Pretty Cure Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Together in Spirit ❯ Here's...Flappy?! ( Chapter 3 )

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

The Saotome family finally arrives at their destination - the Tendou compound in Nerima, Tokyo.

New developments will arise for Ranma due to his father's actions in the past.

With new developments, come new problems to solve and new opportunities for the pony-tailed martial artist to make some friends (along with some new enemies, of course).

Maybe, just maybe he'll even get a willing comrade in arms to aid him in his and Flappy's quest as well.

Anime/Manga: Pretty Cure Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Shoujo / Martial Arts / Adventure | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 09.16.2008 | Updated On: 06.30.2009 | Pages: 13 | Words: 12.2K | Visits: 1.3K | Status: Work In Progress

Hi, everyone. I now present to you the third chapter of Together in Spirit. Here the Tendou family and other Neriman residents will now be introduced and where I finally make my own version of the first three or so episodes of the Ranma one-half animé.

So on with the show.

Chapter 3 - Here's…Flappy?!

Tendou residence - 4:00 PM, Sunday

Soun Tendo had received a post card from his old friend, Genma Saotome. The post card read that he will be coming soon to the Tendou compound and that he is bringing his son Ranma with him. In his joy, he jumped to his feet and began to search for his own three daughters.

“Kasumi!” he shouted as he approached the kitchen. A nineteen year old girl with brown hair in a ponytail and dressed in conservative clothes and an apron heard his somewhat excited approach.

“Yes, Father?” She placed the kitchen knife she was holding on the cutting board as she left for the family room.

There is an unwritten rule in the Tendou household that whenever Soun makes a family roll call, it is something important and had to be discussed in the family room.

“Nabiki!” Soun tried again as soon as he saw his eldest walk towards the family room.

A seventeen year old girl with brown hair in a pageboy cut and wearing only a T-shirt and shorts answered. “What is it, Daddy?”

Hearing no response, she also headed for the living room as she stood up and replaced the manga she was holding back on her desk. As an afterthought, she also placed a bookmark in the pages she was currently reading.

“Akane!” The patriarch of the Tendou family tried a third time as he saw his middle daughter walk on her way to meet her older sister in the family room.

He looked in his youngest daughter's room but found no one. He then headed for the training hall but did not find her there either.

So he gave up and returned to the family room so he will wait for her there. What he did not see was that his youngest daughter had burst through the front gate and headed straight to the training hall, after she closed the said gate.

As Soun arrived in the family room, he immediately told his elder daughters, both of which were already waiting for him, that two important visitors will be coming soon. He then sent his middle daughter to look for her youngest sister while instructing his eldest to prepare some tea for their guests.

As soon as Kasumi had left the family room, Soun heard some noise coming from outside the compound.

He put on his wooden sandals and headed for the front gate where he heard a familiar voice as it droned away for a few minutes.

He then opened the wooden gate and peeked outside only to find his old friend Genma Saotome coming back while carrying someone on his left shoulder much like a sack of rice.

“Saotome, you seemed to be more…muscular since we have last seen each other.” The mustached owner of the Tendou compound said while trying not to laugh.

“Very funny, Tendou. Now can you help me bring this ungrateful son of mine into your house?” Genma replied as he slowly brought the unconscious Ranma down to the cemented sidewalk.

“Of course, old friend. It would be my pleasure,” The black haired widower said as he hefted the teen's feet off the ground and carried him inside.

-oOo-

By the time the three men had arrived in the family room, all three Tendou daughters were waiting for them.

“Father! What happened to him? Is he hurt? Should I get the first aid kit or call Dr. Tofu?” Kasumi said in a rush as she saw Ranma slowly being placed on the floor.

“Maybe we should call 119 instead,” Nabiki added as she wiped her hands on her kimono in her anxiety.

“I'll help you, Kasumi.” This time, it was from Akane.

“Girls, he's fine. He just had a slight bruise on his temple, nothing to worry about.” Soun said with his hands in a calming gesture. “You see, he is Ranma Saotome and he is going to be your future husband. Now sit down and let us wait for him to wake up.” He added as the three female teens began to speak up in protest.

