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Ranma 1/2: Another Approach
Part 9
By Jack Staik, Bookkeeper-At-Arms
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"Taidama!" Ranma called out as he came in.

"We were getting worried, Ranma-kun," Kasumi said. "You're
late."

"Sorry," he said. "Some loony wanted a fight, and I lost the
bread and butter, so I had to get more."

"That's quite all right."

"Where's Nabiki?"

"In her room," Kasumi answered with a smile. "Did you miss
her?"

"I just wanted to talk to her, that's all."

"Of course."

As Ranma headed for the stairs, Kasumi called out, "And
remember to keep the door open! We wouldn't want you two to
be tempted!"

"Kasumi!" Ranma answered, shocked. "I wasn't even *thinking*
that!"

Kasumi smiled, knowing that he *would* be thinking it, now
that she suggested it.

<A little nudge here, a hint there ... and there will be a
new Mistress of the House ...>

A pleasant daydream ran through Kasumi's mind ...

<BACKGROUND: traditional Shinto wedding, with Nabiki and
Ranma as the bride and groom.>
<FOREGROUND: KASUMI boarding a train, baggage in hand. The
train had a sign on it reading 'Destination - Anywhere But
Here'.>
<KASUMI: So long, suckers!>
<The train pulls away as NABIKI is shackled to the house.>

As she brought out the afternoon tea, Soun noticed that
Kasumi had an unusually large smile today.

 * * * * * * * * * *

Ranma tried to shake the image of Nabiki's door shutting, of
the two of them alone, of Nabiki climbing into his lap ...

"Hey, Biki," he said cheerfully, trying not to look at her
legs, revealed by her short shorts.

Nabiki looked up from the manga she was reading. "Hiya,
kareshi."

"I was wondering - you know anything about a loony named
Kodachi Kuno?"

Nabiki smiled. He had become accustomed to asking her for
information; it wouldn't take long before he was just
listening to her advice without thinking.

(And if anyone knew she supplied that information without
charging, they'd be horrified. But just collecting advance
wagers based on his tryouts for the various teams and
athletic clubs had more than paid for any services she'd
provided.)

"Sit down," she said, patting the bed.

Ranma hesitantly sat on the edge of the bed. Nabiki smiled
to herself; his shyness was endearing, in it's way.

"Kodachi Kuno - younger sister of Tatewaki Kuno, student at
St Hebreke Girls' School - a private school; all the
students are from rich families and were kicked out of other
schools for disciplinary problems. In Kodachi's case, that
includes fighting and arrests for drug possession."

"A junkie," Ranma said scornfully. He'd run into abusers of
steroids and pain-killers more than once in his travels, and
had developed a fine contempt for users of chemicals.

"She's also the Captain of the St Hebreke Kakuto Shintaiso
Squad."

"'Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics'?" he said curiously.

"A new Art, just a few years old. Mostly an artistic and
competition form. I've got a few books on it."

"Can I borrow them? I ran into Kodachi, and she'll probably
be by to challenge me."

"What did you do to tick her off?" Nabiki asked while
sorting through her bookshelf.

"Kept her from beating some unconscious people."

"Sounds right."

"How so?"

"Her Rhythmic Gymnastics team's unbeaten record is mainly
from the huge number of forfeits. In almost every single
competition, they're the only team that doesn't have a rash
of 'accidents' before the match."

Ranma nodded. "She cheats."

"Big time."

"So she'll probably try something dirty before she shows up
to officially challenge me."

Nabiki shrugged. "If she doesn't forget it entirely. She
tends to be flighty."

"Thanks, Biki," Ranma said.

"Anytime, kareshi," Nabiki answered.

Ranma turned and saw Nabiki had moved closer to him ...
close enough to smell her, to see the tiny flecks of gold in
her brown eyes.

The words Kasumi said came back to him; 'We wouldn't want
you two to be tempted'.

For the first time, Ranma *was* tempted. It would be so easy
... just lean forward and ...

"uh - I better go," he said nervously, jumping up and almost
running out of the room.

"Your books!" she said.

"Oh, yeah," he replied, turning around and taking the books
before leaving.

Nabiki gazed after him. He'd *wanted* to. He had been
starting to lean forward, almost about to kiss her. Slowly
but surely, she was wearing him down.

