Spirit Guardian
by D'Fused
Disclaimer: Umm, disclaimer?
Chapter 4
Crossing Paths
The thing had spent the last few days traveling. Not traveling in the way a certain Eternal Lost Boy traveled by picking a direction and hoping he got where he needed to be. This had more sense than that; it stopped going in one direction once it hit the city limits. After that point was reached, it turned back and returned along the same path, until either reaching the other side of the city or its target was detectable.
Currently, its path was one it had traced several times within the last few days, spending as much time in the sewers as it waited for the sun to go down. After it was dark enough for it to go within Tokyo, it slithered along the shoadows, avoiding the lighted areas as much as possible. Occasionally an animal too curious ortoo stupid for its own sake crossed its path, and was absently killed as it moved by. It didn't live for the kill. Killing was to remove anything that might get in its path of the target. It had a higher function, a true reason for being.
It lived to die.
Without a missed step, the thing suddenly changed its path, heading a new way as its target-sense vibrated in a certain direction . Its sense couldn't tell how far the target was, although it would recognize whom it triggered for when they came in view. Then its reason would be complete.
It lived to die.
The creature continued on, moving onward along the sewer.
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Charlie hadn't had better luck in the last few days. Almost as soon as he had started asking questions about the mysterious dojo, many people clamped shut. Actually, most people either clamped up or feigned ignorance, which was pretty much the same. In fact, many people refused to talk about anything to do with martial arts. They were ready to talk about some of the beautiful, if unusual, girls who lived in the area, or about the cost of continous repairs to property, but wouldn't say anything when he steered the conversation towards what he needed to know.
Today's attempts hadn't been more sucessful, after spending the morning without a person willing to talk to him. He guessed a foreigner carrying a bundle on his back did stick out a little. And his somewhat blunt questions did tend to be slightly undiplomatic. He was never good with subtle questions to begin with, so he did what came natural.
Amusement came from the feelings in the back of his mind. She thought it was funny that he was having problems finding the person.
Charlie sent the image of a clock back to her, followed by a sunset and a star-filled sky. She had opted to be awake when he was. which meant she spent most of her time doing nothing while they communicated in their odd fashion. Usually she could go and shop or watch something with only a slight loss in concentration when he sent an image to her. Now, she had very little she could do atnights, which made things harder.
It didn't help matters that she had also asked to go to Japan a day after he had called in. She had been told almost the exact same thing he had been; stay away until there is confirmation, then permission to join up with him would be granted.
She had egged him on to find out so she could go.
Charlie sighed and looked around. He spied the man looking at him around the corner, not with his eyes, but with the Spirit technique he used for detection. He was watching him while trying not to be noticed, being an unimportant part of the crowd while keeping an eye on him. The guy was unimaginative, idiotic, or both.
He was the second person to follow Charlie around since he started asking questions. The first person who trailed him was able to do so while physically invisible. That didn't mean he wasn't able to point straight at him and call him out; he was just observing, and let him do so. He might be wrong about this whole situation, and this invisble person might be a key to the problem.
The second person was more straight forward, only watching from a distance. When Charlie felt his presence along the bond, he had left him be too. For all he knew, the guy was the curious type, and if he spread the word that all he was asking was questions, it might be that easier for him to get answers. With that in mind, he picked one of the passing students at random and started to approach her, in hope she would give him information.
"Excuse me?"
The girl stopped talking to her friends as he apporached, waiting for what he needed to ask her. Behind him, a noise like thunder
boomed across the sky, which he paid no attention to.
"Can I help you?"
Charlie looked at the girl with apprehension. She had turned slightly to the side, not exactly in a fighting stance, but in a position that she was indeed wary of him and could defend herself if she needed to. Her short, bluish-black hair made her look a little boyish, but he saw how some might find that attractive.
Jealousy and anger flared in the corner of his mind she shared with him. This had been another repetitive problem. Whenever he talked to someone, he sent an image of them so she could see whom he talked to. She had no problems with older men or the elderly. Some men around their ages made her send feelings he interpreted as meaning 'cute', preferring that description over some of the other translations she had given over the years to 'those' emotions. But whenever he looked or talked to a girl ten years his junior or senior, it was instant jealousy, with assorted mixtures of anger, irritation and, sometimes, envy. The last usually made him chuckle; she denied she compared herself to those she could only mentally percieve, but he could tell there were some attributes she saw in them that she would have died for.
The grl didn't provoke that certain feeling at the moment, something which he was glad for. He absently sent back the image of her being tickled with a feather, with the usual return of determination from her. The image was one of several he used throughout the last few days, mainly so he would have something that wasn't distracting him from the business at hand. It was also the quickest way to get her attention when he needed it, especially when others around him might look at him weird.
This communication took less than a moment of a second to transpire, without him seemingly to lose focus on who he was looking at. He opened his mouth to ask her the same question he had asked everyone else, and was rudely interupted.
"Stop, knave!"
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Tatewaki Kuno, age 17, aka The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, had watched the foreigner with the clothed bundle on his back for some time. He had observed the man in his steadfast apporaches to the peasant masses for the last day and a half, and had become interested in the reasoning behind his inquiries.
The kendoist watched from around the last corner the stranger had turned, watching from a respectful distance before turning onto the
same street. Apparently the man had been preoccupied, he thought, since he expected a man who walked with a grace that rivaled that of his own would surely have the senses of that would come close to his own too! Surely he wasn't such a simpleton!
(Actually, Sasuke had started watching the man when he overheard him asking, in an aroundabout fashion, about his master, his sister, and several other people who assosiated with the Kuno family. He had made Kuno aware of the questions, and had been instructed to watch him further. He had gone back to report what he had found, missing his master. Only a few minutes passed between the time Sasuke had left and Kuno had come across the stranger, entirely by fluke while he readied to ask Akane out on a date.)
