“No...” Kassy answered as she helped support the pigtailed boy with her arms.
“Aw, come on!” Ranma pleaded. “Please give me that Gravity Device back. It’s great training.”
Kassy pouted. “I think you need some time away form it for awhile,” Kassy said seriously. “You almost killed yourself with it before, and you’re in no condition to train now, what with those bombs and the broken nose.”
“Nah. It was the ground that almost killed me. I was doing just fine,” Ranma protested. The strain he felt while wearing that thing was so big he felt as if he’d trained for weeks on end. If he could get his hands on that thing again...
Staring at Ranma, Kassy continued to pout. “I don’t know...” She said as she shook her head. “I don’t want you to get hurt because of something I did...” After all, her mother would probably kill her!
Ranma waved it off, standing in front of Kassy to make her stop since they were almost in their classroom. “I won’t get hurt, honest.” He gulped. “I’ll even be careful with that thing... Keeping it low when not training.” Of course Kassy didn’t need to know that the only time Ranma wasn’t training was when he slept.
“Well...” Kassy said, her resolve starting to wear down. Ranma was so sweet when he was begging.
Ranma pouted, applying years of experience scamming free food from vendors while female. “Please.”
Gnawing on her lower lip, Kassy wasn’t sure what to say. “Well...”
The pigtailed boy stepped forward, becoming closer to Kassy. He smiled roguishly down at her. “Please, Kas-chan?”
Kassy blushed a bit at the closer contact. Damn, he was cute like that. “Okay... Okay... You win...” She then decided to turn the tables and put on her best teary-eyes expression. “But promise me, PROMISE, you’ll start out slow. Only times-two gravity at first, and work your way up?” She sniffled. “I couldn’t bare losing you because of one of my inventions.”
Ranma swallowed and nodded. “Okay. I’ll build up from two-times.”
“Thank you!” Kassy said and lunged forward, hugging him as gently as she could. She didn’t want to hurt those burns any more than she had to.
Ranma blinked in shock. Not at the hug, but rather at actually returning it instead of freezing. “Uh... Nah. Thank you, Kas-chan.”
Kassy nodded her head and nodded her head. “By the way, Ranma...”
“Yeah?” Ranma asked with a gulp.
“You calling me small?” She asked, narrowing her eyes at him. She knew Japanese. After all, her father’s side of the family was deeply immersed in the Japanese language and culture thanks to her grandmother’s occupation and family background.
“Huh?” Ranma intelligently asked. Where the hell did that come from!?
“Chan,” Kassy started, “Means ‘small’,” She said without missing a beat.
“Well... yeah,” Ranma admitted and smirked. “But it also means cute.”
Kassy blinked once, twice, thrice. “You... You think I’m cute?” She asked, blushing.
Ranma’s brain caught up with what he said and he almost slapped himself silly. This was how Ukyo got the idea of marrying him in her head! Upon looking at the blushing girl with the furry ears the pigtailed boy couldn’t help but continue to smirk. “Yeah. You are.”
Kassy blushed further, a small smile trailing her lips. “Thank you.” She then leaned forward, her mouth next to ear, she breathed heavily, letting him feel the warm breath.
Ranma’s eyes widened and he froze completely in place. That felt... Good!
“Ranma...” Kassy spoke as huskily as she could manage.
Ranma intlligently answered, “Uh...”
Smirking, she then gave the rim of his ear a lick and whispered, “You’re still only going to get to use the Grav-Device on two-times earth’s gravity for awhile though.”
Ranma blinked. That wasn’t what he was expecting. He sighed, in relief or disappointment he didn’t know, and nodded. “For a while.”
Bringing her head back and standing in front of him, Kassy smiled happily. “Now, shall we go to class already?” She smirked. “Or do you want to get lost longer with this ‘cute’ girl?”
Ranma blushed. “Can you give me the thing now? Each moment that passes is a moment wasted.”
Kassy looked at Ranma. “Wouldn’t matter anyway. The batteries are dead, and I need to wait to get back to the Tendo Dojo before I can replace them.”
Ranma sighed and nodded, dejection clear on his face. “Let’s go.” He opened the door for Kassy to enter.
Kassy pat Ranma on the back. “Don’t worry, Ranma. When we get bacl home, I’ll set it up for you ASAP!”
Ranma smiled. Once he got his hands on the device he’d put it on 2Gs for a while. A whole two minutes. Kassy didn’t say how long it had to be. He’d just have to be careful for her not to notice, lowering it whenever he thought she might find out.
“Ranma, stop standing there,” Kassy said, getting Ranma out of his thoughts. “Let’s get to class.”
“Sorry,” Ranma said and walked into the classroom knowing he was going to face some serious heat.
Kassy smiled and walked alongside Ranma...
...And stopped dead in her tracks when she saw how the whole class looked like skeletons. “What the hey!?”
Ranma rolled his eyes. “Hinako-sensei...”
“Hinako-sensei?” Kassy repeated and looked to the head of the class. Her jaw dropped at the sight of the teacher. She didn’t expect a woman so... ‘Fully matured’ to be a teacher. This was the sort of person you expected to star in model shoots!
The woman, upon noticing the new arrivals, glared dangerously at Ranma. “Saotome-san!”
Ranma winced. Here it comes, he thought irritably.
