Duty of Care

A Ranma one-shot fanfiction

By Mintaka14

When the dust and smoke finally settled over what was left of Furinkan Highschool, it was fairly clear that it was time for Principal Kuno to enjoy an early retirement. It was fairly clear to the local authorities that the retirement should take place in secure facilities and involve a thorough psychological evaluation.

Regardless, it was going to be impossible for classes to continue at Furinkan until the structural repairs and decontamination had been completed. That would take some time, and so the students of Furinkan found themselves dispersed to other schools in the district.

Principal Saito of Nerima High School pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to ease the headache that seemed to be permanently lodged there now, and attempted to focus on the student file in front of him. There wasn't much to it; most of the information that would have been in the folder was scattered ash in the rubble of Furinkan High School. He stood, and wearily opened the office door.

The teenage girl sitting just outside his office was scowling down at the floor, the expression darkening her rather pretty face. The impatient jittering of one foot gave away her nerves, and at the sound of the door opening she looked up. Behind the scowl, Principal Saito could see a flash of something that looked like fear. He gestured for her to follow him into the office. The young man sitting next to her half-stood in an oddly protective move, but she turned a quick frown and a headshake on him, and he subsided again.

That would be the infamous Ranma Saotome, and Principal Saito's next problem, but right now he was focused on the girl.

"Akane Tendo," he said, taking his seat behind the desk. A thought suddenly occurred to him. "Related to… Nabiki Tendo?"

"She's my older sister," the girl admitted, and Principal Saito made a note in the files in front of him, pinching the bridge of his nose again.

"Now to business. I've called your father, and he'll be here soon to discuss things, but before he gets here I would like to hear your version of what happened this afternoon."

He raised a gently enquiring eyebrow, noting the way Akane's scowl deepened.

"Kenji said he wanted to date me," she said, a hint of belligerence in her voice, and again Saito had the sense that she was covering up a deeper reaction. He had the impression that this was a girl who would far rather be angry than afraid. Saito waited, bracing himself for the rest of the story. When the silence went on, his eyebrow lifted further.

"And did he… do anything further? Touch you? Threaten you?"

"He didn't get a chance," Akane responded darkly.

Principal Saito had a feeling he was missing something here.

"So Mister Nakamura asked you on a date," he said slowly, looking for clarification. Akane nodded reluctantly. "He didn't say anything further, or touch you in any way, and yet you broke his arm."

"I didn't hit him that hard."

"You broke his arm," Saito repeated.

"They don't stop unless you make sure they can't get up again."

Saito stared at the young student, open-mouthed, not quite sure where to go with that. The commotion in the hallway outside spared him from having to come up with a way of discreetly asking if the girl had been the victim of assault in the past, but he made another cryptic note in the file in front of him as his secretary ushered the new arrivals into his office.

At first glance, Soun Tendo looked like most of the parents Saito dealt with on a daily basis. Well-dressed, a little worn around the edges, in the kind of physical shape that indicated that he put some work into it, the long hair was unusual but not extraordinary. He was accompanied by a young woman who looked barely old enough to be out of high school herself, and what was unusual was the way she was guiding him, murmuring soothingly as if she were talking to a child.

Saito wondered for a moment if the young woman was his wife, or nurse, but Akane greeted her as older sister, and Saito took a closer look. On the surface, there was nothing to show their familial connection. The older girl, who introduced herself as Kasumi Tendo, had a calm patience about her that was nothing like Akane's vivid energy. Everything about her, from the ribbon tying back the pale hair that fell over her shoulder to the way she held herself in quiet stillness was a stark contrast with her younger sister. Looking closer, though, there was something in the set of the mouth maybe, or the hint of stubbornness about the chin, that linked them as sisters.

Akane, Nabiki, Kasumi. Saito made another note. He shot a surreptitious glance at their father as the elder sister steered him to an empty seat, and became aware that tears were rolling down the man's face.

"My Akane," he started sobbing, and Kasumi laid a gentle hand on his arm. She didn't seem surprised or upset by her father's emotional outburst.

"Now, daddy, I'm sure there's no need for that. Let's find out why Principal Saito wanted to see us."

