Chimidoro no Ryuu
Chapter 6
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction by Hino, Ron
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*** WARNING! FIRST DRAFT! ***
Chapters 3-6 are in desperate need of revision, perhaps even total rewrites of the plot. I've sat on them for a while, but I'm not sure what elements I want to keep and what's a useless pile of biological waste. I've been told I let people get too far out of character, but sited examples and suggestions would be much appreciated, as well as anything else that sucks about it. Please review these chapters and then forget you ever saw them! Only Chapters 1 & 2 should be considered ready for public viewing.
Oh, and chapter 6 here is too short, and should be considered to be only half done.
Suggestions to hinoron@hotmail.com
Thanks much for your assistance.
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Just a brief foreword:
1. Ranma and friends are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and a bunch of corporations.
Except for the new characters, everyone else belongs to her and them. I don't
own them. Please don't take ideas or (my) characters from this story without my
permission.
2. "Chimidoro no Ryuu" means, loosely translated, "Bloody Dragon". That would
make the full name of the School "Chimidoro no Ryuu Ryu" (ryu meaning a martial
arts school/style). To avoid the confusion, it will always be written as the
Chimidoro no Ryuu School, or the shorter Chimidoro school, though in the second
case it is a reference more to Reiko's family name then the school's title.
3. I've stopped going through and manually wordwrapping each line, (Except for
this foreword, of course) so download this and read it with a word processor.
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All was quiet at the Tendo Dojo, relatively speaking. You see, there was the clack of shogi pieces striking the board (and if you were really attentive, the near-silent removal of said pieces when someone turned their back); there was the sounds of the TV that Akane was watching; the occasional flip of a page of Nabiki's manga; the sounds of clinking dishes and running water from the kitchen where Kasumi did the dinner dishes, one of the many thankless tasks she cheerfully carried out as an expression of love for her family. Loudest of all were the grunts and occasional kiais of Ranma and Reiko as they trained together in the yard, but even with all this going on, the dojo was still considered 'quiet', as Old Chaos had not reared his freakish head in days.
Needless to say, some people in the household were getting a little nervous. Calm comes before the storm, as the saying goes, and the longer the calm, the more horrible the storm.
So it was almost with some relief that Ranma and Genma leapt into the pond upon hearing the gentle voice of Nadoka Saotome politely letting herself in. The Saotome matriarch was a 'storm' of sorts, but not one any of them lacked experience in weathering.
Save Reiko of course, but we're getting to that.
Soun found himself staring at the empty space where his opponent had sat. temporarily miffed at having his game interrupted, he chuckled and moved several pieces before lifting his head to greet their guest.
"Welcome, Nadoka-san. What brings you here on this fine day?"
Reiko had stood for several seconds with fist outstretched after her opponent turned tail and dived for the pond in the middle of the match. Reiko, not having the patience or good temper of Soun, was not miffed at the interruption; she was pissed. She was about to yell at Ranma, as Nadoka and Soun exchanged pleasantries, when he (or rather, she) clutched Reiko's gi frantically and whispered in her ear.
"Listen! My name is Ranko, and Ranma and his father are away on a training trip!"
"What the..."
"Just play along!" Ranma said, turning to his mother and said in a girlish voice. "Oh Auntie Saotome!"
"Oh hello Ranko," the older woman said pleasantly. "My but you truly love that pond, don't you? Almost every time I see you you're playing in it with Mr. Panda."
"Ah... well I like to try and catch the koi with my hands. Mr. Panda does too, but he's too slow, so we don't have to worry about him eating them or nothing."
'Mr. Panda' caught a fish one-handed (pawed?) and smacked Ranko upside the head with it. Fortunately, Nadoka had already turned to greet Reiko.
"Why hello. I don't believe we've met. My name is Nadoka Saotome, Ranma's mother. Pleased to meet you."
Reiko, still confused, bowed back. "I'm Reiko Chimidoro. I'm..." she glanced at Ranma-chan, "...a houseguest. Ranma's mother you say? I'm afraid he's never mentioned you in the short time I've been here. I'd sort of assumed you were deceased."
Nadoko laughed. "Oh no. My husband took Ranma on a training trip when he was very small. We haven't seen each other in more than a decade. It's not surprising he doesn't talk about me. I wonder if he even remembers what I look like."
"That long? I think I'd like to here the story behind this one." Reiko said as they came inside.
Nadoka looked at Soun. "My, are you playing by yourself?"
Several people swallowed. Reiko smoothly sat down in Genma's place. "No, I merely stepped out for a moment to tell Ranko we had a visitor."
"Ah of course. I'm sorry for interrupting your game."
"Don't worry. If you don't mind, would you tell me about it while I play? Please don't think me inattentive, but I'd like to keep my eyes on the board while you talk. Mr. Tendo has a deplorable habit of moving pieces around if you give him the chance."
"Really now!" Soun bristled.
"Play by the rules, old man." Reiko said fondly.
Nadoka chuckled and started to tell her tale.
In five minutes Nadoka had given the short version of her story and Reiko had won the game from the disadvantageous position Soun had left Genma. Reiko never took her eyes off the board, leaving Soun no opportunity to cheat. Needless to say, her strategy rapidly beat down Soun's own underused skills at the game.
Reiko turned from the humiliated older man to Nadoka. "I must say, your tale has made my opinion of your husband worse than before."
Nadoka sighed. "I suppose I'm not surprised. Still, if he's managed to turn my little Ranma into a true man, than I'll forgive him for leaving me alone all these years."
Nadoka brightened. "So tell me, Reiko. You've met my son several times, yes?"
"You could say so." Reiko smirked.
"What kind of a man is he?"
"Ranma is no man." Reiko responded.
Silence reigned. Ranma-chan and the furry Genma froze solid in fear.
"W-what?" Nadoka stuttered, gripping the wrapped sword tightly.
"Reiko!" Akane cried. "Why would you say something like that!"
"Because I would never insult Ranma by referring to him in that way."
"Huh?"
"I don't understand." Nadoka admitted.
"Reiko, take it back!" Ranko cried.
"What would you have me say, Ranko? That Ranma is the embodiment of manhood?"
"That'd be good!"
Reiko's eye's bored into Nadoka's. "Men are violent, brutal and cruel. Men think with only their fists or their cocks. They are devoid of compassion, mercy, or kindness. They are never happy unless they are causing someone pain.
"Now why would I say that a nice guy like Ranma is the embodiment of manhood? None of those characteristics fit him well, if at all."
Nadoka's confusion still remained.
Akane leaned toward her. "Um, Auntie Nadoka? Reiko's had some pretty bad experiences with men, so that might explain why she feels saying Ranma is a real man is an insult."
"I... see." Nadoka relaxed, and smiled kindly at the dark girl. "I suppose I'm glad then that Ranma is... no man."
Mr. Panda was at her side in an instant with a paper and pen. [Could we have that in writing?] Ranko smacked him before anything came of it.
Nadoka looked sadly at Reiko. "Ah you poor girl. What could have happened to you to turn your heart so viciously against men?"
Reiko cocked her head with a grim smile. "My life is what happened to me. My father is a man I hope you never have to meet, unless I take you to visit his grave, as I hope to be able to soon. I intend to piss on it as soon as I put him in the ground."
Nadoka was a bit shocked at what the girl was saying to her, but Reiko talked right over her stuttered protests.
"My mother was a very traditional woman. She believed that if her husband wished to hit her, it was probably her fault in some way. If he wished to hit his only child, it was also her fault for not being diligent enough in my upbringing. If he enjoyed his sex in a brutal, violent manner, it was her duty to give it to him. She gave everything she had to that man, her family's money, her health, her fertility, and eventually, when I was seven, her life. Even after all she did for him, he hit both of us almost every day, sometimes just because he felt like hitting something, and soft flesh is so much more satisfying then practice dummies.
