Author's Note: Another day, another new project. To anyone who might be even remotely interested, I'm debating whether to continue Gundam SEED as it currently is, or just find a way to turn it into a full-blown crossover of just about all Gundam franchises through some manner of macguffin. Either way, this will help me clear my head of this latest idea; a Negima-Ranma cross where Ranma isn't a student, is not some latent magical genius, and is not going to get Pactios. I mean it, he might get some sugar, which will take a while, but he ain't getting a card to go with it.
Enjoy, or not but since I'm not making you read this, why would you still be here if you didn't?
Chapter 1: Ranma, meet Negi Springfield
It was not often that Ranma would pause and marvel at a sight; the life he lived had jaded him to anything from natural vistas, mainly because his father always threw him off such places to learn how to fall properly, to magic simply because of the curse and all of those false cures and cursed artifacts making his life difficult instead of making it easier.
The morning rush that occurred whenever there was a no-tolerance day for late attendance was one of the few sights that did make him pause; as he took in a sea of students streaming towards the front doors like a flood tide. A blur made him twitch as he saw three girls roof hopping sedately over the chaos and his mind informed him who he was looking at.
"Kaede Nagase, Mana Tatsumiya and Zazie Rainyday…hmm." A glance showed a small blonde and another girl with green hair and obviously mechanical ear-pieces heading over another area, "Evangeline A.K. McDowell and Chachamaru Karakuri…"
Another blur revealed a short-haired tanned girl and another with long black hair tied back with what the pigtailed teacher knew was a sheathed katana slung over one shoulder as Ranma nodded, "And finally Ku-Fei and Setsuna Sakurazaki. Okay, that means I need to find Konoka Konoemon and Asuna Kagurazaki to know who's going to be late again."
Whistling a small tune, Ranma starting hopping to come up from behind the stragglers as his keen eyes searched out a particular head of red hair and one of black and spotted them running in front of the late stragglers.
He was about to drop down when he spotted another head of red hair, though this one was several shades darker, "Huh?" It was a ten-year old kid, and he was about to draw even with Asuna and Konoka as the two girls passed by below him. Intrigued, Ranma decided to give the latecomers a break and followed the pair.
"Hey Asuna, I heard that if you shout out the name of a person you like three times and bark like a dog, it'll come true."
Ranma scoffed as he heard the conversation, no one was stupid enough to…
"Okay! Takahata-sensei! Takahata-sensei! Takahata-sensei! ARF!"
Ranma face-planted at speed into the roof of a coffee shop while nearby students veered away from the red-head who had suddenly imitated a dog.
The pig-tailed teacher managed to recover and, with barely a glance, dropped down and planted the penalty cards on the stragglers before jogging to catch up with not just the two students, but the young boy who had drawn up alongside them; now where did he…?
"Your love will be unrequited."
Ranma blinked and nearly face-faulted again but recovered quickly at hearing the boy's prediction to Asuna, who immediately flew into a rage and grabbed the boy, prompting Ranma to immediately pick up speed before the girl did something to hurt the kid.
"So in short, little kids aren't allowed here. You got that?" Asuna glared at the kid before dropping him to the ground, leaving Negi Springfield to try and explain.
"Ah, no, um."
Konoka giggled as she got turned with her rollerblades and made to wave goodbye to the boy, "Well we have things to do now. Go home by yourself ok?"
Asuna nodded, "Yeah! Goodbye brat!"
Just then the trio, and the quickly arriving martial artist nearby, heard a voice from one of the windows, "That will be enough Asuna-kun!" They all looked up to see a bearded man leaning out the window of the staff room.
"Long time no see, Negi-kun." Negi's face brightened as he waved to the man.
"Long time no see Takamichi!"
Seeing the situation had been defused, Ranma alighted to a nearby lamp-post, watching Takamichi Takahata expertly hop down to the ground from the window and approach the two girls as they were busy asking how the kid knew Takamichi.
"Welcome to Mahora Academy, it's a nice place isn't it, Negi-Sensei?"
Konoka blinked and put a finger to her lips in thought.
"Eh? Sensei?"
Negi started, "Ah yes, that's right!"
