Disclaimer: The playground is by Rumiko Takahashi, I'm only swinging on
the monkey bars. Remember to leave the grounds cleaner than you found
them and please don't feed the Trolls.

This story is archived at http://www.kawaiikunee.com/slp/

Release 1.0 (Dec. 07, 2000)

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Ranma and Akane: A Love Story
Side Arc 3: Interconnections
Part A: Small Victories

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Author's Note: This was originally supposed to go into chapter 6, but
after looking at it I realized that it didn't at all belong there. This
story takes place, mostly, on the day after Chapter 5 and Part A of
Chapter 6, in the afternoon.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

It had developed that there _was_ a team sport that Ranma could be
persuaded to pay attention to. Although it was ... ah ... _surprising_
... what role she chose to play.

But, when you considered it properly, there was just something _right_
about it. Baseball (Ranma sneered at the very idea of softball) is one
of the most team oriented of games, and yet the pitcher is one of the
two players on the field who are in _individual_ competition. Akane
speculated that the paradox was sufficiently amusing to Ranma that she
was inclined to savor it.

Which did not make her sliders any easier to hit, of course, but there
you go.

Ranma had engaged to train the school girl's (once softball, now recast
into a harder mold) baseball team in sufficient mastery of the game
that any lack of athletic ability could be compensated for by skill.
This seemed to involve pitches that did everything but go straight,
making a baseball go precisely through a six inch hoop that could be
moved about, theoretical lectures on the science of hitting and other
such esoterica. It wasn't _quite_ martial arts, but it came close.

Which was not by any means the weirdest thing about the new Furinkan
Swords. Probably the weirdest thing was a little appreciated quirk in
their all-purpose coach's mental makeup. 

It was to be expected that someone with such an appreciation for the
science of the game would also be a fan, an otaku, even. But most
people would have guessed Ranma to favor the Tokyo Giants, or perhaps
their arch-rivals, the Hiroshima Carp. Or possibly a local team, if she
had lived in that area long.

Of course, Ranma had lived in America for a while, so an American team
wasn't _too_ strange.

But still.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"The Chicago Cubs?? Ranchan, they're _lousy_."

"They are _not_!"

"And _when_ was the last time they even got _into_ the Series?"

"Ummm. 1945, what's _that_ got to do with it?"

Akane stared, open-mouthed.

Ranma grinned, suddenly. "Okay, I admit you have a point. But you
haven't grasped the tao of the True Cubs Fan."

"You're all nuts?" Akane snickered, then attempted to dodge the twhap.
(Unsuccessfully, it must be noted.)

"The Cubs Fan," Ranma explained patiently, "is the True Fan,
undistracted by unworthy considerations of temporary success or
failure. Okay, they may have lost the last six series they got into,
but there's another thing you're forgetting."

"Oh?" Akane was the picture of wide-eyed innocence, "What's that,
Ranchan?"

"For the Cubs Fan," Ranma winked, "as for no other, there is _always_ a
next year!"

"Ranchan?"

"Yeah?"

"You're weird."

"Yeah, so?"

"I just thought I'd mention it."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

And life goes on. 

In this case, life included a practice session for the team, and a
small competition. To be specific, Sensei Fujikana, the Furinkan PE
department head, boy's PE teacher, and coach of the Furinkan (Boy's)
Baseball Team (the Furinkan Blue Thunderclouds (Tatewaki's influence
had spread far within the school, to his present embarrassment)), while
respecting Ranma's athletic prowess, had differed strongly with her
training philosophy.

Fujikana-sensei agreed with Ranma that spirit could overcome mere
physical power (this view is, after all, nearly holy writ in Japan),
but strongly disagreed that mere trickiness (as he put it) could
overcome a firm grounding in the basic elements of the game. 

Further, he _strongly_ objected to the theory that 'his' team would be
outdone in spirit by a team both new and untried (and he carefully _did
not_ say, made up of girls). 

Finally, (his white mustache bristled) since Ranma's 'unconventional'
training regimen would surely ruin the girls' grasp of those aforesaid
basic skills (Which, he reiterated, were both the _minimum_ with which
any player might be expected to approach the game, and the most impor-
tant skills such a player might own. That was, he humphed, _why_ they
were the _basic_ skills, after all.) they might otherwise have attain-
ed; thereby ensure their humiliating defeat at the hands of any team
that might have _properly_ studied the basics; _thereby_ ruin their
morale and destroy what spirit they possessed; and _thereby_ and
finally render it impossible (he shook a finger at Ranma) for them to
return to being what they had previously been, viz: a reasonably good
_softball_ team. 

