C&C welcome/needed

Ranma 1/2 senior year by Shane Yang

Part 2: Breakfast

	Outside the Tendo Dojo, a gust of wind swept up the freshly fallen 
leaves. Spring and summer have come and gone, it was once again that 
wonderful time of year. 

	It was time for another school year. 

	Two figures flashed to and fro in the Tendo backyard, weaving a 
delicate dance of carefully practiced moves executed with the grace that 
came only with years of experience.

	As he dodged a three hit combo, Ranma couldn't help but think back to 
yesterday's practice session. He'd found out that Genma was alot better 
than his overweight frame and lazy manner showed. This morning they were 
once again both holding back. Ranma knew from yesterday that Genma, like 
himself, was now using only a fraction of his true speed and power. 

	He also knew that it would no longer be so easy for his father to 
underestimate him. His father definitely knew now that Ranma knew the 
secret of pressure points. 

	Missing from their dance was the normal insults and yelling. Both men 
had learned by now that the other is not going to be distracted by such 
things anymore. They no longer resorted to using cheap tricks and low 
shots because they knew that it was a waste of breath. 

	Yesterday's fight had indeed brought their relation to a new level.

	Ever since Ranma started to train, his father had always pushed him 
relentlessly forward. Genma's ambition for him often ended up hurting 
both of them. After they arrived in Nerima, Genma's actions, especially 
those towards Happosai and Nadoka, had caused Ranma's respect for him to 
gradually disappear.

	Yesterday showed Ranma that his father was still better than him in a 
lot of areas, that there was still much to learn from Genma, that the 
old man was still worth his respect.

	Genma could feel his age as Ranma's quicker and cleaner movements 
threatened to ware him down. He knew that Ranma had indeed ascended to 
his own level of skill. Not only skill, but also experience, courage, 
intellect, strategy, reflex, the hundreds of tiny intangibles that made 
for a great martial artist.

	Genma now knew that Ranma, like himself, hid under a mask of 
imconpetency and sometimes even stupidity. Ranma's reputation around 
town portrayed him as the standard dumb, arrogant jock. He might be able 
to defeat monsters and gods in combat. Yet he did terribly in school, 
always was beaten to a pulp by girls, and was always scammed by people 
the likes of Nibiki.

	This stupidity just did not relate to the man who could come up with 
such impossible victories and unbelievable moves as Ranma. Genma knew 
that in order for Ranma to attain his present level of skill. Practice, 
intellect and the natural gift was required.	

	He wondered why his son put up with the amount of abuse that he took 
everyday. A quick punch followed by a combo which got dangerously to his 
pressure points snapped Genma out of his mental wandering. 

	"Hey," Genma yelled as he put everything into an all out attack. He 
could see Ranma smile as the boy weaved between his well formed attack 
and looked for openings. He was amazed at the conditioning of Ranma. The 
boy was able to shake off yesterday's injury and now didn't look to be 
trying too hard to avoid his best attempts. His ribs ached where an 
earlier attack had landed. 

	Ignoring his tiring body, Ranma kept the smile on his face as he 
continued to block attack after attack. It was getting harder and harder 
to keep blocking his father's powerful and seemingly never ending 
punches.

	Both men were going all out now. Genma attacking, Ranma blocking. It 
was not that Ranma liked being attacked, he did not have the opening 
required to fight back and thus had to wait for Genma to slip up.

	"Breakfast is ready everybody, Ranma, Akane, Nibiki, remember that you 
have school again today. Don't be late on he first day." Kasumi Tendo's 
cheerful voice rang out across the house.

	"Ping," Ranma and Genma met head on once again, their hands locking 
together in a palm to palm attack/defense. A split second later, both 
men pushed off and jumped backwards, signaling a stop in the training. 
Both were tired but happy for the second good practice in as many days.

	"You have to use your speed more boy, you can't match my power. I would 
have mopped the floor with you had I gotten a good night's sleep, " 
Genma boasted as they made their way inside.

	Ranma smiled at the advise and retaliated at the boast, "Whatever you 
say old man, who's the one sweating like a pig. "

	As Ranma and Genma came to the kitchen table, they noticed that they 
were the last ones to make it as Akane, Nibiki and Soun were already 
sitting down and waiting for Kasumi's delicious breakfast to be served.

