Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Seasons out of Time ❯ An offer they couldn't refuse ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 1: An offer they couldn't refuse.

 

 

 

On a bright sunny day, in a suburb of Tokyo called Nerima, a young girl with short blue black hair chased a boy with a black pigtail.

 

"RANMA!!! I made these cookies for you, would it kill you to try one?" As she ran she threw a cookie that hit him in the back of his head leaving a comically large bump.

 

"PROBABLY! I don't know why you even try when you know you cant cook!" As the two jumped and ran around her family's property she tripped and Ranma quick as lightning turned to catch her before she hit the ground. "Akane!!!" resting securely in her fiancé's arms she popped one of the cookies in his mouth.

 

"BLEARGHHH!!!" Ranma spit out as much of the cookie as he could but couldn't get the taste out of his mouth. "god Akane that was terrible! You are so uncute!" So Akane kicked him across the yard toward the koi pond.

 

"Fine! So I'm uncute! At least I'm not a pervert Ranma!"

 

"Hey! Who are you calling a pervert?!?!?!" Yelled the red haired pig tailed girl as she rose from the koi pond, but Akane had already stormed off leaving her talking to herself or so she thought, until a strange young woman stepped into view.

 

The stranger had long silver hair, delicately pointed ears and large purple eyes, she wore a purple dress suited to someone of noble birth. She stood silently for a moment just looking at Ranma before she said;

 

"You must be Ranma Saotome. My name is Lani RavenStar, and I have been looking for you." Ranma looked concerned, and decided right then and there he would put a stop to whatever new craziness this girl represented.

 

"Look, I'm really sorry, if my dad promised I'd marry you, I already have a fiancé, if he owes you money go see him he's in the house and may look like a panda." Lani smiled, she supposed if she had as crazy a life as Ranma had she would be suspicious and jumpy around strangers too.

 

"It's nothing like that though I can understand why you might be concerned. Actually I'm here to offer you special training in a martial art I'm pretty certain you haven't seen before and I may be able to help you with your curse." Ranma looked suspicious but she could tell he was very interested.

 

"What's the catch?" Ranma asked, "I mean I'm sorry if that sounds rude but you wouldn't believe some of the stuff that goes on around here." Lani smiled at him again and sat down next to the pond.

 

"Actually I would, I've watched you and your friends for awhile to make sure you were the one I was looking for and I don't blame you for your caution. Let me explain the entire offer to you, including what you might call 'the catch' and I will let you think about it, okay?" Ranma nodded, it sounded reasonable, and if she could really deliver it might be worth it.

 

"Alright, let me start by saying I will try to help with your curse regardless of what you decide, in fact if you like I'll try as nothing more than as a show of good faith. I am a guardian, an immortal being dedicated to making the lives of heroes easier as much as I can. You and your friends have done a lot of good and I can tell that you are someone that cannot help but save people weaker than yourself. You have already proven to me that you would be a good person to hold the kind of power I'm talking about. The catch, as you may think of it, is that the kind of training I could give you alone does not compare to what I could teach you as part of a pair." Ranma frowned. "I am not suggesting that you need be in love with your partner or any such thing, and I will not be your partner." She smiled. "My husband would not appreciate such a thing." Ranma nodded his understanding and his frown changed to a considering look.

 

"Actually from what I've seen I would ask your fiancé Akane. Although she is weaker in her fighting style, she has brute strength and the training will make her faster. She has proven to me that she would not only make a good partner because she is willing to let you take the lead but that she has come into danger often enough through you, that being able to fight better herself would be better for her own safety. I can also teach her a few other things as well that I offer under the same conditions as I have given for treating your curse, such as teaching her to cook, sew and swim. Now I know the two of you are engaged by your fathers and don't seem to get along but it seems to me that left to your own devices without the constant irritants that the two of you face, also without the constant pressure to marry her, you may be able to decide exactly how you feel about each other. I honestly don't care what the two of you decide, I can teach you to work as a double edged sword.

 

"As for all the people around the two of you that would try to interfere to further their own agendas I would offer the two of you a way to keep any of them from knowing until your training is complete, in fact I am offering a guest cabin near my home where you will each have your own room, and because time in my world passes differently from time here you can stay in my world as long as it takes, but be missing from here for a very short period of time, say an hour. Anything else you would like to learn such as high school classes and even university classes would certainly be offered to you as well."

 

Ranma sat and stared for a moment at the guardian, thinking as hard as he could. It sounded great, if Akane was game he thought he'd be willing. It wasn't like they would have to get married or anything and it might be nice to have a little time alone together to decide just between the two of them how they felt. Thinking back Ranma couldn't think of a single time he and Akane had been able to talk without some kind of craziness interrupting. The thought of her being able to defend herself against some of his less sane admirers pleased him too, she wasn't as good as any of them and he often worried about one of them deciding to take her out of the running. He came to a decision.

 

"If Akane is game, I think this could be a good idea." Ranma said, "Just one thing. you explain it to Akane." Lani smiled and nodded.

 

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Akane sat on a swing in the park still smarting from Ranma's comments earlier. The jerk had no sensitivity at all. She'd tried so hard to make those cookies the least he could do was try one. She sighed, as hard as she tried she should have known what was going to happen.

 

Lani found Akane there on the swing and she sat down on the swing next to her. "Hi, my name is Lani, you look so sad, do you want to talk about it?" Akane looked over at the pretty silver haired girl and couldn't remember ever seeing her around before.

 

"I made cookies, but they didn't come out very good." She said, trying to think of a way to explain how that had ended with her sitting here in the park by herself without getting into the whole Ranma situation. Lani smiled, and hoped Akane would agree, she really wanted to help her.

 

"I must confess," she said quietly, "I saw the whole thing, and I've come to offer you training. I can teach you to cook, sew, and swim. I also wanted to ask you if you would be interested in some martial arts training?"

 

Akane couldn't believe her ears, cooking, sewing, swimming and martial arts training? 'If I can get as good as Ranma maybe he'll take me seriously!' she thought. Akane looked back at the stranger and asked. "Can you help me get as strong as that jerk?"

 

Lani nodded and smiled, the poor girl was really in love with her fiancé and he didn't have a clue how to deal with her. Having been raised by his father he had clearly not been socialized properly, though he wasn't the worst she'd seen.

 

"I can make you as good as he is now and better, but perhaps you should hear all of it before agreeing." Akane looked at her in confusion and surprise, what else could there be?

 

 

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