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Storytellers' Speakeasy, Yoiko Hibiki and other Good Girls named Yoiko, Yoiko Hibiki - Ranma
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Published:
2025-02-03
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2025-07-07
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65,111
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28/28
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As Wild As You

Chapter 6: She Protecc, She Attacc, But Most Importantly...

Notes:

Warning for dissociation, panic attacks, and a very minor implication of a minor background character saying an ableist slur

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

A week of school. The amount of time spent there. It was called a week. That was far too long, and Akane didn't like it. It was cramped and indoors almost all the time and she wanted out. And being walked to school again did not count.

 

Her and Ranma had spent every night sleeping like rocks afterwards, it took up so much energy without making them use energy. How does that even work? The creatures could keep running into the night with the physical energy they had pent up, but they had nothing for pretending to be human once they got home.

 

Already, every evening, it was the same. Human sounds became stressful nonsense, the artificial lights, smells and sounds got worse, and the only thing that could be tolerable was the just as stressed other creature. 

 

And yet, despite knowing that, despite seeing how Akane clung to both Ranma and the mini Juliet cat plushie out of stress, Dad and Pops both were pushing her more, and pushing Ranma more. 

 

Safe to say, Akane and her favourite pack member were not okay already when they joined the class and the rest of the friend pack by the start of the second week.

 

“Hiro 1,” Akane looked at the one that smelled like apples, then the one that smelled like oranges, “Hiro 2.”

 

“Ugh, got us again, pup,” Hiroshi in the boy's uniform gently petted Akane behind the ears, “You're so clever.”

 

“Yeah, I think The Conspiracy System is gonna collectively blow a gasket at this rate,” Hiroko in the girl's uniform said while petting Ranma, “How many theory boards are on us alone, Jupiter?”

 

“I've made at least five…” Jupiter, who looked like Asami and Queen but with a green hair clip, fidgeted with her very sparkly pen, “It doesn't have to do with moon cycles, does it?”

 

“Not earth's moon cycles, at least.” Both Hiros chuckled in unison.

 

“Waughhhhh,” Jupiter groaned, “Where's someone like Mercury when you need her…”

 

“Alright, class,” Said an unfamiliar man, pushing in a weird box, “Settle down, take your seats, let's get started.”

 

“Um, where's Miss Hinako?” Sayuri asked, “I put all my powers into finishing that homework, and-”

 

“Yes, yes, your teacher is sick today,” The man said with a rude tone, “I'm her substitute, don't you worry about that homework.”

 

Sayuri looked down at her paper, completely dejected, as did Daisuke at his. Akane and Ranma had been told not to do homework, as they were just at school to ‘socialise’ and ‘heal’, but obviously it meant something to others.

 

“Now, before we start, I can see some of you out of uniform,” The look the man gave Ranma and Akane hurt, “Some of you can't go change now, of course, but those of you with additional jumpers should take them off.”

 

“But sir, we have permi-” Yuka got cut off.

 

“No excuses, I've heard them all before. You're all lucky we're just watching a movie today.”

 

It was dead silent as Yuka took dolls sweater off, a dead look in dolls eyes. Yuka had called all of the sweaters doll owned ‘comfort items’, which meant they were very important to doll… This wasn't good…

 

“... Movie?” Akane asked quietly, to which Ranma gave a just as confused look.

 

“We were supposed to be revising grammar for a test next week…” Daisuke complained as the lights got turned off and the weird box started to glow. It was an English movie for English class, but Akane could make out the small writing at the bottom a little better.

 

○○○○○

 

Ranma had thought that rabbits were supposed to be safe. They were safe animals. They were prey and harmless and not something to make a creature like a Ranma worried at all. Rabbits weren't loud and flashing and scary.

 

The movie rabbits were not nice, and Ranma was, for once, glad the loud ringing noise existed. The ringing noise meant that there was going to be something different than the scary rabbit movie.

