Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ The Way of the Beast ❯ Chapter Four ( Chapter 4 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Disclaimer: This is a parody inspired by the works of Ms. Takahashi. All characters that I have not created or borrowed from other sources are his. This is a Fan fiction and not meant to violate the rights of those who own the rights to the Ranma One Half series .I have no money and therefore not a good suing target. Thank you very much.

The Way of the Beast

Chapter Four

"I can unstand the reason for getting me out of the rain before the curse was revealed, even if I know it will be coming out sooner or later, but why drag me into the P.E. equipment room pops? " asked Ranma as he shook off the hot water which made him male again. The sex-changer then asked also, "Why interrupt my fight with Kuno? I was just getting into the right groove for the fight, knowing how to use my martial arts to their best abilities."

"I wouldn't be so sure, Ranma. Kuno is a lot better then he looks. You should check your neck for... wait, didn't you get a hit by Kuno's sword on your neck?" asked Akane as she looked in on the equipment room, checking the view on the neck of the martial artist.

"Used my beast fist to regenerate the damage down from the pressure wave of Kuno's swordsmanship, but I am coming up with a counter or two against the attack. Speed with a little boost of protection and some improved healing abilities to neutralize the effects of the swings... then I can take him down easier then last time. Seems like a skill built for the Anything Goes school to build and adapt to a challenger's attack, right pops?" said Ranma as he seemed to be thinking of more fighting.

"Besides, I think my little gift to him might be less likely to go away then my own injuries." said Ranma with a sly little smile.

In Classroom 2-E...

Kuno sat in his class where a reddening bruise formed the letters for the word 'Insufferable' in the Japanese language, which he stared at in a mirror as he raged against the opponent he had gained.

"So you mean to tell me you didn't even feel him tocuh you when he pounded it into his forehead?" asked Nabiki as she looked on to her classmate.

"I can't believe I thought Ranma Saotome was good, when he can't even spell. This is the correct spelling of my name... " said the samurai wanabe as he wrote it out in chalk on the black board. The word on the board was Kuno's name which could also be translated as Capable, but while he was writting this word there was another person writting on the board beside him.

"Isn't more like this?" asked Nabiki as she wrote out the word for Incapable next to Kuno on the board.

He leaned his head in and lowered his torso down to the point he was looking Nabiki in the eye as he said, "You know of course that I hate you?"

"Oh, I am so scared." was the middle Tendo's reply without a single hint of fear.

In another classroom in the same school...

"It seems we have a new student in class today. His name is Ranma Saotome and he has just returned from China, so lets give him a big Nihao welcome. This does not excuse the fact that he and Akane Tendo were late for class this morning, so go stand in the hall." said the teacher as Ranma stood before the class and Akane sat in her seat. Akane got up and moved to the back end of the class as she picked up a water bucket, Ranma followed suit and took his own bucket of water which was also sitting there.

Ranma followed Akane into the hall and stood holding the bucket in one hand as she held it in both of her hands. After a moment of silence, Akane spoke, "You know this is all your fault."

"Not completly my fault, but I do share some responibility. I should have figured out Kuno's fighting style sooner then that, which would have gotten us out of the rain faster and into the school quicker." said Ranma as he stood straight in the hallway.

"Well, I have the same fight every morning with those boys and Kuno. Every morning I fight and every morning I beat all of them. I manage to do all of this before the beginning of school everyday too." said Akane as she seemed to be holding a boiling anger at the moment.

"What was that all about anyway? Seems strange for an entire male student body to fight against one single girl, no matter how skilled she is with the martial arts."

"At the beginning of the semester, Kuno made this stupid speech..."

Quick Flashback to the beginning of the semester...

Kuno stood at a podium and spoke a crowd with a sign for the Furinkan High School Speech Contest hanging above him, " The vengeance of heaven is slow but sure. If you wish to take Akane Tendo out, you must defeat her in combat. I, Tatewaki Kuno, can accept no other terms.Now am I making myself absolutely clear!"

End of the Flashback...

