Life of Chaos

Prologue - An Insane Day

Chapter 4 - Eat... If You Can.

Characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Communication, and some
other companies. Used without permission. I'll return them as soon as I
finish my other series, and... well... that might take a while. I lent
Ryoga's mom a copy of story plots and well... she's a Hibiki... it'll
take some time before I see her again and find out what she did with
them.

-------------------------

The lunch bell rang and before the teacher had the chance to assign any
homework almost five of his student had disappeared. Kodachi had leapt
out the window to begin her search for Ranma. Kenshiro sprinted out the
classroom door. Onna-Ranma and Shampoo jumped through the open window to
the hall. Tsubasa had tried to jump through the window as well, but
didn't quite make it; his foot caught the window ledge and he fell face
first onto the hallway floor. The teacher debated if he should still
give the assignment but decided to give them a break since it was the
first day.

Kuno rushed after his beloveds, but seeing as how his pig-tailed love
disappeared as quickly as she came, he invited Akane, "I shall allow you
to lunch with me!"

Akane answered with an elbow to his head, knocking him down for the
count.

"Are you a lesbian too?" Mariko asked.

"NO!" Akane shouted, her face a crimson hue.

Mariko looked very confused. "Bi-sexual?"

Akane blushed even deeper. Her eyes narrowed in fury at such an
outrageous accusation. She threw her Japanese-English dictionary at the
Mariko. The cheerleader joined her beloved in slumber.

Ryunami smirked. Such a lovely piece of gossip to spread around the
school. Sure, that particular rumor wasn't exactly new, but this was the
first time someone directly accused Akane. She hadn't even deny it; she
had gotten angry, which for many students was the same as confirming it.
Ryunami didn't quite believe it was true herself, but wouldn't be
surprised if it was.

Ukyou sighed seeing that Ranma had already left, and debated staying
during lunch and sell okonomiyaki at the school. Unfortunately, she had
promised herself to keep her hours at her restaurant more regular. The
frequent unannounced closings were causing her to lose customers. She
reluctantly got her books together and prepared to leave.

At least Konatsu would be the one to open Ucchan's Tuesday through
Thursdays, while she opened on Mondays and Fridays. That was, after all,
part of an agreement she had made with the vice-principal over their
worker's permits where she and Konatsu would each have some full days of
school.

Konatsu decided to walk Ukyou out of the school, just in case that guy
Ukyou hated tried anything.

-------------------------

Azusa was among the last to leave class and noticed Mikado was still
sitting at his desk and staring at the front of the room. She looked
closely at him, noticing 'hentai' and 'sukebe' was written on him. His
eyes showed he was conscious, but the lack of any other movement made
Azusa grin. "Time to doodle!"

 Mikado wished, while Azusa pulled out several markers
and started drawing on him.

Hiroshi and Daisuke were now the only other students in class, and saw
what she was doing.

"Can I help?" Hiroshi asked.

"Sure!" Azusa squeaked cutely.

Hiroshi drew a circle around 'hentai' and added a starburst pattern.
Daisuke, not wanting to be left out, colored a whirlwind under 'sukebe.'
After a few more pictures and adding 'male prostitute' to Mikado's left
cheek, Hiroshi and Daisuke left to get lunch.

Azusa stayed behind and continued to have her fun.

-------------------------

Shampoo had rushed for the bathroom. When she arrived, she nervously
checked her hair in the mirror. A tear escaped her eye when she saw that
part of her hair was noticeably shorter and she wouldn't be able to hide
it. Her luxurious hair, which she had always worn long, and some stupid
ninja wannabe with a shuriken had cut it. The only way to fix her hair
would be for her to get it cut shorter than she could ever remember
wearing.

"Yeoowch. What happened?" a girl asked as she walked into the bathroom.

"Stupid ninja boy cut Shampoo's hair," the Amazon replied angrily.

"Make him pay." The girl eyed Shampoo's hair closely. She then pulled
something out of her pocket. "If you put that into a pony-tail it'll be
harder to notice. You can use this."

Shampoo looked at the ribbon uncertainly for a moment. "Thanks." She
then took the ribbon and began to fix her hair.

"Here, let me do that." The girl took the ribbon from Shampoo and rolled
her hair together so that the shorter hairs were towards the center of
the ponytail. "Much better."

Shampoo nodded to the mirror, seeing that only scarce traces of the
damage done to her hair was noticeable. "Shampoo thanks. Come to
Nekohanten after school and Shampoo treat nice student to delicious
ramen."

"You're welcome, but you don't have to repay me."

"Shampoo insist."

"It's really no bother."

