The All-Americans
By
Joshua Trujillo

Part 8 - The Things We Do

There was a hum coming from the hallways of Earnest High 
school. It was the beginning of a new year, and some couldn't wait. 
Others could wait, but liked the fact that they could see their 
friends again. Because, what else is High school, other than seeing 
friends? Earnest High wasn't too big. In fact, it only had a student 
population of about two thousand. Earnest was a little town in the 
midwest that yuppies had escaped to in fleeing the oppression of 
the big cities. People didn't really live there, it was just a nice 
wholesome place to raise your kids.

Ranma huffed to himself. Nabiki had driven herself, Ranma and 
Akane to the school. Ranma said he would have preferred to walk, 
but Nodoka had insisted that, at least for the first day, Nabiki drive. 
He had received his locker assignment by mail a week before. He 
stared at the little piece of paper that held his classes as well as the other particulars.

Locker number thirteen. He shook his head again. Ranma silently 
hoped that it wasn't an indicator of the rest of the year, but again, 
he had that feeling. He began to stow his lunch away when 
someone tapped him on the shoulder. It was Daisuke, a guy he met 
in passing at the football tryouts.

"Hey dude, what are you doing at my locker?" Daisuke then 
laughed at Ranma's confusion, "I'm kidding. This is my locker."

Daisuke pointed to the one next to Ranma, number twelve. Ranma 
then noticed Hiroshi packing his things away in locker fourteen. 
Hiroshi and Daisuke seemed to be attached, at least that's what 
Ranma thought. Ranma breathed a little easier. Being with people 
who at least didn't hate him was a good sign.

"C'mon dude, we'll be late for homeroom," Hiroshi said, closing 
his locker.

Ranma looked down at his little sheet of paper.

"Yeah, my homeroom is-"

"224, isn't it?" Daisuke asked.

Hiroshi laughed at the confused expression on Ranma's face.

"Everyone in the same block of lockers gets the same homeroom," 
Hiroshi explained.

"So, what do you guys have to do with the football team, anyway?" 
Ranma asked, "I saw you guys at the practice."

"I'm the backup quarterback," Daisuke said, "Hiroshi over there is 
one of the star receivers."

"Not just another pretty face, huh?" Hiroshi said.

Ranma nodded and followed his new friends to homeroom. His 
new friends. Ranma smiled at the thought.

***

Fourth period rolled around. English. Akane always thought it was 
kind of ridiculous to study English as that's what she spoke, but she 
figured that the less cultured could probably benefit, so she left it 
alone. Akane walked into the classroom and saw that Ranma was 
sitting against the far wall, his head nodding forward. She giggled. 
This was probably the reason he was a sophomore again.

Ah well, she thought, I'd better help him.

Akane sat next to him and poked him in the shoulder. Ranma 
straightened and looked around. He smiled at Akane and rubbed 
his eyes. The teacher cleared his throat and looked at Ranma, who 
gazed impassionately back.

"Now that we're all here," and shooting a glance to Ranma, "And 
all awake, shall we get on to the business of teaching you little 
bastards some culture. Ah-yes Ms. Saotome?"

Ranma awoke fully, fearing that the he might have accidentally 
missed the full moon. He hadn't. Akane had her hand up.

"Are we going to be studying Shakespeare?" she asked.

"Yes Akane," the teacher said, adjusting his glasses, "But the 
difference is that we'll be working backwards. We'll be doing more 
contemporary works first so you can all see how it derives from the 
originals. Much like how Seinfeld is a derivation of some guy 
having his head way up his-Yes Mr. Saotome?"

"This may be a stupid question," Ranma said, scratching his 
forehead, "But what's the puppet for?"

***

"Okay, so if I put this here and that there, then I come up with 
this?" Ranma asked.

"Yes," Nabiki said, pointing in the book, "But you've got this 
backwards."

Ranma shook his head and looked towards the closed lunch area. 
He wished that the old ladies and their hairnets would be open this 
week.

"You still working on that math?" Akane asked, setting her pack 
on the table.

