Can't really believe I'm doing this. It'll probably end up a catastrophe or more likely will go nowhere at all and not even get up to the point that was already written a dozen years ago.
More or less a combination of "The Jewel Box" and "Ranma's Magatama". My contribution rating: Pretty high. There's not a lot left of the originals in this.
Minor update/revamp of the episode titled "Genma ... cares?" I put more in from Genma's point of view and tried to make him a bit more sympathetic, but he disappeared from the thread after this point and I don't know if I want to change that.
Basically a combo of "A New Home" and "Spar With Me!" from the original thread. Some changes to dialogue, also deleted the name of Lu Xun but not the whole reference to him; just made it a reference to someone unnamed.
And this combines four episodes into one: "Rescue Mission", "Conflict", "Jumping In with Both Feet", and "Excessive Force". Difficult to believe this is happening, but it seems to be. A fair amount of dialogue changes here, nothing really to the plot though, all the events are basically the same.
If he had thought about it at the time, he might have paid attention to how suspiciously perfectly the box had fit in his hand.
The box was three inches wide and four inches long, by three inches deep – exactly the right proportions for the bit of jewelry inside and exactly the right proportions to snugly fit inside his palm. A little bit smaller on the long side and it would have been a perfect cube.
He’d ignored that.
The black color of the box was perfect.
The gold kanji lettering on top … flawless.
He had thought it was made for him. He’d had no idea how right he was.
And yet … he should have been more concerned about the name.
The horse kanji second, that was right.
But the storm kanji, first or at all … even though it could also be read “Ran”, it wasn’t right. It didn’t fit. His name wasn’t written that way, had never been written that way.
Yet … he could only feel that it did fit, and at that quite well.
He, Ranma Saotome, should have realized how doomed he was from the start.
Instead of realizing this fact … he defied the gods and opened the box.
Pillowed inside on a fine bed of silk was a jewel bead like those he’d seen on more than a handful of people around Tokyo. They’d all worn the beads as an earring, usually on the left. The rumor he’d heard was that every person wearing one of these beads was a Fighter, and indeed he had felt that some of them were martial artists … although he’d found none worth challenging so far.
From the instant he looked at that bead … he wanted to wear it.
His own ears hadn’t ever been pierced … but to correct that would only be the work of a second, or rather not even that long. The injury, minor as it would be, would heal around the piercing and that would be that.
Sitting in the box the bead was perfectly clear and looked like molded glass. The instant it felt even the smallest touch – less than a hundredth of a second – he caught that instant with his eyes – the bead went from crystal clear to opaque, and took on a bright color of gold. Even the simple metal loop acquired that gold color. The whole thing seemed lit from within, glowing like it was alive.
The instant he saw that color of gold … he wanted to wear it. He needed to wear it.
“Cool!” he exclaimed, grinning broadly, and slipped it onto his left ear, piercing the flesh of his earlobe with absolutely no trouble. Even the pain passed in barely a setsuna.
In the layers of his soul, somewhere in the deep reaches of himself, something that had never been acknowledged stirred, and the first link was forged to the very deepest of the deep.
He, Ranma Saotome, should have realized how doomed he was from the start.
But these events … are Fate.
======================================================================
“Where have you been, boy?” Ranma’s father’s voice greeted him as he walked into the Tendou home, though he could see instantly that his pops’ primary focus of attention was on the game he was playing with Mr Tendou.
“Around,” Ranma replied, not caring to give any details; he could tell from his father’s voice that the question was mostly for form’s sake anyhow.
He had been around, more or less just moving, feeling the magatama bounce against his neck as he walked, ran, or leaped. He found that he enjoyed the sensation.
“What’s it to you anyway, old man?” Ranma asked, his own question more or less for form’s sake alone also.
Yet his father rose to the bait, actually turning to look at his son, taking his eyes off the game-board … he would pay for that, Ranma knew, Mr Tendou wouldn’t give up this unanticipated opportunity to cheat … Anything Goes in shogi just as much as anywhere else.
Genma ignored his old friend’s reshaping the game board as he gave his son a cursory up-down glance. But then he saw something that instantly commanded his actual, full attention. The golden bead on Ranma’s left ear.
It was something that he knew and recognized instantly, on sight. His absolute greatest fear for his son. His wife’s sword had nothing on this, not that Ranma knew anything about that. Genma had been running from her since Ranma was a child, had taken Ranma away in hopes of avoiding Fate.
He let himself go pale verging on white. He pointed at the bead and let a tremor slip into his voice. “w – What is that? Where did you get it?”
Ranma tapped the gold bead dangling from his ear. “What? This thing?” he asked insolently, mockingly. “Found it earlier. And don’t even think about swiping it. It’s mine.”
Genma knew damn well it was Ranma’s. That was the whole damn point. Yet the words pierced his heart anyhow.
“Foolish boy!” he shouted, not caring about the disrespect, which was so mild as to be easily ignoreable. “Do you have any idea what that means?” He hoped that his son didn’t.
‘Sure, I’ve seen them before,” Ranma said with a shrug. “It means the person wearing it is a Fighter. I’m a Fighter, so I’m wearing it. Get over it.”
Genme could tell from the tone that Ranma didn’t really know what they meant and so what he was getting into, but there was no way for Genma to hint to Ranma that he did without giving away vital information. All he could do was steam a bit and return his “attention” to the now-worthless game of shogi he was playing, while really thinking of a way to get that bead away from Ranma somehow.
Deep in his heart, he knew that would be a pointless and meaningless gesture even if it succeeded.
Genma considered his options for the rest of the night, arriving at nothing. He made one pitiful attempt to convince Ranma otherwise, and it had failed just as much as he’d anticipated.
As Ranma lay asleep that night, Genma stayed awake for a time. Thinking. Cursing, though silently. Finally, just before he too fell asleep, he concluded he had to send the boy to Nodoka. Or worse, take Ranma to her himself.
That would be pure hell, Genma thought, and he cursed silently one last time.
Fate was proving to be a bitch indeed.
The box was three inches wide and four inches long, by three inches deep – exactly the right proportions for the bit of jewelry inside and exactly the right proportions to snugly fit inside his palm. A little bit smaller on the long side and it would have been a perfect cube.
He’d ignored that.
The black color of the box was perfect.
The gold kanji lettering on top … flawless.
He had thought it was made for him. He’d had no idea how right he was.
And yet … he should have been more concerned about the name.
The horse kanji second, that was right.
But the storm kanji, first or at all … even though it could also be read “Ran”, it wasn’t right. It didn’t fit. His name wasn’t written that way, had never been written that way.
Yet … he could only feel that it did fit, and at that quite well.
He, Ranma Saotome, should have realized how doomed he was from the start.
Instead of realizing this fact … he defied the gods and opened the box.
Pillowed inside on a fine bed of silk was a jewel bead like those he’d seen on more than a handful of people around Tokyo. They’d all worn the beads as an earring, usually on the left. The rumor he’d heard was that every person wearing one of these beads was a Fighter, and indeed he had felt that some of them were martial artists … although he’d found none worth challenging so far.
From the instant he looked at that bead … he wanted to wear it.
His own ears hadn’t ever been pierced … but to correct that would only be the work of a second, or rather not even that long. The injury, minor as it would be, would heal around the piercing and that would be that.
Sitting in the box the bead was perfectly clear and looked like molded glass. The instant it felt even the smallest touch – less than a hundredth of a second – he caught that instant with his eyes – the bead went from crystal clear to opaque, and took on a bright color of gold. Even the simple metal loop acquired that gold color. The whole thing seemed lit from within, glowing like it was alive.
The instant he saw that color of gold … he wanted to wear it. He needed to wear it.
“Cool!” he exclaimed, grinning broadly, and slipped it onto his left ear, piercing the flesh of his earlobe with absolutely no trouble. Even the pain passed in barely a setsuna.
In the layers of his soul, somewhere in the deep reaches of himself, something that had never been acknowledged stirred, and the first link was forged to the very deepest of the deep.
He, Ranma Saotome, should have realized how doomed he was from the start.
But these events … are Fate.
======================================================================
“Where have you been, boy?” Ranma’s father’s voice greeted him as he walked into the Tendou home, though he could see instantly that his pops’ primary focus of attention was on the game he was playing with Mr Tendou.
“Around,” Ranma replied, not caring to give any details; he could tell from his father’s voice that the question was mostly for form’s sake anyhow.
He had been around, more or less just moving, feeling the magatama bounce against his neck as he walked, ran, or leaped. He found that he enjoyed the sensation.
“What’s it to you anyway, old man?” Ranma asked, his own question more or less for form’s sake alone also.
Yet his father rose to the bait, actually turning to look at his son, taking his eyes off the game-board … he would pay for that, Ranma knew, Mr Tendou wouldn’t give up this unanticipated opportunity to cheat … Anything Goes in shogi just as much as anywhere else.
Genma ignored his old friend’s reshaping the game board as he gave his son a cursory up-down glance. But then he saw something that instantly commanded his actual, full attention. The golden bead on Ranma’s left ear.
It was something that he knew and recognized instantly, on sight. His absolute greatest fear for his son. His wife’s sword had nothing on this, not that Ranma knew anything about that. Genma had been running from her since Ranma was a child, had taken Ranma away in hopes of avoiding Fate.
He let himself go pale verging on white. He pointed at the bead and let a tremor slip into his voice. “w – What is that? Where did you get it?”
Ranma tapped the gold bead dangling from his ear. “What? This thing?” he asked insolently, mockingly. “Found it earlier. And don’t even think about swiping it. It’s mine.”
Genma knew damn well it was Ranma’s. That was the whole damn point. Yet the words pierced his heart anyhow.
“Foolish boy!” he shouted, not caring about the disrespect, which was so mild as to be easily ignoreable. “Do you have any idea what that means?” He hoped that his son didn’t.
‘Sure, I’ve seen them before,” Ranma said with a shrug. “It means the person wearing it is a Fighter. I’m a Fighter, so I’m wearing it. Get over it.”
