The Fourth Sapling Chapter 6: Practice Makes Perfect, a ranma fanfic

Author's notes: I know, it's been a long time since the last update and my current status shows two chapters have been complete for some time. For some reason I've been in a heavy writing mood without the converse desire to review what I've written. I guess there are just too many scenes flashing in the back of my mind.

Special thanks goes out to James Axelrad for reviewing the chapter. I would also like to thank Calamity-Queen of Cordite who, despite me reviewing her highly recommended story 'The Wild Horse Thesis', took the time to respond to see how my story was coming along.

Disclamer: I own neither Noir nor Ranma ½

The Fourth Sapling

By: brindani

Chapter 6: Practice Makes Perfect

Walking into the washroom removed the smile from Chloe's face, quickly replaced by an incredulous stare. Before her stood Ranma, whistling off key, in a teal Chinese outfit while hanging a pristine red shirt onto the cloths line. There was not even a hint of paint on the cloth.

"What…? You know how to remove stains?" Chloe asked as Ranma smoothed wrinkles from the shirt.

Turning around, Ranma scratched his head. "What do you mean? I had to do this kind of stuff all the time on the road. Do you think pops did the laundry?" Ranma asked, chuckling at the thought of his father doing laundry.

Narrowing her eyes, Chloe rigidly left the room, leaving Altena smiling serenely. "Very nice, Ranma. After lunch we will begin training again." Ranma grinned, leaving his shirt to dry before following Altena to a long anticipated lunch.

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Ranma grumbled to himself as he shuffled into the main hall. He was finally able to do that on his own after a day of wandering aimlessly through random corridors.

This wasn't the only thing bothering him recently. Altena's methods to combine the art of reading people with the speed needed to circumvent their firearm was becoming frustrating.

Stopping outside the main training room, Ranma leaned up against the wall with a hand to his forehead in an attempt to prevent the oncoming headache. After a moment he stood, raising one hand. He silently flipped out several fingers stopping at three, Ranma realized he was about to enter his fourth training session for the morning. In each instance his shirt resembled a veritable rainbow of colors that took an hour to clean out before he was allowed to begin again. The actual training he didn't mind, but he was seriously beginning to think that his fingers were going to become permanently pruned.

Heaving one last sigh, Ranma removed himself from the wall, entering the room where he found Altena waited, exactly as he had left her an hour ago. 'Had she even moved?' Ranma wondered.

Giving a slight bow which was reciprocated, Ranma took position across from Altena. Eyes closed, Ranma took several deep cleansing breaths, helping to center himself for the ordeal ahead. After a minute of the mental exercise, Ranma spread himself out into a basic stance designed for quick spontaneous movement. Opening his eyes, Ranma nodded to Altena, indicating he was ready for her to begin.

Eyes narrowed, the pigtailed youth studied his opponent, taking in every inch of her countenance, attempting to spot any trace of action that could indicate action.

Minutes stretched out as Ranma kept his body tense in anticipation. He knew he was still not fast enough to dodge the bullet even with all the training. That meant he had to spot some critical sign to supplement the difference. Unfortunately, no such sign had ever manifested, typically leaving Ranma covered in paint.

A small bead of sweat trickled down his brow as nearly five minutes past with no action. 'She has never taken this long. Is there something else I should be doing?' Ranma asked himself, concerned he may be missing something critical.

At exactly six minutes Altena silently lowered the weapon, pocketing the gun before lightly stepping up to Ranma.

Blinking at the unexpected movement, Ranma dropped his guard, standing up straight.

"I have a request." Altena said, apparently oblivious to Ranma's surprise.

Ranma blinked again, this was the first request since the mission. Curiosity overwhelming him, Ranma took the bait.

"What's that?"

"Ever since you arrived you have stayed in your male form." Ranma lifted a finger to his chin. To his amazement, he realized he had stayed male the entire time. That had never happened before. Usually the weather itself would alter to change him a couple of times a day. "I would like to see the curse and confirm several of Chloe's observations."

Ranma frowned. It was nice to remain male for so long. Still, Altena had taken very good care of him; providing meals and training. 'Just this once, I guess.' Ranma thought with a mental sigh.

"Okay," Ranma reluctantly agreed. He noticed a cup of water held in her right hand. Reluctantly he took the water from her grasp, splashing himself with it before allowing a small groan as the change swept through her. Looking back up to her hostess, Ranma expected to see disgust or perhaps pity. She was surprised and little puzzled to find a satisfied smile.

"Shall we try again?" the older woman asked, taking position at the other end of the room.

