Chapter 5: Genryu Vs. Ranma.

:Furinkan Field:

No words were traded as the two combatants walked toward each other, stopping when they were separated by nearly twenty feet of green grass. Ranma and Genryu studied each other for a moment before sliding into combat crouches, their eyes never leaving their opponent. For a short amount of time, they simply stood there, crouched down, as a strong breeze played through the field, blowing hair and clothes about. The audience stayed completely silent, feeling the tension mount until one could almost cut it with a knife.

Then Genryu crouched down just a bit more, gathering power into his legs, before dashing forward. Ranma's stance didn't change, remaining focused almost completely on offense as Genryu charged forward. Just as Genryu reached him, fist drawn back for a jab, Ranma stepped to the left, striking out with his foot. Ranma's foot caught Genryu at the ankle, and with a slight lift and twisting motion, Ranma propelled Genryu into the air, the younger boy flipping uncontrolled.

The fight was on.

Genryu tucked himself into a ball to regain control of his body, and then lashed out with a leg in a spin kick for Ranma's head. The older boy ducked, letting the kick whistle harmlessly overhead, then brought his hands up to catch Genryu's other leg as it came down toward his shoulder in a heel drop. Ranma pushed upward with both arms, sending Genryu into a flip away from him.

The youngest Saotome twisted in the air to land on his feet and instantly slid into a defensive stance as Ranma attacked.

On the sidelines, general murmurs of surprise sounded as people watched. Akane listened with only half of her attention, the rest focused on the fight.

"...fights just as well..."

"...rumor is that Genryu would win..."

"...I bet 3,000 yen on Genryu..."

"...but he hasn't landed a blow..."

"...something's fishy..."

"...Nabiki looks confident..."

As she caught the snippet of that last sentence, Akane turned to study her older sister.

Nabiki did indeed look confident, her usual smirk in place, despite the fact that everyone had placed bets on Genryu. If Genryu won like he claimed he was going too, Nabiki would be out a lot of money. And maybe it was that Akane knew Nabiki better than most people at school, but to her, Nabiki's smirk looked slightly forced and strained. Akane frowned as she realized that Nabiki's strained expression was the equivalent of someone else downright pacing and muttering in anxiety.

The middle Tendo daughter was worried about something.

Akane's attention was dragged back to the fight as there was a collective gasp from the crowd, and she was just in time to see Genryu fly into the air, arms and legs dangling, only to crash back down to the earth thirty feet away from Ranma. The elder Saotome drew back his left arm from an uppercut as he waited for his younger brother to recover.

And recover Genryu did, climbing back to his feet slowly, rubbing at his jaw. He studied Ranma, re-gauging his elder brother's capabilities from their recent bout.

Ranma stood, completely relaxed, hands once again in his cloak pockets, a slight smirk on his face. Genryu felt the stirrings of anger and mercilessly squashed them. As his normal calm and confident mind set came fully back, Genryu slid into an offensive stance, having the quick thought of, (Now if only Ryoga could calm down when he faced me. Then he'd be a real challenge.)

Genryu gathered his ki, preparing for a subsequent charge toward Ranma, followed by a quick Amaguriken, and an even quicker retreat. Since staying at close range with Ranma had proved ineffective, Genryu was going to try the tried-and-true hit-and-run tactic.

As Genryu charged at him, Ranma removed both hands from his cloak pockets, but didn't choose a stance. Instead, he simply stood there, relaxed, while Genryu closed the distance between them. And everyone saw why once Genryu reached Ranma and struck with a cry of, "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!"

Ranma turned so his right side was more toward Genryu, and blocked each of the rapid-fire punches with an unsettling ease. The fact that he did it with only his right hand also irked Genryu somewhat.

(Damn it, nearly a month of training to learn this technique, and he blocks it with one stupid hand!)

