Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Paternity of a Princess ❯ Flirting ( Chapter 6 )

Paternity of a Princess

A Ranma/Sailor Moon Crossover Fanfic

By Michael A. Ivins

 

I don't own the characters of Ranma One Half or Sailor Moon, I'm just borrowing them for my own amusement and hopefully that of my readers. I make no money from doing this.

 

There are some lime bits in this story, so be warned.

 

The only time that Ranma is male in this story is in part of the first chapter. For all of the rest of it she will be female so there will be no usage of “Chan” or “Onna” to differentiate between male and female Ranma. This story takes place after the end of the manga (so after the failed wedding.)

 

 

Chapter 6

Flirting

 

The next day after school Akane started to visit some of the dojos on the list. She ran into a problem she was not expecting. The master of the first dojo listened to her and was interested until Akane told him the name of the school she had been trained in by her father.

 

“Masabesu Kakuto Ryu?” His eyes narrowed. “That is the school founded by Master Happosai, is it not?”

 

Akane wasn't sure she liked the tone the master was using. “That's right,” she said.

 

The master's countenance turned stony and he said, “I will not teach you. I won't have anyone trained in that school in my dojo.”

 

“What?” Akane was confused. “Why?”

 

With a disdainful expression the sensei told her, “In the martial arts community the Anything Goes school is known to be one of thieves and perverts, like its founder. I will not have anyone trained in that school in my dojo. Please leave.”

 

She had known the Happosai was a thief and pervert, but she never knew the school had developed a reputation because of it. She wanted to argue with the sensei from the school, but could see it was useless, he wouldn't budge. She left, crossing the name of the school off her list.

 

It went like that for most of the afternoon. The only dojos where they hadn't heard of Anything Goes were small schools that catered to beginners and children. Akane was too advanced to gain any benefit from joining one of those.

 

It was getting late and she was getting ready to give up for the day when she came to the Kawasaki dojo. When she walked in she was met by a man who appeared to be in his early twenties. For the longest time Akane had hated boys but still like older men. This man was just the right age for her to feel very interested. It didn't hurt that he was handsome and really well built.

 

She smiled at him and said, “Hello, I'm looking into joining a class in kempo.”

 

The young man found the smile dazzling. Smiling back, he said, “I'm Kawasaki Akira. I'm the assistant sensei here. My father is the Master. Have you had any previous training?”

 

“Yes,” she affirmed. “I have been trained in my family school since I was a small child. My father was my sensei. However, my father hasn't trained me in some time and I'm worried that my skills are going to get stale. If my father won't teach me, then I need to get into an organized class. I'm hoping to either advance my skills or at least maintain them.”

 

Nodding Akira said, “What style were you trained in?”

 

She explained, “It's a family style. Currently there are only two families that practice it. It is based on kempo but borrows moves from a lot of other styles. It is called Masabesu Kakuto Ryu or Anything Goes.”

 

The young sensei frowned. “That sounds familiar. I'm sure I've heard the name, I just don't remember in what connection.”

He paused in thought. “Since you were in a family school it might be best if my father were to gauge your skill to know what level to train you at. I know some family schools don't use the same rankings we do.”

 

Akane considered that for a moment and said, “Fair enough.” She followed as the young man led the way to the back. There were no classes going at the moment and they went to an office. The man at the desk was powerfully built and appeared about the same age as Akane's father.

 

Akira walked over to whisper in his father's ear. The older man frowned while he listened. When he son stepped back the sensei looked Akane over in an appraising manner. Finally the older man said, “My name is Kawasaki Jiro and I am the Master of this dojo.”

 

He paused then continued, “My son has told me your name and the name of the school you trained in. Is Tendo Soun your father?”

 

“Yes, sensei.”

 

He nodded. “I'm faced with something of a problem. Were you aware that the school you trained in has a bad reputation within the martial arts community?”

 

Bowed her head, Akane admitted, “I've become aware of it today. My father never taught me any of the perverted techniques. He's always been very protective of me and I don't think he wanted me to learn those.”

 

Master Kawasaki looked thoughtful. “The name of your family style is known to me as is the name of Happosai, the Grand Master and founder of that school. However, I also know of Tendo Soun. I know that he is active in the city council of Nerima. I've even met him. I know that he studied under the perverted master in his younger days but hasn't for a while.”

