at all times. *Whatever that
was, it wasn't a result of resonator usage. There's something different
about me.* But what that something was, he could not say.
For several moments, Ranma closed his eyes, feeling the trembling in
his limbs fade away along with the temptation to try and re-activate
whatever had just happened to him. For those few seconds, he had been a
perfect fighting machine, almost more than mortal, embracing fully the
savage that lurked inside every man, and it had felt so very good. He
hugged his knees and opened his eyes, grateful in a way that it was not
under his conscious control, for it prevented him from ever risking the
temptation he would endure if he could call it up at will.
"Ranma?" asked a voice to one side, and Ranma looked up to see
Sensei Fujinami standing over him. The large man knelt down next to
him. "What happened here, Cadet Saotome?"
"They attacked me," said Ranma quietly. "I defended myself."
"And quite a good job you did too, Cadet," said Fujinami with a hint
of a smile on his weathered face as he briefly studied the two fallen
forms. His eyes narrowed for a moment when he saw the discarded katana,
but then he turned back to Ranma. "Are you hurt? Can you stand?"
"I-I'm fine, Sensei," said Ranma, standing up without any tremors in
his legs remaining. He studied his two former attackers for a moment or
two. "Am I in trouble, sir?"
"No, Ranma," replied Fujinami, standing back up. "Don't worry about
this. Two on one strikes me as a case for self-defense, and I'm aware
of the histories of these two troublemakers. I'll take care of things
for you. You just get cleaned up and get yourself to class."
"Yes, Sensei," said Ranma tiredly. He quickly picked up his things
and thanked the gods in the heavens that his uniform was somehow still
intact. Apparently, only his text on classical literature had lost its
life in the attack on his bookbag, split cleanly down the middle. He
tossed it into a dumpster as he slowly headed for the showers, feeling
his worries about what had just happened to him move to the back of his
mind, for now at least. For his father's sake, focussing on his rescue
had to take priority. Like with the Cat Fist on that other world, he
would just try and avoid triggering it. *At least I don't have that to
worry about, too,* he thought with some relief.
Behind him, Sensei Fujinami paused a moment in thought, remembering
the incredible sight he had witnessed from his office with a fair amount
of awe. *So, he's finally managed to tap into the boost. I must inform
the Dean of this.*
******************************
When the first bell rang for the beginning of classes, Kodachi was a
little concerned that Ranma had not passed by her yet. She had taken
great care to array herself in a casual pose that would allow her face
and figure to catch the morning light to best effect, and the way she
was seated would display a somewhat brazen amount of leg for his viewing
pleasures. However, that was all to no avail, and now she was worried.
She began gathering up her things, half-listening to some of the cadets
walking by.
"Can you believe that fight?" asked one blue-uniformed female cadet.
"Nope, and Saotome-san was so dreamy looking," said the other female
cadet with her, one also dressed in blue.
*Saotome-san?* wondered Kodachi, blinking.
"For a while there, I thought he was going to lose to Tendou-sempai,
but he managed to win in the end."
The other girl nodded, and then she sighed and said, "I wish he was
my boyfriend. I guess now that Akane Tendou is no longer here, he's up
for grabs. Say, do you have those notes on those derivatives from..."
The closing door shut off the remainder of their conversation.
*Ranma fighting Nabiki?* wondered Kodachi with a frown. A memory of
Ranma's fallen form in that other world flashed across her mind, his
blood spreading across her hands, a death that the Nabiki of that world
had a part in. *Why ever would they be fighting?* She stuffed her book
of poetry into her bookbag, her eyes narrowed in thought. Torn between
being late for class, or searching out either Ranma or Nabiki for some
answers, her choice was simple when she decided to skip her first class
and go look for them. *Saotome-kun, where are you?*
Hoping to find him quickly, Kodachi headed in the direction of the
gymnasium building. One of the two would likely be there, she figured.
******************************
Nabiki came to in the infirmary with a soft groan of pain, and she
felt a bandage across her nose. Her ribs were wrapped tightly with more
bandages. She heard a motion from next to her bed and glanced over to
see Yuka setting down the textbook she was studying. Nabiki smiled at
the other girl and asked, "Can I have some water, please?"
"Here you go, Nabiki-sempai," said Yuka, handing her a glass filled
with water. "I'm glad to see you're all right."
"How did we do at the gambling pools?" asked Nabiki, swinging her
legs to the side and sitting up. She only felt a little woozy. "I
could use some good news." She saw the other girl frown and gave her a
rueful smile. "Sorry, thanks for sitting up with me like you did."
"It's no problem, Nabiki-sempai," said Yuka. "As to your other
question, uhm, we didn't do so well. Ranma's victory with the new odds
you set only made things worse. He even beat the odds on the duration
of the fight."
*That's what I get for being overconfident,* thought Nabiki with a
sigh, irritated at losing two ways on a single fight. She stood up
easily.
"Nabiki-sempai?" asked Yuka, alarmed.
"I'm going to go grab a shower and clean up," said Nabiki, picking
up her bookbag from the chair it was resting in. "You get to class now,
okay?"
"Yes, Boss," chirped Yuka, bowing quickly before running off.
Nabiki smiled after the departing girl, then she headed down to the
women's locker area to clean up for the day. With luck, the first class
was all that she would be missing.
