Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ The Silent Warrior ❯ In Need of a Friend ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4: In Need of a Friend

~Lunchtime~

As the bell rang signaling the start of lunch, Ranma grabbed his bento and was about to head for the door when he sees most of the class heading in his direction. Not wanting to deal with any questions at the moment, Ranma searched the room for an escape route. 'Ahh there we go' he thinks to himself as he caught sight of the open window. With a single leap he was on the window sill and falling towards Terra Firma.

Gasps were heard along with the pounding of feet as the students crowded around the window expecting to see Ranma flat as a pancake or at least a few inches shorter from the fall. But the only thing that greeted them was the view of Ranma trotting off to an empty corner of the courtyard.

Away form all the noise of the students, Ranma plopped himself down underneath a tree. He sat his bento on the ground off to his right and crossed his arms behind his head, leaning back into the tree. He closed his eyes and blocked out the light mumbling that floated across the courtyard as students exited the building and looked for a place to eat.

'Well, so far today hasn't gone too bad. Almost got knocked out by a pretty martial artist, scared an idiot wannabe samurai shitless (literally if my nose didn't deceive me) and make my teacher look like an total idiot. Heh, not too bad at all.' Thinking of his confrontation with the witless wonder, Ranma couldn't help but think about how his enhanced senses form the Cat-fist can be a pain in the ass sometimes. 'Whew, did he stink.'

Suddenly his world got a little darker as the sunlight that was previously shining down into his face is blocked out. Leaning his head to the side a bit and peering through one eye, Ranma's vision was filled with the shape of a beautiful dark haired girl. 'Akane Tendo,' he thought to himself as he remembers her name from class this morning. He takes a second to get a better look at her. Standing probably 6 inches shorter then him, the Tendo girl had short bluish black hair. She has a cute little upturned nose and some of the most beautiful brown eyes he's ever seen. He takes a quick glance from head to toe then back to her face as to not be rude. 'Nice figure, probably from all the practice she does.' As his eyes return to her face, he sees a slight reddening of her cheeks. 'Uh oh, hope I didn't make her mad.' Of course being Ranma he has no idea she is blushing.

'C'mon Akane don't think like that NOW.' Seeing him again made her think again to her ordeal before class today. She can feel her cheeks heating up. 'Ack down girl your gonna embarrass yourself. Ok think Kuno. Think Kuno. Think…' Akane abruptly cuts that thought off as her stomach churns. But her blush is gone all the same.

Ranma decides to break the ice since staring at each other is getting them no where. He bows his head to the point his chin is resting on his chest, then he looks up and smiles. "Good afternoon Tendo-san. Can I help you with something?"

Akane's heart fluttered briefly as nervousness took over to the point that she almost tried to bow and curtsy at the same time, which would have ended up with her falling flat on her face. But she regained enough of her composure to bow at the waste and give him a smile of her own. "Hello Ranma-kun, how is your first day going?"

Ranma's training was the only thing that kept him from getting flustered when Akane smiled at him. 'What the hell, that never happened before,' he thought to himself as he forced himself back to his normal calm self. "Very well Tendo-san. W…would you like to join me?" Ranma did a mental double-take at his slip in his speech. 'Why am I so nervous?'

Akane beamed at his question. 'Now I can ask him about the Soatome School' She nodded and sat herself across from him.

"Umm… I sorry if I bothered you this morning. I should have seen that you weren't in a good mood." Ranma bowed his head again to show his sincerity.

<BLINK><BLINK> Akane blinked her eyes as she regarded him. Why is he apologizing to me? "But… Ranma-kun I'm the one who tried to beat you. Why are you apologizing? It's me that should be saying their sorry."

Ranma shook his head. "No, I shouldn't have interfered. But say, while on the subject, what was that about this morning? All the guys attacking you I mean." Ranma was still stumped as to why they would be doing that. The only thing he could think of is that outdated Amazon Law that they followed in that village by Jusenkyo.

Akane frowned as she told him about the proclamation at the first of the year. "Kuno-sempai made a statement at this years speech contest stating, and I quote: 'Hear this fellow student body, for the word of Tatewakai Kuno shall be upheld. Any who wish to date with the fair Akane Tendo must first defeat her in honorable combat. So says I, the Shooting Star of Furinkin High!' And since none of the guys could beat him, it lead to the morning fights."

