Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Neutral Ground ❯ Schools & Hearts Are Battlefields ( Chapter 3 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Metroanime 
Back in Nerima, things will turn more sane and predictable, right?
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Martial Arts | Type: The Bet | Uploaded On: 11.10.2002 | Pages: 4 | Words: 2.8K | Visits: 1.0K | Status: Completed
Back in Nerima, things will turn more sane and predictable, right?
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Martial Arts | Type: The Bet | Uploaded On: 11.10.2002 | Pages: 4 | Words: 2.8K | Visits: 1.0K | Status: Completed
NEUTRAL GROUND 3:
Schools & Hearts Are Battlefields by Gregg Sharp
A Ranma 1/2 fanfic
"Why Shampoo have to do this? Oh, can't afford what Nabiki would charge? Ok, all characters, situations, places, are: (c) of Takahashi Rumiko, Viz, Kitty Films, Shogokukan, and other very rich people. Rie Ga, Shu Ga, etc are based on other people work. You no sue writer, please, he promise Shampoo get ai ren in story currently in his In Box. Is okay?
"I sum up? Nabiki turn into catgirl, Ranma turn into dragongirl. Akane set up the Akanenichuan, and meet cousin Rie Ga. Boy-type Ranma defeat Shampoo in village. Shampoo following Ranma. Rie Ga following Akane, for completely different reason. Least Shampoo think so. Some Amazon funny that way. Because Tendo family meets Saotomes on way to Jusenkyo, Ryouga attack Ranma with entire family there, so most have Jusenkyo curses.
"Why Ryouga so violent? He tough man, but not so good with bee stings. Get stung many times he wander too close to hives we keep in village.
"No mention that in previous chapter because was supposed mention that Chapter 4. Flame message so scene dropped, I mention now instead.
"And no tell writer only Akane valid fiancee, Shampoo think Shampoo
plenty valid!"
---------
"I was beginning to worry about her." Soun glanced back at Akane, who was beginning to snarl again.
"I don't know, Daddy, I thought it was a refreshing change of pace. How much do those 'anti-anxiety' pills run, anyway?"
"Nabiki, you wouldn't drug Akane, would you?"
"No," Nabiki sighed. "Probably not. You've got to admit that since she started taking those to overcome her flight sickness, she seemed a lot happier."
"True," Kasumi acknowledged the point. "You do know, however, that with similar drugs it can take a month or more for the brain chemistry to reset to normal levels?"
"Hmmm," hmmed Nabiki. "And here I thought you borrowed those medical texts from Doctor Tofu because you had an ulterior motive."
Kasumi blinked, puzzled, wondering what her sister could be referring to.
Akane glared at Ranma, he was just a stupid BOY, anyway. Who needed him? Now here she was engaged to him, and she HATED boys.
Ranma was just puzzled. He didn't like this engagement either, but why take it out on him? It's not like it was HIS fault. So he had to choose, eh? He had one girl who was nice on the trip, now ready to rip his head off with the slightest provocation. Another girl who seemed to view everything in terms of monetary gain and loss. The third and last seemed to be nice but Ranma wasn't sure if she was all there.
Unnoticed by anyone on the train, a girl of about fourteen ran through the crowd, following the man with the red shirt (who stood out a little more than her real target.)
Unnoticed by anyone on the train, another girl with long purple hair was following the fourteen year old. As with the fourteen year old, it was easier than following her own real target.
------
"Ah, home again," Soun gave a contented sigh.
"Nice place y'got here," Ranma noted. He had been afraid it would be one of those tiny little Japanese townhouses like he'd been in during his Kansai days. Those narrow steep stairs had sucked.
Kasumi smiled and went to start preparing snacks. Kasumi was in her kitchen, all was right with the world.
Nabiki left to her room, she had to figure out how much her absence had cost her when she totalled in the various expenses.
Genma and Soun retreated to a shogi board. Nodoka Saotome went to join Kasumi in the kitchen.
As soon as they were alone, Akane glared at Ranma. "Get OUT of my head!"
"Huh?" Ranma looked back at Akane, wondering if she was completely insane or just acted like it.
"When you did whatever that was you did at those pools, you left some of yourself behind. We're alone now, so TAKE it out." Akane had had time to think it over and she was sure that this BOY couldn't have been of any real help there. Therefore, she hadn't been dead
or dying. There was NO WAY she could owe her life to a BOY.
