Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ The Nightmare Saga: Warrior of Shadows ❯ Akane's Fury and the Misguided Suitors. ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter two: Akane's Fury and the Misguided Suitors.

Teenage martial artist Ranma Saotome lay on his futon, sleeping peacefully as morning descended upon Tokyo, promising yet another busy day of activity and strange occurrences. It was seven forty a.m. Saturday morning and the Tendo household was already bustling with activity. The occupants of the large dwelling had set a up a routine for themselves over the two years Ranma and his father had lived there. Akane and Nabiki were getting ready for school in their rooms and Genma and Soun were sitting in the open hallway, playing their never ending game of Shogi. A soft, musical tune could be heard from the kitchen as Kasumi prepared breakfast, filling the house with a delicious, mouth-watering aroma.

The only family member absent was his mother, Nadoka. A relative had fallen ill and she had gone to Yokahama to take care of her until the worst of it had passed. She had been staying with the Tendo's as well, ever since she had found out her son and husband's secret about five months prior. It had been one of several decisive moments that had occurred in Ranma's life recently, and frankly, he was ready for some peace and quiet. His battle against Saffron a few months back and the failed wedding had sapped all his reckless enthusiasm, at least for the time being.

Ranma's hyper sensitive nose breathed in the aroma from the kitchen, causing his brain to kick start into awareness. This dragged him out of a deep, restful sleep. Yawning loudly, he jumped up, stretched for a few moments, then slipped into his regular red shirt with wooden buttons down the center, blue elastic pants, and black shoes. Flicking his pigtail off his shoulder with his thumb, he opened the door, inhaling the delicious scent for a second time.

He never liked having to dress like everyone else so school uniforms were naturally out of the question now that he was in high school. He was just too high spirited and original to be assimilated into the regular Japanese society. No one dared to try and stop him so the school faculty just overlooked the minor problem with helpless exasperation. His clothing served as a symbol for who he was, though he probably never contemplated it at that deep a level. In his mind it was just an act of stubbornness and determination to rebel.

Buttoning the wooden button's on his shirt, Ranma grabbed his school bag and hopped down the stairs two at a time. He eagerly bounced into the dinning room, knowing a delicious meal awaited his growling, bottomless stomach. Cheerful as he ever was with a delicious meal awaiting him, his eyes naturally fell to watch his father, who would surely fight him for his food at some point that morning.

"Mornin' everybody!" He sat himself down at the kitchen table. Soun acknowledged him with a nod but continued to concentrate on the game at hand, sweating slightly as he contemplated the strategic pinch he was currently in.. Genma waved absentmindedly and took a puff from his thin tobacco pipe, pushing smoke high into the morning sky.

Soon after, Akane and Nabiki filed down into the dining room and took their assigned places at the large table, equally hungry but less vocal about it than Ranma. As was custom, Akane sat next to Ranma, Ranma next to his father, and Nabiki sat on the other side by her father. Kasumi brought in breakfast and the men of the household put their game aside to join their family at the table.

As usual, Genma and Ranma began to wolf down their food savagely, all the while ignoring the annoyed glances from Nabiki and Akane. Soun paid them no heed and just sat silently, flipping through the morning paper and occasionally taking in a bite of food. He carefully concealed his disgust at Ranma's appalling table manners. Perhaps when they were married, Akane would set him straight…

Suddenly something caught his eye that made the thought of table manners slip from his mind. "Ranma, look at this!" He dropped the paper in front of the boy.

Ranma picked up the newspaper while sipping a glass of tea. He instantly saw the cause of Soun's alarm. {Chinese lord attacked in Nekonron by a mysterious intruder.} He spit out the tea that had been in his mouth, soaking Genma and transforming him into a panda almost instantly. The perturbed father whacked his son over the head with a sign that said [GROSS!]

"I'm sorry, ok?! This just took me by surprise," Ranma cried.

[WHATEVER.] Grumbling angrily, he stomped out of the room to take a hot bath and regain his human form.

