The usual disclaimer: Ranma ½ is a trademark of Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ Communications, and its characters have been borrowed without permission. This story was written for non-commercial purposes only. I do claim the characters of Daran, Shizuka, Hideo, Olaf, Mouse, Tomo, and Ciren (if you want to borrow them, you only have to ask – just common courtesy after all).

While this is story is part of the Bindings ("Kasumi's Fate") continuum, it's not necessary to have read any of the previous stories. You only need to know two things:

1) Ranma and Akane are happily dating now.

2) Kasumi and Tofu are engaged.

Anything else isn't important to enjoy the story (although, please feel free to read the other stories).

Onwards…

Her Second Favorite Teacher

Akane sat cross-legged on the floor in her room preparing for her meditation exercise. She placed her hands flat on the floor and then leaned forward from her sitting position, shifting her center of balance over her hands. The young woman then leaned a little farther forward and raised her legs off the floor, placing the entirety of her weight on her hands. Shifting her weight using her shoulders and hips, she straightened her legs until she was standing vertically on her hands. This was the first step of preparation, and it was way easier than her first attempt….

When she had first started meditating, she had tried just sitting still as her teacher had suggested, but Akane was no good at just sitting and doing nothing for half an hour. She was a very active person after all. In class, she had always alternated between paying attention to the teacher, getting a jump on her homework, or reading a book she snuck in. She was also an avid note passer (and very good at not getting caught, much to her classmates' envy), but she was always doing something. She never knew how Ranma managed to get nothing accomplished during the school day all last year. This year he primarily worked on getting his homework done in class so he could get to his after-school job at the clinic and work with Akane later that evening in the dojo – he still didn't pay attention to the teachers though.

Sitting in a quiet room when there was so much else to do had been driving her nuts though. However, it had been Ranma who had come to her rescue. When she complained to him about just sitting there, he scolded her: "You're not suppose to be doing nothing. The whole point is to learn about yourself and how you interact with your environment. The Doc's a thoughtful sort of guy, so sitting works well for him. I can't sit still either, so I often do a basic kata when I meditate – something I know so well that it doesn't require any real thought. Why don't you work on your balance or something?" And that had been that…

She closed her eyes and focused on her other senses. She felt the new leotard stretch smoothly over her skin, the sensation bringing with it the memory of why she had bought the new garment. She let that memory play out…

When she decided to meditate using a hand-stand, Akane knew that her usual dresses would be useless and her gi almost as bad – the pants would be down around her waist and the top would soon be covering her head – not exactly what one would call a modest position. So, for her first handstand session, she had dug out her old gymnastic leotard reasoning that it would cover everything important. It did, but it was tight across her chest and across her backside (more than her legs showed). She had to keep adjusting it a bit – apparently she had stretched over the last year. Still, she wasn't going out in public, so it would do for today (she'd go shopping later in the week). She had already placed herself into a handstand and was working on both maintaining her balance and focusing her mind when Ranma had knocked on her door and asked to drop off some clean laundry. Because she was pre-occupied, she told Ranma to come in and drop off the clothes (after all, with Happosai living with them, it didn't do to leave undergarments unguarded). Ranma entered the room and immediately noticed that his pretty tomboy fiancée was wearing a leotard badly in need of adjustment and that was over-emphasizing certain upper body attributes that had "matured" over the last year – never mind that her lower backside was a lot more visible than her swimsuits usually allowed. His subconscious mind picked up a lot of material for some very good dreams, but his conscious mind went immediately into overload and the boy collapsed like a pole-axed cow.

Ranma was use to the naked female body – after all, he had one of his own. Kodachi and Shampoo use to throw themselves at him wearing next to nothing and all he would do was get defensive and annoyed. However, if Akane wore anything even slightly skimpy, Ranma's brain turned to mush. It seems that the old leotard had crossed the border into full-blown skimpy as Ranma would not come around until Kasumi threw a wrap around her sister. Any time he had started to wake up, he had immediately passed out again once he glanced at Akane. Kasumi had taken Akane out shopping for the new leotard that evening.