"I don't know what you mean." Ranma was sure of it now. The entire Tendo family was mentally unstable.
-------
Outside, Rie Ga perched atop the house that her target had entered. Smiling, she crept up the tiles. Rie Ga was good at many things, but she was best as the huntress/tracker.
She heard someone give a startled exclamation and then a splash of water from within the room she had just reached. Frowning, she slowly edged over the roof.
A hand grabbed her collar and pulled her the rest of the way down. She soon found herself looking at the same crowd (minus the guide) that had been in her village a few days ago.
"How the blazes did she get here?" The male that had defeated Shampoo was asking. Impertinent male to speak before his superiors.
She faced the one who had grabbed her. Her eyes widened, she hadn't thought that SHE was a warrior but her skill had been undeniable.
"-You move like an Amazon.-" Rie Ga bowed slightly, intending it as a high compliment.
"-Am an Amazon.-" The warrior replied.
"Kasumi, you speak Chinese?"
"Ah, I had hoped to discuss this when everything had been more settled." Kasumi shook her head. "I am NOT Kasumi, this is merely her body."
"A demon," Akane stepped forward, ready to attack, only to have Nabiki stand up in her way.
Nabiki looked back at Akane. "Oh that's a smart move. Gonna hurt Kasumi's body to drive out the demon?"
"I'm not a demon." Kasumi sighed. "My name is Heisei, and I am a warrior of the Nichieju- an Amazon. More to the point I am, or was, a demon slayer. My arts kept the village safe from the supernatural. Eventually I fell in battle, and my spirit became lost in one of
the pools of Jusenkyo. Now I am part of the one you call Kasumi, whenever she is splashed when cold water. Hot water returns Kasumi to normal."
"Is Kasumi there?"
"She sleeps. Eventually we may merge to one being, but for now there is one of each of us. When one is awake, the other sleeps. I am the Warrior, she is the Nurturer. I am freed of the Spring because,
despite our differences, we are much alike." Heisei shrugged. "We're only briefly awake together in the few seconds after being splashed."
"Okay, then," everyone turned towards Rie Ga as Nabiki spoke. One crisis at a time, after all. "We can deal with this later, for now how did Akane's little sparring partner get here and why is she here?"
"Rie Ga follow you."
"You followed us through airport security, on the plane, through another airport security, onto the train, and then all the way home without us noticing?"
"Rie Ga very good stalker."
"So WHY did you follow Akane?"
"Akane very proud. Speak mind. Make good Amazon. Besides, Rie Ga in very much trouble with village elder. Rie Ga also speak mind. Village elder Cologne no like when Rie Ga speak mind. So Rie Ga think
maybe world outside accept Akane, so maybe outside world accept Rie Ga. At least until village elder stop being so zarked off."
"Is that all?" Nabiki watched the little girl, though she was only three years younger than herself to a seventeen year old that is an impossibly wide gulf of maturity and knowledge.
"One other thing. Cousin of mine, Shampoo good warrior, good tracker. Not best though. Rie Ga best. So see outsider male beat Shampoo, see Shampoo kiss outsider, Rie Ga do duty to family!"
"You mean that 'kiss of death' thing?" Ranma looked a little bit ill.
"It was your own fault, you know." Akane made a point of not looking at him.
"What you mean 'kiss of death'?" Rie Ga looked puzzled.
"See! They don't really have a custom like that anyway," Akane exclaimed.
"Oh, Akane wrong. Big time. We have 'kiss of death' is true. Outsider defeat amazon, Amazon give promise to kill. Is old law, tradition. But that one is outsider MALE, and Shampoo no give kiss of death to that one."
"Oh, what a relief," Ranma sighed. "I didn't want to face some assassin coming after me all the time."
Rie Ga nodded happily. "So Shampoo give 'kiss of marriage' and now come take husband off for honeymoon."
Everyone looked at Ranma who was backing up into the Tendo's back yard.
"No way." He shook his head. "It's gotta be a mistake. I mean...it couldn't be...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
Ranma's protest was cut off abruptly as an arm jabbed down from the roof, grabbed the neck of his shirt and rapidly hauled him up and out of sight.
"Wo ai ni!"
Nabiki flipped open her phrase book. "Hmmm. 'It is you I love.' Apparently, this 'kiss of marriage' is serious too."
"Hey, let go!"
Akane glared up at the ceiling as it sounded like acrobatics were being performed on the tiled roof.
