Ranma ½
Journey's End Chapter 3:
Happosai awoke with a groan. Though he was loathe to admit it, he was no longer as young as he had once been. Actually, by most standards, he was well past geriatric and heading into the vaguely defined realm of ancient. Though he was extremely fit for his age, or any age for that matter, time was beginning to take its toll and it was moments like these that the founding master of the Anything Goes School felt the full weight of his years. Rising to his feet, he disappeared into a convenient alley to take stock of his situation and it was definitely not to his liking. He remembered running into several of Ranma's old acquaintances on the street, none of whom had been seen in Nerima for nearly eight years, give or take a month, all of them martial artists of no small skill. More importantly, some of them had been quite attractive females and if there was one thing Happosai liked more than 'liberating' underwear or attaching himself to a well endowed female chest, it was a good challenge to get the blood flowing and the prospect of combining all three was more than he had been able to pass up. In this case that proved to be a mistake.
When the younger generation of martial artists had left Nerima, while most of them could produce an impressive battle auras, especially Akane when she was angry, and use their ki to enhance their fighting abilities, consciously or unconsciously, only Ranma and Ryoga had been able to use their ki as a weapon and both of them required enough time to gather the power to give him ample opportunity to strike. Yet that was no longer the case, and while none of those ki bolts had been debilitating in the least, they had thrown him off balance, figuratively speaking due to the speed with which they had been launched and literally when some of them had connected. It had been a setback, but a minor one and the only real problem was that it had caused him to lose his silky darlings. He had not been prepared for what had come next though.
As previously noted, Happosai is extremely adept at reading auras, even when they are concealed. There is one technique though that has negated the advantages of that ability. Happosai had almost been ready to burst with pride when Saotome Genma, the slightly more promising of his two students, had created the Umi-sen-ken technique. An adept practitioner and could use it to completely hide themselves from sight and prevent their aura being read and while Happosai could understand the sealing of the fearsomely destructive Yama-sen-ken techniques, he thought that Genma had been a fool to seal the Umi-sen-ken with them just because they were originally designed as complimentary techniques. Apparently Ranma agreed with him, for there was no other way for him to have snuck up on the diminutive martial arts master without him noticing, not with while holding the power for the ki-blast that flattened him, which made his mastery of the Umi-sen-ken even more impressive.
Pride warred with anger within Happosai. Of his two students while, Soun had possessed the potential to become a good martial artist, Genma had the potential to become great, but he would not bestir himself more than necessary without motivation. Happosai was not sure how Nodoka had managed it exactly, for the seppuku pledge had been for nothing more than to make Ranma a 'man amongst men' irregardless of his martial prowess, but she had given Genma sufficient motivation to give Ranma the potential to be more than good, to be more than be simply great, but to be legendary. Ranma had been Happosai's choice as heir to the School since he was unlikely to live long enough to see the schools rejoined and a combined heir given the way that things had been going when Ranma left Nerima and it seemed that Ranma was living up to that promise, though Akane had also unlocked the potential trapped deep within her as well. That was the reason for his pride, but he was also angry as well. Angry that not only had his fun been interrupted, but it had been interrupted by one who should be calling him master and deferring to his wishes, as was right for any martial artist to the master of their school. Angry that, despite his best efforts, Ranma refused to be cowed or frightened into line as Soun and Genma had been.
A plan hatched in Happosai's mind, and he chuckled nastily, then winced and put one hand against his ribs. They weren't broken, Happosai knew what broken ribs felt like from painful experience in his youth, but they were certainly bruised. Actually, he was almost one big bruise and he had lost most of the boost he had gotten from his earlier romp through Nerima. That meant that he was going to have to draw on his own ki reserves to heal up his injuries and that was annoying. But either way it was going to take a day or so to heal up. Even with ki enhancement, there is only so much that can be done by a body that has long since lost the gifts of youth that allowed them to spring back from injury. Of course that didn't mean that Happosai was going to give up on his plans, not by a long shot. It just meant that he wouldn't be participating directly in the opening moves.