Shampoo scowled. She hated the stupid tradition of refusing a gift a few
times before accepting. "Really, Shampoo must repay kindness."

"But...." The girl noticed Shampoo's scowl deepen even more. "Well, I
never could resist food, especially good food. I'll be there."

"Good." Shampoo smiled a little. "Bye, bye. Must go kill stupid ninja
boy now."

"Have fun," the girl replied. The girl wasn't worried since many of the
martial artists around here might talk a good murder, but none of them
ever went through with it.

-------------------------

Ranma's hair dripped hot water as he entered the cafeteria. When he had
checked his book bag earlier in the morning, he had noticed his lunch
was missing. Since none of his suitors were hounding him to eat a lunch
they had made, he guessed his father had stolen it. So, Ranma needed to
buy his lunch and was surprised to see one of the cafeteria ladies was
the same one who tossed the last bread to the students at his middle
school.

Ranma debated waiting to get the last bread. He decided to purchase a
lunch and stick around for the fight. He knew there would be one with
Kumon, Taro, a sumo-wrestler, and a few others of respectable skill here
as well.

The martial artists in the cafeteria had heard from the guys who went to
the middle school about the coveted last bread, and decided to stay and
fight for it.

It wasn't long before the cafeteria lady called out, "Last melon bread!"

Rumiko remembered the story of how Ryoga became Ranma's rival and
quickly retreated.

The martial artists rushed forward, each intent on getting the bread.

Gosunkugi gulped seeing Taro running straight at him. He was knocked out
of the way with a casual strike from the Chinese student. Gosunkugi went
flying into the sumo-wrestler and bounced off his enormous gut.

The martial arts melee was fast and furious. The melon bread flew in a
chaotic pattern from the wind generated from the fighting teens. Its
flight ended as Gosunkugi's flight path crossed the bread's. The
voodoo-boy landed with the bread in his mouth and a large grin.

The martial artists stopped fighting and blinked. "It's his," several of
them said in near unison.

"Way to go, Voodoo." Ranma patted Gosunkugi on the back.

The force of the pat caused Gosunkugi to spit out the bread. It rolled
on to the floor.

"Okay, no one gets it," Kumon commented.

"If no one wants it, I'll take it," the sumo-wrestler said, popping the
bread into his mouth. "Waste not, not want, I always say."

"Man, I've only seen Pop do that before." Ranma looked sick.

-------------------------

After saying good-bye to Ukyou at Furinkan's front gate, Konatsu left to
go search for Ranma and Akane. He hoped he could eat lunch with them.

When Konatsu passed the sports equipment shed, someone grabbed him. The
purple-haired girl was glaring at him. She then did something he never
expected; she kissed him on a cheek.

Konatsu didn't know what to do. He had read in his shojo manga about
many sordid and romantic events that had happened in the sports
equipment shed. But why would she want to do anything with him? He had
just given her a nasty haircut. Unless he was starting to attract
suitors like Ranma had and the means of getting engaged to this girl was
cutting her hair. He shuddered at the thought; Ukyou was the only woman
for him.

"After school, we fight," Shampoo snarled. She then slammed Konatsu into
the wall.

Konatsu was even more confused than before.

-------------------------

Tsubasa crawled towards the bathroom. The freak that sat behind his
beloved scared him, cut him, nearly burned him, and frightened him. What
was with this school and the assorted freak squad that roamed the halls?
He went to check in the mirror to see if had any injuries.

"Oh, no," Tsubasa moaned seeing someone in a Furinkan girl's uniform
standing behind him.

"I'm going to kill you for what you did to me!" the guy shouted, wearing
the same school dress Tsubasa had worn that morning. This was his first
day at high school and already his class had given him the nickname
'tomboy' and all because a cross-dressing pervert wanted to dress like a
guy.

Tsubasa may have a lot of strength but he had little skill. When faced
with the righteous wrath of an adrenaline-empowered freshman- well
several minutes later, Tsubasa was once again wearing his school dress
and his face was an interesting shade of purple.

-------------------------

Akane sat down to eat lunch under her usual tree. Towards the end of the
last school year she had, more or less, claimed the spot with Ranma. It
stood a fair distance away from the rest of the trees and from the
bushes on the school grounds, which made it harder to eavesdrop without
either herself or Ranma knowing it.

While Akane waited for Ranma to join her, two figures approached her.

"Well, look what we have here, Migi?"

"Gee, if it isn't 'Ms. Best Martial of Hiwa Junior High.' Isn't that
right, Hidari?"

Akane groaned seeing the two identical twins standing before her, each
holding a bo-staff. "What do you two want?"

"First, we want to know...." Hidari started.

