Another day without Genma, another happy day for Ranma. After the fight yesterday he and Akane went home, and Ranma watched as she trained for a few hours. As her request he didn't jump in to help, instead he was quiet when she requested so and supplied conversation when she allowed it. From there they went to dinner, enjoyed a small amount of visiting with the Tendo's, then retreated upstairs to Akane's room. That night they focused on Ranma's history, and by the time the two went to bed Ranma felt slightly more confident and both their homework assignments had been finished.
The next day, for the first time since Ranma had moved in with the Tendo family, he was able to enjoy a normal day at school. While some part of him felt a little antsy, the routine he'd established chafing his ego, on the whole Ranma found the experience novel and relaxing. No wandering the world, no attacks from other martial artists, no arguments between friends. Just some book-learnin', hanging out with friends, and walking to and from school with Akane. All and all, it was nice.
When they once again reached the Tendo household, and Akane started towards the dojo to continue her strength training, Ranma began to follow her, but she stopped him with a raised hand. "Actually, Ranma, I wanted to try this by myself, today. Is that okay?" she asked, her tone making it clear the decision was made, she just wanted to hear his thoughts on it.
Ranma's first reaction was something dark and ugly, a pang of something he didn't want to name. It was almost immediately covered up by his pride. "What am I, your baby-sitter? I'll be fine on my own, you have fun training. I'll see you at dinner." He hadn't meant for his remarks to be as dismissive as they came out, but before he could apologise Akane retreated, leaving Ranma alone in the Tendo dining room.
As Ranma watched Akane walk away, unhappy with how that had played out, he heard from behind him, "Ah, Ranma my boy." Jumping a little, he turned to see Akane's dad had just entered, a go board in his hand. Mr. Tendo actually gave Ranma a smile, which he hadn't been expecting, and said, "Care for a game of Go?"
"Sure, I guess," Ranma said, mirroring Akane's father as he sat down at the table, setting down the board and retrieving wooden bowls full of stones. One bowl had white stones, the other black, and as he looked between them and the board Ranma decided to bring something up. "You're gonna have to tell me the rules, I've never played before."
He frowned at that, mumbling, "Saotome always was more of a Shogi player, I suppose..." Then his eyes met Ranma's again, and he smiled. There was something sad about Akane's dad when he smiled, something in his eyes, like he was only half in the moment. He cleared his throat, then began explaining the rules to Ranma. They each pick a color, play stones, capture opponents, take territory.
Once Ranma felt he had gotten the gist of it, he was surprised to see Mr. Tendo push the bowl of black stones towards him. "I get to go first?" Ranma asked, and watched as Akane's father nodded in assent. Ranma didn't know much about games, but he knew at least a little about strategy, and the most important thing he'd ever been taught was this: going first is the biggest advantage in the world, in fights and games. Ranma placed a black stone near the center of the board, thinking it would be a highly prized position. He was expecting to see a white stone on its border as a response...but instead he watched Mr. Tendo start off in a corner, near his side of the table. In an instant, Ranma placed a black stone adjacent to the white, ready to go on the offensive. Ranma knew, he had this.
Akane did not have this. It had been three days since Mr. Saotome had set up Akane with her training program, and despite all the progress she'd made it now felt like she had hit a brick wall. With every passing day she had been blazing past the limits she always thought she had, to the point where she could now easily bench-press weights that were twice her upper limit a week ago. Her body felt like a coiled spring, and while she saw little difference externally in her battered arms, she knew the strength that now lay within.
But the entire routine she'd been working on had been about escalation. Start with weights that challenged you, work with them a ton, then add more, lather, rinse, repeat. It had been grueling, sometimes almost torturous, but somehow it had produced real results. But here she was, doing a series of fluid kata while wearing as much weight as was available...and she couldn't break a sweat. If she wanted to go farther, she needed to think through how this was working. That was the big issue here, wasn't it: none of this actually made any sense.
