Just so we're clear, Kyo meets Ranma AFTER he leaves, when Shampoo comes to kill him/her. Needless to say Kyo and Ranma will get along like a house on fire because they have quite a bit in common.
Kyo winced, but didn't complain at the herbal remedies the woman put on his cuts and bruises. Word had already spread about his 'monster' form, and surprisingly the Amazons took it in stride. The fact he had used it to great effectiveness to give their fighters a chance to breath was enough for them.
Cologne, however, was speaking quietly to Kyo's father/teacher. Upon learning that the entire reason they came to Jusenkyo was to hopefully improve Kyo's ability to Martial Arts, she broached the subject of having them stay for at least a month. It had taken a bit of convincing, but she had approached a compromise with the other elders, who were impressed with Kyo's willingness to back them up, even if he had to use such a horrifying form to help fight off their rivals. They agreed to share some of the easier techniques with the teen...provided he agreed to stay in his female form for the rest of his stay.
Cologne came just as Kyo was carefully putting his spare shirt on. The one he had before would need to be mended and washed before he could use it again.
"I have spoken to the other elders and your teacher. How would you like to learn a few of the Amazon's techniques boy?"
Kyo looked surprised, and rightly so.
"What's the catch?" he asked immediately. Something this good had to come with a catch.
"You will not train anyone outside the village in our ways without our permission first, and you will have to remain a female during the training,"said Cologne.
That was reasonable enough. And after seeing how easily the Musk were able to ignore his attacks, Kyo wanted to train now more than ever. If they could ignore his punches, then so could Yuki by his reasoning.
"Has Shishou said anything about it?"
"He said it was up to you," said Cologne.
Kyo didn't have to think too hard about this. He needed to become stronger.
"I don't mind being a girl. Better than being a cat anyway," said Kyo after a few minutes of thinking.
Cologne poked Kyo in a specific spot on his chest.
Kyo rubbed it absently.
"What was that?"
"Cat's Tongue point. In order to return to a boy you will have to earn the Phoenix Pill from me, and I am a hard task master," said Cologne.
Kyo twitched at the name, but he had committed himself to this.
"I'm going to have to get used to using cold streams from now on aren't I?" he asked.
Cologne's evil smirk said volumes.
If Kyo thought his Shishou was hard, it was nothing compared to what Cologne put him through in the first week. He bore it all with minimal complaining, because he had agreed to this. He had to get stronger if he wanted to be of any real use.
On the plus side, he did at least make one friend out of it. Xian Pu had been impressed with the fact he was willing to train under her grandmother. And the fact he had been so quick to jump into the real fighting to help her sisters. Even after he left the Amazon village, he could at least write to his friend...even if they would need help translating the different brush strokes. Another good thing was that Kyo's Chinese was actually improving at a rapid pace, mostly because he was using it frequently.
Cologne used her cane like a pogo stick. It was amusing the first time, now it was somewhat annoying. She liked to hit him with it and force him to start over.
"Remember boya, you have to earn the Phoenix Pill if you ever want to be a boy again," cackled the old crone.
Kyo grit 'her' teeth. "Yes Kon Lon-Sensei."
Kyo had to remind himself why he put up with this. And the benefits of listening to an actual Master of the ancient arts. His Shishou was good, but Cologne was leagues away from him.
With great age and senility came the power to humiliate the newer generation.
Cologne smacked him on the head.
"I know what you're thinking boya, and I am not senile."
Damn old crone.
"Keep that up boya, and I won't teach you the breaking point."
Kyo straightened, and redoubled his efforts to drag the boulder behind him. He found out that his efforts in training would translate back to his true form, which was why he didn't complain nearly as much. It took him an hour instead of the hour and a half it would normally take him, even if he was panting pretty heavily.
"You are improving. You couldn't have pulled that size boulder when you first came here," said Cologne.
Kyo took a deep breath and straightened up, pride in the major strides he had made since coming here. All the pain and aches were entirely worth it for the progress he'd made.