Returning his attention to the matter at hand, Ranma continued to scan the article, a bit more frantically this time. "Despite area searches by both Nekonron and Chinese forces, no traces of the assailant have been found. The suspect is still at large, possibly taking up refuge in the mountains to the east of the Musk Dynasty."

For a moment he sat there in stunned silence, grasping the paper tightly. Then he abruptly tossed it down beside his plate, returning his attention to the helpless food that lay before him. When he was finished with it, he snatched Genma's food and proceeded to finish it off as well with the same rabid enthusiasm.

When he didn't offer to let her read, Akane grabbed the paper and read the article herself. "I hope he'll be ok," she said with a tone full of concern. An unhappy frown creased her lips and her eyes shone with worry.

Ranma snapped out of his food-destroying mode and resumed his regular rude and cocky attitude. "Don't tell me your actually worried about a jerk who kidnapped you and came within an inch of forcing you to marry him, Akane!" He folded his arms across his chest, leaning back to stare at her incredulously.

"Oh, are you jealous, Ranma? Honestly! At least he had the guts to admit his true feelings for me. Which, if I recall, is far more than I say for you!" She shot him a hard look.

"Feh, whatever!" Ranma huffed, crossing his arms and turning his head away.

She blew out an angry breath and turned her head away so she wouldn't have to look at him. Why did he have to go and get her annoyed all the time with his childish antics? Kirin and Ranma may have fought savagely, but she had been under the impression that the two had parted as friends. How could he be so cold and heartless when a person they knew had been attacked? What's more, Ranma was treating the incident like it was nothing when Kirin could be in the hospital with untold number of injuries.

"Why would I be jealous anyways?" Ranma asked, snapping her out of her thought trance and adding fuel to the rage fire in her mind. "You are so un-cute! Plus your a tomboy but we all know that already. Who ever said I was even remotely attracted to you in the first place? Those words never came out of my mouth."

"What did you call me?! I'm so sick of you calling me a tomboy all the time!!! At least Kirin was brought up with manners and taste!" She struggled to control herself, and it was taking all she had to not beat his brains in.

"Jeez, Akane, you're far from perfect yourself! Maybe I should go ahead and secure my engagement to Ukyo seeing as she's twice the woman you are!"

That hurt Akane deeply, but it wasn't the first time it had happened. He had hurt her before, always to the point where her heart felt like it was being torn apart inside her breast. She knew he often spoke without thinking, that was just the way he was, but that was no excuse for such a low blow. He knew her feelings, knew how she felt about his female fan group. He had purposely brought that up to get to her, hoping to really make her mad.

It worked.

She grabbed her trusty wooden mallet and slammed it down on his head with the force of a falling redwood. "Ranma, you jerk! I hate you!!!"

The rest of the household ignored this particularly brutal fiasco. They had gotten quite used to the near constant fighting between the two long ago. They ate in silence, keeping their eye's on the plate in front of them, waiting for the storm to die down. Soun continued to eye his paper, his only response to the incident coming in the form of a quiet sigh.

Ranma removed his face from Akane's mallet and tried to stifle his own rising anger. Akane gave him an evil stare then walked out of the room with her arms crossed. "Hmph! don't have time for this! I'll be late for school."

"Un-cute tomboy," he muttered, putting his head in his hands. Another mallet slammed into the side of his head, forming a large bump that swelled painfully. "OWWW!"

"I heard that, Ranma! Just shut up for once!"

He muttered something unintelligible under his breath and stood up from the table. "I'm goin' to school," he yelled, louder than needed. Stomping out the hallway, he turned to glare up the stairs and sprinted out the door, feeling the cool air sting the skin where he had been injured.

Akane and Nabiki gathered their things and followed soon after. As Kasumi cheerfully started to clean the dishes, Soun put down his newspaper and sighed deeply, casting his gaze out at the Koi pond as it gently reflected the sun's warm rays across it's surface.

{It's shaping up to be just another regular day.} He lit a cigarette to ease his troubled nerves. "Kasumi, do we have any Tylenol left?"

