[Ranma] "Scarlet Spring" (2/?) By Henry J. Cobb $Id: scarlet_spring2.txt,v 1.6 1997/01/09 14:52:01 hcobb Exp $ The Ranma 1/2 characters and situations are the creation of Rumiko Takahashi. No infringement of her copyrights is intended. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- So far: 10 year old Akane was taken by Soun to China to train, after he got word of Ranma's Cat-fist training. She almost drowned in a new cursed spring and was nursed back to health by 10 year old Xian-ko (Shampoo). Her mom died before Akane could get home. Six years later, Ranma and Genma showed up after their trip to China. Akane had been preparing for her "match" with Ranma, and beat him because he was so strangely distracted, looking at her. Later, Soun announced that Ranma and Akane where engaged. (Not quite the match she expected). Ranma has a problem, but Akane didn't wait around to listen to the explanation, as she stormed to her room. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Early Monday morning, Akane returned from her pre-breakfast jog. Ranma and Genma were fighting in the yard, Akane sat down on the porch to watch. Ranma and Genma were dressed in gis. Ranma had essentially the same hairstyle as Akane, short with a ponytail tied up with a ribbon, but without the bluish tint of Akane's hair. "Damn you pop." Ranma leapt up to grapple with his father in mid-air. "This entire stinking situation is your fault." Ranma got the better of the his father and pushed him down into the Koi pond. "You really are quite good." Akane observed. "What was the problem yesterday? You don't like fighting girls?" "Yes." Ranma admitted, landing near her. "Bigot, that cost you the match." A panda stepped out of the Koi pond. "What!" Akane didn't fall over, but it was only because she was already sitting down. "Don't freak! Pop's got this little curse, it's no big deal." Ranma went into the house as the panda wrung the water out of his (too small for a panda) Gi. Ranma returned with a kettle, which he handed to the Panda. The Panda poured the hot water over himself and returned to being Genma. "How?" Akane had seen everything and believed none of it. "Pop fell into a cursed spring in China. Now whenever he's hit with cold water he turns into a Panda. Hot water reverses it. The lucky stiff." "I had an encounter with a cursed spring in China. It almost killed me." "Yeah, I figured it was something like that." "What?" "Nevermind." Over breakfast, Genma informed Ranma that he would be going to the same school as Nabiki and Akane. Nabiki unloaded the duty of showing Ranma the way to school on Akane. "It's not fair! Father tricked me into this engagement." "Still, he is your fiancee." Nabiki sped out the door. Ranma ran beside Akane to school, on top of the fence. "We're not getting married, you know." She informed him. "Yes, I know. Why are you telling me this, instead of your father?" "My father -- is not a well man. He's been planning this for so long. If I came out and flatly refused, the shock would kill him. So, you'd best behave yourself until we can work this out. If you cause him any pain, I'll break your neck." "Ok, Ok! I wouldn't want to be responsible for the death of a friend of my father's, anyway. Why are you always so hostile?" "I guess, I'm a bit of a bigot myself." Akane accelerated to the gate of Furinkan High. "I hate men!" Akane gasped for breath, surrounded by her defeated would-be suitors. She used to look forwards to these morning workouts. These were targets she could practice on, men who deserved every blow she dealt them and more. Now that she'd found that the "match" would be a marital rather than a martial engagement, it all seemed so hollow. "What a drag!" "Truly, such a boorish lot." Tatewaki stepped forwards with his boken. Ranma stepped in to take Akane's daily duel with upperclassman Kuno, and seemed to be getting the better of the swordsman, when it began to rain. A Panda, carrying a kettle KOed Kuno with a single blow then carried Ranma inside. It wasn't too hard to figure out which panda this was. Akane found Ranma and his panda father in the P.E. equipment room. "Why did your father carry you in from the rain?" She asked. "He didn't want me to get my new outfit wet." "Then why did he bring a kettle?" "Well, it's cold water that makes it shrink, right?" Akane wasn't convinced. The bell rang. By the time they got to room 1-F, they were late and forced to stand in the hall. "This is all your fault." Akane glared at Ranma. "My fault? It was your fight." "Yes, I would have gotten it over with before the bell, if you hadn't interfered." "Yeah, that Kuno guy wasn't so tough. What was it all about anyway?" "Kuno told them that he would only allow the boy who beat me to ask me for a date. I used to welcome the challenges. I'd imagine each of them as Ranma Saotome, come to take away my Dojo." "Yah!" Ranma jumped out of the way of a splash of water, a look of abject terror on his face. What is it with Ranma and water? Akane wondered, then turned to face the new arrival. "Never, Ranma Saotome!" Tatewaki bellowed at the top of his lungs. "I shall never accept your engagement to Akane!" The windows of the classrooms flew open, as the students pressed for details of the engagement. Ranma lead Tatewaki down the corridor and out the window. Akane wondered again why room 1-F would be on the third floor, but there was so many things about Furinkan High that simply didn't make any sense. Ranma and Tatewaki fell into the pool, struggled a bit, then Ranma broke free and ran off. There seemed to be something different about Ranma, he was definitely smaller and there seemed to be a bluish tint to his hair, but that may have just been the water. Tatewaki sat by the side of the pool, he looked at the retreating figure then stared up at Akane in the window. His expression was of utter bafflement. Akane followed a trail of drops to the trees in the schoolyard. She carried the kettle she had picked up along the way. Akane looked up into the tree where the drops stopped. There was somebody up there, in Ranma's outfit, but they were carefully keeping the trunk of the tree between themselves and