Hi all,
Not as long of a wait this time. :)
Chapter 15 will be out in a few weeks, and then I should be back on
putting them out on a more regular schedule.
Enjoy,
Steve (Jurai-Knight)
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: Qd_14.txt
*** Heaven 0.000,0.000
The Goddess of the Future was bored.
Skuld sat at her usual terminal in Yggdrasil's datacore, one festooned
with small personal touches that she had added to it ever since she was
first assigned here, to assist her older sisters in maintaining the
central computer that sustained the functioning of reality. Several
stickers adorned the front of her monitor, with pithy little sayings on
them such as: "There is no such thing as too much firepower," or "When
the going gets tough, the tough call for an air strike." There was
even one that simply said, "Genius at work."
A small doll that looked like a super-deformed version of Belldandy,
her beloved older sister, sat atop the monitor with a beatific smile
resting upon its face. Next to it was a similarly-sized doll of her
other older sister, Urd, only this one wore a much more sultry smile on
its face. On the real thing, such a smile had caused men to forget
their own name, at the very least. Skuld had gotten the two dolls at
the last God-Con, a gathering (not to mention the party to end all
parties) of the gods and goddesses from the different pantheons. They
were a gift from one of the younger gods of the Hindu pantheon for
Skuld's birthday, which had happened to occur during the week-long
period of festivities this time.
A yawn escaped Skuld's lips and she rubbed gently at her eyes, a
reminder that she'd gotten up way earlier that she would have liked.
This morning, as had happened with all mornings in recent memory, she
had been troubled by disturbing dreams. Some of them had been
prophetic, giving her brief glimpses into the future. Others had
simply been the result of her sampling Urd's cooking. The rest had
just been dreams. Sometimes it was hard to tell them apart, especially
when they were disturbing ones. Take the one that had Belldandy
marrying a lowly mortal, for instance. That one had to be a result of
eating Urd's cooking.
Skuld's dreams of prophecy were an ability that Belldandy had once told
her were a sign of her emerging powers. The jumbled weavings of an
uncertain future were both Skuld's birthright and her dominion, a realm
that some had called the undiscovered country. And through her dreams,
the young goddess could catch glimpses of possible tomorrows.
Her most recent dream had unsettled her, but it was a nightmare she had
experienced many times before, in as many variations. It was never a
coherent vision, only disjointed flashes of imagery, but it still had
the power to terrify the young goddess into wakefulness each time.
This latest nightmare had been slightly different from all the others,
but Skuld had still awakened that morning from restless sleep, the
incomplete nightmare having left her unable to return to slumber. On
those days when the dream came to her, Skuld knew that sleep was no
refuge. So she had come in to work several hours earlier than was
usual for her.
The young goddess found it peaceful and relaxing here, and it helped
her to forget the horrible visions, half-listening to the system as she
sat and tapped away at her terminal. Around her, Yggdrasil's datacore
hummed, the immense, crystalline matrix processing untold enormities of
data every moment. As it did, the systems gave off a faintly soothing
sound. Adding to the serenity of the work environment, soft music was
constantly being piped into the room as well, vaguely hymnal and low
enough to be almost inaudible. Skuld was in danger of falling back
asleep.
Her two older sisters were not due to come in for a little while, not
that Urd was ever really very much help, at least as far as Skuld was
concerned. Her oldest sister had once again thrown herself headlong
into yet another relationship, in a foredoomed attempt to recover from
her last spectacularly-failed one. At least her present mood would be
better for a while. Every time one of her relationships inevitably
tanked, it tended to make Urd surly. Whenever Urd was surly, she
drank. However, whenever Urd was happy, she drank then too. Skuld
just could not understand her sister, so she rarely tried. Luckily,
Belldandy was always there to keep Urd in line, providing her usual
comforting shoulder and listening ear.
However, Belldandy had been showing some traces of melancholy around
the eyes for a while too. Skuld wasn't sure what was wrong, but she
was worried about her favorite big sister.
To occupy herself, and to hopefully keep her mind off of worrying about
both of her older sisters (not that she would ever admit to caring what
happened to Urd), Skuld was running some of her semi-authorized system
monitoring tools, unique algorithms programmed during her idle moments.
Her access clearance was sufficiently high enough to let her try them
out, in the hopes of improving system performance, as well as flagging
potential errors before they could manifest themselves as full-fledged
bugs. Skuld hated bugs with all the passion of her youth.
The Goddess of the Future hummed softly as she started up one of her
newest debugging tools, entitled "Skuld's File Analyzer - Mark 4.0" to
examine one of the secondary processing areas. It was checking on one
file archive of personal interest to her, purely as a test case. It
was one she had discovered by accident during a slow period in her
work. What had initially caught her attention was that it was deeply
buried into the system architecture, practically part of the core
operating system. It rested behind a highly-secure, multi-layered
collection of some of the cleverest and nastiest sorts of intrusion
countermeasures that Skuld had ever seen before. She just knew that
whatever was behind it had to be particularly juicy. All of her hacker
instincts had told her so from the level of protection surrounding it.
Those same defenses had eventually fallen to her efforts, another
obvious sign of her incomparable genius, or so she had complimented
herself after finally cracking through them. Behind that formidable
set of barriers rested a single archive of data, but it was enormous.
It seemed to have ties into the primary operating system processes on a
multitude of levels. That only inflamed the young goddess' curiosity.
Skuld had carefully opened up the archive to see what it contained and
had been amazed to discover within it a large number of datafiles, each
one detailing a specific mortal. They had been tagged by Yggdrasil for
special attention, by means of a subroutine with the rather impressive-
sounding identity of the Destiny Protocols. The system designated each
of these mortals in its master index as Probability Nodes, categorized
by how much attention Yggdrasil paid to their actions.
Once chosen by the Destiny Protocols, these select individuals guided
changes within the system. Each was a soul touched by Fate, their
choices shaping the course of human history. In a loose sense, they
acted like a figurative lightning rod for causality. Their reactions
to events would then trigger other events, in a sort of force-feedback
loop. History was the reflection of their accumulated choices, with
new possibilities forged at every juncture.
Odd things tended to happen around Probability Nodes, especially those
who were ranked Class One or Class Two. Reality also seemed to be more
flexible in nature around them, certain supposedly immutable physical
laws became less so, and sometimes being ignored completely. Lucky,
unlucky, and preternatural occurrences were a bit more commonplace
around such individuals. Even physical injuries that would outright
kill or permanently cripple an ordinary human were often not as fatal
or serious to them. This is not to say that they could not be killed
or critically injured, just that it was more difficult to do. This
effect also spread out to a lesser degree to those with whom these
individuals come into regular contact with.
Who they were was kept about as top secret as secrets go in existence,
known only to such higher-order beings as Kami-sama, and conceptual
entities such as the Princes of the Universe or the Four Zoas. In
fact, their identities were so highly classified that perhaps only
Belldandy among the three sisters, being the System Administrator for
Yggdrasil itself, possessed sufficient clearance to learn who they
were.
Those special mortals who had finally fulfilled their purpose for being
on the list, or died (a depressingly common way to be removed from it),
triggered the selection of a new person to replace them on the master
index. The means of that selection process was the detailed set of
guidelines, programmed into Yggdrasil a long time ago, that were now
known as the Destiny Protocols.
Skuld had never told anyone about what she had done. She checked the
master index every now and then for her own curiosity, to see who was
on it, noting changes in names as if she was following the roster of a
professional sports team. She thought it a relatively harmless hobby.
Her new program tool hummed along peacefully, examining the processing
codes on each of the individual datafiles within the central one. It
beeped at Skuld after it came to the end, bringing to her attention a
single item of note discovered among the mountains of data that were
contained in the file. The young goddess hummed a sprightly tune as
she examined the log file generated by her software, pleased to have
found something to occupy her mind.
Yggdrasil had recently upgraded two lower-ranked Probability Nodes to
Class One status, surprisingly close in physical proximity to each
other. However, neither one had fit the Protocol's set criteria at the
time of the change. And that meant the changes had been done outside
their purview, a bypass that was simply inconceivable to Skuld. Still,
both files contained the proper authentications for their new status,
which Skuld confirmed. And even a detailed analysis showed that they
were legitimate, at least by every test that Skuld could conceive.
Yggdrasil denied generating them, yet there they were in the files. So
where had they come from?
There was also a more serious matter. Somehow, the Destiny Matrices of
this particular pair were overlapping, duplicating, and sometimes even
interfering with each other on a number of levels, requiring Yggdrasil
to employ some rather novel solutions in an attempt to resolve things.
Currently, it was generating a paradigm shift of unknown magnitude to
incorporate the conflicting data into the reality matrix, currently at
twenty-eight percent completion. However, its rate of progress was
climbing, and its burgeoning effects were already beginning to be felt
in the mortal world.
Skuld called up the datafiles in question, to learn more about the two
mortals. When she saw their images displayed, she felt her heart skip
a beat, for she knew them. Both had been in her latest dream. A stray
thought occurred to her at that moment, that perhaps their change in
status hadn't been an error after all. Then Skuld shook her head. No.
It had to be some sort of a glitch. Right?
Skuld's tongue became wedged between her lips on one side of her mouth
as she began examining the two files in greater detail. The first was
a highly-skilled technologist (a vocation that Skuld heartily approved
of), and the second was well on her way to becoming quite a capable
spy. However, those former selves had been profoundly altered. Both
their mental and astral patterns had somehow been reconfigured, through
some sort of mnemonic transfusions. The boy had received three such
transfusions, but the girl had only been infused with one. The changes
done to their astral patterns had also induced similar alterations to
their files in Yggdrasil as well, causing the system to now regard them
as being Class One Probability Nodes. This mnemonic transfusion had
apparently also occurred in two others, the technologist's father and
another girl, but their status remained unchanged.
Yggdrasil's efforts were causing a convergence event to form, with the
duo standing right at the center of it, and it was causing a gathering
of other Probability Nodes to join them. Even as Skuld studied the
files, new links began appearing to other files, cross-indexing at a
dizzying rate of speed. When a sufficient number had been gathered,
the paradigm shift would be complete, and the future would change
forever.
While Skuld continued her examination of the files, she decided to hold
off on any mention of this to anyone else. After all, as uncertain as
the future was, it was hers to deal with. But she planned to watch
these two mortals more closely, to see what sort of things happened
both to and around them. They were the epicenter of the commencing
change in the reality matrix. Remembering her latest, incomplete
vision, Skuld felt something that she hadn't felt in a long time.
Hope.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Quantum Destinies
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
By Jurai Knight (sthesken@earthlink.net)
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi. This story
is inspired by her works and the stories from some of my fellow fanfic
authors. Among these are D.B. Sommer's "Shampoo 1/2", Jim Bader's "A
Very Scary Thought -aka- Nabiki 1/2", and John Biles' Elseworlds
series. All C&C is welcome.
Other chapters of this story may be found at this website, or you can
email the author for them:
The Quantum Destinies Homepage
http://home.earthlink.net/~sthesken/fanfics/qd.html
The list of worlds reoccurring in this chapter:
Earth 0.000,0.000 - The world of Scholar Ranma (Baseline cluster)
Earth +1.612,+1.509 - The world of Shampoo 1/2 (Shampoo 1/2 cluster)
NOTE: Before reading this chapter, please read "Ohtori Academy Blues,"
written by DB Sommer, the second side-story set in the QD universe. It
can be found at http://angcobra.jumpfun.com/dbsommer.html
What has gone before in this story (or at least what will help you
understand what is going on):
On a parallel Earth that diverged from the standard Ranma timeline over
five hundred years ago, the Empire of Japan rules almost half the world
and has done so for almost a century. A young scientist named Ranma
Saotome, through a device of his invention, is now possessed of the
skills and memories of a martial artist version of himself. He has
just recently become engaged to three familiar girls: Nabiki Tendo,
Ukyo Kuonji, and Kodachi Kuno. And now, after a loss suffered at the
hands of Utena Tenjou from Ohtori Academy, Ranma has begun to train for
his rematch.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Chapter 14 - The Eye of the Tiger
Whatever does not destroy us makes us stronger.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
*** Earth +1.612,+1.509
Ranma was growing more and more perplexed by his father's actions. He
was currently watching Genma Saotome perusing the newspaper, wondering
what was going through the man's mind lately. Dinner was already over,
and Ranma would normally now be doing his evening training with Shampoo
about this time. But the Amazon was helping his mother out in the
kitchen right now, leaving him with nothing to do but wonder about his
father's motives. He just wasn't acting like himself at all, and it
bothered the pigtailed boy, like an itch he couldn't scratch.
"Something I can do for you, Ranma?" asked Genma, glancing up from the
business section of the newspaper. The boy had been studying him for
several minutes, and all the scrutiny was perturbing.
That was one of the things that bothered the pigtailed boy. His father
seemed to avoid calling him 'Son' or 'Boy' anymore, instead just using
his given name all the time.
"Nothing, I guess," admitted Ranma. "Just wondering what sort of crazy
scheme you got cooking now. I mean, you went out and got yourself a
job, without being asked by Mom or nothing. That just ain't normal for
you, Pop."
Genma sighed. Doing nothing but sit in this house for the past few
days and wait for his real son to contact him again had been getting on
his nerves. He could only train for so many hours in a day to occupy
himself. Genma also wanted to feel productive again, not sponge off of
Nodoka's meager income. Besides, he needed an income of his own for
some projects that he had been considering.
A little careful reading at the local library over the past weekend had
brought him up to speed on the current state of this Earth's technology
base. He had been right in his initial assessment. It lagged behind
his home in several areas by as much as twenty years, but he could use
that gap to profit through a few patents. Even so, he didn't feel very
comfortable with giving this world anything significant, like fusion
power, but there were other things he could share. Patents from those
would give this family a more comfortable life, but creating prototypes
required some seed money. Genma felt it would be better to earn the
money himself.
"Ranma," said Genma, setting his newspaper down. "A man takes care of
his family, so I thought it would be a good idea for me to get a job.
It's as simple as that."
Ranma frowned. "Yeah, but this is you, old man. You've never done any
honest work in your whole life, as far back as I can remember."
"People change," said Genma with a slight smile. "I would think that
you'd be proud to have a father who was more like other fathers."
Ranma thought about that. "Yeah, but it ain't normal for you. And
then there's that whole thing with the Tendo's."
"You wanted to be engaged to marry one of those girls?" Genma studied
the boy in front of him, dressed in Chinese-style clothes like his own
son had begun wearing lately. While he was unquestionably a brilliant
fighter, this Ranma was unpolished and ignorant of the world. Still,
he was not stupid. Genma knew it wasn't fair of him to treat the boy
as if he was, but it was difficult sometimes to do otherwise.
"No! Of course not!" Ranma blurted out in reply. "But I just don't
understand you nowadays, Pop. You always got some scheme hatching up
your sleeve, and I just don't want you to hurt Mom if you do."
