Ruroni Ranma
Part 2
Kuno Strikes Back.
Ranma Saotome sat at the table and glanced at the sheet of paper that
had been given to him calmly. "A letter of challenge?" He sighed and
tossed it across the table.
"Serves you right for butting in on my fight," snapped the youngest
Tendo angrily. She froze suddenly; the note in her hand began to shake as
she read the challenge carefully.
"What is it sis?" Nabiki peeked over her shoulder and gasped.
"Ranma Saotome, I hereby challenge you to a battle of honor, your
cowardly ways shall come to light as my mighty and swift justice comes
upon you. Meet me tomorrow on the field of battle as I show you the might
of a true samurai of noble blood. I shall meet your challenge with steel
and a noble heart. Come prepared. Yours truly, Tatewaki Kuno, the True
Battosai of Furinkan High."
"Ranma, he's going to use a real sword! One of you will be killed!"
gasped Nabiki with a horrified look on her face.
Ranma blinked and looked at her. "Oro?" He took the letter back and read
it again. "So it seems, don't worry Nabiki, I cannot kill him."
"What?" said Akane in confusion. "You'll get yourself killed! Kuno might
not be much of a fighter, but his kendo skills are exceptional.
Especially when facing a male opponent!"
"I fought in a war where the weapons were blades and fists Tendo, I do
know my way around a battle such as this," replied Ranma simply. "What's
with this Battosai thing anyway?"
Akane gasped in shock and looked at the boy oddly. "You killed during
the war?"
"That is what one does in a war Akane, I have a lot of blood on my
hands," replied the boy simply.
"Tell me, what is this True Battosai nonsense Tatewaki is going on
about?" repeated Ranma.
"You of all people should know that, you said you met this Battosai
character," replied Nabiki.
"Oro?" said Ranma as he blinked at them.
Akane sighed, "Kuno thinks of himself as a samurai, a noble. So
naturally when a real samurai becomes a legend in a war like that he
makes him his hero."
"He thinks of Battosai as a hero?" said Ranma in confusion.
Akane seemed quite miffed at this insinuation. "Battosai was a hero,
people still talk about him today when they hear about him fighting
against the Musk during the war."
Ranma seemed a little upset by this. "I always thought he was the kind
of guy who faded away and never made it into the history books. A shadow
assassin, who was never really known," he looked oddly thoughtful for a
moment. "Hero huh? Weird."
"Well, normally I suppose he would, but he was a major player in an
important war, and also one of a very few Japanese nationals involved
with it." Nabiki shrugged her shoulders and went back to her bag of
chips. "I guess it's just circumstance."
"Quite so," agreed Ranma as he went back to studying the letter. "But
what to do about this fool?"
As the sun set Ranma stood alone in a field. He waited patiently for his
opponent as the hour dragged on. "He's late."
Almost as if on cue Tatewaki Kuno appeared on the street silhouetted in
the setting sun as he approached the designated battleground. Both men
were dressed in traditional samurai garb, with Ranma being a bit flashier
overall with his bright red shirt.
"So, you finally decided to show up did you?" asked Ranma smugly.
"I felt the need for an appropriate entrance," replied the boy calmly as
he lifted a rose to his nose and smiled.
"I can understand that, but all this pageantry still says nothing for
your skills. Tell me, why am I here facing you?" Ranma remained calm and
watched the boy look up in surprise.
"You have insulted my honor, and interfered with my sacred battle with
Akane Tendo," replied Kuno angrily.
"These are killing offences?" said Ranma in a questioning voice.
"I would choose the honorable path, such is the way of a samurai,"
replied Kuno with a shrug. "My honor must be avenged."
"The one you chose to name yourself after, never believed that. There is
no justice in killing over such foolishness. Besides, I never stopped you
from facing her; I merely pointed out that it was dishonorable to have
others attack her before you merely to wear her down. Such an act is
cowardly." Ranma met his gaze coolly and smiled. "So let's just forget
this all right?"
"I cannot allow this transgression to continue, have at thee!" roared
Kuno as he charged forward and drew his blade. Ranma merely sidestepped
the strike and stepped away from him as he staggered for a moment after
missing his strike. "You have good technique, but your killing power is
extremely lacking, I bet you've never taken a life before have you?"
"So, you say my sword ki is low?" replied Kuno with a chuckle, tell me
knave how would one such as yourself know of such things.
Ranma merely smiled and got into a low stance with his hand on the hilt
of his sword. Kuno froze in place with a look of terror crossing his
features as he simply gaped in awe at the strange boy before him. "This
is... it is impossible! No man could be stronger than I with the blade!
It is not possible to exceed perfection!"
Ranma smiled at this; "There is no such thing as perfection in battle
fool. There is always a way to defeat even the strongest of opponents, it
is one of many hard lessons I had to learn in my life."
Kuno seemed to snap out of his trance and pulled the blade up right
before charging again. "You speak wisely; however, I shall not lose
today!" He rushed forward sending the blade towards Ranma hundreds of
times in the space of a few seconds. "As with the mighty Battosai of
Japan, my kendo is unrivaled!"
Ranma ran backwards avoiding the strikes easily with a firm look on his
face. "The one you call Battosai does not use kendo, he uses Hiten
Mitsurugi style Batojitsu."
Kuno blinked in shock and staggered for a moment, just long enough for
Ranma to jump comfortably out of range. "How do you know of such things?
Do you take me for a fool! Everyone knows that kendo is the strongest art
of Japan! Only Sumo Wrestling comes close to it's mighty power! What else
would the great hero of Japan use against her enemies?" He charged again
bringing his sword down in a wide arc towards Ranma.