He rose and got his bearings. There had been no planned course to his earlier escapades, so he wasn't entirely certain where he was in Nerima and needed to find a street sign to get his bearing. He walked calmly along the street and if it weren't for his lack of stature, he could have been anyone. But his shortness that so often lead people to underestimate him also marked him out and people, especially women, eyed him warily. He ignored them and kept looking for a street sign or a familiar landmark. Eventually he found a pair of street signs at an intersection and nodded as he brought up a mental map of Nerima and plotted the route to his destination. Ever since getting out of the cave his ungrateful students had buried him in, he had assiduously cultivated contacts in many places, sometimes buying their co-operation through intimidation, sometimes by careful applications of funds and sometimes by a combination of the two. It was into this last category that the contact he was seeking fell and he chuckled to himself again, causing several near him to jump away and make warding gestures, just in case. If Ranma, or Akane for that matter, thought to show impertinence to their master like that, it was time they learned a lesson and the first step in that lesson lay within the Kuno Mansion.
Sasuke, loyal retainer to the Kuno family, groaned as he lugged the heavy pile of freshly laundered linens upstairs to his master's room. There were times that Sasuke wondered what misdeed he had committed in his previous life that the kami had saddled him with this onerous fate. It hadn't been too bad eight years ago, but since then, things had been going steadily down hill and whilst not all the problems of lay with the most recent generation of the illustrious Kuno family, certainly most of them did. Principal Kuno, whose given name had long been since forgotten by most people, Sasuke among them, wasn't all that bad. Sure he was a bit of otaku when it came to Hawaii and then there was that short hair fetish, but unless you were a hair follicle, he was just a harmless kook. A bit misguided maybe, but generally well meaning. But his children were in another league all together.
Kuno Tatewaki, formerly 'The Blue Thunder of Furinkan' and now the self styled 'Blue Thunder of Nerima,' had once been described as the poster child for delusional stupidity and that was pretty much accurate. He refused to even believe the possibility that Tendo Akane and his precious Osage-no-Onna did not return his affections. He was also completely blind to the fact that Osage-no-Onna and Saotome Ranma were one and the same, despite viewing the transformation on multiple occasions and that was something Sasuke just did not understand. How could one believe in the possibility of dark sorcerers, yet refuse to believe in the possibility of mystical curses that have been repeatedly demonstrated Sasuke did not know. The situation had gotten even worse once both Ranma and Akane had disappeared. Tatewaki had immediately dispatched hordes of private investigators to locate 'the foul magus Saotome and the beauteous maids he has stolen away.' A noble samurai such as himself was of course above such matters as searching, even for the women he was supposed to love. Though of course he and he alone would be the one to perform the heroic rescue. Eight years of no results though had made the kendoist extremely touchy about any matter related to the search and unless one watched what they said, he could be hell to deal with.
Whatever his faults though, Tatewaki didn't have a patch on Kodachi. The Black Rose was smarter than her brother; that no one could dispute, though that wasn't that hard. But was also undeniable was that she was completely off her rocker, a few cards short of a deck and any other euphemism for crazy that one cared to think of. Eventually she had gotten so bad that the authorities demanded that she receive psychiatric attention. The psychiatrist had prescribed a mind boggling amount of medication to help deal with Kodachi's various problems, but that had posed a problem. Kodachi's experiments in pharmacology, including psychotropic agents, had given her an impressive tolerance to the effects of her medication and eventually the doctors had no choice but to use even stronger drugs and most of them at the maximum safe levels a human could tolerate. This of course had meant that she was no longer competent to care for herself and she needed twenty-four hour supervision.
This brought in the third main problem in the household in the form of Kawami Kyoko. She had originally been hired as a full time nurse to take care of Kodachi, but she had become the proverbial straw that broke the donkey's back for most of the staff. One of the groundsmen, the poor soul who had been the one forced to deal with Midorigame, had spent some time in America when he had served with the SSDF and had encountered a word that described Kawami Kyoko perfectly. Gold-digger. Once she had become aware of the wealth her new employers possessed, she had become less concerned about her charge and more concerned with wheedling her way into Tatewaki's bed. She had played to his delusions masterfully, somehow getting closer to him while still encouraging his ideas about Akane and Ranma's female form. She had also become hell personified to the staff, lording it over them like she was already mistress of the household, which she was in effect if not in name. All of them had quit in protest, leaving only Sasuke, who stayed only because his family had always been retainers to the Kuno's, supported only by occasional help that came once a week, at most. That still left Sasuke to do all the day to day work around the house, including the bulk of the work in dealing with Kodachi and he was beginning to feel like he was wearing thin.
He was startled by a noise in the rafters above him and before he could react, Happosai dropped to the floor in front of him. Even though he was a ninja by training, Sasuke was terrified of Happosai. The Anything Goes School's founding master could dismantle him without breaking a sweat and they both knew it. He had also provided Sasuke with much needed funds on several occasions with the promise of favours in return and it looked like he was going to call one in. Sasuke just prayed to whoever might be listening that this would not be too bad.