 

The sensei glanced over at his son and said, “My son says that he has a good feeling about you. I trust his instincts in these matters.”

 

The elder Kawasaki stood up and said, “Let's go out into the dojo. Since there are no classes at the moment I'd like to spar with you to assess you level of skill. If you need it, we can loan you a gi.”

 

Akane accepted the offer and shortly emerged from the ladies dressing room to meet the sensei in the center of the dojo. The sparring session was brief but interesting. The sensei pressed her hard, often scoring light hits through the holes in Akane's defenses. Akane got in one good hit of her own.

 

After they finished he stepped back and said, “That was interesting.” He rubbed at a spot on his side where Akane had hit him and said, “You do know this was just sparring, right?”

The black haired girl bowed her head and apologized, “I'm sorry sensei. When I spar with my friend Ranma I can never get through her defenses. She's very fast and strong.”

 

“Strong?” His tone was musing as he asked, “Would this young woman be stronger than you?”

 

The youngest Tendo hated to admit it, but she had to be honest with this man. “Yes, she's the strongest girl I've ever faced. I only know of one boy who is stronger.”

 

He seemed to consider that. “You seem to be much stronger than a girl of your height and build should be. I can think of only two reasons for you to be as strong as you are. The first of those would be that you are using ki to enhance the power of your moves.”

 

Akane nodded. She had suspected it, but wasn't sure. She said, “If I'm doing that then I'm not aware of it. What's the other possible reason?”

 

“You might not be completely human,” he said in a completely serious tone. “Do you have any oni or demons in your ancestry? Is it possible that some aliens were your great grandparents?”

 

“Aliens, demons? Uh… I don't think so.” What the hell was he talking about?

 

The sensei shrugged. “You probably wouldn't know it if they were.”

 

Akira sidled up to Akane and said, “My dad is a major fan of science fiction. You get to expect him to say stuff like that after a while.”

 

After exposure to magic curses, being kidnapped several times and other things that Akane had experienced, a sensei with a fondness for science fiction and fantasy was pretty tame.

 

The sensei went on as if he had said nothing out of the ordinary, “I've heard that some of the strongest martial arts masters started out using ki without being aware they were doing it. You will need to learn meditation techniques that will bring that ki under conscious control.”

 

She thought about it and said, “I do have one ki attack but I can only do it if I'm angry.”

 

“Oh?” The sensei responded. “That sounds interesting. What form does this attack take?”

She felt embarrassed to say it. “I can… form a mallet out of ki and use it to hit enemies.”

 

His eyes went wide. “You do this without having any training in ki techniques?”

 

“Yes, sensei.”

 

“Amazing.” The sensei was impressed. “I would be willing to take you on as a student.”

 

“Thank you, sensei,” the dark haired tomboy replied. “I just need to talk to my father. When he knows that I'm considering going to a different martial arts school, he might decide to take up my training himself.”

 

The sensei nodded. He could easily understand. “Well, you talk to him.”

 

When the girl left Jiro turned to his son. “So you have your eye on another girl. You're old enough to just pick one and settle down.”

 

“I know dad,” Akira replied. It was an old argument between himself and his father. Still he had to wonder about the new girl who had just left. In spite of her polite manner and seemingly calm demeanor, he could sense a fire in her spirit that he liked.

 

That evening Akane confronted her father after dinner. She had thought that she would talk to him in private, but decided that having the moral support of her sisters was more important.

 

"Father, I need to talk to you." Everybody knew something was up. The only one of the sisters who always addressed Soun as "father" was Kasumi. Akane and Nabiki usually called him "Dad" or "Daddy."

 

"I had an interesting conversation with Ranma the other day," She began. "She wanted to apologize for the way she never trained me seriously before. If she were still living here, she said she would really spar with me and actually hit me if she could get through my defenses. Now that she lives in Juuban she's too far away to do that now. Besides that there is the fact that she wants to train to be ready in case she has to fight the Senshi."

 

Nabiki looked confused. “I thought the Senshi are the good guys. Why would Ranma have to fight them?”

 

Akane rolled her eyes. “They could mistake her for an enemy and kill her before she gets a chance to explain herself. She needs to stay alive long enough to say what she intends to say.”