-oOo-

`Hey, Flappy. Is it just me or am I hearing voices?' Ranma asked his mental guest since he still can't open his eyes and he felt like Bruce Li backhanded him in the face.

“It's not just you, Ranma-lapi. I'm hearing them too-lapi. Can you open your eyes now-lapi?” answered the flower spirit.

`Yeah, I think I can. Damn that pop, he tricked me but good.' The cursed teen slowly opened his eyes to find himself in yet another strange place.

“Can you sit up?” A brunette with a cute face asked him as her right hand supported his head.

“Yeah, jus' gimme a minute.” Ranma slowly sat up and looked at his surroundings. He saw that he was in someone's family room and that there is an engawa leading to the garden further outside. The garden itself is complete with a koi pond for good luck.

“Um, who are you people?” His attention then switched to the other four people in the room besides his father.

“Well, young man. I am Soun Tendou, owner of this house and the Tendou training hall as well as master of the Tendou School of the Anything Goes style of Martial Arts.” The black haired man with a mustache answered him with an excited grin.

“The girl who talked to you is my eldest daughter, Kasumi. She's nineteen” He said as he gestured to the angelic brunette. “Beside her are my two other daughters- Nabiki, she's seventeen and Akane, she's sixteen.” Soun then gestured at the two girls at Kasumi's right.

One of the girls was wearing a brown kimono and her brown hair styled in a pageboy cut and calculating brown eyes. The other one with blackish-blue hair was only wearing a dirty white dogi and currently glaring at him.

“Ok, so why am I here again?” The pony-tailed teen clutched his forehead with his left hand since he still felt some dizziness due to the earlier blow.

“You're here so you can get your own way with one of us like all the other boys,” Akane said with a sneer.

“Look, I'm not here ta take any of you girls as my wife. It's that stupid panda's fault.” The pony-haired boy glared at the girl with shoulder length bluish-black hair. “I'd rather leave this place so I can fulfill my promise to a friend of mine. Now if you'll excuse me…”

Ranma tried to stand up and walk to his pack when vertigo played around with his head. Luckily for him, Kasumi caught him as he was about to collapse.

“Lie down for a while and sleep,” The eldest Tendou daughter said as the youngest stormed off towards the dojo.

-oOo-

“What took you so long, son? We still have to engage you to these beautiful girls of Tendou?” Genma said with a weird grin as Ranma had just woken up and Akane slowly emerged from the hallway.

The blue haired girl had also changed to a light blue blouse and a red skirt prior to her arrival.

The three girls had trouble figuring out if they were either complimented or insulted by the words spoken.

On the other hand, Ranma even had a double take when he saw Nabiki had replaced her kimono with a green T-shirt and white shorts.

“Pop, I am not getting' myself engaged yet. Pretty much all of us are still underage or did ya forget that little fact?” Ranma said as he angrily sat down beside his father.

“Give some respect to your elders, boy. Besides, you are only engaged to be married not being married, there is a difference.” Genma said as he adjusted his glasses for effect.

“You want respect; you gotta earn it, old man.” The pony tailed brunet then stood up and using a judo throw, threw his father to the koi pond.

A giant panda emerged from the pond and it angrily stomped back to the family room.

You'll pay for that, you ungrateful boy. The panda had written on his magical sign as it was walking back to the house.

The teen also jumped down on the soft grass to confront his father's cursed form.

“Excuse me. I'll jus' knock some sense into this stupid beast. This'll only take a minute,” He told the others who stayed in their respective places in the family room in fear.

Two seconds later, Ranma himself was thrown into the pond. He later emerged as a wet stuffed toy that all Tendou sisters were looking at wistfully. “Let's get it on, pops-lapi.”

Five minutes had passed before a stuffed bunny, pardon me - flower spirit, emerged victorious as he stood on top of an unconscious panda's large tummy.

At least that was before three female teens snatched him for themselves and for one of them- some monetary purpose as well.

“Wahh, my future son in law is a stuffed toy. The schools can never be joined.” Soun was bawling like a baby in the engawa. Kasumi took pity on him and patted his shoulders as she gave him some encouraging words.

“Can anyone bring some fresh clothes from my pack to the bath room since I'm really gonna need a hot bath.” Ranma looked back at his clothes still at the bottom of the pond and sighed heavily.

