DOJO YABURI SAOTOME RANMA 1/2 (EPISODE 3)
A Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction Story
Copyright (C) 1998 Mark Ranel M. Lambo (maramala)
All Rights Reserved.
*Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and all related characters are copyright (c) 1997
Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty Film, Viz, etc. All Rights Reserved.
Used without express permission (and hopefully _they_ won't bother to sue
such a humble homage of their work). The concepts are all mine however.
This has nothing to do at all with the Elseworlds series (hi, Biles-san!),
although the theme involved is pretty similar. I wrote the original draft
way before I have heard of RAAC. The premise: what if Ranma was an orphan?
*Author's Notes:
A ** ** indicates the character/s thoughts
A _ _ indicates the word/s to be stressed
A { } indicates what is written on the signs
A ' ' indicates a quotation
A < > indicates animal sounds
A > < indicates sound effects
This story contains violence, Parental Guidance suggested (yeah, right :).
*********************
"Is this it?" Ranma-chan asked.
They were both standing at the entrance of a small city clinic.
The big wooden sign above the door reads, 'Tof On‚, Doctor'. A smaller
sign posted on the door reads 'Welcome, the Doctor is IN'.
Akane was already heading inside. "Well, what are you waiting for?
C'mon..."
"Wait up, Akane..." Ranma-chan called out, both disappointed and
curious at the same time. **Now what's gotten into her?** She wondered,
following her into the building. Inside, the clinic looked even more dull
than the outside.
"Doctor? Are you here? Doctor?" Akane called out, entering
another room.
Ranma-chan waited for a while for Akane to return as she paced
around uneasily in the waiting room. **What the hell are we doing in here,
anyway? We're going to be late for our first day of classes...** She
looked around, appraising the small area. **Dammit... Geez, what a crummy
looking clinic. They don't even have a receptionist.**
"Akane, I don't think anyone's home..." Ranma-chan started to say
when she suddenly felt a bony finger poke her left shoulder.
"Now, now, now... what do we have here, hmm..?" An poorly-disguised
voice cackled. "What could a cute little girl be doing here, hmm..?"
**Wha..?** Almost instantly, Ranma-chan spun around, delivering a
back fist at what she thought to be the figure's temple. Instead, she made
contact with a arm bone, which shattered on impact with his fist.
>KRACK!<
As the fragments fell to the tiled floor, Ranma-chan then jumped
backwards, going into her defensive stance as she faced the person behind
her.
"That... wasn't... very... nice..." The bespectacled young man,
looking like he is in his late 20's who was the one holding the skeleton
slowly muttered, sorrowfully surveying the damage. "You... you broke
Betty-chan's hand."
**This guy's crazy... but good. I can't believe anyone could get
this close without me noticing it.** "Who the hell are you, anyway?"
Ranma-chan growled, clenching her fists.
The young man tensed as he looked directly at Ranma-chan's eyes.
Ranma-chan could see the muscles of his arm bulge as he stood up his full
height. She readied himself for an attack at any moment.
*********************
Time stood still for the two individuals, both of them looking into
each other's eyes, waiting for the other to make their move. For the two
of them, it seemed that everything around them fell silent, as if observing
them both, watching them, probably wondering what they would decide to do
next.
*********************
A sweatdrop fell from Ranma-chan's cheek. She clenched her teeth,
preparing to attack.
*********************
Akane entered, carrying a hot kettle of water. "Thank you for
letting me have some hot water, Doctor... what's going on here?"
Both Ranma-chan and the other person relaxed at the same time,
thankful for the distraction. "Akane, who the hell is this nutcase?"
"Ranma..." Akane replied, the tone of her voice rising. "This is
Doctor Tof. We are in his clinic. WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING HIM?!?"
"Well, I..."
"Oh, that's all right, Akane-chan." Doctor Tof interrupted
Ranma-chan. "It's my fault, really. I guess your girl friend doesn't like
surprises, huh?"
