Ranma 1/2 Fanfic "Ranma Gets a clue"
Written by Asayogure
First Draft (11/21/1999)
Last modified (6/17/2000)
Chapter 7, "Morning mayhem"
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Begin.
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Pre-dawn in Nerima Japan. The air was crisp with
life and the promise of adventure. The birds were
starting to chirp and sing their praises to the world.
As the sun climbed the horizon it brought with it the wind.
The wind carried the scent of the world's sunrises, each
more spectacular than the one before. The wind carried
the scent of dust and pollen, of perfume wafting from an
open window and the smell of rain on pavement. As the
sunlight drifted over the canvas that was the Earth, it
lanced across the landscape and illuminated a window.
Akane Tendou's window.
Akane had a very comfortable bed. The western style
mattress was padded with feather down, and her blankets
were soft and warm thanks to Kasumi. As she lay asleep
her body luxuriated in the feeling of floating in a warm
sea of oblivion. The very essence of relaxation permeated
her.
As she slept she dreamt. Akane was not especially
known for her light sleeping habits. Quite the opposite
actually. She was famous for tossing and turning in her
sleep, at least she was famous in her household. As Akane
turned in her sleep, her normal nocturnal acrobatics met
with an unfamiliar shape in her bed which was impeding her
way.
In her dreams, a wall appeared. An obstacle. Akane
hated obstacles. Instinct told her to destroy the
obstacle, and she agreed. She threw a punch at it.
Ranma was warm! He couldn't remember the last time he
had been so warm! Ranma hated being cold. Ever since the
"incident", he had made every possible effort to stay dry
and warm. His body was also comfortable! He couldn't
remember the last time he had been so comfortable.
The pleasure was running so deep, that Ranma's normal
ingrained response to someone touching him whilst he slept
was overridden. It was not worth it to break with the
pleasurable sensations he was receiving in this warm
place, just to do battle once again. If it was the old
man he could always kick him around later.
In Ranma's dreams he was walking along a river bank
with his mother and the old man. The sun was shining and
the firm grass was slightly moist under his feet. The
occasional wispy tendril tickled his legs. He was on
vacation with his mommy and daddy. Oh how he loved his
mommy. The old man was a different story. But when you
are six years old you still have a healthy respect for
your daddy as well. Even if you don't like him all that
much.
Suddenly the old man turned with an insane gleam in
his eye and a maniacal laugh on his lips and threw a punch
at Ranma! Desperately, Ranma looked to his mother for
help. She looked back with that, 'make me proud of your
manliness' look, that made his tummy feel funny. Ranma
sighed and moved his incredibly agile six year old's body
to dodge his fathers punch. Ranma squirmed out of the way
with centimeters to spare.
Akane's dream wall shattered, but behind it stood a
sinister looking man swathed in black. He was tall and
wore a traveling cloak askew over his left shoulder,
clasped at his throat with a symbol of a silver dagger.
The cloak did not stir, though the wind was brisk. He
smelt of dried tree bark and looked to live a rough life,
his muscular build and callused hands suggested he was
adept in the fighting arts. His hair was disheveled and
his knee-high boots were muddy. He was smiling, but the
smile made her nervous. The momentum of her punch carried
her towards him and for some reason she couldn't stop.
Then the man grabbed her arm and flipped her over his back
in a judo throw, and put her in a strangle hold.
Akane's punch missed Ranma's head in the bed by mere
centimeters. With the momentum she had placed into it as
she rolled around on the bed, resulted with her laying
almost on top of Ranma now. Ranma responded by grabbing
the offending arm that now lay across him and rolled her
over, then under him into a strangle hold.
Ranma was shocked. He was much stronger than the old
man for some reason today! He had dodged the punch and
now had him on the ground in a strangle hold. Maybe all
those vitamins mom kept on force feeding him really did
help? Grinning, Ranma looked up into the smiling face of
his mommy. She looked very proud of him.
Akane countered her assailant's attack by darting her
hands behind her head to gouge her assailant's eyes. Ranma
ducked under the strike, but in doing so he lost his hold
on her. Ranma couldn't believe how viciously the old man
was fighting today.
Akane pivoted at the waist and shot an elbow at her
attacker's sternum. But Ranma caught it and used it as
leverage to turn her body mass under him again, and
increased the pressure by snaking his knee over the backs
of her knees. He then wrapped his arms around her torso,
putting her in a bear hug and pinning her arms at her sides.
Akane squirmed with all her tremendous might and
managed to twist into her attackers arms so she was facing
him. Suddenly Akane's dream shifted. She was sitting in
a diner with Nabiki and slurping a fizzy strawberry soda
through a straw. It was delicious! In the bed Akane
started to suck on Ranma's earlobe.
Ranma's dream couldn't handle Genma sucking on his
earlobe so his dream shifted to a faceless girl kissing
his ear. Ranma sighed in appreciation, and encircled the
girl's waist and hugged her close to him.
A light was blinding Ranma. Even with his eyes closed
it dug into his eyelids and burned uncomfortably. Slowly
Ranma started to come back to consciousness. His day
started off with the unwelcome caress of a sunbeam darting
past Akane's window blinds to settle on his face. Of course,
Akane! As awareness started to flood his senses,
a very important fact struck him. There was something
warm and cuddly in his arms, and something was sucking on
his ear!
Realization struck Ranma, and his eyes snapped
fully open. Akane's hair was partially in his face. He
had his legs entwined with hers and his arms were hugging
her close about the waist. He had enfolded her like any
lover would, and it felt . . . right. It was Akane who
was sucking on his ear.
'Oh man, oh man, oh man, I am in trouble!' Gently
Ranma pulled his head back and thankfully she stopped. He
was about to take his arms off her when she rolled over
towards him, decreasing his leverage and increasing hers
with her weight on his arm and chest.