The boy gave a cough and gave a formal bow, "I will be teaching English at this school, my name is Negi Springfield."
"EH! A little brat like you! A teacher here!" Negi recoiled as the girl, Asuna, tried to attack him again as Takamichi drew up beside them.
"I wouldn't worry about a thing Asuna; he's actually quite intelligent despite appearances." He smiled slightly, "In fact, he'll taking Class A instead of me."
"Ah! B-but Sensei, even if that's true, he said something really mean to me!" Asuna looked near tears but before anything else could be said, another voice caught Negi's attention.
"You gotta be kidding me, Takamichi; this is the prodigy in charge of the Madhouse?"
Takamichi closed his eyes with a smile and glanced upwards, "I see you took care of the penalty cards today Ranma-kun." The two girls and one newly-confirmed child teacher turned to see another person sitting on a nearly lamp post as Takamichi continued, "Why don't you introduce yourself Ranma-kun, considering you're essentially new here as well."
The figure, backlit by the sun, shrugged and expertly flipped through the air to land in front of the group, revealing a teenage boy wearing a silk shirt and pants and slippers, a pair of black gloves on his hands as he folded his arms and studied Negi, before bowing slightly, "Ranma Saotome, and I teach P.E."
Konoka blinked, "Ah, I've seen you before, talking with my grandfather!"
Ranma nodded and smiled slightly, "Yeah that's me." He glanced at Negi, and raised an eyebrow, "Hey kid, you okay?"
Everyone turned to see Negi frozen in terror and in a moment of worry, Asuna drew up alongside the child teacher, "Hey brat, snap out of it!" At that moment a small breeze made one of her ponytails rise up and tickle Negi's nose, prompting a sudden blink, and then he sneezed.
If Ranma hadn't sensed the buildup of energy thanks to the Hands of Chaos, he would have likely been hit full blast by the gale-force gust of wind summoned by the sneeze. Asuna, on the other hand, was not as lucky as her clothes were blasted off her.
Ranma landed next to the blushing Takamichi, feeling sorry for her despite himself.
"I can tell already that this kid's gonna be a handful."
Takamichi nodded while trying to avoid looking at the humiliated Asuna.
Later that day, Ranma was seated at his desk and going over his schedule for the day, alongside a number of other teachers. Despite the fact that all of them were mystics, mostly mages and a few high-powered martial artists like himself, none of them paid any attention to the presence of Sayo.
The ghost girl, in return, cheerfully ignored them and made Ranma a cup of coffee, something she had gotten into the habit of doing when there were no non-magical teachers present.
'Wonder why they don't try and talk to her? I mean, I know they can see and hear Sayo-chan, so why not talk to her?' Ranma shook his head and accepted the cup of coffee with a nod of thanks; during his time he had become fond of the drink and besides, the caffeine helped him deal with some of the more rowdy classes he had, such as today, '2-S and 2-L today, that's going to be fun, these two classes could match the Madhouse in terms of noise. Still, they get good grades and they know not to do anything that might get them in trouble when in class.'
Just then, his desk phone rang, "Ranma Saotome here. Hmm? Yeah, sure I'll be right there." He hung up and finished off his coffee before grabbing his stuff and heading out the door, Sayo following after him.
As the pair walked down the halls, Ranma looked thoughtful, "How come, every time I tell you to go to class in the morning, I always find you at my desk?" Sayo blushed and looked away, prompting Ranma to wince, "Oh right, the whole being dead thing, sorry about that."
Sayo shook her head and was about to reply when Ranma held up a hand, "Nah, don't need to apologize, it's my bad anyway. I mean, when are you ever going to have a chance to use all the stuff you've learnt over the past…what? Fifty, maybe sixty years?"
He was about to apologize again when he felt a cold hand grab his and Sayo simply stated, "I like helping you out Ranma-sensei."
Ranma smiled and patted Sayo on the head, "Yeah, and I appreciate everything you do. Tell you what; go check and see what traps the Narutaki's have set up today, I got a feeling they're planning a real big one."
Sayo nodded and vanished through a wall back to 2-A as Ranma made his way to the Principal's office and after a quick check to see if he was presentable, knocked on the door and stepped inside.
