“Is it always this lively sensei?” asked Yakumo quietly.
“Unfortunately, yes,” replied Iruka. Aspirin, aspirin, where’s the aspirin? “I’ll introduce you when class begins; although why are you carrying a sword?”
A flushed Yakumo responded, “Daddy is a bit leery of my attendance here; the only way I could leave the house without retainers was to be armed.” Although knowing her parents, there was probably half a dozen branch clan members stationed somewhere around the school, watching her.
And a shot of scotch helps the medicine go down. “Don’t worry about it; I’m just used to seeing kunai on the students,” was Iruka’s dull response.
“That pervert, he was on the women’s side of the bath! Using his stupid bloodline for the chance to leer at me while I bathed,” shrieked Ino. “Sasuke, you’ll protect me? Right?”
Saotome better appreciate this. “I doubt he was peeping on you, Ino. He could look at himself in a mirror and get a better show,” replied a smirking Nabiki. “Besides it’s a part of Saotome’s training in all likelihood.”
“Whatever Nabiki, you always take the pervert’s side. He’s the one that groped me, while invisible, as I was entering the baths. Spin the story however you want, it doesn’t change that fact,” sneered Ino. “Besides the only thing Ranma was learning was perversion.”
Time to pull a Meitantei Conan. “All right, let’s go over this rationally. You said ‘he groped you while entering the baths’?” queried Nabiki. “He was also invisible at the same time?”
“Yes, I just finished saying that,” Ino sarcastically replied.
“Yakumo, did Ranma become visible at anytime when he touched an object while you were with him?” asked Nabiki.
“Uh… No,” a surprised Yakumo answered.
“Alright now let’s add two and two. Saotome can touch things while invisible, if he wanted to grope you he could have done so invisibly, correct?” asked a smirking Nabiki. “You probably blundered into him as he was trying to escape.”
“Well, I guess Saotome isn’t a molester,” Ino admitted reluctantly. “But it doesn’t change the fact that Ranma’s a pervert for being in the women’s bath” replied Ino.
“As I said earlier, it’s apart of the Saotome training method. To answer your question, the Saotome training method uses extreme psychological and physical torture to motivate students. By placing the student in potentially hazardous and embarrassing situations, a student is driven to exceed his limits through fear or desire for revenge. Although the Saotome method often insures failure on the first attempt; the initial loss lets the student realize the consequences of their failure.” answered Nabiki.
Before Ino could retort, a blaze of activity and shouting was heard from the hallway. The door flew open as an orange blur entered the room.
Naruto’s early? Was he being chased by shopkeepers again? A seething Saotome burst through the door, leaking killing intent. Oh, that’s why Naruto’s early… “Mr. Saotome, no fighting outside of the allotted times,” was Iruka’s steady reply. “And why is your jacket on backwards?”
“I spilled some ramen on it,” his gaze bore into Naruto, daring him to say otherwise.
“Well I don’t care what excuse Nabiki makes, Ranma is still a pervert,” sniffed Ino as the class slowly fell into some semblance of order.
Maybe it was the waves of killing intent Saotome was leaking, or maybe it was Saotome’s dead eyed response after Ino started railing against him in class, but Sasuke knew that taijutsu practice was going to suck. As a fan girl, maybe, just maybe, Ino should have known to keep her mouth shut. She knows that Ranma is better than me at taijutsu, yet she still antagonized him all damn morning. He may hang with the loser and that shark he has for a girlfriend, but… Keep it together; the killing intent is affecting your mental state. If I can’t defeat Ranma, what chance would I have against Itachi? Sasuke firmed his resolve and swore today he would defeat Ranma.
“Yo Iruka sensei, I’d like to request that Naruto takes part of my match. Sasuke is going to need the help today,” said Ranma in a surprising even tone.
“And why is that Saotome?” queried Iruka. Well the killing intent vanished at least. That has to be good.
“New technique,” was Saotome’s unusually abrupt reply.
“Very well. Naruto, you’ll be taking part of Saotome and Sasuke’s spar. Any other requests?
“Requests related to taijutsu practice, Ms Yamanaka,” was Iruka’s defeated reply. I knew I should’ve called in sick to work, but noooo, I had to be the dutiful teacher.
Sasuke grunted at Naruto’s inclusion into today’s taijutsu spar. Feh, finally gave up on his cheap psychological trick when he noticed that his killing intent wasn’t affecting me. The loser is dead weight, but he’ll be an extra body to take punishment. If the loser can keep Saotome occupied for a second, I can exploit the opening. Cocky bastard, dismissing me utterly because he has a new technique…
“Damn it!” exclaimed Sasuke. I’m hard pressed to beat the bouncing bastard on the best days, but whatever technique he’s using is making it impossible to predict his movements. He’s altered his fighting style slightly, it has more false openings and Saotome’s running his mouth more as a cheap distraction. He’s now taking me as seriously as he takes Naruto. Sasuke’s roundhouse kick met air as Saotome bounced off the wall. As the kick sailed harmlessly underneath Ranma, a positively infuriating smirk crossed the boy’s face.
“I know your really tryin, but do you think you could make the effort to not suck?” snorted Ranma. “Oy ‘Ruto, wakey wakey, Sasuke could really need your help,” said Ranma as he slapped away a fast combination of punches. “Eh, your speed has picked up but your still predictable as anything,” taking the second to pivot on Sasuke’s head with a finger, Ranma kicked on a burst of speed to approach Naruto’s location.
That bastard turned his back on me! A flash of killing intent burst forth as Sasuke vowed that he’d be acknowledged. A burst of speed put him within striking distance of his quarry. Suck it, you bastard! Who’s predictable now? A low sweep, was followed by a straight punch kick combination that forced Saotome on the defensive.
“Man your looking mighty satisfied with yourself; you going to show me something?” taunted Ranma as he backed out of the range of Sasuke’s combination attacks. Leaping backwards he planted his foot on the wall and prepared a leap.
“Fool. Who’s predictable now?” taunted Sasuke as he leapt into the air, prepared to launch an attack as his opponent was falling. But his opponent was still on the wall, waiting to meet his out stretched kick. “Oh shit.”
“Game over, man, game over,” replied a smirking Ranma. A brutal twirling uppercut sent Sasuke sprawling, as Saotome finally kicked off the wall. “Naruto, wake up!” shouted Ranma.
“Gahhh… hey you didn’t have to hit me so hard Ranma, you jerk.” snorted Naruto rejoined the waking world. “Where’s Sasuke?”
“Che, he’s over there,” replied Ranma pointing to the prone form of Sasuke. ”Be grateful, unconsciousness lasts a few minutes; embarrassment lasts an eternity. Iruka sensei, catch!”
Iruka looked down at the small object that Saotome tossed to him. My grading stamp?
“So embarrassment lasts an eternity?” snorted an amused Naruto. “Are we even again?”
“Well at least three days or like seven layers of skin, Iruka-sensei uses some heavy duty ink,” replied a grinning Ranma. “Yeah, for the most part we’re even about the name deal, and your right; taijutsu practice does make me feel better.”
Watching the pair as they trotted off, Iruka trotted over to Sasuke’s location. Emblazoned across his arms and forehead was the word Fail. Turning slightly, he spotted several such marks appearing now on Naruto’s face, meaning Saotome had done those before finally waking the blond up and after rendering Sasuke unconscious.
He pulled out a small notebook and made note that when he went shopping for groceries tonight, to purchase a new bottle of alcohol for his classroom stock. Somehow, he had the feeling it would be empty before the day was done.
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(Posted Sat, 17 Jan 2009 02:45)
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