"If this mouse of a man is has not the appitude to know the basic of all techniques, he should not carry a weapon that is overrated for him!" Kuno cried out loud, not knowing he had said these words in front of everyone. The crowd only acknowledged this by moving in some direction except the way he was looking. In the five minutes that he took to say his flowery speech, which included the words 'lesson' 'sword' and 'Blue Thinder' no less than three times, the street was clear of everyone but him, the stranger, the three students he was apporaching, and three black spots where lightning had struck after he had mentioned the words Blue Thunder.
Kuno frowned as he recognized the three students. "They are no other than the fair maiden Akane Tendo and her friends". His mind made its normal jump to the most obvious conclusion; which he stated "Someone who is my peer is about to jostle the bright flower of the Tendo household. As a man of honor, I, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan, cannot, will not, stand for such impertence. He would have to be punished, and my bokken shall be guided by the justice of the heavens!"
Lightning crackled down from the clear sky as to make the point, striking the street at a safe distance behind him. He took the sign to mean that he was in the right. With that in mind, Tatewaki Kuno steeled himself to punish the man as he walked forward across the bridge. His rage grew as the man continued to ignore his presence, one of the first things he would have to correct in the stranger's study of the art.
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.
Akane sighed as she saw Kuno come up fom behind the man, his wooden sword raised slightly and stance in the position he used whenever fighting, left foot slightly forward and arms bent. Her friend's reactions were about the same as her's; they wanted him to leave Akane alone, and anyone he saw talking to her as well, which included Ranma. They were all sick of his spiels of the'vengence of the heavens' and his 'superior kendo skills' that make him more of an idiot than he was.
The stranger's reaction was different. He casually turned to meet the newcomer, as if he knew that he was there. Rather than ask the first question that she would have asked (that could be summed as who is this idiot?), he just looked Kuno straight in the eyes, then moved around with percision. Akane watched how his eyes moved; he didn't move his body while he almost scanned everything else of the kendoist's stance, position, build, and things she couldn't apprehend him looking at. He then moved with a slow casualness that said he was not planning to attack while he moved. He halted standing in a position that differed in every detail to Kuno's battle position. The stranger almost seemd to mock him by almost leaning against the rail of the bridge; it looked like he did, but he wasn't touching the concrete or metal.
She gave the guy credit; even Kuno couldn't be stupid enough to know the man thought him as little or no threat to his safety. He chose to be against the rail so any attack would be directed only at him, and wouldn't put her or her friends at risk, since the only swing that could be used effectively would be a downward strike or a thrust.
The stranger didn't bother taking the bundle off his back. Although it had a slight different shape to it, Akane knew he had some sort of katana or sword in it, since it was almost identical to what Ranma's mother carried with her. He kept it on his shoulder, with one hand on the strap, not a firm grip, but one that was a warning that he was skilled.
Now that she thought of it, he looked vaguely familiar. It wasn't something she could put a direct finger on, but there was something that made her think that she knew this person.
Kuno stood at a distance that was far enough that he would have to step forward one step to reach the person he faced down. The look he had on his face was one where he percieved the stranger's stance and casualness as an insult. While his opponent looked like he was bored or maybe amused, Kuno was angry, and was getting angrier as it dawned that he wasn't considered a threat.
"What a loathesome being you must be," the local kendoist said between clenched teeth, "to go and molest the fair maiden known as Akane Tendo! And then..."
"Who?" the stranger interupted, which caused Kuno to splutter.
Akane sighed before turning to the man. "He's talking about me."
"Ah." The man gave her and her friends a small bow after adding, "Charlie Frepp, please to make your aquaintance."
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"SILENCE!!!!" Kuno yelled, totally enraged. "It is proper to give one's name to your opponent before all else." He stopped to take a few calming breaths as the man looked on, waiting for him to continue.
"Now, I am known at Tatewaki Kuno, age 17, upperclassman of Furinkan High, head classman of the Kendo Club, and known by all as the Blue Thunder of Furikan!" He raised his bokken up and another lightning bolt came out of the clear, blue sky to land a distance behind him. Where any other man would have groveled at the impressive name, the man to whom he faced seemed unimpressed by it. Per chance was that a snicker when he had said the name which all know him by, and a raised brow at the heavens' greeting to their champion?
Kuno shook his head; it mattered not. The foolish knave was outclassed by his superior abilities. He had refused to wield his blade at such an obvious threat like him, and was uneducated in the formal addressing procedures. Surely this man was an idiot.
The man waited with no expression on his face, obvious rethinking of insulting his talents (not really, he was making sure Kuno wasn't going to spout more poetry before replying). Finally, the man opened his mouth to apolog...
"Impressive, I'll give you that. Can you do the same thing with water?"
Kuno grasp on his rage gave. No, it exploded! The fool would still doubt his skills, polished to perfection over years of training! There was only one response to such insolence!
"For that, insult, I shall SMITE THEEE!!"
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Akane watched in wonder as the man cooly pressed Kuno's buttons, enraging him on purpose to make the upperclassman strike. It hadn't taken long, with every step and word said by the stranger doing nothing but making Kuno angry. He attacked with a swing she estimated was with all of his strength, with no thought to hold back or for defence.
The oddly familiar man saw this as well. By the look, he had anticipated the attack. He simply stepped to the left of where he was standing, flipping the bundle off his back and into his right hand. As Kuno stepped forward to strike where he had stood, the stranger held the bundle at its mid-pont, placing it in front of the kendoist with his hand at about chest height. As the bokken came down overtop of the bundle, he rotated the bottom half between Kuno's thighs.