The first thing Ranma did was raise an eyebrow at the band-aid on Principal Konoemon's head, "Let me guess, played matchmaker while Konoka was in earshot again?"
"Oh ho ho ho, you can't blame an old man for wanting to see his grand-daughter married to a good man, Ranma-kun."
Ranma shook his head and took a seat, "Yeah, well at least you aren't doing it without her knowing; boss or not I would have put you in hospital for that, Old Man."
Konoe Konoemon nodded with a serious expression, "I have no doubt you would. The boy you met earlier today, I assume you've discovered that he's the new English teacher?" At Ranma's nod the old man continued, "I've assigned Shizuna-sensei to provide any advice, but she won't be available all the time, which is why I've decided that you will also help him out when required."
Ranma frowned, "I ain't a babysitter, Old Man, and you know the life I've lived. I ain't the kind of person to hold someone else's hand when things get rough, this kid'll either swim against the flow or not at all, I'm not pulling him up a river with a rope."
Konoemon nodded, "That's fine, but will you help him if he looks like he's going to drown or drag his students with him? You know what he is really is, Ranma, so the possibility of danger to them is very real."
Ranma looked thoughtful for a moment, before nodding, "I'll pull him out if he's about to drown and I'll make sure he doesn't drown again. He puts the girls in danger and I'll make sure he regrets doing such a thing, you have my word on that, Old Man."
Konoemon smiled, stroking his beard as he did so, "Very well said. Now then; I'd like you to meet Negi-kun outside of 2-A before he starts class; lend him some of your insight."
Ranma shrugged, "Sure. See ya, Old Man." With that he walked out the door.
Konoe Konoemon nodded with a smile, "Ranma Saotome and Negi Springfield, I'm certain you'll do great things."
Ranma whistled as he opened a secret passage and walked in, "Definitely gotta thank Sayo-chan for showing me these passages. Certainly cuts down on my travel times." He opened the door and walked out at the opposite end of the hallway that contained Class 2-A and headed down towards the class, spotting Negi, Konoka, Asuna and Shizuna-sensei as he stopped at the door.
As Asuna declared, "I refuse to live together with someone like you." Ranma used his speed to appear behind Negi and Shizuna-sensei as the girl stomped off to class.
"Geez, and I thought I left the violent tomboys behind when I started working here."
Negi flinched as the scary teen from before leaned against the wall while Shizuna-sensei simply giggled, "Now, now Ranma, she may be rowdy but she's really a nice girl."
Negi flinched again even as Ranma rolled his eyes, "So was my ex-fiancee, right up until she brained me with a table."
He looked right at Negi then, "Negi Springfield huh? Looks like we'll be seeing each other a lot more; the principal's decided that I'm to help you out when you need it and sit in on your classes with the Madhouse to make sure they actually learn something.
Negi blinked; that was nice of the principal, even if this guy did seem scary, "Oh, thank you very much!"
Ranma shrugged as Shizuna-sensei knelt slightly, "Here's the class roll." Negi thanked the woman as Ranma cocked his head slightly as if listening to something, "Are you sure you'll be fine as a teacher Negi-kun?"
Negi swallowed, "I'm a little nervous actually." He walked up a nearby window and looked inside.
Ranma watched as the child teacher stared at the chatting girls, noting one girl glance up from her book with a knowing look while Sayo, invisible as always, was hand-signaling what the Narutaki's had set up today.
'Toy arrows, falling duster and tripwire. About par for course with them, and here I was worried that they were slipping. Well, how to do this…hmm, that should work.'
Ranma smiled as Shizuna-sensei encouraged Negi to remember the names and faces of the girls and stepped over to pat the kid on the back, causing him to jump.
"Don't worry about it kid, I think you'll do fine."
Negi nodded; even though Ranma seemed so frightening for some reason, he was really rather kind. Then the teen's eyes glimmered slightly as Ranma calmly instructed, "Now then, do a bunny hop into the classroom."
Ranma knew that Shizuna-sensei was giving him a strange look but he was going to get some fun out of having to babysit this kid as Negi sputtered.
"Look, it ain't that difficult, just put your feet together, bend your knees and hop over the threshold."