Ranma nodded before tensing. She watched with critical eyes as Altena raised the paint gun. While watching the ever calm exterior, Ranma's mind made a connection. She had developed her ki senses and she may have just found a use for them. Directing them on Altena for the first time, she felt an intense black aura swirling around very similar though far more developed then Chloe's. It was by far darker with not even a glint of light. Not allowing herself to be distracted, Ranma carefully watched every inch of each swirl before feeling a spike.

'There!' Ranma darted into a roll, leaping to the ceiling, springing to one of the pillars before dropping to the ground. Glancing up, she found Altena smiling, six marks spread across pillars, ceiling and floor apparently indiscriminately.

"Very good Ranma. Do you understand now?"

Thinking back, Ranma found her mind tracking exactly how close she sensed the pellets. If she had been male she wouldn't have made it even with her advanced warning.

'Damn! I still ain't fast enough. I need to train more. I'll be able to dodge it… eventually.' Ranma's eyes widened as she realized how much training it would take to go as fast in her male form.

"I've heard amazing tales of how you can increase your speed and power in a short duration, but even taking them into account it will take an additional month or three." Ranma's eyes lowered in concentration. Ranma thought her estimation short a year or two. Standing silently for a moment, Altena decided another nudge was in order. "Even when you have achieved the speed to barely dodge a bullet, imagine how fast your female form will be." The speed increase on her female form would be substantial. "You must also remember that every minute wasted here is that much more suffering those people have to endure. It would be your choice, but I think it best if we started training exclusively in your female form."

Ranma's body stiffened. 'Train exclusively as a girl!'

Shuddering, Ranma forced herself to calm down, taking deep calming breaths. 'Focus', the red-haired martial artist screamed mentally before concentrated on what her newest sensei said and the implications of it. Training in girl form; she had done it before. There was also no denying that it would improve her chances of survival as the newest playing field was survival of the fastest.

'Being a girl for the rest of the time?' Feeling something wet on her hand, Ranma looked down to find a white clinched fist with a small tendril of blood dripping to the ground. Forcibly, Ranma relaxed her hand.

Shifting her eyes from hand to her right pocket, Ranma tentatively reached in, pulling a warn picture detailing a tortured little girl behind bars pleadingly reaching out. Ranma felt drawn to the girl as if she was reaching for Ranma, pleading to her for help. Rubbing her arm across her eyes, wiping suspicious moister away, Ranma giggled. It was short and choppy lacking any real humor.

Shaking her head Ranma realized that if someone asked her to stay female just last week she would have laughed in their face, but now…

"I'll do it." She stated, carefully putting the reminder of what she was doing back into her pocket for safe keeping.

"Good, Chloe is outside to start your training in how to throw." Altena said before walking away.

"Training how to throwing? Why would I need that?"

Altena smiled. "It is another part of your training. It will be invaluable if find yourself in a situation without a weapon."

"I can already throw well," Ranma replied. She was the best after all.

Altena stopped in the doorway, not quite facing the young woman standing behind her.

"Ranma, what have I said?" Altena asked with a hint of reprimand.

Ranma lowered her head. "That it doesn't matter if you're the best, I should take advantage of every opportunity to accomplish the mission and get out alive. Yeah, yeah, I'm going." Smiling, Altena watched as Ranma left before leaving to take care of a few troublesome problems developing elsewhere.

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Walking outside, Ranma found Chloe sitting next to a tree, her eyes closed.

"What took you so long?" she asked not bothering to move from her spot.

"I just got told to come out here," Ranma answered, nervously looking away.

"Right, and…?"

"Ok, I made a wrong turn, but only once this time." Ranma exclaimed in exasperation.

Chloe chuckled lightly before standing up to proffer a box to Ranma.

Looking in, she found it full of knives.

"Now, let's get to practicing. If you need help on how to throw the knife right, just ask." Chloe said negligently before sitting down next to the tree again. Ranma continued to stare at her incredulously. "Go ahead and start." Chloe encouraged, lazily waving towards the twenty targets some hundred yards away.

Ranma frowned. Despite what Altena said, she already knew how to throw a knife. In fact, she decided to show Chloe how it was done. Taking the box, Ranma lowered a hand to take one. Grinning, Ranma decided to reveal one of her specialties.

"Kachuu Tenshin Amiguriken revised, Knife Barrage!" Using her incredible speed Ranma flung a hail of knives at their targets. In less then five seconds the box was bare. Grunting happily she turned back to Chloe triumphantly.