Kasumi and Rie Ga looked at each other and said something in Chinese.
Nabiki flipped through her phrase book again. "Let me see, 'nobody escapes from the Amazon glomp.' Now THAT sounds bad."
Akane growled. "That is IT!"
"-Looks like Akane care for Ranma after all,-" Rie Ga quietly said to Kasumi. They both watched Akane slowly climb her way to the roof.
Everyone's eyes tracked the sound of someone stomping on tiles until reaching a point about halfway up the roof. A loud crash and a slight stream of dust from the ceiling marked the end of the glomp.
"You pervert! How dare you!" *CRASH*
"Sounds like she's fighting Shampoo now," Nodoka commented.
"Somehow, I don't think so." Nabiki joined the group standing at the back door.
Ranma, as if jet propelled, landed in the fish pond. The wave of water left a panda and a catgirl in the crowd of otherwise merely damp spectators.
Nabiki felt the transformation in more detail than she had the last time. Her senses becoming many times more acute, the awareness of time being curtailed, the emotions and feelings brimming forth even as her intellect seemed to fuzz up.
"Sisssssss," hissed Nabiki-neko. "Akane no baka."
"Who you callin' a pervert?" Ranma flopped out of the pond. She started wringing her shirt out.
"Ranma turn into girl?" Shampoo stared down at the scene.
"-It's okay. It's a Jusenkyo curse. Hot water will turn him back,-" Kasumi offered helpfully.
"THAT is why you're a pervert! You, you, lech! And you were in that embrace with Shampoo."
"Well, at least I'm not some kawaiikunee tomboy."
Akane snarled and grabbed up a broom to use as a pummelling device.
Nabiki smiled and jumped. Akane watched as the broom came apart in nice even slices, just a few inches from her hands. Nabiki landed on the other side of the pond, grinning like her name should be Cheshire.
She realized this form was seductive, that instinct and emotion played a far more important role than intellect and reason, and that the power of both the form and the intensity of the feelings were like
a powerful drug.
"Na-nabiki?" Akane looked at the shredded broom in front of her.
"Sisssss." Nabiki looked at her sister, then at the girl who was cringing away from her in the pond. Something instinctive pulled at her about the boy. It wasn't noticeable in her uncursed form, but...
Hot water splashed down on Nabiki, destroying the moment. In mid-yowl, Nabiki shifted forms and nearly knocked herself out on the stones surrounding the koi pond. She noted that her father looked very concerned and was holding the tea kettle. "It needn't be QUITE that hot, Daddy."
"I no recall 'Spring Of Drowned Catgirl.' Must be new one." Rie Ga flipped her hair back. "Cousin Shampoo take Ranma home to village. Akane, you no have to worry about him any more. Is good, yes?"
"Fine, you can both go home with that bimbo, see if I care!" Akane turned and stalked back into the house.
Rie Ga shrugged. "No understand outsider woman. Rie Ga think Rie Ga make big mistake come here." She thought of Cologne. "Well, maybe not leave village BIG mistake."
Kasumi doused herself from the teapot. "Ara..."
"Shampoo no understand this."
Nabiki looked at the fish pond. She felt that she was so close to understanding something about her cursed form. She was aware that she had trouble thinking in that form, but she felt so ALIVE as the catgirl.
"-Cousin Rie Ga, why did she change back into a catgirl?-"
"-I don't know, Shampoo.-"
"-I think that the catgirl likes airen more than the violent girl.-" Shampoo watched as the redhead in the pond was cornered by Nabiki-n, who then proceeded to rub her face against Ranma's shoulder and chest cat-style.
"-I am getting that impression, as well. What puzzles me is that before she changes, she actually seems to have some disdain for him.-"
"Outside women very strange."
"So why you here?"
"Well, like Rie Ga tell," Shampoo said with a roll of her eyes and innocent expression, "want get away from Cologne. Also know that Shampoo give kiss of marriage to Ranma, Ranma and Akane together. Not want to see Akane get 'kiss of death' so figure out what to do."
-----
Soun watched his middle daughter go "catty" again, then start treating Ranma like...
It has been said, with some degree of truth, that neither Genma nor Soun were capable of noticing something even vaguely subtle. Face it, if they'd been able to think things through even moderately, they would not have become disciples of the aged and lecherous martial arts master Happosai. They'd have joined up with Ryuuken or one of the Chinese monastaries ages ago and been quite content.