The thought of Ranma wanting her warmed her oddly; not the
warmth of acquisition or triumph, but ... deeper, warmer.

Nabiki put it out of her mind. It made her feel something
that she didn't want to think about.

 * * * * * * * * * *

(Later that day ...)

Ranma approached the dojo, where Akane was (supposedly)
doing some relaxing Tai Chi katas, allowing her duelling
injuries to heal.

He saw some strange figures as he entered the dojo -
bandaged figures, clustered around Akane..

"Hey! Aren't you the guys that were fighting with that
Kodachi girl earlier?"

"No," one of them said, "We're the *girls* who were fighting
with that Kodachi girl earlier."

Ranma looked, and saw ... oops. "Gomen. Heh heh," he said,
smiling and blushing.

Akane smiled at her sensei. "This is the Furinken High
School Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Squad. They're
scheduled to have a match with St Hebreke next week -"

"- and Kodachi Kuno happened while they weren't looking," he
interrupted.

"You've heard of her," one of the girls remarked.

"I met her. Tried to cut my head off with a razor-edged
hoop."

"Then you know what she's like!" one of them said. "All our
training equipment was infested with *termites*!"

Another girl piped up; "She dumped weird chemicals in our
leotards! We got rashes all over our bodies!"

"And poor Akiko - our team captain - got beaten up in her
own *bed*!" the third one wailed.

"So what brings you here?" Ranma asked.

"They asked me to substitute for them!" Akane said proudly.

"For the captain?"

"Nope - the whole team!" she almost crowed. <I'll show *you*
who the best is!>

"Forget it, teishi," Ranma said forcefully. "You have
fifteen stitches in your thigh, remember? How are you
supposed to train for a competition?"

"I can do it," she said.

"Ha!"

One of the girls acted worried. "But where else are we
supposed to find a martial artist with gymnastics training
who looks good in a leotard??"

Akane got a nasty grin on her face. She might catch hell for
it, but it was too good to pass up. "We *could* ask Ranma's
'sister' Ranko -"

"Forget it, teishi!" Ranma insisted.

"Why not, 'sensei'?" Akane teased. "Don't you think your
'sister' could do it?"

"Easily," he answered. "But it's not 'her' fight. 'She's'
not an official Furinken student, and this is not a matter
of the Dojo's honor. 'She' has no stake in it." He leaned
close to her. "Are you tryin' to embarass me??"  he hissed.

"Yes!" she whispered sweetly. "Is it working?"

"Hey!" One of the other girls asked. "Isn't Ranko the girl
who's dating Akane -"

<YANK!!>

"WHAT WAS THAT??" Akane asked.

"Um - nothing?"

"That's right!"

Inspiration struck Ranma. It would be embarassing, but ...

"Y'know, Ranko might do it anyway," he said. "I'll go get
her and you girls can ask her yourself."

The girls were excited to get this opportunity. Perhaps they
had a chance.

Akane watched as Ranma left. What was her sensei up to now?

"YOOOO-HOOOO!! AKANE-CHAN!" cried a cute little voice.

Into the dojo skipped Ranko - in a frilly ultra-kawaii pink
dress, festooned with ribbons and lace.

"Oh my pwecious Akane-chan! Have you been working out too
much? My poor widdle darling! Let me soothe you!" Ranko
picked up Akane and hugged her.

"YAAHH! STOP THAT!"

The bandaged girls looked on. "Um ... are *you* Ranko
Saotome?"

"Oh yes!" she answered. "And I'm Akane-chan's widdle
snuggle-bear!"

"NO! NO! ALL LIES!!" Akane protested.

"That's not what you said last night," Ranko cooed.

The girls all blushed bright enough to be seen through their
bandages.

"AAAAAAAA!!!" Akane screamed, her hair standing on end.

"Oh!" Ranko said cutely, putting down Akane and turning to
the gymnastics team. "Ranma-oniichan says you need me to
help your team!" She gazed at them with an expression
containing enough kawaii to kill small life-forms. "I'd
*loooove* to help all of you out in your locker rooms and in
your cute tight leotards and giving hot oil rubdowns -"

Their eyes bugged out. "NO! NO! That's alright! We're sure
Akane will be all the help we need, hentai - er, Ranko!
Thanks, anyway ... er, bye!"

