Chapter 6. Training and contemplation.

Haruka woke up the next morning feeling rather refreshed. Bits and pieces of the strange dream from last night floated at the edge of her consciousness, but she ignored them as she got dressed. It was rather amusing that, although she was cross dressing as a boy, she had to take more time than an average girl in the mornings. After getting dressed and drinking a cup of overwhelmingly strong coffee, Haruka left her apartment and walked over to knock on the apartment door of Ranma. She heard a few soft thumping sounds before Ranma opened the door, dressed in a pair of boxers and a muscle shirt.

"Oh Hi Haruka san." Ranma said, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. Getting the correct amount of sleep truly was a wonderful thing.

"Hi Ranma." Haruka said, for some reason feeling rather warm at seeing his muscles under the shirt. She barely refrained from shaking herself. She liked girls, and that was it. There had never been another guy who made her feel like this, so it was something about Ranma, but she'd just ignore it. After all, she felt the same way about his sister and two timing one with the other would be not only morally wrong but a REALLY bad idea.

"Haruka, are you okay?" Ranma asked, snapping his fingers in front of Haruka's face. He had apparently drifted off, thinking about something.

"Huh?" Haruka asked, shaking her head rapidly. "Oh. I'm fine. We going to start that martial arts training you were talking about last week?"

"Oh right." Ranma said, remembering. "Just let me get changed and we can go to the park to practice."

Haruka just nodded before Ranma closed the door.

HR

About twenty minutes later in the small park near the apartment building, Ranma was standing in a clearing with Haruka on the other side. "All right Haruka. You ready?" He asked, falling into a defensive stance.

Haruka nodded doubtfully. "What is this supposed to do again?" She asked, internally cringing at the prospect of actually fighting Ranma. She had assumed that he would do what her self defence instructors had done before, show her the moves and then have her use them on him, but she was very much mistaken, as she was about to find out.

"This is gunna let me check your skill level." Ranma explained, Moving one hand in front of him and making a "come here" gesture with it. "Now c'mon and give me all ya got!"

Haruka nodded, charging at Ranma with her best right hook. Ranma flowed away from it, coming around behind her and trying to poke her in the back. Much to Ranma's surprise, Haruka twisted out of the way, Ranma's finger glancing off of her shoulder. Ranma twisted out of the way of a return punch, coming up from below and landing a finger in her stomach.

The blow trading went on for about half an hour and Ranma began to notice what kind of fighting Haruka preferred. He seemed to be a lot like Ranma himself, but a lot less refined. He was slightly more dependant on speed instead of strength, his body slightly thinner than was needed for a muscler. 'This is gunna be fun!' Ranma thought, thinking that the type of training Haruka needed required Ranma to fight back. This wasn't going to be like Akane's training at all, since Haruka had the speed already and just needed some endurance and toughness. This basically meant that Ranma could actually fight him instead of dodging all the time to build up speed. Deciding to end the fight since he had gotten an idea of Haruka's skill level, Ranma extended a hooked leg and tried to snag Haruka around the ankle. Since this move was often used in street fights, Haruka saw it coming and retaliated by stomping on the leg, causing it to hit the ground.

Ranma grinned. This would definitely be more interesting than training Akane. Surprising Haruka, who thought that Ranma's leg was now immobilized, Ranma brought it around in a sweep and knocked the still planted leg out from under Haruka, sending her to the ground.

A few minutes later, Haruka lay panting on the ground, Ranma sitting next to her. "Is, this what, you do, every day?" She wheezed, clear incredulity in her voice.

"Nah." Ranma said, waiting for Haruka to look relieved. "I usually do a lot more."

Haruka's head, which had been raised off of the ground to ask the question, crashed back down with a thump.

Ranma sighed, picking Haruka up and walking over to lay her on a bench. Maybe this wasn't the best way to train a new student in anything goes… but it sure was fun for him!

Later that day, Haruka was sitting in a tree, looking incredulously at Ranma. "Fall?" She asked, her eyes almost popping out of her head.

"Yup." Ranma said, cheerfully, from his place on the ground.