"I've simply asked you to come in today to discuss a situation that occurred with Akane and another student earlier today. Akane admits that she broke Kenji Nakamura's arm, and according to both their versions of events it seems clear that Akane overreacted to an innocent situation. I'm concerned because that overreaction resulted in serious harm, and it could have been worse."

"I made sure I pulled my strike," Akane whispered guiltily. Her gaze had dropped to regard the floor intently, but Saito was startled at a sudden wail of what sounded like despair from her father. Soun Tendo had an arm flung over his face and seemed to be sobbing wildly.

"My little girl! Dishonour upon our house!"

Saito frowned.

"It's hardly that," he said drily, thrown a little by the reaction. "But while Akane may have misread Mister Nakamura's intentions, we take physical fights seriously, particularly when they result in the hospital."

He looked at the young girl. "The greater the ability in martial arts, the greater the responsibility you bear to control those abilities, and to use them wisely."

Akane sank deeper in her chair, her face flushing, but she nodded briefly.

"Would I…" she started, her voice faltering, then she tried again. "Could I… apologise to Kenji? Would they let me see him?"

Saito regarded her. At least Akane was aware now of the gravity of what she'd done, and seemed remorseful. He was still a little disturbed by the implications of where that instinctive, violent response had come from.

"I can certainly see if his parents would allow that. Or perhaps a letter would be appropriate, if they don't wish you to visit him. Now, our school policy mandates three days of suspension. After that, I'd like to speak to you again, Miss Tendo."

Akane bowed her head again, but didn't say anything further. Saito wasn't sure whether her father had heard any of that over his melodramatic sobs, and the principal rolled his eyes a little. He glanced at Akane's sister, who was still sitting in calm watchfulness just behind her father.

Saito frowned, and took a decision.

"Akane," he began, "why don't you take your father to find a glass of water?"

The dark-haired girl flashed him a look of confusion, but she didn't hesitate to help her father up. Saito waited until he was certain they were out of earshot before he turned to the elder sister.

"Miss Tendo, forgive me – you understand that with the recent events at Furinkan I have little information on your sister to go by – but I must ask. Does Akane have a history of abuse or assault?"

A shadow of a frown drifted across Kasumi's serene expression, but she watched him steadily, waiting for elaboration.

"She said something interesting earlier when I asked her about the incident with Kenji Nakamura. She said that 'They don't stop unless you make sure they can't get up again.' Does that mean anything to you?"

Kasumi's face cleared, and she gave a soft smile.

"Oh, my sister used to have to fight her way through the boys at Furinkan who wanted to date her. They could be very persistent."

Saito stared at her for a moment, but she didn't seem aware of having said anything odd.

"She used to have to fight the boys at school," he said slowly. Kasumi nodded and smiled. "All of them?"

"Oh no. There were only about fifty or so."

"Fifty?"

"Yes."

"Who wanted a date with her."

"Yes."

"And who fought her for it."

Kasumi gazed at him as if she was waiting to see where he was going with this.

"And this was every day?" Saito asked, still trying to get his head around this. "Didn't anyone try to stop these attacks? The teachers? Weren't there any injuries?"

"Well, some of the boys had broken bones or teeth, but mostly the school nurse dealt with them."

"What the hell is wrong with that school?!" Saito exploded, then reined himself in as Kasumi stared at him, startled. "What about Akane?"

"Akane? Oh, no. She rarely let them hit her. She's a very good martial artist," Kasumi explained. "Daddy's been training her since she was little. She's well able to take care of herself, and no one's tried to date her like that since Ranma came to Furinkan High."

Saito pinched at the bridge of his nose. That odd look in Akane's eyes made a lot more sense now. He mentally filed the curious comment about Ranma Saotome as something to be looked into later.

"She shouldn't have had to take care of herself like that. That such attacks on a student could happen at all, let alone go on, day after day, at any school…"

The former Principal Kuno had much to answer for. So did the entire teaching staff of Furinkan High School.

The older Tendo sister had her eyes fixed on her hands folded in her lap, another frown ghosting across her features. Her mouth tightened as if she was considering something in a new light, and she looked up at him again.

"Principal Saito, I know that Furinkan High School seems a little unconventional, and possibly even dangerous. But if we seem rather offhand about all of this, it's because things have a tendency to the … unusual… around our families. We are rather used to unconventional and dangerous."

"Families?"

"The Tendos and the Saotomes."