And _therefor_ (he waved his arms wildly) he objected strongly, yes, he
objected in the strongest of possible terms to this ill-considered,
visionary, untraditional, ....

Ranma had patted the old man gently on the shoulder and proposed a
small contest. The teams would play a restricted portion of a game:
three innings. Each would use one of their starters, picked at random
from a selection which the opposing coaches would offer. Three innings
would allow time for at least one trip through the order for each side.
The results would then be analyzed and discussed.

Ranma herself, of course, as coach and trainer, would only participate
from the bench. Akane, as much more athletic than the other girls and
(in fact) boys as well, would be restricted to catching.

Implicit in the agreement was the understanding that the Swords would
at least hold their own, or have their status as a _baseball_ team
revoked. Ranma had added her own dose of encouragement in a private
team meeting. Going back to being a softball team, in addition to
humiliating them and disappointing Ranma personally, would require them
to give up doing PE in pants and go back to bloomers.

Implicit in _that_ piece of information was that Ranma also would be
required to go back to bloomers. And would, therefor, Be Unhappy with
the miscreants responsible.
 
Akane hadn't even needed to glower at the time.

That had been before a trip to Hell and a difficult night. Akane asked
Ranma privately if she should, for the team's sake, bench herself.
Ranma had asked her if _she_ felt it would be wise. Akane had glared
back, which caused Ranma to smirk. Then Akane had looked down at her
clasped hands and _considered_, as Ranma had known she would have to. 

On the one hand, she was by far the best and most effective athlete on
the team, after Ranma herself. True, she was not in the absolute best
of shape, but she was not even close to being sufficiently weary to
affect _that_ assessment.

Also, she was as motivated to win and preserve the team as anyone.
More, really; losing would put a black mark on her personal copybook,
and, worse, on her sensei and beloved's. 

On the other hand, Ranma had taken _herself_ out. Why had she done
that? Well, Akane could rule out not wanting to win. And Ranma could
probably win the game by herself, so why ....

Oh. Duh. 

She had taken herself out because winning the game wasn't the point.
The task was retaining the team status, and everyone already knew that
Ranma could win the game, so that would prove nothing about how well
she could train the rest of the team. Which was the point. Right.

So.

Would leaving herself in cast more doubt on Ranma's training methods,
or would taking herself out be worse? Taking herself out could call
things into question, too, after all, although her recent ordeal and
triumph certainly offered a good excuse. But she _could_ still be a
factor, and as a catcher she wouldn't be nearly so obvious. Hmm.

Difficult decision. What to do? Okay, she now had a tool that should
let her do things like that. Ranma had given it to her just last night.
She closed her eyes, and fell into a rainbow.

Walking down a set of mental stairs and opening a mental door, she went
to the big chair and sat down, turning around to the desk and taking up
the book. Briefly, she chewed her lip; which page should she use?
Decision was sudden; Ranma was trying to get her to do something, there
was a lesson to be learned. If she could understand what lesson Ranma
wanted to teach her, then she would understand what she should do.

She ran her hand caressingly over the soft leather that sheathed the
cover-boards, and opened the book to the page marked 'Akane'. After
regarding it gravely for a few moments, she turned to the page
inscribed 'Ranma' and regarded it likewise. Then she closed the book
and laid it down and sank back into the well-cushioned chair with a
slight, peaceful smile and closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, she sat forward, smiling broadly. It was
simple in the end. Beyond concerns for winning or her reputation as a
sensei, Ranma was concerned for the team that she was raising up. It
was something of a gamble, but this was a contest that the team must
win for itself. Putting the stars on the line would tend to attract
attention away from the team's quality, where it belonged.

Akane grinned wryly as she considered a pile of notes threatening to
cover her desk; it really was wisest for a Martial Artist to keep her
head down and blend into the background. Feeling virtuous, she got up
from the chair and stretched. Then she closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, she was looking down into Ranma's cerulean
serenity. "Yes, Ranchan," she said quietly, "I _do_ think it would be
wise. For the team's sake."

The smile Ranma returned was not wry at all; a great, proud beam fol-
lowed by a slight bow (barely above a nod, but special to Akane
anyway). As Akane followed Ranma out to the dugout to mark up the
roster, she wondered if sufficient happiness could make you float away.
Or only feel like it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Time is relative. This isn't actually a restatement of General or
Special Relativity, although it should be. This fact aside, however,
the relative nature of experienced time remains unchallenged. A night
out for dinner and dancing can fly past in the blink of an eye. Three
innings of baseball can take forever.