"You bet I don't, you..." Ranma-chan spoke, then saw Akane's
expression on her face as she looked at Doctor Tof, an expression she
never saw on Akane's face before. She silently took the kettle from Akane
and proceeded to pour hot water on herself.
Doctor Tof didn't even blink.
"This is Ranma Saotome, my _fianc‚e_, Doctor Tof." Akane
explained, nearly growling as she grimaced at the mention of his name.
Ranma-kun frowned.
Then Akane's features softened as she underwent a sudden
transformation. "I'm sorry about Betty-chan's arm, Doctor Tof." She said
to Doctor Tof, in a very different tone of voice that she had used earlier.
"Huh?" Ranma-kun (now back in make form) noticed that her voice
seemed to be more softer, almost gentle, which is very unlike the girl he
has come to know for the past few days. Noticing the looks Akane has been
giving to Doctor Tof, he decided to humor her for a while until he is able
to understand more about this new complication.
"Gomen nasai, Tof-sensei." Ranma-kun bowed. "I'm really sorry
about your... er, skeleton."
"Is it serious?" Akane added, glaring at Ranma-kun.
"Oh, no, I should be the one to apologize. It's nothing, really,"
Doctor Tof grinned, scratching the back of his head. "I'll just fix this
arm up in a jiffy. No problem at all."
"Doctor Tof's such a great doctor, isn't he?" Akane added, almost
fawning over Doctor Tof who is currently occupied on his skeleton's broken
arm.
"No, not really." Doctor Tof replied nonchalantly. "I just do my
best... Amazing. Such skill and power... You must be a really remarkable
martial artist to possess such capability -- to be able to do this." He
pointed out.
"As do you." Ranma-kun replied simply. "Tell me, what is your
school?"
"School? As in what college I graduated in? Tokyo University
College of Medicine, Class of..."
"No. I mean martial art school."
"Oh, that? Well, no, I haven't undergone formal martial art
education, actually. Just something I learned from my father, and some
things I picked up here and there."
"Oh." **Could have fooled me... he IS good.** Ranma-kun thought,
glancing again at Akane, giving Doctor Tof another one of those _looks_.
"Tell me," Doctor Tof asked, "How did you do that? You know,
like change your form?"
As Ranma-kun began to explain his curse Akane, meanwhile, was
looking at her watch, not noticing Ranma-kun's scrutiny on her. Her eyes
begin to widen as she realized the time.
"Oh, no... I... _We're_ going to me late." Akane gasped, and
immediately rushed outside. "'Bye, Doctor Tof. I'll explain everything
later... C'mon, Ranma!!! Let's go!!! Now!!!"
"Hey, wait, Akane..." Ranma-kun turned to bow at Doctor Tof. "I
will see you later, Tof-sensei. Sayonara."
"Sayonara." Doctor Tof returned the bow as Ranma-kun hurried after
Akane. Then he went back to fixing up his skeleton's arm, shaking his head
sadly. His eyes went wide as a sudden thought struck him.
**Waitaminute... wasn't he the same person who _broke_ Akane-chan's
hand?**
*********************
"Hey, Akane?"
Akane didn't even slow her pace. "What is it now, Ranma?"
"You like the doctor, don't you?" Ranma-kun asked.
"Hmph. So? What's it to you, huh?" Akane snapped back.
Ranma-kun shook his head. "Why are you still so angry? I already
apologized, didn't I? It's not that..." He stopped as he noticed a crowd
of teenage boys crowding at the gates of Furinkan High, all dressed in
various different sporting gear and carrying all sorts of sporting
equipment.
"What the hell's going on?" Ranma-kun asked, confused.
"Whatever happens now, _don't_ help me." Akane sighed, braced
herself and charged. "KIYAAA!!!"
As Akane engaged the majority of the male population of Furinkan
High, Ranma-kun crossed his arms and stood by to watch her fight. He could
see that the fighters are not really doing their best, as Akane easily
dispatched her lovestruck attackers.