******************************
Kinnousuke sat in class and frowned, studying the note he had just
been given. Word had already come to him from one of his few agents at
the present time that his two pawns had failed, and now the entire Wolf
Pack was likely going to be expelled from the Academy. *A painful, but,
fortunately, not a critical loss of resources for me,* he thought, with
a large dose of irritation at this setback. In his mind, he cursed
Ranma Saotome for delaying his schemes, finding the pigtailed boy to be
the instrument of opposition to him yet again. *It would have all been
so much simpler if those two idiots had managed to defeat him. Now I'll
have to put Tiger and my other two beauties to work.*
As the instructor droned on at the front of the class about the
theory of recombinant genetics, an area of biology upon which his own
family fortune was built, Kinnousuke smiled coldly and leaned forward at
his desk. He knew that the trio would not fail him, and he would put
them to work dismantling Nabiki's support network a piece at a time.
Folding his hands together, he pretended to pay attention to the old man
in front of the class.
*I will control the Academy, and Nabiki Tendou shall be mine. It's
only a matter of time.*
******************************
Nabiki stood under the spray of hot water, her face upraised into
the flow as she basked in its warmth, and she slowly ran her fingers
back through her hair as she stood there. Sleek muscles moved beneath
her skin as she washed herself. She lazed under the stream of hot water
as she rinsed the last of the soap from her skin.
The blood and dirt of her battle against Ranma had long since been
sluiced down the drain, leaving behind only the pains in her flesh to
remind her of it, and a few colorful bruises on the well-toned muscles
of her body. Her nose and mouth had been where most of the blood came
from, the other scrapes on her limbs and torso only showing the loss of
a few layers of skin. She opened her mouth and let a small quantity of
water enter, swishing it around with her tongue to cleanse out the last
of the coppery taste of blood within, and she was grateful that none of
her teeth were loosened. She spat out the mouthful of pale pinkish
fluid in the direction of the drain.
All of a sudden, the water turned ice-cold, and Nabiki shrieked very
loudly and involuntarily as she swiftly dashed out from beneath the now
chill spray. Shivering visibly, she stood there completely naked as the
cold water sluiced off of her trim body, and a reflexive glance showed
herself still female. She glanced around and saw Kodachi standing
there, with her hand resting on the main water control valve. Wearing a
smug look, the aristocratic girl turned the water off.
"What the hell did you do that for?" shouted Nabiki, grabbing up a
clean towel from the thick stack and wrapping it around herself. Water
dripped from the ends of her hair, and she picked up a second towel to
scrub the excess moisture from it before confronting Kodachi. Her bare
feet slapped on the tiles as she stalked towards the other girl, feeling
a growing annoyance as she drew near. She stopped a few paces away from
Kodachi, and their gazes locked like two predators suddenly recognizing
each other.
"I see that I now have your attention, Tendou-san," said Kodachi
with a slight grin, her eyes boring into Nabiki's. A sizzle of some
sort of invisible energy seemed to pass between the two of them, even as
the aristocrat girl continued to speak cordially. Yet there was a hint
of challenge in her voice that Nabiki could not miss. "Forgive me, but
I thought it amusing to introduce myself to you this way."
"I'm not laughing," grumbled Nabiki. "What do you want, Kunou?"
"What was the meaning of this fight I have heard tell of, between
you and Saotome-kun?" asked Kodachi, a glint of potential violence in
the violet of her eyes. Unconsciously, she compared Nabiki's body to
her own, and she found herself a little jealous of the older girl's
build and muliebrity.
"It was a private matter between us," said Nabiki, feeling even more
irritated at being interrogated like this, especially by this particular
noblewomen. That it was Kodachi Kunou, remembering from her downloaded
memories the perverted girl of that other world, only made it somehow
worse. Nabiki wasn't sure why, but she was coming to agree with Akane
that there was something about Kodachi that whispered 'enemy', or at
least 'rival'. She slowly walked forward to stand right in front of the
noblewoman, glaring eye to eye with her, standing only slightly taller
than she did. "I don't see how any business I have with Ranma is any
concern of yours." Then, almost as an afterthought, she added
sarcastically, "My Lady."
Kodachi narrowed her eyes as she met Nabiki's gaze with her own and
said, "I'm making it my concern, Nabiki Tendou. So I ask you again,
what is the meaning of this fight I have heard tell of? Why do you wish
to cause Saotome-kun harm?"
"It was a duel, Kodachi," said Nabiki simply, even rudely, refusing
to yield in the staring contest she found herself in. She had lost to
Ranma, but she was not about to lose a battle of wills to the aristocrat
now standing before her. "It was simply a test of our martial arts
skills against each other. If you continue to press me on this, I would
be happy to challenge you next."
Kodachi blinked, and Nabiki smiled slightly in her small victory.
"And you lost to Saotome-kun?" asked Kodachi hesitantly. She heard
a sigh from Nabiki.
"Yes, I lost," answered Nabiki. "He was better than I expected him
to be." *Even better than I possibly hoped he'd be,* she finished the
sentence in her thoughts, then turned away from Kodachi. She felt no
particular need to volunteer any information for the other girl's use.
"It was as simple as that. He won, I lost, and now I begin training for
a rematch against him. I'm sure I'll beat him next time."
Kodachi frowned as she contemplated that for a moment, and then she
said, "Why challenge Ranma? There must be dozens of young men who you
could fight with."