Genme could tell from the tone that Ranma didn’t really know what they meant and so what he was getting into, but there was no way for Genma to hint to Ranma that he did without giving away vital information. All he could do was steam a bit and return his “attention” to the now-worthless game of shogi he was playing, while really thinking of a way to get that bead away from Ranma somehow.
Deep in his heart, he knew that would be a pointless and meaningless gesture even if it succeeded.
Genma considered his options for the rest of the night, arriving at nothing. He made one pitiful attempt to convince Ranma otherwise, and it had failed just as much as he’d anticipated.
As Ranma lay asleep that night, Genma stayed awake for a time. Thinking. Cursing, though silently. Finally, just before he too fell asleep, he concluded he had to send the boy to Nodoka. Or worse, take Ranma to her himself.
That would be pure hell, Genma thought, and he cursed silently one last time.
Fate was proving to be a bitch indeed.
"I don't understand, Saotome," Soun informed his old friend. "Why must Ranma leave? What about the Schools?"
Genma sighed heavily as he considered his response.
"I made a mistake, old friend," Genma said tiredly. "I made a number of them, but it all started with Nodoka."
"I don't understand," Soun repeated.
"When I married Nodoka, I had no idea what she was a part of," Genma explained. "If I had, I would have never gone through with it. It wasn't until just before I began Ranma's training in earnest that I discovered the truth."
"The truth?" Soun asked, mystified. "What horrible secret could she have been hiding from you that you would willingly turn your back on our promise?"
“You’re familiar with this book?” Genma asked, using a bit of Hidden Weapons technique to produce a book from nowhere.
His friend needed not even a second to recognize it. “Of course, Saotome! You’re just as familiar with it as I! The master,” and then he suddenly stopped, looking around wildly for several seconds before resuming, “the master talked about that book at length, from time to time. He thought it … what were his words … ‘a very great yarn’, I think.”
His friend nodded vaguely. “I had forgotten that. Well, that’s useful. So it needs no introduction. You know of the book, but did you know there are dozens and dozens of families, involving hundreds of students at seven schools throughout this part of Japan, that continually relive these events? Relive, re-fighting, sometimes dying, all of this ancient history? For most people it’s just a book … but for them it’s their reality.”
Soun Tendou shuddered in horror. “You must be joking, Saotome!”
Genma shook his head. “Sadly, my old friend, it is absolute truth. And Nodoka’s family is one of those families, and now Ranma is one of those wrapped up in what they call the Fate of the Sacred Bead. I wished desperately it wouldn’t have been the case … I took Ranma away in an effort to prevent it … hell, I convinced Nodoka that his name should be written differently in an effort to prevent it! Nodoka wanted his name to have the storm kanji in it, but it would have been read as “Ranma” in any case.” He shook his head. “Useless effort on my part. Fate found him when Fate was ready to do so.”
For a long minute neither spoke. It was finally the taller man who broke the silence.
“Is there no way to prevent this?”
Genma shook his head. “None that I could find. Fate has come for him, so he needs to go. I don’t want your girls wrapped up in this, Tendou, and if you think hard on it you don’t either.”
These words seemed to reach his friend. “No, I don’t,” the taller man said at length. “What will you do, to help your son stay alive?”
Genma’s eyes glinted. “I have trained Ranma to a level that damn few of these fighters will be able to match, I’m quite sure. That was the only way I knew how to prepare him, and what I wanted to do anyway. I won’t deny that old crone at the Cat Cafe has given him useful training,” he grumbled, “but the base was all my work. I will talk to him, make him aware that he may need, at some point that could come well before he’s ready for it, to use lethal force in a fight.”
His friend gasped. “That will not be easy for him to hear, Saotome! It never is! It may be especially hard for Ranma, with skills like his.”
Genma nodded. “I know. Believe me, I know. But there’s no helping it. There will be fighters for whom the code of a martial artist has no relevance whatsoever, and no meaning beyond some pretty words.”
Tears came to Soun’s eyes, but he wiped them away after barely a second. “A sad thought, Saotome. A sad thought indeed.”
For a while, again, they didn’t speak. Again it was the taller man who broke the silence. “Good luck to you, Saotome. May the gods keep your boy alive and well.”
Genma nodded curtly, “If I have any say in it, they will.”
He walked away from the table and the shogi board, and that was that.
======================================================================
"So that's it?" Ranma blinked in disbelief at his father. "After all the crap you've given me about the schools being joined and how I have to marry Akane and now you're saying forget all of it?"
"Things have changed, boy," Genma said as the pair walked toward the Saotome home. "Your mother will explain it to you better than I can."
"What about the others? Ucchan? Shampoo?" Ranma asked.
"What about them, boy?" Genma shrugged. "Do whatever you like."
Ranma was both irritated and relieved at Genma's response. At least the old man hadn't changed that much. Still, it was surprising that his father opted to accompany him to see his mother.
Ranma was still mystified by the old man's sudden turn around. He suspected it had something to do with the gold magatama hanging from his left ear, but what was so special about it that caused Genma to vacate the pact with Mr. Tendo, Ranma had yet to find out.
“Boy,” Genma said suddenly, in a harsh voice. “I want you to remember, always, no matter what, you’re a martial artist.”
"Feh, like I could forget," Ranma snorted.
"I'm serious, Ranma," Genma snapped. "You NEED to remember. You're about to be involved in something far different from anything you've had to deal with before. There’s every chance, and it could come very quickly, that some time in the near future you’ll have to kill an opponent in a fight to protect someone you care about.”
Ranma stopped moving. He considered the words. Reconsidered them. He touched the gold magatama still dangling from his left earlobe. “Is this damn bead that important? What if I just threw it away?”
Genma shook his head. “Throwing it away would be useless at this point. Fate found you before, Fate would find you again. But I’m glad … that you’re not attached to it.”
Ranma saw the expression his old man was wearing and grimaced.
"In spite of our travels, you've led a fairly sheltered life, Ranma," Genma said. "You've never faced evil, or insanity, or greed of the sort you might in the near future. I fear that all that sheltering might have given you instincts that could kill you at any moment. I've trained you to be strong and skilled, but if you want to survive, I believe you are going to have to learn to be hard, too, when it counts. And that isn’t easy, at all. I never taught you that because I had hoped we could avoid this, but that bead you wear found you.
"This isn't like the Hibiki boy jumping out at you and shouting 'Prepare to die'. It isn't even like when the Amazon-girl was hunting your female form. She didn't really want to kill you. The people your mother will tell you about won't have any qualms about ending your life. Some of them might even take pleasure in killing. Ranma, if you hesitate, you might end up just one more of a psycho’s victims.”
“Pops,” Ranma began, but he found he couldn’t say more, and he was interrupted anyway.
"Your mother will explain,” Genma said, in a voice that told Ranma that was the end of the conversation.
The rest of the trip to the Saotome home passed in silence as Ranma considered what he'd been told.
Genma sighed heavily as he considered his response.
"I made a mistake, old friend," Genma said tiredly. "I made a number of them, but it all started with Nodoka."
"I don't understand," Soun repeated.
"When I married Nodoka, I had no idea what she was a part of," Genma explained. "If I had, I would have never gone through with it. It wasn't until just before I began Ranma's training in earnest that I discovered the truth."
"The truth?" Soun asked, mystified. "What horrible secret could she have been hiding from you that you would willingly turn your back on our promise?"
“You’re familiar with this book?” Genma asked, using a bit of Hidden Weapons technique to produce a book from nowhere.
His friend needed not even a second to recognize it. “Of course, Saotome! You’re just as familiar with it as I! The master,” and then he suddenly stopped, looking around wildly for several seconds before resuming, “the master talked about that book at length, from time to time. He thought it … what were his words … ‘a very great yarn’, I think.”
His friend nodded vaguely. “I had forgotten that. Well, that’s useful. So it needs no introduction. You know of the book, but did you know there are dozens and dozens of families, involving hundreds of students at seven schools throughout this part of Japan, that continually relive these events? Relive, re-fighting, sometimes dying, all of this ancient history? For most people it’s just a book … but for them it’s their reality.”
Soun Tendou shuddered in horror. “You must be joking, Saotome!”
Genma shook his head. “Sadly, my old friend, it is absolute truth. And Nodoka’s family is one of those families, and now Ranma is one of those wrapped up in what they call the Fate of the Sacred Bead. I wished desperately it wouldn’t have been the case … I took Ranma away in an effort to prevent it … hell, I convinced Nodoka that his name should be written differently in an effort to prevent it! Nodoka wanted his name to have the storm kanji in it, but it would have been read as “Ranma” in any case.” He shook his head. “Useless effort on my part. Fate found him when Fate was ready to do so.”
For a long minute neither spoke. It was finally the taller man who broke the silence.
“Is there no way to prevent this?”
Genma shook his head. “None that I could find. Fate has come for him, so he needs to go. I don’t want your girls wrapped up in this, Tendou, and if you think hard on it you don’t either.”
These words seemed to reach his friend. “No, I don’t,” the taller man said at length. “What will you do, to help your son stay alive?”
Genma’s eyes glinted. “I have trained Ranma to a level that damn few of these fighters will be able to match, I’m quite sure. That was the only way I knew how to prepare him, and what I wanted to do anyway. I won’t deny that old crone at the Cat Cafe has given him useful training,” he grumbled, “but the base was all my work. I will talk to him, make him aware that he may need, at some point that could come well before he’s ready for it, to use lethal force in a fight.”
His friend gasped. “That will not be easy for him to hear, Saotome! It never is! It may be especially hard for Ranma, with skills like his.”
Genma nodded. “I know. Believe me, I know. But there’s no helping it. There will be fighters for whom the code of a martial artist has no relevance whatsoever, and no meaning beyond some pretty words.”
Tears came to Soun’s eyes, but he wiped them away after barely a second. “A sad thought, Saotome. A sad thought indeed.”
For a while, again, they didn’t speak. Again it was the taller man who broke the silence. “Good luck to you, Saotome. May the gods keep your boy alive and well.”
Genma nodded curtly, “If I have any say in it, they will.”
He walked away from the table and the shogi board, and that was that.