"... if you own a pet pig?" Migi finished.

Akane blinked and nodded. She couldn't understand why they asked that
question.

The twins scowled. 

"Second, since we haven't been here long and...." Hidari began.

"... we want to know who's the best fighter in the school," Migi
finished.

"That would be Ranma," Akane answered.

"Oh? A boy is better than the high and mighty Akane." Hidari glared
smugly at her upper-classman.

"You can actually admit someone is better than you?" Migi shared her
sister's look.

"Sure, if they are better." Akane returned their glare.

"Well, why don't we see...."

"... if you can defeat us?"

"Maybe later."

Hidari lashed out with her staff knocking Akane's lunch onto the ground.

"How about now?" Migi asked.

"You asked for it," Akane said flatly while going into the ready
position.

The twins stood poised for attack, but did not move.

Akane rushed for the twin of the left, but the twins shifted position
quickly so the Tendo girl ended up between them. They launched a
simultaneous and synchronous strike, hitting Akane on both sides of her
gut.

Akane staggered back. The twins had gotten faster since their last
fight.

Ryoga and Akari had wanted to join Akane for lunch, when they came upon
the fight. They watched as Akane tried several attacks, but each time
she either retreated or was hit solidly by both staves.

"Ryoga-sama, why aren't you helping her?" Akari asked.

"Akane would be upset if I did," Ryoga replied. He wanted to help but
knew that wasn't an option. Besides, it did not appear to be a serious
fight. The twins were mirroring each other's moves, which would take a
lot of skill to accomplish. If they could do that, Akane shouldn't have
lasted long if they would just break their pattern, so he guessed they
were just sparring.

Akane grimaced while looking at her opponents. Their speed and defense
was a lot higher than the previous year, but their strength didn't show
any improvement. She could keep the fight up for a while still, but she
had to think of a way to land a blow against them before they wore her
down too much.

Akane smirked like Ranma. "Migi, how's Higashi? Did you finally get a
date with him?"

The twins gave Akane a perturbed look.

"Why should I care about him? He likes older women."

"Hearts can change over the course of a year."

Akane frowned. Ranma made it seem so easy to find ways to distract your
opponent. She racked her brain on how to break through their defenses. A
multiple attack could work, but how would she accomplish that since they
had the superior reach? She eyed her fallen bento box and smirked like
Ranma again.

Akane grabbed the bento and lid and then ran towards the twins again.
She flung both items and launched herself into the air.

The twins saw this, and discounted the bento box and lid as a threat.
They prepared to dish out pain to Akane, since they did not expect the
force with which the lid struck Migi in the forehead, or the bento that
hit Hidari in left shoulder. They both staggered and turned slightly
from the blow.

Akane came down between the staves, grabbing Hidari's weapon as she
landed. Akane put all of her strength into flinging Hidari across the
school grounds by using the staff. The Tendo girl wasted no time and
turned to face Migi, and unleashed a series of devastating blows.

Ryoga and Akari were shocked when they saw Hidari writhe on the ground
as if every blow Akane struck on Migi also hit her.

"What's goin' on?" Ranma asked while eating a pork bun.

"Akane got into a fight against twins," Ryoga answered.

"I can see that."

Akane finished the attack on Migi and launched her into the air with an
uppercut. Migi landed next to her sister.

"Akane, what's with the double vision?" Ranma asked, pointing at the
comatose twins.

"Ranma, meet Hidari and Migi, the double trouble of Hiwa Junior High.
When I went to Hiwa, I was the best fighter there. Those two had wanted
to claim that spot, but they never did defeat me."

"So why did you fight them now?" Ranma asked.

Akane scowled. "Old rivalry. They wanted to prove they could defeat me,
but they still can't take a punch."

"Why did she react to the other girl being hit?" Ryoga asked.

"When one of them feels pain, the other feels it as well."

"A two-for-one special," Ranma commented.

Ryoga scratched his head. "Good thing they weren't serious."

Akane blinked. "They were very serious."

"If they were serious then why mirror each other's moves?" Ryoga asked
bewildered.

"It's how they fight. They're always together and rarely act as if they
have separate minds."

"Huh?" Ryoga questioned.

Ranma shook his head. "Come on, man. It's not that hard to grasp. Twins
can sometime know each other really well. It's easier for those two to
act together than separately. And if they got that two-for-one special
goin', they'd be more in unison than the twins I fought when I was
eleven... or was that nine?" Ranma's brow crinkled in thought.

"Oh, okay. If you say so." Ryoga didn't really understand it. That kind
of unity they were talking about would require telepathy and he didn't
believe that was possible without the aid of magic.

