[Ranma][FanFic] Academy Days Chapter 2

[Daniel Gibson]

Academy Days
A Ranma Alterverse
by Chikiko (Chikiko@thekirealm.com)
Webpage: (www.thekirealm.com)


Disclaimer:

Ranma 1/2 and its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

Academy Days Chapter 2

Ranma awoke to the rhythmic pounding of her door. She stumbled out
of bed and hobbled to her door. "Huh?" she asked as she opened the door.
"It's about time! What took you so long. I was about to - Oh! I'm
sorry, I thought this was my room. I didn't mean to wake you."
Ranma would have told her that she was used to waking up early,
except she was too busy staring both in freight and fascination at the
towel clad girl in front of her. "Oh um uhh."
"Are you ok?" She asked sounding a bit worried. "Your face looks a
bit flushed, are you sick? I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have waked you up."
Before Ranma had the chance to respond to her, another voice
answered. "Way to go Akane. If you can't even find your way back to our
room from the showers, how do you expect to make it in school?"
"Nabiki! I didn't get lost, I just wasn't paying attention."
Turning back to Ranma she said. "anyway like I said earlier I'm really
sorry about waking you up so early when you sick. I hope you feel better
soon."
It wasn't until she shut her door, that she really came to her
sense. She had to shake her head a few times to remove the picture of the
towel clad girl from her mind. "Ah man if mom hears about this, I'm never
gonna her the end of it - Wait a minute! Did that other girl just say
shower?" Ranma looked around the room and confirmed, what she had suddenly
begun to fear. There was no bathroom in her room. She opened the door and
to her horror, not only did she hear the sounds of showers going, but she
also saw small groups of girls walking past her room in either direction
carrying their toiletries.
Ranma rand down the nearest staircase to the basement, where her
parents were staying and knocked furiously on the door. When her mother
opened the door, she all but jumped inside. Nodoka, seeing Ranma was quite
obviously disturbed, asked. "What's wrong Ranma? Has something happened?"
"mom, can I take a shower down here in your room?"
"why? What's wrong with the one in your room?"
"I don't have one in my room! Apparently they have a public bath!"
His mother looked pensive for a moment. Having come from Japan, the
idea of a public bath was hardly new. While she didn't mind the idea of
Ranma having to take a bath with all those other girls, she didn't think
the school's administration would share her sentiment. However, she
decided to tease her son-turned-daughter a little bit. "So what is the
problem?" She asked him innocently.
Ranma inwardly groaned. She should have known better, her mother
always seemed to have strange ideas when it came to girls. "MOM! I'm a
guy! I can't take a bath with a bunch of girls, that wouldn't be right.
Besides, that means I'll have to take cold showers every day. If any of
them used hot water, everyone's gonna know about my curse."
Nodoka valiantly fought down the urge to smile. Ranma was too much
of a prude at times, but she did admire his sense of nobility, if not his
lack of initiative with girls. "well, I guess your right, go ahead dear."
She said sounding slightly disappointed. "I'll go speak with your dean
while your taking a shower, And see what she wants to do about it."
When Nodoka left the room, Genma said. "Boy, you have to stop this
nonsense! The longer you stay here, the weaker your going to get. Look at
yourself, your already halfway to being a girl as it is. Next thing you
know you'll be all weepy and emotional again."
"Well this body's your fault! Mom tried to warn you. She told you
Jusenkyou was cursed, but you were the one who insisted. I'm just glad you
finally got what you deserved this time. Anyway I'm going to take a
shower."
While Ranma preferred to stay a boy, truth be told she didn't really
mind being a girl all that much. Although initially there were some
problems, she had pretty much gotten used it. In the four years she had
the curse, there were only a few times that she truly hated her curse. The
first was just after got her curse. Her father had always talked about
how girls were weak and couldn't do martial arts, so she was scared when
she herself became a girl. But her mother and the amazons helped her
realize, how stupid that idea really was. The next time was when she hit
puberty.
Puberty is normally hard enough on a person, but having to go
through puberty as both a guy AND a girl was pure hell. Too many things
were happening and changing way too fast for him and her to handle. She
nearly lost it, when she had her first period. Thankfully they quickly
headed back to the amazon village, or she would have probably gone crazy.
The tribe matriarch, Cologne, helped her and her family through that
ordeal.
During the several months they stayed there, Cologne had became
like an adopted grandmother to her. It was also at the village where she
met two of her best friends, the cousins Soap and Shampoo. He enjoyed her
time in the village, even though she had to change forms every other day to
get used to the differences between both sides.
For the first time she was actually able to keep friends for longer
that a few days or weeks. Until staying at the amazon village she had only
had one friend. It was also the only time she had met people who knew
about her curse, and didn't automatically make assumptions about her
because of it. Usually whenever someone found out about the curse, they
treated her as if she were a freak, a pervert, or a had highly contagious
disease like leprosy.
That was what she hated the most about the curse, it segregated her
from everyone else. Her parents had once tried to put her into an all boys
school while so her mother could study to renew her teaching certification.
But he was expelled two weeks later when his curse was discovered. After
that, only one school, and very reluctantly at that, accepted her. Yet
nevertheless, her time at that school was also a disaster.
Although school wasn't something that she valued very much, it was
extremely important to her mother. Her mother had been crushed when none
of the schools would take her, after being expelled from the all boys
school. If there was one thing she hated, it was seeing her mother cry.
After seeing the shy cried then, she promised herself that she would do
whatever it took to prevent her from ever crying like that again. Which is
why she volunteered to go school as a girl, when they denied her
application as Ranma. She knew it upset Genma, but she was far more
willing to upset her father than her mother.
Boy or girl she was more than willing to go to school, if it made
her mother happy. It was the fact that she had to lie and hide in her girl
side that she didn't like. More than anything, she hated that she had to
hide her curse because people couldn't accept her for who she was.
She was actually quite surprised that they had even continued talking
to them after they had explained the curse. Most schools would have
usually rejected them right there, the fact. That they still considered
her was simply amazing. Yet on further reflection, she realized it could
have easily been because her aunt was the international academic
superintendent of the private school system that the school belonged to.
Still despite her aunts high position, they still could have reject her as
they nearly did. Ranma's mother had explained to her in the plane, that her
aunt couldn't directly do anything to get her accepted other than giving
her personal recommendation and cosigning the finical agreement. While it
was pretty impressive that they had almost risked annoying their supervisor
by rejecting her, what was truly impressive was that it was because of a
side effect of the curse instead of the curse itself. Though he didn't
really blame them for rejecting him for that particular reason, he knew
from experience that the older dean was right about the shower problem.
Ranma shuddered as she thought back to the two times it had happened
to her. They were far from pleasant experiences. She closed her eyes to
block the memories from resurfacing. That was over a year ago, and it
wasn't going to happen again. This time she wasn't going to let things
get as bad as they did before. She had her aunts guarantee that it
wouldn't happen, and the promise of her fathers retribution should that not
be enough. With a sigh she took off her cloths and entered the shower,
forgot her troubles as the hot water flowed over her turning her in back
into a boy.
********
Genma was completely angry. Both at the his wife and son. He
couldn't understand why they were being so stubborn. He though Nodoka
would have learned from the last failed attempt as putting Ranma in a
school, he just couldn't understand why she would try yet again. Putting
him in a school would only result in disaster, again. He knew it was
obviously his wife's sister who had convinced her to put Ranma into a
school again, especially since she was picking up part of the ten thousand
American dollar school cost for room and board.
Then as if just going to the stupid school wasn't enough, Ranma
volunteers to go as a girl! "Why that ungrateful boy! This is all his
mothers fault. None of this would have happened, if she hadn't come along.
I could have turned him into a real man amongst men, what kinda of man
would pretend to be a girl like he is? Oh why? What have I done to
deserve this?" He bemoaned.
"Try throwing our son into a pit of starving cats for one! Do not
start this whole argument again Genma. Our son IS going to get a good
education."
