"I'm sure if you help me, I can figure out how to do it." Stated Akane,
stepping into the dojo.
Then she paused, seeing her father and Kodora sitting facing each other in the middle of the mats. She also noticed the three girls who were following her cringing and suddenly falling quiet. This puzzled her. Sure, Kodora looked very... unusual, and the tail was a bit unsettling, the way it was always lashing, but she wasn't THAT bad.
Kodora got to her feet quickly, and walked over to the other girls, Souun watching puzzledly.
"There you are. I wanted to check on you, see if you were alright. Why did you leave? I was going to ask you what was going on.."
Indeed, Kodora had easily recognised the sweatsuits worn by all three girls, and the bandages covering their hands hadn't made things any harder.
The three girls muttered uneasily, and Akane rubbed her temples. So they HAD been telling her the truth. And here she'd thought Ranma would be afraid to go outside as Kodora or something. Sighing, she made the introductions.
"Yumi, Noriko, Kimi- this is our other houseguest, Kodora Sao-mmp." Akane blinked.
Kodora, holding her hand over Akane's mouth, finished the sentence for her.
"Kodora, just Kodora." She looked up at Akane. "That old man has nothing to do with me, and it's by his own choice, got it?" She removed her hand from Akane's mouth.
"Fine." Akane grumbled. "You COULD be more polite about it, though."
Souun, where he was, nodded. "Your sister is right, Kodora. Apologise, please."
Bowing, Kodora stated simply, "Gomen nasai, Oneesan."
Akane nodded. "It's all right." Then stopped. "Wait, what? Sister?"
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Passenger
Chapter 17: Familiar as Dance, Family or that Dunce.
A Ranma 1/2 fanfiction by S. Starblade
Dedicated to 42. Or was it Life, the Universe and Everything? Aw, heck. Dedicated to novelists Terry Pratchett, Robert Aspirin, and the number 42.
Warning: I borrow things from other places, you've probably seen them before. I don't get permission, but then, I don't exactly copy them either. Please don't get mad if something of yours is in here: it means I thought it was a good idea.
Disclaimer: I don't own them, and to my dismay, never will. Nuts. Any original characters, though, are all mine, and you need my permission to use them. I'll probably give it, but ask anyways.
Key:
= English
" " = Japanese
[ ] = Jusenkyou Cursed Signs
{ } = Chinese
* * = Internal conversation between Ranma and Kodora
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Souun looked slightly stern. "We'll talk about that later." His expression lightened considerably. "So, why are you and your friends here, Akane-chan?"
Akane blinked, but shifted tracks to catch up. "Oh, right. They've been getting ambushed- them and the entire Gymnastics team. It's because of an upcoming match with St. Hebereke. The match is in Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics, and they wanted me to be their representative."
Souun nodded. "So, you brought them in here so they could show you the moves?"
Akane shook her head. "No, they wanted to see if this would be an adequate place to train. Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics is a lot like freeform gymnastics competition, with points eliminated, although form can affect victory or failure..."
While Akane and Souun talked shop in the background, Kodora tried to get the three other girls to calm down a little.
Bowing low, she simply said: " Konnichi wa, Yumi-san, Noriko-san, Kimi- san. Hajimemashite?" (Good day, Yumi, Noriko, and Kimi. How do you do?)
"Ah... Doozo yoroshiku ( I am all right)... Kodora..." Ventured Noriko, nervously.
"Please, I am younger than you. You may call me Kodora-chan."
Nodding, Yumi spoke next. "Arigatou, Kodora-chan."
Kodora waved it off. "Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics, huh? What's it like?"
Yumi and Kimi turned to Noriko, deferring to the slightly taller girl.
"Ah.." Noriko started off unsteadily. " It's kind of like dancing, gymnastics, and martial arts, all mixed up... You can't strike your opponent with any part of your body, and you must try to be at least a little graceful. Putting flourishes in can usually get you enough points to do well: you're graded not only on whether or not you win, but also on style and how fast you did so. So, if you lose with a lot of style, you can still win, you see?"
Kodora nodded. "I get it. Sounds pretty straightforwards to me. What sort of weapons do you use? All blunt, I would suppose."
Noriko shrugged. "Sort of. I'm not sure you can count the gymnastics ribbon as blunt. The ball, hoop, and club are, though. The rope is also sort of a gray area. It really can't be classified."
Kodora nodded, soaking this all up. It sounded like fun!
*Hey, this sounds kinda fun, Imootochan.*
*Just what I was thinking, Ranma. Maybe I can get them to let me compete instead?*
*Worth a shot, and you could use the practice.*
"Ah, Noriko-san?" Kodora asked. "Do you think you could let me compete for you instead?"
The other conversation came to a halt. Kodora got the distinct feeling that someone was glaring at her. Turning, she saw Akane beginning to build up a mad-on.