Thereafter, Nabiki had been anxious to get her younger sister into a bikini and see what effect that had on Ranma. Kasumi, assuming her "Matriarch" role, had forbidden it on the grounds that sending Ranma to the hospital was too much of a disruption to the family schedule. However, for quite some time afterwards, the memory would bring a smirk to Akane's face – after being called "sexless" so many times by Ranma, there was some satisfaction in the dramatic effect she had on the dummy. Fortunately for Ranma, Akane was as much a prude as he was; she didn't feel comfortable in a bikini. Besides, she loved her prudish boyfriend/fiancé as he was: sane (mostly) and whole (again, mostly). Given how things stood though, she had taken to wearing a set of shorts with the leotard – the sight of her legs bear to the hips could also drive the thoughts from Ranma's mind (but at least he didn't collapse). While this was amusing, Akane preferred a more functional Ranma.

As the memory completed itself, Akane concentrated on her breathing and heart rate. She needed to get both right to remain upside-down for any length of time. She also felt the pull of gravity and sought to counteract that properly by tightening and loosing muscle groups as appropriate. The trick was to sync the adjustments with her controlled breathing so her mind would handle the adjustments automatically. A non-martial artist might believe this was impossible to do, but people did this all the time – they were just use to doing it upright with their feet rather than their hands (so much so that they never really thought about what a miracle *walking* truly was). She felt her body "snap" into the proper rhythm – step two completed.

Once she had achieved the proper automatic balance, she pressed her fingers into the floor, forcing her body to rise until she was supporting her weight on her fingertips. The strain caused her mind to focus on the feeling from her fingertips. One normally trying to enter a meditative state might find this unusual, but the demanding focus allowed Akane to ignore her other thoughts and pay attention only to the sensations from her fingertips. Step three completed.

Now that her awareness was focused at her fingertips (literally), she began to push her awareness further outward. Her thoughts began to flow across the floor and up the walls of her room. She could actually *feel* with her mind the objects in her room that she had an emotional attachment to: the stuffed bear that her Mom had given her so long ago, the silver necklace from Kasumi, the diary (no lock on it) from Nabiki, her first karate belt from Daddy, the music box from Ranma, and the framed photograph of her and Ranma's first dance (1) taken by Hideo and Shizuka. The back of the last one had been signed by her foster Aunt and Uncle as well as the other lunatics that had watched over the couple on that memorable night (including Sasuke and Konatsu – she still wanted to know how Tomo's signature had gotten there though). As her thoughts completely enfolded her room, she felt her mind finally encase her body, inverting her usual state of being. Check and mate – transcendental state achieved.

Now that she was secure in her sanctuary, Akane pushed further, her thoughts slowly spreading to the rest of the house. Anything that could generate heat or light mapped itself onto her senses. She could hear the electricity flowing through the walls as it ran into an appliance. The running dishwasher and dryer motors left a metallic taste in her mouth. Any electric light left on (some which she had purposely turned on for this exercise) made a warm impression on her skin. The sunlight hitting the building filled her nose with fragrance. Most of all, she could see anything living in the colors that cascaded into her eyes. Plants were cooler colors; animals were warmer (regardless of their size – she had Kasumi call an exterminator on the termite colony that had just started up); but people were the warmest of all.

Her mind swept the house, noting where her family was and comparing their auras against their heat signatures. Kasumi and Tofu were in the kitchen; Akane could feel the life in the fruits and vegetables her sister was preparing. Her father and Genma were on the back porch. She guessed they were playing a game, but the game itself did not register to her senses. Nodoka and Nabiki were sitting in the family room; judging from their postures, Akane guessed they were playing cards. Happosai was in his room sitting quietly, probably reading. Ranma was not in the house, but she already knew that; he was in the dojo working on his own "studies." She let the love she had for this group of misfits rise up in her (they were hers and she was theirs), and then she focused on her state again.