<BLINK> "So samurai boy this morning was Kuno?" At her nod, Ranma continued. "And they actually listened to that nutcase?" At her nod again Ranma started thinking. He had heard some of the whispered conversations and one that had stumped him finally made sense. He snapped his fingers, which caught Akane's Attention. "That's what those guys were talking about when that were talking about me 'having the right' to date you."

"HEY! I'm no gonna date you just cause you beat me." Akane's temper was rising again as she regarded Ranma again. 'Why that…and I actually thought he might be different. He's just like all the other idiotic BOYS,' she said to herself getting ready to stand up to leave. But she felt a soft hand on her arm and looked to see Ranma looking at her with a small smile his face.

"Please Tendo-san; I did not intend to date with you solely on the grounds that I beat you this morning. You misunderstand me." Ranma states while still gently holding her arm.

Akane's brow furrowed as she frowned at him. "Oh so I'm not good enough to date you then? Hmm?"

"Oh, quite the contrary Tendo-san, you are a very beautiful woman and if anything I am not good enough for you." Ranma briefly looked down towards the ground as he recalled parts his childhood. All the beatings and crude remarks against his manhood and worth had slowly etched its way in to his view of himself. Low self-esteem and self-worth was the finished product of his father's treatment. "Please Tendo-san do not take anything the wrong way. I have no friends as of yet at this school and I would be greatly honored if you would be my first." Ranma bowed his head again and then looked into her eyes.

'He…he called me beautiful!!' Akane thought to herself. 'I don't believe it, no one has ever called me beautiful. I'm just a tomboy like Nabiki says.' Tears of happiness began to glisten in her eyes as she listens to Ranma speak. 'Not good enough for me! What the hell is he talking about? He has every girl in this school practically drooling over him!' She looks into his eyes as he looked up at her and she nearly gasped. 'So…so empty. It's like he's never had anyone care for him in his life.'

As Ranma looks up into Akane's eyes, his own widen as he notices her tears. 'Oh no! I...I offended her somehow. But…but I thought girls liked to be called beautiful…' Then he looks to the hand that is still lightly grasping her arm. He had read in books that people liked to have their personal space and some got very uncomfortable when someone invaded that space. 'Just like the boys that attack her in the morning,' he says to himself as he realized what he'd done. He jerked his hand back like it was holding molten lava and started bowing his head to the point of touching the ground. "I…I'm terribly sorry if I offended you. I…I won't touch you again! Just…just please stop crying. I'm sorry!" he stops bowing leaving his forehead against the ground. He sighs to himself, 'well so much for friendship. Oh yea Ranma great way to ask her to be your friend. Grab her arm and make her cry. You're such an idiot!'

Akane was about to tell him of course she'd be his friend when she saw his eyes widen. Then he looked totally lost for a moment as if an internal battle was going on. Then she followed his eyes as his rested on his hand grasping her arm. She was further startled as he ripped his hand away and prostrated himself before her. 'What? Why is he apologizing again?' she wandered as she looked down at him bowing and scrapping. Then her eyes widen and her hand went up to her eyes. They came back moist. 'He thinks he made me cry but why…' that thought trailed off as she heard him babbling about not touching her again. She looked at her arm and thought of how him gently holding it could somehow make her cry. Then she thought about what he said earlier about himself not being good enough for her. Then there were the endless blue pools that showed untold depths of loneliness. She tried to imagine how this young man could have been raised to be so insecure about himself around others. But then she smiled as she realized what he needed, a friend.

Akane scooted closer to him and rested her hand on his back. She felt him flinch and somehow bow lower to the ground. "Ranma-kun, you didn't offend me in any way. Please get up." She tried to gently lift his shoulders.

"But…but, I made you cry!! I grew up believing one of the worst things a man could do was make a woman cry." He bowed his head to the ground again.

"Ranma-kun, I was crying because I was happy. No…No one has ever called me beautiful like you did before. I was just happy." This time when she tries to lift his shoulders he reluctantly lifts himself up to a sitting position. Akane can see doubt written across his face as he looks at her, so she gives him her best smile.

