Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ A Hopeless Battle ❯ One-Shot

[ A - All Readers ]

A Hopeless Battle

By Jimmy Kapogeorgakis

These characters are all properties of bla bla bla....
This story is written entirely from Ranma Saotome's prespective.

Ranma sat on low branch of the necterine tree growing by the carp pool in the Tendo's back yard. Ranma watched Akane, his would be fiancee, practive a few volleyball moves. Their school, Furinkan High had once again made it to the Girl's Volley Ball Tournament finals. Their next match was versus Meiou High School. Ranma watched as Akane spiked a volley so hard it popped when it struck the ground. She sat down, trying to catch her breath.
Ranma leaned back and smiled. "You might as well relax Akane. That other school doesn't stand a chance against the Furinkan team with you on it."
Akane blinked at him from where she sat, warry of his compliments. "You mean you think I'm that good?"
Ranma scratched his head and leaned back on his branch. "Oh sure. I mean, a macho chick like you who should be on the boy's team? No problem. You put as much effort into this game as you do into your cooking that other team will be going home in an ambulance!"
Akane stared at Ranma as he explained his theory to her, her face darkening with each word. She grabbed a spare volley ball and threw it at his face. "Why are you allways so mean to me you jerk?! I didn't even do anything to you!"
Ranma leaped into the air, easilly evading the incoming projectile. He performed a dexterous flip in midair then used his two index fingers to stretch out the corners of his mouth wile sticking his tongue out at the poor girl. "Bleagh! I take it back! Jeez, you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn..." The rest of Ranma's words were drowned out by a splash as he landed in the carp pool.
"My intent was never to hit you, you stupid jerk." Akane said, in an overly monotone voice to the now female Ranma, sitting waste deep in water.
"Aaaaagh, what'd you do that for?" Ranma whined, getting out of the water and wringing out her shirt. "You're so violent when your mad."
Akane spared Ranma a cold stare and turned on her heel, heading for the house. Ranma blinked a few moments and followed.
"Hey, Akane? You ok?" Ranma moved to touch her shoulder but she slapped his hand away.
"What's wrong with you Ranma? I know I can't cook! I know I'm a klutz! So what if I'm good at sports? At least I'm good at something! Is it so much to ask for you....to...errm. Oh forget it." Akane continued to walk away.
Ranma, feeling a little guilty continued to follow. "Akane, I..."
Akane then pulled the one pole of the close line out of the ground and used it to knock Ranma out of the yard like a major league baseball player. "I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Ranma, who had the misfortune of landing head first in a garbage can, did not appreciate her sudden flight. "...Akane, you....ox..."

