Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Ranma OneHalf: First steps ❯ Book Three, Chapter Six ( Chapter 25 )

Ranma Onehalf: First steps. Book Three.

Chapter Six.

"One."

Naota swung his training sword in a downward arc, exhaling as he swung. Raising his sword Naota inhaled. Holding it in the ready position for a moment Naota swung downward again.

"Two."

Naota raised his sword again to repeat the process. He was on the roof of his apartment building practing his kendo techniques. As he repeated the strikes Naota let him mind wander, eventually reaching a trance -like state.

This ritual was how Naota relieved stress, the stress in this case being the Drama club drafting him into the school fund-raising play. And now Naota was doing his best to calm down before he turned his deadly talents on the Drama club.

"Three."

Naota was raising his sword for a fourth repetition when his ears picked up the swish of cloth behind him. Reacting with reflexes honed by years of training Naota spun and struck out with his training sword, intending to show whoever was sneaking up on him that just because he was armed with a training sword it didn't make him any less dangerous.

"Hi Naota." Lia said as she stepped out of the Umi -Sen -Ken in front of Naota. "Nice to see you too."

"Likewise." Naota answered as he looked at his training sword, of which three quarters of the blade had been neatly sheared off. "So, what bring you here?" he asked.

"I got an idea I want to bounce off of ya." Lia said.

"About what?" Naota asked.

"Matoko and Kenji." Lia said. "I was thinking of a way we can get them together."

"I'm all ears." Naota said as he turned to go get a towel.

"Well..."Lia began as she very carefully avoided looking at Naotas bare chest "I was thinking he could help Matoko on the play."

"That might work." Naota said as he toweled off. "But there is one small problem."

"Oh? And what's that?" Lia asked as she cocked her head and looked at Naota.

"Kenji chokes up whenever a girl so much as says hello to him." Naota said as he turned around. "You remember when- oh crap, not again."

Toweling himself off Naota looked at Lia, who was lying on the roof passed out with a nosebleed. Shaking his head Naota finished toweling himself and grabbed his t-shirt. Pulling it on he picked up a water bottle and walked over to Lia.

"I swear, I don't know who is worse, you, or Kenji." Naota said as he unscrewed the cap.

Lia sputtered as she received a face-full of water from Naota. Shaking her head she sat up and moved her hair out of her face.

"As I was saying, Kenji chokes up whenever a girl says hello to him." Naota said. "And he'd rather commit seppeku than sign up for a play, even as a stage hand. So how do you propose we get him to join up?"

Lia looked up after checking to make sure it was safe. "Well, he is your friend." she pointed out. "I figured you'd know the best way to get him to sign up."

Naota chuckled and shook his head. "Forget it. We'd have to draft him like we were."

"So let's do it." Lia said. "Let's draft him."

"Hmmm." Naota said as he struck a thoughtful pose. "That's not going to be easy Lia. We can't just sign him up like they did us."

Lia shrugged. "So lets just grab him and haul him off to the Drama club." she said.

Naota considered the idea and nodded. "Actually, that's work with Kenji." he said. "We can grab him after school lets out. That's when he's most distracted."

"Okay then. We can grab him tomorrow." Lia said as she stood up. "Thanks Naota."

"You're Welcome." answered Naota as Lia stepped into the Umi -Sen -Ken.

As Naota listened he could faintly hear Lia padding away down the stairs and off the roof. When he could no longer hear her Naota glanced at the other half of his training sword, which was lying a few feet away.

"Sometimes I wonder who's the dangerous one." Naota thought.

_______________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ __________________

Kenji yawned as he stepped out of the classroom. As usual his creativness had gotten him into trouble with the teacher, who didn't appreciate his doodling in the margins of his homework.

"Man, what a grouch."Kenji thought as he glanced back into the classroom. "I wonder what his problem is."

Turning Kenji began to walk down the hall. As he walked a shadow appeared behind him. Before he could say anything Kenji felt several taps along his spine and neck. Kenji fell backwards as his legs turned to rubber and his vison went black. His book bag slipped from slack fingers to the floor, only to be caught in midair.

Grabbing his friend Naota glanced at the book bag, which appeared to be hanging in midair.