Now it was Genma's turn to frown. "Ranma," he began. "I would never
do anything to cause your mother harm. You have to believe that."
"I don't know what I believe anymore, Pop," said Ranma, standing up.
He should be happy that his father was acting responsibly, right? Why
did it feel so wrong? Why did it feel like something out of a dream,
one that was going to end when he least wanted it to?
"Ranma?" Shampoo called out from the doorway to the kitchen. "We go
practice now, yes?" She came over to the table and smiled at both men.
That was the other thing that bothered Ranma. His father was treating
Shampoo nicely. Before, the man had seemed indifferent to the Amazon.
Now, Ranma didn't sense that from him. It was something else that just
felt wrong. Not bad wrong, since it was good to be home and to have
Shampoo there with him. But it was wrong in a way he couldn't seem to
explain.
"You run along and train with Shampoo, Ranma," said Genma with another
paternal smile. "If you slack off, she might get better than you."
"Huh, like that's really ever going to happen," grunted Ranma, before
he realized what he had just said.
As Shampoo proceeded to show the pigtailed boy how she felt about that
hastily-spoken opinion, Genma chuckled and picked up his newspaper once
again. The boy was unpolished and blunt, but it was refreshing in some
ways. Still, it would be good when this nightmare was over, and Genma
was back in his own life.
"I didn't mean it like that, you crazy Amazon!" yelled Ranma as he tore
off towards the backyard with Shampoo in hot pursuit.
"Ranma see how good Shampoo is, any second now," the Amazon promised
ominously.
As the sounds of battle erupted in the backyard, Genma chuckled. The
boy definitely needed to work on his social skills.
******************************
Akane Tendo was an unhappy girl right now, so she did what she normally
did when she was unhappy.
"Damn him," she muttered, her fist impacting into a cinder block. It
shattered beneath her blow, joining the remnants of perhaps a dozen
others. She still felt unsatisfied even as she stopped to catch her
breath. "How dare that jerk be so calm when he left! Like it meant
nothing to him. Like I-" Akane felt her eyes filling with tears once
again, as they seemed to do ever since Ranma had left with his father,
and that... that Chinese bimbo, Shampoo.
Ranma's departure should have been a relief, and it was, in certain
ways. But it had all been so unexpected. And now everyone at school
was talking about it, not to mention that she had Kuno pressuring her
again. How could that jerk have just up and left her, without even a
backwards glance? She hated Ranma for that, for acting so indifferent
to her the last time she saw him, both him and his worthless father.
Once she had blurted out her usual response to her feelings about the
engagement, Genma had ended it. A happy ending for her, right? Now
her own father hadn't left his bed in days as a result of that, and it
was tearing Akane up inside. How dare that jerk just leave with that
Chinese freak?
>From outside, Cologne had been watching the youngest Tendo demolishing
things. In the course of a single night several days past, Shampoo had
up and disappeared, apparently moving on with the two Saotome men. The
Amazon Matriarch was admittedly perplexed at the unexpected change, and
the Tendo family still seemed to be in varying states of shock over the
whole matter, the father being the worst. Cologne realized she would
have to put off her current plans for her wayward kinswoman until she
could learn the child's location.
Cologne started to depart, then she paused. The youngest Tendo girl
might prove to be more amenable to assist in her present state of mind.
At the very least, she could be a useful source of information. The
elderly Amazon bounced across the yard, landing inside the dojo.
"Greetings, Akane Tendo," said Cologne, eyeing the sniffling girl.
Akane whirled around, her eyes reddened from crying, her hands held
tightly into fists. When she recognized Cologne, she smiled nastily.
"If you're looking for Shampoo, she's gone."
"I can see that with my own eyes," said Cologne. "Tell me where she
has gone, and I will leave you to your grief."
"I'm not grieving," Akane growled. "Especially not for that two-timing
jerk!"
"Where is Shampoo?" asked Cologne gently. The Tendo girl seemed to be
in a more fragile state of mind than she had initially suspected. To
push hard now would be to provoke a fight, and Cologne had no wish to
waste the effort. "What happened here, Akane Tendo?"
"Ranma left!" shouted Akane. "His father just dissolved the engagement
between that jerk and me, and all of them left!" Her voice dropped to
a whisper. "I don't know where they went, and I don't care."
"I know where they went," said a solemn voice from the doorway.
Cologne glanced over to see Nabiki Tendo standing there.
Akane went back to destroying things, to ease her inner pain.
"And what would be the price of such information?" Cologne inquired
with a neutral look. She moved away from Akane.
"Come with me, and I'll tell you," replied Nabiki calmly.
Cologne bounced out of the dojo area, following a quiet Nabiki to a
side area of the house. Akane remained behind in the dojo, but the
sounds of smashing items became a little more energetic-sounding. In a
few moments, Nabiki suddenly stopped and turned around to face the
Amazon Matriarch.
"Do you want to hear the price before or after I tell you Shampoo's
location?" A hint of cold anger escaped Nabiki's self-control.
"Either way, I will pay it, if I feel it is fair," replied Cologne.
"Shampoo and the others went to live with Ranma's mother," said Nabiki
evenly. "I can give you the address, and even directions."
"And the price?" asked Cologne, curious to see what the middle Tendo
daughter would ask for.
"Do whatever you want with Shampoo," said Nabiki coldly. "Take her
back to China to fall on her sword for getting cursed for all I care.
I only ask for two things in return. First, I want to see both Ranma
Saotome and his good-for-nothing father suffer. But I want Ranma to
suffer most of all. The three of them blew in here, disrupted all of
our lives for weeks, and then just as suddenly left. Now my father
doesn't leave his bed, Akane is more angry at life than I've ever seen
her before, and even Kasumi is withdrawn. I want to see them all
suffer for hurting my family. I can provide you with any information
you think is helpful. And that brings me to the other request."
"I take it you have given the matter some thought," said Cologne dryly.
"As a matter of fact, I have," Nabiki replied sarcastically. "I want
Akane to help you when you deal with Ranma and his father. She wants
to hurt someone, and I want to see Ranma hurting. Think of it as a
form of closure for her. Get the idea?"
"You want me to train her," said Cologne with a brief nod, finding the
terms troubling but acceptable. From the sounds of things, Akane might
be quite motivated to help capture Shampoo. The elderly Matriarch had
a technique or two come to mind that the Tendo girl would find useful
in her quest for revenge. It was a tempting bargain.
"Do you agree to my terms?" Nabiki asked quietly.
"Yes, Nabiki Tendo," said Cologne with another nod. "I find the price
you ask for your aid in this to be one that I am willing to pay."
"Good," said Nabiki evenly. She gestured towards the training hall.
"Your student awaits. Just let me talk to her first."
A heavy rain began to fall. It suited Cologne's present mood as she
waited for the middle Tendo girl to finish explaining things to her
sister. However, she was troubled. Something wasn't adding up here,
and she intended to find out what that something was.
******************************
*** Earth 0.000,0.000
At the Imperial Academy, classes were over for another day.
In one of the subbasement rooms of the Academy, where the maintenance
staff seldom went, a private gathering was occurring. By design, only
a select few were in attendance here. But there was also one uninvited
guest.
Ghost Sweeper Minami stood quietly on one side of the room, the amulet
of invisibility she had borrowed from the Mobius Institute concealing
her presence. Casting her spiritual senses around the room, she felt
more of that same energy that she had been detecting since her arrival.
It was like a slight fluctuation in the background mana, and she hoped
that it was a sign of some spiritual activity. She wasn't sure what to
make of this gathering though. Shrugging her shoulders, she continued
to scan, while ignoring those present in the room.
"I now call this inaugural meeting of the Ranma Saotome Fan Club to
order. I'm pleased that you all accepted your invitations."
Minami's awareness snapped back when she heard that. These girls were
gathered for him? How could any girl like that arrogant jerk? He had
obviously enjoyed making her look like a fool, and the redheaded Ghost
Sweeper would never forgive him for that. Still, she began paying more
attention to what was going on. Perhaps she might learn something that
would let her pay Ranma back.
Nanami Jinnai set down the small gavel she had just used to rap upon
the table in front of her. She tugged down once on the front of her
gray uniform jacket, and then she smiled her best politician's smile at
the assembled faces in front of her. The group was composed of some
twenty or so girls, all dressed in either Science blue or Security
gray. However, despite being even in number, the two parties were not
mixed, and both sides had been exchanging glares with each other before
the meeting had even begun.
"I'd like to begin by taking this opportunity to welcome you all here,"
Nanami said with another smile. She could sense the tensions in the
room rising as each side wondered what the other group was doing here.
Her brief welcome speech was interrupted when one of the Science cadets
suddenly stood up.
After looking pointedly around the room, Ami Mizuno gently cleared her
throat and asked, "Why are these Security thugs attending this meeting?
The invitation I received by email made no mention of having any of
_them_ present. After all, Saotome-san is a Science cadet." She gazed
at Nanami quite coolly, and the other Science cadets vigorously nodded
their agreement with her words.
"That's a very good question, Mizuno-san," answered Nanami pleasantly,
skillfully hiding her resentment at the 'thugs' remark by some Science
geek. "While it is true that Saotome-san is part of the Science branch
of the Academy, he is also a member of the full student body. With
that in mind, isn't it fair to admit both Security and Science cadets
to this meeting? Not to mention the added benefit of having Security
cadets present, to assist us all in maintaining our privacy from those
parties who might seek to hinder our activities."
Minami wondered who that might be.
It went unspoken by every other girl in the room who those parties
might be, but they could agree on the identity of at least one of them.
"Fair enough," acknowledged Ami, nodding once after considering that
for a moment. "I can see the logic of having Security th- er, cadets
present. Do I take it that you are the one responsible for sending the
invitations? They were untraceable as to their point of origin." She
paused. "Believe me, I tried."
Nanami gave a slight bow and said, "Thank you, Mizuno-san. That is
high praise indeed to come from one of your reputed expertise. I made
every effort to gather this group together in secret, while maintaining
absolutely tight security for our mutual protection."
"And now that we are here?" asked Ami archly, raising an eyebrow.
Nanami tapped a button on a small remote unit in her hand. Around the
room, several posters of Ranma Saotome, each one a candid shot of him,
unfurled. There was a collective, involuntary sigh of appreciation at
the sight. Even Ami Mizuno, who prided herself on maintaining a calm,
logical fa�ade, felt her heart skip a beat or two at the sight of the
young scholar.
"We are all here for one reason only," said Nanami, her politician's
smile returning, "to share in our admiration of that quintessential
pinnacle of manhood who walks among us at the Academy, Ranma Saotome."
Minami shook her head in wonder at that. Quintessential pinnacle?
Ranma was hardly that. The Ghost Sweeper glanced around the room in
mild disdain at these foolish girls, but she noted the effect that the
pictures were having on them. Admiration mixed with lust for the
pigtailed boy could be seen in their eyes. Still, each girl who was
here, inexplicably pining after Ranma Saotome, meant one less girl in
competition with her for the attentions of the rest of the boys at the
Academy. Minami grinned in anticipation. She had already had a few
dates since her arrival and was enjoying her growing popularity with
the boys. But she was also a little irritated that her new admirers
weren't spurring that idiot Gosunkugi into paying attention to her too.
Ami coughed once into her fist and quickly brought her emotions back
under control. The slight blush on her cheeks at the nearby sight of a
life-sized image of Ranma Saotome, clad in just a towel wrapped around
his waist, hindered those efforts. Around her, several of her fellow
Science cadets gazed raptly at the sight of male musculature on display
before them. A few girls were even drooling a little at the sight.
"As the first order of business at this meeting, I feel perhaps it
would be best if I offered to share the leadership of this meeting,"
said Nanami pleasantly. "Do I have a nomination for co-leader from our
sisters in the Science branch?"
It was with little surprise that the previously-outspoken Ami Mizuno
was quickly elected as co-chairwoman, representing the Science cadet
contingent. Nanami quickly made skilled use of her abilities as a
would-be politician to cement herself as the representative for the
Security cadets present. When the elections and the congratulations
were over, the meeting returned to a semblance of order. One change
was that Ami was now seated at the head of the room with Nanami.
Ami flipped open the slim laptop she had brought with her, glad that
she had thought to bring it with her. As Nanami began to orate once
more, Ami occupied herself with calling up the datafiles she sought.
She was sure that the others would find them very interesting.
"Now that the preliminary business is over," said Nanami, "I thought it
would be best to dispel some of the rumors that have been floating
around the campus of late about Saotome-san." She smiled when she saw
that she had the complete attention of the audience, and basked for a
moment or two in being the center of attention. Nanami congratulated
herself on coming up with the idea of organizing a club such as this,
giving a first-year cadet like herself the beginnings of a power base
to unseat the current queen of the campus, Nabiki Tendo. She ignored
the twinge of resentment she felt at having been snubbed by the older
girl when she had sought to join Nabiki's faction at the beginning of
the term.
"I'd like to interrupt, Jinnai-san," said Ami suddenly, setting her
laptop to one side. "I took the liberty of analyzing the information
that you emailed me with that anonymous invitation, and I think it
would be prudent to inform our sister cadets of my findings."
Nanami blinked, but she yielded the floor to Ami. Luckily, Nanami had
staged her meeting in one of the planning rooms used for Security cadet
simulation missions, since it contained a video projection system that
Ami was able to hook her laptop up to with a minimum of fuss. Nanami
heard the other girl clearing her throat nervously as Ami signaled that
she was ready, and she smiled as she dimmed the lights. It wouldn't be
too difficult to reduce a mousy computer geek like Ami Mizuno to a mere
figurehead leader, given enough time.
"The subject: Ranma Saotome," intoned Ami a little nervously as she
began, clearly not used to speaking before a large group of people. A
still image from her small picture archive appeared on the screen in
front of the room, taken from Ranma's own Academy ID card. "To begin,
Saotome-san is the first cadet ever, in the century-long history of the
Imperial Academy, to have attained a perfect mark on the entrance
exams." Text scrolled up next to Ranma's picture, brief listings of
the universities and other institutions of learning that Ranma had
studied at during his young life. From the audience, a few scattered
whistles and appreciative remarks were heard.
Minami shrugged. All that intellect, and he was still a jerk. She
tuned out on Ami's lecture and went back to letting her spiritual
senses spread out. She could still feel something in the air.
"Saotome-san's academic record speaks for itself," Ami continued, glad
that the darkness hid the blush that had returned to her face. "He is
a brilliant young man, and an accomplished scholar. Many of you have
had the pleasure of reading some of his few published works, on such
varied subjects as non-Euclidean mathematics, quantum mechanics,
superstring theory, and even cosmology. They show the workings of an
agile mind, one possessed of eloquence and a capacity for deep
thinking, a quality which is vanishingly rare in a boy his age."
Ami advanced to a new picture, one that Dean Fuyutsuki would have been
very surprised to see one of his own cadets have, since it was taken
from his own files. "Then there are Saotome-san's physical abilities."