"Yeah," Nabiki said, looking through her notes, "But he's getting 
it. He's kind of slow on the uptake, but once he knows it, he knows 
it."

"I'm glad I stack up," Ranma muttered.

Nabiki smiled at him. Two girls, both about Akane's age, came up 
behind her and tickled her. Akane jumped and turned to her 
assailants. She said something incomprehensibly loud and threw 
her arms around them. Ranma looked to Nabiki.

"Yuka and Sayuri," Nabiki said, still digging through her old notes, 
"A pair of cheerleader friends of Akane."

They joined the table across from Akane and Ranma. Ranma went 
back to studying his math. Calculus was turning even more 
maddening than Algebra, and this was only the first day. Ranma 
sighed, getting depressed. He needed someone he could study with 
without making out. Which ruled out Nabiki. It didn't seem to 
leave anyone else, though. Ranma heard Akane mention something 
about him and he glanced at her. Akane was chattering away to 
both cheerleaders.

Cheerleaders huh? They were cute and all, but not truly stunning. 
He smirked and quickly went back to work as he realized how 
much of a pig he was becoming. He must have gotten it from his 
father.

Ranma glanced back to Nabiki, who quickly snuck a hand under 
the table and gave his knee a squeeze. She smirked and went back 
to work. No one else knew why he jumped and why she began 
giggling, but that's the way she wanted it. He was glad that juniors 
and sophomores had lunch period together. Freshmen had this 
lunchroom while the seniors had their own lunchroom just off the 
new gym. At least, that's how Ranma understood it. Nabiki spotted 
someone at a table across the lunchroom and excused herself.

Enough of this, Ranma thought, I can do more tonight before 
Jeopardy.

He closed the book and pulled out his lunch. The clock on the wall 
across from the table said he only had about half an hour to eat 
anyway. Nine periods in the day. Four more to go. He pulled his 
little schedule out of his backpack.

Biology, easy. Stinky at times, but easy. Drama, easy. Ugh, that 
weirdo Garrison is teaching that as well? Ranma thought to 
himself, History, okay.

He stopped reading and looked at the paper. Gym? You've got to 
be kidding. Last period...Gym. Ranma smirked and tossed the 
schedule back into his sack. Ranma jumped as something cold 
pressed itself on the back of his neck. Nabiki held the Dr. Pepper 
out for him. He thanked her and set back to enjoy the meal.

Hiroshi and Daisuke stumbled out of the crowd near the door and, 
spotting Ranma, made their way to the table. They seated 
themselves in the remaining seats between Sayuri and Nabiki. 
Yuka jumped up and hugged Hiroshi.

"Hiroshi," she said, ruffling his hair, "You still look like Hell."

"Thanks Yuka," he said, "I can always rely on you to make me 
want to shave my head."

"It's a joke between them," Daisuke said to Ranma.

"I hope so," Ranma said, taking a swig of Dr. Pepper.

"Hey," Sayuri spoke up, "Have any of you heard of some of the 
rumors going around about Kuno?"

"You mean that he got sold to white slavers?" Nabiki said, closing 
up her notes.

"Yeah," Hiroshi began, "That, or how about the one that says that 
he broke both of his legs trying to get a gymnast from another 
school to have sex with him."

Nabiki looked at him and began to guffaw with laughter.

"Yeah, well I heard that it was the gymnast's boyfriend that broke 
his legs," Daisuke added, "Well, I don't really care who did it, 
because if he misses practice tomorrow, I get his position."

"Do you want to know what really happened?" Akane asked.

Ranma shot her a quick look. She smiled gently, reached over and 
squeezed his hand.

"It's okay Ranma," She said, loud enough for everyone to hear, 
"You don't have to protect your sister."

Nabiki let out the breath she didn't know she was holding and 
smirked.

"Your sister was the gymnast?" Hiroshi asked, wide eyed.

"No," Nabiki said, laughing, "Ranma's sister isn't a gymnast, but 
she did break Kuno's nose. You see, he was trying to kiss her 
hand."

"Eeeewwww!" Yuka and Sayuri said as they both recoiled in 
disgust.

