Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Random Chance? ❯ Fore! ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Random Chance?

By Lord Raa

Chapter: Fore!

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Disclaim-me-do: You know, an author with a modicum of humanity might feel responsible for unleashing the crap on the unsuspecting world.

>>>>>

Previously on Random Chance?:

“Yeah, but what can you do about it?” Ranma rhetorically asked with a shrug.

>>>>>

Nodoka set down a tray of tea and snacks. “So then Kasumi, tell me about your sisters, it's been a while since I heard anything about them.”

“My sisters go to Furinkan with Ranma,” she said with a slight hint of envy.

“What are they like?” Nodoka asked, curious as to what kind of family Ranma might be marrying into.

“Nabiki is one of the brighter students in her class,” Kasumi recalled.

“That's good to hear,” Nodoka nodded. She'd been afraid that the Tendo daughters had inherited their father's intelligence rather than their mother's.

“I think that she uses the other students to get her spending money,” Kasumi added.

Nodoka didn't say anything at that, though she personally thought that Nabiki's behaviour might be considered manipulative. “What about Akane?”

“She's a sweet girl, but she's had some bad experiences with boys lately. Because of that, she doesn't trust them.”

This caught Nodoka's attention. “What kind of experiences?”

“According to Nabiki, one of the older students made a declaration that if any of the boys wanted to date Akane, they had to beat her in combat. And now she has a horde of boys attacking her every morning,” Kasumi said with a frown.

“That's terrible,” Nodoka decided. “What about the school principal?”

“Nabiki told me that the boy that made the challenge is the Furinkan Principal's son, so the faculty won't do anything about it out of fear for their jobs.”

Nodoka didn't like the sound of that, but she couldn't blame the staff for not wanting to rock the boat. After refilling the teacups, she asked Kasumi, “And what about you? What do you do with your time?”

“I stay at home to look after the house and Father,” Kasumi said sadly.

“Does Soun actually do anything to help?”

“He used to train Akane,” Kasumi defended.

“And now?” Nodoka asked, her dislike of the man rising.

“He just really signs the forms,” Kasumi replied in a shame filled voice.

`If he really cared about you, then he'd do something about Akane's problems at school,' Nodoka thought angrily. Sighing, Mrs. Saotome decided to change the subject.

“I know that my son has caught your eye, Kasumi,” she said with a knowing smile, “But what are your intentions towards him?”

Kasumi blushed, unable to find her voice for a moment.

“I should warn you that if he's still unattached and you become pregnant with his child, I expect you to marry him.”

Kasumi spat her tea across the table and spluttered. “W-what?”

“That's what happened with Genma,” Nodoka said with a wistful look on her face. She snapped out of it when she heard Kasumi start to cough. “I take it you'd like me to tell you that story?”

Kasumi nodded.

“Ok, well I'll gloss over some of the more sordid details, but I met Ranma's father soon after he finished his training. We went out for a few dates, you should know about the effects of alcohol by now, and one thing lead to another.

“Before long, I was using him as a sex-toy on a regular basis, until I became pregnant with Ranma. That's when we married.”

Kasumi paled at the mental image of Genma doing the nasty.

“He looked different then,” Nodoka rolled her eyes. “I'll show you the wedding photos.”

Nodoka rose to retrieve the Saotome family photo album. She flicked through the pages to find the appropriate shots on her way back to Kasumi.

“Here we are, this is what Genma looked like when he was younger,” Nodoka said with happy smile.

Kasumi was surprised by the image of the man in front of her. The younger Genma had a full head of thick, lustrous black hair framing a serious looking face that had been through a number of training hardships. The man's body had the muscular bulk of a rugby player, yet Kasumi knew that there was a lightning quickness hidden behind it.

“As you can see, Ranma doesn't have his father's build,” Nodoka said, trying to convince Kasumi to try for her son. “So it does mean that he won't be as bulky when he gets older.”

>>>>>

At Furinkan High School, Ranma Saotome was sitting in the Nurse's Office being fussed over by the nurse. Kuno was being ignored, but that was becoming par for the course.

“I'm fine, really,” Ranma insisted, slightly embarrassed by the situation.

“I'm not so sure that your ankle is fully healed, Ranma-kun,” said the buxom, redheaded young woman. “Roll up your trouser leg so I can get a better look at your injury, Ranma.”

Ranma sighed, but did as he was asked. He felt the nurse's gentle breath on his foot as she examined the appendage.

