trying this different direction. It's the same up until Nabiki brings the
Saotomes in.


FIST OF ORION (rewrite?)
part the second: Home again?
trademarks owned by a whole lotta OTHER people.
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com/
email: metroanime@mindspring.com
       comments welcome, flames and comments about
ancestry are not.
on the other hand, if there's something you like here, let me
know what it is so i can keep doing it.
        this is just an idea sketched out that (like way too many)
started taking off on its own. The idea was to come up with
a different approach to the "Saint Ranma" thing i'd done awhile
back as it had too many elements duplicated in other people's
works.
----------------------------------------------------
 Nodoka Saotome opened the door to see a
strongly built young man, tall and with a sense of raw power
about him, standing there looking decidedly uncomfortable.
She estimated his age at being sixteen.

 "Uhm, excuse me," the boy mumbled. "Is there a
Genma Saotome here?"

 She smiled at the boy, thinking that he was here
to study martial arts. "He's in back, practicing with his daughter.
May I say who's here to see him?"

 The boy obviously struggled with a decision. "Tell
him that Ranma Saotome is here to see him."

 Ranma didn't expect the woman to faint.
----------------------------------------------------
 "How could you be Ranma?" The chubby looking
man stared at the boy uncomfortably sitting at the table. "My
son died in a ...training mishap."

 "Two years ago, while learning to explore my inner
reserves, I broke through some mental barriers that had been
placed by a well meaning practictioner of Hokuto Shin Ken."
Everyone present noted how pale Genma had suddenly turned.

 "Do go on," urged Nodoka, sipping at her tea,
proper decorum having again been achieved.

 "He believed I was an orphan being used by a
'gypsy' or someone who steals children in order to have
them commit crimes that the 'parent' can then profit off of.
It is common in some parts of the world, and in truth, I
WAS being used in such a manner."

 Genma turned another shade paler and began
to visibly sweat when Nodoka's eyes glittered in his
direction. "Gee...uh...I don't remember it like that."

 "You don't remember having me swipe food
for both of us as part of a game?"

 "Papa! That sound like game you show me!"
Little eight year old Ranko chirped.

 "Errr...." Genma was now whiter than his gi.

 "In any case, you don't have to worry about
Ucchan, the child you abandoned on the road." Ranma
sighed and stared at the table.

 "Ucchan? Dearest, why don't you explain
about children you've left behind?" Nodoka was maintaining
her usual aura of calm with an effort at this point.

 "Uhm, err, I, that is," Genma tried to figure out
how he could lie to his wife. It wasn't easy, she'd gotten
to know his body language really well over the past few
years.

 "Ucchan was Ukyou Kuonji. A girl that I was
engaged to when father stole her family's dowry."

 "Dearest?" The aura of calm was beginning
to crack.

 "Errr."

 "Oboy, Daddy, did you engage me to
someone?"

 "Ahem, I..."

 As Genma had not immediately answered
with a negative, the aura of calm around Nodoka was
in serious danger. "Dearest? I think that the response
to you taking my daughter on that training trip is going
to have to be 'no.' I really must insist."

 "Oh?" Ranma blinked at his sister. "So,
Ranko, where were you going to go train?"

 "China!" Ranko clapped her hands and
smiled.

 "Errr..."

 "Dearest," there was no hint of warmth in
Nodoka Saotome's voice, "did you not say that you
were just planning a little trip into the mountains?"

 "Well, yes..." Genma nodded. He hadn't
said WHICH mountains, after all. And it would have
been after Ranko had been trained in the legendary
CatFist to make her an invincible warrior!

 "So, Ranko, are you training in the
Anything Goes style?" Ranma looked with a gentle
smile at the sister he hadn't known he had.

 "Yup!" Ranko's head bopped up and
down and she made an enthusiastic noise.

 "That's good." Ranma looked back to
his parents, realizing he still didn't feel particularly
close to either of them. He did feel a bond of
kinship with his sister, though.

 "Excuse me, Ranma?" Nodoka broke
into her son's musings. "Where is this 'Ucchan'
anyway?"

 "Oh, like I said, Father doesn't have to
worry about her...she died a little over a year ago."

 "Oh my. I'm so sorry," Nodoka couldn't
miss the very real grief hanging over this stranger
who was apparently her son. She was still in a bit
of shock about it all. "How did it happen?"

 Ranma sighed. "Kenshiro took Ucchan in
shortly after he 'rescued' me from Father. It turned out
that Ukyou's father was dying and he had no relatives
for Ucchan to go live with. That's why he was so happy
to engage his daughter off at that age. Her mom had
died a while back, don't know the details.

 "Anyway, Ken had gotten some help from
this really old and powerful sensei in China when he
was kinda on his own, and so took me and Ucchan to
this guy so Ken could continue to look for some girl
named Yuria.

