C&C welcome
I know I have alot of mistakes here but it's fun to write this story.
part four: "kill chi"
Ranma and Akane followed Ju into his office. Ju had asked the school
nurse to take care of Kuno while he had a private conversation with
them.
"Please, take a seat, " Ju said after sitting down at his desk. His
eyes carefully scrutinized the couple. Both kids seemed nervous as they
shot each other apprehensive looks.
"Principle Ju, let me explain my actions this morning," Akane started
to say with her head down. "I was very surprised that they, those...
guys decided to start their..um... pursuit again. I guess my anger just
took over and I'm sorry to have attacked you."
She trailed off as her voice grew smaller and smaller. This was not the
correct way to start the year off. Who knew how much trouble she was in?
She also felt anger boiling again. How dare those guys start that up
once more? Didn't they know that she was engaged now? And Ranma, all
Ranma did was to stand there and watch. He didn't even stick up for her,
not that she needed it. Akane found herself once again venting her anger
on Ranma as she shot him dark looks.
"Well, this morning was certainly not the way I wanted for my reign as
principle to start. But I guess I'd expected this when they hired me,"
Ju said in a mild voice, giving no indication of anger or forgiveness.
"You knew of the situation here before taking the job?" Ranma asked
with a bit of surprise.
"All I knew was that this place was designated a 'trouble area' by the
Japanese government as well as by the residents. High levels of martial
arts ability were commonly detected here. Since dealing with this sort
of thing was my specialty and everyone else declined this post when it
opened, I decided to take the job."
"What happened to principle Kuno? Did some finally figure he was a few
coconuts short of a pine tree?"
"No, he just mysteriously disappeared again. No one knows where he's
gone off to, " Ju explained as he turned the gaze from the kids towards
the window.
"Am I in any trouble?" Akane asked in a small voice.
"Not reallly, someone had already explained your situation. I brought
you to my office because I would like you to brief me on the present
situation of Furikan high. Let's start off by introducing ourselves."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
After briefing Ju to most of the uniqueness of Nerima, Ranma and Akane
split up to go to their seperate classes. Akane was in the advanced math
class while Ranma went to his normal class.
There temporary seperation was due to the trial system that Ju had just
instated. Students were split into two groups: those that were college
bound and those that weren't. Ranma's previous marks placed him in the
latter category.
"Pay attention Ranma."
Ranma redirected his attention to his teacher only to find an angry Ms.
Hinako.
"Are you starting your delinquent activities so soon in the year? I see
that I must punish you, " said Hinako sensei as she pulled out her coin.
Ranma groaned as he desperately looked to avoid being the first victim
of the new school year. He'd gotten used to her tricks but it still took
a long time to recover from the chi draining techique.
"Sensei, I was just thinking of the theory you described a moment ago.
I can't be punished for thinking about the subject, can I." Ranma put on
his smile and stared right back at Hinako.
"Yes Sensei, I don't think that it is fair to punish a student for
thinking," a third voice spoke up.
Ranma was surprised that anyone would actually dare to anger Hinako. He
couldn't help himself in looking over at the person that helped him.
The voice's owner was a rather ordinary looking boy. He looked to be
around Ranma's age and height, perhaps a tad overweight. He was
currently smiling at Hinako.
Ranma couldn't be sure of why but the boy looked to be the type that
always smiled. The smile just looked...right...on his square face.
Ranma's first impression of the boy was of peace: the boy's eyes were
almost shut as he smiled sweetly at Hinako.
It is always hard to resist a smiling face, especially on a face that
spoke of such honesty. Indeed, Ranma thought, it took a really cruel
person to say no to this boy.
Hinako sensei was not cruel. She liked to punish delinquents, but she
was not cruel. Besides, Hinako was a reasonable woman and reason seemed
to be on Ranma's side.
"Allright Saotome, just try and pay attention to me in the future. And
Mr. Tang, here at Furikan we like to raise our hands before speaking."
she had a notable pout for not being able to get her first delinquent.
Ranma looked over at the boy, Tang, in gratitude. He now knew that Tang
was a transfer student. No wonder he had the guts to stand up to Hinako.
