Chapter 5: Passing the Torch
Akane woke to the smell of breakfast cooking downstairs. While this was far from uncommon, the mood she was in had become rare over the past two years.
"Morning Dad. Morning Kasumi," she said cheerfully as she came into the dining room.
"Oh, good morning Akane," Kasumi replied, just as cheerfully, "Your breakfast is already on the table."
"Thanks, Kasumi," Akane said, then turned to look at her father. "I still can't get used to not seeing Ranma and Mr. Saotome every morning," she said, her smile faltering slightly.
Soun Tendo put down the newspaper he'd been reading and regarded his youngest daughter, feeling an old, but not quite healed pain in his heart. "Yes, my friend Saotome's departure was rather sudden, but after what happened to Ranma, it could not be avoided." After Ranma's death and the loss of his best friend, Soun had resolved to be strong and support his daughters. Rebuilding had started slow, but eventually, word had gotten around and now Soun was teaching several classes a week and the Tendo Dojo was once again the prestigious institution of its golden years. Even Happosai had admitted that Soun had proven himself as a fitting heir and had retired to a sunny beach in South France, where he still troubles young women.
"I agree that Mr. Saotome should have been there to help Ranma, but isn't seppuku a little extreme?" Akane asked.
"Maybe so, but he couldn't bear to tell his wife that he was in a restaurant eating while his son was fighting for the life of his fiancee," Soun answered.
"Have you heard from Auntie Nodoka lately? How is she?" Akane asked, not losing much of her good mood.
"Yes, actually. I recieved a postcard from her the other day," Soun answered. "She's apparently doing very well in America. It seems that Americans are quite willing to pay rather high prices for authentic Japanese cuisine. As a matter of fact-"
Soun was interrupted by an arrow ripping through the sliding screen and imbedding itself in the table mere inches from his hand.
"Hey! That could hurt somebody!" Akane protested, then took a closer look. "Huh? A letter?" she queried.
"So it is," Soun confirmed. "It seems to be a challenge letter for you," he observed.
"Oh?" Akane said, then perused the letter for a moment. "It is a challenge," she explained. "It says for me to bring Ryoga to the mountain where he learned the breaking point technique in one week!"
"Would you like for me to come as well?" Soun asked, a little concerned.
"No, Dad," Akane said, shaking her head. "If I'm going to be heir to the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, I need to do this for myself."
A single tear rolled down Soun's cheek as he smiled proudly at his youngest daughter.
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Ryoga leaned against a large tree, trying in vain to catch his breath. He had been training hard for hours and still couldn't tell that he was making any real progress.
"You're doing really well, boy," Cologne said. Unlike her new pupil, Cologne was showing no signs of tiring. But then again, she'd been doing this type of thing for well over a hundred years now. "You are turning out to be just as good a student as Ranma was," Cologne said, feeling a slight pang in her heart at the mention of the youth.
"Do," "you really," "think so?" Ryoga panted in disbelief. Nobody had ever likened him to Ranma before.
"Why yes," Cologne said honestly. "Why, it only took you two days to learn the Chestnut Fist this time."
"So what do we do now?" Ryoga asked, beginning to get his breath back.
"For now," Cologne said, "we rest. Tomorrow, I'll begin training you in an ancient amazon technique that not even Happosai knows about."
------------
It was lunchtime at Furinkan High School when Akane Tendo heard a sound she'd hoped she would never hear again. It was a sound that nearly stopped her heart and froze the blood in her veins.
"Akane Tendo! Now that you are truly free of the vile sorceror's influence, I have come to date with thee!"
Akane's smile was replaced by a grimace as she turned to face the bouquet-wielding lunatic hurtling toward her across the schoolyard.
"Halt!" a commanding voice shouted, causing everyone to stop and look in the direction from which it had come. Many who looked dropped to their knees in prayer at what they saw. Tatewaki Kuno was one of them. Akane Tendo went pale and just stared. High above the school grounds, a figure hovered. All that was visible was a silhouette of a winged man as it hovered just in front of the sun. "You, Tatewaki Kuno, are always preaching about the vengeance of Heaven. Stop bothering Akane, or you will face my wrath!" To make his point, the winged figure unleashed a fireball that blasted a large hole in the schoolgrounds a few feet from the samurai wannabe.
