Parts 1-6 may be found at:

http://www.runet.edu/~sratliff/works/Drafts/

---------Next Part----------
Part 7: Mother and her sword.

What has gone before:
	Part 1: Akane meets Ranma at age 12.  They spar.  Akane walks in on 
Ranma
	Part 2: Ryoga first appears.  Ranma shows off in Gym class.  Ranma is
challenged to teach the class gymnastics.  Ranma walks in on Akane.
	Part 3: Akane teaches the uneven bars.  Sensei Ogawa has an agenda.
Nabiki takes a picture.  Ranma walks in on Akane.
	Part 4: Akane finds the picture.  Akane and Ranma eat away from 
Nabiki  Ranma and Akane pull a joke on Nabiki that gets Akane a kiss.  Ranma 
and Akane talk in the bath.
	Part 5: Ranma and Akane finish teaching gymnastics. The betrothal document
is found. Kasumi walks in on Ranma and Akane.  Kasumi talks to Akane. 
	Part 6: Genma learns of Akane.  Soun cries.  Akane and Ranma walk on
fences.  Nodoka appears.

	It had been seven years since Ranma had seen his mother.  Seven years 
of near constant training had dulled his memory of his mother, but with a 
simple 'hello son' she was back in his life.  Ranma wasn't sure how to greet 
his mother.  Sensei Ogawa had commented once that our mothers are our
greatest teachers, and his mother was at school as a teacher, so he fell
back on formality.
	Ranma bowed.  "Good Morning Mother," he said.
	"I see traveling on the road has not managed to erode your sense of
respectfulness, Ranma," Nodoka said.  "Who is your friend?"
	"Mother, this is Tendo Akane, by agreement of our fathers, my fiancee,"
Ranma introduced.
	"Good Morning, Mrs. Saotome," Akane said.
	"You must be Soun's youngest daughter," Nodoka said.  "I was sorry to hear
of your mother's passing.  She and I were once good friends.  Ranma, if 
you have time before you father wants you for training after school, I'd like 
to hear how your last seven years of training have gone."
	"Dad is working until nine on his second job," Ranma said.  "I promised
Akane I'd spar with her every day after school, though."
	"I can afford to skip one day, Ranma," Akane said.  "Plus, I told Nabiki
that if you ever weren't available, I'd spar with her."
	"She does need the help," Ranma said.
	"I won't intrude on your time with your fiancee, Ranma," Nodoka said. 
	"Nah, it's time Nabiki got back into her training," Ranma said.  "We
better get changed for class, Akane.  We can tell Nabiki about her sparring
session at lunch."
	"We will see you third period, Ranma, Akane," Sensei Ogawa said.  "Now,
Nodoka, about that butterfingers act you like to do..."

	Ranma eagerly awaited gym class.  He wanted to see a demonstration of 
his mother's abilities.  She had to be good.  So when his mother entered
the gym, and drew his sword he was watching closely.  So he caught every move 
when Nodoka drew the sword and sent it flying into the wall on the other side 
of his gathered classmates.   
	To Akane, it appeared that this new sword instructor was really 
careless, accidentally sending it flying.  She began to wonder why Nodoka 
had been hired.  She was fooled.  In four years, even Ranma wouldn't have
spotted that it was an act.
	Nodoka began her speech on sword safety, punctuated by various
demonstrations of what not to do.  Sometimes it was obvious that she was 
trying to do those demonstrations, sometimes not.

	It had been three weeks since the last time Akane and Ranma had sat 
with Nabiki.  Nabiki thought it was a good sign.  Ranma had even been nice
enough to trade his chocolate pudding for her cherry pie.  Akane had gotten
Kasumi's first attempt at angel food cake.  It looked rather good, but
Nabiki wasn't about to miss her first chance at getting that chocolate
pudding.  
She had taken the last piece of Cherry Pie in the Tendo household.
	"Did you talk with your mother about where you're going to meet?" Akane
asked, as Ranma dug into his lunch.
	"She wants to walk home with me to surprise Dad," Ranma said.  "But she
wants to stop by your house."
	"I don't mind," Akane said.  "Do I still spar with Nabiki today?"
	"Since when did I start martial arts again?" Nabiki said, savoring the
last spoonful of her pudding.
	"According to the Dojo Registry, you are still a resident martial artist
in training," Akane said.
	"Yeah, and as the senior student, you're suppose to answer challenges 
to the Dojo," Ranma said, smiling evilly.  "I'd get some training in before
I get the idea to challenge you."
	Nabiki cringed.  She'd seen Ranma and Akane sparring.  They were good, 
a lot better than she was.  True, she had been able defeat Akane every once 
in a while when they were training together, but that had been more than a 
year ago, and Ranma was, in her opinion, better than her father.  The main
reason she'd quit was that she could see that Akane was a lot better.  She
really didn't want to compete and lose to her little sister.  One of the 
first things she had learnt when she began her financial career was when to 
cut her losses, and she'd done that with martial arts.  Now it looked like 
she hadn't done it so well.
	"I don't do that any more," Nabiki said.
	"Well, you should have had yourself removed from the Dojo Registry 
then," Ranma said.
	"Yea, sis," Akane said.  "But I don't see why you're worried.  It 
will be just like old times."
	"Akane, you're a lot better than I ever was," Nabiki said.  "It would 
be like a master martial artist taking on a kindergartener.  And you know
that if I asked Dad to remove me, he'd break down crying again."
	"'The path of a martial artist is fraught with peril,'" Ranma entoned.
	"Give up, Nabiki," Akane said.  "The sensei has spoken."