Turning to everyone else, he explained the reason why they turned out that way. “As ya can see, this is the result of our falling in the Cursed Springs of Jusenkyo. The only way ta reverse this curse is through hot water but ev'n that is temporary. Now if you would `scuse me, I'd rather change myself in private due ta very obvious reasons.”

“I'll carry you to the bath room, Ranma.” Akane said as she put an arm around the cursed martial artist. “No groping now; you hear me, Pervert.”

“Not funny, Tomboy-lapi.” The cursed teen crossed his arms; a red tint was visible in his furry cheeks in both anger and embarrassment.

-oOo-

Inside the warm tub or furo, Ranma pieced together everything that happened since waking up in the Tendou's family room, just hours earlier.

Flappy then told him to confide their secrets to the blue haired girl just before they entered the furo. The flower spirit was actually convinced that Akane is the best choice among the three sisters for still unknown reasons.

The cursed boy was thinking of telling the whole story to either of the two older sisters instead but he was not sure that they would actually believe him.

He wasn't even sure that Akane would actually believe him either. More than that, from her comments and actions toward him earlier, the youngest Tendou seemed to hate boys with a passion. She even told him so as she carried him in the bathroom.

“Don't worry, Ranma-lapi. I feel like we can trust her to keep our secrets-lapi.” The flower spirit told the cursed teen. “She isn't like those old hags back in Hong Kong-lapi.”

Ranma couldn't help but chuckle at the accurate description of two of the Li clan elders that grilled him a month ago. `True, true. Maybe she's even one of the warriors we seek, what do you think?'

“I don't think so-lapi. But she is trustworthy, at least to me she is-lapi.”

`Well, that's enough soaking for one day. Time for us ta take some needed sleep,' Ranma stood up and grabbed the white towel placed on the steel hanger beside the tub.

After finding and putting on his clothes, he headed to the stairs where Kasumi was waiting for him.

The older girl guided him to the Tendou home's guest room that was just across the hallway from the sibling's own rooms. Ranma then stripped to his white wife beater and boxers before lying down on the readied futon and fell asleep.

-oOo-

The next day, Ranma was woken up by a splash of water. “What the hell was that for-lapi?”

“Boy, you have grown soft since you have been living in luxury for the past month. Now change and I will demonstrate how soft you really are,” Genma said as he closed the sliding door of the guest room moments before a wet pillow made quite an impact with the said door.

The teen forego his usual early morning ablutions since his father won't wait for him to train before breakfast.

After heading to the engawa as a ball of light and transforming back to his rabbit form, He greeted the newly awakened Soun and Kasumi and hopped towards the kitchen.

He then asked the older girl, who had also just entered the said area, for a small plastic cup of hot water before being carried by the older girl along with the said cup to the guest room since he cannot open the door in his cursed form.

He only changed back to his normal form and donning his newly pressed karate dogi, after Kasumi had closed the double doors and headed back to the kitchen.

-oOo-

Midway through the early morning fight, Akane had shown up from the front gate dressed in a jogging outfit, but had to run back outside to keep herself from being flattened by a falling Genma.

The portly martial artist recovered quickly and counter attacked with flurry of punches, enough to force his son back to the vicinity of the koi pond.

The battle had since gone aerial as a pleasant voice from the engawa called them for breakfast. It was at that moment that the teenager unknowingly let his mind wander a bit. He later regretted it as a quick axe kick brought him down to the pond with a big splash.

“Like I said earlier, son; you have gotten soft ever since we separated in Nanjing. More than that, you seem to be easily distracted by your surroundings.” The fat master of the Saotome style told his son with disdain.

As Genma was gloating about his son being weaker since their separation, a small ball of green light emerged from the pond and landed near the water faucet at the edge of the garden. Only Soun, Kasumi, and the newly-arrived Nabiki and Akane saw this and its succeeding transformation to the soaked form of the flower spirit.

“Wanna bet, Pop-lapi.” Ranma said as he slowly turned the faucet handle and grabbed the sprayer at the other end of the water hose. The elder martial artist's surprised face was priceless as he transformed to his panda form, thanks to the sudden spray of water.

