Change, Grow, To Live by Shaule Sachs Part 3 = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = Version 0.4 = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = Akane Tendo awoke feeling that something was wrong... what it was that caused that feeling inside of her, she couldn't say. But the feeling was there. It didn't to go away as she bathed, dressed, and finally headed towards the breakfast table. It was there that she got the first inkling of what was wrong... Seated around the table was her father, Soun, at the head, her older sister, Nabiki, to his left, and the eldest Tendo daughter, Kasumi, was seated on her father's right. Kasumi was serving her father, first, then Nabiki, a bowl next to Nabiki for Akane, and then for herself. The fact that Kasumi would start serving before everyone was present shocked Akane to her core... True, she had just came into the room and she was running late... But still, what about Ranma? Where was he? Usually, he was the first one to appear for breakfast having been up already practicing in the dojo since dawn. True, it sounded like it had rained last night, and Ranma never was in a good mood when he got drenched as he watched the stars from a place on the roof above her room, but to miss breakfast? Ranma miss breakfast... that was as unusual as Kasumi's serving before Ranma had come to the table... Unless... Unless Ranma didn't even wait for her to get ready... It would be just like that baka to eat and ran off to school for the final exams without her. He probably didn't even have breakfast here... he must have gone to Ukyou's for breakfast... Probably laughing with his 'Ucchan' about what a terrible cook she was. And she was going to make him breakfast this morning but she overslept... and now that... that... Spatula Girl! had him... Why that baka... "Akane," Kasumi began. "Are you going to eat your breakfast before it gets cold?" "Huh?" Akane stated. She had let her imagination run away with her... "Sorry, Oneechan," she said sincerely. During a lull in breakfast, Akane asked, "Where's Ranma?" It was a simple question to which she expected the answer to be either 'He's in the dojo' or 'He left early for finals.' Instead, she got confused faces. "Ummm...." Kasumi started but her father cut off with, "Who?" Akane knew her father was not a morning person... She remembered her mother saying not to disturb her father until he had had, at least, three cups of coffee in the morning, but still... So she repeated her question, "Where's Ranma?" Her father blinked, turned to each of his other daughters, who shrugged, and repeated his earlier statement, "Who?" // This is ridiculous // Akane thought. "Where is Ranma Saotome?" Akane asked calmly, despite her growing anger, which for Akane was just this side of screaming... Akane noted the puzzled looks on her two older sisters. Puzzled, Soun thought a moment, and then replied, "I don't know of any Ranma Saotome... The only Saotome I know is my old friend, Genma Saotome..." Sighing, Akane pressed, "Right, Ranma *Saotome*, Genma *Saotome's* son..." "But Akane, dear," Soun began. "My friend Genma doesn't have a son... or a daughter. ... It was one of the reasons why Nodoka divorced Genma..." "But..." Akane began, now more confused than ever. "The only 'Ranma' *I* know," Nabiki added. "Is Ranma Arashi, who showed up last week... He and his mother live at the Temple on the other side of Furinkan High School." Now it was Akane turn to do her impression of an owl by saying, "Who? He started school with only a week before finals?" "Boy, Sis, you must have had a really strange dream last night," Nabiki said. "School just began three weeks ago. Finals aren't until the end of the school year, not the beginning... As to Ranma Arashi, he is only the best martial artist in Nerima. I'm making a lot of money getting various girls to sign up for the martial art classes he teaches after school. Not to mention the pictures..." Seeing Akane's confused face, Nabiki added, "You remember... when Ranma Arashi first came to Nerima last week... He commented on Ryu-sensei's forms... When Ryu-sensei asked if he could do better... Arashi-san did. Ryu-sensei was so impressed that he made Ranma an instructor at his dojo and teaching assistant during gym class." Nabiki giggled and continued, "Kuno-baby couldn't take there was someone better than him... in the martial arts, so Kuno challenged him... No one had ever beaten Kuno before Arashi-san showed up..." "What?" Akane exclaimed... dimly she remembered the incident but it seemed like a dream to her but she knew that Ranma Saotome was real and that she lo-- him.... well, she ca-- for him... or something or other. It sounded just like something Ranma Saotome would do. Ranma was always showing off... Of course, if she was being honest with herself Ranma was the best martial artist she knew of. Hesitantly, Akane asked, "What... What is Ranma Sao... this Ranma Arashi like?" "Nani?" Nabiki asked suspiciously. "He's in *your* homeroom. You should know him better than I would..." As she thought about it, dream-like memories surfaced into her thought... Ranma Arashi looked just like the Ranma Saotome she thought she knew... Except Arashi-san had a birthmark on his forehead that looked kind of like a vertical line about two centimeters long. This Arashi-san was a confident, honorable, and courageous martial artist, also just like her Ranma from her dreams, but Arashi-san wasn't as impulsive as her Ranma was. He wasn't the insulting, perverted, woman-izing jerk like her Ranma was. Nor did Arashi-san has that strange curse like Ranma Saotome had. In her dream, Ranma seemed to attract women from all over. Akane didn't understand it. She couldn't see herself spending ten years looking all over Japan for her 'lost-love' like 'Ukyou Kuonji' did. Or leaving the place of her birth, and going out into the World on her own like Shampoo did, either. There wasn't a man anywhere that would cause Akane to do something that crazy... Akane felt a tug on her sleeve as Nabiki said, "Time to go... You don't want to be late on a Monday, especially only three weeks into the semester, do you? Sighing, Akane replied, "No, Oneechan," and headed for the door with Nabiki. [=== End of Part 3 ===]