"Some children can hear their parent's actions in the bedroom growing up. You could have heard my mother's screams of pain half a kilometre from our house. And before you suggest that it was a different kind of scream, trust me when I say they weren't. By the time I was three I was helping her put ice on her bruises and staunch the flow of blood from her private areas, or anywhere else she happened to be bleeding.
"Some children who hear their parents are a bit disgusted. Try to imagine me, crying quietly in terror. There was no way I could sleep, and besides, mother might need my help when it was over."
"Dear God, you poor child!" was all Nadoka could say. She was actually crying in sympathy. Reiko's eyes were dry and hard.
"I can still hear in my mind the last scream she gave as she died underneath him. That was the day I vowed never to let any man do that to me."
"Oh Reiko dear, you can't let one bad experience-"
"ONE BAD EXPERIENCE?" Reiko roared. "We are talking about my _entire_ life! After Mom died he took to bringing whores home, and about a dozen of those died too, and of the ones who lived, not a one came back again. Ambulances usually took them away; none of them had mother's durability. Since I could walk, he's been hitting be because I wasn't a boy, hitting me because I wasn't strong enough, and because he knew I hated him for murdering my mother!"
Reiko realized she was on her feet and screaming into Nadoka's face. She sat down and looked at the floor, glaring at it in a way that made many people present glad they were not floorboards.
"Forgive me, I just can't talk about it without getting angry again." She took a deep breath to calm herself.
Nadoka eventually opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Reiko's quiet voice.
"I'm here training to improve my fighting abilities until I can kill my father. Ranma was the one who made the decision to help me. He is the one training me to help kill my father with my own hands. Everyone else balks at the idea. That's the sort of man your son is Nadoka-san; the kind who would see justice done even if it doesn't sit too well with those around him.
"Of all the men I've met, only two have earned my respect. Mr. Tendo has shown me that men can be honorable, and Ranma has shown me that men can be kind. That doesn't mean I intend to let any man do to me what my father did to my mother, even if they were gentler about it. I gave up on men in that way a long time ago." She got up and abruptly left the room, not wishing to discuss it any further.
"Reiko..." Akane said, looking after her friend.
"I... I think perhaps I've overstayed my welcome." Nadoka said. She ignored protests to the contrary and left politely. Akane was left to ponder the words Reiko had left them with.
Suddenly the incident of a few days ago made a bit more sense...
***
Akane had gone to visit Yuka and Sayuri at Yuka's home, and Reiko had tagged along. Yuka had received a baby brother only a few days ago.
"He's so cute!" Sayuri squealed.
"Hey there little guy!" Akane smiled, brushing his cheek with her fingers, letting him grip one of them. Yuka carefully picked him out of the crib and handed little Tarou to Akane, since he already had a hold on her. Akane played with him for a bit as adults do with infants, then passed him off to Sayuri who blew on his stomach, making a farting noise, to his great delight.
"Do you want to hold him, Reiko?" Yuka asked.
"No. No thank you." Reiko said quietly.
The three girls looked up at the fourth, who had been standing a little ways away the whole time. Truth to tell, she had been so silent that the other girls had almost forgotten her. Reiko was the only one in the room (baby included) not smiling.
Sayuri blinked. "Why not? He's sooo precious!"
"Fine." Reiko said, a little more testily than she wanted to. "If you think so then go back to playing with him. Just leave me out of it."
Yuka got angry. "Are you saying there's something wrong with my baby brother?"
"No."
"Then why don't you want to hold him?"
"I don't... like kids."
Sayuri handed Tarou off to Akane and came to stand with Yuka against Reiko. "What do you mean you don't like kids? Every girl likes babies!"
Reiko avoided their eyes. "Not me."
"Feh! Guess even Ranma's more of a girl then you." Yuka snorted.
Reiko's eyes came back up, boring through Yuka's and seeming to burn the back of her skull.
Yuka took a few steps back. "I'm...I'm sorry. If you don't want to hold him, it's no big deal."
Akane watched Reiko carefully. "Reiko, can you at least tell us why not?"
Reiko's 'fuck off' glare swiveled in Akane's direction, but she didn't flinch. Reiko relaxed her gaze and walked to the window, looking out at the street.
"I'm never going to have any of my own, so why get attached to them now?" She said eventually.
Yuka and Sayuri just looked confused. Akane's eyes widened.
"You mean, you knew? I... I thought you were still unconscious when Dr. Tofu said that."
Reiko looked at her curiously. "What on Earth are you talking about?"
Akane blinked.
Reiko blinked.
Yuka and Sayuri blinked.
Tarou giggled.
"Um... nothing. Forget I ever said anything. So, Yuka, can we feed him, or is he still breastfeeding?" Akane said, quickly trying to brush over the incident, which is how Reiko knew that whatever she was hiding, it was something very bad.
That was when Reiko did something she would later regret, and apologise profusely for, though Akane would insist that her actions were quite understandable under the circumstances.
Yuka's answer was cut off as Reiko marched up to Akane and took Tarou from her arms. Akane wondered if she had changed her mind about the baby until Reiko gave him immediately to Yuka. She then turned back to Akane and pulled her roughly to her feet by the straps of her dress, pushing her against a wall.
"What are you hiding from me? What did Dr. Tofu say? TALK!" Reiko's eyes showed more panic than anger. Was she dying from some strange disease, or...
"Y-you're sterile." Akane stuttered. "At...at least he thinks so. All the blows you've taken to the abdomen over the years from your father, they've damaged your reproductive organs. He said he'd have to do more tests to be certain, but he didn't think you'd ever be able to bear children."
There was a long minute of silence, broken only by the occasional gurgle from the blessedly ignorant child. When he realized that the arms holding him had frozen like stone, and no one was paying him any attention, he began to cry. The noise was what forced everybody to move again. Yuka tried to quiet him, and succeeded. Reiko let Akane go.
"I'm sorry." Akane said softly.
"Heh, don't worry about it. I said I wasn't going to have kids because I didn't want to go through the process of having them, particularly the conception part. I guess this is just one more reason not to get attached to them." Reiko chuckled.
Yuka and Sayuri sighed with relief as the tension passed out of the room. They began chatting over the baby.
Akane couldn't be like them yet. She'd seen the look in Reiko's eyes; that brief moment of horror before the walls came back up again. She took Reiko's hand and led her to the other girls and the baby.
"You can always adopt, you know." She said gently.
"...I guess I can. I hadn't thought of that." Reiko admitted. She allowed her hand to be brought within reach of Tarou, who gripped her finger with a strength she hadn't thought possible for such a tiny person, as he looked up at her and gurgled happily.
Akane was delighted when Reiko started to smile. Well, it wasn't much of a smile, more of a quirk at one end of the mouth; a tiny, tentative, attempt at a smile for the little baby.
But it was a smile.
***
It was pretty obvious to Akane that Reiko had no interest in falling in love with any man. However, did that mean she was planning a life of spinsterhood, or lesbianism? Akane had no way to answer that question (remember people, this is the girl who can't understand why Ranma picks on P-chan), and if it was the latter, what were Reiko's intentions toward her?
"Oh yes. I'll kill him, and break my promise at the same
time. That means I'm no longer engaged to Ranma, so I'm free. No more men will
have any hold on me anymore, not even a friendly one like Ranma has."
"I guess I'm just not much of a girl, then."
"Akane, are _you_ afraid of me?"
"Cremate me. You deal with my ashes however you like... You're probably my best friend."
"You don't have to watch if you don't want to. You can wait for me at home if you prefer."
"True, but sometimes his being a jerk can be rather convenient."
"Well, anyway, we can still have fun in the water even if you can't swim."
"Yes it is, but if you hold onto me there'll be no problem. Do you trust me?"