The text now scrolling upwards to overlay part of the image were also
taken from Fuyutsuki's files. "Since his arrival at the Academy some
few months ago, Saotome-san has been improving his physical performance
ratings to a remarkably high level. The numbers you see here represent
a detailed breakdown of Saotome-san's current combat capabilities. It
clearly shows him to be in prime physical condition."
There was another collective sigh from the audience when the picture
switched to a brief film clip of Ranma in action. Ami's involuntary
sigh was among them.
Minami rolled her eyes. All this admiration for Ranma was starting to
seriously grate.
At the side of the room, Nanami glanced around and smiled as she saw
the worshipful gazes taking place around her. Taking a risk like
hacking into the Dean's private system and liberating these files had
been a challenge, but she was pleased to see it had been well worth it.
Selling photographs of Ranma from her growing collection should net her
some tidy sums for her coffers. She only had to evade attention from
Nabiki's henchwomen in order to do it. In truth, Nanami relished the
challenge, especially since Nabiki's recent preoccupation with Ranma
Saotome was beginning to cause a decline in her enterprises. It wasn't
much so far, but a little effort would allow Nanami to wedge into that
gap. Nabiki's time in the sun was fading. The other girl just didn't
know it yet.
"What is interesting to note is the sharp increase in his abilities
only a few weeks ago," Ami continued, wiping away the text with a few
keystrokes and replacing it with a chart overlaying another image of
Ranma, the pigtailed boy frozen in mid-motion. "His combat statistics
altered significantly, his totals jumping upwards by several hundred
points, primarily due to large changes in his offensive and defensive
ratings, perseverance, and his adaptability during combat. Physically,
there were no appreciable changes in Saotome-san's capabilities, other
than a minor rise in his neuroreflex rating, but the skills within him
were somehow greatly enhanced. An analysis of the data, taken both
before and after the event, yields no apparent explanations for it." A
new picture appeared, this one taken during Ranma's victorious, last-
ditch effort against Nabiki. There were a few scattered chuckles from
the audience.
Minami considered that. Perhaps he wasn't possessed, but something was
weird about Ranma. Nobody became a martial arts superstar overnight.
"However, the files provided by Jinnai-san also reveal a new danger
that we should all be aware of," said Ami in more solemn tones. "I
congratulate her on obtaining them at apparent personal risk."
"It was nothing," Nanami said modestly. Luckily, she had been able to
obtain her own copies of the photographs taken by Nabiki's own people,
by a circuitous route she had devised, rather than risking herself on
reconnaissance.
Three images appeared on the display, replacing Ranma's. There was a
muted grumbling from the audience.
"Saotome-san's family is currently in negotiations for him to marry one
of the three girls that you now see before you," said Ami. Her voice
trembled for a moment as she spoke the names. "Kodachi Kuno. Ukyo
Kuonji." She paused for a moment, but all present recognized the last
girl even before the name was spoken. "Nabiki Tendo."
There was a collective gasp of shock. One girl in a gray uniform in
the back immediately fainted. A few others were not far behind. The
remainder simply looked stunned.
"But that's not fair!" yelped one girl dressed in Science blue. "He's
the most eligible boy on campus!"
"Yeah!" shouted another girl. "And an arranged marriage is just so
archaic."
"I thought it was strange that a noblewoman should transfer to this
school in mid-session," noted a short girl on the right.
"He can't marry Nabiki," sobbed another girl. "She's all wrong for
him. He can't marry her. He just can't."
"Ladies," Nanami called out loudly, holding her hand up for attention
as she raised the lights. It took her three more tries to restore a
semblance of order. "Thank you. I'm afraid there's also worse news."
"Worse? How could it get worse?" yelped the same girl who had finally
recovered from fainting.
"My sources indicate that Utena Tenjou spent the night at Saotome-san's
home after beating him in their match," replied Nanami.
Minami raised an eyebrow and blushed slightly at the implications
Nanami was making. Kissing a boy was as far as the Ghost Sweeper had
ever gone.
There was another collective gasp from the audience. The girl who had
just fainted and recovered earlier passed out again. After a moment or
two, the mood of the crowd turned darker.
Ami briefly flipped through her notes and announced, "Before coming to
this meeting, I had begun compiling a psychological profile on Saotome-
san, in an attempt to determine what sort of girl might have the best
chance of earning his affections. This news about Utena Tenjou, while
admittedly most distressing, possibly serves to confirm my theory."
"What?" shouted several girls. "Tell us!"
"Lights please," said Ami. When the room lights dimmed, she brought up
one of the pictures.
"The first subject: Ukyo Kuonji," said Ami. "Research into her past
shows that this girl has been quite highly-trained in both the arts of
stealth and combat by the eldermost of her Shinobi clan, Genji Kuonji,
her own grandfather. The most interesting thing about Ukyo is that her
records from her old school list her as being male, and she apparently
has a preference for wearing masculine clothing. I suspect that she
has numerous gender issues to work through." Ami tapped a key and the
picture changed.
Minami blinked. What sort of a freak dressed in boy's clothes?
"The next subject: Kodachi Kuno. Daughter of one of the wealthiest and
most influential of the Minor Families in the nobility, she is perhaps
best known for winning a gold medal for the Empire in the last World
Gymnastics Competition in France. At Whitehall Academy, she recently
became embroiled in a series of fights with another student before
transferring here, fights that Kodachi always won." Ami changed the
picture once more.
"The third subject: Nabiki Tendo. Middle daughter of Soun Tendo, a
high-ranking officer in the Security Directorate, and Captain Kimiko
Tendo, missing and presumed deceased, formerly of the Imperial Special
Forces. Both parents excelled in their chosen fields, Captain Tendo
having been decorated numerous times for her actions in combat. She
also holds several athletic records that still remain unbroken to this
day, from her time at Furinkan Military Academy." Ami tapped a key.
"The fourth and final subject: Utena Tenjou. She is best-known among
her classmates as the 'Prince of Ohtori,' a designation no doubt earned
due to her preference for wearing masculine clothing. I suspect that
this girl also has gender issues to work through. There are several
information sites dedicated to her on the Imperial Datagrid, complete
with numerous pictures of the girl and listings of her combat records.
She is ranked at the very top of Ohtori's Duelists, although she is not
part of the Student Council, as the rest are."
Ami signaled Nanami to bring the lights back up.
"Based on this information," Ami informed the audience, "it is my
theory that Ranma Saotome subconsciously seeks to pair himself with a
strong woman. All four women here are strong fighters, and I believe
it is beyond coincidence that this should be so. I propose that his
recent assignation with Utena Tenjou confirms my findings." Ami's
fingers stabbed out at the audience. "Therefore, the key to winning
Saotome-san's heart is to defeat him in combat. I believe he would
expect no less from the woman who would win his love."
"Uh, what about Akane Tendo?" asked a voice in the back. The rest
nodded. Akane had beaten Ranma up on numerous occasions, after all.
Ami smiled. She had been waiting for such a question. "Each of those
beatings took place before this extreme change in Saotome-san's combat
abilities. I believe that there has also been an alteration of his
psychological profile to a similar degree. Therefore, the previous
incidents involving Akane Tendo do not matter. However, if she returns
to face him and manages to defeat him in a fair fight, then we shall
have to see if that supports my findings or not."
"So what is it that you're saying, Mizuno-san?" asked one of the girls
in the front row. "We should begin challenging Ranma Saotome in order
to get a date with him?"
"Exactly," said Nanami with a nod, gently shoving Ami aside and taking
her place behind the microphone. She now saw how she could rally these
women. "Two things are obvious here. One, Saotome-san deserves a
strong woman, so we should find it within ourselves to give him one.
And, two, these four girls need to be driven away from Ranma. Who is
with me in this noble cause?"
Every girl in the room cheered loudly. For the sake of winning Ranma
Saotome's love, they would train hard, strengthen themselves, and begin
challenging him to prove their love.
However, dealing with the fighting abilities of the young women who
already had an interest in Ranma caused concern in many of them, but
others were not as deterred. Viewing her as the most obvious target, a
few of the strongest and most athletic of the girls discussed how they
would deal with Nabiki and who would go up against her first.
As the meeting broke up, Minami strolled out of the room, unseen by
anyone. She was happily contemplating the potentials for mischief that
she could do to a certain pigtailed boy with a wicked grin on her face.
She wondered if she could get Gosunkugi to help her. It promised to be
a lot of fun, not to mention giving her an excuse to spend some time
with him.
******************************
Ranma yawned as he trudged the short distance down the hallway to the
bathing area. He grumbled at the faint twinges of pain reporting in
from various spots on his body. He was still discovering muscles that
were not used to the sort of effort he was making them do, but those
pains were becoming less frequent. His body still felt rusty in its
fighting movements at times, but that too was fading as he continued to
adjust to having his new skills.
Tiger was proving to be as difficult to deal with as he had suspected
she would be from his initial meeting with the catgirl. Most of the
aches now present in his body were due to her dedicated efforts over
the past couple of days. Ranma couldn't help but feel irritated with
himself about that. Being beaten up for two days straight was bad
enough, but being beaten up by a girl was somehow making it feel even
worse. It also didn't help matters that he knew he could defeat Tiger,
if only he wasn't being handicapped by his fears at the same time as he
was battling the catgirl. She was inhumanly strong and lightning fast,
but her fighting skills lacked that unpredictable creativity that a
true martial artist was capable of, not surprising to him since her
skills were hardwired into her neurology.
Ranma stripped off his clothing and tossed them into the hamper behind
him without looking at it, distracted by his thoughts. While wrapping
a towel around his waist, he stared into the mirror, briefly noting
that the bruises on his face from yesterday were almost gone. He had
always been a fast healer, and he was very grateful for that now. This
training was proving to be a challenge, more than he had anticipated,
but he was confident of one thing. When he was done with it, he would
be that much further ahead of Nabiki, cementing his lead over her in
ability, and that was a surprisingly satisfying thought.
Grinning at that pleasant musing, Ranma slid open the door leading to
the bathing area, looking forward to nothing more than soaking his body
in hot water before he had to start training for the day. He stopped
dead in his tracks after taking a single step into the room. The towel
wrapped around his waist dipped down a centimeter or two.
Tiger, gloriously naked, stood in the furo. She had been enjoying a
hot bath as a little treat to herself before the day's activities
began. Not bothering to cover herself like a normal girl would have
done at this time, she instead glared at Ranma as the pigtailed boy
stood there in shock. Her eyes glanced downwards briefly when Ranma's
towel slipped off his waist, and then her gaze returned once again to
meet his, her irises like chips of frozen jade.
"It's considered polite to knock, Saotome-san," Tiger commented dryly.
The sight of Ranma's naked body before her was reminding her that it
had been several days since she had last enjoyed her master's tender
attentions. The unpleasant thought that Lynx and Panther were both
undoubtedly enjoying it in her place was irritating. And now to be
ogled by this pathetic boy was changing that irritation to anger.
"I-I'm sorry," Ranma stammered, averting his eyes from staring at the
beautiful and naked catgirl, both fear and attraction triggered by the
sight. "I-I didn't know anyone was in here." He started to back up
when a wooden bucket suddenly slammed into his forehead, the force of
the impact propelling him backwards several feet. Ranma fell over,
stunned, as Tiger gracefully emerged from the furo and stalked towards
him. Several versions of his life flashed before his eyes at the sight
of the catgirl's ominous approach. Fear froze him in place.
"Don't let it happen again, Saotome-san," growled Tiger, slamming the
door shut in his face. "I won't go as easy on you next time."
Ranma, his mind swimming in images of cat-demons that were shaped like
human females, continued to lay there on the cold tiles. It was going
to be a long day in what was looking to be an even longer week.
******************************
Nodoka absently noticed the play of the breeze across the grass, as
well as the scent of cherry blossoms tickling her nose. The haft of
her bokken rested snug in her grasp, both hands closed loosely around
it, the blade angled downwards. As her opponent stepped closer, her
mind snapped into crystal clarity. At that moment, she felt truly
alive.
The breeze stopped.
Achika Masaki launched into a textbook-perfect assault upon Nodoka, the
blade of her bokken lancing inward. There was the sharp crack of two
pieces of hardened wood meeting as the two weapons clashed. Achika
immediately rebounded from Nodoka's block, her weapon arcing around in
a reverse stroke into another solid strike, only to be met by Nodoka
once again. Riposte followed parry, and a counterstrike flowed into a
dodge as each blow was turned aside and responded to. The two women
displayed a level of combat skill born of many hours of sweat and toil.
"Not too bad for someone your age," murmured Achika during a brief lull
in the action, her weapon briefly locked with Nodoka's. The two pushed
hard against each other, struggling for advantage, the strain evident
on their faces.
"I could say the same," agreed Nodoka. She gathered herself and surged
forward hard against Achika, the sudden move knocking the other woman
off-balance. Nodoka moved in for the win, her weapon aimed right for
Achika's ribs.
Sudden pain exploded in Nodoka's midsection, Achika's brief act of
weakness enough to lure her into a trap. Her breath escaped in a
single gasp, the air forced from Nodoka's lungs by her spasming
diaphragm. She slumped momentarily, her weapon bracing her body to
keep from falling. Achika's wooden blade came to rest firmly against
her throat for a moment, and then withdrew.
"Your form is sloppy, Nodoka," said a voice from one side. It was mild
in tone, yet the reproof was clear. "You let yourself lose focus and
become distracted."
Blinking back reflexive tears from the pain, Nodoka looked over at
Katsuhito Masaki, sitting on a rock nearby. She saw him adjust his
glasses and study her, his expression grim. Despite the protests of
her stomach muscles, she stood up to her full height once again, the
pain began to fade.
"If Achika had been a real enemy, she would have left you with more
than a temporary pain in your belly," observed Katsuhito. "If the two
of you had been fighting for real, you would now be dead. How does it
feel to be dead?"
Nodoka frowned, angry at herself for falling for such a simple ploy.
She could not afford to be less than her absolute best when the time
came to face Kenseiko once again. Her warrior pride demanded it of
her.
"Sorry, Sensei," said Nodoka, turning to face Achika once again. She
raised her weapon to a ready position.
"That's the third time I've struck you in the last half-hour, Nodoka,"
observed Achika, a hint of concern on her face as she raised the blade
of her own weapon. "We should take a break."
"Very well," said Nodoka, wincing slightly. She hid the movement well,
only Katsuhito appearing to notice. "But I don't understand what's
wrong."
"You're trying too hard," observed Katsuhito, pouring himself a cup of
iced tea from the thermos he had at his side. "A warrior's movements
should flow from a central core of stillness and calm emotions. This
challenge has been the first you have faced in many years. It seems to
have damaged your focus."
"Grandfather is right, Nodoka," said Achika, setting her weapon down
and taking an offered cup of tea from the elderly man. "Twenty years
ago, you would never have let yourself be bothered by a challenge from
that witch, Kenseiko."
