alhuang@hcs.harvard.edu http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~alhuang/ Imagine, if you would, a guy who could get more depressed than Ryouga, more angry than Akane, and more cynical than...well, just about anyone in the Ranmaverse. Make him prone to mood swings, and then give the guy the ability to store and manipulate electrical charges roughly equal to that found in several large thunderclouds. Did I mention that he has this reeeeaaally discomforting aura? What you get is someone who could...well, easily scare the crap out Kodachi...or maybe.... Most new character fics involve someone more normal than most of the Ranma gang. I present to you Kurimoto Shiro, the somewhat unhinged physical incarnation of angst/walking electrical capacitor who could light up Tokyo for a good few days. I'd say, he fits in perfectly with the social environment of Nerima. Heheh. Gonna have fun with this one.... Unlike "Visiting Nerima," this actually has a plot that follows the new character. As always, all Ranma 1/2 characters belong to Takahashi Rumiko-san (while Kurimoto Shiro is my invention, but believe me, there's very little of me in this guy) and credit for them goes to her. Have fun reading. (By the way, Kodachi is NOT my favorite female Ranma character--that distinction belongs to the wonderful Ukyou. I just feel sorry for Kodachi....) And now, Oddzilla Productions presents.... "Insanity on 5 Coulombs a Day" by Andrew Huang (A coulomb, for those who don't remember physics or electrochem, is a measure of electric charge. 5 coulombs of charge might be shot around in a particularly large thunderstorm, if it's big enough....) <...>: thoughts *...*: sound effects --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1: Lightning Crashes (thanks and apologies to Live) "Ah.... Class, I'd like to introduce a new student, Kurimoto Shiro. He recently moved into the area from Hokkaido, and will be joining us." Tanaka-sensei was looking a little...uneasy. Ranma looked at the figure standing next to the sensei. Dressed in the usual Furinkan boy's uniform, rather tall. His hair was the same shade of blue as Akane's...rather spiky, too. Shiro only mechanically raised a hand and waved to the class. There was a completely blank look on his face. "Shiro, please sit in the desk there," Tanaka-sensei said, pointing at the place next to Daisuke. Wordlessly, Shiro walked to the chair, passing right by Ranma. As he walked past, Ranma's hair stood on end, and he could hear a quiet hum emanating from the boy. He looked at Akane, who had been on the other side of Shiro, and he saw that she was also looking somewhat discomforted. He looked then at Ukyou, sitting two seats away from Shiro's place. She was staring curiously at the new student. Daisuke was now sweating. A lot. "Did you feel that?" Akane whispered. "Sure did! Hey, why are the lights above him brighter than the rest?" "I dunno. I wonder--" "Ranma! Akane! Quiet, or you'll both be out in the hall!" "Hai, sensei...." ------------------------------------------------ Lunchtime. So far that whole day, Shiro hadn't said a word to anyone, including the teacher. Ranma and Akane were very, very curious, and decided to try to talk to him, despite the odd...aura around him. Ukyou had left the room, with other things to take care of. Shiro sat silently at his desk, reading a book. "Hi! So, you're Kurimoto Shiro, na? I'm Saotome Ranma, and she's Tendou Akane." Shiro looked up at the two and nodded. He still said nothing. Akane looked at him for a few moments, then decided to give it a try. "Where in Hokkaido did you come from?" Shiro stared at her a moment, then finally answered, "And why would you want to know?" Akane blinked. This was not one of the more socially experienced people around, it seemed.... "Just...just curious." Ranma wasn't sure he liked this guy at all. He was about to add something when Shiro suddenly seemed to deflate. He put his chin on his hands. "Well, it doesn't matter. Got kicked out of that school there...wasn't really welcome there to begin with. And now, I'm here." He sighed. "Uh, if you don't mind answering...what happened?" Shiro mumbled something that Ranma didn't catch. "Er, I didn't hear you...." "I said, don't worry, you'll find out soon." He suddenly stood up and shook his head. "My apologies. Life has been rocky lately. I don't get along easily with people.... I'm...kinda considered...weird...by just about everyone." Ranma laughed. "Well, I think you've come to the right place. Nerima is one of the strangest places in