 "The sensei's name is Lochi, and he knows
dozens of martial arts styles himself. He taught me and
Ucchan, plus his own ward Shiryu. Shiryu and Shunrei,
me and Ucchan, we were like a little family of our own.
Learned a lot from 'em.

 "Anyway, there was this guy named Saga.
Tough old guy who was out to assassinate some girl
named Saori. Since Shiryu and Lochi were pledged to
assist this gal, me and Ucchan agreed to help." Ranma
decided to keep the whole thing on a much simpler level
than had occurred. Let them think it was just a bandit
king and some martial arts stuff.

 "Anyway," Ranma continued into the silence,
"Saga had this special attack, sorta magic, where he
caused the air to swallow up a victim. Ucchan...got caught.
She..." Ranma's voice broke. They'd been friends for years,
trained together, ate together, maybe he'd even come to
love her, but now he'd never know.

 Ranma was startled by the gentle touch on
his shoulder and he looked into his sister's tearfilled eyes.
"Don't cry, big brother," Ranko said in a sad voice, "we
here now."

 Ranma looked to his mother, to see sympathy
there, and then at his father to see... relief? Whatever it
was, it was gone again in a moment. Ranma took a deep
breath to compose himself. "Well, anyway, Saga's dead.
I've been wandering since then until I heard there was a
family named Saotome here in Juuban practicing the
Anything Goes style of martial arts."

 "How nice, now, Genma. Why don't you tell
me what else you might have failed to mention about these
training trips?" Nodoka's voice had developed an odd
sing-song tone to it.

 "Son," Genma said, standing up. "You're
sixteen now, so there's something we have to do NOW."

 Ranma blinked. "What?"

 "Go meet a friend of mine, this is VERY
important." Genma also wanted to give Nodoka some
time to calm down. He knew her well enough to know
that when her eyes glittered like that and she started
to sing her sentences, that she was about ready to unwrap
her katana. She'd never gotten to the point where she'd
completely unwrapped the thing yet, and Genma wasn't
anxious to see the blade in all its glory.

 Genma decided to make a phone call, just
to warn his old buddy that Ranma was coming. He
couldn't give a lot of details, though, as Nodoka was
listening and this MIGHT just push her over the edge.

 Edges and Nodoka just seemed to spell
bad news to Genma's viewpoint.
-----------------------------------------
 "What is this, a dojo challenge?" Ranma
blinked at the sign, then nodded. No doubt it was a
rival school, and he was here to challenge it. No
problem.

 "Uhm, not exactly," mumbled Genma.

 "Oh, you must be...Ranma?" A short haired
girl in a kimono looked down at little Ranko with an
expression of distaste. "Please tell me you aren't Ranma."

 "Nopenopenope!" Ranko chirped happily.

 "I'm Ranma," Ranma identified himself. The
girl didn't move like a martial artist, so what was going on here?

 Nabiki's gaze almost clicked audibly as it locked onto
Ranma. "Well well well. My goodness. So YOU'RE Ranma?"

 Ranma nodded and returned the girl's smile as best
he could. "Yes, and you are?"

 "Oooh, he IS cute," Nabiki called back into the
house. Nabiki turned back to Ranma. "I'm Nabiki Tendo, your
fiancee."

 Several people in the courtyard stiffened at that
remark. Genma was still wondering if maybe he should go on
a training journey until things had calmed down.

 "Saotome, I thought you said that your son was
dead?" Soun looked over the four people standing in the
yard. "Now, Nabiki, that hasn't been determined."

 Nodoka glanced at her husband and motioned her
daughter closer to her.

 "Excuse me," Ranma was polite, calm, and wanted
to stop this immediately. "Did you say 'fiancee' or did I hear
wrong? How many fiancees did you arrange for me?"

 This proved the signal for the situation to deteriorate

 "Now, dearest!"

 "SA-O-TO-ME!!"

 "I HATE BOYS!"

 "Oh dear, oh my."

 "Papa look so funny!"

 Nabiki looked the situation over, decided that this
Ranma fellow was fairly cute, and began working out angles
with her usual efficiency. Motioning him and the little girl
inside, Nabiki smiled at the look of relief to pass over both
faces.

 "Everybody getting real loud," Ranko said.(1)

 "Yeah, and it doesn't look like they're gonna
reach any kind of decision soon." Ranma sighed.

 Akane paused at the doorway, then followed
the small group in. "Say, Ranma, you're the Heir of the
Saotome School, right?"

 "Uhm, actually, I think Ranko here is." Ranma
indicated the eight-year-old. "I've trained fairly extensively
in other martial arts for quite awhile."

 "Oh, well," Akane mumbled. She really wanted to
fight someone and determine her progress in the martial arts.
The morning crowd at school, or even Kuno, were hardly a
fitting benchmark. "Would you like to get in a quick bout
out in the dojo while they're arguing?"