"But that's just it. By the time he's done here, we wont have a son.
Instead we'll have a daughter just like to crazy amazons would like."
"Now Genma you know that is not true. Especially after the way
they've help Ranma in the past. You leave me confused sometimes Genma. We
find a group of people who place the martial arts above everything else,
and you don't want Ranma to have anything to do with them. I would have
thought that you would want Ranma to spend as much time with them as
possible."
"That's not the problem. For a tribe of women they're amazingly good
martial artists, and I'm glad that Ranma was able to pick some things up
while we were there. What I don't like, and what I will not stand for, is
Ranma picking up their crazy ideas. Everyone knows that men are stronger
than women, we don't need those bunch of crazy women putting crazy idea's
into Ranma's mind. I know that they'd like nothing more than to have Ranma
became a woman and add him to their tribe. That is unacceptable! Ranma
is supposed to be the heir of the Saotome school of Anything Goes Martial
Arts and marry one of Soun's daughters to unite the school. That is a
matter of family honor, how is he supposed to do that if he's a girl!"
Nodoka gave him a calming smile. Having known Nodoka since
elementary school, this smile only served to make him feel more
apprehensive. "Is that what you worried about? Than I guess you don't
have anything to worry about. First off, the amazons have already accept
Ranma as a boy, so you don't have to worry about them trying to convert him
into a girl. Anyway Ranma's a great martial artist, and in a dorm full of
women there's no way our manly son would ever stop thinking like a man.
Besides, so far everything has been turning out perfectly." She finished
with another smile that put Genma even further on edge.
"What do you mean 'everything is turning out perfectly? What is
turning out perfectly?"
"Well remember how my sister works with the Ministry of Education and
other educational organizations? Well she pulled some strings and she had
one of Soun's daughter receive a scholarship to this school. I just passed
his two youngest daughters in the hallway upstairs."
Genma's eyes began to sparkle in glee. "Oh at last! The school can
be united. I can't wait for the boy to come out to tell him the good
news!"
Nodoka looked shocked. "You certainly will not! You know how Ranma
is! If you try to force the issue with him, he'll just get as stubborn as
his mule of a father. Perhaps if I talked to him, I could probably
convince him to go along with it. But is that what you really want?
Wouldn't it be better for them to just naturally fall in love, without
having to have been forced into it? I'm sure once they get to know him,
they'll fall madly in love with him."
"But No-chan, the boy must know! As his father it is my obligation
to inform him. After all what kind of father would I be if I kept secrets
from my only son?"
"Tell me what pops?" Ranma said as he finished opening the bathroom
door and stepped into the room."
Genma turned to face him and eagerly began. "Boy, you'll be so happy
to hear the good news!"
"The school has accepted both of our application." Nodoka said as
she put her arm through Genma's, and interrupted him. "We've both been
hired by the school. Aren't you happy for us? I'll be working as an ESL
teachers, while Genma was hired to work at the academies industrial center.
Its just so wonderful isn't it?" She said cheerfully.
Ranma smiled equally cheerful. "Ya that's great! Wow pops! I can't
believe you actually got a job!" Seeing the look of consternation on his
fathers face, Ranma had to laugh. Turning to face his mother he asked.
"So mom, what did the dean say about the showers?"
Nodoka who had also been laughing at her husbands expense, turned to
face Ranma and said. "Oh yes, she said it should be fine. The bathroom
has individual showers and a public bath. So you'll just have to stick to
the showers. Though next time you should check first. Anyway dear you
should hurry along and get dressed, you have to attend a meeting for all
the international students. I'll stop by your room to pick you up in a
little bit."
With a sigh, Ranma went back into the bathroom. A few seconds later
she came back out with a towel wrapped around her head. "Ok thanks for
reminding me mom." Turning to the still upset Genma, she said. "Oh and
good luck pop with work pops. Try not to get fired on the first days ok?"
Nodoka waited until Ranma had left before turning to look at her
husband, who still seemed to be in shock from learning that he had to goto
work. "Genma, I'm serious about this. DO NOT tell Ranma about this yet.
If you tell him now, you're going to make him resist it. Let him get to
know the girls first. Then you can tell him like you had originally had
planned at sixteen."
************
Ranma had just finished getting dressed, when she heard a soft
knocking on her door. "Coming!" She called out. As she opened the door,
she was stunned. Her mother was at the door dressed in an beautiful dress
given to her by the amazons. Ranma looked at her speechless. After her
mother entered the room she finally found her voice again and asked. "Wow!
What's the occasion." She asked knowing that it was a ceremonial dress
used only for special occasions.
"Well as I told you before, I was hired as a teacher here in the ESL.
This meeting being for the international students, I am required to attend.
Do you think its too much? I'm just so excited. I used to dream of being
a teacher when I was a little girl. I've been able to live out that dream
all these years that I've been teaching you, but now I'll have an entire
class of students." Enveloping her daughter in a big hug, she said. "Oh
Ranma this is like a dream come true for me. Seeing you get a great
education and being up front in a classroom, I can't remember the last time
I felt this happy."
Ranma couldn't help but feel happy at her mothers happiness and he
hugged her back. He loved his mother and was glad she was happy, even if
it meant she had to do something that she didn't like. "Well that great
mom! I'm really happy for you, but you do realized I'm not Ranma, I'm
Ranko. Ranma is my brother. We don't want to let the secret out already."
Letting go of her hug, Nodoka said. "Yes of course. You're right
dear, I was just so excited. Well we should hurry, we wouldn't want to
give everyone a bad impression of us by being late."
As they opened the door to Ranma's room, they saw a brown haired girl
standing there. "Akane! Can you hurry up? We're going to be late if you
keep taking your time."
"Geez Nabiki! I was just going back to get my room key." She said
to her sister as she came out of the room and threw a pair of keys at her
sister. Then noticing Ranma she said. "Oh, hey there again! Are you
feeling better? I'm really sorry about this morning."
"Nah, that's ok. My pops usually wakes me up a lot earlier than
that."
Nabiki noticing the confused look on Nodoka's face clarified for her.
"My little sister here, is still apparently having a hard time counting in
English. This morning, she started pounding on your daughters door without
even checking to see if it was the right room."
"I said it was an accident. I just wasn't really paying attention."
Seeing an argument in the making, Nodoka quickly decided to end it,
before it made them late. "Now girls, I don't think now is the time for
this. Not only that, but there's a meeting we should be heading off to."
Waiting a minute for them to agree, she led them off to the library.
When they arrived, they found several tables each with a little flag
of a different country; at each table were seated a few people. Seeing
someone they knew sitting at the table with the Japanese flag, the sisters
went to the table and sat.
Ranma and Nodoka were going to follow, when a lady walked up to
Nodoka and whispered something to her. She nodded her head, and turned to
Ranma. "Go on ahead dear, I need to go with the other teachers. Just go
sit with those nice girls we met. She said with a familiar smile.
Ranma groaned when he saw that smile. It was one of those smiles.
The ones she had when she was going to try and set her up with a girl. Not
wanting to dwell on yet another of her mother's schemes, which could
sometimes even rival her father's dumb half-baked schemes, she sat next to
the two girls and three other boys at the Japan table.
It wasn't very long after she sat, that the lady who had talked to
her mother stood up front. "Welcome to Broadview Academy and its English
as a Second Language program. My name is Marion Kutchra, I am the director
of both the library and the ESL program here at Broadview Academy. On my
right, are rest of the ESL teachers. We have Sarah Paulson, Jacquelyn
Rivera, Rick Silvers, and the newest edition to our team Nodoka Saotome."
"If any of you need any help with anything what so ever, please ask
one of us. Now as you have noticed all of you have been divided up
according to your home country. The reason for this is to help you feel
more comfortable. We know some of you have been have just arrived and
you're probably feeling a little nervous. Hopefully being around others
you can relate to might lessen that."
"On the other hand though, we also want you to make other friends.
