New chapter! A bit shorter than my usual, but the spot I ended at felt like it was a good spot to end at before going to a new chapter. Enjoy!
"That was nerve-wracking," Kenichi sighed as he and Miu made their way to school.
"It went well," Miu smiled as she began to play with a cat that had been walking along with them, "Siegfried and Thor left Ragnarok much earlier than the previous timeline, and Kaede has her older brother wrapped around her pinky, making sure he stays away from Ragnarok."
"I still find that funny," Kenichi chuckled, "Though it used to somewhat be Honoka that had him wrapped around her pinky."
They had dealt with Mizunuma's problem with becoming violent, taking Sakaki with them to the Kiyukai dojo that he was attending. The Kiyukai dojo headmaster, Alan Subishi, fell to his knees as soon as Sakaki introduced himself, begging the man for an autograph. A few lectures later, and the school's motto of "strength is everything" along with using various unscrupulous ways of fighting was changed to "Strength and Love" while setting in new principles.
Natsu was once more at Ryozanpaku for Kaede's final checkup as well as getting some training in, getting a light spar against Kenichi to test out the new techniques and how to incorporate them into fights.
"So how's Kaede treating you, Natsu-san?" Kenichi teased, only to dodge a rather rage-filled blow to the face from Natsu.
"Will you be staying for dinner?" Miu asked from the side as she folded laundry.
"No, but rather tomorrow night," Natsu sighed, "I want to celebrate Kaede's recovery. She's doing much better now and barely had a cough anymore. I wanted it to be a small private party, but Kaede wants to celebrate it here with Ryozanpaku. If you don't mind, may I borrow the kitchen for tomorrow? We will bring the ingredients over."
"Oh, I can help cook," Miu smiled, "It'll be fun to do it with Kaede and Honoka."
Natsu grunted as he blocked a high kick from Kenichi.
"So you all are here after all!" rang a voice.
The trio, along with the Elder who was supervising the fight, all looked to the source of the voice to see Ma Renka flip over the wall and land on a stone lantern perfectly without a scratch on either her and the stone.
"Oh great, it's the exhibitionist again," Natsu groaned.
"Who are you calling an exhibitionist, you pervert!?" Renka screeched, her two strands of hair going up and down.
"I'll go tell your father that you're here," Kenichi stated, eager to get away.
"What, Renka is here!?" Kensei gasped, "She's earlier than what you guys predicted!"
"There were bound to be some changes," Kenichi whispered, "Some things are happening a bit earlier."
Kensei quickly packed his bags, closed down his shop for the day, double checked on Kaede's health before giving her some medicine, and almost made it out when Renka grabbed his shoulder, asking him where he was going. When he said he didn't want to head back to China yet, Renka threatened to reveal to Mama about this place, causing Kensei to beg her not to.
"Mama and little brother are training over 10,000 people in the Phoenix Alliance," Renka scolded, "Just how long do you plan on fooling around!?"
"She has a little brother?" Natsu whispered in surprise while Kensei told her that he had not been fooling around, but was training the history's strongest disciple. When asked how she even found this place, she told them that a friend gave a small hint and that she ruthlessly exploited that. That, and she managed to get her uncle drunk after multiple tries and got him to spill the beans after being drunk 40 weeks straight.
It was then that the rest of Ryozanpaku, Honoka, and Kaede were introduced to Renka.
"So you intend to bring Ma-shifu back to China no matter what?" Kenichi asked after introductions were done.
"Yep and since you're Papa's number one student, you'll be brought back with him," Renka smiled as she hugged his arm, her breast pressing down on his arm.
"No!" Honoka shouted as she grabbed her plastic hammer and started bonking Renka anywhere she could, "You won't take my Onii-chan, Purple Hair Big Booby!"
"Yea," Miu said as she draped herself onto Kenichi, causing him to blush, "You won't take my boyfriend away from me."
Kenichi was turning into a rather interesting color, as if trying to turn crimson while also losing all color on his face as he peeked over at the Elder, afraid of his wrath. The Elder...was just chuckling at the sight of this.
"Anyways, I have no plans to leave Ryozanpaku!" Kenichi stated as he managed to escape from Renka's grasp.
"Hmph, here's to hoping I don't see your face again," Natsu huffed.
"What are you talking about?" Renka asked as she glomped Natsu, surprising him, "You're coming with me to China! You're Uncle's best student and before he left, Ma Sogetsu was also part of the Phoenix Alliance, so you should be honored and required to come to China! Plus...you need to take responsibility for what you did."
Everyone turned around to stare at Natsu, who blinked before muttering several silent curses in his mind, not wanting Kaede to catch those words.
"What did you do to my daughter?" Kensei asked, a slightly demonic glow emanating from his eyes.
"One, don't say such misleading things!" Natsu roared, "Two, it's your own damn fault, you exhibitionist! Three, I'm the president of the Tanimoto Corporation! I can't just go to China on a whim! I have a sister to take care of!"
"Oh no problem, you can take her with you," Renka smiled as her two strands of hair began to move up and down like cat ears, causing Miu to scratch her chin like a cat. Renka reacted by purring like one before she blinked and started stomping her foot in anger at being treated as such.
"Enough, Kaede, it's time to go home!" Natsu announced, quickly grabbing Kaede, "We'll see you tomorrow! Except you, Miss Exhibitionist!"
"Pervert!" Renka shouted back before looking back at Kenichi who was walking away, "Change of plans. I'll be staying here for a bit!"
