Author's notes: I was a little disappointed in the number of reviews for the last chapter which severely sapped my motivation to continue at the fast pace that I had been working at. Because of this I've changed my writing habit. I use to work exclusively on one story suppressing all the others bombarding my head. Now I'll work on what I find most interesting. Of course, I also want to satisfy the reader as well. If a lot of people really want to see a particular story sooner I'll make it a priority. I'll judge this if one of the stories receives 20 reviews or more. A large thanks goes to James Axelrad for checking over the story.
Disclamer: I own neither Noir nor Ranma ½
The Fourth Sapling
By: brindani
Chapter 5: Training Begins
Altena carefully watched Ranma's reaction, noticing how hard the realization came for him. 'This might work yet.' She thought to herself as she allowed Ranma to finish thinking.
Eventually, Ranma's face lifted of its own accord.
"How can I counter such a thing?"
"We will teach you. Guns are only a tool, a tool used by humans. If you can read the person, you will know when they intend to use the gun and strike before they fire. It will involve increasing your awareness, to feel your surroundings and know when someone is there. A person you can not see is more deadly then the one you do." Altena paused briefly, taking in Ranma's continued contemplative expression. "I believe that is enough for today. Why don't we retire for the night?" Altena asked, gesturing behind him. Ranma turned surprised to find a window framing a flaming sunset filled with oranges and reds.
'Where did the time go?' Ranma thought to himself.
"If you follow me, Chloe should have something ready for dinner shortly." Altena invited, leaving through the same doorway that they had entered. Ranma's head felt like it was spinning. Not only had he been exposed to revelation after revelation, this manor was some kind of labyrinth with twists and turns everywhere. If he did not have Altena as a guide, he would be as lost as Ryoga in a room with one door.
Soon they arrived to a small room that could only be described as sparse. The table and chairs were well worn, yet sturdy oak wood. It once again made Ranma wonder about these people. They were eating at a poor impoverished table and yet able to afford to bring him here in a private jet.
Shrugging his shoulders, Ranma sat down in one of the chairs, Altena taking the place in front of him. Both waited patently until Chloe arrived in a red house dress, balancing three plates of spaghetti between her two hands. Ranma blinked, he had never seen her wear anything aside from her green cloak. He had to admit she looked very good, but that could also be due to the expertly placed plate of food before him. She positioned another in front of Alena and the last on the empty spot beside Altena where she took a seat herself.
Ranma took a long look at the plate. It kind of looked like ramen, but there was no broth or even a fishcake.
"What is it?" Ranma asked bluntly.
Altena smiled as Chloe frowned. "It's spaghetti."
"Oh, I don't think I've ever had that before." Ranma said continuing to look down at the meatball covered creation in front of him.
After several seconds of Ranma nervously shifting around, a small twitch developed on Chloe's brow.
"Would you prefer a pair of chopsticks, Ranma?" Altena asked noticing Ranma's eyes subtly glance at the fork next to plate with apprehension.
Relieved Ranma nodded his head. He hadn't had to use this foreign kitchenware before. If he had to, he would figure it out; food was far too important to just leave lying untouched, but he much preferred chopsticks if possible.
Altena stood up and left the table briefly stepping through the same door Chloe entered before returning with a pair of intricately engraved chopsticks with a spiral dragon laced around the main body. When she reached the table she lightly handed the chopsticks to Ranma who gratefully accepted them.
Ranma was about to put them to good use before he felt an intense glare. From personal experience, nothing good ever came from such looks. They always meant that he had done something wrong and were usually followed closely by blunt objects. Glancing up, he found Chloe looking at him hard and Altena watching him closely. Ranma knew he was missing something. Was there some foreign custom that he didn't know about? Perhaps he forgot… oh.
"Um thank you for the chopsticks." Ranma restrained a sigh when the glare toned down several notches and Altena's smile took on its more typical sereneness.
"Your welcome, Ranma."
Ranma continued to watch them warily until they each picked up a fork and started to eat at a sedate pace. Smiling that everything was alright again, Ranma started to eat with his usual gusto. Soon after, he cringed, feeling the glare return full force. Ranma stopped to look up finding Altena's eyes were wide and Chloe shooting a -20 C grade glare.
"Um, it's really good." Ranma said taking a guess what the newest problem might be. Girls always seemed to get angry if he didn't complement their cooking for some reason. Noticing that the glare had not dissipated, Ranma became truly confused.
