Chapter 7: Home Sweet Home
Ron Stoppable awoke the next morning to the sounds of a phone ringing. He turned to the bedside table in the Possible's guest room. 7:06 am was displayed on the alarm clock. Way too early, especially on a Saturday. Ron laid his head back on his pillow, attempting to go back to sleep. He was still exhausted from last night activities. The mission had forced him to use a lot of his chakra, and that took a toll on the body. It would probably be a day or two before his chakra levels were back to normal. But what had tired him the most were the emotional aspects of last night. The rage he felt at himself and his enemies for Kim's wounds. The embarrassment suffered from the present for Kim, and the scene in her room. Then there was the apprehension. He felt apprehensive about telling the Possible's about the seal. But the thing he felt most, even now, was the pain of not being able to express his feelings for Kim. It would kill him if he didn't soon. But, fear at what her response might be stopped him.
'Fear is your greatest enemy, Stoppable-san. But it is the enemy that you must conquer.' Sensei had said these words earlier this summer, when Ron first started accessing his power. Ron smiled a little. He thought at the time that the old master had simply been talking about the mystical monkey power, but now he had the nagging thought that Sensei was talking more about his feelings than the power. Is there anything that old man doesn't have some wise saying for?
Ron heard a knock on the door. He sat up. Who could it be at this time in the morning?
"Come in."
Mr. Dr. Possible opened the door, and peaked his head in. "Ronald, your mother is on the phone. She would like to speak with you."
Ron got out of bed. He was wearing a simple pair of pajama pants. The morning air felt cool to him. "Um, do I need to get dressed?" Ron asked, looking a little bit embarrassed.
Mr. Dr. Possible picked up on Ron's reason for the question. "Don't worry about it. We're the only ones awake." Then he fixed Ron with a stare he saved for all boys that dealt with his daughter. "Besides, you didn't have any problem parading around shirtless in front of Kim last night. Or Anne for that matter." Mr. Dr. Possible mumbled the last bit.
Ron chuckled nervously. "Yeah, about that, you see it wasn't my fault…" Ron started, his hand rubbing the back of his head.
Mr. Dr. Possible clapped his hand on Ron's shoulder, a smile on his face. "Don't worry about that Ronald. I'm just giving you a hard time. If I really suspected anything, you would be on your way out of the ionosphere right now."
Ron let out a sigh of relief. He had been really worried about how Mr. Dr. Possible would react this morning. Ron Stoppable knew in the back of his mind that the black hole threat was a joke, but he would still rather not test Dr. Possible on that.
Ron moved into the kitchen and picked up the phone. "Hey, Mom. How was your fl…"
"RONALD DEAN STOPPABLE! GET HOME RIGHT NOW YOUNG MAN!" Mrs. Stoppable bellowed over the phone, causing Ron to move it away from his ear.
"What's wrong?" Ron asked, knowing full well what the problem was.
"GET HOME NOW!" the phone call ended abruptly as Mrs. Stoppable slammed down the phone.
This is going to suck. Ron thought as he hung up the receiver. It seemed that Ron's mother was in one of her no nonsense moods. "What ever could have put her in this mood?" Ron asked himself, the sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Certainly not a dojo sprouting up in her backyard while she was away?"
Ron returned to the guest room to dress and gather up his belongings. He had just finished putting away his bags next to the Lotus blade, when he realized he needed to get Rufus back from the boys. Ron moved up the stairs quietly, taking extra care not to wake anyone that was still sleeping. Ron opened the door to the twin's room. Ron slipped inside, and saw the Rufus was sleeping on a table between the boy's beds.
"Rufus, hey buddy, time to go home." Ron whispered.
The naked mole rat woke from his sleep. Rufus looked at his master, then looked at both the boys. He looked back up at Ron with a sad look on his little face. "Stay?" he asked.
Ron smiled back to his little pet. "You've had a lot of fun with them this summer, huh?" he whispered.