The next day, Kenichi was practicing the single-sided meteor hammer by himself when Renka inserted herself into his training.
"Oh, so you're learning how to use a weapon!" Renka smiled, "And it's one that I'm familiar with! Let me help you!"
Seeing no real harm in it, Kenichi began swinging his weapon while Renka pulled out her double sided one from somewhere in between her cleavage.
As the sun began to fall, Kaede, Honoka, and Natsu arrived at Ryozanpaku, where the girls joined Miu in cooking dinner, where a sumptuous feast was made in celebration of Kaede's full recovery. Apachai was the first one to the table, eager as always to eat.
"Ah, I'm sorry Kenichi," Renka said as she and Kenichi arrived, "I was so surprised from your kick that our ropes got tangled up and somehow tied us up together!"
Miu's eyebrow could be seen twitching in anger as Renka slyly looked at Miu, pushing her breasts onto Kenichi's back. One cough from Miu had Kenichi basically teleporting right next to Miu to sit with her, with Honoka on his other side. The Elder looked at Kenichi with hidden approval while Kensei coughed in embarrassment at his daughter's actions.
Renka frowned as she took a seat next to Natsu, who didn't look pleased with the seating arrangement.
"Exhibitionist stealer," Natsu scoffed.
"Perverted weakling," Renka said at the same time.
"What'd you say!?" they both roared at the same time, glaring at each other.
"Now, now, let's eat this generous feast that was cooked by Miu, Honoka, and Kaede," Akisame suggested, trying to keep the peace.
The two huffed at each other and looked away before starting to eat with the others.
After a few pleasant conversations, Kaede began talking to Renka.
"You're pretty like Miu is," Kaede complimented.
"Why thank you," Renka smiled, "It's nice to see that someone from your family knows proper manners."
Renka glared at Natsu at this before returning to Kaede.
"So you're Ma Kensei's daughter?" Kaede clarified.
"Yep," Renka answered as she drank some water. By coincident, Natsu was also drinking some water.
"Then if you married my brother, then Ma Sogetsu would really be my uncle! Nii-chan, you should ask her out!" Kaede exclaimed.
"Oh wow, look at the rainbow," Kenichi noted as both Renka and Natsu tilted their heads up and spat water from their mouth, shocked by Kaede's suggestion.
"Why would I be interested in that pervert/exhibitionist!?" Natsu and Renka shouted together.
"Exhibitionist?" Kaede asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"Oh, I mean, it's nothing," Natsu said quickly, "In short, big brother isn't interested in a girl like her, okay. I'm too busy with work and taking care of you."
"Hey, what do you mean like a girl like me!?" Renka said, "You still have to pay up for groping me and doing that to me! Because of you, I almost became unable to be married!"
"Brother," Kaede asked as a demonic mask appeared above her, "What does she mean by that?"
"I...err...you'll understand when-" Natsu tried, but Kaede interrupted him.
"I already had The Talk with auntie Saori. So tell me. What did you do?"
"Ok one, it was not my fault," Natsu defended, "She couldn't aim properly and managed to snag me with her stupid meteor hammer. Next thing I knew, we were somehow tangled together, and she wouldn't stop moving her body when I told her to be still. Then she...placed her groin on top of my mouth."
"Kyaa I can't be a bride!" Renka cried as Natsu told the story to Kaede, putting her hands on her face as she cried crocodile tears.
"Who told you to keep moving?" Natsu growled, "If you had just kept still, Miu and Kenichi would've been able to get us out of there!"
"Oh that's an easy fix for you Renka," Kaede chirped, "Brother, take responsibility and marry Renka."
Silence pervaded the dining area as dozens of Choju Giga animals stomped through the room.
"What!?" both Natsu and Renka screeched as one, "Why would I marry this idiot! What'd you say!?"
Both Renka and Natsu butted heads against each other, glaring at each other.
"See, you're both already so much in sync!" Kaede said, causing the two to quickly separate and blush.
"Though I'm afraid you won't be able to take my brother to China," Kaede expressed calmly, "He is the president of the Tanimoto Corporation, and he can't just leave it. I have studied, but I cannot lead the corporation like my brother can. However, I would love to have a big sister! Also, since you yourself have said that your mother and your little brother are currently leading the Phoenix Alliance, that means you are available. It would be good for big brother to have a date of someone from a famous organization when he has to attend dinner parties and have someone shoo away all those money-grubbing girls."
Kaede slammed mounds of logic upon the two poor souls as her words pierced through the two as they spun from the impact, spitting out blood as they did so.
For Renka, it was true that despite being the daughter of the leader of the Phoenix Alliance, her responsibilities weren't as large as her mother or even little brother. She had enough freedom to pursue whatever she wanted like a cat. Sadly, this was rather one trait she shared with her father.
For Natsu, It was true that the business meetings/parties that he had to attend to keep up company morale. Besides the fact there were people who held a grudge against him for inheriting such a company due to luck, quite a few were willing to be bootlickers towards him, trying to bring their daughter to seduce him.
Still, both did not want to admit to such a thing and blustered their way out. Night fell upon them all and Kaede and Honoka ended up falling asleep at the dojo. Seeing as they were very comfortable there, Natsu decided to stay the night as there was no school tomorrow nor was there work.