"What, you think you could do better than me? You can't even beat me sparring!"
Kodora waved her hands defensively, and shook her head. "No, no, that's not what I meant! I could really use the practice that learning this would give me! It really doesn't matter that you're better than me, I just want to become better than I am now. Besides... it sounds like fun! I want to do it because I want to do it!"
Souun studied the two, as did the three gymnasts. Akane cooled off a bit.
"Yes, but they asked ME. I mean, why should they let you-"
"I think it's a wonderful idea." Interrupted her father.
Akane fumbled the verbal ball. "What? I... she, the... huh?"
The gymnasts looked at Souun quizzically.
"Well, she needs training in martial arts. I was about to start training her, but this will give her a starting point. Also, it will introduce her to at least one competitor, which may help her to do better. Besides, you will need a more or less full-time practice partner if you're going to do this, and I doubt these three young ladies have that much extra time. Here's how we'll do it: You and Kodora-chan will train together, sometimes under supervision from your friends. The night before the match, you two will spar to determine who fights in it." Here, Souun turned to the Fuurinkan gymnasts. "Does that sound good to you?"
The three girls hemmed and hawed a moment. "Well, she's not IN Fuurinkan..." "Will they accept that?" "I don't think the officials would..."
Souun laughed. "Oh, that's easy enough. I was just about to enroll Kodora- chan here."
Noriko blinked. "Well, then, I guess it's all right. We'll start tomorrow- there's about a week until the match. Jaa, matta ashita!"
"Bai bai!" Waved Kodora from the dojo door, totally ruining Akane's adversarial 'I'm gonna win this' stance by not being there to give one back.
The Tendou patriarch shook his head. Akane really was getting to be a bit too competitive.
******
The next evening, Akane and Kodora stood in the dojo. Akane had on a yellow gymnastics leotard, and Kodora a soft green one with a hole for her tail. Her tail was again tied in place with a bit of string, preventing it's waving about and getting in the way. Noriko and Yumi each had a bag of gymnastics instruments that they were unpacking. The two gymnasts were in their sweatsuits, neither one in a condition to teach by example for any of the strenuous stuff.
Akane and Yumi took one side of the dojo, and Noriko and Kodora took the other side.
Noriko handed Kodora one of the gymnastics ribbons, and the small girl fooled around with it a bit, while her instructor got out one for herself.
Noriko looked up at where Kodora had written "frog" in English cursive in the air. She smiled.
"You've used one of these before, haven't you?"
Nodding distractedly, Kodora made a funnel spiral with the ribbon.
Noriko nodded back. "Good. Now, here's how you use it to strike an area as an attack."
Whipping out the ribbon in a careful spiral, Noriko added a snap to her wrist at one point. A tiny, almost invisible ripple traveled down the spiral. When it reached where the ribbon lazily brushed the floor, there was a loud WHAP sound.
Mimicking Noriko, Kodora also managed to produce a WHAP sound with the ribbon, though hers was decidedly weaker.
"Practice it, you'll get it better. Now, on-" Noriko was interrupted.
"ACK!"
Kodora and Noriko looked over at Akane, who had her ribbon knotted all around her. Yumi was standing by, sweatdropping.
*Is she supposed to get tangled up?*
Kodora frowned very slightly.
*That's not very nice Ranma.*
*No, but it's true...*
Shrugging, Kodora turned to Noriko. "What's next?"
"The clubs." Noriko stated, handing two to the smaller girl. "Notice that they're tip-heavy- that weights your blows slightly. Mostly that's to compensate for twirling them to get style points, but in your case, it may also make up for your size. It'll let you land stronger blows."
Kodora nodded, and tested swinging the clubs, one then the other.
"Good," her tutor stated, "But try jabbing with them more than swinging. Like this." So saying, she grabbed up a third club, and stabbed out with it. There was a soft whish as it cut thru the air.
Kodora mimicked this action as well, but considerably slower.
"I guess my arms aren't as strong as yours, Noriko-san..."
The older girl shrugged. "It can't be helped fast enough to fix it by the time of the match. Just do as best you can. Now, try tossing them in the air, and catching them. You'll have to catch all your weapons when your second throws them to you from the corner of the ring."
Nodding, Kodora tossed both clubs straight up. Sort of.
One went leftwards, the other moved much further forward than she had intended. They were far enough apart that she could only catch one, so she dashed forwards and grabbed that one. The other hit the ground with a dull Thud.
Noriko shook her head slightly. "Well, at least you can catch well. That's the imp-"
"WATCH THIS!"
And they did, all three of the other girls, and Souun, who had just stepped in to see how things were going, as Akane jumped up and tossed her two clubs in perfect arcs from each hand to the other.
And missed catching them completely.