"Don't be scared, you're with me."
"Akane, I'm... scared."
"Never! I promised I wouldn't let you drown. I guess I should have made you promise not to drown me at the same time, huh?"
"Thanks. It's nice to have someone trust me."
"Thanks. It's sweet of you to say. I've never had many friends.
"Thank you."
"Akane... thanks."
Well, whether Reiko loved her as a best (and only) female friend or as something more, it was obvious that she cared about Akane deeply. If she rejected Reiko, it would break her heart. Akane swore to herself that she would never do that.
No matter how it turned out.
***
"Dammit Ranma, hold still!"
"Why would I want to do that?" Ranma said, ducking under Akane's punch.
"Fight me for real!"
"If you want to hit me, then get faster. Getting mad at me is useless." Ranma chuckled.
Reiko, who'd been watching by the dojo door, sighed as Akane only got madder, and thus sloppier. The girl really did have some great skills, but she couldn't compare to her or Ranma, and she wasn't improving much either. Ranma may have been a fighter par excellence, but he was somewhat lacking as a teacher. She went back to the house.
Akane came back to the house sweaty, tired and humiliated, yet with a plan in mind.
"Reiko, will you train me?"
Reiko blinked over her tea. "I'm not a practitioner of the Anything Goes style, I can't teach you that."
"Fine, so teach me your style." Akane said.
From the look in Reiko's eyes, she probably shouldn't have.
Reiko set her cup down with a bang, making Akane jump. She looked hard into Akane's eyes. "You want to become a student of the Chimidoro no Ryuu School of Martial Arts?"
Akane blinked and nodded. "Not officially. The Anything Goes style is powerful because it absorbs the techniques and methods of other styles. It has almost no limiting traditions or rules, hence the name 'Anything Goes'. So I'd still my a member of the Tendo Anything Goes school even while I trained under you."
"The Chimidoro School is not like other styles." Reiko said grimly. She pulled the Furinkan School uniform over her head, standing in the (conveniently empty) living room in her underwear. She ran her fingers along the multitude of scars that decorated her body.
"If I train you, it will be the same way my father trained me. Are you prepared to look like this?"
Akane blinked at the sudden strip show, then snapped out of it and looked serious. "That is a sacrifice I'm willing to make to be strong."
Reiko threw her dress angrily to the ground and grabbed Akane by her gi jacket. "If we start, we wouldn't stop. If you ask me to train you, you won't be able to ask me to leave you alone."
"I wouldn't want a sensei who would let me quit." Akane answered.
Reiko slowly closed her eyes, and let Akane go. "When --not if, when-- you ask me to let up on you, I'm going to repeat those same words back to you."
She put her dress back on. "I want you to spend the night thinking about the scars on my body. I want you to imagine them on yours. I want you to imagine the pain as I give them to you. I want you to think about the sheer amount of blood, sweat, and tears that you _will_ shed for this training. You're going to be in pain almost constantly from the time we start until the day I feel there's no more I can teach you, which would be years in the future. Spend the night restless and unable to sleep thinking about all that torture and pain, and if you still want to ask me in the morning to train you, I'll listen then."
Reiko turned at Akane's nod of agreement, and made to leave the room. In the doorway to the porch, she paused, looking rather tired. "Akane... please don't think I'd respect you any less if you change your mind, in fact, I'm kind of hoping you will."
With that, she stepped outside and leapt to the roof.
Akane sat there, somewhat confused. The 'think long and hard about it' speech she had been expecting. It was just a test of her resolve, but this last statement was a little different. Reiko didn't want her to train in the Chimidoro style. Why? Akane thought she would be proud to share her family's teachings, regardless of her hatred of the current master of the school.
Or maybe, she wasn't as put off with the idea of Akane learning the style, as she was of being the one to teach it to her.
***
The next morning, Akane woke to find Reiko gone from their room, but her school uniform still hung on the hanger. Taking that as a cue, Akane quickly dressed in her gi and went downstairs.
Last night, her father had asked her to reconsider this idea (apparently at Reiko's request) claiming that she should learn from her fiancé. She had responded that she was a martial artist, first and foremost, and she could never live with herself if she did not take advantage of this opportunity to study a powerful style, which would only add to the strength of the Tendo dojo.
She found Reiko sitting in the middle of the dojo in her red gi, and sat down facing her.
"You slept quietly last night." Reiko said slowly. "Which means either you didn't take my warning seriously, or you're a complete masochist, looking forward to the pain and suffering."
Akane didn't know what to say to that. Judging by the redness of Reiko's eyes, she had not slept as well as Akane had.
"So," Reiko continued, "What's your answer? You are not prepared to train in the Chimidoro style, but do you want to try... no, to _do_ it anyway?"
"Yes, Sensei." Akane responded. Reiko closed her eyes sadly.
"As you wish. Let's begin." She stood.
"We're not going to school today?"
"No, you probably won't be able to make it there for at least a week. In fact, you'll probably fail this year. Last chance to back out now."
"...No thanks. I'll stay." Akane said, standing as well.
"Fine." Reiko snorted. "Then we begin with durability training."
"Durability training?" Akane had never heard of such a thing.
A fast and powerful kick slammed into her stomach, doubling her over as she fell to her knees. As she knelt there, trying not to vomit, hands took her head and jerked it sharply to the side. Discs popped in complaint of the rough treatment. Since Akane didn't crack her knuckles, much less her neck, it was rather painful this first time.
"Crack. You're dead." Reiko said coldly. "If you can't shrug off a single kick like that, you've no way to defend yourself. Now stand up. Now!"
Akane shakily stood up. "H-how does this durability training work anyway?"
"Simple." Reiko said. "I beat you unconscious repeatedly until your pain threshold increases dramatically."
"Huh?" Was all Akane managed before Reiko was on her again. Only three blows to her more prominent pain clusters were needed to send Akane into blackness.
***
By the end of the session (8 hours plus lunch), Akane could remain conscious for five blows before Reiko sent her back to the floor. She had been told she could work on her defense (not that it would do any good) but that was mostly to give Akane something to do for those short periods she was conscious. Akane gave up trying to block and just focused on _seeing_ the blows coming at her. She was getting a bit better at it.
At the end of a very long day (or short, seeing how she was out cold for half of it) Akane limped to the bath, cursing Reiko's name. This had _not_ been in the warning!
'You're going to be in pain almost constantly from the time we start until the day I feel there's no more I can teach you.'
Okay, so maybe she did say something along those lines, but this... this was just brutal!
When Akane came out of the bath, feeling a little (very little) better, Nabiki was waiting for her. Her older sister's face was somber.
"I have a recording I think you should listen to." She said, holding up a mini tape recorder.
"Not now Nabiki. I need to go lie down." Akane said tiredly. "Besides, I don't feel like paying you."
Nabiki stepped in front of her as Akane attempted to pass her by. "This is free."
Akane blinked. "That's twice you've done something charitable in the last week."
"I'll admit, there's not many things I care about more than money, but one of them is my family, little sister. That's why I think you should listen to this, for free if _absolutely_ necessary." She said with a smirk.
"Fine. So what is it?"
"We were all a bit worried about this training with Reiko thing you've started. I bugged the dojo just to make sure you didn't get killed or something. I almost went down there after she beat you under the first time, but then I heard this." Nabiki said as she pressed play.
"sniff Damn you Akane! sniff Why'd you have to ask for this? Don't you know I'd have done anything you asked? Given you anything you wanted from me? You stupid, stupid girl. choke Now I'm trapped into hurting you. you've made me your torturer. sniff And now you're going to start hating me. Hating me like I hate my father. I love you, you stupid girl! How do you think I feel hurting you, making you cry and bleed? sobbing shudder I don't have anyone else, and now I'm going to lose you too. Damn you!" At this point, Reiko just sobbed and sobbed. Nabiki turned off the tape.