Renka snuck into Kenichi's room to ask why he joined Ryozanpaku after finding out he didn't really have any heritage within the martial arts world. Of course, his answer was to protect his friends and to be able to protect a certain person. Seeing that, Renka could only sigh as she made her way out. It was painfully clear that Kenichi would not be leaving Miu anytime soon. The two of them really were close, and even her Papa had given her a small warning not to interfere with their relationship. Not that it would've stopped her, as her mama told her that if she wanted a boy to pursue him as hard as she could, as long as the boy didn't have a fiance. But it didn't mean she would completely give up. As she left the room, she frowned as she saw Miu bringing in some Onigiri for a late night snack.
"He happened to see you first," Renka scoffed as Miu approached her, "That's all there is to it. Don't think you'll always be ahead."
The two girls glared in confrontation with Renka's hair moving like cat ears. Miu was unable to hold the serious gaze and started petting Renka and scratching her chin like a cat. Renka reacted like one until both managed to snap out of it.
That night, Renka managed to sneak into Kenichi's room one more time before everyone turned in to sleep.
"Psstt...Kenichi! Psstt!" Renka whispered.
"What is it?" asked Kenichi as he opened the door to his room.
"I didn't get to tell you this earlier, but this is something vital that is needed in your improvement of Chinese Martial Arts," Renka said, "If you want to know, come with me tomorrow to a certain place! It's a special secret training!"
"Hoo, and what training is this?" Natsu asked from within the room. Renka almost screamed as she noticed Natsu bunking down inside Kenichi's room, but played it cool.
"Super special," Renka said, "You're welcomed to join too. It's something that everyone within the Ma family, including Ma Sogetsu, participated in."
"Now I'm interested," Natsu said.
"Good. Then both of you will come with me to the certain location tomorrow. And don't let anyone know, notice, or follow you!" Renka explained.
'I already know what this is,' Kenichi thought as he sighed.
"What is this, may I ask that we're lacking?" Natsu asked.
"Right. It's..."
The next day
"Relaxation!" Renka cheered as she wore one-piece white swimsuit with a window on her cleavage to expose them. She had led them to Matsue Water Park.
"Why did I even believe her?" Natsu asked as he wore swim trunks and a shirt.
"Because you're gullible," Kenichi said, wearing blue swim trunks.
"And you're not?" Natsu hissed, "Then why'd obey her and come?"
"Because I know my masters, they're right there," Kenichi pointed towards a group of chairs.
Renka and Natsu looked over to see that Kenichi was right and almost face faulted.
"Why are you all here!?" Renka screamed.
"We're here too!" Kaede and Honoka cheered, wearing a school-issued swimsuit.
"Ara, didn't you invite us?" Miu asked while wearing a two-piece orange swimsuit, "Ma-san told us he was treating us all."
Renka blinked in shock as Kensei unclipped one of Renka's bells to reveal a radio tracker that he had placed two days ago.
"Renka, I thought I told you," Kensei whispered, "Don't try to get in between those two. There's a lot more history between them that you don't know."
"What type of parent obstructs his daughter's happiness?" Renka growled, "Mama told me that she chased after you even though you were dating someone else!"
"I think your selective hearing kicked in," Kensei said, "True I was dating someone. But that relationship was already going downhill before I met your mother. I was going to split up with her. Your mama just made it go faster when I met her. Everybody already knew that we were going to split up. Right now, those two don't show any signs of that. So please Renka, as your father, don't pursue this any longer."
"...Fine," Renka pouted, "But I still want to have fun with him!"
"And that's fine," Kensei said, "But only as a friend. Look for somebody else instead."
"Like Natsu Tanimoto?" Renka teased.
"Well he does need to take responsibility," Kensei started.
"Hell no!" Renka shouted as she stomped away.
"Well then, let's start training," Akisame said with a smile.
"Oh come on!" Renka complained, "Kenichi needs a break too! He can't train all the time!"
"Haha, don't worry," Akisame laughed, "Since Kenichi doesn't visit the pool often, we'll do some light training."
Kenichi ended up treading water with twice the weight compared to the last timeline, though he managed to raise his chest out of the water this time through. His next training was climbing up the large pool slide that Akisame rented by giving one of his drawings to the manager, who was a huge fan of his art. Weights were strapped onto wrists and legs to increase the difficulty. Miu also joined in on the training and went first. Kensei was about to follow to instruct Kenichi on how to 'properly' climb it, but a glare from Miu and the Elder allowed Kenichi to quickly jump in first.
"Natsu-san, you're doing this training too," Kensei called out as Kenichi went in, "Your lower body could use a bit more work."
"But...," Natsu started, who had been watching over his sister, who was being catapulted by Apachai and laughing loudly. A rather huge line of kids was waiting for their turn.
"No buts," Kensei said, "Apachai will be there to watch over them. Now get over here and climb this slide."
Natsu glanced around and saw nobody from Koryu High and decided to join. The reason why he had a shirt and a jacket on was to hide his muscles. He still had to maintain that Mr. Nice Guy facade at school, and if it was revealed he had muscles, that would detract from the image he had built up. Shrugging the clothes off, he proceeded to climb the pool slide just to find out it was harder than he expected. The surging water pushed him back a little every time he made progress, and the slippery materials that constructed the slide made it difficult to keep a grip on. He was dismayed when he saw Kenichi and Miu climbing up without any real trouble.
"I won't give up," Natsu growled to himself as he made his way up the slide.
After that, Kenichi had to do front kicks at the 50-meter lane 100 times while Natsu was at another doing waist training. He had to swing his arms horizontally in the deeper side of the pool while walking, making use of the water resistance.
"Finally!" Renka said as Kenichi finished the training for today, "Come on, let's go on that water slide!"