The whole comical scene was even captured by Nabiki's old Nikon camera, never mind how she even got it in time.

Kasumi who was sitting at the broader end of the table facing the garden said “Oh my, Mr. Saotome will need a new meal.” She quickly brought out a large metal tray with a bamboo stem right in the middle to everyone else's surprise.

-oOo-

After a hearty breakfast, Nabiki took her school bag and left for school. Soun told the cursed teen that he too has to go to school and that he and Genma will come by before noon to fill up his enrollment form.

“Eh, how can I even go ta school without a bag?” Ranma told the older man when a book bag was shoved into him by his own father who was still in panda form and still eating the bamboo.

“Ranma, get a move on or we're going to be late.” Akane was already in the front porch, putting on her shoes.

“I hear `ya, Tomboy. Don't get your panties in a twist,” The boy responded before he got smacked upside the head.

-oOo-

The two teens make a strange sight as the girl ran across the sidewalk while her male companion ran on the fence parallel to the street.

“Hey, Ranma. Why are you running along the fence when you can just run down here with me?” The girl asked as she sneaked a quick peek at the boy wearing a red Chinese shirt and black pants.

“Actually, this is trainin' for keepin' my balance. If you'd be a good girl and treat me with some free yakisoba, I'll even teach ya.” Ranma kept his eyes forward for two reasons.

The first was that he can look for obstacles that could trip him up and second, so he would not see Akane's skirt being lifted by the wind of her own passing and be pounded later for being a pervert.

“On second thought, I'll just learn it on my own.” The blue-haired girl sighed as she began to increase her speed.

The pony-tailed teen tried to follow only to be splashed by an old lady watering her plants as well as the street.

“Damn it-lapi,” Ranma said in response to the sudden soaking. “Hey, Akane. Where can I find some hot water here?”

“I know just the place,” Akane said as she picked up both the slightly wet clothes complete with black slippers, book bag, and the slightly soaked flower spirit.

-oOo-

They entered a small clinic a little ways off from the direction of the school. Akane went further in as she searched for the kettle with the needed water. Ranma simply sat in a leather sofa beside his now drying clothes.

The clinic itself was as Spartan as it can be. There were a few diagrams of the human body on the plain light green walls, a single bed where patients lie down to be examined, and a sofa where he is currently sitting.

There was even a ceiling fan, and a wall clock that was facing a wooden desk. There were also two doors further in, one leading to the bathroom and the other leading to the small kitchen at the back of the building.

He was so taken in his looking around the place that he never felt the bony fingers surround his little furry body.

“Lapiii!”

“I'm so sorry, little guy. Betty here actually meant no harm,” A doctor in his late twenties with brown hair and glasses said as he slowly pulled off a scared flower spirit from his death grip with the ceiling fan.

The older man had already laid the skeleton (Betty) he was carrying on the sofa. Thankfully, the said spirit only clutched the cloth pull cord and not the still spinning steel blades.

“Oh, Ranma. Here's the…” Akane had to control herself from clutching her stomach in laughter or she would have spilled the contents of the kettle she was carrying all over the place.

The scene before her, a scared Ranma in his cursed form slowly being pried off the ceiling fan's pull cord, was certainly hilarious and the girl actually wished she had a camera at that very moment.

The good doctor had by then successfully pulled off the still petrified flower spirit and gave it to the grateful girl.

Akane then headed for the clinic's only bathroom before placing the kettle, Ranma's wet clothes, and the cursed martial artist himself inside before talking to the young doctor.

After a minute or two, the cursed teen emerged from the bathroom, slightly wet but none the worse from wear.

“Oh, hi Ranma. This is our family doctor, Tofu Ono.” Akane said a little too quickly.

“Um, pleased to meet ya, Doc.” The pony-tailed teen said as he raised his hand for a handshake. `Whoa, and here I thought that tomboy hates boys with a passion.'

“There are always exceptions to the rule-lapi.”

`I see what ya mean, little buddy. Guess it's time for us to go.' Ranma then picked up his book bag and was about to say goodbye to both Akane and the doctor when the girl suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the clinic as quickly as she can.