======================================================================
"So that's it?" Ranma blinked in disbelief at his father. "After all the crap you've given me about the schools being joined and how I have to marry Akane and now you're saying forget all of it?"
"Things have changed, boy," Genma said as the pair walked toward the Saotome home. "Your mother will explain it to you better than I can."
"What about the others? Ucchan? Shampoo?" Ranma asked.
"What about them, boy?" Genma shrugged. "Do whatever you like."
Ranma was both irritated and relieved at Genma's response. At least the old man hadn't changed that much. Still, it was surprising that his father opted to accompany him to see his mother.
Ranma was still mystified by the old man's sudden turn around. He suspected it had something to do with the gold magatama hanging from his left ear, but what was so special about it that caused Genma to vacate the pact with Mr. Tendo, Ranma had yet to find out.
“Boy,” Genma said suddenly, in a harsh voice. “I want you to remember, always, no matter what, you’re a martial artist.”
"Feh, like I could forget," Ranma snorted.
"I'm serious, Ranma," Genma snapped. "You NEED to remember. You're about to be involved in something far different from anything you've had to deal with before. There’s every chance, and it could come very quickly, that some time in the near future you’ll have to kill an opponent in a fight to protect someone you care about.”
Ranma stopped moving. He considered the words. Reconsidered them. He touched the gold magatama still dangling from his left earlobe. “Is this damn bead that important? What if I just threw it away?”
Genma shook his head. “Throwing it away would be useless at this point. Fate found you before, Fate would find you again. But I’m glad … that you’re not attached to it.”
Ranma saw the expression his old man was wearing and grimaced.
"In spite of our travels, you've led a fairly sheltered life, Ranma," Genma said. "You've never faced evil, or insanity, or greed of the sort you might in the near future. I fear that all that sheltering might have given you instincts that could kill you at any moment. I've trained you to be strong and skilled, but if you want to survive, I believe you are going to have to learn to be hard, too, when it counts. And that isn’t easy, at all. I never taught you that because I had hoped we could avoid this, but that bead you wear found you.
"This isn't like the Hibiki boy jumping out at you and shouting 'Prepare to die'. It isn't even like when the Amazon-girl was hunting your female form. She didn't really want to kill you. The people your mother will tell you about won't have any qualms about ending your life. Some of them might even take pleasure in killing. Ranma, if you hesitate, you might end up just one more of a psycho’s victims.”
“Pops,” Ranma began, but he found he couldn’t say more, and he was interrupted anyway.
"Your mother will explain,” Genma said, in a voice that told Ranma that was the end of the conversation.
The rest of the trip to the Saotome home passed in silence as Ranma considered what he'd been told.
Ranma and Nodoka stood outside the gates of an extremely nice traditional Japanese home. It wasn't quite as large as the Tendo home but the grounds were far larger. The wooded property was positively decadent for someplace found inside the Tokyo city limits.
Things between his parents had not gone well. Nodoka had been resentful of Genma trying to keep Ranma from her and Genma had been resentful of Nodoka not having told him about her family's Fate before they had been married. Add to that, Nodoka's outrage at Genma having taken Ranma to Jusenkyo and things had exploded into a terrible shouting match that had done terminal damage to an already foundering marriage.
"This house belongs to my brother," Nodoka explained. "Although until a short time ago, only his son Kokin lived here. My brother decided that he wanted to live out in the country and take up farming, so he passed the house to his son and left. Recently your Aunt Goei and her daughter Hakufu moved in with Kokin so she could attend Nanyo Academy with Kokin."
Ranma sighed. They had had a discussion about school on the trip here. Nodoka had been very persuasive and Ranma had been forced to concede that his attitude toward school was ill conceived. The elder Saotome had extracted a solemn vow that he would take school more seriously.
"Come, Dear, let's go meet your aunt and your cousins," Nodoka urged Ranma through the gate.
"Do they practice the art?" Ranma asked.
"Of course, Dear," Nodoka smiled. "Your cousins have both trained nearly as long as you have."
"Cool," Ranma smiled. He hoped his cousins were decent. It'd be nice to have someone to spar with that wouldn't try to turn it into a death match.
Ranma had been disturbed by what his mother had explained to him about the magatama hanging from his ear, that it contained the soul of a warrior from the Three Kingdoms era in China. He began to understand why his father had reacted the way he had when Nodoka explained to Ranma about The Fate of the Sacred Bead. However, given the magatama had been stolen from the Saotome home and happened to be lost by the thief only to be found by Ranma seemed to indicate there was no avoiding his destiny.
Ranma and his mother entered the gate and approached the door. Just as they arrived the door was slid open to reveal a beautiful older woman with glasses and hair an even darker shade of red than his mother's. She was also dressed as traditionally as his mother and she took them in with a bright smile on her face.
"No-chan!" the woman squealed happily.
"Go-chan!" his mother squealed back and the two glomped each other.
"It's been so long, Sister, welcome to our home," the woman said before looking at Ranma, sizing him up like a side of beef. "Oh my! And who is this deliciously handsome boyfriend you have with you?"
"Oh, stop, Go-chan, you know this is my son, Ranma," Nodoka giggled.
Ranma's pigtail stood straight out when his aunt glomped him, cooing about how handsome he was. She did not just grope his butt, nope, there was no way Ranma was going to acknowledge that.
"Well, hello, Nephew," his aunt giggled. "My, I think you're even more adorable than Kokin. There's just something about a man in silk. Please come in and meet your cousins."
Ranma laughed nervously and scratched the base of his pigtail as his Aunt Goei led them out onto the engawa. Ranma could hear a high pitched female voice screaming "basics!" repeatedly as they approached.
"Hakufu, Kokin, come meet your Aunt Nodoka and your Cousin Ranma," Goei called out to the boy and the girl practicing out in the yard.
Ranma blinked as the pair approached. The girl had strawberry blonde hair and a bigger bust than his girl-form. She appeared rather...unrestrained as well. The boy was about Ranma's height but appeared to be much skinnier, lacking Ranma's hard-won musculature. In fact, although Ranma was a year younger, he appeared the more physically mature of the two.
"Hakufu, you remember your Aunt Nodoka, right?" Goei asked.
"Of course," Hafuku chirped. "Hi Auntie!"
"My but you've certainly grown since I last saw you, Fu-chan," Nodoka smiled. "You've become such a lovely young woman."
"Thank you, Auntie," Hakufu chirped.
"And Kin-chan! Why I haven't seen you since you were in diapers," Nodoka gushed, hugging the boy. "You've grown up so handsome! I bet you have all sorts of girlfriends you've been manly with."
Kokin blushed darkly while laughing nervously.
"Um...It's good to see you too, Aunt Nodoka," Kokin said
Then everyone turned their attention to the pigtailed boy in the silk Chinese tang and black kung fu pants.
"Hakufu, Kokin, this is your cousin, Ranma, my son," Nodoka introduced proudly. "Ranma is one of the top martial artists in the country."
"Pleased to meet ya," Ranma said giving a small bow to the other two teens.
"Wow, you're a martial artist?" Hakufu asked. "Are you strong and skilled?"
"I'm the best," Ranma said proudly.
"Great! Let's fight!" Hakufu chirped happily. "I love fighting better and stronger opponents! It gets me so excited!"
Ranma sweat-dropped as he watched his...um...unrestrained cousin bounce and wobble in her excitement.
"Now, Hakufu, you can spar with Ranma-kun later," Aunt Goei admonished. "Kokin why don't you help Ranma-kun bring their things in from the van and moved into their rooms."
"And after that we need to tell them about your curse, Dear," Nodoka added to Ranma.
"Aw, man, do we have to?" Ranma asked.
"Son, you know you won't be able to hide it for long," Nodoka chided. "It's best to just get it out of the way so they aren't surprised at a more inconvenient time."
"I guess you're right," Ranma admitted grudgingly. "Come on, Cousin, let’s get this over with."
The two boys headed out to the van to unload the luggage and other things that Nodoka had brought with her.
======================================================================
"That's sooo cool!" Hakufu gushed after the curse had been explained and demonstrated. "So which side fights better?"
Ranma shrugged. His cousin thought it was cool? He had never had that response before. Of course the male cousin was looking at him in horrified shock.
"There’s not a lot of difference," Ranma explained. "Might be a bit more agile as a girl. It's kind of a trade off, though. Just do me a favor and don't tell anyone about this. It's kind of embarrassing."
At that moment, Kokin's cell phone rang and he answered it. After a few brief words Kokin agreed with whoever was on the other end and hung up.
"I have to go meet someone," the older boy said. "I'll catch up with you guys later."
"Okay," Hakufu replied before turning back to Ranma as Kokin left. "Can we fight now?"
Ranma looked at his mother and aunt, hoping for a rescue again. He was disappointed.
"Kick her little butt, Ranma-kun!" Aunt Goei directed cheerfully.
"But Aunt Goei, she's a girl," Ranma protested.
Splash!
"Now so are you, so no problem," Ranma's mother smirked while Hakufu giggled.
Ranma scowled at her mother in indignation.
"Do you know how adorable you look when you do that?" Goei giggled, which earned her own scowl from the damp redhead while Nodoka was almost successful at stifling her snicker.
Ranma was not at all impressed with Hakufu. For someone who supposedly had intense martial arts training, the girl fought like a beginner. Thus, the sparring was almost a repeat of her first encounter with Akane. Hakufu kicked and punched nothing but air as Ranma bobbed and weaved around her attacks.
"Why aren't you attacking?" Hakufu asked. "I want you to show me your power."
"I'll show you my power when you get fast enough to make me," Ranma returned. "I thought you’d trained in the art since you were little? Is this all you got?"
"I'm not through yet," Hakufu returned, redoubling her efforts to hit the elusive redhead.
Not long later, Ranma was amazed as she actually had to block a punch and then a kick. A grin slowly made its way onto her face as more and more of her cousin's strikes needed to be blocked.
"Great, Fu-chan," Ranma smiled. "You should be exhausted, but you're getting better."
"Does this mean you're going to fight back now?" Hakufu asked hopefully.