Japan." Akane felt a little sorry for the guy. "Don't worry. We'll try to make you feel comfortable. Right, Ranma?" Ranma nodded. A sudden noise attracted Shiro's attention as she reached out to give him a pat on the shoulder. He looked back just in time to see her about to touch his shoulder, and he seemed to recoil. At that very moment, Kunou entered the room. "Tendou Akane, I...." As Kunou began to speak, he saw a spark of energy lance from this unknown student's neck (at the place where it joined his shoulder) to Akane's hand. She yelped in pain, and this, of course, promptly drove Kunou into a rage. "HOW DARE YOU INJURE THE NOBLE AKANE!?" He whipped out his ever-present bokken and pointed it right at Shiro, who hadn't yet noticed Kunou's entrance (despite his shouting). "Akane! Gomen nasai! I--" He was cut short by a blow to the back of his head. Stunned for a moment, he fell over his chair. "You vile piece of sorcerous scum! That was but a warning. What is your name?" Shiro picked himself up off the ground, an unreadable expression on his face. "I am Kurimoto Shiro. Who the hell are you?" Kunou's brow wrinkled. "I would expect that lowly trash as yourself would use such language. I," Kunou began, taking up his usual pose, "am the rising star of the high school fencing world, president and champion of the kendo club, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High: Kunou Tatewaki, age 17." For once, no lightning flashed to accompany his usual introductory speech; however, the hum from Shiro did get a lot louder. Shiro's facial expression hadn't changed, which was odd--most people hearing that for the first time usually reacted in some negative fashion. Heck, most people hearing that after many times do.... His right eye did start to twitch slightly, though. "Blue Thunder? You would like some thunder?" Suddenly, Shiro's face twisted into...well, if the emotion called "rage" ever gained a face, then this was it. "HERE'S YOUR THUNDER, YOU POMPOUS BAKATARE YAROU!!!" Arcs of electricity manifested all over his arms and rolled together onto his right hand. He lashed his hand out, touching Kunou in the center of his chest. *BZZZZZZZZZZKRAKBLAM* *CRASH* Kunou was now outside of the classroom, having made the trip back through the partially closed doorway, taking the door with him. He was very, very unconscious. Ranma opened and closed his mouth several times. Akane, wringing her tingling hand, just stared first at the smoking heap outside and then the swirling, crackling energy. Shiro's shoulders suddenly sagged, and the sparks vanished. "Oh, damn. Well, I guess you know now...." ------------------------------------------------ Much to Shiro's wonder, everyone around recovered quickly from the initial surprise of the incident. Class had gone on as normal (well, Furinkan's standard of normal) after the mess had been cleared up. It was now after school, and Shiro was walking with Ranma and Akane. "Hey, I told you this place is weird. Really impressive...but what you did wasn't all too out of the ordinary for this place. Still, though, I'm kinda curious as to how it all happened." For some reason, Shiro wasn't too reluctant to speak with them about the incident. "Started a year and a half ago. I got struck by three separate bolts of lightning within five seconds." His companions froze in shock (no pun intended) for just a moment. Shiro continued, not noticing. "Messed me up real good. I get constant mood swings, my ki is out of balance, my metabolism is really slow--I'm only this thin because I eat one meal a day, doctor's orders.... And you saw what happened earlier." Ranma and Akane both nodded. "I can store a lot--and I do mean a _lot_--of electrical energy. I can control it usually, but if I'm distracted and something gets too close to my head or sometimes my hands--" he glanced at Akane apologetically-- "it'll go off sometimes." He scratched his head a moment. "There's probably more that it all did to me, but the doctors aren't sure yet." Ranma was the first to answer. "Wow...you've had it pretty rough." "My life was relatively okay until then. Since then...I've had to transfer to six different schools. Just--just couldn't fit in...." He sighed. Akane looked at him, with a determined look on her face. "Well, you're not going to have to transfer out of this one. We'll make sure of that." Shiro looked at her and nodded. "Arigato...I hope you're not in over your heads, though." He rubbed his chin. "So, you say that this place is weird? Well, what do you mean?" *splash* "Hey! What did you