BONK KLATTER went the clubs, skittering away from the girl, who stood on her toes, hands raised in catching position.
*Is she supposed to drop those?*
*Oniisan...*
*What?*
*Nevermind.*
Souun shook his head slightly. His youngest daughter WAS wierd. One moment trying too hard, the next not trying enough, as if she thought new things should come naturally to her. He couldn't understand it at all. Neither Nabiki nor Kasumi had acted quite like that. He sat down silently under the "I-Ro-Ha" sign on the wall, and watched.
Noriko picked up what looked like a rubber bowling ball.
"No need." Said her small student. "I played dodgeball. A lot. I know how to use that."
*DUCK!!*
Kodora did as she was told.
WHAMMO!
Then stared where another rubber ball was embedded in the dojo wall. She looked over at Akane, who was facing ninety degrees to the right of the direction the ball had gone.
*Is she supposed to lose her grip on that?*
*That's enough, Ranma. She's trying. It's not her fault she isn't picking it up so fast.*
*Well... I see your point. Okay.*
*Although she could be more careful...*
Souun was about ready to weep.
Kodora turned back to her tutor. "I know how to use a rope too. The hoop is pretty straightforward, right?"
Noriko nodded. "You can throw it like a frisbee, or you can use it to trap your opponent, although they're so large it won't work for very long." She held a hoop out to Kodora. "Care to try?"
"No, thanks, I'll practice it later. Is that-"
"Get it off! Get it off!!"
And again, all eyes were on Akane, who had all four limbs wrapped around the hoop she had been using.
Yumi was sweating. "I told you, Akane-chan. It's a weapon for this match. You don't need to use it to tighten your somersaults. How you got tangled up that badly, though..."
Akane flailed a little bit. "Just get it off-" KRAK"...oh..."
The pieces of hoop fell off of her.
Noriko, Yumi, and Kodora all sweatdropped, and Soun began to bawl. (# 75: My Youngest Daughter Keeps Getting It Wrong And Neither She Nor I Understand Why.)
******
Akane, Kodora, Noriko, Souun and Yumi all sat at the family room table, eating snacks.
"Really, Oneesan,munch" Said Kodora, eating a carrot stick, "It's not that crunchcrunchcrunch bad. gulp You'll get it soon enough."
"Hmmph." Akane grumped. "And stop calling me that. I'm not your sister."
Kodora, grabbing a pear, looked up. "You didn't tell her yet, Otousan?"
Akane glanced in an entirely different direction, where Genma-panda was sunning himself on the back veranda.
[Don't look at me. I don't have any daughters.] The panda signed, otherwise ignoring everyone.
Noriko and Yumi hardly gave the panda a second thought. It wouldn't be the first time a foreign animal had acted funny. For instance, there had been that orangutan with the bookshelf... anyone asking to read the books was likely to end up thrown onto a roof. Eventually, someone had noticed the nametag reading "Librarian- Unseen University", and everyone had left the animal alone until it left.
Besides, this was Nerima.
Souun looked at Akane. "She means me, Akane-chan. Saotome-kun has decided not to accept Kodora as his child, so I am going to adopt her. Nabiki's getting the paperwork for me."
"I- the- it- but- you- she..." Akane trailed off, not even sure how, exactly, she was going to object, only that she had wanted to. "I... I'm going to go talk to Nabiki." And with that, she headed upstairs.
Kodora shook her head. "I hate to have to say this... but Oneesan really needs to learn more patience. She's not going to learn very much or very fast that way."
Nodding, Souun sighed. "I'm not sure what to do." Then he cleared his throat. "But, we have guests. We really shouldn't talk about family matters, alright Kodora-chan?"
"Oh." Kodora bowed slightly to Noriko and Yumi. "Gomen nasai."
"That's alright." Said Noriko. "Anyways, Yumi and I had best be going, studying to do for school and all."
"It's been nice having you over. You will be here tomorrow, too?" Asked Kodora, trying not to sound too eager. It wouldn't be good to scare off a potential friend.
"No, but I will the day after. That's all I can do, though. I haven't enough time the rest of the week."
Smiling, the smaller girl stood up, walking with the guests to the door.
"Jaa matta asatte! (See you the day after tomorrow)"
******
Kodora turned around, to see Souun had followed her into the dojo.
"Planning to help me practice, Otousan?"
Souun smiled warmly. "Hai, Youjo(Adopted Daughter)."
The small girl grinned. "Great. I was going to ask you anyway, since Akane-oneesan doesn't seem... inclined."
The Tendou patriarch frowned slightly at this. "I only wish she would be willing to come to me for help. She says she can take care of herself, but without someone to learn from, she'll never progress much at all in the martial arts..."
Kodora shook her head, somewhat sadly. "She won't listen until she's ready. If you push her to get help, she'll just get stubborn. She'll figure it out in her own time."
