Standing in the halls was boring. Standing in the halls while carrying buckets was tedious and boring. Standing in the halls with slightly angry companions was dangerous, tedious, and boring. And unfortuantely, that's exactly what Ranma, Ryoga, and Akane were doing.

Akane was angry at the engagement, at the stupid teacher for making her stand in the hall on bucket duty, and at the way the teens had been treating her, though they seemed nice enough a minute ago...

Ryoga was angry at the stupid panda for dragging him to school, at the teacher for telling lies, and the fact that he had to do something so pointless as hold buckets of water. Why couldn't they of stayed home and practiced?

Ranma was angry at the engagement, at the stupid panda in general, at the teacher for telling lies, at the fact that he had to do something as pointless as hold buckets of water, at the fact he wasn't sparring with Ryoga or the girls right now and trying to learn a new technique or two, and at the way Akane had treated Ranko, though she did seem nice enough a minute ago...

Ranko and Ryoko were angry at being dragged to school, at being stuck as passengers for the day, at the fact they weren't training right now, at the fact the teacher was telling lies about them, at the fact the teacher made them stand out in the hall...Well, needless to say, they were all annoyed. Luckily, or not, their tedium was about to end as the sound of an approaching voice made them all look down the hall.

Akane!" the voice said, growing clearer as it came closer, until Kuno came charging around the corner. Upon seeing the three of them standing there, he pointed at the two boys. "You! One of you must be that foul Saotome! I will not allow your engagement to Akane!" he said, and thrust out with his ever present bokken, which Ranma and Ryoga dodged, careful not to spill the water.

"Great. I knew it'd be something like this." Ranma muttered to himself.

"How did you find out about..." Akane began in horror, but broke off as students suddenly crowded the window, demanding answers from her and Ranma. Ignoring this, Kuno turned to the stuttering Akane.

"Ah, the beauteous Akane has come to witness my magnificent defeat of her captor! I regret, fair Akane, that I cannot give you my undivided attention. After my fight, I will allow you to bask in my righteous glory!" he proclaimed, posing in what he thought was a grand pose.

"It was our parent's idea! And I don't want to have anything to do with you!" Akane said hotly, turning away from her peers to glare at the kendoist.

"Obviously Saotome has used his questionable charms to confuse your thinking! I shall save you from this horrid fate!" Kuno exclaimed, and tried again to hit the two boys.

"Hey, leave off! I'm not Saotome!" Ryoga said, desperately trying to keep his buckets from spilling.

"If you wanna fight, let's go somewhere else!" Ranma said, tossing his buckets to the side and dashing past Kuno down the hall. He did not notice that his buckets hit Ryoga full in the face.

"Very well. I shall follow!" Kuno proclaimed. Before anyone could move, Ryoko made herself known.

"Ranma! How dare you hit me it the face with that bucket!" she yelled, ignoring the stares of the students and the resigned look of Akane as she charged after the departing figures.

"S...someone's gonna take on Kuno! I think..." one of the boys said as Akane began chasing after them.

"Let's go watch!" another girl said, and the entire class followed after Akane.

Ranma was looking around for a quick way out of the building when his danger sense went off. He ducked, and felt a fist past right where his head had been a couple seconds ago.

"Hey!" he cried, turning to see Ryoko glaring at him. "What'ya do that for?"

"You hit me in the face! You'll pay for that!" Ryoko said hotly, the imprint of the bucket still red on her face.

"You, girl, why do you stand in the way of my fight with Saotome!" Kuno said from just behind her.

"I get him first!" Ryoko said turning on the surprised kendoists.

"No way, Ryoko! I wanna fight him first!" Ranma said.

"I cannot allow such a fragile flower to battle such a lowly creature!" Kuno said grandly, ignring the furious looks his words produced from the two teens. "If you must fight a man, fight me! Should you win I will date you!"

"And who wants a--" Ryoko began, but was cut off as Akane grabbed her by her bandana, dragging her away.

"Here! Change back! You don't want anyone to know about your curse!" she hissed, shoving a kettle at Ryoko and ushering the girl into an empty class room. Akane watched as she poured the hot water over her head, and Ryoko's angry scowl was replace by...Ryoga's angry scowl.