"The vengeance of Heaven hath brought itself upon me, though I know not why. I have so wronged the powers that be," Kuno muttered to himself, shaken to his core. "I must cleanse myself of this evil!" he exlcaimed taking off the way he had come. Nobody blocked his path as he left.
A lone figure knelt near the edge of the schoolyard, tears running down her face, staining her school dress with an old pain. "That-" she started. "That couldn't have been-- no, the voice wasn't right, it couldn't have been him." New tears flowed for a few moments, unnoticed by anyone else. Once the flow of tears had ebbed once again, she looked sadly at the place where the figure had been a few moments before. Sighing, she began collecting her books as the schoolbell rang in the distance. "I guess I'll never get over him," she said to herself, taking one last wistful look. "Oh, Ranchan. I still love you."
------------
"Oh, hello, Akane. What are you doing home so early?" Kasumi asked, peeking out of the kitchen.
"I've had a rough day," Akane said, "and I really don't think I'd be able to handle any more school today."
"Oh, I see," Kasumi said, smiling cheerfully. "Would you like some tea?" she asked, pulling a tray from seemingly nowhere.
"Uh, no thanks, Kasumi. I'm just gonna go work out some," Akane said, thinking
A few minutes later, Akane was in the dojo, doing a kata that, at the moment was jerky and forced. This fact was not lost on Akane, and she stopped, standing still to center herself before beginning again. This time, the kata flowed gracefully from one move to the next as Akane's mind shut out everything but the Art. Worry, self-doubt, sadness and anger all drained away as her body seemingly took on a life of its own. Akane spent quite a long time like that until a small gasp brought her back to reality. Turning toward the sound, Akane almost fainted at what she saw.
"I'm sorry, Akane," the figure said from the shadow of the doorway. "I expected you'd be a bit better after two years, but I had no idea you'd be THAT good."
"Uh, thanks," Akane said, "but what are you doing here?" Akane could feel old hatred welling inside her and fought to keep it down.
"There are a lot of things we let go unsettled, and well..." the voice trailed off, unsure of how to approach the subject. "I was hoping we could be friends?" the figure in the shadows said finally.
"I..." Akane started. "I guess I could use a friend right about now," she said, smiling that she could finally reconcile with an old enemy. "Thanks a lot, Ukyou," Akane said, identifying the figure at last as it stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the dojo. The two embraced, both glad to finally have a real friend in their time of need. "Ukyou, we need to go find Ryoga. He and I are supposed to answer a challenge tomorrow!" Akane exclaimed, remembering the dire task at hand.
"Any ideas where he is?" Ukyou asked.
"Yeah, but we have to hurry before he tries to find me," Akane said, thinking about Ryoga's sense of direction. Ukyou just nodded her understanding.
------------
"You have a question?"
Kiima trembled at the power in that voice. Timidly, she asked the question on her and all of her companions' minds. "My lord, why did you not destroy the human female today when you had the chance?"
"YOU DARE TO QUESTION MY ACTIONS?!"
The booming voice sent all of the gathered Phoenix people scrambling to their tents and left Kiima trembling in fear at the feet of her King.
"If you really must know," Saffron continued in a low voice, "it's because I challenged them for TOMORROW, and I will not go back on my word of honor."
"Yes, my lord," Kiima said through gritted teeth. "I understand."
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Author's Note:
Hey everyone! Thanks for reading my story! I think that the next chapter is going to be the last one... Actually, I think I'm gonna do an epilogue, too, so that'll be fun, right? Anyway, as you can see, I brought in Ukyou. Why, you ask? Because she just happens to be my favorite character in the series. Either way, she won't play too big a part in the rest of the story, but I do have some plans for her. Stay tuned because the final showdown is gonna happen in the next chapter. By the way, no guarantees on when it'll be done, but I hope to get it finished within a week or two. Again, thanks for reading and please, please, please, please write me and tell me what you think, what you like, where you think the story should go, where you'd like to tell me to go, anything.