Akane's throat felt tight. She'd had no idea. Reiko had been dry eyed and cold to her when she'd come to.
"I snuck down and peeked in the doorway the next time you went down. She had your head in her lap and was just stroking your hair. When you started to stir, she quickly put you down and leaned against the wall."
That was the image Akane had woken up to: Reiko's cold eyes staring down at her as she stood waiting for her to recover.
"I... I had no idea." Akane said slowly.
Nabiki nodded. "Now the big money question: Did she mean 'I love you' as in 'my dear, beloved friend', or as in 'my lesbian lover'?"
"Shut up Nabiki! How can you make it sound so... dirty?"
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "Everyone has their own opinion on that. What's yours, and which way do you think she meant it?"
Akane was silent as she sat on the steps. "I... don't know. I've been thinking about it ever since she said she's sworn off men. I'm not sure it matters a whole lot. Is there much of a difference between a beloved friend and a friendly beloved? The feelings aren't too different. I think the line between is pretty thin. And where is the line anyway?"
"I suppose if you put it that way, the 'line' would be engaging in sexual activity."
Akane sighed. "Even then, it's not for sure. If she loved me very much as a friend, and I asked for sex, it's not impossible to imagine her saying yes just to make me happy, if she cared about me that much."
"Interesting that you made yourself the lesbian in that example, and not the other way around." Nabiki remarked.
Akane frowned. "Shut up! I'm just trying to put myself in her shoes... if they are her shoes."
Nabiki shrugged and keyed the tape back a bit, pressing play.
"...this? Don't you know I'd have done anything you asked? Given you anything you wanted from me?" Stop.
"Maybe the question you should be asking, little sister, is not if Reiko is gay, but are you?" Nabiki said quietly, before heading upstairs to bed.
Akane sat on the stairs for a long time.
Reiko lay on her futon with her back to the door, and Akane's bed. She wasn't sleeping. It wouldn't be safe to go to sleep until Akane came in and was asleep herself. The thought that she had to worry about _Akane_ of all people caused her throat to grow tight.
The door opened, and Akane stepped in. Reiko heard her footsteps pause upon seeing Reiko apparently already asleep. The door closed quietly, and Akane didn't turn on the light. She stepped quietly around to the side of her bed, pulling back the covers. Reiko heard Akane pause and turn, looking down at her and probably noticing that Reiko had laid out her futon farther from the bed and Akane then she usually did.
Reiko lay still and prayed that Akane would just go to sleep. She didn't want to fight Akane if she wanted to try and strangle her sensei in her sleep. The thought had occurred to Reiko a number of times when training under her father. Unfortunately, Taiyama Chimidoro had proven rather resistant to the murder attempts of tiny little girls. By the time she was fully-grown, Reiko had given up such attempts, as failure was punished very severely.
She did not want to have to stop Akane from killing her. Not because she intended to react with dangerous force (painful yes, dangerous no) but because it would be the final proof that Akane hated her.
Akane stepped toward Reiko's futon. Those two audible steps were the reason Reiko had increased the distance between where they slept. Reiko cried silently as she prepared to counter the attack.
She was not prepared for Akane to step past and around her, coming down to kneel beside her face to face. Akane's warm brown eyes sparkled in the feint light, looking down into Reiko's black orbs. She didn't seem very surprised to find Reiko awake. Looking up into those eyes, Reiko knew this was not an assassination attempt.
Mind you, she hadn't the damnedest idea what it _was_.
"Reiko..." Akane smiled, as she slid down beside the dark girl. Reiko was surprised to find Akane's arms wrapping around her neck (well, surprised that it was a hug and not a chokehold).
"Akane? What..."
"Reiko, I don't hate you. I'm not going to hate you just because you're my sensei. I... I love you the same way you love me. And I'm not going to stop."
"Akane!" Reiko sobbed, wrapping her arms around Akane's waist and sobbing into her shoulder. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry I hit you! I'm sorry I hurt you!"
"Shh!" Akane said soothingly, trying to ignore the bruises Reiko was inadvertently squeezing. "_I'm_ sorry for asking you to hurt me. That must have been hard."
"We sniff we don't have to keep going. I lied. You can quit if you want, I won't stop you. Then we can be friends again."
"We're friends now, Reiko, and I don't want to quit. I still want this training, if you feel up to giving it to me."
"I'd give you anything you wanted from me." Reiko said, quoting herself from earlier, unaware that Akane recognized the oath. "But... I don't want... I don't like hurting you."
Akane thought about something she had once read in a book. It had been a novel about a girl who fell in love with a martial arts teacher, and joined his class. He was loving and considerate to her everywhere except the dojo. There, he was not the man she loved; he was Sensei. Sensei was cold, efficient, and had no respect for your pain. He was a damn good teacher.
"I'll tell you what. You can be two different people. Reiko, and Sensei. When you're Reiko, you're my beloved friend, and you love me. When you're Sensei, you're training me to the best of your ability. I'm just your student, who you want to be the best she can be, so you can't go easy on her. And if I get mad at Sensei, I promise I won't get mad at Reiko for the same thing. How's that?"
Reiko sniffed as she dried her eyes on the shoulder of Akane's pajamas. "I think I can handle that."
Akane smiled and rubbed Reiko's back. "Good. Because I still want to be trained, I'm just not willing to give you up in exchange."
They lay in each others arms for a while before Reiko spoke. "Akane, Sensei will be back sometime tomorrow, but for tonight, do you think Reiko could stay here, like this with you?"
Akane giggled. "If you don't stop referring to yourself in the third person, you're going to get schizophrenic. Of course you can, but let's move up to my bed, huh? It's more comfortable then this tiny futon."
Reiko smiled. "It's made thicker than the straw one I'm used to, but if you say so."
They got up and lay together in Akane's bed, arms wrapped around each other.
And yes, that's all they did together for the rest of the night.
Which left Nabiki almost disappointed. The bug she'd placed in Akane's room long ago (soon after Ranma arrived) was active again. No sounds other then steady breathing came through her headphones for ten minutes, when the now-familiar sounds of Akane's soft snoring faintly made itself known. Reiko didn't snore (this was actually a result of special conditioning practiced within the Chimidoro clan for centuries, making it more difficult for an invading ninja to decide whether you were asleep or awake).
The whole encounter (while heartwarming, if you liked that sort of thing) did not answer any of Nabiki's questions. While each had said that they loved the other, the two had not made love, and Akane's delightfully diplomatic statement, 'I love you the same way you love me', cleared nothing up. She had left it for Reiko to interpret it however she wished; if she loved Akane as a friend, Akane felt the same way; if she wanted Akane as a lover, Akane seemed willing to be that too.
The ball had been tenderly bounced back into Reiko's court, which would have been fine if the girl had made a move, or if she had said 'I just want to be friends'. As it stood, nothing had been resolved, save that Akane's training was not going to hurt their relationship, and the two girls had grown closer together.
But as WHAT? Nabiki wanted to scream. If her sister leaned that way, Nabiki could handle it. There would have to be a few changes (calming Daddy, the engagement to Ranma, explaining it to Daddy, handling rumors at school, consoling Daddy, making sure Kunou didn't get himself killed on Reiko's fists, keeping Daddy from throwing Reiko out... and did she mention that Daddy might be a problem?).
But this... uncertainty, this sitting around in ignorance of Reiko, Akane, and how they fit together; this was going to drive Nabiki insane. She might have to throw a wrench into the works to force one or both of them to admit how they felt about each other.
Heaven help her, she might even have to resort to something all her years of under-the-table, back door dealings told her was the wrong way to do things.
She might have to walk up to Reiko and ask her.
***
Like I said, half done. That's it for now.