Too bad Shishou returned to Japan once he was assured that the Amazons would help Kyo to the nearest air port once he had completed his training. Kyo had to maintain a once-a-week letter in order to stay, according to Akito, who could care less about him but wanted assurances Kyo would come home eventually.
Cologne took him to another massive boulder.
"Please tell me I'm not going to have to pull that behind me next."
Cologne chuckled.
"Not quite sonny. No, what I'm going to teach you is how to break it with a single finger."
She bounced over to an equally big rock, and with a single sharp jab broke it into several pieces.
"If I hear you mastered this and used it to kill someone, I will hunt you down personally," said Cologne. Kyo looked sick at the idea of using something that powerful on a human.
He might use it to break out of the Sohma main house if he failed to beat Yuki or Akito stuffed him in the 'special room' that the previous cat had lived in, but he could never see himself using this technique to kill someone with. Worse came to worse, he would turn into a girl permanently and hopefully live with the Amazons.
Better to be stuck in a form you weren't born with than to be imprisoned because of something you had no control over.
Kyo nodded, still a little green at the idea. Seeing he understood the importance of the technique, Cologne carefully walked him through the basics.
Depending on how well this went, she might teach him how to pick up chestnuts over an open fire. At the very least it would make him a little faster. She had noticed early on that for some reason, despite having the Cat spirit, Kyo often wasn't very attentive to his surroundings while fighting.
It was the reason he had ended up in the spring in the first place, not that he seemed to care overly much. Considering he was used to being turned into a cat when hugged or sick, this was nothing overly new to him.
She wondered what his Chi would look like once he learned how to unlock it, and if it would help his sixth sense which was underdeveloped for someone in his position.
Once he mastered the breaking point, she planned to do just that, to see if his Chi was blocked or if there was an actual reason it was so weak.
Kyo panted. Why couldn't he get this? He could sense the breaking point, but every time he went to jab at it, something seemed to repel him.
Finally he had enough for today.
"Still no luck, Cat boy?" asked Xian Pu with some sympathy.
"It's like every time I try to hit the breaking point, my strength falters and I just bruise my finger instead," complained Kyo.
Xian Pu had an odd look on her face.
"Let me see if I can figure out what you're doing wrong."
Kyo went to the boulder. 'Her' stance was loose, his expression calm. For all appearances, the chi was balanced and the breaking point was visible to 'her'. Then when she went to hit the point, something seemed to go wrong, causing her chi to fluctuate and the technique to fail.
Xian Pu was very confused, because from what she saw Kyo was doing it right.
"Perhaps Great-Grandmother would know why your chi is wrong."
Kyo had enough for today, so they went to find Cologne.
Cologne was sitting with a cup of hot tea.
"Kyo's chi has been blocked. I do not know who did it or why, but it does explain a few things. I always thought his sense was too underdeveloped for one of his affliction," said Cologne.
The only person Kyo know who could possibly know such things was also the one possessed by the Dragon spirit. Though he couldn't possibly think of a reason for Hatori to do this.
Cologne walked up to Kyo.
"Stay perfectly still."
The Elder used a precise series of jabs, each leaving Kyo feeling rather dazed. At the last one, there was a surge of something that caused the teen to black out.
"Great grandmother, what was that?!"
"That, child was what happens when a master unblocks the Chi pathways of someone who has had them blocked for over a decade. Kyo shall have to rest for a day, so his body can adjust to the correct pathways. What I want to know is who the amateur was that did this and why," said Cologne darkly.
It was clearly done using acupuncture needles by someone who had the barest idea of what they were doing. It would have no doubt been very painful, and it had been done at least ten years ago. And having seen the drive which Kyo took to training, Cologne had developed some fondness for the boy.
It was like he was trying to avoid something, but he refused to tell her why he was training with such drive. Trying to become stronger wouldn't explain it.
Kyo felt like crap.
Xian Pu noticed he was awake, seeing as how they had left him in the spare room of Cologne's home.
"Ara, you're awake."
"What happened."