-Andy
Akane woke to the smell of breakfast cooking downstairs. While this was far from uncommon, the mood she was in had become rare over the past two years.
"Morning Dad. Morning Kasumi," she said cheerfully as she came into the dining room.
"Oh, good morning Akane," Kasumi replied, just as cheerfully, "Your breakfast is already on the table."
"Thanks, Kasumi," Akane said, then turned to look at her father. "I still can't get used to not seeing Ranma and Mr. Saotome every morning," she said, her smile faltering slightly.
Soun Tendo put down the newspaper he'd been reading and regarded his youngest daughter, feeling an old, but not quite healed pain in his heart. "Yes, my friend Saotome's departure was rather sudden, but after what happened to Ranma, it could not be avoided." After Ranma's death and the loss of his best friend, Soun had resolved to be strong and support his daughters. Rebuilding had started slow, but eventually, word had gotten around and now Soun was teaching several classes a week and the Tendo Dojo was once again the prestigious institution of its golden years. Even Happosai had admitted that Soun had proven himself as a fitting heir and had retired to a sunny beach in South France, where he still troubles young women.
"I agree that Mr. Saotome should have been there to help Ranma, but isn't seppuku a little extreme?" Akane asked.
"Maybe so, but he couldn't bear to tell his wife that he was in a restaurant eating while his son was fighting for the life of his fiancee," Soun answered.
"Have you heard from Auntie Nodoka lately? How is she?" Akane asked, not losing much of her good mood.
"Yes, actually. I recieved a postcard from her the other day," Soun answered. "She's apparently doing very well in America. It seems that Americans are quite willing to pay rather high prices for authentic Japanese cuisine. As a matter of fact-"
Soun was interrupted by an arrow ripping through the sliding screen and imbedding itself in the table mere inches from his hand.
"Hey! That could hurt somebody!" Akane protested, then took a closer look. "Huh? A letter?" she queried.
"So it is," Soun confirmed. "It seems to be a challenge letter for you," he observed.
"Oh?" Akane said, then perused the letter for a moment. "It is a challenge," she explained. "It says for me to bring Ryoga to the mountain where he learned the breaking point technique in one week!"
"Would you like for me to come as well?" Soun asked, a little concerned.
"No, Dad," Akane said, shaking her head. "If I'm going to be heir to the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, I need to do this for myself."
A single tear rolled down Soun's cheek as he smiled proudly at his youngest daughter.
------------
Ryoga leaned against a large tree, trying in vain to catch his breath. He had been training hard for hours and still couldn't tell that he was making any real progress.
"You're doing really well, boy," Cologne said. Unlike her new pupil, Cologne was showing no signs of tiring. But then again, she'd been doing this type of thing for well over a hundred years now. "You are turning out to be just as good a student as Ranma was," Cologne said, feeling a slight pang in her heart at the mention of the youth.
"Do," "you really," "think so?" Ryoga panted in disbelief. Nobody had ever likened him to Ranma before.
"Why yes," Cologne said honestly. "Why, it only took you two days to learn the Chestnut Fist this time."
"So what do we do now?" Ryoga asked, beginning to get his breath back.
"For now," Cologne said, "we rest. Tomorrow, I'll begin training you in an ancient amazon technique that not even Happosai knows about."
------------
It was lunchtime at Furinkan High School when Akane Tendo heard a sound she'd hoped she would never hear again. It was a sound that nearly stopped her heart and froze the blood in her veins.
"Akane Tendo! Now that you are truly free of the vile sorceror's influence, I have come to date with thee!"
Akane's smile was replaced by a grimace as she turned to face the bouquet-wielding lunatic hurtling toward her across the schoolyard.
"Halt!" a commanding voice shouted, causing everyone to stop and look in the direction from which it had come. Many who looked dropped to their knees in prayer at what they saw. Tatewaki Kuno was one of them. Akane Tendo went pale and just stared. High above the school grounds, a figure hovered. All that was visible was a silhouette of a winged man as it hovered just in front of the sun. "You, Tatewaki Kuno, are always preaching about the vengeance of Heaven. Stop bothering Akane, or you will face my wrath!" To make his point, the winged figure unleashed a fireball that blasted a large hole in the schoolgrounds a few feet from the samurai wannabe.