"It's personal," said Nabiki simply, "and I don't care to explain it
to you. So be on your way... underclassman." Seeing the look of anger
appear on Kodachi's face, most likely at being spoken to in such a way
by a social inferior, brought one of Nabiki's usual smirks to her face.
She saw Kodachi swell up for a moment in mild fury, then turn and walk
away with a faint growl.
"This isn't over between us, Nabiki Tendou," Kodachi called out over
her shoulder as she walked away. With grace born of years of training
at being ladylike, she made her stalk from the locker room look very
regal.
"Somehow, I didn't think it was," murmured Nabiki thoughtfully.
******************************
Ranma endured several hours of boredom, waiting for lunch and his
free period, so that he could talk to the Dean and inform him of his
decision regarding Nabiki. He had decided to withdraw his resistance to
her participation in class, and so there was no further need to continue
the series of sparring matches anymore. Not that he intended to cease
sparring with Nabiki, far from it. He now realized that she represented
a test of his abilities that would constantly grow in skill with him as
his own abilities improved, and the attraction he felt for her also did
contribute to his desire to spend time with her. Since they both seemed
equally dedicated to improving themselves, he welcomed the efforts that
he knew she would offer against him. After all, he would have done the
same if the situations were reverse, and had.
Before he did that, he wished to take care of some work in his lab.
He had a few ideas for solving the transference issue, so that he might
be able to rescue his father soon. He wanted to take some time and sit
down with the computer in his lab and run through some of the schematics
to check out the results of his mental calculations. He considered
extending an invitation to Nabiki to watch over him while he checked in
with his father for a little while, but he did not wish to concede the
issue of needing anyone's help quite just yet.
Luckily, Miss Kisaragi, Ranma's first instructor, seemed to like
him, so she did not make him stand in the hallway with buckets for the
remaining time of first period. He occupied himself with watching her
walk around the room as she discussed the role of the Citizen in the
Empire, and he even participated in the remaining time of the class.
Today's topic was about the notion that "every Citizen was a soldier to
defend the Empire in time of need." Despite his abilities at recall,
all Ranma remembered of the class was how attractive Kisaragi-sensei
looked in her dress.
However, the next couple of classes were exercises in boredom, and
Ranma almost fell asleep a couple of times. Eventually he was released
from his scholastic purgatory, and went to his lab. He slid his key
into the door, only noticing the new addition of a large padlock at the
last moment, one that did not open to his key.
Ranma paused in the doorway, blinking in surprise at the new lock
and wondering what it meant. An envelope lay against the base of the
steel door, and it caught his eye as he wondered at the addition of the
padlock. He picked the envelope up and discovered a note addressed to
him within it.
The note read, "Cadet Saotome, after reviewing the progress of your
efforts with your father, I have decided to terminate your research
subsidy, and your equipment will be packed up and returned to the
Ministry of Science for salvage and disposal. Per your father's
request, this class period is to be added to your physical training
regimen with the singular goal of improving your conditioning to even
higher levels. Sincerely, Kouzou Fuyutsuki, Presiding Dean of the
Imperial Academy."
"Genma," Ranma breathed out with a slight snarl, crumpling the note
in his fist. Visions of beating Genma Saotome to a bloody pulp filled
his mind as he stood in the hallway and tried to think of what he could
do now. All he had at home were his notes and the datadisks with the
software and all of the duplicated files for the scanned paraverse
coordinates he had investigated so far. Without the support of the
Academy, he didn't have anywhere near the resources that would allow him
to recreate his equipment.
"Father," Ranma suddenly murmured, feeling the heat of his anger
cool with the realization that his real father would not have any idea
what was going on. Without the resonator, there was no way to contact
him. Ranma shut his eyes and took a few deep breaths.
"I'm not going to be beaten by that fat, drunken fool," said Ranma
softly to the empty air. "I'll figure a way out of this, I swear I
will."
******************************
"Come in, Lady Kunou, come in," said Dean Fuyutsuki from behind his
desk, gently waving his hand to Kodachi. He bowed to her with a smile,
then gestured for her to sit in one of the chairs before him. "I trust
that you are settling in here at the Academy and your classes so far?"
Kodachi seated herself gracefully and said, "Yes, Dean Fuyutsuki, I
am acclimating myself well so far." *Especially now that I no longer
have to contend with that annoying barbarian, Akane Tendou,* she then
finished in her thoughts as she smiled. "I am curious as to why you
wished to see me though."
"It's nothing to be concerned about," said the Dean, flipping open a
file with her dossier within it. "I was just going over some of your
performance evaluations from Blackhall, and I must say that I'm quite
impressed. I have rarely ever seen such high scores, even among the top
cadets here at the Imperial Academy."
Kodachi blushed slightly at the compliment, smiling gently.
The Dean continued, "However, I feel that you are capable of far
more, so I wish to make you an offer, Lady Kunou."
"An offer, sir?" asked Kodachi, puzzled. "What sort of offer?"
"You might not be aware of this, but I currently have two of the
Academy's finest athletes involved in a special training regimen," said
the Dean, his gaze meeting Kodachi's. "And I wish you to join them in
this. It involves very rigorous physical conditioning, backed up by
intensive martial arts training at the highest levels."
"Well, I don't know," said Kodachi, feeling uncertain. "What are
the other two cadets in the course like?"