While being around people from your own country will be easier, it will be
in your best interest to make friends with other ESL and non-ESL students
in the academy. Making friends with those who don't speak your language,
forces you to speak English. Otherwise when speaking to others who also
speak your language, both of you will be tempted to use it instead of
English. Remember the more you practice speaking in English, the more
comfortable you will be using it.
"There are a lot of things we must discuss, but first lets start off
by introductions. We'll start here at the Angola table. I would like each
of you to one at a time, stand and tell us your name, age, the country your
from, and how long you've been here."
Slowly one by people started getting up to introduce themselves,
starting with a girl named Tariana Veloso from Angola. After the Angolans,
came Brazil, Cuba, and many other countries. Finally Japan came up, and
one of the boys stood. "I'm Tomohiro Shiomi, I'm sixteen. I came from
Hiroshima Japan. This is my second year here at Broadview."
Another of the boys stood nervously. "Shimitsu Akira. Eighteen
years old, Japan. I arrived last week."
The third boy stood. "I am called Tatewaki Kuno, age fifteen. I hail
from the glorious and majestic nation of Japan, and while I have just
arrived yesterday, already the next four years show great promise to the
great shooting star, as many of my fellow kendoist have come to call me,
seeing that the fair sisters Tendo Akane and Nabiki will also be attending
this great institution; as well as this fiery tressed pigtailed girl."
Had she not been forced to sit next to him and listen to him go on
incessantly as he was the entire nonstop flight from Japan, Akane might
have let him go on. However, since she did, Akane decided she had more
than enough of Kuno's babbling for her lifetime and pushed him down as she
stood up to introduce herself. "I am Akane Tendo, I am fourteen years old
and I come from Japan. I am new here and I just arrived yesterday."
Nabiki stood next and lazily began. "Nabiki Tendo. Fifteen.
Everything else is the same as her." She finished by pointing at Akane,
and sat back down in her chair.
Ranma slowly stood, taking a quick glance at her mother. Nodoka was
beaming proudly at her. So much so, that Ranma thought that part of the
room was a bight brighter than the rest. "I am Ranko Saotome, and I'm
fourteen. I've come from just about everywhere, but I guess I'm mostly
from Japan. I came here yesterday with my parents."
After the rest of the students introduced themselves, they spoke
about a variety of things ranging from meeting times, to placement test,
and filling out forms for a variety of things. During a particularly
boring part, Nabiki poked Ranma to get her attention. "So your mom works
for the school? Must be pretty nice. So where you from?"
"Pretty much all around Asii. I've spent most of my life on the
road, heading from one place to another." She whispered.
"Why?" She asked.
"I've been training in the martial arts since I was a little kid. My
pop's always finding some new training grounds or something. So we're
always on the move, the longest I've ever spent anywhere is about nine
months."
Nabiki gave her a curious look. "That sounds pretty exciting, you
must be pretty good then." Seeing Ranma just shrug, she continued. "I
used to do a little myself when I was younger, but I got bored of it. My
daddy owns a dojo back home. So daddy taught my sisters and me, but it
just wasn't my thing. My sisters are pretty into it though, especially
Akane. So have you been any place particularly exciting?"
"Not really, I guess. I've spent a lot of time in Korea and China
though."
"Can you speak either?"
"Well mom was starting to teach me Korean, but then we moved to
China. So we started teaching me Chinese instead cuz we were there for so
long. We even stayed at an amazon village there a few times, that was the
place we stayed for nine months."
"That's pretty impressive Saotome. Not only are you a jock, but you
have a brain too. Most of the martial artist I know, are all brawn and no
brains. Kuno and my sister are two perfect examples."
Akane who had gotten tired of listening to the boring speech up
front, had started listening to their conversation, and was quite naturally
not pleased. So she kicked her sister under the table. "I may not be as
smart as you, but that doesn't mean I'm as dumb Nabiki."
"Funny it sure seems that way to me. Like this morning for example,
if that wasn't being brainless I don't know what is. Beating on Ranko's
door the way you did, I'm sure half the dorm heard you. Our room isn't
even on the same side of the hall as hers, how could you mix it up? We may
both have corner rooms, but our room is right next to the stairs.
Remember? You had to walk right past our room to get to hers."
Akane grit her teeth. "I said it was a mistake ok! Sheesh! So I
mest up once. It's not that big a deal you know. Besides you're always
the one doing stupid stuff like the time you went to school in a boy's
uniform or going to all you finals half an hour late!" She said
desperately trying to keep from yelling.
Nabiki shrugged. "But hey, I was still the first one done in the
math final and I got a's on all of them. Completely unlike someone else I
know, who only mostly gets b's and c's. Not to mention a that d she got in
science."
Akane had just reached the breaking point, when the speaker stopped
talking and the students to get up. Noticing their confused face, Ranma
explained. "It's lunch time!"
"Oh! Oops! Do you mind if I sit with you during lunch? I don't
feel like sitting with my sister and I don't want to sit alone." Akane
said giving Nabiki a quick glare.
"Uh, well I was gonna go eat with my mom and pops. I guess you can
sit with us if you don't mind."
"Oh, I don't mind. Besides your mother is going to be one of my
teachers, I would like to meet her."
Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Whatever, obviously hime-sama doesn't want
me around, so I'll see you around Saotome." She gave Akane a cold glare
for a moment, before walking off.
Ranma felt really bad. "You can come too Nabiki."
Nabiki shook her head. "It's ok. Not right now, but I'll take a
rain check on that some time later."
"Well then, I'll see you after lunch during the placement tests."
Ranma said waving to her. Once she walked out the door, she turned to
Akane and said. "Well let's get my mom and go eat."
Nodoka was still talking with the other teachers, as they approached
her. So Ranma asked Akane. "So what's up between you and your sister?"
Akane rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Oh don't worry about her,
she is always like that. She's just trying to get attention. I should
apologize for that, I shouldn't have brought you into our fight. It was
rude."
Ranma waved it off. "Nah! Forget about it. We fight a lot in my
family too, although it's usually with my pop. So uh Nabiki says you're
into the art."
"Not really. I'm not very good at drawing."
"No, not that kinda art! I meant martial arts!"
"OH! Martial arts. I feel so stupid! Yes, I do. My dad taught me
and my sisters. What about you?" She said feeling completely embraced.
"Ya, I know a little."
Having heard her daughters statement as they caught up to her, Nodoka
said. "Now don't you listen to her, Akane dear. She has practically been
training since the moment she was weaned. My husband is a strong martial
artist. Although, he's done some extremely foolish and insanely dangerous
things, he's made Ranko into a great martial artist too."
"Really!?" Akane asked excitedly. "We'll have to spar together a
bit sometime."
"Ya sure, maybe sometime. But anyway, let's go get pops and eat, I'm
starved."
"Since we're right here next to the office, let me go call your
father so we wont have to wait on him." The girls watched as she entered
the school office and used the phone. After a few minutes she came back.
"Ok girls let's get going, Genma will meet us there.
When they arrived at the caf,, Ranma was quite happy to learn that
the food was served buffet style. Ranma then proceeded to help herself to
extremely large servings, prompting everyone to stare at her as she filled
her tray
Ranma turned to Akane as they stepped out of line and found the
table Genma was sitting. She leaned close and whispered. "Hey just so ya
know. My pop says weird things sometimes. A buncha stuff happened when we
were in china that caused my family a ton of trouble. Of all of us, it
changed pop the most. Now he thinks I'm really my brother Ranma, so he
might call me Ranma or something. Just ignore him when he gets like that."
Akane who had been shocked by how much food Ranko took, could only
nod her head as she was in complete dismay by the size of Genma's servings.
She noticed that Mrs. Saotome didn't look slightly surprised by either how
much food her daughter or husband had taken. She also noticed that while
Mrs. Saotome servings were no where near as big as theirs, she had served
herself a bit more than Akane would have expected. Shaking her head, she
took a seat next to Ranko. As she was still thinking about the servings
the Saotome's had taken, who was completely taken by surprise by Genma's
sudden outburst at Ranko. "Boy! We need to leave this place! It's
nothing but trouble!"