The mole rat nodded his head. The boys had always loved having Rufus over to play with them. Kim had mentioned to Ron once that the boy's always seemed to build something that was designed just for Rufus to use or test. She also said they when they asked when Rufus and Ron were coming over, more emphasis was on Rufus rather than Ron. Ron just shook his head, a smile on his face.
"Yeah, buddy. You can stay a little while longer. Besides, I may be in some hot water with the parents. I wouldn't want you to have to take the heat with me." Ron rubbed the head of his pet. Although looking at the boys and knowing how they loved Rufus as much as he did, it might not have been fair to call Rufus just his pet.
Ron turned to leave, and as he closed the door, he heard three whispers of "Thanks Ron."
Ron returned to gather his belongings, and said goodbye to Mr. Dr. Possible. He would have said goodbye to Kim, but she was still asleep. He would call her later. Maybe I'll get out of that conversation about Yuri's letter for a while. I mean, there is a good chance my parent's are going to kill me because of the dojo. Ron thought to himself, a frown on his face as he walked out of the Possible's home and started for his own. Ron squared his shoulders. Well, I'll have to face the music sooner or later. First with the fam, then with Kim.
The walk home from the Possible's took only a few minutes, but Ron was in no hurry. It was a nice day outside. The birds were chirping, the weather was warm but not yet hot. Might as well enjoy it while I can. I maybe grounded for a while. Ron was just walking up the last hill before he reached his house as he thought this. That's when he saw it.
It looked like a miniature version of a Japanese castle from the feudal era. But that wasn't the most surprising thing about it. The most surprising thing about it was twice the size of his house! Ron had really not been expecting this. He had imagined a little one room building that he would train in. He could see his parents getting upset about that one room, but this massive structure was certainly the reason his mother responded like she did.
And she was right to do so. Man, however are you going to explain this one Stoppable? Ron asked himself. He had just reached the sidewalk in front of his house when he heard the front door open. There stood his mother, hands on her hips, and a piercing look on her face that she only reserved for Ron when he had screwed up big time. Like right now.
Mrs. Stoppable didn't speak. She just pointed into the house. Ron walked in, his head held low. He was met by his father in the foyer.
"Hello, son. We better take these to the kitchen." Dean Stoppable looked his son in the eyes, a firm but still friendly tone in his voice. Ron was surprised as his father took one of his bags and headed towards the kitchen.
"Dad, shouldn't I just take this upstairs to my room?" Ron asked.
"Ron, in case you couldn't tell, it seems we've gotten a little remodeling done around the house. Your room's not upstairs anymore." His mother, Judy Stoppable, said walking past him into the kitchen.
This is worse than I thought; they're going to kick me out! Ron hung his head even further down. He didn't think anything in the world could cause his parent's throw him out of their home
"Ronald, come in here please. We would like to have a word with you." Ron's father called out.
"Coming." Ron answered a defeated tone in his voice.
Ron made his way into the kitchen, placed his remaining bags beside the back door, and sat down at the empty place across from his parents at the kitchen table. He looked up to see that they both had their serious faces on.
"Ron, we become aware of some changes since we arrived home early this morning." Dean Stoppable was the first to speak.
"Yeah, I can imagine." Ron acknowledged, preparing himself for the tirade that was coming about the dojo.
"What were you thinking, Ron? Did you think you could hide something this big from us?" Judy Possible took over the conversation.
"No, I couldn't hide something like this. I mean, it's there for everyone in the world to see." Ron responded.
"That's true enough, to anyone paying attention it's really obvious." Mrs. Stoppable added.
"Look, I want to apologize. I know you weren't expecting to come home to all of this." Ron said. He was getting a little wierded out that they hadn't started yelling yet, and thought maybe an apology might help.
"You're right. We weren't expecting this." Mr. Stoppable interjected. "Ronald, we're surprised that Kim didn't come with you."