"Remember one of the first things I taught you, Nodoka?" said Katsuhito
as he gazed at her. When she looked blankly at him, he sighed once and
shook his head. "How soon the student forgets." He pointed at her
forehead. "Don't think so much. If you have time for thinking in a
fight, then you're moving too slowly. When in combat, a warrior must
let go of the conscious self and act on instinct alone."
"I remember."
"Good. Now, keeping that in mind, let me see how well you do after we
rest here for a little while." He smiled gently at her and then turned
to watch a hawk circling above a far corner of the park they were using
as a makeshift training ground.
Achika relaxed, after passing a cup of iced tea to Nodoka. She picked
up her towel and wiped the sweat from her face and the back of her
neck. She was grateful that the weather was cool as she sat back and
enjoyed the breeze against her skin. She could tell that Nodoka was
worried about Ranma, and her thoughts wandered to her own children.
Now that Tenchi was finally settled down with a fianc�e, Achika felt it
was time to start working on her other child's future again. However,
she did not relish the task. Her daughter was often as bullheaded as
Achika could admit to being at that age, but the girl would not prevail
in this. That their last discussion on the matter had prompted her
daughter to decide to go train in the mountains by the Masaki Shrine
for the past several weeks was utterly beside the point. At least the
headstrong girl enjoyed improving her skills as a warrior.
Achika sighed inwardly. What was she going to do about Ryoko? The
girl took after her namesake ancestress far too much sometimes.
At least Ryoko wrote now and then while she was off training, and she
had promised in her last letter that she was returning home soon. A
smile briefly appeared on Achika's face as she briefly reminisced on
the follies of her own youth, and what a trial she must have been for
her own mother. Ryoko had been a handful from birth, but Achika was
very proud of her and loved her deeply. After all, she was now only a
year away from graduating into the ranks of one of the most respected
group in the Empire, the Imperial Bodyguards, also known as the Blood
Guard. Charged with the defense of the Emperor and his kin, a Guard
was an almost preternaturally-skilled warrior, and many in their ranks
possessed some knowledge of Tao sorcery. Ryoko's skills were limited
in such mysticism, but she was a superb fighter nonetheless.
Achika sometimes feared that the only way she was going to get Ryoko to
submit to an arranged marriage would be by force. She glanced over at
Nodoka, envious of the woman for not having a daughter to contend with.
A son was much easier to manipulate for a mother.
While quietly drinking her own tea, Nodoka's thoughts went again to
Ranma. He was still training hard for his upcoming match at Ohtori
Academy. She smiled at that. It would give him a good opportunity to
visit again with that nice Utena girl while he was there, and Nodoka
hoped that he would. She had genuinely liked the girl, who reminded
her so much of how she herself had been at that age. Well, except for
the cross-dressing and Utena's odd hair color. Nodoka smiled at the
thought of the pink-haired girl and her son together. They made a fine
couple.
Nodoka also hoped that Ranma's training was going better than hers.
The Academy had been keeping very quiet on his progress, so she was
concerned that he was doing all right, and that he was eating well
without her cooking to sustain him. Yet it had been several days, with
little word. Genma, when she had broached the subject with him that
same morning, actually accused her of trying to coddle Ranma. That
totally unexpected remark both hurt and surprised her, adding to her
present level of distraction.
Ranma was her son, and, Nodoka could admit to herself, she was still
adjusting to the fact that he was a warrior in his own right. She was
very proud of him for that, and it made her love him all the more.
Still, she considered it her right as his mother to worry about him,
even though she was confident that he was making good progress. After
all, as her son, the path of the warrior was his birthright, just as
the path of the scholar had been bestowed upon him by his father. Ever
since Ranma's birth, she was positive he would someday walk both with
honor, and he would never know true defeat.
******************************
Ranma sat, feeling a little dejected at his latest failure to deal with
Tiger. The ringing in his ears reminded him that he was also on the
edge of having a concussion, but that was beside the point. He dug
into his rice hungrily, grateful at having a whole plate of beef and
steamed vegetables to himself to accompany it. After all, he needed to
eat to keep up his strength.
It was now day four of his training.
Tiger paused in eating her own meal, enjoying the early afternoon sun
on her face. The spring air smelled pleasantly of cherry blossoms and
fresh-cut grass from the athletics fields, an enjoyable aroma. She
gobbled down another piece of raw salmon, enjoying the combination of
sensations that her meal and her environment provided for her.
"Meow?" called out a timid-sounding voice behind the catgirl.
Hearing the sound, Ranma froze in place for several moments, only his
eyes continuing to move. Once the initial shock was over, he started
twisting his head around, trying frantically to determine the source of
the sound. He froze again when he caught sight of it.
Tiger looked around, seeing a tawny-colored cat sitting on the wall
near her. It was eyeing the fish in her bowl hungrily. She smiled at
it, unselfishly pulling off a chunk of fish from the one in her bowl
and offering the tidbit to the cat. She had always liked housecats.
The cat sniffed at the morsel of fish held out to it, before snatching
it from her grasp and happily consuming it. The nameless feline began
to purr while it ate the fish. Tiger was still smiling at it, but she
glanced for a moment at Ranma, absently noting that she had detected no
motion from him for several moments.
Ranma's attention was locked onto the small housecat, a gibbering now
taking place somewhere in the back of his mind. When he realized that
the gibbering was his own mental voice, he shook his head to banish it
and laughed nervously. Then he noticed that Tiger was studying him.
He quickly went back to consuming his lunch, not looking at the catgirl
or her furry companion.
Tiger wondered at Ranma's reaction, absently feeding another morsel of
fish to the cat when it nudged against her hand. After it had eaten a
good portion of her lunch, it consented to her picking it up, and she
stroked her hand down its back as it rested in her arms. The cat
purred its contentment at that, having just been fed and now being held
and petted. She stood up with the cat in her arms and began walking
over to Ranma.
Ranma locked the gibbering part of himself that had started up again in
the back of his mind and tried to act casual. He smiled nervously at
the approaching catgirl, trying to ignore the fear clawing at his guts.
"C-can I do something for you, Tiger?" asked Ranma, smiling, but with a
wild look in his eyes.
Tiger smiled and said, "I noticed you watching my new friend here. I
was wondering if you liked cats? They're so soft and cuddly." She
stroked the cat some more, and it sleepily blinked its eyes open and
stared curiously at Ranma.
C-c-cat, Ranma's thoughts stuttered, even as he mustered his control
and continued to smile. Having the catgirl and the small cat in her
arms both eyeing him with slit-pupilled eyes was re-awakening his
fears. He sprang back involuntarily, food bowl still in hand.
"L-like c-c-cats?" babbled Ranma. "O-of course I like them. Who
wouldn't l-like a c-cat?" He saw Tiger studying him with an odd smile
on her face, vaguely predatory, and that wasn't helping matters.
Tiger set down the cat and watched it scamper away. She turned back to
face Ranma and bared her fangs a little when she smiled at him once
again. Seeing the pigtailed boy visibly blanch at her confirmed her
initial suspicions, and she patted Ranma on the cheek.
"Relax, Saotome-san," said Tiger, with a purring undertone to her
voice. "You seem a little tense."
"Oh, I-I'm just eager to get back to training," said Ranma. "Let me
just finish this." With a blur of speed, he consumed the bowl of rice
and several large chunks of beef. "I'll see you inside." He dashed
into the dormitory building before Tiger could even blink.
"Interesting," murmured Tiger, her predatory smile returning. She had
a fun, new game to play, and she liked to play with her chosen prey.
******************************
"How is the training going, Coach?" asked Dean Fuyutsuki as he sat
behind his desk, studying Fujinami seated across from him.
"Fairly well, sir," Fujinami replied. "Even though it's only been a
few days, Ranma's skills are showing definite improvement. Perhaps not
as quickly as I had hoped for during such an intensive program as we
have him on now, but he's getting better. Pain has always been an
excellent motivator for improvement in the martial arts, and Tiger is
working the boy harder than Nabiki ever did. I'm quite confident in
saying that he should defeat Utena Tenjou and regain the Academy's
honor. Saotome's a good kid, and he deserves that win after what we've
been putting him through."
"Excellent news, Coach," said Fuyutsuki, a smile briefly crossing his
face. "How are your other two special students doing? I assume that
Coach Takami has kept you appraised of their progress?"
"Well, his reports say that without Ranma around, the two of them are
acting much more open in their mutual dislike," replied Fujinami. "He
also thinks that the Tendo girl seems to enjoy lording her superior
skills over the Kuno girl a bit much, but that's apparently making
Kodachi work even harder to close the gap. However, there's still a
large difference between their relative skill levels, and, from the
reports I get from Takami, I don't see that gap dwindling soon."
"Why is that, Fujinami-san?" asked Fuyutsuki with interest.
"Well, Nabiki has apparently been pushing her personal training even
harder than ever," replied Fujinami, smiling a little. "I think her
own loss to Ranma shocked her deeply. Takami also reports that she's
been showing up at classes with her hands bandaged. He isn't sure what
she's doing on her own, but her speed is showing marked improvement.
Ranma's going to have his hands full when he gets back. He's getting
better, but I think Nabiki's new level of speed is going to give her
the edge over him. I see the two of them having another challenge
match not too long after Ranma finishes his business at Ohtori."
"Interesting developments, indeed, Coach," said Fuyutsuki, as he folded
his hands together on his desk. "Have you heard Ranma mention anything
about this fighting style he's using?"
"Just the stories I hear from the cadets." Fujinami flipped open the
folder on his lap. "I have it written down somewhere."
"The Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts?"
"That's the one, sir. The same one that Nabiki Tendo apparently uses."
Fuyutsuki paused, and said, "I did some research, and I discovered the
school was listed. But my initial search found it in the archives of
the Security Directorate, of all places."
"The Security Directorate?"
"Yes," answered Fuyutsuki, nodding. "I did some further investigation
into the matter and discovered many intriguing, perplexing things. The
Anything-Goes School is designated as a variant of Kempo, and scattered
records of it indicate that it first came into existence over a century
ago. Yet, other than a few records about its founder's petty criminal
activities, it was apparently never passed on to any students. The
school's founder is listed only by the singular name of Happosai, but
he's not listed on any family registers. I suspect that he wasn't even
of Japanese ancestry, perhaps Chinese instead. To double-check that I
wasn't missing anything, I even did an in-depth search for the name
using the genealogical archives at the Ministry of Information, but I
found nothing. As near as I can tell, this Happosai person was never
born, never attended formal schooling of any sort, and he had no record
of any military service. Other than a criminal record that ends at the
turn of the century, the only thing Happosai ever did that was of any
significance to the Empire was to be credited with the founding of this
mystery school of martial arts."
"Next you'll tell me that he never died," said Fujinami with a slight
smile.
"No," said Fuyutsuki with a smile of his own. "There you would be in
error. According to the records at the Security Directorate, Happosai
once molested the Empress of that time. He was tried, convicted, and
executed for treason, all in a single day, in the year 1901. The books
and scrolls of his martial arts lore subsequently vanished, and there
is no record of the school having surfaced since."
"Until now," said Fujinami, a little stunned.
"Yes," agreed Fuyutsuki with a slight smile. "Until now."
"I've been watching both Ranma and Nabiki very closely ever since you
brought me in to supervise their training," said Fujinami, a hint of
amazement still in his voice. "Frankly, their style is like nothing I
have ever seen before. I'm at a loss as to how to teach them. I can
work their physical skills, and set them loose upon each other in
freestyle sparring, but they need a better instructor than me to train
them. And that's something I never would have expected to hear myself
say."
"I know," said Fuyutsuki, standing up from his desk and moving to look
out the window. "However, because of the delicacy of this situation,
the Tendo girl being the daughter of a highly-ranked official in the
Security Directorate, I have decided to proceed with a good measure of
caution. The skills that Ranma and Nabiki both now possess lead me to
wonder how they came to learn them. I have a few theories, but I
confess to being even more intrigued by the mystery they represent to
me, now more than ever. I have decided to play a waiting game for the
present, and I'll watch how things proceed for just a little while
longer, before I make a decision."
"Yes, sir."
"Carry on, Coach. I have the utmost faith in your abilities."
"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."
Dean Fuyutsuki and Coach Fujinami exchanged bows, and then the larger
man departed. Fuyutsuki turned to face the window once again, his
thoughts on Project Phoenix, and the implications of these startling
new developments upon it.
******************************
The small fire blazed away, crackling merrily as Nabiki fed it several
small twigs and a few larger sticks. She sat back on her haunches and
considered the flames. As she did so, she slowly began to unwrap the
cloth bandages from around her hands, letting them fall into a pile.
She had been pushing her body to its limits to increase her speed, and
enduring the pains of her burns stoically. Perhaps only Ranma could
understand why she was doing this. That thought brought an amused
smile to her face, since it was because of him that she was here now.
The Amaguriken Technique.
She had been training hard to master it for over a week, and still it
continued to hover somewhere just beyond her grasp. Her analog had
done it faster, but the gap between them had narrowed substantially
because Nabiki had been pushing herself so hard lately. So what was
taking her so long? Why wasn't she fast enough yet?
Nabiki closed her eyes and began to meditate, to calm and focus herself
before trying once again. Her thoughts refused to be still, drifting
to contemplations about her counterpart, blissfully living out her own
life on another version of Earth. That other Nabiki was a much more
action-oriented girl, and far too impulsive for her own good, but some
of that Nabiki lived in her now. It had changed her in ways she was
still discovering. She wasn't fully the cold-hearted girl she had once
been, but she also wasn't the impetuous jock that her analog was. Just
who was Nabiki Tendo anymore?
Losing to Ranma had been a blow to her ego, and her decision to train
herself in the Amaguriken Technique had been an admittedly impulsive
reaction to that loss. But Ranma was not a better fighter than she
was. Before his own experiences with the resonator, he had been less
of a fighter than even her old self had been. She could even admit to
feeling angry at Ranma for beating her, in front of the whole Academy
yet. She knew she was his superior, and she intended to prove that to
him. But, each time she failed to master this technique, it only
further aroused her desires to succeed.
Nabiki's thoughts paused. How did she really feel about Ranma?
Fact: Ranma was her fianc�.
Fact: Ranma was her rival.
That was the core of her present emotional dilemma. Her counterpart
was not one for self-analysis, a product of her upbringing, but gaining
that Nabiki's experiences had caused her to re-evaluate herself, her
feelings about Ranma, and how she wanted to live her life from now on.
Things were also changing around her, in so many ways.
How did she feel about Ranma? And why did her thoughts keep coming
back to him? Nabiki growled deep in her throat at feeling so out of
control of her emotions. Before gaining her analog's memories, she had
possessed an almost total control over her feelings, emulating the cold
nature of her father in some subconscious quest for his approval. But
things were different now. Intellectually, she knew she didn't have to
go through life alone, but it felt scary to open herself to someone, to
drop her defenses and be so vulnerable.