Ranma was getting ready to go home after school when he noticed the other students rushing outside. He caught bits of their conversations. "Did you hear? Our team is mopping the floor with Meiou High School'sgirl's volley ball team!"
Ranma stood there watching the students rush outside. "Those dorks. ..hmm, I guess I better go too. Besides, without a mediator that mule will probably kill someone."
Ranma arrived at the volley ball court to hear the students cheering. It seemed the event was over. He jumped high into the air, and made his way towards a high fence where he could get a clear view of the court. Getting there was a breeze seeing as how the other students' heads made perfect stepping stones. Ranma landed on the fence and saw that it was indeed Furinkan High who won. Akane and two other girls were going to accept the trophy.
Ranma smiled despite himself, seeing how happy Akane was. He figured he might as well go congradulate her and apologize for the day before. He hopped down and landed on the court by the girls. Before he could open his mouth to speak though, Tatewake Kuno rudely shoved him asside.
"Akane Tendo. Trully our school is unworthy of you. I, Tatewake Kuno understand what it means to know that an entire school depends upon you to bring home victory and honour. Only I Tatewake Kuno can trully sympathise with your dilemna! Only I Tatewake Kuno know of the apreciassion and love that you want and deserve! So, you needn't beg any longer, for I shall date with you!"
Kuno began to charge forward, obviously ready to embrace Akane. Ranma rolled his eyes preparing to clobber the fool when for a second time he was beaten to the punch. A boy wearing a Meiou High School uniform, seemed to materialise out of nowhere and tripped the oaf, sending him stumbling into the croud where he lay dazed.
Ranma blinked at the new comer. He moved so fast Ranma barely saw him, and he moved with a grace that even Ranma envied. The boy stood a few inches taller then Ranma and had long flowing red hair, a few shades lighter then Ranma's in his female form. The stranger nodded to Ranma with a friendly smile then turned to the girls. "Sorry for just stepping in, but, I can't stand his type."
The girl's eyes shown with glee as they listened to the boy's musical voice. And Ranma realized it wasn't his speed or skill they found so interesting, he was about to just leave when he saw the same light shining in Akane' eyes.
Akane swallowed. "Uuum, thank you, uum, sorry, I uh, don't know your name?"
The closed his eyes and smirked. "My name's Minamino Shuuichi." He looked back towards her and smiled again, showing a row of perfectly straight, white teeth. "Nice game by the way. You're very good."
"You, you think? Well, uuum, thank you, Minamino." Akane was blushing. She was actually blushing.
Minamino chuckled a bit as if he found something funny and began started to walk off into the croud. The other girls surrounded Akane. "Akane you poor girl!"
Akane blinked at her friends, obviously confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"What do you think we mean? There goes Mr Perfect, who so obviously made it clear he like you, and you're stuck with Ranma!"
Ranma felt a jolt run through his chest and cause his whole body to spasm. "What? What the hell is that suppossed to mean? Stuck with Ranma? Neither of us asked for this! You think a macho tomboy oxen like you has a chance with that guy? Go right ahead! Be my guest!"
Akane grabbed the award trophy and used it to smash Ranma's face. "You stupid...I.... you know what? I think I will!" Akane stormed off after her little anouncement mad.
Ranma lay there on the ground dazed from the blow, staring up at the sky. "G-go ahead... see if I care.. you....ugh." Ranma passed out.

