Now then...I, the illustrious Phantom Crossing present for everyone's approval chapter 2 of Blood of a Superman. (repost)
Oh, standard disclaimer...I DON'T OWN THIS SHIT! THEY BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE CREATORS! IF ANY OF YOU DON'T KNOW THAT THE STUFF WE'RE WRITING ABOUT ON IS OWNED BY OTHER PEOPLE, THEN BY ALL MEANS SHOOT YOURSELF IN THE FOOT! BECAUSE IF YOU HAVEN'T GOTTEN IT BY NOW THEN YOU ARE ENTITLED FOR SYSTEMATIC REMOVAL FROM THE GENE POOL, AND I ASK YOU TO SHOOT YOURSELF IN THE FOOT IN HOPES THAT YOUR SHEAR STUPIDITY WILL RESULT IN A BULLET IN YOUR HEAD RATHER THAN YOU FOOT! OH IT CAN HAPPEN, NOW GO BUY A TWELVE GAUGE!
Before continuing I must apologize for my bout of insanity...on with the fic...
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Blood of a Superman Chapter 2
"Yes, you shall father. Match start!" that was all Ranma heard as his mother's hand dropped and the match began.
Before his eyes, the man blurred and Ranma could feel an oncoming presence behind him. The fist slammed into the floor narrowly missing the back of Ranma's left calf, which was now in the process of being swung at the head of the man his mother had called father. After the hit connected with the man's neck, Ranma used it as a spring board and leapt to the ceiling. Chancing a quick glance, he could see the man was relatively un-phased by his attack. This went on, they were both moving incredibly fast, Ranma thought about which of his techniques he could use against this man, but realizing how much faster he was than any other opponent Ranma had faced before he also realized that the setup for any of his techniques would leave him wide open. A cross beam in the ceiling was reduced to splinters as Ranma bounded off of it just avoiding one of this man's kicks.
All of this guy's blows were holding nothing back, each one meant to finish the fight in one shot. Ranma caught on to this just as three more spots on the floor exploded in fragments of wood in quick succession. He thought about the Hiryu Shoten Ha, but that was a bad move considering they were inside...and there was too much chance of the other's being caught up in it. No, Ranma had to go all out in direct attacks against this guy.
Estimating that they hadn't even been fighting for fifteen seconds yet, Ranma was amazed by how fast this man was moving and thinking during this bout, and by proxy how much faster Ranma had to move to keep ahead of him, there was no way he would admit to speeding up just to keep up to him. It was a challenging fight against a stronger opponent, like at Jusendo but without the life or death consequences.
Sixteen hits to the center of his chest. Twenty to the joint to his shoulder, six to his left temple, and thirteen kicks in the stomach; all of these collectively took Ranma less than a second to land on his opponent. He knew he wasn't doing serious damage, none of them were meant to be finishing blows, only meant to throw off this opponent and tire him down. But while Ranma was throwing nothing but fast and accurate shots, his opponent was throwing haymaker after haymaker at him, each one missing and shattering the floor, ceiling, and walls. It was sloppy, it was pointless, and it was almost like fighting Akane. Except for the fact that he was using twice the strength and an impossible amount of speed in his primary movements that rivaled Ranma's.
Deciding it was time for a light show in the fight, Ranma began focusing his confident ki outside his body between his now clasped hands. Keeping his sights on his opponent, who was now on the defensive for some reason, he lined up the target and prepared to let loose his attack. Then he noticed his opponent blur before his eyes, even at the speed they were already moving at, and was standing before the onlookers of the fight. The look on his face was daring Ranma to release his attack and risk hitting one of those who stood behind him.
Ranma smirked, so it was gonna be like this. Letting his gathered ki dissipate, Ranma returned to the previous pattern. After a few more fractions of a second, he reasoned that even though this was an indoor fight, he might as well use the Hiryu Shoten Ha. Slowing down just enough to goad his opponent into attacking again he began falling back into the spiral. It was about halfway through when he tripped backwards on one of the holes left by one of the opponent's previous haymakers. Cursing to himself Ranma tried to right this mistake but found a sharp pain in his back and spine as a fist impacted with a force that would make a freight train stagger back. Turning to give a full strength retaliated punch Ranma clocked his opponent across the face as fast as he could before the next blow came. Ranma found himself impacting against the floor, hard. Next he could feel a large hand gripping the back of his head and lifting his suddenly weakened form into the air. The last thing he saw was his opponents face and intense eyes.
"I win," said the opponent before Ranma passed out.
Groggily, Ranma woke up. He groaned as he removed the moist rag from his forehead and threw the blanket off of his still dressed form.
"Ranma! You're alright!" a loud voice called to Ranma.
He hadn't opened his eyes yet, and the voice was extremely close and loud. Immediately he knew it was Akane.
"Jeez 'Kane, what hit me? Did I call you a sexless tomboy again," Ranma's eyes opened but were still blurry. Though he could see clearly enough the anger powered fist hurtling straight at him.