"What's got you all worked up? With all the food you got, i'da
thought you'd never want to leave."
"Oh don't mind Genma. Your lazy father just came back from seeing
his new job." She said with a touch of laughter in her voice. She turned
to Akane and said. "I'm sorry Akane dear, we're being rude. Akane this is
my husband Genma. Genma this is one of our international student from
Japan, Akane Tendo."
Genma was about to say something, but was quickly silenced by a look
Nodoka gave him. Genma hmphed. "I still don't like it." Then to Akane's
even greater shock, Genma began trying to steal from Ranma's food. Ranma
protected his food, but for the most part ignored her father.
The three women had been having a pleasant conversation, when Nodoka
glanced at the clock and abruptly interrupted them. "The three of you
should hurry or you'll be late and yes Genma you have to go. This school
isn't free, neither is all that food you just ate. So unless you want to
fast or go on a diet, you better go to work. And you two should run or
you'll be late for your placement exams."
Looking at the clock themselves, they realized she was right. They
quickly dropped off their trays and headed back toward the library. The
teacher, Mrs. Rivera, had just stood up to give the test instructions when
they entered. She looked at them for a second, before saying. "If you
two would please have a seat, we're about to begin."
She waited for them to sit, before continuing. "This test is to help
us find where you are in both your English and academics. This will help
us to determine in which class to place you, and which ESL classes you will
need. Take your time. When you are done with the test you may leave. We
should have finished grading your papers by supper time, and there will be
a meeting at seven to present the results. You may now open your booklets
and begin."
Every quickly began working on their tests. Ranma was a bit uneasy
at first, he was never very good at taking tests. However, thanks to a
trick her parents had pulled on her by making her think her mother was
disappointed in her for getting low grades. Grades that, thanks to her
father's suggestion, were dropped an entire letter grade by her mother,
when she told Ranma how she did on her exams. While she wasn't very
thrilled when she found out, it did help had spurred her to study harder,
both then and now.
To her surprise, she didn't find the test extremely difficult. In
fact, this test was actually somewhat easy. There were still several
questions she had a hard time on, but for the most part, it wasn't very
tough.
After trying, unsuccessfully, to solve a particularly hard question,
Ranma decided to take a small break. Which she learned really helped
relieve a lot of the stress, so long as she didn't take too long of a
break. She began to look around the library to see what everyone else was
doing. She saw her mother in the small office in the upper corner of the
library talking quietly with the other teachers. By the expressions on
their faces, Ranma tried to figure out how some of the other students were
doing. From the looks on their faces, it seemed only a few of them found
the test either extremely easy or extremely hard. Having had a long enough
break, she was about to try working on the hard question again, when she
noticed the student in the far back corner.
There sat Nabiki, sitting all by herself staring at her test. Ranma
watched her for a minute, and in that time all she did was stare at her
test. The sight of her sitting back there in a corner all alone made her
feel really bad. With a sigh, she turned back to her test having already
spent to much time "on break."
After another minute of struggling with the question, she decided to
simply guess and move on. Yet every once and a while she would take a
moment and glance at either of the sisters. Every time she glanced at
Akane, she found her hard at work on her test. Yet when she looked at
Nabiki, she usually found the brown haired girl staring at the test.
When she finally finished her test an hour later, half the other
students, including Akane, had already left. As she handed her test in,
she noticed that her mother wasn't in the office anymore. So when she
entered the dorm she decided to go there, instead of her own room. Once
inside, she made her way to the bed and lifelessly fell onto it. Nodoka
smiled at Ranma's theatrics. "How did you do on the test?"
"I think I did ok. There were some really though questions, but it
wasn't as hard as I was expecting it."
"Very good!" She said proudly.
"So where's pop?"
"He's still at work dear."
Ranma sat up. "Oh, well do you know when he'll be back?"
"He should be back in about half an hour. Why do you ask?"
"I just wanted to practice a little, that's all."
Nodoka turned to face Ranma. "Is something wrong dear? You don't
sound to happy."
Ranma debated with herself for a second before saying. "Ya sorta."
Nodoka frowned. "What is it dear?
"Its just well . . . it's about Nabiki. Her and Akane got into a
fight before lunch and she looked pretty depressed during the test. I just
kinda feel bad, cuz we left her alone when we left for lunch."
Nodoka forced herself not to smile. "Well, why not sit with her
during supper? I'm most likely going to be late for it anyway. I'm going
to have to go soon, to start correcting the exams. I'll let Genma know you
want to practice when he arrives from work."
"Thanks mom. Can I another shower while I'm here?"
"Wouldn't it be better to wait until after you finish practicing with
your father."
"Ya, but I'm just don't feel like being a girl right now."
"Of course dear, go ahead."
Thanking her mother again, Ranma made her way to the bathroom and
soon the water could be heard. When Ranma was out of sight, Nodoka began
to smile proudly. It made her so happy to see that although he just met
them, Ranma already had feelings for them. Still, more importantly they
weren't just any girls, one of those two girls would most eventually be his
wife. They were both so beautiful, Nodoka couldn't help herself from
imagining what her grandchildren might look like.
Sadly her daydreams was interrupted when she heard someone knocking
on her door. As she reached the door, she heard the shower turn off. She
thought it was perfect timing that Ranma finished his shower just as Genma
arrived. Since she was expecting Genma, she was quite surprised when she
opened the door to find Akane. "Hello Mrs. Saotome. I'm sorry to disturb
you, but do you know where Ranko is? I was hoping we could spar a little
before dinner."
Nodoka was about to answer, when the bathroom door opened. A now
male Ranma, clad only in a towel, stepped into the room. "Hey mom, can you
get me some - " His eyes went wide as he saw Akane standing staring at him.
He quickly jumped back into the bathroom and waited for his mother to come
to the small crack he left open to talk to her. "Can you get me some
cloths? I didn't bring any to change into."
"Of course dear, just give me a minute." She turned to Akane, who
was still staring dumbly to where Ranma had been standing. "I'm sorry
Akane dear. Ranko's not here at the moment, but should be here soon.
Would you like me to tell her that you wanted to speak with her?"
"Uh . . . yes. Thank you." She said sounding a bit dazed, before
slowly walking out of the room.
Seconds after the door closed, Nodoka began giggling uncontrollably.
She knocked on the bathroom door and in between giggles said. "You can
come out now, she's gone."
"It's not funny mom, stop laughing."
"Is it so wrong for a mother to be proud at how manly her son is?
She likes you. Perhaps the two of you should spend more time together."
Ranma groaned. "Mom! Please, no matchmaking! I'm here cuz you want
me to, but because of this dumb curse, I have to go to school as a girl.
I'm already gonna have to come up with something to explain my guy side. I
already told her there was a big incident in china four years ago and that
he thinks that Ranko is really her brother. But now I need to think up a
reason why Ranma isn't going to school here as well." He sighed deeply and
continued. "Pop's is probably gonna make goin to school here hard enough
for me. So please, please no match making. Ok?"
Nodoka began to pout. "You are NO fun. Besides, there's nothing
wrong with a mother wanting to see her only son happy with a nice girl.
Still, if you really want me to, from now on I will not do any match
making."
Ranma smiled and hugged his mother. "Thanks mom. Things are hard
enough as they are, besides with me goin to school as a girl, it kinda
makes it hard to have a girlfriend anyway. Well I'm goin to my room, come
get me when pop gets back from work."
"Of course dear, but there are two things I have to tell you before
you leave. First stop by Akane's room. Don't look at me like that, I'm
not trying to do any matchmaking. She came here looking for you remember?
I told her I would tell you she was looking for you and that you should
stop by her room to see what she wanted."