'What did I do now?' Ranma thought to himself. Looking to Altena for clarification, he found her sigh, as close to a resigned look on her face as he had seen since he arrived.
"So the files were correct?" Chloe asked turning to Altena.
"Yes, we will have to work on manners as well."
'Manners? Without pops here, I've only been doing a quarter of my speed so I don't see anything wrong.' Ranma thought to himself.
"We will discuss this at a later time. For tonight we shall enjoy this excellent meal that Chloe has prepared for us."
'Guess she'll explain what she was talking about later.' Ranma thought to himself before going back to the food with only an eighth his speed in case that was what was causing Chloe's continued subtle glare. 'This situation may not be as violent as Nerima, but it looks like it might be just as tense.' Ranma thought to himself shivering slightly.
After dinner was finished, Altena led Ranma to a room with a bed. It wasn't nearly as soft as the one he had spent the night in yesterday, but it was far better then sleeping on a bed roll that he would have otherwise.
Ranma was embarrassed as Altena walked over and knelt next to him; looking like she might try to tuck him in.
"Ranma, we will begin training for your mission now."
"Now? If you wanted to do some late night training you could have told me before I got into the bed." Ranma stated, exasperated that she hadn't told him before he got comfy.
Altena only laugh lightly for a few seconds. "No, the country you are going to uses a different language. You will have to learn that language in order to fit in with the populous and not make yourself a target. To advance this process, we will use a technique to teach you while you sleep." Altena explained, removing a tape deck from a pocket and placing it next to Ranma. "You will listen to this while you sleep. It will start in twenty minuets after you press start giving you plenty of time to fall asleep. It will continue playing on its own until morning.
With your aptitude with languages, you should be able to learn the language adequately within a few weeks, just enough time to prepare you for the mission."
Ranma blinked, 'I guess that makes sense. Not every country uses Japanese or English as their primary language. Boy did I have to find that out the hard way in China. It took forever to find a bathroom when we went into town. It was pure luck that some of the people were nice enough to go rather slow and knew Japanese to tell me what they were saying or I would have been totally lost. It was too bad that I didn't get the chance to learn how to read as well as understand the language. If I could, I would have understood the signs warning people away from those blasted springs and would never have received the curse in the first place.'
"Ok." Ranma replied, taking the device as Altena smiled before proceeding out the door. "Altena?" Ranma asked hesitantly. Said woman stopped in the doorway, turning to face the boy in who did not quite meet her eyes. Ranma was a little surprised as the light from the hallway framed her face making her appear angelic. It took several moments for Ranma to work up the courage to say what he wanted to. "Thank you for giving me this chance. It… means a lot to me," Ranma finished in an unusual sign of appreciation.
Altena smiled back at him before replying. "Your very welcome, Ranma. Please remember that you are also helping me by doing this as well; saving all of those people is important. Good night, Ranma. We will start early tomorrow."
"Good night." Ranma said, turning on his side as she left the room. Ranma fell asleep very fast, exhausted from everything that had happened that day. Snuggling up to the sheets, Ranma could swear that he was more comfortable in this room then he had been in the hotel.
The sun rose slowly, creeping its way through Ranma's window and settling on his face.
The weak rays' efforts were wasted against Ranma's strong instinct for sleep. Chloe found him thus as she walked through his door in her standard green cloak.
She stopped when she realized that Ranma was still sleeping and not raising with the sun as was standard in the manor. She was half tempted to leave him lying there. Altena still had not told her why she had had Chloe bring this strange boy to the sacred land of the Soldats and then to offer a mission to him that she could have easily accomplished for Altena if she really wanted it done.
Unconsciously, Chloe withdrew one of her throwing knives; flipping it around in her dexterous fingers while considering exactly what to do with the boy. It wouldn't be proper to leave him like this especially as Altena wanted to speak with him. She was half tempted to just kill him. The only reason for his presences that Chloe could think of was that Altena wanted him to become an assassin. Still, he couldn't make much of an assassin if someone could simply walk into the room he was sleeping in and play with a throwing knife. On second thought, he had moved faster and with more skill then even she during that odd battle with the blind boy. Maybe there would be some hope for him. Making up her mind to allow fate to make her choice, Chloe raised the knife in her hand and sharply threw it towards Ranma's still form.
"OWWW!"
Altena sat with one eyebrow raised as she critically examined the two youths in front of her. Ranma had a thin cut along his ear and Chloe had a black eye, each glaring daggers at the other.
"What happened?" She asked Chloe.
"He hit me."