Natsu was tired and resting on a chair with an umbrella to block out the sun while watching over his sister.
"Sure," Kenichi said, "Miu, do you want to come with us!?"
Renka growled before smiling as Miu shook her head, raising a glass of animitsu that she was enjoying. Renka, of course, chose a water slide where two people were seated on a mat, and she took the back seat as they went down, making sure her breasts pressed on Kenichi's back.
"That was fun!" Renka cheered, "Let's go on another one!"
"Let me check on Miu and Honoka first," Kenichi said as he left, leaving Renka to stomp her feet angrily. Then she noticed a brown-haired man with small glasses wearing suspenders and another man with shades and wearing a suit. Both of them were looking around, as if searching for someone.
"Crap, those are uncle's students," Renka murmured as she recognized them as Shokatsu Koan and Ryu Genson, "Maybe I can use Miu as a distraction!"
Renka looked around and frowned as she saw Miu inside the wading pool with Kenichi, splashing water against each other. She looked and saw Natsu sitting up and decided to use him instead.
"Come with me!" Renka hissed as she pulled Natsu with her.
"What do you want now?" Natsu asked moodily.
"Truth be told, something bad has happened," Renka lied smoothly, "A group of Chinese mafia has come here. They usually target Uncle Hakubi, but they might have changed tactics and try to capture me and use me as a hostage!"
"And I care about this...why?" Natsu grunted, causing Renka to almost fall over.
"You meanie! Don't you care that a beautiful young lady like me might get hurt?" Renka fumed.
"Someone like you?" Natsu quizzed, "Not my problem."
Before Renka could say anything, Ryu grabbed Renka by her arm while telling her she couldn't escape.
"Please come with us, Renka-oujo," Shokatsu requested.
Natsu turned around to leave and accidentally bumped shoulders against Shokatsu quite roughly and didn't apologize.
"Hey, not cool," Shokatsu said, grabbing Natsu by the shoulder, "It's proper manners to apologize for a bump."
"Get your hands off me," Natsu growled, shoving Shokatsu away.
"Rude!" Shokatsu said, now grabbing Natsu by the wrist.
"Fuck off!" Natsu shouted as he swung his other hand into Shokatsu's face.
Shokatsu was surprised at this sudden action and took the swing head on, causing him to fly back into the floor.
"Koan!" Ryu shouted, "Bastard, you'll pay for that!"
He let go of Renka and charged at Natsu, who took this time to escape.
'Not what I had in mind, but I'll take it,' grinned Renka with a feline smile.
Natsu found himself in a battle that he didn't want, but was willing to fight. The two clashed fists for a few moves before moving back.
"Not bad," commented Ryu, "Looks like you have some skill. Qi Xing Tang Lang Quan, Ryu Genson!"
Shokatsu shook his head to clear out the hit he just took before getting into position, "Chujilao, Shokatsu Koan, present!"
"Hmph, fine," scoffed Natsu, "Hikaken and Hakkyokuken, Hermit. That's all you'll get out of me."
"Sounds good to me!" roared Ryu as he charged forward, "Koan, this one's mine!"
The two exchanged fists, blocking each other's attack while trying to gain the upper hand.
"Gotcha!" roared Ryu as he launched a high low combo, making Natsu move before shifting his legs to intercept with Natsu's.
"Kiss the poolside," sneered Ryu as performed the Qiang Tang Lang Loin Chop, trying to force Natsu to fall over towards the pool and hit his head on the poolside.
Natsu did fall over, but his hand quickly gripped the poolside, and using the momentum, brought both legs up to smash them into Ryu's head. Ryu managed to bring his left arm up to protect him but was still sent flying into the pool. As a last-ditch effort, Ryu shot his hand forward and grabbed Natsu by his swim trunks.
"Hey, let go!" growled Natsu as he tried to keep his trunks on. In the end, they both fell into the water before continuing to fight.
As the fight progressed, both found themselves running out of oxygen, but both too stubborn to go up for it. They wanted to knock out the other fighter before going for air, their pride hindering their survival instinct. As the crowd watched the pool (well most of them. Kensei was watching Shigure's ass), the air bubbles slowly diminished until there were none left.
"Nii-chan!" shouted Kaede in worry.
"Are you guys pretending to be goldfish?" shouted the Elder as he did a spinning back kick towards the water with his eyes blazing with power, "Play on land!"
The force of the kicked caused the water to split apart to reveal only Ryu Genson laying there. A second later, Natsu's head popped out to the side of the pool, gasping for breath.
"I win," panted Natsu as he inhaled all the precious oxygen he could get.
Of course, the majority of the crowd thought that the water splitting was an event and eagerly clapped in awe.
"Genson!" shouted Shokatsu, "You'll pay for that!"
As he charged for Natsu, Kenichi decided it was time to intervene and stood in his path.
"Get out of my way!" shouted Shokatsu as he delivered a few high punches before spinning away from an elbow to deliver a deadly kick, only for Kenichi to completely stop it by stomping his foot onto Shokatsu's. Then, he delivered enough power to force Shokatsu's kick off but not let him fall down.
"That's enough," said Kensei, coming in between them, "You and the kid in the pool are Uncle Hakubi's disciples, correct?"
"Master Ma," greeted Shokatsu, completely dropping out of a fighting stance, "We were sent by Master Hakubi to retrieve Renka."
"Let's head back to Ryozanpaku then," said Kensei, "We can talk more there. Apachai has already picked up your friend."
