Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½, or anything else you may recognize. Not a dime is being made of this story and is for entertainment purposes only. Enjoy!
A/N: Well, since the co-author idea kinda fell through and you've all been waiting double the normal for this chapter I'm gonna make this chapter a bit longer than normal. I'm shooting for 10 normal pages, but we'll see. This story is going to be finished up within probably two more chapters, maybe three, because I'm not as into Ranma as I was when I started this story. There are too many good mangas and animes out there catching my interest. Oh well, hope ya'll enjoy!
Chapter 10
Masaki home, one week later
"Ranma, as it's so late into the semester we will not be enrolling you in Tenchi's school until the coming semester after the holidays. However, I believe the teachers will expect you to be caught up with the rest of the students in the class," Katsuhito began while internally cursing Washu. Just where did she get those pictures anyway? "Since that is the case I believe it would be best for you to be tutored when you have time from your chores and your training. As Tenchi is too busy with his own studies to catch you up and finish his own homework it; I believe it would be best for Washu to be your tutor."
"Are you sure 'bout that Sensei," Ranma asked hesitantly. He'd already managed to keep himself from being dragged into Washu's lab a total of 10 times in the last week after a friendly warning from Tenchi. Of course, that meant that Tenchi was getting drug in more than usual. Ranma had been really pitying Tenchi due to the stories he'd heard about Washu's experiments, but now that the shoe was on the other foot he could only pray that the stories were exaggerations.
"It would be for the best. She would be able to get you up to speed faster than anyone else in the house," Katsuhito replied, hoping that little incentive would make the deal sound better. You get too drunk once and mistake an animal pen as your bed and people never let you live it down. Cameras weren't even around then, so he really wasn't sure where the photographic evidence came from.
"All right, when am I supposed ta be there for my first lesson," Ranma asked resigned. He knew Katsuhito would keep pushing this until Ranma agreed, and he was Ranma's sensei, so there wasn't much Ranma could do to argue.
"In a few minutes actually. I'd suggest you hurry unless you want to be turned into a guinea pig the moment you enter her lab," Katsuhito said with the ghost of a smile as he watched Ranma dash for the door to Washu's lab. When Washu was expecting you nobody wanted to be late. It was a standing rule that if you were late you were strapped to a table the moment you entered. "I hope he can find which section of her lab she's hiding out in, he never even gave me a chance to tell him where to go."
Meanwhile, Ranma was bolting through the innocent looking door into Washu's lab like the hounds of hell were on his tail in an effort to make it in time. He'd so far succeeded in not becoming a guinea pig for Washu, but with his luck, or rather lack of it, that wouldn't hold out much longer. A quick check of the main part of the lab made it clear that finding Washu wasn't going to be an easy task. Normally she worked here in case anyone in the house needed her for something, but if she wasn't here, then she wanted him to be late. After searching all the obvious rooms Ranma opened the door to the last room he'd been shown, the medical bay Washu had in her lab, unfortunately for him, the minute he stepped through the door he was assaulted by robotic arms calibrated for his immense strength and strapped to a table.
"Hehehe, Ranma-kun, you're late," Washu cackled as she came out of hiding from behind a terminal.
"Ah, Washu-chan, um, I looked all over for you, but ah, couldn't find you," Ranma attempted to reason while stuttering due to unreasonable fear.
"Don't worry Ranma-kun, this won't hurt a bit, at least, it won't hurt me," Washu replied with an insane laugh that made Ranma scream loud enough that the whole house heard.
"Better him than me," Tenchi commented as he laced up his shoes to go work in the field.
(Break time, get a cookie or sumthin')
Later that same day
"Remind me never to be late for a tutoring session again," Ranma complained as he stretched out his sore muscles. He'd been strapped to the table for several hours and then spent the rest of the time either hunched over a desk attempting to stay awake or being punished for falling asleep. Punishment for failure being more tests conducted, so in all, Ranma spent roughly two thirds of the time in Washu's lab having experiments conducted on himself. Only being awake and paying attention for a grand total of 45 minutes. That's cumulative, not all at once either.
"Ha ha ha, I'll be sure to remind you, but better you than me, she used to have me in there every other day attempting to run experiments and tests on me," Tenchi replied with a laugh.