Still, if one was able to take a hint and apply it with a large blunt object, and said concept didn't violate a major obsession of the two (such as "a Tendo must marry a Saotome and unite the two schools") then both were capable of getting a clue.
Genma and Soun watched the two, Ranma going a little spastic, Nabiki-neko playing with Ranma. The two "uh-hmmmm"-ed about this, then turned their gaze to the other two daughters.
Akane stuck her head out of an upstairs window (not her room as that didn't face the right direction) and yelled something about the two stopping that because it was making her sick.
Kasumi blithely ignored the events in the koi pond, except to add a cat toy to her grocery list.
Genma and Soun looked back at the pond, then at each other.
"You know, Soun..." Genma began.
"...maybe Akane WOULDN'T be the best choice."
"She DOES hate boys."
"Not that I think she's a l-les-les..."
"Soun, the word is lesbian. Sorry, but I think she IS, but it's not the end of the world. You've still got Kasumi and Nabiki." Genma wondered, maybe coming off those relaxing anti-airsick pills had made Akane more irritable than was normal. He shrugged. Then again, maybe not. "Kasumi would be a fine choice, douse her with cold water and she becomes an Amazon warrior versed in their own fighting arts. Hot water and she's a traditional Japanese wife, capable of maintaining a house or a dojo perfectly."
Soun nodded. "If she could teach some of those fighting arts, then she'd be an excellent choice."
In the brief silence following that comment, a purring noise could be heard coming from the area of the koi pond. Both men thought it unlikely that it was Ranma making that particular noise.
"On the other hand, your Nabiki seems to have taken a liking to the lad."
"Only in her half-cat form. She's still only interested in money when she's normal. I _was_ hoping for a cure." The idea was just occurring to Soun that this might actually be useful.
"For which condition, Soun." Genma smiled at the joke.
"I'm not sure." Soun Tendo missed seeing Genma facefault. "Both, maybe."
"So we accidently hose her down every so often, the two of them get together..." Genma smiled.
"And the future of the dojo is assured." Soun smiled as well.
-----
A figure walking through sands, umbrella slung over one shoulder, pauses and shakes a fist at the heavens.
"Ranma Saotome! I shall punish you!"
------
NEXT: since this is 3/6 expect a jump in the timeline.
Well, there's some jumps in the continuity ahead. i may go back sometime and expand these, but it's not going to be in the near future. Maybe when i get a vacation. (Notes a number of people falling off their chairs laughing...)
ttfn
gregg
Schools & Hearts Are Battlefields by Gregg Sharp
A Ranma 1/2 fanfic
"Why Shampoo have to do this? Oh, can't afford what Nabiki would charge? Ok, all characters, situations, places, are: (c) of Takahashi Rumiko, Viz, Kitty Films, Shogokukan, and other very rich people. Rie Ga, Shu Ga, etc are based on other people work. You no sue writer, please, he promise Shampoo get ai ren in story currently in his In Box. Is okay?
"I sum up? Nabiki turn into catgirl, Ranma turn into dragongirl. Akane set up the Akanenichuan, and meet cousin Rie Ga. Boy-type Ranma defeat Shampoo in village. Shampoo following Ranma. Rie Ga following Akane, for completely different reason. Least Shampoo think so. Some Amazon funny that way. Because Tendo family meets Saotomes on way to Jusenkyo, Ryouga attack Ranma with entire family there, so most have Jusenkyo curses.
"Why Ryouga so violent? He tough man, but not so good with bee stings. Get stung many times he wander too close to hives we keep in village.
"No mention that in previous chapter because was supposed mention that Chapter 4. Flame message so scene dropped, I mention now instead.
"And no tell writer only Akane valid fiancee, Shampoo think Shampoo
plenty valid!"
---------
"I was beginning to worry about her." Soun glanced back at Akane, who was beginning to snarl again.
"I don't know, Daddy, I thought it was a refreshing change of pace. How much do those 'anti-anxiety' pills run, anyway?"
"Nabiki, you wouldn't drug Akane, would you?"
"No," Nabiki sighed. "Probably not. You've got to admit that since she started taking those to overcome her flight sickness, she seemed a lot happier."
"True," Kasumi acknowledged the point. "You do know, however, that with similar drugs it can take a month or more for the brain chemistry to reset to normal levels?"