Ranma looked at her suspiciously for a moment. He knew while she
promised no matchmaking, what she really meant was no obvious matchmaking.
Knowing his mother, she would use every trick she knew to match him up with
someone, all the while making it seem as innocent as possible. Ranma
sighed. "Ok. I'll stop there on the way to my room. Maybe Nabiki will be
there too. So what was the other thing?"
"Oh, nothing at all. I was just going to remind you to change back
before you go. Because while I'm sure Akane wouldn't mind, I'm sure dean
Rey would be very upset."
Ranma looked down and realized he was still a guy. Smacking himself
in the head with the palm of his hands, Ranma walked back to the bathroom.
He turn on the shower and stuck his head in. Ranma thanked his mother and
left the room heading up the stairs. Having reached the top, Ranma turned
to the room where she saw Akane leave from earlier. Slowly she knocked on
the door.
Akane quickly opened the door. "Ranko! There you are!" She stepped
aside to allow Ranko to enter the room. She took her seat at her desk and
turned to face Ranma. "Where were you? I've been looking for you since
the placement tests ended."
"I've been taking a shower. Sorry about that, I kinda zone out when
I take a hot shower or bath."
"You don't have to stand. We don't have that many chairs, but you
can sit on my bed or in Nabiki's chair."
"Um its ok, I'll stand I don't mind." She said as she leaned
against the wall of Akane's room.
Akane turned her chair so she could face her directly and excitedly
asked. "So.... who was he?"
Ranma blinked. "Who was who?"
"The guy in your mother's room." She said emphatically. "Was that
your brother? He is so cute! I mean wow! With a body like that, he has to
be your brother." Akane said fanning herself with her hand.
Ranma suddenly turned red enough to match her hair color. "Ya..
That was him.."
Noticing Ranko's discomfort with the topic, Akane stopped and said.
"Sorry, I'm embarrassing you aren't I? But you have a really cute brother.
How much older than you is he anyway?"
"Well.. Actually we're twins. I came after he did."
"You're twins? Wow! "Ya now that I think about it, I do see the
resemblance. You even have the same hairstyle. So did he just get here?
I haven't seen him at any of the orientation meetings or the placement
test."
"He doesn't go here, he was just visiting and he's already gone."
"Gone? But he was just here? Why did he go? Where's he going?"
"I'd rather not talk about him. We've kept our distance ever since
the incident. Since I'm around he won't be, so let's just leave it at
that."
"I'm sorry. I just curious, I didn't mean to pry."
Ranma shook her head. "It's ok. It's not your fault, since you
didn't know. So um my mom says you wanted to talk to me?"
"Oh ya!, I wanted to see if you wanted to spar a little before
dinner?"
"Well . . . I would, but I'm already supposed to practice with
pops."
"Well that's not that big a deal, we can spar until your dad shows
up."
"I don't think pop will like that. He already thinks that I've been
slacking off, so he'll really want to go at it today. I don't know what
he'd do if he caught me sparring with another girl, but I'm sure he'd be
pretty mad about it."
"Why would he be mad?"
Sighing, Ranma said. "Cuz pop says girls are weak, so they can't
really be as strong or as good as a guy in the art."
Akane's face turned red in anger. "That's just so stupid! Why
would anyone think something so dumb?"
Ranma rolled her eyes. "Ya my pop ain't the brightest person. I'd
hate to imagine what it woulda been like without mom around."
Akane looked puzzled. "But if he thinks girls can't be
martial-artist, why did he train you?"
"Pop usually sees me as a guy remember. When he does actually
acknowledges me as a girl, he doesn't think I'm as good as Ranma because
I'm a girl."
Akane shook her head and rolled her eyes at the stupidity of Genma's
idea's. "All right, I wouldn't want you to get in trouble with your
parents. I was really looking forward to sparring with you. Besides Kuno,
you're the only martial artist I know here. I really don't want to spar
with him, he just goes on and on and on. If you think is little speech
today was something, that was nothing to the twelve hours plus I had to sit
next to him. It's a miracle I survived the trip! Oh well, I guess I'll
just have to practice by myself from now on."
"I didn't say no. We could always do it later, though it'll have to
wait until pop has had a chance to get over coming here. Not only that,
but it gives me a chance to beat him up so he can stop going on about how
soft I'm getting."
Akane laughed. "My dad's the same way. He called me up just to make
sure I was practicing! It was around two hear, which means it was like
five am over there! He's never up at that time!"
"You're lucky. My pop's idea of waking me up is to either splash me
with a bucket of freezing cold water or throw me in a lake followed by
three hours of nonstop training. All of this before my mom wakes up and
makes us breakfast! Talking about pop, I'd better get going. He's
probably back by now, and the longer we wait the grumpier he's gonna get."
She stood up and walked to the door. She opened the door, but turned to
face Akane before stepping out. "Hey Akane can you do me a favor?"
"Sure Ranko. what is it?" She said with a friendly smile.
"Well I need to talk to Nabiki, do you know where she is?"
Akane frowned for a moment before answering. "No, sorry. I haven't
seen her since the test.
The redhead sighed. "Well when you see her, can you tell her I want
to talk to her?"
"Well, I was about to leave so I can practice. But I'll leave her a
note on her desk, in case she comes back while I'm gone."
"Thanks Akane. I'll see when I can get away from pop long enough to
spar with ya. It'll be kinda fun having someone other than pop to spar
with. Anyway I gotta go, the old man's is already gonna be more of a
grouch than usual since mom's got him working. So I'll see you at the
meeting tonight?"
"Ya, sure! I'll see you there. Have fun training."
Ranma left Akane's room and headed down the stairs to her parents
room. She was about to knock when she heard the arguing. "Have you not
learned anything about your son these last few years? If you try to force
the issue, Ranma will resist you in ever way possible."
"Of course he fight it! He fights any thing I say, wether it's good
or not. Nevertheless, it is for his own good and it's a matter of family
honor, so he will go through it." Genma said resolutely.
"If you try to force the issue Genma, I will NOT support you. I will
not try and force Ranma. It is entirely his choice. Just remember what
the elder told us before we left the village. But now I have to go work.
Goodbye."
Gathering her purse, she opened the door to leave. She was quite
surprised to see Ranma there with her arm raised ready to knock. "Oh, hey
mom. Uh, is pop back yet?"
Nodoka gave her a smile. "Yes he is. I'm sorry I can't stay to
watch to two of you practice, but I really have to get going." She
turned Genma she gave him a stern glare. "I'll be back around supper time.
Wait for me before heading off to eat, there are still things we must
discuss." She gave Ranma a quick kiss and left.
After she left, Ranma looked at her father with a questioning look.
Genma opened his mouth to say something, but reluctantly closed it. He
then turned and grabbed a tea kettle. "Let's go practice Ranma." He said
in an upset voice.
Ranma blinked in surprise. If her father actually stayed quiet about
something that he obviously felt so strongly about, then it must have been
really big. "Ok pop." she answered.
She followed her father to the gym, located on the far end of campus.
In the gym, they saw Kittleson cleaning the floors. Hearing the gym doors
open, he turned to face them. "Why hello there Ranma, Mr. Saotome. How
can I help you?"
"Umm, I'm Ranko. Remember?" Ranma said feeling a bit uneasy.
Kittleson instantly remembered and looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry.
I don't know how I could have forgotten."
Ranma still felt a bit edgy for some reason, but she ignored it.
"It's ok. It took me a while to get used to it myself. I'll probably
answer to both names. They're so similar that it'll be easy to confuse
them, which is why mom picked the name."
Kittleson nodded with an impressed look on his face. "Well what can
I do for you two?"
"Well we're just looking for a place to practice." Genma stated in
his more accented English. "I am not about to let my only heir become as
weak as the girl he pretends to be!" He said quite gruffly.
Kittleson stepped back a little. Ranma seeing this quickly
responded. "Ah, don't mind him. He's just a bit moody, and he's had a bad
day."