"Ranma you jerk!"
Ranma didn't know where it came from, but for once he tried to block Akane's assault. The impact never came, after a moment of stillness he looked up and saw something unexpected. Tears were flowing from the bang shadowed space where Akane's eyes lay hidden.
"I was...I was actually worried about you!" without anymore words she rose to her feet and turned to leave the room.
Ranma could only stare as the door slammed closed behind her.
"That was very stupid," a voice beside Ranma proclaimed.
Directing his gaze to the side Ranma saw the man he had fought, Seijuro Hiko, lying on a bedroll a few feet away from where he had been unconscious.
"That last hit you delivered was quite impressive," he said as he sat up, "I lost temporary sensory control and collapsed ten seconds after you lost consciousness,"
Ranma leapt up from his bedroll and took a fighting stance, the clothing he had worn during the battle still adorning his form. Taking a defensive stance he readied himself for any possible attack.
"I don't know what the hell is going on but I ain't gonna take it sitting down," Ranma cracked his knuckles watching his opponent for movement.
"What's going on boy is I won, which means alongside being heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts and Founding School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, you are now heir to the Hiten Mitsurugi Style of Swordsmanship. You lost, so now you are my new apprentice,"
"I don't know who you think you are, but Ranma Saotome don't lose!" declared the pigtailed youth as he took a swing at Hiko.
While in mid swing, Ranma remembered something from the start of the fight replayed itself in Ranma's mind, he remembered his mother calling this man father.
"I am Seijuro Hiko, father of Nodoka Hiko who you know as Nodoka Saotome," he effortlessly caught Ranma's swing and held Ranma to the floor pining his arm behind his back, "I am your oldest living relative boy, the family elder you might say. And I believe I am entitled to a little respect as your grandfather and as your new master,"
Ranma didn't struggle against the grab and reversal. He just listened. This guy was a part of his family. The father of the mother he had only known for a scant few months...
"I want a rematch," Ranma said...slightly calmer than his previous statement.
"Hmm...and what does that accomplish. Winning a second fight doesn't erase a first loss. No one is invincible, that is the first lesson you need to learn. I believe Nodoka said it was the first lesson I need to teach you. I've heard about the way challenges work in your mind, they aren't over until you win, getting beaten the first time means you have a special right to ignore it and fight the second time as if it were still the first. The scores stack boy, even if you beat me in a rematch, its outcome doesn't affect the fact of the first fight, you shouldn't expect a defeat to be a temporary mark,"
Seijuro Hiko removed his hold on Ranma's arm and stood up waiting for his grandson to do the same. Ranma slowly rose and looked the rather young looking old man in the face.
"Such delusions are for idiots and fools," Hiko finished.
Across town at that very moment
Tatewaki Kuno could not believe his noble ears. Truly these judges were daft, how could he, Blue Thunder of Furinkan High School, lose a match of this much importance.
"This Kamiya fellow...how dare that this opponent dare to accept this obvious lapse in judgment against an opponent as noble as I," the blue clad youth declared looking at the opponent he had faced in the last round of the Kendo tournament he had been competing in.
The said opponent had yet to remove their helmet and armor, but Kuno stared into the deep purple eyes that almost shown in the shadows of the protective mask. How dare this commoner even be allowed to compete against me, were Kuno's thought.
Deciding to save face before the judges, he waited to confront this opponent outside the tournament. So he waited for them to remove their headgear so he may remember his face.
When the opponent finally did remove their mask, Kuno was stunned. The one who had beaten him was...was...Kuno could hold his attack not, an attack fueled by his passion and love.
Back at the Tendo Dojo
Akane sat in front of the Koi pond; her eyes locked on her own reflection as the fishes lightly broke the surface sending ripples across the water. She sighed heavily, stupid Ranma.
"Something wrong Akane?" inquired a voice from behind her.
Turning, Akane saw it was Nodoka standing there quite sedately. The older woman kneeled down besides her and looked into the pond as well.
"I suppose the arrival of my father has stirred things up, hasn't it," she smirked as she lowered her hand to just above the surface of the koi pond.
"Ranma doesn't lose..." Akane began, "He has his pride and he'll beat him in the rematch,"
"Even so...then the score would still be one to one," Nodoka chided, "A second victory does not erase a first defeat. True Ranma learns from being beaten...but never acknowledges that he can be beaten. His arrogant ego and pride are his greatest weapons...but at the same time they are his greatest weaknesses,"
Akane stood there silently. Nodoka's words sinking in slowly to her head.
"He should have pride. The school of Anything Goes Martial Arts has a lot to be proud of!" Akane's resolve was admirably displayed in her words.
"Founded by a pint sized lecher some eighty years ago; perfecting the manly art of the panty raid, and developing a teaching method most effective when the student is essentially tortured into learning it. Yes I do believe the Anything Goes School does have a lot to be proud of. Then again...the way your father trained you was hardly the way Happosai trained your father and my husband. And in effect still nothing compared to the torture I allowed my own son to be subjected to by allowing him to be taken by that buffoon of a man I married for ten years," As Nodoka spoke, the water beneath her hand began to ripple.
