Other people's words ring in my head constantly. They have for months now. "The good of the many outweighs the good of the one or the few." "With great power comes great responsibility." "Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather what you can do for your country." "All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." I'd never heard any of these sayings during the training trip with my father, but I've always understood them. There is a principle behind The Art that I can feel embedded in my soul. The theory behind the creation of The Art is this: by devoting oneself to becoming the best one can be, a person can attain the heights to fight for those that cannot fight for themselves. People say I live for the challenges, the chaos, the anarchy that is my life, but those people don't know me. I view them all as necessary steps in learning what I need to know. That doesn't mean I have to like it, though. No, far from it. I hate it. I hate having to deal with people who insist on perverting that which I believe in for their own ends. Maybe that makes me an idealist. Maybe that makes me naive. If so, I don't care. "A martial artist's life is fraught with peril." My pop's said it so many times and for the first time in my life I truly understand. A martial artist's life is fraught with peril for a reason. We are tossed into the crucible of destiny and melted down into our basest components. Forged and tempered by the world we face our lives reaching and surpassing our limits. We are prepared for the things to come by the only thing that can prepare us. Battle.
I'd hoped that my task was over with after I fought with Saffron on the twisted slopes of Juesendo. But my tests continued, and I'm afraid. Afraid of further tests that I might fail. Afraid of the lessons I must learn before I'm truly ready. Afraid of what my true task will be. I killed a demigod, and it was only a test. A splinter of absolute cold travels the length of my spine constantly now. It was only a test. Only a test. There is another saying that is traveling though my mind and it scares me beyond anything that I've ever thought of before. I, Ranma Saotome, am afraid, no terrified, of an idle thought that came to me one day while practicing The Art. An Art that has killed a demigod. An Art that believes that any power, any skill, can be defeated. An Art that refuses to believe in defeat. I've increased the level of my Art more in the past year than I have in the entire course of my life before. Again a quote by some unknown speaker drifts to the surface of my memory. "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely." Saffron was only a test. A demigod was only a test.
If Juesendo was only a test, what is the task it was preparing me for?
Absolute Power Overcome
A Ranma ½ Fanfiction
By Prospero Hibiki
Disclaimer:
Were I anything but a poor college student I would ... well I don't know what would happen since I doubt that this situation will change in the foreseeable future except if I fail out of said college. As it is I'm not making any money off of these characters and any character that you don't recognize from Takahashi Rumiko's Ranma ½ series is mine. And the truly sad thing is I'm not even making money off of them.
It's been two months since I admitted that my task hasn't come yet. I've stopped going to school despite everyone telling me that I should. It just doesn't seem as important as it used to. When everyone gained up on me last month by making me talk to Ms. Hinako, I decided to go for broke and actually told her what I'd surmised. It took a while for me to make my reasoning clear enough, showing her the clear progression in challenges and battles, but I'd known I'd succeeded the moment that her face paled. Nabiki's been dying to discover what we talked about, especially since Ms. Hinako quit her position at Furinkan the next day. Since then I've been going to her house every day to do my training there. I didn't know before that she was the heir to a fairly large fortune and didn't need to work. She's been helping me by searching for anything and everything she can find on the martial arts. Sure she hasn't really let me off the hook completely in my studies, but even I need a break every so often. Not that I'll ever admit that out loud. As it is she makes me take the breaks by draining my energy and making me study while I recover. It's a better deal than you'd think because I think I'm slowly learning to overcome the draining effect that the Happo Go En Satsu has on my chi levels. Doesn't hurt that Ms. Hinako is a babe to boot when she's an adult.
Yeah, I've noticed her. I'm a martial artist for god's sake. I've been trained to observe and count a person's pulse at ten feet. Is it really so hard to think that I'd notice someone as well built as she is especially when she transforms into something as tight as she has to wear. Nabiki would say that I haven't matured as much mentally as I have physically. In fact she actually has said that on several occasions when she thought I couldn't hear her. Of course it's complete and utter bull. I'm not exactly pure in that meaning of the word. With my mom's ideas of manliness my old man took care of that problem by tossing me into a house of ill repute and not letting me out for a week. After that just about anyone would realize that I know Plug A goes into Slot B. That is if I'd told anyone about that which I'm not about to do anytime this century. I find it's just easier to fend off unwanted attention if people don't think I have a clue. Just what would happen if Shampoo had any idea brings shudders to mind. I'd become nothing but an Amazonian baby machine. Nope, not happening. Not to Mrs. Saotome's boy. Despite the ideas of Mrs. Saotome herself. She doesn't need grandchildren that badly.