do that for?!" Shiro turned to see a red-headed girl standing next to Akane, who was holding a bottle of water. "..." Akane spoke to the red-head. "Well, showing him is as good a way as any...." "You...Rannn...nani? Hmm...." Shiro was looking a little confused, although definitely not as much as would be expected. The fact that he was still able to speak was somewhat surprising by itself. The red-head grumbled a moment. "I'm Ranma. It's a long story, but... in short, when I get splashed with water, I turn into a girl. Hot water changes me back to normal...." Shiro blinked. He blinked some more. Then.... "*snort* *grnf*-- BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...." Ranma was not amused. Akane quickly calmed Ranma down. "Let him laugh. He's a lot better than earlier, don't you think?" Ranma-chan grumbled some more, but didn't say anything. Shiro slowly recovered. "Heheh...g-gomen ne.... It's-it's just that I haven't met anyone who actually has a problem that might be as big as mine...and a funny one, to boot. Heeheehee.... I haven't had a good laugh since...since.... Well, a damn long time. *snicker*" Ranma whispered to Akane, "You know, I think he'll fit in here very well, don't you think?" Akane nodded. Then, to Shiro, "You know, that's only the beginning of it...." ------------------------------------------------ Ranma walked in the door of Ucchan's, slightly beat up. It was rather early in the evening, and no other customers were in, yet. "Hey, Ucchan.... Akane's cooking again, and I'm starving." Ukyou looked up, smiling. "Ranchan! Of course! One deluxe, coming right up." Ranma sat down in a seat as Ukyou began cooking. "So, Ranchan, what do you think of that new guy? I liked what he did with Kunou today." "You saw that?" "Yeah. I was walking down the hallway back to class when I saw Kunou fly out. And even if I hadn't, well, you know how quickly stuff spreads around school...." Ranma nodded. "Well...he's kinda strange, but then, we _are_ in Nerima. He'll fit in perfectly." "What's he like, though? I heard you and Akane were talking to him after school." Ranma quickly recounted Shiro's recent past. Ukyou looked stricken. "Geez! Poor guy!" She thought for a few moments. "Where does he live? I think I'll deliver him something on the house." "Dunno. Why not just make him some lunch for tomorrow? Oh, wait...he only eats one meal a day, and it's not lunch." "Eh...I'll just make him something tomorrow, and he can bring it home." Ranma nodded. They settled down and started to talk about other things. After Ranma finished his okonomiyaki, he got up and was about to leave. Of course, at that point, it started to rain. "Aww, man!" Ranma stared out the open door. "Well, it's kinda to be expected. You know, I think I have a spare umbrella that you--" Ukyou was cut off by a huge, blinding flash that was accompanied immediately with an enormous *KABLAM*, which knocked both to the floor. Ranma shook himself, got to his feet, and pulled Ukyou up. "Wow! That hit really close, didn't it?" Ukyou nodded in reply. Suddenly, there was a *ZZZOT* *BANG* from a few buildings away. "Huh?" "What the-- Hey! You crazy kid! You're gonna pay for all of that! You blew up all the stuff in my window!!" It was the one of the shop owners down the street from Ucchan's. Then, another voice roared. "GYAAARGH! WHY DOES THIS CRAP ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME?!?!" *BZZZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAK* A bright glow accompanied that sound, and the lights in Ucchan's (as well as all around) went out for a few moments. Ranma and Ukyou were getting very badly rattled. Finally, there was a pause, with a sputtering *pop*. Then.... "Eh...heheh...er...n-n-never mind, we'll just forget about this, r-right? Heheh...." It was the shopkeeper again. There was a sudden slam of a door, accompanied with tinkles of falling glass. Ranma and Ukyou looked at each other. "Th-that was Shiro...I think." They ran outside. Ranma turned into onna-Ranma, but she wasn't thinking about that at the moment. Sure enough, Shiro stood by a burnt out and sparking streetlamp, which was next to a battered and charred storefront. He looked like he was steaming with anger...or was that smoke? He was breathing heavily and snarling. Ukyou stared. "Although he's right there, I think I'll wait until tomorrow to make him something...." Ranma-chan nodded, not saying a word. They quickly ducked back into the store. Shiro shuffled by, head hanging low, all traces of anger gone; rather, he seemed depressed--again. He