The ponytailed martial artist merely stepped back as his hand flew to
the hilt of his sword. He thrust out in an upward cutting motion and
Kuno's blade was stopped cold and thrown up leaving his belly open to
attack. Ranma wasted no opportunity to strike and Kuno fell to his knees
clutching his wound.
"So, this is how it ends, a noble death for one such as I. I am pleased
to have died in battle against a fellow samurai," Kuno coughed and fell
forward onto the ground as his belly burned in pain.
"You've obviously never had a sword wound before, you aren't dead fool.
I cannot kill, not ever again," Ranma was standing with his sword draw at
his side with his back turned towards Kuno in a rather dramatic pose.
"What?" Kuno reached down to his stomach and felt the blow. It was badly
bruised, but there was no cut. He coughed again and struggled to rise to
his feet only to fall again as he turned to see Ranma placing his sword
back in the scabbard. He gasped as he saw the blade just before Ranma
finished sheathing it "A Sakabato?"
"Yes, a reversed blade. I swore I would not kill once the battles ended
in China. I will only use my sword to protect those who need it. Akane
Tendo does not need your idle threats or your love, go and find another
passion for your heart," the boy turned away and started walking off into
the darkness as the sun finally fell, leaving the night sky behind.
"China? Battles?" he pushed the thoughts aside for the time being. "I
cannot give up my love for her, it shall burn eternal!"
Ranma turned back and glanced at him with an odd look on his face. "So
be it, but I suggest you find another way to prove your affections to
her."
Kuno finally found the strength to rise to his feet as he watched the
boy walk away. He looked down at his blade and noticed a chip fall away
where the Sakabato had struck it. "A very strange man indeed." He fell to
quiet musings and put the blade away before walking towards his home.
Ranma entered the Tendo house and smiled as Kasumi walked out of the
Kitchen with a pan in her hands. "Oh, Ranma! You're just in time for
dinner!"
"Oh good," said the boy pleasantly. He sat down with the family and
looked around when he noticed no one had started eating yet. "Oro?"
"Well?" said Nabiki excitedly; there was a hint of nervousness in her
voice.
"Well what?" asked Ranma seemingly oblivious.
"What happened dolt?" screamed Akane in frustration as she slammed her
fists on the table cracking it down the middle.
"Saotome, I'm not going to get a call from the police about this later
am I?" asked Soun with a slightly worried tone.
"Police? About what?" asked Ranma in confusion.
"Ohmygod! He killed Kuno!" screeched Nabiki.
"You bastard," said Kasumi sweetly. Everyone looked at her and she
blushed.
"Kuno is fine," replied Ranma simply as he continued to give Kasumi a
slightly odd stare. "Well, not really, but he isn't dead at any rate."
"That is a relief to hear," said Soun a little more relaxed. The family
settled down for the evening after that and enjoyed themselves.
After the meal was over, Ranma stood up and grabbed some of the dishes
off the table. "I'll help you with this Kasumi."
"Oh, don't worry about it Ranma, I can handle it," she said sweetly.
"I insist, I don't want to be a dead weight around here," replied the
boy firmly.
"Oh, all right, you can help dry them off. How's that?" Ranma nodded at
her suggestion and smiled.
"That pervert had better stop hitting on my sister," growled Akane
angrily as she cracked the table under her grip.
"Why not? If you don't like him what's wrong with Kasumi taking him
instead? Did it ever occur to you that he might want to earn his keep
around here?" replied Nabiki with a small smile on her lips.
"No," snapped Akane as a huge blush crossed her face.
The next morning Ranma whistled to himself as he walked towards Furinkan
High in his brand new school uniform. "I hate new clothes, the fabric is
all itchy." He scratched at his back lazily and stayed fairly close to
Akane as she walked despite repeated attempts by her to move away from
him.
"Aren't you gone yet?" she snorted lazily. "Stop following me!"
"I said I'd give it a month and that's what I meant," replied Ranma
dryly as he put his hands behind his head and looked away from her.
"Don't worry, you've only got three and a half more weeks to put up with
me."
Akane seemed to turn to stone on the spot as a single tear fell down her
face. "Three weeks?"
"It's not that bad!" snapped Ranma before he walked away in a huff.
Once they reached the school grounds Akane froze as she saw... no one.
There were no boys waiting for her in a huge mob. Something had happened.
She turned towards Ranma and frowned. "What did you do to them?"
"Do?" said Ranma looking completely oblivious once again.
Akane almost jumped when a rose flew from behind a tree and landed in
her palm. "Eeek!"
Kuno emerged from behind the tree and smiled at her. His bandages showed
through his shirt easily and he leaned against his bokuto as he stepped
towards her. "Akane Tendo, I have revoked my challenge. From this day
forth, no man shall lay a hand upon the head of Akane Tendo without
facing the wrath of the True Battosai of Furinkan High. This is my gift
to you," he bowed dramatically and strolled away leaving Akane in shock.
"That was certainly nice of him, of course it would have been better if
he never issued the challenge in the first place, but..." Ranma was cut
off as Akane became angry again.
"I don't need you to protect me you jerk!" she screamed as she charged
and performed a flying sidekick that hit Kuno in the back of his head and
dropped him like a rock.
"Oy?" said Ranma as he poked at the boy lightly as he lay on the ground.
"You ok?" He looked up at Akane and smiled. "A very independant woman."
Kuno appeared to be crying tears of joy. "Such ferocity. Surely she
intends to show her spirit and true love for me by continuing our
honorable combat even though I can no longer partake in it with her!"
Ranma blinked. "Orooro?"
TBC...
Next time: Ranma's secret. Someone finally finds out about Ranma's
curse, but who? And how will they take it?
C&C to Carrotglace@juno.com
URL: Http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/fountain/3203