Before Saito could ask anything further, Akane and Soun Tendo came back in and Kasumi's attention shifted to her father again. There was little else to say, and Saito wrapped things up before there was another emotional outburst. Clearly, the three Tendo sisters didn't get their steel from their father, and Saito wondered whether the man had always been this way, or whether something had happened.

As they moved towards the door, Saito asked, "Akane may I have a further moment?"

"Sensei?" Akane glanced back at her sister. "I'll meet you back at home, Kasumi."

She settled back into her seat, looking apprehensive, and Saito tried to make his expression reassuring.

"I just wanted to let you know, Miss Tendo, that whatever may have been the situation at Furinkan, the attacks that you experienced there will never be tolerated here."

"I can take care of myself," she told him a little resentfully, as if he had criticised her.

"I am aware of that," he responded drily. "You are a very capable, strong young woman, and it sounds like you have considerable skill as a martial artist." Saito noted the way Akane's face brightened immeasurably at that. "What I am saying, however, is that you should have no cause to defend yourself so violently at Nerima High School, and we would take it very seriously if anyone gave you cause. Equally, I expect you to exercise self-discipline and respond to your fellow students fairly and reasonably, without excessive force. This is not Furinkan."

"If I waited for the world to be fair and reasonable, I'd be dead by now," Akane muttered. "Or married off to a monster."

Before Saito could respond to that, or even formulate the questions it raised in his mind, his secretary knocked on the door.

"Sir, the Saotomes are here."

Saito raised a hand in acknowledgement and looked back at the teenage girl in front of him.

"We'll continue this another time," he told her, and she stood, bowing, before she hurried out.

Through the door, Saito saw Akane look up at the young man with the black pigtail and the startling blue eyes who stood as she came out. She said something, and it looked like there was a quick, vehement argument going on before Akane folded her arms and dropped decisively into one of the seats near the door. Ranma threw his hands up in a sharp gesture, and turned away.

Saito had not yet had a chance to meet this student, but he had heard the rumours and gossip that circulated through the staffroom. He had dismissed most of it as exaggeration and ridiculous stories, but now he was beginning to wonder. Ranma had an intensity and a sense of controlled action about him that tended to draw the eye and dominate the space he filled, and the set of his muscled shoulders suggested that he was well able to handle himself. He carried himself with a careless assurance that should have been conceit in someone his age, but if even half of the stories about him were true then it was well-earned.

Right now, he was bristling with mistrust as he entered the office. A large, older man in a well-worn martial arts gi loomed behind Ranma, his arms crossed in impatient arrogance and the light glinting on his glasses as he swept the room with a glance, and it took Saito a moment to notice the slender woman behind Ranma's father. Her demure pose and dainty kimono almost distracted from the flash of steel in her eyes.

Good lord, was that a katana strapped across her back? That was Saito's first indication that this was not going to be a standard parent meeting.

"Mr Saotome, before we begin," he started, recalling a disturbance that had happened that morning, "I want to just remind you that whatever the rules may have been at Furinkan High School, Miss Shan Pu is not a student here and your girlfriend cannot be allowed to visit you on campus."

"She's not my girlfriend!" the young man growled, slumping into a chair, and Saito raised an eyebrow.

"Regardless, please let her know that should she attempt to do so again, I will call the authorities."

Saito thought he heard the boy mutter, "I wish you would." He chose to ignore it.

"I do thank you for making time to come here today," Saito turned to address Ranma's parents. "I wanted a chance to discuss Ranma's grades with you. With the university entrance exams coming up next year-"

"He doesn't need to waste his time on entrance exams when he should be training, because he's not going to university," Ranma's father growled, interrupting. "The only reason I agreed to break his training and let him go to school was so he and Akane could spend time together."

"And so his mother could see him," Nodoka Saotome reminded him in a quiet voice that could have cut glass. Genma flinched.

"That too."

Saito interjected, "So I take it that before Ranma came to Furinkan High School he was undergoing martial arts training with you?"

Genma turned a look of disdain on him, as if he'd just asked an abysmally stupid question.

Saito looked at Ranma. "Where were you before you came to Nerima?" he asked the boy, and Ranma put a hand to the back of his head, grimacing as he tried to think.

