Characters and situations are adapted from the work
of R. Takahashi without permission.  No offense intended.

The Way We Weren't  

Cue Theme Music:  "She's Nobody's Girl" with the chorus
in english, and the rest in Japanese.

Chapter Three

The moment the first class ended, boys were swarming 
around Ranma's seat.  Akira found himself vaguely 
irritated but shook it off.  It was stupid to get 
territorial about a girl he'd met for the first time 
yesterday just because someone had called her his fiancee.
He didn't want a fiancee.  Let her flirt with the guys.  
It might actually teach her how to be a real girl. 

"So what's your favourite kind of food?"

"Ice-cream sundaes."

"Where are you from?

"I just got back from China but I-."

"What kind of martial arts do you do?"

"Kempo.  It's a kind of-"

"Are you dating anyone?"

"Uh..."

"What're your measurements?"

"Hey!  What kind of question is that?"  The boys turned
to look at Akira in response to his demand.  "Do you want
her to think you're all bakas?  Give her some space, let
her finish her sentences, and show some respect!  
Otherwise, if I don't pound you, she will!"

"Oh really?" Daisuke asked.  "Say, sounds like you've
got a personal interest, here.  Should have figured you'd
be faster off the mark than the rest of us, you sly dog."

"It's not like that at all!"

"Why didn't you tell us she was your girl?" somebody else
complained.

"I'm NOT his girl!" Ranma protested, turning red.

"Look she's blushing!  Another poor victim of Akira's
ladykiller charm.  Think he'll ruthlessly use her and 
toss her away like the last one?"  Akira looked for the 
source of that comment in vain.  

Ranma giggled.  "Ladykiller charm?  Akira?  He'd have a
better chance of killing me with his body odor." 

Akira glared at her and snarled, "What did you say?"  

"Oh come on, it was just a-"

"TENDO!"  Everyone's attention was drawn to the door of
the tenth form classroom to see Kuno, bokken in hand,
teeth gritted.  "How dare you toy with two women at once!
Know you not that a true man finds one love and adheres
to her, forsaking all others?  A man who cannot choose
is no man at all!"

"It's not like that at all!" squawked Akira.  "I'm not,
we're not-"

"SILENCE POLTROON!  Your engagement to this girl is a
travesty of betrayal!  You must honor your commitment
to my sister."

"ENGAGEMENT?" the word echoed from all around them from
almost everyone.  Then a nonconformist asked, "Poltroon?"

As the class stared at the two of them Akira waved
his hands in a vain attempt to convince them they hadn't
heard Kuno's declaration.  "It's all just our parent's
dumb idea!  We don't take it seriously, do we?" Akira
said, pleading with Ranma for support.  

Ranma nodded, confused, and began to say, "Uh, y-"

Kuno interrupted her, "An easy alibi with which to 
mislead unsuspecting girls.  Knowing of this engagement,
you could slake your desire at will, then cast your 
conquests aside while feigning familial virtue, but my
sister is not cast aside so lightly!"

Akira snarled, "I broke up with your sister before I'd
even heard of Ranma, and with or without Ranma, I never
want to see your sister again!"

"You disrespectful-"  Kuno's strike was lightning fast
and as Akira jumped back out of the way, the bokken 
reduced his desk to kindling.  Akira was ready to counter-
attack, lashing out with a crescent kick that sent Kuno
to the ground.

"C'mon guys," Ranma reasoned, "You can't fight-"

"I fight on!" roared Kuno, bokken raised high

"Stop interrupting me!" Ranma snapped, turning to punch 
Kuno solidly in the solar plexus.  

That being one of the few blows which could shut Kuno up 
without knocking him unconscious, Akira had a chance to
scold, "Ranma, you should know better than to interfere
in a battle between men."

Ranma glared at him, "Well excuuuse me!  Listen 
musclehead, we're in the middle of a class room-"

"So you are."  The voice of the sensei, who'd arrived a
couple of minutes late for class, was flat with 
disapproval.  "Kuno.  Leave.  Come back when school
is over.  I'll have some work for you to do." As Kuno left
quietly, the sensei, a thin old man on the verge of 
retirement, turned to Ranma.  "Now, young lady, who are
you?"

Ranma looked down at her slippers and reluctantly 
answered.  "Ranma Saotome, sir."  First day of school
and she was already in trouble.  This was not a good omen.

Akira intervened.  "It's my fault, sir.  She was just 
trying to stop me and Kuno from...arguing."