Ranma just grinned wickedly. Suddenly, Hakufu felt a series of light blows along her torso as the redhead blew through her guard. Now Hakufu found herself on the defensive as her cousin became a whirling dervish of fists and feet. Hakufu was forced to give up ground until she caught her heel on a paving stone and fell on her butt.
Ranma couldn’t help but snicker at the surprised look on the other girl's face. Hakufu looked up at the snickering redhead and began to giggle herself. Soon both girls were convulsing with peals of laughter.
"Wow," Hakufu gasped trying to get her breath back. "You're great, Ma-chan!"
Just then Hakufu's cell phone rang. She dug it out of her pocket and answered.
"Hello?" she said into the phone. "Kokin, I know this is you. You're not fooling me with that fake voice … Stop fooling around … I mean it … It isn't funny, Kokin, stop it right now."
Ranma looked on as Hakufu began to get irritated with what he assumed was his other cousin. Suddenly, her irritation turned to concern.
"Kokin? Are you okay?" she asked. "Where?" Hakufu listened and nodded. "Alright, I'm coming. You better not hurt Kokin!"
"What's up?" Ranma asked as Hakufu snapped her phone shut.
"Some jerks grabbed Kokin and are holding him hostage," Hakufu said. "I'm going to get him."
"I'm coming too," Ranma announced. "Just let me get some hot water."
"What's this all about?" Kokin demanded from under the two guys holding him down. "Yoshu Private School isn't supposed to be fighting Nanyo Academy!"
"My boss said to," the smug-looking lead henchmen called Hanno replied. "It's an order. That's it." Hanno then smirked evilly before adding, "Plus, to have the famous Booby-bomb Girl as an opponent is something I look forward to."
It was clear from Hanno's tone that it wasn't the fight he was looking forward to, but what he planned to do to Hakufu when he defeated her. As anger welled up in Kokin, he recalled the meeting he had just had with Gakushuu, one of the 'Big Four' fighters that lead Nanyo Academy. The hulking fighter had told Kokin that thanks to Hakufu's decision to assist a fighter from Kyosho Academy, thus appearing to ally herself with the enemies of the current leader of the seven schools, Totaku of Rakuyo High School, Totaku was most likely going to attempt to take her out.
"Totaku. Hell," Kokin muttered to himself, to the surprise of Hanno; especially when Kokin suddenly threw off the guys holding him down. "If that's what you want, then I won't hold back," Kokin growled.
"You bastard," Hanno remarked. "Are you going to fight us alone?" The thug smirked. "You’re stupid, but brave. Too bad for you. Tear him to pieces!"
Kokin took up a stance and met the charge of the first fighter to attack. He leveled the guy with a powerful punch to the diaphragm and then jumped clear before they could engage him from all sides.
'Before Hakufu gets here, I have to take them out,' Kokin thought to himself, putting down another guy with a hay-maker to the face and knocked out another with a kick to the head. The last fell to another punch to the diaphragm leaving only Hanno standing. Hanno's eyes were wide in surprise as the last of his goons crashed into the ground in front of him.
"You're all useless!" Hanno spat while eyeing a crowbar lying by his feet. "I'll do it then," the thug said as he picked up the crowbar and swung it, shattering the windshield of a junk car nearby.
Hanno grinned wickedly and was just about to charge when a voice interrupted him.
"What's this about, Hanno?"
Things between his parents had not gone well. Nodoka had been resentful of Genma trying to keep Ranma from her and Genma had been resentful of Nodoka not having told him about her family's Fate before they had been married. Add to that, Nodoka's outrage at Genma having taken Ranma to Jusenkyo and things had exploded into a terrible shouting match that had done terminal damage to an already foundering marriage.
"This house belongs to my brother," Nodoka explained. "Although until a short time ago, only his son Kokin lived here. My brother decided that he wanted to live out in the country and take up farming, so he passed the house to his son and left. Recently your Aunt Goei and her daughter Hakufu moved in with Kokin so she could attend Nanyo Academy with Kokin."
Ranma sighed. They had had a discussion about school on the trip here. Nodoka had been very persuasive and Ranma had been forced to concede that his attitude toward school was ill conceived. The elder Saotome had extracted a solemn vow that he would take school more seriously.
"Come, Dear, let's go meet your aunt and your cousins," Nodoka urged Ranma through the gate.
"Do they practice the art?" Ranma asked.
"Of course, Dear," Nodoka smiled. "Your cousins have both trained nearly as long as you have."
"Cool," Ranma smiled. He hoped his cousins were decent. It'd be nice to have someone to spar with that wouldn't try to turn it into a death match.
Ranma had been disturbed by what his mother had explained to him about the magatama hanging from his ear, that it contained the soul of a warrior from the Three Kingdoms era in China. He began to understand why his father had reacted the way he had when Nodoka explained to Ranma about The Fate of the Sacred Bead. However, given the magatama had been stolen from the Saotome home and happened to be lost by the thief only to be found by Ranma seemed to indicate there was no avoiding his destiny.
Ranma and his mother entered the gate and approached the door. Just as they arrived the door was slid open to reveal a beautiful older woman with glasses and hair an even darker shade of red than his mother's. She was also dressed as traditionally as his mother and she took them in with a bright smile on her face.
"No-chan!" the woman squealed happily.
"Go-chan!" his mother squealed back and the two glomped each other.
"It's been so long, Sister, welcome to our home," the woman said before looking at Ranma, sizing him up like a side of beef. "Oh my! And who is this deliciously handsome boyfriend you have with you?"
"Oh, stop, Go-chan, you know this is my son, Ranma," Nodoka giggled.
Ranma's pigtail stood straight out when his aunt glomped him, cooing about how handsome he was. She did not just grope his butt, nope, there was no way Ranma was going to acknowledge that.
"Well, hello, Nephew," his aunt giggled. "My, I think you're even more adorable than Kokin. There's just something about a man in silk. Please come in and meet your cousins."
Ranma laughed nervously and scratched the base of his pigtail as his Aunt Goei led them out onto the engawa. Ranma could hear a high pitched female voice screaming "basics!" repeatedly as they approached.
"Hakufu, Kokin, come meet your Aunt Nodoka and your Cousin Ranma," Goei called out to the boy and the girl practicing out in the yard.
Ranma blinked as the pair approached. The girl had strawberry blonde hair and a bigger bust than his girl-form. She appeared rather...unrestrained as well. The boy was about Ranma's height but appeared to be much skinnier, lacking Ranma's hard-won musculature. In fact, although Ranma was a year younger, he appeared the more physically mature of the two.
"Hakufu, you remember your Aunt Nodoka, right?" Goei asked.
"Of course," Hafuku chirped. "Hi Auntie!"
"My but you've certainly grown since I last saw you, Fu-chan," Nodoka smiled. "You've become such a lovely young woman."
"Thank you, Auntie," Hakufu chirped.
"And Kin-chan! Why I haven't seen you since you were in diapers," Nodoka gushed, hugging the boy. "You've grown up so handsome! I bet you have all sorts of girlfriends you've been manly with."
Kokin blushed darkly while laughing nervously.
"Um...It's good to see you too, Aunt Nodoka," Kokin said
Then everyone turned their attention to the pigtailed boy in the silk Chinese tang and black kung fu pants.
"Hakufu, Kokin, this is your cousin, Ranma, my son," Nodoka introduced proudly. "Ranma is one of the top martial artists in the country."
"Pleased to meet ya," Ranma said giving a small bow to the other two teens.
"Wow, you're a martial artist?" Hakufu asked. "Are you strong and skilled?"
"I'm the best," Ranma said proudly.
"Great! Let's fight!" Hakufu chirped happily. "I love fighting better and stronger opponents! It gets me so excited!"
Ranma sweat-dropped as he watched his...um...unrestrained cousin bounce and wobble in her excitement.
"Now, Hakufu, you can spar with Ranma-kun later," Aunt Goei admonished. "Kokin why don't you help Ranma-kun bring their things in from the van and moved into their rooms."
"And after that we need to tell them about your curse, Dear," Nodoka added to Ranma.
"Aw, man, do we have to?" Ranma asked.
"Son, you know you won't be able to hide it for long," Nodoka chided. "It's best to just get it out of the way so they aren't surprised at a more inconvenient time."
"I guess you're right," Ranma admitted grudgingly. "Come on, Cousin, let’s get this over with."
The two boys headed out to the van to unload the luggage and other things that Nodoka had brought with her.
======================================================================
"That's sooo cool!" Hakufu gushed after the curse had been explained and demonstrated. "So which side fights better?"
Ranma shrugged. His cousin thought it was cool? He had never had that response before. Of course the male cousin was looking at him in horrified shock.
"There’s not a lot of difference," Ranma explained. "Might be a bit more agile as a girl. It's kind of a trade off, though. Just do me a favor and don't tell anyone about this. It's kind of embarrassing."
At that moment, Kokin's cell phone rang and he answered it. After a few brief words Kokin agreed with whoever was on the other end and hung up.
"I have to go meet someone," the older boy said. "I'll catch up with you guys later."
"Okay," Hakufu replied before turning back to Ranma as Kokin left. "Can we fight now?"
Ranma looked at his mother and aunt, hoping for a rescue again. He was disappointed.
"Kick her little butt, Ranma-kun!" Aunt Goei directed cheerfully.
"But Aunt Goei, she's a girl," Ranma protested.
Splash!
"Now so are you, so no problem," Ranma's mother smirked while Hakufu giggled.
Ranma scowled at her mother in indignation.
"Do you know how adorable you look when you do that?" Goei giggled, which earned her own scowl from the damp redhead while Nodoka was almost successful at stifling her snicker.
Ranma was not at all impressed with Hakufu. For someone who supposedly had intense martial arts training, the girl fought like a beginner. Thus, the sparring was almost a repeat of her first encounter with Akane. Hakufu kicked and punched nothing but air as Ranma bobbed and weaved around her attacks.
"Why aren't you attacking?" Hakufu asked. "I want you to show me your power."
"I'll show you my power when you get fast enough to make me," Ranma returned. "I thought you’d trained in the art since you were little? Is this all you got?"