When Ranma opened his eyes the first thing he noticed was that the sky was alot darker. It was getting close to night. The boy sat up and rubbed his head. "Jeez and nobody could have wakened me?" ranma got to his feet, hopped the school's fence and bagen the treck home.
He was just turning the corner on the Tendo's street when he heard the sound of laughter coming from the oposite end of the street. Ranma looked and froze at the horrible image before him. There was Akane and Minamino, walking together towards the Tendo's place, talking and laughing and smiling. Ranma ran over to meet them. "Hey! What's going on?"
Akane smiled at Ranma as he came over. She smiled! She actually smiled at him! "Ranma! Sorry about hitting you before. After you passed out our two schools had gone out to a small dinner to celebrate the end of the tournament. Minamino here offered to walk me home. Just then we got into talking and we lost track of the time and stuff."
Ranma glared at the Minamino who just smiled back. "Yeah. Akane told me so much about you. I hear you're into martial arts?"
Ranma wanted so much to demonstrate his martial arts right this instant. "Don't gimme that crap! What do you think your doing? You're school isn't anywhere near here! So why are you walking Akane home? Don't tell me it was 'on the way'."
Minamino finally looked a little mad. "Actually I'm here because I'm suppossed to meet up with a friend of mine. We have some work to attend to here in Nerima. As for walking Akane home, these streets aren't safe for a young girl alone."
Ranma was resisting every urge to punch him. "Not safe? Nothing happens here in Nerima! Besides, who could hurt that big lummox?"
Akane blinked, her smile gone, replaced by a frown and hurt expression. Minamino looked at her then glared at Ranma. "That was very mean."
Ranma knew he'd gone out of line but didn't care. He was about to knock pretty boy's head off when a fourth person came running up the street.
This guy was wearing a pair of old jeens and a leather jacket over a tank top. He was Ranma's height and had slicked back hair. He looked like some sort of street tough. "Yo Kurama!" He shouted. "What the fuck are you doing here?"
Minamino cringed. "Uuum, Yuusuke! This is my friend...and uum..."
Akane looked at Minamino. "Kurama."
Yuusuke ulped as if he just made a mistake and scratched his head nervously. "Uuuuuum, heheheh...err."
"Right, err, Kurama. It's what my friends call me. It's sort of a nick name." Minamino said.
Akane smiled. "Can I call you Kurama too, then?"
Kurama nodded. "Sure. I don't mind." He smiled that perfect smile again.
Yuusuke looked around as if watching for something. "Uuum, right, well, look, Kurama, tell your girlfriend goodbye, we have work to do."
Ranma stared at Yuusuke. Girlfriend?! Where'd that come from?
Kurama laughed. "Right, I'll see you tomorrow afternoon then, Akane."
Akane giggled. "I'll be there!"
Ranma couldn't take it anymore. "Hey! What the hell is going on? Who do you two morons think you are?"
Yuusuke looked at Ranma and snorted. "Yuusuke Urameshi."
Ranma blinked. "Yuusuke Urameshi. The famous gang lord? Oh I get it. Kurama's your gang name, isnt it? You're acting all nice to drag Akane off and..." Ranma was forced to shutup as Yuusuke grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close to look at him in the eyes.
"I don't run gangs, I eat them, got that?"
Ranma wasn't impressed. "Hey buddy, I'd watch my step. You're dealing with Ranma Saotome of the Saotome..." Ranma couldnt speak for Yuusuke's entire forehead rammed into his mouth as Yuusuke headbutted him. Ranme flew into the air from the blow and came down hard, smashing the back of his head on the pavement.
"I don't give a shit who you are! Let's go Kurama."
Kurama looked at Akane. "I'm sorry, we..."
Akane shook her head, giving Ranma a smoldering look. "It's ok. He had this a long time coming. I'll see you tomorrow."
Akane stepped over Ranma's body and entered the house. Ranma just lay there staring at the sky. "Great, what else can go wrong?" Rain began to poor.

The next morning Ranma slowly came down the stairs wearing his yellow shorts and tank top, his face was still sore from where Yuusuke crushed it the night before. He was glad today was Sunday, wich meant no school. He looked into the living room to see his father and Mr Tendo playing shogi. Ranma took his place at the breakfast table and helped himself to some food.
Akane came running down the stairs in one one of her nicer outfits. "Ok, Kasumi, I'm going!"
Kasumi smiled at her younger sister. "My you look nice. Are you going on a date?"
Akane looked over at Ranma and her eyes narrowed angrilly. "Yes! I am!" She then ran out the front door.
Ranma just shook his head. She wants to date Kurama? Let her. Ranma didn't care in the least. He was just about to lift an egg to his mouth with his chopsticks when his fathers foot shoved the back of his head into his bowl. "Ranma? What do you think you're doing?"
Ranma shoved his father off him and glared at him. "What'd you do that for?"
Mr Tendo glomped on to his leg, tears running down his face. "Son! Please don't abandon Akane! Please go show her how much you love her!" Mr Tendo then buried his face in his hands and began bawling. "How could you hate my little girl?"
Genma glared at Ranma in disgust. "I raised you better then this you ingrate boy! How can you just abandon Akane to the clutches of some complete stranger?"
Ranma got up and toweled the food off his face with his napkin. "What the heck do I care? I never wanted to have anything to do with her anyways."
Genma poored a bucket of cold water on Ranma. "What type of a man are you?"
Soun Tendo stared at Ranma through his tears. "Oh Son, now you wont even be a man for Akane?"
Ranma stared at the two old men like the lunatics they were. "Look, I don't care what you say. I'm not going after her."
Ranma then staggered back as Soun Tendo's head took on a much larger and demonic appearance. "Whaaaaaaaaaaat?"
Ranma ran out the front door not bothering to change back into a boy. "I'm going I'm going!"

