Chapter 3

Ranma thought over the day’s events as he did his daily routine of 200 crunches on his dorm room floor. His roommate, Suge, was out for the evening and he took advantage of his absence and the ensuing quiet. He had learned Suge liked to party. A lot. ‘Damn, that Nick asshole!’ he thought furiously. ‘Why did he have to bug us the rest of the day?’ Not getting an opportunity to talk to Shay alone had annoyed and frustrated him to no end. He wasn’t sure what bothered him more, Nick’s smarmy, ‘I’m so great’ attitude or the fact that his presence made Shay so uncomfortable. He resolved to find out more about what had gone on between them.

Switching to push-ups, Ranma remembered back to when, after Chemistry, Nick professed to be done for the day and insisted on showing Ranma the sights of the campus and university area, which turned out to be a rendition of Nick’s greatest hits. He had finally let them go only after numerous protests from Shay that she had to get an early start on her studies and they escaped back to the residences.

"I’m really sorry you had to put up with him," she’d apologized. "He is the most insufferable braggart at the university."

"Hm. Reminds me of someone back home." Ranma dismissed Nick with a disdainful wave of his hand. "So, do you live on campus?" he asked.

"No, I have an apartment a little ways from here. I wanted to make sure you got back to your place okay. You don’t mind, do you?"

"Oh, no, not a all," Ranma covered his disappointment with a smile. "Thank you," he said with a small bow.

"No problem," she said. A slightly uncomfortable silence followed.

"So, you have classes tomorrow?" Ranma ventured.

"Yes, yes I do." Shay replied with a vigorous nodding of her head. "Do you?"

"Hai, I mean yes. I have my first Kenpo class tomorrow. Well, really a meeting with the sensei. He’s going to watch me and then decide if I’m good enough to take over one of the classes." Ranma explained.

"Yeah, what time?"

"Uh, I think one o’clock."

"Wow, I have a badminton class at the same time. Maybe I’ll see you?" Shay asked hopefully.

"Yeah, maybe." Ranma smiled at her. ‘I hope I see you tomorrow,’ was his thought.

She’d left then, throwing him a jaunty wave and he’d gone up to his dorm room to put away his books. Finishing his regimen of crunches and push-ups, he grabbed a towel, some boxers and a tank top and went down to the dorm showers to clean up.

As he passed by another student at a mirror shaking his head to eliminate excess water, cold droplets of the stuff landed on his bare arm and Ranma braced for a change that did not come. ‘I’ve got to get used to that,’ he admonished himself, remembering the year long trip he, his father and Ryoga had undertaken to find the cure for their curses. He had come back from China a whole man, but Akane had fallen in love with Shinnosuke in his absence, making him wonder how deep her feeling for him had been in the first place. The next few months had passed in a horrible haze and he barely remembered moving out of the Tendo’s and back into his mom’s house. Not able to deal with seeing Akane everyday, he had changed schools as well for his senior year.

Turning on the water, Ranma thought about that year at his new school, his father’s dream of him inheriting the Tendo dojo shattered, Ranma took an intensive English language course and went to cram school with the aim of getting out of Japan and going to college in America. Ranma’s dream was now to get a degree in Physical Education and start his own Anything Goes school of Martial Arts. Not able to completely erase the damage his earlier school absences had done to his academic record, he convinced the scholarship board after they saw a demonstration of his skill and in view of his exceedingly hard work over the last year, they awarded him the scholarship and warned him that they would be monitoring his performance closely.

‘I should call Mom and Pop, see how they're doing,’ he thought as the hot water coursed down his body. Thinking of this mother and father made him think of Ucchan. She had tried to coax him out of his withdrawn state after he first got back, but had no success at it. Once the thrill of the chase was over, he saw her more and more with Ryoga who was also reeling from the shock of Akane’s decision. Apparently he responded better. Wishing for a furo to soak in, he showered quickly, dried and dressed. On the way back to his room, he ran into Suge.

"Hey, man! You got any plans for tonight?" he asked loudly in slurred Japanese. Ranma could tell he was already well on his way to a colossal drunk.

"Uh, no, I was going to stay in and look over my texts," Ranma said evasively. He really wanted no part in whatever half-baked plan Suge was cooking up.