"Can he be any bigger an idiot?" asked Ranma outloud, which gave Akane a momentary smile across her lips.

Back in classroom 2-E...

"Fiance? He's her Fiance?" shouted the standing Kuno as he clutched the desk with his hands.

"No, I said that he was engaged to one of the Tendo sisters by arangement of my daddy. You were the one who jumped to the conclusion of him wanting to be married to Akane. He still hasn't decided to give up the engagement or to marry one of us girls, which ever girl he wants. " commented Nabiki, as she sat in a bored mood as she wonder what it was this wannabe Romeo would do. She had just mentioned at all for one reason, being the fact Kuno had donated for the information to the Nabiki Happiness Foundation. A quite sizable donation which would also be added to the Tendo Family Welliness Foundation.

"While your sister is a perfect wife for any man, she is too old for him. You are... you." this was the point Kuno was interrupted by Nabiki.

"Watch it, Kuno. Any insults and the price for your next purchase increases by one half, so I recommend that you watch what you say."

"But Akane is female perfection and the same age as the knave, which means she is the one more likely to be chosen as the gem of the Tendo family for the rogue to molest. I will not allow this fiercious tigress to be brutalized by this vermin! I WILL NOT! " continued Kuno before he was hit on the forehead by a chalk brush, as his teacher told him to stand in the hall.

"Yes, sir." replied the samurai loving student.

Back with Ranma and Akane...

"You fight with Kuno every morning?" asked Ranma as he stood still and looked out the windows of the hall.

"And somehow every morning I beat him, like I said before. Somehow. "

"Well, when a man fights against a woman he can take it easy on a woman. It not always feels right for a man to hit a woman, or a man might not want to hit her thinking her weaker then himself. A martial artist duty is not to harm those weaker then them..."

"What a sexist thing to..."

"Not finished, Akane. It is also a martial artist duty to help with the training of those weaker then themselves so they can reach an even playing field, but this is also helped by the martial artist seeking to strengthen themselves. You're a powerful fighter, but there are things which could be used to make you stronger."

"So you think you're better then me? Well, maybe we should spar a little. To make it 'fair', we can just fight each other as girls so you can't hold back because you're a boy." said the girl as she moved the bucket around to splash Ranma with the cold water inside.

"Don't you dare, Akane..." said Ranma a second before he jumped and dodged water coming in the opposite position. Water comming from a bucket being held by Kuno in his samurai outfit. Akane began to complain about the upperclassman but was stopped by the same man.

"Never Ranma Saotome, I will never accept your engagment to Akane Tendo!" shouted out Kuno as it bounced around the hall and into the class rooms.

This shocked the two students in the hall as windows from the classroom burst open to let the students inside out to comment on the announcement. Surprised and shock were the word as the different young men and women were speaking on top of each other.

"Wait, it's not true!" said Akane, as she tried to take control of the matter.

"The engagement is between me and one of the Tendo daughters, which could be any of the three and I still might find a way to cancel the engagement." answered Ranma with the bare truth of the matter. With this Ranma sense Kuno charge at him and Akane who held her back to his own, so instantly he shoved her out of the way and used the bucket to block the wooden sword. Taking care of the weapon, Ranma jumped over Kuno's head as he looked for a place to gain more space.

"This is no place to fight, if you want to fight... follow me." shouted Ranma as he looked back at the older man.

"That I shall, Ranma Saotome! " replyed the man with the wooden weapon as the two of them ran off.

A moment passed before Akane shouted as she tossed her pail, "They have got to be kidding! "

She and the rest of the students followed Ranma and Kuno. The pursuit turned from one hall to another, as Ranma sighted what he wanted... an open window. He called out, "Here's a nice shortcut, follow me if you can Kuno."

Kuno leapt out after Ranma as the two began to fall into the air, Ranma looking cocky as he knew something which Kuno didn't. The ability to land on the ground on his feet no matter the height. Akane had shouted about it being the third floor and Ranma said to her, "I'm alright, nothing to worry abou..."

