Chapter Three

The rest of the day the school was abuzz with news of Akane choosing Ranma to be the one who dated her, along with rumors of them being engaged. Whenever the students had the chance they'd ask the two, only to get the same answer from both. It wasn't any of their businesses.

"Ugh, this day took forever." Akane said when school was finally over. As soon as the bell rang she and Ranma bolted out the door. To show how serious she was, she let Nabiki take over to get that little speed boost.

"You're telling me." Ranma agreed, running alongside the Tendo girl. "So what was all that about before?"

Nabiki frowned a little. "We didn't tell you because it's not any of your business."

"Well now it is, or did you forget lunch?" He replied.

"Fair enough. Well, a few months back this guy named Kuno started obsessing over Akane. He came up with this idea and told the whole school that the only boy who got to date her had to defeat her in a fight. At first it was only a few and they tried it at least rationally, but over time it grew into this massive horde that assaults us each morning."

Ranma arched an eyebrow. "Really?"

"I couldn't make that up even if I wanted to. Anyway we thought they'd get bored of it if they kept losing to us, but what they did today really offended us. It was like they expected us to let them win this thing already."

"I'm sure some did." Ranma commented. "I've noticed that lots of times when a guy competes with a girl he'll let her win, but when he doesn't and she still wins, the guy feels like less of a man."

"It's not our fault they're emasculating themselves." Nabiki remarked.

"Yeah but do you expect them to admit to that?" Ranma asked.

"Well then, if you're such an expert how do you suggest we end this?" Nabiki asked back skeptically.

"I'm a martial artist, not a diplomat. If violence isn't working I couldn't begin to tell you what else to do. Besides, you're the one that got the brilliant idea to tell them you picked me. Umm... that was you of the three, right?"

"Yeah that was me." Nabiki confessed. "Look, just go along with it until they drop interest. You don't have to act lovey-dovey, just make sure to act nice when we're around and soon enough they'll get the hint."

Ranma didn't look convinced. "Umm... then won't they just go back to hounding you if they think we're not serious?"

"That's just a chance we'll have to take."

The rest of the walk went by peacefully if a bit too quietly. Neither had anything to say anymore, and neither Kasumi nor Akane had anything to add. The silence persisted until they arrived at the Tendo house, and then they had a reason to speak.

"What is he doing here?" Akane asked loudly, taking over the body as soon as she saw a very unexpected guest.

"Ah, hello daughter, one of your friends decided to pay us a visit." Soun said, standing next to a smiling Kuno. However, his smile diminished when Ranma came into his view.

"This jerk is no friend." Akane said right away. "What are you doing here anyway Kuno?"

"I am here to speak with your father regarding our proper relationship." He answered, sounding pleased but not smug.

Soun shook his head. "I'm sorry my boy, but as I was telling you, there can be no formal relationship between you and my daughter. She is engaged to Ranma."

"I'm not marrying Ranma!" Akane protested.

"So you do wish to be with me then Akane?" Kuno asked happily.

"Not even if it meant cancer would be cured." Akane declared.

'Ouch, that's harsh.' Ranma thought.

Soun looked at his daughter. "Akane, while I do not wish to disregard your feelings, consider this. If you are not engaged to Ranma, there is no reason this young man here cannot date you."

"Yes there is! I don't want to date him, whether I'm engaged or not!"

"Akane, be careful." Nabiki said within their mind. "While Dad's not saying it directly, his choice of wording tells me he's willing to blackmail us with this."

Akane's eyes hardened as she looked at her father. "How dare you blackmail me like this!"

Soun looked disturbed by this. "I'm not blackmailing you."

"Yes you are! You're telling me to either choose Ranma or Kuno! I don't want either!"

"Of course you want me." Kuno countered.

Akane looked right at him. "No, I don't."

"No need to be shy my dear, you can-"

He was silenced by a punch to the gut that made him fall to his knees, and as he clutched himself Akane grabbed his chin and made him look into her burning eyes.

"Read my lips Kuno. I. Don't. Want. To. Be. Your. Girlfriend. Period. Got that?"

"But... but..."

"No. No. No. No."

"But-"

"No means no buddy." Ranma cut in. "Or are you one of those jerks that thinks that 'no' only means 'no' when you're the one saying it?"

Akane was tempted to tell him to stay out of this, but her sisters were pointing out that his argument was helping her case, so she kept quiet.

Kuno looked at them both like he had been offended, despite having no reason to be the one offended here. "I refuse to accept this denial of my efforts. I have made the terms clear and I have invested in this for longer than some random nobody. I challenge you for the hand of Akane, and should you not show up at the school field fifteen minutes after school ends tomorrow you therefore forfeit any and all rights to be with Akane to me."

"He accepts." Soun stated.