     Oh Mary, this London's a wonderful sight,
     With people here working by day and by night.
     They don't sow potatoes nor barley nor wheat
     But there's gangs of them diggin' for gold in the street.
     Or, at least, when I asked them that's what I was told
     So I just took a hand at this diggin' for gold;
     But for all that I've found there, I might as well be
     Where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea.

Ranma was singing quietly as she sat on the bench. From her demeanor,
she might have been waiting for a train. As she sang, she held a blank
of glass about eight inches by three inches by an inch in her right
hand. In her left hand she held a rock, which she was engaged in
running over the glass, almost as though she were whittling, except
much more slowly. It made a soft grinding sound. Akane, sitting next to
her and carefully refraining from chewing on her fingernails, found
both the noise and the singing soothing.

The game had been a strain from the card-draw that had established the
starting pitchers. The Blue Thunderclouds had drawn their ace pitcher,
Asakami Sanetada, while the Swords had drawn Morioka Nozomi, who was
perhaps third best among Ranma's prospects at that position.

Ranma had greeted the results of the draw with the faintest of hidden
smirks. Akane doubted that anyone but she would have been able to
observe it, and hoped that her friend's confidence was not misplaced.
Akane had carefully not chewed her fingernails as the Blue Thunder-
clouds stood to bat, but Ranma had merely begun singing quietly.
Throughout the game she had continued, switching songs from time to
time, but all of them rather slow, sweet things in some weird accent of
English.

     I believe that when writin' a wish you expressed
     As to how the fine ladies of London are dressed.
     Well if you believe me, when asked to a ball
     They don't wear no tops to their dresses at all.
     Oh, I've seen them myself and you could not, in thrath
     Say if they were bound for a ball, or a bath,
     Don't be startin' them fashions now, Mary Machree,
     Where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea.

Initially, results were mixed. Nozomi had struggled with control
somewhat in the first inning, allowing second baseman Takenuma Masaki a
single on a slider that didn't break and walking first baseman
Kiyoshima Taro on five pitches before giving up a double to third
baseman Iwada Tadao that scored one run and was stopped from scoring
two only by a brilliant carom-play off the right-field corner by Swords
right fielder Muraki Asami, whose equally brilliant rainbow throw to
third base(wo)man Okatsuka Satoko nearly caught Kiyoshima, who slid
into third just under the tag.

But then Nozomi had buckled down, forcing Thunderclouds catcher Akamura
Yoshifumi into a sharp grounder to Swords shortstop Tatabayashi Etsuko,
who looked Kiyoshima back to third before throwing to Uchimoto Rieko at
first for the out. Kiyoshima tagged and scored when Thunderclouds right
fielder Ishita Shigeaki rapped a long, high fly ball to Asami in right
on a two and two pitch just low and right of the plate. 

Nozomi then struck out Thunderclouds center fielder Kurojima Toshiharu
on a cut fastball outside, a slider inside, a breaking ball just off
the plate outside fouled to the left, another breaking ball a little
further off the plate taken for a ball and a final vicious two arc
curveball that slid down the center of the plate as though it was
running on a wire and froze the hapless Kurojima where he stood.

The Sword's half of the inning began with their shortstop Etsuko, who
took two balls and a called strike before sharply rapping the next
pitch between Takenuma and Kiyoshima for a single. By far the fastest
runner in the swords who was not Akane or Ranma, Etsuko waited for two
pitches to the Swords center fielder Nakauchi Manami by Asakami, (a
breaking ball outside and a hard fastball for a swinging strike) before
stealing second base a foot and a half ahead of the throw from
Thunderclouds catcher Akamura.

Manami had swung in the vicinity of the ball to break the rhythm of
Akamura's play and was therefor down 1 to 2. She adjusted to a
defensive swing and fouled off three pitches from Asakami before
finally looping a low fly to the charging Thunderclouds left fielder
Aosaki Tetsuyuki, who snared the ball perhaps thirty feet too short for
a disappointed Etsuko to reach third.

Asakami started Swords third baser Satoko with a fastball on the
outside edge of the plate that she fouled into the Thundercloud dugout.
He followed up the advantage with a slider away that sped past Satoko's
reaching bat for strike two. Satoko walked away from the batter's box
in a frustrated circle and bopped herself gently on the helmet with her
bat. As she returned to the circle she gave the Thunderclouds' pitcher
and catcher a searching appraisal and decided to work a gamble. As
Asakami went into the stretch, Satoko set herself and waited on a hard
fastball down the middle.