Suddenly she felt a touch upon her mind and immediately traced it to Doctor Tofu. The Doc was checking up on her. He was her newest teacher and had ordered her to perform these meditation sessions three times a week. As with the other thoughts that had occurred during this session, she allowed the memory of how he became her teacher to rise into her consciousness…

About a week after Akane's first date with Ranma (which had been an unequivocal success), Tofu, Kasumi, and several of the older couple's friends (Shizuka, Hideo, Daran, Mouse, Olaf, Ciren, and two others Akane hadn't met before) had sat down with Akane and Ranma and informed them both that they needed further training. Ranma's ability to create windstorms and Akane's ability to generate light and heat marked them as Mages, not just Martial Artists. Both of them could use their Chi to affect their environment. They needed to learn to control their growing power before it controlled them.

The young couple had protested that they didn't want to give up being Martial Artists – it was what they lived for. Tofu assured them that it wasn't necessary. In fact, it was possible for the training to overlap with the right instructor. Regardless, both teenagers must start training as soon as possible. Otherwise they would become like kegs of dynamite – liable to explode at an inopportune time, damaging themselves and others. The argument left them without any defense (especially since Ranma had recently used a similar argument on Akane to get her to learn the Mouko Takabashi). The group of adults decided that Tofu was the best teacher to train them – the Doc could appropriately mix Martial Arts and Mage training. Besides, since Akane was apparently a Fire Mage like Tofu, that made the most sense for her. Unfortunately, the nearest Wind Mage that they knew was up in Hokkaido, which was too far for Ranma to go (Ranma had said he was not leaving Akane's side – which made Akane very happy), so Tofu would have to do. Hideo was the next best choice, but he already had two students and just added a third – Ryoga Hibiki had the makings of an Earth Mage (same as Hideo). Tofu only had one student – his wife-to-be who apparently had the Sight.

Since that meeting, every Sunday afternoon was now spent with the doctor as he sought to teach the couple the fundamentals of Elemental Magic and his fiancée how *not to* wander the neighborhood in her spirit-form. Surprisingly enough, Ranma loved the extra classes and Akane initially dreaded them. Akane found the good doctor to be an extremely demanding teacher. Her father had been a doting teacher – Akane had always set the pace (which worked fine because of her heightened interest). The teachers at school had been fairly easy to deal with for Akane (even Ms. Hinako). Do the work and they left you alone – Ranma used to have issues because he never did the work (although he did now – he was determined to graduate with Akane). Akane's future plans required that she had good grades and scores – not stellar ones.

But Doctor Tofu wasn't interested in scores – nor was he interested in good efforts; he pushed to get the best results. He pushed hard enough that Akane pushed back a few times only to get knocked on her rump (sometimes a bit more than figuratively). During these "discussions", no matter how angry and frustrated Akane got, Tofu always maintained a calm face, making Akane feel like a child. When she protested that it was impossible to do what her teacher asked, the Doc would flawlessly execute the task or recitation with such an ease that Akane immediately felt embarrassed. During these arguments, Kasumi and Ranma just kept their mouths shut and waited for things to run their course. In the end, Akane always felt foolish and eventually did what she was told.

Once, she asked Ranma why he never lost his temper with Tofu's demands. The pig-tailed young man laughed and said: "You haven't been paying attention very well. He and I have been having an on-going one-upmanship battle ever since he got back from his trip and proposed to Kasumi. If I did lose my temper that would only give him points. Besides, unlike you, I know better than to try and win against him in a verbal argument or a frontal assault without proper preparation – 'winging it' against him is a really bad idea. I'm already behind on points right now, but I'll get even yet."