Moments later they were all back at Ryozanpaku, but not before all of Ryozanpaku and company received annual passes for Matsue Park.
"We should come back here again!" cheered Honoka.
"Ya!" agreed Kaede, "Nii-chan, will you join us please?"
"When I have the time," said Natsu with a gentle smile.
'So, he does have his sweet side,' thought Renka as she saw that genuine smile and blushed a little before looking away.
A short explanation later, Renka went back with the other two, as Hakubi was lonely and started taking out mafia members to put his loneliness out of his mind.
"Such a violent family," sighed Natsu as he and Kaede returned home.
"What are you talking about Nii-chan?" smiled Kaede, "You're used to it with Ragnarok already."
"Do not go there," warned Natsu, "I have no interest in the girl."
"You say that now," whistled Kaede, "But I saw you talking with her in private."
"That was nothing," said Natsu coldly before shaking off the frost, "Come on, it's a school day tomorrow. Go to sleep."
At another place, Loki was raging about how his perfectly tuned plan had fallen apart thanks to Odin interfering. He kept ranting until Freya pointed out that it was his fault that three fists simultaneously quit. Natsu had quit because Loki had kidnapped his sister and the other two condemned kidnapping. At the same time, she herself also condemned such action and had only joined Ragnarok to not only show that woman could be stronger than men with weapons but to seek guidance from Kensei-sama whom none but Odin had ever seen.
"Grrr fine," spat Loki, "But I'm saying this now. I feel that you Berserker are more fit to be the leader!"
Loki left, thinking he had sown the seeds of discontent within the group now. Meanwhile, Kisara voiced out concern that they would be crushed before even facing Yomi, causing more discontent. Freya merely narrowed her eyes as Loki had warned her that Kisara's probability of betrayal was quite high. Though she may disagree with Loki's plan, her loyalty to Ragnarok was wavering.
At the same time, Odin was currently walking through a park, where he sat down and waited for a certain someone.
"Ryuto-sama!" shouted a certain girl as she ran towards Odin.
"It's Odin while I have these gloves," corrected Odin as he adjusted his glasses, "It's been awhile Atlante."
"Boo, just call me Rimi!" pouted Kokorone Rimi, "Odin-sama called me out! What do you need?"
"A new Fist," said Odin, "We just lost quite a bit of manpower thanks to Loki. Would you be interested in filling one of the Eight Fists of Ragnarok while I find other potential candidates?"
"Of course!" shouted Rimi in happiness, "Rimi will be happy to join!"
"Good, good," said Odin as he began to leave, "I'll be sure to tell the others about you later. I'll have gloves constructed for you at a later date and introduce you to the others."
"Odin-sama!" shouted Rimi, "Do you want to eat dinner together!?"
"Perhaps another day," said Odin, "I have more business to attend to."
As Odin left, Rimi quickly ran home to update her blog.
Meanwhile at one of Niijima's bases
Niijima was busy updating his PDA when he got a message telling him about an update on Rimi's blog. He quickly scanned the message and frowned for a bit.
"I knew Ryuto Asami knew Rimi, but I didn't think this would happen. Still, it's still within acceptable parameters. Now then, Takeda is currently begging James Shiba to become his master, Siegfried and Thor are improving themselves...Ukita definitely needs improvement. Just going to his old judo place won't be enough. But what to do?"
Niijima began to ponder on how to improve Ukita's skill before shelving it for later. There was still time for Ukita.
Days passed as fewer and fewer gang members of Ragnarok and people trying to get into the gang attacked the Shinpaku Alliance fighters. One fighter that prized himself as a Russian slap user bragged how his style would take Kenichi down. A right punch to the face, while the fighter was wildly waving his arms, halted that progress. Takeda had been accepted as James Shiba's disciple after a week of sitting at his house seiza-style. Of course, Shiba had used the same test as the last time, and Takeda easily finished them within the day, even if he did run himself ragged. What cinched it for him was the fact that their favorite move was the left straight and the fact they would be facing Yomi, back up by Yami, though Niijima supplied that tidbit of information.
Miu and Kenichi were walking back home together when they saw Kisara staring at a small orange kitten in a box before kicking the box into the alleyway. Miu's first reaction, of course, was to brutally beat up Kisara, but reigned that in as she remembered Kisara's true nature as a fellow cat lover. The two of them watched Kisara rush into the Matsue convenience store. Seconds later, she was out with a bag of items and bringing it into the alleyway, where she started to feed the lonely kitten while giving him comforting words.
"Aww, can I hold him?"
Kisara froze at the sound of that voice and slowly turned around to Kenichi and Miu.
"D-d-dairy Cow!?" shouted Kisara in shock before her attitude made a 180, turning from a girl who was happily cherishing the kitten to her usual tomboy/bad girl attitude, "Hmph what cat? Oh, there is one! I didn't see him."
"Liar," said Miu as she happily began to pet the cat, "Didn't you just feed him some milk.
"I was just eating, and some milk just happened to spill out," lied Kisara, making up excuses, "And... this cat food... it's my lunch, yea!"
"You don't have to force yourself to lie," sweatdropped Kenichi as Kisara began opening the box and attempting to eat it, "We won't tell anyone about this."
However, as soon as Kenichi said that, a visage of Niijima hovered behind him in Kisara's hallucination. Her mind began linking up imaginary dots until she came to the conclusion the Niijima of Shinpaku would attempt to blackmail her with this. After all, she had heard about the weird alien in Shinpaku before and past rumors of his 'brainwashing'.
