From owner-ffml@ffml.fanfic.com Wed Jul 29 19:01:06 1998 Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by ffml.fanfic.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) id TAA23815 for ffml-outgoing; Wed, 29 Jul 1998 19:01:06 -0400 Received: from mailgate.telusplanet.net (mailgate.telusplanet.net [199.185.220.53]) by ffml.fanfic.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id TAA23812 for ; Wed, 29 Jul 1998 19:01:04 -0400 Received: from clgrps05.agt.net ([198.161.156.16]:54900 "EHLO clgrps05.agt.net" ident: "IDENT-NOT-QUERIED [port 54900]") by mailgate.telusplanet.net with ESMTP id <61958-3610>; Wed, 29 Jul 1998 16:53:29 -0600 Received: from default ([207.34.86.248]) by mail.telusplanet.net with SMTP id <269022-3152>; Wed, 29 Jul 1998 16:52:59 -0600 Message-ID: <35BFA6A9.2ECF@telusplanet.net> Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1998 16:48:09 -0600 From: David Johnston X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.02E-KIT (Win95; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: ffml@fanfic.com CC: ales@numerica.it Subject: [FFML] [Fanfic] [Ranma] The Way We Weren't 5.1 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-ffml@ffml.fanfic.com Precedence: bulk And Now For A Word From Our Sponsor: If thy prose offends thee, pluck it out. It is my sincere hope that dropping 2kb from TWWW 5 will significant lower the tedium quotient. Somebody hand me an axe. And now...the recut version of Chapter 5...with far less wasted time! ________________________________________________________ Characters and situations are adapted from the work of R. Takahashi without permission. No offense intended. Previous chapters may be found at http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Palace/3936/ffpage.htm The Way We Weren't Cue Theme Music: "She's Nobody's Girl" with the chorus in english and the rest in Japanese. Chapter 5 A colourful sunset was fading into twilight purples and greys as Ranma got back to the Tendo household, bouquet of red roses in hand. She had a remote, dreamy look in her eyes as she walked up to the front door on automatic pilot, went in and began to kick off her slippers. "Yo, Ranma!" She looked up to see Akira lounging against the bannister above her. "Where'd you go?" "Oh, didn't you hear Kuno challenge me? Well, I thought it was a challenge..." Ranma blushed and trailed off. He cast a jaundiced eye at the bouquet and commented "Oh I see. He was hitting on you, instead of hitting you?" She began to look guilty as she answered, defensively, "He didn't do anything except give me some flowers and tell me he uh..." She trailed off, uncertain of whether she wanted to repeat Kuno's declaration. Akira slid down to the ground floor and warned, "I gotta tell you, Kuno's kind of a pervert." "What? Because he's interested in me? That's a rotten thing to say! I mean you might have a problem but he doesn't even know about-" "Ranma? Is that you?" Nodoka Saotome emerged from the kitchen into the the hallway. "-ack". Ranma suddenly remembered what she was holding in her hand and quickly tried to hide the bouquet. As it whipped behind several rose petals tore free, and drifted down in front of her. "I wanted to give you the..." Nodoka broke off, looked at Ranma and asked, "What's that?" "What?" Ranma looked like a model of big-eyed cute innocence. "Behind your back, young lady." Nodoka's voice started to harden ominously. Ranma's "kawaii" act tended to mean that she was up to something. "Oh! You mean this?" Ranma reluctantly revealed the bouquet, and looked at it for a moment before inspiration hit and she thrust it toward Akira. "Here." "Why are you giving them to me?" Akira asked eyeing them warily. Ranma hissed, "Just take them, will you? I'm in trouble here." "It isn't very traditional but you should be flattered," Nodoka said with a Mona Lisa smile. "You must have made quite a favourable impression last night. It's not every boy who gets flowers from the girl, after all. "Hey! Don't get the wrong idea Mrs. Saotome. I didn't do-urk!" Suddenly a powerful grip from behind had wrapped around his midsection, cutting off his breath. Ranma, likewise caught, struggled feebly as their captor declared, "Oh, if only our husbands could be here to see the fulfillment of their dream!" Akira and Kaji came by their physical strength honestly. Mrs Tendo's deceptively pudgy form concealed surprising muscle. "It's hard to believe that things are going so well!" "That's because