Ranma ran along the fence, not really caring about all the men staring at all the exposed female flesh on his body. "Let them look." He mumbled to himself. "It's not my stupid body anyways. Besides, I got to find that stupid aha!" Ranma spotted Akane in the park. She was having ice cream with Kurama. That Yuusuke dork was there too with some other girl he didn't recognise. Ranma got an idea. Looks like this female body would come in usefull today.
Ranma jumped into some woman's back yard and borrowed some laundry. He then entered the park wearing a nice flowery dress, about two sizes too big for him and a ribbon in his hair. He ran over to the four kids and glomped onto Kurama.
"Kurama!" Ranma said in his most feminine voice. "How dare you run around with another woman?"
Kurama blinked, obviously suprised. Yuusuke stared. The other girl blinked. Akane was fuming. "What are you doing?"
Ranma smiled, not about to give up his advantage. "Why, I'm Kurama's fiancee!"
Kurama put his hands on Ranma's shoulders and gently shoved him off. "Ranma? Is that you?"
Ranma blinked. Had Akane told Kurama his secret?
"What did you do to yourself? You look like a real girl?"
Yuusuke pointed at Ranma. "Yeah, Keiko. That's the weirdo I mentioned earlier that lives with Akane. That's some costume."
Ranma was dumbfounded. How did they know it was him? "I'm not Ranma. I'm, uuum, errr."
Yuusuke shoved Ranma a little roughly. "Come on. Its a great costume but knock it off. Those boobs look real."
Ranma decided to try shock effect. The jealouse girl friend clobbering the pervert boyfriend trick. "These boobs are real, see!" Ranma pulled down the front of his dress exposing his breasts to Yuusuke. Now he'll get to deal with a jealouse Keiko.
Keiko did look mad, and punched Ranma hard enough to have him land on his female butt. "Honestly, have you no shame flashing everyone?"
Akane poored a kettle of warm water, god knows where she found it, on Ranma's head, reverting him to a guy. "Get that stupid dress off."
Ranma gladly removed the garment and stared at Kurama, Yuusuke and Keiko awkwardly.
Kurama frowned sympathetically. "Ah, a jusenkyo curse."
Ranma jumped and Akane stared. "You know about Jusenkyo?" Ranma asked.
Kurama nodded. "Yes. I know of all sorts of cursed areas in the world. He's really a boy." Kurama added for Yuusuke and Keiko's benefit.
Yuusuke started to laugh. "Bwahahahahaha! What a freak of nature! You turn into a girl!"
Ranma stared at Yuusuke. It was payback time. He swung out with his fist and puched Yuusuke right across the jaw.

Ranma woke p to find himself shoved in a garbage can in the park. He blinked and got up, feeling his bones slide back into place. He could clearly remember punching Yuusuke. Everything after that was a haze.
Ranma looked up at the night sky. How long had he been out? All day? Yeesh? Ranma began to walk back home then stopped and stared at a newspaper stand. The news paper, the date, he'd been out cold for three days! What was that Yuusuke kid made of? Ranma shook his head and returned home.
He walked past his father who was a panda at the moment. The panda merely stared at him.