"Date with me, Akane Tendo!" >WHACK!<
"I love you, Akane!" >BASH!<
"Be my girlfriend, Akane!" >SMASH!<
"Go out with me!" >WHAM!<
"Please be mine!" >THUD!<
The shouts and screams from the boys attacking Akane did not even
help dispel the confusion. **Is this how they ask girls out around here?
Nerima is such a strange place.** Ranma-kun shook his head.
One of the boys, dressed in a tattered karate gi, dropped at
Ranma-kun's feet. He bent down and lifted the battered boy up.
"Good day." Ranma-kun spoke.
"Y-yes... a good... day to you... too..." The boy replied.
"What is this about?"
"We wanted to... date... with Akane."
"Why don't you ask here nicely, then. She seemed an amicable
enough girl."
"Kunou-sempai... announced... that she... will only agree... if
we... defeat her... in combat... first."
"Oh, I see."
"Excuse me... must... go back... into... the fray..." >WHAP!<
Ranma-kun knocked the boy out with a punch to the face. He then
stood up, brushing his hands together, and turned back to watching the
fight. Akane was just finishing up the last of the attackers, and was
delivering a series of blows to a sumo wrestler over three times her size.
**Odd. A high school sumo wrestler?** The burly man toppled over with a
crash, unconscious.
>CRASH!<
Akane turned to Ranma-kun. "That's that..."
Suddenly, Ranma-kun rushed at Akane. Before she could, Ranma-kun
pushed her out of the way. She lost her balance and she fell on her rear.
"OW! Ranma, what was that about..." She spoke as she watched
Ranma-kun strike at something that was thrown at her, had she been standing
where he is a moment later.
Ranma-kun remained silent, as pieces of a red rose fluttered down to
the ground, crushed and ripped appart in an eyeblink. He looked up to see
their new assailant walking calmly towards them. Overhead, storm clouds
began forming as if on cue.
"Truly a boorish lot." The young man, wearing a blue kendoist's
attire and carrying a wooden sword, spoke in an almost imperial manner as
he approached them. "It is no difference that these... weaklings failed in
their hopeless attempts to win your most beloved favor, for it is I who now
personally stands before you!"
>BROOM!< Thunder boomed in the distance.
"Akane... does this sort of thing happen to you every day?"
Ranma-kun whispered to Akane, who was still on the ground.
Akane slowly picked herself up and stood beside Ranma-kun. "Every
school day... except for this jerk. This is the first time today he
decided to join in the battle."
"Hmph." Ranma-kun turned to the kendoist. "The defeated truly are
quite a nuisance. You must be Kunou-sempai, I presume?" He bowed formally.
"Yes, I am he, the rising young star of the high school kendo world,
the most famous martial artist in Nerima, and the one, and only..." He
paused, then raised his bokken up high for dramatic emphasis, "THE BLUE
THUNDER OF FURINKAN HIGH!!!"
>KRACK!< Lightning flashed in the distance.
*********************
Meanwhile, at the windows on the upper levels of Furinkan High, the
students watching the scene unfold begin murmuring amongst themselves.
"Blue Thunder?"
"Ever heard of that name before?"
"Not me..."
"I thought he called himself 'The Golden Samurai' a week ago?"
"No, I think it was something like 'The Super Swordsman'."
Nabiki, who was also watching the whole thing along with her girl
friends, rolled her eyes upward.
"Oh, Kunou-chan. You are soo hopeless..." She looked up at the
sky. **And it _was_ such a fine day too...**
Eiko, one of Nabiki's girl friends/cronies grinned and winked at
Nabiki. "Got ideas, boss?"
Nabiki smiled and winked back at her. "Later."
*********************
"...Tatewaki Kunou, age 17." Kunou continued, waving his bokken
around as if to prove a point. He then pointed it to Ranma-kun. "And who,
are you, who dared besmirch the purity of the brilliance, that ushered
forth from the fair maiden, the vision of incomparable grace and loveliness
that is the beloved Akane Tendou? Speak up, I say."
