Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ or any of the characters from Ranma ½. This is simply a non-profit work for amusement purposes.
ART OF DECEPTION: Chapter 2
The sun had barely been up for half an hour when a dripping wet Ranko followed Genma out of the window she had just thrown him through. "This is really starting to get old pop, don't you think it's time you gave it up." Ranko said as she twirled the recently emptied bucket on her index finger.
Genma straightened his glasses before he responded in one of his many lecturing tones "It's a necessary part of your training girl, a martial artist..."
"...Should be aware of their surroundings at all times." Ranko finished off for him as the bucket connected with his face. "Guess you missed that part of your training." She said as she ran in to attack him just as he was prying the bucket of his face.
"This is going to be a regular occurrence, isn't it?" Nabiki complained to herself as she groggily made her way downstairs during one of the many, in her opinion, ungodly hours of the morning. Once down the stairs she headed directly to the kitchen in order to get some coffee into her system to help improve her brain functions.
Coffee in hand she entered the family room and sat down facing the open shoji doors to watch Ranko sparring Genma. Her mood improved considerably as she watched, deeming every hit Genma took as retribution for having woken her up. She craned her head around to the side as she heard footsteps coming from the hallway. "How come you aren't out there training with them?" Nabiki asked as Ranma sat down near the table.
"Oyaji has no interest in training me at the moment." Ranma replied as he started to stretch his back and neck.
"He has no interest in training his heir?" Nabiki asked sarcastically as she turned back around just in time to watch Genma taking Ranko's legs out from under her.
"I never said that. I said he has no interest in training me, he's out there training his heir right now." Ranma said, amused at Nabiki's incorrect assumption.
It took a moment for that to sink into Nabiki's awakening mind and when it did she took a double take. "Ranko's the heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, not you? Care to explain that?" Nabiki asked sceptically as she turned and looked at Ranma, who was now looking down so that all that was visible of his face was a large smile, intently.
"Me an' oyaji had a fight over my training, he wanted me to do everything his way, but I refused. So in an attempt to make me do what he says, he named Ranko his heir in my place. Probably thought I'd give in immediately. I'd probably be his heir again if I just asked but for now it's a mutually beneficial situation for me and Ranko. Oyaji gives Ranko his full attention so she's improving by leaps and bounds and I don't have oyaji on my back annoying me every second of the day." Ranma explained fully, finishing at the same time that Ranko finished the morning spar by knocking Genma into the koi pond in pay back for his wake up call.
"Is there anyway to make him stop his surprise attacks?" Ranko asked as she walked into the house, now dry after her morning workout.
"Other than waking up before him I don't know any way to stop him. You could try setting a trap at your door but I doubt that'd work more than once." Ranma replied shrugging. "Maybe it just works in my favour." Ranma amended with a laugh, earning him a smack on the head by Ranko as she left to take a bath.
"Do you have anything planned for today father?" Kasumi asked as she started to serve out breakfast to Soun where he sat at the head of the table.
"Not really, probably just a few games of shogi with Saotome." Soun said joyously as he started to eat; glad to finally be reunited with his long time friend and training partner.
"Sounds like a good idea to me Tendo." Genma enthused from the other end of the table; happy to be living the good life by freeloading off of his friend.
"You sent us to school cause we're going to be staying here for a while, so shouldn't you be out looking for a job to help pay for expenses?" Ranko asked from where she sat in between Akane and Kasumi, attempting to lay a guilt trip on Genma.
While the attempt failed to have any affect on Genma it caused Ranma to start laughing out loud which subsequently caused him to start choking on his food. "As if oyaji could get a job, even if he did he probably couldn't hold it down" Ranma laughed in a hoarse voice after managing to clear his throat.
This did get a reaction out of Genma, an indignant "hey", which was ignored by everybody in favour of Nabiki's bold proclamation. "I'm sure I could get him a job easily, probably before the days through." She said happily as she thought of how much a person like Genma, someone who had probably never done an honest days work in his life, would hate being forced to work. It also served the purposes of further retribution for the sleep she was sure to lose because of his presence and a way to help the not so healthy finances, truly a good situation from her point of view.
"You do realise that he has practically no useful skills that aren't related to martial arts, a wrap sheet a mile long, ruling out jobs requiring background checks, will steal any food in his presence when left unattended, ruling out anything in the food industry, don't you?" Ranko asked Nabiki earning a string of protests from Genma, which was ignored, again.