Genryu cut off the attack prematurely, since it had no effect and was merely a waste of energy, before leaping back and preparing to run around to attack Ranma from the side. He took his eyes off of Ranma for a bare moment to glance around and see if there was anything he could use to his advantage. When Genryu glanced back to Ranma's position, it was only to see the empty space that the elder Saotome brother had vacated.

"By the way, the hit-and-run tactic only works..."

Genryu gave a mental curse as he felt fingers wrap around his right wrist in a vice like grip. He turned to see Ranma smirking at him, holding Genryu's wrist with his left hand while his right was drawn back, fingers curled into a fist.

"...If you can outrun your opponent."

So saying, Ranma then pulled Genryu toward him with his left arm, and punched forward with his right. Ranma felt his fist collide with Genryu's face, and heard the telltale muffled crunch of Genryu's nose breaking, too quiet for most of the audience to hear. A moment later, as the force Ranma had applied caught up to Genryu's body, the younger Saotome was flying through the air. Genryu crashed down thirty feet away and involuntarily performed a sliding roll for another twenty feet, finally coming to rest on his stomach.

Genryu laid still for nearly ten seconds, and people began grumbling that he had lost, when he suddenly moved. With a grunt, Genryu placed his right hand on the ground to push him up, using his left hand to stem the flow of blood from his nose.

On the sidelines, Cologne and Mascara both shook their heads slightly. Shampoo turned to study her great-grandmother when the matriarch said, "That had to hurt."

Sensing the confusion of both Shampoo and Lotion, Cologne nodded toward Genryu. The two girls turned just in time to see Shampoo's husband place his left thumb on the side of his nose and push.

As a slight popping sound came and Genryu relaxed after he wiped some of the blood off of his face, a shudder passed through most of the crowd at the realization he had just set his broken nose.

Genryu simply stood still for a minute, recovering. He spat out some blood that had fallen into his mouth, blew hard through his nose to clear the remaining blood out, and once again wiped off his face.

Ranma, who had tucked his hands once again into the pockets of his cloak, watched Genryu while he waited. When he saw his younger brother practically flow into an offensive stance, and felt a change in Genryu's aura, Ranma knew that Genryu had just become serious. Ranma removed his hands from his cloak pockets and clenched them into fists. He didn't assume a stance, instead merely turning so his left side was more toward Genryu, and bringing his hands up. His right remained level with his waist, and his left was placed before him, angled upward.

The crowd, watching, realized that something was changing in the fight, and silence once again settled over the spectators.

And not a moment too soon as Genryu charged Ranma, the eyes of both combatants never leaving those of the other. Genryu cleared the ground between himself and Ranma in a blur, and lashed out with a simple jab, aimed directly at Ranma's face.

Ranma's left hand moved to intercept, the fingers unfurling from the fist to catch and hold Genryu's fist, when Ranma's eyes suddenly widened and he threw himself to the side. Genryu's fist shot through the space occupied by Ranma's head only to be retracted at Amaguriken speed. Genryu's other fist shot out as Ranma leaned back, letting attack pass over him as he struck out with his right leg.

Genryu's left leg went flying out from under him and he fell to the side, unbalanced. Ranma quickly stood up and leapt away from Genryu as the younger brother climbed to his feet and gave chase.

Everyone on the sidelines gasped when Genryu reached Ranma, gave a single punch towards Ranma's ribs that the elder brother didn't even bother to block or dodge. Genryu's fist flew toward Ranma's ribs in a blur...

...And stopped with a bare inch separating Genryu's fist from Ranma's ribs. Genryu looked down in shock and gasped as he saw his fist, with a corona of his own ki, a blue white in color, surrounded by a cushion of Ranma's own ki, which was slightly darker. Ranma's right hand calmly reached out and grabbed hold of Genryu's wrist. The younger brother looked up into Ranma's face as the elder spoke.

"Not bad Genryu, coming up with that technique from watching me use the Gentle Fist once. But that won't work on me."