 Ranma winced. This was going WAY too fast for
him. He'd wanted to try to fit back in among normal people
again but within hours of meeting his folks he'd been whisked
over here, engaged to some girl he'd never met before, and
now he was supposed to fight the girl's little sister. NOT good.

 "Well, I'm really out-of-sorts right now. It's been
kind of crazy what with everything like this," Ranma started
and read pride and determination in the girl's face. He realized
this would be really bad. If he fought even at his usual sparring
level, they'd probably be cleaning her up with a sponge. How
to get out of this without insulting her honor or her family?

 Ranma smiled. Family. Solution found. "Say, since
Ranko here is the Heir to the Saotome School wouldn't that be
better anyway? I'm sure we'd all like to see how the two Schools
of Anything Goes compare, right?"

 Nabiki smiled. This wasn't some gung-ho warrior
type, after all. He didn't feel the need to go dropping everything
and charge off into battle at the drop of a hat. Good.

 "WAI!" Ranko did the feel-her-muscle gesture and
gave a wild grin. "No problem, big brother! I not let you down!"

 Akane shook her head, a bit disappointed. Still, she'd
been Ranko's age herself once and the child's enthusiasm was
rubbing off. She'd have to try not to hurt the little girl with the
oddly colored hair.

 Maybe she could corner Ranma for a fight later.
---------------------------------
 Ranma sat next to Nabiki, making the difference in size
and mass of the two quite apparent.

 "Bow. Ready. Begin." Nabiki brought her hand down
in a slicing gesture.

 Akane leapt forward, ready to prove herself. She
punched, she kicked, she threw a rapid series of strikes that
would have cut a swath through the morning gantlet. Ranko
blocked, dodged, tumbled, and generally avoided being
struck.

 Akane blinked and turned the fight up a notch.
Then she turned the fight up another notch.

 Ranma had had another motivation for shifting
the fight over to Ranko and was watching his sister carefully
with more than his eyes.

 There. Ranma smiled. Just as Akane rolled her
legsweep into an elbow smash that just barely clipped Ranko's
head, he felt it. Akane had strong cosmos potential. So did the
other two daughters Tendo.

 Ranko, though, Ranko went beyond strong. He
had felt his own cosmos connection begin to awaken the
sleeping giant before him. Then Ranko's cosmos began the
same process on the three girls, much like lighting one
candle and using it to light others.

 Ranko began to move faster, spending more
time in the air. The overwhelming advantages of reach
and size began to slowly even out and the two combatants
were now both going full out, drawing an appreciative gasp
from Nabiki and from the newly arrived Kasumi.

 There were times when one finds the perfect
moment. A moment such as when everything seems to
fit into place and a certain resonance and sense of
rightness with the world can be felt. Those watching
the fight could see such a moment being born as
two warriors danced a rapidfire freeform battle that
truly put an Art in the Art.

 Akane took Ranko's punches and kicks
without much effort, due to the eight year old's
lack of reach and strength. Ranko managed to avoid
all but a few of Akane's blows by being as flexible
as an eel and as agile as a mongoose. More than
once Ranko seemed to be airborne long enough
that she should have wings.

 Attacks were chained together into
incredible combinations. Akane's much greater
strength and reach vied against Ranko's much
greater speed and agility.

 The moment passed, Akane attempted
to slap her hands to the dojo floor and extend her
legs into a swinging kick that would have caught
the shorter girl under her legs and flipped her to
the floor. Instead, Akane's hands slipped from the
amount of sweat she'd put on the floor.

 Akane hit the floor, briefly stunned,
and Ranko took full advantage of that by doing
the dreaded "Octopus Grip" hold.

 Akane's eyes widened as she thought
about being beaten by someone half her age. The
sound of polite applause reached her as Ranko
backed off.

 The parents had gathered behind
Kasumi and everyone was cheering for her.

 "Akane! That was great!" Nabiki
had NEVER seen her sister move that quickly
before. The difference between this and the
morning brawls had been astounding.

 "Very good, Akane!" Kasumi
smiled, her Mother would have been so
proud to see Akane getting along so well
with the Saotomes.

 Ranma merely smiled and gave
his sister a thumb's up. He winked at Akane.

 "You two ought to go tidy up
before dinner," Kasumi decided. "I think I've
got some old clothes that will fit you Ranko.
That way you won't have to change into those
sweaty ones."

 "Wai! Wai! C'mon! I race you!"
Ranko ran towards the house.

 Akane blinked, panting, for a long
moment. "I was NEVER that young. Hey, you!
That's not fair, wait for me!"
==============================

(1)-      Before i get a lot of e-mail correcting Ranko's speech patterns,
THIS Ranko is a little girl. Little girls, unless they're trying really hard
or named Ami Mizuno, aren't that proficient with language. She's eight
and has spent most of her life training in the martial arts.
          She starts getting better at Japanese in the next month/chapter.