Ranma Saotome. He had been such a quiet sort before, devoting himself
to his research project and his studies, never even associating much
with his fellow Science cadets. As far as she knew, Ranma still didn't
have any friends to speak of, other than herself and her rivals for his
attentions. Yet, was she much different? Sure, she had her own little
entourage, sometimes going out with them to clubs and such. Only Yohko
Mano came close to being what Nabiki would call a friend. "Trust no
one," had long been her credo, and so no one had been permitted entry
into Nabiki Tendo's private life.
That had been true until that night in Ranma's lab changed her forever.
There were also her rivals to consider. Akane was getting involved
with Furinkan's Combat Club, and she was sure to find a boy there who
suited her tastes. Kodachi was proving to be irritating, bringing
Ranma sumptuous lunches and subtly enticing him with her wiles. Ukyo
was a relative unknown, and it had been a surprise to see her at Ohtori
Academy earlier that day. Still, Nabiki doubted that Ukyo would be any
sort of challenge. That brought her to the last rival to contend with.
Utena Tenjou, the so-called "Prince of Ohtori." She refused to believe
that Ranma had slept with the girl, but something had happened between
the two of them that night. Nabiki's quest to find Utena and explain
things to her in no uncertain terms had been an utter failure. All she
had gained for her efforts today was to get into a meaningless conflict
with one of Ohtori's cadre of Security cadets, a girl by the name of
Haruka Tenoh. She had been dealing with the crop-haired brute fairly
well, until more of Ohtori's Security cadets had shown up. If it
hadn't been for Toga Kiryu intervening, things could have become a bit
difficult.
Nabiki opened her eyes when she felt a blush flood her cheeks. Toga
had possessed a certain charm, and a presence that was undeniable. His
touch had been electric, very similar to the sensations she felt when
Ranma had held her hand. It would serve Ranma Saotome right if she
flaunted another boy in his face, especially a handsome one like Toga
Kiryu. She shook her head. She was getting off track.
Ranma's current sparring partner was another concern, a biomechanical
love doll who could also fight. A tremor ran down Nabiki's back at the
thought of what she was, a catgirl. Tiger was her name, part of an
impressive trio of females that accompanied one of the underclassmen
around, a boy named Kinnosuke Kashuoh, a Science cadet from a wealthy
family. Nabiki had once considered him to be her secret nemesis, but
had ultimately rejected the notion. After all, why would someone that
wealthy want to bother with taking over her business enterprises? He
had loaned Tiger to the Academy to prepare Ranma for his upcoming
rematch at Ohtori in a few days. It had been the talk of the student
body this week.
Nabiki had seen Tiger around campus for months, strutting along behind
her owner like a faithful hound. The boys on campus envied Kinnosuke
for having his own harem, and the girls were jealous of the trio for
their looks. Nabiki shivered again at the thought of them, a clear
sign of the Neko-ken asserting itself within her. She hadn't seen
Ranma running in terror around the campus, so either his counterpart
hadn't undergone the Neko-ken training, or he was somehow keeping it
under control.
The fire was burning down, so she fed it a few more sticks. Taking a
deep breath and letting it out, Nabiki realized that she was as ready
as she ever would be. She flexed her hands, her focus narrowed upon
the flames before her. She would not fail again. She had to be the
best. Picking up the open bag of sweet chestnuts next to her, she
tossed the contents into the flames.
"KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!"
Nabiki's hands became blurs, streaking in and out of the flames. When
it was over, she raised her fists to the sky, her hands unburned. A
throaty chuckle bubbled up from deep within her. She looked forward to
showing Ranma Saotome just who truly was the better fighter between
them. The next time she faced off against the pigtailed boy, she would
be the winner.
*******************************
Kuno stood still, his blade poised in his hands, as his father watched
for the slightest flaw in his technique. He eyed the target, his hand
shifting his grip ever so slightly. For days he had been perfecting
his skills with the sword, and dealing with his father's blunt teaching
methods. He was a far different instructor than his former teacher had
been, harsher in manner and offering fewer words of praise.
Lord Kuno tapped his bokken against his knee and looked a little bored,
but it was all an act. His son had proven to be a very apt pupil, and
he could confess that it had been enjoyable to train the boy in the
finer aspects of the Kuno Family style of swordsmanship. Memories of
time spent with his own father had come back to him during the last few
days, before his own youthful rebelliousness had driven a rift between
father and son. It was a rift that had never fully healed even at the
time of his sire's death. Lord Kuno's obligations at court had acted
to prevent him from performing his paternal duties to his own son and
heir, but he was resolved to correct that oversight now that he had
awakened to its existence.
"Focus your will on the point of your blade, my son," said Lord Kuno,
almost gently. "Let the power of your chi flow through it."
"Yes, Father," said Kuno, as a soft, bluish glow began to emanate from
his body. He gathered his will to a single point at the tip of his
blade, and then he released it as he thrust forward, the energy somehow
accelerating his blows even faster than he had ever performed them
before. "Strike!Strike!Strike!Strike!Strike!Strike!Strike!Strike!"
The wooden target disintegrated under the power of Kuno's rapid-fire
blows, and even the wall behind it began to buckle and warp from the
air pressure generated by them. The wood and stone were reacting as if
caught by the focused force of a hurricane. With a last shattering
wrench, a two-meter wide hole was ripped through the wall, scattering
chunks of stone and shards of wood out across the grass outside.
"Excellent, my boy!" cheered Lord Kuno in congratulations. In truth,
he was both pleased and astonished that his son had managed to master
the technique so quickly. Less than a week had gone by, after all.
The last traces of chi fire fading from his bokken, Kuno saluted his
father with the weapon. Never before had he felt so powerful. No, he
was now invincible. Ranma Saotome would fall to this new technique,
and Kuno was eager to demonstrate it to him. After his inevitable
victory over his foe, and with Ranma's beaten body in tow, Kuno would
be in a much better position to demand that his sister have nothing
further to do with the pigtailed boy. But there was a more immediate
concern for the young heir to the Kuno Family.
Tomorrow night was to be the marriage meeting with the Tendo family. A
vision of the two sisters filled his mind, inciting him with desires
for them. The two girls were certain to be enamored of him, when they
saw the wealth and power that would be theirs by joining themselves to
him, especially when combined with his magnificent physical appearance.
It was a most glorious time to be Tatewaki Kuno.
Lord Kuno wasn't sure why his son suddenly broke out into a gale of
laughter. He could only attribute it to youthful exuberance at having
mastered a new combat technique.
******************************
Kenseiko paused in her workout, feeling her shoulder muscle spasm a
bit. She gritted her teeth at the brief pain, a sign that she wasn't
quite as young as she used to be. Sometimes, she felt she might be
getting too old for such a childish thing as revenge, but then she
remembered the old anger that Nodoka's re-appearance in her life had
resurrected from the dead. She was still young enough to close the
book on her business with that particular she-demon. Her resolve re-
affirmed, Kenseiko eyed the results of her handiwork as she kneaded the
muscle in her shoulder with one hand. She absently noted with approval
the precision of her strikes upon the training dummy. As she studied
it, one of the dummy's arms came loose and fell with a clatter, and she
smirked. She had gotten much better with her chosen weapons, and
Nodoka Saotome would soon enough learn who the superior warrior was.
"There is a flaw in your technique, my dear wife," said Lord Kuno from
the doorway. He quirked his lips slightly at the glare she gave him in
reply, before she realized who he was. Rubbing the sweat from his neck
with a towel, he stepped into the room. His training with his son was
done for tonight, and he had been on his way to the baths when he heard
Kenseiko's efforts.
Her lips a little tight, Kenseiko asked, "Perhaps My Lord would care to
show me where this flaw is?" She took up a stance, her warfans firmly
gripped in her hands. "I confess that I don't see it."
"If you insist, My Lady," said Lord Kuno coolly. He eyed Kenseiko in
her workout clothes: skintight leotard pants and a loose top, done in
greens and purples, and black boots on her feet. He took a moment to
admire her sculpted body, and how well she had kept her figure all of
the many years that they had been married.
Without preamble, they engaged in combat, Lord Kuno's bokken versus
Kenseiko's twin warfans. There was the sound of weapons clashing as
they fought, the ring of steel and the crack of hardened wood. It was
a battle of skill, and it re-ignited memories of their past youth.
"My Lord has lost none of his famed skill," Kenseiko noted with a
sultry smile. It had been months since they had last dueled, and she
was pleased that he was still as capable as ever.
"My Lady is too kind," replied Lord Kuno, as he circled his wary wife.
She had improved since last time, but he could still see the old flaw
in her technique.
Kenseiko said with a broader smile, "Perhaps My Lord imagined the flaw
that he claimed to see." She rushed to engage him, sensing a momentary
weakness in his defense.
"No," said Lord Kuno, swiftly ducking under one of her warfan attacks
and narrowly evading a solid kick that would have disabled him if it
had connected. "I can still see it, and the flaw is there." As he
spoke, he struck out, the point of his bokken passing through the small
opening in her defenses. He succeeded in tapping his wife's shoulder
quite easily, and she blinked.
"I-it's true," Kenseiko said in a small voice. She slumped to her
knees, looking upwards at him. "How long have you known?"
Lord Kuno knelt down and put an arm around Kenseiko, surprised to feel
her trembling. He said gently, "You've always had it, my dear wife,
for as long as I can remember. I kept it to myself, an old habit from
my youth whenever I found a flaw in an opponent's defenses. I am sorry
if I have hurt your feelings."
Kenseiko went from trembling, on the edge of sobbing, to gradually
giving off a throaty, almost seductive chuckling. She looked up at her
husband through lowered eyelashes, the sultry smile back upon her face.
"Help me eliminate this flaw in my technique, My Lord," said Kenseiko
huskily. "I have a very old score to settle, and this would aid me
greatly."
Caught by surprise by the violent passions in his wife's gaze, Lord
Kuno could only nod. He was knocked off-balance when Kenseiko flung
herself at him, their bodies coming to rest with hers astride his. She
bent down and kissed him passionately.
"My Lord has earned his wife's gratitude," said Kenseiko, beginning to
remove her top. "Let me show you how wondrous a prize that is." And,
in the back of her mind, she imagined how sweet her victory over Nodoka
would be, after all these years of delay.
Feeling passions bubbling within her like she was a teenager again at
the thought of the revenge finally to be hers, Kenseiko began to show
her husband just how grateful she would be for his help. The servants
thoughtfully closed the doors to the training hall, to give the pair
some privacy as she did so.
******************************
With night fully settled upon Tokyo, Kozo Fuyutsuki strolled down the
streets of Nerima, a small leather satchel under his arm. He nodded
politely at the pair of Peaceforcers in their little booth and briefly
sniffed the air. A fair number of restaurants lined both sides of the
street here, a neighborhood known as having some of the best in the
region. Each of them added their own touch to the scents in the air.
Foot traffic was lightening, the dinner crowd fading off.
He passed a vacant lot, stopping in front of the building next to it.
Inhaling, he caught the distinctive aroma of cooking okonomiyaki, and
nodded at finally having located his destination. Yu-chan's was pretty
famous locally, but Fuyutsuki had never eaten there before. He was
looking forward to sampling the cuisine while he discussed the nature
of his visit with the owner. He slid open the door and stepped inside.
"Welcome to Yu-chan's," said Yumi reflexively, briefly looking up from
her cooking to see a stranger standing in the doorway. She flashed a
friendly smile at him. "What can I get you?" She swiftly flipped two
okonomiyaki onto plates for her other remaining customers.
"A shrimp okonomiyaki would be nice," replied Fuyutsuki as he settled
himself at the counter.
Yumi nodded at him and said, "One shrimp special coming right up."
Fuyutsuki smiled back at her and watched as she turned around and
poured a puddle of batter on the grill. The smell coming from the
cooking okonomiyaki was tantalizing, reminding him that he had skipped
lunch again. He watched her mix in a healthy portion of shrimp even as
the dough began to simmer, and he was rather surprised to find himself
admiring Yumi's backside while she worked. He noted that she was tall
for a woman, possessing an athletic build overlaid on a solid frame.
But, she still moved lithely, and with a dancer's grace. Fuyutsuki was
a bit surprised at himself for gawking like an adolescent at a woman,
considering himself to be too much the detached scientist, as well as a
confirmed bachelor, to pay much attention to such things.
"Nice place you have here," said Fuyutsuki somewhat inanely, glancing
around the room. The other two customers, salarymen on their way home
after a long day at work, ate without talking.
"Best okonomiyaki you'll ever find, anywhere in the Empire," said Yumi
proudly. She flipped over the cooking okonomiyaki at exactly the
perfect moment by well-trained instinct, letting the other side begin
to brown.
"Sounds like I'm in for a treat." Fuyutsuki sniffed the air, the smell
of the food bringing back memories. "You're Yumi Kuonji?"
"You got it, handsome," said Yumi with a twinkle in her eyes. She had
sensed him studying her when her back was turned, and it was flattering
to know that she could still catch a man's attention. "Yumi's my name,
okonomiyaki's my game." Her ponytail bobbed as she turned around to
casually flip the finished product of her efforts onto a plate. She
slid it in front of Fuyutsuki and waited expectantly.
Fuyutsuki inhaled the aroma rising with the steam, and said, "Smells
delicious." He took a bite and blinked. The taste was extraordinary,
the best he had ever eaten.
Yumi smirked with pride at the look of enjoyment on Fuyutsuki's face.
Fuyutsuki continued to eat, savoring the flavors, as the two salarymen
finished gulping down their own meals. They paid and left, hurrying to
get home. His own was also finished a short time later, but he wasn't
in any rush to leave until he had taken care of his business.
"Anything else I can get for you, sir?" asked Yumi pleasantly. She
waited for his reply, briefly glancing at the clock. Ukyo still hadn't
gotten back from her little hunting trip at Ohtori yet, and Yumi was
beginning to get a little worried about the girl. But, a moment later,
she realized how motherly she was sounding and shook her head ruefully.
"Well, I did have some business that I wanted to discuss with you,"
said Fuyutsuki as he picked up his satchel and unbuckled the straps.
He pulled out a picture of Ukyo from within it, taken at her last
school, and laid it on the counter. "It concerns your niece, Ukyo.
Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Kozo Fuyutsuki, Dean of the Imperial
Academy." He handed Yumi one of his business cards.
"Shouldn't her parents be the ones to talk to about something like
this, Fuyutsuki-san?" Yumi asked, glancing at the card. "Ukyo's just
staying with me."
Fuyutsuki nodded and said, "Well, Ukyo was already offered a spot at
the Academy several months ago, but she was still involved in training
with her grandfather at the time and couldn't accept. So, when I heard
that she was in the area, I decided to come meet her in person. Is she
here?"
"Ukyo's out taking care of some personal business tonight," replied
Yumi evasively. "I'm not sure when she'll be back."