 

And yet, Ranma couldn't move, holding on to her wolf plushie while every hair stood on end. Akane was only fairing better in how she at least managed to move her shirt collar to her mouth to comfort herself by biting it. It wasn't working.

 

The whole rest of the pack was in disarray, too. Arguably, the one coping the most was Daisuke, whose eyes remained firmly looking at the desk while he whispered to himself things Ranma couldn't understand. His leg was twitching, though, and he still didn't seem okay, like he was hiding how bad it really was.

 

Sayuri was rocking back and forth, holding herself tight while she looked almost everywhere but the movie box. Sometimes she moved a hand to itch at her arm, but that was in little short bursts before grabbing her shoulders again. 

 

Now, Ranma knew exactly what was wrong with the Hiros. Wide and vacant eyes, staying small and close to the desk, arms and hands tucked beneath them. With the fake ears and the weird fuzzy gloves, the Hiros clearly were replaced with incredibly scared cats that looked like them.

 

Yuka was still. There was some breathing, sure, but doll was holding onto dolls stomach and not letting go. It looked like doll was reliving some horrible memory on repeat, far, far away from the classroom. Ranma didn't like the scars on dolls arms.

 

And… There was a human girl who looked like the rest of The Conspiracy System, but with a pink hair clip. Biting at her thumb, the girl had the most obvious tears. All the papers on her desk were a mess, coloured pencils scattered everywhere. 

 

The rest of the class seemed better, but nowhere near okay. Tense, nervous, general discomfort. It seeped through the classroom, and while condensed into the group of eight, the next teacher could easily sense something was wrong with everyone. 

 

“... What happened?” The ‘history’ teacher asked, especially looking at Ranma and her pack.

 

“The substitute for English put on a movie, Ms Ikeda,” A girl at the front of the class answered, “‘Watership Down’. And he yelled at some of the special needs kids.”

 

“Wh- Do any substitutes even read the notes for class!?” The teacher seemed enraged, calming down enough to approach each of Ranma's pack members, “Do you think you can focus on class today?”

 

When there was any response at all, it was an obvious no.

 

“Alright, class, get out your notes and do some revision while I get your classmates to the library,” The teacher said as she got all of Ranma's friends to stand and follow her, “And you all better behave!”

 

○○○○○

 

Akane was still shaking and upset, but she'd been moved to the ‘library’ so she and her pack could calm down. It was quiet, with currently only one human Akane didn't know sitting at a desk to watch the distraught group. 

 

Despite her own troubles though, one thing was obvious. Akane and Ranma had to protect the pack in this time of need. Daisuke's mask had completely fallen apart as he tensed up and couldn't even focus on the books he had to calm him, and Sayuri was buried by plushie hugs. The girl who was presumably Miichan was too young to cope alone, and the Hiros were domestic, helpless cats. The wild animals had to be in charge.

 

Akane was strong. She could be a pack leader. She could do this.

 

“Ranma? Juliet?” Akane called out, “Hiro cats. Can Ranma help?”

 

Ranma looked at the two cats, huddled together and frightened, before nodding. Despite being smaller in size than both, she wandered over and gave a small chirrup, like a mother cat to kittens. The cat brained humans must've been younger in that state, as they were very receptive to Ranma and all the cat like physical affection from the kitty cuddle pile.

 

Akane had to remember that Ranma was good with younger creatures. That was very important. 

 

Pawing at Miichan, Akane had to learn about this new human at all in order to help her. Miichan looked at the blue haired creature with distant wide eyes, like she was trying to still make sense of the world.

 

“... Puppy?” Miichan pointed at Akane's tail. 

 

“Puppy!” Akane responded, and she happily accepted the slightly clumsy headpats she got in return.

 

“Why are you puppy?” Miichan asked, even through her sniffles and tears, “Big puppy…”

 

“Umm…” Akane didn't have an answer besides being an Akane, so she didn't give an answer.

 

“Words are hard for puppies, M-Miichan,” A quiet, wobbly voice came from Daisuke, “W-why don't you come and tell me what you think about her being puppy”

 

“Ma!” The human girl's eyes lit up, even though the boy she was excited for was still a mess emotionally, and she pushed past Akane to cuddle up next to Daisuke.