The nurse sighed when she realised that Ranma was healing at a phenomenal rate and wouldn't need to stay under her supervision.

“I told you that I'm fine, Kamiya-sensei,” Ranma tried his hardest not to whine.

“Please, call me Shinobu, Ranma-kun,” the nurse insisted.

“Shinobu-sensei, please, can I get back to class now?” Ranma didn't like the way the firm, yet gentle digits were creeping up his calf muscle.

Shinobu sighed, “Yes I suppose so. But you will let me know if you hurt yourself, won't you?”

“Of course, Shinobu-sensei,” Ranma agreed with a smile that became wider when he heard the lunch bell ring. “Feeding time.”

>>>>>

On his way back to retrieve his lunch, Ranma was confronted by Nabiki.

“Hello there, Ranma,” she greeted with a smile.

Ranma looked on with a touch of suspicion, but returned the smile.

“Hello, err, Nabiki, is it?”

“Yes,” Nabiki nodded, keeping the smile on her face.

“What can I do you for?” Ranma asked, wanting to get his lunch as soon as possible.

“A few of your fellow students have been asking about you,” the normally cold Tendo started cryptically.

“And?” Ranma asked, trying not to sound tired by the interrogation.

Nabiki's smile slipped for a moment, causing Ranma to grin.

“I saw that smirk, Saotome.”

“Good. It means that your eyes are working fine,” Ranma smugly answered. “If you want, we can talk over dinner.”

“That's a good idea, Ranma,” Nabiki decided, her voice becoming more pleasant.

As the two teenagers sat under a tree, Nabiki began to ask about Ranma's training. Where he'd been training and what styles he knew. Ranma answered these without giving it too much thought.

Then Nabiki asked him what his plans for the immediate future were.

“If I didn't know better, I'd say that you're trying to get answers for these other students,” Ranma replied with a slight grin on his face. “Now why would you want to know all about me?”

Nabiki looked at Ranma with her best poker face and said, “You tell me.”

Ranma finished his lunch, which was rather tasty, and gave his companion a cursory examination. “You're making money off the information, aren't you?”

Nabiki as she kept her face neutral as she finished her lunch, using the food as an excuse not to answer him.

“Read like a book,” Ranma smirked insufferably. “Not that I can blame the lovely ladies for wanting to know about the handsome martial artist that turned up and beat down one of the best fighters in the school in a matter of seconds.”

“I see you suffer from self-esteem problems,” Nabiki sarcastically countered.

“I think that you'll find that my excessive humility is my biggest flaw,” Ranma said straight face.

Nabiki was torn between laughing at Ranma's playful nature and giving him a frosty glare for his Kuno-esque behaviour.

“Calm down, dear,” Ranma waved his hands in a placating fashion, “I'm not worth an ulcer.”

“I'll say,” a voice from behind them spoke in a quiet voice.

“I really don't like being spied upon,” Ranma said with a touch of venom in his voice. “You're pretty stealthy, considering you're still injured.”

“Who is it?” Nabiki asked, concerned that she hadn't noticed the presence of another person.

“It's your sister,” Ranma said as he grabbed the youngest Tendo girl from behind the tree.

“Care to explain what're doing here, dear sister?” Nabiki asked with a growl.

“I'm watching out for you!” Akane insisted. “Who knows what he wants to do to you!”

“I wanted to talk to Ranma, Akane,” Nabiki sighed. “He wasn't going to do anything to me.”

“Believe it or not, Miss Tendo,” Ranma said in a serious and formal voice, “but not every teenaged male is trying to get into a girl's bed.”

Akane snorted. “Prove it.”

“I'd too like to see this fabled morally upstanding boy,” Nabiki added. “I'll bet he doesn't exist.”

Ranma rolled his eyes. “We're not all perverts, you know.”

“But still, I bet you can't find someone who can keep his hands to himself while he trains with Akane,” said Nabiki.

“Nabiki!” Akane protested

“Like it or not Akane, you need more practice,” Nabiki pointed to her sister's leg.

“Sorry, but she's right, you need a lot more training if you hope to get to my level,” Ranma spoke with the utmost sincerity for the first time during the lunch break.

“Oh, and I suppose you're just the right person to do it?” Akane shot back angrily.

“Nope,” Ranma shook his head. “I'm not suited to being a sensei, let alone yours.”

Nabiki was half expecting Ranma to say something about how he could teach anyone martial arts. Akane calmed down and gestured for Ranma to explain.