"You...," started Kisara as she finished her conclusion and a solution to save her reputation, "I'm going to kill you right now."
'How does she even link that up?' thought Kenichi
The kitten suddenly dashed out to the road, where a driver on a gas scooter was just driving through. Before the kitten could be hit, both Miu and Kisara reacted...rather painfully for the driver. Kisara kicked the driver in the head, launching him off his motorcycle, while Miu saved the kitten while also kicking the scooter out of the way. While the girls focused on the safety of the kitten, it was up to Kenichi to worry about the health of the now semi-conscious driver with a concussion. While doing so, they didn't notice several girls wearing the same style uniform spying on them.
"Yes Freya-sama, she has made contact with the enemy," said Chisato Ayazaki, wearing a pink and white style uniform with a pink skirt to signify her role as second in command of the Valkyries, "They'll still just talking. Once we have found Kisara Nanjo guilty of treason against Ragnarok, we, the Valkyries will end communication and take immediate action."
The other Valkyries, all wearing a blue and white style uniform, nodded as one.
A few days later
"Yaa!" smiled Miu happily as she played with the kitten at Ryozanpaku. After a small discussion, Miu happily took the poor kitten home and adopted him. The last timeline she didn't get to do so due to some rather rash judgments about the masters of Ryozanpaku. This time, knowing their true nature, Miu was happily caring for the kitten. Of course, Shigure's mouse ,Tochumaru, was told not to harm the new kitten. Tochumaru just shrugged and went back to eating his cheese, not really caring about having a cat in the dojo. He would show the kitten who was the alpha pet later.
"My turn, my turn!" said Kisara, who was visiting Ryozanpaku to play with the kitten, "By the way, I'm surprised you're here Natsu."
"Shut up!" growled Natsu as Kensei was busy poking needles into him to help strengthen his body, "What I do is none of your business!"
Natsu was only here because he had injured himself while practicing a move by himself, and Kaede ended up pushing him to see Kensei while she was visiting to play with Honoka, Apachai, and Shigure.
"Hmph alright," said Kisara as she looked towards where Kenichi was training, "Now that I see his training, I'm not surprised that he beat my Technique Trio as easily as he did."
Kenichi was screaming while beating up several wooden dolls with electricity sparking between their hands while wearing weights. He had to hit a doll 40 times before it would fall down, otherwise, it would shock him. And even when the doll fell, they would randomly come back up again. Even the 'promise' that the machine would stop when all of them were knocked down was fake as they all got back up again.
"Ooh I want to play with the kitten," said Honoka before sneezing.
"Honoka, you're allergic to cats," lectured Kaede, "Don't go near him."
"Hmmm, it might be a problem for the kitten to reside here if Honoka comes over often," mused the Elder, "Why not let the kitten stay at one of your friend's bases?"
"Bases?" asked Natsu and Kisara.
"Ah, maybe I shouldn't have said anything," apologized the Elder.
"No, I don't think Niijima will mind," said Miu, as Kenichi was still too busy fighting for his life, "We could use the one closest to here!"
"By the way, have you given him a name?" asked Akisame as he casually turned up the difficulty for Kenichi while ignoring Kenichi's screams.
"Not yet," admitted Miu, "What name do you think we should give him?"
"Hmph, not that smart are you Dairy Cow," taunted Kisara before giving it some thought, "I want to name him Noir."
Kisara went into details about her first cat for Miu before they returned to playing with the kitten. As evening fell, Kisara was escorted by Miu and still smoking Kenichi to the nearest train station. For reasons unknown to them, Tochumaru decided to escort them, hiding in Kenichi's shirt pocket. Rain started to pour down, forcing all three of them to open their umbrella. However, as they were arriving, the trio found themselves surrounded by all the Valkyries and Freya herself.
"So it's true," said Freya, "Consorting with the enemy. Have you no shame Valkyrie?"
"Freya-sama, leave this to us," announced Ayazaki, second in command, "We, the Valkyries, the direct subgroup of the Third Fist, will punish you!"
"Wait!" said Kenichi, trying to stop the fight from happening, "Kisara is only with us because she was helping take care of a kitten. This has nothing to do with our groups."
"She is with you, the Shinpaku Alliance Assault Captain," declared Ayazaki, "That alone is enough for us to declare that Kisara Nanjo is guilty of treason and should be punished."
"That's not how friends should treat each other," growled Kenichi as he and the others prepared themselves.
As the Valkyries began to draw out their weapons, Miu decided to raise one particular question that had been bothering her.
"If your group is called Valkyries," said Miu, pointing to Freya's group, "And Kisara's new name is Valkyrie...why did you give a new Fist and your group the same name? Wouldn't that confuse people?"
Everyone remained silent as Choju Giga frogs leaped by with dots trailing behind.
"Yea why is that?" shouted Kisara indignantly, "Just because I previously was in your Valkyrie group doesn't mean I should get that name!"
"You'll have to take that up with Odin," said Freya calmly, though a light blush brushed her face, "He was the one who came up with it. I don't think he was aware that my group was called the Valkyries."
'That, or the author got lazy,' piped Tochumaru in his hiding spot, breaking the fourth wall. Luckily, all they heard was squeaks, and the rain covered his voice from coming through.
"It doesn't matter!" shouted Ayazaki as she brandished her weapon, "Freya-sama, let us punish the betrayer and destroy the Shinpaku's assault commander!"
Freya merely nodded, and all the members of the Valkyries charged.
"It's like a weapons exhibit," commented Kenichi as he began to dodge all the attacks.