It came, and returned on a smoking low line drive that spat past
Thunderclouds shortstop Higashiita Shuichi and into center field.
Etsuko was sprinting for third from the crack of the bat. As she passed
the base, Swords third base coach Tahayashi Maya (a year older than
most of the rest of the team, and more intellectual than athletic)
waved her enthusiastically to the plate.

In center field Kurojima sped for the ball. Still smarting from the
strikeout in the top half of the inning, he came up intending a hard
throw to home plate, but immediately saw that Etsuko was thirty feet
past third base already and swallowed his pride to throw to Takenuma
midway between second and first to hold Satako to a single.

Somewhat shaken and more respectful, Asakami prepared to pitch to the
Swords first baseperson, Reiko. That individual narrowed her eyes as
she took her practice swings in the batter's box, and decided to try a
surprise bunt. The results of this combination of strategies was mixed.
On the one hand, Reiko did get the bunt down fair, sending Satako on a
full run for second. On the other hand, the hard, high fastball that
she bunted bounced immediately off the plate and up in a great arc,
unfortunately directly to Higashiita, standing with his foot on second
base, and came quickly enough to beat Satako there. After that, the
double play was mere detail.

     You remember young Peter O'Loughlin of course
     Well now he is here at the head of the Force.
     I met him today, I was crossing the Strand
     And he stopped all the traffic with a wave of his hand.
     And there we stood talking of days that are gone
     While the whole population of London looked on;
     But for all these great powers, he's wishful, like me
     To be back where the dark Mourne sweeps down to the sea.

The second inning started poorly for the Thunderclouds, as the lower
(and hence, less successful offensively) part of their order was
scheduled to come to the plate. Higashiita, batting seventh, took a
leaf from the Swords' own book and reached base barely ahead of
Etsuko's cross-diamond throw on a swinging bunt.

But left fielder Aosaki Tetsuyuki and Asakami (as pitcher, batting in
the ninth slot) were retired by Nozomi on four pitches each; Aosaki
grounding to first and advancing Higashiita to second and Asakami
striking out. Nozomi, encouraged threw a cut fastball for a called
strike on Takenuma, and dropped a breaking ball past a wild swing for
strike two.

But her next four pitches were fouled off, and then two sliders outside
went by for balls. Grimly, Nozomi shook off signs from her catcher
Mizuyama Namie, holding out for a curve ball. Finally, and with some
trepidation, Namie called for the pitch Nozomi wanted to throw. 

Takenuma's swing was flat across, and it snapped the hapless ball on a
long line drive to left field where a racing Tawashimo Yumiko, the
Swords left fielder, ran it down with a flat dive that just barely
caught up, near the warning track and almost to center field. Brushing
off her brow with silent relief, Nozomi went to the bench.

Yumiko, first up in the inning for the Swords, trotted to the batter's
box with some exuberance. Asakami looked upon her with little favor,
starting her with a high fastball, at which she swung with no result.
Another fastball followed, taken for a ball. Two more fastball's
followed, fouled off on a defensive swing and taken high. Hissing with
frustration, Akamura called for a slider, which missed badly outside.
Two more grooved fastballs were fouled off, before Akamura called for a
pitch off-speed, which was returned to very shallow left field, blooped
over the head of a scrambling Higashiita at shortstop.

Bashisaka Ikuko, playing second base and batting second in the inning
for the Swords, rapped a sharp groundball up the first base foul line
on the first pitch. Yumiko, who was running on the pitch, reached
second just ahead of Kyoshima's throw to Takenuma, sliding in under the
tag to avoid the double play.

Asami, next up in the inning, hoped that two good defensive plays would
translate into offensive success. Hoping to out-think the Swords,
Akamura called for a breaking ball to start, which Asakami delivered
for a strike. He followed it with a slider for a ball, another for a
swinging strike, and a curveball high for ball two. Hoping that the
desired mind-set had been established, Akamura called for a fastball on
the inner half. Asami hammered it down into the dirt, skipping in a
high bounce that brought Thunderclouds thir baseman Iwada charging in.
Yumiko advanced to third as there was no-one there to stop her, and
Asami sped down the line, barely reaching first ahead of the throw.

With one out and runners at first and third, Asakami became more
defensive, running the count on Namie to 2 and 2 and forcing the Swords
catcher to foul of several pitches with defensive swings. A last
attempt at an Out Pitch, a cut fastball at the knees inside, was pushed
into a weak dribble that spun off the plate and came back to Akamura,
who looked Yumiko into a scrambling slide back to third base before
throwing Namie out at first.