After walking over to the dojo wall, grabbing a water bottle, and starting to rehydrate herself, Akane looked at her arm and started really thinking. It had never occurred to her before, but her, Ryoga, even Ranma all were as strong, or stronger, than many bodybuilders. But where was the muscle mass? She hadn't gained any weight from muscles since beginning training, and it wasn't like her new fiance or his old frenemy were bursting their shirts by flexing themselves. By definition, physical strength came through have more muscle, in density, volume, or both. More than that, no one could get this strong this fast. That wasn't how it worked.
But no matter how much Akane's rational mind kept telling her that this was impossible, the results spoke for themselves. Irrational as it may seem to her, Akane couldn't deny that for some reason, this sort of training just...worked. So, if with enough time and effort she'd become used to all her previous weights, enough that she was out of weights, maybe she should try something bigger?
Ranma had made a terrible, terrible mistake. As he stared down at the Go board, white stones having completely cordoned off large swathes of the board, black stones almost entirely wiped out, he tried to think through where he went wrong. Mr. Tendo's moves hadn't made any sense. Ranma kept trying to encircle his stuff, and for a while he was succeeding, but while he was doing that Mr. Tendo was making weird formations with his stones, then using them to wall off and encircle everything Ranma had. Ranma tried to counterattack, but by the time he realized what was happening it was too late. Ranma raised a black stone...but there was nowhere to place it.
"I think that's game, Ranma," came Mr. Tendo's voice, and Ranma looked up from the board to see he was smiling warmly at him, a hand outstretched. Hoping there was some escape, Ranma looked down at the board again, but there was nothing to be done. Swallowing his pride, he took the hand and shook it. Whatever expression was showing on Ranma's face at that moment must have been quite something, as it compelled a hearty chuckle from Akane's father. "You've got more of your father in you than you realize."
No matter how the comment was intended, it sent a sharp stab into Ranma's heart. His expression became much darker, and he muttered to himself, "That explains so much..."
It was clear that Mr. Tendo caught the words, and he let out a slow sigh. "I didn't mean it like that. Genma..." he paused, searching for the correct word, "...is a prickly man. It's rare for him to get along with anyone, and even those he holds close he constantly pushes away. You needn't take it personal, my boy. I've known him since we were teenagers, it has always been his way."
That did little to mollify Ranma's sour mood. "Mr. Tendo, I don't wanna be rude or nothin', but how can you stand my pop? Look at you! You've got a nice house, your own dojo, a family...all my pop has is me and the clothes we're wearing, and half of those he stole!"
From his face, it looked as though Akane's father wasn't sure if he should laugh or take this more seriously, but he soon focused on the latter. Choosing his words quite carefully, he asked Ranma, "Has your father ever told you about our master? The founder of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts?" His curiosity piqued, Ranma shook his head. "I thought not. He was...a monster. Depraved, both towards the world and his students, his malignancy was only matched by his genius. He found your father and I at a young age, and saw something in us, something that reminded him of himself."
As much as Ranma wanted to insert a pithy comment or two, that drive was extinguished by his interest in the words he was hearing. Mr. Tendo continued, "I'm not going to go into details, not in this home, but our master tortured us ruthlessly to shape us into disciples. Not only did he train our bodies, but he made us work as his slaves. I had already met..." He tripped over his words. "...Akane's mother. Thinking of her helped me distance myself from everything, I think. The lessons he instilled and acts we performed never touched me as much as it did Genma. Or perhaps...he was just more malleable than I am. I've never been sure."
Unable to stay silent anymore, Ranma asked the question burning inside of him. "What happened? To your master, I mean, the evil guy?" Ranma had only ever asked his father once about who founded the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, and a quick slap had been the only response.
The question made Mr. Tendo flinch, but he answered it regardless. "One morning, after a particularly revolting evening of debauched activities, Saotome and I awoke to find his dead body. There was a puncture mark on his neck, and it looked clear that he'd died in his sleep. We never learned who did it, but...he had many enemies. After that, after we were free, I settled down and started my family, built the dojo. Your father went on his way, and you know how that ended up. I'm a fair martial artist myself, but Saotome was always the most passionate about expanding the school." Mr. Tendo started putting away the stones from their game, but as he did he posed a question to Ranma. "Do you know why our school is called the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts?"