"Sasuke my old friend," Happosai said with a grin as the ninja put down the laundry basket. "I have something that needs to be done, but unfortunately I'm afraid that I can't actually perform this task myself. So I thought to myself, 'Happi old boy, who's the best person you know to get this job done?' Then is suddenly strikes me that my old friend Sasuke is just perfect for the job. So what do you say?"
Sasuke fought down a sigh. "What do you need me to do?" he asked and try as he might, he couldn't keep some of the world weariness from his voice.
"Oh, nothing too difficult. You won't even have to leave the house. All I need you to do is tell that boken waving fool who employs you that Tendo Akane is back in town. And so is Saotome Ranma."
Sasuke gulped and broke out into a cold sweat. This was bad. This was very, very bad. This went beyond even spectacularly, awesomely bad. Sasuke suspected before this was over, he was going to need a very long vacation, as far away from Nerima as was humanly possible. The Falkland Islands sounded nice. "Is that all?" he asked.
"Oh, and if you could happen to mention that they should both be at the Tendo Dojo at the moment, I'd be much obliged."
"Very well," Sasuke said, pushing the laundry to one side so it wouldn't get in the way. He shuddered as heard Happosai cackling to himself as he disappeared back into the rafters. Sasuke headed in the opposite direction, down the stairs, to the main quarters of the house. At this time of day, Tatewaki was always in the sun room, irregardless of the weather, composing haikus, almost invariably execrable and egotistical. Kyoko might be with him, she might not, it depended on her mood, but it was not Sasuke's lucky day, for she was in the sun room as well, idly going through the motions of flower arranging, not putting any real effort into it.
"What, pray tell, is of such grave importance that you must interrupt my artistic genius Sasuke?" Kuno asked without even looking up from the parchment he was working on.
"Forgive me master," Sasuke said, bowing, "but I have just received important news that I thought it best to inform you of right away."
"And what may that be?" Kuno inquired further, still not looking up, though Kyoko was no longer even pretending to pay any attention to her flowers and had skewered Sasuke with a glare that would have reduced Sasuke to a pile of ash if such a thing were possible.
"Master, I have just received word from a reliable source that Tendo Akane has returned to the Tendo Dojo."
Kuno's attention was instantly fixed on his servant as he leapt to his feet and spread his arms joyfully. "This indeed wondrous news Sasuke. That now two of my three beauteous loves may now enjoy my fulsome attentions. Even more wondrous is that the foul Saotome no longer holds an innocent maid in his clutches."
"I'm afraid that might not be the case Master," Sasuke said, cowering. "The same source also informed me that she was accompanied by Saotome Ranma." Actually Happosai hadn't even implied that, but that was the conclusion that Kuno would have jumped to anyway, so Sasuke felt no guilt for that minor twisting of the truth.
Right on cue, Kuno's face darkened and his whole body shook with barely suppressed rage. "That fiend!" he growled in a voice like rending metal. "No doubt he still holds Osage-no-Onna in his thrall as well! No more! Not for one day longer shall he spread his foul taint! By all the honour of the house of Kuno, I swear that he shall not live to see another dawn! The Tendo Dojo you say?"
"According to my source, yes."
Kuno didn't even pause to make another announcement, he merely snatched up his weapon, making Sasuke quail when he realised it was not a boken but the family katana, and stalked out of the room, leaving only silence behind him. Both Sasuke and Kyoko remained motionless; feeling like they had just been run over by a freight train and then the silence was shattered by a sound that chilled the hearts of brave men and women. The sound of Kodachi's laughter.
Kyoko shuddered for a moment at the sound and then rounded on Sasuke as it faded into the distance. "You little fool!" she hissed at him. "You were supposed to keep that crazy bitch locked away and doped to the gills! How could you forget to give her the damn medication?"
That was it. It was just one thing too many things gone wrong in Sasuke's life and he snapped. "Madam my I remind you that it is not my responsibility to care for Mistress Kodachi but yours! Furthermore, you are not yet mistress of this household, despite what you seem to think. And may I congratulate you on successfully alienating the entire staff of this household into resigning their positions! It is only family loyalty that kept me on here and you have now eroded the last of it. Fortunately neither you nor Master Tatewaki are my actual employers and if the Hawaiians can live with pineapples and coconuts, then so can I! And with that, Madam, I bid you good day!" That said, Sasuke turned and stalked out of the room. The sooner he left the better and for all his eccentricities, including having an apartment nearer the school made up like an idealised grass shack, the Principal was far easier to live with. And after a few weeks, maybe Sasuke could see about that vacation. If Hawaii wasn't as far from Japan as the Falkland Islands, it was at least safely way out in the middle of the Pacific, well away from the chaos that was about to engulf Nerima.