 

“I-I got this, Akane,” Daisuke whispered, “Good girl, helping.”

 

Akane's tail wagged a little bit at the praise before she went to check on Sayuri and Yuka. The plushie had her comfy sweater on again, lying floppily in the dark lord's arms. And, upon further inspection…

 

The two had cried themselves to sleep. Akane didn't know what to do about that, but her friends were lying uncomfortably on the floor. The best she could do as a wild animal would be to stand guard over her pack, though. So that's what she did. Her little, messy, pack of friends.

 

Ranma wandered next to Akane on all fours. “Calmed the cats.” 

 

True enough, both Hiros seemed much calmer, a relaxed pair of cats instead of two tense ones. Ranma had left the two to happily stay together, not understanding herself just how different these domesticated creatures were to something like her. Hiros weren't Ranmas, after all.

 

“Good Ranma. Good good good.” Akane tiredly smiled before nuzzling up to her favourite, most special pack member. 

 

Everything that happened was scary and stressful, and not even in ways her poor animal brain could fully understand. But Ranma was safe. Ranma smelled like rain and dirt and played games like Akane did and could fight and hunt and made sense.

 

… Akane might have realised what ‘Juliet’ really, truly meant as a human word.

 

○○○○○

 

He was wild. He was a force of nature, someone who spent so much time in all kinds of locales, many untamed by man. His only consistent way of life was camping, his gear held in the massive bag of his. 

 

And here he stood, outside the place he'd finally find who he was looking for. Furinkan High. Now, all that mattered was finding the one he was hunting. 

 

No one escaped such a feral creature, a beast of a human, like Ryoga Hibiki.

 

“You!” Ryoga pointed at a student passing by, “Where is Ranma Saotome?”

 

“Ran… I dunno, dude,” The student shrugged, “Have you tried asking the front office?”

 

“The front office…” The fanged boy mused, “Hmm… Can you take me there?”

 

The student was kind enough to lead Ryoga through the twisting corridors of Furinkan High, a labyrinthine set of hallways unless you inherently knew the way. The last time he walked through such a mess was when he got lost in a shopping mall a week prior.

 

Ryoga slammed his hand on the front desk. “I'm looking for Ranma Saotome, where is he?”

 

“Saotome?” The admin worker looked at her computer, then started typing, “That should be… Class 2-6, second floor.”

 

“Class 2-6…” Ryoga chuckled, “Can you please lead me there?”

 

Every step led Ryoga yet a little bit closer to facing off against his greatest rival, a battle delayed for two years by what must've simply been cowardice. But the humiliation Ryoga had been put through, the years of living as a truly wild human, would soon be worth it.

 

“Where is Ranma Saotome?” Ryoga slammed open the classroom door.

 

“Oh, she's in the library, I think,” One of the students answered, “Isn't that where the teachers always send those r-”

 

“CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TAKE ME TO THE LIBRARY!?” Ryoga interrupted.

 

The library. Ryoga was being led to the library, where Ranma should finally be awaiting him. There was nothing in his way. This was a fight Ryoga wouldn't let Ranma run from. Ryoga knew that he wouldn't even run away from Ranma if he had become a demon in the last two years. Only one thing could scare the wild hunter, Ryoga Hibiki, and that was in Ryugenzawa. Ryoga was ninety percent sure this was Nerima, so…

 

“RANMA SAOTOME, PREPARE TO-” 

 

Ryoga saw a bunch of very stressed and sad teens bundled up on the floor in the corner of the library, guarded by two others. One felt familiar, but had red hair in a long braid, along with several catlike features. 

 

The other… 

 

“Th-the beast from Ryugenzawa!?” Ryoga sputtered out, nightmares returning to him.

 

Akane's eyes lit up, and she shifted into a playful stance. “Chase? Play chase? Chase!”

 

Notes:

... She chase Ryoga back!