At dawn's first light, there was a boy sitting on top of a rock, cross legged and eyes closed. To anyone that didn't know him, it would appear as though he was meditating. Letting go of his earthly concerns, turning his thoughts inwards towards himself and reflecting upon his behaviour, his intentions, his plans, his morality and through this deep reflection upon his sense of self attain a higher level of peace of mind that would enable him to meet the day with strength, conviction and courage.
To those that did know Ranma Saotome, they would more accurately guess that he was sulking.
And give him one good reason why he shouldn't be sulking right now? That dirty old freak had sapped away his strength, and what good was a wimpy martial artist that couldn't even throw a punch? So he'd come out here to learn a new trick that didn't need strength from the old ghoul so he could get the chart back, and then what do you know?
"Stupid tomboy," he groused. "Got the hots for me so bad she couldn't leave me alone and came all the way out here." Letting her see him in this condition was the last thing he -
"Who has the hots for who?" said the girl grinding an elbow into the top of his head in a manner he could only accurately describe as "uncute". Probably "violent", "ill tempered" and "lousy marriage material" as well, if he was feeling particularly nasty.
"You're up early," Ranma observed as if that provided any kind of explanation for what he was saying aloud. The elbow lifted from his head, and he turned around to scowl at the uncute tagalong. Dressed up in her gi. Huh? "I thought you didn't have a change of clothes."
"Well, I could hardly go to sleep in my gi," Akane huffed, tugging hard on her belt. "Luckily, your good buddy Ukyo was kind enough to lend me something I could sleep in. Isn't that right, Ucchan?"
She was looking behind her, and so Ranma followed her line of sight. There she was. His oldest pal, sitting on the ground and staring up at the sky, hugging her knees and smiling the most contented smile he could ever remember seeing. Funny. She always used to have a bit more of a smirk about her, and only smiled like that when she was making okonomiyaki or watching someone enjoying some she'd made.
"Yeah," Ukyo sighed dreamily. "That's right."
Huh. Now, Ranma didn't quite know what to make of this. The reason he'd pulled Ukyo up here instead of the tomboy was, well, first of all Ukyo wouldn't make fun of him for being weak or anything like that. Which was what he meant by "can't stand to see him like this", because any other interpretation was a lie! A lie! A lie! Secondly, Ukyo could cook way better and was also a skilled enough martial artist to really help out in his training.
The fact she was a girl still really hadn't sunk in with him properly yet. But right now, even though she was fully clothed and not doing or saying much of anything, the fact she was a girl was hitting him full in the face with big, flashing neon signs dotted with the feminine symbol.
"You girls got on okay last night, then?" Ranma asked.
"Oh, yes!" Akane enthusiastically answered. "Actually, Ukyo showed me this really neat trick she could do with a spatula." The tomboy looked over her shoulder back towards Ranma's best friend, and did this weird sort of rolling motion with her shoulders. "One of these days, I'll have to ask her to show it to you as well."
"Hrnk!" Ukyo gasped.
"... Right, whatever," Ranma said, trying to maintain a cool aura. Really though, he was kinda happy that the two main chicks in his life were getting on okay. It made his life a little less complicated. Now if only he could find a way to get Shampoo to play nice... Good thing she wasn't here as well; having all three of them in the same place would be pretty bad. Last thing he needed was more distractions.
He kipped up and stalked off. Heh. Nothing wrong with his agility or dexterity. Unlike a certain someone else... "Might as well get on with this training, no point in hanging around chatting."
"Actually, I've been thinking about that," Akane said. Oh yeah, of course you have. "Maybe it would be better if you did this in girl form."
Girl form? Ranma turned back with a questioning glance. What was this girl up to now?
"It's just that I was thinking," Akane innocently repeated, rolling back and forth on her heels and twiddling her thumbs with perfect innocence. "As much as I hate to admit it, the only real edge you've ever had over Happosai was his perverted instincts. That means, if you really wanted to distract him your girl form would be better than your... Ah! Never mind. It was a dumb idea!"
"Well, you said it," Ranma huffed. Weird though. For a moment there he almost sort of felt as though he should consider going along with it. Sort of as if there was something in his memory of being a girl that was making him kind of want to go along with it.
Well, it was all part of the training anyway. So he put his mind towards that instead. A spiral. That was the key element. All he had to do was stay in the spiral, keep his head screwed on straight and then he could work on the very next step of the training. Yesterday had been a bust because his old man had cheated and used some of his most embarrassing old pictures.
But today was a brand new day! Today, he stood at the starting point of the spiral and he was centred. He was calm. He was not embarrassed. Nothing could distract him this time! On one side, his old man. Hovering around behind him, Ukyo and Akane. The old ghoul was watching him closely. All he had to do was not let anything his old man threw at him get him out of the -
... Did Ucchan just squeeze the tomboy's butt?
"Soul of ice!" Cologne yelled, bopping him hard atop the head with her blasted cane. "What on earth distracted you that time? I did not see or hear anything that should make you stumble like that."
"Nothing," Ranma said, glancing over towards the two girls. Standing just outside of arm's reach of each other. Acting all innocent. "Must be my imagination."
<hr>
Last night was a revelation. Ukyo Kuonji was a lesbian. There wasn't a straight bone in her body. Whatever she thought she was feeling for Ranma was self delusion. She could see that now. That didn't mean she didn't care for him: Ranma Saotome was a bit of a jerk, but he was still her best friend ever.
That was why she was so determined to help out. Ranma was her friend. Her friend was in trouble. So she was here to help. That's what friends do. Because he was her friend, and not her romantic interest. Therefore she would do almost anything to help him out.
Like, for example, kissing Akane on the cheek when Ranma got up to run the spiral again. There wasn't a young man alive that could maintain his cool on seeing two girls doing something like that together.
"I would think you would be taking this training seriously," Cologne warned.
Ranma scowled towards them. It was funny, but Ukyo would have probably found that sort of thing adorable before. Well. Now she still found it adorable, but more in a funny than sexy way. On the other hand, if Akane were to scowl at her like that, she would probably gush all over the place.
"Actually, it's our fault!" Akane admitted with her hand raised straight up in the air. "We're deliberately making really goofy gestures to distract him."
"Right," Ukyo said. "I mean, all he has to do is not get distracted, right? So we should keep doing what we're doing. It's all for your own good, Ranchan!"
"R-Right," Ranma said. "I think I get it now. Come on, all of you! Throw your worst at me. I'll master this soul of ice in no time flat!"
Their worst, huh? Well, somehow she was pretty sure even the dumb panda would notice if the two of them did something like what they were doing last night behind his back. That thing with the spatula... Ooh, still making her shiver! Regardless. It shouldn't be any problem at all thinking up little suggestive things they could do to attract his attention. Then, once they'd done that and he'd finished mastering the soul of ice, they'd see exactly how terrible this training could be!
- Ranma overcomes the nigh-irresistible distraction of two cute girls groping each other.
- Ranma decides to go girl for this part of the training to help himself focus.
- Cologne spots what they're doing, and notices something weird about Akane.
- Something else
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