Ranma then spun, Genryu's wrist still grasped in his own. Genryu grunted when he was pulled forward and his chest was pressed rather firmly against the back of Ranma's shoulder. A moment later, the world tilted crazily for Genryu as Ranma threw him into the air in a conventional shoulder throw.

Flipping over in the air to land on his feet, Genryu thought, (What was that! Stopped my attack easily, almost like a cushion. Wait...) Genryu landed, his legs bending slightly as he absorbed his downward momentum. (A cushion of ki...Damn. His control over his ki is incredible if he can do that. This is going to be harder than I thought.) As Genryu slid once again into an offensive stance, a light blue glow came slowly into existence around his fists and feet, enforcing and protecting them. (Time for the knockout.)

Ranma frowned as he saw Genryu's ki come into existence. A quick scan of his younger brother's aura revealed that the younger Saotome was truly serious. His focus had reached a level that actually surprised Ranma, and Genryu's ki was growing as he powered up. (So, he's going all out. This should be entertaining.)

Time seemed to ground to a halt as Ranma adopted an offensive stance to match his brothers, and the two looked at each other, separated by thirty feet of grass.

Then time snapped back into place as the two charged, covering the ground between them instantly as they both attacked.

Genryu waited till the last second before diving forward into a roll. Once he was in the perfect position, he pushed against the ground with his hands and uncoiled from the roll like a spring, striking out with both legs, feet aimed at Ranma's chin. The elder Saotome leaned back, letting the feet pass in front of his face as the power Genryu had put into the blow lifted him into the air. As Genryu's unprotected side came into view Ranma struck with a simple jab with his right fist, the attack making Genryu grunt and spin in the air.

Using the spin to his advantage, Genryu twisted his body to add some extra force while he performed a sweeping kick toward Ranma's head. Ducking, Ranma let the kick move overhead harmlessly while he tried to strike Genryu's suddenly exposed back. However, Ranma aborted the attack in favor of leaning back as Genryu once again spun, this time in such a way that his right fist came back and up, aimed at Ranma's chin in a back hand.

As gravity took hold on Genryu once more, he reoriented himself to land on his feet, arms ready to cross in a block. A block he made good use of as Ranma's fist shot out, aimed at his chest. Genryu's arms crossed into an X over the spot Ranma would strike, and Genryu grinned at Ranma. That grin died a quick, painful death as Ranma's fist suddenly unfurled, and the punch turned into a palm strike.

On the sidelines, Akane, though she could barely keep up with the speed, felt her mouth open to shout a warning while she mentally screamed, (Gentle Fist! Dodge it Genryu!)

Almost as if he could hear her, Genryu immediately threw his weight backward, his arms still crossed over his chest. The younger Saotome doubted he'd get clear of the attack, but felt a stirring of hope in his chest as Ranma's hand stopped just short of Genryu's arms, and there was a burst of blue ki that felt almost like a feather duster being rather forcibly applied to Genryu's arms.

Suddenly overbalanced, Genryu fell onto his back. He immediately tried to recover, swinging his legs up and pushing against the ground with his arms. Ranma leaned back, dodging the kicks, but Genryu thought he saw Ranma give a lightning quick jab at one of his legs. Ignoring it for more pressing matters, Genryu continued to push against he ground, shoving himself into the air in a flip that took him a few feet away from Ranma.

As soon as Genryu touched down, he propelled himself forward in a sprint for Ranma, idly wondering about the not quite painful tingling in both of his arms. As he cleared the distance between them, Genryu shoved the sensation into the back of his mind as he gathered as much ki as he could muster, and sent it shooting into his arms as he reached Ranma, the elder Saotome having fallen into a defensive stance.

Genryu's arms turned into mere blue blurs as he shouted, "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken," his fists surrounded in nearly three inches of his ki. Ranma met the enhanced assault head on, his own arms becoming black clad blurs as he blocked, or redirected each punch Genryu threw, as well as some action Genryu couldn't quite identify.

A moment later, Genryu didn't care about whatever Ranma was doing as his arms erupted in pain.