***

Nabiki went ahead to school to take care of some outstanding debts some people owed her before the final school bell rang. This left Ranma and Akane to walk silently by themselves, both refusing to make eye contact with the other. It was a childish routine, the same one they had been dancing to for two years now. Fellow classmates passed them on the way, laughing at the tell-tale signs that the two displayed after they fought. Flushing with embarrassment, Akane's anger tripled in magnitude.

Ranma slowed his walk on the fence and looked down at his still fuming fiancée' in wonder. Her ability to stay angry was legendary and explosive. It never ceased to amaze him how long she could stay mad. He realized suddenly that she was angry a great deal of the time, probably half the time he'd known her at least. It was a wonder she didn't have health issues because of it.

{Man, it ain't my fault she gets angry and violent all the time! Still... I guess I did get outta' hand this morning. This incident with Kirin must be upsetting her more than she's letting on. Bringing up Ukyo was a really stupid thing to do too. Damn… Why can't I keep my mouth shut?!} He kicked himself mentally and sighed, looking down at her, his steel blue eyes softening visibly.

He cleared his throat. "Ummm… Akane, look, about what happened at breakfast… I, uh..."

"Save it," Akane growled, cutting him off without looking up at him. "I couldn't care less about what you have to say you...you, perverted cross-dresser! Go on! Go be with Ukyo, she's such a great woman remember!?" She took off down the street towards Furinkan at a fast sprint. Hot angry tears streamed down her cheeks, falling to the pavement behind her and her sobs found their way to Ranma's ears that stabbed into his heart over and over again.

{So much for a restart on the morning pleasantries!} "You dummy! I was tryin' to apologize," he called after her. He was hoping she would stop to retort but for once she didn't take the bait and ran into the school, ignoring the concerned expressions of her friends as they stopped to greet her.

[Damn, damn damn damn damn!} Sighing heavily, he shoved his hands into his pants pockets and continued walking with a scowl on his face. Frustration welled up inside of him until it got to the point where he wanted to scream. He always ended up feeling like crap when he hurt Akane's feelings. Kicking a rock savagely, he approached Furinkan's main gate.

{At least things can't get any worse.}

"Ranma Saotome, prepare yourself for death! Thou have entered the den of the lion!"

{I was wrong.} He groaned and held his face in his hand. Why the hell did these things always happen to him? He turned to see his samurai-wannabe nemesis, the tall, brown eyed and fairly handsome Tatiwake Kuno who stood before the main gate with his Bokken at the ready. Having all the bravery but none of the intelligence of the sword wielding warriors of old, Ranma had a hard time taking him seriously. It might have been because Kuno currently looked so cocky despite the cuts and scrapes that adorned his face, given to him from their previous scuffle. Ranma was sure his older rival was just stupid enough to forget about his own defeats time after time. It was either that or he was a glutton for punishment.

"Come on, Kuno! I ain't in the mood to play today! Besides, I don't feel like getting battle-energy drained by Miss Hinako for being late to class again!" His point was justified, the woman seemed to love to single him out for "student correction."

"You seek to escape? Never! I, Tatiwake Kuno, feared by many as the Blue Thunder of Furinkan high, will not allow it! The art of fleeing may be your specialty, but I will act as the solid door of vengeful justice and lock you in!"

"Kuno, I kick your butt every day! Don't you ever get tired of it?!" Ranma dropped his bag to free up his hands for the fight he felt sure was becoming unavoidable.

"Talking will not get you out of your punishment, Saotome. The vengeance of heaven is slow but sure! Release your hold on my two beloved girls and I will let you pass unscathed. Refuse and you will taste my wrath in battle!"

Ranma dropped into a low combat stance. {Oh well, maybe now I can take out a little of my frustration.} "Ok, upperclassman 'totally warped blue buffoon', lets get this over with."

"You dare make fun of my name and title as Blue thunder? Ha! Such bold words from a spineless cretin. Alas, thy jests have no effect on the mighty Kuno." He grinned, holding his wooden blade up against the light of the early morning sun. If his ego had been a weapon it would have hit Ranma from a mile away.