"Kim? She doesn't have anything to do with this." Ron looked totally perplexed by his father's comment.
"What do you mean she doesn't have anything to with this?" Judy asked, confusion on her face.
"What are you talking about?" Ron asked, he was becoming lost as to where this conversation was going.
"Well, we had a message on the phone from Anne and we found out the big news. "Mrs. Stoppable answered.
Ron stared at his parents. "What news?"
"Well, you proposed didn't you?" Mr. Stoppable asked.
Ron shook his head. Where the heck did that come from?
"Well, why not?" Judy asked plainly. "It's obvious you want to marry her if you bought her a wedding dress. You two will be wonderful together!"
Ron fell out of his chair, shocked by what his mother just said.
"She's a great girl Ron." Mr. Stoppable added without missing a beat.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier, Ron. I just was so upset that you didn't tell us of your plans. But now I'm just so excited. I always knew that she was the one for my Ronnie!" Mrs. Stoppable rose and hugged her son tightly, tears of joy brimming in her eyes.
Ron could barely breathe. There were two reasons for this. One was that his mother was squeezing the life out of him with one of her legendary bear hugs. The second was this strange situation he had found himself. Ron was expecting world war three. What he got was his parent's blessing to marry Kim Possible!
Judy finally released her son, her eyes still shining with happy tears. Ron took a few deep breaths. Then he looked at his parent's now smiling faces. "So, let me get this straight. You think that I'm going to propose to Kim?"
"Well, we thought you two might try dating officially first, but if you would rather move to the next step, we've got no objections!" Ron's father smiled back
"You two were made for each other. We've thought so for years." Judy smiled as well. "Ron, will you name the first son after your father?"
Ron fell out of his chair again. As he righted himself, he thought. Great! Now not only are they fixated on me marrying Kim, they're planning names for their grandchildren!
"Mom, Dad. I don't have any plans to ask Kim to marry me." Ron looked at their faces. They seemed to sadden a little bit.
"Well, that might be for the best son. You too should really finish high school first, and maybe college. We can wait a little while." Dean answered for both of himself and his wife.
"It may be a while Dad. I mean, I don't even know how Kim feels about me…" Ron started but was stopped by his mother taking his hand into her own.
"She loves you Ron." Judy looked at him, the same knowing smile on her faced that had graced Anne Possible's. "Trust me."
Ron smiled back at his mother. "I hope you right."
Ron looked back at the bags near the door. "So, I guess we should talk about the addition to the house."
"Oh, that thing?" Ron's father jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "We love it."
Ron fought gravity this time. There was no way he was going to fall on the floor again. "What?" Ron asked. All these shocks couldn't be good for him.
"Oh, yes. Your father and I have always been huge fans of Japanese architecture." Judy said.
"And it's made the property value skyrocket." Dean added.
Ron laid his head on the table in front of him. This was just too much for him to take. "So, you guys aren't mad at me?"
"We're upset that you didn't ask us permission if you could have it built. And we've thought up an appropriate punishment." Dean answered. "Ron, you're going to paint the entire house to match the new guesthouse."
Ron smiled. All things considered he was getting off light. "Sure, I can handle that. But, what's with my room not being upstairs anymore?"
"Well, when you won the contest, didn't they tell you it was for a fully furnished house?" Mrs. Stoppable said. "We thought you would want to enjoy your prize, so we had them move your stuff in there."
"Why don't you go check it out, Ron?" Dean suggested. "I'll help you with you bags in a minute."
Ron got up from the table, and grabbing the Lotus blade and one of his bags, he headed out the door. Ron noticed that the grounds outside had been professionally landscape to resemble a Zen garden. Ron made his way to the dojo entrance and slid open the door.