As soon as Ranko finished speaking Ranma picked up where she left off. "Then you'll need someone to make sure he does the work he's supposed to, even most of the dojo masters we stayed with had trouble keeping him in line."
Nabiki's face fell as Ranma and Ranko listed the various issues she would have to deal with while finding Genma a job. "I can do it. I'll just need to call in a few favours." She said thoughtfully. 'It'll be worth it just to irritate him.' She thought, cheering herself up again.
Kasumi also cheered up at this, less people in the house meant less housework, not that anyone could tell because of her seemingly ever present smile.
"That's good. He won't be able to sit around drinking and playing shogi all day." Akane said, much more open in her happiness over the situation.
"A martial artist must face many hardships," Ranma said in an imitation of Genma's voice "aint that right oyaji." Genma simply sighed about being forced out of unemployment before returning to grumbling about his ungrateful children.
The walk to school that morning was uneventful for Ranma, Ranko and Akane, Nabiki had gone on ahead early once again to preside over her domain. Upon arriving at the school Ranma leapt up and took perch on the gate post while Ranko stood and watched from just inside the gate as Akane charged towards to the horde, whose number had significantly increased, of boys who had once again decided to start their day on a painful note. There was a slight difference to the usual routine this morning though as roughly half of the mob continued past Akane to start attacking Ranko, almost managing to catch her off guard in her surprise.
As Ranko and Akane started to fight off the groups of boys that were surrounding them they slowly made their way towards each other. Once they reached each other they stood back to back allowing them to dispatch of the 'morning annoyances' with less effort than it would take if they were working separately. With numerous boys being thrown from the crowd every second their numbers dwindled down quickly until there were only a handful of them left. Ranko and Akane split up to quickly finish off the dregs leaving the entire horde lying on the ground moaning in pain.
"Any idea why they're attacking me this morning?" Asked Ranko, not amused with the situation.
Taking Ranko's question as his cue Kuno stepped out from behind the usual tree carrying his bokken and two roses. "Because, my feisty valkryie, they wish to date with you and I would allow no other terms than to seek your hand through combat." Kuno said as he threw Akane and Ranko a rose.
"Mind if I beat on him today Akane?" Ranko asked in an eerie saccharine voice. Turning to face Ranma she asked in the same voice "May I please borrow your sword?" Her smile brightened as she plucked the katana out of the air and drew it out of its sheath. Her mood dampened when she looked at the blade. "A sakaba sword, great." She said dejectedly.
"If you want to kill him just turn it over." Ranma said condescendingly.
Ranko seriously considered the suggestion for a moment before deciding that repeated serious bodily harm would be more enjoyable than killing him. Grabbing proper hold of the sword she waited for Kuno to make his inevitable charge at her. She did not have to wait long as Kuno charged at her while shouting out his feelings of love for both Akane and herself. As Kuno swung his bokken in a downwards slash Ranko raised her sword to block his swing and held it against his bokken in a test of strength. While this was going on Ranko continued to look into Kuno's face with a smile that would have scared anyone who held a greater intelligence than he possessed. After starring him in the face for fifteen seconds she lifted her knee from the ground and introduced it to his groin before dropping it and allowing them to get reacquainted once more, needless to say Kuno collapsed to the ground in pain.
Ranko sheathed Ranma's sword and handed it back to him as the three of them made there way towards the main school building. "That was definitely a lot more fun than killing him." Ranko said happily.
"I'm sure he would've rather been killed if you plan on repeating that though." Ranma replied with sympathy for Kuno as he put his sword back onto his back.
Nabiki was pulled out of her personal musings as Kuno walked over to where she sat eating her lunch at her desk. Assuming he was there for photos, he usually was, she started to pull out several pictures. "Nabiki, can you tell me why my two loves reject my advances?" He said as he reached the desk.
Putting the pictures back in their place for the meantime Nabiki took a moment to consider who his two loves were. It didn't take long for her to figure it out and when she did she brought out a set of pictures and laid them on the table. "I'm sure I can help you out, but first how would you like some pictures, set of five for three thousand yen." She said happily thinking of the money Kuno's obsessions brought in.