Of course then again I've been getting some indications that Ms. Hinako might not be all that adverse to any attentions I might pay her. Kind of depressing really since that means that I'm going to have to act like I don't notice her at all now. Stupid family honor. Stupid old man. Ms. Hinako's only three years older than me and I have to keep her at bay as if she had the plague. Yeah, surprised me too that she was that young, but I guess in addition to being rich she's also something of a child prodigy. Damn, I really liked Hinako watching. It was the only thing that made school bearable when I was going. Well, then again I'm not going to school anymore anyway, so it's not as big a loss as it could have been.
Akane's come to the stupid conclusion that I've been sleeping with her. This time I didn't even have to say anything because Nabiki broke out laughing so hard she fell out of her desk chair in the next room. God, that girl is so clueless. Even after that incident she couldn't figure out how Nabiki had overheard us. Like she could have somehow missed seeing the electronic equipment that was so poorly concealed in Nabiki's open desk drawer. You know, the one with the headphones leading from it to Nabiki's ears. But then again she's still suffering under the misconception that she ranks near first in the top ten martial artists of the district. Her, a girl that practices maybe an hour a day two days a week. She screams for me to fight her for real every time she gets me to spar with her. After that point I just stop because I've already won. I thank whatever god is watching over me that I don't have to put up with that anymore. This is primarily because she's refusing to speak with me. Oh, no! What. A. Punishment! I think I'll just DIE! As if!
Still if Hinako is really interested in me then it might not be all that bad a thing. I mean she's oddly enough the only person who treats me like a human being. Doesn't exactly hurt anything that she's also the only person that is going out of her way to help me out. I mean sure Cologne has taught me a lot about the martial arts, but she occasionally backslides into her 'men are nothing but breeding material' mode of thought even after the many times I've proved to be just as good as she herself is. Kind of sad though that the person closest to winning the fiancé race is the last person to enter it. Who knows maybe I'm just mistaking honest concern for my well being for something else.
I should really be getting over to Hinako's house about now. She kicked me out saying that she had something she needed to take care of for two hours. It's been a little over two and a half since then and besides it looks like it's going to rain soon. Standing up from my upside down position under the bridge over the canal I walk for a bit until I'm over solid ground before flipping off. Just one of the chi techniques that Hinako-sensei has helped me by digging up. I think she called this one 'Silverfish on the Ceiling' something I thought really lame until she explained that it was designed to have a person treat any surface as if it were level ground. The ultimate goal of the training is to be able to leap and fight while supported by nothing by a falling leaf. Or at least that's what I want to be able to do. With that in mind I think I'll change the name to 'The Dance of Falling Leaves' when I reach that level of skill.
The trip by rooftop doesn't take much more than five minutes, and only that long because of dodging several splashes of water that seem to come from nowhere. Sure Hinako never complained about heating up the water necessary to change me back, but I really appreciate what she does for me as it was. Alighting on her front step I kick some of the dirt off my feet before opening the door and taking off my shoes and putting on some house slippers. Just as I turn my attention to the hallway I freeze. Something is off. I stay in that position with my foot hovering about a foot over the hard wood floor leading from the genkan to the rest of the house. Moving it away I bend at the waist and lean close. It's hard but after looking really close I can tell that there is a thin sheen of oil on the floor. Just one step onto it would have sorely tested my ability to maintain my balance. Still it's not exactly something that I was expecting to meet in the hall of my teacher's house. I shrug because with all the practice I've been getting with walking on the ceiling this should be a piece of cake.
A quick flip puts me sticking to the ceiling of the genkan and taking a step down the hallway. Or rather it has me try. My first step past where the hall starts has me lose my connection to the ceiling and fall to the floor in a rather embarrassing heap. Okay now I'm annoyed. Apparently it wasn't enough to oil the floor but the ceiling as well. It takes a few seconds of thought but by bracing my feet in the corners of the hall I work my way to the kitchen where I can hear faint snickering. Sticking my head into the doorway I grab the frame and pull myself in to glare at Hinako who is currently in her younger child state and laughing at me.