The Tendo Ryu
by: P-R-P-Chan
All rights reserved to whoever they belong to.
Part 1:
Soun Tendo sat pensively, trying to determine the best way to distract his opponent. He needed time to think. He needed to narrow down the countless possibilities, something to give him more control over the outcome. Glancing across the shogi board into his friend Genma's eyes he knew he only had a few more instants before Saotome would force him into making a rash decision. Just as he was about to blink and make a move he knew was flawed, inspiration came in the form of a wrinkled old lecher hurtling past. A loud cry and the stomping of feet heralded his house guest and daughter chasing Happosai. Noticing Genma's distraction, Soun made a decision. Normally if his opponent had a moments distraction he would just move the pieces around to stir the pot, but this time, this time he would win.
"Ranma! Akane!" Soun barked out. Out of the corner of his eye he warily ensured that Genma didn't take advantage, but luckily his attention also was on the two fiancees. Both had to hold back a laugh as Ranma stopped suddenly before being bowled over by a much less agile Akane leaving them both entangled on the floor, Ranma on top.
"Get off me, you.. you.."
"I'm trying-"
"PERVERT!" Akane tried to punch Ranma off of her, but her movements merely lead to an even more compromising position with Ranma's face buried in her chest. Ranma knew his time was near an end and refused to go down without a fight. Using his shoulders, he levered himself out of Akane's death grip, breaking her throttle hold on his windpipe and pushed off with his legs. Half a second later he felt the comforting feel of the wall at his back and watched as his furious fiancee jumped to her feet, glowing darkly and fixing him with a glare that could melt stone. Her hand began twitching as if looking for something to flatten him with. This was not looking good.
Ranma saw one way out of his precarious predicament and took it, "Why do you have to be so uncute all the time, Akane?"
"Uncute, am I? You just tried to molest me and now you call me uncute?" Akane started slowly advancing on Ranma's form. He looked like he was trying to melt into the wall, eyes shifting nervously looking for a means to escape the doom that was slowly walking towards him.
"Akane, try to be nice to your fiancee..." Soun began.
"Be nice? After he molested me? There's no way I'm going to marry him!" She yelled straight into her father's face. Soun broken down into a sobbing heap, mumbling about how his daughter had forsaken him.
"Yeah, I'd never marry an uncute tomboy like Akane!" Ranma saw his chance and ran with it. Akane turned back to Ranma in a fury but her father beat her to it. Soun's demonhead filled the area between Akane and Ranma.
"YOU WILL MARRY MY DAUGHTER" Soun roared.
"Ranma, it is your duty to marry Akane," Genma advanced on him as well.
"Like. I. Said." Ranma yelled, "I'm never going to marry that uncute.." He trailed off as Akane's hammer descended on him. Seeing her work here was done, Akane turned to stomp off. Ranma felt horrible, but could tell that nothing was broken and he hadn't lost consciousness.
'Success! Ranma Saotome never loses!' He thought. He just wished thinking didn't hurt so much.
"Akane, sit down at the table. We need to talk... and bring you fiancee." Soun stated much to Ranma's horror.
'Round two.' Ranma thought with a sigh as he felt Akane drag him to the table by his pigtail and unceremoniously dump him in a heap. Waiting long enough so that no one would think he was faking, Ranma slowly sat up next to his father. Akane and her dad were seated across the table from them and it appeared that Akane was about to say something.
"You two have been engaged for long enough" Soun stated evenly, cutting off whatever remark Akane was about to make. "It is time you married."
"I agree Tendo, they've had all the time they needed to get to know each other. We should have them married tomorrow" Genma concluded.
Both Ranma and Akane's eyes widened suddenly, then their mouths. Neither knew what to say. Both wanted to deny it, both wanted to stop this, but neither wanted to go first. Until Genma spoke.
"I'll go call the priest."
"No!" Akane and Ranma screamed in stereo, before locking eyes. Akane blushed and lowered her head, Ranma turning to his father.