***
Chapter 6
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction by Hino, Ron
================================================================================
*** WARNING! FIRST DRAFT! ***
Chapters 3-6 are in desperate need of revision, perhaps even total rewrites of the plot. I've sat on them for a while, but I'm not sure what elements I want to keep and what's a useless pile of biological waste. I've been told I let people get too far out of character, but sited examples and suggestions would be much appreciated, as well as anything else that sucks about it. Please review these chapters and then forget you ever saw them! Only Chapters 1 & 2 should be considered ready for public viewing.
Oh, and chapter 6 here is too short, and should be considered to be only half done.
Suggestions to hinoron@hotmail.com
Thanks much for your assistance.
================================================================================
Just a brief foreword:
1. Ranma and friends are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and a bunch of corporations.
Except for the new characters, everyone else belongs to her and them. I don't
own them. Please don't take ideas or (my) characters from this story without my
permission.
2. "Chimidoro no Ryuu" means, loosely translated, "Bloody Dragon". That would
make the full name of the School "Chimidoro no Ryuu Ryu" (ryu meaning a martial
arts school/style). To avoid the confusion, it will always be written as the
Chimidoro no Ryuu School, or the shorter Chimidoro school, though in the second
case it is a reference more to Reiko's family name then the school's title.
3. I've stopped going through and manually wordwrapping each line, (Except for
this foreword, of course) so download this and read it with a word processor.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
All was quiet at the Tendo Dojo, relatively speaking. You see, there was the clack of shogi pieces striking the board (and if you were really attentive, the near-silent removal of said pieces when someone turned their back); there was the sounds of the TV that Akane was watching; the occasional flip of a page of Nabiki's manga; the sounds of clinking dishes and running water from the kitchen where Kasumi did the dinner dishes, one of the many thankless tasks she cheerfully carried out as an expression of love for her family. Loudest of all were the grunts and occasional kiais of Ranma and Reiko as they trained together in the yard, but even with all this going on, the dojo was still considered 'quiet', as Old Chaos had not reared his freakish head in days.
Needless to say, some people in the household were getting a little nervous. Calm comes before the storm, as the saying goes, and the longer the calm, the more horrible the storm.
So it was almost with some relief that Ranma and Genma leapt into the pond upon hearing the gentle voice of Nadoka Saotome politely letting herself in. The Saotome matriarch was a 'storm' of sorts, but not one any of them lacked experience in weathering.
Save Reiko of course, but we're getting to that.
Soun found himself staring at the empty space where his opponent had sat. temporarily miffed at having his game interrupted, he chuckled and moved several pieces before lifting his head to greet their guest.
"Welcome, Nadoka-san. What brings you here on this fine day?"
Reiko had stood for several seconds with fist outstretched after her opponent turned tail and dived for the pond in the middle of the match. Reiko, not having the patience or good temper of Soun, was not miffed at the interruption; she was pissed. She was about to yell at Ranma, as Nadoka and Soun exchanged pleasantries, when he (or rather, she) clutched Reiko's gi frantically and whispered in her ear.
"Listen! My name is Ranko, and Ranma and his father are away on a training trip!"
"What the..."
"Just play along!" Ranma said, turning to his mother and said in a girlish voice. "Oh Auntie Saotome!"
"Oh hello Ranko," the older woman said pleasantly. "My but you truly love that pond, don't you? Almost every time I see you you're playing in it with Mr. Panda."
"Ah... well I like to try and catch the koi with my hands. Mr. Panda does too, but he's too slow, so we don't have to worry about him eating them or nothing."
'Mr. Panda' caught a fish one-handed (pawed?) and smacked Ranko upside the head with it. Fortunately, Nadoka had already turned to greet Reiko.
"Why hello. I don't believe we've met. My name is Nadoka Saotome, Ranma's mother. Pleased to meet you."
Reiko, still confused, bowed back. "I'm Reiko Chimidoro. I'm..." she glanced at Ranma-chan, "...a houseguest. Ranma's mother you say? I'm afraid he's never mentioned you in the short time I've been here. I'd sort of assumed you were deceased."
Nadoko laughed. "Oh no. My husband took Ranma on a training trip when he was very small. We haven't seen each other in more than a decade. It's not surprising he doesn't talk about me. I wonder if he even remembers what I look like."
"That long? I think I'd like to here the story behind this one." Reiko said as they came inside.
Nadoka looked at Soun. "My, are you playing by yourself?"
Several people swallowed. Reiko smoothly sat down in Genma's place. "No, I merely stepped out for a moment to tell Ranko we had a visitor."
"Ah of course. I'm sorry for interrupting your game."
"Don't worry. If you don't mind, would you tell me about it while I play? Please don't think me inattentive, but I'd like to keep my eyes on the board while you talk. Mr. Tendo has a deplorable habit of moving pieces around if you give him the chance."
"Really now!" Soun bristled.
"Play by the rules, old man." Reiko said fondly.
Nadoka chuckled and started to tell her tale.
In five minutes Nadoka had given the short version of her story and Reiko had won the game from the disadvantageous position Soun had left Genma. Reiko never took her eyes off the board, leaving Soun no opportunity to cheat. Needless to say, her strategy rapidly beat down Soun's own underused skills at the game.
Reiko turned from the humiliated older man to Nadoka. "I must say, your tale has made my opinion of your husband worse than before."
Nadoka sighed. "I suppose I'm not surprised. Still, if he's managed to turn my little Ranma into a true man, than I'll forgive him for leaving me alone all these years."
Nadoka brightened. "So tell me, Reiko. You've met my son several times, yes?"
"You could say so." Reiko smirked.
"What kind of a man is he?"
"Ranma is no man." Reiko responded.
Silence reigned. Ranma-chan and the furry Genma froze solid in fear.
"W-what?" Nadoka stuttered, gripping the wrapped sword tightly.
"Reiko!" Akane cried. "Why would you say something like that!"
"Because I would never insult Ranma by referring to him in that way."
"Huh?"
"I don't understand." Nadoka admitted.
"Reiko, take it back!" Ranko cried.
"What would you have me say, Ranko? That Ranma is the embodiment of manhood?"
"That'd be good!"
Reiko's eye's bored into Nadoka's. "Men are violent, brutal and cruel. Men think with only their fists or their cocks. They are devoid of compassion, mercy, or kindness. They are never happy unless they are causing someone pain.
"Now why would I say that a nice guy like Ranma is the embodiment of manhood? None of those characteristics fit him well, if at all."
Nadoka's confusion still remained.
Akane leaned toward her. "Um, Auntie Nadoka? Reiko's had some pretty bad experiences with men, so that might explain why she feels saying Ranma is a real man is an insult."
"I... see." Nadoka relaxed, and smiled kindly at the dark girl. "I suppose I'm glad then that Ranma is... no man."
Mr. Panda was at her side in an instant with a paper and pen. [Could we have that in writing?] Ranko smacked him before anything came of it.
Nadoka looked sadly at Reiko. "Ah you poor girl. What could have happened to you to turn your heart so viciously against men?"
Reiko cocked her head with a grim smile. "My life is what happened to me. My father is a man I hope you never have to meet, unless I take you to visit his grave, as I hope to be able to soon. I intend to piss on it as soon as I put him in the ground."
Nadoka was a bit shocked at what the girl was saying to her, but Reiko talked right over her stuttered protests.
"My mother was a very traditional woman. She believed that if her husband wished to hit her, it was probably her fault in some way. If he wished to hit his only child, it was also her fault for not being diligent enough in my upbringing. If he enjoyed his sex in a brutal, violent manner, it was her duty to give it to him. She gave everything she had to that man, her family's money, her health, her fertility, and eventually, when I was seven, her life. Even after all she did for him, he hit both of us almost every day, sometimes just because he felt like hitting something, and soft flesh is so much more satisfying then practice dummies.