<ZOOM!!>

Ranma-chan fell to the floor, holding her sides while
laughter convulsed her body.

Akane fumed, her battle-aura blazing. "WHAT THE HELLS DO YOU
THINK YOU'RE DOING - 'SENSEI'?!?"

"Teaching you martial arts!" she chortled.

"HOW DOES HUMILIATING ME AND WRECKING MY REPUTATION TEACH ME
MARTIAL ARTS??" she bellowed, hands extended for strangling.

Akane found her hands gripped in an unbreakable hold.

"*This* is the lesson," Ranma-onna said calmly. "You sought
to embarass me - and I embarassed you more. You use a weapon
or technique, and that encourages your opponent to use a
more powerful version."

Akane's battle-aura damped down. "But that didn't have to do
with training -"

"Yes, it did. *Everything* is training."

Akane stared mutely.

"Remember - don't use something you're not ready to defend
against." Ranma-onna let go of Akane's wrists. "Now, I'm
going to change, and when I get back, we'll start on today's
lessons."

Akane sat on the dojo floor and fumed. How *dare* that -
that *sensei*!! - lecture her like that?? Not to mention
embarassing her in that stupid dress -

Akane's head jerked up. "HEY!! THAT WAS MY DRESS!!"

 * * * * * * * * * *

(A bit later ...)

Nabiki brought some drinks out to the dojo - her sister and
boyfriend might be thirsty (odd how comfortable she'd gotten
with that thought ... 'boyfriend').

The two of them were squatting on the floor of the dojo,
their attention focused on a chalk circle drawn on the
floor. Various colored glass beads were scattered around in
the circle.

"What are you doing?" Nabiki asked.

"Training," Akane said, concentrating on the circle.

Ranma took a colored bead between thumb and forefinger and
flicked it into the circle, where it hit another bead,
knocking it out of the circle.

"What sort of training is this?" Nabiki asked.

"Martial Arts Marbles," Ranma said.

Recognition hit Nabiki. "Isn't this a gaijin children's
game?"

"European, but it was perfected in America and Canada. Why?"
Ranma said.

"What does this have to do with martial arts?"

Akane and Ranma looked at each other and smiled. Akane had
asked that question just a little while ago.

Ranma picked up a handful of marbles and flicked them at a
training dummy at high speed.

The head vanished first in a puff of sawdust. Then the upper
torso was ripped apart as if by a machine gun, filling the
air with sawdust. Even the wooden support it was mounted on
was blasted to splinters.

Nabiki watched in amazement as the training dummy was torn
to shreds. In seconds, it had ceased to exist.

"Oh," Nabiki non-sequitured.

"'Oh' she says," Ranma commented, grinning.

"Ranma's added elements from the Zen forms of Kyudo to it,"
Akane said enthusiastically. "It's a martial arts form in
it's own right now. And I'm pretty good now."

"Hmph," said Ranma.

"And what's *that* supposed to mean?" Akane snapped.

"Loosely translated, it means, 'You're good when I say
you're good, and not before.'"

"Oh yeah??"

"Yup."

Akane grabbed a marble in her hand and flicked it at Ranma.
"STEEL-EYE ASSAULT!!"

Ranma caught it, then flicked it back.

The projectile whizzed past Akane's ear. "Ha! You missed!"


Kasumi jumped in shock as a loud POW sounded, a dent
appearing in the front of the refrigerator.


Akane readied another attack when she felt a sudden blow to
the back of her knee. Before she realized it, she was on her
back, her handful of marbles clattering across the floor.

"When I say, not before."

Akane could have probably coped a lot better with it if
Nabiki wasn't sniggering.

 * * * * * * * * * *

Kodachi Kuno, the beautiful and talented Black Rose of St
Hebreke (as she so modestly admitted), watched the Tendo
home, waiting for the lights to die.

Her spies - er, friends - had told her of the Furinken team
resorting to asking the martial artist Akane Tendo (whose
visage was plastered all over her imbecillic sibling's room)
to compete for them. She also learned that the uncouth boy
with the sculpted pectorals and ocean-blue eyes was her
sensei.

As soon as the lights went out, she could kill two birds
with one stone.

-------------------
Next time: Akane's Rhythmic Gymnastics Training! Kodachi
meets Ranko! And Kuno Gets Romantic!