Kuno looked down at the pictures, all containing shots of Akane working out, and quickly pulled out his wallet and handed Nabiki the asked amount before pocketing the pictures.
Before Kuno was able to put his wallet away Nabiki had pulled out another set of five photos and laid them down on the table. "Same price for these ones." Nabiki said with her hand outstretched. When the money was in her hands Nabiki allowed Kuno to pick up the five pictures of Ranko and put them away. "Now what was it you were here for again?" Nabiki asked pleasantly knowing there was more money coming her way shortly.
"I wish to know what is causing my two loves to refute the advances of my noble self." Kuno said after shaking his head clear of the distractions the pictures had caused.
"Five thousand yen." Nabiki said placing her hand out and extracting more money from Kuno. "Have you considered that they might want to be asked out instead of being challenged for a date?" Nabiki questioned, hoping he'd just ignore this suggestion and keep up the morning attacks, she always made a killing on the bets.
"Nay, that could not be the case, two maidens such as they cherish battle as it lets them see who is worthy enough to call them his own." Kuno stated in flat out rejection of the truth just as Nabiki had hoped he would.
"Maybe Ranma is using black magic to control them." Nabiki suggested knowing that it would fit in well with the fantasy that in Kuno's mind passed as reality.
"Yes that explains it perfectly. Tell me Nabiki, what you know of his prowess. I must be prepared if I am to battle so vile a sorcerer." Kuno said as he started to envision his upcoming battle and the glory it would earn him.
"Well I really don't have all that much now information now so give me a few days." She said even as she silently added 'And a large sum of yen.'
"Very well Nabiki, I shall see you again in a few days to get the information I require." Said Kuno as he walked off with a spring in his step, knowing that he would soon be able to free his loves from the vile sorcerer and that when he had done so they would gladly take their rightful place by his side.
Ranko and Akane made their way across the school grounds to one of the larger trees that lay just inside of the school's boundary wall. Already sitting under the tree eating their lunches were two of Akane's friends, Yuka and Sayuri. Yuka and Sayuri were both of average height and build, Yuka had long brown hair and Sayuri had short lack hair. "Hi guys." Akane greeted as she sat down in the shade of the tree and opened up her bento.
"Hi." Sayuri and Yuka echoed back, acknowledging Akane and Ranko's presence. The next few minutes were spent with Ranko getting to know a little about Yuka and Sayuri and vice versa.
After the introductions were complete the topic of conversation eventually turned to the source of Ranko and Akane's present bane of existence. "Does Kuno forget to take his medication or something?" Ranko asked, hoping this was the case, if it was she was quite willing to shove it down his throat for him.
"I wish. I don't think he's been given his medication yet." Akane muttered dejectedly, she also would've volunteered to force feed kuno his medication.
"And he probably won't be given any because he's rich, meaning he can get away with practically anything." Sayuri added, feeling sorry for her friends.
The conversation continued along these lines until a fifth voice sounded from above them interrupting the conversation. "You two almost sound like you don't like Kuno." The voice then continued on in a poor impersonation of the kendoist in question. "You should be happy that you have won the affection of so noble a samurai who wishes to take care of the both of you."
Ranko rubbed her temples and looked up into the tree already knowing what she would find. Sitting up on one the lower branches of the tree was Ranma relaxing with his eyes closed and his back leaning up against the tree trunk. That changed rather quickly as Ranko hurled her bento at him and hit him in the side of the head knocking him out of the tree. "I don't want that idiot chasing after the both of us." Ranko spat venomously.
Ranma sat up from where he had fallen and started to brush off his clothes as he pondered this for a moment. He clicked his fingers and a large smile started to form on his face as he said "Why, you worried he'll pick Akane over you? Don't worry about that I'm sure he'd be willing to have you as his mistress."
Akane and Ranko's battle auras roared to life lighting them up like they were bonfires as they yelled out "RANMA." Even as they started to tear into him, bending his limbs into unnatural angles, he couldn't help but think it was worth it just to get them so thoroughly pissed off.
Ryoga Hibiki, a young man wearing dark green pants, thick, long sleeved, yellow shirt and a yellow bandana with black spots tied around his head to keep his hair from his eyes, walked down one of the many streets in Nerima on his quest for vengeance. He carried his large backpack, and attached umbrella, as though it weighed nothing at all. Looking down at the map he was carrying in his hands he tried, once again, to work out where he was, when this attempt failed he looked around for someone he could ask for directions. Seeing a boy that seemed to be dressed in some type of school uniform roughly one hundred metres away he started to walk towards him, fairly confident he wouldn't get lost because there were no obstructions in the way.