"I already told you old man, I ain't getting married!" Ranma punctuated his remark by grabbing his father's shoulder, preparing to toss him backwards into the yard. Genma grabbed the offending limb and pulled Ranma forward trying to lock his arm behind him.
"Have you no honour? How could I have gone so wrong in raising my only child to be such a disobedient child?" Genma mocked Ranma as they grappled for advantage. Soun closed his eyes and sighed.
"Saotome, as head of the Tendo clan, your son will marry my daughter, or" He paused for dramatic effect, opened his eyes and finished his sentence. "Our two clans will go to war."
Both Saotomes stopped struggling and stared at their host in shock, while Akane's head whipped around to take in her father's stern face and unblinking eyes. 'He's serious,' She though.
Ranma couldn't believe what Mr.Tendo had just said, but one look at his face and he knew. 'He's serious.'
Genma stared at his best friend in the whole world, knowing that this day might come, but hoping against hope that it wouldn't. 'He's serious.. Oh Kami, he's serious.'
Soun stood up suddenly and looked down at his daughter, "Akane, walk with me. The Saotomes have much to discuss."
Akane stood slowly, unsure of what to do, but no having much choice. She gave an uncertain look at the still-entangled father and son before following her father out of the room. Ranma released his hold, and Genma did the same, then they sat in shock for a few moments before Genma spoke.
"Well son, congratulations on your wedding then. I'm going to go rent you a tuxedo" He walked off to find the front door leaving Ranma sitting there speechless. As he heard the front door close behind his departing father, Ranma finally snapped out of his stupor and ran off to catch him.
Ranma caught up with his father on a side street, getting his attention with a flying knee to the small of his back. As Genma rolled to his feet he swept at his son's legs, but it was easily avoided as was the following uppercut before the father's open palm follow-up was blocked. The older man grabbed on to the arm his son had used to block before pulling him close and into one of his techniques, Hell's Cradle. Ranma struggled briefly before giving up. They were in public and he didn't want to put up with the humiliation.
"Let go, Pops! We'll talk, just let go already" Genma saw that his son wasn't trying to pull a fast one on him, so he relented.. but not before giving him one more hug.
"Well then, Son. What exactly is there to talk about?" The father actually looked puzzled which would have enraged Ranma if it weren't for the fact that he could read him like a book. Sure they lied to each other, but growing up with only his father's company meant that he knew him as well as he did himself. They knew each other too well, so well in fact that neither could ever really trick the other. Sometimes, one or the other would go along with an attempt at deceit, just to see what the other was planning or hoping to catch the other off guard, but neither could really put one over the other. Ranma knew his father's expression when he was lying, he knew what he looked like when he was nervous, and he knew what he looked like when he had decided there was absolutely nothing he could do about something except to accept it. It was that last look that he was wearing right now.
"You know exactly what we need to talk about. I'm not marrying Akane, and that's final!" Ranma was frustrated, his father's expression hadn't changed one bit.
"Ranma," Genma began. "There is nothing we can do about it. Soun and I made an agreement to join the schools. We've given you two your space.."
Ranma snorted at that but Genma continued, "Now though. Now, Soun has made his decision. You heard him, Son. If you don't marry Akane tomorrow, he's going to declare war on us."
Ranma looked completely non-plussed about that possibility. Genma fixed him with a stare, willing him to ask the question. "What have we got to be scared of, Pop? Akane's alright, but nothing to be scared of.. and no offense, but your friend's a crybaby."
"Ranma, what was the first thing I taught you?"
"How to fall... but what does.."
Genma angrily cut him off, "Foolish boy! That was the second thing I taught you. The first thing I taught you is that 'a Saotome never loses'."
"I've beat you plenty of times."
"That was sparring, Boy!" Genma growled at his son, realizing he was being brought off-topic. "Anything-Goes was devised to win. I've taught you half of it, which we both call the Saotome Ryu and you already know our motto. Do you know what the Tendo motto is?"