Ranma looked down at the ground below him, the unsolid ground below him... inside the swimming pool. He mutter to himself, "Water, why does it have to be water? Flight of the bumblebee!" With this Ranma stopped a foot before the pool, only to be hit by the splash of Kuno diving into the water. Ranma looked down at the pool as in her other body and notice Kuno floating face up in the pool.

'Looks like the idiot is drowning... damn, my morals. Got to go in and rescue him from killing himself. Gills of the Fish.' she thought as she dove into the water, with the ability to breath the liquid in her lungs. She moved to lift the boy up... only for his hand to hit a rounded piece of her chest. This caused an instinctual reaction as she lifted him up and flung him from the pull, as the act caused an unconcious calling of animal strength to throw the fool.

As Kuno landed on the cement around the pool,.Ranma jumped from the pool and stepped on the face of the older student before running off to the forest which would cover her change for the moment.

A quick look at Kuno...

The older boy was reviewing the events in his mind... of Saotome falling out of the window and towards the pool. Of the might son of noblity which was the Kuno heir falling into the pool, of the female angel which had managed to rescue him from the water. All of this was trying to come to the right answer, dispite the fact the machinery which it was using was defective.

"Saotome must have tried to replace himself before he hit the water, replacing himself with the angel which saved my life. How low can a man be to allow a woman to suffer in his place, if Saotome can be called a man?"

In the forest...

Akane was walking into the forest with the one thing she knew would be needed for Ranma, given his... her situation. She noticed a wet spot growing on the ground near the tree and could hear Ranma's female voice start to speak, "Gee, Kuno didn't have to squeeze me so hard. Makes me wonder if I shouldn't have given him a kick to the nuts with the Strength of the Tiger. Well, I guess the curse is out on the open. I knew something would happen to bring it out, but I thought I could do it on my terms."

"Hey, Dummy. How stupid can you be?" said the youngest Tendo as she looked at the Saotome in the Tree.

"Are you talking about me? I don't think I'm stupid, ignorant maybe but not stupid." said Ranma as she had been wringing out her pnats to make them dry faster, leaving her only in her long Chinese style shirt.

"What about throwing yourself into a pool like that, isn't that stupid?"

"Not if I didn't know about the pool being there, that would be a cause of being ignorant of my surroundings. A big mistake on my part, but not stupid. I would have been fine if it had been solid ground. I have a lot of experience jumping off heights, just ask my father about his 'training'."

"Guess then you don't need this either, since you're so skilled." asked Akane, as she held up the kettle which was filled with hot water. The same hot water which could return Ranma to his male birth form.

"Akane, quit kidding around please. I need that so I don't have to come back to school with a lot more questions then we're getting now. So can you help me, please?"

It was the sounds of someone coming which stopped them, the most logical of which was... "Kuno's coming. Catch!" said Akane, as she tossed the tea pot to Ranma and moved away from Ranma. Ranma caught the metal container, yet there was a problem.

Akane, however, had moved to block the upperclassman from the location of the gender bender boy. She stood before the wooden sword boy. She held her fist to her wrist for a short time before moving then into a boxing like stance as she said, "Alright Kuno, I challenge you."

As Akane moved while in fighting form, Kuno responded, "Akane Tendo. Less the winning of the prize, make the prize light... I accept!"

Kuno moved his practice blade into position as Akane used her hands for the fight. Kuno spoke to his crush, "If you defeat me, you may have the pleasure of dating me. But be wary, I am prepared to lose."

The woman shot back at him, "You make it look like I want to date you or something! "

Kuno continued to approach the Tendo woman, Akane was thinking, "Ranma, change back into a boy while I buy you some time."

Ranma had her own problems as she was holding onto the branch she had been sitting on with her feet. She was almost horizontal while holding the kettle with her hands, unable to use the pot from position she was in.

As the fight with Akane continued, Kuno continued to draw nearer and nearer. Then his moved with speed as he launched forward as he swung his blade from the ground across his body into the air. She dodged this by jumping over his head and moving behind him. He swung behind him in a cross body blow, only for her to repeat her previous move. He charged her and used an overhead swing, only for her to stop it with her bare hands after moving back a step or two. He forced her back and back with his stance. He spoke to her two words, "You're mine!"

