A Second Chance Ch. 12
Hey everybody! Once again I apologize for the extremely long time between updates. I just get carried away with other stuff and before I know it I haven't written for a month, and then that month multiplies, and suddenly I've been half a year overdue. So really, I'm sorry. Anyway I hope you like this next chapter and please R&R. Enjoy (Don't own em')
Tofu sighed again. He wasn't really one to sigh, he believed it generally led only to being more down than you already were, but tonight, he decided, was deserving of being down. Then he shivered slightly.
Tofu had always been especially gifted at seeing ki, to the point where he could often tell what was wrong with a patient just by watching the way their ki flowed. In fact he was considered something of an expert in the field of diagnostic medicine because of it, and he prided himself on his wide knowledge of unusual ki anomalies. However twice today he had seen things that he couldn't even begin to explain.
The first problem was with Ryoga. The first thing the doctor noticed about him was the unusually large amount of ki the boy had. Even average martial artists had more than most people, so they seemed to be surrounded by a sphere of ki. An average martial artist had a sphere that extended just outside the reach of their hands and feet. Ryoga's was at least twice that large. But that wasn't what worried Tofu. Well, not much.
People had different color ki. Usually it seemed to match their personality, sometime their fighting style, for a few it was their favorite color. But everyone had only one color, red, yellow, pink, whatever it was it was monotone. Ryoga had two. His normal ki, or at least what Tofu thought was his normal ki, was a dark green, the color Tofu had come to relate with people with a tendency toward depression. But interspersed throughout his ki sphere were blobs of a different color. A red so dark it seemed black. That wasn't supposed to happen. There was no reason for it, that Tofu could think of aside from some sort of infection, but ki didn't get infected. There didn't seem to be any damage yet, but the whole thing gave Tofu an uneasy feeling. But it wasn't nearly as troubling as what he had seen in Ranma.
He had only had a few moments to observe Ranma but what he saw was very disturbing, to the point of fear. Which was odd, since he had no real reason to be afraid. It just seemed like some primal switch had been turned on in the back of his head and fear came through.
Just as different areas of the body do different things different areas of ki in and around the body do different things. There are areas that deal solely with the ki that remains in the body to maintain life, there are areas that generate ki, then there are the areas that deal with ki outside the body. These areas were broken down even further, to specific purposes, most of which Tofu had puzzled out the use for. However there were a few of these ki 'organs' that seemed to have no discernable use, and others that he had never seen working in any living being. These areas usually looked dull and withered compared to the other areas and sometimes they seemed to be gone from the subject all together.
What bothered Tofu was one spot in particular, a small organ near the main ki production center for the body. More often than any other, that part was missing from people, in fact the majority of people were lacking it. Of those who did have it, it was the tiniest most hidden organ, nearly undiscernibly. That was how it was for every person, everyone Tofu had ever met until Ranma walked into his office today.
At first he had thought nothing of it, the area was more pronounced than usual, but then Ranma was a pretty unusual guy. Then Ranma had run off and left his fiancée here, which was quite unbecoming of a martial artist. But what really bothered him was what he had seen a few moments before, when Ranma stopped in his office. The organ was bright, at least as much so as the rest of his ki, and it seemed to be doing something, though Tofu had no idea what. It seemed like it pulsed, or maybe it was more like it was…Breathing, maybe?
And for some reason that slight movement terrified him.
He was reasonably sure it had something to do with ki production, or maybe…Another sigh. He had no idea. Normally the doctor in him would be ecstatic at the possibility of discovering something like this, something new and unheard of. But if his experience at dealing with ki had told him anything it was this: things that far outside normal were trouble, usually of the kind that required his ability as a martial artist.
So now he had two patients with extremely bizarre ailments, though he wasn't even sure the problems were harmful, though he suspected that at least Ryogas was something that was…Infecting him? He had absolutely no idea what to do or how to handle the two patients. He was pretty sure Ranma would be willing to come in and examined, but that seemed unlikely for the Ryoga, at least from what he had seen of the boy. And truthfully he wasn't sure he wanted to study what was wrong with Ranma, thought he felt he ought to.
Tai Mae would know what to, she always had a way of… that was the third time he had thought of her today. An urge surged in Tofu, one that he hadn't felt in a long time. The desire to run, to leave Nerima and set up shop some place new. To throw off everything that held him to Tokyo. He had tried it before. Every time he started thinking about her again he got the urge to leave it all behind, to escape from his past, at least for a while. Until it caught up with him again. But every time he tried he found himself drawn back to Tokyo, and more recently to Nerima. And only recently had he been able to admit to himself that he was kept here by his feelings for another woman. But of course every time he started to think about that he would feel guilty, and then stupid for feeling guilty and then a dozen other emotions he couldn't explain.