Akane stared at Charlie using such an underhanded move. She didn't think he would have used such a strategy to take out an enraged opponent. Then she saw something wrong with the picture. The bundle didn't hit the sensitive area with a swift or hard movement, rather it was highly controlled. It rotated with ease upward, met resistance, and continued rotating, pushing Kuno forward as he lost his balance when his downward slash reached the ground. For one second, Kuno was somehow balanced in the air, with only the man's arm holding him up. Then the one arm continued rotating backwards.
Dumping Kuno, bokken and all, into the water.
The stranger brought down his arm and turned his head to where his soggy opponent lay. Akane couldn't see his expression, but his
voice was the essence of calm when he spoke.
"Tatewaki Kuno," the stranger said, "You are too easily enraged by simple things, and don't think beyond the next attack. Work on your control before you face another opponent."
Akane broke out of her amazement at what she had just witnessed. He had just lifted a person up into the air and over his back with one arm. Amazement soon turned to a smile as she and her friends got the joke behind his message. He effectively told Kuno to cool off.
He turned back to Akane and her friends, giving them another small bow. "I'm sorry about that interuption. Before that, I was going to ask you three question. Mind if I do?"
Yuki and Sakuri were still stunned by the whole fight. They had seen Ranma fight Kuno on almost a daily basis. In their eyes, this man had not only faced and beat Kuno close to the record time Ranma can beat him, but had done the feat with no real flair or style. If you didn't count the strength and balance used to flip him over the rail, that is.
Akane was better off. The move was worthy of the Anything-Goes Style of Martial Arts. He had used words to make his enemy attack, then used his opponent's strength against him. Seeing it had surprised her, but, unlike her friends, she was more aquainted with abnormal moves not to be railroaded. She was the first to respond to Charlie's question.
"Sure." she said.
Charlie smiled and put the bundle back on his shoulder as he and the others ignored the splashing and curses coming from down below. He winced as lightning came down a fair distance away from him, somehow missing all the buildings and roadway to strike the water, which electricuted anything and anyone in it at the time. After making sure all three were paying attention, he asked them his question.
"I was told that there is a dojo somewhere around this area. Could you three give me directions to there?"
Akane and her friends looked at each other with what might be call apprehension. If this person was looking for the Tendo Dojo, it would be easy to take them there. Akane was about to say good-bye to her friends anyway, and the short walk could be long enough to find out more about the person. Especially if he was here to challenge the dojo, although she doubted anyone but Ranma could fight this person. A thought came to her suddenly for no apparent question.
"Are you related to the Hibiki's?"
Charlie blinked at the question, confusion written over his face. That was answer enough.
"No," he confirmed, "I had the impresion it was around the area, but no one would give directions."
Akane smiled at the man as she said good-bye to her friends a led the man away. It would be funny when he found out it was her home she was taking him to.
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Nodoka watched from the house as Ranma and Genma practiced out in the yard. Both were intense in their session, with the two trading blows in mid-air, defying gravity for a few seconds, then breaking off to land at the sides of the pool or the wall before launching at each other again. She couldn't help but be proud at how her son was able to defend the onslaught, and press Genma at every moment. Both were impresive, Nodoka had to admit.
However, being impressive and being good at martial arts are different. The wife of Genma watched as Ranma blocked more attacks than her husband did, and how more blows tended to penetrate through Genma's defenses. After a couple weeks of watching them spar, Nodoka could tell that her son was better than his father.
She also had to grin at the thought of how Ranma had learned so much about the martial arts since he had left as a small child. Everyday, before being reunited with them, Ranma's mother wondered where her husband and son were, and worried if Genma was taking good care of him. The few letters sent to her were a small comfort. She knew that they were reassurance that Genma was alive and well, and, even though he always said Ranma was doing well also, Nodoka privately wondered if she and her wandering husband were using the same definition.
The katana-wielding mother looked affectionatly at her son as he flipped over his father and landed on a stone. And now, she knew that those years were well worth it. Nodoka had dreams of how her son, a 'man among men,' would be a great husband when he and Akane get married someday. And a great father to their children.
Nodoka smiled at the thought of Ranma's children. She couldn't help but like the idea becoming a grandmother.
Her relvery was soon broken by a splash. As the Satome mother focused her gazed to where her family was practicing, she noticed Genma at the side of the pond, poised in a position of superiority over the wet form splashing in the water.
"Boy, you are leaving yourself wide open like that. I swear, you get easily distracted by every shiny yen piece lying on the ground."
The body slowly emerged from the pool, shaking as much water as she could from her head as she focused on Genma. Her red hair was soaked, with water shaking from the pig-tail she wore as she moved her head.
"That was no distraction, Pops. You used a dirty trick!"
"Ranma, If I don't show you how to counter these tricks, you'll..." The martial artist didn't get to finsih what he was going to say as he recieved a bucket of water from the pond in his face.
"Can it, Pops, don't use that stupid excuse on me. Look what you did. Now I have to take a bath before supper."
The female martial artist threw the pail away and hopped out of the water towards the house. The heir to Anything Goes School of Martial Arts looked down at her wet gi. The backyard had to be the worse place to practice, since it usually involved a dunk in the pool for one or both members of the family, yet they still prefered training there to the dojo.
A panda standing where Genma stood a second ago made a noise, holding a sign in his paw. {It's your own fault.}
Ranma refused to look at his transformed father, walking back to the house, frustration showing in every step of the way. As far as she was concerned, practice was over for the time being. The panda followed inside, making the sign disappear before going in search of a kettle.