"Less talking, more fighting!" snapped Kisara as she kicked Usami in the chin, who was wielding a bo staff.
Kisara then watched Miu easily take care of three others like a feather cutting through the wind.
"That's going to be a problem for me," admitted Kenichi as he dodged a whip.
"Oh, and why's that?" asked Freya.
"... I vowed never to hit a woman," admitted Kenichi.
"Oh yeah, you did say that during our fight," remarked Kisara as she kicked another.
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING!" yelled almost all the Valkyries as they began to swing their weapons with more anger.
"I knew they'd react like this," sighed Kenichi.
"Don't worry about taking it easy on us," said Freya, suddenly walking forward.
Kenichi turned around and just barely dodged an attack from her, the attack ripping open his shirt.
"Because we're even stronger than men," finished Freya, though surprised to see Kenichi dodge it.
"It's not a matter of taking pity or belittling women," said Kenichi as he dodged another attack, "It's my principles and how I was raised."
"Hmph, but in this case, it would be wise to throw it away," said Freya as she spun her staff, no longer hiding it. Then she completely froze. For on her staff was Tochumaru, who had been flung off Kenichi's shirt pocket and landed perfectly on the tip of her staff.
"Chuu," said Tochumaru with a satisfied tone.
"Freya-sama?" asked Ayazaki with concern as they all saw her freeze.
"Eek!" screamed Freya in a manner completely unlike herself, "A mouse!"
She began to swing her staff erratically, trying to get Tochumaru off. She succeeded when Tochumaru decided to just jump off and land back onto Kenichi's head.
"She's afraid of mouse!?" said Kisara in shock, "Are you kidding me!?"
"Coward!" shouted Toyonaga, the naginta user, "Using Freya-sama's fear to fight against her!"
"I didn't even know she was afraid of mice!" retorted Kenichi as he dodged several more attacks, "Tochumaru, get out of here!"
Tochumaru squeaked in reply before jumping off Kenichi and was about to run off when he was cut off by Tatsumoto, the nunchuck wielding girl.
"I'll crush that little mouse!" shouted Tatsumoto as she spun her nunchuck, slightly showing off how fast she could perform the arm switch move.
Tochumaru's eyes twinkle as he pulled out his own mouse-sized nunchuck from somewhere, spinning it before showing just how much faster he could perform the arm switch move. As he finished, silence pervaded the area.
"Err, not to belittle you," said Yuki, who was wielding a flail, "But I think that mouse is faster than you on the nunchuck."
"Shut up!" shouted a very embarrassed Tatsumoto as she swiped her nunchuck at Tochumaru, who dodged it. He scaled the walls on the side and jumped off it, swinging his nunchuck in a helicopter swing and smack it on top of Tatsumoto's head, dodging an attack from Yuki trying to grab him, and then landing on someone's hand.
"There... you... are," said Shigure as Tochumaru waved before crawling on top of Shigure's head.
"You're the owner of that filthy mouse!?" shouted Aiba as she used her whip to strike at Shigure in anger.
Before anyone could react, Shigure drew out her sword and cut the whip into many tiny pieces, causing all the Valkyries to freeze in shock.
"Using weapons against me... you all have no chance of living now," stated Shigure as she held her sword up high, causing them all to backstep.
"Shigure!" said both Kenichi and Miu as they fearfully held onto Shigure to stop her.
"Just... kidding... neh," finished Shigure, allowing a tumbleweed to blow through.
"Let's go... home," stated Shigure, "Apachai … wants dinner."
"After we drop Kisara near her house," placated Miu.
"Hmph, forget it," said Kisara, "I can handle this myself. Things I hate the most... are women with big breasts and women who use weapons. This is my fight!"
"This counts as big?" asked Shigure as she pushed up her breasts with her hands, causing Kenichi to look away while Miu quickly pushed Shigure's hands down.
Kisara's mind flashed back to when Freya tried to push her to use a weapon when she was in the Valkyries and how Freya stated that for a woman to fight a man equally, they had to use weapons.
"I want... to go home...," said Shigure, "But they seem... to be blocking... the way," said Shigure, pointing to the Valkyries, who were revving up their spirits, "Guess I'll... take care of this."
"No!" shouted Kenichi as Shigure began to draw her sword out.
"No swords!" added Miu, "Nothing that's sharp or uses a blade!"
Shigure, who had been ready to take out a chain sickle, huffed before taking out a wooden spoon made from Akisame.
"Then I'll … use this," said Shigure with a proud voice.
"What the hell is a that going to help with?" asked Kisara.
"You think you can win with that!?" shouted Ayazaki in anger.
"Don't you think you're underestimating us a lot you damn kimono girl!?" shouted Igarashi, the sai user.
"Looks like we'll have to teach you a lesson!" stated Toyanagi as she swung her naginata at Shigure.
All the Valkyries aimed their weapon at Shigure in anger just as Freya managed to snap out of her mouse-induced shock just to see Shigure and her sixth sense was screaming at her.
"Stop!" said Freya, but it was too late.
Shigure, in most of their eyes, moved so fast that all they could see were blurs. Still, it drove a point when all of their weapons, whether they be made of wood or metal, were sliced into pieces.
"Just using a spoon!" gasped Ayazaki.
"She broke our weapons," continued Igarashi.
"Into... pieces..," finished Toyanagi in fear.