"Some children can hear their parent's actions in the bedroom growing up. You could have heard my mother's screams of pain half a kilometre from our house. And before you suggest that it was a different kind of scream, trust me when I say they weren't. By the time I was three I was helping her put ice on her bruises and staunch the flow of blood from her private areas, or anywhere else she happened to be bleeding.
"Some children who hear their parents are a bit disgusted. Try to imagine me, crying quietly in terror. There was no way I could sleep, and besides, mother might need my help when it was over."
"Dear God, you poor child!" was all Nadoka could say. She was actually crying in sympathy. Reiko's eyes were dry and hard.
"I can still hear in my mind the last scream she gave as she died underneath him. That was the day I vowed never to let any man do that to me."
"Oh Reiko dear, you can't let one bad experience-"
"ONE BAD EXPERIENCE?" Reiko roared. "We are talking about my _entire_ life! After Mom died he took to bringing whores home, and about a dozen of those died too, and of the ones who lived, not a one came back again. Ambulances usually took them away; none of them had mother's durability. Since I could walk, he's been hitting be because I wasn't a boy, hitting me because I wasn't strong enough, and because he knew I hated him for murdering my mother!"
Reiko realized she was on her feet and screaming into Nadoka's face. She sat down and looked at the floor, glaring at it in a way that made many people present glad they were not floorboards.
"Forgive me, I just can't talk about it without getting angry again." She took a deep breath to calm herself.
Nadoka eventually opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Reiko's quiet voice.
"I'm here training to improve my fighting abilities until I can kill my father. Ranma was the one who made the decision to help me. He is the one training me to help kill my father with my own hands. Everyone else balks at the idea. That's the sort of man your son is Nadoka-san; the kind who would see justice done even if it doesn't sit too well with those around him.
"Of all the men I've met, only two have earned my respect. Mr. Tendo has shown me that men can be honorable, and Ranma has shown me that men can be kind. That doesn't mean I intend to let any man do to me what my father did to my mother, even if they were gentler about it. I gave up on men in that way a long time ago." She got up and abruptly left the room, not wishing to discuss it any further.
"Reiko..." Akane said, looking after her friend.
"I... I think perhaps I've overstayed my welcome." Nadoka said. She ignored protests to the contrary and left politely. Akane was left to ponder the words Reiko had left them with.
Suddenly the incident of a few days ago made a bit more sense...
***
Akane had gone to visit Yuka and Sayuri at Yuka's home, and Reiko had tagged along. Yuka had received a baby brother only a few days ago.
"He's so cute!" Sayuri squealed.
"Hey there little guy!" Akane smiled, brushing his cheek with her fingers, letting him grip one of them. Yuka carefully picked him out of the crib and handed little Tarou to Akane, since he already had a hold on her. Akane played with him for a bit as adults do with infants, then passed him off to Sayuri who blew on his stomach, making a farting noise, to his great delight.
"Do you want to hold him, Reiko?" Yuka asked.
"No. No thank you." Reiko said quietly.
The three girls looked up at the fourth, who had been standing a little ways away the whole time. Truth to tell, she had been so silent that the other girls had almost forgotten her. Reiko was the only one in the room (baby included) not smiling.
Sayuri blinked. "Why not? He's sooo precious!"
"Fine." Reiko said, a little more testily than she wanted to. "If you think so then go back to playing with him. Just leave me out of it."
Yuka got angry. "Are you saying there's something wrong with my baby brother?"
"No."
"Then why don't you want to hold him?"
"I don't... like kids."
Sayuri handed Tarou off to Akane and came to stand with Yuka against Reiko. "What do you mean you don't like kids? Every girl likes babies!"
Reiko avoided their eyes. "Not me."
"Feh! Guess even Ranma's more of a girl then you." Yuka snorted.
Reiko's eyes came back up, boring through Yuka's and seeming to burn the back of her skull.
Yuka took a few steps back. "I'm...I'm sorry. If you don't want to hold him, it's no big deal."
Akane watched Reiko carefully. "Reiko, can you at least tell us why not?"
Reiko's 'fuck off' glare swiveled in Akane's direction, but she didn't flinch. Reiko relaxed her gaze and walked to the window, looking out at the street.
"I'm never going to have any of my own, so why get attached to them now?" She said eventually.
Yuka and Sayuri just looked confused. Akane's eyes widened.
"You mean, you knew? I... I thought you were still unconscious when Dr. Tofu said that."
Reiko looked at her curiously. "What on Earth are you talking about?"
Akane blinked.
Reiko blinked.
Yuka and Sayuri blinked.
Tarou giggled.
"Um... nothing. Forget I ever said anything. So, Yuka, can we feed him, or is he still breastfeeding?" Akane said, quickly trying to brush over the incident, which is how Reiko knew that whatever she was hiding, it was something very bad.
That was when Reiko did something she would later regret, and apologise profusely for, though Akane would insist that her actions were quite understandable under the circumstances.
Yuka's answer was cut off as Reiko marched up to Akane and took Tarou from her arms. Akane wondered if she had changed her mind about the baby until Reiko gave him immediately to Yuka. She then turned back to Akane and pulled her roughly to her feet by the straps of her dress, pushing her against a wall.
"What are you hiding from me? What did Dr. Tofu say? TALK!" Reiko's eyes showed more panic than anger. Was she dying from some strange disease, or...
"Y-you're sterile." Akane stuttered. "At...at least he thinks so. All the blows you've taken to the abdomen over the years from your father, they've damaged your reproductive organs. He said he'd have to do more tests to be certain, but he didn't think you'd ever be able to bear children."
There was a long minute of silence, broken only by the occasional gurgle from the blessedly ignorant child. When he realized that the arms holding him had frozen like stone, and no one was paying him any attention, he began to cry. The noise was what forced everybody to move again. Yuka tried to quiet him, and succeeded. Reiko let Akane go.
"I'm sorry." Akane said softly.
"Heh, don't worry about it. I said I wasn't going to have kids because I didn't want to go through the process of having them, particularly the conception part. I guess this is just one more reason not to get attached to them." Reiko chuckled.
Yuka and Sayuri sighed with relief as the tension passed out of the room. They began chatting over the baby.
Akane couldn't be like them yet. She'd seen the look in Reiko's eyes; that brief moment of horror before the walls came back up again. She took Reiko's hand and led her to the other girls and the baby.
"You can always adopt, you know." She said gently.
"...I guess I can. I hadn't thought of that." Reiko admitted. She allowed her hand to be brought within reach of Tarou, who gripped her finger with a strength she hadn't thought possible for such a tiny person, as he looked up at her and gurgled happily.
Akane was delighted when Reiko started to smile. Well, it wasn't much of a smile, more of a quirk at one end of the mouth; a tiny, tentative, attempt at a smile for the little baby.
But it was a smile.
***
It was pretty obvious to Akane that Reiko had no interest in falling in love with any man. However, did that mean she was planning a life of spinsterhood, or lesbianism? Akane had no way to answer that question (remember people, this is the girl who can't understand why Ranma picks on P-chan), and if it was the latter, what were Reiko's intentions toward her?
"Oh yes. I'll kill him, and break my promise at the same
time. That means I'm no longer engaged to Ranma, so I'm free. No more men will
have any hold on me anymore, not even a friendly one like Ranma has."
"I guess I'm just not much of a girl, then."
"Akane, are _you_ afraid of me?"
"Cremate me. You deal with my ashes however you like... You're probably my best friend."
"You don't have to watch if you don't want to. You can wait for me at home if you prefer."
"True, but sometimes his being a jerk can be rather convenient."
"Well, anyway, we can still have fun in the water even if you can't swim."
"Yes it is, but if you hold onto me there'll be no problem. Do you trust me?"