Nodoka sighed and gave her husband a glare that would have had him crouching for forgiveness if his back wasn't turned to her. She hadn't truly liked finding out that her husband had dragged Ranma to those cursed springs in China without knowing any Chinese. Finding out that it was his fault that her son was cursed to be a girl didn't help any either. Genma had sweated plenty when she found that out, especially since that seppuku pledge was still in her posseson. Add that he and 'Ranko' had been living with the Tendo family since they returned to Japan, that he didn't send any letters, and kept her from knowing who they really were all the times she visited, it was a surprise Genma still lived. As it was, she had lost plenty of respect for her husband. Most likely the ony reason he still lived was because Ranma always acted manly, even while in his cursed form.
The wife of Genma sighed again as she entered the house and climbed the stairs to the guest room. Ranma had also worried about the sekkapu pledge and the katana she had carried with her when she visited. However, unlike his father, he had wanted to meet her, and spend time with her, even going as far as learning to cook in the kitchen with Akane. He wasn't at fault for having legitimate fears about his mother. No, she knew who was to blame for that and a few other problems trailing her son. And she knew her husband would pay for it soon. Stopping on the stairs, she changed her mind and returned downstairs, thinking to help Kasumi with dinner. As it happened, when she passed the bathroom, Nodoka could clearly hear Ranma through the screen doors leading to the bathtub.
"Stupid old man. Him and his stupid ideas. He knows I'm better than him, and has to cheat during practice. Thanks to him, I have a fiancee who's can't cook, hits me for no reason, and won't believe anything I say. I don't even know how many other fiancees he's engaged me to, and that's not the worse part of it."
Nodoka blinked at what she was hearing. Other fiancees? Obviously, Genma didn't tell everything he and her son did in the ten years they spent on the road training. Curious, Ranma's mother quietly slipped into the dressing room to hear better what he was saying, hoping he wouldn't hear her come in.
Ranma didn't hear his mother move silently to the other side of the wall and put an ear to the door. He was thinking dark thoughts of his father and what he experienced while he was being 'trained'. "And Pop's idea of training? I wouldn't call it anything of the sort. He was stupid enough not to read the whole manual of the Neko Ken, and, because of his stupid mistake, I suffer the consequences. He's the one who said Jusenkyo was a good training ground for martial artsits, and I end up cursed to be a girl. He freeloads off people, and I usually pay for it."
His mother gasped at hearing this. She could tell that he had lost plenty of respect for his father after everything that happened to him. As it was, Genma's wife also didn't like what she heard, and absently thought that the seppuku pledge would be too lenient for her husband. Neko Ken? That was something she hadn't heard the story to. And she only knew of Akane as his only fiancee.
Her eyes hardened as she thought of what else her son had gone through he wasn't saying, or didn't know. There was only one source
she knew would know all the answers.
Out of habit, Nodoka brought out the katana and gripped the hilt, sliding the blade out while thinking of the 'talk' she would have with her
husband.
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Genma suddenly sneezed while stirring his tea. As he did, he put a little too much force into the stirring stick he was using and broke it. The fat martial artist looked at the stick.
Sneezing and a bad omen, he thought. Hmmm...I don't know what's wrong, but this could be bad...
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Still lost in his thoughts, Ranma didn't hear the sounds coming from the other side of the door. Feeling somewhat relaxed, yet still tense, he kept saying everything that came to mind.
"I've had it with his stupid lines. 'Be willing to give your life to the art.' Yeah, I did, and it cost me my manlihood. 'A martial artist can turn anything into training.' Is that why you engaged me to all those girls, especially that uncute tomboy, Pop? Or was that your greed? 'Listen boy. I am grooming you to take over the school of Anything Goes Martial Arts.' Who said I wanted to? I might have been happy before you took me away from my mother. And I might have had other ideas too. 'Ranma, it's your destiny to get married and join the two houses together. You must honor the promise I made for you to wed one of Soun's daughters.' Gee, and I happen to have no say in who I wanted to marry. How considerate of you.
Nodoka listened to this spiel with the a saint's patience, deciding to leave before her son caught on to the person listening to all of his problems. Despite all the problems her son had during the last ten years, it sounded like his main problem was his relationship with Akane. They had always been well-behaved when she had visited, and what she saw when the Satome family moved in, she had always behaved herself. But, by the sound of it, things between the two weren't going well.
Opening the door and closing it silently, Ranma's mother slowly sheathed the blade before heading to the kitchen. She decided to avoid problems until she could get her husband alone, preferably in a place where they wouldn't be interupted until she was through with her questions.
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Outside, Akane sneezed as she stood outside the front entrance to her house. The last few minutes had been quiet with Charlie content to follow behind her. She had asked a few questions about why he wanted to go to the dojo, but he had refused to talk about, saying only that he had to check something for himself. What it was he had to check was left unsaid, despite her asking about it. Sneezing again, she opened the doors and kicked off her shoes. Charlie came in behind her, respectively waiting at the door.
"Kasumi, I'm home," she called.
The eldest Tendo daughter came out of the kitchen and around the corner, greeting her sibling before noticing the person who followed her in. The man was very polite, properly greeting the eldest Tendo before asking to come into the house proper. Kasumi was surprized at the request, not many who were regular visitors to the house bothered with asking to come in; they were usually to busy chasing after someone to think of the informal asking, nevermind anything remotely formal. After he introduced himself, and was introduced to Kasumi, Akane led Charlie to her father.
"Dad! Someone here to talk to you," Akane called.
A person he assumed was her father came down the hallway and around the corner, followed by a panda walking on two legs. An older woman joined the small group from the way Kasumi had come, and another girl had come down the stairs, probably interested in the commotion near the front door. Noting everyone's reaction to the panda, Charlie admitted he was surprized at the the site as much as how everyone took it in stride.
Things like walking pandas are an everyday occurance here?! Yeah, there was good reason why people clamped up about this dojo. If this was a regular occurance, what would it be like on an abnormal day?
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Not completely finished this chapter. Wanted to add what I have so far, while I work on my other story.
blue_scarf_fics@yahoo.com
by D'Fused
Disclaimer: Umm, disclaimer?
