Travels, Training and Trials
Oh, goody! More! :)
[...]
Ranma reined in his impulses and settled for squeezing Akane's hand
and thanking her before he let it go.
They set off down the hallway. As they passed the rest room
restroom(?) One word or two? Not sure.
the
sounds of scrubbing and complaining were coming through the doorway.
Ranma stopped to listen.
[...]
Akane's sudden leap to Ranma's defense surprised and pleased him. He
gave her a grateful look before answering Yuka.
"I'm not a monster, but I do turn into a girl. I fell into a magical
spring in China, and got cursed."
And now I'm Magical Girl Ranko! SWEDISH WATER-POWER BODY MAKEOVER!!!
Errr... I'll just go take my medicine now...
:P
"That's...weird." Yuka giggled, and stopped very fast when she saw
Akane's annoyed expression. "But I guess if Akane likes you anyway, I
can give you a chance." She looked at the broom, and back at Ranma.
"If I don't get the hallway swept I'll never get home! See you guys
tomorrow."
*****
After the madness the day had brought Akane looked forward to getting
to the sanctuary of her home. However, this time she didn't get to
enjoy the peace and quiet she was accustomed to finding.
I don't know if it's technically right or wrong, but the first sentence
parses strangely without a comma:
After the madness the day had brought, Akane...
The moment Akane walked in the door her father ran up to her and
embraced her, babbling incoherently. The only words she managed to
understand were "happy" and "wedding".
Oops!
Ranma's father grabbed him and slapped him on the back. "Very good,
boy! I knew it wouldn't take you a month to decide."
"Decide? What makes you think--"
Nabiki interrupted.
"I saw you this morning. You defeated Akane in the schoolyard. So
that makes you her boyfriend, right?"
The preceding two paragraphs should be one, I think.
"I--ahhh--"
Before Ranma could regain his ability to speak, Kasumi added her bit
of ammunition.
"And I saw you this afternoon in the ice cream shop, holding hands
with my sister."
Ditto.
Gosh, everybody's looking out for number one!
Ranma realized he'd dug himself into an extremely deep hole. There
was a possible way out of it, if he chose his words carefully, and if
Akane would take his cues.
"Nabiki, you think I challenged Akane to be her boyfriend?"
"Well, yes! What other reason would you have for it?"
"Akane told me this has been going on for months. Don't you think she
might be getting a little bit tired of it?"
"Well...I..."
Before Nabiki could gather her thoughts, Ranma turned on Soun.
"And you! Did you know this was going on? How could you LET your
daughter be harrassed like that?"
Heh. Soun doesn't usually react well to being verbally attacked. He
usually descends into tears. :)
Ranma kept his satisfaction well-hidden as Soun stared at him. It
looked like Mr. Tendo was having a hard time accepting the fact that
Ranma had just attacked him.
Heh.
"Ranma, watch the way you speak to me! That was good training for
her! It's very important to be able to fight off multiple opponents."
Yeah, right...
"Forget I said anything." Before Ranma could move on to Kasumi, Akane
did it for him.
"What exactly were you doing walking by the ice cream shop anyway,
Kasumi? You should have been on campus. Were you cutting class to
see Tofu again?"
*laughter* By now, everyone's forgotten what the original conversation
was about. Nicely done.
Kasumi turned red. "Well...I...Excuse me! I have to start dinner.
Tofu is coming!" Kasumi jumped to her feet and ran into the kitchen.
Ranma pointed after her. "No way would I want to marry a girl who
would sell out her sister that way." Then he pointed at Nabiki. "And
that goes for her too!"
Suggest: that goes for her, too!"
Genma folded his arms and smiled. "Then it seems you have chosen
Akane, after all."
"Why, Pop? You think I'd want to be married to a loud-mouthed,
hot-tempered tomboy?"
Akane stared at Ranma and began to seethe. How dare he insult her
like that! Then he glanced at her, and she caught something.
It was a wink. The same wink he'd given her that morning when he was
complaining about school. Part of their morning conversation came
back to her. Ranma acted one way around her, and another around his
father. If she couldn't find a way to cooperate with him they were
going to be married very quickly.