Souun looked up at her. "How can you be so sure of that?"
Kodora grinned. "Because I'm a lot like her in some ways, 'Tousan. And that's how I would do it." With that, she grabbed up a club in her left hand, and the ribbon by the handle with her right.
Souun smiled again in return. "If you're sure then." He took up a stance. "Here, put the clubs down first. I need to know just how much you know and how good you are already."
Kodora nodded and put down the clubs.
"I'm not very good: I haven't had any martial arts training, I just know how to dance a lot and that sort of thing."
Souun shook his head. "That doesn't matter too much. Regardless, I need to know where you stand in terms of skill and strengths."
Kodora nodded, and shifted all her weight to the balls of her feet. She stood with her right foot forward, left foot back. Her shoulders were at half the angle from where she was facing that her hips were, and she had both hands up, lightly fisted in a guard position. She kept her head facing Souun.
"First," Began the master of the Musabetsu Kaketou Tendou Ryu, "Attack me, as best you can. Don't worry, unless you're very strong or have trained a lot, you aren't likely to hurt much."
Nodding again, Kodora studied her adoptive father's stance. The closest thing to an opening in it was... there!
Immediately, she charged straight at Souun, running full-tilt. He tightened his guard, preparing for the attack. Maybe two feet away from him, Kodora hopped up slightly into the air, and curled sideways. She drew back her hand rapidly, and then uncoiled both feet in the direction of Souun's stomach, as hard as she could, still traveling forward with most of her running speed.
She almost caught him off guard; he'd shifted one hand when she drew back her right arm, but he managed to get his arms in the right position to block. Kodora felt the shock of impact travel back up her legs, and basically fell to the floor. Rolling to one side, she dodged a lazy stomp from her sensei. She scrambled to her feet, to see Souun waiting for her next attack. She narrowed her eyes, thinking quickly: at this range, another jumping attack was no good, but...
Quickly, she stepped her feet together and swung one up forward as hard as she could, toes pointed, and joints straight. Moving his crossed forearms down, Souun caught it long before it could connect with his chin. Kodora pushed up on his arms, using the force both to keep her balanced, and to swing her foot back down. She tilted her body as her leg moved, windmilling one arm over in an attempt to pound the older martial artist over the head with one fist. He reversed his arms, catching the blow on the sides of his wrists again. He had yet to move his feet after the stomp.
Quickly, she pada-vou-rae'ed to the right, arcing around him, and swung a foot out around the side, to try and kick him in the back. Even as he blocked it with a forearm swung back, she was pirouetting back around, swinging her body behind one fist in a downward arc, to intersect with his shoulder. He caught it, however, and held fast to her hand. Throwing all her weight back, Kodora tried to upset the man, but he stayed steady, shifting his feet into Crab.
*Kodora... he's using stuff from all sorts of styles. But only parts of it... that's kind of wierd... Oyaji and I only use one form at a time. How is he doing that?*
*Dunno.*
And with that, Kodora forced down with her hand, even as she jumped up high, inverting herself over Souun. Then she swung one knee up high(to her), bringing it down at the man's head. Souun quickly flowed out from under the blow, releasing Kodora. Who landed on her head.
About twenty seconds after beginning, she'd wound up downside-up, moderately winded.
"Ow." She stated, dully.
Souun smiled as he helped her to her feet. "Still a ways to go then, Youjo. But you're better than most people who don't know martial arts. Want to try again?"
Nodding, Kodora shifted her weight to the balls of her feet again, smiling slightly.
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And so it begins. Where's Kodachi now? Oh, you'll see. You'll see. (evil laughter)
Anyways, things progress in the Tendou household, and the Time of Match approaches.
So does Ryouga's return.
And the arrival of Xian Pu, Kho Lon, and Sin Ku.
And who, exactly, WAS the enemy Kodora mentioned waaaaay back in Chapter One?
And why are both Gos AND Sasuke hanging around?
What will Akane do about no longer being the youngest Tendou?
Will John Cleese ever persuade Gojiro, Rodan, and King Kong to join Monty Python?
Will the Librarian ever return to Discworld?
What happened to Kasumi??
Does it really take 2,856 licks to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
Will I ever stop asking Questions?
You might find out sooner than you think!
By the way, Thanx "Jmj" for noting that. As I was planning to note: I know about the Viking berserkers because I STUDIED the vikings for a TERM PAPER in a HISTORY CLASS. So I know this. Whoever you are who misspelled "berserk", go do some research before you start blathering, kay?
Jaa, ne!
[[["Airen!" Shampoo glomped onto her future husband and began trying to strip him naked.
Tatewaki Kuno was not as happy about that as others might have been. He was trying to wait for the pigtail girl to seduce him like that. He opened his mouth to protest. ]]]
-Deification, Chapter Two, by Brian Drozd.