Chapter 4
Crossing Paths
The thing had spent the last few days traveling. Not traveling in the way a certain Eternal Lost Boy traveled by picking a direction and hoping he got where he needed to be. This had more sense than that; it stopped going in one direction once it hit the city limits. After that point was reached, it turned back and returned along the same path, until either reaching the other side of the city or its target was detectable.
Currently, its path was one it had traced several times within the last few days, spending as much time in the sewers as it waited for the sun to go down. After it was dark enough for it to go within Tokyo, it slithered along the shoadows, avoiding the lighted areas as much as possible. Occasionally an animal too curious ortoo stupid for its own sake crossed its path, and was absently killed as it moved by. It didn't live for the kill. Killing was to remove anything that might get in its path of the target. It had a higher function, a true reason for being.
It lived to die.
Without a missed step, the thing suddenly changed its path, heading a new way as its target-sense vibrated in a certain direction . Its sense couldn't tell how far the target was, although it would recognize whom it triggered for when they came in view. Then its reason would be complete.
It lived to die.
The creature continued on, moving onward along the sewer.
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Charlie hadn't had better luck in the last few days. Almost as soon as he had started asking questions about the mysterious dojo, many people clamped shut. Actually, most people either clamped up or feigned ignorance, which was pretty much the same. In fact, many people refused to talk about anything to do with martial arts. They were ready to talk about some of the beautiful, if unusual, girls who lived in the area, or about the cost of continous repairs to property, but wouldn't say anything when he steered the conversation towards what he needed to know.
Today's attempts hadn't been more sucessful, after spending the morning without a person willing to talk to him. He guessed a foreigner carrying a bundle on his back did stick out a little. And his somewhat blunt questions did tend to be slightly undiplomatic. He was never good with subtle questions to begin with, so he did what came natural.
Amusement came from the feelings in the back of his mind. She thought it was funny that he was having problems finding the person.
Charlie sent the image of a clock back to her, followed by a sunset and a star-filled sky. She had opted to be awake when he was. which meant she spent most of her time doing nothing while they communicated in their odd fashion. Usually she could go and shop or watch something with only a slight loss in concentration when he sent an image to her. Now, she had very little she could do atnights, which made things harder.
It didn't help matters that she had also asked to go to Japan a day after he had called in. She had been told almost the exact same thing he had been; stay away until there is confirmation, then permission to join up with him would be granted.
She had egged him on to find out so she could go.
Charlie sighed and looked around. He spied the man looking at him around the corner, not with his eyes, but with the Spirit technique he used for detection. He was watching him while trying not to be noticed, being an unimportant part of the crowd while keeping an eye on him. The guy was unimaginative, idiotic, or both.
He was the second person to follow Charlie around since he started asking questions. The first person who trailed him was able to do so while physically invisible. That didn't mean he wasn't able to point straight at him and call him out; he was just observing, and let him do so. He might be wrong about this whole situation, and this invisble person might be a key to the problem.
The second person was more straight forward, only watching from a distance. When Charlie felt his presence along the bond, he had left him be too. For all he knew, the guy was the curious type, and if he spread the word that all he was asking was questions, it might be that easier for him to get answers. With that in mind, he picked one of the passing students at random and started to approach her, in hope she would give him information.
"Excuse me?"
The girl stopped talking to her friends as he apporached, waiting for what he needed to ask her. Behind him, a noise like thunder
boomed across the sky, which he paid no attention to.
"Can I help you?"
Charlie looked at the girl with apprehension. She had turned slightly to the side, not exactly in a fighting stance, but in a position that she was indeed wary of him and could defend herself if she needed to. Her short, bluish-black hair made her look a little boyish, but he saw how some might find that attractive.
Jealousy and anger flared in the corner of his mind she shared with him. This had been another repetitive problem. Whenever he talked to someone, he sent an image of them so she could see whom he talked to. She had no problems with older men or the elderly. Some men around their ages made her send feelings he interpreted as meaning 'cute', preferring that description over some of the other translations she had given over the years to 'those' emotions. But whenever he looked or talked to a girl ten years his junior or senior, it was instant jealousy, with assorted mixtures of anger, irritation and, sometimes, envy. The last usually made him chuckle; she denied she compared herself to those she could only mentally percieve, but he could tell there were some attributes she saw in them that she would have died for.
The grl didn't provoke that certain feeling at the moment, something which he was glad for. He absently sent back the image of her being tickled with a feather, with the usual return of determination from her. The image was one of several he used throughout the last few days, mainly so he would have something that wasn't distracting him from the business at hand. It was also the quickest way to get her attention when he needed it, especially when others around him might look at him weird.
This communication took less than a moment of a second to transpire, without him seemingly to lose focus on who he was looking at. He opened his mouth to ask her the same question he had asked everyone else, and was rudely interupted.
"Stop, knave!"
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Tatewaki Kuno, age 17, aka The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, had watched the foreigner with the clothed bundle on his back for some time. He had observed the man in his steadfast apporaches to the peasant masses for the last day and a half, and had become interested in the reasoning behind his inquiries.
The kendoist watched from around the last corner the stranger had turned, watching from a respectful distance before turning onto the
same street. Apparently the man had been preoccupied, he thought, since he expected a man who walked with a grace that rivaled that of his own would surely have the senses of that would come close to his own too! Surely he wasn't such a simpleton!
(Actually, Sasuke had started watching the man when he overheard him asking, in an aroundabout fashion, about his master, his sister, and several other people who assosiated with the Kuno family. He had made Kuno aware of the questions, and had been instructed to watch him further. He had gone back to report what he had found, missing his master. Only a few minutes passed between the time Sasuke had left and Kuno had come across the stranger, entirely by fluke while he readied to ask Akane out on a date.)