"Told you I can throw." A self-satisfied smirk plastered across the redhead's face.

Chloe, her eyes mere slit, looked up at the self-absorbed martial artist for a moment before shaking her head and started speaking as if talking to an exceptionally inept child. "You were certainly fast and if you had enough knives you could take out an army, but if you have a split second with only three knives to disable three armed targets you would be dead. If you hadn't noticed only about an eighth landed in the bulls-eye area. Another half on the target and the rest missed all together. You need to learn to perfect your throwing skills with any number of knives at any time or with anything else that happens to be handy. Now pick them up and try again. This time use only one per throw hitting each target in sequence from left to right at five second intervals until you run out of knives. Any that do not hit the bulls-eye will land you a chore of my choosing."

"What! Who gave you the right to give me chores?"

"Altena gave me permission to help motivate you. Besides, what have you done here aside from washing the paint from your cloths? Now pick up the knives." Chloe ordered before closing her eyes and lounging against the tree.

Ranma hurried to pick up the knives as she was pretty sure if she wasn't fast Chloe would come up with something to help 'motivate' her. This sounded like it could turn out to be another long day.

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Ranma stretched her aching arms. She had been throwing knives for hours, one at a time at that blasted five second interval. Switching every fifteen minutes to her other arm. Still she was proud that only four missed their target with one penalty for taking six seconds to throw one of the knives. For someone who had her eyes closed, Chloe sure caught any mistake, typically before she made it. Every time one of the knives went off target she would suggest corrections for the particular throw. Of course this was followed by a chore that the mistake would cost her.

She now had to make dinner, wash the dishes, clean the cloths for the day, wash Chloe's bedroom floor, and clean off the table.

She could swear that Chloe looked disappointed when Altena came out to tell her that Ranma would need to start dinner soon. Ranma stopped her preparations for a moment to scratch her head, how did Altena know that dinner was one of the chores she was assigned?

Shrugging her shoulders, Ranma let the thought go. Turning back to the food, she felt a shiver go down her spine. The grin on Chloe's face was down right sadistic when she mentioned tomorrow would include two knives at a time in the same time sequence. Ranma had the distinct impression she was in for a lot more chores all too soon.

Ranma continued chopping onions for the soup with one hand while another traced the final ingredients from a recipe book she found in one of the cupboards.

Ranma smiled, while cooking was a chore and most definitely not manly, an issue she held at bay with iron determination, it allowed her to set the portions which meant she would finally have her fill for the first time in days.

Dropping the finely diced onions in and stirring so that they mixed nicely with everything else, Ranma lifting the soup off of the fire before checking on the fish. She didn't know how they had fresh fish out in the middle of nowhere with no electricity, but when she asked, Altena provided them.

They were pealing very nicely. She lightly seasoned them with salt, pepper, a little lemon along with several other seasonings she had seen Kasumi use to good effect.

With the fish almost done, Ranma turned her attention to the lettuce and various other vegetables spread across the counter. She loved this part. Placing the bowl exactly in the middle of the counter, Ranma haphazardly threw all the vegetables into the air. With a grin verging on insane, she joined them with a pair of long knives at the ready.

Arms disappeared in a blur of motion followed by the lettuce and vegetables rained down, perfectly aligned within the bowl. Ranma smirked as she landed lightly. Her mother would be proud; she remembered to wash the vegetables this time.

Finally, she came to the last dish for the meal, sushi. She had the rice already laid out and placed the nori (toasted seaweed sheet) in. 'Almost done,' Ranma thought to herself as she carefully put everything in.

With a final roll and several swift cuts, she arranged each tidbit onto plates. Performing a small miracle, she gathered everything for one large haul.

Both Altena and Chloe were waiting patently, semi-patently in Chloe's case, for the food to arrive. When Ranma appeared, they were startled to find all the dishes she was off-handily balancing. She easily placed all of the platters across the table before sitting down in her customary place.

Each examined the small banquet now arranged neatly on the table before looking back at Ranma.

"Thank you, Ranma, this is a magnificent feast." Altena complemented as she gestured to all the food before her. She knew Ranma had asked for fresh fish, but she hadn't expected something quite so grand.

Chloe eyed all the food in slight wonderment as well.

"Isn't there too much? A lot of this will go to waste." Chloe asked. Ranma responded only by grinning ear to ear.

"Oh, I don't think any of it will go to waste."

Altena simply shook her head. "Remember Ranma…" Ranma frowned as she had had her chopsticks poised for the coupdegra.

