Ranma stood in front of the class full of students as he waited for the sensei to bring them to order. It was a mixed class of boys and girls. The boys wore black jackets with a straight collar with a vaguely military cut and insignia. The girls wore seifuku consisting of while blouses with blue striped cuffs, medium blue pleated miniskirts, and tan neckerchiefs under the blue with white striped sailor collar.
Both genders were looking at him with interest as he stood before them in a black tang, a concession to the dress code that he wasn't required to strictly follow, and his usual black kung-fu pants with the draw string ties at the waist and ankles. The girls had a decidedly more predatory look than the guys did as they sized him up.
"Class, we have a new student this morning," the sensei said. "Please introduce yourself."
"Hey," Ranma greeted. "I'm Ranma Saotome. I'm a martial artist. I hold high level dan rankings or the equivalent in several styles. I haven't been in school much until last year because my ol' man took me on a ten year training trip learning the art. I've been all over Asia learning various styles. My mom and I just moved here from Nerima."
"So you're a Fighter then?" one of the guys asked, spotting the gold magatama hanging from Ranma's left ear.
"I'm the best!" Ranma declared proudly, completely missing the emphasis on the term 'Fighter'.
A low murmur rolled through the class at Ranma's answer.
"Very well, Saotome-san," the sensei nodded. "Please take any available seat and that with be yours for the rest of your time here."
Ranma was eternally grateful when the last bell rang. While actually getting a full-nights sleep was immensely helpful to staying awake in class it was still a struggle to stave off the boredom he felt. Still, he made his mother a promise to take school almost as seriously as he took the art. Ranma may have been a lot of things but he kept his promises.
Thankfully, it was over now and he could get on with more enjoyable things. He stepped out of the building and paused as a group of about thirty people stood around in the school yard looking at him. Ranma blinked. Most of them looked pretty tough and they didn't look like they were just waiting to say hi.
"So you're a Fighter, huh?" one of the tougher looking guys said with his arms crossed over his chest, sizing Ranma up with vague disapproval.
"Yeah, I am," Ranma replied. "What's going on?"
"Well, here at Seito Private School, it's tradition that new Fighters have an initiation," the older boy said. "You have to beat as many of us as you can, so we can see how good you are."
"Is that a challenge?" Ranma inquired, looking over the crowd and snorting in dismissal.
"Yeah, it is," the older boy said.
"All at once or one at a time?" Ranma inquired confidently.
Several of the crowd of both spectators and Fighters gaped at the audacity of the question.
"Up to you," the leader smirked.
"If it's all the same to you, there are a lot of you and it would take too long to fight you one at a time, even if I took you out fast," Ranma shrugged. "I'd just as soon take you all down at once. Got things to do."
Even the leader blinked this time. The new guy evidently had big brass ones. If he was half as good as he thought he was then they would have a powerful new Fighter on their side.
Ranma sat his pack of books down on the ground by the door and cracked his knuckles. A quick twist of his head audibly popped the vertebrae in his neck; first to one side and then to the other. He then walked over and took a stance about ten feet away from the mob of fighters.
"Let's dance," Ranma said calmly.
"I have heard that you and Sonsaku got into a fight with Youshu Private School the other day," Gakushu mentioned to Kokin.
"Yeah," Kokin agreed. "Totaku came after Hakufu just like you said."
"Hnn," the enormous fighter nodded. "I heard Taishiji was there."
"Yeah," Kokin confirmed. "If my younger cousin hadn't been there, things would have been a lot worse. He took Taishiji apart like he was a rank amateur. Even took one of his hits on purpose and shook it off like it was a love tap. The guy is amazing."
"Is he the one that put Hanno in the hospital?" Gakushu asked.
"Yeah," Kokin explained. "Hanno was about to hit Hakufu in the head with a crowbar. Ranma took him out with...a ki blast, if you can believe it."
"Who is your cousin? Is he a Fighter?" Gakushu asked.
"His name is Ranma Saotome," Kokin informed his hulking companion. "He's going to Seito Private School, and, yeah, he's a Fighter with a gold Sacred Bead. He's also an extremely well-trained martial artist."
"I see," Gakushu nodded. "Anyway, as a result of Taishiji's failure to take out Sonsaku, Ryuyo, the leader of Youshu, tried to kill Taishiji to save face with Totaku. He failed and Taishiji staged a coup and took over the school."
"No kidding?" Kokin blinked.
"Hnn," Gakushu grunted in confirmation. "Totaku will likely be even more unpredictable now; especially with someone like your cousin running around becoming involved with the fights. Do you know which soul is housed in your cousin's Sacred Bead?"
"My Aunt says it's Lu Xun," Kokin reported.
"Lu Xun?" Gakushu blinked. "The minor commander that served Shu? And he's going to Seito Private School?"
"Right," Kokin agreed.
Kanu stepped out of the school building to see how the new fighter was fairing with his initiation. The scene before her made her pause. The new guy was standing in the middle of a pile of beaten unconscious bodies, the last of which had just crashed down in front of her.
"Impressive," she said, approaching the fighter to introduce herself. "I am Kanu Unchou, Seito Private School's top Fighter. Care to have a fight with me?"
Ranma turned toward the tall girl and blinked. Before him stood a girl his height if not slightly taller, carrying a naginata. While her uniform appeared to be the same as the other girls' it was highly modified. The skirt was nearly scandalously short, displaying her marvelously long, sleek legs in nearly their entirety. Her blouse stopped just below her breasts, leaving her flat, toned midriff exposed. Her extremely long, midnight blue hair trailed behind her in a pony tail that nearly reached the ground and was gathered at the end with a silver hair ornament. Despite her serious demeanor, a small, amused smile graced her lips. One thing went through Ranma's mind; the fiancée's had nothing on this girl. She was hot.
"Uh...maybe," Ranma agreed when something occurred to him. Hot female; check. Hot female fighter; check. Hot female fighter with a large weapon; check. "One thing though; you don't have any weird rule about havin' ta marry the first guy that beats ya, do you?"
Kanu blinked in surprise before an amused grin spread across her face.
"You sound like that's happened before," Kanu remarked.
"More often than I'd like ta think about," Ranma nodded, muttering something about Chinese Amazons.
"Well, normally, I don't follow any rules like that, but... in your case I could make an exception," she giggled, eyeing him with that familiar predatory look. "Oh yeah, for a hunk like you I could definitely make an exception."
Ranma gulped, unnerved by the reply. He had just gotten away from his fiancée troubles, but this girl...there was something about her. His cheeks warmed with a blush.
"Um...t-that's really n-not necessary," Ranma stammered.
"You mean you don't think I'm attractive?" Kanu pouted, deliberately teasing the pigtailed boy.
"Nononono!" Ranma waved his hands wildly. "It's not that! You're beautiful! It's just that...um...yeah...I hardly know you! That's it!"
Kanu laughed at the boy's flustered response. She decided that she liked this guy.
"So about the fight..." Kanu prompted.
"Um, sure. You gonna fight with that?" Ranma asked pointing to the naginata she had resting on her shoulder. There was something about that weapon that put his senses on high alert. He had seen enough magical weapons in his travels to know one when he saw it and they were usually bad news.
"Not at all," Kanu replied, going over and leaning the naginata against the wall.
She came back over and took up a stance, her right leg forward and her right hand held out in front of her while her left fist was cocked back close to her body ready to strike. The amused look abruptly left her face leaving behind a serious calculating look in her eyes.
"Whenever you're ready," Ranma said, adopting his loose, deceptive stance. He grinned broadly as he sensed her power level. If anything she was more powerful than that Taishiji guy. It could be an interesting fight.
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(Posted Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:23)
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