Fuyutsuki nodded, picked up the picture of Ukyo and put it back in his
satchel. "I understand," he said. "But have her call me in the next
couple of days. Your niece has a lot of potential, and I truly feel
that the Imperial Academy would offer her more opportunities than she
could get anywhere else. I'll also leave some forms for her to fill
out, if she decides to attend."
"I'll pass them along, Fuyutsuki-san," said Yumi, taking the small
stack of papers that he offered her. She watched him close up his
satchel bag and set some money on the counter. She bowed, a slight
smile on her face. "Perhaps you could return sometime. I would be
honored to cook for you again."
"Thank you, Kuonji-san," said Fuyutsuki with a bow of his own. "I
would like that. Until next time." He picked up his bag and departed.
After he had left, Yumi flipped the sign in the window from "Open" to
"Closed" and pulled the shades. She took a deep breath and let it out,
then bopped her forehead once with her fist. She reviewed the recent
scene in her restaurant and shook her head.
"I would be honored to cook for you again, Fuyutsuki-kun," said Yumi to
the empty air, her voice sugary and her eyes wide and innocent-looking.
Returning her expression to normal, she wrinkled her nose and shook her
head again. "Where the hell did that come from? That didn't sound
like me at all." Watching her niece go all soft in the head over some
boy must have started to affect her too. She snorted and continued to
lock up.
Ukyo came in the back door while Yumi was finishing up in front. As
she locked the door, the young ninja was startled to suddenly feel a
presence behind her, and she swung around a fist in reflex. The blow
was turned aside, but no counterstrike was thrown at her.
"You're late, young lady," said Yumi calmly.
"Sorry," Ukyo mumbled. She tried to avoid showing her aunt the bruise
she wore under one eye, replacing the healed one that Utena had given
her a few days ago. All she wanted to do was to go to her bed, fall in
it, and sleep.
"I take it that things didn't go so well?" Yumi turned Ukyo's face to
better see her niece's blackened eye. "Utena again?"
"I'd rather not talk about it," said Ukyo sourly. Seeing her aunt's
sudden frown, she gulped. "Sorry, Auntie. Can we talk about this
later? I'm really tired."
Yumi nodded and said, "I understand, Ukyo-chan. I was young once, too.
Just call me the next time you're going to be so late, okay? If you
don't, I might have to get medieval on you. You wouldn't like to see
me when I'm really angry." She grinned disarmingly.
"Okay, Auntie," laughed Ukyo, already feeling a little better. She
headed off to bed, thinking of nothing more than blessed slumber.
Behind her, Yumi smiled and shook her head. Her niece reminded her all
too much of herself at that age, when all she cared about was food,
fighting, and pursuing a certain boy who had held a special place in
her heart, not necessarily in that order. Ukyo was heading down the
same path, and all Yumi could hope was that she could give the girl the
benefit of her experience. She shook her head again.
"We're both idiots."
******************************
Ranma absently picked at the food on his plate, wondering once again
why he was letting the Dean put him through this abuse. He glanced
over briefly at Tiger, seeing the catgirl comfortably perched on a
chair as she consumed her own dinner. She chose that moment to flick
one of her catlike ears, and Ranma gulped involuntarily at the sight.
Quickly busying himself with the task of consuming his meal, Ranma
tried to keep his mind off of his sparring partner. His match against
Utena was in just a couple of days, and he had to focus on that thought
to keep the fear at bay. When that was all over, then he could turn
his full attentions back to rescuing his father. Who knows what sort
of chaos could be besetting him in that other world?
Tiger sensed Ranma's attention dropping away from her, and she smirked
for a moment. Even after five days of time spent with the pigtailed
boy, she had yet to grow bored with tormenting him. It was a very
pleasant diversion in some ways.
Pathetic coward, thought Tiger disdainfully, before quickly consuming
another large piece of raw tuna. To think that a great warrior like
her beloved Kinnosuke-sama would even consider a weakling like Ranma
Saotome to be any potential challenge at all was laughable. Still, she
was following his orders to her with the utmost diligence. The bruises
she could see on Ranma's face were the signs of just how dedicated she
had been in obeying them.
I'm a scientist, not a warrior, Ranma mused, eating his meal with more
vigor. I should be in a lab, not getting my body beaten black and blue
by some c-c-c- by some weird girl with ears. What the hell was I even
thinking? Do I really care if the world thinks I lost to Utena? He
stabbed at the meat on his plate, impaling it on his chopstick. The
morsel quickly disappeared into his mouth.
Her own meal finally finished, Tiger set down her bowl and stretched
luxuriantly. A few minor kinks in her shoulders and lower back worked
themselves out, and she briefly sighed with pleasure. She was looking
forward to another invigorating session of beating Ranma unconscious a
few more times, followed up by a snack, and then a nice, hot bath. The
look of terror she could sometimes see in his eyes when she sparred
with him was an added bonus. It appealed to her nature, the thrill of
tormenting her chosen prey.
Ranma swallowed another mouthful of food, then blinked when he realized
that he was done with his meal. He set his bowl down and relaxed for a
moment, while keeping his eyes turned away from Tiger. He had gotten
this stupid phobia from a version of himself that existed on a world
where Shampoo was cursed to turn into a guy. That other analog of
himself, the one where he had initially gained his fighting skills
from, had never suffered through that horrible training. The pigtailed
boy closed his eyes, once again reminiscing though memories not his own
to try and bring them all into some semblance of order.
Days spent fighting to control this fear, while also trying to fight
Tiger, had been wearing away at his nerves. But Ranma ardently refused
to surrender to it. His logical side kept telling him that he had
absolutely nothing to fear, even as his emotional side wanted to run
away in terror. The combination of stresses were getting to him.
Ranma Saotome wasn't a coward, something he had to remind himself of
now and again, and he was certain he would conquer this fear. He just
needed to simply hold out against it for long enough, to build up his
mental resistance like he would strengthen a muscle. But there lurked
that constant temptation, to just give up and let the Cat Fist take
him. After all, it was supposed to be an invincible technique, one
that the replicant girl would not be able to match. The problem would
be in explaining it afterwards. No, he would have to deal with this
without resorting to the Neko-ken.
"You ready for another round, Saotome-san?" asked Tiger pleasantly, her
half-purring tones interrupting Ranma in mid-thought. She came over
and stood in front of him, almost striking a pose, her fists resting
against her hips.
"Gimme a minute, okay?" Ranma replied. When she didn't move from in
front of him, he risked a brief glance at her. "What?"
"You're really not much of a warrior, are you?" Tiger observed. "You
just don't seem to have the stomach for it."
That casual statement hurt, surprising Ranma. How was it that words
spoken by someone else, even ones similar to his own recent thoughts,
could make him feel a wound to his pride? It didn^�t make sense to him.
"You don't know what you're talking about," said Ranma quietly, looking
away once again. He couldn't even explain the vacillations in his own
thoughts to himself. Sometimes, he felt an eagerness within himself
for the challenge of a strong opponent, to have another chance to test
his skills against another. Then there were times like now, when Ranma
just wanted to go back to being the way he once was. But the pigtailed
boy could admit that his periods of regret were becoming fewer. And
his life was continuing to evolve in ways that brought with it a sense
of wonder. In a certain way, he liked what he was becoming, enjoying
the new skills he had. But it also sometimes bothered him, deep down
inside, to see how easily he was adapting to being this new Ranma
Saotome.
Tiger snorted disdainfully at Ranma's words. She glanced at the clock,
noting that Coach Fujinami wouldn't be back for a short while yet. She
returned her gaze to Ranma, who was still avoiding looking at her.
"After spending a few days with you, I think I have a good idea," said
Tiger with a grin. "You don't like fighting, do you?"
The mocking tone in her voice bothered Ranma, more than he would care
to admit. Whenever Coach Fujinami was around, Tiger was very polite,
cheerful, and even deferential to them both. But whenever he was alone
with her, the catgirl displayed more personality than Ranma had ever
suspected a mere replicant could possess. It was as if she was toying
with him for some reason, but he couldn't figure out why she would ever
want to torment him. Until a few days ago in the Dean's office, he had
only ever seen her from a distance, her and the other two catgirls who
acted as bodyguards for one of his fellow Science cadets.
Tiger's words also brought Ranma back to his own musings, about how he
really felt about fighting nowadays. Losing oneself within competition
against another was... fun. It was something that Akane Tendo had once
told him, but to find himself in agreement with it was perplexing. It
bothered him to learn that he could feel that way about an activity as
primitive as fighting. It went against his self-image. But was that
self-image still true? Who was Ranma Saotome anymore?
"You're wrong," Ranma said softly.
Tiger cocked an ear forward and leaned down a little. The maneuver
would have given Ranma an excellent view of her cleavage displayed
within her gi top, if he had just lifted his gaze from the floor.
"Am I?"
"Yes," growled Ranma. The sudden surge of anger within him brought his
eyes up reflexively, the goal being to give her a defiant glare, but
the up-close view of Tiger's bosom stopped him in mid-motion. A slight
trickle of blood leaked from one of his nostrils, and Ranma gave off a
sort of squeaking, swallowing sound.
Tiger took that as her cue. She hauled the pigtailed boy up by his
shirt before he could react, and hurled him as hard as she could in the
general direction of the training area. The solid wall that had once
separated them from it acquired a new opening, pleasing the catgirl.
As she strolled towards the training area, Tiger was delighted to note
that Ranma hadn't yet lost consciousness. She smiled as she watched
him groggily regaining his feet, absently cracking her knuckles for a
few moments. The catgirl then launched into a devastating series of
punches and kicks against the pigtailed boy. After all, she had been
instructed to toughen him up, and it amused her to see how few of her
blows Ranma could take before falling. As much as her beloved wanted a
strong opponent, Tiger just could not see it as ever being Ranma
Saotome.
To his credit, Ranma managed to sustain a fairly credible defense by
sheer reflex alone, even while half-stunned. But it only lasted for a
few seconds before it was torn down, allowing the catgirl to begin
pummeling him with impunity. Ranma's second to last thought before
consciousness left him was to wonder what the girls had been up to
while he was training. The last one was to wonder why he would think
that.
******************************
Soun Tendo had heard many startling things in his life when it came to
his daughters, going all the way back to when Kimiko had announced that
she was pregnant with Kasumi. This time was no exception. Luckily, he
was well-schooled in hiding his emotions, so his startlement was not at
all apparent.
"I'm sorry, Your Lordship," said Soun calmly. "But, what did you just
say?"
Lord Daisho Kuno looked a little bit uncomfortable. He glanced over at
his wife, noted the firm set to her jaw, and sighed internally. He
hadn't thought that Soun Tendo would agree to anything like this, but
he had to follow through for form's sake.
"My son desires to take both of your two daughters as his concubines,
pending his marriage to a daughter of noble blood," said Lord Kuno.
Kodachi smirked, ever so slightly, as she regarded her rivals for
Ranma's attentions with an otherwise detached look. This was very
entertaining for her.
Akane blinked. The subtle smirk that Kodachi was giving her from the
other side of the table was not helping her mood. Her gaze slid over
to meet the lustful regard that Tatewaki Kuno was giving her at that
moment. A frown crossed her features, and her hands tightened into
fists beneath the table top, bunching the cloth of her yukata. How
dare this pompous lordling look at her like she was some sort of sex
object? Besides, she knew she was destined to be Ranma's wife, if she
had any say in the matter.
Nabiki's attention focussed briefly on Kenseiko, meeting the older
woman's gaze. The two regarded each other coolly, and Nabiki was
satisfied when she saw Kenseiko break eye contact first. She smirked
slightly at that.
Seeing that expression on Nabiki's face startled Kenseiko, but she hid
it well. Still, Nabiki was reminding her more and more of Kimiko, and
that was raising unpleasant memories. She's got her mother's smug
attitudes, Kenseiko thought sourly, her face still betraying no sign of
her feelings.
Nabiki turned her gaze to Tatewaki, not quite glaring at the nobleman.
The urge to toss him through the nearest window was tempting, but she
resisted for now. Her expression remained calm.
Tatewaki Kuno saw the two Tendo sisters looking at him, and he basked
in their regard. He noted that both were obviously speechless with
gratitude at the chance to become his concubines, and Kuno resolved
himself to proving himself worthy of their love. They were both so
beautiful, he wondered how he could live without possessing them. He
had to have them both.
"While I am honored that your son would seek to make such an offer to
my daughters, Your Lordship," said Soun in his best diplomatic tones.
"I am afraid that I promised their departed mother that I would see to
it that all of them became wives. I hope Your Lordship can understand
my situation."
Tatewaki blinked as his pleasant fantasy involving himself and both
Tendo sisters imploded with an almost audible pop.
"Of course, Tendo-san," said Lord Kuno magnanimously, grateful at
having been offered a chance to save face. He turned to look at his
wife.
"The wishes of a mother should be paramount when it comes to the future
happiness of a daughter," said Kenseiko grandly. She was grateful that
Nabiki would never become a part of her household, even if only as a
concubine to her son. The girl's eyes were clever, too clever by far.
She could also see a bit of her old nemesis' thuggish tendencies in the
younger daughter. The thought of her beloved son ever siring children
on these two was a repellant notion, now that she had met them. She
was glad that their father was rejecting the matter. That would leave
her free to put all of her attentions on getting Tatewaki engaged to a
girl that would be far more suitable to him.
"Tendo-san!" cried Kuno in dismay. He glanced at his father and mother
in shock, before returning his gaze to Soun. "I offer your daughters
an honored place amidst wealth and splendor! How can you refuse this?"
"Some things just aren't meant to be, Kuno-kun," said Nabiki, rising
from her seated position. "Perhaps it will happen in another life."
"Yeah," said Akane, also rising to her feet. "Thanks, but no thanks."
There was only one man for her, and she wasn't going to let anything
get in her way of claiming him, especially not a weakling like Kuno.
After all, he hadn't even beaten her in a fight. How could she love a
man so weak?
Kodachi watched her brother visibly deflating as his dream faded, and
she was suddenly inspired. Her brother never could resist a challenge.
"Alas, brother dear," said Kodachi, looking at Kuno with false sadness.
"I fear your desires shall remain unfulfilled. Even if Tendo-san were
to change his mind, you would still be unable to possess them. They
both require a strong man to be with. Isn't that right, Nabiki Tendo?"
"That's right," agreed Nabiki with a nod, and then glanced at Kodachi,
noting the guileless look on her face. The noblewoman had played her
well, and she was irritated that Kodachi had been able to do so.
"I am a strong man!" roared Kuno.
"Then prove it, brother dear," said Kodachi with a calm look. "Nabiki
Tendo here fancies herself to be a strong fighter. Challenge her and
prove it."
Nabiki glared briefly at Kodachi for her remarks, and grimaced slightly
when she noticed Kuno looking her over. If he did decide to challenge
her skills, she was obligated to accept, for her counterpart's code of
honor required no less. It was annoying to find herself bound to obey
such bushido rhetoric, but she accepted it philosophically.