"If this mouse of a man is has not the appitude to know the basic of all techniques, he should not carry a weapon that is overrated for him!" Kuno cried out loud, not knowing he had said these words in front of everyone. The crowd only acknowledged this by moving in some direction except the way he was looking. In the five minutes that he took to say his flowery speech, which included the words 'lesson' 'sword' and 'Blue Thinder' no less than three times, the street was clear of everyone but him, the stranger, the three students he was apporaching, and three black spots where lightning had struck after he had mentioned the words Blue Thunder.
Kuno frowned as he recognized the three students. "They are no other than the fair maiden Akane Tendo and her friends". His mind made its normal jump to the most obvious conclusion; which he stated "Someone who is my peer is about to jostle the bright flower of the Tendo household. As a man of honor, I, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan, cannot, will not, stand for such impertence. He would have to be punished, and my bokken shall be guided by the justice of the heavens!"
Lightning crackled down from the clear sky as to make the point, striking the street at a safe distance behind him. He took the sign to mean that he was in the right. With that in mind, Tatewaki Kuno steeled himself to punish the man as he walked forward across the bridge. His rage grew as the man continued to ignore his presence, one of the first things he would have to correct in the stranger's study of the art.
-----------------------
.
Akane sighed as she saw Kuno come up fom behind the man, his wooden sword raised slightly and stance in the position he used whenever fighting, left foot slightly forward and arms bent. Her friend's reactions were about the same as her's; they wanted him to leave Akane alone, and anyone he saw talking to her as well, which included Ranma. They were all sick of his spiels of the'vengence of the heavens' and his 'superior kendo skills' that make him more of an idiot than he was.
The stranger's reaction was different. He casually turned to meet the newcomer, as if he knew that he was there. Rather than ask the first question that she would have asked (that could be summed as who is this idiot?), he just looked Kuno straight in the eyes, then moved around with percision. Akane watched how his eyes moved; he didn't move his body while he almost scanned everything else of the kendoist's stance, position, build, and things she couldn't apprehend him looking at. He then moved with a slow casualness that said he was not planning to attack while he moved. He halted standing in a position that differed in every detail to Kuno's battle position. The stranger almost seemd to mock him by almost leaning against the rail of the bridge; it looked like he did, but he wasn't touching the concrete or metal.
She gave the guy credit; even Kuno couldn't be stupid enough to know the man thought him as little or no threat to his safety. He chose to be against the rail so any attack would be directed only at him, and wouldn't put her or her friends at risk, since the only swing that could be used effectively would be a downward strike or a thrust.
The stranger didn't bother taking the bundle off his back. Although it had a slight different shape to it, Akane knew he had some sort of katana or sword in it, since it was almost identical to what Ranma's mother carried with her. He kept it on his shoulder, with one hand on the strap, not a firm grip, but one that was a warning that he was skilled.
Now that she thought of it, he looked vaguely familiar. It wasn't something she could put a direct finger on, but there was something that made her think that she knew this person.
Kuno stood at a distance that was far enough that he would have to step forward one step to reach the person he faced down. The look he had on his face was one where he percieved the stranger's stance and casualness as an insult. While his opponent looked like he was bored or maybe amused, Kuno was angry, and was getting angrier as it dawned that he wasn't considered a threat.
"What a loathesome being you must be," the local kendoist said between clenched teeth, "to go and molest the fair maiden known as Akane Tendo! And then..."
"Who?" the stranger interupted, which caused Kuno to splutter.
Akane sighed before turning to the man. "He's talking about me."
"Ah." The man gave her and her friends a small bow after adding, "Charlie Frepp, please to make your aquaintance."
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"SILENCE!!!!" Kuno yelled, totally enraged. "It is proper to give one's name to your opponent before all else." He stopped to take a few calming breaths as the man looked on, waiting for him to continue.
"Now, I am known at Tatewaki Kuno, age 17, upperclassman of Furinkan High, head classman of the Kendo Club, and known by all as the Blue Thunder of Furikan!" He raised his bokken up and another lightning bolt came out of the clear, blue sky to land a distance behind him. Where any other man would have groveled at the impressive name, the man to whom he faced seemed unimpressed by it. Per chance was that a snicker when he had said the name which all know him by, and a raised brow at the heavens' greeting to their champion?
Kuno shook his head; it mattered not. The foolish knave was outclassed by his superior abilities. He had refused to wield his blade at such an obvious threat like him, and was uneducated in the formal addressing procedures. Surely this man was an idiot.
The man waited with no expression on his face, obvious rethinking of insulting his talents (not really, he was making sure Kuno wasn't going to spout more poetry before replying). Finally, the man opened his mouth to apolog...
"Impressive, I'll give you that. Can you do the same thing with water?"
Kuno grasp on his rage gave. No, it exploded! The fool would still doubt his skills, polished to perfection over years of training! There was only one response to such insolence!
"For that, insult, I shall SMITE THEEE!!"
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Akane watched in wonder as the man cooly pressed Kuno's buttons, enraging him on purpose to make the upperclassman strike. It hadn't taken long, with every step and word said by the stranger doing nothing but making Kuno angry. He attacked with a swing she estimated was with all of his strength, with no thought to hold back or for defence.
The oddly familiar man saw this as well. By the look, he had anticipated the attack. He simply stepped to the left of where he was standing, flipping the bundle off his back and into his right hand. As Kuno stepped forward to strike where he had stood, the stranger held the bundle at its mid-pont, placing it in front of the kendoist with his hand at about chest height. As the bokken came down overtop of the bundle, he rotated the bottom half between Kuno's thighs.