"Blessed are the peacemakers.  However Saotome-san doesn't
appear to have a lot of natural aptitude for that pursuit.
I think you both might profit from a nice quiet chat
in the hall.  The emphasis is on quiet, you will note."

Out in the hall, neither teenager said anything for a
while, until Ranma broke the silence by asking, "So what
is it with you anyway?  Why is everyone attacking you?"

"During spring break, Kuno tried to fix me up with his
sister.  She was cute, so I took her out on a date...
Big mistake."

"Was she...?" Ranma mused.  "So what happened?"

"It didn't work out."  Akira shuddered a little as he 
remembered their second date and continued, "Problem is, 
she's not the kind of girl who takes well to being 
dumped.  So she shows up, first day of school, and makes 
this big speech about how I broke her heart, more or 
less promising that any guy who can beat me gets her as 
a prize.  So every morning a whole bunch of guys try to 
collect.  

"You do that every morning?" Ranma found it hard to 
believe.  Even by the standards of the village in China
where she'd been living, it was a weird ritual and they
had a cartload of weird rules and customs."

"Yeah, the worst part is, all the girls in school 
bought her whole act and think I'm scum.  Add to that
our supposed engagement, and I'll never get a date 
again," Akira complained.

Right.  Of course he'd never even consider taking Ranma out
on a date.  Even if she'd never been out on a date and
might want to know what it was like.  Even if he was 
supposed to be honour bound to marry her.  Baka.  Jerk.
Ranma subsided to silently go through all the insulting
things she knew how to say in Japanese, English and 
Chinese.  Maybe she should learn French in case she ran
out of descriptions for her "fiance".

The rest of the school day passed smoothly enough and 
soon they were on their way home, unimpeded by Kuno who
was busy trying to figure out how to rebuild the desk he'd
slashed apart.  

While they were walking home, Akira brought up a subject
that he'd been wondering about ever since morning, "So 
uh, Ranma?"

"Yeah?"    

"Did you ever ride-um..."  Akira hesitated, looking for
the least offensive way to say it.  

"What?"

"A horse?"

"Nope.  Just Mom, but that doesn't count."

"Why not?  I mean, she was...shaped like a horse at 
least."

"I wasn't in control.  I wasn't riding her, she was
carrying me."

"What was it like?"

"I hated it.  All I could do is hang-on and wait for it
to be over.  Mom had a sore back for the next week.
She could've broken her leg riding across country that
way."

There was a pause as they walked along.  Then he asked,
"How fast was she?"  Ranma looked at him askance and 
didn't answer just shook her head.  What a weirdo.  

After supper found Nikkei cheerfully snapping action 
shots of Ranma practising in the back yard.  What he now 
knew about about Ranma really took the edge off her 
personal appeal for him so he didn't really want them 
for his capacious personal collection, but Kuno was 
always in the market for candid shots of the latest love 
of his life.  It was a good way to pick up some spending 
money not to mention fun.  Even though this infatuation
probably wouldn't last any longer than the others, having
the object of Kuno's desire so handy would be convenient
for as long as it did.  She glanced over at him and he 
lowered the camera to say, "Don't mind me.  Just go on 
with what you were doing."

She pushed a little sweat soaked hair off her forehead
and asked, "Could you make some prints for me?"

"No problem.  Just pay me what it costs to develop the
film."

"Thanks!"  

Nikkei turned to see Akira exiting from the Dojo itself.
Akira waved and said, "Hey Nikkei, as soon as I wash up,
I wanna talk to you."

Up in his room, Akira turned on his brother and demanded, 
"Nikkei, where do you get off telling Kuno that we're 
engaged?"

"Aren't you?"  Nikkei smirked and began to do some 
sit-ups.

"Only because you shoved me into it so you would have to
be engaged to her!"

"Stop whining, it's not that bad a deal for you.  She's 
really cute, her mother's got money, and she really does
have a lot in common with you."  

"That much in common I don't need!  If it was that good 
a deal you would have taken it yourself.  The last thing 
I want is a fiancee who isn't even a girl!"  Both of 
them stopped as they heard a sound from outside in the 
hall.

*Please tell me that isn't who I think it is,* Akira groaned
silently as he opened the door.  At the sight of him, Ranma
pulled back her hand.  The open-handed slap wasn't a 
martial arts blow at all, but still knocked him back a 
step.  Akira could have easily blocked it, but didn't 
even try.  