Then she paused, seeing her father and Kodora sitting facing each other in the middle of the mats. She also noticed the three girls who were following her cringing and suddenly falling quiet. This puzzled her. Sure, Kodora looked very... unusual, and the tail was a bit unsettling, the way it was always lashing, but she wasn't THAT bad.
Kodora got to her feet quickly, and walked over to the other girls, Souun watching puzzledly.
"There you are. I wanted to check on you, see if you were alright. Why did you leave? I was going to ask you what was going on.."
Indeed, Kodora had easily recognised the sweatsuits worn by all three girls, and the bandages covering their hands hadn't made things any harder.
The three girls muttered uneasily, and Akane rubbed her temples. So they HAD been telling her the truth. And here she'd thought Ranma would be afraid to go outside as Kodora or something. Sighing, she made the introductions.
"Yumi, Noriko, Kimi- this is our other houseguest, Kodora Sao-mmp." Akane blinked.
Kodora, holding her hand over Akane's mouth, finished the sentence for her.
"Kodora, just Kodora." She looked up at Akane. "That old man has nothing to do with me, and it's by his own choice, got it?" She removed her hand from Akane's mouth.
"Fine." Akane grumbled. "You COULD be more polite about it, though."
Souun, where he was, nodded. "Your sister is right, Kodora. Apologise, please."
Bowing, Kodora stated simply, "Gomen nasai, Oneesan."
Akane nodded. "It's all right." Then stopped. "Wait, what? Sister?"
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Passenger
Chapter 17: Familiar as Dance, Family or that Dunce.
A Ranma 1/2 fanfiction by S. Starblade
Dedicated to 42. Or was it Life, the Universe and Everything? Aw, heck. Dedicated to novelists Terry Pratchett, Robert Aspirin, and the number 42.
Warning: I borrow things from other places, you've probably seen them before. I don't get permission, but then, I don't exactly copy them either. Please don't get mad if something of yours is in here: it means I thought it was a good idea.
Disclaimer: I don't own them, and to my dismay, never will. Nuts. Any original characters, though, are all mine, and you need my permission to use them. I'll probably give it, but ask anyways.
Key:
= English
" " = Japanese
[ ] = Jusenkyou Cursed Signs
{ } = Chinese
* * = Internal conversation between Ranma and Kodora
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Souun looked slightly stern. "We'll talk about that later." His expression lightened considerably. "So, why are you and your friends here, Akane-chan?"
Akane blinked, but shifted tracks to catch up. "Oh, right. They've been getting ambushed- them and the entire Gymnastics team. It's because of an upcoming match with St. Hebereke. The match is in Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics, and they wanted me to be their representative."
Souun nodded. "So, you brought them in here so they could show you the moves?"
Akane shook her head. "No, they wanted to see if this would be an adequate place to train. Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics is a lot like freeform gymnastics competition, with points eliminated, although form can affect victory or failure..."
While Akane and Souun talked shop in the background, Kodora tried to get the three other girls to calm down a little.
Bowing low, she simply said: " Konnichi wa, Yumi-san, Noriko-san, Kimi- san. Hajimemashite?" (Good day, Yumi, Noriko, and Kimi. How do you do?)
"Ah... Doozo yoroshiku ( I am all right)... Kodora..." Ventured Noriko, nervously.
"Please, I am younger than you. You may call me Kodora-chan."
Nodding, Yumi spoke next. "Arigatou, Kodora-chan."
Kodora waved it off. "Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics, huh? What's it like?"
Yumi and Kimi turned to Noriko, deferring to the slightly taller girl.
"Ah.." Noriko started off unsteadily. " It's kind of like dancing, gymnastics, and martial arts, all mixed up... You can't strike your opponent with any part of your body, and you must try to be at least a little graceful. Putting flourishes in can usually get you enough points to do well: you're graded not only on whether or not you win, but also on style and how fast you did so. So, if you lose with a lot of style, you can still win, you see?"
Kodora nodded. "I get it. Sounds pretty straightforwards to me. What sort of weapons do you use? All blunt, I would suppose."
Noriko shrugged. "Sort of. I'm not sure you can count the gymnastics ribbon as blunt. The ball, hoop, and club are, though. The rope is also sort of a gray area. It really can't be classified."
Kodora nodded, soaking this all up. It sounded like fun!
*Hey, this sounds kinda fun, Imootochan.*
*Just what I was thinking, Ranma. Maybe I can get them to let me compete instead?*
*Worth a shot, and you could use the practice.*
"Ah, Noriko-san?" Kodora asked. "Do you think you could let me compete for you instead?"
The other conversation came to a halt. Kodora got the distinct feeling that someone was glaring at her. Turning, she saw Akane beginning to build up a mad-on.