"How dare that idiot hit me like that!" Ryoga said, and charged past the surprised Akane to see what was happening with Ranma and Kuno.

"...a pity, but no matter. Now you, vile Saotome! I want to know how it is you came to be engaged to the beautious Akane!" Kuno was saying.

"Ranma! Prepare to die!" Ryoga said as he charged to pigtailed boy.

"Not now, Ryoga! I gotta fight him!" Ranma yelled back. Stopping inches from Ranma, Ryoga scowled over his shoulder at the surprised kendoist.

"Fine, but you're going to pay for that later!" he snapped, then stepped to the side. By now, the entire class was gathered behind Kuno, staring at the very strange scene before them.

"Where'd the blonde girl go?"

"How'd Ryoga get over here?"

"Is there going to be fight or not?"

Ranma and Ryoga sweatdropped a bit, but as no one seemed to have noticed Ryoga's change out right, they relaxed a triffle.

"Ah, um, yes." Kuno said, shaking himself a bit and glaring anew at the pigtailed boy. "I will not allow your engagement to Akane Tendou!"

"You already said that." Ranma said innocently.

"Very well, prepare yourself, nave!" Kuno said, and swung his bokken at Ranma, who dodged.

"You idiot! It was our parent's idea, not ours!" Ranma said, dodging the crazy swings easily by bouncing of the walls, ceiling, etc. "Why would I want to be engaged to a crazy chick like her anyways!"

"Hey!" Akane shouted, outraged. "It's not like I wanted to be engaged to a freak like you!"

"I ain't a freak!" Ranma said, glaring at her. Ryoga had been standing to one side, not even bothering to flinch as Kuno's sword passed inches from his face in his attempts to his Ranma, but now he was getting annoyed.

"If you're gonna fight, do it outside!" he shouted, then kicked Ranma and Kuno out the window. Or the hole where the window used to be prior to their exit.

"What'ya do -that- for?!" Ranma asked as he began plummiting.

"We're on the third floor you idiot!" Akane screamed, rushing to the window.

"Don't worry! There's a pool down there!" one of the boys said, and Ranma glanced down. Sure enough, the square of water below was getting slowly bigger and bigger as he fell, Kuno beside him looking like he was attempting to fly the way he was flapping his arms around.

<Don't you dare.> Ranko warned. <I really don't want to get involved in this.>

"Ah, be quiet. What was that wind spell again? Oh yeah." and with this, Ranma cast a hand out to the building, calling out "Cyclone!" as he did so. A small tornado of wind erupted from the palm of his hand to hit the wall, and effectively pushing Ranma to the side of the pool where he landed gracefully. Kuno, however, wasn't as lucky, and he landed in an ungraceful bellyflop in the pool.

"Ouch." Ranma said, wincing. He looked up to see the entire class staring down at him in white faced shock, but he shrugged and turned his attention back to the floating kendoist. There were more gasps from above, and Ryoga landed easily next to him.

"I think he's out." Ryoga said conversationally.

"I don't know." Ranma said. "He may act like an idiot, but he wasn't too bad."

"Yeah, well, it's my turn to fight you!" Ryoga said, punching Ranma in the head, sending him sliding away down the length of the pool.

"If that's how you want to play..." Ranma said as he stood up smirking. Without another word, he launched himself at Ryoga and connected with a kick to the bandana'd boy's chest. Sliding backwards but managing to remain on his feet, Ryoga grinned and attacked again.

"Hey, wasn't Saotome supposed to be fighting Kuno?" one kid asked of his friend as they watched the furious battle below.

"Is Kuno alright?" another kid asked.

"Yeah, see? He's swimming for the edge already." a girl said, pointing to the kendoist.

"Hey, where'd Akane go?"

Akane came charging out of the building with a kettle of water at the ready, only to see Kuno attempting to hit one of the still fighting boys. She came to a halt, staring slightly as she realized what they were doing. They were ignoring Kuno, merely dodging his strikes while they continued to brawl, calling insults to each other.

"Your way too slow, Ryoga! I've seen panda's that move faster than you do!"

