As a result, Ranma had to realize that something was wrong as he saw Akane's jaw clench, and her speed pick up. "What's with her?"
"Hmm?" Nabiki murmured, raising a brow at him.
"We're going to school, and it looks like she's about ta go inta battle."
"It's the same thing for her."
"Huh?"
The elder girl gave him an understanding smile. "You see, there's this group of boys who like to attack her every morning."
"WHAT?!"
"It's actually quite simple. They want to date her. And they think that by defeating her, they'll get to do exactly that."
"That's so stupid! Somebody should keep them from tryin' ta beat her like that."
"'Somebody' will," Akane growled.
"They will? Who?"
"Me, or do you think that I can't fight?"
"I know that ya can fight. It's just that it's ya that they want."
"Unfortunately, that's the truth, and I can't avoid it. But I don't want you getting involved!"
"Akane, I could help...." he began.
"No! I appreciate the fact that you're concerned about me, and I thank you for it."
"You're welcome...."
"You'd better listen to her," Nabiki commented dryly. "I personally think that it gets the annoyance out better when she can beat on the idiots who cause it."
"Ummm...."
"Trust me. It'll be easier this way."
"But what do we do then?"
"We watch her fight them... again, in my case. Boys can be think sometimes, you understand."
"That's exactly what they are! Stupid, perverted, little, arrogant.... BOYS!" Akane yelled, running right towards the gates of the school.
"Akane!" called out a boxer.
A baseball player held his bat up high. "Don't let them defeat you before I get to you!"
"Be mine, Akane!" yelled a fencer.
"Ya've gotta be kiddin' me...." Ranma weakly said as he saw Akane uppercut the boxer, slam her bookbag into the baseball player's jaw and kick the fencer in the gut on her way onto the school grounds, and into the attacking mob.
"Happens every morning," her sister admitted, sounding rather helpless to do anything about it.
"Every mornin'?"
"Every morning."
"Oh, come on!"
"Yes?"
"They're jackasses!"
"I know that," the middle Tendo daughter told him. "But try letting them in on that fact."
"Ya know somethin'? I will!"
"What are you going to do?"
"'Xactly what I said I'd do," he answered and leapt up to crouch on the fence. "Why don't ya jerks give up?! It's clear that ya ain't gonna win!"
"Hey!" called out a wrestler... right before Akane clotheslined him.
"It's true! Ya guys shouldn't be doin' somethin' like this ta her!"
"Shut up!" yelled back a guy in a gi.
Ranma nodded at Akane as she kicked the guy in the back of the head, and scowled at the boys around her. "If ya wanna have her, then ya shouldn't attack her! And if ya haveta attack her, at least try and help her get a good work out if all you're gonna do is wind up bein' knocked out!"
"What do you know.... These guys do have other uses," Nabiki drawled in a slightly surprised tone, taking the sight of her sister elbowing an unwanted paramour in a bit different light.
"Well, yeah! It ain't like cheap attacks like the lousy stuff they're throwin' at her will even come close ta beatin' her. Plus they're attackin' as a mob! What sort of crap is this?!"
"It's what I have ta go through every day," Akane replied, sounding as disgusted with it as he did as she wiped her forehead as the last attacker fell to the ground.
"That's too bad, 'cause it's dumb no matter how ya look at it. Man, ya'd have ta be a complete jackass ta come up with somethin' like this," her brother in law grumbled as he leapt down from the fence wall and walked over to her.
"How can you consider something that had come from my concept to be such a waste," barked a new boy as he stepped out to where they could see him. "Though I do have to agree that they would never be able to defeat one as glorious as the fair Akane."
"Oh, hello, Kuno-senpai," the youngest Tendo muttered, making the latter part sound derogatory.
"Hello, my dear goddess. These souls were fortunate enough to gain your touch, but apparently, they were not worthy of your hand. I, on the other hand, am here to be, as is my proper and rightful place, receiving your love and affection."
"Then you're here for nothing at all."
"Amazingly, your mouth says 'no', but your eyes say 'yes'. I know that your love for me is true, and that you shall soon be throwing off the shackles that keep you from admitting to it."