'Oh great. I can just see the headlines. "Local Boy
Found Dead. Body Discovered in Violent Fiancee's Room
Beaten to Death with His Own Dismembered arms"
She's gonna kill me if she wakes up with me in her bed!
I gotta think of something!'
Ranma lay there for awhile, trying to figure out what
to do. Unfortunately he was a boy, and she was very much
a girl in his eyes at the moment, at least as far as his
hormones were concerned. It was kind of hard to ignore
the soft flesh of a young girl pressing against you when
you are a sixteen year old guy. She was affecting him in
ways he was not prepared to deal with. His breath
shortened to shallow gasps. His nerves were tingling and
he felt dizzy.
You never really appreciate how wonderfully different
girls are from boys until you hold one in your arms. She
was much lighter than him, so thankfully his right arm
which was under her waist wasn't going numb. Her hair was
light and wispy and was tickling his face. Granted he
couldn't see much with a face full of hair, but that was
the price one paid to hold a beautiful girl in one's arms.
His other arm was draped loosely over her waist and his
hand was resting on her firm belly.
He couldn't help himself. Ranma very very slowly
started to rub her abdomen in concentric circles. This
was without a doubt, hands down, the most erotic thing
Ranma had ever done, and he was enjoying it immensely.
The tiny hairs on Akane's abdomen tickled, so Ranma
regretfully stopped. If they were tickling him he had no
doubt they were tickling her, and he wasn't really eager
to get on with the beating he knew he had coming today, as
soon as she woke up.
Sighing, Ranma crooked his chin over her neck and,
interlacing his fingers, hugged her tightly. If he was
going to die today, at least he could get to claim he had
hugged her first.
"Having fun?" Akane whispered softly with her eyes
still closed. Ranma of course froze. Fear and
resignation raced through him as he braced for impact.
Wincing his eyes closed, Ranma waited but nothing came and
Akane didn't move.
"Um . . . not that I'm complaining or nuthin Akane,
but . . . aren't you gonna cream me now? I mean, you
don't have to, but I, I mean you, I mean . . ." Ranma
couldn't believe how stupid he sounded. So he shut up.
Akane laughed a small laugh. "Why would I hit you?"
She lilted in a merry tone of voice, her eyes still closed.
"Um, because I'm in your bed for one. And 'cause I'm
touching you . . . and because well, you always, I mean .
. ." This was not going the way Ranma was used to, maybe
last night with Nabiki fried her brain or something.
"I invited you in here, why would I hit you for doing
what I asked you to do?" Akane asked as she rolled over
so she was face to face with Ranma. "Besides I kinda
liked it when you rubbed my tummy, it felt . . . nice. No
one has ever touched me like that before, ever." Akane
blushed and shifted her gaze to Ranma's chin. She
couldn't believe how giddy she was acting.
Ranma's senses had not had nearly enough. More More
More they cried. If he didn't get up NOW he was going to
start something they might both regret later. He started
to lift himself out of the bed, but Akane held onto his
arms.
"Um, Akane, you're . . . I gotta, I gotta go. . ."
"Not yet you don't." Akane breathed sensuously as she
pulled Ranma down on top of her and started to kiss him
eagerly. Ranma mentally shrugged and kissed her back
greedily. He cupped the back of her neck in his right
hand and propped himself up off of her with that elbow,
and encircled her lower waist with his left arm. She
tasted exactly as he remembered, but this time she was
much more aggressive in her kissing technique. She drank
his attentions in like she was sampling the finest nectar
of the gods and it might end soon. There were no small
kisses, no sucking on his lips. No fooling around. This
was serious stuff.
It was like she was trying to devour him through his
mouth. Ranma returned her passions with equal abandon and
they lay like that for what seemed like ages. Regretfully,
Ranma tried to break the kiss, and tried to just stare
into her beautiful eyes as he held her pajama clothed,
very warm and now slightly sweaty body under him. Akane
wasn't having any of that. With a primal growl she threw
him under her and resumed ravishing him with kisses.
Sighing Ranma lay back down and rolled her so he lay
beside her and closed his eyes as he cradled her in the
"spoons" position, the front of his knees pressed against the
backs of hers, his arms wrapped around her shoulders, their
forms fitting together perfectly, this was fun for Ranma, but
he did it mostly to get her to stop momentarily. Akane
giggled and yanked the covers back over them. Ranma
resigned himself to lay with Akane as long as she wanted,
and damn the consequences. If Soun walked in and demanded
he marry her . . . then so be it.
Kasumi lay awake in her bed listening to the antics of
her younger sister through the heating vent, and smiled to
herself. 'It took him long enough.' She mused. Ranma
had been dancing around any issues of affection ever since
he had walked through the door all that time ago. And a
merry dancer he was. Kasumi had almost been to the point
of clubbing him over the head and inducing amnesia . . .
Akane desperately needed someone to love, and to return
that love. Sure Akane had her sisters and her daddy. But
that wasn't the kind of attention she needed. And she
definitely didn't need the attentions of any of those
knuckle heads at the high school throwing themselves at
her, what had gotten into those young men's minds anyway?
Akane had not been the same happy self-assured girl since
mom died. Now, Kasumi hoped, with Ranma's help they could
turn that around.
Ranma was slowly, ever so painfully slowly, bringing
Akane out of her shell and breaking down her emotional
walls. Ranma was quite possibly the only person alive in
the world who could shrug off Akane's emotional and physical
shield of abuse and come back for more with an open heart and
understanding. Kasumi smiled and sat up in bed. At least
from the sound of things Ranma was still being the
gentleman, despite Akane's invitations, for now.
Bare foot, Kasumi padded across the soft carpeting of her
small but functional room to her dresser and slid the top
drawer open soundlessly. She pulled a thin bathrobe out and
wrapped it around her pajama clad, supple young body, and
headed to the bathroom. It wouldn't do to have the doctor see
her partially unclothed, he might die from the nosebleed.