"It'll kill me!" Haruka said indignantly, wondering what kind of loon she had decided to train with.

"No it won't!" Ranma said, still cheerful. "Pops did it to me when I was eight. It could break some bones, though. Don't worry. I'll catch ya if that looks like it's gunna happen."

"Gee, thanks…" Haruka said dryly, before letting off a sigh of resignation and rolling off of the branch. She hit the ground with a hard thud, raising a hand with the two fingered pain ward in place. "Ouch…" She muttered, rolling over and glaring at Ranma. "I thought you said you'd catch me?"

"I said I'd catch you if you were gunna break a bone." Ranma clarified, smirking evilly at her.

"Oh." Haruka said, dryly.

HR

In the Juuban shopping area, Five girls were wandering around, trying to find something to do. The Droid attacks had let up a bit recently, but Ami said that it was just the calm before the storm and that the dark moon family was going to start their final attack any time now. The stress was building up, so the group decided to take a trip to the shopping area to relax. The only fighting that had occurred was the obligatory squabbles between Rei and Usagi, but they were standard procedure. Just as the meatball headed blonde was about to become the target of another fiery outburst from her black haired best friend, Minako spoke up. "Hey guys. Isn't that a new restaurant?"

"Hmm?" Makoto, the resident food critic and chef of the group said, looking to where Minako was pointing. "The Peking Duck?" She asked, giggling at the cute image of a white duck on the sign.

Usagi looked as well. New restaurants equaled more food, a definite benefit in the Tsukino daughter's eyes. "Hey. Let's go in and try it out!" She said, grabbing Rei by the arm and dragging her behind as she ran excitedly towards the building.

"Let me go meatball head!" Rei shouted, being dragged behind her friend.

A sweat drop formed on Ami's temple as she followed her friends, wondering how Usagi could drag someone through the air like that.

Mousse looked up from writing a "Waitress wanted" add when he heard the bell above the door to his new restaurant tinkle. Seeing a group of five girls entering, he spoke. "Hello. Welcome to the Peking Duck!" He truly hated saying that every time someone came in, but it was part of the trade.

The five girls walked into the restaurant, and seeing that it currently only had the chairs around the counter, sat down there. For some reason, the brown haired tall one had gotten a glazed look in her eyes, but he ignored it in favour of walking up to the blonde, who seemed to be the leader of the little group, judging by how she had come in dragging the black haired girl. "Hello miss. Can I take your order?"

The bubbly blonde smiled, saying, "Can I have an extra large bowl of Ramen, beef topping?"

Mousse nodded, looking strangely at the girl. She seemed rather small to eat an extra large bowl, but then again, He HAD seen Ranma-Chan eat… Quickly taking the other girls' orders, except for the brunette, who just muttered, "He looks like my old sempai…" He quickly returned with three regular and one extra large bowls of Ramen, setting them in front of their respective owners. "Is there something wrong with her?" He asked, pointing at the brunette.

One girl, who looked rather a lot like Akane Tendo, shrugged. "She gets like this sometimes. She'll snap out of it eventually." She explained, taking a small taste of her Ramen. "This is quite good."

"Thanks." Mousse said, blushing slightly. "Ancient Chinese recipe."

The brunette snapped out of her dazed state instantly. "Ancient recipe, you say?" She asked, interestedly. She was always willing to pick up free cooking tips, especially for something that her friends liked.

"Yep, a secret of the restaurant." Mousse explained, cheerfully.

Makoto sighed dejectedly.

"So you just started this place?" A second blonde, this one with long hair and a red bow tying it up, asked.

"Yeah. I came from the Cat Café in Nerima, but this is the first place I've actually owned." Mousse said, Going over to take Usagi's empty Ramen bowl. Yep, she definitely ate like Ranma, there wasn't even any broth left in the bottom. Licked clean. Slipping the plate into one of his sleeves, Mousse put it into his stuff space for cleaning later.

The blonde clapped. "That was a pretty neat trick!" She said, looking for the bulge of the plate in his robes.

"Huh?" Mousse asked, blinking at her. "Oh. How I got rid of the plate? That was just part of my martial arts style."