Ranma grinned as he went on: "Your sister has been his student since before she was sixteen and is use to his ways. She's been waging her own friendly contest with him for quite some time. Right now, Kasumi is ahead on points, which is driving him nuts. She hid fresh chili peppers in his stew last night and he tried to one-up her by keeping a straight face while he ate them, but he didn't quite make it and had to grab his water glass. What's worse is that he still doesn't know what she did with Betty." (2)

The shape-changer then grew serious as he continued: "Don't forget. He's giving up his time to teach us. It's not like he couldn't think of better things to do…"

The comment had robbed Akane of any response and forced her to think about the situation. So much so, that during the next Sunday session, Tofu was rather surprised to have Akane formally apologize to him and promise to try harder. In fact, he was so surprised that he forgot to use the "There is no 'try'" line on her. When the Doc glanced at Ranma though, the young man touched his finger to his lips and mimed touching something hot in front of him. Akane didn't understand the gesture, but from the rueful look on Tofu's face, she knew that somehow, someway, Ranma had picked up points in his on-going battle.

She felt the Doc's thoughts move on, satisfied that she was doing what she was suppose to. There were no further memories that needed to be dealt with or recalled, so Akane began to study the energy flows around her and watched as they reacted to her thoughts (which was no longer surprising). With some effort, she managed to block the flow of electricity to the light in her room (turning it off as long as she directed her thoughts at it), but she didn't try to establish a new path for fear that she might short something out. She did call some of the sunlight to herself, warming her room by five degrees or so (good thing she was wearing only the leotard and shorts). She left the dishwasher alone, but she did try to inject heat into the dryer using the machine's thermostat as a gauge and listening to the electricity flowing through the heating element to see if she was successful (not so much). Finally, as the allotted time was wrapping up, she summoned a ball of heat and used it to light three candles set on her dresser (without turning the candles to soup). Then she withdrew her thoughts back inside her head and lowered herself gently to the ground.

"Not too bad," she thought. "I'm definitely getting stronger. That was the first time I managed to turn off the lamp by blocking the flow." She couldn't do that outside of a meditation trance (yet), but it was definite progress. She was also better at re-directing energy using a trance, but she could do some re-direction outside the trance, as she demonstrated to herself by extinguishing the lit candles with her conscious thoughts.

Akane sat up on the floor and pulled her legs up to her chest resting her head on her knees. She used the training Ranma taught her to sweep the house with her mind again, but this time only looking for auras, not heat signatures. It was also easier to extend her perceptions to the dojo with this ability. Ramna had left the dojo and was now in the bathroom getting cleaned up – he and Akane were going out this evening to the Cookie Palace for a casual-dress date. Kasumi and Tofu were in the dojo now – Akane couldn't tell what they were doing, but their auras didn't indicate sparring (either physical or romantic). Akane knew that they were also going to The Complex tonight. In fact Tofu had offered to give Akane and Ranma a ride, but neither of the teenagers want to crowd the elder couple on their date; time alone was precious – all the way around. (3)

Nodoka had relieved Kasumi in the kitchen and was finishing dinner preparations. Dinner was early this evening (or rather this afternoon) due to everyone's schedules: not only did the two engaged couples have dates, but Nodoka wanted Genma to take her out somewhere for dessert and Nabiki also had a date this evening. Strictly speaking, Tofu and Kasumi were having dinner out, and so was Nabiki, but time together as a family was also precious so everyone would be at the meal.

Nabiki was waiting for her turn in the bathroom, taunting Ranma to hurry up. Actually, Nabiki had plenty of time; she just enjoyed annoying Ranma. Ranma was returning fire but he was hurrying faster, trying to be considerate in his own way. Genma and Daddy hadn't moved from their game, while Happosai was in the kitchen trying to steal some food from Nodoka (Akane could tell her mother-in-law-to-be had her sword at the ready).

Because Akane was in a heightened state of awareness, and because she had just finished a successful meditation, she was aware when the Doc touched her thoughts again, checking up on her once more. "O.K. The first time, he was being a demanding teacher," she thought. "Now, he's just being a busybody. Checking by aura is one thing, reaching into my mind is quite another." Akane smirked then, "Let's show him how well I have been paying attention lately."