Tofu sighed again and decided it was time to turn in for the night, but despite his best efforts he couldn't make it to his feet, his motivation to do anything but run was gone, at that moment he was pretty sure if he did manage to stand he would leave, at least for a week or so, and with the arrival of these two boys that might be a bad idea. So he simply closed his eyes and leaned against his desk. When sleep finally claimed him he had, as he had expected, dreams of the past. Nightmares.
Nightmares. Horrid, violent dreams stormed through Ryogas mind. He killed Ranma, with his fists, with a weapon, with pieces of rubble, anything that he could pick up and swing. Or else Ranma killed him, usually with his bare hands in an inordinately violent manner and always wearing a cocky smirk. Or they would both die, or they would destroy most of Tokyo fighting. Regardless of what happened the dreams were always violent. And not just in subject. One fight would flash to another without finishing, they would seem like they could continue for hours and then ended abruptly with a single strike. And then, just as suddenly, they stopped.
Gasping, Ryoga forced his eyes open. And immediately fell into stunned silence. For the first time in days (was it months? he couldn't remember) the noises were gone. When he had taken the plunge into that spring the water seemed to rush around him, and even after he pulled himself out the sound didn't stop. That wasn't the only change that the spring had brought about. He had black outs, he would feel like his mind was slipping back, like he was watching his body act and gradually everything would go black. When he woke up he was usually a fair distance from where he had been, at least he was as far as he could tell.
That was another thing, his sense of direction was still lousy but he got the feeling that it was better, it seemed to have improved instantly. He felt stronger too, faster. His style of fighting, which he had mostly taught himself, seemed slightly altered. He was more mobile, at least it seemed that way when he practiced.
For the first time Ryoga realized where he was. He had been in a doctor's office before when he had seen Ranma, at the thought of his name the sound of water reappeared, though it seemed quiet and in the background, and from the looks of it he still was. It was only as he was surveying his surroundings that he noticed that there was someone else in the room.
He was in a ready stance in half a heart beat, if a somewhat wobbly one. However before he could say anything he was on the ground holding his side, which felt like some one was pounding on it with a red hot sledge hammer. He forced himself to his feet just in time to see the shadow that he had noticed step into the block of light from a street light coming through the window. Despite the pain he stood up straight. "What are you doing here?" he whispered. He hadn't meant to whisper, but if he inhaled any deeper the pain became unbearable.
The woman in front of him laughed for a moment, "Well, I had to see how you were doing, after all the spring you plunged into has some… side effects. I couldn't have you running off and dieing before you got revenge." She paused and seemed lost in thought for a moment. "Truthfully I came by to tell you to leave Ranma alone. If you go after him sooner or later one of you will die, not that I would mind too much, but this Ranma boy seems very interesting." The look on her face as she said that reminded Ryoga of a boy he had known in grade school, just before he met Ranma. The boy had spent all of his money on action figures only to strap them to firecrackers, or put them under the tires of a car. "But that brings me back to the side effects."
"You mean the black outs? The sound? Is it going to"
"No it isn't going to get better, not for a long time anyway. You see the pool you jumped into is part of a group of enchanted springs. Every one has some legend associated with it about someone or something drowning, and people who fall in are stuck with the bodies of the thing that drowned in that spring. Long ago they were permanently stuck in those bodies. As you can imagine that was quite a problem, so someone decided to do something about, exactly who is lost to history, but most of the clans in the area claim it was their ancestors. Well, regardless of who it did it, there was a seal put on the springs. It isn't possible to remove the curse form the spring, put it is possible to contain the curse, whoever did it figured out a way to contain it through using water. The cursed form actually becomes the true form of the individual, but it can be sealed away with hot water. In effect as long as the person doesn't run across cold water they are fine."
"Then why am I"
"You really need to learn not to interrupt people. As I was saying the curse of the springs has a seal, but the seal had its flaws. For example if you dive into multiple springs the curses tend to blend, not a pretty sight usually. If there are too many curses on you they can even start affecting your original state. The curse you got is a little different. The Spring of drowned Vengeful Man isn't like the other springs. The legend had it that the person who drowned there 17,000 years ago, making it one of the oldest springs, was a man whose family died. For some reason the man blamed his neighbor for this, to the point where he tried to kill him. Whether or not the other man did have a part in the deaths is unknown. Anyway, the neighbor managed to get away from the crazed man and left town, but the man followed him. He chased him for years, until one day they met at Jusenkyo. They fought for a full day and night and in the morning they were both on the edge of exhaustion. The last exchange took place next to the pool I took you to. In the struggle the vengeful man tripped and fell, but managed to catch himself on some outstretch of rock. The other man considered leaving, but he was too noble and decided to help the other. But when he stretched out and grabbed his neighbor the dangling man grabbed his hand and tried to pull them both into the spring. The good man lost his footing and fell with the other man, but I suppose fate was on his side because his pants got caught on a piece of bamboo that had been broken during the fight. He pulled himself up with the last of his strength and watched helplessly and the vengeful man drowned, all the while declaring that he would get revenge."