The bathroom was silent in harmony with the house, as it
was every morning when Kasumi took her quiet time in her bath.
She could hear her own breathing echoing off the tile walls.
Luxuriating in her morning rituals, Kasumi took her time
washing her body, lathering herself up and rinsing the foamy
cream away in rivulets down her legs in gentle tickling
streams with the faucet head. The bath was finished filling
when she was done, and Kasumi gratefully lowered herself
centimeter by centimeter into the steaming crystal clear
water. Truly this was one of life's greatest pleasures.
Akane twisted in Ranma's arms under the covers and
resumed kissing him. She kissed his nose, his eyelids,
his cheeks, she brushed his lips with wet kisses, she
trailed her kisses up and down the sides of his neck and
gently sucked on the hollow of his throat.
Ranma's arms were strained so tight the muscles felt
like knotted cords of rope. He was gripping the bed
sheets and biting down on his lower lip trying not to cry
out or respond to Akane. It wasn't working very well.
If Ranma didn't get away NOW his last vestiges of
control were gonna abandon ship. Desperately Ranma threw
the bed covers off and waited for Akane to pause. Grinning
despite himself, Ranma kissed Akane's nose with a quick
peck and leapt off her bed in a forward somersault.
"See ya downstairs." Was all he said as he made his
exit post haste. Akane sighed mightily and lay down on
her bed arms and legs akimbo and grinned the triumphant
smile of she whom hast won the battle.
'Okay, that was nice.' She sighed.
Ranma hopped, skipped, and jumped downstairs, he even
turned a quick cartwheel at the foot of the stairs. He
headed to the kitchen to grab himself a cup of tea and
hopefully calm down. Man, but now he was wired!
Ranma almost ran by the kitchen and had to lurch to a
halt; throwing his weight in reverse and back-peddling to
clear the entry way. Ducking under the curtains, Ranma
entered his morning quiet place. Glancing out the window,
he estimated he had about five minutes.
Moving to the cupboards, he got out all the fixings for
instant tea. A kettle and the box of tea bags. Simple
described Ranma perfectly today. The kitchen tile was
cold this morning, but Ranma was too hyped up to be
bothered by that. The sun streaming in through the kitchen
window glanced off the highly polished counter tops and
made all the cookware gleam with almost animated light.
Not mindful of the peaceful tranquillity for once, Ranma
whistled while he worked. He was not in the self meditating,
reflective mood today.
As the kettle started to perk, the steam tickled his
nostrils with it's warm clean smell. Of course the
kitchen always smelt clean, this was Kasumi's favorite
place we were talking about.
Ranma got out a tea cup and placed one of the bags of
tea in it. The steaming water poured over it started to
seep through the tea and gradually the water started to
turn green. Ranma placed the cup on the table and sat in
one of the chairs turned around backwards and waited. A
couple minutes later Kasumi entered the kitchen. She did
not make entrances, she did not make a spectacle of
herself, but her presence always drew notice anyway, such
was the power of Kasumi.
Kasumi smiled at Ranma as she passed him to get her
morning cup of tea. Ranma smiled behind his cup rim as he
sipped and waggled his eyebrows in greeting. Kasumi
giggled quietly at his silliness.
With careful deliberate motions, Kasumi arranged her
tea. She added a splash of fresh squeezed lemon juice from
the lemon wedge she was using and a dash of honey to her tea.
Not the traditional method of drinking tea, but she happened
to like it this way, and tradition be damned.
The lemon scent carried all the way over to Ranma and
only served to heighten Ranma's already rapid fire
synapses today. As soon as Kasumi sat down she started
quietly talking to Ranma. There is something about a low
spoken human voice that, no matter who you are, that is
very soothing and relaxing, and seeing as it was Kasumi. .
. well that just made it a hundred times better.
"So, how goes the war Ranma?" She asked as she sipped
her tea and smirked slightly. Her elbows were propped up
on the table so she didn't have to move very much to sip
as she talked. "I didn't hear any screaming today. Does
that mean that not only did Akane let you sleep in her
room last night with her, in her bed, but she remembered
about it in the morning as well? You must be quite the
lover. . . " She smiled a bit more as she continued to
sip, only Ranma could know she was kidding, because he was
the only one that got up with her every morning and just,
talked, with her. At least. . . he was pretty sure she
was kidding . . .
He was nevertheless amazed that she could know such
intimate details so quickly and was sure he was blushing.
'I swear she must have supernatural powers or something.'
Ranma thought flippantly as he answered out loud. "Yeah
well, you know how it is, I am considered the greatest
love god around these parts. I have to live up to my
name." Ranma made a respectable effort to keep a smile
off his face.
"Is that so? Remind me to find out for myself
sometime will you?" Ranma face faulted and started to
choke on his tea. Generally Kasumi didn't play around,
THIS much. Sputtering, Ranma did a verbal sidestep.
"Yeah well anyway, how is Nabiki doing? Is she all
right?" Ranma said, diverting the way the conversation
was going as fast as possible, but also out of genuine
concern.
Kasumi, grinning on the inside, tallied another notch
on her mental, verbal sparring score board. She had made
Ranma back down today so she got double points. Usually
he would just plod on and wouldn't even realize he was
losing the game. She still had so much to teach him, if
he ever expected to live with any woman in peace, he had
to learn how to chat.
"Nabiki is doing fine, and sleeping like a rock, like
she usually does. She is going to be quite sore today I
assure you, which means she will be cranky. I would
suggest you stay out of her way today." Kasumi remarked
as she set her cup down and padded over to the
refrigerator in her bare feet. Opening the door with a
slight hissing-pop sound, she rummaged around inside
looking for something.