The problem with reaching into someone's thoughts, Akane remembered, is that it leaves you wide open. If your target has any special abilities, they can strike back before you can block them. Akane took a little bit of chi and wrapped it around a thought. Then she ran the thought right down the spine of Tofu's aura. When Ranma had done it to her, it had felt like someone dropping a very wet and very cold ice cube down her back.

Everyone in the house heard the "YIPE!" that echoed out of the dojo, followed by Kasumi's laughter and Ranma shouting "GO AKANE!" from downstairs. Nabiki also began laughing as Ranma filled her in on the situation. Akane was sure she heard Happosai chortling as well.

As Akane pulled her thought away from Tofu, she felt two emotions emanating from the Doc. The first was Chagrin at getting "punished" by someone so much younger than he was. That one confused Akane somewhat. "So much younger than him?" she thought. "Granted, he's twice my age – I think. But he's marrying my sister at New Years, and she's only three years older than I am. Surely, he's caught on to the fact that I'm growing up too by now." The more she thought about it, the more it felt like a clue in the Game she was playing with Ranma. She quickly took out the notebook she devoted to that Game and wrote down a few thoughts to follow up on. (4)

Once done, she put the notebook away and addressed the second emotion she felt from the Doc – Pride. He was proud that Akane had struck back in an appropriate manner – no anger, no rage. He was also proud that she had used her new abilities and knowledge. That is why he had been pushing her constantly. Not only was he trying to get her best effort, he was also trying to help her control herself by playing "unyielding object" to her "irresistible force". Ranma had gained "points" against Tofu because Ranma had been responsible for teaching Akane to step back, instead of Tofu. However, Tofu didn't get everything he wanted, so he "pushed" at Akane with the mind-reading, hoping she would confront him without blowing her stack. The fact that she had used her power was icing on the cake…

She shook her head to clear it. Damn it. He was a very complicated teacher – everything he did had multiple levels to it. She was going to have to proceed carefully and keep her eyes and ears open, which is exactly what he wanted. No shortcuts allowed.

A little while back, the realization might have made Akane sigh, but instead she just looked at the bright side. Tofu might be the hardest teacher she ever ran across, but he was also the most talented. He could teach her a lot, which was good, because she had a lot to learn. In time, she knew he would be her second favorite teacher.

She smiled at that thought. Yes, Tofu was her hardest teacher, and, while she respected him greatly, he would never be her best or favorite teacher. That title was reserved for someone else, someone who had opened her eyes to the real world and made her shake off her fantasies and grow-up. The day that had happened would be etched in her memory forever, even though it hadn't been all that long ago…

She and Ranma were out for a morning jog. They had just ditched Shampoo not by using the Umisen-Ken but by simply out-running the Amazon, truly a marvelous feat. Akane was amazed by how much faster and stronger she had grown in the past few months. Still, despite the fact that she had just issued her apology to Tofu a few days ago, she was again complaining to Ranma about how hard Tofu pushed her.

Ranma smirked at her and the shape shifter's eyebrows had shot up. "Welcome to my world," he told her. "If you think Tofu's demanding, you need to have Pops teach you for a bit. I know of a more demanding teacher though."

"Who's that?" Akane had asked.

Ranma uttered a single word and went silent: "Saffron."

Akane stopped cold while Ranma ran on. She felt something clutch at her heart as she watched her boyfriend run on burdened by his answer. She could literally feel the sorrow emanating from Ranma at that particular memory and it took her breath away. Ranma continued on though, carrying his pain away with him and allowing Akane to wrestle with his one word answer.