Akane yawned.
"I am Ranma Saotome, heir and master of the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu."
"The Anything-Goes School? Isn't that..." Kunou's eyes narrowed
as his gazed travelled from Ranma-kun to Akane at Ranma-kun's side, and
back again to Ranma-kun. "So..."
"Yes..." Ranma-kun, smirking, took a step forward, deliberately
crushing what remains of the red rose lying on the ground. "What is your
school, may I ask?"
Kunou frowned as he watched Ranma-kun crush the flower to a pulp.
"School? I need not belong to any school. My incomparable skill with the
sword is so great, I need not imitate the poor abilities of lesser men. As
a matter of fact, it would be a great honor for the school when it is
graced with my most esteemed and magnificent presence."
Akane yawned again.
"Shall we see your so-called skill?" Ranma-kun dropped into his
usual fighting stance. "Come then..."
"Hey, wait a minute!" Akane angrily interrupted Ranma-kun. "This
is my fight, you jerks!"
Both fighters ignored her.
"Is this a challege?" Kunou smiled a predatory grin. "Very well
then, foolish little insect. I shall hereby crush you as an example for..."
>BRIIINNNNNGGGGGG!!!!!!<
The school bell rang.
"Damn!" Akane cried out, rushing into school.
"PREPARE YOURSELF..." Kunou began, right before receiving an elbow
strike on the face, right between the eyes "...URK!!!" He dropped almost
immediately to the ground.
"Gomen, Kunou-sempai," Ranma-kun apologised in an insulting tone
of voice. "Maybe next time."
Ranma-kun quickly followed Akane to their room.
*********************
"Wow." Hanna, one of Nabiki's cronies whistled. "He's good."
Nabiki shook her head. "What an idiot." She turned and walked out
her classroom.
"Hey, boss." Manami, another one of Nabiki's cronies called out to
her. "Class is about to begin."
"Have one of the girls fill in for me." Nabiki replied. "I'll be
right back."
"Where are you going, boss?"
"I have to go drag our cash cow up here to class. I think he
finally got it in over his head."
Her girl friends/cronies snickered on hearing that remark. Nabiki
dismissed their good-natured teasing with a wave.
*********************
The other students were already seated in their classroom when
Akane and Ranma-kun arrived. Akane introduced Ranma-kun to the teacher.
"I see that we have a new student in our class," the teacher
began. "Ranma Saotome. Quite a skilled performance you displayed out
there, young man."
"Domo Arigato Gonsaimasu. I did my best." Ranma-kun bowed, facing
his new classmates.
Akane fumed. **What about me? I practically wore myself out
taking on almost the entire male student population of Furinkan High, while
he just stood there, doing _absolutely NOTHING_! Just because he happened
to take out Kunou-yarou with one _little_ elbow...**
Akane heard a gasp from one of her fellow female classmates. She
saw Ranma-kun wink at her as he bowed, and from out of the corner of her
eyes, she could see several of the girls sigh, believing that wink was
meant for them. She gripped the edges of her table harder, causing it to
crack.
"He had just returned to Japan from a journey to China. However,
Mister Saotome," the teacher continued. "That does not excuse the fact
that you and Akane Tendou were both late. The two of you, go stand in the
hall. Now."
*********************
In the hallway outside their classroom, Akane and Ranma-kun are
both standing up, holding buckets full of water in each hand.
"This is all _your_ fault, you know." Akane, glaring at Ranma-kun,
accused.
"Me? It was your fight!" Ranma retorted.
"You shouldn't have interfered." Akane seethed. "I've been
winning fights every morning without having been late _once_."
"Not even once?"
"Not even once, bakero."
"Looks to me that this Tatewaki Kunou is involved. What's the
story between you two?"
"There's no story between us." Akane replied angrily, looking at
Ranma-kun's quizzical expression. "Look, all he did was announce to
everyone, that in order to date me they have to defeat me in combat first."
She sighed. "The result is that every active male student in Furinkan High
attack me every morning."