As soon as both teens have gotten some distance away from the clinic, Akane stopped to catch her breath.

“Ok, Tomboy. What the hell was that all about?” Ranma spied a concrete planter to his left and sat down, not waiting for his companion to do the same.

“I'm sorry, Ranma, I'm sure you've noticed something different about me earlier right?” The girl also sat down at the planter next to the confused Ranma with her head hung low in shame.

“If ya mean that you may have a crush or somethin' similar with the Doc, then yeah.” Ranma then stood up and held out his right hand. The said action surprised Akane so much she hesitated to take the offered hand.

“W-wait, you mean you're not going to tease me or anything.” The girl also stood up and led the cursed teen towards the school, her pace quickening with every step.

“Nah, so you've got a crush. No big deal, right.” Ranma had also hastened his pace to keep up with the girl. “Besides, he's a very good martial artist from the way he sneaked up on me.”

`Wow, Ranma is so mature and nice today. Maybe I can finally let her win Tofu's heart this time,' Akane thought as the gates to the school was now within seeing distance. `Oh no. I almost forgot about those stupid boys waiting for me at school.'

“Sorry, Ranma but I have to take care of something. Try to catch up.” With those words, the blue-haired teen ran as fast as she could.

A confused Ranma just watched her make a cloud of dust straight for the school before he leapt for the fence beside him and followed.

-oOo-

By the time Ranma had entered the school gates, half of the male admirers of Akane were already on the ground, each one groaning in pain.

He had to admit that the girl could fight, but it was certainly obvious that she has already outclassed all of her opponents in terms of skill alone.

“I wonder why Akane is fighting those boys-lapi.” The flower spirit was also watching the whole scene through the teen's eyes and had to blink a few times at the resulting carnage.

`I dunno, Flappy. I'll ask her later at lunch, that is if she'd even want to talk to me. What I'm wondering about is what made those boys fight her in the first place.' The teen leapt to the school's concrete fence and continued watching the massacre from his new vantage point. `I mean, it's obvious that she's better than all of them put together.'

By the time Ranma finished his thoughts, the aforementioned girl already had knocked out the last boy -fittingly, a member of the Karate club.

He looked up to see that more students were watching the fight from the safety of their classrooms, two to three floors above.

She was dusting her hands when suddenly a red rose flew out from nowhere that she caught with her right hand.

“Oh no, not him.” The girl then faced the trees nearby where a tall boy wearing a kendogi and a hakama emerged from his hiding place. “Hey upperclassman Kuno, how about calling it a day since I would rather get to class on time than listen to your inane babbling.”

“Nay, my fierce tigress. Mine words are much more gratifying than those written on the dark green wall,” The young man said as he neared the simmering girl.

Somehow, dark clouds have enveloped the blue sky above them as the drama unfolded.

“Yo, Akane. Who's the samurai wannabe with the funny speech?”

“How dare you mock me, knave? Introduce your self so I can smite thee.” Kuno's attention was diverted to the young man sitting on the wall.

Before Ranma could even open his mouth, Kuno shushed him with a wave of his wooden sword.

“I am the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, Tatewaki Kuno. Bow down before me, knave.” Oddly enough, a flash of sheet lighting made itself visible in the background as the kendoist said this.

The pony-tailed teen leapt down from his perch and ran towards the surprised kendoist. He even threw his book bag at Akane as he continued his advance towards Kuno.

The older boy had just regained his wits and started slashing at the approaching teen. Ranma evaded all of Kuno's attacks as he introduced himself.

He even added that he is currently staying at the Tendou compound, which really ticked off the upperclassman.

“How dare you even share the same roof as my fierce tigress? I shall defeat you and put you back in your place.” Kuno was now jabbing his opponent in a rapid manner, making mini jet streams that act like bullets.

A concrete pedestal had fallen victim to this attack and lay shattered at the ground. Seeing that his opponent was getting serious, Ranma made a quick attack on Kuno's forehead with his middle and fore fingers.

Drops of rain fell in tandem with Genma's sudden appearance, an old kettle hanging in his left paw.

The panda knocked down a recovering teen as the latter was about to stand up and grabbed his son in mid-air. Akane quickly followed them on their way to the P.E. Equipment room.

