Between those extremes was Akane Tendo, the equivelant of a third dan black belt in her family's style of kempo.
Up until a rainy day in March, her life had followed exactly the same pattern it might otherwise have. She had been fighting a large crowd of boys ever since a fellow named Tatewaki Kuno had seen a TV Special dealing with a certain Chinese Amazon tribe and thought that had somehow given him an insight into the character of Akane. Actually, he no longer remembered his source of inspiration, now attributing it to some divine inspiration lighting his way.
It had been a measure of departure for all three Tendo daughters. Instead of a panda carrying a roughly protesting girl, Ranma's exhaustion from fighting the nightmares had left him a barely conscious girl being carried by an annoyed panda.
Most of the dialogue had remained on track, but Ranma had lacked a lot of energy and his barbs had been half-hearted at best. Fallen completely short of the mark otherwise.
Oh, he had beat Akane as a girl. He had beaten Kuno the next day. His battle with P-chan had occurred and gone mostly the same. Even Ryoga had been a bit put off when he'd come to challenge Ranma in his sleep and found the boy tied and gagged in place.
His father had gotten tired of screams waking him up and had taken what he felt were appropriate measures.
Ranma, partly due to constant exhaustion and the psychological effects of having a ringside seat to scenes of torture on a nightly basis, didn't insult Akane very much. Akane didn't get quite as angry or upset at Ranma as a result.
On the other hand, his father had more than covered for Ranma's lack of idiocy. When Ranma had tried to stay awake and thereby avoid nightmares, his father had come up with a positively insane plan to unite the two families by forcing Akane to stay up WITH Ranma. Which had resulted with Akane being woken up in a variety of manners, all of which would been enough to drive less violent women into fits of sheer violent rage. Akane was quite a forgiving soul, but her sheets STILL smelled of raw fish and pond water.
Then there had been the end of the Wakeful Ranma plan, when he finally succumbed to sleep. Naturally Genma thought this was the perfect opportunity to get the two together.
When Akane realized, Nabiki had helpfully pointed it out, that Ranma was damn near in a coma and couldn't possibly have come in through the window and snuck into her bed on his own. A few incriminating panda hairs and another Genma beatdown was quickly scheduled.
There was no romantic tension between the two. Akane had a certain degree of respect for Ranma's skill, and pity for him as a person with two curses. Ranma didn't react well to obvious pity, and there was little attraction towards Akane as a result. Neither of the two other sisters really had anything going with Ranma either, the baggy-eyed and often lethargic martial artist just didn't have the same energy or liveliness that might have fascinated other girls.
Instead, there was this now - an epic quest.
Akane felt more as if this was IT. This was what all her hard work and training had been leading up to. She wasn't a hanger-on to Ranma's quest. More like a member of some Fellowship. Now if she could just keep that idiot panda from doing something stupid.
Several hours earlier:
"WHAT?! WHY WAS I NOT INFORMED OF THIS?!"
"I just told you about it," complained Sasuke.
"My precious Akane is in Hawaii! Parted from her true love..." Tatewaki's voice went quiet momentarily as images of Akane in a grass skirt and lei, sans everything else, quickly traipsed through the fertile fields of his mind. (Of course they were fertile, he used lots of fertilizer.) "Zounds!"
"Gadzooks, even," added Sasuke, having no idea what his master was going on about this time but it sounded good.
"Indeed. Well put. Gadzooks, indeed!" declared Tatewaki Kuno. "I must make haste! To Hawaii, where my love may meet with me upon those tropic shores."
"Are you sure about that, that is where your father is living," pointed out Sasuke. "You know how well you two get along."
"Ewwwwwwww," vocalized Kuno. "The very thought is repugnant, yet I may not tarry whilst my true love doth await."
"Very well, then," said Sasuke, taking his leave. He had to arrange a flight.
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(Posted Sat, 09 Jul 2005 09:57)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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