"Yeah, well, we'll just see how you like it when I tell Washu that you miss being in her lab," Ranma groused.
"You wouldn't," Tenchi gasped.
"Try me," Ranma countered before breaking out in guffaws, "Nah, I wouldn't do that to ya. Just make sure that I'm not late, like say, 30 minutes early so I can find her, and I won't say a thing."
"Whew, don't scare me like that," Tenchi chuckled in mock relief. "So, has Grandpa started your training yet?"
"Nah, he said he needs to finish up a few things at the shrine and finish up the kata he's teaching you before he starts with me. I'm supposed to just go through what I remember and he'll start with me later this week," Ranma said as he stretch the last of the kinks out of muscles before beginning the sword katas he learned from Yosho years ago.
"So, have you sparred with him yet," Tenchi asked curiously. His own spar with Ranma had been inconclusive because he'd accidentally tapped the Light Hawk Wings. He was pretty sure that had that not happened Ranma would've won that last bout.
"Yeah, a few days ago, and if you repeat this I'll beat you within an inch of your life, but he completely owned me in that fight. There wasn't much of a difference in power, if anything I might've had a little bit more with both my ki and Kaikou's power, but he had quite a few moves I'd never seen before so had no way to counter. That'll change, but for our first bout I lost," Ranma somewhat complained. He really didn't like the fact that he lost, but most of his wins in the past had come from his ability to think on his feet. His learning curve and his tactical thinking were practically unrivalled, but coming against a fighter he'd never fought or seen fought before he's at a serious disadvantage. All his power is of no use if he can't come up with a good plan to use it. The only reason he'd beat Saffron was because Saffron used the same tactics over and over again. It was easy to come up with a plan, the only question was power, and with the Gekkaja I had enough to make a strong enough Hiryu Shoten Ha. (Just my opinion folks! Ranma's got power, but he wasn't as strong as Saffron, even one that was hatched early, but he's a tactical genius.)
"TENCHI," Ryoko yelled as she appeared out of thin air and hung herself off of his neck, "Why don't we go for a nice romantic walk around the lake?"
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY TENCHI YOU MONSTER WOMAN," Ayeka yelled as she stormed towards the trio. Pretty soon Tenchi was the 'rope' in a tug-of-war between Ryoko and Ayeka despite all protests that he needed to practice right now.
"HE ISN'T YOUR TENCHI YOU ROYAL FLEA BAG," Ryoko yelled while holding Tenchi's arm between her ample assets.
"HE WOULD PREFER ME TO SOME DRUNKEN FLOOZY," Ayeka retorted while tugging on Tenchi's other arm.
"Now that brings back some bad memories, better you than me Tenchi, I think I'll go see if Sasami needs any help making supper," Ranma commented before taking off. Before he got out of hearing range he yelled over his shoulder, "Ya know, ya might have better luck if ya didn't treat Tenchi as an object, he's a person not a pet!" His parting shot quickly silenced both women making them sulk and walk off as they realized how childish they were just acting. Nobody had really pointed out that they were never asking Tenchi, just assuming, sure there had been times when they had legitimately tried to win him, but they were few and far between. Usually they just fought over him like he was a stuffed toy.
"Girls, why don't the three of us take a walk and have a nice long talk," Tenchi suggested. He didn't like seeing any of the girls in the house depressed, and despite how they treated him he loved them both quite a bit. It was just picking one over the other, he didn't think he'd ever be able to do that.
"Hey Sasami," Ranma called as he entered the kitchen after washing up. "Do you need any help?"
"R-Ranma-kun," Sasami stuttered. Despite him being around for a week, and his vow that they'd get to know each other as friends she was still somewhat nervous around him. He was such a nice man, and just looking at him made her blush, especially when he was outside practicing without a shirt on.
"You okay Sasami? You want me to make supper so you can get some rest? You look like you might be coming down with something," Ranma suggested before putting the back of his hand to her forehead to check her temperature making her blush a deeper shade of red.
"I'm fine Ranma-kun, I have everything ready, I just need to cook it," Sasami replied before suggesting, "Why don't you head out to the dock and practice?"