it's ... not true!" Akira gasped. "I dunno why she gave me those stupid flowers!" "They're not stupid!" Ranma wriggled free to glare at Akira. "They're a really nice gesture of affection!" "Affection? You wish! That isn't what it is at all." Nodoka tsked, "Akira, I think that Ranma's the best judge of her feelings for you." Kimeko's grip tightened again, with a good deal less affection in it. "That's right, my son. You aren't being at all nice to your fiancee. I expected better from you." Akira gritted his teeth, and conceded, "Thank you for the the flowers. I hope your florist makes you very happy." "Oh that's all right," Ranma assured him cheerfully with a mercurial change of mood. "Listen, I've got to practise for the gymnastics match. I got the basics from the Furinkan team after school, but you've seen Kodachi in action, right? Maybe you can give me pointers and help me practise." After they left for the dojo, Nodoka and Kimeko looked at each other. Kimeko spoke first. "There was something about that argument I didn't quite follow. Did you?" Nodoka shook her head. "No, not really, but with a disrespectful daughter such as mine, things are going as well as could be expected. Don't worry Kime-chan, our children will marry, and they will like it. Our families honor is safe." As soon as they were out of sight, Ranma gave a sigh of relief and commented, "Close one." "Whaddaya mean?" Akira argued. "You just got us in even deeper. Keep it up and we'll be married in a couple of months whether we like it or not! Why'd you have to give those flowers anyway?" "It was better than trying to explain to Mother what I was doing getting flowers from some other guy when I'm supposed to be engaged to you." "So why didn't you just trash 'em before coming home?" Ranma looked at him scornfully, "I don't know what Kodachi sees in you. You have the romance of-of a..." "So, you really falling for Kuno?" "No-oo." There was a hint of hesitation in Ranma's voice. "He's a loud mouth and kind of confusing. But it was really cool having a cute guy give me flowers like that. I never got any before...except for this one guy who kept mistaking me for his girlfriend." Akira shook his head, "You're such a flirt." "Am not." Ranma protested, "Kuno just took me by surprise, dummy. Are you going to help me practise or not?" "Might as well. It's best chance I have of at least getting Kodachi to keep away from me." _________________________________________________________ Kodachi Kuno smiled to herself as she slipped, ghostlike, over the wall surrounding the Tendo household. This was one of her favourite games, the monster in the dark. She'd rough the girl up, of course, but the point was the fear. Get your opponent to fear you and the victory was as good as yours, if she even dared show up for the match. A long time ago, Kodachi had come to the conclusion that the world was divided into victims and the victimizers. There was no question in her mind who had more fun. She silently jumped up to the convenient ledge circling the Tendo household. Thanks to her relationship with Akira, she knew the floorplan of the Tendo household by heart and it wasn't hard to deduce where boarders would be housed. She slid open the window and slipped inside. Practise had run late for Ranma, trying to work out problems with her ribbon work, the only gymnastic weapon that gave her trouble but was central to the whole style. Akira was no help at all, so she'd probably have to ask the Gymnastics Club for another lesson. Given that she was generally an early-to-bed up-with-the-dawn sort, she could hardly wait to hit her futon. She wearily walked into the room shared by her mother and pulled off her shirt. She was undoing her bra when she felt a quiver of movement behind her...and Ranma reacted instantly, rolling forward and out of the way of the gymnastic baton being used like a blackjack where the back of her skull should have been. She came up facing her opponent and instantly kicked the club out of Kodachi's hand as she tried for a second strike. Kodachi looked mildly impressed. "So, you do have some skill after all." "You again," Ranma snarled. "What? Couldn't wait for the day of the match?" Kodachi smirked. "The match began the moment I gave the challenge, dear." She seemed to produce her ribbon from nowhere, twirling it into an insubstantial barrier between them. "Now let's have a nice fair contest." "Hnh," Ranma commented, "You call this fair? You-" "Manners," Kodachi cautioned, flicking the ribbon out to slash painfully at Ranma's arm. "It's perfectly fair. My wits and body against yours. Believe me, I could be far less fair." "Whatever," Ranma conceded. "But I still want you out-" Ranma feinted to draw another ribbon slash. "-of-" Ranma twisted sideways and grabbed Kodachi's exposed wrist..."