"How dare you say that to me! Besides, I've seen pandas that hit harder than you do!"

"Ah, shut up and die already!"

"Hey! That's my line!"

Well, insults to them, at least.

"Hold still you vile sorcerer!" Kuno cried, still trying in vain to hit one of the boys, preferably the Saotome boy.

"Trainee." Ranma corrected, not even bothering to look at the kendoist. "What was that! Did your fist get lost on the way? Didn't even come close!"

"What?" Kuno asked, confused.

"Trainee. We're just learning magic." Ryoga said simply, sweeping Ranma's legs out from under him, and Kuno's too though he hadn't really ment to do that. "And I do -not- get lost!" Trying to digest this, Kuno lay there for a minute while the boys took their fight a little farther away. Then he realized something.

"Hey! I'm supposed to be fighting Saotome! Who are you to interfere with my fight!" he cried, leaping to his feet and pointing his bokken right in Ryoga's face. Pausing in their fight, Ryoga looked cross-eyed at the sword tip that rested on his nose.

"I'm Ranma's rival, sorta, and my name's Ryoga Hibiki. Why?"

"Ah...I was supposed to fight him first." Kuno said lamely, lowering his bokken. What was wrong with these people? They seemed to be able to knock his speeches right out of him!

"So why did you want to fight?" Ranma asked, standing with his arms behind his head in a relaxed position.

"I will not sanction your engagement to Akane Tendou!" Kuno proclaimed, pointing his bokken threateningly at Ranma.

"You said that already." Ryoga muttered, crossing his arms disgruntledly.

"Umm, why do you have any say in it? Its an arranged marriage." Ranma asked as Kuno glared murderously at the bandana boy.

<Way to use you head.> Ryoko commented dryly. Ranma wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not.

"An arranged marriage?" Kuno asked, lowering his bokken a bit.

"Yep. My stupid Pops and Mr. Tendou made the promise years ago, and I'm honor bound to go through with it. Not that I'm planning to, anyways."

"Hmph. If you can think of any way to get out of it, I for one will be glad!" Akane said huffily, finally coming out of her trance and approaching the group. Upon seeing Akane, Kuno seemed to staighten and fill with resolve.

"It matters not! I will not allow you to enslave the fair Akane! Have at thee cur!" and Kuno attacked.

Dodging thrust after thrust, Ranma sighed. He certainly didn't believe anything he could say anything to get the stupid idiot to retract his challenge, so he decided to just defeat him and be finished. Kuno was good, but after training so hard with Ryoga and the girls for the past few months, Ranma found him incredibly slow and clumsy.

Ducking inside of the kendoist's defense, Ranma punched him hard in the gut. Doubled over, Kuno staggered a little before he managed to get his breath back. Seeing Ranma coming in from above, he thrust out again with his bokken, narrowly missing Ranma's head.

Ranma's finger pointed straight at Kuno's head for a second, then he flipped over him to land easily on the ground.

<What did you do?> Ranko asked. Ryoga shook his head off to the side, and Akane frowned.

"Just a bit of humbling." he muttered, smirking. "He'll have that bruise for a while."

"Hold still you peasant!" Kuno cried, growing increasingly frusterated as Ranma bounced around like an out of control rubber ball, avoiding all his strikes.

"Now why would I do that?" Ranma asked, smirking again. This was such fun!

"C'mon Ranma! Finish him off so I can kill you already!" Ryoga called from the sidelines, making Akane glance at him in surprise.

"I thought you guys were friends!" she said, surprised.

"We are. But we're rivals." Ryoga said, as if that explained all.

<And what are we?> Ryoko asked acidly.

"Training partners." Ryoga replied promptly, earning a mental smack from the girl. Akane shook her head in confusion. She turned her attention back to the fight to see Ranma dodging to one side as Kuno attacked with a powerful looking over head strike, sticking his foot out at the same time. As planned, the kendoist tripped and went tumbling away.

"Slow, stupid, and clumsy!" Ranma called out tauntinly.

"You dare make a mockery of the Blue Thunder of Furikan High!" Kuno yelled, leaping again to his feet.

"More like the Blue Blunder!" Ranma retorted.