"Dad!" Akane shouted in outrage, with her sisters joining in mentally.

"Then it is official. And I will finally have all right to what I have earned." Kuno declared, then left the premises.

Akane looked at her father like she couldn't put all her anger into her eyes. "What the hell were you thinking Dad?!"

"Akane, Nabiki, Kasumi, as much as you dislike what I say, my words are true. If you do not accept the engagement to Ranma, then there's nothing to stop boys like that one from pursuing a relationship if you. If you wish for them to stop, then they must believe that you are engaged to Ranma."

Nabiki took control. "Or we could just tell them no. We can do that without having to be engaged to Ranma."

"You've been doing that and it hasn't been working." Soun pointed out.

"So you think this is better? Dad did you not hear Kuno? He believes he's entitled to date us. He believes he's owed this."

"And do you believe just telling him otherwise is going to get him to stop that? It hasn't yet. The only way to stop such a mentality is to make him believe he's not entitled anymore."

"So how does this stop that? You think if he loses he's just going to let Ranma take what he wants?"

"If he doesn't then he's admitting he's honorless and unworthy of you or the attention he gets. No one will listen to him anymore and everyone will have to leave you alone then."

"And what if Ranma loses?"

"Hey! I don't lose!" Ranma objected.

"Then I guess you're free from an engagement you don't want, and that means every boy who wants to date you is allowed to ask as much as they want." Soun told his daughters.

"So basically, we either get a fiancee or keep the hoard. Talk about your lose-lose." Akane muttered.

"Ranma would be the lesser of the two if you ask me." Kasumi noted.

Nabiki sighed. "Fine Dad, I can see I can't change your mind, so have it your way. Just keep in mind, the three of us won't be trusting you anytime soon."

Soun nodded. "I guess I'll have to accept that for the time being."

The next day school seemed to drag on forever. Kuno had of course wanted everyone to know what he was doing, go so far as to print it out and distribute it to every student like a newspaper. Every chance anyone had a chance to speak all they could talk about was Ranma fighting Kuno or which boy Akane liked more. It was so bad Ranma was actually enjoying the classtime more than the breaks.

But like always, the day had to end and it came time to fight. Ranma went towards the schoolyard where Kuno was waiting dressed in his kendo attire, bokken in hand. Many students were already getting good places to watch with more coming to look for the same thing. Akane herself was watching too, mostly because she knew she needed to see the results with her own eyes.

"Anything to say before I strike you down cur?" Kuno said to Ranma.

"Yeah, just one question if you don't mind."

"You may ask."

"What is it about Akane that makes all this worth it?" Ranma asked.

Kuno blinked and raised an eyebrow. "What does thy mean?"

"I mean this hounding her each and every morning. This ganging up on her to beat her into submission and force her to date you." The pigtailed boy then looked over the crowd. "Why are you guys going along with it? I mean yes Akane's cute and all, but why specifically her? Why not any cute girl here too? What do you all think she was going to do if she did date any of you?"

Akane fumed. "Why that-"

"Don't Akane." Kasumi alerted her more aggressive personality. "He's not insulting you."

"She's right. He's calling out the horde on their stupidity, not our appeal." Nabiki added, settling their sister down.

Kuno however had no voices in his head to pacify him. Whether or not he had voices in his head was debatable, but if any were there they weren't being the voice of reason right now. "How dare you debase Akane Tendo like that!"

"I'm just asking why, out of all the girls in this school, is Akane Tendo the one that every boy is drooling over? What does she have that no other girl has? What does she do that no other girl does? Every boy here could have chosen to ignore your stupid idea of a horde, but they didn't. So why? What makes Akane worth it to you all?"

"You sure he's not insulting me?" Akane whispered.

"Not exactly." Nabiki claimed. "He's saying as far as he knows you don't deserve the attention you're getting, which let's be honest Akane, you don't. Yeah you've got a great body and good athletic skills, but you're not exactly the only girl in school who can say that. Ranma's just trying to get the horde to admit their motive in singling you out like this, thus showing their true character."

"I don't have to justify my choices to a nobody like yourself!" Kuno proclaimed.

"Can you do it if you wanted to? Can anyone here justify their choices?" Ranma responded.

Kuno did not respond, nor did anyone else. He did however aim his bokken and lunge at the pigtailed teen. Ranma backflipped and effectively ducked under the wooden sword and used the momentum for an uppercut kick attack that connected to Kuno's jaw.

This made a good portion of the school gasp, as none of them had ever seen anyone aside from Akane land a hit on the esteemed kendoist.

Kuno himself tried to shrug it off. "Lucky shot, but your luck ends now!" He lunged again, and just like before Ranma backflipped under the wooden sword then delivered an uppercut kick to the jaw.

Akane and her sister were both impressed by Ranma and amused by the fact Kuno literally fell for the same trick twice.