Saotome Nodoka paused a moment in her walk to the Tendo Dojo to retrieve a handkerchief and to blot the sweat on her forehead. The heat wave of the previous few days seemed to have broken but it was still quite warm and the multiple layers of Nodoka's kimono were not the coolest garments in the world. She was on her way to the Tendo Dojo to meet with Kasumi for their weekly get together. Despite the differences in their ages, the two women had become fast friends over the years and her regular visits to the Tendo Dojo were the high points in Nodoka's week. As well as meeting with Kasumi it gave Nodoka a chance to meet Kazuma, who had become almost a surrogate grandson for her. Kazuma, while not lacking in love from both of his parents was short of grandparents, with Soun's wife, a good friend of Nodoka's having passed away many years ago and most of the Ono family either living up north in Hokkaido or down south in Kyushu. So Nodoka had become the closest thing Kazuma had to a grandmother, just as he was likely to be the closest Nodoka would have to her own grandchild.
She sighed at that thought. Even as she had watched her son's life descend further and further into chaos, she had also seen how Ranma and Akane had become closer after the failed wedding, even if both of them were two stubborn to say it out right. Nodoka had been about to offer then the use of her family's holiday home just outside Sapporo to give them some time to themselves when they had disappeared and for that she always felt guilty. Part of the guilt was because she had made the offer sooner, before things had gotten so bad that the pair felt that they were unable to endure it anymore thy might not have left, but the other part, the part that she had not confessed to anybody, was that she had been partly responsible for her son's departure.
She had come to the conclusion a long time ago that the seppuku pledge had been a mistake. She had never had any intention of actually forcing her husband to commit seppuku, but she knew full well that Genma needed the right incentive to do anything, even his fatherly duties, and that a direct threat to his skin was one of the few things that would get his attention. What she had not expected was that, in a rare display of mental agility, Genma would actually persuade her to include Ranma in the contract as well, obviously hoping that maternal instincts to keep her son safe would make her judge less harshly. By the time Nodoka had recovered from the shock of the Genma's argument the pair were already gone. Over the next ten years there were many times when she cursed herself for being talked into including Ranma in the contract. She also cursed her rogue of a husband for he had left her with the impression that while he and Ranma would be gone most of the time, that they would visit at least every couple of months, not disappearing completely for ten years.
Then they had returned, though Nodoka was apparently the last to know about it, her husband's miserly habits and her own foolishness forcing both Genma and Ranma to hide behind their curses whenever she visited. It was for that reason that Nodoka felt guilty. Deep inside she felt that her son feared her, feared that she would make him commit seppuku for suffering from a curse that made him in the eyes of many, including his own, as less than a man amongst men. She wished she had made it clearer that, curse or no curse; she had no intention of invoking that contract. But her own upbringing, stressing family honour above all else, had made her incapable of even doing that and before she had had a chance to set things right, Ranma was gone again. It had been eight years since she had seen her son and every day in that time weighed heavily on her heart.
Her feet, familiar with the path from the Saotome family home to the Tendo dojo, were capable of guiding Nodoka to her destination with no aid from her conscious mind, so when the Saotome matriarch broke herself out of her morose chain of thought and looked up, she was surprised to find that she was about to round the final corner of her route. As she did, she noted the figure coming down the road but she paid it little heed, though a tiny corner of her mind noted that the red and black clothing seemed familiar. She walked up to the Tendo's door and was about to knock when she heard a voice call out that made her heart leap into her throat as she turned toward the source. She couldn't help it as her hands flew to her mouth, the family katana, fortunately protected in its cloth wrappings, falling to the ground. Then she was being embraced fiercely as her vision clouded from tears.
Her son was back. Her son was back. That was all that Nodoka could think, higher thought over ridden by a wild swirl of emotion that rode through a great up swell of joy. Eventually she broke away from her son's embrace and held him at arm's length, looking at him. He was much as she remembered, a little taller, a little leaner and something about his face was indefinably older, but there was no doubt that this was the son she had waited so long to see. "Are you really back?" she whispered, half out lord, half to herself, speaking the first words that sprang into her mind.
"I'm really back," Ranma said, an uncontrollable grin on his face. "For good this time. I'm home."
