Just a small exerpt from Chapter Four folks,
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With a flurry of movement, spattered with jabs, kicks, and punches, Ranma reached the climax of his onesided sparring match. His invisible foe traded punch for kick, sweep for jab, movement for punch. With the final punch Ranma stopped. His front foot held his weight easily while the rear foot supported his punch.
He held his stance for a minute before his breath calmed down from his intense exercise. He then bowed to his 'opponent' and to the ground, thanking them for the experience learned. Finally he brought his arm to his forehead, sopping the sweat away from his eyes.
An unexpected applause jarred him from his reverie, causing an embarassed blush to grow on his face. He was suprised at the number of eyes watching him, belonging to many stages of life. Although he did notice that most were female, and that many eyes were young.
The late evening light, splendid in it's multihued display of happy farewell, played on the wall above him. Ranma stood in the small park behind his apartment building, shadowed by a nearby resturant as the small audience slowly vanished from sight, returning to their private lives.
He stood there for a while, trying to pin the emotion he felt while here. As the sun set, it occured to Ranma that he felt conspicuous. Unlike many of the gawking visitors to the city, Ranma really didn't feel dwarfed by the enormous engineering feats of man. After all, when one participates in blowing a mountain to smithereens, what's thirty stories?
(*Time for a shower.*) Ranma thought as he shook himself suddenly to avoid introspection. Ranma made action follow thought, and walked to the building's rear entrance to head to his tiny apartment.
It seemed that, at that moment, someone higher up agreed with him. A sudden splash of cold water struck Ranma's head, causing him to undergo his transformation.
"Ami-chan! Get away from the edge! How many times have I told you, you are never to..." The mother's voice faded as they entered the apartment, heedless of the change wrought from the simple water glass.
"Itsumo mizu." Why couldn't he simply sense the damned water if he could blow the hell out of a mountain?!
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sigurd@clarityconnect.com
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