"Hmph," scoffed Shigure, "A spoon can be just as good as a katana. Your weapons... should be like the fists of Karate... or the elbows of Muay Thai... to be viewed as... a part of one's body. You cannot … master a weapon ... by depending on … its power. If you want ... to be a weapon's ... master, one ... must become the … owner of … yourself … first!"
Shigure looked over to Freya, "You ... look like … you were … close to it, ... but lost your ... way."
Freya bristled at the observation but couldn't say anything against Shigure. She could see that Shigure was easily a master, perhaps even greater than her grandfather. Speaking of which, it had been a long time since she had seen him and taken lessons from him. Perhaps... Shigure's words hit the truth closer than Freya wanted. That she began to see a weapon's power as something to equalize the playing field, not as an extension of herself.
For Kisara, it was a realization and reaffirmation of why she had left the Valkyries in the first place. To find her own place, and to become a master of her own self.
"Shut up!" shouted Ayazaki in anger as she threw her weapon to the ground, "Then we'll just use our fists then!"
Before she could take a step, the sound of clothes tearing could be heard. Each one of the Valkyrie's faces had a mixture of shock, fear, embarrassment, and anger painted on their face as their clothes, skirt, and even bra was slash, leaving cut marks everywhere on the clothes while revealing a lot of skin.
"Don't look!" demanded Miu as she jabbed Kenichi's eyes to prevent him from looking, causing him to scream in pain.
The Valkyries tried to cover themselves until Freya ordered them to retreat. They screamed insults and threats as they ran away.
'Not only did she cut their weapons, but she even cut their clothes without them noticing! I didn't even see it,' gasped Freya, 'Not only that, but she has mastered her weapons to an extent that even though she cut through the clothes, not a blemish was done to their skin.'
"Had... enough?" asked Shigure.
Freya could only numbly nod and turn to leave.
"Wait!" shouted Kisara, causing Freya to stop.
"I chose not to become your subordinate not only because I disliked using weapons," confessed Kisara, "But to show that with my legs, I could become one of the Fists, and surpass you. But that's not important anymore. I've chosen my own path! As of today, team Kisara will sever ties with Ragnarok!"
Freya just stared before nodding and leaving.
"So... what now?" asked Miu as they arrived at the bus stop. Shiratori had arrived to help protect Kisara.
"I'll figure something out," sighed Kisara.
"In that case, why not join us officially!" said Niijima, popping out of somewhere with the rest of the alliance and Siegfried.
"What the hell are you doing here!?" shouted Kisara, "And how the hell do you know I broke off with Ragnarok!? I just only declared it!"
"I know a lot of things," grinned Niijima, "Siegfried, show our friend the benefits she gets for joining the Shinpaku Alliance... or at least team up together."
"Of course, my demon lord!" sang Siegfried.
"Siegfried, you're with them?" asked Kisara.
"Along with my friend Thor!" replied Siegfried, "But I could tell, Valkyrie, that though you were part of Ragnarok, you were suppressing a Melody con Tenerezza! Though in any case, since 4 fists have left, Ragnarok is growing out of control and may come to strike you and your subordinates! So we should work together! And if you join us..."
Siegfried reached into his coat pocket and pulled out... an orange kitten.
"I'll throw this in for you!" declared Siegfried, "He was just born last week!"
"So cute!" shouted Miu and Kisara as Kisara grabbed the kitten and started cuddling with it.
"I know your apartment doesn't allow pets," sang Siegfried, "So I'm willing to open a small room in my mansion! Or even one of Niijima's base can be converted to a place for you to play with the kittens! I have around 20 breeds of cats and dogs for you to play with!"
"I don't care about dogs, just the cats," cried Kisara as she started rolling with the new kitten.
"Here's another one!" said Siegfried, pulling out another cat from his coat again, "And another cat, the hairless Canadian Cat!"
"Where is he pulling these cats out from?" whispered Shiratori to Kenichi.
"I learned to give up understanding that," replied Kenichi.
Kisara and Miu began to coo over the kittens before Miu remembered that she actually now owned a kitten, and felt guilty lavishing attention to other cats. Though Siegfried reminded Miu that it would be good for her kitten to play with other kittens every now and then, and also gave advice on how to raise them.
Kisara snapped out of her cat-induced trance and tried to revert back to a cool persona, but it was rather late to do so. Still, in the end, she agreed to the alliance.
There. Hmm feels like this chapter was a bit disjointed, but I wasn't exactly sure how to connect them all. There were tons of other things that happened in between that I just skipped as they weren't too relevant to the plot. For instance, skipping Siegfried and Thor's fight altogether.
Who loves Tochumaru!? He so trolly sometimes, I just had to put him in. Muhaha, showing just how strong he is! And if Noir lives in Ryozanpaku... he'll probably become the History Strongest's Cat just as Tochumaru is the strongest mouse lol.
Let's see the timeline. Rimi joins Ragnarok! Can't follow canon flow all the time, each action they do will influence how things played out.
I do promise the next chapter will be very battle filled and detailed. I can see most people enjoyed my Omake, with Third Fang helping me out a bit.
Speaking of which, I did it! I'm in first place in the Kenichi archives! Which isn't much, I know, but it's something. Now to hope people don't all unfav and unfollow it because I said this. Gotta thank Third Fang for mentioning my story as well as helping me with the initial chapters as well as bouncing ideas.
Have pat reon page, azndrgn writing fanfic, come donate if you feeling generous! Or just come check it out, I do post posts on it!
Last but not least, I have finally released a new story I said I was going to do. It's a My Hero Academia Story starring Izuku, straight from the poll that I said I would do! Come check it out!