Suggest: Ranma acted one way around her and another around his father.
If she couldn't find a way to cooperate with him, they were going to be
married very quickly.
Commentary: That's a very important lynchpin to the future direction of
this story. Akane and Ranma ARE going to have to cooperate in order to
stave off their marriage-hungry fathers and, later, a marriage-hungry
Nodoka. I suspect Nodoka will see this as a way to get Akane to be more
ladylike, even if that isn't what Ranma necessarily wants in Akane. That
spirit of cooperation is going to foster a strong relationship between
them. They'll need it, because I suspect old flames (think Midori) are
going to come calling. :)
"No more than I'd want to be married to a perverted freak!"
Ranma got close enough to Akane to shout in her face, and in the split
second that he blocked Akane from the view of everyone else she winked
back at him.
"I've got a curse! I'm no pervert!"
"I wish you'd NEVER fought me this morning! Now everyone at school is
going to think I'm engaged to a monster!"
Akane drew back her hand and slapped Ranma, trying to hide the fact
that she was not hitting him full force. Ranma snapped his head back
as if she had and glared at her out of narrowed eyes.
"Stupid tomboy!"
He stomped outside and disappeared. Akane stood there with her fists
clenched for a few seconds after which she grabbed her school bag and
ran upstairs.
Heh. Oscar time!!
Genma and Soun looked at each other in despair.
"This is not working well, Saotome."
"No, it isn't."
Genma sat thinking for a few minutes, and then smiled. "I've GOT it!"
Oh, no... Not another Genma "Can't lose" plan.
[...]
Once in the kitchen they counted on the sound of running water to mask
their voices.
"Now what?"
"I'm not sure, Akane. I have a feeling that our fathers are up to
something."
Smart boy.
[...]
"Saotome and I have been thinking. Ranma has made too many
assumptions about you girls, and we feel that the best way for him to
get to really know you is for him to spend some time with each of
you."
The three pairs of suspicious eyes made Soun's voice dry up in his
throat, so Genma had to continue for him.
Three? Where's the fourth?
[...]
"I'm not telling you not to be a gentleman, but you can get to know
them somewhat better. You do find them pretty, don't you?"
"Well yeah, but--"
"And don't tell me you're not interested in girls! I remember
Midori!"
Ouch! That was low.
[...]
The two sat there watching the sky grow darker. Akane kept glancing
over at Ranma, who appeared rather distracted. She wondered why he
hadn't asked about the trip they were supposed to take together. Did
he assume that she wanted to go? Perhaps if she got really lucky
she'd catch a cold and get out of it. Then again, three weeks from
now she might not want to get out of it.
Yup!
*****
Ranma was having an argument with himself. Why did it annoy him when
Kasumi and Nabiki were devious, when the same behavior in Akane amused
him? The only answer he could come up with was that Akane was working
with him, sort of like a partner. Either that or he could forgive her
anything because she was so cute. If he liked her this much after two
days, how was three weeks topped off by an overnight trip together
going to affect him? Ranma felt himself blushing, and was grateful
for the darkness. Sitting in one position for a long time was making
him stiff, and he got up to stretch. As he did so he inadvertently
brushed shoulders with Akane, and once again felt dangerously
attracted to her.
"I gotta go, Akane. See you in the morning."
*****
Despite the sour faces on both of her sisters, Akane smiled through
breakfast. The thought of being able to get through the school gates
without a fight made her want to sing. She was in such a good mood
that she hopped onto the fence behind Ranma and kept pace with him all
the way to school.
O_o Is she good enough to do that? Yeah, in this alt universe, I guess
she is, now that I remember events in previous chapters.
[...]
Kuno wasn't afraid. He was angry. His vantage point on the roof had
given him a perfect view of the battle between Akane's admirers and
Ranma.
His rival was good. Very good. However, that fact didn't give him
the right to claim Akane.
"Just wait, Saotome. After what I do to you today you won't be able
to hold up your head in Nerima, let alone in this school."
YEEKS!! I don't like the sound of that!
Very good. The story's moving along nicely!!
Ja!
Dave
************************************
D.F. Roeder
Fanfiction - http://www.flash.net/~dfroeder/index.html