"Ah, Ayeka and Ryoko were fightin' over Tenchi. Wanted ta give them some time ta talk. I gave them a little something to think about on my way back and I wanted to see if you needed any help," Ranma told her with a smile.
"They're walking around the lake so if you want to get some more practice in so Grandpa doesn't get angry with you, you can," Sasami told him. Despite knowing that Yosho and Katsuhito were one and the same, she kept calling him Grandpa to not arouse suspicions with Ayeka and the others if they hadn't figured it out yet. Sometimes it paid to be able to chat with a Goddess.
"Someday you're gonna hafta tell me how you do that," Ranma commented. He knew that if Sasami said they'd left then she was right, she'd proven that enough times over the week, but he'd yet to learn how she knew.
"I promise I'll tell you someday, just, just give me a little more time," Sasami asked a little sadly.
"Of course Sasami-chan," Ranma told her as he kneeled down to her height. "Cheer up, I ain't gonna pressure ya, I'm just curious is all."
"Thank you Ranma," Sasami said with a watery smile. She knew the explanation would happen sooner than she'd like. Tsunami wanted to have a talk with Ranma soon as she'd felt Kenji bond with a tree and leave Jurai shortly after the Azusa's ship did. If anything she'd need to talk to him to warn him in case Kenji came to attack Ranma for some reason.
"Ya don't gotta thank me Sasami, that's what friends are for, if ya need ta talk just let me know," Ranma told her while putting a hand on her shoulder. After a moment he stood back up and left the kitchen leaving Sasami to her cooking and her thoughts. Making his way back to the docks he wasn't a bit surprised to see that it was indeed empty as Sasami said, so he quickly loosened up again before starting his practice. After completing 50 of each of 7 of the 9 swings Ranma started on the beginning kata again. While he was getting proficient at it, he didn't have it perfect again, yet.
Thrust, parry, dodge, overhead, left side, parry, jump, crouch right side cut, block, upwards from right into a thrust, block, overhead, etc… Towards the end of the kata his danger sense, one of only benefits to the hellish training Genma put him through, went to full alert. Only the fact that Ranma still wasn't used to training with a bokken, and wasn't completely immersed in the kata like he would normally be, saved him from being run through with the kodachi that nicked his arm as he dodged to the right. As he spun around he was faced with someone he never thought he would need to see again.
"What are you doing here," Ranma asked half in shock and half in anger.
"I'm here to get revenge," Kenji yelled.
"What'd I do ta you," Ranma retorted in anger. "From what I hear you're older so you get ta have Seiji's seat in the court, so what d'ya need ta kill me for?"
"Because of you showing up my mother doesn't even acknowledge I exist anymore," Kenji screamed. "Once father lost his power she began throwing herself at any single royals in a petty attempt to gain power. Now she doesn't even look at me, much less care about me!"
"Hate ta tell ya this, but that ain't my fault," Ranma replied as he tossed the bokken off to the side. Since this was a serious fight he wouldn't go into it with something he knew would be a disadvantage for him. He was already handicapped enough as it was facing someone who had weapons, let alone fighting his own brother.
"YES IT IS! If you'd have never shown up things wouldn't have changed! Father would still be part of the court and Mother would never have abandoned me," Kenji yelled.
"If you're lookin' for pity, look somewhere else," Ranma replied coldly while getting into a defensive posture. "I don't even need ta use Kaikou's power ta beat you."
"THAT POWER SHOULD HAVE BEEN MINE," Kenji shouted angrily, letting on that he was jealous due to getting a lesser tree.
"Bah, a spoiled brat like you? Let me guess, ya got the weakest tree there," he taunted his half-brother. He was hoping that if he got Kenji angry enough he could knock him out with the least amount of damage. While he might not know him that well, Kenji was his half-brother. He didn't want to go all out. He hadn't used his full strength on Genma after all when he thought the man was his father. Luckily, the ploy to anger Kenji worked, the Juraian royal leapt at Ranma swinging wildly with the kodachi. Unfortunately, due to the fact that he was swinging wildly with such short weapons, Ranma got nicked a few times while weaving around the twin weapons trying to get in a clean hit. It took a few minutes, as well as gaining a number of nicks and gashes, but Ranma finally got in close enough to hit Kenji's pressure points to knock him out.