Nozomi, batting ninth in the order and next in the inning, was acutely
aware of her offensive shortcomings. Determined to make them work for
the out, however, she prepared for short, defensive swings from the
beginning. The tactic was remarkably successful, drawing Asakami into a
fifteen pitch battle that only ended when Nozomi took a curveball,
which proved itself, once again, to have been just outside the strike
zone.

Her walk to first base was marked by applause from both benches, and
all the spectators. Ranma stopped singing briefly to yell a few words
of congratulation, and Akane jumped up and down, whooping. Asakami
merely grimaced.

Etsuko, walking to the plate for the second time, told herself that she
would have to be careful. And she was, but not careful enough, forced
to foul off fastball after fastball until one popped up the line to
first base and Kyoshima caught it foul by perhaps eight feet.

On their way back to the dugout for their gloves, both Etsuko and Reiko
both hung their heads, and neither would meet the other's eye. Nozomi
caught them just as they left the dugout and slapped them on the back,
whispering that they were still in the game and that the Thunderclouds
would gain no more runs this game.

     There's beautiful girls here --- Oh, never you mind ---
     With beautiful shapes nature never designed.
     And lovely complexions all roses and cream,
     But O'Loughlin remarked with regard to the same
     That if at those roses you venture to sip
     The colors might all come away on your lip
     So I'll wait for the wild rose that's waitin' for me
     Where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea.

And they didn't. Kiyoshima struck out on a replay of the curve-ball
that had frozen Kurojima in the first inning and Iwada flyed out to
Manami, ten feet inside the track in center field. Akamura presented a
brief threat, singling sharply on the ground over second base on the
third pitch, and then stealing second ahead of Namie's throw. But the
threat was erased when Ishita, struggling with a steady diet of vicious
curve-balls and sliders, popped to Etsuko, who snagged the ball out of
the air with nigh-vindictive glee.

Defensive success, however, still left the Swords behind, two to one,
and Manami, batting first in the inning, set to work. On the fourth
pitch, a three and one fastball just high, she got around to send a low
line drive just between Higashiita at short and Iwada at third, the
ball flying too low and fast for either to react until it was by them
into left. 

Satoko, up next, waited two pitches to turn on a fastball, but was
fooled by its height and hit it off the bottom of the bat, sending it
rolling slowly down to first, where Kiyoshima scooped it up before
tagging her as she passed, Manami advancing to second without
hindrance.

Reiko, smarting from the double play she hit into in the first inning,
concentrated on lifting the ball, and hammered the fourth pitch Asakami
showed her (a 2 and 1 hard slider) deep to the gap between left and
center field, where it barely evaded the diving grasp of Thunderclouds
left fielder Aosaki. But good positioning by the center fielder
Kurojima played the bounce off the wall and relayed it to Takenuma,
running across the infield towards third, preventing Manami, who had
been forced to wait and see if the ball would be caught, from advancing
past third base.

This left a difficult situation for Yumiko, for if she hit into the
double play opened up by the first and third situation, she would end
the game with the Swords still down by a run. This meant that she must
hit defensively, focusing on lofting the ball rather than driving it on
the ground. So she worked the count, swinging at things defensively and
judging balls that were outside or inside the strike zone, finally
drawing a walk as, with three and two, and after several fouls, Reiko
took advantage of having timed Asakami's moves to steal second, forcing
Asakami to a defensive pitch to Yumiko, which missed.

This put things in the hands of the Swords second baser, Ikuko, who was
uneasily aware that she was not the team's best hitter, and who had
been little tested up to that point. Focusing on the ball, and
remembering Ranma's half-gestured advice, she let a fastball go by just
on the outside edge of the plate, ignored an off-speed pitch just a
little further out, tracked a fastball inside the plate, but did not
swing, and finally connected, hammering a fastball that got just a
little bit to close to the middle of the plate in a screaming line
drive up the very middle of the diamond, just over Asakami's head and
into center field.

Manami swept home to a tumultuous cheer from her bench, and Maya,
coaching third base, frantically winmilled her arms to wave Reiko home
as well. But Kurojima, charging from center scooped up the ball and put
his all into a long rainbow strike to Akamura, who caught the ball
standing at home plate and tagged Reiko out in a dust-raising
collision, getting the tag down as Reiko slid into his blocking leg.