“Yeah, I'm good enough to teach you. I can point out where you're going wrong, how to improve your stamina and the rest of it,” Ranma sighed.

“So what's the problem?” Akane asked, puzzled why Ranma wouldn't want to teach anyone.

“The problem is that I've spent the last ten years focused on martial arts,” Ranma said in a far off voice, “Ten years of having to leave all my friends behind, never knowing if I'll see them again. I'm told that there's more to life than martial arts, and I'd like to see what else there is to it before I take over the family school.”

“Wow, I thought that you were just an arrogant bastard,” Akane said quietly.

“Oh, I assure you that I am,” Ranma said with a chuckle.

Both Akane and Nabiki smiled at Ranma's admission as the bell signifying the end of the break rang.

>>>>>

When Ranma and Akane returned to their classroom, they were surprised by the sudden change in their lesson plan.

Their teacher, Miss Fujishima, had decided that since it was “such a nice day”, they were going to have an extra PE lesson.

“But sensei,” Ranma protested, “I don't have my PE kit with me.”

“That's ok, Ranma-kun, I'm sure that it'll be all right if you go shirtless for one lesson,” the teacher said with a reassuring, yet almost hungry smile.

“If you're sure that it'll be ok,” Ranma replied hesitantly. “What are we doing today?”

“Softball,” Miss Fujishima replied. “Boys versus girls.”

Yuka protested at this. “But without Akane, what chance have we got at beating the boys?”

“It's not whether you win or lose, but it's how you play the game,” the teacher said with a grin. “The teams stand as they are, unless you can sort out two teams by the time we get down to the changing rooms.”

The class grumbled, but filed out to the changing area.

Emi Fujishima turned to Ranma and Akane. “Now I want you to take care, Ranma. I know that the nurse gave you the ok, but I don't want to have to fill out the paperwork involved with a student injuring themselves. Akane, I want you to keep score.”

Akane nodded.

>>>>>

Outside, on the baseball diamond, Ranma was stretching his muscles with a low level kata. He was enjoying the sun on his naked torso, as were certain members of his class.

Turning to where the ladies in his class were standing, he noticed their red faces.

“Is everyone ok?” Ranma asked. He'd paused in mid kata, holding the pose while he waited for an answer or someone to faint.

Emi Fujishima snapped out of her trance quickest and answered for her class. “We're fine, Ranma-kun. You say you've been training for ten years?”

“To the neglect of pretty much everything else,” Ranma responded.

`That could work in my favour,' the teacher thought deviously, `especially if he needs extra tuition to pass his classes.'

Akane coughed, not happy about the way everybody was looking at Ranma. “Shall we start the game?”

“Yes, of course,” the teacher said with a sweatdrop.

As the selected captain, Ranma stood opposite a blushing Yuka.

“Ok Ranma-kun, heads or tails?” Miss Fujishima asked as she held up a 500 yen coin.

“Tails,” Ranma replied.

“Tails it is, fielding or batting?”

“Fielding,” Ranma decided after looking at the diamond.

The girls' first innings were quickly over with a Ranma showing off his athletic ability by catching fly balls.

When it came to the boy's team first batting inning, Ranma managed to hit a homerun. The ball struck the side of the school building, alerting a number of students to the presence of an unscheduled softball game.

Ranma smiled at the girls as he slowly jogged around the bases, allowing the other batter to run in ahead of him.

And so, the boys maintained their lead for a few more innings with no interruptions up until the point Ranma managed to plant a ball into Kuno's classroom.

Ranma apologised to his teacher, who smiled prettily at him. Before he could complete his run around the bases, Kuno came charging out with his bokken at the ready.

“Halt, foul disruptor of academic studies!” the principal's son raged. “I will put an end to your troublesome activities!”

Ranma dodged away from Kuno's slashes. “I thought we'd settled this earlier.”

“This matter will only be settled when you are gone, wretched defiler of the sacred halls of Furinkan!” Kuno continued his slashes.

Ranma, wanting a challenge from the blowhard, picked up a wooden bat and began to wield it in one hand, like a sword. “Come on then, I'll take you on at your own game, Disco.”

“Foolish cretin, you should know that to challenge the Blue Thunder with a sword is to invite your own downfall!”

Ranma gave Kuno the “red eye” and stuck his tongue out.

Unsurprisingly, Kuno took the bait and charged Ranma with his rapid thrust technique.

Ranma either dodged the strikes or nudged them away with the bat. Despite the uneven distribution of weight, the way the bat was being moved made it look like it was an extension of Ranma's arm.