Ranma was on his way home from Ukyo's. He thought some Okonomiyaki might cheer him up. Apperantly these couple of days where he'd been gone were some of Akane's happiest. Her and Kurama were almost inseperable. It was depressing him more then he thought. Even cheerfull Ukyo got anoyed and told him that if he was going to sit around moping about Akane, he could go do it at home.
Ranma was taking the scenic route home, wich meant going from rooftop to rooftop. A woman's scream split the night sky. Ranma froze. It took him only a second to pinpoint the source of the scream and headed straight for it. He hopped down into the street and went cold at the sight before him.
Akane lay on the ground, pulverized with fear. A...thing, Ranma had no word for it, stood over her. It seemed humanoid. It had one head, two arms and two legs atleast. But it was very tall, almost nine feet. It had two huge horns growing right over its eyes and a full mouth of sharp, pointed teeth. It had a dark purple skin and a tail. It's only clothing was a pair of pants.
The creature opened it's mouth and it spoke with a voice that could come from nothing human. "At last. Your guardian is gone. I have wasted much time waiting for you to be alone. But now you are alone. My friends are keeping him occupied."
Kurama's words rang in Ranma's mind about it not beeing safe at night for a girl to be alone.
The creature began advancing on Akane. "You're soul is the third and final sacrifice needed for me to attain imortality!" The beast raised a hand and long claws extended from each finger tip.
Ranma had no idea what was going on, but he knew Akane was in danger. "Hey ugly! Get the hell away from her!" Ranma took his battle stance, trying to look as brave as possible. The monster looked at him and cackled.
"Oh good. I can use an appetiser." The monster lunged for Ranma but he leaped over it's outstretched claws and kicked it in the face. The beast didn't seem to care.
Ranma wrapped his legs around it's neck and began pummeling it's face with all his might. "Go down you freak of nature! Go down!" The monster reached up and grabbed Ranma from behind, it pulled him off and smiled at him. Ranma aimed both hands at the beast's face. "Moukou Takabisha!" A small burst of energy flew from his hands and dissintigrated as it touched the creature's skin. It was no use. His attack required a tremendous amount of confidence, wich Ranma could not muster.
The beast began to laugh and threw Ranma to the ground. "Oh good. You have spirit energy. Your soul will be most tasty."
The monster reached out for him, Ranma rolled backwards and to his feet. He felt pain where the monster's hands had touched him. He was burned. The monster radiated heat. Maybe it was from all the souls he'd eaten? Who knows? But Ranma was in a cold sweat, he began to move backwards, drawing the monster into a spiral. It chased after him, almost playfully. Ranma completed the spiral and swung out, punching the monster in the chin. It smiled, not bothering to dodge the blow. "Hyryu Shoten Ha!" A giant hurricane of force errupted from around Ranma and sent the monster spiraling into the air, it landed a few yards away looking hurt, at last. The blast was weak, despite the monster's heat it was comepletely cool headed, not enough power. All Ranma did was make it mad.
The monster stood, full height. "Now you die!"
"Hey! Excuse me?" The monster blinked and looked over it's shoulder at the new voice. There stood Yuusuke and Kurama, dragging along two very dead, smaller versions of the beast. Yuusuke smiled and saluted the monster. He then pointed at it's face with his index finger. "Rei Gun." A beam of light fired from Yuusuke's finger and took the monster's head clean off.
Ranma thought he was going to puke. He looked over at Akane who was just staring at him. She ran over and leaped into his arms. She started sobbing uncontrolably.

A while later, Ranma and Akane stoof facing Yuusuke and Kurama. "Sorry for leading you on, Akane." Kurama said. "We're spirit hunters. That monster had stolen an artifact that granted imortality. However, it's keys were long ago hidden away within three souls. You had one such key. He'd already eaten two of the souls. I was hanging around you, hoping he'd come out and..."
Akane shook her head. "It's ok, Kurama. Thankyou for trying. I know you meant well."
Ranma rolled his eyes disgusted but was yanked down by Yuusuke putting an arm around his shoulders. "You did pretty good for a wimp. Nice move that one you used on him. If you hadnt been there, we'd have been too late!"
Ranma shoved Yuusuke away. "I didn't need your help! I had him right..."
Akane stepped between Yuusuke and Ranma. "Ranma? Thank you. ...you saved my life."
Ranma blinked at Akane. She smiled at him the way she did at Kurama that day. Her eyes glittered in the moonlight. Ranma then realized what he was afraid of losing and smiled back. "Hey. It's no problem. Besides, what else could I do? Had I not stopped him the poor guy would have become violently ill after a taste of anything you had to offer.
Yuusuke and Kurama decided it was time for them to leave, as Akane proceeded to hospitalize Ranma.