"That's real interesting and all, but what does it have to do with" Ryoga felt a slight tap on his jaw and the woman seemed to blur, odd, since it was in that order, and the entire lower half of his face went numb.
"That should take care of any more interruptions. So that particular spring was made with a particularly powerful curse, that combined with the fact that it changes your inner-self not your body made it almost impossible to contain, but the ancients tried it anyway. The result is what you are feeling. Instead of sealing the form away warm water just discourages it; I think it hurts it. Cold water emboldens it. But regardless of what you do it is always there, and it is trying to take over. Right now it's fairly weak, it only takes control when you lose focus or, from what I saw earlier, when you get too close to Ranma." Ryoga worked his jaw uselessly, and finally resorted to scowling at the woman.
"But that's not the biggest problem you have. The problem is that it is going to get stronger, bolder. Eventually it will grow strong enough to challenge you for control and then is when you are really screwed. The problem is that the curse that is trying to take you over isn't natural; it isn't what your body is adapted to. And since it is unnatural your body tries to find a way to expel it, the problem is by that time the part of you that makes up your consciousness is already gone. After the curse form is gone there's nothing left of you but a mass of flesh."
"There is some hope though. You see, it is possible that you will beat the curse, that you can over power it and absorb it as part of you. If you succeed you will be more than strong enough to deal with Ranma, and gain a few other pleasant surprises as well. But of the hundreds who I have seen plunge in that spring you would be only the second to succeed." Ryogas scowl turned into a questioning expression. "You would be the second," she said in response, "because I was the first."
The stars above Tokyo were usually almost completely masked by the lights of the city and the layer of pollution that was synonymous with city life. Normally that would have depressed Ranma, as he had always enjoyed watching the stars. In his ever hectic life they were one thing that always stayed the same, something he could count on. Tonight however the lack of this heavenly spectacle went unnoticed as he trudged through the streets toward the Tendo Dojo.
He was preoccupied with three thoughts that cycled through his mind. First was, of course, Akane. He had to find a way to apologize for leaving her at Tofu's. That presented a fairly serious problem to him; although he had gotten better at talking to her he was pretty sure, with the way his day had gone, he would find a way to mess it up. He always heard about guys buying flowers or junk like that to apologize, but that really didn't seem like Akane's style, and even if it was he was far too broke to get her anything half decent. One thing that kept occurring to him was that he could try and explain what had happened, but that plan had its flaws as well. First and foremost was that he really had no idea of what had happened. The tingle in his skull was something completely new to him, before his danger sense was like a shock that traveled through his entire body; this was different, like an arrow pointing to that woman. He figured that both were part of his effect on time, the feeling and the woman. And what was between her and Shampoo (he made a mental note to make some kind of plan for dealing with her, then promptly forgot it). And Ryoga, how did what happened to him fit in? Argh, Ranma decided that he wasn't cut out for thinking and that he should rely on his instincts. Except maybe with Akane… Maybe Kasumi would have a suggestion for what to do, but lately she had been looking at him suspiciously, though he couldn't figure out why.
Ranma finished that thought as he entered the large outer gate of the Tendo Dojo. A quick glance told him that Akane was either asleep of not in her room, and it looked like the rest of the family was sleeping as well. For a moment Ranma thought about going to bed, then started walking around to the dojo itself. "Wasn't like I was gunna' get any sleep anyway," he muttered as he walked around the side of the house. The sigh he heaved after that stopped midway through as he saw a slight movement out of the side of his eye. He was already in a ready stance when he recognized Akane's silhouette sitting beside the koi pond.
He didn't really tell his legs to start moving toward her, but that's what he found them doing. About half way to her he froze. He still didn't know what to do and what if she was mad at him and anyway she probably wanted to be alone and, Ranma shook his head to stop the jangle of thoughts. Before he could turn around though he heard something, something just barley on the edge of audibility, for an instant he wasn't sure what it was. When he did recognize it he was already next to Akane with his hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong Akane?"
Akane was stiff for a moment before she realized it was Ranma next to her. Then her head snapped away from him as she wiped her face with a sleeve. She tried her hardest to sound normal when she said "Nothing Ranma, I'm going to bed." Akane shrugged off Ranma's grasp and managed to make it to her feet before he replaced his hand.