"Don't be scared, you're with me."
"Akane, I'm... scared."
"Never! I promised I wouldn't let you drown. I guess I should have made you promise not to drown me at the same time, huh?"
"Thanks. It's nice to have someone trust me."
"Thanks. It's sweet of you to say. I've never had many friends.
"Thank you."
"Akane... thanks."
Well, whether Reiko loved her as a best (and only) female friend or as something more, it was obvious that she cared about Akane deeply. If she rejected Reiko, it would break her heart. Akane swore to herself that she would never do that.
No matter how it turned out.
***
"Dammit Ranma, hold still!"
"Why would I want to do that?" Ranma said, ducking under Akane's punch.
"Fight me for real!"
"If you want to hit me, then get faster. Getting mad at me is useless." Ranma chuckled.
Reiko, who'd been watching by the dojo door, sighed as Akane only got madder, and thus sloppier. The girl really did have some great skills, but she couldn't compare to her or Ranma, and she wasn't improving much either. Ranma may have been a fighter par excellence, but he was somewhat lacking as a teacher. She went back to the house.
Akane came back to the house sweaty, tired and humiliated, yet with a plan in mind.
"Reiko, will you train me?"
Reiko blinked over her tea. "I'm not a practitioner of the Anything Goes style, I can't teach you that."
"Fine, so teach me your style." Akane said.
From the look in Reiko's eyes, she probably shouldn't have.
Reiko set her cup down with a bang, making Akane jump. She looked hard into Akane's eyes. "You want to become a student of the Chimidoro no Ryuu School of Martial Arts?"
Akane blinked and nodded. "Not officially. The Anything Goes style is powerful because it absorbs the techniques and methods of other styles. It has almost no limiting traditions or rules, hence the name 'Anything Goes'. So I'd still my a member of the Tendo Anything Goes school even while I trained under you."
"The Chimidoro School is not like other styles." Reiko said grimly. She pulled the Furinkan School uniform over her head, standing in the (conveniently empty) living room in her underwear. She ran her fingers along the multitude of scars that decorated her body.
"If I train you, it will be the same way my father trained me. Are you prepared to look like this?"
Akane blinked at the sudden strip show, then snapped out of it and looked serious. "That is a sacrifice I'm willing to make to be strong."
Reiko threw her dress angrily to the ground and grabbed Akane by her gi jacket. "If we start, we wouldn't stop. If you ask me to train you, you won't be able to ask me to leave you alone."
"I wouldn't want a sensei who would let me quit." Akane answered.
Reiko slowly closed her eyes, and let Akane go. "When --not if, when-- you ask me to let up on you, I'm going to repeat those same words back to you."
She put her dress back on. "I want you to spend the night thinking about the scars on my body. I want you to imagine them on yours. I want you to imagine the pain as I give them to you. I want you to think about the sheer amount of blood, sweat, and tears that you _will_ shed for this training. You're going to be in pain almost constantly from the time we start until the day I feel there's no more I can teach you, which would be years in the future. Spend the night restless and unable to sleep thinking about all that torture and pain, and if you still want to ask me in the morning to train you, I'll listen then."
Reiko turned at Akane's nod of agreement, and made to leave the room. In the doorway to the porch, she paused, looking rather tired. "Akane... please don't think I'd respect you any less if you change your mind, in fact, I'm kind of hoping you will."
With that, she stepped outside and leapt to the roof.
Akane sat there, somewhat confused. The 'think long and hard about it' speech she had been expecting. It was just a test of her resolve, but this last statement was a little different. Reiko didn't want her to train in the Chimidoro style. Why? Akane thought she would be proud to share her family's teachings, regardless of her hatred of the current master of the school.
Or maybe, she wasn't as put off with the idea of Akane learning the style, as she was of being the one to teach it to her.
***
The next morning, Akane woke to find Reiko gone from their room, but her school uniform still hung on the hanger. Taking that as a cue, Akane quickly dressed in her gi and went downstairs.
Last night, her father had asked her to reconsider this idea (apparently at Reiko's request) claiming that she should learn from her fiancé. She had responded that she was a martial artist, first and foremost, and she could never live with herself if she did not take advantage of this opportunity to study a powerful style, which would only add to the strength of the Tendo dojo.
She found Reiko sitting in the middle of the dojo in her red gi, and sat down facing her.
"You slept quietly last night." Reiko said slowly. "Which means either you didn't take my warning seriously, or you're a complete masochist, looking forward to the pain and suffering."
Akane didn't know what to say to that. Judging by the redness of Reiko's eyes, she had not slept as well as Akane had.
"So," Reiko continued, "What's your answer? You are not prepared to train in the Chimidoro style, but do you want to try... no, to _do_ it anyway?"
"Yes, Sensei." Akane responded. Reiko closed her eyes sadly.
"As you wish. Let's begin." She stood.
"We're not going to school today?"
"No, you probably won't be able to make it there for at least a week. In fact, you'll probably fail this year. Last chance to back out now."
"...No thanks. I'll stay." Akane said, standing as well.
"Fine." Reiko snorted. "Then we begin with durability training."
"Durability training?" Akane had never heard of such a thing.
A fast and powerful kick slammed into her stomach, doubling her over as she fell to her knees. As she knelt there, trying not to vomit, hands took her head and jerked it sharply to the side. Discs popped in complaint of the rough treatment. Since Akane didn't crack her knuckles, much less her neck, it was rather painful this first time.
"Crack. You're dead." Reiko said coldly. "If you can't shrug off a single kick like that, you've no way to defend yourself. Now stand up. Now!"
Akane shakily stood up. "H-how does this durability training work anyway?"
"Simple." Reiko said. "I beat you unconscious repeatedly until your pain threshold increases dramatically."
"Huh?" Was all Akane managed before Reiko was on her again. Only three blows to her more prominent pain clusters were needed to send Akane into blackness.
***
By the end of the session (8 hours plus lunch), Akane could remain conscious for five blows before Reiko sent her back to the floor. She had been told she could work on her defense (not that it would do any good) but that was mostly to give Akane something to do for those short periods she was conscious. Akane gave up trying to block and just focused on _seeing_ the blows coming at her. She was getting a bit better at it.
At the end of a very long day (or short, seeing how she was out cold for half of it) Akane limped to the bath, cursing Reiko's name. This had _not_ been in the warning!
'You're going to be in pain almost constantly from the time we start until the day I feel there's no more I can teach you.'
Okay, so maybe she did say something along those lines, but this... this was just brutal!
When Akane came out of the bath, feeling a little (very little) better, Nabiki was waiting for her. Her older sister's face was somber.
"I have a recording I think you should listen to." She said, holding up a mini tape recorder.
"Not now Nabiki. I need to go lie down." Akane said tiredly. "Besides, I don't feel like paying you."
Nabiki stepped in front of her as Akane attempted to pass her by. "This is free."
Akane blinked. "That's twice you've done something charitable in the last week."
"I'll admit, there's not many things I care about more than money, but one of them is my family, little sister. That's why I think you should listen to this, for free if _absolutely_ necessary." She said with a smirk.
"Fine. So what is it?"
"We were all a bit worried about this training with Reiko thing you've started. I bugged the dojo just to make sure you didn't get killed or something. I almost went down there after she beat you under the first time, but then I heard this." Nabiki said as she pressed play.
"sniff Damn you Akane! sniff Why'd you have to ask for this? Don't you know I'd have done anything you asked? Given you anything you wanted from me? You stupid, stupid girl. choke Now I'm trapped into hurting you. you've made me your torturer. sniff And now you're going to start hating me. Hating me like I hate my father. I love you, you stupid girl! How do you think I feel hurting you, making you cry and bleed? sobbing shudder I don't have anyone else, and now I'm going to lose you too. Damn you!" At this point, Reiko just sobbed and sobbed. Nabiki turned off the tape.