Kittleson nodded his head "I see. Well you can use the gym for the
rest of the week, but next week gymnastics tryouts start begin and I'm
afraid I wont be able to let you use it then."
Genma grunted his thanks and turned to Ranma. "Ok boy. Start
warming up boy. Double the normal amount, since we haven't been able to
train in two or three days. I'd say about fifty laps around the gym should
be enough."
Kittleson's jaw dropped. "Fifty laps! That's crazy. Do you know
how many miles that is? How do you expect her to run that many miles, and
as a warm up no less?"
"She may look like a girl, but she is really my son. Before coming
to this school, he used to run many more miles while carrying heavy loads.
Now if you'll excuse me, while I go through warm ups myself."
Hearing a telephone ring, Kittleson shook his head and rushed to his
office to answer the phone. After talking on the phone , he decided try to
plan start planning a few routines he wanted to try. After a while, he
decided to check on how the Saotome's were doing. He open the blinds to
the office window that overlooked the gym, what he saw made him forget
about making routines. He saw Ranma, still running around the gym,
fighting with his father. Just the trading of punches, kicks, and throws
the two were giving each other wasn't what astounded him, thought it was
pretty impressive. No, what astounded him, was that they were jumping
nearly to the two story roof of the gym while doing it."
Kittleson ran out of his office to get a better look at them. He
stood in utter disbelief at the sight before him. Most of the girls in his
gymnastics team couldn't be tossed that high with a four man throwing
group, yet those two were doing it quite casually. Not only that, but they
were seemingly hanging in the air longer that one should, all the while
engaging in extremely complex maneuvers.
Ranma and Genma saw him gawking at them, but they simply ignored him,
as people stopping to stare at them was far from new to them. "So what are
you so upset about this time pop? Is the new job getting to you already?"
That caused her to suddenly have to dodge a series of really quick punches
and kicks. "Don't tell me you wanna quite already do you? It can't be
that bad!"
Genma scowl turned into a smirk, which made Ranma very uneasy and
suspicious. "Oh you'll know soon enough."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ranma asked while avoid several of
her fathers attacks.
"Your mother didn't tell you? Starting tomorrow, we'll be going to
work together. It's part of the school rules, anyone who goes to school
here has to work. Since you don't have anywhere else to work, guess where
you get to go."
"Wha - " Genma used Ranma's momentary distraction to pluck her out of
the air at the peak of their jump, and threw him toward the hard concrete
floor below head first. Ranma quickly twisted herself around and landed
safely on her feet, before jumping back to avoid her father's follow up
kick.
"Ranma stop fighting like a girl! Has running around pretending to
be one made you this weak?"
Ranma was about to retort when something caught her attention. With
a smile, Ranma feinted a kick and jumped over her father. Genma turned
ready to attack, when a bucket of water hit him in the head. "Hey pop, why
dontcha cool off? Just in case you forgot, this is your fault. It was
your bright idea to go to Jusenkyou and then ignore mom when she said it
wasn't a good idea."
The panda was indignant, and with growl he charged the redhead.
Ranma and the panda back to their deadly dance as they continued to do laps
around the gym. For nearly an hour they continued, trading both blows and
insults, until a loud piercing scream filled the gym.
Ranma and the panda quickly turned toward the entrance of the gym, to
see what was wrong. Their in the front was a blond haired girl staring at
Genma with undisguised fear. Seeing how scared the girl was, Ranma quickly
said. "Don't be afraid, this is my pet panda. He's been trained so you
don't have to worry." That helped to alleviate some fear, but Ranma could
tell she was still pretty scared. "Watch." She told the girl before
turning to Genma and saying "Sit!"
Genma glared at Ranma, but reluctantly sat. "Now stand." With a
growf of complaint Genma stood back up. Again the redhead spoke and said.
"Now walk on your hands."
Genma folded his arms across his chest, refusing to humiliate himself
any further. "Growf! Growf!"
Ranma frowned and whispered to the panda. "Stop being stupid pop.
You saw how scared that girl was of you!"
Genma sighed at the indignity of it all, and began to walk on his
hands. An extremely amazing sight, considering how big and round of a
panda he turned into. The effort was rewarded with applause, both from the
girl and from Kittleson, who ran out of his office when he heard the girl
scream.
Ranma was really enjoying herself, not only did she get to order her
father around for once, but she could also have her revenge for all the
times her father had embarrassed her. "Now watch this." She said as she
picked up a basketball from a nearby cart and threw it at Genma. "Catch it
and don't let it stop spinning."
Genma caught the lightly tossed basketball and let it roll toward his
claws where he balanced the still spinning ball. Just then he heard
Ranma's mirthful voice say. "Here's another, and another!" Genma
"Growfed" as ran to catch the other two. Once in position to catch them,
he dropped the one on his hand to balance it on his foot, so he could catch
the other two. Again the two spectators clapped. Unfortunately for him,
that caused Ranma to broaden her smile.
"And now lady and gentleman, our grand finale. Watch as he balances
a fourth basketball on his nose." That said she threw yet another ball.
Genma growfed in surprise and moved as quickly and as carefully as he could
on one foot to catch the ball on his nose. Genma grumbled to himself as he
stood there in balancing four spinning balls. His catching the fourth
ball brought in yet another round of applause from the two watchers. Ranma
bowed to them, before telling him. "Ok pop, you can stop now." Genma was
more than happy to comply. "Well I guess that's it for training, how about
we head back now?" Ranma asked her father.
Genma nodded his head and began to leave the gym. Ranma quickly ran
out to follow him. As they walked toward the caf, Ranma said. "That was a
pretty good show." Ranma ducked under her father paw, as he struck out at
her. Laughing Ranma responded. "Ok, ok! Do you want me to get you some
hot water before we go into the caf,?"
Genma made quick sign. "I'll get some in the room. Your mother and
me have to talk."
Ranma's eye's nearly bugged out, at the thought of her father
skipping a meal, even if it was to talk to her mother. Never in her
entire, did she ever remember a time her father skipped an opportunity to
skip an opportunity to eat, whatever it was they had to discuss was
definitely very serious. She thought back to the fight they were having,
when she came to their room. She began to get worried, since she couldn't
remember a time her mother had seemed that angry at her father. She knew
how different her parents felt about her going to school there, especially
since she had to be a girl to do so, as her parents had been fighting about
it since it was first brought up three months ago. Scared of what his
answer might be, Ranma hesitantly asked. "Is everything between you and
mom ok?"
The panda nearly fell over from the shock of hearing Ranma ask him
that question. He quickly made another sign. "Don't be stupid, of course
it is!" He the flipped the sign around. "We just have some things we must
discuss."
The redhead gave the panda a skeptical look. "You sure? It ain't
like you to skip a meal."
With growf, he produced two signs. "OF COURSE, I'M SURE!!!" "Now
get out of here before I decide to pay you back for that incident in the
gym."
Ranma was about to say something, when he suddenly started throwing
dodging the signs Genma was throwing at her. "Ok! Ok! Geez, I'm going
already!"
Ranma quickly ran inside the caf, and watched the panda sighed before
making his way back to the dorm. She sighed heavily herself, before she
got into the line get food. After finally convincing the dinner lady that
she didn't have too much food for one trip and that she would eat it all,
she found an empty table. She took a seat at the middle of the table, and
began eating slowly, which for her meant she was eating as fast as normal
people. So lost was she thinking about her parents, that she nearly gave a
shout of surprise when someone next to her said. "Mind if I join you?"
Ranma turned to see Nabiki next to her with a tray of food. Shaking
her head Ranma said. "No, go ahead and sit down."
Setting her tray in front of redhead girl, Nabiki moved around the
table to where tray was. "You know, I'm not sure quite what to make of
you. You sit at an empty table, which implies you want to be by yourself.
Yet at the center of the table, you sat in the most sociable seat.
Granted, you could have been waiting for company. However, I doubt it,
since you were eating away oblivious to everything around you when I
approached you. So which is it?"