 

The youngest Tendo girl fixed her father with a glare. "I need to train if I am ever going to become a master of martial arts. At Ranma's suggestion I went out to look at other dojos that teach kempo."

 

Soun and Genma surged to their feet. Soun demanded, "Would you betray the school? We have already taken a hard enough blow with the probable loss of Ranma. We need you to continue so you or your may marry the new heir that Genma will train. It may take longer, but the schools will be joined."

 

"The schools?" There was a heavy load of scorn in Akane's tone. "You wouldn't expect that when I was out looking for another school to join that I would learn something about our own school. I did learn something, though."

 

Fearing the answer, Soun asked anyway, "What did you learn about our school today?"

 

"It seems that our school is not as obscure as I had thought," Akane replied. "Many of the senseis that I spoke to had heard of Makabesu Kakuto Ryu. I went to eleven schools that teach advanced students and at ten of them the sensei refused to teach me. They all said that our school has the reputation for being one of thieves and perverts. Considering the reputation our school has, I'm not even sure if I want to be associated with it anymore."

 

Soun sputtered, "But I never taught you any of the perverted techniques. Even with the things that the Master emphasizes, there is a good core of solid martial arts techniques at the heart of the school. You can't leave the school."

 

"Can't I?" Akane nearly growled. "That eleventh dojo that I mentioned, the one that the sensei was willing to teach me? Do you know why he was willing to teach me? It wasn't because he hadn't heard of our school. He heard of it and didn't want to teach me either. The only reason he changed his mind was because his son thinks I'm cute and is willing to overlook my background."

 

She paused a moment. "I suppose I should feel bad that I'm only being given a chance to get into the Kawasaki dojo because of my looks. If it gives me a chance to prove myself a skilled martial artist, I willing to take what I can get. Of course it doesn't hurt that Kawasaki Akira is a handsome man and nice as well."

 

"No Akane, please don't do this," Soun begged. "If you give up this crazy idea of going to another dojo, I'll teach you the Tendo secret techniques."

 

"'Secret techniques?'" Akane continued to scowl. "I'll bet those are more of those things you learned from the little freak. If it's better ways to steal things or be a pervert, then I don't want to know them. The Anything Goes School is a disgrace and a joke to martial artists everywhere."

 

For a change, instead of bursting into tears, Soun got angry. "How dare you do this to your father? You owe the school a debt of honor for all of the years I have devoted to your teaching."

 

"Honor?" Akane demanded, "Where is the honor in thieving and perversion? The honorable course would have been for you to have stopped teaching Anything Goes. As it is, do you see students beating down our door to be trained in the school?" The men just sputtered and gave no anwer.

 

"NO! There are no students even asking to learn the school." she said. "The school dies with you and Mr. Saotome. With Ranma dropping out, all that is left of the Saotome branch of the school is Mr. Saotome himself. With the way you treat her, do you think there is any chance of getting Ranma back to your teachings. Now daddy, you've lost me."

 

"I could see how the old man is," she continued. "I should have been able to figure out what sort of things you would learn from him. You tried to keep it a secret from me, but I found out. Before I was planning to just use the new school as a threat to get you to start training me again. Now I don't want you teaching me."

 

Soun was so angry that he wasn't thinking straight. He wanted to punish Akane for her disloyalty. One thing he thought of that might hurt her was the revelation of another secret.

 

"If you like secrets so much, I'll tell you one," Soun announced in angry tones. "Have you seen your pet pig recently?"

 

"What does P-Chan have to do with anything?"

 

The Tendo patriarch went on, "Ranma wouldn't tell you because it would violate the warrior's code to reveal a rival's weakness. I found out when he came into the bath when I was there. He came to change from his Jusenkyo cursed form of a small pig into that Hibiki boy. I let it continue because I knew it would make Ranma jealous that you were taking that boy into your bed with you."

 

"Oh!" Akane gasped. This was a betrayal on a level she wasn't sure she comprehended. She could understand Ranma. She had an honorable reason, but her father doing something like that just to make Ranma jealous was contemptible. She finally understood all of the hints Ranma had dropped. All the times Ranma had called Ryoga "pork butt," "bacon breath" and P-chan finally made sense.