"Roger that, no Nabiki today, got it." Ranma resumed
calmly drinking his tea. It was going to be a long day,
but then again, every day in his life was long, not that
that was necessarily a bad thing . . .
Kasumi returned to the table bearing the fixings for
western style cereal. She then went to the cupboard and
retrieved two white ceramic bowls, painted with cherry
blossoms in their interiors. Setting the bowls down with
dual clunks, she poured the cereal and then milk into the
bowl, the snap and crackle of the grains as they decayed
in the milk was a soft pleasant sound right then. Ranma
smiled at Kasumi and started to eat his, food was always
welcome as far as Ranma was concerned.
Tofu entered the kitchen with his usual professional
demeanor in place. That is, until he saw Kasumi.
"Why. . . hello there Kasumi! What on earth are you
doing here?" Tofu said to the sink.
"Why I live here doctor, would you like some
breakfast?" Kasumi almost sighed aloud. When was he
going to get over this, "shy little boy," routine? It was
adorable, but it was also getting old. Tofu was dressed
in the clothes he had on yesterday. He looked normal
enough, except for the fact that his glasses were
reflecting an abnormal amount of light. But in comparison
with a boy who turned into a girl, it wasn't that strange.
Ranma looked up and sighed. Pushing his chair back
with a noisy scrape, he walked over to the doctor and led
him by the arm back to the table. Sitting the doctor down,
Ranma went back to eating, there was food to be had after
all. He could mess around with the goofy doctor any time.
The house looked quiet. The leader of the team
assessed all the entry points and sighed. This was not
going to be a walk in the park as it were. With all the
possible exit and entry points, his small team couldn't
possibly cover all of them. But they would do what they
could.
The leader keyed his entry code into his left wrist
data pad, and a short thin wire extended from a headset
he was wearing, it beeped a go-ahead signal. He spoke
into it softly. It was powerful enough to pick up the
tiniest of whispers.
"Re-enforcements are in place. Orders?" A raspy
voice answered,
"Eliminate as many as you have to, without killing
them if you can, but make sure you get the girl or take
her out! She knows too much! Out." The receiver snapped
off and the mouthpiece automatically returned to it's off
position.
Holding up his right hand out of the shadows the
leader clenched a leather clad fist which make a slight
creaking sound, then held up his other hand with all five
fingers spread apart, then clenched them then opened them
again. Everyone knew the hand signals, attack in ten
minutes, take your places.
Kasumi gave Tofu a slightly frustrated look and got up
from the table after she had finished her tea. She headed
out of the kitchen without a backward glance. Ranma
sighed and leaned over and slapped the doctor on the cheek
harder than he needed to.
"It's okay doc, she's gone now, you can act like a
normal person." Ranma droned.
"Ouch. Ranma I would appreciate it if you would
refrain from slapping me in the future . . . it doesn't
feel very good you know."
Ranma gave the doctor a surprised look. Of course he
knew, he got slapped just about every day of his life from
somebody. What was Tofu whining about?
"Sorry doc." Was all he said, he then resumed eating.
The doctor rubbed his cheek for a few seconds glaring
at Ranma, then shrugged and pushed his glasses up the
bridge of his nose. The doctor proceeded to pull the tome
of prophecy from last night out from behind his back and
set it on the table in front of him. He opened the book
to the passage he had shown Ranma last night, pulled out a
pencil and started making notations and muttering to
himself as the pages creased and crinkled under his
attention.
"Now, if memory serves me, this character here means
'light', and this one following it is vaguely reminiscent
of the Da Juan character set . . . I think scholars call
it the great seal type now. I think this was used during
the Shang and Zhou dynasties. But now look here, towards
the end of the passage here . . . I would swear that this
character here for 'redemption' is drawn in the Xiao Juan
character style or the small seal type. That type was
promulgated as standard by the first emperor of the Qin
Li as the clerical official form in the third century
b.c.e, that character type was used until the middle of
the third century c.e. Now . . . look here . . ." Tofu
muttered as he turned the page of the tome. "The title of
this section was written on the same day with the same ink
and brush, if I know anything about these things, and I do;
then the title was written in the Zheng standard form
started in the 'three kingdoms period' - I think they
called it 'jinli' during their time period of the Tang
dynasty, now I think it's commonly called 'Kaishu'. But
that's . . . impossible. How in the world could that
passage have been written on the same day by the same hand
with the same ink and brush, yet span such a huge time
span judging by the script style used. . . I don't think I
ever noticed this before . . . this is most odd.
Ranma pushed his chair back and started to walk for
the back door. Interrupting the doctors quiet studies.
"Hey Ranma where are you going?" The doctor asked
without looking up.
"Practice, wanna come with?" Ranma asked over his
shoulder hopefully. It would be great to learn some of
the stuff the doctor knew. Nodding, the doctor carefully
closed the book and followed. Kasumi re-entered the
kitchen a minute later to start breakfast. She watched
the man and the young man square off in the garden through
the window as she worked. She secretly held great
fascination with the deadliest of the arts. She couldn't
help but be impressed with some of it, even though it
was rather gruesome sometimes.
A cool morning breeze played over the courtyard as
Ranma made his way over to the cherry tree and leaned
casually against it to watch Tofu's warm up kata. Ranma
generally didn't use fighting stances. At his level of
skill, a fighting stance was too much effort to use
against most of the people he fought with. But he was
thinking about using one as he watched Tofu warm up. As
he watched, Ranma resisted the urge to scratch his
shoulder where the tree was making him itch.
This was the first time Ranma had seen the doctor use
anything resembling traditional martial arts. His kata
wasn't a violent one, nor complicated. The doctor had
nothing to prove to anyone. His steps were precise and
made little soft swishing sounds in the cool firm grass as
he moved, his kicks made no sound as his feet cleft the
air in the patterns he was weaving accompanied by his
hand motions which were sharp and deliberate. You can
tell a lot about a martial artist by what kata they do and
how they perform it. The doctor's kata attested to his
mastery of his art in his simplicity and confidence in his
movements. This. . . was going to be a GOOD fight. Ranma
grinned.