"Ranma?" Altena asked turning towards said boy.
"She threw a knife at me in my sleep; it was an automatic reaction." When Altena raised a brow, Ranma continued. "At home, all sorts of weird people would attack me when I'm sleeping. I kinda got used to automatically counter attacking."
"I see, Chloe we will talk about this later. We have many things to do and it is essential for the two of you to work together for what is to come."
"I understand," Chloe said reluctantly as if having her hand caught in the cookie jar.
"Why don't you practice throwing while I speak with Ranma?"
"Okay," Chloe accepted reluctantly as she turned away, walking out the door.
Once Chloe left, Altena turned to Ranma who was curiously watching Chloe leave.
"I apologize for Chloe's behavior. She can be very rambunctious at times."
"Why would she do that? I'm use to people doing similar at home, but why would someone I don't even know until two days ago do the same thing?" Ranma asked after turning back to Altena.
"There may be reasons regarding your stay here. I will speak with Chloe and make sure that it does not happen again. Now we have many things to work on before you are ready for the mission ahead of you."
"Ok, what do I have to do?" Ranma asked before feeling a chill go down his back at the intense smile that came across Altena's features.
Ranma shivered in frustration as he tried to wipe the various colors of paint dripping all over his shirt. It would take forever to work it all out if it was possible at all. He didn't know why, but Altena had emphasized the fact that he would be washing the stuff off his own cloths, something about it being motivation to do better. If that wasn't motivation enough, if all of his current cloths were ruined, Altena warned him that he would have to borrow some of Chloe's wardrobe until the were able to get replacements.
Who would have thought that there was even a method for such training. Pop's sure wouldn't have thought of it.
The training consisted of him standing in one place while Altena stood in front of him, across the room. She would hold a paint gun on him and he would have to sense when she meant to use it. So far he had had little luck. There seemed to be no outward sign that she would pull the trigger. She had a poker face, even if a caring one, that could fool any pro-gambler. The best that he could manage was to start moving just as the bullet launched which only ended up making it off center from his heart.
He felt rather embarrassed; the training was suppose to be about him adapting to someone else holding a gun and it ended up with Altena adapting faster to his own movements.. Left right down, up, it didn't matter how he tried, she would inevitably hit on or near the mark. It definitely put her speed idea into perspective. He was seriously considering changing into a girl just to dodge one of those pellets at least once to prove he could do it.
He was a man and he would adapt. He just had to find a way to predict her movements and make his own so unpredictable she wouldn't be able to track him. There had to be a way. He would find one because he was Ranma and he didn't loose.
Ranma sighed as he entered the laundry room and put his shirt onto the washboard to try and work out the stain. The lack of electricity made it necessary to do it by hand, but he didn't have to like it.
Scrubbing became routine as Ranma's eyes glazed over with boredom. Never one to let an opportunity pass, Ranma decided to explore his ki sense from yesterday. Letting out his senses he deliberately confined them to the room he sat in, not wanting to have an overload of information like last time.
As expected, Ranma found the room in various shades of grays to black. Not much more to see then when he had his eyes open though it was kind of neat seeing everything all at once.
'Wait, what am I seeing if there is nothing to give off life energy?' Ranma thought to himself.
Curious Ranma looked a little closer. Focusing as he had never done before, Ranma concentrated on one spot on the far wall. He was amazed to find the detail as he continued down level by level. It was almost like looking through a microscope like they had done once in Biology. Wait a minute, Biology? Ranma almost shook his head. To prove his theory he began to scan a little more and quickly found what he was looking for: microorganisms. They weren't giving off very much energy, but there were certainly enough of them to give an outline of the room. That would also account for why the room was so drab. They could outline it, but lacked the true emotions of other beings to provide any color.
Satisfied with his findings, Ranma panned out and was startled to realize how everything became a little sharper. For a moment he could even see echoes that rippled the microorganisms. In fact, that felt a lot like an impact.
Stopping his scan, Ranma found that he could faintly hear something outside. Cocking his head, Ranma turned towards the noise coming from the window. It was a soft thunking sound that repeated itself regularly.
Curiosity peaked; Ranma let his soiled shirt drop into the basin while he stood to take a look out the window. He scanned the grape vines that extended in all directions before finding the origin of the sound. It was coming from around the corner of the window. Turning, he found Chloe standing before four large targets; leaping everyway imaginable while hitting on all four with perfect precision.
Ranma was sure that he could do the same himself with a little training, but he had to admit that she was very good with a throwing knife.
