Emiya Clan – Nerima 10

A young woman wearing a black dress walked quietly across the lawn towards the dojo. Despite having a foundation of concrete and framed by sturdy, heavy wood planks, the building was well known to be a temporary fixture – a fact proven when a strong impact from inside made the whole structure shudder. As she drew closer, the girl could see several cracks in the masonry along the walls. Another impact bowed out a small portion, cracking the wall further and breaking off small chips to fall porch.

Without breaking step, the black clad girl pushed aside the door, then stepped to the side quickly as a flying body passed through the space she had just vacated and impacted the ground.

"Sorry about that!" a voice from inside called out. Ryouga jogged up to the door and peered outside.

Behind her, Haru groaned as he picked himself up off the ground. Aside from the dirt smudging his clothes, he appeared to be uninjured. "Good hit," he complimented, assuring the Lost Boy. As his gaze came up and saw the visitor, he froze.

Ryouga, for his part, turned towards her in apology but she brushed it to the side as she stepped past him and moved over to the other spectator in the dojo. "No harm done, really. I just came to watch."

"I see," the martial artist said. He had a confused look on his face, as if he'd recognized her but couldn't quite place her...

Once she'd reached the opposite wall, she dropped into a sitting position next to the girl beside her and ruffled her hair. "Haru, are you just going to sit out there all day?" she called out.

While Haru shuffled back inside, Ryouga looked back and forth between the two girls staring back at him from the sidelines. "I'm sorry," he began, "but I'm not quite familiar with the rest of your family yet, Miss... ?"

"Reiko Emiya." The older girl smiled as the boy's eyes widened and snapped back to the younger girl sitting quietly beside her. "Long story; but feel free to call me 'Eiko' if you'd like."

Chibi-Reiko pouted from behind her doll.

Haru shook his head as he reentered the battered dojo and moved back into his starting position. The Reiko he knew was quiet and reserved. She'd been welcomed with open arms ever since she'd become publicly known amongst the family, but a lifetime of isolation had still left her nearly as subdued as her younger namesake. The few times he'd seen her with that smile was usually when she had some mischief planned. He silently cursed whatever Emiya genes that made all the girls in the family manifest their prankster sides. He hoped he was wrong.

Turning his attention back to his opponent, he thought about the previous exchange in blows. Ryouga was certainly one of the strongest people he'd known, especially considering he was unaugmented with magic or an inhuman physiology. Haru knew he could match that strength – and then some – if he called upon his bloodline, but he held himself back. This was merely meant to be a friendly spar to see where the other person stood. He also knew Ryouga was holding back himself, he had yet to sense any sort of battle aura manifesting itself around the other fighter. Still, the strength behind the boy's punches was something he had been expecting.

What was surprising was the martial artist's speed. His build, while not exactly bulked up, was still stockier than most of the fighters in the family.

Still, Haru mulled, this is Ranma's rival. He wouldn't be able to claim that if he weren't able to keep up with that speed-demon. With a quick check to make sure his opponent was ready, Haru dropped into a brief crouch and then launched himself forward.

Ryouga met him head on, throwing up an arm to block his initial punch, then twisting aside to avoid the snap kick Haru threw out. Haru pulled his leg back as if to chamber it again, but turned it into a feint as he stepped in with his other leg into a fast knee strike. Ryouga slapped it away, then use the same hand in a backhanded punch that Haru took with his elbow. The force of the blow knocked him back and the two separated back into their ready stances.

Ryouga grinned slightly. "Muay Thai?

"Guilty as charged," Haru replied.

The other fighter looked up and down, giving him a once over. "I don't see any bruises forming, I didn't think I hit you that lightly." His eyes narrowed. "You mentioned the Breaking Point technique earlier, did you go through the training?"

"Eh, part of it," Haru replied. He dropped his stance and rubbed his head sheepishly. "There, uh, wasn't too much detail on the actual breaking part of the exercise, so I mostly threw myself at boulders to try to boost my own defenses."

"Less talking, more fighting!" Eiko yelled. The two of them looked to the side and found her munching on an open bag of skittles. As they watched, Reiko wordlessly held up an open hand and Eiko dropped a few brightly colored pieces into it.

Shaking his head, Haru took his stance and waited for Ryouga to do the same. Once ready, he charged back in but stopped short to throw a series of lightning-fast probing attacks. Ryouga dodged or deflected them away, then responded with his own, which Haru defended in the same manner.

"Since you're here, I can ask you," Haru said conversationally as he ducked a roundhouse kick. "How do you find the proper point to hit?"

"It's kind of hard to explain," Ryouga replied. He jumped back to avoid a spinning heel kick followed by a step-in knee strike. "When I first started training I'd just be poking at random spots, hoping to hit whatever the old ghoul was trying to show me." He took an elbow strike to his own arm then stepped in with a palm thrust into Haru's open abdomen.

"It's weird though, eventually I just started to... see the points. What's really strange is that there were a few times I'd find it, then stop concentrating so I couldn't see it. Even though I knew it was there, if I poked that exact spot, nothing would happen. I'd have to concentrate and be able to see the points before I could properly use Bakusai Tenketsu."

"See the points?" Haru's mind flashed back to something Altrouge-kaasan had told him. "See the points?" It was something she saying while drunk one day... something about her sister's silly boyfriend... "Do you ever happen to see... lines?" He asked, wary.