Kasumi chose the last part of the doctor's kata to
enter the garden. When he was bowing the finish of his
form he couldn't accidentally hurt himself or anyone else.
She walked briskly over to the doctor since it was still
cool outside and she wanted to get back inside soon.
Kasumi offered the doctor his morning cup of tea,
shivering she held the steaming cup out to him. The
doctor, stuttering as usual, accepted the cup, and promptly
spilled it's contents on his feet. Ranma groaned with
impatience. Kasumi giggled and produced a soft well worn
cloth from within the folds of her apron, and quickly
wiped his feet off. Mercifully, Kasumi went back into the
kitchen promising to return with more tea in a moment.
Ranma sidled up to the doctor and raised his arm to
wave his hand in the doctor's face. Nothing. So Ranma
raised the stakes and used his index finger to poke the
doctor in the forehead. The doctor lost his balance.
Coming back to his senses Tofu pinwheeled his arms
frantically and cried out, then lost it and fell into the
koi pond with a rather loud splash.
Ranma braced himself for impact. He hadn't meant to
dunk the poor guy, just snap him out of it. That water
had to be COLD. He would know since he had made several
daily trips in there himself. To his surprise the doctor
just sat in the shallow water, arms and legs akimbo with
water rivulets streaming down his face. Curious, Ranma
watched him. As he watched the doctor just sat in the
frigid water with a silly grin on his face . . . then he
started to laugh. It started low and infrequent, then
cascaded into a full out belly laugh. It seemed the
doctor thought some things were oddly funny?
Gleefully the doctor jumped out of the pond and bowed
to Ranma. Ranma, confused, bowed back.
"Ya know Saotome. . ." The doctor said as he came to
stand next to Ranma and slapped him on the back. "It's
been a looooong time since someone has had the audacity to
do anything like that to me. The last person who ever did
anything like that to me, was my last sensei. You are
truly a worthy opponent, this will be a good match."
Ranma grinned and stepped away from the wet man.
Water was taboo with Ranma lately after all. Ranma
sized Tofu up as he retreated to neutral ground. Tofu
was good; he wasn't even shivering after a dunk in freezing
water! Mentally shrugging, Ranma squared his shoulders
and nodded his readiness as he held his hands low in front
of him in a loose guarding stance. The doctor met his
gaze and tensed his muscles, that was the only visual clue
Ranma got. Then the doctor attacked.
Suddenly the doctor was behind him?! Spinning, Ranma
lashed out with a medium powered foot sweep, testing the
doctor. The doctor kicked out with his own foot and
caught the top inside portion of Ranma's ankle with the
tip of his shoe. Every nerve in that leg promptly went
dead.
Cursing, Ranma jumped out of the doctor's range.
'Shoot, I forgot about that. I can't let him touch me,
every touch of his won't be designed to do damage, he uses
shiatsu techniques, he will simply try to render me
ineffective. I will have to use defensive counter attacks
against him.'
Smiling, the doctor started to walk towards Ranma.
Ranma wasn't so confident any more. Cautiously, he waited.
The doctor attacked in a blur; shooting finger jabs to
Ranma's neck and slashing chops to his ribs. Ranma used
his knees and elbows and anything else he could think of
to block and parry with, and tried to get a clean shot in.
Whenever he could, Ranma only used bone or non sensitive
tissues to block with, dampening the doctors shiatsu. Of
course blocking with your knees and elbows and palms
didn't feel very good either.
Ranma took a punch to the head from behind then Tofu
got him hard in the chest with a collapsing palm strike.
How in the hell had the doctor hit him in the back and
from the front at the same time?!
Dazed, Ranma turned around and froze. There was a . .
. ninja? crouching behind him in a battle stance. At
least he looked like a ninja. He was dressed all in
black and was armed to the teeth, with both modern
weapons and archaic ones. Tofu looked the man up and
down and grimaced. Ranma, scratching his head, walked
around the guy peering at him curiously, finally Ranma
stopped in front of the guy and said,
"Okay I give up, is it a costume party today or
something? Who are you and why did you interrupt our
match?" Ranma quipped.
The man said nothing but held up both fists and
pointed to either side of himself. Out of nowhere about
half a dozen similarly clad men hopped off of roof tops
and from behind trees and rushed the household. They
gathered in the courtyard around their presumed leader.
The wind seemed to grow much colder, and Ranma
involuntarily shivered.
Ranma didn't like the way this morning was shaping up.
"Oh hell no. I know you goof balls aren't interrupting my
match, most people would have more sense than that." Ranma
berated the one he assumed was the leader with his hands
clasped behind his back. A sudden splash stopped his
tirade as another ninja leapt into the koi pond. The water
found it's way to Ranma of course. Ranma clenched her hands
into fists.
"I can't believe you just did that. Get ready for a
hospital trip moron." Ranma said as she flashed into
action. Leaping from where she stood, Ranma jump kicked
for the man standing in the pond, aiming for his head with
the practiced motions of a confident professional. Without
even flinching, the man in the pond jerked his head back
quickly at the last possible second, letting Ranma sail by
unmolested. Landing on the opposite side of the pool, she
turned to face the man, her face the picture of utter
astonishment. No one except maybe Cologne or Happosai had
ever moved that fast in a fight with her before.
"What in the hell . . .?" Ranma muttered.
"Oh dear, Ranma dear, do you want me to bring you some hot
water?" Kasumi's voice carried from across the courtyard
accompanied by the squeaking sound of the door opening.
The smell of breakfast cooking for the family wafted out.