"This has been going on for a while, huh?"
"Uh-huh."
"They're really that desperate?"
Akane lifted one of the buckets menacingly, a dangerous glint in
her eyes. "And what do you mean by _that_?"
"C'mon, think about it... there's has got to be a lot of pretty
girls around..." Ranma-kun replied, seemingly oblivious to the threat.
Akane could hear several of the girls eavesdropping behind them in
class begin swooning.
"But... only _one_ girl?" Ranma-kun continued. "Isn't that a
little bit strange, not to mention unfair, even for a extremely sexually
frustrated teenage population on-campus?"
"Why you..." Akane began to swing her bucket towards Ranma-kun.
He suddenly crouched, then rammed Akane with his shoulder, pushing her out
of the way.
"Look out!" He cried as cold water splashed from a spot behind him.
"That's the second time today you..." Akane sputtered, then looked
up towards their assailant. She saw Kunou, an enraged expression on his
face and an empty bucket on his hand glaring at Ranma-kun. Ranma-kun was
already on his feet, still carrying his full buckets of water.
"NEVER! Never shall I accept your engagement to _AKANE_, Saotome!"
"But, but, but..." Akane tried shushing the Rampaging Kuno(tm).
Almost instantaneously, the sliding windows of the classrooms
opened, and everyone looked on, talking excitedly about the new couple.
"Engaged?"
"Akane?"
"Really?"
"To whom?"
"Lucky guy."
"Akane, you said you didn't like boys."
"Aren't they cute?"
"How romantic..."
"Waitaminute," Akane replied. "We didn't..."
As Akane and Ranma-kun fended off questions from eager students,
Kunou swung his bokken around.
"ENOUGH!!!" Kunou bellowed, and everyone immediately went silent.
"Do not try to deny the facts, Saotome. I have heard of the truth from no
other but Nabiki Tendo herself! Such indiscretion cannot be tolerated, and
must not go unpunished! Thus I, Tatewaki Kunou, the Blue Thunder of
Furinkan High, swear that this shall be done, with my sword!" Kunou lunged
at Ranma-kun, who leaped over Kunou's head and landed a good distance away,
still holding on to his two buckets of water.
"FIGHT ME, SAOTOME!" He screamed, swinging his bokken at Ranma-kun,
who kept evading his furious attack.
"No, not here, Kunou-sempai." Ranma-kun replied. "This is not a
place for a fight. People could be hurt."
Many of the girls begin chatting excitedly among themselves at this
new student's chivalry and considerateness. Some of them began cheering
Ranma-kun on.
"Hmph." Akane wasn't impressed.
Kunou wasn't impressed either as he continued advancing towards
Ranma-kun.
"This way, Kunou-sempai." Ranma-kun ran and turned around the
corridor.
"Then I shall!" Kunou followed... slamming right into the path of
one of the buckets Ranma-kun was carrying. It didn't faze Kunou, though.
"You COWARD!" Kunou continued ranting. "Stand your ground so I
shall then SMITE THEE!!!"
"Follow me, then, if you really want a fight." Ranma-kun grinned,
turning into another corner. Kunou followed, and slashed at the bucket
thrown at him.
"FOOL!" Kunou bellowed triumphantly. "You think that I could fall
for the same trick... AAKKK!" His triumph was short-lived, as the contents
of the bucket washed on him.
"AARRGH! DAMN YOU!" Kunou raged. The both ran down the hallway
and out the school building.
"Looks like your fiancee's enjoying the attention." Nabiki commented
to Akane.
Akane shook her head. "They have got to be kidding." She ran after them, followed by the rest of the class.
*(Author's Postscript: Thanx to those who sent encouragement and C&Cs (U
know who U are. ;) Sorry for the delay. I'll continue the series after
mid-terms. Send C&C email to maramala@geocities.com (no flames, please!)
'Till next time,
-maramala :)
(
geocities.com/tokyo/ginza) (
geocities.com/tokyo)