"Please, Akane…" his voice stopped her dead. "I, I know kinda' a lot of stuff has gone wrong today, and it's all kinda' my fault, so I understand if you don't want to be around me right now, but, well, seeing yo… ah, seeing girls cry really bothers me, so if you want to, I dunna' know, I guess talk about it, well, um I'll uh…"
Akane turned around slowly, the tears were gone and she had regained her composure, and Ranma lowered his hand from her shoulder. His other hand seemed to have a death grip on the back of his neck. He seemed to be trying to finish his sentence, but however he moved his mouth no sound came out, and though it was hard to tell in the dark his face looked red. For some reason, she thought he was cute when he looked so flustered, though she would never say it out loud.
Ranma found his mouth working soundlessly. He couldn't believe what had just happened, that was the kind of thing he would never say out loud. And even if for some reason he did say it, he was sure Akane would think he was making fun of her and get mad. But the look on her face wasn't angry, at least not any kind of angry he had ever seen before. He was even more amazed when she started to speak with short stops and abrupt starts.
"Do you, promise not to tell anyone, or, or laugh or… anything?" The look on her face was suspicious, but only a little bit and that faded away as he nodded his head. Before she spoke she raised a bent finger to her lips in a small gesture that seemed child like. Now, Ranma had never been particularly attracted to helpless women, and he would never call Akane that, where she could hear anyway, but for some reason the motion and the look in her eyes made her seem so and that made him want to move next to her and… Ranma quickly stopped that particular train of though and hoped the darkness was enough to cover his color turning even redder.
Briefly Akane wondered why Ranma suddenly seemed so tense, and she was pretty sure she could see a blush oh his cheeks. For a second she felt rage building in her, but she quickly decided that Ranma probably wasn't mocking her or trying to trick her. And a little part of her, one that she would never admit to, really did want to tell someone her problems, all her friends at school seemed to think it really helped, in the back of her mind she marked down that she could excuse this action as peer pressure later. And another part, one that she couldn't even admit to herself, wanted Ranma to be that someone. Akane took a deep breath and prepared to speak.
"Before you got here Ranma I, I was the best in Nerima. Really it's true. I could beat every guy at school by my self, and even Kuno was only a little challenging. And then you showed up and I can't even hit you most of the time and Kuno is getting better, which seems odd, and then there was that boy, Ryoga, who sc, sc, scared me," Akane found herself chocking on the words, but she refused to stop, "and that purple haired girl, Shampoo, who almost killed me and I could barely even see her moves. Before I was strong and now I, I'm just (I am not weak)…not." With the last word she faced the ground and seemed to shake with a concealed sob.
Ranma was at a loss. For a second he was afraid that getting hit in the head had had some mental effect on Akane, which it did, if in a different way than he had thought, but for some reason it just seemed like Akane, it was certainly something that would bother her. But this was so unlike her. Of course she had been different this time around, but that was because he had acted differently, now her personality seemed to have changed. A light bulb went off in his head, this must be her showing him a different side of her, and that meant that she felt differently about him than she had last time, which meant he must be doing well. Now he just had to think of something to say. This entire thought process took less than a second, but by the time it was done Akane was raising her head again. For a second Ranma thought she was crying, but then he realized her eyes were glinting with something besides tears. There was the Akane he remembered.
"This is all your fault Ranma. All these people were following you, and Kuno…"
"You're right. S'all my fault"
Akane lost all desire to yell at Ranma. Between his expression, one of absolute desolation, and his voice which seemed to boom, though she was sure it wasn't far above a whisper, she couldn't help but want to comfort him, an urge that she quickly tramped down. After all this was what she had said, she wanted him to agree with her right? And yelling at someone always made her feel better. Then why did she feel so lousy?
Ranma couldn't even breathe. She didn't know about his changes, she couldn't, but she was right. He was the cause of all this, well not really, but that was how he felt, all this chaos that infested the Tendo's life. " 'M sorry Akane, I've been dumb and you had ta go through all this because of it… I, if you want I'll fix it or if you want me to leave I'll…" that was when the little breath he had gave out, and in the same instant Akane started talking.
"No, no, I don't… Ranma, it's not that. It's just, I can't stand being weak," Akane froze for a second, as though she were surprised at herself, "I, it… hurts…"
Ranma could barely hear anything after weak. That word struck him and for a moment he thought he was seeing stars, he realized those lights in his eyes were more than that, on one side he saw Akane lying on the ground in a pool of blood, in the other he saw her by his side, alive. In an instant he made up his mind. For Akane's sake he would do anything, even when it went against his nature.
"I'll train you."
At first the words were so quiet Akane wasn't sure she had heard them at all but Ranma repeated them just a bit louder, "I'll train you." After that he mumbled something about not involving Tofu, but it sounded unimportant. His voice picked up again at the end, "I mean, if you'll let me." At first he looked down and scuffed his foot against the ground, then he looked up at her. His eyes looked… hopeful. For a moment she considered being indignant that he thought he was good enough to train her, then the events of the past hours went through her head and she realized he was. Normally that would have made her mad, but that seemed out of place. She didn't realize she was smiling and nodding until Ranma smiled back.