"Are ya for real?" Ranma blurted.
"Certainly I am. And who are you to question my relationship with the fair Akane? She is not worthy of such a cretin as yourself."
"As someone who cares 'bout here, I've got every right ta wanna know why someone's botherin' her."
"You would dare put your attentions upon her?"
"Me? Only as a friend."
"And what sort of fool do you take me for?"
The pigtailed boy blinked. "A big one?"
"So you admit it! I knew that you could not merely desire to be friends with Akane!"
"There's nothing romantic going on between him and me," Akane snapped.
"Of course not, my beloved. For, such feelings could not be directed from you to any other than myself."
"I don't like you, and he doesn't see me as anything other than a friend!"
"Maybe a like a 'sister'," Ranma admitted.
"See?!" the youngest Tendo commented, looking slightly pleased by what her brother in law said. "The one that he really likes is Kasumi!"
"'Kasumi? Your elder sister?" Kuno said with a small frown of confusion.
"'Xactly. I think that I fell in love with Kasumi as soon as I met her. She is the girl for me. Not Akane," the pigtailed martial artist told him.
"Is that so...."
"Yeah, it is. She is the one that I want, and will always want."
A derisive sneer curled Kuno's lip. "How absurd an excuse is that one."
"What?"
"Of course one could admire and think well of the eldest of the Tendo sisters, but how could one see her as a worthy candidate for a romantic encounter?"
"You'd better start explaining that, Kuno," Nabiki demanded, sounding completely displeased with her classmate.
"It is no mark upon her, but she is like the butterfly, lovely to look upon, and bringing gentle touches to the world, but not something to keep. That is especially true as she does not show the same romantic potential as your younger sister."
"How dare you...."
"Such is the position of one in my role in life. I know the truth of the world, and I am aware of every real experience. And the fact of this matter is that with such beauty as Akane possesses, there is no way that anyone could think to turn to her eldest sister for affection."
"My sister is more than worthy of romance!" the object of his misguided affections barked.
"Of that, I am sure, but to be realistic, she could never get that sort of results, and will likely live long, and alone, without any hope of ever sparking a man's desires.
Both sisters were ready to slap Kuno silly... but Ranma acted way before either one of them could even take a step. Neither of them saw him move as he shot over to Kuno and slammed a fist into the older boy's gut. That sent the kendoist flying backwards a bit, and Ranma took advantage of that rush forward and shove him against a wall, with his forearm firmly pushing down on the boy's throat.
"Ya will never disrespect Kasumi again. Ever. I don't care what ya think that ya know. I love her, and I will die before somethin' bad happens ta her," the pigtailed boy growled, leaning his face in until it was just an inch from the rich boy's.
All Kuno could do was choke a bit. "How...."
"'Come'? 'Cause she's the girl that I love, and she's the most precious person that I've got. NOBODY hurts her, and no one'll put her down. She's all light, kind, and gentle, and she doesn't need some jackass like ya makin' it sound like she's some pathetic loser."
"I...."
"I don't care what ya want ta say! What I really should do is make certain that ya can't bother the girl that I love, or her sister, again."
"Ranma?" Nabiki softly said, putting her hand on her brother in law's shoulder. "Let him go."
"But...."
"Trust me. It's the best idea."
On his other side, Akane nodded. "You're so angry, you look like you might kill him. Now, I don't think that'd be such a waste, but it'd get you into trouble, and would make Kasumi sad."
"I just.... Grr...." Ranma growled, and let Kuno go to the ground like a sack of rotten potatoes.
"Good. I don't think that I'd want my friend bothering with him any more than he deserves."
"Which ain't much."
"Exactly," the youngest Tendo agreed with a small smile.
"You hear that, Kuno?"
"I'm not sure that he did. But he should know this," the middle Tendo daughter said as she bent over her classmate a bit... and then slapped him across the face. "If you ever say such garbage about my sister again, I'll make sure that you pay. Understand?"
Surprised at the normally cool and calm Nabiki actually hitting him, Kuno stared up at the trio while:
(Posted Sun, 12 Mar 2006 21:41)
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