Here's the last chapter of the day. After this chapter, we will have
some conflict and the beginning of the plot line. C&C will be
appreciated.
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I make no claim or
money in the writing of this story.
This fanfic is archived at
http://www.geocities.com/LightHawk19/THOTW.html
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Two Halves of the Whole
Chapter 4
"So Nabiki, what happened with you and Kuno yesterday? You were pretty
upset when you came home yesterday afternoon." Akane asked the next
morning at the breakfast table before Kasumi served breakfast.
Nabiki sent her and Ranma a brief, mild glare before replying. "Oh,
not much. All Kuno-baby did was stay up all of the previous night
musing over 'Akane Tendo or the pigtailed girl.' Because of this little
fact, Kuno was so exhausted that he could barely speak human. He mixed
up bad poetry and old Japanese worse than he normally does and it hurt
to listen to." Nabiki then shut up and started eating as Kasumi placed
her share in front of her.
Akane believed that there was more to the story that what her sister
said but took the hint that Nabiki didn't want to talk about it. She
too started eating before the two human vacuum cleaners ate her food
before she had a chance to. Breakfast was finished quickly and Ranma
and Akane were off to the races, or running to school full tilt like
every other morning.
The morning beating of Kuno was brief, he was more awake this time, and
Akane sent him skyward with a quick boot to the head. The rest of the
morning was more sedate. Miss Hinako managed to teach her classes
without difficulty for the first time in a few weeks. Ranma even
managed to stay awake for most of them though he still didn't pay
attention.
After school Akane bolted out of the classroom and ran home rather
quickly. 'Must be sparring day at home. She must really hate kata and
control days.' Ranma mused as he walked home, avoiding trouble along
the way.
Akane yelled a quick "I'm home" before going to her room to change.
Akane always enjoyed the sparring days during her training, even back
before Ranma showed up. Her father always took her seriously and gave
her tips after each combination, something Ranma never did. She would
show him one of these days, just you wait and see. As shewas running
into the dojo she stopped short when she saw a young man in a dark green
gi and simple unmarked black belt standing before her father.
"Hi Jay! I thought you weren't coming until next week." Akane said as
she walked over and began her warm up routine.
"Well, I came over to return the umbrella your sister lent me and
started talking with your father here. Since I was here and had nothing
else to do, we started my training today." With that Jay looked over to
Soun who nodded his head to show it was true.
Akane did her warm up as she watched Jay perform a simple kata to stay
limber and fresh. She noticed that he was strong and swift but
something seemed either out of place or unnatural with the way he was
performing it. A few grimaces on Jay's part belied the truth in at
least a few of Akane's observations. When they were both done they
bowed to the shrine at the front of the dojo and then to Soun who was
standing in front of one of the side walls. No one noticed Ranma
quietly come in to watch.
"Akane, this class may go a little slowly for you today because we need
to get Jay here comfortable with the class and to determine his level.
First things first, I want you two to spar lightly and see how you
compare with the other." Soun stood off to the side as he watched the
two line up in the center of the floor and bow to the other. "Begin!"
The two stood there for a moment sizing the other up before Akane made
her move. An easy one-two punch combination was blocked and countered
by Jay. Akane dodged the high punch and side stepped the attempted leg
sweep. The two went on like this for several minutes with neither one
gaining an advantage. Jay's speed advantage was offset by Akane's
slight edge in skill and that he telegraphed every move he made. It was
over after 5 minutes when Jay over extended a punch and Akane flipped
him over with a Judo throw and locked him in a hold.
"Very good Akane. You did very well. Jay, you too did well but you
tend to telegraph a lot of your moves. You were fast enough to cover up
most of them but you shouldn't rely on it. Akane, you showed good
control but you need to speed up more. You are giving your opponent
time to react to your moves."
The two students listened carefully to what their teacher was saying
and tried to think of methods to improve on their problems. They
finally noticed Ranma when he steped up to Soun and whispered something
in his ear.
"That's a good idea Ranma. That should really help each with their own
problems." Soun said happily since he could not think of anything that
simple that would help. "Ok you two. I want you to stand arm's length
apart in a ready position. Jay, when I say begin, I want you to do a
series of light punch combinations to Akane as fast as you can without
losing control or telegraphing your moves. Each time you loose control
or I call you for telegraphing, start over. Akane, I want you to block
every punch Jay throws. Each time you get hit, we start over. Do you
understand? Ok, begin!"