Negi's sputtering stopped as he began to look skeptical.
"Ranma-sensei, is this because I'm a child?" Ranma snorted.
"If it was because you were some snot-nosed kid, I'd have shoved you through that door and left you to the inmates. I'm telling you, if you don't want a disaster to befall you, then do a bunny hop into the room."
Negi looked at Ranma, who simply smiled sunnily as if he was asking something completely normal, before shaking his head and approaching the door. With a deep breath, the child teacher opened the door and stepped inside the classroom.
A duster fell on his head, but just as Negi was about to turn and make a childish comment, a bucket joined it with a loud *CLANG*, knocking the child forwards and over a tripwire, triggering a barrage of toy arrows as Negi rolled into the desk at the front of the classroom.
"Yes! We got him!"
Ranma shook his head at the crow of victory from the Narutaki twins as he walked in, catching the attention of the laughing girls in the classroom as he leaned down to the struggling Negi with a smile.
"Didn't I warn ya kid? I told you to do a bunny hop and avoid disaster."
The girls blinked before their eyes widened as Ranma pulled the bucket off Negi's head.
Ranma immediately hopped back as the entire class, save for a few notable exceptions, surged forward.
"Eh! A kid?"
One, a tall blonde, knelt beside Negi as Ranma walked behind the desk and opened a window, "Sorry about that! We thought you were the new teacher!"
Another student looked over to Ranma lazily sitting on the space created by the open window as he thumbed through a manga with a bored look on his face, "Maybe the new teacher's supposed to be Ranma-sensei?" A few girls got sly looks on their faces at that question.
Shizuna-sensei was about to speak up when she caught Ranma's look and nodded with a smile, turning and leaving without another word as Ranma turned another page in his manga before suddenly snapping, "Hey kid!"
Negi shot to his feet as another lance of strange fear penetrated him, "Hai senpai!"
Ranma raised an eyebrow at the term before shrugging, "Don't be rude, introduce yourself."
Negi nodded and took a breath as the girls dispersed and returned to their seats, "My name is Negi Springfield, and from today onwards I'll be teaching ma-uh, English at this school. I'll only be here for three terms, but it's very nice to meet you all."
Ranma calmly pulled out a pair of earplugs.
'3, 2, 1…'
"KYAAA!"
"He's so cute!"
'And here we go again. At least it wasn't as bad the first time I subbed for the Madhouse.' He flipped a page as one of the girls; Chisame Hasegawa if he remembered correctly, came up to him.
"This is for real isn't it?"
Ranma nodded, prompting the girl to grumble before returning to her seat, allowing Ranma to listen in as Asuna grabbed Negi by the collar.
"Hey, what did you do with the duster? You did something weird with it, didn't you?"
Ranma blinked in confusion.
'Huh? She sensed him halting that duster for a split-second? Hmm. Hey, wake up and do a scan of the class.' The Hands of Chaos obeyed and sent out a faint, practically invisible pulse of magical energy designed to react to the magical signatures. Ranma ignored the information on everyone save for the red-head accosting the kid even as the class president stepped in and added to the chaos, 'What the hell?'
The Hands shifted in confirmation, 'You have not been deceived, the signal simply vanished the moment it touched her.'
Ranma shrugged as he moved to get the class in order, 'Well I can't worry about it now. Right now, the kid needs to get his lesson started.'
Ranma quietly made a signal to Sayo, who nodded and calmly made her way to the blackboard. Focusing her powers, she ran her nails along the blackboard and created an almighty noise that cut through the fight like a knife.
The girls all stared at the four precise lines on the blackboard as Ranma smiled, "All right you two, break it up! In case you didn't notice, class has already started, so that means everyone back in their seats."
As the noticeably scared girls obeyed, Ranma returned his attention to his manga, rolling his eyes at the glares the two girls were sending each other and the wide-eyed look on Negi's face.
'Was I ever that weak as a kid? Oh wait, by age ten I beat down a group of yakuza with knives and pipes, trust Pops to rob me of my innocence.' He rubbed a scar on his collar where a knife had nicked it before returning to his manga.