"What, you think you could do better than me? You can't even beat me sparring!"
Kodora waved her hands defensively, and shook her head. "No, no, that's not what I meant! I could really use the practice that learning this would give me! It really doesn't matter that you're better than me, I just want to become better than I am now. Besides... it sounds like fun! I want to do it because I want to do it!"
Souun studied the two, as did the three gymnasts. Akane cooled off a bit.
"Yes, but they asked ME. I mean, why should they let you-"
"I think it's a wonderful idea." Interrupted her father.
Akane fumbled the verbal ball. "What? I... she, the... huh?"
The gymnasts looked at Souun quizzically.
"Well, she needs training in martial arts. I was about to start training her, but this will give her a starting point. Also, it will introduce her to at least one competitor, which may help her to do better. Besides, you will need a more or less full-time practice partner if you're going to do this, and I doubt these three young ladies have that much extra time. Here's how we'll do it: You and Kodora-chan will train together, sometimes under supervision from your friends. The night before the match, you two will spar to determine who fights in it." Here, Souun turned to the Fuurinkan gymnasts. "Does that sound good to you?"
The three girls hemmed and hawed a moment. "Well, she's not IN Fuurinkan..." "Will they accept that?" "I don't think the officials would..."
Souun laughed. "Oh, that's easy enough. I was just about to enroll Kodora- chan here."
Noriko blinked. "Well, then, I guess it's all right. We'll start tomorrow- there's about a week until the match. Jaa, matta ashita!"
"Bai bai!" Waved Kodora from the dojo door, totally ruining Akane's adversarial 'I'm gonna win this' stance by not being there to give one back.
The Tendou patriarch shook his head. Akane really was getting to be a bit too competitive.
******
The next evening, Akane and Kodora stood in the dojo. Akane had on a yellow gymnastics leotard, and Kodora a soft green one with a hole for her tail. Her tail was again tied in place with a bit of string, preventing it's waving about and getting in the way. Noriko and Yumi each had a bag of gymnastics instruments that they were unpacking. The two gymnasts were in their sweatsuits, neither one in a condition to teach by example for any of the strenuous stuff.
Akane and Yumi took one side of the dojo, and Noriko and Kodora took the other side.
Noriko handed Kodora one of the gymnastics ribbons, and the small girl fooled around with it a bit, while her instructor got out one for herself.
Noriko looked up at where Kodora had written "frog" in English cursive in the air. She smiled.
"You've used one of these before, haven't you?"
Nodding distractedly, Kodora made a funnel spiral with the ribbon.
Noriko nodded back. "Good. Now, here's how you use it to strike an area as an attack."
Whipping out the ribbon in a careful spiral, Noriko added a snap to her wrist at one point. A tiny, almost invisible ripple traveled down the spiral. When it reached where the ribbon lazily brushed the floor, there was a loud WHAP sound.
Mimicking Noriko, Kodora also managed to produce a WHAP sound with the ribbon, though hers was decidedly weaker.
"Practice it, you'll get it better. Now, on-" Noriko was interrupted.
"ACK!"
Kodora and Noriko looked over at Akane, who had her ribbon knotted all around her. Yumi was standing by, sweatdropping.
*Is she supposed to get tangled up?*
Kodora frowned very slightly.
*That's not very nice Ranma.*
*No, but it's true...*
Shrugging, Kodora turned to Noriko. "What's next?"
"The clubs." Noriko stated, handing two to the smaller girl. "Notice that they're tip-heavy- that weights your blows slightly. Mostly that's to compensate for twirling them to get style points, but in your case, it may also make up for your size. It'll let you land stronger blows."
Kodora nodded, and tested swinging the clubs, one then the other.
"Good," her tutor stated, "But try jabbing with them more than swinging. Like this." So saying, she grabbed up a third club, and stabbed out with it. There was a soft whish as it cut thru the air.
Kodora mimicked this action as well, but considerably slower.
"I guess my arms aren't as strong as yours, Noriko-san..."
The older girl shrugged. "It can't be helped fast enough to fix it by the time of the match. Just do as best you can. Now, try tossing them in the air, and catching them. You'll have to catch all your weapons when your second throws them to you from the corner of the ring."
Nodding, Kodora tossed both clubs straight up. Sort of.
One went leftwards, the other moved much further forward than she had intended. They were far enough apart that she could only catch one, so she dashed forwards and grabbed that one. The other hit the ground with a dull Thud.
Noriko shook her head slightly. "Well, at least you can catch well. That's the imp-"
"WATCH THIS!"
And they did, all three of the other girls, and Souun, who had just stepped in to see how things were going, as Akane jumped up and tossed her two clubs in perfect arcs from each hand to the other.
And missed catching them completely.
BONK KLATTER went the clubs, skittering away from the girl, who stood on her toes, hands raised in catching position.