Kuno had to rub his aching jaw. "Luckier than I thought, but it won't save you." He lunged again, but this time he aimed his bokken lower. Too bad for him Ranma jumped over, using his shoulders as a springboard, and rapidly delivered several punches to the upperclassman's backside and head.

Kuno collapsed and Ranma landed like a cat. "Twelve hits on you already pal, at what point does it stop being luck and start being skill?"

Clearly still in pain, Kuno slowly forced himself back to his feet, though he was breathing heavily. "You... you wretched... you don't deserve Akane!"

"I'm not fighting for Akane, but even if I was, what makes you think that you deserve her?" Ranma challenged.

"I owe you no answers!"

Kuno came at Ranma and jabbed at him again with multiple quick strikes. Ranma dodged but the statue behind him could not, and a chunk of it was cleaved off with a smooth cut.

'How did he cut stone with a wooden blade?' He asked himself. 'Either that sword's not really wood or that statue was a prop to intimidate me.'

To test this theory Ranma maneuvered to be by a tree, luring Kuno there to strike again. Kuno did and Ranma again dodged, resulting in the bokken hitting the tree. A few pieces of bark broke off but otherwise the tree was undamaged.

'Okay that proves it. A sword that can cut stone should have no problem cutting wood. He's trying to fake his strength to intimidate me, make me think this is hopeless. Too bad for him I don't believe in hopeless.'

Ranma pivoted around the kendoist, forcing him to do the same. When he struck Ranma swung his leg and kicked him in the hand, making his bokken go flying away and impale itself in the ground by some panicked students.

"You loathsome heathen!" Kuno cursed, but a look of fear was mixed in with his anger.

Ranma grinned. "Let's see how tough you are when you're unarmed pal." The pigtailed teen took the offense, and Kuno immediately backed away and dodged, but less effective than his opponent, resulting in him taking a lot of hits. When Ranma stopped, Kuno faltered for a bit then collapsed to his back.

"Heh, some fighter. Can't take a hit, and has to use fake statues to trick others into thinking he's strong." Ranma said so everyone could hear, walking to the statue and picking up a piece. "See for yourself." He added before throwing it towards Akane, who caught it.

"He's right, this is foam." She told everyone, feeling how soft it was in her hands. "Kuno's just a big fraud."

Many members of the Hentai Horde were looking at their fallen leader in a new light.

Ranma came up to Akane. "Well, I know this isn't what you want, but am I at least better than the alternative?"

Akane glanced at Kuno for a moment then looked back to Ranma. "Talk like a normal human being, keep your hands to yourself, and the three of us will give you a chance."

"Speak for yourself Akane." Nabiki snidely muttered.

"You know that's impossible Nabiki." Kasumi chided.

Back home that evening things were reasonably well. Akane and her sisters whenever they took the dominant side all gave Soun their own form of the cold shoulder. To his credit he was taking it in stride.

"Good job on defeating the other boy Ranma." He praised. "If he continues to give any trouble, he will only be proving that he is indeed unworthy of courting Akane."

"Or any of us." Nabiki, the current outer personality, remarked under her breath.

"And what if he doesn't care and keeps it up anyway?" Ranma asked, sounding more annoyed by the prospect than concerned. "Am I supposed to fight the guy off every day?"

"Welcome to our world." Nabiki muttered again.

"It is your duty to face the challenge and defend your fiancee boy." Genma declared.

Nabiki put down her chopsticks. "Mr. Saotome, at what point does it stop being a challenge and start being harassment?"

"A challenge is a challenge." Genma stated.

"In that case, what about the 'challenge' of finding a paying job while you're here?"

Ranma smirked, enjoying the 'oh crap' expression his father was giving.

The next day Ranma and Akane went to school, and while they were expecting it they were still annoyed to see the Hentai Horde continue their methods. The two just plowed through the crowd, taking notice of only the fact that Kuno himself wasn't there to participate.

"I thought I told you to leave them to me." Akane said when they were inside.

"Think about it Akane, if they get the idea that I'm afraid to fight them then what's to stop them from trying to convince you to replace me?"

Akane and her sisters had to admit he had a point.

"You know Akane, and the other two, if you really hate the horde so much then why do you keep using the front gate to get into the school?" Ranma added as they walked down the hall.

"Because it's the only way inside, genius."

"You're a martial artist aren't you? Training in Anything Goes? You're seriously telling me that neither one of you ever thought of going over the wall from behind or something?"

Akane stopped in her tracks and all three of her personalities felt stupid for such an oversight.

"I can't believe I never thought of that!" Nabiki mentally screamed. "There are plenty of trees and we could have moved trashcans or boxes to stand on if we had to! We could have avoided the horde the entire time!"

Akane sheepishly but wisely said nothing else along the way to class.