"It's hard to keep track," he admitted. "Dad took me to China for a while, before that we were all over the place."

"And did you go to school in that time?"

"Yeah, some." Ranma shrugged uncomfortably. "I didn't stay anywhere long."

"I see," Saito said thoughtfully. There was a long silence while he wrote a few details on the page in front of him. "China. That must have been interesting."

"You could say that," Ranma muttered darkly, shooting a black look at his father. "Between the cursed training grounds and crazy Amazons, it was definitely interesting."

Saito blinked. "Cursed training grounds?" he asked hesitantly.

"The Jusenkyo cursed springs," Ranma said in the weary voice of someone who had had to explain this far too many times. "A whole lotta springs, and if you fall into one you take on the form of whatever drowned there first. There're bamboo poles all over the place, and Pop here," he shot another dark look at his father, "thought it'd be a brilliant idea to train me there, trying to knock each other off the poles. Guess how long it took before we ended up in the water?"

"And you were… cursed?"

"Yu-p," Ranma said matter-of-factly, popping the last consonant.

Saito wanted to dismiss this story as impossible. He really wanted to ask what kind of father would take his young son out of school and all the way to China to inflict such extreme training on him.

He really wanted to ask what the curse was, but he had the feeling that digging into Ranma's history would take a very long time, and his headache was getting worse by the second.

"And now that you're here at Nerima High School, what are your plans for the future?" Saito asked Ranma, trying to pull things back on track, but it was Genma who answered with a hint of belligerence.

"My boy's going to marry Akane the way Tendo and I arranged it. He'll take over their dojo and become the best martial artist that ever lived."

Saito leaned back in his chair a little, glancing at Ranma's mother to see how she was responding to the idea of her son dropping out of school to marry and teach martial arts, but judging from the look of approval that she turned on her husband she was on board with the plan.

"A true man among men," Ranma's mother said serenely, and Saito raised an eyebrow.

Of course, he'd dealt with driven parents before – stage parents, sports-mad parents, parents who were convinced that their child was a genius, parents who were living out their dreams in their children – but the Saotomes were something else.

"And is this what you want to do?" Saito asked Ranma, curious to see how the boy would respond.

Ranma glanced nervously at his mother – not his father, Saito was interested to note.

"Yeah," the boy said.

Saito waited.

"Yeah," Ranma said, more firmly. "I wanna teach martial arts, learn more techniques, and have my own dojo one day."

It sounded like he meant it.

"Not that whole getting married thing," Ranma added, as if he'd just reminded himself of a cue that he'd missed. "I mean, who'd want to get hitched to that uncute tomboy?"

Saito did not miss the way Genma Saotome reached out to cuff his son, or the way Nodoka Saotome's hand lifted to touch the hilt of her katana. Ranma subsided into his seat.

Saito was thinking fast. The mention of an arranged marriage was not the most important issue to deal with at the moment, although it would bear thinking about later. Akane and Ranma obviously had more than a few issues with their families to deal with. But Saito had to stay focused on the main problem at hand.

Clearly, their son's academic results were of little interest. Genma, in particular, seemed to see anything that kept his son from devoting himself wholly to training as contemptible. But Saito's first duty of care was to the boy, and the boy would need more than martial arts if he didn't want to end up an illiterate, frustrated thug. How, though, to convince Ranma's parents to support his studies?

"Some level of academic achievement may be necessary," he tried. "Qualifications in teaching, promotion of the dojo, the bookwork and accounts…"

"That's women's work. His wife will take care of that," Genma cut Saito off dismissively, missing the flash of fury that Nodoka turned on him.

"And that would be Akane Tendo," Saito clarified, trying to reconcile the angry, stubborn and, above all, forceful young lady he'd just met with this meek idea of dutiful wifehood.

There was a predictable explosion from Ranma, as he turned on his father.

"I ain't marrying that tomboy! Or anyone else you've got me engaged to!"

"You'll do as you're told boy," his father growled.

Saito leaned forward on his elbows, wondering if there was going to be a physical fight and marvelling at the sheer stupidity of the whole situation. It hadn't taken him more than two minutes with Ranma and Akane to realise that trying to push either one of them into something was only going to result in intractable resistance, particularly given Akane's history with the boys at her school. So how on earth had their parents thought that springing a forced engagement on them would work out?