Silently, Ranma snuck out of the window, the girl deserved some payback for that morning. A good scare would serve her right after throwing a knife at him. His ear still stung a little as it hadn't quite fully healed.
Landing quietly, Ranma started to trek his way towards his unsuspecting target. She was busy throwing knives left and right at those targets of hers.
Going from one tree to the next, he watched as she hit perfect bull's-eyes each time without even trying. If he guessed right she might not even be paying attention to what she was doing, her body just going through the motions.
'Wow, how long must she have been doing this to be able to land perfect shots and not even think about it?' Ranma thought to himself as he continued to watch her from behind a tree.
His martial arts gears started turning as he began to analyze her movements. It smacked of martial arts though it felt off at the same time. He watched the angle, the force, the flip of the wrist she used on every throw. It changed from target to target, but the basics were all there.
Ranma jumped back as his danger senses screamed at him. Just in time to avoid two knives where his heart had been just moments ago.
"What did ya do that for!" Ranma screamed at Chloe who watched him were she held three more blades at the ready.
"Do not sneak up on me. If you don't want to die that is." Chloe stated, dismissing Ranma almost as fast as she had thrown her knives.
Ranma raised an eyebrow. She was definitely dangerous without question. Somehow he felt she was similar to him; judging from her reactions, she was trained at a young age to be the best.
Forgoing concealment, Ranma approached Chloe as she continued to throw her knives. Settling back against a convenient tree, Ranma watched as Chloe continued as if oblivious to his presence. That didn't happen often so Ranma decided to make himself known, Ranma style.
"You're pretty good with those things. I bet I'm better."
Chloe stopped her throw midway before turning to Ranma with incredulity. This quickly evolved into a smirk before handing a set of five knives to Ranma.
Ranma smiled, he loved a challenge. Hefting one of the knives up, he twirled it around in his fingers to get a feel for the blade. He was surprised to find that the balance was perfect. He had never come across knives so well balanced in his past.
Flipping the blade up with one hand, his other sprang forward grasping the blade before throwing it for a perfect bull's-eye on the center target. Smiling to himself, he turned back to Chloe expecting her to acknowledge his great ability. He frowned when he found her looking at him like he was a dimwit.
"What?"
"Is throwing one at a time the best you can do? I learned that when I was four. Try again with all five." Chloe commanded giving Ranma another blade to bring his number back to five.
Critically looking at the blades he placed them all in between each of his fingers with two set between his middle and index finger. It felt really uncomfortable, but she had challenged him and Ranma Saotome never left a challenge unanswered. He examined the five targets set before him and took careful aim.
Hefting his hand up, he let go sending five knives speeding towards their target. Ranma stood silent as he watched the middle hit another bull's-eye right next to his last attempt. The ones next to it were two sections away, of the outer two, one missed totally while the other stuck in the outermost field.
"Not bad, for a beginner." Chloe said off hand.
"Beginner? I'm the best there is." Ranma said instantly agitated.
"Right, why don't you prove it?" Chloe asked, turning to Ranma, her eyes focused on his.
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing much, just a test of skill. See who the better really is." Chloe replied with an unnerving smile.
"If that's the way you want it, then you're on!" Ranma stated confident that anything involving a fight he would be superior in.
"Follow me." Chloe said quickly walking away from the manor.
Ranma followed after her, but quickly became confused as they entered the grape vines.
"Where are we going, we could have had a quick spar where we were."
"I have a much better place in mind for our little fight." Chloe mumbled.
Ranma raised an eyebrow before looking ahead in the direction they were going. He found the large coliseum he saw when they first arrived directly in their path. 'Well this should be interesting. Don't think I've ever fought in something so large before.' Ranma thought to himself as they continued.
Ranma stood on one side of the coliseum, his hands around a broad sword straight out of a medieval movie. He glanced at the opposite side of the large arena where Chloe held his sword's twin.
"The rules are simple, the winner will be the one that gives up or is unable to… continue." She said with a covert smile. "Begin."
With no wasted words, Chloe charged across the sand between them, raising her sword for a quick strike.
Unfamiliar with the weapon, Ranma raised his own sword to block at a bad angle. The clang of the two connecting echoed throughout the stadium. Chloe's pulled back her blade to deliver another blow to the side, fainting at the last moment.
Still adapting to the blade that he held, Ranma was only able to partially block before being forced to jump away from the second strike to his legs. Tucking into a roll, he came up and quickly met the blade aimed for his shoulder.