"Who are you calling spineless?!" Ranma jump-kicked Kuno solidly in the face, leaving behind a noticeable footprint mark and a fair amount of pain. Kuno backed up, rubbing his face with a mixture of anger and pain. He'd feel that one later in the day!

Ranma rebounded backwards, loosened up his muscles, and performing a few quick stretches. "We done yet?"

"Such weak attacks have no effect on me! Hear me, today is the day I take my women from your poisoned grasp! Prepare yourself!!!" He dropped into his final attack position: feet shoulder width apart, sword held low at his side. He lunged forward, swinging his weapon at blinding speed. The blade seemed to come at him from every direction at once, and yet Ranma dodged these intensely quick strikes with ease. As fast as Kuno was, his swings were still absurdly predicable.

Beside them, a statue of the demented principle shattered from the powerful winds created by the swings of Kuno's sword. A group of passing students cheered and pointed. His attack did serve a practical purpose after all!

"Say Kuno, ain't it about time you learned a new technique or two? You never beat me with that move the first time we fought so why in the world would it work now?" Ranma waiting for an opening in Kuno's attack to appear then round-housed him in the head again, knocking the now unconscious warrior to the ground face-first.

{Good, now that that's done…} Dusting himself off, Ranma continued walking through the front gate and into the courtyard. The warning bell rang, signaling that the students had only a few moments more to find their way to their classroom seats. Ranma quickened his pace, glad for the chance to finally make it to class on time.

Suddenly, several large chains with large spiked balls at the end flew down at his feet, smashing the pavement with a loud metallic clash. He skidded to a halt faster than his attacker had predicted and, back-rolling, Ranma avoided a second set of spike-headed chains as they too plunged to the ground.

"Saotome, release your vile hold on Shampoo!" Mousse flipped down from a tree and landed with the grace of a gymnast between him and the school. His long back hair swayed gently in the wind as his blue eyes sized Ranma up with contempt.

Ranma moaned and looked up at the heavens imploringly. He knew someone up there didn't like him very much. He could almost hear the laughter. "Mousse, I told you a million times, I don't like Shampoo as anything more than a friend! Ok!? Just leave me alone!"

"Liar!" Mousse shook his fist at a rose bush. "You may be able to fool others with your evil lies, but I'm different! Prepare to die!"

"Put your glasses on you jerk! I'm over here!"

Mousse slid his coke bottle glasses on his nose and turned around, trying to maintain his threatening pose. Unfortunately for him, a near blind martial artist with giant glasses was about as intimidating to Ranma as a teletuby.

"Fight me like a man, Ranma!"

"You asked for it." {Damn, I'm really getting sick of this day after day!}

Ranma dodged to the left as a dozen sharp ended chains flew past him. Despite being nearly blind, the Chinese boy somehow had impeccable aim. The attack was followed up with ten knives which he pulled from the depths of his Kimono and threw with equally deadly accuracy. Ranma effortlessly caught them in midair and tossed them to the ground.

A sneer crossed his face. "Come on, Mousse, don't you ever get tired of losing?"

"I won't lose this time! Fist of the White Swan!" Mousse swung his arm at blinding speed, knocking Ranma off balance with a well placed blow to the cheek that not even a person of his skill couldn't dodge.

Ranma's eye's narrowed as he caught his balance, and shifted into a new stance. This would be a dangerous signal to any observant man. Unfortunately, Mousse wasn't as observant as he should have been. "Now you've done it!" He was aggravated. It was a mistake to get him like that, especially after the morning disaster with Akane.

Mousse paid the comment no heed and attempted to finish the fight without thinking things through. Ranma had noticed this was very common among all his foes and, surprise, surprise, always lead to their defeat. The Chinese warrior pulled a series of knives from his robes and flung them with all his might.

"Where in the hell do you put all this junk!?" Ranma dove to his right side to avoid the unusual projectile. Mousse had the uncanny ability to conceal even the largest of objects in his robes. It was no wonder he was the master of hidden weapons. It was one ability Ramna felt obligated to admire.

