The sudden shiver that she felt was a bit confusing though, as she didn't know where it had come from.
"Cold?" her sister asked.
Frowning a bit, Akane shook her head. "I don't think so."
"The attack?"
"I'm pretty sure that it isn't that."
"Then what could it be?"
"Probably nothing. I mean, it isn't like I can see anything that would cause it."
Nabiki gave her a frown. "Then you're not worried."
"Not until I actually have a solid reason to be."
"In the mean time?" Ranma murmured. "We've got to get to class."
"We do?"
"Unless you want to be late, and much as I'd like to stay out of school, that probably isn't a good idea at the moment."
"Too true," the elder Tendo sister agreed, and the three of them went to walk in the front doors of the school.
The younger girl merely shrugged to herself, and figured that she'd know if her chills were to be worried about sooner or later. In the mean time, she had other things to do. And, seeing her friends waving to her, she dismissed the ominous sensations for the moment, and headed over to greet them.
"Things look like they're going in the right way, Saotome," Soun commented as he looked over at where his friend was sitting with him, facing the back yard of his property.
Genma nodded back at him. "It looks like our children are growing out of that wild streaks that kids have, and are growing more mature as we watch."
"It bodes well for the future, doesn't it? Having a stable life will be good for my little girl."
"And my boy will finally be buckling down to do his duty. All because of our parenting."
"Do you think that they could have had better parents?"
"Of course not!" the Saotome patriarch replied. "They are fortunate to have parents like us, who know better than they do. But now they're learning, and soon, they'll be thanking us for our success in bringing them to behave as they should!"
"To the future!" the taller man declared, holding up his sake cup for a toast.
"To the future!"
From her vantage point, Kasumi looked over at where the fathers were doing their toast to themselves, and sighed. They didn't seem to be quite following the way things would go, but then they never did. That did cause more chaos than she would have liked, but she wasn't about to push them about it, as they wouldn't understand.
Fortunately, she had other things to think about, and was happy to do so. With her Master's actions, the situation at home was much nicer for all the teenagers. In fact, she was very pleased with it, and knew that she was looking forward to the next time that he coupled with her again.
Just thinking about it made her blush and giggle.
Having Nabiki's intellect hovering in the back of his mind was a two edged sword for Ranma. It made the classwork much easier for Ranma, and... made it much easier for him to ignore the work. The problem was that since she had been in his grade only a year earlier, and was naturally smart, he had all that he needed already in his head. All the needed to do was to look at what was being taught, and it was like being reminded of stuff that he'd already learned.
That made the class rather odd for him, and he found himself zoning out for a bit different reason than he usually did.
Due to that, he was left with a chance to let his attention wander. His mind just relaxed, and he found himself not thinking, so much as feeling. He allowed himself to note all the different feelings that the students around him were having, almost as if they were radiating those sensations like warm lights. One student was angry over something unrelated to where he was, while a girl was simply counting down the time until she was with someone who she adored. The teacher was feeling like he was rather in a familiar routine, and that this classroom situation wasn't much different from whatever had gone on before. Hiroshi and Daisuke were both bored, though the former was eyeing the girls of the class, and the latter wasn't really paying attention to what was going on, even though he wrote everything on the board down. Ucchan's feelings were easy to recognize, and he even amused himself with looking towards Akane's friends. One was focusing hard on the task at hand, while the other was.... interested in him?
Glancing over, he saw Sayuri looking at him. She blushed when she noticed that he'd seen her, and turned away, but he could sense that she was intruiged by him. There was an undercurrent of attraction towards him that he'd never known that she'd had, but then it wasn't enough to break whatever controls that she had. A part of him did have to wonder though, and he found himself wondering if she would start looking towards him again. He really wanted to see her do it, if only to confirm what he had sensed about her, and when she did so, he knew that it was true, even though she quickly looked away. Not that she was about to leap straight into his arms once class was over, but he could tell that she did think that he was cute. Knowing that was interesting, and he wanted to see if it was simply something that she did all the time, or if it was new. When she turned to look at him for a moment again, he had his answer, as he could tell by her confusion that something about him at that moment had made her curious.
But when he wished hard for her to look at him, so that he could give her an expression that he didn't mind, and she gave him exactly what he wanted, he understood something else.
So, when Akane tapped him on the shoulder, he gave her a shrug and a reassuring glance before turning his attention to what he'd just learned.
He had made Sayuri look at him. She had been predisposed to doing so, with her appreciation for his looks, and her curiosity, but he had nudged her from considering it, to actually doing it. That was both astonishing, and frightening, since it meant he was able to influence people. It wasn't likely that he was going to be able to do things like make his father suddenly take up life as a Buddhist monk, but he could certainly give little pushes. There wasn't anyway to tell just how powerful that was, but it was something, and he knew that he had just found another tool that he could use for good, or for ill.
That gave him a lot to think about, while:
(Posted Mon, 19 Dec 2005 02:21)
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