(C&C welcome. Not to mention needed)

THE PROTECTOR
By Angela Jewell

An Alternate Reality Fanfic:
Same beloved characters, but whole new twists...

Standard Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is the property and creation of Rumiko Takahashi—there are lots of other names that are supposed to go here as well, but sadly, they all escape me. And more importantly, none of them are mine.

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Chapter 6
Love Connection?!
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…Nabiki Tendo was that collision.

No matter where he looked, there was no escape. The moment she started firing off her questions, she'd get the answers she was looking for whether he wanted her to or not. Ranma had enough problems as it was… he definitely didn't need another one in the form of Nabiki Tendo.

So once the inquisition began, he told her everything. About his father, his curse, and how he ended up at the academy in the first place.

If anything, her reaction only spurred him on…

She didn't act skeptical, disgusted, or afraid—heck, she didn't even seem surprised. And the fact that he had lied to her entire family about his curse didn't even seem to faze her! In fact, if anything, he'd say she looked amused by the whole thing.

"So you see," he continued, looking up from the water glass Nabiki had thought it funny to order for him, "that's why I decided to keep it secret. There ain't no point revealing it, not when it's more useful hidden." He paused for a moment, and looking up at Nabiki, swallowed nervously. He could only imagine how much his next question was gonna cost him. "So… you won't say anything, right?" he asked. "You'll keep my secret?"

Nabiki smiled. She looked cool and confident, like a woman who knew she held all the cards—and of course, in this case, she did. "Well, that depends," she said, deliberately allowing the words to trail off.

Putting a hand to his head, Ranma groaned. He knew Nabiki Tendo—at least, as much as anyone could know her—but reading a short description of the money-hungry, middle Tendo daughter in a quickly gathered case-file, did little to prepare him for how to deal with the real thing. Here he was, learning first-hand—and he could already feel his wallet growing lighter as a result.

Sometimes, being a martial artist meant knowing when to call it quits—when to cut your losses, and retreat—this was one of those times.

"Okay, sure, whatever you want," he told her, throwing up his hands in surrender. "I gotta be gettin' back either way—I can't be leaving Akane alone, what with Shampoo huntin' her and all. Just—send me a bill or somethin'." Standing up, Ranma prepared to beat a hasty retreat, only to be stopped by the sound of Nabiki's voice.

"Forgetting something?" she asked, nodding perceptibly towards the small dish of ice cream and the cup of coffee she'd ordered for herself.

Of course, he thought, how stupid of me. Digging into his pockets, Ranma pulled out a ¥5,000 note, and threw it on the table. "Keep the change," he muttered.

"My pleasure," said Nabiki.

Ranma couldn't leave the coffee shop fast enough. His original opinion of this case was steadily changing. Now he was afraid he wouldn't be able to afford it…

*          *          *

Ranma pushed the anger and frustration aside, plastering a fake smile on his face as he returned her happy little wave with one of his own. When she finally passed by, he let his arm fall back to his side and released a long sigh of relief.

Stupid, stupid Nabiki…

The students lingering in the hall had the good sense to look away—the few who didn't, received a withering glare for their trouble and a silent threat of more to come. Soon, the only ones remaining in the hallway were Ranma and Akane.

Well, he thought ruefully, another potential disaster narrowly avoided…

He could see Akane out of the corner of his eye, giving him strange looks.

…Or not.

"Ranma," she began at last, no longer able to contain her curiosity. "Why does Nabiki keep looking at you and waving? And why does she keep asking you if you'd like a cold glass of water?"

"Err, it's nothing, really," he said, brushing the question away. "She just, uh, helped Ranko with something. That's all. Guess I'm their go-between or something."

Akane didn't look completely convinced, but she replied with a half-hearted "Oh," and let the question drop anyway.

That was fine by Ranma. Not having to worry about Akane left him free to focus his energy on other, more important issues. Like, for instance, how to stop Nabiki Tendo; or the best way to get revenge on Nabiki Tendo without getting caught; or how to get Nabiki to stop dropping hints about his curse every single time they were within ten feet of each other.

Man, she was driving him crazy! If she made one more stupid joke about water, he didn't know what he'd do!

Again, he found himself wondering how one person could be so infuriating… so evil. Was everyone in Nerima this deranged…?

The answer (though he wasn't exactly looking for one) came in the form of loud, shrill laughter; followed closely by a shower of black rose-petals.