Ranma's resistance to the arranged marriage was particularly interesting in light of his protective concern for Akane in the hallway. This was getting more complex by the second, and Saito noted Ranma's reference to other engagements, but he set his questions aside to focus on the main problem for the time being.

Nodoka Saotome cleared her throat, and her husband and son simmered down, bristling but silent as they took their seats again. There was a good chance he could persuade Ranma's mother of the value of her son's education, but her husband was going to be a trickier prospect.

What would possibly change the mind of someone who had gone to such extreme lengths to make his son the greatest martial artist ever?

An idea occurred to Saito.

"Perhaps," he said with a careful note of doubt in his voice, "it is best if Ranma stick to martial arts rather than competing for good grades. After all, the chances are he would never win…"

He broke off there, cautious not to overplay his hand. It would be too much to say that Genma showed signs of wavering, but his eyeglasses flashed at the word win, and Saito felt hopeful. More importantly, Ranma was leaning forward in his seat, his face alight with a sudden fire. It seemed that Saito had gauged this boy with some accuracy in assuming that he would see it as a challenge to be met rather than letting the words undermine his confidence.

Principal Saito made a few more notes in Ranma's student file. This was a good beginning, but there were going to be a lot of challenges in working with this young man. A lot of challenges, he thought, glancing at the boy's parents, but nothing worth doing was ever easy, especially in teaching.

He tactfully brought the interview to a close and stood, ushering Ranma and his parents out. As the Saotomes left the office, Akane jumped up from the seat where she'd planted herself to wait. Saito watched with interest as Ranma gravitated with a sort of inevitability towards her.

"You didn't have to wait," the boy growled, and Akane scowled again.

"Well, excuse me for being worried about you," she snapped back. "Stupid jerk."

"Tomboy."

There was a rhythm to the insults that sounded like they were a reflex, an ingrained habit, but Saito noticed the way their fingertips brushed as if they weren't even aware of it as they stood in each other's personal space, wrapped up in their argument. There were clearly far more complex dynamics going on here than he'd realised. He glanced at Ranma's parents, but they seemed to be oblivious to the undercurrents between their son and their friend's daughter.

Saito sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose again. Given what Saito had come to know about Ranma and Akane in the past hour, and given what he knew from twenty years of teaching teenagers, that misguided family engagement was probably the only thing keeping the pair apart right now. It was just as well that the Saotomes and Tendos had never thought to forbid Ranma and Akane to see each other, otherwise they would have had a runaway teenage marriage on their hands months ago.

He watched them all as they left, Ranma and Akane still bickering in an easy way as they followed Ranma's parents, and then Saito headed back into his office, allowing himself to drop into his desk chair with a groan. He stared at the wall, his eyes unfocused, wondering if there was something in the water around Furinkan High School that made everybody crazy. Eventually he shook himself and pulled the two student folders towards him.

"Miss Watanabe!" Saito called, and his secretary leaned around the edge of the door.

"Sir?"

"Please organise a thorough schedule of tutoring in all subjects for Ranma Saotome," he requested, his pencil tapping absently on the folders in front of him. "And book Akane Tendo in for an appointment with the school counsellor."

He stared down at the student records, frowning, as he tried to think through the encounters with his students' families. "And brochures for Hokkaido University, if you would, Miss Watanabe. Two brochures."

His secretary raised an eyebrow. "Hokkaido? But that's so far away."

"Yes," Saito said thoughtfully. "Yes, it is. And they offer martial arts sports scholarships."

When nothing else was forthcoming, Miss Watanabe turned to go.

"Remind me to contact Araki-san and Honda-san," Saito said abruptly, naming two fellow school principals in the district. "They've had to deal with the Furinkan students. I'd be interested to hear their impressions."

His secretary nodded and moved to leave again, then paused. "Oh, and I have one of the new senior students here, a Tatewaki Kuno. He's demanding to see you, sir. I told him you were busy, but he insisted on waiting."

The pencil Saito was tapping froze.

"Wait, did you say Kuno?"

"Yes. Shall I send him in?"

Saito could feel the headache begin to throb behind his eyes.

"Fine. Why not?" he sighed, and his secretary turned to go.

"And get me a whisky," Principal Saito added. "A large one. I think I'm going to need it."