"One of them you are already familiar with, Lady Kunou," said the
Dean with a smile, "Ranma Saotome."
Kodachi blinked, feeling for a moment as if the temperature in the
room had risen several degrees. She lowered her gaze and felt her blush
deepening. The chance to spend time with Ranma would be worth any sort
of physical discomfort to her. And she was curious to see how far she
could train herself as well. It was a win-win situation.
"If Ranma is in it," said Kodachi with a bright smile as she looked
up, "then I accept."
"Excellent," said the Dean, closing her dossier with a smile. "The
other member of your soon-to-be-trio is an upperclassmen to you, Nabiki
Tendou. They have only been at it for a few days, so I'm sure that you
won't have any difficulties catching up."
Somewhere deep inside Kodachi, there was a faint cracking of glass
heard, and her smile turned somewhat brittle. *So I have to compete
with that other Tendou girl?* she thought with mild bitterness. *Very
well. If it means spending time with Ranma Saotome, then I can even put
up with the presence of Nabiki Tendou and her damnably perfect figure.*
"You may return to class now, Lady Kunou," said the Dean calmly, as
he folded his hands before him. "I will be down to watch some of your
first class period, to see how the three of you get along."
"Very well, sir," said Kodachi. She stood up, bowed to him, and
exited the room.
******************************
Ranma had already been struggling at his training for an hour when
Nabiki came out dressed in a standard Academy training outfit for girls:
a T-shirt with 'Property of Imperial Academy Athletics Department'
emblazoned upon the front, shorts, white socks, and running shoes. He
took a break from doing his pushups to watch her approach, grateful for
the opportunity to rest. His bruises were making the pains of his
efforts far worse than normal, but he saw Sensei Takami eye him without
comment.
However, he was surprised to see Kodachi Kunou come out of another
door of the locker room and follow Nabiki towards him. He wiped some
sweat from his brow as he watched her hesitantly approach. *What is
Kodachi doing out here with us?* he wondered.
Nabiki was wondering the same thing, a slight frown on her face as
she settled herself down to begin warming up. Her muscles were feeling
strained from the intensive efforts of this morning, so they were not
very appreciative of her activities. Luckily, that went away as she
stretched them out.
Kodachi presented herself to Sensei Takami and said, "First-year
cadet Kodachi Kunou reporting for special training, Takami-sensei. I
hope to learn a great deal from all of this." She smiled brightly for
Ranma's benefit, pausing to look over at him. She then settled herself
a short distance away from Ranma and began to stretch, taking it slow
when she noticed him watching her, even as he tried not to look like he
was watching her.
*Floozy,* thought Nabiki with a grumble as she worked out a kink in
her right calf. She noticed the Dean come out and confer with Sensei
Takami about something or other, seeing the two men eyeing all three of
them. When she turned to look at Ranma, she saw him giving Kodachi more
than a casual glance, and she frowned at that.
"Hello, Saotome-kun," said Kodachi quietly. Her resolve to tell him
the truth about herself seemed to vanish when her eyes met his, and a
small swallow rolled down her throat. "I'm looking forward to training
with you.
Nabiki grunted and looked away from the two of them, feeling a faint
burning in her eyes. She resolved to use today's class to show Kodachi
Kunou that she was wrong in thinking Akane was her true competition for
Ranma. Very wrong indeed. No girl was going to take Ranma from her.
******************************
Ukyou stared sullenly out the window of the train, and her chin
rested in the palm of one hand as she leaned against the frame. *I
wonder what sort of a guy this Ranma person is?* she wondered, her eyes
reflecting the sight of farms and country roads passing by outside the
train. *Dad hasn't told me much about him other than that he's supposed
to be a brilliant scholar.* One hand plucked glumly at the cloth of her
yukata, since her mother had strongly insisted that she show up dressed
in traditional garb. As part of this, Ukyou was armed with only a few
shuriken and her war fan at the moment. Her mother hadn't wanted to
shock the Saotome family, so she had purposely gone lighter than her
usual amount of weapons. She felt naked without a sword, or even her
battle spatula, at her back.
A quick glance at her mother only deepened Ukyou's depression. She
was doing needlepoint as their train zipped across the countryside. Her
skilled hands didn't miss a single stitch as they moved. Ukyou's own
brief attempt at needlepoint sat in her lap, mostly unfinished, since
she had accidentally sewn it to her yukata twice now. It wasn't very
much fun doing all these traditional feminine things. She would much
rather have spent her time practicing her martial arts, and she found
herself hoping that nothing came of this meeting. Perhaps then,
finally, her family would leave her alone about getting married.
Her father was reading one of the financial newspapers. Ukyou
hadn't seen him poke his head out from behind it ever since the train
had started moving. He occasionally turned the page and hummed mildly
at something or other that he saw.
*I can hardly wait until this is all over,* Ukyou thought as she
turned her face to look out the window once more. *I doubt that this
Ranma guy will be very interesting. How exciting could it be to be
married to some scholar? He probably doesn't even know how to defend
himself. This is going to just be a waste of time.*
******************************
Nodoka scurried all over the house to get everything ready for the
arrival of their guests, a bright smile of contentment on her face. She
was still a little astonished at Genma's vigor and passion that morning,
although he had been a little quicker and rougher with her than was his
norm. Still, despite its brevity, the activity had helped to take her
mind off of thoughts about her son and the upcoming meeting with the
Kuonjis. At her insistence, Genma had left a few hours ago to attend to
his afternoon classes and would not be expected back until very shortly
before they arrived. That left her the whole day to prepare food and
clean the house from top to bottom. Still, she spared a little energy
to consider the changes in the men in her life.