Jay started slowly and gradually increased his rhythm to a fairly fast
pace. Both were called on many times and they had to start again. They
also changed roles several times with the same results. After over an
hour and a half of doing these and other related drills, Soun called for
a halt. He was happy with the results the drills produced for the day
and praised the two accordingly. He also listed off several things for
each to work on for the next class. As Soun was about dismiss them,
Akane spoke up.
"Daddy, since today was a sparring day for us, do you think you could
spar with me for a while before we finish?" Soun agreed and asked if
Jay wanted to spar with him as well.
"I would like to, Mr. Tendo. It would help me get to know you better
as a martial artist as well as a teacher. Thank you." After saying
this, Jay stepped off to the side next to Ranma to leave some room for
Soun and Akane.
"Not bad for your first day, man. You should fit into the Tendo style
pretty good with some work. Watch your left arm when you punch high,
you tend to overextend it a bit. Also, I don't know if Mr. Tendo saw it
or not but you keep a sword stance even when you are unarmed. You need
to change the way you stand because of the change in reach." After
that, Ranma and Jay watched Soun and Akane fight. They would watch
Akane perform various moves and techniques and listen to Soun make a
comment about each one on how to make it better. It wasn't long before
Soun had his daughter's arms pinned and the fight was over.
The Jay/Soun fight was much shorter. Jay started off on the defensive
like he usually does. He was able to block many of Soun's initial
strikes but as soon as he made his first counter move, Soun caught his
arm and threw him towards one of the the side walls...right into a
bucket of water. The throw was expected after everyone saw the punch
Jay threw, what happened next was not expected at all.
A bright flash of light was the only warning that something was wrong.
When everyone could see, they were shocked to see two very embarrassed
Jays sitting where only one was before. One of them was dressed exactly
as the original was, with a dark green heavy gi and a black belt. The
other had on a dark blue heavy gi and a black belt. Other than a
difference in clothing, the two looked nearly identical.
The green and the blue Jays looked at each other before deciding to
talk. The green one spoke up. "Umm, well I did not expect you to find
out about this so soon. Since Ranma is Jusenkyo cursed it should be
easier to understand but still, I wasn't ready to talk about this yet.
[Oh well, here goes nothin'.] Guys, meet Zachary Scott, my Jusenkyo
twin form. Please call him Zack."
Ranma, Akane, and Soun were momentarily stunned. Ranma was the first
to speak up. "Hey, I thought you said you've never been to Jusenkyo and
that you've never met a cursed person before."
Jay and Zack glanced at each other before Zack spoke up this time. "He
wasn't lying. Jay has never been to Jusenkyo, he was cursed when he was
ten by our grandmother with Shuanshontsuniichuan spring water. Jay has
never met himself either because he is cursed, not me. I'm just the
cursed form, so to speak." That satisfied the three still somewhat
shocked martial artists in the dojo.
Akane had the next question. "Why does Zack have on a different
colored gi? Why is he clothed anyway, all of the other cursed people
except Ranma change without any clothes?" This actually stopped Jay and
Zack. They had never thought about it before. Jay went and said this
to them.
"Well, we have never really thought about it. Zack always comes out
wearing the last outfit he had on when we merge. That happened to be
the outfit this time."
"Well son, that isn't so bad. Why don't we go to the house and see
what Kasumi has fixed for us." Soun said as he gathered everyone to
lead back to the livingroom.
Author's notes and ramblings:
Normal speech (In this case, Japanese) will be in normal quotes " ".
Thoughts will be in single quotes ' '.
Words spoken in English are in brackets [ ].
Chinese will be spoken later with curly braces { }.
Yeah, Yeah I know what you're thinking. Everyone likes to give
their new characters a cool curse to have. Take a look at the title
people, I must have something planned for the long run. All will be
explained in later chapters, just give me time. Other than that,
comment away.
Lot's of thanks to my prereaders. Without you, I would still be in the
dark about my writing skills.
--
Tomorrow sees undone, what happens not today. Indecision brings delays,
days lost lamenting lost days -Ryoga Hibiki
Email me at LightHawk@nc.rr.com
or
visit my web site at http://www.geocities.com/LightHawk19/Index.html