Ranma, who was paying close attention to his brother's face and aura, instantly knew when the pain hit, and took advantage of the distraction, spinning around in a roundhouse kick that caught Genryu completely by surprise.

Genryu hit the ground in a rolling slide. Near the end he smoothly rolled to his feet, holding his arms gingerly before him. Many people on the sidelines exclaimed as they saw Genryu's arms, which had turned an angry red, with numerous small dots on them, about the size of a pea.

On the sidelines, Tofu suddenly leaned forward, his eyes narrowed as he looked at Genryu's arms. "Cologne, if I could borrow your eyes for a moment?"

The aged matriarch nodded.

"Can you look at Genryu's arms, in specific the ki pathways in them, and tell me what you see?"

Cologne nodded as she focused on the young Saotome's arms, her eyes unfocusing for a moment. When they refocused, Cologne saw things differently. People looked like faint outlines of themselves, filled with slight blobs of color. She was skilled enough with this trick that when she focused on Genryu, the blobs of color held within his 'outline' ceased to be mere blobs. Instead, the color, mostly a light blue, seemed to condense into pathways that moved throughout the body, wrapping around internal organs. The color, which was ki, seemed to be moving constantly, rather like water through pipes.

With the exception of the ki in Genryu's arms.

"What!"

Tofu, Mascara, Lotion and Shampoo all turned to look at Cologne as the matriarch let her vision return to normal. Cologne looked perplexed, confused, and, perhaps, a little anxious.

Shampoo looked concerned as she asked, "Great-Grandmother, what wrong?"

Cologne ignored the question for a moment as she gazed at Genryu and Ranma, the elder of which was letting Genryu recover.

"The ki in Genryu's arms, it's...blocked off."
Tofu sat forward sharply, his attention focused completely on Cologne as she continued, ignoring Mascara's gasp of surprise.

"It happened when Genryu last used the Amaguriken. While Genryu was throwing the punches, Ranma made numerous finger jabs, each one so fast I almost couldn't follow, to several points on Genryu's arms."

Mascara's eyes focused on Genryu, seeing past the flesh to the ki beneath to see what Cologne was talking about while she continued.

"Now, on each of the points that Ranma struck, there is a block of foreign ki in Genryu's ki pathways. The ki is trapped, and I'd say it's only a matter of minutes before Genryu's arms become paralyzed for several hours at least."

Shampoo turned to the two brothers, her face openly showing her concern, while Lotion merely looked on, focused on the fight. Mascara, her check of Genryu's aura complete, shook her head as she spoke, a respect showing clearly through her voice.

"The focus needed for the precise, pinpoint accuracy to hit those spots in the middle of a battle, not to mention while Genryu was using the Amaguriken, is mind boggling."

Tofu returned his attention to the fight, his brow pursed in thought.

"I don't suppose you'll be doing the smart thing, and giving up, will you?"

Genryu growled at Ranma's question.

"Not on your life. I'm winning this fight."
Ranma merely blinked at his brother's statement of imminent victory before saying, "Take as much time as you need to recover then."

Genryu's teeth ground against each other at Ranma's tone, and he longed to go and shut Ranma up. The only problem was, Genryu didn't see how he could.

His arms felt bulky and uncooperative with his brain, not to mention they still burned with pain somewhat. That and, for some reason, he couldn't feel the ki in his arms anymore. It was as if they had suddenly vanished.

For the first time in the fight, Genryu was confronted with the realization that he might actually lose. Hard on the heels of that realization was the thought, (No! I'm Saotome Genryu, I CAN'T lose. Especially not to Ranma.) Genryu felt confidence born of determination burn through him. (And I won't. I just have to find a way to beat him. He's not invincible.) As Genryu thought on possible ways to beat Ranma, he glared at the black clad Saotome, who stood perfectly relaxed, facing Genryu.

(Damn it, I can't do anything while he's facing me. No tricks, like gathering a rock or something, and I can't use the Saotome Final Attack, he's too fast. Wait...that's it!) Genryu quickly considered he spoke, his voice carrying over to Ranma.