"Hmmm," hmmed Nabiki. "And here I thought you borrowed those medical texts from Doctor Tofu because you had an ulterior motive."
Kasumi blinked, puzzled, wondering what her sister could be referring to.
Akane glared at Ranma, he was just a stupid BOY, anyway. Who needed him? Now here she was engaged to him, and she HATED boys.
Ranma was just puzzled. He didn't like this engagement either, but why take it out on him? It's not like it was HIS fault. So he had to choose, eh? He had one girl who was nice on the trip, now ready to rip his head off with the slightest provocation. Another girl who seemed to view everything in terms of monetary gain and loss. The third and last seemed to be nice but Ranma wasn't sure if she was all there.
Unnoticed by anyone on the train, a girl of about fourteen ran through the crowd, following the man with the red shirt (who stood out a little more than her real target.)
Unnoticed by anyone on the train, another girl with long purple hair was following the fourteen year old. As with the fourteen year old, it was easier than following her own real target.
------
"Ah, home again," Soun gave a contented sigh.
"Nice place y'got here," Ranma noted. He had been afraid it would be one of those tiny little Japanese townhouses like he'd been in during his Kansai days. Those narrow steep stairs had sucked.
Kasumi smiled and went to start preparing snacks. Kasumi was in her kitchen, all was right with the world.
Nabiki left to her room, she had to figure out how much her absence had cost her when she totalled in the various expenses.
Genma and Soun retreated to a shogi board. Nodoka Saotome went to join Kasumi in the kitchen.
As soon as they were alone, Akane glared at Ranma. "Get OUT of my head!"
"Huh?" Ranma looked back at Akane, wondering if she was completely insane or just acted like it.
"When you did whatever that was you did at those pools, you left some of yourself behind. We're alone now, so TAKE it out." Akane had had time to think it over and she was sure that this BOY couldn't have been of any real help there. Therefore, she hadn't been dead
or dying. There was NO WAY she could owe her life to a BOY.
"I don't know what you mean." Ranma was sure of it now. The entire Tendo family was mentally unstable.
-------
Outside, Rie Ga perched atop the house that her target had entered. Smiling, she crept up the tiles. Rie Ga was good at many things, but she was best as the huntress/tracker.
She heard someone give a startled exclamation and then a splash of water from within the room she had just reached. Frowning, she slowly edged over the roof.
A hand grabbed her collar and pulled her the rest of the way down. She soon found herself looking at the same crowd (minus the guide) that had been in her village a few days ago.
"How the blazes did she get here?" The male that had defeated Shampoo was asking. Impertinent male to speak before his superiors.
She faced the one who had grabbed her. Her eyes widened, she hadn't thought that SHE was a warrior but her skill had been undeniable.
"-You move like an Amazon.-" Rie Ga bowed slightly, intending it as a high compliment.
"-Am an Amazon.-" The warrior replied.
"Kasumi, you speak Chinese?"
"Ah, I had hoped to discuss this when everything had been more settled." Kasumi shook her head. "I am NOT Kasumi, this is merely her body."
"A demon," Akane stepped forward, ready to attack, only to have Nabiki stand up in her way.
Nabiki looked back at Akane. "Oh that's a smart move. Gonna hurt Kasumi's body to drive out the demon?"
"I'm not a demon." Kasumi sighed. "My name is Heisei, and I am a warrior of the Nichieju- an Amazon. More to the point I am, or was, a demon slayer. My arts kept the village safe from the supernatural. Eventually I fell in battle, and my spirit became lost in one of
the pools of Jusenkyo. Now I am part of the one you call Kasumi, whenever she is splashed when cold water. Hot water returns Kasumi to normal."
"Is Kasumi there?"
"She sleeps. Eventually we may merge to one being, but for now there is one of each of us. When one is awake, the other sleeps. I am the Warrior, she is the Nurturer. I am freed of the Spring because,
despite our differences, we are much alike." Heisei shrugged. "We're only briefly awake together in the few seconds after being splashed."
"Okay, then," everyone turned towards Rie Ga as Nabiki spoke. One crisis at a time, after all. "We can deal with this later, for now how did Akane's little sparring partner get here and why is she here?"
"Rie Ga follow you."
"You followed us through airport security, on the plane, through another airport security, onto the train, and then all the way home without us noticing?"
"Rie Ga very good stalker."
"So WHY did you follow Akane?"