"Alright, I remember, eat at a slow pace; no one is going to snatch the food out from under me." Altena nodded while Ranma despaired. It was going to take forever to get her fill now.

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Chloe was furious. She hadn't been able to find a certain redhead anywhere all day. Stomping her foot as she reached the edge of the manor, the girl frowned. Even after only four days she could tell Ranma was improving her throwing skill at a voracious rate. Pretty soon she would be up to Chloe's standard if not her practiced ease. Still, the errant girl needed more practice especially indicative of all the chores Ranma still had to do.

She had already asked Altena and even she didn't know where Ranma had gone. Usually at least Altena knew where to find the newest member of the house.

Releasing a frustrated sigh, Chloe started checking the grape vineyard again. Ranma had been known to wonder through them, taking a grape or two while enjoying the fresh fragrant scent. She wasn't able to do it often with all the training, but if she wasn't in the manor studying, she was surely out here. The only problem was that Chloe had completed several circuits already and had yet to hear or see any trace of the pigtailed youth.

"Damn it, where are you Ranma!" Chloe screamed.

BOOM!

Chloe's head whipped around to the mountain-side two miles out. Squinting, Chloe scanned for any signs of an enemy. Seeing no outlines that would indicate bombers through the huge dust cloud, the purple-red haired girl relaxed her stance. So it wasn't an invasion. Yet none of the villagers would come up here without permission. So then what was th… A tick started to form in Chloe's brow; somehow she just knew Ranma was involved.

Grumbling, Chloe began the long run to reach the epicenter.

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When Chloe arrived, she found Ranma standing very still, her palms outstretched with sweat poring down her face.

Seeing that Ranma didn't appear to notice her presence, Chloe decided to indulge her curiosity by drawing closer. Ranma was proficient with weapons, but at the same time she disdained explosives, so what was she doing?

Chloe watched as a blue ball formed in-between the other girl's outstretched hands. It grew rapidly from a pebble to a bowling ball sized sphere with a myriad of blue shades shifting through its interior, slowly settling into a steady baby blue.

'What is that? I've never seen energy come from a person before. Wait, I've read ancient Chinese legends of something called Ki, but none of my instructors have ever been able to do or mentioned seeing anything like this.' Chloe was so engrossed in her introspective that she missed Ranma's eyes slamming open before she hastily threw the sphere down before sprinting away.

KABOOM!

Chloe did not miss the explosion that swept her off her feet, spinning her wildly into the air.

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Ranma snuck away from the manor earlier that day. The training was defiantly starting show results in her accuracy even if the chores were getting downright annoying. Still a new idea kept tugging at the back of her mind; one she doubted Altena wanted tested indoors. It was based off of the attack Mouko Takabisha revised Bokusai Tenketsu Shatter Storm she used against Cologne. The idea behind the attack was to stabilize the ball of ki before throwing it, after a couple of seconds it would destabilize and burst out, striking critical points in stone.

When she went over the main plan, she realized that several well timed diversions would afford her leeway in getting out safely. Going over the maps and timetables, she found critical areas and times when they were lightly guarded. If something happened to one of them, it would attract every solder for miles. Then it struck her, if she could stabilize the blast for a few seconds it took to throw then it should be possible to prolong the time. Ranma quickly found that that kind of stabilization was rather… elusive.

It took a lot more energy to force the ki patterns into a relaxed state while setting a pulse that would aggravate it later on. She had already been caught in one of the unexpected explosions, her dirt ridden hair contested to that.

Still, she was making progress and it was lasting several minutes before she would have to calm the ki. It still wasn't nearly enough. This had to last for several hours and go off at a very specific time. She also had to be careful, if she put too much energy into it, it could damage an entire block. She couldn't allow that to happen.

'Maybe if I twisted the energy like… oh shoot!' The balls started to flux wildly. Hastily, Ranma lowered the ball of ki before making a run for it.

As she ran, Ranma heard the whirling sound that accompanied previous explosions begin to increase in tempo before...

KABOOM!

"AHHHHA!" Ranma froze in place. That yell wasn't hers. In fact it sounded like… whipping around in horror, Ranma found Chloe's unconscious form flying violently through the air.

Dashing through a hail of debris, Ranma leapt up, snatching Chloe out of the air before landing gently.

"Damn, what's she doing here? It's not important now." Ranma thought as she rushed back to the manor.

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"ALTENA!" Ranma screamed as she ran into the manor.

Said woman came into view from one of her rooms holding an open letter. When she saw Chloe, her eyes opened wide; dropping the letter, she rushed to Ranma's side.