 

It was with some serious effort that the dark haired girl calmed herself. She wasn't going to bash her own father with her mallet (even if he really did deserve it.) When she spoke next she said, “I suppose you think telling me that is some kind of punishment for my `betrayal.' What you ended up doing is justifying my actions. Now my going to another school is payback for your betrayal of my trust. At least I'm being open and honest about my intentions and not dishonest and sneaky like you were. If there was any chance you could have talked me into staying with the Anything Goes School, it's gone now.”

 

Suddenly her mallet was in her hands. She began slapping the handle of the mallet into her other hand. “As for that lying pig, Ryoga…” Akane thought a moment. “Kasumi, would you look through your cookbooks for a nice pork recipe. Preferably it should be one that starts with the meat well tenderized.”

 

“Uh… sure,” Kasumi said, feeling nervous. Akane was scary when she got like this.

 

That evening after closing time at the Ucchan's restaurant, Ukyo was feeling nervous. She had been thinking about what Ranma had said to her and it had caused her to look at her waitress in a new light. Now that Konatsu's feelings had been described to her, she had been watching him.

 

Her observations disturbed her. Now that she knew what to look for, she didn't know why she hadn't seen it before. There were a thousand little things that pointed it out. The way he spoke to her, the way he looked at her and the way he did things for her all showed it.

 

When the last customer left and the door was locked, Ukyo turned from the door to look at her waitress who was cleaning tables. Ukyo wasn't sure how to feel. On the one hand she was feeling intensely nervous on the other she was feeling desperate hope. Was there really love waiting right in front of her?

 

She went to a table and pulled out a chair. She called out, “Konatsu, that can wait, Sugar. I need to talk to you for a little bit.”

 

The boy in the kimono looked up with a quizzical expression. He saw his employer and the love of his life standing by a table with a hand resting on the back of a chair. Her manner seemed serious and he felt a moment of fear. He didn't think she was going to fire him, because business was good and in truth an additional waitress would be a help.

 

He walked over and pulled another chair out and sat down. When Ukyo was seated the male kunoichi asked, “What did you want to talk about, Ukyo-Sama?”

 

She seemed to fidget as if not sure what to say. Finally she said, “You know I've been feeling kind of sad since Ranma got stuck as a girl then moved away, right?”

 

Yes, he could understand that. Having one's hopes for love and a happy future crushed could do that to a person. Diplomatically he just responded, “Yes. If there's anything I can do to help you through that, let me know.”

 

The chef's expression was thoughtful now. “Maybe you can. The last time she came for a visit, Ranchan told me something that I confess that I didn't know about.”

 

The young man nodded and continued to look at her with an expectant expression on his face. What could the boy turned girl have told Ukyo to get her acting this hesitant?

 

Screwing up her courage in the face of a fear of rejection, Ukyo finally managed to ask, “Konatsu… How do you… feel about me?”

 

She was asking? He had dreamed of this day but had almost despaired of it ever arriving. Did this question mean that Ukyo was finally over her infatuation with Ranma? He hoped so. The red haired girl was now beyond Ukyo's reach and it was time to move on.

 

The cross-dressing boy began as he had rehearsed. "When I first met you, I was certain that I was in love with you. You were the first person who displayed kindness to me. Since then you have continued that kindness. I will admit that Ranma is another who ranks high up in the people who have been kind to me.”

 

Although tempted to prompt the boy, Ukyo sensed that it was not necessary. The male kunoichi continued, “Over time my feelings have matured. I have heard it said that one of the definitions of love is that you care more about another's happiness than your own. When it was apparent that you had your heart set on Ranma I stayed in the background. I was determined that I wouldn't get in the way until you finally were married to Ranma or decided to give up on her as a possible mate. Have you given up?”

 

Ukyo nodded. “Yes, I think I've finally accepted that she was really never anything more than a friend. Wishing there was more there, won't make it true. Even if she weren't permanently a girl now, I know it wouldn't it wouldn't have worked out. I don't think Ranma would ever have been happy running a restaurant. My dream of a happy future was just that, a dream.”

 

Konatsu's expression was solemn as he nodded. He reached out to take her hand. “I'm sorry that you have to endure the loss of your dream. I will help you in any way I can.”

 

While continuing to hold Ukyo's hand he looked into her eyes. “As I said, my feelings have matured. What I felt before was infatuation. What I feel now is love. I love you deeply, Ukyo. I would ask you to marry me but I guess that it wouldn't be appropriate to do that before we've at least dated.”