He flinches as hit heartbeat flutters from her smile. "Are…are you sure?" he hesitantly says, unable to take his eyes away from her dark brown pools.

She continues to smile and nods her head affirmative. She can see the relief flood through him as he relaxes visibly.

"Umm…so," Ranma starts, looking down at his two forefingers that are tapping against each other in nervousness. "So c…can we still be friends?" He looks at her with big hopeful eyes not unlike a puppy looks to a child for attention.

She almost giggled at his expression. 'He's so cute, nothing like the other boys.' She can see he's going to be hanging on to her next words like a life-line. So she smiles and nodes her head.

"Really!!" Ranma asks to make sure. At her nod he screams, "YATTA!!" and throws his arms around her and hugs her to himself. If someone would have seen Akane's face at that point they probably would have sworn she was gonna pass out from a Brain Hemorrhage, since so much blood ran to face. A few heart-beats later and the same could have been said about Ranma as he realizes what he's doing. In front of the whole school no less! He quickly breaks contact with her and scoots 5 feet away in a blink of an eye. One of the students that had been spying on the two would have sworn he saw Akane's short hair lift towards the direction Ranma had moved as if a strong wind had blown. 'Wow,' thought the student, 'now that was fast!'

Both were blushing furiously as silence fell between the two. "Umm… sorry bout that Tendo-san…" he trailed off as his face went through a few more shades of red. 'Wow, I'm tingling all over. What the heck's the deal.' he thought to himself.

Akane was still feeling a tingling sensation throughout her body also. "N…no problem Ranma-kun…" she too trailed off as she remembered their short embrace.

The warning bell brought them both back to reality as they both let out a little nervous laugh. "Well, let's get back to class…Ranma." She paused as she decided to take the honorific off his name.

Ranma nodded, getting back his composure. He heard how she took the title off his name so he thought he should do the same since their friends now. "Okay A…Akane…-chan." He had remembered how happy being called beautiful had made her so he decided to take a chance by adding a title usually only used by close friends or two girls. His nervousness faded though as he saw her face break out into a big, beautiful smile.

Akane was taken back for a second when Ranma had called her Akane-chan. Before this the only people that ever called her that were here two best friends, Sayuri and Yuka, and her big sister Kasumi. She decided she liked it so she gave him a big smile to tell him it was okay.

And so both walked back inside, side by side, with big grins on their faces as the day seemed a bit brighter all of a sudden.

Nabiki had been watching the exchange and had almost smirked when she saw her little sister's temper coming to the surface. Then she raised and eyebrow when Ranma had grasped Akane's arm. She waited for the appearance of the Legendary Malley-sama, but it never came. She decided to get a closer look so she moved her lunch a bit closer to the 'couple'. Her eyes widened when she got a better look at her sister. 'Are those tears? But she has that big smile on her face.' She was even more surprised when Ranma had prostrated himself before Akane. 'God I wish I had bugged that tree last month,' she thought to herself. She watched the scene unfold in front of her (along with 90% of the School). Her jaw nearly hit the floor when Ranma hugged, HUGGED, her little sister. Then she nearly fell to the ground in laughter when both realized what they'd done. This was the point that the bell rang so she made her way to the front door, all the while watching the two. 'Hmmm…well well well little sister. Have you finally grown up a bit and seen passed your 'See-boy, Hat-Boy' attitude?' She smirked. This called for more info.

~5 minutes till the end of school~

'Crap,' Ranma cursed to himself in his head. 'I totally forgot about my flute today at lunch.' Then he remembered what had happened and smiled. 'A friend…it's been so long since I had a friend.' He never really had many friends, moving as much as he did. Ukyo had been his first real one. She had been real nice and they had made that promise to find each other again so their friendship would still be there. His other friend had been Ryoga. That had been a rocky one, but good old lost-boy made a great sparing partner.

He was knocked from his reverie by the sound of the last bell. 'Well, there's always the park.' He had passed a park on his way to school. It was located between Furinkan and a Fruit and Vegetable Market. He briefly wondered if he should stop to get some fresh veggies for dinner but put that thought to the back of his mind as he saw his new friend approaching. "Ohiyo Kane-chan." Ranma smiled at his new pet name he gave to Akane.