“Stop boring me with your pathetic attacks, Ouzo,” Ranma yawned.

“MY. NAME. IS. KUNO!” Tatewaki screamed as he started swinging his wooden sword wildly.

Ranma knocked the bokken out from Kuno's hand and swept the kendoist's legs from under him. “If you haven't got anything else, then sit down and shut up.”

“Mr. Kuno, I've had enough of your behaviour. If you don't return to your class immediately, I'll have you suspended!” Emi Fujishima scolded the older boy.

This was an unexpected response from a member of the teaching staff, many of whom would allow Kuno free reign of the school because of his father. Not that the principal had been seen for a while.

“Surely you jest!” Kuno started to bluster. “If I am not here to protect you from this unsavoury influence, then who will?”

“I can assure you that I'm quite savoury,” Ranma smirked at the boy on the floor. “And don't call me Shirley.”

“While there is little doubt that Ranma-kun is very tasty, you must understand that YOU are the disruptive influence here at Furinkan,” the teacher continued to tell Kuno off. “With your `Beat Akane to date her' proclamation, you have caused untold pain and suffering on the student body.”

“I have not!”

“You have, Gonzo,” Ranma agreed with the teacher. Ranma saw the throbbing vein and twitching eyebrow. “Yeah, you keep those vengeful thoughts coming. You know just how much they helped you in our three fights today.”

“I was not defeated!” Kuno insisted. “I was merely delayed on my path to victory!”

“Man, if those moves are all you've got, then your path to victory is journey that's made one step at a time - backwards,” Ranma laughed.

“Those moves have brought me countless successes in kendo,” Kuno insisted.

“And look where they got you in the real world - your ass handed to you three times in what, five, six hours?” Ranma countered.

“Only because you must have cheated,” Kuno grumbled.

Ranma froze. “Pardon, did you just accuse me of cheating?”

“It is the only logical reason for my delays to final victory.”

Ranma tossed the bat aside and lifted Kuno up to stare him in the eyes. “You are the biggest idiot I've ever met. If you keep spreading your lies, I will hurt you. None of this waking up in an hour or two in the nurse's office, but you in a wheelchair spending the rest of your days drinking your meals. Choose your next words very carefully.”

“I will see you expelled, Saotome,” Kuno growled.

“Not the best choice, but certainly not the worst,” Ranma decided before throwing Kuno to the floor. “Since Juno here has the backing of the PTA, I get the feeling that I'll be the one forced to leave Furinkan. I guess that I'll see some of you in another life. It's been emotional.”

Ranma saluted the class before collecting his shirt and leaving Furinkan for good.

The females in the class, minus Akane, turned to the principal's son as he stood up.

“Class,” Emi Fujishima started, “There's been a change of plan. Our next lesson is on social studies. In particular, mobs and riots. Mr. Kuno here has graciously volunteered to assist us.”

The teacher lifting up a nearby bat was enough of a hint to her students about what was going to happen next.

Akane winced at the violence that was displayed before her.

>>>>>

After the class had worked out their frustration on Kuno, Nabiki Tendo noticed that the school blowhard was laying there out in the afternoon sun.

“Excuse me, sir,” the middle Tendo addressed the teacher.

“Yes, Miss Tendo?”

“I believe that Kuno is still outside.”

The teacher moved to the window. “So he is.”

“We can't have bodies strewn out on the field, now can we, sir?”

“I guess not. Are you volunteering to drag him back in, Miss Tendo?”

“Yes, sensei,” Nabiki answered.

The teacher knew what Nabiki was up to. “Just don't empty his wallet too much.”

“Hai, sensei.” Nabiki rose from her desk and made her way out to the playing field.

>>>>>

Nabiki managed to drag the collection of bruises that was Tatewaki Kuno to the school infirmary without too much trouble. Not that she was able to keep the boy from picking up more injuries when she dragged him up the stairs.

Arriving at the Nurse's Office, Nabiki dumped Kuno on the floor and took a breather.

“What happened to him?” Shinobu Kamiya asked Nabiki.

“He upset a half of Ranma's class,” Nabiki replied after spotting an empty seat.

“And just how did the `Blue Thunder' manage that?” the nurse asked, moving Kuno onto a bed.

“I'm not sure. How did you manage that, Kuno-chan?” Nabiki asked the newly awakened boy.

“Do what?”

“Upset Ranma's class.”

“I did nothing of the sort!” Kuno protested. “I merely saved them from the insidious influence of that wicked Saotome.”