*First my son becomes all mysterious and a bit moody on me,* Nodoka
thought as she paused in her cleaning of the toilet, *and now my husband
is acting differently too. It's enough to drive a woman to distraction.
Oh, I hope that this meeting tonight goes well. I hope that Ranma and
the Kuonji girl get along.*
******************************
Dean Fuyutsuki studied the paperwork on his desk as he waited for
his computer to download and process the data and images that he had
recorded of Kodachi Kunou. She had sparred with Nabiki while Ranma was
sent off to run, giving the Dean an excellent opportunity to gather good
data on her capabilities. He could tell that the two girls seemed well
on their way to a healthy rivalry, and he was certain that would focus
the Kunou girl on improving herself.
After a time, Dean Fuyutsuki heard the system beep, and he took a
look at the results on the monitor. He punched up Kodachi's data and
watched as the screen cleared and a video sample taken from the fight
was displayed in one window. In another box, the computer began running
down its preliminary calculations for each of the young noblewoman's
vital statistics.
*Name: Kodachi Kunou
*Age: 16
*Sex: Female
*Height: 1.65 meters
*Mass: 49 kilograms
*Physical Capabilities:
* Structural Integrity: 77.29
* Muscle Strength: 76.01
* Lung Capacity: 80.16
* Eyesight: 85.22
* Auditon: 92.60
* Dynamic Eyesight: 93.51
* Metabolism: 91.67
* Neuroreflex: 88.47
*Offensive Capability: 74.58
*Defensive Capability: 75.63
*Recoverability: 84.44
*Speed: 83.80
*Perseverance: 84.52
*Objectivity: 75.81
*Perception: 86.62
*Judgment: 82.01
*Adaptability: 83.72
*Estimated Current Fighting Capacity: 1416.06
"A fair bit below Ranma and Nabiki's level of performance, but still
an acceptable beginning," murmured Dean Fuyutsuki as he studied a slow
motion replay of the sparring match. Nabiki's injuries had obviously
hindered her somewhat, but she still managed to defeat Kodachi in less
than two minutes time. He made notes as to areas where the instructors
should work to build up Kodachi's capabilities, then he leaned back in
his chair.
"Everything is proceeding on schedule," the Dean said with a smile,
studying the setting sun moving down slowly in the sky. "All is going
according to plan."
******************************
Akane fidgeted outside the gates to the Imperial Academy, waiting
for Ranma to emerge. She checked her watch once again, noting that his
training class with Nabiki must be over with. She hoped that her sister
had kept Kodachi away from Ranma today like she promised. Losing him to
the nobly born, yet base girl was not going to happen, now that Akane
intended to make him hers. She would do all in her power to keep Ranma
for her own, and no other girl was worthy of him but herself. She
smiled brightly as she fantasized about the challenge she intended to
make to him, and she adjusted her new uniform with only a hint of
nervousness.
Ranma walked towards the main gate like a man heading towards his
own execution. He had defeated Nabiki, but that was really the only
good thing that happened to him today. Now he had to face this meeting
with Ukyou, and he was not looking forward to it. With a sigh, carrying
the remnants of his sloppily-repaired bookbag, he trudged out the main
gate. He was half-expecting Nabiki to be there, but he was greeted by
one of the Tendou girls, at least.
"Ranma Saotome, I challenge you!" said Akane firmly as she stepped
out from where she was standing against the wall. Her finger stabbed
out in his direction, and Ranma only felt annoyance.
*This is not happening,* Ranma thought with a groan, realizing that
this was going to be his third real fight in a single day. His limbs
seemed to be radiating fatigue now, and he knew that Akane wasn't going
to let him past without fighting him. Dropping his bookbag, Ranma made
his choice to end this once and for all by giving Akane what she wanted
from him. Maybe then, he thought, she would leave him alone. He
tiredly assumed a casual stance and waited.
"Come and get me, Akane Tendou," said Ranma, hoping he would be able
to restrain himself from taking his frustrations out on the girl.
With a savage grin, Akane charged Ranma.
Less than five minutes later, Akane's battered form was face down on
the ground, and Ranma was feeling a little better about things. He had
managed to force down the distractingly high level of sexual attraction
he felt for Akane as they fought, and he was pleased that he was able to
restrain himself from injuring her other than the few bumps and bruises
when he put her down. With a rather cheerful look on his face, he
picked up his bookbag and walked off.
Akane regained consciousness a short time later and saw that Ranma
was gone. She held one hand to her face, feeling the bruise forming
there on one cheek, and smiled. *I lost,* she thought dreamily. *Now I
know I love you, Ranma Saotome.*
Somewhere on his way home, a pigtailed scholar felt a shiver quite
suddenly run through him.
******************************
Ukyou followed her parents as they walked through Tokyo, casually
watching the sights of the Nerima Ward passing by. Her meeting with
Ranma Saotome was drawing near, and she was surprised that she felt a
little bit nervous. Her father had a smile on his face as he pointed
out some of the sights that he remembered from his boyhood. Ukyou just
looked around with something akin to awe.