-oOo-

“Thanks, Pop.” Ranma was saying as he poured the hot water over his cursed form and was putting on his boxers. “It wouda been very embarrassing if ev'rybody saw me like this.”

“I'll say,” Akane added as she suddenly opened the only window of the seldom used shed. “What?”

“Akane! Next time, would ya jus' knock first?” Ranma had to turn around and raise his black pants to cover his light green boxers.

“How was I supposed to know that you're not even dressed yet? You pervert!” The girl quickly closed the window in a huff.

-oOo-

Since both teens were late for class, as soon as Ranma was introduced to his classmates, both he and Akane were sent out of the classroom carrying buckets.

“Jeez, this punishment's really lame. I mean, what is it with buckets and tardiness.” Ranma was saying as he adjusted the bucket in his right hand.

“I'd rather it be this lame than be something Uncle Genma would have thought of.”

Just then, an angry Kuno came running from the hallway to their left. The older boy slashed his wooden sword in Ranma's direction only to split the bucket he was holding in two.

The younger boy had already leapt far enough away to keep himself dry while Akane confronted the angry kendo practitioner.

“What's the big idea of attacking us, Kuno?” The girl had already put down her own bucket and glared at the taller student, her hands on her hips.

“How can thee even think of being engaged to such a lout like that knave, Saotome?” Kuno even glared at the pony-tailed teen as he said this. Ranma only shrugged in response before both classroom windows on either side of Ranma and Akane opened up.

A gaggle of students, male on Ranma's right and female on Akane's left, started asking questions like “Is it true that you guys share the same room?” and “When's the wedding and more importantly, the honeymoon?”

“Hey, wait a sec. Akane and I are not engaged ta each other nor did we agree to such.” Ranma was explaining to their classmates who were eager for some juicy answers.

“Ranma's right…for once. He's a special guest of our home until the agreement between our fathers has been settled,” The blue haired girl said as she ignored the glare from the insulted boy.

“No matter, I shall crush thee so thy can trouble my fair maiden no more.” Tatewaki again attacked Ranma who only averted the sword strikes by mere inches.

“Yo, bokken boy. It's too dangerous ta fight here.” Ranma had already rushed ahead, evading even more strikes from Kuno's weapon. “I'll beat the snot outta ya outdoors instead.”

-oOo-

The pony-tailed martial artist then ran for the end of the hallway and turned left. Kuno quickly followed him into the only open window within the said path.

Akane and her classmates followed suit, ignoring their homeroom teacher's orders to return to class and to stop running in the hallways.

Both Ranma and Kuno had already jumped off the window when Akane and the others finally arrived. The girl even called the cursed martial artist a fool for jumping from a third floor window.

“Don't worry, Akane. I'll be alright,” Ranma replied in an easy going manner before he looked down. “Shit, why does it always have to be water?”

A junior Olympic size swimming pool was actually waiting for the two falling students to come into her watery embrace. Both boys hit the surface one after the other with big splashes

For Ranma, the moment his body hit the surface, his curse was triggered and he had to wiggle out of his red Chinese shirt or drown.

For Kuno, he had reasoned to himself that he must have hit the water surface harder than he thought when he saw a light green stuffed toy turn into a small ball of light.

The said ball of light slowly floated to the surface before the kendoist felt himself surrendering to the darkness.

-oOo-

Akane thought that she saw something slowly rise out of the water. She later made out a ball of green light slowly heading towards her and her classmates.

Some of the girls were beginning to panic as if they saw a ghost floating outside the window.

One of the boys from the Science club even affirmed the said fact since ghosts sometimes go from one place to another in such a manner. Of course, it only heightened the fear amongst the assembled students as the ball drew even closer to them.

Before a few girls would scream and everybody else would make a run for it, the ball of light transformed into a light green stuffed rabbit in a puff of smoke as it landed on the window sill.

The stuffed toy then unconsciously shook the water off its small body before it finally noticed the crowd staring at it oddly.

“Um. Hi, everyone-lapi.” The stuffed bunny was actually scuffing the window sill with its left foot while keeping its smaller paws behind its back after shyly waving at the assembled students.