"Oh, that’s so dry an' old, man! You gotta come with us! We’re gonna go to Williker’s and hook up with some really hot babes! You look like you could use a little loosening up. I was just on my way back to get you!" Suge had Ranma by the shoulders and was shaking him, oblivious of the spittle and foul scent that was emanating from his hugely open mouth.

Removing Suge’s hands from his shoulders, Ranma said loudly and slowly, "I am not. Going anywhere tonight. Another time, ne?"

Suge looked somewhat perplexed as Ranma’s words filtered through his alcohol-soaked brain. "Sure man, whatever you say," he said with a smile. "Don’t wait up for me!"

Ranma watched him walk down the hall, shaking his head and wiping his face. "What a freak," he said softly as he entered the room.

**

Shay threw her keys on the table by the door, leaving the heavy bags of books on the floor and collapsed on the couch. "What a day," she said to the empty apartment. Her roommate, Carrie, was not home yet. She leaned her head back on the couch and closed her eyes, thinking about the day. She had been supremely annoyed at Nick for dragging them all over the place and bragging about every little thing he’d done, highlighting his martial arts feats in certain spots. She’d seen the look of boredom on Ranma’s face and felt responsible for the horrible experience of the afternoon. She’d groaned inwardly whenever Nick directed a comment to Ranma, raising his voice, thinking the only way to get through to a non-native English speaker was to shout at them.

She had been glad when she finally convinced Nick that she really needed to start reading for Philosophy and he let them go, saying, "I’ll see you tomorrow," with a smile and a wink at her.

"Whatever," Shay muttered under her breath, making Ranma look askance at her. "Flee," she’d said, walking quickly down the sidewalk. The walk back to the residence hall had been wonderful with Ranma carrying her bag full of books in addition to his own. They talked on the way with Ranma mainly asking her questions about the university and the surrounding area.

"How long have you been a student here?" he’d asked.

"Oh, this is only my second semester. I started last spring," Shay said, explaining how she’d taken some time off between high school and college, wanting a little breather and the chance to experience the so-called 'Real World'. They had reached the residence halls only too soon for her liking and though she felt their parting had been awkward, she felt good about the day in general and anticipated seeing him again soon, possibly tomorrow, but definitely Wednesday.

She felt a soft weight on her lap and opened her eyes to see the deep green eyes of their orange tabby, Tigger. "Hello, meow-meow," she crooned to the cat, stroking his soft fur. A rumbling purr emanated from somewhere in his vastness and he butted her chin with his head. Just then she heard the scraping of the lock that heralded the homecoming of her roommate.

"Hey, dude, how was your day?" she asked, throwing her keys on the same table Shayla had.

"It was good, yours?"

"Ah, tips could have been better," Carrie shrugged. She was a waitress at one of the local coffee shops. She attended school mainly in the morning and worked in the evening. "Anything interesting happen today?" she asked, going to the kitchen for a drink of water. Anticipating food, Tigger leapt off of Shay’s lap and followed Carrie into the kitchen, meowing anxiously.

Watching Tigger follow Carrie, Shay got up to go into the kitchen herself. "Oh, not much, went to class, ran into Nick, met a gorgeous Japanese guy," Shay said casually, reaching for a glass.

"Eeewww, Nick." Carrie said distastefully, wrinkling her nose. "So, tell me more of this Japanese guy," she demanded, tickling Tigger behind his ears.

"Well, his name is Ranma Saotome, he’s here on a martial arts scholarship, is really nice," Shay began.

"Hey, cut to the chase here, what’s he look like?" Carrie interrupted good-naturedly.

"Chill, I’m getting to it! Anyways, he’s tall, has black hair in a pigtail, an excellent body and the most beautiful blue-gray eyes I’ve ever seen," Shay swooned.

"Wow, sounds fantastic, when do I get to meet him?" Carrie asked, opening a can of cat food. "Here you go, baby," she crooned to the cat.

"You don’t," Shay admonished. "I’m not letting you get your hooks into this one, I saw him first!"

"Oh, please, you know I’m not into foreign guys. I just want to get approval on him." Carrie teased. "You know, make sure he’s not another Nick Ander-hole."

"Believe me, this one’s way better than Nick’ll ever be." Shay stated with a laugh. The rest of the evening passed quietly with the both of them looking over the various syllabi they had received and discussing classes, but Shay’s thoughts kept returning to Ranma, wondering what he was doing tonight.