'She's good' Ranma thought as he swiveled and attempted to sneak a strike in himself before thrust into the defense by a cleaver twist around his blade and coming up with her own.
In a blink of an eye, Chloe thrust her blade out throwing Ranma's away from him while managing a kick that sent him sprawling away from her.
"How pathetic, do you concede?" Chloe asked, her blade held casually in front of her.
Ranma calmly stood up whipping his hands together. Glancing up, Chloe was surprised to find the boy was smiling.
"We fought in your specialty. Now it is my turn." Ranma ran straight at Chloe who sniffed dismissively. No one had ever defeated her with blade in hand, except for her and even she couldn't defeat Chloe without a blade of her own.
Chloe swung her sword to intersect him horizontally, but found that he jumped off the flat of her blade, sharply striking her stomach while hitting her forearm with a quick kick.
Her blade went flying away while Ranma recovered by rolling away from her.
Stunned, she turned towards the boy who stood with a triumphant smile.
"I haven't trained much with the sword, not nearly as much as you, but I have plenty of experience against them." Ranma said with an arrogant smirk quickly spreading across his face. "So, you want to forfeit?"
Chloe narrowed her eyes, incensed at the petulant little boy before her. Slowly, her hands took hold of her throwing knives. 'This person deserves to die.' Chloe thought to herself, preparing to strike.
"Stop."
Both combatants turned to the entrance where Altena walked in peacefully. Both flinched when her pleasant smile was noticeably absent; in its place a frown.
Altena ignored the two contestants, walking directly in-between the two before stopping; her eyes closed taking deep breaths. After several intense moments, Altena turned to Ranma. "Ranma, you have not finished cleaning your shirt. If you do not get the stain out by the time I return, you will be in charge of all of the chores tomorrow."
Ranma's eyes widened. He had watched Altena performing many of said chores and it didn't look all much fun especially with how large the manor was. He didn't want to get stuck with all those. Frantically he turned and dashed out of the coliseum, desperately trying to get back and finish his assigned duty before the apparently angry Altena made it back.
Altena watched him leave for several seconds before turning to Chloe with a disapproving glance. Chloe flinched under the hard gaze unwilling to meet the look so foreign to the face she knew and loved.
"Chloe let us walk for a little while."
Reluctantly, Chloe slipped her throwing knife back into place before following Altena with a nerves gate to her step.
Altena simply left out of the coliseum, heading towards the grape fields. Chloe followed behind her, waiting for the expected reprimand. Altena simply walked along as if she were not being followed. It was eating Chloe up inside as ten minutes past with not a word spoken.
She was almost relieved, if nerves when they finally stopped in the middle of the field, Altena cupped a large group of grapes looking at them with serene eyes.
"Chloe, do you know what Ranma is?"
Taken aback by the question, Chloe thought about all of the background information that Altena had had her look through prior to retrieving the boy.
"He is a martial artist returned from a ten year training journey with his father Genma Soetome to learn the Anything Goes School of martial arts. He has had multiple adventures involving odd circumstances including competing martial artists, fiancées, and a skeptical report of a cat ghost. Most of these appear unbelievable, but some can be corroborated by my recent journey to bring him here."
"He is Noir."
Chloe stopped dead in her tracks. "But…"
"How is it possible?" Altena asked for her young charge.
"He is a guy, it shouldn't be possible for him to be apart of Noir."
"Yes, it was quite startling when the last high priestess named him as a candidate for Noir upon his birth. Many questioned her choice as high priestess. Some think this decision lead directly to her disappearance shortly after. The Soldats forgot about the little boy named to a station that would have nothing to do with him. That is until recently when his training trip left him with the ability to change into a girl. I'm left to wonder if the old high priestess somehow knew that this would happen. Now that it has, he has become the fourth sapling."
"He could never…"
"…be able to handle being apart of Noir? You fought him yourself. He does not have a killing instinct, but he was able to fight you to a standstill even with your favored weapon. If he were trained properly, he could be apart of the best Noir the Soldats has ever seen."
"…but what about… her?"
"That will be decided at the ceremony. You know that."
"Of course."
"Now why don't we go and see if Ranma has managed to lift that stain?" Altena asked heading back towards the manor.
Boosting Chloe's mood, she lifted her head. Knowing Ranma, he didn't even know how to wash a shirt. This could be fun!
Post author's notes: Not really much to say that wasn't in the original notes. If anyone has a question about what is happening in the chapter please send me an email and I'll add the answer into a Q&A section below.