was muttering to himself. "Damn lightning strikes. I hate it when I get overcharged. This day really sucks. Dammit, my life sucks." He walked on, not noticing the stares from Ranma and Ukyou--or everyone else around. "Mood swings? I'll say.... Remind me never to get him angry at me." Ukyou, eyes wide, nodded back at Ranma. "Likewise...." ------------------------------------------------ Shiro sat on his bed in his new room. It had been a long first day at school, and with that incident with the shop--but somehow, it felt... better than his last experiences. His eyes narrowed with the memory of that infamous day.... He had just moved to a new school, because of the job that his father had taken. It had been two days since getting there, and he was beginning to get settled in, even starting to make some friends among his classmates. Then, a huge storm had blown up in the middle of gym class, outside. Before he could run inside, the skies flared three times in rapid succession.... When the other students had gotten up from being knocked down by the shockwaves, they found Shiro lying in a smoking heap eight meters away from where he had been standing, twitching badly. He was in the hospital for three weeks. When he got back, things never were the same. He had very little control over his energy output back then. It just scared the hell out of everyone around him. That damned humming, too.... After accidentally blasting a teacher, it was decided by the school that it would be best if he, well, attended another school. And so his school hopping began. Over time, he did manage to better harness the energy crackling within him, but...the lightning strikes took their toll mentally and physically. His brain chemistry was slightly messed up, his body reacted strangely to all that was going on--and he had this nasty tendency to attract further lightning bolts. It didn't hurt him anymore, but to those standing too close to him, it could be very disastrous. This, of course, led him to feel very, very lonely. Depression was one of his natural states of mind, partly because of his loneliness, and then boosted by the slight mental imbalances brought on by the lightning. Another was anger. Depression, after all, is just anger without the enthusiasm. And he had plenty of power to fuel his depression with enthusiasm. Maybe the first time he got kicked out of school wasn't really his fault, but the other five certainly were, at least partially. He easily angered and would start to blast people who got on his nerves somehow. And finally...after all that he had been through, he found it extremely hard to trust anyone at all. Six different schools later, his family had decided to get out of Hokkaido, partly because he was starting to get rather well known on the island, and partly because of another job offer. His parents had heard of odd circumstances surrounding the Nerima area (and Furinkan High in particular) from friends, and decided that maybe he would fit in better there. Shiro blinked. Shiro lay back on his bed, hands behind his head. ------------------------------------------------ "I don't believe it! Kunou was in a fight with a new student, and I wasn't there?!" Nabiki grumped to herself as she changed into her pajamas. "Could have made a lot of money off of that...." She walked to the door, to find Akane standing just outside. "Oneechan, believe me, I don't think you should consider Shiro a business opportunity." "And why not?" Akane told her the circumstances of the "fight" and Shiro's past. Nabiki blinked a few times. "Eh.... I'm sure I can find some way--" "Oneechan, please. Shiro's life has been pretty hard. I've promised him that I'd try to make him feel comfortable and fit in around here. And I really don't think that you trying to make a profit off of him is going to help that cause in the least." Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "And why are you such the...ah, what was that reference...good Sami...Sama...er, never mind. Why are you such the benevolent one all of a sudden?" Akane paused a moment. "Well...I don't know. He seems to be a nice guy who's gotten a bad break. And _I_ know about bad breaks," she muttered, thinking about a certain martial artist living under the same roof. "I just feel like helping out. So I'm asking you, don't pull any of your stuff with him, okay?" Nabiki frowned. "Please?" Nabiki sighed. "Well...how about if I talk to him first? I guess I could afford to give him a cut from what I make off of him. That should make him feel comfortable, ne?" Akane