*          *          *

It wasn't just the fact that all he ever saw her wearing was a plain green leotard, and little else… but mainly the fact that she seemed hopelessly, obsessively, in love with him. That in itself wasn't exactly unusual—he was a handsome, talented martial artist, after all. But Kodachi's way of expressing that love was strange and disturbing to say the least. In that twisted deranged head of hers, she'd proclaimed Akane Tendo the last person standing in the way of their "holy union" and had tripled her efforts to "eradicate" her foe once and for all.

Ranma knew all of this because she had told him so.

…Yes. Something about the girl was definitely not normal…

He had caught his very first glimpse of it earlier that morning, when Kodachi (from her position on top of the school's fence) suddenly threw a spiked club that was aimed directly for his short-haired charge's head. Akane, not breaking stride, had moved out of the way just in the nick of time, seemingly unbothered by the whole incident—as if dodging dangerous, flying weapons, was the most natural thing in the world.

Throughout the day, similar instances kept occurring. During gym class, he had been shocked to hear a loud explosion coming from the girl's softball field. Seconds later, he'd seen Kodachi Kuno, covered in black soot, her leotard slightly singed. The guys were quick to inform him that one of her exploding softballs had backfired on her. Again.

And then, there was the flowers incident….

The classroom still smelled of rotten-eggs and garbage—the results of a homemade knock-out gas that had been lovingly left for Ranma in the form of a bouquet of black roses. Ranma still didn't want to think about what might have happened if Akane hadn't been there to intercept Kodachi's little "gift".

Yes. Kodachi Kuno wasn't normal. And if she was this bad, he could only imagine what her deranged brother must be like!

How Akane had managed to survive this long without him was a mystery. She was either insanely lucky—or she had the stupidest, most incompetent rivals on the planet. Personally, he hoped it was the latter. Dealing with Shampoo would be a whole lot easier if all her attacks blew up in her face like they did for Kodachi….

The reprieve of Kodachi's absence didn't last long. Now, sitting in Akane's last class of the day, Ranma found himself bored out of his skull. For a moment, he almost wished Kodachi was there—at least then he'd have something to focus on instead of a long, boring math lecture. As it were, every few minutes he'd catch himself staring up at the wall, his eyes watching the clock.

He had long since given up the good-student-façade, and had reverted back to the more natural and believable state of a student anxious to leave. Even though Furinkan was no where near as bad as some of the other schools he'd attended in the past—a certain bread feud came to mind—when all was said and done, he'd always prefer the freedom of the outdoors or the openness of a dojo, to the confined walls of a school. Chaos seemed to follow him wherever he went anyway… at least the other two afforded some extra space to maneuver.

Not that he was gonna need it…

It had already been several days, and still no blood-thirsty Amazon had shown up at their doorstep. Ranma knew enough about Amazons to realize this wasn't exactly normal—especially when the kiss of death was involved. Chinese Amazons were fierce, dangerous competitors, who hated to lose. If that Shampoo-girl was a real Amazon she'd track Akane to the ends of the earth if she had to.

And that, he realized, was the problem.

Nabiki and Kasumi had handed them their address on a silver platter—map included…

…Shampoo should've been here by now.

The fact that she wasn't, had him more confused and relieved than anything else. He wasn't naïve or stupid enough to think she'd simply given up—Akane had that honor. Far as he could figure, she was probably buying her time, plotting some sorta strategy… that, or she was just a terrible tracker. Who knew, maybe she was worse than that idiot Ryoga!

Ranma laughed quietly at his own joke, and feeling amused, glanced over at Akane. She was chewing on the end of her pencil, looking deeply involved in the teacher's boring lecture. Every few seconds, she'd bend intently over her notebook to write down some quick equation, and then return her full attention to the front of the classroom.

She was the only one—most of the other students had given up a long time ago. Some appeared to have fallen asleep, while the others, looking bored and impatient for the class to end, sat stiffly in their seats, some slumped over.

Ranma didn't blame them. Again his eyes drifted longingly to the clock. Any minute now, he tried to convince himself, all while trying to mentally force the hands on the clock to move faster.

"Surely, my ears deceive me," came a voice, loud and arrogant from the front of the room. With mild interest, Ranma lifted his head, eyes searching for the owner of the voice. It didn't take long—all he had to do was follow the direction the other twenty-four heads in the room were facing.