"Someone who didn't know what they were doing blocked your Chi. Great grandmother said you would have to take the day off so your body gets used to the way the pathways are supposed to be, because using any chi right now might be dangerous."
Kyo winced as he sat up.
"Considering I feel like I went another round with that idiot Mu Tsu after his jealously gets the better of him, I'm not going to complain."
Xian Pu scowled. Mu Tsu was fiercely territorial for some reason, and took it badly whenever another guy got too close. Even though Kyo was mostly in girl form now, he still got jealous about the other teen 'stealing' Xian Pu.
The idiot just didn't get that she didn't like him, and she only saw him as a friend. Though that was fading quickly with the irrational behavior he had towards her.
He challenged her and lost. He had no right to 'claim' her.
Kyo looked terrible, but that was understandable since his chi had been forced to find new pathways for so long.
In order to take his mind off it, Cologne gave him a Japanese book on shiatsu points...the same thing that caused his chi to be blocked in the first place. It was a pretty basic book, something you could find at most herbal remedy stores, but Cologne had gone over it and fixed a few misconceptions the author had, despite being the most accurate of the lot.
If this happened twice, Kyo would at least have some idea how to 'fix' it long enough to get someone who knew what they were doing to undo it.
Cologne left him studying the book with an intense expression. He was furious someone had done this to him, especially since it was likely a family member.
And if it was Hatori, he didn't have to look too far to find the one who ordered him to do it. What Kyo couldn't understand was why Akito had done it.
With the chi unblocked, Kyo mastered the breaking point in two days. And as if that wasn't enough, when Kyo was remembering why he had such trouble before, he ended up shooting out a blast of chi without thinking about it. Needless to say he surprised the Elders with it, since he hadn't intentionally been trying to use it.
Apparently Kyo was a natural at chi, so much so that he was actually a natural sensor, able to feel it around him without thinking about it.
Cologne had wondered why his perception was so weak. Apparently blocking his chi had dampened his natural ability towards it.
She was actually rather pleased when Kyo mentioned he preferred the Amazon village to his home in Japan. It certainly gave Cologne an opening to use when they found out Kyo was a natural chi user.
It was rarely used, but when an Amazon took an outsider an apprentice, it made them a part of the tribe by default. And Kyo was too interesting to let go.
From the sound of things, Kyo had about another year before the head of his clan decided whether he would be allowed to stay out of the main estate. Thanks to the breaking point, Kyo could leave and come back to the village and they wouldn't be able to follow.
Considering he openly admitted he wouldn't mind living in the village, the other Elders were less critical of her choice.
"Your time here at the village is, at the moment, coming to an end Boya. Before you go, you must earn the Phoenix Pill."
"How do I do that?"
"See this pit? Inside it are roasting chestnuts. You must gather them all without getting burned."
"But the Cat's tongue..."
"And that is why this is the test we generally put those who have been cursed by the springs to earn a Phoenix Pill. If you become skilled enough to retrieve the chestnuts, then you are worthy of the medicine. They are rather expensive and hard to make, which is why we have this."
Kyo looked at the roaring flames.
"It also doubles as an exercise for your speed. If you are fast enough to retrieve the chestnuts, then this...Yuki...will have great difficulty beating you in a fight," added Cologne.
That got his attention.
Kyo tried several times to retrieve the chestnuts, but got some nasty looking burns for his troubles. It was pretty clear he would have to find a substitute before he tried his luck at the actual technique.
He had been there for three months, and the others had grown to like him as either a little brother or as a fellow warrior. He was one of them in every way that mattered, especially when Xian Pu let it slip Cologne was openly thinking of making him her apprentice.
One of the other cursed tribe members gave Kyo a hint of where to go to train. It was a roaring rapid with several colorful rocks. The trick was to get the rocks without being bitten by the odd creatures that inhabited them. You could easily tell which ones were inhabited because they were duller than the others.
Once h completed the training and got the pill, he was allowed to keep one rock as a reminder of the pain he went through getting them.