Once that was done Ranma set about stopping the worst of his wounds with some material from his shirt before throwing Kenji over his shoulder and heading for the shrine where Azusa, Yosho, Misaki, and Funaho should be. Since they were nearly twins, except for Kenji not having the hidden muscles Ranma had, the trip went quite quickly since the boy was quite light.
Knock, Knock!
"Enter," Yosho called out.
"Hey Sensei, my brother showed up," Ranma said as he tossed Kenji on the floor in front of the Emperor, his wives, and the former First Crown Prince of Jurai.
"What happened," Misaki asked emotionally.
"Guess my step-mom didn't care too much for my dad. From what Kenji said as soon as he lost power she started hangin' offa any single guy that'd look at her that had any scrap of power," Ranma commented.
"That's a common occurrence, unfortunately," Funaho replied, "But why would he be angry at you?"
"I guess it was to the point she was ignorin' him too. He blames me for showin' up," Ranma told her before sitting down next to Kenji.
"That's a rather stupid thing to do," Yosho commented to his student.
"Welcome ta my life," Ranma replied resignedly.
"Was he attempting to hurt or to kill," Funaho asked not betraying her thoughts, not that Ranma would have any clue as to why she was asking.
"Well, based offa his first attack I'd hafta guess kill. If I wouldn'ta dodged his first thrust woulda gone through my lung, maybe heart too," he told her with a depressed air.
"In that case, like his father, he will be stripped of his title and charged with attempted murder of a member of the Royal family," Azusa said imperiously.
"But there ain't no harm done. It ain't like he actually killed me," Ranma defended his brother, why, even if you asked him he couldn't tell you, but he just felt it was the right thing to do.
"Ranma, whether you want to admit it or not, your brother attempted to kill you. That's not something we can take lightly. What if he decided that instead of going after you he would set his sights on the Emperor, the person who took his father's power away," Yosho asked.
"But, there ain't no way ta know if he will," Ranma protested.
"That's enough, my word is final," Azusa barked causing Ranma to flinch and become even more depressed. Not only had he caused his so-called father to be arrested, but now his brother too. He had never intended for any of this to happen, and had he known it would he never would've followed Ryoga.
"Ranma-kun, if it makes you feel any better, we have an update on the search for where Seiji buried your mother," Misaki told him in the hopes of lifting his spirits. Unfortunately it didn't do much, but he was interested and made a grunt of ascent for her to continue. "According to the reports we received today the location was empty. After asking around it was found out that your mother was found and treated before she died. Unfortunately, due to severe head trauma she lost her memory, but she never forgot about you in her heart. As soon as she was well enough she departed for Earth because she had a strong belief that something here would help her regain her memories.
"You mean there's a chance she could still be alive," Ranma asked desperately.
"Yes, there's a good chance. Unfortunately we're not sure what name she's under right now. On Jurai her name was Yukishiro Kaoru, but due to regulations she would have changed it after settling down here like Yosho did," Funaho told him, "She never got in contact or was unable to get into contact with the Galaxy Police to inform them of the change of her name after settling down."
"Thank you," Ranma told them with a watery smile, completely forgetting about his brother before he bolted from the shrine to tell Sasami the good news and see if Washu might be able to search for his mother.
(IT'S YEBISU TIME!)
Unit 01 laid the smack down on…oops, wrong story!
Towards the end of the week, things were finally calming down after the attack from Kenji, and Ranma was ready to finally begin his training under Yosho again. As much as he complained about it, he knew he hit something of a plateau in unarmed combat. The only way to really improve was in speed, power, and ki based techniques. He wanted the excitement of learning a school from the beginning again. It was something he missed from his time on the road with Genma, although the training with Genma left a lot to be desired, the sense of accomplishment when he perfected a new kata was something that he always cherished. That's why the Art was so important to him. It was the joy of learning it, and losing himself in it that he enjoyed. Plus, the joy of going all out while sparring with a friend that nothing he had come across could compare with.
"Now don't hold back on me just because I ain't good with this yet," Ranma warned.