“And how did you do that?” Shinobu asked, not liking the sound of this.

“Saotome is no longer a student here. He left on his own accord, saying that he will never return,” Kuno explained. “Why can I not move from the waist down?”

Shinobu Kamiya was now very upset. She was a young woman with needs. Needs that could only be fulfilled by a manly individual, the sort of hero one would find in a Red Dragon novel. The sort of person that Ranma seemed to be.

Kuno was about to find out why you shouldn't upset medical staff when you need them to look after you.

“The reason, Kuno-kun, that you cannot move properly is because there is a baseball bat protruding from you rectal cavity.”

Shinobu poked the bat, causing Kuno to scream in agony. “I'm afraid that I have bad news for you, Kuno-kun.”

“And what is that, Kamiya-sensei?” Nabiki asked, hiding her smile at Kuno's misfortune.

“I'm not qualified to remove foreign objects from body cavities. And even I was, we don't have the necessary equipment here. Kuno-kun has to go to Nerima General Hospital.”

>>>>>

Kasumi sat on her bed, flicking through the manuscript that she'd been given by Nodoka with interest.

“Oh my,” she commented on what she considered to be a spicy paragraph. Reading further on, she found a particularly interesting bit in the rough draft, causing her to develop a major blush.

“My goodness, how do they come up with these ideas?” she asked the empty room. She decided that the last part needed to be re-read, and so highlighted it in green.

The eldest Tendo daughter was torn between finding out the truth about her mother from her father and reading further on. She looked at her alarm clock and noticed that it was time to start preparing the evening meal.

“Oh dear,” she said getting up from her bed. She hid the papers under her pillow; it was unusual for any of her family to enter her room, but didn't want to take any chances.

Descending from the stairs, Kasumi was met by her father.

“Kasumi, are you all right?” he asked. If Kasumi wasn't up to making dinner, then they'd have to order take-out.

“I'm fine, Father, I just needed to take a nap,” Kasumi answered with a smile.

Soun breathed a sigh of relief. “I'm glad that you're all right, Kasumi.”

Kasumi started to make her way to the kitchen, but turned around when she realised that this was as good a chance as any to ask about her mother.

“Father, did mother ever have a job?”

This seemingly simple question was more than a bit awkward for Soun. On the one hand, he didn't want to lie to his daughter, but on the other, he didn't want such a sweet and innocent girl to know about the type of work her mother did.

“Why?” he asked, stalling for time.

“Well, I went to see Ranma's mother earlier today,” Kasumi admitted.

Soun was pleasantly surprised by this, and so now paid his first born child more attention than he had done for a while.

“She said that she knew mother.”

“Oh yes, your mother and I both knew Nodoka,” Soun recalled with pleasant smile. “Unfortunately I haven't seen Nodoka for a while now. How is she doing?”

“She's well, but she said something that didn't make sense.”

“Oh what's that?”

“She said that she wrote books with Mother,” Kasumi said slightly confused. “Mother never said anything about writing.”

“Well, I'm sure that your mother never brought it up because she didn't think that her work was very good,” Soun ventured, hoping that his daughter would drop the subject.

“Perhaps,” Kasumi said, getting that hint. “What would you like for dinner?”

“I've not got a preference today, Kasumi,” Soun non-answered.

Akane and Nabiki returned home from school, talking about the latest Ranma related development.

“I don't see how he can just decide to not go,” Akane said to Nabiki.

“Why are you so bothered about Ranma?” Nabiki asked pointedly. “I thought that you didn't like him.”

“I never said that!” Akane insisted.

“Yes you did, Akane,” Kasumi reminded her sisters. “It was after he beat you in that challenge.”

Akane froze. “I did, didn't I?”

“Yes,” her sisters chorused.

“Oh, well maybe I just liked the way he stood up to Kuno. You ever think about that?” Akane countered, hoping that her sisters would drop the topic.

“Yes, I can see why you'd appreciate that, Akane-chan,” Kasumi agreed. “I was about to start preparing dinner, was there anything you wanted in particular?”

“Udon sounds good, don't you think, Nabiki?” Akane suggested.

Nabiki agreed before leaving for her room.

>>>>>

To be continued…

The chapter was pre-read by Chi Vayne, someone who has suffered greatly so that I might look slightly less foolish in the eyes of you nice people on the interweb.

Are there any questions? Comments, perhaps? Or maybe even a request for me to write more of a different story?

If so, then you know how to let me know.

Until laterer comes.