"It was actually pretty neat," Akane said nodding her head, "It just 
looked like she pulled her hand back. But I guess she struck him 
three times and broke his nose in four places."

"Yeah, the doctors said that he'd need reconstructive surgery," 
Nabiki said, "And you know his pride won't allow him to continue. 
Actually, I'm kind of afraid for Ranko."

"Why would you-" Ranma stopped, "Daisuke? Are you okay?"

All eyes turned to him and both Hiroshi and Nabiki backed away 
from him. Daisuke was sitting in his seat, vibrating so badly that 
Ranma thought he might explode. He opened his mouth and closed 
it several times.

"I..." he finally began, "That means...That...I'm..."

The vibrations eased down and he finally just stared forward into 
space.

"Daisuke?" Hiroshi poked him in the shoulder.

Ranma reached over and waved his hand in front of Daisuke's face. 
Nothing happened and he shrugged at Akane. There was a silence 
as some other students began to crowd around the table.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Daisuke bellowed out finally.

"I guess he's happy about being quarterback, huh?" Nabiki said, 
rubbing her right ear.

***

The remaining classes passed Ranma without much incidence. His 
drama teacher gave him the willies, but then many of the teachers 
seemed to be almost as freaky as the students. So Ranma paid it no 
heed. His Biology teacher had said that they might get into 
genetics later in the year. Ranma hoped so, he was good at that. 
Punet squares and all that. Gym was a joke, like he thought it 
would be. School let out for the first day and an audible sigh could 
be heard rising from the departing student body. Ranma bid Nabiki 
and Akane farewell as they went home and he, Hiroshi and 
Daisuke went to practice.

***

Akane sighed and stared out the window again. They had only 
been on the road for a few minutes and she already wanted the 
journey to be over. Her sister wouldn't shut up about Ranma. He 
was so this, and he was so that. He was so cute. Yadda, yadda, 
yadda.

Then Akane heard something that made her pause. Or rather, it 
was something she didn't hear.

"Nabiki, can I ask you something?"

Nabiki stopped in the middle of her mental tirade on Ranma and 
wondered what her sister wanted.

"Yeah."

"Just exactly how far have you gone with Ranma?"

There was a pause as Nabiki looked in shock at her sibling. Did 
Akane really just ask that? More importantly, did she really want 
to know? Nabiki thought and decided that vagueness was probably 
for the best, as Akane was still a little young for the truth.

"I'm not going to tell you!" Nabiki said.

"Why not?"

"Because that's business between me and Ranma."

"I think it's my business too," Akane said calmly, "Of course, I also 
think that mother and Kasumi should know as well."

"You wouldn't!"

"Watch me."

Nabiki shot her a look, which Akane just calmly took. Nabiki 
silently fumed. She was trapped. Trapped by her own hormones. 
Still, she could be vague if she were careful.

"We didn't..."

"You haven't?"

"No," Nabiki said, confused, "Why would you think that we 
would?"

It was Akane's turn to blush and look flustered. Time to push it a 
little. Make her realize that some things she had best leave alone.

"Is it because we're both older?" Nabiki asked, "We have fooled 
around though."

"Fooled around?"

"Yeah," Nabiki said, smiling a wide smile, "You know."

Akane shook her head.

"No, I don't," she said, "Tell me."

"No," Nabiki said, getting flustered herself, "Find out on your own. 
And no, you can't use my boyfriend either."

"I wouldn't WANT your boyfriend," Akane said, getting suddenly 
angry, "He's a pervert and probably does stuff that I wouldn't want 
to do."

"Actually, he's quite gentle and warm."

"Shut up Nabiki," Akane said.

Good, press the advantage, Nabiki thought.

"There are times that he likes to hold me after we fool around and 
just talk to me softly-"

A sharp slap cut her off. It also made the car swerve. Nabiki 
concentrated on stopping the car and throwing it in park.

"What the Hell is your problem!?" she screamed at Akane.

"You were always like this," Akane shouted back, "If it wasn't 
your grades, it was your boyfriends. Just when there are a couple 
guys who like me, you have to go and one-up me."