-------------------------

Hiroshi and Daisuke had watched the fight between Akane and the two
girls and could only think of one thing. "Twiiiiiiins." They grinned
pervertedly. Hiroshi's nose started to bleed.

Sayuri and Yuka looked at them and wandered somewhere else.

-------------------------

Nabiki smiled, counting what she made from the betting on Akane's fight.
How quickly they forgot that Akane was a capable fighter, just not
nearly as good as many of the other martial artists that go to this
school.

-------------------------

Kodachi frowned when Ranma sat down to lunch with the wretched Tendo
girl. He even shared what little he had left with her. The few times she
had seen them together they were always fighting, but some of those
fights were, admittedly, caused by Kodachi.

The youngest Kuno had not liked the evidence she had seen. Ranma and
Akane were being civil, friendly, and even close. From what she had seen
today, the Tendo girl was obviously in the lead of the competition for
Ranma, but Kodachi doubted that fight was over. All she had to do was
prove herself better, and that couldn't be very hard. She was the Black
Rose of Furinkan High, after all.

-------------------------

Kuno would have been searching for his beloveds, but that Mariko girl
was starting to scare him. He was hiding in his personal room of the
kendo training hall. What did she want? She didn't love him like his
goddesses did, of that he was certain. Yet she always watched him,
professed love to him, and refused to be away from his presence.

"K-U-N-O! Where are you Kuno-sama? I will have lunch with you!"

Kuno shuddered. That girl was way too much for his noble personage.

-------------------------

Several girls swooned and many more guys wanted to vomit at the sight
before them. The Daimonji's were feeding each other and saying romantic
nothings. The two looked like stereotypical newly-weds. The thing was
that these two had been married for nine months already, long past what
many would consider the 'newly-wed stage.'

Ryunami wanted to rip her eyes out. The sight of two people showing that
much public affection disgusted her to the core. It had to be faked,
since no one was truly that in love, especially guys. Show Sentarou a
pretty girl and he'd look away from his wife like any other guy. Like
all guys, he was perverted scum and she'd only help Satsuki by showing
her what he was truly like.

-------------------------

Mousse walked past a pony-tailed girl while he continued his search for
his beloved. "Shampoo! Where are you?" He noticed the pony-tailed girl
flinch, but she said nothing.

He had been searching since lunch began. He searched everywhere,
including the girls' bathroom. Okay, he'd meant to use the boys'
bathroom and walked into the wrong one by mistake. He asked if she was
there anyway.

Damn, the girls at Furinkan were violent. He rubbed his bruised jaw.

Mousse wanted to know what had happened during the last class. Shampoo
had gotten upset at someone, but he couldn't see what had caused it. He
wouldn't stop until he saw whatever raised her ire was properly soothed.
He would help her anyway he could, especially since it didn't involve
Ranma and Akane in the least.

"Shampoo?!"



-------------------------

Konatsu watched the girl that challenged him. He had to know her
abilities for the upcoming fight. She moved with grace and speed.
Obviously she could fight and her movements were like those of a cat.
She could be trouble, he had best practice and prepare.

The kunoichi tried to remember what Ukyou had said about a purple-haired
bimbo a while back, but he had been paying more attention to his
beloved's voice than what she was talking about. It had something to do
with Amazons, black roses and a non-existent engagement ring as well,
but he really didn't know much of what she was talking about. He had
only been living with her a couple weeks at that point, and the events
in Nerima were far more complicated than anything that ever happened at
the geisha teahouse he grew up at.

-------------------------
Author's notes:

Japanese Junior High and Senior High schools are both three-year
institutions, so there is no sophomore class.

Who's the best at school: Personally I think Taro is the best fighter at
Furinkan. However, when going over the recent debates in the newsgroups
over who is better, I realized personal perspective has a lot to do with
judging skill level; not to mention plot necessity often messes with the
result of the fight. I realized that Akane obviously wouldn't have the
same opinion as me since her answer would be naturally biased. After
all, only a few weeks ago Ranma fought and killed a god to save her
life, not to mention she almost married him a couple days before as
well.

Konatsu has only seen Shampoo once, at the bombed wedding. He has never
been introduced to her. He might not even know anymore about her than
Ukyou did at the beginning of the Onsen Race, as in nothing.

Bleeding noses is used in many anime films  and manga to show a
character is having a dirty thought. It doesn't have to be caused by
seeing parts of the attracted sex that the character shouldn't look at,
though that's usually the case.

In case you want to know what the new names mean:
Hidari- left hand side
Migi- right hand side
Hiwa - Secret story; untold episode
Of course the students of Hiwa Junior High prefer to think the name is
Hiwai or obscene.

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