Kassy winced. Damn. That voice sent a chill down her spine.
Hinako took a 500 Yen coin out of her pocket. “You delinquent! Not only are you late to class, but you submerge the new student in your delinquent ways! HAPPO GO YEN SATSU!” Kassy was treated to the sight of Ranma’s aura being drained into the coin and Hinako. The way Ranma visibly slumped told her she wasn’t imagining things. “Go stand in the hall!”
Ranma groaned, fighting bravely to remain on his feet, and proceeded to do what Hinako told him to. If he didn’t, she’d just drain him some more.
Rushing to help hold Ranma up, Kassy slowly turned from looking at Ranma to the teacher. “E-excuse me?” She asked teacher. “What do you think you’re doing? He’s already hurt!”
Hinako’s stern glare didn’t relent. “He has to be punished for his reckless behavior. As do you!” However, the teacher pocketed her coin. “This time you’ll get off easy, Miss Feeple. You’ll join Saotome-san in the hall. Next time though...” She meaningfully patted her pocket and turned back to teaching class.
“Excuse me...” Kassy said as she raised her hand. “May I please ask a question, Sensei?" She asked as sweetly as she could. She didn’t want to get this woman pissed without a weapon in reach.
Lowering the book in her hand, Hinako stopped her just-started lecture and turned to regard the girl. “Go ahead.”
“Can I please take him to the school nurse at least?” Kassy asked, sniffling, and looking adorably innocent. “He already hurt himself trying to help me, and then you went and drained him of energy needed to heal...” Tears started to appear at the corners of her eyes. Damn, she felt she deserved an Emmy. “If I don’t do something to help, something seriously bad might happen.”
Just then something happened that took Kassy completely off-guard. The entire classroom started laughing in amusement at Kassy’s words. To think that Saotome Ranma might be taken down by some burns and a bloody nose! Even Hinako cracked a smile, which she hid to glare at the class. The room was silent once more.
Hinako turned to Kassy. “I’m sure Saotome-san will be fine. Now pick a pair of buckets and stand in the hall.”
Kassy blinked her eyes once, twice, thrice. “...” She was more or less shocked into submission by the insensitivity these people showed.
However, what she didn't know was that this was pretty tame a day for Ranma. They had all seen him in much worse and come up on top.
(------)
“Ranma, are you sure you can hold that yourself?” Kassy asked, holding her own pair of buckets. It was easy for her, thanks to the strength born to her through her Salusian heritage.
The boy in question was shaking with the effort of keeping the buckets up. The draining he received would put anyone down, but not him. No way! “Y-yeah.”
“Are you sure?” The half-Salusian questioned. “Want me to help you hold those?" Kassy asked.
Ranma shook his head. “I can... Handle it.”
Raising an eyebrow to that, Kassy pouted. “You sure? You look like you’re going to drop dead.”
Smirking confidently, Ranma told her, “Saotome Ranma never gives up.”
Kassy smiled at that, something she herself was very grateful for. “You must be all right. You’ve still got the ‘never say die’ attitude.
Ranma continued to smirk. “I won’t lose it even after death, Kas-chan.”
“Good to hear, Ranma-kun,” Kassy said back with a teasing smile.
Ranma didn’t say anymore, concentrated on keeping standing and slowly accelerating his healing. Maybe if he healed himself faster than normal, normal to him, Kassy would finally stop worrying so much about him. It would make him drain his chi reserves almost completely, though.
Watching wide-eyed, Kassy could only gawk as she saw the burns on Ranma’s mostly bare chest start to heal up without delay. “H-how?”
“I’m the best there is,” Ranma said confidently, some would say arrogantly, and stood straight. It was taking all he had to fake his weakness, but then again it was also good training.
Nodding her head slowly, Kassy replied, “I guess so...” She smiled a little. “You can certainly beat up pandas.”
Ranma chuckled. “That I can.” He sighed and looked at Kassy apologetically. “Sorry I got you in trouble.”
Kassy shrugged. “No biggie. It’s not like I wasn’t getting into trouble back home."
Looking at Kassy questioningly, Ranma asked, “Oh?”
Kassy blushed. “My brother and I... Well...” She blushed further. “Well, we liked to get vengeance on people with some rather nasty pranks.” Of course, she didn’t mention how they also played jokes on people for fun as well. Didn’t want him thinking her some sort of hooligan.
Ranma nodded his head slowly. He thought the pranks were kid stuff, not that he had much experience with that of course. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”
“Yeah, well...” Kassy stopped for a moment. Might as well let Ranma think it that simple. “Some people thought that perhaps getting immersed in another culture might help me grow up.”
Ranma chuckled in genuine amusement. “And they sent you to Nerima? If you manage to fit in, you’ll be a danger to society when you go back.”
Kassy smiled. “And that’s a bad thing, why?” She stuck her tongue out at Ranma playfully.
“Who said it was a bad thing?” Ranma smiled and took a deep breath. Yup, things were going to get interesting. He couldn’t wait to see the chaos when Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi found out Kassy was staying at the dojo.
Kassy continued to smile more. “Thank you.”
Together the two of them continued to stand in the hall. The silence was actually quite welcome, since it allowed them time to think, and yes Ranma does think sometimes, about what would happen next.
“Akane, what’s to take seriously?”
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(Posted Wed, 28 Jul 2004 21:51)
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