Tokyo was a very large place, in Ukyou's opinion, and it made her
feel more than a little like some sort of country bumpkin. She had
grown up surrounded by mountains and small villages with few people, so
the immense city that surrounded her now was like nothing that she had
ever experienced before. It was actually rather intimidating. *There
are so many people,* thought Ukyou with a little nervousness.
"We're here," said her father calmly.
Ukyou looked around. The flow of people had faded off to a trickle
as they wandered away from the commercial district and the local train
depot, and the pleasant neighborhood that surrounded them now was almost
completely peaceful. They were standing next to a high wall that must
have protected a good-sized yard, and a large wooden gate, with a simple
brass plaque bearing the kanji for Saotome upon it, stood before them.
"Are you nervous, Ukyou-chan?" asked her mother as she began fussing
with Ukyou's outfit.
"I'm not nervous, Mother," replied Ukyou, as she endured the fussing
stoically. *I just want to get this over with,* she thought calmly to
herself. She had been trying to imagine what Ranma Saotome was like,
based on the description and photo obtained from the matchmaker. At the
present, she imagined Ranma to be a rather dull sort, the type of boy
that held no interest for her. *I want a life of adventure, and I doubt
that Ranma Saotome has any interest in that sort of thing.*
******************************
Nodoka kept looking at the clock on the wall. The Kuonji family was
going to arrive at any minute, and Ranma still wasn't home. She stood
like a fretful statue in the doorway that led to the kitchen area, and
she only took her eyes off of the clock to briefly glare at Genma. She
watched her husband sitting there in an unusually relaxed pose at his
usual place at the table, drinking tea, and the ease that he had in his
manner irritated Nodoka. *Honestly,* she thought with some despair,
*that husband of mine has no sense of propriety. Doesn't he realize how
important it is to find a good wife for Ranma? He acts like he doesn't
care.*
Genma was feeling very mellow. A brief stop at one of the little
pubs in the region had relaxed him with the help of only a bottle or two
of sake. He was determined to regain his old level of drinking ability,
and he knew that regular training was the key to success. He was also
finding that he enjoyed the respect afforded to a tenured professor at
the Ministry of Science. Spending a few hours a day lecturing about
high-level mathematics and other subjects that he knew surprisingly well
now (finding the information readily available in his memory) was about
the easiest job he could imagine having. He anticipated a comfortable
'retirement' in this life, enjoying all that it had to offer, especially
since he still had Nodoka and Ranma with him, in a certain sense. He
took another sip of tea and sighed with contentment.
*I swear, if he does anything to ruin this...* Nodoka swore darkly,
glaring now at Genma and wondering at his acceptance of things. She
wanted this night to go over perfectly, and Ranma was still not home.
She fretted for a moment over the location of her son. *Where is that
boy?*
Nodoka heard the jingling of the bell at the front of the house.
After giving her clothes one last inspection, she went to answer it.
Before opening the door, she paused with her hand on it, took a deep
breath, and let it out slowly. She forced a cheerful smile on her face
to hide her nervousness and slid the door open.
******************************
Ukyou sat at the table with a neutral expression on her face. The
introductions between the two families had been very formal and proper.
The only surprise for her had been that Ranma wasn't there. She had
remained silent, and her face did not betray her feelings. However,
underneath the table, one hand was clenched tightly into a fist. It was
the only outward sign of her growing irritation. She saw that the two
mothers were doing most of the talking, and the two fathers had seemed
to come to an unspoken agreement to let them do so.
*What kind of a jerk is this Ranma Saotome guy, that he doesn't even
show up when his potential bride shows up?* thought Ukyou sourly. She
and her family had been visiting with the Saotomes for almost thirty
minutes. She confirmed her estimate of the time with a quick glance at
the clock.
Finally, Ukyou decided she had endured long enough.
"Excuse me," said Ukyou quietly. The four adults looked at her.
"Where is Ranma?"
"Ahh," said Nodoka with an embarrassed look. "He appears to be
running a little late from his classes at the Academy." She looked at
Genma helplessly.
"My son is involved in a training class to improve his physical
conditioning," said Genma seriously. "However, he should be arriving
home at any moment."
"What?" asked Ukyou in surprise, a little louder than she had
intended. Her mother frowned at her. *I've traveled for most of the
day, dressed myself up in this frilly getup, and that... jackass...
isn't even here? How dare he do this to me!* Her neutral expression
had now been replaced by an angry frown. She suddenly imagined Ranma as
some sort of frail weakling, based on what Genma had said, and her mood
darkened further.
Quickly filling in the embarrassed silence, Nodoka said, "He was
selected for special training after we set our meeting time. I did not
know how to contact you to change our appointment. I am sorry."
*An interesting reaction,* thought Genma with drunken detachment.
*I may be able to fend off Nodoka's plans yet, at least with this one.
The boy is too young to think about marriage yet, not until he attains a
level of ability that I deem sufficient to carry on the Anything-Goes
School of Martial Arts.*
"Why is your son training, Saotome-san?" asked Akira Kuonji calmly.
He was curious about the boy now, whereas before he had only viewed
Ranma as a lifeline tossed to a drowning man.
"The boy was selected for intensive training in martial arts at the
Imperial Academy," replied Genma in a diplomatic tone of voice.