"Akane," Nabiki said, trying to calm things down, "I didn't realize 
you like Ranma like that. I thought it was just a crush. You want to 
know the real truth?"

Akane slowly nodded her head.

"The truth is that he and I," Nabiki choked back her own sobs, 
"Haven't done much more than kiss."

"What? Why?" Akane asked, more concerned about her sister than 
about herself.

"I don't know," Nabiki said as she sobbed, "I try to get close, but 
he just pushes me away and gives me some excuse. It's never the 
right time. It wasn't the right time the last six times I tried 
something. He just looks at me like he pities me or something, then 
he apologizes and tells me to wait until the time is right. He wants 
it to be right. DAMMIT, WHY ISN'T IT RIGHT WITH ME?"

Akane watched in horror as her sister held onto the wheel and 
collapsed in a sobbing heap. So that was it. The whole thing was 
just an act. The happy looks, the kisses. Even the snuggling they 
would do after Jeopardy. Akane frowned as she realized that that 
was probably all that Nabiki got from Ranma.

"It's my fault," Nabiki said quietly, "Isn't it?"

Nabiki shuddered as Akane pulled her close.

"No," Akane said as she tried to comfort her sister, "Of course not. 
I don't know what's gone on in his life, but what I do know tells me 
that he's very complex and that he might have been hurt before. 
You know how long it takes after that."

Nabiki nodded slowly. She straightened in her seat and took a deep 
breath. She let it out and wiped her eyes.

"I'm sorry Akane, I didn't mean to tease you like that."

"Yes you did," Akane smiled, "But that's okay, because I can't wait 
to do the same thing to you when I get a boyfriend."

Nabiki laughed tiredly. Akane was right.

Hmm, Nabiki thought, I wonder who Akane might be interested 
in?

"Come on, stop at Dutch's and I'll buy us a couple of milkshakes," 
Akane said.

Nabiki looked at her sister. Was this the same person who hit her a 
few minutes ago? Nabiki just smiled and shook her head. 
Sometimes, Akane could be so easy to read and yet so frustratingly 
hard to handle. Nabiki nodded and put the car back in drive. 
Maybe now, at least, Akane wouldn't be so jealous. As far as her 
plan went, it worked perfectly. Hell, she'd even get a milkshake out 
of it.

***

"YOU try to tackle him," Grant said, panting on his hands and 
knees.

Daisuke frowned. Ranma couldn't be THAT good. Could he? 
Grant was even one of their better corners. Ranma just seemed to 
not be there when they tried to tackle him. Daisuke tossed the 
football out to Hiroshi.

"Daisuke!" the coach bellowed from the sidelines.

Grant felt a pair of hands helping him to his feet. It was Ranma, 
who just smiled as if what they were doing was a walk in the park. 
If he weren't on the same team with Ranma, Grant would smack 
him. As it was, he could begin to understand the rantings that 
Ryouga generally subjected them to after practices. Also, Ranma 
was just so damned...Nice about it.

Daisuke was off talking to the coach about something. Many of the 
players were taking a break while Ryouga still got on a couple of 
newbies. Ranma knew that Ryouga wouldn't dare get on him about 
anything. For one thing, Ranma never played defense. Ranma 
heard Ryouga curse something and wander over to the water table. 
The two he'd been drilling just simply collapsed. Hiroshi came up 
and handed a bottle to Ranma.

"What is coach talking to Daisuke about?" Ranma asked.

"Dunno," Hiroshi said, glancing in that general direction, 
"Probably something to do with the his position. I hope he gets it."

"Yeah, he's not half as annoying as Kuno," Ryouga said from 
behind Ranma, "Or you, Ranma."

"Are you trying to bait me?" Ranma asked, turning to face Ryouga.

"I'm a master of it," Ryouga replied.

He began to say something else, but cut himself off as an odd look 
strolled across his face. He looked at Ranma like he'd just seen a 
ghost. Or another person. Ranma thanked whatever God may be up 
there as Daisuke ran up waving a piece of paper.