Ranma blinked and shrugged her shoulders. "I just sat here, I mean I
don't know anyone else here."
Nabiki nodded her head. "So what's up? Akane left me a note saying
you wanted to see me."
"Oh ya. Well I wanted to see how you were. I mean I felt bad
leaving you at lunch and you looked kinda sad during the placement test."
"Oh is that all? Don't worry about it. Ohime-sama is always like
that. Daddy has always spoiled her. While my older sister and I have to
work our butts off doing chores, she's in the dojo practicing. As if she
needs more practice breaking concrete blocks. But hey, it happens all the
time. That's what sisters are for, bugging the daylights out of each
other. So what about you, what's got you down? You looked down yourself
when I got here."
Ranma sighed. "It's my folks. They've been fighting nonstop since
mom came up with the idea of coming here. They're in there room now,
having some kind of private fight. Pop said everything was all right, but
I - "
Nabiki interrupted her. "If your father says everything fine, then
trust him. He has a better idea of what the situation is like than you do.
If he says everything is fine, then why worry about what could be?"
"Ya I guess your right." She reluctantly agreed and began to eat.
They eat together silently for a few minutes, until the silence began to
bother her. "So . . . how'd you do on the test?"
"I suppose I did adequate. But you do realize that you can't fail
the placement test right?"
"Oh . . . well then how does it work then?"
"If you do really well, then they place you with the American
students. If you do an ok job, then you'll still mostly be going to school
with them, but you'll have to take a few ESL classes to patch up your
problem area's. If you do really poorly, then you're stuck taking ESL
classes for the year."
Ranma looked at her dubiously. "How is that different from failing a
normal test? If you can't do good enough your kept back, just like on the
placement test."
Nabiki sighed. "You're thinking about it too negatively. The ESL
program here is designed to teach someone with virtually no English
experience, how to speak English as their second language. Hence the name,
ESL means English as a second language."
"Thinking about it differently ain't gonna make it different."
"Of course it does. Attitude is everything. You're a martial
artist, you should know that if you go into a fight thinking you're going
to lose, then that is exactly what's going to happen. If you want to win a
match, you have to go in believing you're going to win."
"I supposed you're right." Ranma consented. After taking a few more
bites of her food, she noticed she was done. "It's not as good as my mom's
cooking, but it's ok. Say do you know if we have any more meetings after
this?"
Nabiki shrugged. "You're the teachers kid, you should be the one to
know. What I do know though, is that we need to get going if we want to
get there on time.
Ranma followed Nabiki's example, as the brown haired girl stood up
and too her try to the designated rack near the exit. The two girls
walked back to the library. Once there, they were seated alphabetically
with Saotome placed next to Tendo. Akane and Nabiki shared a look to let
the other know, she was still mad. As Nabiki moved past Akane to reach her
seat, she said. "It's so good to see you too hime."
Akane chose to ignore her sister and turned to Ranma with a smile.
"So how did your practice go?"
Ranma wasn't sure what to do. Past experience had taught her that
getting caught in the middle of two other people fights was anything but
pleasant. Even talking to one of the feuding party members could be
dangerous, as she learned when her best friends, Soap and Shampoo, got into
a fight. Soap had assumed Ranma was siding with Shampoo and she was also
giving the silent treatment. Ranma barely knew these girls and the last
thing she wanted, was to get them mad at her.
Unfortunately, Ranma realized she was already caught in the middle.
Just answering Akane's question was probably going to get him in trouble
with Nabiki, despite how unrelated it might be. She couldn't just ignore
Akane either, as that would be rude and seem as if she were taking Nabiki's
side. Realizing there was likely no way to not get someone mad at her, she
decided to answer Akane's question and just try to calm Nabiki down if she
gets mad at her. "It was going ok, until some girl came in the gym and got
scared of Mr. Panda."
"Mr. Panda?" Akane asked quite confused.
Ranma wanted to slap herself for being so careless. Now she had to
find some way of explaining her father's panda form. She knew it would
come up eventually, but given the choice, she would have much rather picked
later. "Mr. Panda is my pet panda. We've had him since our trip into
china four years ago."
"A panda? You have a panda as a pet!?" She asked in shock.
Ranma nodded her head. "He's been trained, so we did some tricks for
the girl so she wouldn't freak out."
Akane shook her head in disbelief. They didn't get to say much more,
because just then Mrs. Saotome entered the library. Ranma was happy to
note that while she seemed a bit embarrassed at being late, she also seemed
much happier.
She immediately walked to the front of the library were the other
teachers were, and began speaking with the director. The woman smiled at
her as she nodded her head and told her something. Nodoka nodded her head
and sat down next to the others. When Nodoka was seated, the directory
began speaking. "Thank you all for coming, I'm sure you're all quite tired
of all these meetings. The good news is this is the last on. As you may
have noticed, this group is only half as large as it was this morning.
There is no need to worry about them. There is no need to worry about them
as most of them are returning students and we already know what level they
are at. The rest are students who had already signed up for the complete
ESL course. So don't be afraid that you'll be asked to leave if you didn't
achieve a high enough score. All we ask is that you do your best."
"To help you do your best, we have divided you into small groups of
about five, with a teachers in each group. We tried to separate you from
the others who speak your native language. The reason for this is to
reduce the temptation to not speak in English. The only way your English
will improve is to use it. The more you use it the better you will become
at speaking it. Also speaking it more will help you to feel more
comfortable speaking English. Both of these are our goals for you, to
improve your English while also making you feel more comfortable speaking
it. We couldn't do that with some the larger groups, and we'd like to ask
you to try and limit yourself to only speaking your native language to help
each other."
"Now we will split into our groups, your group leader will give you
the results of your test and answer any questions you might have. Let's
start by having the leaders move into their positions. Sarah you take the
top right corner of the room, Nodoka you take the back right corner,
Jacquelin the back left, rick the center and my group will meet in the top
left corner next to my office. I will read each of your names and your
group leaders name. Please go to your group leader when you are called."
After everyone had been grouped, it quickly became obvious to Ranma
and just about everyone else, that one group hadn't been divided. It was
them, the entire Japanese group was given to Nodoka. Ranma was curious why
they weren't separated like all the other groups. "Hey mom, why did they
stick us all together?"
Nodoka smiled at Ranma, a smile Ranma knew meant there was more to
the situation then she was going to say. "Well that's somewhat
complicated."
"We felt that due to the certain circumstances, it would probably be
best for you to have a group leader who can understand you both
linguistically and culturally."
"And what circumstances are those?" Nabiki asked.
"Well besides being my child, Ranko has a condition which requires
special care. So she was placed in my group since I am the most qualified
to work with it. Tatewaki-kun you did well enough to be placed on a full
time academic schedule. What concerns us is your cognitive and reasoning
abilities. Straightforward tasks and studies such as mathematics or
subjects that rely primarily on memorization, but you showed a great deal
of difficulty when it came to analysis and interpretation."
Kuno stood up. "I must protest. There has obviously been a mistake,
surely there was a mix up of some kind. No doubt you have mistakenly read
the results of another's exam. For am I not the great Tatewaki Kuno, the
undefeated kendo champion known as shooting star? It is impossible that
one such as I have the faults that you would heap upon me."
"Actually Kuno-chan, she seems right on the money." Nabiki said to
Kuno with a smirk.
Seeing that Kuno was going to speak again, Nodoka quickly said.
"Kuno-san! Please sit down. You are drawing attention to yourself." She
waited until he had seated himself before continuing. "I wish I could say
differently, but our results agree with the report given to us by your
former teachers. Ms Kutchra would like to see you privately after this
meeting is done." Seeing him nod, she turned her gaze to Nabiki.
Seeing Mrs. Saotome looking at her, Nabiki asked in a sugar-coated
voice. "How did I do sensei?"
Nodoka shook her head. "Your test is very confusing Nabiki-chan.