“Thank goodness, you're still alive.” Akane gushed out as she quickly hugged the cursed and slightly wet martial artist. She also ignored the other girls who also squealed and surrounded the blue-haired girl and her new toy as well as the now wet parts of her blouse.

“Wait a goddamn minute here. You mean, you knew who this talking stuffed animal was without even asking for it?” Yuka Yagami asked her best friend as she pushed through the crowd with her other best friend in tow.

“Oh, Yuka… and Sayuri too. Can we talk somewhere?” Akane then faced both girls with a slight blush. “In private, please.”

“Sure, Akane. How about we all head to our favorite meeting spot? Is that ok with you?” Sayuri Nonoka hoped that they would not be followed.

The three girls then headed up the concrete staircase until they arrived at the roof. The flower spirit was still held in Akane's arms as it pondered on how it got into this mess.

Unknown to the three girls (and Ranma), a certain black haired teen tailed them along with his best friend.

As soon as the girls had reached the roof deck and closed the door, they crouched down and placed their ears against the door's wooden frame.

-oOo-

“Actually, this is our new classmate, Ranma Saotome. He got a certain magical curse that turned him into this cute little thing,” Akane told her friends as she leaned on the steel fence at the edge of the deck.

The blushing cursed martial artist lay on her lap, still held by the Tendou girl. The silence that followed was enough for the three girls (and one stuffed animal) to hear a small ruckus and some shushing just beyond the wooden door leading to the stairway.

Akane let out a loud sigh before saying “Daisuke, get your skinny butt up here and bring your fair haired friend with you.”

Daisuke Tsukihime emerged first from the door, his dark hair was so disheveled that his trademark parting of his hair in the middle had been wiped out. Following him was Hiroshi Yamamoto, his long time friend with shaggy light brown hair.

Both boys were blushing heavily from embarrassment of being caught in the act, Hiroshi's cheeks reddened even more than his friend's, since his crush since middle school- Sayuri, was also there with them.

What he didn't see was that the girl, with dark brown hair tied in a ponytail, was doing likewise even to the point of turning her back to them just to hide it.

“Alright, you two. I don't know what possessed you to follow us up here and I don't want to know either.” The girl with short and spiky light brown hair was already giving the two newcomers a withering glare for intruding in their private time.

“I have jus' enough of this goddamn drama-lapi,” The flower spirit suddenly spoke, surprising almost all of them. “Yes, I am Ranma Saotome and to make a long story short, I fell into a cursed spring back in China-lapi.”

The flower spirit wiggled out of Akane's arms and glared at the four teens that looked like they were punched in the stomach by Rocky Balboa. He then told the two boys to help him retrieve his clothes and slippers from the swimming pool so he can wear them on his way home.

“Sorry, Ranma but as soon as they retrieve and dry your clothes, you're going back to class with us.” Yuka said as soon as she recovered from her shock. “After school lets out, all six of us really need to talk.”

-oOo-

After the last class had ended, the six teens headed for the Tendou compound. Along the way, Hiroshi asked for some tutoring in Algebra from the others since he thought that their “talk” would only last a few minutes, only to be ignored.

Once they arrived at the front gate, they greeted Kasumi who had also just arrived from the market. The three boys immediately offered to carry baskets of food and went in the house quickly.

“Oh my. I wonder why those two nice boys and Ranma are so much in a hurry to get in.” The elder girl tapped her right forefinger on her cheek.

“I have a pretty good idea why, sis.” Akane answered as all four girls entered as well.

-oOo-

“Sorry for the tight accommodations, everyone but this is the best place to have our talk.” Akane was saying while giving a meaningful look at the pony-tailed boy standing across from her.

“That's ok, Akane.” Sayuri told her friend. “Would you mind telling us about the whole story about the nature of your magical curse, Saotome?”

“I don't mind at all, since pretty much everyone saw me in my cursed form.” Ranma replied before telling them about the cursed springs of Jusenkyo. He also told them about his new abilities and adventures on his way to Tokyo.

The girls did berate him on what he done with Ryoga though and even asked him to make amends with the lost boy.

On the other hand, the two other boys could only sigh in envy at the fact that their new classmate was chased by many girls during his brief stay in Hong Kong.