Swords team-members swarmed from the dug-out and base paths, carrying
Manami and Reiko in their wake, and pounced upon Ikuko, cheering. Maya
apologized to her and Reiko, but was pulled into the group dog-pile and
cheered and pummeled anyway.

Calmly Ranma walked over to Hachisuka-sensei, who was chewing on his
mustaches and fuming. Almost snarling, though not at Ranma, he savagely
listed his team's failings at performing the "basic skills of the Game,
by Susano-o!" Ranma nodded calmly and proposed another test game, in
three weeks time.

Receiving assent, she walked away towards her celebrating students,
gathered them up by eye and ushered them off to the changing rooms,
where she dissected the game's events in the calm, whimsical manner
that Akane had privately dubbed 'Ranchan-sensei's Chewing Out Stealth
Shtick' (Because it felt like you had been beaten with a stick, but
only after it was over and you had time to think about it.)

Hachisuka-sensei also gathered his team and dragged it off. He, too,
then brought them in for a closer examination of their play. It is
doubtful, however, that anyone would have characterized it as 'calm' or
'whimsical' in any fashion.

At the end of the day, however, the Swords went away happy. Ahead,
behind, or tied on points, they knew what the game had really been
about.

It's not what the scoreboard says, at the end of the day.

It's whether you win or lose.

How you play the game just determines if the scoreboard reflects
reality.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Furinkan Blue Thunderclouds, Boy's Baseball Team

Fujikana Tadakatsu,      Coach, Sensei, Furninkan PE Chief.
Kiyoshima Taro,          First Base
Takenuma Masaki,         Second Base
Iwada Tadao,             Third Base
Higashiita Shuichi,      Shortstop
Akamura Yoshifumi,       Catcher
Ishita Shigeaki,         Right Field
Kurojima Toshiharu,      Center Field   
Aosaki Tetsuyuki,        Left Field
Asakami Sanetada,        Ace Pitcher
Yokoue Ichiro,           Closer
Fukashimo Shigemori,     Pitcher
Itasawa Hiroshi,         Pitcher
Kitani Kei,              Pitcher
Yonezawa Akihiko,        Pitcher
Kitazaki Hidekazu,       Pitcher
Maebayashi Senzo,        Star Pinch Hitter
Hashioka  Shunji,        Reserve Infielder
Sugihata Masashi,        Reserve Infielder
Matsubata Noriaki,       Reserve Outfielder
Mizunaka Yoshisuke,      Reserve Outfielder 
Minamiki Yutaka,         First Base Coach
Nishisaki Goemon,        Third Base Coach

Furinkan Swords, Girl's Baseball Team

Bushiko Ranma,           Coach, Sensei, Star Pitcher
Tendo Akane,             Star Player
Uchimoto Rieko,          First Base
Bashisaka Ikuko,         Second Base
Okatsuka Satoko,         Third Base
Tatabayashi Etsuko,      Shortstop
Mizuyama Namie,          Catcher
Muraki Asami,            Right Field
Nakauchi Manami,         Center Field
Tawashimo Yumiko,        Left Field
Motonaka Momoko,         Ace Pitcher
Tsukano Mariko,          Closer
Ikehashi Nanami,         Pitcher
Morioka Nozomi,          Pitcher
Shimaita Kazuko,         Pitcher
Tanishita Hatsuyo,       Pitcher
Hayashikawa Aiko,        Reserve Infielder
Nobashi Tadako,          Reserve Infielder
Hashiike Remi,           Reserve Outfielder
Yamamizu Izumi,          Reserve Outfielder
Sakamori Ayame,          First Base Coach
Tahayashi Maya,          Third Base Coach

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Note: This section grew out of three causes.

First, I want to show Ranma's integration into the environment of
Furinkan. Having to run a baseball team, along with other things,  will
eventually result in plot fodder of a rather important nature. Also,
Matches and practice and such are an important part of the school
scene, and I get a little tired of the gymnastics theme.

Second, my home-town baseball team, the Atlanta Braves, tanked in a
most un-amusing manner at the end of the season last year, and I felt
like ranting about it. Also, I hear that fanfic-ing can lead to
therapy. :)

Finally, I felt, for some reason, that the last third of chapter six
needed to be a bit longer, so I generated some plot.

In looking back over it later, I realized that Chapter 6 part C already
had enough happening, and also that baseball, written out, is ...
unexciting, if you aren't a fan.

So I moved the whole plot section to a side arc, which is, after all,
what side arcs are for.

With some reasonable luck, the _next_ part won't take me four months.

'Til then,
Eric Hallstrom, 3/27/2K