"Akane very proud. Speak mind. Make good Amazon. Besides, Rie Ga in very much trouble with village elder. Rie Ga also speak mind. Village elder Cologne no like when Rie Ga speak mind. So Rie Ga think
maybe world outside accept Akane, so maybe outside world accept Rie Ga. At least until village elder stop being so zarked off."
"Is that all?" Nabiki watched the little girl, though she was only three years younger than herself to a seventeen year old that is an impossibly wide gulf of maturity and knowledge.
"One other thing. Cousin of mine, Shampoo good warrior, good tracker. Not best though. Rie Ga best. So see outsider male beat Shampoo, see Shampoo kiss outsider, Rie Ga do duty to family!"
"You mean that 'kiss of death' thing?" Ranma looked a little bit ill.
"It was your own fault, you know." Akane made a point of not looking at him.
"What you mean 'kiss of death'?" Rie Ga looked puzzled.
"See! They don't really have a custom like that anyway," Akane exclaimed.
"Oh, Akane wrong. Big time. We have 'kiss of death' is true. Outsider defeat amazon, Amazon give promise to kill. Is old law, tradition. But that one is outsider MALE, and Shampoo no give kiss of death to that one."
"Oh, what a relief," Ranma sighed. "I didn't want to face some assassin coming after me all the time."
Rie Ga nodded happily. "So Shampoo give 'kiss of marriage' and now come take husband off for honeymoon."
Everyone looked at Ranma who was backing up into the Tendo's back yard.
"No way." He shook his head. "It's gotta be a mistake. I mean...it couldn't be...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
Ranma's protest was cut off abruptly as an arm jabbed down from the roof, grabbed the neck of his shirt and rapidly hauled him up and out of sight.
"Wo ai ni!"
Nabiki flipped open her phrase book. "Hmmm. 'It is you I love.' Apparently, this 'kiss of marriage' is serious too."
"Hey, let go!"
Akane glared up at the ceiling as it sounded like acrobatics were being performed on the tiled roof.
Kasumi and Rie Ga looked at each other and said something in Chinese.
Nabiki flipped through her phrase book again. "Let me see, 'nobody escapes from the Amazon glomp.' Now THAT sounds bad."
Akane growled. "That is IT!"
"-Looks like Akane care for Ranma after all,-" Rie Ga quietly said to Kasumi. They both watched Akane slowly climb her way to the roof.
Everyone's eyes tracked the sound of someone stomping on tiles until reaching a point about halfway up the roof. A loud crash and a slight stream of dust from the ceiling marked the end of the glomp.
"You pervert! How dare you!" *CRASH*
"Sounds like she's fighting Shampoo now," Nodoka commented.
"Somehow, I don't think so." Nabiki joined the group standing at the back door.
Ranma, as if jet propelled, landed in the fish pond. The wave of water left a panda and a catgirl in the crowd of otherwise merely damp spectators.
Nabiki felt the transformation in more detail than she had the last time. Her senses becoming many times more acute, the awareness of time being curtailed, the emotions and feelings brimming forth even as her intellect seemed to fuzz up.
"Sisssssss," hissed Nabiki-neko. "Akane no baka."
"Who you callin' a pervert?" Ranma flopped out of the pond. She started wringing her shirt out.
"Ranma turn into girl?" Shampoo stared down at the scene.
"-It's okay. It's a Jusenkyo curse. Hot water will turn him back,-" Kasumi offered helpfully.
"THAT is why you're a pervert! You, you, lech! And you were in that embrace with Shampoo."
"Well, at least I'm not some kawaiikunee tomboy."
Akane snarled and grabbed up a broom to use as a pummelling device.
Nabiki smiled and jumped. Akane watched as the broom came apart in nice even slices, just a few inches from her hands. Nabiki landed on the other side of the pond, grinning like her name should be Cheshire.
She realized this form was seductive, that instinct and emotion played a far more important role than intellect and reason, and that the power of both the form and the intensity of the feelings were like
a powerful drug.
"Na-nabiki?" Akane looked at the shredded broom in front of her.
"Sisssss." Nabiki looked at her sister, then at the girl who was cringing away from her in the pond. Something instinctive pulled at her about the boy. It wasn't noticeable in her uncursed form, but...
Hot water splashed down on Nabiki, destroying the moment. In mid-yowl, Nabiki shifted forms and nearly knocked herself out on the stones surrounding the koi pond. She noted that her father looked very concerned and was holding the tea kettle. "It needn't be QUITE that hot, Daddy."