Saffron? The man/phoenix who had figuratively pushed them to their deaths? Only to die in turn when Ranma returned to save Akane? Yes, Akane knew about Ranma's desperate action during the battle with Saffron and how he had struggled to return. Akane's deceased mother, Kimiko, had told Akane when Akane had reached the Other Side. Tears had run down her face at the description Kimiko gave. The tears had come again when she saw and felt Ranma's grief spilling out of the World to her on the Other Side and giving her a path to follow back to Ranma – one that she willing took to be with him again. (5)

But that was neither here nor there right now…how was Saffron a teacher to Ranma? The creature had tortured and taunted Ranma, blocking his path to the Jusendo fountain to get Water for Akane, until Ranma finally struck a killing blow – something Ranma had always feared. Granted, Saffron had also returned from death, but Ranma never let himself off the hook anyway because Ranma knew he had made a conscious choice not to hold back – to strike with everything he had. While he had confided to Akane that while he was happy that Saffron had returned (Ranma never held any grudges), he also knew that some things…

"Oh," Akane thought to herself. "That's the lesson Saffron taught Ranma: That some things were worth fighting for and going beyond the absolute limits for; things far more important than honor or pride." She blushed brightly as she realized once again how much Ranma really did love her.

However, as she stood in the early morning sun, another thought occurred to her: What would have happened if Ranma hadn't trained as hard as he did and hadn't fought as hard as he did? What if Ranma had only tried for "good enough" when he confronted the Phoenix?

As the obvious answer to that question settled into Akane's mind, it led her to another one of the lessons Ranma based his life around: You always trained your hardest as if the fight of your life was just around the corner because it may very well be, and you may never get a second chance.

Example after example from Ranma's life flew through Akane's thoughts. Finally, the sequence ended and Akane accepted the full implications completely with one last sigh. This was the difference between someone who practiced martial arts and someone who was a Martial Artist. Akane had been walking the line for the longest time between martial arts as a hobby and Martial Arts as a way of life. Ranma knew this about Akane, which is why he had been reluctant to teach her until recently. But now she could see the line, and now she had to choose. This was where Ranma had been leading her, something none of her other teachers had been able to do, not even her father.

"But this is what I want," she thought. "More than anything else." With that thought, Akane knew she had finally stepped across the line and truly entered Ranma's world. Never again would she need to insist that she was a Martial Artist too. Akane also knew that she would never complain about Tofu or any other teacher again.

"So be it," she thought. "I will make Ranma proud of me!" With that affirming of her spirit, she ran off to catch up with her fiancé teacher.

Footnotes:

(1) The couple's first dance happened in the story "The Date", chapter 4 (part of the Bindings continuum).

(2) "Betty" is Doctor Tofu's life-sized plastic skeleton. Please see the manga or anime for more details. Kasumi made Betty vanish sometime between the Bindings continuum stories "Kasumi's Fate" and "Tofu Returns".

(3) "The Complex" is a private entertainment complex consisting of several restaurants, sport facilities, bars, and other businesses. Membership is very restricted. It was introduced in chapter 3 of "The Date".

(4) The Game between Ranma and Akane was started in chapter 5 of "The Date". Doctor Tofu has a big secret (you have to read "Kasumi's Fate" to learn about it). Ranma knows what it is, but Akane only knows that the secret exists – the Game is for her to figure it out (Tofu is not worried about Akane learning the secret).

(5) Ranma's desperate action occurred in the manga when he hit himself with the Gekkaja at Jusendo in order to survive Saffron's fire blast. There are some ramifications of that in the Bindings continuum which Ryoga mentions in chapter 9 of "The Date – The Flip-side".

A/N:

I sat down with the intent to write "Shapeshifters" (which is finished), but ended up writing about Akane. I thought it might be amusing to take a look at some of her imperfections and how she's growing up too.

Up next (in a couple of weeks): We take a good look at Ranma's shape-shifting abilities as Ranma's tries (with Akane's help) to learn how to preserve clothes during a shape-shift, something that could have significant implications for the rest of Nerima's shape-shifters. The result forces Nabiki (of all people) to ponder certain philosophical realities.

Take care!

Skystrider