There, standing proudly in the doorway of their classroom, was a tall upperclassman. He was dressed in a dark blue hakama, a wooden boken held tightly in his right hand, looking self-important and arrogant… just the way Akane had described him.

Kuno Tatewaki... Kodachi's brother. It couldn't be anyone else.

Their math teacher, oddly enough, hadn't reacted at all to the interruption. He was still standing in the front of the classroom, seemingly oblivious as he continued to write out the complicated, lengthy equation he'd been trying to explain for the last ten minutes. Ranma couldn't help but wonder if he even realized Kuno was there...

Not that it mattered, he realized. Suddenly, the upperclassman—"Blue Thunder" he heard several students whispering behind him—began to laugh. A cold, dry sound, with no humor.

"Beautiful and fair, Akane Tendo, engaged? Truly, the fates jest!"

Ranma glanced at Akane out of the corner of his eye, surprised to see her head was now lying conveniently on her desk. Grinning widely, he bent over and poked her lightly in the arm. "Hey, Akane, I think ya got a visitor," he whispered.

Trying not to draw attention to herself, Akane turned her head so she was peering at him over the crook of her arms. "Oh, really?" she snapped. "What was your first clue, Ranma? Honestly! You're such an idiot!"

He merely shrugged as if to say 'yeah, so what?' and leaned closer. "What are ya hidin' for anyways? You got hired help, remember? That guy can't come within a foot of ya, without your say-so."

At his words, Akane seemed to brighten. Her entire face lit up, and she smiled suddenly; her eyes shining as she stared at him. Ranma swallowed nervously, and blushing, forced himself to look away. Suddenly, he had a very good idea of what all the guys in this school saw in her. It didn't happen often, but she really was… well, cute. For a violent tomboy that is…

"Okay, then," she said happily, sitting up. "I order you to keep Kuno-senpai away from me, Ranma—if you don't, consider yourself fired."

Cracking his knuckles in anticipation, he made a move to stand. "Heh. Consider it done," he assured her. It had been awhile since he'd had a real fight, and he was itching for a worthy opponent. Not that he actually thought the guy at the door could provide him with one—but beggars couldn't be choosers. "Just you watch, Akane. I'll sweep the floor with this guy and—" the words quickly died in his throat.

…Apparently "the fates" had bigger plans for Kuno…

The chime, signaling the end of class, saved him from his impending beating. Before the upperclassman even had time to place one foot inside the door, class had been officially dismissed, releasing a throng of excited students straight in the path of the approaching Shakespearean Kendoist—the last thing standing between them and freedom.

Ranma watched in shock as the strange senpai was suddenly swept through the hallway amidst a flurry of excited students; screaming in indignation all the way.

"Well, that went well," Akane said, smiling brilliantly at the place Kuno once stood. Ranma looked at her crestfallen.

"Ah, geez, I wanted to meet the guy. Or at least pound him."

Akane rolled her eyes. "Something tells me you'll have more than enough chances, Ranma. Believe me… in some ways, he's worse than Kodachi."

"Yeah right," he said, following her out of the classroom and into the hallway. He couldn't imagine anyone being worse than that crazy gymnast. But then again, he had been wrong before…

…And that was when the wall suddenly, inexplicably exploded

*          *          *

Maybe dragging her out of the classroom hadn't been such a great idea after all, he reflected—seconds later, Akane shoved him against the wall and out of her way, confirming his suspicions.

"Dammit, Kodachi," she shouted, her anger now directed elsewhere. "Can't I have even a moment's peace…" words trailed off, forgotten, as she slowly realized that it wasn't Kodachi standing before her.

Instead, against the backdrop of a brilliantly shining sky, weakened only by the dust her extravagant entrance had created, stood a beautiful, purple-haired Amazon; her violet eyes spitting fire.

"Akane," the other girl shouted, bonborri poised to strike, "you, I kill!"

Ranma reacted instantly. Grabbing Akane, he pulled her sharply to the left, just barely out of reach of a flying bonborri—his eyes, scanning the narrow hallway, searching for a quick exit. Akane wasn't offering much help. She was still frozen beside him; eyes wide and focused entirely on Shampoo. She looked like she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing… as if the idea of the Chinese warrior actually following her to Japan, had never once crossed her mind.

He didn't have time to say "I told you so", though he was definitely tempted… if anything could snap her out of her temporary shock, he knew that would. But the last thing he needed was to fight off an angry client AND an angry Amazon.