Nodoka felt the tears welling up in her eyes again and she pulled a handkerchief from her sleeve to blot at them. "I was afraid that when you left, I'd never see you again," she said hoarsely. Then she spoke the words she had carried in her heart for the last eight years. "I was afraid that you would never want to see me again."
That caused Ranma's grin to slip a little and he embraced his mother once again. "I never meant to hurt you," he said, his voice hoarse. "I didn't leave because of you. I left for a lot of reasons, but never because of you. Please believe me when I say that."
The emotion in Ranma's voice was so raw when he spoke that Nodoka almost burst into tears again, but was interrupted by someone clearing their throat. Mother and son turned to see Ukyo standing in the doorway. "Kasumi told me that you'd be along soon Saotome-san and she said you and Ranma might prefer to have your reunion a little less public."
"I think you're just a little late Ukyo," Akane said from where she was perched on the stone wall, silent until then.
Ukyo shrugged and Nodoka smiled through her tears as she though at how ecstatic Soun must be to have his youngest daughter back, just as she was overjoyed at having her son back. "I think I will come in," she said. "Ranma," she said, but the pig-tailed man was distracted.
"I'll be just a moment," he said, looking off into the distance. "Something's coming that I have to take care of first."
Akane looked up, her own danger sense reacting to the incoming threat. There was a familiar feel to what she was feeling and her lip curled up in a sneer as she realised who was on his way. "Kuno," she said, turning the name into an insult.
Ranma just nodded. "Kaa-san, if you'd go inside, I'll be in a moment. This shouldn't take long."
"I think I will stay here," she said firmly, causing all three martial artists to look sharply at her.
"Saotome-san, I think it would be better if you went in," Ukyo said. "I've never had to deal with him directly, but Kuno's a total fruit loop and there's no telling what he might do."
"I will stay here," Nodoka said. "I wish to see how my son handles this challenger. I will not abandon him when he faces a challenge."
Ranma was touched by his mother's concern, but he was more concerned about her safety. "Thanks for the support, but this isn't a challenge," he said in his most casual tone of voice. "It's just Kuno. I can take him no problem, but he tends to get a little a little wild when he's angry and I don't want you to get hurt."
"I think your mother just won the argument," Akane said, using her higher vantage point to scan the area. "He's here."
Sure enough a moment later Kuno came into view of those on the street later and Ranma's face settled into a calm mask, broken only by an insolent grin, as he fell into a ready stance. Kuno slowed in his approach once he came into view and everyone's eyes widened slightly when they saw that he was not carrying a boken but a naked katana, though much to Nodoka and Ukyo's surprise, this only made Ranma's grin wider. "SAOTOME!" Kuno roared as he approached, levelling the point of his katana at Ranma. "Eight years have I waited for this day and I shall not wait one moment later! I give you one final warning, release Tendo Akane and Osage-no-Onna from your thrall foul defiler of women and get back to the pit from whence thou came or as truly as the stars wheel in the sky above you will face the wrath of heaven."
"Same old Kuno," Akane sighed, shaking her head. "Still doesn't have clue."
"I'll tell you one last time Kuno, you're a deluded idiot!" Ranma shouted back. "I'm no sorcerer and your precious Osage-no-Onna is my Jusenkyo curse form."
"You still preach those lies! Have at you fiend!"
Kuno dashed forward and Ranma's grin grew more insolent as he watched the oncoming katana was levelled at his face. As always Kuno rushed forward into battle without even a hint of subtlety or caution and he also once again proved for all his claims that he would defeat Ranma, he didn't know how to use the katana in his hands like the deadly weapon it was. If he had been really serious, the point of the blade would have been levelled at Ranma's throat rather than his head, for though the target was smaller, it was far more vulnerable than the bone armoured head and while if you were strong enough it was possible to drive a katana through bone, it was more likely to skip off. So Ranma merely watched before moving at the last possible moment, his speed blinding but still managing to make the whole thing look lazy and casual.
Kuno skidded to a halt and spun around to face a still grinning Ranma and then smirked as Nodoka gasped when both realised that it had not been a clean a miss as it had first appeared. A long, thin cut ran along Ranma's right cheek. It wasn't serious but it was bleeding rather profusely as head wounds were wont to do. "So foul sorcerer this indeed the day you meet your end!" Kuno declared, raising his sword to the heavens. "Time has made the Blue Thunder swifter and stronger than since last we fought. The heavens will indeed have their vengeance this day."