As Negi began teaching the class, after a minor moment of embarrassment where he couldn't reach the blackboard that returned the cheerful mood of the class, Ranma settled down to wait for next period and the start of his classes for the day.
Idly flipping through the pages of his manga, he listened to Negi go through the motions of being an English teacher with one ear. To tell the truth, it was surprisingly impressive how professional he was.
Then he saw Asuna break off a piece of her eraser.
'You gotta be kidding me, Kagurazaki, don't tell me you're…yup, you are. Well, not on my watch; Kid's got enough on his plate.' Ranma quietly removed a small yen coin; carefully tracking Asuna's hand and flicked the yen coin the moment Asuna flicked the eraser fragment.
*Thuk!*
Ranma knew that the front row would suddenly see a piece of eraser appear out of thin air, but he had sent his yen coin so that it would fall close enough for him to snatch it back with the Amaguriken.
Another piece flew and again the yen coin intercepted it, bouncing back to be snatched out of sight by Ranma's hand. Three more pieces flew in a salvo and Ranma carefully sighted and then fired off his yen coin, watching as the three pieces were stopped in their tracks as the coin landed back in his hand.
Finally, Asuna pulled out a rubber band, Ranma hiding his snort at her actions with his manga and a mutter about the main hero being an idiot as he shifted his yen coin and carefully built up his Ki; he had an idea about why Negi was so spooked to be around him. Seeing him shiver only confirmed it; the kid could sense his Ki and, like a rabbit staring at a wolf, he was afraid.
'Only one shot at this; if I build up more Ki for a second, it could cause the Kid to wet himself.'
Asuna launched a final piece of eraser, and Ranma responded, the ki-charged coin shattering the rubber and causing Negi to blink in confusion at the sound of a small *pop* as the coin flipped back into Ranma's hand.
Asuna stared in disbelief at the small puff of smoke that had suddenly appeared in front of the class, 'I knew it! He's doing something weird!'
Ranma suppressed a groan at seeing Asuna get ready for a new assault when his watch beeped, causing the class to jump as he checked it.
He stood up and stretched, closing the window as he did so, "Right, I got a class to teach, I'll see you tomorrow Kid."
Negi blinked in confusion, "Eh? Tomorrow?"
Ranma nodded, "I got three P.E. classes, five tests to grade and self-defense class today, so my timetable's booked solid. Expect the same thing tomorrow; like I said before class, I'm only here to help you out with this class and this class only."
Negi blinked, again confused, "Only with this class?"
Ranma smiled as he turned his head, "Sure, this is 2-A aka The Madhouse, the rowdiest lot of underachievers in the entire school. Didn't they tell you that you're here to pull up their grade point average?"
Negi shook his head; things seemed to be making a lot more sense as the girls glared at Ranma, "Really?" What could he do? If he didn't help these students, he could fail himself!
"Oh and one more thing."
Negi paled, there was more?
Ranma turned and regarded the boy with a serious look, "I'm probably going to have to repeat myself somewhere in the future, but what the hell. I'll be there to help you out, kid, but I'm not here to hold your hand. If you fall down, I expect you to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep walking. I'll only help you if you really need it, and by that I mean if there's a problem with the girls, your or these girls' life is on the line. Anything else, don't bother me."
Before Negi or anyone else could say a word, Ranma calmly shut the door and went to find his class.
Several hours later, Ranma was lazily sitting on a lamp post reading his manga again, ignoring the students who occasionally glanced up and whispered to themselves before he checked his watch again and sighed.
"Wish there wasn't so long to wait for that staffroom meeting. Oh well, at least I can finish my…huh?" Ranma blinked as he spotted one of the students from 2-A near the large steps, "Huh, that's Miyazaki-san." The stack of books the girl was carrying was wobbling dangerously but a nearby glance also showed Negi nearby as Ranma calculated how fast he could get there before he frowned.
"Not fast enough to avoid her getting injured from here, better get closer just in case, considering that the Kid's likely been told to hide that he's a mage, he might not use magic to help save her." Ranma grimaced, "Good thing no-one's araaaagh hell!"
Ranma stopped on top of another lamp post upon spotting the girl slip and begin to fall, and was just about to use his Ki to boost his speed when he spotted Negi unfurl the wrappings on a staff.