"The vengeance of Heaven hath brought itself upon me, though I know not why. I have so wronged the powers that be," Kuno muttered to himself, shaken to his core. "I must cleanse myself of this evil!" he exlcaimed taking off the way he had come. Nobody blocked his path as he left.
A lone figure knelt near the edge of the schoolyard, tears running down her face, staining her school dress with an old pain. "That-" she started. "That couldn't have been-- no, the voice wasn't right, it couldn't have been him." New tears flowed for a few moments, unnoticed by anyone else. Once the flow of tears had ebbed once again, she looked sadly at the place where the figure had been a few moments before. Sighing, she began collecting her books as the schoolbell rang in the distance. "I guess I'll never get over him," she said to herself, taking one last wistful look. "Oh, Ranchan. I still love you."
------------
"Oh, hello, Akane. What are you doing home so early?" Kasumi asked, peeking out of the kitchen.
"I've had a rough day," Akane said, "and I really don't think I'd be able to handle any more school today."
"Oh, I see," Kasumi said, smiling cheerfully. "Would you like some tea?" she asked, pulling a tray from seemingly nowhere.
"Uh, no thanks, Kasumi. I'm just gonna go work out some," Akane said, thinking
A few minutes later, Akane was in the dojo, doing a kata that, at the moment was jerky and forced. This fact was not lost on Akane, and she stopped, standing still to center herself before beginning again. This time, the kata flowed gracefully from one move to the next as Akane's mind shut out everything but the Art. Worry, self-doubt, sadness and anger all drained away as her body seemingly took on a life of its own. Akane spent quite a long time like that until a small gasp brought her back to reality. Turning toward the sound, Akane almost fainted at what she saw.
"I'm sorry, Akane," the figure said from the shadow of the doorway. "I expected you'd be a bit better after two years, but I had no idea you'd be THAT good."
"Uh, thanks," Akane said, "but what are you doing here?" Akane could feel old hatred welling inside her and fought to keep it down.
"There are a lot of things we let go unsettled, and well..." the voice trailed off, unsure of how to approach the subject. "I was hoping we could be friends?" the figure in the shadows said finally.
"I..." Akane started. "I guess I could use a friend right about now," she said, smiling that she could finally reconcile with an old enemy. "Thanks a lot, Ukyou," Akane said, identifying the figure at last as it stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the dojo. The two embraced, both glad to finally have a real friend in their time of need. "Ukyou, we need to go find Ryoga. He and I are supposed to answer a challenge tomorrow!" Akane exclaimed, remembering the dire task at hand.
"Any ideas where he is?" Ukyou asked.
"Yeah, but we have to hurry before he tries to find me," Akane said, thinking about Ryoga's sense of direction. Ukyou just nodded her understanding.
------------
"You have a question?"
Kiima trembled at the power in that voice. Timidly, she asked the question on her and all of her companions' minds. "My lord, why did you not destroy the human female today when you had the chance?"
"YOU DARE TO QUESTION MY ACTIONS?!"
The booming voice sent all of the gathered Phoenix people scrambling to their tents and left Kiima trembling in fear at the feet of her King.
"If you really must know," Saffron continued in a low voice, "it's because I challenged them for TOMORROW, and I will not go back on my word of honor."
"Yes, my lord," Kiima said through gritted teeth. "I understand."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Note:
Hey everyone! Thanks for reading my story! I think that the next chapter is going to be the last one... Actually, I think I'm gonna do an epilogue, too, so that'll be fun, right? Anyway, as you can see, I brought in Ukyou. Why, you ask? Because she just happens to be my favorite character in the series. Either way, she won't play too big a part in the rest of the story, but I do have some plans for her. Stay tuned because the final showdown is gonna happen in the next chapter. By the way, no guarantees on when it'll be done, but I hope to get it finished within a week or two. Again, thanks for reading and please, please, please, please write me and tell me what you think, what you like, where you think the story should go, where you'd like to tell me to go, anything.
-Andy