"I'm not through yet," Hakufu returned, redoubling her efforts to hit the elusive redhead.
Not long later, Ranma was amazed as she actually had to block a punch and then a kick. A grin slowly made its way onto her face as more and more of her cousin's strikes needed to be blocked.
"Great, Fu-chan," Ranma smiled. "You should be exhausted, but you're getting better."
"Does this mean you're going to fight back now?" Hakufu asked hopefully.
Ranma just grinned wickedly. Suddenly, Hakufu felt a series of light blows along her torso as the redhead blew through her guard. Now Hakufu found herself on the defensive as her cousin became a whirling dervish of fists and feet. Hakufu was forced to give up ground until she caught her heel on a paving stone and fell on her butt.
Ranma couldn’t help but snicker at the surprised look on the other girl's face. Hakufu looked up at the snickering redhead and began to giggle herself. Soon both girls were convulsing with peals of laughter.
"Wow," Hakufu gasped trying to get her breath back. "You're great, Ma-chan!"
Just then Hakufu's cell phone rang. She dug it out of her pocket and answered.
"Hello?" she said into the phone. "Kokin, I know this is you. You're not fooling me with that fake voice … Stop fooling around … I mean it … It isn't funny, Kokin, stop it right now."
Ranma looked on as Hakufu began to get irritated with what he assumed was his other cousin. Suddenly, her irritation turned to concern.
"Kokin? Are you okay?" she asked. "Where?" Hakufu listened and nodded. "Alright, I'm coming. You better not hurt Kokin!"
"What's up?" Ranma asked as Hakufu snapped her phone shut.
"Some jerks grabbed Kokin and are holding him hostage," Hakufu said. "I'm going to get him."
"I'm coming too," Ranma announced. "Just let me get some hot water."
"What's this all about?" Kokin demanded from under the two guys holding him down. "Yoshu Private School isn't supposed to be fighting Nanyo Academy!"
"My boss said to," the smug-looking lead henchmen called Hanno replied. "It's an order. That's it." Hanno then smirked evilly before adding, "Plus, to have the famous Booby-bomb Girl as an opponent is something I look forward to."
It was clear from Hanno's tone that it wasn't the fight he was looking forward to, but what he planned to do to Hakufu when he defeated her. As anger welled up in Kokin, he recalled the meeting he had just had with Gakushuu, one of the 'Big Four' fighters that lead Nanyo Academy. The hulking fighter had told Kokin that thanks to Hakufu's decision to assist a fighter from Kyosho Academy, thus appearing to ally herself with the enemies of the current leader of the seven schools, Totaku of Rakuyo High School, Totaku was most likely going to attempt to take her out.
"Totaku. Hell," Kokin muttered to himself, to the surprise of Hanno; especially when Kokin suddenly threw off the guys holding him down. "If that's what you want, then I won't hold back," Kokin growled.
"You bastard," Hanno remarked. "Are you going to fight us alone?" The thug smirked. "You’re stupid, but brave. Too bad for you. Tear him to pieces!"
Kokin took up a stance and met the charge of the first fighter to attack. He leveled the guy with a powerful punch to the diaphragm and then jumped clear before they could engage him from all sides.
'Before Hakufu gets here, I have to take them out,' Kokin thought to himself, putting down another guy with a hay-maker to the face and knocked out another with a kick to the head. The last fell to another punch to the diaphragm leaving only Hanno standing. Hanno's eyes were wide in surprise as the last of his goons crashed into the ground in front of him.
"You're all useless!" Hanno spat while eyeing a crowbar lying by his feet. "I'll do it then," the thug said as he picked up the crowbar and swung it, shattering the windshield of a junk car nearby.
Hanno grinned wickedly and was just about to charge when a voice interrupted him.
"What's this about, Hanno?"
"What's this about, Hanno?"
Hanno froze and looked around at the speaker, a large guy wearing sunglasses, a loose white t-shirt, with a bandana and two long braids of dark hair pulled over his shoulders.
"I-I thought I didn't need you," Hanno stuttered at the fighter regally standing atop a pile of junk cars. "I thought I could handle one little chick."
"Just because she is a chick," the fighter sneered. "You took a hostage to make sure she’d come."
"What's the big deal anyway?" Hanno demanded as the fighter jumped down from the stack of cars and snatched the crow bar out of his hand, tossing it away into the junk pile.
"You are …" the fighter said to Hanno in a cold, ominous tone, "a disgrace."
"Get on!" Hakufu shouted to Ranma as she slid the bicycle she was riding to a halt outside the gate.
"Hold it!" Goei ordered, holding a rug beater out to block Hakufu's way.
"What now?" Hakufu demanded in exasperation.
"That bicycle’s brand new! You aren't allowed to use it without asking," Goei informed her loudly.
"But you aren't even using it right now," Hakufu snapped back.
"I'll never forgive you if you get a single scratch on it!" Goei yelled, leaning into Hakufu's personal space.
"Fine! Man, you can be so annoying," Hakufu said, pushing her mother back while Ranma blinked mutely at the scene. He couldn't help but think that maybe he hadn't gotten away from crazy people after all; he had just exchanged them for a new batch of lunatics.
"The motto of this family is: Return whatever you borrow! Clear?" Goei barked out like a drill instructor.
"Yeah, yeah," Hakufu replied in a much put-upon tone. "Come on, Ma-chan!"
"You go ahead," Ranma said. "I'll keep up."
"Right!" Hakufu said, tearing off in a cloud of dust, causing an auto accident as she cut off a passing car. Ranma loped along right behind her, keeping up despite the fact that she was riding fast enough to make Shampoo jealous.
Kokin panted from his battle stance as the other thugs got to their feet. Before they could attack, the newcomer stepped forward, the others giving way before him in surprise.
"Taishiji?" one asked.
'Taishiji?' Kokin echoed in his head, getting a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"Sorry," the large fighter said amiably. "One of our idiots went too far. I'll have everyone withdraw. My only target is Hakufu Sonsaku. That’s all." He looked around at his fellows. "Now withdraw."
The others all began to back off.
"Taishiji! Why you..." Hanno growled.
"Don't worry," Taishiji reassured Kokin. "I have no intention of fighting with you."
To Taishiji's surprise, Kokin merely firmed his stance.
"I can't let you touch Hakufu," Kokin vowed.
"Don't you know who I am?" Taishiji blinked behind his sunglasses, amazed that this boy had the courage to stand up to him.
"Taishiji Shigi," Kokin replied. "I know you’re one of the strongest in all of Kanto."
"You know that and you still want to fight me?" Taishiji asked calmly.
"Even if it definitely costs my life, I can't let you fight Hakufu," Kokin repeated.
"Don't get cocky," Taishiji cautioned. "Try saying that after you hit me. If you can hit me just once, I won’t fight Sonsaku."
"Taishiji!" Hanno protested. "You can't make your own rules! You got orders too!"
"Is that a promise?" Kokin smiled.
"It is," Taishiji said. "I don’t break my word."
The pair faced off staring at each other, one waiting for the other to make his move and the other waiting for the perfect moment. Time ticked by seemingly unnoticed by the fighters.
"Five minutes already, wow," one of the watching goons remarked.
"Yeah," agreed another. "I've never seen Taishiji take this long. It's a first."
Suddenly a female voice was heard shouting Kokin's name and Hakufu appeared, racing up on a bicycle. Taishiji glanced to the side for a moment and Kokin saw the opening he was waiting for. He charged in with a hay-maker. Taishiji casually took his right hand out of his pocket as Hakufu ramped over a pile of cars to fly over the heads of the two fighters, landing with a crash on a pile of other cars.
Ranma came to a stop atop the pile of cars Hakufu had jumped from and took in the scene. Kokin was standing with his fist outstretched toward Taishiji's head while Taishiji stood with his fist buried in Kokin's gut. The glass in Taishiji's glasses shattered and Kokin slowly slumped to the ground.
Hakufu appeared from her crash site to see Kokin lying on the ground.
"Kokin!" she shouted in concern as she rushed up to him. "Are you okay?"
Kokin groaned and coughed up blood.
"Call him an ambulance," Taishiji said, removing his broken sunglasses and dropping them to the ground.
"Kokin..." Hakufu repeated in concern as Ranma leapt down to join her in inspecting his cousin.
"Where are you going?" growled Hanno.
"I gave my word," Taishiji said. "It was just my sunglasses, but a hit’s a hit. I gave my word. We withdraw."
"What? Are you crazy?" Hanno shouted.
"Wait right there!" Hakufu commanded Taishiji. "How dare you! How dare you do this to Kokin! I won't forgive you!"
"Don't do it," Taishiji cautioned. "The young man risked his life to protect you."
"No," Kokin whispered as Hakufu got up and assumed a battle stance. "I wasn't just trying to protect her. I was afraid it would come out again."
"Afraid what would come out?" Ranma asked in confusion.
"Her dragon," Kokin replied weakly.
"Um...Fu-chan, I really don't think you want to do this," Ranma cautioned. He could tell that the other guy was a much better fighter than either of his cousins.
"We have to stop her," Kokin said, struggling to his feet. "The stronger the opponent the more likely it is to come out."
Ranma didn't know what this “dragon” was but it clearly scared Kokin. Maybe it was something like the Cat Fist?
"You can still get up," Taishiji said, clearly impressed.
"You’re open!" Hakufu announced taking her opportunity to attack.
======================================================================
She lunged forward, swinging at Taishiji who merely stepped to the side causing her to miss.
"Bad timing," Taishiji observed as Hakufu recovered. "Is she a novice?"
Hakufu was undaunted and resumed her attack, launching a kick to Taishiji's head which he ignored.
"You bastard!" Hakufu screamed, firing kick after kick and punch after punch, none of them phasing the larger fighter.
"She's terrible," Taishiji said, finally taking his hand out of his pocket and landing a powerful punch in Hakufu's gut.
"Hakufu!" Kokin shouted as the girl went flying back thirty feet to slam into a car, blowing out the remaining glass in its windows.
"I’d have expected more from someone Totaku wanted taken out," Taishiji said in obvious disappointment.
