Changing the Past

A Ranma ½ and Rurouni Kenshin crossover

Disclaimer: I wish I did, but I don't own Ranma ½ or Rurouni Kenshin. Damn it…

Chapter 4

Tricks

Ranma dodged the initial assault and tried to hit the man with a karate chop to the neck. However, the man ducked and struck upward with his sword. Ranma caught the sword bare-handed and twisted it out of the man's grasp. But then, the man kicked Ranma, sending him flying into a tree.

"You will have to do better than that, kid," said the man, sneering down at Ranma.

"I have better!" Ranma leaped up into the trees after that statement and started tearing off tree branches and launching them at the man. The man was retrieving his sword when this happened, so he was hit with a few branches before he started blocking with his sword.

After throwing twenty or thirty branches, Ranma jumped down from the tree with a cry of "Saotome Shooting Star KICK!" The man just barely dodged the ki-powered kick and countered with a sword thrust. Ranma bounced off the sword and stuck his tongue out at his opponent. The man was infuriated by this and launched a barrage of attacks at Ranma, his mind in a red mist of rage.

Ranma dodged every thrust and started leading the man into a spiral. Kenshin, who was watching from above, noticed this and wondered what the teenager martial artist was up to. At the center of the spiral Ranma grinned and launched his most devastating attack.

"HIRYU SHOTEN HA!"

The resulting tornado launched the man into air with tremendous force and hurled him out of the area. The deafening roar of the winds lasted a few minutes before dying down. Ranma smirked as Kenshin jumped down and looked at Ranma with ill-concealed amazement. After a moment, the man plummeted down on to the ground. Hard. After picking up the bruised and broken man, Kenshin turned to Ranma.

"Ki, ne?" asked Kenshin.

"Yeah," replied Ranma. "Can you do anything like it?"

"Not really," answered Kenshin. "I have some ki control, but not the amount needed to pull off that."

Ranma and Kenshin began tying the man to a tree. "What can you do then?"

"Well, it's not much…"

"C'mon! Just show me!"

"Hai, hai…"

Kenshin unsheathed his sword and raised it above his head. With a cry of "Do-ryu-sen!", he swung it down into the ground, launching his ki into the earth, creating a sizable fissure. Kenshin then replaced his sword into its sheath and turned to Ranma, who had an amused expression.

"Not bad," said Ranma. "So, you use the sword to project your ki into the ground, ne?"

"You sure know a lot about ki, Ranma-dono," replied Kenshin with a smile.

"I got a lot of experience," said Ranma, with a smile matching that of Kenshin's. "And, for the time being, it's just Ranma."

Sano and Akane made their way into the Akebeko with some difficulty, for it was lunch. When they finally found Tae, they quickly told their story and asked if she had seen any short old men in the vicinity.

"Hmm…" Tae thought for a second. "Well, there was one very peculiar customer we had here. He was very short and was carrying a big sack on his back."

"That's him!" exclaimed Akane. "Do you know where he went after eating here?"

"Um…" Tae thought some more. "Well, he did say something about going to Kyoto…"

"KYOTO!" yelled Sano, heedless of all the strange looks that came his way. "Of all the places in Japan, WHY KYOTO!"

"…" Akane was silent after this sudden outburst.

"Uh… Sorry…"

When the day was through, the two groups met up back at the Dojo. Sano and Akane told everyone else of what they had found. Kenshin's eyes narrowed at Kyoto and Kaoru drew a gasp. Ranma and Akane were still in the dark however.

"Um…" said Ranma, uncertain of what was going on. "What's this about Kyoto?"

"It's a long story…" sighed Kenshin.

"Well," said Ranma. "I guess we got time…"

Kenshin and co. related the tale in vivid detail. Ranma and Akane listened in sympathy as they knew what it was like to face such horrors. When the story was finished, everyone was silent for a while until Ranma spoke up.

"Well," he began. "I say let bygones be bygones, so we should just head on to Kyoto."

Kenshin sighed. "That we should."

"Well, then!" said Sano. "What are we waitin' here for? Let's go to Kyoto!"

And so, plans were made to go to Kyoto. They all decided to walk there, considering that ship fares were going up and spring was a really nice time to be outdoors.

"Sure," agreed Ranma. "I don't got any problems with that unless I gotta eat that tomboy's cooking… ACK!" Ranma now had a fist in his stomach, courtesy of Akane.

"Shut up you baka…"

Three days later…

During a period of three days, everyone had made their own preparations for the trip. Kenshin had sent word ahead to the Inn for lodging and alarm of Happosai's appearance. Sano went into hiding to avoid all his debts. Kaoru also sent word ahead to Tae's sister of their coming. Yahiko didn't know what to do, so he just sat around impatiently until preparations were finished. As for Ranma and Akane…

"I told ya, I'm not gonna train you!" yelled Ranma.

"How am I going to help you defeat Happosai then?" retaliated Akane. "You know you and I alone don't stand a chance at him!"

"You're just gonna get in the way!"

"Was I in the way before?"

"Um…"

"HA! So there!"

Ranma sighed. He knew Akane needed more training, but he was afraid he would hurt her if he tried to train her. However, he knew that someday, Akane would have to defend herself against someone better than her current position. With that in mind, Ranma finally gave up.

"Fine, ya want me to train you?"

"Yes!" Akane was on the verge of using the puppy-dog eyes.

"Do you trust me to train you?"

"Uh… Yeah!"

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Fine."

"Yay! Thank you Ranma!" Akane suddenly glomped onto said Ranma.

"Ok then, if you think I'm not doin' too well on instructing you, just holler."

"LIKE THIS!"

"Not what I meant…"