*Is she supposed to drop those?*
*Oniisan...*
*What?*
*Nevermind.*
Souun shook his head slightly. His youngest daughter WAS wierd. One moment trying too hard, the next not trying enough, as if she thought new things should come naturally to her. He couldn't understand it at all. Neither Nabiki nor Kasumi had acted quite like that. He sat down silently under the "I-Ro-Ha" sign on the wall, and watched.
Noriko picked up what looked like a rubber bowling ball.
"No need." Said her small student. "I played dodgeball. A lot. I know how to use that."
*DUCK!!*
Kodora did as she was told.
WHAMMO!
Then stared where another rubber ball was embedded in the dojo wall. She looked over at Akane, who was facing ninety degrees to the right of the direction the ball had gone.
*Is she supposed to lose her grip on that?*
*That's enough, Ranma. She's trying. It's not her fault she isn't picking it up so fast.*
*Well... I see your point. Okay.*
*Although she could be more careful...*
Souun was about ready to weep.
Kodora turned back to her tutor. "I know how to use a rope too. The hoop is pretty straightforward, right?"
Noriko nodded. "You can throw it like a frisbee, or you can use it to trap your opponent, although they're so large it won't work for very long." She held a hoop out to Kodora. "Care to try?"
"No, thanks, I'll practice it later. Is that-"
"Get it off! Get it off!!"
And again, all eyes were on Akane, who had all four limbs wrapped around the hoop she had been using.
Yumi was sweating. "I told you, Akane-chan. It's a weapon for this match. You don't need to use it to tighten your somersaults. How you got tangled up that badly, though..."
Akane flailed a little bit. "Just get it off-" KRAK"...oh..."
The pieces of hoop fell off of her.
Noriko, Yumi, and Kodora all sweatdropped, and Soun began to bawl. (# 75: My Youngest Daughter Keeps Getting It Wrong And Neither She Nor I Understand Why.)
******
Akane, Kodora, Noriko, Souun and Yumi all sat at the family room table, eating snacks.
"Really, Oneesan,munch" Said Kodora, eating a carrot stick, "It's not that crunchcrunchcrunch bad. gulp You'll get it soon enough."
"Hmmph." Akane grumped. "And stop calling me that. I'm not your sister."
Kodora, grabbing a pear, looked up. "You didn't tell her yet, Otousan?"
Akane glanced in an entirely different direction, where Genma-panda was sunning himself on the back veranda.
[Don't look at me. I don't have any daughters.] The panda signed, otherwise ignoring everyone.
Noriko and Yumi hardly gave the panda a second thought. It wouldn't be the first time a foreign animal had acted funny. For instance, there had been that orangutan with the bookshelf... anyone asking to read the books was likely to end up thrown onto a roof. Eventually, someone had noticed the nametag reading "Librarian- Unseen University", and everyone had left the animal alone until it left.
Besides, this was Nerima.
Souun looked at Akane. "She means me, Akane-chan. Saotome-kun has decided not to accept Kodora as his child, so I am going to adopt her. Nabiki's getting the paperwork for me."
"I- the- it- but- you- she..." Akane trailed off, not even sure how, exactly, she was going to object, only that she had wanted to. "I... I'm going to go talk to Nabiki." And with that, she headed upstairs.
Kodora shook her head. "I hate to have to say this... but Oneesan really needs to learn more patience. She's not going to learn very much or very fast that way."
Nodding, Souun sighed. "I'm not sure what to do." Then he cleared his throat. "But, we have guests. We really shouldn't talk about family matters, alright Kodora-chan?"
"Oh." Kodora bowed slightly to Noriko and Yumi. "Gomen nasai."
"That's alright." Said Noriko. "Anyways, Yumi and I had best be going, studying to do for school and all."
"It's been nice having you over. You will be here tomorrow, too?" Asked Kodora, trying not to sound too eager. It wouldn't be good to scare off a potential friend.
"No, but I will the day after. That's all I can do, though. I haven't enough time the rest of the week."
Smiling, the smaller girl stood up, walking with the guests to the door.
"Jaa matta asatte! (See you the day after tomorrow)"
******
Kodora turned around, to see Souun had followed her into the dojo.
"Planning to help me practice, Otousan?"
Souun smiled warmly. "Hai, Youjo(Adopted Daughter)."
The small girl grinned. "Great. I was going to ask you anyway, since Akane-oneesan doesn't seem... inclined."
The Tendou patriarch frowned slightly at this. "I only wish she would be willing to come to me for help. She says she can take care of herself, but without someone to learn from, she'll never progress much at all in the martial arts..."
Kodora shook her head, somewhat sadly. "She won't listen until she's ready. If you push her to get help, she'll just get stubborn. She'll figure it out in her own time."
Souun looked up at her. "How can you be so sure of that?"