Spinning on his heel, Ranma saw Kasumi making her way over
to them. Things has gone from bad to worse, with Kasumi
present things were now a lot more dangerous!
Tofu immediately went into comatose mode and started
talking to the tree. Kasumi ignored him for the time
being and, spinning on her heel with hands on hips,
addressed the black clothed men in her yard.
"Um, excuse me but you were not invited in here, so I
would appreciate it if you left. . . now. I don't want to
have to call the police." Kasumi faced the nearest man
and stared him down with her hands on her hips. The man
nearest Kasumi, whom she was addressing, looked to his
leader in question. The leader nodded.
With a feral grin the man turned back to Kasumi and
took one step closer to her. He then pivoted at his waist
bringing the full might of his upper body strength into
play and caught the side of her face with a tremendous
slap! Ranma thought she heard bone cracking from where
she stood. Kasumi crumpled like a rag doll.
"She was a feisty one wasn't she? Women, should be
seen and not heard. Got that bitch?" The man sneered as
he looked down at Kasumi, a very self satisfied grin pasting
his otherwise expressionless features. Ranma was beside
herself. Holding her face in her hands Ranma mumbled,
"I cannot. . ." She paused for a second as she tried
to collect her thoughts and framed her face with her
hands as she stared bug eyed at Kasumi's attacker.
"I cannot believe . . . I simply can't believe you, oh
my lord, I can't believe you did that! Dude . . . do you
have any idea how dead you are right now?" Ranma asked
incredulously. The man folded his arms and glared at
Ranma.
"I wouldn't make promises I couldn't keep little lady,
but bring it on girly. I could use a stretch."
"I wasn't talkin bout me buddy." Ranma said as she
nodded to Tofu who was now kneeling over Kasumi, trembling
in rage and terror, frantically he ran his hands over her
prone body, tilting her head this way and that, checking
vital signs and what have you. As Ranma watched she noticed
something she had never seen before. While holding
Kasumi's limp body in his arms, the doctor's glasses
cleared sharply. Meanwhile the doctors eyes seemed to fog
over as rage and hatred started to possess him.
Carefully, the doctor laid Kasumi back down and took
off his wet shirt and rolled it up to lay across her face.
Turning calmly back to face her attackers, the doctor
actually bristled. Ranma couldn't help snickering. This
was going to be funny.
Tofu did not exude a battle aura, he did not make any
battle cries or promises or threats. He didn't make any
speeches or invoke old traditions such as giving his name
to those he was about to do battle with. He just started
walking towards the one who had hit Kasumi.
The man ran and threw a blistering punch at the
doctor's head. Tofu simply moved his head to the side.
The man then threw punch after punch, increasing the
speed of his attacks with every second. Tofu switched
from simply dodging the attacks, to holding his ground
and slapping the attacks wide of his face. Infuriated,
Kasumi's attacker threw another vicious volley of
strikes at the doctor. Tofu swatted them all away.
Tiring, the man took a step back, gathered his breath
then launched himself into a suicide punch, throwing
his whole body weight into the attack - Using the same
hand that he had struck Kasumi with.
Not even flinching, Tofu whipped up his left hand
and caught it. Manipulating quickly with his strong
and nimble fingers, Tofu snapped the man's wrist and
continued to press down hard, bringing the man to his
knees whimpering in pain, then let go, grimacing in
disgust. Tofu stood in front of the man and calmly
waited for him to get back up. The man jumped back
to his feet with the absence of any pressure on Tofu's
part. He then tried a last desperate one-two front
kick, back leg round kick aiming low with the first
then trying to swing the round kick, hard, up high
aiming for the head or neck.
Tofu sidestepped and whipped his head under
the kick, then, using the heel of the side of his hand
below his thumb where the bone and wrist are, he
clotheslined the man hard in the windpipe, dropping
him again.
The man writhed on the ground, choking on his own
vomit. Ranma stood looking at Tofu with her mouth
hanging open. She had had no idea the doctor was THIS
good. The man staggered to his feet and looked wildly
about to his companions for help. They all stood
impassively, waiting for a signal from the leader.
'Honor among thugs . . .?' Ranma thought curiously
assessing the situation. Kasumi's assailant drew a sharp
breath and decided to charge the doctor and tackle him,
so he could use his strength against him. The man rushed
Tofu who was still just standing there. The fact that
this man was still coming after everything Tofu had done
to him, spoke of great stamina . . . or insanity.
Tofu pressed the palms of both his hands together,
forming a wedge, then thrust it right in the charging
man's sternum. The man abruptly stopped as he crashed
into a wall of pain. Tofu then collapsed his arms into
twin forearm strikes to the mans throat and ribs. This
time though as the man started to crumple Tofu caught
him by his broken wrist and just stared into the man's
eyes. Tofu had yet to utter a word. The leader said
his first word then.
"Go!" With that, every man in the courtyard leapt at
Tofu. Keeping firm pressure on the man's wrist, Tofu spun
left and right, snapping out chops and palm strikes to
vital areas on his attackers. Each attacker met with
either sharp pain or promptly fell unconscious. The lucky
ones were unconscious. With every movement Tofu made the
man at his mercy cried out in pain. His cries were being
drowned out by his comrades battle shouts though.
Still moving with the man's wrist under his control,
the doctor leaned back sharply to avoid a sword swing that
would have taken his head off. Then completed the motion
into a backflip kicking under the swordsman's chin at the
apex of his motion, all the while mangling Kasumi's
attacker's wrist. The doctor seemed to be having fun
throttling these people, but he wasn't showing it.
Finally there was no one left standing in the courtyard
except Ranma and the doctor and the lone leader.
The wind whistled sharply through the trees then, and a
koi jumped in the pond. The leader was outnumbered and
outclassed and he knew it. Instead of attacking as Ranma
thought he was going to do, the man charged towards the
house.