While you made the highest grade in the English competency section, you
extremely poor the academic section. As it stands you obviously do not
need full time ESL, so you too will be placed as a full time student.
However, due to your low academic score, we simply can't progress you to
the tenth grade. That's troubling since your transcript shows your
normally a straight 'A' student, we simply can't explain how you could have
scored so low on the tests. I'm really sorry, but we had no choice."
Ranma saw Nabiki lower her head as her mother about results. The
redhead nearly didn't hear Nabiki when responded, because of how softly she
had spoken. "I understand. I'm sorry I could not meet your expectations
for me. Hopefully next time I'll be able to do better."
Akane's eyes narrowed and she began glaring at her sister. "Right!
I'm sure you're really sorry, I bet you failed the test on purpose?"
Nabiki's head shot up and glowered at Akane. "Don't you even start!
In case you already forgot, you were the one that was going to fail last
year! I did your entire research paper for science class, just so you
could spend some time with 'Amano-senpai.' So don't act so holy and self
righteous hime."
"Girls! Please this is not the time for that. This is still not
even the first day of school! Is this the way you want to be remembered?
I understand you're upset with each other, I can remember some of the
fights I used to have with my own sister. Still this is not the place to
argue like that. If you need someone to act as a mediator, please come to
my room and I will be happy to try and resolve this properly, without
having to create a show of it. Are the two of you clear on this?"
She waited until both of them nodded their heads before continuing.
"Good. Nabiki please come by my room after you are off work tomorrow. We
can discuss your options, before you start classes. Now unless any of you
have any questions, you may pick up your schedule and return to your
respective dorms."
"Sensei?" Akane asked timidly.
"Yes dear?"
"Is there some reason for me being placed in the group?"
Nodoka slowly shook her head. "Not really dear. Your test results
were quite satisfactory. The reason you were placed in my group, is
because of your track record from your previous school. Your teachers said
that you seemed 'full of spirit,' and that you also had a tendency to get a
bit angry and violent. Since every member of my family, myself excluded,
cannot so much as have a family dinner without some type of battle being
waged, my experience at having to deal with these types of problems is what
swayed the committee to place you in my group."
Nabiki took one look at the reddening Akane and started laughing.
Akane, who was now both angry and embarrassed, threateningly warned her
sister. "Nabiki shut up right now!"
Nabiki's laughing stopped immediately as she turned a stern face to
her and in a challenging voice asked. "Or else what hime? Oh wait, let me
guess, are you going to hit me?"
Akane clenched her hands into fists at her side, then she surprised
everyone when she abruptly turned and stormed out of the library. Nodoka
immediately turned to Nabiki and said. "That was completely uncalled for.
She was already embarrassed by what I said, all you did was to further
provoke her."
"Good! I'm glad. Maybe next time she's having one of her temper
tantrums, she'll remember this. It's not like she's ever gotten in
trouble. Daddy always just dismisses it by saying she's just high-spirited
and sending her into the dojo for some extra practice! She gets rewarded
for getting in trouble! But I doubt you care either. After all she yelled
at me for falling and didn't say a word. I'm going now, I'll see you
tomorrow after work."
Ranma, Nodoka, Kuno, and several others watched as yet another Tendo
left the library angrily. Ranma was surprised when Kuno quietly took his
schedule and left. She had expected to him start spouting off like he
normally did whenever he spoke. When it was just her and her mother at the
table, she turned to her mother and seeing the look on her face asked.
"You ok mom?"
Nodoka began rubbing her temples. "Yes, I'm fine. I should have
told each of you in private, not to the whole group." She sighed heavily.
"You might as well head back to your room as well. I have to stay by for a
staff meeting. Oh yes before I forget. Here is your schedule, and could
you drop of these schedules when you pass by the girls room. Though I
wouldn't recommend giving it to them personally, I would just slide it
under their door as you walk by. Also don't forget your father wants to
spar early tomorrow and that you begin work at 8:30."
Ranma nodded, took the schedules and left for the dorm. As she
walked there she taught about everything that had gone on the last few
days, from stepping on the plane till just now. It was just one thing
right after the other. Despite not having trained as hard as she normally
did, she couldn't remember the last time she felt that exhausted. Training
for the breaking point didn't even get her as tired as she felt now. She
couldn't wait to get to her bed and fall asleep. "But first, I better drop
off these schedules."
She entered the dorm through the front entrance and ran up the stairs
toward the Tendo sisters' room. She heard the two girls fighting as she
neared their room. Doing as her mother had instructed, Ranma bent down and
slid the envelope under the door. When the fighting sisters didn't stop
to investigate the delivery, she continued down the hall to her own room.
When she reached her door, she began searching her pockets for her room
keys. She opened her door, after finding her keys, and was about to enter
when the Tendo sisters' door opened. "Ya well I don't want to share a room
with an ungrateful spoiled brat! You can keep the room, I'll find
somewhere else to sleep." Nabiki yelled before closing the door.
Ranma turned to see Nabiki, in her green paw print pajamas, holding
her pillow and blanket. She watched as the girl angrily threw her pillow
on the floor. Ranma heard her muttering something as she spread her
blanket on the floor and laid down. Ranma hung her head and sighed.
"You're not gonna sleep on the floor there are you?"
Nabiki turned her head to look in Ranma's direction. "Sure I guess,
why not? It's better than sleeping in there with Ohime-sama."
"You can stay in my room tonight, I gotta spare bed." Ranma knew she
was probably going to get into trouble for that, but just felt like she had
to after the sadness in her voice.
Nabiki sat up and stared at intently at the other girl. Finally
after some time had passed, she shrugged. "Sure, thanks. I really wasn't
looking forward to sleeping on this hard floor." She picked up her things
and followed Ranma to her room.
Pointing at the bunked in the middle of the room, Ranma said. "You
can have whichever bunk you want."
"I guess I'll take the top." She said as she placed her pillow and
blanket on the bed, and then climbed up. "You know, these are the ugliest
rooms I've ever seen."
Ranma shrugged. "I'm just glad I have a room. When you're always on
the move, you pretty much only get a tent. Do you mind if I practice a
little before going to sleep?"
"Go ahead, it's your room." Nabiki watched the pigtailed girl as
she went through her practice. "You're pretty good Saotome, I'd go so far
as to say, your in the same league as my sister. That's pretty
impressive. Despite being a spoiled brat, she's likely the best martial
artist I've seen."
"Thanks. So what about you? Akane told me your pops taught both of
you."
"Me? I stopped practicing a long time ago, after my mother got sick.
I had just turned seven at the time, when daddy told me and Kasumi that mom
was in the hospital. He didn't tell Akane about it because she was only
five. The doctors had told daddy that they didn't expect her to live,
left a baby sitter for Akane and took me and Kasumi to see her. After that
I just too depressed to practice anymore, so I just gave it up."
Sensing the change in the mood of the conversation had gotten very
somber, Ranma decided not to press farther. Nabiki wrapped herself up in
her blanket and began to stare up at the ceiling. Not knowing what to say,
Ranma continued going through her kata.
As she began approaching the end she started getting a bit worried.
She still needed to change into her sleeping cloths, but she didn't want to
have to change in front of the other girl. Even if they were both girls at
the time, she didn't feel right about changing in front of one. The other
choice was to go to the bathroom to change, but then she might get
offended. Luckily for her, the problem was soon solved when a voice over
the intercom announced. "Lights are now out, lights are now out."
When she finished speaking a loud thud was heard, and the room
suddenly became very dark. Ranma, feeling immensely relieved, finished her
kata in the dark. Once she finished, she walked to the corner of her
room where her traveling pack was. She found a muscle shirt and boxers, and
quickly changed. As she got into bed, she heard Nabiki say. "Ranko?'
"Ya Nabiki?"
"Thanks."
Ranma smiled despite not being able to be seen. "No problem, that's
what friends are for right?"
Nabiki laughed a bit. "Goodnight Ranko."
"Goodnight Nabiki."