"Whine because you're not a Saotome?" Ranma asked, completely unsure of where this was going.
Genma posed. He knew he was posing. It was his dreadful secret technique pose, which was different from the inspiring speech pose in the way he cocked his left elbow. Light glinted off his glasses as he began, "Tendo always wins. It's that simple. Where I've taught you to never accept defeat, the Tendo school teaches that defeat is acceptable if it leads to you getting your way. It's brilliant, and nearly impossible to fight against."
Ranma looked at his father like he was an idiot, "Pops.. Mr.Tendo never gets his way."
"Name one time, just once."
"Me and Akane aren't married."
"He's still working on that.. Anything else you can think of?"
"Ummm.." Ranma was stumped. "I can't think of anything more right now.. all he ever does is cry."
Genma looked into his son's eyes, "..and then he gets his way. The only one who can get away with anything is Akane, but that's because she's nearly a master in her own right."
Ranma looked stupefied. "You're kidding right? Akane's a joke. Well, she isn't really that bad, but she's nothing compared to me, although she's always whining that 'she's a martial artist too'. The Tendo school must be really weak if everyone in it is a bunch of crybabies and whiners."
Genma smacked his son upside the head. "Think about it for a second. Who does that remind you of?"
Ranma looked upwards and scratched his chin. It really did sound familiar to him, but he just couldn't place it. Where did crying and whining fit into martial arts? Then he stopped. "Happosai."
"Do you see then?"
"They're going to annoy us to death?"
Genma buried his face in his hands. "Oh, to have such an idiot child."
He continued moaning to himself about Ranma's apparent lack of intelligence, beseeching the heavens for his son to grow a brain, until said brainless idiot punched him in the face. "Shut up, Pop! Get to the point!"
"Ranma. Listen very carefully, and don't interrupt. When the Master is angered, he always gets his way, and you've seen it for yourself. The Tendo Ryu is built on that, as I just told you.. but that is not all that they got from the Master. Where the Saotome school emphasizes speed and resilience, the Tendo Ryu looks to power and endurance. While both schools share the basics.. everything the Master taught more advanced than that was split between the schools."
Genma glanced over at his son to make sure he was still paying attention. He hadn't dozed off, so he continued. "Saotome Ryu was designed to win any battle, the Tendos.. they win wars."
Ranma's eyes lit up. "So you're saying they have all the weapon techniques?"
"Worse. They have all the deadly techniques. You'll notice there aren't any in the Saotome Ryu."
Ranma looked at his father sceptically, but didn't interject. "I know we have moves that can kill, but the Tendo Ryu moves are designed for it. Why do you think Akane doesn't seem very advanced?"
"Cause she isn't." Ranma replied quickly. His father just shook his head.
"Because she can't use any of her advanced moves without seriously hurting someone."
"You're kidding me! Akane? She can barely kick!" Ranma shook his head. "Tendo always wins? You can't make me believe that she can win anything.. I've had to save her every time!"
Genma gave him the 'are you stupid?' look one more time, but waited for Ranma to dig his hole a bit deeper.
"It seems like every week I have to go save her because she's been kidnapped or she got herself into a fight she can't win."
Genma decided now was the time to set his son straight. "Then what happens?"
"I win the fight."
"So does she."
"Pop..." Then Genma saw it on his son's face: dawning comprehension. Ranma opened his mouth to speak, then shut it. He tried again, but couldn't get any words out and shut it once more. For a good half minute, Ranma Saotome did his best impression of a fish. Then his mouth settled on a thin hard line.
"She used me." His voice came out finally, with not a hint of warmth. He looked like he was about to say something, then stopped in thought for a moment before he squeaked out, "Then Nabiki is.. ?"
"She only follows the philosophy." Ranma breathed a sigh of relief. He could deal with Akane being a better martial artist than he gave her credit for, but he would not believe that Nabiki had been able to hide anything like that from him. Still, this did give him reason to be even more wary around her. Slowly, another thought bubbled up to the surface. He began asking the question, even though he couldn't believe where his mind was taking him, "Ka...Kasumi?"