The teenage teacher landed on the paving stones just in time to feel a spike of magical energy.
Ranma smiled to himself as Negi managed to catch the girl after first slowing her fall, "Heh, good job kid." He glanced to the side and spotted Asuna watching with a look of shock and cocked his head slightly, "Hmm, does this fall under job or life on the line?"
He watched Negi spot both Asuna and himself, since he was in the child teacher's line of sight, just before Asuna snatched Negi up and ran for the trees, and shrugged, "Nah. He'll be fine."
His watch beeped and Ranma smirked, "About time." With that he turned to meet with Old Man Konoemon and the other teachers, just in time to hear a scream from the nearby treeline and pause, before shaking his head, "No, better not."
"Oh hoho, so that's what happened. It seems that Negi-kun is going to make things much livelier from now on."
Ranma leaned back in his chair, casually studying the ceiling as the other mage-teachers frowned at his apparent lack of respect.
"Livelier nothing; that kid's gonna make a mess and I'll have to clean up after him. Still, I looked in on him during one of his other classes, and it looks like he's getting over his first day jitters about working here."
Ranma shook his head.
"So far, it looks like he's Kagurazaki's personal bad luck imp, ain't that right Takamichi?"
Principal Konoemon nodded as the man in question blushed and turned away, "Quite, although it isn't unusual for young mages to have such sudden bursts of power unleashed through rather inconspicuous means."
Ranma shrugged, "Eh, whatever, at least it ain't as embarrassing as Jusenkyo."
Konoemon nodded, "Still, I hope that you'll be able to help him when he needs it."
Ranma shrugged, "Like I said old man, only if he's drowning or going to take those girls with him." He stretched slightly and stood up, "All right, I have a self-defence class to teach and then I got a night training session. I'll see you later, Old Man."
Konoemon nodded and Ranma calmly walked out with a wave, leaving the other teachers with the Principal as one turned to him, "Are you certain that's really wise to have Ranma be Negi's assistant?"
Konoemon nodded, "Ranma has a good eye for potential and, in his own way, will help Negi bring it out, but no-one here should forget the kind of life he had before becoming a teacher. A life like that makes for a person like Ranma; generally callous and rough, yet not totally devoid of charm and compassion, the kind of person who will bandage a man's wounds only if that man absolutely cannot do so himself."
The old man leaned back, "At the same time, Negi will help to soften Ranma's anti-social edge. He'll never make gentlemen out of Ranma that would be impossible as the boy is too hard, too fierce, but Negi will take off some of the sting in his speech and encourage the compassion that has been hidden behind steel and ice for so long."
Konoemon turned to look out the window behind his desk, "And in exchange for doing that, Ranma will ensure Negi is capable of standing on his own two feet and will never give up, no matter the circumstances."
Ranma landed in a clearing in the forest surrounding Mahora and smiled at the sound of night birds as he studied the surroundings. This was his unofficial training ground, the place where he worked to better integrate the powers of the Hands of Chaos into his martial arts, along with helping someone else with her powers.
Closing his eyes and focusing, Ranma channeled Ki into his hands and lightly waved and flicked his fingers, smiling as he heard a feminine squeak of shock and turned to see the ghostly opaque figure of Sayo Aisaka on the ground, her expression pouting as she sat there staring up at him.
"No fair, I'm a ghost and I can never sneak up on you sensei." She huffed as Ranma chuckled and patted her head, prompting a blush.
"Heh, I've had experience with ghosts before Sayo-chan, and one thing I've learned is that you all have a unique tint to your Ki; makes it easier to pick you out of a crowd or follow your movements."
He fell into a stance as Sayo returned to her 'feet' while brushing down her dress, prompting a grin from Ranma, "When you're done grooming, we've got training to do."
Sayo grinned as Ranma's gloved hands lit up with black flames.
Endnotes: And with that comes the end of the first chapter, just a note to those who might be curious, in some places I'm going to merge some of the shorter manga chapters or ignore them altogether, some scenes may have Negi at the center but this is mainly through Ranma's eyes and I have plans for what happens to him in the background of Negi's adventures.