Nerima's Heir
By John Little
Chapter 1: Twenty Years Later...
AN: Something of an alternate dimension's future timeline, I suppose.
Yoiko pulled her backpack closer, and looked at the sparkling city lights just a few miles away. Nerima! The place of her birth,home of her father, Ranma Saotome. She almost couldn't believe that she was seeing it again. Naturally, this meant no sleep for her tonight. After all, who could sleep on the night before her homecoming? Her only true regret was the fact that her current Sensei had not allowed quite enough time to reach Nerima before night fell.
"It's a shame, really," she said to herself. "It would have been nice to spend tonight down there. Maybe even in the Tendo Dojo! I can't think of anyone else who would be in the guest rooms right now. Can you, Sensei?"
Yoiko waited a few moments for a response, but didn't get one. She turned to her Sensei, yet found that he was not where he had been standing just a few moments earlier. She quickly surveyed the camp, looking for any trace of her trainer, yet could not see one. She checked inside the tents, behind his backpack, and even in the tops of some of the nearest trees. Finally, in desperation Yoiko pulled out her whistle and blew into it, piercing the evening air with its high-pitched scream.
"Over here!" came the voice of her Sensei, from not too far into the forest. Yoiko darted in that direction before the situation could move from annoying to problematic. She worked quickly, moving through the dense underbrush as if it were nothing. She found her teacher sitting on a tree stump, chopping wood with his hands. A large pile of prepared logs had appeared at his feet.
"You're excited," grinned her Sensei. "You don't normally find me this quickly."
"Of course I'm excited!" Yoiko exclaimed. "I've not been home in a year! I can't wait to get back!"
"You're also not asking about dinner. This IS a big night for you. Here, help me carry these back to the main camp, we'll start preparing."
Yoiko picked up half of the pile, leaving the other half for her Sensei, before running back through the forest. Her Sensei followed quickly, watching his student race back to the camp, leaving an uncharacteristically noticeable trail.
"Hmmm....a blind man could follow this path," he said to himself. "She really is excited....more hungry than I first thought, too. Oh, well....just one more lesson, and she'll be ready to come home, Ranma. Just one last lesson...."
Yoiko stood at the ready. She hadn't been expecting an after-dinner training session, but based on the looks that her Sensei was giving her, this was not going to be a normal session. Her Sensei stood twenty feet from her, smiling curiously, his back to a giant boulder.
"Yoiko, you have come a great distance since your birth. In fifteen years, you gained the strength, stamina, and speed of your mother when I first met her. Between her training, and the training of every other Sensei that you have dealt with over that time, you were already an accomplished martial artist when we set off for our year of training here. That your parents accepted me as being worthy to train under is an honor that I do not deserve. After all, Cologne knows much more than I do."
A brief pause here as Yoiko groaned and her Sensei chuckled. "I still can't believe that she made me snatch those chestnuts..."
"Don't worry, your father had it much worse from what I hear."
"Yeah, I know, I know..."
"Regardless, you have learned much more than I believed I could have effectively taught from the time that we left a year ago. Regardless of how you fare in the future, I want you to know how proud I am of you, and will always be of you. Not many people can put up with me for more than a few weeks at a time, as I'm sure you can understand."
"Thank you, Sensei."
"Your final training session is a simple test. From where you are standing right now, carve my outline in this boulder. Without harming me, naturally."
Yoiko grinned, and entered a fighting stance. She knew how to do this. Her training with Mousse had aided in the learning of this technique.
"GO!"
Yoiko quickly reached up and, with a speed gained only through her intense training with Cologne, she removed twenty of the brand new bandannas from her head and threw them at her Sensei with perfect accuracy. Her Sensei watched and smiled, already able to see the trajectory of each one of the deadly bandannas. He didn't flinch as they hit the rock behind him.
He stepped away from the boulder, turned, and looked. The bandannas had penetrated the boulder perfectly, with the strands of razor-sharp cloth stretched to make a rough outline of where he had been standing.
"Excellent, Yoiko! You have trained well. Not even I could have made that shot when I was your age."
"Thank you, Sensei!"
"No, Yoiko. Not Sensei. You've finished training with me. I'm just your godfather now."
"Thank you, Godfather Hibiki."
"Just remember: what do you say when your father asks where you keep all of those bandannas?"
"Ancient Chinese Secret."
"Excellent! It's time for bed, Yoiko. We'll have to wake up bright and early tomorrow morning if we're to make it to your homecoming in time for lunch."
Ryoga looked up at the stars while Yoiko slept. He hadn't been overstating anything while he was praising Yoiko. She was as quick to pick up new techniques as her father had been.
"Now Ranma, prepare for my watered down revenge," Ryoga mused to himself. "Tomorrow I give you a sixteen year old daughter who's been trained to your specifications."
Ryoga chuckled to himself, thinking back to his youth. He had stopped attempting to brutally maim Ranma after his marriage to Akane. Even after all of these years, Ryoga could feel his eyes mist up a little. He no longer yearned to someday spend his life with Akane, he'd made sure to eradicate that train of thought as soon as the marriage took place. But he could still feel the pain from the weeks before the marriage when he had finally confessed to Akane about his curse.
Ryoga checked his watch. He'd been up for far too long. It was time to get some sleep.