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-- File: Fighting in Silence.txt
Untitled
It was a fairly peaceful day at the Tendo dojo.
Young Kasumi was helping Nodoka in the Kitchen.
Soun and Genma were playing a game of shogi
while Nabiki watched her younger sister spare
with Ranma. Scratch that, Akane was swinging
wildly at a smiling Ranma who merely dodged
with ease and grace that shouldn't be possible for
one so young. Soun looked up at the young martial
artist and shook his head in wonder. "Genma old
friend, how did you do it? He's barely 10 and he
fights better than any of my students!" Genma
chuckled a bit and gazed proudly at his son. "Well,
do you remember those books we took from the
master after we sealed him in the cave?" Soun nodded
as Genma continued, "Well one of the books
contained an experimental training technique.
It called for me to isolate the boy as a babe and
never speak to him. The idea was that the speech
center of his brain would learn to read peoples body
language." Soun's eyes widened "You mean the
reason he fights so well is that he knows what
your going to do before you do it based off your
bodies movements?" Genma nodded. "Amazing!"
Soun turned back to the match between
his daughter and Ranma. Even though Akane was
putting her all into the fight, it seemed as if he was
treating the whole thing like a game. Akane on the
other hand was quickly beginning to tire. Then a
thought occurred to him "Wait? Wouldn't that make
it incredibly hard for him to talk and write?"
Genma's smile faltered somewhat "Ah yes. Sadly
the boy cannot speak or understand words. He gets
the jist of what your saying by your movements
but he of course doesn't get the details." Genma
held up his hands at his friend's doubtful gaze
"Hey! He is learning to write and after that he
can learn to lip read! He'll be fine." Soun did not
look convinced as he turned away "I guess that was
why he was so quite when you first came over. He
doesn't know how to speak at all." Genma looked a
tad nervous "Well he does know a few words like
'yes', 'no'..." "Tomboy!" both men turned at the
sound of Ranma's voice, to see that the insult had
been directed at Akane. A new fire burned in the
youngest Tendo's, and with a cry of "Ranma no
Baka!" she swung her fist at his head. Which he
easily caught and then used to lazily flip her on
her back, He then straddled her legs and pinned both
of her arms above her head, grinning all the while.
Soun chuckled "Well the training has defiantly
worked." Genma nodded solemnly "Almost too well
actually." At his friends questioning glance he proceeded
to explain "Ranma has faced everything from street
punks to martial arts masters in his training. With his
ability to read body languages he has picked up techniques
far faster than I imagined. Last week he learned how to
use a Bo staff in 10 minutes!" To say Soun was surprised
was to put it mildly. "Surely you jest Saotome!" The
rotund martial artist shook his "No I don't Tendo. He's
learned nearly everything I can teach him and more,
much more. I fear it will not be long before he can beat
me consistently. Lately I've been forced to use my
sealed techniques to maintain dominance but he is
rapidly learning to counter what I come up with as
well as developing a few tricks on his own." Genma
shook his head "In truth I hadn't realized how far he'd
advanced until a few weeks ago. I'd err...been given a
food cart as a... gift! by the father of a friend of
Ranma's, a girl named Ukyo. Somehow she got it into
her head we would take her with us. When we tried to
leave Ranma noticed her mood and insisted we give
back the cart since she wasn't coming. He actually
challenged me to a fight and he BEAT ME! My 10
year old boy BEAT a master of anything goes!" he
shook his head "Sometimes I think I created a
monster." Soun stared at Genma then looked to
the young boy in question. By now he had gotten
off Akane and was holding his hand out. She
stared at it for a long time before finally accepting.
Once to her feet Ranma moved her into the stances
she'd taken during the fight and began to point out
the holes in her defenses.
"You know what Tendo?" The master of the
Tendo Dojo looked at his old friend "What Saotome?"
The bald martial artist seemed nervous yet resolute
"I think I'll take the boy to china in a month or too.
It's far earlier than I'd planned but I can't think of a
reason to wait since he's come so far so fast." Before
Soun could comment Kasumi entered at let them
know dinner was ready before leaving to get her
sisters and Ranma. "Well old friend, considering
how far he's come I can't think of anything else to
do." The two men rose to their feet "So where in
china were you going to take him?" Genma followed
Soun as they left the room "Well, I'd heard of
this place called Jusenkyo...."
Author Notes: I haven't decided whether or not
to actually continue this story. I can see some
possibilities with Ranma's skill level being about
that of Cologne's by the time he's 15. Possibly'd
have a few more Amazons after him, as
Cologne would be desperate to have him amongst
their ranks no matter whom he was married to.
Ukyo would still be determined to get him to think
of her as more than a friend. Each of the Tendo
girls would have an interest in the boy since they've
known him longer, but might not want to ruin the
friendship. The revelation of the engagement would
give them an excuse to chase him however. Ryoga
would be significantly better as he'd realize after his
first trouncing at Ranma's hands that the normal
training routine simply won't work. The language
barrier would also cause a fair amount of
misunderstandings and situations that could prove
interesting. As for crossovers, Weiss Kreuz would
actually be a possibility since Ranma's training
included running out the local gangs in the area.
The knowledge of his skill could reach the ears
of less than noble parties and require the
assistance of our 4 favorite flower shop workers.
But that is all I can think of for now. Any
suggestions would be greatly appreciated.