Ranma just snorted as Kuno prepared himself for another charge. "You're just as slow and just as dumb as you were eight years ago," he retorted. "I wanted you to cut me and I'll show you why." With that he wiped the blood staining his cheek off with his thumb, the ruby red droplets glistening on skin before suddenly blazing forth with an inner light. With a casual motion Ranma flicked the glowing blood of his thumb and right at the blade of Kuno's katana while under his breath he whispered the words, "Blood Shot."
The effect of ki charged blood meeting steel blade was immediate and obvious. A red glow surrounded the blade, dancing up and down the length of the weapon, reflecting off the ripple pattern in the steel that had been folded and folded again to make it strong. But all that strength was for nought against the onslaught it was facing as the blood droplets appeared to act like a strange form of acid, eating a hole through where they first landed and leaving behind a rain of carbonised iron fillings that fell to the ground, followed shortly by a steely clatter when the hole grew large enough that the front third of the blade was no longer connected to the rest and fell, still dissolving. Kuno stared down at his now useless weapon as the corruption continued to eat its way down the blade and into the hilt, eventually leaving only the wood and enamel.
When he finally looked up, the expression on his face was an odd mixture of righteous fury and utter fear. "What foul sorcery is this?" he demanded in a strangled voice.
"No sorcery," Ranma said calmly, grinning. "Just using the chemical affinity of the iron in my blood to the iron in your sword to carry a ki charge that I then used to render your sword to so much dust. Now are we going to fight or are you going to stand there all day looking like something I'd buy at the fish markets."
Ukyo and Akane nodded, both impressed and both wondering what they would have to bribe Ranma with to get him to teach them that move while Nodoka was all but jumping up and down and squealing like a teenager, just about to ready to burst with pride at her son's accomplishment. The air of complacent victory surrounding Ranma was quite rapidly shattered by a sound that caused shivers down the spine and both Ranma and Akane snarled under their breaths, "Kodachi!"
Ukyo looked up and saw the demented gymnast approaching and unlimbered her battle spatula, but was interrupted by Akane. "I'll take care of this Ukyo," the youngest Tendo said, her face set in an iron mask of determination. "This bitch and I have a score to settle and I wouldn't want to disappoint her."
With that Akane leapt to meet the younger Kuno, vaguely aware at the same time Kodachi's brother was charging Ranma with his bare hands. She knew that Ranma was more than capable of dealing with an unarmed Kuno, even on his worst day, so she focused all her attention her own target. Both of them landed on the roof of the Tendo house at almost the exact same time and paused for a moment. Kodachi stood up straight and said in a voice that was even crazier than Akane remembered, "So Tendo Akane you are foolish enough to return and face Kodachi no…"
The rest of Kodachi's speech was cut off by an incredibly powerful right hook connecting with her left cheek and she sprawled backwards and came close to falling off the roof. Akane just stood over her down opponent with a look of grim satisfaction on her face. Though she hadn't bothered to use her ki to boost the power of her punch, Akane definitely felt bone break under her fist and she didn't regret it in the least. None of Ranma's 'official' fiancées had made any bones about their dislike of Kuno Kodachi, but ever since the failed wedding, the feuding between Akane and Kodachi had grown even worse, but Akane refused to talk about what happened to make her so despise the gymnast. But for eight long years Akane had been waiting for another crack at Kodachi and she was surprised to find the victory feeling so hollow. She knew that when she was unable to use any of her trick gymnastic tools, Kodachi was a rather poor opponent, but she had expected to feel something more than what she did.
Of course that was before Kodachi pulled herself back to her feet and stood again, ready to fight. "Is that all you can do?" she asked, her voice not even touched by the pain her broken cheek would be causing her.
Then Akane realised that the reason Kodachi acted like she wasn't in pain was because she wasn't. The strange glimmer in her eyes wasn't just because she was insane; it was because she was so doped to the gills that the pain signals her body was sending just weren't getting through. This caused Akane to swear under her breath, because she knew what drugged fighters could do, especially ones as drugged as Kodachi appeared to be. Without pain signals to let them know that their bodies were reaching their limits or that they were injured, they fought with near superhuman strength and a complete disregard for injuries, even those that would leave them crippled for life.
Of course Akane was not without resources of her own and she began channelling ki into her limbs as she fell into a ready stance, waiting for Kodachi to make the first move. She was surprised when Kodachi actually pulled a gymnastics ribbon out from behind her back, but not so surprised that she was unable to dodge it. With speed that would have stunned Kodachi had her thought processes not been clouded by the medication still in her system, Akane stepped inside the other woman's defences, taking advantage of the fact that Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnasts aren't trained to deal with direct physical attacks, and slammed her fist into Kodachi's diaphragm, perhaps a little harder than was absolutely necessary.