"Ranma, I-"  

She didn't wait for his apology, vaulting over the 
banister and down the stairs straight into Kaji.  The 
box of plumbers tools in his hand clattered against
the stairs as he reflexively grabbed onto and steadied 
her, looking down with mild concern.  "Ranma?"

She tore herself away, and ran out through the front 
door.  Kaji looked up at Akira, still framed in his 
doorway, and said, "She seemed a little upset.  What was 
that about?"

"Well, it was her own fault for eavesdropping!" answered
Akira, defensively.

"Oh come on," Nikkei jibed, "The way you were shouting she
didn't exactly have to put a glass up to the door to 
overhear."

Kaji frowned and shook his head, "I think you owe that
little girl an apology, younger brother.  She didn't 
ask you to insult her."

Akira nodded, his defensiveness gone.  "I'll find her."

A few minutes later, Ranma came to a halt in a small park.  
She'd moved as the crow flies, leaping over walls and 
running over roofs in a straight line out from the Tendo
Dojo.  Even though the sun had just set, finding her
way back would not be a problem.

She sat down in the warm night, her back to a tree and 
tears running from her eyes now that Akira wasn't there 
to see.  ...Assuming she wanted to go back to the dojo.  
Going back to China was an option.  Maybe if she dunked 
herself into a "spring of drowned girl" it would cure 
her.  What normal boy would want her this way?  Get 
cured and she could have her pick of cute guys.  Not 
Akira, though.  She'd never forgive him.  

"I'm a girl damn it!"  She wasn't entirely sure her 
declaration was convincing.   

"I believe you."  The voice seemed to come from
nowhere, then a dark lump on the ground sat up, taking
the form of a scruffy young man.  "Why are you crying?
What's wrong?"  As he spoke, she could see that his
canines seemed oddly sharp and long, and there was a 
bleak cast to his concerned expression. 

"Oh, um,"  Ranma wiped away her tears, embarassed.  Her
mother had taught her that crying was unacceptable 
behavior, that she had to be strong.  Now here she was,
whimpering like a baby over that loudmouthed baka in 
front of a total stranger.  "I'm OK, really.  I just..."

"S'OK," the boy said.  "Sometimes you just feel like
the world's a dark and lonely place, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Yeah..."  They sat together and angsted a while in 
companionable silence.  

"It's not that I blame him for not wanting to marry me,
you know," she said out of nowhere.  "Our mothers kind
of forced it on us and I don't want to marry him either.  
But does he have to be so mean about it?"

"I could pound him for you," he generously offered.  

She giggled, "Thanks, but I can pound him myself."

*She's...really cute.  How could someone be cruel to her?*  
"Well, maybe you should then.  It always makes me
feel better," he suggested.

She laughed out loud at that, and said, "Thanks, maybe
I will."

A little surprised that she cheered up so easily, he
asked, "Are you going to be able to find your way out
of this forest all right?"  He didn't quite grasp why
she found that funny as well.

"I think I can manage.  I'm Ranma Saotome.  Who are you?" 

"Ryoga Hibiki."

"I'd better get back to the Tendo Dojo.  You never know,
somebody might worry about me."

He nodded wistfully.  "Somebody probably does.  Say, 
do you know the way to Misato from here?"

"Take a number 7 bus in the morning or just walk west.  
Thanks for listening, Ryoga-kun."  She smiled at him 
sweetly.

"I-it was my pleasure."  In the semi-darkness he thought
she probably couldn't see his blush.  What a cute girl...
If he ever met the guy who was treating her so badly, he'd
make sure he learned better.  But of course first Ryoga
had to track down the one who had caused his own suffering
first.  

What a nice guy...  Ranma wished for a moment she'd been 
engaged to a considerate, funny boy like that instead of 
the humorless boneheaded lecher she'd been stuck with.  
Ryoga'd known exactly the right things to say.  Of course
he was probably a bum.  After all, he'd been sleeping
in the park.  He might make a half-decent martial
artist with some training, though.

There was a whisper of movement in the deepening night
as Ranma walked back.  She stopped and concentrated on
her senses.  If she'd had any distractions or background
noise she never would have noticed it.  The sound had 
been almost inaudible, the virtually perfect stealth of 
a superb martial artist...or of course the average cat.
Ranma grinned at the sight of the almost entirely
black cat.  In the darkness, it's eyes and the white
mark on it's forehead seemed to be disembodied.