"Don't worry, I learned my lesson the last time we sparred, you'll get everything I can give you," Tenchi replied happily. He was much more into sparring now that he had someone who was both better and worse than him. Take away the bokken and Ranma'd most likely beat Tenchi, but in the spars they had over the last few days with Ranma holding a bokken Tenchi'd finally had someone he was better than. It was a definite change, and he realized why his grandfather liked sparring with him so much. He could see Ranma improve with each spar as he pointed out problems with Ranma's defense and other things.
To an unseen signal both fighters leapt at each other Ranma with an overhead strike and Tenchi with a blow to Ranma's midsection. After the initial trade the only thing a spectator could see would be their arms moving and hear the clacks of the bokkens hitting each other. Neither one was injured from the initial trade-off as Tenchi dodged and Ranma had taken too many mallets and/or blunt objects to the head for it to even phase him.
"Hey Ranma," Tenchi called out as he jumped back.
"Yeah," Ranma asked confused as to why they were taking a break.
"Can you sense Grandpa anywhere around," Tenchi asked with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Nope, he's up at the shrine, why?"
"Wanna try a couple of the moves we saw in the anime yesterday," Tenchi proposed. If he could get something to surprise Katsuhito with, he might get a hit in one of these times.
"Alright, but I get Ken's. You can take Hiko's attack," Ranma bargained.
"Sounds good," Tenchi replied. With a nod they both leapt into the air.
"RYUU TSUI SEN," Ranma yelled at the apex of his jump while bringing his bokken to bear coming down.
"RYUU SHOU SEN," Tenchi answered holding his bokken on each end on his way up.
CRACK! SMACK! THUD!
"OWWW," two voices yelled as their bodies slammed into the ground.
"Let's not do that again for a while," Tenchi whined. Before Ranma could reply their peace was interrupted by a voice Ranma had hoped he wouldn't hear again.
"RANMA! FOR LETTING AKANE GET HURT PREPARE TO DIE," Ryoga yelled as he charged.
"Oh great, pig boy is here," Ranma complained before tossing his bokken at Tenchi. "Ya might wanna give us some room."
"Don't you dare ignore me Ranma," Ryoga shouted as he continue charging, collecting bandanas in his hand as he ran.
"How did I allow Akane ta get hurt," Ranma asked flatly.
"Because you weren't there she had to fight the Dojo Destroyers and got hurt," Ryoga answered stupidly before throwing his ki laced bandanas.
"So you're telling me that because she broke my decree against her using Anything Goes she got hurt, and that's my fault," Ranma replied incredulously while dodging the flying projectiles. He made though sure to knock any down that were heading towards Tenchi or the house.
"Of course it is," Ryoga replied as if it were obvious.
"Well P-chan, thanks for letting me know that I have to do something about Akane, and her father," Ranma commented as if he figured he'd have to anyway. Before any more words could be said Ryoga took out his umbrella and made a stab for Ranma's head. With the least amount of movement Ranma shifted his head so the umbrella would go past his head. "So Ryoga, why weren't you fighting the challengers instead of Akane? Aren't you two married now?"
"Hehehe, yeah, I mean, of course I was fighting them, but I got lost! It's your entire fault for not being in Nerima," Ryoga shouted coming out of his little dream world before taking another futile swipe at Ranma with his umbrella.
"You're not even a challenge anymore P-chan," Ranma taunted.
"DON'T CALL ME THAT," Ryoga yelled before finding himself with a face and stomach full of a 'Moko Takabisha'. His last thought before losing consciousness was Damn you Ranma, I will get vengeance on you for what you've done to Akane!
Tenchi brought over a bucket of water for Ranma to use to cool off with since not only did Ranma spar with him, but he had a fight with Ryoga and neither one of them were at what you would call normal speed. Upending the bucket of water over his head Ranma felt something he never thought he would feel again, the distinct tingling of Jusenkyo magic.
A/N: I know, not nearly long enough, but I wanted it ended there. This is going to be a double post, so don't worry too much. I'm going to start on chapter 11 right now. Couldn't stretch the chapter out as long as I wanted so I figured I'd just write out the next chapter, I'm supposed to be up to 11 anyway.