The answer seemed simple enough. "It's cause we don't specialize in anything, instead focusing on strengthening our strongest points, that way we can adapt our fighting style on the fly. The flexibility is supposed to make us better, or somethin'."
"Not quite," Mr. Tendo responded, just as he finished cleaning up the table. "It's actually much more than that. You see, there are thousands of martial arts disciplines throughout the world, from the broad, like Tae Quon Do, to the specific..." Mid-sentence, Akane's father almost idly tossed a white stone at the table at an incredible speed. It ricocheted off the furniture, just past Ranma's ear, then bounced off a few walls and landed back in the bowl. "...such as Martial Arts Stone Throwing. Anything Goes is about fighting those other schools, watching their techniques, and picking up which moves are genuinely useful, adding them to your personal repertoire." He got up from the table and began leaving the room. "I hope you'll think about what I've said." Once he was gone, Ranma started thinking about that, wondering if there were any local schools he could start with. Before he could think too far though, Mr. Tendo's head popped out from a corner, looking sheepish. "I forgot to tell you: Kasumi is out of town for the night, off with some old friends of hers, so we were hoping you'd make dinner tonight. Thanks for the help." And with that he disappeared again. Mr. Tendo, Ranma thought, might not be too different from his father after all.
It taken some digging in the family shed, but she finally found it: the Buddha. Or, more accurately, a stone Buddha statue her father had acquired at some point, nearly six feet tall. After clearing the area around it, Akane reached out and grabbed it bent her knees, and tried to lift the thing. As far as she could tell, at best, she'd maybe gotten the thing a centimeter of the ground. Nonetheless, Akane held it there for ten full seconds, feeling her arms strain with that weight, then set it down. That done, she went back to the dojo, strapped on all the weights again, and went through her drills. Her heart was already beating quickly, her hands sweaty from exertion. This new idea...might just work.
By sunset, Akane's new training method had a visible result: an extra half-centimeter! Or at least, that's what she thought. And any progress was good progress. Exhausted and tired once more, she slunk into the dining room to find her dad, Ranma, and Nabiki at the table, already eating. It was only then that she recalled Kasumi's trip, and wondered who had made...was that curry?
"Look who decided to show up!" Ranma exclaimed over his bowl of white rice. Despite the words, Akane could see the warmth in his smile, and in his eyes, and she was far too tired to give him any grief. There was an empty seat waiting for her, and a bowl. On the table was a frankly ridiculous amount of white rice, as well as a container of what looked like curry. Despite that, everyone's bowls currently only held rice.
Raising an eyebrow, Akane asked Ranma as she filled up her bowl, "Was this you? Why isn't anyone eating any curry?"
The question made Ranma's eyes fall to the floor, but Nabiki stepped in quickly. "Yup, your future hubby made us all dinner. Too bad the curry smells odd enough not even he'll have some."
A quick whiff from Akane's own nose confirmed the curry smelled funky, but when she saw the dejected look on Ranma's face, she ironed her will and spooned some curry onto her rice. "I think it smells wonderful," she lied, and to her surprise it actually did taste pretty good. The rice was a little moist and plain, but the curry added the right combination of heat and flavor to make it something nice.
After dinner came the nightly study ritual, and Akane could tell Ranma was finding it all easier and easier with every passing day. As she went over some math equations with him, she found herself wondering about the odd boy. Sometimes he drove her up a wall, nothing but obstinacy and rudeness at every turn. But then again he listened to her, shared things with her, even made them all dinner when he didn't need to. Apparently she'd been introspecting too much, though, as she found Ranma looking at her confused. Realizing she'd stopped mid-sentence to just stare at him, Akane blushed and finished the lesson quickly before enjoying the comfort and solitude of her bed. Just before her consciousness faded, a stray thought occurred to her: what if she asked Ranma on a date?
Author's Notes: Sorry for the wait again, and I know this chapter might not feel as meaty as some others, but I promise you next time'll be something special.