Hiroshi traded a look with Daisuke. "Ranma, it's just water."
The three boys were in one of Furinkan's restrooms, and Ranma was mostly naked, luxuriating in the hot water that was on his arms. He shot them both a wry grin. "Not the water. Spend a day floating in place unable to touch or be seen. It'll drive you bonkers." Had Ranma been of a more scientific mind he would have wondered why he tended to fall when gravity had no hold on him.
"Yeah, well, not having a spirit girl to timeshare with," Daisuke snarked.
"How hot is Ranko, anyway?" Hiroshi asked. He was answered by a teakettle to the head. "Where did that come from?"
"School ordinance, I think," Daisuke said as Ranma dressed and stalked out of the boy's room.
Nabiki was outside, grinning mischievously. "Clang?" she asked.
Ranma mimed Hiroshi's tone. "How hot is Ranko, anyway?"
"I trust the kettle was hot."
"Of course."
Hiroshi limped out of the room, using a broom to support himself, a minor burn mark on his face. "I suffer."
Before anyone got the nerve to approach him, he reached out and snagged a passing student. "You."
"Waugh! What!?"
"Where is Furinkan High School!?"
Wordlessly the student pointed to the large sign that said "Furinkan High School."
"...where is Saotome Ranma?"
"Saotome-kun?" the boy considered. The rumors spreading about the cursed martial artist were unbelievable, and the hot water had just been fixed...
"RANMA!" came a feminine bellow. Very uncute.
"Come and get me, tomboy!" came an answering jeer as Ranma leapt well above head level, looking behind him. "You've been slacking on your trainin'!"
Ranma started as senses honed over a lifetime with Genma alerted him to an attack. The expressions of those around him, the movement of the air, a faint tingling he really couldn't explain...he looked up to see an oddly dressed, eerily familiar boy pointing an umbrella at his skull.
"RANMA! Prepare to die!!" he screamed, revealing the fangs in his mouth and the righteous fury in his soul.
Ranma's expression was slack and a little curious as he calmly rotated out of the way, twisting his body not unlike a cat righting itself in freefall. He landed in a handstand and flipped away from the impact crater of the red umbrella.
"You haven't changed, Ranma," the strange boy said as Akane came up by his side. "You're still good at running away."
In the distance, Nabiki winced at the emotions streaming from the enraged stranger. Depression, hate, depression, adrenaline, depression, misery, depression, shame, and a sprinkling of depression to add spice to the heady brew of depressed shameful misery. And depression. Nabiki didn't want to get close to a boy that depressed who could blow two meter wide holes in solid earth in a single blow. A few students started whispering and she saw yen changing hands. The Ice Queen logged that; Ranma's next fight with Kuno had a fair betting pool on it already. Another fighter would increase her profits dramatically. But that was for later; her man was being attacked! This is no time to think about yen!
"Someone you know?" Akane asked.
Ranma puzzled on it for far longer than necessary. "Yeah he's...he's...he's..."
Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Okay, maybe it is time to think about yen," she muttered. Waving to the crowd, she signaled her lieutenants to start an official pool.
"Just tell me one thing, Ranma," the boy asked. "Why did you run out on our fight!?"
"Wait! You were in my class at my old school! Hibiki Ryoga! Long time no see!"
"Answer the question!" Ryoga barked, unamused by his rival's bad memory.
"I waited three days for ya."
"Three days?" Akane gasped.
"Yes! And when I came on the fourth day you had run away!"
"Uh...Ryoga? The fight was half a block from your house."
As Ryoga went into his tale of suffering as he wandered all over...kami only knows where he wandered...the rest of the students just gaped.
"Bad sense of direction?"
"Very bad."
"Indeed."
"Running to China with your father!" Ryoga snapped, striking with him umbrella. Ranma calmly jumped out of the way.
"You wanna finish the fight?" Ranma asked curiously, unmoved by the attack.
"This is revenge!" Ryoga snarled, hurling the now open umbrella. It made a boomerang spin around Ranma, who minimally leaned out of the way while students scattered.
Nabiki gulped. "Okay, time to call in a marker." She got out her cellphone and considered which of her former victims was best suited to end this fight.
"No matter what it takes," Ryoga swore, clutching his umbrella. "I will destroy your happiness!"
Ranma blinked and looked to Akane. "Am I happy?"
Akane just looked at Ranma like he was an idiot. "Why are you asking me!?"
Nabiki nearly lost her grip on her phone at the question. My lover is an idiot, she reminded herself.
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(Posted Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:08)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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