Kodora grinned. "Because I'm a lot like her in some ways, 'Tousan. And that's how I would do it." With that, she grabbed up a club in her left hand, and the ribbon by the handle with her right.
Souun smiled again in return. "If you're sure then." He took up a stance. "Here, put the clubs down first. I need to know just how much you know and how good you are already."
Kodora nodded and put down the clubs.
"I'm not very good: I haven't had any martial arts training, I just know how to dance a lot and that sort of thing."
Souun shook his head. "That doesn't matter too much. Regardless, I need to know where you stand in terms of skill and strengths."
Kodora nodded, and shifted all her weight to the balls of her feet. She stood with her right foot forward, left foot back. Her shoulders were at half the angle from where she was facing that her hips were, and she had both hands up, lightly fisted in a guard position. She kept her head facing Souun.
"First," Began the master of the Musabetsu Kaketou Tendou Ryu, "Attack me, as best you can. Don't worry, unless you're very strong or have trained a lot, you aren't likely to hurt much."
Nodding again, Kodora studied her adoptive father's stance. The closest thing to an opening in it was... there!
Immediately, she charged straight at Souun, running full-tilt. He tightened his guard, preparing for the attack. Maybe two feet away from him, Kodora hopped up slightly into the air, and curled sideways. She drew back her hand rapidly, and then uncoiled both feet in the direction of Souun's stomach, as hard as she could, still traveling forward with most of her running speed.
She almost caught him off guard; he'd shifted one hand when she drew back her right arm, but he managed to get his arms in the right position to block. Kodora felt the shock of impact travel back up her legs, and basically fell to the floor. Rolling to one side, she dodged a lazy stomp from her sensei. She scrambled to her feet, to see Souun waiting for her next attack. She narrowed her eyes, thinking quickly: at this range, another jumping attack was no good, but...
Quickly, she stepped her feet together and swung one up forward as hard as she could, toes pointed, and joints straight. Moving his crossed forearms down, Souun caught it long before it could connect with his chin. Kodora pushed up on his arms, using the force both to keep her balanced, and to swing her foot back down. She tilted her body as her leg moved, windmilling one arm over in an attempt to pound the older martial artist over the head with one fist. He reversed his arms, catching the blow on the sides of his wrists again. He had yet to move his feet after the stomp.
Quickly, she pada-vou-rae'ed to the right, arcing around him, and swung a foot out around the side, to try and kick him in the back. Even as he blocked it with a forearm swung back, she was pirouetting back around, swinging her body behind one fist in a downward arc, to intersect with his shoulder. He caught it, however, and held fast to her hand. Throwing all her weight back, Kodora tried to upset the man, but he stayed steady, shifting his feet into Crab.
*Kodora... he's using stuff from all sorts of styles. But only parts of it... that's kind of wierd... Oyaji and I only use one form at a time. How is he doing that?*
*Dunno.*
And with that, Kodora forced down with her hand, even as she jumped up high, inverting herself over Souun. Then she swung one knee up high(to her), bringing it down at the man's head. Souun quickly flowed out from under the blow, releasing Kodora. Who landed on her head.
About twenty seconds after beginning, she'd wound up downside-up, moderately winded.
"Ow." She stated, dully.
Souun smiled as he helped her to her feet. "Still a ways to go then, Youjo. But you're better than most people who don't know martial arts. Want to try again?"
Nodding, Kodora shifted her weight to the balls of her feet again, smiling slightly.
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±± ±±±±±±
And so it begins. Where's Kodachi now? Oh, you'll see. You'll see. (evil laughter)
Anyways, things progress in the Tendou household, and the Time of Match approaches.
So does Ryouga's return.
And the arrival of Xian Pu, Kho Lon, and Sin Ku.
And who, exactly, WAS the enemy Kodora mentioned waaaaay back in Chapter One?
And why are both Gos AND Sasuke hanging around?
What will Akane do about no longer being the youngest Tendou?
Will John Cleese ever persuade Gojiro, Rodan, and King Kong to join Monty Python?
Will the Librarian ever return to Discworld?
What happened to Kasumi??
Does it really take 2,856 licks to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
Will I ever stop asking Questions?
You might find out sooner than you think!
By the way, Thanx "Jmj" for noting that. As I was planning to note: I know about the Viking berserkers because I STUDIED the vikings for a TERM PAPER in a HISTORY CLASS. So I know this. Whoever you are who misspelled "berserk", go do some research before you start blathering, kay?
Jaa, ne!
[[["Airen!" Shampoo glomped onto her future husband and began trying to strip him naked.
Tatewaki Kuno was not as happy about that as others might have been. He was trying to wait for the pigtail girl to seduce him like that. He opened his mouth to protest. ]]]
-Deification, Chapter Two, by Brian Drozd.