When he reached the boy he grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and asked him "Which way is it to Furinkan High School?"
The boy looked at him incredulously for a moment as he tried to work out if he was related to Kuno. When he came to the conclusion that it was quite likely that he was he answered the seemingly stupid question before he got hurt. "This is Furinkan High School." He said nervously as Ryoga continued to look him in the eyes.
A feral smile appeared on Ryoga's face as he heard the good news. "Where is Ranma Saotome?" he asked as his mind was filled with thoughts of getting his long deserved revenge.
His question was answered before the boy could reply as he heard two people simultaneously shout out "Ranma."
"Never mind." Ryoga said as he released his grip on the boy's shirt before bounding over the school fence. Upon landing he quickly looked around and found who he was looking for. He couldn't help but laugh as he saw that his revenge had been handed to him on a silver platter, Ranma was already lying on the ground unconscious looking almost like a pretzel. He Pulled his umbrella out of the straps holding it on to his back pack as he started walking towards his fallen foe. He stood over Ranma's prone form and took a moment to savour the joy that he felt.
"What do you think you're doing?" Ranko asked as she turned to where Ryoga stood over Ranma with his umbrella held in both hands facing down towards Ranma's chest.
"I'm going to take my long awaited revenge." Ryoga said as he tensed up his arms in preparation of driving his umbrella through Ranma's heart. He was tackled to the ground the moment before he was able to finish off his quest. "Hey, what's your problem?" Ryoga asked as he tossed Ranko off himself and stood back up.
Ranko quickly got to her feet and positioned herself in between Ryoga and Ranma. "Your trying to kill my brother, I may be pissed off at him right now but I'd probably feel bad about it later if I just let you kill him without at least trying to stop you. Who are you anyway?" She said as she took up a fighting stance. When Ryoga just laughed at her Ranko took the few steps it took to reach Ryoga and kicked out at his chest. Her foot connected with air as Ryoga back flipped away from her.
"Ryoga Hibiki, now step aside or your going to get hurt." Ryoga said as he moved into his own fighting stance. Ryoga moved forward and tried to kick her in the ribs. He underestimated her skill and was rewarded for it when she leapt over his attack and kicked him in the face driving him back a few feet. Ryoga moved in again, more cautiously this time, and struck her in the side with a kick meant only to knock her out of the way, he had no grudge against her.
As Ryoga started moving towards Ranma once again Ranko leapt at Ryoga with a knee strike that hit him squarely in the side of the head. When Ranko landed she followed up her attack with a few quick jabs to Ryoga's ribs causing him to temporarily shift his focus from Ranma to her. Before Ranko was able to continue her attack Ryoga struck her in the side of the head with his elbow, attempting to knock her out this time.
Ranko slowly got to her feet, her head spinning slightly after being hit in the head with slightly less force than that of a jackhammer. Wasting no time she charged Ryoga once again and started up another rapid exchange of blows managing to come out marginally ahead this time. Ryoga got an idea and slowly started to circle around Ranko, Ranko mirrored Ryoga's movements following him around the circle keeping him an equal distance from herself. A smile appeared on Ryoga's face when he had moved far enough around that he now stood in between Ranma and Ranko. "Gotcha." He said as he threw his umbrella, point first, at Ranma's head.
As the Umbrella flew towards the still unconscious Ranma's head Akane was forced to step in and catch the head of the umbrella with both hands. She successfully caught the Umbrella preventing it from caving Ranma's head in but the impact hurt her hands and threw her off her feet. Seeing that Ryoga seriously intended to kill Ranma and that Ranko was struggling to take him out Akane decided to enter the fight to swing the odds in their favour.
As Akane charged head first at Ryoga Ranko charged in on his back. Akane drove her knee into Ryoga's stomach, doubling him over, as Ranko performed a flying side kick to the back of his head. Both of them were able to continue the attack for a few more seconds allowing them to do heavy damage to Ryoga as he was catching his breath. When he caught his breath he lashed out with his foot, hitting Akane in the side, as he slammed his elbow backwards catching Ranko in the stomach. Having knocked Akane away for a few seconds he turned around and started an offensive on Ranko using various punches, kicks and the occasional elbow strike.