	Nodoka walked along side her son.  He had grown so much since Genma had
taken him off on they're training journey.  He had only been three and a
half feet tall at the time, now he was almost five feet.  She'd missed a
lot of her son's life, and she didn't intend to miss much more, agreement
or not.  She really didn't care if he was a man among men, and at twelve,
it was a little early to judge, she'd just put that on to make sure Genma
was on his best behavior.   In any case, the way Ranma had his arm around
his fiancee was 
proof that he was on his way to becoming a man.
	"So Ranma, how did you meet Akane?" Nodoka asked.
	"Well it was the first day of school," Ranma began.  "I had gotten to
school really early because Dad had to register me before he went to work.
Anyway, I had gone to the roof to see the sun rise, and was walking around 
the third floor, just killing some time.  Then I spotted this cute girl who
looked like she was starting to cry.  I can't stand to see a girl cry, so I
asked her what's wrong, and introduced myself.  Turns out she was sad
because this was the first time she started school after her mother's
death, and she couldn't find our classroom.  We talked and went to class."
	"What were you doing up on the third floor, Akane," Nabiki said, from
behind the group.  "I told you your class was on the second floor."  
	"You know the gym door?" Akane said.  "I entered that way and went up 
one floor."
	"Didn't check the numbers on the floor, did you?" Nabiki said.
	"It was my first day," Akane said.  "And I'm sure you got lost too, though
not as bad as Ranma's friend Ryoga does.  By the way, Ranma, where was 
he today?"
	"I don't know," Ranma said.

	Somewhere there is a young boy looking for MacArthur Junior High.
Somewhere there is a boy unconsciencely translating other languages into
his native Japanese.  Early this morning that somewhere was Hawaii.  About
noon, 
he ate his lunch in San Francisco.  And at the present time, he's in Salt 
Lake City.  He thinks he's in Tokyo.  He's wrong.  He's about to see the 
world, and he doesn't even know it.  All because Ranma hadn't walked him to
school like he had since the school year began.

	Ranma sat beside his mother watching Akane spar with Nabiki.  Nabiki 
was definitely outclassed.  Akane was, quite frankly, wiping the floor with 
her older sister.  Of course Ranma had some problems with this.  Most
notably that Nabiki's gi was a little small, and definitely not tailored
for the 
breasts that Nabiki had.  Of course, he'd seen more with Akane, but it
still bothered him, and it certainly bothered his mother.  His mother had
given a rather long lecture about proper attire when Nabiki had came
downstairs 
after changing.  Nabiki had promised to get a new gi.  Kasumi, meanwhile
had taken notes.  Akane looked rather pale when she saw that.  He'd have to
ask 
why sometime.
	"I noticed that Akane called you Sensei when you asked if she was 
ready," Nokoda said, turning to her son.
	Ranma was busy observing Nabiki's rather rusty style, as he replied, 
"She does that ever once in a while.  Since her mother died, her father 
hasn't been training her anymore, so our sparring is the only testing she 
gets."
	"Speaking of training," Nokoda said.  "How has your father been 
training you?"
	"Well, he has had me study under most of the masters in Japan," Ranma
said, observing a particularly well executed attack by Akane.  "But his own
teaching is mostly to fix problems I have and the occasional secret technic."
	"Fix problems?" Nokoda inquired.
	"Well, I had this really bad problem once when I was losing fights because
I kept splitting my pants," Ranma said.  "So Dad gets the idea that 
the best way to stop me from being embarrassed by it is to embarrass me so 
much that the next time the splitting pants would seem small.  So he strips 
off my pants then chases me around town while I'm wearing these really
embarrassing boxers with red hearts on them.  After being chased though the
bakers, grocers, and the baths, I got use to it, and sent Dad flying into a
nearby river."
	"That must have been a sight," Nokoda said.
	"Yeah, I got rid of those boxers after that though," Ranma said, 
noticing something about Nabiki's pattern.  "Boy, Akane is about to take a 
hit."
	"I don't see how," Nokoda said, observing Akane pressing Nabiki back.
"Akane seems to hold control."
	"Just watch," Ranma said.  Sure enough, Nabiki snuck a chop to Akane's
shoulder right by Akane's guard.  "But she'll pay for it."  One two three,
Nabiki found her self short of breath and sitting on her behind.
	"I yield," Nabiki said breathless.

	Nokoda and Ranma left for his apartment shortly after the sparring 
match, but not before Ranma got a long satisfying kiss from Akane, 
guaranteed to make sisters jealous.  Now Nokoda was relaxing on the sofa 
while Ranma was working on his homework.  He wasn't really taking much time
doing each question though, and that had Nokoda worried.  She'd have to 
check on his grades tomorrow.  Meanwhile, she was cleaning her sword.
	"Done," Ranma said, slamming his math book shut.
	"Then why don't you get ready for bed?" Nokoda said.  "You don't have 
to wait up for your father."
	Ranma retreated to his room, and went to bed.  He was asleep when his
father entered their home.
	The room was lit only by a single light.  Nokoda was seated on the 
sofa, polishing her gleaming sword.  The edge appeared to be quite sharp.  
Gemna tried to enter silently after spotting the sword, hoping to surprise 
the woman.
	"Hello, Genma," Nokoda said.

� end part 7

cliff hanger again... a technic of serialized writing.


--
Stephen Ratliff

FAQ & Index Maintainer for Alt.StarTrek.Creative
http://www.runet.edu/~sratliff/FAQs
http://www.runet.edu/~sratliff/ascindex