For now, he knew his only real option was to grab Akane and get the hell outta there. He couldn't fight the girl here, not with all these people around—not if he wanted to avoid an unwanted marriage, or a couple of student casualties.

…Which is why, when it happened, even he was surprised…

One minute, he was pushing Akane towards the nearest window; the next, Shampoo was standing in front of him, having somehow maneuvered herself so she was standing between him and Akane. Then Ranma's eyes were focused on one thing: the heavy weapon raised over her head, ready to strike. Without thinking, he swept the Amazon's legs out from under her, causing her to temporarily lose her balance—just enough to send the weapon flying out of her hands.

Everything after that happened in slow motion: the bonborri suspended in midair, directly above Shampoo's startled, upturned face—until, flipping end over end, gravity finally took over. It had to land somewhere…

…In this case, it was on the purple haired Amazon's head.

Without so much as a startled yelp, the girl went down.

Ranma stood there, shocked and angry at himself—staring in wide-eyed horror. It was an accident—just an accident! They wouldn't actually count that, would they! His mind was busy going over the multitude of rules the Amazons followed… searching desperately for some long-ago overlooked condition he may have missed. In the end, what it all came down to was that he was too god damned talented for his own good...

…He was doomed.

"Move aside base knaves! How dare you stand betwixt me and my beloved!"

Ranma turned to see the upperclassman from earlier weaving in and out of the crowd, making his way toward their general direction. He didn't have much time to dwell on it—seconds later, he felt a tugging on his arm, and looked over to see Akane pointing silently at Shampoo—Shampoo, who had slowly began to stir. His mind was screaming at him to turn and run… but his stupid, traitorous body, refused to move.

He was still debating what to do when Shampoo sat up, shaking her head dazedly as she began to look around. She scanned the mass of surrounding people with narrowed accusing eyes, and when she spoke her words were short and clipped; spoken in broken Japanese. "Who—hit—Xian Pu?"

Ranma began to laugh nervously, panic-stricken. He was too young; too handsome; too talented to be tied-down! He couldn't marry her—he wouldn't! With all these thoughts racing through his head, Ranma wracked his brain, searching for a loop-hole. It wasn't until he felt movement to his left, followed by a very distinct voice almost at his ear that his mind finally began to clear.

He didn't even wait for the crazy Kendoist to stop sprouting his "goddess Akane Tendo's" name. Grabbing the upperclassman by the front of his hakuma, he shoved him quickly before the furious Amazon; his own voice rising to be heard over the enraged voice of his senpai. "This guy," he told the purple-haired Amazon, pointing for emphasis, "this one here—the guy in front of you. Definitely!"

Shampoo eyed the stranger for a moment, her eyes taking in the blue hakuma, the arrogant expression, the wooden boken held tightly in his hands. He looked stunned and slightly confused by the sudden attention, but stood tall and proud, as if he were usedto it.

…Slowly, she smiled for him, her initial reasons for being in Japan completely forgotten as she stared fondly at the man that had managed to best her. Kuno, clearing his throat, nodded sagely. "Very well… if you wish to date the famous blue thunder of Furinkan high, then defeat me in honorable combat. I shall permit no other terms."

Shampoo tilted her head cutely, her smile broadening as she slowly stood up. Her eyes were wide and loving as she stared at him, then, before "blue thunder" even knew what was happening, she had leaned forward, wrapping her arms around his neck…

…Kissing him.

Kuno stood frozen in place, hands at his side, his mighty boken having fallen from nerveless fingers to hit the floor. The hallway had long since grown quiet...

But nothing lasts forever. Soon Ranma was hearing muttered protests, and angry jealous shouts from many of the surrounding boys. Even Akane looked angry. Grabbing his arm, her tone disgusted, she asked, "Ranma, what were you thinking? Kuno may be a jerk, but he doesn't deserve to die!"

"Does that look like a girl who wants him dead, dummy?" Ranma shot back, gesturing to the happy couple. Shampoo had pulled away now and was staring at Kuno with wide, adoring eyes.

"Wode Airen," she said, hugging him fiercely.

Akane looked stunned… and very, very confused. Not giving her the chance to reply, Ranma grabbed her arm, leading her quietly away from the scene. Once they were out of the line of fire, he released a sigh—though he didn't dare reduce his speed. "Well," he said brightly, smiling. "That went well!"

Akane didn't look quite as convinced. "Yeah," she said. "But for who?"

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End of Chapter 6
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CHAPTER 7