Arisugawa's Locket

Out of the Locket Six

"Juri-sama!" several girls cheered as she entered the kendo hall, dressed casually today in trousers and blouse.

Juri waved back with a laugh, the tall orange haired woman smiling warmily. She'd been helping out here for awhile now, though she hadn't managed to get the kids to stop calling her that. Though honestly it WAS kind of fun too.

"That is SO cute," Nabiki noted, amused, following the other woman in.

"Setsuna was kinda nervous at first, but she decided they weren't a threat eventually," Juri noted with a smile.

Nabiki snorted. "It IS a hell of a coincidence that we're using the same training hall," she noted, visibly amused.

The Murasame dojo was sharing the practice space, and were training there tonight as well. So both women decided to go there together. It was kind of sureal, seeing the kendoists training on one side while the karate practice went on in the other.

"I see Sumika is here too," Juri noted, recognising the young woman who was leading the juniors in drills.

"I should probably get over there," Nabiki admitted, "see you later."

"Have fun," Juri waved.

"Sensei," Hazuki nodded, the tall dark haired girl there alone. There was a odd... distance in her eyes, as if she had been through something very painful.

Juri fought down the urge to flinch. She had met Hazuki earlier, when she had been here with her sister Hatsumi. Having met a future incarnation of Hazuki she KNEW that bad things were going to happen to them, but had been warned by Washu that fiddling with time travel was a bad idea. Now, however, she wished she had warned her.

"How are you, Hazuki?" Juri asked, knowing it was a dumb thing to ask but not sure what else there was to say.

Hazuki shrugged slightly, "I'm managing, ma'am."

"I see you spotted Hazuki," the head of the kendo program noted. Toraji shrugged, "She's been depressed, but won't say why."

"Might not feel like she can talk about it," Juri admitted. "Well, we'd better get to it..."

The two helped observe the fighters, refereeing matches as well as giving guiidence on the proper stances and forms. The top students also helped out, including Hazuki herself as well as Ryoko Mitsurugi, the 'samurai girl.'

"She's a pretty good senpai," Juri noted as she saw the redhead guide a younger kid through the motions of a attack.

"That she is," Toraji agreed. "Wish she'd agree to compete tho. Says it'd be unfair to her more regular opponents."

"I can kind of understand that," Juri admitted.

Toraji gave her a odd look but didn't argue.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

After leaving Juri she ducked into the changing rooms, where Nabiki changed to her karate gi. The simple white garments were loose but comfortable, and she tied it with a simple black belt. She could, theoretically, test against various masters in the city and acquire the higher 'dans' of karate, but she really didn't see the point.

"Sensei," Nabiki nodded to the older man. He was a big fellow, but not as big as Genma or some others she had met. He also was only a middling karate fighter, if she was honest, but had a pleasant manner and was quite likable.

Murasame nodded, smiling as he said, "Thank you for coming to help out. I know how busy you can be."

"It's a honor to assist," Nabiki smiled wryly.

Apparently Murasame's daughter was moving up one grade in her black belt. He didn't feel entirely comfortable doing all the testing himself, so he requested other martial artists to assist. Including Nabiki, of course. And they were here because this was the best place to get everyone together.

"Yo, Nabs!" Ranma smiled.

"He dragged you into this too," Nabiki smiled at the young man wryly.

"Well, I'm more often in town for the Locket, so..." Ranma shrugged.

"I guess that makes sense," Nabiki conceded. "Just don't haul out any of the special moves, okay? Don't want to see anyone seriously hurt."

"I have the control to keep that from happening," Ranma said. He shrugged, "Besides, we're just observing, right?"

"That's the theory," Nabiki said, though she had her suspicions.

The testing was a grueling process for the candidates. They had to spar with representatives of each belt ranking, demonstrating standard strikes and blocks and getting more advanced as they went along. Both candidates, who were girls, were quite good. In fact, Nabiki was fairly impressed by both of them.

"Haven't we seen them at the Locket?" Ranma whispered.

"Yeah, that's Sumika and her friend Tomoe. I hope seeing us here won't throw her off balance," Nabiki noted.

Thankfully, it didn't, both girls finishing their trials and bowing formally. "Well done, both of you," Murasame beamed. "Now, you would normally spar against me, but I threw my back out recently..."

"Oh dad," Sumika sighed, rolling her eyes.

He just ignored that and continued, "So I hope one of our guests could fill in for me."

Ranma made a face as he muttered, "Can't be me, and you know it."

"Yeah, yeah," Nabiki sighed, getting up. She walked up to sensei, giving him a look as she said, "You owe me for this."

"Of course," he agreed.

"All right," Nabiki addressed Sumika as she put hand protection on, "five minutes free sparring. And let's not hurt each other, huh?"

"Yes ma'am," Sumika said respectfully as she put the padded helmet on. A bit more quietly she added, "Sorry my father dragged you into this."

"I've dealt with worse," Nabiki admitted, thinking of Genma Saotome.

"All right," Murasame gestured, "begin!"

Nabiki nearly got a boot to the face as Sumika swiftly went on the attack. As they traded blows Nabiki quickly decided that Sumika was MUCH better than Sumika's father was. Not as good as some of the crazies Nabiki knew from back home, but good.

As they fought Nabiki carefully lead Sumika into different kinds of attacks, to demonstrate her skills. She would leave a certain opening, then watch Sumika launch the appropriate attack. Which the young woman did, very well.

"Time!" Murasame called.

Nabiki blinked as she lowered her arms, not having realized how long they had been fighting. Sumika looked equally startled, though she was smiling warmly. "That was really impressive, Nabiki-senpai," she said enthusiastically.

"You did pretty well yourself," Nabiki said warmly.

A few minutes later Sumika's father awarded her an advancement of two ranks towards her next belt, to the cheers of her classmates. Even Ranma was nodding thoughtfully.

"What?" Nabiki asked quietly.

"She really is good. Maybe I can talk her into visiting our dojo..." Ranma mused.

"I don't think she's quite that crazy," Nabiki shrugged.

Ranma laughed, "Good point."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Well, that was interesting," Juri smirked as they walked out together, "I haven't seen that many bathrobes since me last visit to the Hinata Hot springs."

"Yeah, yeah," Nabiki punched her in the shoulder. "I should have suggested YOU sit in with the testing group, Arisugawa."

"I'm not THAT good at martial arts, Nabiki," Juri protested.

"Yeah, I could kick your ass," Ranma agreed, walking on her other side.

"Sad but true," Juri agreed willingly.

Ranma checked his phone, "It looks like I'm free tonight, unless Shampoo or one of the others jumps me. Wanna grab some grub?"

"I'm heading over to Nina's tonight," Nabiki declined politely.

"And Setsuna's expecting me home," Juri explained.

"You two are SO domesticated," Ranma shook his head with a smile. He looked at Nabiki curiously, "When are you gonna make Nina a honest woman?"

"Don't push," Juri smacked his shoulder.

"We're working on it," Nabiki laughed as she explained. "Unlike SOME people, we're actually trying to take our time."

To be continued...