Akane. "I brought a kettle, for your outfit." Akane held it up. "Thanks, just leave it there and I'll get it." A strangely familiar girl's voice answered, but Akane couldn't place it. "So you DO have a curse, like your father's." "Yeah, but he got off lucky." "What do you mean, lucky? You may be a girl, but you're still human. You don't have to worry about animal control rounding you up." Akane moved her head to the side of the tree, but Ranma moved to keep the trunk between them. "What's so horrible about your curse, that you can't show me? Is the girl side hideously ugly?" "Not at all." "Whither Ranma Saotome?" Tatewaki was slogging in their direction. "OK, be that way Ranma. I'll just leave the kettle here for you." "Thanks." Akane faced Tatewaki to buy Ranma time to transform back, but by the time Ranma appeared, she had already KOed the upperclassman. The rest of their classes that day passed without further incident, except for the constant pestering by the other students wanting to know the details of their engagement. On the way back to the Dojo, Ranma again leapt onto the fence beside Akane. "Come down here." She ordered. "OK, what's up?" He jumped down next to her. "We've got some things to get straight." She whispered to him. "And I don't want it spilling out like this morning. We are not going to shock my father's weak heart. We are going to pretend to be getting along great. Whenever anybody asks for a date for the wedding, we'll just say that it has to wait until we've finished our educations. Is that all clear?" "Check." "And one last thing." "What?" "If you touch me, you'll die." "Er, Check." Tuesday started with the usual fights in front of the school, but this time Ranma kept up and matched Akane's attacks, even helping to KO Tatewaki. Akane didn't complain, she was working on a plan to end these fights, and his involvement helped. That afternoon after class, Ranma scored his first clear victory over Kuno. Akane approached to see what had distracted Ranma during the fight. "What are you doing with photos of me, Ranma?" Akane demanded. Ranma deliberately looked around at the other students. "I'm your fiancee right? Anyway these are Kuno's pics." "What, how did he get them?" "Just making a little money on the side." Nabiki announced. "My own sister!" Akane thought furiously. This was another complication she didn't need. "How can you do this to our poor father?" Akane was glad she'd hadn't revealed her conspiracy to anybody besides Ranma. "You're trying to break up the engagement he's worked so hard to put together. I'm just glad that Kasumi doesn't know about this." There were very few things in the heavens or on the Earth that Nabiki feared. The wrath of her elder sister was one of them. "I'm sorry sis, I won't do it again." Akane gathered up the photos and handed them to Ranma. "Here, keep these." Another piece of the facade was put into place. Wednesday morning at breakfast, Genma-panda announced that he had a job, but he didn't say where. It usually took him so long to print out his answers that everybody tended not to ask him any questions. Kasumi asked Akane to deliver a book she had borrowed back to Dr Tofu, but Akane refused. She just couldn't bear the heartbreak of seeing Dr Tofu at the moment, especially while she was carrying on the facade of her engagement. Just before the gates of the school, Akane summoned Ranma down from the fence, as she called up her courage. "Play along and don't ask any questions." She whispered to him. "But, if you get carried away, you'll be carried away." She took his hand and walked up to the gate, then pulled him in for a kiss. Ranma seemed stunned. Akane turned to her assembled "suitors". Her smile wasn't faked. She had triumphed over all of them. From now on they couldn't challenge her. They would have to challenge a boy who had beat the former champion of the school. "Ranma, Akane." The boys approached with lowered weapons. "We give our approval to your engagement. We shall no longer challenge you." They seemed so heartbroken, they deserved worse. Tatewaki walked up in his bandages. He still didn't get it. Akane let Ranma do the honours of KOing him again. Every little bit helped with the cover story. After class, Ranma watched from the bleachers during Akane's baseball practice. He had been informed that his attendance was mandatory. Akane struck the ball with considerable force, but insufficient accuracy, she looked around to see where it had gone, and found it lodged in Ranma's cheek. It was clearly her fault, she apologised then had to take him to Dr Tofu's. He didn't know the way, but she was determined not to show him how it hurt to be there. It turned out that Genma had signed on with Dr Tofu, as his assistant, in the panda form. Dr Tofu had the oddest sense of humor. Dr Tofu made a joke about Akane causing the injury and Ranma was about to respond, until he caught Akane's glare. "You two are engaged, aren't you?" The doctor asked. "Yes sir." Akane replied. "Well, you are a bit young, aren't you?" "Yes sir." Akane replied, trying not to let the bitterness show. "Just kids." Dr Tofu was in the back room to fetch a balm for the wound, when Kasumi called. She was on her way over to return Dr Tofu's book. "Excuse me, I have to be going." Akane told Ranma. "Is something wrong?" "No, I just have to go." "Aren't we supposed to leave together?" "Yes, but there's this girl coming over, that Dr Tofu really likes." "Why should that matter?" "You're right, it doesn't matter at all to me." Akane tried not to grit her teeth too loudly as Tofu went into his usual antics over Kasumi. Ranma didn't understand the danger, and got his neck stuck in a bent over position from the doctor's misattentions. As they walked back home, Ranma leapt down from the fence. "Say, you looked pretty annoyed while Kasumi was with the doctor. Is there something between you and Doc Tofu?" "No!" Akane slugged Ranma in the uninjured cheek. "He's nothing to me, except our family doctor, is that clear?" Ranma leaned his head back and forth, the blow had obviously released his neck. "All clear Akane, thanks." Henry J. Cobb hcobb@slip.net http://www.io.com/~hcobb