"I no recall 'Spring Of Drowned Catgirl.' Must be new one." Rie Ga flipped her hair back. "Cousin Shampoo take Ranma home to village. Akane, you no have to worry about him any more. Is good, yes?"
"Fine, you can both go home with that bimbo, see if I care!" Akane turned and stalked back into the house.
Rie Ga shrugged. "No understand outsider woman. Rie Ga think Rie Ga make big mistake come here." She thought of Cologne. "Well, maybe not leave village BIG mistake."
Kasumi doused herself from the teapot. "Ara..."
"Shampoo no understand this."
Nabiki looked at the fish pond. She felt that she was so close to understanding something about her cursed form. She was aware that she had trouble thinking in that form, but she felt so ALIVE as the catgirl.
"-Cousin Rie Ga, why did she change back into a catgirl?-"
"-I don't know, Shampoo.-"
"-I think that the catgirl likes airen more than the violent girl.-" Shampoo watched as the redhead in the pond was cornered by Nabiki-n, who then proceeded to rub her face against Ranma's shoulder and chest cat-style.
"-I am getting that impression, as well. What puzzles me is that before she changes, she actually seems to have some disdain for him.-"
"Outside women very strange."
"So why you here?"
"Well, like Rie Ga tell," Shampoo said with a roll of her eyes and innocent expression, "want get away from Cologne. Also know that Shampoo give kiss of marriage to Ranma, Ranma and Akane together. Not want to see Akane get 'kiss of death' so figure out what to do."
-----
Soun watched his middle daughter go "catty" again, then start treating Ranma like...
It has been said, with some degree of truth, that neither Genma nor Soun were capable of noticing something even vaguely subtle. Face it, if they'd been able to think things through even moderately, they would not have become disciples of the aged and lecherous martial arts master Happosai. They'd have joined up with Ryuuken or one of the Chinese monastaries ages ago and been quite content.
Still, if one was able to take a hint and apply it with a large blunt object, and said concept didn't violate a major obsession of the two (such as "a Tendo must marry a Saotome and unite the two schools") then both were capable of getting a clue.
Genma and Soun watched the two, Ranma going a little spastic, Nabiki-neko playing with Ranma. The two "uh-hmmmm"-ed about this, then turned their gaze to the other two daughters.
Akane stuck her head out of an upstairs window (not her room as that didn't face the right direction) and yelled something about the two stopping that because it was making her sick.
Kasumi blithely ignored the events in the koi pond, except to add a cat toy to her grocery list.
Genma and Soun looked back at the pond, then at each other.
"You know, Soun..." Genma began.
"...maybe Akane WOULDN'T be the best choice."
"She DOES hate boys."
"Not that I think she's a l-les-les..."
"Soun, the word is lesbian. Sorry, but I think she IS, but it's not the end of the world. You've still got Kasumi and Nabiki." Genma wondered, maybe coming off those relaxing anti-airsick pills had made Akane more irritable than was normal. He shrugged. Then again, maybe not. "Kasumi would be a fine choice, douse her with cold water and she becomes an Amazon warrior versed in their own fighting arts. Hot water and she's a traditional Japanese wife, capable of maintaining a house or a dojo perfectly."
Soun nodded. "If she could teach some of those fighting arts, then she'd be an excellent choice."
In the brief silence following that comment, a purring noise could be heard coming from the area of the koi pond. Both men thought it unlikely that it was Ranma making that particular noise.
"On the other hand, your Nabiki seems to have taken a liking to the lad."
"Only in her half-cat form. She's still only interested in money when she's normal. I _was_ hoping for a cure." The idea was just occurring to Soun that this might actually be useful.
"For which condition, Soun." Genma smiled at the joke.
"I'm not sure." Soun Tendo missed seeing Genma facefault. "Both, maybe."
"So we accidently hose her down every so often, the two of them get together..." Genma smiled.
"And the future of the dojo is assured." Soun smiled as well.
-----
A figure walking through sands, umbrella slung over one shoulder, pauses and shakes a fist at the heavens.
"Ranma Saotome! I shall punish you!"
------
NEXT: since this is 3/6 expect a jump in the timeline.
Well, there's some jumps in the continuity ahead. i may go back sometime and expand these, but it's not going to be in the near future. Maybe when i get a vacation. (Notes a number of people falling off their chairs laughing...)
ttfn
gregg