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Part five: flying knife

	Ranma realized the peril of situation as soon as he saw the weapons 
coming his way. 

	Three weapons; three angles; three speeds; three ways to die.

	From the left came a boomerang-like object, it seemed to be unsure of 
its target as it drifted every which way. The only thing sure about this 
weapon was that it's razor sharp edges would draw blood if they hit him. 

	From the right came a spear, a steel spear. The wind whistled as the 
huge spear headed straight for Ranma. 

	The third object in this collection looked like a round bamboo 
container. It seemed out of place as it headed straight towards Ranma.

	The boomerang and the spear, although the former seemed slower and the 
latter faster, reached Ranma at almost the same time. 

	Ranma's hands blurred into action.

	His left fist shot out to meet the boomerang head on while his right 
open palm came up from under the spearhead. His left fist contained much 
of the chi Ranma had left. Ranma's "confident chi" roared to a peak 
around him as he drew it forth. He felt it surge through his body, to 
his arm and through his fist. Instead of channeling it in the form the 
Moko Takabisha, Ranma forced the chi into a spiral of force that covered 
the boomerang and it's surrounding area.

	His right hand did not have the same speed or power as it went to meet 
the incoming spear. In fact, Ranma used none of his chi and very little 
of his power. He used power to crush the light little boomerang but used 
knowledge and skill to take out the powerful spear. His left hand was 
Yan while his left hand was Ying.

	Two different weapons, two different attacks, two different defenses.
	
	Same result.

	The boomerang was sent right back to where it came from with twice the 
speed and power. The spear was hit right as it was about to draw blood 
and changed directions to up instead of through.

	Ranma could not help smiling to himself about his considerable skill. 
He knew that not many people could have gotten out of this mess 
unscathed. Having to take out those two weapons at the same time took 
intelligence and skill......

	His smile froze on his face as he realized his mistake.

	There were three weapons flying at him.

	The little bamboo container had seemed so out of place because it 
looked harmless. It was also slower than the others as it was still ten 
meters away from him now.

	But it was always the "harmless" moves where the real danger lied. It 
was always a seemingly harmless maneuver that took out Ranma's 
opponents. Harmlessness is the perfect disguise for the real killer.

	Ranma knew this lesson well and was quick to realize his mistake. 
Besides, the "kill chi" had not disappeared when he took care of the 
other two weapons. Ranma now examined the bamboo container.

	It was less than a foot long in length and less than 5 inches in 
diameter. Besides for the slight depression off to the side of the 
container, it looked perfectly ordinary.

	Ranma's eyes narrowed into slits as he remembered Genma's stories about 
the world's "hidden weapons."

	Before the days of firearms, the most feared weapons in the world were 
hidden weapons. The reason for their fierceness and effectiveness was 
one and the same: it is easier to avoid an overhead strike by an 
incoming sword than it is to avoid the ninja's star that appears from 
nowhere.

	Genma's stories often told of the Chinese family that made their fame 
and fortune in the martial arts world on hidden weapons alone. 

	Ranma now remembered his father telling him about the seven most feared 
hidden weapons. His thoughts flashed and landed upon the "the tails of a 
peacock." Genma had said that "the tails of the peacock" was a legendary 
hidden weapon in China. 

	It was a legend because no one had ever seen it, and lived to tell 
about it. The Chinese family Chu was able to dominate the Martial Arts 
world for centuries because "the tails of the peacock" was their family 
heirloom. It had helped members of this storied family to defeat China's 
martial arts champions throughout the years. Later, just the mention of 
its name was enough to scare off a horde of thieves.

	No one had ever seen it. Could it be that this legendary weapon was 
contained in a tiny bamboo container? Could it be that this weapon had 
killed so many times as to have its own "kill chi"?

	Ranma could feel his adrenaline surge again as he stared at the little 
container. He took a deep breath and drew upon his confidence and power. 
Ranma felt a new surge of chi to replace the amount he'd already used 
up. He called his "confident chi" to join with his inner chi and felt 
the world expanding before his eyes as his awareness rose to its peak.

	Ranma's motion changed from dropping backwards to dropping straight 
down. As his foot touched the ground, Ranma's body shot up again, this 
time right towards the bamboo container. 

	Ranma felt two objects approach the container as he narrowed the 
distance. One came from the right at an angle while the other came from 
behind him. His attention was focused on the one coming from the front 
because he didn't believe that the one from the back could reach the 
container before him.

	The object coming from the front was a small rock. It looked to be 
headed toward the little depression on the side of the container, fast.

	Faster than he had anticipated. 

	Ranma signed as he prepared to do his Amaguriken technique. He had no 
idea what would be released from the container and didn't know about his 
chances. The best he could do was try to avoid/catch as many as he 
could.

	The "tails of the peacock," or whatever was in the container was never 
released.

	The small rock never hit the container.

	At the last second, Ranma could feel something streak by him and saw 
the small piece of rock snagged off by whatever that something was.

	All he could make out about this something was that it seemed to be 
red; at least the end of it was red.

	Ranma drew upon his chi and punched the bamboo container away. He still 
had no idea what was in the container or what would set it off. It was 
best to not take any chances.

	Ranma's eyes immediately sought for signs of his attacker.

	All he was able to see was a streak of white from the area where he 
guessed the bamboo container had come from.

	"Thud," the spear finally landed with a thud just as Ranma landed 
soundlessly.

	He turned around to look at the accident between Tang and Yusuke. What 
he found instead of two people sprawled on the ground was Tang and 
Yusuke standing meters apart and staring at him. Tang still had the 
smile on his face while Yusuke was frowning.

	"Wow, that was quite a show Ranma. Ranma is your name right?" Tang 
asked as he stuck out his hand. 

	"Yeah, Ranma Saotome's the name. Thanks for helping me out this morning 
with Hinako. You're Tang, the transfer student, right?" Ranma asked as 
he shook Tang's hand.

	"My name is Tang San. You can call me Tang. I'm a transfer student from 
China. It's nice to meet you Ranma. You're really good at martial arts. 
I almost had a heart attack when I saw you fall right out of the sky." 
Tang chuckled as he openly admired Ranma's abilities.

	The boy called Yusuke stared at them for a second and then walked away 
towards the tree Ranma was standing on earlier.

	Ranma was about to ask him how they avoided the collision when Tang 
pulled on Ranma's sleeve and asked him why he didn't wear the 
traditional uniform. 

	"Ranma, you've got to teach me how to jump like that," Tang remarked 
after Ranma explained his unique clothing. 

	Ranma finally spotted Akane walking towards them. She had an angry 
expression on her face. He wondered if she was still mad about this 
morning. She didn't speak to him when they left the principal's office 
earlier. She looked at him angrily and stopped a few yards short of 
them.

	A tug on his sleeve brought his attention back to Tang, the chubby boy 
was smiling as his eyes roamed from Ranma to Akane. 

	"I see that you have company. We can talk later Ranma. I won't take up 
anymore of your time now," Tang said as he winked at Ranma and walked 
away.

	Ranma didn't have time to say anything to Tang as Akane walked up to 
him. He didn't want to get himself in more trouble with Akane by 
"explaining" that it wasn't like "that" so he let Tang walk away with 
the misunderstanding.

	"Ranma, how could you?" Akane spoke in a low voice.

	Tang stared at a tree trunk as his smile slightly wavered. There was a 
little knick of the tree trunk at the spot where he was staring, but no 
sign of what had made the knick.

	Yusuke walked towards back to join his friends. He hoped that Keiko 
wasn't still too mad about the prank from earlier as his toyed with the 
knife in his hands.

	A small throwing knife with a tiny red sash tied around its hilt.


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