Akane wasted no time in getting to her feet and Attacking Ryoga's exposed back in order to make him stop his offensive and make him deal with the two of them once more. Knowing that if they were able to keep up their double attack he would be taken out shortly Ryoga prepared to make another attempt on Ranma's life. Knocking them both away again, Akane in the direction of Ranma and Ranko in the opposite direction, he took off his belt and snapped it like a whip resulting in it becoming rigid. Taking aim he threw the belt towards Ranma in a low spinning arc before Ranko was able to start attacking his back once more. Akane ran towards Ranma's body, keeping her eyes on the belt, feeling as though everything was in slow motion.
Akane dived and scooped up Ranma's body in mid air and managed to move him to safety just in time, unfortunately her hair, which had been trailing behind, her was severed several inches from her head. As he watched the belt fly through the air Ryoga let his defence down allowing Ranko to knock him out from behind with a knife hand strike to the back of his neck. "I think we'd better get out of here before he wakes up." Ranko panted as she tried to catch her breath. Akane merely nodded her head in agreement, still shaken from having her hair cut and almost being killed, before putting Ranma onto her back and walking through the crowd that had gathered during the fight towards the school gate with Ranko following along behind her.
Akane sat down on one of the chairs in Dr. Tofu's clinic awaiting treatment for the few, mainly minor, injuries that she had received during the fight. Over in the side of the room Ranko was grilling Ranma, who Dr. Tofu had already treated, as he was treating them in order of most to least injured i.e. he treated Ranma then Ranko and was now moving on to Akane, for information on Ryoga. "I told you I don't know who he is or why he wants to kill me." Ranma said honestly as Ranko continued to pointlessly question him.
"Your just as bad as pop." Ranko said angrily earning a cry of "Hey" from Ranma and Genma, who was there to meet his new employer, Nabiki had come through on her claim, Dr. Tofu.
"Mr. Saotome can you please go make some tea for our patients." Asked Dr. Tofu as he finished up what he could do for Akane. Genma slowly walked out of the room to do as he was asked. He was rather happy with the job, he didn't really have to do much after all.
"Wow oyaji, the doc even allows you to handle food all by yourself." Ranma said as Genma re-entered the room a few minutes later carrying a tray with a tea pot and several cups.
Genma was sorely tempted to accidentally spill the hot tea all over Ranma at that point but, not wanting to risk losing an easy, well paying, job without good reason, he instead made a jibe at him. "How come you were beaten up worse than your sister boy? Don't tell me you've become so weak as to be outclassed by a girl." At this comment Ranma just mumbled various comments under his breath, all of which were some kind of insult or threat to the useless old man.
As Ranko, Akane and Dr. Tofu were talking happily while drinking their tea, Genma and Ranma were exchanging verbal abuse while they drank theirs, the sound of the front door sliding open could be heard. A few seconds later Kasumi appeared in the room, announcing her arrival with a simple "Good. Afternoon everyone." All conversation with Dr. Tofu was immediately cut off as his glasses started to fog up, signalling that the lights were on but nobody was home.
Dr. Tofu stood up stiffly and walked over to where Genma sat, in a chair usually reserved for patients, and asked rather distractedly "So what seems to be the problem?" Genma was unsure of what was going on, but knew it wasn't good, and started to rub the back of his neck nervously as he tried to think of what to say. "Ah, you're neck is it? Well let's have a quick look at it." Suiting actions to words Dr. Tofu took a firm grasp of Genma's head and tilted it to the side resulting in his head being stuck at an odd angle and a rather large crack. "There it should be all better now."
"I'm just here to return the book I borrowed." Said Kasumi as she proffered the said book.
"T-t-thank you Kasumi." Said Dr. Tofu as he took the book and placed it down on his desk before walking over to, and starting up a conversation with, Betty, his skeleton.
"Doctor." Genma tried to get Dr. Tofu's attention, but failed as he was now dancing around his office with Betty seemingly oblivious of everybody else in the room. "Lousy job. I should be getting danger pay for this." Genma said to himself, Ranma couldn't help but smile, he'd found a new punishment for when Genma pissed him off; send Kasumi over to the clinic while he was working.