"I'm actually impressed." Ryoga said suddenly, making Akane start.

"Why?" she asked.

"Well, I know how much Ranma's holding back when he hits him, but I would have expected Kuno to have gone down by now." Ryoga replied with a shrug.

<He must have had endurance training.> Ryoko said. <Probably from Akane's morning fights. She did say she always wins, right?>

"Probably. Hey, I just realized something. Can you hear Ranko?" Ryoga asked, ignoring once again Akane's strange looks.

<No. But then again, Ranma is out of hearing range unless he was shouting.> Ryoko replied, gesturing to the fight some twenty feet away. <But let's test that. HEY RANKO!!>

"Gahh..." Ryoga said, his ears ringing. Ranma had also staggered a bit, hands clamped over his ears. Kuno used the distration to get a solid strike in, knocking the pigtailed boy backwards and unfortuantely into the pool.

<Opps.> Ryoko said sheepishly.

"Oh no!" Akane said in horror. Then she snapped into action. Grabbing the forgotten kettle from the ground at her side, she went dashing towards the pool, knocking a surprised Kuno off his feet as she passed. Upon arriving at the edge of the pool, she grabbed an arm of the surprised Ranko, and lifted her out of the pool while pouring the hot water over her head at the same time.

"Hot!" Ranma cried, leaping to stand on his own feet, while Akane slumped in relief. Ryoga raised an eyebrow, impressed despite himself.

"Akane! So you return my affections for you!" Kuno cried, tears of happiness streaming down his face as he leapt with wide open arms.

"Hey! Aren't we supposed to be fighting?" Ranma asked of the smushed face behind his foot. Akane stared. When had Ranma moved?

"You curr! I shall smite thee!" Kuno cried, though there was still a lovely red shoe print on his face. Ranma sighed. They were still too close to the pool, and they'd already had two close calls. Time to call it quits. Leaping once again over Kuno's head, Ranma waited for the kendoist to turn before he kicked out. Back flipping away, he landed neatly next to Ryoga who'd come to stand next to Akane again.

"What...?" Akane began, staring at the still form of Kuno.

"Oh, I hit his vital spots. He just hasn't realized he lost yet." Ranma said simply. Obediently, Kuno let out a moan and slumped to the ground.

"Took you long enough." Ryoga said scathingly.

"Hey, I was having fun!" Ranma said, whacking him upside the head.

"You were just too weak to take him out any faster!" Ryoga countered, and they began exchanging blows, again.

"Hey!" Akane snapped, stopping the two boys mid punch. "We should take him to the nurses." she explained, pointing at the unmoving Kuno. "And you should go too, Ranma." she added.

"Huh? Why?"

"Look." she said, pointing to his neck. There was a bruise forming there.

"He managed to do that?!" Ranma said in surprise.

"Hm. Air pressure alone." Ryoga commented. Then he smirked, "And did you forget that he got a good hit in?"

"He couldn't hurt me!" Ranma said hotly.

"Oh really?" Akane asked, poking him in the stomach. She was surprised when he didn't move. She looked up at Ryoga's burst of laughter, and saw that Ranma's eyes were tearing up in pain.

"Doesn't...hurt...at all." Ranma said, taking a deep breath. Then he gathered all his strength and punched Ryoga right in his laughing face. Ryoga fell to the ground sufficiantly dazed to be silenced. Then Ranma grabbed him by his bandana and turned to Akane.

"Lead the way!" he said brightly, seemingly not hurt again. Akane blinked, then shrugged. She seemed to be getting used to their weirdness.

"Anyways, now he's gonna be after you." she said as she began dragging the unconscious kendoist along.

"But I beat him! He should know he can't beat me after that fight." Ranma said, confused. He'd made extra sure the idiot would know he was playing with him.

"Won't matter to Kuno. He's relentless. You think he listens to me when I say I'm not interested?" she asked bitterly. Not saying anything, Ranma followed Akane inside. No one could be that thick, could they?

* * *

"You're going to lose, Kuno-chan." Nabiki said as she watched Kuno examine the Kanji for idiot that was printed on his forehead, in between all the red footprint marks, in a hand mirror.