"Totaku...I knew it," Kokin gritted his teeth as Ranma was trying to decide if he should step in or not.
Taishiji turned and began to walk away.
"Wait," Hakufu demanded, gritting her teeth in pain as she pulled herself off the junk car and collapsed to her knees.
"It’s pointless," Taishiji said, not turning around. "You took the same attack the young man did. I’m not sure why you’re still conscious, but I’ll tell you something. The young man is stronger than you right now, and I’m much stronger than he is."
Hakufu screamed and levered herself to her feet to the amazement of everyone present. Taishiji's eyes widened at the display.
"No, don't stand up!" Kokin entreated.
"I'll tell you something then," Hakufu said through the pain. "I always return what I borrow...because that is my family motto."
"Huh?" Ranma blinked in confusion. Was his cousin stupid or something? Still, he sensed her power climbing. It was sort of like their sparring match. She seemed to get better as she went. Not that it made much sense. Both times he had seen her fight thus far she had begun like a first year white belt. "Fu-chan, what gives? Did you forget all your basic skills? You were doing much better at the end of our sparring match."
"What? Oh, yeah, the Basics! I was so angry I almost forgot!" Hakufu chirped, forgetting the pain.
She took up a stance and Ranma nodded as he sensed her power rise even higher. Hakufu's strawberry blonde hair drifted around her as if being blown by a gentle breeze. For a moment, Ranma saw her sea-green battle aura flicker into the visual spectrum before it faded from sight again. It still wasn't close to what he was sensing from this Taishiji guy, but she had potential if she could stay focused.
"Goshin Imon Ken," Kokin breathed. "Hey, wait! You just learned that! How can you use it already?"
"I know it may not work," Hakufu said. "In fact, it probably won't work, but..." she grinned wickedly, "I'm too excited to stop myself anymore!"
Hakufu charged Taishiji again and the larger fighter swung his ki charged fist at her again. The girl ducked under the strike and quickly sprang upward with a ki charged palm strike to his solar plexus. Taishiji's breath exploded out of his lungs and he folded around Hakufu's strike. For a moment, Ranma saw the energy force a lump to raise from the guy's back, and his eyes widened for just that moment. If his cousin had put more power in that … or if this Taishiji guy weren’t as strong as he obviously was … it would have blown a hole right through him.
Then the two fighters were blown back from each other in a release of energy that shattered the ground beneath them. Everyone gasped as Taishiji flew backward and landed on his back in a cloud of dust.
'What incredible power' Taishiji said to himself as he lay there trying to figure out what just happened. 'Was that her spirit waking up?'
He levered himself up and approached where Hakufu was lying across the hood of a car. Her shirt was shredded displaying most of her large breasts and her shorts were just barely hanging on her hips to preserve her lower modesty.
"Get up," Taishiji ordered. This fight had gotten interesting again. He wanted to see what else this girl had.
======================================================================
"Stay down," Ranma ordered, enforcing his command with a hand on Hakufu's solar plexus, holding her down. "You did good, but now it's my turn."
"Who are you?" Taishiji blinked, noticing the boy for the first time.
"Ranma Saotome," Ranma replied. "You defeated my cousins … so now, you’ve got me."
"Ranma don't," Kokin protested. "He's one of the top five fighters in the Kanto area."
Ranma smirked, not impressed. He knew it wasn’t true.
"Not even close, Cousin," Ranma remarked. "He’s not bad, but I know some old grannies that wouldn’t sweat beating him."
"Is that so, Boy?" Taishiji smirked, sure that this pigtailed guy was exaggerating.
"Yeah, it is," Ranma replied. "You’re a pretty good brawler, that’s obvious … but there’s a lot of gap between a brawler and a master of the art."
Ranma couldn't help but smile in pride at having the right to claim that title. Before Genma had left, he had give Ranma a scroll that had proclaimed him just that; Happosai had even signed off on it, making it official. There were other scrolls too, ones that Genma had written Ranma should only learn if the need was truly dire.
Ranma took a stance and met Taishiji's eyes evenly.
"I won't do any permanent damage," Ranma assured him. "You've got honor and I respect that."
"Bring it," Taishiji nodded.
Ranma smirked and leapt into the air, not unlike Hakufu's first attack. As he expected, Taishiji easily avoided the attack by stepping to the side...only to get caught off guard by the foot sweep Ranma dropped into when he landed. Taishiji's feet went out from under him and he landed hard on his back. Ranma rose and backed off to give the bigger boy a chance to get to his feet.
"Hey braid boy," Ranma commented. "If you want to at least make this interesting for me, you better take your hands out of your pockets."
Taishiji grimaced and flipped up to his feet.
"You duped me with your cousin's clumsy opening move," Taishiji commented as he took a stance, his fists held loosely in front of him. "Don't expect for that to happen again."
"Bring it," Ranma grinned arrogantly, repeating his opponent’s own words.
Taishiji nodded and closed range, launching the same devastating attack that brought Kokin and Hakufu down. To his surprise, Ranma just stood there, not moving and accepted the ki-charged punch.
"Oof," Ranma ‘s voice sounded as he was picked up and thrown through the air by the punch, to slam into a stack of junk cars kicking up a huge cloud of dust.
"Ranma!" Hakufu and Kokin shouted in alarm.
Taishiji stood and lowered his guard. There was no way the boy was going to have any fight left in him after that; not considering he had put even more power into the attack than he used with either of the others. He began to turn away.
"Not bad, big guy," Ranma's voice said from the dust cloud with a cough. "That was almost as strong as one of the tomboy’s punches." Ranma walked out from the dust cloud at ease, evidently unharmed. Everyone gasped at this new kid's unreal toughness. "But I can take a lot worse. Is that all you got?"
"Who the hell are you?" Taishiji asked in awe.
"I told you, I'm Ranma Saotome," Ranma smirked. "You beat my cousins, but now you’ve got me. You ready to continue?"
With a battle cry, Taishiji charged in and began swinging at the smirking boy. He led off with a sweeping right cross which Ranma merely leaned to the side slightly to casually avoid. The right cross was followed by a left upper cut which Ranma leaned backward to dodge. The backward lean was followed up by a handstand flip when Taishiji dropped to attempt a foot sweep. The new kid was proving to be as elusive as a shadow. It was like trying to hit smoke.
"My turn," the grinning boy announced.
Suddenly Taishiji was purely on the defensive as a series of hits crashed against his guard. He was forced to give up ground even as he was amazed at the power behind the strikes. It was like he was fighting Ukitsu. Desperately, the larger boy launched a wild punch to try and get some space. The other boy ducked the punch and suddenly, Taishiji's ribs exploded in pain as Ranma landed a powerful kick to his midsection, launching the bigger boy into a pile of cars with a huge crash. Hanno's goon squad gasped.
"Whoa," one of them commented. "Taishiji’s getting taken apart!"
Meanwhile, Hanno had found the crowbar he had picked up earlier and had slipped around behind where Kokin and Hakufu were gaping at their cousin's display of martial skill and power. He just had to wait for the right moment to strike.
Taishiji coughed and clutched his cracked ribs as he climbed to his feet. He looked up at Ranma who was standing still, calmly waiting for him to pull himself together. It wasn't often that he was outclassed, hardly ever in fact, but he couldn't shake the impression that the boy he now faced might be as good as Ukitsu. The grin on Ranma's face and the excitement in his eyes didn't help any; they were the same as those on the fighting genius. Still, Taishiji didn't become the fighter he was by being a quitter. He gathered himself and charged the pigtailed martial artist.
Ranma cracked his neck and set himself to receive the other boy's charge. The larger boy barreled towards him and leapt into the air in a flying drop kick. Ranma deftly stepped to the side and then had to duck the spinning back fist Taishiji launched immediately after landing. Suddenly, Ranma was inside his guard.
"Got you!" Ranma shouted.
There was a rumbling, crackling roar and the amazed spectators watched as Taishiji's body began to float several inches off the ground while seeming to convulse. The roar ceased after about two seconds and before Taishiji could fall to the ground he was nailed with a spinning back kick to the chest. Taishiji was in a world of pain as he flew back from the kick that cracked even more ribs to land heavily on his back several meters away. He rolled to the side and coughed up some blood before blissfully passing out.
Everyone was frozen in shock at seeing one of the top fighters in the seven schools so easily taken out. As Ranma walked over to check on Taishiji, Hanno recovered his wits and decided that now was his chance. With Taishiji taken out, he was back in charge after all.
"You're mine, Booby Bombs!" he shouted and lifted the crowbar for a swing that would cave her head in where she was kneeling on the ground next to her boy toy.
======================================================================
"You're mine, Booby Bombs!" Ranma heard the shout.
What happened next was terrifying. Ranma's gaze snapped over to the crowbar-wielding boy, instantly processing what was happening as his father's words echoed through his mind.
"There’s every chance”, Genma’s voice had snapped, “and it could come very quickly, that some time in the near future you’ll have to kill an opponent in a fight to protect someone you care about."
Ranma's aura responded to those words.
Kokin also reacted, knocking Hakufu flat to the ground and throwing himself on top of her.
"HA!" Ranma shouted as he fired a blast of angry energy at his cousin’s attacker, at the fool who had sealed his fate.
Hanno had frozen when he both felt and saw Ranma's aura and was caught completely off guard when the ki blast hit him dead on. His chest exploded in pain as his shirt disintegrated and his ribs shattered from the force. He was thrown backwards, slamming violently into a stack of cars, bringing it down. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on who decided, the cars didn’t crush him as he lay on the ground, unconscious from the broken ribs and anger-fueled burns.
"What the hell was that?" one of the goon squad shouted.
"Hell if I know! Let's get out of here!" another cried fearfully.
"No shit! No way I'm messing with someone that can do that!" a third agreed as the whole lot ran like the hounds of hell were snapping at their heels.
"You guys okay?" Ranma called over to his cousins.
"Um...yeah," Kokin said, in awe of his younger cousin.
"That was awesome, Ma-chan!" Hakufu gushed happily. "How did you do that?"
"Not important," Ranma evaded, scratching the base of his pigtail. "Sorry about that. No time to do anything else. Might have thrown something, but didn’t have anything to throw. Kokin, check on him. See that he’s out."