"Lets get out of here, he's going to take a while to calm down." Akane said as she walked towards the exit.
Since they had been inside Dr. Tofu's clinic rain clouds had come over and obscured the afternoon sunlight. Ranma, Ranko and Akane walked back towards the Tendo dojo in companionable silence. Ranma broke the silence as the first few raindrops started to fall around them. "I just remembered something that I gotta go take care of." Ranma said before he changed direction and headed towards one of the side streets waving over his shoulder as he left.
After having said their goodbyes Ranko and Akane continued on in silence for a minute or two. "Hey Ranko, is Ranma a good fighter?" Akane asked out of the blue with a small amount of worry in her voice.
"I'm not really sure." Ranko sighed in reply, also worried about something. "I've never actually seen him fight anyone besides pop and fighting him isn't any real indication of skill, throwing a ten yen coin on the ground will distract him from a fight. I don't know how much training he's doing either, I haven't seen him doing any in the few days we've been here."
"Think he could handle Ryoga if he shows up again, it took both of us to get a clear advantage over him and I don't think either of us could beat him by ourselves." Akane said, voicing her worries for Ranma more directly, he was a bit of a jerk, but he was a likeable, non-perverted, jerk.
"I don't know, hopefully we won't have to find out." Ranko was hopeful of this but also doubtful that he would actually stay away.
"So what are we going to do if he turns up again?" Akane asked, already having some idea of what Ranko would say.
"I think it's a matter of when not if. He seems pretty determined to kill Ranma. I guess if he turns up we'll just have to fight him off until we can come up with a more permanent solution or we work out whether or not Ranma can handle him." Ranko said before returning to her thoughts, wondering what Ranma did to get Ryoga so angry and if there were more people like Ryoga after revenge on Ranma.
Ranko and Akane walked the rest of the way to the Tendo dojo in silence. Neither of them noticed the figure that was silently following them from the rooftops, listening in on their conversation with a growing smile.
Ryoga stood outside the main gate to the Tendo compound with his bag on his back and a smile on his face, he had made it. Sure it was late night or early morning but he had found his way from Furinkan High School to the Tendo dojo in less than a day. Besides revenge didn't know the difference between night and day. He silently leapt over the compound wall and crept his way to the house. He slowly made his way around the perimeter of the ground floor in hopes of finding an open window. He was in luck and was able to open and climb through one of the kitchen windows.
He moved around slowly doing his best to avoid stepping on any creaky floorboards as he worked his way through the rooms on the bottom floor until he found what he was looking for. Lying in the centre of the room were two futons, one of them contained a large figure, not who he was looking for, the other contained a smaller figure and what looked like a pigtail, definitely who he was looking for. He walked over to the head of the futon and said quietly "Wake up Ranma, I'm here to fight you." When that got no response he tried kicking the figure in the futon that also got no response. "It's a shame you won't wake up, I was going to let you die honourably in a fight to the death. Well, it's time to get my revenge so I can move on with my life." After completing his short rant he unlimbered his umbrella from his backpack and hesitated for just a momentbefore slamming the head of it downwards.
He knew something was out of place when the umbrella met almost no resistance. He spun around as he heard a soft tap on the floor behind him and ended up starring at the shadow covered face of Ranma. "Straw dummy." Ranma said simply.
"I would've stayed in hiding if I were you." Ryoga said as he levelled his umbrella at Ranma.
Ranma simply ignored Ryoga and walked past him to the window. "If you wanna fight me follow me, it's in both our interests to fight somewhere else." He said before jumping out of the window. Ryoga had no intention of letting his opportunity to get revenge go to waste so he quickly scrambled out the window after Ranma. Ranma led Ryoga through the deserted streets of Nerima in silence until they arrived at the oval behind Furinkan High School.
"I can understand why it's better for me to fight here, there's no one here to stop me from killing you, but why is it in your interest to fight here?" Ryoga asked as he shrugged his back pack off and tossed it to the side before getting into his fighting stance.
"It doesn't really matter to you." Ranma said simply as he drew his sakaba sword out of its sheath and waited for Ryoga to make the first move. Ryoga built himself into a run at Ranma before stopping a couple of metres short and allowing his momentum to carry him the rest of the distance sliding on his feet as he ducked down and unleashed a flurry of strikes with his umbrella aimed at Ranma's legs and mid section. Ranma easily evaded the strikes by repeatedly pushing himself off the ground backwards from the balls of his feet.