Akane stared at Charlie using such an underhanded move. She didn't think he would have used such a strategy to take out an enraged opponent. Then she saw something wrong with the picture. The bundle didn't hit the sensitive area with a swift or hard movement, rather it was highly controlled. It rotated with ease upward, met resistance, and continued rotating, pushing Kuno forward as he lost his balance when his downward slash reached the ground. For one second, Kuno was somehow balanced in the air, with only the man's arm holding him up. Then the one arm continued rotating backwards.
Dumping Kuno, bokken and all, into the water.
The stranger brought down his arm and turned his head to where his soggy opponent lay. Akane couldn't see his expression, but his
voice was the essence of calm when he spoke.
"Tatewaki Kuno," the stranger said, "You are too easily enraged by simple things, and don't think beyond the next attack. Work on your control before you face another opponent."
Akane broke out of her amazement at what she had just witnessed. He had just lifted a person up into the air and over his back with one arm. Amazement soon turned to a smile as she and her friends got the joke behind his message. He effectively told Kuno to cool off.
He turned back to Akane and her friends, giving them another small bow. "I'm sorry about that interuption. Before that, I was going to ask you three question. Mind if I do?"
Yuki and Sakuri were still stunned by the whole fight. They had seen Ranma fight Kuno on almost a daily basis. In their eyes, this man had not only faced and beat Kuno close to the record time Ranma can beat him, but had done the feat with no real flair or style. If you didn't count the strength and balance used to flip him over the rail, that is.
Akane was better off. The move was worthy of the Anything-Goes Style of Martial Arts. He had used words to make his enemy attack, then used his opponent's strength against him. Seeing it had surprised her, but, unlike her friends, she was more aquainted with abnormal moves not to be railroaded. She was the first to respond to Charlie's question.
"Sure." she said.
Charlie smiled and put the bundle back on his shoulder as he and the others ignored the splashing and curses coming from down below. He winced as lightning came down a fair distance away from him, somehow missing all the buildings and roadway to strike the water, which electricuted anything and anyone in it at the time. After making sure all three were paying attention, he asked them his question.
"I was told that there is a dojo somewhere around this area. Could you three give me directions to there?"
Akane and her friends looked at each other with what might be call apprehension. If this person was looking for the Tendo Dojo, it would be easy to take them there. Akane was about to say good-bye to her friends anyway, and the short walk could be long enough to find out more about the person. Especially if he was here to challenge the dojo, although she doubted anyone but Ranma could fight this person. A thought came to her suddenly for no apparent question.
"Are you related to the Hibiki's?"
Charlie blinked at the question, confusion written over his face. That was answer enough.
"No," he confirmed, "I had the impresion it was around the area, but no one would give directions."
Akane smiled at the man as she said good-bye to her friends a led the man away. It would be funny when he found out it was her home she was taking him to.
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Nodoka watched from the house as Ranma and Genma practiced out in the yard. Both were intense in their session, with the two trading blows in mid-air, defying gravity for a few seconds, then breaking off to land at the sides of the pool or the wall before launching at each other again. She couldn't help but be proud at how her son was able to defend the onslaught, and press Genma at every moment. Both were impresive, Nodoka had to admit.
However, being impressive and being good at martial arts are different. The wife of Genma watched as Ranma blocked more attacks than her husband did, and how more blows tended to penetrate through Genma's defenses. After a couple weeks of watching them spar, Nodoka could tell that her son was better than his father.
She also had to grin at the thought of how Ranma had learned so much about the martial arts since he had left as a small child. Everyday, before being reunited with them, Ranma's mother wondered where her husband and son were, and worried if Genma was taking good care of him. The few letters sent to her were a small comfort. She knew that they were reassurance that Genma was alive and well, and, even though he always said Ranma was doing well also, Nodoka privately wondered if she and her wandering husband were using the same definition.
The katana-wielding mother looked affectionatly at her son as he flipped over his father and landed on a stone. And now, she knew that those years were well worth it. Nodoka had dreams of how her son, a 'man among men,' would be a great husband when he and Akane get married someday. And a great father to their children.
Nodoka smiled at the thought of Ranma's children. She couldn't help but like the idea becoming a grandmother.
Her relvery was soon broken by a splash. As the Satome mother focused her gazed to where her family was practicing, she noticed Genma at the side of the pond, poised in a position of superiority over the wet form splashing in the water.
"Boy, you are leaving yourself wide open like that. I swear, you get easily distracted by every shiny yen piece lying on the ground."
The body slowly emerged from the pool, shaking as much water as she could from her head as she focused on Genma. Her red hair was soaked, with water shaking from the pig-tail she wore as she moved her head.
"That was no distraction, Pops. You used a dirty trick!"
"Ranma, If I don't show you how to counter these tricks, you'll..." The martial artist didn't get to finsih what he was going to say as he recieved a bucket of water from the pond in his face.
"Can it, Pops, don't use that stupid excuse on me. Look what you did. Now I have to take a bath before supper."
The female martial artist threw the pail away and hopped out of the water towards the house. The heir to Anything Goes School of Martial Arts looked down at her wet gi. The backyard had to be the worse place to practice, since it usually involved a dunk in the pool for one or both members of the family, yet they still prefered training there to the dojo.
A panda standing where Genma stood a second ago made a noise, holding a sign in his paw. {It's your own fault.}
Ranma refused to look at his transformed father, walking back to the house, frustration showing in every step of the way. As far as she was concerned, practice was over for the time being. The panda followed inside, making the sign disappear before going in search of a kettle.
