Kasumi had been kind enough to make Akane and Ranma a quick snack before they went to bed. She didn't like to see anyone going to sleep hungry. At first, she had hoped that they could become friends, so she had had Akane show the new member of the household around. It had all gone well, she thought. Yes, Ranma had been moody, but he had at least let Akane lead him around, and even agreed to spar with her.
Then, they hadn’t shown up for dinner. Kasumi had been too occupied entertaining Mr. Saotome to get a moment to check on them, and had to eat her own food. To her shock, Mr. Saotome had then proceeded to eat Ranma and Akane’s food, justifying it by saying, “A true martial artist knows to protect their food. If they're not here, that's on them.”
Father turned to Mr. Saotome, visibly angry. “I won't tell you how to raise your son, Saotome, but I won't let you take away my daughter's food.”
Mr. Saotome sneered at father. “She's a martial artist herself, isn't she, Tendo? Have you really raised her to be so weak that she needs special treatment?”
The time it took father to come up with a rebuttal was all Mr. Saotome needed to polish off the rest of Akane's food. Kasumi hadn't accounted for Mr. Saotome eating three Akane's worth of food, if left unchecked.
Once all the food was gone Nabiki volunteered herself to be the bearer of bad news. Kasumi couldn't help but overheard her humming as she made her way to the Dojo. Her younger sister and future brother-in-law entered the main house, refusing to make eye contact with each other.
Kasumi turned to the two latecomers, a smile on her face. “Well, dinner proper is over, but wait a few moments, and I’ll have something ready to replenish your strength.”
She entered the kitchen while the pair headed to the living room. Father was already there, cleaning dishes from the main dinner. Like a well oiled machine, the two worked on the tasks they had assigned themselves, making sure that Akane and Ranma were fed promptly. Kasumi retired to her room, where she spent an hour reading before finally turning off the light in her room and drifting off to sleep.
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“You’re going to school with Akane, Ranma. On this I will see no argument.” Soun was annoyed that Ranma and Genma seemed to be staying at his house indefinitely. The best he could hope to do is make sure his future son-in-law would get a high school education.
Genma frowned. “Ranma needs to train all day with me, he’s too old for school. He’s a man, and he better act like one.”
Soun frowned. He was starting to remember why he hadn’t been in contact with Genma for quite some time now. “Perhaps spending time with Akane will help mend their relationship. You do want them to be on good terms, right?”
Before Genma could stick his foot further in his mouth, Ranma chimed in. “I’m pretty much the best fighter in Japan. I guess I could spend a little less time training and a little time learning. But it’s not like I’d get along much better with your little tomboy.”
Akane stared daggers into Ranma. “And like I’d ever want to get along with this jackass, anyway.”
Breakfast was just starting to end, and Nabiki had leapt out the door with a “Leaving now!”, not wanting to get caught up in the verbal slugfest that had cost two idiots their dinner.
Soun sighed. “Akane, would you take Ranma to school, please? Make sure he gets registered correctly.”
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Akane sighed, but did not actually put up much protest as she dragged Ranma up the road to school. Akane took the route at a slight jog, which Ranma only needed to power walk behind her to keep up. Ranma tried to initiate a conversation several times along the way, but that only led to Akane running ever so slightly faster. By the time he gave up, he himself was jogging after the short-haired girl, keeping an eye on her uniform as it sped away from him.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
They ran past an old lady spreading cold water over the sidewalk to clean it. Ranma lept high into the air, doing a small summersault in order to vault out of the way of his masculinity’s impending doom.
They arrived at the gates to Furinkan High with time to spare. Akane had given her bookbag to Ranma to hold for her a few blocks before the entrance to the school, “to make the chaos go ever so slightly faster”.
Akane rolled her eyes, seeing the crowd of boys waiting for her as she crossed over the threshold, speaking for the first time since they left the Dojo. “In case you didn’t already figure it out, jackass. I. Hate. Boys.”
Ranma didn’t quite get what she meant, but the turn of phrase piqued his curiosity. He sat up on the wall and watched his fiancée as she wove and punched her way through, as seemingly every boy in school changed at her, screaming nonsense. The sky started to darken, and clouds rolled in as the fight began.
Akane honestly impressed him. Sure, the boys charging at her were wholly unsuited to practice the art, and their sloppy punches, kicks, and swings easily telegraphed where not to be in any given moment, but none of their hits even grazed Akane, even among the flurry of chaos. She had been holding back last night, he was sure of it.
Once she was standing in a pile of fragile masculinity, she beckoned with her head, and he followed her inside. They made it inside the threshold of the school just as the clouds opened up and started pouring.
After handing his registration paperwork to the absolutely enthused registrar staff. Ranma found out that he would have the same homeroom as Akane. She waited outside of the locker room as he changed into the uniform, and led him into their homeroom up on the third floor. As they climbed the stairs, Ranma noticed that the sky was sunny and mostly devoid of clouds. On the way up the stairs, Akane explained to him why she ended up having to fight a horde of boys every single day, and how she hoped that their engagement would put an end to it all.
The homeroom teacher of 1-F turned to the pair entering just by the bell. “You must be the Ranma Saotome I’ve just been told about?”
Ranma nodded. “I’m Ranma Saotome, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
The teacher nodded. “Since you’re already acquainted with Miss Tendo, please take the open seat next to her.”
“Great, now I need to babysit this macho jackass in class, too…” Akane muttered under her breath.
“Not like I asked to be babysat by the macho tomboy…” Ranma quipped back.
Ranma shuffled into his assigned seat, and took out a notebook. He had thought he paid attention enough in middle school, and he did get generally passing grades, but not much of what he had been taught he actually retained. He wanted to fix that and actually study this time. If he was gonna be forced to go to high school, he was going to make the most of it.
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A chime resonated through the classroom after a couple of classes seemed to fly by. Akane got out of her seat in a huff, and ran off to find her friends, leaving Ranma to eat lunch, alone.
As Ranma took stock of the bento in front of him, two guys came over to him. “Hey, how do you know Akane? She’s like, totally hot.”
Ranma turned to the source of the question. “Excuse me, what the fuck.”
The boy who had spoken before looked a bit taken aback. “Oh, sorry, I’m Hiroshi, and this is Daisuke. What’s your name?”
Ranma sighed. “It’s Ranma…”
Daisuke, seeming satisfied, gave Ranma a malicious grin. “Great, so now we all know each other, how do you know Akane? She’s like…”
Ranma punched Daisuke in the face to cut him off, sending him to the other side of the room. He growled. “Get the fuck away from me, and stay away from my fiancée, you creeps…”
He always hated when guys did this to girls. He figured most other boys turned the frustration of not being girls to be total jackasses to them, and it made him feel sick inside whenever they did it. He could count on one hand the boys who didn’t let their frustration show.
Mentally counting on his fingers, he ate the rest of his lunch in peace, no one really daring to go near him, instead simply talking in hushed voices about his and Akane’s engagement. Well, I guess she’ll be okay with it, she did want this after all, and hopefully this'll get the horde to stop attacking her every morning…