eyed her sister for a few seconds, then nodded. "I guess that's fair enough...." Nabiki smiled and walked off to the bathroom. Ranma came up from behind. "Did I hear her correctly? She's willing to give someone a cut of her profits!?" Akane growled at her fiancee. She was still a little ticked at him running out on dinner. (Of course, pretty much the entire family had run out on dinner....) Ranma backed up, holding his hands in front of him. "Calm down! I'm sorry already!!" ------------------------------------------------ Shiro met up with Ranma and Akane at the school gates as they arrived. Before they could say anything, though-- "You! Infernal sorcerer! You dare approach Akane and--urf." Kunou's tirade was interrupted with a punch to the stomach from Akane. "Leave him alone! It was an accident yesterday, okay? Shiro wasn't trying to hurt me." "So, he has enchanted your fair mind as well? Then--...uh...." Kunou Tatewaki is a stupidly brave man. It's patently obvious, with all the idiocies that he's committed in the past. He's taken on Ranma many, many times, despite having been thoroughly thrashed prior and getting thoroughly thrashed every time after. But even _he_ has an ingrained survival instinct. Fortunately, it finally kicked in here. Shiro was half-crouching right in front of Kunou, hands held out in front, palms facing each other. Arcs of blue-white electricity leapt back and forth between them. "Listen up, you Blue Thunder freak. I wasn't trying to hurt her, you hear me? It-was-an-accident--! Now... LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!" He punctuated the last sentence with huge pop of energy. Kunou was momentarily speechless as the words registered in his mind. He blinked a little bit, before finally kicking his brain back into gear. He set his usual arrogant sneer on his face and looked at Shiro. "Very well. Since both you and Akane profess the incident to be merely a mishap of fortune, I will not hold it against you. But know this--I will be carefully watching you. If you do hurt her again, I _will_ come to punish you." Kunou turned away and walked in the school. But despite his (stupidly) brave words, there was a noticeable shudder seen in him as he passed through the doors. Shiro still hadn't moved from his stance, and lightning still was bouncing between his hands. Cautiously, Ranma walked in front of him and waved a hand. "Shiro? You okay?" Ranma noticed that Shiro's eyes were rather unfocused, and he backed off uneasily. Slowly, Shiro lowered his arms, blinking. "Dammit...." Ranma smiled. "Wow! You actually scared him off! That has never, ever happened before!" He started to clap Shiro on the shoulder, but barely remembered in time not to do that. Shiro only nodded, and walked off through the doors. Above, out of her classroom window, Nabiki stared in amazement at the scene. ------------------------------------------------ The day was much more peaceful than the morning. Shiro actually started to take part in class, answering a few questions here and there. The other students were getting used to his presence, as well. At lunch, he accepted Ukyou's gift a little suspiciously, but Ranma assured him that everything was okay. It was at that point that Nabiki entered the room. She made her way over to Shiro, and bowed slightly before him. "Kurimoto Shiro. I've heard about the things that you've done here lately.... I'm Tendou Nabiki, Akane's sister, and I have some...er, business propositions to discuss." Shiro narrowed his eyes as his usual cynical nature kicked in. "Oh, really? And why should I trust you?" Nabiki was taken aback a little by this. "Why...have I yet given you a reason not to trust me?" "Well, you haven't given me any reason otherwise, either." Nabiki smiled. "Well, cautious, aren't you? Please, let's talk this over...." She tilted her head over towards the door. Shiro looked at Ranma and Akane. Akane quickly bent down to whisper in his ear. "I think it'll be okay. I talked to her last night, and she's agree to help you out here...just be careful, though." Shiro nodded. "All right, then." He got up and walked out the door, with Nabiki following close behind. "You sure about this?" Ukyou moved up next to Akane. "I don't think you can ever be really sure with Nabiki...but I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt this time." They turned back to eating lunch. Five minutes later, Shiro re-entered the room. He looked...pleased. "So, Shiro, what happened out there?" Shiro turned to Ranma. "If she makes as much money as she claims, and