Akane's throat felt tight. She'd had no idea. Reiko had been dry eyed and cold to her when she'd come to.
"I snuck down and peeked in the doorway the next time you went down. She had your head in her lap and was just stroking your hair. When you started to stir, she quickly put you down and leaned against the wall."
That was the image Akane had woken up to: Reiko's cold eyes staring down at her as she stood waiting for her to recover.
"I... I had no idea." Akane said slowly.
Nabiki nodded. "Now the big money question: Did she mean 'I love you' as in 'my dear, beloved friend', or as in 'my lesbian lover'?"
"Shut up Nabiki! How can you make it sound so... dirty?"
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "Everyone has their own opinion on that. What's yours, and which way do you think she meant it?"
Akane was silent as she sat on the steps. "I... don't know. I've been thinking about it ever since she said she's sworn off men. I'm not sure it matters a whole lot. Is there much of a difference between a beloved friend and a friendly beloved? The feelings aren't too different. I think the line between is pretty thin. And where is the line anyway?"
"I suppose if you put it that way, the 'line' would be engaging in sexual activity."
Akane sighed. "Even then, it's not for sure. If she loved me very much as a friend, and I asked for sex, it's not impossible to imagine her saying yes just to make me happy, if she cared about me that much."
"Interesting that you made yourself the lesbian in that example, and not the other way around." Nabiki remarked.
Akane frowned. "Shut up! I'm just trying to put myself in her shoes... if they are her shoes."
Nabiki shrugged and keyed the tape back a bit, pressing play.
"...this? Don't you know I'd have done anything you asked? Given you anything you wanted from me?" Stop.
"Maybe the question you should be asking, little sister, is not if Reiko is gay, but are you?" Nabiki said quietly, before heading upstairs to bed.
Akane sat on the stairs for a long time.
Reiko lay on her futon with her back to the door, and Akane's bed. She wasn't sleeping. It wouldn't be safe to go to sleep until Akane came in and was asleep herself. The thought that she had to worry about _Akane_ of all people caused her throat to grow tight.
The door opened, and Akane stepped in. Reiko heard her footsteps pause upon seeing Reiko apparently already asleep. The door closed quietly, and Akane didn't turn on the light. She stepped quietly around to the side of her bed, pulling back the covers. Reiko heard Akane pause and turn, looking down at her and probably noticing that Reiko had laid out her futon farther from the bed and Akane then she usually did.
Reiko lay still and prayed that Akane would just go to sleep. She didn't want to fight Akane if she wanted to try and strangle her sensei in her sleep. The thought had occurred to Reiko a number of times when training under her father. Unfortunately, Taiyama Chimidoro had proven rather resistant to the murder attempts of tiny little girls. By the time she was fully-grown, Reiko had given up such attempts, as failure was punished very severely.
She did not want to have to stop Akane from killing her. Not because she intended to react with dangerous force (painful yes, dangerous no) but because it would be the final proof that Akane hated her.
Akane stepped toward Reiko's futon. Those two audible steps were the reason Reiko had increased the distance between where they slept. Reiko cried silently as she prepared to counter the attack.
She was not prepared for Akane to step past and around her, coming down to kneel beside her face to face. Akane's warm brown eyes sparkled in the feint light, looking down into Reiko's black orbs. She didn't seem very surprised to find Reiko awake. Looking up into those eyes, Reiko knew this was not an assassination attempt.
Mind you, she hadn't the damnedest idea what it _was_.
"Reiko..." Akane smiled, as she slid down beside the dark girl. Reiko was surprised to find Akane's arms wrapping around her neck (well, surprised that it was a hug and not a chokehold).
"Akane? What..."
"Reiko, I don't hate you. I'm not going to hate you just because you're my sensei. I... I love you the same way you love me. And I'm not going to stop."
"Akane!" Reiko sobbed, wrapping her arms around Akane's waist and sobbing into her shoulder. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry I hit you! I'm sorry I hurt you!"
"Shh!" Akane said soothingly, trying to ignore the bruises Reiko was inadvertently squeezing. "_I'm_ sorry for asking you to hurt me. That must have been hard."
"We sniff we don't have to keep going. I lied. You can quit if you want, I won't stop you. Then we can be friends again."
"We're friends now, Reiko, and I don't want to quit. I still want this training, if you feel up to giving it to me."
"I'd give you anything you wanted from me." Reiko said, quoting herself from earlier, unaware that Akane recognized the oath. "But... I don't want... I don't like hurting you."
Akane thought about something she had once read in a book. It had been a novel about a girl who fell in love with a martial arts teacher, and joined his class. He was loving and considerate to her everywhere except the dojo. There, he was not the man she loved; he was Sensei. Sensei was cold, efficient, and had no respect for your pain. He was a damn good teacher.
"I'll tell you what. You can be two different people. Reiko, and Sensei. When you're Reiko, you're my beloved friend, and you love me. When you're Sensei, you're training me to the best of your ability. I'm just your student, who you want to be the best she can be, so you can't go easy on her. And if I get mad at Sensei, I promise I won't get mad at Reiko for the same thing. How's that?"
Reiko sniffed as she dried her eyes on the shoulder of Akane's pajamas. "I think I can handle that."
Akane smiled and rubbed Reiko's back. "Good. Because I still want to be trained, I'm just not willing to give you up in exchange."
They lay in each others arms for a while before Reiko spoke. "Akane, Sensei will be back sometime tomorrow, but for tonight, do you think Reiko could stay here, like this with you?"
Akane giggled. "If you don't stop referring to yourself in the third person, you're going to get schizophrenic. Of course you can, but let's move up to my bed, huh? It's more comfortable then this tiny futon."
Reiko smiled. "It's made thicker than the straw one I'm used to, but if you say so."
They got up and lay together in Akane's bed, arms wrapped around each other.
And yes, that's all they did together for the rest of the night.
Which left Nabiki almost disappointed. The bug she'd placed in Akane's room long ago (soon after Ranma arrived) was active again. No sounds other then steady breathing came through her headphones for ten minutes, when the now-familiar sounds of Akane's soft snoring faintly made itself known. Reiko didn't snore (this was actually a result of special conditioning practiced within the Chimidoro clan for centuries, making it more difficult for an invading ninja to decide whether you were asleep or awake).
The whole encounter (while heartwarming, if you liked that sort of thing) did not answer any of Nabiki's questions. While each had said that they loved the other, the two had not made love, and Akane's delightfully diplomatic statement, 'I love you the same way you love me', cleared nothing up. She had left it for Reiko to interpret it however she wished; if she loved Akane as a friend, Akane felt the same way; if she wanted Akane as a lover, Akane seemed willing to be that too.
The ball had been tenderly bounced back into Reiko's court, which would have been fine if the girl had made a move, or if she had said 'I just want to be friends'. As it stood, nothing had been resolved, save that Akane's training was not going to hurt their relationship, and the two girls had grown closer together.
But as WHAT? Nabiki wanted to scream. If her sister leaned that way, Nabiki could handle it. There would have to be a few changes (calming Daddy, the engagement to Ranma, explaining it to Daddy, handling rumors at school, consoling Daddy, making sure Kunou didn't get himself killed on Reiko's fists, keeping Daddy from throwing Reiko out... and did she mention that Daddy might be a problem?).
But this... uncertainty, this sitting around in ignorance of Reiko, Akane, and how they fit together; this was going to drive Nabiki insane. She might have to throw a wrench into the works to force one or both of them to admit how they felt about each other.
Heaven help her, she might even have to resort to something all her years of under-the-table, back door dealings told her was the wrong way to do things.
She might have to walk up to Reiko and ask her.
***
Like I said, half done. That's it for now.
***