Disclaimer!
Ranma belongs to Rumiko Takahashi
Ben-to belongs to Asaura and Kaito Shibano
Special thanks to Spica at the Sunshine temple for catching all of my mistakes on this one.
Thanks! Should be familiar with Ben-to anime to really understand this thoroughly.Chapter 1:
"Bye !" Akane waved good bye to her two best friends as she ran off toward the direction of their home. Akane let loose a sigh as they got out of her sight and looked up at the darkening sky.
Earlier she had been volunteered along with her two best friend to deliver some home work to a student a bit of a ways across town. Usually Miss Hinako would have asked Ranma to do it due to his speed , however Ryoga showed up earlier and before she knew it the two had literally rolled out the windows into the woods locked in combat.
"Ranma no BAKA!" Akane yelled out loud to the darkening sky and started to make her way back to her home when an loud sounds announced itself.
Gruu~~~~
Akane looked down to her grumbling stomach and blushed. "Damn I am starting to act like Ranma now." She said ruefully to herself. "Baka Ranma."
Another loud grumbling from her stomach let her know that it needed food now or else she was going to die. "Hai hai." She said offhandedly to her stomach as she looked around and spotted a supermarket. "Ah there we go!" She said happily as she walked into Walter Supermarket.
The first thing that Akane noticed was the cleanliness of the supermarket, the next was it was pretty and well lit. Making her way to the food aisle she started to browse their selection while turning the item that she looked at around to look at the calorie count and fatty content.
"And here we go, Half price." A voice said from the back.
Akane perked her head up and saw an employee at the store just finished labeling bento that was on sale. Checking her pocket she noticed she only had a couple of hundred yen and reminded herself to hit Nabiki up for more money. "Hmm, guess a bento would be better then instant noodles." She mused and made her way to the back of the store.
Just as she was clearing the isle she saw the employee that had label the bento half off disappeared behind a twin set of doors. Looking at the bento selection she noticed there were some pretty decent one, Tofu Hamburger, some eel, other were curry rice or omelet. "Not bad, I think I'll have curry tonight." She said to herself and was starting to reach down for it when her battle instinct kicked in and she narrowly avoided a strike to her face.
Akane turned around to confront her attack only to see a boy around her height launch into a furious barrage of strike that was faster then she thought possible.
"OORRRAHHH!" The boy yelled and smashed his fist into Akane stomach making her eyes widen as she felt the wind knock from her.
Akane got angry, she got really angry, someone not only attacked her without provocation but he actually manage to land a blow on her. "DIE!" She yelled in rage and punched him hard pushing him back and making him slam into a nearby wall. She was surprised when the boy dropped to the ground but landed on his knees. Most regular boys would had been knocked out cold but the black haired boy seem to be getting back on his feet. That was when she felt another presence behind her.
Turning around quickly Akane saw a long hair brunette reaching for the curry item she wanted, she didn't know why but it was as if some primal instinct of her was screaming to protect her food. "Hiyah!" She yelled and karate chopped the long hair brunette wrist making her retract her arm.
Once again to Akane's surprise the brunette launched cross counter punch across her jaw even as her karate chop struck true flinging both of them away from each other. That was when she noticed it, looking around she finally saw what could only be a battle royale occurred between people , all around the half price bargain bin. "What the hell!?" She shouted only to have them completely ignore her.
What she did notice however was the half priced bento's were being taken one by one but the one with the curry was still left.
Once again some deep primal part of Akane had marked that as hers, she saw it first it was hers by right and no one was going to get in her way!
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Akane yelled as she got up and bulldozed her way through the throng of boys and girls locked in combat for the last half price bento. "Out of my way you JERKS!" She punched upward sending a mass body of people flying away.
Breathing heavily Akane noticed she was the only one left standing now. "Jerks." She muttered to herself and reached down for her prize when a sharp pain rocked her world. "Wha?" She asked daze only to be turned around to face an girl no older then herself with icy blue hair with a neutral expression.
The next thing Akane knew she saw the girl leg sweep up and smashed her across her face sending her spinning onto her back. Breathing hard, Akane looked as the girl grabbed the last bento curry and as if by magic the fighting around her stopped.
The icy blue hair girl look down at Akane and nodded at her before walking away which just confused her more before passing out.
When Akane awoke next she noticed it must have been a few minutes as the other fighters were starting to get back up on their feet and making food selection from the aisle. She too picked herself up from off the floor and rubbed her jaw gingerly. "Ite.." She winced. That blue hair girl packed quite the kick and she must have been pretty good Akane was unable to feel her presence.
Her appetite gone, she made her way out of the store without purchasing anything and was on her way out when the black hair boy , the first one that attacked her came up running next to her.
Anger got the best of her and Akane was about to tear into the boy until she saw a genuine expression of a smile on his face.
"You must be a new wolf, you were pretty good!" The black hair boy said as he dipped his head in acknowledgement of her strength. "Look forward to seeing you around! Next time I won't lose!" He said with a cheery grin and ran off form her.
"Wha?" Akane anger smolders as it was turned into confusion.
"Yeah what the Barkling say," The brunette from earlier said with a friendly pat on Akane shoulder. "Nice moves, see ya around, bye." She said as she too walked off with a bag in her hand , and judging by the outline it was a bowl of instant Ramen.
Akane was left wandering home in a daze so much so that she ignored Kasumi, Ranma, Nabiki and her own father's inquiry to what happened or how she got a big bruise on her face.
Almost in a monotone way , Akane took her bath , brushed her teeth while looking blankly at her mirror image. She absently assessed her damage and noticed a cut above her nose, a bruise on her cheek and a lump on her head and that was just the facial damage.
Something bothered her about the whole situation, something she couldn't quite put her finger on. Putting a towel onto around her body she opened the door and took note that Ranma was standing outside the door along with her sister and father looking at her with concern.
"Kane, tell us who hurt you?" Ranma said and she could see him balling his fist.
"Wahhhh , why did someone hurt by little girl! Who would be so evil! WAHHH!" Akane's father cried.
"Um sis, you're giving Ranma a free show there." Nabiki pointed out as the top part of her towel had loosen and her nipple was almost showing.
Any other day Akane would have punted Ranma into LEO yet, it just didn't seem worth it today. "Goodnight."She said curtly and walked to her room closing the door gently not knowing she left behind a stunned family.
"RANMA! FIND OUT WHATS WRONG WITH MY BABY GIRL!"
"WOAH! Chill out MR. TENDO!"
"BOY FIND OUT WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR FIANCEE!"
Akane heard all of that through the door but did not care, something about way the black haired boy looked at her, the brunette spoke to her, the ice blue hair girl's expression at her, something was bugging her about it.
Getting dressed she closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep, yet it would not come, seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours, it was when she was almost asleep when it hit her making sit upright in her bed.
"Respect." Akane said softly to herself. The boy was respectful, not from a boy to a girl but from one fighter to another, the same with the brunette, and the acknowledgement by the ice blue hair girl as if her fighting ability was acknowledged. She was usually either well liked, very liked or feared. Respect on equal terms for her ability however was not something she ever got, from anyone.
Suddenly the words the black haired boy and the brunette came back to her. "I 'm going back to that supermarket tomorrow." Akane said to herself. " I'll get to the bottom of this."
tbc