 

Ukyo was at a loss for words. Konatsu wanted to marry her? Why had she never noticed this before? A moment's thought answered that one. She had been so fixated on Ranma that she had been ignoring other people and the possibilities they presented.

 

The brown haired chef took a moment to collect her thoughts. “Dating might be a good idea first. I just started to open up to the idea of having a relationship with someone other than Ranchan. I know I've always liked you as a friend, but trying to think of you as a possible husband will take an adjustment.”

 

Konatsu bowed his head. “I have lived with the possibility that you would choose Ranma over me for some time. I can give you all the time you need. I'm just happy you haven't rejected me out of hand. It means that I still have a chance.”

 

Ukyo nodded. “Yes, you have a chance.”

 

Ranma's time was quite full for a while. During school she was learning the lessons taught and doing her homework with peculiar ease. The Senshi in their civilian identities always had lunch with Ranma. When she was with the other girls ranma studied them as unobtrusively as she could. She was trying to learn feminine behavior by observation.

 

Occasionally after school they would all go out for ice cream. While Ranma thought the girls were a little odd, they were sort of fun to hand out with and seemed a lot more normal than the NWC.

 

One afternoon during on such an outing, the group was gathered at their favorite ice cream parlor, when they heard the door open. Ranma looked up to see a man in dark slacks and a light colored shirt come walking in. He was tall and well built with dark wavy hair. He had a handsome face with blue eyes. By the standards of high school girls, he would qualify as a hunk.

 

One of the things that Ranma noticed was the way the man moved. He moved with an air of strength and confidence. His movements suggested some martial arts training but nothing at the level of Ranma herself. Ranma was surprised when the man came over to the table she and the other girls were sitting.

 

The handsome man leaned over and planted a kiss on Usagi's cheek and said, “I had some time free, Usako. I thought I'd join you and your friends.” He snagged a chair from an unoccupied nearby table and pulled it up to sit next to Usagi.

 

The bubbly blonde smiled and said, “Thanks for coming, Mamo-Chan. I should introduce you to Ranma. She's new to our little group and just moved to town a couple weeks ago. She's in the same class as Minako, Makoto and me.”

 

Mamoru looked at the girl and almost froze. It was her! Ranma was the girl from the battle before. She was the one who had been haunting his dreams. He felt an incredible stab of guilt. This was the person who had previously been able to change from boy to girl and back again. It had been on Mamoru's word that she had lost her male form.

 

At the same time as he felt guilt over being the cause of Ranma losing her male side, he had to confess that he couldn't picture the beautiful girl as ever being anything other than female. He'd never seen Ranma as a boy. Being diplomatic, he said, “You always get the pretty ones as your friends, Usako. Though, this time I must say you found one who outshines the rest. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ranma.”

 

For her own part, Ranma was struck almost as much. With her training she was able to control her reaction better. As with the girls there was this sense of familiarity but much stronger. There was the unshakable feeling that this man had been very important to her at some time, but she couldn't remember when that might have been. Where had she met this guy?

 

She found herself blushing over the compliment to her looks. “Thank you Chiba-San. You flatter me.”

 

“Please, call me Mamoru.”

 

Paying more attention to the byplay between Ranma and Mamoru, none of the rest of the girls noticed the frown on Usagi's face.

 

Ranma couldn't explain it to herself, but she was finding it awfully easy talking to Chiba Mamoru. The man was witty, charming and a great conversationalist. He knew enough about martial arts to follow Ranma's conversation and seemed fascinated by an (edited) account of some of her adventures. The man himself had stories to tell that sounded surprisingly interesting when Ranma heard them. She found herself laughing at his jokes and was even more surprised when he laughed at hers.

 

As she was walking home, Ranma couldn't get the image of the man's face out of her mind. There was that nagging sense that she had met him before, but there was more to it than that. She would almost think that she felt an attraction for him.

 

When she caught herself thinking that way she was at first horrified. Not only was he a guy but he was already Usagi's boyfriend. But she was a girl now and for the rest of her life. Weren't girls supposed to be attracted to guys?

 

Ranma was feeling confused. She didn't know what to do.

 

Author's note: Ukyo's moving on with her life. Ranma may be feeling the stirrings of romance (for man at that.) Akane will be getting the training she has wanted.