"I don't think so, Nabiki. I only have a week left. He is indeed a skilled opponent. I barely remember him doing it." he said grumpily.

"It's a good look on you, Kuno-chan." Nabiki commented. "Black on red." He scowled at her.

"Hah! The fool couldn't even spell it right! It should be like THIS!" he said, scribbling a kanji on the board. Unfortunately for him, he was still a little dazed from the fight.

Nabiki looked at it, then said, "stick-boy?"

Kuno blinked, then growled disgruntledly and ignored the peels of laughter coming from Nabiki.

"I will not forget this, Saotome." he vowed. Another laughing fit was his only answer.

* * *

"Akane! I love you!"

"I'm doing this for you!"

"Saotome! You vile cur! Release the beauteous Akane at once!"

Ranma and Akane looked at each other, then as one, turned and booted Kuno into low earth orbit.

Ryoga looked on curiously. He too would have thought Kuno'd leave Ranma alone.

The normal morning mob decided today was not a good day to bother Akane, and backed off quickly.

"I guess I was wrong. He is too thick." Ranma muttered as they stalked into school. Akane only grunted in reply.

* * *

"Saotome! You foul sorcerer!" Kuno shouted across the grounds at lunch.

"Trainee." Ranma corrected with a sigh. Kuno stopped, thought, then shrugged and continued to charge Ranma, bokken raised.

"Release the fair Akane Tendou from your vile control!"

"Hey Akane, am I controlling you?"

"You wish."

"Naw, why would I want an uncute tomboy to do anything for me?"

"Why you! Ranma no BAKA!" *wham!*

"Akane, where did you get that mallet?"

"I can't tell you, Ryoga."

"Now that the vile sorcerer..."

"Trainee." came a muffled voice from the ground.

"Now that Saotome is out of the way, you may date me Akane Tendou!"

"Kuno no BAKA!" *wham!*

"Nice view, eh Kuno."

"I quite agree. You can see the lovely Akane's blue panties from here."

"RRRRRRRRRR!!!!! Die!!!!!"

"You know Ryoko."

<Yeah.>

"It is definitely better for my health to stay silent in this kind of situation."

<Brilliant, Homes.>

* * *

"Saotome! You foul...cur!"

"Nice save, Kuno."

"The wrath of heaven is slow but--" *wham!*

"Where'd that anvil come from?"

* * *

"Saotome! I will defeat you and release the fair Akane!"

"Don't you ever sleep?"

"Hah! My vengeance knows neither night nor day! The heavens side with me in--" *wham!*

"Who's dropping those anvils?"

* * *

"Saotome! I vow to the hea...to you that I will free the beauteous Akane from your vile presence!"

"Sorry, Kuno. Can't fight now. Got to get these things back to Kasumi."

"Very well. It would not due for me to upset the innocent Kasumi Tendou. You are lucky. If it hadn't been for...HEY! You could at least wait for me to finish!"

"What can I say, I don't want to keep Kasumi waiting."

"Quite right. Next time."

* * *

"Saotome!"

"Don't you have another way to get my attention? This 'Saotome' business is getting old."

"You dare ridicule my speech!...Am I really repeating my self so frequently?"

"Every single time I see you."

"Very well, I will let you off this time as I need to rethink my strategy."

"Whatever..."

* * *

"It is the vile pig-tailed boy!"

"I think I preferred 'Saotome'."

"Today will be the day you fall to my mighty blade!"

"I only see a wooden stick, stick-boy."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

"Oooh, touchy, aren't we."

"No matter! The Blue Thunder will triumph today!" *CRACK!*

"Kuno, you really shouldn't call down lighting like that. Someone might get hurt."

"...Perhaps...*cough*...you're right."

"Good night, Kuno."

"Yes, a nap seems in order."

* * *

"Great. How does that woman always manage to get us?" Ranko complained, wringing out her pigtail.

"I don't know. But we don't have time to stop. We'll be late, and I for one don't want to stand out in the hall." Ryoko said, shaking the water out of her hair and heading off to school.

"But what will people say?" Akane asked as she too began walking.

"If they're that curious, we'll just say we're Ranko and Ryoko taking notes for the boys." Ryoko said with a shrug.