"Thanks Lia." he said.

"Your welcome." Lias voice answered from nowhere. "Now lets get going before someone sees us."

"Right." Naota said as he shrugged his friend into a firemans carry.

Lia extended the Umi -Sen -Ken to include the book bag as she and Naota headed to the stairs. Silently they padded down the stairs to the ground floor and then headed strait to the gymnasium.

At the gymnasium doors Lia handed Kenjis book bag to Naota before they went in. Taking the bag Naota then opened the door and then appeared to struggle with the door and Kenji, giving Lia all the time she needed slip back inside unobserved.

Setting Kenji down Naota then propped him up against the wall, tapping several more pressure points in the process. Standing up Naota looked at his watch and waited. After a few minutes Kenji stirred and looked around.

"Wakey, wakey." Naota said as Kenji came to.

"What happened?" Kenji asked as he sat up strait.

"You just joined the stage production of Tatewaki Kunos Neko!" Naota answered.

"You could have told me." Kenji said as he got his feet.

Naota shrugged. "I wanted to surprise you." he said.

Kenji gave Naota a dirty look. "Congratulations." he said. "You suceeded."

"Your welcome." Naota answered.

"So what do you need me for?" Kenji asked as he stood up.

"The sets." answered Naota. "We need your drawing skills to for the backdrops."

"Is that all?" Kenji asked. "I could have did that at home."

Naota crossed his arms and looked at his friend. "You're also gonna have to paint them Kenji. You cant do that in your apartment."

"How big are they?" Kenji asked.

"Six meters high and twelve meters wide." Naota answered.

"Crap!" Kenji swore, smacking his fist into his palm. "Do you know how hard it is to scale something up to that size?" he asked.

"But I thought you liked a challenge." Naota teased. "At least that's what you're always saying."

"Me and my big mouth." Kenji muttered. "Do I get any help?" he asked.

Naota nodded. "Yeah. Matoko Saotome."

"Urk!" was Kenjis reply as he nearly went into cardiac arrest right then and there.

Naota reached out and steadied his friend before he toppled over.

"Calm down Kenji." he said. "She wont bite."

"But-but-but- how?" Kenjis stuttered as he tried to breathe.

"Like this." Naota said.

Spinning his friend around, Naota pushed Kenji over to the far corner of the gymnasium where Matoko was reading a history book and taking notes. She looked up as the two boys came up to her and Naota kicked the backs of Kenjis knees, putting him into a sitting position.

"Here's Kenji." Naota said to Matoko. "Be gentle."

Turning around, Naota left the two of them sitting there. They sat there for several long minutes, Matoko waiting for Kenji say something and Kenji trying to remember to breathe. Finally Matoko decided that she would take the first step.

"So, where do you want to start?" she asked.

Kenjis response was to fully lock up and let his body run on automatic. Matoko sat there and watched Kenji for a couple of more minutes. Getting concerned she waved her hand and got no response. Frowning she sat back and thought for a few moments.

"Well, that didn't work." she thought. "Time to do something else."

Thinking about what Kasumi had told her, Matoko remembered how her aunt had told her how she had gotten through to her uncle Ono. Matoko sat up strait as a bolt of inspiration struck.

"That's it! A shock to the system!" Matoko thought. "Where's that sketch?"

Opening her book bag Matoko took out a folder and rifled through the contents. Pulling out the sketch Matoko put it into Kenjis hands.

"You forgot this Kenji." Matoko said. "It's a nice sketch."

"Uh?" Kenji said, the mention of his favorite subjject restarting his brain. "You like it?"

Matoko nodded. "Yes. It's very realistic." she said. "Though I can't figure out what the Gundam is there for."

Kenji chuckled nervously and scratched his head. "Well, I drew the Gundam first and filled in the rest later 'cause I was bored." he said.

"Oh." Matoko said with a shrug.

Kenji swallowed nervously. "So, where do we start?" he asked.

Matoko picked up her notepad and handed it to Kenji. "Here's my notes." she said.

"Thank you." Kenji said as he began to look at Matokos notes.