Genma was equally shocked. He's never considered this before. "I don't know, son. I really don't know."
Ranma's knees nearly went out as all his muscles turned to jelly. Holding himself steady against a bordering wall, he gasped for air before geting control of himself and standing straight once more. "Pop.. I really need to think about this."
With that Ranma leapt up on to the rooves and off into the distance. Genma for his part continued his shopping expedition. He still had a tuxedo to pick up. He just hoped that Ranma made the right choice.
Genma marched back into the Tendo home, a rented tuxedo trailing over his shoulder. He looked down at the abandoned game of shogi that him and Tendo had been playing before the disturbances of the night and reached down to move one of the pieces when he felt something. Looking up he saw Soun standing in the entrance to the room, so he sat down in front of the board, trying to cover his attempt at cheating.
"Care to finish the game, Tendo?"
Soun walked over to the board and picked it up, handing it to Kasumi who had trailed him into the room. "We'll finish the game tomorrow, after the wedding."
Seeing that his friend was in no mood for company, Genma stood back up. "Well I guess I'll turn in then, my friend. What time is the priest to arrive?"
"Noon."
"Well, I'll see you in the morning then, Soun." Genma trudged upstairs carrying his son's tuxedo with him.
Genma woke from a deep sleep, something had woken him. He faked a snore while he tried to locate what it was. He tuned out the wheezing sound as he let his breath out and trtied to isolate what he was hearing. It sounded like.. rustling fabric? Judging from the direction, he would say someone was rummaging in his sack. He drew breath in once more, this time faking a choking noise, giving him reason to shift his weight so he was facing in the direction of the noise. Through half-closed eyes he looked directly into his son's face.
"I know you're awake, old man." Ranma whispered, "I'm just taking some stuff I'm going to need."
"Ranma!" Genma started, but his son clamped his hand over his mouth.
"Keep it down, I don't want to wake up the Tendos." Slowly, he removed his hand, ready to stop his father from crying out once more if he were so inclined.
"Foolish boy!" Genma hissed. "Where do you think you're going to go?"
"The road... Maybe Mom's." Ranma shrugged. "I know I'm not going to marry Akane, that's for sure."
"But.. The schools..."
"I've made my decision!" Ranma started to raise his voice before realizing he had to keep quiet. "There's nothing for me here." He finished on a depressing note. His face slackened for a moment before firming up in a new resolve.
"Well I've got what I need," Ranma slung his sack over his shoulder. "See ya, Pop."
Ranma turned to walk off to a better life, but it was too much for Genma. "Son!"
The pigtailed boy turned back to his father, body tense, as if daring him to try to stop him from leaving.
"Give me a minute to pack my bag."
Ranma was stunned. His father had spent the better part of a year trying to get him to marry his Akane. He couldn't believe that he was giving up that easily.
"You seem surprised." Genma rose from his bedding and started grabbing what he needed: A few articles of clothing, a few scrolls, and a box he pulled out from underneath a loose floorboard. Stuffing everything into his sack quickly and efficiently he turned to his son once more. "You heard Tendo. It's not just you he's going to be after."
The father took a quick glance around the room to make sure there wasn't anything he was forgetting. In the corner he spied his son's tuxedo for the wedding tomorrow, the one they were skipping out on. He picked it up and swung it over his shoulder and prepared to leave.
"I told you, I'm not marrying her." Ranma stared at the clothing draped over his father's shoulder.
"Don't worry, I just want to get the deposit back."
Ranma was about to say something, but he stopped. Quietly he slipped out the way he had come in, through the open window. Genma stood in the middle of the room, took a deep breath, and followed his son into the night.
END Part 1
That's part 1, not sure how many parts this will go to, but I do have the entire outline (without any sidetracks) plotted. Any C&C is appreciated.