"Alright, I'm ready."

Ranma nodded, oblivious to Genryu's thoughts.

(I doubt anyone's ever gotten behind Ranma before, with his speed, so he'll have developed a blind spot behind him! All I have to do is gather my ki into my legs and put on a burst of speed when he least expects it. I'll have to use my new technique, and deliver a single kick to the back of Ranma's head. This fight is MINE!)

Ranma's next words, however, worked quite well in killing the blossoming hope in Genryu.

"Good, cause I've finished warming up."

Genryu blinked, feeling the hope die within him. (He's bluffing. He's got to be.) Clinging to that one thought, Genryu raised his arms clumsily into position before himself.

A moment later, Genryu realized that Ranma was, in fact, not bluffing in the slightest.

Ranma crouched down, gathering a fraction of his total ki and focusing it. The spectators blinked as an aura of dark blue came into existence around Ranma, outlining his form in a corona of energy. Then Ranma leaned forward, as if he was about to fall over, and...

...disappeared.

Genryu blanched, his face showing unrestrained shock. He caught a flicker of motion as Ranma ran straight at him, almost faster than Genryu could track. (This speed's on par with Cologne!) Genryu started a kick, aimed for where he thought Ranma was attacking. However, the kick met nothing as Ranma suddenly switched directions, diving and rolling into a rising kick that struck Genryu in the chin.

Nabiki watched on the sidelines as the younger Saotome was lifted into the air, feeling relief flow through her. As Genryu hit the ground, rolling backwards and up to his feet, rather shaken, Nabiki thought, (This fight is over.) When Genryu suddenly sprinted at Ranma, Nabiki smirked, this time with true confidence. (Genryu just doesn't know it yet.)

Ranma quickly reoriented himself, placing his feet back on the ground as Genryu closed the distance between them. When Genryu was nearly ten feet away, he suddenly darted to the side, picking up speed in an attempt to get behind Ranma. Ranma smirked as he waited before lashing out behind himself, catching Genryu in the head with a heal kick. The younger Saotome flew into the air once again, spinning slowly, as Ranma brought his foot back to the ground, facing Genryu's twisting form.

Genryu crashed into the ground with a muffled thump before sliding away a small distance. For a moment, Ranma actually thought that Genryu would stay down. However, as Genryu slowly and painfully climbed back to his feet, Ranma actually felt a bit of admiration for his brother. (Heh. You had a good run, Genryu, but it's time to end this.)

As Genryu stared at Ranma, his vision blurry, he noticed that his arms weren't responding anymore. When Ranma suddenly disappeared again, Genryu found he didn't care. (Damn it, I'm the best. How can I lose to someone like Ranma?) A small voice in the back of Genryu's head, a voice he more often than not ignored, said, (Maybe he's not the same Ranma you remember.)

As Genryu's vision went black and he passed out, he muttered, "Just shut up, damnit."

Stunned silence ruled over the field as Ranma suddenly slowed down enough to be seen by everyone present, coming to a stop next to Genryu as the younger Saotome fell forward. Ranma's arm shot out and he easily caught Genryu's form before gently laying him on the grass. Ranma crouched next to Genryu for a moment and tapped several spots on his arms before standing and walking over to Dr. Tofu.

The good Doctor stood as Ranma approached, hands in his cloak pockets. Ranma inclined his head back toward Genryu, and said, "He could use some help with the bruises he's going to wake up with."

Tofu nodded before stepping around Ranma and walking toward Genryu's prone form. A moment later, Nabiki's voice echoed out over the field, magnified by the megaphone she held.

"And the winner is Ranma!"

:Author's Note:

Ah, got that one done. Again, I apologize for the extremely long wait since my last update. Please review, ask questions, and all that great stuff. It'll help me make the future chapters better, which will hopefully keep you all hooked as readers who will be forgiving for update gaps.