Naota glanced up from where he was helping nail the framework for the backdrops together. Picking up a nail Naota smiled to himself as he set it into position.

"Home run Lia." he said as he pounded it home.

"Thanks." Lias voice answered out of nowhere, causing Naota to hit his thumb.

"Sonofa-!" Naota swore as he shook his injured hand. "Don't do that Lia!" he said as he looked around.

"Why? With your ninja-" Lia began.

"Keep it down! You'll blow my cover!" Naota hissed.

"Sorry." Lia answered in a low voice. "How's this?"

"Better." Naota answered. "And your welcome."

"Thanks. Though now comes the hard part."Lia said.

"Whats that?" Naota asked.

"Making sure that Kenji dosen't have a relapse of his shyness." Lia answered.

"Don't worry. He wont." Naota said as he tested his thumb.

"How do you know that?" Lia asked.

Imagining Lia standing there with her hands on her hips Naota grinned. "Lia, Kenji and I have been friends since we were kids playing in the sandbox." he said. "I know him better than anyone."

"I see." Lia answered. "So what do we do in any case?"

"Nothing." Naota said as he picked up a nail.

"Nothing? That's it?" Lia asked.

"That's it." Naota said as he began to pound the nail in. "Now that Kenji knows she don't bite he'll warm up to her."

"And then what?" Lia asked.

Naota finished driving the nail and picked up a fresh one. "Well that depends on Matoko." he said.

__________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ _______________

Ranma looked up as Lia and Matoko entered the house. He blinked in surprise as he saw the faint smile on Matoko and how positivitly happy she was. He watched the two go upstairs and then sipped his tea.

"Looks like Lias little plan worked." he thought.

Topping off his tea Ranma got up and headed off to the laundry room.

"Honestly, how that boy can do this to his clothes with three cracked ribs..."

Ranma smiled as he heard Akanes grumbling as she loaded the laundry. Reaching the door Ranma knocked on the doorframe.

"Knock knock." Ranma said.

Akane looked up at Ranma as he leaned against the doorframe.

"Hi Ranma." Akane said.

"The girls are home." he answered. "Matoko looked happy."

Akane nodded as she finished stuffing the clothes into the washer. "Lias plan worked then."

"Looks like." Ranma answered.

"Well, I'm glad that Matokos finally starting to develop an interest in boys." Akane said as she punched in the settings.

"Akane, I hate to burst your bubble, but Matoko has been boy -crazy since she was thirteen." Ranma told her.

"I mean activly interested in boys." Akane answered as she pressed 'start'.

"Nnnh." Ranma grunted.

Akane chuckled at Ranmas reaction. "What, you don't like the fact she's getting interested in boys?" she chided.

"No, just the boys being interested back." Ranma muttered.

"Well don't worry Ranma. The boys she's after is Kenji Mashida." Akane explanied to Ranma.

"So? He's still a boy." Ranma said as Akane walked past him.

Akane laughed at Ranmas statement. "Ranma, Kenji is more shy than Matoko in social situations. By the time they get past casual acquaintance we'll be tripping over Lias children." she said.

"I still don't trust him Akane." Ranma replied as they entered the main room.

"Trust who?" Matoko asked as she came down the stairs behind them.

"Kenji." answered Akane.

"Why?" Matoko asked.

"He's male, that's why." Ranma growled.

"Ignore him Matoko." Akane said as she butted in. "He's just being your father."

"Okay Akane." Matoko said as she came down the stairs.

Ranma watched Matoko go down the hall to the front door.

"I'm going out." Matoko called from the front. "I'll be back in about an hour."

"Where are you going?" Ranma asked.

"To the bookstore for some manga." Matoko answered before stepping outside.

Akane chuckled and shook her head. "That girl and her manga." she said.

"Nnh." Ranma grunted.

"You worry too much Ranma." Akane said, giving him a smack on the shoulder. "Matoko is very smart. The last thing she'll do is end up like her mother."

"I know Akane." Ranma sighed. "But I can't help it, ya know?"

"You're her father. You're supposed to." Akane said. "Don't worry. We raised her right Ranma. She won't get in over her head."

"I know." Ranma said as he gave Akane a hug. "I know."