"I got it!" he shouted, "I really got it! Oh man, this is the shit!"

Ranma looked to Daisuke like he'd grown a third head.

"Slang," Hiroshi said, "Ya know. Cool. Hip?"

"Yeah," Ryouga said, "Some of the things that Ranma isn't."

Ranma smiled at the insult and saluted him back. A few fingers 
were missing in the salute however.

"Ranma!" Daisuke yelled, "Does Ranko have a boyfriend?!"

"What?" he replied, taken aback by this sudden onslaught.

"Ranko," Daisuke said, on the verge of shaking apart, "You know, 
your sister? Is she, like, attached?"

"I wouldn't mind seeing her again myself," Ryouga said, taking a 
drink from his bottle.

"Well, no. Not really..." Ranma stuttered, "I mean-"

"Yes or no Saotome," Ryouga said.

"Look, just forget about her okay?" Ranma was starting to get 
honked off, "She comes around maybe three times a month, 
sometimes only once a month, so just forget her."

"No man!" Daisuke said, adamant, "She got me this position! I 
want to thank her personally!"

"Yeah, REAL personally," Hiroshi said, laughing.

Ryouga just smirked as Ranma's battle aura flared to life.

"Uh, we'd better get back to practice," Daisuke said, "Tell your 
sister thanks, okay?"

He and Hiroshi hurried off. Ranma shook his head and sighed. He 
could feel his aura dropping off to normal levels again. Just what 
he needed, two nitwits wanting a free feel.

"How's your dad?" Ryouga asked.

"Huh?" Ranma asked, "Oh. Nothing wrong with him a little death 
wouldn't fix."

"Then why did you-" Ryouga began, but was cut off by the coach.

"Hibiki, Saotome! Quit jerkin' off and get over here!"

Ranma felt Ryouga's uneasy gaze for the rest of practice, but 
Ryouga asked no more about it. Why had he-?

And then Ranma remembered what it was that they had told 
Ryouga when he and Kuno visited. THAT night. Oh man...

***

"This has become something of a little ritual, hasn't it?" Ranma 
asked, standing on the curb.

Daisuke looked at his watch. Hiroshi nodded nervously. He didn't 
know whether Ranma was still angry about the comments he made 
about Ranko or not. Hiroshi wasn't going to chance it. Ranma 
noticed the silence and sighed.

"Guys," He said, "I'm sorry about almost blowing up earlier, but 
she IS my sister. So keep it civil, okay?"

There was a pause and finally Hiroshi looked up.

"Does that mean you won't introduce me to her?"

Ranma began laughing at the sheer stupidity of it. Hiroshi and 
Daisuke didn't know what he was laughing at, but he seemed to be 
over the incident, so they chuckled as well.

"Okay guys," Ranma said, "If you come out to the house next 
Wednesday, she'll be there. I've got to run out of town that day, but 
I should be back for school on Thursday. Okay? Would that satisfy 
you two? Or do I need to have her break your noses as well?"

They all laughed. Ranma remembered the old saying at that point. 
Speak of the devil...A long black car pulled into the parking lot at 
that point. Ranma knew who it was even before the door was 
opened by the chauffeur. Ranma threw down his pack as Kuno 
jumped out of the car and headed directly for him. Ranma heard 
Hiroshi blurt out a laugh at Kuno, who just shot him a glance. 
Considering the sizeable plate...thingy...that was attached to his 
face, the glare didn't have much effect. He looked pissed though.

If this guy wanted more pain, then Ranma'd give it to him. Instead 
of swinging at him, Kuno pulled out an envelope and stuck it in 
Ranma's face. Ranma took the envelope and looked at Kuno 
incredulously.

"What's this?" Ranma asked.

"A ledder," Kuno replied.

"A what?"

"Ledder," Kuno replied, "A ledder, you twid!"

Ranma just stared as Hiroshi and Daisuke dropped any pretenses of 
keeping composure.

"I can see that," Ranma said, snickering, "Who's it for? Me?"

"No," Kuno replied slowly, "For your sidder, Rako."

"Rocko?"