"Huh? Oh yeah, but poking those didn't do anything. Only hitting the dots works."

Haru stopped dead in disbelief. Seriously? "Uh... Ryouga, can you show me your technique?"

Ryouga dropped his stance, "Sure, I guess. You haven't won yet, though."

"You don't have to teach me, I just want to see it in person."

A few minutes later they were standing out in the field. Ryouga was surveying the ground while Haru watched him closely. Reiko and Eiko where off to the side a bit, the latter still tossing the occasional candy into her mouth.

"This is easier on an actual boulder," Ryouga muttered. He paused, "Ah, here we go." He dropped into a crouch and poked his finger into a spot on the dirt. "Bakusai Tenketsu!"

The ground exploded into flying chunks of dirt and uprooted grass.

Haru looked on with a stunned expression. He alternated his gaze between the crater in the ground and Ryouga's face. "That looked like you put no effort into it at all," he said in wonder.

"Yep," Ryouga had a proud expression. "Just a light touch, positioning is everything though."

Haru kicked at the ground a bit, then pulled out a fairly large rock that had been buried beneath the soil. He held it up at about eye level. "Do it again, on this."

Ryouga frowned. "Are you sure? It's pretty close to your face."

"Positive," Haru replied. He hefted the rock, "Please?"

The Lost Boy shrugged. "Suit yourself." He moved in until the two were almost standing face to face, a finger raised.

Haru wasn't watching the target this time, he was watching the other boy's face. Just as the martial artist grinned and leaned forward, Haru caught a flash of gold in his otherwise brown-eyes.

"Bakusai Tenketsu!"

Definitely gold eyes.

Haru was paying so much attention he nearly missed the rock shattering into shrapnel. A shard bounced off his forehead, drawing blood, but he barely noticed as he watched Ryouga's eyes fade back to their chocolate brown color and stare at him in worry.

"Ack! Sorry about that!" He started back towards the dojo, "I've got some bandages in my traveling bag, I'll be right back!"

Ryouga was crouched by the wall next to his bag, tearing through it frantically when a shadow dropped across him. He looked up to see the older version of the creepy-girl standing over him with a smile.

"Don't worry about Haru," she said. "It takes a lot more than that to really hurt him."

His hand froze in his bag, "Are you sure?"

"I wouldn't lie about something like that," she assured him. "Relax~" She held out the bag of skittles. "Candy?"

"Er... um..." Ryouga Hibiki had learned many things over the years, especially the more hectic ones since he'd found his way back to Nerima. Talking to pretty girls was still not one of those things. "Ah, sure... "

As he reached in, Eiko's own eyes flashed slightly as she tapped into her powers. The small pill she'd surreptitiously dropped into the bag earlier was but one of a hundred tiny candy pieces. She tapped into a fraction of her abilities to force that small pill to the top of the pile, where it was picked up.

Ryouga, his eyes focused on the bag of skittles, didn't notice. He pulled out a few small pieces and began tossing them one by one into his mouth.

"T-thanks," he muttered.

From behind her older incarnation, Reiko frowned. She didn't remember the original set of skittles having a blue-colored piece. Wait, blue colored candy? Her eyes snapped to her grinning future self.

*POOF*

A cloud of smoke suddenly filled the immediate area, and when it cleared an adolescent boy with fangs was looking around in confusion. "What the hell?" he shrieked. He struggled to hold up his suddenly loose clothing.

"Ooh, I was right!" Eiko cooed. "You look so adorable with those little fangs!" She squealed and dropped down to give the de-aged martial artist a big hug. The boy's eyes went wide and a small drop of blood leaked out from his nose.

Reiko sighed.

Ryouga passed out.

Outside, Haru was still standing in the middle of the field. Still frozen in position, the remains of the rock held in his hand as he replayed through his memories over and over again.

Altrouge-kaasan's sister's boyfriend.

Lines and points.

Effortless breaking.

Gold eyes.

"You have got to be kidding me," he whispered.

.

.

.

(much later)

Fortunately Ryouga still carried around several packs of spores from the Mushrooms of Time. Experience had shown Ranma was never above using some sort of magical artifact to win his fights, so Ryouga liked to be prepared for random eventualities.

While he planted a few spores and waited for them to grow to the proper size, he cooked and ate a sixteen centimeter-sized one he had saved from that fateful day. He wasn't back to normal yet, but at least he was back to a teenager instead of a toddler.

Eiko stared at him with a put-off expression. "Magical Time Mushrooms?" she asked in disbelief. "You're no fun at all!"

(a/n) – Type-Lunatics should understand what Haru's thinking. because it makes SO much sense! it does! really! except for the gold eyes. i made that up.

about Reiko/Eiko, if you've browsed through KittyBear's datasheet, you might have noticed Reiko and Haru both have future incarnations of themselves. the forums have them from a "GrimDark Future" timeline (somewhat cliche, but both were created to be intentionally broken). both older versions have come back to prevent their grimdark future from passing, Haru's story is still incomplete, but Reiko's has met with success... but she decided to stick around and is now called 'Eiko'.

about the age-changing blue/red pills, that got imported when Chisame (Negima) entered the Clan. Eiko manipulated Reiko into picking up a bag of the stuff when she was younger and start passing them out. hilarity ensued. magical time mushrooms are manga!ranma canon