He threw the kitchen door open so hard, one of its
hinges snapped. The slamming door made enough noise to
wake anyone who might still be sleeping.
"Look out!" Ranma and Tofu screamed as they gave
chase. The ninja bounded up the stairs and down the
hallway with Ranma and Tofu in hot pursuit.
Akane threw open her bedroom door just as Ranma and
Tofu cleared the stairs.
"What on Earth is going on?!" Akane shouted at them.
The ninja leader didn't even pause as he threw her
violently aside, his head whipping back and forth searching
frantically for something. With Ranma and Tofu almost
on him, the ninja finally spied Nabiki's name on her door
and threw himself at it, drawing a throwing knife he
kicked open the door.
As his arm cocked back to throw, both Ranma and Tofu
finally reached him, and with all of their combined might;
tackled him. The force of their impact shattered the
door frame. Breathing hard, they stood up, the would be
assassin lay unmoving at their feet breathing shallowly,
his knife embedded in his shoulder.
Panicked, Ranma darted her gaze around Nabiki's room,
daring to hope she was still alive. . . with a relieved
release of breath Ranma spied her finally, Nabiki was
huddled up at the foot of her bed with her blankets
tousled around her. She was looking about wide eyed and
obviously had just been startled out of sleep, but
otherwise okay.
Tofu, without saying a word, stood up and raced
back down the stairs. Ranma wanted to follow, but had
someone she had to care for as well.
Crouching down, Ranma bent over Akane. Picking her up,
she carried her downstairs. "How is it I always seem to be
carrying you lady?" Ranma muttered as she carried Akane
downstairs. As she reached the foot of the stairs, Ranma
heard a door slam open.
"What in the nine hells?! What's happened?! Oh my . . .
NABIKI! My baby! Daddy is here! I'll save you! RAAAAA
NNNNNMAAAAAAAA, now what have you done?!" Soun started to
rant. Grimacing, Ranma quickly made her way to the kitchen.
Faintly she heard Nabiki cry out as she made her way to the
kitchen.
"Hello, is anyone gonna tell me what on earth is going
on? Daddy it's okay, I'm fine, stop crying already! You're
getting me all wet. Ranma! Could you at least remove
your garbage from my room please?! Daddy . . . knock,
it, off! You're gonna flood my room. . . Raaaaaaaanmaaaa!"
Nabiki shouted downstairs in frustration.
Chuckling softly to herself, Ranma set Akane down in
one of the kitchen chairs and set about making a kettle of
hot water, both to distill some medicated tea for Akane to
help with the headache she was bound to have, and to change
herself back into a man. While she waited she watched the
doctor.
The world seemed to sense the doctor's mood and mother
nature herself seemed to call the world to silence out of
respect for Tofu's pain. The doctor made his way back
outside to Kasumi in a world gone silent, the only sound
being his footsteps softly pressing the grass down,
kneeling beside her, he gently picked her up. With a
careful gait he carried his one and only love back inside
her home, a home that was no longer a sanctuary.
Kasumi probably weighed at least 100 to 135 pounds.
Tofu didn't even seem to notice. He was moving as
skillfully and gracefully as Ranma had ever seen the doctor
move outside of Kasumi's presence; slowly he carried
Kasumi into the house. He passed Ranma without a word and
lay her on the floor in the living room.
Dashing into sudden speed, he ran upstairs only to
return seconds later with his medical bag and a large
blanket. Kneeling, almost in reverence, the doctor set about
helping Kasumi, examining and cleaning her wounds.
She had a few lacerations on her cheek where the man's
nails had gouged her was already swelling up huge with purple
and yellowish swirls. Tofu was pretty sure nothing was
broken, but he wouldn't know until he got her x-rayed. As
soon as he was done he pressed a serious shiatsu point on her
neck, she would be unconscious until he pressed the counter
point, this would allow her to rest and regenerate much
faster.
Finished for the time being, Tofu removed his glasses
and set them on the table, then knelt on both knees beside
her, folding his hands in his lap and hanging his head he
started to cry softly.
Ranma knew Tofu blamed himself. She felt bad for him,
she would feel the same way. A shrill whistle shattered
the moment, and startled, Ranma leapt to snatch the offending
noise making kettle off the stove. Ranma, was now breathing
hard, with adrenaline surging through her from the scare that
stupid whistle had given her. Now irritated, Ranma continued
to watch Tofu as she poured some of the hot water over her
head to change back in to a guy. Sympathy or not for Tofu,
there was the question of personal dignity to be considered.
Then he set about brewing a strong tea for Akane, mixed with
a mild pain killer.
Ranma then pulled up a chair next to Akane in the kitchen
that only a little while ago had been bright with laughter and
life. That same kitchen now seemed to harbor only grief and
despair. Ranma tilted Akane's head back and pinched her nose
shut. Then he slowly poured a little of the tea into her
mouth.
Sputtering and choking, Akane's eyes snapped open. The
first thing she did was deck Ranma. Ranma went flying into
the fridge as Akane's eyes snapped open.
"Hey! Whad'ya do that for?!" Ranma demanded from the
floor across the room now, a nice little bruise already
welling up on his cheek.
"Sorry, reflex action." Akane blushed. Ranma rolled his
eyes.
"Right." Getting back up he sat back in his chair,
then, thinking better of it, scooted away from Akane,
keeping a wary eye on the unpredictable violent girl.
"Okay Ranma spill it what happened?" Akane said as
she hunched over in the cold hard chair and sipped her
tea, man did she have the mother of all headaches.
"Yeah well, it's like this. I really dunno what the
heck just happened. Me an the doc were out back sparring
a little ya know. . . all of a sudden these whacked out
dudes wearing black monkey suits hopped the wall and
started causing trouble . . . Kunou woulda loved em . . .
anyway the doc an me asked em ta take a hike and they
didn't leave so we fought em. Then Kasumi came out
and one of the guys knocked her out -" Ranma was startled
out of his recitation by the sound of breaking ceramic as
Akane suddenly dropped her tea cup.