Whoa. Ron's mouth hung open as he looked inside his new dwelling. The bottom floor was an exact replica of the dojo at Yamonuchi. The top floor was a loft. The loft area was something straight out of the 'Pads' show on TV. There was a king size bed in a bedroom area along with a huge enclosure for Rufus. Ron could also see a living room with a huge flat screen TV, a full kitchen and what looked like a steam room next to what Ron assumed must be the bathroom. One thing Ron didn't notice was any walls between these rooms. The bathroom and the steam room seemed to be the only rooms enclosed. Everything else just flowed from one space to another. That's so cool!
"Pretty nice setup, huh?" Dean Stoppable said as he walked into the dojo behind Ron.
"Yeah, yeah it is." Ron responded, still a little dumbfounded at the site of his new home.
Man, I can't wait to till Kim sees this.
"There was a note attached to a door in the underneath the stair case, Ron. It said only you could open it. I think it leads to some kind of basement. It's probably full of ninja stuff" His father said, sitting down Ron's bags in the middle of the floor. "Well, I'm going to let you get settled in. It's still pretty earlier and we're all a little jet lagged. I think you mother and I are going to take a nap." Dean clapped his son on the shoulder and started towards the main house, not even paying attention to the fact that his son's mouth was hanging open again at hearing what his father had just said..
"Wait, Dad. You…you and Mom know what Yamonuchi is? How did you find out?" Ron gasped.
"Kim told her parent's about the school after you two rescued that Sensei fellow. And we talk to Anne and James almost daily. That's how we first found out, since our son apparently wouldn't tell us." Dean said over his shoulder.
Ron hung his head again; ashamed of the secret he had kept from his parent's. "I wanted to tell you guys. But Sensei had asked me to keep the school a secret from everyone. I actually didn't even tell Kim, she found out about it on her own. I'm sorry."
Dean walked back to his son, and placed his hands on his shoulders. "It takes a real man to keep a promise Ron. You don't have to apologize for anything. Although you will once your mother sees that tattoo."
"It's not really a tattoo. How did you find out about the seal?"
"Anne left two messages on the machine last night Ron. But, we actually received a letter from Sensei early this summer. He also told us about the school, and what you were really learning there. He wanted to make sure this was okay with us too. We weren't for it at first, but we wrote back and forth to Sensei a few times, and realized that if you were going to be in control of your powers, then it was necessary." Ron couldn't believe what he was hearing. His parent's knew. And they were okay with it.
Dean picked up on his son's thoughts. "He told us you were going to be something great after you finished your training. I wrote him that you already were. Your mother and I are proud of you son." Dean hugged him, and Ron hugged back. Ron had never felt as good as he just did hearing those words.
Dean was the first one to break the hug. "Alright. Enough of this mushy stuff. I'll let you get back to unpacking." He smiled and went back to the house.
Ron took a few moments to put away his belongings, before deciding to check out the mystery door. The note, for once, was not in Yuri's handwriting. Ron recognized the script as belonging to Sensei.
This door can only be opened by you. Open the door with the eyes of a great warrior- Sensei.
Eyes of a great warrior, huh? Only one thing that could mean…Ron quickly went through the hand signs necessary to unlock the second seal on his back. When he reached the final sign, nothing happened. Ron suddenly felt a lightheaded. Must have used more chakra than I thought. Can't get the second seal to release. I shouldn't try this again until I've had more time to rest .Ron decided that he should take the path his father had and took a nap.
When he awoke later he was strong enough to release the second seal. Viewing the door with the increased vision provided by the Sharigan, Ron saw a minute panel hidden in the grain of the door. Ron placed his index finger against the panel, a small light passed over his finger as a scanner operated. Finally, the door opened. Ron released the Sharigan before proceeding through the door. It did lead into a basement. The room was filled to the brim with weaponry and supplies.