"Yes but " before Akane could finish she was cut off.
"You were trained in the basic forms and techniques as if training in a normal dojo. Practice dummies and structured lessons that would end and you could go to sleep in a soft bed. After your mother passed, your father could not begin to put the true nature of Anything Goes training upon you. Psychologically you wouldn't have been able to survive it. The lessons do not end but bleed into each other. The training dummies are the people on the street you have angered into hunting you down. The exercises are the things you become dependent upon to survive. As primarily unarmed styles go, it is perfection. However the Hiten Mitsurugi style is not primarily unarmed...but it makes the transition with only a few flaws, don't you think. Where the nature of Happosai's school is to preserve life through protecting it and reveling in its bountiful glory...the nature of Hiten Mitsurugi style is to protect life by ending that which threatens it," The water became calm once again beneath Nodoka's palm.
Akane's anger was creeping up upon her. She could feel it but held it in check because she was talking to Nodoka. She felt a bitter sting at some of her words about Anything Goes, but she listened. But one thing that the elder Saotome had said still resonated in her mind.
"You mean the primary point of Hiten Mitsurugi is to kill..." Akane said in utmost seriousness.
"Ranma is no longer fit to solely practice the idealist nature of Anything Goes. He is no longer what he believes a pure martial artist to be. By his own will to protect you he has taken a step in a direction which challenges who he has lived his life to be. My son did not kill a man in cold blood. But rather he killed a god to protect you...to save you. Regardless of that god's immortality in being reborn...Ranma killed him. Blood stains his hands and he must learn what that truly means alongside the implications of crossing that line. When that line is crossed it marks the beginning of many possible paths. There are paths of good and of evil; of virtue or of cruelty. Ranma must now be guided lest he never even choose a path to walk down. You yourself know his tendency to be indecisive. The Hiten Mitsurugi style is meant to teach control and restraint of godlike ability. The practitioner must be capable of killing...but at the same time desire with all his or her heart to avoid such if possible. Having killed, my son needs to take the next step as a martial artists...to be aware of his true potential," Nodoka finished.
"I...I see..." Akane became eerily silent.
"I know this question has been asked several times before...and each time it is asked in its own variation to my son and your self the answer is usually the same...but all things considered..." Nodoka trailed one finger across the surface of the water, "How do feel about Ranma?"
"I wanted to marry him that day," she sighed, "I was ready...we could have been happy...he could have been happy. He could find happiness and freedom from his curse. And... and when that moment was lost... I honestly felt like I lost all hope for us,"
"Do you love him?" Nodoka asked, now sitting on her knees with her hands in her lap.
Akane's silence filled the garden.
At the principal's office of Furinkan High School
"I'm sorry kiekie for my little kiekie's actions. The big Kahuna promises on his whole stock of coconuts dat any problem you have will be settled in any way ya wish!," the smiling Hawaiian shirt clad principal said as his sunglasses glinted in the artificial sunlight of his office.
"Thank you very much," a soft voice said as their form was obscured by a long mane of dark blackish red hair during its owner's bow, "I hope this incident doesn't affect my transfer to Furinkan, Principal Kuno,"
"Not at all, now ya best be getting off the school grounds and home before my son be waking up and trying to ask ya to " the Principal was of course, cut off by his own screaming son.
"SAKURA KAMIYA! I WOULD DATE WITH THEE!"
Back at the Tendo Dojo
"Pops always said weapons are for the weak," Ranma commented.
"Pick up the shinai," Seijuro said in calm resolve.
"Fine..." Ranma did as instructed.
The pigtailed youth and his stripe haired Grandfather were now in the Dojo. Ranma had forgone wearing his usual red silk shirt, in favor of his tank top undershirt, as after the earlier fight, he surmised training with his so called grandfather would require for him to have some extra room to breath. Wasting no time, Seijuro decided to begin having Ranma show him what he knew of wielding a sword, in this case a bamboo shinai. Though Ranma has been long capable of adapting to other styles, he still was not properly versed in the base forms of kenjitsu required in the learning of the Hiten Mitsurugi style.
"Feh, this is easy," commented Ranma.
After a few moments of taking in Ranma's ability with a sword, which were better than most people who spent years training in kendo, he decided to humble the boy.
"Attack me using only the shinai,"
"What?"
"You heard me, now do it," commanded Hiko.
In the Tendo Garden
"Akane...I asked you if you love him," Nodoka again inquired.
"I... I " Akane's response was cut off by the sound of shattering wood.
The water in the pond again rippled. The clouds swirled. And somewhere across town, a young girl with black red hair and purple eyes looked up from her continuous beating of the now unconscious Tatewaki Kuno and simply stared into the sky.
END OF CHAPTER
Okay, repost complete, I adressed a few of the issues with the original posting and hope this meets everyone's approval.