"Heeeere kitty."  Ranma quite liked cats, although for 
some reason that her mother had never explained, Nodoka
Saotome loathed them fiercely.  "I won't hurt you.  You're
quite a beauty aren't you?"  The cat sauntered over, 
sniffed and deigned to allow her to run a hand over it's
back.  

"Quite the seductress, aren't you, girl."  It was a 
statement, not a question that came from above in a 
rather snooty tone.  "I suppose I can see why my darling
brother might succumb to your low-bred charm.  But my
Akira-sama is just that.  Mine."  A long lithe body 
tumbled through the air, making a perfect landing in
front of Ranma, arms outstretched as if to acknowledge
the applause of their imaginary audience.  The green
silk leotard with imprint of a black rose clung to a 
superbly tuned body.  

As the cat hissed and scampered away.  Ranma shrugged.  
"Am I supposed to care?  If you want a man with a head 
of solid teak, be my guest.  I wish you luck.  Of course, 
he doesn't seem very happy with you right now, but 
that's not my fault.  He doesn't like me either."  
Beautiful.  Downright gorgeous.  And she was wearing 
makeup.  Was this what Akira was used to?  She made 
Ranma feel unfeminine just looking at her.

The gymnast gasped theatrically, hand to her throat, 
"Really?  You mean it?  You're prepared to step aside and
allow our love to blossom anew?"

"I...uh guess so," Ranma answered, feeling as though she
was tossing Akira to the wolves.  

"Why, then we need not be enemies, after all.  Perhaps 
we can be friends-"  Like a stage magician she seemed
to pull a bouquet of roses out of nowhere and tossed it
to Ranma as she continued, "or even sisters."

Startled, Ranma caught the bouquet and inhaled as a puff
of power shot out of it's centre.  She staggered, dropped
the black roses, and then fell.

"Ohohohoho!  I'm so glad you appreciate my peace offering,"
Kodachi gloated as Ranma lay helplessly.  "I'm sorry, but
I think I might need something more substantial than your
assurances, given that Akira is unlikely to defy his family
without some encouragement.  Now, what should I do with 
you?"  

She pretended to think for a moment, then continued  "You 
know my brother seems quite taken with you, really.  As 
a dutiful sister, perhaps I should give him what he 
wants.  If I tuck you into his futon and take a 
few candid shots, that should handily break up your 
marriage contract.  Not to worry though, my brother will
certainly be prepared to take Akira's place.  Let me be
the first to welcome-"

An iron grip locked itself onto her shoulder and spun Kodachi
around.  "A-Akira-sama!" she stammered,  "How nice that 
we should meet in this of all places."

"I don't hit girls but I'm about ready to break that
rule with you.  Get out of my sight!" Akira snarled.

Kodachi gasped.  She adored the mixture of annoyance, 
fear and lust that she usually saw in Akira's eyes
but that was all gone at the moment, replaced by rage and
contempt.  Tears welled up in her eyes, and when Akira
remained unmoved, she fled.

Akira turned his attention to Ranma's paralysed form.  
Her eyes were wide as she looked up, barely able to blink.
His voice was warm as he assured her, "I know you're 
probably feeling scared but don't worry.  It'll wear off 
in an hour or so."  He squatted down and picked her up, 
cradling her like an oversized infant.  She was heavier 
than she looked, but her body was warm and curvy and felt 
uncomfortably comfortable in his arms to him.  

As he gathered her up in his arms, Ranma considered the
issue of whether this counted as a defeat.  On the whole
she was inclined to say that it didn't.  Maybe Obaba would
disagree, but the old woman wasn't there to render 
judgement and Ranma wasn't going to apply the Law when
it hadn't even been a fight.  She cursed herself for 
trusting the local girl and vowed not to make that
mistake again.  Someday, she'd make Kodachi pay for this.

Not having any other alternative, Ranma relaxed and 
admitted to herself that she was glad Akira was there.
Of course it would be a lot easier if he'd be consistently
a baka.  She just had to remember how much he hated her, 
and keep from going soft on him.  It'd be horrible if she 
fell for him.  She'd already had a chance to see love 
that only went one way.  Who needed the broken heart?

_________________________________________________________

And Now For A Word From Our Sponsor:  Honestly I didn't
intend to use him.  He just sort of wandered in (and out).

Comments, questions and insults should be sent to 
rgorman@telusplanet.net.  This one was tougher since the
reality is starting to develop more differences.  Did it
work?  Should I cut some of the talk?