"Summoning scrolls, shuriken, kunai…Sensei hooked me up." Ron spoke to himself, as he took inventory of the new room. Ron's eyes were drawn to the center of the room. There were two items that seemed out of place. One was an empty stand designed to hold a sword. After looking at the stand for a moment, Ron decided that this is where Sensei must want him to store the Lotus blade. Ron reached his hand out behind him, not taking his eyes of the stand, and within a few seconds felt the Lotus blade fly into his hands. Ron gently placed the sword on the stand.
Sensei had told Ron that he was not to use the sword if it all possible. Sensei told Ron that he shouldn't use the sword so that he didn't become dependent on its power. He should be refining his skills, not leaning against the crutch that the mighty blade might have provided him. So that way, when Ron combined his power with that of the blade, he would become a force nothing could hope to defend against. Ron didn't really have a problem with this; he actually preferred to fight without it. He preferred to keep the sword as his ace in the hole.
The second item in the middle of the room was a clothing box, and on it was a letter. Ron picked up the box and looked at the letter. Guess who? Ron thought with a slight smile as he opened the letter and saw the handwriting of the sender.
Dear Ron-san,
Sensei wishes for you to use this gi when you go on your most serious missions. The fabric is damage resistant, and the gloves should be helpful for both offensive and defensive fighting. It of course will help with your stealth since it is patterned after the traditional ninja garb. The vest has numerous pockets for storage of weapons, and six pockets designed especially to transport scrolls. The leg holster should provide you with more storage. The most important thing is the headband. When you were it, you will be honoring the entire school of Yamonuchi. Please wear it with pride.
Love, your friend
Yuri
Ron finished reading the letter. What? No P.S. this time? Ron chuckled a little until he saw the back of the letter.
P.S. Have you told her yet? Please do not hesitate due to you American style apprehension.
Ron's rubbed his hand down his face. She's spying on me. Has to be. Ron opened the box and looked over the uniform that Yuri's letter had described. The gi itself was jet black; the shirtsleeves were slightly abbreviated, just like his mission shirt. Ron found that the neck of the gi was like a turtle neck, but seemed to go further. Ron decided to try the shirt on. Once it was over his head, Ron now saw what the extra material around the neck was for. It covered the lower part of his face, from his nose downward. It went downward towards the back of his head from his nose, leaving his ears uncovered and meeting the rest of the collar and the back of his head, just above where his hairline started. Well, might as well put the rest of it on. Ron started putting the rest of the gi on. He noticed after putting on the pants and picking up the vest that it had a certain weight to it, and when he looked inside he found it had armor plates woven into it for extra protection. Ron looked at the back of the fingerless gloves, they had a single sheet of silver armor on the back of each one. Ron put on the leg holster. When he read the note he immediately thought of a gun holster, but this was just a simple leather case. It was kind of large and Ron found that he needed to wrap some cloth around the outside of his leg to make it stay in place. Ron had left the headband for last.
He picked it up and headed back upstairs to the bedroom of his new loft. Standing in front of his mirror, Ron looked down at the headband. It was also black and had a silver metal plate across it, and on this plate was a symbol of a mountain. The mountain was drawn with a single line, moving jaggedly up and down to resemble peaks, and then doubling back on itself to make a snowcap for the last mountain. Ron had seen this symbol on a few items around the school, mainly very important ceremonial or historical items. The statue of Toshimuru had this same symbol carved on a plate on the front his helmet. Ron slowly moved the headband to his head, pulling it tight against his head before tying it in the back. Ron looked in the mirror, seeing a ninja staring back at him. Not bad at all. The headband combined with the mask to conceal his features, the only telltale sign that it was Ron was his blond hair sticking out over the headband. Just like it should, a Shinobi shouldn't seem to his opponents to be a person. He should be a shadow. The headband had not been tide as tightly as Ron thought, and part of it slipped down and covered his left eye. Ron looked at his image with one eye now. Ron brought his hand to his covered chin in thought. That looks really cool, totally adds some mystery to the look. Ron shook his head, and then straightened the headband back up, and looked back at himself and his new home. But I think this is a little more my style.