Mousse hurled his extensive collection of chains next, strand after strand topped with iron balls or sharp points.

Ranma dodged through and around the hail of objects until the storm of iron ceased. He snarled, weaved inside Mousse's defenses and raised his fist, about to land a punishing blow to the unfortunate warrior when suddenly his face brightened and he halted in mid-pose.

"Hi, Shampoo," he said, looking over Mousse's shoulder. "Mousse, look, here she comes!"

Mousse sneered. "Ha! I'm not that stupid, Saotome! You'll have to come up with something better than that! Your cheap tricks are for the weak. Why I'd even go so far to say-"

A familiar bell rung throughout the midmorning air as a bicycle embedded itself snugly into Mousse's head. "Nihao, Ranma!"

Shampoo jumped down, ignoring Mousse who lay on the ground groaning in pain. She glomped onto Ranma, pressing her toned, curved body against him and purred contently against his ear. This waves of shivers down his back that, try as he might to deny it, were not unwelcome. It was hard to not be attracted to the buxom, purple haired girl. Her grasp on the Japanese language might not be that great, but she knew how to be seductive as hell when she wanted to. "Ranma fight Mousse to date Shampoo? Ranma really do love Shampoo! I so happy!"

"It's not like that and you know it! Come on, let go!" Ranma tried to pry the Amazon cutie from his arm. "Shampoo, let go! It was him who... I've got to get to class!"

Reluctantly, Shampoo released her hold on him. "What good book learn do Ranma anyway? All Ranma do in class is sleep! You date Shampoo after school then?" She wiggled seductively, long purple hair fluttering slightly. She knew how to manipulate his thoughts all too well, and it often flustered him long enough to forget whatever unwanted comment he was preparing to send her way. She was a master flirt and Ranma, with his raging teenage hormones, was nothing but her pawn.

"Well, I uh..."

At that moment the final bell rang, saving Ranma from having to reply. "Great, I'm late! I'll see you later Shampoo!" He took off for the school building at a dead sprint.

She sighed. {Why is he always avoiding me?} She just didn't understand it! She always gave him nothing short of her absolute love and attention and he still refused her. What could he possible see in that Akane witch anyways?! What could the short-haired girl possibly offer him that she's couldn't? Something clearly just didn't add up!

She sighed again and turned to see Mousse slowly rising to his feet, rubbing his head. "Mousse, how many time Shampoo tell you, you no win against Ranma! Stop trying!"

"But, Shampoo," he protested, "I did it for you! I was trying to prove my love for you! Why do you always chase after a man who will never love you and deny one who does?"

Shampoo grimaced and decided to sidestep the painful question for the time being. "Mousse you too, too stubborn. Here, I help you home." She took his arm and placed it around her neck. She had been the one that injured him so she felt obligated to do so. Grabbing her bike with her other hand, she towed it along in midair using her impressive strength.

{It's not like I like him or anything like that. It just wont due for him to miss work today, that's all there is to it!} She nodded to herself. There was nothing else to the matter. Nothing at all.

He smiled happily to himself as they slowly made their way back to the Neko Haunten. She may not admit it, but Shampoo was actually worried for him! He was sure of it! He grinned like a fool in springtime. There was hope yet! One way or another he'd make her love him!

***

Ranma was late to class and had to go stand in the hall and balance a water bucket on his head as punishment. Humiliating as it was, it sure beat getting energy drained.

Akane gave him a disgusted look from her seat as he meekly left the classroom, ignoring the snickers and sneers of his peers. {That slacker! Why can't he get to class on time?!}

He stood in the hallway and clenched his fists in frustration, once again fighting back the urge to destroy something. {It wasn't my fault I was late! If those two jerks had just given it a rest for once...} He slammed his fist into the wall and instantly wished he hadn't. As he cradled his smarting right hand against his chest, the balanced bucket of water splashed down on him and activated his curse, drenching her clothing.

She sighed and spit out a mouthful of water. "Great, just great." She took off her top and sighed again. {Today's turning out to be just another regular day,} she thought glumly, wringing out her top.