Sometimes you just can't fight fate, mused Nabiki. And this seemed to
be one of those times. Still, the thought of fighting with Kuno was
kind of intriguing, since she did find him to be attractive on some
deeper level, something she was still a little surprised at herself to
feel. Not that he would be any real challenge, especially with her new
speed, but it might be fun for a minute or two.
"Very well," said Kuno, calming down. "Nabiki Tendo, I challenge you."
"I accept your challenge, Tatewaki Kuno," said Nabiki. She smirked as
a sudden inspiration struck her. "If you win, then I'll go out with
you on a date. If I win, you'll leave me and my sister alone for a
week."
"Done!" cried Kuno.
"Your Lordship," said Soun, hoping to regain control of this situation.
"I respectfully ask that you put a stop to all this."
"Don't worry, Daddy," said Nabiki confidently. "I'm not going to lose
this fight."
"We shall see, Nabiki Tendo," murmured Lord Kuno, ignoring Soun for a
moment to study the girl. "We shall see."
******************************
Nabiki watched Kuno limbering up with a lazy look. After all, Ranma
had defeated this version of Kuno several times now, so he wasn't very
tough. She was contemplating ways that she could prolong the match a
bit, since she didn't want to utterly humiliate him. Nabiki absently
fingered the borrowed gi she was wearing, one of Kodachi's, as she
thought about it.
"Good luck, Sis," said Akane with a sincere smile, clapping her on the
shoulder. "I'll be rooting for you." The youngest Tendo was genuinely
looking forward to watching her sister fight, but she also had ulterior
motives. Since Nabiki still refused to teach her any of this new style
she was using, Akane realized she would have to learn it by watching it
in action. It would be a challenge to do so without Nabiki realizing
what she was doing, but Akane had always possessed a strong gift for
picking up new combat techniques. She would memorize her sister's
movements and break them down later, analyzing each one's strengths and
weaknesses to add to her own repertoire.
Akane's own fight with Sakura Kasugano was set for this Saturday, only
two days from now, and she had been training hard to be as ready for it
as she could be. She wanted to join the Combat Club as badly as she
wanted Ranma Saotome, and she had never before imagined that she could
ever desire a boy as strongly as she loved to fight. She had also been
mulling over her disappointing trip to Ohtori, and also the unfinished
business she still had with a certain pink-haired bimbo. She was still
puzzled as to why Nabiki had been at Ohtori, since her sister's answers
during the ride home were unsatisfying. She stepped away when their
father approached.
"Are you sure about this, Nabiki-chan?" asked Soun, concern leaking out
through his emotional controls. While waiting for Nabiki to change for
the match, he had smoked several cigarettes, but they had done very
little to calm his nerves. He hadn't felt this nervous for a long
time, but he could admit to also feeling proud of his daughter too.
She looked fit and ready to take on the world, so much like her mother
had once been. He absently pulled out another cigarette and lit it up.
Across the mat of the training hall, Lord Kuno studied the Tendo girl
and noted the confident casualness of her stance. She was ready for a
fight, without looking ready. It was a most difficult technique to
master, and the sign of an almost preternatural skill in the martial
arts. He was interested in seeing how his son fared against her.
Kenseiko was torn in her desires, watching both sides of the training
hall with equal interest. She didn^�t want her beloved son to lose to a
daughter of Kimiko's, but the thought of Tatewaki sullying himself in
the embrace of one was equally as concerning. As a loving mother, one
who only desired the best for her little boy, who should she root for?
Kodachi was enjoying the little drama unfolding before her when Akane
Tendo came over and stood next to her.
"I don't understand what your game is, debutante." Akane remarked in
greeting. She dropped down onto the bench next to Kodachi without
waiting for an invitation and helped herself to some of the tea from
the pot. She studied Kodachi as the other girl quietly sipped her tea,
studiously trying to ignore her.
Kodachi inwardly restrained herself from attacking Akane for acting so
familiarly with one of her social betters. She also made a mental note
to pummel the girl for her rude impertinence at a more opportune time.
Ignoring her did not appear to be working, since Akane was making no
moves to leave her presence.
"Your sister is a skilled fighter," Kodachi said with reluctance. "But
so is my brother. I am curious to see how they fare in a match-up."
She smiled at her own wit, a double meaning that she was certain a
dullard like Akane wouldn't pick up on. It was astonishing to the
young noblewoman how such a muscle-bound barbarian as Akane was could
possibly think that she could take Ranma away from a woman of her wit
and obvious refinement.
"Ranma beat him," Akane pointed out. "And, as much as I hate to say
it, even though she's my own sister, I think she's as good as he is.
Your brother is going to get pounded." She paused for a moment and
lowered her voice. "Just like you're going to get pounded, if I catch
you going near Ranma Saotome." Akane glared at Kodachi.
Kodachi snorted dismissively. "As if I fear you, my thuggish nemesis.
Ranma Saotome is far too good a man for one such as you."
"Why you arrogant-" The remainder of Akane's remarks were set aside as
the match between Nabiki and Kuno began.
Nabiki dodged aside as Kuno immediately went on the offensive, and she
was a little surprised to see that he wasn't holding back against her.
Combined with the pleasant tingling that Kuno's nearness was causing
within her, that upped her interest level in the fight a little. She
evaded his strikes by only centimeters on purpose, supremely confident
in her skills. It made their duel look more dramatic, after all.
Kuno paused in his attacks, studying Nabiki as she gracefully settled
in one place after evading his efforts to strike her. She fought like
that accursed Ranma Saotome did, dancing around him like he was almost
standing still. It was extremely annoying to be taunted by her like
this, but that was only fanning the flames of his desires for Nabiki.
He yearned to take her down, to prove his masculine superiority to the
smug-looking girl. He would defeat Nabiki Tendo. It was time for him
to unleash his new technique on the girl, the one he had been saving
for use on that insufferable peasant, Ranma Saotome.
"Strike!Strike!Strike!Strike!Strike!Strike!Strike!Strike!" Kuno's
bokken stabbed through the air, appearing to be everywhere at once.
Nabiki was pleased in a way to see that Kuno had a little more fighting
ability to him than he had previously shown her. Still, she could feel
her body straining a bit as she dodged through the storm of rapid-fire
weapon strikes coming at her, and there was a moment of intense pain as
one of them actually glanced across her lower ribs. Her body still
wasn't quite up to a level of performance that would have made this
fight look as effortless for her as it would have been for her analog,
but her training in the Chestnut Fist technique was helping. However,
the pain of the strike had quickly ended her amusement. Kuno was going
down as soon as she got a moment to counterattack.
Lord Kuno was amazed at Nabiki's capabilities, demonstrating both speed
and agility that bordered on inhuman. He watched the girl dance like
some sort of elusive phantom between the high-speed strikes of his
son's weapon, somehow evading them. She was well-skilled, but he noted
that his son had managed to get at least one blow in. That was cold
comfort, at best.
Nabiki suddenly dropped down below Kuno's guard as his attacks wound
down, before snapping her body upwards in a blur of motion. A rapid-
fire series of punches impacted into Kuno as her body rose, each strike
moving slower than an unleashed Amaguriken would have done, but she was
saving that maneuver for Ranma. She swiftly completed the acrobatic
move and flipped backwards, landing a short distance away from Kuno.
She grunted a bit at the intense pain coming from her ribs, but she
could tell nothing was broken.
Kuno toppled over, an astonished look upon his face.
"Awesome," Akane blurted out, before getting up and hurrying over to
Nabiki. She had barely been able to follow her sister's movements
during that last maneuver, Nabiki's punches had been moving so swiftly.
"Your daughter is a most skilled combatant, Tendo-san," said Lord Kuno
with icy calm. "I feel certain that her abilities shall bring your
household great honor."
"Thank you, Your Lordship," replied Soun absently, still surprised at
Nabiki's extraordinary display of fighting skill. Kasumi had told him
all about her recent improvements several days ago, but it was another
thing to witness his little girl in action. He felt a tear welling up
in one eye, born of a father's pride, and he made no effort to wipe it
away or hide it. She had reminded him so much of her mother while she
was fighting.
Kodachi casually strolled over to Nabiki. She noted that both sisters
turned to eye her, Akane being more open in showing her dislike for the
approaching noblewoman. Kodachi tipped her head slightly to Nabiki,
acknowledging her rival's skill. She had hoped that Kuno would have
done a little better against the insufferable girl, but his loss played
into her hands as well. Her brother would never accept such a defeat
gracefully, and he was certain to challenge Nabiki Tendo again. With a
little careful effort on her part, Kodachi was certain that she could
gradually steer the pair into a relationship, for they already had a
certain amount of passion towards each other. Her scheme was working
out well so far.
"Congratulations on your victory, Nabiki Tendo," said Kodachi with
diplomacy. "How is your own injury?"
"This?" scoffed Akane, quickly ramming her hand against Nabiki's side,
to show the pompous noblewoman that a Tendo girl was made of much
sterner stuff than other women were. "This is nothing. Right, Sis?"
Nabiki blinked back tears for a moment before replying, "Sure, Akane.
No problem." Gathering herself, she stood up straight and smirked at
Kodachi.
"I see," said Kodachi, smiling slightly. She turned when Kuno came up
behind her, impressed at his recuperative abilities.
"Nabiki Tendo," intoned Kuno, gazing at Nabiki. "Know that I shall not
rest until my skills can overcome thine." He then turned to look at
Akane. "Ah, fair lioness, thou art the equal in charms to those of thy
lovely sister." He turned back to study Nabiki, then once again to
Akane. Suddenly, he leaped at the startled pair, crying, "I must have
you both!"
Nabiki felt Kuno's arms clamp shut around her and Akane for a moment or
two, both of them caught up in his unexpected hug. Her ribs flared
painfully from the embrace, quickly prompting her to slam her would-be
paramour to the ground. She saw Akane finish him off with a kick to
his face, sending Kuno back into slumber.
Lord Kuno shook his head and sighed. Days spent training him, and the
boy gets taken down by a slip of a girl nearly a head shorter than he
was. But Lord Daisho Kuno wasn't finished with Nabiki Tendo yet, not
quite.
******************************
Coach Fujinami sighed as he watched Ranma sail across the room once
more, the boy's body propelled by a solid kick to the chest. He winced
as he saw Ranma slam into the unyielding, hardwood walls. Glancing at
Tiger, he thought he saw a brief grin cross her face as she surveyed
the results of her latest handiwork, but he could not be sure. The
catgirl was still an enigma to him, even after almost a week watching
her spar with Ranma. She displayed far more personality than he had
expected from a replicant, combined with a gung-ho attitude.
The match against Ohtori was tomorrow, and Ranma was looking about as
ready as he would ever be this week. The boy had improved a fair
amount during this intense training, so Coach Fujinami was going to
give the boy the remainder of the day to recover. Ranma's recuperative
abilities were impressive, so a good night's sleep should leave him in
good fighting shape.
Remaining at her position on the mat as she dropped her leg, Tiger
quietly enjoyed the sight of Ranma's plight, happy to be fulfilling her
master's wishes. She was also beginning to wonder at Ranma's combat
abilities. For the past week, she had kicked him, punched him, body
slammed him, and generally spent her time knocking him around with only
token resistance on his part. Admittedly, her Genom-bioengineered
speed and strength gave her a tremendous advantage over any mere human
(except, she quickly amended, for her beloved Kinnosuke-sama), but
there was a nagging uncertainty in the back of her mind.
Ranma was improving.
Of course, that had been the general idea, and the very reason why her
beloved master had loaned her to the Academy, to assist in Ranma's
training. But there was something troubling about his improvement. It
bothered Tiger to discover that each savage beating she administered to
him seemed to strengthen something intangible within the pigtailed boy,
building it a little bit more each day. It was inconceivable to Tiger
that someone like Ranma Saotome could ever pose a credible threat to
her, let alone to her beloved Kinnosuke-sama, but she still felt a
little distraught by what she sensed in him.
Shrugging her shoulders, Tiger banished the worrisome thought to a back
corner of her mind. She took a moment to relax, stretching her spine a
little as she replaced her previous, worrisome thoughts with pleasant
ones about her beloved. She missed him, especially late at night while
she lay all alone in the bed provided for her. Tiger's right hand
closed into a tight fist as she imagined how Lynx and Panther must have
been taking advantage of her absence. The sooner she returned to her
master's side, the better. However, until she was released from her
labors, she would continue to follow her orders.
Besides, Tiger thought with a brief purr in the back of her throat, she
had already learned of a crippling weakness that Ranma Saotome had, a
surprising phobia that she had been using to her advantage for several
days. At first, she had thought he was afraid of her, being that she
was a replicant, but it turned out that he was afraid of felines. She
purred softly once again as she remembered the stray cat that had been
prowling around the back, coming up to her during a mealtime break as
if sensing a kinship. The look of stark terror suddenly appearing on
Ranma's face at the sight of the cat had been priceless.
Since then, Tiger had been playing up her own feline nature, testing
out her theory before she presented it to Kinnosuke-sama for his
decision. Even as little as a flick of her catlike ears, or a sharp
glance at him from her slit-pupilled eyes, could induce a hesitation in
Ranma during a sparring match, making it even easier to pummel him.
Tiger only wished that it could have been Nabiki Tendo instead. To
have her hated nemesis too terrified of her to resist would be true
justice, not to mention a delicious irony. The thought of the Tendo
girl cowering before her was a sight Tiger would enjoy sharing with
Lynx and Panther, even as they exacted their vengeance upon Nabiki for
attracting their master's attention away from them.
Oh, if only you did fear me, Nabiki Tendo, thought Tiger with regret.
"Tiger?" said Coach Fujinami. He stepped up next to the redhead.
"Yes, sir?" replied Tiger, standing in a pose of relaxed readiness.
Fujinami gestured at Ranma's semi-conscious body with his thumb. "Put
Saotome through his paces for another hour, and then you can consider
your assignment here finished. I'm giving the boy the rest of the day
off, so that he'll be fully recovered for the match tomorrow."
"Are you leaving, sir?" Tiger's eyes brightened a bit.
"Yes. I have some paperwork to deal with that I've been putting off,
so I'll be in my office if you need me for anything. Do you have any
questions?"
"No, sir," Tiger replied with a smile. "I understand."
"Farewell, Tiger." The Coach turned and walked out the door.
Now all alone with Ranma, Tiger paused to crack her knuckles. An hour?
She could inflict a fair amount of pain in an hour.
Across the room, a battered-looking Ranma slowly slumped to his knees,
his face sliding down the wall. He blinked as consciousness slipped in
and out of his grasp. His training was almost done, he mused. Only
one more day until he faced Utena again. If Tiger didn't kill him
first.
"Get up," suddenly said a voice from his right. "You've gotta get up,
bookworm. You bested Nabiki, and you can win here. So get back on
your feet."
Ranma blinked and tried to clear the fog in his head. Leaning against
the wall felt pretty good right now. His thoughts continued to drift.