Akane blushed when she had heard him call her that, but little did he know she had been thinking a lot about that since he first called her that at lunch time. She had decided to make one up for him also. 'Can't wait to see his face.' Akane almost giggled as she thought about it. "Ohiyo Ran-chan." She smiled sweetly.

"…" Ranma mouth hung open in an "O" shape when she said that. "R…Ran-chan?" he said his mouth working but with nary a sound coming out.

Akane couldn't hold it any more and burst out in giggles. "You…you shoulda see…seen your face," she said in between gasps for air. She had to hold onto her side so it wouldn't split.

"Hey…" Ranma looked down at the ground with a pout on his face. This just made Akane laugh louder. Soon he followed suit when he couldn't hold a straight face anymore and joined her laughter.

"Well, isn't this a cute picture?" said a sarcastic voice behind them both. They turned to see Akane's sister, Nabiki, standing there with an eyebrow raised and a smirk on her face. "I don't believe we've met, I'm Nabiki. Miss Happy-go-lucky's sister over here." She gestured toward Akane.

Ranma was able to contain his laughter long enough to bow to Nabiki. "Ranma Saotome. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Same here. Well I'm sorry to break up your fun but, Akane we need to get home," Nabiki said as she looked as her little sister finally getting her laughter under contol.

"Okay Nabiki," Akane turned towards Ranma, "I'll see you tomorrow Ran-chan!"

Ranma smiled at the pet name. "You too Kane-chan. Nabiki, again a pleasure." He bowed to both once again.

Nabiki raised an eyebrow at the nickname's they were calling each other. 'Well sis you do work fast.' She smirked and bowed to Ranma. "You too Ranma-kun. Maybe we can talk more later. Goodbye."

Both parties waved to each other and went their respective ways. The Tendo Sisters towards their dojo, and Ranma towards the park.

Next up: Nabiki tries to get the juicy details of the lunchtime meeting from her little sister. And another friendship is born as Ranma meets another girl in the park!

Author's Notes:

First off I would like to thank everyone who left me feedbacks or reviews. This is my first attempt at writing a fic and I must say it helps to hear what others think.

Anyway I would like to hit a few points about my story that people have been asking about. So hear is the following:

I've had a few people complain about Ranma's naivety towards certain things, especially the opposite sex. They say with him being a genius and all how in the world could he not know about those things? Well, all I can tell you is Ranma 'has' been on a 10 year training journey. During this time he had little or no human contact save the monks and priests at temples. If a person is raised by a father that makes him concentrate on the art, that person is gonna be lacking is the social skills department.

And as far as him not knowing about the opposite sex, I'll tell you right now that he does know about it, all about it. He is very book smart. But that is the problem. Knowing what something is, and acting upon it are two different things. In a battle of Knowledge vs. Experience, I believe Experience will win every time. He knows what love is theoretically, (e.g. what he's read about) but when it comes down to it, he has no idea how it feels (e.g. abusive father).

Next, about the curses. No, Ranma and Genma do not have curses. Learning patients and knowing how to speak Chinese was all the warning Ranma needed to NOT train at Jusenkyo. But I might throw in a few curses a little later in the story.

Concerning the Cat-fist. This will be explained in later chapters so I don't with to ruin it for you. (: P)

As for Akane being out of character, I believe she really isn't. Many people believe her main reasons for beating Ranma in the manga was the first meeting (bathroom scene) and the forced engagement. In my story neither of these happen (yet hehe) and Akane was intrigued by the fact that Ranma beat her so easily. I believe she is very friendly, but still has her temper (she still will). But during the lunchtime scene, Ranma kept on throwing her curve balls so she really didn't have time to think that she was actually talking civilly with a boy. All I can tell you is she will still be very hesitant and watchful around Ranma for awhile (new territory for her and all).

And finally, relationship wise. I can honestly tell you I do not know who Ranma will end up with (wouldn't tell if I did :P). As time passes the whole cast will show up and Akane just happened to be the first he meets and makes friends with. So don't assume this is a Ranma/Akane fic just because of one friendly scene where Ranma opens up a little and shows his loneliness, there still lotsa thing coming.

I'll be writing Author Notes every few chapters when I feel I need to explain something. Sorry this one was so long.

Thx

Eternal Flame