Tang also looked at Ranma as their eyes met. Something flashed through
his eyes for a moment as he nodded to Ranma. Tang's smile never wavered.
The rest of the morning passed by in lesson after boring lesson until
lunchtime finally arrived.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ranma stood on top of a tree as he looked through the crowd of
students, scanning for Akane. They normally ate lunch together, until
she malleted him off, but today she seemed to be late. He could see both
famaliar and unfamaliar faces in the crowd below.
Ranma's gaze stopped on the sight of a boy and girl arguing. Being a
school yard, arguments between opposite sexes were both common and
inevitable. What made him notice this pair was the unusually large
amount of angry chi the girl seemed to be giving off. Thanks to Akane
and Ryoga, Ranma's ability to detect this type of "angry chi" has
progressed to quite a degree. He rated this girl's current anger between
the range of a medium Akane tantrum and a small Ryoga depression blast.
"Yusuke you pervert."
Ranma grimaced as he saw the girl punch the boy, hard. The boy called
Yusuke was lifted off the ground and sent flying away by the force of
the blast.
"It's like looking in a mirror, I wish Akane were here to see this.
Maybe she would go and teach the girl that mallet trick." Ranma thought
as he watched Yusuke's tragectory. It seemed that Yusuke did not share
the same gravity defying ability as Ranma as his peak was reached at the
second story. Then he started to plummet head first, right towards the
back of a chubby boy who seemed to be talking up a storm.
Ranma's eyes widened as he recignized the chubby boy as the one who'd
come to his aid in class earlier, Tang. He could just see the result of
Tang and Yusuke's little meeting. Quickly gauging the distance between
himself and Tang, Ranma decided to pay off the little favor Tang did for
him this morning. He already owned too many people too many favors.
Ranma used his left foot to launch himself toward the collision sight.
Through years of battles and practice, Ranma's speed has become his
greatest defense and weapon. Now he streaked toward Tang with all the
speed he could muster.
Just as he was about to save the day again, Ranma felt a little bit of
coldness creep up in his spine. He immediately recognized this for "kill
chi" and realized the danger he was in.
There were many types of chi in the world. Emotion chi, outer chi,
inner chi, jian chi, gen chi just to name a few. But the most dangerous
chi on this world would have to be the so called "kill chi." It is
rumored that "kill chi" always showed up before and during major
battles. The common soldier might have just felt something heavy in the
air, but a martial arts master could sense that this was a pressure that
blood shed and death brings. It is said that this type of chi is
invaluable in battle. However, in order to produce "kill chi," one not
only has to master chi but also must have experience "kill chi."
Ranma had experienced this before. His battles with Herb, Cologne and
Happosai had all brought him bits and pieces of this feeling. The only
difference now was that he knew the feeling for what it was and could
therefore deduce the danger.
Instead of fear, Ranma felt adrenaline pumping through his brain.
Unlike others, Ranma's adrenaline served to cool his head and clear away
non-relevant thoughts. He took a deep breath and sped up the flow of chi
through his body. Ranma's senses all seemed to get sharper as the world
changed around him. In this moment, his feel for the outside world was
better than ever before. He was once again at his peak. He always seemed
to hit that peak when he needed it the most
Ranma now knew that weapons were coming at him from behind, the left
and the right. He deduced this from one very simple fact: Whatever was
coming at him was gaining rapidly.
No one could gain ground that rapidly with him at full speed.
Ranma also knew that the "kill chi" he'd experienced earlier was from
one of these weapons. Weapons could have "kill chi" too. Weapons which
have followed their masters through enough fights and wars.
"Look out," one of the people Tang was talking to finally saw Yusuke
hurtling towards them.
Ranma's eyebrows locked together as he realized his problem. It was
easy for Ranma Saotome to avoid this attack. But if he did, those
weapons would fly on...right into one of the students. If he tried to
turn and nullify the danger, his speed would be affected and one or more
of the weapons could hit him.
As soon as these thoughts flashed through his head, Ranma made his
decision.
He turned to look the approaching danger straight in the eye.
Tang seemed to finally hear his friend's warning as he slowly turned
around to look at Yusuke's incoming head. His smile never wavered as
Yusuke got closer and closer.
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com