Akane just fell on her back, setting her feet up to kick the boy into the air at the same time while holding the sword of wood. Kuno was flung into the air over Akane... and into the wooded area behind her.

Back with Ranma...

"Step one, I have to get my balance back into position. Step two, I can use this to turn into a boy." said Ranma as she focused on the teapot, only for something to land on the top of the pot. Looking straight at her was an upside down Kuno with his arms crossed.

"We meet again." was the words the elder classman said, as Akane came running up with Kuno's sword in her hands.

"What's wrong with you? You're still a girl?" asked Akane as she stopped in front of the tree.

"Had a slight balance issue when you threw the pot up I was trying to straighten up. You might want to work on your aim." came the reply from the red headed girl, as she turned to look at the dark haired one.

"Tell me, have you seen a strange man with a pig tail? " asked Kuno as Ranma shook her head on instinct, yet again acting on his animal nature. The Upperclassman continued, "A coward dies so many times before there deaths. No doubt he fears my prowess. That man is no man, he is not a man."

Angry got the best of Ranma as she released the kettle and allowed Kuno to fall onto the ground... hard. The pot compressed as Kuno answered, "That hurts you know."

Ranma jump down off the tree and stood before the lone physical male there, "I'm not ready to take any of this for much longer. I am ready to take you on, right here and right now."

Kuno stood up from where he fell as Ranma moved into fighting position and spoke, "Very well, my fiery one. Beauty does persuade, if you can defeat me I will allow you to date me."

Kuno instantly took back his blade from Akane and moved to slash Ranma, who jumped out of the way of the wooden weapon. When Ranma landed, she was standing on the practice blade.Ranma walked up the blade and gave Kuno a face full of foot as she said, "Who asked you for a date, anyway?"

Kuno fell down with a red blotch on his face, as Ranma made some kicks in the air before she landed on the ground. She moved over and kicked the wooden sword into the air in a spin before catching it in her hands, turning he head back to Kuno as she walked away to tell him, "I should warn you, Ranma Saotome is a better martial artist then even I am. Come on Akane, let's go home."

"But it's not even lunch yet?" answered the dark haired girl as she followed the red-haired woman who was walking off.

Kuno spoke his last words before falling under, "She is formable, but who is she?"

Later at the Tendo home...

Kasumi was washing the dishes while humming a little tune. Nabiki was teasing her younger sister after the day they had at school, "Giving Ranma the world tour, I see."

"Quit it, Nabiki. I never asked for all of this." answered the younger girl.

In the gym, Ranma and his father were standing on their heads. Genma spoke first, "From what I hear, Akane really looked out for you in school today, Boy."

"It's not like I asked her too." was the younger Saotome's reply. This caused the father to spring up onto his feet.

"Foolish boy, have you learned nothing." As he moved Ranma's legs together, and kicked his arms out from under him. In a quick move, her moved Ranma around and into a sitting position on his shins. Genma growled at his boy with his fist shaking at the older man's hips.

"Here we go again." said Ranma as he rolled his eyes. Genma walked a little distance before speaking.

"You wound me, boy. I taught you better manners then this, to ignore a debt of honour. Sixteen years, I have tried to give you the benefit of my wisdom. Ranma... I... your father... What good are these hands if they can't teach you to walk the path of martial righteousness. Oh my son, my only son. Oh my son... your father has failed." said Genma, in the middle of which he started to cry and gesturing his outrage with his fist. When he finished he turned around into a bucket of cold water being kicked at him by Ranma. Pail hit head before the man became panda, before pail made a return upside down on the panda's head. The panda began to growl at Ranma before the responded.

"Sorry, thought you needed to cool down. "

Panda continue to lecture in the forms of growls, before snorting and walking away... only to bang into the door frame. Getting through, he slamed the door behind him as Ranma laughed at him.