After about half an hour of eating and talking in the Peking Duck, The five Senshi left, Makoto having a new crush. 'He can cook, he's handsome AND he knows martial arts?' She thought, "He's PERFECT!'

Minako had similar thoughts running around in her head. Ami sighed as she looked at the two boy crazy inner senshi. There they went again… Rei was pretty much indifferent, and Usagi was just happy that Mousse had decided to give her one of her XL Ramen on the house because she had bought so much food.

In the restaurant, Mousse was holding a bit of money and thinking, 'If those girls are the type of customers I always get, I'll be perfectly happy here…'

HR

Near the end of that day, Haruka was laying on the ground, sprawled out, while Ranma knelt beside her. She was feeling really bruised and battered, but on the plus side she had learned to fall from truly ridiculous distances without getting hurt. True, it was hard training, but it got it's point across.

Groaning, she said, "Man that hurts…" While massaging her shoulder.

"You can stop if ya want." Ranma said, concerned for Haruka. Even if he loved the art now, he had been FORCED to do this at an early age, and his first few years on the road were hell. Although he was going to push Haruka as hard as his father pushed him, he didn't want Haruka to be forced into it.

"Nah. I'm fine." Haruka said, taking her hand from her shoulder. "I just wasn't expecting this, is all. I thought you were going to teach me basic Kata or something, not throw me out of a tree to teach me how to fall."

"Well, learning how to fall is the first part of any martial art." Ranma explained, reasonably.

Haruka shrugged. Her self defence instructors had said the same thing, but some how she doubted they meant three metre drops out of tall trees and into rolls. The two fell silent for a moment, before Haruka spoke up again. She might as well try, right? "Ranma… I was wondering something."

"Yeah?" Ranma asked, looking curiously at Haruka.

"I was thinking, do you think you could convince your sister to go out with me?" Haruka said, realizing that this was by far the lowest she had EVER gone to get a date, but with the way Ranko was completely ignoring her, it had to be done.

"Huh?" Ranma asked, his brain taking a second to process the request. When he finally did, his eyes widened. "Um… Haruka… I don't think I can do that." He said, trying to keep an eye twitch down.

"Why not?" Haruka asked, actually curious.

"Well, Ranko's… Well… She REALLY, REALLY doesn't like guys." Ranma explained, putting the entirety of his vehemence behind that sentiment.

Haruka blinked. She was hoping that Ranko was interested in girls, but a hard core lesbian wasn't expected. She seemed so… feminine and small, despite the course manner of her speech. Of course, it would be easy enough to just tell her that Haruka was actually a girl, but someone who was as set against men as Ranma was saying that Ranko was just might reject her just for her cross dressing. Shrugging it off, she decided to take the risk. "Fine… Can you at least ask her to meet me tomorrow afternoon? It's not for a date or anything, I just want to tell her something."

Ranma considered for a moment. Haruka seemed really hopeful about this, and he was a pretty good friend. Not to mention that he was now Ranma's student. Besides, Ranma would definitely Not let anything happen. Might as well humour him, at least so that he didn't ask again. "All right Haruka. I'll see what I can do." Ranma responded, resignedly.

"Thanks Ranma!" Haruka said, grinning widely. She couldn't believe she was actually DOING this. She sounded like a lovesick school boy, and that was disturbing by itself. "Well, should we head back now? It's getting late.

"Ranma nodded, standing. "Can you walk?" He asked.

"Yeah, sure." Haruka said, dragging herself off of the ground and trying to take a few wavering steps. She stumbled on her third step and almost planted her face into the ground, Ranma's fast catch the only thing preventing it.

"Yeah, sure…" Ranma mocked, slinging Haruka over his shoulder in much the same way that she had two weeks earlier. "Let's get you back home." He said, walking towards the building.

That night, Ranma lay in bed, wondering what was going to happen tomorrow. He was starting a new job, and Haruka wanted to tell 'Ranko' something. Haruka was a friend, so he hoped that he wouldn't have to hurt him too badly the next day. With a tired sigh, Ranma fell into a restless sleep, worries playing through his mind.