Relief spread out from Ranma's center. He had been sure she would reject his offer and try to smack him for arrogance. Gradually a realization came to him. Akane wasn't leaving, or looking away. Now Ranma wasn't exactly schooled in human interaction, but he suspected there was something else Akane wanted to talk about. Ranma really did want to talk with her longer, so long as it didn't end up with him getting pulverized, but with the relief he felt came weariness, so much that he wasn't sure he could stand much longer without wobbling, so he sat beside the koi pond and was surprised when Akane followed.
Ranma was scrambling for something to say when a thought dawned upon him. When fighting it was unwise to make the first move against an opponent that you didn't know, instead you should wait for them to act. Right now he had no real topic for conversation, and usually when he just started talking he ended up putting his foot in his mouth, and he had no idea what Akane wanted to talk about, so maybe it would be better for him to wait until Akane started talking.
Akane sat down beside Ranma making sure she wasn't too close to him; she didn't want him to get the wrong idea. She had thought he would leave and go to bed after agreeing to train her, after all he had been through today he would be tired, she was pretty worn out herself, but instead he just sat and gazed into the still and silent koi pond, casting occasional nervous glances at her. Suddenly she felt nervous, and wondered when he would leave. It wasn't that she wanted him to go, but she didn't really have anything to talk about. Still after all that had happened today it was sort of reassuring having him there. Like having someone you knew you could lean on when you were weary. Akane clamped down fiercely on that thought, she was a Martial Artist, she didn't need to lean on anyone, though if she ran into that psycho from the ice rink she wouldn't mind having someone to fight beside. That brought a topic of conversation to mind.
"Say, Ranma who was that guy earlier? His name was Ryoga? Right? What did he want with you?"
Ranma sighed internally. Why, why, why did she have to bring him up? Still, unless he did something to take care of Ryoga soon he would probably pop up around her again. And he really wanted to keep talking, even if it was about Ryoga. "The last time I saw him he was almost as good as me, he beat me in one of the S's and almost matched me in another. Since then he got a lot stronger, ta' tell the truth I wasn't too sure I could beat him," Ranma had been looking at Akane, but he shifted his eyes back to the pond. He chuckled slightly before continuing "It was pretty close, especially at the end." Ranma winced as he wiggled the fingers of his right hand.
Akane winced seeing the pain in Ranma's face. Tofu had told her that the injury Ranma had on his hand was severe, but that couldn't be the only cause, clearly something about Ryoga bothered him, a spark of curiosity lit up the back of her head, but she decided to try and take him away from such serious topics for the moment. "Um, what are the S's you were talking about?"
Ranma looked at her and blinked, fortunately Akane though his expression was just the remnants of sorrow instead of amazement. The feeling melted away in an instant anyway, the three S's were one of his dad's teachings, not something many normal, or sane, martial artists would know about. He took a deep breath and explained, "The three S's are a way of rating martial artists, if you can figure out how high your opponents S's are you can usually tell weather you can beat him or not, they go from least to most important. The first is Strength; the stronger you are the more damage you can do in one hit, and normally you can take more of a beatin', since you got muscle padding you. Usually the stronger guy has more endurance too. That's where Ryoga got me beat, he's stronger than an elephant on steroids. The second is Speed; if you are faster than the other guy it doesn't matter who's stronger since he won't be able to hit you, and the easier it is to hit him since you can get around his guard, but speed is the hardest of the three to train, you can speed up, but not to the extent you can improve the other two abilities. I may not be as strong as Ryoga, but he's nowhere near as fast as me, or at least he wasn't." For a second Ranma had seemed like he was bragging, but then a hint of melancholy entered his voice. It burned off when he continued, "The third S is the most important, it is Skill. If you are more skilled than the other guy you are almost guaranteed to win, so long as he isn't too much faster or stronger than you. A really skilled Martial Artist can tell what his opponent is going to do next, and if he can react instantly to any change in the situation. Of the three Skill takes the longest to improve, but it's the one that can be improved the most. Normally if someone has a higher score at two of the three scores they win, unless the S the other guy is better at is Skill, or if the other guy is a lot better at the one. Of course there are ways to beat someone who has better scores, or who is better at an S that is more important, and I guess there are styles that best suit each combination of scores, like if" Ranma broke off at a nearly silent giggle from Akane, and not just because Akane did not giggle. He felt his face going red as he as he muttered "What's so funny?" rather defensively.
Akane stopped herself, she didn't giggle. Ever. Still she needed a calming breath before she answered. "It's just, I don't think I've ever heard you so animated about, well about anything
"Well why shouldn't I be 'animated.'" He replied sullenly. Ranma wondered briefly whether Akane had used the word wrong, but the figured his ignorance towards language, stemming mainly from missing most of his education, was the more likely reason the term didn't seem to fit. "Fighting is the one thing I'm good at, what's wrong with me liking to talk about it."