"You're just a punk kid playing dress-up," he heard Genma's voice say.
"You're not a real martial artist."
"You're a wimp, Ranma Saotome," Ranko's voice taunted.
"You can be my sidekick, Ranma-kun," said Nabiki from his memories. "I
heard you lost your big fight in under five minutes."
A surge of anger shook away some of the cotton enfolding Ranma's mind.
He placed his hands on the floor and began getting up. He was not
defeated. He would get up as many times as it took to prove that. He
would find a way to win, both against his fear and against Tiger.
Tiger flicked an ear forward, as she watched Ranma getting up. She
waited at her place on the mat, her eyes studying him. When he began
coming towards her, she raised her hands into loose fists, her body
moving into a defensive stance. She shifted her position as he circled
her, a glint of amusement in her eyes as she saw the slight trickle of
blood still coming from his nose.
The fear filled Ranma's guts, sapping his strength. However, he could
feel something else rearing up in the back of his skull, a slight buzz.
It was somehow pushing the fear aside as it rose up, and Ranma smiled
when he realized that. He had almost forgotten that he had another
option, aside from the Neko-ken. Ever since his fight with his two
assailants from the Wolf Pack, he had been aware of it. Something
powerful coiled in the cells in the back of his brain, only waiting to
be unleashed.
Ranma could feel the buzz moving through his brain, releasing an almost
erotic sensation in its wake. It was building in strength within him,
yearning for release. He savored the feelings, his mind instinctively
cataloging each passion for future reference. In those last, blessed
moments of clarity, Ranma's fear left him. The buzzing finally became
too insistent to ignore any longer. It reared up and demanded release-
-and Ranma boosted.
His heart raced, and blood roared through Ranma's head. The subliminal
control programs buried in his brain were triggered by the awakening of
this primitive self within him. His system flooded with adrenaline,
endorphins, and other complex serums from the genetically engineered
glands laced throughout his body. His muscles surged with vitality,
his senses expanded, and his thoughts flew lightning-fast and clear in
his mind.
Tiger could see the change in Ranma's eyes, and she knew she was in for
a real fight. That was fine with her. An opportunity to cut loose was
always welcome. Fighting was what she was designed for, after all.
She was planning to enjoy this.
No words were spoken by either combatant, and none were needed. They
charged each other, each instinctively recognizing the other as an
opponent that needed to be taken down as quickly and as efficiently as
possible. Witty banter had no place in that. Instead, they conversed
in movements, a symphony of combat taking place between them.
Ranma struck out at the catgirl while simultaneously blocking and
evading her own attacks. His earlier pains were gone, wiped away by
the cocktail of biochemicals now filling his bloodstream. Every motion
was born of reflex, leaving his conscious thoughts disconnected in a
way from the rest of his body, free to enjoy the fight. Doubt was
gone, and so was fear. For these precious moments, he felt invincible.
Tiger's jaw came close to becoming dislocated when Ranma's fist came in
and penetrated her defenses. Only her beloved Kinnosuke-sama had ever
struck her when she was fighting in full combat mode, but he was the
exception. Her subliminal combat programming reacted far faster than
her conscious mind could absorb, shifting to a more defensive mode. It
was only a single blow. It meant nothing. Her neurology contained an
expansive repertoire of pre-programmed, hardwired maneuvers capable of
dealing with anything. It could deal with Ranma Saotome.
Ranma dodged aside from Tiger's kick, but the blow grazed him. His
elbow came down at the catgirl's knee but missed, and a brief moment of
disappointment filled him. It was gone in the next instant, his body
already reacting to a blow that Tiger's had barely begun to throw. He
could feel what she was about to do, rather than see it. Since his
conscious mind was only along for the ride, it was difficult to explain
what he was experiencing, even to himself.
Tiger maneuvered their battle over to the wall, pressing hard against
Ranma's defenses and forcing him to give ground. He ducked at her next
punch and her fist went through the cinderblock wall like it was paper.
The fraction of a second that delayed her enabled him to land another
blow, this time into her midsection. She backflipped away from him
before he could inflict any more damage.
The clock on the wall had hardly moved, a single glance from Ranma
showed, barely thirty seconds having passed. He charged Tiger, driven
now by an irresistible need to conquer her. With each passing second,
the two exchanged a flurry of blows.
After a minute, Ranma felt something happen to him. His body suddenly
dropped out of boost, the change triggered by some sort of subliminal
limiter within his brain. Even as the accumulated stresses hit his
system all at once, a solid blow from Tiger's fist knocked him across
the room, and his body slammed into the wall hard enough to leave an
impression this time. He sagged on the edge of unconsciousness.
Tiger staggered where she was, shaking her head. She felt her ribs and
grimaced. One of Ranma's punches had bruised or possibly even cracked
a few of them. She was astonished. Ranma had the boost, like her own
master did. Luckily, his body must be unused to it, or he would still
be fighting. Her Kinnosuke-sama could sustain it for several minutes,
but he needed to rest and eat soon afterwards to recover. The boost
burned through the body's reserves at a prodigious rate.
Ranma staggered back to his feet by sheer willpower, only to be slammed
back against the wall and held there by Tiger. His feet left the floor
as she held him aloft by his throat. He grasped at her arm with both
hands, struggling to catch a breath.
Tiger growled, "You. Hurt. Me." Her eyes blazed with fury, her ears
flat on her head.
Staring down at the catgirl, Ranma saw his nightmares personified in
Tiger at that moment. Struggling to breathe, he tried to summon up the
boost once again, but it had gone away somewhere. His fears surged up
as his vision slowly turned gray, his brain beginning to starve for
lack of oxygen.
"Wake up, Saotome-san," purred Tiger, slapping her hand hard back and
forth across his face. "It's time to die."
The pain helped Ranma to focus on a single notion.
Cat.
A cat had him trapped.
Cat equaled pain.
Ranma shuddered in Tiger's grasp, held fast against the wall by her
iron grip on his throat. Fear filled him, flooding all corners of his
being. His hands dropped away from Tiger's arm as his mind went away
somewhere. Battered from the fight, and drained by the Boost of any
reserves he might have had, the fear he'd been barely holding back over
the past few days broke free. His last conscious thoughts, before the
numbing warmness washed over his mind, was to curse Genma Saotome, and
to hope to hell whatever was happening to him, worked.
Tiger slammed Ranma back against the wall, sensing the pigtailed boy
weakening in her grasp. It was almost over. All she had to do was to
tighten her grip, and Ranma Saotome would cease to be a concern for
anyone. The boy had hurt her badly, and he could be a serious threat
to her beloved Kinnosuke-sama. Her hand began to squeeze. Ranma
seemed to be trying to say something, and she released her grip long
enough to hear what his last words would be.
"Meeeooowwww," growled Ranma-neko.
"What?" Tiger blurted out in confusion.
Ranma-neko lashed out at the catgirl holding him by the throat, batting
her away with a reverse swipe of his hand.
Tiger landed gracefully on her feet, surprised that Ranma still had any
strength left to resist her. She felt her jaw, almost dislocated for a
second time that day by the boy standing in front of her. She saw him
crouch down and growl.
Ranma-neko eyed the female in front of him. She had been hurting him,
and he didn't like that. It was time to teach the female who the
dominant one around here was. With a leap, Ranma-neko tackled Tiger,
taking her down like she was an unruly cub. A brief struggle ensued,
only ending when Ranma-neko finally pinned Tiger underneath him. He
batted away her efforts to free herself, and grasped the back of her
neck in his jaws, his chi forming fangs that pressed against her flesh.
Tiger froze, surprised and a little frightened at how easily Ranma had
overcome her. She had reflexively ceased struggling when she felt his
fangs on the back of her neck. She blinked in surprise when she felt
Ranma's tongue beginning to groom her.
Ranma-neko paused in his grooming efforts, batting aside the silly
female's renewed efforts to free herself. When she continued them, he
pinned her firmly and grasped the back of her neck once more. He held
on until she relented. When she did, he went back to grooming her.
Tiger felt Ranma's breath tickling the back of her neck as he groomed
her, gently licking the back of her neck and the side of her face.
After a while, she was surprised to find herself purring from his
attentions, responding to him as her instincts demanded. She closed
her eyes and relished the sensations, something that Kinnosuke-sama had
never done for her. Now, here she was in his designated foe's grasp,
submitting to him like a female cat would to a male cat, a prisoner of
her biological imperatives. It was irony at its best.
Ranma-neko felt the female shifting underneath him, but she didn^�t seem
to be trying to escape. He felt her lips begin nuzzling against his
face, her tongue moving across his skin. He rumbled a purr low in his
throat, enjoying the sensations, and continued to groom the female now
that she had accepted his dominion over her. Life was good.
******************************
Cherry paused in preparing his afternoon meal, the small fire burning
in front of him choosing that moment to spit out a few sparks. The
little pot suspended over the flames bubbled over as the monk eyed the
skies, a few grains of rice falling to burn in the fire beneath. He
could sense something in the air, as if a far away storm was announcing
its presence with a faint breeze.
Unsure whether or not to trust his own instincts, the diminutive monk
pulled out a small ivory bowl, and a matching set of small, ivory
sticks. He picked the sticks up in one hand and scattered them into
the bowl. One of them bounced out and almost landed in the fire. He
scooped it off of the ashes before it could be damaged.
"A bad omen," whispered Cherry, studying the errant stick. His rice
cooker bubbled over some more, and he immediately snapped back to more
important matters. Ominous fates were one thing, but his lunch was far
more important.
******************************
Tiger was pensive as she stood outside the gates of Kashuoh Manor, her
uniform resting immaculate upon her body, her military-style cap upon
her head. A stray lock of red hair blew past her eyes. Absently, she
tucked it back behind her ear. She pulled open one side of the heavy,
wrought-iron gates and stepped inside, closing it behind her. She
trudged up the driveway to the mansion, her little carry-bag in hand,
briefly stopping to sniff the flowers. A melancholy smile appeared on
her face, as she remembered when her beloved master had presented her
with one of these flowers on her first day in his service. She still
had it, pressed between the pages of a scrapbook she kept. She stood
up when she heard footsteps behind her.
"Tiger," greeted Lynx, smirking a bit. "So, how went your mission?
I'm sure you'll be quite pleased to hear that Panther and I kept
Kinnosuke-sama satisfied while you were gone. Mainly me though."
Tiger's gaze suddenly hardened. Before Lynx could even react, she
backhanded the other catgirl hard across the face, knocking her into
some shrubbery. Picking up her small bag, Tiger nodded to the stunned
Lynx.
"My mission went satisfactorily."
******************************
Ranma awoke several hours later, alone in his bedroom in the dormitory.
He couldn't remember how he had gotten there. That last fight with
Tiger was nothing but a blur in his mind. He sat up and turned on the
lamp. His stomach rumbled demandingly with hunger. A tray of food was
on the desk, calling to him. He ate it quickly. It was delicious.
There was no sound from Tiger's room. The bedding was folded up and
her bag was gone. He breathed out a sigh of relief. His nightmare was
ending at last. He briefly wondered what Nabiki and the other girls
had been up to while he had been involved in his training.
After bathing and soaking away his aches in the bath, Ranma returned to
his room. After tomorrow, he would finally be returning home, to sleep
in his own room. Rebuilding the resonator would be his next task after
his rematch with Utena, a project that had been too long delayed due to
the extra training the dean and head coach had forced upon him.
Ranma flipped open his notebook and studied it. He had been giving his
father's rescue a great deal of thought this week, those few hours when
he wasn't getting beaten up or spending unconscious. An analysis of
the data left him with depressingly few options, but at least he now
understood what had happened.
While the two Earths had been linked through the resonator, a brief
period had occurred when the superspace paraequipotential flux reached
a state of hyper-alignment. It was during that window of opportunity
that the resonator's capacitor had chosen to overload and spontaneously
discharge. The power surge reversed the polarities of the system,
casting his real father into that other world and bringing that Genma
Saotome to his own.
The problem was that it was extremely difficult to pre-determine when
the next window of opportunity would occur, due to the large number of
variables involved. There was even a possibility that there wouldn't
be another one for years, if ever. Even more discouraging, Ranma also
calculated that there existed an excellent chance that the procedure
could wipe clean the minds of both men, leaving them as vacant husks.
Shuddering at that notion, Ranma struggled to avoid being pessimistic
in his thoughts. The concept that his real father could be forever
trapped in that world was unthinkable. There had to be a way to bring
him back safely.
Ranma dropped the notebook onto the desk and rubbed his eyes. He was
going to find the answer to this problem. Every problem had a solution
to it. That was one of the last things his father had said to him.
Glancing down, Ranma noticed that his notebook had fallen open to the
incomplete equation and circuit diagrams that he had purloined weeks
ago from his female counterpart's Earth. He idly studied the equation
that filled one page, losing himself in the flows of numbers, a method
of relaxation for him. The last part of it was missing, tantalizing
him. He examined it a little more closely, and the solution suddenly
seemed to leap off the page at him. Ranma set pen to paper and wrote
in the final piece of the equation, then he stared at it. He began to
laugh.
Ranko had been wrong. Her device wouldn't generate an anti-gravity
field at all. Instead, when the superspacial paraequipotential flux
aligned just so, activating it would punch a hole from an originating
timeline tangent into an alternate one. But, without some method of
charting a course, the results would be random. This quantum tunnel
would only last a short while before collapsing again, when the flux
moved out of the proper alignment. Ranma sincerely hoped that Ranko
had discovered this risk before testing her device, otherwise the
chances of her ever seeing her home tangent again would be vanishingly
small.
Luckily for Ranma's needs, his own work provided a method for charting
a course to a destination. A much less sophisticated variation of the
quantum flux coil could be set up to emit a broadband signal that would
be detected from across superspace, acting as a sort of transponder
beacon. Circuitry installed in this quantum tunneling device could
lock onto that signal, allowing the portal to open to the desired
tangent. And by leaving a functioning quantum transponder on his home
Earth, he could return safely.
"I am a genius," Ranma muttered to himself. Creating this quantum
tunneling device would not be difficult with his world's technology,
and he was certain that even a much less technologically-sophisticated
world, such as the one his real father was on, could provide the needed
materials for a transponder.
He would, of course, have to test it before getting his father's hopes
up, but he was confident it would work. He also noticed an obvious
synergistic refinement to her device, by combining aspects of his own
work with it. He scribbled down modifications for adding a digital
readout to the device, by having it analyze the paraequipotential flux
energies and calculate the time remaining until the next window came
about.
Sitting back, Ranma closed the notebook and smiled. He felt confident
that his father's rescue was near at hand. And once that was finally
done, he could turn his attentions back to exploring other worlds, both
through the windows of the resonator and the doorways that the quantum
tunneler would open for him.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks to my pre-readers for all of their help and advice:
David Eddy
DB Sommer
Doug Whiddon
Jeremy Fogelman
Jim Bader
Stardragon
Stephen Sparrow