"Ra-n-ko!" Kuno spat out as distinctly as he could.

"Oh..." Ranma looked at the envelope again, "Is that all? What 
about the fight we were supposed to have?"

Kuno squared up his jaw and tried not to wince too badly.

"Becaud of your sidder's dender douch," Kuno said slowly, "You 
are sbared by wrat...For dow!"

Seeing Kuno standing there with a huge plate and bandages on his 
face was one thing. When he began to spout badly enunciated 
epithets, it became quite another. Ranma couldn't help it anymore. 
He joined Hiroshi and Daisuke in openly laughing. At this point, 
Daisuke clutched at his ribs from his position on the ground, while 
Hiroshi was merely doubled over.

"Sdop id!" Kuno shouted, "Sdop labbing!"

Which only made the situation worse.

Kuno turned in a fit and stormed off to his car, which sped away 
soon after. Daisuke picked himself up off the ground and sat next 
to Hiroshi, who had turned purple from the exertion.

"Oh God Ranma," Daisuke finally said, "I have to thank your sister 
if for nothing else other than a good laugh."

"So yeah Ranma," a cool, hardened voice said from the doorway of 
the school, "When can we thank her?"

"What's your major problem Ryouga?" Ranma asked.

This seriously honked him off. He was in a good mood from 
talking with Kuno. Then this jackass had to come and ruin his 
mood.

"You're my problem, but I've been thinking," Ryouga said, 
walking to them, "Your sister wears her hair like you do."

"Yeah? So what? She takes after me in many ways."

A car pulled into the parking lot.

"So you're both virgins?"

Daisuke and Hiroshi could see where this was going and decided 
to be elsewhere. Daisuke spotted Akane and Nabiki as they parked 
and he rushed to them.

"Actually she is," Ranma said as calmly as he could, "I'm not, but 
she is."

"So Ranma," Ryouga asked, "Who was the lucky dude?"

Ranma reached out and grabbed Ryouga, who fell backwards and 
threw Ranma into the parking lot. Ranma twisted around in midair 
and began to power up a blast while he landed. The chi flowed into 
the circular power space that Ranma made with his hands. As he 
landed, Ranma shoved the ball into the ground as hard as he could.

The ball twisted and compacted down to a tiny dot that then 
exploded outwards, twisting and turning like some crazy bowling 
ball towards Ryouga, who just stood there. Ranma saw that he 
even smirked a little. The ball hit him and the explosion threw 
everyone to the ground. Ranma sat up and saw that Ryouga, while 
thrown back into the wall of the school, was basically unharmed. 
Ryouga picked himself up and rubbed the back of his head. Ranma 
growled and began to form another ball. Let him see if he can 
smile this one off.

"Stop this!" Akane shouted as she ran between them.

Ranma let the chi dissipate.

"Stop this," she said, "Ryouga, I saw how you teased Ranma and I 
thought you should know that I would probably agree with Ranma 
attacking you for it."

"But Akane-"

"Shut up," she cut him off with a glance, "But I know that Ranma 
can't win. This fight is pointless and will only get one of you hurt. 
And I won't allow that. Not when I can stop it."

"What do you mean I wouldn't-"

"Ranma!" she snapped back, "I said shut up! If you won't quit 
fighting for Nabiki's sake, then stop for mine. We're almost 
siblings Ranma. Stop fighting for your sister, okay? Now come 
over here."

Ranma looked to Nabiki, who was standing next to him. She 
nodded and followed Ranma to where Ryouga and Akane were 
standing. Akane grabbed Ryouga's hand in hers.

"Now, I know this won't be easy, but please," Akane pleaded, "For 
my sake, for all of our sakes, please stop fighting and TRY to be 
friends."

Akane then grabbed Ranma's hand and made the two men shake 
hands. Both looked at Akane, then to each other, then to their 
hands, which hadn't released when Akane let go. There was a 
strong pause as both men clearly considered the possibility that 
starting the fight again would alienate them from Akane. Ranma 
sighed.

"Well?" Ranma asked, "For Akane then?"

"For Akane."

***