enough weird stuff happens around me, I might not have to get a job here." He sat back down at his desk and started reading another book. Ranma blinked, then muttered to himself, "First he manages to scare Kunou, and now he's cut a deal with Nabiki. How does he do it?" ------------------------------------------------ Ryouga stared at the gates of Furinkan. "At last! I'm back...." He checked the clock on the tower. "School should be out now. Where's Ranma? Ah!" He charged forward. "SAOTOME RANMA! DIE, DAMN YOU!!! As usual, he threw his umbrella at Ranma, who ducked. Suddenly.... *ZZZZAPBANG* Ryouga dodged a charred mass of...something flying back at him. "Nani?!" He looked at the figure who had appeared behind Ranma. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TRYING TO DO, BAKA?! YOU COULD HAVE HURT ME!" "Shiro! Calm down! Ryouga wasn't trying to hit you!" That was Akane's voice. Ryouga was suddenly faced with a tight vortex of electricy pointed at his face. A voice behind the swirl of energy hissed at him. "Dammit, if it's not one idiot trying to hurt me, it's another--" "SHIRO! I told you, he wasn't trying to hit you! Geez, listen to me!" Ryouga could only stare at this...thing in front of him. Suddenly, all of the energy dissipated, revealing the hands of a tall boy with an angry, angry, _angry_ look on his face. "Well, you better not do that again!" He sighed, and put a hand to his forehead. "Sorry for overreacting. But I was having a rather peaceful day until that--umbrella came flying at my face." Ryouga shook himself. "Uh...oh, okay. Uhm...speaking of my umbrella, where...where is it?" The boy pointed behind Ryouga, indicating the smoking heap that had been flung back at him earlier. "Urk--what did you do to it?!" "I guess I kinda fried it. Wait...you're Ryouga, huh? Ranma tells me that you're the guy who I sound as depressed as." "Y-yeah, I'm Ryouga...who're you?" "Kurimoto Shiro. I'm new here...." Akane walked up between the two at this point. "Ryouga, please.... No fighting with Ranma for now, okay? At least while Shiro's around. I'm trying to make Shiro feel welcome around here, and so's Ranma." Ryouga blinked. "Ranma? Since when was Ranma ever nice enough to want to do that?" Shiro bristled a little. "Well, he has, okay? Lay off him." He pointed a finger at Ryouga, with a crackle of electricity at the tip to reinforce his point. Ryouga frowned, then reluctantly nodded. He didn't really know this Shiro fellow; it wouldn't be right to start anything with him without reason. However, the fact that he was a friend of Ranma's clearly counted against him. Akane turned to Ranma. "And that means you too, all right?" "Hey, Ryouga's the one who's out to kill me...." Shiro looked at the clock. "Hey, I gotta go. My okaasan signed me up to see a therapist...not like it ever did me any good before." He walked off. Ryouga stared after him a moment, then turned to Ranma. "Wait. He said that you're saying he's as depressed as I am?" Ranma nodded. Ryouga shook his head. "What's his story?" They told him. "I can kinda understand him. All right, I'll help you guys out. You're off the hook for now, Ranma...." "Who, me? _You_ should be the one who's glad, P-chan. You couldn't beat me on your best day!" "Who're you calling P-chan!?" Akane rolled her eyes. "Ranma! Stop picking on Ryouga!" ------------------------------------------------ Shiro walked towards his house. Sighing, he turned the corner, walking by a ramen restaurant. His thoughts were interrupted by long-haired boy in white robes flying out of the door of the Nekohanten. He landed with a *thud*, and his glasses bounced off his face. Normally, Shiro would have just kept on walking, but.... Shiro walked over and picked up the glasses, and then headed to the boy, who was blindly groping about. "Here you go...." The boy quickly took them and put them on. "Oh...domo arigato...." Then, he turned back towards the restaurant. "Shampoo! I only--" *SPLASH* Shiro suddenly found himself in front of a duck wriggling out of the clothes that had just been on that boy. "Aiyah! Mousse stop bothering Shampoo!!" A purple-haired girl with a bucket stomped out to fetch the duck. Shiro suddenly remembered. "H-hello, you're Shampoo, right?" The girl looked at him. "Hai. That Mousse. You...you...." Shampoo suddenly froze as she drew near to Shiro, and started to sweat. She hurriedly picked up Mousse, and backed away. "M-must go now...." She turned and ran back in. Shiro was stunned for a few seconds. Then his face fell. "AAARGH!!!" Shiro stomped