"There's nothing wrong with it, it wasn't criticism Ranma, it was a compliment." Akane answered back hotly.
Ranma snapped him mouth shut and swallowed the biting response he had ready. He didn't want to fight, not tonight, so why not try to make peace. Unfortunately he knew what that meant and he dreaded it. His jaw was so tight he was sure it would creak as he opened it and his tongue almost seemed rusted to the bottom of his mouth. "I'm…Sorry…Akane." He was proud that the words had come out as smooth as they had.
Starting what had to be done was difficult, but continuing was easier as though a little use had loosened up the works of his mouth. "It's just that I know I'm not as smart as most people, and as a kid when we would settle down long enough for me to go to school the other kids made sure I knew I was stupid, so when I hear people laughing at me I tend to, well I kinda' loose my head."
Akane's pleasant feeling of surprise at Ranma apologizing, more surprise than anything, sunk as he continued. By the time he finished she wasn't sure which she was more, angry of saddened. "Don't ever say that again." She said in a tone that held a bit of ice in it. "I'm not like those other bullies; I know you're not dumb." Ranma's eyebrow quirked almost to the top of his head, "Quick; if someone was about to hit you in the face what could you do?"
After a few minutes of possibilities, ranging from harmless to defensive to possibly homicidal, Akane stopped him. "Do you have any idea how few people could come up with that many reactions that would be effective off the top of their head? I'm not sure even I could."
"Well, maybe." Ranma replied evenly, "But that's not smarts, that's just,"
Akane cut him off "But it is" she balked for a second before changing the word she was about to use and continuing, "intelligence, it shows that you know anatomy, physics, properties of matter, so of course that's 'smarts.'" She managed to use his word without any mockery. "It's just that you don't have the same background as other kids, so you're mental prowess is pointed in a different direction."
Ranma was stunned. All he had said was that he was sorry, and not only had Akane complimented him, but she defended him as well. For a second he was certain something was very wrong, but he pushed away that feeling. For some reason it seemed that tonight all the normal rules about what he could and couldn't say were off. Now was a time to press forward, not to sit back. "Thanks Akane, I've, nobodies ever said anything like that about me. It means, well… thanks." He finished lamely, maybe not all the rules were off. But that didn't mean he couldn't press forward in another direction, maybe with the new technique that had proved so effective. "I'm, I'm sorry about today. It was really cool, you inviting me to go along and all. If Ryoga hadn't showed up it woulda' been fun."
"It was, well up until the fight. I, I really enjoyed it, and I…" Akane was silent, a considering look settled upon her face, but just before Ranma said something to alleviate the quite she continued. "I, I… I like talking to you like this, I," Akane sighed and abruptly continued quickly as though to get the words out before she stopped herself, "Normally I feel like I need to show everyone that I'm as good a martial artist as they are, that I'm not any less than they are. And sometimes I tend to think people are insulting me when they aren't and so I get really, well you know," Very fortunately for Ranma he chose not to nod, " and talking to you like this, well it's hard for me to say stuff like this because I, well I… Um, could we… could we, you know, do this again?"
Ranma decided the night was making him accustom to shock, and being enthralled. It only took a moment before he was sure enough of his voice to respond, "Yeah, I, I'd like that," he said with a voice that was no where near as collected as he had thought. They both smiled, and kept facing each other, but neither talked. Gradually Akane's expression became more… Ranma didn't know how to describe it, it was almost sad but not…! He remembered where he had seen that look before. In the few movies he had managed to watch on the road that was the expression the girl always had before her and the guy k… No it couldn't be! After all this was still Akane, she might not be exactly the same as she used to be but she couldn't have changed this much. Could she? Then again…
Ranma's quandary was ended before his brain over heated by one of the most subtle actions he had ever seen. Akane moved forward by an almost imperceptibly degree. So slight was the motion Ranma wasn't sure it hadn't just been his imagination, until she did it again. Her eyes looked large and bright, almost the look of fear, but that was quickly replaced with an unusually, for Akane, calm certainty.
Warning alarms started going on all over in Ranma's head. He couldn't do this, regardless of how much he wanted to because she was, he was, it was, it, it… his last cognizant realization was that his mind could no longer put together a rational thought. So Ranma Saotome did what he did best. He acted
Akane moved forward slowly. She didn't realize what she was doing or why until she moved a second time, then the realization flooded over her. She was sure she must look terrified out of her mind, because that was more or less what she felt. She hadn't ever done anything like this before but in the comics, and from what she had heard from the conversations of the older girls at school that her friends were so fond of listening in on, the girl never moved first. Of course she quashed that thought quickly, women could act as forward as men. But that didn't man that she could. Did it? Still she felt herself moving forward.