"Uh, yeah, sure," Kokin said getting to his feet and moving over to where Hanno lay in a heap.
Ranma knelt down beside Taishiji and rolled him over on his back before slapping his face lightly to bring him around.
"Yo, big guy, you okay?" Ranma asked solicitously as the large boy groaned on waking.
"Ugh...what hit me?" Taishiji moaned as he crossed his arms over his aching torso.
"That'd be me," Ranma chuckled, "One of those things a little old granny taught me. You gonna be okay?"
"I'll live," Taishiji said, sitting up. "That was some attack. How many times did you hit me, anyway?"
"Eh, a good few," Ranma grinned briefly before his face took on a more serious look. "Kokin, how's the other one?"
"Alive, but definitely down," Kokin replied, drawing Taishiji's gaze over to Hanno's battered form.
"What happened?" Taishiji asked.
"Sorry about your friend," Ranma said apologetically. "He doesn’t have your honor, apparently. He used our fight as a distraction to try to take my cousin out with a crowbar. I had to knock him out instead."
"From a distance?" Taishiji blinked.
"Yeah," Ranma nodded, standing up and offering his hand to the larger boy to help him up. "I don't like it but he made me do it.”
Taishiji took the offered hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.
"The others ran away when I took that guy out," Ranma continued. "You think you'll be okay to call an ambulance for him?"
"I should be," the larger boy nodded.
"Great," Ranma grinned. "That was fun. Maybe we can spar again sometime?"
"Um...right," Taishiji sweat-dropped, not at all confident about the prospect of a spar with someone who, he was now sure, was even better than Ukitsu. "Sure," he said anyway.
"Cool," Ranma said. "I'm going to get my cousins home now. See ya around."
Taishiji nodded dumbly at the pigtailed fighter’s back as he went to collect his cousins.
Hanno froze and looked around at the speaker, a large guy wearing sunglasses, a loose white t-shirt, with a bandana and two long braids of dark hair pulled over his shoulders.
"I-I thought I didn't need you," Hanno stuttered at the fighter regally standing atop a pile of junk cars. "I thought I could handle one little chick."
"Just because she is a chick," the fighter sneered. "You took a hostage to make sure she’d come."
"What's the big deal anyway?" Hanno demanded as the fighter jumped down from the stack of cars and snatched the crow bar out of his hand, tossing it away into the junk pile.
"You are …" the fighter said to Hanno in a cold, ominous tone, "a disgrace."
"Get on!" Hakufu shouted to Ranma as she slid the bicycle she was riding to a halt outside the gate.
"Hold it!" Goei ordered, holding a rug beater out to block Hakufu's way.
"What now?" Hakufu demanded in exasperation.
"That bicycle’s brand new! You aren't allowed to use it without asking," Goei informed her loudly.
"But you aren't even using it right now," Hakufu snapped back.
"I'll never forgive you if you get a single scratch on it!" Goei yelled, leaning into Hakufu's personal space.
"Fine! Man, you can be so annoying," Hakufu said, pushing her mother back while Ranma blinked mutely at the scene. He couldn't help but think that maybe he hadn't gotten away from crazy people after all; he had just exchanged them for a new batch of lunatics.
"The motto of this family is: Return whatever you borrow! Clear?" Goei barked out like a drill instructor.
"Yeah, yeah," Hakufu replied in a much put-upon tone. "Come on, Ma-chan!"
"You go ahead," Ranma said. "I'll keep up."
"Right!" Hakufu said, tearing off in a cloud of dust, causing an auto accident as she cut off a passing car. Ranma loped along right behind her, keeping up despite the fact that she was riding fast enough to make Shampoo jealous.
Kokin panted from his battle stance as the other thugs got to their feet. Before they could attack, the newcomer stepped forward, the others giving way before him in surprise.
"Taishiji?" one asked.
'Taishiji?' Kokin echoed in his head, getting a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"Sorry," the large fighter said amiably. "One of our idiots went too far. I'll have everyone withdraw. My only target is Hakufu Sonsaku. That’s all." He looked around at his fellows. "Now withdraw."
The others all began to back off.
"Taishiji! Why you..." Hanno growled.
"Don't worry," Taishiji reassured Kokin. "I have no intention of fighting with you."
To Taishiji's surprise, Kokin merely firmed his stance.
"I can't let you touch Hakufu," Kokin vowed.
"Don't you know who I am?" Taishiji blinked behind his sunglasses, amazed that this boy had the courage to stand up to him.
"Taishiji Shigi," Kokin replied. "I know you’re one of the strongest in all of Kanto."
"You know that and you still want to fight me?" Taishiji asked calmly.
"Even if it definitely costs my life, I can't let you fight Hakufu," Kokin repeated.
"Don't get cocky," Taishiji cautioned. "Try saying that after you hit me. If you can hit me just once, I won’t fight Sonsaku."
"Taishiji!" Hanno protested. "You can't make your own rules! You got orders too!"
"Is that a promise?" Kokin smiled.
"It is," Taishiji said. "I don’t break my word."
The pair faced off staring at each other, one waiting for the other to make his move and the other waiting for the perfect moment. Time ticked by seemingly unnoticed by the fighters.
"Five minutes already, wow," one of the watching goons remarked.
"Yeah," agreed another. "I've never seen Taishiji take this long. It's a first."
Suddenly a female voice was heard shouting Kokin's name and Hakufu appeared, racing up on a bicycle. Taishiji glanced to the side for a moment and Kokin saw the opening he was waiting for. He charged in with a hay-maker. Taishiji casually took his right hand out of his pocket as Hakufu ramped over a pile of cars to fly over the heads of the two fighters, landing with a crash on a pile of other cars.
Ranma came to a stop atop the pile of cars Hakufu had jumped from and took in the scene. Kokin was standing with his fist outstretched toward Taishiji's head while Taishiji stood with his fist buried in Kokin's gut. The glass in Taishiji's glasses shattered and Kokin slowly slumped to the ground.
Hakufu appeared from her crash site to see Kokin lying on the ground.
"Kokin!" she shouted in concern as she rushed up to him. "Are you okay?"
Kokin groaned and coughed up blood.
"Call him an ambulance," Taishiji said, removing his broken sunglasses and dropping them to the ground.
"Kokin..." Hakufu repeated in concern as Ranma leapt down to join her in inspecting his cousin.
"Where are you going?" growled Hanno.
"I gave my word," Taishiji said. "It was just my sunglasses, but a hit’s a hit. I gave my word. We withdraw."
"What? Are you crazy?" Hanno shouted.
"Wait right there!" Hakufu commanded Taishiji. "How dare you! How dare you do this to Kokin! I won't forgive you!"
"Don't do it," Taishiji cautioned. "The young man risked his life to protect you."
"No," Kokin whispered as Hakufu got up and assumed a battle stance. "I wasn't just trying to protect her. I was afraid it would come out again."
"Afraid what would come out?" Ranma asked in confusion.
"Her dragon," Kokin replied weakly.
"Um...Fu-chan, I really don't think you want to do this," Ranma cautioned. He could tell that the other guy was a much better fighter than either of his cousins.
"We have to stop her," Kokin said, struggling to his feet. "The stronger the opponent the more likely it is to come out."
Ranma didn't know what this “dragon” was but it clearly scared Kokin. Maybe it was something like the Cat Fist?
"You can still get up," Taishiji said, clearly impressed.
"You’re open!" Hakufu announced taking her opportunity to attack.
======================================================================
She lunged forward, swinging at Taishiji who merely stepped to the side causing her to miss.
"Bad timing," Taishiji observed as Hakufu recovered. "Is she a novice?"
Hakufu was undaunted and resumed her attack, launching a kick to Taishiji's head which he ignored.
"You bastard!" Hakufu screamed, firing kick after kick and punch after punch, none of them phasing the larger fighter.
"She's terrible," Taishiji said, finally taking his hand out of his pocket and landing a powerful punch in Hakufu's gut.
"Hakufu!" Kokin shouted as the girl went flying back thirty feet to slam into a car, blowing out the remaining glass in its windows.
"I’d have expected more from someone Totaku wanted taken out," Taishiji said in obvious disappointment.
"Totaku...I knew it," Kokin gritted his teeth as Ranma was trying to decide if he should step in or not.
Taishiji turned and began to walk away.
"Wait," Hakufu demanded, gritting her teeth in pain as she pulled herself off the junk car and collapsed to her knees.
"It’s pointless," Taishiji said, not turning around. "You took the same attack the young man did. I’m not sure why you’re still conscious, but I’ll tell you something. The young man is stronger than you right now, and I’m much stronger than he is."
Hakufu screamed and levered herself to her feet to the amazement of everyone present. Taishiji's eyes widened at the display.
"No, don't stand up!" Kokin entreated.
"I'll tell you something then," Hakufu said through the pain. "I always return what I borrow...because that is my family motto."
"Huh?" Ranma blinked in confusion. Was his cousin stupid or something? Still, he sensed her power climbing. It was sort of like their sparring match. She seemed to get better as she went. Not that it made much sense. Both times he had seen her fight thus far she had begun like a first year white belt. "Fu-chan, what gives? Did you forget all your basic skills? You were doing much better at the end of our sparring match."
"What? Oh, yeah, the Basics! I was so angry I almost forgot!" Hakufu chirped, forgetting the pain.
She took up a stance and Ranma nodded as he sensed her power rise even higher. Hakufu's strawberry blonde hair drifted around her as if being blown by a gentle breeze. For a moment, Ranma saw her sea-green battle aura flicker into the visual spectrum before it faded from sight again. It still wasn't close to what he was sensing from this Taishiji guy, but she had potential if she could stay focused.
"Goshin Imon Ken," Kokin breathed. "Hey, wait! You just learned that! How can you use it already?"
"I know it may not work," Hakufu said. "In fact, it probably won't work, but..." she grinned wickedly, "I'm too excited to stop myself anymore!"