Ukyou blinked, surprised at this development. She did not notice
the brief glance that her mother and father shared with each other.
Genma continued on, "He shows great promise in his fighting skills,
and I know that he will be a great warrior, willing to give his life for
the Art. That is how much it means to him." Genma wiped a sudden false
tear from one eye, smiling inside at the eager looks he was being given
by Akira Kuonji. "The boy has such promise. He only needs the support
of a good woman now."
Nodoka blinked, stunned.
With a smile, Genma produced a bottle of sake and invited Mr. Kuonji
to sit with him and leave the women to talk. The two men left the room
and went out onto the back porch region to chat. Genma gave Nodoka a
wink and a nod before he went outside.
At the same time, a tired Ranma returned home and slipped off his
shoes, with gratitude, in the front entryway, also setting his destroyed
bookbag down next to them. "I'm home," he called out.
*Ranma,* thought Nodoka gratefully. She smiled at the two Kuonji
women and said, "My son is now home. I know that he will make a good
impression on you."
Ranma came into the dining area, spotted Ukyou, and impulsively
called out to her, "Hey, Ucchan." He suddenly realized what he had just
done and felt like a total fool. He immediately bowed to the three
women, hoping in vain that his gaffe might pass unnoticed, and seated
himself at the table across from Ukyou.
Nodoka and Ukyou's mother looked at him, surprised. They saw that
Ranma had a bandage across his nose and looked to have been in a recent
fight, a few fading bruises on his face. He also moved with occasional
hesitancy from his injuries.
Ukyou felt an almost electric shock run through her at her first
sight of Ranma, even as her thoughts went something like, *H-how dare he
speak to me so familiarly?* She looked down and began blushing as he
sat, an unexpected surge of desire for the pigtailed boy affecting her,
and she suddenly felt extremely shy.
Ranma gazed at Ukyou and felt a smile cross his face at the sight of
her. *I guess I was worried over nothing,* he realized with relief,
thinking that he had been silly to be afraid of seeing Ukyou. But a
tingling in his body made him wonder if friendship was all that he was
feeling for the girl. He could not bring himself to tear his gaze away
from looking at her, and he thought that she looked so very appealing
dressed in traditional feminine garb as she was.
Ukyou was unable to bring herself to meet Ranma's gaze, and she
could not figure out what was wrong with her. Her fingers twiddled with
each other under cover of the table as she tried to understand what was
going on. He wasn't anywhere near what she had been expecting, and his
easy movements were a sure sign of a well-trained fighter. Each time
she tried to look at him, her stomach tied itself into such a knot that
she had to bend over again. She found herself wondering what he looked
like underneath his clothes, and her blush deepened as she continued to
stare at her cup of tea before her.
"Perhaps we should give the two of them a few minutes alone to get
to know each other a little," suggested Nodoka gently, after spending a
minute glancing from her son to Ukyou and back. Receiving a nod from
Ukyou's mother, the two women withdrew to the kitchen to talk on their
own.
For several minutes, the two teens seemed unable to speak to each
other. After his initial, overly-familiar greeting, Ranma was not sure
what to say, so he contented himself with looking at Ukyou and thinking,
*She sure is cute.* On the other side of the table, the ninja girl was
sitting and trying to sort out her very confused feelings.
During this whole time, Genma Saotome and Akira Kuonji were talking
and drinking sake. It was a companionable moment between the two men,
and Akira found himself unburdening his concerns to Genma. Both of them
were well on their way to being drunk.
"I tell you it's been terrible, Saotome-san," said Akira, slurring
his words slightly. "I have been unable to secure a husband for my only
daughter. W-what sort of a father am I to be unable to do that?" A few
tears began to flow from his eyes.
"I know the feeling, Kuonji-san," said Genma, feeling the effects of
the sake in his system giving a pleasant glow to everything. "But I may
have the solution to your problems. My son. Ranma."
"You agree to an engagement?" said Akira, his hopes growing. When
he saw Genma nod once, he brought out the marriage contract. "Ukyou
does bring a very... a very good dowry with her. She is to inherit our
family shrine and all other family assets when she marries." As he
looked down to find the suddenly misplaced contract in his robes, Akira
did not notice the brief glow of avarice shining in Genma's eyes.
The contract was shortly signed and both men affixed their seals to
it. Genma held out his hand and the two men clasped arms, securing the
deal with a pledge of honor between them. That singular act brought a
happy smile to Akira's face. They toasted the event with another cup of
sake.
"We must keep this a secret though, Kuonji-san," said Genma with a
conspiratorial look. *Especially since Ukyou will be Ranma's number two
wife.*
"Why?" asked Akira, confused, even as he swiftly pocketed his copy
of the contract.
"My son will honor this agreement," answered Genma, "but I wish to
make it a surprise for my wife. You understand how it is." He saw
Akira nodding drunkenly, grateful to agree to anything Genma said by
this point. "For now, we will tell our children that Ukyou will be
staying in the area to allow them time to get to know each other." He
felt extremely proud of this idea. The two men then went back to
finishing off the large bottle of sake they had brought with them.
The two fathers came back into the dining area, finding the two
teenagers discussing the merits and pitfalls of weaponless and armed
combat. Hearing the commotion made by the two men, both mothers
returned as well. Akira suddenly clapped Ranma smartly on the shoulder,
startling the pigtailed boy.