-my room!"...tossing her out through the window. Nodoka sat up, confused. Had someone just been talking? She looked around the empty room and wondered what had awakened, then heard the rapid thumping of feet running on the roof. Ranma? Her pajamas were laid out on her futon, shirt and bra beside them. That meant... "Ranma! Have you no modesty?" Ranma had completely failed to notice her topless state until she heard her mother shouting through the open window. The distraction left her wide open and Kodachi was quick to take advantage, her ribbon lashing across a very sensitive exposed area. Ranma screamed and lashed out without any restraint in a powerful punch that sent her attacker flying into the koi pond behind her which ended the fight. The victor briefly examined the still painful welt across her chest before looking up to see Kodachi floating face down and beginning to sink. A cold knot formed in Ranma's belly. The punch would have knocked Kodachi's breath out. If she'd inhaled at the wrong moment... Nikkei cursed his luck silently. He'd lost the chance for a topless frontal picture of Ranma's real form. Still he continued to take shots as her male guise pulled Kodachi out of the pond and laid her down on the grass. After all, Kodachi in a wet leotard was nothing to sneeze at. Too bad she was crazy. Hmm. Maybe he could find some girls who'd be interested in a few shots of Ranma's new look... Naaah. Kodachi awoke, choking and gasping a little with somebody holding her nose shut as he breathed into her mouth. She coughed out a little water and looked up at her rescuer's...beautiful...eyes. "Oh..." she murmured. "You saved me, kind sir. May I ask who my rescuer is?" "I'm Ranma-" It suddenly occured to Ranma that she didn't want her enemy knowing about the curse, and she continued, "-aaa's sister. I mean brother. And I don't like you attacking my sister in the middle of the night." That slut had this god for a brother? Kodachi supposed there was a slight resemblance if you overlooked Ranma's foul disposition. "Very well, kind sir. I promise to stay away from your sister until the day of the match on my honour as a Kuno." She'd win anyway since the girl would never be able to avoid disqualification when all her reflexes were oriented toward brutish bare-handed attacks. She continued, "But, please let me return the kiss you gave me..." Ranma froze as Kodachi's hands wrapped around her. That glint in her eye...she couldn't be serious! "But we're both..." Of course, Kodachi had no way of knowing that the boy she was embracing was actually a girl. Ranma pulled away but Kodachi kept hold, pulling herself up to close the gap... "YOU PERVERT!" Ranma and Kodachi both jerked in surprise as they heard Akira's voice. She hastily let go of "him" as they both looked at the sliding door which framed Akira. Having disentangled himself from the dining table, Akira wasn't inclined to be reasonable about the sight of his fiancee tangled up with his ex-girlfriend. He snarled, "Brother, _and_ sister? You really get around, don't you?" "It's not what it looks like!" Kodachi yelped. "I was just giving her mouth-to-mouth!" Ranma explained, then winced. That wasn't what she'd meant to say. "I mean-" Akira cut her off. "Never mind. Now that I think about it, you make a perfect couple." "But I didn't mean-" Kodachi didn't get a chance to finish her attempt to excuse herself as Akira turned and slid the door shut behind him. She sighed, "Ah well, I'd better give him some more time to cool down," and quickly made her exit over the wall. Nikkei smirked and made his own exit. "Ranma!" Ranma looked up to see her mother looking out the window down at her and paled. "Come up here at once. I think we need to discuss your behavior," Nodoka ordered. "Just...great." Ranma sighed and went inside. This was turning into a really long night. _________________________________________________________ And Now For A Word From Our Sponsor: Would have been out sooner, but I lost a chunk of the file to gremlins. Still looking for the lyrics of "Nobody's Girl" by Michelle Wright. Ranma! Why are you tieing up a chicken?