At first she wasn't sure Ranma understood what she was doing, but awareness flashed in his eyes and for a moment he seemed at a loss. Then just as quickly he was moving too, putting his hand on hers and slowly getting closer to her. As they inched together she closed her eyes.
Ranma was still moving towards her when he felt her hand, he wasn't certain whether to go around it or not as he would be putting a good deal of his weight on that arm as he leaned closer to her, but he ultimately decided that he wasn't too tired to hold himself up at an angle with just his abdominal muscles. He realized his mind was dwelling on that in order to distract him from the business at hand, and he put himself back on track. It was then that he noticed Akane had closed her eyes, and he decided to do the same.
In the pitch black behind his eyelids another problem occurred to him. He would have difficulty telling exactly where she was, sure he could sense her, but that wouldn't tell him her precise location, and if he was moving too fast he could head butt her instead and that seemed like it would be bad, so he slowed his movement.
Akane Inched forward slowly, wondering how far away Ranma was. She still felt his hand, which was just barely shaking, the thought that she could make Ranma tremble had an affect on her that she wouldn't describe.
Ranma moved forward at half a snails pace, cautiously waiting for first contact to make sure he wasn't moving to fast. He had no idea kissing was so much work, or so nerve-racking, though he had some idea about the latter.
'Ridiculous, there's no way we were that far apart,' Akane thought silently. She was about to increase her pace, but decided instead to see how far apart they were, she opened her eyes and…
Ranma was starting to feel a burn in he abs from the sustained slight movement, they were about to give out before when he had sat down and now they were letting him know their feelings. He had to meet up with her soon, so he decided to see how far apart they still were. He opened his eyes and…
Her eyes were right in front of him, normally the shock of seeing someone that close would have made him jerk back, but input from another sense made him stay. He could feel her lips meet his.
For an instant they kissed and then both realized that they had been holding their breath. Akane simply started breathing through her nose, but Ranma panicked. As a result he tried to inhale while still kissing Akane. The strength of Ranma's lungs was to blame for making Akane start to cough and, because of this, Ranma start looking for a place to hide. But instead of being angry Akane just laughed.
Ranma desperately thought of something else to say, but nothing came to mind. Fortunately he didn't need to. Akane stood up, stretched, and covering a yawn said, "Well it's pretty late, I'm going to bed."
Ranma nodded and said he was going to stay there. Later that night several police reports were filed about an apparently crazed man leaping across the roof's of Nerima and shouting happily.
When Ranma did finally get to bed that night he was asleep before he could do more than yank of his pants and aim at the futon on his way to the floor. But despite his exhaustion his sleep was not deep or still.
Ranma blinked a few times at the brightness of the aseptically white room. It was bare except for the chair he occupied and one other that it took him a moment to realize was occupied as well. "Hello Ranma," the other man said in a too gentle voice.
Ranma considered taking a ready stance, but he quickly realized who the other man was "Hey you're that Shosho guy!"
A hint of ire found its way into the man's voice, but it quickly withered. "My name is Shiraoso, but yes. Now listen Ranma we don't have long to talk and there is something very important I need to tell you."
Sensing the weight behind the man's words Ranma simply nodded. "Good. There was an… unforeseen consequence in sending you back in time. By now you must have noticed that your Ki abilities are much greater than they were before at this point in time." Again Ranma just nodded and again Shiro continued, "That is because when we sent you back there was a great deal of energy directed towards your body, as a result of this an ability that would have remained dormant in you was awakened. Ranma you are now a Ki siphon."
Ranma blinked a few times while considering responses and finally settled with "Huh?"
Shiro took a deep breath launching into an explanation that sounded vaguely like a prognosis. "A long time ago there were people who had many more ki abilities than today. Some of these abilities were so rare that they died out, others were gradually forgotten, and some may just have been myth, however there is another variety of ki ability that used to be more common: special innate powers that people passed down along family lines. One of the more common ones was one of the least noticeable and most feared; the ability to absorb the ki of other people"
Ranma broke in with a slightly eager tone, "You're saying that I can do that now?"
Shiro shook his head with a tinge of sorrow on his face, the appearance of a doctor giving bad news. "No, Ranma. The word can means that an action is willful, you can do something, so long as you desire to. This is different. Your ability is constantly on, there is no way to turn it off, and controlling it is extremely difficult. The main problem is that there is no cut off point, no point at which you stop draining ki from the individuals around you. This is bad for you because it means you run the, in your case slight, risk of 'overloading' your self and burning to a crisp from the inside out. However you have such a huge potential for storing ki that that isn't a big concern. The bigger worry is that you will drain too much ki from the people around you. The," he started to say victim, but quickly changed, "the people you drain will grow weaker as you grow stronger."