"Your son certainly seems nothing like his portfolio, Saotome-san,"
said Ukyou's father with a slight twinkle in his eye. "I came here with
expectations of someone more... scholarly... in nature, and now I find
him to be a young warrior as well. He sounds like he might be just the
man for my little Ukyou."
"What?" shouted Ukyou in irritation, temporarily forgetting her shy
feelings. *He wants to go through with all of this? Papa, what are you
thinking?* Yet a glance at Ranma silenced her as her shyness returned
with a vengeance. She went back to absently twiddling her fingers.
"However," said Akira, ignoring his daughter as he nodded slightly
to Genma, "so as not to rush into anything foolishly, it has been agreed
that Ukyou will remain in the area to get to know Ranma better. If
things go as well as I hope, then the marriage between our two families
will occur within the year."
Both Ranma and Ukyou seemed to visibly tense at that announcement.
*Genma has apparently taken my little speech to heart,* thought
Nodoka gratefully. *I knew he would come through for me.* She was now
secretly finding herself favoring the Kuonji girl to become Ranma's new
fiancee. Ukyou reminded Nodoka of herself as a girl, for some reason,
and Ranma needed a strong woman to guide him, as she had tried to guide
Genma.
"I think my wife and I would be proud to have Ranma become Ukyou's
husband," said Akira with a conspiratorial wink at Genma, "if the two of
them end up getting along, that is." He moved over to his daughter and
clapped his hands down on her shoulders. "A strong girl like Ukyou will
be able to provide many healthy children for the Empire, when, er, if he
marries her." *And the girl needs someone strong enough to stand up to
her. She does take after her mother that way,* he finished in his mind.
"Papa!" exclaimed Ukyou, scandalized. She glanced at Ranma and felt
shyness strike her once again, going quiet and staring at the tabletop.
"Excellent," said Ukyou's mother. "I've seen more than enough to be
satisfied. I truly think Ranma will be a good match for my daughter,
especially since my husband feels so strongly about it." She smiled at
the Saotomes. *I've found a good husband for my daughter at last! He
sounds like a strong fighter, as well as a brilliant scholar. I just
know that he will father many exceptional children for the Clan.*
Nodoka smiled as she nodded in agreement. *This is all working out
so well. If things don't go well with the Kunous or the Tendous, then I
just know that Ranma will marry Ukyou.* She felt a pleasant glow fill
her at the thought of grandchildren.
"Ukyou will be staying with some of our relatives in the area until
the wedding can take place," said Ukyou's father with a smile. "Her
aunt runs an okonomiyaki shop, and I hear that it's quite popular in the
area. Ukyou is a good cook, and the experience should do her well."
"Okonomiyaki?" asked Genma with surprise.
"Yes," replied Ukyou's mother proudly. "My sister-in-law uses the
old Kuonji family recipes. I don't believe that your son will ever
taste a finer okonomiyaki than the ones made by my little Ukyou, once
she learns the finer points of their creation from her aunt. Ukyou
hasn't had much of an opportunity to learn them, what with her duties at
the shrine and her other training."
*I can't believe this is happening,* thought Ranma as he stared at
the tabletop, trying to control himself from pounding on Genma in his
mother's presence. He glanced over at Ukyou and was captivated by the
bright blush on her cheeks. *Well, maybe this isn't going to be so
bad,* he conceded, *since it isn't as if there's any agreement between
the families. She and I could just, uh, date.* That thought created a
fountain of butterflies in his belly.
Ukyou continued looking down at the table, her blush finally fading,
as she thought sourly, *Judging by my parents, it looks like I'm going
to be stuck with marrying this Ranma guy now. My father is sure not
going to let this chance to marry me off get away, if I know him. I
guess I'm going to have to explain to Ranma how things are going to be
between us, after I get settled in. Maybe we can come to some sort of
an understanding.* The thought of spending time with Ranma was oddly
pleasant to her, and she wondered if he might be interested in helping
her keep up her training.
"Then, it's all settled," said Genma proudly. He poured the last of
the sake into Akira's cup. "Here's to the future."
The two fathers toasted while the mothers looked on contentedly.
There were smiles all around, except from the two now-engaged children
seated at the table.
Ranma and Ukyou finally met each other's gazes, and he tentatively
smiled at her. That set off a fresh blush in Ukyou's cheeks, but she
did not lower her eyes, finally having mastered herself sufficiently to
look on it as a challenge of wills. She met Ranma's look with her own
and answered his smile with a small one of her own.
Both of them were now thinking almost exactly the same thing.
*Maybe this won't be so bad. What's the worst thing that could
happen?*
"Would you like to be friends?" Ranma asked Ukyou.
"I'd like that... Ranchan," said Ukyou, an impish smile on her face.
She enjoyed the startled look on his face.
There was the distant rumble of thunder in the skies.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The boost is a concept borrowed from the "Deathstalker" novels written
by Simon R. Green, a terrific space-opera style story.
Ghost Sweeper Minami is a character created by D.B. Sommer in his story,
"Shampoo �", and is used with his permission.
Thanks to my pre-readers for all of their help and advice:
Michael Allen
Jim Bader
Donny Cheng
David Eddy
Jed Hagen
D.B. Sommer
Stardragon
T.H. Tiger