	"Good morning girls, I hope you're ready for school. This is your 
senior year isn't it Nabiki? You should have a lot of fun this year. "

	Ranma watched Genma be unusually nice towards Nabiki as they took their 
seats and concluded that she must have some dirt on the old man. He 
surveyed the table carefully. Nabiki and Akane both looked a bit more 
grown up than when school had let out last year. Nabiki had the same 
twinkle in her eyes that she always did. She was presently looking at 
Genma the same way she looked at sushi before diving in. Ranma felt 
sorry for the freshmen who would run into her shortly.

	As he shifted his gaze from Nibiki to Akane, she happened to also 
glance over but looked away fast. Ranma signed inwardly to himself as 
emotions came rushing to him. She had been getting more and more 
withdrawn since the wedding disaster. He no longer received the once 
daily malleting except for a few occasional Shan-Pu visits. Their time 
together had declined as he went on more and more self-training trips 
and she tried harder to pick up things like cooking from Nadoka and 
Kasumi. Lately, their time together has been spent awkwardly and 
nervously. He got the feeling that she did not want have another let 
down like the previous wedding and therefore wanted him to make the 
first move. Ranma's problem was that he had no idea how he truly felt 
about her. It was nice to be around her sometimes. But he realized that 
the idea of commitment did not appeal that much to him. Oh well, he 
could always play dumb and pretend innocence. He had mastered both 
techniques lately. No one suspected him to have any clues as far as 
relationships were concerned and that was more than fine with him.

	"Ranma my boy, excited about starting a new year and getting one step 
closer to graduation. Hehe, you'll almost be qualified enough to inherit 
the dojo and take care of Akane. " Ranma winced as Soun Tendo's 
inspirational speech broke the momentary silence. He saw Akane's face 
turn slightly red. He was surprised to not hear the traditional "who 
wants to marry this jerk" from Akane. Ranma thought for a moment and 
decided against giving Soun the "who wants to marry this tomboy" 
comment. He inwardly wondered if this meant he was growing up. 

	Ranma's frame had shot up a bit more during the summer. He now stood at 
around six feet and weighed 150-160 pounds. He'd spent most of his 
training trips improving his power and chi. His efforts were rewarded 
with newly developed muscles and a raise in chi. Ranma now rated himself 
to be a step below Ryoga in terms of raw power. 

	Nibiki frowned slightly at not seeing the bickering that would normally 
occur after such a comment. She turned her attention from the elder 
Saotome to the younger, deciding that it would be more entertaining to 
see Ranma squirm.

	"So Ranma, I hear that Shampoo found you in China. Did you two have a 
nice time there all by yourselves? "

	Ranma froze as he watched Akane's expression turn into a scowl. He 
really did run into Shan-Pu while searching for a cure. He didn't do 
anything , not that she didn't try, with her but they did partner up and 
traveled together for a while. Ranma didn't even bother explaining it to 
Akane because she would never understand. 

	"Ranma you idiot, how could you!" Akane cried as she pulled out her 
mallet and swung it towards his head.

	Ranma shot an icy look towards Nabiki as he reached out with his 
chopsticks and pulled some food into his bowl Amagriken style. Kasumi's 
especially cooked this meal and he didn't want to miss it. 

	Ranma shifted his position just before the hammer hit and avoided the 
shot by inches. He jumped up with the bowl in hand and pleaded, "I 
didn't do anything with her I swear. " 

	Akane fumed that he'd dodged the first shot and followed up with an 
upper cut swing. 

	"Bam"
	
	The second swing did not miss Ranma as it sent him flying out of the 
house. Genma and Soun shared a look of surprise, they'd both seen Ranma 
make the little repositioning before it hit him. Genma also made out 
Ranma's hand blurring to strike the hammer in an effective block. He 
looked over at his old friend and saw from Soun's expression that his 
old friend did not catch Ranma's little move at the end.

	Ranma sighed as he flew through the top of the house. He'd been able to 
launch himself and block the hammer without anyone but his father 
noticing. "I'll just let her cool down a bit before going back inside, I 
can eat somewhere else, " he thought as his foot caught a nearby tree 
branch and he used it to flip onto a tree. He grinned to himself at 
Akane's power. The uppercut had sent him on a nice little trip, he mused 
that the block would not have been possible when the summer ended. Now 
if she could only use her talents on something besides his head.

	


	

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