Whipping his head around to face Akane, Ranma sucked
his breath in. She was doing it again! Her face had gone
blank and her eyes looked hollow.
Slowly she turned her gaze to rest on Ranma. With the
voice of someone not to be trifled with, Akane demanded,
"Someone hurt Kasumi? I'll kill him. Where is he?
She growled. Ranma, making "evil be gone" warding gestures,
tried to calm her down, and at the same time get some
distance between them, just in case.
"Geez Akane, ya gotta calm down. It's all right,
the doc and me took em all out, and the doc really
messed up the one that hit Kasumi. . . there's no one
left ta kill. Akane? Akane?!" Ranma's voice rose in
concern as he watched her. Finally after a few seconds,
her shoulders slumped and she dipped her head to her chest.
Looking back up she was the same again, but as he watched
her while walking back to his chair he saw her eyes
flash the color of quicksilver at the same time that he
thought he heard the low ring of a chime, just as fast her
eyes flashed back to normal again. Ranma was about to start
back into his story when someone knocked on the front door.
Glad for the excuse to get away from Akane, Ranma
bounded for the door. Flinging it open, Ranma came face to
face with about twenty uniformed police officers, all
with their sidearms drawn and pointed up in ready positions.
Ranma sweat dropped.
"Look, if this is about that over due library book
. . . I told that lady on the phone that our pet pig
ate it, and that I would have the money soon . . ."
The officer that had knocked on the door looked at
Ranma funny then shook his head.
"No son, we got a call about an armed forced entry
a little bit ago. Is everything okay?" Ranma squinted
at the cop sizing him up then shrugged.
"Yeah everything is fine now, they're all out back
knocked out cold, feel free to arrest em or whatever
voodoo it is you do."
"Thanks kid, we'll do that." The officer said, then
nodded to his men who re-holstered their weapons and
started towards the back of the house.
Ranma went back into the house with the officer in
charge at his heels. His eyes were already adjusting to the
dim interior of the house compared to the front entry way.
"So who called ya anyways? I know I didn't." Ranma
started to ask.
"I did." Nabiki said from the top of the stairs.
"No one would tell me what was going on, so I called
the police. There's one up here officer." Nabiki
called to the lone police man next to Ranma.
Nodding, the officer walked up the steps to the
top landing, Ranma following rather close, almost like he
didn't trust the officer, but who could blame him after the
mornings events. He didn't really trust cops all that much.
They never seemed to be there when you needed them, and they
always were there when you didn't need them.
Crouching down, the officer examined the man Ranma and
Tofu had tackled. The officer looked closely at the
splintered door frame, and the pitiful condition the man was
in and made a face. Then back up to Ranma. Ranma grinned and
shrugged.
"Trust me, he asked for it." Sweat dropping, the
officer said,
"Riiiiiiiiiight." Nodding his head in the direction of
Nabiki's room the officer raised both of his eyebrows.
Peeking his head in Ranma sighed.
"And what happened to him?" The officer said indicating
Soun passed out on Nabiki's bed. Nabiki, sweat dropping,
stepped in front of a conspicuous baseball bat leaning on the
wall near her bed.
"He, uh . . . fainted, yeah. . . fainted." Ranma shot
Nabiki a, "whatever you say," look over the top of the
suspicious officer's head. Nodding in acceptance of Nabiki's
thin story the officer went to work.
Working quickly, the policeman placed handcuffs on the
would be assassin and searched him, then with Ranma and
Nabiki in tow carried him down stairs to where Tofu and
Kasumi were. With the officer walking in front of them Ranma
leaned over and whispered, "flood averted?" - "and baseball
bat slightly dented." Nabiki confirmed without even looking a
little guilty.
Ranma sweat dropped, Nabiki cast a nonchalant look in his
direction, "Akane doesn't have the monopoly on violence in
this house ya know." She grinned and quickened her step to
catch up to the officer. Thus they were so engaged when they
barged into the room with Kasumi and Tofu.
The doctor didn't even look up when they entered. The
policeman took the whole scene in, and wisely left Tofu alone.
Sitting on the couch, the officer took out a notepad and
assumed a serious face.
"Okay lets take it from the top, what in the world
happened here? You've never seen these men before you say?"
Ranma and Nabiki sat on the floor, and Akane came in
from the kitchen. Ranma watched her warily, but all she
did was lie down next to Kasumi and hug her close. Nabiki
answered for the group.
"No we haven't"
"And you have no idea why they attacked you?"
"Well. . . I might have an idea, but I'm not sure
. . ." Nabiki started. She then related the events
that had happened the day before to the officer.
Sitting back in the couch with an exasperated look
on his face, the officer scribbled while Nabiki talked.
When she was finished he informed them,
"Well I'm not sure about the rest of them, but
this one - " he indicated the one lying handcuffed on
the floor. "I am pretty sure I know of. His name is
Lien Chou-Yu. He is a member of a ruthless Chinese
triad operating out of mainland China." Pausing for
a second and smiling, the officer quipped, "You haven't
managed to irritate anyone in mainland China lately have
you?" The officer joked. Ranma sweat dropped and
hurriedly shook his head.
"Well I haven't done anything to anyone in China
but I am getting awfully sick of these guys." Nabiki
grumbled. As the policeman made his way to the door,
collecting his charge as he went Ranma smiled and tried
to lighten the mood.
"Well I'm wide awake now, how bout you guys." Everyone
in the room, including Tofu rolled their eyes and threw
various items in Ranma's general direction.
_______________________________________________________
End.
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Respect,
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~ I am the epitome of audacity.
~ Being "normal" is highly over rated.
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