Drugs or no drugs, the abused muscle shuddered from the impact and ceased to function properly for several moments, forcing Kodachi to furiously try and suck enough breath into her lungs that just refused to work properly. Akane took to opportunity to pulp the lower half of Kodachi's nose with her knee, making it just that much harder for the other woman to regain her breath. At that point there was absolutely no way that Kodachi could have put up an effective defence or even try and stop Akane as the shorter woman wrapped her hands around her throat and applied a very precise amount of pressure to the carotid arteries and held it until Kodachi fell over, completely unconscious, though Akane kicked her in the temple just to be sure, though it was probably unnecessary. Not matter what has been done to them, cut off the blood supply to the brain and eventually anyone will pass out.
Fight finished, Akane slung Kodachi over one shoulder and hopped down to ground level to see how Ranma was faring with the other Kuno. Ranma being Ranma the fight was not yet over, though the outcome was a forgone conclusion to even the most unobservant bystander. If he had really wanted to, Ranma could have finished the fight in the first pass but he had just been itching to show off the Blood Shot and now he felt liking indulging himself. Kuno was currently sporting what was rapidly becoming an impressive black eye, had had his wrist sprained and his left leg rendered useless by a shiatsu strike. Seeing Akane return with an unconscious Kodachi though, he decided that it was about time to finish the fight. He ducked under a clumsy swipe by Kuno and unleashed two Amiguriken speed punched that stopped just short of the kendoist but still managed to break his floating ribs from their shockwave alone and unlike his sister, Kuno was quite capable of feeling pain and yelled. His cry was short lived though as the point of Ranma's foot caught him on the soft spot under his lower jaw to slam his mouth shut and send him flying backwards and land with sufficient force to knock him out.
"And that is how you put a Kuno out of commision," Ranam said with a mock bow to his audience, earning amused applause from Ukyo. "And hopefully keep him out of commision for a while with those ribs," he added.
"Very impressive my son," Nodoka said, beaming. "But I must ask what you intend to do with him now. It would be dishonourable to simply leave a fallen opponent out in the street where there is no one to attend to him."
Ranma scratched his head in thought at that. "Well I used to just leave him where he fell, but that was at school and everyone knew better than to do anything to him. But I'm not taking him inside. He'll just wake up and make a mess."
"Why not take him to Tofu's clinic," Akane suggested. "That's where I'm taking Kodachi."
"I believe I shall accompany you as well," Nodoka said and then turned to Ukyo. "Kuonji-san, would you please be so kind as to inform Kasmui that I may be a little late."
"I'm sure she'll understand," Ukyo said with a smile. "We all have a lot of catching up to do, but you deserve to spend some time with your son Saotome-san." She dissapaeared back inside, leaving Nodoka, Ranma and Akane alone with the unconscious Kuno siblings.
"Doc Tofu's place still where it used to be?" Ranma asked as he slung Kuno over his shoulders, barely seeming to notice the kendoist's weight even if the other man did outmass him by a few kilos.
"He is," Nodoka confirmed, "Though he has expanded into the building next door as well for some extra room.
"Well let's get going then," he said. "The sooner we get rid of these two the happier I'll be."
"Here, here!" Akane agreed, dropping down to the road. "If you would care to lead the way Nodoka-obasan."
"Of coure Akane-chan," Nodoka said.
The three of them set off, Akane hanging slightly behind, just enough to give mother and some sembelance of privacy, though she could still hear what they said clearly enough. She grinned as she heard some of the tales Ranma was telling, for though they were obviously edited so as not to make Nodoka too nervous about what her son had been up to, they were still what she expected of Ranma, mainly strange, wonderous and out on the edge. What really caught Akane's attention though was though was when a water balloon came sailing over the fence of one of the houses they were walking past, it landed right on Ranma and in the blink of an eye, he became a she.
"Gah!" Ranma said, shaking the water out of her hair. "I hate that! I've said it before and I'll say it again, probably for the rest of my life, but if there's any free water within a kilometer, it finds some way to hit me."
"So you are still cursed my son?" Nodoka asked. "I thought that part of the reason you left was to find a cure for your curse?"
"Not really," Ranma said with a shake of her head. "It was sort of in the back of my mind, but there had been too many false leads and wild goose chases the first couple of years and there were other things that I wanted to take care of first. After a while it sort of just stopped becoming an issue." She lowered her eyes and looked at the ground, scuffing the ground uncertainly while mumbling something that was almost inaudible.