Nodoka sighed and gave her husband a glare that would have had him crouching for forgiveness if his back wasn't turned to her. She hadn't truly liked finding out that her husband had dragged Ranma to those cursed springs in China without knowing any Chinese. Finding out that it was his fault that her son was cursed to be a girl didn't help any either. Genma had sweated plenty when she found that out, especially since that seppuku pledge was still in her posseson. Add that he and 'Ranko' had been living with the Tendo family since they returned to Japan, that he didn't send any letters, and kept her from knowing who they really were all the times she visited, it was a surprise Genma still lived. As it was, she had lost plenty of respect for her husband. Most likely the ony reason he still lived was because Ranma always acted manly, even while in his cursed form.
The wife of Genma sighed again as she entered the house and climbed the stairs to the guest room. Ranma had also worried about the sekkapu pledge and the katana she had carried with her when she visited. However, unlike his father, he had wanted to meet her, and spend time with her, even going as far as learning to cook in the kitchen with Akane. He wasn't at fault for having legitimate fears about his mother. No, she knew who was to blame for that and a few other problems trailing her son. And she knew her husband would pay for it soon. Stopping on the stairs, she changed her mind and returned downstairs, thinking to help Kasumi with dinner. As it happened, when she passed the bathroom, Nodoka could clearly hear Ranma through the screen doors leading to the bathtub.
"Stupid old man. Him and his stupid ideas. He knows I'm better than him, and has to cheat during practice. Thanks to him, I have a fiancee who's can't cook, hits me for no reason, and won't believe anything I say. I don't even know how many other fiancees he's engaged me to, and that's not the worse part of it."
Nodoka blinked at what she was hearing. Other fiancees? Obviously, Genma didn't tell everything he and her son did in the ten years they spent on the road training. Curious, Ranma's mother quietly slipped into the dressing room to hear better what he was saying, hoping he wouldn't hear her come in.
Ranma didn't hear his mother move silently to the other side of the wall and put an ear to the door. He was thinking dark thoughts of his father and what he experienced while he was being 'trained'. "And Pop's idea of training? I wouldn't call it anything of the sort. He was stupid enough not to read the whole manual of the Neko Ken, and, because of his stupid mistake, I suffer the consequences. He's the one who said Jusenkyo was a good training ground for martial artsits, and I end up cursed to be a girl. He freeloads off people, and I usually pay for it."
His mother gasped at hearing this. She could tell that he had lost plenty of respect for his father after everything that happened to him. As it was, Genma's wife also didn't like what she heard, and absently thought that the seppuku pledge would be too lenient for her husband. Neko Ken? That was something she hadn't heard the story to. And she only knew of Akane as his only fiancee.
Her eyes hardened as she thought of what else her son had gone through he wasn't saying, or didn't know. There was only one source
she knew would know all the answers.
Out of habit, Nodoka brought out the katana and gripped the hilt, sliding the blade out while thinking of the 'talk' she would have with her
husband.
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Genma suddenly sneezed while stirring his tea. As he did, he put a little too much force into the stirring stick he was using and broke it. The fat martial artist looked at the stick.
Sneezing and a bad omen, he thought. Hmmm...I don't know what's wrong, but this could be bad...
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Still lost in his thoughts, Ranma didn't hear the sounds coming from the other side of the door. Feeling somewhat relaxed, yet still tense, he kept saying everything that came to mind.
"I've had it with his stupid lines. 'Be willing to give your life to the art.' Yeah, I did, and it cost me my manlihood. 'A martial artist can turn anything into training.' Is that why you engaged me to all those girls, especially that uncute tomboy, Pop? Or was that your greed? 'Listen boy. I am grooming you to take over the school of Anything Goes Martial Arts.' Who said I wanted to? I might have been happy before you took me away from my mother. And I might have had other ideas too. 'Ranma, it's your destiny to get married and join the two houses together. You must honor the promise I made for you to wed one of Soun's daughters.' Gee, and I happen to have no say in who I wanted to marry. How considerate of you.
Nodoka listened to this spiel with the a saint's patience, deciding to leave before her son caught on to the person listening to all of his problems. Despite all the problems her son had during the last ten years, it sounded like his main problem was his relationship with Akane. They had always been well-behaved when she had visited, and what she saw when the Satome family moved in, she had always behaved herself. But, by the sound of it, things between the two weren't going well.
Opening the door and closing it silently, Ranma's mother slowly sheathed the blade before heading to the kitchen. She decided to avoid problems until she could get her husband alone, preferably in a place where they wouldn't be interupted until she was through with her questions.
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Outside, Akane sneezed as she stood outside the front entrance to her house. The last few minutes had been quiet with Charlie content to follow behind her. She had asked a few questions about why he wanted to go to the dojo, but he had refused to talk about, saying only that he had to check something for himself. What it was he had to check was left unsaid, despite her asking about it. Sneezing again, she opened the doors and kicked off her shoes. Charlie came in behind her, respectively waiting at the door.
"Kasumi, I'm home," she called.
The eldest Tendo daughter came out of the kitchen and around the corner, greeting her sibling before noticing the person who followed her in. The man was very polite, properly greeting the eldest Tendo before asking to come into the house proper. Kasumi was surprized at the request, not many who were regular visitors to the house bothered with asking to come in; they were usually to busy chasing after someone to think of the informal asking, nevermind anything remotely formal. After he introduced himself, and was introduced to Kasumi, Akane led Charlie to her father.
"Dad! Someone here to talk to you," Akane called.
A person he assumed was her father came down the hallway and around the corner, followed by a panda walking on two legs. An older woman joined the small group from the way Kasumi had come, and another girl had come down the stairs, probably interested in the commotion near the front door. Noting everyone's reaction to the panda, Charlie admitted he was surprized at the the site as much as how everyone took it in stride.
Things like walking pandas are an everyday occurance here?! Yeah, there was good reason why people clamped up about this dojo. If this was a regular occurance, what would it be like on an abnormal day?
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Not completely finished this chapter. Wanted to add what I have so far, while I work on my other story.
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