After an hour had passed, Kasumi called them for dinner. The four visitors thanked the older girl but they had to go home.

As they were leaving the compound, Sayuri even grabbed Hiroshi's arm and told him to have dinner at her home so she can tutor him in Algebra afterwards. The boy agreed quickly, ignoring the verbal jabs of his best friend and the death glare given by Yuka.

-oOo-

After dinner, Akane once again called Ranma to her room so she could tutor him on their subjects. In truth, she wanted to talk to him about the story he told her and the others since it was obvious that he was hiding something.

The boy was about to disagree and opted to train himself instead when Flappy told him to take the offer anyway.

As they were studying, the Tendou girl asked her new study buddy on what is Flappy's true origin and what is the boy's promise to the flower spirit.

With a resigned sigh, Ranma told her everything since Flappy had told him to make Akane his confidant.

“Paraphrasing what you said in Jusenkyo, we will need all the friends we can get right now,” The flower spirit added while the cursed teen was telling the youngest Tendou daughter the whole story.

After Ranma had told her everything, the girl then asked for another favor. The pony-tailed teen nodded his head, thinking that the favor may be beneficial to him as well.

“Actually, I was wondering if we could teach other what we both had learned from our respective branches in the Anything Goes style.”

“Why should we ev'n do that, Akane?” Ranma was caught unawares by the words spoken.

“It's just that I need to learn more techniques if and when we have to fight the Dark Fall.” Akane looked down at the floor and scuffed it with her right toe as she was saying this.

“You don't have to fight `em, Akane.” Ranma was saying when the girl glared at him.” I mean, you could, y'know, handle crowd control or somethin'.”

“You jerk. And to think, you confided everything to me since you wanted me to become your partner in finding the warriors and then helping them fight the Dark Fall.” A tear escaped from its confinement in the girl's brown eyes only to fall to the wooden floor near her stocking covered feet. Ranma immediately bit his tongue to keep himself from saying more.

“Get out of my room! Go fight your own battles. I don't care if you get hurt or worse.” Akane was actually pushing the bigger teen out of her room's door, fresh tears welling in her eyes.

For the second time that day, Ranma's temper flared up.

“Dammit, Akane. That's not what I meant.” The boy caught hold of the doorframe and used it to resist the pushing that the crying girl has been giving him before turning to her. “It's jus' that these guys mean business and they won't hesitate ta put us out of our misery just ta get what they want.”

“Ranma, will you shut up for a minute. That is why I wanted to learn more techniques from you. You won't always be able to defend me in the heat of battle and thus, I have to get stronger just so I can defend myself from them. Don't you understand or do you still think girls are too weak to fight?”

“Alright, I just can't win with an argument like that. Starting tomorrow, we will teach each other on what we had learned from our separate styles of Anything Goes. Jus' promise me that ya won't jump in the fight jus' for the heck of it.” The cursed teen had already turned around and headed for the hallway.

“Alright, I promise I won't do it only if you promise that you won't either.” The girl mentally congratulated herself at having Ranma finally accept her both as a fellow martial artist and as his student.

“Of course, I won't. G' night, Tomboy.”

“Good night, Pervert.”

As both teens settled down for the needed sleep, they realized how much out of character had they actually been in the last few minutes.

Then again, it is probably for the best anyway.

_________________________________________________________________ _______

Well that's it for this chapter. To differentiate myself from other authors who took the same path I did, I added some scenes in canon but changed them a bit to fit with my own storyline.

I believe that Ryoga's appearance will be coming next along with Kodachi's and Shampoo's.

Rest assured that I will not bash (at least not much) any major Ranma characters like these three since they too will have their own roles against the Dark Fall when the bad guys finally arrive on Earth.

The same will be true for Hiroshi, Daisuke, Yuka, and Sayuri. I'll need these four minor characters for crowd control once the fights do begin in earnest.

Maybe I'll include some quality time between them as well if Yuka won't kick Daisuke's butt first, that is.

So I'll see you soon in the next chapter entitled “Revenge with a Slice of Insanity and a Glass of Ice cold Shoulder.”

So read and enjoy everyone.