off, pausing only at a fire hydrant to grab a hold onto it and pump a few hundred volts into it in his anger. One of the covers popped off, and water went gushing everywhere. Therapy wasn't going to help very much at all, today. ------------------------------------------------ "Shiro, Shampoo apologizes for what happened yesterday. She didn't know about...what happened to you." Ranma was walking on top of the fence, as usual. It turned out that with just a slight detour, Ranma and Akane could walk with Shiro to school. Shiro looked up at Ranma. "Oh...that. Okay." He didn't look any happier, though. "And when were you talking to Shampoo, huh?!" Akane glared up at Ranma. He started to sweat. "Uh...uh...well...she just wanted to ask me about Shiro...." Akane humphed, but did nothing further. Ranma sighed in relief. "Say, Akane, why do you seem so...uh...." "Jealous? Heck if I know." Ranma was promptly knocked off the fence with a punch from Akane. "I AM NOT!!" Shiro decided that it was a good idea not to keep asking. However, Ranma (after climbing back up the fence--he had barely managed to hold on to it and not fall in the water, for once) decided to keep talking. "Oh yeah, we never told you. Akane and I are..." Ranma made a face, "...engaged." Shiro blinked a few times. "And...uh...Shampoo and I are kinda engaged too...." This time, Shiro stopped walking. "Y...you have _two_ iinazuke?" Ranma laughed nervously. "Nonono...of course not!" "Oh. But then...." "He's got three, the baka...." Now, Shiro facefaulted. "Ukyou's the third." ============================= Hmm.... Shiro has already blinked, stopped dead in his tracks, and facefaulted. He would be expressing even more surprise at this point. But I'm not sure how I'd write that. Eh...on with the story. ============================= "U...Uk...UKYOU!? You're engaged to a g--" "Nononono...Ukyou's a girl. She only dresses like a guy." "Don't forget about Kodachi. She's decided to chase after her 'Ranma- sama' too." Shiro sat up. "'Ranma-sama?'" he mumbled. Then, "You...have..._four_ girls chasing after you?!" "Hey! Who said _I_ was _chasing_ after _that_ hentai?!!" Shiro started to laugh. "Man, this is a weird place! I think.... I...." Shiro's shoulders suddenly slumped--like they did so often. "You...you have four girls chasing after you...." Ranma looked at him a little nervously. "Uh...yeah...um...what's bothering you, though?" Shiro slowly picked himself up. "No one. I got no one. *sigh* Dammit. I got no one." He started walking again. Akane looked at him, a sad expression on her face. "Ohh.... Poor guy...." Ranma nodded, then chuckled. "Well, I sure wouldn't mind handing Kodachi off to him or something." "And what about Shampoo and Ukyou, huh?" "Er...anou...." "BAKA!!!" As Shiro walked, ignoring the commotion behind him, he suddenly realized something. It was true--ever since he had gotten struck by lightning the first time, he never had really thought about girls at all. He sighed again. ------------------------------------------------ It had been a week since Shiro entered Furinkan. And, true to Akane's word, Shiro was actually feeling comfortable. It was the first time in a year and a half. However, there are certain things that simply can't be escaped, no matter where you are. Shiro was BORED. There had been little homework assigned, somehow, and he was already finished. The computer...well, he hadn't been allowed near one since the incident--the magnetic field he generated could wipe out the hard drive, and it screwed up the monitor along with other pieces of hardware didn't deal too well with that. Plus, of course, there was always that risk of him blasting the computer. He was tired of reading, for once. There wasn't anything good on TV. As for the piano.... "It has to be the _one_ day that the piano's getting tuned." He didn't feel like bothering Ranma and Akane; they had already gone out of their way to be nice to him. Ryouga...was lost. Shiro sensed a kindred spirit with him, and wanted very much to talk to him, but he was never around. He wasn't sure about approaching Shampoo and Mousse, not without Ranma and Akane there also...and Ukyou was probably busy with her restaurant. So he decided to just take a walk. ------------------------------------------------ Happosai bounded over another gate. "What a haul!" (If I have to describe further what he's doing and who's chasing after him, then you'd better watch some more Ranma.) He cackled. It had been another great day for the old hentai. His bag was just about bursting with his goodies.