"Come again?" Akane asked, drawing level with mother and son turned daughter.
"I said," Ranma said, blushing right to the tips of her ears so that they almost matched her hair, "that I probably wouldn't take a cure now if you gift wrapped it for me."
Akane looked at her in surprise. The Ranma she knew of old had come to terms with his curse to a degree, certainly and was not above using for an advantage on occasion, but even after ten years of living with it, she had never expected Saotome Ranma to ever reject a cure and mean it, even hypothetically.
Nodoka on the other hand didn't even bat an eyelid. She simply laid a hand on the shoulder that did not have an unconscious Kuno draped over it and smiled softly. "That is a choice that only you can make my… child. I cannot say that I would make the same one were I in your place nor can I say that there will not be those who may hold that choice against you, but it is your life and no one can make your decisions for you. All I can say is that those who truly care for you will stand by you no matter what."
Ranma ducked her head again, but this time Akane could tell it was to hide the tears welling up in her eyes. Saving the pig-tailed martial artist further awkwardness and surpressing her own mixed reaction to what she had just heard, she piped up. "She's right Ranma, but can we save the mushy stuff for after we get rid of a certain pair of idiots."
Ranma perked up at that and nodded, blinking away unshed tears. "Okay," she said, sniffing just a bit.
The trio walked on in slightly awkward silence for several moments before Akane by mentioning one of her odder occurences on her travels involving a supposedly valuable exotic plant, a pair of deranged botatanists and for reasons she still couldn't really fathom a New York City parking inspector. Ranma being Ranma had to top it with one involving a drunk kangaroo escaped from the Moscow Zoo, a motorised scooter and a morbid Native American ghost. Akane wasn't going to let that stand of course and by the time they reached the clinic it Nodoka almost couldn't walk she was laughing so hard. Clutching her stomach and gasping for breath between bouts of laughter she waved Akane and Ranma into the clinic while she remained outside, leaning against the wall and trying to catch her breath.
Still grinning Akane led the way, edging awkwardly around the door to get Kodachi in as well. Ranma got around that problem simply by lifting Kuo so that he was directly over her head. Once in they both looked around the office which was much the same as they remembered it, though the paint had been freshened up some time in the intervening eight years and the carpet replaced with one that was nearly identical in design. Most of the remodelling that had gone on when the premises had expanded had occurred out of sight leaving both Ranma and Akane with a slight sense of déjà vu.
Tofu having heard the front door open emerged from the back room and put his hands on his hips when he saw what awaited him. "Not even back forty-eight hours and already back to bad habits," he said with mock discouragement.
"They started it," Ranma and Akane said in unison..
"Well that's all right then," Tofu said, grinning. "Put them in the examination rooms and I'll send them home when they wake up. I'd try and talk some sense into them but I've seen Kodachi-san's prescription so I doubt much of anything ever gets through to her and Tatewaki-san, well…" he shrugged helplessly.
"He's an idiot," Ranma said, squeezing past him. "Always was, always will be. Though while he's out you might want to tape up his ribs. I busted at least two of them. I don't think its anything serious but he's not going to be waving a boken around much for a few weeks."
This time Tofu frowned in earnest. "Ranma you should be more careful about that. Broken ribs are not an injury to be taken lightly if only because they can puncture a long."
"He was being careful," Akane said. "If he'd wanted to he could have shattered Kuno's ribcage."
Tofu just shook his head and muttered something under his breath about the recklessness of martial artists.
Just grinned and walked past him as well, depositing Kodachi in one of the several new examining rooms. When she came out she found Tofu staring down the corridor with a worried look on his face. Turning in the direction her brother-in-law was looking Akane's heart lept into her throat and she froze as well. Ranma had emerged from the room he had deposited Kuno in and was staring at thr fourth person in the corridor who had also emerged from one of the other rooms. Clutching his mop and bucket Saotome Genma stared back at his son slack jawed surprise as the two onlookers wondered just what was about to happen next.
Author's Notes:
Yay! After I forget how long chapter three is finally done. My apologies to all of you who have been waiting so long but this chapter simply did not want to end! As before I will try and get chapter four out sooner but I make no promised and nor should you get your hopes up. Thank you for all the C&C that also let me know people are still reading this story and helped me keep going and finally get this chapter finished.
Next time we take a little break from a certain aquatransexual martial artist to see what the rest of the Wrecking Crew is doing as they start to try and settle back into Nerima.