As Ryoga straightened himself up Ranma noticed an opening in his defence and rushed in to take advantage of it. He swung his sword and hit Ryoga right across the chest in what he was sure to be a devastating blow, he'd have to berate Ranko later for having trouble beating this guy. That thought was driven out of his head as he heard Ryoga's laugh. "Your sister hits harder than you do, and she was fighting bare handed." Ranma jumped back quickly to assess the situation, there should have been no way for Ryoga not to get hurt by his attack. "If you're that week there's no way you'll be able to beat me, you probably won't even be able to hurt me, what a let down." Ryoga taunted.
Ranma wasn't about to take that insult lying down so he rushed in again with various swings of his sword and kicking out with his feet. His barrage continued for over a minute with him dancing around Ryoga's attacks effortlessly as his attacks continued to strike various vital areas. Once his attack was finished he pulled back out once more. "I think you may have put a few scratches on me this time Ranma." Ryoga said as he advanced towards Ranma.
As Ryoga closed in Ranma swung his sword horizontally at Ryoga's mid section. Ryoga, feeling invulnerable, decided to have a little fun and jumped upwards and planted his feet down on the back end of the sword, pushing it into the ground. Ryoga screamed out in pain as the sword's blade bit into the flesh on the under side of his foot. "I may not have to hurt you if you're gonna do it for me. Didn't you realise this was a reverse bladed sword when it didn't cut you before?" Ranma asked mockingly as Ryoga jumped backwards, keeping his weight mainly on the uncut foot. "It's good to know I have an effective last resort if it comes down to it." Ranma continued causing Ryoga to snarl in rage.
Ranma ran in for one last attempt at hurting Ryoga with normal attack before he changed his tactics. When he was in close range he plunged the blade into the hard ground of the oval before planting his hands on the sword's grip and leaping off the ground, while still holding onto the sword, and kicked both of his feet into the centre of Ryoga's face before landing gracefully and pulling the sword out of the ground. The attack didn't do any real harm to Ryoga but it did give Ranma the satisfaction of knowing he had broken Ryoga's nose.
Ranma waited for the now enraged Ryoga to move in slowly, the pain of putting weight down on his foot slowing him down, and lunged at Ranma. Ranma jumped over the attack and pushed off of Ryoga's back, knocking Ryoga to the ground, propelling himself in the direction of the grove of trees that was located next to the current battlefield. Ranma was forced to dive out of the way as Ryoga's razor edged umbrella, now opened up, soared passed him in an arc before returning to Ryoga. "Come and get me Ryoga." Ranma yelled over his back as he entered the grove and leapt up into one of the trees to await Ryoga.
Ryoga took his time as he made his way towards the grove and tried to find sight of Ranma amongst the maze of branches. Ryoga moved into the centre of the grove and waited for Ranma to make his move. Ranma silently moved from tree to tree until he was in a tree with a very large branch hanging over Ryoga's head. Ranma flipped his sword over in his hands and used the blade to hack through the large branch in a single swipe sending the large branch to crash down onto Ryoga's head. It took only a little effort for Ryoga to roll the fallen branch of himself allowing him to stagger back to his feet, Ranma had found an effective way to hurt him, now the fight would get interesting.
Ryoga moved himself away from the fallen branch so that it would not impede his movements when he had the chance to strike back. Ryoga pulled numerous bandanas from his head and started to twirl them around his fingers. When Ranma cut down the next overhanging tree branch Ryoga dove to the side and threw his bandanas in the general direction of Ranma and was rewarded as Ranma was cut in numerous places by their sharp edges causing him to get distracted and fall from the trees crashing into the ground. Ryoga took the opportunity to kick Ranma's sword out of his hands leaving him with no way to repeat his successful tactic.
"So planning on finishing me off now?" Ranma asked as he struggled to get back to his feet. "You're supposed to tell your victim your motives before you kill them." Ranma said as his mind raced, trying to decide his next move.
"Alright, I'll consider this your last request." Said Ryoga as he prepared to tell Ranma what he believed he already knew.