What's so bad about weakening the people I'm fighting, it may not be the most honorably way, but it would probably be pretty effective." Ranma asked with a slight nervousness. He was pretty sure of what the man really meant, but until he heard him say it directly he would stay willfully ignorant. It didn't last long.
"I never said it had anything to do with fighting Ranma. It will drain ki away from anyone, you have already absorbed some ki from your fiancée and you body is drawing a small amount from your father right now. Currently the amount of ki you, ingest from other is small, but as it increases so will the side affects to others. Those who spend too much time with you will start to wither and eventually the spark of their life will be extinguished. That was one of the reasons people with this ability disappeared, when they were discovered they were generally killed on sight because they could make others die without doing anything, and they couldn't stop themselves."
Ranma went numb. He had to leave. That was what Shiro was telling him. He had to go somewhere where he would be alone. No more Kasumi, no more Ryoga, no more Soun or Pa or Nabiki. No more Akane. If he hadn't felt so desolate inside he was sure he would have cried, then he realized how odd it was to think about something like that at a time like this. Then he wondered why he couldn't focus, his mind felt like it was jumping around randomly. It made him laugh.
Shiraoso shivered at the sound coming from Ranma. Laughter so completely devoid of feeling it chilled him through. That caused him to continue more quickly than he had planned. "There is hope though Ranma."
At that Ranma stopped making sounds and practically glared at Shiro, "What is it." It wasn't a question so much as a demand.
"Your condition is rare, but there have been other cases in recent times. One in particular that is important." He could see the impatience on Ranma's face and he watched as his muscles tightened as if he was going to rush off to find the man right then. "His name is Jason Feldric. He was one of our agents when that ability manifested in him. Our normal policy would be to keep him in isolation until a solution could be found, but in this case that would mean for life. So a few months after he was locked up I managed to free him. I did so partially because his 'sentence' seemed too cruel for an innocent victim of circumstance and partially because he was too useful to keep locked up. Somehow he worked out a way to gain some type of control over his powers while he was in solitary, but he still had to run before he was made into a subject for experimentation," at Ranma's rather appalled gaze he added, "our organization isn't terribly sympathetic. So anyway he owes me a big favor so I'm sending him to your world to try and help you. You should meet him at school sometime in the next week. Until then I suggest you try not to become too emotional. It seems that strong emotion makes the process of siphoning speed up. And I would suggest you avoid being alone with one person for extended periods. It seems the draw affects people only in a set area, so if you are around a group of people it draws a little ki from everyone, but if you are around only one person it draws a lot of ki from them, and if that draw continues for an extended period it could have serious side effects."
Ranma understood without further explanation. He nodded solemnly, but at the same moment a thought occurred to him. "How did you know about this? How can you be sure? What if"
Shiro stopped him with an upheld hand. "We've been monitoring you, today when you were in the office in a Dr. Tofu there was a spike in ki activity that centered on you, and tonight when you were in the back yard of the Tendo residence there was a constant increase of activity. I recognized that as the same activity that Jason had shown."
"Wait. So that whole thing with Akane was… What are the affects of having the ki drawn from someone?" Ranma took on a look of intensity, as though a great deal depended on the answer. Shiro knew immediately why.
"The only affect is feeling weary, like after working out for an extended period and then staying up too late. Nothing mental of emotional." The intense look faded and Ranma took on the semblance of a smile.
"By the way, when I was in Tofu's office I got this weird feeling, like I could sense another martial artist, and when I looked there was someone, but she was so far away I shouldn't have been able to sense her. It was kinda' weird, does that have something to do with this whole ki siphon thing"
Shiro shrugged, "It very well could. Truthfully we don't know much about your condition, back when it was common people were more interested in getting rid of people afflicted with it than studying them. There may be several other abilities that are associated with it. On the other hand it is possible that the feeling was a coincidence, or maybe the other person tried to do something to you and you felt the ki she as directing toward you. I really don't…" Shiro had been calm and collected, but in an instant that changed, he now looked angry and a little frightened. "Hmm, I thought we had more time. Sorry Ranma you need to go now."
Ranma tried to ask why but by the time he had his mouth open the room was gone and he was laying on his futon in the dark. Looking at the clock he figured, with the numb mind of one awoken from a deep slumber, that only a few hours had passed. Still as he stretched his muscles he realized that he wasn't tired, in fact he felt rather rejuvenated.
He looked over to where his father lay sleeping and shivered slightly. With a quick practiced movement he slid out of the room and on to the roof, from there it was only a short drop, for Ranma anyway, to the ground and a quick walk to the Dojo. He wasn't rushing to get away he told himself, just trying to wake up.
As he started stretching he took on a mask of grim determination. When he had first heard what was wrong with him he had been scared, as hard as he found that to admit, even to himself. But Shiraoso had given him a fighting chance with help from this Jay-san, whomever he was. And Ranma never lost a fight.