"Oh, I guess. What about Kuno?" Akane asked.

"Hmmm. I guess you'll just have to take care of him today. It's not like he'll recognize us." Ranko replied.

"Akane! I see the vile cur didn't show his cowardly face today!"

"Hey! Ranma's not a coward!" Ranko said furiously.

"Ranko, you're an idiot. He doesn't know you, remember?" Ryoko groused.

"Oh, right."

"What are these two visions of loveliness that accompany the tigress Akane?"

"...You did not just hit on us..."

"...I think he did."

<What an interesting twist.> Ryoga commented dryly.

"Shut up Ryoga." Ranko and Ryoko chorused.

"What are the fair maidens conversing about?"

"Kuno, drop dead. You're an idiot. We hate you."

"Bandana-girl, surely you must be under the influence of that vile Saotome!"

"You'd better not be talking about my brother!"

"Pigtailed-girl? Surely you jest. Such a lovely creature could not be related to that vile monster!"

"I warned you."

*WHAM!* *SMASH!* "Ouch!" *CRUNCH!* "Don't put that there!" *TWIST!* *GRIND!* "Mercy! Mercy!" *POP!* *SNAP!* "I don't think that's supposed to bend that way..." *WRENCH!* *BAM!*

"Hey Ryoko."

"Yeah."

"Remind me not to insult Ranma in front of Ranko."

"Sure thing, Akane."

* * *

After a week of constant attacks from Kuno, Ranma was bored. Kuno was the most annoyingly persistent person alive. He was also too thick to listen to anything Ranma or Akane said, whether it was rejection or explanation. And Ryoga was annoyed because Kuno kept interrupting their sparring practices.

Today, however, something was wrong. None of the boys were waiting for Akane that morning. Kuno stood there instead, dressed in a school uniform, and was talking to Nabiki, who was scowling.

"What's going on?" Akane asked as they got close enough to talk. Ranma and Ryoga followed, curious as well.

"Akane. Hello." Kuno said. He didn't spout any poetry. He didn't wave his bokken around. His bokken wasn't even there. He just said it.

"Ummm, hello." Akane said nervously.

"I just thought I'd tell you that you have no more need to fear me chasing after you, nor will the boys attack you every morning. I've had words with them." he told her.

"What?" Akane said, completely confused.

"What's goin' on? Why the sudden change?" Ryoga asked.

"Well," Kuno began.

*Flashback: One year ago*

"Nabiki!"

"Not again!" Nabiki moaned as Kuno, still dressed in his kendo garb from practice, hurried up to her.

"Nabiki, please go on a date with me!" Kuno pleaded piteously.

"Maybe if you act like some full of himself wanna-be samurai and chased after the first person to walk through that door for a year to prove to me how damn persistent you can be I would." she said VERY sarcastically. Just then, Akane walked through the door.

"Nabiki, where have you--" she was interrupted as Kuno swept over to her.

"Ah, the beauteous Akane Tendou. I have admired you from afar, but now I can no longer allow you to suffer without my righteous glory for you to bathe in. Come, I shall allow you to date with me." He stopped suddenly, mostly due to the fact that Akane's fist was now imbedded in his face, while Nabiki stared on in disbelief.

*End Flashback*

"I didn't think he'd actually -do- that." Nabiki grumbled. "The idiot just took me seriously." A growl turned their attention to a glowing figure beside them.

Akane was mad. No, she was beyond mad.

"You mean...I've been through this...HELL...for a stupid BET!" she screamed.

"Uhh..." Nabiki said, realizing maybe she should start running 5 minutes ago. Kuno seemed to have realized the same thing because he snatched up Nabiki and sprinted off as fast as he could go.

Akane chased after them screaming "-I'LL KILL YOU!!!!!-"

"Hey guys?" Ranma said.

"/<Yeah?>/"

"Where'd she get that mallet? Its -much- too big for her to have it hidden anywhere."

<I don't know, and I'm not ask'n.> Ranko said firmly.

"Good point."

Having nothing better to do, Ranma and Ryoga headed up to class. Akane, Nabiki, and Kuno never did make it to school that day.