Hakufu charged Taishiji again and the larger fighter swung his ki charged fist at her again. The girl ducked under the strike and quickly sprang upward with a ki charged palm strike to his solar plexus. Taishiji's breath exploded out of his lungs and he folded around Hakufu's strike. For a moment, Ranma saw the energy force a lump to raise from the guy's back, and his eyes widened for just that moment. If his cousin had put more power in that … or if this Taishiji guy weren’t as strong as he obviously was … it would have blown a hole right through him.
Then the two fighters were blown back from each other in a release of energy that shattered the ground beneath them. Everyone gasped as Taishiji flew backward and landed on his back in a cloud of dust.
'What incredible power' Taishiji said to himself as he lay there trying to figure out what just happened. 'Was that her spirit waking up?'
He levered himself up and approached where Hakufu was lying across the hood of a car. Her shirt was shredded displaying most of her large breasts and her shorts were just barely hanging on her hips to preserve her lower modesty.
"Get up," Taishiji ordered. This fight had gotten interesting again. He wanted to see what else this girl had.
======================================================================
"Stay down," Ranma ordered, enforcing his command with a hand on Hakufu's solar plexus, holding her down. "You did good, but now it's my turn."
"Who are you?" Taishiji blinked, noticing the boy for the first time.
"Ranma Saotome," Ranma replied. "You defeated my cousins … so now, you’ve got me."
"Ranma don't," Kokin protested. "He's one of the top five fighters in the Kanto area."
Ranma smirked, not impressed. He knew it wasn’t true.
"Not even close, Cousin," Ranma remarked. "He’s not bad, but I know some old grannies that wouldn’t sweat beating him."
"Is that so, Boy?" Taishiji smirked, sure that this pigtailed guy was exaggerating.
"Yeah, it is," Ranma replied. "You’re a pretty good brawler, that’s obvious … but there’s a lot of gap between a brawler and a master of the art."
Ranma couldn't help but smile in pride at having the right to claim that title. Before Genma had left, he had give Ranma a scroll that had proclaimed him just that; Happosai had even signed off on it, making it official. There were other scrolls too, ones that Genma had written Ranma should only learn if the need was truly dire.
Ranma took a stance and met Taishiji's eyes evenly.
"I won't do any permanent damage," Ranma assured him. "You've got honor and I respect that."
"Bring it," Taishiji nodded.
Ranma smirked and leapt into the air, not unlike Hakufu's first attack. As he expected, Taishiji easily avoided the attack by stepping to the side...only to get caught off guard by the foot sweep Ranma dropped into when he landed. Taishiji's feet went out from under him and he landed hard on his back. Ranma rose and backed off to give the bigger boy a chance to get to his feet.
"Hey braid boy," Ranma commented. "If you want to at least make this interesting for me, you better take your hands out of your pockets."
Taishiji grimaced and flipped up to his feet.
"You duped me with your cousin's clumsy opening move," Taishiji commented as he took a stance, his fists held loosely in front of him. "Don't expect for that to happen again."
"Bring it," Ranma grinned arrogantly, repeating his opponent’s own words.
Taishiji nodded and closed range, launching the same devastating attack that brought Kokin and Hakufu down. To his surprise, Ranma just stood there, not moving and accepted the ki-charged punch.
"Oof," Ranma ‘s voice sounded as he was picked up and thrown through the air by the punch, to slam into a stack of junk cars kicking up a huge cloud of dust.
"Ranma!" Hakufu and Kokin shouted in alarm.
Taishiji stood and lowered his guard. There was no way the boy was going to have any fight left in him after that; not considering he had put even more power into the attack than he used with either of the others. He began to turn away.
"Not bad, big guy," Ranma's voice said from the dust cloud with a cough. "That was almost as strong as one of the tomboy’s punches." Ranma walked out from the dust cloud at ease, evidently unharmed. Everyone gasped at this new kid's unreal toughness. "But I can take a lot worse. Is that all you got?"
"Who the hell are you?" Taishiji asked in awe.
"I told you, I'm Ranma Saotome," Ranma smirked. "You beat my cousins, but now you’ve got me. You ready to continue?"
With a battle cry, Taishiji charged in and began swinging at the smirking boy. He led off with a sweeping right cross which Ranma merely leaned to the side slightly to casually avoid. The right cross was followed by a left upper cut which Ranma leaned backward to dodge. The backward lean was followed up by a handstand flip when Taishiji dropped to attempt a foot sweep. The new kid was proving to be as elusive as a shadow. It was like trying to hit smoke.
"My turn," the grinning boy announced.
Suddenly Taishiji was purely on the defensive as a series of hits crashed against his guard. He was forced to give up ground even as he was amazed at the power behind the strikes. It was like he was fighting Ukitsu. Desperately, the larger boy launched a wild punch to try and get some space. The other boy ducked the punch and suddenly, Taishiji's ribs exploded in pain as Ranma landed a powerful kick to his midsection, launching the bigger boy into a pile of cars with a huge crash. Hanno's goon squad gasped.
"Whoa," one of them commented. "Taishiji’s getting taken apart!"
Meanwhile, Hanno had found the crowbar he had picked up earlier and had slipped around behind where Kokin and Hakufu were gaping at their cousin's display of martial skill and power. He just had to wait for the right moment to strike.
Taishiji coughed and clutched his cracked ribs as he climbed to his feet. He looked up at Ranma who was standing still, calmly waiting for him to pull himself together. It wasn't often that he was outclassed, hardly ever in fact, but he couldn't shake the impression that the boy he now faced might be as good as Ukitsu. The grin on Ranma's face and the excitement in his eyes didn't help any; they were the same as those on the fighting genius. Still, Taishiji didn't become the fighter he was by being a quitter. He gathered himself and charged the pigtailed martial artist.
Ranma cracked his neck and set himself to receive the other boy's charge. The larger boy barreled towards him and leapt into the air in a flying drop kick. Ranma deftly stepped to the side and then had to duck the spinning back fist Taishiji launched immediately after landing. Suddenly, Ranma was inside his guard.
"Got you!" Ranma shouted.
There was a rumbling, crackling roar and the amazed spectators watched as Taishiji's body began to float several inches off the ground while seeming to convulse. The roar ceased after about two seconds and before Taishiji could fall to the ground he was nailed with a spinning back kick to the chest. Taishiji was in a world of pain as he flew back from the kick that cracked even more ribs to land heavily on his back several meters away. He rolled to the side and coughed up some blood before blissfully passing out.
Everyone was frozen in shock at seeing one of the top fighters in the seven schools so easily taken out. As Ranma walked over to check on Taishiji, Hanno recovered his wits and decided that now was his chance. With Taishiji taken out, he was back in charge after all.
"You're mine, Booby Bombs!" he shouted and lifted the crowbar for a swing that would cave her head in where she was kneeling on the ground next to her boy toy.
======================================================================
"You're mine, Booby Bombs!" Ranma heard the shout.
What happened next was terrifying. Ranma's gaze snapped over to the crowbar-wielding boy, instantly processing what was happening as his father's words echoed through his mind.
"There’s every chance”, Genma’s voice had snapped, “and it could come very quickly, that some time in the near future you’ll have to kill an opponent in a fight to protect someone you care about."
Ranma's aura responded to those words.
Kokin also reacted, knocking Hakufu flat to the ground and throwing himself on top of her.
"HA!" Ranma shouted as he fired a blast of angry energy at his cousin’s attacker, at the fool who had sealed his fate.
Hanno had frozen when he both felt and saw Ranma's aura and was caught completely off guard when the ki blast hit him dead on. His chest exploded in pain as his shirt disintegrated and his ribs shattered from the force. He was thrown backwards, slamming violently into a stack of cars, bringing it down. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on who decided, the cars didn’t crush him as he lay on the ground, unconscious from the broken ribs and anger-fueled burns.
"What the hell was that?" one of the goon squad shouted.
"Hell if I know! Let's get out of here!" another cried fearfully.
"No shit! No way I'm messing with someone that can do that!" a third agreed as the whole lot ran like the hounds of hell were snapping at their heels.
"You guys okay?" Ranma called over to his cousins.
"Um...yeah," Kokin said, in awe of his younger cousin.
"That was awesome, Ma-chan!" Hakufu gushed happily. "How did you do that?"
"Not important," Ranma evaded, scratching the base of his pigtail. "Sorry about that. No time to do anything else. Might have thrown something, but didn’t have anything to throw. Kokin, check on him. See that he’s out."
"Uh, yeah, sure," Kokin said getting to his feet and moving over to where Hanno lay in a heap.
Ranma knelt down beside Taishiji and rolled him over on his back before slapping his face lightly to bring him around.
"Yo, big guy, you okay?" Ranma asked solicitously as the large boy groaned on waking.
"Ugh...what hit me?" Taishiji moaned as he crossed his arms over his aching torso.
"That'd be me," Ranma chuckled, "One of those things a little old granny taught me. You gonna be okay?"
"I'll live," Taishiji said, sitting up. "That was some attack. How many times did you hit me, anyway?"
"Eh, a good few," Ranma grinned briefly before his face took on a more serious look. "Kokin, how's the other one?"
"Alive, but definitely down," Kokin replied, drawing Taishiji's gaze over to Hanno's battered form.
"What happened?" Taishiji asked.
"Sorry about your friend," Ranma said apologetically. "He doesn’t have your honor, apparently. He used our fight as a distraction to try to take my cousin out with a crowbar. I had to knock him out instead."
"From a distance?" Taishiji blinked.
"Yeah," Ranma nodded, standing up and offering his hand to the larger boy to help him up. "I don't like it but he made me do it.”
Taishiji took the offered hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.
"The others ran away when I took that guy out," Ranma continued. "You think you'll be okay to call an ambulance for him?"
"I should be," the larger boy nodded.
"Great," Ranma grinned. "That was fun. Maybe we can spar again sometime?"
"Um...right," Taishiji sweat-dropped, not at all confident about the prospect of a spar with someone who, he was now sure, was even better than Ukitsu. "Sure," he said anyway.
"Cool," Ranma said. "I'm going to get my cousins home now. See ya around."
Taishiji nodded dumbly at the pigtailed fighter’s back as he went to collect his cousins.
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