"Quickly, in here," Altena directed, leading Ranma into a side room with medical supplies. Ranma laid the prone figure with care on the table and was immediately replaced by Altena as she examined the girl's condition. Seeing multiple shallow cuts across her body, she was relieved to find none appeared fatal.

Efficiently cleaning the wounds with Ranma handing her supplies, Altena made sure Chloe was stable, if a little bandaged, before turning a foreboding look that promised pain if not appeased.

Ranma took an involuntary step back.

"What happened?" Ranma wasn't skittish, but the cold undertone of that question sent shivers down her back. She had never felt so intimidated by any of the martial artists that had ever come calling.

Gulping, Ranma thought it best to answer promptly.

"I was practicing a new technique for the mission. I went out several miles so that no one would be close when I tested it. One of the tests went out of control and I ran for it. The next thing I know I heard Chloe scream. She got caught up in the explosion. I swear I never knew she was there. It took all my concentration to keep the new technique under control."

Altena took a deep breath before calming down.

"It's alright, Ranma. Chloe should have made herself known. You did everything in your power to make sure others were not involved."

Nodding her head, Ranma couldn't help feeling guilty. She should have made sure that there was no one. It was obvious that if anyone saw those explosions that they would come from miles to find out what was going on. Of course Chloe would be there. Ranma had even skipped one of their training sessions to develop it. Ranma should have known!

Ranma hung her head as Altena finished disinfecting the last of Chloe's smaller wounds. Sighing, Altena pulled a chair up to the bed, ready to look after her charge.

"Altena?" Said woman turned her attention to the redheaded girl going from one foot to the other in agitation.

"Yes?"

"Could I watch over Chloe?" Ranma asked.

Altena was about to decline before a thoughtful expression crossed her face.

Smiling lightly, Altena stood, gesturing to the chair.

Giving a grateful smile, Ranma nodded her head before taking the seat.

Altena stood at the door watching the two; taking in Ranma's worried expression as well as Chloe's slightly pained countenance. She wanted to stay close to her Chloe, but this unfortunate accident may very well turn into a blessing in disguise. She thought before leaving to attend to other Noir business.

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Chloe groaned, her head and body aching. This didn't make for a good combination. She hadn't felt this bad since the last time one of her trainers made an object lesson that no matter how good you were there was always someone better.

She had been young and shortly thereafter even her best instructors could not touch her. Only she had been able to defeat Chloe.

The light streaming through the window was not helping as it seemed to pierce her skull and rattle an already agonizing headache. 'If only it would go away.' Turning her head helped lessen the pain, allowing semi-sentient thought. 'What happened?' Chloe thought to herself, still unsure as her mind seemed a gigantic haze.

Mustering her determination, Chloe cracked open her eyes against the residual light searing her senses. It was hard, but she pushed through. Everything appeared blurry. She recognized the medical room and a chair next to her. Chloe smiled to herself. Whatever had happened, Altena had stayed with her. She must have been out for a long time as she could hear faint snores drifting from the chair.

Sighing happily, Chloe turned on her side to face Altena. Her vision was still unclear, but she could make out the female form that sat there; the blanket that covered them; the long red hair pulled in a pigtail… wait a minute.

Chloe rubbed her eyes before taking another look.

She was startled to find that it wasn't Altena at all; it was Ranma.

Why wasn't Altena here watching over her? Every other time something happened to her Altena was stuck like glue to her bedside making sure that she was alright.

Chloe blinked as she recognized the worried expression etched on Ranma's face even in sleep. 'Did Ranma volunteer to look after me?' Chloe blinked several more times, no one else had ever done that except for Altena, she wasn't sure how to interpret it.

Settling back into the bed, confusion lighting her expression, Chloe's eyes started to drift shut.

'Maybe… maybe I could ease up a little on punishments. That should repay him for this.' Chloe thought before fading into a peaceful sleep.

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Author's post notes. Though it has taken awhile to get this finished the time seems to have helped as I was able to spot areas to add additional detail hopefully making it more interesting to read. Thanks to everyone that has submitted a review. They definitely help motivation to continue one with the story. Any comments, questions or suggestions are welcome either by review or direct email.

Q&A

Q. Chloe is showing far too much emotion to be considered in character.

A. First off, Ranma seems to have that effect on people no matter how rational. Second, from her perspective, Ranma is stealing most of Altena's attention for himself and she is very possessive of the older woman's attention hence the unusual actions.

Q. What is with the line breaks?

A. Unfortunately, the website's line breaks are not working so I had to improvise.