A younger Ryoga, dressed in some type of school uniform, walked down one of the streets of the town he was currently in as he attempted to find his way to school. As he walked past one of the side alleys he heard the sounds of garbage cans being knocked down. Deciding that he had better investigate as someone may be in trouble and need his help he headed into the dark alley. He walked all the way to the end of the alley where he found the cause of the disturbance, a sight that truly shocked him. Pawing through the knocked over garbage cans was a boy around his age whose clothes had been reduced to mere rags revealing trails of blood that covered most of his visible skin. The blood seemed to be gently flowing from small cuts all over his body, though mainly centred around his face, chest and back.
Ryoga approached the boy cautiously as he tried to get a better look at his injuries. His weakly developed danger senses went into overdrive as the boys head snapped up suddenly and he started to hiss. In the next second the boy ran towards Ryoga on all fours as though he was an animal. He jumped into the air and swiped his fist at Ryoga, as though it were a paw, creating three light parallel cuts in his chest. As Ryoga felt his skin being cut by the invisible blades he reacted on instinct and kicked the other boy in the side. This only served to enrage the boy as he sped up and started to repeatedly slash him with his invisible claws. As Ryoga was being attacked he managed to get in the occasional hit to his foe. Eventually the two boys collapsed and passed out, Ryoga from his injuries and the other boy from exhaustion.
"The next thing I remember after that is waking up in a hospital bed four days later. You attacked me ruthlessly for no reason, I almost died from the injuries I received, that's why I'm here to kill you now." Ryoga said as he summed up the events of several years ago.
"Would you believe I wasn't in control of my actions?" Ranma asked as he took up defensive stance.
"I'd consider it if I saw supporting evidence but you'll be long dead before I get a chance to see any." Ryoga said as he lunged at Ranma with a punch that missed him but connected with the tree behind him leaving a large fist shaped indent in it. Ryoga continued to assault Ranma with various attacks that he was barely able to dodge. It took Ranma a while but he came up with an attack that might actually be able to hurt Ryoga. The next time Ryoga charged at him Ranma ran towards him passing just to the side of Ryoga with his arm outstretched into Ryoga's path. Ranma's coat hanger pulled both of them off their feet until they were parallel to the ground, Ranma being slightly higher up than Ryoga as he used him arm to push Ryoga down. Spinning his body three sixty degrees in the air Ranma used his spinning momentum, gravity and his own physical strength to drive his elbow into Ryoga's chest.
The attack did manage to hurt Ryoga but not enough thatto stop him from driving his elbow in Ranma's head hard enough to temporarily daze him. Ryoga stood up and placed his foot firmly on Ranma's neck before pressing down just hard enough to cut off Ranma's air supply. "Looks like I win Ranma, if it's any consolation to you, you put up a great fight for someone so weak." Ryoga just laughed as Ranma reached up and grabbed hold of his foot in what he assumed was an attempt to pry his foot off of his neck. Ryoga looked down at Ranma's face in amusement until Ranma's lips curled up into a smile and Ryoga's world went black.
A/N: Wow, I updated way ahead of schedule. Again the next chapter should hopefully be finished within the next three weeks, if there's any delays it's probably because of uni assignments due in two weeks. If anybody's worried that I've gone and made Ryoga evil, don't be, he's not evil and he should be brought more into line with how he is in cannon in a few chapters time. Why's the manga/anime called cannon anyway, been wondering about that for a while. It's amazing people actually reviewed, I'm taking that as an indication that some people actually made it past the first paragraph, yay.
I would've answered reviews individually here but I don't think that's allowed (correct me if I'm wrong) so I'll just put a couple of general comments regarding the various reviews here. Firstly this fic will contain one of the variations of the Ranma/Akane pairing. Ranma got more or less immune to bad food while travelling China by himself. Ranko knows that Ranma can't read or write, she wasn't surprised she was amused at his word choice. Also one of the ideas I am using may cause clashes with peoples mental imageries, I'll probably announce exactly what it is in the next one or two chapters, but just make sure you pay attention to the verbs, or lack there of, for the characters, that's a nice big hint.
One last thing, yes Akane having bad defence was a preconception I had picked up from various fanfics I have read, so I went back through the manga to check out its accuracy, considering how many times Akane is taken out in the first hit, it either means she is completely outclassed by the other martial artists or has bad defence, since I don't like to think of Akane as being outclassed I'll stick with her having bad defence, if it's any consolation it probably won't be mentioned again.